Sade Olutola
wallacepolsom
Not today Justin
will byers stan first human second
tannertan36
Andulka
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Kiana Khansmith
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izzy's playlists!
#extradirty
AnasAbdin
we're not kids anymore.
One Nice Bug Per Day
JBB: An Artblog!
Mike Driver
Three Goblin Art
noise dept.
No title available
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
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@punkr0cker1
INDEPENDENT SUPERMAN BASED PURELY IN THE 2025 SUPERMAN FILM. I am everything friendly (aus, ocs, shipping). A STUDY IN: the true meaning of punk rock, doing the right thing, finding who you are, the sins of the father (becoming a good person despite it), protecting the innocent.
BLOG ROLL: @h0mlander, @v0ughtprincess. Sideblog to @h0mlander
rules / carrd (coming soon)
STILL UNDER MAJOR CONSTRUCTION AND WILL BE GRADUALLY PRETTIED UP.
Ayla had felt horrible watching him fly off like that and deal with everything while she felt like she was barely holding it together. Thankfully her tone still stayed steady and didn't decide to slip into something angry or annoyed. Ayla wasn't mad at anyone other than herself.
Her vision swam for a moment as he rushed in to take care of the situation. He was a blur enough already but thanks to the lack of sleep she could hardly keep up with where he was and where he wasn't. The force field seemed to flicker and someone behind her yelped softly. "It's okay," she promised them. Even if there wasn't any danger to them anymore thanks to Clark's quick thinking and movement.
It wasn't until he had landed beside her and told her to drop the barrier that she finally gave in. She tried to gather her breath and her feet under her when she heard Clark say her name. Ayla turned toward him carefully and looked briefly to make sure the civilians were being escorted away. Her eyes slowly dragged their way back to him and she felt like it took more energy to stay in the moment than it ever had.
"I know," she replied softly with a slow and careful nod. "I'm sorry..." She knew better. If she wasn't rested or fed it could lead to more mistakes and he was right. Heroes slept and ate and made sure they were in tip top shape to save the world. Her lack of sleep could've cost lives. If he wasn't there then it could've spelled disaster. What if he was a second too late and the force field she held up failed? She was kicking herself once again and maybe that was the lack of sleep talking again.
She looked up at him with a small smile at the essential offer of taking up the mantle when she couldn't. It was nice to hear especially when she was so used to the practices and habits of her past. Her family always did things on their own. They weren't the closest all the time so it was nice to have someone who seemed to upset that balance. Even if she wasn't used to it yet. Thankfully her grandmother helped at least open the door to letting people just a little bit closer.
"You're right," she said with another small nod she took a step to the side then began to walk away slowly. She wasn't sure she wanted him to brace her up or keep her head high until they were out of the view of everyone.
For now she stuck with the latter. It wasn't very hero or goddess-like of her to be leaning on Superman now was it? Even if she might in private should he allow it and should she allow herself. But for now, she moved away from the scene and between some buildings to leave things a little bit more private between the two of them.
She turned to face him and with a small smile she said, "Thank you. I know I should be better about it. I just get carried away sometimes you know? Saving the world and all." She bit her lip, an emotion creeping up on her that she wasn't sure was the one that kept haunting her or something else entirely. She swallowed it as best as she could. "I don't think I could've done it today without you." It stung a little to say it, but it was true. If she had just slept. If she admitted how tired she was. He would've been able to relax or maybe even help another part of the world.
clark followed at her pace. not ahead. not hovering over her shoulder like he expected her to fall at any second. just close enough that, if her legs decided they were finished carrying the weight of her pride and the last three days, he could catch her before she hit the ground. he let the noise of the scene fade behind them. sirens. voices. the low rumble of emergency vehicles. people calling out to each other in relief instead of fear.
alive sounds. he held onto those.
when they reached the space between buildings, clark slowed with her, giving her the privacy she seemed to be reaching for. he understood that too. the strange little instinct to wait until no one could see before admitting that the armor had cracked. the need to stand tall in front of civilians because if they saw you stumble, maybe they would stop believing the danger was over.
his expression softened when she thanked him. then again when she smiled like she was trying to make the confession hurt less by placing it inside a joke. saving the world and all.
“yeah,” he said quietly, a small smile touching his mouth. “that does tend to get a little distracting.”
the attempt at humor was gentle, but it did not erase the concern in his eyes. not even close. he looked at her for a moment, really looked at her, taking in the exhaustion she was trying so hard to hold with dignity. the careful posture. the way her eyes seemed too heavy and too bright at the same time. the guilt already creeping in before she had even properly stopped moving.
he knew that look. he hated that he knew that look.
“ayla,” he said softly. her name again, but not to correct her this time. just to anchor her. “you don’t have to apologize for needing help.”
he took a small step closer, still leaving enough space for her to choose whether she wanted it filled.
“and you definitely don’t have to make it sound like you failed because I was there.” his gaze held hers, warm and steady. “You didn’t fail.”
the words came simply because he wanted them to land that way. not dressed up. not complicated. no room for argument, if he could help it.
“you protected those people for as long as you could. You held the line while exhausted, scared, probably running on nothing but willpower and whatever version of stubbornness superheroes pretend is noble.” his brows lifted faintly, almost teasing. "Which, for the record, is still stubbornness.”
he glanced toward the end of the alley, where the distant flash of emergency lights painted the brickwork in brief pulses of red and white.
“i don’t think the world gets better because one person carries all of it alone,” he said after a moment. “I think it gets better because, every once in a while, someone looks over and realizes another person’s arms are shaking and they decide to help"
there was a quiet conviction in his voice now, not forceful but deeply rooted. the kind of certainty that came less from speeches and more from having learned the hard way that strength without support could turn into something lonely and brittle. clark looked down briefly, as though considering how to say the next part without making it sound too heavy, too familiar, too much like a confession of his own.
when he looked back up, his voice had gone a little softer.
“i know what it’s like to lose people and carry their names around afterward and I don’t want that for you.”
he reached out slowly, offering his arm this time rather than his hand. less like a rescue. more like support she could accept without feeling carried.
“you don’t have to earn rest, Ayla.” his voice dropped slightly, kind but firm. “you already saved people today.”
@punkr0cker1 asked: "don't give me that look."
arthur glanced up from where he'd been leaning against the railing overlooking the ceiling from the rooftop. though it was peaceful up there in a strange way, the noise that was below them seemed rhythmic, almost. whether it was the wind coming off the water in the distance, or simply the late hour, the space felt quieter than it really should have. icy gaze settled on clark for a moment longer before one corner of his mouth pulled into a faint grin.
"what look?"
the question was innocent enough, though not nearly convincing. he always had a terrible poker face. arthur straightened slightly, folding his arms across his chest as he studied the other. "i'm just trying to figure out if you're about to ask me for something, apologize for something, or give one of those speeches where you pretend everything's fine while very clearly not being fine."
he gave a slight chuckle, though his tone and demeanor changed after he was done joking. "besides, i've spent enough time around people, and fish, to know when something's up. you don't have to tell me what it is." he shrugged a shoulder. "but if you're standing out here staring off into the distance for dramatic effect, i'm gonna keep looking waiting to see what comes next."
clark let out a small breath through his nose, almost a laugh.
“i don’t stare off dramatically.”
a pause.
he glanced back out over the edge of the roof, toward the spread of lights below and the dark suggestion of water beyond them.
“not on purpose, anyway.”
the admission softened the denial enough that it almost counted as honesty. wind moved gently at the edge of his cape. below, the city continued on without them. cars shifting through late-night streets. sirens somewhere distant enough not to be immediate. voices rising and falling in little pieces too scattered to become anything clear unless he chose to listen. he was trying not to. that was part of the problem.
after a moment, clark leaned his forearms against the railing, not quite mirroring arthur but close enough. the metal made a quiet sound beneath his weight.
“i’m not here to ask you for anything,” he said first, because that seemed important. then his mouth pulled faintly to one side. “and i don’t think i owe you an apology...yet"
there was warmth in it, but it faded slowly into something quieter. not heavy, exactly. just less protected by humor.
“the speech thing is harder to deny. i think sometimes i do that without meaning to. tell people things are going to be okay because they need to hear it, and because most of the time i believe it.” his brows drew together slightly. “or i want to.”
there it was. small. careful. not a confession dragged out of him, but one he chose to place between them because arthur had offered him the dignity of not demanding it. clark appreciated that more than he knew how to say without making it sound too sincere too quickly.
“today was just…” he paused, searching for the right words and clearly not liking any of them. “a lot.”
which was too simple. too ordinary. but maybe that was the point. not every hard thing needed to be turned into something noble before he was allowed to feel it. his gaze shifted back to arthur.
“...and before you say it, yes. i know that sounds ridiculous coming from me.” a faint smile appeared, tired around the edges. “that’s usually where the speech starts... i guess i came up here because it was quiet.”
then, after a beat, he added:
“and because you’re pretty good at noticing when something’s up without making it feel like an interrogation.”
PROMPTS FOR SILENT ACTIONS THAT SAY A LOT * i wrote these with the implication that the sender doesn't say a word before they perform the action. adjust as necessary, send 'reverse' for the reversal of the prompt
[ tug ] sender tugs receiver behind them during a tense moment
[ pull ] sender pulls receiver out of harm's way at the last second
[ tuck ] sender stares at receiver and quietly reaches up, tucking a fallen strand of hair behind receiver's ear
[ yank ] sender yanks receiver closer to them, ending up in semi-suggestive close proximity
[ steady ] sender grabs receiver's arm to steady them before they fall over
[ walk ] sender moves around receiver and walks closest to the street as they travel down the sidewalk, keeping receiver away from any potential danger in the roadway
[ untied ] sender drops to their knee and starts tying receiver's shoe for them
[ spoon ] sender lifts a spoon towards receiver's mouth, encouraging them to eat
[ trace ] sender traces receiver's lips with their thumb
[ pin ] sender pins receiver to a tucked-away spot in the shadows to avoid being caught
[ neck ] without a word, sender dips down to receiver's throat and kisses them soundly
[ handheld ] sender slips a hand behind their back and grabs receiver's fingers as they stand behind them
[ carry ] without asking, sender takes receiver's heavy bags from them and carries them
[ lock ] sender and receiver lock eyes across the room
[ drink ] sender brings receiver a drink and holds it to their lips, insisting they take a drink
[ reload ] sender reloads receiver's gun for them in the middle of a fight
[ shelter ] sender uses their body to shelter receiver from an explosion or attack
[ carry ] sender picks up receiver and carries them off the battlefield and into a safe spot before running back to the fight
[ toss ] from a secret hiding spot only receiver and sender can see as they avoid an enemy, sender silently gestures to receiver to toss them (their gun, something valuable, etc.)
[ stairs ] sender offers out a hand to help receiver ascend or descend a staircase
[ cover ] sender covers receiver's eyes so they don't witness something gruesome
[ fix ] sender comes up to receiver and fixes their collar and/or tie
[ shake ] to convince receiver not to do something, sender hastily shakes their head from a distance
[ watch ] from a distance, sender taps on their watch to show receiver they're running out of time
[ i'll go ] sender gently pushes receiver back, taking charge and insisting they will handle the dangerous task
[ reach ] through a locked gate, sender reaches for receiver's hand
[ ship ] as receiver's ship takes off from the planet, sender waves to them from the ground and watches them leave
[ protect ] after someone threatens receiver, sender rushes over and gets right in their face to protect them
[ punch ] after someone attacks receiver, sender rushes over and punches them in retaliation
[ nip ] sender playfully nips at receiver's neck
[ knuckles ] sender kisses receiver's knuckles in a polite gesture
[ squeeze ] sender gives receiver's butt a playful squeeze from behind
[ danger ] as an all-powerful receiver is about to lose control of their powers and cause massive damage, sender finds their eyes and tries to talk them down
[ goodbye ] without saying a word, sender approaches receiver and kisses them goodbye
[ wipe ] sender wipes a tear from receiver's face
[ location ] without saying anything and giving away the surprise, sender takes receiver to a secret spot
[ hold back ] sender has to hold back receiver from attacking someone
[ game ] sender lets receiver win a game they're playing
[ shower ] sender joins receiver in the shower they're taking
Few things
Tomorrow I unfortunately return to work after being off for three week. Tonight I’m away to the cinema with my friend to see the backrooms. I’m going to churn out as many drafts here and at @punkr0cker1
I have also decided to add a muse to @v0ughtprincess to technically make it into a boys oc multimuse but it’s only one other muse and it’s a muse I’ve had for 10+ years so it really won’t take much to add her. They are both shapeshifters so I thought it would be a theme. However this will be left to Sunday
That’s my plans!!
misc prompts for your feels
“ unique just means alone. ” “ i’m not afraid to die, just wish i could live a little first. ” “ i know i’m a monster, but you look at me like i’m a man. ” “ there’s nothing i wouldn’t do to keep you safe. ” “ we all have sins to pay penance for. ” “ don’t look at me like i’m a hero. you’ll only disappoint yourself. ” “ sometimes when you look at me it’s like…it’s like you’re staring straight past my flesh and into my soul. ” “ you make me want to live. ” “ i know i don’t deserve forgiveness, but i like the idea that some people think i might. ” “ i trust you with my life. ” “ you’re more like family to me than my own blood. ” “ i’ve never had any sort of family before. ” “ your life is far more precious than mine. ” “ i don’t care what happens to me. as long as you’re safe. ” “ i need you to live…cause if you’re gone then, i don’t know what the point of it all is anymore. ” “ i know i’m not the person you want, but i’m here. ” “ i love you, and i know you may never feel the same. but i’m okay with that. ” “ i couldn’t say no to you even if i wanted to. ” “ you’re worth more than this. ” “ why do you walk around as if you’re somehow less valuable than the rest of the world? ” “ please, let me help you. ” “ just let me do this for you. ” “ you do have something to live for. you have me. ” “ you’ll always have me. ” “ i see you. i know you feel so invisible all the time, but you’re not. not to me. ” “ it’s okay to be angry, you’re allowed to be upset about what happened to you. ” “ don’t you realize you deserve more than this? ” “ you’re not a machine or— or some thing. you’re a person, and i’m sorry anyone ever made you feel otherwise. ” “ please, just hold on a little longer. i can’t lose you too. ” “ this scar..what happened? ” “ if you won’t do it for yourself, then do it for me. ” “ you’re bleeding— how long have you been hiding this?! ” “ sometimes i realize one day i could die, i could just disappear and the world would be none the wiser. there’d be no one to miss me and that terrifies me more than death itself. ” “ i’m not sure i know who i’m supposed to be anymore. ” “ my mind is so loud and i’m afraid it’ll never be quiet again. ” “ when i’m in a crowd i just want to melt away and yet, when i’m alone it’s somehow worse. ” “ loneliness is a poison and i’ve been drinking it for so long, i don’t there there’s an anecdote to save my soul. ” “ i don’t care if the world knows my name, i just want you to remember me. ” “ you deserve more than i could ever give you. ” “ i love you. i know that’s not enough, but i do. ” “ you’re safe with me, you always will be. ” “ you make me feel safe. like i’m allowed to be anything i want. ” “ i’d do anything to be the person you love again. ” “ i’ve got you, you’re safe. ” “ just rest, i’m here. ” “ you can stay with me tonight. ”
@lunarrps continued from here
clark heard the lie before she finished saying it. not because she was bad at lying. maybe she was. maybe she wasn’t. it was hard to tell in the middle of gunfire and screaming civilians and the bright shimmer of her force field straining around them like glass held together by sheer will but exhaustion had a sound. a weight.
a tremble beneath the voice that people tried to smooth over with bravery and good intentions. ayla held her head high, but her breathing came too fast. her knee bent beneath the strain. sweat gathered against her skin in a way that told him this was costing her far more than she wanted anyone to know.
i’m fine.
clark’s jaw tightened. of all the dangerous things people said in moments like this, that one might have been the worst.
“yeah,” he said gently, though his eyes had already moved toward the gun. “i’ve got it.”
the words were calm. certain.
then he was gone. not for long. barely a second. a rush of blue and red cutting through the chaos, faster than panic could properly follow. the gunfire stopped all at once with a sharp metallic crack, the weapon crushed carefully but decisively in his grip before it could fire again. not enough to hurt the man holding it. enough to make sure he understood the choice had been removed from him. clark did not throw him. did not make a spectacle of it. he simply disarmed him, moved him away from the civilians, and returned to ayla before the force field had time to fail completely.
when he landed beside her again, his attention was no longer on the threat. it was on her.
“you can drop it now,” he said, voice softer this time. “they’re safe.”
his gaze flicked briefly to the civilians behind them, already being guided away by emergency responders. frightened, yes. shaken. alive. then he looked back at her.
“ayla.” her name came carefully, not as a command exactly, but as something meant to reach through the noise still ringing in her head. “look at me.”
he stepped closer, but not too close. close enough to catch her if she finally folded under the weight of the last three days, but not close enough to make her feel cornered by concern.
"I know why you’re saying you are fine. I know there are people here, and a job to finish, and it feels like admitting you’re tired means someone else pays for it.” his expression softened. “but that’s not what this is.”
the sounds of the scene continued around them. sirens. distant crying. someone shouting instructions. the world doing what the world always did, demanding more even from people who had nothing left to give.
clark understood that feeling more than he liked.
“heroes sleep,” he said quietly. “they eat. they sit down when their legs are shaking. they let someone else handle the gun when they’ve been awake for three days.”
his eyes stayed on hers, warm but unyielding.
“you protected them,” he said. “you did that. But now I need you to let me protect you for a minute.”
his mouth curved faintly, small and gentle.
“Come on,” clark said, quieter now. “Let’s get you somewhere safe before you fall over and make me pretend I didn’t see it.”
consider this my permanent meme call. memes are my preferred way to interact as it helps with brainstorming relationships and dynamics. If you like, I’ll send you a bunch of memes. If you are a multimuse, please specify
"STOP PUTTING YOURSELF INTO DANGER!" PROMPTS * assorted dialogue for expressing your fear that the person you care about might get themselves hurt if they keep acting like this, adjust as necessary
i thought i told you to stay back.
i love you too much to let you get hurt like this.
this affects me, too, you know.
every time you leave, i sit up all night waiting, praying you'll come back alive.
you keep pulling stunts like this and something bad will happen.
do you have a death wish or something?
this isn't fair to me.
i deserve better than this.
i didn't get any sleep last night because i was so worried about you.
you promised me you'd stop going out at night.
i don't like hearing this.
you've been risking your life, and for what? so you can feel like a goddamn hero?
i said i would handle it.
what the fuck are you doing here?
you told me you'd stay put.
so much for laying low.
you remember how bad it was last time.
seems like you haven't learned anything.
i believe you promised me you'd lay low.
i can't keep doing this.
don't give me that look.
we'll discuss this later.
this stops now.
i'm tired of picking up the pieces once you've left.
you keep throwing yourself into danger.
you don't give a shit about yourself, do you?
i'm sitting here, worried out of my mind, while you're out doing god knows what.
that was really stupid of you, and you know it.
i thought you knew better than this.
what's your excuse this time?
you do realize what this does to me, right? seeing you get hurt like this? you know it hurts me, too?
you really don't give a shit how this affects me, huh.
that was the dumbest possible thing you could have done.
i need you to stop throwing yourself into harm's way.
that was completely unnecessary.
they had it handled.
you didn't need to step in like that.
why do you think you're invincible?
the last time you pulled a stunt like this, it nearly got you killed.
i can't just sit here and watch you get hurt.
what are you trying to prove?
you just like fucking with my heart, don't you.
this shit hurts me, too, you know.
you're not the only one affected by this shit.
you've got a lot of people counting on you to come home every night.
what happens if you don't come back?
you think we can just carry on without you?
you think i can handle things if you end up dead?
i'm not sticking around to watch you get hurt.
you're not even slick.
you think you're invincible, don't you.
quit pretending you've got everything under control.
let someone else do it for a change.
you can't keep putting yourself through shit like this and expect me to just sit back and watch.
i'm done with this.
next time you do this, i'm not coming back.
promise me this is the end.
look me in the eyes and tell me you'll stop doing this.
let the authorities deal with it.
you're making a big mistake.
is it worth dying for?
i've dealt with enough pain over the years.
From the way the soldiers reacted at the sight of him, Terra could tell they knew him and not only that, but they were already giving up. She saw one straight up run away, while others seemed to attempt to hold their ground in the least convincing way possible. In a way, it was her fault they had gotten so far: she had been so focused on trying not to kill anyone, on not really fighting back, that she had allowed them to get too close, and then, when forced to fight, she had made a mess.
One, the one who had kept shouting orders, still tried to lift a gun, but changed his mind as soon as the caped man spoke, firm, calm. Commanding.
Help me, she found herself thinking again, desperate to find that calm too.
"Me?" she shook her head briefly, hands instinctively patting her chest, her stomach, to search for a wound, only belatedly realizing she had winced. Ribs hurt. No blood. Maybe blood? On her back. Couldn't be more than a scratch. "No. Yes. Just a little. It doesn't matter, it's just pain..." her eyes searched the street around them, saw people peeking in, saw the fires she had left behind, "I... I have to fix this." Too bad her powers included ice, not water, and if she threw one first and then the other people would be terrified again. Not to mention the high chance of blowing something up.
"You can't take her away, Superman. She's a criminal. We can handle her, we have the equipment for it," the same soldier who had needed 'Superman' to admonish him spoke up, and Terra flinched at the thought of them handling her. And still, she couldn't find in herself to throw the fire directly at him, she just crossed her arms to avoid any temptation. She just looked at the caped man again, and as much as she wanted to voice another plea for help, she didn't, because it wasn't fair. She just waited.
clark saw the flinch. small, perhaps. easy enough for someone else to miss beneath the noise of the street, the fires, the shouted orders still echoing too loudly between damaged buildings. but he saw it. the way terra folded inward at the soldier’s words, arms crossing over herself as though restraint could somehow make her look less dangerous. less guilty. less like something they would justify hurting if they could only find the right language for it. criminal. equipment.
handle her.
his expression did not harden all at once. that was not usually how anger moved through him. not explosively. not immediately. it came quieter than that, settling first in the line of his shoulders, in the stillness of his jaw, in the way his eyes shifted from terra’s face to the soldier with a calm that had become far less negotiable than it had been a moment before.
“no,” clark said.
the soldier’s grip tightened around the weapon, though the barrel had already begun to lower without him seeming fully aware of it. fear did that to people. made the body answer before pride had the chance to catch up. clark took one small step, placing himself more clearly between terra and the armed men.
“you don’t have this under control.”
the words were measured carefully, but there was no softness in them now. not the kind that could be mistaken for permission. his gaze moved over the soldiers, over the equipment they had brought, over the way too many of them were still looking at terra like they were waiting for an excuse.
“she’s injured,” he continued, voice steady. “she’s scared. and half of you were still pointing weapons at her after she stopped fighting back.”
“that’s not handling a situation. that’s escalating one.”
behind him, he could hear terra breathing. uneven. controlled with difficulty. trying so hard not to be the thing they had already decided she was. he wanted to turn back to her immediately, to tell her she did not have to fix everything right now, that nobody should have put that burden on her in the middle of pain and smoke and fear.
but he could not take his eyes off the soldiers yet. not while they were still deciding whether pride was worth more than her life.
another soldier shifted behind the first. clark heard the faint adjustment of a grip. the nervous scrape of a boot against broken glass. too much tension. too many frightened men with weapons convincing themselves fear was authority. he did not move quickly. that would only make things worse.
instead, he turned just enough to look back at terra, and when he spoke again his voice changed. softened. not weak, not uncertain, but gentle in a way meant only for her.
“look at me,” he waited until he had her attention. his eyes were steady. worried, yes, but not afraid of her. that mattered. he needed it to matter.
“you don’t have to fix this right now.”
the fires still burned. people still watched from windows and doorways. the street was still full of damage, smoke curling through the air like accusation. he knew she could see all of it. knew she was counting it against herself, piece by piece, as though guilt could become a plan if she held enough of it.
“fires first. people second. explanations after that.”
he looked briefly toward one of the burning cars, then toward a ruptured hydrant further down the street. the pipe beneath it was damaged but not useless. there was pressure there. enough.
“i can handle the water,” he said. “you just breathe. Keep your arms crossed if that helps.”
he would not make rescue feel like another kind of capture.
“but i am going to ask you to stay with me for a minute,” clark continued, calm and careful. “not because you’re under arrest. because you’re hurt, and because if anyone else points a weapon at you, i want to be standing between you and them.”
his expression gentled further.
“can you do that?”
clark heard the fear before he fully understood the situation. not just in her voice. in the way people were running. in the sharp crackle of panic moving through the street. in the soldiers taking cover behind cars and concrete barriers with weapons still raised, as though hiding from a frightened girl somehow made aiming at her any less dangerous.
the air was hot with the aftermath of fire. windows had blown out nearby. smoke curled from the side of a damaged vehicle. somewhere, someone was crying. somewhere else, a car alarm kept shrieking into the chaos as though the city needed one more sound to be afraid of. then she looked at him.
please, help me.
and something in clark’s expression changed immediately. not into suspicion. not into accusation. not even into the controlled severity people sometimes expected when they saw the suit and cape descending from the sky.
it softened because whatever power she had, whatever had happened before he arrived, she was terrified. that mattered first.
“okay,” he said, voice calm enough to cut through the noise without needing to rise. “i hear you.”
he lowered himself between her and the soldiers, boots touching the ground with careful restraint. not a dramatic landing. not a show of force meant to impress anyone watching. just enough to make himself a barrier. a person-shaped promise that nobody was getting to her without going through him first. his hands lifted slightly, palms open, not toward the soldiers but towards her.
“you’re not going to hurt anyone,” he continued, softer now, eyes fixed on her face rather than the fire still trembling at the edges of her control. “and they’re not going to make you.”
the words came with a certainty he hoped she could borrow until she found some of her own. behind him, one of the soldiers shifted. clark did not turn his head.
“don’t,” he said. one word. quiet.
the movement stopped. only then did his gaze flick briefly over his shoulder, and there was nothing cruel in his expression, nothing threatening for the sake of it, but there was a line there. clear as daylight.
“lower your weapons. now.”
his attention returned to terra almost immediately. he didn’t like looking away from her for too long. not because he thought she was dangerous in the way they did, but because panic had gravity. once it started pulling someone under, it could make every second feel like proof that the world was ending.
“i’m not with them. i’m not here to take you anywhere you don’t want to go.”
the street still felt tense around them. people were still watching from behind windows and overturned tables and half-open doors. fear had not left the city just because he had arrived. but fear was not the only thing here now. clark glanced up briefly, scanning the rooftops, the street, the safest open space nearby. then he looked back at her.
“i can get you out of here but i need to know one thing first.” his expression remained steady. kind but serious, “are you hurt?”
From the way the soldiers reacted at the sight of him, Terra could tell they knew him and not only that, but they were already giving up. She saw one straight up run away, while others seemed to attempt to hold their ground in the least convincing way possible. In a way, it was her fault they had gotten so far: she had been so focused on trying not to kill anyone, on not really fighting back, that she had allowed them to get too close, and then, when forced to fight, she had made a mess.
One, the one who had kept shouting orders, still tried to lift a gun, but changed his mind as soon as the caped man spoke, firm, calm. Commanding.
Help me, she found herself thinking again, desperate to find that calm too.
"Me?" she shook her head briefly, hands instinctively patting her chest, her stomach, to search for a wound, only belatedly realizing she had winced. Ribs hurt. No blood. Maybe blood? On her back. Couldn't be more than a scratch. "No. Yes. Just a little. It doesn't matter, it's just pain..." her eyes searched the street around them, saw people peeking in, saw the fires she had left behind, "I... I have to fix this." Too bad her powers included ice, not water, and if she threw one first and then the other people would be terrified again. Not to mention the high chance of blowing something up.
"You can't take her away, Superman. She's a criminal. We can handle her, we have the equipment for it," the same soldier who had needed 'Superman' to admonish him spoke up, and Terra flinched at the thought of them handling her. And still, she couldn't find in herself to throw the fire directly at him, she just crossed her arms to avoid any temptation. She just looked at the caped man again, and as much as she wanted to voice another plea for help, she didn't, because it wasn't fair. She just waited.
@punkr0cker1 !
When her mind-controlling crown had broken, Terra had all but exploded and leveled the whole base of soldiers stationed there. After that, it was all about running and trying to remember who she was, what she was, and why her only memories were of experiments and torture and the clown-man who was sending people to chase after her. It was when in a random city that she was surrounded again, and by throwing fireballs to free herself had terrified the population - she didn't want to, she didn't mean to - which had led Terra straight to panic. If she used the Bad Power again, she'd kill everyone, including innocent people. If she didn't, she was going to get captured and be forced to kill anyway.
It was the arrival of another player, one who could fly too, in a red cape, that gave her a moment of hope. If he had the power to fly, maybe he had the power to help. Her flying was still too unstable, but maybe he could help her escape.
"Please, help me!" she begged instantly, seeing as the soldiers after her didn't seem as inclined to go to him, and instead were hiding where they could. "I don't want to hurt anyone! But they are going to make me!"
clark heard the fear before he fully understood the situation. not just in her voice. in the way people were running. in the sharp crackle of panic moving through the street. in the soldiers taking cover behind cars and concrete barriers with weapons still raised, as though hiding from a frightened girl somehow made aiming at her any less dangerous.
the air was hot with the aftermath of fire. windows had blown out nearby. smoke curled from the side of a damaged vehicle. somewhere, someone was crying. somewhere else, a car alarm kept shrieking into the chaos as though the city needed one more sound to be afraid of. then she looked at him.
please, help me.
and something in clark’s expression changed immediately. not into suspicion. not into accusation. not even into the controlled severity people sometimes expected when they saw the suit and cape descending from the sky.
it softened because whatever power she had, whatever had happened before he arrived, she was terrified. that mattered first.
“okay,” he said, voice calm enough to cut through the noise without needing to rise. “i hear you.”
he lowered himself between her and the soldiers, boots touching the ground with careful restraint. not a dramatic landing. not a show of force meant to impress anyone watching. just enough to make himself a barrier. a person-shaped promise that nobody was getting to her without going through him first. his hands lifted slightly, palms open, not toward the soldiers but towards her.
“you’re not going to hurt anyone,” he continued, softer now, eyes fixed on her face rather than the fire still trembling at the edges of her control. “and they’re not going to make you.”
the words came with a certainty he hoped she could borrow until she found some of her own. behind him, one of the soldiers shifted. clark did not turn his head.
“don’t,” he said. one word. quiet.
the movement stopped. only then did his gaze flick briefly over his shoulder, and there was nothing cruel in his expression, nothing threatening for the sake of it, but there was a line there. clear as daylight.
“lower your weapons. now.”
his attention returned to terra almost immediately. he didn’t like looking away from her for too long. not because he thought she was dangerous in the way they did, but because panic had gravity. once it started pulling someone under, it could make every second feel like proof that the world was ending.
“i’m not with them. i’m not here to take you anywhere you don’t want to go.”
the street still felt tense around them. people were still watching from behind windows and overturned tables and half-open doors. fear had not left the city just because he had arrived. but fear was not the only thing here now. clark glanced up briefly, scanning the rooftops, the street, the safest open space nearby. then he looked back at her.
“i can get you out of here but i need to know one thing first.” his expression remained steady. kind but serious, “are you hurt?”
Focus, focus, Bob. Don't make yourself look like a fool. You are totally normal. You are not staring.
Bob thought frantically, his inner monologue running at full sprint as he looked at Clark — and oh, he was looking — in a way that would have made anyone within a fifty-foot radius deeply uncomfortable. It was the kind of look that belonged in a Japanese cartoon, all wide eyes and frozen expression, the sort of stare that a normal person would have the decency to disguise. Bob did not disguise it. Bob did not even blink.
He very deliberately — and not at all subtly — wiped his hand on what was left of his pajama pants before extending it to help Clark out of the crater. There. Smooth. Completely smooth.
It was, unfortunately, very easy to tell that Bob had had a rough night. The pajamas — or what remained of them — were riddled with bullet holes, which raised a number of questions that Bob did not seem particularly interested in answering. What was harder to explain, and somehow more alarming, was that there was not a single scratch on him. Not a bruise, not a mark. And for a guy who looked like he'd wandered out of an accountant's office, Bob was— well. The word "ripped" felt almost unfair. His abs were just there, completely unbothered, like they hadn't gotten the memo that the rest of his life was a disaster.
Bob shifted his weight and ran a hand through his hair, glancing down at himself like he was only just now noticing the state of things.
"So— okay. I don't remember lot." He gave a small, stiff wave, then immediately seemed to regret it. "Do you think you could maybe... help me figure out where I am? And — this is kind of a secondary thing, totally not urgent — possibly lend me a shirt?" He paused. "Please. That part was important. The please."
when the hand was offered down to him, clark glanced at it with the faintest hint of a smile before accepting. again, carefully. the crater made bob’s apparent durability difficult to ignore, but clark had never liked assuming invulnerability meant someone could not be hurt. there were too many different ways for people to be damaged, and not all of them left visible marks.
“thanks,” he said warmly, letting bob help him up even though he did not strictly need the help.
it seemed important to accept it anyway. once standing, his gaze moved over bob again with that same careful concern. the shredded pajamas. the bullet holes. the complete absence of blood. the way bob seemed both physically untouched and emotionally seconds away from apologizing to the dirt for landing on it.
there were a lot of questions there. clark decided, very quickly, not to ask all of them at once.
“okay,” he said, nodding slowly as though bob’s request was perfectly reasonable, which, considering everything else, it actually was. “we can do both of those things.”
his eyes lifted toward the surrounding area, taking in the slope of the crater, the broken earth, the distant outline of trees and road beyond it. he listened briefly too, head tilting a fraction. traffic. wind. the same stubborn bird. no screaming. no sirens yet, though that would probably change once someone noticed the new geological feature.
“you’re outside of metropolis,” he continued after a moment, looking back to bob. “not too far. a few miles, maybe.” his gaze flickered once more to the bullet holes. “which is either very good news or very confusing news depending on where you started.”
that was gentle enough to pass as humor, though his concern remained underneath it. steady. patient. refusing to be rushed by the sheer absurdity of the situation. at the request for a shirt, clark looked down at himself. then back at bob. there was a tiny pause where he very clearly considered the cape, then seemed to think better of it.
“i don’t usually carry spare clothes in the suit,” he admitted, faintly apologetic. “which is starting to feel like an oversight. but i can get you one. there’s a gas station off the main road, and if that doesn’t work, i know someone nearby who won’t ask too many questions.”
clark’s expression softened again as he studied bob’s face, the nervousness, the embarrassment, the effort to sound normal while standing half-dressed in the middle of a crater with bullet holes in his pajamas.
i love women
David Corenswet as Superman / Clark Kent in recent clip from Supergirl (2026), dir. Craig Gillespie
The second Superman looked genuinely worried about him, Bob felt his heart kick into overdrive.
Which was... weird. Well, maybe not weird. Superman was ridiculously handsome. Anybody with functioning eyes could probably figure that out. But that wasn't really the problem.
The problem was the concern.
Real concern.
The kind that wasn't attached to an agenda or a mission or someone trying to get something from him. The kind that made it seem like Clark actually cared whether he was okay. Bob couldn't remember the last time someone had looked at him like that.
His face immediately turned red.
Those big blue eyes of his somehow got even wider as he scrambled to sit up straighter, tugging uselessly at the shredded remains of his shirt like that was going to make him look any less like a guy who had just fallen out of the sky. For a second he just stared, looking dangerously close to an anime character seeing their crush for the first time.
"Oh. Uh—"
Great start.
"Bob. I'm Bob."
He quickly stuck out his hand, nearly fumbling the motion halfway through. A nervous smile spread across his face as he looked up at him.
"Nice to meet you."
The smile lingered a second too long. Bob didn't seem to notice.
the crater made that a difficult argument to sustain. but there was something in the nervous way he moved, the too-wide eyes and reddened face and the desperate little attempt to gather the remains of his shirt like dignity could be stitched back together with enough panic. it made clark soften in a way he could not quite help.
“nice to meet you, bob,” he said, voice warm and steady.
his grip was firm but gentle, over quickly enough not to make the moment feel stranger than it already clearly was. though, given the circumstances, clark suspected strange had become somewhat
it was hard not to when the man was looking at him like that while sitting in the middle of a crater that very much suggested they should perhaps be having a more urgent conversation about survival, physics, and possibly property damage.
still, clark did not comment on it. some kindnesses were loud. others were simply choosing not to point at someone’s embarrassment and make it bleed.
“okay, bob,” he continued, letting his hand fall back to his side as his gaze moved briefly over the torn fabric, the dust clinging to him, the utter absence of injuries that should have been impossible to miss. “i’m going to ask you a few questions, and none of them are meant to scare you.”
clark shifted lower into a crouch again, keeping himself at a less towering angle. it felt important. standing above someone who had just fallen from the sky seemed like a poor way to make them feel safe, even if bob appeared more flustered than frightened now.
“do you remember falling?”
his voice stayed soft. measured.
“or what happened before you ended up here?”
the bird in the distance kept singing.
clark glanced briefly toward the sound, something almost disbelieving crossing his face before he looked back at bob. the world had a funny way of continuing in the middle of impossible things. birds sang. traffic moved. people breathed. someone survived an impact that should have scattered them across several zip codes and then introduced himself with a handshake.
“also,” he added after a beat, tone gentler still, “you don’t have to try to look composed for me.” his eyes flicked briefly to the shredded shirt, then back to bob’s face. “you just fell into the ground hard enough to make geography. i think you’re allowed to be a little shaken.”
