Chapter Text
It really comes to something when you feel like only two people in the whole world come close to understanding how you feel about someone.
It was my bad luck that those two people were my father and Lex Luthor.
Was, they weren’t the closest anymore.
He was.
I touched my shoulder lightly.
“Lois?”
“Oh, hey Smallville. What’s up?” I smiled, turning to look at him.
“Is your shoulder hurting?”
“Not really.”
He frowned.
God, this irritated me. He was listening to my heartbeat again like he was freaking Daredevil or something.
Well screw him, he could be irritated too.
“I was thinking about Batman.”
His eyes did this… thing. They fluttered narrow for a second and two muscles twitched in his left temple.
He set his face carefully.
“There’s no reason to be scared of him. He wouldn’t dare come here with Superman around.” He sounded cheerful.
“I’m not scared of the Batman, Clark.”
The eye thing again.
Wow, he really didn’t like that.
“He is pretty scary,” he protested. He seemed honest as far as I could tell.
“Clark, he dressed like a giant bat. Bats aren’t scary, bats are cute.”
He didn’t always use his facial expressions to hide his emotions, he put disbelief on his face so that I knew he thought I was crazy.
“Grow up, Clark.”
“Have you ever been caught in a colony of bats?” he asked petulantly.
“Okay, let me restate my argument. One bat isn’t scary. They’re like tiny flying puppies.”
He pouted, apparently he couldn’t argue with that.
I grinned and shook my head as I checked my watch.
“I’ve got to go, I need to get to my interview.”
“I bet Wayne thinks bats are scary,” Clark told me as I pulled on my jacket.
“Money can’t buy good taste, Smallville,” I reminded him as I left the office.
Bruce Wayne had the penthouse suite. Of course he did.
His butler was the one who answered the call from reception and met me from the elevator.
“Hello, Miss Lane, if you would be so kind to follow me, Master Wayne will be with you in a few moments.”
He lead me to a couch with a full English tea laid out on the coffee table. There were scones.
“I’m glad you approve, Miss Lane.”
I tucked a lock of head behind my ear and smiled in embarrassment.
“It looks really nice.”
He nodded.
“I’ll be back momentarily, I need to reiterate to Master Wayne that you’re here.”
He left me with the cakes. Not his wisest move.
We were three macarons down by the time Mr Pennyworth returned.
“The clotted cream is to your left, Miss Lane. Do be sure to help yourself.”
I did.
“Mr Pennyworth,” I began, spreading cream on a scone, “do you have any free time while you’re in Metropolis?”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Why do you ask, Miss Lane?”
“I’m just wondering if you’d be interested in doing an interview about your life as a butler.” A spoonful of jam on top. “There’s a lot of interest in this kind of thing at the moment, you know, with Downton Abbey being so popular.”
He smiled warmly, “I’ll have to see if I can find some time.”
I grinned.
“Alfred, you don’t need to fatten everyone up, you know. I’m sure Miss Lane has a perfectly adequate diet.”
Wayne walked in adjusting his cufflinks. He wore a waistcoat, but no jacket. It made a handsome picture.
“A few cakes and scones never hurt anyone, Master Wayne.”
He chuckled and sat on the couch opposite me.
I took a bite out of my scone.
“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting, Miss Lane.”
“Overslept?”
He gave me an almost offensively charming smile.
“Her name was Lucy.”
I glanced at the bedroom door and gazed evenly at him.
“Let’s get to business, shall we, Mr Wayne?”
“Please, call me Bruce.”
“That wouldn’t be very professional, now would it?” I replied with a ‘nope, not doing that’ sort of smile.
He snapped his fingers.
“Curses.” Then something seemed to occur to him, “wait, what about when we’re not in a professional context?”
That was unexpected.
“I suppose that would be fine, but we only ever meet in a professional context, Mr Wayne.”
“Well, I could ask you on a date.”
The strawberry jam on my scone slipped off onto my skirt as I stared at him.
Mr Pennyworth was quick to arrive with napkins and a damp cloth. I managed to clean the jam off with a little help.
I caught a troubled expression on his face as he helped, as though he was as surprised by this as I was.
“But Mr Wayne, what about Lucy?” I asked as an evasive maneuver.
“Lucy’s a great girl, and she just wanted a fun time.”
I doubted imaginary people cared about fun.
“This would be different,” he added with a nervous smile.
“Mr Wayne, I’m flattered. But I’m already interested in someone.”
I was expecting mild disappointment, at worst some feigned attempt to make the request seem less serious, but he looked really pissed.
“Kent.”
“What? No. Look, Clark’s a great guy,” he clearly didn’t agree with that, “but I’m just not interested in him like that.”
Visible relief.
“Well, alright.” He chuckled quietly, “I’m really sorry, I just do not like that man.”
And he didn’t even know the full story.
“He’s not that bad.”
“I doubt it.”
“Either way, it’s not him,” I reassured him before saying too much. “It’s actually someone from Gotham.”
It was his turn to stare at me. After a second he regained his composure.
“Well, that’s a good sign that you have good taste in men,” he smiled nervously.
“I hate to interrupt, but you do have a busy schedule today, Master Wayne. I’m sure you do as well, Miss Lane."
“You’re right, of course, Alfred,” Mr Wayne smiled confidently, regaining his composure. “We should probably get on with it, then.”
Perry wasn’t particularly excited about the interview with Mr Pennyworth, but he did concede that it would be a good interest piece.
“You’re lucky it’s a slow news week, Lane,” he warned me.
There was only so many ways to write ‘Superman stopped a gang of criminally stupid bank robbers’ after all.
“Can I borrow Jimmy for some pictures?”
“We have pictures of the guy on file!” Perry protested.
I put my hands on my hips and raised an eyebrow.
“Perry, we have one picture of him on file by himself from seventeen years ago. Let me get a new picture.”
He grumbled, but gave in.
“Fine. But I’m not paying you double time for this!”
“That’s fine,” I grinned, jogging off to find Jimmy.
The kid was hanging around Clark’s desk, browsing through a file on one of the paper’s tablets.
“Whatcha doing?” I asked, sneaking up on him.
He jumped, almost dropping the tablet with a yelp.
“Come on, Lois! I can’t break another tablet, Perry will kill me!”
“Sorry Jimmy.”
Sorry, not sorry.
He pouted.
“I’m trying to find a good picture for Clark’s piece on Wonder Woman's work with women’s shelters around the world.”
“How’s that going?” I asked, slinging an arm around his shoulders and peering at the tablet screen.
He sighed.
“It’s all made up photo shoot shots and crime fighting shots that focus way too much on her cleavage or butt. There’s not one of her just looking at a camera and smiling in costume.”
I patted him on the shoulder, “you’re a good kid Jimmy.”
He shrugged.
“So what’s up, Lois?”
“I need to borrow you for a human interest story. There’s a fancy dinner in it for you.”
He sighed.
“Okay, but you better clear it with Perry this time!”
“Already done, Kiddo.”
I’d arranged Mr Pennyworth’s interview to take place during the annual gala for the National Alliance on Mental Illness being held at the Metropolis Hilton.
There was an extra emphasis on PTSD this year, so Bruce Wayne made a natural invite.
This was pretty much the only free time Mr Pennyworth had during his visit to Metropolis, so we took advantage of Wayne being in the ballroom all evening.
“Hey, Lois? Are you okay?”
“Huh?” I snapped my attention back to Jimmy as we got to the elevator.
He looked around the lobby.
“Who were you looking for?”
Luckily, the elevator was empty as we got in. Or Unluckily, I guess. I wouldn’t have told Jimmy if there’d been someone else inside.
“I was looking for Bruce Wayne.”
“Huh? Why? You need some eye candy or something?”
“No,” I replied, “he asked me out on a date.”
he yelped so loud it made me jump.
“What?!”
“Jimmy!” I hissed, “shut up!”
“Sorry! It’s just… Bruce Wayne?” During his baffled pause I thought I heard something. “I know Clark was ranting about him last week, but I just thought he was embarrassed, I didn’t think there was any-”
I put my fingers on his mouth without thinking at I strained to hear the strange sound over the elevator.
“Can you hear that?”
Suddenly. I could hear gunshots from somewhere below us. Gunshots and screaming that was growing quieter as we travelled upwards.
Jimmy stared at me with wide eyes.
“Shit.”
I pressed the button for a stop a few floors up as I searched around in my bag for pepper spray and my cellphone.
“Jimmy, I need you to take my bag and head up to Wayne’s suite. Once you get there, call Superman and tell Mr Pennyworth what’s happening.”
“Lois, you can’t go down there.”
I ignored him and handed him my bag.
“I can and I will. Once you’ve explained the situation to Pennyworth, stay with him. If Wayne’s up there, make sure he stays up there, got it?”
He nodded, terrified.
“Please be careful, Lois. You’re still hurt.”
“Don’t worry, kiddo, I’ll be fine.”
It was my floor, so I darted out of the elevator leaving Jimmy behind.
Clark was gonna kill me, but he’d have to get here first.