Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Fun with Polls Love interests for Lois and/or Clark (other than each other)

I indicated that I'd be willing to read other fics, but I'm like Phil in the regard that I think that Lois is really the only woman for Clark (and remember, I gave him a Lois in the Future series), and that Clark is one of only two men for Lois (guess who the other one is ).

The key as to whether I'd be interested in reading an alternative romance is the set-up. What is the reason for the different set of partners and is it believeable. I never got behind the BAtP, and HoL episodes because I was never convinced the Lois would even have anything to do with Lex Luthor, let alone accept a marriage proposal.

But I do believe that if it came to the loss of the other, Lois would be better able to eventually deal with it than would Clark. She's just emotionally stronger than he is. She would be able to 'live' again, most likely alone. Clark needs someone. He's dependant on having someone around who can be his anchor, and can reflect his 'humanity' back at him.

Bottom line, if it's a good story, that is well written, I'm likely to give it a shot, but I prefer Lois and Clark together.

Tank (who actually prefers Lois and Tank together, but there isn't much call for that kind of fic)

Yeah, but there's proper and then there's proper.

Put it this way, I've been in this fandom almost since the beginning of the series and it always amazes me when this topic comes up in the first place. I mean I understand the desire to play with the "what ifs" when dealing with any fan fiction universe, and they're admittedly infinite in most cases, but this series IS called LOIS & CLARK so there's a limit to just how far I can personally stretch that understanding without balking big time. To put it bluntly, I don't want to read a story about one of them with someone else and claiming there are "proper" motivations for it happening only raises my "angst-radar" to red alert status in the first place. Most likely I'll never be able to get past those horns blaring in my ear.

And that's not even getting into the question of whether one can truly be in character without the other or whether its good fan fiction writing in the first place to veer that far from the context of any series. Realistically speaking when DOES a story cross that invisible line to no longer being IN a particular series universe? I don't know, but I do suspect that it might be easy to cross that line without even realizing it in relation to a series like L&C if one isn't careful because there are unique expectations set up when there is an "&" put into any series title. Think MacMillan & Wife, Starsky & Hutch, Scarecrow & Mrs. King, and the list goes on and on. They don't have to be romantically linked but they do both have to BE there or there's a major problem looming on the horizon.

The even more unique problem with L&C is that the minute one has BOTH of them present in a story it's going to be extremely difficult justifying why they AREN'T romantically involved with each other, which leaves angst and I don't do angst well at all. So, we're back to those horns blaring.

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)

Interesting to read everyone's views:)

Kaethel wrote:
I'm curious about the meaning of "is/are with someone" because it makes a difference to how I look at the issue.
- is it a few dates, nothing serious or seriously and exclusively dating one person but not yet sexually involved or deep emotional and sexual involvement or casual sex?

The Dan/Mayson relationships cited above on the show never amounted to much. Only Lois and Lex's relationship would be what I would consider 'being with' someone. Still, Lois did not have sex with Lex, which is interesting. So a fic which included a deeper emotional & or sexual relationship between L or C and another person wouldn't seem consistent with the show. Unless it was about Lois back in her Claude days.

Now alt universe stories offer more leeway because we don't have as much backstory to work with and becuase alt-Clark and alt-Lois have not yet met. So alt-Clark very well may have had sex with Lana, who was his fiancee. And who knows what alt Lois was up to in the Congo? <g> But i'm not much interested in reading about it (even if it's alt-Lois and alt- Henderson<g>), although I'm sure that alt-Claude (or whoever) was both skillful and charming, and that Lana was very efficient and wearing something semi-risque <g>

Me personally, I'm a fan of Lois and Clark and so that's who I want to read about. Oh, and alt-Clark and alt-Lois.

c.

I don't know if anyone has been following the RPG going on in LiveJournal.com, but Lois already went out with a guy from another fandom and actually fell in love with him. Too bad he fell in love with a guy, and they broke up. Anyway, then Cat (yes, Cat ) set up Lois and Clark and all is right in the world, but I wasn't very bothered by the pairing I mentioned before. They were a cute couple.

Julie

I'm not sure I agree with that. What I meant with my previous post was that the show paved the way for such a possibility, and yes, I was particularly thinking of the relationship between Lois and Lex, which can't be qualified of anything but serious. I know they didn't have sex, and I do find that it tells us some interesting things about Lois's decision to marry him. But that's another issue.

My point was that the show opened up the possibility for the main characters to develop interest in other counterparts. Whether what we saw on the show amounted to something or not doesn't truly matter; no-one can claim they write *only* about things that they saw on the show. We use possibilities offered by the show and develop them because we find an idea particularly interesting. That's what fanfic is to me.

If Clark is the one to tell Lois his secret, it's different from what happened in the show. Yet it's not considered OOC. If Lois decides to go ahead and marry Lex, therefore share his bed as well, it's not in the show. But is it OOC? If Lois decides to give Dan a chance or if Clark decides to give Mayson a chance, even for a short while, it's not in the show. But again, is it OOC? Imho, it all depends on what motives you put behind it, what sort of situation arises that puts them together, and what the outcome is.

So am I! And what I look for in a fanfic is the challenge leading them to be together, which is why I don't mind them going through a relationship with someone else first, as to me it's one possible way to challenge their getting together.

Kaethel

Yes, exactly. An outside relationship that ultimately leads into them being together or even shows how they were together in the past tense is considerably different from an implication that they aren't supposed to be together EVER.

I might not have problems with a story being in context or in character where they're with someone else as a prelude to being together. Or even one where they were together and somehow got separated, by death or whatever. Just how the situation was handled, i.e. the angst quotient, would probably be the deciding factor on whether I could actually force myself to finish reading the story.

THAT, however, is a completely different animal from expecting me to swallow any situation where the other isn't even in the picture romantically, literally or figuratively. Implying that one or both are destined to be with someone else IS out of the context and character of the series. As far as I can tell that's the invisible line for me and a great many other FoLC that's so distinctive about L&C as a series.

Interesting discussion.

I'd have to say that in real life I don't believe in soul mates. I don't believe in true love and I think you should be very careful about what you tell the person sleeping next to you because it could come back to haunt you. (I'm a divorce lawyer. What did you expect? )

However, in the world of Lois and Clark - Lois is meant to be with Clark and Clark is meant to be with Lois. But I love a story that tears my heart out as I wonder whether or not it's going to happen. And to that extent, anything goes .

ML

It depends. I would generally read such a story as long as it wasn't a Mary Sue fic and it was well written.

I have more problems seeing Clark with someone else after he met Lois than I have with Lois seeing someone else, but only because Clark admited falling in love with Lois at first sight.

He knows he loves her, he knows how much and how deep this love is, and if he does know, being with someone else might mean betraying that love as well as the person he is with. On the other hand, it took Lois some time to realize her feelings for Clark and admiting them to herself. So seeing her with another man is far more believable, not to mention confortable, to me. I don't have problems seeing Clark with someone else as long as is either before he meets Lois or is just casual dating(specially in season 1).

If Clark decides to have a serious relationship with someone else, for any reason(Lois is married, dead, missing, doens't love him, ...), after all, I don't want him to be alone, I would have to believe that he loves this other person just as much as he loves/loved Lois(even if it is not the same kind of love) and he should tell this woman how he felt/fells about Lois. If he doesn't, it may seems that Clark is just using one to forget another or that Lois never meant as much to him in the first place.

The kind of love I believe Clark feels for Lois and Lois feels for him doens't die only because the person you love is no longer there, is not avaiable or doens't love you in return. And I can not accept that Clark would start a new relationship too soon, regardless the reason.

Clark is an unique man with an unique life, and he sees the world in an unique way. Trust would be a major issue to him and even after being with Lois and knowing it was possible for him to have a normal life, it would be dificult for him to let go and move on, finding a person he could share his life with, so I believe he wouldn't start a serious relationship only because he can or doesn't have Lois. (and this is just my opinion).

Every time I read a story about Clark being with someone else I ask these questions: Can Clark love someone other then Lois? Yes. Can he love someone else as much as loves Lois? I don't know. Does he loves this woman as much as he loves/loved Lois? If Lois shows up avaiable and loving him, what will he do? Will he stay in a relationship knowing he loves Lois more than the person he is with? Will he stay in a relationship only because he believes is the right thing to do? If he knew he could never love this person as much as he loves Lois, why did he start the relationship in the first place?

What about Lois? Can she be with someone else after loving Clark? Can she really love someone just as much?

Anyway, if it is well-writen and a believable story I will read.