This fic is set after Fly Hard and is for my wonderful twin, Jana, on her birthday. May all of your birthday wishes come true! Happy Birthday, Twinnie!
A big thanks to my awesome BRs, Annie, Saskia, and Shelley, without whom I wouldn’t even know what day it was.
You guys are great!
* * * * *
**~Part 1~**
Jack watched them bickering from over the top of the comic book he was reading. He was editing her spelling mistakes, while she was trying to keep him focused on the subject of how to go about investigating their story her way. It seemed that she had already made up her mind and wasn’t giving his idea the time of day. Those two had so much sexual chemistry that even a 16-year-old kid from the wrong side of town could see it.
Jack let out a little laugh as he went back to his comic book, but his mind didn’t stay there for long. Absentmindedly flipping the pages, his thoughts couldn’t help but drift back to the argument going on across the room. He obviously had it bad for her, and didn’t know how to admit it. She obviously found him attractive, but stubbornly refused to admit it.
It was frustrating for someone to watch them interact day after day and never get together, and Jack was sick of the frustration. These two needed to just get over themselves and go out on a date. And if they weren’t smart enough to figure that out, then he was just going to have to give them a little push. Or a big one, as the case may be.
Slowly, a plan started to formulate it Jack’s devious, puberty driven mind. They’d never know what hit them.
* * * * *
“Hey, Clark, you busy tonight?” Jack asked as he passed by Clark’s desk on his way to deliver some inter-office mail. He had a pretty good idea of how to go about putting his plan into place, but he was going to need a little help from Lois and Clark. They just didn’t know it yet.
Clark looked up from his computer and thought for a second. “I don’t think so. What have you got in mind?”
“Wanna catch a movie?”
“Sure. I think there’s a new sci-fi movie playing downtown.”
“Great, I’ll meet you there at seven.” Jack smiled. Clark was going to make this easier than he’d thought. Lois, however, would probably be a different story.
* * * * *
As Lois rounded the corner and she headed toward the theater, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d somehow been tricked into coming. Jack had insisted that she needed to be there for a story, but he’d been vague about the details. Every time she brought it up, he just skirted around the issue and told her to trust him. It was all very suspicious, but if it was going to get her a scoop, she was willing to feel a little foolish. Not that she wanted anyone else to know that.
Lois checked her watch. Jack had told her not to go inside until five after seven, and she was a little early. She paced back and forth in front of the kiosk as the minutes ticked by. What sort of big news story would break at a movie theater, anyway? It was probably one of Jack’s little friends with a press-stopping story about lunch money theft or something. Why on earth did she let him talk her into this?
Feeling a tap on her shoulder, Lois whipped around. “Well, it’s about time. Now what exac—oh, it’s you.” Expecting to see a kid about Jack’s age, she was surprised to find Clark standing in front of her. “What are you doing here?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing.”
“I’m here on a story tip from Jack. You?”
“I’m—” Clark stopped. Jack sent her here? Clark started to wonder why Jack hadn’t said anything to him until it dawned on him.
Jack was setting them up.
Clark pondered the absurdity of that thought. Jack thought he could just put the two of them in the same place at the same time, and… and what? What did he think they were going to do? Kiss? Profess their undying love for each other?
Clark knew Jack was naive, but this was over the top.
Besides, Clark didn’t need any help from a kid. He knew he was in love with Lois. Absolutely, with out a doubt, head over heels in love.
But things were more complicated than that. *He* was more complicated than that. And he knew that Lois didn’t return his feelings. She’d proven more than once that she wasn’t in love with him. She was in love with Superman. She was in love with a figment of his imagination. And nothing Jack said or did could change that.
Of course, Lois didn’t need to know that. She didn’t need to know that she was being pushed in a certain direction, and if Jack wanted to try, Clark wasn’t about to stand in the way.
His mouth still open from his mid-sentence stop, Clark closed it, took a breath, and opened it again. “I’m just catching a movie. By myself…. Unless, you wanted to sit together.”
“Well, sure, Clark, but Jack said that I shouldn’t go inside until…” Lois checked her watch for the hundredth time. “Now, actually.”
“Well then, shall we?” Clark asked with a smile.
Lois sighed, slightly annoyed at this whole wild goose chase. “I suppose so.”
Clark stepped up to the ticket window. “Two, please.”
“Clark, you don’t have to do that.” Lois said, matter-of-factly. “I’m perfectly capable of paying for myself.”
“I know.” Clark shrugged and smiled. “I just thought it would be nice.”
“Oh.” Lois stopped. What was she supposed to say to that? Clark was always a little too nice for his own good, but this was a little over the top. Something in his eyes told her that was up to something. What was this story, anyway? And why was Clark really here? Did he know something she didn’t? Lois didn’t like the uneasy feeling she got with that thought.
Lois shook her head abruptly, tossing the thought from her head. This was Clark! He was a simpleton from Farmtown who didn’t have a devious bone in his body. Getting a grip on her suspicious nature, Lois smiled at her partner. “Thanks, Clark. That’s nice of you.”
He smiled back, and a little voice in her head insisted that something was up. She pushed it out of her consciousness and followed him in through the front doors.
Despite the fact that it was Friday night, the multiplex was largely empty, and Lois and Clark strolled through the deserted lobby toward their screen entrance. As they passed by the concession stand, Clark had a thought.
“Popcorn?”
“Huh?”
Clark gestured toward the counter. “Would you like some popcorn?”
“Oh, sure. Thanks, Clark.” Now he was buying her popcorn? They were here on a story for heaven’s sakes! Weren’t they? Yes. Yes, they were. Or, at least she was. Clark didn’t seem to be too concerned with that fact.
“Uh, Clark? Shouldn’t we be investigating? There’s a story here somewhere.”
Clark was confused for a moment. What story was she—oh, yeah. She still thought she was here on some convoluted story that Jack made up. He smiled to himself. It wasn’t often that he was one step ahead of The Great Lois Lane.
“You know, Lois, I think if we just sit down and watch the movie, the story will come to us.” He smiled while she frowned, and then he turned to purchase a large popcorn and two sodas: Coke for him, cream soda for her. The pleasantly surprised look on her face at his remembering her favorite soda was not lost on him.
Clark led the way through the double doors, into the dark theater, and down the aisle to find a pair of seats. The previews were already underway, so Clark arranged the popcorn between them, smiled at Lois, and sat back to enjoy the movie.
It occurred to Clark that he’d never been to a movie with Lois before. They’d become friends during the past year that they’d worked together, but for some reason they’d never been to a movie together.
Clark’s palms began to get clammy, and he felt his heart beating just a tiny bit faster. Nerves? Now? There was nothing to get nervous about. It was just Lois. They were partners. Best friends, even. He wiped his hands on his jeans and took a few deep breaths to slow his pulse. He was just fine.
He was kidding himself. He was a wreck. Even with all of his strength and speed, he was powerless to control his reaction to sitting this close to her. He could feel the heat from her body, hear her breathing, smell her sweet perfume. He wanted to reach out and take her hand. He wanted to hold her small, delicate one in his strong, sturdy one, and he wanted to lace his fingers through hers until neither of them could tell whose fingers were whose.
But he couldn’t. She didn’t feel the same way about him. They were purely platonic friends, and they always would be. No matter how many clever little schemes Jack put them through.
Clark resigned himself to this thought pattern, and just as the opening credits began to roll, he reached into the bucket to find a few kernels of popcorn.
He froze.
His hand had hit the rough, buttery popcorn, but it had also hit something else. Something soft and smooth. Something small and delicate. Something that also froze at the contact with his skin. Looking down into the popcorn, his suspicions were confirmed. His hand was brushed up against hers.
Not knowing what else to do, he pulled his hand up and out of the bucket. His palms were sweaty, his heart was beating a mile a minute, and his thoughts were racing even faster.
Had she reached for the popcorn at the same time on purpose, or was it just a coincidence? Did she think that he had done it on purpose? Had she even noticed that they had touched? Did she care? What should he do next? Should he go in for the popcorn again? Or wait a while? Or just leave it entirely alone for the rest of the night?
Clark forced himself to take a deep breath—a super-deep breath—to calm down, and he began to reason with himself. First of all, she didn’t know what Jack had done—neither did he, exactly, for that matter. Second, she wasn’t getting nervous and panicky over a little touch, so why should he? After all, they’d touched hundreds of times before. They’d even *kissed* a couple of times!
But somehow, sitting in a dark movie theater was forcing him to think of things a little differently. He wished that she was thinking of things a little differently too.
Shaking that wishful thinking out of his mind, he looked down at the popcorn bucket before reaching in for a handful.
* * * * *
She’d felt it. It was a strange sort of tingle that ran from her fingers, up her arm, and into the very depth of her body.
It was a pleasant tingle, but one she’d never felt before. It gave her a warm feeling and forced her to smile. Her muscles tensed up, and her whole body froze in place. She didn’t know what to do or say. All she knew was that when she looked down at the popcorn bucket, she saw her hand next to his and she had an inexplicable urge to stretch out her fingers and lace them through his.
Why was she feeling this way? She’d touched him hundreds — thousands — of times before. Why should this time be any different? Was she different? Was he? Certainly not. They were the same two people they’d always been: Lane and Kent, the Greatest Reporting Team in the World. But if it wasn’t them, then what was so special about this night, this touch? Was it the theater? The movie? The evening? The timing?
She didn’t know. All she knew was that somehow, some way, this touch was different. She’d felt something special when his hand had grazed his. She didn’t know what it was, but she knew that she wanted to feel it again.
The only question left was… did he feel it too?
She didn’t know the answer to that either.
* * * * *
The credits rolled, and the movie patrons filed out of the theater. Lois and Clark looked at each other and smiled nervously through the awkward silence.
“Well, I’d guess we better go.” Clark motioned toward the door, not knowing what else to say or do.
“Yeah, I guess we’d better.” Lois answered softly, a distant trace of that tingle still left inside of her.
He stood up, and she followed his lead, both of them too lost in their own contemplation to think of anything to say to the other person.
The silence became more obvious, however, as they exited the warmth of the theater and exchanged it for the cold, wet pavement of the Metropolis streets.
Lois broke it first. “Did you want a ride home? I know you don’t live far, but…”
Somehow it didn’t seem right. He just couldn’t bring himself to ride in a car with her. Not when he was feeling so drawn to her. Not when his thoughts had been more than platonic for most of the evening. Not when he knew she didn’t return his feelings. Tonight, it was just too much to take. “No, thanks, that’s okay,” he answered. “You’re right, it’s not far and I, uh…” He tried desperately to think of an excuse. “I could use the exercise.”
She couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. “Well, okay then. I’ll see you Monday.”
“Goodnight, Lois.”
“Goodnight, Clark.”
He turned and walked away slowly in one direction, and she did the same in the other.
After a few steps, he turned to watch her. He could almost smell the sweetness of her hair as it swayed in the breeze, and his heart sank as he resigned himself to never being able to feel its softness under his fingers.
He loved her.
He loved her more than he’d loved anyone or anything before in his lifetime. And although he wanted to be with her, he knew he had to let her go. In his own mind, in his own thoughts, he had to release the possibility of their future together.
To keep pining away as he was, was just too painful.
He turned back around, and kept walking away from the theater, away from Lois, and away from thoughts of a life with her.
* * * * *
She took a few steps in the direction of her car as she reflected on the events of the night.
What had happened? What were these thoughts running through her head? Why was she suddenly having these feelings? Why was she picturing herself curled up, content in Clark’s arms? Why was she wishing that he had taken her hand when it had brushed his? Why was she so confused?
There were so many questions, and so few answers. All she knew for sure was how she felt, and that she’d never felt this way before. It was new and different and terribly exciting.
But it was also terribly scary. Clark was her best friend. Was there any hope of them ever being anything more than that? She didn’t know, but she sure wanted to find out.
Lois turned to watch Clark walk the last few steps around the corner and then disappear from her sight. The lack of answers was slightly unsettling, but short of running after him and making a complete fool out of herself, there was nothing she could do about it at the moment. She would just have to settle for anticipating the unknown.
Speaking of the unknown, hadn’t she been after a story? What story?! There was no story!
Lois seethed silently as she reached her Jeep. Jack was going to pay for this.
* * * * *
Jack watched as the two of them took second glances back at each other as they walked away. They’d gone in together, they’d come out together, and they didn’t look upset by the fact that he hadn’t been there to meet them.
He didn’t know what had gone on inside the theater, or what exactly was going through their heads, but if everything kept going according to his plan, Lois and Clark would be lovebirds faster than he could shoplift a Twix bar.
* * * * *
tbc...
