"I want you to tell me", she said softly, one arm under his head, hand in his hair, as they both lie in her bed, facing each other.
"Tell you what ?"
"Everything. The all growing up as Superman thing."
"I didn't grow up as Superman – that's the name you people chose", he corrected, amused. "And there's not much to tell, really", he smiled, his own hands travelling up and down her spine.
"Well, I'll admit I doubt it's as interesting as the 'Lois Lane story: growing up among the wealthy and stupid of Metropolis', but you can give it a shot."
"It was pretty entertaining", Clark chuckled, clearly making fun of her. "Specially the teenage years part; the rebellion process got really funny at that point."
"That was not the impression I wanted to make at the time, but moving on; I'm sure your story isn't boring, Smallville. I mean, you did grow up in a farm", she deadpanned, and he laughed at that– a sound she got to hear more and more often these days, and already loved way too much.
Well, look at that: Lois Lane, fearless, cynical reporter, independent as can be and always putting her work first…completely smitten.
She certainly didn't see that one coming – and was pretty sure no one did.
"It is quite something, life in the middle of corn fields. To be honest, life in the city seems pretty pale in comparison."
"I'm sure", she smiled, butterflies in her stomach as she could feel his laugh against her chest. Peppering him with kisses because, well, she wanted to – and honestly, how could you not, with a man looking like that ? –, she nuzzled him before pulling back again so she could properly looked at him.
"Seriously, though. You must have felt so alone."
He looked away for a second then, frowning, and she suddenly felt an anger against every single one of them that ever made him feel so out of place all those years, women and children included.
"I did. But when a kid starts to run away without any apparent reason, looking like he just lost his mind, you can't expect the others to do much else, except pointing him out. It was my extra-senses beginning to show", he added to answer her confused expression. "It kinda messed with my head."
"Oh", was all she could manage, heart breaking at the thought of an afraid little boy with dark hair and blue eyes, lost and confused.
"I used to have sort of panic attacks because I didn't understand what was happening, and from that moment, well, I was the freak. Even after I managed to control it, the harm was done; small town and all."
He was not angry, always the forgiving and understanding kind, when nobody bothered to do the same thing for him, and Lois was once again amazed at the wonder that was Clark Kent. Too good for this world. Way too good.
"That's awful."
"What did you want them to do? Kids are mean, and I was an easy target. Ironically enough", he added with a smile. "And it's always easier to fight what you don't understand – and sometimes fear, in my case - rather than try to, well, understand it, I suppose."
"That's still no excuse to do that to a little boy. And don't tell me the parents were any better; I talked with your mom. I plan to help her, if a certain Mrs Summers show her face at your farm again, by the way."
"God, I had forgotten about her", and how he sounded more amused than resentful was beyond her. "Yeah, my father had to talk to my mom for a while to calm her down after her visit. But they didn't all try to bully me, you know", he added when he saw her face. "Most of them just, stayed away."
"Which is not really better."
"I guess. But at least they left me alone – even if the looks were not super easy to handle, I'll admit that", and she couldn't help but notice how he tried to make it seems like it wasn't such a big deal.
It was.
"I'm sorry you had to live through that", she said, because she didn't know what else to, and honestly, she was. So sorry.
"Did it get better, after?"
"It did, actually", he smiled, laying on his back, looking up at the ceiling. "Even before I left Smallville Lana was really nice to me -"
"Oh, Lana, huh?", she smirked, rising an eyebrow. "Clark Kent's first girlfriend ?"
"Yeah, something like that", he chuckled, looking back at her.
"Did she know?"
"Not really. She just knew I was a lot stronger than normal, but – I never told her the all truth. She never asked, either. And after that, it wasn't all that bad. When people got who I was, it was usually because I helped them, so they were more grateful than anything else. The only thing really hard to accept was that I would have to live in this constant loneliness -"
"Forever."
He looked at her for a second, that thing in his eyes that both scared her to no end and excited her at the same time, and squeezed back when she intertwined their fingers together.
"Yeah. I mean, I had made my peace with the fact that if I wanted to know who I was, and embrace it, it would mean keeping it to myself, and not reveal it to anydody. Didn't make it any easier, in the end."
Running her fingers over his face, she followed their path with her eyes, trying to understand how exactly a man from another planet who had been so unfairly treated on theirs, turned out to be the most human and purest person she has ever met.
"You're so much better than us", she whispered. "You basically grew up and lived isolated your entire life because we're too stupid to accept someone different, and you're still doing everything you can to protect us everytime we need you. I don't know why you bother."
"Uh, I don't think that 'us' is justified, given that you're lying naked in a bed with me. Sounds like acceptance to me", he said with fake seriousness, and she could only laugh, kissing back when he pressed his lips against hers – something he was pretty damn amazing at.
God, she was in too deep.
"And as for why I bother protecting you", he added, rolling over so he was hovering her, "well, despite everything, I think people deserve to be. Plus, there's you."
He was smiling now, that soft, half cheeky, half bashful smile of his, and she was pretty sure her heart just stopped. She'd bother slapping herself in the face for being such a teenage girl and be annoyed with the fact that a man could have such an effect on her later; for now, she was just going to remember to breathe.
"I can't possibly let something happen to you now, can I?"
He kissed her then, hard and wanting, and she clung onto him, deepening the kiss, running her hands on his sides before settling them at either side of this oh so beautiful face.
Talking time over.
Later, when she was on the verge on falling asleep, Clark's breath on the back of her neck and arms around her waist, she intertwined their fingers together, holding tight.
"I'm sorry you had to live like that", she whispered again. "But you're not alone anymore, though."
She closed her yes, content when she felt him burrow his face a little deeper into her neck.
"I know."