For all of you Chlark fans, I think Chloe will be coming in this next chapter or the one after. I really didn't want to rush her entrance and make it seem too fake. But, anyway, read on and review!

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"You'll never guess who paid me a visit today," Lex said as means of greeting as he strode into his office.

Clark was sitting at the desk, looking at maps and old newspapers. He causally spun the chair around to face Lex, leaning back a little. "Yeah? Who?"

Lex shrugged. "Actually, you probably could guess."

Clark laughed a little. "So Lana came to see you, huh? What'd she say?"

"Oh, just the accusations of how you're obviously here as my guest," Lex said smoothly, coming to sit on the desk's side. "She'll be reporting it."

"And that means what?" Clark asked, suddenly becoming a bit wary. Lex didn't seem worried, though, so he probably shouldn't be either.

"That the nuisance of a search party will come over at some random point to surprise me."

"You don't seem very worried about this," Clark pointed out, a bit confused at Lex's actions. Shouldn't a search party be cause for worry?

"I'm not," he replied calmly. "I've got this while placed bugged and since they don't have x-ray vision they can't find the bugs. I'll know about their surprise raid from the moment they enter the gates."

"Yeah? And isn't it still a problem? I mean, I am a guest here. If they come in and search..."

Lex smirked softly. "Then they'll find nothing. You've heard of acting, haven't you?"

"My skills in it have never been the best, but, yes, I have," he said with a sigh.

"Good," Lex returned, his smirk growing. "Because you're going to learn."

Clark gave him a skeptical look. There were a lot of things Lex could do, but if years of lying hadn't taught him to present a good façade then he didn't think Lex could either. Lex only smiled at his skeptical look.

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"Tell me about Chicago."

Lex could be so random sometimes. They were simply sitting on the couch, watching a move--just like old times. Clark found that he'd missed old times, and, as much as he hated to admit it, he had missed Lex.

"Do you really want to know about that?" he asked seriously. Or, maybe, it was more that he didn't want to talk about it.

"Would I have asked if I hadn't?" he replied, sparing Clark a lazy smile.

Clark leaned back on the couch, lost in memories. The gray pair of sweat pants and the white t-shirt that he was wearing felt so nice against his skin. It had been such a contrast to that day, where everyone had been soaked in sweat and blood. Clark hadn't had sweat on him, of course, but there had been blood, so much blood.

"Clark?"

He glanced up to see Lex watching him, a look of slight worry on his face. "I-I'm sorry, Lex," he said tiredly.

"You're trying to brush me off."

He really should have picked someone less intuitive to be best friends with. "It wasn't my…most pleasant experience."

"Nor mine," Lex agreed with a small laugh, "But I want to know what happened."

"Only if you tell me what happened from your perspective," Clark replied. A little quid pro quo never hurt, and he really did have some questions.

Lex nodded acceptingly. "Fair enough. You first."

"What do you want to know?" He may have agreed to talk to Lex, but that didn't mean he was going to make it easy on him.

"How'd you plant all those bombs?"

Clark laughed bitterly. "Wasn't hard. They never watched the trash. All I had to do was put it in the empty trash bins after the garbage had been collected. I duct taped it down so that it wouldn't bounce around and put a layer of plastic that looked like the bottom of the trashcan over the top of the bomb. They wheeled the trash bins back inside. There were a few bombs that sat there for a week before everything else was ready."

Lex gave him an incredulous look. Apparently even Lex Luthor wasn't above being surprised. "And then you set them off together. How'd you even think to do that?"

"I get creative every now and then." Lex looked at him hard for a moment until Clark exclaimed, "What!"

"What happened, Clark? The boy I knew would never kill anyone."

"Check the death rates of aliens to humans."

Lex closed his eyes as he gained comprehension. "Of course. I always thought you were going for alien government buildings, but you went for the areas where people weren't. The fact that they also happened to be the most important places to the aliens was simply a helpful coincidence."

"I never wanted to kill anyone-still don't. At first I wouldn't touch the aliens and then I realized-Lex, they've got no conscience. You can't save everyone, and I realized that if I refused to kill aliens, more people would die. In the end it came down to whom I was most loyal to."

"And why the hell did you stay in Chicago! You should have gotten out."

Clark dropped his eyes. "I know, and it cost Lois her life. I stayed because I wanted to help the other people who were trapped and needed help. They wouldn't leave without me."

"You save a lot of people, Clark," Lex said soothingly, leaning back on his end of the couch too. "You always have."

"Lois died," he said softly. Trying to change the subject, he asked, "Why'd you kill people, Lex? The first time I saw you shoot someone in Chicago-I thought I'd lost my mind."

Lex placed his hands behind his head and she leaned back further. "Why'd I shoot someone? They tried to shoot me. I didn't shoot anyone else. Apparently I have very bad aim."

"You have point blank aim, Lex."

Lex grinned slightly. "I know."

"So you only shot the people that were going to try to kill you?" Clark asked, still not sure if he was alright with that.

"I know it probably won't justify anything in your mind, Clark, but we've all got things we need to tell ourselves."

Clark nodded, biting the inside of his lip slightly. Lex was right, in that respect. He justified the things he did. Was it alright for him to condemn Lex for doing the same? "Are you really loyal to them?" he asked after a few moments silence.

"No," Lex replied, being completely straightforward. "I pretend to be, but I've got my own things going."

"As in?" He was really actually curious. Lex's "things" were always interesting.

"Things that are more subtle than you ever thought of being," he replied with a good-natured laugh. "I always had to appreciate your style, though. Although you're the kind of person someone like me would prefer to be up against."

Clark only laughed and sank down on the couch, stretching out. "You could have killed me in about two seconds flat if you'd wanted to, Lex. But let's be fair; I could have killed you as well. We both know each other's weaknesses, and we both trust the other not to do the inside assassin thing. We're each of our side's perfect weapons that will never be used."

Lex only smiled at that and shook his head a little. Many people would take it as an insult—they'd think that Lex was insulting them and thinking them childish. Clark knew better. Lex was agreeing with him, but was laughing at the irony of the situation—and the fact that Clark understood it.

"It was always like that, Clark. You were the dream of my business competitors back in Smallville. I think if you'd ever actually applied yourself to it you could have hacked into half my files, just by knowing so much about me. I almost always used things about myself as my passwords and security, so for you it would have been ridiculously easy." He grinned to himself, as if he were privy to an inside joke. "It was a good strategy too, if you think about it. How many people knew intimate things about me? The list's pretty short."

Clark looked at him seriously for a moment. "Why didn't you have more friends?"

"One was enough, and you were high maintenance as it was," Lex answered jokingly. He saw the serious look on Clark's face, though, and immediately became stoic. "It takes a lot for me to trust someone, and very few people made the cut. Even fewer people saw--or see—me as Lex instead of Mr. Luthor. You were just endearing from day one with all your small-town farm boy innocence." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Come to think of it, I liked Chloe as well. She came to be what I might call a friend. I probably could have been friends with Pete as well if he hadn't hated me."

"He was a good man," Clark said softly.

"And the world has suffered a loss. I'm truly sorry, Clark. But this will end eventually."

"Do you think we'll come out on top?" He'd always been able to ask Lex the hard questions, and know that they'd be answered candidly. Lex was too practical to be swayed by emotions and prejudices when it came to predicting the future, and Clark knew it was what had gotten Lex so far. He could see what was coming—not what he hoped was coming. If he thought something wasn't going to work, and he was going to loose, he'd admit that and do something to change it.

Lex looked very thoughtful for a moment. "Eventually."

That was all the reassurance from Lex that he needed. Giving him a small smile, Clark climbed from the couch and headed to bed. Lex gave him that half-smile as he walked by. That smile did—and always had—told Clark all too clearly that Lex knew what he was thinking, that he was aware that Clark trusted his judgment. Clark didn't mind. He really did trust Lex's judgment, after all.

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Clark had been immersed in an ethereal dream about corn and Kansas sunlight when a hand shook him roughly awake. He groaned a little, and opened his eyes to bare slits in the darkness of the room. Lex was standing over him. "What?" he asked grumpily.

"Get up." Lex's voice was serious and all business. "Be quiet. Stay away from the windows."

Clark didn't understand that command at all, but he got out of bed and followed Lex anyway. Lex motioned for him to wait at the doorway and then he went back and meticulously remade Clark's bed so it appeared that Clark had never slept there at all. After he was done he motioned for Clark to follow him again. It was almost too dark to see anything except Lex's silhouette in front of him, and Clark was immensely thankful that Lex seemed to know his way around so well.

"Lex, what-?"

"Quiet," Lex hushed him, his tone forceful and leaving no room for argument. Clark swallowed heavily. He would have really liked an explanation.

Their bare feet slapped against the wooden floorboards of Lex's mansion as they navigated (Lex navigated) their way to wherever they were going. Clark forced himself to stay close and quiet, even though his vocal cords were practically rioting and there were a million questions he wanted to ask.

His confusion multiplied when Lex led him into what Clark assumed to be Lex's bedroom. "Lex-," he tried to say again.

"I told you to be quiet," he immediately replied, cutting Clark off. Clark forced himself to be silent.

Lex motioned for him to sit on the bed, and then went to the window and crouched behind the curtains, subtly peaking out. Clark wasn't sure what he saw, but Lex tensed a little and mumbled, "They're inside the house."

Clark was beginning to think that Lex may just have gone insane. Then Lex stood up and came back over to the bed and that thought vanished when Clark saw the look in his eyes. Lex knew exactly what he was doing, even if Clark didn't.

But apparently he wanted Clark to know as well, because he whispered hurriedly, "I'm going to explain this quickly to you: There's a scouting party here right now that has just entered the mansion. I'm sure Lana's told them what to look for, and you can bet they'll be checking all the bedrooms. I took care of your bed, as you saw. They're going to search here as well, and, for the next hour or so, you're going to pretend that you're my lover. By the way, take off your shirt. Any questions?"

Clark shook his head and pulled off his shirt. He just seriously hoped that they didn't take pictures. Although, that would give Lana a good shock, so maybe...

Lex slipped into bed next to him and pulled them under the covers, fisting Clark's hair as gently as the stressed circumstances allowed. "Put your head here," he muttered, positioning it so Clark's head was pillowed on his shoulder, "Your arm goes there," he instructed, placing Clark's arm across his waist. Lex's sweat pants were soft, but Clark felt more than a little uncomfortable.

Lex kept one hand in his hair, while he placed the other on Clark's hip. "Now, act like you're asleep."

Clark nearly laughed. Yeah, that was easy given the circumstances. Still, he may not have been the best of actors, but he knew when he had to rise to the occasion. He suspected that this little search party couldn't really touch Lex but that they reported to someone who could.

He let his eyes fall shut, and he tried to control his breathing. He was shocked at how well Lex could do that as he felt the steady breaths mere inches away from him. Pictures would definitely not be a good thing. Chloe would laugh her butt off when she got there and saw any photos if they were taken.

Clark could feel his muscles relax after a few minutes. Maybe Lex had been wrong. Maybe they weren't going to come in. Maybe they weren't even at the gate.

Clark heard footsteps in the hall.

Maybe he was wrong.

The door swung open, but he didn't move. Lex lifted his head gingerly from beside him and asked in an authentic sleep-fogged voice, "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, um, Mr. Luthor," the man that seemed to be in charge began to stutter.

Clark moved away from Lex's embrace and turned to face the man. A sharp yank of his hair stopped him. Well, that was unexpected. "Stop moving," Lex spat harshly, his voice dripping with so much condescendence and authority that for a moment Clark forgot he was simply an actor in an elaborate game. Either way, he stopped moving.

Lex sat up, pushing Clark back down on the bed. "Has there been a problem?"

The first alien shook his head. "Oh, no, there was just a report from a woman, and, you know, we're obligated to check it out."

Lex got out of the bed, but Clark remained in it. Lex wouldn't really hit him, would he? "A report? Of what nature?"

The man nervously toed the ground and glanced at Clark. Clark did his best to look pathetic and to bury deeper into the pillow. "A report that he was well more than your, uh-,"

Lex laughed sharply. Clark had to work to remind himself that he wasn't really Lex's bed toy. Lex was far too go an actor sometimes. "Gentlemen, I assure you, he is no more than a pretty warm body that I've taken a fancy to. He's nothing more. Exactly why did she think he was?"

Slipping on a dressing robe, Lex leaned casually against the bedpost. He looked incredibly suave standing there, and Clark could see why the men were practically cowering. No doubt this was how Lex had come to so much power so quickly.

"Something about seeing him," the man glanced at Clark, "at a party the other night."

Lex gave an exaggerated grin and nodded smoothly. "Well, indeed. Does this fine young woman not know that it's acceptable to take those with whom you sleep to such parties?"

"She said he approached her and she got the impression that he was living here as a guest."

Lex laughed coldly, like ice personified. "Well as you can see," he gestured to Clark on the bed, "she's about as mistaken as she can be."

They nodded. "Of course, Sir, but you know it's necessary to appease her, therefore it's necessary to take a look around."

His facial expression turning to match his previous laugh, Lex raised an eyebrow. "Really? I can't imagine that's true, but if you feel it necessary-" Lex said, leaving his sentence un-ended, creating a rather ominous effect.

"It's the orders of our superiors, Sir."

"But of course," Lex said glibly. "By all means. Do I need to go with you?"

The man shook his head fervently. "Oh, no, Sir! We'll be done within the hour and out of your house. Have a very nice night."

Lex came forward and shook the man's hand. The man grasped Lex's wrist with his other hand while he shook enthusiastically. Clark supposed that he was overwhelmed to be shaking the hand of Lex Luthor. "Leave word with my security on the way out," Lex said easily as they filed out of the room.

He stood standing in the moonlight with his hands behind his back in a most stately pose as they left. Once gone, he turned to Clark. "I'm not in the mood for anything right now, so go back to sleep."

Clark's jaw dropped at the tone of Lex's voice. He'd sounded like he thought Clark desperately beneath him and like he really was sleeping with him for pleasure. "What are you waiting for?" Lex said, his tone harsh and impatient.

Clark looked at him incredulously. "L-"

Lex was immediately at the side of his bed, shoving a hand over his mouth. Clark grabbed at Lex's wrist, but Lex pushed him backwards on the bed. Clark was about ready to panic, when he finally saw Lex's face.

His tone may have indicated harshness, but his eyes were shinning benevolently. Lex shook his head slightly, just once. Clark nodded and Lex released him. He hadn't any clue what game Lex was playing, but it was certainly confusing.

To his surprise, Lex slipped back into bed with him and pushed him back into positions similar to those they'd been in before. Clark had known confusion before, but this was definitely taking the prize. What was Lex after? Were they still being watched somehow?

He was so deeply lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't hear or feel Lex's mouth come up to his ear. Then, in a tone less than a whisper, the word "bugged" was whispered into his ear. It took Clark a moment to comprehend, and then it all clicked.

The handshake

The man had bugged Lex, and Lex was going to play it that way. He'd probably pretend to spill something on his shirt in the morning in order to throw it away. The people who had bugged him would never suspect that he'd known. Clark was still part of a piece of elaborate fiction. He had to stifle his laugh.

Things ceased to be so funny when he realized he actually had to sleep curled against Lex like that. It was a hard position to keep, so he attempted to turn over, hoping that could be written into the off the cuff scrip. Apparently it could, because Lex let him shift and then simply looped a lazy arm over his stomach, holding him there. Clark nearly laughed at how much noise Lex made in the process of shifting, obviously on purpose.

The new position was a little bit better, and Clark could feel himself relaxing. He was asleep an hour later when the sound of footsteps went by the door and the aliens left.