The Story Lady

[theclexfactor]

Title: The Story Lady

Author: theclexfactor

Pairing: Clark/Lex

Rating: R

Spoilers: Seasons 1 and 2 mostly. A lot of stuff didn’t happen since Lex wasn’t there.

Word Count: 7,372

Summary: Lex takes his daughter to see the “Story Lady”.

Notes: Lex was caught in the meteor shower and was rescued by the Kents, but was never sent to run the Smallville Plant. Helen existed, but didn’t try to kill Lex…at least not when canon said she did. And Lex and Lionel begrudgingly get along for the sake of Lex’s daughter.

Part I
“Story lady! Story lady!” a blur of red and yellow sailed into the penthouse office, landing in a giggling heap on Lex’s Armani-covered lap.

“Lena,” Lex sighed a kiss into his daughter’s flame-colored hair. “Daddy has a lot of work to do today.”

“But you promised to take me to see the Story Lady,” the six year bounced on her daddy’s lap, wrapping her tiny arms around his neck. Her loose curls framed her round face and brought out her startling blue eyes. She was the spitting image of his mother.

“I know I said I‘d take you because Jessie is sick, sweetheart. But Daddy has an important meeting tomorrow that he has to prepare for.”

He honestly felt bad for Lena’s nanny, but he really needed to get this work done.

“But that’s tomorrow!” Lena stated emphatically, contrasting her irritation with a pat to her father’s chronically bald head. “You promised you’d take me today. Besides it’s only for one hour, and you always say that ‘a good businessman honors his commitments’.”

Lex eyed his daughter with a mix of frustration and pride. It was times like this that he wondered if it were a good thing that she was a virtual genius or if she just paid entirely too close attention to what he told her.

And when she kissed his cheek as a final selling point, he also wondered if she understood the art of manipulation a little too well.

“Lena,” Lex tried one last time, “remember how we talked about how Daddy’s work is very important and there are times when we can’t do things together?”

Lena nodded vigorously.

“Well, this is one of those times. I promise you that I will make it up to you, but today I need to finish this work.”

Lena tilted her head to the side and gave him a deceptively innocent grin.

And Lex suddenly realized that she was truly her father’s daughter.

***

“…and then Trevor put a lizard in my hair because Brandon said that girls don’t like crawling things and they make them scream. But you know what? I didn’t scream because you told me not to show my fear to other people. But you know what else? I wasn’t scared because lizards don’t bite and you have a lot of those in your labs and Dr. Hamilton lets me play with some of them. I held it in my hand all through recess and some of the other kids came to play with me instead of Trevor.”

“You showed him, sweetheart,” Lex beamed at Lena from the driver‘s seat, eagerly listening to her schoolyard exploits with all the enthusiasm as if he were being retold an historic event. Watching her chest swell from getting his approval never ceased to squeeze at something inside of him.

Lex never thought he would be a good father, what with the model he had to build from with his relationship with his own father. But it was that very relationship that made him promise long ago never to treat any child he bore with the derision and perpetual disapproval that Lionel bestowed upon him. When Lex first held Lena in his arms, all those fears went to the wayside and he vowed from then on to never let her feel less important than anything else in his world. Of course with a daughter as smart and spunky as Lena, Lex could not feel anything but fatherly pride and love.

Lex pulled into a parking space in front of the small bookstore that was located near the Metropolis Centennial Park. Lena immediately became the best kind of agitated, and Lex began to wonder what was so great about this Story Time that had his daughter so supremely excited.

“You really enjoy the Story Time here, don’t you?” he asked facetiously, knowing that Lena understood what sarcasm was.

“The Story Lady is the best! The Story Lady is so nice and tells the best stories! And sometimes the Story Lady lets us pretend to be the characters in the books!”

Lex could practically see the exclamation marks after each statement, and luckily the child safety locks were on or Lena would have jumped out of the Benz before he turned the engine off.

“Okay, I get the point. The Story Lady rocks.” Lex rolled his eyes dramatically, earning him the desired giggle from the little red-head. He got out of the car and then opened the back door for Lena. She leapt out of the car and proceeded to drag her father to the entrance. Lex saw Mercy out of the corner of his eye as she got out of another black sedan a few spaces away. Luthors needed bodyguards as much as the President needed good script writers, but Lex always insisted that Hope or Mercy not hover too closely or ride in the car with them when he was spending time with his daughter. Lena’s life was hard enough having a high profile daddy; he didn’t want her feeling like she was under constant surveillance.

Of course it also helped that the two usually intense bodyguards were almost as in love with Lena as he was.

When Lena pulled Lex into the bookstore, he was struck speechless by the amount of children and parents crammed into the small space. The bookstore was a smaller version of the large chain, and the children’s section was practically SRO-standing room only.

“Come on, daddy.” Lena tugged harder, and Lex was left apologizing left and right to the other parents he was running into. They simply smiled in understanding when the saw the tiny hand clutched into his, dragging him as if he were on a leash.

Literally or figuratively.

Oddly enough, Lena found a seat in the front designated for the children, and once again Lex was surprised that there were not only small children there, but some as old as possibly ten or eleven. Lex may be thirty, but he knew that most eleven year olds would not be caught dead at a children’s Story Time. There were a lot of women there as well, but that didn’t surprise Lex. Most of the time it was the mothers that did this sort of thing with their children. He knew he was being recognized, as a lot of those women were whispering to one another and looking in his direction. He gestured to Lena that he would be in the back with some of the other parents, but she barely registered his presence once she settled into her seat.

“This Story Lady is a far bigger deal than I imagined,” Lex drawled, leaning against the wall with his hands shoved into his pockets. Classic Luthor stance.

“Oh yeah, the kids love him,” a nearby salesclerk answered. “We may have to add a second time slot so that all the people we have to turn away can get a chance to see him.”

Wait a minute.

“Him?” Lex turned to the saleswoman with wide-eyes. But before he could get his query answered, the children began to cheer and clap wildly, chanting “Story Lady! Story Lady!” to the amusement of the parents and the bookstore employees. From Lex’s standing position he got a (blessedly) perfect view of the young man that walked onto the makeshift stage.

And Holy Fucking Christ was he beautiful.

Shit, there are kids here.

In dark blue fitted jeans, and a beige turtleneck that oddly enough brought out his glorious biceps even more, the raven-haired young man smiled brightly at the children in the audience, high-fiving several of them. He waved at the parents as he probably recognized a lot as regulars. The eleven-year-old girls practically swooned when he smiled their way, and Lex finally understood their presence at this otherwise children’s event.

“Oh, yeah,” the saleswoman standing next to Lex chuckled, “the ‘Story Lady’ is actually a guy. His name is Clark. Our regular Story Lady came down with a terrible case of the flu a few months ago and we needed a replacement fast because this is our busiest day. Clark used to work here when he was attending Met U, and he volunteered when he heard about our plight. He knew how important Story Time is to the store, and especially to the children. The kids were a little baffled when one of the salespeople that didn’t know he was filling in introduced him as ‘The Story Lady’. The kids thought it was hysterical and it was a little red-headed girl that insisted on continuing to call him the Story Lady as a joke.”

Lex suppressed a smile. Sounded like someone he knew too well.

“After that first day,” the saleswoman continued, “the kids and the parents alike kept asking for him to come do Story Time again. The kids are crazy about him. He comes back almost every week completely voluntarily.”

Lex barely paid attention as she continued talking after that. He watched as Clark skillfully got the crowd to simmer down and introduced himself to any possible new parents or children, and pretty soon, Story Time was underway.

The children weren’t the only ones sucked into the tale that Clark wove. Although the book was in front of him, Lex noted that Clark never actually read from it. He was telling the story completely from memory and even did amazingly convincing voices for each of the characters. The children laughed when Clark made his voice go up a few octaves to imitate a young girl and they were righteously frightened when he growled and roared as the monster of the tale. The parents were just as enthralled, nobody making a sound until the occasion called for laughter or gasps of horror. And Lex would never admit to anyone that he was equally enchanted, and not only by the story.

The crowd grew gradually as the hour went by as casual shoppers were drawn to the commotion in the children’s section. People of all ages, and several without children to even blame their presence on had gathered for Story Time. It was a story that everyone there should have known by heart, but the way Clark told it was like the first time.

Before Lex knew it, the story had ended and Clark got a mixed reception of cheers for a wonderful tale and groans that it was over already.

“I’m sorry guys,” Clark said sounding sincerely contrite. “I promise I’ll be back next week, and next time I’ll have more of The Legend of Kal-El.”

The children and the adults gasped and cheered loudly at that. Lex wondered what the hoopla was about.

Lex made his way through the crowd to gather up Lena, but she had found her way onto a chair behind Clark and was persistently latching onto his neck. Clark not only looked like he didn’t mind, but as if this were a weekly ritual. Lex reached out his hands to his daughter, but she jutted out her lip and clung tighter to Clark. Where did she learn to pout like that? Clark barely noticed as he continued to greet the other children that wanted his attention as well, yet still holding onto the little girl behind him.

“Come on, Lena, we have to go,” Lex tried again. It was then that Clark turned to Lena with that same blinding smile showcasing perfectly imperfect fangs amongst white teeth.

My god, that man is gorgeous.

“You must be Lena’s father,” the richly male voice broke through Lex’s revelry. Clark stood and held out his hand while making sure that Lena did not fall off his back.

“And you must be the ‘Story Lady’,” Lex smiled back, accepting the hand. And very very tall.

“You can thank this one,” Clark jerked his head towards the little red-head on his back, “for that.” Lena blushed and hid her face in Clark’s shoulder. Lex smirked at her knowingly. “But it’s okay, I have my own nickname for her.”

“NOOOO!” Lena squealed while trying to cover Clark’s mouth. The pair giggled as Lex looked at them in amusement. Lena was completely smitten with Clark.

“Why, what is it?” Lex asked curiously. Clark was so at ease with Lena. Apparently the young man was smitten as well. But then a lot of people were when they met Lena, something Lex took immense pride in.

“Oh, it is--” Clark said slowly for dramatization, before Lena clapped both of her hands over his mouth, squealing even more.

“Oh, alright,” Clark rolled his eyes comically once he admitted defeat. “I’ll keep it a secret…for now.” Clark winked at Lex conspiratorially before handing Lena over to him. She went willingly this time.

“I’m Clark, by the way,” the brunette blushed as he remembered they had not exchanged names. Lex didn’t know people that still blushed. Especially not grown men.

“I’m Lex,” he replied shifting the little girl in his arms as she rested her head on his shoulder.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Clark said genuinely. “Lena talks about you all the time. I half expected you to have a ‘World’s Greatest Dad’ halo over your head.”

“I left it with my other suit,” Lex shrugged, and Clark chuckled softly. Was he seriously flirting? Especially with someone, a man known as the “Story Lady”?

Clark laughed along with Lena, and Lex’s face was beginning to hurt from the grinning. Making Lena laugh never ceased to get a smile out of Lex.

“Well, I hope to see you and Lena next week?”

The question hanging in the air was answered by an earnest nod of a six-year-old head against Lex’s shoulder. Clark reached out and pinched her round cheek before turning to the other remaining kids.

As Lex watched Clark with his daughter, it suddenly dawned on him that Clark either had no idea who Lex was, or it didn’t matter to him one way or another. All Clark cared about were those kids.

And Lex was now the one that was smitten.

***

“I see you enjoyed Story Time,” Lex eyed Lena through the rear-view mirror. She was looking through the book that Lex bought her after the event, but she still had the same flush from when Clark held her.

Lex took it for granted that his daughter read at a fourth grade level, until he saw how the salesman’s jaw nearly hit the counter when Lena began to read the highly advanced book.

“Isn’t Clark the best?” she stated rather than asked, as if the answer were obvious. “You have to come next week.”

When Lena asks for something, it comes out more like an order that has already been granted. Yet more evidence that she was a bonfire Luthor.

“We’ll see, Lena,” Lex turned his eyes back on the road. Lena may have him wrapped around her little finger, but she also knew when Daddy meant business.

This was not one of those times. “But Daddy, he’s going to start back reading Kal-El.”

It wasn’t exactly a whine, because Lena learned early on that whining only irritated Lex and got her nowhere, but she said that as if it answered all the questions ever asked.

“I’m beginning to wonder if you like the stories, or if you like Clark,” he teased.

“Dad-dy!” she shrieked as her face turned bright red. She immediately covered her shame with her book and tried to pretend her father wasn’t in the front seat laughing at her.

“Tell me about this ‘Kal-El’ and I’ll think about it,” Lex drew out each word carefully. He liked to make Lena think that they were negotiating, because it made her feel like she had some control even though his decision was final. If her daddy said no, she wouldn’t be mad at him, but would think about how she could persuade him next time with a better argument. Besides, he knew how much Lena loved explaining things to him; another trait they shared in common, and something he never hesitated to indulge in her.

Lex had already asked one of the parents about ‘Kal-El’ and learned that Clark is actually a writer of children’s books. The Legend of Kal-El was a series of books that Clark was already becoming rather popular for. The first two books, Kal-El and the Octagonal Disk and Kal-El and the Cave of Namaan were making their way onto the best seller list. Lex listened intently as Lena re-explained to him the story of the young boy that grew up thinking he was just a super-strong, super-fast human until his adoptive parents told him he was really an alien from outer space. Lena made sure to emphasize that Kal-El helped people that needed it and he always tried to do the right thing, even if sometimes things didn’t go according to Kal-El’s plan. Lex could definitely relate.

“Sounds like a fascinating read,” he told her honestly. Someone had to have an active imagination to come up with the type of scenarios that Lena recounted Kal-El having. Mutants that gained various powers from the green stones that accidentally came down with Kal-El’s ship. Learning that his arrival inadvertently caused the death of a friend’s parents. No wonder the poor boy had a guilty conscience and a messiah complex.

“I asked Jessie to buy me the books, but she said I had to ask you for permission first.” He could feel Lena’s eyes rolling.

“Why would you need to ask me to get a book? Jessie knows that I have no problem with her buying you things that are educational.”

“Yeah, but she said that these books are too violent for a child my age and that I shouldn’t be taught about aliens and magic powers and blah blah blah.”

Lex wasn’t going to smirk. He really wasn’t.

“Well, if Jessie is so concerned, maybe I should read more about them first. Is that okay?”

Lena’s eyes lit up as if she already won that debate. Lex guessed it was okay.

Part II

Lena didn’t have to do too much arm twisting the following week. Lex had not only managed to catch up on all of the files his assistant Maggie left on his desk that week, but he made sure to tell her that he was not to be disturbed while he was spending time with his daughter that weekend.

Lex had genuinely had a wonderful time with Lena after the Story Time last week. When they got back home, he had conveniently forgotten all about the work that was so urgently waiting for him, and instead took Lena to the park, bought her ice cream (which she promptly dropped a little too close to his Armani loafers and he had to buy her another one) and pushed her on the swings until he (grudgingly, and what he would swear on his death bed was NOT pouting) agreed to join her on the swing next to her.

It was the best Saturday he ever had.

Lex had kept his promise to Lena and had Maggie order a hard cover copy of the first book in the Legend of Kal-El series, Kal-El and the Octagonal Disk, on Monday with the full intention of skimming through it to make sure the material was appropriate.

However, Lex wasn’t prepared for the first few pages in the book describing a meteor shower in the middle of a rural Kansas town.

Lex hadn’t had an asthma attack in over twenty years. Not since…But no, it was far too much of a coincidence for Lex’s naturally scientific mind. Even as droplets of sweat collected at the base of his bare skull, his shaking fingers closed the book and turned it to the author’s biography on the back page. And there it was plain as day. Smallville. Of course Clark Kent was from Smallville, Kansas. The one place in the world that Lex had not dared to tread since that one day that changed his life irrevocably.

His first impulse was to toss the overpriced children’s book into the trash and possibly have Mercy burn it. But it had been twenty years. And this wasn’t about Lex; he promised Lena. And how would he explain to a six year old, even one as brilliant as his daughter, that she couldn’t read a book because her father hadn’t mastered this thing called “coping”?

After a deep breath (and a finger or two of his best Scotch), Lex turned back to the first page.

And within five pages, Lex was captivated. The alien that landed on earth during a meteor shower and was found by Jerome and Margaret Kinsey, a married farming couple who couldn’t have children of their own, was raised as Calvin Kinsey, a farm boy with abilities far beyond any mortal.

Although his parents taught him to keep his gifts a secret from everyone he knew for fear that he would be taken away from them, young Cal couldn’t help but use his gifts to help people in trouble. Lex laughed at the emergence of Cal’s “x-ray vision” and winced at the description of the girl that could shape-shift to look like anyone she wanted. What could have been too gruesome for children was in fact a fascinatingly accurate scientific explanation without sounding too verbose for someone like Lena to understand. At the same time, Clark did not use vocabulary that sounded as if he were talking down to the children either. The finding of the Octagonal Disk that matched the hole in Cal’s ship was emotional without being sappy, and Lex very discretely wiped the moisture that collected in his eyes. Someone just had to do something about the dust in his office.

Lex finished the book by lunchtime on Wednesday.

When Lex arrived home Wednesday evening, he silently passed on his copy of Kal-El to Lena, with the inscription: The Library of Lena Luthor. Lena, for her part, showed an impressive amount of restraint for a six-year-old girl by shaking her father’s hand with a subdued “thank you” and did not shriek with delight until after she went to her room and closed the door.

Lena (after much protestation on the part of her father that she turn out that light and go to bed, young lady) finished the book on Friday night.

And so Saturday found Lex being greeted by several of the parents that he had met the last week as if they were all old friends. Apparently having pushy, squealing kids automatically initiated you in the club. This time Lena insisted on sitting on her father’s lap in the front and off to the side so as not to block anyone else’s view. Something else Lena inherited from her daddy: the ability to get the best seats in any house.

If anything, the crowd was even larger than last week, and Lex noted that along with eleven-year-old girls and women around Lex’s age and older, there were now college age girls (and, damn, some boys too) trying to be inconspicuous in and around the children’s section. Lex couldn’t knock their taste.

Clark came on stage a little while later and proceeded with what Lex realized was the traditional greeting of high fives to the kids and waves to the parents. As Clark made his way down the row, he grinned (Lex liked to think) even brighter when he spotted Lena and her father. Clark reached out and tugged gently on one of Lena’ pigtails while saying “hi” to the two of them together. Lex had never seen his daughter turn the same shade as her hair as she had right then. And Lex was almost jealous, although he couldn’t figure out if it was of Clark or Lena right then.

“Alright guys,” Clark started, and immediately everyone quieted down. Lex could use him in a particularly heated board meeting. “As promised, I’m going to continue with Kal-El and the Cave of Namaan.”

If it were possible, the crowd was even more enraptured as Clark, once again, told the story while barely glancing at the copy of the book he held in his hands. As the girl that Cal met in the cave recited the story of Namaan and how he had supposedly come down in a rain of fire, Lex felt a slight shiver that he attributed to the temperature of the small building. Unconsciously, Lex’s hand went to graze his bald scalp as he tried to shake the eerie feeling that came over him. Right, coping.

Once again, the hour was up before everyone knew it, Clark leaving everyone on the edge of their seats just as Cal fell through the ground and into the cave. Even those that had already read the book were groaning at the cliffhanger.

Lex made his way towards the stage where a crowd, which included his daughter, had already formed. As Clark talked to the parents, Lex thought he saw one of the college girls slipping something into Clark’s jeans pocket. A phone number? A condom? A condom with a phone number? Hey, it had happened to Lex.

“Someone has a fan club,” Lex teased as he came up beside the young man

“I don’t write for the recognition,” Clark said sheepishly, “but it’s nice that the kids look up me as a positive role model. Reminds me to be careful of the choices I make because one of them,” he indicated to the small group of kids that lingered, “might be watching and wanting to emulate what I do.”

The fact that Clark seemed to be sincere only made him that much more attractive. Lex was doomed before he began.

"I guess I’ll see you next time,” Clark said somewhat bashfully, and before Lex could get control over his mouth he was asking:

“You want to grab some coffee?”

If Clark had ever entertained saying “no”, the pleading eyes of one Lena Luthor squashed any chance of protestation.

Lena was getting a raise in her allowance.

***

Coffee wound up being lunch as neither man seemed to want to leave the other’s company. Lex had never found it so easy to talk to another human being. Within twenty minutes Clark had Lex latching onto his stomach laughing at the more blatant overtures from the adult female attendees of Story Time. Of course Clark kept the stories pretty mild because of their ever present red-headed company, but Lex understood the subtext very well.

“I still don’t know how she got into my dorm room. If this were Smallville I might have an idea.” Clark pondered with a chuckle.

Lex paused fractionally. “Smallville, huh?”

“Oh yeah, it’s about three hours from here, a small farming town,” Clark explained as he picked up yet another slice of the overly greasy pizza. You’d think the boy didn’t eat ever.

“Yeah, I’ve heard of it,” Lex said more quietly, and he just managed not to run his hand over his bald head. He was quite proud of himself. “I remember reading about the meteor shower that hit.”

Clark’s wince wouldn’t have been visible to someone who wasn’t watching, but Lex was definitely watching. “I, uh, grew up there after my parents adopted me,” Clark said, trying to lighten the mood by teasing Lena with a stack of straws.

“Ah, so adopted and a farm boy,” Lex smirked. “Something tells me Kal-El is just a little bit semi-autobiographical. Are you an alien, too?”

“Well,” Clark snorted, “my friends sometimes thought I was. Or at least they thought I was somewhat a freak.”

Lex couldn’t imagine anyone ever thinking of Clark as a freak.

Lex paid for lunch even though Clark was adamant that he could pay his own way. They agreed to let Clark leave the tip. Lena pulled on the two men’s hands and gestured towards the park.

“I’m sure you want to spend some time alone with your daddy, right Lena,” Clark tried to reason.

“Yeah, and I’m sure that Clark has better things to do than hang out with us all day, sweetie.” Lex was a little stung that Clark seemed to want to leave, but they had monopolized the young man’s time for…shit, three hours once Lex checked his watch.

“I don’t really mind,” Clark said a little too fast before he composed himself. “I mean, I just thought that you might have something to do yourself.”

“Actually I told my assistant that I wasn’t to be disturbed all weekend.”

“Oh,” Clark raised his eyebrows, “well I don’t have to meet with my publisher for a few more hours, and she’s right on the other side of the park.”

“YAY! Swings!” That was Lena, and the two men laughed as she tugged them further in the direction of the park.

“Swings,” Lex rolled his eyes.

“Swings,” Clark snorted. “Yay!”

***

Lex was mistaken. This was the best Saturday he ever had.

There was no dropped ice cream (Lex bought Lena a cup this time) and Clark was the one that had to sit on the swings. There was nothing funnier than a six-foot-three (god of a) man throwing his legs forwards and back in a race with a six-year-old girl to see who could go the highest.

When the swings began to creak from Clark’s weight, the debate was settled and Lena won by default.

That was when Clark decided to sit out from anymore of Lena’s bright ideas.

“I’ve never seen my daughter quite as taken with anyone as with you,” Lex sighed wistfully. In a manly way, of course.

“She’s a great kid. You and your wife must be proud.”

“Actually, I’m raising her alone. Her mother didn’t have, shall we say, the best maternal instincts.” A shadow passed over Lex’s face as he thought about Helen and what she almost did to their daughter before he had his wife committed.

“I’m sorry,” Clark winced, “I just thought that the woman that usually brings Lena to Story Time was her mother.”

“That’s Jessie, Lena’s nanny, but she has been with us so long that I think she silently wishes she were Lena’s mother.”

“Lena has that effect on people,” Clark grinned as he looked out at the kids on the playground. Lex caught the wistful look in Clark’s eyes and something just occurred to him.

“Do you have kids Clark?”

Clark glanced at him before dropping his head. “No, I, uh, have never been married. And even if I had, neither my partner nor I would have been able to give birth anyway.”

From the nervous way Clark kept glancing at Lex out of the corner of his eye and the careful play of the pronoun game, Lex concluded that...

“You’re gay.” Which shouldn’t have been a shock, but it was the best shock EVER.

“Um, yeah.” Clark twisted his hands. “Look, I’ve never done anything to the kids and a lot of the parents know and they are okay with it so while I would kind of understand if you didn’t want me around Lena anymore I really hope that-“

“Clark, wait, breathe,” Lex chuckled at the other man’s rambling. “I don’t care that you’re gay. I’m not the straightest ruler in the drawer myself.”

Clark was taken aback. “Really? But Lena…”

“I’m bi, though I’ve mostly been with women,” Lex explained. “I hate to admit it, but I primarily married my ex-wife because my father put so much pressure on me to ‘produce an heir,’” Lex imitated his father, complete with air quotes.

“I know a little about family pressure,” Clark said cryptically, before his lighthearted mood returned, “but at least you got Lena out of it.”

“Lena is my world and she has me wrapped around her finger and I’ll kill you and sell you for parts if you ever tell her I said so,” Lex pointed an accusatory finger at Clark. The dark-haired man just laughed and threw up his hands in surrender. Clark had a beautiful laugh…and smile…and his lips were just…

A cell phone ringing cut off Lex’s line of thinking as he grouchily reached into his coat pocket to retrieve the offending device.

“Wait, it’s mine,” Clark stopped him, which was a good thing because Lex was contemplating downsizing for interrupting his day.

“Hey Chl-is it really? Oh crap I lost track of time…I realize that, thank you…That’s not what you said last time…” the last part was said in such blatant innuendo that Lex felt a twinge of jealousy of the person on the other end. “I’ll see you in ten minutes…” Clark laughed, “…okay, bye.”

“Boyfriend?” Lex did not say through clenched teeth once Clark hung up.

“No, that was my best friend Chloe,” Clark continued to chuckle at whatever joke went on over the phone. “She’s also my publisher and apparently my appointment calendar.”

“Oh,” Lex said, secretly relieved, although he still had not confirmed Clark’s single status. However the fact that a name had not come up even with the big gay revelation was a point for the Rich and Bald Team. “Well I guess you better get going.”

Clark hesitantly stood up and Lex followed. Lex hoped that Clark also did not want the day to end.

“I had fun today,” Clark said shyly, still not making a move to get to his appointment. Score two for the R&B Team.

“I did, too,” Lex replied. The air seemed to electrify as the two men stood there looking at each other. Lex was about to say something when Lena practically tackled Clark’s leg.

“Where are you going?” Lena whined. Whined?

“I have a meeting to get to, honey,” Clark knelt down to her level again. Looks like someone else learned how to deal with Miss Lena Luthor.

“Oh,” Lena replied, disappointment written clearly over her face before she became hopeful again. “Can you come over for dinner?”

Lena was getting a raise in her allowance and a pony for her birthday.

“Uh,” Clark glanced up at Lex anxiously. Lex thought maybe he should let the poor man off the hook.

“Tonight we’re having dinner with Grandpa Lionel, remember sweetie?”

“Oh, yeah,” Lena rolled her eyes before a smirk clearly worthy of a Luthor graced her deceptively innocent face. “I wonder what I can get him to buy me this time.”

“Lena,” Lex warned, but he couldn’t help a smirk of his own at the thought that the Great and Feared Lionel Luthor was owned by a six-year-old girl.

“Have fun with your Grandpa, Lena,” Clark laughed as well. He started to turn before Lex’s mouth, for the second time that day, betrayed him. He really shouldn’t be allowed to talk when faced with the wonder of Clark Kent’s ass.

“Perhaps tomorrow night?” Lex left the question hanging, trying to keep it casual while his heart was beating Flight of the Bumblebee in his chest.

Clark, and the smile that should be declared a dangerous weapon, turned back around. “I should be free.”

Lex wondered where they could fit a pony in the penthouse.

Part III

“I just saw Clark walk up!” Lena ran over her father to get to the door.
“Hot date, Lena?” Lex teased, which garnered him a lethal glare from his daughter. It wasn’t quite up to Luthorian Standards, but it was getting there.

Lex had alerted the lobby security earlier to let Clark Kent up to the penthouse to prevent delays. Clark barely raised his hand to knock at the door before Lena flung it open and beamed up at the man.

Lex swallowed a lump in his throat at Clark wearing a fitted black button down shirt, faded jeans and black boots. So casual, yet so hot.

Clark returned his appreciative glance at Lex’s attire. Long sleeved gray cashmere sweater and black slacks over comfortable, yet ridiculously expensive black shoes. That was as casual as Lex dared to go even in his own home. Clark seemed to realize he was staring and blushed right on cue before paying proper tribute to the little Empress.

Score three for R&B.

***

“I was also the town geek.”

“Somehow I seriously doubt that.” Lex replied, letting his voice drop to a purr. He seriously had to get that flirting uncontrollably thing under…well, control.

Lena had finally gone to bed after trying admirably to stay up with the adults.

She was out like a light before dessert was served.

“Please,” Clark rolled his eyes comically, “was too tall, a klutz, wore flannel, had a very brief crush on the local princess, and only two real friends in the town. I was even strung up in a cornfield like a scarecrow by the jealous quarterback boyfriend of the local princess just for talking to her until his guilt and libido got the better of him and he cut me down.”

Lex prided himself on not visibly reacting. “You...and the quarterback that strung you up…”

“For six months until the princess found out,” Clark smirked, probably at the memory of that particular day. “And then for two more months until he joined the Marines.”

“You couldn’t have been too much of a geek to screw the quarterback for eight months.”

“Hey, geeks can be sluts too.”

And somehow that shouldn’t have sounded as hot as it did.

Their language had gotten more colorful as the night, and the nightcaps, progressed. Both men were extremely comfortable in each other’s company, and not having children within hearing distance also helped since Lena’s bedroom was on the second floor of the penthouse far away from the den that Lex and Clark had migrated to. Somehow the top two buttons on Clark’s shirt became unbuttoned, and that was all that needed to be done to loosen the younger man’s tongue.

Lex really did not need to be thinking about Clark’s tongue right then. But it was just right there and so pink and it kept coming out to lick at his fucking sexy lips that Lex just wanted to…

“Lex?” Clark was still talking. Shit, what was the question?

“Clark?” Lex replied, hoping to stall for time or clarity.

He knew he was caught when Clark laughed. “If I’m boring you, just let me know.”

Most of the time when someone said that to Lex, it was with derision and aggravation. With Clark, somehow though, it was cute.

“You could never bore me,” Lex said with surprising honesty, and he should really keep count of how many drinks he’d had before talking.

Or maybe he shouldn’t because those were lips, sweet luscious lips, and they were on Lex’s lips and, shit, they were moving away.

“I’m sorry!” Clark cried out with wide eyes, and it took Lex a moment before he realized that he hadn’t kissed Clark back and what the hell was he thinking?

“I thought you were flirting with me and I’m really really attracted to you but I shouldn’t have done that so I think I’m going to go-”

Lex stopped Clark’s rambling with a hand on his arm a kiss of his own. He latched onto Clark’s thick and, damn, silky black hair and hooked his right leg over Clark’s, more out of a need to keep Clark from running away than from anything sexual. Except Clark’s big, warm, fucking best hands EVER gripped Lex’s hips and hauled him the rest of the way onto Clark’s lap and proceeded to rub them ever so slowly up and down Lex’s back, sending sparks throughout Lex’s spine. And then Clark’s tongue found that scar on Lex’s lip that he used to hate but was now ever so grateful for as Clark proceeded to suck and lick at that scar and that was the hottest thing anyone had ever done to Lex’s mouth. Ever.

Lex paid equal tribute to Clark’s mouth, running his tongue around Clark’s lips and the roof of his mouth and finally his tongue. Clark didn’t even fight for control; he just let Lex have it as the older man undulated on top of him. Lex kept his left hand in Clark’s hair, because it was just too soft to let go completely, and let the other hand wander over the cotton covered planes of Clark’s muscular chest where he found an already hardened nipple and pinched just enough to elicit yet another groan from the younger man. If Clark was this vocal while they were only making out…

“Damn, Lex,” Clark moaned, his hands finding their way underneath Lex’s sweater to touch bare skin. One hand managed to sneak its way to Lex’s ass and proceed to knead and one finger was so close to his cleft when-

“Wait, we have to stop,” Clark gasped, even though his hands and undeniable erection said otherwise.

“Mm-hmm,” Lex mumbled against Clark’s throat, which tasted marvelously both sweet and tangy to Lex. Lex like.

Although Clark still did not seem to be pushing Lex away, his protests continued. “We shouldn’t do this now. We just met and I really like you and Lena’s right upstairs and it doesn’t look right.”

That made Lex pull back, and Clark whimpered at the loss of the lips and the full body rub.

The presence of his daughter never stopped anyone from trying to get what they wanted from Lex. Some unfortunate souls even tried to use Lena to get on Lex’s good side. But Clark was stopping what could have been potentially great sex if the foreplay was anything to go by because it was inappropriate in the presence of a child.

Why the hell was this man single?

All of this seemed to sober Lex, and he quite reluctantly and very slowly (in case Clark changed his mind) climbed off of Clark’s lap. But he still hadn’t removed his hand from Clark’s hair and was alternately stroking and lightly pulling on the silky strands.

“You’re right Clark,” Lex said, trying to regulate his breathing (which was difficult with Clark looking so delicious right then). “I don’t know what came over us.”

“I know what came over me,” Clark smiled sheepishly, “you’re fuckin' hot.”

The laugh was what Lex needed to clear his sex muddled mind. Only Clark’s sense of humor was another thing that Lex found sexy about him, and this really wasn’t helping his erection go away.

And looking at the four-person tent that Clark had going on with his pants was not helping matters either.

“I should leave,” Clark announced after a moment of silence between them. He tried valiantly to straighten his clothes, but it was a lost cause.

“I don’t want you to go,” Lex admitted. Hell, his mouth got him this far…

“I don’t want to go either, but that’s why I should,” Clark was almost to door when Lex finally pulled himself together.

“I want to see you again.”

And Clark turned and gave him a small smile, looking at Lex through his lashes. Was there anything Clark did that wasn’t sexy as hell?

“I’d like that too.”

”I don’t mean as just friends,” Lex clarified, making his way towards Clark and the door.

“Good,” Clark chuckled.

“And maybe alone? Just the adults.” Lex was standing in front of him now. Close enough that the front of their shirts brushed as they breathed each other in. Clark’s eyes were just a ring of green over huge black irises and Lex knew there was a reason they weren’t naked right then, but he couldn’t remember what it was.

“Just adults,” Clark repeated, and damn it to hell if Lex couldn’t keep his lips to himself. The kiss was a lot slower this time, only a hint of tongue, but with the promise of more later…and often.

Lex parted with a suck to Clark’s lower lip, and after a few-several-more lighter kisses, Clark finally left with a groan that both men laughed at.

It looked like Jessie was going to be earning a lot of overtime.
Not the end.