Story by Kat Lee, Official
Title: Official
Writer: Kat Lee
Based on: What Have I Become, My Sweetest Friend
by Artist: Lex-EL
Word Count: 1,794
Rating/Warnings: PG/K+
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to DC Comics, not the author, and are used without permission.
The sudden shift of air as Superman landed behind him snapped at the purple scarf Lex had draped around his shoulders. He didn't need the scarf -- he'd survived much colder Winters than this --, but the splash of purple among his normal suit was a subtle reminder to the world that he was not to be tread upon. Purple meant royalty, and the Luthors were about as royal a family as Metropolis would ever see. As such, Lex was quite accustomed to getting his way and turned immediately from Superman.
"Lex, please," the hero pleaded, "it's not what you think! Diana's a good friend; that's all!"
"A good friend whose lips were on yours for the whole world to see!"
Clark wasn't at all surprised at his boyfriend's jealousy. He'd known Lex had a strong jealous streak ever since they had first become friends with the hint that their friendship could grow into something much more. It had over time, but Clark had had to prove to him that Lana truly was nothing more than a good friend. It had been a shocking revelation for he himself for he'd thought himself in love with her since he'd been a child until meeting Lex and finding his body responded to his mere presence in a completely different way than he did to Lana. Lana really had been only a good friend, and that was all Diana was now.
"We needed a cover," he murmured.
"A cover for what?" Lex almost snarled.
"A cover to hide who our true feelings are for. The League doesn't exactly have a good reputation -- "
"Oh, it doesn't, does it? And yet, here you all are, constantly risking your lives to save the world, a world, I seem to recall telling you years ago would never accept you."
"You're right," Clark spoke quietly, his head tilted slightly downward. It had been a hard lesson to learn, but the way the League had recently been drawn through the news added to the fact that Clark Kent had lost his job for refusing to back the exposure stories the people wanted to see of various League members doing wrong had finally taught him just that. One mistake, one time of aliens taking over their bodies, and the world had turned against them. Their furious hunger for proof that the League was evil and not just corrupted by possession made it crystal clear that there was a large number of people who had wanted to see them fail all along.
Lex looked back over his shoulder at Clark, one eyebrow raised in surprise as he readjusted your scarf. "And yet you continue to save them," he observed coldly.
"Momma told me long ago that two wrongs don't make a right."
Lex looked away. That did sound exactly like something Martha Kent would have said.
"Just because they don't like us, Lex, just because they fear us and they want to see us fall doesn't mean they don't need us. Who else would stop the threats that the League stops? Any one of our numerous villains could capture the whole world if we didn't stop them. They could take you. They could take Diana's girlfriend."
"So Wonder Woman is butch, huh? Chalk that up to one rumor they actually got right."
Clark sighed and reached for his boyfriend, but almost as if Lex could sense his movement behind him, he started walking across the roof of LuthorCorp again. "I had plans for us, Clark, plans that didn't necessarily consist of either of us staying in the closet -- "
"You know I can't come out as Superman."
"Can't or won't?" He sighed, raking a tired hand over his bald head. "I suppose it doesn't really matter. However, you also did not have to be photographed kissing Wonder Woman."
"It was her idea," Clark said defensively. "She wants the world to accept us -- we all do --, and we believe they will be more likely to accept us if we meet with their idea of what's right and respectable. She also wanted to give her girlfriend coverage. Our enemies may try to track down those we love. We've already seen some signs of that happening with Wonder Woman and Batman. If they do, they'll be far less likely to go after Superman than a civilian."
"What does the Bat love?" Lex pondered aloud, then shook his head. "No. Wait. I probably don't want to know."
"I don't know," Clark spoke honestly, "and the less of us who do know, the better. It was either myself or Batman who was going to kiss Wonder Woman, and he flat out refused."
Lex's lips twisted into a humored smirk, but his voice gave away none of his expression. "You could have done the same."
"I happen to think she has a good idea. How many times have you been attacked already? All that with the world thinking us sworn enemies. I don't want to think about how much more in danger your life would be if they figured out we're in love."
"What was it you said to me once? That your life is yours to risk? Well, mine is the same."
"It's my job to protect you."
"I can protect myself."
"Not from some of these threats, you can't!"
Lex slipped two fingers inside his breast pocket and fingered what he'd had inside all week. "None of this changes the fact that your little charade put a kink in my plans."
"It doesn't have to."
"You don't even know what I've been planning."
"No," Clark answered honestly again, "I don't, but whatever it is, I can join you in it as myself, just not as Superman."
"But what if I want all of you?"
Clark finally caught up with Lex through Superman's super speed. He grasped his elbow and told him gently to face him. Gazing into his blue eyes that still somehow seemed bluer and more beautiful every time he saw them, he vowed, "You have all of me. You have since we were kids, and you always will. But the world doesn't need to know that any more than they need to know who I really am. You're the one who first taught me that, Lex. Have you forgotten that the first life you took out of this world was to protect me? I haven't." He shook his head.
"Nor have I forgotten that you changed your ways because of me. You wanted to take over the world once." He raised two fingers to stop Lex's opening mouth from protesting. "I know it was to protect us, to make the world be what it should be. Your reasons were good, but your plan was still wrong, and eventually you gave it up so we could be together. Now you use all your genius ideas and funding to help the world, to make our country's armed forces stronger, and to help the League."
"You went good for me, Lex. I'll never forget that, but I can't be with you as Superman without the world eventually figuring out who I am. And if they find out that we are together, that will make you a huge target. You advised me once to keep my true identity secret not to protect you but to protect myself and my family. You're a part of that family now, Lex. You have been for years."
Lex stared up at him for a long moment, but a smile eventually won out. He couldn't stay angry with the man he loved, especially when he'd just told him again how much he loved him. They were family. Clark and his parents were the family he'd needed ever since he was a lonely, misunderstood child. As corny as it sounded when other people said it about their lovers, Clark truly was his better half. He completed him and had for a long time now. They just hadn't made it official -- yet.
A cold, Winter wind was snapping around them as the sun sank in the distance, but Lex didn't feel the cold. He never felt the cold when he was with Clark, not the cold of the cruel world in which they lived or the actual cold of the temperatures. It was just like the fact that he couldn't stay angry with him. He made him warm. He made him happy. He made him whole.
And there, in the midst of that brisk, cold wind and on freshly falling snow, Lex Luthor kneeled. He gazed into the eyes of the man he loved and brought out the item he'd been pondering for over a month. He realized now that he never should have had to think about it quite so hard. The answer was already obvious. The only thing this little piece of stone would do was make everything they already felt, and had for so long, official.
"Then let's make it official," he said, his beaming smile as warm as sunshine on that cold, Winter afternoon. He brought out the box and opened it. "Marry me, Clark, and let's put all our rumors to rest. Let the world know that we love each other, and Superman can pretend he's in love with whatever chick is necessary in the moment. But let the world know you love me."
"I thought you'd never ask," Clark breathed, beaming joyously. Truly, he had given up any hope of Lex ever asking him to marry him which was why he'd gone to look at rings only yesterday. If he wasn't going to ask, Clark himself was, but he'd lost his gall in his fear of losing Lex when he'd gone to help Wonder Woman save her girlfriend and realized how much in danger those they loved were simply for loving them.
Being openly loved by himself as Clark would still make Lex a target, but it wasn't a target in which the whole world, and outer systems, would be interested. He'd be targeted by hatred and prejudice, but then as a Luthor, he already was. They'd stand together against any who opposed them as husband and husband.
"Is that a yes?" Lex asked, his smile trembling. The cold was nipping at his fingers, but that wasn't what made his smile tremble.
"Of course it's a yes, Lex!" Clark whisked him up into his arms and into the evening sky, flying them high above Metropolis, beyond the clouds so laden with snow, where none could see them. "It's a yes for now and forever! I've always loved you!!"
"I know," Lex breathed, his warm and loving smile the widest he'd ever worn, "and I you!" He kissed him long and deep and slipped his ring onto his finger, making their union official at last.
The End
Writer: Kat Lee
Based on: What Have I Become, My Sweetest Friend
by Artist: Lex-EL
Word Count: 1,794
Rating/Warnings: PG/K+
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to DC Comics, not the author, and are used without permission.
The sudden shift of air as Superman landed behind him snapped at the purple scarf Lex had draped around his shoulders. He didn't need the scarf -- he'd survived much colder Winters than this --, but the splash of purple among his normal suit was a subtle reminder to the world that he was not to be tread upon. Purple meant royalty, and the Luthors were about as royal a family as Metropolis would ever see. As such, Lex was quite accustomed to getting his way and turned immediately from Superman.
"Lex, please," the hero pleaded, "it's not what you think! Diana's a good friend; that's all!"
"A good friend whose lips were on yours for the whole world to see!"
Clark wasn't at all surprised at his boyfriend's jealousy. He'd known Lex had a strong jealous streak ever since they had first become friends with the hint that their friendship could grow into something much more. It had over time, but Clark had had to prove to him that Lana truly was nothing more than a good friend. It had been a shocking revelation for he himself for he'd thought himself in love with her since he'd been a child until meeting Lex and finding his body responded to his mere presence in a completely different way than he did to Lana. Lana really had been only a good friend, and that was all Diana was now.
"We needed a cover," he murmured.
"A cover for what?" Lex almost snarled.
"A cover to hide who our true feelings are for. The League doesn't exactly have a good reputation -- "
"Oh, it doesn't, does it? And yet, here you all are, constantly risking your lives to save the world, a world, I seem to recall telling you years ago would never accept you."
"You're right," Clark spoke quietly, his head tilted slightly downward. It had been a hard lesson to learn, but the way the League had recently been drawn through the news added to the fact that Clark Kent had lost his job for refusing to back the exposure stories the people wanted to see of various League members doing wrong had finally taught him just that. One mistake, one time of aliens taking over their bodies, and the world had turned against them. Their furious hunger for proof that the League was evil and not just corrupted by possession made it crystal clear that there was a large number of people who had wanted to see them fail all along.
Lex looked back over his shoulder at Clark, one eyebrow raised in surprise as he readjusted your scarf. "And yet you continue to save them," he observed coldly.
"Momma told me long ago that two wrongs don't make a right."
Lex looked away. That did sound exactly like something Martha Kent would have said.
"Just because they don't like us, Lex, just because they fear us and they want to see us fall doesn't mean they don't need us. Who else would stop the threats that the League stops? Any one of our numerous villains could capture the whole world if we didn't stop them. They could take you. They could take Diana's girlfriend."
"So Wonder Woman is butch, huh? Chalk that up to one rumor they actually got right."
Clark sighed and reached for his boyfriend, but almost as if Lex could sense his movement behind him, he started walking across the roof of LuthorCorp again. "I had plans for us, Clark, plans that didn't necessarily consist of either of us staying in the closet -- "
"You know I can't come out as Superman."
"Can't or won't?" He sighed, raking a tired hand over his bald head. "I suppose it doesn't really matter. However, you also did not have to be photographed kissing Wonder Woman."
"It was her idea," Clark said defensively. "She wants the world to accept us -- we all do --, and we believe they will be more likely to accept us if we meet with their idea of what's right and respectable. She also wanted to give her girlfriend coverage. Our enemies may try to track down those we love. We've already seen some signs of that happening with Wonder Woman and Batman. If they do, they'll be far less likely to go after Superman than a civilian."
"What does the Bat love?" Lex pondered aloud, then shook his head. "No. Wait. I probably don't want to know."
"I don't know," Clark spoke honestly, "and the less of us who do know, the better. It was either myself or Batman who was going to kiss Wonder Woman, and he flat out refused."
Lex's lips twisted into a humored smirk, but his voice gave away none of his expression. "You could have done the same."
"I happen to think she has a good idea. How many times have you been attacked already? All that with the world thinking us sworn enemies. I don't want to think about how much more in danger your life would be if they figured out we're in love."
"What was it you said to me once? That your life is yours to risk? Well, mine is the same."
"It's my job to protect you."
"I can protect myself."
"Not from some of these threats, you can't!"
Lex slipped two fingers inside his breast pocket and fingered what he'd had inside all week. "None of this changes the fact that your little charade put a kink in my plans."
"It doesn't have to."
"You don't even know what I've been planning."
"No," Clark answered honestly again, "I don't, but whatever it is, I can join you in it as myself, just not as Superman."
"But what if I want all of you?"
Clark finally caught up with Lex through Superman's super speed. He grasped his elbow and told him gently to face him. Gazing into his blue eyes that still somehow seemed bluer and more beautiful every time he saw them, he vowed, "You have all of me. You have since we were kids, and you always will. But the world doesn't need to know that any more than they need to know who I really am. You're the one who first taught me that, Lex. Have you forgotten that the first life you took out of this world was to protect me? I haven't." He shook his head.
"Nor have I forgotten that you changed your ways because of me. You wanted to take over the world once." He raised two fingers to stop Lex's opening mouth from protesting. "I know it was to protect us, to make the world be what it should be. Your reasons were good, but your plan was still wrong, and eventually you gave it up so we could be together. Now you use all your genius ideas and funding to help the world, to make our country's armed forces stronger, and to help the League."
"You went good for me, Lex. I'll never forget that, but I can't be with you as Superman without the world eventually figuring out who I am. And if they find out that we are together, that will make you a huge target. You advised me once to keep my true identity secret not to protect you but to protect myself and my family. You're a part of that family now, Lex. You have been for years."
Lex stared up at him for a long moment, but a smile eventually won out. He couldn't stay angry with the man he loved, especially when he'd just told him again how much he loved him. They were family. Clark and his parents were the family he'd needed ever since he was a lonely, misunderstood child. As corny as it sounded when other people said it about their lovers, Clark truly was his better half. He completed him and had for a long time now. They just hadn't made it official -- yet.
A cold, Winter wind was snapping around them as the sun sank in the distance, but Lex didn't feel the cold. He never felt the cold when he was with Clark, not the cold of the cruel world in which they lived or the actual cold of the temperatures. It was just like the fact that he couldn't stay angry with him. He made him warm. He made him happy. He made him whole.
And there, in the midst of that brisk, cold wind and on freshly falling snow, Lex Luthor kneeled. He gazed into the eyes of the man he loved and brought out the item he'd been pondering for over a month. He realized now that he never should have had to think about it quite so hard. The answer was already obvious. The only thing this little piece of stone would do was make everything they already felt, and had for so long, official.
"Then let's make it official," he said, his beaming smile as warm as sunshine on that cold, Winter afternoon. He brought out the box and opened it. "Marry me, Clark, and let's put all our rumors to rest. Let the world know that we love each other, and Superman can pretend he's in love with whatever chick is necessary in the moment. But let the world know you love me."
"I thought you'd never ask," Clark breathed, beaming joyously. Truly, he had given up any hope of Lex ever asking him to marry him which was why he'd gone to look at rings only yesterday. If he wasn't going to ask, Clark himself was, but he'd lost his gall in his fear of losing Lex when he'd gone to help Wonder Woman save her girlfriend and realized how much in danger those they loved were simply for loving them.
Being openly loved by himself as Clark would still make Lex a target, but it wasn't a target in which the whole world, and outer systems, would be interested. He'd be targeted by hatred and prejudice, but then as a Luthor, he already was. They'd stand together against any who opposed them as husband and husband.
"Is that a yes?" Lex asked, his smile trembling. The cold was nipping at his fingers, but that wasn't what made his smile tremble.
"Of course it's a yes, Lex!" Clark whisked him up into his arms and into the evening sky, flying them high above Metropolis, beyond the clouds so laden with snow, where none could see them. "It's a yes for now and forever! I've always loved you!!"
"I know," Lex breathed, his warm and loving smile the widest he'd ever worn, "and I you!" He kissed him long and deep and slipped his ring onto his finger, making their union official at last.
The End