Pinch-hit Fic for Lady Dreamer: Catalyst

[twinsarein]

Title: Catalyst
Author: twinsarein
Betas: My two talented co-conspirators - sue_dreams  & tallihensia 
Pairing: Clex
Rating: PG
Word count: 4,466
Genre: Angst
Spoilers/Warnings: Just general ones for the first two seasons
Summary: There’s a new girl in town, and she could be a cause for some unexpected changes. There’s a time for everything after all
Feedback: I’m like Lex, I appreciate a person who isn’t afraid to speak up.
A/N: A surprise fic for our fearless leader, ladydreamer. One of the things she asked for was old school shenanigans. There’s a little of that in here, although not as much as I was hoping for.


Catalyst

Clark pushes open the door to The Talon, and holds it for Chloe and the new girl, Hannah, they’re showing around. Chloe walks in and simply smiles her thanks to Clark as she passes him. Hannah, however, stretches up on tiptoe and presses a kiss right on his mouth. “Mmmm, I do love a gentleman. Thank you, Clark.”

As he stares after her, wide-eyed, she continues into the building nonchalantly and looks around, while Chloe is distracted by searching the busy place for an empty table. “So, this is the pinnacle of excitement in Smallville? It’s quaint, and the décor is…interesting.”

Still staring after her, Clark sees Chloe grab Hannah’s hand and start weaving them through the crowd to a table she spots being vacated. He blinks after them, until a voice startles him out of his reverie.

“Are you The Talon’s new doorman, Clark?”

The amused tone makes Clark blush and he steps away from the door after Lex walks through.

“Quit kidding, Lex. Did you see what she did? Why would she do that?”

Clark stares down the room, where Chloe and Hannah are just finding a table and sitting down. Chloe gives a little wave as she notices him looking, but Hannah’s back is to the room and she’s still taking in the decorations, so doesn’t notice his gaze.

Lex continues to watch his friend with amusement. “She must be from Metropolis.”

Clark looks at Lex in bemusement. “Well, yeah, she and her parents just moved here over the weekend. What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Because, apparently all the people in Smallville are blind to your charms, and it takes someone from Metropolis to appreciate you. Chloe, for instance, and now your new friend. Are you going to take her up on it?”

Clark finds himself blushing at what Lex says, but tries to look him in the eyes anyway. “Take her up on what, Lex? She was just saying thank you.”

Lex puts a hand on his friend’s arm and looks up at him with a smirk. “You can tell yourself that if it makes you feel better, Clark. However, most people just say thank you.” Patting the arm he’d just been touching, Lex sighs. “Now, I have to go corner Lana, and talk to her about business. I’ll see you later, maybe join you, if you’re still here when I come out. Have fun with your harem.”

Clark’s blush, which had faded, blooms over his face again. “Lex!”

The whispered hiss of his name said in such a shocked tone just makes the young man laugh as he walks away. The sound makes Clark shiver and his arm tingles where Lex’s hand had been. He shrugs off the sensations as he usually does. He’s always known that he’s the wrong age and gender to attract a man such as Lex Luthor. Then he walks to the table the girls had chosen, taking calming breaths on the way in an effort to reduce his blush.

“Hey, Clark. I was beginning to think that you’d be talking to Lex all afternoon while standing in the doorway.”

Clark smiles at Chloe’s comment, and is going to sit next to her, when Hannah reaches out and pulls him down besides her.

“Clark, who’s this Lex that can keep you from the two most beautiful girls in Smallville for so long?”

Clark gapes at her, not because of what she asked, but because of the way she’s clinging to his arm and leaning into his space as she does. And, he thinks she’s pressing her breasts into his arm. He tries to extricate himself, but doesn’t have much luck because of how closely she’s sitting. “He, ah…he’s…just a good friend.”

She smiles at him and lowers her lashes. “He’s very lucky. I’d like to be your good friend, too.”

Clark throws a desperate look at Chloe, only to find her laughing behind her hand. His look changes to outrage, but before he can let Chloe have it he almost jumps out of his skin when a small hand spreads over his stomach and rubs.

“Well, Clark? Would you be my…friend?”

As the question is breathed into his ear, the hand slips down an inch and Clark all but leaps up from the table. “I…I…I’m going to get some drinks for us. It…it looks like the waitress is really busy. I’ll get us our usuals, Chloe. What…what do you want, H-hannah? To drink, I mean!”

Nodding his head at her order, he barely hears it due to the blood rushing through his ears in his panic, but that quickly recedes to be replaced with embarrassment at his overreaction. Still, he practically runs from the table when she’s done.

The Talon is so busy after school that it takes him ten minutes just to get to the counter to place his order, and it takes almost another ten before all three are ready.   The crowd had thinned out some during his wait, and not as many tables are filled as he heads back to the girls. Clark figures that part of the crowd at the counter had been there getting something to go.

Walking slowly, so as to not make this day worse by tripping over someone’s feet and losing all the drinks, he hears part of the conversation the girls are having before he gets to the table.   Hannah looks absorbed and Chloe is her usual excited self about her pet topic.

“…so, the latest Meteor Freak of the Week seems to be someone who can make valuables disappear while he kisses them. No one’s sure how he does it, because they say they can feel his hands holding them during the entire kiss. So far it’s happened at the last home football game and at the local movie theater. He doesn’t seem to be intimidated by crowds at all, although the people he picks are on the fringes. No one knows who it is, because he does something that causes a temporary blindness. I think…”

Clark tunes her back out, because he suddenly has a bad feeling about what’s going to happen. He’s not sure why, but he does. He starts scanning the room, looking for anything that’s out of place or strange.

A table nearby is suddenly vacated, and Clark puts down the drinks he’s carrying. He switches to x-ray vision, and he sees a faint green glow coming from someone in a fairly deserted corner. Luckily, he doesn’t think it’ll be enough to incapacitate him.  He switches back to regular vision, so he can tell who he’s dealing with and sees Chad, a tight-end from the football team.

Looking for something to use, Clark spots the drapery cords and goes to unwind them. He tries to make his way over to Chad as unobtrusively as possible. When he sees the other boy eye a woman sitting alone at a table nearby and start to sidle nearer, though, Clark knows he’s run out of time. Slipping into superspeed, Clark knocks him unconscious with a finger flick to the forehead, ties him up, and is back at the table with the drinks he’d left before anyone notices anything is wrong.

Just as he’s putting the girls’ drinks in front of them, a commotion at the other end of the building causes Chloe to grab her notepad and pen and hurry over. By the time Clark and Hannah arrive, Chloe is on her knees by the trussed up boy and questioning the people around him.

Clark’s relieved to hear that no one saw anything, just a tied up Chad suddenly appearing on the floor. Chloe is reaching out to touch the football player when the Sheriff arrives for his usual afternoon coffee and walks over to see what all the fuss is about.

Immediately, Sheriff Miller takes charge and starts firing some of the same questions at the patrons in The Talon that Chloe had. He checks Chad’s pulse, and is reaching to contact the paramedics when something under Chad moves.

Carefully, Sheriff Miller reaches down to turn the boy over onto his front. Everyone gasps and steps back as another person is reveled, and appears to be attached to Chad’s own body in some way. Clark tries to keep the grimace off his face when he realizes it’s not a whole person, but like there’s another person trying to get out. He can see part of a face, including a mouth, and some small arms that extend from Chad’s shoulders and wave weakly in the air.

Clark sees Chloe snapping some pictures with her phone and then hurrying past him, letting Hannah know she’s going back to their table. Clark takes a last look at the creature attached to Chad and follows after Chloe.

When he gets back to the table, Chloe is already gathering her things in preparation for leaving.

Clark looks to make sure Hannah isn’t behind him, and then gently grabs Chloe’s arm. “Chloe, where do you think you’re going?”

Chloe looks at him as if he’s demented. “Back to The Torch, of course. I need to research this, find out how it happened, who that…person…attached to Chad is, or was.”

Clark looks around again and spies Hannah starting her way back to them. His voice is now desperate. “You can’t leave me alone with her. Organize your notes or something here. Besides, it’d be rude. You’re the one who volunteered us to show her around.”

With relief Clark sees Chloe wavering. He sits down and pulls her after, so they’re on the same side and he isn’t across from Hannah.

Chloe gives him a look of knowing amusement, but doesn’t say anything. Hannah arrives back at the table, but is too caught up in what had just happened to really notice the new seating arrangement.

“Oh my god, you two! Did you see that? Is that one of the meteor freaks you were talking about, Chloe? I thought you were just playing with me, but that kid’s a real freak. What in the hell happened to make him like that? Jeez, this isn’t the boring little town I thought it was going to be when Daddy told me we were moving here. The kids back home will never believe me if I tell them about this. And you said that this kind of thing happens all the time. Unbelievable!”

She finally winds down, and Chloe answers all of her questions and more. Clark just quietly takes a sip of his coffee, grimacing at how cold it had gotten during the commotion. The girls’ drinks have foam or whipped cream on top, so they’d stayed fairly hot, but he just had a plain coffee. Surreptitiously, Clark aims a short blast of heat vision into his mug, and watches in satisfaction when steam rises from it when he’s done.

Hannah can’t sit still anymore, and keeps craning her neck around to see what’s happening. Cynically, Clark thinks that she’ll get used to the excitement soon enough and become as blasé about it as everyone else in town. He almost chokes on his coffee during her next round of excitable comments.

“Oh my god! That’s Lex Luthor over there. I’d forgotten he’d been forced to come to this tiny town. It must be hell for him, considering the life he was used to in Metropolis. He’s so dreamy. He’s got everything. He’s rich, powerful, handsome, and sexy.”

Clark doesn’t like the order Hannah puts Lex’s attributes in. She left off some of the most important ones, such as his loyalty and his intelligence. Rich and powerful don’t even make his list. And she’s still jabbering.

“I wonder if I’ll get a chance to meet him. He and my brother had quite a fling a few years ago, right before his father sent him here. I never got to meet him though. I was away at school, and he dumped my brother before I got back. He took up with some swimsuit model right after. I don’t remember her name, but I can’t blame him for switching from my brother to her. I never could figure out why he was with him in the first place, since my brother isn’t much of a catch. This place is looking better by the minute.”

Clark’s brain freezes. Hannah must be lying. Lex can’t have dated her brother. He’s never dated anyone but women…at least since he moved to Smallville. She isn’t acting like she’s trying to put one over on them, though, and it kind of explains some of the looks he’s gotten from the man over the last year or so.

What he can’t believe is that Lex is bi and he’d never said anything. Clark isn’t sure if he’s hurt or relieved. Lex liking men is one obstacle down, but Clark can’t imagine that his friend would want someone like him, no matter what kind of looks he’s directed his way. Lex is a sophisticated man of the world. Clark…isn’t. Still, he can’t help dreaming as he’d rarely let himself do before.

Keeping half an ear on the rest of the conversation, Clark takes a sip of his coffee, which he looks at with distaste. It’s gotten lukewarm again during his distraction. Pushing it aside, he looks around the room. Sheriff Miller’s deputies have arrived, along with the paramedics, and are heading out with Chad. Presumably, they’re going to keep him under guard while he’s taken to the hospital to get checked out. Sheriff Miller’s at the front of the store talking to Lex and Lana.

Perking up at seeing Lex, Clark looks him over with a new eye. Lex looks up and catches him at it, raising an eyebrow in question. Clark feels the blush spreading over his cheeks and sees Lex’s look change to one of speculation. He hurriedly slumps in his seat and pulls his coffee forward as camouflage, trying to tune back into Chloe and Hannah’s conversation. He’s very glad that their discussion has changed from Lex and his dating habits to more mundane things.

His relief is short-lived, though, when Lex arrives at their table. “Hello, Clark. Chloe. I see you were present for yet another round of Smallville excitement. I hope your new friend made it through unscathed.”

They all look up at his arrival, but before anyone else can respond, Hannah speaks up, her voice a squeal that has the whole of the Talon clientele turning their way. “You know Lex Luthor? This is the Lex that held you up when we first came in? Why didn’t you say anything? How the hell did you two country bumpkins get to know the Prince of Metropolis?” Leaning over, one arm seeming to press against her chest almost deliberately to push her breasts up more, she reaches out with her other arm and lays her fingers lightly just above the waistline of Lex’s pants. “Why don’t you join us Mr. Luthor, sir.”

Clark feels a thunderous expression cross his face at the placement of her hand on Lex, especially when he remembers what she’d done to him at the beginning of the afternoon. He quickly tries to smooth it away.

Lex looks at Clark and purses his lips in thought. “Thank you for the invitation, Miss…”

“Oooo, it’s just Hannah, Mr. Luthor.”

Her excited squeal as Lex slides in next to her grates Clark the wrong way for some reason, and he stiffens up, before forcing himself to relax.

Lex smiles over at the excited young woman, while at the same time taking her hand off of the arm she’d placed it on and entrapping it with both of his. “Then, call me Lex, Hannah. I’m very pleased to meet you. Have you been friends with Clark and Chloe for long?”

So much for his efforts to relax. Lex smiled at Hannah. Clark can’t believe it; Lex almost never smiles, especially like that, like he means it. Clark’s always been the one exception…until now apparently. Clark starts to see red.

Victoria, Desiree, and all the women in between had been one thing. They were Lex’s age and matched him in sophistication and looks, if in nothing else, but Hannah’s the same age that Clark and Chloe are. Why would Lex flirt with her? He’d never flirted with Chloe or Lana, at least not like this. He hasn’t looked away from her once since he sat down. Since he’d said hello a few minutes ago, he hasn’t even looked at Clark - no smile, no questions about the event or his day at school, no nothing. He’s even still holding her hand in his, and she’s practically all over him.

Clark hears a crack and feels wetness on his hands. Everyone else at the table jumps as he looks down. He’s shattered his coffee mug. There’s coffee and shards everywhere. He hasn’t lost control of his strength that badly in…he isn’t sure how long. He blinks down at the mess in shock.

He feels someone shaking him, and he looks up blankly at first. Then he starts to register Chloe mopping up the mess and scolding him in her worry, Hannah standing back from the table, and Lex crouching in front of him, trying to get him to open his hands. Something about him being hurt.

Shaking his head, Clark tries to shake himself out of his fog at the same time. “I…I’m not hurt, Lex. Just surprised that it happened at all. Sorry for scaring everyone.”

Pulling his hands away from Lex carefully, Clark stands. “I’d better get home. It’s close to the time I had to leave anyway, and I can clean up there better than here. Hannah, I’m sorry I can’t help show you around more. Chloe, I’ll see you in Chem class tomorrow. Bye, Lex.”

Lex stands with him, putting a hand on Clark’s shoulder. “I have to get going as well. I’ll drive you home.”

“That isn’t necessary, Lex.”

“But, I insist.”

Shrugging, Clark waves to the girls and follows Lex to his car, not even noticing what make it is. He’s lost in his own thoughts again, thinking about how Lex had been with Hannah. He just doesn’t understand why Lex had been acting like that with her. Why would he flirt with her like that? Clark knows that Lex is born to flirt, but it’s usually more subtle and less heavy-handed than it had been today. Hannah might have grown up in Metropolis, but she’s still so much younger than Lex. He can’t possibly be interested in her. But, then why had he held her hand?

The car screeches to a halt, and Clark starts to get out before he even realizes that they’re in front of the mansion, not his family’s farm. “Lex, why are we here? You said you were going to drive me home.”

Lex gets out of his car and then walks to the front door, leaving the car there for someone on staff to take care of. “I will, Clark. There’s something I wanted to talk to you about first, though.”

He doesn’t say anything more, and they both walk towards his study with no discussion necessary. Lex makes a beeline for the bar as soon as they arrive, and pours himself a scotch.

Clark says no to having anything, and paces around the room, still feeling agitated and out-of-sorts from earlier.

“What’s wrong, Clark?”

“Nothing.” He practically growls it out, but then takes a deep breath and tries to relax a little. “Sorry, Lex. Nothing’s really wrong. I’m just feeling restless for some reason.”

Lex nods his head and takes a sip from his scotch. “What can you tell me about Hannah?”

Clark whirls around, eyes wide with shock. “That’s what you brought me here to talk about? Why do you want to know more about her?”

Lex smirks and narrows his own eyes. “Why not?”

“Why…” Clark forces himself to not repeat what Lex has just said. “She’s my age, Lex. You like women such as Victoria and Desiree - they’re older, more worldly-wise.”

Shaking his head, Lex puts his drink down and clasps his hands in front of himself, his eyes focused intently on his friend. “That isn’t quite true, Clark. Victoria was business, Desiree doesn’t count, and the others were just a way to pass the time. As to the women part, I’m more attracted to a person than a gender. As to Hannah, there might be an age gap, but she’s at the age of consent, just as you are, and there’s something attractive about a person who knows what he or she wants and is willing to risk something to get it.”

Clark laughs a little meanly. “Yeah, she knows what she wants alright. The first things she mentioned when she saw you were how rich and powerful you are. Like those are the important things about you. She didn’t mention your intelligence, your loyalty, your bravery, what a good friend you can be, what a great employer you are, or how generous you are.”

Lex’s eyes soften at the unexpected eulogy, but he doesn’t relent. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting wealth and power. Throughout history, the only way for a woman to get them was through a man. If she was clever, she could control him, and therefore the wealth and power as well. It’s still one way for a woman to get it. In spite of the changing times, it’s still much more common to find men, not women, with those attributes.”

Clark looks at Lex in disbelief. “As maddening and exasperating as you can be, you deserve more than someone who just wants you for what you can give her, Lex.”

Lex lowers his head, but Clark can still hear the start of a huge sigh that the older man bites off. “It’s not like I’m planning on marrying her, Clark. She’d just be another way to pass the time. All I said was that there was nothing wrong with her wanting those things.”

Latching on to one statement, Clark looks at Lex intently. “What are you waiting for, then, if she’s just a way to pass the time?”

Shrugging insouciantly, Lex’s stare is anything but. “Someone who sees me for who I am. Someone who sees beyond my name and the wealth and power that comes with it. Someone who knows my faults, but cares for me anyway. Can you think of anyone like that?”

Clark’s eyes widen at Lex’s question. Surely he isn’t saying what it sounds like. Clark’s breathing speeds up and he can feel his pupils dilating. Then, when he thinks about what Lex is implying, his eyes start to itch and heat up. Clark slams his eyelids shut and turns away from Lex’s penetrating stare, trying to get himself under some control.

Lex makes a sound of aggravation. “Don’t strain yourself, Clark. I need to get you back home anyway, since you have school tomorrow. I’d appreciate it if you could give my cell number to Hannah. It’ll be enjoyable to talk to her again. Mercenary or not, it’s a pleasure to meet someone who knows her own mind so early in life.”

Clark hears Lex putting down his drink and gathering up his keys, but he doesn’t move. His heat vision is under control; however, he’s seeing red for an entirely different reason now. It isn’t as deadly, but it could be just as destructive if he doesn’t calm down. He’s winning his battle for control, until Lex bumps into him as he passes by on his way to the door.

Spinning, Clark grabs Lex’s upper arm and drags the slimmer man back to stand in front of him. Breathing hard again, at both his daring and with an anticipation that thrums through him, Clark growls when Lex starts to protest.

“No. I won’t give her your phone number. Lex…” Clark’s words stumble to a halt, as he starts to come to his senses. He stares at where he’s gripping Lex, sees how his fingers are denting the flesh a little. Still, he doesn’t let go. He drags his eyes up to Lex’s, startled to find them staring back at him with such…hope…in their depths.

The sight Lex allows him into his soul calms Clark considerably, and gives his courage a much needed boost. “Lex, I’m all those things you said you were waiting for. Would you be willing to settle for me?”

“No.”

Clark’s eyes widen in hurt and he drops his hand from Lex’s arm. He starts to step back, but it’s Lex’s turn to grab him.

“You idiot. There’ll be no settling about it, and I am not stroking your ego right now and telling you why. You’ll just have to believe me.”

Clark breaks into a big grin and reels Lex in for an equally big hug, pulling him as close as he can get him. He feels Lex nuzzle his nose near his ear and he shudders in reaction and tightens his grip a little. “Le-ex.”

Lex smiles into Clark’s neck. “Are you complaining, Farmboy?”

Clark blushes. “No, not exactly. That’d be silly, wouldn’t it? You just surprised me, that’s all.”

Chuckling, Lex slides his hands up and down Clark’s arms. “If you hold me this tightly, then you should expect me to do something.”

Surprising himself, Clark doesn’t loosen his grip. Instead he lowers his head a little and does some nuzzling of his own, kneading his hands along Lex’s back.

“That’s it.” Lex’s encouragement is more of a breathy moan than anything else, and Clark can feel his body reacting to it. Until Lex speaks again. “Remind me to send Hannah a gift tomorrow.”

Feeling as though he’s been doused with icy water, Clark pulls back. “What?!”

Lex hastens to reassure him. “A thank you gift, Clark. Just a thank you. I have the feeling that this might never have happened between us if she hadn’t been here to act as a catalyst. I wonder why she and her family moved here.”

Clark looks at Lex askance. “You should know, Lex. You hired her father to work in your plant after your father fired him. And surely Hannah moving here doesn’t make that much of a difference.  We’d have acted on it, eventually. Wouldn’t we?”

Silently, Lex shakes his head at the thought that his father is partially responsible for this life-altering turn of events. “Maybe, but now we don’t have to find out what would’ve happened, we can just enjoy ourselves now that it finally has.”

Clark can’t argue with that, and truthfully, he doesn’t want to. He has better things to do now than consider hypothetical ‘what ifs.’ Such as enjoy his first kiss with Lex.