Earth made me human

“Ahh, colleagues call me Meg. Non’a this Mrs.Gwynn business from you, baby blue” She swatted in mock protest, then tapped her chin as she thought.

“Oh yeah I know where tha’ is. Hm, you’re not in the right building, sorry love” Megan patted his arm consolingly. The joke fell flat with her but to be polite Megan gave a warm smile, offering her arm for him to take. “Come on, I’ll take you”

As she led him out of the music room and back out into the hall, the petite woman preened with the praise.

“Comin’ up for thirty years now, gosh, I picked it up when I was visiting m’ mam’s world” Megan told him, waving to a couple of students who smiled her way as they passed. “Do you play any instruments? Am I gonna have to whisk you away for lessons, Clark?”

Clark’s soft polite smile widened slightly at Megan’s greeting. She seemed nice, and it eased the reporter’s nerves a bit. “I’m Clark Kent. Clark... Clark’s fine.” His shoulders sagged forwards in both embarrassment and defeat at the mention of being in the wrong building. “Aw geez. I really oughtta remember to bring that map they gave me... Thank you so much. I’m mighty grateful for all yer help.” He follows her lead, curious for the most part, though still reserved. Still shy.

Megan hummed, already thinking of some she could ask. “You’re right there, love. Might be a great excuse to lure people into my lair”

She gestured to her music studio with a smile, and then stood to accept his handshake- charmed by the man’s gentle aura. He had a power in his soul though, something else that rang out to her magic that told her this mute man was far from the unassuming country fellow his surface showed.

“Lovely to meet you too, sweetness. Megan Gwynn, or Pixie when m’on the job. Oh yeah, massive it is; Paragon. Where was it you were tryin’a reach and I can help you out?”

Her wings flexed, curling out from her back- pleased to be free from the chair she had been lounged in beside her large harp. 

“I’m lookin’ fer my classroom, actually, Mrs. Gwynn. I teach a class on journalism. Could’a swore I was in the right building...” Clark furrowed his brows for a few moments as he entered deep thought. He eventually shrugged and weakly joked, “Guess I keep makin’ left turns at Albuquerque, somewhere.

Luna watched as he went to help collect her papers and quickly followed suit. “It’s not your fault really. I shouldn’t have been reading while walking.” She tried to laugh at herself, especially because of what she was reading. For a moment she glanced up at the man helping her, and couldn’t help but find his face was familiar. “Hey, I know you!” She said with excitement, though as she placed the face, she felt even more embarrassed about the encounter. “You’re that famous reporter, Clark Kent, aren’t you?” 

“I should’ve been paying more attention, miss.” Clark’s smile was still apologetic, even as he fumbled with the papers a little in an attempt to put them back into place. “I get that a lot,” Clark dipped his head slightly and rubbed at the back of his head. The anxiousness in his voice seemed to melt away the longer she talked, and didn’t seem to be upset. “Y-yes, I’m Clark Kent.” He held out his free hand, palm extended. “It’s a pleasure to meet you...?”

“hey, you give me an opening, and it’s joke city on Bruce,” Gar chuckles and cracks his green knuckles as if to brag, “it’d be hilarious, and you know it,” he relaxes his cocky pose the next beat though. he may put on a bravado, but he’d worked with Clark long enough for it to be clear that he was joking, “he needs to smile more.”

he smiles a more genuine smile as they speak about his son, “yeah, got us a place with a yard and everything. I think I’m gunna get him to adopt a dog, hopefully it’ll help.” he nudges the man with an elbow, “maybe we oughta think about building a Hall here.”

“Consider it done, Gar,” Clark’s grin widened even further at the mere thought of cracking Bruce’s usually dreary expression; even the smallest one would be a win in Clark’s book. Clark shook his head, “Agreed. He really should try to laugh more. Good thing he has us around to help him out with that.”

“He’s a good man, I have a feeling you two could get along quite well with each other. Just look for a pretty tall, muscular god-like man with dirty blonde hair.” She said as she pretty much tried her best to describe Thor to him. “Good afternoon. As good of a day one can have when working as a doctor you know. How about yourself?” Jane asked as she then took a bite of her food.

“Oh? I’ll be sure to do that, thank you for letting me know about him,” Kal made a mental note to keep an eye out for someone matching Jane’s physical description of Thor. “He shouldn’t be too hard to miss, in that case.

Clark has always been the one person Dick knows he can always go to when he needs help or guidance. Clark was the one who helped him find a new mantle, a new name for himself, a new life essentially. Someone who helped him figure out who he wanted to be when his world was falling to pieces and Dick wasn’t sure who he was anymore. And he knows it’s unfair of him to keep asking him for help, to keep leaning on him when he has his own life to deal with, but.. Dick knows he can trust him.

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” He felt a little like that when he’d gone undercover, even if he doesn’t talk about it. No one wants to hear about Spyral, and Dick doesn’t blame them, but.. he gets it. “Well you’re gonna have plenty of that, pretty much the whole family’s here. It’s like a town-wide family reunion.” He chuckles and shrugs his shoulders.

Of course Clark already knew, how could he not? Sometimes Dick forgets what the man is capable of, but he’s got Dick all figured out by now. “Hey it’s alright, I’m used to it.” Dick answers with a smile, but it doesn’t last long. “No no, it’s.. it’s alright.” He pauses, takes a deep breath, and decides to just.. jump headfirst into it. Smart? Probably not. “It’s - it’s Bruce. I don’t know what to do anymore, Clark. We’ve had our disagreements - you know that - but.. never like this.”

He can’t solve everyone’s problems on his own, despite how much he may (and does) want to. Despite how often he tries despite knowing the opposite is true. Clark knows that, and has had to come to terms with it multiple times over in his life. But for situations like this, helping someone through it or just being a soundboard at the absolute least would have to be enough. “I’ll definitely have to make some rounds, then.” Family had always been an important thing for Clark, and to hear that everyone was here in town was definitely a great comfort to him.

Bruce, while having good intentions behind his thought processes and missions... Clark knew that the other man could be more than a little blind to others’ emotions, or how the mission would affect the other individual in the future. Bruce and Clark have had their fair share of arguments over the years about that subject, even came to blows a handful of times over their differences, and Clark had wanted to wring his best friend’s neck more than once if he were totally honest with himself. And it’s also true that he’s seen the relationship between Dick and Bruce have their own ups and downs... but, judging from Dick’s reaction since they sat down and started chatting (perhaps even before then), it must have hit quite the breaking point, whatever it was that brought them to this point. Clark nods once and his expression softens further. 

“You had me at steak. Thanks for this.” She said as she put bag of chips down and took the container from before digging at a fast speed. “Okay so I was talking to my Uncle Hal and we somehow got into a conversation which left us wondering if whether or not Superman takes vacation.” Irey asked with a grin as she took some bites.

“I’ve had it before; it’s pretty good in my opinion. You’re very welcome. I’d rather someone else eat it than throw it away or let it go to waste, you know?”

Thalia nodded as she shoveled food into her mouth. It probably looked a little gross, but old habits died hard. Plus she’d learned that cold chinese food tasted much worse than warm food. “Thanks,” she said somewhat grudgingly between mouthfuls. “So you’re superman, huh? Shouldn’t you be like…stopping a bank robbery or something?”

The stranger didn’t seem much interested in chatting, and Kal-El could respect that. He wasn’t going to force her into a conversation that she didn’t seem to want to participate in, even before she seemed to wolf down what he’d given her. He’s just grateful that the leftovers he had weren’t going to waste, honestly. He had just finished taking a bite out of his own when he heard her begrudging thanks. He swallowed his mouthful before he spoke, “You’re welcome.

“You can never have too much in my opinion. As a child who’s hunger never seems to end, its always better to have alot.” She said as she sat on the bench eating from a party size bag of chips. “What you have there? I’ll take it off your hands if you don’t want it. Also I have a question for you.”

“I suppose not; I can always give it away to someone who needs it much more than I do.” He agreed with a couple of nods of his head. “I have pepper steak and some rice in this one. You’re definitely welcome to it.” Kal-El sat the offered container next to her with the offered chopsticks.

training was exhausting, to say the least, but she loved every minute of it. it took effort not to walk out of the Danger Room in her gear. even though she had a helmet now and was trying the whole secret identity thing, she couldn’t deny the desire to just do away with it… though, she knew that wasn’t an option until her mother knew she was alive again. and truly, her mind being on this subject is why she doesn’t notice the man until he talks, and stops dead, dumbfounded as he speaks.

“Superman.”

as a kid, cassie adored reading about the heroes around the world. at one time, she had dozens and dozens of comics of the adventures of Superman and Batman and definitely Wonder Woman, but to have him here, in front her, hair tossed up with gym bag at her side, her helmet clanking against her sting gauntlets, was… jarring, to say the least, “uh– yeah, i’m starving,” her wide eyes don’t leave him, her grin won’t budge, and she can’t help but chuckle. the sentence is out before she even realizes what she’s revealing, though her voice does drop a bit, surely not an issue for him, “Young Avengers just got out of training.”

“...Yes, ma’am?” Kal-el asks as he raises a brow at her statement, still giving Cassie his full attention. He still sees himself as just a simple farm boy from a small, rural town in Kansas, despite every comic, rumor, or article that’s ever speculated about him over the years. And he always will see himself as such; doing all that he can possible for the planet he called home. He tries to take all of it in stride as best that he can, knowing that he’s considered a person to look up to and a hero to so many, when the Kryptonian was (and is) only doing what came natural to him and was further instilled in him by his Ma and Pa. There were certainly worse people to look up to, and he’s honored to be a source of hope and inspiration for those that did look up to him.

However, Kal-El won’t ever really get over the surprise that he brings out of folks that meet him for the first time, even if he’s seen it several times over.

“no no, not for you,” Gar chuckled, folding the paper and slipping it into his pocket, “but uh– don’t tell Bruce,” he winked with a grin, “but hey, never rest too easy, I’ll get you again sometime. that’s just a promise,” he liked to keep his friends on their toes, and what better way to do that than surprise them with practical jokes? 

it was enough to see the man in front of him grin to bring the other’s own grin forward properly. even without all the you’re-one-of-my-idols-no-matter-how-old-I ever-get feelings going on with Clark, Gar appreciated the man, and enjoyed being around him, “yeah, Rex and I just got into town properly, the house is all set up,” getting his son settled from rehab and into school was quite a task, but one he was taking on with as much gusto as he would if he were going out on a mission, “glad you’re around though, it’s gunna be good having so many of us here.”

“Never. Bruce could stand to be the butt of the joke a couple of times, though, just ‘tween us.” Clark chuckled a little louder, and his grin spread even further. It was good to have someone like Gar around, in his humble opinion. Someone to help lighten the mood, get people to relax a little bit, or just to hang around with their optimism radiating from them. He nodded, the mischief hardly dampening in his blue eyes, “I’m lookin’ forward to it, Gar. Can’t wait to see what you have in mind fer me and anyone else that’s around.

Take what you can, when you can. That was how Thalia had learned to live, and even if she was technically forbidden from illegally taking what she could, that did not include handouts. The idea of superman made her hesitate though. She didn’t like any hero that much, and this one went double. He was just too much of a boyscout. But in this case, the boyscout was offering free food, so she took it, and sat next to him, albiet a few feet away. “Chopsticks are fine,” she said, focusing more on the chinese than the person who’d offered it. “What even is this, anyway?”

Superman’s smile was genuine even as he set the container down closer to her, set the chopsticks on top of it. Some people were afraid of him, or what he could do to this day, or simply didn’t like him. He didn’t want to assume familiarity or the reason she seemed...  Hesitant to get too close. Or perhaps reluctant was a better word for it?

“And here I thought there was only one red caped crusader around here?” Jane as she approached him. She was on her way to get lunch herself but this saved her from making the trip to place she was intending of getting food. “The chopsticks would be lovely, thank you.”

“Oh? I’ll have to meet them sometime, then. Good afternoon, Ma’am.” Clark greeted Jane warmly, and scooted over just in case Jane wished to sit with him. He reached into the small bag next to him and held out the chopsticks and the previously offered container to her. “You’re welcome. Has your day been a pretty good one so far?”

Seeing Clark act as the bumbling reporter always made Bruce want to roll his eyes. The man had flown through an astroid field without getting hit once before. The CEO couldn’t really pass judgment on him though, seeing as he wasn’t a playboy or even liked hanging around rich people but he did it to keep appearances

Seeing as the glasses were now off, Bruce now openly scoffed at the country bumpkins slang. He was raised by a British butler and grew up thinking those words were a terror on the English language. “It has.” He said, setting down the cups of coffee and taking one for himself. Sitting down in one of the chairs next to the desk, he sipped on it as he regarded his fellow coworker in justice. “Metroplois too quiet these days that you needed some outside work?” 

When he wasn’t being Superman --- or as open as Superman was around members of the Justice League, and an even smaller handful of individuals outside of it  --- it was exceedingly difficult to tell that he really was from a small, rural town. But, around people he trusts, Clark let the accent come out. It’s a definite plus that said accent usually manages to get a reaction out of Bruce.

“Naw, not entirely, which I imagine’s the same for you and Gotham, Bruce; I’ll go back an’ forth between Metropolis and Paragon as often as I can, of course. But, gettin’ to be closer to my kids and grandkids is a definite bonus. Seein’ all y’all more often and getting to teach a class are another two.” Clark retrieved the other cup of coffee and held it for a moment before he took a sip as well, then paused.