Inklings
The noise of her high heels was filling the entire apartment above the Talon, echoing on his ears. Oliver rolled his eyes, smiling.
"Lois, will you just stop pacing around the place and follow me outside so we can go?"
"Patience is a virtue!" she quoted, still walking around the place in a beautiful black dress with a quite appealing cut on her back.
Oliver chuckled as he watched her walking into the bathroom now.
"Yeah, I know, you told me that half an hour ago."
"I just can't find my other earring!" she said, irritated, closing and opening drawers frenetically.
"It doesn't matter, you look great---"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure I look stunning wearing only one golden earring." she said, raising an eyebrow sarcastically. When she passed in front of him, Oliver held her by her waist, stopping her.
"Hey, calm down." He reached for her ear and removed the only earring she was using and putting it on a table next to them, on the living room. "You look great, okay? You always do. Now, stop pacing and let's just go---"
"What's the hurry for?" she asked, curiously, her arms on his, now. "It's not like you're gonna lose the reservation at the restaurant, Mr. Queen."
Oliver smiled, watching her do the same.
"You're right, I don't. But you've been pacing around this place for the past…" He looked at his fancy watch. "… thirty-seven minutes, and it's starting to unnerve me."
"Well, sorry about that, but hey, I'm ready now." she assured him, and Oliver nodded, relieved. "I just have to put another pair of earrings and grab my purse."
He rolled his eyes, smirking, as she danced out of his arms and ran towards the bathroom. He heard a noise of jewelry being moved, while Lois apparently – and incessantly – looked for another pair of earrings.
She had always been full of energy. But during the past few weeks, it was like if someone had given her an inexhaustible battery. During the past few weeks… pretty much since their adventures with the 'fake' Green Arrow.
Oliver frowned. She had been working incessantly to try to find out Green Arrow's real identity, now more than ever, and he had an inkling that it had something – or everything – to do with the kiss she had shared with him.
It was complicated. Oliver was doing his best not to let her find out he was, in fact, the real Green Arrow. But it didn't matter, even if she did find that out, she wouldn't find what she was looking for. Who she was looking for, more likely, because Oliver knew very well who was under the costume on the night of the kiss, and it sure as hell it hadn't been him.
He and Lois had never actually talked about it, except for that little piece of conversation after the false Green Arrow had ran away – super-speeded away, actually.
"Did you just call him Oliver?" he had asked, using the best casual voice he had.
"It was… just a hunch…" she had answered, looking somewhat guilty and… taken.
"We're not going to get home late, are we?" she asked, from the bathroom. "I have some research to do for tomorrow."
"Let me guess," he started, annoyed and amused at the same time. "Green Arrow?"
For one second, at her silence, Oliver didn't think she was going to answer.
"Well, yes, I promised myself I wouldn't rest until I unmask this guy." she said, popping her head out of the bathroom door and Oliver noticed her tone was purposely informal.
"I'm assuming Green Arrow kisses very, very well." he pointed, before he could stop himself.
Her answer was short and quick, but her cheeks were reddening.
"And why would you think that?"
"Because you already wanted to find out his identity before he kissed you. Now, you're definitely obsessed."
Her head disappeared to the insides of her bathroom again.
"I'm not obsessed," she said, and the tinkling noise of earrings and necklaces moving under her hands started again. "Let's just… let's not go there, okay? And now, since you're so willing to go to that restaurant, let's spare some time. Could you go to my room and get my purse for me, please?"
"Sure." he said, walking towards her room. He had recognized the sudden change of subject. Alright, he wouldn't go there. But he wouldn't forget it either. She had kissed another guy, for Heaven's sake.
Sure, it hadn't been her fault, he thought, while he scanned her room with his eyes, looking for her purse. And, thankfully, she still hadn't found out who it was. But still, Oliver couldn't say it wasn't distressing. It would have unsettled him if it had been any person, but he was particularly upset that it had been him.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Clark. You know, I mean, if I lived under the same roof with such a beautiful woman I would have masked my feelings under sarcasm too."
Oliver was disturbed, but he chuckled a bit. He couldn't help it. Apparently, his own words came to bite him in the ass, that night.
"It's a black, small one, with a golden bail," she informed him, interrupting his thoughts.
"I don't see it anywhere," he answered.
"Oh, I think it's in my closet," she remembered, her voice a little stuffed, from the distance between her bedroom and her toilet.
Oliver walked towards her closet and opened the doors, laughing quietly when he saw the enormous amount of clothes she had in there. It all looked just like her – healthily messy. He spotted the purse she had been talking about.
"Found it!" he said, grabbing it. He was about to close the doors when something caught his eye. His chuckle faded away and he felt his eyebrows clenching.
Okay. That was awfully strange.
Oliver knew that it was not what it looked like. But it did look a lot like it.
"Lois?" he called, his eyes never leaving that damn spot. He heard her walking towards the bedroom and he tried to keep a straight face.
"Yeah?" she said, standing right behind him now.
"Care to tell your boyfriend why you have a considerably vast pile of flannel shirts on your closet?"
He turned to face her. She was smiling confused, and she still hadn't found any earrings to match her dress, apparently. Then, she looked to the spot he had just been staring, and her smile faded.
"Oh," she just said. "I---"
"Judging by the way you usually dress, I'm sure they're not yours." said Oliver, raising an eyebrow. "And there is only one person you know that uses that kind of shirts."
Lois let go a breath she didn't know she was holding and rolled her eyes.
"Ollie, I can guarantee you it's not what you think."
"What do I think?" he asked, with a smirk. She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully at him.
"I'm not sure, but considering your expression, it can't be anything reasonable." she pointed.
"Well, you tell me what you wouldthink if you found a huge pile of a woman's shirts in your boyfriend's closet." said Oliver, crossing his arms. Lois laughed for a moment.
"I'd sure think he's quite kinda nuts to be collecting some girl's clothes like some kind of prize---oh." she added, realizing, when Oliver raised another eyebrow. "Okay, I can explain that."
"Can't wait to hear it." he said, sitting on her bed. Lois narrowed one eye.
"You're not in a rush to go to that restaurant now, are you?"
"Not really. I just found a pile of Clark Kent's flannel shirts in my girlfriend's closet."
That made Lois drop the sarcasm immediately. Oliver beamed.
"I wouldn't be that worried about it." she said, in what apparently was supposed to be a comforting tone.
"I'm not," he said, gritting his teeth a little and handing her the purse. "I'm just eager to hear the story."
"O-kay." said Lois, taking her purse, hesitating a little at his expression. Then, she rolled her eyes. "It's stupid, it's nothing, it's just that, well, with this whole thing of having two jobs, you know, being a chief-of-staff and a journalist can be really exhausting. Sometimes, when I'm at the Kents finishing some papers to Martha, when I finish it, I start working on my articles in my laptop." she said, as if that explained everything. Oliver kept staring at her with a strange smile, waiting for her to continue. She moved her shoulders in an annoyed way. "Well, sometimes, I get carried away researching and writing and it gets really late, so, sometimes, I crash over the Kents for the night."
Oliver nodded. "Okay. But how would that explain the fact that you have an entire collection of Clark's shirts in your closet?"
"Ollie, come on, this is stupid." said Lois, annoyed, but Oliver couldn't help but notice the slight tone of red that was taking over her cheeks. He didn't give up and just kept smiling. She exhaled, bothered. "It's just, I never exactly know when I'm going to have to work until late, and I'm not the kind of woman that walks around with a pajama on her bag, so…" Oliver nodded again, to encourage her to go on. "So Clark lets me use his flannel shirts to sleep in his bed---"
"Whoa, come again? Sleep where?"
"Okay, that didn't come out right." Lois said, popping her eyes open. "He takes the couch, he always takes the couch when I sleep there." she added quickly.
"Alright. So, let me get it, you use his shirts to sleep in his bed when you stay until too late in the Kent's farm?"
"Yeah." She shrugged.
"Okay… just one little curiosity… why are they here in your closet?"
"I always take his shirt with me so I can wash it," Lois started to explain, exasperated. "And I do, but I kind of forget to return---"
"All of them?" he asked, staring at the 23 shirts piled one above the other.
"Yeah, I just forget…" said Lois, casually. Oliver eyed her. Lois rolled her eyes. "Fine! I also thought it would be really funny if one day he just opened his closet and found out there are no flannel shirts left! He needs to get rid of all that plaid anyway…"
Oliver bit back a smile. But deep down, he felt something bother him and he knew exactly what it was. The same thing that had already bothered him several times before and that he was sure it wouldn't stop. Oliver's thoughts were interrupted by her once again that night, when she started to walk towards him. "Look, Ollie, I know what's looking like, but I can assure you, once more, just like all the other times that you implied the same thing: that's not it."
"Alright. I'll buy it." he said, finally, after facing her for a few moments. Lois breathed out, tired. "You ready then? I'll just grab my car keys." He smiled to her and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.
Lois noticed the unnatural gentle tone on his voice.
"Ollie, come on," she said, exasperated, while he disappeared on her kitchen, to pick his keys on the table. "We're not going to let Farmboy ruin our night, are we---"
"Talking about me behind my back?" asked another male's voice, joining Lois and Oliver in the room. Lois jumped and turned around. Clark had just walked in. "Disappointing, Lois." he added, with a smirk, stopping in front of her with his hands on his pockets. Hearing it from the kitchen, Oliver bit back a smirk and looked down. Maybe it would take him a while to get the keys.
Meanwhile, Lois was eying Clark, annoyed.
"Very funny, Smallville."
He looked from her to the kitchen, disconcerted, the mockery gone.
"Sorry, am I… interrupting something…?" he asked.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, you are," replied Lois, quickly. "Ollie and I are on our way to a very fancy restaurant---"
"Yeah, I can see that." he said, looking at her up and down, scanning her beautiful black dress.
"---and I'd appreciate if you just got the hell out of here." she continued, as if she hadn't heard him.
"God, aren't you just adorable." he teased, raising his eyebrows at her bitter tone. "Defensive mode much?"
Lois rolled her eyes, unnerved. Yeah, defensive mode, she couldn't help it. She had a tendency to strengthen her walls every time Oliver started to imply certain… things… about her, and she didn't know why.
"Look, Smallville, I don't have time for chit chats. Why are you here anyway?"
"Well, I came to hand you the information I managed to get, you know, for that story we're working on." he explained, shaking a file in front of her.
"Whoa, you two are working together on a story?" asked Oliver, walking back into the living room with his car keys, genuinely surprised.
"Hey, Oliver," greeted Clark, smiling. Oliver smiled back.
"More like the story is mine and he's helping me to discover Green Arrow's identity." clarified Lois, glancing annoyingly at Clark.
"Oh, is he? You don't say!" said Oliver, in a sarcastic tone only Clark could understand. Clark who blushed a bit. Oliver knew very well why he would want Lois to find out Green Arrow's identity - or, at least, Green Arrow's identity from that night. "Well, apparently there are a lot of things you haven't told me!" Oliver said to Lois, in an amused tone, but deep down, he was a little offended. He couldn't help it, but he knew he had no right to call on complete honesty from her part because of little things like that, not when he had been keeping the biggest secret of all.
Well, maybe the second biggest secret of all, he thought, briefly looking at Clark.
"Ollie…" she said, in a warning tone.
"Okay, okay, backing off…" he said, raising his arms, surrendering.
"Oh, and, Lois, by the way, since I'm here, Mom asked me to get that cookie form you borrowed last week, she needs it back." said Clark. "I'll get it myself, don't bother, just tell me where is it."
"It's on my bedroom," she answered. Clark made a face.
"What's a cookie form doing in your bedroom?" he asked, walking towards there.
"Well, it seemed a lot of work to BAKE the cookies AND to serve them on a plate, so Chloe and I just ate from the form." explained Lois, matter-of-factly. When Clark was inside her room, her eyes widened in horror.
Her closet. It was still opened.
His shirts.
Oh no.
She turned to Oliver, who seemed to have figured out what would happen as soon as Lois had said bedroom, had a smirk on his face.
"Hey!" His exclamation came from the room. "These are my shirts!"
She ran towards there just in time to find Clark staring fixedly at the pile of flannel shirts inside her closet. The folder he had brought her was now lying on her bed.
He grabbed the stack and turned to Lois, one eye narrowed and one eyebrow raised, giving him a very funny expression.
"Lois? Could you explain what 23 of my flannel shirts are doing here?"
"I-forgot-to-give-you-back-on-the-last-times-I-crashed-on-the-farm." she replied between her gritted teeth, mortified.
"Hey! This is my favorite one!" he exclaimed, staring at the one on the top of the pile. "I never gave you that one to sleep on!"
Lois smirked. "Well, last time I was there you told me I could open your closet and pick one, and so I did."
"You knew this was my favorite." he argued, dropping the pile next to the file on her bed and crossing his arms on his chest. She crossed her arms as well.
"Oh, Smallville, drop it---"
"No, I won't." he interrupted. "I happen to find it very interesting. Why didn't you return the shirts I lent you?"
"You know, that was exactly what I asked her a few moments ago." said Oliver, standing at the door, looking at them. Then, he smiled at Lois. "Come on, Lois! Tell him what you told me."
"What did you told him?" asked Clark, absolutely curious, raising one eyebrow, snickering.
"I---nothing---"
"Oh, come on, tell him." said Oliver.
"You're not afraid, are you?" teased Clark.
Lois looked from one to another, helpless. She threw her hands to the air, defeated.
"FINE! I thought if I could borrow a different shirt every time I sleep there, it would be hilarious if one day you opened your closet and found out there were no flannel shirts left!" she blurted out. Clark narrowed his eyes, but he was grinning. "Hey, in my defense, you needed to get rid of all that plaid. At least of a part of it. I bet your closet is silently thanking me right now."
"Well, following your logic, and considering that 23 of my shirts were there, I can't say the same thing about your closet." he taunted. Then, he made a thoughtful expression. "Kleptomaniac… I didn't know you had it in you, Lois."
"Oh, shut up, Kent, I was going to return them---"
"When? When your wacky collection was complete and I was left absolutely shirtless?"
Lois smirked slyly. "Maybe."
Oliver raised his both eyebrows. Okay, he was used to see them argue, but he had never seen them flirt in front of him before. Flirt.
They seemed absolutely oblivious to Oliver's presence, and he couldn't help but feel incredibly left off.
Lois and Clark had a definitely different relationship.
They were friends, yes. Best friends, Oliver would say. But… at the same time... they weren't.
He tried to organize his thoughts.
They weren't just friends. Just friends didn't banter and flirt the way those two used to do. And, in spite of the kiss they had shared while Clark was dressed in Oliver's Green Arrow uniform, they weren't lovers or anything. But right now, watching them stand in front of each other, arms crossed challengingly, Oliver could only conclude: they were definitely trapped somewhere in the middle.
"Okay!" he interrupted, and Clark and Lois woke up from whatever reverie they were in and looked at Oliver, seemed slightly surprised with his presence there. Oliver tried hard not to roll his eyes. "If you kids are done with the bickering, Lois, should we go? It's nine o'clock already."
"Sure." she answered, while the three of them walked towards the living room again. "I'll just---" she started, grabbing the earring she had worn before, the one Oliver had put on top of the table.
"Lois, listen to me," he started, holding her arms, laughing. "Will you stop with the crazy earring obsession?"
"It's just… I kinda feel naked wearing a dress without something hanging on my ears…"
"You look amazing, okay, you don't need an earring to---"
"I found it."
Lois and Oliver both stared at Clark, surprised. He was smiling a little bit, holding a long golden earring with his right hand. Oliver and her shared a brief gaze. Awkward from her part, and amused from his.
"Thanks," she said, taking it out of his hand, grabbing the other one on the table and putting both on. "So?" she said, turning to Oliver.
"Well, I have to admit the earrings complete your outfit." he said, smiling. And they did. In that black dress with that low cut… she looked stunning.
Lois turned to Clark to say something, but caught him staring. She smirked.
"Quit drooling, Smallville, I know they're pretty." she said. Clark raised one eyebrow. "I meant the earrings, you pervert."
"They're enormous, Lois, how come you didn't find them before?" asked Clark.
"They've always been here, Clarkie, and now I'm not talking about the earrings." He laughed, shaking his head. "Look, as much as I'd love to bust your chops as well, annoy you and bring you down, I can't, at the present moment. Oliver and I have to get going."
"Raincheck?" Clark suggested, smirking.
"You bet." She smiled back.
"Well, I'll just wait for you here, then, so we can work on that story of yours." he said.
"Okay."
Oliver looked from one to another, biting his lower lip, again with that feeling that there was more to them than the eye could reach.
But Lois was his girlfriend. For now.
For now, because he knew the time was coming. The time to say to her what he didn't really want to say.
Oliver sighed. His sojourn on Metropolis – and in Smallville – was getting to the end. He knew that. He was just waiting for a meeting with some guys – some special guys – that worked with him. Then, he would have to leave. He knew that. His life wasn't in Metropolis or Smallville. His life was in Star City, and that was where he would be headed to. He was just feeling so sorry. Oliver had no idea of how he would tell Lois he would leave soon. Maybe he should take her to a really nice place… to soothe the shock of the revelation…
He had no idea of how she'd react. But he had to be very clear about one thing: he wouldn't leave because of her. He would leave because of himself, because of what he wanted. And… yeah, why not? He'd ask her to go with him, it was definitely worth a try… but Oliver knew what her answer would be. His life might not be there, but her life now was.
It was quite funny… she had told him about her trips around the world with her father, the amazing places she had gone to… who would have thought she'd settle down in a little town next to Metropolis?
"Now, Kent, care to hand me that folder you're holding or are you just going to stand there drooling all over my earrings?"
"Wait a minute, let me think…" Clark held his chin, pretending to think.
Oliver loved the way Lois rolled her eyes. Even though it wasn't for him.
She was amazing. She really was. And their relationship had been just great – maybe a little shaken after the happenings with the "fake" Green Arrow, but still. It was just that… he didn't quite know why, but deep down, he had a feeling that her heart didn't belong to him. Not completely. He couldn't blame her for that. He would just enjoy the rest of their time together as much as he could – and find a way to tell her he was leaving without hurting her feelings (even though he knew that was almost impossible).
He felt a pain inside his heart. Lois Lane was a magnificent woman, and Oliver was just so sorry he would have to leave her soon.
But even the smallest amount of pain fades away, eventually. She would be alright without him.
Oliver watched Lois punching Clark on the shoulder, and he poked her back on her arm with the folder he had brought.
Yes, Oliver thought, feeling a light smirk playing with his lips.
She would be alright.