Worth the Risk
Jul. 8th, 2010 03:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sanalaylaA/N: Part of the Jade/Sana Challenge Series.
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“Diana, we need to find you a man,” Lois declared. She grabbed a copy of the latest Daily Planet off the rack and rolled her eyes at the headline. Wonder Woman… Friend or Foe?
Her friend had been flipping through a coffee book she’d found on a display rack and at Lois’s announcement, she let out a sound of indignation. “Excuse me?” One brow rose coolly as Diana turned to face her.
Lois held up the newspaper to show to Diana. “This? This is a clear indication that you need to get laid.”
Diana’s eyes narrowed on the headline and she quickly read through the first few paragraphs of the article. With an airy wave of her hand and a snort of derision, Diana responded, “That? He was hijacking a car. From a defenseless woman. On my day off.”
“You ended up wrecking two more cars in the process of capturing him. You almost pummeled him.” Putting the newspaper back on the rack, Lois shook her head and grasped Diana’s arm, moving her towards the main section of the bookstore. As she steered her friend towards the travel section, she continued, “Look, I’m not saying you need to get married or anything. I’m just saying… go out on a date. Work out your frustration through… other methods.”
With a slight roll of her eyes, Diana disengaged herself from Lois and stopped walking. She looked down at Lois with a disapproving look. “First of all, I don’t need a man to make myself feel better. Secondly, if I were to decide to pursue a momentary liaison with someone, where would I find that person? The only men I spend time with are all my colleagues and friends.”
That’s exactly what Lois had been counting on. But, of course, she wasn’t going to reveal all that to Diana just yet. Diana was one of the most stubborn she’d ever met in her life. And that was saying something. So, she needed to tread carefully.
“Well,” Lois pretended to give it some thought. “That’s true. But what’s wrong with going out with one of them? I mean, friends can turn out to be something more --.”
“I don’t think so,” Diana cut in, her tone firm and brooking no argument. “That is not an option.”
“Why not?” Lois asked, even though she could understand Diana’s complete inability to see what was right in front of her. After all, she’d been there. But she questioned the other woman, anyway. “What’s the worst that can happen?”
“A lot.” Diana turned her attention towards a stack of books that were piled on a table in front of them. She picked up a paperback and began flipping through it. “The balance we have as a team –it could be altered. There are things to consider besides myself.”
“Sure, I guess that’s a risk,” Lois answered, nodding her head in agreement. She paused and finished, in a gentle voice, “But aren’t some things worth the risk? I mean, years ago, Clark and I were just friends. Deciding to take that risk was the best decision of my life.”
Diana’s eyes remained fixed on the book in her hands. “That’s different. You and Kal - it was a different situation.”
Lois stared at her skeptically for a minute and then decided to give up. Or rather, altered her plan. “Okay. Then, you’ll just have to look outside your wheelhouse.” She glanced around and then tapped Diana on the shoulder, indicated towards her left. “My nine o-clock. Perfect specimen right there.”
Her brows furrowed in confusion as Diana took in the tall, dark haired man who was perusing the travel section. “Perfect for what?”
“To pick up, of course,” Lois answered impatiently.
“Pick up?” Diana repeated, her tone making it clear she even more mystified. “Where am I supposed to carry him to?”
Lois’s jaw dropped open as she gave her friend a hard look. “Oh, for the love of… I mean, you should ask him out.” When Diana continued to look at her like she had three heads, Lois rolled her eyes. She straightened her back a bit and tossed her hair back over her shoulder. “All right, princess. Watch and learn.”
Quickly, Lois slid her wedding and engagement rings off her left hand and put them on her right hand. She made her way over to the tall man and deliberately bumped in him, trodding on his foot in the process. He immediately turned around with a scowl on his face, but when he saw her, it turned into a smile.
“Oh! I am so sorry!” Lois exclaimed, with a bright grin. “Are you okay??” She made a point of looking down at his feet anxiously and then back up at him with another smile.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” the man answered, in a reassuring voice. He put his hands on her arms as though he were trying to steady her, even though she was already quite steady. “Are you all right?”
“Just peachy,” Lois replied, feeling her cheeks start to hurt from the perpetual grin. She decided it was time to cut to the chase. “Can I buy you a coffee to make up for the injury?”
“Of course!” He flashed her smile and followed her to the coffee shop.
As she passed Diana, who was watching them with an amused light in her blue eyes, she mouthed, “See?”
Within five minutes, Lois had bought him coffee and bid him farewell and then went up to her friend and showed her the coffee cup that had Peter. Call me. 785-854-3654 scrawled on the side.
“There you go,” Lois said to Diana, a bit triumphantly, as she took a sip of her latte. “Now you go do it.”
“You want me to pretend to injure someone so he’ll give me his phone number?” Diana asked her, not even bothering to hide that she thought Lois was insane. “What’s the point?”
“The point is that you call him and go out on a date,” Lois replied, patiently. “Which will lead to moments where you can work out your frustration in ways that don’t involve pummeling whatever car-jacker happens to be around.” Lois glanced around and then said, “Look, that blonde guy over there. Tall, good looking. He’s in the history section, so he must have a brain. Go for it.”
Diana let out a sigh. “Is this going to be one of those things that you’ll never let up on? Until I finally give in just to shut you up?”
“Pretty much,” Lois shot back, with an easy grin.
Diana stared down at her for a moment and then let out a defeated sigh. “Sometimes I feel very sorry for Kal.” With that, she pivoted on her heel and Lois watched as Diana went up to the blonde man.
Lois expected Diana to try to come up with some reason to talk to him, but instead, she just tapped him on the shoulder and said, a little curtly, “Can I buy you a coffee and get your phone number? My friend thinks you’re attractive and that I need to get laid. I’m not sure what that means. But I suppose it’s a good thing.”
Choking a bit at Diana’s direct method, she almost went to cut in, but she saw the man look Diana up and down, taking in Diana’s perfect figure in jeans and t-shirt and the long black hair, with striking blue eyes. As men were prone to do around Diana, he was struck momentarily speechless by her beauty. After a second of hard swallowing, he finally stuttered out, “Y..y..yes. Please.”
Completely unperturbed by his perusal; in fact, almost bored by it, Diana said, matter of factly, “All right then. Let’s go.” Without waiting for him to follow, she headed towards the coffee shop, the blonde man struggling to keep up with her long strides right behind her.
Shaking her head in exasperation, she pulled out her phone and implemented stage two of her plan. Typing a quick text to her husband, who she knew was currently on his way to have lunch with Bruce, she hit ‘send’ and then killed some time waiting for Clark to show up by watching Diana employ her version of flirting on the poor unsuspecting guy.
As she’d suspected, Clark showed up with Bruce in less than five minutes and he was carrying the file she’d requested from him.
“Hey, Lois,” Clark said, as he walked up to her with a grin. He leaned down to give a quick kiss and then handed her file from her desk. “Here’s the notes you forgot.” Looking around he shot her a puzzled look. “Why are you at a bookstore?”
Lois ignored his question and focused on Bruce. “Hey, Bruce. You guys on your way to lunch?”
“Yeah,” Bruce nodded and then exchanged a look with Clark. “But Kent had to take a detour because you needed this file.” He looked down at where Lois had tossed it onto the table a bit pointedly. “I’m guessing it was important?”
With a smile, Lois picked it back up. “Well, I need to go over the stuff with Diana. Something I can’t really do until she’s finished….” Lois let her voice trail off and she just gestured towards Diana to make her point.
Bruce, as she’d expected, followed the motion and saw Diana, quickly putting two and two together. And, as she’d also expected, he immediately reacted with a confused frown.
“Who’s that?” Bruce asked, not even bothering to disguise the curiosity in his voice.
“Oh, just some guy Diana’s trying to pick up,” Lois answered, with a slight shrug. She bit back a grin when she saw Bruce’s eyes widen slightly at that and the way he immediately turned back to look at Diana more closely.
Before Bruce could say anything, Clark burst out laughing. “Diana? That’s….” he looked back towards the coffee table where Diana had just let out a polite laugh at what the blonde man was saying and he stopped. And, in a perplexed voice, added, “How is she….? Is she possessed or something?” Clark and Bruce exchanged a worried look and then focused their attention on Lois, as though seeking an explanation for their friend’s bizarre behavior.
Lois rolled her eyes. “No. She’s just… she’s got some anger issues to work on. We were talking and it was decided that this could be a perfect solution.” She didn’t explain, of course, that Diana had very little say in the matter. “And… you know… I think she’s really fine. I only had to show her how to do it once and she picked it up right away.”
Clark’s eyes narrowed on her suspiciously. “Show her how to do what, exactly?” He zeroed in on her right hand and the cup she was holding. Plucking it out of her hand, he read the side of the cup and then asked, with some amusement, “Is there something you want to tell me?”
Glancing between the two of them, Bruce said, hastily, “You know, I’m going to go say hello to Diana. Would be rude not to, since we’re here.” Before they could respond, he’d made his way over to Diana’s table and sat down.
Holding back a triumphant grin, she turned to Clark and said, brightly, “Smallville. You know what the general says. You don’t learn how to fish by sitting on a boat all day. I had to reel one in for her to show her how it’s done.”
His brows rose in amazement at that, and he shook his head. “What were you going to do when you caught one?”
“Throw it back, of course,” Lois shot back, giving him a look where she made it clear that she thought he was crazy for asking.
“Of course,” Clark responded. He opened his mouth to say something else and then seemed to think better of it, since he snapped it shut. Instead, he took a sip of her latte and then looked down at her hand pointedly. “You might want to put the ring back now. Unless there’s more fish you need to catch.”
“No, I already caught the one that matters, Smallville,” Lois answered saucily, as she switched the rings back to the proper hand.
He shook his head in exasperation and didn’t answer. Instead, he looked towards the coffee shop, where Bruce and Diana were sitting together and seemed to be engaged in some sort of argument. With a concerned frown, he stepped forward to go intercede, but Lois put her hand on his arm to stop him.
“No, let them go at it. That was actually the whole plan all along,” Lois explained, in a hushed tone. She quickly pulled Clark back into the newspaper and magazine racks.
“What plan?” Clark asked, with an adorably confused frown. “You planned to get Bruce and Diana to get into a fight? You don’t need much to plan that, Lois. A regular JL meeting would do.”
Lois made a face. Sometimes she wondered how Clark had ever even managed to get her to go out with him, let alone end up marrying him. “That’s the point. I wanted to get them in a setting where there weren’t a bunch of League members there to break it up.”
“Why?” Clark asked, still looking incredibly lost.
“For a guy with fifty different kinds of vision, you sure are blind.” Lois let out a huff of frustration, blowing her bangs off her brow. “They’re into each other.”
“Bruce and Diana?” Staring down at her in disbelief, he glanced back towards the table, where Diana and Bruce were still arguing passionately. “Diana and Bruce? No way. That’s like….” Clark paused, as though he couldn’t even articulate everything he found wrong with that scenario. “They’re polar opposites; they’re like….”
“Hot fudge and halibut?” Lois offered, helpfully.
“Yes!” Clark said, with a relieved sigh. “That’s it. Exactly.”
“Clark.” Lois stared up at her husband and gave him a hard look. “Sometimes, hot fudge and halibut can be excellent together. You just have to take the risk that it’ll work out and you’ll find that you have a very delicious meal.”
“Or you’ll have a disgusting mess that even I can’t stomach,” Clark informed her, with a doubtful expression.
“Really?” Lois surveyed him for a moment, her hands on her hips, her head cocked to the side in a challenging tilt. “That didn’t stop you from asking me out.”
“That’s was totally different,” he argued. “We’re different.”
“How so?” Lois asked, rolling her eyes.
“Because we’re Clark and Lois,” Clark answered, a bit lamely. “I mean….”
“We’re Lois and Clark now,” Lois replied, before he could finish. “Back then, we were just Lois. And just Clark.”
Clark considered that for a moment and then shook his head. “Bruce and Diana… they’re not like us, Lois. It’s different.”
Lois stopped and looked towards her two friends, who were still passionately engaged in debate. Diana’s cheeks were flushed and her eyes were sparkling. Bruce was looking alternatively annoyed and amused. Lois couldn’t help but smile a bit as she watched them. Turning to her husband, she said, “Are they?”
His eyes followed her gaze and he blinked a bit as he took in the scene.
“She’s caught between two worlds, Clark,” Lois explained, earnestly. “She feels alone, even when she’s in a crowd. Bruce? He’s a human trying to change the world and he runs so fast, he feels no one can keep up with him.” She gazed up at Clark and said, “Diana can fly. She can keep up with him. And Bruce can understand her in ways no one else can, because he knows what it’s like to feel alone.”
Clark glanced down at her with a thoughtful expression, but he kept silent.
“Are they so very different from us, Smallville?” Lois asked.
Clark let out a defeated sigh. “Well, if you’re going to put it that way….” But then he grinned and he slid his arm around her waist, bringing her in closer to him. “I think it’s going to be hard for them, though.”
“Thus the reason why I arranged this little run-in.” Lois grinned up at him triumphantly. “Look, it took us five years and everyone and their mother saying we were soul mates before we decided to even have a first date. Sometimes, people need a little push to think it’s worth it.”
Clark stared down at her for a second and then asked, “Did you think it was worth it, Lois?”
“Well, you know me. I’m a risk-taker,” Lois countered. Then she couldn’t help but grin up at him. “Best gamble of my life, Smallville.”
For a second, he just stared down at her and then he slowly gave her one those heart-stopping grins that still had the ability to turn her insides into mush even after knowing him for so long. "You're totally worth it, too, Lois."
Lois winked and punched him in the arm. "I know."
Clark then glanced back towards the coffee shop. “While it’s great that you like risks and it’s one of the things I love about you, I do think it would be a good idea for you to leave now.” He grasped her by the shoulders, turned her towards the exit.
As Clark guided her through the bookstore doors out onto the busy street, Lois frowned. “Why do you say that?”
“Because you don’t want to be around when Diana and Bruce figure out what you did,” Clark informed her wryly. Before she could respond, he put his arm around her and added, “Besides, I still need to have lunch. You’re now my lunch date, since you got rid of Bruce.”
Lois leaned in closer to him as they walked towards the burger place down the street. “Wow, win-win.”
“Why do I suddenly get the feeling that this will only encourage you more?” Clark asked, with a groan, as though the thought had just occurred to him.
“Oh, Smallville.” Lois laughed a bit and pulled away to pat him on the shoulder. “I find it so cute that you think I need encouragement.”
Then she walked ahead of him to the entrance of the restaurant, leaving him standing in the street staring after her.
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Date: 2010-07-09 04:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-09 02:50 pm (UTC)