So, I didn't think about Clark's sexual preferences at all until something happened that made me think about it so much more than before.
Clark's apartment was burgled. We found the burglar, Jack, and Clark got his things back. He said that he got back everything that was taken, but he was so strange I knew he was lying. I knew that something was still missing, and that it was something that mattered to him.
But obviously, he didn't want to tell me what that was. He didn't even want me to know that something was missing; if so, he wouldn't have lied to me. But I wanted to help him, and how could I do that if I didn't even have a clue about what was missing?
So, I concluded that I had to discover what it was that he was hiding to have at least a clue about what was still missing. The locks of his apartment were still weak after the burglary. He hadn't replaced them yet. I took the opportunity, and searched his apartment for clues while he was out.
That day, I had a great shock. And it was the day I definitely built the ridiculous idea of mine that would lead Clark to tell me his secret. Oh my God, how stupid I was!
Well, I was saying that I went searching Clark's apartment for clues. I found some┘ First, I found pictures of Clark's things that were taken. And on the pictures, we could see a globe out of which came a hologram of an old man with an S on his chest. Obviously, I had discovered the still-missing object, and it wasn't Clarks; it belonged to Superman.
But I found some other interesting stuff. I found a secret compartment in his wardrobe where Superman's suits were hung. That's what gave me a shock.
How could I explain to myself that Superman's suits as well as his personal belongings, like the globe, were in Clark's apartment, except for the obvious solution, "Clark is Superman"? That solution was definitely too obvious for me to even contemplate the idea. I came to the conclusion that Clark's apartment was in reality Clark and Superman's apartment, that they were both living there.
For a minute or so, I thought that they were such close friends that they had decided to live together, to be roommates. After all, Superman didn't receive a paycheck for his rescues, but needed nonetheless a place to live. So why not live with his dear childhood friend? But I didn't believe it more than one short minute. Probably because when I figured that, I was in Clark's bedroom. The only bedroom of the apartment. And just in front of me, there was the bed. A big bed. A bed for two people. The idea struck me almost immediately that Clark and Superman weren't just "roommates". They were really living together, sharing everything, even the bed. In my mind, there was no doubt anymore. They were a gay couple.
That was my ridiculous idea. You didn't laugh; I guess I succeeded in making you understand why I thought such a thing. Anyway, since I began to imagine them being a gay couple, I thought again about all I'd figured out before about Clark and Superman's past. They were together while they were traveling all around the world. They were already together in Smallville. So they weren't just a recent couple. They had probably been together for years. I figured that was why they never settled anywhere for more than a few months during their travels. Superman already carried out rescues, and they didn't want to be discovered. I even had the idea that the gay relationship they had was the reason why Clark had left Smallville in the first place. It's hard to hide something like that in a tiny town.
I realized that they could only settle in Metropolis because Superman had become a public figure. They chose to do it in the anonymity of the big city. Things were obviously very serious between them. I know how ridiculous all that is, but I really believed it to be true and I cried for hours in my room after that. I remembered every moment I spent with Superman since I met him, and everything just seemed different now that I knew that he was Clark's boyfriend. Or now that I thought he was Clark's boyfriend. All the exclusives that Superman gave to Clark instead of me sounded to me like a declaration of love. All the time I thought Superman was interested in me became time when he was just being friendly with his boyfriend's partner┘ I remembered once that Superman was in Clark's apartment one morning when I woke up after sleeping on the couch to watch over a man who had invented an invisibility suit. I didn't think about it at the time, but it was if he was in his own home. He answered the phone when it rang without hesitation. The time when he chose to live in Clark's apartment, without even asking him first, when he was suspected to be the cause of the heat wave. The way Clark blushed when I asked him if Superman took off his suit to shower. I knew he was lying when he told me he didn't look, but somehow, that sounded different when you think about them as a gay couple who hide their relationship.
I remembered too the first time I went to Smallville, when Trask found Kryptonite there. I made a joke about Clark's father being a cross dresser. Clark found my idea very funny. I though that was because I said it about his father, without knowing that it was his father. But maybe that was because I had said that to a gay without knowing it. Anyway, when I stopped crying, grieving over my fantasies of a love story between Superman and me, I decided that if they didn't want their special relationship or their sexual preferences to be known, then I would respect their privacy from now on. I would never say a word to Clark or Superman to let them know that I knew. I would never again try to know what was going on in their lives. I decided to be the good friend I should have been long ago, to stop mourning and being selfish, and try to be happy for them. They were both my friends, and they had found love. Both of them deserved to be happy, and since they were still together after many years, I could just think that they were truly happily in love.
So I kept acting as if I didn't know a thing about their relationship, and kept on being just their friend. But for some time now, the Daily Planet had been in serious competition with the Metropolis Star. And the paper was having financial problems. Clark suspected that the new owner of the Star planned "accidents" so his paper could have exclusives. So he applied for a post at the Star. It was an undercover assignment for the Planet, but I didn't know it. I believed that he had really resigned from the Daily Planet, because it was having financial problems, to go to his its rival. I was furious. And jealous as well, I have to say. At the Star, he had a new partner who was my former best friend, when I was in college. Linda King. We weren't friends any more because once she stole my boyfriend. I've never forgiven her for that. And then she stole my partner. I really was jealous. Clark was as friendly with her as he was with me while he still worked with me. But when he worked at the Star undercover, he worked with her. I felt as if he didn't find me good enough to work with him while Linda was. I just felt a mess. I was so jealous I even went to his apartment to yell at him. But in the midst of my fit of jealousy, I noticed that he was acting strangely, and then I noticed that there were two cups of coffee on the table. He wasn't alone, and he was trying to hide it. Of course, given what I thought his relationship was with Superman, I should have thought that he was with his lover, but I was so crazy jealous about Linda that I didn't think about anything else. I immediately believed that he was with Linda, and I searched his entire apartment, like a fury, for Linda. And when I searched in his wardrobe, I found Perry. That calmed me down right away. I remembered immediately that Clark was gay or that I though he was. And if he had to hide someone in his wardrobe, it wouldn't be a woman, like Linda, but a man┘ like Perry.
Oh my God. I was imagining things that I'm not proud of. Clark cheating on Superman with Perry. Perry cheating on his wife Alice with Clark. And I was shocked by the idea that Perry, too, was gay. I was so surprised and shocked about Perry, the man I considered as a father, to be gay too, and involved with my former partner that my thoughts showed on my face. The second I discovered Perry hiding in the wardrobe, Clark and Perry told me not to get the wrong idea, and then they gave me the right explanation. They told me Clark hadn't really resigned and still worked for the Planet, but that he was undercover at the Star. I was so relieved. I don't have anything against homosexuality, but to discover that the man I saw as my father was gay, just after discovering that my best friend and the man I loved was, was a little too much for me to bear. I was thinking something like "is there one great guy in the world who's not gay"?! So, finding that at least Perry wasn't really relieved me. But I was still deeply convinced that Clark and Superman were indeed gays and engaged in a serious relationship together.
I discovered the truth not long after that, and I felt really ridiculous when he told me that, in reality, he was Superman. He told me more or less one week later. A double of Superman came to town. He performed rescues, and arrested bad guys. That was a clone of Superman, but I didn't know it, so, for me, that double really was Superman, even if he had a strange attitude. He was a little brutal with the bad guys, and he treated me┘ well┘ differently, with less respect, and definitely as if he was interested in me. I knew that couldn't be the case since he was attracted to men, and that I wasn't one. But when he asked me for dinner at my apartment, I was so ecstatic that I agreed. I put on a beautiful dress, I prepared a candlelit dinner┘ I knew that he probably had in mind something less romantic, and friendlier, and I knew I couldn't seduce him. He was Clark's boyfriend. But I still wanted to have the feeling that my fantasy was real, just for one night. So, I really was taken aback when Superman, or his double to be exact, told me I was hot right at the beginning. I wasn't expecting this. I was very surprised. I thought he was gay, and nonetheless he found me hot. I remembered that he was indeed attracted to me when he was under the influence of the pheromone. I thought that Superman was bisexual, that he could be attracted to both men, like Clark, and women, like me. But I was shocked that he had tried to flirt with me while he had been engaged in a serious relationship with Clark for so many years. Apparently, they had some couple problems. I was very ill at ease. I tried to calm things down a little, and I discussed with him his new method of dealing with criminals, but he didn't go with that change of subject, and kissed me. The kiss was brutal, and unpleasant. I felt fear, I was afraid that he would rape me.
When he kissed me, I knew immediately that he wasn't Superman, that he was an impostor. I was so terrified. The kiss was broken by Clark's appearance. He entered my apartment, furious, and stopped Superman. They had an argument right in front of me, and Superman, I mean his double, almost hit Clark. He didn't show any fear. I was impressed. Superman left my apartment. For a minute or so, I was still shocked by what had just happened. That made me believe that I was right to think that Clark and Superman had couple problems. Clark interrupted the kiss and was furious, as if he was jealous. And they had an argument in front of me. He was so angry; shocked when I told him he kissed me. Immediately, I wanted to reassure Clark that his lover didn't try to cheat on him with me, but I still hadn't told Clark what I thought about his relationship with Superman, so I couldn't reassure him like that. But I could say something that would reassure him. I told him that the Superman who had just flown out of the window was an impostor, not the real one.
Later, we discovered that the double was a clone, and had died. That's when I finally knew the truth, knew how ridiculous all my ideas were so far. Clark and I were talking that night. He looked so sad I wanted to know what was wrong. And then, he told me that it would have been great if there had been two Supermen, because the superhero would have felt less lonely. When he said that, I believed that I was right to assume that there was trouble in their relationship. Maybe Superman felt lonely because he was so unique, and Clark felt a little rejected or something like that. At first, I tried to joke to make him less upset. I told him that if Superman felt lonely, I was volunteering to keep him company. He smiled at that, but he still looked very sad. Of course, it was he who felt lonely because he was unique, but I didn't know it. And I really wanted to help him feel better, because he was my best friend, so I decided to reassure him about Superman's love. I was sure that was that the problem, that he doubted the love of his lover. I told him that he didn't have to worry because even if Superman felt lonely sometimes, he knew he wasn't, and knew he was loved. I added to Clark that I was sure that Superman really loved him too.
Clark looked really puzzled while I was speaking, and he asked me what I was talking about. I thought that he was denying it, so I told him that I had known for some time that he and Superman were a couple. He looked to me very oddly and said defensively that he wasn't gay. That looked really like a denial to me, so I insisted, telling him that it was okay with me, and that I would never tell anyone what I knew. But he kept on denying it, of course! That was upsetting me. He didn't trust me enough to admit the truth when I had already figured everything out. So, I insisted too. I told him all the little things that were proof to me that he and Superman were together. He really was taken aback. Finally, when I challenged him to deny it again, he laughed and said that he couldn't believe I'd collected all these clues and that I hadn't figured out the truth. I was almost angry at this point that he was still denying. He interrupted me and said again that he wasn't gay, and neither was Superman. And he added that, even if they were, they couldn't have a relationship together because he was Superman. That's the way he told me the truth.
My first reflex was to not believe him, but he was so deadly serious. And when he took off the glasses┘ my anger left me right away. I know I should have been really furious that he was lying to me, and made me believe that they were two people, but I couldn't. I was definitely too embarrassed about all the ridiculous ideas of mine to be angry with him. And he was really embarrassed, too. I guess that's why he told me. It was easier for him to confess that he was Superman than to pretend to be gay and involved in a relationship with himself.
Clark landed on the balcony of his house. Immediately, he heard laughs coming from the kitchen. He smiled. It was a good feeling to return home to see his wife and his son laughing together. He loved his family so much. Entering the room, he said hello to John and kissed Lois before asking:
"So, I can hear the joke?"
"We were just discussing the way you told Mom you are Superman. I promised her I wouldn't laugh but I couldn't help myself," answered his son. "Anyway, Dad, I understand perfectly why you told her before you even started dating, but that doesn't help me."
"He started dating Jennifer, and she told him she loved him. Now, he has to tell her the truth," explained Lois.
"Oh, you have a big problem, John."
"I know. Actually, I wanted you to give me some advice, Dad. How do you think I have to tell her?"
Clark thought a while about his son's question before answering.
"Jennifer is so like your mother┘ If I were you, I would tell her with a bulletproof vest on. And┘ son? Do it quickly; it will be less painful. You'll just have to crawl for a few weeks."
THE END.