Clark flew faster than a speeding bullet across the wide continents. The closer he came to Australia the more his supersensory powers picked up Gwen's power. It was intoxicating. He knew before his eyes even told him so that she was in a small roadside market, a rest stop set up in the Outback.
To avoid frightening anyone with a dramatic appearance, he touched down miles outside the market and darted into a clothing booth, snatching a few pieces and leaving some money. Using his super speed he was in and out before the shopkeeper even glanced up. Back in the middle of nowhere, away from human eyes, Clark outfitted himself in khaki cargo pants and an oversized black hoodie. He tucked his cape and suit under this disguise and pulled the hood low over his forehead.
Then he walked purposefully with his hands stuffed into his sweatshirt pockets. He slipped on a pair of dark sunglasses as soon as he entered the market as an afterthought. He wove his way through the multitude of pop-up shops and people toward the center of the small crowd, where he could sense Gwen the strongest. Without his Kryptonian suit and cape on full display, people didn't give him a second glance. Those that did tried to sell him something, chattering in their language.
Closer and closer Clark came to Gwen. When he at last pinpointed her, he saw she was leaning over a jewelry vendor's table, studying something intently. He was able to walk right up to her and bump her shoulder with his.
"Looks nice. You should buy that." He whispered under his breath. The muscles of her body went rigid, but otherwise she didn't acknowledge him. She continued to stubbornly finger the chain of a pink coral necklace.
"How much?" she asked the Aboriginal vendor. They talked price back and forth rapidly but she shook her head and finally stepped away without purchasing the piece. Then she whirled and grabbed Clark's elbow in an iron tight grip that made even him wince and pulled him roughly a few paces away from the stalls.
"What the HELL are you doing here?" she hissed, long lashed green eyes glaring at him from under the brim of her floppy straw hat. A red ribbon ran around the hat, the same warm shade of the sleeveless sun dress she was wearing. Clark couldn't help noticing how well the outfit complimented her dark complexion. His eyes automatically traced the lines of her strong, arched neck and the smooth toned skin of her exposed shoulders and arms before he realized it. Luckily she couldn't see what he had just done behind his sunglasses.
"It was easy to find you." He answered vaguely, turning his head side to side to check their surroundings and to hopefully take his mind off of her muscular body. The temperature was at least 90˚ Fahrenheit here. No wonder she was showing some skin. He realized he was sweltering in this silly sweatshirt and pants—
"Answer the question, Kal." She bit back darkly, stepping forward to peer under his hood. "Yes, I know it's you even under that stupid disguise."
"But it works, doesn't it?" Clark's lip spread into a cock-sure grin that would have had the hearts of most girls melting. Gwen, however stomped purposefully on his left foot and ground her heel down. "Ow!" Clark said. "Watch it!"
"I said—"
"Don't act so tough. You had your guard down. I shouldn't have been able to walk right up to you." Clark retorted. "What if I was an enemy?"
"I can take care of myself!" Gwen spat defensively, "You know this is my territory."
"Oh so we have territories now? Good to know. Should I bring out the whole 'This planet is too big for us' line—"
They were standing nose to nose now, trying to argue heatedly but quietly. "Why are you here?" Gwen prodded, digging her strong fingers deeper into Clark's bicep.
"I had to see you."
Gwen's black eyebrows hit the troposphere. "Whatever for?"
"Just what I said. Am I not speaking English?" Clark knew he was having way too much fun toying with the other Kryptonian and couldn't wipe the stupid grin off his face. "We could talk in our native tongue if you want. It might be refreshing."
Gwen opened her mouth to doubtless give her own spicy retort but a vendor selling sticks of wafer dipped in hard chocolate came near the couple and waved the treats in front of their noses, grinning and babbling. Clark used his best "sorry, not interested" body language until the vendor moved on.
He leaned closer to Gwen and caught a subtle whiff of citrusy notes. Was that her perfume? Shampoo? "How are you?" He said.
"What. You think this is social hour? I told you I'm fine!" She arched her back to counter his posture, trying to keep a healthy distance between their faces. They were breathing the same air at this point.
She must have realized how they looked and released her iron grip on his arm to jump backward, frowning. "What do you want, Kal? Go away!"
"You're fully healed?"
"YES!"
"I heard you like sushi." Clark continued to throw her off balance with his forward motion. For every step she took back, he took two forward, leaning over her like a tree. She was practically doing the Limbo in the middle of the dirt packed street now. She hissed in irritation.
"Kal!"
"We need to talk."
Gwen growled and popped up like a released spring, shoving her hands into Kal's chest and pushing him away from her. He recovered quickly and remained upright, digging his boots into the dirt to keep from sliding from the impact.
"Don't you know what 'no' means?" she said, a little too loudly. People were starting to take notice, for they were no longer just two normal, unassuming humans having a rational discussion in the middle of the street. Now they were two abnormally strong humans trying hard to look like normal humans while having a full-blown tiff in the middle of the street.
Gwen could sense that a tall Aboringinal man with faded yellow shorts hovering to her 4:00 was seconds away from stepping in and doing the whole "is this man bothering you?" routine with Clark. She was not looking forward to witnessing that performance.
"Kal, you're causing a scene." She ground out between clenched teeth, adjusting her hat nervously, "I'm anonymous here. Have a little respect—"
The infuriatingly handsome Kryptonian male just flashed another grin and stayed put, hands shoved deep into his khakis. His stance was solid. She tried to shove her way around him and walk away but he stepped neatly into her path again, a wall of pure muscle and unchecked power.
Now vendors and pedestrians alike were turning to point and whisper to each other. "Look at those two. Look at the rude man and the aggressive woman in the red dress…" Gwen's super sharp hearing could pick up every whispered comment, every language. The questions poured into her ears from every side: "What are they doing? Who are they? Are they fighting? Should we help? Whose side should we pick? Do you think she can handle him?"
"I'm not leaving until we talk." Clark murmured. Clearly he could hear the whispers too. She couldn't read his eyes behind his dark sunglasses but even without that she knew he wasn't bluffing. "We'll have this discussion right here. Right now. Doesn't matter to me—"
Gwen hauled back and slapped him. The irate feeling came over her so suddenly she was shocked afterward, staring at the red mark that bloomed and faded on Kal's clean shaven jaw. He didn't even flinch. The humans around them did though and surged over, a wave of bodies and various voices:
"Ma'am are you ok?"
"What's going on?"
"Hey, take it somewhere else!"
Gwen swore softly and snatched a handful of Clark's sweatshirt sleeve, once again towing him away with her. He didn't protest, a ghost of a grin still evident on his lips. She hated that he had won this round. She wished she could close her eyes and he would go away, but he was here, he was real, and he was stubbornly causing chaos in an otherwise sleepy little settlement.
They left a trail of concerned people behind them, ignoring them. Gwen's long strides carried her briskly past the vendor's stalls and into the wide, beckoning desert. Clark matched her pace, keeping silent and not bothering to free himself from her grip.
When they were out of human eyesight, Gwen let go of his sleeve and rocketed up into the clear blue Australian sky. It was a beautiful day for flying, but she got no joy out of it as she concentrated on keeping her straw hat on her head with one hand and gathering the flapping hem of her red dress close to her long legs with the other. She stopped ascending in the air at 30,000 feet.
Clark rose up a second later to hover in front of her. He had let his entire street style disguise travel away on the wind and was once again resplendent in his iconic and suit and cape. Seeing it made Gwen feel a twinge of homesickness.
"Kal—" Gwen started to say, but he glanced up and then shot forward to envelop her in his thick arms, dragging her down amid protest to 28,000 feet.
"Commercial flight out of Korea." He murmured in her ear, arms still locked like a vice around her. They both watched a sleek blue and white jet whoosh by over their heads, where Gwen had been a second before. "You didn't hear that?" he said as the whine of the jet's engines faded away. "You've really got to hone your senses—"
"I don't need your heroics!" Gwen screwed up her stunning features into a very unattractive snarl and squirmed against Clark's hold, still struggling to hold on to her hat and dress. This outfit was not made for flying. She became aware of how his tall body was pressed so close to hers. She could feel the sizzling heat of his Kryptonian blood through their clothing, the pressure of his steel muscles, his soft puffs of breath against her earlobe. He was strength and safety and everything she wanted…fantasized about. Being held by the only Kryptonian male on the planet was worlds different than any interaction she could ever have with human males. They were fragile compared to what she was. What Kal was.
She realized she had gone slack in her brief reverie and he was doing all the flying, holding her tightly against him to keep her from falling out of the sky.
"So, can we talk now?" Clark asked, a small grin playing across his lips. Damn him.
She tilted her head up a fraction to meet his intense gray eyes. Earth's warm sun was illuminating his chiseled face in white hot light, defining his brown eyebrows, jawline, lips. Her heart rate sped up, leaping away on her like a stampede of horses. Why did Kal have to be so handsome? Being mere inches away from his face arrested her breath—they wouldn't get much "talking" done if she allowed herself to freeze like a fan girl.
Gwen dashed those dreamy emotions aside and took charge of her body, shoving hard against Clark's chest to break apart.
"Not like this." She gasped.
A/N. I thought this scene was hilarious and I re-worked it about five times before posting it. Gwen and Clark are both stubborn individuals. Let me know if you like it or if you want more of this fic about Superman.