Man of Steel (Part 1)

Man of Steel (Part 1)

Clark was facing the window when the sun came through it. The sheets came up around his waist. He took in a deep breath as he felt the suns radiation heat up his body. He laid there without opening his eyes. He always woke up when the sun hit his body. He was on his right side with his hand underneath the side of his face. He laid still as he heard the noisy streets below his apartment. He knew that in a minute his alarm would go off.

A hand came across his chest playing with his chest hair. He smiled as he loved it when Jimmy did that. He felt Jimmy scoot closer to his body. He placed his left arm across Jimmy's waist. Clark heard him take in a deep breath as he laid his head down on top of Clark's right elbow.

"You have to get up," Jimmy said in a whisper.

"I don't want to," Clark answered in a whisper as well.

"You have to. Who's going to keep the world safe?"

Even though Clark had his eyes closed he could feel Jimmy smile. He fought the urge to smile at Jimmy's comment. Clark wondered if the world would fall apart if he took a day off. It was a question he was willing to think about all day in bed. Jimmy's fingers now outlined Clark's strong jawline. He felt Jimmy's forehead connect with his. Their lips were almost touching.

"Get up Kal."

Clark let out a chuckle. Jimmy only called him Kal when he was in his uniform.

"In a minute," Clark remained whispering.

"I'm going to save you," Jimmy said in Clark's ear.

Clark's stomach knotted when he heard those words. He was taken back a second to the events that happened two days ago. His body tensed up as he tried to come back to the moment. When he got his body to relax his alarm went off. It was too late. Clark opened his eyes only to find he was alone in his room.

After a long hot shower Clark got dressed for work. On his way out he picked up his press pass. The pass was used for identification to enter the Daily Planet building. It was a simple pass with a photo, name and bar code at the bottom. He picked up Jimmy's pass as well. Clark traced the side of Jimmy's face with his thumb. He flashed back to those late nights they spent together in the name of research.

He placed both passes in his shirt pocket. He rode his bike every day to work. The streets were always crowded when he left his apartment building. The ride only took ten minutes but he found it relaxing. Once inside of the building it was a hassle to catch an elevator. Even though there were six of them they weren't enough to handle the rush of people coming in. Clark instantly felt the mood drop once he stepped out of the elevator on his floor.

His desk was at the far right end of the floor. He walked towards it as people around him were silent. He could even see some of them had been crying. There was a group gathered around the desk in front of his. Clark placed his messenger bag on his chair. He walked around and saw some people crying. His stomach knotted as his co-workers left flowers and pictures on Jimmy's desk.

Lois came out of the crowd and hugged Clark. Her eyes were red and couldn't catch her breath. She wiped her nose with a tissue while she pulled back from the hug. Lois and Clark dated for a few months before calling it off. Both had agreed that they were better off as friends. But Clark didn't get over her until two days ago.

"The casualty reports came in today," Lois said breaking Clark from his thoughts. "Perry was the one who told us about Jimmy."

Two days ago the city was in chaos. Someone had busted out all of the inmates from jail. The power grid, water and gas were shut down. The police were spread thin throughout the city. People panicked which led to a riot. After the chaos stopped the police began to make a list of people who died that day. About six-hundred people lost their lives in one day.

"Kent and Lane in my office," Perry shouted from his office door.

Lois pulled herself together and walked towards Perry's office first. Clark followed and used his vision to scan who was there. There was a detective waiting for them. His stomach knotted as he knew the detective was going to ask questions about Jimmy. Once Lois and Clark entered the office, Perry shut the door behind them. He looked tired like he hadn't slept for a couple of days. He introduced them to the detective. Perry sat down behind his desk, Lois sat down in front of the desk and Clark stood between the desk and the door. He also had his hands behind him. Clark tried to keep a neutral face as the detective began to talk.

"Both of you knew a James Olsen also known as Jimmy."

Both Lois and Clark nodded. They waited as the detective shuffled some papers on a folder. The detective cleared his throat. He was nervous to ask the next question.

"Did any of you suspect that Mr. Olsen had any ties with Lex Luthor?"

Lois scoffed and went on defending Jimmy's name. Clark knew that Jimmy was just a hostage. But he couldn't say anything because Clark wasn't there. Kal, or superman, was there and told the police that Jimmy was a hostage. It bothered Clark that the police didn't take his word for it.

"Why are you asking if Jimmy had ties with Lex?" Clark said trying so hard to keep his tone neutral.

"We found his body in a penthouse room on the Plaza Hotel," the detective blurted it out. "Superman vouched that Mr. Olsen was a hostage but we have to look into every lead. We're still trying to figure out how Lex Luthor managed to cause so much chaos."

Clark clenched his fist as he thought he should have killed Lex. It was because of Lex that Jimmy was dead. But he also blamed himself for the death of Jimmy. He failed to protect the one person he cared about the most. He still hadn't forgiven himself for not seeing it before Jimmy's death. The detective asked a few more questions. Clark's body tensed as the questions were directed at him more. He had spent more time with Jimmy on his last few days alive. What bothered him the most was the use of tone coming from the detective. It almost sounded like he was been accused for the death of Jimmy.

After the questions Clark was so tensed up he stormed out of Perry's office. He walked into one of the conference rooms. He slammed the door closed not caring if the glass shattered by his strength. He went around the long table and stood in front of the window. The blinds were slicing the sun's rays into the room. He took in deep breaths and let the rays calm him down.

His left hand was in his pant pocket while his right hand was over his breast pocket. Clark outlined Jimmy's pass with his fingers. On the corner of his eye he saw a red head sitting down at the edge of the table. The red head didn't say anything he just looked at Clark, maybe in sympathy. When he turned to see who it was, there was no one else in the room with him. He wondered if feeling Jimmy everywhere, and not seeing him, was his punishment.

The door opened and without turning around he knew it was Lois. She closed the door and cleared her throat. Clark didn't turn around he kept outlining the pass. He heard Lois walk around the table. She stood behind him waiting for him to say something.

"You okay?" Lois said breaking the silence.

Clark nodded. "He sacrificed himself to save me. It's my fault he's dead."

Lois went around him and placed her hands on his chest. Her hands didn't have the same effect as they did before. She reassured him that it wasn't his fault. She places her hands on either side of his face. She looked deeply into his eyes while he looked at nothing in front of him. He swallowed the lump in his throat. Lois took a step closer wanting to touch his lips with hers. Clark pulled away and took a step back.

"I've got work to do," Clark said as he left the conference room.

At his lunch break Clark went up to the roof. He wanted to get away from all the sadness on his floor. He paced around until he found a chair at the corner of the roof. His memory took him back a month before Jimmy's death. Clark left early that day to fly around. He needed to clear his head after calling it off with Lois. The sun was setting while Clark flew by the Daily Planet Building. He found Jimmy sitting down in a chair at the corner of the roof.

Clark hovered over the building a bit. Jimmy was too busy looking into his iPad to notice him. Earlier in the day Jimmy commented that Kal would only speak to Lois due to her looks. Clark didn't know why but the comment bothered him. Clark landed on the roof and stood there waiting for Jimmy to notice him. Jimmy was still caught up in his work to notice he had a visitor. Clark cleared his throat.

Jimmy turned to look at his visitor. He stumbled to get up from the chair. He also dropped the iPad on the ground. He looked around as if expecting someone was playing a prank on him. Jimmy cleared his throat and rubbed his palms against his pants.

"Hello Mr. Kal my name's James Olsen," Jimmy said while extending his hand to Clark. "But everyone calls me Jimmy."

Clark took his hand and told Jimmy to only call him Kal. He gave Jimmy his best smile. Jimmy almost melted at the sight. He opened his mouth to say something else but stop short when he looked into Kal's eyes. He recognized those gentle blue eyes anywhere. He knew Kal's secret identity. Jimmy squeezed Kal's hand a bit more in understanding. Kal gave Jimmy his best smile. Jimmy's cheeks started to turn pink.

"There's something I think you should see," Jimmy said as he turned around. He didn't want Kal to see his blushing. He picked up his iPad opening the page he was looking at before he got interrupted. "The government has a project called Kryptonite. It almost sounds like your planet. I think it's something you should look into. If it falls into the wrong hands who knows what it will do."

"Thank you," Kal said in a tone deeper than he used.

"Anytime," Jimmy said as he looked at the ground as his cheeks turned red.

Kal smiled and took off into the air. As he flew away he had a sense of achievement in him. Clark dubbed that moment that he too had a crush on Jimmy. However, he wouldn't come into terms with it until the day Jimmy died. Clark came back to reality and went back to work. Whatever relief he found it would be gone the second he entered his floor.

Clark sat at the edge of his bed when the sun was setting. He kicked his shoes off and unbuttoned his shirt half way down. He turned on his television to the news. The reporter was covering the story of the events that happened two days ago. Clark leaned forward placing his forearms on his knees. The people had their version of the events that day and Clark had his. He began to recount his events.