Part Two.

Julian knew he was stubborn. It was a quality he'd actively cultivated, because the only chance he ever had to get his way with Lex was to out-argue him through sheer bloody-minded-ness. It almost always worked.

Case in point. Lex had wanted to pull him out of Smallville High immediately, but Julian had talked him out of it. Then Lex had tried to warn him away from Clark, something about a summer in Metropolis and immoral deeds, but Julian had just ignored him. Clark was probably someone that Lex had slept with at some point; Lex always got so weird about Julian meeting his exes. Not that Julian cared one way or another.

Either way, he'd won. Because here he was, sitting in the Torch office with Chloe and Clark, eating lunch. Lex would probably say something disapproving about hiding from one's enemies, but Clark had grabbed his tray and headed down the hall before Julian could say anything, so he hadn't exactly had a say in it.

Not that the lunch was worth much. Julian doggedly kept eating, though all he really wanted to do was chuck it in the trash. He didn't want to look like the picky rich kid in front of the two people in this town who seemed to actually not hate him.

Clark caught on to what he was doing, though, and tossed him a sandwich. "The school lunch is worse than pig slop," he said with an easy grin when Julian gave him a quizzical look. "And I know from pig slop."

"Yeah, and the our strapping young farmer friend eats like a horse, so his mom always packs a couple extra," Chloe said, her mouth full. "So it's not like you're starving him or something by eating some of his lunch."

"Alright," Julian said. Lex had always taught him when to accede gracefully, when his father had only taught him how to win. He unwrapped it and took a bite. "This is really good," he said, trying to hide his surprise. From the way Clark laughed, he figured that he hadn't succeeded.

"Mom's the best cook I've ever met, here or in Metropolis," Clark said. Julian blushed, cursing his fair skin for about the millionth time in his life, but Clark just winked at him.

Just then there was a knock on the office door, and everyone looked up to see a short black kid in a football jersey standing there, looking severely out of place. Julian flinched- he recognized the boy; he hadn't been one of the ones who'd hung him on the cross, but he'd been there, watching and urging them on.

"What is it, Pete?" Clark said, his voice carefully neutral. Pete gave him an unhappy look, but turned to talk to Chloe.

"There were some cattle mutilations on the Becker farm last night," he said. "You might want to look into it."

"Thanks, Pete," Chloe said, and her voice was a lot friendlier than Clark's, but it was painfully obvious that she didn't feel comfortable with him either. Julian wondered what had happened between them.

"Just thought you should know," Pete said, and with a stilted nod he walked out again. Clark happened to glance over at Julian right then, and his face must have been a lot less blank than he was trying for, because Clark immediately frowned in concern.

"What is it?" he asked.

"He was there," Julian said. "Friday night."

He didn't have to say any more. Clark's face went as blank and still as Julian had been trying for a minute ago, and he said, his voice very quiet, "I'll be back in a minute," before getting up and walking out the door. Julian looked over at Chloe, worried, and found her looking sadly at the door.

"It's okay," she said, when she noticed him looking at her. "Pete… well, he and Clark have been best friends since they were little."

"They didn't seem to friendly a minute ago," Julian pointed out.

"No," she said sadly. "A lot has changed."

He recognized the tone in her voice, knew that there was a lot she wasn't saying. But that was okay. "Will he be okay? Clark looked a little… angry."

"Clark told you that he was the scarecrow his freshman year, right?" Chloe asked. Julian nodded. "Did he tell you that I was the one who got him down?"

Julian shook his head. "No, he just said 'a friend.'"

"I didn't find him till the next morning- you might have noticed that Smallville has a lot of cornfields." Julian nodded ruefully. "Pete had just gotten onto the football team. Afterwards, Pete said that he knew nothing about it, he would have stopped it if he did, but now Clark's wondering if Pete was lying."

"That doesn't sound like something they'd tell a new player," Julian pointed out. "Especially one who's friends with their victim."

"No," Chloe agreed. "And Pete was probably telling the truth. But that's not gonna stop Clark from wondering. Especially now that he knows Pete could do that to someone."

"He hates my family," Julian said flatly. It was hard to swallow, that someone could despise him so much just because his father was a prick, but he'd gotten used to it long ago. "Everyone does."

"That doesn't excuse him," Chloe said. "But not everyone hates the Luthors, Julian."

He shrugged. "Close enough."

"I don't," Chloe pointed out. "My dad works for Lex, and I've met him once. I liked him." She paused, smiled. "Clark doesn't. We matter, right?"

"Of course," Julian said. "Clark said he's met Lex, too. Said he was one of a kind."

Chloe's face twisted around a little, like she was trying not to laugh. She coughed slightly. "Uh, yeah, you could say that."

"They slept together, didn't they?"

This time Chloe's cough wasn't faked. She almost choked on her surprise. "Holy shit, Julian, how did you know that?"

He shook his head, grinning. "I didn't, not for sure, not till now." She made a face at him. "But I guessed. Something about the way they talked about each other." He shrugged. "As Lex's exes go, Clark's far superior."

"So it doesn't bother you?" she asked, her eyes bright with curiosity. "That he slept with your brother?"

"Lex has slept with half the city," Julian said matter-of-factly. "He thinks I don't know, but I do. If it bothered me, I wouldn't be here."

She looked at him with something very much like respect. "I bet everyone underestimates you," she murmured. "You look so naïve, and you're not."

He smiled. "It helps," he admitted. "I wish I was stronger, though. Or scarier. Or something."

"You don't need to be anyone but who you are," Chloe said firmly.

"Which doesn't help when I'm attacked by asshole football stars," Julian retorted. He'd heard that inspirational line before. It was sweet, but ultimately useless. "Look, I heard the rumors. Clark visited practically the entire team this weekend, one by one. The whole school's terrified of him. If I looked less like some rich pretty boy, then I'd get in trouble less." He sighed wistfully. "No one would have done that to Lex. Or Clark."

But Chloe shook her head. "You don't want to have gone through what Clark did, to get like he is," she said. "He's changed a lot. He used to be the sweetest kid ever. All open smiles, like a puppy. Made you want to sit in his lap and ruffle his hair."

Julian was getting the impression that Clark and Chloe hadn't always been just friends, but he kept his mouth shut. He could always ask later.

"Now he's got an edge to him," she said. "He's a little scary. You're never quite sure what he'll do."

"I know the feeling," Julian said. It reminded him of Lex, though Lex was more subtle about it. As soon as he'd realized that Clark had probably slept with his brother, it made sense. In their own way, they were two of a kind.

"So you think Pete will be okay?" he said, not quite changing the subject, but maybe redirecting it. Chloe looked a little relieved that they weren't talking about Clark's changes or his love life anymore.

"He'll be fine," she said. "Clark won't hurt him. Yell at him, definitely, probably rip his ego and feelings to shreds, but as far as I'm concerned, he deserves it." Chloe looked a little fierce, but sad, too.

"You were friends with him, weren't you?" Julian said. "Pete, I mean. All three of you were friends?"

"Yeah," she said. "We were." She smiled wistfully. "He used to take the pictures when I was working on an article." That thought seemed to bring her out of her memories and back to him, because she pinned him with a speculative glance. "That reminds me."

"Of what?" he said warily. The gleam in her eyes made him frankly nervous.

"Two questions."

"Shoot," he said.

"How open-minded can you be?" she asked.

Julian thought about some of the things he'd heard, some of the whispers about his father's experiments, some of the intriguing hints he'd heard from Dick Grayson, whenever they visited Gotham, even some of the rumors about Smallville. "Oh, I think it's safe to say that I'm open to most things," he said. "Why?"

"Second question," she said, grinning like crazy now.

"Yeah?"

"How good are you with a camera?"

It didn't take him long to catch up with Pete. He hadn't gone far, was in fact waiting for him right outside the big double doors that led out to the fields.

"What the fuck did you think you were doing?" Clark snarled, as soon as the door swung shut behind him. "Tired of being the big man on the field, just had to strut your stuff off it, too?"

"It wasn't like that, man," Pete said.

"Then what was it like?"

"It's just… it's different, when you're out with your buddies," Pete said lamely. "Everyone gets all worked up, you do stupid stuff."

"Like crucifying the new kid," Clark said. Pete flinched.

"You got him down, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Clark said. "And you know why I went looking? Because it wasn't that long ago that I was the one up on that cross, Pete."

"You never told me," Pete said defensively.

"No, but Chloe did," Clark said. "She asked you if you'd known anything about it, and you said no, that you would have stopped it if you did."

"Chloe always did like you best," Pete said. Clark slapped the brick next to his head, grinned ferally when Pete jumped.

"Focus, Pete," Clark said. "This doesn't have a damn thing to do about Chloe and the way you never had the balls to ask her out."

"You weren't good enough for her," Pete said. "Never were."

"I'm glad to know you feel that way, Pete," Clark said. "Still not the issue. The issue is you stringing up a kid who never did a damn thing to you, just because you were 'out with your buddies.' Funny, I bet that's what Whitney Fordman thought, before Lana set him straight. Did you know about this when it was me? Did they intimidate you into staying silent, or did you just want their approval so much that they didn't have to threaten you?"

"I never!" Pete said, lunging upright. "I never would have done that to you, man. You have to know that."

"I wish I did," Clark said. "And maybe you didn't. But you sure as hell didn't have any problem doing it to someone you'd never even met. So I gotta wonder, you understand?"

"Fuck, Clark, he's just a Luthor," Pete said. "It's not like he didn't have it coming to him."

"He's sixteen fucking years old, Pete," Clark said. "He's no older than you are. Who are you to blame all the evils in the world on him?"

"The whole family's wrong, Clark," Pete said. "You know what they did to my Dad! And you and Chloe have him practically in your laps, feeding him tea and cookies."

"Nice to know you're blaming Julian for something his dad did when he was two years old. You're such an asshole, you know that?"

"Like you're one to talk," Pete snapped back. "I've heard about you, man. Heard about some of the crazy shit you got up to this summer."

So that was it. "And now the truth comes out," Clark said. He planted one hand on either side of Pete's shoulders, leaned in. Height like his was useful when you needed to intimidate someone so much shorter than you. "You're afraid of me, aren't you? Afraid that I'm gonna do something to you. Because I'm the crazy kid who ran away, right? I'm just not right in the head." He smiled at Pete's instinctive flinch, leaned closer. "What is it, Pete? Do you think I'm gonna beat you up? Kill you?" Closer still. "Or do you think I'm going to rape you?"

Pete's flinch this time was full-body, recoiling into the wall, impossible to hide. Clark stepped away, looked at him, at his panic and fear of Clark. "So that's it. I've wondered."

And he had. Chloe was his best friend, had been ever since she'd almost gotten killed and he'd had to use his super-speed to save her. He told her the truth that day, and it had pulled them closer.

She'd been the first person to know that he was bi, and she'd never had a problem with it, even when they were dating. Encouraged by his successful coming-out to Chloe, he'd made the mistake of telling Pete, who'd promptly gone to Chloe to use it to try and get her to break up with Clark.

He still remembered some of the things Pete had said to her. He hadn't realized that Clark was right in the next room, hearing every vile word out of his mouth. Chloe had stood up for him, kicked Pete's ass black and blue with her sharp tongue, and then had kicked him out of her house. They'd all made up a week or so later, but Pete had started drifting away since then, and Clark had known it was because of his sexuality.

Abruptly, he felt tired. Way too tired to carry on this conversation. "You know what, Pete?" he said. "It's just too bad you feel that way. You're a fucking small-minded idiot, and I thought you'd be better than this, but I guess not. I guess you're always going to be the loser hanger-on to the football stars who are never going to go anywhere, beating up those weaker than you just to make yourself feel better." Clark shook his head. "Fuck this, anyway. I'm done."

And then he walked away.

He ran around Smallville a few dozen times, trying to work out some of his frustration, but Smallville just wasn't big enough. He could take a few laps around the state, or even run out to the mountains for some real exercise, but it probably wouldn't help. So he went back to school, knowing that Chloe had a study hall this block and would be working in the Torch.

She was alone, thankfully. Clark wasn't sure he was up to dealing with Julian right now. This was probably the worst day he'd had since Morgan Edge had tried his kidnapping scheme when he'd got home and he'd had to spend two hours in the back of a moving truck with kryptonite taped to his chest. He liked Julian, might be well on his way to having a truly impressive crush on Julian, but in the middle of a misery-fest like this, he really just needed his best friend.

Chloe had obviously been waiting for him. "You look like shit," she told him, concern softening her blunt words. "I take it things didn't go well?"

"He's not sorry because Julian's just a Luthor, right? And they all deserve what they get. Oh yeah, and he's terrified I'm gonna rape him because I'm a scary, crazy gay kid." He flopped into a desk chair and threw his arm over his eyes. "Yeah, you could say things didn't go well."

"Ouch," she said, laying a sympathetic hand over his. He sighed at the familiar feel of her long, cool fingers with the short, neatly kept nails and the ring on her thumb and the pen callous on the first knuckle of her middle finger.

"That's one way of putting it," he said, and lowered his arm so he could look at her. "Let's leave it there, okay? I don't really want to talk about him."

"Alright," she said. Pete's distance had started long before he'd found out that Clark was bi, and it was all because of the pretty blond in front of him. Chloe knew it as well. She probably didn't want to talk about it any more than he did.

"Julian went to class?" he asked. She nodded.

"I've got him working on the cattle mutilation case with me," she said. "He's gonna do the picture thing. Apparently he took a lot of art classes when he moved in with Lex, just because his Dad wasn't around anymore to tell him no, and photography was one of them."

"Have you given him the Wall of the Weird speech yet?" Clark asked.

"Nope. Saving that for later, if this actually turns out to be a mutant case. It could just be a couple of teenagers."

"A couple of teenagers on kryptonite, in this town," Clark said with a sigh. He slid down in his seat till he was barely sitting in it, and rested his head back on the desk. "He'll probably have a blast. He's a lot like you, you know."

"Yeah, I noticed," she said. She flicked him on the back of his ear. "You do have a type."

He slitted one eye open. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Whatever, Clark. Before you get yourself in real trouble, though, you might as well know that he figured out you slept with his brother."

Clark opened both eyes at that. "I should have known," he said. "He's smarter than he lets on." He felt himself smiling at the thought of Julian, the goofy smile he hadn't felt on his lips since before last summer.

"Oh my god," she said. "Clark Kent, you are so gone on him. You idiot." She smacked him on the side of the head.

"I am not," he said. He probably was. Chloe knew him better than anyone.

"You totally are," she said. "Seriously, Clark. Could you have picked someone worse to have a crush on?"

"Yes," he said without hesitation. He could think of about twelve, right off the top of his head.

"Who?" she demanded.

"I could have a crush on Lex, instead."

She was silent for a minute. "I withdraw my objections," she said. "On the basis that you're not as insane as you could be."

"Thank you," he said, and closed his eyes again.

He thought about it later, though. The thing that Chloe didn't seem to get was that he was already in trouble. Julian… He had something. Some indefinable spark that Clark saw so rarely. It was like a glow that lit him up from the inside every time he smiled, and Clark was absolutely helpless to do anything but smile back.

Things were complicated, though. They'd be complicated just because of who Clark was, even without adding his history with Lex into the equation.

He hadn't told Chloe that Lex knew his secret. Not his full secret, not that of his origins, but at least part of what he could do. He knew that Chloe would have the mother of all freak-outs, so he hadn't mentioned it.

But it bothered him. Lex didn't know him, the real him. Lex only knew the red kryptonite version of him. And Lex knew that he was different, knew that he was strong and fast and thought that he was a total psycho. And Lex was nothing like his dad, but he was still a Luthor, and Clark knew that Lex wouldn't hesitate a moment to use that knowledge against him.

On the other hand, Lex didn't know his weakness, and he was probably afraid of what Clark would do to him if Lex tried to expose him or blackmail him.

The reality of the situation was that Clark didn't know what Lex was going to do. He'd just have to wait and see, and hope things worked out.

Ball's in your court, Lex, he thought. Hope you know what game you're playing. 'Cause either way, I'm not going to let you win.