Part 1

Everyone knew about Lex, the delinquent and sex-crazy son of the owner of Luthor Corp. When he was alive, people had surrounded him like bees to honey. He was always seen with women all around him and men trying to talk to him. But when news of his death came, none of those people attended the funeral. The few that came sucked up to his father to give him false condolences and regretful looks.

Clark's father had always taught Clark morals by using the don't-be-Lex way of teaching, as had the parents of many other teenagers in his class. So his father had just used Lex Luthor's death as evidence to why he shouldn't take drugs. "Drugs kill," he said with his head tilted sideways and that look of superiority on his face.

Only they didn't. Because Lex was right here, looking a little thinner but pretty much exactly the same as he did in the newspapers two months before Clark got taken away.

"Hi," Clark said shyly, not knowing what else to do.

Lex ignored him and banged on the mirror. He started explicitly explaining what he'd do to whoever was responsible for keeping him here. He went on to insult their parents and genital size.

"Clark," the voice said completely unaffected by the yelling, "As long as you don't kill him, you can do whatever you want with him."

Lex stopped his shouting and turned to Clark, his eyes wide and wary. "Why did you bring me here? When my father finds out about this, he'll have all these men killed. You'll die too if you lay even one finger on me." He tried to sound threatening but he was shaking and there were beads of sweat on his upper lip.

"I'm not going to do anything. I didn't ask them to bring you here," Clark said, though he was secretly glad they had forced Lex to come here. He immediately felt bad about thinking that. Lex Luthor must have been here since his supposed death. What had they done to him? Clark was pretty sure the other man wouldn't be able to survive bullets and starvation.

Lex's lip trembled and he went to a corner of the room, making sure to always keep an eye on Clark, as if waiting for him to turn into a monster and eat him. He hugged his knees to his chest and glared at the mirror. Lex always looked so cool in the papers and on the news, a complete contrast to the scared man in the corner.

"Are you okay?" What exactly was he supposed to do when the world's most popular bachelor who was dead looked like he was about to cry. "I'm not going to hurt you," he tried, when he got no reaction.

"I'm not stupid. I saw the man that left your room last month. Did you promise not to hurt him too?"

Clark flinched. "W-was he okay?" What would Clark do if that man was dead? How could he live with himself knowing that he was a murderer? His parents would hate him and he could never return to them. He would go to jail!

Lex frowned when he saw the panicked look on Clark's face.

"I didn't mean to hurt him! He scared me and I--"

"Whatever," Lex interrupted, "he deserved it, the sick fuck."

Clark didn't know what to say to that so he stayed quiet. And maybe this was worse than the solitary confinement. He didn't know how Lex was feeling but he was feeling pretty stupid. Lex had to know that he was a freak now. He had tried so hard to hide it from everyone and this was why. This was why his father had told him to never tell Pete or Chloe. Clark tried to stop himself from crying and looked down at his white socks.

"Don't do that," Lex said angrily and Clark whipped around to look at him in shock. What had he done? He had been trying his best to not strike up a conversation just for the sake of talking because Lex didn't look like the kind of person who had much patience for nervousness.

"I-I'm sorry," Clark stuttered. He didn't know what he had done but whatever it was, he was definitely sorry for it.

"Don't be. I mean… Never mind." Lex looked uncomfortable.

"No, no! Tell me what I'm doing wrong! I won't do it again, promise!"

Lex glanced at the mirror and instinctively, Clark looked also. There was still someone there, just silently sitting and watching them. He still couldn't tell what the person looked like and squinting too hard still gave him a headache.

"So what's your name?" Lex wasn't looking at Clark but he was obviously talking to him. Who else would he be asking? The man in the mirror?

Clark looked, but the man behind the mirror didn't move towards the microphone, he continued to sit still and watch.

"I'm Clark," he felt those sharp blue eyes glance at him and then Lex was once again looking away.

"You already know who I am so I guess I don't have to introduce myself. We should get to be a little friendlier since we'll be rooming together for a while. That right?" The last was addressed to the mirror.

There was no answer but Clark knew the man was still there, writing something down on a pad of paper. Both Clark and Lex stared at the mirror waiting for some sort of response but the man behind the mirror stayed quiet.

"I know you're there!" Lex yelled, getting angry again. "You fucking voyeur! Why aren't you answering?"

Clark stayed quiet. He had tried yelling too and had quickly realized that it changed nothing. Lex, obviously, didn't learn so fast. Clark wondered how long it would take for Lex to break, to stop struggling. Lex had already been here for four months, if the assumption that once he had "died" they had brought him immediately here was correct. Clark had stopped struggling after the first week. Lex was trying to break the mirror down with his fists.

"I think you're just going to end up hurting yourself," Clark said softly when he realized that Lex wasn't going to stop any time soon.

Lex snarled and went back to his corner. He sat for twenty minutes and then started prowling the room like a caged animal. He continued for nearly an hour, making Clark dizzy, until the door opened.

Lex threw himself at the man carrying a tray of food but he obviously expected that because the man dropped the tray, sending the paper plates and cups full of food and drinks everywhere, and punched Lex in the face. "Have fun eating that off the floor," he said with an evil grin and left the room with Lex still dazed on the ground.

"Are you okay?" Clark rushed up to help Lex.

"I'm fine," Lex said angrily, swatting Clark's hand away. He slowly stood up, cupping his bruised cheek to his face. He looked at the food on the floor and sighed. "Sorry about the food," he said sheepishly.

"It's okay," Clark said quickly, trying to make him feel better. "I'm pretty sure I don't need to eat."

Lex gave Clark a funny look but didn't say anything more. Clark was actually starving but Lex didn't seem to be reaching for the food and Clark had always been taught that eating food that had fallen on the floor was bad. Pete had told him about the five second rule but Clark was pretty sure it had already been there for more than five seconds.

They sat in comfortable silence for several minutes before Clark's curiosity got the best of him. "How did you get here?"

Lex's face contorted into a mask of pure fury. Lex was so high strung, Clark thought. He changed from relaxed to angry and back to relaxed so quickly it made Clark's head spin. "My father forced me to go to Smallville and the next thing I know, I'm attacked in my own penthouse and some people dressed like the fucking mafia pushed me into a helicopter to bring me here."

"I thought you were dead," Clark said. "They said that you died of drug overdose."

"I know, some new guys told me," Lex said with a shrug. "As if I'd be so stupid as to overdose on drugs. I'm not really as bad as the media portrays me, you know."

Clark nodded because he didn't know what else to say. His father had thought Lex was worse than the media showed him to be.

"So, how did you get here?" Lex asked.

"I had a really bad day…" Clark could remember feeling angry and depressed, little had he known, it really was possible for a horrible day to get worse. "I was walking down a bridge, just thinking about stuff when suddenly some people drove up to me and I started feeling really sick. I passed out and I've been here ever since. I don't even know why they took me."

Lex gave Clark a disbelieving look. "They took you because you're special. Wasn't that obvious?"

"But what do they want to do with me? They used to come and take my blood and look at me but they've just left me alone for this entire month. I don't know what they want," Clark said miserably. At this point, he was willing to give them anything for his freedom. He missed his parents and friends so much that he physically felt the ache of the loss.

Lex just got that uncomfortable look on his face. He reached out, as if to pat Clark on the back but changed his mind and dropped his hand back down.

"I hate this place," Clark said miserably.

"It's actually not so bad. I was in a cell before. This place isn't much of a punishment compared to that, it's much cleaner than that rat infested hell-hole. A lot quieter too."

"You were in a prison cell? Alone?"

"Oh, the rest of the freaks are in the main prisons. You must be extra special to get a room to yourself. They moved me here as a punishment when I tried to escape again."

"Other freaks?" Clark couldn't believe that there were more people like him in the world.

"Yeah." Lex looked at him as if he was stupid and Clark felt like shrinking down. "The other freaks like us."

Lex looked at him as if he was a complete moron and Clark blushed. Of course these people wouldn't have taken Lex for no reason. But Lex seemed so normal…

"What… What exactly can you do?" Clark asked cautiously. Sure, Lex's hair never grew back but Clark had always thought that was a publicity stunt and Lex was really shaving it off. "Is it your hair?"

"Thank fucking God my lack of hair isn't the only thing that makes me a freak or I wouldn't have survived living here." Lex didn't say anything after that and Clark was getting really curious.

"I'm really strong," Clark said after a moment. He knew that he wasn't supposed to tell anybody but really, Lex would find out eventually. "You don't have to tell me what you can do if you don't want to. I mean, you probably think I'm really weird. So you don't have to trust me."

"Clark," Lex said, rolling his eyes, "The guy who had gills was a little weird. You're just really strong. Which is perfect because I can heal from everything. Or at least, I've healed from everything that has been tested on me."

Clark imagined Lex tied up and screaming as they hurt him. Clark had been mostly scared his entire stay here and sometimes he had been angry, very angry, but nothing compared to how he felt when he imagined Lex being hurt. "They hurt you?" Clark asked, his voice choked and quiet.

Lex laughed. "Why is that so hard to believe? I'm sure they hurt you too."

Clark looked at Lex straight in the eye and said with more resolution than he had ever felt in his life, "They won't hurt you again. I'll protect you."

Lex glanced at the mirror and gave Clark a half-hearted smile, obviously humouring him. "My own personal saviour."