Chapter Text
…THREE YEARS AGO, CHRISTMAS 2022
The holiday spirit was said to be the most joyful season of the year. There was something about watching the world change color, the smell of evergreen trees and warm spices, and the upbeat melody of carols that simply made people smile and be in a good mood.
Even when most people enjoyed the festivities, there was always someone who either didn’t care for them or hated them. Lois was part of the former group; this had been the case ever since she was a young girl. She would watch in movies and Coca-Cola advertisements how the event was supposed to be about love, sharing, and being selfless. However, at home they didn’t really have any tradition. She grew up with maids putting the tree up the minute the Thanksgiving leftovers were gone and taking it off after the new year rolled around.
Unlike any other kid, she rarely got presents. And when she did, they were weeks or even months after the event; usually from a long distance family member. She knew of Santa because kids at school would talk about him or because there was a line to greet him at the mall. Even Christmas dinner was a bummer: Lois had to wear a silly dress and bow and sit straight while family friends came over; even if she was smart enough to give her opinion on the political discussions they usually engaged in, she was not allowed to participate.
As an adult, she never found time to put ornaments out or buy a tree. Lois had no one to celebrate with and so the only thing reminding her that it was Christmas was that the office was deserted and she was the only one who would show up — the one thing she celebrated was that there was no traffic on that day.
Work threw a party the Friday before Christmas and instead of tacky gifts, they all were given half of the day off; everyone could leave right before lunch break and still get a full day of pay.
It had been at the Daily Planet holiday party that Clark had found out from Cat and Jimmy that Lois spent Christmas alone at the office; she also worked late on Christmas Eve. This was his first Christmas at the Planet, after only working there for about six months. It lit up his curiosity to know why she didn’t celebrate the popular holiday. Lois hadn’t looked annoyed toward the red, green, and gold ornaments that now adorned the walls. She hadn’t had a commentary on the Christmas music that played in the building’s lobby, either. Clark had never seen someone so indifferent to the holiday; almost like it wasn’t happening.
Clark figured that it wasn’t that she hated the day; but something slightly more unfortunate and so he wanted to find out what it was.
Like every year, Lois was working late on Christmas Eve; it didn’t matter that it had fallen on a Saturday. The sound of her fingers typing fast echoed around the empty and quiet bullpen. She had a pen in her mouth, which she nibbled and twirled with her tongue. She only had the lights turned on for her section.
Almost nothing could break her concentration, but the ping of the elevator opening at her floor immediately made her stop typing and look up; her back still on the elevator. She wasn’t expecting company, she usually had the place to herself until the 26th.
Trying not to make an abrupt move, Lois slowly reached to the pen holder by her landline and fetched a pair of scissors from it. She kept her breathing calm even if her heart was beating fast and loud against her chest.
She kept the scissors in her hand while tapping on her phone, entering her passcode, and setting the front camera on. Her surroundings started to blink yellow, blue, green, and red. The faint melody of Jingle Bells was played by the string of Christmas lights that adored the newsroom. Every station except for hers was showcasing her coworkers’ style as they all had decorated their desks.
A sigh of relief helped her put her guard down as she saw Clark grinning through her phone screen. “Ugh, Smallville…” She rolled her eyes and accidentally took a selfie with him.
“I’ll need a copy of that.”
“What are you doing here?” Turning around on her chair, Lois noticed that Clark was holding a large lunch bag with him as well as a box.
“A little bird told me you spend Christmas Eve here.” Clark shrugged, “I made all these extra food and figured we could share.”
“Oh, that’s today?” Used to working on a Saturday, Lois hadn’t even noticed. She turned to verify the date on her computer screen. “Ha, look at that. Saturday, December 24th…eight at night.” She then brought her attention back to him and curved an eyebrow; “Weren’t you spending the holiday with your family back home?”
“I still am, but my flight is not until one in the morning.” Clark tilted the lunch bag and motion toward the break room; “Shall we?”
Pursing her lips, Lois shifted her eyes from her computer to him, contemplating his invitation. “I-I don’t know—”
“C’mon, a girl’s gotta eat…” Clark licked his lips and smirked; “I’ve known you for long enough to know that you probably haven’t had anything to eat all day.”
Lois narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms against her chest.
“We can eat here if you prefer.” Clark suggested, “I just need to go put something in the fridge but I’ll meet you by my desk?” He enthusiastically nodded, “Please? It’ll be so embarrassing to go back home with all this untouched.”
An amused smile was curved in her face as she frowned. Her eyes quietly watched him step away and head to the break room with the lunch bag.
Lois was as curious as a cat and so she nibbled on her finger, contemplating peeping into the box that he had left behind.
“No peeking!” He cackled from the break room.
She let go of the lid of the box and scratched her head. Her eyes shifted to the station by the column nearby, “There’s barely any space at your desk, though.”
Clark raised his voice a little, so he could speak over the sound of the microwave heating their food. “Are you a fan of picnics? We could have an indoor picnic.”
“What is an indoor picnic?” Lois had never heard of such a thing; “Is that what you are packing in that box?”
Curious eyes stayed on Clark as he came back from the break room. He grabbed the box he had kept on her desk and headed to the reception area, near the Daily Planet globe at the entrance to the bullpen.
Lois followed him and stood by the side, watching him bring some things out of the box. Clark had a festive blanket that he carefully set on the floor. He had packed two ceramic plates and had neatly wrapped two sets of utensils with a themed napkin.
He looked up to find her gently smiling. “You can sit against the desk if you want; help you rest your back.”
She looked over her shoulder to the spot. The front of the desk was adorned with green garland and lights. Lois sat on the floor where he had suggested and helped him with their picnic by setting their seats.
Clark was quiet but smiled, observing how she had placed him next to her, sharing the same side of the blanket. Once she looked up, he sat next to her.
Lois titled her head now that he had brought two black bags out of the box and hid them behind his back. “Pick a hand.”
Pursing her lips she pointed at his left arm. “That one.” She couldn’t help smiling as she narrowed her eyes.
The selected bag was given to her. She tilted her head in curiosity since it was light and she could feel it was soft. With a curious and eager smile, Lois untied the knot and looked into the bag; “It’s an elf hat!”
Her enthusiasm about it caught him by surprise; Lois had been more welcome to having dinner with him than what he expected — Clark had prepared himself to beg her a little.
“How do I look?” She had the hat on as she smiled.
Clark cleared his throat when he felt his heart doing a flip: she was already gorgeous but the traditional colors of the elf hat, combined with her smile, made her livid eyes shine. It took a lot of self control to restrain himself from reaching and fixing her hair. At the intense force he felt in his hands, he clasped them together.
“—What?” Lois bit on her lip, catching him smiling without answering her question. She tilted the hat to the side and almost like reading his mind, she brushed her hair and brought it over her shoulders. “Is that one for you?” She pointed to the other bag.
Rubbing on his chest, Clark nodded. “Mm.” He opened it and brought a reindeer ears headband out of it. He set it over his head and found his phone, “What do you say? …Or it would be too much?”
Lois looked away and wrinkled her nose. “All right.” Her eyes fell on the dimples that adorned his grin and giggled. “You are dead if anyone but your eyes see the selfie, you hear me?”
He chuckled and they adjusted, shifting close and leaning to the side so they could fit on the frame of the front camera. “Say cheese.” He kept a wide smile.
“Your silly dimples are so distracting, though” Lois turned over and poked on his dimple right when Clark clicked to take the photo. “Wait, I was not ready!” She flushed, “Can we take another one, please?”
Clark shook his head as he checked on the photo, “Nope. This one is it. Perfect.”
Looking over her head, she giggled once Clark covered his phone against his chest. At her gasp, he cackled and showed it to her. “Oh god.” She side eyed him and kept brushing her hair, “You keep looking at me like that, what is it?”
After releasing a sigh, Clark shrugged. “It’s just-it’s just that I-I thought…” He brushed the back of his neck and found her eyes, “I was prepared for you to reject the hat, that’s all.”
She ran her hands through the fuzzy cotton of her hat and tilted her head to the side. “You think I hate Christmas…?” She frowned.
“Not exactly, no.”
“—Because I don’t.” Her voice was soft but firm. “I really don’t.”
He nodded. “You don’t celebrate it, though.” His eyebrows twitched now that her eyes had looked up to make contact; they were no longer bright but looked slightly downhearted. There was definitely a story there.
“I think I heard the microwave running earlier…” Lois was playful as she shifted the subject and addressed the lunch bag close by.
Nodding, Clark worked on bringing a few containers out of the lunch bag. Dinner was smoked ham, which he had brought enough slices for both of them. Clark also served cheesy scalloped potatoes and a spring salad with berries and bacon. Once he got a nod, he poured some homemade cranberry sauce over her ham and then over his. He had also brought cornbread muffins.
“This all smells so good.” They shared a smile as she asked; “Did you cook all of it?”
“Mm.” Clark offered a quick glance as he kept serving.
“Did you cook all this for me?” She had her hand on her chest and a soft smile on her face.
“Maybe.”
“Clark…”
“Yeah, well. Everyone deserves a nice Christmas dinner along with friends and family.” Inside the box, he had packed a bottle of sparkling Rosé to which she gasped and held both wine glasses so he could pour some in them.
Once they each had one, they clicked them together.
“To friends.” Lois offered, their eyes gently making contact.
With an equally soft tone, Clark echoed, “To friends.” He smiled as they took a sip.
Shifting her eyes to her utensils, Lois ran her fingers over the ornamental pine tree branch that decorated her red napkin and utensils. She slowly pulled from the candy cane that came with it and twirled it in her fingers. “This is so overdone.” She held her candy cane to her chest and kept it close to her heart; “Thank you.”
Her genuine gratitude made him grin. She broke eye contact but he kept his eyes on her, observing how she went for a first bite of the ham. Her moan of approval filled his heart with happiness. Clark was quiet as he watched her try a little bit of everything. He tried not to chuckle at how evident it was that she was starving.
Feeling his eyes on her, Lois slowly looked up just to see how he went for his napkin and took his fork. “So, what is it that people usually talk about during Christmas dinner?” She looked back down and picked her potatoes with her fork.
Tapping her knee with his knuckles, Clark wondered back; “What do YOU want to talk about?”
Her eyes were quick to find his, “What…?” Her voice came out slightly over a whisper, stunned at the question somehow; “What-what I want to talk about?”
“Yeah,” he smiled, yet her tone got him slightly confused.
“I-I don’t know.” She blinked and looked back to her hands, “What-what do you talk about with your parents during Christmas dinner? I wanna talk about that.”
Clark was quiet for a moment. His eyes were gentle when paying attention to her body language and how genuinely clueless she was about tradition and Christmas dinner. “Um,” he found himself reaching for her hand but stopped midway and scratched his arm instead. “I-I-when’s the last time you had a Christmas dinner?”
The question made her hum, but she still saved face and flirted with him. “This year, and it’s the best I’ve ever had.” She brought a bite of food to her lips and with a smile took it.
“Heh.” Clark liked hearing that and couldn’t stop his eyes from falling into her lips. “And before tonight?”
A mischievous smile curved in her lips, “I had some of those Rice Krispies Treats with red and green M&Ms last year. The vending machine in the break room ran them for a while, so good.”
“That’s barely dessert, if that.” Clark shook his head, “And you know that’s not what I meant.”
Lois sighed, she gave him a look and pursed her lips. “I can’t remember. I guess I was seventeen. I do remember I ended up huddled in a corner eating my hair.”
“It got that crazy, huh?” Clark frowned. His voice was low.
“Hey, at least being sent to my room without eating helped me get used to it and trained me to survive without dinner.” There was a hint of irony in her voice, but not enough to hide the pain.
“What about your presents on Christmas Day? You surely woke up early to unwrap those.”
Lois fixed her eyes on him and slowly shook her head. At the look on his face, she sighed; “Look. It’s not that I was raised in one of those households that didn’t celebrate Christmas.” Lois recalled; “We would go to church in the evening, my parents are very religious people. They always hosted dinner for family friends too. My house was adored with the most expensive ornaments and the tallest tree you can imagine.”
Clark faintly smiled, empathy filled his eyes as she looked up. “I’m sorry.”
She looked away and pursed her lips. “This is a really good Christmas dinner, though.” Lois smiled as she pointed down with her fork.
“Do you want more?” Clark offered, taking the container to serve her. He had noticed she had already eaten most of her food.
With a light smile, Lois brought her plate up. “Thanks. What about leftovers though, isn’t that an important tradition?”
Clark chuckled along. “I’ll make sure you get the best ham leftover sandwich on Monday.”
Squinting her eyes, Lois smiled. “I’ll hold your word to it.”
He cackled. “Best you ever had, I promise.”
****
For dessert, Clark had made Santa Hat Cheesecake Bites; a strawberry worked as a Santa hat. Aware that Lois had a sweet tooth, he had brought enough for her to have a handful of them.
He had a little surprise for Lois so asked her to come with him to the roof deck. It was dark and cold outside. Lois crossed her arms around her chest as she looked up and watched how snow fell down.
Lois was wearing a long purple cotton trench coat. Clark was wearing a red winter jacket. They stayed close and shared a smile.
“You good?” Clark checked on Lois and how cold it was so up high.
Rubbing her hands together she nodded. Her attention then moved to the sight of the landscape. She rested her hands over the railing and enjoyed the white view, illuminated by the city. “It’s so beautiful up here.”
“The prettiest…” He observed her through thick glasses, mirroring her smile.
“Hmm?” She turned over to make contact.
“The view.”
Lois bit on her lip and tilted her head to the side. Feeling her cheeks rather warm she brought her cold fingers to them.
Clark broke contact and brought a couple of sticks and a lighter out of the pocket of his jacket. “I used to love these when I was a kid,” he shared.
Her eyes tilted down to the thin metallic stick that was being offered. She looked up to his eyes and steadily held it so he could light it up.
Once her sparkler was on, Clark tilted his toward it and let the tips close. They chuckled once his firework was on.
“I’m sorry about the cold,” a gentle voice offered as they played with their sparklers and made shapes with them. “I have something planned to help us with it after this.”
He couldn’t keep his eyes away from her. She looked like she was genuinely having a good time and the sparkles made her smirk look like it twinkled.
“Aw…” Lois lamented once her sparkler went off. She looked up and wiggled her nose; “I can’t feel my nose but it’s okay. This is actually nice. I’m glad you thought of it.” She smiled even if her hand was covering her mouth while she tried to warm her nose up a little.
Offering his arm, Clark figured, “Let’s go back inside. I have the perfect thing for you to warm back up with.”
In curiosity, she curved an eyebrow and held loosely from his arm. “Is it another one of your family traditions?”
“My favorite one.” Clark smiled at how her face lit up. “Maybe next year we can do something that you’ve always wanted to do?” He offered as they headed back down to their floor.
“Oh! I don’t need a whole year to think about that one!” Lois already had a suggestion, “I mean…I-I don't know how that could work, but…when I was a kid, I-I always wanted to do that thing you know?” She paused and side eyed him as he chuckled, “Oh, forget it.” She let go of his arm and slightly pushed him away.
That made him laugh louder. “No, no…please? C’mon!” Clark begged as he followed her down the stairs, “I promise I’m not laughing at you, but-it-it’s just that it’s so cute that-that you are into this.”
With a sigh, Lois turned back to face him. She stopped walking and crossed her arms over her chest. “Do you promise that you won’t make fun of me?” She flushed a little, “Because it IS a little silly.”
Clark rested one hand over his chest and tilted the other one up, “I promise.”
“All right.” She kept walking, with him following next to her. “I’ve always heard of this thing where the whole family is in flannel pajamas and they watch a Christmas movie.”
He grinned. “I’ll figure something out.”
“What?” Lois was slightly incredulous yet moved.
“So we can watch a movie next year…any in particular that you’d like to watch?”
“Why-why are you doing this?” Lois gave him a look as they left the stairway and walked into the bullpen.
The stoic tone in her voice threw him off. “Doing what?”
Lois brought her eyes to him and shrugged. “Nothing.” She sighed and looked ahead, “So what’s your favorite Christmas thing that you wanted to show me?”
They found the coffee maker running. Clark reached to the top shelf and brought down a box of Swiss Miss and a bag of tiny marshmallows “I left some milk heating up while we went to the deck.”
“Hot cocoa,” Lois smiled in approval as she helped by looking for two clean mugs in the cupboard.
“Oh, no.” Clark stopped her and surprised her with a set of matching mugs, “It’s Christmas Eve, we get to drink cocoa from fun mugs.” He showed her a pair of gingerbread mugs; one a girl and one a boy that fit together into a hug.
He served milk in the girl gingerbread mug first and then in the boy one. Lois opened one envelope and poured it in one of the mugs before opening a second one. They each grabbed a handful of marshmallows and added them to their beverage.
“Cheers!” She clicked their mugs together.
“Ow. Careful, it’s hot.” He reminded her now that Lois had brought the mug to her lips.
Making a face, Lois brought the mug down. “You know what would be fun?” She brought her eyes up to find him checking the time in the microwave; it was eleven at night. “Oh.” She looked down and set her mug down on the counter. “I-I guess you need to get going, huh?”
Clark caught her frowning and pouting even if she kept her face down. “No, I-I, no, no, I don’t.”
Upon looking back up, she found him holding her mug and offering it back. “What about your flight?”
He couldn’t stop himself from smirking at how disappointed she was. “Don’t worry about it.” As she took the mug back, his heart flipped now that her fingers had brushed against his. He felt them cold, which explained why she hugged the ceramic with her hands. “—You were saying,” his voice was low, “What would be fun?”
Lois blew her cocoa a little bit but her eyes tilted up. “Whipped cream.” Her voice was shy as her cheek turned a faint shade of pink. “But, I don’t think there’s any left in here.”
Her head tilted a little to the side and her eyes squinted, following him as he opened the fridge and brought a new whipped cream can out of it. “I saw you going crazy with it on your waffles the other day.”
She bit on her lip. “The waffles you brought me the other day, you mean.” Her eyes were full of light. Lois scratched her hair and swung a little, “Did I say thank you for that?”
Clark tapped her arm with his knuckles and nodded, “You did.” They shared a moment as they smiled and kept their eyes on each other. “Um, so I figured you like whipped cream and…” he shook the can in his hand.
“—Great intuition.” Her voice was low and sweet. Lois brought her mug close so he could spray some whipped cream on her cocoa. She then waited for him to do the same on his mug.
“Cheers.” He clicked their mugs together.
With the help of the cold whipped cream, Lois took a sip. She giggled at how he had a white mustache. She reached over but mid way retrieved her hands. “You-you, um…” She brushed her own lips to show him where it was that he had whipped cream.
They laughed as he cleaned it off. “You know what makes a mug of cocoa even better?”
Lois shook her head.
“To have it by the Christmas tree.”
There was a Christmas tree outside of the bullpen, at the entrance, where the flagpoles usually were. With a smile, Lois followed him there.
She waited for him to plug it in so the lights could turn on. They shared a chuckle.
“Oh. Wait-wait…” Clark fixed his glasses as he stopped her from sitting on the floor. Their picnic was just across the entrance door and so he went to get the blanket to place by the tree.
Lois held his mug as he made sure the blanket was perfectly set for her to take a seat on it. Clark smiled and took the mugs back, waiting for her to get comfortable. A giggle filled the empty lobby now that Lois was back holding the mugs and Clark was sitting down. He adjusted on the other end, but was pleasantly surprised when Lois shifted closer and moved to be nearby.
“You didn’t say why cocoa is your favorite?” The lights on that side of the foyer were off so it was only the Christmas tree illuminating with the soft melody of festive tunes playing to the rhythm of their twinkles.
“I like how cozy and soothing it is.” Clark smiled as he looked down to his mug. “There is something about sipping from the warm drink that is so relaxing and calming.”
“Sounds like an entire ritual.”
“It doesn’t matter where you are or who you are with; if you are having a lovely time by the Christmas tree with a special person or having an awful moment by yourself…a fresh mug of cocoa would always taste the same and bring a fuzzy mood-lift with it.”
Lois chuckled but her eyes were soft on him; fascinated by his story.
Hugging his mug in his hands, he smiled at her. “Now you know it: cocoa has the power to bring warm and creamy comfort to even the worst of my days.”
Tapping his knee, she shifted slightly closer and teased; “If you are having a bad day I should greet you with a recently made mug of cocoa, got it.”
Clark nodded as he grinned from dimple to dimple. “It would be a life savior.”
“Well,” Lois looked away as she shrugged, her eyes then found his; “Consider it done.”
They shared a smile and kept their eyes on each other for a moment. The tender melody of Winter Wonderland playing through the little speaker below the Christmas tree.
Feeling her cheeks getting warm, Lois sheepishly looked away. Her eyes fell on the several presents adorning the skirt of the Christmas tree. “You know, I learned the hard way that those are fake.”
Clark followed her finger toward the colorful presents and with a smile grabbed the one that was next to him. “You must have been very young.”
“Mm. I think I was four, maybe five years old?” Lois scratched her head and let out a chuckle.
“Oh no.” Clark engaged with her anecdote; “Did one of those corporate Christmas trees fool you?”
Lois shook her head. “You mean like those big trees at the mall? No. It was actually at home.”
“They had fake presents at your house.”
“Under the tree and all, yeah.” Lois shrugged. “It is the first Christmas that I remember. It’s very vivid in my head how I woke up on Christmas morning, ran down stairs to see what I’ve got.” Her eyes found Clark, “My sister was still a baby — babies can’t open presents, so I made the safe assumption that they were all for me.”
Clark started laughing.
“—Don’t laugh! Who in their right mind packs cardboard boxes to set under their tree at home?” Lois rolled her eyes, “Don’t answer that — my parents aren’t sane in any sense of the word.”
Pressing his lips together, he tried to contain his chuckles. “Well,” he cleared his throat; “In all fairness, it's holiday etiquette to only open presents that are labeled to be TO you.”
“Gee, thanks for the tip Ms Emily Post.”
He fixed his glasses. With a sheepish smile and light tone he presented her with the present box he was holding; “Good thing this one has your name on it.”
Slightly stunned, Lois brought her eyes up to meet his. “It…does?” She sounded shocked yet confused.
At the nod of his head, she took the present from him. Lois brought her eyes down to the red box with yellow stars, a yellow bow neatly tied it up. Lois smiled and nibbled on her cheek as her fingers felt the soft texture of the ribbon.
Clark was quietly observing her. He smiled at how she was taking her time. His eyes followed her fingers through the present as she ran her fingertip over a few stars, tracing them as her grin grew wider.
Lois could feel her heart beating loud and fast. “I guess I can scratch this off my bucket list, huh?” She was tearfully moved and so refused to make contact with him; “Get a Christmas present before turning thirty.”
His brows frowned but he stayed quiet.
A low voice added, “I didn’t get you anything…I’m sorry.” She finally looked up and hugged the present to her chest. “Is it something we can share? Is that a thing? Give you half of what you got me?”
He licked his lips and shook his head. “Um, I kinda dropped over unannounced.” His eyes fell on her slightly humid ones. “The fact that you didn’t kick me out is as good as a present for me.”
Lois sniffed, still hugging on her present. “I-I don’t come here because I don’t want company, it’s not that at all. I just—”
“I came tonight because I wanted your company.”
With a bright smile, she sighed, moved. “So this excessively overdone night wasn’t you taking pity on me?”
Clark gave her a look, “Pff. Never.” He then was caught by surprise when Lois went for a hug. Her arms rounded his neck and he immediately reciprocated by holding her waist.
“Thank you.” The hug was brief but heartfelt. “I-I should open this, shouldn’t I?” Lois turned the box in her hands, looking for the edge. She started peeling off one of the scotch tape pieces, “—Or, um, or you rather I wait until later, in the morning, to open it?”
He smiled. “I-I kinda want to see your face as you open it.”
Looking up from her present, she gave him a look. “Please tell me this isn’t some sort of prank?” Her voice gave away how let down she’d be if that were the case.
“No, of course not.” Clark promised.
With a smile, Lois went back to unwrapping her present. “I really don’t want to rip the box out,” she nervously giggled as her nail worked with the piece of scotch tape. Once she successfully opened one end, she gently slid her hand into the box to take what was inside. She was smiling wide, “Ooh…it’s so fuzzy.” She describes the texture. Her face went from excitement and eagerness to slight confusion as she pulled a handmade crocheted sweater out of the box. “…Did you knit this yourself?” She blinked and looked up, genuinely not understanding what the bit was, if there was any.
She was holding a Christmas ugly sweater. It was black with green, red, and white sleeves. The front featured Rudolf the reindeer.
“Ouch.”
Lois started laughing as she felt her cheeks warm, “No! I’m sorry.” She hugged him and hid her face over his shoulder. She chuckled against his shoulder, “I didn’t mean it like that.” She went back to the sweater. “It’s so…I-I love it, I love it…I really do. I love the detail, really.” Her eyes brightened back up as she made contact with him and hugged the sweater against her chest.
Clark smiled, happy to hear so. “I did crochet it myself, though.” He confessed.
“Wh-what…?” Lois was grinning as she shook her head. She incredulously bit on her lip watching him nod back. “No…No you did not knit me a whole sweater, nah-ah.”
“Everyone should have an ugly sweater to wear on Christmas.” Clark shrugged, “And I wanted yours to be special.”
“I really love it, Clark, thank you.” She hugged it against her chest.
With a hand on his chest, he smiled back. He sighed, and with a tone filled with yearning he confessed; “I hope to one day see you wearing it.”
The way he said it prompted a face from her. “There’s always next year.” They shared a moment.
“Yeah…there’s always next year.” He murmured back.
****
After finishing their cocoa, Lois had helped Clark clean up and was now walking him back to the foyer. They stood under the glass door frame at the entrance, close to the Christmas tree.
“Tonight was the best time I’ve had in a long time, thank you.” Lois was genuine, “All of it was great; the food, the sparklers, the cocoa, the sweater…my god, the sweater.” She faintly smiled before she pulled from her long sleeves of the top she was wearing. She looked down, hiding the flush in her cheeks from his sight.
Twitching his eyebrows, Clark tilted his head to the side. He tried to find her eyes. She looked a little sad which for some reason made him smile. “Best Christmas Eve, in my book.”
Lois looked up, “...Yeah?”
“Mm.” Clark rubbed his arm as he wondered; “Do you want to come? Celebrate Christmas with Ma and Pa?”
“With you?”
“Sure, I’ll be there.”
“Oh.” The gesture lit up her face but Lois still declined, “I-I-I couldn’t. It’s okay, though.”
“They would be happy to have you. I’m sure we can arrange something to fly you over.”
“No. No.” She shook her head and hugged her chest, “I-I-it’s okay. I-I-I still have your leftover sandwich to look forward to.”
“All right.” Clark didn’t insist.
For a brief instant, both their eyes looked up to the head jamb of the foyer door. There was a mistletoe hanging from it. They shared a light smile. Lois was the one to gently lean in and pressed a chaste kiss on his lips.
“Merry Christmas, Smallville.”