Lana disliked doing homework with Lex around. It reminded her too vividly of the gap between their ages and world experience. But she didn't want to leave him alone and the homework--as well as more of his incessant paperwork--had to get done, so she hauled out the books and stared blankly at them.
She realized that at least she'd have an excuse the teachers hadn't heard before: A strange kind of super-creature tried to strangle my covert boyfriend and somehow my necklace stopped it, and so I wasn't able to concentrate, between making him drink hot tea with honey and thinking about things.
On the other hand, as Chloe would remind her, this was Smallville. Maybe the same thing happened to Mr. Wallace just last week. Except for the boyfriend part, of course, it'd be "wife," instead.
Which reminded her of other things, specifically, how Aunt Nell was taking the knowledge that her niece was semi-secretly dating Lex Luthor. The problem was that she was taking it all too well, and Lana could have sworn that Nell was already anticipating weddings and babies. "Don't make the mistake *I* made, Lana. You think that you can always come back and pick up the guy you left behind to see if there was something better, but you can't. And then you don't want to settle for anything but."
She'd realized that she didn't want to settle for anything but Lex when she saw that...that...being crushing the life out of him. But in a strange way, the creature reminded her of Lex and herself.
Perfection flawed. To everybody in Smallville, she was the perfect princess, pretty, polite, popular, and probably a lot of other words beginning with the same letter. Everybody knew of the tragedy, but that just made the inner wound visible. People saw the one sorrow and thought that that was all there could be, when she had so much else going for her. When she said something along those lines to Lex, he smiled and mentioned how when Navajos weave blankets, they deliberately leave in a flaw, so that the gods wouldn't think the weaver was usurping the divine right to creae perfection.
It was what drew her to Lex. He was another one who looked to have everything anyone could ask for, the baldness being the one visible flaw. She wondered if, like her, he was teeming underneath with everything nobody ever suspected. Or would have allowed them to feel. Insecurity. Fear. Pain other than what they were supposed to feel.
So the next time that he saw her and paid the standard attentions, the light compliments, she asked him if he was another person who's supposed to be perfect.
It was the first time she'd seen him taken aback.
But not the last.
It had drifted into conversation, more coffee, more conversation, happening to be where the other one just might chance to be, and finally realizing that he was what she wanted. And she wouldn't settle for anything but him. She knew that for certain when she asked him to invest in the Talon, and he demanded a workable business plan first. He'd seen what she could be other than the princess.
She hadn't told Whitney why she was breaking up with him, or rather, not the whole truth. Just that she realized that they weren't right for one another any more. He'd agreed much more readily than she'd anticipated, to the point where she was wondering if he was relieved. After all, he could hardly break up with perfection.
The creature who'd tried to kill Lex was near-perfect, too. Just the one flaw, the weakness. Lex had said that he was amazingly strong and had spoken briefly of other abilities. And if she imagined him with normal skin, without the greenish tinge that Lex had said came on only in contact with the meteors, he'd have been handsome. No, gorgeous. In a disconcerting way. The body that looked like was made for killing and speed and everything else, but the soft, floppy hair and full lips looked just...ornamental.
This wasn't getting homework done. And Lex was giving her that look of his, with the raised eyebrow, that said that he knew way too much about the situation and was way too amused by it.
She slammed the history book shut. "Let's go see Maynard. I want to make sure he's still safely locked up before I go home."
"Maynard?"
"I decided to give him a name."
She realized that at least she'd have an excuse the teachers hadn't heard before: A strange kind of super-creature tried to strangle my covert boyfriend and somehow my necklace stopped it, and so I wasn't able to concentrate, between making him drink hot tea with honey and thinking about things.
On the other hand, as Chloe would remind her, this was Smallville. Maybe the same thing happened to Mr. Wallace just last week. Except for the boyfriend part, of course, it'd be "wife," instead.
Which reminded her of other things, specifically, how Aunt Nell was taking the knowledge that her niece was semi-secretly dating Lex Luthor. The problem was that she was taking it all too well, and Lana could have sworn that Nell was already anticipating weddings and babies. "Don't make the mistake *I* made, Lana. You think that you can always come back and pick up the guy you left behind to see if there was something better, but you can't. And then you don't want to settle for anything but."
She'd realized that she didn't want to settle for anything but Lex when she saw that...that...being crushing the life out of him. But in a strange way, the creature reminded her of Lex and herself.
Perfection flawed. To everybody in Smallville, she was the perfect princess, pretty, polite, popular, and probably a lot of other words beginning with the same letter. Everybody knew of the tragedy, but that just made the inner wound visible. People saw the one sorrow and thought that that was all there could be, when she had so much else going for her. When she said something along those lines to Lex, he smiled and mentioned how when Navajos weave blankets, they deliberately leave in a flaw, so that the gods wouldn't think the weaver was usurping the divine right to creae perfection.
It was what drew her to Lex. He was another one who looked to have everything anyone could ask for, the baldness being the one visible flaw. She wondered if, like her, he was teeming underneath with everything nobody ever suspected. Or would have allowed them to feel. Insecurity. Fear. Pain other than what they were supposed to feel.
So the next time that he saw her and paid the standard attentions, the light compliments, she asked him if he was another person who's supposed to be perfect.
It was the first time she'd seen him taken aback.
But not the last.
It had drifted into conversation, more coffee, more conversation, happening to be where the other one just might chance to be, and finally realizing that he was what she wanted. And she wouldn't settle for anything but him. She knew that for certain when she asked him to invest in the Talon, and he demanded a workable business plan first. He'd seen what she could be other than the princess.
She hadn't told Whitney why she was breaking up with him, or rather, not the whole truth. Just that she realized that they weren't right for one another any more. He'd agreed much more readily than she'd anticipated, to the point where she was wondering if he was relieved. After all, he could hardly break up with perfection.
The creature who'd tried to kill Lex was near-perfect, too. Just the one flaw, the weakness. Lex had said that he was amazingly strong and had spoken briefly of other abilities. And if she imagined him with normal skin, without the greenish tinge that Lex had said came on only in contact with the meteors, he'd have been handsome. No, gorgeous. In a disconcerting way. The body that looked like was made for killing and speed and everything else, but the soft, floppy hair and full lips looked just...ornamental.
This wasn't getting homework done. And Lex was giving her that look of his, with the raised eyebrow, that said that he knew way too much about the situation and was way too amused by it.
She slammed the history book shut. "Let's go see Maynard. I want to make sure he's still safely locked up before I go home."
"Maynard?"
"I decided to give him a name."
