Impulse
Written by Amazonia V
The day Clark Kent got engaged to Lois Lane,
Wonder Woman swore off unrequited love forever.
She was dodging the icebergs and Giganta in the
Artic Ocean, when she heard the JLA com-link sputter to life with the news.
Green Arrow was on monitor duty and as per his usual style, was publishing hourly
‘news bulletins’.
Momentarily distracted by the news, she lost
her balance, flung herself backwards to avoid Giganta’s fist, hit a large cliff
of ice, and fell into the icy ocean in angry confusion.
Green Arrow’s voice didn’t even fade, the
com-links being built to withstand extreme conditions.
Wonder Woman gritted her teeth, and flew out of
the ocean, straight at Giganta, muttering to herself.
Thoughts such as, “Oh Kal, if this is true,
then you deserve Lois,” “Oh, you irritating Superman, somebody needs to
castrate you,” came easily to her lips.
Of course, she admitted honestly to herself, it
wasn’t as if Superman was more than a friend. And while she’d always had a soft
spot for Kal, they had yet to take that friendship to the next level. It took
all of her Amazonian training to restrain her impulse to fly to Metropolis and
confront Kal. No matter how firmly she ordered her mind to stay calm and blank,
it just kept opening up to one single thought. One thought that was running
through her head these last few weeks.
Kal had kissed her.
What did it mean? Why should it mean anything?
A kiss was just that. It had just been a
product of the moment. Nothing more. And then, Kal had given her that speech about not losing each other
as friends…. Friends were friends, lovers were lovers. You could make a friend out of
a lover, but you were in a black hole when you made a lover out of a friend.
Wonder Woman dodged Giganta’s fist, trying to
convince herself it had been nothing more, just a friendly kiss…
But when a kiss blasted through the ‘hot’ side
of passion, it was hard to describe it as “nothing more.”
Something else was what it was, she admitted.
And she didn’t know what to do about it.
She felled Giganta by hitting her in the
stomach, then climbed onto her, telling herself that the situation had resolved
itself. Clark Kent was engaged to Lois Lane. Which meant that Superman was no
longer available. Which meant that she had to stop thinking about Kal.
As Wonder Woman bound Giganta with her lasso
and took to the skies with her, she shook her head in self-disgust. Superman
was such a wonderful being – warm, considerate, easy on the eyes, compassionate
but it was obvious that he didn’t care about her. That kiss had been just a
test on his part and he’d decided that one kiss was enough. Even though she’d
given him enough hints and signals. Enough was enough. She was finished with
unrequited love.
***
Donna’s perceptive blue eyes spotted what Diana
hoped she would miss. Wet boots.
“What happened?”
“I slipped in the Artic Ocean. Nothing
serious.”
Donna took a nibble from her bottom lip. “Did
you hear about Clark and Lois?”
“That they’re engaged to be married? Yes, I got
the Arrow’s news bulletin.”
“Engaged to be married? Just briefly engaged.
The shortest engagement in history.”
“What happened?”
“Apparently it’s a false story. They were doing
a story on the Wenton Jewellers and a ring fell under the counter. Clark helped
to find the ring and held it up for Lois to take as he was kneeling down. It
was a picture perfect moment and the news hounds lapped it up. Its not every
day that The Daily Planet’s star reporters appear to get engaged….The Daily
Planet issued a press statement denying it all.”
Wonder Woman didn’t respond. Although she
shared almost everything with her sister, she hadn't shared her own infatuation
with the Superman. Not only would it be humiliating, but Donna would confide in
their mother, who’d go hyper-protective.
Excusing herself, Wonder Woman made a quick
detour into the restroom. As looked into the mirror, she gazed critically at herself.
Her hair looked like something from Hades. Her uniform needed some
cleaning but other wise she was fine. Her
heart was another matter.
****
Clark Kent had been dreaming about Lex Luthor, spaceships
and crystalline technology, when something woke him up.
He heard the sound again, a scratching at the
door, and it all came back to him. He was in one of the bedrooms on the JLA
satellite. Recovering from the last inter-stellar mission with the Green
Lantern corps which had left him bruised and wounded.
He used his super vision to look through the
door, then realised it was lead lined (Batman’s insistence for all the
bedrooms), his ears picked up the heartbeat and another scratching sound. Then,
he smiled in the dark, and moved towards the door to open it. Just as he
reached it, he heard the click of the latch. The door began to open.
He felt that adrenaline rush he loved, and in
one smooth motion he shoved the door against the wall and grabbed the being on
the other side. The momentum knocked him off his feet, and together, the two
bodies went flying across the room.
With the reflexes that he was known for, Superman
used his super breath to turn on the light switch, just as he found his feet
and the other body fell to the floor.
“Great Krypton…”
Lying on floor at his feet was Wonder Woman,
her eyes glaring at him. He opened his mouth to explain, only to have her foot
come up and catch him behind the knee. The next thing he knew, he was on the
floor, and she was standing over him, foot resting lightly on his bare chest.
“Diana, I can explain…”
“What’s wrong with you, Kal? Grabbing me like
that as if I was trying to kill you?” she asked, tossing her curls around her
face.
“Not on purpose. I was dreaming – its been a
long time since I dreamed anything.” He knew he sounded childish but this was
Diana, by Rao.
“Are you okay,” he asked her, since he was the
one lying on satellite floor with a bruised hip and her foot on his chest, he considered
the question something of a courtesy.
“Yes, no thanks to you. Is this how you greet
friends who decide to look in on you?” she exclaimed.
“No, no, I don’t, you know that well enough.
Will you stand aside and let me get up?” Superman asked her. “I could push you
off, you know, but this gives me a nice view of your legs,” he continued with a
smirk he knew was bound to irritate her.
“I’m here on monitor duty,” responded Wonder
Woman as she moved to allow Superman room to stand up, watching him rub his
arm, then turn to find a vest and tug it on, inching the vest over his chest,
flexing his gorgeous muscles…
Superman turned to find Wonder Woman’s eyes on
his chest. He didn’t need any more evidence as he registered her increased
heart beat and breaths to know that he was affecting her. Surprised that he had
registered these reactions for the first time, his brain began to process the
data, while outwardly he waited for her to raise her eyes from his chest to his
face.
He met her eyes casually, noticing, not for the
first time, that Wonder Woman’s eyes were an unusual colour, somewhere between
blue and gray, and they had a sexy slant to them, just like her eyebrows, which
he realized were almost meeting in the middle as she scowled at him.
He was so rattled by these new discoveries that
he said the first thing that came to his mind, “Why were you sneaking about,
trying to enter my room?” He didn’t realize how bad it sounded till he’d
actually said it.
And from the look on Wonder Woman’s face, he’d
actually opened his mouth and put both feet in….No marks for
super-intelligence, then, he thought ruefully.
“I heard you were injured and resting and
wanted to check on you myself. A mistake obviously.” She turned and headed for
kitchen pantry. Superman followed her, taking in her lush body and the way her
uniform hugged her curves. He felt a surge of warmth towards her and told
himself it was only natural. This was Diana. Wonder Woman. His colleague and best
friend. But the warmth had nothing to do with friendship. It had everything to
do with emotions he never allowed to surface, never let himself feel, kept
hidden deep within his heart.
Diana was in another compartment, and that one was supposed to stay shut. He
didn’t want to think about her. It did no good to think about her. He’d made a
mistake, obviously, but it wasn’t earth-shattering. He’d kissed her only that
once. That’s all.
It was a stellar kiss, he thought now. Still,
it had been just one of those things, just one of those moments. It had taken
him some time to reach ‘normal’ again. And Diana didn’t look as though she had
held it against him.
Besides, if he knew anything she’d been right
there with him. He scowled at her back. He was certain she had been. So what
was she so upset about? They were grown ups; they’d kissed each other. End of
story.
Wonder Woman didn’t risk turning around and
gazing at the dangerous gorgeousness that was Superman. Right then she knew she
had to find a way to protect herself from him. He was good at making her pulse
beat madly. Black hair, brilliant blue eyes, that adorable curl in his
forehead, and his body….trim and sculpted rather than bulky. Still, she wasn't
stupid enough to risk revealing her feelings for him. Sounds from behind her
had her turning around.
Superman was opening a pack of milk and filling
a glass. She watched as he drained the glass. One belch. That's all it would
take. Nothing disgusted her more than a man who belched… or scratched his
crotch… or had gross table manners. Or those losers who tried to impress women
by showing off their muscles.
She realized she was smiling. He drained the
glass but didn't burp. Before she realized what she was saying, she asked him,
“Don’t your lady friends worry about you, Kal?”
Wonder Woman was mortified about how that
sounded. Especially when he gave her an amused look and said, “If you want to
know about my love life, just ask.”
“Why would I want to know about your love
life?”
“You tell me.”
She regarded him demurely. “I was just
wondering if Superman has to date different kinds of women? All types of women?
Just to be fair to everyone, you know?”
Unfortunately, he laughed instead of being
offended. “I’m not dating anyone currently.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
“That bit with Lois was a mistake – it just
seemed different from what it is.”
He looked so mortified, she concealed her
amusement.
“And anyway, she’s not my type.”
“Who is?”
“Have dinner with me and find out.”