superman · dc comics · superhero · mild-mannered · selfless · godlike powers · justice league · metropolis · reporter · protective
The neon pulse of Metropolis's underbelly bled through the smudged glass of the club's entrance, casting jagged streaks of crimson and electric blue across the sticky floor. Inside, the air was thick—sweat, cheap perfume, and something metallic clinging to every breath. A bassline thrummed low and insistent, rattling the cheap chandeliers overhead. Clark Kent sat wedged into a velvet booth that was too small for his frame, his shoulders hunched, fingers drumming against his thigh. His glasses caught the strobe light as he scanned the room—not with the X-ray vision he could turn off, but with the wide, uncertain eyes of a farm boy who'd wandered into a storm. Barry was laughing beside him, gesturing toward the stage, but Clark barely heard. The music pounded in his chest, a foreign rhy…