SUMMARY: Chapter Fourteen : Lex has too much time to think to himself. Clark decides to return, and get him thinking in the right direction.

WARNINGS: Rated Teen for language and sexuality. Veers into the realm of AU after the episode "Red" from Season 2. Because I just – LOVE red kryptonite!

DISCLAIMER: So many people own Superman and Smallville that I don't even know where to begin. We'll just sweepingly say Siegel and Shuster, DC Comics, and the show's creators. It's this twisted copyright situation, anyway. But I'm not making any money of them, rest assured. Just – playing with them. In my mind. It's not my fault they picked Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum, eh!

AUTHOR NOTES: My version of red kryptonite varies from the show's use. In comic canon, red kryptonite causes a different reaction each time Superman/Clark is exposed to it, and the results typically last 24 to 48 hours.

Additional A/N: One chapter remaining!

Slant

Chapter Fourteen

For as long as Lex lived he would never forget that kiss. The warmth of Clark's mouth on his own, the longing on his face, how carefully he had drawn away from Lex, his loving gaze metamorphosing into fear at Lex's intrinsic response. He had pushed him away; like a fool, he had pushed him away. The taste of Clark was still there, on his lips. Vanilla.

Ice cream. Right. They'd had ice cream earlier, hadn't they? And Lex had eaten the plain vanilla, much to Clark's chagrin. And the flavor had stayed.

Lex licked his lips absently. Clark had a way of sticking to people, didn't he?

Lex felt like a fool, not for the first time that day. The very thing he had wished for, practically since the day that the two of them had met, and he had pushed it away. He had his reasons; he would swear to whatever God was up there that he had his reasons. Because Clark did not need someone like Lex. Clark didn't know what he was doing, he had been affected by being in Lex's body and so he had Lex's desires. He had run away, hadn't he? Probably in disgust, or shame, or embarrassment. Probably some horrid mixture of all three.

Or maybe he had wanted Lex. Maybe.

There were all of these times that Lex had caught Clark staring at him; a gaze that had housed some emotion too complex for even his analytical mind to figure out, especially as any answers he discovered would almost certainly have been clouded over with his own sordid emotions and wants. Yet the looks had become more frequent; the pauses of thoughtfulness that Clark had when with Lex, where he seemed to drift off into some fantasy world.

But after such a thing, he would almost always mention Lana. To distract Lex – or himself – from his thoughts? Or maybe Lex only thought that because he had wanted so badly to be Clark's friend, Clark's lover –

Clark's only. A sentimental, foolish thought, but he could imagine it in perfect detail nonetheless. Sharing ice cream in the best parlor in all of Metropolis, tongues entwining over a bowl of caramel and fudge poured onto creamy vanilla, sharing the flavor and not noticing or caring about the stares of desire and envy that they would receive; Lex and Clark, Metropolis's most gorgeous couple, sharing ice cream.

Damn fucking ice cream. Lex decided he would never eat the stuff again.

Moments later, he swiped his tongue over his lips again and decided against it. Because that was the only ice cream flavored kiss that the two of them would ever share. Because Clark was gone. Because Lex had pushed him away.

Frankly, he hadn't thought it possible for them to push each other away, not after everything that had happened. Not after Lex's panic attack over his best friend's alien heritage, or Clark's anger at Lex's own foolhardy behavior the night before, or after any of the many arguments that had coalesced into this one day that had unveiled so many secrets. And yet the kiss had apparently been the most fragile of them all; a single kiss, and it had all shattered.

Somehow, he knew that this was all his fault. For all of Clark's flaws, they dimmed in comparison to those that Lex possessed, or as he sometimes felt, possessed him. Clark was right to call him a cynical bastard. Clark was right to run away as fast as he could, before Lex could corrupt him completely. Clark had told him his greatest secret, and for what? To see it all turn to nothing the moment he did the very act that the older man had so desired?

If this was what it meant to be close to someone, Lex thought that he'd rather find a corner to curl up in and die. It would probably be the only way that he could successfully defy his father, make the Kents happy, and put Clark out of his obvious misery. A world without the problem of Lex Luthor was a world that would be much less complicated.

Self-pity was disgusting, and weak, and last night he'd had a drinking binge to get over it. He couldn't make himself repeat that episode again; for all that he knew, in one of Smallville's utterly ironic twists of fate, by getting himself drunk enough to die he would somehow simultaneously punish Clark, and if he wasn't wrung dry of secrets by now, God knows what they would dig up if this scenario were ever to repeat itself.

Maybe Lex could be the one spilling the guts, all dirty and stained and evil, all over the floor for Clark to sort through, and see if he still wanted to kiss Lex after it was all over. For all the shit Nixon had given him over Club Zero, that had been a transgression more regrettable than sordid. And had Lex done sordid. The things he had done in his youth nearly made him want to vomit now, but even puking himself clean of anything wouldn't erase the fact that he had wanted to taint himself black.

Clark had been surprisingly insistent that Lex tell him nothing that he wasn't comfortable sharing, and that had been a hell of a lot. Clark hadn't ever pried, hadn't ever asked for just one more detail, and Lex had offered him precious few facts, much less details. It had all coalesced into some sort of vague feeling of regret about the past, and frankly, Clark couldn't possibly imagine what Lex's life had been.

Was it any surprise, really, that he had fallen for – wanted, no, simply wanted, he told his conflicted inner thoughts – Clark? Someone so obviously untouched by everything that had made Lex the man he was, someone so goddamn vanilla compared to Lex. And hell, him being an alien creature on top of everything else made it seem all the more right.

Lex hadn't been lying when he had said he would never hate Clark; not if Clark took over the entire fucking world and made the people of Earth his slave. God knows he would probably bow down willingly. Certainly Clark would prove to be a more merciful master of this planet than the Luthors ever had been, or ever would be. He'd be a blessing to this world, he already had been a blessing, as compared to the curse that was the day Alexander Luthor was born. Hell, his only mistake so far would seem to be having saved Lex from drowning and then proceeding to be his friend. It never worked, it never could work. Jesus and Judas could not be fucking pals (in whatever sense of the word he decided to apply to this situation), any more than Warrior Angel and Devilicus could walk down the streets of Arcadia City hand-in-hand with matching sweaters.

Lex was thinking now that maybe he might kill himself, if he could garner up the strength (or drunkenness) to do it; none of the household staff would be back until the end of the weekend to stop him, not that they would stop him, unless they were working for his father and spying on him. But he couldn't do it, even if he wanted to. Lionel Luthor still presented a threat to Clark, even if Lex never would again, and if this body-switching phenomenon decided to re-assert itself… he tried not to think of the consequences of his dead shell being occupied by Clark. Of course, Clark's abilities, from what he had seen or learned, had the potential to be limitless. Who knew? Clark's soul might possibly be able to raise the dead.

It wasn't a gamble Lex was willing to take. Even if they never spoke, or even saw each other again, Lex had to protect the one person who had bared his soul to Lex, even if he had been under the pressure of having occupied Lex's body. God knows if Clark would ever have told him the truth without this extraordinary sent of circumstances having literally ripped his secrets right out from within him and into Lex's greedy, grasping hands.

All his love of the mystery about Clark had vanished, and yet he found himself still as attracted to and obsessed with this alien boy/man. This wasn't another of his simple loves of the taboo that came and went with the wind; this was a fucked-up bond, and even he wasn't sure if he was the one who had initiated it with Clark Kent, or vice-versa. Destiny, if it was truly real, had probably decided long before either of them had been born that this was it, that it was inevitable, and there wasn't a goddamn thing either of them could do about it.

Except maybe run away from each other, run to the ends of the earth and beyond just to stay apart. And even that didn't sound as if it was going to be effective, judging by the fact that Clark Kent was standing in the doorway (again), looking trussed and wind-tossed and gorgeous and human and angelic and unreadable and everything all blended into one very solid, very real body.

Lex didn't often have hallucinations, but this could have been one of those times.

"I came back," the neutral, but still enticingly warm, voice said to him, hazel-green eyes cool but watery. A living, breathing contradiction standing in the doorway like the raven haunting Edgar Allen Poe, making the poor poet think and think and think until it drove him mad.

This was like something out of a movie that couldn't decide on its own fucking genre; was it black comedy or cheesy sci-fi or fantasy or melodrama or straight-up tragedy or even an awkward romance?

"You… came back." Lex snorted to himself. Who was the raven here, repeating every damn thing? "I noticed," he continued, his voice dry, "very quickly."

Clark smiled, but it was a sad smile. Or perhaps, more of a defeated smile. "I run because it comes so easily to me. And the faster I run, the farther away I can get from everything." He hesitated, the smile dropping from his face. "But I can't run from this. I can't run from you. You're – always in my mind, you know? You're so damn persistent. You're more stubborn than my dad, even when you aren't there."

Lex stood slowly from his recumbent position on the sofa and approached Clark, not thinking, barely feeling. Clark watched him with bright eyes, waiting more patiently than the farmboy had perhaps ever waited. When they were perhaps a foot apart, Lex stopped.

"I can't apologize to you for it, Clark," he said hesitantly, but firmly. For all that he was persistent, and stubborn, it was matched by Clark's own will to stay near him, and there was no denying that. They drew each other, emotionally, intellectually, and certainly physically. As if their minds were truly linked. Who knew? If his best friend was an alien, then anything was possible, wasn't it? "I can apologize for the way I act to you, but I can't apologize for the way I am to you, or to anyone else."

"Except my parents. My parents are the only people you apologize to for who you are, did you know that, Lex?" There was a bite to Clark's voice, a sharpness, an accusation. Lex could only answer truthfully, because hell, it was true. For the trust and respect of Jonathan and Martha Kent, Lex would do just about anything.

"Your parents are very important to me, Clark." He seemed to mull over this for a moment, searching Lex's face for some sign of… something.

"Them, or their opinions of you?" Lex was momentarily startled. But it was a valid question. Hell, it was the perfect question for a Luthor.

"Them." Clark looked away for a moment, almost as if he were fighting tears. Then he looked squarely into Lex' eyes, and the very lines and curves of his jaw and brow were written with the resolve of a man who would not let anything stop him.

"I told them."

Lex felt his heart lurch to a stop, then hiccup into an irregular, fast beat. His stomach felt cold as ice, and his extremities, his fingertips and his toes, went numb. He tried to think of something to say, but he was overcome with vertigo, afraid to open his mouth. His vision blurred, and he thought to himself, God, I'm really going to faint right here in front of him as black surrounded the edges of his vision.

Then he felt the warm, strong grip of Clark's hands on his upper arms, holding him up, holding him steady.

"Lex!"

He took a breath, deep and slow and calm. "I'm –" he found himself chuckling as everything seemed to slowly return to normal. "I think I almost went into shock."

"I didn't mean to make you… are you…?" Clark stopped, sounding worried beyond belief. His thumbs, Lex noted, were absently stroking Lex's biceps even as he stood there, frightened-looking. Even when he was afraid, he strove to help others. It was clear as day that Clark couldn't be human; no human could possibly care that much about everyone else. It was also as clear as day that Clark had always been like this to him, always waiting for the chance to offer comfort, and Lex had pushed it away out of – out of what? Fear? Distrustfulness? The thought that he might corrupt this boy?

Clark was no boy; his very body betrayed the fact that he was no ordinary sixteen-year-old, and while he acted sometimes as any high school guy might to situations, it was always a wisdom and a maturity and a depth of feeling far beyond what even Lex had been like at that age that had shown through in the darkest of times.

"Clark, you saved me yet again," Lex found himself admitting, smiling absently. Before Clark could say another word, Lex asked for the clarification that he dreaded, but need to know nonetheless; needed to know before anything else happened to the two of them.

Or between the two of them.

"What exactly did you tell them, Clark?"

Clark bit his lip, and even that looked beautiful. "I told them everything. I told them that you knew, I told them that I told you about me… I told them that I – I –" he stuttered to a stop, breathing heavily. Apparently being an alien didn't keep you from feeling nervous and reacting bodily to that nervousness.

"You told them that you kissed me." Lex released a breath he didn't realize that he had been holding when Clark nodded in affirmation.

"I had to. I couldn't – I know I'm going to have to keep lying, to protect people, to protect my family. To protect you. But I can't, not to my parents. I just… it would kill me. If anything could kill me," he hesitated, but continued, "that would kill me."

Lex smiled, though it was small, and probably not in the least reassuring. How could it be, when he was still trying to reassure himself? "What did they say?"

"They didn't say much. My dad got this, uh, this look, and he left the room. But my mom, she didn't seem… she didn't seem very surprised."

"She didn't… she didn't cry, or anything, did she?" Lex told himself that it was just his imagination, that his voice wasn't trembling, but he could hardly delude himself further on that account. All of his illusions were dying a slow, painful death, wrapped in the sudden, heat-filled comfort of Clark's embrace.

"She didn't cry, Lex. She just – she just hugged me, tight, like this, and told me that she'd talk to dad," he whispered into the shell of Lex's ear. "Don't cry, Lex."

"I'm not," he whispered. He slowly extricated himself out of Clark's embrace, and forced himself with all the strength in his body not to cry. Something his father had taught him must've stuck, because when he was fully out of Clark's embrace, he wasn't crying. He was calm, cool, collected. At least on the outside.

"You don't have to keep things from me. I told you – all that I could," said Clark gently. And when had he become the adult, and Lex the younger, more inexperienced, vulnerable one? That temporary switch had done more to him than he'd ever thought possible. The next thing he knew, he was going to start believing in miracles.

"I'm not," he said. Don't let his voice waver; don't let anything give away how he was feeling inside. Clark stared at him intently, searching again, for whatever it is he sought within Lex. Lex hoped to God that he found it, feeling the silence start to weight heavily on him.

"We promised we weren't going to keep any secrets from each other." Clark said at last, sighing.

"And we aren't, Clark." Lex felt an intense nervousness start to wash through him in a cold wave. He had more than his fair share of skeletons in the closet; he knew it, he imagined what Clark would say if he knew… any of them.

But Clark hadn't wanted him to reveal those, hadn't pressed, hadn't pried. Had accepted what he was given, taking it as if he could never get anymore, so he had to get all that he could now, at this moment. But there was so much more that Lex wanted to give. Could give.

"No, I'm not. You are, Lex."

"Clark –"

"No." said Clark, forcefully. "Listen to me. I told you because, if you haven't figured it out by now, I trust you." Lex told himself not to become hypnotized by the emotions flashing across his friend's face, told himself not to let this accusation go on. He found himself voicing the one fearful, burning thought in the back of his mind.

"Are you sure you didn't tell me because you didn't have a choice?" Clark blinked, took a step back. His face showed his hurt. Lex felt a matching stab of pain go through his own stomach.

Clark swallowed, and then spoke. "Is that what's bothering you, Lex? You think I told you, told them, because I didn't have a choice?" Lex was silent for a moment. It really was true, it had been bothering him. Yes, Clark could claim a patent of nobility if he wanted over telling his best friend his deepest secret, and then revealing that he had told his deepest secret to the very parents that had warned him against it, but it was hardly a noble gesture when sooner or later Lex would have performed any number of Clark's unique abilities and learned for himself just what his best friend was capable of. It was only through the luck of fools that nothing had happened until after Clark's confession He could feel himself getting angry, now, despite it all.

"Well? You didn't have a choice, did you, Clark? I wasn't going to remain oblivious to your body's powers while I was occupying it." Clark looked down, and for a moment, Lex thought he was going to admit defeat. He found that he feared if Clark admitted defeat. Lex could tell by the movement of Clark's mouth that he was biting the inside of his cheek, debating. When had Lex become so obsessed with even the most infinitesimal movements of Clark's mouth?

Right. The kiss.

"Lex –" Clark wavered. "There's one thing I didn't mention."

"What?"

"The green meteor rocks. They," Clark took a deep breath. "They hurt me."

Sudden epiphany. Everything, ever piece of the puzzle that Lex had been trying to fit into the scheme of this slant-wise situation made sense. "Then… all those times you seemed weak, or incapable of doing things, you mean those meteors…"

Clark sighed, leaning back against the doorframe. "Yes."

Lex considered this for a moment. "That doesn't make any sense. Those green rocks are obviously indigenous to your home planet, wherever that may be. Why would they be detrimental to your biology? Humans, I understand how they could have an adverse effect to our body's cells. But –"

"Lex." A little of the old you're-a-billionaire-but-still-a-science-nerd in how Clark said his name. "That's not the point." Lex frowned.

"Then what is the point, Kent?" he asked, a bit more angrily than he'd meant to.

"The point, Luthor," Lex winced at his own tactic being used back at him, "is that a little bit of that green rock and you'd be down for the count. I think I could even ki –make you pass out if I held it near enough to you for a long enough period of time." Clark turned away, looking blankly down the hallway as if searching for some reprise from this endless drama.

Oh, God.

Oh, God.

"I –"

Clark interrupted him before he could continue with whatever he'd been about to say. "And you wouldn't have learned a damn thing about me." Realization rushed through Lex. Clark was absolutely right. All he needed to do was get a piece of the profusely scattered meteor rock, and Lex would be under his power, his control. He could do anything. Lex went cold.

He could have killed him. Clark had almost said that, hadn't he? The alien with the powers beyond that of mankind's wildest dreams wasn't invulnerable after all. And Clark could have killed him.

But he hadn't. He hadn't. And he never would. He would never intentionally hurt someone if he could help it. He'd told a secret that was too big, and told it to Lex, a Luthor, of all people, without permission from his parents or friends. When he could've continued to hide it. When he could've knocked Lex out with a green rock until he'd found a cure to whatever had happened to them.

"Clark –"

"I trust you. But you don't trust me. Lex, I –"

"I love you."

He hadn't meant to say it. It had simply slipped out of its own accord. Wait! I don't love Clark! I just… here even his own thoughts fell through. He was going to protest, to say that yes, Clark was his best friend, and yes, he was attracted to him, and yes, he made Lex feel things that he'd never felt before… but that wasn't love.

But Lex realized he didn't really know the first thing about love. Except that with Clark, it had to exist. It couldn't possibly be anything else. If the last twenty-four hours had taught him anything, it had taught him that.

Clark hadn't reacted. He hadn't reacted. That was a very bad sign. Lex looked up to find that Clark was at one of the windows in the hallway, looking out. He looked… Well. It was hard to look at someone so beautiful objectively. But he could see Clark profiled against the faint light of the moon, beams of it glimmering into eyes that brimmed with the faint beginnings of tears.

"Clark, I –"

"Why don't you trust me?" he asked plaintively. It was strange, that sad voice. Almost frightening. But it meant something very important. It meant that Clark hadn't heard the admission of love. Or had chosen not to acknowledge it, for the moment. Lex immediately considered that to be a relief – hoping like hell it was the former, not the latter – but realized that his heart (was he really communicating with that organ again?) was disappointed beyond belief. Yet he had other things to worry about now.

"I do trust you, Clark. And I –" abruptly, a thought struck him. "You said green meteor rocks hurt you?" Clark sighed, obviously seeing this as a route out of answering him. But Lex suddenly felt as though he was on to something.

"Yes. Why?"

"Well, obviously I would have known which meteor rocks you were talking about had you failed to identify a specific colour. But you said green. Are there other types of meteor rocks?"

Clark thought about this for a moment. Obviously deciding that Lex wasn't bullshitting him (or else ignoring it if he did think so), he explained. "Remember when I was acting strange that one time, Lex? When I bought all the expensive clothes and wanted to run off with you to Metropolis and forget about Smallville?"

"Yes, I remember." Lex remembered that all right. If he hadn't been so completely sure that something was wrong with Clark, he'd have considered that very tempting offer.

"There was – I bought this class ring that was supposed to be a real jewel, but it turned out the company was trying to cut costs by using this cheap, worthless stone."

"The meteor rocks?"

"Yes. Red ones. They, umm. Well, obviously do something to my personality." His cheeks shaded a faint red.

"Has it happened since then?"

"No, I haven't run into any red meteor rocks lately, that I know of."

"That you know of." Lex said this almost to himself, scientist mind already in gear. Clark looked at skeptically.

"What are you getting at, Lex? In case you hadn't noticed, it's not so much my personality that changed as my body. And very much temporarily, at that," he added, slouching a bit.

"Well, if you've only previously been in contact with this red meteor rock once, then you have no scientific evidence demonstrating that your body will react to it the same time more than once."

"You're saying the red meteors could've done something completely different than before, like this whole body-switch? But the green ones all seem to have the same effect on me, no matter where I run into them." And that was true, as he considered the various times that Clark had seemed to lose the venerable strength and speed that he possessed, only to regain it moments later. But…

"But this red meteor could be something different. What do you know about the periodic table?" asked Lex. He knew Clark wasn't exactly in to school, even if his grades were fairly good, especially in mathematics. Super-intelligence, or something equally preposterous and yet somehow true.

"Not much." Clark looked thoughtful. "I mean, in chemistry, we talked about the elements and their different weights and masses and properties."

"Exactly. Now, even though this meteor rock is obviously not indigenous to Earth, unless there is some strange matter fluctuation between your planet and ours, the properties should follow the same basic principle." In his mind, Lex was drawing up flowcharts, and graphs, and equations, his scientific mind shifting into high gear.

"But we don't know its properties, Lex, other than then fact that it can hurt me or severely mess with my personality." But Clark was obviously intrigued, judging by the way he followed intensely Lex's every word.

"Yes, but occasionally certain elements will show different properties depending on their masses. Things like heavy water, or isotopes –"

"Yeah!" he said excitedly, seeming to put aside the last few moments of awkwardness as he started to follow Lex's train of thought. "I remember reading about isotopes, and extras neutrons and things like that."

"Maybe this red meteor rock is an isotope of the green one. If so, it could be an unstable form of it, and perhaps your body has different reactions to it." It wasn't too far-fetched, Lex figured. Not in Smallville, anyway. Not when your best friend was an alien.

"That's a brilliant idea, Lex. But there is one problem."

"You don't have any red meteor rocks on you."

"Exactly. No red meteor rocks, in ring form or otherwise. And you didn't notice any strange meteors when we switched, right?" Lex considered this for a moment, then shook his head slowly, still thinking. "Not unless I was drinking them," he said, and then winced at his own stupidity as Clark's face became carefully blank.

Be brilliant, Lex. Clark expects it of you.

"Clark, if you are near the green meteor rock, and then it is taken away from you, do the weakening effects last?" he asked.

"Only for a little while, most of the time. It depends on how much there is."

"Or maybe on how concentrated it is," Lex murmured.

"What do you mean?"

Lex considered the best way to explain it. "Well, theoretically, let's say you came in to contact with some of the red meteor rocks. If they were very volatile, perhaps the effect would be longer-lasting on you then the regular green ones."

"So you're saying that if and when I touched a red meteor rock, I might have separated from it and yet the effect would keep going for, I don't know, however long it was between me coming into contact with the meteor rock and last night."

"Exactly. So we've got to find that meteor rock, before you accidentally come into contact with it again, and this switch happens. Or something worse." Clark nodded, straightening back up, his eyes focused. Maybe he was looking through the walls, Lex didn't know. Then he turned to look at Lex.

"You have sort of a one-track mind when it comes to science," he said softly.

"I have a one-track mind when it comes to you," Lex said bluntly. Hell, why the fuck not? He'd already admitted to loving Clark. The hard part wouldn't come until Clark decided to mention that fact. Because even if he was attracted to Lex, wanted to – to date Lex, or whatever they called it at his age, there were still about a million non-scientific problems to consider. Like Lana. Both of their parents. The laws of the state.

But he was willing to put aside those problems for the moment, what with Clark's arms around him again, holding him tight to that rapidly-beating alien heart. Clark drew back just a little, until they were face to face. If there were more than a couple of inches between their mouths, Lex would jump off of the top of the Daily Planet. Clark smiled, but this was a different smile than Lex had ever seen; it wasn't bright and innocent, or cynical, or sad. It was sexy as hell, is what it was.

God don't let me react like a teenager oh God please don't let me react like a teenager.

"I suppose we have that in common," Clark replied, and if his voice didn't match his smile… Lex was about to explode. Literally, just explode from everything that had happened. But if he didn't explode, he was going to have one hell of a hard-on to explain away.

"You – you're acting awfully, ah, assured, all things considered."

Yeah, Lex. That'll put him in his place.

Clark's nose wrinkled a little with barely-concealed mirth, marring that sexy-smooth face that he had obviously gotten from Lex, dammit, that was Lex's seduction face and he knew it!

"Well, you did say you loved me," Clark said, his smile turning a bit – evil, but he quickly kept going, probably to keep Lex from playing the game of denial. "And what you said just now – proved it, I think. So I don't have to pretend not to want you."

Lex knew intrinsically that his asthma was gone, had been gone for years. But that didn't stop him from feeling short of breath, and feel his heart start to pound in the same strangely fast rhythm as Clark's. He had heard. He had heard, and waited, and Lex had passed the test of – of true love, or some such nonsensical schoolboy fantasy that Clark still had. But he found that he didn't mind, that much.

"Neither of us," he replied, his voice pitching lower to match Clark's, "have to pretend any more." And with that, he pressed his mouth firmly to Clark's, giving way to temptation, leaving all other thoughts behind for another time and another place far away from the here and the now.