Fascinating debate.
I voted yesterday but didn't have time to write a proper reply until today.
I will read a story where Lois or Clark is/are with someone else, regardless of whether they've met or not. My main reason for that is that it's happened many times on the show (Lex, Mayson, Dan, or even Lana if we're talking of alt-Clark), so it's not something I consider impossible or out of character.
What I like about this show and about the fanfic that gets written about it is that we can always find new ways to challenge Lois and Clark's relationship. I'm a big fan of get-together stories, which makes me even more of a fan of stories where that getting-together process is rendered a little more complicated by either a problem keeping Lois and Clark apart, or a third party keeping them apart. That's the challenge. That's what spices up a premise for me.
Kaethel
(whose two main WIPs at the moment both deal with such a situation)
