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Clark held the limp, unconscious lizard in the grip of one hand.
He looked down at Metropolis.
Countless citizens across multiple blocks stared up from the sidewalk, squinting at him from where he floated against the sun. He was a half-mile or so above them, given that the lizard was probably a hundred feet tall and the tail kept hitting the tops of skyscrapers.
Helplessly, he called, "Where should I put it?"
The citizens glanced at each other.
A businessman got a smart look on his face, and then whistled. Clark gave him a halfhearted glare, because you really didn't have to whistle to get Superman's attention.
"Try the Bay," he shouted.
Clark swiveled his head to the Delaware Bay, decided that was good enough, and went to head over before being interrupted by another shout.
"Are you kiddin'?" a lady called. "I'm from Gotham, Supes, and I know someone who won't appreciate that thing anywhere near his part of the coast."
Clark blanched. Yeah, no way to that. He focused on the lady. "Do you have an idea on where I should put it, ma'am?"
She shrugged. "Try the Atlantic."
Clark juggled the lizard to his other hand, and scratched the back of his head. He might as well, given that there was really no other place to put the lizard-monster thing. Besides, even if it wasn't dead (he was sure it was after Clark punched it a little too hard — he felt bad, but it was a lab-created creature, did it even count as killing?), the ocean would be a good place for it to put use of its rapid adaptation skills.
Grimacing, Clark called back, "Thank you, ma'am," before heading to the larger body of water.
Hovering over the ocean, Clark awkwardly patted the lizard. "Sorry, buddy," he muttered, before dropping the creature into the water. It fell with an enormous splash, which thankfully didn't reach shore, and then sighed and started his way back to the city.
He was hovering just above shore when something hit his back. He turned, swiftly, to see the enormous lizard fall, right onto the shore. Gaping, he looked behind him, scanning the line of the ocean before his eyes caught onto a— a head, a man's head, bobbing from the middle of the sea.
"This isn't a damn trash can!" the man yelled, before giving Clark the view of his middle finger and then swimming off like a torpedo.
Clark gaped some more.
"So now where are you gonna put it?" some teen kid called from a nearby building.
“Aquaman,” said Batman. “His given name isn't mine to disclose.”
“Yeah, because I'm sure he told you it in the first place,” muttered Clark. Batman just stared at him. “What does he do?”
“He lives in the sea.”
“That's it?”
Batman stared at him some more, and Clark could only assume he looked shrewd under the cowl. “He protects it from pollution as much as he can.”
Clark blushed.
“Superman,” said Batman, “if you want to know more about him, then meet with him.”
Clark scratched the back of his head. “What if he attacks? I mean, I couldn't imagine what I'd do if a lizard was thrown in Metropolis like a dump. I feel terrible.”
“Apologize to the fish while you're at it.”
Clark ignored him. “I guess either way I should go to apologize. And explain. I don't want to be on bad terms with the guy.”
“This reminds me of the time you met Wonder Woman.”
Clark glared at Batman, cheeks flushing. “Shut up.”
Batman looked back at his monitor. “You should stop developing crushes on heroes.”
Clark covered his ears, started singing loudly, and left the Cave.
Clark stared at the water.
"Ahem," he said. "Hello?"
The water was still.
Clark was immensely grateful for his insight to do this on a secluded island, far off the coast. Superman already had enough insanity accusations behind his name.
Clark took a few moments to think, before clearing his throat and saying, "Okay, I apologize in advance if this works. And if you can... If you can hear me."
He waded into the water until he was floating far above the floor, and then let himself sink under.
Then yelled.
It may have been half a minute before he was hit in the mid-section by a barrelling force, catching him entirely off-guard, and he was being shoved back to the shore.
Clark coughed up some water, and he thinks maybe a small fish, before blinking up at the man above him.
Clear eyes were glaring at him, in a frankly offensively perfect face.
“You,” the man said. He was very shirtless. Very shirtless. Very, very shirtless.
Clark blinked a few more times. “Me?”
“You,” the man repeated, “are messing up the whales' songs.”
Clark blinked several more times. “Me?”
The man huffed, before turning back to the water. “Don't do that again.”
“Wait!” exclaimed Clark.
The man looked at him.
Clark straightened up, brushed the sand off his butt, and cleared his throat. “Are you Aquaman?”
The man glared.
Clark wet his lips. “I'm a friend of Batman's.”
The man glared harder.
Clark wanted desperately to get to know him. “I'm Superman.”
“You actually introduce yourself that way,” the man said, tone awed
Clark frowned. The man stared at him some more before grunting, gaze straying off and then catching Clark's again.
The man shoved a hand out. “I'm Aquaman. I know who you are because everyone does.”
Clark's cheeks heated a little. ”Not everyone.”
Aquaman just looked at him, then turned once again to jump back into the water.
"Wait, I just— " Clark struggled with words. He was also an acclaimed investigative journalist. He was an enigma to himself, some days. "I just hope that maybe we could meet up again?"
Aquaman squinted a bit, like he was puzzling Clark out. Then one corner of his lips quirked up.
"Sure," he said, then turned to the water.
Clark, for seemingly no reason, flushed.
Clark investigated.
Lois peeked over his shoulder. Then rolled her eyes. “Bruce warned me about this.”
Clark pulled his laptop closer to his chest.
The cold never bothered Clark, so the northern seas of the Atlantic were very nice places to spend a quiet evening wading in the water, even with rumors of sea monsters and mermen.
Which was far from why Clark was there; he was just there for the view of the imposing mountains circling the water. He casually sat on a rock, dipping his toes in the water, super suit pulled up to his ankles when—
He was pulled under by a strong hand. He barely stopped himself from grinning.
Aquaman was just floating there underwater, arms crossed and shirtless, eyeing Clark, very unimpressed.
Clark smiled. “Hi,” he said underwater. It came out quiet; he'd have to speak louder.
Aquaman blinked a few times.
Clark made an 'ah' noise. He tapped his chest twice. “Alien,” he explained, “I don't need oxygen as much.”
Aquaman's eyebrow momentarily arched. “You're just a box full of surprises, aren't you?”
Clark preened.
Aquaman eyed him for a second, before motioning to the rock Clark was on. When they broke the surface, Aquaman gracefully pulled himself up.
Clark scrambled beside him.
”When did you find out that you could?” Aquaman asked.
“Thirteen,” answered Clark. “Were you always— Did you know? When you were younger?”
Aquaman shook his head. “Long story,” he said, before telling Clark a fragment of how it all must've happened.
Which was fine. Clark was stubborn.
He made sure to show up at least twice a week.
They'd been talking for about a month when Clark was wrapped up with the big lizard he'd been fighting last time.
This time, it had fins. And looked more sentient. And offended that Superman didn't want him eating the people who lived nearby.
Though Clark could handle the water well enough, the sky tended to better fit his motions. He was admittedly embarrassingly attempting to wrestle the beast into obedience, fully aware of the sea animals watching him, when a body barrelled through the lizard, taking it deep into the ocean.
Clark squinted, grinned, then swam up and took in some air and sunlight.
He went back under and rocketed off to Aquaman and the lizard.
When he arrived, the lizard swam away. Aquaman was waving it off.
“Aquaman,” he said slowly, “can you talk to fish?”
Aquaman glared, looking entirely too petulant considering how... Big, he was. “That was not a fish.”
Clark could admit that he was a little into him.
“Kal,” Diana said, exasperated but with a fond, knowing smile, “do you ever not speak of Aquaman?”
Clark wished he could heat vision his feelings.
Clark was hanging out on a skyscraper one day when Aquaman approached him.
“Oh, gee,” he startled.
Aquaman's eyebrows were arching. “Did you just say — ”
Clark quickly interrupted. “I didn't know you could be this far from water. How'd you get up here?”
Aquaman crossed his arms. “I can jump.”
Clark grinned. “Cool.”
Aquaman squinted at him. Then: “I need your help.”
“After you saved me last time? Of course. Sure. Anytime. Anything you—”
“It's an abandoned pipeline,” Aquaman cut out. “Several abandoned pipelines. Off the Gulf of Mexico. Some company left it after going bankrupt. They're corroding, and they've been spilling into the sea.”
Clark went sober.
Clark shut his eyes, shaking his head a little, vision gradually going back to normal. It'd been a while since he had used his heat vision for so long at irregular intervals.
“Do you,” Aquaman awkwardly began.
Clark sent him a quick smile. “No, I'm fine, thanks. Just need to get used to seeing blue again.”
The sky was a brilliant color above them. It was a beautiful day. They sat in silence for a while before Aquaman turned, clearly ready to swim off like all vigilantes seemed to do when faced with a potentially emotionally-driven situation, so Clark brought his hand down, catching the man's wrist.
“Wait,” he said.
Aquaman instantly stilled, looking at him.
Clark wet his lips, then said, “My name is Clark Kent.”
Aquaman was staring at him.
Clark barrelled on. ”I'm— I'm a journalist with the Daily Planet. I've written... Never mind that, but, when I can convince my Chief, I'm an investigative journalist. Just occasionally. But with a story like this, with Superman included, it could raise a lot of awareness.”
“And with me, even more,” Aquaman finished for him.
Clark nodded
After a moment, Aquaman nodded, too. “Alright. You can put me in there. Mention the coral reef.”
“Of course,” Clark beamed.
Aquaman stared at him a little longer. “I'm Arthur. Curry.”
Arthur.
Clark waited until Arthur swam off to dramatically float up in the air in a swoon.
“Lois,” he complained over the phone that night, “I don't even enjoy ocean living.”
The article gets published, the time in between spent with Clark visiting Arthur more frequently and still trying to be subtle about the whole crush thing. Even if it no longer feels like a crush and he often wakes up from dreams of tattooed skin and long hair.
He's fine.
“I'm fine,” Clark said to Batman as the man dragged a few criminals out off the dock where he knocked them out.
“That article was embarrassing,” said Batman, tying up the criminals. “It sounded like a love letter. I thought the Planet only worshipped Superman.”
“They do,” protested Clark. “Wait. No. I—”
“You're in it this time, Kal,” said Batman. “Watch yourself.”
“Got it, dad,” said Clark.
Batman looked at him. “I'm serious.”
Clark faltered. Then swallowed. “I'm— I'm serious, too.”
Batman stiffened. “Kal — ”
“No, really. I seriously... Like him. He's awesome, B. Genuinely just good, all around, even though he tries so hard to be detached from it all. He's good.” He nodded once. “Fish and all. I like him.”
Batman opened his mouth, then closed it.
There was a splash in the waters behind Clark.
Clark winced.
“That's unfortunate,” Batman remarked.
Clark doesn't return to their— not theirs, but his and Ar— he doesn't return to the stupid rock that they spent so much time on. He avoids it like the plague for two weeks.
Two weeks of feeling like an idiot.
But Clark could suddenly see what Arthur had experienced when he first found out that he belonged to the sea. Once you tasted the salt air — not as a surface dweller, but as a part of it, a part of helping it — it was hard to resist.
Bruce owned two private islands (at least that Clark knew about), so Clark sulked his way throughout the flight to one of them, sulked as he stripped down to his boxers underneath the suit, and sulked on the soft sand of the beach.
He laid there, noon on a Saturday, with little to do but sulk and get up at irregular intervals to help out with the serious calls for Superman. The water touched the tips of his toes as if drawing him in. He determinedly ignored her. It felt like freshman year and Lana all over again — like junior year at METU and Logan — like a few years ago with Lois.
Clark and having crushes on people who were so far beyond his league, he was surprised any of them even noticed him.
The sun on his skin, as always, felt good. It was hard to sulk when he was getting an energy rush, but he did it nonetheless. He was stubborn. Eventually, the water washed up to his knees, as if urgent, and Clark just shook his head at it.
“Go away,” he muttered to the ocean.
“Hey,” a voice said, offended.
Clark's eyes flew open.
Arthur, haloed by the sun.
Clark scrambled to sit up. “Arthur,” he blurted, with no follow-up. Clark occasionally couldn't believe his eloquence.
Arthur sat down next to him in a plump. He was shirtless, as usual, which made Clark realize his own shirtlessness. He quickly crossed his arms, but Arthur was just watching him as quietly as he usually did.
They stared at one another.
“Hi,” Clark eventually said, miserably.
“Hi,” said Arthur.
They sat in silence, in the sun, the sky blue above them, the sea blue in front of them.
There wasn't much to say — Arthur didn't do small talk, as it was all or nothing for him, and Clark dreaded the all.
Still, it came.
“So you,” Arthur paused here, clearly trying to tactfully articulate his words. “So you... Actually like me. As in more than a friend.”
Clark flushed. Nodded.
“You, with the — ” Arthur pushed a flat palmed hand through the air “ — and the — ” he switched it over to a hand writing invisible scribbles, his other adjusting invisible glasses on his face “ — all of you,” he gestured vaguely up and down at Clark, “like me?” he repeated the gesture at himself.
Clark blinked at him. “What's that supposed to mean?” Arthur was a great guy to pine hopelessly after, and Clark wasn't going to allow anyone to say any different. Even if said person was Arthur, himself.
Arthur shrugged, his cheeks darkening. “Just answer the question, Blue.”
Clark lightly shoved his shoulder against his friend’s. “Yeah,” he said, painfully honest. “Yes. I like you. A lot.”
Arthur's eyes flew to his, clear and stunning and Clark felt like he was drowning, sinking, and he supposed that was his excuse for not seeing the kiss coming.
But it was a nice surprise.
Clark's lips parted against Arthur's, and Arthur immediately grabbed the back of his head, head tilting, tongue brushing against Clark's lips, and Clark—
Clark really liked him.
“Interesting, you know,” murmured Arthur after they pulled away for breath.
Clark arched an eyebrow, face hot.
“You're strong, you can fly,” Arthur said casually, “we both can go under for a while. We could do some interesting things.”
Clark laughed until his cheeks were even hotter, and Arthur kissed him through it.
Monday evening when Clark got to his apartment, he was hit with the scent of ocean air. His eyes flew to the window, which sat open, the breeze floating in.
On his table sat a figurine from a souvenir shop — a four-inch-tall lizard with fins. The attached tag read: "FEAR MARINA, The Mysterious Sea Monster That Has Taken On Superman AND Aquaman!!"
Underneath was a photograph of a terribly-taken selfie of Arthur and Marina, titled: "She already misses you -A".
Clark smiled until his cheeks hurt.