Hey, guys!
Happy New Year! I hope that 2022 is the year that you've been hoping for and that it is filled with love and joy!
I hope you guys enjoy!
Chapter Twenty Four.
Over the next few days, Lex made sure to plan out his days properly.
It was one thing if he skipped a meal while he was working, but a completely different thing if he didn't feed Clark.
Clark would start to panic when he got hungry, or he would just start crying. Neither of which Lex wanted to have happen to his little boy. He hated seeing tears in Clark's big blue eyes that held galaxies, or hearing him gasp for air from hyperventilating.
So Lex made sure that there were three meals a day and snacks for Clark when he needed them. Sometimes, Lex did the cooking, but it was mostly the chef.
Tonight though, Lex was the one who was cooking. It was a simple meal. He made some mashed potatoes and peas to go with the baked chicken.
Lex placed a plate in front of Clark, then ruffled his hair. "Here you go, bubba," he said.
Lex sat down with his own plate, then began to eat. It had been a long day. He wanted to be caught up with work by the time Christmas came around, but it was creeping up quickly. He was getting closer, but so was the 25th.
It was hard for him to find time to spend with Clark with all of the work, but at least he had mealtimes…
"Clark, what did you do today, bubba?" Lex asked.
Clark shrugged as he picked at his food. Normally he ate so well, but now he didn't really seem interested in the food.
Lex hummed. "Did you do anything fun?" He asked. Maybe if he tried from a different angle Clark would talk to him.
"Colored…" He said.
Lex took a bite of his food, though he really could have seasoned it a bit more. "The coloring book that Miss Martha gave you?" He asked.
Clark nodded, then looked down at his food. Lex looked down at Clark's plate too. He had eaten a lot of the food, but the small pile of peas still sat untouched at the edge of his plate.
"Clark, you need to eat your peas, bubba," He told him.
Clark frowned, then shook his head. "No…"
Lex set down his own fork. "Why not?" He asked. Clark had never refused food before. This was brand new territory for them.
"Don't want it," Clark said as he crossed his arms.
"Clark, just try it," Lex said. "They're good for you and they taste yummy."
Clark shook his head, and Lex took a deep breath. Getting mad wouldn't help anything. Every child had moments when they didn't want to eat their vegetables. This was normal, even if it was annoying.
"Just try one," Lex said. "And if you don't like it, you can spit it out."
"No!"
"Yes, Clark," Lex said.
"No!" Clark shouted again and threw the plate onto the floor. The peas flew across the room, as did the glass as the plate shattered on impact.
"Clark!" Lex exclaimed, and he tried not to notice that Clark flinched at the volume of his voice.
"Go to your room," Lex told him as Clark bit his lip nervously. "I'll come up there once I'm done cleaning."
Clark nodded, then stood up and walked to his room.
Lex took a deep breath. He wasn't sure whether he was mad at Clark or if he was shocked at what Clark had done.
Clark had always been so quiet and sweet. He was a little angel. He had never fought with Lex before, and he definitely hadn't thrown a plate before.
Lex grabbed the broom and began to sweep it up. He still couldn't believe that Clark would do something like that. It just wasn't like him to do something like that.
He finished sweeping up the glass and peas, then sighed. Why had Clark done this? This was so unlike his son. Maybe it was normal for other kids, but Clark didn't act like this. Had he missed something?
Slowly, he made his way to Clark's room. The door was cracked open slightly, and Lex could see from the small crack that the light in the room was off. That was also weird to Lex. Clark hated the dark. In the time that he had known Clark, he had never wanted the light to be off. After a few days of the lights being on while Clark slept, Lex had bought him a nightlight, but even then Clark still preferred the lights on during the day.
Lex took a deep breath, then opened the door. Everything was gonna be okay. He would tell Clark that he couldn't do that anymore and everything would be fine. Everything would be normal again.
Lex walked in, then frowned as he looked around for Clark. His eyes landed on the bed, and his heart sank. The lump of blankets on the bed shook, and Lex could hear a sniffle or a pitiful sob every once in a while.
This made everything a little bit worse.
"Clark?" Lex said softly. "We need to talk, bubba."
Clark sniffled, but didn't move out from under the blankets that covered him.
Lex gently lifted the cover off of the top of Clark's head. "C'mon, kiddo…" He began, then trailed off when he saw Clark.
Clark was curled around himself and covering his head with his arms. There were tear tracks down his face, but Lex had the feeling that the shaking was more out of fear than from the crying.
Lex's heart thudded in his ears. He didn't know what to do. Clark thought that he was going to hurt him. Just like Lex's father had hurt him, or Alistair had hurt Clark…
Lex hesitated for a second, then sat on the edge of the bed. He watched as Clark flinched from the movement.
Lex placed his hands on his lap. He didn't even know where to start… If he startled Clark, Clark might lash out. Or it might just make everything worse.
"Clark?" Lex said softly. "I'm not gonna hurt you, bubba."
Clark sucked in a deep breath and curled further in on himself.
Lex wondered if Clark had been promised the same thing at the lab, and it had turned out to be a lie. If that was the case, then Lex wouldn't have listened to himself either.
Lex looked around for something that he thought would help, then his eyes landed on something and he couldn't help but smile.
He stood up and grabbed the book from the bookshelf, then walked back over and sat on the bed. He did it slowly though. He didn't want to startle Clark any more than he already had.
Lex cleared his throat, then began to read from Clark's favorite book. The Velveteen Rabbit. "There was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid," he began.
Lex continued to read, and after a few minutes, he reached over and began to rub Clark's back as he read. Clark tensed at the touch at first, but slowly melted into it.
Lex finished the book, then looked over at Clark and smiled. He gently pulled him into his arms before pressing a gentle kiss to Clark's forehead.
Clark laid his head against Lex's shoulder and Lex continued to stroke Clark's hair until he was certain that Clark was fully calmed down.
Then he cleared his throat and looked at Clark. "We need to talk about what happened, okay?"
Clark looked up at him, then back down at his hands. For the split second that Clark had looked up at Lex, he could still see the fear in his son's eyes.
Lex ran his fingers through Clark's hair and hoped that it would relax the child. He hated the fact that he had scared his kid this much…
"We can't throw our plates on the ground, Clark," Lex said. He decided to just start with that, maybe it would be like ripping off a bandaid. "And you need to try foods too, even if you aren't used to them, okay?"
Clark hesitated, then nodded. He kept his eyes on his hands though.
Lex reached over and gently lifted Clark's chin. "Hey," he said. "I love you."
Clark swallowed, then wrapped his arms around Lex.
"All better now?" Lex asked as he ruffled Clark's hair.
Clark looked around, then nodded. "Yeah…"
Lex smiled. He hugged his son a little tighter. "Good," he said. "Now. Time to get you ready for bed."
Lex rolled over in bed and looked at his alarm clock, then sighed when he saw the time.
He never woke up in the middle of the night. It wasn't like he had a nightmare or needed to go to the bathroom, he had just woken up.
But now that he thought about it, there was this almost gut feeling. A warning in his head. A pestering sort of anxiety that told him that he needed to check on Clark.
He rolled onto his back. Clark was fine. He was safe and he was sleeping. If something was wrong, then Lex would know.
But at the same time…
Lex sighed, then stood up. Clark was only a few doors down anyway, even if it was just anxiety, he would probably sleep better if he knew for sure that it was just a thought that had popped into his head.
He walked to Clark's room, then opened the door and peered in. The nightlight shined a slightly ominous glow across the room.
Lex's eyes landed on the bed, and his heart thudded wildly in his chest. "Clark?" He called.
Suddenly, a sob burst out from underneath the bed, and Lex's heart only slowed slightly. Clark was still in the house, but something was wrong.
Lex walked towards the bed, then stopped when he was only a few feet away from it and winced. The smell hit him and everything made sense. Clark had had an accident.
"Clark?" Lex said softly as he sat down on the ground beside the bed. "What's wrong, bubba?"
Clark looked up at Lex, then started to sob. Lex's heart broke at the sound. He wasn't sure what had brought this on or how to help, but he needed to do something.
"C'mon out, bubba," he said. "Daddy will help you."
Clark swallowed, then moved closer to the edge of the bed. His eyes were still filled with tears, and Lex could hardly stand it. He wanted to pull his baby out from under the bed and soothe him, then protect him from the world. He wanted to protect him from sadness and fear.
Lex shifted from a sitting position to laying on his stomach and facing Clark. "What happened?" He asked softly. "Was it another nightmare?"
Clark nodded, then wiped his eyes with his tiny fists. "Uh huh."
Lex hummed. "Wanna come out from under the bed?" He asked. "Nobody is gonna hurt you and I'll protect you from all of those bad things."
Clark bit his lip, then slowly crawled out from under the bed. He looked over towards the bed and winced before looking at Lex.
"I'm not mad," Lex told him. How could he ever be mad at Clark for something he couldn't control in circumstances like that? "I used to do it too."
Lex tried not to think about his own experiences with wetting the bed. He didn't remember how old he had been, he just remembered cowering at his father's feet as his backside stung more than his pride. Lex couldn't even imagine hitting Clark for wetting the bed.
"I'm sorry," Clark whispered, then sniffled as another set of tears fell from his eyes.
"Hey, you don't have to apologize," Lex said. "We can clean this up really easily."
Lex stood up and stripped the covers from the mattress and placed Clark's bunny on the nightstand, then he turned back to Clark and held out his hand to him.
"We need to get you cleaned up too," Lex said. "You can't be comfortable in those wet clothes."
Clark hesitated before slowly placing his hand in Lex's, which honestly surprised Lex. He hadn't really expected Clark to touch him so soon after not wanting to get out from under the bed. He would take it though.
Lex led Clark to the bathroom and turned on the water to fill up the bathtub. "Just a quick bath," he promised.
Lex reached down and began to pull Clark's shirt over his head.
Clark screamed and before Lex knew what was happening, his arm flared with pain.
Clark had bitten him.
Lex looked over at Clark, and his anger flared. It wasn't anger at Clark though, it was anger at the monsters who had given Clark all of this trauma. The monsters that kept Clark from getting a good night's sleep, the monsters that led Clark to constant fear, the monsters who had hurt Clark in a way that Lex could never hurt them.
"I'm so sorry," Lex apologized. "I should have warned you before I touched you."
Clark sniffled, then leaned over and looked at the bite. Lex looked down at it. For Clark having drawn blood when he bit one of the men who had come to kidnap him earlier this year, Lex's bite wasn't as bad as he had expected it to be. In fact, it was much better than Lex had expected.
After a moment, Clark removed his clothes and got into the bath. He let Lex clean him, but he tensed up at every movement that was too sudden or loud.
Lex wrapped the towel around him, but let Clark dry himself off while he found some more pajamas for the child to sleep in.
After Clark got dressed though, it was clear to Lex that his job wasn't as easy as he hoped it would be. Clark jumped at every movement, every small sound. There was no way that Lex was leaving him right now. This was his job as a parent. He had to be there for his little boy.
But staying in the silence wasn't going to do either of them any good. What they needed was a distraction.
"Hey," Lex began as he knelt beside Clark. "Wanna go do something fun?"
Clark hesitated for a second, then nodded. "Okay," he said softly.
Lex led Clark to the kitchen, then began to pull out some very simple ingredients. Flour, sugar, vanilla, eggs, baking soda, salt, and butter.
It was Christmas time. What was a better way to distract his baby boy than making some cookies with him?
He placed Clark on the counter and the two of them began to get to work.
Clark would dump in the measured ingredients and scrunch his nose as he watched Lex crack the eggs into the bowl.
They stayed mostly quiet. Lex tried to keep a constant stream of conversation going, but both of them were too tired and Clark wasn't in much of a talking mood.
Once the dough was made, Lex let Clark roll it out while he found the cookie cutters. They would frost them in the morning.
They made trees, little boys and girls, trains, stars, snowflakes… Everything that Lex could find. It had been years since he had done this. The last time had been with his mother the year before Julian was born.
Had it really been that long since he had last celebrated Christmas?
He shook his head. The past didn't matter right now. Especially not a past he couldn't fix. He could throw a pity party for himself at some other time.
Slowly, over the course of them baking, Clark began to calm down. He stopped jumping at every sound or movement.
Lex looked over at Clark as he placed the last batch of finished cookies on the counter. It wasn't hard for Lex to see that Clark was trying to fight off sleep.
Lex took off the oven mit, then walked over to Clark. "You sleepy, bubba?"
Clark looked up at Lex before leaning his head against Lex's chest.
Lex smiled, then picked him up and kissed the top of his soft hair. "Let's get you to bed," he said.
Halfway to Clark's room though, Lex remembered the sheets. Clark wouldn't have clean sheets until morning. He looked down at the child in his arms and his heart melted at the adorably sleepy child with his thumb in his mouth.
It was fine. Who cares if there were dirty sheets? It was just an excuse for Lex to keep Clark close to him. Clark wouldn't complain and neither would he. After the night Clark had, he needed the extra cuddles.
Lex walked into his bedroom, then laid down. Clark curled up on top of Lex's chest and smiled happily. Lex began to ran his fingers through Clark's hair.
"Goodnight, Clark."
So, there's chapter twenty four! Christmas is just around the bend for them and Clark is definitely putting Lex through some tough stuff right now, lol. I hope you enjoyed! Please follow, fave, and review! I would love to know what you thought!
Thanks for reading! Love y'all!