Archive of Our Own ^beta

Harsh coughing sounded from the couch, pulling Lois from the article that she was writing in the kitchen. She immediately closed her laptop and set it aside before rushing into the living room to find her boyfriend perched up on his elbows, hacking uncontrollably until his lips tinged blue.

“Clark!” Lois launched herself towards him, arms wrapped around his muscular shoulders to pull him into a true sitting position. “Hey, hey!” She rested her hands on his cheeks to force him to look at her. “What’s going on?”

“It’s in me,” Clark rasped, voice hoarse as he raised his own hand to claw at his throat.

Lois intercepted him, using all of her strength to keep him from causing himself anymore physical harm. Her fingers trailed over the purplish black stringy veins on the back of his hand, knowing that they traveled over his entire body. A fever and confusion accompanied it, worse than when Clark was first exposed to Kryptonite.

About a week after the events of Lex Luther and the whole pocket universe, Clark’s entire system crashed. The effects of the Kryptonite poising came back full force, to which Lois immediately panicked and called Mr. Terrific. He had assured that this too would pass, as there was no cure besides rest for Kryptonite poisoning. Still, Lois couldn’t help but worry as his symptoms continued to worsen. There was discussion about taking him to his fortress, to which Mr. Terrific pointed out that they may not be able to aid anyway. Lois agreed the best thing for Clark was to stay with her until he recuperated. She was beginning to regret that decision as she felt more and more out of her element.

“Nothing is in you,” Lois tried to reassure, Clark still fighting in her grasp.

Clark gasped once more, eyes round and unblinking. “The nanites. They’re in my throat…..my lungs.” Clark grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled, the very material shredding easily in his grasp. Chest exposed, he tried to scratch there too, leaving angry red lines before Lois could attempt to stop him.

“There’s nothing in your lungs, Clark,” Lois chided, voice stern. “It was just a nightmare. You’re going to be fine once these effects of the Krptonite wear off.”

Clark didn’t appear to hear her, or if he did, he certainly didn’t believe her. He twisted again on the couch and coughed once more, so hard and ragged that Lois feared that he was going to bring up blood. She had never seen him like this before and helplessness filled her. What could she do to convince him when he was so convinced that they were invading his lungs like before?

She trailed her fingers along his shoulder, mind racing. There had to be something that she could do to soothe him. They had tried warm and hot showers already, reading, watching movies, and even playing a game of cards. Nothing eased Clark’s symptoms more than sleeping, which brought on such ferocious nightmares that Lois was certain Clark felt like he was reliving everything from Luther’s attack. He would never admit just how much weight he stilled carried from that and Lois longed to be able to take some of his fear from him.

“Why don’t we sit outside for a bit,” she suggested, forcing a light smile.

Clark eyed her like she grew two heads. Just when she was certain that he was about to refuse, his head fell forward with a tiny nod. “Okay,” he coughed.

Lois jumped to her feet, encouraging Clark to do the same. He was much more unsteady than her, knees wobbly. She knew she wasn’t nearly as physically strong as he was, yet she managed to wedge herself under one arm and help keep him upright as they hobbled towards the balcony.

“You better not jump,” Lois muttered to herself.

Clark stopped dead, almost taking both of them to the ground in the process. Lois managed to catch herself as she shot her boyfriend an abashed look.

“I would never,” Clark vowed, voice crackling in shock.

Lois rolled her eyes. She forgot how emotional Clark could be, especially when he wasn’t at full power. This illness, reaction, or whatever it was considered was the most vulnerable that she had ever seen him. They were both learning how to deal with this and she often feared that she was the least qualified to handle this. Mr. Terrific would say otherwise, and coming from the smartest man she ever met, she would take his word as gospel.

“Okay,” she grumbled as she kept them moving forward. “Sorry I asked.”

Clark appeared appeased by her apology as the two neared the balcony. Clark managed to open the sliding glass door with his bare feet, to which Lois attempted not to shudder. She used her shoulder to force it the rest of the way open before disposing Clark on one of the wire chairs. He landed unceremoniously, teeth gritted in discomfort, head rolling back into his shoulders with his eyes beginning to close.

“That any better?” Lois sat in the chair across from him, hands folded on her lap.

Clark stared up at the stars flickering above. The city lights tended to drown out most of them, much more than the small Kansas farm he grew up on. That didn’t stop him from searching them out, imaging what it would be like to live among them. Did Krypton share the same stars as earth? Maybe this was a whole different view that Clark never would’ve been able to see if he wasn’t right here, right now. That was somewhat poetic.

“I got a telescope for my eighth birthday. Pa picked up extra shifts at the junkyard and Ma stretched out grocery allowance for months to afford it.” Clark managed a goofy, half smile. “I spent hours with that thing in the attic, looking at each and every star. I even saw Saturn once. That’s when my parents told me where I came from, that I once belonged among the stars. I think I still have that telescope.”

“It’s a little different now I’m guessing. You can fly closer to the stars than anyone anytime you want.”

Clark shrugged. “Still not the same. I often wonder how the stars looked from Krpton.”

“I don’t know,” Lois replied quietly. She felt out of her element whenever Clark mentioned his first home. “I’m sure it was a beautiful sight regardless.”

Clark nodded mutely in agreement. His left hand reached out to rest on the edge of the railing, knuckles bent to reveal just how dark the veins were becoming. It looked as though he was getting worse, not better.

“I should call Mr. Terrific again.” Lois started to stand, arms braced on either side of his chair. “Have him take a look at you. I don’t like the look of your skin.”

“No.” Clark reached out his leg feebly to nudge her back into her chair. She fell back with a sigh, noting how Clark leaned back in his own chair as if that slight movement took everything out of him. “Please, just stay here with me. I promise that I’m getting stronger everyday. It’s just taking a while.”

Lois couldn’t argue. Well, she could, but she doubted it would get her anywhere. There was no known cure for whatever Clark was going through, and if he felt comfortable with her and wanted to stay put, then who was she to tell him otherwise? She told herself that if he showed anymore frightening symptoms that she would have Mr. Terrific on speed dial, or she would insist that they take him to his fortress to see if they merely didn’t possess the technology to help him. To see him suffering day after day was wearing on her more than she cared to admit, especially when she was used to him being so strong.

Deep in though, Lois almost didn’t notice Clark’s other hand coming to rub sideways against his chest. It started light at first before growing in urgency, blunt nails tracing his trachea down to his lungs and back again.

“It was just a nightmares. All those nanites are far out of your system. Mr. Terrific tested you numerous times when you first started showing signs of Krptonite poisoning again.” Lois leaned forward, voice growing gentle and gaze steadfast as she met Clark’s eye. “That’s over, I promise. We just need to work on rebuilding your strength.”

Clark forced a small laugh. “Hard to think about that when it feels like I’m drowning.”

Deciding to try a different tactic, Lois inched her chair forward so that their ankles were almost brushing. “I can’t even imagine what that felt like. Do you want to talk about it?”

“It was awful,” Clark confessed, eyes clouding in memory. His shoulders gave a small shake as a shiver raced down his spine that had nothing to do with the steady breeze whipping through the air. “I can hold my breath for a while, but when they kept flowing in my nose and mouth and over my eyes…..it was terrifying. At first I really didn’t think that I would be able to get out of it. I guess I have that ‘grammatically incorrect’ sports article to thank for that. Remember when Perry put me on that?”

Lois remembered using that term to taunt him. She hadn’t been lying, however, as she read everything that Clark wrote and felt it was lacking. She didn’t regret saying it in the slightest, though she supposed she could’ve been slightly more tactful. “Why that article?”

“Velocity of baseball combined with inertia means that one can better predict exactly where the ball will fall. You know, objects in motion tend to stand in motion unless acted upon by an equal or opposite force? Same rules apply to what I did, just on a bit of a larger scale where I was the ball.”

Amusement glowed on Lois’s face. She jabbed a socked foot against Clark’s ribs, causing him to lightly wince. “And here some people thought you were just some farmer from Kansas who got the job based on your good looks.”

Clark brightened. “You think I have good looks?”

“Well, right now it’s a little hard to definitively say that.”

Clark feigned a hurt expression, his own face beginning to twist in playfulness as he lifted his own foot in jab in her direction. Lois scooted her chair back immediately, feet scraping against the floor.

“Get your freaky toes away from me!”

“Freaky? They’re perfectly human.”

“Whatever you have to tell yourself.”

Clark made a face at her before turning off to the side to couch once more. It wasn’t nearly as jarring as the fits previous, but Lois clocked him immediately.

“Clark,” she chided.

Clark raised a hand to cut her off. “I know, I know. Just a scratch. M’okay.” This time he was able to resist the need to keep coughing as he took in a few calculated, deep breaths. His shoulders finally began to ease from the small coughs, neck rolling so that he could gaze upon the cityscape below him. At this time of night it wasn’t nearly as bustling as during the day, though there were still some people moving about, laughing and enjoying the nightlife. That had been him more times than he could count. Now to be on the outside felt like some sort of punishment.

“You did that.”

Clark twisted to look back at her, head tipped in surprise. “Huh?”

“You did that. You saved everyone so that they can continue on in their mundane, enjoyable lives. That was you,” she continued.

Clark shook his head. “No, no, that was you too. It was a team effort with so many different people. It definitely was not all me. In fact, wasn’t I the one to cause it?”

“Luther caused it,” Lois corrected sternly. “You were just someone brave enough to step up and stop it. That is something you should be more than proud of.”

Despite how humble Clark was, Lois could tell that her compliment lifted his spirits. He smiled behind a fist, leaning back into the chair to look back out against the city below. There had to be some truth to what she said, as Lois didn’t say anything that she didn’t mean. It made his heart swell, even if fever ravaged his body with the after effects of the Kryptonite still running through his veins.

“Think we can stay out here for a while? Or the whole night?”

“We’ll see,” Lois answered. She leaned back in her own chair with her arms cross, staring up at the stars glittering above. She could see why Clark was so mesmerized by them. Perhaps she should spent more of her time looking up instead of in. “You’re a hero, Clark. Don’t you ever forget it.”