Welcome to the 2026 Kerth Quiz: Best Kiss 
SPIFFY DISCLAIMER THINGY!: All the stories featured in this quiz qualify for the Best Kiss story, but this quiz is not a stamp of recommendation for nomination. There are more fantastic stories which qualify for this category, but this quiz only covers 6 randomly chosen ones.
(Instructions are blatantly copied/linked from previous Kerth Quizzes.)CATEGORY: Keep in mind that this quiz highlights a specific category to help remind us of which stories had kisses, revelations, new characters, etc. They help when voting since sometimes categories (like kiss and waffy and even dramatic) can start to feel like they overlap, but they do all have specific distinctions! And you’ll want to nomination and vote based on what best matches each category!
- This quiz is Best Kiss story: “Since the invention of the kiss there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind.” Which kiss left them all behind this year? Keep in mind, this category isn’t about best romance, per say, but specifically the best, swooniest, most toe-curling or most meaningful kiss that you just couldn’t forget!
RECOMMENDATIONS: Don't forget that recommendations for other favorite eligible stories are *very* welcome and encouraged! So don't forget to add these in a section after your guesses!
QUIZ RULES: One point each for getting the story and author from the quote. Plus, shiny gold stars for those who recognize their own stories. Please don't forget to mention which number you're answering. Rule recap: Open hard drive and open boards (+AO3!), *don't* forget to snip out the excerpts in your replies, and don't forget the spoiler tag when you post in the replies thread.
The DEADLINE for entries for this quiz is SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2026, by 11:59 p.m (Eastern Time Zone), which is when the next quiz will be posted.
Here’s the full list of
Eligible Stories.
Here are the full quiz instructions:
Countdown to Kerth Quizzes Extended Instructions and Disclaimers.
Please post your answers
HERE.
Good luck!
Evie
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EXCERPT #1:He’d been forced to hide his identity for so long, he couldn’t seem to get rid of the fear and anxiety he always felt his otherness was remarked on or commented on. Most people treated him like a celebrity and some even like a God. Those reactions always made him uncomfortable because he knew he was completely unworthy of either of those reactions. But some people also regarded him with suspicion and sometimes even fear or mistrust. Not once did anyone ever just…look at him.
But that’s exactly what Lois was doing. She was looking at him. Not with reverence or fear. Whatever fear she’d had seemed to evaporate with the truth. She looked at him now as if seeing for the first time. Aside from his parents, nobody had ever done that before. Not even the other Lois.
Before he knew what was happening, she was wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him close. Their lips met tentatively at first then with increasing intensity. She seemed to fit against his body like a glove and the warmth that seemed to exist between them had fanned into a flame. He wound his hands through her hair – windswept from the flight – as he deepened the kiss. She whimpered against his lips, running her hands down his shoulders until they settled on his chest. Every touch felt like an electric current running all throughout his body. It was the most intense feeling he’d ever had.
And he never wanted it to end.
But it had to. In the back of his mind he knew that this couldn’t go any further, especially not in the middle of HG Wells’ backyard. Knowing he might not be able to stay in control of himself if he allowed it to continue much longer, he gently stepped back, his chest heaving with the effect she’d had on him.
She seemed equally as affected. She bit her lip as she regained her composure, her cheeks flushed and lips pink and slightly swollen from the kiss.
“I’ve wanted to do that ever since I first saw you,” he admitted, his voice rough with emotion. He needed to tell her this. “No, I think I’ve wanted to do that for far longer than that.”
EXCERPT #2:Your voice is barely audible, fragile in the stillness. “I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you for that.”
Before you can say more, I touch your hand and point at the notebook, urging gently, “Turn the page.”
You hesitate - just a second - then slowly flip to the next one. And there, in the same bold letters, you find the second message.
You stare at the words:
I love you.
Your breath catches. I see it in your eyes - the shift, the realization. That everything I did, everything I risked, came from that place in me where you’ve always lived. Where you never left.
For a long time, you don’t say anything. Just rest your gaze on the notebook, letting the truth settle in. Then, with quiet care, you close it and look at me.
Tears glisten in your eyes.
I smile, my voice trembling but certain. “You don’t have to thank me, Clark. Just stay. That’s all I want. Just… stay with me.”
Your expression softens, and you step closer until your forehead rests gently against mine. Your voice is barely a breath. “Always. I’m not going anywhere. Not ever.”
And then - slowly, almost shyly - you close the space between us.
I close my eyes.
When your lips meet mine, the world tilts and stills all at once. It’s soft and sure and full of everything we never had the chance to say. Everything we fought for.
When we finally pull apart, I let out a shaky breath and whisper, almost to myself, almost like a farewell:
“Goodbye, Mad Dog Lane.”
Because I don’t need the armor anymore.
You’re here.
And I’m home.
EXCERPT #3:Clark spends the next half hour working the crowd, trying to find a way back to the Getting Lois Alone plan. The band fires up, it's an old standard. Fly Me to the Moon again. He needs to talk to her. She catches his eye, he knows she's thinking the same. He pushes his way through the surrounding crowd, as politely as he can, and gently takes her elbow.
"Dance with me."
He knows her well enough to catch the flash of grateful longing that crosses her face. She nods, and he takes her hand, guiding her onto the dance floor; all eyes are still on them, as if this is their reception and this is their first dance.
"This…isn't dancing," she says, her eyes twinkling with his.
And god, he's certain she's never been more beautiful, not that night that he wished he'd come to her door instead of her window and he swept her into the air for a dance, not the night he came to her door and she took his hand by the scraggly Christmas tree. Because she knows, and she's gazing up at him with something more than deep affection, more than a superhero crush. And it makes him feel utterly, wonderfully human, because here in her eyes, he is home; this is where he belongs, and it's the most precious gift he's ever been given, to belong to this earth. And he is now certain that for the rest of the evening he will only be thinking about taking her back to their hotel room and dancing with her for real. He cups her face, guiding her soft lips to his, and she responds eagerly, kissing him so completely solidly it feels like the first time he took flight, behind the barn when he was fifteen. No, he might as well be doing barrel rolls through the swirling, majesty of the Northern Lights. Oh, Lois. He can't wait to show her those. His mind is spinning with where he wants to take her first. Paris? London? A warm, deserted island? Mmm...
It is decidedly not pretend. And it feels wonderful, and solid, and so very, headswimmingly right. He would happily spend the rest of his life kissing her. And somehow this possibility feels more alive with promise than it ever has.
He is reminded that they are already somewhat in the spotlight, and pulls back reluctantly.
"You know," he finally says breathlessly. Only she, and she alone can render him breathless.
She nods, meeting his eyes. "I know."
EXCERPT #4:I don’t know how much later it is when the feel of his lips on my forehead rouses me, but I don’t open my eyes yet, as though everything will be too real again the second I do. “This isn't fair,” I say in a hoarse whisper, my throat raw from the crying earlier.
There’s just silence for a moment, then another kiss at my temple and his fingers delicately brushing hair from my face. “It’s not,” he agrees quietly.
Eyes still closed, not ready yet, I reach toward him, and he scoops me up from the couch in a single motion, keeping the blanket around me. I tuck my face into the crook of his neck, taking comfort from his warmth and his scent.
My hand finds its way up his chest to settle on his shoulder, and I notice he’s already in a T-shirt. The suit was either dirty or he’s upset with Superman, maybe both. We’re upstairs and tucked into bed in no time at all, and I’m snuggled up next to Clark, my head on his chest and my arm draped over his stomach.
He still feels tense, and I know it sometimes takes a while for his nervous system to calm after hours-long rescues, especially ones with casualties. I hold him tighter and press a gentle kiss to his collarbone, and he squeezes me gently.
“I love you,” he says quietly, his voice a little strained.
I suspect he’s afraid to let himself relax, because even though he just flew away from devastation and loss, a more heart wrenching devastation is waiting for him here at home when he does.
“I love you too.” For a moment, I’m at a loss for what else I can say, and we lie there in silence. Clark’s hand is running up and down my arm, and I wonder if he’s doing it to comfort me, or himself. Maybe both. When I speak again, my voice is barely a whisper because maybe it’s just a wish that I don’t want to jinx by saying it aloud. But I know he can hear me. “We’ve done impossible things before . . .”
Clark inhales sharply and seems to hold his breath for a moment, and finally, he lets out a shuddering breath and I can feel the tension melt away. As he brushes a kiss on the top of my head, my own body relaxes too.
EXCERPT #5:Ten minutes later, Martha cradled the boy in her arms, rocking him as she hummed a soft tune. Doc McMillan had gathered his things and stood, his expression thoughtful, and he tilted his head toward the kitchen. Martha just nodded with a small smile and closed her eyes as Doc disappeared to join the group speaking in hushed tones in the kitchen.
She could hear bits and pieces—fragments of phrases and words that didn’t make sense without context, and so, rather than try to figure it all out, she pressed a light kiss to the top of the boy’s head and let herself relax just a little into the soft cushions of the chair. And the boy seemed to relax as well, settling into her embrace and letting out a long breath.
It wasn’t much longer before she could tell he’d fallen asleep, his breathing becoming regular and deep, and she finally opened her eyes again and looked down at him, her heart clenching. God, she…didn’t want to let him go.
The thought overpowered everything else in her mind then, and with a short, shuddering breath, she placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.
“Perfect little boy…”
“Martha…”
Jonathan’s low whisper from behind her startled her a bit, despite its softness, and she blinked twice before swiveling the rocking chair slowly, carefully, until she could see him. He stood in the doorway to the kitchen, the others sitting at the kitchen table behind him, still talking quietly amongst themselves. Doc had joined the group and was now writing something on a yellow notepad. She shifted her gaze back to her husband, and as their eyes met, she felt a wave of love and compassion from him. She pursed her lips and tried not to cry.
EXCERPT #6:“Clark—“ his name came out urgently, and she tugged him forward by the front of his coat.
And then he was kissing Lois.
He forced himself to hold back, to make it look convincing without making it feel convincing. He didn’t want to make her uncomfortable or to take advantage of the situation.
Unconsciously, his hand moved up into her hair, running his fingers along her temple and down the strands to her neck.
He tried to keep an ear out for the men passing by, but kissing her, even only for show, was dizzying.
And she was kissing him back.
He couldn’t tell if she was faking it or not, just making it look realistic to sell the deception.
He fervently hoped that she wasn’t.
But in the moment, he found that he didn’t care.
His arm tightened around her.
A wolf whistled erupted behind him, along with more laughter. His ears tracked it as the two men passed by. Their ruse was working!
But his emotions were spilling over into the kiss. He couldn’t help it. Cradling her cheek in his hand, he tilted his head, slanting his mouth tenderly against hers at a new, addicting angle.
She must not have been expecting it because she gasped, opening her mouth.
He instinctively opened his mouth to deepen the kiss, and froze.
Actually, they both froze, recognizing the line they were dangerously dancing over, knowing that the next move one of them made could take them past the point of mere deception and into electrifying but uncharted territory.
Every nerve in his body tingling at once, he didn’t move, didn’t breathe, didn’t even contemplate that this could go further.
And then Lois leaned into it.
Surprise filtered through him, followed by the white hot heat from the caress of her mouth.
She wasn’t faking it, he thought elatedly. She couldn’t be if she were kissing him like this!
It felt so right–like all the pieces of his world that had shattered the past few days aligned themselves, like his world made sense for the first time, like he was coming home – no, like he was flying. His pulse sprinted ahead. Lois had kissed him before, but only as a means to another end. This time, she meant it. Oh, god, this was what he’d been missing all his life.
Her hands threaded thickly through his hair, and his mind went blank, save for kissing her.
Good luck, everyone!
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In order to help you find all things Kerth for this year, we’ve created a TOC for all the
🏆TOC for Kerth Awards 2026 Posts🏆.
The Kerth Committee
(KSaraSara, Michael, lovetvfan, and Evie)
