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Author’s note: As promised, here’s Chapter 1 of the prompt I posted in X: What if, when Lois returned from Star City, tagging along with her was a reporter she met on Star City who just loves to tease & challenge Lois? Clark saw the familiar banter between Lois and this new guy. The question is, why does he feel threatened?

PS: idk how to post a story in ao3 so I will use tumblr as my primary medium of posting. I hope you guys like this and ket me know your thoughts :))

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Chapter 1

Two months. That’s how long it had been since Lois Lane left Metropolis, since she packed her bags, tucked away her pride, and flew to Star City under the guise of helping a wounded friend. In truth, she had been helping herself, or trying to.

Now, seated by the oval window of a commercial flight cruising above the clouds, Lois wasn’t sure if she’d done much healing at all.

She could’ve accepted Oliver’s offer for a private jet, but something about being alone with her thoughts among ordinary people sounded better. Less suffocating. No pitying glances. No reminders of what she’d left behind.

Her fingers toyed with the boarding pass tucked into the seat pocket. The engine hummed steadily beneath her boots, the soft chatter of passengers fading into white noise. She leaned back, closed her eyes. That’s when someone dropped into the seat beside her.

“Guess this one’s mine,” came a smooth, amused voice.

Lois opened her eyes.

The man sliding into the seat was the kind of man that made even seasoned reporters pause mid-sentence. Tall, broad-shouldered, and sculpted like he’d been carved out of some smug Grecian marble. His dark hair fell in casual waves, his jaw sharp enough to make headlines of its own. The sleeves of his navy shirt clung to his forearms in a way that suggested he didn’t need a gym membership to keep that build.

Great, Lois thought dryly. Just what I need flying coach with a walking Calvin Klein ad.

He smiled at her, confident, easygoing, the kind of smile that could charm an entire press room. “Chase,” he said, offering a hand.

“Lois,” she replied, shaking it briefly before returning her gaze to the window.

Silence hung between them for a few minutes, thankfully. Then, predictably, he started talking.

It wasn’t the usual small talk. Chase spoke about things people normally save for midnight confessions, how he’d quit a job that paid well but hollowed him out, how he didn’t know what he was chasing anymore (pun unintended, he swore), and how sometimes, it’s easier to talk to strangers than to people who think they know you.

Lois didn’t mean to listen. She really didn’t. But his tone which was honest, almost disarming cracked something open.

“Funny,” she said after a while, her voice quiet, eyes fixed on the fading horizon outside. “That’s exactly why I don’t talk to people.” She meant it to shut him up but of course he didn’t.

He turned to her, curious. “You don’t?”

Lois internally rolled her eyes but decided to just go with it. She’ll never meet him anyways. Besides, they just know each other by first name basis. She shook her head. “People… they have this tendency to disappoint you. The moment you let them in, they find a way to hurt you. So, I stopped letting them in.”

Chase studied her. “So, someone hurt you?”

Lois huffed out a bitter laugh. “Yeah. You could say that.”

He didn’t push, he just waited as if inviting her for a confession.

“There’s this guy,” she began, the words spilling before she could stop them. “I’ll just call him Smallville. It’s a nickname.”

Chase smiled faintly. “Let me guess, farm boy?”

Lois’s lips twitched. “Bingo. Sweet, awkward, sometimes infuriatingly noble farm boy.”

Her voice softened despite herself. “We were partners. At work. Always bickering, but it worked. And then… there was this moment. At my cousin’s wedding. We almost kissed.”

“Almost?” Chase prompted gently.

“Yeah.” Her throat tightened. “Almost. Until his ex walked in, which he claimed he was in love with since he’s 5. And just like that, he looked right past me. Like I’d never been there.”

She blinked rapidly, keeping her eyes on the window. “Something tragiv happened that same day which made me leave the town. Told myself I was just helping my injured friend, but… I know it’s more than that. I think I was just running. Staying in Star City longer made it easier to pretend I didn’t care anymore.”

Chase’s voice was quiet when he asked, “Do you?”

Lois didn’t answer. The seatbelt light blinked on, and the captain’s voice filled the cabin, announcing their descent into Metropolis.

She felt Chase’s gaze linger on her, but she didn’t look back. The moment the plane’s wheels touched the runway, she grabbed her bag, muttered something about being late, and disappeared into the crowd before he could even say goodbye.

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The newsroom buzzed as always, clacking keyboards, ringing phones, the low hum of chaos that Lois usually thrived in. But lately, she’d been moving like a ghost between desks, always vanishing just before Clark Kent, the man she would love to strangle and hug at the same time, entered the bullpen.

If he arrived at nine, she was already leaving to meet a source; if he stayed late, she’d turn in early; even when they crossed paths at the coffee machine, Lois suddenly remembered an urgent call to make. She does everything just to not stand in the same room with him.

Clark noticed. Of course he did.

Every dodge, every sidestep, and it stung more than he wanted to admit. He’d hurt her, even if he hadn’t meant to, gosh he never wanted to hurt an independent, does-not-settle-for-less Lois Lane. And now, the walls Lois had built around herself were taller than ever. And this time, they were built against him. And somehow, Clark thought, this was way worse than standing in a room full of kryptonite.

He’d been waiting for the right moment to talk to her, to explain. But the right moment never came — and maybe it never would, unless he made one.

The following Friday, Clark made up his mind. He spotted Lois across the bullpen, her hair catching the light as she typed, pretending not to notice him. He crossed the room, determination in every step.

“Lois, we need to talk.”

Her eyes flicked up, wide, like a cornered animal. “Smallville, I can’t right now, Tess called a—”

Right on cue, Tess Mercer’s sharp voice cut through the noise from the mezzanine above. “Everyone, listen up!”

Reporters looked up from their desks.

“We’re temporarily assigning a new reporter to the Daily Planet’s city desk,” Tess announced. “He’ll be joining us starting today.”

A tall figure stepped out from her office, flashing that same confident smile Lois had seen from a plane window two days earlier.

“Everyone, meet Chase Grant.”

Lois froze.

Clark blinked, glancing between them.

Chase caught sight of her and smirked, clearly amused. “Well… small world.”

Lois’s jaw dropped. “YOU?!”

The bullpen fell silent, everyone turning to stare.

Clark’s brows furrowed in confusion. “You two know each other?” Lois concluded that the jealous and somewhat irritated tone she heard from Clark was just pure hallucination. But she could only gape. Of course the stranger she’d spilled her heart to at thirty thousand feet had to show up here, in her newsroom, standing next to her unresolved disaster of a partner.

Somewhere deep down, Lois Lane swore and cuss the guy out. One thing just entered her mind – that moron must’ve known who she was and masterminded his way to talking to her and spill her guts to him, and now she’s screwed.

small kavan spam is imminent. 

Tut is not quite a beer conoisseur yet. :P

Bare by AC91