Title: Convergence
Author: kayladie
Rating: M
Pairings: Clark/Lex, Harry/Draco
Summary: Clarkis determined to let Lex know how he feels. Only, he never expected Wizards!
A/N: Written for the Smallville Big Bang on LJ. A completely self-indulgent story as I just wanted to get Clex and Drarry in the same place. Complete sexy fluff. Seriously, Clark and Lex go to the park. They meet Harry and Draco there. Sex happens...that's pretty much the whole story.
Warnings: Lots of f-bombs, rimming, some crossover between the couples during sex (oral only), excessive use of italics and the word 'cock'.
Clark Kent was nervous. Probably more nervous than he'd ever been in his life, but he was trying desperately not to let it show. Casually, he wiped his sweaty palms against the sides of his jeans, hoping that the other man in the room hadn't noticed. By the small smirk that twisted Lex's mouth, Clark was sure that he had.
"I must admit, I was somewhat surprised to hear that you actually waited for my secretary to allow you in rather than just barging right through the door, as per your usual modus operandi, Clark. I also admit that I'm a little confused as to what you could possibly say that you think I would want to hear," Lex said, the ice in his voice clear enough to give Clark a little shiver up his spine.
Well, he'd known this wasn't going to be easy. Nothing where he and Lex were concerned ever was.
"I know we haven't gotten along very well lately, Lex…" Clark said, pausing long enough to wince at Lex's quiet snort of disbelief. "It's just that…I've been thinking a lot about some things, um, things that you've done and things that I've done, and how things used to be between us…" he trailed off, trying to remember everything that he'd wanted to say, none of it seemingly able to make the trip from his brain to his mouth.
"Isn't that special? Are you recalling the halcyon days of our youth with just a little taste of bittersweet, Clark? Wow. Perhaps some time ago, I might have joined you in wanting to reminisce, but at this point in my life? I'm really not interested in you any more, Clark," Lex said softly, with a malicious little smile.
And that made Clark angry, because he knew Lex was lying. Then it struck him that this feeling that was coursing through him, this frustrated irritation, was probably what Lex felt all those times that Clark had lied. All the times that Lex knew he was lying and Clark had seen the anger in every line of Lex's face and body. He took a deep breath, knowing that this was possibly the most important conversation in his life and he couldn't mess it up. Not like he usually messed things up.
"I know that's not true, Lex. I know you're still interested. In fact, I think you're more interested now than you've ever been. Isn't that why you were with Lana? Just so that you could hurt me by flaunting your relationship in my face?"
Lex's mouth flattened into a grim line, and his nostrils flared in anger. But Clark could see that the barb had struck home.
"I was quite fond of Lana. She's a very special girl."
Clark scoffed gently at Lex's words. "Lana is so not in your league, Lex, and you know it."
He watched as a tiny flicker of doubt fluttered across Lex's face, almost too quickly to be seen. Clark was aware that his words could have been taken as a slight insult to Lana, which was the last thing that anyone would expect to hear from Clark Kent. But as he'd said to Lex earlier, Clark had been thinking, a lot, about a lot of different things lately. He'd always regretted the way their friendship had gone sour, because for a while there, Lex had been very important to him. Maybe the most important person in his entire life.
Clark had been so young when their friendship had first begun, that he didn't realize what those many heated looks passing between himself and his older friend had meant. He just knew that he enjoyed being around Lex. Enjoyed it very much. But then, there were all the lies and misunderstandings, things that Clark said, things that Lex did…for a long time, Clark had been so angry at Lex. And he hadn't really understood why.
Pete had bailed on him and it had barely affected Clark. A friendship that he'd had since kindergarten, and a couple of weeks after Pete was gone, Clark had relegated his oldest friend to the past without the slightest qualm.
But not Lex. No, Clark had missed Lex fiercely, even as he'd been fiercely infuriated with him. It had taken him a long time to figure it out and then even longer to admit it to himself. Clark missed Lex because he cared about Lex as far more than just a friend. It had hurt Clark terribly when he'd uncovered that room in the mansion that proved Lex was still investigating him. Perhaps Lex was only interested in Clark's secrets and not him, after all.
That had been a painful realization. Even though they'd tried the friendship again, it wasn't the same. Clark never felt the same joy that he had in the beginning of the friendship, because he was too worried that Lex was analyzing and evaluating everything.
Then came Zod. And Clark knew a moment of heart-stopping terror that Lex was gone forever. Even when the fate of the entire world depended on him stopping Zod, Clark couldn't do it. He couldn't make himself hurt Lex.
But Lana could.
Clark's mother had told him all about how Lana had volunteered to use the Kryptonian blade to kill Zod, who just happened to be residing in Lex's body. Which meant that Lana had been willing to kill Lex.
As illogical as it was – because Zod was attempting to destroy the earth, after all – Clark was very angry with her for that. That wasn't the first time that Clark realized that Lana wasn't really up on the pedestal he'd insistently put her on since grammar school, but it was certainly the most telling. Not to mention he was still a little peeved about her falling right into the arms of his best friend turned enemy. The funny thing was, he hadn't realized until later that he was more jealous over Lex than he was over Lana.
But the turning point, the real turning point, was the confrontation between Lex and Oliver when the Green Arrow had been using the healing serum that had the unfortunate side affect of furious rage. They'd been having some stupid cowboys-at-high-noon standoff in Lex's office, complete with bow and gun, before Clark could get there to stop them. Of course, they'd each managed to shoot the other, and since the two of them were very proficient with their weapons of choice, the wounds were deadly.
By that time, however, Ollie had been using the serum for a while, and he was able to stay conscious long enough to inject himself with more of it. Lex, on the other hand…
Lex died.
It wasn't the first time Lex had been seriously hurt. Their very first meeting had consisted of Clark breathing life back into Lex's still form. Clark had never forgotten how frightened he was on that day beside the river, when he'd realized the man he'd pulled out of the car wasn't breathing.
Both of his short-lived marriages had ended with his wives trying to kill him, each of them coming far too close to succeeding. Twice in the last year alone, Lex had been shot and almost died. But this time, he was truly dead. Clark had fallen to his knees beside Lex's body, felt desperately for a pulse at his neck, focused both his x-ray vision and his super hearing…no heartbeat, no breathing, nothing.
Lex was gone.
And Clark's heart had shattered into a million pieces.
Oliver's words had been like daggers.
"You and I both know the world is a better place without Lex Luthor."
All Clark could hear was that voice inside his head screaming 'not true, not true, not true!' Clark didn't even want to conceive of a world that didn't have Lex in it, even if he hated Clark. Because whether they were friends or enemies, Clark needed to know that Lex was there, that Lex would always be there.
He barely remembered fumbling with the small case that held the healing serum, somehow getting one of the syringes out with what suddenly seemed like too-large hands. Oliver had come up behind him, hissing in his ear to 'let him die' and Clark had to restrain himself to just knocking the bastard across the room and not right through the wall.
It hadn't worked. Clark had used the stuff, just like it was supposed to be done and it hadn't worked! He'd stood and turned to look at Oliver, barely noticing how disheveled and anxious Ollie looked.
"You killed him," he'd whispered in disbelief, and then had to repeat it because it was simply unfathomable that Lex was gone. And he'd wanted to hurt Ollie in that moment; hurt him and break him and wound him just as badly as Clark was wounded and broken. He'd almost missed the moment when Oliver looked past him to the figure still lying on the floor. Then he'd heard it…Lex took a breath. It was barely more than a tiny gasp, but he was breathing.
Unfortunately, Clark knew he couldn't stay. Lex would have so many questions, and even if Clark wanted to answer them – and suddenly he realized that he did want to answer them – he couldn't get into that conversation with Oliver still in the room. So, he'd grabbed up the rest of the serum along with Oliver and his bow, and he'd super speeded all of them out of there.
Even though he was sure that the serum had worked, Clark had still checked with his hearing for Lex's heartbeat as he was speeding down the stairs of the LuthorCorp building. He had never been so glad to hear that steady thump-thump as he was in that moment. Then Clark heard Lex utter a few choice curse words, and was surprised to find himself smiling fondly as he recalled Lex's penchant for foul language when he was truly pissed.
"I don't have all day to waste while you stand here daydreaming, Clark," Lex said, his voice bringing Clark harshly back to the present.
Right, he'd been trying to say something, hadn't he? Clark took a deep breath and decided to just say what he needed to say.
"Lex, I have something that I want to tell you," he said, his tone grim as he prepared to voluntarily reveal his secret for only the second time in his life. And Lex should have been the first. He should have always been first, Clark realized.
He watched as Lex's eyes suddenly gleamed with anticipation, almost like a kid at Christmas. Clark thought he might have even leaned forward just a bit.
Clark opened his mouth to say the words, and then he hesitated. He suddenly remembered where they were. In Lex's office. Which Lex was certain to have filled with all sorts of recording devices, something he and Lionel had both been known to do before. He wanted to tell Lex his secret, but he certainly didn't want there to be any kind of recording of it.
"I'm waiting, Clark. If you can't say what you came to say, the door is behind you," Lex said, and Clark could read the disappointment and bitterness in his eyes. He was probably thinking that this was the same-old, same-old…Clark teasing him with a bit of knowledge and then yanking it away from him.
"Will you take a walk with me?" Clark blurted, and then winced at how clumsy that sounded.
By his confused blink, Lex clearly hadn't expected that. "What?"
"I want this talk to be private, if you know what I mean," Clark said, and took a significant look around the room.
Lex's eyes flashed in irritation and he sent a glare Clark's way. "What if I insist we have this oh-so-important conversation here?"
"Then we won't have it at all," Clark said, trying to smooth all expression off his face. He'd never been very good at bluffing and Lex had grown up with the master of it in Lionel Luthor. All Clark could do was hope that Lex's desire to know his secret was greater than his desire to have physical proof of it.
He thought that Lex was probably considering every option and angle in his mind, but Clark couldn't read anything on his face. When several minutes passed without Lex saying anything, Clark gave a sigh.
"All right, I guess I'll see you around then." He started to turn towards the door.
"Just give me a moment to let my secretary know that I'll be unavailable for a while," Lex said coolly.
Meanwhile, Clark had to work extremely hard to keep the goofy grin off his face as Lex buzzed his secretary and gave her the message that he would be out for the rest of the day. It almost felt like old times in Smallville as the two of them walked down the hall and towards the elevator together. Unfortunately, Lex was still guarded, as he refused to look at Clark and remained silent for the entire trip.
As they stepped out the front doors of the LuthorCorp building into the bright sunshine, Lex finally turned his gaze to Clark, but it was only to raise a sardonic brow as if to ask 'well, what now?'
"We can, um, we can go to the park across the street. That should be private enough," Clark mumbled.
"By all means, lead the way," Lex murmured, with only a touch of sarcasm.
Metropolis City Park was modeled after Central Park in New York, although not as large in scale, so there were plenty of little nooks and crannies where people could go to have a little privacy. Clark was desperately trying to remember all the careful words and phrases he'd come up with in the safety of his loft when he'd first started planning this idea. None of them were coming to mind, and he was worried that Lex was not going to give him the chance to explain anything before he lost patience and left.
They had reached the entrance to the park and Clark looked around uncertainly.
"Uh, where should we…?"
"There's a spot I know that would be suitable for a private conversation. My mother and I used to take lunch there whenever I was home from boarding school," Lex said and led Clark towards a path to the left of the entrance.
Clark followed, wondering when exactly he'd lost control of this confrontation. Oh, who was he kidding? Clark had never been in control in any of his interactions with Lex. Even back when they'd still been friends, Clark had followed Lex around like a little lost puppy dog. It was a little embarrassing actually, now that he thought about it.
But he'd chosen this path, and he was going to see it through to the end. He only hoped the whole thing wouldn't blow up in his face. Clark paused in the middle of a step as the eeriest feeling slithered through his bones. It was almost like a voice in his head screaming 'Danger! Go back!'
"Clark?" Lex questioned, having turned around when he realized that his former friend wasn't right behind him any longer.
"I…we shouldn't be here, Lex. It's dangerous," Clark said nervously, the feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach growing.
"What are you talking about? I've been coming to this park for nearly my entire life. It's certainly no more dangerous than Smallville was," Lex scoffed, clearly irritated.
"No. No, we need to go. We shouldn't be here."
"Honestly, Clark, if this is you trying to get out of having this discussion, then it's a fairly lame attempt."
"I still want to have the talk! I just…we shouldn't be here, Lex!" Clark said, the need to leave growing more urgent by the moment.
"Oh, for…" Lex growled angrily, and he stalked back towards where Clark was dallying and grabbed him forcefully by the wrist. Of course, there was no way that he could move Clark if Clark didn't want to be moved, but the Kryptonian was so distracted by the feeling of imminent danger that he didn't resist as Lex yanked him impatiently towards their destination.
And strangely, once he stumbled forward a few steps, the odd feeling went completely away. He frowned, turning back to look at the spot he'd seemingly been stuck in, switching to x-ray vision quickly to see if there was some sort of device nearby that could have caused his strange panic. Clark had no idea if such a device actually existed, but he'd learned not to take anything for granted.
"What the hell was all that about? Something to do with what we're going to talk about, I presume?" Lex asked, eyeing Clark shrewdly once he was facing Lex again.
"No, I've never felt anything like that before. That was so weird," he murmured, half to himself. "Um, sorry?" Clark said, unsure of why he was apologizing.
"No matter. Shall we?" Lex said, with a rather sarcastic gesture to continue.
A few moments later, the two of them were sitting on an isolated bench in a little niche of the park. It was so quiet that Clark couldn't hear anything without switching on his super hearing. Which was good, he guessed, as he really didn't want anyone overhearing this conversation, but once again, he found himself at a loss as to where to start.
After several minutes of painful silence, Lex heaved an aggravated sigh. "Again, Clark, I don't have the time to sit around and wait while you wrestle with your conscience."
Clark tried to push away the flare of irritation he felt at Lex's sardonic words, because really, if anyone needed to have a wrestling bout with their conscience, it was Lex Luthor. Clark might be in love with him and be willing to forgive him and try again, but he wasn't completely blind and naïve.
But this conversation wasn't going to get any easier the longer he kept putting it off.
Clark took a deep breath and turned to look Lex fully in the eyes. "Lex," he said and paused for half a second, intrigued by the way Lex's eyes glowed with eagerness and he leaned forward, just as he'd done in his office earlier. "Lex, I'm not-"
There was suddenly a loud cracking sound in the middle of the path and they both swung around in shock, although Clark thought he heard Lex actually growl in frustration. Well, Clark could understand that…he was getting a little frustrated himself. He'd somehow not pictured today as being quite this difficult.
The sight that met their eyes caused both of their jaws to drop in shock.
Standing in the middle of the path – the path that had been completely clear only seconds ago – were two men, one blond, one dark-haired; both were dressed in odd clothing that looked like Halloween robes. They were each holding a stick for some reason, and they were apparently embroiled in a vicious argument.
"Furthermore, Potter, the next time I tell you not to move, kindly do me the favor of not fucking moving! I certainly have no wish to waste any more of my time in the hell that is St. Mungo's," the blond was saying.
"Oh, my God, Malfoy, could you give it a rest? You are the only bloke I know who can carry on a row right through a side-along Apparition!" the dark-haired man retorted.
"Perhaps when you start listening to what I say…" the blond said in an annoying sing-song tone.
"Oh, shut it. As if you could've stood still with that stupid tickling hex on you."
"First of all, I would not have been hit with the stupid tickling hex, and secondly, I damn well would have figured out a way to hold still if I knew that moving was going to leave me vulnerable to a nasty cutting curse thrown by Amycus Carrow!"
"I don't know why you're still harping on it. I'm all better now, aren't I? And they managed to save my arm, too!"
At that, the only thing the blond man could manage was an inarticulate sound of rage.
Clark and Lex sat there in frozen amazement, before Lex finally managed to croak, "Friends of yours, Clark?"
That kind of irritated Clark, but he could see where Lex was coming from. Strange things in and around Smallville or Metropolis could usually be traced back to Clark Kent in some way or another.
At Lex's words, the two men jerked around and pointed their sticks in the direction of the two on the bench. Clark immediately stood, putting himself between the unknown threat and Lex. He didn't know what the sticks were or what they could do, but it definitely didn't look like a peaceful overture to him.
"Fuck, Potter! Did you not tell Davis to set the wards!? Now we've got to Obliviate a couple of Muggles before we deal with the Carrows!"
"I don't know who you guys are, but nobody is doing oblivi-whatever to anybody," Clark said, settling into his 'battle-meteor-freaks' mode.
There was a tense standoff for several minutes as all four adversaries sized each other up. Lex stepped around Clark, his hands raised in a conciliatory gesture.
"It looks as though there's been a little misunderstanding here. We weren't aware that you gentlemen had this part of the park reserved, so we can just go and have our conversation elsewhere. We don't mind."
"Nobody is going anywhere until we determine exactly who you are and why you're here," the dark-haired man said curtly.
Clark could almost see Lex bristle at the commanding tone. Luthors did not appreciate being dictated to, and after growing up with Lionel, it particularly bothered Lex.
"From your accents, I'd say the two of you are British?" Lex said. The two didn't respond, so Lex continued. "It seems to me that we should be the ones determining who the hell you are and why you're here."
"Watch your mouth, Muggle!" the blond said, waving his stick in Lex's direction.
"Or what? You'll whack me with your twig?" Lex sneered.
"Lex…" Clark said in a warning voice. He didn't need Lex antagonizing the two strangers unnecessarily. He wasn't sure what he'd been going to say, but then it became a moot point as the blond muttered something – in Latin? – and a fiery red light shot out of his stick and hit Lex in the chest.
Lex shrieked and slapped at his shirt with his hands as though he thought he were on fire. There was nothing there, thank goodness, but Lex's shirt did seem to be smoking a little bit. Clark gaped for a second and then he got mad. They'd hurt Lex! Angrily, he sent a couple quick bursts of heat vision at the stick in blondie's hand, feeling very satisfied when an echoing shriek came from him, making him drop the flaming piece of wood on the ground.
"My favorite wand!" he cried out.
"What did you just do!?" the dark-haired one demanded of Clark.
"Hey, he started it! I'm not going to just let him hurt Lex like that," Clark replied hotly.
"Harry! My favorite wand!" the blond screeched again.
"Shut it, Draco! You shouldn't have hexed the Muggle and you know it."
"It was only a stinging hex," Draco muttered. "And what are we going to do now? The Carrows are going to be portkeying here in about five minutes and I now have no wand!" He turned sharp eyes on Clark. "You did that, didn't you! What did you do!?"
"Yes, I did, and I'll do it again if either of you tries to hurt Lex anymore," Clark said.
He felt Lex's hand brush against the small of his back and Clark knew a moment of panic when he realized what he'd just admitted to in front of Lex Luthor. Even though that was what he'd come here to do, it was practically ingrained in him to resist revealing so much of himself and his abilities. He forced himself to calm down and concentrate on the two people in front of him…and he had to say that Lex's hand had felt very nice and warm against his back.
"Are you a Wizard, too?" the dark-haired man – Harry, Clark remembered, and the blond one was Draco – asked.
"Um, no," Clark said, inwardly a little worried. That was magic Draco had used on Lex? Oh, shit! This was potentially not good…Clark still recalled with a shudder all the damage Isobel/Lana had been able to inflict on him with the use of magic. He was on the verge of picking Lex up and getting the both of them away with his super speed, but he was also hesitant to leave two unknown magic-users in Metropolis unchecked.
"Enough of this, I'll find out who he is," Draco snarled and grabbed Harry's stick out of his hand. He pointed it at Clark before anyone could protest and said, "Legilimens!"
Clark gasped as he felt what seemed like fingers of energy pushing through his head. Thankfully, it only lasted a few seconds before Draco dropped his arm and then his mouth fell open in amazement. "Holy Merlin! Harry! He's…he's an-"
"Don't say it! Don't you dare!" Clark yelled. He was appalled. The bastard had read his mind, invaded his head and pulled out knowledge that he had absolutely no right to have.
He felt Lex stiffen beside him and half-turned to his friend/enemy in confusion.
"Still carefully guarding that secret, Clark? I thought we were going to have some honesty in this discussion. I can see that I expected too much," Lex said icily.
"No, that's not it! I've waited too long to tell you, Lex, I know. So I definitely don't want the truth to come from a stranger. Lex, I'm…" Clark said, pausing to gather his nerve. "I'm an alien. My birth parents sent me here from the planet Krypton when it was about to explode. I'm the last one of my kind, so you don't have to worry about any alien invasion, I swear," he said in a rush, before he could lose that nerve.
Lex didn't say anything in response, but Clark could almost see the relief and happiness shining in his eyes at finally hearing the truth from Clark.
"Holy fuck," Harry said, his voice faint with disbelief. Then he grinned as he turned to Draco. "Heh, sounds like these two have almost as many issues between them as you and I did."
"Don't be an imbecile, Potter. No one compares to a Malfoy when it comes to issues," Draco said haughtily.
Lex turned his gaze away from Clark and smirked at Draco. "I beg to differ. Apparently, you've never met a Luthor."
Draco sniffed in disdain and turned his head away as he muttered, "Still just a sodding Muggle."
"Okay, I've heard about enough. Who are you guys and what are you doing here in Metropolis?" Clark demanded.
"That is none of your concern, Mug…er, Alien," Draco said, and the condescension was practically dripping from his words.
Clark could sense Lex stiffening in anger beside him and knew he was about to return the Wizard's insult. He couldn't help but be a little touched that Lex Luthor was about to defend Clark Kent's honor. Before Lex could even open his mouth, however, there were two more sharp cracks in the clearing and all four of them turned to look at the new arrivals. Somehow, these newcomers didn't look nearly as friendly as Harry and Draco, and Clark thought that he might have figured out exactly who the 'good guys' were in this situation, despite Draco's snarky attitude.
"Shite! Draco, keep my wand. You know I don't need one," Harry shouted. The two Wizards who'd just arrived didn't waste any time in firing off hexes at Harry and Draco, as well as Lex and Clark, who just happened to be in the line of fire.
Before Clark could attempt to do anything to help, a quick gesture of Harry's hand had both him and Lex whisked to the edge of the path, ropes wrapped tightly around each of their bodies.
"What the fuck!?" Lex gasped as he struggled ineffectually against the bonds. Clark wasn't having much luck either and he couldn't help but wince as Lex glared at him. "Why aren't you breaking us loose? We don't have any secrets anymore, remember?" he said, still a tad sarcastically.
"Um, well…I told you the big thing, but there's a, uh, a lot of little details that we haven't had the chance to get to yet."
"Like what?" Lex asked through clenched teeth.
"Like the fact that I'm just a little bit vulnerable to magic," Clark mumbled.
"A little bit?" Lex asked, his brows shooting upwards in disbelief.
"Okay, more like a lot," Clark admitted. "Bottom line, I can't break these ropes any more than you can."
"Great. That's just great," Lex growled.
A sudden cry of pain yanked their attention back to the battle happening right in front of them. Clark was horrified to see Draco fallen to one knee, his arm clutching at his side, trickles of blood seeping through his fingers, his face a grimace of pain.
"Draco!" Harry shouted, diverting his attention dangerously away from the enemy to check on his partner.
"I may not be able to get loose, but I can still help," Clark muttered as he used his heat vision again to burn the wands of the two evil Wizards and then sent a quick burst of super breath at them, knocking them completely off their feet and slamming them into a nearby tree, where they fell into an unconscious heap.
Everyone stood frozen for a half a second, except for Draco, who began cursing colorfully and pressing harder on his side. Lex stared at Clark with wide, wondering eyes, making Clark feel just a little self-conscious. Was this going to be too much for his former friend to handle?
"That…was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!" Lex said. "I am so mad at you for not showing this to me before. I demand that you get out of those ropes and show me everything you can do. And I mean right now," Lex said, and Clark would have been offended if it hadn't been for the awestruck smile on his face.
"Well, I still can't do that," he said with a bashful grin.
Harry ignored both Clark and Lex and the Wizards they'd been battling and was hovering over Draco, nearly wringing his hands uselessly. Draco was still cursing up a storm, and had begun to cast numerous aspersions on Harry's manhood, his magic, and his very existence.
"Stop dithering like an old woman, Potter, and do something!" Draco snapped.
"You know I'm pants at healing spells! How far away is the Metropolis Wizarding community? Do they have an equivalent of St. Mungo's here? Is it safe to Apparate with you bleeding that much?"
"Um, excuse me? Do you think you could let us loose now?" Clark asked, interrupting Harry's rant.
"What? Oh, right. Sorry." Another flick of his hand and Clark and Lex were sitting there unencumbered, the ropes having disappeared back to wherever they'd appeared from in the first place.
"Let's get a look at that and see how bad it is," Lex said, moving to kneel beside Draco, across from Harry. Clark came and squatted down in front of him. Switching to x-ray vision, he scanned Draco's wound.
"It's not too deep. No major organs involved, but we really should try to stop that bleeding," Clark said. When no reply came to his diagnosis, he looked up to find all three of them looking at him curiously.
"And you would know that how?" Harry asked.
"Um, I can sort of…see through things," Clark mumbled, his face flushing in embarrassment.
"You'd better not be looking at my cock, you pervert," Draco said, his voice still managing to sound haughty despite his obvious pain.
"Clark would never do that," Lex snapped. As he turned to look at Clark, he raised one eyebrow at seeing Clark's blush deepen. "Would you?"
"Well, not on purpose…"
"You kinky bastard!" Draco crowed.
"Hey, it was just the one time when my x-ray vision first kicked in and I happened to be looking in the direction of the girls' locker room!"
Clark grew very confused as Lex's expression seemed to cool a bit, but he understood why when Lex bit out, "Get to see Lana naked then, did you?"
That was the moment that Clark realized that Lex was just as jealous of Lana as Clark was. And in the same way that Clark was! He was jealous because he wanted Clark, and he thought Clark still wanted Lana. Damn, he thought he'd made it pretty clear in Lex's office that he wasn't interested in Lana Lang anymore, but he supposed it would take a bit of repetition for it to sink in.
"I'm not interested in seeing Lana naked anymore," he said, with a deliberate look at Lex.
"Oh, my God, if you two are going to nauseate me with your pathetic attempts at flirting, do you think we could take care of this gaping wound in my side first," Draco snarled.
"It's not a gaping wound. It barely skimmed the surface, is all," Clark said irritably. "I can seal it up with my heat vision if you want me to. That should keep it until you can get to a hospital."
"Your what?!" all three of the others said at the same time.
"It's what I used to catch your stick on fire."
"My wand, thank you very much, and no, I would not like it if you set me on fire!"
"I can control the intensity of it, and I can use it to cauterize your wound. It'll keep it from getting infected until we get you to Metropolis General."
"I am not going to any Muggle hospital, Harry!" Draco shouted.
"Fine, fine, no Muggle hospitals, but I think we should let Clark close the wound. You are bleeding rather a lot, y'know," Harry said.
"But that will leave a scar," Draco whined.
"You get no sympathy from me on that one, Malfoy. At least the entire world won't be begging to see yours constantly," Harry snorted.
Draco didn't say anything else, although he did offer up a very impressive pout.
"Look at it this way; you can tell your Wizard friends that you were healed by an alien," Clark said.
Draco looked thoughtful at that, before slowly nodding his head. "That would certainly make the Weasel jealous, wouldn't it, Harry?"
"I thought the two of you were past all that," Harry said with a sigh.
"Oh, get real, Harry, the Weasel and the Ferret will never get past all that."
"Did you just call yourself-"
"If you tell him, I'll deny it!"
"So, do you want me to do this, or not?" Clark asked, choosing to ignore all the references he didn't understand in their conversation.
"Yes, all right, but if I catch on fire, Harry will Avada Kedavra your arse, won't you, Harry?"
"I have no idea what that means, but I assure you that I'm frightened out of my wits, really I am," Clark said dryly, also choosing to ignore the fact that Harry was nodding grimly while Draco was making the threat. "Hold very still." Once Harry had pulled Draco's robes and shirt open, Clark focused his gaze on the sharp line running across the man's side.
Draco whimpered and grabbed hold of Harry's hand. Clark could feel both Lex's and Harry's eyes on him as he prepared to close the cut. Draco had his eyes squeezed tightly shut. Clark concentrated and let loose the smallest heat vision burst that he could, slowly tracing the edges of the cut, cauterizing it and stopping the bleeding. Draco let loose a small moan, but didn't say anything, as he tried to keep his trembling to a minimum.
The whole process took less than a minute and then Clark was sitting back on his heels. "All done."
"Fuck, that hurts!" Draco screamed.
"But you're all right now, yeah?" Harry said softly, and Clark's eyes widened a bit when Harry's hand gently caressed the side of Draco's sweaty face.
"Yeah, I'll live, Scarhead, don't worry," Draco said, his smile a little weak.
"Good, because I will kill you if you ever scare me like that again!" Harry said.
"Hey, now, that's a bit of cauldron calling kettle black-"
His complaint was cut off as Harry leaned forward and kissed him sharply on the mouth, both his hands cradling Draco's head as the kiss went on and on. Draco didn't even attempt to resist, instead melting into the kiss like it was what he'd been waiting for all his life.
"Close your mouth, Clark. You can't tell me you didn't see that one coming a mile away," Lex said sardonically.
"I…um…no? What, you mean you did?"
"Absolutely. From the moment they popped in, the sexual tension between them was almost as sharp as it is with you and me," Lex said, grinning in evil satisfaction as Clark's blush swept over his face once again. Honestly, Clark was thinking perhaps he should just paint his face red and be done with it at this point.
After several minutes, Harry and Draco finally came up for air. Harry stole a couple more quick kisses, and Clark definitely heard him murmur 'I love you' once or twice. Eventually, after several more heated kisses, during which Clark began to feel more than a little bit uncomfortably aroused, Malfoy finally pushed Potter away from him gently.
"All right, all right, enough of your smothering, Potter. It's getting quite embarrassing, this inability to control yourself around me," Draco said, although Clark noted that there was a thread of affection running through his words and he never did let go of Harry's hand after he was helped to his feet.
"All right then, time to mop up your mess, Potter. I'll contact the American Council and let them know we have the Carrows in custody. They can arrange a special portkey to get them back to the UK," Draco said, speaking over Harry's squawks of 'My mess!? What the hell?' "And after that, we need to ream Davis' arse for not setting the wards properly."
"Wards?" Lex questioned.
Harry was stomping around over near the unconscious bodies of their foes, muttering something that sounded like 'poncy, stupid git' but Draco ignored him and straightened as though he were about to give a lecture. Clark decided to ignore the wince that occurred a moment later as it had obviously irritated his wound.
"Yes, as fascinating as it has been to meet a being from another world," he grinned wolfishly at Clark, "the two of you should never have been able to get to this area of the park. We were supposed to have wards set to turn curious Muggles away, so that no one would be in danger."
"Except us, of course," Harry called as he waved his hand and conjured up ropes to tightly tie the Carrows. "Maybe wards don't work against aliens," he suggested.
"These wards, are they some sort of physical barrier? Because I don't recall seeing anything blocking off this section of the park," Lex asked.
"Well, of course they're not physical, you pillock. What good would something visible do? Muggles would just try to get right past those. Merlin, I always knew Muggles were complete and utter morons, but honestly-" Draco sniped.
Harry quickly interrupted him as he could see both Clark and Lex growing irritated, and said, "The wards are magical. You can't see them, even we can't see them, but it causes Muggles to feel uncomfortable and usually makes them remember they left the iron on at home or something, so they don't venture into the area we're trying to keep them out of," he explained.
"Oh, listen to you, using words like 'venture', when everyone knows you barely passed your NEWTS," Draco sneered.
"Seriously, could you just shut the hell up? I'm really feeling the urge to use my heat vision on you again, and not in a nice way," Clark growled.
Draco made a noise that sounded suspiciously like an 'eeep' and leapt behind Harry. "Get him, Potter! He threatened me! You heard him!"
Harry uttered a long-suffering sigh, and turned around to face his partner. "Here, take my mobile, and go contact the American Council, please? And ask them to bring along some healing potions for you."
Draco harrumphed and snatched the mobile away from Harry, then stomped off in a pique.
"Bloody hell, it'll take forever to get him out of that snit," Harry muttered. He looked up at Clark and Lex and smiled apologetically. "Sorry, he tends to react that way to stressful situations. Usually afterwards, thank Merlin."
"The two of you seem, um, very different," Clark said hesitantly, not wanting to offend Harry.
"Opposites attracting isn't just folklore, Clark," Lex smirked. "I'm sure they're very compatible in all the ways that matter," he said, with a somewhat suggestive leer up and down Harry's admittedly very fit body.
"Oh, you can count on that one," Harry said and leered right back at him.
Clark couldn't help the little giggle that escaped him. It was quite rare to see someone who could hold their own with Lex Luthor, but Clark thought these two Wizards were more than up to the task. Lex shot him a quelling glare, and Clark tried to turn the giggle into a cough, only moderately successfully.
Lex smirked before returning his attention to Harry. "You say these wards make…Muggles, is that the term?" he continued once Harry had nodded in confirmation. "They make them uncomfortable? Because oddly enough, I didn't feel a thing, but Clark had a moment where he was frozen in place and blathering on about danger."
"I was not blathering!" Clark sputtered.
"Clark, I've known you for six years. Trust me, you blather," Lex said sardonically.
"So you didn't sense anything at all, Lex?" Harry asked curiously. "No shiver up your spine, or urgent need to go back home or anything?"
Clark was sulking, pretending to ignore the conversation, but he was still listening, very intrigued to know why these 'wards' had worked on him, but not on Lex.
Lex was shaking his head no at all of Harry's questions.
"But Clark did feel something," Harry stated.
"Yes, and it wasn't until I physically pulled him forward that he was able to continue on to this location."
"Strange. Very strange," Harry murmured to himself. He turned in a half-circle, gesturing with his hand and muttering more foreign-sounding words to himself. "Huh, the wards are in place. How very odd."
"Oh, for pity's sake, Potter! It's as bloody obvious as that obnoxious scar on your forehead what the answer is!" Draco said, rejoining the conversation.
"Really. Please do enlighten the rest of us then, Malfoy," Harry said sarcastically.
"Lex Luthor is an untrained Wizard, obviously. Or perhaps a strong squib, I wouldn't know for certain without testing him."
Clark, with all his personal phobias about labs and experiments, bristled strongly at the word testing. He placed himself in between Draco and Lex, using a touch of super speed to do so, and glared angrily at the blond.
"No one is doing any experiments on Lex!" The very thought of anyone hurting Lex in the manner that Clark had feared for himself so many times in the past made him literally see red. It was extremely difficult to tamp down his heat vision.
The other three stared at him in surprise. Draco was the first to recover, and he obviously didn't take to threats very well.
"Oh, piss off, you wanker. It's not as though we were planning to rip him open and stick our fingers inside his body cavity to see if he has a magic button inside or something-"
The images that Draco's sneering words were conjuring up was too much for Clark, who was still wrestling internally with his 'new' feelings for Lex, and maybe he hadn't realized just how much that old childhood fear was still with him. His whole body tensed and he could feel the burning in his eyes just begging to be released. He might have actually growled.
And then suddenly, a tender hand was curving around his jaw and a soft voice was whispering in his ear. "It's all right, Clark. That's not going to happen. I know you'd protect me and you'd never let that happen. I trust you. You need to calm down before you do something that I know you'll regret."
When the red haze eventually began to clear from his eyes, Clark found his breath coming in short, sharp pants. His head tilted unconsciously towards Lex's soothing touch, and he managed to close his eyes. Upon opening them again, Clark saw Harry and Draco now standing at a considerably further distance from him, and Harry had a definitively aggressive stance. Draco was slightly behind him, wand firmly in his hand. They were both eyeing Clark warily and a touch incredulously.
"Under control now?" Lex's voice pierced his consciousness.
Clark took one deep breath in and let it out slowly. He nodded, and then promptly ducked his head, embarrassed at his loss of control. Lex moved around until he was standing in front of Clark and put his hands on the sides of Clark's face, raising it until they were eye to eye.
"Hey, no guilt. I know you. You were only trying to protect me, which is an enormous turn-on, let me tell you," Lex said with a grin.
Clark couldn't help but return that grin, still a little self-consciously. Lex let the grin slide off his face a little and looked at Clark with a shrewd gleam in his eye.
"You really have a thing about experimenting on people, don't you?" he murmured quietly.
Everything in him was still screaming to deny, deny, deny; to not show any weakness in front of Lex Luthor. But Clark was done with all the hiding and the lying…and experimenting on people was definitely one subject that he and Lex needed to discuss, seeing as how Lex had been very guilty of it in the past couple of years.
He didn't want to do this with an audience, however.
"It was one of my greatest fears growing up, Lex. My parents always told me 'be careful, don't let anyone see you, we don't want you to be taken away from us'. They never said exactly what would happen if I was taken away, but my own imagination more than filled in the details. And can we talk about this later? More, you know, in private?" Clark said, gesturing with his chin towards Harry and Draco, who were still eyeing him warily.
Lex turned briefly to glance over his shoulder at the two Wizards, and then looked back at Clark. "Sure, we can talk about anything you want later," he said with a smile.
Clark hadn't seen that soft smile from Lex in so long. It reminded him of the early days of their friendship, when he would come bounding into the study at the mansion, and Lex would look up at him, a huge smile on his face, just for Clark.
At that moment, several more pops were heard, and Clark and Lex both tensed, recalling those noises right before the Wizards had suddenly appeared in the park. Harry and Draco didn't seem concerned though, and in fact, exchanged greetings with the newcomers, and Clark assumed these must be the American Council Wizards they'd been trying to contact. One of them handed a couple of glass vials to Draco and he opened each one and drank them down swiftly. He grimaced at the taste, but afterwards, he seemed able to move easier and without pain.
Clark was a little surprised to see how the new Wizards fumbled in front of Harry, one of them calling him 'Mr. Potter' and exclaiming what an honor it was to meet him, and could he sign an autograph for his niece, who was a huge fan?
"Yes, yes, yes, we know! Enchanted to meet you, thanks for offing the Dark Lord and all that shite. May we please get on with the prisoner transfer now?" Draco snapped.
Clark thought at first he sounded jealous, but then he noticed how uncomfortable Harry was with the attention. He watched as Draco managed to insert himself in between Potter and the admirer, giving Harry a little breathing room, and Draco's hand reached back to firmly grab hold of Harry's.
"Hey, who are those guys?" one of the American Wizards asked, pointing to Clark and Lex.
"Merlin, you are really on top of things, aren't you, Davis? Maybe we should have a talk with your superiors about your ward-setting abilities, as these two Muggles wandered in right before the fight with the Carrows. Or perhaps we should have a talk with your superiors about how you almost managed to ruin an investigation that was three months in the making! As it is, we're going to Obliviate the Muggles ourselves, as that will certainly be a task too large for your meager brain," Draco snarled.
Davis blustered, protesting that he'd set the wards correctly and, Clark could tell that he almost dared to say that it might have been the British Aurors' fault. That's when Clark realized that Harry Potter must be a really big deal in the Wizarding world, because he could practically see the man biting the words back. They were so agitated, that it only took a few more minutes and they, and the bound Carrows, were gone.
"Well, good riddance to bad rubbish, I say," Draco declared. "And thankfully, they took the Carrows, too," he added with a wicked grin in Harry's direction.
Harry heaved another put-upon sigh, and said, "You know I'm going to hear about this from Kingsley when we get back home. Not you…me. I always have to deal with Kingsley. Why is that?"
"Because we know he likes you better! And because you flash those big green eyes at him and keep our arses from getting fired, that's why. If that doesn't work, you can always invoke your mother's name. That'd be sure to smooth things over."
Harry glared, but it was a rather half-hearted glare. "One of these days, I'm going to finally get fed up with you, and I'm going to throw you out. What'll you do then, hmm?"
"Honestly, Potter, we both know you simply cannot survive without me," Draco said, with a haughty sniff.
"Unfortunately, that's too true," Harry said as he pulled Draco towards him to give him a quick kiss. When he pulled away, he smacked Draco hard on the rear end. "Doesn't mean I'll put up with your drama, though," he said over Draco's horrified shriek.
"While this is all completely fascinating, and I mean that, I really do," Lex broke in, the sarcasm in his voice very sharp, "I'd really like to find out more about your theory on why I could pass the wards and Clark couldn't."
"Right. Well, actually, Clark here saved us quite a bit of time," Harry said. "We'd been allowed an entire week to track and capture the Carrows, and we did it in only two days, so now we don't have to be back in England for a few days. Is there somewhere around here where we can talk?"
"My penthouse is right across the street, but your clothes…" Lex said, with a raised eyebrow.
"No problem there," Draco said, and with a wave of his wand, both he and Harry were wearing jeans and button-up shirts.
"That would be such a useful tool to have," Lex murmured to himself as the four of them began to walk towards the entrance to the park.
"You never know, Luthor, you might be using a wand yourself sooner than you think," Draco said, sending a smug grin in Lex's direction.
"Do you really think that Lex might be a Wizard?" Clark asked, not sure how he felt about that. Magic was really not one of his favorite things, but it was Lex…and Clark was determined not to give up on Lex again as he'd done in the past.
"We'll discuss it when we get to our destination. There are secrecy statutes we're currently breaking, y'know," Harry interrupted before Draco could say anything else.
"Oh, Clark has no trouble at all with secrets, do you, Clark?" Lex said with a smirk.
"Can we not get into this now?" Clark said with a sigh. It was obvious he was going to have to do a little work to gain Lex's forgiveness for some things.
"I'm sure we'll be getting into all kinds of things later. I guess we can put it off for now," Lex said, as he smirked and looked Clark up and down in an extremely insolent, and yet still very hot, manner.
Clark flushed and gave a nervous little cough, carefully keeping his eyes straight ahead as they walked back out the entrance to the park.
"Gosh, doesn't this bring back many happy memories of our early relationship, Potter?" Draco said from behind them, false sympathy just oozing from his tone. "The threats, the sniping, the absolutely thick-enough-to-cut sexual tension. The only thing missing is all the hexes thrown and the fights we got into."
Both Clark and Lex turned around to glare, but in Clark's case there was clearly a blush once again suffusing his face.
"Oh, you have gotten physical then, hmm?" Draco said, sounding delighted at their discomfort. "Funny, I would have thought the alien would have been able to beat you quite handily, Luthor."
"Do you mind?!" Clark hissed. "There's a reason that it's a secret, and there's a reason Lex and I have been fighting about it for years. It would be extremely dangerous if anyone else found out," he said angrily.
"Can we just agree, all of us, not to say anything else until we're behind closed doors?" Harry said, sounding exasperated.
"Talk to your partner. He's the one running his mouth," Clark fumed.
"I beg your pardon!?" Draco said.
"Draco, let it go," Harry snarled, and to Clark's surprise the blond Wizard didn't say anything further. He was sulking for all he was worth, but at least he was silent.
TBC