In a recent thread, Ann (Toc) said that she wanted to see Lois and Superman in a relationship. This may not be exactly what you had in mind, Ann, but you did inspire it.

This is set Just after Pheromone, My Lovely.

I’d like to thank Olympe for her help with this fic.

A note about ordering pizza by email: This was a fairly new concept during the time period this is set in.

The bit about 'no anchovies' is for Sue.

I also want to say that after reading Sue’s marvelous, ‘The Naked Proof’, I struggled with leaving the bit about Clark’s belly button in this fic. In the end, I decided to leave it. Olympe can attest that I’d already written it before Sue’s fic was posted.

There is also an nfic version.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had happened right after Thanksgiving. Miss Miranda had sprayed the newsroom with ‘Revenge’. Perry had described it as Eau de Sweat Socks, and it had smelled badly, but the pheromones did just as Miss Miranda had planned. It exaggerated any feelings a person might already have towards another.

Clark had suspected that Lois had feelings for him, but she always denied it. As the ‘Revenge’ started to affect Lois, it was obvious that she *was* attracted to him. She had showered him with affection. She had performed the Dance of the Seven Veils for him. At one point she had truly used nothing but veils. Clark had been sorely tempted to take advantage of Lois. She was a beautiful woman with a beautiful body. On top of that, she was smart and sassy. Just as he had from the first moment he saw her, he loved her.

But attraction was one thing. She didn’t *really* want him. She *wanted* Superman. After he had stopped Miss Miranda from spraying the city with the pheromone at the airport, she had pretty much said so.

He clearly remembered what had happened. She had said, ‘Superman... it's a good thing that stuff doesn't have any effect on you... or does it?’ She had thought that the ‘Revenge’ hadn’t had any effect on him. And it hadn’t. He knew he shouldn’t have taken advantage of the situation, but he just couldn’t help it. He wanted to kiss her.

He had turned to her and said, ‘Lois Lane, I love you.’ And he did love her. He loved everything about her.

She had said, ‘Oh, Superman. You don't know how long I have waited to hear you say those words. But ohh… you're not yourself, so I couldn't take advantage of this situation... oh, what the...’ With that she had thrown herself into his arms and kissed him passionately.

Even though he knew that Lois was attracted to him... to Clark, he was tired of waiting for her to realize that there might be *more* than attraction. She may never realize that. So he decided to take action. If she wanted Superman, then she would have Superman. He thought long and hard about this. He had spoken to his parents. They had told him that it had to be his decision.

In the third week of December, he finally had gotten up enough courage to tell Lois of his feelings. It was lightly snowing, so her window was closed. He knocked on the window. She was, as usual, thrilled to see him. That just served to prove his point even more that she wanted Superman. She was still in high heels and was wearing a business suit. She was beautiful. He presented her with a dozen roses tied up in a Christmas bow.

Lois smiled at him. “Oh, Superman. The roses are beautiful. Umm… but what’s the occasion?” She turned toward her kitchen. “Let me get a vase for these.”

He closed the window and sat down on her couch. He didn’t think he had ever been so nervous. After she put the roses in a vase, she sat across from him. He smiled. “Lois…” He patted the couch. “Please sit with me.”

She nervously sat beside him. She didn’t ever remember seeing Superman act so happy… or so nervous.

He cleared his throat. “Lois. Do you remember what happened at the airport?”

She blushed, then babbled, “Oh, yes… of course I do. Oh, Superman, please forgive me for taking advantage of you. You know how impulsive I can be. I do hope you don’t think I’m a horrible person. I..”

He put his fingers against her lips. “You are so cute when you babble.” He paused. “Lois, it was I who took advantage of the situation. The pheromones did not affect me.” He stopped, letting that sink in before he continued. “Some might say that Superman belongs to the world and shouldn’t have a relationship… but… but I want to belong to you, Lois. I love you.”

Lois pursed her lips. “Superman… Are you sure you aren’t having some kind of delayed reaction. I… I don’t even know your name. I hardly know you… not really.”

Clark smiled. “No delayed reaction, Lois. I was never affected at all. I’m just tired of pretending that I don’t want this. Because I do.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers.

She, too, leaned forward and eagerly returned and deepened his kiss. She laid her hand softly against his cheek. “I love you, too.” She then brushed her fingers across his lips and was amazed at the trembling she caused in him. It was a heady feeling knowing that Superman wanted her.

He swallowed hard. He wasn’t ready to tell her that he was Clark. Maybe that would come in time. Maybe it wouldn’t. For now he was content in the knowledge that Lois loved him… loved Superman. “My name is Kal-El, Lois.”

She softly repeated his name. “Kal-El.” From her mouth, it sounded like a caress. She shakily brushed her fingers through his hair. “I… well… I think we need to get to know each other better.” He nodded. “I’m hungry and was about to order pizza. Are you hungry?”

He smiled at her again. “Yeah, I am hungry. I missed lunch today because of that hostage situation over on the east side. If you’d like something other than pizza, I can go anywhere you know.”

She shook her head no. “No, I really want pizza.” She stood up. “Well, I… I’m going to change into something more comfortable. These shoes are killing me, and this suit is uncomfortable. Why don’t you order the pizza?”

He noted that she had some coupons laying out for the place down the street. It was her favorite pizza place. He called to her, “Lois, what do you want on your pizza?”

She answered, “Oh, whatever. Get your choice.” He wondered if he should take a chance and order what she usually got.

Fortunately, when the guy at the other end answered, he said, “Hey, Miss Lane, it’s Fred. Will you have the usual?” The pizza place obviously had caller-ID and Fred must have assumed that Lois was the one calling. He had been surprised to hear a man’s voice.

Clark was pretty hungry. He decided to order her usual plus extra. And he didn’t have to worry about his ‘usual’ because he always ordered something different. He answered, “Yeah, I’ll take her usual, and then some.” He gave an additional order to ‘Fred’. “Thanks, Fred.” When Lois walked out, she was dressed in a sweatshirt and sweatpants. She shrugged, almost embarrassed, but he thought she was adorable. He smiled. “I ordered extra. I hope that’s okay. And I got your usual.”

In amazement, she asked, “How…”

He raised an eyebrow. “Fred answered. I guess he knew what your usual is.”

“Fred? Oh, yeah… Fred. I think they keep records on their computer or something. Very high-tech. He says it’s the wave of the future. He seems to think that eventually we will even be able to order by email.” She rolled her eyes revealing how ridiculous she thought that was.

~~~~~

When the pizza arrived, Clark gave Lois the money to pay for it. When she sat everything down on the coffee table, she said, “Who would have thought that you carried money.”

“It’s necessary. Don’t you think?”

She started to ask him if he worked - how he got his money, but she didn’t want to scare him away. This was her dream come true. She didn’t want to push him. She simply answered, “Yes, it is.”

When they had finished eating, she grinned broadly. “I can’t believe how much you eat. I bet you burn all of that off, too, don’t you?” She rolled her eyes.

He chuckled. “Yeah, I guess I have a pretty high metabolism.”

They talked far into the night and made plans for the next day. Everything had been perfect. Finally, at 2:00 am, Clark stood up. “I… should go. You have to go to work in the morning.” He thought to himself that he did, too.

She touched her hand to his and matched the size of her hand to his larger one. She decided to venture a small question about his job. She was sure he must have one. “I bet you have to go to work, too, don’t you?”

He nodded and bit his lip. “Yes, I do have a job.” He gave her another kiss and turned toward the window. He opened it and watched as she closed it. He smiled and took off.

He flew straight home, marveling that all had been quiet that evening in Metropolis. He slept better than he had in ages.

Lois, on the other hand, lay awake a long time. All she could do was smile because Superman was all hers. She wondered about his job. He’d have to have some kind of job where he could easily get away. Was he a policeman? A physician? A rich philanthropist? Finally, she also drifted off into a sweet dreamland.

~~~~~

The next day at work, Clark watched Lois. He was pleased to see that she was so happy. He was sure now that he had made the right choice.

Twice that day he had to leave for minor emergencies. And just as he was ready to keep their date, he had to go put out a fire. It wasn’t a big one, but it was messy and left his suit soiled and smelly. He decided to go on to Lois’ apartment. He was already twenty minutes late. When she opened the window, he shrugged. “Sorry, I’m such a mess, but I didn’t want to be any later.” He bit his lip. “And I couldn’t wait another moment to see you.”

She bit her lip. “I saw it on the news. You wanted to cook hamburgers for us. How about you take a quick shower and I’ll start getting everything ready. I’ll let *you* do the actual cooking though. There’s a robe hanging in the bathroom you can use. Then we’ll wash your suit. Okay?”

“I should probably go home…” Then he thought, ‘What the heck.’ He smiled lovingly at her and nodded his head in agreement.

When Lois heard the water running in her bathroom, it took everything within her to not open the door and join him in the shower. But she was afraid of scaring him away. He was so shy. She didn’t want to push him away.

As Clark stood under the warm flowing water he fantasized that Lois might actually join him in the shower. He smiled. No, he was sure she wasn’t ready for that yet. He stepped out of the shower and quickly dried off. He did not find the promised robe though. He called, “Lois… There’s no robe in here.” She didn’t answer. He sighed and wrapped a towel around his hips. Since he knew she had seen him as Clark in nothing but a towel, he threw one around his shoulders, too. It was large and hung over his chest. He walked into the kitchen. She had her back turned and was fixing vegetables to go with their hamburgers. He touched her on the shoulder.

“Oh, I didn’t expect you so soon.” She turned around and gasped. “Oh.. my… I..”

He smiled. ”Umm… Yeah, I can take fast showers. There wasn’t a robe. I called but you must have not heard me.”

Flustered, she answered, “Oh.. umm… I’m sorry.” She rushed past him. She came out of the bedroom carrying the robe. “Sorry… I forgot… Here…” Her eyes drifted to the towel around his hips. Oh, my how she’d love to reach out and rip that towel off his hips. She quickly turned back to the vegetables to hide her blush.

~~~~~

Clark returned to the bathroom and quickly donned the robe. He came back out holding his suit out away from him. “Hmm… Lois, where is your washing machine? I need to get this washed right way in case of an emergency.” Clark knew perfectly well where her washing machine was, but he didn’t want to be obvious.

“Oh, it’s right here… in the kitchen.” She pointed to the washing machine. “The soap and stuff is in that cabinet.”

Thinking of how she had looked at him, he said huskily, “Thanks, Lois.” After he had put the suit into the washing machine, he came up behind Lois again. He bent down and kissed her neck.

She leaned back into his arms and inhaled the scent of his freshly washed body… his body… Ooohh….

He whispered in her ear, “I bet you are hungry… aren’t you?”

“Unh-huh… Definitely.”

Lois smiled and thought she had a different idea about that than he did.

“Umm….” Clark swallowed hard. He needed to turn away from Lois and he needed to do so quickly or she might realize just how much she had affected him. He grabbed a skillet and quickly began to cook the hamburgers that Lois had already placed there.

She joked, “That heat vision comes in handy, doesn’t it?”

He blushed ever so slightly. “Yeah.. it does. Lois, I was wondering… What are your plans for Christmas? Are you going to see your parents? Lucy?”

She shook her head no. “Lucy is spending Christmas with some guy. I don’t know what mom and dad are doing. I usually don’t see any of them at Christmas time.”

He smiled. “I… well, I have to make a visit home, but I can make it quick. I want to spend the time with you. I thought maybe for Christmas Eve, we could fly around and see some of the spectacular light displays around the country.”

She looked up at him happily. “Oh, I’d love that. It sounds marvelous.”

He smiled and kissed her forehead. “The burgers are ready. Let’s eat.”

After they ate, his suit had completed the wash cycle. Lois was curious, so she took it out of the washer herself. She held the cape up. “So that’s how you put this on.” She started to put it in the dryer.”

He took her hand. “I’ll dry it. It’s faster. Can I borrow your iron?”

She was surprised. “You *iron* the suit?”

He shrugged. “Well, usually just the cape. Sometimes I have to iron the ‘S’, also.” He quickly dried the suit. He went to her bedroom and quickly donned the suit - minus the cape. When he walked back out, Lois had the ironing board set up for him. She was plugging the iron in for him.

As he started ironing the cape Lois watched him. The man made ironing his cape one of the sexiest things she had ever seen. It almost took her breath away. Finally, she found her voice. “You said you had to make a visit home?”

His eyes danced. “Yes, I have to see my mom and dad.”

“I thought your parents were dead.” She took a deep breath. “Oh, you obviously have adoptive parents. Yes, that makes sense.” He nodded. She continued, “Clark’s adopted, too. I’ve heard him say that the two of you have a lot in common. I guess that must be one of them.”

“Yeah. Yeah, it is.” He picked up the now ironed cape and returned to Lois’ bedroom to put it on.

She chuckled, thinking about how shy he was.

This time they again talked until late. Finally, though, even though she was struggling not to, she fell asleep. Clark picked her up and carried her to bed. He kissed sweetly then left. He couldn’t believe his good fortune. Two evenings with Lois Lane and he had not been interrupted by any emergencies. He smiled as he flew home. He wished that he could have stayed.

But alas, he wasn’t able to make it home. There had been a huge avalanche in Park City, Utah and a lot of people had been skiing. Fortunately, due to his quick action and the action of rescue workers, no one had died, but there were some serious injuries. It had taken him half the night to make sure that no one was left buried in the snow. He finally dropped into bed, exhausted, in the wee hours of the morning. He hardly got any sleep.

~~~~~

The next evening, Clark and Lois were on a stakeout. They were both miserable. She wanted to be with Superman and she didn’t know that she was. He wanted to be with her *as* Superman. Finally, he said, “Lois, let’s just give up on this whole thing. We are both bored out of our minds.”

She sighed. “Oh, all right. Let’s get out of here.” She started the car and dropped Clark off at his apartment before driving home herself.

Even though it was late - after eleven o’clock, Clark decided to go to Lois’ apartment. He was there by the window when she walked in. She immediately let him in. He caressed her cheek. “Lois, I know it’s late and you’re tired, but I just wanted to say good night.” He kissed her sweetly and gently.

She looked up at him tenderly. “You put me in bed last night. Thanks.” She lightly blushed thinking how she wished he had stayed.

Clark kissed her again then said, “It’s Christmas Eve tomorrow. Pick you up at seven?”

She nodded. “Seven.”

He tipped her face up towards him. “I love you, Lois.”

She smiled. “I love you, too, Kal. Is it okay if I just say Kal?”

He nodded. It was obvious that she had pleased him. He would never have thought to separate the name, but he liked it. He turned and left through the open window.

~~~~~

Clark ended up being out nearly all night. It was icy and there had been several accidents. There had been two fires. No one had been seriously hurt, but it had taken up his night. He got home just in time to take a shower and change clothes before he had to go to work. Even though it was Christmas Eve, he and Lois still had to work. The news didn’t stop on the holidays. And he had several Superman rescues and a Superman ‘interview’ to write up. And fortunately, Perry had given up on the idea of them doing any more stakeouts until after Christmas.

Later when he was sitting at his desk, he nearly fell asleep. For once, it was Lois who brought him coffee. “Clark, you look awful. Are you sick?”

He mumbled, “Just tired. But I got an interview with Superman last night.”

She pouted. “I wonder why he didn’t give the interview to me?”

“Well, Lois… I was there. It was an interview of opportunity.”

“Hmm… yeah. You’re right.” She brightened. “Did he mention me?”

“He didn’t say much. He was pretty busy.”

“Yeah, he works pretty hard.”

~~~~~

It was a quiet day at work which made it all the harder for Clark to stay awake. And now, as much as he wanted to sleep, he was still there right at seven o’clock to pick Lois up. Her smile at seeing him made his day.

“Oh, Kal. You look so tired. Clark said you were out all night.” He nodded. She rubbed the side of his cheek. “You want to stay in tonight? I can order pizza.”

He nodded. “Yeah, that would be good. Pizza.”

She ran her fingers through his hair. “What do you want?”

He waved his hand. “Anything… but anchovies.” He sat down and lay his head back against the couch. He muttered, mostly to himself, “Just five minutes. Just…”

Lois sat and watched him sleep. He was a handsome man… awake or asleep. An hour later, the pizza arrived. She woke him up. He quietly ate half a pizza. Lois said, worriedly, “Are you okay?”

He shook his head once. “I’m sorry, Lois. I’m just… so tired. Two nights without sleep…” He rubbed his forehead.

She stood up and took his hand. “Come with me.”

He was dazed. “What?”

She smiled and nodded encouragingly. “Come with me. I’m putting you to bed.”

“No, Lois. I couldn’t… I…”

“Shhh…. Hush.” She pulled him into her bedroom and quickly turned down the covers. She lightly pushed him into a sitting position. “Now, I want you to get some sleep.”

He nodded numbly and pulled his boots off. Fifteen minutes later, though, he was still awake. He couldn’t quite get comfortable in the suit. He stripped down to his underwear and then quickly fell asleep.

A while later, Lois came in to check on him. His chest was uncovered. He was magnificent. She very, nearly crawled into bed beside of him, but she restrained herself. She satisfied herself with watching him sleep. As she stood there, she lost all track of the time.

Finally, she turned and lay down on the couch. Soon, she, too, was asleep.

~~~~~

Late the next morning, Clark sat up in bed. It took him a moment to realize that he was in Lois’ bed. He had promised her a magical Christmas Eve. And what had he done? He’d fallen asleep. He took a deep breath and smelled the aroma of cooking turkey. Lois had said she was going to cook a turkey and promised that she could do so successfully. He wondered what time it was. He sat up and padded to the bathroom and splashed water on his face. He felt much better after getting some sleep. He quickly dressed and walked out to where Lois was. He found her peeling potatoes.

He put his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. He sighed. “Sorry about last night.”

She turned around to face him. “I like that you get tired, that you get dirty, and have to take showers and eat just like the rest of us. Well, at least you like to eat. I know you don’t have to.” She felt his face. “You even need a shave.”

He smiled and then kissed her sweetly and deeply. “Tell you what. I have a little gift for you that I need to retrieve. Let me run home and shower and shave, and I’ll be right back.”

She flirted. “Can’t you do that here? You can get the gift later.” She decided to be bold and pulled him close. She said huskily, “I haven’t had a shower either. Maybe we could take a shower together.”

His breath caught and he was unable to speak. He didn’t know what to say. He wanted this more than anything. But was it too soon?

Lois thought that perhaps she had asked too soon. But she felt relatively sure that he wanted what she wanted. She reached behind him and unzipped his suit.

He leaned towards her and put one hand at the small of her back. His eyes were closed and his lip trembled. “Lois, I…” He ran his tongue over his lip nervously. It was almost more than Lois could take.

She reached up and touched his lip then ran her finger just inside the edge of his mouth. She whispered. “Don’t talk. Let’s just do. Let’s start in the shower and then take it to the bedroom.”

“The… food… the turkey…” He felt breathless.

“The turkey is on, and you can help with rest later.” She pulled him toward the bathroom. Clark did not protest.

He let her slowly undress him. It was heavenly. He should probably tell her… but he was afraid she would stop. When she had him undressed, she stood waiting. With shaking hands, he began to do the same to Lois. He was shaking so badly, that he thought Lois must absolutely know that he had never done this before. This was moving faster than was maybe wise, but Clark didn’t care. He wanted this badly.

Lois smiled shyly and leaned over to turn the shower on. After a moment the water had warmed up and they both stepped into the shower. They both took a step away from each other, perusing the other’s body. Lois picked up her vanilla brown sugar liquid soap and squirted some into her hand. She added a little water and began washing Kal. She thought, ‘My god, I’m washing Superman.’ She had wanted to touch him like this from the moment she had met him. Somehow his chest seemed familiar. Had she seen it before?

Clark picked up the liquid soap and also squirted some in his hand and lathered it. He ran it over her back… her arms…

Lois grinned and decided to see if he was ticklish. He wasn’t so much… until she decided to try his belly button. He giggled. Then she found another ticklish spot at the edge of his right pectoral. She ran her hands over his wonderfully firm bottom - she wanted to get a better look at that.

“Oh, Lois… Umm…” He ran his hands down her ribs and found that she was ticklish on both sides. She giggled. He ran his hands over her bottom - he wanted a better look at that

He sighed. If he felt this wonderful from her sensual touches, would he be able to handle more?

Lois smiled and ran her hand down his chest lightly. Then she turned and began to wash her hair and finish her shower. When she was done and turned back around, she smiled at him. He smiled back. His smile was devastating. She raised an eyebrow. “You watched me take my shower. Now switch places with me and let me watch you take yours.”

He nodded numbly and stepped to the front of the shower.

After he had rinsed off, Lois then moved under the shower, too. “You gotta a little soap on me when we switched places.”

He nodded and stepped out of the shower. Softly he said, “Lois, you are amazing.” He began drying off. Lois did the same.

When he started to wrap a towel around his waist, she shook her head no. “No towel.”

He swallowed hard. “Well… I wanted to shave.”

She bit her lip and shyly smiled. “I want to watch.”

He nodded. “Hmm… Do you have a handheld mirror?”

She handed him a mirror and watched in fascination as he used heat vision to ‘shave’. When he was done, she felt his smooth face. “Much better.” She handed him a toothbrush. “I have an extra.”

They silently brushed their teeth side by side. They’d done this before - in the honeymoon suite at the Lexor - but, of course, Lois didn’t know that. This time though it was incredibly sexy. Brushing your teeth with the one you loved was wonderful.

When they were done, Lois led him to the bedroom. They both sent up silent prayers that he would not be interrupted. She lay down on the bed and silently invited him to join her.

He lay down beside her and pulled her to him. “Lois… I..” She shushed him by kissing him. He pulled back. “Lois. I really need to tell you something.”

She rubbed his cheek. She could tell this was important to him. “Okay.”

He swallowed hard. “Lois… I…” He bit his lip then whispered. “I’ve never done this before.”

She smiled and her eyes twinkled. “You are teasing me.”

He interrupted, “No, I’m serious. I’ve come right up to that point, but… I’m different. I…”

“You’ve been scared.”

He bit his lip. “Yes, but you are the first woman I’ve ever really wanted to share myself with.”

She kissed him lightly, sweetly. “And you want to share this gift with me?”

“Yes. With you.” He smiled broadly. “Merry Christmas, Lois.”

~~Fin~~

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~~Even heroes have the right to dream.~~