SV Fic: "An Alienated Property" (NC-17) - Clark/Lex

[kantayra]

Title: "An Alienated Property"


Fandom: Smallville
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 10,536
Spoilers/Warnings: Future, post-Rift fic, so only vague spoilers through S5.
Summary: Two enemies, trapped together on an alien planet, with nothing but each other and a destiny they cannot escape...
Notes: Thanks yet again to rachel_shanz for all the hand-holding and betaing she did for this fic. Thanks also to truemyth and ladydisdain225 who helped me brainstorm for various sections of this fic. And thanks so much to laurab1, who made the gorgeous cover art for this fic. *cuddles it* :D



When I hate, so take I something from myself; when I love, so become I so much the richer, by what I love. Forgiveness is the recovery of an alienated property - hatred of man a prolonged suicide; egoism the highest poverty of a created being.

~Friedrich von Schiller, Philosophical Letters

***

When Clark awoke, the world was red.

He blinked in confusion, trying to brush off the dark lethargy that was holding him down and keeping his brain from fully waking up. All his limbs felt impossibly heavy, and when he tried to move, he groaned in protest at how stiff his back was. The muscles were uncomfortable, cramped.

And, wait a minute… He wasn’t supposed to feel pain or discomfort like this. Something was very wrong, and that thought made him struggle for consciousness even harder.

He opened his eyes to discover that it wasn’t just the light shining in through his eyelids; the world really was red. A dark red sun hung directly overhead, while another sun of pale pink was just beginning to peek over the horizon. The land he rested on was red, too, most likely due to high iron content, and the trees he could see in the distance had adapted, black scraggly trunks with russet red leaves shaped like crumpled pieces of paper that were slowly unfurling as the smaller, lighter sun rose.

Clearly, this wasn’t Earth.

Which left Clark with the tricky predicament of where it was. He sat up, his head feeling woozy, and he reached up to find a nasty bump over his right temple. At least he’d explained the injuries; under the light of the red suns, his powers were slowly trickling away. Soon, he wouldn’t be any more invulnerable than a human.

He had to figure out where he was and how he’d gotten here. His memory wasn’t helping any with the latter, but he was wearing his Superman uniform, so something must have happened when he was on patrol. He thought really hard about it, but was drawing a total blank. He could remember flying out for the evening, getting a cat out of a tree, averting a potentially fatal car accident, holding up a bit of rebar while the very grateful welders at the State Street reconstruction project riveted it into place. Then, he’d done his usual sweep of the city: checked with the security guards at Strikers and brought them coffee, swung past STAR Labs to make sure there was nothing they needed help with, buzzed by LexCorp Towers for his usual nightly spat with Lex.

Nothing out of the ordinary, yet here he was.

If he didn’t have all the clues to the past, he had least had some of the present. He was out in the wilderness of some alien world, but it was clear that he wasn’t alone. The landscape around him was partially forested, partially covered with dark blue spikes of what looked like crystals but Clark guessed were probably plants. As he watched, a creature that looked something like a small white jellyfish alighted on one of the crystalline spires, tentacles oscillating merrily as it hovered in mid-air not unlike a hummingbird, and proceeded to engulf the thin blue blade.

Something like an alien savanna or grassland then, perhaps?

Where Clark sat, however, there was a natural clearing. He was elevated slightly above the landscape before him, on a small hill with less dense vegetation. The ground where he’d slept had been cleared of debris, and there was obvious intention behind where he’d been placed. His cape had been removed and balled up under his head as a pillow. A few feet away, there was a small circle of stones and the remains of some burning branches from the oddly angular trees that dotted the landscape. On the other side of the makeshift campfire was another cleared area where, Clark assumed, his unknown companion had slept.

Well, that was his first step, clearly: find out who was here with him and ask them what the hell was going on.

He tried to get to his feet, and a wave of dizziness sent him right back down to the ground with a ‘thump’ that reverberated along his tailbone. He’d forgotten how ill he always felt at first when adjusting back to red sunlight. He’d described the effects once to his mom, and she’d said that it sounded like having the flu and a hangover all at the same time.

More careful this time, he got up and looked around. Nothing beyond the campsite indicated any sort of sentient influence, but Clark could now see that there was a small stream meandering across the alien savanna to his right. It was as good a place to start as any, and he was thirsty, so he made his way on wobbling legs down the hill to the reassuringly familiar rush of fresh water.

He all but fell to his knees at the ruddy bank of the stream, still shaky from his recent loss of power. The water was cool and refreshing on his hands, and he splashed it over his face gratefully, feeling his head clear.

Drinking was another matter, and he strained as hard as he could until he managed to focus his microscopic vision just enough to determine that the ‘water’ was, indeed, H2O and pure enough that it should be okay to drink. He did so, slowly and deeply, rejuvenating his parched palate. It was amazing how much better he felt after only a few minutes.

He still didn’t feel like Superman, but something about red sunlight always felt…homey, in a way that Earth never did. Maybe some genetic memory or a lingering image from his infancy. In any case, not-quite-super-anymore Superman was ready to face this new challenge, no matter what it was.

“I see you’ve finally deigned to grace me with your presence,” a wry voice cut in right then. “And, just so that we have it all quite clear, this is all your fault.”

Clark looked over to the far side of the stream, and his eyes widened in disbelief. “Lex?” he half coughed on the water he’d just drunk. And then his eyes narrowed suspiciously. “I should’ve known it was you!”

Oh yes, it was just another exciting day in the life of Superman.

***

“If you hadn’t been running illegal experiments on alien teleportation devices, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

“And, if you hadn’t come crashing through the wall and ruined the experiment, this never would’ve happened!”

“This is what I mean when I say that your crazy labs are dangerous!”

“This is what I mean when I say that Superman’s intervention just makes things ten times worse!”

Now that Lex was there, things had naturally deteriorated to their usual blame game. It was comforting in many ways, the one familiar thing that Clark had in this alien landscape.

Clark’s most recent memories had quickly sorted themselves out when he’d seen Lex and the scattered debris from the remainder of Lex’s lab. Because, of course, he had gone to LexCorp Towers to chew Lex out for the evening, but Lex’s limo had been driving away just as he’d arrived. He’d followed the car to the LexCorp Labs division on Highland Avenue, and then (in what, in retrospect, was possibly not the wisest course of action) burst through the wall right when Professor Gillion had been giving Lex a demonstration of a new wormhole generator.

Chaos had, naturally, ensued, and now Clark, Lex, some lab equipment, and the upper torso of one of the lab assistants who had been severed in half during the accident were all trapped on a distant planet, hundreds of light-years from Earth.

Clark debated strangling Lex to death while he still had some of his superstrength left to do so.

“What on earth were you thinking?” Clark demanded instead, fighting to keep his balled fists at his sides rather than in Lex’s face. “What possible use could your demented mind have for-?”

“It seemed like a reasonable technological exchange at the time,” Lex cut in haughtily, looking ridiculously out of place in his Armani suit amidst what appeared to be a grove of tumbleweeds with wide, yellow, curiously blinking eyes. “The Xql’vlr’mnrx’klz only wanted feldspar deposits in exchange.”

“The Kelavuwhatsits?” Clark blinked. “And what were you going to do with a teleporter anyway?” Just the thought sent shivers down Clark’s spine: both the possibility of Lex bringing dangerous things to Earth and Lex transporting himself into the middle of hostile situations. He had no doubt that Lex would cheerfully do either in the name of ‘science.’

Lex shrugged and examined his well-manicured nails like they were the most fascinating things he’d ever seen. “The applications were numerous.”

Clark’s eyes narrowed as he tried to find the hidden meaning behind that evasion; years of reporter training were on his side. “Wait a minute…” he began, realization dawning. “Uninhabited alien planet, red suns… You were trying to find a place to banish me!”

Lex hesitated at that. “Well, it was certainly one possible option…” He actually sounded kind of guilty about the whole thing.

“I don’t believe you!”

“Of course, the access to vast supplies of alien material was more profitable…”

“What? Were you looking for more Kryptonite?”

“And an expansion to my alien contact network is always a priority,” Lex continued to prevaricate like mad.

“Do you really hate me that much?” Clark demanded, and he wished he could’ve kept the hurt from his voice, but it just wasn’t happening. “That you wanted me gone forever?” After all, no matter what happened between them, they’d been best friends once. Somehow, making Clark go away seemed so much worse than just trying to kill him.

“Clark, I…” Lex’s words caught in his throat, and for a moment he looked more like the Lex Clark remembered: the nice guy who just did stupid shit without thinking about the consequences, rather than the cold, calculated evil that Lex had been cultivating in recent years.

“Spare me.” Clark scowled at him, fighting back the pang at the thought of the friend he’d long ago lost. “All I care about is how we get the hell out of here.”

Lex composed himself almost instantly, like that human part of him had never existed. He was all business again, sharp and deadly. “Theoretically,” he answered smoothly, “we just sit back and wait for Professor Gillion to fix the device.”

Clark sighed wearily. Just great…

***

Clark had made a mental bet with himself just how long he and Lex could coexist trapped alone together on an uninhabited planet before one of them started to drive the other crazy. Superman had bet an hour; Clark, who still fondly remembered his high school years when he and Lex had stayed up late into the night talking about anything and everything, had bet four hours.

Currently, Superman was winning.

Lex was - and, oh dear God, Clark wasn’t even exaggerating - all but dissecting his wallet across the campfire from Clark. Each credit card, bill, and ID was examined by scheming blue eyes for a good minute before being laid out methodically in neat rows of materials before Lex. Clark was pretty sure he was going to go batshit just watching Lex; he really didn’t want to know what on earth Lex thought he was doing.

“What on earth are you doing?” Oh, brilliant. Clearly, Clark’s mouth had decided to mutiny. Clark seriously reconsidered Lex’s status as his Number One Enemy and debated giving the position to his big, stupid mouth instead.

“Taking inventory,” Lex answered, sounding so supremely reasonable. “The debris from the lab provided us with a table leg, twelve floor tiles, Johnson’s glasses, half a lab coat, three 100mL beakers, a graduated cylinder, and half of Johnson’s corpse.” He gestured to the items he’d brought from their wreck site back to the camp. Thankfully, the half-body wasn’t among them. “I have on my person,” Lex continued to recite, “an Armani jacket, a shirt, a necktie, a pair of slacks, two shoes, two socks, a pair of silk boxer-briefs, a Rolex watch complete with hidden garroting wire, a cell phone, a flask containing whiskey, a bottle of painkillers, two cigars, a lighter, a 9mm semi-automatic with 17 rounds, a pocket knife, a leather wallet, 6 credit cards, a driver’s license, a LexCorp security pass, a concealed-carry permit, $482 in cash, a picture of my mother, a receipt from Starbucks, three condoms, and half a tube of Astroglide.”

Clark blushed as deep and rich a red as the suns that had just set at the last two items on the list and stared pointedly into the fire.

“You - now let me see - have provided us with a cape and a spandex costume.” Clark could hear the smirk in Lex’s voice, even though he refused to look at him. “Aren’t you the one who’s supposed to be such a Boy Scout? Really, your ability to ‘be prepared’ is deeply in question here.”

Clark nixed his earlier idea. Lex was clearly still earning his position as Clark’s worst enemy, with change left over; Clark’s big, dumb mouth, no matter how disloyal at times, could never compete with that. Clark considered Lex’s smug smile for a moment. Really, if he used what remained of his heat vision now, would anyone ever know? If worse came to worst, he could always tell Lex’s scientists that Lex had had an unfortunate encounter with one of those giant anteater-like beasts with the cloven hooves and the paddle-shaped tails. Even though Lex kept insisting that any creature that herded in that pattern had to be herbivorous.

“Although, I suppose you have brought along your unerring sense of moral superiority. Thank heaven for that.” Lex picked up the items he’d removed from his wallet one by one and began replacing them. “We may be here for a few days. We should save the flask, pain killers, and cigars in case of medical emergency. The beakers and graduated cylinder can transport some water, although less than is ideal. The beakers should withstand a cooking fire, provided we can find something to eat. The knife has a myriad of uses, and it might be wise to use our extra fabric to create some form of shelter in case of rain. I don’t,” Lex paused pointedly, “expect we’ll have much use for the gun, unless carnivorous beasts present themselves in the near future. That, or you decide to jump me in a fit of nemesorial rage.”

Clark rolled his eyes. “‘Nemesorial’ isn’t even a word. You just made that up.”

“Oh, dear. Don’t tell me I’m losing my perspicacity.”

“And now you’re stealing lines from the Simpsons.” Clark scowled at him. “Very weak, Lex.”

The edge of Lex’s lips curved up into an almost-smile, so very pleased that Clark had caught that little reference of his. Clark gulped, staring at those lips, remembering far too many in-jokes shared between them, far too many secretive smiles…

“I’d better get more firewood.” Clark stood up abruptly. “Since, y’know, I’m not holding my own weight around here, apparently.”

Lex’s eyes glittered in the firelight, looking more alive than Clark had seen them in years. In the end, Lex just inclined his head for Clark to go do so.

Clark all but fled from the campsite. Unfortunately the memories of Lex - with his hyperactive mind and his endearing quirks and his own odd little sense of humor - were far more difficult to escape.

***

“From my calculations,” Lex announced, examining the watch on his wrist, “a ‘day’ on this planet consists of roughly eight hours. Which means that the sun should be rising in another two. Unusual, really, for a body to have a spin that fast, especially around a red giant. Given the temperate climate, our distance from the sun must be-”

“Lex?” Clark asked with a sigh.

“Yes?” Lex fixed him with his full stare, lips pursed and eyes analyzing Clark’s every movement. Others found that look intimidating; Clark had practically grown up with it and could brush it right off.

“Can we talk about something else?”

“Something else…” Lex repeated thoughtfully. “Our current circumstances are out entirely, then?”

Clark nodded.

“As is my entire life, for legal reasons,” Lex concluded. “As is your entire life, because I’m not supposed to know you’re Clark Kent.”

“Hey!” Clark protested.

“So,” Lex retorted sardonically, “how ‘bout that weather, huh?”

Clark just scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. “You don’t have to do that, you know.”

“Oh?” Lex raised one perfectly-fashioned, artificial eyebrow.

“We don’t have to fight all the time,” Clark insisted. “It’s not, like, law or anything.”

“So you suggest we make pleasant small talk until we can get back home and start hating each other again?” Lex retorted. “I don’t see why it’s worth the effort. We’re not friends, Clark. You made that decision. You can hardly blame me for defending myself in response.”

And, as usual, Lex had found just the right choice of words. Because that was what this was all about, really: defensiveness. “I’m not attacking you.” Clark held his hands out in a placating gesture.

Lex snorted and returned to examining his watch. “Don’t be absurd. Your very existence is a threat to me, and to LexCorp.”

“If you would just stop with all the illegal labs and weapons shipments…” Clark began in vain.

Lex glared at him. “Exactly my point,” he retorted. “I own Metropolis. I don’t own Superman. Superman exists in Metropolis. I’m sure even you can see the difficulty.”

Clark sighed. “Has anyone ever told you you’re kind of nuts?”

“You. Frequently. I return the favor. You don’t seem to listen either.”

Clark was starting to get a headache. He could get those now that his powers were fading. And Lex had always made his brain kind of hurt, even when he was invulnerable.

Fortunately, he was saved from any response by a bright flash of light. The pale blue glow shimmered abruptly into existence before fading out again. It was about two-hundred feet from their campsite, right where…

“That’ll be Professor Gillion, then,” Lex commented blandly. He got up and brushed the reddish dirt from his slacks.

Clark followed him down the hill to where what looked like a very faint portal had appeared right over the lab wreckage. He could dimly make out shapes moving on the other side, looking as incorporeal as ghosts. Gillion in a lab coat in front of a computer console. Mercy, scowling and screaming at him. Several lab techs running around with various implements.

Eventually, Mercy gave up on screaming at Professor Gillion and shouted through the portal. “We’re having difficulty stabilizing the energy matrix!”

Even though she was clearly shouting, her voice came through the half-portal as nothing more than a whisper.

Lex’s hand came up to brush against Clark’s chest, and he started in surprise. But then Lex’s hand just pushed him back slightly so that he had a more direct view of Mercy.

“How long to reenergize and try again?” Lex shouted through the portal.

Mercy and Gillion exchanged a few words that looked less than cordial, and Clark recognized the sneer on Mercy’s lips as she issued a death threat only too well.

Finally, she turned back to the portal. “Ten hours!” she shouted. “Too great a drain on our systems otherwise!”

A staticy sound crackled through the night air, and the portal completely vanished for a second, before reappearing in an even dimmer form.

“We’re going to try again!” Mercy’s voice could just barely be heard. “We-”

And then, with another crackle that sounded rather like a sonic boom in the still of the night, the portal was gone.

Clark and Lex waited, Lex’s fingers still absently brushing the ‘S’ on Clark’s chest where he’d never bothered to retract his hand. A minute passed, two, and nothing happened.

Finally, Lex turned to Clark, realized belatedly that they were touching, and quickly removed his hand. “We’ll see how they’re doing in another ten hours then, I presume.” Lex’s voice sounded unnaturally gravelly, and he didn’t meet Clark’s eyes before brushing past him to return to the camp.

Clark really hoped that Lex hadn’t noticed how much his chest was heaving for breath, his pulse pounding through his veins, the spandex suddenly entirely too tight in front, at nothing more than the feel of Lex’s palm. It was probably a really vain hope…

***

The next day - which, true to Lex’s calculations, began only a couple of hours later - was cool and crisp, with a clear, pink sky and a glistening dew settling across the plains. Clark shivered and added an extra log to the fire. Across from him, Lex sat closed in on himself, spine curved, to conserve maximum warmth.

“The day should warm as the sun rises.”

Clark, who’d never really bothered to pay attention to temperatures before, took Lex’s word for it. “It can hurry up any time now,” he agreed.

“If we’re only going to be here for another ten hours, it’s probably wisest not to attempt to eat anything. The danger is too great. We might be able to get by without shelter, as well, although it won’t be warm. It can’t be worse than that first night, really.”

Ah, yes. That first night that Clark really didn’t remember because he’d whapped his head hard when they’d crash landed after the teleportation. The swelling seemed to be going down finally, which was a good sign, although Lex seemed to enjoy prodding the wound painfully and insisting that he was just making sure that Clark was all right. Clark was on to him, though; clearly, he just liked watching Clark suffer.

Or, at least, that was what Clark kept telling himself. Because imagining the malice behind Lex’s every movement was so much easier than the alternative.

The alternative made him think about how he’d gotten from the accident site, bruised and unconscious, to the relative comfort of their camp. Lex must have carried him; it was the only explanation. Lex had found himself in the presence of his depowered, injured archenemy in a place with no witnesses, and instead of using that gun in his back pocket, he’d lifted Clark up, borne his weight, created a place for him to rest, pillowed Clark’s head on his folded-up cape, created fire and warmth and comparative safety for Clark while he was out cold. None of those were the actions of a man in hate. And, really, there were very few emotions that were so close - so intimate - to hate that they could be mistaken for it.

Clark really didn’t need to dwell right now on how many of Lex’s actions over the years fit the definition of hate’s opposite…

Dimly, he heard his name being called and shook himself from his very confusing train of thoughts. He was probably just being overly hopeful, anyway.

“Fine,” Lex snapped, clearly believing that Clark’s objection was to the use of his secret identity’s name. “Hey, Superman.”

“Yeah?” Clark was torn between wanting to correct Lex’s misconception and wanting to get as far away from Lex as possible before something bad happened.

Lex took a gulp from one of the beakers that he’d procured as his personal water glass. “We’re low on water. Help me refill.”

Clark’s own beaker was empty, and their back-up was almost gone as well. “Right…” He agreed, slowly getting up.

Lex picked up his beaker and walked briskly down to the stream. Apparently, it was Clark’s job to fill the extra beaker. Either that, or Lex was in a huff and this way made for a more dramatic exit. Luthors had always loved the drama…

Clark arrived at the stream right as Lex was finishing. Lex didn’t even spare him a look. It seemed he was giving Clark the silent treatment.

Ah well, two could play at that game. Clark knelt by the stream and poured out the remaining water from the bottom of the third beaker. He stuck the container into the stream, letting the rush of water clean it off. A yawn stretched his mouth, and he half turned to reach for the second beaker, when suddenly there was a crash and a roar.

Instinctively, Clark fell backwards and away from the water. He wasn’t quite fast enough, though. A beast larger than anything he thought the stream could have hidden leapt from the water. It had a huge flat mouth that looked something like a flounder, lined with row upon row of long, serrated teeth. Clark barely reached out in time to catch the jaws in his hands, using every bit of his remaining strength to hold them apart and keep them from closing over his body.

The creature continued to roar, and three milky, white eyes looked at Clark from inside the creature’s mouth. Clark felt the muscles in its jaws press inward, and his arms strained with effort. Somewhere, in the back of his memory, he remembered that Earth crocodiles could bite with 3,000 pounds of pressure per square inch; this beast seemed to have similar overkill.

Just when Clark was about to lose it, two sharp explosions sounded throughout the still of the plains, and the flat-crocodile-fish squealed in pain and, with a flash of fins, dove back into the water. Its red mottled skin caused it to blend in almost perfectly with the stream bed; only the trail of dark blue blood from the two bullet holes in its back let Clark follow its escape.

With a shudder and a gasp, he sat back and looked to where Lex still had the gun cocked and ready.

“I would have thought,” Lex’s heavy breathing and the concern in his eyes belied the casual edge to his voice, “that it would have been intuitive not to get yourself attacked by local predators.” His hand on the gun was shaking.

Clark gulped. Lex had probably just saved his life. Of course, saying that would just annoy Lex to no end. “I would’ve thought you’d have told me if you knew there was something that dangerous in the water,” he retorted instead.

“I didn’t know…” Lex admitted softly. He glanced back to the stream. “Get the water. I’ll cover.”

Clark nodded slowly and did what Lex said. He could hear Lex still panting behind him as he hurried to finish his task. Oh, yes. Whatever was guiding Lex’s actions, it most certainly wasn’t hate…

***

“I don’t like the look of those clouds. I think we should try to find shelter.”

Clark looked up, and he must’ve been caught up in his thoughts for longer than he’d realized, because the sky was partially cloudy now. Tall, billowing clouds were filling the sky to the east (or, least, from the direction where the sun rose). The refraction of the red suns made the cumulonimbus towers appear a bright turquoise color. It was very unnerving. “Okay,” he said stupidly. “Uh…where?”

Lex gave him that supremely disdainful look, and then got up purposefully and headed down the hill in the general direction of a copse of trees. Lex walked on alien terrain the same way he did on LexCorp soil: like he owned the whole damn place, and heaven help anyone who got in his way. Lex’s suit even managed to still be immaculate even after a night spent on the ground. Clark didn’t know how that was even possible. He was beginning to suspect that Lex had super tidiness powers or something.

With a grunt of annoyance at being left behind yet again, Clark snatched up his cape and ran after Lex. He caught up with him almost instantly, even though Clark could feel that his speed was only a tenth of usual. He did some quick calculations, and they’d been on this planet for a total of almost two of its days, which was about 2/3 of an Earth. Those numbers seemed to indicate that two red suns drained his abilities about four times as fast as one did.

“If we’re going to need my powers for anything,” Clark commented, falling into stride beside Lex, “we’d better use them soon. I’m going to be down to nothing in another few hours.”

Lex considered this for a moment, probably weighing their chances of survival against how desperate he was to avoid thinking about the fact that he’d saved Clark’s life only hours before. Finally, he nodded. “Search for any shelter, logs long enough to support a canopy, anything.”

Clark nodded and dashed off to do so. He scared a flock of the white jellyfish creatures out from their nest and encountered a very sleepy tumbleweed-beast, which jiggled a bit when he got too close. The red-paper-leaf trees were too scraggly to produce any sizable logs, and their branches were too broad and irregular to, say, drape his cape over a couple of them for minimal shelter.

He was just getting frustrated when he noticed the rocky formation in the outcropping by the far side of the small forested area. The underside of the 10-foot cliff was eroded away, creating a small sheltered area against the red rock face. It wasn’t much, but…

Clark zipped back to Lex in mere seconds. “I found a cave.”

Lex blinked at him slowly, and the movement of those exquisitely crafted lashes was downright mesmerizing. “Well?” Lex demanded when Clark hadn’t done anything but gaze into Lex’s eyes like a total dork in far too long. “Where is it?”

Clark tore his eyes away and felt a blush burn on his cheeks. Lex really shouldn’t be able to make him feel like an awkward teenager anymore, but that seemed to matter very little to Lex. All laws of psychology, science, and logic seemed to evaporate in Lex’s presence, until Clark was a bumbling kid again who was so clueless that he wasn’t even aware that he kind of had a crush on his best friend.

With a shake of his head, Clark shook the image off and brought his Superman persona to the forefront. It was a change he made several times daily, but this time he had to fight for it. There was something about spending this time with Lex again, alone…

Clark coughed pointedly - Superman’s cough - before stepping up to Lex with his full height. He saw Lex’s eyes widen for one moment when he placed his hands on Lex’s waist, but then Lex figured it out, and soon Clark had run - with Lex pressed close to his chest - over to the cave.

He let Lex go and panted for breath a bit; while he still had some powers, it was becoming a great exertion to use them, and that was something Clark just wasn’t used to.

Lex studied the rock formation with an expert’s eye. Finally, he turned and said, “You call that a cave?”

Clark glared at him. “Can’t you ever do anything but criticize?” he demanded.

Lex blinked slowly. “I could ask the same of you.”

“Of course, you will.” Clark rolled his eyes. “And then you’ll blame me, and I’ll blame you, and it will be the same damn argument all over again.”

Lex considered that for a moment, before returning to study the rock face. “That’s the way things always are. Need I remind you that that was ultimately your decision?” He stepped into the concave space in the rock and looked up. “This provides maybe four feet of sheltered space. I suppose that will have to do.”

“I didn’t mean that you should start trying to kill me,” Clark insisted, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly.

“No, of course not,” Lex agreed, turning back to face Clark. “You just decided that you would no longer be my friend, and you would try to destroy my business, and you would take over my city.” He walked past Clark and headed back in the direction of their camp. “We’ll need to move everything before the storm breaks. Feel free to help once you’ve caught your breath.”

Clark sighed and watched Lex go. Really, only Lex could make it sound like it was Clark’s fault that he was an evil megalomaniac bent on world domination. Lex had always been very good at being open and closed off at the same time, and that latest little rant just served as the perfect example.

Because, in the end, it all boiled down to the fact that Lex was hurt. Cold formality and sharp words were defense mechanisms, and Lex’s emotions were harder to breech than any fortress when he’d locked himself away. Clark didn’t even know if the source of that pain could be soothed. He’d never really tried attacking Lex from that angle. Maybe that was a mistake. Maybe it was too late to bother. But, really, given all that Lex had done for him since they’d become stranded, it might be worth it just to make things civil…

Clark took off again, dashing past Lex who was halfway back to their original camp, and grabbing two of the beakers full of water before dashing back to the cave. As he passed Lex on the way back, he got a snide “show off” for his efforts.

Or, yeah, maybe Lex just wasn’t going the make the effort worth it after all.

***

The storm broke around midday, great sheets of rain descending from the heavens. As the clouds covered the sky, the turquoise color faded until it was almost the gray of Earth clouds. Clark and Lex sat side-by-side, with their backs against the cliff face, watching the rain fall. Clark’s cape covered both their laps for warmth. When it had come down to it, both had been willing to sacrifice personal space in exchange for a makeshift blanket.

“No, no,” Lex complained. “Put it in the middle. Otherwise, if you get a four-in-a-row, you’re screwed.”

“Will you stop looking over my shoulder?” Clark complained and let the L-shape fall to the right side of the board.

“It’s my cell phone,” Lex insisted. “So it’s my Tetris game.”

“You already had it for two hours,” Clark retorted. “God, you’re such a control freak.”

A four-in-a-row descended from above.

Lex snorted. “Told you so.”

Clark glared at him and sighed as the game came to an end. “Fine, whatever,” Clark grumbled under his breath. “Know-it-all…”

“What was that?” Lex demanded.

“Nothing,” Clark insisted. “So, what do we do now?” He turned off Lex’s phone to conserve the battery and handed it back to him. “I Spy?”

“Yes, Clark, because we can both name anything that’s on this planet.”

Clark watched what looked like a herd of giant green Frisbees on stilts frolic in the rain. “Point,” he agreed. “Twenty questions?”

Lex gave him a Look.

“Truth or Dare?”

“Clark, do you remember back when you were in high school, and I told you that you really needed more male friends? This is why.”

Clark glared at him. “Well, then you come up with something to do.”

Lex studied him for a moment through lazy eyelids and then leaned in very slowly - so slowly that Clark was paralyzed at first not knowing if he was imagining things, and then because all the implications of what Lex was doing hit him - and kissed Clark briefly on the lips.

It was nothing, really, just the softest brush of skin on skin, and then Lex was pulling back, his tongue flicking out to trace the scar across his upper lip.

Clark fought back a moan at the sight. The heat between them seemed to have magnified, and now it felt like he was burning up. But, God, it was a good kind of burn, and he needed more…

Clark’s sanity reasserted itself about halfway through his mouth’s trip back to Lex’s lips. He froze mid-motion, eyes wide, before yanking back with more superhuman speed than he’d thought he had left.

Lex’s eyes, still heavily-lidded, studied him thoughtfully for a moment before looking away.

“What the hell was that?” Clark finally asked, managing to sound horrified and offended, rather than extremely turned on.

Lex smiled to himself, a secretive little smile that made Clark feel like he’d just missed out on some cosmic joke. “A way to spend the time,” Lex offered breezily. “You did ask for my suggestion.”

Clark shifted uncomfortably, and not just due to his sudden erection. There may have been not-really-veiled-at-all hostility between them before, but now he just felt downright awkward. “I…uh…”

“The rain will clear up soon, I think.” Lex’s voice was suddenly all-business once again, like they hadn’t just shared their first kiss or anything. “We still have about five hours before Gillion will try to open the portal again.”

“Uh…Lex…” Clark was still having trouble forming words.

“Keep in mind that once we return to Metropolis, I will be filing an insurance claim against you, for damages incurred during-”

“Lex!” Clark cut him off.

Lex blinked three times in quick succession, luscious eyelashes fluttering as he did so. “Yes?”

“This.” And Clark kissed him again.

It was easily the stupidest thing that Clark had done in all his life. But, with Lex’s face cupped between his hands, Lex’s mouth parting beneath his lips, Lex’s tongue stealing quick, needy tastes of him, he couldn’t remember why this was so stupid.

One of Lex’s arms slid around his waist, pulling their upper bodies flush up against each other, as they continued to kiss. The jarring motion drew a yelp of surprise from Clark’s lips, which Lex washed away with his own moan. Lex’s hand slid down his spine, evoking a shiver with each vertebra he traced, until his palm finally came to rest around the curve of Clark’s ass, pulling him in closer, deeper. Really, Clark should’ve known that Lex could have him panting with need in less than a minute…

“God, this is so stupid,” Clark whispered reverently when Lex’s lips left his to begin trailing down the line of his jaw.

“Completely,” Lex agreed huskily, before his lips fastened over the pulse point on Clark’s neck and began sucking in a downright obscene manner.

Clark’s head fell back against the cave wall with a painful ‘clunk.’ He saw stars, but not even he was sure if it was from the pain or the pleasure. Possibly both. They were quite a heady combination. “We should…” Clark panted heavily as Lex pushed him back against the wall and then pressed into him even further, straddling his waist, “…really stop.”

Lex’s hips ground down in a smooth, circular motion, and Clark got his first feel that Lex was just as hard as he was. “Absolutely,” Lex agreed fervently. He sat back on Clark’s thighs, and they stared at each other for a few moments, catching their breath.

“Are we going to stop?” Clark reached out to flick his index finger over the wetness of Lex’s lips. Lex’s mouth opened and he sucked the digit inside slowly up to the first knuckle, swirling his tongue around it erotically. It was quite possibly the hottest thing Clark had ever seen, and it felt like the spandex of his uniform would burst if he didn’t get out of it right then.

“We could,” Lex commented thoughtfully after he’d released Clark’s finger. “We could stop right now. We could sit back and wait, and then Professor Gillion will inevitably get the portal working, and we’ll go back home, and we’ll be enemies all over again.”

Lex said it so matter-of-factly, but the thought was like torture to Clark, that this could be all and the two of them would never happen…

“You could pick that option, Clark,” Lex continued in that too-smooth voice. “But, know this: if you tell me to stop, I will never forgive you. You’ve already named me as your arch-nemesis, when I still cared for your well-being. Imagine what I could do if I truly despised you?” Lex’s eyes were half-closed, sultry, completely at odds with his words. “I know your secret identity. I know everybody you care about: friends, family, coworkers. If I wanted to destroy you, I wouldn’t spare anyone. I wouldn’t spare the world or humanity, because I know those are the things you love most.” Lex wetted his lips thoughtfully. “So, if you refuse me, you’d be well advised to kill me tonight, while I’m asleep, before I can get back home and raze everything you hold dear to the ground.”

Clark gulped, torn between total terror and the arousal that still flooded his veins in spite of it. Or perhaps even because of it?

“Our problem,” Lex commented with a tilt of his head, “is that we’ve never been honest with each other. So I’m being completely honest about this, Clark. Don’t make the mistake of underestimating me.”

Clark nodded slowly. “I would never underestimate you, Lex.”

“Good,” Lex agreed. “Now, are we stopping?”

Clark could never do it, of course. The thought of Lex breathing his last, of those brilliant eyes going blank, those perfectly flawed lips turning blue, was just wrong. Lex could never die. He was like a force of nature, the yin to Clark’s yang. To kill Lex was to kill himself.

But Clark believed every word Lex had just said down into the very depths of his bones. Lex would do everything he claimed and worse. Lex had always been capable of dreadful atrocities and spectacular acts of beauty, and the line between the two was so very thin for Lex. Magnificent revenge. Perfect obsession. Divine evil.

It was the exact reason Clark should stop everything between them in the first place.

“If I tell you to stop,” Clark concluded carefully, “I’m doomed. You’ll hate me for life.”

“Yes…” Lex breathed.

“And if I tell you to keep going, it will never end. I’ll fight you forever, but you’ll never let me go.”

“Exactly.”

“Either way, we destroy each other. There is no solution.”

“Agreed.”

“It’s not fair. Both ways I win, and both ways I lose.” Clark frowned. “Why does it have to be like that?”

“Oh, Clark.” Lex’s hand reached up to stroke his cheek almost lovingly. “It’s always been that way between us, and it always will be. It’s our destiny.”

Clark nodded slowly, because suddenly this strange intertwined path the two of them had been following made so much sense. “You’re right. I wish it didn’t have to be like that, though. I…” He paused, found Superman’s inner well of bravery, and continued on. “I still love you, Lex. I always will.”

“And I love you, Clark. Even when I hate you. Even when you’re Superman.” He shrugged. “Some things, love can’t change. All we can steal are moments…”

And there was some sort of profound truth in that. All their moments of friendship and camaraderie had been stolen from Fate. The two of them simply couldn’t exist for any other reason but to oppose each other. For one perfect moment of clarity, Clark saw the two of them throughout the ages, always fighting, matching blow for blow, wit for wit. They were both trapped in something larger than themselves, and these moments that they snuck in were the only freedom they would ever know.

“I’m so sorry,” Clark whispered, catching Lex’s hand at his cheek, twining their fingers together.

“I’m sorry too.” Lex leaned back in and kissed Clark hard, like he finally couldn’t hold anything back anymore.

***

Their bodies fell to the ground together, Lex hot and hard above him, and Clark whimpered under Lex’s onslaught helplessly. His hands found their way under Lex’s suit jacket and then got lost for a minute in the fabric of his shirt, before he finally worked his way beneath and met the bare skin at the small of Lex’s back for the first time. A shiver ran through Lex’s body in response to Clark’s strokes, and - oh God! This was really happening. Clark was touching Lex, and Lex was gasping in response.

Lex’s hands fumbled at the waistband of his costume, then found the hidden catches and released the Kryptonian fasteners with fluid dexterity. Lex yanked the top up off over Clark’s head, while Clark just blinked in shock. After all, his clothes were held in place by devices unknown to mankind.

“How…?” he asked, confused and amazed all at once.

“I know everything about you, Clark,” Lex all but purred against his lips. “Did you honestly think I’d leave out something so vital to what I want most?”

Put that way, it made a lot of sense. Clark nodded numbly, and his fingers fumbled on the buttons of Lex’s shirt, feeling huge and clumsy as he did so. Lex slid out of the jacket with a graceful roll of his shoulders. Finally, Clark got the last button to obey his trembling hands, and Lex let the shirt fall from his body as well, exposing a sleek, toned body that made Clark’s mouth go dry.

“You’re incredible,” Lex murmured above him, fingers idly tracing the planes of his chest, making his entire body tense in anticipation. “It could just be your species, I suppose. But you’ve always been just…” Lex leaned in to trace his tongue up Clark’s stomach in a long, slow line that finally ended up swirling around one nipple. “…Exquisite.”

“Lex…” Clark sighed, pulling Lex in for another kiss. Their chests pressed together, slick with sweat, and Clark didn’t think he’d ever felt anything this wonderful in all his life. Lex was so different from everyone else Clark had been with, lean and hard, but better in so many ways. It was almost enough to make Clark wonder if he’d had his sexuality backwards all these years.

But, in the end, it didn’t matter whether Lex was male or female, or Human or Kryptonian, good or evil. Lex was Lex, and nothing so mundane as sexual preferences could keep them from fitting together.

To even Clark’s surprise, he felt a growl of possessiveness vibrate through his body, and then he rolled them over roughly, trapping Lex beneath him as the rain continued to pound away outside their scant shelter. He all but tackled Lex to the ground, devouring his lips, taking everything that he’d - oh God! - been dreaming of since he was a star-struck youth back in Smallville. Lex was the ultimate fantasy, the untouchable ideal, and now Clark finally had him, if only briefly, and it was like they were stealing something back from a universe that demanded they fit into the roles of adversaries.

Lex’s hands slipped inside the waistband of his costume and squeezed the muscles of his ass roughly. Clark could feel the strength in those hands for once, each finger digging in deep enough to leave hand-shaped bruises across his behind. He shifted his lips at Lex’s insistence, yanking his uniform down, as he worked the fly of Lex’s pants as well, exposing them to each other for the first time.

They parted for a few agonizing moments to strip the rest of the way, and Lex - fluidly efficient as always - finished first and took the opportunity to lay Clark’s cape out on the ground beneath them. When they finally met again, in defiance of the giant yellow ‘S’ beneath their knees that marked them as enemies, they were nude, fitted perfectly together, hands and lips grasping wildly.

“Please tell me you still have those condoms and lube,” Clark breathed against Lex’s hipbone.

“Still in my wallet,” Lex agreed, dipping his tongue into Clark’s navel. “One of the benefits of organization.”

Clark just grinned at him, because it was all right for Lex to be so very Lexian at the moment. They didn’t have to fight right now, didn’t have to worry about the implications of everything they said, the strategic advantages and disadvantages of every skill the other possessed. Lex was just goofy and geeky and more than a little bit compulsive, and Clark could love him for that.

“Where’s your wallet?” Clark fell back onto his cape and laughed, surrendering his easy access to Lex’s body for the moment.

Lex rested his head on Clark’s thigh, their bodies perpendicular to each other, and looked up at Clark. “Is that what you really want right now?”

At that angle, Clark could look down at see the curve of his cock against his stomach and Lex’s teasing mouth beyond it. It was deliberately, perfectly suggestive of what he really wanted right then. A “no” managed to squeak past his lips, and he shook his head vigorously.

Lex’s lazy smile widened, and he propped himself up on his elbows so that he could blow a hot gush of air over the head of Clark’s erection. “What do you want, then?” Lex taunted him mercilessly.

“I really hate you, you know?” Clark sighed and let his head fall back.

“The feeling is more than mutual.”

“But I still love you too…” Clark stared up at the rock above them, feeling hazy and just a little bit drunk. Lex had always been like this, a drug with amazing highs and agonizing lows, yet Clark still hadn’t learned to stay away. Maybe he was a Lex-addict.

At that moment Lex’s mouth closed over the head of Clark’s cock, and he said something that was probably another “mutual,” but all Clark felt was the purring vibration along his dick, the deep, hot, wetness of Lex’s throat as he took Clark in deeper.

“Oh, God…” Clark’s hands clutched the red cape beneath him, and it felt so strange and synthetic at that moment. Like Superman was nothing more than a plastic cut-out, but this - Clark and Lex and the passion between them - this was so very real. “Lex!”

Lex hummed his approval against the side of Clark’s shaft, and his left hand carefully cupped Clark’s balls, palming first one and then the other, until Clark was writhing and bucking beneath him. Lex’s tongue was licking and twirling and doing something that must’ve been downright illegal, because Clark had never felt anything like it.

Lex’s right hand was pressed flat against his stomach now, holding Clark down, while his left ventured even further back, trailing along impossibly sensitive skin until his index finger was slowly circling Clark’s hole. Clark tensed at the first probing motion, one hand coming down to rest on the back of Lex’s head, and then he relaxed and Lex was inside and…

“Fuck!”

He didn’t think he’d ever sworn so eloquently as when he finally came down Lex’s throat. Lex’s tongue continued to lap at him, swallowing everything, drawing out Clark’s pleasure until it was too much, too sensitive, and then finally - finally - letting Clark come down.

“Mmm…” Clark sighed in post-orgasmic bliss, smiling lazy at the sight of Lex resting his cheek on Clark’s stomach and looking up at him once again. Belatedly, he noticed that Lex’s finger was still inside him, and another had joined it. Both fingers were slick and warm, and Clark didn’t know when Lex had had time to get the lube, but he wasn’t about to object, because the feel of Lex sliding in and out of him oh-so-gently was just amazing.

“If it’s all the same to you,” Lex’s voice sounded hoarse, and his eyes were glittering the unholy electric blue of either a man obsessed or a man in love, “I’d like to fuck you now.”

“Mmm…” Clark sighed again. He seemed to have lost all capacity for coherent speech. “Don’t know if I can move.”

“You won’t have to move, really. That’s the advantage of being fucked.”

And Clark giggled because, really, this was the silliest conversation he’d ever had. “Okay,” he agreed with a broad smile that came so naturally to his lips when Lex was this close.

Lex took in a sharp intake of breath at that and his eyelids fluttered closed. “Thank you,” he breathed out, and Clark realized with some concern that Lex had thought that he might be rejected.

His hand found Lex’s cheek, and Lex nuzzled his palm in a gesture so sweet and affectionate that Clark almost couldn’t believe that Lex had allowed himself to do it. His hips began to rock slowly, riding Lex’s fingers as best he could while lying flat on his back. “More,” he whispered in response.

A third finger pressed inside him in response, stretching him almost to the point of pain. Clark relaxed into it, and he and Lex both let out a gasp at the same time.

“I…I have to…” Lex began shakily.

“God, yes…”

“I just…” Lex’s body shifted in a liquid flow of muscles until he was on top of Clark, between his thighs, the lengths of their bodies lined up perfectly. “Want you…”

And hearing Lex needy like this was better than everything. “Waited too long…”

“Yes,” Lex agreed, his tone clipped as he pulled back for a moment. Clark opened his eyes to see that Lex had rolled the condom onto his erection and was now slicking it with lube. Thank God for versatile, ambidextrous archenemies… “I have.”

And then Lex’s fingers were gone, and Clark whimpered in response. Lex’s hands pushed on the backs of his thighs so they came up against either side of Clark’s chest, spreading him open wide, and then Clark could feel the head of Lex’s cock circling his opening, teasing him.

“Please…” Clark murmured, spreading his legs further and rocking up against Lex eagerly. Already, he was completely hard once again, and it occurred to him briefly that he was probably going to die from this, too much stimulation, too much pleasure.

“Relax.” Lex leaned forward and whispered against his ear. And the head of his cock pushed slowly and relentlessly past the tight ring of muscles.

Clark felt a gentle burn, as he relaxed slowly into Lex, letting him in deeper. He still had just enough invulnerability left that this really didn’t hurt, but just enough vulnerability that he was really glad that Lex had slicked himself up so well. This was the perfect balance, really. He could feel everything, but all the pangs were just this side of pleasure.

“Fuck, you’re perfect,” Lex gasped out in awe, as he began rocking slowly, still only half inside Clark. Each motion brought him a half inch deeper, a half inch closer to the two of them finally being joined completely.

“More.” Clark’s voice came out in a long whine.

Lex’s jaw clenched, and his eyes locked with Clark’s, and then he rammed himself all the way inside. Clark’s eyes widened at the same time Lex’s did, and they froze for one moment, before Lex just lost it.

Clark groaned and grunted as Lex began thrusting in and out of him roughly, emitting a low growling sound as he did so. With each renewed penetration, Clark felt Lex’s balls slap against his ass, and he was struck with the realization that this… This was fucking.

Lex was already jerking erratically, and any control he had left was breaking. Clark saw hate and love in Lex’s eyes, violence and tenderness, fire and ice, hurt and comfort. It was there in every shaking breath Lex took, alternating whispers of invective and Clark’s name. There in the movement of Lex’s hips, hard yet deliberately brushing Clark’s prostate with every push. There in Lex’s lips on his, teeth cutting while his tongue soothed every hurt. There in Lex’s hands, one leaving deep bruises in Clark’s thigh and the other pulling on Clark’s cock, making him come with a shuddering gasp.

This orgasm was short and sweet. The first had taken too much out of him for it to be anything more.

But, in a way, that was good, because the real show here was Lex. Lex, whose entire body was shaking now, stuttering and starting up again as he fought to keep his rhythm inside Clark. Lex, whose head was thrown back in ecstasy, the long pale column of his throat exposed to the evening sky. Lex, whose teeth were clenched, fighting back the hisses of pleasure that were taking him over. Lex, who was coming hard now, eyes wide, staring into Clark’s like he’d lost everything and found his home all at the same time.

Lex, Lex, Lex…

“Lex, Lex…” Clark hadn’t even realized that he was repeating Lex’s name like his new mantra, clutching Lex’s body tight against his, and gently stroking the back of Lex’s head.

“Mmm, Clark…” Lex agreed, sounding so soft and vulnerable and completely un-Lex-like.

“We shouldn’t fall asleep,” Clark informed him regretfully. Because sleepy, comfortable Lex was far too much of a treat for Clark to want to lose him any time soon. “In another few hours the portal will open up and-”

“I set my watch alarm,” Lex sighed against Clark’s chest.

Clark glanced at the watch, which was the only thing Lex was currently wearing. “Of course, you did.” But, really, what had he been thinking? Of course Lex had every angle covered, every contingency planned for. He was Lex.

“Just a few more hours…” Lex closed his eyes.

And Clark didn’t think he was imagining the regret in Lex’s voice as well. Never had he dreaded imminent rescue so much…

***

This time the portal was clear and blue and solid.

“We need to send a test subject through first,” Professor Gillion announced, his tones perfectly clear through the door between worlds.

Mercy looked testy, grabbed a beaker, and lobbed it through the portal.

Lex caught it easily, studied it for a moment, and threw it back.

Mercy held the retrieved beaker up for Gillion’s inspection and tapped her foot impatiently.

“That will have to do,” Gillion finally concluded, stroking his goatee nervously. “If you’ll just step through, Mister Luthor, we’ve got the decontamination gear standing by.”

Lex, looking as cool and collected as if he’d just been standing patiently by the entire time, moved to step forward.

“Wait,” Clark caught his arm.

Lex sighed and turned to look at him. Already, that wariness was back in his eyes. Clark was losing Lex by the moment, or maybe it had just been an illusion that he’d ever really had Lex at all.

“What about everything we brought with us?” That came out in his usual thunderous Superman voice. The one he used to chide children who climbed up on telephone polls or to scold Lex whenever Clark caught him committing another felony.

“What about it?” Lex asked casually.

“You’re just going to pollute this world?” Clark retorted, sounding a bit sanctimonious even to his own ears.

Lex sighed. “There’s no one to care.”

“There’s me,” Clark insisted, crossing his arms over his chest.

Lex’s lips curved into an evil little smile. “You’re sure you want to return everything we’ve left behind?”

That lascivious smirk could only refer to one thing, and Clark remembered the used condom that had been discarded near their cave with a gulp. “Shut up,” he grumbled and let go of Lex’s arm.

“No further objections, then?” One of Lex’s eyebrows rose in an annoyed manner.

Clark glared at him, and they stepped forward through the portal at the exact same time. No way was Clark giving Lex even the slightest chance to leave him behind.

A rush of crackling blue electric energy surrounded them. They both wavered on their feet, and Clark caught Lex’s arm for balance. The disorienting effects of the portal seemed to affect Kryptonians more than Humans, although at least this time he managed not to hit his head and knock himself out.

And then they were back in LexCorp Labs, and the portal was closing behind them. Clark glanced back with nostalgia at his last view of their alien world. Beside him, he felt Lex take a deep breath and exhale it slowly.

It was like a spell was broken when the portal finally closed, and they weren’t Clark and Lex anymore, but Superman and Luthor. Clark suddenly realized that he was in a very dangerous position; his powers wouldn’t fully return until he’d sunned himself for a good day, and Mercy was scowling at him like she was debating the fastest way to decapitate him.

“All in all,” Lex commented casually as he approached the console where Professor Gillion worked, “I’d say the experiment was a success. We’ll have to work out the bugs, of course.”

“O-Of course, Mister Luthor,” Gillion stuttered, pulling on his goatee even more. “I’ll have the preliminary reports on your desk tomorrow, and-”

Lex checked his watch. “This afternoon,” he ordered.

Gillion cowered and nodded.

Lex turned his attention back to where Clark was still nervously eyeing Mercy. “For safety reasons, we’ll both have to be decontaminated,” he informed Clark imperiously. “I trust you have no objections?”

“What I object to,” Superman’s voice retorted, “is the fact that you’re continuing these mad experiments. Do you even remember what happened to that poor lab tech who got half-transported with us?”

Lex rolled his eyes and led the way to the decontamination room, Clark hot on his heels. A little ways behind, Mercy followed them both, the weight of her gaze heavy on Clark’s back, her finger ready on the trigger. “Precautions will be taken in the future,” Lex snapped back. “Would you prefer that mankind stayed trapped in the Dark Ages, ready to roll over for any high-tech alien conqueror who happens to fly by the system?” He eyed Clark up and down as the door to the decontamination room shut behind them. “Unless, of course, it’s already happened…”

Clark gave Lex an equally suspicious look back. The white wall before them began emitting a pale orange light that Clark could feel as a faint tingle all the way down to his bones. Great. Lex had apparently traded God-knew-what for alien decontamination technology, as well. “You honestly think I’m going to let you get away with this?” he demanded.

“And you think I’m going to let you stop me?”

Their eyes met in a never-ending challenge. But then, for one moment, Lex’s icy gaze wavered. In the dim isolation of the decontamination room, he whispered softly, “I forgive you.”

Clark felt his own heart breaking in response to that and nodded numbly. “I forgive you too. Always.”

Because, in the end, all their little trip had given them was a brief moment in which they didn’t have to contend with each other. A glimpse of normal that neither of them could ever have for long, no matter how much they wished it. After all, the two of them were never meant to be ordinary men; they were extraordinary, and Metropolis wasn’t large enough to contain two beings as extraordinary as Superman and Lex Luthor at the same time.

The decontamination light faded, the last traces of that other world were destroyed, and the doors opened. With a final parting look, two arch-enemies once against stepped forward into their eternal war of wills.

As always, feedback is most appreciated.