Disclaimer: not mine
A.N.: nothing to say really……….
More years than she was able to count or remember had passed since the last time she'd turned on the TV and not seen him waving to news cameras as he ducked into the back of his limousine. Or opened the newspaper and not been greeted by a grainy picture of him shaking hands with some other business mogul. As the omnipotent ruler of all things in Metropolis, why not this?
It was almost natural. It was almost expected. She wasn't surprised, because when it came down to it, because when she was unabashedly honest with herself, opening up her apartment door to find Lex Luthor reclining on her threadbare sofa was something she had been expecting for years. Probably since the day they met, at the very least since that morning, from the moment the newspaper was delivered to his desk.
What did surprise her was the fact that he had taken his shoes off. And he had made himself a sandwich. Lex Luthor, keyless entry, waiting in her apartment like a coiled snake was one thing. It was EXPECTED. Lex Luthor, sitting in his socks, reading the newspaper, and eating a turkey sandwich comprising of one slice of bread and the heal of the loaf…that was a horse of a different color.
"I was saving that turkey for my lunch tomorrow." Not her most witty and pointed of comments, she was well aware.
"I'll buy you some more. Hell, why not throw in another loaf of bread too." He smirked, never dropping his gaze from her face as he brushed nonexistent crumbs from him pressed slacks.
"But with such a burgeoning journalistic career, you should be able to afford those things all on your own." he folded the paper and placed it on the table. Front page, grainy picture of the ubiquitous Luthor, didn't even have to open it up. The latest and dirtiest in a long line of exposes, thanks to one Ms. Chloe Sullivan.
"I'm glad to see you didn't let any nostalgia or sentimentality get in the way of such a hard hitting piece. It appears you left any loyalties you might have to the Luthor name in Smallville. My PR people will be working overtime to renew my image after this one"
"That would be assuming there was any loyalty to begin with, Lex." she bit out, stomping into the kitchen, beginning the age old ritual of making coffee. He followed her, as she knew he would. The soft thumping of his bare feet on the tile unnerving her more than the short clips of his expensive shoes could have ever hoped to.
"Come now, Ms. Sullivan, I think I've saved your life enough times to warrant a little bit more affection." She wasn't surprised by the comment. It was the perfect condescending retort to her insult. She was surprised that it didn't come out arrogantly. He sounded almost…hopeful.
"Unbiased reporter." she reminded him, pointing to herself. He smiled as if he were humoring her.
"Doesn't exist, Chloe. Especially when you're talking about you reporting on me."
"Oh, we're back to first names now, are we, Lex?" She asked while getting down a coffee cup. She was disappointed in her tone. It had come out lightly, almost as if she were flirting. She wondered if the same thought had passed through Lex's head after his line concerning affection.
"If it's alright with you, Chloe." she nodded.
"Aren't you going to offer me a cup of coffee?" he asked seriously.
"No." she answered simply, but reached into the cabinet and brought down another mug anyway.
"You know, too much caffeine causes bad dreams." she informed him.
He paused for a moment, staring her up and down. She realized then how bad she must have looked. Makeup smudged off by the stresses of the day, hair limp and unstyled, dark circles under her eyes. She hadn't slept the night before. She told herself it was the caffeine. She told herself it wasn't the painfully hard hitting article that would leave Lex's PR people scrambling in a matter of hours.
"Well, you'd be the expert on that, I'd imagine." Lex whispered hoarsely.
The coffee maker rumbled on in the background, forgotten by the two people awaiting it's contents.
"Why are you here, Lex?" she finally asked when she became afraid that the awkward silence wouldturn intoa tangible thing that would choke her. Choke them both. Her voice sounded desperate and she regretted that. They both knew why he was there, and while he looked ashamed of himself for the first time in her many years of knowing him, she knew he would give her nothing but the truth.
Because they were both tired of being lied to.
He straightened himself, hands resting firmly on her counter top, and she watched as his face turned into indifferent stone.
"I've come to shut you up. No matter how good my representatives are, stories like the one that ran today can't continue to run. I'm willing to offer you a substantial amount of money, or a substantial amount of threats, to keep you off my back. Understood?"
"Completely…and now the real answer, not the one that your lackeys provided you with."
He glared at her, and she almost grinned victoriously. She had accomplished such feats as an irritated huff or the occasional roll of the eyes, but never had Chloe Sullivan managed something as emotionally revealing as a glare.
"I'm here because it's not fair." he clipped out quickly. If it weren't for the tone of his voice and the utter frustration in his eyes, she would have commented on how childish that statement was.
"You writing these pieces, intent on ripping me apart. It's not fair to you and it's not fair to me. I always saw you as honest, Chloe. Searching for the truth, not going out of your way to be vindictive."
"People change." she replied coolly.
"Not you, Chloe." he answered sharply, "Not…us."
"Lex-" she began to argue, but he cut her off.
"You're going to stop writing these articles. Not because I pay you off and not because I threaten to kill your dad. You're going to stop because you're in love with me. You have been since Smallville, and cutting me a new one in the Planet isn't going to change that."
He studied her hurt expression, "As much as you obviously wish it could."
She turned away from him, making a show of pouring herself a cup of coffee, composing herself before having to face him again. The thing about having your mascara rub off during the day, is that there are no tell tale black lines on your cheek if a couple of hot tears slip out.
Of course he knew how she felt. He knew everything. Ruler of Metropolis and all it's inhabitants. Of course he knew the only reason she attacked him so brutally was so that maybe one day, he would attack her back . She reached for the sugar.
"And if I don't find those reasons enough to stop?" She didn't know he had moved until she felt the length of him pressed against her back, his chin resting on the top of her head. Damn him and those damn silent socks.
"I guess I'd just have to tell you that I'm in love with you too." his arms snaked around her waist and for the first time in years, Chloe Sullivan was speechless.
"Oh?"