Lois paced up and down the length of Clark's apartment, her head in a whirl as more and more pieces clicked into place. It explained so much! How he'd known which desk was hers after that first flight... How he'd managed to acquire the pheromone sample without detection... The earthquake that no one else had felt in her father’s office... His attack of amnesia during the Nightfall chaos...
She reached the wall and turned again, stopping when she drew level with Clark where he stood, watching her anxiously.
“You're Superman, and you never told me?!” she burst out.
“It's not exactly something I can bring up in casual conversation, Lois,” he commented dryly.
“This is more than just a secret, Clark. This is- this is huge! Pulitzer Prize winning huge...” She trailed off. She'd always wanted a Pulitzer, craved it, and this was the one story that was practically guaranteed to win one- the secret identity of Superman. She could almost feel the medallion hanging around her neck... All she had to do was write the story... She looked up into Clark's stricken, terrified face. Write the story, and destroy Clark Kent.
“Why did you do it?” she asked abruptly. “Why did you create Superman? He is your creation, isn't he, not some kind of split personality or something?”
“To help,” he responded quietly, ignoring the question about his mental health. “So I could help and still be...me.”
That decided it. If she wrote the article, the moment it was published was the moment that Clark Kent would effectively cease to exist.
“I can't do it. It'll win a Pulitzer, but I can't write it.” She saw the tension leave Clark’s frame as sheer relief flooded his face and planted her hands on her hips.
“Did you actually think I’d do it?”
“I was worried,” he confessed.
“Six months ago, I probably would have,” she admitted candidly. “But you’re my friend, Clark. Besides, it’s not like you’re a sleazy politician or some criminal.” She smiled as a thought occurred to her. “Plus, think how much easier it will be to get stories if you can use your powers! No more worrying about locked doors or-“
She caught sight of the glint of mischief in his eyes. Her own eyes narrowed. “You already do, don’t you?”
“Occasionally,” he allowed.
“Why am I not surprised?”
She went back to pacing, wondering how many times he’d used his powers in front of her as Clark that she just hadn’t noticed and feeling chagrin rise within her. Conscious of Clark watching her, she stopped in front of him again.
“What?” she demanded.
“Nothing. Just… you’re taking this differently to what I expected.”
“How so?” she asked.
“I thought you’d be mad.”
“I’m not mad. I’m embarrassed,” she informed him. “After all, I’ve been working next to you for almost a year and never noticed the resemblance or that you conveniently disappear right before Superman arrives… Okay, I am a little mad. But I’m mostly embarrassed.”
Memories of things she’d said to Clark about Superman and vice versa flooded into her mind.
“Clark is the before, Superman is the after. Make that the way, way after.”
“Superman put it all on the line, not just once, but twice. You-you fell into garbage cans in the dark.”
“You mean the Suit comes off?”
“We have something in common. Superman. You want to fly like him, and I want to fly with him.”
Groaning in humiliation, she sunk down onto the couch and buried her face in her hands as another thought occurred to her.
“Oh god. I did the dance of the seven veils for Superman.”
Clark sat down next to her.
“No, actually you did that for Clark,” he pointed out.
She raised her head and looked at him.
“But they- you- are the same person.”
“You know that, and I know that. But the rest of the world doesn’t. Look, Lois, it’s important that you remember the difference. You have to treat Clark Kent and Superman as two separate people, at least in public,” he told her earnestly. “If you slip up, it could mean that someone could figure it out.”
“Like you did before?” she asked pointedly.
He nodded. “Yes.” He sighed. “This is not an easy secret, Lois. I have to be careful all the time, to make sure that I just seem like everyone else. It means always trying to remember who I said what to and who I said it as. It means constantly lying to everyone around me and never letting anyone get too close. It means having to dash off at a moment’s notice and trying to think of a reason why, and-"
She cocked her head, considering him. If he only had a moment to think of an excuse for disappearing every time he needed to be Superman, that was probably the reason why his excuses were always so terrible. He was focussed on getting to where he needed to be.
She sat up a little straighter.
“I can help you there,” she cut him off. “Face it, Clark. Your excuses stink. For someone who spends his whole life lying to everyone around them, you’re actually really bad at it.”
“I don’t like lying.”
She disregarded him, caught up in her own train of thought.
“What we need is a signal, something to tell me you need to go so I can help come up with a cover…”
***
The movie forgotten, they spent hours on Clark’s couch discussing his inadvertent revelation.
It wasn’t until Lois crawled into her bed in the early hours of the morning that she remembered his other secret.
Clark Superman Kent was in love. He was just as unattainable as he’d been when she’d thought they were two separate people, just now it was for a different reason.
At least she still had the memory of his pheromone-induced declaration of love…
She sat bolt upright. The pheromone. The 100% solution that he’d been sprayed with was supposedly permanent, at least on humans. She’d seen Clark barely an hour after he’d prevented Miranda from spraying the city and he’d shown no signs of being affected by the pheromone. So either it had worn off extremely quickly, or he’d never been affected in the first place…
She smiled sleepily as she slid back down in the bed and snuggled into her pillow. Life was about to become very, very interesting…
