Blue and Red

by LLC

Part Two

"You know, you and I are really going to have to work on our communication."

Lex looked up from his desk in the library of Castle Luthor to see Clark standing in the doorway, overloaded, with his arms around bundles and bundles of flowers. The moment Lex had been brooding over since yesterday, trying to figure out how to deal with his friend's newly revealed feelings, had finally arrived.

"Clark!"

Clark looked at him dubiously, but not with any palpable sense of actual anger or frustration. If anything, he looked almost playful. "I specifically remember you saying you had Nell hold 'a few dozen' roses. Your definition of 'few' is very interesting."

"Here, let me help," Lex offered as he stood up from his chair and strode to intercept Clark, who had moved as well, taking several steps into the room. Lex took all the roses from under one of Clark's arms and deposited them on a table off to one side of his office. Clark followed a few steps behind him.

"This is a lot of flowers. I take it you've spent the day resting up?"

Lex looked over to see Clark smirking at him and relaxed. Clark seemed to have adjusted his attitude since yesterday, to his infinite relief. He had been prepared to deal with Clark avoiding him, or being distant and sullen, but it was not something he had looked forward to. It seemed Clark was going to save him that bit of disappointment and unhappiness.

"You never know," Lex said with a smirk of his own. "Maybe I'm just overcompensating?"

Clark snorted as he piled the remaining flowers on top of the table. "Somehow, I doubt that," Clark answered teasingly, eliciting a raised eyebrow from Lex.

"Why did Gerde send you in here with all these?" Lex asked innocently, as if he didn't already know the answer.

"The same reason she sent me to you with the tulips you ordered before. She said she only deals with the edible."

Lex shook his head. "You know, maybe I need to reevaluate my kitchen staff..." he said, not giving a hint that his personal chef was just following instructions. Lex made sure that Gerde knew to find some excuse to send Clark to him whenever he was home at the time that the young man made his deliveries. Not that excuses were all that necessary anymore, since their friendship had deepened. Still, he made a mental note to slip the usual "Clark" bonus into the envelope along with Gerde's next paycheck.

"No, it's okay, really. Besides, I needed to see you anyway," Clark told him as he swung his backpack off his shoulder and opened it, pulling out a rectangular cardboard box. "I wanted to give you this, to apologize for my meltdown yesterday."

"Clark, that's not necessary--"

"I know," Clark cut him off. "I just wanted to make sure you knew that everything is okay."

Lex smiled at him and then opened the box to reveal another shirt, similar in style and material to the blue one Clark had given him a few weeks ago. This one, however, was a deep, rich red. Lex looked back up at Clark.

"It's Valentine's Day. If you're doing something special with Victoria, I figured you should dress for the occasion. I didn't think you'd already have anything like it."

"You thought correctly," Lex said, shaking his head as he looked back at the finely tailored garment. One of the last things he would have expected in his relationship with Clark was that the farmer's son would be dressing him up.

"It's okay, right?" Clark asked, and Lex detected a hint of nervousness in Clark's tone.

"What?" he asked in return, looking up at his tall friend.

"Giving you this. You don't think it's weird or anything, do you?" Clark was definitely worried.

Lex smiled at him. "Clark, how did we meet?"

Clark seemed confused by the question, but answered, "Uh, you ran your car off a bridge and I pulled you out."

"And what happened about a month and a half ago, when you came out to the plant?"

"Earl took us all hostage and nearly killed us."

"Week before last?"

"Jeff Palmer figured out a way to turn invisible and tried to kill you because his sister was in love with you."

"Yep. And a few days ago?"

"Bob Rickman brainwashed you into trying to kill me and Kyle Tippet."

"And you're worried that I might think giving me a shirt as a present is weird?"

Finally understanding what Lex was getting at, Clark smiled sheepishly at him.

"At this point, I wouldn't think it all that weird if the shirt came alive and tried to devour me. Just so long as you were around to rip it off and save me, naturally."

That comment brought a mild touch of color to Clark's cheeks and he looked away. The sight made Lex smile. Clark was adorable when he blushed. Lex tilted his head and tried to catch his eye, causing Clark to look back over at him.

"I think this friendship will work best if we both just do what we feel, Clark. So, no, I don't think your present is strange. I like it a lot. In fact, would you give me a hand?" Lex asked as he pulled the shirt out of the box and handed it to Clark. Clark looked at the shirt and then over at him in confusion, and then Clark's eyes widened as Lex began to undo the buttons of the purple shirt he was wearing.

"Victoria should be back from Metropolis any minute. If I'm going to wear this for the evening, I need to change right now," he explained as he finished with the buttons and shrugged out of the shirt, dropping it onto the desk. He turned back to face Clark, who was frozen, staring at him, at his chest and arms, in something between shock and bemused wonder. Lex chuckled softly and waited a few more seconds, giving Clark a good show, and then finally reached out for the red shirt.

The movement seemed to snap Clark out of his reverie. He shook his head for a second and then held the shirt up for Lex to don. Lex smiled and turned, slipping one arm into the soft, silky material, and then the other. His smile turned a bit smug as he felt Clark hold onto the shirt, hold on to him, just a second longer than would typically be appropriate between two guys who were merely friends. Clark finally released him, and Lex turned back to face him as he buttoned the garment and tucked it into his pants. Clark continued to look straight at him, not turning his eyes away or staring down at the floor as he might have expected from the young man.

"It fits perfectly," Lex said as he moved a little in the shirt, raising and then lowering his arms. "How does it look?"

"I think you look great," Clark answered quietly, his gaze never wavering.

Lex debated whether is was the right time to say anything. Making his decision to forge ahead, he started. "Clark, about yesterday..."

Clark's expression turned pained, and he finally looked away, eyes dropping to the floor. "Can't we just--"

"Just let me say two things, okay?" Lex said gently, stepping closer to Clark, entering his space.

Clark nodded.

"First, don't ever let anyone make you think that the way you feel about... being with someone... being in love, is stupid, or naive." Clark raised his eyes. "Even if that person is me. The way you feel... it's the way everyone should feel. It's the way I want to feel."

Despite his serious expression, a slow, small grin came to Clark's lips at Lex's words.

Lex cleared his throat. "And second," he continued, and then paused with a slight sigh. "This thing with Victoria..." he trailed off as he saw Clark's expression change, the grin fading a little into something thinner, a touch wounded, perhaps. "It's not going to last forever, Clark," he finished very softly, and looked meaningfully at the tall young man.

Clark's blue eyes widened with understanding, and then it was all there on his face for Lex to see. All the affection, all the want, all the emotion, all of it with the blazing intensity of youth. It was everything that Lex had envisioned in his fantasies about Clark, and much more. He found himself unexpectedly overwhelmed.

The connection between them was broken by the sound of approaching footsteps. Clark's eyes seemed to clear and he took a few steps away from Lex, creating a more socially acceptable distance between them.

Victoria came into view and stepped into the library, catching sight of Lex, but she started slightly as she realized he was not alone. Her eyes darted to Clark, and then back to him. "Hello, Lex," she said finally.

"How was your ride?" Lex asked, attempting to muster at least the appearance of genuine interest.

"Long, but uneventful, thankfully," she replied. Her eyes moved to Clark again, and Lex couldn't suppress his smirk. Her tolerance for Clark had dropped since the incident with Jeff Palmer.

"Clark was just dropping off some things for me," he commented offhandedly.

Victoria nodded her head and continued to stand in the entryway, openly glaring.

"I should get going. I still have some deliveries to make," Clark said, attempting a diplomatic exit. He exchanged a quick glance with Lex, grabbed the backpack he had used to carry and conceal Lex's present, and then started toward the doorway.

Victoria caught Clark's eye as he approached her, and he nodded slightly. "Ma'am," he said in both greeting and parting.

"I never did thank you for pulling me out of the tub the other week, did I, Clark?" she asked as he began to pass her, making him stop and turn.

"No, ma'am. I'm sure you had other things on your mind."

"Perhaps next time you won't set me down on a floor covered with shattered glass?"

Her comment and acerbic tone visibly took Clark by surprise. "Let's hope that there's not a next time," he answered seriously after a few seconds, and nodded again as he stepped out into the hallway.

Lex watched the exchange with amusement but straightened his face as Victoria turned away from Clark with a mild huff and began slithering toward him. Her frown deepened as she approached.

"What on earth are you wearing?" she asked bluntly, eying his crimson shirt.

Lex could see Clark still in the hallway, adjusting something on his backpack in a fairly transparent attempt to eavesdrop. He caught Clark's reaction to Victoria's comment, a slight stiffening of the tall young man's posture.

"Something special for the occasion," Lex replied smoothly.

"It's all wrong for you, Lex," she said, concluding her appraisal. "Even worse than that horrid blue thing you've been wearing lately."

"Oh, I don't know. I think I like it," he said, looking down at the shirt and then back up at her. He held his arms out to her, and she closed the distance between them and embraced him. Lex moved so that his head was over her shoulder, and he looked out to the hallway to find that Clark had abandoned all pretenses and was looking right at him.

"In fact," he said, speaking loud enough so that he was sure Clark could hear, "I'm suddenly seeing a lot of blue and red in my future."

Lex watched the grin spread across Clark's face at his words, and smiled himself as Clark slowly turned away and started walking toward the manor's front entry. Lex tightened his grip around Victoria momentarily, reveling in the certain knowledge that it was Clark who would be in his arms soon enough.

THE END