[ this is me holding a water gun to your head and telling you to go watch the epic x starshine edit I just put on tiktok and Instagram and red note ]

☆︎

ARE YOU GOOD WITH TOOLS?

MILLIE couldn't believe her luck. She'd started out the day on her own with nothing but an embarrassingly inappropriate romance book to entertain herself. Now, she was leading Clark back to her apartment, a leashed Krypto between them.

No, she wasn't inviting Clark back for that — god, she wished.

After complaining that she still had a lot of stuff to unpack and furniture to build, Clark offered to help her out.

"I just hope you're more talented with your hands than Superman," Millie said in a teasing tone as they entered the lobby and headed to the elevator.

"Superman?" Clark questioned, tilting his head down at her.

"Oh," she said, brightening up a bit. "He's totally been visiting me on my balcony."

"The Superman. Gosh," he said, his eyes wide. "How does, uh, how do you feel about that?"

"It's so cool," she giggled while hitting the button for her floor. "Like, what does he want? Why would he keep coming around? I don't get it."

"What's not to get?" he asked softly, looking down at her. "You're wonderful, Millie."

She shyly looked down. "Thank you, Clark," she murmured. "And you're wonderful, too. By far my favorite person at the office."

"Please, let me tell Lois you said that," he begged, making them both snicker. Then, as they stepped into the hallway, he studied her more carefully. "What do you think of Superman?"

"Total dreamboat," were her first words — Millie had never been shy about things like that. "Like, somehow bigger than the pictures make him seem. And oh god, Clark, his eyes? Gorgeous. He's sweet too — that's hard to find in guys nowadays."

As Millie got out her key and unlocked her door, Clark pondered her confession. In a way, he didn't understand Millie. She liked to flirt with him as Clark but never reciprocated his advances as Superman. Yet here she was, gushing to Clark about Superman's looks, ironically enough.

Did she only flirt with Clark as a joke, he wondered? If so, that brought his mood down considerably. He'd been seen as a joke his whole life. He was the local nerd that was never taken seriously or good at anything growing up because he couldn't be seen as anything but human and normal.

Almost like he could sense his turning mood, Krypto let out a huff and then nipped at the bottom of Clark's sweatpants, gaining his attention. Clark quickly blinked away those negative thoughts as Millie opened up the door.

Krypto ran in right away, eager to explore the new space as Millie let go of his leash. He had his nose to the ground as his tail wagged furiously.

"There shouldn't be anything dangerous he can get into," Millie assured Clark as he came in, nearly having to duck since the doorframe was so low given how old the apartment was.

"He's tougher than he looks even if he does find something," Clark said, her clueless to how true that was.

Then his blue eyes skimmed the area, taking in her kitchen that was attached to her living room. She was right — there were half-packed boxes everywhere, and the couch was missing its legs, her not bothering to screw them onto the base.

"It's a nice place," Clark told her. "Needs some love."

"It's not the only one," she said in a flirty tone while looking at him over her shoulder.

Though his cheeks were red, he narrowed his eyes at her playfully. "Didn't you learn your lesson in the park, Sunshine?"

She blushed at both the memory and the nickname he'd suddenly bestowed on her because of her powers. No one had ever cared to name her after her powers — unless you counted Cisco calling her 'Glow Stick Girl' as a joke.

Well, she hoped it was a joke and that it wasn't her official superhero name.

"I like that," she said softly as she put her picnic blanket up in the hallway closet. "Sunshine."

"Well, I thought it was fitting," he said with an adoring smile. "Now, what do you need help with? Put me to work."

"Trust me, I wish I was," she whispered underneath her breath before leading him into the living room where Krypto was making himself at home. Then she raised her voice. "I've got these art pieces and picture frames I want to hang, but I can't reach. I need your height."

"Not a problem."

As Clark got to work putting nails in the wall and hanging things, Millie made herself at home on the couch, Krypto curled up on her lap as she ran her fingers calmingly through his hair until he fell asleep. She whispered instructions to Clark so that everything was straight. Fifteen minutes later, her living room was already looking more lived in.

Once he was done, Clark came over to the couch just as she stood on it after gently repositioning Krypto. He went to question her on what she was doing, only be rendered silent when she leaned up and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you, Clark," she cooed before taking his hand and jumping down from the couch. "Now, are you good with tools?"

"Moderatly," he replied, shamefully recalling the last time he had handled them. Not to mention his father would be ashamed to know he failed at building a simple chair from IKEA. But he was raised to complete actual woodworking, not to work on the cheap plastic pieces that were mass manufactured.

"Great, because I have a headboard that needs building."

As Millie led Clark into her bedroom, Clark thought that god must have been testing him. Because there on the mattress that was on the floor was a crimson pair of underwear with practically see through material, him already picturing her in it. And god, her headboard was that cheap IKEA stuff again — he'd break it in seconds.

Millie flushed a bright red and quickly snatched the panties, throwing it to the side at her hammer but missing it altogether, both watching as it sailed through the window and landed on her balcony. She was too ashamed to chase after it.

"Sorry I didn't clean up," she muttered, avoiding eye contact. "Sort of didn't expect to run into you. Not that I'm complaining. I love free labor."

"I suppose I can't complain either. It's been a great day together," he told her kindly.

"So, bed?"

Clark's eyebrows shot up as his throat grew tighter. "B - Bed?"

Millie blinked, it not even intentional that time — but she'd never complain about flustering him. "I mean the mattress, Clark," she said with a giggle. "Mind out of the gutter, Mister."

Didn't she know how hard that was around her?

☆︎

It was late by the time Clark and Krypto left Millie's apartment — and not until her face was covered in slobber from Krypto, who didn't want to say goodbye to her. Almost all of her boxes were unpacked now, her items neatly stored away.

Clark worshipped the time spent unpacking because every item had a story behind it, meaning he got to know her even better. He heard about her first kiss with a boy when she was twelve at summer camp — he'd given her a friendship bracelet to remember him by. She had a stuffed Flash doll that Iris gifted her for her nineteenth birthday. There was also a snowflake preserved in glass from Captain Cold — Clark didn't like the smile on her face when she talked about Leonard Snart.

Millie was a very sentimental person, and Clark hoped that one day she'd have something from him that she treasured forever.

Once Clark was gone, Millie looked around her apartment with a pleased smile. She owed Clark a lot for his help, as she'd have put this off for another week or two, if she was honest with herself.

With nothing else to do, Millie grabbed her book with plans to finish it out on her balcony. But she could only get seven pages into the story before she heard the familiar whoosh of a cape. She had a smile on her face before she even looked up at him, his arrival like clockwork.

"I think I have my own little stalker," she teased before glancing up at Superman, who looked as perfectly put-together as always. "Should I be putting in a police report?"

"I think they'd love a reason to lock me up," he said, sadly not joking. "I came by earlier, but you had company."

Hmm, Superman and Clark at the same time. That was a thought that Millie didn't mind entertaining.

"My friend was helping me unpack. He's decidedly better at building furniture than you are," she said teasingly while getting up from her chair to approach him, the railing of the balcony separating them.

"I am sorry about that," he said with a chuckle, putting his hands on the metal bar separating them. Only for him to frown when he felt something under his touch.

Both Superman and Millie looked down, the latter of the two blushing furiously when she saw that Superman had grabbed ahold of her underwear.

His lips parted, not a single cohesive thought between those pretty blue eyes as he stared long and hard and the garment now clutched between his fingers.

"You've done some more decorating, I see," he managed to say, his voice a bit lower than usual as his thumb brushed back and forth across the translucent material. "Not typical balcony decor, but I'm not complaining."

"Give it back, Supes," she said, reaching for it, only for him to teasingly hold it away from her. She scoffed and covered his other hand on the rail as she leaned forward until she grabbed ahold of her underwear. Now they were chest to chest, her underwear still beneath them. "I'm lucky I didn't throw them a little further and lose them. They cost way too much money for something that nobody ever sees."

"Ah, so you don't leave them out for me to find?" he asked, raising a dark eyebrow.

"Only in your dreams."

"You certainly are," he said charmingly.

Millie hummed and looked up and him through her lashes, still painfully aware that she was covering his hand with her own. "Stop it before that flirting starts working."

His eyes visibly brightened in a way that she adored before she quickly reminded herself that she wasn't supposed to care about Superman's flirting. Not after a perfect day with Clark.

"So, I have a shot?" he asked hopefully.

"Well, I'm not exactly bulletproof like you are, so who's to say," she shrugged. Then she looked out at the skyline. "Be safe out there tonight."

"You're not worried about me, are you?" he asked with a smile.

Millie gave him a genuine look of concern. "Of course, I am. You're my friend, Superman — or at least, I'd like to think we're friends."

"You're my friend too, Millie," he assured her.

"Good. Friends worry about each other, especially when one friend is out fighting crime all night. Just don't get hurt," she insisted.

"Is this the pep talk you give to the Flash? I thought you'd have more profound thoughts than 'don't get hurt,'" he said jokingly.

She scoffed and pushed him back by his chest, only for him to float right back into place. "Jerk. I was trying to motivate you."

He chuckled and shook his head. "Well, get better at it."

When Millie looked at him with a mischievous sparkle in her eye, he knew he probably should've flown away. But he certainly would've regretted that for missing what came next.

"How about a motivational gift?" she asked, sounding so innocent as she leaned in close to his face, hand still grasping the underwear landing on his chest for support.

As her breath washed over him, Superman's eyes fluttered shut, only to feel her warm lips on his cheek, just beside the corner of his mouth. Then her hand slid down his broad chest, making him take in a sharp breath as she passed his belly button, her clearly taking the time to feel his body through the tight material of his suit.

Then Millie shoved the crimson underwear into the waistband of his red outer trunks before pulling away, a smirk on her face as she took in his awestruck expression.

"Don't get hurt," she said while backing away from him. Then, just before she stepped back inside and shut the window leading to her balcony, she winked at him.

Superman remained outside, a stunned look on his face as he held her underwear in his hand, suddenly feeling like that night's patrol of the town was going to be a bit harder than usual.