Fic: Reclamation (Clex, PG-13)
Title: Reclamation
Category: fic
Rating: PG-13 (language)
Word Count: 10672
Spoilers: Up to and including Seasons 3, as well as various episodes of later seasons.
Warnings: AU. I've changed the timeline to suit myself. Lex never came to Smallville; some of the events of 'Exodus' have been pulled back to happen during October of 2002 (during 'Red'). Also incorporates a bit of DCU (Bruce/Batman, though I would say there are probably no real spoilers of the comics, movies, etc).
Notes: Lionel died when Lex was a teenager and as such, Lex is never exiled there.
Prompt: What you would like to receive in your present for a fic: mpreg, future fic, AU, ending with happy clex pairing, or any combo of these. (I'm sorry, requester, for not fitting in more than 'AU'.)
Summary: Even an alternate universe can't keep Lex Luthor out of Smallville. His destiny will lead him to the mutant Kal. Playing brain to Kal's brawn is just the beginning, as Morgan Edge's machinations bring them together... and then attempt to tear them apart.
The voice on the phone was harried, rough with emotion. "We have a problem back home that needs your personal attention."
It wasn't marked on his calendar, though Lex Luthor was pretty sure that he'd scheduled this particular Monday as problem-free. "I suppose I'm expected to drop everything and fly out to the wilds of Kansas?"
"Please. Metropolis, tomorrow morning. Check your email." The line went dead without any further instructions. Lex snapped the phone shut and pocketed it. It wouldn't ring again, unless things went critical.
The few seconds of conversation had cost him. The liquid in the beaker had boiled too long, ruining any progress he might have made. Lex turned the burner off and left the equipment to cool. His computer was set up on the other side of the room. He pulled up his email and looked at the two messages in his inbox. The name of the second sender earned a sigh as he dug his phone back out.
Lucas picked up on the second ring. "What now?"
"I'm going to need a ride while I'm in town. You get to pick, just make it showy." Lex scanned the details of the first message, deleted it and then purged any record of it from his computer. "Not the Porsche, though. I want you to take that to Smallville."
The silence on the line could have been anything from confusion to Lucas silently grumbling about the town they both disliked. Lex was coming to know him too well, though.
"You wrecked it already?" he asked. Silence still, this time a little heavier. Lex sighed. "I don't care. You owe me a car. Leave one for me at the airport, take another to Smallville."
"You said your cars were my cars," Lucas teased, though the joke fell a little flat given the underlying tension in his voice.
His years of being alone and fighting for every scrap he got still showed through at times. Lex knew how strange their relationship felt to Lucas, having suffered the same doubts and concerns. He lightened his tone to respond. "That was before you decided to take up street racing with my favorite Ferrari. I think you would have already told me if you or anyone else was hurt?"
A snort. "Yes, Lex. Do you have a color preference?"
Lex considered his collection, acquired over the past few years. "Not red. Purple. Regal. I trust you to make me look like neither a pimp nor a queen."
"No promises." The absence of laughter in his voice gave away the fact that Lucas probably was laughing. "Anything I should be doing while I'm in Smallville?"
"Keep an eye on things," Lex answered after a moment of consideration. "The trouble's actually in Metropolis, though it looks to be moving to Edge City. I should have it taken care of on my end. Order in some food, keep your head down. Don't terrorize the locals."
He could practically hear his half-brother sitting up, paying attention. "Terrorize? Never, Lex. Will you be meeting me there?"
"Possibly. Probably." The second email received the same treatment as the first. "I expect the pool table to be in one piece when I arrive."
"No promises. Take care, Lex." Lucas hung up before Lex could echo the sentiment and Lex muttered under his breath about phone etiquette.
Three hours to get to the airport, which left him ninety minutes to clean up his work and put his toys away. He'd have the short flight and the drive from Metropolis to Edge City to come up with a plan. Something more workable than blindly handing his life back into Morgan Edge's hands.
Lex hated Kansas.
* * *
The sub-rate projector couldn't connect to his laptop, so Lex spent a good fifteen minutes stripping wires from other equipment and setting things up to his liking. His 'workable' plan did not include workable equipment, unfortunately.
He glanced up briefly as voices intruded on the warehouse's relative silence. After he'd given Morgan's goons a low-volumed lecture on the importance of quiet while he worked, there'd been little more from a peep from their corner. They were still sitting with their mouths shut over their card game, though a glance confirmed that they'd also noticed the new arrivals.
A catwalk ran around the entire perimeter of the building, one and a half stories above the space Lex had claimed as his own. Lex couldn't hear the words, but Morgan's tone seemed pleased. Lex got a brief impression of darkness from the new guy before he returned to his work. Dark hair, dark clothes, facial features shadowed by the poor lighting of the upper level. With half his attention, Lex followed their progress to the stairs and then down. The words became clearer; Lex nearly snorted as Morgan finished up the grand tour with a wave at the goon squad and then Lex.
"And this is-"
"Alexander," Lex said, overriding Morgan with a pointed look. He held up a hand to keep both men out of his workspace. He hadn't had time to get the cords out of the way or covered and the last thing he wanted was one of them pulling the entire setup down with a misplaced foot.
The old man smirked. "My tech specialist, Alexander. Alex, this is Kal." The name was new, but Lex had already seen the details in writing. There was also the embellishment that a few of the goons had proffered at his request, before he'd exiled them across the building. Lex knew about the money, the strength, the speed.
The ring Kal wore on his right hand.
He hadn't known about the attraction to men. Lex looked into his hooded green eyes, or attempted to, but the other man was too busy giving Lex an obscenely slow once-over. It would have been a waste of breath to ask if Kal was enjoying the view, as the answer was written rather plainly in his expression. Lex looked back at Morgan and made a show of being unimpressed. "Where'd you find this one again?"
"Your old hunting grounds. He interfered with a bit of business." By Morgan's diffident tone, he was expecting the gain from his new enterprise to greatly exceed the pay out of the bank robbery Kal had thwarted. "Kal, I trust you'll find Alexander to be professional and reliable."
"I'm sure." His voice was deep. His eyes held appreciation. When he realized he had Lex's attention, he turned his eyes down toward Lex's mouth and leered. "I'm looking forward to working with him."
Morgan looked surprised by that and his gaze swung to Lex to gauge his reaction. Lex let boredom suffuse his expression and demeanor. "Morgan, it's not that I'm immune to your boy's charms, but you're distracting me from my work. If you want me to be ready to hack that system tonight, I need you to take tall, dark, and hot-to-trot for a walk."
"Hey," Kal started to protest. He stopped speaking when Morgan put a hand on his arm.
Morgan gave Kal a commiserating look and a shrug, as if to say that's just how Lex was. "Let's go, Kal. I have a few more things to go over with you anyway."
Lex turned his back on both men and resumed working. The projector was finally hooked up to his workaround: three ancient hard drives hooked, wired, and soldered together to create a supercomputer that still couldn't beat his laptop for speed or space. Lex put a counter up on the screen so that it took up all the space and then smiled at the completion of that particular task. Superfluous and a tad theatrical, yes, but there was something very satisfying about watching the numbers count down.
He bent to the next item on his list, pleased by the return of silence. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. Lex was aware of Morgan and Kal returning to the catwalk and then separating, Morgan toward his office. The question of Kal's destination was answered when he appeared in Lex's space.
The choices for dealing with this man were limited, given what Lex was hoping to accomplish. Flirtation really should have been the last option, but he found humor seeping into his voice as he asked, "You're to be the brawn to my brains?"
"Apparently," Kal answered, cocksure. He flexed his arm as if in illustration. The coat did well to accentuate the breadth of his shoulders, but it didn't showcase the strength to be found in his arms.
He needed a diversion, for himself as well as Kal. "Fast, strong. Arrogant enough to get yourself caught on tape." Lex waved a hand at his laptop, then brought up the footage from the bank. "One of the benefits of working with me is that I have a habit of... erasing a person's tracks."
The look Kal turned on him was considering. "Erasing?"
Lex made a show of deleting the video files and then emptying the bin. "Erasing. No more copies, anywhere." Except on the drive where Lex had already backed up all his work. Just in case. "Morgan's always been a believer in monopolies. He feels he has some control over you if he's the sole keeper of your secrets. In your case, evidence of what you can do. All other copies have been wiped out of existence. If you can be blackmailed, he'll make sure he's the only one with material enough to do it."
"There's no other copies out there?" He sounded skeptical, but Lex refused to take offense. Kal didn't know Lex or what he could do.
"None. I pulled them and left no trace the information had ever been there. Someone who is sufficiently clever might wonder why the same crowd of people was there on the same day three months apart, but it's unlikely anyone will look that closely." Lex had done enough editing that even that was unlikely, but saying so would just be bragging. He'd been lucky that early spring wear was similar to early fall fashion. "He did say he had only the one job for you. No reason to keep what won't be used."
"You might be useful after all," Kal said, smiling as if it were a compliment.
"Maybe," Lex answered tightly. "More useful than the goon squad, at any rate." Speaking of which, the goons seemed to have dispersed, leaving only one on the floor. It made Lex a little nervous to think that he'd missed their call to arms. If Morgan was getting subtle, situation was that much more dangerous. Lex counted on being kept in the loop.
"Are you okay?" Kal asked, putting one hot, heavy hand on Lex's shoulder. He didn't actually manage to sound concerned and it was pretty obvious that the question was just an excuse to touch him. Even through Lex's shirt, his heat was searing.
Shrug him off, Lex mentally ordered himself to keep strong and aloof. Cool. Composed. "I'm fine," he answered, tilting his head toward Kal. Beautifully defined cheek bones, a strong jaw. Long lashes and luscious lips. He would never live it down if he screwed this up over a pretty face.
"You are," Kal said, meaning clear in the way his eyes dragged over Lex again.
"Have you considered subtlety?" Lex had once been accused of having a cuttingly sarcastic tongue, but Kal just grinned at his tone. "It's an art form and highly undervalued these days."
"Why, when I can get what I want my way?" Before Lex had a chance to even consider asking, not that he would have, Kal swept into his space to demonstrate. He pressed Lex up against the table, one hand on Lex's hip, the other cupping his head to guide him so they met in a perfect meshing of lips and tongue and breath.
When he was released, Lex was pleased and relieved to note that he wasn't the only one affected by the kiss. The flush on Kal's face was obvious. He licked his lips like he was just waiting for a chance to kiss Lex again. "It wouldn't take a genius to guess what you want," Lex muttered. He wiped his lips off on his sleeve.
Apparently, Kal was impervious to the insult implied in the gesture. "This will work well. Edge gets what he wants, you get what you want, and I..." A tight shimmy of his hips against Lex. "I get what I want."
"What if I don't want what you want?" Lex asked. He spared half a thought for any audience they might have, but his being queer wasn't new information and it wasn't anything Morgan could use against him. Still, getting involved at any level was stupid and Lex was not an idiot. "You're out of luck, anyway. I'm not a prize and I don't sleep with Morgan's minions."
Lex tried to push himself out of Kal's arms, an act he expected to be difficult given the strength of Kal's grabby hands, but the other man released him. The expression on Kal's face was a cross between annoyance and a pout. Petulant. "I'm not one of his goons."
Lex snorted. "No. You're a thug he managed to find during a bank robbery. Forgive me for failing to be impressed."
Kal's countenance grew irritated. "You can't tell me you're not attracted to me."
Despite being out of practice in such a situation, Lex thought he did a believable job of hiding his reaction. Other than the erection that wasn't going away any time soon. "I've survived this long by being smart about who I sleep with." A keystroke gave him his clock back on the projector screen. "Unless you're indestructible or invulnerable to the normal rigors of life, I'd suggest you take the same precautions."
He got three steps toward his little bank of supercomputers before he found his way blocked. "I've been selective, too," Kal reported. The hope on his face, the desire, was tempting. Lex was sure he could refuse any overt sexual advance, but this appeal was almost sweet. It called to him in a way that a blunt offer could never match.
"Bravo for you and your chastity club. It doesn't make a difference to me." He was such a liar. Which was good, since he was currently in the business of selling untruths. "I don't care about your looks and I'm not impressed with what you can do."
A more defined pout on his mouth and a crossing of his arms made Kal appear more an overgrown child than an adult. "You're one of his goons, too. What makes you any better?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all." Lex put his hands in his pockets and stepped back to put more distance between them. More distance between his hands and the body they were very interested in exploring; distance between his mouth and the pout it wanted to kiss away. "The difference being that I know I'm no better. I seek to improve my lot, whereas you were probably better off on your own."
Lex sat down under the pretense of work, pulling up a random file of code that he could alter without actually affecting his system. He told himself he wasn't disappointed when he felt the stir of air that followed Kal's departure, but there was something twisting inside of him that said differently.
* * *
The plan was simple enough that the goon squad could have pulled it off, if they were superhumanly fast and strong. Prior to the break-in, Lex located the disk and told Kal how to get to it. His part during the theft was simply to erase all evidence of their passing into and out of the building.
Easy enough, if the damn man would just listen. "I need the car," he argued, pulling his arm away.
Kal rolled his eyes. "I can get us there faster." Lex had the sudden, horrifying vision of being carried piggyback.
He shook his head to clear it. "That's... great, but I still need my car." Lex opened the door and slid into the driver's seat. "If we need a distraction, this is it."
"It's a pretty car, but it isn't going to stop people from noticing what we're doing."
"It will when it blows up." The reveal was unsubtle, but Lex quite enjoyed his companion’s slack-jawed look.
Kal looked at the car with new eyes. "You're blowing it up?"
Lex battled his grin and shrugged. "I have other cars." None quite so pretty. The sleek CLK430 wasn't a new car, but Lex had to give Lucas for credit for finding something flashy. Sexy. He wondered what car Lucas would have chosen if he'd known what its fate was meant to be.
"Can I drive?" Kal asked.
The question seemed pointless when he could just steal the keys from Lex. Or outrun the car himself, as he'd already pointed out. If his arrogance hadn't returned full force, Lex might have actually considered it. But after hours of coding, followed by hours of arguing about how Kal should enter the building without attracting attention, Lex had lost most of his goodwill.
He shut the door and settled himself comfortably against the leather. "You can run through fields and streams all you want, but I know the roads between here and Gotham."
Surprisingly, Kal handled this refusal with ease. "As you say. You're the brains." It was the first time he'd agreed with Lex all night. Kal hopped into the passenger seat with a slight pout, though that melted away once they were on the road.
They skirted Gotham City to reach the Wayne Technologies compound and then stopped well clear. Kal would have no trouble getting in and out quickly, though the plan called ofr him to wait on Lex. The impatient fool hopped out immediately, leaving an annoyed Lex to turn off the engine.
He was kissed before he'd had half a chance to react to the first touch. "Good luck."
Lex blinked, but he caught only a flash of a smile as his mouth was taken in another kiss. "What?"
"Good luck." Kal put a hand on Lex's shoulder and then sped away into the night, leaving Lex with an imprint of heat and a sense of his universe folding around itself as it attempted to allow space for Kal.
"Fuck," he muttered. Car off, hat on. Lex grabbed the satchel with his laptop and slid it over his head before feeling around behind his seat for the night-vision goggles.
The security room was located at the back of the main building. Lex found the place where Kal had already tore a gap in the fence and made his way toward the exterior door. There was only a single guard, position given away by the glowing tip of his cigarette. Lex snuck up on him in the dark and shot him with the tranquilizer gun.
This hadn't been in the plan, though Lex was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. His way, it would have taken several more minutes to him to get through the door that should have been locked but wasn't.
He used the tranq gun on the guard in the security room, then set up his laptop to hack the security codes. While that ran, he did a quick scan of the exterior cameras. They showed the compound at rest. The patrol guards walked around obliviously and the guards at the main desk were playing cards. Lex did a scan of the feed from the other labs before he found the dark figure of Kal in lab three. There was a blur as Kal broke open the glass case holding the disk.
Movement on another monitor caught Lex's attention and he frowned as a set of guards wandered down the hallway in Kal's direction. The randomized patrol generally had a pattern, one which Lex had discerned from watching hours of feed. This... was not quite in the plan.
They'd notice the scientist Kal had knocked unconscious and left on the floor, and then the guards would sound the alarm. "Get a move on," he muttered under his breath. They'd foregone any kind of communications systems at Lex's discretion. Given the man and company they were stealing from, there was no way they could have kept their transmissions under wrap for an extended period of time.
Lex started to turn toward the door; it would take him longer to get outside than Kal. At this rate, Lex's presence had been redundant and more dangerous to the success of the mission than letting Kal go alone.
The radio hissed and a low voice came over the air, "Intruder in Bio-Lab Three."
With a curse, Lex checked the names of the guards he'd knocked out, then pressed the button to talk. "We've got him on screen. Hendricks is on his way. All other units route to the Northern perimeter; we think there's an accomplice." He needed to keep them away from his position and out of his way as he effected his escape.
He watched to make sure they were obeying his orders. They'd be on the hole in the fence in minutes, which meant Lex needed to find another way out. And Kal...
Kal had left Lab Three with enough of a racket that the guards had attempted to follow him, but now he was in Bio-Lab Six. Lex had missed what actually happened, but Kal was collapsed next to a table.
There was a faint tickle of memory. Lab six was in use studying minerals. Rocks. Meteor rocks from Smallville. His day kept getting worse.
A burst of static and another message on the radio. "We have the intruder locked down in Lab Six. He seems to be sick." Kal rolled onto his side, exposing his face to the security cameras and his pain to Lex. The image was a little grainy, but the green of his skin couldn't be disguised, neither could the poor quality hide the way his veins stood out in greenish-black.
Lex forced himself to look away from the monitor and Kal's agony. "Fucking Smallville." Figured. Calling himself a fool, Lex pressed the button again. "Hendricks has the second, they're en route."
"Copy."
He checked on the other guards and made sure that they were where he'd sent them; they were, milling around the grounds around the fence. It looked like none had thought to go through the gap to see if there might be a car waiting nearby. Even salvageable plans had to have a backup.
Lex pulled out his cell phone and enacted his. It was far enough away that he barely felt a tremor from the explosion, but the guards would sit up and take notice. He zip-stripped Hendricks and Green, then set up the security computer to cease transmission and erase the last three hours of footage; this bit of work was the entire reason behind his presence.
Before leaving, Lex stopped in a hallway to stow his laptop and case in a vent. The cameras were stopped for the time being, his property should be safe until he could come back and retrieve it himself.
The jog from security to the labs took a couple of minutes and he slowed only when he was around the corner from number six. He took two seconds to get his breathing even, then put his hands up and walked around the corner.
The two guards with Kal looked his way, then smirked as he paused. Up close, Kal's skin was mottled, the green a more definite color. There were a few lines of red and a splash of dust on the floor around him. It took Lex a moment to realize that the new color came from Kal's crushed ring. As Lex watched, the explanation for that became clear as the asshole nearest Kal swung a foot against his ribs hard enough to roll him onto his back.
"Come on around, Hendricks," the closer guard ordered. Lex stumbled forward as if pushed. The move allowed him to bump into the guard and disarm him before he turned the weapon on the guards.
"Hendricks is napping on the job. Weapons down, hands up." Surprisingly, they obeyed immediately, without trickery. They were expecting backup, obviously, but they'd be disappointed.. "Move my partner here into the emergency shower."
A few seconds under the spray seemed to undo whatever effect the rocks had. Kal recovered almost immediately, though he was slow to get to his feet, hair and clothes dripping as the water ceased flowing. His expression was wondering, too soft for his earlier conceit. "You came for me."
Lex had to smile, "Of course." With practiced nonchalance, he drew his gun and aimed it at the guard, but a large hand covered the end of the barrel. "It's only tranquilizers."
The hand retreated, slowly, but not before green eyes had narrowed at the weapon as though to see through it. The guards were out in seconds and were just as quickly bound without Lex having to lift a hand.
"I take it Kal was in the ring... Clark." Clark's eyes flew to his, wide with surprise and not a little fear. "You know, last time we met, I didn't think we'd end up here."
"In Gotham?" Clark asked. "Wait, we've met before?"
"That can wait. The disk?" The man - teen, really. Sixteen, was it? - patted down his pockets before pulling the octagonal sliver of metal from his pocket. Lex plucked it from his fingers and pocketed it himself.
"Looks like you get your way," Lex murmured, wrapping an arm around Clark's shoulders. The boy tensed and stared at him. It took a moment for Lex to take note of the unintentional double entendre. He grinned. "Not quite like that. You can run us out of here. I don't have a car to drive anymore."
Looking only slightly less tense, Clark swept Lex into his arms. "You really blew it up?"
"While the guards are now going to be searching this area and by the fence, there's a lobby that is pretty much empty of personnel. We can go right out the front door, assuming you break the glass before you put me through it."
"I'll try to remember that."
Lex made an embarrassing noise as the earth moved around them, but they quickly left it behind. The ride was cold and bumpy, the wind dragging against his skin and his own clothes, Clark's arms squeezing tightly and holding him in place. Lex finally tucked his head down against Clark's chest in self-defense.
By the time they came to a standstill, Lex wanted it to stop immediately and yet never end. He was chilled from the wind and warm where his side pressed against Clark. And for some reason, despite them coming to a standstill, Lex was still being cradled against that broad chest. Lex pulled back, only to be mesmerized by Clark's face.
It was the same face Lex had ignored earlier, the same body Lex had looked over and tried to dismiss. That indefinable something was still changed, however. Kal was gone and the individual in his place was familiar.
Something in Lex twisted and he found himself biting back the snarky comment he wanted to make and saying softly instead, "You can put me down now."
Clark released him slowly, setting Lex's feet on the ground and then keeping his other arm about him as he straightened back up. Lex had to pull away and put space between them. Any attempt at smoothness was lost due to the condition of his clothes, one side of his shirt and pants wet and clinging.
His attention was diverted quickly by the realization that they were outside, but they weren't in any city. Corn rustled around them. "Welcome to Smallville."
"You... know this field?" Clark's voice was quiet in the relative silence of the night. No traffic noises here. No lights either, other than the crescent moon overhead.
"I know you're from Smallville and Smallville has corn. Come on. I need to call Morgan and you should probably get home. After you help me out of this field."
Clark looked around for a moment, then started to head off. After a moment he paused and Lex felt a hand on his elbow. "Is this okay?"
Lex had to smile at the shyness of the question. "You can touch me, Clark." He waited until they had found the edge of the field and a dark, country lane that ran beside it. Lex pulled his cell phone out and dialled Morgan's number.
"Alexander? Lex? Gotham is abuzz with activity. Tell me you're on your way here without a tail."
"We took a slight detour," Lex answered. He looked up and down the dark road. "Things went fine."
"You have the disk?" Surprise, with just a hint of relief.
Lex put a hand over his pocket, feeling the hard contours of the disk. "I do."
"Good. Keep it and send Kal back."
Keep it. Lex mouthed the words, so surprised was he by them. "What game is this, Morgan?"
There was a satisfied laugh from the other end of the line. "Not a game, Lex. I owed you, a debt that I have barely begun to repay. I hope you'll take this as a sign of how serious I am about that. Test the metal; I think you’ll like what you see."
Lex took out the octagon disk and looked at it in what little light there was. It wasn't sufficient, not even when he tried to use the light of his phone, but his instinct told him Edge was being honest. And that he was right. "I'm not comfortable with you meddling in my affairs."
"I caught wind of a rumor; I wasn't looking for it. And by our previous agreement, I'll stay out of it. I'll expect Kal in twenty minutes?"
Standing a few feet away, hands in his pockets and his shoulder hunched, Clark looked awkward and young. He looked his age. "That's going to be a problem."
"Don't tell me he got himself caught?" The irritation in Morgan's voice was nothing compared to what it would be in seconds. It was amusing that none of the blame seemed to touch Lex. Not yet.
Lex allowed himself a half-smile in anticipation. "In a way. He's not returning to Edge City."
There was an ominous pause. "I was trying to do you a favor. Don't double-cross me, Lex."
"I'm not. At least, that's not the intention. But Kal is in Smallville, he's from Smallville, and that makes him mine." The boy in question turned his head sharply. Lex couldn't read his expression clearly, but the shock was apparent. "You can have the disk back, if you want."
"No. I want my new strongman back. Is he staying by choice?"
Lex held the phone out. "Tell him you don't want to go back."
"Edge?" Clark asked, taking the cell. "Hi? Yes. No. I'm not." His voice went from hesitation and confusion to anger. "You can't. You have no right-"
"Enough of that," Lex snapped, taking the phone back. "You want to talk debts, Morgan, you still owe me. The disk is nothing. Let me have Kal."
"And you'll call it even?" The challenge in Morgan's voice was ugly, motivated by what he knew of Lex. The debt he owed was worth more than one random stranger, regardless of talent.
The power Morgan could offer him, the wealth... it was considerable. Lex's life with Lucas, his dwindling collection of cars - more wealth could be gained by exploiting Morgan's guilt. To give that over for a boy who was too young, too Smallville to ever give Lex the same sort of opportunities, was crazy.
"What can I say, Morgan? He's so pretty." He snapped the phone closed before Morgan could respond. Then he had to open it again to call Lucas, though a hand stopped him in the middle of dialing.
"He said he knew where I lived." The anger was still there, along with the fear. "If you give him the disk back, will he leave me alone?"
"Probably not. I already offered it and it didn't seem to go over well. Especially not when the disk is my early Christmas present." Lex tucked it back into his pocket and started dialling again.
The phone disappeared from his hand. "Who are you?"
Lex considered his answers. He wasn't normally a big believer in honesty, but it was too late - he was too tired - to come up with a lie. "Lex Luthor. If you recognize the name, that's because my father bought the plant years ago."
"You're the head of Luthorcorp?"
"I am, now, but that's a recent change. I've spent the last four years fighting to obtain my birthright. Dad died a little sooner than he'd anticipated and he didn't plan things very well."
"Why are you working for Edge at all? You must be rich." Suspicion and anger were not attractive qualities on Clark's face.
"You sound like a reporter, Clark. Let me give you the quick summary, so we can move on and I can find clothes that are more than half dry. My father was obsessed with this town and unfortunately, that obsession was the only thing that passed properly into my hands. I've been working very hard for the past two years to keep Smallville's secrets in Smallville.
"You're one of them. Which is why I'm going to work to protect you, and why Morgan isn't allowed to exploit you." He could feel Clark's gaze on him, knew the boy was listening, but there was no immediate response. Lex held his hand out. "My phone, please. I'd like to call for a ride."
"Uh, you don't need one. The farm's just down the road." The phone was pressed back into Lex's palm anyway, his fingers folded over the expensive bit of plastic. "You're not going to try to stop me from going home, right?"
Lex shook his head and started walking, figuring action suited the moment better than words. Clark's hand on his elbow turned and reoriented him, though Lex couldn't see the difference between one direction or the other. The fields obscured whatever holdout of civilization existed in the area.
He pressed in the sequence of numbers he wanted, vaguely grateful for the light-up keypad. Lucas answered after the first ring. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
The grumbling was familiar and Lex smiled slightly. "It's apparently time for good little boys to be getting up." He was conscious of Clark beside him, listening.
"Go to hell, Lex. Why are you calling me on this line?"
"The element of surprise. And I knew you'd answer. Has Craterus called to yell at me, yet?"
"Ah, damn it. It's too early for this, Alexander." Lucas yawned, long and loud, in demonstration. "No one else has been rude enough to call and ruin my beauty sleep."
Lex snorted. "You sleep fourteen hours a day without any change to your ugly mug. I was just calling to let you know that Pausanias is not happy and may be coming to visit."
There was a silence, followed by a hefty sigh. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Can we couch this in terms I'm likely to understand?"
"Your education is lacking, Lucas."
"Whatever. What is Edge doing now that's got you calling at dawn?"
"I think he's going to come to Smallville." Lex winced at the sound of something crashing in the background. "Please tell me you're not in my office."
Lucas coughed. "Believe whatever you need to, Lex. Why is the old bastard coming here?"
Lex let his fingers rest over the small metal shape in his pocket. "We're negotiating and I don't think he liked my terms. He's probably going to try to take what he wants."
There was a sudden cacophony as Lucas turned on the television and then quickly - but not quite quickly enough - turned the volume down. "Did you even finish whatever job he had for you?"
"The mission is complete." Despite the brief period of panic when he had seen Kal - Clark - down on the labs, everything had gone fairly well. "Both parts, incidentally."
"You don't sound satisfied."
"I'm not. Things are still a little fucked."
Lucas made a choking noise, a sound echoed by Clark's gasp. "Oh, fantastic. And vulgar."
"Just come pick me up. I'm in Smallville."
"If you're here, why aren't you here?"
"I'm walking my date to his door," Lex said dryly. He chuckled when Clark's steps faltered. "It's actually a short story, but I'm tired. Come get me and I'll explain on the drive home."
He got the address and directions from Clark, then disconnected and pocketed the phone once more. They turned up a drive and Lex took in his first look of the farmhouse, with its accompanying yard and barn.
"My dad should be up," Clark whispered. There was a light on in the back of the house and as if called by mention, a man opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. He froze at the sight of them.
"Clark? Martha, come quick!" Lex blanked on the blond man's name, though he knew he'd heard or read it before. Kents, obviously. Martha came at his call, the light glinting off her hair. She gasped when she saw Clark standing in the yard
Lex really hadn't signed on for this, but it felt pretty good knowing he'd had a hand in this reunion. He watched as the Kents enveloped Clark in welcoming hugs. "I'm so sorry," Clark said, big arms wrapped around his parents. "Everything I said-"
"It doesn't matter," Jonathon Kent - Lex recalled the name and refiled it in his mind - said roughly, pulling back but leaving a manly hand on Clark's shoulder. "As long as you're home."
It was Martha who noticed Lex standing at the edge of the pool of light the bulb over the porch threw out. She gripped her husband's hand and Clark's arm. "Who's your friend, Clark?"
Clark's expression was easy to see now, no longer obscured by darkness. The grin he gave Lex was open, friendly. It had the barest hint of Kal in it, probably a reflection of his comfort at being home. "This is Lex. He brought me home."
"Mr. and Mrs. Kent," Lex greeted them. He approached and extended his hand, not sure what to expect. Jonathon accepted and Lex returned his strong grip. "I hope my presence doesn't put you out. My ride is on the way."
"How did you get here?" Martha asked slowly, her questioning gaze turned on Clark.
"We ran," the boy answered, blushing slightly. The happy smile he gave Lex was tempered, softened, by his relief at being home. "He knows everything."
Lex shook his head. "Not everything, though a fair amount, certainly." Their friendly expressions had been replaced by sudden worry. He smiled ruefully. "Enough to be as dangerous as you're thinking, yes."
In an instant, Clark was at his side. "It's not a bad thing. He helped me." Lex really hoped this wasn't the prelude to telling them about their job with Edge. He didn't know the Kents, but he was willing to bet that their night's activities would not be reassuring. "I got into some trouble and he's helping me out of it."
Jonathon crossed his arms. "We've heard about some of what happened in Metropolis."
"That wasn't the worst of it," admitted Clark. He ducked his head and shifted, hand brushing Lex's arm. "There's a criminal named Morgan Edge. He knows what I can do and he wants me to work for him."
"Oh, Clark." From Martha, the words were a loving reprimand. "Come inside. We need to sit down and talk about this." Her gaze shifted to Lex. "Please join us for breakfast?"
Lex looked toward the road, but there was no sign of Lucas. There probably wouldn't be for a while longer. "I'll come in until Lucas arrives."
Her expression was surprised. "Lucas Dunleavy?" Her mouth opened in a gasp. "You're Lex Luthor."
If there'd been a storm cloud hovering over Jonathon to indicate his rising anger, it would have covered the sky at her pronouncement. "A Luthor?"
"The Luthor, last of my line," Lex corrected coldly, matching his ire with ice. There was the sound of tires on gravel and he knew by the purr of the engine that it was Lucas. Perfect timing, as Lex was starting to feel he'd outstayed his welcome. "And my ride is here. I'll leave you to your discussion."
Lucas left the engine running, but he opened the door and stepped out of the car. He grinned as Lex approached, though it flickered when Lex headed for the passenger side door. "You don't want to drive?"
A brush of air and Clark's words overlapped Lucas's. "Please don't leave."
There was no surprise on his brother's face, though Lex knew Clark must have used his speed. He turned to face the boy, noting that his parents were still standing near the porch, an arm around each other. "You should be more careful, Clark."
"Smallville's full of mutants, no one cares about one more," Clark retorted, though quietly. Lex knew well the truth of his words. "Please don't leave. You know so much about me and I have a ton of questions."
His imploring voice was attractive, though Lex rather wished it was something else Clark was asking for. He bit back a sigh and looked at Lucas. "Turn the car off."
"We're staying?" Lucas asked, before ducking in and complying. He tossed the keys to Lex as he straightened up and shut the door. "Do I get an explanation?"
"For now, you can get the same as everyone else," Lex promised. He turned to Clark and his hopeful countenance. "Keep your father from shooting me?"
The flash of a smile was worth it. "Of course. I'm kind of bullet-proof." No explanation on how he knew that, though Lex could probably track through Smallville's history to figure it out. "Thank you, Lex."
He darted back to his parents, leaving Lucas and Lex to approach the house together. "He's pretty," Lucas murmured, offhand.
Lex rolled his eyes. "He is. Pretty enough that I might be in the middle of a battle with Morgan."
"Ooh. Does the winner get to possess him?" Lucas's tone made the implication dirty. Lex was afraid his own thoughts had already gone there.
Clark held the door open for them and Martha was cordial as she welcomed them in and got them seated at the table.
"Should we start with introductions?" she said, struggling to overcome the tension radiating from her husband and son. Jonathon sat at the head of the table, with Martha to his right. Lex sat opposite Jonathon, Clark on one side and Lucas on the other.
"I think we know who everyone is," Lex said kindly. "I think an explanation would be in order, and while I can't speak for all of Clark's parts, I think I can offer the relevant details for now."
Briefly, leaving out Kal's flirtation and kisses, Lex recapped the past twelve hours. He finished by putting the disk on the table. "It's worthless to Morgan; he's already said as much. But Kal..." He looked at Clark, caught his gaze. "Kal can be useful to him."
Silence settled around the table. Not even Lucas spoke to offer up a joke, though a look at his face said he was tempted.
"Earlier, you said you were negotiating," Clark finally said.
Lex nodded. "Morgan killed our father seven years ago. It was... business and an accident. He and Morgan were friends and Morgan feels he owes me a debt." He looked at Lucas again, noting how his brother had closed up again, humor gone. "Because he got Dad killed, Luthorcorp was taken over and nearly lost to me completely.
"Morgan tried to help me as a teen, but I was rebellious to begin with and I didn't take very well to his lessons on becoming a criminal mastermind." It had taken another orphan to make Lex sit up and notice how he was aiding in the ruination of his own life. "Things have changed recently, but Morgan has had no part in it, so the debt remains."
Lex had ignored it until it had come to finding Lucas.
"You're going to use that debt to help Clark?" Martha asked.
"That's my intention." Lex looked at her and then Jonathon. "He has nothing I want and what he wants... it puts a lot more than just your family in danger."
Quiet descended again, broken only by a timer in the kitchen. Martha rose to make the coffee, Clark following a second later and speeding mugs of hot coffee before all their places. Martha came back with milk and the sugar pot.
When Clark resumed his seat, he was suddenly half a foot closer to Lex's end of the table. He prompted Lex again to get the conversation to continue. "We met before?"
"Yes. I'd be hurt you didn't recognize me, but that was the point of the disguise. A wig, glasses..." No recollection, from any of them. "Tina Greer?"
"Agent Martin?" Clark said slowly, the name drawn out as if he wasn't sure of the memory.
"It's not a role I can take on personally, not often, but between Lucas and I and our connections, we've managed to keep the mutants of Smallville a secret from the wider world. We protect them, help them."
"Which is why you're helping Clark?" Jonathon asked. The words came out strangely relieved, as if he'd been worried that Lex's interest in Clark was more personal.
Lex was tempted to go back and fill in the parts of the story he'd left out, but riling Jonathon was pointless, no matter how pleasurable. "Partly." Lex refused to elaborate. The sky outside was lightening as a new day began. "We should go. I need to meet with Morgan soon, so I can figure out what his plans are."
"I'll walk you out," Clark offered, rising as Lex and Lucas stood.
As they stepped out onto the porch, a car was driving up the lane. Lex heard it before he could see it clearly. "How convenient," he said as he recognized the dark vehicle. He gestured for Clark and Lucas to stay put as he jogged down the steps and met Morgan's car.
To his dismay and surprise, Morgan was not alone or empty-handed. Three goons fanned out from the car, circling Lex and cutting him off from the house. He shared a brief look with Lucas and watched as his brother pulled Clark back into the house.
"Lex. I'm not surprised to see you." Morgan's voice was amused. "Though I do want to know why you're so keen on getting in my way just now."
"I live to thwart you, Morgan. Haven't you figured that out?"
"Funny, Lex. Unfortunately, I'm lacking in good humor today." Morgan nodded to one of the guards.
Lex prepared himself to block a physical attack, but there was no dodging the gun aimed at his leg. He took the dart in the thigh. He swayed and would have been on the ground if strong arms hadn't caught him up. Clark cradled him close. "Sorry. I wasn't expecting him to shoot you."
"Me, neither," Lex answered. "Pull it out quickly. Don't try to be gentle." Clark complied, then tossed the dart away before Lex could a good look at it. Muscle relaxant, yes. Or a paralyzer that worked in stages. He wasn't losing consciousness, though.
"Now," Morgan said. Lex didn't have time to wonder about the directive before another goon emerged from the car with a good size chunk of green rock.
When Clark fell, Lex followed, surprised and unable to stand on his own.
Morgan looked smug, an expression Lex dearly wanted to wipe off his face. "What is the status of your plan now, Lex? Oh, I'm sorry, should I still be calling you Alexander? I don't think young Clark here minds if we drop the pretenses."
"You owe me, Morgan. Stop this, turn and leave, and we'll be even." The last words slurred alarmingly and Lex could feel the affects in his head now, his thoughts slowing.
"Oh, Lex, you've already made that offer. But as you pointed out years ago, you don't even consider there to be debt. I finally decided to take that to heart."
With a groan, Lex tried rolled up into a sitting position, but only ended up rolling onto Clark. It gave him a better view of Clark's smooth skin, the pained contortions of his face. Morgan had planned this well. He'd incapacitated Lex and drawn Clark out in one move.
Morgan squatted where he stood, putting them closer to eye level without putting himself at a disadvantage. "If you think I still need you to hack for me, you clearly underestimate what Clark here is capable of."
Lex wanted to protest or lash out, but he couldn't. His mind was turning over the situation, his head rising and falling with the movement of Clark's laboring chest. The reaction wasn't as severe this time, no prominent display of his veins, no green tint to his skin.
"I can. Imagine what the people of Smallville would think if the truth about Kal and his family were to get out." As if their neighbors weren't used to other meteor freaks? Clark was one of the few who hadn't gone completely mental as a side effect. Revealing the truth about Clark wouldn't hurt his family's standing in Smallville, which made Morgan's threat weak.
It was a waste of time as well, as Lucas was inside calling for reinforcements.
The old man smiled. "Now we load Clark into the car." He stood. "Where's your brother?"
The screen door slammed as Lucas stepped onto the porch. "I'm here. Just had to take care of a few things inside." Lucas's stride was all arrogance as he practically hopped down the steps and across the yard. "I expected you earlier. You've missed the most boring breakfast meeting ever."
Worry slithered through Lex, not just the vague concern of being shot, but real fear. It only intensified as Lucas leaned over him and took the keys for the Porsche from Lex's pocket. "Lucas."
"Sorry, Lex. You've been really nice these past few months, but it's been a real drag answering to you for everything." He straightened up and tossed the keys up to catch them with a jangle. "Thanks for making me your heir, Lex."
"Thanks for your help," Morgan said, offering his hand to Lucas. They shook on it and then Lucas turned away, putting his back to Lex. "You look shocked, Lex. You didn't suspect at all? You didn't think to yourself that it was too easy to track him down and bring him into the 'family'?"
Lucas turned back with a smirk, eyes flat. "You love your history so much, Lex. You must remember the relationship between Arrhidaeus and Alexander."
Half-brothers. Alexander had been exiled at one time, though his succession to the throne had never been blocked or threatened by Arrhidaeus. Lex attempted a sneer. What a time for the idiot to grow some culture.
His half-brother leaned over to give Lex's cheek a patronizing pat. "Take care."
"Well, I think that's my cue to leave as well," Morgan said. "I was thinking about leaving you alive, but it's never a good idea to leave an enemy at your back. The Kents I can handle; there's only so much a farmer can manage. But you've always been resourceful."
Lex rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Clark... who was watching him with bright eyes and no apparent pain. Two goons moved to heft Clark up, each one taking an arm and letting Clark's - weakened - body dangle between them. Lex was left to drop flat to the dirt, which limited his view of the yard and its happenings.
"I forgot something," Lucas announced, turning away from the car. He spun quickly and aimed his gun at Morgan. "Arrhidaeus never betrayed Alexander."
Because he hadn't been mentally fit enough to devise such a coup. In contrast, Lucas was intelligent and surprisingly brassy. There was a whirlwind of activity with Clark at the center. Lex curled defensively and closed his eyes until the noise stopped. He only opened them again when he was shifted.
Clark's concerned face peered down at him as the teen cradled Lex to his chest. "Are you okay?"
"He won't be able to answer for a while." Lucas's face joined Clark's in Lex's line of sight. "The darts pretty much limit communication to moaning and eye blinks." Lex blinked desperately, but Lucas only grinned. "And the latter only works if you know Morse code, which I don't."
He did, Lex knew he did, the liar. "Sorry about that," a third voice chimed, sounding unrepentant. Tina Greer came to stand over Lex's feet, brown hair pulled over one shoulder, goon-suit hanging off her body. "I did weaken the solution, though Edge was a bit impatient. Give it another twenty minutes and you should be able to flip us off."
To be contrary, and with the help of his personal mutation, Lex was able to twitch in ten minutes and sit up on his own in eighteen. By that time, Morgan's men had been trussed up and stuffed in the back of the sedan. Morgan, similarly tied, was sitting in the front seat of the Porsche.
Lex had been moved back inside and the Kents and team Luthor had arranged themselves in a semi-circle in the living room. Lex tried not to put too much stock in the fact that Clark was in the middle of Luthor territory, his arm still around Lex and offering unneeded support.
During his period of forced silence, Lex had managed to organize his thoughts to make the explanations short. Sparse. He started with the death of his father and the loss of Luthorcorp, briefly covered his first encounters with Bruce and his decision to stop wasting his time by wallowing when he could be acting for himself.
He skipped over his father's crazy obsession with aliens and the Traveller, as well as the spaceship currently housed in a secret room at the castle. "Smallville, like me, was changed. And I didn't realize it, didn't think about it, but I was connected to this town.
"I'd lost Luthorcorp. It was buried in legalese and red tape, and it was out of my reach. Between my inheritance from my mother and the collateral from the estates kept separate from the company, I started building Lexcorp." Bruce had helped, through the use of intermediaries. Lex knew it, but Bruce hadn't wanted him to know of the connection then, so Lex left it out now.
"And now we protect Smallville," Tina finished, sounding proud. It had been barely a year since Lex had met her. The early treatments had done nothing to curb her attitude or her obsession with Lana Lang. It hadn't been enough to try to save her, they'd had to recruit her and give her a new purpose and goal. She was the first of the meteor-protected he'd brought into the project, but not the last.
Not even the most powerful. He looked at the Kents then turned his attention to their son. "The Praesidium has only one purpose. To guard. Protect. Something we are not alone in attempting to do. We have various resources." He smiled at Tina, who morphed into his double and echoed the look back. "And we have allies."
"You want Clark to help?" Jonathon said, voice still gruff. Lex wondered if the man was always so sour, or if it were just the situation.
"Clark already helps." Lex looked at Tina, who took his silent hint. She was on her feet, wearing the appearance of Whitney Fordman. "Clark is often already in action before we know there's a problem. It's not a perfect system. But that is part of why I'm here. We heard Clark had-" he searched for an inoffensive way to phrase it and came up blank. "-turned into a bit of a jerk and taken off."
Lex went into the explanation of the phone call and email that had gotten him into this mess, without mentioning names. "I would have ignored Morgan, had Kal not gotten wrapped up on his ploys. Speaking of which." He rose and went to the window. Morgan was sitting moodily in the Porsche still, glare turned toward the house. "I should get him out of here."
He was joined by Clark and Lucas, the latter of which grinned and pulled the curtain aside to give Morgan a cheery wave. "What are you going to do?" Clark asked.
An hour before, Morgan had pretty much ruined all Lex's illusions in regards to him. He couldn't leave an enemy like that at his back. "Pausanias fled after killing Alexander's father. He tripped and was killed in the garden." Without a doubt, Tina would have had no problem hunting Morgan down and removing him completely, not just from Smallville, but the earth.
But they were better than that. Praesidium. They were guardians, not murderers. Lex smiled.
"Craterus." He turned. "All of Gotham is abuzz. Morgan didn't need me, not when he had Clark to steal the disk. It was just a way to drive a wedge between Bruce and I." He and Morgan had taken it for granted that they knew each other and their weaknesses. Lex wasn't going to make that mistake a second time.
"Just tell us the plan, Lex," Lucas said around a yawn. "I know you can survive for days without sleep, but-"
"You need your beauty rest, I remember," Lex interrupted. He fought his own yawn. It was Thursday, by last count, and he hadn't had any real sleep since Sunday night. "Tina's going to drive the goon squad back to Edge City. You follow to bring her home. I'm taking Morgan and the disk to Gotham." He'd figure out on the way how Morgan had even had an inkling of Clark's weakness to the meteor rocks.
Clark cleared his throat in an unsubtle and unneeded reminder of his presence. Lex looked at him, young and eager to help, still wearing Kal's dark clothes. "What can I do?" There was a bit of protest from the Kents, but Clark just looked more determined. "This is my problem, too," he reminded them. He turned his attention back to Lex. "I can help."
Lex let his eyes drag over the boy, down to the tips of black boots and then back up. Clark blushed, but held his gaze, even when Lex reached for his hand. A tug pulled the ring from his finger, setting empty of strange red rocks. "You can, but we don't need you for this."
* * *
The gates were open, the front light on, though the recessed doors still had many shadows. The Porsche's headlights flashed over a figure waiting on the step.
He stopped the car and shut it off. Someone else could see to it that it made it to the garage.
"Hey," Clark said, hands in his jean pockets. Lex couldn't say he'd ever thought plaid was attractive, but it suited Clark pretty well, showing off his build. "Lucas wasn't sure when you'd make it back."
"They're home?"
"Yeah. Well, he is. He said Tina had somewhere else to stay." He approached with cautious steps. "Thank you for helping me and my family." He ducked his head and looked at Lex through his lashes. "Actually, I guess I could thank you for saving the whole town."
"You've done the same, Clark." Lex pocketed the keys, a bit disappointed. He had hoped that a visit at this time of night might mean something more than gratitude. "And Morgan was my business, too."
"He wouldn't have been, if you hadn't been coming to rescue me from myself." He straightened up. "Which I do owe you another thank you for. And an apology. I was a jerk, I know, and I-"
"Don't," Lex ordered. He didn't want to hear Clark apologize for kissing him. At the time, Lex hadn't exactly been appreciative of being propositioned, but in the end, nothing had happened. Not enough.
The expression on Clark's face showed his internal conflict between irritation, self-disgust, and surprise. "Don't what? Apologize for attacking you?"
Lex shook his head. "You didn't, Clark. You kissed me. And they weren't bad kisses. So don't worry."
"I thought, maybe, that was why you didn't want my help." Confusion and a bit of a hangdog look. Clark had very expressive, beautiful eyes.
And Lex was sunk. "I didn't want to exploit you. I did say before, I try to be a better man."
"Oh."
Cue awkward pause, Lex thought. "Is that the only reason you're here?"
Clark blinked, his head coming up quickly, and too late, Lex realized that the teen had been checking him out. Not as brazenly as Kal, of course, but still with a hint of interest.
His answer to Lex's question was rushed. "I wanted to ask how things went. With Edge and Wayne and the disk."
"Things went well. Morgan's going to do time for the theft, since he had the disk and there's no actual evidence that he didn't do it. No alibi even. The car explosion was tricker to get out of, but I made sure that nothing identifiable would survive the blast." As he spoke, Lex slowly approached the teen. "Of course, that means that Bruce has the disk again, but he's promised that to me as a birthday present."
"That's nice," Clark said weakly, chest rising and falling in short, sharper breaths. He held his ground as Lex closed the distance between them, reducing it to a hand span, a finger's width, and then nothing.
Kal's kiss had burned through him, marking him in passion. There was a hint of that heat with Clark, but it lacked the inherent damage Kal had wrought. Kissing Clark was like setting everything to right, the way it should be in the universe. He didn't have to make room for Clark, because he was already there.
Lex drew back. "I wondered if the attraction was just a Kal thing. You have all the memories, but how much of him exists in you all the time?"
"A lot," Clark admitted, sounding scared by the prospect. "I've never-"
"I do remember," Lex reassured, smiling. "Is this why you came?"
"No." He didn't draw away, though. "No one knows, normally. You're the first person to ever really know about me, other than my parents. I was hoping..."
"That we'd be friends?" Lex asked. He unthreaded his hands from Clark's hair and stepped back. "Of course, Clark. Not at this time of night, though."
Clark gaped at him, then shook head. "Okay, maybe that's too subtle. I'm... attracted."
Lex tried to hide both his surprise and his smile. "To?"
"You," Clark whispered quietly, hopefully.
"How did you know I wouldn't turn you down again?" Lex asked, even as he pressed closer once again.
"In Edge City, you never said no. Just that you wouldn't."
Clark didn't have the confidence to be forceful, though Lex did appreciate him taking the initiative on the next kiss. Lex smiled against his mouth. "I don't care for goons."
"I'm not a goon. Just a farmer."
"No, you're not," Lex disagreed. "You're not just anything." He tugged Clark's mouth down before he could protest.
Category: fic
Rating: PG-13 (language)
Word Count: 10672
Spoilers: Up to and including Seasons 3, as well as various episodes of later seasons.
Warnings: AU. I've changed the timeline to suit myself. Lex never came to Smallville; some of the events of 'Exodus' have been pulled back to happen during October of 2002 (during 'Red'). Also incorporates a bit of DCU (Bruce/Batman, though I would say there are probably no real spoilers of the comics, movies, etc).
Notes: Lionel died when Lex was a teenager and as such, Lex is never exiled there.
Prompt: What you would like to receive in your present for a fic: mpreg, future fic, AU, ending with happy clex pairing, or any combo of these. (I'm sorry, requester, for not fitting in more than 'AU'.)
Summary: Even an alternate universe can't keep Lex Luthor out of Smallville. His destiny will lead him to the mutant Kal. Playing brain to Kal's brawn is just the beginning, as Morgan Edge's machinations bring them together... and then attempt to tear them apart.
The voice on the phone was harried, rough with emotion. "We have a problem back home that needs your personal attention."
It wasn't marked on his calendar, though Lex Luthor was pretty sure that he'd scheduled this particular Monday as problem-free. "I suppose I'm expected to drop everything and fly out to the wilds of Kansas?"
"Please. Metropolis, tomorrow morning. Check your email." The line went dead without any further instructions. Lex snapped the phone shut and pocketed it. It wouldn't ring again, unless things went critical.
The few seconds of conversation had cost him. The liquid in the beaker had boiled too long, ruining any progress he might have made. Lex turned the burner off and left the equipment to cool. His computer was set up on the other side of the room. He pulled up his email and looked at the two messages in his inbox. The name of the second sender earned a sigh as he dug his phone back out.
Lucas picked up on the second ring. "What now?"
"I'm going to need a ride while I'm in town. You get to pick, just make it showy." Lex scanned the details of the first message, deleted it and then purged any record of it from his computer. "Not the Porsche, though. I want you to take that to Smallville."
The silence on the line could have been anything from confusion to Lucas silently grumbling about the town they both disliked. Lex was coming to know him too well, though.
"You wrecked it already?" he asked. Silence still, this time a little heavier. Lex sighed. "I don't care. You owe me a car. Leave one for me at the airport, take another to Smallville."
"You said your cars were my cars," Lucas teased, though the joke fell a little flat given the underlying tension in his voice.
His years of being alone and fighting for every scrap he got still showed through at times. Lex knew how strange their relationship felt to Lucas, having suffered the same doubts and concerns. He lightened his tone to respond. "That was before you decided to take up street racing with my favorite Ferrari. I think you would have already told me if you or anyone else was hurt?"
A snort. "Yes, Lex. Do you have a color preference?"
Lex considered his collection, acquired over the past few years. "Not red. Purple. Regal. I trust you to make me look like neither a pimp nor a queen."
"No promises." The absence of laughter in his voice gave away the fact that Lucas probably was laughing. "Anything I should be doing while I'm in Smallville?"
"Keep an eye on things," Lex answered after a moment of consideration. "The trouble's actually in Metropolis, though it looks to be moving to Edge City. I should have it taken care of on my end. Order in some food, keep your head down. Don't terrorize the locals."
He could practically hear his half-brother sitting up, paying attention. "Terrorize? Never, Lex. Will you be meeting me there?"
"Possibly. Probably." The second email received the same treatment as the first. "I expect the pool table to be in one piece when I arrive."
"No promises. Take care, Lex." Lucas hung up before Lex could echo the sentiment and Lex muttered under his breath about phone etiquette.
Three hours to get to the airport, which left him ninety minutes to clean up his work and put his toys away. He'd have the short flight and the drive from Metropolis to Edge City to come up with a plan. Something more workable than blindly handing his life back into Morgan Edge's hands.
Lex hated Kansas.
* * *
The sub-rate projector couldn't connect to his laptop, so Lex spent a good fifteen minutes stripping wires from other equipment and setting things up to his liking. His 'workable' plan did not include workable equipment, unfortunately.
He glanced up briefly as voices intruded on the warehouse's relative silence. After he'd given Morgan's goons a low-volumed lecture on the importance of quiet while he worked, there'd been little more from a peep from their corner. They were still sitting with their mouths shut over their card game, though a glance confirmed that they'd also noticed the new arrivals.
A catwalk ran around the entire perimeter of the building, one and a half stories above the space Lex had claimed as his own. Lex couldn't hear the words, but Morgan's tone seemed pleased. Lex got a brief impression of darkness from the new guy before he returned to his work. Dark hair, dark clothes, facial features shadowed by the poor lighting of the upper level. With half his attention, Lex followed their progress to the stairs and then down. The words became clearer; Lex nearly snorted as Morgan finished up the grand tour with a wave at the goon squad and then Lex.
"And this is-"
"Alexander," Lex said, overriding Morgan with a pointed look. He held up a hand to keep both men out of his workspace. He hadn't had time to get the cords out of the way or covered and the last thing he wanted was one of them pulling the entire setup down with a misplaced foot.
The old man smirked. "My tech specialist, Alexander. Alex, this is Kal." The name was new, but Lex had already seen the details in writing. There was also the embellishment that a few of the goons had proffered at his request, before he'd exiled them across the building. Lex knew about the money, the strength, the speed.
The ring Kal wore on his right hand.
He hadn't known about the attraction to men. Lex looked into his hooded green eyes, or attempted to, but the other man was too busy giving Lex an obscenely slow once-over. It would have been a waste of breath to ask if Kal was enjoying the view, as the answer was written rather plainly in his expression. Lex looked back at Morgan and made a show of being unimpressed. "Where'd you find this one again?"
"Your old hunting grounds. He interfered with a bit of business." By Morgan's diffident tone, he was expecting the gain from his new enterprise to greatly exceed the pay out of the bank robbery Kal had thwarted. "Kal, I trust you'll find Alexander to be professional and reliable."
"I'm sure." His voice was deep. His eyes held appreciation. When he realized he had Lex's attention, he turned his eyes down toward Lex's mouth and leered. "I'm looking forward to working with him."
Morgan looked surprised by that and his gaze swung to Lex to gauge his reaction. Lex let boredom suffuse his expression and demeanor. "Morgan, it's not that I'm immune to your boy's charms, but you're distracting me from my work. If you want me to be ready to hack that system tonight, I need you to take tall, dark, and hot-to-trot for a walk."
"Hey," Kal started to protest. He stopped speaking when Morgan put a hand on his arm.
Morgan gave Kal a commiserating look and a shrug, as if to say that's just how Lex was. "Let's go, Kal. I have a few more things to go over with you anyway."
Lex turned his back on both men and resumed working. The projector was finally hooked up to his workaround: three ancient hard drives hooked, wired, and soldered together to create a supercomputer that still couldn't beat his laptop for speed or space. Lex put a counter up on the screen so that it took up all the space and then smiled at the completion of that particular task. Superfluous and a tad theatrical, yes, but there was something very satisfying about watching the numbers count down.
He bent to the next item on his list, pleased by the return of silence. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. Lex was aware of Morgan and Kal returning to the catwalk and then separating, Morgan toward his office. The question of Kal's destination was answered when he appeared in Lex's space.
The choices for dealing with this man were limited, given what Lex was hoping to accomplish. Flirtation really should have been the last option, but he found humor seeping into his voice as he asked, "You're to be the brawn to my brains?"
"Apparently," Kal answered, cocksure. He flexed his arm as if in illustration. The coat did well to accentuate the breadth of his shoulders, but it didn't showcase the strength to be found in his arms.
He needed a diversion, for himself as well as Kal. "Fast, strong. Arrogant enough to get yourself caught on tape." Lex waved a hand at his laptop, then brought up the footage from the bank. "One of the benefits of working with me is that I have a habit of... erasing a person's tracks."
The look Kal turned on him was considering. "Erasing?"
Lex made a show of deleting the video files and then emptying the bin. "Erasing. No more copies, anywhere." Except on the drive where Lex had already backed up all his work. Just in case. "Morgan's always been a believer in monopolies. He feels he has some control over you if he's the sole keeper of your secrets. In your case, evidence of what you can do. All other copies have been wiped out of existence. If you can be blackmailed, he'll make sure he's the only one with material enough to do it."
"There's no other copies out there?" He sounded skeptical, but Lex refused to take offense. Kal didn't know Lex or what he could do.
"None. I pulled them and left no trace the information had ever been there. Someone who is sufficiently clever might wonder why the same crowd of people was there on the same day three months apart, but it's unlikely anyone will look that closely." Lex had done enough editing that even that was unlikely, but saying so would just be bragging. He'd been lucky that early spring wear was similar to early fall fashion. "He did say he had only the one job for you. No reason to keep what won't be used."
"You might be useful after all," Kal said, smiling as if it were a compliment.
"Maybe," Lex answered tightly. "More useful than the goon squad, at any rate." Speaking of which, the goons seemed to have dispersed, leaving only one on the floor. It made Lex a little nervous to think that he'd missed their call to arms. If Morgan was getting subtle, situation was that much more dangerous. Lex counted on being kept in the loop.
"Are you okay?" Kal asked, putting one hot, heavy hand on Lex's shoulder. He didn't actually manage to sound concerned and it was pretty obvious that the question was just an excuse to touch him. Even through Lex's shirt, his heat was searing.
Shrug him off, Lex mentally ordered himself to keep strong and aloof. Cool. Composed. "I'm fine," he answered, tilting his head toward Kal. Beautifully defined cheek bones, a strong jaw. Long lashes and luscious lips. He would never live it down if he screwed this up over a pretty face.
"You are," Kal said, meaning clear in the way his eyes dragged over Lex again.
"Have you considered subtlety?" Lex had once been accused of having a cuttingly sarcastic tongue, but Kal just grinned at his tone. "It's an art form and highly undervalued these days."
"Why, when I can get what I want my way?" Before Lex had a chance to even consider asking, not that he would have, Kal swept into his space to demonstrate. He pressed Lex up against the table, one hand on Lex's hip, the other cupping his head to guide him so they met in a perfect meshing of lips and tongue and breath.
When he was released, Lex was pleased and relieved to note that he wasn't the only one affected by the kiss. The flush on Kal's face was obvious. He licked his lips like he was just waiting for a chance to kiss Lex again. "It wouldn't take a genius to guess what you want," Lex muttered. He wiped his lips off on his sleeve.
Apparently, Kal was impervious to the insult implied in the gesture. "This will work well. Edge gets what he wants, you get what you want, and I..." A tight shimmy of his hips against Lex. "I get what I want."
"What if I don't want what you want?" Lex asked. He spared half a thought for any audience they might have, but his being queer wasn't new information and it wasn't anything Morgan could use against him. Still, getting involved at any level was stupid and Lex was not an idiot. "You're out of luck, anyway. I'm not a prize and I don't sleep with Morgan's minions."
Lex tried to push himself out of Kal's arms, an act he expected to be difficult given the strength of Kal's grabby hands, but the other man released him. The expression on Kal's face was a cross between annoyance and a pout. Petulant. "I'm not one of his goons."
Lex snorted. "No. You're a thug he managed to find during a bank robbery. Forgive me for failing to be impressed."
Kal's countenance grew irritated. "You can't tell me you're not attracted to me."
Despite being out of practice in such a situation, Lex thought he did a believable job of hiding his reaction. Other than the erection that wasn't going away any time soon. "I've survived this long by being smart about who I sleep with." A keystroke gave him his clock back on the projector screen. "Unless you're indestructible or invulnerable to the normal rigors of life, I'd suggest you take the same precautions."
He got three steps toward his little bank of supercomputers before he found his way blocked. "I've been selective, too," Kal reported. The hope on his face, the desire, was tempting. Lex was sure he could refuse any overt sexual advance, but this appeal was almost sweet. It called to him in a way that a blunt offer could never match.
"Bravo for you and your chastity club. It doesn't make a difference to me." He was such a liar. Which was good, since he was currently in the business of selling untruths. "I don't care about your looks and I'm not impressed with what you can do."
A more defined pout on his mouth and a crossing of his arms made Kal appear more an overgrown child than an adult. "You're one of his goons, too. What makes you any better?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all." Lex put his hands in his pockets and stepped back to put more distance between them. More distance between his hands and the body they were very interested in exploring; distance between his mouth and the pout it wanted to kiss away. "The difference being that I know I'm no better. I seek to improve my lot, whereas you were probably better off on your own."
Lex sat down under the pretense of work, pulling up a random file of code that he could alter without actually affecting his system. He told himself he wasn't disappointed when he felt the stir of air that followed Kal's departure, but there was something twisting inside of him that said differently.
* * *
The plan was simple enough that the goon squad could have pulled it off, if they were superhumanly fast and strong. Prior to the break-in, Lex located the disk and told Kal how to get to it. His part during the theft was simply to erase all evidence of their passing into and out of the building.
Easy enough, if the damn man would just listen. "I need the car," he argued, pulling his arm away.
Kal rolled his eyes. "I can get us there faster." Lex had the sudden, horrifying vision of being carried piggyback.
He shook his head to clear it. "That's... great, but I still need my car." Lex opened the door and slid into the driver's seat. "If we need a distraction, this is it."
"It's a pretty car, but it isn't going to stop people from noticing what we're doing."
"It will when it blows up." The reveal was unsubtle, but Lex quite enjoyed his companion’s slack-jawed look.
Kal looked at the car with new eyes. "You're blowing it up?"
Lex battled his grin and shrugged. "I have other cars." None quite so pretty. The sleek CLK430 wasn't a new car, but Lex had to give Lucas for credit for finding something flashy. Sexy. He wondered what car Lucas would have chosen if he'd known what its fate was meant to be.
"Can I drive?" Kal asked.
The question seemed pointless when he could just steal the keys from Lex. Or outrun the car himself, as he'd already pointed out. If his arrogance hadn't returned full force, Lex might have actually considered it. But after hours of coding, followed by hours of arguing about how Kal should enter the building without attracting attention, Lex had lost most of his goodwill.
He shut the door and settled himself comfortably against the leather. "You can run through fields and streams all you want, but I know the roads between here and Gotham."
Surprisingly, Kal handled this refusal with ease. "As you say. You're the brains." It was the first time he'd agreed with Lex all night. Kal hopped into the passenger seat with a slight pout, though that melted away once they were on the road.
They skirted Gotham City to reach the Wayne Technologies compound and then stopped well clear. Kal would have no trouble getting in and out quickly, though the plan called ofr him to wait on Lex. The impatient fool hopped out immediately, leaving an annoyed Lex to turn off the engine.
He was kissed before he'd had half a chance to react to the first touch. "Good luck."
Lex blinked, but he caught only a flash of a smile as his mouth was taken in another kiss. "What?"
"Good luck." Kal put a hand on Lex's shoulder and then sped away into the night, leaving Lex with an imprint of heat and a sense of his universe folding around itself as it attempted to allow space for Kal.
"Fuck," he muttered. Car off, hat on. Lex grabbed the satchel with his laptop and slid it over his head before feeling around behind his seat for the night-vision goggles.
The security room was located at the back of the main building. Lex found the place where Kal had already tore a gap in the fence and made his way toward the exterior door. There was only a single guard, position given away by the glowing tip of his cigarette. Lex snuck up on him in the dark and shot him with the tranquilizer gun.
This hadn't been in the plan, though Lex was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. His way, it would have taken several more minutes to him to get through the door that should have been locked but wasn't.
He used the tranq gun on the guard in the security room, then set up his laptop to hack the security codes. While that ran, he did a quick scan of the exterior cameras. They showed the compound at rest. The patrol guards walked around obliviously and the guards at the main desk were playing cards. Lex did a scan of the feed from the other labs before he found the dark figure of Kal in lab three. There was a blur as Kal broke open the glass case holding the disk.
Movement on another monitor caught Lex's attention and he frowned as a set of guards wandered down the hallway in Kal's direction. The randomized patrol generally had a pattern, one which Lex had discerned from watching hours of feed. This... was not quite in the plan.
They'd notice the scientist Kal had knocked unconscious and left on the floor, and then the guards would sound the alarm. "Get a move on," he muttered under his breath. They'd foregone any kind of communications systems at Lex's discretion. Given the man and company they were stealing from, there was no way they could have kept their transmissions under wrap for an extended period of time.
Lex started to turn toward the door; it would take him longer to get outside than Kal. At this rate, Lex's presence had been redundant and more dangerous to the success of the mission than letting Kal go alone.
The radio hissed and a low voice came over the air, "Intruder in Bio-Lab Three."
With a curse, Lex checked the names of the guards he'd knocked out, then pressed the button to talk. "We've got him on screen. Hendricks is on his way. All other units route to the Northern perimeter; we think there's an accomplice." He needed to keep them away from his position and out of his way as he effected his escape.
He watched to make sure they were obeying his orders. They'd be on the hole in the fence in minutes, which meant Lex needed to find another way out. And Kal...
Kal had left Lab Three with enough of a racket that the guards had attempted to follow him, but now he was in Bio-Lab Six. Lex had missed what actually happened, but Kal was collapsed next to a table.
There was a faint tickle of memory. Lab six was in use studying minerals. Rocks. Meteor rocks from Smallville. His day kept getting worse.
A burst of static and another message on the radio. "We have the intruder locked down in Lab Six. He seems to be sick." Kal rolled onto his side, exposing his face to the security cameras and his pain to Lex. The image was a little grainy, but the green of his skin couldn't be disguised, neither could the poor quality hide the way his veins stood out in greenish-black.
Lex forced himself to look away from the monitor and Kal's agony. "Fucking Smallville." Figured. Calling himself a fool, Lex pressed the button again. "Hendricks has the second, they're en route."
"Copy."
He checked on the other guards and made sure that they were where he'd sent them; they were, milling around the grounds around the fence. It looked like none had thought to go through the gap to see if there might be a car waiting nearby. Even salvageable plans had to have a backup.
Lex pulled out his cell phone and enacted his. It was far enough away that he barely felt a tremor from the explosion, but the guards would sit up and take notice. He zip-stripped Hendricks and Green, then set up the security computer to cease transmission and erase the last three hours of footage; this bit of work was the entire reason behind his presence.
Before leaving, Lex stopped in a hallway to stow his laptop and case in a vent. The cameras were stopped for the time being, his property should be safe until he could come back and retrieve it himself.
The jog from security to the labs took a couple of minutes and he slowed only when he was around the corner from number six. He took two seconds to get his breathing even, then put his hands up and walked around the corner.
The two guards with Kal looked his way, then smirked as he paused. Up close, Kal's skin was mottled, the green a more definite color. There were a few lines of red and a splash of dust on the floor around him. It took Lex a moment to realize that the new color came from Kal's crushed ring. As Lex watched, the explanation for that became clear as the asshole nearest Kal swung a foot against his ribs hard enough to roll him onto his back.
"Come on around, Hendricks," the closer guard ordered. Lex stumbled forward as if pushed. The move allowed him to bump into the guard and disarm him before he turned the weapon on the guards.
"Hendricks is napping on the job. Weapons down, hands up." Surprisingly, they obeyed immediately, without trickery. They were expecting backup, obviously, but they'd be disappointed.. "Move my partner here into the emergency shower."
A few seconds under the spray seemed to undo whatever effect the rocks had. Kal recovered almost immediately, though he was slow to get to his feet, hair and clothes dripping as the water ceased flowing. His expression was wondering, too soft for his earlier conceit. "You came for me."
Lex had to smile, "Of course." With practiced nonchalance, he drew his gun and aimed it at the guard, but a large hand covered the end of the barrel. "It's only tranquilizers."
The hand retreated, slowly, but not before green eyes had narrowed at the weapon as though to see through it. The guards were out in seconds and were just as quickly bound without Lex having to lift a hand.
"I take it Kal was in the ring... Clark." Clark's eyes flew to his, wide with surprise and not a little fear. "You know, last time we met, I didn't think we'd end up here."
"In Gotham?" Clark asked. "Wait, we've met before?"
"That can wait. The disk?" The man - teen, really. Sixteen, was it? - patted down his pockets before pulling the octagonal sliver of metal from his pocket. Lex plucked it from his fingers and pocketed it himself.
"Looks like you get your way," Lex murmured, wrapping an arm around Clark's shoulders. The boy tensed and stared at him. It took a moment for Lex to take note of the unintentional double entendre. He grinned. "Not quite like that. You can run us out of here. I don't have a car to drive anymore."
Looking only slightly less tense, Clark swept Lex into his arms. "You really blew it up?"
"While the guards are now going to be searching this area and by the fence, there's a lobby that is pretty much empty of personnel. We can go right out the front door, assuming you break the glass before you put me through it."
"I'll try to remember that."
Lex made an embarrassing noise as the earth moved around them, but they quickly left it behind. The ride was cold and bumpy, the wind dragging against his skin and his own clothes, Clark's arms squeezing tightly and holding him in place. Lex finally tucked his head down against Clark's chest in self-defense.
By the time they came to a standstill, Lex wanted it to stop immediately and yet never end. He was chilled from the wind and warm where his side pressed against Clark. And for some reason, despite them coming to a standstill, Lex was still being cradled against that broad chest. Lex pulled back, only to be mesmerized by Clark's face.
It was the same face Lex had ignored earlier, the same body Lex had looked over and tried to dismiss. That indefinable something was still changed, however. Kal was gone and the individual in his place was familiar.
Something in Lex twisted and he found himself biting back the snarky comment he wanted to make and saying softly instead, "You can put me down now."
Clark released him slowly, setting Lex's feet on the ground and then keeping his other arm about him as he straightened back up. Lex had to pull away and put space between them. Any attempt at smoothness was lost due to the condition of his clothes, one side of his shirt and pants wet and clinging.
His attention was diverted quickly by the realization that they were outside, but they weren't in any city. Corn rustled around them. "Welcome to Smallville."
"You... know this field?" Clark's voice was quiet in the relative silence of the night. No traffic noises here. No lights either, other than the crescent moon overhead.
"I know you're from Smallville and Smallville has corn. Come on. I need to call Morgan and you should probably get home. After you help me out of this field."
Clark looked around for a moment, then started to head off. After a moment he paused and Lex felt a hand on his elbow. "Is this okay?"
Lex had to smile at the shyness of the question. "You can touch me, Clark." He waited until they had found the edge of the field and a dark, country lane that ran beside it. Lex pulled his cell phone out and dialled Morgan's number.
"Alexander? Lex? Gotham is abuzz with activity. Tell me you're on your way here without a tail."
"We took a slight detour," Lex answered. He looked up and down the dark road. "Things went fine."
"You have the disk?" Surprise, with just a hint of relief.
Lex put a hand over his pocket, feeling the hard contours of the disk. "I do."
"Good. Keep it and send Kal back."
Keep it. Lex mouthed the words, so surprised was he by them. "What game is this, Morgan?"
There was a satisfied laugh from the other end of the line. "Not a game, Lex. I owed you, a debt that I have barely begun to repay. I hope you'll take this as a sign of how serious I am about that. Test the metal; I think you’ll like what you see."
Lex took out the octagon disk and looked at it in what little light there was. It wasn't sufficient, not even when he tried to use the light of his phone, but his instinct told him Edge was being honest. And that he was right. "I'm not comfortable with you meddling in my affairs."
"I caught wind of a rumor; I wasn't looking for it. And by our previous agreement, I'll stay out of it. I'll expect Kal in twenty minutes?"
Standing a few feet away, hands in his pockets and his shoulder hunched, Clark looked awkward and young. He looked his age. "That's going to be a problem."
"Don't tell me he got himself caught?" The irritation in Morgan's voice was nothing compared to what it would be in seconds. It was amusing that none of the blame seemed to touch Lex. Not yet.
Lex allowed himself a half-smile in anticipation. "In a way. He's not returning to Edge City."
There was an ominous pause. "I was trying to do you a favor. Don't double-cross me, Lex."
"I'm not. At least, that's not the intention. But Kal is in Smallville, he's from Smallville, and that makes him mine." The boy in question turned his head sharply. Lex couldn't read his expression clearly, but the shock was apparent. "You can have the disk back, if you want."
"No. I want my new strongman back. Is he staying by choice?"
Lex held the phone out. "Tell him you don't want to go back."
"Edge?" Clark asked, taking the cell. "Hi? Yes. No. I'm not." His voice went from hesitation and confusion to anger. "You can't. You have no right-"
"Enough of that," Lex snapped, taking the phone back. "You want to talk debts, Morgan, you still owe me. The disk is nothing. Let me have Kal."
"And you'll call it even?" The challenge in Morgan's voice was ugly, motivated by what he knew of Lex. The debt he owed was worth more than one random stranger, regardless of talent.
The power Morgan could offer him, the wealth... it was considerable. Lex's life with Lucas, his dwindling collection of cars - more wealth could be gained by exploiting Morgan's guilt. To give that over for a boy who was too young, too Smallville to ever give Lex the same sort of opportunities, was crazy.
"What can I say, Morgan? He's so pretty." He snapped the phone closed before Morgan could respond. Then he had to open it again to call Lucas, though a hand stopped him in the middle of dialing.
"He said he knew where I lived." The anger was still there, along with the fear. "If you give him the disk back, will he leave me alone?"
"Probably not. I already offered it and it didn't seem to go over well. Especially not when the disk is my early Christmas present." Lex tucked it back into his pocket and started dialling again.
The phone disappeared from his hand. "Who are you?"
Lex considered his answers. He wasn't normally a big believer in honesty, but it was too late - he was too tired - to come up with a lie. "Lex Luthor. If you recognize the name, that's because my father bought the plant years ago."
"You're the head of Luthorcorp?"
"I am, now, but that's a recent change. I've spent the last four years fighting to obtain my birthright. Dad died a little sooner than he'd anticipated and he didn't plan things very well."
"Why are you working for Edge at all? You must be rich." Suspicion and anger were not attractive qualities on Clark's face.
"You sound like a reporter, Clark. Let me give you the quick summary, so we can move on and I can find clothes that are more than half dry. My father was obsessed with this town and unfortunately, that obsession was the only thing that passed properly into my hands. I've been working very hard for the past two years to keep Smallville's secrets in Smallville.
"You're one of them. Which is why I'm going to work to protect you, and why Morgan isn't allowed to exploit you." He could feel Clark's gaze on him, knew the boy was listening, but there was no immediate response. Lex held his hand out. "My phone, please. I'd like to call for a ride."
"Uh, you don't need one. The farm's just down the road." The phone was pressed back into Lex's palm anyway, his fingers folded over the expensive bit of plastic. "You're not going to try to stop me from going home, right?"
Lex shook his head and started walking, figuring action suited the moment better than words. Clark's hand on his elbow turned and reoriented him, though Lex couldn't see the difference between one direction or the other. The fields obscured whatever holdout of civilization existed in the area.
He pressed in the sequence of numbers he wanted, vaguely grateful for the light-up keypad. Lucas answered after the first ring. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
The grumbling was familiar and Lex smiled slightly. "It's apparently time for good little boys to be getting up." He was conscious of Clark beside him, listening.
"Go to hell, Lex. Why are you calling me on this line?"
"The element of surprise. And I knew you'd answer. Has Craterus called to yell at me, yet?"
"Ah, damn it. It's too early for this, Alexander." Lucas yawned, long and loud, in demonstration. "No one else has been rude enough to call and ruin my beauty sleep."
Lex snorted. "You sleep fourteen hours a day without any change to your ugly mug. I was just calling to let you know that Pausanias is not happy and may be coming to visit."
There was a silence, followed by a hefty sigh. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Can we couch this in terms I'm likely to understand?"
"Your education is lacking, Lucas."
"Whatever. What is Edge doing now that's got you calling at dawn?"
"I think he's going to come to Smallville." Lex winced at the sound of something crashing in the background. "Please tell me you're not in my office."
Lucas coughed. "Believe whatever you need to, Lex. Why is the old bastard coming here?"
Lex let his fingers rest over the small metal shape in his pocket. "We're negotiating and I don't think he liked my terms. He's probably going to try to take what he wants."
There was a sudden cacophony as Lucas turned on the television and then quickly - but not quite quickly enough - turned the volume down. "Did you even finish whatever job he had for you?"
"The mission is complete." Despite the brief period of panic when he had seen Kal - Clark - down on the labs, everything had gone fairly well. "Both parts, incidentally."
"You don't sound satisfied."
"I'm not. Things are still a little fucked."
Lucas made a choking noise, a sound echoed by Clark's gasp. "Oh, fantastic. And vulgar."
"Just come pick me up. I'm in Smallville."
"If you're here, why aren't you here?"
"I'm walking my date to his door," Lex said dryly. He chuckled when Clark's steps faltered. "It's actually a short story, but I'm tired. Come get me and I'll explain on the drive home."
He got the address and directions from Clark, then disconnected and pocketed the phone once more. They turned up a drive and Lex took in his first look of the farmhouse, with its accompanying yard and barn.
"My dad should be up," Clark whispered. There was a light on in the back of the house and as if called by mention, a man opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. He froze at the sight of them.
"Clark? Martha, come quick!" Lex blanked on the blond man's name, though he knew he'd heard or read it before. Kents, obviously. Martha came at his call, the light glinting off her hair. She gasped when she saw Clark standing in the yard
Lex really hadn't signed on for this, but it felt pretty good knowing he'd had a hand in this reunion. He watched as the Kents enveloped Clark in welcoming hugs. "I'm so sorry," Clark said, big arms wrapped around his parents. "Everything I said-"
"It doesn't matter," Jonathon Kent - Lex recalled the name and refiled it in his mind - said roughly, pulling back but leaving a manly hand on Clark's shoulder. "As long as you're home."
It was Martha who noticed Lex standing at the edge of the pool of light the bulb over the porch threw out. She gripped her husband's hand and Clark's arm. "Who's your friend, Clark?"
Clark's expression was easy to see now, no longer obscured by darkness. The grin he gave Lex was open, friendly. It had the barest hint of Kal in it, probably a reflection of his comfort at being home. "This is Lex. He brought me home."
"Mr. and Mrs. Kent," Lex greeted them. He approached and extended his hand, not sure what to expect. Jonathon accepted and Lex returned his strong grip. "I hope my presence doesn't put you out. My ride is on the way."
"How did you get here?" Martha asked slowly, her questioning gaze turned on Clark.
"We ran," the boy answered, blushing slightly. The happy smile he gave Lex was tempered, softened, by his relief at being home. "He knows everything."
Lex shook his head. "Not everything, though a fair amount, certainly." Their friendly expressions had been replaced by sudden worry. He smiled ruefully. "Enough to be as dangerous as you're thinking, yes."
In an instant, Clark was at his side. "It's not a bad thing. He helped me." Lex really hoped this wasn't the prelude to telling them about their job with Edge. He didn't know the Kents, but he was willing to bet that their night's activities would not be reassuring. "I got into some trouble and he's helping me out of it."
Jonathon crossed his arms. "We've heard about some of what happened in Metropolis."
"That wasn't the worst of it," admitted Clark. He ducked his head and shifted, hand brushing Lex's arm. "There's a criminal named Morgan Edge. He knows what I can do and he wants me to work for him."
"Oh, Clark." From Martha, the words were a loving reprimand. "Come inside. We need to sit down and talk about this." Her gaze shifted to Lex. "Please join us for breakfast?"
Lex looked toward the road, but there was no sign of Lucas. There probably wouldn't be for a while longer. "I'll come in until Lucas arrives."
Her expression was surprised. "Lucas Dunleavy?" Her mouth opened in a gasp. "You're Lex Luthor."
If there'd been a storm cloud hovering over Jonathon to indicate his rising anger, it would have covered the sky at her pronouncement. "A Luthor?"
"The Luthor, last of my line," Lex corrected coldly, matching his ire with ice. There was the sound of tires on gravel and he knew by the purr of the engine that it was Lucas. Perfect timing, as Lex was starting to feel he'd outstayed his welcome. "And my ride is here. I'll leave you to your discussion."
Lucas left the engine running, but he opened the door and stepped out of the car. He grinned as Lex approached, though it flickered when Lex headed for the passenger side door. "You don't want to drive?"
A brush of air and Clark's words overlapped Lucas's. "Please don't leave."
There was no surprise on his brother's face, though Lex knew Clark must have used his speed. He turned to face the boy, noting that his parents were still standing near the porch, an arm around each other. "You should be more careful, Clark."
"Smallville's full of mutants, no one cares about one more," Clark retorted, though quietly. Lex knew well the truth of his words. "Please don't leave. You know so much about me and I have a ton of questions."
His imploring voice was attractive, though Lex rather wished it was something else Clark was asking for. He bit back a sigh and looked at Lucas. "Turn the car off."
"We're staying?" Lucas asked, before ducking in and complying. He tossed the keys to Lex as he straightened up and shut the door. "Do I get an explanation?"
"For now, you can get the same as everyone else," Lex promised. He turned to Clark and his hopeful countenance. "Keep your father from shooting me?"
The flash of a smile was worth it. "Of course. I'm kind of bullet-proof." No explanation on how he knew that, though Lex could probably track through Smallville's history to figure it out. "Thank you, Lex."
He darted back to his parents, leaving Lucas and Lex to approach the house together. "He's pretty," Lucas murmured, offhand.
Lex rolled his eyes. "He is. Pretty enough that I might be in the middle of a battle with Morgan."
"Ooh. Does the winner get to possess him?" Lucas's tone made the implication dirty. Lex was afraid his own thoughts had already gone there.
Clark held the door open for them and Martha was cordial as she welcomed them in and got them seated at the table.
"Should we start with introductions?" she said, struggling to overcome the tension radiating from her husband and son. Jonathon sat at the head of the table, with Martha to his right. Lex sat opposite Jonathon, Clark on one side and Lucas on the other.
"I think we know who everyone is," Lex said kindly. "I think an explanation would be in order, and while I can't speak for all of Clark's parts, I think I can offer the relevant details for now."
Briefly, leaving out Kal's flirtation and kisses, Lex recapped the past twelve hours. He finished by putting the disk on the table. "It's worthless to Morgan; he's already said as much. But Kal..." He looked at Clark, caught his gaze. "Kal can be useful to him."
Silence settled around the table. Not even Lucas spoke to offer up a joke, though a look at his face said he was tempted.
"Earlier, you said you were negotiating," Clark finally said.
Lex nodded. "Morgan killed our father seven years ago. It was... business and an accident. He and Morgan were friends and Morgan feels he owes me a debt." He looked at Lucas again, noting how his brother had closed up again, humor gone. "Because he got Dad killed, Luthorcorp was taken over and nearly lost to me completely.
"Morgan tried to help me as a teen, but I was rebellious to begin with and I didn't take very well to his lessons on becoming a criminal mastermind." It had taken another orphan to make Lex sit up and notice how he was aiding in the ruination of his own life. "Things have changed recently, but Morgan has had no part in it, so the debt remains."
Lex had ignored it until it had come to finding Lucas.
"You're going to use that debt to help Clark?" Martha asked.
"That's my intention." Lex looked at her and then Jonathon. "He has nothing I want and what he wants... it puts a lot more than just your family in danger."
Quiet descended again, broken only by a timer in the kitchen. Martha rose to make the coffee, Clark following a second later and speeding mugs of hot coffee before all their places. Martha came back with milk and the sugar pot.
When Clark resumed his seat, he was suddenly half a foot closer to Lex's end of the table. He prompted Lex again to get the conversation to continue. "We met before?"
"Yes. I'd be hurt you didn't recognize me, but that was the point of the disguise. A wig, glasses..." No recollection, from any of them. "Tina Greer?"
"Agent Martin?" Clark said slowly, the name drawn out as if he wasn't sure of the memory.
"It's not a role I can take on personally, not often, but between Lucas and I and our connections, we've managed to keep the mutants of Smallville a secret from the wider world. We protect them, help them."
"Which is why you're helping Clark?" Jonathon asked. The words came out strangely relieved, as if he'd been worried that Lex's interest in Clark was more personal.
Lex was tempted to go back and fill in the parts of the story he'd left out, but riling Jonathon was pointless, no matter how pleasurable. "Partly." Lex refused to elaborate. The sky outside was lightening as a new day began. "We should go. I need to meet with Morgan soon, so I can figure out what his plans are."
"I'll walk you out," Clark offered, rising as Lex and Lucas stood.
As they stepped out onto the porch, a car was driving up the lane. Lex heard it before he could see it clearly. "How convenient," he said as he recognized the dark vehicle. He gestured for Clark and Lucas to stay put as he jogged down the steps and met Morgan's car.
To his dismay and surprise, Morgan was not alone or empty-handed. Three goons fanned out from the car, circling Lex and cutting him off from the house. He shared a brief look with Lucas and watched as his brother pulled Clark back into the house.
"Lex. I'm not surprised to see you." Morgan's voice was amused. "Though I do want to know why you're so keen on getting in my way just now."
"I live to thwart you, Morgan. Haven't you figured that out?"
"Funny, Lex. Unfortunately, I'm lacking in good humor today." Morgan nodded to one of the guards.
Lex prepared himself to block a physical attack, but there was no dodging the gun aimed at his leg. He took the dart in the thigh. He swayed and would have been on the ground if strong arms hadn't caught him up. Clark cradled him close. "Sorry. I wasn't expecting him to shoot you."
"Me, neither," Lex answered. "Pull it out quickly. Don't try to be gentle." Clark complied, then tossed the dart away before Lex could a good look at it. Muscle relaxant, yes. Or a paralyzer that worked in stages. He wasn't losing consciousness, though.
"Now," Morgan said. Lex didn't have time to wonder about the directive before another goon emerged from the car with a good size chunk of green rock.
When Clark fell, Lex followed, surprised and unable to stand on his own.
Morgan looked smug, an expression Lex dearly wanted to wipe off his face. "What is the status of your plan now, Lex? Oh, I'm sorry, should I still be calling you Alexander? I don't think young Clark here minds if we drop the pretenses."
"You owe me, Morgan. Stop this, turn and leave, and we'll be even." The last words slurred alarmingly and Lex could feel the affects in his head now, his thoughts slowing.
"Oh, Lex, you've already made that offer. But as you pointed out years ago, you don't even consider there to be debt. I finally decided to take that to heart."
With a groan, Lex tried rolled up into a sitting position, but only ended up rolling onto Clark. It gave him a better view of Clark's smooth skin, the pained contortions of his face. Morgan had planned this well. He'd incapacitated Lex and drawn Clark out in one move.
Morgan squatted where he stood, putting them closer to eye level without putting himself at a disadvantage. "If you think I still need you to hack for me, you clearly underestimate what Clark here is capable of."
Lex wanted to protest or lash out, but he couldn't. His mind was turning over the situation, his head rising and falling with the movement of Clark's laboring chest. The reaction wasn't as severe this time, no prominent display of his veins, no green tint to his skin.
"I can. Imagine what the people of Smallville would think if the truth about Kal and his family were to get out." As if their neighbors weren't used to other meteor freaks? Clark was one of the few who hadn't gone completely mental as a side effect. Revealing the truth about Clark wouldn't hurt his family's standing in Smallville, which made Morgan's threat weak.
It was a waste of time as well, as Lucas was inside calling for reinforcements.
The old man smiled. "Now we load Clark into the car." He stood. "Where's your brother?"
The screen door slammed as Lucas stepped onto the porch. "I'm here. Just had to take care of a few things inside." Lucas's stride was all arrogance as he practically hopped down the steps and across the yard. "I expected you earlier. You've missed the most boring breakfast meeting ever."
Worry slithered through Lex, not just the vague concern of being shot, but real fear. It only intensified as Lucas leaned over him and took the keys for the Porsche from Lex's pocket. "Lucas."
"Sorry, Lex. You've been really nice these past few months, but it's been a real drag answering to you for everything." He straightened up and tossed the keys up to catch them with a jangle. "Thanks for making me your heir, Lex."
"Thanks for your help," Morgan said, offering his hand to Lucas. They shook on it and then Lucas turned away, putting his back to Lex. "You look shocked, Lex. You didn't suspect at all? You didn't think to yourself that it was too easy to track him down and bring him into the 'family'?"
Lucas turned back with a smirk, eyes flat. "You love your history so much, Lex. You must remember the relationship between Arrhidaeus and Alexander."
Half-brothers. Alexander had been exiled at one time, though his succession to the throne had never been blocked or threatened by Arrhidaeus. Lex attempted a sneer. What a time for the idiot to grow some culture.
His half-brother leaned over to give Lex's cheek a patronizing pat. "Take care."
"Well, I think that's my cue to leave as well," Morgan said. "I was thinking about leaving you alive, but it's never a good idea to leave an enemy at your back. The Kents I can handle; there's only so much a farmer can manage. But you've always been resourceful."
Lex rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Clark... who was watching him with bright eyes and no apparent pain. Two goons moved to heft Clark up, each one taking an arm and letting Clark's - weakened - body dangle between them. Lex was left to drop flat to the dirt, which limited his view of the yard and its happenings.
"I forgot something," Lucas announced, turning away from the car. He spun quickly and aimed his gun at Morgan. "Arrhidaeus never betrayed Alexander."
Because he hadn't been mentally fit enough to devise such a coup. In contrast, Lucas was intelligent and surprisingly brassy. There was a whirlwind of activity with Clark at the center. Lex curled defensively and closed his eyes until the noise stopped. He only opened them again when he was shifted.
Clark's concerned face peered down at him as the teen cradled Lex to his chest. "Are you okay?"
"He won't be able to answer for a while." Lucas's face joined Clark's in Lex's line of sight. "The darts pretty much limit communication to moaning and eye blinks." Lex blinked desperately, but Lucas only grinned. "And the latter only works if you know Morse code, which I don't."
He did, Lex knew he did, the liar. "Sorry about that," a third voice chimed, sounding unrepentant. Tina Greer came to stand over Lex's feet, brown hair pulled over one shoulder, goon-suit hanging off her body. "I did weaken the solution, though Edge was a bit impatient. Give it another twenty minutes and you should be able to flip us off."
To be contrary, and with the help of his personal mutation, Lex was able to twitch in ten minutes and sit up on his own in eighteen. By that time, Morgan's men had been trussed up and stuffed in the back of the sedan. Morgan, similarly tied, was sitting in the front seat of the Porsche.
Lex had been moved back inside and the Kents and team Luthor had arranged themselves in a semi-circle in the living room. Lex tried not to put too much stock in the fact that Clark was in the middle of Luthor territory, his arm still around Lex and offering unneeded support.
During his period of forced silence, Lex had managed to organize his thoughts to make the explanations short. Sparse. He started with the death of his father and the loss of Luthorcorp, briefly covered his first encounters with Bruce and his decision to stop wasting his time by wallowing when he could be acting for himself.
He skipped over his father's crazy obsession with aliens and the Traveller, as well as the spaceship currently housed in a secret room at the castle. "Smallville, like me, was changed. And I didn't realize it, didn't think about it, but I was connected to this town.
"I'd lost Luthorcorp. It was buried in legalese and red tape, and it was out of my reach. Between my inheritance from my mother and the collateral from the estates kept separate from the company, I started building Lexcorp." Bruce had helped, through the use of intermediaries. Lex knew it, but Bruce hadn't wanted him to know of the connection then, so Lex left it out now.
"And now we protect Smallville," Tina finished, sounding proud. It had been barely a year since Lex had met her. The early treatments had done nothing to curb her attitude or her obsession with Lana Lang. It hadn't been enough to try to save her, they'd had to recruit her and give her a new purpose and goal. She was the first of the meteor-protected he'd brought into the project, but not the last.
Not even the most powerful. He looked at the Kents then turned his attention to their son. "The Praesidium has only one purpose. To guard. Protect. Something we are not alone in attempting to do. We have various resources." He smiled at Tina, who morphed into his double and echoed the look back. "And we have allies."
"You want Clark to help?" Jonathon said, voice still gruff. Lex wondered if the man was always so sour, or if it were just the situation.
"Clark already helps." Lex looked at Tina, who took his silent hint. She was on her feet, wearing the appearance of Whitney Fordman. "Clark is often already in action before we know there's a problem. It's not a perfect system. But that is part of why I'm here. We heard Clark had-" he searched for an inoffensive way to phrase it and came up blank. "-turned into a bit of a jerk and taken off."
Lex went into the explanation of the phone call and email that had gotten him into this mess, without mentioning names. "I would have ignored Morgan, had Kal not gotten wrapped up on his ploys. Speaking of which." He rose and went to the window. Morgan was sitting moodily in the Porsche still, glare turned toward the house. "I should get him out of here."
He was joined by Clark and Lucas, the latter of which grinned and pulled the curtain aside to give Morgan a cheery wave. "What are you going to do?" Clark asked.
An hour before, Morgan had pretty much ruined all Lex's illusions in regards to him. He couldn't leave an enemy like that at his back. "Pausanias fled after killing Alexander's father. He tripped and was killed in the garden." Without a doubt, Tina would have had no problem hunting Morgan down and removing him completely, not just from Smallville, but the earth.
But they were better than that. Praesidium. They were guardians, not murderers. Lex smiled.
"Craterus." He turned. "All of Gotham is abuzz. Morgan didn't need me, not when he had Clark to steal the disk. It was just a way to drive a wedge between Bruce and I." He and Morgan had taken it for granted that they knew each other and their weaknesses. Lex wasn't going to make that mistake a second time.
"Just tell us the plan, Lex," Lucas said around a yawn. "I know you can survive for days without sleep, but-"
"You need your beauty rest, I remember," Lex interrupted. He fought his own yawn. It was Thursday, by last count, and he hadn't had any real sleep since Sunday night. "Tina's going to drive the goon squad back to Edge City. You follow to bring her home. I'm taking Morgan and the disk to Gotham." He'd figure out on the way how Morgan had even had an inkling of Clark's weakness to the meteor rocks.
Clark cleared his throat in an unsubtle and unneeded reminder of his presence. Lex looked at him, young and eager to help, still wearing Kal's dark clothes. "What can I do?" There was a bit of protest from the Kents, but Clark just looked more determined. "This is my problem, too," he reminded them. He turned his attention back to Lex. "I can help."
Lex let his eyes drag over the boy, down to the tips of black boots and then back up. Clark blushed, but held his gaze, even when Lex reached for his hand. A tug pulled the ring from his finger, setting empty of strange red rocks. "You can, but we don't need you for this."
* * *
The gates were open, the front light on, though the recessed doors still had many shadows. The Porsche's headlights flashed over a figure waiting on the step.
He stopped the car and shut it off. Someone else could see to it that it made it to the garage.
"Hey," Clark said, hands in his jean pockets. Lex couldn't say he'd ever thought plaid was attractive, but it suited Clark pretty well, showing off his build. "Lucas wasn't sure when you'd make it back."
"They're home?"
"Yeah. Well, he is. He said Tina had somewhere else to stay." He approached with cautious steps. "Thank you for helping me and my family." He ducked his head and looked at Lex through his lashes. "Actually, I guess I could thank you for saving the whole town."
"You've done the same, Clark." Lex pocketed the keys, a bit disappointed. He had hoped that a visit at this time of night might mean something more than gratitude. "And Morgan was my business, too."
"He wouldn't have been, if you hadn't been coming to rescue me from myself." He straightened up. "Which I do owe you another thank you for. And an apology. I was a jerk, I know, and I-"
"Don't," Lex ordered. He didn't want to hear Clark apologize for kissing him. At the time, Lex hadn't exactly been appreciative of being propositioned, but in the end, nothing had happened. Not enough.
The expression on Clark's face showed his internal conflict between irritation, self-disgust, and surprise. "Don't what? Apologize for attacking you?"
Lex shook his head. "You didn't, Clark. You kissed me. And they weren't bad kisses. So don't worry."
"I thought, maybe, that was why you didn't want my help." Confusion and a bit of a hangdog look. Clark had very expressive, beautiful eyes.
And Lex was sunk. "I didn't want to exploit you. I did say before, I try to be a better man."
"Oh."
Cue awkward pause, Lex thought. "Is that the only reason you're here?"
Clark blinked, his head coming up quickly, and too late, Lex realized that the teen had been checking him out. Not as brazenly as Kal, of course, but still with a hint of interest.
His answer to Lex's question was rushed. "I wanted to ask how things went. With Edge and Wayne and the disk."
"Things went well. Morgan's going to do time for the theft, since he had the disk and there's no actual evidence that he didn't do it. No alibi even. The car explosion was tricker to get out of, but I made sure that nothing identifiable would survive the blast." As he spoke, Lex slowly approached the teen. "Of course, that means that Bruce has the disk again, but he's promised that to me as a birthday present."
"That's nice," Clark said weakly, chest rising and falling in short, sharper breaths. He held his ground as Lex closed the distance between them, reducing it to a hand span, a finger's width, and then nothing.
Kal's kiss had burned through him, marking him in passion. There was a hint of that heat with Clark, but it lacked the inherent damage Kal had wrought. Kissing Clark was like setting everything to right, the way it should be in the universe. He didn't have to make room for Clark, because he was already there.
Lex drew back. "I wondered if the attraction was just a Kal thing. You have all the memories, but how much of him exists in you all the time?"
"A lot," Clark admitted, sounding scared by the prospect. "I've never-"
"I do remember," Lex reassured, smiling. "Is this why you came?"
"No." He didn't draw away, though. "No one knows, normally. You're the first person to ever really know about me, other than my parents. I was hoping..."
"That we'd be friends?" Lex asked. He unthreaded his hands from Clark's hair and stepped back. "Of course, Clark. Not at this time of night, though."
Clark gaped at him, then shook head. "Okay, maybe that's too subtle. I'm... attracted."
Lex tried to hide both his surprise and his smile. "To?"
"You," Clark whispered quietly, hopefully.
"How did you know I wouldn't turn you down again?" Lex asked, even as he pressed closer once again.
"In Edge City, you never said no. Just that you wouldn't."
Clark didn't have the confidence to be forceful, though Lex did appreciate him taking the initiative on the next kiss. Lex smiled against his mouth. "I don't care for goons."
"I'm not a goon. Just a farmer."
"No, you're not," Lex disagreed. "You're not just anything." He tugged Clark's mouth down before he could protest.