Meeting in a
Different Place.
This was originally going to be part of another story I'm working on, but when I realized that the scene was all wrong for the story I still couldn't bring myself to get rid of it completely.
It was a slow night. Lex had made the mistake of agreeing when Michael had wanted to drag him here, and now he was paying the price with sheer, unadulterated boredom. He'd hoped that Michael, at least, would provide some entertainment, but Michael was currently on the dance floor, getting very up close and personal with someone a lot younger and prettier than Lex.
Lex sighed and down the rest of his drink, motioning for the bartender to bring him another. Might as well get drunk, if nothing else. It was a Friday night, so at least he wouldn't have to worry about going into the office the next morning. LexCorp was a new creation, and needed to be nursed carefully through its first few stages of development. Lex couldn't afford to be anything less than at his best during the work week.
During the weekend, however… That was another matter entirely.
Besides, he hadn't had a chance to celebrate his new-found independence from his father's grasp. His father had thought he'd brought Lex to heel when he'd sent Lex out to Smallville, but Lex had escaped the town in less than a week and had spent the next two years building up the foundations of what would eventually break away from LutherCorp and become LexCorp.
Maybe he should find a partner, as Michael had so obviously done. Lex watched his friend, his very high and inebriated friend, as he ground back against his partner. The boy's face was hidden in shadow, but Lex decided that the contrast of Michael's fair hair and skin against the taller boy's dark hair and tanned skin, of which there was a lot to see, was pleasant.
Or maybe he'd save his own personal brand of celebration for later, and just amuse himself with Michael and his newest toy. Michael was three years younger than him, the son of Lex's current business partner, and finally breaking out of his shell. Lex was more than happy to lend a hand with the kid's explorations, especially if they consisted of boys as pretty as the one he was…
Oh, shit. He knew that face. He'd seen once before, when he'd coughed water out of his lungs and then looked up. Dark eyes, worried smile, and the sun behind him, glinting off wet hair and skin and causing him to almost glow in Lex's dazzled eyes. He'd sent him a truck, which the kid had reluctantly returned, and Lex had thought about pursuing him, but he'd seemed the quintessential middle-American straight boy, and Lex hadn't planned to stay.
Clark Kent didn't look straight or even much like a boy now, Lex thought. He'd grown taller, broader, and had much more presence than before. He was also dressed miles away from Kansas farmboy flannels, wearing a pair of well-fitted and obviously well-worn leather trousers and a sleeveless black shirt that was cut high to show off his midriff. His hair was styled, black eyeliner surrounded his eyes, and there was a dusted golden shimmer on his skin.
Not a straight boy at all.
At that moment, Michael disengaged from Clark's grip and dragged the other boy over to the bar where Lex was sitting. Clark let himself be dragged, but something in his manner suggested that neither Michael nor the team of burly bouncers standing by the front entrance could have forced him to move if it was against his will.
"Lex!" Michael said, his voice happy and high and loose. He might have even been giggling. "Lex, look what I found! His name's Kal."
"Really," Lex said. He gave Clark (Kal) a long once-over, and ignored the tingle when Clark returned the favor. "I wonder where's he from. Born under a cabbage leaf, perhaps?"
Michael giggled again, and Clark- shit, he couldn't think of this person as Clark, so Kal it was- smirked. "Nothing so… ordinary," Kal said, and Lex arched an eyebrow at him, Michael all but forgotten now.
"Is that so," he said. Clark had pretended, in the space of their two brief meetings, that there was nothing different about him. Kal was obviously not making the effort to hide.
"It is," Kal said. He turned his head slightly to glance at Michael, and for a second Lex could have sworn that he saw red glint in his eyes, but it had to have been a trick of the light. "Your friend seems a bit…"
"Trashed?" Lex supplied. Kal turned those glinting eyes on him.
"Good word," he said. "Yeah. You take kids out to play often?"
"He's older than you are," Lex pointed out. Kal just smirked again.
"Technically, yes," Kal said. "But I haven't been as young as this kid for a damn long time."
"Seemed pretty young when I met you," Lex said, knowing that he was taking a risk but not caring. Risk was his lifeblood- the only high his overactive metabolism couldn't ruin.
Kal's expression didn't change. "You didn't meet me," he said, confidently. "Trust me on that- you don't have the first clue as to what I am."
"Interesting choice of words," Lex said.
"You have no idea," Kal returned, and the way he said it… It sounded like he was promising something very different than what they were talking about. Not that Lex minded, either way.
Michael made some small noise in the back of his throat, drawing their attention back to him. He was swaying on his feet, and Lex sighed. As much as he would love to find out exactly what Kal was promising with his bedroom eyes and crafty smile, he had to get his friend home. Priorities were a bitch sometimes.
"I've got to get him out of here," Lex said, and he let his regret show in his voice. "Maybe I'll see you some other time."
"Or maybe I'll walk you out," Kal said, and Lex drew his breath in sharply. That was a very definite promise right there, and there was no doubt this time as to what he was promising. Lex had no complaints. None at all.
"My driver is waiting by the back entrance," he said, and then watched with extreme interest as Kal slung one arm around Michael's waist and literally lifted him off the floor. To the casual observer it looked like Kal was just holding him up, but Lex was able to see that Michael's feet had left the floor, and Kal was supporting one hundred and eighty pounds of near-unconscious boy with one arm and no apparent effort at all.
They made their way quickly through the crowd, and once the door closed quietly behind them Kal swung Michael up into both arms. He carried the smaller boy with an ease that was absolutely unsurprising, considering his much more impressive feat in the club, and headed towards Lex's long black limo when Lex pointed at it, mute.
The driver didn't look surprised to see Michael all but unconscious in the arms of a stranger, nor did his expression change any when Kal set the kid gently down on one of the seats and promptly crawled in after him. Lex watched him for a second, then gave a philosophical shrug and followed him.
The moment the door clicked shut after them, Kal was on him, unbuttoning his shirt with clever fingers that moved far too fast to be human, placing sucking kisses on his throat and scraping sharp white teeth over his collarbone. Lex, after a brief moment of consideration, just shrugged and went with it, sliding one hand into Kal's thick dark hair and placing the other on the small of his back. Kal's skin was hot, hotter than any human's could ever be, and damp with sweat under Lex's palm. Lex wondered if he had a higher metabolism to account for the extra heat before Kal's teeth closing over his nipple shorted out any higher brain functions.
Unfortunately, the drive to the hotel where Michael was staying was extremely short, despite the care Lex's well-trained driver was taking to make it last as long as possible. Lex disengaged himself reluctantly from Kal, who'd been engaged in sucking up tiny bruises on the taught skin over his abs, and buttoned up his shirt so that he could take Michael up to his rooms.
"I'll get him," Kal said, and slid across the seat in a liquid movement before picking up Michael for a second time. Lex's driver said nothing about the apparent ease with which Kal was carrying him, and Lex decided, not for the first time, to give the man a raise.
It was a short rise up to the penthouse suite, and Kal supported Michael with one arm while fishing his key card out with the other. Lex didn't ask how Kal had managed to go unerringly to the pocket with the key card in it, even though the kid's clothing had to have at least fifteen different pockets.
They deposited Michael on the bed, and Lex penned him a quick note telling him to call Lex when he felt human again. Then they were out of the room, and riding down in the elevator with nothing between them but air. Lex was half-tempted to see if he could get in a kiss or maybe even a quick grope, but the elevator was fast enough that by the time he'd finished considering it, they were at garage level and Lex's driver was waiting.
Kal hauled him into the limo, and Lex thought that it was going to be a hell of a ride.