Ficlet: Thanksgiving Tree (Clex; G)
Title: Thanksgiving Tree
Fandom: Smallville
Word Count: 685 words
Notes: Happy Thanksgiving to those in the US. Happy Thursday to the rest of the world. I am thankful for fandom, for friends, and for my flist that combines the best of both. Have some fluff. For a general idea of what the Thanksgiving tree would look like, have a link.
"It's tradition," Clark said, arm still holding out the marker with the patience and strength teenagers only seemed to have when they were not from around here.
Lex took the marker and looked at the paper cut out of a tree that was hung on the pantry door. He had heard Jonathan's muttered comment about Clark having 'outgrew that years ago' and stood to accept it, as he did everything else that came from Clark. And as far as half-truths went, an 'annual tradition' that hadn't been practiced in years was harmless enough.
There were hand-shaped leaves at the end of three of the four the branches, drawn from the outline of hand prints of three sizes. Even if they hadn't done this for years, Martha and Ryan had very obviously helped with the design and creation portion. All Lex had to do was trace and cut out his own hand print, write in what he was thankful for, and glue it on one of the branches.
He put his orange construction paper down on the table and did the tracing first as he tried to decide what to write. Martha's "thankful" item had been having "all my boys healthy and home". Lex wasn't going to ask, but he'd be willing to bet she'd include him in that grouping if he did, regardless if that had been her original intent.
Ryan's was a bit longer and included the new Warrior Angel movie, Lex's ability to get him on the set during the filming, and real life superheroes.
Across the table, Jonathan had a piece of brown construction paper and was exercising a fair amount of concentration as he drew around his left hand.
Clark had another marker and was hovering over his own red hand. It had already been glued to the tree, but was blank. Lex didn't know if he'd just gotten too excited about putting it up and forgotten that step, or if he'd been unable to come up with anything and had just put it up in the meantime.
Once Lex had carefully cut his own 'leaf' out, he waited. His writing would be neater if he wrote what he was thankful for before he put it up and was forced to write at an angle. As soon as he figured out the words to encompass what he wanted to say. There wasn't room enough on the tree itself to fit in all the things he was grateful for this year.
While he hesitated, Bart sped into the room, with Chloe and Lana following at a more sedate pace. Within a minute, Bart's leaf was up on the tree, sharing a branch with Ryan. The girls, who had arrived earlier and had been doing their tracing, cutting, and writing in the living room, added their leaves to the empty branch. Jonathan, message jotted quickly across the palm of his cut out, added his to Martha's branch. Which left only Clark's branch with one hand print, making it the obvious choice for where Lex's would go.
Lex wrote down his own four word message. Everyone else had already dispersed, seemingly at random, but Lex wasn't fooled. He'd seen the looks exchanged between Clark and his parents, the gestures between Chloe and Bart. Only Clark was left standing in the kitchen when Lex approached the tree.
Without a word, Clark handed over the glue stick, his smile wide and guileless as he tried to look at what Lex had written.
Lex stroked the glue stick over the back of his print before putting it carefully, neatly by Clark's, with the barest hint of overlap at the side of the palms. His right hand was dwarved by Clark's left, making it a bit lopsided. Asymmetric in a way that filled Lex with affection.
"I'm thankful for family," Clark read softly.
Lex nodded, though his mind was less on his words and more on Clark's. In the adjacent leaf were the words, "I am thankful for my parents who adopted me despite my differences, my family and friends who accept them, and Lex, who loves me for them."
Fandom: Smallville
Word Count: 685 words
Notes: Happy Thanksgiving to those in the US. Happy Thursday to the rest of the world. I am thankful for fandom, for friends, and for my flist that combines the best of both. Have some fluff. For a general idea of what the Thanksgiving tree would look like, have a link.
"It's tradition," Clark said, arm still holding out the marker with the patience and strength teenagers only seemed to have when they were not from around here.
Lex took the marker and looked at the paper cut out of a tree that was hung on the pantry door. He had heard Jonathan's muttered comment about Clark having 'outgrew that years ago' and stood to accept it, as he did everything else that came from Clark. And as far as half-truths went, an 'annual tradition' that hadn't been practiced in years was harmless enough.
There were hand-shaped leaves at the end of three of the four the branches, drawn from the outline of hand prints of three sizes. Even if they hadn't done this for years, Martha and Ryan had very obviously helped with the design and creation portion. All Lex had to do was trace and cut out his own hand print, write in what he was thankful for, and glue it on one of the branches.
He put his orange construction paper down on the table and did the tracing first as he tried to decide what to write. Martha's "thankful" item had been having "all my boys healthy and home". Lex wasn't going to ask, but he'd be willing to bet she'd include him in that grouping if he did, regardless if that had been her original intent.
Ryan's was a bit longer and included the new Warrior Angel movie, Lex's ability to get him on the set during the filming, and real life superheroes.
Across the table, Jonathan had a piece of brown construction paper and was exercising a fair amount of concentration as he drew around his left hand.
Clark had another marker and was hovering over his own red hand. It had already been glued to the tree, but was blank. Lex didn't know if he'd just gotten too excited about putting it up and forgotten that step, or if he'd been unable to come up with anything and had just put it up in the meantime.
Once Lex had carefully cut his own 'leaf' out, he waited. His writing would be neater if he wrote what he was thankful for before he put it up and was forced to write at an angle. As soon as he figured out the words to encompass what he wanted to say. There wasn't room enough on the tree itself to fit in all the things he was grateful for this year.
While he hesitated, Bart sped into the room, with Chloe and Lana following at a more sedate pace. Within a minute, Bart's leaf was up on the tree, sharing a branch with Ryan. The girls, who had arrived earlier and had been doing their tracing, cutting, and writing in the living room, added their leaves to the empty branch. Jonathan, message jotted quickly across the palm of his cut out, added his to Martha's branch. Which left only Clark's branch with one hand print, making it the obvious choice for where Lex's would go.
Lex wrote down his own four word message. Everyone else had already dispersed, seemingly at random, but Lex wasn't fooled. He'd seen the looks exchanged between Clark and his parents, the gestures between Chloe and Bart. Only Clark was left standing in the kitchen when Lex approached the tree.
Without a word, Clark handed over the glue stick, his smile wide and guileless as he tried to look at what Lex had written.
Lex stroked the glue stick over the back of his print before putting it carefully, neatly by Clark's, with the barest hint of overlap at the side of the palms. His right hand was dwarved by Clark's left, making it a bit lopsided. Asymmetric in a way that filled Lex with affection.
"I'm thankful for family," Clark read softly.
Lex nodded, though his mind was less on his words and more on Clark's. In the adjacent leaf were the words, "I am thankful for my parents who adopted me despite my differences, my family and friends who accept them, and Lex, who loves me for them."