Twist Upside-down
by
Disclaimer: SV and Superman belong to so many people I'm not going to list them all here, okay? Just be assured they don't belong to me.
Author's Note: I've always enjoyed reading epic H/C fics. So, I've finally decided to write one, and give back to the community. I do plan on this being long, and it is shamelessly H/C. No ending guaranteed yet, though!
Set-up: 2nd season, post- "Insurgence." AU after that, though I may or may not roughly follow the events of later eps. Clex, established relationship.
Summary: When a deadly illness befalls Lex, Clark will stand at his side. But what will the effect be upon their relationship with each other and the rest of their loved ones? Clex.
Rating: Will change as we go. This chapter: G/Over all: G
Chapter One - Sleepy
5 weeks earlier:
Lex curled into Clark's arms on his overly-expensive couch and yawned. Clark glanced down at him and smiled, stroking a hand gently over one taut bicep. "Tired?"
Lex nodded as best as he could. "Yeah."
"You shouldn't work yourself so hard," the teenager chided. Lex rolled his eyes.
"Because it's so easy to run a business," he replied sarcastically.
"You're the who's always telling me a good businessman knows how to delegate," Clark told him.
Lex sighed. "Yes, I am. Now, can I rest in peace?" His tone suggested that he wasn't actually annoyed, and Clark smiled.
"Yeah."
The billionaire yawned again, squirmed a little to get comfortable and closed his eyes. "Wake me up before you leave, okay?"
Clark nodded and leaned down to kiss his head. "Sure."
Lex fell asleep almost instantly, something that the teenager could tell by the gentle deepening and lengthening of his breathing. Clark smiled with affection at his best friend and lover, then settled in to read "A Tale of Two Cities" for English class.
When Lex's ancient clock struck ten, Clark reluctantly put down his book and stroked a hand over the billionaire's bald head. "Lex," he whispered. "I've got to go home."
When Lex didn't wake up, Clark took a hold of his upper arm and shook gently. "Lex."
The billionaire stirred, but still didn't wake. Slightly concerned but mostly just remembering how tired he had been earlier, Clark shifted until he could lift Lex's lanky form. Rolling Lex's head onto his shoulder, he stood and headed upstairs, knowing full-well by now where Lex's bedroom was.
Putting Lex down on the bed, Clark rolled back the covers, gave his habitual grin at the purple sheets and then pulled off Lex's shoes. Knowing he wouldn't want to sleep in his business suit, Clark pulled off his belt and pants, too, checked to make sure Lex had taken off his tie and undone his collar buttons, and then rolled him into bed.
Kissing Lex's forehead, Clark tucked the blankets in around him, then reached for the pad of paper and pencil he knew Lex kept in the bedside table. Hastily, after glancing down at his watch, he scribbled a note.
*************************************************************
Lex-
Couldn't bear to wake you up; you looked so tired! I'll call you tomorrow.
Clark
*************************************************************
With that, he sped home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coming in the kitchen door, Clark closed it carefully, hoping not to wake anybody up, but it turned out not to matter.
"You're late."
Clark looked at his watch. "Only 15 minutes," he said.
Jonathan's expression didn't soften. "I need to trust that you will get home when your mother and I ask you to," he ground out.
"Dad, it's 15 minutes."
"I need to trust you!" Jonathan's tone was grim.
Clark, getting frustrated, slammed his backpack down and headed for the fridge. "You just don't like that I was with Lex," he replied, equally unfriendly.
"Damn right I don't!"
Clark ignored his father, grabbing his backpack and walking away.
"We aren't done yet!" Jonathan bellowed after him.
Clark's tone when he replied was one Jonathan had never heard before: strong, commanding and arrogant, entirely sure of his superiority over the human race. "Yes, we are." With that, he disappeared into his room and locked the door.
The next day was Saturday, and when Clark awoke, later than usual, he found Martha Kent in the kitchen and Jonathan nowhere to be seen. He grabbed a muffin and was about to leave, but his mother stopped him in his tracks.
"Halt." The mom-power was in action, more powerful than and alien powers, and Clark stopped. "Turn." He had no choice but to obey. It wasn't like he wanted to be interrogated. Yet, here he was. What was it about moms? "Sit down." She pointed at the table. "Now, tell me about what happened last night. Your father wanted to ground you, and I was going to let him! You can't talk back like that. Not in this family." Clark hung his head.
"But then I heard something about Lex, and I know how irrational he can be about the Luthors." Her tone was serious, and Clark knew that even though she was giving him a chance to get off the hook, he had some major explaining to do.
"I got home at 10:45," he told Martha. "I was only 15 minutes late, but Dad just exploded. He told me he needed to be able to trust me to get home when I said I would, and I know that's true, but I also know he would never have gotten upset if I was with Pete or Chloe!"
Martha sighed. "You're probably right," she conceded.
"He didn't even give me a chance to explain!"
"Would you like to explain to me, then, please?" His mother's tone brooked no arguments.
Clark shrugged. "Lex fell asleep. He was really tired and I had trouble waking him up when it was time to leave." He wasn't about to tell his mother the whole truth, but that was close enough.
Martha sighed again, then thought for a moment. "Okay. Here's the deal: no grounding, but you are going to apologize to your father about talking back to him. I don't care why you did it, it's not acceptable."
Clark nodded grudgingly, not happy, but willing, and Martha continued. "I'll see if I can get him to apologize, too, for over-reacting, alright?"
"Okay." Clark leaned over and hugged his mother. "Thanks. For running interference, again, you know."
She smiled slightly. "Well, your father does tend to go into full over-protective mode when exposed to Luthors," she admitted wryly. "But so far, Lex has done nothing to prove he's anything like Lionel, so I'll do my best to keep your father in hand."
Clark kissed her forehead, and disappeared in blur of light, leaving Martha to shake her head and ponder what to do about her entirely much-too stubborn husband and son.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clark waited until his parents were both in the fields to call Lex. He'd claimed he was going to do the barn chores, which he would... eventually... but mostly it was just an excuse so that he could stay behind a little longer.
Lex picked up on the third ring, sounding a little tired but not groggy, so Clark didn't worry that he'd woken him up. "Hello?"
"Hey, Lex."
"Clark!"
Clark smiled a little at the enthusiasm. "Are you okay? You were pretty dead to the world last night when I left."
"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry I didn't wake up. I wanted to kiss you goodnight..." Lex let his voice trail off.
"It's okay. You were really cute when I put you to bed... it almost made up for not getting that kiss," Clark teased.
"I am not 'cute.'"
Clark laughed lightly. "Yes, you are. You were absolutely adorable."
Clark could almost hear Lex shaking his head in bewilderment, wondering how he'd managed to end up dating this particular creature. "If you tell anybody else that, I'll make your life a living hell," he threatened. Clark just laughed.
"Can you come for dinner?"
Clark sighed. "I wish, but I got home a little late last night, and my dad kind of blew a spout. Mom talked him out of grounding me, but..."
"Say no more. Dinner's out, you can't be seen around the evil Luthor more than once in 24 hours."
Clark sighed again. "It's not that, Lex..."
Lex's tone was strange- a cross between dead of emotion and mildly amused. "Yes, it is. It's okay, Clark. I know how your father feels about me."
Clark couldn't really think of anything to say to that. It was true, after all, as much as he didn't want Lex thinking it. The younger Luthor had a tendency to be incredibly self-deprecating if left to his own thoughts, and Clark was doing his best to draw him out of that, but his father wasn't helping.
"I'm sorry. He doesn't know what he's talking about."
"Sure he doesn't. Look, let's just leave this conversation, okay?"
Clark agreed reluctantly, knowing that it was useless to try and convince Lex otherwise when he'd already made up his mind about something. "Okay. Call you tomorrow?"
"I'll be waiting." Lex's tone almost sounded as if he was wearing a smile, and Clark hoped he was. Lex didn't smile enough, and when he did, it meant he was really and truly pleased about something.
"'Kay. Bye."
"Good-bye, Clark."
The barn chores were, as he had expected, mind-numbingly dull. Clark usually avoided working in the barn like the plague- he liked to hang out there when he needed a place to clear his thoughts, but when he had to do real, physical work, he preferred to do it out in the open, where he could feel the rays of energy from the sun soaking into his skin, warming him and making him feel invincible. Therefore, when he'd offered to take the barn, no one had questioned, because his parents were both so tired of cleaning stalls and piling hay.
Lunch and dinner were quiet. Clark and Jonathan had been forced, under threats of no dessert for a week and sleeping on the couch for the same period of time respectively, to apologize to each other, but neither was really thrilled with the other, just the same. Martha did a lot of sighing, and her husband and son did a lot of glaring, but at least they managed to remain civil through the entire meal, both times.
When dinner was over, Clark retired to his room, claiming that he had homework to do, and Jonathan offered unexpectedly to do the dishes, so Martha sat down on the couch in the living room and started going over her pie and other miscellaneous dessert sales. She was just adding up the total for the month when the doorbell rang.
Pulling the door open, she smiled and then turned and yelled up the stairs before she greeted their caller. "Clark!"
"Hello, Mrs. Kent."
"Good evening, Chloe. It's good to see you."
Chloe shook her head, grinned, and bounced from one foot to the other. Martha could swear she had never met someone with so much energy. At least who was human. "Yeah. Things at school have been really out of hand lately. The semester ends in a month, and I think all the teachers are realizing how much they haven't taught us yet." She grinned again. "That's why I'm here. Clark's supposed to help me try and figure out coordinate geometry formulas. I'm hopeless."
Martha smiled, and stepped out of the doorway as Clark came pounding down the stairs. "Chloe, hey!"
"Ready to try and teach my brain something it really, really doesn't want to learn?" The blond asked with a smirk.
Clark nodded mock-solemnly. "I'm always up for a challenge."
She laughed. "God, I hope so. I really mean it, Clark, I totally don't understand this."
"Well, we'll just have to work on that," Clark told her. "Mom, can she stay for a couple of hours if we need to work that long?"
Martha nodded without hesitation. "Sure. Stay as long as you like, Chloe. Do you need to get home by a certain time?"
She shrugged. "Not 'til eleven, and we won't work that late, for sure. My brain would be mush!"
Clark helpfully demonstrated, lolling his head to the side and letting his tongue hang out, while he rolled his eyes into the back of his head. Chloe thwapped him, and bounded up the stairs. Clark recovered and followed her, flashing a grin at his mother as he went. "Thanks."
"Sure."
[Prologue] [Sleepy]