Hopeful Idiot – Chapter 12 - Headboards

Wednesday Night

Hope settled into the bath, blanket draped carefully over half of the cast-iron tub, in such a way that it could be quickly yanked off and she could be quickly extracted. Just in case. She had a book and a large glass of Pink Moscato within reach.

But even before she got into the bath, her mind was swirling. Knowing that she might not be able to get through this conversation without some help, she quickly drank about a third of the glass. Then she refilled it, and settled into the water. "Mmmmm…" she moaned softly as the heat seemed to go straight into her bones.

"Hope? Are you alright? Is it too hot?" Clark's voice was filled with worried fretfulness. He'd made himself as comfortable as his anxiety would let him on the end of her couch. He'd earlier assured her that he wouldn't be looking at her with more than his heat-sensitive vision. Especially since Hope insisted that if he was that worried about things, she'd leave the bathroom door open.

"Add 'learn different noises your girlfriend makes' to the list," Hope said at a normal volume, knowing he would hear her easily. "That wasn't a bad sound. That was a 'Hope is about to melt from happiness' sound."

Clark grinned in relief, then wondered, "What list?"

"The List of Things to Learn About Being a Boyfriend."

A pause. "Is there such a list?"

"Written down? I have no idea. You could write it yourself." She downed another third of her wine as she stared at the ceiling, wondering how to bring up the subject that was bothering her most. "Call it the Guide to Lasting Marriage or something. You'd make a mint."

Another, longer pause. "Marriage?" he asked quietly, almost out of her hearing range.

Hope sighed. That was as good a way to Segway into what she needed to say to him as anything else. "I spoke with your mother." She took another mouthful of wine.

"What did you two talk about?" Clark asked solemnly, then tried to lighten the mood slightly, "Other than her secret pie recipe?"

Hope chuckled on cue, but her somber tone didn't change. "You called me 'your Hope' and you took me to see your parents. That's…that's not insignificant to me. Doesn't seem insignificant to you either. So I called your mother, partly to see about how much experience you have with girls. Partly to see how genuine you might be. I…" she paused. "I need to know how serious you are about us, Clark. Because I…I don't think I can take another heartbreak." Her voice had gotten quieter and quieter until it was a bare whisper.

There was a rustle and she looked over to see Clark in the doorway. He still wasn't looking at her, respecting her privacy by staring at the doorframe, but he slid down the doorframe while she watched him so that, once he was firmly sitting on the floor, he could look over at her. Those deep cerulean blue orbs staring into her own green-hazel. Those eyes that saw too much. Filled with compassion and understanding. "Tell me," he said gently.

Hope shook her head. "Not yet. Maybe not ever. Suffice to say that I've been hurt. A lot. My longest relationship lasted 8 months before I discovered that he was not only married, but had three sons." Clark grimaced in disgust. "I'm not a cynic for no reason, Clark." She drained her wine glass. Her eyes were fighting tears as she looked over at him for a split second before refocusing on the ceiling. "I don't trust easily." A pause. "Not anymore," she whispered.

She swallowed, "So I need to know, Clark. I need to know how serious this is for you. I need to know if this is just a Friends-With-Benefits thing. Or do you want to make a real go of this boyfriend/girlfriend thing? Are you dating me? Or courting me? The way your dad talked it was practically an arranged marriage or something else. Or is this just a lark? A fling? I need to know, Clark. Please—"

"I understand," his hand caught hers, halting her words with the small gesture as if he'd hit a switch. It was the closest he'd ever heard her beg. The most emotion, true deep emotion that he'd heard from her since her rant the day before.

"I haven't loved many women in my life. My high-school sweetheart was Lana Lang, but she never seemed to realize I existed." Clark's voice was wry. "You weren't far off with making me part of the chess team. I am quite the nerd, you know. Far too beneath Lana…but when the time came, I was more interested in her happiness than my own." He took a deep breath, his own emotions close to the surface. "I was infatuated with Lois for a time, but your words all those months ago made me realize that you were right. I was more in love with the idea of being in love, than in Lois herself." He took another deep breath. "You are the first woman to see me, Hope. To truly see me for who I am; to care about what was best for me and not what I could do for you. You…there's no one quite like you that I've ever met. Yes, Hope, I'm very serious about giving this a try. I suppose you could call it courting, but I wasn't going to jump the gun and say it. I didn't want to scare you off."

Hope gave a very snorted laugh. "Scare me off? I thought I'd scare you off."

Clark looked at her, his face serious. "I don't react well to lying or betrayal. Two of my best friends betrayed me and I forgave them, then they did it again, and I forgave them again. Then it happened again. I…" his voice trailed off as he sighed.

"That's perfectly understandable," Hope nodded. "And I'll do my best to not lie to you…unless its for an insanely good reason that I will fully explain later. Or I'm teasing. Or being sarcastic. But tonality should make those last two obvious."

Clark was grinning by the time she stopped rambling. "Deal." He paused, "Anything else we need to discuss tonight?"

Hope sucked in her lips, "Yes…but I'm not sure we want to talk about it now, given the seriousness of things. Too much for one night?"

"Isn't it better to get it all out in the open?"

"Fine." Hope took a deep breath, looked him straight in the eye, and asked, "Are you a virgin?" When he turned a bright red, but only sputtered, she continued, "That was the other reason I called your mother. I mean, you aren't called the Man of Steel for nothing. She confirmed you had problems with your crotch seams in high school when puberty hit. But you also don't seem to have those problems now. So your control must be insane. However, your also the Man of Steel, so intimate relations may be more than a little difficult for you—"

"Stop!" Clark was brick red. "Please, for the love of Rao himself, stop." He leaned over, grabbed the bottle of wine, and took several large swallows. He took a deep breath, then another two swallows. Then another breath. Finally, he spoke again. "Rao!" he muttered before continuing louder, "There was an incident with Red Kryptonite when I was a teen that resulted in a summer of bad decisions. So no, I'm not a virgin. But…" He took another swig of wine. "I did hurt several girls the first week or so. It wasn't anything that didn't heal…eventually." His eyes were haunted at memories. "I did learn enough control after the fifth that I didn't hurt them anymore…unless I wanted to." He drained the bottle. "I haven't been with another sexual partner since the Red Kryptonite was out of my system."

Hope's heart hurt for him. She could hear the pain in his voice as he spoke. How much it still hurt him what he had done. "What's Kryptonite?" she asked instead, redirecting the conversation.

He gave her a half-smile, knowing exactly what she was doing, but went with it anyway. "When my planet, Krypton, blew up, it irradiated and distributed pieces of the planet itself. The most common variety is green, which decreases my powers and make me feel very ill. Given enough exposure, it will kill me. Red Kryptonite doesn't make me ill, but it effects my brain chemistry in a similar way to massive amounts of alcohol does to humans."

"Lowers your inhibitions. Lack of impulse control." Hope interpreted.

"Exactly. The school rings were made with it when the manufacturer discovered a sizable chunk of the stuff, thus they were cheaper to produce. Fine for everyone else. Not so much for me." He didn't mention that one of the betrayals was a friend purposefully infecting him with Red Kryptonite months later. It was one of the last straws. He had begun to be much more wary. After all, if his best friend could do that to him, what would a stranger, who had even less qualms about harming him, do?

"How many colors are there? How many people know about your allergy? Does anything stop it?"

"Several, to both questions. The one you have to really watch out for is Lex Luthor. He's…very dangerous. And the reporter was right, lead blocks most of my visual abilities. It also blocks Kryptonite radiation."

Hope nodded, realizing exactly how much he was trusting her. He was giving her the knowledge necessary to kill him. Was trusting her to keep it to herself. This was another stage of their relationship. This was a way he was trying to even things out between them. She was trusting him with her heart. He was trusting her with his life. She nodded firmly, "Okay." With another decisive nod, she stood up in her bath, pulling a towel off and began to dry.

"Done already?"

"It's been long enough the water is getting cold." She glanced at the clock, "The blanket did make it last longer than usual though. Good to know."

He smiled, his eyes closed as he very carefully didn't move so as not to get in her way and not to peek. "So now what?"

"Now?" Hope finished drying off and sent him a smirk. "Now, we are going to play a game." She noticed his closed eyes and grinned wider, "You can look."

His eyes opened, then his whole form froze. For she was standing before him and slightly to one side, nude. "Game?" his voice was two octaves too high.

"Yup! You are going to get undressed, get on the bed, wrap your hands around my headboard, and do your best not to move."

"I will?" He swallowed hard, his eyes never leaving her breasts, until they traveled to her nether region. "What will you be doing?"

"I'm going to be testing your level of control due to a lack of practice in the realm of sexual experience."

"What?"

Hope smiled at him, leaning down to tilt his chin up to look her in the eye, "I'm going to give you several orgasms in various ways." Then an expression of her own anxiety crossed her features. "Unless you don't want to. Is this too much? This is too much. I'm sorry. I didn't—"

He stopped her flow of words with a kiss, full mouth-on-mouth, his tongue tangling with hers; as if he were trying to taste her from the inside out. "It's not too much. But don't let me hurt you, Hope. Please…I'm begging you. Please, don't let me hurt you."

She pulled back and her smile was back. The smile that he was starting to label 'Hope's Evil Grin'. "That's why you'll be holding my headboard. When you stop breaking it, I'll know I can up the game a bit. Also why I'm going to be on top."

Clark swallowed hard, but very willingly followed her to the bedroom.

"I'm thinking we'll start with a handjob."

Clark whimpered. He didn't know if he was doing so out of happiness or terror.

"Then maybe I could sit on your face." Perhaps both.

"Then I could try giving you a blowjob." Oh yes, definitely both.

Ecstatic terror really did describe it well.

Thursday Mid-Morning

"Ummm…Lois?" Clark asked.

The reporter looked over at her friend and blinked. The man looked simultaneously the most relaxed she'd ever seen him, while also blushing the most she'd ever seen. "Clark? What's wrong?"

"Where might someone…buy a new headboard?"

Lois blinked, but before she could respond, there came loud stomping. She looked over at the I.T. specialist. "What's wrong with you?"

"Apparently, I don't have enough work to do. They are sending me to a conference in California." Hope growled, "Lord only know how much work will be waiting for me when I get back."

"Oh," Lois blinked again. "I'm sorry?" It was definitely a query. Lois was much more used to traveling every month or two. It wasn't that big a deal for her.

"When is the conference?" Clark asked, all concerned worry.

Hope sighed. "Next week in San Francisco. I'll be gone at least three days: Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Fly back on Sunday." She visibly shook herself, trying to shake off the bad mood. Grinned at Clark, "Care ta take a lady to lunch?"

Clark's smile matched hers, "I'd be honored."

Lois smiled too, though hers was more strained. "And you can tell him about where to buy headboards while you're out."

Hope blinked over at the reporter, then her smile grew and grew until it spread across her entire face. She spun around, grabbed Clark by the lapels of his jacket, and pulled him in for a deep kiss. There were quite a few wolf whistles before she shifted away, Clark obviously reluctant to release her. "Don't worry. We'll use a bedside table until you get better. Box-springs are just as comfy resting on the floor."

Perry White had come out of his office to see what the catcalls had been about. Even he was reluctant to make them knock it off. "Well, seems the two nerds got together," he muttered. "Good for them." Then louder, "Alright people, show's over. Back to work!" Hasty shuffling as the bullpen tried to look as if they had been busy all along. "Kramer! Kent!" The pair looked at the Editor in Chief questioningly. "Take a long lunch," he smirked at them. What could he say? He was an asshole, but he wasn't heartless. "And congratulations."

"Thanks, Mr. White!" Kent called out as they grinned and practically chased each other out.

Friday Evening

Kal-El flew into the Fortress of Solitude. "Father? Is the serum ready?"

Jor-El flickered into existence. Since a project had been working, his program had been left running. "Indeed."

"Oh."

Jor-El raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong, my son?"

"I just…was wondering…" he blushed pink, "Could you make something similar that would make Hope… Make her more… Or…or less breakable? I don't want to hurt her." His voice was quiet as he admitted the last.

The A.I. ran several logic streams to determine the most likely cause of his ward's remark. It took less than a nanosecond to arrive at a conclusion, "Are you referring to her durability in regards to sexual intercourse?"

Kal blushed brighter, but nodded.

"Such was already taken into account, my son." He gestured and a drawer opened in the nearest wall, presenting with several items. "There is the solution; its delivery mechanism is already prepared and ready for injection. The emergency distress signal is beside it. It is designed to send out a piercing frequency which only you will be able to hear; within 1500 miles if you concentrate, though 500 miles is more realistic. The far-most box is a basic medical kit, designed specifically for your mate's physiology. It will keep her stabile under even the most extreme conditions, until you can bring her here. The last is a locator beacon; one in which can locate your mate from anywhere on the globe."

Kal-El nodded and gathered the items, stashing them into his cloak. (There were several such hideaway areas in his costume.) "Can you make a second set of the last three?"

"Of course. Such are already available." Jor gestured again and a second panel opened, "May I inquire as to why you want them? Backup copies perhaps? Human weapons can't destroy them."

"I made a deal with Lois. To help keep Hope as safe as possible. She plays decoy. Makes the world believe that I love her, and in return, Superman saves her whenever she needs it on her investigations."

"Acknowledged," the A.I. filed away the information. "Now, the solution is most effective if administered in the next six hours. Please do so."

"Of course, but before I go…" Kal was blushing again.

"Yes, my son?"

"Can you give me a sex primer as it pertains to a female human and male Kryptonian?"

Jor-El's hologram didn't so much as twitch; though he really wanted to, he did not allow his fierce joyous satisfaction to show. "Of course, my son. First, you must remember that humans are very fragile in certain ways, but not in others. For example…"

+++++HOPEFUL++IDIOT+++++

Posted: 5.18.2020 Wordcount: ~3k

Next update will take me a bit. I'm delving into Reeves' movies. So please tell me your thoughts. I know it isn't perfect, but I'd love to hear what you think.