Headcanon: Kryptonians are ridiculously warm. The average human’s body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Kryptonians’ body temperatures run up to 107.2 .
It was the only direct source of heat that M’gann was able to touch…and not be harmed.
“Hot” (Takes place after Alpha Male)
They’ve been sitting on the couch for over an hour, some random reality show playing on the gigantic tv screen that neither of them are really watching. They are both stiff, their legs barely centimeters away from touching, and the lasting silence has made an uncomfortable awkwardness hang in the air like a net waiting to drop. They have been together for barely a week, and it’s been difficult to find any down time between missions to explore this new-found relationship that has suddenly begun to bud. It’s still in the tentative stages, where steps are taken on tip-toes as uncertainty looms above them, all whilst the thrill of these new emotions churns their stomachs in a delicious sort of nausea.
M’gann just wants him to say something already.
Everyone else has left or gone home for the night, but the two of them are the only ones who live in the cave full time. Her uncle, J’onn J’onzz, aka the Martian Manhunter, had offered a room in his apartment upon her initial arrival to Earth some months ago - but she had declined. Conner had been so lost those first few weeks of leaving Cadmus, and he was all alone in that giant cave… she barely knew him then, but she couldn’t leave him there with no one but an android for company.
He’d been so hard to reach, even despite her best efforts to get him talking - yet soon she had come to realize she might be pushing too hard, seeing that the more she pressed him, the more he withdrew into his shell and avoided her. So she’d stopped obsessing and as time went on, he had sought her out on his own.
She thinks back on this and realizes now that those first few times he had appeared out of nowhere, sitting down beside her and asking her questions about her life: “How many siblings do you have, anyway?” “Why is Mars that weird red color?” “Do… do you miss them? Your parents?” - those where the moments she had begun to feel the first tendrils of affection for him. She knew he probably would need much more time to become acclimated to the world around him, everything so fresh and new, so many feelings he would need to discover in his own time and place. And by the time he had learned them, there would probably already be another girl for him to compare her to.
She didn’t realize how quick a learner Conner had proved to be.
And here they were on this same stupid couch, except now both of them were at a complete loss for words. M’gann didn’t want to start prattling off whatever came to her mind, as this had proven to be a huge turnoff for him (turnoff - was that the word? She wondered.) so she continued to sit quietly, so sure he could hear her heart thudding against her chest, damn that super-hearing of his. If only he would say something.
“I really hate this show.” He commented, his deep voice breaking the silence and causing M’gann to start, her skin feeling like it was itching to jump right off her body. She looked at him.
“Um… well, why have we been watching it then?” She asked tentatively.
Conner shrugged. He looked less uncomfortable than M’gann felt, and wondered if he was as nervous as she was. “I don’t know. There’s not a whole lot on this late.” M’gann glanced at the clock on the adjacent wall and was startled to see that it was already close to midnight. It was so hard to tell how much time passed in the windowless walls of the cave.
“Are you… do you always stay up this late?” M’gann asked.
“Later.” Conner said. He hesitantly lifted one thick arm and draped it across the back of the couch, his fingers dangling dangerously close to M’gann’s neck. She felt the phantom touch like pinpricks in the exact places she imagined they would lay if he moved a few inches lower…
She swallowed. “W-What do you do?” God she hated how her voice sounded right now.
She saw the barely perceptible shade of pink color his cheeks and he shifted in his seat. “Just… watching tv…”
“What do you watch?” M’gann asked, curious now and somewhat pleased that he was betraying at least a fraction of the nerves she felt.
Conner was definitely uncomfortable now, wishing he hadn’t said anything. “Um, well… it’s… it’s nothing. Just uh - nothing.”
Now M’gann was really intrigued. “Come on, tell me.” She prodded gently. “Please?”
Conner sighed deeply and closed his eyes for a brief moment, looking like he would rather take another round with Amazo than say whatever he was about to say. M’gann couldn’t help but find it incredibly adorable.
Conner exhaled. “Ok, well… I’ve been uh… there’s this one show - it comes on really late, I think it’s all reruns or something, I don’t know… but, it uh… there’s this guy who talks to people - I think he’s a doctor or something - but people come on this show and talk to him about… their lives and their lives with… other people…” Conner looked down at his knees determinedly. “And they talk to him about their problems and stuff and he gives them advice about how to be happy together or whatever, and sometimes they don’t talk about problems, but he gives advice at the end of the show to people watching tv about… stuff… like… how to be a good b- well, a good… person in a relationship with some other person.” Conner finished, refusing to look at her and his eyes unblinking.
M’gann was stunned, and was trying her best not to show it and cause him further embarrassment. But she was shocked all the same at this revelation: Conner was watching a relationship talk-show. And then it clicked. Conner was watching a relationship talk-show for her.
She felt a tiny smile tug at her lips and she cleared her throat. “And um… how long have you… been watching this show?” She asked quietly.
Conner turned even redder. “Uh… I uh… I think… almost two months?” He finally raised his head and met her gaze with a sheepish but sincere look. “Almost exactly two months.”
M’gann felt the air leave her lungs. They had met in the beginning of July. Today was September 29th. If his claims were accurate, and by the look on his face, she knew they were, then that would mean he had been seeking relationship advice from a late-night television host two weeks after they had met, up till now.
M’gann’s legs drew up underneath her, supporting herself on her knees and threw her arms around Conner’s neck, kissing him as his eyes flew open. She felt his arms slide around her waist and pull her closer so that she was flush against his chest, deepening the kiss. She smiled against his lips and gripped a handful of his black shirt between her fingers, inches of newly exposed skin begging for her touch.
She was feeling brave and was just about to begin a trail along his jawline with her eager lips when she suddenly felt a fire burning along the front of her body wherever they touched. It startled her so suddenly that she pulled away with a sharp gasp as both of them shook.
“M’gann? Are you ok?” Conner asked, concern etching his usually reserved features, his fingers tightly gripping her waist.
M’gann’s eyes were lidded, her mind spinning wildly. “You’re so hot.” She said. She immediately heard the double meaning in her comment and it was her turn to turn a bright shade of crimson. “I mean, y-you, your body - No, I mean y-you…” She floundered as he began to smirk. She began again. “Your temperature - you feel like you have a fever.” She pushed aside his hair and felt his forehead with worry. “Do you feel sick?”
Conner chuckled. “No, I’m fine. It’s just my physiology. Kryptonians have a higher body temperature than humans - or at least, that’s what they told me at Cadmus. They never really got to test how long I could survive in the cold.” He suddenly looked worried. “Are you ok? I know you’re not so good with heat, so maybe-“
“No,not heat - just fire.” M’gann said quickly, shaking her head. “Martians are incredibly vulnerable to large open flames, forest fires, that kind of thing.” She slid her hands down to his chest, mesmerized. She had never experienced this kind of warmth before in her life - at least, not the kind of warmth that couldn’t kill her. “No, this… this is good.”
He was suddenly very close to her face again, his eyes soft but powerful as he touched her cheek gently with his thumb. “Yeah. This is good.” He said lowly.
He kissed her again, slowly and deliberately. She felt the heat come off him in waves, even through his tshirt, and her body shuddered in a state of pure ecstacy. She was drawn to him like a moth to a flame. She was the moth - but this was a completely different kind of fire - one she wanted to burn in.
