Archive of Our Own

The first thing she felt was her head absolutely throbbing. Lois tried to roll onto her back, but her body was too heavy.  

No, scratch that. Someone’s giant, heavy arm was draped o  ver her stomach and was too solid for her to move in her hungover state. Lois tried to wiggle onto her back, sighing with relief when he moved his arm and shuffled next to her. She turned to look at him, doing her best to smile.  

Clark smiled back at her, looking as uncertain as she felt.  

“So,” Lois said, flinching at the sound of her own voice. She remembered looking at Clark’s erection and being so certain she could take all of him in her mouth, but her throat felt practically bruised now. She'dprobably regret that for days.  

And the slight hangover headache wasn’t helping.  

“So,” Clark echoed, his own voice low and rough and sexier than ever.  

Lois couldn’t stop herself from looking down at him, clearly naked in her bed, his muscular chest and arms on show for her. She took in his fluffy, messy black hair, the way his green eyes were still cloudy with sleep, his perfect, red lips, still puffy from everything they had done only hours before...  

She sat up, holding the sheet close to her chest and turning away a little from Clark. Lois wasn’t going to do this. Last night might have been fun, but it was a mistake neither of them could afford to repeat. Not as colleagues, and especially not as friends.  

Especially especially when Clark was kind of her best friend and that wasn’t something she was about to risk for a little bit of sex. Even if it was the best sex she’d ever had. Not that she would ever tell him that.  

“That was a fun little one and done,” Lois said, hoping he would follow her lead.  

She looked down at Clark, looking down at her hands when he smirked lasciviously at her. He sat up and cracked his neck, climbing out of the bed and looking around for his clothes. Lois didn’t even bother looking away; if this was her last time seeing Clark naked, and it sure as hell would be, she was going to remember it all.  

She'd left scratch marks all over him. His back, his shoulders, his biceps. Lois wished she could take a picture and remember that forever. Lois committed him to memory as Clark walked away from the bed, biting her lip at just how good he looked from the back, all marked up by her.  

And his body, god. His ass was round and firm, his thighs strong and thick, and his massive cock, hanging between his legs...  

Lois tried not to pout as Clark found his boxers, tossed onto her vanity, and tugged them on. That's enough, she reprimanded herself.  

“Do you know where my pants are?” Clark asked, looking around with a confused frown.  

Lois scanned the room, seeing them on the floor next to her. Right, this is where I made him sit while I sucked his –  

“Here,” she said, picking them up and frowning when she felt something hard inside. She stuck her hand in the pocket and pulled out a tiny blue rock.  

“I thought it was cool,” Clark smiled, taking the pants as she tossed them to him.  

There was something sweet about Clark finding a cool rock and taking it home. Innocent. Which didn’t reconcile from a single thing that he’d done to her last night.  

Clark had proven that he was far from innocent when he’d laid her out on her kitchen counter and put his tongue inside her –  

“So, this doesn’t have to be a whole thing, right?” Lois said as nonchalantly as she could.  

Clark smirked at her as he pulled his shirt on. Lois hated that; she missed when he was shy and would fall over himself trying to talk to her. Now, he was so confident and brazen and flirted back with her and made her feel unsettled, and she could see how much he loved doing it. He had completely flipped their dynamic, and while it was fun to see Clark finally catch up to her, she didn’t like the feeling that he was overlapping her. She liked to be the one calling the shots.  

Or, she had thought that was her thing. Clark had called the shots last night, and that had been more than enjoyable for the both of them. Maybe for the first time, Lois had realised that she could submit to someone else calling the shots, and she’d love it.  

Or maybe it was just a Clark thing. Maybe the flipped dynamic worked during sex because there was no world where Clark would ever be the one telling her what to do in any other scenario.  

“Yeah,” Clark said, pulling his t shirt over his head. Lois could see her lipstick all over the collar. “It’s just a thing that happened.”  

“Right! Right,” Lois nodded, sitting forward. “Just two friends who got a little drunk and spent the night commiserating about their break ups.”  

“Right,” Clark agreed. “It was just sex.”  

“Exactly!” Lois felt herself falter as Clark tilted his head and looked at her. “Just casual sex. No big deal.”  

“Yeah, no big deal. Even if it was pretty great,” he said, his eyes boring into hers.  

She nodded, feeling her cheeks warm under this stare. Knowing that Clark felt the same in that regard was nice, at least. But she knew Clark wasn’t as...experienced as she was, and one out of two of his sexual partners being solid didn’t mean as much coming from someone who had her level of experience.  

“It was fine,” Lois shot back, not willing to give even a hint of last night being the best sex of her life. Not Clark.  

“Not a big deal,” Clark agreed as he headed to the door, a small smile on his lips. His perfect, beautiful red lips. “See you tomorrow.”  

“I’ll be the one writing the front page story,” she said lamely as he opened the door. Lois heard a noise from the Talon below and flinched; she must have slept half the day away. They hadn’t gone to sleep until after the sun had risen, she remembered that because they had heard the early shift come in downstairs and Clark had stuffed two fingers into her mouth and demanded she keep quiet and it was all Lois could do to stop herself from screaming in pleasure.  

It was as if Clark could read her mind. He smiled, winking at her before he walked out the door. She briefly worried about Clark looking like he was doing a walk of shame, scratch marks visible on his arms below his shirt sleeves, his hair looking like that, but he didn’t seem worried about it. Lois threw herself back down onto the pillows, letting herself remember all the details of last night with a smile on her face.  

They had gone out to Granville with Chloe and Jimmy and had a lot of alcohol. Lois had been upset since Ollie had come back to town two weeks ago, and Clark had been rigid and uptight most of the night until Chloe had pulled him aside and told him off. Then he’d drank half a bottle of whiskey and hugged Lois tightly, telling her that he hated to see her sad over a guy.  

Lois had asked if he was okay in the six months since Lana had left, and for the first time, gotten the full download on that relationship from Clark’s side.  

How miserable he’d been with her, but how he felt responsible for her, which Lois didn’t quite understand. How he had been more upset that Lex had moved in on Lana than he had been that Lana had moved on with his former best friend – that part had made sense to Lois. How Lana was the only woman he’d ever slept with, which shouldn’t have shocked Lois, but did, and how he was worried he’d never experience truly passionate, wild sex in his life, because the only sex he’d ever had had been unimpressive, rote and cold. How he had been worried that his inexperience would hold him back, and would he ever find someone who wanted him ever again, and if he did, would he be able to please her?  

Lois had laughed and said she’d doubted it and had taken that as a challenge. The idea that no woman would ever be attracted to Clark made her want to slap him; she had seen women fall over themselves at the sight of his face alone.  

She told him that, and she told him that she was one of them.  

Lois had been drunk and turned on and she’d always found Clark Kent sexy, with his soft, calm voice and huge hands and sad eyes. So, she’d dared him to kiss him so she could see for herself whether he was bad at it, fully prepared to experience a perfectly nice kiss and give him some arbitrary pointers. But then Clark had actually kissed her, and Lois had felt heat pool between her legs and whimpered when he’dpulled away. She'd begged him to kiss her again, and Clark had said that he couldn’t because he might not be able to control himself, and Lois had told him that he didn’t have to.  

They caught a taxi back to her place, because Lois couldn’t bear the thought of doing the things she wanted to do to Clark out of respect for his parents and everything they had done for her in the farm house, and had proceeded to have truly the filthiest, wildest night Lois had ever had with a man.  

Lois shook her head clear, getting out of bed and heading straight for the shower.  

She was going to wash Clark Kent and any part of him left behind right off her, and then she was going to pretend that this never happened.  

Lois gasped when she caught sight of a clear bite mark on her inner thigh as she climbed into the shower, moving to the mirror to see what else he’d done to her. Bruises littered her waist and her ass. There was another bite mark behind her right knee. Lois shook her head as she saw a bruise in the shape of Clark’s giant hand on her forearm, knowing that it was from when he had held her down the final time he had fucked her this morning, telling her she better be quiet because there were people downstairs, but daring her to scream anyways.  

She climbed into the tub and washed herself as thoroughly as she could, exfoliating every part of herself that wasn’t bruised or aching. Lois needed to get Clark off of her body and her mind once and for all. It didn’t matter that she’d had a little crush on him for years, but had never gone there out of respect for Chloe, even though those feelings were long dead and buried. It didn’t matter that she’d fantasised about Clark once or twice when she was alone, curious as to what he was like in bed. It didn’t matter that she felt a sea sick sort of sensation in her stomach that started the moment Clark walked out the door.  

It didn’t matter that their partnership, or worse, their friendship was at stake.  

It didn’t matter that she now knew he fucked like a feral, wild animal, and that it was the best sex of her life and she’d think about it every time she touched herself or every time another man would touch her ever again, holding anyone else to the standard Clark had set.  

It didn’t matter.  

It couldn’t. Lois wouldn’t let it.  

One and done, she chided herself.  

>>>  

Lois tapped away at her computer, but she knew she was just killing time until Clark got to work.  

Chloe had come over last night with Chinese food, laughing about how much fun she had had the night before and angling for any gossip on her time with Clark. Lois had mostly told the truth; that Clark had opened up about his break up with Lana while Lois had cried about Ollie being back in town and how complicated she felt about that break up, even if it was a year and a half ago. How Clark had eventually distracted her, making her laugh and helping her forget all about Ollie for a while.  

Maybe for good, but Lois didn’t say that out loud.  

Lois didn’t tell Chloe the part where Clark had looked her dead in the eyes and said I fucking warned Oliver not to hurt you, now look at what he did, either, or how he’d wiped her tears away gently, or how he’d kissed her for the first time under the fairy lights in the outdoor smoking area of the karaoke bar they were in, or how that kiss felt so familiar, like her body had been craving it all these years, like it was a drug of some sort as Clark was pressed against her. 

She wanted to tell Chloe so badly about how beautiful Clark looked when he was turned on, how he held onto her tighter and how his mouth looked when he moaned, or how he’d made a noise like an animal when she’d scratched him for the first time, then begged her to do it again and again. How he’d grabbed her by the throat as he fucked her from behind and demanded that she push through her oversensitivity and come for him, or just how talented he was with his mouth. How he screwed his eyes shut when was close, or how he groaned when he came, breathing her name. How every time Lois kissed him, he made that sweet, happy noise like he was surprised every single time she did it.  

Instead, she told Chloe how funny Clark was when he was drunk; how he’d practically fallen out of the taxi and almost taken her with him, how he’d made up a song to try to cheer her up, and how, even though he could barely walk in a straight line, he’d lifted her up with one arm like she weighed nothing, thrown her over his shoulder and walked across a giant puddle outside the bar so she wouldn’t ruin her shoes when they hailed a cab home. How impressed she was when he outdrank her in tequila shots, and how he knew all the stars in the night sky by name, pointing them out to her before he walked her up to her apartment.  

Those details of what happened that night between her and Clark. They were hers.  

The way Clark had kissed her. The way he had buried his head between her legs and told her he was going to crave the taste of her for the rest of his life. How even if he lived forever, he’d remember how she felt.  

The way he was somehow the biggest man she had ever been with, but he felt perfect inside her. The way he was rough with her in the exact way that she loved, moving so instinctually with her it was as if their bodies were made for each other.  

She jumped slightly when Clark smacked a large coffee down right in front of her, snapping her out of her reverie.  

“No doughnut?” Lois asked without thinking. As if Clark hadn’t give her enough.  

Clark raised an eyebrow at her before he tossed a doughnut onto her desk. “No thank you?” he shot back as she opened the paper bag.  

“Thanks,” she said through a mouthful.  

He rolled his eyes, but smiled at her as he sat at his own desk, tossing his jacket onto the back of his chair and taking a sip of his own coffee, not looking at her as he clicked through his emails.  

Clark was acting like nothing was different. Like he hadn’t spent half of his weekend touching every single inch of skin on her body, how he’d made her scream and cry out and moan his name for hours on end.  

Which was fine. Lois could follow his lead. It was her lead in the first place, anyway.  

It didn’t matter that her stomach felt unsettled and that she felt so itchy everywhere.  

“Hey, speaking of leads,” she said out loud, ignoring Clark’s confused look when she remembered that he wasn’t a mind reader. “I got a tip on that robbery across town on Thursday, take a look at the police report.”  

She tossed the file across to his desk, watching as he read the coroner’s notes. His hands were so big, she couldn’t help but stare at them and remember how good Clark was with them. How talented. Ridiculously talented. God like, even.  

Lois let her mind wander as his brow furrowed, remembering the way his brows did that when he gasped, closing his eyes, his mouth dropping open as he moaned, crying out her name as she rolled her hips –  

Stop, Lois chided herself, taking a big bite of the maple doughnut, relieved to be eating. It's just attraction, plain and simple. You are not a slave to your base instincts.  

She hoped.  

>>>  

Lois hadn’t slept in two days. Not since Clark was by her side.  

She tried to tell herself that it wasn’t him. It was the fact that he fucked her so hard for so long that she had the best sleep of her life, and nothing could compare since that night. She didn’t need a man by her side just to sleep.  

She just needed to come.  

Lois reached into her bedside table for her vibrator, flicking it on and pressing it to her clit over her underwear. She closed her eyes as she tried to relax, picturing strong, solid biceps, huge hands, the most perfect, broadest shoulders she had ever seen or felt, thick thighs and a pert, perfect ass...  

She whimpered as her memories of Clark flashed through her minds eye; his moans, his mouth. The way he did that soft little double sigh when he came, like he couldn’t believe it was happening every timeand it took his breath away. The way his body felt against hers, the way he was so strong and she felt so safe with him.  

She always felt safe with Clark.  

Lois came remembering how he had moaned her name as he came the very first time, how he’d grabbed her wrist so tightly and kissed her and thanked her before he’d finished coming, smiling at her brightly like it was his very first time.  

She missed him.  

She turned the vibrator off and tossed it onto the empty side of the bed, thinking about how empty the apartment felt. Like someone else should have been laying beside her, taking care of her, working her up and making her come.  

Lois was fucked.  

>>>  

“Can you proof this?” Lois asked, handing him a copy of her article.  

Clark nodded, finishing up whatever he was typing before reaching for her article and grabbing a red pen. Lois frowned when she realised she just interrupted his own work flow, something she snapped at him for doing to her on occasion.  

“Sorry, you can do it later,” she said, standing up and walking around her desk to grab it off of him.  

He didn’t say anything, just slightly turned his chair around to block her from him while he read and marked up her work.  

“Clark, it’s fine,” Lois said, leaning against the edge of his desk.  

He was silent as he turned back to her, but she caught the way he looked over at her, checking out her legs. Clark finally looked up at her, his eyes a little more intense than Lois would have liked for the bullpen.  

“Ten minutes, it’s nothing,” he said, a soft smile on his lips. “Why don’t you go stretch your legs?” Clark's eyes flicked to her thighs before he looked back at her article.  

Lois nodded, rolling her neck before she made her way up the stairs and out to the little coffee kiosk down the end of the block to get some fresh air.  

Clark had seemed so cool and unaffected by their night together that it was validating to see him actually look at her like that. Like Lois had been looking at him for the last couple of days. Like he was as affected as she was.  

She made her way back to the Planet, handing Clark a coffee with a bright smile.  

>>>  

Lois smacked the side of the copier, trying not to lose her mind.  

This was the third time it had jammed, and she was beyond feeling frustrated. Jeff had gone home for the day, and Jimmy was nowhere to be seen, despite having the magic touch with this thing. Lois tried to print it again, flinching when it beeped and spat out random blank pages at her.  

“Piece of shit,” Lois groaned, moving her hand to smack it again and nearly jumping out of her skin when someone grabbed her wrist to stop her.  

“You’re gonna break it,” Clark said, pulling her away from the copier and crouching down to open the panels and fix the paper jam it was now beeping about.  

She looked down at her wrist, already missing the warmth of his hand. Lois was silent as Clark fixed the copier, standing and pressing the print button, looking at her smugly as it printed for her.  

“I knew you were my favourite intern,” Lois teased.  

Clark raised his eyebrow as he leaned against the copier, watching her. Lois hated how good he looked in his suits, his sleeves always rolled up, his tie loosened and his top button always undone once people started leaving after five o’clock.  

“I’m not an intern,” he reminded her calmly.  

She shrugged, leaning past him to grab her freshly printed copies.  

“You print my copies, you bring me coffee, you bring me food –”  

“I try to keep you alive,” Clark corrected. “I do the same for Shelby.”  

Lois narrowed her eyes at that. “Oh, so I’m like your dog?”  

Clark didn’t say anything as his eyes dropped to her lips. Lois regretted saying it instantly; she wondered if he was thinking about the same thing she was; about how he had her bent over her bed while he moved behind her, his hand wrapped in her hair –  

He just smiled as he moved past her, not saying a word. Lois felt her whole body crackle with electricity at the feeling of his bare arm brushing against hers.  

>>>  

Lois went four whole days without cracking.  

Four whole days acting like everything was completely fine and normal, like she was totally unaffected by what had happened on Saturday night with Clark. Four whole days of wearing pants so the bite mark behind her knee wasn’t visible. Four whole days of trying to ignore the itch under her skin. But by Friday, her bruises were starting to fade, and the bite mark on her inner thigh had turned from a deep purple to a soft red, soon to be gone forever.  

She was glad she had taken a picture of it, just for something to remember, the day it was darkest. Lois never wanted to forget how good it had felt when Clark had been pressing his fingers inside her, suckling at her clit, forcing her to orgasm when she was so sure she was tapped out by lowering his head and biting her thigh so hard she cried and saw stars.  

But by Friday, her body was beginning to forget him. Lois knew the marks were only temporary, but watching them fade and disappear, Lois realised that she didn’t want to forget.  

It wasn’t about Clark, Lois convinced herself. It was about sex.  

It wasn’t about how nothing in her life had felt right without Clark inside of her. It wasn’t about the crush she’d had on him since she’d met him.  

It wasn’t about how his body had just known her, and how she’d been craving him like a drug all week.  

She probably just needed to get him out of her system. She just hadn’t had much action in the last two years, that while sex was Oliver was amazing and Grant was fun while that had lasted, they were both a while ago, and Clark was just the most recent person to get under her skin. And she could easily change that.  

She planned to join the Planet staff for their usual Friday night drink at the Ace of Clubs, let her hair down and find someone to have a dance and a kiss with, maybe even go home with, but she hadn’t expected Clark to tag along. He only really came out for special occasions like someone he liked’s birthday, and even then only if he wasn’t busy.  

Lois wasn’t going to let Clark cramp her style, though. She shook her hair out of her clip and unbuttoned her blouse a little, letting her black lace camisole peak through and hopefully send the message that she was looking for some fun. She'd finally wore a skirt to work, the one with the slit at the back that was just a little too high for a Monday, but perfect for a Friday night.  

“Good work Lane,” Ron Troupe said, coming up next to her at the bar. “That story on the robbery in Suicide Slums was really something.”  

“Thanks,” Lois smiled, flagging the bartender down for two whiskey and cokes. “Got lucky with that one.”  

“Nah, I think that was all you,” Ron said. “Kent nailed you, alright.”  

Lois nearly felt the room turn black as she panicked. “Pardon?”  

“He said you were like a pitbull with a pant leg,” Ron clarified.  

Lois calmed down, realising that he hadn’t meant that Clark actually nailed her. That was the last thing she needed going around the office.  

The bartender brought them their drinks. Ron handed over a twenty dollar bill as Lois handed him his drink, smiling.  

“It’s a good quality, that tenacity,” Ron said, holding his drink out to her.  

“In a reporter?”  

“And a woman,” he winked as she tapped her glass to his.  

Lois smiled as she took a sip, feeling a zip of attention wash over her. She looked to her right, knowing exactly who was watching her. She chewed on her straw as she looked over at him quickly, letting her eyes pass over the rest of the group so it didn’t look like she was checking on him.  

Clark wasn’t subtle. It was one of the things she liked about him; every thought he had was written all over his face. He had once joked that Lois was a mind reader, but Lois had told him the truth; his face was too honest, and he wasn’t hard to read.  

That was another thing about Clark. For someone with a lot of secrets, she knew he wasn’t keeping anything from her that could hurt her.  

Lois turned away and smiled at the Finance team who were hanging out by the end of the bar, joining their conversation complaining about Tess Mercer and her restrictive budget cuts on travel. Lois had a lot to say about Miss Mercer.  

>>>  

Lois hated the watered down tequilas shots city bars served. Small town bars got people drunk way quicker. Lois was eight shots in and barely felt a thing except for a sick feeling in her stomach that definitely wasn’t the alcohol.  

She felt too wired and alert for the sweaty, crowded dancefloor. Like her skin was on fire with anxiety and stress and nothing could soothe her. Well, one thing might, but Lois had to learn how to go without.  

Lois made her way to the balcony, relieved to see that nobody was out there. She made her way to the left, out of view of the dancefloor, dumping her empty glass and unbuttoning her work shirt and letting the cool night air wash over her, trying to calm herself down.  

Lois hadn’t heard footsteps behind her, but she knew who was pressing against her before she saw his forearms rest outside of hers on the balustrade. She'd lived with him for long enough in the past to know that for such a big man, Clark was incredibly light footed when he wanted to be.  

She sighed as Clark caged her in from behind, making her feel a different type of hot.  

“You’ve been jumpy all week,” Clark murmured into her ear.  

“No I haven’t,” Lois lied.  

Clark moved his hand away from her on the balcony. Lois closed her eyes as he rested his hand over her stomach for a moment before he moved to her thigh, gathering the material of her skirt slowly, pulling it up.  

He was going slow, giving her time to tell him to stop, or to leave her alone.  

Lois didn’t say a word.  

Clark made a soft noise when he felt the bare skin of her thigh, letting his hand move closer to her centre. Lois tried to breathe calmly as Clark’s fingers pulled her underwear aside, stroking her clit surely.  

She looked around, hoping that they weren’t visible to anyone. Clark stopped and followed her lead before he moved his head to kiss her neck.  

“Nobody’s watching,” he said, his lips so warm on her skin.  

“You’re sure, are you? You checked all of Metropolis?” Lois snarked, letting her eyes close as she tried not to slump against him.  

“Yes,” Clark said, again, so cocky. Lois had no idea what it was about him that was so believable, but she trusted him. Even if this newfound confidence was a little annoying, it was pretty sexy.  

She always trusted him.  

Lois forgot where they were as Clark pressed two fingers inside her. She gasped softly as her entire body felt like it came alive, the seasick feeling and the itch under her skin evaporating.  

Clark pressed the palm of his hand against her clit, rubbing his hand in circles, getting her off as Lois held onto his wrist. She whimpered softly as he worked her up, hoping that no one could see them, but not trusting herself not to draw a crowd if she made any noise. The club was loud, but Lois had no idea if they were even alone up here anymore. She was sure if someone came bursting through the doors, she wouldn’t be able to hear it past Clark’s breathing in her ear.  

She tensed against him as her body prepared to come, biting her lip at the way his erection felt against her ass. Clark moved a little rougher, maybe recognising the signs after their night together last weekend –  

Clark's other hand clamped around her mouth right as she came, his low shhh in her ear making her body jolt and spasm even harder than she expected. He worked her down slowly, turning his head away from her and stepping away, fixing her skirt and moving to stand beside her. Lois felt cold as the door to the club opened, people drifting outside into the courtyard behind them, laughing loudly.  

Lois looked at Clark, who just winked at her before he turned and went back inside.  

What the fuck was that? Lois wondered as she watched him walk back to their colleagues, smiling at them like he hadn’t just gotten her off on a rooftop bar in the centre of Metropolis.  

>>>  

She stood on the porch, debating her opening line.  

What the fuck is wrong with you might be too aggressive to start with.  

Why did you walk away sounded too needy, and Lois didn’t want to open that can of worms. 

Your father didn’t raise you like this was the one she really wanted to go with to pack a punch, but something told her that Jonathan Kent absolutely would have pulled a move like that on a woman in his hey day.  

Why didn’t you kiss me sounded so incredibly lame. She would have rather cut off a finger than ask him that.  

Lois jumped as Clark opened the door, handing her a cup of coffee.  

“You’ve been standing out there so long I thought you’d chickened out completely,” he said with a wry smile.  

She narrowed her eyes and took the coffee, walking inside. She loved and hated how well he knew her.  

“What happened to casual?” fell out of her mouth instead.  

Clark, for his part, looked thoughtful as he sat at the kitchen counter. Lois sat across from him, waiting.  

“That was casual,” he said, not even pretending to not know what she was talking about. At least he wasn’t making her work for it.  

I must seem upset if he’s not joking about it. 

“No,” Lois said, her voice raising a little. “We agreed on a one and done. That wasn’t one and done. That was one and a half and not done.”  

Clark looked amused. “You wanna settle up?”  

He was teasing her. He was flirting. It made her smile, which made look Clark extremely pleased. She schooled her face into something less entertained and shook her head.  

“No,” Lois said, a little less sure. “We can’t just be doing that when we’re bored.”  

“You think I was bored?” Clark asked, his eyebrow raised.  

“Weren’t you?”  

“No.”  

“Then why’d you follow me outside?” Lois asked.  

“You seemed stressed,” Clark explained. “I thought – I figured you just needed to relax.”  

Somehow, that felt like the wrong answer.  

Like he’d done her a favour. Like he hadn’t been sitting across from her all week, remembering the way she moved or tasted or felt, like Lois had been with Clark. He didn't want her. He just wanted her to stop being so twitchy and annoying.  

The worst part was, he wasn’t completely wrong. Lois was wired because everything felt wrong and boring and off kilter since their night together. It felt wrong to stand across from him and not drop to her knees at his feet and beg him to fuck her until the constant white noise in her brain was finally quiet again. It took her actual energy to not climb over their desks, hike up her skirt and sit in his lap and ride him until the whole bullpen reported them to HR.  

“Well, that’s not what we agreed on,” Lois shot back, trying not to show how pissed off she was.  

“We could change that,” Clark said, watching her curiously.  

She shook her head without thinking about it. Clark Kent already had her head spinning, and they’d only had sex once. Well, over a dozen times, but one night. How was that even possible, she wondered briefly as she came back to the present.  

“No,” Lois shook her head. “This is – listen, Smallville, this friendship, it means a lot to me,” she said, exposing herself a little, because that seemed to be the only way Clark would get it. “We can’t make this about sex and then it turns weird and I lose my friend. You mean more to me than that. Don't I mean more than that to you?”  

Clark's face fell, and for a moment Lois regretted being so vulnerable, but then Clark said, “Of course you do,” in a voice so soft and honest it made her stomach ache a little.  

“So it’s settled,” Lois smiled, standing up. “No more physical contact, unless you’re handing me baked goods.”  

“Only baked goods?”  

“Fine, and coffee,” Lois amended.  

“What about if you’re about to trip over on the sidewalk?” Clark teased.  

Lois rolled her eyes, knowing he’d already caught her one too many times from falling over in her heels. “Let me fall.”  

Clark shrugged nonchalantly as he reached down to pet Shelby who had found his way into the kitchen. “Fine,” he said a little dismissively.  

Lois smiled as she made her way back to her car. As if he would actually let her fall.  

>>>  

Dinner at my place tonight? 8pm?  

Lois stared at the text, then back at her story. She chewed on her pen as she glanced at Clark, trying not to smile at the way he was scribbling all over his copy. Lois caught herself, wiping the smile off her face and replying to the message.  

Make it 9 she texted back, dropping her phone face down on her desk.  

She’d finished her article nearly twenty minutes ago. Lois was hanging around for Randall’s edits so she could make the front page tomorrow, reluctant to let the final version go to print without her seal of approval. She could have let him just make the changes and headed home, but Clark was still at work, and Lois didn’t want to leave him all on his own in the bullpen. She'd gotten him this job, the least she could do was make sure he excelled and kept it.  

Not that she needed to. Clark was doing just fine on his own. Lois might even be holding him back.  

And now she’d have to hang around even later than she’d planned because she didn’t want to seem too eager for her dinner date.  

Lois jumped as her desk phone rang. She spat out what was left of her pen and answered, already refreshing her email.  

“Good to go,” Randall said before he hung up on her.  

Lois smiled, bouncing in her seat a little and waiting for Clark to pay attention to her. He didn’t even look up as he spoke.  

“Why do you always act like this when you get the front page?” Clark asked as he wrote something down.  

“Because it’s fun,” Lois beamed.  

Clark finally looked up at her, a soft smile on his face. Lois loved that smile – that smile that meant you’re kind of annoying me, but I’ve come to love it that was reserved just for her.  

“Do you need any help?” she offered, hoping to kill some time.  

Clark handed her the copy he had just proofed, getting started on his next one. Lois grabbed her purple pen since she and Clark had a system for their dual peer reviews, and got to leaving Harry feedback on his articles that was more direct that Clark’s.  

He was too gentle. All the marks he had left on her had disappeared.  

>>>  

Lois didn’t give herself any time to brace herself before she knocked. She had checked herself in the bathroom before she’d left the Planet, and she looked great. Her skirt was tight, her heels were high, her hair was perfectly curled, and she’d unbuttoned her blouse, just enough so that the top of her black lace bra would be visible if she moved the right way. 

Not that anyone was getting down her blouse tonight. She just wanted to remind him what he was missing.  

Oliver answered the door with a smile, his eyes catching on her chest appreciatively before he moved to the side and let her in.  

“So this is the new place,” Lois said, giving Oliver her coat and bag.  

“Yeah, well. I figured I should have a real place to live instead of sleeping in a closet in the back of my office,” Oliver joked.  

“So you’re staying in Metropolis?” Lois asked.  

Oliver nodded, looking at her intently. “I think this is where I’m supposed to be. At least for a while.”  

Lois didn’t say anything as she moved into the living room, looking around. She inspected the open area, appreciating the art he had hanging. A triptych of bold colours on the largest wall opposite the bay windows that was impossible to miss.  

“I like this one,” she said, moving towards the blue and green abstract painting on the left that looked like the two colours were fighting. “This one’s pretty,” she said, staring at the blue, green and purple panel in the middle, the blue and green looking like they were still fighting for prominence, while the purple bloomed in the centre.  

“This one’s my favourite,” Lois decided, staring up at the blue, red and yellow painting on the right, the colours bleeding into each other like a sunset. It reminded her of all her days out living on the farm with the Kents, or even more specifically, like the flannels Clark and Mr Kent used to wear.  

When was the last time Clark wore a flannel? She missed those flannels.  

“I thought it would brighten the place up a bit, but it’s just kind of obnoxious,” Oliver said from behind her.  

“Maybe if you don’t appreciate what it's trying to say.”  

Oliver shrugged his shoulders, knocking her elbow with his and leading her to the dinner table, where two plates of pasta were waiting for them.  

“Wow,” Lois said, already knowing Oliver would have cooked it himself. He always said cooking his own food was the most normal thing he could still do for himself.  

“Thanks for coming,” he said, holding out her chair for her. “I figured we should catch up after, well.”  

“After you disappeared for a year and a half, reappearing on your deathbed full of tropical poison and then ghosted me when you woke up the next morning?” Lois supplied, immediately reaching for the wine.  

Oliver grimaced. “Pretty much.”  

“Well, you invited me here,” Lois said, pouring half the bottle into her glass and not feeling particularly generous. “You start.”  

He raised his eyebrows as Lois reached for her fork, mixing her pasta. It smelled delicious.  

“Okay, well, I guess I wanted to apologise to you for leaving the way I did last year,” Oliver said.  

Lois raised an eyebrow as she chewed, her stomach roiling.  

“I don’t regret leaving, because I had to do those things,” Oliver said. “But I wish I had been more honest with you about why I left. I wish I had let you in more.”  

She swallowed, looking into her wine glass. “Why didn’t you?”  

“I was scared,” he answered quietly. “I was worried that you wouldn’t be able to handle it, or you’d end up hurt. Both of which happened when you did find out, mind you.”  

Lois bristled at that. “So I proved your worst fears right?”  

“No,” Oliver said, reaching across the table to take her hand. “It was a self-fulfilling prophecy. I didn’t let you in because I was scared, and you couldn’t trust me because I didn’t let you in. Lois, I don’t wanna live like that anymore. I don’t wanna be like – I wanna be someone you can trust.”  

“Ollie, I do trust you,” she said, leaning into his touch just a little. “I just – things are different now.”  

She was different. Lois had a real career as a reporter for the most respected newspaper in the world. She finally had a good relationship with her father and sister. She had a home, she had Chloe, she had Clark –  

Lois had Clark. She'd kind of always had Clark, but she couldn’t deny that she’d felt different since they’d slept together. Like her DNA had been altered the moment he was inside her for the first time.  

She looked down at her plate when she realised with a start that she might not have room for Oliver when she had Clark by her side.  

Did Lois need Oliver when everything in her life was so...good?  

Oliver had secrets. He broke her heart and left her behind. Oliver had a purpose so much bigger than her, and any moment, he could cut and run and never come back.  

“I’m different now, too,” Oliver said, taking her hand properly. “And so are you, Lois. I can see it.”  

Lois looked into his eyes, but she saw it. Oliver might have grown up and taken responsibility for his feelings, but she could see it in his eyes; he hadn’t changed.  

He was still lonely, still looking for his purpose. He still needed to be needed.  

But Lois wasn’t sure she needed Oliver anymore. She wasn’t sure she needed to be needed by anybody.  

Lois pulled her hand away, taking a large sip of wine as she tried to clear her head. Why did Oliver need her?  

“I just don’t want to lose you,” Oliver said as he reached for his own glass.  

“You won’t,” Lois promised. For all the heartache between the two of them, she’d never turn her back on her friend. “I’m here, aren’t I?”  

>>>  

Lois laughed as she finished the last of her wine, grabbing Oliver’s arm as he shook his head.  

“No, because they sound the same,” Oliver defended. “But asking a man for a light in Arabic translates to something very different if he thinks you’re speaking Persian.”  

She couldn’t contain her laugh, doing her best not to spill red wine on his very expensive brand new couch.  

“Oh god, and you probably did that thing where you had the lost puppy eyes,” Lois said.  

“What thing?”  

Lois did her best impression of a wounded, desperate, horny animal.  

Oliver grimaced, causing Lois to laugh louder. “Oh god,” he echoed.  

She threw her head back, trying to calm herself down and frowning when she saw the clock. Lois straightened up and gasped, jumping up off the couch.  

“Shit, it’s late,” she said, reaching for the shoes she’d kicked off nearly three hours ago.  

“You can crash here if you want,” Oliver offered. Lois looked at him sceptically. “No funny business,” he promised. “Just crash in the spare room. Or I can have my driver take you back to Smallville, because you definitely cannot drive.”  

She flinched at the idea of sitting in a car for an hour and a half, especially with the sick feeling still sitting at the bottom of her stomach. At least if she stayed here, she could get a decent sleep and make it to the office without being late in the morning.  

“That’d be great, thank you,” Lois accepted.  

Oliver stood, leading her to the guest bedroom. “You’ve got your own bathroom and toiletries, guest pyjamas are in the dresser, and I'll have breakfast ready for you at 8.”  

“Thank you –”  

Oliver cut her off with a kiss. If Lois was being honest with herself, she should have expected it. She had thought about kissing Oliver since he’d gotten back to town. Her curiosity about their former relationship was why she had come over tonight, even when she’d really wanted to be somewhere else.  

Lois kissed him back. She couldn’t help it; Oliver was an amazing kisser, and Lois was only human. And she was craving – something.  

And she had missed him. He was sweet and kind and fun and she had really, really loved him not all that long ago. Maybe a part of her loved him still.  

Oliver's hands rested on her hips, moving down slightly.  

The memory of someone elses kiss, someone elses hands on her flashed through her mind. Lois put her hand on Oliver’s chest and gently pushed him away, doing her best to ignore how sad and rejected helooked.  

“Sorry,” he said lowly.  

Lois shook her head – he didn’t need to apologise. She knew that they had unfinished business, or she wouldn’t have completely spiralled when he’d come back to Metropolis. They just had to find a better way through it than that.  

“No, it’s fine. I’ll see you in the morning,” she said, making her way into the bedroom and shutting the door behind her.  

Fuck, Lois chanted in her head as she went straight for the shower. Fuck, fuck fuck. Lois just kept making mistake after mistake.  

>>>

Clark frowned as he looked her over.  

“Isn’t that what you wore yesterday?”  

“No,” Lois lied as she sat at her desk.  

Clark sat forward at his desk, looking her up and down.  

“I wore pink yesterday,” she defended, pointing to her shirt. “This is navy.”  

“That’s a pyjama shirt,” Clark said.  

"You know what, Smallville, considering the way you dress, it’s brave of you to talk about my clothes,” Lois snarked.  

“Did you – what did you get up to last night?”  

Lois sighed, rubbing her temples. Clark wouldn’t let this go. “I had dinner with Ollie last night, and I crashed at his place.”  

Clark's face dropped. It would have been funny if Lois wasn’t so desperate for it to mean something. “Oh. I didn’t realise you two were having sleepovers again.”  

“We're not,” she said firmly, starting to feel annoyed about having to justify herself. Lois could tell Clark was waiting for her to expand on that, but she didn’t want to. She didn’t have do. She didn’t owe Clark anything like that.  

“So nothing happened between you two?” he asked, clearly not ready to let it go.  

Lois hesitated, and it was enough for Clark’s face to cloud over again. One and done, Lois reminded herself. She and Clark were friends, and they weren’t ever going to be more. She'd known that for as long as she knew Clark.  

But she couldn’t shake the feeling that Clark was unhappy with her spending the night with Oliver, even if they’d been separated by a dozen walls and he was gone by the time she woke up that morning.  

She refused to think it meant what she wanted it to mean.  

>>>  

“You’re a lifesaver,” Lois said, taking a plate from Chloe.  

“I’ve hardly seen you lately, I felt like I owed you,” Chloe said.  

“Chlo, as much as I’ve loved sharing a bedroom with you for the last two years, you moving into Jimmy’s apartment hasn’t sucked,” Lois said.  

Chloe rolled her eyes. “I know, I should have moved out earlier.”  

“No,” Lois said quickly. “I loved it while it lasted. It was like having a sister.”  

Chloe snorted as she knocked her elbow, but she didn’t reprimand her for talking shit about Lucy.  

“Me too,” Chloe smiled. “So, tell me everything. What’s new?”  

Lois filled Chloe in on work; the stories she was working on, how Jimmy was doing, how Clark was going at the Planet. She held out for almost two hours before she caved.  

“I had dinner with Ollie a couple of days ago.”  

Chloe put her glass down, moving to face her head on and give Lois her full attention. “You what?”  

“Yeah,” she said. “It was just as friends, though. We kind of talked about the break up a little bit.”  

“And how was that?”  

“Fine, until he kissed me.”  

Chloe gasped. “He kissed you?”  

“Yeah.”  

“Did you kiss him back?”  

“A little. But I stopped it,” Lois said. “It didn’t feel right,” she muttered, thinking about the sick feeling in her stomach and how it only ever really seemed to go away when she was sitting at her desk in the bullpen.  

“How come?”  

Lois tried to choose her words carefully, because she wasn’t about to say that she was haunted by the memory of another man’s kiss. A man who was their friend, who Chloe had spent most of her teen years in love with, who Lois had been attracted to from afar since they had met.  

A man Lois secretly hadn’t been able to stop thinking about.  

“Because I need to move on,” Lois settled on.  

It was the truth. She needed to move on from her lingering heartbreak from her break up with Oliver, and she needed to move on from her crush on Clark.  

Chloe leaned in to hug her from the side, resting their heads together.  

>>>  

Lois sighed as she looked at the little gift bag on her dresser.  

Clark hadn’t said anything about his birthday this year. Not that he ever really did, and maybe twenty-two wasn’t a hugely exciting birthday, but Lois wasn’t going to let it pass without any celebration.  

She and Chloe usually took Clark out to dinner, trying to make the day somewhat special since Mrs Kent had moved to Washington, but Clark had cancelled on dinner the night before, then Chloe had called and said something had come up for her as well.  

And then Clark hadn’t shown up at work today.  

He'd texted her and told her he was off on assignment, but didn’t respond when she asked if he needed backup. As much as Lois hated to admit it, she’d gotten used to working with Clark. Even just working in silence while he was across from her felt normal. Lois couldn’t believe there was ever a time where Clark wasn’t across from her.  

It was too boring and quiet without him in the bullpen.  

Lois took the small wrapped gift out of the bag and stuffed it into her handbag, making her way down to her car and driving out to the farm. She parked by the back door, smiling as Shelby ran out to greet her.  

“Hey, bud,” she smiled, giving him a good head scratch.  

The house was dark. Lois used the key that she never gave back when she moved out three years ago to let herself in, frowning when she saw Shelby’s full bowl of food. She refreshed his water and put Clark’s gift on the kitchen counter, jumping when she turned around and saw a figure staring at her from the stairs.  

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Lois breathed as Clark walked into the kitchen, trying to calm down the panic coursing through her body.  

He looked adorable; he had clearly just woken up, his hair fluffy and sticking out every which way. He was wearing a ratty pair of flannel pyjama pants and a white t shirt with a hole under the armpit.  

He looked so sexy, and it wasn’t helping to quell the adrenaline running through her nervous system at all.  

“Sorry, I just heard someone let themselves in. I should have known it was just you,” Clark teased lazily, walking to the counter and picking up her gift.  

“Have you been asleep all day?” Lois asked.  

He shrugged, and Lois felt bad. Maybe he’d been up all night and finally gotten to sleep and then she’d woken him up. Or maybe he hadn’t been feeling well and lied about it so she didn’t worry about him. It didn’t matter. He wasn’t telling her to leave, and she knew Clark had no problem doing that.  

“Well, happy birthday, Smallville,” Lois smiled.  

Clark's eyes were still a little cloudy with sleep as he smiled back, hooking his finger into the wrapping paper and tearing it open politely. Lois waited nervously as he turned it over, looking at the photo framed inside.  

Lois had found the roll of film a few months ago. She'd technically found it in the old camera she had dropped and broken, forgetting there was even a roll inside, and gotten it developed, shocked to find photos from her first couple of months in Smallville.  

Chloe and her Uncle Gabe, home safe and sound after being in witness protection. A photo of Clark rolling his eyes in his football uniform. A photo of Chloe and Lana smiling brightly at the Talon, textbooks open in front of them and cups of coffee littered all around.  

But the best one Lois had taken was a photo of Clark with Mr Kent, sitting on the porch swing, cups of coffee in their hands and Shelby by their feet. Lois had snapped a photo without them knowing, thinking about how nice it must be to have a father that actually wanted to spend time with their kid.  

She knew the second she saw it that she needed to frame it and give it to Clark, and kept it in her back pocket for his birthday.  

Lois had sent a copy to Mrs Kent months ago.  

“When was this?” Clark asked in a soft voice.  

“The day your parents got home from Metropolis after you had amnesia,” Lois explained. “The second time.” She couldn’t believe she had to clarify that.  

Clark looked a little embarrassed. “Thank you, this is great.”  

Lois smiled as Clark stared at the photo, not ready for the intensity in his eyes when he looked up at her finally.  

“You’re really hard to buy for,” Lois joked, trying to diffuse whatever was going on in his head. Maybe a photo of his dad wasn’t the right move. Maybe it was still too fresh and she upset him.  

But Clark huffed out a laugh, putting the frame on the counter and smiling at it. “Well, might be hard to top this one.”  

Lois nodded; she knew what he meant, and she was glad that he seemed happy with it. Before she could stop herself, she moved into his space, stepping onto her toes to give him a comforting kiss on the cheek –  

Clark was kissing her. Lois didn’t think twice as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, her whole body feeling like she was on fire. He moved closer, lifting her up by her hips and tossing her up roughly onto the counter. She spread her legs, pulling Clark close to her as she kissed him desperately.  

Lois hated how much she had missed him, and she hated how right it felt to have Clark pressed up against her. He was so warm and hard and perfect and right now, he was hers.  

She moaned softly as she slipped her hands up underneath his t shirt; he felt so firm. She pulled it up, breaking away from him only to get rid of his shirt completely.  

Clark’s eyes were heavy as he looked at her before he kissed her again, his hand loosely wrapped around her neck as his tongue moved with hers.  

He was overwhelming.  

Lois didn’t even notice that he’d picked her up and carried her to the other room until she was falling backwards, laying on the couch cushions.  

Clark shoved his pants and boxers down as Lois wiggled out of her jeans, laughing as Clark climbed over her, barely giving her a chance to catch her breath before he was kissing her again. She moaned as he pulled her underwear to the side, swiping his fingers through her folds and groaning when he felt how wet she was.  

Lois was caught off guard by how fast Clark moved, settling between her legs and fucking inside her so quickly she almost couldn’t keep up. She moaned with relief as his hips rested flush against hers for a long moment as Clark took a deep breath.  

“This wasn’t supposed to happen again,” Lois murmured.  

Clark smirked before he lowered her head to kiss her neck. She closed her eyes, raising her hips, needing more. 

“Oh, no,” he whispered right into her ear, mocking her.  

God, he pissed her off. Lois moved to kiss him, bucking her hips to get him to move.  

And he moved.  

It was frantic and desperate and fast and messy and perfect. Lois felt like her mind was clear for the first time in weeks now that Clark was inside her again. Like the strain on her body was finally relieved, the stress finally gone. Lois touched him everywhere, desperate to commit his body to memory in case she never got this opportunity again. Clark seemed to be doing the same, if the way he was touching and watching her desperately was any indication.  

Lois cried out as her orgasm hit her out of nowhere, moaning as Clark buried his head into her neck and ground his hips against hers as he came, moaning her name.  

She closed her eyes as her body relaxed underneath Clark’s, trying to make sense of what just happened.  

>>>  

“What if we redefined ‘casual’?”  

Lois watched Clark carefully as she pulled her underwear up her legs, trying not to feel too self conscious at the way he was staring at her, clearly checking her out.  

“Redefined how?” she asked.  

Clark shrugged, looking much too comfortable sprawled out on the couch, naked and completely unbothered by it. Lois had no idea where this current confidence was coming from, but she’d never seen him so completely relaxed as he looked up at her.  

Or, mostly relaxed.  

Lois averted her eyes as she moved to grab her shirt next to the armchair, waiting for him to elaborate.  

“What if we did this sometimes?” Clark asked.  

She raised her eyebrow at him as she shrugged her tank top over her head.  

“This?”  

“Sex,” Clark clarified.  

Somehow, hearing him say it made her want to blush, as if he hadn’t just made her scream his name while he made her come four times in a row without a break and made her cry from overstimulation.  

“Why?” Lois asked, reaching for her jeans.  

Clark reached out and grabbed her wrist, his hand looking absolutely massive around her arm.  

“Did you have fun?” he asked.  

“Yes,” Lois said, feeling her cheeks grow a little hot.  

“Me, too,” Clark said. “I had a lot of fun that first night, too. We could keep having fun. It doesn’t need to be a whole thing.”  

She must have been silent for too long, because Clark pulled her down to sit with him on the couch.  

Her mind was racing with all the reasons why this was a terrible idea. It put their friendship at risk, not to mention their working relationship. Sex opened up the possibility of being jealous of each other, possession, all sorts of complicated feelings.  

Lois shook her head as she looked at Clark. “This is such a terrible idea.”  

He shifted closer, slowly, moving his hand to her face. Lois felt exposed as she looked up at him, already knowing that she needed absolutely zero convincing. She wanted to do this again, with Clark, a lot. All the time, even.  

“It’s a great idea,” Clark whispered before he kissed her.  

It was a different kind of kiss; desperate, pleading. Like Clark was begging her to want this as much as he did.  

Lois blinked when she realised that – he wanted her. He was begging for her. He wanted this, with her. Something he couldn’t get from a woman he’d been in love with for over a decade or anyone else he’dmet.  

He wanted Lois. Because something about them just worked. Lois had always known that. Maybe Clark had just realised it, too.  

“We have to have rules,” Lois muttered against his lips.  

Clark pulled away and smiled at her like she’d just given him a million dollars. It felt strange to be the object of Clark Kent’s desires, and so openly. Lois wondered if this was how Lana felt, because if so, suddenly she didn’t seem so pathetic pining over Clark for so long.  

“Okay,” he agreed.  

“We don’t tell anyone about this,” Lois said. Clark nodded, his hand moving from her neck down her chest. She ignored the way he pulled her shirt down as he bent to kiss her breasts. “We don’t do anything at work or around people from work. And no sleepovers.”  

Clark hummed in agreement as he gently bit her left nipple. Lois sighed as she ran her hand through his hair.  

“And just because we hook up does not mean this changes anything,” Lois said. “I’m still your boss at work.”  

Clark pulled away from her, looking at her with more derision she would have liked. “You’re not my boss.”  

“I’m your –”  

“Just because I listen to you doesn’t make you my boss, Lois,” Clark said, reaching out and grabbing her hair, his hand tightening in it as he tipped her head back a little.  

“You should be calling me Miss Lane,” she teased.  

Clark smirked as he yanked her hair a little harder before he kissed her. Lois could have sworn he moaned yes Miss Lane as he flipped her over onto her stomach and fucked her from behind on the same couch he’d slept on for almost a year when he’d give her his room.  

>>>  

Lois chewed on her pen as Steve Lombard read his outline to her.  

“It’s so boring,” she said.  

“I know,” he agreed. “It needs some excitement. Why don’t you take a run at it?”  

Lois raised an eyebrow as he tossed her his copy. “You want me to fluff your paper?”  

Steve smirked; Lois liked Steve. He was a good guy and a decent poker player, but he was competitive and had made more than a few comments about her eventually unseating him as the Planet’s top crime reporter.  

“Make it punchy and we’ll share a byline,” he offered.  

Lois smiled as Clark passed Steve and sat at his desk, trying not to beam at the prospect of sharing a byline with the Planet’s most respected writer.  

“What’s up, Steve?” Clark greeted.  

“Lane’s gonna be my fluffer,” Steve winked as he walked off.  

The look on Clark’s face was too good. Lois let him stew for a moment before she held up the copy.  

“I’m fixing up his article,” she clarified.  

Clark relaxed, and Lois tried not to roll her eyes as she grabbed a red pen and started reading.  

>>>  

Lois gasped as Clark bit her shoulder as he thrust wildly into her.  

It was way too risky to let Clark hoist her up onto the ledge of the barn window and fuck her on it, given that they weren’t too far from the road and much too high up off the ground, but there was something about how surely he held onto her that made her feel safe.  

Even as his teeth cut through her skin. Even as she teetered over the edge of the window ledge, holding onto Clark for dear life.  

As if he’d ever let her fall.  

Lois tried to contain her moans as she came, Clark’s fingers digging harder into her ass as he ground his hips against hers, groaning lowly in her ear. He reached out to grab the edge of the window, one arm locked tightly around her waist as he buried his head in her neck, breathing roughly. Lois hated how much she loved this possessiveness Clark had when it came to her body, how much he needed to be all over her.  

She was sure that comment from Steve had annoyed him earlier, and even though jealousy was against the rules...it felt amazing.  

“Ow,” Lois complained as she tried to shift her weight, feeling something poke into her bare ass.  

Clark pulled her off the ledge quickly, still holding her up, still inside her, looking concerned.  

“I think I have a splinter,” she pouted, dusting herself off.  

Clark pulled out, putting her down on her feet gently and frowning. “Where?”  

Lois shook her head, but Clark grabbed her by the hips and turned her around halfway.  

“I don’t think so,” he murmured.  

“Oh, you can tell just by looking?” she teased.  

Clark smirked, reaching for her neck and pulling her in for a long, dirty kiss. Lois had found herself missing him in between kisses, craving the way he tasted, like black coffee and honey and summer.  

“Yes,” he said surely. “I can see right through you.”  

Lois rolled her eyes as she smacked him in the arm, moving to grab her skirt. Why they had carpooled home together – well, she knew why. They didn’t even pretend that they weren’t driving back home together for this exact reason.  

She’d been thinking about him all day. Ever since he’d rolled up his sleeves and spilled a little coffee on his shirt and looked frazzled after running out of the office for something he wouldn’t even tell her about every fifteen minutes and his hair had gotten all fluffed up because he kept stressfully running his hands through it.  

She’d just needed to feel him, and it seemed like after the day he had, Clark needed her too.  

She almost wished she could stay.  

“I’ve gotta go,” Lois said. “Gotta be back at the office tomorrow bright and early.”  

Clark nodded, collecting his own clothes but not bothering to put them on, standing before her completely naked. He followed her as she put her shoes on and made her way down the stairs, stopping behind her before she walked outside.  

“Your house is on the main road,” Lois said.  

He looked at her confused. “Yeah?”  

“You’re just gonna walk around naked?”  

Clark shrugged, looking around. “There’s no one here.”  

Lois shook her head as she walked to her car, barely surprised to see Clark following her, barefoot, proudly naked without a care in the world.  

“Your neighbours could see you,” she warned.  

Clark shrugged again, looking amused.  

“All the girls from Smallville High that were too scared to talk to you will hear tell of the naked farmer and come from all over to catch a glimpse,” Lois prophesised.  

“Somehow I doubt it,” he smiled.  

“It’s gonna be my next front page story,” Lois threatened with a smile. “Naked farmer terrorises small town community.”  

“What about Mouthy reporter terrorises naked farmer,” Clark teased.  

Lois rolled her eyes as she unlocked her car, blinking when she saw how close he was to her.  

“See you tomorrow,” she said lamely.  

Clark nodded, leaning in to kiss her. It was a little sweeter than normal as he pulled away, walking quickly into the house. Lois admired his timing; he made it inside just as a car came down the road.  

She drove to the Talon, squirming as his come pooled between her legs, already regretting that she’d have to wash him off of her in mere minutes.  

>>>  

Lois frowned at she watched Chloe text frantically on her phone.  

“If you need to be somewhere –”  

“No,” Chloe cut her off. “It’s fine. Just work.”  

Lois narrowed her eyes at her. “Yeah, so, what is work?”  

“What?”  

“What are you doing for work?” Lois asked.  

Chloe looked a little like a deer in headlights. Lois had done some digging; she knew Chloe wasn’t writing for anyone. She knew that Chloe mostly worked nights, and that Jimmy had complained to her that he still barely saw Chloe, even though they were living together now, but he didn’t even know what she was doing. Lois barely even saw Chloe these days unless it was a super quick dinner in Metropolis like tonight.  

“Freelancing,” Chloe said.  

Lois raised an eyebrow, waiting for Chloe to expand, but nothing.  

“Don’t,” Chloe warned.  

“If you need money –”  

“I’m getting paid.”  

“Doing what?” Lois pressed.  

Chloe sighed, checking her phone and firing off a quick text before she put it back down.  

“I’m doing some computer support for someone I know,” she said vaguely.  

Lois didn’t need Chloe to elaborate to know exactly what she was doing.  

>>>  

“Why do you look angry?”  

Lois pushed past as she walked into his apartment, knocking his shoulder with hers.  

“What’s going on with you and Chloe?”  

Oliver had the good sense to look worried. “Nothing.”  

Lois tossed her bag down onto the couch in front of her. “You know, you always were a horrible liar.”  

“Oh, and you can tell?” Oliver asked, a smirk playing at his lips.  

“I don’t like being lied to by my friends, Ollie,” Lois said harshly.  

That seemed to stop him in his tracks, at least. His face turned more serious as he stepped towards her, his arms up in a surrender motion.  

“She’s helping me with some computer stuff,” he said.  

“Computer stuff?”  

Oliver grimaced, but he nodded. “Hacking stuff.”  

Lois sighed, unable to quell the rage that was burning inside her. “Oliver, if she gets hurt –” 

“I would never let anything happen to Chloe,” Oliver promised, reaching for her hand.  

Lois shook her head; she knew that he believed that, but Oliver couldn’t control everything. He certainly couldn’t control the people that wanted to hurt the Green Arrow and everyone associated with him.  

“You can’t promise that,” Lois muttered.  

Oliver held her hand firmly, pulling her closer for a hug. Lois let him wrap his arms around her, letting him comfort her.  

“She’s all I’ve got,” Lois admitted quietly.  

Oliver rubbed her back, tucking his chin into her shoulder, and for a moment, Lois felt like it was two years earlier, like this was normal. Like she could trust Oliver implicitly.  

But it wasn’t. And she couldn’t.  

“Nobody knows that Chloe works for me,” Oliver said, his mouth pressed against the side of her head. “Everything she uses is untraceable.”  

“Are you sure?”  

“Yes,” Oliver stressed, pulling away to look her in the eyes. “Lois, I care about Chloe too. I would never, ever put her in danger.” 

Lois nodded, but she still wasn’t settled. Oliver’s hands were gripping her arms tightly, trying to reassure her, but it wasn’t enough. She knew Oliver well enough to know that Oliver believed what he was saying. But Lois also knew Oliver well enough to know that he didn’t have as much control over anything as he thought he did.  

She heard the front door open and frowned when she saw Clark, standing there frowning at them.  

The line between his brow was prominent, which was never a good sign. There was a familiar, confused look on his face; Lois had seen it many times over the years. With AC, with Oliver, with the invisible man. When she talked about Wes.  

Jealousy.  

Maybe. She hoped, kind of. She didn’t want Clark to be jealous; it went against their agreement to be casual. But she also did want him to be jealous. She wanted him to want her.  

“Clark,” Oliver said, letting go of Lois. “What brings you by?”  

Lois watched as Clark took the two of them in, frowning. She looked up at Oliver, who looked confused at how clearly irritated Clark looked.  

“Just dropping these off,” he said, holding up a large yellow envelope. “What are you doing here?”  

Lois frowned. “Don’t worry about it,” she snapped, harsher than she intended.  

She felt Oliver take a step away from her; Lois didn’t like the strange feeling in the air. Like she had been caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to be doing. Like Clark and Oliver were squaring up against each other. Like the three of them weren’t friends.  

It felt like the first night Clark and Oliver had met. Lois remembered scurrying away to get out of the middle of something she didn’t quite understand.  

Something she decided to repeat.  

“I’ve gotta get going,” Lois said, reaching for her bag. She looked back at Oliver, who was frowning at her. “Just, can you –”  

“I will,” Oliver promised her.  

Lois nodded, barely glancing at Clark as she passed him, shutting the door behind her and pausing for a second to listen in. It was silent behind the door for a moment. She took a step away and heard Clark speak.  

“Did I interrupt something?”  

Lois kept walking, not wanting to hear Oliver’s answer.  

>>>  

She frowned when she heard the knocking at her door.  

It was late; so late that the Talon closed hours ago. Lois had no idea how he’d even gotten into the building, but she knew who it was.  

She didn’t bother putting pants on as she crossed to answer the door. Clark’s eyes lit up as he took her in, inviting himself in and shutting the door behind him.  

“You ran out of Oliver’s apartment pretty fast,” Clark said without preamble.  

Lois raised an eyebrow in surprise; she’d gotten so used to Clark’s indirectness over the years. She'd had to learn to talk in metaphors and circles and riddles for the first time in her life; it had been like learning a new language, like an entirely different way of communicating.  

She never thought she’d see the day Clark learned to speak her language. It felt like she was peaking behind a curtain she was never meant to know existed, having Clark be so direct with her.  

“You guys had a weird energy,” Lois said bluntly. If Clark wanted directness, she could give that to him. It might actually be refreshing.  

“So did you two,” Clark shot back.  

Lois took him in; his light blue dress shirt was unbuttoned, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His pants looked wrinkled, and his hair was fluffy, as if he’d been out in the wind.  

“I found out Chloe’s been working with Oliver on his Green Arrow adventures,” Lois admitted. “I was angry.”  

Clark looked at her seriously. “Oliver wouldn’t let anything happen to Chloe.”  

Lois scoffed as she moved to the couch, throwing herself down on it. “You sound just like him. And I’m sure you both believe that. But you know what Chloe’s like. If she’s doing this underground superhero helper stuff, she’s gonna get hurt. She's gonna throw herself into the line of fire at some point to help or protect Ollie. That's just how she is.”  

Clark frowned as he sat next to her, his eyes caught on her bare legs. “I don’t think Chloe’s going out and doing superhero stuff.”  

Something inside Lois felt unsettled at that statement as she realised what he meant.  

“You know that for a fact, do you?” Lois asked.  

He had the good sense of looking chagrined.  

“How long have you known that she’s been doing this?” she asked.  

“Since the start,” Clark admitted, looking tense.  

Lois nodded as she looked down at the floor. Of course Chloe wouldn’t have told her what she was up to – she knew what Lois would say. But Oliver lying to her about Chloe’s safety? Clark? Everybody working together to box her out of this was too much. She stood, walking to the door.  

“Go home, Clark.”  

He stood, looking at her regretfully before he walked out, leaving her sat on the couch alone.  

How much else was everyone keeping her out of the loop on?  

>>>  

They hadn’t touched each other in over a week.  

Lois hadn’t realised just how often they had been having sex over the last four months until she stayed away from Clark. It was bizarre, being so close to him, being across from the same desk, and avoiding him. His gaze, his comments.  

Clark hadn’t asked if she was okay, and she hadn’t told him that she wasn’t, but he knew.  

“Lane!”  

Lois looked up as Tess dropped a thick manila file onto her desk.  

“I need you to look into this,” Tess demanded.  

“What is it?” Lois asked, opening the file and scanning the first page.  

“Miller’s running for District Attorney,” Tess said.  

Lois looked at her, waiting for more, but Tess didn’t say anything.  

“And?”  

“And?” Tess said with that annoying calm amusement that Lois couldn’t stand. “Look into it.”  

Lois nodded, leaning back in her chair to read.  

“Work with Kent, I want a story by the time he launches his bid,” Tess said before he walked away.  

She could feel Clark looking at her without raising her eyes from the page. Lois tried her best not to roll her eyes, saying nothing as she chewed her pen and read Tess’ notes.  

She could do this on her own.  

>>>  

Lois gasped when she felt a hand wrap around her elbow. She turned, ready to swing, relaxing only moderately when she realised it was Clark.  

“What are you doing?” they whispered furiously at the same time.  

“I’m investigating,” Lois whispered harshly as she wrenched her arm out of his iron grip. “What the hell are you doing?”  

“Making sure you don’t get into trouble,” Clark whispered back.  

Lois rolled her eyes as she kept walking the perimeter of the back fence, looking for a way inside the courthouse.  

“I’m fine,” she said shortly. “You know, I was a reporter way before you started working at the Planet.”  

“Tess put us on this assignment together,” Clark said, ignoring her. “I’m your partner in this, Lois.”  

She turned on her heel, seeing the surprise in his eyes at how fast she stopped.  

“You’re my colleague,” Lois said tersely. “My proofreader. You’re not my partner.”  

She refused to focus on the line between his brow as she turned away from him, or wonder about his silence. She could feel him right behind her, still following her, but she refused to pay him any mind.  

Lois was getting this story whether or not Clark was here.  

>>>  

She flinched when she heard a noise outside the door. Clark was guarding it, squinting as if he’d be able to see through the door while she rifled through Miller’s desk.  

The idiot hadn’t locked his drawers.  

Lois was silent as she took photo after photo of his diary, taking mental notes of recurring appointments when Clark whispered her name. She shut the diary and put it back in the desk, moving towards Clark. He held his arm out to corral her behind him, staying perfectly silent and still as they heard footsteps walk down the hallway.  

She realised she was holding her breath once the footsteps passed, sighing slightly as Clark relaxed in front of her.  

“I think I got whatever he’s hiding in here,” Lois said.  

Clark nodded, but before she could move to the door, he grabbed her roughly around the waist and kissed her.  

Lois couldn’t help herself; she kissed him back. She kissed him back for so long they heard the footsteps wander back down the hallway for the security guard’s next walkthrough.  

She finally pulled away, conscious of his hard cock pressing into her hip as she put some distance between them.  

“You’re still mad at me,” Clark guessed.  

Lois huffed as she moved past him, pressing her ear to the door and opening it when she didn’t hear anything. She was silent as they snuck their way out of the courthouse and to the side street where she parked her car. She was silent as Clark got into the passenger seat without asking. She was silent as she drove them from Metropolis back to Smallville.  

>>>  

She cried out as Clark pressed inside her, closing her eyes as he moaned her name into her neck.  

It was the first time they’d spoken in nearly two hours since they’d left Miller’s office. Lois hadn’t even bothered with pretending; she’d driven straight to the Talon, knowing Clark would just keep following her.  

Clark groaned as he pulled back before thrusting roughly inside her, leaning up over her and grabbing her wrists and holding them over her head.  

Lois moaned as he fucked her, his hands tight around her wrists, gasping as he kissed her. She moved against his wrists, desperate to touch him, to yank his hair or scratch down his back, but Clark’s grip was so strong that she could feel bruises forming.  

Clark finally let go of her left wrist to grab her ass, his nails digging into her skin. Lois let herself moan his name as his hand moved lower, swiping through her wetness before moving to her asshole, pressing surely against her opening –  

She screamed out as she came, grabbing his hair with her free hand and desperately pulling. Clark didn’t even react, seemingly not feeling it at all as his finger pressed inside her, fucking her harder as he tensed over her.  

She moaned as he came, feeling her entire body alight like a livewire as he released inside her. Lois felt aftershocks of her orgasm ripple through her for ages, but she was grateful that Clark made no move to leave.  

She wasn’t sure her body could handle that right now.  

>>>  

“Who’s LR?”  

Lois frowned as she looked over at Clark.  

They hadn’t spoken last night. Clark had fucked her, kissed her and left, and the only thing that had passed between them were loud moans and cries of pleasure. But now, they had a story they needed to crack.  

She was going to have to finally speak to him.  

“I’m not sure,” Lois said, pulling up Tess’ file and looking through his list of associates. “Is that the only recurring appointment?”  

Clark nodded, frowning at her photos of Miller’s journal.  

“A couple here and there, but PL is the same time every week.”  

“Should we stake him out?” Lois asked.  

"We can, but what if it’s a phone call?” Clark asked. “It might be too obvious to have someone show up at the same time every week.”  

“That makes sense,” Lois sighed, frustrated at the dead end. “I don’t even know what we’re looking for.”  

“What did Tess say the tip was?”  

Lois frowned. “She said he was launching a campaign. I figured he was dirty somehow.”  

Clark looked confused. “What if Tess is the anonymous tip?”  

“Seriously? Clark, she’s so deep in with the Luthors, those dirty business assholes all protect each other.”  

“What if Tess isn’t like that?” Clark asked.  

Lois raised an eyebrow. “Have you ever met a woman you didn’t think was a damsel in distress?” she snarked, sounding harsher than she meant to.  

Clark met her eye fiercely, saying yes so surely it made her look away.  

>>>  

“Hey!” Chloe greeted, pulling her in for a hug.  

Lois hugged her back tightly; she missed living with Chloe. They'd been too old to share a studio apartment, but living with Chloe had been like having a sleepover with her favourite sister every night for years, and Lois had missed it.  

“Hey,” she said, stepping into her apartment with Jimmy. It was cute; furnished with mostly Chloe’s kitschy seventies antique finds, pops of colour everywhere and posters all over the walls. “This place is actually kind of great.”  

“Yeah, well, Jimmy really let me do whatever I wanted, so I figured I’d test that boundary before we got too deep into wedding planning,” Chloe joked. “What’s up?”  

"I hear you’re a superhero assistant for hire.”  

Chloe's face dropped. Lois hated that Chloe was clearly looking for a lie.  

“No, Chlo, it’s fine,” Lois said, holding up her hand. “I was just gonna ask what your going rate was and if your services extended to journalists.”  

“They extend to family,” Chloe smiled. “What are you working on?”  

Lois held out the manila folder, explaining Tess’ tip and Miller’s impending campaign for DA. Chloe frowned as she read, looking at Lois confused.  

“So what’s the issue?”  

“I don’t know,” Lois admitted. “I tried to ask Tess about it, but she just told me to keep digging.”  

“So, she knows something, but she doesn’t wanna be the one to say it?” Chloe guessed.  

“That’s what Clark thinks,” Lois muttered. “I think you’re giving her too much credit. I think she wants him out of the way for her own empire.”  

Chloe made a face as she considered that. “Maybe.”  

“Anyways, I figured I might borrow you from Ollie?” Lois asked.  

“Did you bring me –”  

Lois pulled a bagel out of her bag before Chloe could finish.  

“That’s my going rate,” Chloe beamed as she reached for her laptop.  

>>>  

Lois smirked as the crumpled up post it note hit Clark in the face before she stood and walked off, making her way up to the empty office on the sixth floor. Clark walked in five minutes later, clearly having read her note.  

“You couldn’t just book a conference room, or make me meet you in the Copy Room like usual?” Clark asked.  

Lois shut the door behind him and handed him a piece of paper she’d been carrying around in her bra all morning, waiting to catch him alone.  

“Miller’s been receiving donations from an anonymous benefactor,” Lois whispered. “The account numbers differ every time, but they’re all named the same thing. X.”  

“X?” Clark asked.  

“Why would Tess give us this? Who’s X?”  

Clark shrugged as he looked at her, confused. “How did you find this?”  

“Ollie isn’t the only one with a super sidekick,” Lois smiled.  

Clark didn’t look impressed, but he kept thinking. “So, Miller has an anonymous donor to his campaign. Someone wants him in office.”  

“And if we work out the who, I think we might be able to work out the why,” Lois nodded.  

>>>  

Lexcorp  

“Are you sure?” Lois asked, reading the email from Chloe.  

“Yeah,” Chloe said over the phone. “I don’t know how Tess found this, but it’s a good thing she gave this to you.”  

“I’m surprised she isn’t the one donating money herself,” Lois muttered.  

“Tess has access to Luthorcorp funds, not Lexcorp. That's a different entity entirely,” Chloe said. “I wonder how she even found this.”  

“This is shady. Tess is shady,” Lois muttered.  

“Probably,” Chloe agreed. “But someone has access to Lex’s money and is trying to get this man in office, so that’s probably where our focus should be right now.”  

“Trying to work out why,” Lois agreed. “Okay, I'll talk to Clark and see how his super brain puts this all together.”  

They hung up as Lois stared at the email trail Chloe had sent. Who had access to Lex’s bank accounts? He didn’t have any friends or family. Aside from Clark, Lois hadn’t known anyone to even remotely tolerate Lex.  

>>>  

“He’s alive,” Clark said flatly.  

Lois scoffed. “Clark, his plane went down over the Arctic. He's dead.”  

“We never saw a body,” Clark muttered.  

Lois frowned as she watched him. He seemed upset.  

“I mean, how do you feel about it?”  

Clark frowned as he looked at her. “About what?”  

“About the possibility of Lex being alive?”  

He looked uncomfortable, but he held her eye. “He isn’t.”  

Lois knew by now when Clark was lying.  

“What’s that saying? The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled off was making people believe he didn’t exist?”  

“What?” Clark asked.  

“Lex might not be dead, Clark,” Lois said gently. “Between Project Ares and all his human experiments, anything’s possible.” She reached for his arm; she knew they had a past and that Clark had hated Lex for years, but she also knew there was a part of him that missed his friend.  

“We’d all be better off if he wasn’t,” Clark said in a low voice.  

Lois nodded; she couldn’t help but agree. She reached up to brush hair out of his face a little, catching Clark’s eye before he leaned in and kiss her. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he lifted her by her waist and dropped her onto the empty desk behind them, stepping in between her legs and reaching to push her skirt up.  

It was hard and fast and intense and confusing and it wasn’t until Lois was slinking out of the office and running to the bathroom to clean herself up that she realised they’d broken one of their rules and had sex at work.  

>>>  

“I’ve never seen you concentrate so hard.”  

Lois looked up from her computer, smiling when she saw Oliver standing by her desk.  

“What brings you to this side of Metropolis?” Lois smiled.  

They hadn’t talked much over the last couple of weeks. Not since the weird moment in his apartment that had left Lois feeling disappointed in everyone around her.  

“Meeting Tess,” Oliver said. “Got time for a coffee?”  

Lois had never said no to a coffee in her life. She turned off her computer and stood, smiling at Oliver and following him out of the Planet and to a cafe a block away.  

“So, listen,” he started while they were waiting for their order. “I wanted to say that I’m sorry about working with Chloe and not telling you.”  

Lois shrugged a shoulder. “She’s a big girl. If she kept it from me, there was a reason.”  

She could feel Oliver watching her carefully.  

“Right, I know. But – we kept you out of the loop –”  

“Yeah, you did,” Lois cut him off. “I don’t need explanations or anything. You're a superhero, and I don’t fit into that life. I never will.”  

Oliver frowned at her, but he didn’t say anything as he took their coffees. “You know, that’s not why.”  

Lois shrugged, taking her cup from him.  

“I’m sure there are a million reasons,” Lois agreed.  

“Yeah, but none one of them is because we don’t trust you,” Oliver said gently. “Lois, you didn’t want this life. You said you couldn’t handle a life with me, sitting on the sidelines and waiting for me to come home. We know that. Chloe and – we know that.”  

Lois looked down at her coffee, remembering what she said. She had meant it when she had said it to Oliver last year.  

But she might have had a change of heart for someone else.  

“But it’s Chloe,” she said.  

Oliver nodded. “For the record, I am sorry that we lied to you. We never wanted to hurt you.” 

Lois nodded; she knew.  

“Tell me what you’re working on right now,” Oliver said, his tone lighter, his elbow knocking into hers.  

Lois could feel herself beaming as he walked her back to the Planet. She had felt so off the last couple of weeks, icing out Oliver and Clark. Two of the three people she valued more than anything, and it had taken a toll on her, Lois knew. She'd felt unsettled and bored and annoyed and sad and kind of empty.  

Oliver stopped by the entrance, turning to smile at her. “Are we okay?”  

Lois stepped into his space, reaching up to kiss him on the cheek. He moved his head but seemed to catch himself, freezing as Lois kissed the corner of his mouth.  

“We’re okay,” she promised.  

Oliver smiled as he took a step away, turning and walking away. Lois watched him for a moment before she turned to the entry to the Planet, going still when she saw Clark watching her. She took a step forwardbut it was like he disappeared in the blink of an eye.  

>>>  

Clark had disappeared to ‘work on a story’. Lois called bullshit, but Randall said he had taken off to follow up on a lead and wouldn’t be back for the rest of the day. She’d buckled down at her desk for the rest of the night, leaving well after dark and driving to the farm without even realising where she was going until she pulled into the driveway.  

Lois hated what a habit this had become over the years.  

The farm was dark and dead quiet. Lois was about to turn around and leave when a light switched on upstairs. She got out of her car, letting herself in the house and making her way up the stairs to the bathroom where she could hear the shower running.  

Clark didn’t see surprised to see her when she pulled the curtain back. He watched silently as he stood under the water as she stripped, holding out his hand for her as she climbed into the tub with him.  

He didn’t say a word as she stretched up on her toes to kiss him. He just kissed her back.  

Lois was sure he had something he wanted to say; she could feel him biting his tongue. But the only sounds he made were of pleasure as he held her up against the tiled wall and pressed inside her.  

>>>  

Lois frowned. She felt warm, like she was laying outside in the sun. She tried to shift her body weight, but she realised that she was pressed against the mattress.  

Not her mattress. Clark's mattress.  

They had wandered from the shower to the bed, still damp and naked, and fucked late into the night. Lois could feel the ache in her lower back, the ache in her throat from where she had tried to suck Clark’s soul out of his body, the ache between her legs.  

Lois made a soft noise as she tried to move her leg, thankful when Clark shuffled behind her, his arm loosening from her chest slightly.  

No sleepovers. That was the one rule they had left.  

They'd had sex at the Planet numerous times, once even on the roof in the middle of the afternoon.  

Lois could feel the way Clark had been watching her with Oliver. She could feel how displeased he was when he saw them together. But she knew that that nothing had changed there.  

Clark had always been wary of her with Oliver.  

She turned in his arms, trying not to catch her breath when she saw Clark watching her with clear eyes.  

“Morning,” Clark said warily, as if he was expecting her to run away or tell him off.  

“Hey,” she said, glancing at the clock on the bedside table. Seven a.m. “We’ve gotta get to work.”  

She moved to sit up, but Clark didn’t move. Lois was conscious of the way they were wrapped around each other, still naked from the night before, Clark hard against the back of her thigh.  

“We could be a little late,” he suggested, his hand moving up to her neck, turning her head towards him.  

Lois closed her eyes as Clark bent down to kiss the hollow of her throat, slowly moving her flat on her back and crawling over her and pressing against her. She sighed as he moved to pin her arms over her head, moaning as he finally fucked inside her, Clark panting softly into her ear.  

She heard him, though. As they came, she heard Clark moan mine into her neck.  

Lois gave him a moment before she squirmed underneath him, pushing him off of her and sitting up, anger rising through her chest. She didn’t like this feeling; this out of control feeling, this strange isolation she had been feeling lately. The way everything and everyone around her seemed to be moving past her, without her.  

Clark look confused as she shoved him off of her and scurried out of the bed, reaching for the nearest pair of sweatpants and a flannel hanging off the edge of the bed.  

“Lois –”  

“I liked it better when we used to talk to each other,” Lois said before she left without a word.  

>>>  

Clark was silent all week. He'd brought her coffee like usual, he’d talked to her about stories and what was happening in Metropolis, but he hadn’t said a word to her outside of that.  

Lois wasn’t really sure where she stood with Clark right now. They'd been friends for so long that when they started sleeping together, Lois really hadn’t thought that anything would change, but there had been an undercurrent of strangeness since the first morning they’d woken up together.  

“What’s up with you and Kent?”  

Lois turned to look at Nina, confused. “What?”  

“You two used to be joined at the hip,” Nina shrugged as she poured herself a cup of coffee, nodding to Clark’s empty chair. “Are you guys in a fight?”  

“In a fight?” Lois asked.  

“I don’t know how you two do it,” Nina carried on. “My boyfriend and I would kill each other if we worked together.”  

Lois laughed as she realised what Nina meant. “No, we’re not – Clark isn’t my boyfriend,” she clarified.  

Nina frowned. “Really?”  

“He’s been my friend for years, but – no,” she said. “Wait, you thought we were dating?”  

“We all did,” Nina said, nodding around to the bullpen. “We figured that’s why you got him a job here.”  

Lois raised her eyebrow, reeling as Nina walked back to her desk. She let herself get lost in her thoughts, snapping back to attention when Clark reappeared at his desk.  

“Lois,” he called.  

She blinked, meeting his eye. He looked slightly amused, his lips quirked just a little as he waited for her to wake up.  

“I’m calling it,” Lois blurted out.  

Clark frowned, looking around. “Calling what?”  

She made sure no one was looking at them before she pointed at him, then herself. Clark didn't say a word as she looked at her computer and began tapping at random keys to try and look busy.  

Lois tried to ignore the anchor weighted in her stomach, wondering why Clark decided not to argue with her for the very first time in his life.  

>>>  

“How has Clark been lately?”  

Lois shrugged, loading up her plate and refusing to meet Chloe’s eye. “Fine, I think. Why?”  

“He’s just been kind of off lately,” Chloe said.  

“Yeah, been off his game at work since you stopped bossing him around,” Jimmy chimed in. 

“We’ve been working on our own stuff lately,” Lois said, telling the truth.  

She thought the topic was dead until later when Jimmy had left to stake out a story for Steve Lombard and Chloe had opened a second bottle of wine.  

“Do you wanna tell me what’s really going on?” Chloe asked quietly.  

Lois considered biting her lip, but – every other rule had been broken so far, why not one more.  

“I’ve been having sex with Clark,” Lois admitted.  

For her part, Chloe didn’t even blink. She just listened quietly, taking a sip of her wine.  

“For the last few months, I don’t know,” Lois said. “And it was really fun and nice and great and we had boundaries and rules and then Ollie came back and things started to get weird and now we aren’t really speaking.”  

“Why?”  

“I don’t know,” Lois said. “It’s been weird for a little while.”  

“Well, Lo, he’s always been jealous of Oliver,” Chloe said. “Do you think him seeing the two of you together affected him?”  

Lois shrugged. “I honestly have no idea. He went from being so forward and telling me he wanted me to shutting right down. I can’t keep trying to force him out of his shell.”  

“I know,” Chloe said gently. “It’s been – the last couple of years he’s been worse than normal.”  

Lois tried not to grimace at that. She was more than aware that losing Lana, over and over, had affected him. She realised that she had been hoping that Clark was more over Lana than he apparently was.  

“Well, it’s not my problem,” she muttered as she downed her glass.  

>>>  

Lois blinked at the bear claw and coffee Clark dropped on her desk before he made his way to his own desk.  

He'd done this a lot over the last two weeks – said nothing, but brought her food and coffee. Stared at her across their desks. Listened in every time she talked with someone.  

And she had no idea what he wanted from her anymore.  

As best she could figure, he missed her. Lois had always kept him on his toes, and she knew Clark well enough to know that he loved that about her. If nothing else, he probably missed her busting his balls.  

She finished out her day and left, the coffee and bear claw untouched on the edge of her desk.  

She didn’t say goodbye to Clark when she left.  

>>>  

Lois startled awake; she’d passed out on her couch watching television. She looked around confused, starting again at the heavy knock on her door.  

At least she figured out what had woken her up.  

She held the door open, not at all surprised to see Clark on the other side of it. He walked inside, looking agitated as she shut the door. He had changed from his work suit, into his regular uniform of dark jeans and a red t shirt.  

He looked so much like the boy he was when they met dressed like this.  

“What’s up?” Lois asked, already wary of how late it was.  

Clark had clearly been stewing on something to knock on her door at midnight.  

“Hey,” he said, frowning at her. “I don’t think this is working.”  

She raised an eyebrow as if to say no shit.  

“I don’t wanna be casual anymore,” Clark said.  

Lois knew this was coming. She didn’t want to be casual anymore either. But it stung to know that Clark was the one to call it and not her.  

“Me either,” she said, holding her posture as straight as she could.  

“I wanna be more.”  

Lois felt her mouth drop open a little at that. Out of everything she had been confused about over the last couple of weeks...that wasn’t a possibility she had considered.  

“You’re on the rebound,” she said.  

“I’m not asking you to marry me,” Clark said tersely. “Casual isn’t working for me. I don’t like seeing you with other guys, and I miss my friend. I want you all to myself. I want more.”  

Lois bit the inside of her cheek as she considered what he was saying.  

She felt the same; she knew she did. She had all along. She didn’t want to be with anyone else, and she didn’t want Clark to be with anyone else either.  

“You want more,” Lois repeated, trying to understand exactly what he wanted.  

“We should date,” he nodded.  

“We should?”  

“You don’t want to?”  

“I didn’t say that,” Lois said. “I just – let me think about it.”  

Clark nodded, looking at her for a moment before he moved to the door, leaving without saying a word.  

>>>  

She hadn’t slept all night.  

Lois had written list after list, a pro and con argument, and even called Chloe at three in the morning to talk about it, and she had no idea how she felt about it.  

But the second she walked into the bullpen and saw Clark sitting at his desk, she knew what she wanted.  

Lois took the day to really think about it, but she knew by the end of the day that her decision was the right one. She packed up for the day, getting ready to leave, thrilled when Clark followed her lead and did the same. They were silent as they made their way into the elevator, up to the ground floor to leave.  

She waited until the elevator door had shut to reach out and take Clark’s hand. Lois didn’t need to look to her left to see the way Clark beamed as he interlocked his fingers with hers. 

Fuck casual, Lois thought as the elevator moved.