Title: Position Play
Author: Nadia Mack
Disclaimer: I Own Nothing

Its 7 o'clock on a Saturday night and Lois is stressed out beyond belief. She had a date 8:30 with Clark Kent, their first 'official' date ever, and it has her a little overwhelmed. The last time she was this nervous was… well, she can't really picture a time that she was really this nervous.

"What do you think about this?" Lois exited the bathroom wearing a tight-fitting red dress.

Chloe cocked her head to the side, observing.

"Too slutty"

"For God's sake, Chlo, this is the fifth outfit you deemed slutty," she sighs in frustration. Why did she even bother?

"I'm sorry," Chloe responds childishly. Tonight is going to be quite an event, an event most of she, Smallville and the entire campus of Metropolis University have been waiting for.

Lois and Clark's first date.

If Chloe had it her way, she'd have made today a national holiday. It was about time really. They've been tiptoeing, circling, tap-dancing and whatever form of metaphor you want to use around each other for the last couple of years.

The people who clearly saw the chemistry were waiting in heavy anticipation.

Chloe made a mental note not to tell Lois about the wager she and a few classmates made to see when they would actually take their first date. She chuckled at the thought. She was really glad she was over her adolescent crush on Clark Kent.

On the other side of the campus, Clark changed his dress shirt about three times more than Lois had with her outfits.

"This isn't gonna work," he concluded, taking another look at the Gap crew neck long-sleeve solid dark blue shirt he was wearing. He was at a loss as to how to impress.

"Everything is going to be okay, Clark. This is Lois were talking about," a classmate of his assured.

"Exactly!"

"You worry too much"

"I want to make a good impression." And he really did. This wasn't just some girl he randomly met, this was Lois… Lois Lane. The bossy, rude, stuck-up person he so easily defined h when they first met. A lot has happened since then.

They've grown… and more importantly, they've grown together.

It's quite a scary thought you know, to be so easily relaxed with yourself and bring your guard down with a woman you could easily find yourself falling in love with but never really admitting that it can happen.

Now here he was, preparing for his first official date with her…

… And he's a nervous wreck.

Back to Lois' dorm room, her phone sounds off; a text message has been received. Lois rushes out of her bathroom in just a robe and takes a look at it.

"Ugh!" she says exasperated.

"What?" Chloe heard her go off and was a little worried.

Lois tossed her cell to her cousin. "That's the 6th text message I received today wishing me a happy date. What… is there some hidden camera around here I don't know about?"

Chloe went a little pale, her face flushed with guilt.

"You did not!" Lois noticed.

"I… might've… mentioned it," she clumsily attempted to say.

Her older cousin sighed. "How many people have you told?" her voice going down an octave.

She looked at Lois sympathetically. "Everyone"

Lois automatically falls back on the bed. "Oh, this is going to be fun," she says rather blankly.

On the Campus grounds, Clark held a bouquet of flowers in his hands. He knew she liked lilies so he made sure to have ordered them from the best, at least the best his credit card can manage.

Inhaling deeply, he walked closer and closer to her dormitory.

On the way, he received proud glances from students, pats on the backs, and whispers of 'lucky fool' and 'damn, I knew it' from passing college majors. Clark was confused. How did everyone know and why is it suddenly the talk of the town?

He shook all those thoughts away and made his way through the building doors and up the stairwell and before he knew it, he was at her front door.

It was all or nothing.

He'd prefer all.

He takes a moment to relax himself before placing a couple of light knocks on the door.

In return, he heard a loud thud.

He wonders what it was. "Lois… is everything okay?" he says through the door. His senses went on overdrive as he noticed several students peeking out of their rooms to catch a glimpse of Clark waiting by the door.

They really needed to get out of here soon, but he waited patiently by the door, pretending he didn't notice all the eyes staring at him.

Before he tries to knock again, with a sudden swoosh, the door opened and revealed Lois Lane, her dress coat already wrapped around her body, hiding whatever outfit she was wearing.

"Hey," she says, holding her anxiety with a smile.

She and Chloe had a brief argument about wearing a pink dress. Lois doesn't do pink… ever. Perhaps when she's possessed sure, but not this and not while she's still consciously breathing.

"Hi," Clark returns, nervous butterflies roaming in his stomach.

They were both frozen for what seemed like an eternity.

Lois noticed the beauties he held in his hand. "Is that for me?" she asks, eying the flowers.

He looked down, embarrassed. "Oh, yeah." He holds it to her. "It's for you," he says trying to find his level voice.

Lois smiled as he gave it to her. "I love lilies." She held it to her nose to smell the lilies with adoration.

"I know," he says with a smile.

"Let me put these in a vase." She disappears a moment to do so and when she returns, "I should go get my coat," she says.

Clark eyed her amusingly. He wasn't the only one nervous tonight.

"You mean the one you're wearing?" he points out.

With his super hearing on high alert, he hears Chloe inside Lois' room, laughing silently to herself. Great, the whole world probably knows by now.

Lois bit her lower lip embarrassed.

"Yeah," was all she could muster up. It was finally then that Lois realized that they had an entire audience watching in the hallway. She brought her head inside her room and stared deathly at her cousin. Chloe returned her stare with just a shrug.

She turned her attention back to Clark.

"You want to go," Clark recommended almost immediately.

"Thought you'd never ask," she easily responded.

With that, they were off.

"So…" Clark began, unsure where to begin. As soon as they left the campus, their sudden rush out of there proved more comfortable than the silence they now shared.

"You first!" they both exclaim at the same time. They stop and chuckled when they realized what just happened.

"Oh my God!"

"I know," he agreed, smiling.

"What have we become?" She put a hand to her head as they walked along the sidewalk, taking in the city lights.

"A romantic comedy cliché," he answered, raising one eyebrow.

"Uh huh, and I'm Julia Roberts," she joked.

"Let me call a limo and you will be," he mused, getting a smile out of her when he did. He always knew she had the most beautiful smile.

She took in a deep breath. "I gotta tell you, though. You asking me out… it was… it surprised me"

Clark looked at her oddly, there were many moments he thought he had been pretty obvious in his affection for her. He always knew she held people at arms length, but he figured that after knowing each other for a couple of years, that she didn't have to with him.

He'll make it a personal mission to do something about that.

Clark stuck his hands in his pockets and looked at her shyly as if he wanted to say something, but he wasn't sure how to put it in words.

Lois sees the apprehension in his face and gestures.

"What's on your mind, Clark?"

That was the breaking point. She called him Clark, and she did it all seriously and everything. When that happens, things usually are serious.

"I've wanted to," he meekly answers.

Lois is confused. "Wanted to what?"

She just had to make it hard on him, he thought to himself. "I've…" he paused to gather the strength to just get on with it. "I've wanted to ask you out for a long time," he finally says.

Lois stopped in her tracks and fell silent. That was not what she expected to hear. She presumed this was something that just happened, not something that has been building up.

"What?" she mumbled.

Clark moved besides her. "I've…"

"No, I heard what you said," she stopped him. "I'm just… wow"

"I take it that's a good thing?" Clark raised his eyebrows at her while feeling ten times as nervous as he was before.

And as if Lois suddenly landed on the moon, she retrieved her bearing and looked at him straight in the eye.

"Let's go eat!" she evaded the conversation practically in its entirety. Lois went ahead, her steps quickening as Clark looked on both with a tiny bit of disappointment and renewed hope before quickening his own steps to join her.

He saw his feelings being returned in her eyes, and he knew he hasn't lost.

During dinner, most of the conversation was about the stuff they normally talked about with each other. School, goals, politics, they even went as far as crime and corruption. Lois has always been an advocate for justice, one of the many aspects that he finds incredibly attractive about her.

When they exited the restaurant, they began walking again, but this time, despite the busy streets and the bustling motion of the people around them, they barely spoke a word.

It made them both extremely uncomfortable like never before.

A light bulb suddenly went off in Clark's head as he stared at the Daily Planet building they were heading towards.

He instinctively takes a hold of Lois' hand and she felt the electricity pass through his touch, and she was sure he felt it too but neither acknowledged it and easily brushed it off. She knew he was leading her somewhere.

"Where are we going?" she finally managed to say more than a couple of words to him.

Clark stopped and grinned at her.

"Okay, what's the grin all about?" she questioned, both worried and intrigued. He led her through the Daily Planet revolving doors, unceremoniously rubbing into each other as they shared one of four sections.

He so planned this, she thought to herself.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"Sure you are," she says lowly.

Clark heard her despite himself, and he couldn't help but smirk at the comment.

"Uh… Clark," she began to notice as Clark took her in one of the elevators. He had completely bypassed the reception desk and surprisingly avoided one of the guards by the elevator when they were momentarily distracted. "Should I even ask?"

He smiled that adorable Kent smile at her. "It's a surprise"

She realized that he still held her hand but from the looks of it, he didn't seem to notice it.

"Clark," she whispered.

He turned to her, looking anxious as the elevator kept passing one floor after another.

"Yeah"

"My hand," she eyed down to their intertwined hands.

Clark realizes what she was saying. "Oh," he suddenly let go. "Sorry." The moment their hands separated, he wished he was holding it again.

"It's okay," she says.

Once the elevator doors opened, they jumped out of their confined space, the tension in the air was so thick, not even a butter knife would suffice… no, a machete would do, or could it be an ax?

Before she could contemplate further, she saw what he wanted her to see.

She was absolutely breathless as she stared out into the open city. Metropolis in all its glory. Even under the drape of the moonlight, it was absolutely magnificent.

"Do you like it?"

She finally took her gaze away from the city and saw Clark more clearly than she ever have before.

"It's beautiful," she says softly.

The nervousness he held in himself was finally lifted. He looked at Lois longingly and saw no move to leave, or think that this was something immensely corny. No, when she said it was beautiful, he knew she meant it.

"So are you"

Her eyes darted away from his and now he wished he just kept his mouth shut.

"Clark," she whispered, laying both her hands on the edge, looking out into Metropolis' starry skies. The wind blew over her face like a soft caress, everything about their date tonight had been… perfect.

Clark moved to her side, gazing out into the night just as she is. When she didn't shudder from his close proximity, he moved even closer to her, one hand lay on the edge as the other desperately needed to touch her.

"Thank you," he heard her whisper, the wind carrying her voice past him.

"For what?" he asks, turning to face her as she faced him.

"For everything," she answered softly. "For taking me in when I needed a place to stay back in Smallville. For helping me whenever I got into a jam." She paused. "For this… tonight, and… and the flowers." She shifted her wait to one hand. "I'm not used to this"

Clark reached out a little and traced a couple fingers down her bare shoulder. "What… staring out into the city at night on top of the Daily Planet roof? I thought everyone did that," he says with a smile.

She tried to grab the smile that escaped her lips but it was already too late, and his fingers leaving traces of his warmth on her skin wasn't helping her resolve either. He truly wasn't making it any easier on her to resist his advances, frankly, she didn't want to.

He leaned in closer and he was relieved that she didn't move away. He let his hand fall to her side before putting it around her waist and at the small of her back, pulling her towards him until their lips were only inches apart and their bodies pressed together.

"Lois," his voice low and caring.

"Yeah?" she responded her voice equally low.

Just as their lips were about to meet, Clark whispers to her. "I want you to know the real me"

Lois was entranced yet confused. "I don't un…"

"Shh…" he put his other hand to her lips, silencing her. "Look down"

She couldn't understand what he was trying to tell her, and so when she did, she didn't expect to be hovering ten feet off the ground with nothing but air and the man before her.

The End