A/N: Okay, so I know, I'm the last person to be starting a new story when I'm still trying
to finish up Watching.Living.Being, but the Smallville muse wouldn't leave me alone.
And my X-Men muse has gone on a holiday and won't return any of my calls. But I'm
in the process of hiring new muses, so hopefully WLB will be done soon!
Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even the title.
The last time Lois was possessed, she remembered doing…something to a naked Clark, along with Lana and Chloe. The time before that, she had asked Clark to the prom and worn pink. That was the only explanation for her in pink, because Lois Lane did not do pink. Neither did she ask plaid clad dorky farm boys to their own proms.
Which is why, standing outside the Kents' farm, hand poised to knock on the door, Lois stopped to make sure she wasn't possessed. After all, she was here, of her own free will (seemingly) to tell Clark Kent that somehow along the way, she had fallen in love with him.
"Maybe I'm possessed by Lana Lang," she muttered under her breath. Which should be impossible, seeing as Lana was alive and well in Metropolis. But this is Smallville, she thought darkly. The impossible is possible here. Why else would I be in love with stupid Clark Kent. Smallville of all people!
"Uh, Lois?" her head jerked up, and her eyes met blue, amused ones. Her heart, the traitor, started pounding faster than before. "Are you planning to stand there and drill a hole through the door with your eyes?"
The smirk she saw forming was enough to make her move. "Cute, Smallville." She shoved past him into the warm kitchen. "Twenty odd years in the world, and the best you can do is rehash a line used so many times it's become a cliché."
His eyebrows rose. Lois was standing in front of the counter, hand on her hips, a supremely annoyed look on her face. If his guess was right, and he didn't need any of his super-senses to know that, she was going to take it out on him.
He sighed, and rubbed the bridge of his nose, where a headache was already brewing. "Okay, are you going to tell me?"
Her heart stopped. She would swear it on a stack of Bibles. "Tell you what? I don't know what you're talking about."
He frowned. Her heart rate had skipped a beat before accelerating. "Why you're here, Lois. Are you okay?" he asked, moving closer. To his amazement, she backed away.
"I'm fine, Smallville. Do I not look fine?" her voice was rising, matching her flushed face and speeding heart.
He put his palms up in a gesture of peace. "Okay, Lois. You look fine. Are you going to tell me what brought you here from Metropolis on a Friday night?"
She looked away, taking a deep breath. She muttered something under her breath, and Clark's eyes widened when he heard it. Possessed? He thought quizzically.
"Fine. Look, Smallville, before I start, I have to tell you that I'm not happy about this at all, and I'm going to do my best to forget about it after I tell you. Understand?"
Well, she sounds like Lois, he thought, hiding a smile. She was so cute when she was wound up. "Okay."
"So here's the thing. Lately, I've kinda had this…thing."
When she didn't continue, he prodded. "And?"
Her breath hissed out. "And the thing is, I've fallen in love…with you."
The floor fell out from under him and he could only gape at her. After a few seconds of total silence, he started looking around the kitchen.
"What are you doing?" she asked, confused.
"Looking for a camera," he replied. "I don't think that was very funny Lois."
"I wasn't joking, Smallville," she told him.
"You have to be," he said, laughing a little himself. "Lois Lane in love with Clark Kent. Unbelievable."
"What's wrong with that picture?" Lois asked, hurt. She'd expected shock, but not him laughing at her.
"C'mon Lois, it's you," he tried to explain.
"Well, I'm sorry I'm not Lana Lang," she shouted at him. "I'm sorry I'm not perfect, drama queen Lana Lang. Do you think I want to be in love you, Flannel King? There are so many guys out there, billionaire guys, who have been in love with me. So I don't need you. And don't worry, I'll be getting over the whole love thing starting from now!"
She started to storm out, but he caught her arm. "You're serious?" he asked dumbfounded.
She rounded on him, fists clenched. "Unfortunately. I would much rather hate you than love you, Smallville!"
"Why?" he asked.
"Why what?"
"Why would you much rather hate me than love me?" he asked, quietly.
"Have you looked at yourself?" she yelled at him, so furious, at him, at herself, at the world, that she missed the tightening in his eyes and the invisible barrier he put up. "You have the fashion sense of the cows, you've been hung up over a girl who just isn't right for you for years, you are too nice for your own good, and you're just wrong for me!"
"Gee, Lois," he said sarcastically, dropping his hand from her arm. She felt the loss of that warmth keenly. "That's definitely a reason to not love me. What's stopping you?"
"You're a bonehead, Clark," she retorted. "But somehow, even with all the reasons I've just told you, I love you. I love you," she repeated softly, the fight going out of her. "Because you know me, sometimes better than I know myself. You're always there when I need you, and you have the biggest heart I know. You're caring and kind and sweet and loyal. Somehow you make me happy by just being around. I just wish you knew that."
He stared at her, at a loss for words. Why was it that she was the only one who could do this to him? "Lois, I…"
"Save it, Clark," she put up her hand. "I didn't come here expecting you to feel the same. I just wanted you to know how I feel. You're not obligated to feel the same way."
This time, when she turned to leave, he didn't stop her. She was at the door when he finally spoke. "You're a bonehead, Lois."
It was so completely unlike Clark that she turned and stared. "But somehow, even though you're loud and bossy and nosy and annoying, I love you. I love you," he repeated, recalling the way her whole face had softened when she had said those very same words to him. "Because you know me, better than I know myself. You're always there when I need you, and you have the biggest heart I know. You're caring and honest and loyal. Somehow you make me be happy by just being around me. You make me better when you're with me. And I know now that I never really loved Lana. Not like I love you."
It was the longest speech Clark Kent had ever made. And he had made it to the woman he had been slowly falling in love with for years. The woman who was currently staring at him, eyes wide, eyes glimmering with unshed tears.
"So…" she said, letting out a long breath, before leaping at him from across the room. "Aren't you going to kiss me?" she asked grinning up at him.
He grinned right back at her. "I was thinking about it."
"Stop thinking, start doing," she ordered, pulling his head down to hers. When they finally pulled apart, both out of breath, Lois looked at him. "Wow."
"Wow," he echoed.
"Definitely not possessed," she decided, before kissing him again.