For now

Starfire panted and started at me for a long moment, then slowly nodded, "Yes... I think so." She stands up shakily, then pulls her cutoffs back up, "We should get you to someplace safer than the dark woods."

"As long as you're good to fly," I told her.

She scooped me up in her arms and smiled, "Do not worry. My head is feeling much clearer now. I should not have any more trouble navigating."

And with that reassurance, Starfire took off, rapidly clearing the treeline and heading back towards the illuminated city. We had only just started reentering the city limits when I heard a cheery chiptune ringtone.

"Oh, I should answer that," Starfire said, slowing down to a halt. Reorienting her grip to hold me with one arm, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, putting it to her ear, "Hello? ...Yes, we are both okay. ...I did not. I was worried we were being followed, so I took him outside of the city for a bit. ...Okay, we are en route. I love you."

She hung up and pocketed her phone, "That was Dick. Metallo has been defeated, and he says we should meet up with them at Kara's and your apartment."

I was relieved to hear they won the fight, but I couldn't help but ask, "Is Kara alright?"

"He did not say," Starfire replied, "But that is a good thing. If she was seriously hurt, Dick would have mentioned it. Since he did not, I assume she is okay."

That was slightly comforting to hear, but I knew I wouldn't be entirely convinced until I saw her for myself. Without another word, Starfire resumed flying, changing direction slightly to line up with our new destination.

Within a few minutes, we were back in familiar territory, and before long I saw the illuminated skylight of the apartment, the hatch already opened for our arrival. As Starfire floated into the living room, I saw Kara lying on the couch in her now-tattered Supergirl costume, looking pretty roughed up. Nightwing was standing by the couch, but to my surprise there was a third person next to him, one I recognized immediately due to it being Superman. I mean, come on, who wouldn't recognize the Man of Steel on sight?

Starfire landed and let me go, but before I could even fully get my bearings, Kara was on her feet and stumbling over to me. Giving me a big hug, she said, "Charlie! Thank Rao you're safe! I was so worried about you."

I hugged her back, "I should be the one saying that to you." Noticing a cut on the side of her face and a nasty-looking bruise under a tear on her shoulder, and feeling several more tears and cuts along her back, I said, "I don't think I've ever seen you look so beat up before."

"It's not the first time a supervillain's managed to hurt me," Kara said, "Seriously, it's not a big deal..."

Despite her trying to brush off her injuries, I could feel Kara leaning her body weight on me for support. Putting an arm around her shoulder, I started leading her back to the couch, "Well I'm safe now, so there's no need to worry about me anymore, okay?"

Kara frowned, but collapsed back on the couch with a sigh. I turned my head just in time to see Superman walking up to me. Giving me that famous friendly smile of his, he said, "So you're this 'Charlie' I keep hearing about. It's good to finally meet you."

He held out his hand to shake mine, and it took a moment for my brain to fully process that freaking Superman was standing only a foot away from me and knew my name. A little too quickly, I grabbed his hand and shook, "I-It's an honor to meet you, sir. Kara talks about you all the time, and... um..."

Superman chuckled, "Relax, you don't need to be so formal with me. Even if you weren't Kara's boyfriend, I'd like to think I'm not quite old enough yet for you to be calling me 'sir'."

"R-Right, sorry," I said, wiping my sweaty palm on the side of my pants, "Um, so, uh... what are you doing here?"

"I heard about Metallo's attack, and I came to make sure Kara was alright," he said, "Unfortunately I didn't show up in time to help out."

"Eh, don't worry about it, Supes," Nightwing interjected, "We had it under control."

"You all did great," Superman said, "And that includes you, Charlie. Kara and Dick told me you tried to shield her from the Kryptonite beam, even after Metallo threatened your life. That was incredibly brave of you."

Holy shit, Superman called me brave!

"Thank you sir!" I said, before hastily adding, "Er, sorry, Superman."

Superman smiled at me, then looked over at Starfire, "Dick said you thought you were being followed. Did you actually see anyone tailing you?"

Starfire blinked, looking to have been momentarily distracted, "Huh? Oh, no, I did not see anyone. It was more of a... sense of badness. I decided to play it safe, but it looks like I had nothing to worry about after all."

Superman frowned, "I wouldn't be so sure."

Before either Starfire or I could ask why, Nightwing stepped in, "That giant telescope Metallo was wearing had a built-in self-destruct. After Kara and I beat him, it detonated. And because of where it was installed, the explosion completely destroyed his Kryptonite power source, and the entire housing unit it was sitting in."

"Wait, for real?" I asked. When Nightwing confirmed with a nod, I followed up with, "Does... does that mean he's dead?"

"For now, though we have people in the Watchtower working on a way to possibly revive his head," Superman said, "His chances aren't looking good though."

"And if we can't get him back online, we can't ask him where he got that overcompensator of his," Nightwing said, "There's no way he would have strapped that thing directly over his power source if he knew it was rigged to blow."

"Not only that..." Kara started to say, pausing to wince as she leaned forward in her seat, "...but Metallo is tough. Explosives capable of dealing that kind of damage to his body aren't something your run-of-the-mill arms dealer would've been able to get a hold of. Dick and I were probably a good twenty, maybe thirty feet away from him when it went off, and it still did a number on me. I can't imagine what it would've done to Dick if I hadn't blocked it from him."

I whipped my head to face Kara, "You did what? Is that how you got all cut up?"

"Kinda," Kara said, looking almost guilty for making me worry, "But seriously, I'm fine now."

"Yeah, now you're fine," Dick said, "I had to pull kryptonite-irradiated shrapnel out of your back. You're lucky your cape caught most of it or you'd be in a lot worse shape."

"And he might have missed a piece or two if I hadn't shown up when I did," Superman said, "Seriously Kara, you need to get some rest."

"How can I rest when someone's after Charlie?" Kara said, her eyes tearing up, "I almost lost him tonight, Kal! If I can't keep him safe then-"

"You can't keep anyone safe in your current condition," Superman said, putting on his 'stern father' voice, "And you don't have to. We'll have League members guarding you and Charlie around the clock until your powers are back."

This caught my attention, "Wait, she lost her powers? How?"

"Kryptonite overexposure in the dead of night, most likely," Superman answered, "It's happened to me once or twice before. She'll be fine after a few hours of direct sunlight, but she probably won't be at full strength again until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. And she still needs to give her body time to heal."

He directed that last part at Kara, who waved him off, "Yeah, yeah, I get it. A day or two of bed-rest and I'll be back in action."

"Three days, bare minimum," Superman countered, crossing his arms over his chest, "And even that's pushing it."

Kara let out an annoyed grunt and sunk back into the sofa, "Come on, really?"

"Kara, I get you want to keep me safe, but I don't want to lose you either," I interjected, "So please don't rush this. And don't worry about me: I'm going to be right by your side until you're at 100% again. So will you at least try to take it easy until then?"

Kara pouted and huffed, but eventually grumbled, "Fine. Three days."

Out of the corner of my eye I caught Starfire biting her lip and fidgeting in place. She briefly made eye contact with me, then quickly walked over to Nightwing and whispered something in his ear. I could see Dick's eyes widen under his domino mask, and he whispered something back to her. The two of them talked to each other quietly for a little bit, then Nightwing turned to Superman and asked, "Hey Supes, do you need Kori and I for anything else? Things seem pretty quiet around here, and if you got this handled we were thinking it's about time for us to head out."

Superman looked at the couple, and after thinking a moment said, "Yeah, you guys can go. Thanks for all your help. Let me know if you to find anything else."

"Will do," Dick said, "Nice meeting you Charlie, even though the whole double-date thing turned out to be a freaking nightmare for you."

"Yeah, you too," I said, suddenly feeling incredibly awkward as I thought about what Starfire and I had been doing while all this Metallo stuff had been going on.

"Goodbye Charlie," Starfire said to me, "And rest well, Kara."

Kara gave the alien a small 'uh huh'. Then Starfire picked up Nightwing and carried him out the open skylight, closing it with her foot on the way out. I could've sworn I saw Dick break out into a grin just before they flew out of sight.

"Hopefully the two of them can get some sleep tonight," Superman said.

"Oh, I don't think the two of them are going to be doing much of that tonight," Kara snarked.

"What else would they do?" Superman asked, "Metallo's body is up at the Watchtower, so they can't be going to investigate..."

Kara raised a brow at her cousin, and that helped things click into place for Superman, whose face turned a bright red, "Oh... you mean..."

"Yep," Kara said, "I can't believe you didn't pick up on that. It's not like either of them were particularly subtle about it."

"Guess I wasn't really thinking about that," Superman admitted, "I suppose people have different ways of handling stress, and theirs is... that."

Superman blinked, suddenly remembering something, "Oh, that reminds me! Lois told me yesterday that she's pregnant!"

"What? Really?" Kara said, shooting up in surprise, "That's amazing! Congratu- ow, ow, ow!"

I rushed over to her side and eased her back into the sofa, "Careful..."

Kara gave me a little smile and a peck on the cheek in thanks, then asked, "Do you have any names picked out?"

"Lois wants to wait until we know the sex before we start talking names," he answered, "Although now that we know for sure it's possible, you two might want to be more diligent about using protection. If human-Kryptonian pregnancy works one way, it probably works the other way too, and I don't think you two are quite as ready as we are to-"

"Yeah, I get it, Kal," Kara said, "We're already being careful."

That wasn't exactly true, but I was too busy processing everything I heard to point out how we could be more careful. There was something that stuck out to me, and against my better judgement I couldn't help but bring it up, "Hold on, did you say Lois? As in Lois Lane? You actually got her pregnant?"

"Um, yes?" Superman asked, giving me a look of genuine confusion.

"But isn't she married to...?" I started to ask, but before he had the chance to answer I managed to put the pieces together myself, "Holy shit, the rumors are true! Clark Kent really is a cuck! You've been screwing Lois in front of him, haven't you?"

Superman's eyes went wide at this accusation.

"Not exactly..." Kara muttered softly, looking and sounding absolutely mortified.

"I thought you would have told him by now..." Superman mumbled to Kara.

"Told me what?" I asked. When I didn't get an immediate response, I started getting a sinking feeling in my stomach, "Wait a minute... oh no..."

I ran off to the bedroom and grabbed one of Kara's spare pairs of glasses, then came back and put them on the stunned face of Superman. I stared at the result for almost a minute, first to confirm that what I was seeing wasn't a trick of the light, then to let it sink in just how colossally I fucked up.

"I, um... I'm really sorry I called you a cuck."

"It's okay. We've, uh, we've kind of been subtly... encouraging that rumor. As a smokescreen to, ahem, protect my... secret... identity."

Kara covered her face with her hands and let out a long, low, whine.

After that, we all kind of just sat there in awkward silence, waiting to see whether the next bodyguard shift would arrive before one of us died of embarrassment.