Fic: Orbits in Decay | SR | Clark/Jimmy | PG-13 | 1/1
Title: With Fortune's Hand IV: Four Relationships That Never Happened, But Could Have: Orbits in Decay
Fandom: Superman Returns
Pairing: Clark Kent/Jimmy Olsen
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,079
Prompt: For Porn Battle XII: beer, friendship; For the Superman Movieverse Pairings Challenge: The Ace o' Clubs, friendship, regret/guilt, hug, jealousy
Summary: Clark finally realizes why Jimmy's been acting so strange, and it leaves him a little bereft.
Disclaimer: DC and WB own everything. I own nothing, darnit.
Author's Notes: First in this part of the With Fortune's Hand series. Originally posted here at PB XII. Monumentally Screwed will make a lot more sense after reading this one, which takes place during SR, in a slightly altered scene.
Orbits in Decay
Halfway through his fifth beer of the afternoon-with the day it'd been already, alcohol was practically required-Clark was just about convinced that his return to Metropolis had been a monumental mistake. Sure, the Chief had saved his place at the Planet, in his own strange way, but with Lois having moved on, engaged and a mother, of all things, he wasn't so sure he had a place here anymore. Before he'd gone, working with-and loving-Lois had been his entire life outside of the tights, and often times in them as well.
What a sad view that was, in retrospect. Maybe Jor-El had been right about everything, after all.
Letting all that doubt about the way things had changed out in a weirdly-concealed confession to Jimmy and the bartender only seemed to compound it all, though, and Clark was mostly mired in his own downward spiral of self-loathing when Jimmy stumbled his way through a tipsy confession of his own.
“You know, if you ask me-cuz' she'll never tell you this-but if you ask me... she's still in love with you-know-who,” he said, choking down a heavy swig of beer and finishing with a quick belch.
Clark's brain sped into overdrive at that, his mind suddenly taken on two separate trips down memory lane, complete with revelations that he hadn't been expecting. Lois, for one. Still in love with him? Impossible. And Jimmy.... The look on his friend's face told Clark that Jimmy hadn't exactly dealt well with the way things had unfolded. With the sentence that seemed to speak volumes about the state of things, Clark felt transported to a time more than five years ago, not a week before he'd left. It'd been another in a long string of bad days, when Clark was too wrapped up in his own crap to relate to anyone outside himself, and the beer had flowed then as freely as it was now. He'd told Jimmy he was thinking about leaving, permanently, and Jimmy, having had a few himself, had responded with a look of utter despondence, his expression falling and his shoulders slumping. Only the fact that he'd still been breathing and still held a pulse had clued Clark in that he hadn't just died on the spot.
But then there'd been a choked-off sound, like a sob being arrested in its progress, and a pair of arms had come around him in a hug so tight that, if Clark had been human, would've driven the air out of his lungs. Jimmy's heart had hammered against both their rib-cages, another choked-off sob stuck in the younger man's throat, before he managed a weak, “No way, Clark. You can't just.... Please don't go.”
Startled, Clark had frozen in place, but the way Jimmy had been shaking, like the world had just ended, had torn Clark from his shock and replaced it with surprise of a different sort.
“Jimmy, I-” he'd started, the memory of every last word as clear now as they were then, “I-”
He'd wanted to pry his friend from around him, set him back in place and tell him to buck up, that it wouldn't be that bad and maybe he'd be back one day, but something had stopped him.
“I'm so sorry,” was all he'd finally replied, hugging Jimmy in return and breathing deep as the weight of the consequences for his leaving had hit him. Of course it wouldn't just be Lois left in the lurch, it'd be Jimmy, too. His best friend, as far as friendship went. His-
Leave it to Clark to have only realized then that Jimmy's reaction had been over the top for even a best male friend. Not even Lois had reacted so strongly, quite the opposite, actually, so the sudden revelation of Jimmy's affection had been quite the eye-opener. Not unwelcome, just... really poorly timed, as if his timing could've been planned. In another world, in another lifetime, yes, God yes, but... but this wasn't another world, and Lois....
And now here sat the same man, five years and some months older, and bitter in so many ways that it made Clark want to beg his forgiveness for having been such an idiot.
Of course Jimmy still felt the same way. The cake had been evidence enough of it, that first clinging hug even more so.
But Clark couldn't help that he'd been head over heels for Lois for-God help him-as long as he'd known her. Couldn't help that Lois might still carry a torch for him in return-or that Jimmy had apparently known enough to connect the two situations, though that was an unsettling line of thought to consider later. And he certainly couldn't help that he was already back in Lois's orbit, the feelings still as fresh as a bleeding wound, just as Jimmy seemed to be back in his, both of them losing altitude fast and burning up on reentry.
He wished he could change those things, any of them at all, anything to make things right with Jimmy and mend both of their hearts and souls, but he just couldn't. All his powers and all his efforts wouldn't make a damn bit of difference, not when they were both already so lost, swept so far away with the water under their respective bridges that they had no hope of ever finding dry land.
A hard swallow, his beer going down like a rock into his already-leaden stomach, and Clark uttered the two words that he knew were going to be his constant companions for weeks to come, “I'm sorry.”
Jimmy's bitter laugh was salt on an open wound, but suddenly there didn't seem to be time for old hurt feelings. With a crisis being reported on the old TV-set above the bar, Clark had to make a choice, and make it fast.
As much as he cared for Jimmy, and wanted to fix this, he loved Lois more than breathing, and couldn't let her fall from the sky, not again, not on his first day back on the job.
Jimmy would just have to wait for now. I'll be back, Jim, he promised him silently as he sped from the bar.
The mildly-panicked, “I should do some-” followed by the slam of a palm against the bar top and a muttered, “Dammit! Just, hurry up, Clark, go. Save her,” were the last things he heard of his friend as he raced to the sky to stop the jet from plummeting to a fiery end.
~*~*~*~
Fandom: Superman Returns
Pairing: Clark Kent/Jimmy Olsen
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,079
Prompt: For Porn Battle XII: beer, friendship; For the Superman Movieverse Pairings Challenge: The Ace o' Clubs, friendship, regret/guilt, hug, jealousy
Summary: Clark finally realizes why Jimmy's been acting so strange, and it leaves him a little bereft.
Disclaimer: DC and WB own everything. I own nothing, darnit.
Author's Notes: First in this part of the With Fortune's Hand series. Originally posted here at PB XII. Monumentally Screwed will make a lot more sense after reading this one, which takes place during SR, in a slightly altered scene.
Orbits in Decay
Halfway through his fifth beer of the afternoon-with the day it'd been already, alcohol was practically required-Clark was just about convinced that his return to Metropolis had been a monumental mistake. Sure, the Chief had saved his place at the Planet, in his own strange way, but with Lois having moved on, engaged and a mother, of all things, he wasn't so sure he had a place here anymore. Before he'd gone, working with-and loving-Lois had been his entire life outside of the tights, and often times in them as well.
What a sad view that was, in retrospect. Maybe Jor-El had been right about everything, after all.
Letting all that doubt about the way things had changed out in a weirdly-concealed confession to Jimmy and the bartender only seemed to compound it all, though, and Clark was mostly mired in his own downward spiral of self-loathing when Jimmy stumbled his way through a tipsy confession of his own.
“You know, if you ask me-cuz' she'll never tell you this-but if you ask me... she's still in love with you-know-who,” he said, choking down a heavy swig of beer and finishing with a quick belch.
Clark's brain sped into overdrive at that, his mind suddenly taken on two separate trips down memory lane, complete with revelations that he hadn't been expecting. Lois, for one. Still in love with him? Impossible. And Jimmy.... The look on his friend's face told Clark that Jimmy hadn't exactly dealt well with the way things had unfolded. With the sentence that seemed to speak volumes about the state of things, Clark felt transported to a time more than five years ago, not a week before he'd left. It'd been another in a long string of bad days, when Clark was too wrapped up in his own crap to relate to anyone outside himself, and the beer had flowed then as freely as it was now. He'd told Jimmy he was thinking about leaving, permanently, and Jimmy, having had a few himself, had responded with a look of utter despondence, his expression falling and his shoulders slumping. Only the fact that he'd still been breathing and still held a pulse had clued Clark in that he hadn't just died on the spot.
But then there'd been a choked-off sound, like a sob being arrested in its progress, and a pair of arms had come around him in a hug so tight that, if Clark had been human, would've driven the air out of his lungs. Jimmy's heart had hammered against both their rib-cages, another choked-off sob stuck in the younger man's throat, before he managed a weak, “No way, Clark. You can't just.... Please don't go.”
Startled, Clark had frozen in place, but the way Jimmy had been shaking, like the world had just ended, had torn Clark from his shock and replaced it with surprise of a different sort.
“Jimmy, I-” he'd started, the memory of every last word as clear now as they were then, “I-”
He'd wanted to pry his friend from around him, set him back in place and tell him to buck up, that it wouldn't be that bad and maybe he'd be back one day, but something had stopped him.
“I'm so sorry,” was all he'd finally replied, hugging Jimmy in return and breathing deep as the weight of the consequences for his leaving had hit him. Of course it wouldn't just be Lois left in the lurch, it'd be Jimmy, too. His best friend, as far as friendship went. His-
Leave it to Clark to have only realized then that Jimmy's reaction had been over the top for even a best male friend. Not even Lois had reacted so strongly, quite the opposite, actually, so the sudden revelation of Jimmy's affection had been quite the eye-opener. Not unwelcome, just... really poorly timed, as if his timing could've been planned. In another world, in another lifetime, yes, God yes, but... but this wasn't another world, and Lois....
And now here sat the same man, five years and some months older, and bitter in so many ways that it made Clark want to beg his forgiveness for having been such an idiot.
Of course Jimmy still felt the same way. The cake had been evidence enough of it, that first clinging hug even more so.
But Clark couldn't help that he'd been head over heels for Lois for-God help him-as long as he'd known her. Couldn't help that Lois might still carry a torch for him in return-or that Jimmy had apparently known enough to connect the two situations, though that was an unsettling line of thought to consider later. And he certainly couldn't help that he was already back in Lois's orbit, the feelings still as fresh as a bleeding wound, just as Jimmy seemed to be back in his, both of them losing altitude fast and burning up on reentry.
He wished he could change those things, any of them at all, anything to make things right with Jimmy and mend both of their hearts and souls, but he just couldn't. All his powers and all his efforts wouldn't make a damn bit of difference, not when they were both already so lost, swept so far away with the water under their respective bridges that they had no hope of ever finding dry land.
A hard swallow, his beer going down like a rock into his already-leaden stomach, and Clark uttered the two words that he knew were going to be his constant companions for weeks to come, “I'm sorry.”
Jimmy's bitter laugh was salt on an open wound, but suddenly there didn't seem to be time for old hurt feelings. With a crisis being reported on the old TV-set above the bar, Clark had to make a choice, and make it fast.
As much as he cared for Jimmy, and wanted to fix this, he loved Lois more than breathing, and couldn't let her fall from the sky, not again, not on his first day back on the job.
Jimmy would just have to wait for now. I'll be back, Jim, he promised him silently as he sped from the bar.
The mildly-panicked, “I should do some-” followed by the slam of a palm against the bar top and a muttered, “Dammit! Just, hurry up, Clark, go. Save her,” were the last things he heard of his friend as he raced to the sky to stop the jet from plummeting to a fiery end.
~*~*~*~