Twist Upside-down

by

Kelsey

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 know, it's been a god-awfully long time since I've updated this. I'm sorry. My muses weren't cooperating until tonight, when I wrote the whole thing, so please forgive me!

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

Chapter Eight - Know

Breakfast was a quiet affair. Clark shoveled food in his mouth as usual, and Lex watched him with tolerant amusement between dainty little bites of his own meal, which Clark made sure he at least nibbled on.

After breakfast, there was more blood-taking, and then a nurse showed up to give them a tour of the oncology wing. She showed them to the 'fun room', which, as far as Clark could tell, was a big boring room with some board games and videotapes the patients could rent when they got tired of broadcast TV. After that, they saw the nurses station, which was a large round desk at the intersection of four hallways. Then she showed them the elevator, and how to get to the room, which the doctors always recommended when patients wanted some air, apparently, because contagious patients were never allowed on it, and the immune-deficient cancer patients wouldn't have to fear their germs.

They were resting quietly in Lex's room again, the billionaire doing who-knew-what with his company, via his laptop, and Clark carefully filling out his homework papers for Trig class. "Ah, fuck!" He swore, abruptly.

"What?" Lex asked mildly, looking up from his computer for the first time in hours.

Clark blushed a little at having uttered obscenities in front of some one else, but ignored his obvious discomfort in favor of answering his lover. "My calculator just broke."

"As in, ran out of batteries, or actually broke?" Lex asked.

"Actually broke. It eats batteries, I've been replacing them like every other week. But these are new ones, I just put them in two days ago!"

Lex reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Clark looked puzzled for a minute, then shook his head vehemently. "No, Lex."

Lex pulled out a credit card and pressed it into his hand. "You and your parents can pay me back if you really feel you need to. But you need that calculator for your homework, which I won't have you slacking on just because you insist on being here with me."

Clark looked uncertain for a long moment, then nodded. "Okay. But I will pay you back."

"If you must." Lex's tone was noncommittal.

"I will." He stood and grabbed the broken calculator. "I'll be back in an hour or two, okay?"

Lex nodded. "Get some real food while you're out?"

He nodded. "Sure. What do you want?"

"Pizza."

Clark laughed. "Pizza? You don't ever eat pizza."

Lex shrugged. "Blame it on the drugs. I feel like pizza."

Clark became instantly serious. "Drugs? What drugs?"

"The chemo drugs. They started them this morning, while you were asleep." Lex sounded as though he thought it was just a casual thing to mention, and Clark's temper skyrocketed. Clamping down firmly, reminding himself that Lex was just scared and he pulled in on himself when he was scared, the teenager carefully schooled his tone before he spoke.

"And you were what? Just not going to tell me?"

Lex looked up, his blue eyes impassive. "I just told you."

Clark shook his head in frustration. "Lex, I'm here so that I can be your support. I need to know what's going on so that I can do that!"

"I told you, I'm telling you now."

The teenager shook his head again, and sighed. "Okay. Fine. What do you want on your pizza?"

"Olives. Pepperoni. Pineapple."

Clark made a face. "Gah. Sounds wonderful."

Lex looked up, and despite the obvious exhaustion on his face, his eyes twinkled in amusement. "Clark. Is that sarcasm I detect? I'll have you know that those three things make a very good pizza."

"Yeah. Maybe when you're high." He wrinkled his nose.

"Where'd you learn that?" Lex actually looked genuinely curious, for some reason, so Clark answered him without hesitation.

"Some of the football players. I've seen them eat everything from tuna straight from the can to three-day old unrefrigerated Hawaiian pizza when they smoke weed."

Lex shrugged. "Well, I guess chemotherapy drugs make you feel the same way."

Clark wrinkled his nose again. "You are going to keep it down better than them, aren't you?"

Lex grinned. "I promise I won't barf on you just yet, Clark."

Clark went serious, reminded what Lex was likely to be enduring any day now. "It's not that you can't barf on me. I promise I'll stick around, even when you get sick." He waited for Lex to make eye contact with him, and tried to convey his seriousness through his gaze. "But I don't want that particular disgusting concoction on me, partially digested or not!"

Lex grinned again. "Okay. Promise I won't eat anything really gross when I'm nauseous. Good enough?"

Clark nodded. "Yep. Be back in a few hours, then. And Lex?"

He looked up from his computer, where his gaze seemed to return every time Clark looked away. "Yes?"

"Thank you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Clark returned with a brand new calculator and a disgusting pizza for his lover, he found Lex asleep. Not wanting to disturb him, he settled carefully into the uncomfortable plastic chair, opened his binder as quietly as he could and went back to cursing whoever had created Trig in the first place.

Lex slept for a couple of solid hours before he started stir, and Clark had mixed feelings about that. On one hand, Lex tended to be habitually sleep-deprived and needed every bit he could get, as well as it being good fuel for his body to fight the cancer and chemotherapy drugs, but on the other hand, it was so incredibly out of character for Lex that it made him worry more.

Clark put down his paper and pencil when Lex rolled over, groaning softly. He watched as his lover became gradually more active in his sleep, then opened his eyes slowly a few minutes later. "Clark?"

Clark nodded. "I'm here."

"What time is it?"

Clark glanced down at his watch. "Three-thirty-seven."

Lex rolled his eyes. "Thank you, Mr. Precise."

Clark grinned. "You asked what time it was! I would have been in error of my watch-reading duties if I had told you it was three-forty, or something."

"Next time, feel free to round."

Clark pouted. "You would have answered the same way."

Lex grinned, but for that had no answer, and they sat in silence for a few moments as Lex's mind caught up with his body in wakefulness. Eventually, he sat up and looked over at Clark, and his lover spoke again.

"How are you feeling?"

"A little queasy," Lex admitted. "But I'm hungry."

Clark reached under his chair and pulled out the pizza box. "I got what you wanted, but I think it's pretty cold by now."

Lex looked into the corner of the room oddly for a moment, seeming to be thinking about something. Clark's face twisted into a puzzled expression while he awaited what Lex would say.

Lex seemed to decide suddenly, and turned to meet Clark's eyes, a determined spark in his own gray ones. "Well then, warm it up."

Clark looked over at his lover incredulously. Lex sighed, and rolled his eyes. "I know you have some kind of heat vision. I'm not blind." He smiled reassuringly. "I promise I won't ask, Clark."

Clark sat back in his chair, his body trembling at this knowledge. He trusted Lex, it wasn't that he didn't, but it was so hard to tell anybody after it had been drilled into him his entire life that this was secret. "Wh-what else do you know?" He whispered.

Lex looked concerned. "You're strong, and fast, and allergic to the meteors." He obviously noticed that Clark was starting to move from 'worried' into 'panicked' pretty quickly, especially at the mention of his weakness around meteors, because he sat up and put a hand on his lover's shoulder.

"Clark."

Reluctantly, the teen turned his head to meet Lex's eyes.

"I won't tell anyone. I promise, I won't exploit you, Clark. You're all I have." He paused, his voice thick with emotion. "And even if you weren't, I wouldn't do that to you. I don't want to turn into my father."

Clark nodded shakily, just then noticing the hurt in Lex's eyes. Hurt... that Clark didn't appear to trust him. Hurt that he'd been lying to Lex their entire relationship. "I'm sorry," he offered. "I didn't know how to tell you. I... was scared." The hurt in Lex's eyes intensified, and Clark hurried to continue.

"I was scared, Lex, but it wasn't because I thought you'd hurt me. It's just... been drilled into me for such a really long time that it's incredibly scary to think about anyone knowing it."

Lex nodded slowly. "So nobody else knows?"

Clark shook his head. "My parents. And Pete. He kind of figured it out, like you, but unlike you, he didn't have the patience to wait."

"So you had to tell him. Or lose him?"

Clark nodded, then looked at the floor. "If you push me, I will tell you, Lex. I don't want to, but I don't want to lose you even more. But I'm begging you, please don't do that." He looked up, pleading blue eyes locking with Lex's strong gray ones. "Please don't make me reveal myself before I'm ready."

Slowly, Lex nodded. "Okay, Clark."

A little surprised, Clark knew it probably showed on his face, but he smiled shakily in return. "Thanks."

Patting the bed beside him, Lex motioned him nearer. "C'mon. The bed's more comfortable than that god-awful chair, isn't it?"

Clark's smile was still shaky, but it was slowly gaining strength. "Yeah."

"Well, then there's no reason for you to be over there when there's plenty of room in here."

The patented Clark-grin was back, as Lex's teenage lover crawled under the covers and hugged him to his chest. "Thanks."

Lex wasn't sure if they were talking about Clark's secrets or the bed, but either way, there was only one answer.

"You're welcome."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was six-twenty when Clark kissed Lex's temple and picked up his stuff, starting to put it all back in his backpack. "I've got to go," He explained. "Mom and Dad were pretty adamant I be home by seven."

Lex's eyes narrowed, and Clark knew he was just dying to ask exactly how fast Clark was, but he managed to rein himself in. Instead, he stroked a hand over Clark's thick black hair and nodded. "Yeah. You'd better go, then."

"I'll be back on Saturday."

Lex narrowed his eyes for an entirely different reason this time. "I don't want you causing conflict with your parents over me, Clark."

Clark sighed, rolled his eyes, and kissed Lex softly and quickly. "I'll be back on Saturday," he reiterated. "And I'll call you tomorrow."

It was Lex's turn to roll his eyes now, and he did so. "Okay, okay." Smiling, he watched as Clark picked up his backpack from the floor and swung it over a shoulder. "I get it. It's pointless to argue with you."

Clark grinned. "Damn right it is."

"God, Kents are stubborn."

"And you love it."

Lex grinned back, and repeated Clark's phrase. "Damn right I do."

Clark just had to get in a parting shot. "'Sides, it's not like you can argue Luthors don't have a major stubborn streak too."

Lex shrugged. "Guess not."

"Bye, Lex."

"Bye, Clark."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Most of the time it took Clark to get back to Smallville was eaten up winding through the populated parts of Metropolis at a quick jog rather than his top speed. It was annoying that when he knew he could move quicker than a bullet, he still had to leave half an hour early so that no one would see him do so, but he never once questioned the necessity of it.

When the Kent farmhouse came into sight, Clark slowed, leaving ruts in the ground that always happened if he stopped too quickly. "Damn," He mumbled under his breath, and walked back over the ruts, stamping them out until they were no longer noticeable, just another piece of uneven dirt.

Martha greeted his warmly with a hug and hurried him into the kitchen when he pushed open the door. Jonathan was in less of a welcoming mood, but nonetheless managed to nod and not say anything disparaging about Luthors right off the bat.

"So, how is Lex?" Martha asked, her back to her husband and son as she fixed something over the stove.

Clark was entirely willing to just avoid the entire subject of his lover, if it would keep his father off his back, but his mother obviously wanted an answer. "Shaken up. Nervous. And with a weird craving for pineapple-olive-pepperoni pizza when I last saw him."

Jonathan looked incredulous. "Pineapple-olive-pepperoni pizza?" He asked.

Clark shrugged. "He said it was the drugs."

"Drugs?" His father's voice was instantly sharp.

"The chemotherapy drugs, Dad."

Jonathan looked appropriately chagrined, and Clark decided to let him off the hook for the moment.

"So, did Chloe bring my homework by?"

Martha nodded. "It's on your desk." She hesitated for a moment. "I think you need to talk to her, Clark."

Clark frowned. "Why?" He was planning to talk to her, of course, but not in the serious, resolving-issues way that his mother was implying would be necessary.

"She seemed kind of down when she came here. It might not, but something tells me it has something to do with you and her."

Clark nodded slowly, absorbing this with a frown on his face, trying to figure out what he and Chloe might need to talk about. He knew that she wasn't entirely over him, but he figured they'd left that behind them, now. He wasn't interested, and she was a good enough friend to respect that. For whatever reason though, if she needed someone to lean on, he'd be there.

"Okay. I'll talk to her."

[Prologue] [Sleepy] [Scared] [Bloody] [Stay] [Appetite] [Reality] [Fine] [Know]