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Jimmy picked up a paper on the stand as they walked by, yet another headline about Clark in bold ink. At least this time he had gone with a bandanna and his favorite hoodie instead of the nylon sock to hid his face. Which might have been due to Jimmy hunting down every last nylon sock he could find and throwing them away. He’d plucked another cat from a tree, but that wasn’t the headline, that was about a mysterious shadow who had saved several people from a burning building, retrieved a photograph and a doll that could never have been replaced and then vanished like a ghost. Something that, by all reports, moved too fast too see. And Jimmy wondered if anyone had caught on that they were the same person yet. It’d been over a year, after all.
They’d been best friends for over a year. And that continued to astound him.
Jimmy tucked the paper into his shoulder bag as the two of them made their way through their usual route of the city, slowed by excited dogs and people Clark had fixed things for, until they reached the ally they’d claimed as their own.
“I wonder who this ‘Metropolis Cat Savior’ guy is?” Jimmy squatted down next to Clark, who had, unsurprisingly, knelt amid a ring of cats, all of them vying for his affection. Clark’s grin dimmed a little and he froze, just for a second. Nervous but not flighty yet.
Jimmy scratched a cat’s chin and continued, casually.”He must really like cats.”
“Well, I mean, who doesn’t?” Clark replied with a nervous smile, which turned genuine when one of the cats climbed into his lap. Others circled as they undoubtably looked for other places to climb.
Jimmy pulled the giant box of cat treat paste they’d brought with them out of his bag and all the cats instantly converged on them. He handed Clark a handful of sticks.
“Probably friends with every stray in Metropolis.” Jimmy said with a grin, Clark stilled again, too focused on the cat licking the treat to notice he needed to squeeze it. “I bet he helps with the TNR and the shelter parties, so we probably already know who he is.”
Clark didn’t answer that one. Jimmy glanced up to assess him. The corners of Clark’s gums peeked out from his smile and he had practically turned to stone, shifted just a little bit away from him.
Jimmy dropped it immediately. “I’m just glad he’s around. Need more treats?”
Clark nodded despite the handful he had already, and Jimmy handed some over as one of the cats stood on Clark’s shoulder and bonked their head on his.
Jimmy turned back to the cats encircling him, but he could sense Clark studying him for a long silent moment. He could only hope Clark would open up.
One day.
Hiding so much couldn’t be healthy.