Part 2
The airport was crowded. Lex had expected no less, especially in a post-September 11th world. The Metropolis airport had not yet converted over to its new security systems, and the National Guard was still stationed there. He'd expected this, as well, and had arrived early in anticipation of a security sweep of his belongings. When he finally made it through security and into the terminal, he was quite certain his father had planned it so he'd be out of the country right now... just so it would be inconvenient for Lex to use the LuthorCorp jet and avoid half the hassle. It was another thing to add to the list of his father's more recent offenses.
Or was it? No matter how determined Lionel Luthor was to making his son's life miserable, nothing could compare to the knowledge that Lex was going to Gotham for the expressed purpose of doing business with Bruce Wayne. Again. Lex smothered a smile as he boarded the plane. Lionel knew that Lex had somehow convinced the head of Wayne Enterprises to take an interest in Smallville. It would have been foolish to try and hide that fact, anyway, so Lex hadn't bothered. His father lectured him for three straight days on how foolish it had been for him to show Wayne his "unhealthy weakness for that pathetic little town." And Lex had nodded as if he understood, while inwardly thinking how much more he'd actually shown Bruce. His father apparently had no clue.
Which was just as well. He would someday, Lex supposed, but he wanted that day--the day Lionel Luthor learned the true extent of his son's partnership with Bruce Wayne--to come under his own terms.
The first class section was nearly full when Lex took his seat. A window seat. How nice. He supposed it could have been a coincidence, however it was more likely that his father had instructed Dominic get one. Lex hated flying and his father knew it. More for the list, Lex thought as he pulled down the window cover.
Then he asked a passing flight attendant for a magazine with which to pass the time. He smirked when she handed him a magazine from her trolley. The latest edition of "Fortune," one he hadn't seen yet. Bruce's face smiled back at him from the cover. Which really didn't surprise Lex much. Smallville had forced the young Wayne out of his father's shadow and into his own spotlight. Both the media and the business world had taken it as a sign--Bruce Wayne was ready to play ball, and he'd brought his own bat and glove. Ever since, it seemed as if his smile was everywhere: magazines, newspapers, and television. Sometimes it was quite distracting, but not ever a surprise.
Skimming his fingers across the glossy image of his lover, Lex flipped the magazine open to a random page. It opened ironically to a secondary article on Bruce, along with a photo taken from a New York City charity dinner Bruce had attended back in December.
Lex remembered that night very well...
[Lex leaned against a pillar watching his father move about the crowd of stuffed shirts. They were in New York for a dinner to raise money for the widows and orphans of New York's firefighters. A worthy enough cause, Lex supposed. Everyone was giving money these days, especially this close to Christmas. LuthorCorp owned enough here in the Big Apple to make it worthwhile for them to attend, and Lionel had insisted he come. 'It's not enough that I go, Lex,' his father had told him. 'This year is about us showing the world a united Luthor front. You *will* attend.'
A united Luthor front. It was so funny a thought Lex forgot to laugh. But there it was, and there he was, bored out of his mind while his father smiled falsely and made small talk with other equally bored people.
There was sudden commotion at the door, and Lex turned in that direction in time to see the press swarming around the latest arrival. "Mr. Wayne! Bruce!" he heard a few of the reporters call out and cameras flashed for several minutes.
Lex watched curiously as the once reclusive Bruce Wayne smiled for an adoring public. A woman with coppery-blonde hair hovered at his side, an arm lightly wound around his. Someone must have asked about them, as Bruce inclined his head in her direction, smiling a little wider. Lex 's chest tightened, until the couple began moving away from the entrance and media and he was able to see exactly who she was.
The tightness eased considerably. Cynthia Kane was...
"Well, I see your friend is here," a cynical voice muttered behind Lex, snarling over the word 'friend' as if it were an abomination.
"Friend? Bruce Wayne? Really, Dad, and I suppose he'd be *your* friend if you'd been the one in Smallville instead of me?" Lionel Luthor gave no response, as the two Luthors suddenly found themselves face to face with the friend in question.
"Mr. Luthor!" Bruce smiled broadly as he extended a hand first to Lionel and then to his son. "Lex! Good to see you again. Things working out for you in Metropolis?" The words were cordially spoken, not a hint of anything else in them. Lex nodded, eyes meeting Bruce's steadily. "Good, good! Have you met Cynthia Kane?" Bruce asked in general, extending the question to the elder Luthor.
"Not officially," Lex countered. "But I believe she was in a rather tasteful independent film last year. I might have seen it." Lionel merely forced a smile and greeted Cynthia amicably.
More conversation was interrupted by the announcement that the dinner would begin shortly and people should start finding their seats. An additional announcement told everyone that major contributors to tonight's benefit would be seated at the head table. A few minutes later, Lex found himself seated at said table next to his father--directly across from Bruce Wayne and his date.
A waiter came around with a tray of champagne. Lex and his father both carefully selected their glasses and Lionel inquired it if was possible to get something 'with a little more kick to it.' The waiter smiled politely and handed him the porter's list.
At the same time, another waiter appeared on the opposite side of the table. Lex watched as Bruce took a glass of champagne and held it out to Cynthia. "Oh, now, Brucie..." the actress said with a practiced pout. "You know how champagne makes me."
"Yes, I do," he informed her, pressing the stem of the glass into her hand. He then looked back to the waiter and asked if he might have an extra glass of water.
Lex's eyebrow arched. "Water?" he inquired, drawing the attention of several others around them. Lionel also cast a glance in Bruce's direction.
"Brucie's not drinking tonight," Cynthia informed the listeners, flashing Lionel a particularly seductive smile. "He's trying be a good example."
"A good example?" Lex barely got the words out when he felt a foot begin to creep up his ankle from across the table. A good example indeed, he thought wryly, fixing Bruce with a gaze that could have been due to his choice of beverage or possibly because his foot was now traveling at an excruciatingly slow pace up Lex's left calf.
Bruce, however, barely acknowledged either the pointed look or the foot in question. "Actually, it's a little more than that," he said, foot reaching Lex's inner thigh. "The Gotham School District asked me to sponsor their drug and alcohol awareness program this year by pledging to remain substance free for the duration of the school year. We're hoping the kids will see me and learn by example."
Learn by example? Lex was thankful that he hadn't started eating yet, as he might have choked on his thousand-dollar-a-plate dinner. He was just taking a sip of his champagne when the not-so-offending foot gently connected with his crotch. The touch, soft though it was, was so shocking that Lex *did* choke, spluttering champagne into the air in front of him.
"Too strong for you, Lex?" Bruce inquired, a faint smile on his lips as Lionel handed his son a napkin. Lex scowled behind the cloth he dabbed gingerly at his lips. If he made it through this dinner with his sanity intact, he vowed he'd make his smug friend pay for this.]
The sound of the pilot addressing his passengers brought Lex out of his memory. The pilot was announcing their estimated arrival time as two hours and fifteen minutes. The beverage cart was coming through, and Lex asked for a scotch on the rocks. As he sipped it, he remembered going back to his hotel suite that night and finding Bruce waiting for him--freshly showered and naked on the huge bed. When he'd awakened the following morning, after a night of raw passion, his lover had been gone.
And Lex was still longing for more.
