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The bartender poured the cocktail with a smile. It wasn’t every day someone ordered a Kir Royal. The waitress grinned back and carried the crimson drinks to the group of women celebrating a bachelorette party. The bride wore a strapless leopard-print dress, her veil topped with a crown that proudly declared her the bride. This was the third club they had visited, and while Selina wanted to keep exploring - after all, it’s not every day a Gotham girl gets to party through Metropolis, and the absence of Batman around was a huge plus - Lois insisted they stay. She giggled in a way uncharacteristic for her and refused to explain what made the Atlantis Club so special.
Chloe, surrendering without much resistance to Lois’s impulsive streak, ordered the cocktails while Lana opened a tab, glancing around the club as if it was somehow familiar. As the groom’s ex, Lana should have been anywhere but here, but after a long absence she had returned to Metropolis and somehow invited herself to the bachelorette party - or at least that’s how Selina figured it.
The women raised their glasses and took tentative sips of the unfamiliar drink.
“I’m not usually a champagne person…” Lois admitted.
“No, you’re more of a beer girl,” Cat teased. Lois ignored her.
“… But this is actually good.”
“I still prefer a Cosmo,” Selina declared, earning nods of agreement.
"Alright," Lana relented, "next round will be Cosmo."
“I need the restroom,” Cat announced.
“I’ll come with you,” Chloe offered.
The line for the ladies’ room was long. After a few minutes, Cat looked up and sighed.
“I just don’t get it.” She said, seemingly reluctantly.
“Don’t get what?” Chloe asked.
“What they see in each other.” She shot Chloe a sidelong look. “Don’t get me wrong, they’re both wonderful, but they just don’t seem like a match. Lois is the big city girl, and Clark is just… just…”
“Country mouse?” Chloe smiled. Cat nodded. “Maybe they complete each other.”
“People always say opposites attract, but I never thought it was true.”
“They’re not really opposites.”
“Oh, come on. Lois herself says Clark’s trademark is a tractor - steady and slow - while she’s a Lamborghini, fast and daring.” Chloe chuckled.
“I’ve heard Lois compare Clark to all sorts of things, even a fish. They’re not that different, though. When my boyfriend once tried to set them up, he said they had chemistry. I didn’t see it then, but he was right.” They moved a few places forward in the line.
“Well, hydrogen and fire have chemistry too,” Chloe laughed.
Back at the table, Dinah leaned in with a grin.
“Lois, are we boring you? That’s the fifth time you’ve checked your phone.”
“She’s texting Clark,” Selina sang out before Lois could answer. Dinah snatched the phone.
“Dinah! Give it back!”
“No phones!” Dinah dropped it into her purse. “And no Clark!”
“But the Planet might call me - what if a story breaks?”
“You’re not waiting for a story. Tell the truth!” Dinah teased. Lois fiddled with her cocktail. “Lois, really - can’t you survive without Clark for a few hours?”
“I can! I just don’t want to!” Lois shrugged, eyes fixed on her drink. Dinah’s purse chimed with a ping.
“I don’t believe this!” Dinah read the screen. “He’s at a bachelor party!” Selina laughed warmly.
“Oh, give it back to her. Our lovebirds can’t survive apart for more than a few minutes.”
“You’d think after five years together, they’d calm down a little.” Dinah held the phone out of reach.
“Not the day before I marry him!” Lois snapped.
Across town, Oliver smirked as Dinah’s text lit up his screen.
“She confiscated Lois’s phone, Boy Scout.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Clark said smoothly, while Victor raised an eyebrow.
“Five years joined at the hip, and you still can’t enjoy a little time apart?”
“He’s texting Lois? So, I can text Mera?” Arthur asked hopefully.
“No!!” Oliver barked, scanning the room. “This is a bachelor party, not a cheerleaders slumber party!”
Victor grinned. “I think you and I are the only real bachelors left.”
“Bruce isn’t married. He doesn’t even have a girlfriend - at the moment.”
“Bruce is married to Gotham,” Clark said with a small smile.
“Then he needs a drink more than anyone here.”
“He’s not here,” Jefferson pointed out. Oliver looked around and sighed in relief.
“Awake?” The text made Lois’s phone buzz in her hand. She smiled, dialing quickly.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
“So? How was your day?” she giggled softly, already slipping out of her dress.
“Pretty dull. Business as usual.”
“Oh?” His tone urged her to go on.
“I’m still waiting on that approval for the Mariwether story. Jimmy ruined another set of photos. And Debbie had another screaming match with Perry about cigars.”
“Sounds like a normal day.”
“Dinah confiscated my phone!”
“I noticed. She told Oliver we text too much.”
“She’s just jealous. Honestly, if Victor let him, Oliver would probably still be carrying a flip phone. Or a pager.”
“Oliver does like gadgets.”
“As long as they’re Stone Age. Like his arrows.” Clark chuckled. “And how was your day, Smallville?”
“I think I found proof that could clear Jeremy.”
“No way, really?”
“Still needs work, but yeah, I think so.”
“Did Bruce show up in the end?”
“No. I saw him before the party - he had no intention of coming.”
“He could use a little fun.”
“I’m not sure that he knows how. Anyway, he and Hal are running security for the wedding and for Metropolis.”
“Jimmy’s still your best man?”
“Yeah. Lois?”
“Mmm?”
“During your apartment hunt, did you come across one at the end of Sullivan Street?”
“Uh… yeah?”
“And put us on the waiting list?”
“The one that’s miles long? It’ll take years before something opens up.”
“According to Bruce, we can move in anytime we want…” Lois froze.
“Clark? I loved that place, but the price was insane—we can’t afford it now! Maybe once we’re both staff reporters -”
“If you loved it, Bruce gave it to us as a wedding gift.”
“But… but… how do we explain that?”
“He said there was a lottery, and we ‘won.’ Not true, but that’s the excuse. What’s so special about it anyway?”
“There’s a doorman, parking, 3 bedrooms and an office, hardwood floors, high ceilings, a fireplace, a gorgeous kitchen, and a balcony with an amazing view.” Clark chuckled.
“You’re in love with it.”
“I am in love with it. I can already picture us there.”
“Then it’s settled.”
“But if it’s Bruce’s place…, do we really want to live in the building owned by the Daily Planet’s billionaire?”
“It’s ours. If you want to live there, we’ll live there. If not, we can always sell it. Up to you.”
“Then we’ll live there. Okay. One more thing off the list.”
"Are there a lot of things on this list?"
“Wedding and honeymoon.”
“Still want to go to Hawaii? We can change it.”
"It's a quiet place that most of your enemies don't frequent, and there's a lot of sunshine, especially for the superhero without powers."
“Those are your reasons?”
“Part of them.” Clark sighed. “Sweetheart…”
“I want to go somewhere you want to go. No compromises.”
“I want Hawaii. Big waves, golden beaches.”
“See? That’s what I wanted to hear.”
“I want to climb a volcano and drink piña coladas out of coconuts.” He chuckled, and Lois couldn’t help but smile. “As long as we have time.”
“Why wouldn’t we?”
“The honeymoon suite might be a little… distracting.”
Clark laughed again, and Lois’s grin only grew wider.