It Starts With Chapter 1, a smallville fanfic

It Starts With

When Lex learns Clark's secret, they decide to be honest with each other and work together. But being honest and open is not something Lex was raised to be, and Clark isn't used to getting help when problems arise. If they can work it out together, they really could be the stuff of legends.

DU after 1x12 Leech.

…

I made the executive decision to ignore the manuscript from Run entirely, including any connection Lana and Jason have to it, because ugh, continuity and complexity issues. For specific episodes referenced in this fic, as well as further author's notes, see the end notes.

…

It started with this.

"I think I hit you at 60 miles an hour. Then you ripped open my roof, pulled me out, and saved my life."

Clark had always repeated his story the exact same way. He dove in after the car and pulled Lex out. He dove in after the car and pulled Lex out. He dove in after. It was so exactly the same that either it was a practiced lie, or the truth. After what Roger Nixon had found, after looking at all the collected evidence, Lex was certain it was the former.

"You're the closest I've had to a real friend my whole life," Lex pleaded softly. "You don't have to hide anything from me."

Across from him, Clark's face showed sorrow, a hint of guilt, and trepidation. "Lex."

"I understand the secrecy," Lex continued. "I think I've encountered more than the average amount of Smallville's weird factor in my time here. I know how the people here react to that sort of thing. But Clark," he pressed, doing his best to appear earnest and accepting. "I wouldn't think any differently of you. You're still my friend."

It started with Clark's shoulders drooping, with his eyes falling to the ground under the mended fence beside them, with a war on his face that was as much an answer as any words. It started with him lifting his gaze to Lex, capitulation meeting desperation across the distance between their eyes.

It started with honesty.

"You did."

Honesty so fragile it almost broke in the cool air between them. Lex could hardly breathe.

"You're right," Clark said, marginally louder. "I didn't jump in. You hit me." And then he seemed to pull away without taking a step, to grow smaller before Lex's eyes. "But I…That's not me…anymore."

It started there, in the dark, lit only by the moon and the lamp hung on the fence where Clark was mending it. It started right then.

…

The only reason Clark had been willing to tell Lex anything had been because he no longer possessed the amazing gifts that had enabled him to survive the literal collision of their destinies meeting. A meteor rock and a lightning storm had transferred his powers to a classmate, who proceeded to run amok with them, showing none of the restraint Clark had.

Though Lex offered to help stop the boy, Clark had insisted he needed to face Eric Summers alone. Once it was over, he zipped into the dark mansion like a bolt of lightning, gave a wild grin at Lex's startled jump, and asked if there was anything Lex could do to repair the power station they'd blown getting Clark's powers back.

Heart still rabbiting in his chest, Lex agreed, though he groused, "You're lucky I was holding a flashlight and not a candle, or we'd be seeing how fireproof you are."

Clark shook his head, grin still glowing in the beam of Lex's flashlight. "Already figured that one out. I come out of it fine. My clothes? Not so much."

…

The meteor rocks were a problem. That was obvious rather quickly. It was an easy enough fix for Lex, though. He was already researching their effects on people. He simply shifted the focus: collect as much meteor rock as possible and store it as far from Smallville and his father as he could. It would take time, both because he didn't want to cause any suspicion with a sudden vested interest in its removal and since there was no tech specifically made for finding the rocks, but Lex was dedicated and patient. He didn't even tell Clark he was doing it.

Honesty was always a battle. When was it alright to hide things? When was it unforgiveable?

People using the meteor rocks were the best source for finding the things, but their effects on Clark were less than desirable. Topical use – like in tattoos, creams, or dust – had an obvious and detrimental effect on Clark's ability to do…well, anything. People who gained extraordinary gifts due to the rocks – like controlling bees, sucking life force, or telekinesis – didn't appear to have any effect at all, though. Clark tended to face these sorts of meteor affected criminals on his own.

"So instead of coming to me, you just faced him alone. Here in the barn."

It was strange to see Clark looking so uncomfortable in his own loft. Lex would've preferred any discomfort to happen in the mansion, where such feelings were common, rather than in Clark's place of solace. But, with his father making ever more frequent trips to Smallville to pry into Lex's life, and with even a vague idea that there might be surveillance at the mansion, this was the safer bet.

"He was going to hurt Chloe," Clark defended, but it was meek at best. Pathetic at worst.

"And she ended up in Smallville Medical with a sprained ankle and a concussion, your family lost a perfectly good chainsaw, and you had to deal with the authorities coming to take Mr. Gaines to an institution," Lex persisted, hands in his pockets. "At least if you'd come to me for help, there would've been less clean up involved."

Despite the casual stance, Lex made no attempt to hide his disappointment and ire. He knew of Clark's invulnerability, of his speed, his strength, and seeing through walls. Hell, Clark had even told him of his one weakness: the meteor rocks. So why was it so difficult for him to trust Lex to help him with the meteor affected humans that cropped up every few weeks?

Clark's own indignation flared. "I don't know what you want from me, Lex! I can't just wait around while people are getting hurt. If there's something I can do, I'm gonna do it!"

"And I'm telling you," Lex shot back smoothly, knowing it would rile Clark to see how calm Lex was acting, "that there is something that I can do in these situations besides act as a convenient target." He rubbed the back of his head wryly before returning the hand to his pocket. "But you have to tell me about them. Before they become serial killers out for their next victim."

His answer was a frustrated huff and Clark turning to lay on the couch with his back to Lex. Sighing, so quietly it was nearly silent, Lex left.

Months. They'd had months of this. Back and forth, learning each other, what the other is and could be capable of. Any shadow of doubt cast by the Kent parents on Lex or his character had been eradicated with the light of the candid conversations between Lex and Clark in that time. Even when the events of Club Zero had come back to haunt Lex, he'd been – if not quick, then at least willing – to fill Clark in. And it was all in the name of learning to be a team. They had this secret together. They were friends.

So why was cooperating so hard?

…

Lying was a bump in the road toward a glorious, legendary future. It was a bump in the same way as an iceberg in still waters. They just had to make sure to only graze it and not capsize with the damage it caused.

Lex tried to keep his business matters apart from Clark, and then they would come back to bite him. Somehow, people dangerous to Clark or to Smallville kept getting mixed in and trying to shove a wedge between them and Lex.

Clark was slow to inform Lex of meteor related events or developments. Then Lex would read about it in Chloe's next article for the Torch. Clark wanted to protect Lex, since he tended to end up hurt whenever he happened to stumble late into the situation, while Lex argued that he wouldn't get hurt, and in fact less people in general would be hurt, if Clark just.

Trusted him.

And oh what a blade that was. The deepest cut with the least effort. Clark healed quickly, but the pain was still terrible with every blow. And Lex tallied up the darkness and cruelty within himself like marks on a prison wall at every strike.

…

Ordering a large bouquet of flowers from Martha Kent's absurdly ethereal garden was not unusual. It was unusual for such a bouquet to show up without placing an order, though.

"These are the kind you always order for around the mansion, so I figured they were your favorite," Clark explained, the yellow flowers crowding papers on the coffee table.

"Does your mom know you emptied her flower bed?" Lex was, frankly, astonished at the sheer size of the bouquet. He did like that flower though, and with so many together they looked beautiful and yet wild.

A flush across tan cheeks, shoulders hunched in to make himself look smaller. Because he felt smaller.

"I'm sorry, Lex."

Sigh. Stand up. Physical contact wasn't Lex's favorite thing, unless it was something much more passionate than gripping someone's shoulders in comfort. And really Clark was the only one he initiated or accepted casual touches from, but that was another secret.

"You don't need to apologize, Clark. I was just as in the wrong as you were." He leaned in to ensure he had Clark's eyes on him. "We'll simply do better from here on. We'll discuss our options and come up with plans."

A small smile graced full lips. "Are we taking over the world?"

A grin matched on Lex. "Every day, Pinkie."

…

Lex hated tornados. Why did anyone live in a state where tornados could appear and destroy everything they loved in a matter of minutes? The destruction caused by the three tornados that night was almost immeasurable. It was like the meteor shower but created entirely by the Earth itself. And now Lex's father was prepping for surgery and Clark's was missing entirely.

"During the storm, my father was trapped beneath a column. If I hadn't pulled him out he would've died. Before I did…I hesitated."

Sometimes it felt like Clark was Lex's only moral compass. Lex never could face Clark when he lied, or when his internal darkness was on display. Every weakness, every failing. His father would point them out, ridicule him, exploit them. But Clark, honest Clark, super human Clark. Lex didn't want to know what Clark would do with Lex's darkness. Didn't want to let it corrode what they had until it became unrecognizable and shattered at his feet.

"I was thinking that maybe my life would be better off if I just left him to die." His life. Clark's life. All their secrets, all that danger, buried with Lex's father in a mansion that functioned more like a prison.

"You saved him. That's the important part," Clark assured him, always ready to see the good in people.

"No. My father won't see it that way. Forgiveness is not in his emotional lexicon," Lex told him, meeting Clark's eyes again. "If anything, he'll probably see my saving him as a sign of weakness."

Despite the tragedy looming over his own family, Clark spared the effort to give Lex a look a complete trust and pride. "You're not weak, Lex. Your dad's wrong about that. You're one of the strongest people I know." He even smiled. "And I know a thing or two about strength."

Lex managed a brief, answering grin, but couldn't maintain it. His father had walked into the mansion while Lex was looking for the piece of Clark's spaceship he kept locked in his office for safe keeping. It was missing. If his father had it, if his father had any idea what it was, what Clark was-

"What are you gonna do?"

He had to find out what his father knew. He had to keep his father away from the Kents. He had to make sure that every scrap of evidence he had about who and what Clark was ended up in the incinerator. He had to tell Clark the disc was missing.

"Help my friend find his dad."

Only hours later, Clark's father was found alive and Roger Nixon was dead. Lex had never killed a man before, but he knew the kind of thoughts in his own head. With his father's cutting words at the hospital, his own injuries, Clark's anger about the disc, his own anger at Nixon, and the fact that Nixon was about to kill Clark's father? Pulling the trigger was as easy as signing his name.

And irony smelled like the air after a storm. After trying tirelessly to win Jonathan Kent's approval by showing himself to be a good man and a good friend, even as he doubted his own sincerity, he'd gained a sliver of his desires by killing a man right in front of Mr. Kent's eyes. Light gained from darkness. Lex would take what he could get.

…

It seemed even meteor affected people took vacation, as no strange attacks or disappearances happened that summer. Then again, the destruction caused by the tornados might have just scared them as much as it had the unaffected townspeople, and they were rebuilding their lives right alongside everyone else in Smallville. Either way, Lex and Clark had a free summer to spend testing Clark's limits and building their friendship. Whenever Clark wasn't with his own family or other friends, and when Lex wasn't doing work for his now blind father or at the plant, that was.

And then, near the end of the summer, while away for a business conference, Lex fell in love.

Her name was Desiree and she was everything. Everything. Everything. She was beautiful and intelligent and perfect. She always said the right thing. A single kiss could make Lex forget about anything and anyone else in the world. She was his world.

Of course she only wanted his money. Of course she tried to have him killed. Of course.

The only real irony would be that the man she used in the attempted murder was his best friend's father, with a shotgun. But, as usual, Clark himself appeared in the nick of time to save the day. Smallville's own personal superhero.

…

"You really loved her, didn't you?"

Lex didn't know what love was. He'd thought he loved people in the past. He'd fought for them, hurt others for them, even cut them out of his life to protect them. And now he'd married a woman who tried to kill him only hours later. How had he missed it?

"I let my passion get the best of me. I won't make that mistake again."

Standing by the hammock in the loft, Clark shook his head. "Lex, it wasn't-Being passionate had nothing to do with it," Clark said, a strange hint of desperation in his voice that made Lex turn his gaze away from the stars to his friend. All it took was a confused narrowing of eyes for Clark to explain, though he looked supremely uncomfortable doing it. "Desiree, she…The meteor rocks gave her some kind of…pheromone powers? She was manipulating you, or your….uh…pheromones."

She'd appeared at that conference this summer claiming she was there to save him. And with one kiss he'd believed her. He'd given in to her every desire. For weeks, he'd felt he was turning his back on everything he believed in, on his friends, his businesses, his dreams, even himself. And he hadn't cared until it was almost too late. All because of a lie.

More importantly, a lie that wasn't his fault.

"Lex?"

A numb shake of his head. "I'll have to be more cautious with who I kiss in the future, then," he said in a breath, unable to fully meet Clark's eyes. How often did he find himself looking away? When would he stop feeling like he had to hide parts of himself? Clark was the closest friend he'd ever had. If he couldn't be honest now, when could he ever be? "Maybe I'll take a page out of your book."

Clark looked amused that Lex would follow his example rather than the other way around, but also confused. "How do you mean?"

"Lana," Lex clarified, and Clark shifted uncomfortably, the way he always did when they discussed his love life. "Even with the quarterback out of the way, you're waiting. You're learning about her before jumping in, even with all of my pushing to get you two together." He sighed. "You'll never have to wonder if she secretly wants you dead."

Now Clark sighed. "I don't know. I'm hiding my powers from her. Maybe when she figures it out, she will want to kill me."

Grinning, Lex placed a hand on Clark's shoulder. "Then don't wait for her to find out. If you're really serious about her, and you want her to be serious about you, tell her the truth." Clark still looked unsure, and Lex remembered that it had taken Clark losing his powers, for what they'd all thought was forever, for him to admit the truth to Lex. He returned his hands to his pockets. "But what do I know? I'm divorced."

Somehow, earning Clark's little smiles felt better than earning his next million.

…

Pete learned Clark's secret soon after that. Apparently it was a choice between revealing himself to Pete or Pete revealing him to the whole world, so it fit with Clark's usual hesitance regarding his powers. And then Dr. Hamilton had the spaceship – a spaceship Lex still hadn't been allowed to see – and Pete. Lex only arrived in time to help clean up the mess, including Hamilton's body, ravaged by meteor rock poisoning.

It was possible, now that someone else knew about Clark, that he would pull away from Lex. Lex even prepared for it. Some part of him wanted it, given his father's new fascination with alien life after losing his eyesight. But Clark continued to call him, and even sometimes to come over. They still met at the loft, at the Talon, and around town. He told Lex that Pete was upset that a Luthor knew the secret before he did, but overtime he grew used to it and seemed pleased to be in on Clark's secret, even if he wasn't the first to learn it.

Clark just hoped all his friends took his secret that well.

"Anyone who's worth it won't let it change how they see you, Clark," Lex told him. "Trust me on that."

…

When the doors to the study opened, Lex let out a quiet sigh but didn't turn around.

"Well I came here to shoot some pool, but apparently this establishment's been closed."

After hours of tedium dealing with guilt over not saving his father's eyes and renovations to the mansion's rooms and subtle, cutting remarks about Lex's character and faults – all courtesy of his father – the sound of Clark's voice was like a cooling balm on burned, sensitive skin.

"My father's presence has required certain sacrifices," Lex answered diplomatically.

If he was too open about his problems with his father, someone unwanted might hear. As the one who'd ordered the operation that lost his father his eyes following the tornados, Lex also felt obligated to give his father some concessions. Not to mention he'd disappoint Clark, whose adoptive parents – and probably his birth parents – loved and cared for him very much.

Thus he was surprised to hear a brash, "Why don't you throw him out?"

Letting out a surprised huff, Lex turned, saying, "Clark, it's not like the thought hasn't occurred to me but-"

Clark. In black slacks, a tight black shirt, and a farcically expensive black trench coat, standing in front of Lex Luthor's unlit fireplace.

And oh. There was another secret to hide between them. Lex seemed to be storing up quite a few of them lately.

"….his blindness changes the situation," he belatedly tacked on, distracted.

Clark frowned and walked closer. "Just because your father has a problem doesn't mean he needs to ruin your life."

"I wasn't aware a two thousand dollar coat came with a backbone," Lex all but purred when Clark was by his side. "What's going on?"

Clark was acting strange. More assertive. It was attractive, for sure, but out of character. Later, Lex would realize exactly how out of character Clark was becoming, when Clark returned to the mansion dressed to the nines in a dark suit Lex knew the Kents couldn't afford, said he'd run away from home, and laid out a plan to all but take over the entire city of Metropolis, and then the world. With Lex at his side.

"Clark Kent and Lex Luthor," Clark recited, as if reading a marquee or newspaper title. He smirked, and it was as devilish as anything Lex's father had ever worn. "I like the sound of that." His voice promised many things, none of them what good boys should do.

As it was, Lex thanked his lying upbringing for getting him out and away without Clark catching on to his subterfuge.

"Excuse me, Mr. Kent," he announced himself as soon as he stood in the barn of Kent Farms, opposite Jonathan Kent and Pete Ross.

"Now isn't a good time, Lex," Jonathan said after sending Pete away, and Lex was reminded that Clark's family knew that Pete knew the secret, but not him.

"No. It isn't. I hear you're having family problems."

Jonathan looked like nothing pained him more than being forced to be cordial with a Luthor. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I'd prefer it if you stayed out of my family's problems."

"Believe me, I don't want to come between your family. I know how important you are to Clark, and he's my friend," Lex assured him. "But right now, your son is hiding out at the mansion, laying out his plans to take over Metropolis with his gifts."

He left that meeting with a bruised jaw and clothes in serious need of washing, but also with Jonathan agreeing to Lex's help dealing with Clark. Mr. Kent wouldn't explain things to Lex, not really, but he did come back to the manor with Lex. He brought a big mallet with him too, and Lex wondered if he planned on hitting Clark with it.

Clark wasn't at the mansion when they got there. Lex made some calls and found out where Clark's newly acquired love interest was staying. "Before he started planning how we'd take over the world together, he said he was running away with a girl named Jessie."

Jonathan outright refused to let Lex come along and find Clark in person. "I'm still not entirely sure you're not trying to trick me and my family so you can hurt Clark."

"Mr. Kent," Lex began, but Jonathan held up his hand.

When Jonathan left to locate the house Lex had directed him to, it was with the assurance that he would come back to Lex for help if, and only if, his plan to stop Clark didn't work. This was family business.

"Even if you do know Clark's secret," Jonathan half spat out, "you're not one of us."

…

Hours later, as Lex ordered workers around to reset the castle back to the way it was before his father arrived, he realized that perhaps leaving Clark alone at the mansion for so long hadn't been a good idea. Especially not with whatever it was that was wrong with him. That had left him in close proximity to Lex's father, unattended.

"Perhaps you finally learned the value of directness from your friend, Clark Kent."

If his father went after Clark-

"He's a very interesting young man."

There were many things Lex was capable of. He could pay people off. He could blackmail them. He could buy their life and play with it as he wished. He could even, if it suited him, order them killed. But he'd never been able to defeat his father. Small battles, like the order to layoff his workers, he could win, but the war?

Work was done around Lex, but he got none done himself. He ran plan after plan through his head on how to turn his father's attention from small town farmers to other avenues, but the best he could come to was leaving. If Lex left and returned to Metropolis, the prodigal son, then his father would have no reason to be in Smallville, no reason to be near Clark at all.

His phone rang. "Lex Luthor."

"Hey, Lex."

Relaxing his pose, Lex let out a heavy breath.

"Look, I wanted to apologize. Today was…or, the last few days really…Honestly I don't remember much of it."

Frowning, Lex considered what could've been wrong to cause memory loss. The meteor rocks made Clark weak, not amnesiac. "Do you need a doctor? I could ensure they wouldn't sell what they know."

"No! No. I don't-It was my ring."

There were different kinds of meteor rock. Green made Clark weak and vulnerable, and Lex was already mining tons of the mineral from the fields, rivers, lakes, and forests of Smallville. And if he left, he would have to stop that work because it would catch his father's attention, but he couldn't stop that work because that would leave Clark at risk.

Red made Clark ambitious, reckless, and rude, according to what Clark had been told by his father, Pete, and what Lex himself had seen. That was upsetting, but since it apparently required prolonged physical contact, Lex figured finding and retrieving the red rocks could wait until he'd finished collecting the green. A rude Clark was better than a dead one.

"How upset were your parents that I know?" Lex asked at the end.

Silence.

"Let me guess," Lex continued blithely, leaning back. "They want you to stay away from me." Same song, different day.

Suddenly the idea of leaving for Metropolis and fulfilling the Kent's wishes was the last thing Lex ever wanted to do. He didn't want to leave.

"Actually, I think they want me to stick close to you," Clark revealed. Color Lex surprised. "Not because they trust you, though I wish they did, but…I think…It sounded like they wanted me to spy on you. See what you did with the information or something?"

Lex huffed. "Clark, trust me when I say that all I'll use it for is to protect you. I've told you before, haven't I?"

Amused, and yet serious, Clark dutifully repeated, "You'll do anything to protect your friends." The amusement faded. "Don't do anything dangerous. Please."

"Isn't there a saying about a pot and a kettle?"

…

It was another two months before Clark fell through the roof and broke through the wall of a cave and found the Kawatche ancestral legends about Naman, a powerful being from the stars with a grand destiny.

"The legend says Naman would fall to earth in a rain of fire."

Lex looked away from the stone walls. "Well that certainly would be an apt description of the meteor shower. You think this is about you?"

Clark nodded and pointed to another set of pictures. "Naman can shoot fire from his eyes, just like me."

"Clark, you can do a lot more than shoot fire from your eyes," Lex reminded him, eyes scanning the various images before them. "What else do they say?" Cave art had never been his favorite subject to study. Understanding them was a nebulous concept.

Standing close behind him, Clark directed his gaze toward an upper level. Lex held his breath. "I'm supposed to someday…save the whole world."

And Lex was meant to someday rule it, if his father had his way.

"As fascinating as this all is, I wouldn't put too much stock in old legends," Lex said, stepping away. Without looking, he knew Clark was confused. He ran his hand over the stone wall. "You can do a lot, Clark, but you can't see the future. Even if one of your ancestors did come here before, what are the chances they ended up in Smallville? And that anything they said about the future is true? Maybe they simply meant to come back with their family someday, but never made it."

"My powers appear over time. Maybe I'm just not old enough to see the future yet?" Clark posited.

Fingers falling into the octagonal depression in the wall, Lex shrugged. "Who knows. I think this hole could tell us something, if we had what went in it. Sadly, neither of us has possession of that disc, the key, anymore, do we, Clark?"

Lex had lost it during the tornados last spring and as far as he knew, it hadn't been seen since. He looked at Clark, who, sorrowfully, shook his head. No hesitation. A truth.

"If we want to know more, I suggest we find it, then."

…

It started with a cup of listening devices and cameras on his desk.

Clark found them for him. Hell, Lex hadn't known to begin looking for them. He'd simply complained about how his father always seemed to know what Lex was planning and Clark had swept the room, while Lex wasn't there, leaving a cup of equipment on the desk and a note about where each one was found. Lex appreciated the gesture, but the fact that the devices existed at all lit a flame of rage in his gut.

If his father thought planting bugs in the family mansion was fair game, then Lex would respond in kind.

Which meant that, naturally, Lex's plans for revenge ended up with his father and Clark's mother as hostages to a group of thugs intent on robbing the richest man in Metropolis, and willing to kill for it.

…

"He'll be there long before we are," Lex said as the helicopter took off, heading for LuthorCorp Plaza in Metropolis. Clark had taken off running before Jonathan and Lex had even begun to board.

Jonathan nodded. "He's probably already there." He sighed, looked out the window at the disappearing ground, back to Lex. Another breath, readying himself to speak with his own personal devil. "He gets into trouble a lot. And…because of…of what he is…who he is…There's not much anyone can do to stop him. We're always going to be a step behind him."

It was true that Clark was so strong that no one could physically force him to do anything, and he was so fast than no one could catch him if he saw them coming for even an instant. The way to get him was through manipulation, usually of the emotional variety, and sneak attacks that didn't look like attacks until you already had him snared.

But the way Jonathan worded his concerns could be used to describe Lionel Luthor as well. And anything relating Clark Kent to his father made Lex's skin crawl. It was fundamentally wrong. His father was the cause of most of Lex's pain, while Clark was the reason for most of his happiness and contentment. Despite their age difference, Clark and Lex were closer to equals than Lex and his father had ever seemed to be.

"Well, information is one of the oldest powers in the history of the world, and I make it my business to know more than everyone else. Having more money than everyone, except perhaps Wayne Industries, doesn't hurt either," Lex told him, doing his best to relax in his seat even as the knowledge that they were now several hundred feet off the ground made his muscles tense. "I think it's safe to assume I won't always be behind."

Across the helicopter, Jonathan's face went pale, then red with temper. If not for seatbelts, Lex would probably have another bruised jaw.

"Listen here, Luthor!" he shouted, "If you're playing some kind of sick game with my family-!"

"Mr. Kent," Lex interrupted, face and voice cold. "I'm currently flying you to Metropolis to do everything in my power, and your son's, to get your wife home safe and sound. Don't insult me with more insipid criticism. I think we've had our quota of those today."

Jonathan shut his mouth so hard Lex might've heard the clack were it not for the whirring of helicopter blades. Lex took what enjoyment he could from the captured expression on the farmer's face, but more than that, he wished they were far beyond this level of petty disagreements. Clark was his closest friend. Clark trusted him. So why wouldn't his father follow suit?

…

Maybe it ended like this.

Maybe it ended with Lex's mistakes. The men he'd hired were the cause of everyone's troubles, and he couldn't stop them himself. Clark had been the one to break inside, fight off the thugs, and save his mother and Lex's father, not Lex.

"You…You hired them? To steal meteor rocks from your dad?" Clark sounded aghast, like he'd been hurt and didn't know how it had gotten past his skin.

"No. I hired them to bug my father's offices, like he did mine. No one was supposed to be in the office on a Sunday. I called them off as soon as you told me. But they killed my guy and went rogue," Lex admitted. "I didn't even know he had meteor rocks in his office vault."

Though that was definitely something he'd be looking into. Why did his father have refined meteor rock in a lead safe in his office?

"My mom almost died!"

And so had Lex's father. "I'm sorry, Clark."

Pacing, pulling his hair, Clark demanded, "Why didn't you just ask me? If you got me in the building, I could've done it. I'm fast. I have x-ray vision! I could've done it! And no one would've gotten hurt!"

"No." His vehemence brought Clark up short. "That wasn't an option. I want you as far from my father as possible. I want you safe."

His father had his eye on Clark. His father was also collecting meteor rocks. He couldn't let Clark get too close, or his father. It could mean losing Clark forever. Then again, standing at the top of the loft stairs and looking at Clark, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, Lex thought perhaps he would lose him anyway.

"That's not enough, Lex."

Maybe it ended the way it began.

Maybe it ended with honesty.

…

Apology gifts only work if the person keeps them.

The smart watch, returned. The mp3 players, returned. The CDs, returned. The books, returned. The video games, returned. The car, returned. The clothes, returned. The cell phone, returned. The gifts for his parents, returned.

Everything Lex had sent over to the Kent farm found its way back to either Lex's garage or Lex's office desk, sometimes as fast as it took Lex to drive back to the mansion after dropping them off. There was never a note, never a meeting, never a phone call.

Clark was cutting him out, and oh if it didn't feel like he was taking Lex's heart straight from his chest with every step away.

…

It wasn't the first time he and Clark had spoken since the LuthorCorp Plaza hostage situation, but it was the first time they hadn't been arguing since then. Ethan Miller had shot his father, but Lionel Luthor would live and Sheriff Miller was off to jail. All that was left now was the clean up.

What would Lex do now, Clark wanted to know. LexCorp had been bought up by his father. His company was gone. And since his father was in no danger of actually dying, despite the gunshot wound keeping him in the hospital, Lex wasn't about to get it back anytime soon. Likely, he'd be going back to work for his father in LuthorCorp.

"It's hard to imagine working for a man who could enrage four people to the point that any one of them had motive to kill him."

"Even you."

When Lex let his gaze drift back to Clark, Clark looked up at him in that way he had, when this thing between them was getting shaky, and he tried to lighten the mood with a joke but wasn't sure if it had been the right thing to do. Usually it made Lex's lips turn up, amused by this subtle trait buried behind Clark's usual brazen personality. Now, it was tempered with the realization that this…This is what fixed Lex's mistake. His father nearly dying, again, and Clark's father almost gone forever on false murder charges. Solving a crime. Clark making a joke out of a previously very real accusation. Somehow it had brought their fighting to an end. All their arguing, bickering, and distrust during the past few days had worked itself out, all the pent up anger building up, exploding, and then cooling off again.

"You know that darkness you were talking about?" Lex asked.

The darkness required to kill someone, to frame a friend for the crime. It was something Lex wrestled with every day. It was why Lex had come up with an alias and disguised himself to hire a team to bug his father's office, because he knew that darkness laid within him, grabbing at every inch of Lex it could get. Clark nodded.

"I don't think we're born with it. I think people like my father find ways to bring it out," Lex told him, trying to be gentle.

As much as Lex loved Clark, he knew that the nuances of their conversations were usually lost on him. Not tonight. Not with the mood hanging around the Kent farm, and around them.

"You're not going to go evil, Lex," Clark assured him.

"Well, then at least one of us is sure about that," Lex joked, though his tone was too flat.

Clark's eyes narrowed and his lips pulled down. "I'm serious. And if you think you are…if you think your dad's…turning you or darkening you or whatever…I'll be sure to turn on a light."

It was already painfully clear to Lex that Clark was the light. "Well, for every lie my father tells me, you give me a truth, so I think I can believe that."

"Just don't lie to me again, okay?" Clark beseeched. "Don't hide things from me."

Lex looked into Clark's eyes for a long while. "I'll do my best." For now, that seemed to be enough for Clark. Lex wondered how long until it wasn't.

"And you're sure you don't want my help with your father?"

Sighing, Lex finally looked away. "No. I think I can handle it." Though the buyout of LexCorp by LuthorCorp last night certainly seemed to say otherwise. "I just…I can't have him getting any closer to you now than he already is. It's dangerous how much he already knows. So let me handle my father, and you handle yours, okay?" He turned back to Clark, who still looked skeptical. "I'll call you if I need a superhero, okay, Warrior Angel?"

That got a shocked, soft laugh. "Yeah, okay."

…

The first thing Lex did when he found his long lost brother was introduce him to Clark.

"I have someone I'd like you to meet. This is Lucas, my brother."

While Pete took the information at face value, accepted it, and challenged Lucas to a game of basketball within seconds, Clark looked struck dumb. When he met Lex's eyes, Lex gave his best 'Oops, my bad' smile and began to lead Clark away, to give them some privacy for the conversation he could see burning behind Clark's eyes.

"Didn't mean to drop a bombshell on you." Though there was no doubt it was amusing.

Clark shook his head. "I thought he was supposed to be…"He glanced at Pete and Lucas. "Well, uh…dead."

Lex gave a full body shrug and leaned on his car. "Ah, just buried by my father. I've been looking for him for several months."

Seeing his brother made Lex feel proud of all his hard work. Seeing him on the Kent farm was…well, it was odd. This place held a lot of secrets, and a lot of truths, for Clark and for himself. But it seemed better to see him here, where all the good in Lex's life lived, than in the mansion with his father.

"Why didn't you say something?"

It wasn't a question of Lex's loyalty or honesty, though if Lex said the wrong thing it could become that. "Because I wasn't sure what I was going to find," he said. For all he knew, Lucas really had died as a baby. Or perhaps Lucas was someone dangerous to Lex, or his father, or Clark, who Lex would never bring around for a family reunion.

Also, he didn't think Clark would appreciate him using a lost brother in a power game with his father. It wasn't something heroes did. But, well, Lex still wanted his father to pay for the listening devices and the refined meteor rocks and taking LexCorp away from Lex. Who cared that the man was blind, he was still a snake.

Clark shifted, hands in pockets, and didn't look at Lex or the boys playing ball by the barn. "Did you…I mean, does he know about…?"

"No," Lex interrupted. Their eyes met again. "That's not the kind of information I'd give out lightly."

He didn't blame Clark for the question. In Clark's situation, Lex would've done the same. Still Clark looked abashed.

"Sorry. It's just…He's your brother," he said.

Lex nodded. He understood. Family meant a lot to both of them. It was just a lot more complicated for Luthors than for Kents.

…

It shouldn't have surprised him when Lucas turned out to be working for his father. He'd planned on partnering with Lucas to steal LuthorCorp from his father and instead, his only surviving blood relatives banded together to strip Lex of everything he owned, down to his cufflinks and tie hooks.

Then it was swallowing his pride, as Jonathan Kent had done weeks previously, and asking someone who hated him for help. Standing on the Kent front porch, Lex took a deep breath.

"According to my father, I'm uh…no longer a Luthor. He's left me with nothing. Not even a place to live. So I uh…was wondering…if um…I could stay with you for awhile?" He started with the son but ended the question at the father. That was who he had to win over, after all.

Jonathan Kent accepted, with the stipulation that Lex help out around the farm. Lex hadn't done farm work since he was a child, and the efforts left him sore and tired. Clark offered to help, and when it was denied, showed off his speed by finishing up every chore possible in the barn in the time it took Lex to finish scooping hay. It was so amazing that Lex couldn't even be mad when Clark dropped hay on him, clean Thank God, from the loft.

"What? You gotta put down new hay to replace the old," he laughed. Lex huffed his own amusement and brushed the errant strands from his shoulders and head.

"Abusing your powers already?" Lex teased back. "You could be Devilicus yet."

Clark just grinned.

When Jonathan left for town, Clark snuck Lex into the storm cellar, and Lex beheld the spaceship for the first time. Undeniable proof that Clark was not of this world, that humanity was not alone in the universe. He ran his hands over the strange metal, marveling in this mythological thing he'd heard so much about, had even held part of before, but never glimpsed in person. It was stunning.

He kept all thoughts of running tests to himself. No Kent would let this leave the farm, not again, and he doubted they'd be comfortable letting him bring the tools and technology and specialists necessary into their storm cellar. It would draw too much attention. And it wasn't like Lex could do any of that anymore, regardless. He had no resources of his own. He had nothing. Nothing except an alien and his family, and his own mind.

…

He won back his millions, and his company, and proved his father was lying about being blind, but it would take time to win back the trust of his brother. Lucas knew Lex had only brought him in to help defeat his father, and while he'd eventually agreed to take Lionel down a notch, that kind of betrayal was hard to come back from.

Clark wasn't so sure Lex should even try. "He kidnapped you."

"We worked it out," Lex countered calmly.

"I couldn't tell he was lying in there," Clark continued. "I thought he was really going to shoot you, or your dad if your dad wouldn't shoot you for him. I mean, who comes up with a plan like that?"

Lex sighed. "Someone raised in a world where it's kill or be killed. Given the chance, I know Lucas can do better than what my father had planned for him."

Clark still wasn't a fan of Lucas, but he admitted that if Lex wanted to pursue a relationship with Lucas, it was Lex's call. Clark wouldn't stop him. He'd just keep an eye out for any more kidnapping attempts.

"Right now I don't think Lucas wants enough to do with me to even waste his time kidnapping me again."

"Give him time," Clark assured him. "You're pretty charismatic, and hard to ignore. He'll trust you again before you know it."

Lex wasn't so sure. He'd had some practice in honesty with Clark, but conversations between Luthors rarely ever went that smooth. Still, for the only brother he had, Lex would try.

…

About a week later, Lex found Clark lying unconscious in the Kawatche Caves. It wasn't unusual for them to go study the paintings, try to discern what the symbols on the walls meant, but for Clark to go all by himself without at least sending Lex a text? And then for him to be unconscious, at all, for any reason? It had Lex worried.

He took Clark home that day, while Clark was still dazed and twitchy from whatever had made him pass out. The following day, his behavior got even weirder. He became furtive, hiding papers he was writing on, jumping when someone approached him too quietly, quite literally running away from his own friends. Not just from Lex, but from Chloe and Lana too.

"Clark, what's going on?" Lex asked, when Clark tried to hurry out the door of the Talon.

Not looking at Lex, Clark rushed out, "Nothing. I'm fine. Everything's great I just gotta go." Then he easily pulled from Lex's grasp and vanished.

That same afternoon, Chloe posted an article on the Torch website of a strange symbol burned into the side of the Kent barn. It was definitely related to the symbols in the Kawatche caves, but when Lex tried calling the farm to ask Clark about it, Martha informed him that Clark wasn't in at the moment.

"I'm sure you've seen Chloe's article by now," she said with a sigh that was partly tired and partly amused. "A man named Dr. Swann emailed about the symbol. He proved he knew what it meant in English – hope. It means hope. So Clark went to meet him."

Lex couldn't believe what he was hearing. "He just went," he said, deadpan. "Of course."

"I'm sure he'll tell you what happened when he gets back," Martha assured him. "He hasn't even told us everything yet."

Frowning, Lex asked, "And what has he told you?"

She told him that she'd found the octagonal key but hidden it away. She told him that Clark found the key and took it to the cave, inserting it into the slot in the wall. Doing so had given Clark a working understand of the language written around the Kawatche paintings. It had been literally pouring out of Clark at every chance it got – on paper and on the side of the barn.

"That's all I know so far. You'll have to talk to Clark when he gets back from his meeting."

Lex thanked her and they hung up. He understood Clark's recent behavior now. Having all that information suddenly jammed into his brain must have made him panic. He probably hadn't understood what was happening to him at first. And then out comes Dr. Swann, offering him all the answers. No wonder Clark had jumped at the opportunity, without even telling Lex.

That didn't mean Lex was happy about it.

…

It was dark when Lex found Clark huddled on his couch, the picture of a child after a nightmare. Only bigger.

"I don't know who I am anymore, Lex."

He'd gone to visit Dr. Swann, the wealthy scientist intent on communicating with extraterrestrial life. He'd heard the message that came down from the stars with him as a baby.

"This is Kal-El of Krypton. Our infant son. Our last hope. Please protect him and deliver him from evil. We will be with you, Kal-El, for all the days of your life."

His meeting with Dr. Swann had explained things to Clark that he'd never known to ask. He was definitely an alien. He was from the planet Krypton. His planet was gone. No one knew why or how. He was all alone in the universe. The loneliest creature in existence.

This explained so much about Clark. They'd known he was probably an alien, but this was proof. It was also proof that the cave drawings were definitely about one of Clark's ancestors, and possibly about Clark himself. It gave Clark answers, and should've brought him a kind of bittersweet closure.

Then, he'd received another message. This one came from his birth father, through his spaceship. "On this third planet from this star, Sol, you will be a god among men. They are a flawed race. Rule them with strength, my son. That is where your greatness lies."

"My dad says I'm gonna be a force for good, but what if I'm not?" Bleak desperation colored every word "What if, like my powers, something in me develops over time and suddenly I'm not who I thought I'd be? What if I become a conqueror of worlds? What if I…what if I really do become Devilicus instead of Warrior Angel? What if I'm destined to be the villain?"

Lex stared into the unlit fireplace, his hands in his pockets. The idea of Clark as a villain was laughable, and yet. Lex had been raised by evil, Clark by good. Scientists and psychologists were always arguing about nature vs nurture. If nurture won out, Clark would always be the hero and Lex the villain. Until tonight, Lex would've bet good money that nature supported that eventuality as well.

Now they both knew their blood was tainted with darkness. And Lex spent every day worried about this same fear. What if he grew up to be a villain like his father? What if evil grew in him and someday consumed him?

"My father sent me to Smallville as a lesson so that someday I could take over his company," Lex mused to the empty grate. He felt, more than saw, Clark look at him. "He wants me to rule the world, the same as your father. But I think both of us have found people in Smallville to teach us a better way."

Clark had Lana, and Pete, and Chloe, not to mention his parents. Lex had Clark, and to a degree, the workers at the factory and LexCorp, which he'd wrestled back from his father with help from Lucas.

Lex turned and met Clark's eyes. "You don't have to follow the path your father wanted, Clark, even if he is your blood."

If there was one truth Lex knew, it was that Clark Kent was a good man. He stumbled, but he never fell.

Clark didn't look convinced. "You still work for your father, though, right?" Bitterness.

"Only until I can make LexCorp strong enough to beat him." He would never lose his company again. Lex was going to win in this game of Luthors once and for all.

"But you're still going to run a company that, I mean, basically runs the planet," Clark said, looking at the fireplace as Lex had, but with a forlorn, hopeless gaze. "You're still doing what your father wants for you."

That would not do at all. Sternly, Lex said, "The difference, Clark, is that I'll be doing it my own way. It won't be by his rules or to fulfill whatever twisted plans he has. It'll be my company. My way. My plans. Take my advice." Clark looked up at him and Lex managed a self assured air. "Follow your own path."

He moved and sat opposite Clark on the couch, turned to face Clark with one leg bent on the couch with him. He smiled at Clark's curious expression.

"You have a lot of gifts, and I know you're going to do amazing things. We both will. But you get to choose what amazing things you do. Not your father. Not Jonathan. You." It was more inspirational nonsense than Lex usually allowed to pass his lips, but they were necessary to maintain the balance, to keep Clark looking to the future with positivity, to protect his light.

After a long stretch of staring at each other, reading each other, and seeming to understand each other, Clark nodded. His eyes slipped down to the leather of the couch, then back up again, unsure. "Will you help me?"

And though Lex wasn't sure how long it would be before he, himself, slipped over to the dark side, he did his best to answer honestly.

"How could I say no to a hero?"

…

This was how it ended, when it should have just begun. This was what ended Lex.

Lex met, flirted with, and married a woman named Helen. She was a doctor, very good at her job, and had even helped to cure Clark of a kryptonite based illness that would've killed both him and his mother. She also had a pithy comeback to any smooth quips Lex could dish out, which was a definite bonus. So, after a few months of getting to know each other, via anger management classes, medical emergencies, and plain old fashioned courting, Lex proposed. Helen said yes.

Clark was supportive – far more so than he'd been with Lex's spontaneous marriage to Desiree almost a year ago – and agreed to once again be Lex's best man.

But most of what Lex remembered about getting married was disappointment when Clark wasn't actually there to celebrate it with him, then being uncharacteristically happy when Helen said 'I do,' and finally…falling to his death in the middle of a stormy sea.

The quirk of Fate's humor left much to be desired.

In those last moments, among questions about how he got there and where Helen was, Lex thought about how he'd been saved from the water once before, and how he had a hero for a friend. And didn't heroes always save the day in the end?

"Clark."

…

Things changed for Lex while he was stranded on some far off, terrible, apparently undocumented island, the summer abode of the gods of fire and torment.

For one, he realized while on that island that he missed his father, honestly more than he thought he would, and Helen, who was probably dead. But more often than not he dreamt of the Kent farm, the barn loft, the Kents, and of Clark, and he held close the compass Jonathan had given him as a wedding gift – A Kent Family Tradition – and prayed it would lead him back there at least one more time.

It became obvious that either Clark didn't know where he was to come save him, which was likely since Lex rarely even saw a plane fly over the island, or that Clark simply could not get there to save him, given that he never told Lex about any water related abilities, nor could he fly. Then, right when Lex thought he would truly go insane, he was rescued.

Lex returned to Kansas, bruised, burned, but unbroken. He faced his father. He faced Helen. He was glad to see them alive, but he felt no relief. It was like he was still battling his demons, still fighting for survival. He was surrounded by lies and drowning in them.

Then he met Clark on the farm, a farm that was up for sale. That look of shock, that tentative but growing smile, that almost-too-tight hug full of honest joy in Lex's presence…Life entered Lex's body and he felt all his taut muscles relax. He'd found his safe harbor. This was as much home as the mansion had become during his stay in Smallville. He wouldn't forget that. Ever.

Life as a Luthor was complicated. Love was immensely more so. Lex understood how to be a Luthor. He didn't understand love. How was it that he craved the care and affection of a man six years younger than him, had missed him and dreamt of him, more than the attention and devotion of the woman he'd married?

With Helen, Lex was a Luthor. They traded minor blows, more flirtatious than damaging. Like with his father, Lex had to do what amounted to mental gymnastics to know what was the truth and what was a lie. With Clark, they were open with each other. Clark spoke to him at face value. Conversations with Clark required less brain activity to navigate, but also caused less anxiety. And now, more than ever, Lex needed something to trust in. He'd always trusted his instincts, and they had him walking a tightrope with his wife and giving in to comfort with Clark. That meant something.

Lex dealt with Helen first, exposing how she'd tried to kill him with the plane crash and seeing her out of his life forever. Then he'd gone to his father to patch things up, to give being his son one more try. Last in a busy list was a trip to the bank to make an important purchase. With Helen gone and his father appeased and the farm bought, Lex only had one more thing to do.

It was a hope, a desire, that had burned in him for years now. The Kents were a family to be proud of. They were loyal and open with each other. Lex had dreamt of them while in isolation and now he asked for a huge favor. He gave them the deed to their farm, paid in full, and requested one thing in exchange.

"If it's not too presumptuous…," he said, hesitantly, standing in the Kent family foyer. "I hope you'd just consider me part of the family."

He knew Clark's beaming face, and Martha's gentle acceptance, but it was Jonathan's hug that sealed the deal.

"Clark trusted you with his secret," the elder Kent said. "I was wrong." It obviously cost him to admit that, but he didn't change his grateful, gentle demeanor. "You are…one of us. You are family."

"It's an honor, sir. Truly."

Clark took him up to the loft afterward. Haltingly, he told Lex about his months in Metropolis, after blowing up his own spaceship to stop the consciousness of his dead alien father from taking him away from his family on Earth. That threw Lex for a loop. Lex had been assumed dead and Clark's life had gotten infinitely more complicated.

"I made a huge mistake, blowing up the ship. I just didn't know what else to do. And then mom lost…lost the baby…and dad couldn't even look at me…and you weren't there because you'd gotten married and I'd missed the wedding and my….m-my father wanted me to leave anyway, he'd said staying would hurt people, and he was right, and I just…I couldn't handle it. I ran away."

Lex knew a thing or two about running away. He'd spent most of his youth running away in one form or another. His misspent teen years were no secret. Every paper in Metropolis, and probably as far away as Gotham, had a news story or two about it.

"I did things, Lex. In Metropolis. Things I'm not proud of."

He'd robbed ATMs and banks, stolen cars and clothes and anything he wanted, and drank enough alcohol to know it should've killed him but didn't affect him even slightly. He'd even accepted work from a crime lord: Morgan Edge. Clark had used people like toys, treated Chloe and Lana like they meant nothing to him. And he didn't care, not until he took off the ring. But every time he'd taken it off, his heart had broken all over again, in guilt and loneliness and shame.

The Fortress of Solitude was where Clark felt he could be himself. He was more honest up there than anywhere else on the planet. It was apparent that neither of them had made it through the summer intact.

Physical contact had never been something Lex was comfortable with, but being stripped of all contact with all people for so long on that island, he wasn't as adverse anymore. He'd hugged his father, and the thought still made him feel strange. He'd hugged Clark, and it had been like breathing again. Now he hugged Clark again.

"It's okay," he told the taller, yet younger, man. "Nobody's perfect. And you didn't do anything that couldn't be fixed, right?"

Clark gave a wet sounding laugh. "I'm not sure things with Chloe and Lana are ever gonna be the same."

Pulling away, Lex met Clark's eyes. "Give it time. I did just as much, if not worse, when I was a teenager, and I bounced back just fine."

"No offense, Lex, but you've told me I'm your only friend," Clark said, looking doubtful. "I'm not worried about me bouncing back. I'm worried about my friends, and how they might not want to be that anymore."

It was true. Lex couldn't give any advice about that. He tried, "You could always tell them the truth." But Clark just made a terse comment about Lex being the opposite track on a CD from his parents and changed the subject.

…

Then, thanks to an assassin targeting those with meteor-rock-based powers, Lex found out he was meteor affected too. He healed. Of all the gifts. The reason why no assailant had ever taken him down for long, why he hadn't died in the plane crash or on the island. He'd lost every hair on his body, but he would never get sick, and attempts on his life were less likely to leave permanent damage.

Well, of the physical kind at least.

Clark took the news in stride. "I realized that I tend to think of meteor affected people as bad from the start, but that's not right," he admitted. "They're just people, with gifts, like me. I mean, not like me, but sort of. They're still people, and you're still you. Nothing's changed."

Hearing those words meant more than Lex thought they would. Still, he told Clark he was going to research the meteor rocks – or as Clark had dubbed them, 'kryptonite' – again.

"I need to know why they affect different people in different ways, and whether or not insanity is a symptom of the changes, or something that predisposes someone to gaining abilities in the first place," Lex said, this time in his own office rather than the loft.

"Or if it has nothing to do with it at all," Clark insisted. "A lot of the people on Chloe's list are just normal people, Lex, living normal lives. No mysterious murders or disappearances at all. Not even a strangely worded threat." He smiled at his own teasing remark.

Leaning back in his office chair, Lex nodded. "True. But learning anything still requires scientific investigation."

That was when he told Clark about how he'd been collecting the rocks and storing them in secret locations. He'd checked upon his return from the island, but his father hadn't uncovered any of them in Lex's absence. Every solid ounce was still secure in his vaults. Clark wasn't happy with him, not even when Lex said that he hadn't promised to stop lying until long after he'd started the collection process. They didn't come to blows, physical or otherwise, but Clark was clearly irked by the secrecy. But also inordinately pleased by Lex's reason for collecting the rocks, for his consideration.

"Okay, okay, fine," Clark finally allowed, placing his hands on Lex's desk and leaning over it. "You can do your tests. On two conditions."

"Name them," Lex said calmly, also leaning in, and looking up at Clark's looming figure.

"You have to make sure no one else gets infected. I don't know how you'll do it and I don't really care, but you have to keep people safe."

Easy. If prolonged exposure caused mutations, he'd switch out the technicians and scientists every time they started a different sort of test. If contact caused mutations, everyone would wear protective clothing and eyewear. Hell, he'd have them working in hazmat suits if necessary. Lead blocked the rock's effects. He'd use that to cover the workers. In moderation, of course, as lead could be just as deadly to humans as the rocks, in the wrong situations. There was a reason the government took it out of paint, after all.

"Done," Lex agreed easily. "What else?"

"If someone does get infected, you have to get them medical help. Use whatever you learn about kryptonite to find a way to help them."

"Easy enough," Lex said. He'd run tests to check how and why the rocks effected people, and how to cure the symptoms, just in case. "Anything more?"

"Keep me in the loop." It sounded more like a plea than a demand. "I trust you. I do. But these…they hurt me. I have to know exactly what you're doing with them. I need to know."

Lex stood from his seat and they were so close they were practically breathing the same air. After several long moments where Lex enjoyed having his field of vision ensconced by Clark's green eyes, Lex stood up straight. Clark followed suit.

"I'll have a report written up for you to read every week," Lex said, as comfortable as if they were planning to play pool that weekend. Clark nodded and held out his hand. Lex took it and they shook, sealing the deal.

…

A file was handed to Lex just under two months later. It contained information suggesting that Lex's grandparents hadn't died a natural death, as Lex's father had always claimed. Instead, the evidence suggested that they'd been murdered, their apartment set on fire while Lionel was at work.

Lex's father wasn't surprised by any of it. In fact, he tried to brush it off, out of sight out of mind. That was the moment Lex began to suspect that the one who'd murdered his grandparents…was his father.

In the interest of honesty, he told Clark the basics of the situation. He didn't want Clark getting involved. It wasn't meteor related and it was a fight against his father, so use of Clark's special skill set would only draw unwanted attention. But he let Clark know that he might be gone from time to time, working on collecting evidence to prove whether his father had committed parricide or not, and not to worry.

Though unhappy, Clark conceded. "But let me know if you need any help, okay? You don't have to do this alone."

Lex took comfort in Clark's hands on his shoulders, nodded his head, and promised.

…

Something Lex didn't tell Clark was that he was seeing a therapist. Had been for weeks. After being stranded on an island alone, he wasn't right anymore. It was hard to admit, but it was true. He had reluctantly agreed to see a woman, a psychologist, named Dr. Foster for as many sessions as necessary to feel like himself again; no sudden outbursts or breakdowns, no volatile anger or violence at even small errors.

But it all started to go wrong. Therapy wasn't working. He just got worse.

It was like shadows had voices. Sleep was elusive. His neck ached, all the time, no matter the massages or muscle relaxers or hot baths. He ached. He dropped things without warning. His head hurt. His staff, the cleaners, the cooks, the drivers, all seemed to stop speaking when he came near, to watch his every move, like they were paid off plants of his father. The worse it got, the further he pulled away from Clark and the Kents.

And even with all that, even as he started to feel like his skin was trying to slip away from him, Lex found it. He found the evidence linking his father to the murder of his grandparents. He found it all. And he found Morgan Edge. Morgan Edge, who'd tried to use Clark in Metropolis, and then to sell him to Lex's father. He found all of it.

Darius, his head guard, died in an attempt on Lex's life the night after Lex had all the evidence. Lex escaped the assassins through a stained glass window. He then ran, injured, to the one place he knew as a place of safety.

Kent Farm.

The Fortress of Solitude.

Clark. Clark. Clark. Clark.

He sounded out of his mind, even as he explained the situation to Clark. He knew. Men who changed their faces and voices? Broken windows and tables suddenly fixed? The evidence from weeks of investigations, gone from a secure safe? Unbelievable. But Clark believed him. Even when none of the evidence remained to prove his sanity. Clark took his side even when his mother, his father, and Chloe told him not to.

"I've got your back, Lex. That's why I'm here."

Impossibly, it turned out Darius was alive. Dr. Foster said it was a psychotic break. Just like dear old dad claimed. Just like everyone else thought. But it all happened! Lex knew it happened! He did find that evidence. He was attacked. He was shot at. He was…He was…

"Maybe I am crazy, Clark," he admitted, feeling the pressure behind his eyes that meant tears were coming. He couldn't…He was so frustrated. He couldn't understand what was happening, but he thought he knew why, but if he was crazy then- "I honestly don't know anymore."

Dr. Foster and Darius knelt on the ground, telling Clark he was crazy, while Lex held a gun to them and raved like…like a madman. God, even Lex was beginning to believe them. How could Clark believe him when he didn't believe himself?

"But what if I'm right about all this?" he asked, a tad desperate. "You really gonna just let them put me away? After," his breaths began to come in gasps as everything turned hopeless around him. He could barely see Clark, his eyes were so clouded by the tears. "After ever-everything…You told me ev-I trusted you with-" He couldn't finish a damn sentence, and the frustration at even that failure made the anxiety build further, every muscle tense to shaking, and he had to close his eyes or risk weeping in front of these…these liars, these conspirators, these-

"No, Lex." Clark. Voice soft, a balm. "I'm not."

Lex opened his eyes, still heaving breaths, to watch Clark step up to his side. Hand on his wrist to steady him, lowering the gun's aim to the floor, an arm around his back. Lex tried to say Clark's name but it came out as only air.

"I'm gonna help you. I promise." Clark made sure to look in Lex's eyes. "We've always been honest with each other, right?" Lex nodded. "So trust me."

If a few tears escaped, finally…well, Lex was entitled, okay?

…

Morgan Edge was Lex's second kill in his life.

Roger Nixon. Morgan Edge. The first to protect Clark's secret and save his father. The second to protect Clark's life and revenge Lex's own grandparents.

Everything Lex had said was true. He wasn't crazy. His father, his security team, his therapist, they'd all drugged him to make him seem crazy but he wasn't. He'd been right! Edge had confessed, and then he'd tried to kill Clark, and then Lex had-

Afterward, Clark took him away. The apartment above the Talon. It was a glorified storage unit, dusty and crowded with boxes and too many lamps, but it would do. They were in before anyone knew the door was open. Clark's gifts continued to amaze.

It took a week for Lex to stop shaking, stop looking around for enemies, to have a full night's sleep, to keep food down, to stop aching, stop a twitchy neck, to stop breaking into tears in pain or anxiety or more frustration. It took a week, and Clark stayed with him the whole time.

He didn't trust food at first, not even from Clark, but a cramping abdomen only added to the pain caused by the drugs working their way from his system and he gave in. Clark must've called his parents, he had to, they'd be worried, but when Lex brought it up, muttered it against Clark's shoulder where his face laid while they sat on the bathroom floor together, Clark just said "It's fine." So he must've called them, though Lex had no idea when.

Clark's strength caught him if he fell. Clark's speed caught anything he dropped or threw or tried to destroy. Clark's vision was security against any sneak attacks. Clark's invulnerability was security against Lex harming him like he'd done to Lana, when Clark had left him in her care while trying to prove Lex's story, his sanity.

"You have to go see her," Lex told him after four days. "I hurt her pretty bad."

Clark shook his head and pushed the bowl of oatmeal closer to Lex on the tiny table he'd set up. "She's getting help from the doctors, and I'm helping you. I'll go see her when I know you're okay." Lex opened his mouth. "When you're really okay."

After that first week, Lex went to stay with the Kents for awhile. He had the Smallville psychologist clear him, and his lawyer present, and used the evidence he'd collected, plus that found by Clark and Chloe, and the testimonies of the Kents, Chloe, and, at Clark's insistence, Darius, and made his case against his father. He and Clark hand delivered it to the State Attorney. There were more psych evaluations and more digging into the Luthor past, but his father's ploy had failed.

The case never even went to court, not publically. Several weeks after Edge's death, Lionel was brought in long enough to read off his crimes. When he demanded their evidence, they showed it to him. He even looked proud of Lex, for a moment, for pulling this off.

"You really think you're ready for the big leagues, son?" Lionel asked when his sentence was cast. "Just because you have your pet hero nearby?" It wasn't clear if he knew Clark had powers, but he definitely knew that whenever Lex was in danger, Clark was soon to appear.

Lex stood from his seat so fast it shocked his father into silence, then stared him down. "He's my friend. We trust each other. But since I'm sure the notion of friendship has never occurred to you, let alone trust, I'll forgive you for not recognizing it."

Of course the death penalty never stuck. Lionel's lawyers were hypocritical goons, but they were paid well because they were good at their jobs. Fifty to life, with a chance of parole in twenty years with good behavior.

"I can't believe they'd offer him parole. After what he did to you?" Clark groused on the car ride back to Smallville.

"Personally, I can live with that," Lex said. A cursory glance at Clark showed his incredulous reaction. "Twenty years is a long time, Clark. I'll be stronger then, ready for the rematch he'll start." He gave a bitter smile. "If he lives that long. My father certainly does have a lot of enemies."

He paid all of Lana's hospital bills to apologize, but she still avoided him. Clark gave him the same advice he'd given Clark months ago. Give it time. Things would go back to normal soon. But with Lionel Luthor out of the way, and Lex set to inherit everything up to and including LuthorCorp, 'normal' just got a new definition.

…

Lex wasn't there when Clark lost his sight to kryptonite. He was in Metropolis, running through all the paperwork, schmoozing, and battling required to make LuthorCorp his own, and keep it out of the hands of the bloodthirsty piranhas that made up the board of directors. Then Lana, who had indeed finally forgiven him, called and told him about the failed jewelry store robbery.

"It was just so unexpected," she told him. "Especially what happened with Clark."

"Ah," Lex said into the phone, lips already curving up at the thought of Clark saving the day and then having to play off how he did it. Really, Lex should sign him up for classes in stealth and body control. It would probably help a lot. "Let me guess. Once again, Clark Kent saves the day. Will Chloe be writing up the article?"

Hesitation made Lex's smile dim. His penthouse dining room faded away, all attention on the sound of Lana's concern. "No…Lex….Clark, he…um…We don't know how it happened but he's…He's blind."

Helicopters were so slow. How had he ever felt they were fast? Lex felt better behind the wheel of a sports car, sprinting down the road toward the Kent Farm. Forced composure was something he'd mastered years ago, so he didn't rush up the stairs of the barn. He was comforted by the fact that, even so handicapped, Clark was still predictable enough to find in the loft.

"Oh!" Martha let out when she saw him, and Lex wasn't sure if she was happy or upset. "Lex, it's good to see you."

Jonathan looked less pleased, though not necessarily with Lex, but they both left Lex with Clark and gave them privacy. Looking Clark over, Lex had no words. There was no smile, no bright eyes, no wandering around the loft like he'd lost his train of thought in a drawer somewhere. Clark just sat there with sunglasses on, waiting, quiet.

"Clark…I don't know what to say," Lex admitted.

"How about 'Hello'?" A tease, and Lex felt it like a physical blow. This was still Clark. He was no more changed by this than by the truth of his birth.

"When my father lost his sight, I got in contact with some of the world's best ophthalmologists," Lex told him. "Do you think they could help you?"

Clark shrugged, not even facing Lex's voice. "Mom and dad are scared to trust doctors. And besides, this isn't something to be fixed. It's something I need to learn to live with."

God, how did he have that kind of strength? He could lift tractors, but his ability to overcome adversity, to accept differences, was stunning. Maybe that was why he'd ever agreed to being Lex's friend to begin with.

Eyebrows furrowed behind sunglasses, Clark asked, "Lex? You okay?" He turned his head to Lex. "Your heart's racing."

"My-?"

Looking embarrassed, Clark explained. "It's…it's new. I haven't mastered it yet. But it's like losing my eyes made my hearing a thousand times better. Sometimes it's my normal hearing, and then sometimes I hear everything all at once. I've been hearing your heartbeat since you came up."

Taking a deep breath, Lex sat himself beside Clark. "I suppose I'm upset," he said. "You helped me beat my father, and I can't help you beat this."

"Lex."

"But I'm also amazed." An admission in soft undertones for super ears. "My father didn't take losing his eyes nearly so well, and I don't think I would either."

Clark shrugged again, then turned his head like he was listening to something. After a few moments, he said, "Mom's thinking of getting me a special tutor for school." Contemplative.

"Do you think they'd let me pay for it?"

Grinning, Clark shook his head. He reached out, Lex assisting in the find of his shoulder. "But thanks."

"Anytime, Clark."

It turned out that the tutor wasn't necessary anyway. Clark's sight came back in stages. Blindness. Glasses. Healed. It took a week for his eyes to return to normal, but Lex insisted Clark continue wearing glasses for awhile, just to hide how fast he healed.

"People will get suspicious if you're suddenly all better. News of your blindness traveled from one end of town to the other in an afternoon. Everyone will expect you to still have vision problems," he advised. It was just like how Lex wore bandages over wounds that had already healed, to conceal his own gift.

Clark sighed. "Curse of a small town," he muttered, but accepted the non-prescription glasses from Lex's outstretched hands.

"Just don't let anyone try them on but you," Lex joked, since the glass was literally just glass and wouldn't correct anything. Clark nodded, already slipping them on.

…

Not all problems were caused by kryptonite or Lionel Luthor.

Chloe earned herself a murder attempt just by doing her job: reporting for the Daily Planet. Clark and Lex found the woman responsible for hypnotizing people into trying to kill Chloe, but not before Clark, Lana, and both Kent parents had tried their hand at it. Luckily Clark hadn't tried using his powers during his attempt, or Ms. Sullivan probably wouldn't have survived. The whole ordeal still left her feeling vulnerable and lost, though.

"I told Chloe the truth."

Lex looked up from his files. It was still odd to see Clark in the penthouse office, rather than the mansion, but just like there, Clark never knocked before entering and Lex didn't really know how he got in at all. "About?"

"About me." He shifted nervously, but he didn't remove his eyes from Lex. Since regaining his vision, he met people's eyes more often. "I…She felt like she deserved what Molly did to her, because of all the snooping into people's lives she does? And she was worried that I'd stop being her friend because she keeps trying to figure me out…It seemed like the right thing to do. My secrets have just put her in danger, or damaged our friendship and…You took it really well, and everything's better now that you know. I'm kind of hoping it's true for Chloe too."

If things between Chloe and Clark got any 'better,' Lex was pretty sure they'd start making out, but he held his tongue. "Well I hope it goes well, for both of you."

Clark nodded. "I just-I don't…tell people, you know? And when I told Pete, and when I told you, my parents-"

Setting the files down, Lex stood. "They get worried."

A nod. "Do you think I did the right thing?"

As the one who'd kept telling Clark that maybe his other friends should know the truth, Lex didn't want to cast doubt on Clark's decision now. What did it matter that suddenly Lex felt that he'd lost, now that the group of people knowing Clark's secret had expanded to include a woman possible of claiming all of Clark – his attention, his friendship, and his heart.

Lex moved to place his hands on Clark's shoulders. "You did the right thing."

…

The Levitas project was something his father had been working on, before finding himself in prison, and Lex had been intrigued with its possible applications – as well as the amount the government was willing to pay for it. It turned the user into the perfect interrogator. Anything they asked, you had to answer truthfully. It was something his father had failed to bring to fruition, and Lex wanted to make it a success. But it used kryptonite and, no surprise, had devastating effects on those who used it. Namely, death.

In the process of shutting the program down, because it was just Lex's lot in life, some of the gas escaped. The worker who got hit managed to get secrets – LuthorCorp related and personal – out of eight employees, plus Lex's personal assistant, before making it into Lex's office.

"Tell me your greatest regret," the man demanded, a gun aimed at Lex's face to keep him seated. "What is it?"

It poured out like water. "I never had my father's love growing up, and now that he's in prison for the rest of his foreseeable life, because of me, I'll never have it." Lex frowned at his own admission.

The man, Edward Curan said his nametag, let loose a string of expletives. "No! That's not good enough!"

He was looking for dirt on Lex, for something to use for blackmail. Lex quickly hit the secret alarm button under the desk while Edward was distracted with his anger, alerting all LuthorCorp security to come immediately.

"You've been exposed to a highly dangerous chemical compound, Mr. Curan," Lex informed him, as if he didn't already know. "We don't know all the side effects yet. You should be seen by a doctor."

Wild eyed, Edward demanded, "What's your worst secret?"

There was no fighting it. "I'm in love with the best friend I've ever had."

"What?" That obviously confused Edward.

"I think you should be going-"

"What's so bad about that?" And it didn't sound like he was digging for dirt at all that time.

Lex grit his teeth but still the words made it out. "Because we promised not to lie to each other anymore but he's in love with someone else and if I tell him the truth he'll leave me."

Before Edward could ask anything else, the security team burst in. Just as they were dragging him from the room, Edward fell forward, clutching an aching head. He was dying from the gas. Lex made sure to get him the untested antidote. A slim shot at not dying was better than no shot.

When it worked, he made sure to have Mr. Curan sent to a jail on the opposite side of the country from Lionel Luthor. His father needed no new ammunition against his son.

Clark never even heard the name of the project, and never would if Lex could help it.

…

Lana was leaving Smallville, going to Paris, starting her own life. She and Lex sold the Talon. He got her a first class ticket and gave her tips for surviving in Paris – or anywhere else, really. Clark didn't try to convince her to stay, but he was clearly unhappy that she would be gone in a few days.

"Clark, you have to let her go," Lex told him.

"I suppose I don't have much of a choice," Clark muttered.

Standing from his place before the fire, Lex moved to stand in front of Clark. "She's the one that wanted to leave. And if anybody set that ball in motion, it was you."

Clark looked surprised at this blunt statement. "Me?"

A nod. "Clark, all Lana's ever wanted is for you to be honest with her." Like he was with Lex. Like he was with Pete. Like he was with Chloe. "Now if you're not willing to step up, you need to move aside and let her get on with her life."

Part of him wanted to be gentle with Clark as he gave that advice, but an equal part of him was upset with Clark and wanted the words to hurt just a bit. It was petty. He knew Clark loved Lana, but the reminders made him cranky. Besides, if Clark couldn't be honest with Lana, they shouldn't be together. Lex knew that from experience.

"I know," Clark said, quiet and sad. "I know."

…

The last person Lex expected in his office was Pete Ross, head of the Lex Luthor Hate Club now that Jonathan Kent had dropped out. Yet, there he was.

"Pete. What can I do for you?" Lex asked, putting his pool stick down. Because of course he'd had one purchased for his new office in Metropolis, just like he had for the mansion. What if Clark came over and wanted to play? Also, it kept the boredom at bay.

Pete looked severely uncomfortable. "Look. I know the two of us have never really talked about….I mean, Clark said you knew."

Lex let his lips curl up in a satisfied manner. "Knew what, Pete?" he asked in his most sinfully sweet voice of dubious content.

"About Clark's-" He stopped, eyes widening, and took a half step back. "You know what, I should go."

He was almost to the door when Lex called, "Pete, Pete. Wait. Come back." At Pete's worried expression, Lex placed a hand to his chest and apologized. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I can't resist a good ruse."

Pete was still frowning. "Yeah. I bet."

Another ball was shot into a pocket on the table before Lex spoke. "You meant about Clark's gifts," he clarified, to prove he really did know. "No, we've never talked about them. Why now?"

"I'm moving to Witchita," Pete announced.

Lana was gone to Paris and now Pete was moving to Witchita. Clark's list of friends grew ever shorter. Lex gripped the pool stick tighter but didn't change his facial expression.

"And Chloe's great, but, sometimes she leaps ahead without thinking. Clark too. I mean, I've done stupid stuff, and you're no saint yourself," Pete tacked on, almost angrily. Lex nodded at the point to his own seedy work. "But Clark needs people who…who know, who can help him out, you know?"

"I do," Lex acknowledged.

A nod. "Then, do me a favor." He stepped closer, but not within arm's reach. "Don't betray him. Don't ditch him. He needs…" Pete let out a frustrated breath. "He needs you. More than he probably ever needed me."

Lex lowered his head so he and Pete were of a height. "He confided in you," he reminded the young man. "And you're a better friend than I am."

Pete stared at him, and Lex stared back. It didn't have the heat that Lex felt when he and Clark matched gazes, but they were both trying to see beyond face value to the truth underneath all the same.

As expected, Pete blinked first. "Just take good care of him, alright?"

"Alright."

…

That promise fell to shit when Jor-El stole Clark away, vanished into a cave wall with no way of knowing where they went.

Lex searched the caves, brought kryptonite to the caves, almost started carving away at walls piece by piece but for Martha's interference. He spent countless hours and more money than was advisable searching for any clues to where Clark had disappeared to.

It wasn't feasible. People disappeared every day, Lex knew that, but this was Clark. Clark had survived much worse than this. Clark had fought off meteor mutants and Lionel Luthor and the mind altering effects of red kryptonite. If anyone could come back from alien abduction, it was Clark.

So where was he? Why couldn't Lex find him?

Was he off planet? Was he in an entirely different galaxy? Dr. Swann told Clark Krypton was gone forever. Where could Jor-El have taken Clark?

In his search for Clark, Lex found a stone with Kryptonian symbols on it, as far away as Egypt. It was the best clue he had, and Lex planned to take it to the cave and do his damndest to make the Kryptionian symbol on the rock interact with the Kryptonian symbols there in order to bring Clark back.

But on his flight back home with it, there was severe turbulence. The door came off the plane in midflight and the stone was lost. Once he was safely back in the penthouse and alone, Lex cursed for a straight hour and lost more than one glass to his fireplace, knowing that the closest thing to a clue to finding Clark that he had ever uncovered had just vanished somewhere over the ocean.

…

"Lex."

The crystal glass shattered on the floor as Lex flipped to face the study door. There, almost like he'd never left, was Clark.

"Clark."

The word was almost a gasp. Disbelief mixed with relief and made him dizzy.

In response, Clark gave a full body shrug. "I'm back."

Lex took a step forward and so did Clark and they met halfway, arms wrapped around each other in a hug to match Lex's return from the dead a year ago.

"I thought I'd never see you again," Lex admitted, voice tight.

Clark's grip was almost painfully tight but Lex reveled in it. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to go."

He explained what it was like in that place, that dark place where Jor-El took him, where he'd been 'reborn' as Kal-El. He said he thought it might've been in space. He didn't remember most of that time, or much of anything before his mom saved him. And of course his mother saved him. That's how it should be with mothers.

Clark knew he had been totally focused, set on controlling the world. He could explain how it was different than when he was on red kryptonite and felt invincible, ready to take what he wanted. This was almost mechanic – a single minded determination to complete a mission. But what he'd done while Kal-El, and how he'd come back? Blurry at best, empty space at worst.

Clark did know that he'd reappeared naked in a field though. There was eye-witness testimony.

"Now that's a reenactment I'd pay to see," Lex teased him.

"No thanks," Clark said. "I just want to forget it ever happened and move on. I want to spend as much time being plain old me as I can."

Oh well, Lex thought. Plain Old Clark was enough for him anyway. Plain Old Clark was better than no Clark at all.

…

It turned out that the stone Lex had found in Egypt, with Kryptonian symbols on it, had found its way to Clark and the Kawatche caves without any help from Lex.

Clark couldn't remember how he got it, but said "I think…I was flying."

"I lost it while in a plane," Lex told him.

They theorized that somehow, Clark – while Kal-El and somehow able to fly – had either caused the turbulence in Lex's plane or flown by during it to grab the stone. Of the two of them, these theories were harder for Clark to believe, since it was hard for him to accept causing problems for a plane in mid-flight, especially one with a friend on board. But as the only ideas that made any kind of sense, one of them had to be correct. And since Kal-El hadn't cared about anyone, just about completing his mission, Clark accepted that Lex was right.

Clark didn't know what the stone was anymore than Lex did, and they spent a good chunk of time making visits to the secret room in the Kawatche caves to study the stone, and its pedestal, for answers. No messages came through while Lex was present and for weeks, neither of them came any closer to understanding the stone or Jor-El than they already were.

…

Lana returned from Paris, but strangely, Clark didn't jump straight back into pining over her. When Lex asked him about it, Clark said that his time with Jor-El, losing himself, made him realize how much of himself he kept hidden away. Now, he was going to focus on being the best him he could be, rather than trying to make other people fit into half of his life.

"That is oddly mature of you, Clark," Lex complimented him.

Embarrassed, Clark shrugged. "Well, I am seventeen now, Lex. I'm legally an adult in Kansas. I should probably act like it more."

All the same, Lex didn't tell Clark when he found out that Lana had a secret, twenty-two-year-old boyfriend. It was probably for the best if they worked that out for themselves. Besides, at twenty-three, to Clark's seventeen, he didn't think he had any right to claim the moral high ground in loving relationships. Even if his was one sided and unfulfilled.

…

As part of the "be the best Clark Kent" plan, Clark finally joined the football team at school. Meanwhile Lex was in Metropolis most days running LuthorCorp. Every night, Clark called Lex up at the penthouse to tell him about what happened at practice that day, and Lex told him about work as the CEO of a multi-national, multi-billion-dollar company.

Clark was upset that the team didn't seem to like him just because he became the quarterback right off the bat. Given Clark's skills, Lex wasn't surprised at the quarterback placement.

"But you have to remember that your teammates are human. They could practice all day every day for their whole lives and never match up to you. That can cause a lot of frustration and anger, even if they don't know exactly what's going on," Lex reminded him.

Clark sighed. "I'm used to people not liking me because they think I'm a loser. I'm not used to people not liking me because I'm, uh, not a loser."

In exchange for such pearls of wisdom, Lex complained to Clark about how annoying it was to have people whining at him just because things didn't go their way. Clark, in turn, reminded Lex that "You're only twenty-three. All those old people who've been running things with your dad are just angry someone so young is suddenly they're boss."

"Then they should act their age and prove they deserve their oversized salaries rather than being lazy and screwing things up all the time," Lex volleyed back easily. "How is it my youth's fault if they, with all their supposed experience, make a mistake?"

But Clark loved football practice and Lex loved his work, so eventually they'd move on to other topics – what Clark was learning in school, what he wanted to do when he graduated, what had happened on the farm and how his parents were, if Lex was eating properly, how was his father doing, when could they meet up again, and any movies or shows or books they'd consumed since they last spoke were all discussed.

When Clark's first football game happened, Lex made sure he was in the stands. He couldn't buy a seat and have it always available for him, like at professional games, but he made sure to keep his calendar clear for every game of the season as soon as Clark gave him the dates. Lex might own a professional football team, but the game was infinitely more enjoyable when you cared about someone who was playing.

And for an entire semester, there wasn't even a cursory exchange with kryptonite. No one meteor-effected appeared to ruin a dance or a date or even just a day. No one using kryptonite for illicit reasons made the news. When Christmas had come and gone with only the normal holiday buzz, Clark, with a flush of embarrassment, admitted that maybe Lex's secretive removal of most, if not all, of the kryptonite around town had worked. Their lives were infinitely less complicated with the rocks gone from Smallville and locked in lead safes across the country.

Christmas was also when Lex took three days off from work and stayed, not only in Smallville, but with the Kents themselves. He helped out on the farm again, though with less grueling tasks than last time, and spent a number of hours in the loft with Clark, stargazing and talking and simply reading near each other in peace. And on Christmas day, Lex assisted the rest of the Kents in cooking dinner. Lex had never done anything like it before in his life, but Martha insisted. At least in his head, Lex admitted that it was the best Christmas he'd had since before the meteor shower that stole away his hair, perhaps even before that.

Life was good. Life was splendid, actually.

Lex should've known something would come along to cause havoc.

…

It started with an inkling of doubt.

"Do you ever feel guilty? For sending your father to prison, I mean."

They'd just come from the prison where Lionel Luthor was being held. Lex's father had asked him to come, to say a final goodbye. He was dying of liver failure. Clark had rushed in just before he and his father could shake hands, to put their differences aside, and caused chaos in the meeting room. He flipped a table and hoisted Lionel up like a rag doll, then abruptly dropped him to the floor, causing the guards to tackle both him and Lex's father to the floor.

That had been unexpected, but Clark's acceptance of a ride back to Smallville, and his silence on the way back, were outright strange. And then came his question on guilt.

Lex let out a surprised breath. "Clark, he killed his own parents and then nearly drove me insane to hide it. If it weren't for you, he'd have succeeded." He narrowed his eyes. "You helped me put him away. Why are you asking about guilt now?"

"No reason, of course," Clark said, shaking his head. "He was just your father. Blood relation and all that. I suppose that means nothing to you." His tone was bitter and sarcastic. "No, you'd rather spend your time with a child who has no blood relatives whatsoever."

Now Lex was concerned. Clark had never referred to himself this way before. "Clark, what is this about? Is this really about my father? Or yours?"

Clark stared at him, expression rather blank, slowly blinking, for several seconds. "Both, I suppose." And then he got out of Lex's car and walked away.

Then it grew into a crawling suspicion.

Clark visited the mansion the next day wearing slacks and a button up shirt. It had zero effect on Lex's libido, unlike the sleek, dark attire Clark had adorned while under the influence of red kryptonite. Then Clark made a beeline for the alcohol, poured himself a glass, and claimed Lex had taken it from his father's personal stash.

"How'd you know it's my father's?"

Wandering the room with a crystal glass of scotch, Clark haughtily asked, "Isn't it all your dad's? This castle? LuthorCorp? The cars, the jets, everything. The very cufflinks in your sleeves."

The cadence of the words, the confidence, the swagger – none of it was Clark's. It wasn't Clark with a red meteor ring. It wasn't Clark reprogrammed by Jor-El. It simply wasn't Clark. What fresh trouble had landed in their laps now and how did Lex fix it?

"Clark, I know you well enough to know this isn't you talking," Lex said, gently for Clark but seriously for whatever odd personality had taken control this time, or on the chance that it was simply someone or something assuming Clark's shape.

"You're absolutely right. I am not myself," Clark responded, almost as if the idea amused him.

Then he asked for fifty-seven million dollars, claimed Lex had stolen that amount from him. That solidified Lex's fears. Somehow, this was his father. It was his father in his closest companion's body.

When Lex went for his gun, Clark attacked him. In all of Lex's wildest nightmares, he'd never actually thought Clark would use his powers against him. Sure, he'd dreamt they were enemies, fighting endlessly for control of the planet, but it had been emotional battles, verbal ones. He'd never imagined Clark super speeding over to him, carting him around the room with strength like Lex was made of paper, crushing his throat, and demanding things from him Or Else. It had honestly never crossed his mind that Clark would use his powers to harm Lex. Other people, on accident or because they were hurting others, but not Lex.

Thank God for Martha Kent, and for meteor mutant healing abilities, or Lex wouldn't have survived the attempt on his life.

"It's my father," he gasped out through his battered throat.

"I know," Martha said, her hands running over his arms to comfort him. "I know, I spoke to Clark."

Lex looked at her with wide eyes. So Clark wasn't in his own body at all. He must be in Lionel's. Had it happened when Clark rushed into the meeting room earlier? But how?

He struggled to push himself off the floor. "…Have to….get…Clark," he half coughed, half groaned out.

Martha kept him seated. "No. You're hurt. You're staying here," she insisted. "Clark has a plan, and he has help."

As much as Lex wanted to argue with her, he was seeing black spots dance across his vision simply from sitting up. Getting air into his lungs seemed about the only task his body was prepared for, and badly at that. After Martha left Lex in the care of his on call doctor, and Lex was laid up in bed to 'recover,' he punched the headboard as hard as he could without turning to face it. His hand stung, but it was nothing like his throat, nor the burning in his chest. What the hell good was he to Clark anyway?!

…

"Lex!"

Given how much stress he was under at the moment, Lex thought it would've been perfectly reasonable to have a heart attack right then. Instead, he grabbed the gun off the table and held it up to Clark.

"Stay where you are!"

The kryptonite bullets were something he'd gotten his hands on back when he found out he was a meteor mutant and someone tried to kill Clark. The assassin, once he'd learned of Clark's weakness to kryptonite, had fashioned bullets out of the meteor rocks. Lex had appropriated them along with everything else meteor related about the young man. Though he hated to think of using them on his best friend, if his father was inside of Clark, they might be the only way to keep him down.

Clark held his hands up, probably able to feel the bullets even from across the room, and said, slowly, "Lex, it's me. Clark."

That wasn't good enough. His dad had tried to have him committed, had made everyone, including Lex, think Lex was insane. His dad was a murderer. His dad tried to kill him using the only person Lex had allowed to get close. If this wasn't Clark-

"After I drove my porche into the river and you fished me out, I asked your dad if there was any way I could repay him. What did he say that we always joke about?"

It was likely that his father was now aware of Clark's powers, given how he'd used them against Lex earlier, but it would be best not to let Lionel know how much Lex knew, so he couldn't ask about Clark's gifts or anything they'd done after Lex knew about them. And they only joked about this in private, so it was the perfect check.

"What is this, a pop quiz?" Clark tried to laugh it off but Lex's grip on the gun only got tighter.

"Answer the question!" Lex shouted. He wasn't sure if his tone was angry or desperate or both, but he was probably going to have a bit of a breakdown if this still wasn't Clark.

If he'd been sitting around his mansion while Clark was still controlled by Lionel Luthor, if he'd been wasting time when he could've been helping Clark, stopping his father-

Clark dropped his hands and gave an endearing shrug. "He told you to drive slower."

Relief hit Lex as hard as Clark's body had slammed him into a table the day before. He nearly staggered at its force. Instead, he dropped the gun back to the table and stumbled forward into Clark's personal space. Another hug for another temporary separation.

"Welcome back."

Once they'd cleared up what had happened and how – that Lionel had somehow found another Kryptonian stone and used it to switch his soul and Clark's – and after Clark told him that this new Kryptonian stone was now in the caves with the one Lex had found before, Clark grew somber.

"Lex," he said sadly, "my mom told me what I did to you and I'm sorry."

Lex, still standing in Clark's personal space, nodded. "It's alright."

Clark shook his head once and lightly grabbed Lex by the shoulders. Lex didn't even flinch. "No, it's not. Lex, I would never hurt you. I swear."

A slightly crooked smile. "I know, Clark," he assured him, then pulled Clark's hands from his shoulders. Still holding Clark's wrists, he said, "I'd never even imagined it possible until I was being attacked in my own study. But trust me, Clark, I've never been worried about you using your powers against me."

Clark blinked. "Even when I use them to play pranks on you?"

That made Lex laugh, once. "Oh excuse me," he chuckled, releasing Clark. "I'd forgotten how truly evil you are. I may never recover."

Beaming, Clark pulled Lex into another hug, this one so tight it was almost uncomfortable. Lex didn't mind. In fact, he'd let Clark hold him like that for a long as he wanted to, and maybe even then some.

…

It started like this. It started with, of all things, a tabula rasa.

"Mr. Luthor, Ms. Sullivan and Mr. Kent have arrived to see you," Mr. Holt, Lex's head of staff at the mansion, announced.

Lex grabbed a towel to wipe off the slight sweat of his martial arts lessons from his face. It wasn't a lot, but he didn't want to show up to Clark with a shiny head. He'd taken up aikido in his teen years because his father had told him to learn karate. It wasn't exactly physically draining to practice, but he'd been going for awhile, waiting for Clark to show up so they could watch an Alexander the Great movie and rip it to shreds for fun. He was extremely late, and Lex had no idea why he'd brought Chloe along.

"Good. Let them know I'll see them in the study," he said, while his instructor moved away, knowing this meant their time was up.

Holt cleared his throat and Lex gave him his attention again. "It seems, Mr. Luthor…Mr. Kent was acting strange. As if he didn't know who any of the staff were, sir."

Oh great. Lex let his head drop forward. "Thank you, Mr. Holt."

Lex quickly changed his practice clothes for a soft, three-quarter sleeve shirt and casual slacks, then made his way to the study.

It had become habit, over the past year and a half of running LuthorCorp, to divide his time between Metropolis and Smallville. Usually he was in Metropolis, but every week saw him spending one day in the mansion, and once a month he took a whole, long weekend. If something important or dangerous was happening in Smallville where Clark needed his help or attention, Lex had become adept at shuffling LuthorCorp requirements around so that he was always available. While this weekend was meant to simply be his long weekend of the month, it looked like it was about to become a Smallville emergency visit instead.

Lex entered the study just in time to hear Clark say, disbelieving, "I can't believe I'm friends with a billionaire."

"Funny. You never seemed that impressed before," Lex said, announcing his presence.

Chloe obviously recognized him, so his initial idea that perhaps two shape shifters had conned their way into his home was debunked. Clark, on the other hand, was staring at Lex in wide-eyed awe, so maybe it was one shape shifter who'd conned Chloe into bringing him here. Lex wondered if he could see the money tattooed across Lex's face or something, or if it was the bald head in close quarters that was causing this astounded speechlessness.

After a few long seconds, Chloe elbowed Clark in the side and he gave a small jolt and blinked for the first time since Lex had entered the room. "Oh, uh, M-Mr. Luthor," he greeted with a nod of his head.

Lex glanced at Chloe, who mouthed 'No memory' at him.

"Lex," he said, delayed. While running his eyes over Clark for signs of further injury or what could have caused the memory loss, he said, "I'm guessing you don't remember it, but we kind of dropped the formalities that day I ran you off a bridge with my Porsche."

The hope had been to jog Clark's memory, but instead Clark just looked supremely confused. Not suspicious, not eerily curious, just like the words made no sense. Well, there went the shape shifter theory for Clark too. The story of how Lex and Clark had met was common enough knowledge that someone impersonating Clark should've known it.

Chloe wanted help finding the person she thought wiped Clark's memories. They explained that the Talon had been robbed but no one remembered it happening, and then Clark ran out of the building after who he'd thought was the culprit but Chloe found him lying in an alley only minutes later with no memories at all. Chloe's theory was that the guy behind all this was getting treatment to wipe his memories and that it had somehow given him the ability to wipe memories from others. A bit of a leap, but given Smallville's history, perfectly logical.

Once they had Lex's agreement of help – mainly by using his reputation and contacts within the Institute to get information on their suspect, Chloe wanted to take Clark home again, since his parents would be arriving home from Metropolis soon.

"Chloe, if you don't mind, uh," Lex said to stop their retreat. "I'd like to talk to Clark for awhile."

Chloe narrowed her eyes at him, her reporter side looking for a scoop. "What about?"

Lex shrugged. "I just know of a few things that might jog his memory." He placed his hands in his pockets. "Nothing Clark wouldn't approve of, in his normal state, I promise."

She hesitated and it was Clark who answered.

"It's alright, Chloe. I'll stay," he said, tearing his eyes from Lex to his friend. "You deserve a break from chaperone duty. I'll be alright."

Chloe hummed. "Fine. But don't go carting him off to Metropolis or somewhere. If your contacts come through, he's gotta be around for it."

When she was gone, Clark turned his attention back on Lex. "So, where are we going?"

Lex smiled. "On a nature hike."

He took Clark to the Kawatche caves, showed him the cave paintings, and explained kryptonite. They couldn't go into the room where Clark kept the Kryptonian stones because Clark didn't remember how to open it, but Lex explained what he could about those too. Clark recognized some of the pictures, but only because Clark had drawings of them in the loft. After a little while, Clark turned his flashlight on Lex.

"Chloe said we're friends."

Lex nodded. "I like to think so."

"And you know my secret. Chloe said I told you first."

Clark sounded like he didn't quite believe the things he was saying, as if someone had lied to him and he was just figuring it out.

"Yes. Clark, what is this about?" Lex asked, not moving closer or farther from his friend. Was Clark going to revert back to the very beginning of their friendship, when he would hide his gifts and lie to Lex? Did Lex come off as that shady?

Glancing away and then leveling his gaze back on Lex, Clark asked. "What do we do when we hang out?"

The way he said it was similar to how Lex remembered demanding Clark prove he was no longer Lionel, but quieter. Clark needed an answer, as much as Lex had needed to know Clark was really Clark. The difference was that Lex had no idea what the correct answer was.

"We play pool. We talk," Lex said, shrugging his shoulders. "We work together to uncover the mysteries of your home planet."

None of that seemed to appease Clark. In fact, he grew anxious, shifting from foot to foot, his eyebrows drawing together. So Lex went into more detail, went for more informal moments.

"We watch movies, and you complain whenever I correct the facts in the story. I tell you about ancient myths and history and you joke that I like Scotch too much. You show off your abilities sometimes, if I'm too caught up in my work. You do homework on my couch." He took a step forward, slowly, but Clark didn't retreat. He was watching Lex carefully. Lex revealed a bit of his own insecurities as he said, "We read Warrior Angel comics and try to prove to each other that the other one is him, the hero, while thinking we're the villain Devilicus ourselves."

"I don't think you're the villain," Clark rushed out, his voice more breath than words, and stepped closer. They were now within arm's reach. "When I look at you, I feel like…Lex, did we ever-….I mean….Did we-"

Oh. Clark was asking if they'd ever been a couple. Something of Lex today had given him away. Something Lex had done had given Clark the impression that they were closer than friends. Lex wondered what it was. Clark, with all his memories intact, had never suspected a thing. Now, somehow, he knew.

"No," he said, doing his best not to sound sad about that. His voice was quiet anyway, as if they were telling each other secrets. "No, we never were."

Clark stepped even closer, so that he had to look down to maintain eye contact with Lex and their bodies were nearly touching. "Could we change that?" He sounded so young, vulnerable, when he asked. "I know I don't…I don't know you, not like I did, but…Could we?"

Lex did not nod. He didn't say yes. But Lex was not so scrupulous that he could turn and walk away either. Clark was, by his own admission, legally an adult. And Lex, proven by a truth toxin, was completely in love with him.

He let the flashlight drop into the detritus on the cave floor, grabbed the front of Clark's shirt with one hand, used the other to bring Clark's head down, tilted his own up, and got his first taste of Clark Kent, alien farm boy. Clark let out a short noise of surprise before doing his best to reciprocate. It was rather chaste by Lex's usual standards. There wasn't even any tongue involved. But when Lex pulled back, he dove right back in for another dose. Clark's hands didn't seem to know where to go. They grazed Lex's sides, his arms, his shoulders, the back of his head. Finally, one stayed on his left shoulder and the other held Lex's wrist where Lex was keeping Clark's head near enough to kiss.

Lex wasn't keeping track of how long they kissed or how many times. All he could hear was the sound of his own heartbeat and their breathing, growing more heated with every kiss. At first Clark wasn't much of a kisser, but he was a fast learner. One time, Lex made to pull back, but Clark chased him, used the hands on his shoulder and wrist to pull him back in, to keep kissing. Then Lex stepped forward and Clark stepped back, and soon Clark was against the cave wall. Nowhere to go but closer to Lex.

"Lex," Clark breathed out between kisses. "Lex, I-"

And then suddenly Lex was on the ground and there were scorch marks on the wall opposite where Clark was standing, though luckily no fire. The lack of control snapped Lex back to reality, not the hyped up dream he'd let himself slip into.

This wasn't right. Clark wasn't himself. He had no memories. He had no idea who Lex was. He had no idea who he himself even was, what he was capable of. He didn't know what their relationship was like. He didn't remember Lana, the woman he'd been in love with since childhood. Kissing Clark had been wrong.

Clark, who was blinking rapidly and didn't seem to quite understand what had just happened.

Lex pushed himself to his feet and brushed off his coat. "I think that's a sign that I should be getting you back to the farm."

…

The next day, Chloe called to tell Lex that Clark's memory was back. They'd gone to the Summerholt Institute, where the memory wiper, Kevin Grady, had been receiving his treatments. Though none of them could quite remember how, Chloe had gotten strapped to a medical table, Chloe's cousin and the sheriff had shown up, and Clark had gotten his memories back. Then Kevin's father, Dr. Lawrence Grady, had been taken to jail for attempting illegal experiments on Chloe and for framing his son for manslaughter. It sounded like a wild time.

Lex had avoided Clark and let his friends handle the memory wiping individual out of shame. It was compounded now. He was supposed to be Clark's friend, but he'd let a bunch of barely-legal teenagers take down a corrupt scientist at a prominent and seedy institution all by themselves. So, that afternoon, he made a trip out to Kent Farm. If kissing Clark in that cave was going to ruin their friendship, he should at least face it like the adult his license claimed him to be.

"Congratulations. I heard you got full retrieval," Lex said as he met Clark outside the barn.

"Everything," Clark said with a nod.

Neither of them spoke for several seconds. Lex didn't know how to continue. It was like Clark was waiting for something, but so was Lex. He was waiting for Clark to bring up the kissing. He didn't want to do it himself. If their friendship was at an end, Lex wanted to prolong it for at least a few more seconds.

"Everything except the last twenty-four hours," Clark finally said, hands going to his pockets and hunching his shoulders. "Chloe said we hung out for a bit, that you wanted to talk?" Lex nodded. "What about?"

Clark didn't remember the caves. He didn't remember the kissing, no, the make-out session. God, he'd been laying claim to Clark's mouth, dominating it like Alexander to the Middle East or Napoleon to Europe. Lex cleared his throat.

"I just thought a trip to the caves might jog your memory," he said, looking away down the road instead of at Clark. "It didn't work as well as I'd planned."

For a long while, there was more silence. Even without Clark aware of Lex's indiscretion, this was the most awkward conversation he and Clark had ever had.

"Yeah. Sure," Clark said, shattering the calm of the farm air with a bitter tone.

Lex looked back at him. "Clark?"

Clark's face was guarded. "We don't lie to each other Lex," he said accusatorily.

"I'm not lying-"

"Well you're not telling the truth!" Clark interrupted, throwing up his arms. "I know you, Lex. You never could lie to my face."

Before Lex could answer, Clark walked around him, giving Lex a wide berth, and disappeared into the barn. Lex didn't follow.

…

The study doors were open, a banal attempt to show honesty and invite Clark to barge in like he owned the place, while Lex pretended to work. He couldn't focus on the actual documents, however, not when he and Clark hadn't spoken in a week. It seemed that, somehow, their friendship had simply ended. It ended because of a tabula plenus, a mind full of every detail of their past relationship, as ironic as that was.

LuthorCorp was run from the mansion in Smallville for now. The study doors stayed open at all times, and Lex waited. Surely this, as with everything else they'd gone through, would blow over. No one had even died this time, or come close to it even. It was just a white lie, a withholding of information, a minor infraction. But it was doing a world of harm.

The person who finally walked confidently into the study to disturb him, however, was not Clark.

"Ms. Sullivan," Lex greeted, barely looking up from his computer. "To what do I owe the honor?"

"Cut the act, Lex. We need to talk," she snapped. "It's about Clark."

She immediately had all of Lex's attention. "Has something else happened?"

"No." She shook her head, and then moved to shut the study doors. Lex frowned but allowed it. "Look. Clark spent almost an entire twenty-four hours without his memory."

She said it like Lex wasn't fully aware of this and paced the room like a caged tiger while she continued.

"I had to walk him through relearning he even had powers in order to know to hide them. I had to convince him to keep his powers a secret. I had to lie to people to keep them secret. Do you know how stressful that was?" she complained.

Watching her move back and forth from his chair, Lex lazily said, "I can imagine." He lied to his father and most people in his life on a daily basis. He'd also, on several occasions, helped cover Clark's tracks when his use of his superhuman gifts was a bit too obvious to simply play off.

After a few more passes in front of the desk, Chloe stopped walking. She covered her face with her hands. "I didn't come to complain. Ugh. I'm better than this." Facing Lex, she said. "Clark started with a blank slate that day, and yet he was still the same guy, ok? He reacted the same way, did all the same things, made all the same choices. Except one."

The look she gave Lex seemed to suggest he should know what she was talking about, but when he just stared back at her she sighed, closing her eyes briefly as if that helped her gather her thoughts.

"Or maybe not. Maybe it wasn't different. Look, my point is, everyone knows how you feel about Clark, okay?"

"Excuse me?" fell from Lex's lips before he realized he was speaking, and his stomach felt like it had hot coals in it.

"Please. You run a multi-billion dollar company, but you made time to come to every single one of Clark's football games. You used LuthorCorp money to scour the Earth for any sign of him this past summer. You buy cheap coffee at the Talon rather than whatever hand-ground-slave-grown concoction that you can get here in the mansion just so you can seem to just happen to run into Clark and then moon over him until one of you has to leave. Whenever Clark's in trouble, you flip out!" She got more and more animated the longer she went on, waving her hands around expressively and using them to make her points. "Whenever you're in trouble, the first person you call or go to for help is Clark, even if he can't actually do anything about it because he's still in high school. You've been totally hopeless over him since well before he passed the legal age of consent and trust me, it's not really a secret."

Lex let several seconds of silence pass once she was done as he collected himself. He'd been a pariah in town since the moment he arrived, simply because his last name was Luthor. If people knew that he was interested in Clark, and had been interested for years now…and not even in the 'I'm going to investigate you' kind of interested, but the 'Let me be your sugar daddy' kind of way…

"I assure you, Ms. Sullivan, Chloe," Lex said slowly, placing his hands flat on his desk. "Clark and I have never-"

"Oh, I know," Chloe interrupted, looking a bit weirded out that Lex had even begun to explain that.

"Then what's your point?" Lex asked, his tone a bit short. If everyone knew he liked Clark, was that one of the myriad of reasons most of the town still avoided him?

Chloe sighed again. "My point is that, seeing Clark like that, without his memories, I realized that he likes you too."

"Anything he thinks he felt for me was likely because he didn't know me very well," Lex said, looking at his couch, the spot where Clark tended to sit when he visited, instead of at Chloe. He still thought about those kisses in the caves about once every hour, but they meant nothing. Clark had regained his memories and would continue to pine after Lana.

"He saw dozens of people that day, and I had to tell him who they were to him. I told him you two were friends before we got here. Now, I don't know if you saw the same guy I did when you came in, but he couldn't take his eyes off you," Chloe told him, and she sounded sad. Or, sympathetic. For Lex. "He forgot why we were there. He barely noticed I existed. And he jumped at the chance to stay even though he could've met his parents if he'd left."

When Lex looked back at Chloe, she was staring at his desktop.

"Looking back, it's been obvious to everyone, probably even to Lana, that Clark's not interested in anyone else but you," she said, now just sad. "He turns to you for help before anyone else. You were the first person he told about his powers. He's left me in the lurch on more than one occasion because you called or you had plans or you were gonna be in town for the weekend." She blinked rapidly but didn't cry, which was good because Lex wasn't prepared for tears. "And when you're in trouble, which is like, all the time, he's right there. In the middle of it. He's always worried about you."

Lex cleared his throat. "Well, like you said, I'm usually in danger of something. Him being worried about my safety is just logical at this point. I'm sure he feels the same way about you."

Chloe shook her head. "He came back from the caves talking about you." Lex tensed but Chloe didn't comment on it. "I stayed for dinner with the Kents and all he could talk about was Lex this and Lex that. And it wasn't just the mansion or the cars. It was how you tried to help him out, and you're such a good friend, and you showed him so much about what and who he is, and how lucky he is that all his friends are so open and honest with him. On and on. He even said he was surprised at how good you looked, after I described you as tall, thin, and bald. I was actually worried he'd start to wax poetic about your eyelashes."

She gave a laugh and Lex managed to give an uptick of his lips for a brief moment in return. He wasn't sure if he should be insulted or not.

"Anyway, ever since he got his memories back, he's been moody. And when I asked him what it was about, I thought he'd say Lana but instead he said you." She shook her head. "I don't know what's going on between you too, but you need to fix it. And if you just told Clark how you felt I know he'd get over this, because it's exactly like whenever he and Lana used to fight."

Lana. That was the problem wasn't it?

"And what about Ms. Lang?" Lex asked, looking directly into Chloe's eyes. "What about Clark's feelings for her?"

Chloe shrugged. "I don't know. He hasn't been as gung-ho for her since he came back from his space trip last summer, but I don't know if he stopped being totally moon-eyed for her before that. I was a bit too caught up in my own feelings. You know what I mean," she waved off anything Lex might've thought to say then. "But he's definitely not into her right now. I asked him flat out and he admitted it."

So Clark and Lana weren't a thing anymore. Lana had her older boyfriend and Clark had given up on winning her back. It was possible he'd turned his attention elsewhere. According to Chloe, he'd turned his attention to Lex. Chloe was usually very perceptive, so Lex tended to agree with her deductions. And yet.

"It's getting late," Lex said, apropos of nothing, and stood from his desk. "Thank you for coming by, Chloe."

She looked wrong footed, off balance, at his brush off, no matter how politely he'd said it. Lex walked to the doors of the study, opened them, and waited for her to follow. It took a few seconds, but she did. However, right when she was about to pass through the doors and allow him to shut them behind her, she stopped.

Turning to look at him, she said, "Grow a pair and confess. We both know Clark has problems with big, friendship-ending secrets. He won't do it. And once you two are sickeningly sweet together? You'd better treat him well or else every single person who's ever met him is going to come after you like a witch hunt. Including me, Lana, and Mrs. Kent."

That was, honestly, a terrifying threat.

Lex smiled genially. "Have a safe drive home."

…

Clark was in the loft, as expected, lying on the couch, eyes out the window, facing away from the stairs. Lex stood there, waiting, but though he knew Clark had heard him coming, Clark didn't say a word. The cold shoulder. He was still angry.

"I'm sorry."

Clark tilted his head slightly toward the noise. "What for?"

Lifting his arms slightly, then dropping them, Lex moved to stand opposite the table from Clark. "I've asked for, sometimes even demanded, honesty from you but kept secrets myself. I lied about what happened in the caves."

Now Clark looked at him full on, though without getting up. "And?"

Lex sighed. As the ancient Greek heroes, here he was to kill his hydra, to sacrifice of himself for the greater good. His most prominent secret in exchange for Clark's trust, friendship, and maybe even love.

"Well, the cave walls now have a few scorch marks decorating them alongside the old Kawatche art," Lex said, doing his best to sound aloof. Clark sat up. "—because a bit of kissing apparently does it for you. Well, a lot of kissing. Quite a lot, if I'm meant to be completely honest."

Despite Chloe's insinuations to the contrary, Clark did not look pleased at this news. His face was pale and gaunt. He hid his face in his hands. Lex refused to cross his arms over his chest defensively. To do so would be a sign of weakness.

"Oh, God, Lex, I'm so sorry," Clark said, anguished. "Chloe said I was free with my gifts. I-Did I hurt you?"

Clark thought he'd overpowered Lex. He thought he'd initiated the physical encounter. He thought Lex hadn't wanted it. Which meant Clark, with his memories intact, had thought of doing exactly that – minus the unwilling partner, no doubt.

That was perhaps the best news Lex had heard all month.

"Clark, look at me."

Slowly, as if it were the last thing he wanted, Clark looked up at him.

Lex let his lips curve up. "Now is likely a good time to admit that I've probably been in love with you since my extended stay on a remote island left me a divorcee twice over, maybe even longer than that." His smile increased as Clark's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. "And I'm relatively certain you aren't just waiting around to kill me after the wedding, so I'm more than okay with showing some passion."

"Lex." The word was strangled, and Clark's grip on the couch cushions was tight.

"In the interest of honesty," Lex continued. "I had you pinned to a wall, not the other way around. But I thought I'd taken advantage, given your situation, so I backed off."

Suddenly Lex found himself leaning back against Clark's desk, the various knick knacks strewn across its surface tumbling out of the way as Lex tilted back into their space. Clark had his hands around Lex, keeping him from falling over, his body crowded up against Lex's. A beaming smile lit his face.

"I guess I shouldn't have worried," Lex said around a laugh.

"The fact that you did just proves you're a good person," Clark said. "Which just makes me love you even more."

While Lex's head and heart suffered a sudden system crash and had to reboot – and computer tech had never been Lex's forte – Clark leaned slowly in to get his first taste of Alexander Luthor, billionaire scion.

…

Sometime later, Clark and Lex were lounging on the couch together, bodies pressed close. Lex lazily let his fingers touch Clark's arm, his chest, his cheek, his hair, in a way he never would've thought possible. Somehow, despite Lex's Luthor blood, he'd found everything he ever wanted. Lying there wrapped up in Clark, Lex was one hundred percent certain that there was nothing the two of them couldn't do together. Love completely. Build a life. Save the world. Create the future.

"Lex," Clark said into the silence. "I need to tell you something."

Running his fingers through Clark's hair, Lex made a humming noise of question.

Then Clark explained how he'd gotten another message from his father about a day after regaining his memories. Jor-El had explained that the Kryptonian stones they kept finding were the Stones of Power. The one Lex had found in Egypt was the Stone of Fire. The one Clark had acquired as Lionel Luthor in prison was the Stone of Water. If they found the Stone of Air, the three would combine into the Stone of Knowledge.

"He said that if a human gets hold of the Stone of Knowledge, it could mean the end of the world," Clark explained. "He said it was meant for me, and me alone."

Lex hummed. "Then we'd best not let anyone get it other than you. We have to find that last stone."

Scratching his cheek, Clark said, "Yeah. Jor-El sort of…imprinted a map in my brain on where to find it."

He pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and showed Lex the image. It appeared to be a river that split down two separate paths halfway through the page, with mountains, a few trees, and a building, perhaps a temple, marked around it.

"I don't really understand it yet, but I know where to start looking," Clark said.

Already feeling a surge of adrenaline from just the idea of the race for the stone, and the knowledge that Clark had come to Lex with this before telling anyone else, Lex asked, "Where? I'll charter a jet tonight."

A cautious but excited smile began to crawl across Clark's face. "China."

…

fin.

…

This fic contains plot and scene details from, by season:

Leech (1x12), and allusions to the meteor mutants thereafter,

Vortex (2x01), Heat (2x02), Duplicity (2x03), Red (2x04), Skinwalker (2x10), Insurgence (2x12), Suspect (2x13), Prodigal (2x15), Rosetta (2x17), Exodus (2x23)

Phoenix (3x02), Extinction (3x03), Shattered (3x08), Whisper (3x10), references to Delete (3x11), Truth (3x18), Forsaken (3x21)

Crusade (4x01), Transference (4x06), and Blank (4x19), with a slight backtrack to Sacred (4x15) at the end.

My beta needed a refresher course on these episodes (or explanation entirely, for eps she'd never seen), so I made her a "Reader's Guide." It includes episode summaries (written by yours truly), explanations on the Stones of Power, and brief character summaries of side characters mentioned within the body of this fic.

If you would like to read it, I've included it as chapter 2 of this work. If not, the story ends here and thank you for reading!