"Sparkly little ball and chain."
Dressed in a black suit and shirt, standing by the kitchen counter of the Kent farmhouse with a glass of champagne in hand, he surveyed the scene in the living room. Of all people, he, Clark Kent, was about to have his own bachelor party. Grooms-to-be usually ended the night stripped down to their boxers and chained to a lamp post, if they were lucky. At least they still had their boxers. The less fortunate would have their number given to strippers or left on the walls in the ladies room, resulting in a furious tirade from the bride-to-be when she inevitably saw the sordid messages.
He would have considered the idea of a bachelor party unthinkable right up until very recently, but events over the past year had taught him that his burden would be far easier to bear if he let go of the guilt holding him down, stopped dwelling in the past, embraced the present and looked with hope towards the future. The fact that he could now do so was thanks largely to the role played by his gorgeous fiancée. His destiny wasn't his alone, but to be shared with the woman who could keep him grounded yet make him soar.
As Clark's best man, Oliver had hired a limo to whisk everyone off to Metropolis for the night. They would all share a toast at the house before heading off, and the drinks would be flowing in the limo. Upon reaching downtown Metropolis, the guys and gals would then head off separately to partake in whatever shenanigans had been planned for their respective bachelor and bachelorette parties. Though the parties would be very small at only three people apiece, Clark was happy that everybody here was someone he had come to care a great deal about.
Oliver was in charge of the guys' evening and had remained tight-lipped over what he had planned. He was definitely the party animal of that little group - Clark and Emil both being rather straight-laced. Emil was going to capture the evening on video, a touch frightened by the wicked glint in Oliver's eye. No doubt he would be made to do something he would never normally agree to, but he accepted that as it was a bachelor party, he couldn't chicken out and be a buzzkill. Unlike Clark and Oliver, he'd had his own bachelor party many years ago, getting married when he was still a junior doctor. He'd ended up paralytic and found a taste for impromptu karaoke.
Clark had hoped that a few other people from his past could have been here to share the experience with him. He would have loved for his oldest friend Pete to have made it but Pete had prior engagements in Wichita that he couldn't get out of. Bart, AC and Victor would have made things interesting - certainly Bart would have - but they were all were on patrol duty with the Justice League in order to give the Blur a night off. Clark thought about how it would have been great if Ryan were here to share this with him. He still missed Ryan whom he'd regarded as his little brother, but he wouldn't yet have been of legal age so would have had to miss out on all the fun anyway. Sadly, the cruel hand of fate had decreed that Ryan would never get to partake in his own rite of passage either.
Then there was Lex. If things had turned out differently, Lex could have been here as a friend too. Life, however, never turned out how you expected, and it was one of Clark's greatest regrets as for what had become of Lex. It was hard to believe that the two were once close friends. Clark shook his head to bring himself back to the here and now. Embracing the present.
Tess and Chloe were sharing the planning duties to give Lois one last night of freedom as a bachelorette. Chloe was in charge of the events and Tess had taken care of the venues, choosing from a host of exclusive clubs where entry was membership and VIPs only. Sometimes it really did pay to be a corporate bigwig. Clark knew that Lois would have liked her sister Lucy to share in the fun but as with Pete, she'd been unable to get time off to come to Metropolis. He didn't think Lana would have come even if invited since she and Lois weren't that close, but thinking of Lana didn't cause him to shut out everything else as it used to. He had moved on definitively, Lana was firmly a part of his past and the fact he was able to recognise it was a source of contentment in itself. Lois was his world now and as he'd told her, she always will be. Looking to the future with hope.
Ah, Lois. Ballsy, brash, beautiful, and his. He had hit the jackpot. He was winning at life. Everything was coming up Milhouse.
He almost didn't see the shapely profile coming down the stairs, so lost was he in what was happening in the living room. Black heels emphasising her long legs, a leopard print dress that showed off her figure to its fullest, the long brunette hair set against the face which always brought a smile out of him.
Hearing the slightest of creaks from the staircase, he turned to face her. Her hazel eyes and little smile revealed her nervousness, hoping that her appearance met with her fiancé's approval. She needn't have worried. Clark eyed her up and down, taking her in like he was seeing her for the first time, captivated and rendered almost speechless. He loved it when she became nervous because it gave a little extra colour to her cheeks which only added to the appeal. Though she'd never said it out loud, the way he looked at her adoringly made her melt and washed away all those apprehensions about whether she was good enough for him.
"Wow! Y-you look great!" he managed to utter. It didn't come out quite as emphatic as he'd hoped.
Lois wasn't perturbed. If anything, she seemed relieved to be able to downplay the moment. She was still getting used to having an engagement ring, and how she'd be the centre of attention for all matters nuptial over the coming months. The carefree and somewhat nomadic brat of little over five years ago was now a young woman who had found her home, physically, emotionally and spiritually. It didn't matter what fortunes or hardships lay ahead, so long as she had him.
"Thanks," she replied nonchalantly as she made her way downstairs and into the kitchen. "Never hurts to change it up a little bit."
Her hand immediately went to her ring finger as she caressed the ring. It had become a habit ever since he'd placed it on her finger after proposing to her.
"Except for the ring…never gonna take that off," she continued, admiring it once more. "It's my…sparkly little ball and chain!"
Clark grinned. Only Lois could make the idea of marriage sound like an ordeal to be happy about. What was it she'd once paraphrased? Ah yes - marriage is the only war where you get to sleep with the enemy.
"So, you have any second thoughts about your girl's night out?"
He knew Lois would certainly be up for a night of drinking and debauchery. With everything that had been going on around them, it must have felt like years since she'd last partied. If she wanted to say goodbye to single-dom in style, then why not?
"Clark, my swinging single days have swung. It's just all this wedding stuff is very wedding-y. I never thought I'd be that gal."
He could understand what she meant. After all, it was just like him imagining a bachelor party for himself. What was once unthinkable was going to be a reality. Not only that, but it harked back to the long-held belief that she'd be left behind because anyone she became attached to would have a higher calling that made her feel insignificant in comparison. That sort of thing never leant itself to a long-term relationship, never mind getting married. Clark was certain he could never leave Lois behind because she was so integral to whatever lay ahead of him in the future. The two were broken out of their quiet moment by the excited footsteps coming from the hall.
The sound of a throat being cleared made Lois turned around. Tess had stepped from the hall into the kitchen, and she was wearing a strapless grey dress with a large diamond-encrusted necklace. Chloe was in tow, wearing a green top with a black skirt. Her arms were behind her back, as if she were hiding something. Both were in a very happy mood and both looked terrific too.
Tess spoke first. "Lois? I think there's something missing."
Lois had barely had time to look quizzically at Tess before Chloe produced a shiny tiara and veil from behind her back. She must have had a drink or two already because she was in super-bubbly form. "Ta-da! Your bachelorette super power-up!"
Chloe began to place the items on Lois' head as Lois looked back over to Clark, helping Chloe to place the tiara as she shrugged her shoulders to signify she was simply going with the flow.
"This is actually not bad. I thought I'd be spending the night chained to a blow-up doll while wearing a dog collar, so…"
Clark looked surprised. What kind of weird and wonderful bachelorette activities would Lois organise if given the chance?
"With this thing," Lois' eyes flicked upwards to the tiara on her head, now firmly in place as she sashayed and clicked her fingers, "I will be drinking free all night long!"
She gave Clark a friendly nudge on her way to the living room, leaving him standing there shaking his head and holding his drink as Chloe and Tess laughed.
"Yes she will," Tess reaffirmed as she joined Lois and Chloe.
Now that everybody had gathered in the living room, Clark took stock of the situation. Up to now, the only wedding-y thing he'd partaken in was the surprise engagement party thrown at Watchtower. Beyond that, he'd followed Lois' advice to stay out of the way while she took charge of planning their wedding day, so it was only now hitting him properly that all of this was for real. He couldn't help but look at Lois from behind as she laughed and joked with the others. When they next had some alone time, he would be getting his hands on that ass.
The girl that had stood on the stairs was going to be his wife but unbeknownst to him and the others, there was still a tale to be told first. One that involved champagne spiked with magic spells, missing engagement rings, stolen security vans full of cash, fire extinguishers, graffiti-daubed limos, on-stage duets, drunken impromptu weddings, crooked casino bosses, showgirl outfits and hungry lemurs wearing bandoliers. The night was just getting started, and they were in for the mother of all hangovers.