A Picture's Worth (Part 8/8)
Title: A Picture's Worth (Part 8/8)
Author: hoperoy
Fandom: Smallville
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Clark/Lex,
Word count: 2,722
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.
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"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Grinning, Lex leaned back in his office chair. He'd been waiting for this visit--had even been looking forward to it. "You're a smart girl, Lana. I'm sure you've figured it out."
"There's a lot I've figured out in the past few days, Lex," she spat, her eyes dark with hatred. It was almost frightening to see the intensity of her emotions. Lex hadn't realized before just how deep they ran within her.
"Fingerprints were found inside my safe. Unfortunately, your fingerprints weren't in the database for comparison so, when the police ran a scan, nothing turned up. But when *I* ran the scan, it was a perfect match. The Daily Planet was just a convenient drop-off point for the information."
"You gave them your test results?" she demanded, moving closer the desk. Her entire body was rigid with anger, but Lex only leaned back and smirked. There was nothing she could do to touch him anymore. Her credibility had been destroyed, and anything else she said against him in the future would be considered the ravings of a jealous ex.
Lex nodded and confirmed her supposition. "Yes. I never actually gave them your name, but it wasn't hard for them to make the connection. The man I sent to hand over the tip was an anonymous source, but when he went to the Planet, they accepted his information without question. When he told them that your fingerprints would be exact matches to those found in my safe, they looked into it. Face it, Lana: no one will believe you're innocent. You have the motive and the means to have done this, and no one is going to believe otherwise."
Lana flushed in chagrin, and that provided Lex greater pleasure than it probably should have. After everything she'd done, it felt good to know that he was getting to her in return. She deserved this, not only because she'd tried to ruin him, but because she'd gone after Clark, as well.
Clark.
Clark had no idea that Lex had dropped off that information. He probably would have told Lex not to if he'd known. Still, he almost seemed relieved that Lana's credibility had been shredded. There was no way to deny everything he and Lex had done--they weren't trying, anyway--but it certainly seemed to make the story less sensational and more annoying when it was presented by a jealous, vengeful ex who hadn't had all her facts straight.
"You were having sex with an underage boy."
"The photos you gave to the press were of Clark in his sophomore year. He was sixteen then. Unquestionably over the age of consent as I'm sure you must recall."
Clearly furious, Lana compressed her lips into a thin line. "But you were sleeping with him *before* then."
"Prove it."
She wouldn't be able to. The photos she'd sent to the press were the first set that he'd taken of himself and Clark--there was nothing to find before then. No one would be able to prove anything. There would always be some speculation, but Lex was positive that there wasn't a shred of evidence.
"What did you do to him, Lex?"
"Clark?" he asked, genuinely surprised. He'd anticipated protests from Lana, but he hadn't expected her to think that he'd coerced Clark into anything.
"He was a good kid. He liked *girls*. How the hell did you get him into bed with you? What did you do? Blackmail him?"
Immediately, Lex felt a spark of anger fan into a flame inside of him. He'd *never* forced Clark to sleep with him. Everything they had done had resulted from Clark's own decisions--Lex hadn't forced him to do anything.
"He made a hick kid like me feel special."
Clark.
Damn, but he always had been good at making spectacular--and often unexpected--entrances. Maybe that was why Clark had always intrigued Lex--he'd kept Lex off balance and had certainly never left him feeling bored.
Lana's eyes narrowed as Clark left his position in the doorway and entered the room. Impossible as it seemed, she looked just as angry with him as she had been at Lex. "That's funny, Clark. I'd never have thought you were the type to spread your legs because someone made you feel like you mattered."
"He *did* matter-he still does," Lex snapped, pushing his chair back and standing up. "You should know that by now, Lana. You *would* know that, if you weren't so bent on thinking otherwise."
"Why should I believe that someone like *him*," she asked bitterly, nodding in Clark's direction, "means anything to a billionaire like you?"
Lex shrugged. "Why shouldn't you? I've slept with some of the most attractive people in the world. If I had just been after him for looks, I could have choosen from a million people over eighteen whose fathers didn't own a shotgun--or who just didn't care. Clearly, there must have been something more."
It was a little heartbreaking to see the look of surprise that bloomed over Clark's face. Maybe, Lex realized, he should have worked a harder at making sure Clark knew just how special he'd been. He'd just always assumed that Clark had known--had seen it in the way Lex acted. But Clark was Clark, after all, and the boy always had been less than perfect when it came to reading people.
"Lana, it doesn't matter anymore," Clark said slowly, stopping Lex from replying. "Why would it matter to you anyway? He and I weren't sleeping together when I dated you, and we weren't sleeping together when Lex dated you."
"But you would have *liked* to have been, wouldn't you?"
There was that hate again. Pure, raw anger, turned into something more dangerous. That, Lex realized, was what it was all about for her. She felt that she'd been cheated out of her chance with either of them because they'd wanted each other instead of her.
Oddly, Lex thought she was probably right.
"But we *weren't*. We weren't the first people in the world to not be completely over an ex, and we won't be the last," Clark informed her, visibly trying to remain calm and reasonable. He succeeded in keeping his tone even, but his eyes displayed every last one of his emotions as effectively as if he'd held a neon sign. "I'm sorry that you got caught in that awkward situation, but I'm not going to apologize for something I never did--that Lex never did."
"And all the years in high school when you pretended to want me?" she demanded, moving closer to Clark. "What about that?"
"It wasn't a pretense. I *did* like you. I just didn't know what I wanted. I was sleeping with Lex, but I wanted to date *you*. Everything was confusing, and you were something normal, something that I thought I *should* want. I didn't understand what was happening, so it was easier to avoid it--to not think about it."
"Yes, at the expense of everyone else."
Irritation sparked inside of Lex. What right did she think she had to pass judgment on them? "Your moral high ground was flooded months ago, Lana," he snapped, drawing the attention away from Clark and to himself. That was fine--that was the way he preferred it. "You went sneaking around my mansion, broke into my private safe, stole pictures, blackmailed me with them, and then sent them to the press. Why would you believe that you have the right to ridicule Clark for being confused?"
"I never meant to hurt you," Clark offered. Lex both hated and loved the sincerity that he saw there. Lana didn't deserve an apology, but this was his Clark, gentle and forgiving and generously accepting the blame, even for things that weren't necessarily his fault.
"But you did," she snapped, turning away from both of them and heading for the door. It was clearly meant to be a dramatic exit, but Lex found himself smirking at the absurdity of it. Clark was just as good at walking out on him, but he at least was able to pull off the righteous indignation when he did it. She simply looked angry at having lost the battle.
"Lana."
She paused at the door, and Lex couldn't deny the pleasure he felt at knowing that, even now, she recognized him as a formidable opponent, enough so that she wouldn't simply ignore him. "If you're walking out that door, it had better be to pack your bags.
It was incredibly rewarding to see her stiffen, even if it was brief. Looking livid, she turned back around to face him. "Excuse me?"
"Go back to Paris, Lana. Or somewhere else, for all I care. I just don't want you *here*."
Her eyes darkened. "You can't do that."
"Earlier, you were planning to take my money and leave--after you released the pictures to the press."
"Lex--" Clark's voice cut in, but Lex ignored him, his eyes locked with Lana's. She wasn't a pushover, but neither was she playing at his level. She thought she was, and that might have been her greatest weakness.
Normally, Lex would have let him speak, but this wasn't Clark's fight. Those pictures had been *Lex's*, and maybe that was what he was most angry about. He hadn't wanted to share Clark with the world like that. Those pictures had been his and his alone. Lana certainly hadn't deserved to see them, let alone the general public.
"If you leave, I won't do anything to you, which, quite frankly, is a gift. Theft is still a crime in the United States, as is blackmail." Smirking, he nodded towards the door. "Trust me. You'd be better off not making a fuss."
In all honesty, it was so much more than she deserved and, if it had been Lex's decision, she wouldn't have received that generous a reprieve. His leniency was for *Clark's* sake--not for her. Clark wouldn't want her harmed, and Lex knew that, if he wanted Clark, he had to respect his feelings on the matter.
Indirectly, Clark was saving Lana again.
"Someday, Lex, you're going to get what's coming to you."
Lex sincerely hoped not, because what he deserved was something much worse than what he'd been fortunate to receive. But, as he watched Lana storm out of his study, slamming the doors behind her, he found that it was hard to respect the warning, given its source.
"She's wrong, you know."
Clark Kent, sweet voice of reason, most assuredly about to spout a righteous saying. Lex wasn't sure how, even if Clark's platitudes were *still* annoying, he'd been lucky enough to get a second chance with Clark.
"A wise saying of Jonathan Kent won't help here, Clark," Lex sighed as he closed his eyes. He thought that maybe he needed a nap.
Make that a year-long sleep.
"Would the truth?"
Lex couldn't hold back the inevitable tensing of his body. The truth and Clark were always ... touchy subjects that Lex was never quite able to let go. Clark's secrets, no matter how much Lex cared for the man himself, would always be a sore spot between them.
Lex would always want the answers.
"If I thought you were truly going to give it," Lex cautiously granted.
The feeling of Clark's body molding to his back should have been a startling, but it somehow wasn't. Lex was too ready to feel it--craved it too much--to be too surprised.
When Clark began speaking, his voice was low and soft in Lex's ear. "When I was fifteen, a maniac in a Porsche ran me over..."
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Truth, Lex decided, was a powerful turn-on. Truth and Clark combined was downright irresistible. After everything he'd done--all the different methods he'd tried to find the answers-they all had ended up feeling superfluous and completely wasteful. With Clark lying in bed next to him, asleep in his arms, it couldn't be anything else.
Clark was asleep, completely willing to be Lex's personal playground--not that he hadn't already been that all evening. As much as finally hearing the truth had aroused Lex, Clark had been just as happy to reap the benefits. There was really nothing like having Clark give up the secrets that Lex had been seeking for years while he fucked Clark into the next week.
Clark was an alien. He was a super-powered alien, adopted at two years of age by a farmer and his wife, allergic to the green meteor rocks, the last survivor of his planet, and he loved Lex Luthor. It should have been unbelievable.
It wasn't.
Nothing was when it came to Clark.
"You look like you're thinking pretty hard."
Clark's amused voice startled Lex, and he glanced down, smiling softly when he saw Clark peering up through dark lashes, his eyes half-lidded with sleep. "Thinking is what I do, Clark," he replied, brushing a kiss into Clark's hair. "And you've given me a lot to think about. I'm still processing."
"What do you mean?" Clark asked, his brow wrinkling. He looked worried and, though it was almost imperceptible, he tensed slightly in Lex's arms. Too many rejections and bad reactions over the years, Lex guessed, though he'd confirm that later. "I thought you said everything was okay--"
Lex didn't want to listen to his unfounded worries. It was easier to silence them with a kiss. "It is," he gently assured Clark once he'd broken away. "It really is."
Sighing, Clark rolled off Lex and onto his own pillow, hunching his back and hiding his face. "I did want to tell you earlier, you know. I just--it never quite seemed like the right time."
It was an effort for Lex to bite his tongue and not comment on how any of the various times they'd had sex would have been a great opportunity, but he managed not to. He had Clark's secrets. More importantly, he had Clark. Sharp comments would only push them apart again.
"I'm glad you finally did."
"Yeah," Clark agreed quietly, rolling back over to grin at Lex. Humor sparked in his green eyes as he added, "But I'm not letting you take pictures any more." A smile looked so wonderful on Clark. It was almost brighter than the sun, and Lex found it every bit as warm. Its joy was contagious, and he found himself grinning along with Clark.
"No, no more pictures."
There would be no more pictures, but Lex couldn't force himself to regret taking the originals. The outcome had been rocky, but if he hadn't had those photos, Clark would have likely stayed away forever. Media catastrophes aside, those pictures had brought Clark back to him.
And they'd helped him achieve some pretty good climaxes during the time Clark had been gone.
"As long as I have the real thing, Clark, I don't need the pictures."
Clark's smile grew. "Sell your camera--I'm not leaving."
That, Lex thought, might not be such a bad idea. He didn't need more pictures--he had Clark, and that was better than any glossy photograph. Of course, that didn't mean he was burning the copies he already had.
To be perfectly honest, he thought he just might frame them.
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*Epilogue*
It had taken Lex months to select the perfect frame. In the end, he'd settled on one made of sterling silver, simple and elegant, very much his style. It wasn't overly large--just big enough to sit on his desk in his home office.
Of all the photos Lana had sent to the newspaper, Lex had selected the tamest one--the one he'd always liked the best. It was simply him and Clark, in bed--Clark asleep in his arms. It wasn't all about sex, but it certainly hinted that they'd had it. More than that, it spoke volumes about their intimacy and trust. Clark had drifted to sleep against him during one of those times that they'd shared a bed for more than sex.
More importantly, it reminded him that those times weren't just in the past. That same sort of intimacy existed between them again, possibly even more than it had before.
This time, Lex wasn't letting it go.
Author: hoperoy
Fandom: Smallville
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Clark/Lex,
Word count: 2,722
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.
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"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Grinning, Lex leaned back in his office chair. He'd been waiting for this visit--had even been looking forward to it. "You're a smart girl, Lana. I'm sure you've figured it out."
"There's a lot I've figured out in the past few days, Lex," she spat, her eyes dark with hatred. It was almost frightening to see the intensity of her emotions. Lex hadn't realized before just how deep they ran within her.
"Fingerprints were found inside my safe. Unfortunately, your fingerprints weren't in the database for comparison so, when the police ran a scan, nothing turned up. But when *I* ran the scan, it was a perfect match. The Daily Planet was just a convenient drop-off point for the information."
"You gave them your test results?" she demanded, moving closer the desk. Her entire body was rigid with anger, but Lex only leaned back and smirked. There was nothing she could do to touch him anymore. Her credibility had been destroyed, and anything else she said against him in the future would be considered the ravings of a jealous ex.
Lex nodded and confirmed her supposition. "Yes. I never actually gave them your name, but it wasn't hard for them to make the connection. The man I sent to hand over the tip was an anonymous source, but when he went to the Planet, they accepted his information without question. When he told them that your fingerprints would be exact matches to those found in my safe, they looked into it. Face it, Lana: no one will believe you're innocent. You have the motive and the means to have done this, and no one is going to believe otherwise."
Lana flushed in chagrin, and that provided Lex greater pleasure than it probably should have. After everything she'd done, it felt good to know that he was getting to her in return. She deserved this, not only because she'd tried to ruin him, but because she'd gone after Clark, as well.
Clark.
Clark had no idea that Lex had dropped off that information. He probably would have told Lex not to if he'd known. Still, he almost seemed relieved that Lana's credibility had been shredded. There was no way to deny everything he and Lex had done--they weren't trying, anyway--but it certainly seemed to make the story less sensational and more annoying when it was presented by a jealous, vengeful ex who hadn't had all her facts straight.
"You were having sex with an underage boy."
"The photos you gave to the press were of Clark in his sophomore year. He was sixteen then. Unquestionably over the age of consent as I'm sure you must recall."
Clearly furious, Lana compressed her lips into a thin line. "But you were sleeping with him *before* then."
"Prove it."
She wouldn't be able to. The photos she'd sent to the press were the first set that he'd taken of himself and Clark--there was nothing to find before then. No one would be able to prove anything. There would always be some speculation, but Lex was positive that there wasn't a shred of evidence.
"What did you do to him, Lex?"
"Clark?" he asked, genuinely surprised. He'd anticipated protests from Lana, but he hadn't expected her to think that he'd coerced Clark into anything.
"He was a good kid. He liked *girls*. How the hell did you get him into bed with you? What did you do? Blackmail him?"
Immediately, Lex felt a spark of anger fan into a flame inside of him. He'd *never* forced Clark to sleep with him. Everything they had done had resulted from Clark's own decisions--Lex hadn't forced him to do anything.
"He made a hick kid like me feel special."
Clark.
Damn, but he always had been good at making spectacular--and often unexpected--entrances. Maybe that was why Clark had always intrigued Lex--he'd kept Lex off balance and had certainly never left him feeling bored.
Lana's eyes narrowed as Clark left his position in the doorway and entered the room. Impossible as it seemed, she looked just as angry with him as she had been at Lex. "That's funny, Clark. I'd never have thought you were the type to spread your legs because someone made you feel like you mattered."
"He *did* matter-he still does," Lex snapped, pushing his chair back and standing up. "You should know that by now, Lana. You *would* know that, if you weren't so bent on thinking otherwise."
"Why should I believe that someone like *him*," she asked bitterly, nodding in Clark's direction, "means anything to a billionaire like you?"
Lex shrugged. "Why shouldn't you? I've slept with some of the most attractive people in the world. If I had just been after him for looks, I could have choosen from a million people over eighteen whose fathers didn't own a shotgun--or who just didn't care. Clearly, there must have been something more."
It was a little heartbreaking to see the look of surprise that bloomed over Clark's face. Maybe, Lex realized, he should have worked a harder at making sure Clark knew just how special he'd been. He'd just always assumed that Clark had known--had seen it in the way Lex acted. But Clark was Clark, after all, and the boy always had been less than perfect when it came to reading people.
"Lana, it doesn't matter anymore," Clark said slowly, stopping Lex from replying. "Why would it matter to you anyway? He and I weren't sleeping together when I dated you, and we weren't sleeping together when Lex dated you."
"But you would have *liked* to have been, wouldn't you?"
There was that hate again. Pure, raw anger, turned into something more dangerous. That, Lex realized, was what it was all about for her. She felt that she'd been cheated out of her chance with either of them because they'd wanted each other instead of her.
Oddly, Lex thought she was probably right.
"But we *weren't*. We weren't the first people in the world to not be completely over an ex, and we won't be the last," Clark informed her, visibly trying to remain calm and reasonable. He succeeded in keeping his tone even, but his eyes displayed every last one of his emotions as effectively as if he'd held a neon sign. "I'm sorry that you got caught in that awkward situation, but I'm not going to apologize for something I never did--that Lex never did."
"And all the years in high school when you pretended to want me?" she demanded, moving closer to Clark. "What about that?"
"It wasn't a pretense. I *did* like you. I just didn't know what I wanted. I was sleeping with Lex, but I wanted to date *you*. Everything was confusing, and you were something normal, something that I thought I *should* want. I didn't understand what was happening, so it was easier to avoid it--to not think about it."
"Yes, at the expense of everyone else."
Irritation sparked inside of Lex. What right did she think she had to pass judgment on them? "Your moral high ground was flooded months ago, Lana," he snapped, drawing the attention away from Clark and to himself. That was fine--that was the way he preferred it. "You went sneaking around my mansion, broke into my private safe, stole pictures, blackmailed me with them, and then sent them to the press. Why would you believe that you have the right to ridicule Clark for being confused?"
"I never meant to hurt you," Clark offered. Lex both hated and loved the sincerity that he saw there. Lana didn't deserve an apology, but this was his Clark, gentle and forgiving and generously accepting the blame, even for things that weren't necessarily his fault.
"But you did," she snapped, turning away from both of them and heading for the door. It was clearly meant to be a dramatic exit, but Lex found himself smirking at the absurdity of it. Clark was just as good at walking out on him, but he at least was able to pull off the righteous indignation when he did it. She simply looked angry at having lost the battle.
"Lana."
She paused at the door, and Lex couldn't deny the pleasure he felt at knowing that, even now, she recognized him as a formidable opponent, enough so that she wouldn't simply ignore him. "If you're walking out that door, it had better be to pack your bags.
It was incredibly rewarding to see her stiffen, even if it was brief. Looking livid, she turned back around to face him. "Excuse me?"
"Go back to Paris, Lana. Or somewhere else, for all I care. I just don't want you *here*."
Her eyes darkened. "You can't do that."
"Earlier, you were planning to take my money and leave--after you released the pictures to the press."
"Lex--" Clark's voice cut in, but Lex ignored him, his eyes locked with Lana's. She wasn't a pushover, but neither was she playing at his level. She thought she was, and that might have been her greatest weakness.
Normally, Lex would have let him speak, but this wasn't Clark's fight. Those pictures had been *Lex's*, and maybe that was what he was most angry about. He hadn't wanted to share Clark with the world like that. Those pictures had been his and his alone. Lana certainly hadn't deserved to see them, let alone the general public.
"If you leave, I won't do anything to you, which, quite frankly, is a gift. Theft is still a crime in the United States, as is blackmail." Smirking, he nodded towards the door. "Trust me. You'd be better off not making a fuss."
In all honesty, it was so much more than she deserved and, if it had been Lex's decision, she wouldn't have received that generous a reprieve. His leniency was for *Clark's* sake--not for her. Clark wouldn't want her harmed, and Lex knew that, if he wanted Clark, he had to respect his feelings on the matter.
Indirectly, Clark was saving Lana again.
"Someday, Lex, you're going to get what's coming to you."
Lex sincerely hoped not, because what he deserved was something much worse than what he'd been fortunate to receive. But, as he watched Lana storm out of his study, slamming the doors behind her, he found that it was hard to respect the warning, given its source.
"She's wrong, you know."
Clark Kent, sweet voice of reason, most assuredly about to spout a righteous saying. Lex wasn't sure how, even if Clark's platitudes were *still* annoying, he'd been lucky enough to get a second chance with Clark.
"A wise saying of Jonathan Kent won't help here, Clark," Lex sighed as he closed his eyes. He thought that maybe he needed a nap.
Make that a year-long sleep.
"Would the truth?"
Lex couldn't hold back the inevitable tensing of his body. The truth and Clark were always ... touchy subjects that Lex was never quite able to let go. Clark's secrets, no matter how much Lex cared for the man himself, would always be a sore spot between them.
Lex would always want the answers.
"If I thought you were truly going to give it," Lex cautiously granted.
The feeling of Clark's body molding to his back should have been a startling, but it somehow wasn't. Lex was too ready to feel it--craved it too much--to be too surprised.
When Clark began speaking, his voice was low and soft in Lex's ear. "When I was fifteen, a maniac in a Porsche ran me over..."
--------------------------------
Truth, Lex decided, was a powerful turn-on. Truth and Clark combined was downright irresistible. After everything he'd done--all the different methods he'd tried to find the answers-they all had ended up feeling superfluous and completely wasteful. With Clark lying in bed next to him, asleep in his arms, it couldn't be anything else.
Clark was asleep, completely willing to be Lex's personal playground--not that he hadn't already been that all evening. As much as finally hearing the truth had aroused Lex, Clark had been just as happy to reap the benefits. There was really nothing like having Clark give up the secrets that Lex had been seeking for years while he fucked Clark into the next week.
Clark was an alien. He was a super-powered alien, adopted at two years of age by a farmer and his wife, allergic to the green meteor rocks, the last survivor of his planet, and he loved Lex Luthor. It should have been unbelievable.
It wasn't.
Nothing was when it came to Clark.
"You look like you're thinking pretty hard."
Clark's amused voice startled Lex, and he glanced down, smiling softly when he saw Clark peering up through dark lashes, his eyes half-lidded with sleep. "Thinking is what I do, Clark," he replied, brushing a kiss into Clark's hair. "And you've given me a lot to think about. I'm still processing."
"What do you mean?" Clark asked, his brow wrinkling. He looked worried and, though it was almost imperceptible, he tensed slightly in Lex's arms. Too many rejections and bad reactions over the years, Lex guessed, though he'd confirm that later. "I thought you said everything was okay--"
Lex didn't want to listen to his unfounded worries. It was easier to silence them with a kiss. "It is," he gently assured Clark once he'd broken away. "It really is."
Sighing, Clark rolled off Lex and onto his own pillow, hunching his back and hiding his face. "I did want to tell you earlier, you know. I just--it never quite seemed like the right time."
It was an effort for Lex to bite his tongue and not comment on how any of the various times they'd had sex would have been a great opportunity, but he managed not to. He had Clark's secrets. More importantly, he had Clark. Sharp comments would only push them apart again.
"I'm glad you finally did."
"Yeah," Clark agreed quietly, rolling back over to grin at Lex. Humor sparked in his green eyes as he added, "But I'm not letting you take pictures any more." A smile looked so wonderful on Clark. It was almost brighter than the sun, and Lex found it every bit as warm. Its joy was contagious, and he found himself grinning along with Clark.
"No, no more pictures."
There would be no more pictures, but Lex couldn't force himself to regret taking the originals. The outcome had been rocky, but if he hadn't had those photos, Clark would have likely stayed away forever. Media catastrophes aside, those pictures had brought Clark back to him.
And they'd helped him achieve some pretty good climaxes during the time Clark had been gone.
"As long as I have the real thing, Clark, I don't need the pictures."
Clark's smile grew. "Sell your camera--I'm not leaving."
That, Lex thought, might not be such a bad idea. He didn't need more pictures--he had Clark, and that was better than any glossy photograph. Of course, that didn't mean he was burning the copies he already had.
To be perfectly honest, he thought he just might frame them.
-----------------------
*Epilogue*
It had taken Lex months to select the perfect frame. In the end, he'd settled on one made of sterling silver, simple and elegant, very much his style. It wasn't overly large--just big enough to sit on his desk in his home office.
Of all the photos Lana had sent to the newspaper, Lex had selected the tamest one--the one he'd always liked the best. It was simply him and Clark, in bed--Clark asleep in his arms. It wasn't all about sex, but it certainly hinted that they'd had it. More than that, it spoke volumes about their intimacy and trust. Clark had drifted to sleep against him during one of those times that they'd shared a bed for more than sex.
More importantly, it reminded him that those times weren't just in the past. That same sort of intimacy existed between them again, possibly even more than it had before.
This time, Lex wasn't letting it go.