Day Two

Clark lay stiff with his eyes shut as someone moved around on top of him and began to groan relentlessly into his right ear. When the person called out his name with longing and breathlessness, the sensory overload went straight to his groin, causing Clark to become fully aroused. The rough voice begged for him to touch their body, to take whatever he wanted. Oh, and he wanted to so very much. He wanted everything. Instead, he could only lie on his back and let the person touch him. His body felt like it had somehow turned to lead and denied him the ability to move. The person went from teasing his nipples to kissing and licking his thigh, slowly moving to his belly-button and below it. Hands pulled his boxers over his ass as a warm wet heat began to envelop his…

Crap, Clark hated waking up horny with a hard on. It was beyond annoying to feel such a need for release and not be able to get it, unless he felt like masturbating, and right now he didn't. It seemed that the more stressed he felt during the day, the more sexual dreams he would have at night. He wondered, as he flipped onto his stomach and tried not to grind into the bed, if there was any sort of connection between the two.

Clark vaguely wondered for a moment who his sexual partner in his last two nights dreams had been. It'd seemed strange that he couldn't recall the person's face, but he decided to just assume that it must be either Lana or some other girl because up until now he'd been mostly fantasizing during the day about women. So, why would his thoughts be any different at night?

Looking at the alarm clock, he sighed when he realized that he had forgotten to change the alarm time to 9:00 before going to bed last night. No way was he getting out of bed at 7:00 am on a Saturday if he didn't have to. He may be a farm boy at heart, but he wanted today to be as relaxing and carefree as possible and sleeping in had been one of his priorities for the day.

Smiling, he thought about how much he usually looked forward to sleeping in on the weekends, and about how today was going to be extra special. He wanted to be in a good mood when Lex showed up in a few hours. Re-setting the alarm he rolled over and promptly went back to sleep, hoping to pick up his dream from where it had left off.

"Clark? … Clark! … Bang bang … CLARK!"

"WHAT?" Being woken up so abruptly scared him somewhat.

His mother peered into the room, her expression slightly concerned. "You're going to be late for school."

This time the dream that he had been pulled out of had been full of countless people screaming for his help, and it had been utterly hopeless to help them all. There were just too many, and he wasn't fast enough. Their cries of pain and grief had surrounded him in the deep haze of his nightmare, making him want to yell at them to leave him alone. The feeling of desolation had been maddening. Looking at his mom, he tried to shake off the sensation of impending doom.

"Huh?" He rubbed his eyes and yawned. 'Can mom have a stranger sense of humor?' "Very funny."

"Why is going to school funny, Clark?"

"It's funny when it's a Saturday," he grumbled, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"You missed the bus already. I made pancakes, but I don't think you'll have time to eat. And no, sorry Clark, it's not Saturday. You'll have to rush to get there in time." Martha smiled. "We all make mistakes."

"You're serious?" 'This is just wrong. Am I still dreaming? Or was yesterday the dream?' He suspiciously looked around the room, expecting to see something amiss. 'Maybe the bogeyman will pop out of my closet next?' He almost snickered at his own dumb internal comment.

"Deadly." Martha laughed. "You'd better move it, buster." Turning around, she quickly left the room leaving him still a little shocked and alone.

"Shit." he muttered. Now, wide awake, he frantically tried to figure out where he had gone wrong in mixing up his days while speed-dressing and brushing his teeth. He sped out of the front door less than five minutes later, missing both the news and talking with his dad.

School was just plain eerie. He had never had such a continuous experience of déjà vu before. The teachers were yapping about the same crap they'd preached about yesterday. Not that he hated school, but this feeling of repetition was grinding a bit thin on his nerves. His only bit of amusement had come during his English class, when he decided to raise his hand and proceed to paraphrase all the basic points about Hamlet to the whole class.

Pete grimaced at him, "I can't believe you read that Shakespeare snooze-fest ahead of time. God, sometimes you can be such a nerd, Clark."

"Hey, I watched the Mel Gibson movie the other night while you were busy ogling Chloe." He lied, never having actually seen the movie, while visually shuddering at the thought of Pete and Chloe making out.

"Whatever, you're just jealous. Nerd-boy."

Clark snorted then turned to blankly stare at the teacher who looked in their direction. He didn't particularly want anymore attention directed at him for the rest of that period.

Next the math exam was laughable, he mused as he finished his trigonometry test that was too identical to yesterdays to make the same mistakes twice. 'Perfect score, maybe?' He knew there was something seriously wrong at this point, but all the students and teachers around him were acting just like everything was perfectly normal.

At lunch, he was on his way to the Torch when Chloe came up behind him and said, "Clark, I have to tell you about this retarded movie I saw with Pete last night!"

"Let me guess, was it "A Foreign Affair"?" Feeling frustrated, he really wanted to leave now. The hallway, the school, maybe even the whole darn town.

"Pete told you already, huh?"

"No, you did." If they were trying to play some annoying trick on him, he wouldn't be impressed.

"I think I'm missing something here." She looked at him questioningly, "I don't think that I told you. Maybe it was someone who looked like me?"

'Ah, who could forget Tina Greer?' "No, it really was you. I know this may sound… like every other strange occurrence day in Smallville, but I think I'm re-living today. And no one else is." How he hated that idea.

"Wow, that's… freaky."

"Tell me about it." Clark sighed. Not seeing any hint of mischief in Chloe's eyes finally made him ditch the idea that his friends were pulling any sort of prank on him, unfortunately that had been the lesser of the two evils.

"Research?" Already whipping out one of her many notebooks full of conspiracy theories, Chloe appeared ready for action.

"Always. I'll go find, Pete, and meet you back at the Torch."

"Sure, Clark. See ya in a couple." Chloe looked both excited and concerned. He always thought that she might be a bit too obsessed with Smallville's weird occurrences. Plus, they tended to put her in too many near death experiences, which unfortunately didn't seem to hinder her curiosity any.

Once the three of them got together, almost nothing could stop them from cracking whatever abnormal case they may have come across. This was not one of those times.

After more than an hour of finding nothing, he stood, banged his knee, and overturned his chair due to a bit of mental exhaustion and fatigue, or just plain clumsiness. There were now a couple of obvious cracks and dents in the furniture that had the misfortune to get in his way.

Out of habit he said, "Ouch."

Clark glanced at Chloe, who had the audacity to laugh at him and say, "Kudos. I believe you broke the table and chair."

Ignoring her, he turned to look at Pete and tried to state politely, "I don't really feel like looking at anymore stuff right now. I think I'll go out for some air to clear my head a bit, and be back in a little while."

"We'll keep looking stuff up for you if you want?" Pete grinned while trying to shush Chloe from saying anything else next to him.

"No, that's okay. You two have fun, go watch the Football players, or make out under the grandstands if you want."

Chloe quickly retorted, "Hey, we've only done that once. You're the one who has a bad habit of spying on people. I guess I should stop mentoring you, since you learned from only the very best. Me."

"Very funny. Bye guys." Pete and Chloe waved goodbye and he quickly left the room.

Feeling downhearted, Clark couldn't believe how pointless their so called research had been when they had no idea what they were searching for. How do you find proof that one person had re-lived a day when no one else had any knowledge of doing so themselves? It was beyond maddening. Also, by that point, the events of the day were changing from what he remembered, mostly due to his own interference, and he just wanted to put all this weirdness behind him.

There was always the chance that maybe he was just going crazy. 'Clark Kent Cracks Under the Strain of Having Such a Normal Adolescence,' wouldn't that make great headline news? He laughed out loud at his private joke. Only his parents and Pete knew how wrong that was, while most of the outside world believed he was a regular teenager.

Once outside, he began to pace further and further away from the school until he decided to scrap the idea of returning to the rest of his classes altogether. At that moment, it had just seemed way too pointless anyway.

While walking aimlessly through town, he thought about how this might be similar to the creepy future phone call that had happened with Lana. Maybe this was just a one-time thing, and tomorrow would be tomorrow. 'Why do these things always happen to me? Do I have a 'Smallville Wall of Weird' magnet stuck on my back or something?'

A kind of melancholy had taken him over, making him want to scream his complaints out to the world. He wanted today to be Saturday and he wanted to be having fun… with Lex.

After his unexpected morning, he had totally forgotten about Lex and now looking up, he was astonished to find himself at the Luthor castle's front door. As Clark considered what to do, Lex made the decision for him by opening the door and inviting him in. On opening the front door, his friend looked both pleasantly surprised and wary at the same time after seeing who his afternoon visitor was. As Clark was led into the main living room by Lex, he realized how genuinely happy he was to be in his friend's presence.

Lex poured himself a Scotch, "Would you like anything to eat or drink?" In the beginning of their relationship, it had been most flattering how often Lex played the polite host to him, but now it just felt too formal.

"No, thank you." Thinking that this would be a great way to ask Lex, again, if he wanted to spend some quality time with him tomorrow, Clark grinned and tried to look as comfortable as possible, "So, how are you doing?"

Lex's expression changed to faintly amused, his overall posture looked casual, while he patiently waited for Clark to explain his unexpected presence. "I'm fine. Can I help you with something?"

"I was planning on coming over later today to ask you a question, but at lunch I went out for a walk and kinda ended up coming over early." He hoped that he didn't sound too stupid.

"What did you what to ask me?"

"I would like to do something fun with you tomorrow. We could go to Metropolis after you're finished with your big meeting here with your dad at 8:00, and we can do whatever you what." Clark almost didn't sound nervous at all.

Lex gave him one of those what the fuck? looks before Clark realized his mistake. He had just shown knowledge of significant information that he shouldn't have been privy to. Great, it must have sounded like he was stalking Lex. 'Was it time to lie again?' Lying to people he cared deeply about was beginning to feel like poison coming out of his mouth, making those near him nauseated by breathing in his… lies.

The look of horror on his face must have been blatantly obvious, and helping with his unease, Lex seemed to let it go and smiled. Lex had a nice smile; when it wasn't condescending or sarcastic, it was a very nice smile.

"That can be arranged."

Lex didn't say what Clark had expected him to. Did he want an accusation? Lately, Lex just seemed to accept whatever irrational things Clark told him. It was better than the constant pushing for answers earlier in their friendship, but it didn't make Clark feel any better about lying to him. He didn't know what he really wanted. All he knew was that there was no way that he could tell Lex his secrets. Because he was a Luthor and… why was he hearing his dad's voice in his head?

"Great. I can meet you here around 10:00 then." Clark felt like he had to say more, something important. "You know I've really missed you lately, and I asked because I'd like to spend some time with you. Have fun and stuff. And I'd love to get away and relax. Because there's been a lot of… stress."

"Yes, there has been." Lex sighed walked over to the leather sofa and sat down, swallowing what was left of his drink.

Clark noticed that he looked tired, a bit worn around the edges. He wondered how hard it was on Lex to have to incessantly pursue Lionel for criminal information while jail time lingered in the background for him. Clark was absolutely certain of his friend's innocence and he couldn't fathom the fact that Lionel's selfishness had caused him to set up his own son. Lex had been forced to take the fall for something he hadn't done, and now he had to fight to stay a free man.

Clark gently shook his head and decided that he really had nowhere else that he wanted to go; since skipping classes was considered a bad thing and his parents would notice that he had come home too early. Giving a sly grin, he meandered over to the sofa and sat down next to Lex.

"Why aren't you in school right now?" His friend's blue eyes strangely appeared to be gleaming with an inner light.

"It's been a rough day." Chuckling, he continued, "and I didn't like it." Seeing the questioning look his friend was giving him, Clark made a valiant attempt at being truthful, "School was totally freaky. No wait, ever since I woke up the entire day has been just psycho. I mean, I feel like I've been re-living some sort of dream. The day started off good, and now it's just turned bad."

"Why?" Lex's voice sounded concerned.

"Because I have been re-living what seems like a dream. Today was supposed to be Saturday, and I know you're most likely thinking I'm being ridiculous or something. But, today at school everything was exactly the same as yesterday. The classes, exams, teachers, lunch!" Clark shifted a bit, making the leather screech.

The next few moments of silence were deafening for him.

"You coming here, is that a repeat for you as well?" Clark couldn't tell whether Lex wanted a yes or a no answer to that.

"Kinda, I didn't come over to ask whether you wanted to do something till after school. But, you did say yes, and that was nice."

"Is that how you knew about my meeting tomorrow?" Lex looked at him hopefully, most likely expecting a lie.

"Yes. You told me about it yesterday, except for you it wasn't. I guess it just didn't happen for you at all. I think I'm going to explode soon if I don't stop obsessing about this. It's probably nothing. Please, don't ask about it." Clark looked towards the door and groaned out an, "If you don't mind. I'd rather not think about it anymore, at the moment." Damn, he didn't want to piss Lex off but his lips didn't want to stop flapping, and he had almost blurted out how different he was and other disturbing things.

Lex seemed to contemplate his next move, "Would you like to stay here for a while?"

Clark beamed, "I'd love to. If you're busy, I could watch a movie in the other room or something."

Lex eased back into the sofa stretching out his right arm behind Clark's shoulders. "You've surprised me today. Thank you. I'm very fond of your company, and please stay as long as you like. I may be able to join you later on." Turning his body towards Clark, he teased, "Actually I have the perfect fun event for us to do tomorrow. You'll love it."

Clark wasn't comforted to see his friend's evil grin. He hoped they wouldn't be going to an Opera or something just as boring. Lex could have a very deranged sense of humor when he wanted to. "Hey, don't say that. Or I'll change my mind, and we'll just do whatever I wanna do." Clark couldn't help but laugh when Lex burst into a bright smile.

Clark made himself comfortable and spent the next three hours watching the last chapter of The Lord of the Rings. Lex joined him on the couch halfway through with a big bowl of popcorn. Clark eagerly inhaled the snack. And as he crunched down on the last handful of popped corn, he watched as Gollum plummeted to his volcanic death. He gave a sad sigh towards such a pitiful creature.

Clark looked at his friend wistfully, "I wish he could have stayed being the nicer Smeagol from 'The Two Towers'. I liked him. Do you think everyone has a dark half?"

"I'd like to think that angels walk among us. But no, I believe everyone does indeed have a dark side. And those that are surrounded by too much evil are often lost and become immoral themselves." Lex continued staring at the large plasma screen.

"Can't they ever turn back to being good?" The thought of going past a point no return kind of darkness was a little too depressing.

"Only if they want to. A person has to be extremely strong willed and highly motivated to do so alone. Outside support is often needed. Maybe, a Care-bear intervention would do it?" Lex put his left hand on Clark's knee and slightly squeezed. "Or the Smurfs? I hear that they can be really friendly even though they're blue."

"Lex, I'm being serious." Even though he was enjoying the movie, he was mildly irritated that Lex didn't want to talk about the matter any further with him.

Matching his irritation, Lex replied, "And I seriously want to watch the rest of this movie without having to discuss people's dark sides."

"I'm sorry. I won't bother you anymore." He had forgotten that Lex sometimes had enough trouble keeping his own dark half in check.

"No, you weren't bothering me. I just want to continue enjoying our time together. And I happen to really like this movie. You're making me miss it." The last sentence was said with a bit of humor and fake whining.

Clark smiled and gave Lex's hand a squeeze back.

A few minutes later, licking the last of the butter from his fingers, he turned to see Lex staring at him with such a strange and unusually deep emotional expression. Clark quickly looked away, still feeling the burn of blue irises. 'What did that mean?' He resolved not to let it bother him. This was nice, and he felt so contented and safe. It was great: the popcorn, the movie, and especially the company.

The phone on the table near them rang.

Standing up and walking two steps towards the wall Lex glanced at the call display before answering it. "Hello. Good afternoon, Mr. Kent." Lex looked at him with a touch of concern. "Yes, Clark is here. No, I wasn't aware of the fact that he has been missing for the last few hours."

'Lex is such an efficient liar.' Clark rolled his eyes and reluctantly rose from the couch.

Continuing the façade, Lex replied to his dad's question of 'when the hell did Clark get there?', "He just arrived here a few minutes ago- Certainly." Passing the phone to Clark, Lex gave him a disapproving frown. Who could blame him? No one liked to get lectured by his dad, and Lex had practically become an expert at it.

"What do you think you're doing skipping school to hang out at Luthor's?" Sometimes, his dad made it impossible to get a word in edgewise.

"It's not what you think, really."

His dad practically snarled out, "I don't care, just come home right now. You had your mother worried sick."

"Okay." The receiver clicked in Clark's ear before he could say goodbye. Sighing, he looked at Lex with an apology and softly put the phone back. "Sorry about that. I guess I should have left sooner."

Lex appeared a bit gloomy, "I doubt you'll be able to go out tomorrow." Striding to the bar, Lex poured himself a brandy.

"My dad's just upset right now. After I explain to him what's been going on, it'll be fine." 'It'd better be.' Hell, if he'd been a regular boy, the number of times Clark had gone running off on his own to unknown places without permission it would have made him a border-line delinquent by now. "I'd better get going. See you in the morning."

Clark hated leaving like this, because it was fairly obvious to him that Lex was going to be brooding about it for the rest of the evening. 'What else can I do?' Striding out of the deathly quiet mansion with the determination to come back tomorrow, he sped home.

Entering his house, Clark wasn't fazed by the stern lecture from his dad. Then his mom intervened.

"Pete called about an hour ago wanting to know where you where." She put a hand on his arm, "he told us everything. I really wish you would have come home and told us as well." His mom lightly shook her head looking disappointed in him.

He felt a pang of guilt before mumbling, "I'm sorry."

"We understand that you were upset at the time, but please just let us know what's going on. Pete and Chloe were going to send out a search party, and your dad was loading his gun." She gave his dad a playful nod. 'They aren't going to stay mad at me? Sometimes miracles did happen.'

"I've thought about it and I probably made a big deal out of nothing anyway. I promise not to disappear again." Clark knew how easily that promise could be broken, but he really would try.

After dinner, dishes and homework, Clark begged to go out the next day. He thought about lying and convincing Pete to stick up for him, but in the end he went with the truth and got to hone some of his negotiating skills. The idea of Clark spending the day with Lex must have ended up sounding better than him sulking and complaining for the whole weekend. So they had finally agreed.

Feeling almost giddy about his huge victory, Clark spent the rest of the night pampering his mom and flattering his dad's ego.

"Mom this is the best cherry pie I've ever had. What's your secret?"

Laughing his mom replied, "Stop sucking up young man. I know what you're up to. And, we already said yes. I promise your dad won't suddenly change his mind, unless you don't help out with the chores in the morning."

"Cross my heart, you'll be able to eat off the barn floor after I'm done with it." Clark was so enthusiastically happy.

Finally, something he was highly looking forward to and Clark was glad that he wouldn't have to disappoint Lex. The last thing that either of them needed was another big crap-fest. It really sucked to see how unhappy Lex was lately, it kinda eerily mirrored him. They were like two peas in a pod, but not the body snatcher kind.

Going to bed around eleven, Clark couldn't stop thinking about invading space aliens, which seemed highly out of place, since his alien parents were so not the conquered kind. 'Yeah right.' That fact was always a constant reminder that he would never be normal and most likely was doomed to be isolated and alone from the rest of society in some way for the rest of his life. He fell asleep extremely unhappy.