Note: You know, when I started writing "Strays", I had no idea I would get four stories out of it. (And there are like, two more fics in the works. *foreheadslap*) Anyway. Start with "Strays", then read "Of the Rest of Your Life", then read "Lost and Found." And then read this, which won't make much sense without at least "Strays." Sorry. :)
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"Friendship increases in visiting friends, but in visiting them seldom."
Francis Bacon
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"You're an evil man," Lois says. The target of her accusation offers a sweet half-smile and makes no attempt to deny it.
"You told me, knowing I can't do anything about it," she goes on, rooting through her purse without slowing her quick pace through the airport. "That's bad enough! And then the way you told me -! I thought the other reveal was awkward. Really, Clark, do you even think these things through, or do you just blurt them out?"
Clark Kent does his best to stifle his smile, but fails. When he'd told her his secret nearly a year ago – that he was Superman, he loved her, and had been effectively lying to her about both for years – the results had been mixed. She'd slapped him (hard), kissed him (harder), and then read him the riot act while he flew her to the ER to get medical attention for her broken hand.
Given that history, last week's revelation about the Batman's identity had gone very smoothly indeed.
You'll never guess who the Batman is, he'd told her. And before she'd had a chance to say more than What? he was saying, marveling over it, Bruce Wayne.
It was major news, and they had all been euphoric over Jason's safe return. He felt he could be excused for having rushed the delivery a little.
He asks, "Did you want to hear it from Jason?"
"Hell no," she says, producing her press pass from the overflowing purse and flashing it at the security people. "From you was bad enough. I don't think I could handle being scooped by my own six-year-old."
Clark, dutifully showing his own pass, feels a wave of relief and guilt all at once: Relief that his son is safe, guilt that it took a masked vigilante in a dangerous city to produce that result. He feels even more guilt that Jason's father in all but fact – Richard White – did not come home alive. That was his failure, for neglecting his family in favor of the rest of the world, and he suspects that it will haunt him for a very long time indeed.
But overall, relief wins out. It's tough to be sad when Jason is whole and well and worried about homework, not kidnapping.
They slog through security and come to the thick knot of reporters, cameramen, legit photographers and paparazzi staking out the arriving flight. Lois' feet slow, and he trails to a halt with her.
"To be honest, it only became so – frustrating – this morning." She makes a suitably aggrieved noise and adds, lowering her voice, "Exactly how many supersized stories will I be expected to sit on, anyway?"
"At least two," he assures her, still smiling. "And a half."
"One and a half of those are worth it, at least." She stretches up to give him a quick but firmly affectionate kiss. "Let's just get this over with."
Clark agrees. He checks the knot on his tie and pushes his glasses up, then follows Lois as she bulldozes her way to the front of the pack. A reporter from one of the cable news networks gets jostled, scowls, and calls Lois a highly derogatory word.
Right behind her, Clark accidentally steps on the man's foot and, in the confusion of apologizing, accidentally melts the battery inside his logo-plastered microphone. Oops.
"What was that?" Lois asks when he joins her at the cordon designed to separate the fourth estate from the person they all came to see. A buzz goes through the crowd that the man of the hour has deplaned, that he's coming down the jetway, and everyone gets ready.
He glances over his shoulder at the reporter, who's frantically trying to figure out why his mike suddenly isn't working. "What? Oh. I think it's called karma."
Her eyebrow hikes up and she shakes her head, amused.
And then it's time to work, because Bruce Wayne, billionaire playboy, prince of Gotham, is walking with a casual smile and a confident stride into Metropolis International.