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.*･｡. AN ODE TO CLARK KENT .*･｡.
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001.
AIRPORT PICKUP.

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——

    Allison Argent had gone to France, over the summer.

   That was why Lois Lane was sat in the airport at five o'clock, awaiting her friend's arrival back into Beacon Hills, instead of meeting Stiles and Scott so that the latter could get a tattoo. She had blown them off by saying that she was going to dinner with her father, when really, that was a total lie.

   But they didn't need to know that— right? It wasn't as though it was a terrible lie. Just a lie that made it easier to sneak around with Scott's ex-girlfriend, behind his back.

   The girls had planned to go for dinner that evening, to welcome the huntress back after a long time of not seeing anyone, and Lois had been craving sushi — not the sight of her best friend getting a tattoo, and having to hold up Stiles when he inevitably fainted. If anything, lying in this situation was a good thing. It meant that the boys could deal with the pain and blood of a tattoo, and she could go and have a lovely dinner with the girl that she hadn't seen since they had shot arrows at one another. Of course they had spoken about that night and gotten over their differences through phone calls and text messages, and Allison had even promised to bring her an apology gift from France. They were back to normal.

   As for the rest of her summer, that had been pretty normal too. Well, as normal as it could get after fighting a kanima.

   Lois had spent the vast majority of her holiday updating Lydia and her father on all the supernatural things that they had missed out on — like dead alphas that were now alive again, that Derek Hale wasn't the murderer that they had accidentally made him out to be, and more. She, Scott and Stiles had had a lot of fun drawing out flow charts and diagrams to explain all of the happenings and crazy events that had occurred over the prior months, and they had helped Lydia Martin and Matthew Lane vaguely understand what was going on.

Vaguely was the key word, there.

   Other normal things that Lois had done over summer were like those of getting a job in the mall. It was a small retail job but it gave her extra money to spend on herself, which she definitely did. Several shopping trips with Lydia and Luna had filled the days when she wasn't working, instead preparing a whole new wardrobe for the next school year — junior, to be precise.

   Her father had enjoyed that Lois was out of the house more, soaking up the sun and doing things that didn't end in possible death. His daughter was finally getting the chance to act like a normal teenager again, and she was having fun. A lot of fun.

   Other than shopping, working, and explaining the supernatural, Lois had also taken up cross country running. Each morning and night she went on a run, sometimes joined on them by Scott who was happy to do anything to take his mind off of Allison. While she hadn't enjoyed any sport other than skating as a child, some baseball here and there, Lois Lane decided that it was probably time to get fit — running from supernaturals wasn't easy when you got out of breath every ten seconds, so it made sense. Plus, cross country season was coming up and she was hoping for a spot on the team. It was another thing to keep her busy, and it made her feel normal.

   Normal teenagers joined sports clubs and went to meets. Normal teenagers went shopping and worked over summer. Lois' main goal for summer was to feel normal. No fighting werewolves, or kanimas, or stopping the bad guys. Lois had wanted to feel, and act, as normal as humanly possible.

   But with a best friend like Stiles Stilinski, that wasn't easy.

   All summer he had been panicking. Predicting what could come to haunt them next, wondering why it had been so silent for so long. He thought that the silence was strange; he didn't like it.

While Scott and Lois had taken this silence as an opportunity to be regular kids again, Stiles had taken it as a bad sign. As always, he had conjured a bunch of theories that made little to no sense at all, and brought up his wild ideas when he and Lois were supposed to be helping Scott get his grades up. That was normal for Stiles.

   Even Luna had gotten tired of his theories and told him to calm down, to stop worrying about something that wasn't happening. At the moment, they were all fine. Nothing had happened since they defeated Gerard and saved Jackson. There was no need to worry about what was coming, if there wasn't anything to come. Stiles had grumbled unhappily about the instructions to shut up and have a good summer, but he had done it, begrudgingly.

   He had tried to focus more when he and Lois were helping Scott study, teaching him about why English was important rather than why he needed to wolf-out and protect them. That — alongside the werewolf's word of the day — had made Scott more confident about their next school year. He felt as though he finally would have his grades under control, and he had a lot of faith that coach would let him to return to his title of lacrosse captain, as soon as possible. His friends had faith in him too — a lot of it, actually, being that he hadn't thought about Allison.

   Lois had been impressed that Scott had managed to refrain from texting Allison over summer, no matter how many times he had snuck through her window and cried to her and Stiles at the start of it. It was a heartbreaking scene to watch.

But, with each tear, he had gotten stronger.

   It had gotten easier to deal with the heartache that he felt; easier to cope with not knowing how Allison was or what she was up to.

If Scott had wondered whether she had met a cute french guy, he hadn't mentioned it. Scott was finally starting to get over his love and although he would always be waiting for her, it didn't plague him anymore. Lois was proud.

"Good evening, passengers. This is the landing announcement for flight 89B to Beacon Hills, California. 89B has landed."

   With a new smile on her face, Lois quickly stood from the uncomfortable waiting room seat she had been sat on for forty minutes and cracked her neck to the side. Finally.

Lois could practically taste the sushi she would have, soon

   She stretched her limbs and shook the pins and needles from her legs, relieved to be moving around. When her body was ready to walk again, after being stationary for so long, Lois made her way towards gate three. That was where Allison had said that she's be landing, over the phone. So, it seemed like the place to find her.

   It felt like hours she had spent waiting, tapping her foot and fiddling with her cellphone impatiently, until the huntress and her father walked out of the terminal. Allison peered around, eyes brightening when she eventually found Lois Lane arguing with a flight attendant about whether she was allowed to use the airport bathrooms, or not. Letting out a laugh, the brunette shook her head fondly at her shorter friend and went to resolve the situation before it grew out of hand.

    "But I just need to pee!"

    "Sorry—!" Allison apologised, forcing a smile at the women as she grabbed Lois' wrist. The flight attendant scowled, making the hunter frown deeply at the response while tugging the girl at her side away. "What a bitch..."

    "I know!" Lois cried, "I needed the bathroom and she was all bathrooms are only for passengers. I mean— seriously? It's just a toilet!"

   Allison laughed, "Was this what your whole summer was like?"

    "This is what my whole life is like, Allison."

It was then that Lois noticed Chris Argent making his way over to them, and Lois finally realised that her friend was back from France. She squealed loudly, ignoring the fact that she was hushed by several strangers, and launched her body at Allison excitedly.

"I can't believe you're home—!" She cried, "How was France?"

    "It was fun," Allison laughed, hugging Lois back just as tightly. She was glad that it wasn't awkward between them in person — considering she had broken up with one of Lois' best friends and nearly broken her spine. "How has it been here? How are Lydia and Luna?"

Lois pulled back from the girl and checked her phone.

"Impatient—" she rolled her eyes as she read the array of texts in her inbox, "—and hungry."

Allison nodded. She bit down on her bottom lip hesitantly, not sure whether she should have asked or not, but it seemed like she didn't have to breathe a word. Lois already knew.

"He's good," Lois smiled, softly.

Sighing lightly, the hunter nodded her head once more. While she had been the one to break up with him and avoid all forms of communication, it didn't mean that she didn't still care. It made her feel better to know that Scott was okay.

With luggage in his hand and a small smile on his face, Argent made his way to the two girls and handed Allison her suitcase while Lois happily took a bag from his hand and swung it over her shoulder. He nodded in thanks, noting how healthy and happy she looked, and impressed that she was all in one piece. He was fond of Lois Lane and had started to see her as a daughter — she had been there for Allison over the course of summer, despite their differences in fighting Gerard and the countries they had been in, and she really had had his back when the kanima had gone after him. Chris liked that his daughter had found a friend like Lois; every teenager needed a friend like Lois.

"Thanks for picking us up, Lois." He spoke, watching her grin and start leading them out of the airport.

"And thank you for knowing my instructor," Lois retorted, pulling her keys out of her pocket and clicking the button that unlocked her car. "I passed my test early."

Allison laughed lightly, knowing that her father's cousin had pulled some strings for Lois like he had done for her, following eagerly behind Lois as she guided them towards the beep. When they stopped as a sleek black car, however, her jaw dropped.

"This is your car—?"

   Lois nodded happily. She had decided to take her drivers test, over summer. It hadn't been even a month into their break when she had realised that getting rides with Lydia or Stiles all the time was restrictive, especially when Stiles would always tell her that he got to pick where to eat because he was the one with the vehicle. It had taken a decent fraction of summer to learn, but Lois had successfully passed (with the help of the Argents) and gotten her first car.

Turns out, that driving alone — when Scott and Stiles didn't jump in and decide that they were hungry — wasn't all too bad. It was more peaceful than she had expected, and Lois was thrilled that she could listen to whatever music she wanted. Stiles didn't even have a CD player in his jeep.

Getting her own car was a lot better than she had ever thought.

"I made money this summer," she shrugged, clicking the button on her keys that opened the trunk. "Now get in, I'm hungry."

• • •

"It is not a double date." Lydia objected, "It's a group thing!"

Lois rolled her eyes, glancing at the strawberry blonde through her mirror. She loved her friend, she truly did, but sometimes she didn't know how to be subtle.

After dropping Allison's father and her luggage off at their new apartment, and successfully avoiding all calls from Scott and Stiles about what had happened during his tattoo, Lois had picked up Luna and Lydia and the four girls had gone for food. It had been an evening full of catching up with the Argent girl and prying about France, though there wasn't all too much to tell other than the sightseeing she had done and family she had seen, and a chance to have fun before school started. It was the night before the first day back, and Lois was happy to have a girls night.

Soon their evenings would be consumed by homework and studying for tests, instead of gossiping about boys. Well, that's what should happen. With a friend like Lydia Martin, boy talk was an all-year conversation.

"Do they know it's a group thing?" Allison laughed lightly when Lydia hummed to herself, unsure of whether the girl had told these two boys that the 'group thing' wouldn't be anything serious. She didn't want anything serious. Hell— she didn't want anything at all! She was barely over her last boyfriend, "Cause I told you guys that I'm not ready to get back out there, yet."

"I can't believe you were in France and didn't do any dating for four months." Lydia groaned, as though it was unfathomable to not date any cute boys in France. Which is was very fathomable.

Just, not for Lydia Martin.

Luna laughed at the comment from the girl to her left and then continued to text Stiles, presumably sticking with the story that she was in bed and ready to sleep rather than with his best friend, who had said that she was at dinner with her father. It was working.

Lois looked at the her friends and then back at the road, pursing her lips as she thought of some decent advice for Allison. She was no preacher, and she wasn't good at pep-talks, but she felt like the girl deserved to know that it was alright not to date yet. Lydia had her own way of dealing with things.

"Not everyone dates in France, Lydia." She reminded, turning to Allison. "It's okay not to date, yet."

That was good enough advice— right?

Allison nodded slowly, appreciating the words. She then turned in her seat and looked at Lydia, biting her lip as she contemplated whether to bring it up, or not. "Did you date? I mean, after—?"

Lydia cut her off, "Do not say his name."

The brunette glanced at Lois while Lydia inspected her nails, a brow raised. Lois shook her head subtly and pulled a face, making it clear that Jackson Whittemore was now a banned term in the group vocabulary. They hadn't spoken about him all too much since he had left for London and thus left Lydia even more heartbroken than before, and that was okay. If she didn't want to say his name as a means to get over him, they had accepted that.

"Is he okay?" She asked, agreeing not to say his name just as the other girls had done. "I mean— like, did everything work out?"

"Well, the doctors looked like total idiots when he turned up alive, but everyone got over it..." Lydia told her with a nod, filling her in on what she had missed, "And yes, Derek taught him the werewolf 101. Like how not to randomly kill people, during a full moon."

"So, you've talked to him?"

"Uh— no... not since he left for London."

"You mean since his dad moved him to London." Lois peered through the mirror as she corrected the words, Lydia rolling her eyes because she knew it was true. He hadn't left necessarily due to his own wants, but for what his family thought he needed.

"Whatever— he left." Lydia huffed to herself, waving a blasé hand, "And seriously? An American werewolf in London? Like, that's not going to be a disaster..."

"So— you're totally over him?" Allison assumed.

"Would I be going on a double date if I wasn't?" The redhead bit back, then frowned. She let out a sigh and fell back in her seat, rolling her eyes at Allison's playful smile and the chuckle that fell from Lois' lips. When Luna sent her knowing eyes, Lydia threw her head back and groaned. "Yes—! It is a double date. But it's not like it's an orgy, okay? I think you'll live."

Allison turned back and sat fully in her seat, head tilted to the side as she thought about it. Perhaps a date wouldn't be too bad, plus Lydia would be there so she wasn't alone. And if needs be, she could always count on Lois to come and pick her up if she was desperate to get out of there.

Thinking about Lois made Allison frown. She was confused why Lydia had only organised the double date for them, and not for Lois when she was just as single as they were. In fact, Lois had always been single — since Allison had been in town. Lydia had been with Jackson, Allison with Scott, and Luna still had hands on Stiles Stilinski, but Lois had always been just Lois. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but it had her curious. Why hadn't Lydia signed Lois up for a triple date, while she was at it? It didn't make sense — why hadn't she been dragged down, with them?

"Why isn't Lois going on this date?" Allison spoke more to the rest of the car, than to the girl she had mentioned.

Lois rolled her eyes at the question and smiled tightly, "Because Lois has been too busy concentrating on college applications and being a good daughter, to go on dates with teenage boys that have brains the size of peas."

Lydia made a face.

"Because Lois is a buzzkill—!"

"Not having a boyfriend doesn't make me a buzzkill, Lyds." She responded, shrugging her shoulders and slowing down the car as they came to a red light. "It makes me smart."

   Luna shrugged, "She has a point, Lois. Aren't you interested in anyone?"

    "Not in the slightest." Lois told them, tapping her hands on her steering wheel. She turned to see all three girls watching her closely, two of which were poking their heads between the front seats, disbelieving expressions pairing their faces. With raised eyebrows, Lois waited, "What—? I mean it. There's no one."

    "No one?" Allison echoed, "No one, at all?"

    "Boys don't define me." She smiled smugly, watching them scoff at her response and lean back in their seats. "I'm joking—!"

That wasn't what they had meant, and she knew it.

    Before anyone could say anything further on the matter, Luna let out a shocked breath. She pushed her face against the glass.

"Uh— we have an issue..."

   Frowning, Allison peered out of the window where Luna had been looking with wide eyes, and she felt her smile drop. She fell still and felt as though she couldn't breathe, an expression that confused Lydia and Lois. They watched as her friend span into a panic, sinking into her seat and muttering under her breath.

    "Oh my god—!"

   Confused by their sudden reactions, Lois turned to see what they were staring at, squinting her eyes through the dark to see the car that had pulled up next to them. It didn't take very long for her to realise who was inside of the car, considering she had been with the boy when he had bought it, and grown up in the house beside his own. She knew that soft blue jeep like the back of her hand, and she knew the duo that sat inside of it even better.

    "Crap—!" She whined, slamming her hands on the wheel and pouting to herself. She'd been caught. "Crap! Why do they always show up, everywhere I go? I can't go a single day without seeing those idiots!"

    "Stiles is your neighbour, Lois."

    "Exactly!"

    "I can't see him—!" Allison shook her head, leaning across the seats and pulling down Luna's hand when she awkwardly waved at the two boys next to them. Stiles looked less than impressed that both his girlfriend and his best friend had lied to him about where they were, and Scott looked ready to faint. "Not now!"

    "Lois, go!" Lydia told the brunette.

She turned around with an incredulous expression, "What?"

"I said, go!"

    "Go—?" Lois repeated, unamused.

    Allison nodded, "Please just go!"

    "But the light is red!" The driver panicked, pointing at it to emphasise her point. She didn't want Allison to have an awkward encounter with Scott, but it was the law. "I can't run a red light!"

   It was illegal to run a red light, they all knew that! Lois wasn't able to break the law just because her father was a lawyer, she had learnt that the hard way. She looked back at the jeep and cringed when Stiles leant over Scott and began to unwind the window.

What was he doing? Lois groaned loudly.

    "Goodbye license."

Without any hesitance, Lois stepped on the gas and the car shot foreword, moments before the light turned green, "It was nice while it lasted..."

   Allison let out a breath, leaning against the window with a pale face as they drove along the road. Lois looked over the the girl and sighed, knowing that if she lost her license at least it was for good reason, one that Noah Stilinski would potentially let her off for if she begged enough. She couldn't blame her friend for panicking, having not seen her ex-boyfriend in four months — it was bound to be overwhelming. It wasn't surprising that the next minute was filled with silence, and each girl grimaced as they waited for Allison to process the experience she had just had.

    "Lois, stop—!" Allison said, sitting up. She chewed on her nails and shook her head, "We need to go back and talk to them."

   Lois looked at her as though she was insane.

    "Go back?" She near screeched, "I can't just—!"

    "Please!"

   Grumbling to herself, Lois hit the breaks and slowly skidded to a stop in the middle of the road. She looked up at her mirror and furrowed her eyebrows, noticing how the jeep had stopped meters behind them, the engine running and lights still on. She wasn't sure why they had stopped, but she assumed that it was Scott having similar ideas to Allison.

    "They stopped, too..." Luna hummed, "Why would they stop?"

    "It's Stiles and Scott," Lydia rolled her eyes, point clear.

    Lois nodded her head, "Do you really want to try applying logic to those two? I've been trying to figure them out for years, yet here I am, totally empty handed. They're illogical."

    "Maybe we should—?"

   Luna didn't finish her words, the sound of her voice cut off by the windscreen smashing. The four girls screamed in fear as a deer bust through the glass, eyes wide and manic. Jumping back from the deer in worry that it would ram straight into her, Lois covered her face with shaky hands, protecting herself from anything that flew towards it. It didn't take long for Lydia and Luna to jump out of the back seats and rush to the front, helping Lois and Allison away from the glass and the dead animal laying on the hood.

    Stumbling out of the vehicle in a daze, Lois held onto Lydia's arm and squeezed tight enough to leave a mark. She glanced around and blinked wildly — she wasn't sure whether it had been a dream.

    "Are you okay—?"

   Even though she hadn't been asked, Lydia shook her head back and forth rapidly, hardly able to believe what had just happened right in front of her eyes. "It came out of nowhere!"

    "Are you hurt?" Stiles asked his girlfriend, receiving a nod. He took no time in spinning in his heel and looked at Lois, worry clouding his vision when he noticed how wobbly she seemed on her feet. There were shards of glass in her hair and her bottom lip trembled, clutching onto Lydia like a life-line. "Lois—?"

   Pulled from her state by the sound of her best friends voice, Lois' eyes veered away from where she had been staring absently at her car. She sucked in a breath and nodded slowly, cheeks warm with anxiety. Lois had seen a lot of scary things over the past year, but she had never witnessed a crazed deer running into a car. It wasn't even like she had hit it — her car had been stationary and the deer had launched itself through her window.

Her window!

    "My car!" She whined, wiping her brow free of sweat and little specks of blood. "Why did it have to run through my car?"

    "Are you alright?" Scott asked her, worried.

   Lois nodded her head and calmed herself, letting go of Lydia's arm and running both hands through her hair. She was alright, but her bank account definitely wouldn't be when she got it fixed.

    "Well, I'm not okay!" Lydia confessed loudly, her heart still racing in her chest. "I am totally freaking out—! How the hell does it just run into us? I saw its eyes right before it hit us and it was... it was like that thing— it was like it was crazy!"

"No— it was scared..." Scott said.

He walked up to the deer slowly and placed hand to its side.

They all watched as his eyebrows knitted together at the bridge of his nose.

"Actually, terrified."

——

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