Title: Future
Author: PepperjackCandy
Series: Nope
Archive : Smallville Slash Archive, my writing at fanfiction.net
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Category: Romance, Futurefic
Spoilers for: Hourglass
Disclaimer: I own nothing Smallville-related, or related in any other way to Clark Kent, Superman, Starman, or any of the various creations of the wonderful folks at DC Comics.
Feedback: Always welcome, either by e-mail or using the review system at fanfiction.net.
WARNINGS: Talking heads, UST, schmaltz.
A/N: In an offhanded way, this was suggested by Penemuel's suggestion of a drag dance humor fic on the ClarkLex list. I don't *think* I've ever met a drag queen IRL (you never quite know, though, do you?), but everything I've ever read and heard leads me to the conclusion that it's polite to refer to a drag queen in drag as "she." So that's what I'm doing. I may be hopelessly naïve, but there it is.
Also, Opal City is the home of Starman in DC comics: http://homepages.uel.ac.uk/5941n/pages/opalcity.htm
Thanks to c1everish for the beta.
=========
"I'm gettin' married in the morning . . ." Clark sang quietly to himself then stopped and chuckled. Broadway show tunes, he thought, baffled. But why not? It's true after all. At 11:00 tomorrow morning, Lois will become . . . Lois Lane. He laughed again. After all, she decided to keep her maiden name. But we'll be married.
New to Metropolis, on his own for the night, and with no need to worry about his own physical safety, he wandered where his feet took him, walking down streets and alleys, through upscale neighborhoods and industrial areas, until he saw a strangely well-maintained neon sign hanging above an otherwise unmarked door.
"Club Zero. Hm." Curious, Clark tried the door, which was unlocked. Putting on his most self-confident body language, he pushed the door open and walked inside.
As Clark expected from the name, it was a bar. Pretty normal looking, if a little smoky. A kind of white ambient light hung over everything, emanating from nowhere that Clark could pinpoint. The center of the room was filled with a dance floor, where couples, and sometimes threesomes, writhed together in time with the slow, sexy music.
A bouncer, heavily muscled and clad in a clingy black silk shirt, looked him up and down once slowly, a smile quirking up one corner of his mouth. He jerked his head to indicate that Clark was approved to walk into the bar.
As Clark walked further into the room, the smell of smoke assailed his nostrils. Fortunately, his invulnerability always seemed to extend to things like that as well, and he didn't even so much as sneeze.
It was like a dream as he walked through the smoke and light, among the denizens of the bar. As a reporter, he knew he should be noting every tiny detail, but he was enjoying the atmosphere, rather than examining the faces of the customers for signs of their inner turmoil.
He noticed, perhaps a bit absently, that there seemed to be a disproportionately large number of men in the bar. And when he reached the edge of the dance floor, and clearly saw men dancing together, he realized that he was in a gay bar.
Well, that'll be something to tell Lois tomorrow. My first night alone in Metropolis, and I went to a gay bar. Clark couldn't help chuckling. He turned to walk away from the dance floor, but found his path blocked by a blonde. Long, curly hair, a sparkly silver sleeveless minidress. Tall for a woman, but Clark knew that she wasn't a woman, even if the makeup and padding were very deceptive.
She looked up Clark's body slowly. "All of this smoke is bad for my asthma," she said as her eyes seemed to caress Clark's black hair, freshly trimmed for his wedding the next day, "would you like to take a walk?"
Clark knew that she was probably going to expect him to have sex with her, but he was a writer, and as such, curious about people, so he took her up on her offer. Maybe she'd let him interview her. "Sure." He said, with a smile. After all, what would she do if he refused to have sex with her? Call a cop?
They walked together back to the door of the bar and the blonde waited while Clark opened the door for her. Clark caught a strange look in the bouncer's eye as they left.
The street outside the bar was, as it had been when Clark walked in, deserted. The blonde hooked her right hand through Clark's left elbow as they walked. She carried a small silver purse in her left hand.
"I'm sorry, I never introduced myself." Clark said, "I'm . . ."
"Lena." The blonde suddenly was in front of him, holding out her right hand for him to shake. "Lena Thorul."
"Pleased to meet you, I'm . . ."
Before he could say another word, Lena pulled his head down to hers, for an almost bruisingly-hard kiss. Lena was a pretty good kisser, not that Clark had much experience kissing other men at all, much less drag queens, but her lipstick tasted terrible.
As soon as he could gather his wits together, Clark pulled his head back from her grasp. "Lena." He choked. "I'm not really looking for . . ."
Clark looked into Lena's eyes, and something, some trick of the streetlights above them, made her look like . . . "Lex?" He asked softly.
Lena's eyes widened, and she gasped. "Clark?" She asked softly, her voice drifting off to a whisper, "No! It can't be!" She turned and headed off the opposite direction.
Clark realized that he'd been right and easily caught up to her, cutting off Lena's escape, grasping her gently by the wrists -- not hard enough to restrain, just enough to let her know that he wanted to talk to her.
"Lex. It is you. Please, talk to me."
"Let go, Clark." Lena - Lex - Lena - whoever it was shook her wrists free easily and began walking again.
Clark followed. "I'm not going. Not until you tell me why you left like that. No word, nothing. Just one day I went to your house, and you were gone. I had to hear from Chloe that you'd, what was it, accepted a position with another company?"
"It doesn't matter, does it, Clark? It was years ago."
"Exactly. It was years ago and it doesn't matter." Clark didn't feel like it didn't matter, though. "So why won't you talk to me?"
"Fine. What do you want me to say?" The body language now clearly communicated that this was no longer the persona of Lena Thorul. This was simply Lex in a dress.
"I want you to tell me where you went. What I did to drive you away. I want you to say that you'll go out for coffee with me."
"Coffee, huh?"
Clark nodded, hopefully.
Lex looked at Clark's hopeful expression and sighed, resigned. "All right."
Together, they walked back to the area where the majority of Metropolis's nightlife was and once they were in a populated area, Lex slipped back into his Lena persona.
Soon found an open coffee shop. They walked in together and took a seat in one of the booths. The waitress came by and took their orders.
"So, what have you been up to?" Lex, er, Lena asked casually.
"Oh. The usual. Work. Spending more time with Mom and Dad now that I've moved here from Boston. I'm getting married . . ."
"Oh, my god. It's Lena Thorul." A young woman with brown permed hair bounded towards them out of nowhere. "I've seen your show. It's really amazing. Can I have a reading?"
Lena looked at her. "I'm sorry, dear. I'm trying to catch up with an old friend, and so I've given the spirits the night off."
"Oh." The brunette looked disappointed. "I'm sorry for interrupting."
"Don't worry about that dear. But remember."
The brunette looked intently.
"You'll be reunited with him," Lena glanced over at Clark out of the corner of her eye, "when you least expect it."
"I will? Oh, my God. Thank you!" The brunette practically skipped from the coffee shop.
After the brunette had gone, the waitress brought their drinks. "What was that?" Clark asked.
"It's what I've been doing the past seven years." Lena grinned. "I'm a psychic."
Now Clark laughed aloud. "You're what?!?"
Lena gave him a stern look, to quiet him down and reached into her purse, pulling out a pair of elbow-length silver gloves that matched her dress. "Always remember never to leave the house without your gloves." She held her hand out overhand. "Take my hand, Clark."
"Lena, I . . ."
"It's part of the act. I can't do your reading without it."
With an odd feeling of déjà vu, Clark took Lena's hand.
"All right. What if I were to tell you that there's a woman on your mind?"
Clark looked at Lena's wig and elaborately made-up face, then down at their joined hands. "I'd tell you that you were right." He smiled.
"And that her name starts with the letter 'L.'"
"Right again." This felt good to Clark. He and Lex, or Lena, he guessed, always had the best back-and-forth banter.
"You have a history together."
"I'm impressed."
"Her name?"
"Yes?"
A long pause while Lena made a soft humming noise. Then she looked up, directly into Clark's eyes. "Lois."
Clark felt like a bucket of ice water had been poured on him. He released Lena's fingers from his numb grasp and he shuffled over to the edge of the booth, digging in his pocket for money. "I probably should be going. Do I need to walk you back to . . . ?"
Lena looked startled. "That's very gentlemanly of you, but I lived in Metropolis, well, for a long time, anyhow, and I'm sure I can get back to my hotel just fine."
Clark's gaze snapped back up. "Lived? Hotel? Don't you live here?"
Despite being in a public place, Lex was back. "No, I don't, Clark." That voice should sound funny coming from the heavily-lipsticked mouth, but it didn't. "You really don't know where I've been?"
"Of course not." Clark snapped. "You left without a word, and so I let you have your privacy."
"You let me have my privacy." Lex laughed softly. "I was in Opal City, Clark. That's where I do this," he pointed at himself, taking in the wig, the makeup, all of it, "for a living."
"But, I thought . . ."
Lex shook his head. "No. When I left Fertilizer Plant Number 3, I left Luthor Corp, and the whole business rat race, for good. And I do mean good. I only have one regret left from those days, and . . ." He left it there.
"You just going to leave that there, or are you going to tell me?" Clark asked softly.
"Don't you have a wedding to go to?"
Clark glanced at his watch. "I've got another ten hours. I can wait."
"It's 1:00 already?" Lex asked before he realized what he'd said.
Clark did the math quickly. "All right. How do you know that my wedding's at 11:00?"
"How do you think I knew your bride's name is Lois? I researched it. Farmboy."
"You . . ." Clark was at a loss for words. "What were you going to do? Walk in as Lena and interrupt the wedding when the minister asks if there can be any reason why we shouldn't be married?"
"Of course not." Fire flashed in Lex's blue eyes. "I wanted to stay in Opal City and let you go on with your life. My father contacted me to tell me about the wedding. He insisted I had to be here, to prove that I'm over you."
Clark didn't know what had happened. He had come here, wanting to reconnect with an old friend and suddenly, he and Lex were fighting like an old, bitter ex-couple. But whatever it was, he wanted to see how far it would go, so he pushed. "And you're proving that wonderfully."
Lex's eyes widened. "I stayed out of your life for seven years, Clark. If that's not love . . ."
"Did I *ask* you to leave?" Clark's voice was raised.
"Did you ask me to stay?"
"Did I have any warning that you were going to leave?"
"Did you care?"
"Will you ever stop answering a question with a question?"
"Excuse me."
The voice interrupting them stopped both men cold. They turned to see their waitress.
"The manager has asked me to ask the two of you to leave."
"We're very sorry about this." Lex tried to play it off cool, but the waitress wasn't having any of it.
"Don't be sorry, just leave."
They left.
By the time they'd reached the street, Lex had calmed down. "I'm sorry, Clark." He said, simply as they started to walk.
Clark, however, still wanted to fight. "Sorry for what?"
"For leaving Smallville so abruptly." Lex pleaded with his blue eyes for Clark to calm down. "But you seemed so happy with your life . . ."
Clark laughed, a little hysterically. "Happy? My God, Lex. I was miserable."
"What? But you finally had Lana . . ."
"Is there a saying somewhere about how getting what you want is a good way to find out that you don't want it after all? If there isn't, there should be."
"What are you talking about?" He stopped and put his hand, still in a long silk glove, on Clark's arm. "Tell me, please."
Clark looked down at Lex, sadness in his blue eyes. "It all started the first time you pushed me at Lana." Clark emphasized the word 'pushed.' "Well, one of the first."
Lex nodded. "Go on."
"It was the night of the Radiohead concert. I was alone, in a limo, with Lana, and the silence was unbearable. The single most uncomfortable silence I've ever experienced."
"It was just nerves."
"No, it wasn't." Clark shook his head. "I was nervous around you lots. Like the time I came to bring back the truck."
"Of course you were nervous. I nearly killed you with my epee."
Clark laughed. "You didn't even come close to killing me. But that's another story for another time. The point is, I was just . . . I don't think I could describe how nervous I was. But you put me at my ease. Made me comfortable. Made the silences between us comfortable ones."
They stared at each other, their steps slowing and coming to a stop.
"Look, if we're going to walk around, can we go back to my hotel room and change? These aren't exactly walking shoes. Not to mention that other things are uncomfortable." Lex tugged at his skirt and shifted his hips in illustration.
"Sure. Where's your hotel?"
"It's the Hilton. On Fifth Street."
When Clark didn't start walking immediately, Lex asked, "Are you all right?"
"Yeah. Fine. But you need to lead, since, well, I'm not sure where we are."
Lex laughed softly. "This way. Farmboy."
"Did you really feel that way?" Lex asked once they were on their way.
"What way?"
"Comfortable."
"Of course I did. Why else would I have kept coming back? Did I strike you as the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous wannabe type?"
Lex laughed. "Of course not. It's just . . . I never really thought that it was me you were seeking out, so much as trying to get away from your life."
Clark looked sadly at Lex, but he didn't respond to Lex's statement, instead, continuing their previous conversation. "Nearly every time Lana and I were alone it was like that. Any time it was anything like romantic, certainly."
"So why did you keep pursuing her?"
"Well, you kept *pushing* me at her. What else could I do?"
"I was just helping you get what you wanted." Lex was getting defensive.
Clark could get defensive, too. "And if you'd hung around, you'd've been there when I found out that *she* wasn't what I wanted." Clark itched for Lex to ask him what he had wanted.
But it wasn't to be. Lex changed the topic, instead. "So, what's Lana up to anyway, since you and she didn't turn out to be true love?"
"You haven't been following the Sharks, have you?" Clark asked teasingly.
"Do I look like the kind of guy who follows football?" Lex asked with dry humor.
Clark laughed. "I guess not. Well, Whitney's quarterback. You might have seen his Wheaties box? No. All right. Whitney and Lana are married, and Lana's expecting their first child."
Lex chuckled. "So the cheerleader and the football hero worked out after all."
"I know Whitney did some pretty petty things, but he grew up into an all right guy. And he adores Lana."
"We're here." Lex indicated the hotel, and, assuming his Lena Thorul body language, led Clark through the lobby and up the elevator to his hotel room.
While Lex was showering and changing, Clark took the remote and flipped channels on the television in the room. It was 3:00 a.m., so not much was on, but he had some time to kill and watched a little bit of some old western or other on one of the movie channels. He looked at the bedside table and saw the wedding announcement that ran in the Daily Planet. "Research." He mused as he looked at it.
Finally, Lex emerged from the bathroom, wearing a black t-shirt and black jeans. "What do you think?" Lex asked.
Clark smiled. "Now, if I'd run into you on the street, I'd've recognized you immediately. Oh, and by the way . . ."
Lex, who was looking at himself in the mirror, met Clark's eyes in his reflection. "Yeah?"
Clark wrinkled his nose. "You might want to change your brand of lipstick. That stuff tasted terrible."
Lex laughed. "So what do you want to do now?"
"I want to keep talking to you." Clark answered with simple honesty. "I suppose we could keep walking."
"Well, I've been trying to get more exercise lately." Lex grinned as they exited his hotel room together.
"So, how did you end up a drag queen doing a mind-reading act in Opal City?"
Lex shrugged then said, with humor, "It was Cassandra."
Clark remembered the elderly woman who had been his friend, and who had died while Lex was visiting her. In fact, he realized that's what Lena had reminded him of when doing his reading. "Really?"
"Yeah. Well, since I couldn't have you -- well, I thought I'd lost you to Lana," he said pointedly to forestall Clark's arguments, "I decided to embrace the future that Cassandra saw. The one that killed her."
"You know that I don't believe for a minute that your future killed Cass -- What?" He said as what Lex's statement caught up to him.
"Well, what else would have killed that nice old lady besides me in drag performing a mentalism act borrowing part of her own routine?"
"The hand-holding."
"Got it in one." Lex grinned. Then he sobered. "Only, the first time I tried it, I kept remembering Cassandra's death. That's why I always wear the gloves."
Clark, hearing the pain in Lex's voice at remembering Cassandra's death, wrapped his left arm around Lex's shoulders comfortingly. They walked like this in silence for a minute, then gradually, slid apart until they were holding hands.
Neither commented on this new change.
"So, that's quite a write-up your wedding got." Lex said conversationally, as if he wasn't holding Clark's hand.
"Yeah. Probably because the Planet's where Lois works, and they offered me a job to start after the honeymoon."
"That's good. You deserve to have good things happen to you."
"Thank you, Lex."
"And Lois seems like a nice woman."
"Oh. She is. Sam, her dad, is a whole different story. He's the reason I'm out here."
"Didn't think you deserved a hotel room?"
Clark laughed. "Nah. He's Army and he's got that whole early to bed, early to rise thing going on. Like my Dad, on crack."
Lex made a shocked face.
"Well, so he laid down the law, and decreed that 11:00 was lights out."
"Not much of a bachelor party."
"Nope. Well, Pete tried to sneak down to my room so we could watch TV or something, and Sam caught him. I think he made Pete do push-ups in the rain for punishment."
"It's not raining, Clark."
Clark laughed. "You get the idea, though."
"So how'd you get out?"
"Out the window." Clark said with an I've got a secret grin.
"Um, I . . . I'm not gonna ask." Lex shook his head bemusedly.
They walked together a while longer discussing where they'd been and what they'd been doing for the past seven years. Clark talked about his high school graduation, about college, about his first two years working in Boston. Lex talked about the people he'd met in Opal City, and about the traveling he'd done since leaving his father's nest.
Finally, as the sun began to rise, and their paths started to cross with that of other people, they gave one last reassuring squeeze to their linked hands and let go. But even though the physical link between them was severed, Clark still felt the emotional connection that they'd reestablished.
"Clark?"
"Yeah?"
"I probably don't really want to be asking this question, but what hotel are you staying at?"
Lex's question brought Clark back to reality, and he looked around. There, in front of them, was the hotel. "The Marriott." He said as nonchalantly as he could, as if that hotel wasn't staring them right in the face.
"Oh." Lex paused. "I guess I should probably go, then."
"No. Stay." It suddenly was desperately important that Lex not leave. He grabbed Lex's arm gently. "If you go, I'll never see you again."
Lex turned back to Clark. "If you really want me to stay . . ."
"Yes. I do." Clark gave a sigh of relief and released Lex's arm.
"Clark! What are you doing . . ." Chloe came from across the street. "Lex? Oh, my God!" Chloe ran to Lex and threw her arms around him in a hug.
Lex returned her hug. "Chloe. What are you doing here? Oh, you're here for the wedding, aren't you?"
Chloe nodded as they let go of each other. "I'm standing up in the wedding. Not only is Clark my best friend, but Lois is my cousin. So, you here for the wedding, too?"
"Um, no. Not exactly."
Fortunately, Lex was saved from saying anything else by the arrival of a young man with red hair. "You just took off, and . . . Clark."
"Jimmy." Clark nodded, trying to smile as best he could.
"Chloe, you mind?" Clark asked pointedly. "Lex and I were . . ."
Chloe nodded. "Jimmy and I bumped into each other at breakfast and we got to talking. About, you know, cameras, computers, things like that. Come on, Jim. We've got two hours to get to that store and see that display before we have to be back here."
"Oh, God." Clark mumbled as they watched Chloe and Jimmy leave together. "It's 7:00 already?"
Lex gave Clark a smile that didn't touch his eyes. "That gives us a couple more hours to spend together before you have to go off and do groom things."
Glancing back at the hotel, Clark prepared to take the biggest risk of his life. "Lex, way back at the beginning. The day you think you almost killed me with your epee?"
Lex nodded.
"You said something to me. That we had a future together. Do you still believe that?"
EPILOGUE
After she and Jimmy finished drooling over the latest computers in the store window, Chloe went to check on Lois. She opened the door to her cousin's hotel room and found Lois sitting in the chair at the desk, holding a sheet of paper in her hands, her face nearly as white as the paper she was holding.
"What is it?" Chloe asked.
Sighing, Lois handed Chloe the page. "Looks like there isn't going to be a wedding after all."
Her heart sinking, Chloe read.
Lois -
I know I'm a cad for doing this, but I can't marry you. Not now. Perhaps not ever.
I've met someone. Well, not someone new. Someone old. A high school sweetheart, I guess you'd say. We ran into each other last night, and, well, it's still there. And I don't want to take the chance of losing it. Not again.
Please, I know I should have done this in person, but I don't have the time right now. I'm leaving this note as quickly as I can so that I'm not missed. If I'm gone for any length of time, I may lose this again.
I hope you can forgive me, if only because I suspect we'll be bumping into each other at press conferences, and, if the way Chloe and Jimmy were looking at each other is any indication, at Chloe's wedding.
If you can't get a refund on the tickets and reservations, maybe you can get them changed and take Chloe with you.
Clark
Chloe read the note, then skimmed it again, fighting back a giggle. She'd always known that Lex and Clark had loved each other. When Lex had left town without a word, Chloe had kept Clark on something like suicide watch for a while, all the time searching desperately for a way to contact Lex, to beg him to come back for Clark's sake.
But anyone who knew Lex's whereabouts wasn't telling. And it was easy enough to find out that Lex had left the state. Chloe's contacts weren't yet good enough to track someone outside of Kansas.
And eventually, Clark had healed. He'd gone to college, where he had a few failed relationships, most notably with that girl in the wheelchair, Lori something. Then, after college, had come Chloe's own cousin, Lois. But now things had come full circle, and Clark was back to Lex. Where he should be.
Suddenly, she realized that Lois was talking to her. "What?"
"Do you know who he's talking about? At first I thought maybe Lana, but . . ."
"No. It isn't Lana. I don't know who he's talking about." Chloe lied. "Look, I just stopped in for a minute on my way somewhere. You'll be all right for a little bit?"
Lois nodded. "I know I should be furious, or depressed, or . . ."
She's in shock. Chloe thought. I shouldn't leave her alone, but I've got to call Clark before all hell breaks loose. Maybe I'll run into Aunt Ella or Uncle Sam in the hallway. She cringed at the thought of Sam Lane's response to the dishonoring of his elder daughter. No time. Clark.
Chloe gently hugged her cousin and left the room, running into Ella Lane. "Aunt Ella!" She whispered. "Please go in and talk to Lois. She's got something to tell you."
She took her cell phone from her purse as she began the descent down the stairwell. Damn elevators. Cell phones never work in them, and I've got to get off this floor before word gets out. She finished dialing Clark's cell phone number and waited for the ring, still descending the stairs.
As she expected, she got Clark's voice mail. "Clark. It's Chloe. I saw the note you left Lois. I'll chew you out about not telling her to her face later, but I know why you didn't. I'd be afraid to let Lex out of my sight, too, all things considering. Anyway, I wanted to wish the two of you the best, and remind you not to disappear off the face of the earth like Lex did. No matter what, you're still my best friend. So, give me a call when you feel like getting in touch again, and be sure to get a place with a guest bedroom, so I can come visit. With or *without* Jimmy." She let a little humor into her tone on the last sentence. "Take care, and don't be a stranger."
And with that, Chloe hung up.
Author: PepperjackCandy
Series: Nope
Archive : Smallville Slash Archive, my writing at fanfiction.net
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Category: Romance, Futurefic
Spoilers for: Hourglass
Disclaimer: I own nothing Smallville-related, or related in any other way to Clark Kent, Superman, Starman, or any of the various creations of the wonderful folks at DC Comics.
Feedback: Always welcome, either by e-mail or using the review system at fanfiction.net.
WARNINGS: Talking heads, UST, schmaltz.
A/N: In an offhanded way, this was suggested by Penemuel's suggestion of a drag dance humor fic on the ClarkLex list. I don't *think* I've ever met a drag queen IRL (you never quite know, though, do you?), but everything I've ever read and heard leads me to the conclusion that it's polite to refer to a drag queen in drag as "she." So that's what I'm doing. I may be hopelessly naïve, but there it is.
Also, Opal City is the home of Starman in DC comics: http://homepages.uel.ac.uk/5941n/pages/opalcity.htm
Thanks to c1everish for the beta.
=========
"I'm gettin' married in the morning . . ." Clark sang quietly to himself then stopped and chuckled. Broadway show tunes, he thought, baffled. But why not? It's true after all. At 11:00 tomorrow morning, Lois will become . . . Lois Lane. He laughed again. After all, she decided to keep her maiden name. But we'll be married.
New to Metropolis, on his own for the night, and with no need to worry about his own physical safety, he wandered where his feet took him, walking down streets and alleys, through upscale neighborhoods and industrial areas, until he saw a strangely well-maintained neon sign hanging above an otherwise unmarked door.
"Club Zero. Hm." Curious, Clark tried the door, which was unlocked. Putting on his most self-confident body language, he pushed the door open and walked inside.
As Clark expected from the name, it was a bar. Pretty normal looking, if a little smoky. A kind of white ambient light hung over everything, emanating from nowhere that Clark could pinpoint. The center of the room was filled with a dance floor, where couples, and sometimes threesomes, writhed together in time with the slow, sexy music.
A bouncer, heavily muscled and clad in a clingy black silk shirt, looked him up and down once slowly, a smile quirking up one corner of his mouth. He jerked his head to indicate that Clark was approved to walk into the bar.
As Clark walked further into the room, the smell of smoke assailed his nostrils. Fortunately, his invulnerability always seemed to extend to things like that as well, and he didn't even so much as sneeze.
It was like a dream as he walked through the smoke and light, among the denizens of the bar. As a reporter, he knew he should be noting every tiny detail, but he was enjoying the atmosphere, rather than examining the faces of the customers for signs of their inner turmoil.
He noticed, perhaps a bit absently, that there seemed to be a disproportionately large number of men in the bar. And when he reached the edge of the dance floor, and clearly saw men dancing together, he realized that he was in a gay bar.
Well, that'll be something to tell Lois tomorrow. My first night alone in Metropolis, and I went to a gay bar. Clark couldn't help chuckling. He turned to walk away from the dance floor, but found his path blocked by a blonde. Long, curly hair, a sparkly silver sleeveless minidress. Tall for a woman, but Clark knew that she wasn't a woman, even if the makeup and padding were very deceptive.
She looked up Clark's body slowly. "All of this smoke is bad for my asthma," she said as her eyes seemed to caress Clark's black hair, freshly trimmed for his wedding the next day, "would you like to take a walk?"
Clark knew that she was probably going to expect him to have sex with her, but he was a writer, and as such, curious about people, so he took her up on her offer. Maybe she'd let him interview her. "Sure." He said, with a smile. After all, what would she do if he refused to have sex with her? Call a cop?
They walked together back to the door of the bar and the blonde waited while Clark opened the door for her. Clark caught a strange look in the bouncer's eye as they left.
The street outside the bar was, as it had been when Clark walked in, deserted. The blonde hooked her right hand through Clark's left elbow as they walked. She carried a small silver purse in her left hand.
"I'm sorry, I never introduced myself." Clark said, "I'm . . ."
"Lena." The blonde suddenly was in front of him, holding out her right hand for him to shake. "Lena Thorul."
"Pleased to meet you, I'm . . ."
Before he could say another word, Lena pulled his head down to hers, for an almost bruisingly-hard kiss. Lena was a pretty good kisser, not that Clark had much experience kissing other men at all, much less drag queens, but her lipstick tasted terrible.
As soon as he could gather his wits together, Clark pulled his head back from her grasp. "Lena." He choked. "I'm not really looking for . . ."
Clark looked into Lena's eyes, and something, some trick of the streetlights above them, made her look like . . . "Lex?" He asked softly.
Lena's eyes widened, and she gasped. "Clark?" She asked softly, her voice drifting off to a whisper, "No! It can't be!" She turned and headed off the opposite direction.
Clark realized that he'd been right and easily caught up to her, cutting off Lena's escape, grasping her gently by the wrists -- not hard enough to restrain, just enough to let her know that he wanted to talk to her.
"Lex. It is you. Please, talk to me."
"Let go, Clark." Lena - Lex - Lena - whoever it was shook her wrists free easily and began walking again.
Clark followed. "I'm not going. Not until you tell me why you left like that. No word, nothing. Just one day I went to your house, and you were gone. I had to hear from Chloe that you'd, what was it, accepted a position with another company?"
"It doesn't matter, does it, Clark? It was years ago."
"Exactly. It was years ago and it doesn't matter." Clark didn't feel like it didn't matter, though. "So why won't you talk to me?"
"Fine. What do you want me to say?" The body language now clearly communicated that this was no longer the persona of Lena Thorul. This was simply Lex in a dress.
"I want you to tell me where you went. What I did to drive you away. I want you to say that you'll go out for coffee with me."
"Coffee, huh?"
Clark nodded, hopefully.
Lex looked at Clark's hopeful expression and sighed, resigned. "All right."
Together, they walked back to the area where the majority of Metropolis's nightlife was and once they were in a populated area, Lex slipped back into his Lena persona.
Soon found an open coffee shop. They walked in together and took a seat in one of the booths. The waitress came by and took their orders.
"So, what have you been up to?" Lex, er, Lena asked casually.
"Oh. The usual. Work. Spending more time with Mom and Dad now that I've moved here from Boston. I'm getting married . . ."
"Oh, my god. It's Lena Thorul." A young woman with brown permed hair bounded towards them out of nowhere. "I've seen your show. It's really amazing. Can I have a reading?"
Lena looked at her. "I'm sorry, dear. I'm trying to catch up with an old friend, and so I've given the spirits the night off."
"Oh." The brunette looked disappointed. "I'm sorry for interrupting."
"Don't worry about that dear. But remember."
The brunette looked intently.
"You'll be reunited with him," Lena glanced over at Clark out of the corner of her eye, "when you least expect it."
"I will? Oh, my God. Thank you!" The brunette practically skipped from the coffee shop.
After the brunette had gone, the waitress brought their drinks. "What was that?" Clark asked.
"It's what I've been doing the past seven years." Lena grinned. "I'm a psychic."
Now Clark laughed aloud. "You're what?!?"
Lena gave him a stern look, to quiet him down and reached into her purse, pulling out a pair of elbow-length silver gloves that matched her dress. "Always remember never to leave the house without your gloves." She held her hand out overhand. "Take my hand, Clark."
"Lena, I . . ."
"It's part of the act. I can't do your reading without it."
With an odd feeling of déjà vu, Clark took Lena's hand.
"All right. What if I were to tell you that there's a woman on your mind?"
Clark looked at Lena's wig and elaborately made-up face, then down at their joined hands. "I'd tell you that you were right." He smiled.
"And that her name starts with the letter 'L.'"
"Right again." This felt good to Clark. He and Lex, or Lena, he guessed, always had the best back-and-forth banter.
"You have a history together."
"I'm impressed."
"Her name?"
"Yes?"
A long pause while Lena made a soft humming noise. Then she looked up, directly into Clark's eyes. "Lois."
Clark felt like a bucket of ice water had been poured on him. He released Lena's fingers from his numb grasp and he shuffled over to the edge of the booth, digging in his pocket for money. "I probably should be going. Do I need to walk you back to . . . ?"
Lena looked startled. "That's very gentlemanly of you, but I lived in Metropolis, well, for a long time, anyhow, and I'm sure I can get back to my hotel just fine."
Clark's gaze snapped back up. "Lived? Hotel? Don't you live here?"
Despite being in a public place, Lex was back. "No, I don't, Clark." That voice should sound funny coming from the heavily-lipsticked mouth, but it didn't. "You really don't know where I've been?"
"Of course not." Clark snapped. "You left without a word, and so I let you have your privacy."
"You let me have my privacy." Lex laughed softly. "I was in Opal City, Clark. That's where I do this," he pointed at himself, taking in the wig, the makeup, all of it, "for a living."
"But, I thought . . ."
Lex shook his head. "No. When I left Fertilizer Plant Number 3, I left Luthor Corp, and the whole business rat race, for good. And I do mean good. I only have one regret left from those days, and . . ." He left it there.
"You just going to leave that there, or are you going to tell me?" Clark asked softly.
"Don't you have a wedding to go to?"
Clark glanced at his watch. "I've got another ten hours. I can wait."
"It's 1:00 already?" Lex asked before he realized what he'd said.
Clark did the math quickly. "All right. How do you know that my wedding's at 11:00?"
"How do you think I knew your bride's name is Lois? I researched it. Farmboy."
"You . . ." Clark was at a loss for words. "What were you going to do? Walk in as Lena and interrupt the wedding when the minister asks if there can be any reason why we shouldn't be married?"
"Of course not." Fire flashed in Lex's blue eyes. "I wanted to stay in Opal City and let you go on with your life. My father contacted me to tell me about the wedding. He insisted I had to be here, to prove that I'm over you."
Clark didn't know what had happened. He had come here, wanting to reconnect with an old friend and suddenly, he and Lex were fighting like an old, bitter ex-couple. But whatever it was, he wanted to see how far it would go, so he pushed. "And you're proving that wonderfully."
Lex's eyes widened. "I stayed out of your life for seven years, Clark. If that's not love . . ."
"Did I *ask* you to leave?" Clark's voice was raised.
"Did you ask me to stay?"
"Did I have any warning that you were going to leave?"
"Did you care?"
"Will you ever stop answering a question with a question?"
"Excuse me."
The voice interrupting them stopped both men cold. They turned to see their waitress.
"The manager has asked me to ask the two of you to leave."
"We're very sorry about this." Lex tried to play it off cool, but the waitress wasn't having any of it.
"Don't be sorry, just leave."
They left.
By the time they'd reached the street, Lex had calmed down. "I'm sorry, Clark." He said, simply as they started to walk.
Clark, however, still wanted to fight. "Sorry for what?"
"For leaving Smallville so abruptly." Lex pleaded with his blue eyes for Clark to calm down. "But you seemed so happy with your life . . ."
Clark laughed, a little hysterically. "Happy? My God, Lex. I was miserable."
"What? But you finally had Lana . . ."
"Is there a saying somewhere about how getting what you want is a good way to find out that you don't want it after all? If there isn't, there should be."
"What are you talking about?" He stopped and put his hand, still in a long silk glove, on Clark's arm. "Tell me, please."
Clark looked down at Lex, sadness in his blue eyes. "It all started the first time you pushed me at Lana." Clark emphasized the word 'pushed.' "Well, one of the first."
Lex nodded. "Go on."
"It was the night of the Radiohead concert. I was alone, in a limo, with Lana, and the silence was unbearable. The single most uncomfortable silence I've ever experienced."
"It was just nerves."
"No, it wasn't." Clark shook his head. "I was nervous around you lots. Like the time I came to bring back the truck."
"Of course you were nervous. I nearly killed you with my epee."
Clark laughed. "You didn't even come close to killing me. But that's another story for another time. The point is, I was just . . . I don't think I could describe how nervous I was. But you put me at my ease. Made me comfortable. Made the silences between us comfortable ones."
They stared at each other, their steps slowing and coming to a stop.
"Look, if we're going to walk around, can we go back to my hotel room and change? These aren't exactly walking shoes. Not to mention that other things are uncomfortable." Lex tugged at his skirt and shifted his hips in illustration.
"Sure. Where's your hotel?"
"It's the Hilton. On Fifth Street."
When Clark didn't start walking immediately, Lex asked, "Are you all right?"
"Yeah. Fine. But you need to lead, since, well, I'm not sure where we are."
Lex laughed softly. "This way. Farmboy."
"Did you really feel that way?" Lex asked once they were on their way.
"What way?"
"Comfortable."
"Of course I did. Why else would I have kept coming back? Did I strike you as the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous wannabe type?"
Lex laughed. "Of course not. It's just . . . I never really thought that it was me you were seeking out, so much as trying to get away from your life."
Clark looked sadly at Lex, but he didn't respond to Lex's statement, instead, continuing their previous conversation. "Nearly every time Lana and I were alone it was like that. Any time it was anything like romantic, certainly."
"So why did you keep pursuing her?"
"Well, you kept *pushing* me at her. What else could I do?"
"I was just helping you get what you wanted." Lex was getting defensive.
Clark could get defensive, too. "And if you'd hung around, you'd've been there when I found out that *she* wasn't what I wanted." Clark itched for Lex to ask him what he had wanted.
But it wasn't to be. Lex changed the topic, instead. "So, what's Lana up to anyway, since you and she didn't turn out to be true love?"
"You haven't been following the Sharks, have you?" Clark asked teasingly.
"Do I look like the kind of guy who follows football?" Lex asked with dry humor.
Clark laughed. "I guess not. Well, Whitney's quarterback. You might have seen his Wheaties box? No. All right. Whitney and Lana are married, and Lana's expecting their first child."
Lex chuckled. "So the cheerleader and the football hero worked out after all."
"I know Whitney did some pretty petty things, but he grew up into an all right guy. And he adores Lana."
"We're here." Lex indicated the hotel, and, assuming his Lena Thorul body language, led Clark through the lobby and up the elevator to his hotel room.
While Lex was showering and changing, Clark took the remote and flipped channels on the television in the room. It was 3:00 a.m., so not much was on, but he had some time to kill and watched a little bit of some old western or other on one of the movie channels. He looked at the bedside table and saw the wedding announcement that ran in the Daily Planet. "Research." He mused as he looked at it.
Finally, Lex emerged from the bathroom, wearing a black t-shirt and black jeans. "What do you think?" Lex asked.
Clark smiled. "Now, if I'd run into you on the street, I'd've recognized you immediately. Oh, and by the way . . ."
Lex, who was looking at himself in the mirror, met Clark's eyes in his reflection. "Yeah?"
Clark wrinkled his nose. "You might want to change your brand of lipstick. That stuff tasted terrible."
Lex laughed. "So what do you want to do now?"
"I want to keep talking to you." Clark answered with simple honesty. "I suppose we could keep walking."
"Well, I've been trying to get more exercise lately." Lex grinned as they exited his hotel room together.
"So, how did you end up a drag queen doing a mind-reading act in Opal City?"
Lex shrugged then said, with humor, "It was Cassandra."
Clark remembered the elderly woman who had been his friend, and who had died while Lex was visiting her. In fact, he realized that's what Lena had reminded him of when doing his reading. "Really?"
"Yeah. Well, since I couldn't have you -- well, I thought I'd lost you to Lana," he said pointedly to forestall Clark's arguments, "I decided to embrace the future that Cassandra saw. The one that killed her."
"You know that I don't believe for a minute that your future killed Cass -- What?" He said as what Lex's statement caught up to him.
"Well, what else would have killed that nice old lady besides me in drag performing a mentalism act borrowing part of her own routine?"
"The hand-holding."
"Got it in one." Lex grinned. Then he sobered. "Only, the first time I tried it, I kept remembering Cassandra's death. That's why I always wear the gloves."
Clark, hearing the pain in Lex's voice at remembering Cassandra's death, wrapped his left arm around Lex's shoulders comfortingly. They walked like this in silence for a minute, then gradually, slid apart until they were holding hands.
Neither commented on this new change.
"So, that's quite a write-up your wedding got." Lex said conversationally, as if he wasn't holding Clark's hand.
"Yeah. Probably because the Planet's where Lois works, and they offered me a job to start after the honeymoon."
"That's good. You deserve to have good things happen to you."
"Thank you, Lex."
"And Lois seems like a nice woman."
"Oh. She is. Sam, her dad, is a whole different story. He's the reason I'm out here."
"Didn't think you deserved a hotel room?"
Clark laughed. "Nah. He's Army and he's got that whole early to bed, early to rise thing going on. Like my Dad, on crack."
Lex made a shocked face.
"Well, so he laid down the law, and decreed that 11:00 was lights out."
"Not much of a bachelor party."
"Nope. Well, Pete tried to sneak down to my room so we could watch TV or something, and Sam caught him. I think he made Pete do push-ups in the rain for punishment."
"It's not raining, Clark."
Clark laughed. "You get the idea, though."
"So how'd you get out?"
"Out the window." Clark said with an I've got a secret grin.
"Um, I . . . I'm not gonna ask." Lex shook his head bemusedly.
They walked together a while longer discussing where they'd been and what they'd been doing for the past seven years. Clark talked about his high school graduation, about college, about his first two years working in Boston. Lex talked about the people he'd met in Opal City, and about the traveling he'd done since leaving his father's nest.
Finally, as the sun began to rise, and their paths started to cross with that of other people, they gave one last reassuring squeeze to their linked hands and let go. But even though the physical link between them was severed, Clark still felt the emotional connection that they'd reestablished.
"Clark?"
"Yeah?"
"I probably don't really want to be asking this question, but what hotel are you staying at?"
Lex's question brought Clark back to reality, and he looked around. There, in front of them, was the hotel. "The Marriott." He said as nonchalantly as he could, as if that hotel wasn't staring them right in the face.
"Oh." Lex paused. "I guess I should probably go, then."
"No. Stay." It suddenly was desperately important that Lex not leave. He grabbed Lex's arm gently. "If you go, I'll never see you again."
Lex turned back to Clark. "If you really want me to stay . . ."
"Yes. I do." Clark gave a sigh of relief and released Lex's arm.
"Clark! What are you doing . . ." Chloe came from across the street. "Lex? Oh, my God!" Chloe ran to Lex and threw her arms around him in a hug.
Lex returned her hug. "Chloe. What are you doing here? Oh, you're here for the wedding, aren't you?"
Chloe nodded as they let go of each other. "I'm standing up in the wedding. Not only is Clark my best friend, but Lois is my cousin. So, you here for the wedding, too?"
"Um, no. Not exactly."
Fortunately, Lex was saved from saying anything else by the arrival of a young man with red hair. "You just took off, and . . . Clark."
"Jimmy." Clark nodded, trying to smile as best he could.
"Chloe, you mind?" Clark asked pointedly. "Lex and I were . . ."
Chloe nodded. "Jimmy and I bumped into each other at breakfast and we got to talking. About, you know, cameras, computers, things like that. Come on, Jim. We've got two hours to get to that store and see that display before we have to be back here."
"Oh, God." Clark mumbled as they watched Chloe and Jimmy leave together. "It's 7:00 already?"
Lex gave Clark a smile that didn't touch his eyes. "That gives us a couple more hours to spend together before you have to go off and do groom things."
Glancing back at the hotel, Clark prepared to take the biggest risk of his life. "Lex, way back at the beginning. The day you think you almost killed me with your epee?"
Lex nodded.
"You said something to me. That we had a future together. Do you still believe that?"
EPILOGUE
After she and Jimmy finished drooling over the latest computers in the store window, Chloe went to check on Lois. She opened the door to her cousin's hotel room and found Lois sitting in the chair at the desk, holding a sheet of paper in her hands, her face nearly as white as the paper she was holding.
"What is it?" Chloe asked.
Sighing, Lois handed Chloe the page. "Looks like there isn't going to be a wedding after all."
Her heart sinking, Chloe read.
Lois -
I know I'm a cad for doing this, but I can't marry you. Not now. Perhaps not ever.
I've met someone. Well, not someone new. Someone old. A high school sweetheart, I guess you'd say. We ran into each other last night, and, well, it's still there. And I don't want to take the chance of losing it. Not again.
Please, I know I should have done this in person, but I don't have the time right now. I'm leaving this note as quickly as I can so that I'm not missed. If I'm gone for any length of time, I may lose this again.
I hope you can forgive me, if only because I suspect we'll be bumping into each other at press conferences, and, if the way Chloe and Jimmy were looking at each other is any indication, at Chloe's wedding.
If you can't get a refund on the tickets and reservations, maybe you can get them changed and take Chloe with you.
Clark
Chloe read the note, then skimmed it again, fighting back a giggle. She'd always known that Lex and Clark had loved each other. When Lex had left town without a word, Chloe had kept Clark on something like suicide watch for a while, all the time searching desperately for a way to contact Lex, to beg him to come back for Clark's sake.
But anyone who knew Lex's whereabouts wasn't telling. And it was easy enough to find out that Lex had left the state. Chloe's contacts weren't yet good enough to track someone outside of Kansas.
And eventually, Clark had healed. He'd gone to college, where he had a few failed relationships, most notably with that girl in the wheelchair, Lori something. Then, after college, had come Chloe's own cousin, Lois. But now things had come full circle, and Clark was back to Lex. Where he should be.
Suddenly, she realized that Lois was talking to her. "What?"
"Do you know who he's talking about? At first I thought maybe Lana, but . . ."
"No. It isn't Lana. I don't know who he's talking about." Chloe lied. "Look, I just stopped in for a minute on my way somewhere. You'll be all right for a little bit?"
Lois nodded. "I know I should be furious, or depressed, or . . ."
She's in shock. Chloe thought. I shouldn't leave her alone, but I've got to call Clark before all hell breaks loose. Maybe I'll run into Aunt Ella or Uncle Sam in the hallway. She cringed at the thought of Sam Lane's response to the dishonoring of his elder daughter. No time. Clark.
Chloe gently hugged her cousin and left the room, running into Ella Lane. "Aunt Ella!" She whispered. "Please go in and talk to Lois. She's got something to tell you."
She took her cell phone from her purse as she began the descent down the stairwell. Damn elevators. Cell phones never work in them, and I've got to get off this floor before word gets out. She finished dialing Clark's cell phone number and waited for the ring, still descending the stairs.
As she expected, she got Clark's voice mail. "Clark. It's Chloe. I saw the note you left Lois. I'll chew you out about not telling her to her face later, but I know why you didn't. I'd be afraid to let Lex out of my sight, too, all things considering. Anyway, I wanted to wish the two of you the best, and remind you not to disappear off the face of the earth like Lex did. No matter what, you're still my best friend. So, give me a call when you feel like getting in touch again, and be sure to get a place with a guest bedroom, so I can come visit. With or *without* Jimmy." She let a little humor into her tone on the last sentence. "Take care, and don't be a stranger."
And with that, Chloe hung up.