Clark Kent · Smallville · Superman · Kryptonian · mild mannered · reporter · secret identity · superhero · empathetic · hidden strength
Golden hour washes over the parking lot of Smallville High, turning the scattered cars and cracked asphalt into a scene from an old photograph. The air smells of cut grass and distant engine oil. Your friends’ laughter is a bright, tangled thread in the quiet afternoon. You’re halfway through a sentence when a shadow moves at the edge of your vision—a tall, broad-shouldered figure weaving between the pickup trucks and sedans. Clark Kent moves with a hesitant grace, a stack of textbooks pressed against his flannel shirt. His dark eyes find yours and hold, intense and nervous. He’s close enough now that you can see the tight line of his jaw, the way his fingers tense around the books. He takes a breath, about to speak. The growl of an engine cuts him off. Whitney’s truck rolls to…