Owner	Pose
Lois Lane	Lois had errands to run after work, so by the time she'd finished them and had headed back home, it was much later in the evening. She had almost missed dinner, save for the fact that she has seen a breakfast bar in a vending machine between errands. Healthy life choices! Once she arrived home, she quickly went for the pajama pants and t-shirt for comfort levels. She spent perhaps half a second contemplating just going to bed early, but instead she wandered to the couch, sitting down atop it and folding her legs up under her. Phone in hand, she pulls up Clark in her address book and starts a text. > I'm home if you wanted to come over.
Clark Kent	Text reply:     > Sure. I'll be right there. And there are few people on the globe that can respond as quickly as Clark can, though he doesn't show up /immediately/. He had a few things he was in the middle of - he was actually in Kansas. But for once he doesn't have to change his clothes or anything else before he heads to Lois's. He shows up balcony-side, dressed comfortably in clothes that do, in fact, fit: dark jeans, an open button-up of a clean blue and white plaid, over a warm gray tee. And he has something else, which will greet her when the 'woosh' of air comes: he brought her flowers, this time. It's a mix of pink roses and light purple chrysanthemums. He remembered the request.
Lois Lane	She opens the balcony doors a moment after hearing him arrive, and the gentle smile she was already going to offer him broadens at the sight of the 'casual' look and the flowers. Lois moves to greet him with a brief kiss and moves to unburden him with the weight of the flowers? mostly so she can find a vase for them. "I know it's not like I didn't see you earlier today but I have to say that seeing you like that never really gets old." She doesn't quite head in towards that vase yet, lingering nearby as she admires the flowers. "I'll have to be sure to save one for our box."
Clark Kent	"I felt silly writing a card when I intended to just .. hand them to you," Clark chuckles softly, as she remarks about something for the box. Normally he would have left a card, and just left them for her on the balcony. A way to express how he felt, but stay out of reach. As in, stay out of putting her in reach of danger or the villains that plague his life as a hero. Clark comes inside and closes the balcony door, looking at her as she admires her flowers, his gift to her. He's softly flattered she appreciates and likes them: he really wanted her to like his gift. He approaches her, smile warm, to set one hand over hers as she holds the flowers. He looks at her, steadily, blue eyes clear and bright with no glasses shielding them, and leans over the flowers to brush nose to hers, and then kiss her. It's a little on the shy end of things, but expressive.
Lois Lane	Perhaps a shy kiss, but it was the kind of kiss called for at the moment. Something sweet. Her free hand comes up to touch his cheek before she reluctantly pulls away from his reach in order to go put the flowers safely in a vase. It doesn't take her long to do so--she has plenty of vases at this point and knows exactly where she keeps them all. With that taken care of, it leaves her to return to his side. "Maybe if you were just dropping them by a card would be fine, but you're much better than a card." It's a sight she'd rather see any day than just an affectionate gesture with her having no way to return it. Now she gets the chance. She moves in, wrapping her arms around him so she can lean in against his chest a bit. "Pretty sure I can't do this to a card."
Clark Kent	"I'm sorry I left you so many cards over the years, instead of staying," Clark says, soft and with a light sort of sorrow for the past. And the lost opportunities. The years of not knowing, of distance. Worse, he doubts he would have played it all that differently. He shackled himself, but there were reasons for it. Protecting her, and others. He still questions if he's failing to protect her, if there will be big regrets as she's dragged into something well over her head. The thoughts cause him to lean his head down towards her, setting his cheek on her hair as she draws herself in close. He's tall when he's straightened up, which puts her head comfortably in place for him to rest his chin on her head. "Are you all right?" Clark asks, tender. "I wasn't sure by your text." He nuzzles her hair a little, the scent of her shampoo. Clark smells a little woodsy, like he was out in a field.
Lois Lane	"I know why you did," Lois says. She doesn't necessarily agree with or like it, but she understands. "I guess it would have been nice to be able to do something for you instead of just pining from afar and keeping everything in a box." There's a smile. She's not upset over it, just genuinely wanting to return the gesture somehow. "I still love them, like I have every time you've given them to me. Thank you." She's comfortable where she's at, arms around him and head against his chest, and she makes no effort to move from the spot. "I'm fine, just been busy and I was glad to be home and? you kind of feel like home these days." She takes in a deep breath. "Dare I ask what you were doing? You smell like..." She tries to put a finger on it. "... like you just went camping?"
Clark Kent	"I was visiting my parents. I usually do, on Thursday nights. Lasagna. A walk through the farm," Clark explains, softened, a smile both in his voice and visually, were she to look up at him. "I like to go every week. I don't know how much more time I'll have with Pa. It all counts." Clark's sentimental, but in a clear, resolved way. He'll appreciate the time that he has. "Seems you're ready for a sleepover, here," Clark observes of her attire. "I like the penguin pajama pants." He chuckles softly, and then moves, a drop of hand under her to sort of scoop her towards him. He's not being inhuman about it, per se, but he /is/ being upper tier of possible human strength with that little move, one-armed. But he wanted to lift her close, and there's no reason to hide. He's getting comfortable in his own skin with her present. "Am I here to convince you to actually get some rest?" Clark teases her, starting to walk her towards her bedroom.
Lois Lane	"Take me next time," Lois squeezes him gently. "I'd like to go. If you don't mind, I mean." He had mentioned wanting her to go at some point. Why not sooner rather than later? "I don't want to just invite myself." She adds the last bit a little sheepishly. But then he's moving her towards the bedroom and she makes a face at him. "Oh no you don't. You don't get to just show up with flowers and being all sweet and then just make me go to bed. I already thought about bed and I decided that you were a /much/ better option. So no, you aren't going to convince me to rest, but I won't stop you from trying. You'll fail though." The pajamas were for comfort, not for sleep!
Clark Kent	Clark laughs, but puts her down, partway into the bedroom. "I have my work cut out for me on the convincing you to rest, then, definitely," Clark says, with a much put-upon huffed sigh, but a smile appears, warm and comfortable, as he looks at her. The slight darkness to the room makes him more willing to show the love in his expression. She's difficult --and he loves her for it. He doesn't want her to feel self-conscious, though, by him looking at her in a way that's too forward or heavy. "I'll take you to the farm sometime, sure. We'll plan in advance, though," he chuckles. "Give Ma some warning that she'll have all her questions ready." Clark diverts back to the evening at hand. "If we're not resting, did you have something in mind?" Clark then blushes a little bit. "Such as a movie?" Such as a movie.
Lois Lane	"... like a movie." Sure, we'll go with that. Lois laughs, just slightly, an amused smile on her lips. "Why, did you think I had something else in mind? You know, other than the obvious choice of a movie." She'd caught the blush and now he was trapped by the question. She reaches her hand up to run through his hair, an act quickly becoming one of her favorites. But she makes no move to return to the living room. She instead stays at their current position, bordering both living room and bedroom. "I've told you that you're cute when you blush, haven't I?"
Clark Kent	Clark steps towards her when she puts her hand into his hair, taking it as an indication that she wanted him closer. It's a movement that draws him in, both physically and emotionally, a gentle offer of connection: and he doesn't shy, he greets it. "You must like to see me off-balance," Clark says with a light little cough and smile, rueful, able to laugh at his own blush. "I guess.. It's still surprising to me that somehow we're where we are." With a gesture of head, he indicates the relationship, or the area between them, or both. "It's... precious to me," Clark adds, looking down. "That I can tell you I love you."
Lois Lane	"It's revenge for not letting me truly thank you for the flowers. It's really something, feeling so caught off guard by an affectionate gesture and having no way to respond in kind. So... seeing you a little flustered and knowing I'm the culprit behind it? Closest I can get to giving you a little taste of what it feels like to being caught off guard. Maybe not /exactly/ the same, but..." Her fingers comb through his hair, and she resumes her position closely settled against him. The lack of distance seems to be a calming act. She certainly seems more relaxed when he's close. "I know, it's strange. It's a whirlwind of emotions that I'm still sorting out. Two very different sorts of affection sort of need to merge and I'm slowly getting that in order. But I wouldn't change it for anything. I love you."
Clark Kent	"Flustered, hmmmmm," Clark chuckles softly. He sighs, wrapping arms securely around her, keeping her close. "I'm trying to relax. A long history of being... worried about my secrets. Always tense. ...So stressful," he admits, with an embarrassed laugh. Because he had been so spooky about her seeing his body. And her taking it as him being self-conscious, when the hindsight now may well inform her of what was actually going on, in retrospect! "I can't imagine what that... must have seemed like," Clark says.
Lois Lane	"You know, I held up pretty well given the fact that you were being pretty resistant to everything I was doing." Lois does give him a look. "I... understand now, sure. You had a lot you were trying to hide. A lot that would be hard to explain away. Honestly, that still did add to the fact I knew something was off. You were trying so hard." There's a small chuckle from Lois. "You know, with all that, part of me was starting to wonder if maybe you weren't as /interested/ as I thought. I don't think I could have thrown myself any more at you than I did that night."
Clark Kent	"I..." Clark pauses, the weight of something clearly on his mind. "I felt that it wouldn't be.. /right/ to..." Clark trails off some, looking down and aside, a little avoidant. Perhaps embarrassment. "To be close while I was not being open with you about who I was." Clark looks to her again, a clouded sadness in his gaze, now. "It had moved from keeping you safe to feeling like I was... directly misleading you. And all of that is... on me. And my situation." Clark sighs, but then settles one hand on either side of her waist, at the top of her pajama pants. "/You/ are always lovely."
Lois Lane	Lois does take a moment to think about it, especially from his perspective. "I think you're right. It would have been difficult for things to progress, in a general sense, without me knowing. That's not the kind of thing you should hide from someone you're close to, much less physically close to. Superman or not, keeping a secret for a long period of time like that isn't good? it probably /wasn't/ good. I don't blame you, your intentions were good in that situation." She leans against him a little, looking back up at him. "Still got a little ego-bruised, but I'll live. Maybe next time you won't be so eager to avoid me, you've got no secrets to hold you back." She laughs. "So it was /all/ just about the secret and none of it was me flubbing up, right?"
Clark Kent	"I... prefer it this way, I don't have to act /quite/ as ...mild and afraid of my own shadow," Clark says teasingly. "And no, now I am not trying to avoid your gaze figuring me out because of what I look like." Fitted clothes are nice from his perspective, too. He doesn't love looking dumpy. Necessary evil of a secret identity. "You didn't flub. I just needed you to... See me and understand. Because I'd loved you for so long and it... wasn't right without the truth." What an awkward mess.
Lois Lane	"Well, you're in luck, I do see you now," Lois says, looking up at him. "But if you thought you could last a long time avoiding things either as Clark or Superman, it would have gotten awkward." She pauses. "I don't mean to imply that it needed to be physical, it just would have eventually come up. And the longer you waited the worse it would have become." She looks back up at him. "Were you ever going to just tell me?" It's a hard question and she knows it. But it's just a question, nothing weighted with anger or emotion, just curiosity for his thoughts. She lets one arm slide around him to squeeze gently, to make sure he's aware it's fine.
Clark Kent	"After I knew that you felt something for me, for Clark, it... everything started to change," Clark answers softly. "I knew that if I continued to bring Superman around, that it would fall apart." Clark hugs her some, returning her squeeze. "I was deciding how to do it. But you realized before I decided on how to say it. But.. I knew that if I came to you as Superman it was a risk. I took that risk, to catch you out of the air, of course." And he chose to throw that caution, to save her life. Probably a good choice! "Better you be alive, even if it caused a rift with us." Clark kisses her forehead firmly, then each of her cheeks.
Lois Lane	"Well, thank you for saving me. For /always/ saving me. I've never believed in anything as much as I believe in you." The words are firm, truthful. Superman has always meant something to Lois, more than anything else. "I'm glad it was me that figured it out, though. I think hearing that from you would have been a lot harder. Granted, it wasn't easy how it came out in the first place, but it put things on /my/ terms. I could have held off telling you that I knew. But I didn't want to wait, I didn't want to keep something between us." She looks up at him. "And now there's not. So next time your girlfriend flings herself at you, make her feel like she's doing it right. Or just act natural. Just be you, however that is." She smiles at him. "We'll figure it out together."
Clark Kent	"You're doing it right," Clark tells her, with a soft warmth, moving to bump his forehead down to hers, to rest there a long moment, allowing his eyes to close, and just enjoy their embrace, the comfort in the closeness. It wasn't always like this -- no, this is a recent change -- and Clark's drinking it in.
Lois Lane	Lois offers a warm smile at his words, her forehead resting against his as her own eyes close. She senses the moment and stays where she's at, making no move to pull away, although she can't help herself with the words, though it's much softer than before. "Good. I like knowing that it was, at the very least, effective."
Clark Kent	Clark draws his arms from around her, instead to bring his hands in, cupping her face with barely-there touch, and adjusts his face back a little to look at her, study her face from the very close proximity. "I know how lucky I am that you love me back," Clark says, softly. "That we /can/ figure it out together. That there's an us." Clark bends to kiss her, just brief and barely there, on the lips, and then brushes his fingers back towards her ears, into her hair. His movement is calm, eyes still focused on her with a quiet depth.
Lois Lane	There's the tiniest bit of warmth in Lois' cheeks, the affection doing its job and getting to her a bit. There is a little more strength to him now than there was with just Clark, a little more courage and comfort to the way he interacts with her. It's just enough to catch her off guard, enough to give him enough of an upper hand to surprise her. Her own hand comes up rest atop his, the other resting over on his chest. "I'm just glad we found each other. It took us a hell of a long time to figure this out, but we're here. And I'm happy."