Christmas
By
Tayoni
~*~ Part Thirteen (Final) ~*~
"Something on yer mind, Lex?" Clark wondered.
Lex blinked to clear driver's fog out of his head. Convenient street lights had been left behind long ago, and the high beams cut through the darkness and brightened the road. For two and a half hours, the road never changed. It was like being on a treadmill, and it creeped him out sometimes. Clark had been silent for the whole time and that was making him nuts. Something was eating at him, he thought.
It was a releif to see the 'Smallville' sign glowing irridescently in the headlights. But there was still a long ways to go before they'd get into town.
"Lex?"
"Yeah, little something's simmering."
"Well tell me."
Lex couldn't let it out. Not this. Everything Clark's grandfather had told him was milling around in his head and he couldn't shake any of it. There were questions he wanted to ask Clark, and on the other hand he didn't want to know the answer. Clark had saved his life. Did his freind feel like he'd saved the life of a demon? That wasn't a question he could ask. He knew dam well Clark would say, 'of course not!' even if he did feel that way.
"Gonna tell me?"
Lex started looking for something to say. Let Clark think he was thinking about something entirely unrelated, but...
...that'd be like lying to him, and he didn't want to do that anymore. Not even to smooth over a touchy subject.
"Rather not talk about it."
"Oh." Clark said and glared ahead at the road. He wasn't happy.
Lex felt like a big hypocrite then. Dammit! Wrong answer! He couldn't win for losing, but he'd put himself in this spot. He was always after Clark, trying to make him let him in on secrets he didn't want to share, but here he was refusing to speak on the issue. "Clark...?"
"If you don't want to talk about it that's fine." Clark growled.
"Clark hear me out." He begged.
"I'm hearing." He said, and there wasn't even the tiniest bit of humor in his tone.
"Christmas day you wouldn't tell me who it was you had a thing for." He said and didn't look at him. "I have to admit I was a little...mad that you wouldn't tell me."
Clark looked at him.
Lex didn't look back.
"You're mad cause I won't tell you who I got a crush on?"
"No. I was...but...I'm not now. Stupid thing to think I have to know about. Stupid that I got mad at you over it anyway." He told him, and felt a little uncomfortable. No. A lot uncomfortable. "Figured, it's your business. We're good friends, but that doesn't mean I have to know everything their is to know about you, Clark. Just...next time...you don't want to admit something to me, or I don't want to admit something to you..."
"We won't lie to each other?" Clark finished.
"Right." Lex said and grinned at Clark. "Better off just to admit you don't want to speak on the issure than to lie."
"Sometimes we lie accidently out of habit." Clark said and then looked away, embarrassed.
"If anyone understands that, Clark, it's me." Lex said, keeping his eyes on the road. "Crazy as this sounds, I wonder sometimes if I'm a pathological liar. I can't help myself. The lies just happen, and I hate it when that happens. I'm some kind of a mental case, I swear. Get so ashamed of the first little lie, that I keep covering up that lie and it goes out of control and...can't believe I'm telling you that."
"Like I haven't figured that out yet." Clark said.
"I'm amazed you're still my friend." Lex told him.
"If anyone understands lies it'd be me, Lex." Clark said.
Lex saw the muscles in Clark's jaw bunching up. He wished he could tell Clark that if anyone understood what it was like to be different it was him. But it wasn't a thing to bring up. Clark wouldn't want to talk about that. He'd either be prompted to confess what he wasn't ready to spill, or he'd lie despite the conversation at hand. So he left it alone. "If anyone understands secrets, that's me."
Clark glanced at him, and he looked a little frightened.
"You got upset that day. Christmas." Lex said. "You knew I was mad at you for not telling me who you got a crush on. I think you got mad at me for getting mad at you. Like...you figure I think you owe me all your secrets or something."
Clark turned and gave him one of those wide eyed innocent looks. He had to think about that for a minute before it all sank into his head. "Yeah."
"It's been bugging you hasn't it?" Lex said. "Me acting like your secrets should be mine, and you not wanting to part with them."
"Yeah." Clark admitted.
"I'm such a jackass." Lex said. "Clark...I never had any 'real' friends before. I always imagined that if I ever had one we'd tell each other everything but there I am hiding things from you while demanding you give me everything. I'm a hypocrite!"
"You're a smart hypocrite though." Clark said.
He turned and gave him a stupid look. "What?"
"Most people who are hypocrites don't see it." Clark said. "You know it now and you see it so you can change it."
Lex grinned. "How?"
"That's a question for my father, but if you ask him, you'll get a two hour lecture."
"Or a boot to the head." Lex said and smiled as he turned down a road into the main area of Smallville.
It didn't seem to take long enough for them to get into the Talon's parking lot. Lex stopped his car to let Clark out.
"It's only nine thirty, you wanna get a coffee?" Clark asked.
"Sure." He said, and shut the car down. As soon as he got out of the car, he noticed all the stars were standing out against a black moonless sky. It was an amazingly beautiful sight. "Love this town. Didn't think I'd say that the day my dad kicked me out here. Thought I'd been exhiled."
"What do you think now?"
"I'm home." He grinned.
"Lex, about that girl..."
"You really don't have to tell me, Clark." Lex said. "Not about her, and not about anything you don't want to tell me. All I wanna know is that you're my friend. I don't need to know anything else. I promise, that's not a habitual lie."
Clark grinned, and Lex saw a little bit of that 'I got the weight of the world on my shoulders' expression drift away. Was that what had been bothering his friend? Was that why he'd been acting tense since Christmas? "Thanks, Lex." Clark said. "You're a good friend."
"Takes a real human being to teach a monster like me how to be a good friend, Clark." Lex said.
Clark was actually getting a little teary eyed. "You're not a monster, Lex. You're one of the most humane people I've met in my life."
He felt himself grinning helplessly. "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me, Clark. I think I'm gonna cry now. Is this the part where we profess our undying love for each other?"
"Oh, shutup." Clark grumped.
"Despite what I just said Clark, I am really curious."
"Oh...no..." He groaned.
"Who in this world could have gotten your magnetic attention away from Lana Lang?"
Clark laughed. "Never telling."
"Don't tell me. Let me guess." Lex teased as they crossed the parking lot. "Nell?"
"NOOOO!" Clark complained.
"My new maid?"
Clark scoughed.
"Good, cause I don't have a new maid. I recently hired an old maid but..."
"Shut up and let's just go get our coffee and my keys!"
"You shut up!"
"Was I talking?"
"You were."
"Was not."
"Were too!"
The back door of the Talon opened and the two of them went through it. Lex and Clark's laughter, and Lana's friendly greeting spilled out into the parking lot.
"SQUEAKY BALDEEE MAAAAAN!"
Clark's fearfull yipe, and Lex's horrible squeak of indignity was lost as the Talon's back door closed.
END!
*Sigh
If only that could really happen in Smallville.
*****
Well, it's over, but did the fat lady sing? I don't know.
Thanks to everyone for the reviews. You guys are spectacular in more ways than I can find adjectives for.
I hope that you guys had as much fun reading this as I had writing it, but I doubt that's possible.