World of Tomorrow XVI
Okay, you'll probably need to go back and re-read the previous section(s). Next, let me just say that this is my fiction, my AU (obviously), so I'm changing and re-writing things from both SV and comic canon. If this offends you, or turns you off. . . uh, sorry? But you should really be used to it by now.
Also, I sincerely apologize to any Australians out there. If I made any mistakes, please feel free to correct me. I'd so much appreciate it, as my "research" extends to Google and not much else. :/
And now, on to the show (this one's for you, gildinwen). . .
Disclaimer: ‘Smallville’ and certain characters belong to Miller-Gough et al. No profit is gained from this writing, only, hopefully, enjoyment.
It never failed to amuse Lex. Granted, it'd only happened a few times over the years, but this particular occurrence was even more awkward and surrealistic than all the others combined.
There were now technically three Alexes in one room. Lex felt like chortling every time someone addressed one of them.
Surnames were good, though. "Mr. Luthor" this, and "Mr. Allston" that. "Ms. Allston," please sign here and so on. Upon introducing themselves, though, Lex had caught Alex Allston's fleeting grin and his sister's stifled snort. It was a start.
The Allston twins were nothing like Lex. Their company was small, and where Lionel had always cultivated the impression of Luthorcorp as eternal and ancient, the Allstons readily admitted they were new money. They were also famous not for excess, but the exact opposite. Lex couldn't honestly ever remember seeing the Allston name in a tabloid or hearing it gossiped about as part of some scandal. About the only thing even remotely outrageous was the twins' long ago decision towards joint ownership and operation of Allston Inc. Even that wasn't totally unheard of these days.
After most of the broader points had been set down and agreed to and signed off on, Lex summarily dismissed all the lackeys and assistants he plausibly could. Then leaning back in his chair, he smiled as Alex Allston followed suit, merely waving his hand a few times to send away the majority of his and his sister's entourage. It left only the three of them, Lex's personal assistant Lanie, and the Allston's equivalent PA, Derrick.
"You're sure you have the facilities for this?" Lex asked bluntly.
Alex moved back in his chair too, folding his arms across his chest and meeting Lex's eyes unflinchingly. Next to him, Alexandra licked her lips but otherwise remained still. Lex didn't know if that stillness were an act, or just how the woman was, but it was nonetheless unsettling.
"We have an agreement with S.T.A.R. Labs," Alex responded, his accent making the name somehow foreign and ominous. "Many of our researchers are also employed at the Labs. It's completely solid."
"Right," Lex replied, letting his skepticism show on his face as well as in his voice. "It's not that I doubt your-- "
"But you do," Alexandra interrupted smoothly. She was still leaning over the large boardroom table, elbows braced on the polished surface, and switching his gaze from her brother to her, Lex wondered if the twins' positioning were deliberate. For it seemed every time Alex moved forward in his chair, Alexandra moved back, and vice versa. They never blocked each other, not visually or verbally. Not once during the meeting had either of them contradicted or interrupted the other. It was like a dance.
"You very obviously do, Mr. Luthor," Alexandra continued. She raised her eyebrows, tilting her head to the side and simply looking right back at him.
"If I'd been allowed to finish," Lex said, raising his own eyebrows back at her, "I would have clarified that it's not your dedication to the project which concerns me. What concerns me is the sheer scale of this undertaking in comparison to the relative size of your company."
Alexandra rolled her eyes and collapsed back in her chair, crossing her arms exactly like her brother. And like it was choreographed, Alex in turn leaned forward, taking up his sister's posture precisely, even down to the curled left hand resting next to his elbow.
It was eerie, but utterly fascinating. Lex hadn't ever really interacted with any twins before. He wondered if they were all like this to some degree, synchronized, always on the same page.
Alex sighed. "What is it really, Lex?" he asked. "You want it here, in Metropolis? Is that it?"
"Did I say that?" Lex returned.
Alexandra snorted, but Alex just frowned in confusion.
"Okay," Alex said, "I'll bite. What is the problem? And don't give us that line again about our company being too small. We all know that's not the real issue here."
Lex smiled, rocking his chair back and forth a little, but didn't immediately respond.
After another few seconds of silence, Alexandra suddenly and quite loudly burst out laughing. She tilted her head back and slapped her knee, doing the whole bit. Alex turned to look at her, and if Lex weren't mistaken that was confusion in the man's body language now. Good to know.
"You smug, son-of-a-bitch," Alexandra declared, looking at Lex with something uncomfortably like pride. Alex was still looking at his sister, and after flashing a quick grin at Lex, Alexandra turned back to her brother. "It's a blasted test, you nong," she told him quietly. "He's just wanting to see us spit the dummy." Alexandra glanced over her brother's head. "Isn't that right, Lex?"
"You hit it on the nose," he answered, getting two smiles out of his blatantly poor attempt at their slang. "No offense meant. I just needed to be sure you knew what you were doing."
Both twins looked at him, and Alex's expression turned confused again. "Make sure we weren't, eh, rookies?" he asked.
"Right-o," Lex agreed. The twins, and Derrick farther down the table, laughed.
"That's what the Brits say," Alex corrected him gently.
"Oh, my apologies then," Lex replied, smiling. He stood up and extended his hand towards Alex. "I admit, this is the first time I've ever done business with Aussies."
Alex climbed to his feet too, followed a split second later by his sister. He grabbed up Lex's hand without hesitation and they shook on it.
"Then you haven't really done any business, have you, mate?" Alex joked, thickening and broadening his accent. He let go and moved over for Alexandra to step forward.
"I suppose not," Lex responded, leaving his hand out. After a brief narrow-eyed look, though, Alexandra took his hand and shook it.
Even their handshakes were virtually identical.
***
"Why don't you just come over here and then we order out?" Lex's voice asked across the line. And the man had a point. It would have been easier for them to decide together in person than it was to do it over the phone, but the whole thing was definitely worth it just to hear that whiny note in Lex's voice. He sounded like a little kid who hadn't gotten the right toy for his birthday.
It was hilarious.
"I'm already here," Kal repeated for the umpteenth time. "Just tell me what you want already. You're worse than a child, Lex."
Lex audibly snorted in disdain, but Kal wasn't buying it. Lex was probably openly smiling by now, and just continuing to mess with Kal because he found it funny too. No one ever said their sense of humor wasn't the same. In fact it was probably one of the few things they actually did have in common.
"Something spicy," Lex finally grumped out after a moment. "I'm tired of eating Beth's bland, boring, banal. . . "
"Blah," Kal supplied, to which Lex grunted assent.
"Bare," Lex returned.
"Blasé."
"Ooh, clever. Hmm, blank."
"Bleached?" Clark offered.
Lex 'hmm-ed' again. "Acceptable," he declared a few seconds later. Then followed that with, "Balmy."
"'Balmy?'" Clark repeated. "Nuh-uh. No way."
"It's in the dictionary," Lex argued.
"I don't care if it's in the dictionary. It's not right and you know it." Clark glanced around The Julie, suddenly realizing his voice was about one notch away from too loud. An older couple was looking at him confusedly, and the woman behind him in line quickly turned her head when Clark looked her way.
"Those are the rules, Kal," Lex said haughtily. "We agreed that-- "
"You always did this with Scrabble, too," Clark interrupted. "Every single time-- "
"Oh, it wasn't every time," Lex denied.
"Hey," Clark argued, lowering his voice, "which one of us is better equipped to recall said events?" Lex was quiet, save his breathing, so Clark added, "Trust me on this one, Lex. It was literally every single time."
They were both quiet for a moment, during which time the woman in front of Clark finished paying. He stepped up, smiling at the hostess/cashier, just as Lex piped up with, "It's still not cheating."
Clark sighed. "Okay, whatever you say, honey," he chirped back in a sickly sweet voice. Lex squawked back, while the hostess just grinned at him in what she no doubt mistakenly thought to be understanding. If only. "So," Clark said, backing the conversation up to the beginning. "Something spicy, huh? How 'bout. . . one order of Rattlesnake Pasta-- "
"No onions," Lex reminded him.
" --hold the onions. Two orders of garlic rolls, one Penne all'Arrabbiata, and. . . " Clark hesitated.
"I have wine here," Lex offered quietly.
"I was thinking of dessert, actually," Clark replied.
"Oh, I think we've got that covered as well," was Lex's response, and damn if the leer in his voice didn't make Clark blush. "See, that's where the wine comes into play," Lex added, as though he hadn't already made his point abundantly clear the first time.
"That's all," Clark told the hostess, wincing at the knowing look she shot him before turning to hand the order off to someone else. Lex was silent all the way through Clark paying and taking a spot on one of the leather benches off to the side, but his breathing let Clark know he was still there.
"So," Clark eventually said, "were you going to finish the sentence with breakfast? Or something else only found in the dictionary?"
Lex harrumphed, and Clark brought a hand up to his mouth in order to stifle his laughter.
"You wound me," Lex accused. "Nothing so predictable or prosaic as that."
"Oh, going for round two, are we?" Clark asked cheekily.
"Brunch," Lex stated, seemingly ignoring Clark's last comment. "The correct answer was brunch."
"Not pedestrian in the least," Clark agreed.
"You're not sneaky at all, you know. I'm on to you. You are completely. . . plain."
"Ha!" Clark crowed. "Plebian. Take that, Luthor!"
"Oh, I'm just getting started, Kent," Lex countered. Clark could easily hear the grin in Lex's voice.
Even if he couldn't see it at the moment.
"You ready for this?" Lex went on, teasing and trash-talking as only a complete nerd could. "Okay, platitudinous."
"Oh, God," Clark groaned, letting his head fall back against the wall behind him. "Um. . . pabulum."
"What?"
"Hey," Clark responded. "It's in the dictionary. Look. It. Up, my friend."
Lex grumbled, then proceeded to outline, point by point, the numerous reasons why he was the victor in both contests. Clark rolled his eyes and played devil's advocate, perfectly aware Lex knew the real score.
Eventually, the food was done, and Clark just smiled when the hostess smirked at him again. It'd been more than half an hour since he'd ordered, and he was still on the phone. Yeah, it didn't get much sweeter than that.
He just wished he could see her face after telling her the truth, wondering which would freak her out more. . . the fact it was a guy he was talking to, or that it was Lex Luthor?
Or that instead of out patrolling, Tomorrow was chatting with his. . . boyfriend. . . because he still couldn't fly.
Or see all the way. Or hear how he was supposed to hear. Or not scrape himself all to hell when tripping on the stairs.
"Kal, you there?"
"Yeah," he answered, juggling his phone, the food, and the hailing of a cab, all like a true city boy. "Just getting a ride now." A taxi pulled up to the curb and Kal opened the door, nodding at the driver as he scooted inside.
"I'll see you soon then," Lex told him, and he didn't think it was his imagination that put a certain note in Lex's voice.
"You too," Clark returned.