And it was! Hate to see it end, Anti-K, but I've been really anxious to see how they would get together
. Wonderful story, perfect ending. It was a such an enjoyably emotional ride to go on the last few weeks...
It hurt. His muscles ached, his bones thrummed with exhausted echoes of pain, his skin felt ripped along the seams where the tiny white scars were still engraved, and crouching on his hands and knees scrubbing with all of an ordinary man’s might did nothing but aggravate his condition. But he didn’t stop. In fact, he scrubbed harder, pushed himself further, courted the feeling of exhaustion and toil and aches. It was unusual, it was *different*--it was perfect.
Really enjoyed this paragraph--cleaning up the 'past'...getting things back to normal. The thought process involved--how he's not 100% yet and really 'feels' this work that he is doing. It was written really well...
Its bright colors were dimmed, cast into shadow, all but turned to black when Clark kicked it away into a corner and turned to his closet. Not the secret closet, but the ordinary one. The one completely filled with variety and shades and textures, a mass of options and choices laid out for him, so much more freeing than a single outfit, a single course, a single mask.
A big moment--getting out of that filthy suit (a suit that he thought he'd have to wear, always wear), and standing there, deciding (having the option to decide) what to wear as himself--as Clark. I like how you described just how much more of a 'choice' it was to get dressed as Clark
It felt like coming home when he slid the glasses into place.
I was cheering here. Yah Clark!
She stared, and then she gave him a small smile--not nervous, not a mask over tension--but so shy and sweet that Clark felt his heart squeezed into a pliant, hopeful thing inside his chest, all hopeful eagerness and reserved wariness. “Clark,” she said again, as if locking him into that identity, and he felt, suddenly, as if he didn’t have to hold on so tightly to it anymore.
Really loved this part...Lois realizing that 'Clark' is back. It was really effective to have her grasp the importance of the glasses--and to have Clark notice this, that she sees 'him' as back with her.
But nonetheless, he was more than happy to sit at the table, his elbow warmed by the heat emanating from her large paper bag, and watch her bustle around his kitchen, all energetic purpose and determined focus. He’d learned, through all this, just how precious these little moments were, how fragile happiness could be, how frail were those instances of complete perfection, and he was content to sit there and savor this one moment. Because he’d also learned not to reach for impossible things or to let dreams taint reality, learned to take what he could get, and this moment--Lois chattering away and saying nothing as she pulled out plates and forks and napkins and bottles of water--was mundane heaven. Paradise on earth.
This section was beautiful! Clark in the moment...realizing how perfect it was. His mind resting--and letting him really enjoy an 'ordinary' moment with Lois.
If it was, he’d pick it up and start eating again, would drag out their midnight dinner for hours just to keep her there
I loved this little addition--how he'd keep eating, keep doing what he was doing--if it only meant to have Lois right there with him. Awww....
So there were no distractions, no excuses, no exits, just him and Lois, and he sat at his table and stared at the woman he loved and felt three words burning like coals on his tongue. Curled up there, like eggs about to hatch--laid by that fluttering, shrieking hope--tapping and pecking at their shells, begging to be released.
Great analogy--great ability to show how much Clark really does love Lois. She's everything to him.
“What I’m trying to say,” Lois whispered, “is that I…I…oh, wow, this is *hard*. I don’t know how you did this, Clark!”
“Did what?” he asked, and wondered if he was about to wake in his bed, left hanging, waiting for an answer that would never come.
It was mentioned already, but I
really loved this part, too...Lois' 'I don't know how you did this, Clark!' was perfectly placed.
“Look, if you don’t believe me, or if you think I’m only saying it because you’re Superman--because Superman is *you*--then I…I understand. And if you can never love me again, then I don’t blame you. I know I messed this up, and I pushed you away, and the odds of this working after everything that’s happened between us are completely against us. But if there’s even the slightest chance--if there’s even the *possibility* that there could be more between us--more than partnership or friendship…then I have to try, Clark. I *have* to. I can’t let you slip away in the middle of the night without even saying goodbye or without thinking that it…without *knowing* that it would break my heart to not have you in my life.”
YES!!!!!!
“I love you, Clark!” Lois blurted. “And it’s not because of Superman--even though I *do* love him. But I love him a thousand times more because he’s *you*.” There were tears, like precious jewels, teetering on the edges of her eyes, falling over the precipice, tracing gilded lines along the curve of her cheekbones. “I love *you*, Clark. The reason I told Lex I couldn’t give him my answer right away was because all I could think of was *you*. I didn’t know if you would still be my friend if I told him yes. I didn’t know if you would still look at me the same way--and I *want* you to look at me that way. I want--”
“Then look at me now,” Clark interrupted, and he stopped fighting himself. Stopped holding himself back. Stopped caging himself in the deadening numbness that made him feel more alien, more cut off, more isolated, than his powers ever had. Stopped denying who he was. Stopped compressing his heart into the tiniest, darkest of boxes to try to pretend it wasn’t the property of Lois Lane.
OMG--Loved This! '-and I want you to look at me that way. I want-' 'Then look at me now'...WAFFY, wonderful, perfect. I read these two paragraphs I don't know how many times...
Really hate the story to come to an end...thank you so much for sharing it with us all! Looking forward to anything else in the future
A big fan
Laura
