Commercial's Over

Author's Note: This story is only one chapter long. I think that is called a one-shot, but I am not sure. It takes place in season eight after the fourth episode, Instinct. I choose this time because it is when Lois and Clark are starting to realize their feelings for one another, but both are still in denial. Actually, Lois is in denial, Clark is just oblivious, although the feelings are there for both of them. The concept focuses on one of Lois and Clark's famous movie nights at the Kent farm. Instead of going to the video store, they decide to watch a movie on prime-time.

"Smallville, you home!" Lois called. She almost hoped he would be out so she could leave. She had wanted to call and cancel, but they had been having these weekly movie nights for the past few years now. Backing out would look suspicious, and the last thing she wanted was for Clark Kent to suspect anything.

The truth was, ever since the crazy seductress Maxima had suggested that Lois and Clark had feelings for one another, she had had a hard time shaking that unsettling feeling in her stomach that she seemed to get whenever she saw or thought about Clark Kent. It was insane; she knew that. Her and Clark used to hate each other; it had taken years for them to become friends. He bugged the hell out of her the majority of the time. There couldn't be anything there, could there?

"Lois? Is that you?" she heard him call behind her. She turned.

"Who else calls you Smallville, Smallville?" she said with a smile on hr face. Clark chuckled.

"So, what are we watching?" he asked.

Lois and Clark had very different tastes in movies. Lois liked movies like Jaws and Terminator. She liked her movies to have action, smashing, and chaos. Clark, on the other hand, was more into romantic comedies. He liked having a nice laugh after a long day, and considering his own romantic history, he liked watching stories with happy endings. It was nice when the guy actually got the girl, something that had never happened for Clark.

"Why don't you pick." Lois said.

Clark's eyebrows rose, "Are you serious?"

"Look, Smallville, I'll admit that when it comes to movies, and a lot of other things, you are the girl in this relationship, but honestly, I'm kind of beat. Really, I just want something to fall asleep to."

Clark shook his head, chuckling again, "No way. If I pick, you are going to stay awake and you are going to enjoy it."

It was Lois's turn to chuckle, "Fat chance."

"Fine, then I guess we can just sit in silence."

Lois rolled her eyes, "Look, how about we compromise? Let's find a movie playing on television. We will not know what it is, so you cannot blame me for dozing, and you can get your chick flick."

"Why do you always assume that if I like it, it is a chick flick? You know, some of these movies are pretty good."

"They are completely formula, and completely gag-worthy."

"Look, how about this, we watch something live, but I get to pick, and you have to stay awake. And if you do, next week, we can watch this." Clark took something out from a drawer. Lois stared. It was a DVD compilation of the greatest monster truck matches of the decade. She tried to grab it, but he held it to high for her to reach, "Please tell me you don't expect me to jump for that like some lame girl in a sitcom." Clark shrugged, "You can be really evil sometimes Kent."

"Do we have a deal?" Clark asked.

"We have a deal."

"Great, I'll find a movie, you get the popcorn. It's already made, you just have to take it out of the microwave." Lois rolled her eyes. Okay, so she couldn't cook, but she could make popcorn. Lois went into the kitchen and grabbed the popcorn.

"There's a good movie on tbs." Clark called. Lois sighed. Well, tbs was not so bad; they incorporated crude humor. Lois could appreciate crude humor. Plus, crude humor made gentlemanly Clark all uncomfortable and squirmy, which was fun to watch. He could be so cute when he was being a prude. No, not cute. Lois chastised herself. It was funny seeming him uncomfortable, that was all. It was in no way cute.

She made her way back into the living room. And sat down on the couch next to Clark. Actually, she put the popcorn bowl in the middle. Not like she was afraid to be near him or anything, it just provided easier access to the popcorn, that was all.

The opening music started to play as the title flashed in front of the screen. Lois smirked at the opening sequence.

"Just give it a chance." Clark whispered. He could be so ridiculous, it was just the two of them, but Clark would not talk loud during a movie. That was so cu- no, note cute. It was not even a little cute. It was the complete opposite of cute actually.

Lois tried to focus on the movie. She had to admit, it was a little funny, if entirely unrealistic. It was completely obvious who was going to end up with whom. Nobody in real life was that oblivious.

"So, what do you think so far?" Clark asked at the first commercial.

Lois shrugged, "It isn't very realistic."

"I don't know. I mean, is it so unbelievable that to people could meet like that."

"She's being an idiot going for the wrong guy, when it is clear to anybody with eyes who she should be with. This movie would be over in two seconds if she was not such an unbelievable idiot."

"Maybe it's just easier to see love when you aren't the person falling in it."

Lois laughed, "Where did you hear that?"

"Nowhere." He shrugged.

"Well, I guess I makes sense a Nancy like you would make something like that up."

Clark rolled his eyes. He had gotten used to Lois calling him names like that, and it did not bug him as much anymore, it was just Lois.

"Did it ever occur to you that you played a pretty big role in my being such a romantic?"

Lois almost choked on her popcorn, "What?" she coughed out. Clark clapped her on her back a little until she stopped choking. She looked up at him, "Um, what did you say?"

"Just that you have to take some responsibility for my romantic outlook. All those pep talks over the years. Just last week you were urging me to get over Lana and try and find somebody else instead of wallowing in self-pity of what could have been. It'd be a shame if you of all people did not believe people can find something like that in real life. It would make any advice you gave on the subject kind of worthless."

"Clark, you want that mushy, movie kind of love. I don't. It's not really my thing. I'm more into flings."

"Run before it gets serious, then you can't get hurt." Clark said under his breath. Lois heard him.

"Excuse me?"

Clark sighed. He did not want to get into this, but it did not look like he had a choice. "I'm just saying, you do tend to run from situations that involve emotional risk."

"Like when?"

"Oliver." He winced. That was probably going to far. The wounds were probably still fresh after Lois had seen Oliver a couple of weeks ago. Oliver had almost died. Clark knew Lois loved him. Oliver was probably the only guy Lois ever had loved. And he was a good guy, and he had loved Lois. Oliver and Lois were both his friends; he had wanted them to be happy. But it was not his place.

"You don't know the first thing about what happened between me and Ollie." Lois said. She knew Oliver moonlighted as the Green Arrow, which was why they had broken up. She did not think Clark knew. He did, but he could not let on. She would kill him she knew found out he had known about Oliver before him and had helped Oliver keep the secret.

"I know you were afraid of him leaving you behind so you cut ties, even though you weren't over him."

"Well, what was I supposed to do? I couldn't ask him to put me first, give up his life for me."

"He would have."

"I would never have let him. Besides, maybe he wouldn't. I'm hardly worth putting the world at risk for." Lois bit her tongue. That was probably a little too obvious. Putting the world at risk, how do I explain that?

Luckily, Clark did not seem to notice, he just said. "Yes, you are." He looked at Lois, and he felt a strange feeling as their eyes met. The world seemed to pause.

Lois swallowed hard. Why was he looking at her like that? Her breath quickened. She wanted so badly to break the gaze, but she couldn't.

"Commercial's over." She whispered, flicking her eyes to the screen. The gaze was broken. Lois breathed a sigh of relief.

When the next commercial came on, Lois decided that she had better find an excuse to leave the room. Luckily, one was right next to her.

"We're out of popcorn. I'll get some." She said.

Clark groaned. He had only made that batch, meaning Lois would have to make the second, and even though the bag just needed to be put in the microwave for the amount of time on the package, Clark knew Lois would find a way to screw it up.

"Lois!" he said, following her into the kitchen.

As if reading his mind, she said, "I can handle microwavable popcorn, Smallville." She got up on the stool and opened the cupboard. Grabbing the box, she hopped back onto the kitchen floor and popped the bag in the microwave. Clark kept his eye on the microwave, as though he did not trust Lois to take it out in time. When he started to walk toward the microwave, Lois got in his way, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Getting the popcorn."

"I'm getting the popcorn."

"Well then get it, because it's done."

"I'll say when it's done."

"It's going to be nothing but burned kernels."

"Not if you would let me, the person who put it in there, take it out."

Clark stepped aside, "Be my guest."

Lois walked past him and opened the microwave. It smelt a little burnt, but Lois pretended not to notice. She walked back into the living room, and Clark followed. Then, she put her fingers on the ends of the bag and pulled it open. The bag exploded, and popcorn flew up, hitting Lois in the face. Clark laughed, and Lois shot him a death glare.

Trying to stifle his chuckle, Clark walked up to her, "Here," he said grabbing a popcorn kernel from her hair. She looked up at him, the anger one from her face. He reached up again, taking another kernel. This time, his fingers brushed the softness of her hair. It was like silk. He lingered for a minute, then, for a reason he did not completely understand, he pushed her hair back behind her ear. He swallowed hard, his hand on her ear. His heart was beating rapidly, but he had no clue why.

He cleared his throat, "Um, the uh, commercials over." He said. Lois sat back down, and so did Clark. Both did their best to keep their eyes glued to the screen.

"Clark," Lois said, in the sticky sweet voice she got when she wanted something, "I'm thirsty."

"That's to bad."

"Clark, come on, when you are entertaining a lady, it is only polite to attend to her needs."

"Yeah, but you are not a lady, you are Lois."

She pushed him, and he stood, "All right, what'll it be?"

"Beer."

"I seriously doubt that will help with the thirst thing."

Lois scowled and rolled her eyes, "Fine, mom, root beer."

Clark went into the kitchen, and came back with two cups a root beer.

"You got one too?" Lois asked. Clark nodded, "You are so suggestible." She said with a smirk. Clark smirked too.

"So, about the movie…" Lois groaned, "Come on, it's better than you thought it would be."

Lois shrugged, "It has a certain appeal." She said, plopping a kernel in her mouth.

"Please, you were howling like a hyena during that last scene."

"Fine, I guess it's a little funny, if you like that sort of thing."

Clark rolled his eyes, "Sure Lois." He started to get up, and knocked over the two root beers over, drenching Lois.

"Smallville!" she screeched.

"I'm sorry, look, I'll clean up, why don't you go change real quick."

"Change into what exactly."

"Some of my moms old clothes are stored away in the closet. She left some things behind. I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

"Fine," Lois said, storming upstairs angrily.

She searched through Mrs. Kent's old clothes. It was mostly stuff Mrs. Kent had worn for Jonathan. Now that her husband was dead, and she was not ready to date again, she had no further use for it. Lois picked out a nightdress that she was sure Clark would have been horrified to see his mother in. It was a little revealing, but it was her size. While she kept telling herself she had chosen it because it fit her, and she did not want to waste time finding something else, the truth was, she wanted to know what Clark would think of her in it.

Clark finished cleaning up the root beer and poured two more glasses. He heard Lois coming down the stair, and looked up as she entered the room. His jaw dropped. He quickly closed it, and swallowed, hard. Was that really Lois? She looked so, so …

"We all cleaned up?" Clark nodded, unable to find his voice. Lois was wearing a tight fitting nightgown that ended a little above her knees. Had her legs always been so long? Yes, they had. He remembered a couple years ago when he was under the influence of red kryptonite, and he and Lois had almost … anyway, her legs had been plenty long. And they were nicely shaped as well. The nightgown hugged all the right curves, and Clark found he was sweating a little. He remembered how it had felt earlier, touching her hair. His eyes settled on hers.

"I know it's a little revealing, but it was the best thing I could find. If it makes you uncomfortable, I can change."

Clark shook his head. "No, it's fine." He said quickly, "Why would it, uh, make me uncomfortable."

Lois smiled. She was not sure Clark had ever looked at her like that before, and while her head told her it was dangerous, it gave her a warm feeling. She walked up to him, but stopped herself before she got to close. Clark was her best friend, the annoying dorky farm boy. What was she doing? Had she lost her mind? He smiled at her, in that charming way he did. She smiled back awkwardly. He handed her her glass of root beer. Their fingers grazed, and Lois swallowed, "Um, commercial's over."

They sat back down on the couch. And so it went for the rest of the night. Two friends, too terrified to take a step forward, too attracted to each other to take a step back, but every time somebody starts to raise the stakes, the situation can be diffused with two simple words. "Commercial's Over."