The princess gown looks a lot like the dress I wore to prom, and it comes with that cone...hat...thing with the strip of fabric hanging from the top. Did real princesses ever actually wear those? There's also a sparkly star-topped wand, since whoever designed this costume apparently got princesses confused with fairies.
Clark's eyebrows rise when I show up at his door, and he waves me into the apartment with a dramatic bow. “Milady.”
I roll my eyes a little and turn to hand him the plastic armor. His infectious grin coaxes a smile out of me as well. “Good Sir Knight. Care to armor up so we can get a move on?”
He slips the helmet onto his head and throws me a salute. “Verily, it shall be an honor to escort such a beautiful maiden to the Planet of Daily!”
“Oh, knock it off,” I scold, but it's hard to sound stern when laughing so hard.
**********
My gallant knight and I arrive at the ball, where Perry is dressed as The King—Elvis, that is. Jimmy's costume is a little harder for me to figure out: coveralls, a fake mustache, and a bright red hat. He reaches us before Perry does and grins up at us. “Mama mia! It's-a Princess Lois and Sir CK!”
Clark raises the helmet's visor and returns his smile. “Hey, Jimmy. Um, what exactly are you supposed to be?”
“What, seriously?” Jimmy blinks at us. “It's-a Me: Mario! The plumber who fights monsters and rescues the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom! You guys really need to play more videogames.”
Perry hands Jimmy an empty cup. “Jimmy, why don't you plumb me up some more punch and then see if you can rescue the secretary pool from Ralph?” Jimmy scampers off, and Perry smiles at us. “Lois. Clark. Glad you two could make it. Mr. Stern wants this shindig to be bigger than Elvis's first Vegas concert; it'd be hard to pull that off if our top reporting team were no-shows.”
It always feels good when Perry calls me the top reporter, but I try not to let it show too much. The fact that I now technically share the title with Clark doesn't bother me as much as I once thought it would.
Clark beams. “Wouldn't miss it for the world, Chief!”
Perry excuses himself, and we make our way to the dance floor. A live band is playing, and we join several other coup—*pairs of people*— in swaying to the music. I really need to think about something other than our relationship status; Jimmy's costume comes to mind. “A plumber who rescues a mushroom princess, huh? Is it just me, or are videogames very weird?”
Clark laughs. “Well, no weirder than fairy-tales are, I guess. Let's see; there was the one where a frog turns back into a prince by being thrown against the wall...”
I raise an eyebrow at him. “Oh? I thought it was from being kissed.”
“Nope.” He gives me a little spin, and then I'm back in his arms. “In the original version, the princess has enough of his shenanigans and throws him clear across the room. Slap! Poof! And suddenly he's a prince again.”
I can't help but laugh. “Now that sounds more like my kind of story!”
Clark seems lost in thought. “Then you've got your classic glass slippers and pumpkin coaches that are only good until midnight...”
The corners of my mouth twitch. “A talking mirror that rats out seven short miners, and poison cured by kissing.”
His eyes seem to dance, and I find myself grateful that the visor on his helmet is still up. “How about living with a beast who's very touchy about his roses?”
“Fairy-tale princesses seem to have odd lives, don't they?” Then again, I'm one to talk. My life wasn't exactly hum-drum even before Superman flew into it.
Clark's grin broadens. “Apparently so, at least when they're not locked up in towers.”
We're quiet for a while, just moving with the music. “That was almost my life,” I murmur half to myself.
He looks at me in confusion. “What?”
“Being locked in a tower.” I look up into his eyes. “I've been doing a lot of thinking, ever since...Lex.”
His face clouds over at that name, and I don't blame him.
I take a deep breath, the memories making me shudder. “I've had a lot of time to reflect on things that I didn't notice in the moment: little things, like how every date was in his territory, surrounded by his kind of people; never anything involving my own usual places or my own peers. At the time, I thought that was part of the appeal. After all, Prince charming on his white charger is supposed to take the maiden away to his castle, not move into the pig farm with her.”
Clark snorts.
“But then...” I shut my eyes, as if that could somehow shield me. “He completely destroyed the Planet, the job I loved, where I had made a name for myself and where I had people who respected me. He drove a wedge between me and my friends.” I look up at Clark again. “I even found out later that he'd made Lucy feel like she wouldn't be welcome at the wedding. Clark, he planted the idea that I thought she was beneath me and that I wouldn't ever want to see her again!”
His eyebrows shoot up at that.
“He was isolating me.” The realization still sends a cold shiver up my spine. “He systematically took away every piece of support I had. Well, he tried to, anyway.” Clark's grip on me tightens ever so slightly. “Years ago, when I did some articles on domestic violence, I learned that the first thing abusers often do to their victims is to disconnect them from everything and everyone, so that they'll have no one to run to once the beating starts.”
Clark winces. “Oh, Lois...” He pulls me closer, one hand coming up to cradle my cheek. “I could never have allowed that monster to do that to you. I swear, even if you had married him and he'd lived to gloat about it, I would have done everything in my power—”
“I know.” I lean further into his hand and look into those beautiful, compassionate eyes. “From what I hear, you *did* do everything in your power. Henderson had a lot to say about you after...everything.” My hands slide up his arms and onto the shoulders of that plastic breastplate. “Of course, even if you hadn't brought the cavalry, Lex still wouldn't have won that day. I stopped the wedding.”
He stills for a moment. “What?” The visor on his helmet slips down, but he quickly raises it again, staring at me with a confused expression.
I swallow, remembering his confession back when I had nearly told him this before. He'd gone first, saving me a world of embarrassment; but now, it's probably time he knew. “When the archbishop asked me if I took this man, I said I couldn't. From the moment I put on that bridal gown and stared at myself in the mirror, all I could think about was...someone else.” I look away from him, my heart slamming against my chest.
His shoulders sag beneath my hands, and his voice is soft. “Superman.”
“No.” The word comes out as barely more than a whisper, and I wonder if he can even hear me over the music. “You.” I close my eyes, not wanting to see whatever is now in his. Incredulity? Amusement? Pity? I don't need to know. I rush my next words out so the awkwardness won't last too long. “I realize you didn't really feel that way about me then. It's okay. When or why that started to change doesn't really matter, but—”
“I lied.” His grip on me tightens again.
“I know. You were just trying to keep me away from—”
“No.”
I finally open my eyes and risk a glance at Clark. He looks like he's...crying?
“At the wedding.” His voice is hoarse. “I shouldn't have done it, but I thought... I thought I was doing the right thing by taking it back. You needed a friend, and I thought that was all you wanted, so I tried to be that for you.”
I gasp as his meaning sinks in. Something glistens in the corner of his eye, and I reach up to brush it away.
“The truth is, I loved you from the day you stormed into my interview with Perry. I never stopped loving you. I just...didn't want to ruin everything if you couldn't love me back.”
“Oh, Clark!” I stare at my knight in plastic armor, and the truth is as clear to me now as it was when I stood in front of the mirror on what had nearly become the worst day of my life. “I do love you back!”
The breastplate over his chest is uncomfortably hard as he pulls me close, but his lips are soft and warm against mine, which makes it an even trade. When we finally break the kiss, we stay in each other's arms, swaying gently to whatever the band is playing. I rest my head on his shoulder.
An absurd thought crosses my mind, and the laugh escapes before I can stop it.
I sense more than see Clark's confusion. “Lois? What's so funny?”
I shake my head. “Just...we're *really* behind on having that first date now, aren't we?”
After a moment, his chest rumbles with laughter beneath the plastic, and his arms around me tighten.
All that worry about dating and relationship-labeling suddenly seems so pointless. Whatever happens next, I know that right now, I'm with the man I love; a man who loves me back. All is right in the world.
Happily Ever After
