A Picture's Worth (Part 6/?)
Title: A Picture's Worth (Part 6/?)
Author: hoperoy
Fandom: Smallville
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Clark/Lex,
Word count: 2,908
Warnings: Mentions of underage sex.
Summary: Pictures don't lie, even when Clark and Lex do. It's possible that a little truth is exactly what they need-even if it turns their lives upside down.
Author's Note: This takes place after Hydro. Thanks to danceswithgary for the beta.
---------------------
The morning after, as Clark had discovered, could be one of the best parts of sex. It could also be one of the most awkward, depending on the situation. So far, Clark wasn't sure how the current morning was going to go.
Lex wasn't awake, but Clark knew that wouldn't last long. Already he could tell that Lex was getting restless, tossing and turning until the sheets were tangled up around him. He was never a restful sleeper, by any stretch of the imagination, but Clark had been around him long enough to know the difference between nearly awake and simple restlessness.
Almost as if he knew he was being watched, Lex opened his eyes, immediately focusing on Clark. There was no lingering sleepiness--he was fully awake, all his attention concentrated on the person in front of him.
"You're still here--I'll take that as a good sign."
Sighing, Clark burrowed his cheek into the pillow. He still wasn't sure he'd made the right decision, but laying in bed just looking at Lex made him feel a little more secure. "You should."
"I'm not playing games with you this time," Lex warned him, his voice a warm rumble. There was no threat there, merely a statement of a fact. "I'm not indulging teenage tendencies now that you're twenty."
"I'm not the only one who was a little insecure, Lex."
For some reason, that pulled a small smile up onto Lex's lips. "Point," he murmured, simply looking at Clark. "You're gorgeous in the morning."
Clark couldn't suppress a tiny grin. Lex wasn't a blatant romantic--he rarely had ever said anything about love--but Clark had always known how Lex had felt about him, mainly from compliments like that. It had been one of the nicer things about their relationship, and hearing something like that brought back a comforting sort of familiarity.
"We should get up," Clark said quietly after pausing a few seconds. "Check the morning paper to see if we're the news again."
"You don't seem as upset about it this morning."
Lex was right--Clark wasn't. He wasn't particularly crazy about having his naked body--and Lex's--splashed across the front of newspapers and tabloids, but it was somehow different when he was actually sleeping with the person. It was no longer something to be ashamed of.
That was a pretty fast transition for someone who'd only decided to fall back into bed with his ex the previous night. He and Lex had been fighting for a long time, but there was just something about close proximity--and being forced to talk--that had required them to work out their problems--or at least smooth them over until they were tolerable.
"I'm not," he admitted. "It's different when it doesn't feel like a mistake."
Lex's soft, barely visible half-smile was enough to let Clark know that he appreciated the comment. "There's an opening for a new wing of the Metropolis Museum that I'm obligated to go to later tonight," he told Clark after a few moments. "Come with me. I'll give an interview to the press. We'll put a positive spin on this."
"You don't give interviews," Clark reminded him.
"I'll make an exception."
Clark rolled to his back and looked up at the ceiling, frowning. "And you think I want to be paraded around in public in a suit? Haven't we already given them enough to talk about?"
There was silence from Lex's side of the bed and, for a moment, Clark was afraid to look, fearing that he'd said something wrong.
When Lex finally spoke, his tone was quiet, laced with an underlying iciness. "I want to make whoever set us up regret it, Clark. I want to make those photos worthless to them because, whoever it is, I'm beginning to think that it's personal. There would be no greater satisfaction than making them think that because they made those photos public, they actually did me a favor in the end."
Immediately, Clark felt something in his chest clench. "Is that what I am to you? Is this just a way to stick it to someone who blackmailed you?" He didn't want to be someone's instrument for revenge--not ever. If that was all he was to Lex, everything they'd done in the last few days was worthless.
"No, Clark. The ultimate revenge would be for everything I just said to be *true*--and it is."
"Why do I have to go to a museum opening to prove that?"
The shifting of Lex's body on the sheets was easily audible next to Clark, but he still didn't turn his head. It wasn't until Lex's hand gently slipped across his stomach that he finally looked over at him. "You don't, Clark. But I want everyone to see how true it is. I want whoever did this to know that it didn't work." Moving in a little closer, he let his lips brush against Clark's ear as his voice dropped to a whisper. "If you agree to get dressed up and go with me, I'll make it worth your while later."
Clark shivered, instantly aroused despite himself. It was impossible not to be when someone as sexy as Lex was making promises like that.
A part of Clark knew that he was being somewhat hasty. Only a few days ago, he and Lex had been fighting bitterly. They hadn't been able to stay in the same room without throwing heated comments and barbs at each other. For that to change in less than a week was a little unbelievable.
At least, it would have been if he and Lex had ever actually been believable in the first place. As it was, Clark didn't think that their relationship had ever been logical. In some ways, they'd even liked that it wasn't.
"I'm asking you for this, Clark. I want to kill this problem once and for all. Let me make sure that those pictures are worthless to whoever is sending them. Just let me do that."
Despite what Clark wanted, his answer was forming on his lips before he really had the chance to think about all the reasons why it was a bad idea. "Fine."
Lex kissed him.
Clark felt himself falling hard.
Again.
He hadn't learned anything from his early high school years. Oddly enough, he thought he might be all right with that.
------------------------------
Clark hated any form of parties--and Lex knew it. For someone who hid as many secrets as Clark, crowds held a higher risk of exposure, the public a wider venue for observation, and society parties an attempt for everyone to pick him apart. Lex didn't blame him--if it hadn't been true before, it certainly had become so in light of the information that had exploded in the media in the past few days.
Lex had known the opening of the museum was a perfect example, but Clark had to face up to it eventually, and they had a limited time in which they could make the latest press scandal look positive--not that Lex could completely clean up the damage. There were still people who wouldn't associate with his company because they suspected--and were right to suspect--that he'd had a liaison with an underage boy.
It wasn't about the statistics for Lex this time. As far as he was concerned, he had the opportunity to pull a turnabout on the person who'd released the photos. In the end, the blackmail attempt had ended up being a blessing in disguise, because Clark was back with him, at his side during the party, and later, hopefully, in his bed. He wanted whoever had caused all the initial damage to see that.
However, just because the situation had ended up being a blessing, it didn't mean Lex was going to stop trying to discover the person responsible. It would take time, and it would probably be tedious, but he was willing to wait until the investigation turned something up--his *own* investigation, because all the police were really doing was investigating his affair with Clark. They could have cared less that someone had robbed and then attempted to blackmail Lex.
In the meantime, Lex had plenty to entertain himself with.
"You look handsome, Clark," Lex murmured, moving up behind Clark, who had been standing in front of a large painting, staring at it with a spacey look plastered across his face. "I want to burn all your flannel and make you wear suits everyday."
Clark immediately shifted his gaze away from the painting to Lex. His objection was the same one he'd made quite often in the past. "Suits wouldn't work on a farm, Lex."
Grinning, Lex indulged himself by quickly leaning in and giving Clark's ass a quick grope. He wasn't sure how he'd gone without touching Clark for so long. Maybe that had been where the disagreements had come from--unresolved sexual tension.
As Lex had expected, Clark jumped and glared at him. "Damn it, Lex, *stop*. You're already being accused of molesting me--do you need to do it again in public?"
"You're not jailbait anymore." It was a point Lex was endlessly thankful for, because not being able to touch Clark would have been torture. Grinning, he let his arm slide a little higher until his hand rested in the small of Clark's back. "I can touch in public now, and no one can arrest me."
"Doesn't mean you should push it," Clark mumbled, though the blush in his cheeks gave away how his body was responding to Lex's caresses.
"Don't want people watching?"
"Why would I?"
Clearly, Clark didn't know about exhibitionism. Sometimes Lex forgot how naive he could be. "Come with me."
Three days ago, Lex had been alternating between being bitterly at odds with Clark and wanting to protect him from the backlash of what had happened. A few days and some good sex had changed that--had gotten them back on the same page. They weren't conventional and they didn't make much sense together, but they were *right*, and Lex had long ago given up trying to figure out the strange hold that Clark seemed to have over his emotions.
Clark only hesitated for a few seconds before he fell into step behind Lex, following him as he headed out of the exhibit and down one of the hallways. Although he looked at Lex with curiosity when Lex entered the bathroom, Clark didn't stop following him.
"Lex, what are we--?"
Lex never let him finish. Life tended to get messy when Clark talked too much about why something was unreasonable. Kissing was easier and more enjoyable. "You didn't want people watching. No one's watching now," he murmured, breaking the kiss and pushing Clark backwards into one of the stalls. He caught the door with his left hand and pulled it shut behind them, locking it.
"Lex--" Clark tried to protest, shifting against the side of the stall where Lex had shoved him. "This is crazy." He looked as if he believed what he was saying, but there was an unmistakable bulge in his pants, which let Lex know that, crazy or not, Clark was trying hard not to like it-and failing.
"Yeah?" He'd done crazier things. What they were doing was *nothing* compared to his clubbing days.
"What--damn it--what are you doing?" Clark nearly squeaked when Lex reached down to undo the front of his tented pants. "Lex, this is a *public* restroom--anyone could walk in!"
"Let them. I certainly have enough money to keep them quiet. As long as no one takes pictures, we should be fine, right?" Grinning, he slipped his hand down the front of Clark's pants and squeezed.
"*Fuck!*," Clark gasped out, his head falling back against the wall. "Lex, that's not funny--"
Poor Clark. He was so out of his element--and Lex enjoyed putting him there. It was so easy to ignore the tiny warning bell in his head that was telling him how that particular brand of enjoyment had led to videotapes of him and Clark having sex--which had led to a public scandal.
"Let me do this, and then I'll give an interview and we'll go home." If Clark complained about an offer like that, Lex wasn't sure what he would do. Clark was getting to go home early from a function he hated in exchange for allowing Lex to give him a blowjob. Lex wished *Clark* would offer him deals like that.
"*Anyone* could walk in," Clark protested again as Lex dropped to his knees, his hands carefully taking Clark's cock out of his pants. Cotton boxers under an expensive suit--it was comforting to know that there were certain things about Clark that would never change.
"That's part of the fun, Clark. Relax."
"Fun?" Clark asked incredulously, his tone higher than normal as Lex leaned forward. "That's--"
Half to shut Clark up--and half because he wanted to--Lex bent and took Clark in his mouth, swirling his tongue lazily over the head of Clark's cock. As he'd expected, Clark let out a surprisingly creative string of curses and leaned back into the wall, gasping for air.
It never ceased to amuse Lex how someone so quiet and reserved in everyday life could be such a talker during sex. Clark had always blushed when Lex had reminded him of it later, which he'd often done, mostly because he'd always gotten such enjoyment out of the words *and* the blushes. Pretty, naive Clark, running off at the mouth--there was just something hot about that.
Placing his hands on Clark's hips, Lex began to suck. He wasn't surprised when Clark began to thrust forward, and Lex had to wonder just how much self-control Clark was still using. He wasn't fool enough to believe that there weren't still secrets between them, but he knew so much more about Clark and his unique abilities than he had before. Even if he hadn't, it wasn't hard to see that Clark was using some measure of restraint.
Lex suspected that, had Clark not been, the results would most likely have been deadly.
It didn't take long before Clark was coming, Lex's name on his lips. Even as he was swallowing, Lex looked up at Clark, watching his luminous face. He'd never seen anything to match Clark's face when he came, and it left Lex breathless every time.
Clark was gorgeous right after having sex. There was always a somewhat glazed look in his eyes, coupled with a hint of shock. He almost looked as though he couldn't quite believe what he'd just gone through--what Lex had made him feel.
That might have been Lex's favorite part of it all.
"See?" Lex smirked when he stood up, tucking Clark back into his pants. "No harm done."
Still breathing heavily, Clark shot him a glare that didn't quite have enough venom behind it to really be meaningful. "You know as well as I do that anyone who sees me right now is going to know *exactly* what we've been doing."
Lex was hard-pressed to care, so long as no one could prove it, but Clark was obviously unnerved at the thought. It was time for a bit of damage control.
"They'll have no proof, Clark. Nothing's going to happen."
"But people will talk, and--"
Lex couldn't hold back his laughter, even though he knew it would aggravate Clark. "We've already given them plenty to talk about." The idea that Clark was worried about gossip after shots of them having sex had been sent to the newspapers--it was just amusing.
As Lex had expected, Clark frowned, looking annoyed. "Why give them more?"
"Why should we care? There's nothing they can do. They'll talk, it might make a few gossip columns, but they'll have no evidence--nothing that they can use." Clark still didn't look swayed. Sighing, Lex reached out and gently helped him finish re-adjusting his clothing before opening the door of the stall. "Clark, if it bothers you that much, I'll pay off anyone who tries to say anything more loudly than a whispered bit of gossip, all right?"
"I don't want you paying people off," Clark immediately replied as he went over to the sink and began to wash his hands. "It's not right."
It probably wasn't, but Lex wasn't seeing exactly why it was *so* wrong, either. It was a simple concept of economics--he paid, he received something in return. It wasn't as though he were trying to hide anything illegal.
"Can you just give that interview so we can go home?" Clark asked after a short pause.
Lex couldn't help but grin. Clark's words might have seemed short and annoyed, but there was a tiny spark of heat in his eyes that gave him away. Clark, no matter what his hang-ups, had enjoyed what had just happened and wanted more of it, as long as it was in a situation where he was comfortable.
Lex was willing to accommodate that preference, considering what the reward could be. Nodding, he walked over to the door of the bathroom and opened it, letting Clark go out first. He'd give the interview, and then they'd go home, just as he'd promised Clark.
Of course, if he'd had his way, they'd have just skipped the interview.
Author: hoperoy
Fandom: Smallville
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Clark/Lex,
Word count: 2,908
Warnings: Mentions of underage sex.
Summary: Pictures don't lie, even when Clark and Lex do. It's possible that a little truth is exactly what they need-even if it turns their lives upside down.
Author's Note: This takes place after Hydro. Thanks to danceswithgary for the beta.
---------------------
The morning after, as Clark had discovered, could be one of the best parts of sex. It could also be one of the most awkward, depending on the situation. So far, Clark wasn't sure how the current morning was going to go.
Lex wasn't awake, but Clark knew that wouldn't last long. Already he could tell that Lex was getting restless, tossing and turning until the sheets were tangled up around him. He was never a restful sleeper, by any stretch of the imagination, but Clark had been around him long enough to know the difference between nearly awake and simple restlessness.
Almost as if he knew he was being watched, Lex opened his eyes, immediately focusing on Clark. There was no lingering sleepiness--he was fully awake, all his attention concentrated on the person in front of him.
"You're still here--I'll take that as a good sign."
Sighing, Clark burrowed his cheek into the pillow. He still wasn't sure he'd made the right decision, but laying in bed just looking at Lex made him feel a little more secure. "You should."
"I'm not playing games with you this time," Lex warned him, his voice a warm rumble. There was no threat there, merely a statement of a fact. "I'm not indulging teenage tendencies now that you're twenty."
"I'm not the only one who was a little insecure, Lex."
For some reason, that pulled a small smile up onto Lex's lips. "Point," he murmured, simply looking at Clark. "You're gorgeous in the morning."
Clark couldn't suppress a tiny grin. Lex wasn't a blatant romantic--he rarely had ever said anything about love--but Clark had always known how Lex had felt about him, mainly from compliments like that. It had been one of the nicer things about their relationship, and hearing something like that brought back a comforting sort of familiarity.
"We should get up," Clark said quietly after pausing a few seconds. "Check the morning paper to see if we're the news again."
"You don't seem as upset about it this morning."
Lex was right--Clark wasn't. He wasn't particularly crazy about having his naked body--and Lex's--splashed across the front of newspapers and tabloids, but it was somehow different when he was actually sleeping with the person. It was no longer something to be ashamed of.
That was a pretty fast transition for someone who'd only decided to fall back into bed with his ex the previous night. He and Lex had been fighting for a long time, but there was just something about close proximity--and being forced to talk--that had required them to work out their problems--or at least smooth them over until they were tolerable.
"I'm not," he admitted. "It's different when it doesn't feel like a mistake."
Lex's soft, barely visible half-smile was enough to let Clark know that he appreciated the comment. "There's an opening for a new wing of the Metropolis Museum that I'm obligated to go to later tonight," he told Clark after a few moments. "Come with me. I'll give an interview to the press. We'll put a positive spin on this."
"You don't give interviews," Clark reminded him.
"I'll make an exception."
Clark rolled to his back and looked up at the ceiling, frowning. "And you think I want to be paraded around in public in a suit? Haven't we already given them enough to talk about?"
There was silence from Lex's side of the bed and, for a moment, Clark was afraid to look, fearing that he'd said something wrong.
When Lex finally spoke, his tone was quiet, laced with an underlying iciness. "I want to make whoever set us up regret it, Clark. I want to make those photos worthless to them because, whoever it is, I'm beginning to think that it's personal. There would be no greater satisfaction than making them think that because they made those photos public, they actually did me a favor in the end."
Immediately, Clark felt something in his chest clench. "Is that what I am to you? Is this just a way to stick it to someone who blackmailed you?" He didn't want to be someone's instrument for revenge--not ever. If that was all he was to Lex, everything they'd done in the last few days was worthless.
"No, Clark. The ultimate revenge would be for everything I just said to be *true*--and it is."
"Why do I have to go to a museum opening to prove that?"
The shifting of Lex's body on the sheets was easily audible next to Clark, but he still didn't turn his head. It wasn't until Lex's hand gently slipped across his stomach that he finally looked over at him. "You don't, Clark. But I want everyone to see how true it is. I want whoever did this to know that it didn't work." Moving in a little closer, he let his lips brush against Clark's ear as his voice dropped to a whisper. "If you agree to get dressed up and go with me, I'll make it worth your while later."
Clark shivered, instantly aroused despite himself. It was impossible not to be when someone as sexy as Lex was making promises like that.
A part of Clark knew that he was being somewhat hasty. Only a few days ago, he and Lex had been fighting bitterly. They hadn't been able to stay in the same room without throwing heated comments and barbs at each other. For that to change in less than a week was a little unbelievable.
At least, it would have been if he and Lex had ever actually been believable in the first place. As it was, Clark didn't think that their relationship had ever been logical. In some ways, they'd even liked that it wasn't.
"I'm asking you for this, Clark. I want to kill this problem once and for all. Let me make sure that those pictures are worthless to whoever is sending them. Just let me do that."
Despite what Clark wanted, his answer was forming on his lips before he really had the chance to think about all the reasons why it was a bad idea. "Fine."
Lex kissed him.
Clark felt himself falling hard.
Again.
He hadn't learned anything from his early high school years. Oddly enough, he thought he might be all right with that.
------------------------------
Clark hated any form of parties--and Lex knew it. For someone who hid as many secrets as Clark, crowds held a higher risk of exposure, the public a wider venue for observation, and society parties an attempt for everyone to pick him apart. Lex didn't blame him--if it hadn't been true before, it certainly had become so in light of the information that had exploded in the media in the past few days.
Lex had known the opening of the museum was a perfect example, but Clark had to face up to it eventually, and they had a limited time in which they could make the latest press scandal look positive--not that Lex could completely clean up the damage. There were still people who wouldn't associate with his company because they suspected--and were right to suspect--that he'd had a liaison with an underage boy.
It wasn't about the statistics for Lex this time. As far as he was concerned, he had the opportunity to pull a turnabout on the person who'd released the photos. In the end, the blackmail attempt had ended up being a blessing in disguise, because Clark was back with him, at his side during the party, and later, hopefully, in his bed. He wanted whoever had caused all the initial damage to see that.
However, just because the situation had ended up being a blessing, it didn't mean Lex was going to stop trying to discover the person responsible. It would take time, and it would probably be tedious, but he was willing to wait until the investigation turned something up--his *own* investigation, because all the police were really doing was investigating his affair with Clark. They could have cared less that someone had robbed and then attempted to blackmail Lex.
In the meantime, Lex had plenty to entertain himself with.
"You look handsome, Clark," Lex murmured, moving up behind Clark, who had been standing in front of a large painting, staring at it with a spacey look plastered across his face. "I want to burn all your flannel and make you wear suits everyday."
Clark immediately shifted his gaze away from the painting to Lex. His objection was the same one he'd made quite often in the past. "Suits wouldn't work on a farm, Lex."
Grinning, Lex indulged himself by quickly leaning in and giving Clark's ass a quick grope. He wasn't sure how he'd gone without touching Clark for so long. Maybe that had been where the disagreements had come from--unresolved sexual tension.
As Lex had expected, Clark jumped and glared at him. "Damn it, Lex, *stop*. You're already being accused of molesting me--do you need to do it again in public?"
"You're not jailbait anymore." It was a point Lex was endlessly thankful for, because not being able to touch Clark would have been torture. Grinning, he let his arm slide a little higher until his hand rested in the small of Clark's back. "I can touch in public now, and no one can arrest me."
"Doesn't mean you should push it," Clark mumbled, though the blush in his cheeks gave away how his body was responding to Lex's caresses.
"Don't want people watching?"
"Why would I?"
Clearly, Clark didn't know about exhibitionism. Sometimes Lex forgot how naive he could be. "Come with me."
Three days ago, Lex had been alternating between being bitterly at odds with Clark and wanting to protect him from the backlash of what had happened. A few days and some good sex had changed that--had gotten them back on the same page. They weren't conventional and they didn't make much sense together, but they were *right*, and Lex had long ago given up trying to figure out the strange hold that Clark seemed to have over his emotions.
Clark only hesitated for a few seconds before he fell into step behind Lex, following him as he headed out of the exhibit and down one of the hallways. Although he looked at Lex with curiosity when Lex entered the bathroom, Clark didn't stop following him.
"Lex, what are we--?"
Lex never let him finish. Life tended to get messy when Clark talked too much about why something was unreasonable. Kissing was easier and more enjoyable. "You didn't want people watching. No one's watching now," he murmured, breaking the kiss and pushing Clark backwards into one of the stalls. He caught the door with his left hand and pulled it shut behind them, locking it.
"Lex--" Clark tried to protest, shifting against the side of the stall where Lex had shoved him. "This is crazy." He looked as if he believed what he was saying, but there was an unmistakable bulge in his pants, which let Lex know that, crazy or not, Clark was trying hard not to like it-and failing.
"Yeah?" He'd done crazier things. What they were doing was *nothing* compared to his clubbing days.
"What--damn it--what are you doing?" Clark nearly squeaked when Lex reached down to undo the front of his tented pants. "Lex, this is a *public* restroom--anyone could walk in!"
"Let them. I certainly have enough money to keep them quiet. As long as no one takes pictures, we should be fine, right?" Grinning, he slipped his hand down the front of Clark's pants and squeezed.
"*Fuck!*," Clark gasped out, his head falling back against the wall. "Lex, that's not funny--"
Poor Clark. He was so out of his element--and Lex enjoyed putting him there. It was so easy to ignore the tiny warning bell in his head that was telling him how that particular brand of enjoyment had led to videotapes of him and Clark having sex--which had led to a public scandal.
"Let me do this, and then I'll give an interview and we'll go home." If Clark complained about an offer like that, Lex wasn't sure what he would do. Clark was getting to go home early from a function he hated in exchange for allowing Lex to give him a blowjob. Lex wished *Clark* would offer him deals like that.
"*Anyone* could walk in," Clark protested again as Lex dropped to his knees, his hands carefully taking Clark's cock out of his pants. Cotton boxers under an expensive suit--it was comforting to know that there were certain things about Clark that would never change.
"That's part of the fun, Clark. Relax."
"Fun?" Clark asked incredulously, his tone higher than normal as Lex leaned forward. "That's--"
Half to shut Clark up--and half because he wanted to--Lex bent and took Clark in his mouth, swirling his tongue lazily over the head of Clark's cock. As he'd expected, Clark let out a surprisingly creative string of curses and leaned back into the wall, gasping for air.
It never ceased to amuse Lex how someone so quiet and reserved in everyday life could be such a talker during sex. Clark had always blushed when Lex had reminded him of it later, which he'd often done, mostly because he'd always gotten such enjoyment out of the words *and* the blushes. Pretty, naive Clark, running off at the mouth--there was just something hot about that.
Placing his hands on Clark's hips, Lex began to suck. He wasn't surprised when Clark began to thrust forward, and Lex had to wonder just how much self-control Clark was still using. He wasn't fool enough to believe that there weren't still secrets between them, but he knew so much more about Clark and his unique abilities than he had before. Even if he hadn't, it wasn't hard to see that Clark was using some measure of restraint.
Lex suspected that, had Clark not been, the results would most likely have been deadly.
It didn't take long before Clark was coming, Lex's name on his lips. Even as he was swallowing, Lex looked up at Clark, watching his luminous face. He'd never seen anything to match Clark's face when he came, and it left Lex breathless every time.
Clark was gorgeous right after having sex. There was always a somewhat glazed look in his eyes, coupled with a hint of shock. He almost looked as though he couldn't quite believe what he'd just gone through--what Lex had made him feel.
That might have been Lex's favorite part of it all.
"See?" Lex smirked when he stood up, tucking Clark back into his pants. "No harm done."
Still breathing heavily, Clark shot him a glare that didn't quite have enough venom behind it to really be meaningful. "You know as well as I do that anyone who sees me right now is going to know *exactly* what we've been doing."
Lex was hard-pressed to care, so long as no one could prove it, but Clark was obviously unnerved at the thought. It was time for a bit of damage control.
"They'll have no proof, Clark. Nothing's going to happen."
"But people will talk, and--"
Lex couldn't hold back his laughter, even though he knew it would aggravate Clark. "We've already given them plenty to talk about." The idea that Clark was worried about gossip after shots of them having sex had been sent to the newspapers--it was just amusing.
As Lex had expected, Clark frowned, looking annoyed. "Why give them more?"
"Why should we care? There's nothing they can do. They'll talk, it might make a few gossip columns, but they'll have no evidence--nothing that they can use." Clark still didn't look swayed. Sighing, Lex reached out and gently helped him finish re-adjusting his clothing before opening the door of the stall. "Clark, if it bothers you that much, I'll pay off anyone who tries to say anything more loudly than a whispered bit of gossip, all right?"
"I don't want you paying people off," Clark immediately replied as he went over to the sink and began to wash his hands. "It's not right."
It probably wasn't, but Lex wasn't seeing exactly why it was *so* wrong, either. It was a simple concept of economics--he paid, he received something in return. It wasn't as though he were trying to hide anything illegal.
"Can you just give that interview so we can go home?" Clark asked after a short pause.
Lex couldn't help but grin. Clark's words might have seemed short and annoyed, but there was a tiny spark of heat in his eyes that gave him away. Clark, no matter what his hang-ups, had enjoyed what had just happened and wanted more of it, as long as it was in a situation where he was comfortable.
Lex was willing to accommodate that preference, considering what the reward could be. Nodding, he walked over to the door of the bathroom and opened it, letting Clark go out first. He'd give the interview, and then they'd go home, just as he'd promised Clark.
Of course, if he'd had his way, they'd have just skipped the interview.