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the road not taken (looks real good now) by liasay
Fandoms: Superman (Movie 2025), Superman - All Media Types
02 Aug 2025
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Summary
Martha’s eyes gleam at you as her spoon is swaying on the mashed potatoes. “Be proud of it,” she offers. “I don’t think they accept anyone into those stages of New York.”
“You’re right, Ma,” Clark says, startling you. His mouth latches to a big bite of beef, his eyes unfocused, on nowhere. “You really gotta want it.”
His eyes find yours. The bitterness you come across there is surprising, heart-stuttering. It has been three years since you left. Three years since you left him by that apple tree, his head bent as low as the branches behind him, too sullen in September. Three years is enough time to green the branches, to wipe away the cold ache. Now, in Clark’s gaze, there is nothing mended.
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Three years ago, you left Smallville for the gleaming stages of New York and a place right under the spotlight. Now you are back for Christmas with a too-shiny boyfriend on your arm, a wavering foothold in the theater world and a suspicion that success doesn't feel the way you thought it would. Your never-quite-friend, never-quite-lover Clark Kent is still there, a testament to steadfastness and to wounds not patched up properly.