Fic: Chivalry's Code
Title: Chivalry's Code
Category: fic
Rating: G
Word Count: 6102
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Notes: Inspired by my clexmas prompt, which is at the end. I did a very poor job of following said prompt. This is an AU/reenvisioning of season 3, using canon events as a basis, but ignoring a lot of them. It should mostly be clear.
Summary: The present is based upon events of the past, the people we know and have met. When those events are changed, so too are we.
Years ago, Clark had stood and watched the stones of the 'Luthor Ancestral Home' roll through on flat beds. He'd been drawn by the sight, curious, and the mansion that had from then on sat empty had featured in many of his childhood adventures, once he'd realized he could get there and back to the farm in just a few minutes.
To his childish dismay, the Luthors never came to inhabit their castle in the corn, not after it was reconstructed, not after Clark broke one of the rods of the gate, and not when Clark turned into a teenager and outgrew his childish games.
Despite the general grudge in town against all things Luthor, Clark had very little to do with anything with their name on it until the year he turned seventeen. Lionel Luthor's death was celebrated, his wife's mourned, and his heirs by birth and marriage seemed to stand through it all with their heads high and their shoulders together. Relatively, given the differences in their heights.
Clark wasn't interested in the Prince or Princess of Metropolis then. He had Chloe to keep out of trouble and Pete to keep entertained and Whitney to keep sane after the death of his own father, as well as his town to save from the occasional meteor-infected humans.
He was watching a leaf wend its way under Loeb Bridge, his favorite hiding spot, when the sounds of an approaching car reached his ears. He looked up, and then narrowed his eyes to look beyond the bridge, through the trees. Chloe and Pete knew where he went to avoid them, unfortunately, and more than once they'd tracked him down. At that moment, he wasn't ready to be found. There were two cars, speeding down the two lane road in his direction, just rounding the curve... there.
Clark blinked and refocused until he could discern make, model, and color. A silver Porsche, driven at too high a speed, followed and then being passed by a red Ferrari. Not the kind of cars one regularly saw in Smallville.
As Clark watched, one of the tires on the Ferrari blew and it veered into the Porsche it'd been trying to pass.The Ferrari regained some control, tires screeching as it slowed and then whipped back into the proper lane. The Porsche driver was not so lucky.
The world spun down, giving Clark a chance to plot the car's trajectory and then to act. He couldn't keep it from going through the guard rail and it took too long to climb up the hill to reach the road for him to be able to slow the Porsche down as much as he would have liked.
The girl driving had her eyes closed, her arms thrown up to protect her face. She never saw as Clark sped forward. He'd learned a lot over the years about controlling his speed and strength, but there was still so much uncertainty when new situations arose. He kicked out a post on the guardrail to make it less stable, lessening the impact of the car as it passed through. The car kept moving, until it had pushed Clark off the bridge entirely and followed him down.
Thankfully, though he hadn't stopped the car, he had managed to slow it enough to protect the driver. As he swam out from under the car and surfaced out of the girls line of sight, he could see that she'd already started to try to get herself out. Unfortunately, the pressure on the door wouldn't stabilize until the car was full of water, and Clark couldn't imagine her calming down enough to let that happen.
When he knocked on the window, she turned terrified eyes to him, but she wasn't so panicked that she didn't comply with his 'move back' gesture. An elbow to the window eliminated any need to deal with the doors and Clark was helping the girl clamber away from the sinking car by the time the other driver reached the edge of the river bank.
"Lana!" a man called. Clark identified hm as the driver of the other car. He strode right into the water toward them, though Clark thought it was obvious the girl was okay. Between the tug of the river and the splashing, they were all three wet by the time they stepped onto the bank.
There was no dramatic falling to the knees once they were back on dry land. The man, who couldn't be much older than Clark, and the girl, who was most likely Clark's age, hugged each other, an act of affection and reassurance and with no small amount of relief.
Clark stood by awkwardly. No matter how many times he'd helped people, the protocol for post-rescue conversation eluded him.
"Lex Luthor," the man said, lifting his right arm from around the girl long enough to shake Clark's hand. "This is Lana." He spoke the name protectively, but not with the possessiveness Whitney used when introducing Chloe as his girlfriend.
"Clark. Kent," he added belatedly. Lex regarded him intensely over the top of Lana's head, gaze searching. Clark turned away under the pretense of looking at the bridge and checking the status of the car, but it was really to avoid the other man's eyes. Smallville wasn't quite as small as the name implied, and more than the expensive weave of his clothes set Lex apart from the people Clark was used to.
"My phone is in the car. We should call the police." The words were spoken loud enough to include Clark in the conversation, so he nodded agreement, glancing at Lex from the corner of his eye. Gently, for Lana only, the man added, "Come on."
The Ferrari was parked at the edge of the road just off the bridge. It was pointless for Clark not to follow - he couldn't exactly pull the car out of the water in front of them - but he made sure his steps were slow, allowing the gap to grow between him and them.
The distance was short-lived, as Lex retrieved his cell phone from the Ferrari and walked Lana back to where Clark stopped at the end of the bridge. "As if the daring rescue weren't enough, I have a favor to ask, Clark."
"Lex," Lana said softly, a weak protest.
Lex smiled at her, then turned the expression on Clark, who swallowed hard in reaction. "The favor is this: Lana's driving record is clean. This is the first accident she's ever been in, and it's largely my fault." He pointed to the blown tire on the Ferrari. "If it's not too much to ask, could you tell the authorities and anyone who asks that I was driving the Porsche?"
Despite her initial protest, once Clark had agreed to spin the truth, it was Lana who pointed out that the seat in the Porsche was positioned for her, not someone of Lex's height. She called the police while Lex waded back into the water. The car was submerged by that point and Clark watched him anxiously as he dove under to push the seat back.
The tale they ended up telling matched the picture; Lex had gone over in the Porsche, and then Clark and Lana had gone in after him to help. The Porsche was too wrecked for anyone to care about the position of the mirrors. Lex came back from the car with Lana's purse and that seemed to be it for any contrary evidence.
It took the police a while to get to them, once they'd stressed the fact that no one was hurt. Lex gave his suit jacket, previously safe and dry in the Ferrari, to Lana to keep her from getting a chill, but it was a warm fall evening.
Calmed and recovered from the accident, it was Lana who initiated conversation while they waited. She asked Clark about school, the farm, his friends, the town, and Clark learned that she and Lex were planning on staying for a while. It was while she was talking about running away from grief that Clark finally made the association between the two of them and the latest gossip in town and the news from Metropolis.
He drew in a sharp breath. Lana didn't seem to notice, but Lex was watching him, again, and Clark had a feeling that Lex didn't miss much. With a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, Clark focused determinedly on Lana and tried not to think about what else Lex hadn't missed.
* * *
The car wasn't going to be pulled out overnight. Lex could have afforded it, but to Clark's surprise, he simply waved away the inquiry when it came. "It's not like we're going to be able to drive it home. Take your time with it and I'll arrange payment when you're done."
Lying never got easier, but Clark didn't have to say much when the police asked about the accident. He'd heard the tire blow; he'd seen the Porsche go over the side. He'd broken the window and Lex had climbed through it. In the back of his mind, Clark consoled himself that he wasn't even lying, because less than ten minutes after Lana had made it out of the car, Lex had crawled through the window when he was adjusting the seat.
So, no, lying didn't get easier, because Clark would probably always be bad at it, but half-truths were another matter.
When his father pulled up in the truck, he was afraid that everyone would discover the deception. His parents always got the truth from him. The whole truth. Before Jonathon could begin asking questions, Clark stepped in hurriedly.
"Dad, this is Lex and Lana," Clark introduced. "This is my father."
"Mr. Kent," Lex said, extending his hand. Their clothes were still damp, but time, gravity and the warm evening breeze had taken care of most of the water. "It's a pleasure to meet the man who raised such a hero."
His father's smile dimmed, though he took Lex's hand. "Thank you. Which of you was driving?" The sheer amount of disapproval made Clark feel vaguely guilty, and he hadn't been driving at all.
There was a moment's hesitation before Lex answered with part of the same story they'd told the police, though Clark was the only one who apparently noticed. It was interesting, since it seemed Lex was just as unwilling to face the judgment of Jonathon Kent.
"I'll tell you about it when we get home," Clark said, covering over the moment. His father gave him a meaningful look before nodding. They were used to keeping secrets.
Clark looked back at Lex in time to catch his eye, before the curiosity on his face disappeared back into a sort of vague interest. "We should probably get back on the road. The authorities are done with us at the moment and neither of us is familiar enough with the area to want to drive in the dark."
"Where are you headed?" Clark's father asked, friendly and polite.
Even before Lex answered, Clark knew what his father's reaction would be. There was something in Lex's voice that made Clark believe Lex knew what the response would be, too. "I think there's a castle not far from here. It's going to be our home for a while."
Jonathon's face went blank with confusion, then twisted with a vicious combination of sympathy and dark pleasure. "So you'd be Lana Lang?" Jonathon asked, looking at Lex's companion. Lana responded with a tight smile and a nodded. "I knew your parents and your aunt. They were good people. I'm sorry for your loss."
For a moment, Clark feared that his father wouldn't extend the same courtesy to Lex, but then he did, turning to offer his hand again.
"And for yours, son." He offered no judgment on how good Lionel Luthor might have been, which was probably for the better. Most of Smallville had reacted to the news of the elder Luthor's death with quite a bit of celebration, so Clark wasn't surprised. "If you'd like, Clark and I can lead the way. Make sure you get home without incident."
"That would be very kind of you, thank you," Lana said, speaking over the beginning of Lex's refusal.
* * *
The ride to the castle wasn't long, but it dragged on interminably. Jonathon wasn't happy with Clark's recap of the accident and was even less pleased by the lie Clark admitted to telling.
"It's not any worse than lying to protect myself," Clark pointed out, arms crossed over his chest. His gaze was on the shadowy landscape passing by; he wasn't quite ready to look at his father.
Jonathon sighed, but said nothing for a long time. "I'm sorry, son. I just know the weight of your own secrets is heavy enough without adding the secrets of strangers."
"It's actually a little easier. I'm doing it to protect someone else, which I'm pretty used to doing. It's harder when it's just my own butt I'm covering for." Especially when it was his friends he had to lie to.
The gates guarding the castle were open and unmanned. Jonathon drove in and around the drive, leaving space behind them for the Ferrari to park closer to the doors. Lex had maintained a safe distance, and speed, behind them for the entire drive and he brought the expensive sports car to a sedate stop.
"I think it best if we just head home," his father said, making no move to unbuckle his seat belt. Clark nodded, his own hand over the release. He let his hand drop back into his lap.
Lana approached the passenger door while Lex hung back by the Ferrari. Clark rolled down the window and weakly returned the smile she gave him. "Thank you, both. For everything." She looked over her shoulder, before turning back and lowering her voice conspiratorially. "Don't be surprised if Lex's attempt to express his gratitude is a bit extreme. He has a flair for the dramatic."
"There's nothing more than thanks needed," Jonathon said gruffly. Clark had heard the Lang name mentioned several times since the passing of Nell, Lana's aunt, mostly in aborted conversations regarding what would happen to Lana. That discussion had ended when Lex had assumed guardianship.
"You may not need it, Mr. Kent, but Lex won't rest easy until he's had an opportunity to repay Clark for the rescue. It was a very brave thing he did, jumping into the river." Her lashes fluttered as she turned her head up to Clark. "You're my hero, Clark Kent."
* * *
It didn't take very long for Lana's prediction to come true. Clark came home from school the day after the accident to find a new truck in the driveway. He thought at first that the card was from Lana, but the signature on the inside was Lex's.
As disappointed as he was not to be able to keep the truck, he did at least get to drive it back to the castle to return it. If Clark took the long road to get there, he was sure his parents wouldn't mind, or even notice.
The evening before, the castle had been a bit foreboding, but in the light of day it was closer to Clark's memories. He hadn't been inside as a child and he didn't have any idea where Lex or Lana might be, but it was easy enough to use his special vision to find the lord of the manor.
Lana was actually closer, so Clark headed in her direction, waiting until he was approximately in earshot before calling out, "Hello? Anyone home?"
He kept walking, his steps slow. It took Lana a moment to put aside the book she'd been reading and come to investigate. "Clark?" Her smile was warm and welcoming. "Hi."
"Hi, Lana." Wet, her hair hanging limp under the weight of river water, she'd still been pretty. Seeing her dry and smiling made Clark uncomfortably aware of how pretty she really was. Beautiful, in fact. "You were right. About Lex trying to reward me."
She leaned against the doorjamb, allowing Clark to see her narrow pink skirt and white top. "What did he try?"
"Uh." Clark patted himself down for the truck keys, and then held them up. "A truck." A really nice, ridiculously expensive truck that Clark had loved at first sight. "I can't keep it."
"Did you want me to tell Lex, or were you going to tell him yourself?" In the room behind her a phone rang. "Sorry, Clark."
He smiled reassuringly. "It's okay. I'll go find Lex and give him the keys myself."
"Okay. I'll see you later." She turned away and Clark set off back down the hall. He caught the pleased sound of her voice as she answered the phone. He tuned out her conversation as he sought Lex out.
He was a little disappointed that his conversation with Lana had been cut short. Families with kids moved out of Smallville more often than they moved in. It was always exciting to listen to the stories of people who came from all over the United States, and sometimes the world. Lana might have been from a city that was only hours away, but Metropolis was an entire world Clark hadn't explored.
Not fully, at least, and his visit hadn't occurred under the best of circumstances.
He wasn't going to compare the awesome truck sitting outside to the car he'd stolen in a fit of madness. He wasn't going to consider the chances of meeting Lex or Lana if he'd spent more time in the city and hadn't come home. Clark did another scan for Lex and found him in the same area of the castle as before, a room on the second floor.
The room Lex currently occupied turned out to be an office, though Clark knew of few offices that had pool tables. "Clark," Lex greeted, rising from his chair. He moved in front of his massive, glass-topped desk, then stopped to lean his hip against it. "Did you get your gift?"
"That's why I'm here. I can't keep it." He approached and offered the key. "My father's a stickler for the idea that people don't do good things for the rewards."
Lex took the keys with a slight frown. "Does this mean I'm not going to be allowed to gift you with things?"
"Pretty much." Clark shoved his empty hands into his pockets.
"Lana said as much," Lex admitted, lips curving up in a charming half-smile. "She's better at reading certain types of people."
The question came out before Clark could stop himself from asking it. "What kind of person am I?"
Lex regarded him for a moment. "Lana and I differ on our opinions, though we both acknowledge that we don't know you well enough at all to judge properly. Lana believes you to be a paragon of virtue. Honest, forthright, chivalrous, loyal."
"You don't?" It was shocking how much that hurt, coming from a stranger. Clark wondered if his constant dishonesty hung over him like a bad aura.
"I think you're as honest as you can afford to be. You're strong enough to put yourself forward if the occasion calls for it. Chivalry and loyalty are unknowns, but I imagine that should I meet your friends, I'd have an answer to that as well." With a casual move, Lex straightened away from the desk and right into Clark's space. "'You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends.'"
Clark swallowed hard and stepped back, just a little, until he could breathe without smelling the light, spicy scent of Lex's cologne. "I try not to judge people."
Lex's mouth twisted in a smirk. "That's a commendable goal, Clark. To sum up my discussion with Lana, I think we are equally smitten by you. And we have excellent taste."
Smitten? Clark knew exactly what that word meant, had been smitten himself a time or two. The implication...
"I still owe you, Clark. Not just once, but twice now." Lex stepped back around the desk, putting its width between them. "If nothing else, silence is a gift."
His parents were going to kill him, if some mad scientist didn't do it first. Clark was supposed to be careful and over the past couple years, as his abilities had developed, he'd gotten so much better at helping people without giving public demonstrations on what he could do. There'd been close calls, sure, but nothing as obvious as running up to slow a speeding car.
"I'm sorry. Perhaps that wasn't the best way to start this conversation," Lex continued quietly. His expression did seem apologetic, but Clark wasn't reassured. "I've done a bit of my own research into Smallville before bringing Lana here. I guess this is something that everyone in a small town knows and knows not to talk about."
"Ever," Clark agreed, thinking of the silence his parents had held for over a decade.
Steps in the hall heralded Lana's arrival and they were silent as Clark tried to gather his composure again.
"Is everything okay?" Lana was there between them suddenly, giving Lex a reproachful look and Clark a concerned smile. "Can I get you something to drink, Clark?"
"I'm good, thanks," he lied. His mouth was dry, but that was just residual panic. "I should probably head out."
She frowned in concern. "Of course. Though if you'd like to call and ask permission to stay, we'd love to have you for dinner. Right, Lex?"
"Absolutely," Lex agreed, his own expression guarded. He and Lana shared a look that Clark couldn't, and didn't want, to interpret.
It wasn't the most tempting offer Clark had ever had, but if he gave into the sudden urge to flee and protect himself, he might never find out how much Lex knew or what his intentions were. "Maybe not for dinner, but I may be able to stay for a while."
* * *
"I went to see Lex and Lana," Clark admitted, eyes fixed on the bowl of peas sitting tauntingly behind his plate.
"How are they?" his mother asked. "Yesterday must have been such a shock. To almost lose the closest thing he has to a sister after losing his father. That poor man."
"Lex was good. Lana, too." A dozen times he'd tried to find away to bring up what Lex had said, but he knew they'd worry and he couldn't quite bring himself, now that he'd had time to review the conversation, to think there was any danger there. Whatever Lex knew or thought he knew, he hadn't informed Lana. There was a lot of affection between the two of them, despite the age difference.
Their interactions had actually reminded Clark of Ryan. The comparison made it pretty much impossible for Clark to think ill of either one of them. For the time being, he was going to have to take Lex at his word, that instead of a truck or some other extravagant item, Clark's reward for saving Lana would be secrecy.
Lex had referenced Smallville's 'secrets', which implied to Clark that Lex thought him a meteor freak. Given the number of them in Smallville, it made Clark less of a rarity and probably not as valuable. Probably. Possibly.
Jonathon's contribution to the conversation Clark had started was an oblique, "You can tell a lot about a man by the way he treats his family."
"What's so funny, Clark?" his mother asked. Belatedly, Clark realized his father's words had made him smile.
"Just what Dad said. Lex said something similar earlier, about judging a man by his friends and his enemies."
His father processed that for a moment before nodding. "Smart boy."
* * *
It'd been a week since he'd pulled Lana Lang from a river and and met the man who filled the position of her brother, her guardian, and her friend. In the six days since Clark had returned the truck, he'd seen Lex and Lana nearly every day. At school, where Lana had been admitted, at the Beanery in town, and once, they had stopped by the farm to ask about buying produce from his parents.
Clark hadn't been at the castle since. The massive double doors were intimidating, which was why Clark had let himself in through the kitchen before. Despite the invitation to come and go freely, he felt less comfortable doing so now than he before he had permission.
The butler who answered his knock was an old man with a dour expression. "May I help you?"
"Hi. I'm Clark. Kent." He started to extend his hand then drew it back to his side when the butler turned away.
"This way, Mr. Kent. Are you here for Mr. Luthor or Ms. Lang?"
It was a bit discomforting to speak to the man's back. "Are they in the same place?" Clark asked slowly.
The butler gave Clark a look over his shoulder. "Not at the moment. Mr. Luthor is in his office; Ms. Lang is by the pool."
By the pool. Probably swimming. Wet again, but this time in a swimsuit instead of completely dressed. The very idea was probably every teenage boy's dream. Clark had come for a reason, though, and it hadn't been to ogle Lana. Besides, he could do that from a distance, if he really wanted. "Mr. Luthor. Please."
The path to Lex's office was different than the route Clark had taken from the kitchen. The butler announced him and then held the door for Clark to enter, not leaving until Lex had acknowledged him with a, "Thank you, Philip. Bring refreshments and let Lana know that we have company."
Left alone, Clark and Lex looked at each other in the awkward moments after the door had shut, and then Clark managed to find his tongue, if not his brain. "You have a butler."
Lex's lips twitched up. "I do. I have a castle, too, but that's a better kept secret."
Lex's smile wasn't sunny like Lana's, but Clark responded to it anyway. It seemed the man controlled his expressions more than anyone else Clark had ever met, so maybe that ~was~~ his grin. "It's not a very good secret."
Except, no, that was a grin. Lex's laugh was short and surprised. "No, it's not. Neither is Philip. I think most people expect there to be a butler."
"I didn't," Clark admitted. Lex's expression morphed from laughter to consideration.
"It is a castle in the corn. I guess that means it doesn't have to follow the normal clichés of castle-owning. I can put a stop on that moat order." Lex swung by the bar for a bottle of water for himself and a cola for Clark, then waved him toward the sitting area and the sofa opposite the fireplace. "Is there something I can help you with?" Lex asked, settling an arm's reach away.
Every time he got in close proximity Lex, Clark found himself confused by the simultaneous urges to get closer and flee. It was a lot like his first crush, actually, except it'd been a lot easier then to punch Whitney's arm and sprint across the school yard before anyone knew it was him. "I kind of wanted to talk to you. About Lana."
Lex regarded him for a moment before opening his mouth and uttering a soft, exclamatory, "Oh!" Clark had just enough time to wonder what it was about his words that had elicited that strange response before Lex went on," First things first, though. You're not wearing that."
"What?" Clark looked down at his clothes, thrown off by the non-sequiter. In the week since he'd come to know Lex, it had been very obvious that Lex's mind worked faster than Clark's. More than once, he'd had to backtrack his way through a conversation to make sense of it afterwards. "Why not?"
"It's red."
"Yeah," Clark said slowly, looking up from his red T-shirt to look at Lex. "It's a red shirt."
"It's bright and eye-catching, Clark. Women and girls typically prefer being the center of attention, but Lana would have to wrestle that shirt to stay there. What do you have to go over it? Oh, not the jacket you normally wear? Less primary colors and farmboy chic, I think. Are you sure you're trying to impress her?" Lex rose to his feet as he spoke.
It was on the tip of Clark's tongue to retort that, no, he wasn't really as interested in attracting Lana's attention as Lex suddenly seemed to thing. But before Clark corrected that assumption- "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"
Lex finally looked up from assessing Clark's wardrobe and his face softened. "Nothing, Clark. We can work with this. I think I might have something; wait here." He disappeared through a side door Clark hadn't noticed before. Watching him through the walls, Clark saw him enter one of the rooms down the hall. Clark turned his attention back to his wardrobe, but he couldn't look at himself objectively.
Then Lex was back, striding forward with a black bomber jacket. Instead of just handing it to Clark, he tugged on Clark's arm to pull him up and held the jacket up for Clark to slip into. "Um. Your jacket probably won't fit me."
"It's a good thing it's not mine, then," Lex murmured. Clark obliged his whim by moving his arms as needed and shrugging the jacket up. To his surprise, it did fit Lex looked very smug when he moved to stand in front of Clark again. "Move your arms, make sure it's not too tight."
It wasn't. Clark didn't know what he looked like, but Lex's expression was very appreciative. Maybe it was a good thing, Lex dressing him. Clark could feel his face heating and he covered his confusion by putting his hands in the pockets. They were empty, but the high quality of the jacket extended to the lining, which was a soft caress against his skin. Decadent.
"You fill it out better than Bruce," Lex commented. He moved in to pull at the edges, and then nodded. "Much better."
"Bruce?" Clark asked, curious. He knew much about Lana's life before coming to Smallville, but Lex's past was still a mystery.
Lex nodded, moving around Clark to check the view from all angles. "Just an ex. He won't be back for it, I promise."
Suddenly, the jacket didn't fit quite as well and Clark pulled his hands free. "Ex?"
There was a pause while Lex looked at him searchingly, then grinned. "Not Lana's. My ex. She didn't meet Bruce and won't make the connection to him, don't worry."
"I'm not. Worried." Still uncomfortable, though, but for a new reason. "You're, ah- You are."
Lex froze. Not his little pauses when he stopped to listen or judge a situation, but a full body standstill. "Gay. Yes. I haven't tried to hide it." And he hadn't, not in private or in public. For all that Lex's eyes and guarded expressions hinted at secrets kept, he was a very open person. About some things.
Clark opened his mouth, then closed it, not knowing how to respond to that. Lex was alien to everything Clark was used and he'd be trying not to classify him beyond Not of Smallville. "Sorry. There's just no one else in Smallville. That I know of."
"Smallville's small, but it's not empty." Lex gave him a flash of a smile as he stepped back, clearly giving Clark his space. "Lana should be back soon. Let me greet her and lead her on to the study, and Enrique will bring you in like you've just arrived."
"What would be the point of that?" It seemed to be subterfuge for the sake of itself.
"Because Lana is aware of my sexuality, Clark. If she finds you alone here with me, she'll link you with me romantically. Once she's put you in the category of Friend Only, you'll have to work much harder to court her."
"I could just, you know, tell her if I wanted to date her." Lex gave him a look that was unreadable, but Clark could feel his skepticism.. "I mean, I can. I'm capable of expressing interest in someone in a mature fashion," Clark insisted, but his protest only served to make Lex smile.
Lex raised his hands in a placating gesture. "I'm sure you can, Clark."
Clark shrugged out of the jacket and handed it back. "Lex, I didn't come here to talk about dating Lana. I just wanted to know what you'd told her, about the accident. And
about me."
"Nothing beyond what I told you before, our conversation about the type of person you are. I don't know anything about you to tell her that you haven't already said to her." It was a pointed statement and Lex's expression was guarded again. His eyes were a wall, not a window.
It took Clark a moment to realize that Lex was playing by the rules they'd outlined, the rules Clark had set. And though it meant Clark was breaking those rules himself, he couldn't let his gratitude go unsaid. "Thank you."
Lex hesitated before apparently deciding to follow Clark's lead. "You're welcome."
Clark could have left it there and he had a feeling it might never come up again. Not unless he had to save Lex or Lana again in the future, and he didn't think that was likely. What harm could befall them in their castle. "You can keep a secret, right?"
"You're a friend now, Clark. And I'll do anything for my friends." Lex was moving into his space again, this time in a slow drift that Clark didn't think was entirely conscious.
Clark took a deep breath and steeled himself for what he was about to do. "There are a couple things you could do for me."
"Name it," Lex said easily.
Too easily. Clark's heart was beating hard enough that it should have been heard from the short distance between them, but Lex was as normal, as casual, as always now. "Help me destroy my spaceship."
"Spa- Of course." That had definitely ruffled the calm, but not for long. "What else?"
"Stop with any efforts to get Lana and me together." He liked Lana, but not like that. He was actually pretty happy that she seemed to be flirting with Pete.
The request made Lex hesitate, which Clark found amusing. Spaceships barely fazed him, but not wanting his help with a girl made him momentarily speechless. "Are you that confident in your ability to get her, Clark?"
"I don't want her." Clark rushed to continue, forestalling whatever was going to come out of Lex's opening mouth. "And the person I do want doesn't know me very well, but... I think they'd know what they'd be getting. If they wanted me. Which I'm not confident about."
"That sounds vaguely like the pronoun game, Clark." He read Clark's confusion easily and smiled. "No gender pronouns in a speech like that might indicate you were trying to avoid pronouncing directly you're interest in a guy."
"Maybe," Clark drawled out, smiling slightly when Lex's mouth twitched in a silent laugh at this further avoidanc.
"Clark?" Lex, who was sometimes long-winded and always eloquent, could pack a world of questions into a single, drawn-out syllable.
"So, I said a 'couple things', but I have a third request." Lex gestured for Clark to continue. "Would you like to come to dinner? At the farm. With my parents." And because Lex continued to stare at him, expression indicating noncomprehension, Clark added awkwardly, "As my date."
Lex's expression was still nearly blank, though his hands were curled tightly enough to turn his knuckles white. "I'll bring wine for dinner and flowers for your mother." Simply spoken.
His acceptance and physical reaction were so at odds with each other and what Clark had expected that Clark had to run the words through his mind several times before they took. "Really? You want to?"
"Want to? Want is not a strong enough word, Clark. I don't think it's quite dignified to jump up and down and scream as I'd like." He did finally smile, though, the act of speaking having apparently loosened the muscles of his face.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." They looked at each other for a long moment, smiles growing before Lex cleared his throat. He tossed the jacket over the arm of the sofa, then put his hands in his pockets. "So, spaceship?"
The End
* * *
End notes
Prompt: 7. Clark is The Handsome Male Lead chasing after The Attractive Female Lead (insert character of your choice), but somehow he ends up with TAFL’s Gay Best Friend, Lex!
It is a truly fantastic prompt and I'm going to play with it during the rewrites, but a lot of the 'chasing' was taken out and rewritten just to get the fic to end.
Lex's quote about judging a man comes from Joseph Conrad. Title comes from a play on word I didn't even realize until the wife pointed it out.
ETA: I forgot to write a summary when I posted this. (I also forgot the title originally, but that didn't take me a day to fix.)
Category: fic
Rating: G
Word Count: 6102
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Notes: Inspired by my clexmas prompt, which is at the end. I did a very poor job of following said prompt. This is an AU/reenvisioning of season 3, using canon events as a basis, but ignoring a lot of them. It should mostly be clear.
Summary: The present is based upon events of the past, the people we know and have met. When those events are changed, so too are we.
Years ago, Clark had stood and watched the stones of the 'Luthor Ancestral Home' roll through on flat beds. He'd been drawn by the sight, curious, and the mansion that had from then on sat empty had featured in many of his childhood adventures, once he'd realized he could get there and back to the farm in just a few minutes.
To his childish dismay, the Luthors never came to inhabit their castle in the corn, not after it was reconstructed, not after Clark broke one of the rods of the gate, and not when Clark turned into a teenager and outgrew his childish games.
Despite the general grudge in town against all things Luthor, Clark had very little to do with anything with their name on it until the year he turned seventeen. Lionel Luthor's death was celebrated, his wife's mourned, and his heirs by birth and marriage seemed to stand through it all with their heads high and their shoulders together. Relatively, given the differences in their heights.
Clark wasn't interested in the Prince or Princess of Metropolis then. He had Chloe to keep out of trouble and Pete to keep entertained and Whitney to keep sane after the death of his own father, as well as his town to save from the occasional meteor-infected humans.
He was watching a leaf wend its way under Loeb Bridge, his favorite hiding spot, when the sounds of an approaching car reached his ears. He looked up, and then narrowed his eyes to look beyond the bridge, through the trees. Chloe and Pete knew where he went to avoid them, unfortunately, and more than once they'd tracked him down. At that moment, he wasn't ready to be found. There were two cars, speeding down the two lane road in his direction, just rounding the curve... there.
Clark blinked and refocused until he could discern make, model, and color. A silver Porsche, driven at too high a speed, followed and then being passed by a red Ferrari. Not the kind of cars one regularly saw in Smallville.
As Clark watched, one of the tires on the Ferrari blew and it veered into the Porsche it'd been trying to pass.The Ferrari regained some control, tires screeching as it slowed and then whipped back into the proper lane. The Porsche driver was not so lucky.
The world spun down, giving Clark a chance to plot the car's trajectory and then to act. He couldn't keep it from going through the guard rail and it took too long to climb up the hill to reach the road for him to be able to slow the Porsche down as much as he would have liked.
The girl driving had her eyes closed, her arms thrown up to protect her face. She never saw as Clark sped forward. He'd learned a lot over the years about controlling his speed and strength, but there was still so much uncertainty when new situations arose. He kicked out a post on the guardrail to make it less stable, lessening the impact of the car as it passed through. The car kept moving, until it had pushed Clark off the bridge entirely and followed him down.
Thankfully, though he hadn't stopped the car, he had managed to slow it enough to protect the driver. As he swam out from under the car and surfaced out of the girls line of sight, he could see that she'd already started to try to get herself out. Unfortunately, the pressure on the door wouldn't stabilize until the car was full of water, and Clark couldn't imagine her calming down enough to let that happen.
When he knocked on the window, she turned terrified eyes to him, but she wasn't so panicked that she didn't comply with his 'move back' gesture. An elbow to the window eliminated any need to deal with the doors and Clark was helping the girl clamber away from the sinking car by the time the other driver reached the edge of the river bank.
"Lana!" a man called. Clark identified hm as the driver of the other car. He strode right into the water toward them, though Clark thought it was obvious the girl was okay. Between the tug of the river and the splashing, they were all three wet by the time they stepped onto the bank.
There was no dramatic falling to the knees once they were back on dry land. The man, who couldn't be much older than Clark, and the girl, who was most likely Clark's age, hugged each other, an act of affection and reassurance and with no small amount of relief.
Clark stood by awkwardly. No matter how many times he'd helped people, the protocol for post-rescue conversation eluded him.
"Lex Luthor," the man said, lifting his right arm from around the girl long enough to shake Clark's hand. "This is Lana." He spoke the name protectively, but not with the possessiveness Whitney used when introducing Chloe as his girlfriend.
"Clark. Kent," he added belatedly. Lex regarded him intensely over the top of Lana's head, gaze searching. Clark turned away under the pretense of looking at the bridge and checking the status of the car, but it was really to avoid the other man's eyes. Smallville wasn't quite as small as the name implied, and more than the expensive weave of his clothes set Lex apart from the people Clark was used to.
"My phone is in the car. We should call the police." The words were spoken loud enough to include Clark in the conversation, so he nodded agreement, glancing at Lex from the corner of his eye. Gently, for Lana only, the man added, "Come on."
The Ferrari was parked at the edge of the road just off the bridge. It was pointless for Clark not to follow - he couldn't exactly pull the car out of the water in front of them - but he made sure his steps were slow, allowing the gap to grow between him and them.
The distance was short-lived, as Lex retrieved his cell phone from the Ferrari and walked Lana back to where Clark stopped at the end of the bridge. "As if the daring rescue weren't enough, I have a favor to ask, Clark."
"Lex," Lana said softly, a weak protest.
Lex smiled at her, then turned the expression on Clark, who swallowed hard in reaction. "The favor is this: Lana's driving record is clean. This is the first accident she's ever been in, and it's largely my fault." He pointed to the blown tire on the Ferrari. "If it's not too much to ask, could you tell the authorities and anyone who asks that I was driving the Porsche?"
Despite her initial protest, once Clark had agreed to spin the truth, it was Lana who pointed out that the seat in the Porsche was positioned for her, not someone of Lex's height. She called the police while Lex waded back into the water. The car was submerged by that point and Clark watched him anxiously as he dove under to push the seat back.
The tale they ended up telling matched the picture; Lex had gone over in the Porsche, and then Clark and Lana had gone in after him to help. The Porsche was too wrecked for anyone to care about the position of the mirrors. Lex came back from the car with Lana's purse and that seemed to be it for any contrary evidence.
It took the police a while to get to them, once they'd stressed the fact that no one was hurt. Lex gave his suit jacket, previously safe and dry in the Ferrari, to Lana to keep her from getting a chill, but it was a warm fall evening.
Calmed and recovered from the accident, it was Lana who initiated conversation while they waited. She asked Clark about school, the farm, his friends, the town, and Clark learned that she and Lex were planning on staying for a while. It was while she was talking about running away from grief that Clark finally made the association between the two of them and the latest gossip in town and the news from Metropolis.
He drew in a sharp breath. Lana didn't seem to notice, but Lex was watching him, again, and Clark had a feeling that Lex didn't miss much. With a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, Clark focused determinedly on Lana and tried not to think about what else Lex hadn't missed.
* * *
The car wasn't going to be pulled out overnight. Lex could have afforded it, but to Clark's surprise, he simply waved away the inquiry when it came. "It's not like we're going to be able to drive it home. Take your time with it and I'll arrange payment when you're done."
Lying never got easier, but Clark didn't have to say much when the police asked about the accident. He'd heard the tire blow; he'd seen the Porsche go over the side. He'd broken the window and Lex had climbed through it. In the back of his mind, Clark consoled himself that he wasn't even lying, because less than ten minutes after Lana had made it out of the car, Lex had crawled through the window when he was adjusting the seat.
So, no, lying didn't get easier, because Clark would probably always be bad at it, but half-truths were another matter.
When his father pulled up in the truck, he was afraid that everyone would discover the deception. His parents always got the truth from him. The whole truth. Before Jonathon could begin asking questions, Clark stepped in hurriedly.
"Dad, this is Lex and Lana," Clark introduced. "This is my father."
"Mr. Kent," Lex said, extending his hand. Their clothes were still damp, but time, gravity and the warm evening breeze had taken care of most of the water. "It's a pleasure to meet the man who raised such a hero."
His father's smile dimmed, though he took Lex's hand. "Thank you. Which of you was driving?" The sheer amount of disapproval made Clark feel vaguely guilty, and he hadn't been driving at all.
There was a moment's hesitation before Lex answered with part of the same story they'd told the police, though Clark was the only one who apparently noticed. It was interesting, since it seemed Lex was just as unwilling to face the judgment of Jonathon Kent.
"I'll tell you about it when we get home," Clark said, covering over the moment. His father gave him a meaningful look before nodding. They were used to keeping secrets.
Clark looked back at Lex in time to catch his eye, before the curiosity on his face disappeared back into a sort of vague interest. "We should probably get back on the road. The authorities are done with us at the moment and neither of us is familiar enough with the area to want to drive in the dark."
"Where are you headed?" Clark's father asked, friendly and polite.
Even before Lex answered, Clark knew what his father's reaction would be. There was something in Lex's voice that made Clark believe Lex knew what the response would be, too. "I think there's a castle not far from here. It's going to be our home for a while."
Jonathon's face went blank with confusion, then twisted with a vicious combination of sympathy and dark pleasure. "So you'd be Lana Lang?" Jonathon asked, looking at Lex's companion. Lana responded with a tight smile and a nodded. "I knew your parents and your aunt. They were good people. I'm sorry for your loss."
For a moment, Clark feared that his father wouldn't extend the same courtesy to Lex, but then he did, turning to offer his hand again.
"And for yours, son." He offered no judgment on how good Lionel Luthor might have been, which was probably for the better. Most of Smallville had reacted to the news of the elder Luthor's death with quite a bit of celebration, so Clark wasn't surprised. "If you'd like, Clark and I can lead the way. Make sure you get home without incident."
"That would be very kind of you, thank you," Lana said, speaking over the beginning of Lex's refusal.
* * *
The ride to the castle wasn't long, but it dragged on interminably. Jonathon wasn't happy with Clark's recap of the accident and was even less pleased by the lie Clark admitted to telling.
"It's not any worse than lying to protect myself," Clark pointed out, arms crossed over his chest. His gaze was on the shadowy landscape passing by; he wasn't quite ready to look at his father.
Jonathon sighed, but said nothing for a long time. "I'm sorry, son. I just know the weight of your own secrets is heavy enough without adding the secrets of strangers."
"It's actually a little easier. I'm doing it to protect someone else, which I'm pretty used to doing. It's harder when it's just my own butt I'm covering for." Especially when it was his friends he had to lie to.
The gates guarding the castle were open and unmanned. Jonathon drove in and around the drive, leaving space behind them for the Ferrari to park closer to the doors. Lex had maintained a safe distance, and speed, behind them for the entire drive and he brought the expensive sports car to a sedate stop.
"I think it best if we just head home," his father said, making no move to unbuckle his seat belt. Clark nodded, his own hand over the release. He let his hand drop back into his lap.
Lana approached the passenger door while Lex hung back by the Ferrari. Clark rolled down the window and weakly returned the smile she gave him. "Thank you, both. For everything." She looked over her shoulder, before turning back and lowering her voice conspiratorially. "Don't be surprised if Lex's attempt to express his gratitude is a bit extreme. He has a flair for the dramatic."
"There's nothing more than thanks needed," Jonathon said gruffly. Clark had heard the Lang name mentioned several times since the passing of Nell, Lana's aunt, mostly in aborted conversations regarding what would happen to Lana. That discussion had ended when Lex had assumed guardianship.
"You may not need it, Mr. Kent, but Lex won't rest easy until he's had an opportunity to repay Clark for the rescue. It was a very brave thing he did, jumping into the river." Her lashes fluttered as she turned her head up to Clark. "You're my hero, Clark Kent."
* * *
It didn't take very long for Lana's prediction to come true. Clark came home from school the day after the accident to find a new truck in the driveway. He thought at first that the card was from Lana, but the signature on the inside was Lex's.
As disappointed as he was not to be able to keep the truck, he did at least get to drive it back to the castle to return it. If Clark took the long road to get there, he was sure his parents wouldn't mind, or even notice.
The evening before, the castle had been a bit foreboding, but in the light of day it was closer to Clark's memories. He hadn't been inside as a child and he didn't have any idea where Lex or Lana might be, but it was easy enough to use his special vision to find the lord of the manor.
Lana was actually closer, so Clark headed in her direction, waiting until he was approximately in earshot before calling out, "Hello? Anyone home?"
He kept walking, his steps slow. It took Lana a moment to put aside the book she'd been reading and come to investigate. "Clark?" Her smile was warm and welcoming. "Hi."
"Hi, Lana." Wet, her hair hanging limp under the weight of river water, she'd still been pretty. Seeing her dry and smiling made Clark uncomfortably aware of how pretty she really was. Beautiful, in fact. "You were right. About Lex trying to reward me."
She leaned against the doorjamb, allowing Clark to see her narrow pink skirt and white top. "What did he try?"
"Uh." Clark patted himself down for the truck keys, and then held them up. "A truck." A really nice, ridiculously expensive truck that Clark had loved at first sight. "I can't keep it."
"Did you want me to tell Lex, or were you going to tell him yourself?" In the room behind her a phone rang. "Sorry, Clark."
He smiled reassuringly. "It's okay. I'll go find Lex and give him the keys myself."
"Okay. I'll see you later." She turned away and Clark set off back down the hall. He caught the pleased sound of her voice as she answered the phone. He tuned out her conversation as he sought Lex out.
He was a little disappointed that his conversation with Lana had been cut short. Families with kids moved out of Smallville more often than they moved in. It was always exciting to listen to the stories of people who came from all over the United States, and sometimes the world. Lana might have been from a city that was only hours away, but Metropolis was an entire world Clark hadn't explored.
Not fully, at least, and his visit hadn't occurred under the best of circumstances.
He wasn't going to compare the awesome truck sitting outside to the car he'd stolen in a fit of madness. He wasn't going to consider the chances of meeting Lex or Lana if he'd spent more time in the city and hadn't come home. Clark did another scan for Lex and found him in the same area of the castle as before, a room on the second floor.
The room Lex currently occupied turned out to be an office, though Clark knew of few offices that had pool tables. "Clark," Lex greeted, rising from his chair. He moved in front of his massive, glass-topped desk, then stopped to lean his hip against it. "Did you get your gift?"
"That's why I'm here. I can't keep it." He approached and offered the key. "My father's a stickler for the idea that people don't do good things for the rewards."
Lex took the keys with a slight frown. "Does this mean I'm not going to be allowed to gift you with things?"
"Pretty much." Clark shoved his empty hands into his pockets.
"Lana said as much," Lex admitted, lips curving up in a charming half-smile. "She's better at reading certain types of people."
The question came out before Clark could stop himself from asking it. "What kind of person am I?"
Lex regarded him for a moment. "Lana and I differ on our opinions, though we both acknowledge that we don't know you well enough at all to judge properly. Lana believes you to be a paragon of virtue. Honest, forthright, chivalrous, loyal."
"You don't?" It was shocking how much that hurt, coming from a stranger. Clark wondered if his constant dishonesty hung over him like a bad aura.
"I think you're as honest as you can afford to be. You're strong enough to put yourself forward if the occasion calls for it. Chivalry and loyalty are unknowns, but I imagine that should I meet your friends, I'd have an answer to that as well." With a casual move, Lex straightened away from the desk and right into Clark's space. "'You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends.'"
Clark swallowed hard and stepped back, just a little, until he could breathe without smelling the light, spicy scent of Lex's cologne. "I try not to judge people."
Lex's mouth twisted in a smirk. "That's a commendable goal, Clark. To sum up my discussion with Lana, I think we are equally smitten by you. And we have excellent taste."
Smitten? Clark knew exactly what that word meant, had been smitten himself a time or two. The implication...
"I still owe you, Clark. Not just once, but twice now." Lex stepped back around the desk, putting its width between them. "If nothing else, silence is a gift."
His parents were going to kill him, if some mad scientist didn't do it first. Clark was supposed to be careful and over the past couple years, as his abilities had developed, he'd gotten so much better at helping people without giving public demonstrations on what he could do. There'd been close calls, sure, but nothing as obvious as running up to slow a speeding car.
"I'm sorry. Perhaps that wasn't the best way to start this conversation," Lex continued quietly. His expression did seem apologetic, but Clark wasn't reassured. "I've done a bit of my own research into Smallville before bringing Lana here. I guess this is something that everyone in a small town knows and knows not to talk about."
"Ever," Clark agreed, thinking of the silence his parents had held for over a decade.
Steps in the hall heralded Lana's arrival and they were silent as Clark tried to gather his composure again.
"Is everything okay?" Lana was there between them suddenly, giving Lex a reproachful look and Clark a concerned smile. "Can I get you something to drink, Clark?"
"I'm good, thanks," he lied. His mouth was dry, but that was just residual panic. "I should probably head out."
She frowned in concern. "Of course. Though if you'd like to call and ask permission to stay, we'd love to have you for dinner. Right, Lex?"
"Absolutely," Lex agreed, his own expression guarded. He and Lana shared a look that Clark couldn't, and didn't want, to interpret.
It wasn't the most tempting offer Clark had ever had, but if he gave into the sudden urge to flee and protect himself, he might never find out how much Lex knew or what his intentions were. "Maybe not for dinner, but I may be able to stay for a while."
* * *
"I went to see Lex and Lana," Clark admitted, eyes fixed on the bowl of peas sitting tauntingly behind his plate.
"How are they?" his mother asked. "Yesterday must have been such a shock. To almost lose the closest thing he has to a sister after losing his father. That poor man."
"Lex was good. Lana, too." A dozen times he'd tried to find away to bring up what Lex had said, but he knew they'd worry and he couldn't quite bring himself, now that he'd had time to review the conversation, to think there was any danger there. Whatever Lex knew or thought he knew, he hadn't informed Lana. There was a lot of affection between the two of them, despite the age difference.
Their interactions had actually reminded Clark of Ryan. The comparison made it pretty much impossible for Clark to think ill of either one of them. For the time being, he was going to have to take Lex at his word, that instead of a truck or some other extravagant item, Clark's reward for saving Lana would be secrecy.
Lex had referenced Smallville's 'secrets', which implied to Clark that Lex thought him a meteor freak. Given the number of them in Smallville, it made Clark less of a rarity and probably not as valuable. Probably. Possibly.
Jonathon's contribution to the conversation Clark had started was an oblique, "You can tell a lot about a man by the way he treats his family."
"What's so funny, Clark?" his mother asked. Belatedly, Clark realized his father's words had made him smile.
"Just what Dad said. Lex said something similar earlier, about judging a man by his friends and his enemies."
His father processed that for a moment before nodding. "Smart boy."
* * *
It'd been a week since he'd pulled Lana Lang from a river and and met the man who filled the position of her brother, her guardian, and her friend. In the six days since Clark had returned the truck, he'd seen Lex and Lana nearly every day. At school, where Lana had been admitted, at the Beanery in town, and once, they had stopped by the farm to ask about buying produce from his parents.
Clark hadn't been at the castle since. The massive double doors were intimidating, which was why Clark had let himself in through the kitchen before. Despite the invitation to come and go freely, he felt less comfortable doing so now than he before he had permission.
The butler who answered his knock was an old man with a dour expression. "May I help you?"
"Hi. I'm Clark. Kent." He started to extend his hand then drew it back to his side when the butler turned away.
"This way, Mr. Kent. Are you here for Mr. Luthor or Ms. Lang?"
It was a bit discomforting to speak to the man's back. "Are they in the same place?" Clark asked slowly.
The butler gave Clark a look over his shoulder. "Not at the moment. Mr. Luthor is in his office; Ms. Lang is by the pool."
By the pool. Probably swimming. Wet again, but this time in a swimsuit instead of completely dressed. The very idea was probably every teenage boy's dream. Clark had come for a reason, though, and it hadn't been to ogle Lana. Besides, he could do that from a distance, if he really wanted. "Mr. Luthor. Please."
The path to Lex's office was different than the route Clark had taken from the kitchen. The butler announced him and then held the door for Clark to enter, not leaving until Lex had acknowledged him with a, "Thank you, Philip. Bring refreshments and let Lana know that we have company."
Left alone, Clark and Lex looked at each other in the awkward moments after the door had shut, and then Clark managed to find his tongue, if not his brain. "You have a butler."
Lex's lips twitched up. "I do. I have a castle, too, but that's a better kept secret."
Lex's smile wasn't sunny like Lana's, but Clark responded to it anyway. It seemed the man controlled his expressions more than anyone else Clark had ever met, so maybe that ~was~~ his grin. "It's not a very good secret."
Except, no, that was a grin. Lex's laugh was short and surprised. "No, it's not. Neither is Philip. I think most people expect there to be a butler."
"I didn't," Clark admitted. Lex's expression morphed from laughter to consideration.
"It is a castle in the corn. I guess that means it doesn't have to follow the normal clichés of castle-owning. I can put a stop on that moat order." Lex swung by the bar for a bottle of water for himself and a cola for Clark, then waved him toward the sitting area and the sofa opposite the fireplace. "Is there something I can help you with?" Lex asked, settling an arm's reach away.
Every time he got in close proximity Lex, Clark found himself confused by the simultaneous urges to get closer and flee. It was a lot like his first crush, actually, except it'd been a lot easier then to punch Whitney's arm and sprint across the school yard before anyone knew it was him. "I kind of wanted to talk to you. About Lana."
Lex regarded him for a moment before opening his mouth and uttering a soft, exclamatory, "Oh!" Clark had just enough time to wonder what it was about his words that had elicited that strange response before Lex went on," First things first, though. You're not wearing that."
"What?" Clark looked down at his clothes, thrown off by the non-sequiter. In the week since he'd come to know Lex, it had been very obvious that Lex's mind worked faster than Clark's. More than once, he'd had to backtrack his way through a conversation to make sense of it afterwards. "Why not?"
"It's red."
"Yeah," Clark said slowly, looking up from his red T-shirt to look at Lex. "It's a red shirt."
"It's bright and eye-catching, Clark. Women and girls typically prefer being the center of attention, but Lana would have to wrestle that shirt to stay there. What do you have to go over it? Oh, not the jacket you normally wear? Less primary colors and farmboy chic, I think. Are you sure you're trying to impress her?" Lex rose to his feet as he spoke.
It was on the tip of Clark's tongue to retort that, no, he wasn't really as interested in attracting Lana's attention as Lex suddenly seemed to thing. But before Clark corrected that assumption- "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"
Lex finally looked up from assessing Clark's wardrobe and his face softened. "Nothing, Clark. We can work with this. I think I might have something; wait here." He disappeared through a side door Clark hadn't noticed before. Watching him through the walls, Clark saw him enter one of the rooms down the hall. Clark turned his attention back to his wardrobe, but he couldn't look at himself objectively.
Then Lex was back, striding forward with a black bomber jacket. Instead of just handing it to Clark, he tugged on Clark's arm to pull him up and held the jacket up for Clark to slip into. "Um. Your jacket probably won't fit me."
"It's a good thing it's not mine, then," Lex murmured. Clark obliged his whim by moving his arms as needed and shrugging the jacket up. To his surprise, it did fit Lex looked very smug when he moved to stand in front of Clark again. "Move your arms, make sure it's not too tight."
It wasn't. Clark didn't know what he looked like, but Lex's expression was very appreciative. Maybe it was a good thing, Lex dressing him. Clark could feel his face heating and he covered his confusion by putting his hands in the pockets. They were empty, but the high quality of the jacket extended to the lining, which was a soft caress against his skin. Decadent.
"You fill it out better than Bruce," Lex commented. He moved in to pull at the edges, and then nodded. "Much better."
"Bruce?" Clark asked, curious. He knew much about Lana's life before coming to Smallville, but Lex's past was still a mystery.
Lex nodded, moving around Clark to check the view from all angles. "Just an ex. He won't be back for it, I promise."
Suddenly, the jacket didn't fit quite as well and Clark pulled his hands free. "Ex?"
There was a pause while Lex looked at him searchingly, then grinned. "Not Lana's. My ex. She didn't meet Bruce and won't make the connection to him, don't worry."
"I'm not. Worried." Still uncomfortable, though, but for a new reason. "You're, ah- You are."
Lex froze. Not his little pauses when he stopped to listen or judge a situation, but a full body standstill. "Gay. Yes. I haven't tried to hide it." And he hadn't, not in private or in public. For all that Lex's eyes and guarded expressions hinted at secrets kept, he was a very open person. About some things.
Clark opened his mouth, then closed it, not knowing how to respond to that. Lex was alien to everything Clark was used and he'd be trying not to classify him beyond Not of Smallville. "Sorry. There's just no one else in Smallville. That I know of."
"Smallville's small, but it's not empty." Lex gave him a flash of a smile as he stepped back, clearly giving Clark his space. "Lana should be back soon. Let me greet her and lead her on to the study, and Enrique will bring you in like you've just arrived."
"What would be the point of that?" It seemed to be subterfuge for the sake of itself.
"Because Lana is aware of my sexuality, Clark. If she finds you alone here with me, she'll link you with me romantically. Once she's put you in the category of Friend Only, you'll have to work much harder to court her."
"I could just, you know, tell her if I wanted to date her." Lex gave him a look that was unreadable, but Clark could feel his skepticism.. "I mean, I can. I'm capable of expressing interest in someone in a mature fashion," Clark insisted, but his protest only served to make Lex smile.
Lex raised his hands in a placating gesture. "I'm sure you can, Clark."
Clark shrugged out of the jacket and handed it back. "Lex, I didn't come here to talk about dating Lana. I just wanted to know what you'd told her, about the accident. And
about me."
"Nothing beyond what I told you before, our conversation about the type of person you are. I don't know anything about you to tell her that you haven't already said to her." It was a pointed statement and Lex's expression was guarded again. His eyes were a wall, not a window.
It took Clark a moment to realize that Lex was playing by the rules they'd outlined, the rules Clark had set. And though it meant Clark was breaking those rules himself, he couldn't let his gratitude go unsaid. "Thank you."
Lex hesitated before apparently deciding to follow Clark's lead. "You're welcome."
Clark could have left it there and he had a feeling it might never come up again. Not unless he had to save Lex or Lana again in the future, and he didn't think that was likely. What harm could befall them in their castle. "You can keep a secret, right?"
"You're a friend now, Clark. And I'll do anything for my friends." Lex was moving into his space again, this time in a slow drift that Clark didn't think was entirely conscious.
Clark took a deep breath and steeled himself for what he was about to do. "There are a couple things you could do for me."
"Name it," Lex said easily.
Too easily. Clark's heart was beating hard enough that it should have been heard from the short distance between them, but Lex was as normal, as casual, as always now. "Help me destroy my spaceship."
"Spa- Of course." That had definitely ruffled the calm, but not for long. "What else?"
"Stop with any efforts to get Lana and me together." He liked Lana, but not like that. He was actually pretty happy that she seemed to be flirting with Pete.
The request made Lex hesitate, which Clark found amusing. Spaceships barely fazed him, but not wanting his help with a girl made him momentarily speechless. "Are you that confident in your ability to get her, Clark?"
"I don't want her." Clark rushed to continue, forestalling whatever was going to come out of Lex's opening mouth. "And the person I do want doesn't know me very well, but... I think they'd know what they'd be getting. If they wanted me. Which I'm not confident about."
"That sounds vaguely like the pronoun game, Clark." He read Clark's confusion easily and smiled. "No gender pronouns in a speech like that might indicate you were trying to avoid pronouncing directly you're interest in a guy."
"Maybe," Clark drawled out, smiling slightly when Lex's mouth twitched in a silent laugh at this further avoidanc.
"Clark?" Lex, who was sometimes long-winded and always eloquent, could pack a world of questions into a single, drawn-out syllable.
"So, I said a 'couple things', but I have a third request." Lex gestured for Clark to continue. "Would you like to come to dinner? At the farm. With my parents." And because Lex continued to stare at him, expression indicating noncomprehension, Clark added awkwardly, "As my date."
Lex's expression was still nearly blank, though his hands were curled tightly enough to turn his knuckles white. "I'll bring wine for dinner and flowers for your mother." Simply spoken.
His acceptance and physical reaction were so at odds with each other and what Clark had expected that Clark had to run the words through his mind several times before they took. "Really? You want to?"
"Want to? Want is not a strong enough word, Clark. I don't think it's quite dignified to jump up and down and scream as I'd like." He did finally smile, though, the act of speaking having apparently loosened the muscles of his face.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." They looked at each other for a long moment, smiles growing before Lex cleared his throat. He tossed the jacket over the arm of the sofa, then put his hands in his pockets. "So, spaceship?"
The End
* * *
End notes
Prompt: 7. Clark is The Handsome Male Lead chasing after The Attractive Female Lead (insert character of your choice), but somehow he ends up with TAFL’s Gay Best Friend, Lex!
It is a truly fantastic prompt and I'm going to play with it during the rewrites, but a lot of the 'chasing' was taken out and rewritten just to get the fic to end.
Lex's quote about judging a man comes from Joseph Conrad. Title comes from a play on word I didn't even realize until the wife pointed it out.
ETA: I forgot to write a summary when I posted this. (I also forgot the title originally, but that didn't take me a day to fix.)