Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: The Real Me (1/2)

I'm a sucker for a revelation story, but I tend to be picky about the ones I read. I'm not big on angst, and I mostly hate the formulaic revelation followed by a fight, then a grovelling Clark before the happy make-up. So I challenged myself to write one that I would happily read before putting away my word processor and riding off into the sunset. This is what I came up with. Hope it's different enough to be interesting and keep you entertained. I will tell you now that the second half will be angst free fluff...that should go up next week.

Thanks for reading!

-Cindy

You drew me right in. I love this set-up -- a romantic walk through the Metropolis Farmer's Market -- and what led Clark to the realization that it wasn't fair to make Lois choose between two halves of the same person.

No, was it fair that he expected her to be available to both halves of himself.

I love this! I love realizing that love was a two-way street and that she couldn't keep her windows open for another man, while expecting Clark to suddenly need to be elsewhere.

What *would* Clark think if he weren't Superman? He would be as hurt as Lois was when Clark ran off that morning with a flimsy excuse, is my guess. But being that he *wasn't* someone else, and therefore lying to Lois, he didn't get the right to be hurt by his own deception.

So simple! Genius. Make Lois see the obvious. Make her question what she has never questioned. Love it!

I love the idea of Clark... er... Superman leaving Lois breadcrumbs to tempt her curiosity. Telling her the truth, being open and honest about Superman being a secret identity. What a wonderful idea!

I love that Lois's naturally *hoping* he'll be Superman (or her mind naturally drifts in that direction). Wouldn't that be nice? Best of both worlds. (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)

So, will Lois see Clark before 9pm the next night? Will she see her makeshift ring on Clark's finger? What excuse (if any) will Clark give? Will Lois realize that it's equal to an engagement ring? (sorry, I had to throw that in there.) Will she see Clark at the club and be annoyed or expectant? Will she realize it's him before then? Will she and Clark go to the club together (because he asks her out and she can't think of a good enough excuse, "Sorry, Clark, but I have a date with Superman." Eeek! Um... I doubt it. I know she's mad at Clark but THAT mad?), so she suggests going to the club, then spends all night looking at the hands of every man there but the man she's with? Will she suggest that Clark go with her, but he gives her another excuse? "I'm busy." No, I can't see him doing that either. What would his excuse be? The plumbers coming back? I have a hot date as someone else? LOL. Um...

Great idea for revelation! I can't wait to see what happens!

Loved it. I can't wait for the next part.

I'm a sucker for revelation stories too. I don't mind a little bit of angst, myself - but just a little bit, and so far every revelation I've written myself seems to be without angst (or very little).

Very nice set-up. I am eagerly waiting for the conclusion.

I rarely comment on anything these days but I am loving the story. It is very much more my style as I am not a fan of all the darkness and relationship angst that is so in vogue today.

I like Virginia was wondering first if Clark will avoid Lois until Sunday evening and second if he will wear the 'ring' all day Sunday or just wait until Sunday evening. I have always thought the Jonathan fed idea of never telling someone that you are in love with your secret and expecting them to love you without knowing the whole you. It always rang false and even quite duplicitous on Clark's part. The breadcrumbs idea and letting Lois get used to the idea that Superman isn't alway Superman and the concept of Superman is not the 'real' person before dropping the bombshell of he and Clark being the same person make more sense. Most of the time the angst generated in revelation stories is due to Lois not understanding how Superman came into existence and therefore never even thinking that he was raised from birth as a earthling. She just gets the C=S surprise and that never sets well with Lois. Of course she should have been able to put that together but she never really investigated Superman. I guess with the idea of him being her friend she would not be predisposed in that fashion but still...

Additionally your comment about 'putting away my word processor and riding off into the sunset' made me wonder if it had any underlying meaning or if it was just a figure of speech.

I await the next chapter to see how you wrap this up and the trajectory you put their relationship on from here.

Mike

Love this story! What a great idea to reveal himself by choosing the way he knows would hurt Lois the least (or at least he thinks he does)!

I too prefer revelation stories without Lois' explosion followed by Clark groveling. Too often I wonder why Lois HAS to react with anger. Doesn't she have any other emotional options?

Looking forward to part 2.

And I hope you're not really going to pack up your word processor and ride into the sunset anytime soon. Catching up on your stories, and hope you have more to share.

So, back before I stopped writing originally, about 10-ish years ago, I remember having a conversation with some other FoLCs about this very subject. What we ended up finding was that, even though the fanfic that's out there is ostensibly based on the show Lois and Clark, it's not necessarily based on show canon / characterization. After being off the air for a while, it's like people forgot how the characters from the show acted, even though everyone could give you the intimate details of everything that happened in every show. FoLCs read fanfic, and fanfic started to change the characters. Then newer fanfic based their characters on older fanfic, which further evolved them like a giant echo chamber until you didn't recognize the characters at all anymore. You then had 2 sets of cannon: show cannon, and fanfic cannon. Show cannon had Lois and Clark as both strong willed, relied on humor, and really wasn't that angsty. It was a show with a lot of hope and love...that's the show I loved. Fanfic canon often stripped out the humor, and oddly stripped out a lot of the Superman stuff, too. It turned Lois into an angry, raging b-word and Clark into a doormat. I stopped reading fic around that time, so I only imagine it's gotten worse since then.

I always tried to write my fic in the spirit of the show - lightly humorous, positive, squishy and hopeful. I remember Zoom's stories always seemed to be in that vein, too. I'm know there are other I can't remember because it's been a decade since I've participated much in the fandom. But I appreciate all of you out there that keep the true spirit of the show alive, and I'm glad to know there are still people that like to read those stories, too.

I guess I'll refer back to the first feedback thread from the story I just completed, Gotham Nights.
Gotham Nights Part 1 Comments
As fun as it's been to get the old juices flowing again, it's summertime and I have 3 kids aged 8 and under and work full time. Between swim lessons and little league and whatever else, I just don't have time to devote to writing. That's not to say that I won't still crank out some random piece of fluff from time to time, but I like writing the big stories with plot, and I think my husband would revolt if I tried to do that again anytime soon. Buuut if I get bored enough next winter...who knows.

Anyway, I appreciate the positive feedback.

-Cindy

Hmmm...Lois and Clark usually work thinks out quite nicely in my stories because...ahhhh, now I know why so many of them head straight on over to the other side of the boards! LOL

Great start...your writing drew me in. Looking forward to the resolution.

Hi Cindy,

I thoroughly enjoyed part 1 of your story. As you could probably see from my own fanfics, I tend to prefer fanfics to have a good dose of both humour and heart. Those were two of the main things that drew me to L&C in the first place.

I completely understand having minimal free time. (I am raising by myself a son with some severe special needs and am working full time.) In fact, I actually started writing (admittedly *very* short pieces of) fanfic precisely because I had so little free time. I can almost never go out to eat or go see a movie, for example, because I have no one to take care of my son and because his autism-and-ADHD-related behaviours preclude any community outings that are not extremely autism-friendly. Even getting time to watch TV is challenging. Fanfic writing and chatting on these boards have at times been about my only leisure activities.

All of that is to let you know that I fully understand where you are coming from, and am doubly appreciative that you have taken the time to write and share this story. If you do find time to write and post any other fanfic, I'll be delighted. But if not, I wish you all the best and hope to see you here some years from now when your kids are older and when you once again have more free time.

Joy,
Lynn

Thank you for writing this fanfic. I understand about time constraints, and wish you the best.

Simply amazing and quite refreshing.

Clark shows a very mature side of himself on the flight to Lois' place. He realizes that not telling Lois who he really is is incredibly unfair and even cruel. Manipulating her emotions is not the way to win her heart, being honest and open is. After all, wasn't Lex Luthor all about moving Lois into a position where she felt compelled to marry him?


Yeah, that kind of fantasy cannot last forever, either the couple moves forward or the relationship dies from internal stagnation.



Come on with the next installment!

Oh, wow! This was fantastic .

I wanted to read this piece when I saw you post awhile back, but (craziness ) I'm just getting to it today. Totally understand about life being busy--we have a 5 and 7 year old and daily 'life' is constantly keeping the days full. August was a mad dash to get in a lot of family stuff and prep for school, but thankfully things now seem to have settled down a bit. Anyway, this--these boards and L&C fanfic--has become my solitude over the last few years. Thanks for giving me a little escape today .

I really admire your set up--Clark realizing just what he is doing to Lois, how unfair he is being--and deciding to let her 'solve' the story. Do what she does best . His clues, her interest (but also interest in Clark), the excitement for tomorrow night. I know I can't wait ! I'm really curious 'how' exactly the revelation will happen--will Lois piece it all together? See the twistie tie (cute idea, btw!)?

So excited to read the end!
Laura