I LIKE IT WHEN I TURN MY HEAD AROUND AND I CATCH YOU LOOKING BACK

She would never work again. Not at the Daily Planet office, at least, and that was the only place she could edit, because she hated editing and she just wouldn't do it if she was at home in her pajamas.

That was actually a complete lie. When Lois Lane put her mind to it, nothing could distract her from her work. Even if her work was running her document through spell-check and grammarly a hundred times. Absolutely nothing. Nope.

Not even if he was watching her from across the room.

Clark had been placed at one of the stringer desks— that is, a rolly desk squished into a corner directly under the fan nobody wanted to be near but everyone couldn't live without. He patiently pinned his papers to the desk with paperweights, his carefully typed notes organized for optimal viewing scattered about in neat piles. Not even a staple was out of place. And when he vacated the desk when he went on extended trips, he left it perfectly neat and untouched.

Lois did not look at him.

She could feel his gaze on her— not obvious, Clark was too careful for that— and she wanted to do nothing more than look up.

A glance wouldn't hurt anybody, would it? A quick meeting of the eyes, a one word message shot mentally through imaginary brain-radio waves…

No, she chastised herself. She would not let her curiosity get the better of her. When had that ever done her any good?

Well, it did get me a Pulitzer, her own voice thought snarkily back at her. She did not even bother trying to stifle the smirk that tugged one corner of her lip up. Oh yeah.

His eyes were on her. She knew it. What was he thinking, staring at her for so long? Didn't he know that was suspicious? Those glasses couldn't hide everything…

Not that smile. Not that jaw. Not even the hair...okay, maybe the hair. But there wasn't enough of it! He looked far more different with the beard.

Why was he looking at her?

She glanced up, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. Clark was hunched over his laughably tiny desk, completely engrossed by the laptop in front of him. His ankles were casually crossed, and his glasses reflected the blue light of the screen, obscuring his eyes. He typed in short bursts, broken by long periods of scrolling. Probably checking his sources, if Lois knew him at all. She was certain that 'super-ears' did not pass as a cited source.

He sat up suddenly, pushing his glasses off of the bridge of his nose and sighing, rubbing his eyes.

Lois couldn't stop staring.

When he properly resettled the thick plastic bottle-cap frames on the bridge of his delicate, unfreckled nose, he turned his head, stretching his long arms above his head and stifling a yawn. As he brought his arms down, he blinked— and caught her gaze.

And they shared the same secret smiled they had when Clark had strolled into Daily Planet, confident as you please, without warning and without regret.

"What are you looking at, huh?" Lois asked, her voice gruff but her eyes laughing.

Clark smiled, one of his rare full grins he saved just for her and his Ma, where his whole face lit up and he ducked his chin a little, and usually averted his gaze, as if afraid to communicate exactly how happy he was. But here, he held her.

"I do think you were looking at me first Lois," and that smile twisted into a wry grin.

"Might want to get those eyes checked, Kent," one of the other stringers suddenly interjected. "Miss Lane don't look at no one when she's spell checking."

"Shut up," she said, shameless as ever, the moment lost. "Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"Mhmm," the rhythm of clacking keys never broke. Lois and Clark looked at each other once more, and then simultaneously returned to work with all the eagerness of a child to punishment.

Unless they were partnered together, they were always careful to leave apart. But when she glanced up an hour later on her way out of the room to the elevator, she caught him looking back.

ALRIGHT SO WE ALL KNOW WHAT SMILE LOIS IS TRIPPING OVER

Thanks so much for reading guys! I know updates have been sporadic but I've had this written for going on like four years now...haha i'm a mess.

YellowWomanontheBrink

March 3, 2020

1:36 PM