for perilicious: Do do do do do... do do do... do do do do doooo SUPERMAN

[stands_for_hope]

It wasn't how he'd planned on doing things. He'd planned on telling Ilya about his idea, breaking it to him gently along with the news of his new job in Metropolis. He'd planned on showing him the costume, letting him see how it looked, warning him so that he didn't have a heart attack when the intel got to him.

And then a plane had nearly landed in the middle of Metropolis and he hadn't had the time.

So now he looked at the news cameras and the excited cellphone snapshots with a vague wince as he let out a deep sigh of relief that he'd managed to balance the weight of the plane just so to bring it down without any casualties...

Comments

[perilicious]

"You are already enjoying this too much," Illya said wryly, shaking his head. "They will not put me onto this until it is clear the local Metropolitan agents are making no headway. But then," he smoothed his fingers through Clark's hair, trailed them down and curved them around the back of his neck, "they might need to send someone else. Who could maybe...stay with his boyfriend, who has just moved to Metropolis, while he is there investigating?"

[stands_for_hope]

He leaned into Ilya's hand as one of his own reached up to nudge the other man in the shoulder.

"There's no such thing as enjoying this too much," he pointed out. "But UNCLE's premiere agent can definitely come stay with his boyfriend while he's in town looking for the strange caped menace who saved a plane."

[perilicious]

He should go back to work, Illya thought. He had not heard the briefings that were being pulled together, and he was somewhat surprised Waverly had not called him and asked, far too politely, where the hell he was. And Clark Kent, Daily Planet reporter, should be on the ground getting as much on this story as possible.

He sighed, leaned in to kiss him again, straightened. "You should go," he said reluctantly. "You should be reporting on this. Cannot be away from a news agency when a story like this breaks." He half-smiled and added, "Maybe you will get lucky and get exclusive. But when you visit again..." His fingers skimmed the collar of Clark's shirt and he leaned forward to whisper, "bring the cape."

[stands_for_hope]

"Already have a piece written," he admitted with a little grin, "but you're right that my 'lunch break' is almost over."

He pulled back then, glancing around for a moment before smirking back at Ilya.

"I'll make sure to come in uniform next time. If you're not coming to visit me first."

Which was when he disappeared, the familiar pressure of a kiss slowly fading a moment later.

[perilicious]

Illya smiled, quiet and genuine, and stood until the lingering warmth of Clark's hands had faded. Then he turned and went back downstairs, and back to the office, and did not explain his absence when he entered the briefing late and sat in the back.

The information was thorough, much more so than any of the news agencies had acquired, but Illya's tension ebbed as he found that even UNCLE had no evidence that Superman had a day job. As he had suspected, Waverly assigned the local agents in Metropolis to find out more, as much as they could, and Illya himself was sent on an unrelated job overseas with Gaby.

By the time he returned, Waverly gave him no time at all to settle in before assigning him the Superman Affair sending him on to Metropolis. He turned down the hotel arrangements with a casual, "I have someone to stay with," and was on the train within the hour, settling into his seat and pulling out his phone and marveling for a moment at doing this the conventional way for the first time before he dialed Clark's work number from memory.

[stands_for_hope]

"Hey, handsome," and it was Clark's work voice, which made sense given that he was almost certainly at the office at the moment.

He was typing up a report on the local dock worker's union strike, a cause close to his heart, and he'd managed to get a few fabulous soundbytes from the dock management that would hopefully make the populace a little more sympathetic to the worker's plight. Hopefully. He'd have Lois look it over before he submitted it.

"Missing you, as always. What's up?"

[perilicious]

The greeting sparked a warmth inside him that spread to his fingertips. "Good morning, angel," he said, swallowing back a sudden swell of nervousness. They had done so many unbelievable, extraordinary things, both together and apart, and this was making him nervous. The normalcy of this.

But he pushed that aside and continued, "As it happens, I will be in town tonight. Maybe for a few days. For work." He smiled out the window of the train, looking softer and more at ease than he had in possibly years, if only he knew it. "Do you happen to know a place I could stay?"

[stands_for_hope]

"Well, as long as you can stand sharing a bed with a notorious blanket stealer" and by 'stealing' he actually meant that he sometimes floated in his sleep, tugging the covers off of his bed partner as he drifted up, "then I can definitely find you a place to rest your head."

He swiveled in his chair.

"And you get to see my new apartment."

[perilicious]

"Think I can hold my own," meaning he was well-versed in the fine art of defending the blankets against theft by floating. "Will just steal them back, and leave you in the cold."

A woman in the seat opposite, who was clearly listening and trying to pretend she was not listening, giggled a little at that. Illya narrowed his eyes at her and crossed his legs, turning away, and lowered his voice, and switched to Russian. "You do not need to answer like this, I know you are at work and I do not think they know Clark Kent speaks Russian, but there are ears here and I do not think this woman needs to know what I am saying."

[stands_for_hope]

"I don't think she's an operative, Ilya," he said as he reclined in his office chair. "I think she's just a busy body who thinks we're being cute. Mostly because we're being cute."

He tilted his head.

"Though I should try and speak Russian to you more. My Russian will get rusty otherwise."

[perilicious]

"And your accent is almost passable now," he teased, the fond smile on his face doing nothing to put off his nosy neighbor, even if she couldn't understand what he was actually saying now. "Yes, you should speak Russian with me at home, maybe. I refuse to start from scratch with you."

At home. Clark's new apartment. Of course he was bringing a housewarming gift for him. Besides himself. Another small, ordinary thing that people did for each other.

"We are, aren't we?" he asked slowly, watching the countryside passing as the train sped between his home in New York and Clark's home in Metropolis. This was a trip he would begin to get used to.

[stands_for_hope]

Three hours by train. Practically neighbors, considering their usual difference in locations.

"We are," he said with a faintly ridiculous smile. "What time does your train come in? I can swing by and pick you up."

[perilicious]

"Noon. Eight minutes after twelve. If there is a good restaurant you have found, I will take you to lunch, maybe."

And then he might need to go back to Clark's and catch up on sleep while Clark went back to work for the afternoon. He could doze on the train, but that was too public for a deep sleep, and he had been awake in Frankfurt eighteen hours ago, with one trans-Atlantic flight in between. It didn't show, but eventually it would catch up with him, and he did not want that to be right around the time Clark would be coming home.

[stands_for_hope]

"Of course I know a good place to eat. It was the first thing I made sure to find when I moved in."

And contrary to what he might have said, his Russian still sounds perfectly serviceable.

"And then you're going to crash in my apartment for a while so I can make you a good dinner."

[perilicious]

So maybe it is still perfectly serviceable. And his accent is flawless now, he could have grown up down the street in Illya's neighborhood. They used Russian so rarely these days, it brought back memories of a much earlier time, and if Clark wanted to claim that his Russian was rusty as an excuse to use it, Illya was not about to object to this.

"Good. I might need it. Will try to sleep on the train, although," he slanted another look over at the woman, who had taken out a magazine but was possibly not really reading it, "I find sleeping in public to be a challenge."

[stands_for_hope]

"No one likes to sleep on the train," he assured him with a sly smile that was audible over the phone. "But get what you can. I am really looking forward to seeing you."

And they could certainly work out what Ilya was going to 'find out' about Superman while being curled up in bed.

[perilicious]

That particular little tone in Clark's voice made Illya pause for a moment. "Or maybe I should take you to dinner instead of to lunch?" he asked idly. "How much of a lunch hour do you plan on taking?"

[stands_for_hope]

"You'll need your strength for later," he assured him with a little touch of heat in his tone.

[perilicious]

"Hm." A small noise, mild, thoughtful, showing consideration of the topic at hand. "Noted. I will hold you to that. Although probably I will not need to. Will I meet your famous coworkers today, or will you keep me all to yourself?"

[stands_for_hope]

"I'm keeping you all to myself. After all, have to keep you on task."

There was a brief pause as Lois gave him a Look from across their desks and he spread his hands and mouthed 'hot Russian boyfriend' before she rolled her eyes at him.

[perilicious]

"Tsch. Yes, can be so flighty when you do not keep an eye on me. This is fine, I will come by to meet them another time." He'd rather keep Clark to himself anyway. This was too new. They deserved to enjoy it.

"But now I should not keep you from work. See you soon, angel."

[stands_for_hope]

"See you soon."

And Clark hung up to get most of his work done for the day. There would be much better things to do when Ilya actually got there.

But he wasn't the only one with a phone.

Gaby's number flashed on the screen within half an hour.

[perilicious]

He had miraculously managed to doze off but came to wakefulness immediately as his phone buzzed. Gaby? What had happened? "Yes?" he said as he pressed the phone to his ear. Brusque as always, a little guarded.

If he was being called back in, if someone was trying to end the world today, when he was finally going to visit Clark, they were going to regret it.

[stands_for_hope]

"I was told that you took this assignment on your own. Are you cross with me? Or just with the cowboy?"

She didn't like not being in on things, which was why she was going directly to the source.

[perilicious]

Well, it did not seem he was being pulled from this assignment, but this might be almost as bad. "Is fact-finding mission," he said with a shrug. "Did not think either of you needed to be bothered. Not many facts to find yet."