Rooftop Conversations

Summary:

Superman is flying above Metropolis one last time before he calls it a night... Until he sees his favorite reporter sitting alone on the edge of the building. Clois fluff and banter. May be applied to any universe.

Rating:

K+

Disclaimer:

Superman is originally created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster. I own the words not the characters. DC and Warner Bros. own Superman and related characters. Cover photo (edited) based on a movie still from Superman: The Movie (1978) with my favorite Lois and Clark.

Deep night has descended. Kal-El flew carefully; not that there's significant air traffic above Metropolis. It's just he didn't want the loud wheezing sound of his passing-by disturb the city folks below. Normally, he'd reserve that one for emergencies. He doesn't need it since the city is at peace... for now.

Just like any other Wednesday night, he has responded to less than ten crimes - the usual burglary here and an occasional theft there. Earlier, he'd dismissed Cat Grant's dinner invitation because the League called him up to the Watchtower. It was nothing serious though, and they finished rounding up Belle Reve in thirty minutes flat. Kal-El drew a deep breath and sighed. He would turn around Metropolis' skyline one last time and then he'd go straight home to his neglected bed.

Superman is never tired, but Clark Kent still has an article to pass early tomorrow before Perry White kicks his sorry butt out down to the pavement permanently. He cruised by the towering skyscrapers; the image of a red and blue figure reflecting off the glasses. Kal-El smiled. How odd it was to talk of himself as two different persons. Three to be exact. Sometimes he wonders if he should get a therapist.

Sure Ma and Pa understands him. But they cannot feel the loneliness that comes with the knowledge that you are not from this world. He can definitely talk to his father anytime, but Jor-El is more logical in his approach. His father could never understand the turmoil in his heart when he has to sacrifice Clark Kent's life so Superman can save the day. He grew up as Clark, an ordinary small town boy with a big dream. What has changed?

Nothing did, he decided. He simply found his calling to be a hero - the hero the world needed him to be. His cape flapped wildy as a long, gust of wind blew. Kal-El sped upward and flew east. How long could he keep up with his ruse? As long as people close to Clark Kent is still alive, maybe. Superman would have to endure for as long as the world needs him. Kal-El thought of the inevitable future, and shook his head off of the possibilities. In that unknown future Ma and Pa will die, Perry, Jimmy, Lana too, Pete, Bruce, and... Lois. His heart ached at the thought of losing them. How long would he last?

The all-too familiar golden globe of the Daily Planet came to his view. It still spun in its place, even at night. He gave it a single glance and flew by, until he thought he saw her hunched figure at the corner of his eye and caught the sound of her heartbeat.

The rhythm of her heart was slow and soothing. It was the music that both Clark Kent and Superman tune their beings to. Amidst all of the noise, be it in the busy newsroom or out in the raging chaos of the harsh world, he could always find her by her heart - the very heart who anchored him to the world. He paused and listened. Maybe she just went out for fresh air. He tried to undermine all of his being not to fly straight beside her. He must not annoy her with his concerns all the time. She too has a life of her own that she deals with everyday.

Yet, the image of her sitting on the ledge alarmed him, even if she looked completely okay about it. It was only when her brown eyes looked up to his own that Kal-El realized that he had already flown into her peripheral vision. The golden globe shone like a bright sun beside him, glaring his eyes a little bit. His heart seemed to run faster than a speeding bullet inside his rib cage.

Lois Lane always does that to him.

Her lips tilted to a smile. "Out for the night?"

He shrugged. "Almost. You?"

The wind brushed her ebony hair away from her face. "Just got my story down to Neil at the press. I swear I'd suffocate if I spend another minute in that stuffy, cold room." She must've meant the newsroom; Clark Kent couldn't agree more. Kal-El nodded.

"Jimmy?" he asked, landing a few steps before her.

She wiped her eyes and covered her mouth to yawn. "Went home after Clark disappeared."

He grinned. She still plays around with his names, claiming it was to "protect" his identity. "Your best friend, Clark, where is he?"

She gave him an unimpressed look. "Don't know. That partner of mine always manages to sneak out on Perry and still get amazing stories. I just hope he'd lend me some of his magic sometime." The irony and sarcasm dripped in her words. She waved it off and watched his reaction curiously.

"Sorry," he replied, walking towards her. She raised an eyebrow and smiled. Kal-El sat beside her, but oppositely- with his feet dangling off the edge. A few seconds of silence passed between them. He stared down the street below. She kept her gaze on the globe, Their hands a mere space away from each other.

"Nah," she said after the long, awkward silence. "It's nothing."

He nodded in relief.

"Superman?"

"Yes?" he turned to face her. Her eyes were focused on the ground. She would barely speak to him without looking straight into his eyes. Kal-El wondered what happened to her that she felt so distant... and still retained that distance between them.

She kicked off her heels. "Well... how are you?"

Kal-El's eyebrows knotted in confusion. "Fine. I guess."

"Is it alright if I talk to you? Have you got a minute to spare?" she asked, almost in a whisper. "I-I just need someone to hear me out. And you're here." Her voice cracked. Kal-El touched her hand briefly and nodded.

"Of course, you may," he replied in the gentlest way he could.

Her heartbeat soared high. It fluctuated a couple of times that he worried she might give up any minute. But he knew better. She's a fighter. A fighter very much like him but in a way that he cannot be.

"My father called me," she said, closing her eyes, "You know, like what I told Clark, that Dad and I aren't on very good terms. We sort of... argued on the phone. I'm frustrated and angry. I know, he's my dad and I should respect him. Anyway I'm old enough and not a hormonal teenager... I just can't forgive him. Can't understand him. Whenever he calls if he's not ordering me to keep my hands off this and that, he's shouting at me over the phone. I'm not eleven years old for Heaven's sake!"

Kal-El remained silent. Not Kal, Clark, or Superman knows how to answer that. So, he resorted to Clark's usual reply in his mild-mannered way, "I'm sure he's not all that bad."

She laughs gaily. "You don't know dad, Superman." Then in a more morose tone she added, "I wish I could know him. I've never been good enough, you know. I never once lived up to his standards. Heck, he even refuses to walk me down the aisle just because he 'would never walk a son to his groom'. Now what kind of twisted thinking is that?" She flared her hands up in a gesture that he knew well. Nevertheless, he was bothered by her father's principles.

"He's still your dad." He couldn't tell... pretty much because he has a good relationship with both his fathers.

"Yeah," she muttered a little dismayed, "the world might flip upside down he's still my dad."

He nodded. "Just try to understand. I'm positive that underneath his cold, military facade is a beating heart who loves his daughters just the same." He laced his fingers with hers and smiled.

"I'll try," she agreed. Clark could offer so little in this light of things, she mused. He never did raise his voice to Mr Kent, and she never heard Superman destroying the Fortress of Solitude. But, right now, his presence beside her brought a warm companionship and she thanked him for it in her heart. "I hope he does show it often to Luce and I. You can say that I am love-deprived in growing up with that heartless grump and my mom dying so early." She turned away from him, hiding the tears that began to form in her eyes. "Sometimes, sometimes...I wish Mom hadn't- maybe Dad would be better." Calling her dad a grump brought sad childhood memories. Her heart yearned for her father, but he always shuts her away. Her mom's death only complicated things between them. Lois sighed. Her mother's dead. It's a fact of life. "But it's okay she's not here in this mad world. At least she's happy wherever she is. Somewhere."

His hand clasped hers tightly.

She glanced at him and laughed. "It's so good to get it out."

He smiled. "Sometimes we need someone to just listen," his lonely voice betrayed him, and soon enough her warm palm was brushing his cheek. He touched it and closed his eyes.

"What's the matter?" she said. "Are you really fine?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I... I don't even know who I am anymore." Her knowing eyes searched his own. Kal-El averted her gaze and sat straight. At some part of the world, his ears caught the whispers of lovers, at another end, an arguing family and then there's the hum of the ships crossing the ocean. He closed his eyes. "I don't know if I'm who I say I am," he continues, "there are three different persons living inside me. The one that I am born as, which I barely know. The one that I was raised as, which I am fabricating in favor for who I am supposed to be, the hero." He bowed his head in defeat, and glimpsed at their hands.

She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm not even human," he croaked. Then he sighed a very long sigh. "I feel so alone sometimes. At nights like these."

Her soft, confident voice teased him. "I know who you are."

His questioning eyes gazed at her.

"You," she started, pressing her hand onto the emblem on his heart, "Are a good soul."

He held her hand tightly and thought how hard it is to lose her. He wouldn't even dream of it. She was more than a simple friend. She was a fellow traveler, who happened to help him in many ways. She was the friend he could fly to, literally. Kal-El wondered how many times he has taken advantage of this beautiful, understanding woman. Countless, he assumed. She's always ready to listen when either Clark or Superman has issues to deal with.

Lois smiled. "Alien or not. Clark or Kal or Superman," she said in a whisper, "You're still the same hero I know through and through. And you are not alone. You never are."

"Thank you," he replied, smiling, "I could never thank you enough." She was indeed stronger in the ways he wasn't. Somehow, there is always a silver lining for this woman. Kal-El went forward and grazed his finger to her cheek. She closed her eyes and laughed a little. He need not know the future. Here was his life in the present, and Kal-El let himself absorb the moment, imprinting the sound of her happy heartbeat to his memory - writing it in his own heart. Be it Clark or Kal or Superman, he knew he'll always have her and Ma and Pa - and frankly, that's all that matters.

His arms enveloped her reassuringly. She nestled in his embrace contentedly and stopped to frown at him.

"What?" he asked, drawing away consciously.

Those brown eyes of hers twinkled in a sudden. Her laugh tickled his heart. "You're stinking, Smallville!" she replied, pinching her nose in mixed disgust and amusement. "Where the hell did you go anyway? Fixed some sewer pipes? Go get some shower before you go all lovey-dovey on me."

Kal-El laughed too."You're impossible, Lois." She rolled her eyes and grabbed her shoes; laughing as she went to the elevator. He said his goodbye and flew, all the while keeping a protective eye on her as she went home. She looks up sometimes, glancing at him.

When he saw her step inside her apartment safely, he went home himself. It was always cold inside, because he never minded the dilapidated heater. When he opened the refrigerator, he really wasn't surprised that only a slice of pizza and half-full soda in a Wendy's cup greeted him.

Losing his appetite, he struggled out of Superman's suit and paused. She probably did the same in her apartment, finding Chinese takeouts in their cute, Oriental- decorated boxes and checking some of the unopened fortune cookies; that woman has the unhealthy habit of taking fortune cookies seriously... Yet, she was just alone as he was. Working all day and night to supply truth to the world, fighting justice in their own ways, and then go home to a cold, dark apartment. But surely she has no problem with heating. She hated the cold.

He smiled. She doesn't have to be alone. They don't have to be.

His phone rang. He grabbed it from the wall. "Hello?"

"So, got home safely, Clark?" her voice chimed softly.

He smiled and imagined her sitting by her kitchen counter in that spaghetti strap satin and pajama combination. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? I'm not the one who's vulnerable." He pulled his dress shirt over his head and kept the phone withing his reach.

"Well, if you think I didn't see you following me all the way here then you're wrong," she said in one breath, "So stop stalking, perv, or I'll have the police at your trail."

"Hold a sec, Lois," he said, laughing, "I just wanted to see you home safe."

"Yeah, right." In his mind, he saw her probably licking ice cream off a silver spoon with the way her 'Yeah' sounding like 'Yeow'. Clark grinned and held the phone to his ears.

"I was gonna ask you if you want to fly," he said, casually, "But you said I stink like a sewer so I just got home to change."

She chuckled. "If I wasn't tired I'd go flying with you, but I think I'd lose my hold and sleep even if I'm falling a hundred stories down."

He smiled silly to himself, nevermind that he was still wearing the blue tights. "I'd always catch you."

"And fly me to my apartment while I'm asleep? No way buster," she said, highly entertained by how their conversation is going, "Anyway, I just wanted to know if you did go straight home after our chat. You seemed worried...like you could use a Kryptonite or something."

"No, I'm better," he said, genuinely, "Thanks for everything."

"It's a little thing, Smallville. That's what friends are for," she said, "Thank you too. Guess everything's not hopeless with my Dad."

"Sure it isn't. I believe that somewhere in his heart he loves you and Lucy dearly," he offered. Kal-El sighed. Friend. He was still her friend.

Frankly enough, he liked it. Being romantically involved with her would only arise complications. Complications he didn't want to burden her with.

Time will come when he might not just be her best friend with mutual attraction and interest. But also her partner in life, forever. He will wait. Even if it meant waiting for a thousand years.

"Clark?"

He snapped out of his thoughts and returned to their conversation. "Yes?"

"You're my hero, Smallville," she said, with a little laugh. "See you tomorrow?"

He didn't immediately respond. The phrase coming out from her lips made his heart seem to stop. He stammered, "Su-sure, Lois. See y-you tomorrow."

"Oh, and do keep a bottle of musk with you," she said matter-of-factly, "Just a tip: No girl likes a smelly guy. Handsome or not. Superman or not."

Clark found himself laughing outright. "I'd keep that in mind, Miss Lane."

"Now I know what to get you for Christmas. Some good Old Spice." She laughed. "Take care! Goodnight, Clark."

"Goodnight Lois," he said, "I... love you." Being a coward, he laid the phone a good distance away and turned his super-hearing on. How do human guys do it?

"I love you too, best friend Clark," she added with a laugh. "Now sleep. We both need it. And don't tell me that you're a superman because I'd prove to you how last time you went without a week of sleep and fell half-dead on my couch."

He wanted to smack his face hard in horrifying embarrassment but instead he picked up the phone and held it up to his ear. "Got it, Lois. Don't worry, I don't want to repeat it again."

"Thought so," she said. "Goodnight. For real." He could sense the sleep and happiness in her tone. Then he remembered the article he was supposed to be writing an hour ago...

"Goodnight, Lois," he replied. As soon as she heard her "okay" and the busy tone, he sat up straight and grabbed his laptop and notes in superspeed. Perry won't give in to his lame excuses if he didn't pass his articles on time. He would be deader than deadmeat.

But spending time with Lois, even just talking with her, is not a waste of time.

He typed up the first few paragraphs of his article, happily knowing that he's not that alone after all.