Work Tings (Chris, cont)

Participants: Clark and Chris Kent
Open/Closed: Closed
Location(s): Metropolis places
Time of Day: Morning
Weather: Clear skies
Summary: Supes and son spend time.

The rescue part was over and done, leaving those who had been inside the building while it burned to be looked after and treated by fire fighters and other emergency response teams. Those the fire department was on the scene, Superman thought it best to further minimize the risk of life by having himself and Nightwing work to put out the fires. The plan had been hatched and well received by Nightwing who was aiding in the endeavor. In truth either of them could have taken care of the building on their own but that wasn't the point, the point was that help was always appreciated and Clark enjoyed spending time with Chris - even if they were constantly being pulled away, and one was disappearing on the other.

Clark truly couldn't help the smile that his cheeks felt remaining on his face, but it didn't matter to him he didn't want to hide the excitement he felt in doing this in unison with someone he was so close to. Often times Superman aided just the police or did something with the Justice League as a team unit, and even with Kara and Kon operating in their individual heroic capacities it never felt like Superman worked with someone so close to him frequently enough. Chris wasn't a friend or a teammate, he was family.

As laid out in their briefly discussed plan Superman started at the very peak of the building. First he inhaled, a deep breath that filled his lungs with enough oxygen to feed the entire rain forest. Superman targeted the large flames on the building's roof first, his gradual descent aiming his super cooled breath at the dancing flames to still and ultimately snuff them. Through pursed lips Superman blew controlled wind at the fires fighting to feed off of more oxygen. He kept the winds strong but not strong enough to threaten any further structural damage to the complex that had already been ravaged. He kept the temperature of the winds low but not low enough to outright freeze anything. Knowing that most carbon dioxide extinguishers are below -78 degrees celsius (-108.4 fahrenheit) that was where Superman tried to maintain the temperature of his breath. While he couldn't just spew foam from his lips to extinguish the flames he knew that displacing the oxygen and rapidly cooling the burning surfaces would work in the same manner as an extinguisher.

Kal kept up this combination of breath strength and coolness as he slowly worked his way down and around the building, careful to catch all angles for any flames even partially hidden from his view. While Superman did that, Nightwing did much of the same exact for working his way up the building, until the two of them met right in the middle as they had planned. It wasn't hard work, but it was careful and meticulous if they were going to save the building, which hopefully was going to be salvageable in the end. Clark and Chris both looked on their work in the aftermath and carefully surmised that all flames had been put out with no risk of any reigniting.

"Well done, Nightwing, couldn't have done it without you." Clark placed a hand on his son's shoulder and beamed. 

Superman followed Chris's lead back to ground level and as the younger Kryptonian asked his question Clark made a light shrug, "Let's see."

He stood beside Chris with a look of contemplation on his face, his eyes leveling more downward than staring straight at Chris. Utilizing his superhearing he listened for conversations going on around them between those of the fire department. After a blink Superman returned his eyes to Nightwing's face. "They suspect an electrical fire was the cause, though many cases of arson can be made to look like an electrical fire." Superman frowned a bit, mulling the situation over. "This will cause for an investigation. I know you want to help, I do too, but we've already rescued the occupants and put out the fires. We should allow these men and women some facet of their job." It was a tough reality that Superman often had to reenforce in himself. While he could do it all, it didn't mean that he should. There were individuals who loved and lived for their jobs, people were important and so were the things they did, Superman could not always come swooping down from the clouds and just steal that away from them - even if he only had the altruist desires to help.

"Come on, we'll leave this to the trained professionals. Are you hungry? You know i'll never live it down if Lois finds out you haven't eaten today."

Chris' eyes scored over the building, x-ray vision searching for any remaining flames or hot spots about to ignite again. He found none and his attention quickly and easily returned to Clark. There wasn't any doubt in his mind that Clark could have handled this fine without him. He was Superman after all. But if Clark believed he'd been needed, that was enough for Chris. He felt a swell of pride and acceptance at the praise. He didn't think he'd ever get used to it: being enough just by being himself.

He beamed at the praise himself and found he couldn't stop smiling, even once his feet were on the ground. Chris watched Clark as he searched for possible explanations for the fire. He mimicked what Clark was doing like he'd used to do as a child - not that it had been that long since he'd been a child. His eyes occasionally glanced back to Clark as he listened to make sure he was listening to the right place, the right people, looking for the right words.

He turned to meet Clark's gaze as soon as his adopted father was done listening, dutifully waiting for him to speak. He perked up at the mention that an arson still could've been behind this - not because it was good news but because it meant the two of them could hunt down that arson together and thus spend more time together.

"Oh," he said lamely then grimaced at himself after Clark said they should leave the investigation to the authorities. He opened his mouth to ask if Clark needed his help with anything else, if he wanted to patrol together perhaps but stopped when his adopted dad spoke again.

He smiled sheepishly because while he'd gotten a lot of chores down at home already that morning, he hadn't actually paused to eat anything. He couldn't recall if he'd just planned on eating after all that or if he'd simply forgotten. But Clark was right, Lois wouldn't have been happy if he skipped a meal, whether intentional or not.

"I haven't," Chris admitted and felt like he should offer to pay - his parents already paid for too much for him probably - but there was still that lack of an actual job. He looked up at the morning sky before his eyes were on Clark again. "It's still early - Maybe we could get breakfast?"

---

399 words
Clark Kent

There was no way for Clark to adequately put into words how he felt in relation to Chris. The boy was his son, perhaps not by blood, but as far as Clark was concerned their bond was even deeper than that. All Clark's life he had wanted to be a father, he had wanted to build a family and raise children in the same type of loving environment Ma and Pa had given him, Clark was convinced that there was no greater feeling. And he felt that he had been completely vindicated when he and Lois decided to raise a young Kryptonian boy as their own. While he had family in Kara and Kon, and they were every bit as much a Kent as he was in his own eyes, the two other them were individuals that Clark helped to mentor. Chris was someone he helped raise, it was a whole different degree of pride and closeness.

A soft laugh was pushed through Superman's lips at Chris's insistence for breakfast. "A good choice. How do waffles sound, there's a pretty good diner not to far from here actually."

The two of them could have easily made it back to the Lane-Kent apartment in no time at all, or even made a quick flight to the Fortress and Clark could have whipped them up something himself, but it was a nice day and it was nice to be out. Superman wanted to keep Chris out in the world, Rao knew the boy had been kept away from it long enough through most of his life.

"Let's find a place to change first," the older Kryptonian winked.

Saving people or going about relatively normal instances of life, Superman was seen around Metropolis often, but that always attracted onlookers and a bit too much attention. Clark Kent on the other had was a master of disappearing from the peering eyes of a crowd. It was truly great to go unnoticed some times, it allowed Clark to enjoy life the way he really wanted to, and that too he wanted for Chris.

Kryptonian speed may not have been exactly cracking Speedforce levels but it was still blindingly fast enough to get out of tights and into a pair of beaten jeans and a nice oversized flannel shirt. Clark led the way to the diner, he had frequented the place often enough he could have probably gotten them there without using any of his senses. The door of the diner was dragged open by Clark to allow an elderly couple to exit. They all exchanged pleasant smiles as the couple went on their way while acknowledging what a well mannered man the stranger was. Clark continued to hold the door open for his son, following in behind.

The two of them found seats in a booth, the two of them seated across from one another. "The chicken and waffles are really good," Clark said while handing a menu over to Chris so that he could ultimately decide on his meal for himself. "Just sayin'."

Chris Kent