A chapter story? That I finished?! I'm shocked, too.

Yes, an unlikely couple, I know. But something about them struck me as right.

The last two chapters are pure smut territory, so be warned.

I don't own any of these characters. They all belong to DC.

Chapter 1

The first time Tinya saw Kel-El the only emotion running through her was shock and confusion. He was a ruthless and hardened version of the kind and gentle boy from the past she had come to know and love as a friend. His introduction to the Legion happened too fast for her to have any real reaction to it. Besides, the impending danger of Imperiex's invasion didn't leave any time to consider the complete meaning of his presence. Little by little, though, she got to know the taciturn super-clone. As time went on, he gave her glimpses at the man behind the "S". She made a point of it to check-in on him from time to time, and in these moments she had managed to put him at ease enough for him to open up to her, not much, but enough to intrigue her. Mostly she was completely mesmerized by the look in his eye. It wasn't there all the time, but when he was able to let his guard down, he seemed so wounded. It troubled her that someone so strong could hurt so much. She wanted to heal him, to hold him, to lick him, among other things...

Phantom Girl to Command Center, Cosmic Boy's voice boomed over the intercom.

"I can't help it," she lamented to her closest friend, Triplicate Girl. "He's got Superman's body and his face except more... pouty. And his voice is deeper and..." Tinya phased to her phantom state and back to solid with a shudder as she spoke.

"Do you need a moment alone?" Trip teased

"Yeah. With him. In a closet."

"Maybe you should try a cold shower. I hear it does wonders."

"That's still not going to get him out of my head."

"I don't know what else to tell you." Pressing the key pad on the wall, a door opened. "This is me. See ya' and good luck with whatever you're being called for."

As Triplicate Girl disappeared behind the door, Tinya came face-to-face with none other than Superman X, Kel-El, the man she'd been longing for.

"Oh, wow! Hey Kel."

"Cosmic Boy needs you in the Command Center..." he began but Phantom Girl cut him off.

"Heard him. On my way to tell him it's too late to be calling anyone for anything that isn't an emergency." She began to fly away before Kel-El's voice stopped her.

"... And I am NOT pouty," he said, indignant at the thought.

She was fairly certain her heart had actually stopped and she'd died of embarrassment. Thankfully, the quick witted diplomacy she'd learned from her mother kicked in.

Turning to him she smirked. "You should try saying that with your lips pulled back a little more," she said, flying away from the stunned clone. She wasn't sure if she imagined it but there may have been a slight pink tint to his face.

She had been hoping to go to sleep, but after her briefing from Cosmic Boy she had about fifteen criminal profiles to review as well as the abstract of Braniac's report and several articles on the crisis at hand. After twenty minutes she decided to take a break. In her boredom and need to stay awake, her thoughts turned to her favorite pouty Kriptonian clone and how she'd left him in a tizzy earlier. As her mind wandered, she found herself opening his file on the main frame. What she read, she already knew. What interested her most were the photos.

Damn.

There was no denying that the guy was photogenic. Last in the file was a candid image taken by a security camera. It showed him standing over the defeated bodies of two criminals. There was a small, almost cruel smirk at the corner of his mouth. It made her want to drool. Drool was definitely a sign she needed to get back to work, so she did, trying her hardest to not think about Kell-El. Forensic reports, she thought, should do the trick.

Just as she began to scroll through the forensic data, she sensed a presence next to her. Turning her head, she saw him, his arms crossed and his body more sitting than leaning on the consul. He was trying to look casual, a stance he hadn't quite mastered yet. It made her want to laugh at him and tare his clothes off at the same time. A difficult predicament, to say the least.

"How long have you been standing there?" she asked.

"Not long."

"You need to wear a bell or something."

"So you could find me?"

"So I could hear you coming."

"Where's the fun in that?" She looked up at him. He had that same prideful smirk.

She gasped. "A joke? Good for you!" she teased.

He sobered a little before continuing. "What'd he want to tell you?"

"Interested?" she countered.

"Not really." He was silent for a few moments after that before speaking again. "So, what did he say?"

"I've been put on the Tartus mission."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I was just as surprised as you, but he claims my abilities are ideal for the mission."

"I'm not surprised he picked you."

"Oh?"

"You're a good fighter and your powers qualify you best for this mission."

"Thanks. That means a lot coming from you. But why so surprised then?"

"I'm shocked that you agreed. I thought you couldn't stand him."

"I can't. Not usually. But he is a good leader and if he has enough confidence in me to bring no one else on a mission, I have to trust him."

"Still, it takes a week to get to Tartus and back, not to mention however long you'll actually stay there. You'll be with him that whole time. Alone."

There was something strange she caught in his tone. She'd only heard it a couple times, usually when talk of Clark, the original Superman, came up. Now she was the one who was shocked. She stood to face him, hands on her hips and an inquisitive glint in her eye.

"Kel-El, are you jealous?"

"No," he retorted a bit too quickly, defensively, before his glance was cast aside. "But I've seen the way he looks at you."

"And how is that?" she asked, taking a step closer to him, her voice low.

His eyes met hers once again. "Have you not noticed?"

Her smile softened. "No," she responded, brushing back the one stubborn lock of hair that that always fell across his right eye. "I was too busy looking at someone else."

For a second, his usual scowl seemed to grow harsher before completely falling like a curtain. His face seemed somehow softer and more confused than she'd ever seen. Because of his battle-hardened exterior, it was easy to forget that he was just as vulnerable and insecure as the rest of them. Though they were physically close to each other, he felt very far away.

"This is usually the part where you kiss me," she whispered, rubbing his cheek with her thumb.

"Oh... I wasn't sure if you wanted me to."

"Yes, Kel-El," she said with a smirk, "I want you to kiss..."

Before she could get all her words out, he had closed the gap between their lips, catching her off guard with a tug on her hips, bringing her closer to him. Her eyes fluttered a few times before, regaining her wits, she leaned into the kiss, deepening it, her fingers burying themselves in his hair. After a moment, she felt his hands tentatively grip her hips tighter, then one of them slowly began to creep to the small of her back. Breathing deeply, his scent filled her nose, causing her to unconsciously press her body harder against his, her breasts heaving into his chest with every breath. She reveled in the feel of his body against her own as the kiss grew more and more passionate. Soon she felt a hardness pressing against her pelvis, sending a thrill down her spine. Abruptly though, he pulled away from her with a quick intake of breath, almost like a quiet gasp. They stood still for what seemed like hours, breathing each others breath, before he spoke.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I just... don't know what I'll do if we keep going."

At this she smiled. "Let's find out," she suggested, leaning in to kiss him again. She could have sworn she saw the green in his eyes glow a bit brighter.

Taking her by the shoulders, he held her at arm's length away.

"I'm serious, Tinya. I don't want to hurt you."

"Now you're just being silly," she assured him. "I've had my share of emotional trauma; I think I can handle whatever you throw at me, Big Boy."

"No, you don't get it; I wasn't speaking figuratively. I'm worried I won't be able to control myself and might physically hurt you if things were to... progress."

His meaning finally dawned on her.

"Ooh."

With a sigh, he moved away from her, practically wilting into the chair facing the monitor controls. She might have called it adorable if his behavior weren't so frustrating. For the time being, he was entrenched in his own insecurities; persistence wouldn't get him out. He required a gentler approach.

Coming up behind him, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, resting her head against his. She felt his whole body tense at her touch but neither of them pulled away.

"I trust you, Kel-El," she told him. "You could never hurt me. When you're ready to trust yourself, I'll be there for you." She punctuated her statement with a kiss on his temple. Just as she was about to walk away, she thought she'd have a little bit of fun at his expense. Not enough to completely destroy him, but enough to cause some satisfying embarrassment. Turning back to him she ruffled his hair and added, "Good luck getting rid of that hard-on!"

Peeking out of the corner of her eye as she left, she saw him slump deeper into the chair as he furiously put his hair back into place, a pouting scowl etched on his face.

Kel-El thought long and hard about this problem. He knew she was right but it was difficult for him to deal with her. It was difficult for him to deal with conscious life forms in general. Being raised with the mission to destroy Imperiex and the lack of abundant human life (or, for that matter, any other kind of life) in his time hadn't left him much time to explore the whole concept of dating, never mind the entire realm of sexual possibility Tinya was ready to offer. In this century, there was rarely a moment when he didn't feel light years behind everyone in spite of being a millennium ahead; the jokes he didn't get, the phrases he didn't know, the technology he couldn't operate due to the fact that, to him, it was outdated. Romance was just another one of the many times in his life he was left feeling inadequate. His personal fear of inexperience was something he knew he'd have to face and could think of no person better to face it with than Tinya. He was unprepared to face that fear, however, without first addressing his second fear of actually injuring the person he was attracted to. Even with her power ring activated, there was no way she would be protected from his strength. He was familiar with the general mechanics of physical intimacy and, as he understood it, a significant amount of energy could be generated between two people in the heat of the moment.

It wasn't the first time they had kissed. As he sat, he recalled their last intimate encounter. It had been near to a month ago in the engine room of the Legion's main star cruiser. She had been making a few minor repairs when he went down to help her. She had made the first move, saying something along the lines of, "Oh, I have something you could help me with..." Before he knew what was happening, she had him pressed against the ship's undercarriage, their lips plastered together. It was over almost as soon as it started, with her slowly pulling away and walking toward to the door. Just before leaving, she had stopped at the threshold of the engine room and stared him down, daring him to stop her and resume their act. Much to his own chagrin, he stayed frozen in place, his mouth agape and his palms suddenly sweaty. When he didn't pursue her, she just shook her head with a smirk and walked off. It took him about thirty minutes to get his breathing back to normal after that.

Even from their few shared kisses, he felt an unrecognized energy building inside himself. He was afraid of what might be unleashed from within him in the throws of passion.

If only there were a way to turn my powers off, he wished. Maybe we could go to a system with a red sun, for like, a week... without clothes...

Then the solution struck him like a bolt of lightning. Rather it was the other way around as he slammed straight into Lightning Lad on his way to Brainiac 6's room.

"Hey man! What's the idea?" Garth protested, fists clenched.

Kel-El stopped only for a moment. "Blue balls," he told his friend.

"Say no more," he responded, holding his hands up in understanding.

In the blink of an eye he was before Brainiac's room, banging furiously on the door. After a moment, the door slid open to reveal a drowsy and disheveled Brainiac.

"You know," the green boy said, irritation lining his ever syllable, "Now that I'm fully organic, I need SLEEP."

"Sorry, Brainy" Kel-El bashfully apologized. "I just thought of something and couldn't wait to talk to you about it."

"Well, what is it?" Querl asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Is there a way to place red sun energy in my Legion ring?"

"Probably."

"Could you do it?"

"I'm a 12th level intellect."

"So... could you do it?"

"Sure. I'd just need Sun Boy to blast solar energy at a degree of-- wait, you want to WHAT? Kel, that would completely neutralize your powers! Why in the world would you want to do that?" he asked, now completely awake.

"Well, there are times when we have missions in red sun systems. Plus, there was that time that magic took my powers away. I want a way to train without my powers. It's to be the best fighter I can in any situation and a greater asset to the team. It wouldn't be permanent. Just something I could turn on and off. Would do something like that for me?"

Querl gave him an annoyed look, one of his eyebrows raised.

"Please?" Kell-El added.

With a sigh, the Caluen's head fell to his chest. "Give me your ring," he said holding out his hand. All too eagerly, Kell yanked the ring off of his finger. "I should have the modifications done in about three days."

"You're the best, Brainy."

"Yeah. Just don't come knocking at 3a.m. any time soon. Like, EVER. Oh, and you owe me."

"Yes, to everything you just said," Kel quipped as the door to his friend's room slid shut.