[closed] When it rains it pours and opens doors

[wherethestoryis]

Characters: Lois Lane (wherethestoryis) and Clark Kent (andaway)
Date: March, whenever needed
Location: Prison, radio/home, whever
Situation: Catch-all for March, because Lois and Clark have a lot to talk about. His being in prison makes it harder.
Warnings/Rating: A for Angst. Also some swearing. Updated as needed.

Comments

[andaway]

By this point he's been called 'Clark' more than once while he was in prison, so there really isn't much of a point- but it doesn't hurt to be careful, and there's a lot of other's people's identities involved if they start just talking without holding back. So a little bit of carefulness will not hurt.

"I- heard, about a friend. Who's back at home." He says, slowly, because he hopes it's Bruce she's talking about. He honestly doesn't have many friends left from home, and he will latch onto all of them with teeth and nails if he has to.

If it were anyone else he'd already be panicking, in case it was Lois they were talking about.

"Which is-" 'Good', he can't say it. He's the most selfish person on Earth but he can't say that out loud and mean it. "He deserves, to be home. We know he's safe, now?"

[wherethestoryis]

A little bit of carefulness could hurt a lot, actually. If they have to be carefully, she can't tell him to stop being an idiot and get over here, she can't try to persuade someone to let her in to talk to him and hug him, can't whisper in his ear that it will be okay. Not being able to reach out hurts plenty.

But this isn't the first time they've gone through these things; it isn't the first time she's had to hide grief over Clark beneath a mess generated by the cape. At least Clark is here and breathing.

She simply nods. "Good, someone told you. As far as I know, he's the only one. I could be wrong, but--" But she tries to check her facts. That Bruce is gone is undeniable. Still, the way he worded that makes her lips quirk up, despite herself.

"If he's at home, 'safe' is not the word I'd choose, flyboy." Because Gotham.

[andaway]

He doesn't laugh, not quite, but he does smile at her at her little quip. "Maybe not safe, no. But he would definitely 'happy' about it. He'll probably want to make up for all the time he's spent in this place-"

He pauses. Then, he looks down. "Or would, if he had any memory left of this place when he wakes up in Gotham."

[wherethestoryis]

"Sorry to be the professional writer on you, but the word is 'satisfied.' Not happy." There's an unsaid--and more or less untrue--joke about 'since when is Bruce ever happy' hovering in there. It's easy to just make these quips.

Easier than dealing with emotions, anyway. "Well, we don't know for certain he won't." Which might be a bad thing, considering the end of last month...

[andaway]

"If we're going to really nitpick the right way to put it would probably be 'at ease', and even then he never really is." God, how he misses her. Reaching to take her hand would be pushing it but if he could just run a thumb over the palm of her hand, if he could just feel here, truly convince himself she's here...

"He had been here for long, very long. Longer than most. I wonder if that means something?"

[wherethestoryis]

"Being at ease in his hometown would get him killed. I still say the word is satisfied--or possibly mollified." In the bullpen, this would be when and where they would get side tracked into vocabulary lessons and increasingly obscure tangents, and Perry would eventually interrupt, tell them who was right, and to keep the foreplay out of his newsroom.

She's gotten more used to life here; for the first time in a long time she aches for home quite viciously. The only real sign, given that he can't hear and see his usual physical clues into her mindset, is the aborted reach for him that ends in her lightly closing a hand around one of the bars.

"I could try to look at patterns of appearances and disappearances, if you want, or have people look at it. Could make a good story. I doubt I'll find anything, though."