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Joined: Apr 2023
Posts: 569 Likes: 89
Columnist
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Columnist
Joined: Apr 2023
Posts: 569 Likes: 89 |
Happy Ficlet Friday! This is the requested part 2 of the Pizza Run series. Part 1 is located here.For the first time, I'm posting a story/series that is not finished, with no idea what happens in the end, so welcome to that ride! Pizza Run was supposed to be a one-shot so much that I almost wrote 'No Sequel' in the FDK. But with my other stories all at very angsty, love-lorn, high impact, will-they-or-won't-they moments, it's sort of nice to have a low-stakes fun alternate reality as a little writing romp available. Y'all pretty much outlined this one, so what should happen here, as, presumably, Lois tortures Clark? No beta on this one, so any mistakes are my own! I don't mind having them pointed out, since I'll plan to submit this to the archive. And of course, any other comments are really lovely. Comments from Pizza Run led directly to this story, so feel free to go off! (No, really, help!) Thanks for reading! P.S. I cannot believe this terrible title is now a series name. What have I done? 
Looking forward to this summer's Location Challenge! Looks like stories are due around August 1st, and then polls open for voting! And don't forget about the 2026 fundraiser! Head over to the Fundraising page to donate or consider adding a story to the Keepsake Collection fundraising drive!
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Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 584 Likes: 69
Columnist
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Columnist
Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 584 Likes: 69 |
Thank you! I love this series! It’s fun but I feel sorry for Clark. I liked Jimmy’s reply when Lois asked him what he would do if he found out that his best friend had been lying to him for a year. Clark might just be Jimmy’s best friend so his reply shows some maturity and compassion though he’s known longer than Lois so he’s been able to process what he’s feeling.
“I guess I’d want to know if it was a good reason.”
I had to laugh at how Lois was softening as she ate the pizza. I hope she doesn’t make Clark suffer too much and of course, I hope they end up together at the end. I can’t wait to see what happens next! Thank you!
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Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 584 Likes: 69
Columnist
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Columnist
Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 584 Likes: 69 |
P.S. I like the series title! It’s as fun as the series!
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Joined: Dec 2024
Posts: 201 Likes: 46
Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Dec 2024
Posts: 201 Likes: 46 |
“I guess I’d want to know if it was a good reason,” Jimmy replied warily.
She seemed to think about that.
“Well, that’s what you would do. That’s not what I would do.”
Yay! I love it. It’s going to be fun to see Lois taking advantage of her partner’s super abilities while he doesn't know she knows. Also, I'm looking forward to reading the angsty stories you mentioned. Although I must confess I'm a little afraid the pain might be too much for me to handle XD Keep up the good work!
Stories are written by the victors.
(Hmm, come to think of it, that's not the exact quote...)
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,029 Likes: 1
Kerth
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Kerth
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,029 Likes: 1 |
Delightful. Really fun. I hope to see more.
BTW, I expect he went west for the Pizza as I'm sure Italy's pizza places were also closed. "nearing midnight" Italy is about 6 hours ahead of Metropolis, I doubt there are many open pizza places at 6:00-7:00 AM. Honolulu is about 5 hours behind Metropolis, thus 7:00 to 8:00 PM, so many open pizza places.
Framework4
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 4,135 Likes: 79
Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 4,135 Likes: 79 |
The Long Run indeed! “Well, that’s what you would do. That’s not what I would do.”
He gulped at her tone. “What would you do?”
Lois leaned back in her chair, still smiling in a feral way, as if she had feathers between her teeth.
“I think I’d make him pay,” she said, as if relishing the idea.
Jimmy winced.
Feathers! When I read that I was done!! Clark might as well 'fess up, otherwise Lois is gonna make him suffer!  Hmmm, maybe after some more good pizza....
Morgana
A writer's job is to think of new plots and create characters who stay with you long after the final page has been read. If that mission is accomplished than we have done what we set out to do, which is to entertain and hopefully educate.
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,016 Likes: 99
Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,016 Likes: 99 |
Uh oh, Clark is in trouble.
It's never too dark to be cool. 
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,209 Likes: 45
Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,209 Likes: 45 |
Oh this continues to be wonderful! That description of the pizza had me salivating, btw. So amazing to have Lois and Jimmy know without Clark knowing they know. What is Lois going to do to him? I must know!
~•~
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Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 209 Likes: 33
Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 209 Likes: 33 |
Clark looked at Jimmy.
Jimmy watched Lois.
Clark looked back to her.
The clock on the wall had never ticked so loudly.
BAHAHAHAHA! She smiled at him like a cat that had gotten the canary. “I’m not sure just yet. What would you do if you found out your best friend had been lying to you for over a year?”
“I guess I’d want to know if it was a good reason,” Jimmy replied warily.
She seemed to think about that.
“Well, that’s what you would do. That’s not what I would do.”
Jimmy is such a fanboy of Clark & Superman. I bet he was all "Way to go, CK!" when he figured it out. “The Mona Pizza? Dough Re Mi? Slice of Life? Little Italy? Pie Hole? Slice, Slice, Baby? Cheesy Does It?”
I'm totally ordering a pizza tonight. This was hilarious! Love the dynamics between Jimmy and Lois and poor clueless Clark. Can't wait to read the next one.
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Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 9,399 Likes: 76
Boards Chief Administrator Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Boards Chief Administrator Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 9,399 Likes: 76 |
Hi Evie! Let’s do some more running  “Oh, uh, they, um— it was going to take a while, so I thought I’d come back and just, uh, review a couple more pages, you know, since you were worried about getting through it all tonight, and then it’s just a few blocks down, so I thought I’d just go back and pick it up.”
So, late at night, probably not too many customers. Three pizzas, a nice charcoal stove, 30 seconds per pizza vs. jogging several blocks.  Sounds fishy to me. LOIS:  Silence.
Clark looked at Jimmy.
Jimmy watched Lois.
Clark looked back to her.
The clock on the wall had never ticked so loudly.
“So…” she said calmly.
“So…?” he asked, as if waiting for a guillotine to fall.
“So go review them,” she said, gesturing to his desk.
Oh, she’s going to play the dumb blonde, is she? LOIS: He does prefer women of the fair-haired persuasion. I do wonder, however, if you’re going to be able to uphold the charade as long as *some* other author did in their night-long fic about a Lois and a Clark pretending she doesn’t know  “Lois, aren’t you going to—“ the gopher started.
“Jimmy, don’t you have a bank account you’re supposed to be hacking into?” she interrupted sweetly.
Yes, the young gopher still has a lot to learn about the more vengeful sex. The scanner, which had been quiet, suddenly crackled to life. “All available units, there is a 211A at Fen Wick Jewelry and Gold on 3rd Avenue.”
Oh, look, the pizza’s just about ready! “That pizza must be ready by now. I’ll just head over and pick it up.”
/checks box/ “No, we’re going to catch him. And we need to hurry up if we’re going to make it before he gets back!”
 What are you up to now? Have Lois tell them to put some special message on the pizza in topings? Lois listened to the voicemail for “The Mozzarella Fellas,” which was confirming, in a heavy and cheesily false Italian accent, that the last pizza place near them, seven blocks out, had also closed two hours ago.
 I did not expect this. Thought for sure they’d find a couple of 24/7 pizza-box stores. Lois leaned back in her chair, still smiling in a feral way, as if she had feathers between her teeth.
“I think I’d make him pay,” she said, as if relishing the idea.
So, no nookie for him tonight? LOIS: I said ‘make *him* pay’! “Remind me where you went again?” she asked Clark, who was headed down the ramp into the bullpen.
“Oh, it was a place just a few blocks down.”
“The Mozzarella Fellas?” she asked.
It’s that little mom-and-pop shop in the back room of the building with the red lantern over the entrance. They’re not listed in the yellow pages. “The Mona Pizza? Dough Re Mi? Slice of Life? Little Italy? Pie Hole? Slice, Slice, Baby? Cheesy Does It?”
Ah, didn’t you ask for the names of Italian places a couple of weeks back? “Yeah,” she pushed, as if she’d hit on something. “The receipt. I’m sure the name would be on the receipt.”
 There was a stack of napkins still in Clark’s palm and his hand tensed around it.
“Uh, I don’t think I grabbed it,” he stuttered.
“That’s a shame,” she replied dryly, intentionally not looking at the pile of napkins she was now sure the receipt was hiding under.
Great touch! Because if there wasn’t a pizza place open in Metropolis, she had a good guess as to the next logical place to find a pizza was.
L.A.? Because no Italian pizza place would open at…let’s say 8:00 or 9:00 am (since it's midnight in Metropolis, 6:00 to 7:00 am)? “The box,” she said innocently. “All the writing on it is in Italian.”
It’s a marketing gag in Hollywood. Just as an ‘i’ at the end of everyi wordi, youi knowi? Dropping into her chair, she bit into the pizza like it had betrayed her.
It tasted so good that she nearly forgave him on the spot.
Really fun juxtaposition! She didn’t even have the ire left to shoot him the look she usually reserved for traitors.
Just think of him with Mayson in the woods while you’re stuck taking care of a blind Superman. LOIS:  Lois swallowed and took another bite, grudgingly letting herself be soothed by the best version of her favorite comfort food she’d ever had.
Wait, what? He made her cheat on Rocky Roads ice cream? She opened her eyes, pulled out of the overly indulgent moment she was sharing with her straight-from-Italy-slice-of-pizza and looked at him.
She could retaliate by dating a man from Italian descent. Daniel Scardino: God, the man had just put out an apartment fire, responded to a burglary alarm, and then gotten her the best pizza she’d probably ever had.
[…]
He smiled, genuinely for the first time in hours, and she took another bite of her perfectly palatable pizza.
Another bit of ambivalence  She wouldn’t make him miserable tonight.
In a good mood, she knew, Clark would get much further in reading through all those boring financial documents that she hated putting so much time into.
Oh boy. She’s not got a secret weapon to finishing her work early. And to torturing Clark. She wouldn’t torture Clark tonight, she decided, thinking ahead to the long run.
Because there was always tomorrow.
 Another fine title reference Michael Edit: Since you mentioned *early* season two, they might not have met Mayson yet. And the Blind Man Is Buff(sic) is some more episodes away still. But Lois still playing along would be hilarious and sad when it gets to that point. Also, if you stretch it all the way to Tempus Fugitive?
Last edited by Darth Michael; 05/19/26 10:01 AM.
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,882 Likes: 12
Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,882 Likes: 12 |
“Oh, uh, they, um— it was going to take a while, so I thought I’d come back and just, uh, review a couple more pages, you know, since you were worried about getting through it all tonight, and then it’s just a few blocks down, so I thought I’d just go back and pick it up.”
LMAO NO ~ He picked up a page and gestured at her with it, proof that he was reviewing, an uneasy smile on his face, before looking down at the page.
I can just picture this!!  The scanner, which had been quiet, suddenly crackled to life. “All available units, there is a 211A at Fenwick Jewelry and Gold on 3rd Avenue.”
Lois froze, but Clark immediately stood, his chair scraping the floor overly loudly in the pregnantly quiet room.
“That pizza must be ready by now. I’ll just head over and pick it up.”
DEAD, I AM DEAD ~ “Where did you say it was?” she followed up.
“Just uh, a couple of blocks down.” He gestured weakly in one direction, then the opposite, backing toward the stairwell door.
“Two blocks down?” Lois tried to pinpoint.
“Three, um, maybe four. I’ll be right back, before you know it,” Clark said as he escaped out the door.
He is so fried “Well, that’s what you would do. That’s not what I would do.”
LMAO peak Lois! The names of these Italian places!! I love them!! “Uh, wow, Lois,” Clark said, depositing the box on his desk. “You’re really up on the local pizzerias, huh?”
“I order out a lot,”
The dialogue is just top notch! Gotta love Clark's insistence not to flat-out lie xD And Jimmy's behaviour all throughout poor kid! Dropping into her chair, she bit into the pizza like it had betrayed her.
It tasted so good that she nearly forgave him on the spot.
The contrast! *g* God, the man had just put out an apartment fire, responded to a burglary alarm, and then gotten her the best pizza she’d probably ever had.
Aww ❤ he really is super! I'm curious about tomorrow!! This was so much fun, a perfect accompaniment to the first story! Thank you for sharing!! ❤❤❤
What we've got here is failure to communicate...
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