CLARK P.O.V
Something weird happened today - weirder than normal, which given my life in Smallville, makes it pretty weird. I was walking past the Beanery, looked in through the window to check out who was there - even though the Talon is popular, there are still a few die-hard caffeine freaks, one of whom was in a booth, waving her hands, and talking in that high-octane way she has. No surprise there - then I saw who was with her. No mistaking that head for anyone else. Lex patronising the opposition? Then I saw his face. Chin in hand, he was smiling at Chloe. Really smiling, not the trademark Lex smirk. I recognized the expression - heck, I get it on my own face enough, mostly when Lana's around. My first thought was "what the hell?..." My second was that when, if Pete saw that smile, it wasn't going to take any Nicodemus flower to set him off.
Pete's had a thing for Chloe for years. I can kind of see it. I mean, Chloe's really pretty, in a mess-with-me-and-I'll-kick-your-ass kind of way, impressive for someone that short. I know that she likes me (I'm a dumb farmboy, sure, but not that dumb) but I dunno, it would be like kissing my sister. Last week, when she wanted me to ask her to the Prom, I couldn't do it, and she saw it in my face, I know. I just took off to save Lex and Ryan. I don't feel responsible for Chloe like I do for Lana. Everytime I see those sad, dark eyes, I think "I did that" and I'd do anything to make up for it.
I suppose I feel responsible for Lex, too. I pulled him out of that mobile deathtrap he hit me with (and how weird was that?) So if he goes on to be a world-dominating psychopath it'll be kinda my fault. I know people think our friendship is whacked (and I've heard some other stupid stories, too - as I said, dumb, but not that dumb - I mean, I like girls a lot, and so does Lex. We've had some, um, guy talks) but he needs a friend. People see this rich guy, running a company, but he's not much older than us, not really one of the adults. And for all his bad-boy past, how much can someone fuck up by their twenties? (Uh, sorry - he has had a bad effect on my mouth) I know other people think he's in charge, and there's a hero-worship thing going on, but it's not that. I feel responsible for him - I've seen him vulnerable, little-boy-lost. After that Level III incident when my folks got all..schmoopy, Chloe would say, I saw his face. All the money in the world wouldn't sort that out. So, if I can make him happier, maybe he won't turn out like his father. Still, that goofy smile is really worrying me.
CHLOE P.O.V
Just your usual Friday night in Smallville; I'd put the paper to bed, and gone to the Beanery for a late night latte fix before my dad picked me up when he got off shift. I know the Talon has become the in-place now, but some of us still have some loyalty, you know? Besides, drinking coffee fixed by Lana Lang makes me want to puke. This isn't a green-eyed rant, this is the considered opinion of a caffeine expert. Also, I'd have to watch Clark grinning goofily at her, which also makes me want to puke. I don't hate her the way I used to, but that is not something I need at the end of a long week. At any time. So, I make my way to my usual booth, and there is someone in it. Not good - everyone knows that is my booth on a Friday night - well, all the loners with nowhere else to go. This one is not your usual run-of-the-mill loner - the suit is way too nice. He doesn't see me coming, which is how I see that Lex Luthor is reading a comic book. It's not even one of those bizarro Japanese things, with people doing weird things with their bodies - do not ask me how I know about this stuff. It was a brightly coloured superhero all-American thing. I would have expected the bizarro Japanese manga.
LEX P.O.V
I got busted today. Not legal, Daddy's-money-paying-off-the-cops busted. Sheer gut-wrenching embarrassed busted, and it was the best thing to happen in this cow town since...since I walked into the Torch office first time round? Since trading quips over an interview that I had to convince Clark it was his idea to talk me into? Since I turned into a pathetic wreck of a human being skulking in the same damn booth every Friday waiting for her to show up? I'm drinking coffee in a competitor's business, for Chrissakes! I'm still a bit shaky after being bounced out of my own damn limo last week, that's the nearest thing to an excuse I can come up with. It was getting late, and I figured she wasn't coming this evening, so...and this is so sad, I went and sat in her usual seat. And I began to reacquaint myself with an old classic.
That kid, Ryan, that the Kents took in, made me nervous. He looked at me like he knew exactly what I was thinking - which turned out to be the case. I had people watching him - someday, that kind of talent could be really useful in business. He was going to college...Still, it was strange to remember that I once had a little brother, too. It pulled something up from the depths which I really didn't want to deal with right now. Smallville was making me soft. But I'd turned down Metropolis to stay here. I'd quipped to Clark that he was the little brother I never had. Watching him be the big brother was odd, even more so when I realised that he looked at me the same way sometimes when he thought I wasn't looking. Rueful and amused. The farmboy has hidden depths, and quite a few secrets, which I intend to find out. But this evening, I was just tired and a bit nostalgic, so I'd dug out a copy of "Warrior Angel". I really did love that as a kid - who wouldn't? Plus, as I told the kid, he was bald. So I was a world away, when a snort of laughter told me I was no longer alone. I was busted.
"Lex Luthor, comic geek?"
"It's a classic." I said, feebly.
CHLOE
I notice that he looks a bit more worn than usual.
"I hear you turned down a chance to go back to Metropolis."
He looks almost startled for a fleeting second.
"Did Clark tell you?"
"No...my father. Clark and I...are kind of on the outs at the moment."
LEX
At some point soon, Clark is going to fathom out why I keep trying to hook him up with his cheerleader. Hopefully, this event will happen before he realises that his 'best friend' with a crush the size of Kansas is a gorgeous, talented breath-taking woman. I remember being a teenager - most of it anyway; I went through some...wild patches - and now I'm having flashbacks. Maybe the crush will burn itself out...and maybe there are alien superheroes. Get a grip, Lex.
"Clark is an idiot."
And that would be my voice. Okay. Very suave.
Chloe raises both eyebrows, grins sadistically.
"And would you care to qualify that statement, Mr. Luthor?"
CHLOE
We've all been a little off with each other since the Nicodemus thing. Pete doesn't remember much, though he was really knocked sideways at pulling a gun on Lex Luthor. I've never told him the earlier part, but I look at him differently now. He's quiet, but there's a lot of deep thought going on. Our little triad is no longer so secure. And Clark - I'm just majorly pissed with Clark. And myself. All but threw myself at him to get him to ask me to the Prom, and - stonewall. Heck, I'm a journalist, I know when I'm being BS'd. He is never going to look at me like he looks at Miss Perfect. So the three of us are little cool with each other - stuff is starting to surface that could pull our friendship apart, and it's not like I have that many friends anyway. One of the biggest complications is sitting opposite me now, looking amazingly guilty and unsure for a spoilt rich boy. Maybe he has got Japanese porn in the covers of that thing. And I think he just criticized Clark.
LEX
Clark is an idiot. He babbled the whole thing to me over a game of pool, and I nearly broke my cue over his head. Chloe Sullivan picked out a pink dress for this guy and admitted to it. Part of me wonders what the dress looks like - observing Chloe's usual dress sense, I would say bohemian, probably with white roses in her hair. White roses and Chloe. Another part of my mind does a guy thing at this point and goes 'American Beauty' on me. Chloe sits down opposite me, combat face on, and says,
"Why would anybody whose brain has not been fried by meteors turn down a chance to go back to Metropolis?"
And I'm off the hook on the Clark bashing.
I miss Metropolis - I definitely miss a whole different side of it to Chloe - but we have landmarks in common. I laugh when she confesses to the 'Daily Planet' offices, stop laughing when she mentions the Luthercorp tower, and twitch when she grins and asks about the comic store by the Park. I find myself telling her about the old movie theatre where I used to hang out instead of going to lectures at Met.U. Her face lights up. I knew this woman was special - she can match me for movie trivia. We're halfway through a game of "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon", and I'm watching her mouth, when I realise that we have an audience.
CHLOE
I've been talking to Lex for over an hour. I stopped thinking 'Mr Luthor' quite while back, probably after he dissed John Hughes. It took profuse apologies and another latte to patch that one. This isn't an interview, it's just...conversation. The kind of aimless bicker that I share, used to share, with Pete and Clark. However, he's rich, so I let him pay for the coffee. I'm beginning to see a little of what Clark sees in him now, I think - I mean, I know a lot about the 'crap factory' - Dad says that Lex has made quite a difference to the place. For all the rich playboy pose, he puts in the hours. And he's clever. And good looking...okay, where did that thought come from? Anyway, I've always been a bit more ambivalent than most - he is my dad's boss, for a start. We're both city people in exile. And he has the most amazing blue-grey eyes... that brings my train of thought crashing into the buffers, mental Slamtrak, and I become aware of a presence at my shoulder.
CLARK
Lex sees me coming before Chloe does. Things have been a little strained between us the last few days - all the buried feelings a little less buried. Still, I'm halfway across the coffee shop before I consider why I'm so freaked. After all, this is my good friend Lex talking to my good friend Chloe.
"Hi, guys, what's up?"
Chloe looks startled, and a little of something else I can't define, before she gives her usual grin. And Lex's smile somehow shifts.
"Clark. I thought you would be at the Talon."
"I was just on my way there."
"Well, since Miss Sullivan's lift is here, I'll join you."
Sure enough, Mr. Sullivan is waving through the window. And I wouldn't have thought any more about it, except for the way that Lex held Chloe's coat for her.
Something weird happened today - weirder than normal, which given my life in Smallville, makes it pretty weird. I was walking past the Beanery, looked in through the window to check out who was there - even though the Talon is popular, there are still a few die-hard caffeine freaks, one of whom was in a booth, waving her hands, and talking in that high-octane way she has. No surprise there - then I saw who was with her. No mistaking that head for anyone else. Lex patronising the opposition? Then I saw his face. Chin in hand, he was smiling at Chloe. Really smiling, not the trademark Lex smirk. I recognized the expression - heck, I get it on my own face enough, mostly when Lana's around. My first thought was "what the hell?..." My second was that when, if Pete saw that smile, it wasn't going to take any Nicodemus flower to set him off.
Pete's had a thing for Chloe for years. I can kind of see it. I mean, Chloe's really pretty, in a mess-with-me-and-I'll-kick-your-ass kind of way, impressive for someone that short. I know that she likes me (I'm a dumb farmboy, sure, but not that dumb) but I dunno, it would be like kissing my sister. Last week, when she wanted me to ask her to the Prom, I couldn't do it, and she saw it in my face, I know. I just took off to save Lex and Ryan. I don't feel responsible for Chloe like I do for Lana. Everytime I see those sad, dark eyes, I think "I did that" and I'd do anything to make up for it.
I suppose I feel responsible for Lex, too. I pulled him out of that mobile deathtrap he hit me with (and how weird was that?) So if he goes on to be a world-dominating psychopath it'll be kinda my fault. I know people think our friendship is whacked (and I've heard some other stupid stories, too - as I said, dumb, but not that dumb - I mean, I like girls a lot, and so does Lex. We've had some, um, guy talks) but he needs a friend. People see this rich guy, running a company, but he's not much older than us, not really one of the adults. And for all his bad-boy past, how much can someone fuck up by their twenties? (Uh, sorry - he has had a bad effect on my mouth) I know other people think he's in charge, and there's a hero-worship thing going on, but it's not that. I feel responsible for him - I've seen him vulnerable, little-boy-lost. After that Level III incident when my folks got all..schmoopy, Chloe would say, I saw his face. All the money in the world wouldn't sort that out. So, if I can make him happier, maybe he won't turn out like his father. Still, that goofy smile is really worrying me.
CHLOE P.O.V
Just your usual Friday night in Smallville; I'd put the paper to bed, and gone to the Beanery for a late night latte fix before my dad picked me up when he got off shift. I know the Talon has become the in-place now, but some of us still have some loyalty, you know? Besides, drinking coffee fixed by Lana Lang makes me want to puke. This isn't a green-eyed rant, this is the considered opinion of a caffeine expert. Also, I'd have to watch Clark grinning goofily at her, which also makes me want to puke. I don't hate her the way I used to, but that is not something I need at the end of a long week. At any time. So, I make my way to my usual booth, and there is someone in it. Not good - everyone knows that is my booth on a Friday night - well, all the loners with nowhere else to go. This one is not your usual run-of-the-mill loner - the suit is way too nice. He doesn't see me coming, which is how I see that Lex Luthor is reading a comic book. It's not even one of those bizarro Japanese things, with people doing weird things with their bodies - do not ask me how I know about this stuff. It was a brightly coloured superhero all-American thing. I would have expected the bizarro Japanese manga.
LEX P.O.V
I got busted today. Not legal, Daddy's-money-paying-off-the-cops busted. Sheer gut-wrenching embarrassed busted, and it was the best thing to happen in this cow town since...since I walked into the Torch office first time round? Since trading quips over an interview that I had to convince Clark it was his idea to talk me into? Since I turned into a pathetic wreck of a human being skulking in the same damn booth every Friday waiting for her to show up? I'm drinking coffee in a competitor's business, for Chrissakes! I'm still a bit shaky after being bounced out of my own damn limo last week, that's the nearest thing to an excuse I can come up with. It was getting late, and I figured she wasn't coming this evening, so...and this is so sad, I went and sat in her usual seat. And I began to reacquaint myself with an old classic.
That kid, Ryan, that the Kents took in, made me nervous. He looked at me like he knew exactly what I was thinking - which turned out to be the case. I had people watching him - someday, that kind of talent could be really useful in business. He was going to college...Still, it was strange to remember that I once had a little brother, too. It pulled something up from the depths which I really didn't want to deal with right now. Smallville was making me soft. But I'd turned down Metropolis to stay here. I'd quipped to Clark that he was the little brother I never had. Watching him be the big brother was odd, even more so when I realised that he looked at me the same way sometimes when he thought I wasn't looking. Rueful and amused. The farmboy has hidden depths, and quite a few secrets, which I intend to find out. But this evening, I was just tired and a bit nostalgic, so I'd dug out a copy of "Warrior Angel". I really did love that as a kid - who wouldn't? Plus, as I told the kid, he was bald. So I was a world away, when a snort of laughter told me I was no longer alone. I was busted.
"Lex Luthor, comic geek?"
"It's a classic." I said, feebly.
CHLOE
I notice that he looks a bit more worn than usual.
"I hear you turned down a chance to go back to Metropolis."
He looks almost startled for a fleeting second.
"Did Clark tell you?"
"No...my father. Clark and I...are kind of on the outs at the moment."
LEX
At some point soon, Clark is going to fathom out why I keep trying to hook him up with his cheerleader. Hopefully, this event will happen before he realises that his 'best friend' with a crush the size of Kansas is a gorgeous, talented breath-taking woman. I remember being a teenager - most of it anyway; I went through some...wild patches - and now I'm having flashbacks. Maybe the crush will burn itself out...and maybe there are alien superheroes. Get a grip, Lex.
"Clark is an idiot."
And that would be my voice. Okay. Very suave.
Chloe raises both eyebrows, grins sadistically.
"And would you care to qualify that statement, Mr. Luthor?"
CHLOE
We've all been a little off with each other since the Nicodemus thing. Pete doesn't remember much, though he was really knocked sideways at pulling a gun on Lex Luthor. I've never told him the earlier part, but I look at him differently now. He's quiet, but there's a lot of deep thought going on. Our little triad is no longer so secure. And Clark - I'm just majorly pissed with Clark. And myself. All but threw myself at him to get him to ask me to the Prom, and - stonewall. Heck, I'm a journalist, I know when I'm being BS'd. He is never going to look at me like he looks at Miss Perfect. So the three of us are little cool with each other - stuff is starting to surface that could pull our friendship apart, and it's not like I have that many friends anyway. One of the biggest complications is sitting opposite me now, looking amazingly guilty and unsure for a spoilt rich boy. Maybe he has got Japanese porn in the covers of that thing. And I think he just criticized Clark.
LEX
Clark is an idiot. He babbled the whole thing to me over a game of pool, and I nearly broke my cue over his head. Chloe Sullivan picked out a pink dress for this guy and admitted to it. Part of me wonders what the dress looks like - observing Chloe's usual dress sense, I would say bohemian, probably with white roses in her hair. White roses and Chloe. Another part of my mind does a guy thing at this point and goes 'American Beauty' on me. Chloe sits down opposite me, combat face on, and says,
"Why would anybody whose brain has not been fried by meteors turn down a chance to go back to Metropolis?"
And I'm off the hook on the Clark bashing.
I miss Metropolis - I definitely miss a whole different side of it to Chloe - but we have landmarks in common. I laugh when she confesses to the 'Daily Planet' offices, stop laughing when she mentions the Luthercorp tower, and twitch when she grins and asks about the comic store by the Park. I find myself telling her about the old movie theatre where I used to hang out instead of going to lectures at Met.U. Her face lights up. I knew this woman was special - she can match me for movie trivia. We're halfway through a game of "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon", and I'm watching her mouth, when I realise that we have an audience.
CHLOE
I've been talking to Lex for over an hour. I stopped thinking 'Mr Luthor' quite while back, probably after he dissed John Hughes. It took profuse apologies and another latte to patch that one. This isn't an interview, it's just...conversation. The kind of aimless bicker that I share, used to share, with Pete and Clark. However, he's rich, so I let him pay for the coffee. I'm beginning to see a little of what Clark sees in him now, I think - I mean, I know a lot about the 'crap factory' - Dad says that Lex has made quite a difference to the place. For all the rich playboy pose, he puts in the hours. And he's clever. And good looking...okay, where did that thought come from? Anyway, I've always been a bit more ambivalent than most - he is my dad's boss, for a start. We're both city people in exile. And he has the most amazing blue-grey eyes... that brings my train of thought crashing into the buffers, mental Slamtrak, and I become aware of a presence at my shoulder.
CLARK
Lex sees me coming before Chloe does. Things have been a little strained between us the last few days - all the buried feelings a little less buried. Still, I'm halfway across the coffee shop before I consider why I'm so freaked. After all, this is my good friend Lex talking to my good friend Chloe.
"Hi, guys, what's up?"
Chloe looks startled, and a little of something else I can't define, before she gives her usual grin. And Lex's smile somehow shifts.
"Clark. I thought you would be at the Talon."
"I was just on my way there."
"Well, since Miss Sullivan's lift is here, I'll join you."
Sure enough, Mr. Sullivan is waving through the window. And I wouldn't have thought any more about it, except for the way that Lex held Chloe's coat for her.