please throw me a bone or a frisbee in the mean time when i'm waiting for the next installment of "mutually beneficial arrangements", not spoilers but a couple of headcanons you have for the AU.
i'm deeply curious about their social cirles' reaction, especially Clark's, not sure in this AU Lois is aware of Clark being Superman (and anyone else possibly knew his identity) but somehow i have a feeling Clark didn't just keep it all for himself the entire time, there are things he simply cannot tell Pa and Ma. the mention of photos missing from the wall when Lex was in Clark's apartment kind of fueled my curiosity.
also what is exactly the public's awareness? i know they know, but in Lex's POV it's hard to tell the knowledge is at "oh it's an open secret we all know Tom and Zen already had a wedding we just don't see it" or "dividing crowd when both sides are having doubts and waiting for the next clue".
lastly i have to say you're the best Clex author for me and in the top 5 authors from all the fandom i'm in. your writing is the perfect balance of self-indulged fantasy, lore building, thrilling plots, sophisticated character study but still enjoyable and ofc steamy smut. and thank you for the best non-ABO breeding kink fics, they're rare gems.
Ahh, what a lovely message to receive! Thank you so much for your kind words, it’s very gratifying to hear you enjoy the series so much, and are interested enough for some broader headcanons! I don’t think this is going to encroach on anything I have planned for the next installment, but should add a bit more context to the verse:
Re: social circles - My series is canon divergent from directly after the 2025 film, rather than an AU, so everyone who knows about Clark’s identity still knows and his friends are still the same i.e tragically few intimate friends and most of them are from work but well liked by everyone. This version of Clark clearly has a distaste or inability to keep secrets and is a chronic oversharer, but I think with his relationship with Lex he would keep it to himself for a long time, mostly due to the fact that for a good while he didn’t really understand what it is so has it locked in his ‘Superman’ persona until he can figure it out. But the one person he would tell is ironically Lois. I always had it in my head that she and Clark would naturally realise they work better as very close friends and colleagues rather than partners, which I think there is a case for in the film given Lois’ doubts (no ship hate this is just narrative logic for my work). But they’re both too similar, too messy, and love each other too much to not still be in each other’s lives and business. Post ‘Invasive Species’, Clark would be bursting at the seams to tell someone about Lex and try to get his head around it all so he’d turn to her, mostly because he doesn’t really have anyone else and he thinks Lois is pragmatic and has dated her fair share of questionable (in his eyes) people, so might understand. She doesn’t, as how could anyone (“He tried to be king of stolen land he named after himself, Clark!! He ripped Metropolis in half!!”) and they probably fought about it extensively. Like, the interview scene times ten bad. Eventually she concedes he’s an adult who can do what he wants, despite still being deeply worried for him dating the one person who could actually kill him, but will not warm to Lex. Clark would not be stupid enough to merge his worlds too often (the meet the parents was an olive branch, not the new normal), so thankfully they rarely meet and never socially. That isn’t to say she’s not demanding details, a journalist like her would need to know, even if she doesn’t really want to know, she still needs to know.
Re: public awareness - I love the idea that the Superman/Lex ship is a massive point of contention to the public at this point. It’s one of THE theories that is taken as gospel by some and a wild, outlandish conspiracy by others. Lex is so careful about his public perception and so anti-Superman, but acts like such an irrational, giddy idiot regarding everything to do with him, especially the rare cases they’re seen in public together, that there are strong cases for both sides and the media has a field day with it all. Any clip of them together would be dissected down to the second, down to the frame. There are numerous megaviral video essays and posts dedicated to exactly what happened those weeks that Lex went off the grid akin to the famous Agatha Christie 2-week disappearance, and how the Superman press conference defending him plays into it. The photos of them sitting together at the Metropolis anniversary event, Lex in his sunnies, both trying not to laugh, was the biggest meme of the year; everyone is now thoroughly sick of it and yet it has become ubiquitous to internet culture. Both Clark and Lex are very aware of this, both being obsessed with checking their online reputations as they are, but don’t mention it to each other as some stubborn point of pride. Privately, Clark gets off on the idea of people shipping him and his boyfriend and is amused by the extensive top/bottom discourse (but did create an anonymous profile just to argue with someone who got what kind of top Superman is egregiously wrong), and Lex is furious that people think he couldn’t fuck Superman if he wanted to (he had every account banned that participated in the brief but prevalent trend of comparing Lex to various “mid” and “washed” personality as to why Superman would never sleep with him).
