Cleavage
By Phalanx Dragon
Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville or any of the characters portrayed within it (as much as I would love to). I am, however, the real Batman.
A/N: I started writing
this around November in Econ class… I think. Most of the story was
written, however, in Environmental Biology, Calc II, and Senior
English. Not sure where the idea came from, but I'm quite pleased
with it. This does contain slash, and this will be your only warning
(though if you don't figure it out quickly I will worry about your
ability to function), so no complaints. Flames and shit will be used
for some type of human interest study I find myself among in college.
Cat Paws. Enjoy.
I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naïve,
I'm just out to find
The better part of me.
Superman Five For Fighting
Clark was usually quite sure of himself. He knew his nature quite well, in the psychological sense anyway. He might not have understood exactly what he was, but at least he knew who he was. What exactly does this have to with cleavage? Well, let's just say that Clark had been thrown for a loop. He used to be able to honestly say that the thought or sight of cleavage made him happy. Not so anymore. Of course, he may only have been happy before because he was attempting to be a 'normal' human boy, which involved being straight. This, however, was not on his mind. So when he looked up from his book while sitting at a booth seat in the Talon and saw down the shirt of a bending-over Lana, Clark was worried to find it no longer mattered and returned promptly to his book.
Clark could also do many things that seemed unusual for normal people. Clark liked to attribute, and sometimes blame, his "alien hood" for these things. One of these abilities was being able to stop a bullet with his bare hands… another, slightly less significant ability, was being able to accurately feign reading a book while deep in thought. The latter was what he was displaying on the lonely Friday night at the local café. Pete and Chloe had opted to go see a new horror movie that had just come out. Something about aliens invading Earth; which immediately turned Clark off from the movie. Instead, he went to the local bookstore, bought a down-priced book for three and a half bucks, and headed to the Talon.
Now don't get the wrong idea, the bit of the book that Clark had actually read was good, but he had other, more important, things on his mind. It seemed lately that nothing could really excite him, and this was expressed in a purely sexual way. Clark knew he was different from humans in many ways, but he had assumed that even he would have the normal libido of a teenager. He used to think that, if they weren't better friend material than lover material, he'd be able to get off on Lana, or even Chloe. Then he'd tried… and nothing had happened.
Clark was so absorbed in his thoughts that he never noticed the door to the Talon open to let in a person and a gust of warm summer air. He never noticed when silvery eyes, after glancing around the Talon, fell on him. He never noticed the small, rare smile that passed over a very attractive mouth. He never noticed the heavy click of Armani shoes that approached his table, or the squeak of vinyl and puff of air as the light man sat down across from him. He did notice, however, when a warm, soft hand landed on his wrist and turned it lightly so the other man could read the title of the cheap book. Clark had jumped when the hand rested on his, and looked sharply up into Lex's eyes.
The bald man's sensual lips flickered into a tiny smile and a short chuckle escaped them.
"Is it that good of a book?"
Words eluded Clark for nearly half a minute, as he got lost in Lex's eyes and the words absorbed into his mind, slowly taking on meaning. Falling back on his default reaction, Clark let loose a wide, disarming smile.
"It's alright." He said with a shrug.
An eyebrow rose, "It's a Friday night, Clark. I'd assumed you'd be with your friends." Lex thought there was no need for Clark to know that he had come to the Talon with the sole purpose of hoping he would be there.
"Yeah, well, the movie didn't really appeal to me very much."
There was a short awkward silence in which Clark folded the corner of his page and set the book down. Lex though desperately for something to say that would lead them to stay together longer. What would Clark want to do?
"I've got the Lamborghini." A slight pause to watch Clark's blue eyes light up, "Wanna go for a spin?"
"Can I drive?"
"No."
Clark grinned ruefully and shrugged, "It was worth a shot." Giving his cup of half-full, lukewarm coffee an examining leer, Clark decided to abandon it, and stood up excitedly. His eyes met Lex's.
"Well, what are we waiting for?"
Ten minutes and twenty miles later, Clark was gripping the door handle, while trying not to rip it off the doorframe.
"Lex!" he yelled frantically, "I don't want to die!"
Lex laughed, almost entranced by the look on Clark's face, and let off the accelerator. He allowed the car to coast while slowing down. After leveling off around fifty mph, Lex grinned at Clark, trying to remember the last time he had this much fun driving a car. See, the novelty of fast cars wore off pretty quick when you'd been around them for your whole life.
"What? I thought you wanted to go fast?" This was said with an impish grin that Lex never thought he'd express.
Clark looked at him incredulously, "To an extent!" he exclaimed.
Clark relaxed, displacing his right arm from the door handle after subtly smoothing out the finger impressions and returning it to his thigh, missing the gaze from his left that followed it.
Lex returned his sight to the long black stretch in front of him and swallowed hard. His smile began to fade as his thoughts deepened. He had known Clark for almost three years now, and it had only been a couple of months since he had realized he was in love with the eighteen-year-old. When he first recognized the feelings, Clark had still been underage. This, of course, created an internal conflict inside of Lex. He wanted Clark, to love him, to be with him… all that sappy stuff he never allowed or imagined with his previous lovers, but couldn't comprehend not wanting with Clark.
'This sucks,' he thought, 'Even if he is gay, which is unlikely, there's the age issue, not to mention he's always implying that I'm like the brother he never had. Brothers don't have sex… usually.'
Lex jumped as a sudden large hand rested on his knee. He looked up the arm to Clark's worried visage.
"Are you all right?" Clark asked, "You got quiet all of the sudden."
Lex shook his head and brought up the one topic that he thought could distract the other man, "Never mind. How's it going in the Lana department?"
Instead of the wide grin he'd been expecting, Lex was rather surprised when Clark cringed and looked away, pulling the warm hand back into his own lap. Lex frowned with worry.
"Did she turn you down again?" Lex asked carefully at the risk of sounding exasperated.
"No." Clark responded hesitantly, "It's not her. I-I haven't asked her, well, talked to her really, in a long time."
Lex was confused and a little hopeful, though to his credit, he did feel a little guilty about that. He tried not to look happy, "Why not?"
The question was a simple one, yet very difficult to answer. Clark stared ahead as he wondered how to reply to Lex's inquiry. He shifted and Lex reached down to turn off the softly-playing radio that they'd simply been ignoring the whole time.
"What is it, Clark?" Lex asked, desperate to know, "You can trust me… you know that, don't you?"
Clark looked over and met Lex's intense gaze, "I know."
There was no hesitation in the response, but a long pause followed it. Just when Lex was sure Clark was going to drop the subject, he suddenly blurted it out.
"I think I'm gay."
Lex jerked in shock and surprise, nearly running them right into the path of an oncoming semi. He avoided Clark's calculating and a little embarrassed gaze until he had the car under control. After a second, Lex resumed the conversation.
"And what makes you think that?" Lex cursed himself when his voice came out a little hoarse, and cleared his throat while waiting for an answer.
A pause, then, "Cleavage."
"…cleavage?"
Clark looked almost helplessly at Lex; "It doesn't do anything for me anymore."
Lex blinked, suddenly battling the idea of whether to laugh or not. He went with not for Clark's sake. He wanted to be hopeful, he really did, he was just too doubtful about whether Clark was interested in him or not. He hit the brakes and turned quite sharply onto a back gravel road that they had almost passed already.
"Lex?" Clark sounded worried while gripping the door handle to keep himself in his seat.
"I don't think this is the right place for such a conversation."
Clark nodded and sat quietly back in his seat, watching row after row of corn fly by in a turbulent silence.
'What if he's phobic?' Clark thought anxiously, 'What if he never wants to speak with me again? What if he gets drunk and tries to beat me up?' Clark paused and blinked, and then berated himself, 'ok, that's a bit of a stretch-'
"I don't hate you," Lex said abruptly with a nervous twang to his voice that Clark had never heard before, "I'm sorry, I-I know it must've sounded like that, but I promise you," Lex glanced over to look into Clark's eyes, "this doesn't disgust me or anything."
Even though Lex was the one driving, Clark was the first to break away from the intense eye contact, horrified to find his body reacting to Lex's words and gaze. He blushed furiously as he looked out the window.
By the time the Lamborghini pulled into the empty space in Lex's car-filled garage, the blush had been replaced with a twitchy anxiety. Even with Lex's admittance, Clark was still nervous as hell. The walk up to Lex's study was silent. Lex struggled to keep his face neutral in spite of the myriad of emotions running through him. Once through the door to his study, a fire already crackling merrily in the fireplace, Lex instinctively started heading for the liquor cabinet. He stopped himself short, 'No, not the time to be drinking.'
His instead directed himself towards the couch and flopped down on it, cursing his indecision. He looked back up to Clark, who still stood warily at the door. Lex gestured to join him on the couch.
"I don't bite, Clark."
Even with his confident tone, Lex found himself terrified to know the truth and out of his mind hoping there was a chance between the two of them. Clark sat down at that perfect distance. Not so far as to seem insulting and not too close as to seem overtly interested. Since this told Lex nothing, he became even more worried. Lex leaned back and simply looked at Clark, examining the other man's beautiful profile, his wavy hair resting lightly against his brow.
Clark looked over at that very moment, and Lex had to fight the urge to avert his eyes. Although he managed to quell that urge, he couldn't stop the blush that crept into his cheeks.
Despite the somber mood he'd been portraying, Clark couldn't keep a small smile at bay when he saw Lex blushing. There just shouldn't be things that adorable, and to see it on a man normally as cold as ice was very cute.
Lex frowned mockingly, "Are you laughing at me?" To Lex's frustration, the blush remained.
Clark nodded, "Yes, Lex, I am." He tried to keep the laugh in, and managed to let out a snort in its place, sending him into hysterics. A surprised Lex could help but follow, though to a lesser extent.
Five minutes later found Lex sprawled on the cough and Clark lying on the floor, looking up at the ceiling with one hand on him stomach, trying to quell the pain. Occasionally, a small laugh would escape one of them and they would burst into giggles again. Clark finally finished the hilarity with a loud sigh.
"Thanks. I needed that."
There was a pause, then wistfully: "Me too."
Clark looked over to see Lex gazing down at him with an eyebrow raised.
"Are you feeling
better about it now?"
Clark's brow furrowed and he raised
himself up on one elbow, "About what?"
Lex rolled his eyes, "Being gay!"
"Oh," Clark allowed his arm to collapse, sending him to the ground with a thud and a sigh.
Lex watched him worriedly, "There's nothing wrong with it, you know, being gay."
Clark closed his eyes, simply listening to Lex's voice.
"You've been to Metropolis, haven't you?" Clark nodded.
"Have you been to the gay community there?" Clark furrowed his brow and shook his head without opening his eyes. Lex continued, "You'd be amazed at the amount of gays in that town. And the nightlife is incredible!" He let out a short chuckle, staring into space as he spoke, "I went to a drag club once. Now that was an experience. Some of the performers I couldn't believe were guys, and others I'm sure were just for laughs. The number of gay bars is tremendous, and everyone seems to be having such a good time. There's none of that gay drama you always see or hear about on those TV shows…"
Lex trailed off and looked down at Clark, only to see him looking up at Lex with a confused wonderment on his face.
"Lex?" he asked, "Are you trying to tell me something?"
Lex sighed, "I don't think you got the point of that whole spiel there."
Clark smiled and sat up so he and Lex were at eye level, "No, I understand. And thank you. I- I don't think I really accepted it before, and it'll still be a while before I'm used to the idea. It's just one more thing that makes me different from everyone else…"
"Clark, you're not that different. You've proven that today. If you weren't worried or confused about this, then I wouldn't be so sure, but everyone has issues that make them unsure of themselves. It's only human." He paused, "Oh, and yes I was."
Clark frowned, "What?"
"I was answering your earlier question."
Lex met Clark's eyes as the younger mulled over that. Clark, following his previous trend, was confused.
"You're gay then? But what about Helen?"
Lex smiled, "I'm bi. Let's just say that I appreciate beauty in all its forms."
"Why didn't you just say that to begin with? It would've made this all a lot easier."
"And miss all of this? Never! Plus, I didn't want to seem too aggressive or anything." He paused, deliberating his next words, "I care about you far too much."
Clark's gaze intensified, and Lex was ecstatic to see a flicker of hope and something close to lust in his eyes. Clark, realizing what he was doing, blushed and looked away.
"Clark…" The huskiness of Lex's voice surprised them both, causing Clark to look back towards him.
Clark could feel his heart beating erratically and was sure Lex could hear it. He leaned almost imperceptibly towards the older man, then hesitated. Lex suddenly reached over to hook his hand behind Clark's head, burying his fingers into Clark's thick hair, and pulled him forward.
Clark's eyes met with Lex's, then flickered shut. Clark's heart seemed to hurt with pleasure when their lips finally met. A whimper left Lex's throat and Clark moaned at the sound. A feral feeling came over Clark and he swung himself onto the couch, straddling Lex and looking down at him with a wild look on his face.
Lex was surprised, not expecting Clark to take the initiative, but he'd be lying if he said the domineering look on Clark's face wasn't turning him on. Lex's eyes closed as Clark's mouth met his once again and Lex arced his back to grind their pelvises together, making them both moan at the feeling. Clark found his hands busily undoing the other man's shirt button and his mouth focused its attention to Lex's pale throat. Lex's head fell back and his heart beat raced. Clark smiled as he felt the erratic tattoo of the bald man's jugular against his lips. He had licked and nipped his way down to Lex's collar bone when a loud banging filtered into his mind. He paused, confused and angry at anything that would take up HIS time with such an important man. A growl escaped his lips as he glared at the intruder, a mousy looking young intern with a surprised look on her face and her mouth open as though she had something important to say.
"M-mister Luthor?" She managed to squeak out.
Clark's growl and glare intensified until Lex's hand on his shoulder stayed him.
"Yes, Ms. Aviles?"
She stuttered her way through another sentence, "There's a call for you on line one." After she was through, she backed away slightly, still scared of Clark's death glare.
"Thank you." As soon as the words left his mouth, the girl disappeared, to Clark's great pleasure.
He dove back down to lick at a mark he had already left on Lex's neck, but Lex stopped him.
"I should at least see who needs my attention…" Lex's voice directed at him seemed to finally pull Clark out of his lust-induced state and he blinked down at the bald man, then blushed and allowed Lex to sit up.
"Sorry." Clark said, embarrassed he'd become so possessive of the other man in such a short time.
"Not at all. I find it flattering," With an amused smile, Lex reached over to pick up the phone, hit a button and stated quite coolly, "Luthor speaking."
There was a pause as Clark watched amusement, irritation, and resignation pass over the smaller man's delicate features.
"Yes. Of course, Mr. Kent, I'll drive him home at once."
Clark cringed and glanced at the clock, seeing it was two hours past the time he had told his parents he was going to be home. When he looked back, Lex had hung up the phone and was looking at Clark while re-buttoning his shirt.
"Playtime's over." He sighed, "C'mon, I'd better get you home before your dad gives himself a hernia."
Clark gave a small smile, "He'll accept you eventually," At Lex's dubious look, he amended his statement, "Or at least tolerate you. I'll make sure of that." He leaned over and gave Lex a small, chaste kiss. When he retreated, a demurral look flickered over his face. "What does this make us?"
Lex looked at him, "What do you want us to be?"
The troubled look didn't leave Clark's eyes, "I don't want this to be just me. I want to know what you want too." He paused, "Does this make us boyfriends? Would you want that?"
Surprised that anyone would ask him what he wanted, Lex nodded with a trace of tears in the corners of his eyes, "I would love that."
Clark smiled, "Me too." He stood up, "Now how 'bout that ride home? Wouldn't want my parents thinking you raped me or anything."
"You'd like it" Lex quipped before grabbing the keys to his Lexus (Ironic huh?) and walking towards the door.
Clark stopped short in the middle of his stretch and paused, "You're probably right." He said with an amused grin. The sound of Lex's chuckle drifted back to him and he jogged to catch up.
The walk down to the garage and the drive to Clark's home was done is a comfortable silence with the two holding hands the entire time. Lex parked in Clark's driveway facing away from the house and, making sure that neither of the younger man's parents were in sight, leaned over to kiss him lightly. Clark smiled.
"Are you busy tomorrow?"
"Not too busy for you to come over."
Clark nodded, "I think we've been overdue for a long talk then." He looked at Lex through thick lashes, "I've got some things that I need to tell you, but I'm not sure how you'll react."
Lex, sensing his uncertainty, smiled comfortingly and raised a hand to cup his cheek. "Whatever it is, it won't change what I feel for you." He stopped for a second to examine Clark's brilliant green eyes, then, against all his training, laid himself out for the other. "I love you, Clark."
Clark nearly cried with pleasure and smiled widely, "I love you too, Lex." He leaned forward so their foreheads rested against each other, "Thank you… for caring."
Lex just smiled and kissed him again, "I'll see you tomorrow then?"
Clark nodded, opened his door, and reluctantly stepped out into the humid, hay-scented air. He closed the door to the Lexus gently and watched as his newfound boyfriend drove off. With a feeling of completion about him, Clark looked up at his small-town home where his parents were standing on the porch, hand-in-hand, with looks of pride, love, and acceptance on their faces, albeit one was a little reluctant. For once in his life, Clark felt like he belonged.
Well, it's not so bad, ya'll
Together we all fall
Just as long as we get up,
We'll stand tall.
We shouldn't waste another day
Thinking 'bout the things
That we forgot to say.
No Giving UpCrossfade
A/N: If I could grin smugly on here, I would… I'll settle for . I'm quite pleased with how this turned out, considering I haven't really written anything of substance for a long time. A review would be appreciated, but I won't lower myself and beg for it. I hope you enjoyed it.
Phalanx Dragon
