Chapter 10: A Whole Set of Greys
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Chloe pulled up to the front gate of the Luthor mansion and checked her hair in the rear view mirror for the fiftieth time. They really should make those things larger. How was a girl supposed to get the full image in something this tiny? The security guard gave her a harsh glare before letting her pass.
"Sheesh, like I'm going to assassinate your boss by hacking him to death with my lipstick." Chloe mumbled as she passed through.
For some reason her nerves were in a bundle, but she reminded herself that this was just Lex... her friend. *Hi, this is my friend Lex Luthor*. Nope, that didn't sound right. How on earth did Clark manage it? Then again, Clark probably didn't find Lex so damn attractive.
She looked down at what she was wearing. Tan capri's, a yellow sunflower top and sandals. For a second she considered running home to change into something else, but dismissed the thought and pressed the doorbell. It was just a game of pool...
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Lex paced back and forth along the swimming pool in his tracksuit, wondering where the hell Chloe was. He saw Lana, her cousin and Clark splashing around in the pool and sighed. At least some of them could be happy.
Lex jumped when he heard the doorbell, "I think that's Chloe." He yelled across the water.
"Okay, we're not going anywhere!" Clark called out as Lex left. He threw the giant inflatable ball to Philip.
"Lex doesn't really act like a millionaire, does he?" Phillip asked catching the ball and throwing it to Lana.
"Lex is quite... unique; and wait till you meet Chloe, she's really great." Lana said smiling. Operation Matchmaker was underway.
"She sounds like a special girl." Philip stated grinning and heading back down into the water.
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Lex walked over to the door, waving the doorman away. He paused briefly before opening the door. Think calm and collected. Think calm and collected.
"Hello, Miss Sullivan." Lex said casually, "Glad you could make it." She looked radiant in her bright colours and open smile, maybe even a little excited.
Chloe cleared her throat, "Sorry for being a little late... I had some stuff to do." she explained. The *stuff* mostly consisted of fixing her hair. She'd finally settled for the elegantly wind-blown look.... at least she hoped it was elegant.
"Usually I hate being kept waiting... but I guess I can overlook it this once, seeing as you're my favourite reporter." Lex said seriously, leaning against the doorframe.
"Wow... seeing as how you hate all reporters, I'll take that as a compliment."
"Well, that's the thing with reporters... you either love them or hate them." Lex said folding his arms.
"Right..." Chloe started, what was Lex trying to say? "So do I need a password or something to get in?" she teased.
"Excuse me?"
"I was just wondering why you haven't invited me in yet."
"Oh! Sorry..." he said moving aside. He smelt her fresh flowery scent as she brushed passed him and tried to supress the pictures her in a swimming costume that flashed through his mind.
"Everybody's inside already." Lex stated, taking off his clothes. If his Nike swimming trunks didn't get Chloe's attention, nothing would.
Chloe stood in shock for a moment. Why was Lex undressing? "Uh... Lex. What are you doing? I thought this was a pool party...?"
"It is," Lex said a little confused. He opened the door to the pool room, "Pool..." he said; then handed her a coke, "Party." He took of the bottom part of the track suite to reveal his red Nike trunks. They worked like a charm, Chloe's expression changed into surprise... but was it an unpleasant surprise?
"Is something wrong, Chloe?" Lex asked. Damn, he should have gone with the Polo sport swimming trunks.
Chloe wanted to crawl under something and hide... this couldn't be happening to her... not now! Not when Lex Luthor was standing in front of her in his trunks. Damn the pool homonym!
"I uh... kind of thought that... uh... you meant pool as in balls and cue sticks, not as in water and swimming costumes." Chloe mumbled, blushing furiously. Maybe this was just a dream. She shut her eyes and reopened them. Nope, not a dream. Lex was still in his trunks.
Lex looked a little confused, then realised what she meant, "Oh! You thought that... oops." he stated. Very suave, now Chloe thought he was an idiot who had communication problems. Would it have killed him to say *swimming* pool?
"Yeah... oops." Chloe echoed. Lex officially thought she was a moron who couldn't understand the english language.
"I'm not a huge fan of swimming anyway..." she began, backing away. She couldn't believe this was happening. Of all the dumb things she'd done. "Maybe I should just go."
"No! Wait, you can't go now?" Lex said quickly. "I can fix this." he stated, grabbing his cell phone. There was no way she was leaving. He'd invited three other people for a damn pool party, when all he really wanted to do was be with *her*.
"It's Lex." he said into the tiny Motorola, "I need you to bring down the pool table from the games room down to the pool room... no, the *pool* table, as in balls and cue sticks... yes, now!"
Chloe looked up at him relaxing a little. He was yelling at the hired help, but she could see that he was doing it all because he wanted her to stay. It actually meant something to him that she was here.
"Don't you want to swim?" Chloe asked glancing at the three figures on the other end of the pool.
"Actually the only reason I did this was because I wanted to see you in a swimming costume." Lex stated seriously.
"Sorry to disappoint you, maybe next time," she replied grinning. "I figured you'd want to spend every second ogling Lana in a swimming costume, anyway."
"Oh... Lana's here?" Lex faked surprise, "I hadn't noticed there was another girl in the room." he smiled wickedly.
"Okay, what's gotten into you?" Chloe said raising an eyebrow. Having Lex making comments like that wasn't helping her self control... especially when he was half naked, standing less than a meter away.
"I'm sorry... It must be the sugar in the coke." He apologized graciously. "Sugar makes me hyper."
"Oh really?" she began.
"Hey Chloe!" Clark called swimming over to her. Lana and Phillip did the same when they saw her.
"Hey guys..." Chloe began. "Where's Pete?"
"He couldn't make it, he said something about going to see Erika." Clark stated, wiping a little water from his eyes.
"Hurry up and jump in, Chloe!" Lana said, swimming up to the edge.
Chloe opened her mouth but Lex cut in, "Chloe and I are going to play pool instead! We find it far more pleasurable,"
Two caretakers carried the table into the room and set it beside the pool. Lex nodded to them and they hurried off.
"Well be right over here playing a game." Chloe said smiling and giving Lex an appreciative look. At least *everyone* wouldn't think she was an idiot. Just Lex... the only one who's opinion she actually cared about right now.
"Okay," Clark shrugged, swimming across to the other end of the pool to grab the blue inflatable ball. It was up to Lana now to introduce Phillip and Chloe; Clark had decided to stay out of the whole thing. Bullets might bounce off his chest, but nothing and nobody escaped Chloe when she got mad. The two would either hit it off, or Chloe would end up injuring Phil.
"Are you sure you won't join us?" Phillip asked Chloe, coming up out of the water like he was born in a shampoo commercial. "I promise I'll making it more pleasurable for you than a game of pool...?" he winked at her, oblivious to the cutting glare Lex threw to him.
Lana smacked Phillip over the head, "I can't take you anywhere, can I?" she turned to Chloe, "This is Phil, my cousin. He goes to school in Metropolis and he's interested in journalism too."
"Oh really?" Chloe knew what Lana was up to, but she wasn't about to make small talk to some guy... even if he did look like Josh Hartnett. Good looks must run in the Lang clan, but subtlety seemed to have skipped Phil's DNA sequence.
"He's also the editor of his school newspaper..." Lana continued, looking up at Chloe from the water.
"Do I get to see a resume?" Chloe asked raising an eyebrow. She didn't like where Lana was going with this.
"You can see whatever you want," Phillip said mischievously.
Lex jaw almost dropped. This wasn't supposed to happen. The cousin was supposed to be just a distraction for Clark and Lana... not a potential date for Chloe! Lex resisted the temptation to pour his coke all over Phillip's disgustingly healthy hair.
"Thanks, Phil, but I think I'm just going to go play some pool." Chloe stated, grabbing Lex's hand and pulling him with her. She needed to get away.
Lex gave Phillip a little smirk before following Chloe. Problem solved. They went over to the table, out of anyone's earshot.
"My life has hit an all time low point," Chloe said groaning.
"Why? What's wrong?" Lex asked, racking the colourful balls.
"What's wrong? You *know* what happening! I'm being set up by Clark Kent and Lana Lang! Am I really that lame?"
"You're not lame, Chloe. Clark and Lana are your friends and they're in love. They're so happy they don't know what to do with themselves, so they figure by setting you up with that guy they're, uh... sharing the love.."
"Sharing the love? Were you born in the sixties or something?" Chloe asked smiling.
"I happen to be only about six years older than you, Chloe. Last time I checked teenage girls found men in their early twenties to be highly attractive."
"Oh yeah? Well how often do you check?" Chloe inquired teasingly.
"Are you accusing me of seducing teenage girls on a regular basis?" he replied in mock horror.
"I don't know. Do you?"
"It's safe to say no. I never have, but lately the thought has crossed my mind," Lex mentioned casually, careful not to make eye contact with her.
Chloe paused. If Lex was trying to say something she wished he'd just come out and say it instead of playing head games. She wasn't used to dealing with that, it had always been black or white with her, but Lex just brought out a whole set of greys into her life.
"Do you want to break?" Lex's voice ended the silence.
"Break what?" Chloe asked, then noticed the table, "Oh! Right... that."
"You don't play much, do you?" Lex asked grinning.
"Not really... what about you?"
"Don't you know? Luthor's are good at everything." He stated seriously.
She rolled her eyes. "So let's play already!"
Chloe enthusiastically snatched a cue stick and pointed the it at the cue ball preparing herself for the shot.
"It might help if you turned the stick around," Lex mentioned offhandedly.
Chloe cleared her throat, "I knew that."
"I'm sure you did... would you like some pointers to uh... refresh that brilliant memory of yours?"
"Nicely put. Offering help to a clueless person, but still letting them retain their dignity."
"Thank you, I've had a lot of practise." Lex said moving closer to her.
Chloe was still aware that the only thing he was wearing were his red swimming trunks, but she tried to ignore the fact his chest was about sixty centimetres away from her, all bare and-
"See anything you like?" Lex asked, playfully.
Chloe turned back to the pool table quickly, blushing. He'd caught her checking him out, that couldn't be a good thing.
Lex thought about letting it slide, but chances like this just never came around that often with Chloe.
"Do you want me to go put something on?" he asked with great concern, trying with difficulty to keep a straight face.
"No!" Chloe said quickly. She wasn't as hormonally charged as the rest of the female population in Smallville. She could be relaxed around a shirtless Lex...
"Are you sure? I don't mind throwing something on." Lex said. His grin threatened to break loose.
"No, really, I like it when you're not wearing anything," Chloe paused, "I meant when you're wearing swimming trunks you look good... not that I was looking at you, because I wasn't because if I-"
"I understand perfectly," Lex said, breaking forth a giant grin. He'd gotten the intended reaction out of her. "Now how about I teach you a few basics to pool?"
Chloe nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Why did Lex have this effect on her? Maybe it was the playfully earnest way he looked at her, like he had this huge secret that only she knew. Only there wasn't a secret, and if there was, nobody had let her in on it.
"Firstly, turn around and point your cue stick," he ordered, leaning very close to her so that they were at the same eye level. He moved his hand over hers, "Loosen your grip a little... relax..."
Chloe swallowed and tried to concentrate, relax and ignore Lex's silky tone. It wasn't an easy task.
"That's good. Now grab the butt." He ordered.
"What?" Chloe squeaked.
"I meant the butt of the cue stick Chloe." Lex said smirking as Chloe glared at him. "Don't blame me, I didn't name the thing."
Chloe ignored him and turned her attention to the shot she was about to make.
"Very good. now just follow through with the shot, not too-"
Chloe struck the ball forcefully and it bounced of the edge of the table and rolled off into the pool.
"...hard," Lex ended his sentence.
Chloe groaned and moved to the edge of the pool. Now she was a non-english speaking, terrible pool-playing idiot. "I'm sorry," she said with a shrug.
"For what? I think you just performed a trick shot." Lex stated with a crooked smile.
Suddenly a tanned and muscled body pulled itself out of the water, brandishing the white little ball.
"Loose something?" Phillip asked grinning at Chloe. "Would anyone mind if I cut in on the game?"
"You play?" Lex asked raising an eyebrow.
"Captain of the Metropolis Senior Pool team. Two years running."
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Please review:) oh, and I apologize for all the add placements! They kinda just fell in there.
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Chloe pulled up to the front gate of the Luthor mansion and checked her hair in the rear view mirror for the fiftieth time. They really should make those things larger. How was a girl supposed to get the full image in something this tiny? The security guard gave her a harsh glare before letting her pass.
"Sheesh, like I'm going to assassinate your boss by hacking him to death with my lipstick." Chloe mumbled as she passed through.
For some reason her nerves were in a bundle, but she reminded herself that this was just Lex... her friend. *Hi, this is my friend Lex Luthor*. Nope, that didn't sound right. How on earth did Clark manage it? Then again, Clark probably didn't find Lex so damn attractive.
She looked down at what she was wearing. Tan capri's, a yellow sunflower top and sandals. For a second she considered running home to change into something else, but dismissed the thought and pressed the doorbell. It was just a game of pool...
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Lex paced back and forth along the swimming pool in his tracksuit, wondering where the hell Chloe was. He saw Lana, her cousin and Clark splashing around in the pool and sighed. At least some of them could be happy.
Lex jumped when he heard the doorbell, "I think that's Chloe." He yelled across the water.
"Okay, we're not going anywhere!" Clark called out as Lex left. He threw the giant inflatable ball to Philip.
"Lex doesn't really act like a millionaire, does he?" Phillip asked catching the ball and throwing it to Lana.
"Lex is quite... unique; and wait till you meet Chloe, she's really great." Lana said smiling. Operation Matchmaker was underway.
"She sounds like a special girl." Philip stated grinning and heading back down into the water.
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Lex walked over to the door, waving the doorman away. He paused briefly before opening the door. Think calm and collected. Think calm and collected.
"Hello, Miss Sullivan." Lex said casually, "Glad you could make it." She looked radiant in her bright colours and open smile, maybe even a little excited.
Chloe cleared her throat, "Sorry for being a little late... I had some stuff to do." she explained. The *stuff* mostly consisted of fixing her hair. She'd finally settled for the elegantly wind-blown look.... at least she hoped it was elegant.
"Usually I hate being kept waiting... but I guess I can overlook it this once, seeing as you're my favourite reporter." Lex said seriously, leaning against the doorframe.
"Wow... seeing as how you hate all reporters, I'll take that as a compliment."
"Well, that's the thing with reporters... you either love them or hate them." Lex said folding his arms.
"Right..." Chloe started, what was Lex trying to say? "So do I need a password or something to get in?" she teased.
"Excuse me?"
"I was just wondering why you haven't invited me in yet."
"Oh! Sorry..." he said moving aside. He smelt her fresh flowery scent as she brushed passed him and tried to supress the pictures her in a swimming costume that flashed through his mind.
"Everybody's inside already." Lex stated, taking off his clothes. If his Nike swimming trunks didn't get Chloe's attention, nothing would.
Chloe stood in shock for a moment. Why was Lex undressing? "Uh... Lex. What are you doing? I thought this was a pool party...?"
"It is," Lex said a little confused. He opened the door to the pool room, "Pool..." he said; then handed her a coke, "Party." He took of the bottom part of the track suite to reveal his red Nike trunks. They worked like a charm, Chloe's expression changed into surprise... but was it an unpleasant surprise?
"Is something wrong, Chloe?" Lex asked. Damn, he should have gone with the Polo sport swimming trunks.
Chloe wanted to crawl under something and hide... this couldn't be happening to her... not now! Not when Lex Luthor was standing in front of her in his trunks. Damn the pool homonym!
"I uh... kind of thought that... uh... you meant pool as in balls and cue sticks, not as in water and swimming costumes." Chloe mumbled, blushing furiously. Maybe this was just a dream. She shut her eyes and reopened them. Nope, not a dream. Lex was still in his trunks.
Lex looked a little confused, then realised what she meant, "Oh! You thought that... oops." he stated. Very suave, now Chloe thought he was an idiot who had communication problems. Would it have killed him to say *swimming* pool?
"Yeah... oops." Chloe echoed. Lex officially thought she was a moron who couldn't understand the english language.
"I'm not a huge fan of swimming anyway..." she began, backing away. She couldn't believe this was happening. Of all the dumb things she'd done. "Maybe I should just go."
"No! Wait, you can't go now?" Lex said quickly. "I can fix this." he stated, grabbing his cell phone. There was no way she was leaving. He'd invited three other people for a damn pool party, when all he really wanted to do was be with *her*.
"It's Lex." he said into the tiny Motorola, "I need you to bring down the pool table from the games room down to the pool room... no, the *pool* table, as in balls and cue sticks... yes, now!"
Chloe looked up at him relaxing a little. He was yelling at the hired help, but she could see that he was doing it all because he wanted her to stay. It actually meant something to him that she was here.
"Don't you want to swim?" Chloe asked glancing at the three figures on the other end of the pool.
"Actually the only reason I did this was because I wanted to see you in a swimming costume." Lex stated seriously.
"Sorry to disappoint you, maybe next time," she replied grinning. "I figured you'd want to spend every second ogling Lana in a swimming costume, anyway."
"Oh... Lana's here?" Lex faked surprise, "I hadn't noticed there was another girl in the room." he smiled wickedly.
"Okay, what's gotten into you?" Chloe said raising an eyebrow. Having Lex making comments like that wasn't helping her self control... especially when he was half naked, standing less than a meter away.
"I'm sorry... It must be the sugar in the coke." He apologized graciously. "Sugar makes me hyper."
"Oh really?" she began.
"Hey Chloe!" Clark called swimming over to her. Lana and Phillip did the same when they saw her.
"Hey guys..." Chloe began. "Where's Pete?"
"He couldn't make it, he said something about going to see Erika." Clark stated, wiping a little water from his eyes.
"Hurry up and jump in, Chloe!" Lana said, swimming up to the edge.
Chloe opened her mouth but Lex cut in, "Chloe and I are going to play pool instead! We find it far more pleasurable,"
Two caretakers carried the table into the room and set it beside the pool. Lex nodded to them and they hurried off.
"Well be right over here playing a game." Chloe said smiling and giving Lex an appreciative look. At least *everyone* wouldn't think she was an idiot. Just Lex... the only one who's opinion she actually cared about right now.
"Okay," Clark shrugged, swimming across to the other end of the pool to grab the blue inflatable ball. It was up to Lana now to introduce Phillip and Chloe; Clark had decided to stay out of the whole thing. Bullets might bounce off his chest, but nothing and nobody escaped Chloe when she got mad. The two would either hit it off, or Chloe would end up injuring Phil.
"Are you sure you won't join us?" Phillip asked Chloe, coming up out of the water like he was born in a shampoo commercial. "I promise I'll making it more pleasurable for you than a game of pool...?" he winked at her, oblivious to the cutting glare Lex threw to him.
Lana smacked Phillip over the head, "I can't take you anywhere, can I?" she turned to Chloe, "This is Phil, my cousin. He goes to school in Metropolis and he's interested in journalism too."
"Oh really?" Chloe knew what Lana was up to, but she wasn't about to make small talk to some guy... even if he did look like Josh Hartnett. Good looks must run in the Lang clan, but subtlety seemed to have skipped Phil's DNA sequence.
"He's also the editor of his school newspaper..." Lana continued, looking up at Chloe from the water.
"Do I get to see a resume?" Chloe asked raising an eyebrow. She didn't like where Lana was going with this.
"You can see whatever you want," Phillip said mischievously.
Lex jaw almost dropped. This wasn't supposed to happen. The cousin was supposed to be just a distraction for Clark and Lana... not a potential date for Chloe! Lex resisted the temptation to pour his coke all over Phillip's disgustingly healthy hair.
"Thanks, Phil, but I think I'm just going to go play some pool." Chloe stated, grabbing Lex's hand and pulling him with her. She needed to get away.
Lex gave Phillip a little smirk before following Chloe. Problem solved. They went over to the table, out of anyone's earshot.
"My life has hit an all time low point," Chloe said groaning.
"Why? What's wrong?" Lex asked, racking the colourful balls.
"What's wrong? You *know* what happening! I'm being set up by Clark Kent and Lana Lang! Am I really that lame?"
"You're not lame, Chloe. Clark and Lana are your friends and they're in love. They're so happy they don't know what to do with themselves, so they figure by setting you up with that guy they're, uh... sharing the love.."
"Sharing the love? Were you born in the sixties or something?" Chloe asked smiling.
"I happen to be only about six years older than you, Chloe. Last time I checked teenage girls found men in their early twenties to be highly attractive."
"Oh yeah? Well how often do you check?" Chloe inquired teasingly.
"Are you accusing me of seducing teenage girls on a regular basis?" he replied in mock horror.
"I don't know. Do you?"
"It's safe to say no. I never have, but lately the thought has crossed my mind," Lex mentioned casually, careful not to make eye contact with her.
Chloe paused. If Lex was trying to say something she wished he'd just come out and say it instead of playing head games. She wasn't used to dealing with that, it had always been black or white with her, but Lex just brought out a whole set of greys into her life.
"Do you want to break?" Lex's voice ended the silence.
"Break what?" Chloe asked, then noticed the table, "Oh! Right... that."
"You don't play much, do you?" Lex asked grinning.
"Not really... what about you?"
"Don't you know? Luthor's are good at everything." He stated seriously.
She rolled her eyes. "So let's play already!"
Chloe enthusiastically snatched a cue stick and pointed the it at the cue ball preparing herself for the shot.
"It might help if you turned the stick around," Lex mentioned offhandedly.
Chloe cleared her throat, "I knew that."
"I'm sure you did... would you like some pointers to uh... refresh that brilliant memory of yours?"
"Nicely put. Offering help to a clueless person, but still letting them retain their dignity."
"Thank you, I've had a lot of practise." Lex said moving closer to her.
Chloe was still aware that the only thing he was wearing were his red swimming trunks, but she tried to ignore the fact his chest was about sixty centimetres away from her, all bare and-
"See anything you like?" Lex asked, playfully.
Chloe turned back to the pool table quickly, blushing. He'd caught her checking him out, that couldn't be a good thing.
Lex thought about letting it slide, but chances like this just never came around that often with Chloe.
"Do you want me to go put something on?" he asked with great concern, trying with difficulty to keep a straight face.
"No!" Chloe said quickly. She wasn't as hormonally charged as the rest of the female population in Smallville. She could be relaxed around a shirtless Lex...
"Are you sure? I don't mind throwing something on." Lex said. His grin threatened to break loose.
"No, really, I like it when you're not wearing anything," Chloe paused, "I meant when you're wearing swimming trunks you look good... not that I was looking at you, because I wasn't because if I-"
"I understand perfectly," Lex said, breaking forth a giant grin. He'd gotten the intended reaction out of her. "Now how about I teach you a few basics to pool?"
Chloe nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Why did Lex have this effect on her? Maybe it was the playfully earnest way he looked at her, like he had this huge secret that only she knew. Only there wasn't a secret, and if there was, nobody had let her in on it.
"Firstly, turn around and point your cue stick," he ordered, leaning very close to her so that they were at the same eye level. He moved his hand over hers, "Loosen your grip a little... relax..."
Chloe swallowed and tried to concentrate, relax and ignore Lex's silky tone. It wasn't an easy task.
"That's good. Now grab the butt." He ordered.
"What?" Chloe squeaked.
"I meant the butt of the cue stick Chloe." Lex said smirking as Chloe glared at him. "Don't blame me, I didn't name the thing."
Chloe ignored him and turned her attention to the shot she was about to make.
"Very good. now just follow through with the shot, not too-"
Chloe struck the ball forcefully and it bounced of the edge of the table and rolled off into the pool.
"...hard," Lex ended his sentence.
Chloe groaned and moved to the edge of the pool. Now she was a non-english speaking, terrible pool-playing idiot. "I'm sorry," she said with a shrug.
"For what? I think you just performed a trick shot." Lex stated with a crooked smile.
Suddenly a tanned and muscled body pulled itself out of the water, brandishing the white little ball.
"Loose something?" Phillip asked grinning at Chloe. "Would anyone mind if I cut in on the game?"
"You play?" Lex asked raising an eyebrow.
"Captain of the Metropolis Senior Pool team. Two years running."
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Please review:) oh, and I apologize for all the add placements! They kinda just fell in there.