Sunday afternoon found an expensively, yet casually dressed bald billionaire meeting one of his subordinates and some teenagers for a high school football game. His father would be rolling over in his jail cell, had he not somehow conned his way out. Lex still couldn't figure out how he managed that one, but he would once again have to face the grim task of informing the Sullivans that they wouldn't be safe from the senior Luthor.
The things he did for Clark. If he wanted to relax, sitting out in the cold surrounded by screaming hicks wouldn't be the way to do it. He only agreed to spend the football game with the Sullivans also in order to kill two birds with one stone.
Lex spent countless sleepless nights wondering why exactly he continued to tolerate the younger man's behavior towards him of late or the innumerable lies which had become both quite obvious and ridiculous.
'No Lex! I have no idea who stole your car. Yes, I had asked for $20,000 just minutes before because a friend - cough, Pete Ross, cough - got mixed up in something.'
'Oh, the car was put back neatly covered,' the likely actions of a guilty homegrown Midwest farm boy, 'I bet it was just some really considerate joy riders.'
'No Lex! I just came over in the middle of the night to admire your newest acquisition. I swear I have no idea how it just disappeared right under my nose' and then when Lex tracked down the culprit, the boy just happened to be a friend of Clark and Clark managed to miraculously show up in the nick of time to save everyone.
And that just bugged Lex to death. Clark comes off the hero repeatedly despite his lies, sneaky behavior, dangerous actions and questionable friends. Things Lex has continuously been verbally stoned for ever since he arrived in Smallville.
Adding salt to the wound, just a few weeks later Lex winds up the bad guy because a crazed one night stand decided to stalk him, frame him for murder and try to kill him. He still couldn't figure out how he ended up apologizing to Clark like some kind of guilty, wayward husband.
Of course it wouldn't be the first time he had taken the blame for some event which was clearly not his fault…not that Clark would ever admit going to his father to get Lex to stop his memory treatments was the bad idea that landed him in green goo.
And sure Lex sometimes got in over his head, his father's left over projects for example. But in all honesty, he didn't start them, he didn't like them and he couldn't get out of the government contracts without shutting down the entire company. The other messes he wound up involved in occurred due to his admittedly overactive curiosity or his real concern for someone else.
Furthermore, had Clark not become involved in his own sordid web of events on occasion? Lex seemed to remember reports of the Kents' blown up storm cellar preceding a three month hiatus taken by Clark, which incredulously turned out to be enough to almost double the family debt. Not to mention Clark's most recent disappearance which just happened to coincide with a crooked FBI agent, last reported to be watching the Kent Farm, practically vanishing into thin air. And hadn't that been a fun situation to take care of, though the Kents would never guess Lex had handled the official inquiry behind their backs. Granted he didn't do it on quite so official terms. But he had done it because he felt he owed it to Clark for the admittedly questionable room which Lex had since dismantled.
He truly couldn't understand why he seemed to cling to the vestiges of what might have been an actual friendship once upon a time. He suppose he should just chalk it up to his obvious masochistic streak.
"Lex!" He had the whirlwind of pink and black knocked him out of his brooding thoughts when one overly bubbly Lana Lang decided to run up and throw her arms about him in a very enthusiastic hug.
Ever since he made the mistake of initiating an embrace when he thought she was leaving Kansas forever, he had suffered for it. She seemed to think that she had a right to touch him, ask favors and hang about as if he was her 'best friend forever', and truthfully, he had just wanted to make sure she got on the plane.
It was the primary reason he had to get her the hell out of his house, despite the dangers that had become apparent with Lana living above the Talon. He felt a tinge of guilt about inflicting the ex-cheerleader upon the Sullivans, but he soothed his remorse by telling himself that they were more than happy to have her live with them - which he was sure they were.
"Lana" He tried to sound enthusiastic. "Hello."
"I'm just so happy to see you here!" She exclaimed.
He wanted to ask why, but settled on a decidedly more diplomatic "Thank You".
"Lex. How are you?" A more subdued Gabe greeted him with a handshake.
"Well not that great. There's actually something I have to talk to you about, but that can wait till later." He answered honestly.
Gabe gave him a weary look and Lex instantly regretted telling the truth. He wasn't always the best in figuring out when to lie and when not to.
"Well, you can tell us later," Lana volunteered. "But right now, why don't we go get seated."
"Alright." Lex agreed. He noted that Gabe had been watching Lana with a suspicious wariness during their conversation and couldn't help but wonder if he owed the man more than just bonuses for his generosity. Maybe a small country would do.
Lana steered them towards a section of the stands of which the bottom front was covered with a large paper sign proclaiming the support of a winning game by the SGBLC. Whatever the SGBLC was, the obviously blind artist had decided to decorate it in an ghastly array of pinks against a black background. The thing had massive amounts of glitter on it.
"You like the sign? I did it myself." Lana admitted proudly.
While noticing that Lana and about ten or so odd students were wearing matching t-shirts, Lex managed to smile and respond, "It's very…distinct."
He wondered why on earth he ever thought she might flourish as an artist. Before her abysmal failure in Paris, and he had seen the progress reports which must have been what sent Lana flying back to Smallville, he had just figured she could have hidden depths.
Everyone had hidden depths, didn't they? Maybe Lana's just weren't in art.
She led him up the bleachers with Gabe trailing behind them.
"So Lana, I'm curious," Lex said as he sat on the cold metal bleachers, "what does the SGBLC stand for?"
Lex faintly heard an almost whispered "Oh God" come from Gabe's direction.
Lana turned to him with a preternaturally bright smile, "We're the Smallville Gay, Bisexual and Lesbian Coalition."
He honestly didn't know what to say. For the first time in a long while, Lex's mind went completely blank.
Lex's silence, however, didn't phase Lana.
"We're dedicated to both the support of our members and educating the community in tolerance. While it's not an 'official' school organization just yet, it'll be one after I have a meeting with Principle Reynolds tomorrow afternoon."
"That's…nice." Lex started to quickly regain his equilibrium. Curiosity about Lana's own preference promptly flowed through him. "Can anyone join or are all the members homosexually inclined highschoolers?"
It shouldn't have been possible, but Lana smile widened. "Of course you can join. Most of our members are either homosexual or bisexual and still in high school, but we have Fitz who graduated last year and Chad who's completely straight. Just let me go grab a form from Chloe."
Lana patted him on the knee and then jumped up from her seat, hurriedly wedging herself past Lex and Gabe out into the aisle before the bewildered billionaire could say anything.
"You know, I see Jonathan Kent sitting way over there." Gabe pointed to a part of the bleachers occupied predominantly by adults.
"We should go say hello." Lex suggested.
"It would be rude not to." Gabe agreed.
The two men quickly disappeared into the crowd, making their way towards the relative safety of the Kents.
"Lex! How are you?" For the second time that day, Lex found his arms full of a suspiciously cheerful female. Martha was quite a bit easier to take than Lana.
"Lex, Gabe." Jonathan stood up and promptly hugged Gabe. Lex was amused to notice that Gabe seemed utterly bewildered until he remembered Gabe mentioning that the Kents generally didn't associate with anyone else in Smallville. "How ya holding up?"
Jonathan was looking at Gabe like someone just died.
Martha loosened her hold on Lex and looked over at Gabe. "We heard…well…you know. How's everyone doing?"
'Oh shit', Lex thought. 'They've found out about Lionel's release.'
"You know?" Lex exclaimed.
"Well it's all over town Lex." Martha informed him.
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't stop it. By the time I even found out they had already gone through with it. I was planned on telling you after the game." He apologized and mentally listed the people who could have possibly leaked out the information before the official press release.
Gabe and the Kents just stared at him as if he'd grown a second head.
"How could you have stopped Chloe and Lana from dating?" Martha asked.
"Chloe and Lana dating?" Light dawned and Lex realized they were discussing two different things. "Actually, I thought you were talking about..."
"About what?" Gabe asked.
"Well there's no easy way to tell you this, but I think maybe we should wait until we're in private."
"You're starting to freak me out. Just tell us what it is." Gabe insisted.
Lex looked at the three worried faces before him and gave in. "My father's been released from prison. His conviction was overthrown on some kind of made up technicality. It's more likely that he somehow found a way to pay off or intimidate someone in power…or got somebody else to do it for him. Though I haven't been able to figure out how it was done just yet."
Martha put her hands up to her face and just sat back down. Both Gabe and Jonathan seemed to be frozen in shock.
"I'm sorry." Lex reiterated.
Jonathan just shook his head while Gabe mumbled that it wasn't Lex's fault.
"Hey who died?" Chloe walked up from behind with Lana at her side.
"No one." Gabe answered quickly.
"What's going on then?" The blonde asked.
"We'll tell you both later. You should just enjoy the game right now." Gabe shifted into his father mode.
The girls looked scared and confused, but chose to listen to Gabe and remain silent.
"I think that's a good idea for everyone at the moment." Jonathan added and sat down next to his wife.
Martha grabbed Lex's hand and pulled him next to her. "Come sit with us and watch the game."
Chloe, Gabe and Lana sat down in the row behind him and Martha didn't let go of Lex's hand throughout the match. Lex took a moment to reconsider his earlier thoughts maligning small town football games and settled in to watch Clark win.
Lana hadn't backed down from her plan, but decided to put it on hold for the meantime. Whatever happened, it had to be bad by the way Lex and the other adults were acting.
Chloe had volunteered them both for a beverage run and they were currently making their way through the crowd. Lana figured the other girl just needed a break from the morose tension that currently filled the stands.
"Lana."
She stopped and turned automatically towards the direction of the voice.
"Hey I was wondering where you were." Jason came over quickly to stand next to her.
"I've been here." She said and grabbing Chloe's hand, resumed her trek towards the concession stand.
"Hello Chloe." He greeted the other girl.
"Hey." She cautiously replied.
"I've been talking to some of the players and you'll never believe the rumors going around." Jason said as he walked beside her.
"Really?" She asked dryly.
"Yes." He continued to prod her for information as he eyed her and Chloe's hands suspiciously. "You haven't heard them?"
"I've heard a lot of things. I wasn't aware of anything especially outrageous." She answered him.
Chloe had apparently decided to remain silent and watch the interaction between Jason and Lana.
"How's your mother?" Lana decided to go on the offensive and cut off whatever Jason was about to say.
"I don't know. You know I don't talk to her."
"Oh yeah, I forgot. Sorry." She replied flippantly. "College going ok?"
"My classes are just fine. Listen Lana, I think we need to talk."
She stopped as the three of them got in line. "You know, I think we said everything we needed to say when you moved. Really Jason, I'm over it. You should move on."
"We're talking later." He proclaimed.
Lana didn't look, but she felt him move away from her.
Chloe yanked her hand. "You told me he knew" she whispered harshly.
"I lied." Lana admitted. "We were over anyway. It shouldn't matter."
"That didn't sound over to me!"
"Well it is. He walked out because he couldn't bare to open up to me." Lana insisted.
"So you're what? Getting revenge for him leaving you?"
"No." She insisted, lowering her voice. "I'm doing this for Lex and Clark. It has nothing to do with Jason."
Chloe looked at her skeptically, "Are you sure?"
"Yes." Lana contended. "I'm absolutely sure."
They returned with the drinks without further incident. A few minutes before the end of the game Chloe excused herself from their group to go down onto the field and check on her photographer.
"Hey Chip, get some good shots?"
"What?" The mousy teen quickly glanced up at her from behind his camera lens. "Oh yeah. I'll have them for you tomorrow afternoon."
"Good." She nursed the remains of her large hot chocolate and looked around the field, scanning the players on and around the bench. It looked like Jason had decide to leave before the end of the game. Chloe silently thanked whatever God existed up there that she didn't have to deal with him asking her questions.
"So is it true?"
"What?"
"Is it true that you and Lana Lang are going out?" Chip asked while taking a few more shots.
"Oh that…yeah, it's, um, true." Chloe cringed at her poorly executed lie.
"So you've like kissed her and everything?"
"We've kissed." Chloe answered tactfully, "but I don't know about everything."
"Wow. That's really cool." He seemed to genuinely mean it, in a creepy sort of way.
"Cool? Please! The dike just couldn't get a real man." An annoyingly singsong voice butted it's way into their conversation.
"Lenore, Melissa, Britney." Chloe bit out towards the cheerleaders. "Drugged any real men of your own lately?"
"Listen dike. You better just watch out. Not everyone in this town is a bleeding heart liberal." Lenore threatened before she walked away, dragging her two cronies behind her.
"Don't listen to them. They're all jerks." Chip offered his support to her in his own clumsy way as he put away his equipment and the players returned to the field. Smallville High had predictably enough won again.
Chloe watched as Lana worked her magic and rounded everyone in the SGBLC to go over to the Talon.
"You guys are going to the party afterwards aren't you?" Her 'significant other' pleadingly asked the group.
Everyone there agreed to at least stop by for a cup of coffee and Lana seemed to take this as a victory. Chloe wandered how they were faring since officially coming out. She imagined that they had probably gotten a little name calling of their own and once again felt guilty for her and Lana's deception. However she figured it was too late to do anything but follow through with the insane plan, especially since it had taken on more importance than a little match making.
As if her thoughts had been precognitive, some of the football players and several cheerleaders confronted the group as they walked into the parking lot.
"So the rug-munchers and the fags think they can do whatever they like now?" Kevin Baker taunted.
"Just ignore them." Lana instructed the others as she glared daggers towards at the bigot.
"Oh just ignore us little deviants. You really think that'll work?" Melissa sneered at them.
"Get out of my way." Lana said in a low but forceful voice.
"Or you'll do what?" Lenore physically pushed Lana backwards.
Chloe quickly caught Lana as she stumbled back.
Clark appeared out of nowhere just like he always seemed to do when there was a situation.
"I wouldn't do that again if I were you." He warned as he situated himself between the two groups.
"You think you're going to stop all of us Kent?" One of the other players Chloe didn't recognize asked.
He must have been a transfer student. The others seemed to back off as they had a healthy respect for Clark's capabilities. It was something everyone in the small town seemed to know something of, but they never talk about it.
"If I have to." Clark simply replied
"You're one of them too aren't you." The guy got up in Clark's face. "Freak."
Melissa seemed to have gained a bit of courage from the guy Chloe didn't know.
"Yeah Kent." She taunted. "We all know what you get up to with the bald guy up at that god-awful monstrosity he lives in."
Chloe couldn't see Clark's expression and she didn't want to. As Lana huffed and started to come out defending Clark, Chloe heard a deadly calm voice from behind.
"Tell me what exactly you think you know?" Lex walked up beside Clark in full Luthor mode. "I'd really like to hear it."
What Clark's presence alone wasn't enough to do, Clark and Lex together accomplished. The intimidated teens backed off almost immediately and retreated to their cars with mumbled threats and insults.
"You know, maybe we shouldn't go to the Talon after all." Jenny said, shaking.
"No." Lex responded to her immediately. "No. You can't let them intimidate you. If you don't go, they'll win."
"Lex is right." Lana spoke up, "we need to show them we're not afraid. If we show them we're not as weak as they think we are, they'll be more unlikely to try anything."
Chloe touched Clark lightly on his shoulder. He still hadn't turned around, even as the last of the taunters had left in their cars.
"You ok Clark?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"You should come to the Talon too." Chloe saw his reluctance in his posture and quickly added, "they might try something there."
Clark's shoulders sagged.
"Yeah, I'll be there." He sighed and walked away.
A/N: I just wanted to thank everyone for the wonderful reviews. I'm glad you're enjoying it. It's my first fanfic and everyone's support has really helped my confidence in writing this.
RaeLynn Skye: Thanks. Hugs you back I tend to start out with the dialogue of a scene and go from there. The plot, however has sort of evolved on it's own. This was originally going to be a completely flippant story, but the more I got into it the more substance seemed to emerge. Oh, and Lex quite plainly informed me that "Luthors don't do flippant", so his stuff's been a bit heavy.
Saber ShadowKitten: Wow! You recced me. I've probably read all of your HP and Smallville stuff, so I feel so honored. Thank you.
CutieCherry: Caffeine, one of the major food groups LOL. I'm glad you like it.
Fred God of: Lex claims it's just mineral water, but I don't believe him. Thanks for the review.