Day by day he tried to let his feelings show, but subtly - carefully - never pushing too much, never being more than just a caring best friend.
LOIS:

He just wants to be friends…
Yeah, she's convinced herself of that.
Suddenly he remembered. He was supposed to have washed his neck.
Oooh!
Tee hee, yep.
He could claim it’s like permanent marker?
Now that's a fantastic idea!
He often allowed himself to dream that her friendly manner was concealing a changing heart, but her lack of respect for him was clearer than usual today.
Oooh! This is a completely new approach!

Yeah, he takes her attitude to mean completely the opposite of what Lois is really trying to do ... which is hide and bury her feelings. But it comes across to Clark as lack of feelings/respect.
"Didn't you go back at the office before we set off?" she whispered incredulously.
Small bladder?
I'm pretty sure most supporting characters already think that Clark suffers from a small bladder.
Lois glanced down at the evidence of her wandering mind. At least she'd managed to check her romantic wanderings at 'Lois' this time, rather than ending up scribbling 'Lois Lane-Kent', or worse 'Lois Kent', all over the page - right when Clark was there to see it.
So…now Clark will think she’s totally self-obsessed?

LOL. Yeah. If he saw that ... Lois, Lois, Lois, LOIS, Lois .... na not at all self-obsessed.
Making a snap decision, she raced into her bedroom and changed into a dark, comfortable outfit.
Her night work clothes?
Darn you figured it out straight away.
What if the fires are meant to clean up the traces of the past night’s activities? That would mean Lois would get right into the middle of it.
Knowing Lois' luck for getting into dangerous situations ... it's not an impossible idea!
Really? What can possibly go wrong?
/waits for Lois to splash into the cold and dirty harbor waters/

Or maybe she’ll get rescued by a flying alien…
Hmmm *whistles*
On to the next one!

Michael
Yup, go for it!