I'm going to start a collection of these little devils
I had a fun little thought bubble when I woke up ahead of my alarm this past Sunday. A thought bubble that made waking up at 0500 instead of 0546 a weeeeeeeeee bit more bearable. What if, in SV!verse, Lionel Luthor was killed by the meteor shower and then, soon afterward, Lillian Luthor committed suicide as well?
That would leave Lex as an orphan. Who would a virtually imprisoned depressed socialite & a megalomaniacal entrepreneur trust with their first born?
Other crazy people.
AKA the Veritas Society. Specifically, the Queens. Virgil Swann is too "common" & the Teagues are almost rivals, if you know what I mean. Genevieve & Whosis (Edward?) are too much like Luthors. Genevieve would exploit Lex. Lionel knows this because he'd do the same for the other Veritas spawn. Whereas the Queens are a lot more Wayne-ish & thus Lionel would trust them to be bleeding hearts over Lex.
So Ollie's this surfer cool kid, uber popular, basically a golden boy. And Lex is this anti-social, introverted, traumatised kid. They're both 10ish. And this is before Ollie starts bullying Lex at Excelsior. At ages 10, they just run in different circles. And Ollie doesn't QUITE know his charismatic power. He knows he can get a lot of things by merely breathing. But his parents have raised him well enough that he's not consciously cruel.
Lionel's not around so he won't get the Queens killed.I know in the pilot, the Queens are already dead per the paper Lionel's reading but we can hand-wavey that.
So with parents around, Ollie doesn't become the spoiled "poor little rich boy" type who DOES become a giant bully. Lex, with more supportive legal guardians, opens up a little more.Although Ollie doesn't know what to do with someone so dour and Lex is annoyed that Ollie has sunshine coming out of his ass. They get on each other's nerves all the time.
Lex still acts out a lot. Partially because of curiosity & partially because he was so emotionally (and sometimes physically) abused. Fortunately, the Queens recognize this & start him on therapy right away. And because they're granola munchers, they have regular therapy sessions anyway. Even Ollie since he started talking. Also, they let him summer in NYC with Virgil Swann because Swann can challenge him mentally.
Also because the Luthors never get to Smallville, the Kents fake their adoption papers through Pete Ross' mom, the judge, instead of Lionel. The Rosses still lose their land to become Fertilizer Plant #Whatever because the Queens just hold the company in trust until Lex turns 21. They let the board of directors decide what to do & that had been on the agenda. But the deal takes longer & the Rosses get a lot more money out of it. The whole lot of them end up moving out of Smallville & into Metropolis. So Clark never has Pete to grow up with. He does, however, become BFFs with Chloe Sullivan, who moves in in Gr. 3 with her Dad & Mom.
Gabe Sullivan accepted a position as the assistant manager of the plant in a rural area because Moira was starting to figure out her powers and wanted to be somewhere more isolated, with fewer people she could hurt.
Without the Luthors to plot plotty things, Chloe & Gabe never get fake blown-up which means Lois never goes go to Smallville to investigate their death. She does, however, visit with her dad & sister when Chloe's in Gr 5 after Moira commits herself into a mental institution.
Gabe wanted to move to wherever to be close to Moira but Moira insisted that Chloe stay in Smallville. She wanted Chloe to have the stability of staying in one place, especially since she & Clark were best friends. And the Kents were practically family. Plus--her ability. But she didn't explain all of that. She was scared of it. She'd probably tell Gabe later but not at the time she left for the institution. Smallville being Smallville, though, rumours started that Moira had run off with a lover/was criminally insane/had been killed by a transient/etc. Gabe didn't say why she went away; only that they were still married but she wasn't living with them any more.
Sam, Lucy & Lois go at Moira's request-- Chloe & Lois have always been close & she wanted a transition to be a little easier on Chloe. When Clark & Lois meet, it's hate at first sight. Lois is a little jealous of Clark's friendship with Chloe, especially since she's starting to think that the General favoured Lucy. And Clark has never met anyone so ...Lois. It grates against his very Kansas upbringing. Plus, just because his best friend is a girl, it doens't mean he's a pussy!
Clark & Lois basically spend the whole summer fighting over Chloe. And poor Chloe doesn't want her tow bestest friends to be fighitng and then her mom's gone WORST SUMMER EVER. She's the peacemaker. She tries. Oh, she TRIES. But Clark can get pretty stubborn so that even when Lois eases up a few days later at Chloe's request, he's already made up his mind that SHE'S THE WORST EVER & ignores her. Literally pretends she doesn't exist. He won't be outright mean because his mom & dad say not to but if he can't say anything good, he just won't say anything at all and right now, he can't say anything good about Lois at all. SO THERE
Clark: *mulish pout*
Lois doesn't appreciate the fact that he's rejected her (sort of not really but as close as she'll get) apology so SHE starts riling him up again just to get him to acknowledge her.
ANYTHING
Chloe: WORST. SUMMER. EVER.
Chloe: I hate you both. Lana is my new BFF
At the end of the summer, Lois goes back to gallivanting the world with The General, Lucy goes back to boarding school & Lois & Clark go to middle school. This is where Clark develops full-blown, classically Clark, naive-stalker love for Lana. It was just a crush before. Now he KNOWS it's twu wuv. BTW, Clark's clumsiness around Lana was one of Lois' favourite teases.
Meanwhile, back in Star City/Excelsior., Lex & Ollie don't start getting along until the last few years of high school. Lex gets a little more confidence & Ollie a little less egocentric. Robert & Laura do try to make them as sibling-ish as possible. Also, Lex's therapy helped. Ollie thinks therapy's a joke until Laura insists the two boys do a few sessions together to work on "their togetherness issues." After that, Ollie thinks it's mostly a joke.
Ollie's more of a party boy that Lex. Lex is a little afraid of letting himself go wild because of his dad's cruelty & his mom's mental instability. So he kind of becomes Ollie's voice of reason.
Lex: Ollie. OLLIE. I promise I won't say a thing about hiring call girls if you just please, please, PLEASE not do any more lines.
Because Ollie understands Lex's fears through theraphy, he listens. Often. Mostly. When Lex is around. In turn, Ollie becomes Lex's confidence booster.
Ollie: Trust me. In years to come, shaving your head will be the epitome of manilness.
Lex: Says the guy with the frosted tips.
Ollie: Shutup my hair is gnarly.
Things in the world go as usual until Lex & Ollie turn 21. Specifically, until Lex turns 21 & he gets the company. Lex is a pretty Upstanding Citizen at this time, whereas Ollie's known as the crazy brother. Like Paris Hilton. Probably including the sex tape. Whereas Lex is made out to be this tragic emo figure. He doesn't like being in the limelight but the paparazzi try anyway. And, in a way, Ollie acts out to get the cameras out of Lex's face. NOT the only reason. Let's not kid ourselves here.
So to celebrate the ability to legally buy alcohol, Ollie suggests travelling to one of Lex's companies. Lex is all, "Dude, COLLEGE." But Ollie's all "DUDE, get a LIFE."
Lex reluctantly agrees but they can't decide on a place so Lex shoots an arrow in a map. Ollie's an Olympic level archer. It's one of the few things he's genuinely geeky about for the sheer love of it. It has nothing to do with being sexy. Well... very little to do with being sexy.
Lex isn't as great at archery so he gets it into Metropolis instead of Amsterdam like Ollie wanted. They party it up there for a week then Ollie gets this idea to do a classic all-American road trip. Except with a car each. And by car, he means Porches. So they rent Porches & race out of Metropolis & all around Kansas, not really aiming for anywhere, just zipping through the highways, avoiding the cops. Somehow they end up in Smallville, on this little bridge that's too narrow for 2 cars.
Lex, by this time, is having fun because he's fiercely competitive by nature. So he does some fancy driving & pulls up ahead of Ollie on the bridge. And hits young Clark Kent. They both go over. Ollie slams the brakes & scampers down the ravine. Clark saves Lex, per the Pilot, but Ollie's there to help pull them both out. There are cops & reporters & Laura Queen flies over. Mama Queen is ANGRY.
Laura: I cannot even DESCRIBE how furious I am at both of you! Do you realise that you could have killed someone? That you could've killed someone's child? Someone's brother? How would you feel if one of us died?! I thought I raised you both to be more responsible! And LEX! I expected this type of recklessness from Ollie--
Ollie: Mom!
Lex: *hangs head*
Clark: ...Really, everyone's all right...
Laura: I have half a mind not to pay for your bail!
Ollie: Mom! This is like Deliverance! They're probably going to make us squeal like pigs!
Lex: Ollie. Shut. Up.
Laura: But I WILL pay for your bail because I don't believe the American penal system is sufficiently rehabilitative but instead encourages the socio-economic divide that perpetuates a cycle of violence. I AM, however, taking your credits cards, freezing your bank accounts outside of a $500 monthly allowance & confiscating your cars. Instead of having a paid year off school, you're BOTH going to spend a year working for Mr & Mrs Kent, earning farm-hand wages
Ollie: Moooooooooooooom!
Lex: *is in shock*
Laura: Providing they even want you around. To think, you almost hit that boy and he SAVES your LIFE! You could learn a little something from them! Laura: *sniffles* If I lost either of you... *sniffles, sniffles*
Jonathan & Martha don't want the boys around, of course, because it would be harder to keep Clark's secret. PS: they reveal Clark's secret to him per the Pilot as well. But Laura makes a deal with them--She'll invest in the farm as a pilot for a national organic farm revolution thingy if they let the boys do their community service. Because she recognizes that Jonathan is the proud type, she'll insist on getting returns on the LOAN. It's a BUSINESS. It's not CHARITY or a pay-off.
It's like Paris Hilton & Nicole Richie in SIMPLE LIFE only Lex and Ollie own one set of PJs & two sets of clothes-- work clothes & not-so-smelly work clothes. Jonathan makes sure they work a LOT to keep them too tired/distracted from seeing too much of Clark's weirdness. Ollie starts kind of mentoring Clark in the ways of wooing. *coughcough* Clark's crush on Lana is a weeeeeeeeeeeeee bit obvious. Despite his recklessness, Ollie's a good kid. He wants to help in his own way. And he IS good with the ladies. They're all over him even in his very-smelly-work-clothes.
Lex is more observant. He recognizes the kind of angst Clark is going through & tries the talking/hanging out route. Chloe becomes a little snappish at both of them because she feels like they're stealing her bestie away. It's not Clark's fault; he's the kind of guy who'd stop in the middle of the street to talk to mentally ill homeless guys. And probably has. Often. But Chloe KNOWS rich city boys. She reads papers! And her very worldly cousin Lois emails her all the TIME. Also, she's preeeeeeeeeeetty sure Lex has DESIGNS on Clark.
Chloe: I'm just saying, watch your butt. Literally.
Clark: *blush* It's not like that. Besides, Lex is an adult.
Chloe: EXACTLY. And you have a sweet, young ass. Not that I've been looking. At. All.
Meteor-infected shenanigans occur per Season 1 but without the subplot of Lex trying to uncoer Clark's secret. At the end of it, both Lex & Ollie are super invested in Kent Organic Farm to the point where Lex is trying to figure out how to close LuthorCorp Fertilizer Plant #Whatever in order to expand the organic farm business to all of Smallville. Which means Chloe's dad would be out of a job.
Jonathan & Martha are happy but they point out the job loss. This is where Ollie reveals that he's not just a pretty face. He suggets a natural organic fertilzer plant using farm wastes & other stuff from Smallville & the surrounding counties as raw product then using Smallville's plastics/paper waste for the packages. So every product coming out of Smallville is recycled.
Lex: That's... brilliant.
Ollie: I have my days.
Clark: Guys! Guys! Guys! Lana TALKED to me today! Well, not talked, but she looked at me! Well, maybe not at me but IN MY GENERAL DIRECTION!
Ollie: And my failures.
At the end of the year, Ollie & Lex go back to their lives but they keep in touch with the Kents. Things are basically Smallville-without-the-Luthors, heavy on craaaaaaaaaaazy Daddy!Jor-el until the end of Season 3 when Clark destroys his ship & the ensuing explosion causes Martha to lose the baby. Clark puts Red K on & runs away. Chloe, in desperation, contacts Ollie or Lex, asking for their help to find Clark.
Ollie: Wait. Clark KENT? Clark, the guy who doesn't step on ants because they're part of the cycle of life, Clark?
And they find him in Metropolis, being Kal
Ollie: THAT'S Clark? I... I...
Lex: I blame those leather pants on you.
Ollie: ... *hangs head* Mea Culpa.
With their combined martial arts/self defense lessons, Ollie & Lex proceed to get absolutely creamed by Kal. Jonathan saves the day but he's weakened, per Jor-el's deal. Lex & Ollie get there in time to see Jonathan collapse. Ollie thinks Clark hit his dad, ZOMG. And he wales on Clark. Attempts to. Clark kind of hunches down & is a Very Sorry Clark. Lex sees to Jonathan. They all go home in Ollie's car where Ollie proceeds to rip a new one out of Clark.
Also, Ollie's offended that Lex would think he told Clark to wear leather pants. He'd NEVER be as gauche as to wear leather pants! That's purely out of Clark's naive sense of what a bad boy is. In Ollie's opinion, a bad boy would just not wear pants.
Lex: You're terrible.
Ollie: *beams*
Clark: *wide-eyed* So, um, Ollie, say it's senior year, and maybe I'm kind of sort of thinking of maybe asking Lana to prom. What SHOULD I wear?
Lex: Clark. CLARK. Ask me. Not him. NEVER him. That way lies tears.
Ollie: Shut up. Now, Clark, what you want is something that'll show off your abs. I'm thinking a tux without the shirt.
Lex: Clark, he's kidding. I swear, he's kidding.
Ollie: I'm not.
Lex: He really is.
Ollie: You've got mroe abs than the entire football team. She'll be all over it.
Lex: *sighs*
Clark: ... butmynippleswouldshow
Ollie: You're like a special puppy, aren't you?
Lex: I will BUY you a tuxedo. WITH a shirt. Just never go to Ollie for fashion ever again.
And by this time, Chloe straight up has a crush on Lex. Which will be weird when she eventually ends up marrying Ollie a dozen years down the road.
It's ridiculously undramatic. Hee!