title: the delivery boy and the billionaire's son
author: jessica
mail: thegirlinglasses@illuminatedtext.com
date: november 03, 2002
notes: a bit of a riff off the first vignette of Mornings and Nights
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Clark wouldn't say they dragged him there. He wasn't avoiding the Talon. And after Lana asked him why she hadn't seen Lex around, he realised it wasn't even necessary.
Lex was the one avoiding the Talon, not Clark. Clark was being mature.
"You're coming in, and I don't want to hear another word," Chloe demanded from the driver's seat with a voice that left no questions to be asked.
Clark was quiet, nothing more to say. Clark was being mature and even if it was Chloe's hand gripping his wrist and dragging him along, it didn't mean he was avoiding the Talon.
Pete turned around in his seat, shaking his head at Clark. "Don't argue with the girl, man. You know that." For the comment, he got a swat on the arm. He cried out with fake pain and swatted back, matching Chloe's every laugh.
The laughter continued as Chloe turned the car onto Main Street, favouring her right arm and then gave herself away when she stretched the same arm to point out the banners hanging high above the traffic.
The cars were barely moving and the sidewalks were packed with the citizens of Smallville. Except for the Talon, all the brightly decorated shops were closed up for the day. Clark hated Homecoming. Every 'Fly to Victory' banner only reminded him that he couldn't.
He sank further into the seat. Despite the inches Clark had over Pete, somehow he always ended up in the back. He tried to hide but could never make himself small enough. Knees to his chin, feeling big and uncomfortable and suddenly the Talon didn't look so bad.
They would only be a minute. And Clark was sure that Lex was in Metropolis.
Instead, he was standing at the counter with Nell and Lana, a stack of important looking papers between them.
Pete led them in, then Chloe with a firm grip on Clark, who was bringing up the rear and trying to remember if he had seen one of Lex's cars outside.
Lex hadn't spotted them yet. The tension in his back wasn't about Clark; it was business.
But he still couldn't get his feet to move. His throat was scratchy and he couldn't cough and Clark suddenly remembered that he wasn't avoiding the Talon.
He was avoiding Lex.
Clark wasn't being mature. A week had passed and he was the same frightened kid who had run away when he woke one morning and realised that sleeping comes a whole lot closer to sex than he could ever imagine.
Clark was avoiding Lex and had since discovered that his body was not impervious to guilt. Clark had used the stomach ache as an excuse for a week before Chloe had started to get suspicious.
So, he agreed to the football game. It would be nice - a fun, harmless activity with the friends that he didn't have to think about.
Lana looked up and waved the trio over, his name coming out in a surprised exclamation when she saw Clark.
Lex lifted his eyes at the sound and found Clark immediately, like he had known that he was there. Clark smiled and they exchanged a quick and nervous 'hi' before Nell brought Lex's attention back to the papers, and Clark was pulled towards a booth.
The girls laughed at Pete's joke but Clark hadn't been listening. He watched as Lex tried to finish up with Nell, looking back at Clark distractedly. When Lex was done, he glanced back once more. Clark tried to give him a smile before the hand on his arm drew him back to his friends.
"Are you okay, Clark?" Lana asked.
"Fine," he said, distracted. He turned back but Lex had taken advantage of the diversion and started toward the door.
"Clark?"
"What?!" he yelled back at Chloe. Even Pete jumped. Clark didn't snap like that often but Chloe took it in stride.
"We're gonna get some hot chocolate," she said calmly. "Do you want some?"
"Yeah. Sure. Whatever." Clark heard the bell on the front door and turned to see Lex go. "I just want to say hi to Lex."
Chloe looked confused. "You already did."
"I know."
Ignoring the looks on his friends' faces, he got up and headed to the door, just barely keeping his speed in check.
||||
He found Lex around the corner; that's why he hadn't seen the car. Lex always parked in the handicap spot, right outside the door. Parking in the alley around the corner, Clark thought, was a conscious effort to hide.
Clark would have thought that Lex had been expecting him to follow, to make the first move. But he tensed, jumping when Clark touched him and not succeeding in disguising it in the turn.
Clark tore his hand away, scared that maybe his first move had been the wrong one. There was a flash of something in Lex's eyes when he saw the hand belonged to Clark. It was a look that Clark saw a lot of; it was the look that Lex got when he did something that Luthor's weren't supposed to. And then it was gone, and Lex put on the face he used in public.
Clark had been hiding behind the stomach ache. Lex had been hiding behind that face.
He couldn't think of anything to say to get rid of it, so Clark just smiled - all teeth and happiness. And when Lex smiled back, Clark wondered why he had stayed away.
There were so many times that he stopped himself from running over to the castle in the middle of the night. And so many times when he tried to compose the right words to make Lex understand. He never thought such a simple gesture could say everything.
The big words long ago crumpled in the bottom of his wastebasket, Clark opened with a classic.
"Hey," he said. And Lex kept smiling.
"Didn't we already do that?"
"Yeah, but it's one of my favourites." They laughed, nervously.
"One of mine too."
They was a silent moment and everything seemed okay again. Clark was sure it couldn't be that simple.
Lex leaned back against the car and Clark followed, not wanting allow too much space. He watched a young couple walk by, arm in arm, and turned back to Lex as a discreet hand stroked his stomach gently. Clark closed his eyes to the touch, a sigh falling from his lips, and then it was gone. He opened his eyes, searching.
"Every conversation we have in my head about that night begins with 'hey'," Lex said, with a bit of a smile. He was searching too, waiting for Clark's answer.
"I'm sorry for taking off like that." Clark took a shuffling step backward but kept their eyes locked. Lex had this way if making him nervous and bold at the same time.
"It's okay, Clark. I'm not too good with mornings after myself."
"Oh my God," he groaned. "I took off like a one night stand, didn't I?"
Lex laughed out loud and reached out to grab the hands covering Clark's blush. "It's okay, Clark," he said again. "Sleeping doesn't count. You have to have sex before we call it a one night stand."
"I hope this isn't how the conversations in your head went," laughed Clark.
"No, it isn't," Lex said, pulling him close. "But we were still in bed for most of them. The things you say in bed and the things you say in public are very different, I find."
"Yeah." He sighed, listening to the crowd just around the corner. A cheer went up in the street and Lex's face turned away. It was only a moment but it took Clark back to that night. He reached a hand up and stroked the soft cheek, a touch which brought Lex's attention back to the boy in front of him.
"You know, we still haven't kissed."
Lex smiled. "I know."
But it wasn't going to happen in an alley off Main Street. Standing in Lex's arms only few feet from the crowd, Clark was surprised it had gone this far.
"Come home with me. We'll climb in bed and have one of those conversations."
"You want to get me into bed so we can talk?" Clark grinned.
Lex didn't say anything, but Clark saw it in his eyes. He hadn't expected Clark that night. That's why nothing had happened. But a week had passed and now they both knew where this was going.
"Yeah," Clark agreed. Then, "I can't."
Lex looked at him with an odd smile as he tried to figure Clark out. "Nothing has to happen," he said, reaching up to brush something out of Clark's hair.
Clark smiled at the gesture. "I know." He heard Chloe's laughter rise above the thinning crowd and it made him turn away. His friends were outside and would be looking for him. "I promised I'd got to the football game." Pete's laugh reached his ears next. "I haven't been much of a friend to anyone this past week.
Lex was nodding when Clark turned back to him. His reached into his jacket pocket for his gloves and pulled them on, getting ready to leave. "I'll be up late," Lex told him. "If you're out my way."
"Why don't you come with us?" Clark blurted out. He wasn't sure where it came from but the slow grin forming at Lex's lips told him it was a good place.
"I can't stand football," Lex said, through his grin. "But I would love to come with you."
"You'll have to change," Clark said, fingering Lex's tie.
"Come back to the castle with me. I'll change and we can go from there."
"Yeah." Clark started around the corner and slammed into a blonde figure on the other side.
"There you guys are." Chloe stepped away, unfazed, and turned back to yell for Pete and Lana. "They're over here!"
She looked up at Clark, waiting.
"What?"
Chloe peered around him, smiling at Lex, as Pete and Lana joined the group.
"So, Lex," Chloe started. "Are you coming to the game?"
He laughed and Clark rolled his eyes at Chloe.
"I am," Lex told her.
With a triumphant smile, Chloe held out her hand as Pete dug a crumpled bill from his pocket.
"Wait," Clark said. "You guys bet that I would ask Lex to come to the game?"
"Of course not. We knew you would ask," Chloe explained. "We bet that he would come."
||||
They didn't say anything in the car.
These kinds of conversations don't happen in a car, Clark thought. Even in a Porsche.
He tried to think of something to distract them. It had been a week since he and Lex had spoke. He had a lot to tell him. There was the new counsellor at school that Chloe believed had psychic powers. The Smith's basset hound had puppies and Clark was trying to convince his parents to let him have one. Pete even had a girlfriend - a cheerleader. But Clark couldn't think of anything to say.
It wasn't until they were in the garage, the car locked, and headed to the house that Lex spoke.
"We'll take the truck to the game."
It wasn't a conversation starter, just Lex thinking aloud to himself. It made Clark smile.
"You think someone's gonna steal your car at the Homecoming game?"
"No," said Lex, turning back to Clark. "My cars always get covered in fingerprints when I park near the football team. We can take the truck; it's one of their own kind."
Clark laughed at the logic, at the thought of the football team fondling Lex's Porsche, at the thought of -
"You have a truck?"
Lex stopped with Clark's footsteps and returned to stand before him. "Of course, I have a truck," he smiled.
"Of course, you have a truck." There was an Aston Martin, a Ferrari, a truck. One of these things is not like the other. "It just doesn't seem your style."
The smile on Lex's lips got bigger, showing a tip of red tongue between his teeth.
"It's not my style, Clark," said Lex, shaking his head. "It's big, red; it's got this white racing stripe down the middle..."
Clark returned the smile. He had seen that truck before; parked in his driveway with bow on top. He beamed as Lex stood there and soaked it up.
"I can't believe you kept it." He spun with a quick look around the garage, trying to find the truck. His truck. When he couldn't see it, Clark turned back to Lex, who was waiting.
"C'mon." He grabbed Clark's hand and led him through the large space, passed the exotic and colourful sports cars to the furthest corner of the garage. The truck was parked by itself but not out of place. Lex pulled the cover off with an exaggerated flourish.
"Your steed, Master Kent." Clark rolled his eyes at the Lex's sense of humour, but a part of him was laughing. It made him feel special; nobody ever saw that Lex.
He ran a hand over the hood. It definitely wasn't Lex but it seemed to fit better than Clark would have imagined. He walked front to back, giving the truck a closer look. It was spotless. Not even a rock in the treads.
Clark figured it had been driven only once since Lex had given it to him - when he drove it from the Kent farm to the castle to give it back.
"It belongs to you, Clark," Lex said, pulling his attention back. "Your father will come to his senses sooner or later." Clark snorted. "If not, you can always buy it from me when you turn 18."
"Yeah? How much do you want for it?"
"Well," Lex said, standing next to the truck, a hand on the hood, playing the part of the salesman. "I think we can make some kind of deal."
Clark pulled out of his pocket a handful of change and a couple bills that could be ones or tens. He threw the lint away and counted what was left in his hand. "Three dollars and 14 cents. It's my change from lunch," he explained.
"You're in luck, Mr. Kent. That just happens to be current retail price." Lex took the money, pausing only to smooth the bills before slipping it all into his pocket. He then held his hand out for Clark to shake, completing the transaction. They shook but didn't let go. Clark looked down at their clasped hands, watching Lex's thumb move over his knuckles.
"We're never gonna get away with this," he said with a grin. "My dad's gonna kill me." Lex nodded his agreement. "And then you."
He laughed and pulled Clark away from the truck and into the house. "Don't worry," he said, stopping them at the door. "We'll just park it here for a couple years."
Clark got a quick look back before he was pulled into the house and up the stairs.
Lex walked faster than a lot of people but Clark kept up, not letting himself get distracted by the paintings on the walls and the covered furniture behind half closed doors.
Clark had never been offered a formal tour but he knew Lex's bedroom when they came to it. He was often led up the stairs to wait for Lex. And he knew he could find the room in the dark.
"Stay here," Lex said, guided Clark inside and sat him on the bed. He tried to pull away but Clark held on to Lex with two hands, playing with the long fingers. He tried to rub the cold away and looked up to see Lex's amused grin.
"Thank you, Lex."
Clark stroked the smooth palm and watched the shivers travel up Lex's arm. "It's always been yours, Clark," said Lex, his voice wavering. He stood very still, very close. Lex closed his eyes to the touch, mouth quirked up in a soft smile.
They were breathing hard when Clark finally let go. Lex stepped away but reached out and brought Clark's falling eyes up to his own.
"You'll be right here when I get back?" Satisfied with the nod Clark gave him, Lex was gone.
Dad always said, your gifts aren't for taking advantage of people. Clark was pretty sure that he was talking about the girl's locker room at the time.
Lex was just beyond that door; Clark could hear him but he couldn't bring himself to look. Instead, he turned his eyes to the room and looked for something to distract him.
The sun had started to fall. The curtains were drawn, not letting in much light. It was dark but not dark enough to remind Clark of night. The little bit of light was the only thing that stopped Clark from lying back on the bed and curling up on the soft sheets.
The light gave the room a warmth that the rest of the rooms in the castle didn't have. Clark could believe that somebody lived here. That Lex lived here.
The books lining these walls weren't for show. They were dog-eared and highlighted. The copy of The Prince on the bedside table was full of notes; all the big words had been underlined by a twelve year old Lex the first time he read the book.
The room was clean lines and dark colours but Clark never felt unwelcome. He was always comfortable in this room; it made him think of Lex.
He had imagined at four poster bed, piled high with pillows and made up with silk sheets. Instead, they were cotton. 'Egyptian, 800 count,' Lex corrected him when Clark had remarked how ordinary they were. He thought they felt just like the sheets he had at home.
The bed was made. One corner was pulled back, like the bed was posing for a catalogue. Like nobody had slept in it for at least a week.
Maybe nobody had. Clark pulled the cover down. Underneath the smooth cover, the sheets were wrinkled. And warm, when he ran his hand over the fabric.
"The sheets still smell like you, too." Clark snapped his head up at the voice, rearranging himself on the bed. Lex walked towards him, a sly grin on his face. Dressed in faded jeans and a t-shirt that claimed he was Property of Princeton University, he looked closer to his 22 years. As Lex came to stand in front of him, Clark opened his legs and pulled him close.
"I haven't let them change my sheets all week. I'm turning into the eccentric Luthor in the west wing."
Clark laughed against his stomach and held him tighter when he felt Lex's hands in his hair. He liked being here, and wondered if he could find it at the end of a good day as much as a bad one.
"You don't have to go," whispered Lex from above. He pulled at Clark's hair, bringing his eyes up. "We can stay right here."
Clark shook his head and looked down, his answer muffled in Lex's shirt.
"What?"
"I promised Chloe," he repeated, turning his head to the side. "Maybe later. After dark."
They were quiet. Lex played with Clark's hair, straightened the curls and wound them back around his fingers. Clark held on tight, breathing with Lex, moving only with the slow rise and fall of his stomach.
"Everything's good?"
"At home? Yeah."
"And your dad is -" Lex couldn't finish the sentence. Clark pushed away at the reminder of his father and the fight that had brought him to this bed the first time. Lex stepped back, startled, and let him up. Clark shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away.
Lex watched, giving Clark the space he seemed to be asking for.
"Okay. I just..." When he stopped, Clark turned back to see Lex staring after him. He looked at Clark with narrow eyes and chewed his upper lip, thinking. Seeing Lex's mood, Clark forgot his father and let out the breath he had been holding in.
"It's not great; me and Dad. But it'll get better." He walked the few steps back towards Lex. They stood toe to toe, not touching, but Clark did pull his hands out of his pockets. They hung at his sides, fingers drumming against his legs, as he waited for Lex to relax again. "And it doesn't change anything between us."
Lex was quiet, watching him and then took a deep breath.
"I know," he said. "I had hoped that, even with everything that has happened between us, or is about to happen, that you still felt like you could come to me, no matter what."
Clark nodded that he understood.
"And when you didn't come over and I hadn't heard from you, I thought that maybe I had scared you away."
"You were in Metropolis Thursday?" Clark asked softly.
Lex stopped, confused, before he answered. "Yes, I was. How did you know?"
"I did come over, Lex. Thursday."
"Delivery day," Lex said automatically.
"Yeah," Clark smiled, knowing Lex hadn't forgotten.
"My father summoned me for a meeting.
"I can tell." Clark reached for Lex, taking his hands in his own. "I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for? He's my father."
Clark pulled Lex toward him, wrapping Lex's arms around himself, giving permission. "I'm sorry for making you feel like you couldn't talk to me after a meeting with your father."
Shaking his head, Lex told him it wasn't that bad.
"It's always that bad. One day with your father and you're questioning everything that's happened between us this past year." Lex shook his head and squeezed Clark harder. He pressed his nose to Clark's skin, ran a hand up his back, experimenting with his touch.
"Your father doesn't know you." Clark laid his head on Lex's shoulder and whispered in his ear. "I do."
Lex didn't say anything. Clark would have said he imagined the tension if he hadn't been wrapped in his arms. Lex stepped away and towards the door.
"Ready to go?"
Clark nodded, grabbed Lex's outstretched hand and allowed himself to be led downstairs.
||||
Lex was quiet in the passenger seat. Slouched down, staring out the window but Clark didn't think he was actually seeing anything.
He had tossed the keys to Clark, said, 'It's all yours', and hadn't spoken since. They would be at the stadium in a few minutes. Clark kept an eye on the road and the other on Lex.
The world doesn't see Lex Luthor in the passenger seat, thought Clark. Even in the back of a limo, there's no question of who's in charge.
"What are you so quiet about over there?"
"Nothing." He didn't look at Clark, only stared out the window. Clark turned back to the road, manoeuvred traffic, watching Lex just in the corner of his eye.
"You don't even know me." The soft voice made Clark look. Still slouched in the passenger seat, still staring out the window; it seemed he hadn't said a word.
"Where did that come from?" He stared, willing Lex to look at him before his eyes were forced back to the road.
"I hate when you do that, hide like that," Clark said.
The truck wasn't much bigger than the one he had at home. But the space between them was suddenly more than Clark had ever felt with Lex. He pulled into the parking lot and wondered how Lex moved so easily from Clark's arms to the other end of the seat.
Outside, the cheers that Clark had heard from the road were becoming clear. Instead of a dull roar of pride, there were words and, if one listened closely, a rhythm. Neither one had turned on the radio and Clark was now glad for something other than Lex's silence to fill his mind.
He parked the truck, a little protectively, with a fence on one side and a small, blue car on the other. Turned off the engine, removed the keys and turned in his seat to face Lex, who still hadn't moved.
"I thought we already did this. How did we get back here again?" Lex finally turned his head to meet his eyes. "You know me better than anyone; why doesn't it go the other way?"
"It does," Lex said, quietly. "It just scares me a little. I don't remember letting you in."
Clark smiled, moved closer. He took Lex's hand and Lex let him.
"You didn't."
They sat together like that in the truck, waiting, not wanting to let the moment go. But the cheering got louder, the people continued to mill into the stadium, and reality stood outside the door.
"What do you think Pete would say about this?" Lex asked, motioning to the crowd.
"He was great when I was 14. But then you grow up, you change." Clark watched Lex watching the laughing and cheering.
"I think you need different kinds of friends when you get older," explained Clark with the words that had been in his head before that night; since that day on the bridge.
"I think you're right," Lex said and got out of the truck. He waited for Clark at the passenger door and they followed the crowd into the stadium.
Everyone in Smallville was at the game. The jocks were on the field, their girlfriends on the sidelines. There were boyfriends and girlfriends huddled underneath blankets. There were kids with their parents who looked as if they had been dragged. There were groups of friends there for the sport and others just there for the fun.
"What kinds of friends did you have in high school?" Clark asked when he caught Lex watching the same kids.
"I didn't," he said simply.
"You didn't have friends?" Clark gave him an incredulous look and led them through the maze of people.
"Of course I had friends," Lex answered. "But we never liked each other. We were all the same. All sons of fathers we called Sir, living lives already planned."
Clark turned back when he realised Lex had stopped.
"It's hard to be friends with someone who hates himself," Lex explained. Clark took his hand and they continued walking.
"We never would have been friends in high school," Lex told him.
"You don't know that," he countered, just a little angry that Lex could be so casual with their friendship, but Clark knew it was true.
Lex nodded. "I do."
"Then why are we friends now?"
"Cause I'm not in high school anymore." Lex brushed against him, a symptom of the crowded space but Lex made it so much more. They were in a public place where his friends - and parents - could see them and Clark was thinking all sorts of things he could do with this guy who hadn't even kissed him yet.
He coughed, cleared his throat. "So, what changed? What were you in high school?" Clark grinned and waited for Lex. "You must have been popular, but you weren't a jock, right?"
"I fenced," Lex defended.
"An athlete, maybe. But not a jock." Nodding, Lex reluctantly agreed.
Clark stretched above the crowd, looked for the rest of the gang. "You probably had a bit of Judd Nelson in you too. Hidden criminal tendencies?" He turned back to Lex with a knowing grin.
"You're good," said with genuine surprise.
"And you think I don't know you." Clark beamed but the expression on Lex's face was a little lost. Clark stood close, holding Lex with his eyes; just in case. Lex had been caught, he knew it. But something told Clark he wouldn't try to escape. He waited another tense moment until the twitch of Lex's mouth broke into an unexpected laugh.
"Look." Clark pointed up to the stands, Lex's eyes followed to find Chloe, Pete and Lana. "There they are." He waited for Lex to catch his gaze, then led the way.
"So, I was popular. Someone has to be in charge, might as well be me."
He could picture it: sixteen year old Lex with his pack of rich bullies; meant to be leaders but not one of them dared to go against the Luthor. "You would have walked right by me in the halls."
Lex didn't even bother to disagree. "I would have walked right by you in the halls and then had someone push you into a locker." It helped that Clark couldn't see his face. But it was the truth and maybe he should look anyway.
Lex was waiting for him when he turned around. Clark's smile told him he wasn't mad. They stood there, stopped on the sidelines as Clark watched the players practice. Whitney had only been gone a few months and already there had been a few claims on his position. Pete had suggested a lunchtime poll but Chloe told them to wait for the Homecoming game. Clark wasn't sure of his name but number 7 seemed to be calling the shots on the field.
This game wasn't about winning; it was just window dressing. Smallville was here to witness the coming out of the new alpha male.
"Would you string me up in a field for looking at your girlfriend?"
"No," Lex told him, quiet but firm.
Clark nodded his thanks.
There was only a beat of time before Lex's next words. "I didn't have a girlfriend." Laughter, then Lex put on a serious face. "Were you looking at my boyfriend?"
"I don't know," Clark said, innocently, playing along with the game. "What does he look like?"
Lex sent a lazy smile towards the players on the field, remembering a good high school memory. "Blonde. Blue eyes. He was a football player."
"You dated Whitney in high school?" Clark burst with laughter. He doubled over and then back up to look at Lex through the tears. He was amused but serious and Clark kept laughing.
"No," he tried to convince Clark. "His name was Brian."
"The first in your long line of bimbos," said Clark, calming himself and holding back the giggles at his lips.
"He may have been failing French but he wasn't a bimbo."
"Okay. But, Victoria. You'll give me that one, right?"
"She just doesn't think," Lex explained. "Doesn't look before leaping."
Clark turned away and started walking. "Especially when she's leaping into your bed," he muttered under his breath. When Lex didn't say anything, he turned back, sheepishly, to see him making his way through the crowd towards Clark and doing nothing to hide the grin.
"Clark, are you jealous?" he asked when they were again standing close enough to kiss. As they had been doing all night; staying just close enough to each other to make Clark think that it could happen at any moment.
"I didn't like her." He spoke with his eyes on the ground, trying not to scuff the ground with the toe of his worn sneaker. It would have made Lex laugh and they hadn't reached that part of the conversation just yet.
"Neither did I." He snapped his eyes up and Lex was there, waiting for Clark to understand.
"How does that work? How do you -"
The band started up with the first notes of "Hail the Conquering Heroes" and the crowd chimed in with the words. It stopped Clark's thought and brought him back to Smallville. He looked up at the people in the stands. He could see Pete waving them over, he could hear Chloe calling his name. He looked back at Lex and instead chose the nearest empty bench.
"How do you have sex with someone you don't even like?" Clark asked but part of him didn't want the answer. Him and Lex in the alley, him and Lex in the bedroom, him and Lex in the dark; it hadn't been real until now. They hadn't even had sex. They hadn't even kissed, Clark thought.
This was real. There was a band and an audience and the scoreboard sponsored by Pepsi was keeping a running tally. They were only playing with Lex's football player boyfriend and the truck that Clark knew he couldn't take home. But it had all been leading somewhere.
"You close your eyes," Lex answered, slowly, all his attention focused on Clark. "You close your eyes and you think about someone else."
"We wouldn't have dated in high school."
"No," with a sad sigh. "I would have fucked you though."
A single laugh broke through.
"Yeah? Was I good?"
"Amazing." Lex dragged out his three syllables, letting them slide off his tongue. Clark laughed again, before everything became serious. It was like this with every conversation he had ever had with Lex.
"So, why didn't we go out again?" he risked.
"It's just not done. The Homecoming King doesn't date the geek he cheats off in third period English."
"No, he doesn't. But that's not it. I think you were in love with me." Lex's eyes were on the field but nothing on his face said he was watching the game.
"You're probably right. I would have fallen hard for you."
For a lot of people, a high school crush could live and die with the sound of the classroom bell. But Clark knew better. Even at sixteen, Lex Luthor would never let himself fall too far or too hard. "You're not pretending anymore, are you?"
"Not with you, Clark."
The Crows scored two touchdowns while they were quiet. Clark had spied on Lex out of the corner of his eye but had yet to catch him looking. Staring. He looked up at the scoreboard - 17 to 0. Lex had the advantage on him tonight. But Clark had things to tell him that may even the score.
There were too many ways that they were different and Clark knew Lex wouldn't be happy about at least one of them. But he watched Lex cheer on the Crows and wondered if it really was true. In practical terms, there wasn't much between them. The six years Lex had on Clark was nothing compared to the secrets he was hiding.
Somehow, despite what came between them, Lex was never really that far away.
The Crows scored again, and this time Lex cheered with the rest of the crowd, waiting for the wave to come their way and pulling Clark up with him. Clark smiled and moved closer on the bench when they sat down so they were touching, shoulder to hip, thigh to foot.
They had been different people. And they still were. But they fit better now.
||||
Clark wouldn't say they were hiding. But the concession line stretched back towards the field and even if you were looking - as Clark was sure Chloe was - he and Lex wouldn't have been easy to find.
When the game started again, they chose new seats. To throw her off the scent, Lex had said. It was fun; playing the hunted, shifting your eyes back and forth and hoping you didn't get caught. It always felt like that with Lex and somehow he always managed to make it into a game.
It wasn't until they were back in the truck, on the road, that they let go of their breath.
It was quiet, Clark behind the wheel and Lex in the passenger seat again. But he was looking this time. And he hadn't been able to turn away.
Clark glanced over towards him, chuckling at the look on Lex's face.
"You had fun tonight," Clark told him.
"I did." Lex nodded, laughed and then shook his head, a little embarrassed by the ease at which it was all happening.
"I can tell. You look wistful."
"Wistful?" Clark nodded. "You know, Enrique was saying that just the other day. 'Mr. Luthor, you always look so wistful after Mr. Kent leaves.'" He grinned in Clark's direction.
"He calls me Mr. Kent?" asked Clark. "That's weird."
"Not for a butler."
It didn't mean anything, it was just conversation. But Clark couldn't stop smiling. The air between them had always been this thick only now Clark could see through it. Dad always said, your gifts aren't for taking advantage of people. But with Lex he never had to.
Eyes back on the road, Clark watched for the mailbox on the side of the road that would signal the end of the night. Lex's hand reached up into his hair and when he saw the farm, Clark was tempted to keep driving.
"Why are we stopping?"
Clark pulled the truck over, parking on the side of the road. "You're dropping me off."
"You're not driving up to the house. You don't want your dad to see me?" Clark gave him a look and Lex understood. "You don't want him to see the truck."
Clark opened the door and stepped out. "You're not going to make me drive this thing home, are you?" Lex called after him.
He got out of the passenger seat and walked around the front to where Clark stood in the driveway, waiting for him. "You're really going home?" Lex reached out, stroked his cheek. "I thought you weren't afraid, Clark."
"I'm not." Clark took the hand and pulled Lex back to the truck.
"Will you tell me where you were this week?"
"Do you ever feel like your life is a movie?" Lex laughed, then stopped when Clark didn't follow. "I'm sorry, but isn't that a bit much of a clich, even for Clark Kent?"
"It is a clich," groaned Clark. "That's the problem." He let go of Lex's hand and leaned against the truck next to him. "See, this is how it works. There's the hero -"
"You."
"And the hero," Clark continued, uninterrupted, "has a love interest. She's the unattainable beautiful girl, usually second billing. But he also has a best friend, a one-of-the-guys girl."
Lex nodded to himself, putting faces to all the players.
"And the hero gets blinded by the beauty and the friendship until the end of the movie when the friend becomes the beauty and the hero learns the true meaning of love."
"So, what's the problem?"
"Well, you showed up and screwed everything. Because I've already got the unattainable beauty and the best friend." Clark paused, dramatic effect or maybe a little bit of that fear that wasn't supposed to be there.
"I can't fall for you too."
Lex didn't even wait a minute before he kissed him. Just tilted his head that little bit, leaned in that little bit further, and touched his lips to Clark's. He should have been thinking of time slowing down, syrup slow, or stars bursting behind his eyes with light and sound.
It wasn't anything like that. It was real, the truck still warm at his back and the ground crunching beneath their feet. It was Lex on his lips and in his mouth and working his way into everything else.
And Clark wasn't afraid. They fit better now.