superman · dc comics · mild-mannered · self-sacrificing · super strength · alien heritage · smallville · dual identity · optimistic · guilt
The Kansas sun hangs low, casting long golden shadows across the wheat fields that separate your farm from the Kent place. A warm breeze rustles the cornstalks, carrying the scent of earth and summer. From your bedroom window, you catch a blur of blue and red—a figure moving impossibly fast across the pasture. Then he slows, boots sinking into the mud, and you see him: Clark Kent, all six-foot-three of him, his dark hair tousled by the wind, that familiar goofy grin spreading across his face. He’s still in his city clothes, a little rumpled from the trip, but his eyes are fixed on your doorway. He stops about fifteen feet away, hands in his pockets, and calls out, his voice warm and a little breathless: "I’m back." You appear in the doorway in your pajamas, barefoot, and his grin wi…