"I don't like this." Clark admitted as he sat across from Lois in the Inn, Oliver and Chloe just outside the window most likely talking about the effects of the Banshee.
Lois shook her head in wry amusement, obviously in disagreement. "Not really up to you anyways." She tried to sound nonchalant for his sake, making it clear that it truly was none of his concern, but beneath that there was actual approval in the others' decision that Clark couldn't bring himself to understand.
"I'm concerning," he defended. "I don't want to see Chloe getting hurt."
"She's a lot stronger than you think she is." A similar statement that Oliver had made when Clark had brought the subject up to him, yet still didn't change the protective streak he had over his childhood friend. It didn't matter how strong Chloe was; he simply didn't want her to get hurt.
Like the hurt he could see in her now. The way she cast her eyes down, her body seeming to draw in on itself. He wanted to strain his ears to hear their conversation, to know what it was that Oliver was doing to put such a demeanor upon her, but if she were to find out that she had done so, she'd be too angry to come to him afterwards. And after all that had happened this part year, he didn't want to put a further strain on their friendship.
"It's just," he tried to explain, "Oliver doesn't really have that good of a reputation with…"
"Women?" Lois supplied, not giving him the chance to finish his sentence. "Like me?" Her tone was all at once insulted and teasing, causing Clark to flush at his indelicate wording. Before he could think of how to backtrack, she was gracious enough to continue on. "I know Oliver has been known for being insensitive when it comes to relationships, but people have a way of changing when it matters."
Her eyes drifted towards the window with a knowing gleam in her eyes. Outside, Oliver had moved closer to Chloe speaking with what appeared to be a sly grin. Something Clark wasn't too sure about.
"I thought you said it was a" he dropped his voice in what would otherwise be considered condescending disapproval, "'no-strings-attached' arrangement between them?"
Her eyes moved back to him, putting on as close to an expression of shame as Lois Lane was capable of, "Yea...I probably shouldn't have told you that. But anyways..." she straightened up and glared, "Don't be judgy. Also, you know, that's just what Chloe said, so it might be different."
Clark's frown deepened. "If she had said something like that it's because her and Oliver had already come to an agreement."
Which is the part that made Clark angry in his still ever present need to look after Chloe - which wasn't much of a change from his initial thought of their relationship. No strings attached? Why couldn't Chloe see that Oliver was taking advantage of her? Oliver, who in his recent self-destructive path, had taken used the pain and guilt that had been festering in Chloe this past year for his own selfish needs. If Oliver was looking for a distraction to endure his own internal struggles, it could be with someone who wasn't Chloe.
"He got her a present, you know." Lois was commenting, her face back towards the window with a thoughtful gaze. Clark redirected his sight to them too, finally noticing a small wrapped box that had been placed to the side. "I don't know what you said to him, but he got her a present that day. It's why she stormed off."
Clark's brows furrowed and he turned back to Lois, though she continued to watch the two outside. "That doesn't make sense."
She shrugged. "There's a lot about my cousin that doesn't make sense." There was a pause between them, a chance to gather thoughts and witness small smile appear on Oliver and Chloe. "Though it's none of your business - it's not even mine - I don't think that 'no-strings-attached' thing was Oliver's idea. "If I know those two, it was all Chloe's decision."
There was nothing in that theory that Clark could agree with. "Chloe's not that type of girl."
Lois frowned sadly. "She used to not be that kind of girl, but she's lost a lot in a short amount of time." Which was true enough. It had been how many short years in which Chloe had lost her dream job, her reputation as a reporter, had been a prisoner to Lex Luthor, had lost her ex-fiance, and had lost the team that Clark still had trouble accepting she was actually a full-fledged member of. "Don't judge her just because she's trying to protect herself." So maybe there was a point in what she had to say. After all, in the past few months, Chloe had been distancing herself from the city and anything and anyone that lay outside the Tower.
But that didn't change the fact the trouble that she getting herself into by playing this emotionally draining game with infamous playboy, Oliver Queen. "But putting herself in this situation is what's going to make her get hurt. If I…"
"You're not listening to me!" She motioned towards the window vehemently. "You're not seeing. Oliver...he only agreed to the arrangement because it was Chloe's call. It it were up to him, he and Chloe would be so much more."
His eyes narrowed. "He told you this?"
"He didn't have to. I know him. I know how he gets when he's infatuated with someone, or when he's near someone that he'd be willing to die to protect. I've that look in his eyes before, like she's something precious, but at the same time something with incredible strength. Like she's an equal." Her voice had lowered in a mixture of happiness and nostalgia. "What's more, he trust her. So much more than he ever trusted me. And for that matter, she seems to make him happy. A real happiness, you know? Not the type of pretense that he puts on while with me, or the type of playboy routine he usually presents to girls where he pretends absolutely nothing in the world is wrong. I can see that he's willing to be himself around her and that he enjoys her company for what it is, no matter the circumstance."
Clark huffed, not particularly liking how Lois knew Oliver that well or how there was a type of sadness to her tone. "Just because she's good for him, doesn't mean he's good for her."
"No? She doesn't look healthier to you? More color to her cheeks? Light in her eyes?" The smile that she gave him was one that resembled pity, like he was a child incapable of understanding. "Just because you might not agree with her choices, doesn't mean you have the right to think you know what's best for her. Chloe's a smart girl. She knows what she's doing. Trust her on that.
Past the window Chloe was leaning against Oliver's side, bumping into him playfully. They were both trying to hide small smiles with a light that had been lost from both of them for quite some time regaining its spark.