FIC: No Day So Wrong (SV)
So I'm one of *those* who listens to Soft 'N Easy Net Radio (don't snicker). So they played a song I hadn't heard in a long time--No Night So Long by Dionne Warwick. So it made this story pop into my head. So I wrote it in under an hour. So you can ignore it if you want.
NO DAY SO WRONG By Dayspring
Clark stared blindly at the grave. The graves. Jonathan Kent, the oldest. Martha Kent, long grown over. Lois Lane (Kent), still fresh. Other plots still intact. But not for long.
Hearing footsteps, he turned to tell Pete or Lana to go home, that they needn't subject their arthritic bones to the crisp autumn air just because he couldn't deal. Because he couldn't stop thinking about being left behind. Being left alone.
But it wasn't Pete.
Or Lana.
"What do you want, Luthor?"
The bald head shook solemnly. "Not Luthor. Not the alien. Not today. Today, it's just Lex and Clark."
And because it would take too much energy, too much will to accept otherwise, he nodded. Lex stepped up beside him, close enough to feel the heat of the still lithe body through the layers that separated them.
"Lois wanted to be here. Said she must be the only person who preferred her in-laws to her own family. Everyone thought the plot was bought for me. But I'll never have use of it." He glanced at the still smooth face beside him. "You'll never use yours either."
Lex shrugged.
Clark looked around. "Where's the Secret Service? I thought all ex-presidents had them for life--no matter how long that may be."
"I ditched them. Since they figured out I can't be killed, they assign the useless and the aged to me. I leave them in the dust whenever I want, then retrieve them when I'm ready to be under their scrutiny again. Works out for everyone."
"Oh."
They stood there in silence, even past sunset and the twinkling of the first star.
"The mansion still has the best pool table in Kansas," Lex said as the full moon rose.
Clark snorted. "Only in Kansas?"
"I didn't want to brag."
Clark laughed. "Best two out of three?"
"As long as you keep your alien tricks to yourself."
"Alien tricks? Are you implying that I cheat?"
"You expect me to believe you've never used your super-breath to nudge a ball into a pocket? Or your strength to tilt the table just so? You forget how long I've known you, Clark."
Clark turned to the shorter man, still intense and vibrant, strumming with the energy that he'd been addicted to as a teen, and had avoided as a man. "I haven't forgotten anything, Lex."
Fierce blue eyes looked up at him. "And we never will."
Clark nodded, never expecting to feel hope on the same day he thought it was buried. "So, your labs working on anything to sustain a man through interplanetary travel without a ship?" he asked as they walked toward the main gate of the cemetery. One of Lex's cars sat there, fast and sleek and sexy. That hadn't changed either.
"No, why?"
"You don’t know what you're missing if you haven't made love under the glow of seven full moons."
Lex never hesitated in step. "They'll start working on it tomorrow."
Clark reached out his hand and felt the universe realign itself as it clasped around Lex's.
Seven full moons.
Tonight, he figured they'd settle for one.
No night so long that you can't find the day;
No day so wrong that you can't find your way;
Call on me like you used to do,
I still can show you who you are.
No Night So Long by Dionne Warwick
THE END
NO DAY SO WRONG By Dayspring
Clark stared blindly at the grave. The graves. Jonathan Kent, the oldest. Martha Kent, long grown over. Lois Lane (Kent), still fresh. Other plots still intact. But not for long.
Hearing footsteps, he turned to tell Pete or Lana to go home, that they needn't subject their arthritic bones to the crisp autumn air just because he couldn't deal. Because he couldn't stop thinking about being left behind. Being left alone.
But it wasn't Pete.
Or Lana.
"What do you want, Luthor?"
The bald head shook solemnly. "Not Luthor. Not the alien. Not today. Today, it's just Lex and Clark."
And because it would take too much energy, too much will to accept otherwise, he nodded. Lex stepped up beside him, close enough to feel the heat of the still lithe body through the layers that separated them.
"Lois wanted to be here. Said she must be the only person who preferred her in-laws to her own family. Everyone thought the plot was bought for me. But I'll never have use of it." He glanced at the still smooth face beside him. "You'll never use yours either."
Lex shrugged.
Clark looked around. "Where's the Secret Service? I thought all ex-presidents had them for life--no matter how long that may be."
"I ditched them. Since they figured out I can't be killed, they assign the useless and the aged to me. I leave them in the dust whenever I want, then retrieve them when I'm ready to be under their scrutiny again. Works out for everyone."
"Oh."
They stood there in silence, even past sunset and the twinkling of the first star.
"The mansion still has the best pool table in Kansas," Lex said as the full moon rose.
Clark snorted. "Only in Kansas?"
"I didn't want to brag."
Clark laughed. "Best two out of three?"
"As long as you keep your alien tricks to yourself."
"Alien tricks? Are you implying that I cheat?"
"You expect me to believe you've never used your super-breath to nudge a ball into a pocket? Or your strength to tilt the table just so? You forget how long I've known you, Clark."
Clark turned to the shorter man, still intense and vibrant, strumming with the energy that he'd been addicted to as a teen, and had avoided as a man. "I haven't forgotten anything, Lex."
Fierce blue eyes looked up at him. "And we never will."
Clark nodded, never expecting to feel hope on the same day he thought it was buried. "So, your labs working on anything to sustain a man through interplanetary travel without a ship?" he asked as they walked toward the main gate of the cemetery. One of Lex's cars sat there, fast and sleek and sexy. That hadn't changed either.
"No, why?"
"You don’t know what you're missing if you haven't made love under the glow of seven full moons."
Lex never hesitated in step. "They'll start working on it tomorrow."
Clark reached out his hand and felt the universe realign itself as it clasped around Lex's.
Seven full moons.
Tonight, he figured they'd settle for one.
No night so long that you can't find the day;
No day so wrong that you can't find your way;
Call on me like you used to do,
I still can show you who you are.
No Night So Long by Dionne Warwick
THE END