"You could warn me, you know," Kal-El said around a mouthful of waffle.
"That would take the fun out it, wouldn't it?" Richard replied, tossing back another and slicing some more butter to grease up the iron.
"I don't think this is what my father meant when he said I'd come to earth for great purposes."
"I beg to differ, my dear Kryptonian. I think that waffle-catching and dispensing is the height of any sentient race."
"So if Jason can master that then we don't need to send him to private school anymore?"
"You never know, it may be his first power to manifest." The batter sizzled as Richard poured it onto the hot metal.
"I hadn't even thought about what I was hoping he'd develop first. I think waffle-catching may take the cake on this one."
"Cakes taking waffles? Is that kosher?"
"Now you're just being contrary."
"Speaking of contrary, where is the little bugger?"
"Jasooooooooon!" Kal-El hollered, his 's' half-swallowed by masticated waffle flesh. He cocked his head to the side, "He says he'll be down in a minute… I think he's having one of those moments with his q-tip."
"Is three times a day excessive, you think? I mean, hygiene is great and all, but…"
"I'm sure it's just a phase. I went through a few interesting ones as a kid."
Richard set the top down, wiping his hands on the towel. Turning to Kal-El, he raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
Kal-El's mouth quirked. "Let's just say there wasn't a pair of pants that could hold me."
Richard tried to suppress his smile but failed. "You know I'm going to ask your mom about this next time I see her."
Kal-El's wrinkled his nose, smelling blackmail. "I bet she has pictures, too."
"That's what mothers are for. Although I don't suppose pictures of Jason holding up q-tips proudly will be funny to anyone but us ten years from now."
"Won't stop me from taking them every chance I get."
Richard grinned. "Me neither."
The devil they were speaking of hopped into the room. Richard grabbed a waffle and tossed it under his back, "Think fast!" Jason threw both arms out wide and froze so Kal-El ended up grabbing it before it fell to the ground. He took the waffle from Kal-El's hands sheepishly. "Sorry, pop, I guess maybe I should try pitching for baseball this year?"
Kal-El ruffled his hair, "You play whatever part you want, Jason. Practice makes perfect."
Jason looked over at Richard, "Dad, I thought you said clichés weren't true."
Richard poured him a glass of orange juice, trying to sound serious, "Well, unless one of your parents is saying it. Then they're always true."
"That doesn't make any sense, dad."
"It doesn't have to."
Kal-El interjected, "But you should always think critically about the world around you, son."
Jason looked back and forth between them and answered by stuffing a waffle in his mouth.
"Chew with your—" Kal-El realized he was talking around a mouthful of food and aborted the admonition.
"Both of you chew with your mouths closed, please," Richard said, waggling a finger. He turned the iron off, plopped down a full plate of steaming waffles and sat at the table with them.
"You all packed? Vince is coming to get you, he'll take you to school today."
"Does Vince think critically about the world, pop?"
Kal-El sipped his milkshake carefully. "I think he must, to get his job doing… whatever it is he does."
"I think he sells robot dogs to Tokyo."
They both looked at Richard quizzically. He threw his hands up, laughing, "Okay, okay, I think he just supervises the people who do that."
"Do you think I'll get a robot dog for Christmas?" Jason asked, eyes already glittering with thoughts of the terror he could wreak with such a wonderful device.
"I can guarantee you that you will not be getting one of those for Christmas. And if you do it's staying at Mom's house, we have a strict no robot dog policy here."
"But we might be getting you something even better than that." Kal-El said, leaning forward conspiratorially. "But only if you're good 'till then."
"What happens if I'm bad?"
"Coal," Richard said solemnly, cutting his waffle like the only civilized male in the house.
"You say that every year, dad."
"And you've been good every year up 'till now. That's a trend you don't want to go breaking."
"I got coal one year," Kal-El said, frowning at the memory.
"No," Jason said incredulously. "Grandma wouldn't."
Kal-El laughed. "It was actually a rock from the site where I crashed the day I came to earth. But when I opened that stocking up I was so mad I went and ate every cookie I'd left under the tree for Santa. Then they really wished they'd given me coal."
"Is that the rock that's on your nightstand, pop?"
"That's the one. So if you get coal in your stocking think twice before you go making yourself sick on cookies."
Richard and Kal-El grabbed the dishes, putting them in the sink and clearing off the table. "Wanna go get your bag, Jason? Vince'll be here any minute."
Jason ran off into the other room, and Richard slunk up behind Kal-El as he stood in front of the fridge, running his hands underneath the loose t-shirt. "Come home early tonight," he said quietly, detaching just as Jason came back, backpack and daybag in hand. Kal-El cleared his throat and let the cool air of the fridge wash over him for a minute longer than necessary before shutting it.
"C'mere champ!" Richard said, grabbing Jason and tossing him up into the air. "You be good for them, you hear? You know Mom doesn't know what it's like for us guys."
"Do I have to go shopping with her?"
"You'll have to take that up with her, sonny." Richard handed him over to Kal-El's outstretched arms. Kal-El gave him a kiss on the forehead and just then the doorbell rang, Vince's signature long short long short. They exchanged quick pleasantries, Vince flashing his incandescent smile and shaking both their hands though he'd been married to Lois well over sixth months now. Richard and Kal-El agreed that she'd made a good choice; Vince was reliable but fun, rich but not flashy, ambitious but not ruthless. He was a good balance for Lois and was proving himself to be a good role model for Jason, which was what they cared about most of all, at the end of the day.
"See you next week!" They said, waving as Vince's BMW took Jason to school. They simultaneously checked their watches and swore when they saw they had to get to work.
"Tonight." Kal-El said, his man of steel voice shooting straight through Richard's sensibilities.
Richard can only nod and pray that there won't be any disasters tonight.
Strong hands twined around Richard's midsection, fingers gripping tight on his waist and pulling him back; he stumbled a little and dropped the newspaper he had just picked up off the dining table.
"You've got quite some nerve, interrupting the sacred reading time," he said, turning his head around to face Kal-El, who had most likely just gotten home.
"I've been out saving this city from the scum of the Earth and this is the welcome I get?" Kal-El said, snickering, running his hand up Richard's chest, fingers dipping into the holes between the buttons. Richard felt his body react instantaneously; he could feel the shape of Kal-El pressed up against him, every contour and curve of his warm and hard body. The suit fit him like a second skin, blessedly hiding nothing.
"And what were you expecting Mr. 'I can't use cell phones in the lower atmosphere'? There's really no way for me to know when you'll be back." He let his head fall back a bit, closing his eyes, running his fingers along the hips that were cradling his, fingers digging into the soft blue fabric. They'd established long ago that not only did Richard not mind the suit… he quite liked it. He didn't know what it was exactly, but there was something unduly erotic about touching the fabric that no one else on Earth knew as intimately. It was one of the softest things he'd ever felt.
"Hmmm," Kal-El nuzzled into his neck, leaving ephemeral trails of heat where his breath came out. "I was thinking—bed," he worked a hand halfway past Richard's belt, growling a little, "None of these pesky things," and with his other hand unbuttoned Richard's shirt all in the blink of an eye and tossed it away, "Just… you." He licked up Richard's shoulder line, tongue teasing his earlobe. "And that's about when I stopped thinking and started flying home."
Richard smiled, eyes fluttering when Kal-El hit that spot, biting it just hard enough so that every word was a struggle, "Well that… sounds… ahhh … good to me."
Kal-El nibbled up Richard's jaw, tongue flicking to soothe over the bite marks, then whispered in a low rumble, "Good to you? Is that a yes, then, Mr. White?" His hand slid lower down Richard's front, fingertips brushing the curled hairs that peeked out from the falling waistline of his pants.
Richard rotated his hips upward, taking a deep breath, determined to have the last word for once, "Only if I can bring the newspaper upstairs," he managed to get out before his heart started pounding out an impossibly fast beat inside his chest. Kal-El growled low in his chest—Richard felt the vibrations dancing up and along his spine—and in a blur of motion they were on their bed, Richard flat on his back and Kal-El next to him, lying on his side.
Kal-El had shed the cloak but not the suit; he straddled Richard, tugging at his pants down ferociously, "Sacred—" he threw the pants straight into the closet without even looking, "reading—" next went the boxers and socks, "time—" and when Richard was completely naked except for his tie, Kal-El brought his mouth down close to hover over Richard's, "—my ass." With a predatory smile Kal-El leaned in for a consuming kiss, crushing their lips together and stealing out every last bit of air, lowering himself so skin met textured fabric; the feathery contact sparked all of Richard's nerves to life. Grabbing him fiercely by the hips, Richard switched their positions, slamming Kal-El flat onto his back and sitting atop him, legs spread.
"I'm afraid your ass has sorrowfully little to do with sacred reading time. But," He loosened the tie, pulling it over his head, "You know that I cannot let your transgression go unpunished." Grabbing Kal-El's wrist, he positioned them over his head, a spectacularly fine triangle of muscled flesh, "Make this easy on yourself and don't resist."
Kal-El licked his lips, eyelids fluttering, grinding his hips up into Richard. "What will you do if I resist?"
"You can't even begin to imagine." Richard laced the tie around his wrists in tight shackles, securing impossibly tight knots. Kal-El's arms flexed but did not break the bonds; he was, for all intents and purposes, at Richard's mercy. He nearly trembled with the knowledge.
"Well… I am a man of the law…" He groaned when Richard worked his hands under the suit, kneading hard along his hipbones and working the pants down slowly.
Kal-El's body arched off the bed under Richard's touch, pulling taut as his hands worked closer to their goal.
"Ah ah ah, no moving. Not unless I say you can." Richard's hands stilled until Kal-El fell back onto the bed; they locked eyes, crackling electricity singing the air.
Kal-El's lips fell open in supplication, eyes laden heavy with lust. "I guess I'll just have to let you have your way with me."
"That's more like it," Richard whispered, hoarse, tearing the pants off the rest of the way, spreading his legs and kneeling between them, scratching his fingers deep into Kal-El's thighs, knew he liked it rough. He glanced up, saw Kal-El's head thrown back, his throat muscles straining, mouth open and deep and jagged sounds tumbling out. Richard drank in the sight, his body throbbing with the knowledge that he had this power, burning the image onto his retina so that even when he lowered his head and took Kal-El it remained, driving him to new heights as he tasted the sweet-salty-madness, all his senses filled to bursting. He ran his tongue along the smooth length, savoring every inch, one hand on Kal-El's hip and the other slid around back directing their rhythm, a slow-rolling momentum that built with their matching need. Richard heard and felt Kal-El's fists bang against the wall—it shook the whole bed—and with one last long caress, he slid up, drawing out the process and lingering until he knew that Kal-El was on the verge of killing him.
He walked closer to the head of the bed on his hands and knees, leaning in for a quick and dirty kiss, their mouths scrabbling and hungry, and without breaking stride he leaned back and slid down onto Kal-El with one fluid motion, bringing all that unearthly heat as deep as he could; their moans ripped through the air in synchronicity. Richard braced his arms on Kal-El's legs, moving slow and steady with each downthrust he brought Kal-El closer to that spot that would be the end of him. They moved together like poetry, their cadence and movements singing kinetic pleasure, together even when their bodies arched apart, connected through the slick physical heat and more, an insatiable want that strummed deep in their bones; it was an ache that only eased in the moments of their pure abandon, coils that lit when skin touched skin, when rhythm met matching rhythm. And together they rose, high into the thin air that sent shivers trembling down their spines, starlight cascading down their skin and falling from their eyes, a pulse that beat so strong they moved without thought to it, Richard bearing down with all his strength, back bent impossibly far back, Kal-El surging under him, fingers digging literal furrows into the plaster of the wall, and finally Richard surrendered, taking all of Kal-El that he could, screaming with waves of nova-like ferocity that singed him through and through. He heard the faint sound of fabric tearing through the roar of blood in his ears; Kal-El shuddered underneath him and they floated back down onto the bed.
Richard fell forward onto Kal-El's chest, a satisfied smile curling on his lips when he felt strong arms wrap around him, the tattered bits of his tie still circled around the wrists. He propped himself up with great effort, arms quivering, and planted light kisses on Kal-El's cheeks, eyes, lips. He ran a finger along those lips, full, swollen from his earlier ministrations, and along those eyelids, feather-soft and flawlessly smooth. Beautiful.
"I love you."
They had whispered it in unison and fell into a kiss that said it all, and more.