Track 4 | Fever Dream by Alex Warren ft. Clark Kent
Summary: Clark Kent has sworn off dating after heartbreak—until the Daily Planet hires a brilliant new editor. What begins as an awkward office tour quickly becomes weeks of undeniable chemistry, near-misses, and growing feelings. As coincidence blurs into destiny, Clark must decide whether some connections are worth risking the risk.
Part of my 2026 Summer Event! Master list here :)
“Clark!” Perry called out, as Clark turned with a half smile. “We have a new hire. You’ll be showing her around, got it?”
“Me? Yeah- ok, I can do that-”
“I’m told you’re less ‘intimidating’ than some of the other staff, so… make her feel at home, Kent. She’s a damn good editor, and I’m excited to have her on the team.”
“Understood, sir. I’ll be the best greeting squad you’ve ever seen,” Clark grinned. Truth be told, he knew exactly who Perry was referring to when he called the other staff intimidating: his recent ex-girlfriend, Lois Lane, reporter extraordinaire. They had ended on good terms a bit ago, and Clark held no ill will towards her, but he definitely wasn’t upset about some forced separation today. It had taken some time to be able to exist in the same room as her, and Clark was beginning to feel it would be the most fair on everyone if he departed the dating scene completely. Throwing someone into his double life… it wasn’t fair to anyone.
Lost in thought, Clark had completely disassociated until he felt a light tap on his shoulder, causing him to turn abruptly.
“Hi!” you waved. “You must be Mr. Kent. I’m the new editor, Perry asked me to come find you so we could take a look around?”
Oh. Oh. Perry wanted him dead.
At first glance, Clark felt his heart race in his chest and his entire body go warm. You were a force, with your own gravitational pull calling him closer, and you hadn’t said more than 30 words to him.
Friendly. His job was to make you feel comfortable and he was completely rigid. Gosh darnit, Clark, snap out of it!
“Yes! Yes, hi, that’s me, but you can call me Clark- Mr. Kent just sounds very formal, you know?” He chuckled awkwardly, extending his hand for you to shake, which you took.
“Hm. Firm handshake,” you commented.
“Oh! Sorry, I don’t know my own strength sometimes. That’s what my Ma always says, she says, ‘Clark, you don’t know your own strength sometimes’- I’m rambling, I’m sorry, that’s so awkward, let’s go!”
You laughed- not a mocking laugh, but an earnest one, like you found his incessant chatter almost… charming? No, Clark must be reading that wrong. He had heard about you from Jimmy, and supposedly you were the lead editor at the Daily Bugle over in New York, and Perry had offered to up your salary considerably if you moved to Metropolis. You were far too intelligent to find his prattling charming.
“So! For the tour. I’ll take you right this way, if you will…”
Clark led you through the bullpen, trying very hard to remember how walking worked.
“This is where Jimmy sits,” he said, pointing a little too enthusiastically. “He’s our photographer. Great guy. Terrible at remembering birthdays.”
“Hey,” interjected Jimmy. “I remembered yours!”
Clark blinked. “You… did?”
You covered your mouth to hide another laugh.
Wonderful. You’d known him for all of three minutes and you’d already witnessed him lose an argument he accidentally started.
“You laugh a lot,” Clark blurted. Your eyebrows lifted. “I just mean that… that came out weird. I meant-“ he rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s nice.”
“It’s because you’re funny.”
“I don’t think I’m trying to be.”
That somehow made his heart beat even harder.
By the end of your first week, Clark had reached one very important conclusion. Perry White hated him. It was the only explanation.
“Kent!” Perry barked from his office. “Conference room. Now.”
Clark looked up from his laptop, setting his glasses higher on his nose as he hurried over. You were already sitting at the table, notebook open and pen tapping lightly against the page.
“There he is,” Perry said. “Perfect. Kent, you’re covering the Centennial Park restoration piece. Our newest editor here is going with you.”
Clark blinked. “Together?”
Perry frowned. “No, Kent. Separately. Yes, together.”
Jimmy, who happened to be walking by with his camera slung over his shoulder, poked his head into the room.
Jimmy disappeared, though not before shooting Clark an unmistakably smug grin.
Twenty minutes later, the two of you were walking toward Centennial Park.
“So,” you said, glancing over. “Are you always this quiet?”
Clark nearly tripped over an uneven sidewalk.
“What? No! I mean… sometimes. Not usually. I don’t know.”
“I’ve noticed you think out loud.”
“You’ve apologized to three strangers today.”
“They deserved apologies.”
“The woman whose shoulder you bumped?”
Your laugh echoed through the park.
Clark decided then and there that your laugh was dangerous.
Because every time he heard it, he found himself trying to earn another one.
“You know,” you said after a moment, “when Jimmy told me about you, I expected…”
Clark felt his stomach drop.
“I don’t know. More intimidating.”
He barked out a surprised laugh.
“You look like you could bench-press a truck.”
“I definitely can’t do that.”
You tilted your head suspiciously before grinning.
“I think you’re just a really bad liar.”
The interview itself went smoothly, though Clark spent most of it pretending not to notice how close your shoulder brushed his whenever the two of you leaned over the same notebook.
Afterward, you stopped at a small coffee shop around the corner.
“You showed me around all week.”
“You bought me coffee yesterday.”
“I wasn’t keeping score.”
Clark looked down at the paper cup in his hands.He hadn’t been keeping score either.
But he remembered every conversation. Every smile. Every time you’d wandered over to his desk with a grammar question you absolutely could’ve answered yourself.
Maybe you just liked talking to him.
No. Don’t assume that, Kent. You were probably just being friendly.
Across the café, a little girl tugged on her mother’s sleeve and pointed toward Clark.
“Mommy,” she whispered loudly. “That’s Superman.”
The mother laughed softly.
“No, sweetheart. Superman doesn’t wear glasses.”
Clark let out the breath he’d been holding.
You looked between him and the little girl.
“I think she’d make a pretty convincing argument.”
Clark instinctively smoothed it down.
He hadn’t even realized he was smiling. For the first time in longer than he cared to admit, going home didn’t sound nearly as exciting as staying exactly where he was.
Three weeks after your first day at the Planet, Clark had developed a routine.
He’d arrive ten minutes early. Pretend it wasn’t because you usually walked in five minutes later. Fail spectacularly at acting surprised when you did. It was pathetic.
Jimmy thought it was hilarious.
“You know,” Jimmy said one morning, spinning lazily in his chair, “most people just ask someone out.”
Clark kept typing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Jimmy leaned over his desk. “You smiled at your computer because they emailed you a comma.”
“It was a very thoughtful comma.”
You stepped out, coffee in one hand and a stack of marked-up pages in the other. “Morning!”
Clark looked up so quickly he almost knocked his glasses off. “Morning.”
You smiled before disappearing toward your desk.
Jimmy waited exactly three seconds.
Clark buried his face in his hands.
By Friday afternoon, Metropolis had settled into one of those steady spring rains that blurred the skyline into watercolor.
Clark had just returned from an interview when he caught part of a conversation outside Perry’s office.
“…headed back next week…”
“…it’s a great opportunity…”
He couldn’t hear the rest.
Normally, he would’ve tuned in with his super hearing without a second thought. Instead, he stopped himself. It felt wrong. If you wanted him to know, you’d tell him.
Still… Going back? Back to New York?
The thought lodged itself in his chest and refused to leave.
For the rest of the day, every time he looked over, you were smiling. Laughing with Lois. Talking to Perry. Packing papers into your bag.
His mind filled in every blank with the worst possible answer. By the time the office emptied, Clark had convinced himself you were leaving.
Not that you’d ever been his to lose.
You slipped your coat on and headed toward the elevator.
“You heading out?” you asked.
Clark stood so quickly his chair rolled backward.
“I was wondering if… maybe… if you weren’t too busy…”
“If you’d maybe like to get dinner sometime.”
Clark’s heart pounded so loudly he wondered if you could hear it.
“If the answer’s no,” he rushed on, “that’s completely okay. I just figured I’d rather know than let you go back to New York and spend the next six months wondering if I imagined all of this.”
Your expression softened.
“I was talking to Perry about covering a story in Gotham next week.”
“I’ll be back the next day.”
“I was beginning to think you weren’t interested.”
“You kept looking at me like you wanted to say something.”
“And then you’d ask if I wanted another coffee filter.”
For a moment, neither of you spoke. Rain tapped softly against the windows.
“So…” you said, taking one small step closer. “Was that dinner invitation still available?”
Clark smiled. It wasn’t nervous this time. It wasn’t forced. It was simply happy.
From somewhere across the newsroom came Jimmy’s unmistakable voice.
“You told Jimmy?” you asked.
Jimmy rounded the corner holding a twenty-dollar bill.
Cat rolled her eyes, handed him the money, and pointed toward Clark.
“Told you he’d get there eventually.”
“For legal reasons,” Jimmy said, stuffing the bill into his pocket, “they were friendly predictions.”
You laughed again. Clark was beginning to think that sound could fix just about anything.
As the two of you stepped into the elevator together, he caught your reflection in the polished doors.
For weeks, he’d convinced himself the feeling would pass. That eventually the butterflies would settle, the overthinking would stop, and you’d simply become another coworker.
Instead, every day had felt a little more impossible than the last. A little brighter. Like something that couldn’t quite be explained.
Something that had arrived without warning…and somehow made the whole world feel different.
Special thanks to @pixynari for my beautiful dividers!!
I really hope you guys enjoyed this lead single of my first ever event! This one is extra super special to me because I see Alex Warren live one week from today (yay!) lots of love for this song and for Clark. Thank you for reading!
