FiC: No One Noticed the Cat (3/7)
Title: No One Noticed the Cat
Pairing: Clex
Rating: PG13
Warning: Violence
Includes: temporary mpreg, temporary character deaths
Summary: Clark gets Lex a pet cat… that's not quite a cat.
Author’s Notes:
1. Continuity Post S3 finale.
2. This is a
help_haiti fic for
tallihensia, who has been awfully patient to get this.
3. The Bennu bird serves as the Egyptian correlation to the phoenix, and is pictured as a heron. This relates to reinforce the Greek --> Egyptian name shift.
Thanks to
cheerful_earl and
herohunter for the betas. :D
“Until one has loved an animal a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”
Anatole France
Part Three
The Metropolis Angel touched down on the rooftop of the Daily Planet. A smile spread on his lips, which were consequently, the only part of him that could be really seen in his costume. Since his first days on the streets, he’d developed a pair of protective glasses that made it difficult to even see the color of his eyes. Somehow the intrepid reporter waiting for him seemed to follow the Angel’s gaze anyway, and stepped toward him hopefully.
“You saved me today. You saved everyone.”
“That’s why I’m here.” The Angel crossed his arms and walked up to the reporter. He knew this was the very reporter who had given him the name all people of Metropolis now called him by. It was flattering. He considered himself no angel, however. Just a man with vision.
The Angel regarded the reporter with amusement. There was need for such sudden bashfulness, batting of lashes, flushing of cheeks.
“My name is Clark Kent,” he said finally.
The Angel grinned. “I know. I’ve read your articles, Clark. You’re a very talented writer, in my humble opinion. Of course I may be biased, seeing as how I seem to be a feature of many of them.”
“You just inspire me,” Clark said in a timid voice. “You do such great things. I want to know more about you. Are you human? Are you from Earth or... are you from somewhere else?”
“I’m a Metropolite. What else do you need to know?” The Angel moved in closer. He could have been wrong. But he doubted it.
“I don’t need to know. I want to know.” Clark’s eyes met the Angel’s and he smiled warmly. “Are you lonely here? The only one of your kind? You don’t have to be lonely...”
“No?” The Angel cupped Clark’s cheek, then pressed their lips together. No resistance came from Clark, so the Angel licked and sucked on his lower lip, enjoying the taste of this large, shy man. He had noticed him in the crowd long before Clark Kent had made his name writing the premier first-hand account of the Metropolis Angel. That there were brains behind that brawn made him all the more attractive.
Both men pulled back, and the Angel panted softly. He tilted his head to the side and touched his ear. “I hear you, Bats. Sorry, Clark. I have work to do.”
“I was hoping for an interview,” Clark replied a little more forcefully.
A lopsided grin spread across the Angel’s lips. “We’ll see each other again.”
With that he lifted up and took off into the bright Metropolis sky. Clark took a step back and looked up in awe. He longed to fly with The Angel, if only he dared.
***
The Angel walked into the Batcave and scanned the caverns for his friend. Walking deeper inside, he kept his senses on alert. The last time he’d come in without notice, he’d gotten Alfred’s shotgun in the face.
“I’m here,” he called softly. The sound echoed anyway, and a few of the bats fluttered around in either startlement or annoyance.
“I saw you come in,” Batman said darkly.
“Would you like to give me a clue as to where you happen to be at the moment?”
A small noise came from Batman that only the Angel would recognize as a laugh. He lifted up, hovered for a moment, then flew over to where Batman sat in front of a wall of screens.
“This looks... What is this?” The Angel walked up beside his comrade at arms and took in the variety of screens. Normally Batman would be watching the streets of Gotham, but the locations displayed here were much broader and more varied.
“Watch the screens on the far right. I think it’ll happen again soon.”
The Angel cocked his brow before fixing his attention on the screen. He wasn’t entirely certain what he was watching, until he realized that the Flash was walking across the screen. Suddenly, the picture changed and his costume was a different color. The people in the other screens were in different places and performing different activities.
“What’s happening?”
“It’s hard to say,” Batman replied. He drew in a deep breath before looking to the Angel. “Whenever I seem to get a grip on what it is, I forget that I was looking.”
The Angel frowned and looked down on his friend with concern. “Were you injured-?”
“It’s not me. It’s this thing. This Key that the rest of the League wanted so desperately to find. We keep thinking that we have it locked up safely in the Watchtower, but I think that it’s obviously loose in our world,” Batman explained. He stood and walked over to a folder of papers. “We keep collecting these, Gold Heron and I, but I couldn’t say for how long, or how many times we’ve had to start again. It hides itself so well.”
When Batman turned to the Angel, it was clear that he expected the Angel to doubt his claims, but instead, he took the folder and began to look through it.
“I know that something’s been going on lately, but I can’t put my finger on what’s changed. Why is it doing this, here?”
“I have no idea, honestly, but Gold Heron believes that if we don’t stop it... Every alternate universe will begin to bleed into the next. Everything will crash in together, universe on top of universe in mounting chaos, until everything turns black.”
The Angel looked up sharply. “Then... We have to find a way to free ourselves of it, long enough to find the real Key, and stop whoever is using it.”
“Easier said than done. I was hoping you could take to your lab, see if you can detect differences in the fabric of our universe.”
“If I can determine a locus for the changes in our reality, I might be able to find out who is wielding the Key,” the Angel concluded. “I’ll do the best I can, and we should all keep in contact.”
Batman stiffened his jaw. “I just hope I haven’t asked you to do this before.”
***
After the Angel of Metropolis had taken to the sky, he looked over the city, wondering what had changed for the people below. Every life above and below him was in eminent danger. This might have been the biggest threat their world had ever faced.
He closed his eyes for a moment, then set down on the Kent farm. Looking around, he smiled softly, noting the red sedan parked in the dirt driveway, and headed inside as he removed his goggles and cowl.
“I was wondering if you’d ever get here,” Clark said cheerfully. He set down a plate on the table and pushed up his glasses before coming up to Lex to give him a kiss.
“I’d never miss Sunday dinner with the Kents. It’s like nothing I ever had growing up,” Lex admitted. He looked up. “Mind if I go change?”
“No problem. Mau and the kids are in the living room with Ma and Pa.”
Lex nodded and headed in to greet his children.
“What did the big bat want?” Clark asked, setting the table.
“I...” Lex paused and turned to Clark with a furrowed brow. “You know now that you’re asking, I can’t recall?”
***
That night Clark lay in bed, staring at the ceiling as he kept one arm around his sleeping Lex and one hand on their cat, who had pushed her way into the bed, despite being set on the floor several times. Lex had seemed extraordinarily troubled lately. They’d just celebrated their anniversary, but his husband seemed distracted. On a regular day, he seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders. These days, he seemed almost half a step out of his own life, always catching up.
Clark watched Lex sleep fondly, then pressed a kiss to his head. All he needed was this, right here, and their children. He knew Lex would come to him with his problem when he was able to verbalize it. He always did.
***
“You go left, and I’ll go right,” Lex ordered.
“I can’t let you do that!” Clark protested through the communicator.
“Well, you can’t handle this on your own, so you’ll just have to do what I say, won’t you?” Lex replied almost cattily. He zipped to the side of the missile and pushed it back. “Get your own, and stop worrying about me.”
Clark sighed heavily, but Lex knew that Superman was getting back to work. The sooner he made sure that missile didn’t destroy the Earth, the sooner he could make sure the Angel could handle the one coming at him. One problem with your partner being your partner was that concern for one another ran deeper than your average superhero team.
Lex stubbornly pushed the missile into outer space.
Half an hour later, the two of them settled into the Watchtower and headed for the command room.
“I told you I had it,” Lex informed his lover.
“I know that. I just worry about you. You can get hurt, you know.”
“Stop fussing. I didn’t get hurt today. I didn’t get hurt yesterday.” Lex put his arm around Clark’s back and continued to walk with him.
“The day before that you got concussed.” “I get concussed more than a regular person even when I’m not fighting the good fight,” Lex pointed out. With a swift look around the hallway, Lex leaned over to give Clark a kiss.
“Well. Point.” Clark slipped his arms around Lex’s waist and lifted him up a little bit. “Good job out there.”
“It feels good to be able to do things like that.”
“You would know. The Angel’s been at this longer than Superman has.”
“I suppose I have,” Lex mused quietly.
“What’s wrong?” Clark kissed over Lex’s cowl. This was one of the reasons Superman didn’t wear one. It was a hassle.
“I don’t know. I think I’ve forgotten something.”
“Well, forget it for a little while longer. After the meeting, I want to go back to my place...”
Lex tilted his head to the side, letting Clark kiss along his neck. He pulled the fabric back just a little to suck gently on the warm skin beneath.
“Your place? What about our place? And our kids?”
Clark chuckled and gave Lex a squeeze. “Getting a little ahead of ourselves, aren’t we? Not that I mind the sound of that future at all.”
Lex bowed his head. “I have something... I have to remember.”
“Hm? Come on.”
Lex walked alongside Clark and entered the large room with the circular table where all of their masked friends were already sitting.
“Hey!” Flash said cheerfully. “Nice to finally see you here. Did you get caught up in a time warp?”
“Not exactly.” Lex pulled his cowl back into place and took his seat. He looked across the table at Clark, noting how handsome he was just then, in his suit and without the glasses, hair swept back perfectly. Of course, Lex loved him in the glasses and the messy hair as well. He loved him, no matter how he had him.
***
Their lips collided together so quickly that their teeth bumped. Jerome’s hands moved down Alex’s smooth neck, and he gasped a little as Alex’s body ground into him. He knew that Alex didn’t normally kiss his clients. No, he usually was business only, but today when Jerome picked him up, Alex was different. He was wanting, needing. He was hot and ready to go the moment he set eyes on Jerome, and that in itself was so sexy that Jerome could barely wait to get to the hotel.
Alex kicked the door shut, and a moment later he was able to lock the door with one hand. Soon they were tearing clothing off of one another, and Alex dropped to his knees and looked up at Jerome with shining eyes.
“What is it?” Jerome asked with concern.
Alex said nothing in reply. He just opened his mouth wide and set to work at making Jerome utterly weak in the knees.
That night Jerome came four times, and when he was done, he hoped that Alex had come a few times himself. Like always, he focused on Jerome’s pleasure above his own, but unlike always, Alex ended the evening curled up by Jerome’s side, uninterested in getting his money or moving on to the next trick. Jerome petted the soft, smooth skin of Alex’s head, and rested a hand on Alex’s back.
“You were great tonight,” Jerome whispered.
“These roles we play, Clark... I want to keep going on, but I don’t know if I can,” Alex murmured.
Jerome held him more tightly. “What do you mean?” Normally after-fucking conversation was light and joking, or philosophic and cerebral. Alex never broke down to him, never opened up, not really. “Are you okay, Alex?” His heart tightened. “Are you sick?”
It was possible. Alex’s career was precarious, and Jerome had long wanted to pull him from this life.
“I miss our son. I can’t... I’m not sick, Clark.” Alex looked up at him, then pulled away and left the bed. “I can’t do this. I want you to love me, and if I can’t have that, if I can’t really have that, then I don’t want this. I don’t want any of it.”
Jerome sat up, feeling alarmed, elated, and confused. Alex had never mentioned love before, had he? Wasn’t that just a fantasy, that he could woo and save the prostitute who only came to his bed because of the dollar signs involved?
“How did you know my real name? Alex... Alex, I don’t want you to go!”
“You don’t love me!” Alex exploded. His lips curled snidely. “You don’t need me. Whatever this is, whatever is happening, I can’t take it. Do you get that, Clark? I need it to be real.”
“I’m okay with that, Alex!” Jerome got up, but every time he stepped closer to Alex, Alex stepped back, skittishly keeping distance between the two of them. “Alex, I love you, too.”
“No, you don’t. Something is making you love me, and otherwise, you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t be here with me, if it weren’t for...” Alex looked to the side thoughtfully. “If it weren’t for... You wouldn’t...”
“I would. I do,” Jerome vowed. He felt his heart tearing more and more the further Alex stepped away from him.
“I want out.” Alex looked up and around. “Do you hear me? I want out!”
“Alex, no-”
Lex shook his head back and forth, and when he opened his eyes, he could barely believe that he was awake.
He was dressed. In a dark suit with a dark purple shirt. He was in the penthouse. Alone.
No cats. No kids. No Clark.
Hell, no dust either. No nothing.
“I’m... I’m home.”
This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.
comments posted there. Please comment there using OpenID or your DW account.
Pairing: Clex
Rating: PG13
Warning: Violence
Includes: temporary mpreg, temporary character deaths
Summary: Clark gets Lex a pet cat… that's not quite a cat.
Author’s Notes:
1. Continuity Post S3 finale.
2. This is a
help_haiti fic for
tallihensia, who has been awfully patient to get this.
3. The Bennu bird serves as the Egyptian correlation to the phoenix, and is pictured as a heron. This relates to reinforce the Greek --> Egyptian name shift.
Thanks to
cheerful_earl and
herohunter for the betas. :D
“Until one has loved an animal a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”
Anatole France
Part Three
The Metropolis Angel touched down on the rooftop of the Daily Planet. A smile spread on his lips, which were consequently, the only part of him that could be really seen in his costume. Since his first days on the streets, he’d developed a pair of protective glasses that made it difficult to even see the color of his eyes. Somehow the intrepid reporter waiting for him seemed to follow the Angel’s gaze anyway, and stepped toward him hopefully.
“You saved me today. You saved everyone.”
“That’s why I’m here.” The Angel crossed his arms and walked up to the reporter. He knew this was the very reporter who had given him the name all people of Metropolis now called him by. It was flattering. He considered himself no angel, however. Just a man with vision.
The Angel regarded the reporter with amusement. There was need for such sudden bashfulness, batting of lashes, flushing of cheeks.
“My name is Clark Kent,” he said finally.
The Angel grinned. “I know. I’ve read your articles, Clark. You’re a very talented writer, in my humble opinion. Of course I may be biased, seeing as how I seem to be a feature of many of them.”
“You just inspire me,” Clark said in a timid voice. “You do such great things. I want to know more about you. Are you human? Are you from Earth or... are you from somewhere else?”
“I’m a Metropolite. What else do you need to know?” The Angel moved in closer. He could have been wrong. But he doubted it.
“I don’t need to know. I want to know.” Clark’s eyes met the Angel’s and he smiled warmly. “Are you lonely here? The only one of your kind? You don’t have to be lonely...”
“No?” The Angel cupped Clark’s cheek, then pressed their lips together. No resistance came from Clark, so the Angel licked and sucked on his lower lip, enjoying the taste of this large, shy man. He had noticed him in the crowd long before Clark Kent had made his name writing the premier first-hand account of the Metropolis Angel. That there were brains behind that brawn made him all the more attractive.
Both men pulled back, and the Angel panted softly. He tilted his head to the side and touched his ear. “I hear you, Bats. Sorry, Clark. I have work to do.”
“I was hoping for an interview,” Clark replied a little more forcefully.
A lopsided grin spread across the Angel’s lips. “We’ll see each other again.”
With that he lifted up and took off into the bright Metropolis sky. Clark took a step back and looked up in awe. He longed to fly with The Angel, if only he dared.
***
The Angel walked into the Batcave and scanned the caverns for his friend. Walking deeper inside, he kept his senses on alert. The last time he’d come in without notice, he’d gotten Alfred’s shotgun in the face.
“I’m here,” he called softly. The sound echoed anyway, and a few of the bats fluttered around in either startlement or annoyance.
“I saw you come in,” Batman said darkly.
“Would you like to give me a clue as to where you happen to be at the moment?”
A small noise came from Batman that only the Angel would recognize as a laugh. He lifted up, hovered for a moment, then flew over to where Batman sat in front of a wall of screens.
“This looks... What is this?” The Angel walked up beside his comrade at arms and took in the variety of screens. Normally Batman would be watching the streets of Gotham, but the locations displayed here were much broader and more varied.
“Watch the screens on the far right. I think it’ll happen again soon.”
The Angel cocked his brow before fixing his attention on the screen. He wasn’t entirely certain what he was watching, until he realized that the Flash was walking across the screen. Suddenly, the picture changed and his costume was a different color. The people in the other screens were in different places and performing different activities.
“What’s happening?”
“It’s hard to say,” Batman replied. He drew in a deep breath before looking to the Angel. “Whenever I seem to get a grip on what it is, I forget that I was looking.”
The Angel frowned and looked down on his friend with concern. “Were you injured-?”
“It’s not me. It’s this thing. This Key that the rest of the League wanted so desperately to find. We keep thinking that we have it locked up safely in the Watchtower, but I think that it’s obviously loose in our world,” Batman explained. He stood and walked over to a folder of papers. “We keep collecting these, Gold Heron and I, but I couldn’t say for how long, or how many times we’ve had to start again. It hides itself so well.”
When Batman turned to the Angel, it was clear that he expected the Angel to doubt his claims, but instead, he took the folder and began to look through it.
“I know that something’s been going on lately, but I can’t put my finger on what’s changed. Why is it doing this, here?”
“I have no idea, honestly, but Gold Heron believes that if we don’t stop it... Every alternate universe will begin to bleed into the next. Everything will crash in together, universe on top of universe in mounting chaos, until everything turns black.”
The Angel looked up sharply. “Then... We have to find a way to free ourselves of it, long enough to find the real Key, and stop whoever is using it.”
“Easier said than done. I was hoping you could take to your lab, see if you can detect differences in the fabric of our universe.”
“If I can determine a locus for the changes in our reality, I might be able to find out who is wielding the Key,” the Angel concluded. “I’ll do the best I can, and we should all keep in contact.”
Batman stiffened his jaw. “I just hope I haven’t asked you to do this before.”
***
After the Angel of Metropolis had taken to the sky, he looked over the city, wondering what had changed for the people below. Every life above and below him was in eminent danger. This might have been the biggest threat their world had ever faced.
He closed his eyes for a moment, then set down on the Kent farm. Looking around, he smiled softly, noting the red sedan parked in the dirt driveway, and headed inside as he removed his goggles and cowl.
“I was wondering if you’d ever get here,” Clark said cheerfully. He set down a plate on the table and pushed up his glasses before coming up to Lex to give him a kiss.
“I’d never miss Sunday dinner with the Kents. It’s like nothing I ever had growing up,” Lex admitted. He looked up. “Mind if I go change?”
“No problem. Mau and the kids are in the living room with Ma and Pa.”
Lex nodded and headed in to greet his children.
“What did the big bat want?” Clark asked, setting the table.
“I...” Lex paused and turned to Clark with a furrowed brow. “You know now that you’re asking, I can’t recall?”
***
That night Clark lay in bed, staring at the ceiling as he kept one arm around his sleeping Lex and one hand on their cat, who had pushed her way into the bed, despite being set on the floor several times. Lex had seemed extraordinarily troubled lately. They’d just celebrated their anniversary, but his husband seemed distracted. On a regular day, he seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders. These days, he seemed almost half a step out of his own life, always catching up.
Clark watched Lex sleep fondly, then pressed a kiss to his head. All he needed was this, right here, and their children. He knew Lex would come to him with his problem when he was able to verbalize it. He always did.
***
“You go left, and I’ll go right,” Lex ordered.
“I can’t let you do that!” Clark protested through the communicator.
“Well, you can’t handle this on your own, so you’ll just have to do what I say, won’t you?” Lex replied almost cattily. He zipped to the side of the missile and pushed it back. “Get your own, and stop worrying about me.”
Clark sighed heavily, but Lex knew that Superman was getting back to work. The sooner he made sure that missile didn’t destroy the Earth, the sooner he could make sure the Angel could handle the one coming at him. One problem with your partner being your partner was that concern for one another ran deeper than your average superhero team.
Lex stubbornly pushed the missile into outer space.
Half an hour later, the two of them settled into the Watchtower and headed for the command room.
“I told you I had it,” Lex informed his lover.
“I know that. I just worry about you. You can get hurt, you know.”
“Stop fussing. I didn’t get hurt today. I didn’t get hurt yesterday.” Lex put his arm around Clark’s back and continued to walk with him.
“The day before that you got concussed.” “I get concussed more than a regular person even when I’m not fighting the good fight,” Lex pointed out. With a swift look around the hallway, Lex leaned over to give Clark a kiss.
“Well. Point.” Clark slipped his arms around Lex’s waist and lifted him up a little bit. “Good job out there.”
“It feels good to be able to do things like that.”
“You would know. The Angel’s been at this longer than Superman has.”
“I suppose I have,” Lex mused quietly.
“What’s wrong?” Clark kissed over Lex’s cowl. This was one of the reasons Superman didn’t wear one. It was a hassle.
“I don’t know. I think I’ve forgotten something.”
“Well, forget it for a little while longer. After the meeting, I want to go back to my place...”
Lex tilted his head to the side, letting Clark kiss along his neck. He pulled the fabric back just a little to suck gently on the warm skin beneath.
“Your place? What about our place? And our kids?”
Clark chuckled and gave Lex a squeeze. “Getting a little ahead of ourselves, aren’t we? Not that I mind the sound of that future at all.”
Lex bowed his head. “I have something... I have to remember.”
“Hm? Come on.”
Lex walked alongside Clark and entered the large room with the circular table where all of their masked friends were already sitting.
“Hey!” Flash said cheerfully. “Nice to finally see you here. Did you get caught up in a time warp?”
“Not exactly.” Lex pulled his cowl back into place and took his seat. He looked across the table at Clark, noting how handsome he was just then, in his suit and without the glasses, hair swept back perfectly. Of course, Lex loved him in the glasses and the messy hair as well. He loved him, no matter how he had him.
***
Their lips collided together so quickly that their teeth bumped. Jerome’s hands moved down Alex’s smooth neck, and he gasped a little as Alex’s body ground into him. He knew that Alex didn’t normally kiss his clients. No, he usually was business only, but today when Jerome picked him up, Alex was different. He was wanting, needing. He was hot and ready to go the moment he set eyes on Jerome, and that in itself was so sexy that Jerome could barely wait to get to the hotel.
Alex kicked the door shut, and a moment later he was able to lock the door with one hand. Soon they were tearing clothing off of one another, and Alex dropped to his knees and looked up at Jerome with shining eyes.
“What is it?” Jerome asked with concern.
Alex said nothing in reply. He just opened his mouth wide and set to work at making Jerome utterly weak in the knees.
That night Jerome came four times, and when he was done, he hoped that Alex had come a few times himself. Like always, he focused on Jerome’s pleasure above his own, but unlike always, Alex ended the evening curled up by Jerome’s side, uninterested in getting his money or moving on to the next trick. Jerome petted the soft, smooth skin of Alex’s head, and rested a hand on Alex’s back.
“You were great tonight,” Jerome whispered.
“These roles we play, Clark... I want to keep going on, but I don’t know if I can,” Alex murmured.
Jerome held him more tightly. “What do you mean?” Normally after-fucking conversation was light and joking, or philosophic and cerebral. Alex never broke down to him, never opened up, not really. “Are you okay, Alex?” His heart tightened. “Are you sick?”
It was possible. Alex’s career was precarious, and Jerome had long wanted to pull him from this life.
“I miss our son. I can’t... I’m not sick, Clark.” Alex looked up at him, then pulled away and left the bed. “I can’t do this. I want you to love me, and if I can’t have that, if I can’t really have that, then I don’t want this. I don’t want any of it.”
Jerome sat up, feeling alarmed, elated, and confused. Alex had never mentioned love before, had he? Wasn’t that just a fantasy, that he could woo and save the prostitute who only came to his bed because of the dollar signs involved?
“How did you know my real name? Alex... Alex, I don’t want you to go!”
“You don’t love me!” Alex exploded. His lips curled snidely. “You don’t need me. Whatever this is, whatever is happening, I can’t take it. Do you get that, Clark? I need it to be real.”
“I’m okay with that, Alex!” Jerome got up, but every time he stepped closer to Alex, Alex stepped back, skittishly keeping distance between the two of them. “Alex, I love you, too.”
“No, you don’t. Something is making you love me, and otherwise, you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t be here with me, if it weren’t for...” Alex looked to the side thoughtfully. “If it weren’t for... You wouldn’t...”
“I would. I do,” Jerome vowed. He felt his heart tearing more and more the further Alex stepped away from him.
“I want out.” Alex looked up and around. “Do you hear me? I want out!”
“Alex, no-”
Lex shook his head back and forth, and when he opened his eyes, he could barely believe that he was awake.
He was dressed. In a dark suit with a dark purple shirt. He was in the penthouse. Alone.
No cats. No kids. No Clark.
Hell, no dust either. No nothing.
“I’m... I’m home.”
This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.
comments posted there. Please comment there using OpenID or your DW account.