title: false start
author: jessica
mail: thegirlinglasses@illuminatedtext.com
date: august 12, 2003
notes: for zarah5. for the smallville flashfic challenge.
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It was sweet and awkward and exactly how Clark thought it would be. Instead of their regular Friday movie, they had driven up to Grandville and the one night only showing of Plan 9 From Outer Space. Clark had bought the refreshments - two straws in the Coke and extra butter on the popcorn.
He'd been planning this date since the eighth grade when he had finally noticed what Pete had been noticing all summer. There was suddenly more to Lana than had been there the year before. Clark wanted to know if she was as soft as she looked.
Which was why he should have been more surprised when the perfect first date happened with Lex. Lex, holding his hand, despite the grease, so Clark held on, too. They stayed like that until long after the credits had rolled and the lights had come up.
Clark didn't know what to say, and Lex looked just as lost. The drive was too quiet. Clark fiddled with the radio, hoping for something to fill the time. They pulled up to the farm without saying a word. They kissed instead, and it was good enough to get Clark through his chores and on Lex's doorstep by noon the next day.
But they didn't even make it to the end of the day. Making out on the couch was interrupted twice by the phone, twice by wandering help, and the last time by Lex.
"Maybe... not just yet. You know?"
Clark nodded and left, because he knew it was the right thing to do. He jerked off in the barn and wondered how long Lex had waited to do the same.
Clark's schedule is perfect. Nothing before noon, and just the one class on Fridays. When the dorm gets too loud, he heads over to the LexCorp building and bugs Lex until he gives in and they go out to dinner. He lets Lex choose. This usually means the Met Grill and their burnt hamburgers, but it's worth it to see Lex comfortable enough to snort Coke.
There's a Videomatica next door, so they rent bad sci-fi movies - four at least, as they can never agree - and go back to Lex's apartment. Clark has an informal claim on the second bedroom, but he usually falls asleep on the couch after two movies. He always wakes up alone.
But tonight, after the hamburgers and Coke, the movies, the chips and a big bowl of popcorn, they're still awake.
"Ready for the next one?" As Clark pushes himself up off the couch, a rain of crumbs falls the the floor. He tugs at a kernel caught on his sweater and checks his hair for any stray chips. Lex is quiet, but not asleep, so Clark throws on the next movie and drops back on the couch.
Lex grabs the remote from the table, muting the credits. "Your mom phoned me today. At work."
"So that's what's keeping you up tonight," Clark laughs.
"What's going on?"
"It's this new independent thing I'm trying." He waves his hand in some silly gesture, but Lex doesn't fall for it. "C'mon, it's only been a couple weeks. Tell her not to worry, next time she calls."
Clark slouches down in his seat, reaching for the remote, but Lex hangs on tight. He's watching Clark carefully, squinting slightly when Clark looks up at him.
"What are you thinking, Lex?"
He nods, sharp and quick - never a good thing. He turns the movie, then the television off.
"Get some sleep," Lex orders. "We're going to Smallville tomorrow."
Clark doesn't sleep. He lays on the couch for an hour, listening to the sounds of Lex getting ready for bed. He listens - he doesn't watch - preferring the images he puts together in his head instead. When the apartment's dark and quiet, Clark pulls off his sweater and jeans, but the couch doesn't seem as comfortable as when Lex is next to him. The crumbs still hidden in the cushions don't help.
The guest room - Clark's room - is down the hall from Lex's. They don't share a wall, but it wouldn't matter anyway. Lex never has guests when Clark is over. Clark is over a lot, and he's starting to suspect that Lex hasn't had a guest in a long while. That possibility makes him smile, but Lex is no closer to letting Clark kiss him.
There have been fourteen kisses since they came to Metropolis; all of them Clark. There could have been another tonight if Lex hadn't brought up his mother.
Lex is still waiting for the right time, so Clark keeps trying.
They leave early and Lex drives fast. They arrive at the farm just in time for lunch. Mom's on the porch and Dad's crossing the yard as they pull into the driveway, as if Lex had planned it all.
"Oh my God, you told them we were coming, didn't you?" Clark smacks his shoulder before Lex escapes the car. "How long have you been planning this little reunion?"
Lex shrugs, and then he's gone.
Clark gets a smack on the head from his mother when he joins them in the kitchen. It's followed with a hug.
"Look, Jonathan, you were right. He *is* alive." Clark rolls his eyes. "We were starting to wonder about that black hole where all my cookies have been disappearing."
The 'independent thing' doesn't go over so well when it doesn't include a phonecall home every once and a while. "I've been busy, Mom."
"He's lying, Martha."
Clark makes it up with chores, dinner, and convincing Lex to spend the night on the farm.
They brush their teeth before bed, side by side in the upstairs bathroom. Lex is wearing pyjamas and a weird smile. Clark is sure something's going to happen, and he wonders why it has to in his parents' house.
"What are you thinking?" he asks through a mouthful of toothpaste, before spitting it out.
Lex spits when Clark stands up. He gives him another one of those looks and disappears again.
"What the hell?" Clark drops his toothbrush and stalks down the hall. "What the hell?"
Lex looks up from his seat on the bed. "Do you think it might work now?"
"Do I-- Lex, I was waiting for you."
I know, I know," he says, shaking his head. Clark steps forward. "I'm afraid we might have missed the right time fourteen kisses ago, but Metropolis just wasn't the right place."
"And of all the places in the world, you have to pick my parents' house."
Lex is there with a kiss as soon as Clark drops onto the bed. Quiet, like Martha and Jonathan were just outside the door, but it's right and it's good enough for now.