For what it's worth, this ain't a new argument
I remember being a FOLC as third season was in progress, and I remember long involved discussions (pre-VD) of what sort of experience Clark might have previously had. There were good arguments on all sides. After VD made the "very patient man" thing canon, then we started working on what his reasons might have been, since that was left wide open.
There was speculation that they slept together after OW (in previous eps, they'd made a point to end it with Clark flying off; in that one, they didn't). And tons of us thought they'd surely made love before he left for NK (fluttering curtain scene, after exchanging informal wedding vows). Then the writers came along and messed it up again
I'm kind of ambivalent about the issue these days. In real life, I think sex is a sacred thing and should be practiced only within marriage. I don't generally read nfic these days for non-morally related reasons. But L&C aren't real people, they don't exist in the real world, and they're eternally destined to get married sooner or later, so... I'm not especially worried about which order they do things in. My favorite genre of fanfic is the kind where they start a romantic relationship, and with a lot of authors that means lovemaking, either stated or implied. Some of my favorites, in fact, involve pre-marital love-making. I think it's cause it's got that little bit of extra spice of the forbidden.
PJ
