The Switch, Chapter 2

Clark/Chloe, Clark/Lois, Chloe/Ollie, Lois/Ollie (offscreen)
Season 9 (my version; spoilers for "Escape")
Rating: Adult. If you're under eighteen, please go elsewhere now.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the CW and DC Comics, not to me.
Read Chapter 1 here.

Clark didn't drop the towel. He lowered one hand and clung to it, staring at her. "YouandLoisdecidedtoswitch? What?"

"We got to talking," she said softly. "I was talking about how I'd loved you in high school, but how I'd grown past you. She was talking about how she'd loved Ollie, but how she'd gotten over him. And the more we talked, the more we realized we were just fooling ourselves." She looked at him solemnly. "I've never stopped loving you, Clark. Never."

His mouth hung open for a long moment. At last he closed it with a snap. "But... but Lois..."

"She loves Ollie, Clark. Surely you've seen the way she looks at him."

Yeah, he'd noticed. But women all stared at Ollie. He wasn't just a good-looking guy; he had a face that was practically as well known as a movie star's. He'd been on that damned Top Ten list, after all. His picture was featured in the Daily Planet all the time. Last year he'd been on the cover of People three separate times. Complete strangers stared at him with lust.

But he had to admit that what was in Lois' eyes when she gazed at Ollie was more than just lust.

"So..." He made a helpless gesture with the hand that wasn't clinging to his towel. "The two of you just decided to swap boyfriends? Is that it?"

"Ollie was never my boyfriend."

"Right, I forgot. He's just the guy you've been using to get off with."

"You don't have to be snippy about it, Clark. You're not exactly pure and virginal yourself, you know. And it's not like I belonged to you. You were dating Lois. You weren't even talking to me."

"You quit talking to me over the whole Jimmy thing," he said, a bit sullenly.

"I know. And I was wrong. I can admit that now." She sighed. "After he died, I just wasn't thinking straight. But I know as well as you do that it's not safe to mess around with destiny. Asking you to rearrange the whole cosmos just to take the guilt off my shoulders was wrong."

"Chlo," he said softly. "If there had been anything else in the world I could have done to help..."

"I know." Her gaze was understanding. "But I didn't want anything else in the world. I was angry that you wouldn't do what I wanted, and I got irrational. I'm sorry."

"And I'm sorry I didn't try harder to get your friendship back," he answered. "I shouldn't have let you drive me off like I did. You needed me and I let you down. I'm really sorry, Chloe."

Her lips curved. "Water under the bridge, Clark. What I want now is..."

"The towel is not going anywhere," he said firmly.

"Oh, for heaven's sake." She rolled her eyes. "You need to get over your sex phobia."

"Maybe it's not a phobia. Maybe it's just that I came here with Lois. It isn't really gentlemanly for me to bring one girl here for a romantic weekend and wind up in bed with another one. My dad wouldn't have approved."

"Well, since Lois is currently rolling around under the covers with Ollie..."

"Oh, there's an image I really did not need burned into my brain."

"Clark." She spoke with gentle humor. "Lois and I discussed this for a long time last night, and we just talked about it out in the hall, too. Trust me, she's fine with it. Ollie is hers and you're mine."

It was weird, but the idea that his girlfriend was planning on sleeping with another guy didn't faze him. It didn't even give him the slightest twinge of regret. All he really felt was a lot of relief, which was probably a clear indicator that he'd been right. He didn't love Lois. He liked her a lot, but he didn't love her.

Even so, he didn't see where Chloe and Lois got off making all the decisions about everyone's sex lives. He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Don't I get a say in this?"

"Of course you do." She spread her hands. "Want to have sex with me, Clark?"

He'd given up hope a long time ago that those words would ever come out of her mouth. And yet there they were, hanging in the air between them, a chance he'd never expected to have. Longing hit him hard, curling tautly in his chest, making him breathless with hope and anticipation.

He wanted her. God, he wanted her so much. But...

"I can't," he answered at last. His voice sounded so hoarse it shocked him. "You know I can't, Chlo. The whole superpowered thing..."

"Has to be dealt with sometime. And I'm just the girl to help you with that, since I know your secret. At least I'm prepared for any strangenesses that may occur."

"Are you prepared for being ripped into tiny little shreds? Because I'm not."

"Clark. You worry too much."

"And you don't worry enough. This is a serious issue, Chlo. You know what I could do to you."

"I do." She took a step toward him, and his chest constricted. "And I also know you won't.. You could never hurt me, Clark. I trust you not to hurt me."

Still he hesitated. The I-might-squish-you thing was a good reason to hesitate. But he also knew there was something deep down inside him that was a little less noble. It was.. well, it was the fear of having his ego punctured like a balloon.

Chloe and Ollie had been sharing benefits. He knew Ollie was a playboy with a ton of experience, whereas he himself was limited to two fumbling and awkward experiences. They'd been great, from his perspective at least, but he wasn't at all confident he could make a woman really happy. Especially not a woman who'd been sleeping with a famous, handsome, rich, sexually experienced guy.

There was no possible way he could hope to measure up. He could feel his ego shriveling up already.

"Clark." She took another step toward him. Now she was only two feet away, within touching distance, and his heart started to pound heavily. "Drop the towel."

He stood there frozen for a long moment, his mind racing wildly as he tried to figure out what he should do.

And then he unknotted the towel and let it fall to the tile floor.

More to come...