I'm new, so be gentle.
Standard thing that keeps lawyers away: Superman and associated characters belong to DC Comics and not me. I'm merely borrowing.
Smile (part 1/2)
By: Ann Nonymous
The bright lights of Metropolis passed rapidly beneath Lois as the cool night air whipped by her face, soothing, yet not all that forceful. Something about being in the arms of Superman seemed to make the sting of the wind go away. Above her, the stars were brighter than they ever seemed to be from on the ground. Here, at this moment, she felt incredibly at peace, but then again she always did when she was in his arms. It didn’t matter that mere moments earlier she had been on the verge of certain death. The sheer terror of the moment was staggering, yes, but anymore, similar moments were becoming more and more commonplace, as much as she hated to admit it. The job of a journalist was dangerous and tended to lead to those situations, but the silver lining in the whole thing was that there was a Superman out there to come to her rescue. She couldn’t count how many times he’d saved her life, but he certainly never complained. Sometimes there would be the stern looks, the speeches about safety, or the silent glances of disapproval, but more often than not, there was just silence, one that wasn’t uncomfortable at all.
And, just like now, her apartment always seemed to approach too quickly. Her moment of contentedness would be ruined as her mind began to spin, trying to find some way, any way, for him stay around for even a little while. Those moments after he dropped her off were always the most memorable. That was when she would see little nuggets of his personality come out, from stray comments to absentminded movements and mannerisms. It was amazing that she was so comfortable with him, that she knew him better than almost anyone, but she really didn’t seem to know him at all. He was many things, often many contradictory things, all at the same time. He wouldn’t be Superman if he wasn’t the calm and confident person that he was, but sometimes she could sense insecurity beneath the steely exterior. He was unfailingly personable when in the public eyes, but she could sense shyness when they were alone. Somewhere deep inside, she knew that there was something more to him than just the superhero – there HAD to be. Superman wasn’t off saving someone at all times, she had covered him long enough to know that. As tempting as it was to rabidly pursue the wheres and whys and whens of his personal life, she did respect him enough to let him have his privacy.
Superman landed gently just inside the window of her darkened apartment. His arms began to drop, sliding her gently to the ground. Lois’s arms lingered around his neck, her forehead against his soft, warm cheek. Even as her feet planted firmly on the ground, his hands remained on the small of her back, reassuring, comforting, but only for a second. His hands dropped and he took a step back away from her, and she knew the moment was over. She straightened her clothes and composed herself, then reached over to turn on a lamp.
“I guess I have to thank you again,” she said, looking toward him. Superman had folded his arms over his chest and molded his expression into the maddeningly neutral one that characterized him most of the time. “I, ah, wish there were some way that I could....”
“It’s not necessary,” he said, cutting her off. “I’m just glad to be of service. You know I would never let anything...hurt you.” His expression seemed to soften a little, along with his voice. Lois smiled at the thought. They looked at each other for a moment, until he took a half step toward the window. “I should really...” he started, but Lois would have none of it.
“Wait!” she said, halting his movement. He looked her quizzically. “Would you like to, I don’t know, stay for coffee? Talk about what’s going on in the world?” she asked. Not waiting for his answer, she rushed into the kitchen, flinging open the cupboard and grabbing the can of coffee.
“No, thanks, I need to....” he started but Lois would not be stopped.
“I know it’s probably a little late for coffee,” she said, fiddling with the coffee maker. “But I was just thinking that we never get a chance to talk. I don’t know what you like, what your political leanings are, who your favorite football team is. Not that any of those things are important, really, especially since you seem to spend most of your time saving people and cleaning up after natural disasters.” Lois suddenly stopped playing with the coffee machine and turned her gaze to the refrigerator. “ I have some cheesecake, if you’re interested,” she said, shifting her gaze back toward him.
With a start, she noticed that Superman was now smiling a little half-smile, one that seemed to set off a bemused sparkle in his eyes. The expression seemed so easy and natural, and at the same time so completely un-Superman. Superman’s smile never really seemed to reach his eyes – not in publicity photos, not in interviews or when he was around people. But looking at him now, it seemed hard to believe that he didn’t smile like that all the time. It was a very warm smile, one that made her heart rate speed up a little and her cheeks flush. She would give anything to see that expression more often. Anything.
“That sounds suspiciously like an interview,” he said, dropping his hands to his hips, the sparkle still present in his eyes.
“Only if you want it to be,” she replied, answering him with her most dazzling smile, one that began to fade a little as she remembered her real motivation. “I really just want to get to know you a little better, though.” Lois took a few steps forward, realizing that she was completely vulnerable, but recognizing that that always seemed to happen when he was around, and there was seemingly nothing that she could do about it. “I’d like to think that we’re friends. I mean, you’ve been regularly saving my life for the last year or so, and you seem to know everything about me – where I live, where I work, what I like and where I go. But I don’t know anything more about you that anyone else does.”
She saw his expression become almost sad as she spoke. He was frowning now, his eyes diverted away from her to some imaginary point in the distance that only he could see. “What I like is not important. Politics are not something that I even want to consider expressing an opinion about. And please believe me when I say that you probably know a lot more about me that you think you do,” he said, his voice taking on a timbre that she was unfamiliar with. “I wish I could stay and talk, but I can’t.” The last words were somewhat raspy, but as he finished them, his expression steeled again, and the Superman that she was familiar with came back. “Please take care of yourself, Lois,” he said, then turned on his heel and stepped up into the window.
“Goodnight,” she said as he took off into the air and immediately faded from view. It was like every other encounter she had with him, she thought with a sigh. A quick rescue, a wonderful trip home followed by an emotional exchange, at least on her part, and a firm rejection by him. Tonight, at least, she got something more. Tonight she got that smile, that little peek into his personality, one that she was sure she’d be attracted to. If only he were more open, if only she could wrestle more out of him. If only. She’d been uttering plenty of if onlys since he’d come to Metropolis, but none of them had even helped her get any closer to him, and she was beginning to wonder if they ever would. But for tonight there was the smile, one that would invade her dreams, and the knowledge that as long as there was danger, Superman would be there to keep her safe.
^----^----^
The morning found Lois in good spirits. As she breezed into the office, she even decided to splurge a little bit and grab a Danish. Her partner had beaten her in, for once, and was busily punching his keyboard, getting an early jump on the large stack of stories that had been ignored in recent days. But the clock on the wall told her that it was still a good fifteen minutes before the work day officially began, and while she would normally be one to scoff at the idea of strict working hours, the employee handbook did technically call for them, and she didn’t quite feel like settling down into the old routine just yet. After a night that had seen her working until the wee hours, only to conclude with her near death and another rescue by her favorite hero, maybe it was time to do something for herself for those fifteen minutes.
She could feel Clark’s eyes on her as she settled into the chair. She gave him a quick glance and a wave of the hand, a curt acknowledgement of his presence, she knew, but he wouldn’t mind. She could ignore him completely and he would still offer her a smile – that’s just how he was. How he had the patience to put up with her she didn’t know, but it was reassuring to know that he would always be there for her. That was more than she could say for most of her friends and even her family. So often he knew just the right thing to say to lighten her mood, but every now and then he knew just what to say to completely infuriate her. It sometimes made her wonder if that was what having a brother felt like, but lately she was beginning to think that maybe it was something more than what siblings shared. Something deeper. Something scary. Something that she was very much trying to ignore right now, because she was really in too good of a mood to ponder what it was exactly that Clark did to her.
Sensing that Clark had returned to his work, she pulled open a desk drawer and withdrew a well-worn catalog. The dog-eared corners marked her favorite fantasies, the things that she either wanted very badly but couldn’t afford or didn’t want badly enough to justify purchasing.
Today, however, it was time to indulge her fancies, and she knew just what she wanted. The 1-800 number was dialed, the credit card was withdrawn from the wallet, and the moment was at hand.
“Hello welcome to Chocolate Treasures International hold please,” a female voice spat out so quickly that Lois had to think for a couple of seconds to process what had actually been said. Her eyebrows knitted together in frustration and she glanced up at the clock again, shrugging as she saw that there were a good 13 minutes left until she was officially on the clock. Besides, the hold music on the other end was halfway entertaining, and in an entirely unexpected stroke of luck, it wasn’t muzak. It was Chicago, she decided, something catchy. It was only a matter of seconds before she was softly humming along.
“Hmm hmm magic....hmm hmm hold you....” she sang under her breath to herself, soft enough that nobody should be able to hear her. “Tell me you will stay, make me smiiiile....”
Looking up, she noticed Clark staring at her, one eyebrow cocked and a bemused half grin on his face. Far from annoyed at having his work interrupted, he seemed almost surprised and certainly more than a little amused. How he heard her at all, she couldn’t figure out, unless her hums were projecting more than she realized.
The first emotion that struck her as she frantically looked around the room scanning for more eavesdroppers was sheer horror. The blood rushing in her ears obscured the song being blared through the telephone earpiece, cutting off her music. But it was the lump her throat that ultimately stopped her humming. After a moment, though, she realized that she really didn’t have anything to be horrified about. Nobody else seemed to be paying attention, but even if they were, she was good, dang it, and she knew it. She was good enough to fool professionals into thinking that she was a musician. Clark was the only one who could or would hear, though, and that meant that this moment, her humming and his amusement, was just between them. The rest of the office seemed to dissolve away as her focus turned to him and him alone, and that strange connection that she often felt around him asserted itself. As their eyes locked, she could almost feel his heart beat speed up and his breathing shallow. Maybe it was just her good mood, or maybe she just felt like being silly, but right then and there, she decided that she needed to give him a little show. Her lips drew into a thin, almost seductive grin, and he leaned forward ever so slightly, anticipating.
The song on the telephone changed, and she started to quietly sing along again, the music familiar and comforting at the same time. Her lip movements were exaggerated, her smile affixed on her face. She tapped into the little bit of theatrical training she had, using her eyes and her expressions to try and tease him, taunt him. After a few moment, her free hand got into the act, too, moving up to her temples and eventually into her hair. His smile slowly grew, to the point that it was breathtaking. It was a smile that she supposed he had always possessed, but she had only recently begun to appreciate it. The fluorescent glare from his glasses obscured his eyes just enough so that she couldn’t clearly read them, but she swore she could see a mischievous twinkle back there.
“When I feel cold, you warm me. And when I feel I can’t go on, you come and hold me. It’s you and me forever. Sarah, smiiile,” she practically whispered to the strains of Hall and Oates. It occurred to her that there seemed be an abundance of songs this morning about smiling, but the moment somehow seemed very appropriate. Maybe smile songs made the customer a little less angry as they sat on hold, but it was fun to use them to her advantage. Clark’s fingers had long since stopped their motion over the keyboard, and he seemed very content to watch her show. It was odd, she thought as he laughed, but there was something very familiar about his smile. Not in an I-know-you’ve-smiled-at-me-before-but-I-never-noticed way, but in a way that reminded her of...someone else. It was hard to say who, though.
“Won’t you smile a while for me,” she continued, and he obliged. But the magic ended abruptly as the overbearing figure of Perry White suddenly appeared directly between her and Clark. Her mouth snapped shut and the corners of her mouth went suddenly slack as he gave her a glare. Perry, never known as a morning person, didn’t seem to be in the mood for a newsroom serenade, not that it mattered, she thought, as a voice interrupted her song, asking her to please stay on hold, and telling her that they appreciated her business. Good for them.
Clark had dutifully returned to his typing, but now she couldn’t think about anything except why it was that his smile seemed so familiar to her. She hated it when something seemed to be right on the tip of her tongue, but wouldn’t come. It would bug her all day, she knew it. She was even frowning as her hold music changed again. This time, Elton John was telling her about how someone saved his life tonight. She didn’t know why, but this song always made her think of Superman. Okay she DID know why, it was very obvious why, and truthfully she was thankful for the distraction. Someone saved her life last night, and she couldn’t help but replay the moment in her mind. How soft the skin of the man of steel was, how the skyline of Metropolis sparkled at night, how dazzling the smile of Superman was.
It was then that it hit her. Being smacked upside the head by a two by four wouldn’t have cause more stars to swim in her vision. It couldn’t be, could it? She wanted so badly for it not to be, but as her stomach threatened to turn upside down, she mentally juxtaposed the smiles of her partner and Superman, and knew them to be one in the same.
Her breathing was becoming labored, but she was trying desperately not to show it. Her partner almost seemed to have a sixth sense about when she was upset, and the last thing she needed was some sort of confrontation with Clark, because she didn’t know what exactly she would do if she had to face him right now.
Suddenly the music on the other end stopped. “Chocolate Treasures International, how may I help you?” a chipper voice said. No. No no no. She couldn’t talk right now; it was physically impossible. To her own surprise, though, she heard her voice go across the line.
“Super...Clark,” she mumbled, mentally telling herself to shut up. Her mouth grudgingly obliged.
There was silence on the other end for a moment, but the chipper voice was back soon enough. “I’m sorry, ma’am, we don’t carry king sized Clark bars. Maybe I could interest you in a deluxe fudge box, or a chocolate sampler surprise...?”
Lois blinked, then felt the urge to laugh. THAT was truly funny. A giggle escaped, but she composed herself and took a deep breath. “The deluxe fudge box would be great,” she replied, completing the order and then hanging up the phone. As she turned to her oblivious partner, she felt a wave of emotion that was incredibly strong. If it was true, really true, and her partner was the Superhero that she had loved so much for so long, then there was no way that she was going to let him out of her sight ever again. That strange connection between her and Clark seemed to make a lot more sense now, and the inexplicable growing SOMETHING that she was feeling for him made perfect sense. Maybe deep inside she had known it all along. Maybe the cosmos just felt like nudging her along, giving her the perfect set of signs and circumstances and songs. But she had to know for sure, once and for all, and she had to get Clark to tell her so.
Her mind was preoccupied as the hands on the clock showed eight o’clock, and she began to work. Even through the stories of crime and poverty and life in the big city, she had only one thing on her mind. A plan was forming. And she almost felt bad for Clark. Almost.
(TBC)
