Hopeful Idiot
Chapter 31: Reassurance
Started: 04.01.24
***WARNING: This chapter contains sex. If this isn't your cup of tea, please skip the indicated section.
+++++HOPEFUL+IDIOT+++++
As soon as they entered the Fortress, the man holding her barked, "Shields up - maximum!" before they had even touched the ground. "Medbay!"
"Compliance," the A.I. acknowledged.
A hum Hope hadn't noticed before increased as something translucent iridescent blue shimmered through the air out of the hole they had just entered. She looked away from the ripple as she was ever-so-gently set upon a shelf that had yet to fully extended away from the wall. Clark's hand on her shoulder urged her down. Hope was about to protest, but his expression halted the words in their tracks.
"Complete scan," he ordered.
The bed/shelf she lay on began to glow softly. "Scan complete," the A.I. intoned. "Foreign substance detected. Analyzing."
Hope wondered what this flat affect of the computer was for. When she had been in the Fortress previously, the A.I. had been practically human in his responses. Okay, not exactly human, but the program had facial expressions and vocal timbre variations. If she hadn't seen it appear with her own eyes, she'd have thought it was a real person.
"Analysis complete. Synthesizing antidote."
Now, however, she had no difficulty believing it was an artificial program. There was no more inflection in its tone than an elevator announcing floor levels! Cold, flat responses only. The minimum required, nothing more; no details, explanations, or elaboration. Which she had a feeling the A.I. would've done for her own edification if it wasn't for the posture of the male standing beside the medical slab.
Looking at her Idiot she could somewhat understand. This was a side of him she hadn't seen before. His eyes were hard and unyielding. His shoulders straight and square. No smile was visible. No softness. This man wasn't Superman, the gallant hero. He wasn't Clark, the clumsy human. This was Kal-El, the alien Kryptonian.
"Antidote complete. Administering."
A rod extended from the wall above her head until it was over her mouth and nose. A puff of air. She inhaled instinctively, startled. Hope could no more help the slight panic than her response; she rolled to her side and began to cough. Or tried to. Her lover caught her and pushed her back into position. Or tried to.
It was too much. She was kidnapped. Drugged. Interrogated. She watched as men were killed in front of her. (She knew they deserved it, but that wasn't the point.) Flown at high speed with eyes tightly closed. Her Idiot was acting unlike himself. Stuff was puffed in her face. Now she couldn't stop coughing and someone was trying to hold her down.
Hope flailed; pushing and shoving with as much strength as she had while coughing non-stop. She fought the hands holding her.
She fought to get up. She didn't want to do whatever those hands wanted for her.
She heard but didn't hear two voices above her. One loud and harsh, the other cold and hard.
She didn't want it! Get away! Let go! Let go! LET GO!
She managed to get a good blow in and the hands vanished. She curled on her side. Still coughing violently, she leaned over and expelled what little was in her stomach onto the crystal floor. She coughed and vomited until there was nothing left, tears streaming down her face. She coughed and cried; she didn't know for how long.
After unknown time, she slowly became more aware. Arms held her securely to a chest. Holding her around her shoulders and knees in a fetal position, her arms tucked close and her ear pressed firmly (of its own volition) to the steady heartbeat. A deep tenor in her other ear singing a wordless tune she'd never heard before, yet seemed to thrum in her chest and soothe her. It was a sensation she'd never felt before. The closest she could equate it to would be a jacuzzi or hot bath. But instead of warming outside-in, this warmed from the inside-out, beginning with her bones.
It didn't feel constraining either, despite the tight hold. She experimentally wiggled and the arms neither tightened nor loosened, just held her. Securely. Gently. Protectively? Her fingers curled against the chest. After a few moments, one of her fingers traced an edge where yellow met red.
As if this was a signal, the singing stopped. "How are you feeling?" Clark's voice rumbled in her ear.
Hope swallowed. "Better. I'm sor—"
"Don't." He hissed, cutting her off harshly. "Don't you dare apologize. You have nothing to be sorry for. None of this was your fault."
She tilted her head back to look at him. His eyes were hooded as he stared, not at her, but over her head. She knew this expression. When someone had broken into the house, she'd seen it in her father: harsh and cold.
For the first time she felt a shiver of fear.
Not afraid OF him; she would never be afraid of him. No, she was afraid FOR him. That expression held dark and dangerous thoughts. If he acted on them… Hope was afraid for what those dark and dangerous deeds would do to his psyche. He would hurt his soul if those thoughts were brought into life, she knew. She also knew that he wouldn't care. He'd count it worth it. For her.
So, to save him, she needed to do the same as her mother had all those years ago. Reassure. Redirect. "I meant for throwing up on you."
He blinked and looked down at her. "The A.I. already took care of it."
"Did I hurt you? I think I remember getting a punch in to a not-nice place."
Now he gave a small huff of a laugh. It came with a tiny relaxation of his shoulders. Minute, but it was a start. She mentally patted herself on the back. "No, you didn't hurt me. Only a couple bruises that're already healed."
She bruised him? She could bruise him?! That was definitely new and mildly terrifying. "What were you humming before? I liked it."
He gave a hmm as he loosened his hold a little more. "It's Kryptonian; used to calm."
"Well, it was certainly effective."
A small smirk and he kissed her forehead. "I was so close to losing you," he whispered to her hair. "I wouldn't have been able to stand it."
Nope. She didn't want forehead kisses. Forehead kisses weren't enough…for either of them. Hope tilted her head back and caught his mouth with hers.
He pulled back. "Don't. I have very little control right now," he said in a strained voice.
Except, this wasn't a time for control. Hers or his.
+++SEXY+REASSURANCE+++
Hope kissed his collarbone, tugging his collar to the side to access it. His hands tightened around her. The power in the touch made things deep in her belly tingle. The relaxing of that iron control she felt in his fingers against her skin, but it also had an odd effect on her. Almost as if a live wire at a very low voltage was attached to the tips of his fingers. No, not just his fingers!
Under her mouth, his skin seemed to crawl with the energy, begging to be let free. She flicked her tongue and he groaned. His hands tightened convulsively. She tugged at the neckline, exposing more flesh for her to follow—until he yanked her head up almost painfully and slanted his mouth over her own.
He kissed her as if he were trying to devour her and she met him with her own hungry possession. Something hard pressed into her hip and she growled, yanking the neckline down. Tearing it off and away insistently. He matched her and there was only warm skin between them.
His mouth left a hot trail down her neck to her breast, teeth and tongue deliciously grazing every millimeter in between. A strangled moan tore from her when he pushed the bra aside and encased her nipple. Throbs of desire so acute they were almost painful burned between them.
She moved her hand between and down to grab with single-minded intent of destroying the bit of fabric separating them. Then all thought fled as his fingers slid under her panties—when and where had her pants gone?—to push into her core. That live-wire energy sparked and she cried out in pleasure-pain as her back arched hard enough to force his other arm to restrain her.
This was enough to tell him they needed a better position. A turn and twist and she was under him, his hand still caressing her wet depths. Cries of need escaped her as she attempted to twist—away or into?—in pleasure. His hips holding her as much as his second hand, ruthlessly increasing the intensity with each new rub.
"Can't wait anymore," he muttered fiercely.
If she still had the ability to speak, she would have immediately agreed. But all her vocal capacity was used with gasping at the unbelievable sensations his fingers caused. He shifted. She felt a small tug of pressure, and then with a growled, "Mine!" he thrust into her. His mouth claimed hers at the same instant, muffling her scream of ecstasy as his hard flesh filled her. There was the sweetest edge of pain-pleasure as he began to move rhythmically, almost roughly, inside her.
Her mind was seized in an echo: harder-faster-more! It was all she could think as she clawed his back, desperate to somehow get closer. His arm tucked and lifted her leg over his shoulder, holding her even tighter as the rock-hardness of him ground stronger. Between his kiss, grip, and the unknown electric fire wherever he touched, she could barely breathe, but she didn't care. All that mattered was the escalating passion within that had every nerve ending contracting and twisting in a frenzy.
"Don't stop! Please!" she cried, but it came out garbled against his mouth. He must have translated, however, as he growled and ramped up speed until she wasn't sure how she was still conscious. Spasms shook her from the inside out as her body convulsed with an overload of pleasure. She heard him groan, barely audible over her heartbeat, and then she felt his whole body tense as he let out a loud roar of release.
It took a few moments, his forehead resting on her own, before he pulled out. There was a look in his eyes that she couldn't interpret. A combination of satisfaction, fear, and determination, along with something else she couldn't name. If she had to label it, she'd say that he was afraid of what he had done, which didn't make sense, but also satisfied that he had done it, which she hoped was the case. After all, satisfied sexy times were wonderful. She may not know what the new live-wire energy meant or came from, but it wasn't as if it had hurt her. And she wanted more. "Can we do that again…perhaps in the bed?"
That unknown feeling intensified, but he picked her up bridal style and moved towards the sleeping area. He lay her down but didn't join her, instead leaning on the side of the palette, head down. It was a stunning pose but she knew it wasn't meant to be sexy. "What's wrong?"
"…I can't let you go."
Hope's eyebrows rose. "Who asked you to?"
His head came up and her eyebrows rose higher as his eyes seemed to glow with an inner blue fire. "You don't understand. I can't let you go, Hope. Not ever."
"And again I say, 'who asked you to?'"
"Something changed between seeing you at work and then the plane. Something that can't be taken back." She blinked, confused. She waited for him to continue. "Before that, you were my lover but we could've separated if it came to that. You were mine, but not Mine." Another blink. "Now, now you're Mine…or close to it. You can feel it in my touch." He reached out with one finger and brushed down her arm, making her shiver with delicious tingles.
She swallowed, "This is a Kryptonian thing?"
"Yes. Krypton had stages of courtship. Each more intense and serious than the last, because the last stage was binding. More than marriage. If Kryptonian couples got to that last stage, there was no going back. Ever."
Hope remembered Jor-El saying something last time: "Is this human female to be your mate, my son?" She looked at Kal-El the Kryptonian. "How many stages are there and which stage are we on?"
"Five stages total and we're on four. Or…four and a half, really. It's close. Really close. It's taking all my control to stay on this side of the bed and not take it—you—the rest of the way. To make you mine completely and irrevocably."
She thought of this man before her, who she loved with a depth that she could not put into words, and said the only thing that she could, "Do it."
His head shot up and stared at her in disbelief. "What?"
"Do it. Make me yours. Clark…Kal-El…it doesn't matter what persona you put on, you are my Idiot and I wouldn't have you any other way. There's no one else for me than you. There never will be. I love you. More than I can ever say. So do it. Complete step five or whatever your biology needs you to do so that you know there won't be anyone else for you either. That I'm yours and you're mine."
As she had spoken, the blue flames behind his eyes had begun to burn brighter and more intense. When she finished, he growled in a deep register she hadn't known he was capable, and in a flash his naked body was above hers. It didn't last a second before she was staring at the silver sheet before being pulled up to her knees. One arm around her chest to hold her upright, one hand going down to cup and rub at her clitoris. As he slid inside her from behind in one stroke, his head pushed hers aside and his teeth clamped down in the juncture between her shoulder and neck.
She screamed in pain-pleasure, coming instantly. "More!" The sudden triple fire from his touch, his cock, and his teeth too much and not enough all at once. He growled again, and she had no doubt his eyes were liquid blue fire, as he moved harder, faster, and she reveled in his fierceness. Every thrust sent new heat blasting through her, making her almost insane with desire. The arm holding her upright moved so that he could caress and pull at her nipples, spinning her into another orgasm, and yet it still wasn't enough. She urged him on in between shouts, crying out for more until she couldn't speak, and when he finally came for a second time, she joined him with her sixth, taking her voice with it.
He pulled out, laying her on her side, and left the bed, but she hardly noticed. She couldn't move, her limbs unable to support her, and her heart beating so rapidly that she wondered if it was dangerous.
When he came back, his fingers slid between her thighs with some thick liquid. As he kissed her neck in that same spot where his teeth had clamped her, which she was certain was bruised black and purple by now with the intense pressure he had used, he smeared the substance into the crease of her ass.
She trembled, knowing what he intended.
He curled his body along her own. His tongue caressing her neck in that spot and whispered to her neck, "You are mine in all ways, my queen…my mate…"
A wordless moan escaped her as she felt the first start of penetration, but knew that while it felt huge, it wasn't nearly large enough to be his length. No, that had to be a finger. A soft cry as he drew out and then in several times before the intrusion increased. Two fingers! "Clar—Kal—" she didn't know which name to use and wasn't sure it mattered. "I don't know if I can—!"
He shifted so that his other hand came around and down to rub her from the front and she shouted in surprise and desire as the live-wire feeling came back. "You can and you will, my mate." As the same hand drove two fingers inside her from the front, she screamed as three drove into her from behind. Strong suction on the other side of her neck had her seventh orgasm clamping his fingers to her, trying to draw him deeper.
"Relax, my mate," he groaned into her neck as he positioned himself. She sobbed, overwhelmed, as he once again clamped her neck with his teeth (so she would have teeth bruises on both sides where shoulder met neck), grasping her hips and pulling her towards him as he breached her with one thrust.
He throbbed, or perhaps it was her. Either way the new sensations were strange and almost disturbing. He rubbed her clit quickly to keep the electric heat high inside her from the front as he invaded further into depths that had never before been crossed.
When a jagged cry left her, he paused. Waiting for her to relax before beginning again. Patient, but insistent. The fullness inside her wasn't true pain in the strictest sense, but it was indescribably intense and absolutely overwhelming. She wasn't sure if it hurt her, or she liked it, or both. "Please…"
His teeth tightened just a bit, making her cry out yet again. His fingers bombarded her while he began to move in and out slowly, but deeply. She didn't know what it was, the passion of his fingers, his teeth, or some combination but when her back arched she was shocked to find herself moving into him, with him.
Her mind might be objecting to this new activity, but it wasn't as strong as when they began, and her body knew no morality. He increased each motion, building a gentle firm rhythm she couldn't help responding to, while rubbing her clit with every stroke. She dug her nails into his hip and arm, moaning and sobbing with need, and a hidden instinct took over.
They moved in tandem, their hearts beating in time, which shouldn't have been possible. If she had been thinking at all, she would've known it wasn't possible by human standards. But their thrusts increased to a frenzy and as he roared into her neck and she finally felt it as her flesh parted under his teeth, she once again screamed her release.
An unknown time later, he let go of her neck and licked until it stopped bleeding. He drew the silver sheet over them and held her from behind, his cock still inside her. "I'm not nearly done with you, my mate, my queen, but for now, rest…"
+++END+SEXY+++
It was hours—days?—later that he asked her to stay in the Fortress as he had to go to the Senate hearing. "I need you where I know you're safe, Hope. Please. Stay here."
Hope saw the fear in his eyes and nodded. "Okay, I'll stay here for now. Be safe, my Idiot." Then she gave him a saucy smile. "Besides, I don't think I have enough working muscles to go anywhere anyway."
He laughed, a smug sound full of promise and male satisfaction. He reached behind him and pulled out a small square box. "I know we're mated by Kryptonian standards, but will you also acknowledge me in the human way?"
Hope took the jewelry box with a trembling hand and opened it to a rose gold ring. Two diamonds just as large as the center opal they framed. She slid the wedding band onto her ring finger. Tears of joy in her eyes as she sassed, "Well, considering what we just did it seems a bit redundant, but if you really want to, I suppose I can be persuaded."
He laughed and kissed her hungrily and they fell into bed once more.
It was hours later when he finally was able to leave her sleeping exhaustedly.
+++++HOPEFUL+IDIOT+++++
Posted: 04.01.24 Word Count: 3375
AN: I borrowed heavily from way better authors than myself when writing sexy scenes: Jeaniene Frost and Grace Goodwin. If you recognize anything, it's theirs.
AN2: I do not know if the Kryptonian courtship stuff is canon. I do know that this is fanfiction and I can change anything to fit my needs. So no yelling at me for it not being canonical. Just enjoy the fluffy.
Let me know what you think but please be kind. I haven't written in 18 months. I know it's not perfect.