CHAPTER 3

Lex felt a calmness and a comfort knowing that it was all out in the open. There was a vague, soft happiness where it wasn't real to him yet. He felt a little dazed, which was very unusual for Lex Luther. At least he didn't feel like a big old pervert anymore.

He smiled down at his shoulder where Clark's sleeping head resided. He didn't want to think about his dad or Clark's parents, and how impossible it would be to be honest with them. He didn't want to think about the possibilty that Clark would back out, what with his parents and the pressure of school. For now, he just wanted to stream his fingers through the wavy brown hair and listen to Clark breath.

But Clark's breathing changed. It quickened. Clark's head twitched to the other side and he made a small, scared noise. Lex stared at him, worry etched all over his face. Clark made a harsher noise and his hand flew onto the shelf beside him, grasping the surface.

"Clark!" Lex said sharply, shifting to face him.

Clark yelled out and his hand found a glass jar of salsa, squeezing it.

"Clark!" Lex said louder, grabbing his shoulders firmly, "Wake up!"

The glass around Clark's hand started to crack and snap. Lex stared at the jar with shock and realization. Cracks in the glass spread and webbed all around the jar, and Clark's fingers started pushing the glass inward. Salsa oozed out of the jar in several places and ran over Clark's hand.

Lex tore his gaze from the jar and shook Clark roughly.

"CLARK!"

"Huh?" Clark looked around and his stomache sunk at the site of the jar. He realized he felt groggy and he was a bit damp from sweat, having had another nightmare. He slowly released his hand from the jar. It gave another loud pop and a shard broke off, causing salsa to spill out onto the shelf. Clark and Lex stood up simultaneously, away from the mess, staring at the crushed jar. Clark looked at his hand which was covered in salsa and had pieces of glass stuck to it.

"S-sorry," he stammered awqwardly, "I had a bad dream." How was he going to explain this? He wiped the glass off of his hand onto the shelf.

"A bad dream?" Lex repeated flatly, raising his eyebrows.

Clark cleared his throat nervously, "Man--that jar must have been cracked or something--"

"Clark," Lex cut him off, "There was nothing that could have prepared that jar for what it was about to go through." Clark breathed a laugh and made eye contact with the wall somewhere to the left of Lex.

"You tore the roof off of my car underwater," Lex stated, his was voice soft but demanding. Having Lex stand over him, so close, was making Clark's blood boil. Not to mention there was no explaining this one. There was a long silence.

"I have some..."--Clark tried to think of the right word,--"gifts." He let out a breath defeatedly, "We think it had to do with the meteor shower. Anyways, dad thought, and I agree, that it would be dangerous to show them to other people because things would get ... complicated." He looked up at Lex with big blue eyes. Folding his arms in front of him, Lex surveyed Clark with interest, his face breaking into a curious smile.

"What other gifts do you have?"

Clark couldn't help himself. Lex wouldn't spread any rumors, and he hadn't been able to confide his powers to anybody. Besides, if Lex knew about one ability, what's the harm in him knowing all of them?

"Well," he said slowly, "I can move really fast, jump really high, I have super-strenth, umm, I have x-ray vision, oh and I floated once." Lex raised his eyebrows, surprised. Clark moved to the other side of Lex in a blur of color.

"See?" he said, beaming.

Lex looked very taken back, "Wow. That's... incredible. I mean I had my suspicions about my car, but, all those things you listed... that's phenomenal. What am I saying? It's a miracle!" He looked astoundedly at Clark, who didn't look pleased.

"It's just wierd, mostly," Clark said with a shy smile.

Lex looked concerned. "You saved lives with those powers, Clark. You saved mine, you saved the principal, Whitney, Lana, god knows who else. People are here now because of you." Lex took a step toward Clark. "I'm here because of you," he said, as serious as death. As serious as life. He put his hands gently on Clark's shoulders and ran them slowly inward and up his neck. Clark shivered and looked up. Lex leaned in and this time Clark moved in too. It was a slow, lingering kiss. Clark was trying very hard not to grab Lex by the shirt and force him closer. They stared at eachother. Clark wasn't sure he could take it anymore and at the same time he couldn't look away.

"Look, I know how your dad is, and I know how school is, so if you want to just convince ourselves we were drunk off our asses and forget it all, then... no hard feelings." Lex shrugged.

Clark smiled. He knew it was the last thing Lex wanted. "Honestly... I don't know. I thought I liked Lana, now I like you. No offense, but it was unexpected. I just need time to clear my head and think about everything."

Lex nodded, "That's fair."

They spent several moments looking away from eachother. Lex looked at the demolished jar again. He had to keep telling his mind not to think of ways he could use Clark's powers for profit. It was automatic.

"So, what you do you say to getting us out of here?" Lex said with a smile.

Clark's face broke into a wide smile. He could finally share his secret with someone.

"Well, I'll warn you now, there may be some damage done to the door when I'm done," he said with false airiness. Lex smirked.

"I don't know, Clark, I might not be able to afford to repair it." Clark rolled his eyes, turned toward the door, reeled back his fist, and followed through on a punch that sent it flying accross the hallway.

"Ok," he said as they walked out of the pantry and Lex stretched his arms, "I got us out. You're cleaning up the ziplock bags."