Impulse
The day Clark Kent got engaged to Lois Lane, Wonder Woman swore off unrequited love forever.
She was dodging the icebergs and Giganta in the Artic Ocean, when she heard the JLA com-link sputter to life with the news. Green Arrow was on monitor duty and as per his usual style, was publishing hourly 'news bulletins'.
Momentarily distracted by the news, she lost her balance, flung herself backwards to avoid Giganta's fist, hit a large cliff of ice, and fell into the icy ocean in angry confusion.
Green Arrow's voice didn't even fade, the com-links being built to withstand extreme conditions.
Wonder Woman gritted her teeth, and flew out of the ocean, straight at Giganta, muttering to herself.
Thoughts such as, "Oh Kal, if this is true, then you deserve Lois," "Oh, you irritating Superman, somebody needs to castrate you," came easily to her lips.
Of course, she admitted honestly to herself, it wasn't as if Superman was more than a friend. And while she'd always had a soft spot for Kal, they had yet to take that friendship to the next level. It took all of her Amazonian training to restrain her impulse to fly to Metropolis and confront Kal. No matter how firmly she ordered her mind to stay calm and blank, it just kept opening up to one single thought. One thought that was running through her head these last few weeks.
Kal had kissed her.
What did it mean? Why should it mean anything?
A kiss was just that. It had just been a product of the moment. Nothing more. And then, Kal had given her that speech about not losing each other as friends…. Friends were friends, lovers were lovers. You could make a friend out of a lover, but you were in a black hole when you made a lover out of a friend.
Wonder Woman dodged Giganta's fist, trying to convince herself it had been nothing more, just a friendly kiss…
But when a kiss blasted through the 'hot' side of passion, it was hard to describe it as "nothing more."
Something else was what it was, she admitted. And she didn't know what to do about it.
She felled Giganta by hitting her in the stomach, then climbed onto her, telling herself that the situation had resolved itself. Clark Kent was engaged to Lois Lane. Which meant that Superman was no longer available. Which meant that she had to stop thinking about Kal.
As Wonder Woman bound Giganta with her lasso and took to the skies with her, she shook her head in self-disgust. Superman was such a wonderful being – warm, considerate, easy on the eyes, compassionate but it was obvious that he didn't care about her. That kiss had been just a test on his part and he'd decided that one kiss was enough. Even though she'd given him enough hints and signals. Enough was enough. She was finished with unrequited love.
Donna's perceptive blue eyes spotted what Diana hoped she would miss. Wet boots.
"What happened?"
"I slipped in the Artic Ocean. Nothing serious."
Donna took a nibble from her bottom lip. "Did you hear about Clark and Lois?"
"That they're engaged to be married? Yes, I got the Arrow's news bulletin."
"Engaged to be married? Just briefly engaged. The shortest engagement in history."
"What happened?"
"Apparently it's a false story. They were doing a story on the Wenton Jewellers and a ring fell under the counter. Clark helped to find the ring and held it up for Lois to take as he was kneeling down. It was a picture perfect moment and the news hounds lapped it up. Its not every day that The Daily Planet's star reporters appear to get engaged….The Daily Planet issued a press statement denying it all."
Wonder Woman didn't respond. Although she shared almost everything with her sister, she hadn't shared her own infatuation with the Superman. Not only would it be humiliating, but Donna would confide in their mother, who'd go hyper-protective.
Excusing herself, Wonder Woman made a quick detour into the restroom. As looked into the mirror, she gazed critically at herself. Her hair looked like something from Hades. Her uniform needed some cleaning but other wise she was fine. Her heart was another matter.
Clark Kent had been dreaming about Lex Luthor, spaceships and crystalline technology, when something woke him up.
He heard the sound again, a scratching at the door, and it all came back to him. He was in one of the bedrooms on the JLA satellite. Recovering from the last inter-stellar mission with the Green Lantern corps which had left him bruised and wounded.
He used his super vision to look through the door, then realised it was lead lined (Batman's insistence for all the bedrooms), his ears picked up the heartbeat and another scratching sound. Then, he smiled in the dark, and moved towards the door to open it. Just as he reached it, he heard the click of the latch. The door began to open.
He felt that adrenaline rush he loved, and in one smooth motion he shoved the door against the wall and grabbed the being on the other side. The momentum knocked him off his feet, and together, the two bodies went flying across the room.
With the reflexes that he was known for, Superman used his super breath to turn on the light switch, just as he found his feet and the other body fell to the floor.
"Great Krypton…"
Lying on floor at his feet was Wonder Woman, her eyes glaring at him. He opened his mouth to explain, only to have her foot come up and catch him behind the knee. The next thing he knew, he was on the floor, and she was standing over him, foot resting lightly on his bare chest.
"Diana, I can explain…"
"What's wrong with you, Kal? Grabbing me like that as if I was trying to kill you?" she asked, tossing her curls around her face.
"Not on purpose. I was dreaming – its been a long time since I dreamed anything." He knew he sounded childish but this was Diana, by Rao.
"Are you okay," he asked her, since he was the one lying on satellite floor with a bruised hip and her foot on his chest, he considered the question something of a courtesy.
"Yes, no thanks to you. Is this how you greet friends who decide to look in on you?" she exclaimed.
"No, no, I don't, you know that well enough. Will you stand aside and let me get up?" Superman asked her. "I could push you off, you know, but this gives me a nice view of your legs," he continued with a smirk he knew was bound to irritate her.
"I'm here on monitor duty," responded Wonder Woman as she moved to allow Superman room to stand up, watching him rub his arm, then turn to find a vest and tug it on, inching the vest over his chest, flexing his gorgeous muscles…
Superman turned to find Wonder Woman's eyes on his chest. He didn't need any more evidence as he registered her increased heart beat and breaths to know that he was affecting her. Surprised that he had registered these reactions for the first time, his brain began to process the data, while outwardly he waited for her to raise her eyes from his chest to his face.
He met her eyes casually, noticing, not for the first time, that Wonder Woman's eyes were an unusual colour, somewhere between blue and gray, and they had a sexy slant to them, just like her eyebrows, which he realized were almost meeting in the middle as she scowled at him.
He was so rattled by these new discoveries that he said the first thing that came to his mind, "Why were you sneaking about, trying to enter my room?" He didn't realize how bad it sounded till he'd actually said it.
And from the look on Wonder Woman's face, he'd actually opened his mouth and put both feet in….No marks for super-intelligence, then, he thought ruefully.
"I heard you were injured and resting and wanted to check on you myself. A mistake obviously." She turned and headed for kitchen pantry. Superman followed her, taking in her lush body and the way her uniform hugged her curves. He felt a surge of warmth towards her and told himself it was only natural. This was Diana. Wonder Woman. His colleague and best friend. But the warmth had nothing to do with friendship. It had everything to do with emotions he never allowed to surface, never let himself feel, kept hidden deep within his heart.
Diana was in another compartment, and that one was supposed to stay shut. He didn't want to think about her. It did no good to think about her. He'd made a mistake, obviously, but it wasn't earth-shattering. He'd kissed her only that once. That's all.
It was a stellar kiss, he thought now. Still, it had been just one of those things, just one of those moments. It had taken him some time to reach 'normal' again. And Diana didn't look as though she had held it against him.
Besides, if he knew anything she'd been right there with him. He scowled at her back. He was certain she had been. So what was she so upset about? They were grown ups; they'd kissed each other. End of story.
Wonder Woman didn't risk turning around and gazing at the dangerous gorgeousness that was Superman. Right then she knew she had to find a way to protect herself from him. He was good at making her pulse beat madly. Black hair, brilliant blue eyes, that adorable curl in his forehead, and his body….trim and sculpted rather than bulky. Still, she wasn't stupid enough to risk revealing her feelings for him. Sounds from behind her had her turning around.
Superman was opening a pack of milk and filling a glass. She watched as he drained the glass. One belch. That's all it would take. Nothing disgusted her more than a man who belched… or scratched his crotch… or had gross table manners. Or those losers who tried to impress women by showing off their muscles.
She realized she was smiling. He drained the glass but didn't burp. Before she realized what she was saying, she asked him, "Don't your lady friends worry about you, Kal?"
Wonder Woman was mortified about how that sounded. Especially when he gave her an amused look and said, "If you want to know about my love life, just ask."
"Why would I want to know about your love life?"
"You tell me."
She regarded him demurely. "I was just wondering if Superman has to date different kinds of women? All types of women? Just to be fair to everyone, you know?"
Unfortunately, he laughed instead of being offended. "I'm not dating anyone currently."
"That's not what I heard."
"That bit with Lois was a mistake – it just seemed different from what it is."
He looked so mortified, she concealed her amusement.
"And anyway, she's not my type."
"Who is?"
"Have dinner with me and find out."