Lois Lane and her Complete Inability to Drown in Man Angst For Another Minute

[in_medias_res]

Lois loved her husband.

Lois loved her husband so much it terrified her sometimes, her heart racing with embarrassing ease at more than a few of his smiles. She loved him as Clark Kent and she loved him as Superman. She loved him as her coworker, as her partner, as her friend.

She was also literally ready to thwack him with a brick. A very real, physical brick.

If she thought about it for longer than a minute, she might put the brick in her purse, give herself a good swing. His head, after all, could probably crack planets. It was certainly hard enough.

How. How did he not-- how could he not-- was it about her? Did he honestly think she wouldn't be willing to talk options about this situation? After all, it wasn't like her father-in-law hadn't told her about his ponderous poking at the Batman-themed tie while they'd picked out wedding finery. It was an open secret, and weren't those like bread and butter to these local yokel Midwestern people?

Maybe that was the problem. Maybe what this situation needed was for a certain intrepid reporter to stomp her proverbial feet and bang the proverbial pans and holler in her great big Metropolis voice and get something done.

...at the very least, she'd feel better at calling them both out about it. It wasn't like it'd make things awkward for her, anyway. Tact was for people with time.

"Okay, Clark?" she announced, mid dinner, fork held up with a piece of delicious eggplant parmesan like a gavel. It might seem like it was coming out of nowhere, but it'd literally been percolating in her brain all day since the Justice League had stopped... which was it again? She'd already tossed the story at Perry and she was terrible at remembering her own work after it was off her screen.

Whatever. They hit a thing until it gave up and then Batman made a face and then Clark made an 'aw shucks' face and God, just thinking about it made her want to go back to the original brick idea.

"After dinner, you're flying the both of us to stately Wayne manor. Tonight. Because I cannot stand the thought of another day, even another hour, not dealing with the fact that you and Bruce obviously have a thing for each other." The eggplant gavel wobbled with deep passion. "You think I'll have an issue with it, Bruce has forgotten where his balls are since he hasn't just out and out asked me for a threesome like a grown fucking adult, and I am tired of waiting for you two to get your acts together."

She popped the food into her mouth.

"So tonight, after dinner. Got it?"

Comments

[andaway]

Superman didn't need to breathe nearly as much as humans did. This was a well known fact. He'd been off in space for hours, breathed in poisonous gases and carried them where they couldn't hurt anyone... he'd proven again and again that his lungs were just as Super as the rest of him.

He still felt like he was choking when Lois little sudden discourse makes some of the eggplant he was eating go the wrong way. After a frankly embarrassing coughing fit and taking a sip of water to calm his body down, all he could utter was a very confused “..What?”.

Thing was, he was used to Lois' seemingly random fits of passion that apparently came out of nowhere. Lois had an extremely fast brain, made connections where no one else could see them and while that made for a great reporter it didn't exactly make it easier for anyone having a conversation with her. But Clark had been married to her for years now, he had his own tricks to figure out where Lois was coming from.

One: identify what they were talking about and how it related to what she was saying. Sure, he'd been explaining the League's latest mission. He'd been talking about Batman but that was- Batman had saved him, sure. He'd taken far too much damage to do so, making Clark worry himself sick in a way he shouldn't be used to and yet he was. But worrying about a friend didn't mean- well. What Lois was implying.

Clark didn't blush as easily as people assumed. He might be a Kansas boy through and through but he'd seen a lot in his life. But his wife suggesting a threesome with his best friend might just do the trick.

“Lois, I'm married to you. And Bruce is straight. What brought this on?”

[in_medias_res]

The first sentence got a flat look because yes, Clark, she'd noticed, thank you. The second got a snort because having seen the way that Bruce looked at, guess who? her husband, and not just once, oh no, she could set her clock by this shit, every. time. she didn't believe that for a hot second. Besides, there were certain people too attractive to keep it to one gender because there was some sort of justice in the universe and Bruce Wayne was one of them.

And oh god, did he want a list?

No. She wasn't doing this. Nope, nooo, nope nope nope. They were skipping the bullshit and she was getting this done.

"Clark Joseph Kent, tell me right now, and you know I'll know if you're lying:" because she might not be able to measure his heartbeat or watch the secretion of sweat in his glands or see the barest twitch in his breathing but she could catch her husband in a lie faster than a speeding bullet.

"If Bruce Wayne walked through that door right there," she pointed with a now-bare fork, "stepped right over here, entirely of sound mind and body, and he kissed you until you made that stupid little grin face I love... what would you do?"

[andaway]

Clark's throat was suddenly dry as a desert, and he took another careful sip of water. It also gave him time to think about the proper answer because- well. What would he do, indeed? He could honestly say he had no idea. His first instinct was to say he'd push him away. He was a married man, whatever was- whatever could be, it didn't matter because Clark loved Lois too much to do that to her. But then he had her right in front of him, urging him to it.

He'd think it was a test, but he loved Lois too much to insult her like that. Lois was smart, calculating an crafting when she needed to be but there were lines she wouldn't cross. If she was telling him all of that it was because she meant it. And Clark honestly didn't know what to do with this information.

“I... I would-” He sighed, lost at words again. He ran a hand through his hair, a nervous tick from when he was young that he'd slowly but surely gotten rid of. Mostly. He took a deep breath.

“Honestly? You know what I would do.” Better than he did, apparently. “But it's not... between us, it could never be a-” He swallowed, throat dry once again. This was going to be a hard conversation if he couldn't even speak, and Lois wanted him to talk to Bruce like this? “...A threesome. Or just sex or whatever you have in mind. There's too much between me and Bruce to leave it at that.”

Because if Lois wasn't going to hold back any punches he might as well go all in as well. He kept a close eye to her reaction but by the way she was wording things he hadn't been as subtle about it as he'd assumed. He'd always thought there was nothing wrong in loving more than one person. He loved Lois, his mother, his late father. He loved Jimmy and Barry, Hal and Oliver, Arthur and Mera. He loved many many people. But he hadn't been ready to be IN love with more than one.

He wasn't in denial. He was denying himself something. There had always been a big difference. He reached for Lois' free hand, needing her. Needing the contact.

“I'm not going to risk losing him and hurting you, all in one go.”

[in_medias_res]

She gave his hand a firm squeeze, because it was clear that he needed it, and if there was one thing that it was consistent about, it was that she would always support him.

...it certainly wasn't her spelling, anyway.

"Clark, sweetheart, honey," and she front-loaded that sweetness, made sure he knew that she loved him and that she understood what he was saying and really really really wasn't trying to be mean, "if I thought you just wanted to get your rocks off with Batman, I'd go to a costume shop and get a cowl."

She gave his hand another squeeze and tugged him closer. The nice thing about a husband who can fly: you never have to worry about them falling out of a chair.

"What I've been seeing--" no, that wasn't quite right, "what I've always seen between the two of you is something special. It's a bond. It's... love."

She leaned down and kissed one of his knuckles; his hands were so big, so strong, and yet so gentle. She loved holding his hand. It always made her feel safe in a way that didn't make her feel small.

"I saw how you looked at him while medical was hauling him off. That's not about sex. That's about love. And while I'm a lot of things, including a greedy greedy bitch who's not about to let you go..." she breathed in deep, "I'm also not going to ask you to shut off a part of your heart. Or shut out anyone elses."

Her smile was warm and small and just a little crooked.

"Life's too short and there's too much shit to deal with for that. Even for you."

[andaway]

"It's good that you won't let me go, because I wasn't planning on going anywhere."

Whatever they did, whatever the next step, even if they did talk to Bruce (Oh, God, was he actually considering that as an actual option?) he wanted that to be clear. Lois was his wife, the one he had chosen to spend the rest of his life with. What he felt for Bruce was... complicated, a level of trust he couldn't seem to find with anyone else. A friendship that had worked his way under his skin until one day he'd seen the man smile as he took of the cowl and oh. But it did't change what he felt for Lois.

He bit his lower lip, taking a few seconds before replying. He wanted to do this right. No denying himself, but also not rushing into things. Whatever the next step was they would take it together, and they would take it because they knew it was the right thing to do. But first, he had to be completely honest:

"I do." Love him. He knew she would understand, and he knew she wouldn't push him to say it out loud. He wasn't ready for that, not yet. His feelings were raw and in the open and the only reason he wasn't running away to the fortress was because if he did, he'd miss the woman in front of him like crazy.

And he'd miss the bat, as well. Oh, Rao, he would. This was a mess, wasn't it?

"If you know, he knows." And it wasn't until he finished that sentence that his voice became full of panic. Definitely a mess.

[in_medias_res]

Oh no, not this. She was heading this off right at the pass.

Lois stood from her seat and walked over to take up one of her favorite spots, namely in his lap. Then she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek as she laid against his chest.

"I wouldn't count on it," she said, once she'd taken care of the most important thing. If she'd really been thinking, she would have waited until after dinner because Clark always handled things better when they were curled up together. But it'd been spinning around in her head all day. Longer than all day. Years, if she was honest.

But to the problem at hand-

"Oh he's observant, I'll give him that. They don't call him the World's Greatest Detective for nothing. But he's got a batting average" and she only realized the terrible pun after it was out of her mouth and Lois Lane apologizes for no snark, intentional or not, "that wouldn't get him out of the minor leagues when it comes to romance. After all..."

She smirked over at her husband.

"He let me get away, now, didn't he?"

[andaway]

He wrapped his arms around her and kind of clutched at her as if clinging to a lifeline, but still mindful of his strength. He buried his nose on his hair, because her smell had always done wonders to calm him down.

He laughed at her teasing, soft and still tainted by panic but at least completely honest. He wasn't so sure, this was exactly the kind of thing Bruce would notice simply because Clark didn't want him to. But he had to trust Lois.

"I bet he regrets that every day of his life." Clark knew he would.

"So now what do we do?"

[in_medias_res]

She lifted one hand and let her fingers comb lightly through his hair a couple of times before she actually answered. God, she loved him. Everything he did, it seemed like, just made her love him more. His arms around her, his nose in her hair... it was a wonder she'd learned how to function around a heart that was always this full.

"He's a smart man. I'm sure he does."

Just a little snark. It helped grease the wheels.

"And what we're going to do is like I said: we're going to go talk to him about it." Her hand slipped down to stroke his face now. "I'd give you an out and say you can wait until you're comfortable, but I know for a fact you'll just get more and more anxious about it. You don't like to sit on things any more than I do."

She looked down with a little grin and wriggled just a little, teasing.

"All right, I like to sit on one thing."

And she pulled him down for a kiss.

"But seriously, sweetheart. Tonight. Normally I'd say we should wait until he's a little more healed up, but it's Bruce. This way we've got a way better chance that he doesn't try to disappear mid discussion."

[andaway]

A weak laugh at her joke was all could manage, but he still leaned into the kiss like he'd been starving and she was the solution. Clark could feel his whole body shivering. Problem was he wasn't sure if it was out of fear or anticipation, and if he was being completely honest (something he always tried to do) it might have been a mix of both. He would rather postpone this until he had no other options, but wasn't that what he'd been doing? He'd been telling himself it was enough, hoping that the need (burning, sometimes unbearable) for something more would fade away with time.

But it hadn't. It kept getting stronger and stronger to the point where it ached, like an itch he could never scratch and... well. Lois was a really smart woman, Clark usually liked to follow her advice.

Even if it meant putting an end to the closest friendship he'd ever experienced.

"I... guess there's nothing else we can do but leave now. I'll change, fly us there. Are you ready?"

[in_medias_res]

"Try and look a little less like a man being led to death row," she pointed out with a light shuck to his chin. She softened even that with a kiss before shaking her head because dear God NO.

"Of course not," and she slipped nimbly off of his lap to stand straight, hip cocked with her usual swagger as she tapped a spot on her blouse. "There is no way in hell I'm going to see Bruce Wayne with a marinara stain on. Or wearing home clothes. Oh, no, no, dear. You're not the only one changing for this."

She watched him for another moment, considered his expression and dipped back again to take his hand in hers. She gave the fingers a squeeze and lifted it to her lips to press a kiss there.

"You know I wouldn't steer you wrong, Clark. And I wouldn't push if I didn't know it was beyond time for us to take the plunge here."

Yes, she'd said 'us'. Because they were a team. Just like Clark and Bruce were a team. It was time for all three of them to be on the same team. Lois was sure it wouldn't go without a few bumps because they were all difficult people in their own ways, Clark included, but she knew they both loved Clark, that she and Bruce had their own groove when they weren't put at odds, and that this had the potential to be so good. For her, yes, for Bruce, almost certainly, but especially for Clark.

She was tired of watching her husband feel torn in two. Enough terrible things tried to do that that she wasn't going to let him do it to himself any longer.

"Trust me?"

[andaway]

Clark laughed, about to tell her that it wasn't like she was going to seduce Bruce. The words died on his throat the moment he realized that was literally what they were going to do. Oh, God.

"I do. I trust you as always. Go, then."

He returned the squeeze as hard as his strength would allow him without hurting Lois, but he gave her a slight nod. He wasn't convinced- not completely. But he probably wouldn't be until they actually talked to Bruce. And he trusted her. With his life, with his soul, with his heart. If she said something good would come out of this then maybe it would. He hadn't realized just how tired he was of feeling himself being pulled in two different directions until she brought it up and now... now he just wanted it to end.

"I love you." So much it hurt, sometimes.

[in_medias_res]

"Love you too, Smallville."

Then she was ducking into their bedroom to figure out the right outfit and dress herself up. It was important, after all. Clark was going to be wearing his uniform; Bruce would probably be doing the same. Men. All of their clothing was relatively preset. Whereas she had to balance being Clark's wife with being beguiling to Bruce (even though she absolutely was NOT the one who'd be serving as the temptation, but she still wasn't going in a potato sack, dammit) to maintaining a certain amount of emotional and social power to make sure that neither of them said or did anything stupid that she couldn't pull them out of.

Eventually, she came out with her hair done properly and tucked under a hat, her make up game absolutely on goddamn point including some eye liner work that she considered a sign from God himself that this was meant to be, a purple suit jacket and skirt that brought out the color of her eyes, and she'd removed every piece of jewelry on her hands other than her wedding ring.

...yes, she was wearing a skirt. She'd had years to learn how to deal with being carried by her husband in a skirt. She was not wearing pants to this, for any number of reasons.

Once she walked back out, it was to look for Clark.

[andaway]

They had been married for long, and had been dating for even longer than that. And yet, she still took his breath away every time. He tried to find the slightest bit of jealousy in himself, knowing Lois hadn't dressed up for him but rather Bruce. And yet, all he felt was a sense of... pride? Maybe that was the word. Pride that a woman so amazing, so incredible, was willing to spend the rest of his life with him.

Even if his heart was pulled two different ways. Even if he couldn't help love someone as much as he loved her. She was willing to accept him as he was. And if they weren't going to get Bruce at that very moment he'd have grabbed her and dragged her to bed at that very moment.

Hm. It was still tempting.

"You look amazing, Lois." He was ready (of course he was, it had taken him seconds). His uniform, his hair in his usual curl... he felt he needed to dress up more nicely but this was the only thing that felt right. He had to go to Bruce as himself.

He reached for her, they had flown together so many times now she fit with him like a puzzle.

[in_medias_res]

To be fair, she'd dressed up for both of them. The effort was for Clark even if the effect was to be used on Bruce. ...and Clark. There was nothing quite like seeing his eyes widen just a little at her, that little curl at the corner of his lip that said he wanted her. If it was any other night, she would have happily tackled him into their bedroom. As it was, she was sincerely hoping that there was tackling into a bedroom, even if it would require a little more patience.

Clark was in his uniform, but there was no 'just' about it. He looked good. He always looked good. The only problem with that uniform on her husband was how hard it could be to pull it off him. And that little curl...

He reached for her and she curled up against him and it was always, always like coming home. She leaned up and kissed him as she was lifted.

"I've always told you your S looks fantastic in this thing," she pointed out with a little grin. Then she kissed him again, mostly because she couldn't help herself from doing it.

[andaway]

"That's because you get to see it under the cape."

He returned the kiss, trying to tell himself that this was fine. That even if they were heading to damaging his friendship with Bruce in a way that was impossible to fix he'd still have Lois. It worked, somehow- but Lois was right. She had always been right. Clark needed both of them. Like air, like water on a desert, he couldn't believe he'd lived for so long denying himself that he wanted this. Wanted them both.

Today, he was more scared of losing the chance for it than he was of losing Bruce. Because seeing him get hurt, taking all the pain to himself and not being able to reach for him like he'd have wanted to had become unbearable.

And so, kissing his wife as gently as he could, he took off to try to seduce his best friend.

[frightening]

( cut to

int. bat cave - night )

Bruce is in a uniform of a sort: black turtleneck and slacks, his usual stoic grace only slightly marred by the way he has to hold himself to prevent further jostling of his broken ribs. The injury is the tail-end of a worse one, already well on its way to being healed by the scientific miracles he engineers through Wayne Medical. He doesn't consciously realize it, but it's a very special skill he has - looking just as intimidating like this as in his armor.

"Alfred is visiting Dick tonight," he says after a while, observing the pair from his place in front of the computer. "If you're here for dinner, you're ordering in." A beat. "I think we might have frozen fish sticks."

What on earth are you two doing in here.

[in_medias_res]

Lois slips down from her husband's arms, leans up to kiss his cheek, pulls the hat off since they no longer have to worry about drag from the wind, and tuck it up into her purse. Then she makes her way over to Bruce, lifts her head, and holds up a hand with three fingers raised.

"Just thought we'd get something done while you're a little easier to pin down than usual," Lois informs him with a smile that is as smug as it is warm. She doesn't like him being hurt either, after all. She'd helped bandage his wounds, had seen the scars on him in that context and in others, but she also knew him well enough that she is firm in her plan.

"First, how're the ribs?" and the concern there is genuine, though she keeps moving along. "Second, you are aware I have perfectly functional eyes and a completely functional brain which means that I am fully aware of your feelings for my husband and his feelings for you, yes?"

She lets that one sit for a moment.

"And third, when, exactly, were you going to nut up and do something about it, though that one's rhetorical because I decided to do it for you. You're welcome."

[frightening]

For a long moment, the only sound in the cave is that of the distant chittering bats.

Bruce stares at Lois. His face is carved marble, emotionless, unreadable. His blue-grey gaze eventually moves (amazing that he can move, that he is at all alive and not a statue) from her face to Clark's. Clark, there in his uniform, here for some un-uniform-related task, looking like he might vomit all over the stone floor.

"Could you please," and his deep voice is like a blade cutting through the silence, grave and razor-edged, "Lois. Sit down, for a moment." He gestures to a chair, and says nothing else for now. He does not address Superman.

As Lois takes her seat, the hand Bruce used to gesture moves back over the control panel of the bat-computer, and suddenly things are happening very, very quickly. The cave rolls into high-security mode, sealing all exits and powering down sensitive equipment, emergency signal on standby. The chair Lois is in will prevent her from getting up or, indeed moving at all, the gravity magnet in its base activated. And Bruce is standing between her and Clark with a sickly glowing green ring being slipped onto his hand so fast it's staggering to think he's not super-powered after all.

"I am getting very tired of this particular illusory prison being attempted," he says, looking at Clark like he's a stranger.

[andaway]

Clark's brain had sort of given up at Lois' introduction, deciding reality was too much for him to handle and offering him a very nice blue screen as an answer. It takes him a few seconds for him to realize that yes, this is happening, his wife has just gone out and told his best friend how he feels about him, asked him for a threesome and insulted him in a not-so-veiled one go. Which was kind of the plan, yes, but he had assumed they would take their time. Warm Bruce up to the idea. Try to handle this in a gentle way.

The moment that thought solidifies in his mind he wants to laugh because really? He'd assumed Lois Lane of all people would be gentle? Lois is just asking the way she always act and Clark shouldn't have been surprised. Maybe this is what he wanted. Maybe he'd been hoping Lois would be the one to break the ice because Rao knows Clark never would.

And then Bruce reacts and Clark knows, exactly, why he'd never uttered a word. Kryptonite doesn't kill him so quickly, it doesn't even do permanent damage. Not a piece so small. And yet he can already feel himself about to faint, his knees this close to giving up. If he had finished eating he'd probably be nauseous, as well. Every cell in his body is complaining about the radiation hitting him, and complaining loudly. And yet all he can focus on is Lois. Because hurt him if you must, but touch his wife and Clark can't be held responsible for his own actions. But it looks like Lois is fine, just... paralyzed? Frozen? What was Bruce's plan anyway?

And then Bruce's words finally kick in and he kind of wants to laugh or cry or both. Maybe he'll just scream, scream seems like a very nice possibility right now. The Kryptonite scares him, it always will. Even if Bruce is the one holding it he has too many bad memories attached to it for him to be comfortable around it. So he's on edge when he speaks, and not only because of the extreme physical discomfort.

“We're not an illusion.” 'Getting very tired', Bruce says and Clark's heart does a little hop inside his chest. Is this what has been used against him? Is this what he wants?

“The first time we met, in a cruise, a glass exploded in your hand before you drank it. That was me, with my laser vision. That night we had to share a bed. You tried to put me to sleep to go off as Batman, later, but the needle broke in my neck.

Can you please put that out before I puke, and release my wife?”

[in_medias_res]

Lois picks up on this... and decides to help as well. After all, if she was doing this, she was doing this. And she was absolutely certain that Bruce was the only other person in the room at the time.

"The first time we had sex, I knew you were distracted and I only realized after I figured you out that it was because you were thinking about the case you were in town to work on."

A pause.

"I made you make up for it the second time either way."

Another, shorter pause.

"...so did you actually just say you're getting 'tired' of this like it's been done multiple times? How many is multiple? Are we talking three strikes you're out or are we in the land of free toasters?"

A single beat.

"And for that matter, if that's the case, why haven't you actually done anything about it? Jesus, Bruce. Am I really that terrifying? I mean" she breathed in in a huff, "if you don't get me out of this chair in a minute, I'm going to crack you in the balls hard enough that the Robins will feel it, and you definitely better get that kryptonite away from my husband, but I'm not exactly Doomsday or anything."

[frightening]

Did Lois just say 'The first time we had sex' to Bruce in front of her husband.

Did Lois just

any of this

What a stupid question, Bruce calmly informs himself. (Of course she did.) He is, overall, very calm. Eerily calm, even. He hasn't taken his eyes off Clark, because he has to look for any signs that he's struggling with something besides the kryptonite-- something working its way out of his system, something trying to control him. Bruce knows exactly how much he can take, and what every flinching second of exposure looks like. He hates seeing it, but if something is controlling his best friend, this is the merciful way to handle it. Especially with Lois so close. Let whatever danger it is crush him, and leave her.

It doesn't take him long to piece it together - his brain works faster than should be possible - but there is a delay in reaction time. Not a huge one; indeed, only about the time it takes for a heartbeat to pass through him.

If Clark happens to be looking at him, he'll see that Bruce looks like someone's run a knife into his stomach.

Abruptly he turns away, walking over to the computer and setting a release on the security measures for a ten-second countdown, so that by the time the cave is re-opened and back online and Lois's chair is deactivated, he's across the room and halfway up the stairs leading to the main house, shoving the ring into a lead-lined box he's produced from somewhere.

Without turning around,

"You should leave."

[in_medias_res]

She pushes herself out of the chair immediately, rubbing at her wrists and wobbling more than a little from the feel of normal gravity returning. Her brain is awash in a few emotions, starting irritation, ending with fatigue, and starring a cavalcade of synonyms for 'pissed as hell' in the middle. Which is why she's got enough in her (that and more) to point at his back and her voice reverberates through the cave.

...whatever else she didn't get, those lungs came from her father.

"BRUCE, YOU GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE RIGHT NOW," because fuck if she's doing this again, going through this again. He just used kryptonite on her husband and trapped her in a chair. He is not just running off after that.

This is why she wore the wedges.

Because it's much easier for her to stomp her way after him. She'll follow him. If he thinks his little time release trick is enough to save him, he's a much dumber man than she thought he was.

She takes the 'travel' time to cool off as much as she can, stopping at the bottom of the stairs and crossing her arms.

"Honestly, Bruce. I knew you were going to react, but that was actually worse and better than I expected. And to be fair, I'm flattered. I wasn't sure if I'd ever be involved in those fantasies of yours, after all."

She tilted her head up to look at him properly.

"Now do you want to come down stairs and deal with this like a rational adult human being or am I going to grab your ankle and go along for the ride until you figure out that I'm not letting you run away from this?"

[andaway]

Clark lets out a breathe of relief when the Kryptonite disappears behind the lead, the lack of pain a merciful relief after the agony. He should be mad, he knows he should, but there's a reason Bruce is the one that has that ring. It's not because Clark trusts him not to use it. If that were the case Lois would have it. It's because he knows he will, when the time is right. And he figures being mind-controlled (or whatever it is Bruce's brain had convinced itself was going on here) is good enough of a reason.

But did he have to risk hurting Lois, too?

“Bruce.” His voice is quiet, a counterpart to Lois's frankly impressive set of lungs. It takes him the better part of a second to feel entirely like himself after being so close to Kryptonite, but once he does he's in front of Bruce in just a step. He knows the man might feel cornered, one of them at each side of the stairs and nowhere to run to. But Lois was right: they have to make sure he doesn't run away.

Clark's aware his eyes are basically pleading. What for? He isn't sure. For Bruce to listen to them, at least. He doesn't know what will happen tonight in this room but he refuses to leave it with a broken friendship no matter what.

“Can we just talk? I've been-” He swallows. As he had predicted, what had been hard to talk to with Lois is even harder to do looking at Bruce. “I'm sorry we just dumped it on you. But I really am stretched too thin as it is. Lois is right.

We need to talk about it.”

[frightening]

He didn't leave a ten second delay to try and escape, he left it so that the two of them could have a buffer of privacy if they want to fuck off immediately. There is no one more well-aware of the impossibility of outrunning Superman than Bruce Wayne.

"You're sorry," he says quietly, staring at Clark with an unreadable expression.

Clark is sorry. After Bruce almost killed him.

Okay.

"There's nothing to talk about. It's impossible. And even if you're not mind controlled you're making an incredible mistake."

[in_medias_res]

Lois rolled her eyes a little.

"He's sorry. I'm still going to punch you in the shoulder for pulling the green stuff on him, though I guess I should have figured. I mean, honestly."

She made her way up the steps, which made for a damn cramped set of stairs, but meh. Clark could float if he needed to. And room certainly wasn't what Bruce needed.

"Though we agree on one thing: there's not much to talk about." She pointed at Clark. "I love him. He" then to herself "loves me" back to him "but he also" over to Bruce "loves you" from Bruce to Clark "and thankfully, you love him." A pause before she continued. "And before everything went straight to hell, I thought you and me made a pretty good pair."

She slipped up against Clark with a little smile.

"The only mistake to make here is you running away. Because it won't solve anything. We all know the truth here. I'd like to do something about it. So would he, around the big sad looks. You're the only one falling behind here, Gotham."