Disclaimer: All recognisable characters, plot lines etc. are property of DC Comics, Warner Bros and December 3rd Productions. I don't own any of them, or make money off them in any way, etc. etc.
Author's note: Set during The Rival, just after Lois springs Perry hiding in Clark's closet. Also, seventeenth in the At First Sight series. Thanks to Trina for beta reading.
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Linda King really brings out the worst in Lois.
Catty, petty, ultra-competitive... jealous.
Is this always what it's like when a close friendship goes sour?
I don't know, myself. Until now, I've never had a close friendship.
Until Lois.
...
I can't say I blame Lois for the way she's acting. Linda never misses an opportunity to needle her. Add that to the chagrin of being scooped several times over and- well, Lois never reacts well to losing a big story.
On top of the present aggravation is the past humiliation of having Linda steal her boyfriend- and her story.
It might have been the first time a story was stolen from Lois, and the first time a male was involved in the betrayal, but it wasn't the last time. Claude's later perfidy must have compounded the issue.
No wonder Lois was so prickly when we met. She'd learned the hard way that male journalists weren't to be trusted.
I'd never steal her story and I'd certainly never use her that way. Her or any other woman, for that matter.
But I am hurting her.
I had to stage the fight in her apartment, or risk never getting to the bottom of what Preston Carpenter intends.
But I have to tread carefully now, or I risk our friendship going just as sour as her and Linda's did.
Lois doesn't feel the same way about me as I do about her, that's obvious. She thinks she's in love with Superman- and I need to figure out a way to disabuse her of that idea.
My friendship with Lois may be the only way I ever have to be close to her, and I can't risk losing that.
I am curious about the feelings she mentioned just now in my apartment.
Maybe there's hope for Clark Kent yet.
Maybe.
