⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
——

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
.*･｡. AN ODE TO CLARK KENT .*･｡.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

028.
FEELING EVERYTHING AT ONCE.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

——

    "It's not freaky water-shit."

    "It's pretty freaky."

   Grumbling under her breath, Lois twisted the faucet to a stop. A moment passed where she stared down at the drawn bath, looking at the outline of her face reflected in the water, and sighed heavily.

   Were they really doing this?

   While Scott and Stiles were being productive in their Saturday, Lois wondered how she ended up with Isaac Lahey.

   After pitching his idea of testing her powers as he called whatever it was that she seemed able to do — which she originally denied as she tried to usher him right out of her home, not wanting to have to remotely think about what had happened in Derek's loft, or at the motel — Isaac had somehow managed to make Lois cave, in a bargain to simply try one thing and then he would leave. She told him how high the chances were of nothing happening, but he had been insistent that they'd have at least some sort of success.

   Isaac's original idea was to head out to somewhere quiet and unpopulated, to a water source where no one would see them as they tried to figure out her powers. He hadn't, however, thought of where this supposed water source would be. There wasn't really anywhere like that, in Beacon Hills. At least, not mid-Saturday.

   So, that had only left them with the option of making their own water source. In search of the next best thing, Lois and Isaac had inhabited her bathroom and filled the bath with water, right up to the top. This wasn't the day she'd had planned.

   Then again, what had she planned?

Nothing, really. Nothing that didn't consist of laying in her bed all day and thinking about every single thing she could have done to save Boyd, all of which she hadn't. Other than that? Nothing.

"I don't think this is gonna work..." she sighed, biting her lip.

"Might as well give it a try," Isaac shrugged.

"I can't control it," Lois tried again. She ran a hand through the strands of hair that had fallen from her ponytail, an act of nerves that Isaac had noticed. Her eyes flickered up to him, finding him already looking, and then she looked away. "I'm not even sure it's controllable. I don't know how it happens, or why." She bit the side of her thumb, "Look— maybe this is useless, yeah? Maybe it isn't what we think it is..."

"Not what we think it is?" He echoed, "Gumdrop, you made water move in a seven foot wave."

"That doesn't mean I know how!"

Reaching for the drain to pull out the plug, Lois aimed to get out of this situation as quickly as possible. Talking about what might have been happening to her made her rather uncomfortable, and she wasn't sure she was ready to admit that something definitely was happening. Just like Lois wasn't ready to admit a lot of things that had happened recently — like her cousin being at the fight at Derek's loft with Aiden and Ethan, and being referred to as some sort of witch. That was something she really wasn't ready to admit to happening, and she hoped that if she ignored it for long enough then it would go away and perhaps never of happened. But, Lois knew that was wishful thinking. She'd have to face it, soon.

Lois had just hoped it wouldn't be right now.

Quickly, Isaac took her hand away from the faucet. Her fingers skimmed the metal and she frowned, unimpressed with his fast wolf-speed.

"This is a waste of time—" her words were interrupted.

"The first time I tried to turn, I pissed myself."

She frowned.

"What?"

"When I tried to turn, after I was bitten." Shrugging, Isaac was strangely nonchalant telling his embarrassing story. If it had even a small chance of making her feel better, then Isaac would happily feel embarrassed thirty times over. "I couldn't do it. I tried again, and again, until I strained myself so much that I peed my pants."

"Really?" Lois waited for the joke.

"Really," he said, "It's not always that easy."

"How did you do it?" She asked, "For the first time, I mean... Did you have to wait?"

"I ended up shifting when my father threw a knife at me, the night after." Isaac tried not to think too much about the memory and continued, "I just kinda wolfed-out."

A bit discouraged and sad for him, Lois hummed. She always felt guilty when she was reminded that his father had been such a monster. Isaac had grown up being abused most of his life, and it reminded her of why he took the bite from Derek to begin with.

Noticing the slump in her shoulders, Isaac tried to rectify the bounce that was usually in her step; "But eventually I got it, and I was able to control when I shifted. All I had to do was practise and remember not to panic." She looked up and met his eyes, to which he sent her a gentle smile, "It's scary— I was terrified when I first managed to turn, believe me."

"Piss your pants, scared?" She bit back a smirk.

"Piss my pants, scared." He chuckled then continued, "But I got there, and then I wasn't so scared anymore. You just have to try."

The girl bit her lip and sighed, knowing that he was right. This wasn't something that she could ignore, not for much longer. One way or another, it was going to find a way to infiltrate her life until she fully surrendered — and, by that point, it might have been too late. She might have lost control of it, or someone else might have died when she had the ability to try and save them. If there was any chance of using this thing to help people, then she would have to try and figure it out sooner or later.

Lois hadn't realised Isaac was still holding onto her hand until she tried to roll up her sleeves. Their arms knocked awkwardly and Isaac had quickly let go, cheeks warm but keeping his cool.

The girl crouched on her knees, leaning against the edge of the bath and staring at the water with uncertainty. Like last time she had tried to make something happen, Lois had no idea where to even begin. Was there an art to this... thing? There wasn't exactly someone that she could ask. It wasn't like the bite; she had no real idea as to how she had gotten this, or why, and they didn't know of any supernaturals with this ability. No one to show her the ropes.

   Shutting her eyes had seemed like the best place to begin, and so she let her eyelids flutter shut. Just like the last time, Lois tried to keep as calm as she possibly could. She tried to centre herself and took in a deep breath, trying to channel something. Something she thought would help make this easier, something deep within her, but she didn't know what she was supposed to be looking for. Was she supposed to be looking? For something? Anything? It was what she usually saw in the movies, and she was sure that some werewolf along the lines must have said something similar to that. To look deep within yourself. Was that a werewolf? Or, perhaps a teacher thinking that they were inspirational, at one of her many parent-teacher conferences? Really, the girl had no idea.

   Thirty seconds of silence followed, before Lois Lane had already grown sick of it. She tutted at herself, feeling stupid, and opened her eyes. It had gotten very boring, very quickly. Lois moved to get up from the floor.

    "It's not working—!"

    "Give it a chance," Isaac said, gently placing his hands on her shoulders and pushing her back down.

    "I did!"

    "A pathetic one!"

   Lois scowled at him.

    "Come on—" he coaxed, "You've got this. Give it time."

   Huffing, Lois turned back to the bath and shut her eyes again. It was quiet between them, and Lois did the exact same thing as she had done moment ago. She tried to search for something, for what she wasn't quite sure, but she searched. Lois aimlessly scrawled through herself and tried to find something that she could use, but came up empty-handed. There wasn't anything.

"What do you look for?"

"Huh?"

"Y'know— what do you look for? Inside yourself, or whatever. How do you turn?" She asked him, hoping for some good advice that she could use.

He'd been doing well, in the ways of advice, so far. Lois was a tad shocked that Isaac had given her such decent advice. However, it looked as though that streak of good advice had dwindled, and taken a break, when Isaac wrinkled his nose and peered down at the girl with a confused expression.

"Who are you?" He mocked, "Obi-wan Kenobi?"

Lois furrowed her brow, "You've watched Star Wars?"

"Used to be a nerd—" Isaac shot her a look, one that spoke louder than the slick jawline and muscles under his shirt. She let out a hum as she recalled freshman year, "—remember?"

"Oh, yeah... it's kinda hard to remember, sometimes. Ya know— you were a nerd under all..." she gestured to all of him, "...that."

While he rolled his eyes, Isaac couldn't help but feel strangely flattered by her words. He cleared his throat, "I'm not sure I look for anything," he shrugged when he came up with nothing to help her with that question, "When I turn, it kinda just happens when I want it to. It's more trying not to turn in situations, that I have to think about, sometimes. That's harder than turning..." Isaac tried to wrack his brains, "Why? Did you find anything?"

"What do you think?" Lois muttered.

It seemed that Isaac could tell that she was getting upset with her attempt to find something within herself, and that Isaac hadn't been so helpful that time, seeing as her eyes hadn't moved to look at him and instead glared daggers at the water in the bath. He thought.

"Let's try something else..." his suggestion was more instructive but Lois was willing to listen. "What about...?" Isaac thought of what he had just said, "What about when you have done it?"

"Done it?" She echoed, confused. "What do you mean?"

"At the loft, when you made that water move." Gently coaxing her on, Isaac tried to find the best words. "When you did it, what were you thinking about?"

"I don't know how I did it—"

"Not how you did it— what were you thinking about?" He tried a second time, "How did you feel?"

Lois pursed her lips, tightly.

"I know when I try not to turn, I'm usually turning because of how I feel." Isaac explained, "I have to channel that differently, I guess... maybe if we can figure out what made you do it without trying, then we can use it for when you do?"

A silence lapsed over the pair of teenagers in the bathroom, and Lois found herself unsure of what to say. It was quite obvious what she had been thinking about, and how she had felt. The topic had made her feel queasy to revisit in her mind — a feeling Lois had grown used to, in the last three days; she thought about it a lot. A lot more than was probably healthy, but she couldn't stop herself as she replayed the events at the loft over and over. That night had been permanently etched into mind, and she wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to forget it. Boyd's death played like a broken record. One day it would get easier, but that day wasn't going to be today.

Understand her silence, loud and clear, Isaac nodded. He slowly and carefully lowered himself to the ground, sitting down beside her with his back against the wall. Isaac looked at her side profile while she distracted herself with running her finger tips across the the water's surface, light enough to keep dry but heavy enough to create a drag that followed.

"When—" Isaac hesitated, for a moment. He took a breath and continued, "When my dad died, I couldn't stop shifting."

Her body stiffened, and her teary eyes flickered to him.

"I went to find Derek, and I kept going in and out; I was back and forth, human and not human..." his voice was quiet, "There was no way of controlling it. Because I couldn't. I— I was conflicted with how I felt, I think. I mean— I was happy he couldn't hurt me anymore; relieved. He was a monster. But that monster was still my dad, y'know?" Lois didn't know, but she did nod her head in hopes of validating his feelings, in some way. He deserved to know that how he felt when grieving had been valid. Isaac sighed, "I couldn't control how I felt on the inside, so I think that got reflected on the outside. I think that's why I couldn't control my switch."

Isaac gave her a moment, then spoke again.

"Boyd... Boyd made it hard for me to stay in control," he told her softly. "And when I found Erica, I don't remember much, but I know that I have never found it so hard to control myself, since my father died. We were connected, all three of us." Isaac noticed the way she tried to swallow the lump in her throat, "You and Boyd were connected too, you know. He really cared about you, and I know you cared about him."

Unable to say anything, Lois nodded. She wiped her snotty nose with the back of her wrist. He was right, after all. In a way, Lois did care about Boyd.

When they were kids, she had liked him. But she had pushed the feeling away as he had grown more annoying, more mean, without knowing that it was because he liked her, too. Now, Lois and Boyd weren't kids at the ice rink, anymore. They had grown up; they were teenagers, and Lois hadn't liked Boyd in a long time. That had long since disappeared, but Lois still cared. When he died, she hadn't felt such an impeding sense of guilt, in a very long while.

While Boyd's death wasn't her fault, she hadn't been able to try and stop it. Lois hadn't been able to use this, whatever it was.

She hadn't been able to do anything, and that had been an awful feeling. Lois Lane didn't know that he had liked her, and she didn't know how to help him. And Boyd had died. The boy wasn't going to come back, because life didn't work that way. She wished it did.

"At the motel, when we were all out of it..." her voice struggled to find volume, raspy and weak. "Uh— Scott had just tried to kill himself, and Luna nearly died. She would have died, but I think I stopped it." Lois let out a breath, almost a chuckle, "My eyes were blue, so I guess I definitely stopped it."

Isaac listened.

"I don't know how," she whispered, "But I couldn't let her die."

"Because you care, Lois..." he told her, "You care."

They both sat in the quiet, basking it's emotion and tumult. The quiet stayed for a minute, or two.

"Maybe that's it," Isaac figured, speaking aloud as he put all of the puzzle pieces together. He nodded to himself, "Maybe that's what triggers it. Like, when I couldn't control myself when my dad died— this thing, you have. It's triggered by emotions,"

Lois looked at him, and let out a light breath. He was right. He had to be right. How hadn't she figured that out? Usually, Lois was one for piecing the clues together and finding the end result. But, this time, Isaac Lahey had got there long before she had even got close.

"So, what? I need to make myself sad?" Both of those times had been negative emotions, sadness and anger, but Lois didn't know how to channel it. "I can't feel like that, forever... I don't want to."

"I don't think it has to be bad, maybe just has enough to trigger a response..." Isaac leaned forward, "Find something, like that."

"Anything?"

"Anything that triggers it."

With little left to try, Lois sat up slightly taller and held her hand above the water. She shut her eyes, sucking in a deep breath, and she started to think. Lois routed around deep inside of herself, in search of something that made her feel. Something that would be enough to spark that light within her, that would unlock whatever power she possessed. She searched, and she searched.

Lois thought of her mother. She thought of the day the accident happened, the guilt she felt for it, and the pain it had caused. Lois thought about the happy memories, too. How her mother looked, how she sounded, how she would hold her tight.

Then, Lois thought about Stiles and Scott: when she had been kissed by Stiles and punched him in the nose, all the times he had made her smile a toothy grin; when she had first properly met her little Scott, having just fallen off her bike and him coming to the rescue. The havoc they had caused, over the years. The things they had done with no one even knowing. Trouble followed them far and wide, and it never let them go. Yet, they were still standing. How? She wasn't quite sure, but Lois was very glad that they were.

Lois thought about Lydia, how much she meant to her, and she thought about Allison and Luna. She thought about Erica, and Boyd, and how they had suffered too soon.

The pain Matt had caused her, the fear he had instilled in her.

And Lois thought about her father. She thought about how lucky she was to have such an amazing man raise her, and how he had always been her number one — her number one fan, number one supporter, number one guy in her life. Her father had always been there for her. He was the best dad she could have ever asked for.

Although, none of these emotions seemed to work.

The happiness, the sadness, the gratefulness. None of them were quite enough to set her alight — at least, not until she added Isaac.

Lois Lane and Isaac Lahey were an odd pair. It was safe to say that how she felt about Isaac was undetermined. She no longer had it within herself to dislike him, hell— there he was, sat in her bathroom, trying to find a way to help her control this power when he should have been grieving. He had been the first guy to make her feel quite so strongly in a long time, and she had never been able to tell if that was a good thing. Isaac had turned Lois' life upside down since they had helped him on his first full moon, and not all of it had been for the better. The beta had tried to kill her, several times actually. And, up until recently, Isaac had done everything in his power to irritate her. They clashed. Butted heads.

Isaac and Lois bickered, and spat. They antagonised each other until one of them lost their top, and exploded. But, they had also helped one another more times than they could count. Whether it be with ulterior motive, or not, Lois and Isaac had saved the other so many times, that it now felt instinctive. As if they needed to. If the other got injured, hurt, then they wouldn't forgive themselves.

Lois thought about how angry Isaac could make her. He got right under her skin, quite often on purpose. The beta had baited her to try and kill her, he had threatened her to her face, and he had tried to hurt her friends. Isaac poked and prodded until she snapped at him to quit being so profoundly irritating.

He enjoyed it.

Weirdly, so did she.

Her face started to heat up as she thought about what else she enjoyed about Isaac, a list she didn't think was so long. Kissing him at been at the very top, shamelessly. He was a good kisser.

She thought about the time he had kissed her in the hallway, at the underground rave.

Lois thought about Isaac kissing her in the motel, and how ready she had been to give in to his temptation. Why was that? Lois had no idea, but she knew that she had been hurt upon realising that it had been caused by the Darach. He wasn't in his right mind.

Lois had felt played, once again. That made her sad.

Upon her minds reeling of memories and thoughts, Lois didn't notice the trail of water that danced into the air, the small distance between the water's surface and her finger. It didn't quite reach her skin, rather hovering below. Lois had no idea, not until Isaac had gently tapper her shoulder.

"Open your eyes, Lo."

Doing as told, Lois blinked to regain her vision. How long had her eyes been shut? It felt like hours. Judging by the light that came through the window, however, it hadn't been long.

What she saw, upon opening her eyes, amazed her.

She held her breath, moving her hand higher and watching as the trail of water travelled with her. It formed a little wave as it moved, following her closely, as if scared to get lost. A laugh had bubbled past her lips before she could stop it — a laugh of pure delight, and amazement. She couldn't believe it; Lois was doing it, she was making the water move.

Her head whipped around to look at Isaac, only to find that he was already looking at her. There was a boyish grin on his face, his eyes taking all of her in, and Lois couldn't help but grin back. She then remembered what she had thought about, and how close their noses were, and shyly hid her face away in the crook of her elbow.

While Lois diverted her attention back to the water, Isaac had a hard time bringing himself to look away.

——

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀