Ficlet: Safety Net | DCU/SR | Clark/Lois | PG | 1/1
Title: Safety Net
Fandom: DCU/Superman Returns
Pairing: Clark/Lois
Rating: PG
Word Count: 443
Prompt: Safety
Summary: The media has it all wrong about Superman's relationship with Lois Lane.
Disclaimer: DC and WB own it all. I own nothing. Darnit.
Author's Notes: Written for the February '09 Fig Grab Challenge at The Planet. Also, this was meant to be a comics/general DCU amalgam, but shifted to SR. Oh, well. This is me, not complaining. :p
Safety Net
For years the media had considered Superman Lois Lane's safety net, ever since that fateful day when she'd fallen out of that helicopter and into his arms. He'd rescued her so often that it was an old joke by now. “Superman Rescues Lois Lane - Again!” the headlines―of the tabloids, especially―would read. She'd become known as the fierce reporter whose daring nature practically begged to land her in situations that would require rescue by Big Blue himself.
Even after she'd married Clark Kent.
The media just didn't care. As far as they were concerned, Kent was a red herring, a cover to hide her relationship with Superman. It only fueled their fire further.
But neither Lois nor Clark cared. Not for a long time, anyway. See, they both knew the truth. Not the truth of Clark's identity, but of just who was the safety net for whom.
The media didn't know what Clark had felt so keenly ever since that first rescue. They didn't know that as long as he'd known her, Lois had saved him more times and in more ways than they'd ever understand. That Lois had made it okay for him to simply be who he was. That she'd been there to pick up the scattered pieces of his life after Zod. That she kept him grounded when the AI hologram of Jor-El had gotten to him, filled his head with arrogant, speciesist ideas. That she'd pulled a shank of kryptonite from his back after hauling his limp form from the ocean, soaked to the bone and nearly drowned.
They didn't know that she'd given him a home, in a son that he hadn't even known he had until Jason was five years old.
They didn't know that she kept him sane when his mission drove him to the brink, exhausted him and wore down his defenses.
Wrapped up in each other in bed one early Sunday morning when the world was quiet for once, Clark thought about all of this, considered all the things they didn't know and never would. As Lois ran her fingers through his hair sleepily, he leaned into her touch, reveling in the safety he felt there.
He may be Superman to the rest of the world, invulnerable protector, sun-fueled superhero, but here he was Clark Kent, husband of the toughest woman in the world, kept safe and sane by a fiery, protective spirit that none could match. Here, he was cradled in the arms of the real safety net of their relationship, that the media and the world would never know.
Smiling at the thought, he snuggled closer to his wife.
* * * * *
Fandom: DCU/Superman Returns
Pairing: Clark/Lois
Rating: PG
Word Count: 443
Prompt: Safety
Summary: The media has it all wrong about Superman's relationship with Lois Lane.
Disclaimer: DC and WB own it all. I own nothing. Darnit.
Author's Notes: Written for the February '09 Fig Grab Challenge at The Planet. Also, this was meant to be a comics/general DCU amalgam, but shifted to SR. Oh, well. This is me, not complaining. :p
Safety Net
For years the media had considered Superman Lois Lane's safety net, ever since that fateful day when she'd fallen out of that helicopter and into his arms. He'd rescued her so often that it was an old joke by now. “Superman Rescues Lois Lane - Again!” the headlines―of the tabloids, especially―would read. She'd become known as the fierce reporter whose daring nature practically begged to land her in situations that would require rescue by Big Blue himself.
Even after she'd married Clark Kent.
The media just didn't care. As far as they were concerned, Kent was a red herring, a cover to hide her relationship with Superman. It only fueled their fire further.
But neither Lois nor Clark cared. Not for a long time, anyway. See, they both knew the truth. Not the truth of Clark's identity, but of just who was the safety net for whom.
The media didn't know what Clark had felt so keenly ever since that first rescue. They didn't know that as long as he'd known her, Lois had saved him more times and in more ways than they'd ever understand. That Lois had made it okay for him to simply be who he was. That she'd been there to pick up the scattered pieces of his life after Zod. That she kept him grounded when the AI hologram of Jor-El had gotten to him, filled his head with arrogant, speciesist ideas. That she'd pulled a shank of kryptonite from his back after hauling his limp form from the ocean, soaked to the bone and nearly drowned.
They didn't know that she'd given him a home, in a son that he hadn't even known he had until Jason was five years old.
They didn't know that she kept him sane when his mission drove him to the brink, exhausted him and wore down his defenses.
Wrapped up in each other in bed one early Sunday morning when the world was quiet for once, Clark thought about all of this, considered all the things they didn't know and never would. As Lois ran her fingers through his hair sleepily, he leaned into her touch, reveling in the safety he felt there.
He may be Superman to the rest of the world, invulnerable protector, sun-fueled superhero, but here he was Clark Kent, husband of the toughest woman in the world, kept safe and sane by a fiery, protective spirit that none could match. Here, he was cradled in the arms of the real safety net of their relationship, that the media and the world would never know.
Smiling at the thought, he snuggled closer to his wife.
* * * * *