"I think," Lex thought to himself. "If either of us were asked if we were lonely, we'd both answer 'no' and be lying to ourselves."
He sat at one of the outdoor tables set up in front of the Beanery with Clark and Chloe, supposedly helping them with a project they were doing for history. Knowing Lex's penchant for Greek history, they came to him for a different insight into the Trojan War, and to hit him up for books from his private library, both of which he was quite happy to provide. He'd arrived with an armful of books, which Chloe and Clark accepted with great excitement, and now sat chatting with them as they poured over the pages.
Well not at the moment. They were too engrossed in the books, their heads together - dark and light - over a particularly interesting passage regarding Achilles, and Lex was too engrossed in watching them. Not much was being said at the moment, and that was fine with Lex.
He continued his private discourse with himself. "We're both looking for ourselves, and retreat back to each other when things get too confusing." What had he said? "Kindred spirits."
The wolves at Lex's door were his father's demands and a haunted past. Clark's, he suspected, were much more complex and still quite unknown. Whatever secrets he carried in his heart, they sat upon his shoulders with a weight much heavier than a boy his age should have to bear; and even his parents were sometimes not enough to support him. When the darkness came over him, and the wolves nipped at his heels, Clark found safety with one who knew darkness far, far too well. Lex asked no questions (outright in any case) and demanded nothing, and in accepting the challenge of banishing Clark's shadows, took a little bit of light away for himself.
"So we meet in the middle, both a bit tarnished, to catch our breaths."
Then....
"He goes back into the light, and I fade into the shadows."
Lex hid his sigh behind a sip of his coffee, and leaned forward to point out something of interest in the book they were reading.
"How does he do it?" he asked himself. "I look at him and all I can think about is the last time were were alone together. I close my eyes and I feel his body next to mine and taste his breath on my lips...and I know it must show on my face how I feel. He shows nothing, as if our times together never occurred. I know how passionate he can be, and yet he stands close to me and I feel nothing from him. It's as if he has an off switch hidden somewhere."
A man used to keeping secrets, Lex's inner voice answered him, is a man well versed in suppressing his emotions.
"Trust me." Lex begged. "Tell me what you're hiding. I will not love you any less."
As if that mattered.
"But you won't. You'll let me have your body. You'll let me toy with your mind. But heart and soul will never be mine."
And.....
"Even knowing that, I cannot love you any less."
Clark looked aside to jot down some notes in the binder beside him, and Lex found himself admiring the view as Clark's face was turned to him at an angle. The fall of his dark hair, the color of his eyes, the shape of his mouth; there was nothing about him that was unattractive and Lex often wondered why more people did not see it. Lex certainly did, and, he noted with a slight smile, so did Chloe. Even as Lex's gaze drifted towards Clark, so did Chloe's, and her expression was filled with a quiet longing. Lex had seen her little surreptitious looks before; Chloe had more than a little crush on her best friend. Chloe was in love with him.
Her expression shifted back into neutral as Clark turned back to her.
Lex grinned into his coffee. He knew this game, but he was a little further along in it than Chloe.
"Did you know Chloe is in love with you?" Lex had asked Clark once. "Why aren't you in her bed?"
"I don't want to ruin our friendship."
Lex's had raised a brow at that response. "So you're risking our friendship?"
"You think we are?"
"Are what, friends? Or risking our friendship?"
"Taking the risk of losing our friendship." Clark had appeared rather alarmed, something which Lex noted with some satisfaction.
"No. We are, however, risking our lives."
Clark had laughed.
It was true. All of it. Lex, surprisingly, would probably be stronger than Chloe if it came down to Clark finally making his decisions and moving on in life. If he left her for Lana, for example, Chloe would be crushed. Lex would miss him, surely, but would go about his business as usual. It was also true that if either Lionel Luthor or Jonathan Kent discovered their sons engaged in their little sexual experiment, someone would get strung up from the flagpole in the town square, and odds were it would be Lex.
Strung up, arrested, completely ruined and humiliated; was it worth it?
Lex glanced at Clark, who was grinning at one of Chloe's jokes.
Oh God, yes.
**********************
Lex stood in the loft window peering through Clark's telescope at Lana, who sat on her front porch reading a book. Maliciously he hoped she would do something gross, like pick her nose, just so he could say to Clark: "look, she's human, not some ethereal goddess."
She twirled a lock of hair around one finger, turned a page, and left her nose alone.
Lex turned away from the view in disgust. "You ever peek in her bedroom window?"
"No." Clark lounged on the little sofa where he'd thrown himself the moment he'd arrived; typical of a kid his age. "The angle is all wrong."
With a grin, Lex walked across the loft to lean on a support beam opposite to where Clark lay sprawled. "So you've tried."
"Of course I tried." He was blushing, however, which told Lex he felt guilty about it. Lex was probably the only person to whom he'd admit the naughty deed.
Given the naughty deeds he'd done with Lex, attempting to peek through Lana's bedroom window was quite mild in comparison.
When Chloe left the Beanery, Lex gave Clark a ride home, and he now stalled prior to going home himself. He was reluctant to leave him, and more than that, wanted to set up an evening together. It had been two weeks and a day since they'd last "conferred" and Lex was overdue for a fix. That afternoon's quiet observations, and watching Clark lay sprawled before him now, were conspiring to make Lex quite uncomfortable in his presence and that would never do. A certain status quo must be maintained within the public eye, and if Lex squirmed every time Clark batted an eye, the status quo was disrupted.
"I'm addicted to you." Lex thought, and he had no idea how to approach the subject, an unusual situation for him.
"Too bad, I'm sure it would be an interesting view." he remarked, in reference to Lana. "I wonder if Whitney has seen the inside of her bedroom?"
"I'm sure he has." Clark sounded slightly disgruntled as he swung his legs off the couch and stood up. He went to the telescope and peered through it. "And Nell should be more diligent when they're out on the porch together too."
"A little petting?" With a chuckle, Lex joined him at the window.
Clark laughed. "Quite heavy on occasion, enough to fog up the lenses."
Does it get you hot Clark?
Lex mentally slapped himself for the thought.
"She'll catch them one of these days."
"Whitney will be banished, and you'll move in, no harm no foul, right?"
"Uhhuh." Clark adjusted the focus as he continued to look through the 'scope. "Why do they chance it?" he murmured.
"Its dangerous, and risky, and sometimes that little hint of fear translates into quite a turn on." Lex replied quietly. "As if you didn't know that Clark."
Oddly enough he did not look up. "The fear of discovery?"
"Yes."
"I hope you don't intend to test the theory right now."
"Why?"
Clark turned around with a wry smile. "Because my mother is on her way over here." He straightened and glanced at his watch. "Dinner is probably ready."
"I'll go." Lex replied, and started to do so.
"Its supposed to rain tomorrow." Clark said softly.
Their eyes met.
Ah, so I'm not the only one.
Lex cleared his throat as he heard Martha starting up the stairs. "Come over tomorrow afternoon. We'll shoot some pool."
"Sure."
**************************
It didn't just rain, it poured. Clark arrived a bit after two in the afternoon and the rain was coming down in torrents. The mansion was cold and damp, but Lex had the heat cranked, a fire roaring in the fireplace in the den, and hot coffee ready. The cold wet weather did not seem to ruffle Clark's feathers any, but he stripped off his sodden coat and accepted his coffee with a grateful smile and a kind word to Hannah. Hannah, like all of Lex's servants, adored Clark. Additionally, she was quite discrete. Lex took great pains to make sure the people he kept closest to him were unflaggingly loyal and could keep their mouths shut. When he told Hannah he and Clark were not to be disturbed, she would see to it.
Lex locked the doors after she left.
Just in case.
"Who's turn is it?" Lex asked.
Clark settled into the sofa with his cup of coffee. "Yours I believe." he replied, sipping at the warm beverage. "I'm ahead by two games, loser goes first."
Selecting a cue from the rack beside the table, Lex shot him a smirk, "Smart ass." He bent over the table and sent the cue ball spinning towards the break. "You really have to stop hanging around with me Clark, I'm corrupting you."
"I'll concede to that point, but by the same token, you seem to be mellowing."
"Don't let any of my business associates hear you say that, you'll ruin my reputation." He sized up the angles, and made his first shot. The selected ball shot into a corner pocket with a sharp "crack" and Lex moved around to look for his second shot. "Are you still looking at our relationship as therapy?"
"I look at our relationship as friendship."
"Our sexual relationship Clark."
There was only silence, and Lex turned around to find Clark brooding into his cup. He glanced up as he felt Lex's eyes on him, and his expression was very carefully neutral.
"I don't know." he said quietly. "I just - sometimes I need to know I can feel - something. Something other than loneliness and fear, and sometimes I need to feel safe."
Lex burst out laughing. "And you feel safe with me?"
"Despite the fact you snoop around on me behind my back, and that the very nature of the relationship is dangerous in the extreme - yeah, I do." His grey eyes were mild, content. "I trust you."
Ah, God, he does. Finally. Finally. Lex searched those eyes, and found the truth in them, and his heart soared. His voice was soft, however, and sober.
"Then tell me what you're afraid of Clark."
The raven head moved slightly; back and forth in the negative. "I can't do that Lex."
It came out a bit harsh. "Why the fuck not?"
Clark took it quite calmly. "Because the secret isn't mine alone."
Frustrated, Lex turned back to the table, and promptly messed up his shot. He cursed, and whirled on Clark. "You have a slightly skewed definition of trust." he raged, and moved away from the table.
Standing, Clark put his mug down on the coffee table, and moved to select a pool cue. He was careful in the selection, as his reach was longer than Lex's. "I said I trust you. Other people do not, and I can't betray their confidences knowing they don't trust you to keep them."
"I hate it when you get moralistic on me Clark."
Clark made the shot Lex missed, and the next one as well. Lex watched, fascinated. Clark barely moved the cue and yet the ball shot off the end of it to hit its victim with a sound like a lightning strike and into the pocket as if shot from a cannon.
"Why?"
"Because you're always right."
"I'm not always right Lex, or moralistic."
Lex leaned on his cue as he watched Clark pick off most of the pool balls left on the table, one after another. He'd been stupid to give Clark the opening, because the kid rarely missed once he got going. "Not including sleeping with me, give me an example."
There was a pause.
"Sam Phalen."
"You slept with him?"
Startled, Clark missed his shot. "What?" His eyes were narrow when he turned around to give Lex a hard stare.
Lex chuckled. "Made you miss." He gestured Clark out of the way as he took his turn at the table. "You can hardly be blamed for having your morals slip around Phalen, Clark, the guy was a complete bastard."
"I almost killed him Lex." Clark said quietly.
"Sure you did." Lex sized up the shot Clark had left him.
"No. You don't understand. I almost killed him."
Something in Clark's voice made him hesitate.
Lex turned his head, looking up at Clark, who stood at his side watching his reaction. As soon as he saw the expression on Clark's face, he stopped and straightened to look at him. "Jesus, Clark. You're serious!"
"I had him. He came by after they took dad to jail, and I lost it Lex. I had him pinned, and if he'd said one wrong word I would have split his skull. In a nanosecond he could have been dead."
Lex stared at him in disbelief. He had always known Clark was much, much more than he seemed, and time after time it was proven. This confession added an even new dimension to Clark's character. That he was even capable of getting close to committing murder only served to reinforce Lex's conviction that Clark's shadows might possibly be darker than his own. Whatever Clark's secret might be, was it heavy enough to justify killing someone who knew it? Phalen had never said he knew, but to Lex it was obvious he did. Phalen had almost died, pushing Clark too far with his knowledge, so obviously the answer to the question was "yes".
Damn. What was this kid hiding?
"What stopped you?"
Clark shrugged. "Besides the fact he did not say the wrong thing? I can't honestly say. Something just clicked, and I got control again." He let his breath out in a long sigh, and smiled. "Or maybe it was the vision of trying to clean his blood off the kitchen floor before mom got home."
The grim mood shattered with the joke, and Lex shook his head. "He died anyway, in the end, trying to rob the museum of all things." He made his shot, paused to wriggle his brows at Clark in a gloat, and moved to the opposite side of the table to make his next.
"As if you weren't there?" Clark commented quietly.
The cue ball went wide of its target, and vanished into a pocket. Scratch.
"Made you miss."
They stared at each other from opposite sides of the pool table.
Lex's eyes narrowed. "I'm not sure I like this darker version either."
"James Bond you're not." Clark grinned, and fished the cue ball out of the pocket. He went to the end of the table to set up his shot, but his eyes never left Lex. They were bright, and mischievous, and utterly beautiful. "I saw you as soon as we pulled out of the driveway."
"Clark, I was just making sure you didn't get hurt."
He cocked his head, his smile turning wry, and sent the cue ball zipping across the table. "Sure you were." He came around to Lex's side. "And you were hoping to find out what he had over me too weren't you?"
Lex was in his way, but made no attempt to move. "Of course." He met the grey eyes with a matching glint in his own. "You're enjoying putting me on the spot today aren't you."
"Its usually the other way around. I'm giving you a dose of your own medicine."
"Its turning me on."
"Is it?" Clark took a step closer, and his voice was whisper soft. "You're in the way of my shot."
His eyes met Lex's, and Lex would swear he actually saw something shift within them. The off switch flipped on, and he could feel the desire undulating towards him like some sort of force field.
"Am I?" Lex breathed, spellbound.
"Hmhmm."
Lex was beginning to truly enjoy the taste of peppermint.
"I never taught you to kiss like that." he whispered when it was over.
"Some things are instinctual." Clark replied, and demonstrated his technique a second time, with the addition of a bit of tongue and teeth. He set his cue stick aside.
"I hate it when you're moralistic. I love it when you're aggressive." Lex gasped finally, pulling away a bit. "I think you won the game, you sunk the most balls."
"There's a dirty joke there."
"We're playing pool Clark, the sex jokes are endless." Lex tipped back his head to receive a kiss upon his throat and tossed aside his cue. Both hands were now free, and one slipped up Clark's shirt to caress the hard stomach, while the other.....
"Such as: I see you've brought your own stick."
"That was horrible." Clark murmured, pressing close. Lex watched as the buttons on his shirt popped and rolled across the floor, thus exposing his chest to Clark's continued oral explorations. He hissed as lips brushed across one nipple and lingered there; teasing, tongue working....
"I never said they were good jokes, and I wouldn't criticize them while my hand is where it is if I were you. I might take offense - ow - shit Clark, you are in an aggressive mood. No biting."
"How much weight do you think this pool table will support?"
The question took Lex by surprise. He scowled.
"A lot, I guess, why?"
Clark backed him up against it, and his fingers slipped into the top of Lex's slacks.
"I don't think we're going to make it upstairs."
**************************
They made it to the table, but not much further than that, and when the pounding began on the doors, Lex swore he pulled a muscle as he jerked his head up to look over Clark's shoulder. His voice was hoarse and his body was throbbing.
"Damnit....Hannah!" he bellowed. "I thought I told you...."
The voice that roared through the doors, quite unmuffled by them, did not belong to the housekeeper and it immediately squelched Lex's passion.
"Lex!"
Oh holy.....
"Fuck! Its my father!"
"What?"
"Move, move!"
Lex scrambled off the table, pulling at his clothes and cursing as he realized there was not a single button left on his shirt. He gave up trying to secure it, left it hanging open, and adopted an expression of calm as he hurried to the doors. A quick glance over his shoulder confirmed a completely dressed and seemingly unruffled Clark standing beside the pool table.
How does he do that?
The doors burst open immediately upon Lex unlocking them. He had to step back as Lionel Luthor breezed into the room in a swirl of coat tails and long greying hair. As always, the moment he stepped into a room he made it his own and there was no doubt that despite the fact it was Lex's home, Lionel was very much in charge.
"I hate him." Lex thought viciously. "I hate him, I hate him, I hate him."
He smiled.
"Dad!"
Lionel turned a cold glare upon his son, his eyes flickering to the open shirt and the bare feet and back to Lex's face. He said nothing, but took a step towards Lex, and putting two long fingers under his chin, forced his head to the side to reveal a rather livid red mark along the juncture of neck and shoulder. Lex had suspected it was there, and though he could not see it, the look on Lionel's face confirmed its presence.
Lex swallowed rather heavily, but kept his composure. "Let me guess, Victoria sent you." he said coldly. He barely had time to brace himself.
He hit the floor, hard, under the force of Lionel's backhand. Instinctively he put a hand to his stinging face and for a moment his eyes watered. The old man hadn't struck him like that in years, and Lex was taken off guard, but he managed to shake his head as Clark took a step forward.
Lionel saw it, and turned on Clark.
"You! Get out."
Lex was rather surprised to see Clark actually hesitate under the order despite the chilling tone. His eyes flickered to Lex, who slowly levered himself to his feet, and back to Lionel. His expression, and his body language, spoke of nothing but defiance.
"Go on Clark." Lex said quietly. "Go home."
The grey eyes turned to him again, and Lex nodded towards the doors.
"Its all right. Go on."
Without a word, Clark made his exit, but he gave Lionel one last cool look before he left; a look belonging to a much older individual. Lex wondered if it were the same look Phalen saw in those few seconds his life hung balanced in Clark's hands, and if it were, he'd been prudent not to push Clark any further. Lex watched him go with some unease.
Lionel watched as well and when Clark was gone he stalked back to the doors to pull them shut again. When he turned to face Lex, his expression was grim and his voice dangerously soft.
"Why don't you tell me just what the hell is going on here."
He sat at one of the outdoor tables set up in front of the Beanery with Clark and Chloe, supposedly helping them with a project they were doing for history. Knowing Lex's penchant for Greek history, they came to him for a different insight into the Trojan War, and to hit him up for books from his private library, both of which he was quite happy to provide. He'd arrived with an armful of books, which Chloe and Clark accepted with great excitement, and now sat chatting with them as they poured over the pages.
Well not at the moment. They were too engrossed in the books, their heads together - dark and light - over a particularly interesting passage regarding Achilles, and Lex was too engrossed in watching them. Not much was being said at the moment, and that was fine with Lex.
He continued his private discourse with himself. "We're both looking for ourselves, and retreat back to each other when things get too confusing." What had he said? "Kindred spirits."
The wolves at Lex's door were his father's demands and a haunted past. Clark's, he suspected, were much more complex and still quite unknown. Whatever secrets he carried in his heart, they sat upon his shoulders with a weight much heavier than a boy his age should have to bear; and even his parents were sometimes not enough to support him. When the darkness came over him, and the wolves nipped at his heels, Clark found safety with one who knew darkness far, far too well. Lex asked no questions (outright in any case) and demanded nothing, and in accepting the challenge of banishing Clark's shadows, took a little bit of light away for himself.
"So we meet in the middle, both a bit tarnished, to catch our breaths."
Then....
"He goes back into the light, and I fade into the shadows."
Lex hid his sigh behind a sip of his coffee, and leaned forward to point out something of interest in the book they were reading.
"How does he do it?" he asked himself. "I look at him and all I can think about is the last time were were alone together. I close my eyes and I feel his body next to mine and taste his breath on my lips...and I know it must show on my face how I feel. He shows nothing, as if our times together never occurred. I know how passionate he can be, and yet he stands close to me and I feel nothing from him. It's as if he has an off switch hidden somewhere."
A man used to keeping secrets, Lex's inner voice answered him, is a man well versed in suppressing his emotions.
"Trust me." Lex begged. "Tell me what you're hiding. I will not love you any less."
As if that mattered.
"But you won't. You'll let me have your body. You'll let me toy with your mind. But heart and soul will never be mine."
And.....
"Even knowing that, I cannot love you any less."
Clark looked aside to jot down some notes in the binder beside him, and Lex found himself admiring the view as Clark's face was turned to him at an angle. The fall of his dark hair, the color of his eyes, the shape of his mouth; there was nothing about him that was unattractive and Lex often wondered why more people did not see it. Lex certainly did, and, he noted with a slight smile, so did Chloe. Even as Lex's gaze drifted towards Clark, so did Chloe's, and her expression was filled with a quiet longing. Lex had seen her little surreptitious looks before; Chloe had more than a little crush on her best friend. Chloe was in love with him.
Her expression shifted back into neutral as Clark turned back to her.
Lex grinned into his coffee. He knew this game, but he was a little further along in it than Chloe.
"Did you know Chloe is in love with you?" Lex had asked Clark once. "Why aren't you in her bed?"
"I don't want to ruin our friendship."
Lex's had raised a brow at that response. "So you're risking our friendship?"
"You think we are?"
"Are what, friends? Or risking our friendship?"
"Taking the risk of losing our friendship." Clark had appeared rather alarmed, something which Lex noted with some satisfaction.
"No. We are, however, risking our lives."
Clark had laughed.
It was true. All of it. Lex, surprisingly, would probably be stronger than Chloe if it came down to Clark finally making his decisions and moving on in life. If he left her for Lana, for example, Chloe would be crushed. Lex would miss him, surely, but would go about his business as usual. It was also true that if either Lionel Luthor or Jonathan Kent discovered their sons engaged in their little sexual experiment, someone would get strung up from the flagpole in the town square, and odds were it would be Lex.
Strung up, arrested, completely ruined and humiliated; was it worth it?
Lex glanced at Clark, who was grinning at one of Chloe's jokes.
Oh God, yes.
**********************
Lex stood in the loft window peering through Clark's telescope at Lana, who sat on her front porch reading a book. Maliciously he hoped she would do something gross, like pick her nose, just so he could say to Clark: "look, she's human, not some ethereal goddess."
She twirled a lock of hair around one finger, turned a page, and left her nose alone.
Lex turned away from the view in disgust. "You ever peek in her bedroom window?"
"No." Clark lounged on the little sofa where he'd thrown himself the moment he'd arrived; typical of a kid his age. "The angle is all wrong."
With a grin, Lex walked across the loft to lean on a support beam opposite to where Clark lay sprawled. "So you've tried."
"Of course I tried." He was blushing, however, which told Lex he felt guilty about it. Lex was probably the only person to whom he'd admit the naughty deed.
Given the naughty deeds he'd done with Lex, attempting to peek through Lana's bedroom window was quite mild in comparison.
When Chloe left the Beanery, Lex gave Clark a ride home, and he now stalled prior to going home himself. He was reluctant to leave him, and more than that, wanted to set up an evening together. It had been two weeks and a day since they'd last "conferred" and Lex was overdue for a fix. That afternoon's quiet observations, and watching Clark lay sprawled before him now, were conspiring to make Lex quite uncomfortable in his presence and that would never do. A certain status quo must be maintained within the public eye, and if Lex squirmed every time Clark batted an eye, the status quo was disrupted.
"I'm addicted to you." Lex thought, and he had no idea how to approach the subject, an unusual situation for him.
"Too bad, I'm sure it would be an interesting view." he remarked, in reference to Lana. "I wonder if Whitney has seen the inside of her bedroom?"
"I'm sure he has." Clark sounded slightly disgruntled as he swung his legs off the couch and stood up. He went to the telescope and peered through it. "And Nell should be more diligent when they're out on the porch together too."
"A little petting?" With a chuckle, Lex joined him at the window.
Clark laughed. "Quite heavy on occasion, enough to fog up the lenses."
Does it get you hot Clark?
Lex mentally slapped himself for the thought.
"She'll catch them one of these days."
"Whitney will be banished, and you'll move in, no harm no foul, right?"
"Uhhuh." Clark adjusted the focus as he continued to look through the 'scope. "Why do they chance it?" he murmured.
"Its dangerous, and risky, and sometimes that little hint of fear translates into quite a turn on." Lex replied quietly. "As if you didn't know that Clark."
Oddly enough he did not look up. "The fear of discovery?"
"Yes."
"I hope you don't intend to test the theory right now."
"Why?"
Clark turned around with a wry smile. "Because my mother is on her way over here." He straightened and glanced at his watch. "Dinner is probably ready."
"I'll go." Lex replied, and started to do so.
"Its supposed to rain tomorrow." Clark said softly.
Their eyes met.
Ah, so I'm not the only one.
Lex cleared his throat as he heard Martha starting up the stairs. "Come over tomorrow afternoon. We'll shoot some pool."
"Sure."
**************************
It didn't just rain, it poured. Clark arrived a bit after two in the afternoon and the rain was coming down in torrents. The mansion was cold and damp, but Lex had the heat cranked, a fire roaring in the fireplace in the den, and hot coffee ready. The cold wet weather did not seem to ruffle Clark's feathers any, but he stripped off his sodden coat and accepted his coffee with a grateful smile and a kind word to Hannah. Hannah, like all of Lex's servants, adored Clark. Additionally, she was quite discrete. Lex took great pains to make sure the people he kept closest to him were unflaggingly loyal and could keep their mouths shut. When he told Hannah he and Clark were not to be disturbed, she would see to it.
Lex locked the doors after she left.
Just in case.
"Who's turn is it?" Lex asked.
Clark settled into the sofa with his cup of coffee. "Yours I believe." he replied, sipping at the warm beverage. "I'm ahead by two games, loser goes first."
Selecting a cue from the rack beside the table, Lex shot him a smirk, "Smart ass." He bent over the table and sent the cue ball spinning towards the break. "You really have to stop hanging around with me Clark, I'm corrupting you."
"I'll concede to that point, but by the same token, you seem to be mellowing."
"Don't let any of my business associates hear you say that, you'll ruin my reputation." He sized up the angles, and made his first shot. The selected ball shot into a corner pocket with a sharp "crack" and Lex moved around to look for his second shot. "Are you still looking at our relationship as therapy?"
"I look at our relationship as friendship."
"Our sexual relationship Clark."
There was only silence, and Lex turned around to find Clark brooding into his cup. He glanced up as he felt Lex's eyes on him, and his expression was very carefully neutral.
"I don't know." he said quietly. "I just - sometimes I need to know I can feel - something. Something other than loneliness and fear, and sometimes I need to feel safe."
Lex burst out laughing. "And you feel safe with me?"
"Despite the fact you snoop around on me behind my back, and that the very nature of the relationship is dangerous in the extreme - yeah, I do." His grey eyes were mild, content. "I trust you."
Ah, God, he does. Finally. Finally. Lex searched those eyes, and found the truth in them, and his heart soared. His voice was soft, however, and sober.
"Then tell me what you're afraid of Clark."
The raven head moved slightly; back and forth in the negative. "I can't do that Lex."
It came out a bit harsh. "Why the fuck not?"
Clark took it quite calmly. "Because the secret isn't mine alone."
Frustrated, Lex turned back to the table, and promptly messed up his shot. He cursed, and whirled on Clark. "You have a slightly skewed definition of trust." he raged, and moved away from the table.
Standing, Clark put his mug down on the coffee table, and moved to select a pool cue. He was careful in the selection, as his reach was longer than Lex's. "I said I trust you. Other people do not, and I can't betray their confidences knowing they don't trust you to keep them."
"I hate it when you get moralistic on me Clark."
Clark made the shot Lex missed, and the next one as well. Lex watched, fascinated. Clark barely moved the cue and yet the ball shot off the end of it to hit its victim with a sound like a lightning strike and into the pocket as if shot from a cannon.
"Why?"
"Because you're always right."
"I'm not always right Lex, or moralistic."
Lex leaned on his cue as he watched Clark pick off most of the pool balls left on the table, one after another. He'd been stupid to give Clark the opening, because the kid rarely missed once he got going. "Not including sleeping with me, give me an example."
There was a pause.
"Sam Phalen."
"You slept with him?"
Startled, Clark missed his shot. "What?" His eyes were narrow when he turned around to give Lex a hard stare.
Lex chuckled. "Made you miss." He gestured Clark out of the way as he took his turn at the table. "You can hardly be blamed for having your morals slip around Phalen, Clark, the guy was a complete bastard."
"I almost killed him Lex." Clark said quietly.
"Sure you did." Lex sized up the shot Clark had left him.
"No. You don't understand. I almost killed him."
Something in Clark's voice made him hesitate.
Lex turned his head, looking up at Clark, who stood at his side watching his reaction. As soon as he saw the expression on Clark's face, he stopped and straightened to look at him. "Jesus, Clark. You're serious!"
"I had him. He came by after they took dad to jail, and I lost it Lex. I had him pinned, and if he'd said one wrong word I would have split his skull. In a nanosecond he could have been dead."
Lex stared at him in disbelief. He had always known Clark was much, much more than he seemed, and time after time it was proven. This confession added an even new dimension to Clark's character. That he was even capable of getting close to committing murder only served to reinforce Lex's conviction that Clark's shadows might possibly be darker than his own. Whatever Clark's secret might be, was it heavy enough to justify killing someone who knew it? Phalen had never said he knew, but to Lex it was obvious he did. Phalen had almost died, pushing Clark too far with his knowledge, so obviously the answer to the question was "yes".
Damn. What was this kid hiding?
"What stopped you?"
Clark shrugged. "Besides the fact he did not say the wrong thing? I can't honestly say. Something just clicked, and I got control again." He let his breath out in a long sigh, and smiled. "Or maybe it was the vision of trying to clean his blood off the kitchen floor before mom got home."
The grim mood shattered with the joke, and Lex shook his head. "He died anyway, in the end, trying to rob the museum of all things." He made his shot, paused to wriggle his brows at Clark in a gloat, and moved to the opposite side of the table to make his next.
"As if you weren't there?" Clark commented quietly.
The cue ball went wide of its target, and vanished into a pocket. Scratch.
"Made you miss."
They stared at each other from opposite sides of the pool table.
Lex's eyes narrowed. "I'm not sure I like this darker version either."
"James Bond you're not." Clark grinned, and fished the cue ball out of the pocket. He went to the end of the table to set up his shot, but his eyes never left Lex. They were bright, and mischievous, and utterly beautiful. "I saw you as soon as we pulled out of the driveway."
"Clark, I was just making sure you didn't get hurt."
He cocked his head, his smile turning wry, and sent the cue ball zipping across the table. "Sure you were." He came around to Lex's side. "And you were hoping to find out what he had over me too weren't you?"
Lex was in his way, but made no attempt to move. "Of course." He met the grey eyes with a matching glint in his own. "You're enjoying putting me on the spot today aren't you."
"Its usually the other way around. I'm giving you a dose of your own medicine."
"Its turning me on."
"Is it?" Clark took a step closer, and his voice was whisper soft. "You're in the way of my shot."
His eyes met Lex's, and Lex would swear he actually saw something shift within them. The off switch flipped on, and he could feel the desire undulating towards him like some sort of force field.
"Am I?" Lex breathed, spellbound.
"Hmhmm."
Lex was beginning to truly enjoy the taste of peppermint.
"I never taught you to kiss like that." he whispered when it was over.
"Some things are instinctual." Clark replied, and demonstrated his technique a second time, with the addition of a bit of tongue and teeth. He set his cue stick aside.
"I hate it when you're moralistic. I love it when you're aggressive." Lex gasped finally, pulling away a bit. "I think you won the game, you sunk the most balls."
"There's a dirty joke there."
"We're playing pool Clark, the sex jokes are endless." Lex tipped back his head to receive a kiss upon his throat and tossed aside his cue. Both hands were now free, and one slipped up Clark's shirt to caress the hard stomach, while the other.....
"Such as: I see you've brought your own stick."
"That was horrible." Clark murmured, pressing close. Lex watched as the buttons on his shirt popped and rolled across the floor, thus exposing his chest to Clark's continued oral explorations. He hissed as lips brushed across one nipple and lingered there; teasing, tongue working....
"I never said they were good jokes, and I wouldn't criticize them while my hand is where it is if I were you. I might take offense - ow - shit Clark, you are in an aggressive mood. No biting."
"How much weight do you think this pool table will support?"
The question took Lex by surprise. He scowled.
"A lot, I guess, why?"
Clark backed him up against it, and his fingers slipped into the top of Lex's slacks.
"I don't think we're going to make it upstairs."
**************************
They made it to the table, but not much further than that, and when the pounding began on the doors, Lex swore he pulled a muscle as he jerked his head up to look over Clark's shoulder. His voice was hoarse and his body was throbbing.
"Damnit....Hannah!" he bellowed. "I thought I told you...."
The voice that roared through the doors, quite unmuffled by them, did not belong to the housekeeper and it immediately squelched Lex's passion.
"Lex!"
Oh holy.....
"Fuck! Its my father!"
"What?"
"Move, move!"
Lex scrambled off the table, pulling at his clothes and cursing as he realized there was not a single button left on his shirt. He gave up trying to secure it, left it hanging open, and adopted an expression of calm as he hurried to the doors. A quick glance over his shoulder confirmed a completely dressed and seemingly unruffled Clark standing beside the pool table.
How does he do that?
The doors burst open immediately upon Lex unlocking them. He had to step back as Lionel Luthor breezed into the room in a swirl of coat tails and long greying hair. As always, the moment he stepped into a room he made it his own and there was no doubt that despite the fact it was Lex's home, Lionel was very much in charge.
"I hate him." Lex thought viciously. "I hate him, I hate him, I hate him."
He smiled.
"Dad!"
Lionel turned a cold glare upon his son, his eyes flickering to the open shirt and the bare feet and back to Lex's face. He said nothing, but took a step towards Lex, and putting two long fingers under his chin, forced his head to the side to reveal a rather livid red mark along the juncture of neck and shoulder. Lex had suspected it was there, and though he could not see it, the look on Lionel's face confirmed its presence.
Lex swallowed rather heavily, but kept his composure. "Let me guess, Victoria sent you." he said coldly. He barely had time to brace himself.
He hit the floor, hard, under the force of Lionel's backhand. Instinctively he put a hand to his stinging face and for a moment his eyes watered. The old man hadn't struck him like that in years, and Lex was taken off guard, but he managed to shake his head as Clark took a step forward.
Lionel saw it, and turned on Clark.
"You! Get out."
Lex was rather surprised to see Clark actually hesitate under the order despite the chilling tone. His eyes flickered to Lex, who slowly levered himself to his feet, and back to Lionel. His expression, and his body language, spoke of nothing but defiance.
"Go on Clark." Lex said quietly. "Go home."
The grey eyes turned to him again, and Lex nodded towards the doors.
"Its all right. Go on."
Without a word, Clark made his exit, but he gave Lionel one last cool look before he left; a look belonging to a much older individual. Lex wondered if it were the same look Phalen saw in those few seconds his life hung balanced in Clark's hands, and if it were, he'd been prudent not to push Clark any further. Lex watched him go with some unease.
Lionel watched as well and when Clark was gone he stalked back to the doors to pull them shut again. When he turned to face Lex, his expression was grim and his voice dangerously soft.
"Why don't you tell me just what the hell is going on here."