Who:Barry and Clark What:Meeting When:Recently Where:a random crime scene, Barry's getting evidence. Warnings:None.
Ever since Barry had gained his super speed, he’d been quite a bit distracted. Notably so when it came to work, he was somehow even more late in spite of newfound super speed. How could anyone be late with super speed? Not even he could figure that out. There was a crime scene that needed investigating, a possible arsonist in the area that had officially set a pattern. This time, had even left a dead body behind. Barry hadn’t intended to be so late again, but it was strange. Those Dreams had really done a number on him since gaining his speed. He’d dreamt of waking from a coma after being struck by literal lightning, and his body felt heavier. He’d woken up to new abs that he hadn’t had before. Not that he was out of shape or anything, just that he wasn’t known for being Mr. Muscle.
If that wasn’t weird enough, getting the hang of super speed was even more of a challenge when he didn’t quite know how to turn it on and off. The first time he’d overshot the crime scene entirely by 7 blocks and ended up someplace he didn’t recognize at all. He turned around and ran back, this time determined not to get lost yet again.
He was so focused on the not getting lost part, he didn’t realize how little space he had and ran straight into a pair of trash cans. To those watching it didn’t look like anything had happened at all, but on the other side facing away from the crime scene and most of the actual activity Barry stood up with a grimace and stared at the trash bins. He really needed to learn how to stop. He rubbed his head, which had no sign of bruising in spite of how hard he’d actually hit them. Most people were away from that little scene at least, so he thought.
Barry wasn't the only one who was dealing with new abilities. Unfortunately, despite the heat vision (or laser vision or whatever it wanted to be called) Clark couldn't just up and call out of work. Being a firefighter was a full time job. One that he could get called into at any time. Something that he was glad his boyfriend understood. However, unlike before he didn't just stay the night at work. He had a bed to come home to and a warm body to sleep next to.
Clark, for the most part, had gotten better about tuning out the world. Except where the Kryptonian couldn't ever truly turn something like that off. It just wasn't doable. Which is why he hears something off in the distance. Nothing that was life or death. Also, nothing that needed his immediate attention. Not unless a person actually asked for help. Sometimes he had to remember, Dick probably had to remind him a bit, that he wasn't quite close enough.
He does, however, notice Barry and moves over towards him, "Are you alright?" He'd heard the whole thing, unfortunately. Which meant that Barry couldn't exactly get away from that line of questioning. Maybe with others but not with Clark Kent.
Barry was busy trying to straighten himself out when Clark approached him. He didn’t even notice at first. “Ow.” He winced visibly as he rubbed at a tender spot on his forehead that really hadn’t actually bruised up at all. He’d hit those trash bins pretty hard though, they’d dented on impact. The other people on the scene were mostly too busy to pay much attention to what was likely just some mundane activity anyway. “Uh, yeah. I’m fine, sorry. I guess I’m a little clumsy.” Apparently.
He wasn’t sure where he’d seen the other guys face before, but he was pretty sure he had seen it somewhere. “You look familiar.” Barry was usually around at crime scenes, but his job was to get evidence so he wasn’t always at the ones where arson was involved. This just happened to also involve murder, so there he was.
"As long as you're fine."
Not that Clark really believed that the man before him was fine or clumsy. Much less when he could hear the way his heart sounded. Sometimes it was weird to hear the small things that people lied about. No matter how small the subject was.
There was a lot that the Kryptonian hated when it came to fires. Especially when arson was involved. People talked about different odd and end things nearby, something that he tried to listen to whenever he could. At the mention of seeming familiar, he gives him a small smile.
"I'm one of the local firefighters, Clark Kent."
Barry just gave a nod. He didn't know Clark well enough to come out and tell him he was dealing with new powers and his entire life had been turned upside down, so clumsy it was. Barry wasn't great at making friends, he really didn't have anyone to tell. Jemma would run tests so he wasn't sure that counted, Iris he couldn't tell just yet. So he just kept it to himself and it was a lot to deal with.
At the mention of being a firefighter he responded with "Ah okay, I'm just forensics. Barry. Here often so I guess that makes sense.'' The police and firefighters worked together pretty often. Barry was fairly sure he'd seen the guy in that network, but maybe not. There were a lot of people there. He wasn't overly confident when it came to new people, but he tried not to be too awkward. "I should probably head over. Captain is already annoyed with me." he gave a small smile in response as well. When he took a step however, it was met with a pang of dizziness and he dropped the file he'd been holding.
It was possible that Barry had seen him on the network too. It didn't mean that Clark knew all the names of everyone he saw. Though, it's possible that he'd seen the other man there too. If he ever found out that Barry had abilities, he'd probably let the other man know that the powers got a little easier. That's what he'd found out about his, at the very least.
"Nice to meet you, Barry," he states simply. He'd met a few different police officers and forensic scientists. It really all depended on the situation that happened during one of the scenes that the fires were on. He's about to turn away when Barry takes a step and drops the files that he's hold.
Kneeling down he picks up the file, putting them back into place. "Are you sure you're alright, Barry?" Even as he asks he uses his x-ray vision to make sure that nothing was wrong with the other man.
As far as Clark could tell there were no internal injuries that would have lead to a dizzy spell like he’d witnessed, but he was certainly not normal on scan. He had little bits of some sort of red lightning. His organs and other bits seemed to be in the places they should be but he was certainly different from the average human scan. Most humans didn’t have lightning surging through their body like him. “You too.” He gave a little smile, though it was obvious he was pretty awkward. People weren’t his strong suit, science was. It was why forensics was in the basement he supposed.
“Uh yeah, just that clumsiness.” He watched him pick up the file and smiled a bit more. “You didn’t have to do that. But thanks.” He didn’t want anyone to think they had to go out of their way to help or anything. He could take care of himself for the most part. Or at least he used to know how to.
For the most part, Clark had never seen someone's body filled with lightning like that. Much less red lightning. That was definitely different. More so than he'd care to admit. It meant that this other person, Barry, wasn't normal. Which just made the whole situation that much more awkward. Okay, so more awkward for the Kryptonian anyway. Especially when there were only a set few people he knew that had abilities. Namely Raven.
"I know," he says giving Barry a bit of a smile. "I wanted to," he tells him before handing the files back to him. "Are you sure that you don't need to go home? That actually seemed a bit more than just clumsiness."
Barry tucked the files under his arm and shrugged. "Even if I did, I'd be chewed out for it. So it's fine." he commented with a small laugh. He didn't have a ton of leeway like Dick had. "I'll be fine, really."
He appreciated the concern, but he for the most part liked his job too. He didn't particularly feel like losing it by pissing off the captain or anything.
"Your job also can't afford to have you dizzy or otherwise on the job either," Clark points out. "And I doubt you'd get chewed out for it when you'd have a report from a firefighter and a paramedic that didn't think you needed to be on the scene." He might not have had a ton of leeway like Dick did, but the firefighters did. If someone wasn't fit to be on the scene, crime or not, then they didn't need to be on the scene. "Only way I'll reconsider is if you let one of the paramedics check you over."
Barry looked over at Clark with a raised eyebrow, half tempted to ask why he cared. But the other half didn't feel like drawing out the issue so this time he caved in. "Okay, but I really am fine." he tried to insist, especially if given a few minutes he'd heal right up, so he'd discovered earlier. But he couldn't really say that to Clark so he gave a hand wave and headed toward that medic. The medic would check, but found nothing out of the ordinary. He could only look confused at the situation, and Barry stood with a shrug. He gave Clark a wave. "I'm okay." He wasn't nearly as close in friendship with the other cops as he probably should have been, but whatever. It was still a good job and he didn't feel like losing it.
The speedster would probably have a hard time convincing the Kryptonian that he was fine. When it came to others, whether he knew them or not, he needed to make sure that they were alright. If that included Barry among the strangers, then so be it. It was just how the firefighter was in general. Though, he does give a bit of a nod when Barry waves and say that he's okay. He could, for the time being, work with that. Didn't, however, mean that he wouldn't keep a close eye on the kid of he was ever on site again.