FIC: Double Helix (with Rai Daydreamer)
Title: Double Helix
Challenge prompt: 11. "The chimera obscurant" --![]()
20_inkspots (Dark set-- full table here) with Rai Daydreamer.
Which came first: Story
Pairing: Clark/Bruce
Warnings: None needed
Rating: PG
Word Count: 330Summary: It's mentioned in All Star Superman and Final Crisis that Clark can read and memorize DNA, Words and science are two of Clark's favorite things. Bruce Wayne is another.
attgctagga gtctccgatg cgagagaagg
There are three billion base pairs of bonded nucleotides in the human genome.
Three billion.
tccaaatctg aatactgaga agcaagcata
Each human's is distinct. More individual than fingerprints, more intimate than heartbeats, this unwinding calculus of what makes a single human unique and irreplaceable.
Clark's vision traces each curve, noting the patterns, hearing the rhythm of letters in his mind.
Memorizing.
tatctcttta gataagaatt ataataacta
Thymine bonds to adenine and guanine to cytosine, as natural and mysterious as the human heart.
tgctgctgct ctccggggcc acggccaccg
Three billion base pairs. Held together by chemistry, twining into spirals, a helix ladder climbing upward, ever upward, drawing Clark into a vortex of wonder, climbing Jacob's ladder, memorizing. Learning by heart.
aggccagtgc cgggcccctc ataggagagg
But he loves words even more than science, and so he cannot help himself: Cherished, taciturn genius. Always growing toward transcendence, a grim angel, ah, tangled caring compassion. Agony and aspiration together climbing to communion--tears and grief, an alchemy turning to greatness. This tantalizing chiaroscuro tempts an alien, creates a thirst. A threat.
A thirst.
Tragic crusader, ceaseless gladiator, gallant comrade, trusted companion. Glimpsed airborne, tumbling, taunting--
For fun, he switches to Czech, to Swahili, to Maori, to Japanese, weaving words into strands of meaning. It's all the same in every language. He wants to memorize it all, see it all, not just the dancing helices but the atoms themselves, each one a tiny world, map their shared electrical tango, their every position perfect, lost in a cloud of glory--
"--Clark?"
At the voice, he pulls his vision back like a telescope (electron-atom-molecule-protein-cell-tissue-skin-lips-mouth-face-Bruce).
"Clark," Bruce says as though he has been repeating it for a while. "What are you daydreaming about?"
"Oh...just committing something important to memory," Clark says.
Batman shakes his head, exasperation warring with affection. "Focus, Clark," he says, turning back to his work.
Clark focuses.
tatatctgtt gaattgcatc tcgttgcaat agaccttctc ctcctgcaaa taaaacctca cccatgaatg
Grace. Clarity. Triumph. Amen.
Amen.
Challenge prompt: 11. "The chimera obscurant" --
20_inkspots (Dark set-- full table here) with Rai Daydreamer.
Which came first: Story
Pairing: Clark/Bruce
Warnings: None needed
Rating: PG
Word Count: 330Summary: It's mentioned in All Star Superman and Final Crisis that Clark can read and memorize DNA, Words and science are two of Clark's favorite things. Bruce Wayne is another.
attgctagga gtctccgatg cgagagaagg
There are three billion base pairs of bonded nucleotides in the human genome.
Three billion.
tccaaatctg aatactgaga agcaagcata
Each human's is distinct. More individual than fingerprints, more intimate than heartbeats, this unwinding calculus of what makes a single human unique and irreplaceable.
Clark's vision traces each curve, noting the patterns, hearing the rhythm of letters in his mind.
Memorizing.
tatctcttta gataagaatt ataataacta
Thymine bonds to adenine and guanine to cytosine, as natural and mysterious as the human heart.
tgctgctgct ctccggggcc acggccaccg
Three billion base pairs. Held together by chemistry, twining into spirals, a helix ladder climbing upward, ever upward, drawing Clark into a vortex of wonder, climbing Jacob's ladder, memorizing. Learning by heart.
aggccagtgc cgggcccctc ataggagagg
But he loves words even more than science, and so he cannot help himself: Cherished, taciturn genius. Always growing toward transcendence, a grim angel, ah, tangled caring compassion. Agony and aspiration together climbing to communion--tears and grief, an alchemy turning to greatness. This tantalizing chiaroscuro tempts an alien, creates a thirst. A threat.
A thirst.
Tragic crusader, ceaseless gladiator, gallant comrade, trusted companion. Glimpsed airborne, tumbling, taunting--
For fun, he switches to Czech, to Swahili, to Maori, to Japanese, weaving words into strands of meaning. It's all the same in every language. He wants to memorize it all, see it all, not just the dancing helices but the atoms themselves, each one a tiny world, map their shared electrical tango, their every position perfect, lost in a cloud of glory--
"--Clark?"
At the voice, he pulls his vision back like a telescope (electron-atom-molecule-protein-cell-tissue-skin-lips-mouth-face-Bruce).
"Clark," Bruce says as though he has been repeating it for a while. "What are you daydreaming about?"
"Oh...just committing something important to memory," Clark says.
Batman shakes his head, exasperation warring with affection. "Focus, Clark," he says, turning back to his work.
Clark focuses.
tatatctgtt gaattgcatc tcgttgcaat agaccttctc ctcctgcaaa taaaacctca cccatgaatg
Grace. Clarity. Triumph. Amen.
Amen.