Black, White and Shades of Grey

By NostalgiaKick <feli290412@gmail.com>

Rated G

Submitted September 2015

Summary: It takes all kinds to make a world.

Story Size: 503 words (3Kb as text)

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters, storylines etc. are property of DC Comics, Warner Bros and December 3rd Productions.

Author’s note: Fifteenth in the “At First Sight” series, set at the end of the episode “Ides of Metropolis.” This hasn’t been beta-read, so any errors are my own.

This story is part of a series that includes “At First Sight,” “Evil Lurks,” “A Matter of Time,” “Invisible,” “Gratitude,” “Unprofessional Behaviour,” “But For the Grace of God,” “Vulnerable,” “Decisions,” “A Terrible Mistake,” “Facets,” “Terrified,” “A Remarkable Woman,” “The Aftermath of Illusion,” “Black, White and Shades of Grey,” “Tainted,” and “Betrayal.”

Cover image is from all-free-download.com.

***

I see the world in black and white.

Right and wrong, good and bad, guilty and innocent.

Lois sees things more in shades of grey.

It’s one of the things that makes us such a good team — when she decides she wants to work with me, that is. But it’s also a source of friction between us.

***

One thing swayed me in favour of helping Lois — and Laderman. If she believed in him to the point of harbouring a convicted murderer… Well, I had to help. Her predilection for Luthor’s company aside, Lois is usually a good judge of people.

She was right. I was wrong. And if it wasn’t for Laderman, the country would have been plunged into chaos.

I feel sorry for Laderman. He truly loved Lena Harrison, and she was just using him to further her own ends.

I wish I could say it was the first time I’d seen something like this, but it’s not. Being Superman means you’re constantly seeing the worst of human nature.

Black and white works for me. And I think it’s an asset when it comes to being Superman. I have to make snap decisions. Sometimes a split second is all that stands between life and death. If I don’t make a snap judgement, people’s homes, their properties, their lives are at stake.

Our different ways of viewing the world makes for stronger stories; the two different approaches to any situation means we end up digging deeper than just one of us would otherwise. And it’s something that I love about Lois. She’s not afraid to look beyond the external to find the truth.

I’m in two minds about what to do if she ever decides to dig deeper into Clark Kent. Sometimes I come so close to telling her about Superman, and then I shy away again. She knows I didn’t tell her my biggest secret, and I worry that it was like waving a red flag at a bull; that one slow news day she’s going to remember and try to uncover the truth behind Clark Kent.

Lois told me I need to trust what’s in people’s hearts and not just the facts. It seems ironic, coming from the same woman who wouldn’t write a mood piece on the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre.

I just hope that if the day ever comes that she finds out my secret, she remembers her own advice. That she looks beyond the fact that I’ve been deceiving her and realises why I’ve been hiding the truth from her.

Why I have to hide the truth from the world.

THE END

Table of Contents

Black, White and Shades of Grey