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[Facebook (Avengers)] Beach, barbecue, and beer

Lois pulled into the parking lot by the lake, and couldn’t help but smile wryly. She hadn’t been out here all summer—in a couple summers, really. Work just took so much time these days, after all.

After a quick check to make sure her favorite local microbrew was still in a cooler in front of the back of the passenger seat, she turned off the car. (The cooler really was just in case; after all, this was Smallville; no harm in having a little extra for dinner after, just in case all he had was the couple bottles left over from the last time she was at the farm.) She ran one last inventory in her head: wrap skirt easy to dispose of, check; sun-screen: check; swimsuit on to maximize water-time: check; beach ball to toss with the kid: check; towel: check; sunglasses: check; water and snacks: check; second cooler of ice cream in the trunk which would totally get broken into early whatever Clark said: check. But I refuse to tell him this was the best idea he’s had in a while. Don’t want it going to his head.

Grabbing the bag of gear from the seat next, she slid out of the car, scanning the lake area for Clark. He would be much easier to spot than the sproglet, after all. Finally she spotted him and started trotting in their general direction. “Yo, Smallville!”

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"I'm sure you can," she agreed readily enough, still smirking faintly. "But if it's exciting, I'm getting there first."

It was as much a challenge as anything else--Lois had always been somewhat... competitive.

She waved vaguely, still focused on getting her sun-screen on. "I'll be just a minute--I don't fancy turning into a lobster, thanks," came the absent reply.

He rolled his eyes at her comment about getting there first. It always had to be a race with Lois.

Clark opened his mouth to offer her a hand, but after glancing at her, he closed it again. She could handle it on her own. "We'll see you out there." He kicked off his sandals and ran into the water, scooping Conner up when he reached him. He held him up, then tossed him gently into the water, laughing when Conner demanded he do it again.

Lois paused in her dealing with the sunblock to watch Clark and his son, and couldn't help but smile a little, wistfully. Conner was really lucky, having a dad who took care of him, played with him like that. She envied him that, a little--she couldn't remember the last time her dad had played with her like that. Drawing her knees up to her chin, she watched for a few moments longer than, perhaps, she should.

...Well. That and it was still nice to see Clark wet and shirtless. Lois would so never get tired of that image.

Eventually she shook her head and finished slathering sun screen on her legs and sauntered towards the dock. Swallowing, she reminded herself that the water was not actually evil, and Conner would be so disappointed if she didn't. ...It still didn't make it any better. She had a bad history with this lake. She kept staring uncertainly at the water for a tad longer than she intended to.

It was Conner who eventually swam over to the doc and grinned up at Lois. Clark kept his distance, but it wasn't like he was ever out of earshot.

Sensing that Lois wasn't comfortable, Conner hauled himself up and sat next to her on the dock, his legs dangling down. "Dad will make sure you won't drown," he informed her. "You don't have to be afraid."

Lois gave him a startled look, briefly--he was so much like Clark sometimes, although startlingly... direct about it. Still, after a moment she rolled her eyes and ruffled his hair.

"Lesson of the day, sprog: Lois Lane isn't afraid of anything." Grinning wickedly, she pulled him in with her as she let herself tumble into the water.

For one, she would not let that challenge go unanswered. And maybe she was pretty certain it'd be okay. And hey, even if Clark wasn't handy, well, lately she'd had someone keeping an ear and eye out for her, apparently.

Clark had to smile when he saw Lois and Conner finally make it into the water. Conner took her hand and assured her that she was safe, because he was a very good swimmer.

Wanting to let them bond, Clark moved a little further away, giving the appearance that he wouldn't be able to hear anything they said to each other. So far, it was mostly Conner giving Lois swimming tips, so it wasn't like he was intruding on their privacy or anything...

Lois listened with as serious an expression she could manage--if it were Clark, she'd be teasing him that she knew far better than he did how to swim, but this was Conner. Nicer to the kid to let him have his fun, right?

Or, well, at least until (once they were in decently shallow water where she didn't have to tread and she thought he'd be safe) she decided she'd had quite enough and went in for the tickles.

Conner shrieked and splashed, doing his best to tickle Lois in return. Clark swam over and got on the other side of Conner to double-team him. He tried to keep his focus on Conner, but if he occasionally accidentally brushed his fingers against Lois's arm, well, it wasn't entirely his fault. Conner was squirmy.

Lois laughed outright--Conner was a sweet kid, and smart, and didn't make her break out in hives like most kids--and grinned up at Clark. "Your sprog--you pin, I'll tickle," she said impishly.

(And if she was breathing just a little faster, well, clearly that was exertion and had nothing to do with proximity to him.

Of course.)

That was an order Clark was happy to take. He grabbed Conner's arms and held them behind his back, letting Lois do the majority of the tickling while Conner laughed and squirmed, splashing water everywhere.

Looking over Conner's head, Clark grinned at Lois. She seemed to be enjoying herself, and if he was being completely honest with himself, it was like they were a little family. Not that he'd ever voice that thought, but it was there.

It was exactly that feeling that Lois had been so scared of, but now that she was here, she barely even noticed. She was (a common enough occurrence with her) too caught up in the moment, in the joy and sheer silliness of playing with Conner to even realize that she had never felt so at home.

Grinning back at Clark, she leaned forward and whispered to Conner, "What do you say we deal? I let up, you help me get back at your dad."

Too bad Clark had really good ears, huh.

Clark loosened his grip on Conner just slightly, pretending to be shocked when the boy got free and swam around to hop on him piggy-back style. Instinct had him reaching to hold onto Conner's feet, leaving his hands and arms occupied.

"Now!" Conner commanded, already starting in on tickling the parts he could reach. Clark just raised an eyebrow at Lois, daring her to say no to his son.

Considering it was her idea to start with, Lois was hardly about to say no. The one problem, of course, was that with Conner on Clark's back she couldn't knock him back--way too easy for him to get unpinned.

Still, that was no reason not to dive for the kill--not to mention that was definitely a dare in that look, and hell if Lois is about to let the farm boy dare her to something she wouldn't do. So she lunged forward to tickle him, too, splashing water all over both Kent boys in the process.

Clark's eyes widened when Lois attacked. He thought for sure he wouldn't be affected, but her fingers on his sides had him squirming almost as much as Conner.

"That's not fair," he said between laughing. What would be fair would be retaliation. He needed to find a way to get Lois back, but communicating to Conner from this position without Lois hearing was tricky.

Both her laugh and her voice were faintly mocking--not unlike in the earliest days of their friendship, or maybe acquaintance, before they even admitted to being friends.

"What, you expected fair from me, farm boy?" she taunted, refusing to relent. At this point she was, after all, winning the Tickle War. She was not planning on relinquishing that ground any time soon.

It wouldn't do to teach Conner to play unfairly, so Clark turned his head toward him and then nodded at Lois. "Let's show Lois how we play fairly." Conner hopped down and dove into the water, then popped up on Lois's other side.

"My turn," Clark said with a smirk, stretching his fingers before wading closer.

Lois just barely restrained herself from cursing in surprise (she knew Clark didn't really appreciate her occasional slip into language, especially not around little Conner), and her eyes narrowed.

"Oh, really?" she half-snarled playfully. Going for Conner would not be strategically helpful here--Clark could just get her from behind.

So, in an attempt to escape this before getting captured, Lois dove under the water herself, hoping to at least knock Clark's legs out from under him and distract him long enough to get away.

Unfortunately for Lois, Clark's legs were like tree trunks, and they weren't going anywhere. He waited for her to come back up to look at her like 'you really thought that would work?', just shaking his head.

"Cheating doesn't get you anywhere," he reminded her. Conner agreed with him, splashing them both before diving into the water to swim around them.

Though she was about this close to protesting that so wasn't fair, before realizing she so didn't need him pulling the high ground on her.

"You wanna bet?" she bit back. She dove under the water again, and reached instead for Conner's ankle to tickle his foot. At least the sprog was little enough to move.

Of course, that meant turning her back on Clark, but, well, no good way around that anymore.

As soon as Lois's back was turned, Clark made his move. He put his arms around hers and lifted her out of the water, just as easily as he'd done to Conner earlier.

"This is what happens to cheaters," he said with a triumphant grin.

Lois was, frankly, half-expecting him to do that. Which is why she immediately tried to ram her elbow into his gut.

Squirming, she did her best to try to kick her way free. "Goddammit, Smallville," she laughed, accidentally forgetting her general rule about trying not to curse around Conner, just to respect Clark's wishes. "Put me down."

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[Facebook (Avengers)] Beach, barbecue, and beer

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