By Alicia U. <lxu2@cwru.edu>
Rated: G
Submitted: July 2004
Summary: What is love at first sight? Lois ponders this age-old mystery in this waffy vignette.
***
Clark has always told me that he fell in love with me the moment he saw me. From the instant he first laid eyes on me, he knew I was the woman he was bound to spend the rest of his life with.
The thought still makes me a bit speechless. I can't believe he had that much faith that I would eventually love him, too.
Wow. I honestly have no idea what he saw in me back then. God, I was so horrible to him.
Yet he loved me anyway. He saw something in me that I didn't see in myself.
Wow.
I never really understood 'love at first sight'. I never thought it could happen. At least not to me.
Then he flew into my life. Superman.
He was a virtual god in blue tights. Yes, blue tights. Weird, I know, but wow did they work for him!
They did nothing but emphasize his well-defined physique, complete with rippling muscles like I'd never seen before. He created the image no woman could ever forget. He was a real live Adonis, definitely too good to be true.
When he swept me up into his strong arms, I fell desperately in love with him. Before he even uttered a word, he had stolen my heart. Forever
Here I was, a woman who never imagined she could love anyone, but I had given my heart to a man who could fly. Was he even human? Did it even matter?
When he flew with me, my heart soared, and it never came back down. I knew I never wanted to leave his strong arms for the rest of my life.
It didn't matter that he was a caricature, a comic book character, a one-dimensional superhero. To me, he was perfect. I didn't need to know if he had a real name, if he had parents, if he was even human. He represented all that was good and pure, and that was good enough for me.
More than good enough.
I'll admit that I thought he was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. To be completely honest, I barely even noticed that Clark Kent existed.
Clark was just a bother, the man Perry threw me together with. Not even to work with. Perry gave him to me so I could show him the ropes, and that was it. I'd be through with him as soon as he got accustomed to the newsroom. Right.
Wrong.
And, believe me, I wasn't happy. I did not have time for a newbie, a greenhorn. I had a Pulitzer to win, and Clark wasn't going to do anything but slow me down.
I had no idea how wrong I would be.
We became colleagues, partners, friends, equals, best friends. I had always known he had a bit of a crush on me. I kind of shrugged it off and laughed at the absurdity. Like I would ever go for plain old, mild-mannered Clark Kent! Right. Not when I was desperately in love with Superman.
Clark couldn't hold a candle to the god in blue. Superman had no parallel — certainly not bumbling, glasses-wearing Clark. There was just no competition.
It didn't matter that Superman didn't always seem to want me as much as I wanted him. I knew he was trying to hide his true emotions. He loved me as much as I loved him, and we were going to live happily ever after.
Then it happened. Without any conscious effort on my part, another man had wormed his way into my affections. It had taken a while, but Clark Kent with his quiet charm and gentle kindness had silently won my heart.
I loved him. No, it hadn't been love at first sight, but it was a powerful, possibly ever-lasting love.
It left me in quite a bind. There I was, the woman who thought she could never love, in love with two men at the same time. My feelings for Superman hadn't gone away, but my feelings for Clark kept getting stronger by the day.
I had no idea what to do. Superman was taking a back seat to my partner, my friend, my love. Yet I still had such intense feelings for the man in tights.
Superman at times seemed like he was pushing me towards Clark. Like he didn't want me, but he wanted his friend Clark to have me.
I was so confused.
If Superman didn't want me, and Clark clearly did, I would show Superman. I dropped my idealistic fantasy and acknowledged my feelings for my partner. My flawed, wonderful, uniquely wonderful partner — the man who would tease me, who would cuddle on the couch with me and watch a movie, who would treat me like I was the center of his universe.
But then I started to notice Clark's fear of commitment. Any time anything started to become serious between us, he would run away, telling me the lamest stories. He had to return an overdue video. He had a dentist appointment. He had to pick up his cheese of the month shipment!
I was hurt and confused. For a man who had sent me so many signals that he wanted me, he certainly had a horrible way of showing me he actually did. I think it hurt me the most that he would never explain why he did it to me.
Then it all made sense. Why was it that whenever Clark had to return a video or something equally absurd, did he always come back with an exclusive Superman interview? Why did he always seem to catch an exclusive Superman rescue whenever he was at his weekly dentist appointment?
It all made sense. When he cupped my face as Superman, it triggered something in my mind. Clark was Superman. Superman was Clark.
The two men who had stolen my heart were actually one. I was hurt, deceived, angry, and … relieved.
After a short time, I came to terms with what Clark had done. I understood why he had done it. He wanted to have a normal life. A job. A girl. Me. He couldn't do that if the world knew what he could do. So he created Superman. No one looked at his face when he was wearing the tights. I know from personal experience. I was blinded by the bright blue spandex for almost two years.
Now it is all straightened out. Clark and I are together. I could never have imagined how powerful it is to be so madly in love. It almost feels like the two of us were meant to be together.
Whenever we touch, I feel a small spark of electricity passing through our skin. It feels so amazing. So *right*.
Clark and I were meant to be together, and we will be together forever.
I wish I would have known it all along. Like Clark knew.
I think in my own way, I knew it, too. I did fall in love with Clark at first sight. It had just taken a pair of bright blue spandex to get my attention.
As romantic as the idea of 'love at first sight' is, it was really just superficial. Real love, everlasting love, is the love Clark and I share. It is beautiful, meaningful, powerful, eternal.
Clark and I share a love that can never be described in mere words.
To think, it all started at first sight.
THE END
This story was written in approximately 30 minutes to satisfy the 30 minute challenge on the lcficmbs.