A/N: Hi again! This is another unedited, unbeta-ed piece for you all that I dusted off from my rusty hard drive and finished up. I don't plan on expanding it past a one-shot (right? Muse? You hear me? I said one-shot). Just thought it'd be a funny reveal. Not sure where this idea stemmed from, whether it was a challenge here, something batted around on the hangouts, or just a writing prompt from Pinterest or something, one of those usual soulmate-prompts. It's probably been done many times over.
Takes place Season 1, shortly after TGGGOH in season one, sliding it right in before MoSB. Usual disclaimers here. Enjoy!
***
She was grinding her teeth.
Last time she ground her teeth this hard, she was eleven and popped off a bracket on her braces. No, scratch that. Last time she'd ground her teeth like this, she was helping Lucy with a homework assignment. Or maybe it was on one of her many failed dates. Alan, or Mark...
There was a brief pause, and Lois held her breath, praying that it signified the end. Maybe the gods would pity her, show mercy to her, finally relieve her of this incessant...
<<"It's a hot night at the juke joint... Hm-hmm-mm...">>
A growl of frustration escaped her, and she pounded at the keys of her keyboard furiously as the inane tune carried on in her head. It wasn't even like it was a song she knew, or that she could pull any more identifiable words from the loop of the melody. And, the worst offense of all, it was a country song. She never listened to country.
She ground her teeth, waiting for the song to come to a natural conclusion on one of its circuits. She didn't understand where she'd even picked it up; she didn't recognize the tune. Maybe it was elevator music, or on a station she flipped past this morning. That wouldn't explain how so much of it was stuck in her head, but it would explain the thought that it was never ending.
Maybe she'd heard it in Smallville last week, droning on somewhere at that corn festival.
For a split second, there was another lull. Hope filled her chest as she took a deep breath of clean, fresh air, hoping it was gone forever.
Yes. Finally. Silence. A flood of relief washed over her, so refreshing that she thought she might cry.
"You all right, Lois?"
Clark's sudden intrusion into her thoughts startled her, his voice loud now in the space of that infernal tune. She shot him a distracted smile. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."
He looked at her dubiously, the sarcastic and disbelieving undertone practically shouting at her from the arch of his brow alone. "Okay. You want some coffee?"
"No." She ground out the words between gritted teeth, hoping he'd take the hint and leave her alone. All she wanted was some peace and quiet, and she didn't need the grating country bumpkin to hover over her while she was enjoying it. And maybe it was something in her eyes, but he raised his hands up in surrender and backed down.
"Okay, geez. All you had to do was ask. You don't have to be so mean."
Lois scoffed. "Mean? All I said was no, I don't want coffee." God, Farmboy was needy today.
He winced, face scrunching up with pain so visceral Lois could almost feel it. She didn't know why he was reacting so strongly to something she considered to be holding back. There were plenty of worse things she could have said.
"Yeah but you don't have to say them."
"I didn't!" Lois cried out.
His brow furrowed in confusion. "Wait, what?"
"I was just saying I didn't want a coffee! God, you don't have to be so sensitive!"
"I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about the Farmboy crack."
"Oh please, grow up. I didn't make any Farmboy cracks." Not this time, she mused to herself with a sneer.
"That's--"
A spike of fear and realization sliced through her veins, only she didn't know why. She hadn't had any revelations. Lois was filled with confusion. She glanced up at Clark to see if she should apologize and go, only to he surprised to find the emotions she'd felt written plainly on his face. "Clark?"
He shook his head, his brow furrowed and he took a step away from her. "I'm sorry."
That didn't ease her confusion at all. "For what?"
"I, uh, I gotta go."
Panic flooded her and she jumped to her feet and headed towards the stairwell without quite understanding why.
Clark was hot on her heels. "Lois?"
The door slammed behind the both of them, and Lois kept running, climbing the stairs to the roof, following the very clear picture she'd had in her mind. Her heart was thundering in her chest with a sensation of panic that didn't feel earned. So this is what a panic attack felt like. Out of control, not sure what was going on with her body and why. The fresh air and sunshine hit her face and a second later she felt warmed and soothed in a small sense.
Clark's hand landed gently on her wrist to stop her. "Lois."
"I need some space. I need to calm down."
"I'm sorry," he said, and his hand slid off her limb, releasing her. "What can I do?"
"It's not your fault."
"I didn't say it was," Clark said defensively.
"Yes you did. Just now. You blame yourself for a lot of things, and you shouldn't."
Surprise washed over Clark's features, and Lois watched it happen simultaneously as she experienced it herself. Her surprise became more genuine as the conclusion arrived, and her heartbeat continued to race. "You."
Clark shifted nervously on his feet. "What?"
"Oh my God... no, this is insane."
"What is?" Clark hedged his words with a tone of unease.
"Why are you in my head?"
His eyes went wide. "W-what?"
"That's it!" Lois shouted, pointing at him. "That nervous confusion and dread... No, maybe I'm in your head."
Clark gaped at her helplessly, not sure where to go with this. A flash of red--a cape--swept across the forefront of her mind, and she scowled at her partner for the insinuation. "And Superman can't save you this time, pal "
He froze, and a spike of fear made her limbs twitch. It was a fear she hadn't ever felt except in life or death situations. She folded her arms over her chest. "Are you that afraid of me?"
"Lois, no, I just--"
"What is going on, Clark?"
He took a deep breath and she felt as much as watched as he steeled himself, and that anxious energy she'd been picking up off of him turned to resolve. He turned away from her to pace, and she could feel the wheels in his head turning. "I don't know. This has never happened before."
"You think I've experienced it before?" His eyes cut to hers with a no-duh expression and she gave him an exasperated sigh. "Well, wiseguy, what's your idea?"
"It's... complicated, maybe." He turned back to pace with his lips turned down in a frown.
An image of Superman once again rushed into her brain. No, not Superman himself. Superman's outfit?
"It comes off?" The words slipped out of her mouth without permission.
He stopped to look at her quizzically. "What?"
"What?"
His eyes widened and his cheeks flushed suddenly, and she felt her own flame with embarrassment. "Oh my God, we have to figure this out! How am I supposed to live with this antenna broadcasting all my thoughts and feelings to you!"
"You think I know how to stop this, Lois? I've never had this happen before either."
She shook her head to clear away his frustration. "You're telling me you can hear my thoughts too?"
<<If the boot fits.>>
The boot that popped into mind was once again Superman's bright red ones.
"Ugh! Stupid..." A sense of peace washed over her, and Lois threw her hands up exasperatedly. Her partner was once again as cool as a cucumber. "Why are you so calm about this?"
"Because, it's not... too... far-fetched?"
She snorted at him.
He ran a hand through his hair, and a couple curse words ruffled through her mind before she realized they were coming from him as well. She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Look Lois, it's never been like this before. I mean, this--whatever this is--has definitely never happened before. But the strange things... this is how they start. Some uncontrollable urge that turns into a... an ability. But they've always been just me."
Lois gave him a disbelieving stare. "An ability."
He shook his head but reaffirmed the word mentally. "Sure."
A sharp noise pierced her skull, and she winced. Martha's voice floated to her, disembodied and a little blurred, the sounds soothing. A spike of fear, dampened by the lens of time, and she called the only name she knew could help. "Clark!"
It immediately cleared away, and he was at her side bracing her before she registered he'd moved. "Sorry! I'm so sorry. I got... lost in thought, and--"
She held up a hand to cut off his rambling, and he obeyed. She spent a moment collecting her thoughts and hers alone, picking them apart messily from the ones she was reading off him. There was only one clear conclusion left to be made. "So, you're..."
"Yeah."
She straightened up and turned to face him, examining him with this new information. Without the glasses and the outrageous ties, she could almost believe it. Awe and surprise filled her, and she couldn't believe she didn't see it until now.
<<Please see me.>>
She met his eyes, and noted the hesitation, the fear that was still underlining them. He looked scared. The last time he was that scared was when Trask--
He flinched visibly before her, and she realized as much as she was reading his thoughts, he was reading hers. She quirked her lips into an apologetic smile. "Sorry."
Clark shook his head. "Not your fault."
Her thoughts drifted back over the events of maybe a week ago, and she frowned again. "But you got a paper cut. And you were really scared of Trask--"
"The Kryptonite."
"What?"
He shuddered again.
<<It's real.>>
Lois' stomach twisted at the thought of actually losing him, reliving again her fears in that moment.
"Hey, I'm okay. I'm here now, and Trask is gone."
Her cheeks warmed again, and she rolled her eyes. "Now you're making me blush."
He cleared his throat, but she could feel him holding something back still. She glanced sideways at him. "So. When were you going to tell me?"
He shifted on his feet, suddenly seeming smaller, and she felt his discomfort like a wave.
"You weren't going to tell me."
"Yes. No. I was planning on telling you, but really, we hadn't gotten that close until recently, and..."
His voice trailed off, but his thoughts picked up right where he stopped.
<<I wanted you to see me first.>>
"Of course I see you, Clark."
His ears reddened this time.
"Oh." The overwhelming humiliation and bashfulness was exhausting.
He ran a hand through his hair and pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, a grimace carved into his features. "I'm sorry. I guess it's all coming out now."
Lois twisted her lips into a wry smile. "Well, as long as we're... linked, somehow, I think it was bound to."
He sighed, her words soothing him slightly. She found the sensation soothing herself, like she was in some sort of feedback loop. The more relaxed he felt, the better she felt. She liked him when he was just his casual, laid-back self. It suited him. Like at the corn festival--
He smiled at her, cocked his head to the side mischievously, and she swore in her head, which only made him laugh.
"Damn it," she groused good-naturedly. "I don't think I'm going to like this."
"Hey, you learned all my deepest darkest secrets, I think everything is fair game."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. How do we stop it?"
Clark shrugged. "I don't know."
"Well, can you hear other people's thoughts? Or just mine?"
"I don't know."
A bite of teasing followed his words, and Lois sucked her teeth. He was pulling her pigtails, but he genuinely was just as mystified as she.
"Okay. Fine. We'll have to investigate then."
"Let's go, then, partner." He elbowed her gently and walked back over to the stairwell.
"Ugh, speaking of partners, can you stop thinking of that God-awful country song? It's been driving me nuts all morning."
He frowned, and she could sense a joke coming a mile away, telepathic link or no. "What song?"
"Don't play that with me. If I hear the phrase "it's a hot night at the juke joint" one more time, I'm going to throttle you."
He leaned in close behind her, his voice low and unexpectedly suggestive. "You mean to tell me you don't like 'Wild-Eyed Southern Boys'?"
She blushed and made accidental eye contact. God, his eyes were a little wild. Untamed, molten chocolate. His eyes widened and she realized her mistake. She whacked his shoulder teasingly to cover for her slip up and rushed past him down the stairs.
"Lois, wait--"
"Nope."
"Lois--"
She ran ahead, hoping they could solve this before he read her every thought and desire.
<<You know I can still hear you.>>
She swore and burst back through to the bullpen with an air of irritation. She had to find some way to block him. An evil thought crossed her mind.
<<Prepare to die a slow and painful death, Superman.>>
<<What's that supposed to mean?>>
She focused her thoughts and started humming a few bars of the most annoying song in the world.
<<LOIS.>>
She smiled, almost getting into the tune.
<<Truce, okay? I'm sorry.>>
Lois smiled to herself proudly.
<<Clark Kent is Superman, huh? It really is a small world after all.>>
***
