Michael, this was amazing. I think I'm in love with your Lois and Clark.
Lois was so utterly perfect. Clark was hilariously clueless. I love how that single glimpse of Lois when they were in college had the same effect (if not more!) than his first kiss with Lana had, even if he didn't understand that. And that confrontation in the newsroom...! I'm not sure what was better -- the way she tried to cut him down, the way he cut her off, or the way she grudgingly cut him slack.
Either way, the whole thing was wonderful!
And some very nice parallels to what we know of Clark's life with Lois' conversation with Ben. Maybe we FoLCs would prefer to have Lois come to that realization on her own, but you've made it clear that she's already wondered about Superman's downtime and methods with dealing with tragedy before.
The one advantage of a super-Superman (i.e. Silver Age style) is that it makes Clark's humanity so much more poignant and real. It seems we're beginning to get an idea of what the "one bad day" of your title might be, so let's have MORE!
Hazel
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