Smallville Big Bang 2013 - Life as a Novel in Progress (post 3/6)
The smell of blood was overwhelming, stirring in him a hunger and excitement dulled only by the fear that overlay it.
Lex stared at the screen in dismay, back-spaced a few dozen times, and then started again.
The smell of blood was strong, but the overpowering scent in the room was fear and it overwhelmed the excitement and thirst the blood stirred in him. Max stood against the far wall, awash in blood, pupils dilated and the blue of his irises obliterated.
Bruce crossed to him slowly, not a hunter approaching his quarry, but the gods help him, a lover worried.
"Okay, no." Lex selected the last paragraph, hit delete, and got up. He opened the door that lead upstairs to the kitchen and the sound of off-key singing grew louder. Cursing under his breath, he stormed up the steps. He paused at the top of the stairs, arrested by the sight of Clark's swiveling hips, though the pleasant sight was overridden -- he'd have to remember that word -- by the horrible sounds emanating from the man's mouth. "Seriously, Kent. I thought the rock star comment was just a joke."
Clark froze, head swinging toward Lex fast enough that Lex felt the whiplash. "Um."
"Yes, right. Not sure you heard or not, but I'm writing. And you are not as quiet as a church mouse, as promised."
"I never promised that," Clark said slowly, as if he wasn't quite certain he hadn't.
Lex felt the smile coming on and was hard-pressed to stop it. Who knew farm boys could be so damnably cute? "No, but it is a workday for me, if not you, and it was agreed."
"Right," Clark said quickly. "I'll be quiet. Er. Quieter. Because we also agreed-"
"Yes, yes, fine," Lex waved away the rest of the sentence. "Thank Lois for siding with you about not taking a vow of silence to live here."
Clark's smile was sunny. "Lois only put a stop to that because she's hoping I'll drive you crazy."
Lex raised an eyebrow in return and crossed his arms, refusing to have his righteous irritation soothed by his housemate’s charmingly crooked teeth and unfathomably green eyes. "And you're doing a remarkable job of it."
There was a pause as Clark obviously tried to decide if that was another joke or if Lex had just gotten serious. The man was slow sometimes, and quick as lightning at others. Lex’s frequent flirting and then stumbling back-stepping probably didn’t help with that. Part of him wanted to flirt with Clark, just to see where it might go. The rest of him was committed to seeing how his relationship with Bruce would end if Lex didn’t sabotage himself.
Overridden, Lex reminded himself. "You make food. Quieterly. Quietlier. There should be an adverb, but you know what I mean. I am going back downstairs."
Clark's, "Good luck," followed him down the stairs.
Seated once more at his desk, he replaced 'overwhelm' with 'overridden', switched it back, switched it once more, and then left the change in annoyance.
"Come with me, Max," he commanded, putting the power of their bond behind the words.
Slowly, Max unfurled from his huddle and accepted the hand Bruce offered. He came into Bruce's embrace willingly
Lex resisted the urge to brain himself against the desk and got up to answer the timid knocking at his door. Clark stood on the other side of the door, looking surprisingly meek for a man who filled the doorway. "I know you said to just leave it, but it's really better when it's hot," Clark said, holding out a plate.
He stared at the offering for a moment, then up into Clark's hopeful gaze. "But house-husband, you forgot to bring a drink."
Clark rolled his eyes and pushed the plate against Lex's chest. "Would you like some cheese to go with your wine, dear?"
Lex took the plate and put on his serious face. "Your attention span seems to be short, so let me try to recap this for you again. I'm writing. Bath porn, because you suggested it. But my characters are nowhere near water at the moment and they're not going to get near the fucking until then, which means you're ruining my inspiration, Kent."
His green eyes wide, Clark took a step back. "So, no wine then?" He smiled when Lex sighed dramatically. "I'll leave you to it, promise. But you should eat. Because I made it and it's good, and my mother doesn't know you, but even she thinks you're too skinny."
In answer, Lex shut the door, then locked it noisily, though the wood was so flimsy, a twelve year old could kick it in. He put the plate on the side table near his arm chair then seated himself back at the desk. Despite the show of it, however, his irritation was truly gone and he couldn’t recapture it.
Max accepted Bruce's embrace. This close, the stink of fear was obviously Max's, though given how he'd torn through the room's other occupants, it hadn't been fear for his safety, but of his new nature.
The smell of spaghetti sauce and parmesan was overwhelming. Lex's stomach gurgled again and he glared impatiently at the plate he'd purposely placed away from his desk. This story was never going to get written, at this rate. He slid his chair back so he could put his feet up on the desk, then used his lap as a table as he dug into the food. Lex didn't know Clark's mother and he wasn't too skinny, but at least Clark had been right. It was very good and probably would have lost something if not eaten fresh.
It was when the plate was half-empty that Lex realized why the writing had been so hard. Or rather, he was suddenly inspired to make the writing potentially easier. He’d been struggling with the idea of his older vampire taking on a new protégé, leaving the Lex-based Joseph alone and lonely, until the plot forced them back together and Joseph realized he couldn’t be replaced so easily.
But that wasn’t quite true to life, and Lex did have a bad tendency of basing his characters and plot on facets of reality. And in the reality of his relationship with Bruce, it wasn’t a new lover filling Bruce’s time and taking him away from Lex, but an old ideal and duty. It was Lex, reality’s Joseph, whose attention was wandering, looking to fill in all the holes Bruce’s absences were leaving.
And with a simple change of the names in the scene, it was easy enough to re-envision the scene and make it work. Joseph would approach as a lover, with the heart and warmth of someone who has still only lived one lifetime and has lost less. And it was Joseph who would make the mistake of turning someone while on the rebound from his previous lover.
It was Lex who was foolish enough to be looking for his next inspiration before his old was fully done with him. And if reality followed fiction, Bruce wasn’t going to leave him completely. Events would remind them both of their importance to each other.
The question would be whether Joseph’s feelings had ever been more than lust and friendship.
Next Part: Chapter Two