Challenge Post: Fic/The Semantics of Virginity
Title: The Semantics of Virginity
Author: ladydreamer
Pairing: Clex
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Season One
Warnings: Season One AU. Slightly evol and sadly unbetaed.
Word Count: approx. 2376
Summary: Lex tries to control his situation. Clark plots against him. >:3
Notes: This isn’t the virgin!Lex I was planning, but that one was too long and complicated, so Lex gave me this to give to you instead.
Why am I writing this instead of doing my homework?!?!
“Societies around the world have had differing definitions of virginity. In ancient times, one couldn’t really ‘lose’ it, per say, like a favored watch or maybe a coin. It wasn’t an object or a possession in a materialistic sense, but rather a state of being. One practiced virginity for a part of their lives, and when circumstances changed, they were no longer virgins. That simple.
“This is due to the fact, I think, that the ancients viewed virginity as discipline, as chastity rather than a symbol of purity that could be polluted. For example, Vestal Virgins were sacred priestesses, and as often is the case, they were chaste. However, one could still qualify as a Vestal Virgin if one had been married. Women could come to the calling later in life. Other cultures don’t value virginity much at all and have mothers and sisters use an object, a bone or something like it, to exercise the vaginal walls and puncture the hymen, thereby preparing her for motherhood.
“Other cultures entrust the duty the priest marrying them. The sexuality of woman being so horrifying that their stories tell of men who had their penis bitten off by a snake coiled up in her untouched insides. Some cultures think that the state of ‘purity’ is so strong that to have sex with a virgin will cure AIDs.”
“I’m never playing Truth or Dare with Lex ever again.” Chloe looked up to Clark with unadulterated annoyance. He blushed and shrugged. He wasn’t sure why Chloe had wanted to come over and spend time with Lex in the first place, and now he was embarrassed for all of them. It had been Pete’s idea to play Truth or Dare, though, so maybe they were conspiring against him.
“You asked when I lost my virginity. I’m just trying to make the concept a little more opaque. There are a lot of misconceptions about virginity,” Lex explained, taking a sip of his coffee and setting back on the table. He had taken a large, soft chair, as had Clark. Chloe had pulled off her shoes and curled up onto the couch as close to Clark and Lex as possible. Pete had tried, and failed, to discretely sit next to her. Clark had to fight blowing his cover by laughing every time Pete tried to get closer to her.
“Well, there’s no misconception that you aren’t one,” she replied shortly. Instead of enjoying some raunchy tale of fluff and fluids, she was getting a sociohistorical lecture. Ugh.
Pete laughed at the expression on her face and tried to scoot closer. She unconsciously moved away, sensing her space being invaded. Pete sighed and slumped over, resting his chin in his hands. Clark bit his lip hard.
“Actually, I do consider myself a virgin.” Lex’s face expressed amusement at the situation. He frowned in that deeply pensive way of his, and Clark shivered watching his lips twitch with a near-smile.
“No way, man. The tabloids show you with women all the time,” Pete protested. Lex shrugged.
“Not in bed with women. Having a woman on your arm is distinctly different activity than sleeping with her. Trust me.”
“Sorry. I’m not buying this. You ooze sex,” Chloe argued.
“Thank you.” He smirked and ran his index finger over his lip.
”You do!”
“That’s because I’m not having any,” Lex laughed. “Just because I’m celibate, doesn’t mean I don’t want it. Okay okay. It’s like this. As I said before, some consider virginity a discipline. It’s not a state of purity that can be objectified, taken away, sold, or polluted. But it is a matter of discipline that I can impose on myself. It’s a matter of being in control of your situation.”
Clark watched Lex’s lips curve, open, laugh slightly, close.
“You know how much I like being in control.”
“Yeah. I just thought uh, I guess,” Clark muttered. “I mean, it seems like you could give me advice on stuff like that. You seem so confident. And you haven’t ever done anything?”
“I never said I hadn’t had sex. I said I’m a virgin.” Lex sighed at the confusion on their faces. “This isn’t that difficult a concept. I’ve never given up my state of virginity to anyone. That doesn’t mean I haven’t had that state interrupted by others, or that I haven’t interrupted the virginity of others while taking no pleasure myself.”
Chloe pinched her lips together. “Okay. I’m just making a mental note for future interviews with you. You know, when I’m head reporter at The Daily Planet and you’ve taken over Luthorcorp and named it after yourself?” She mimed a writing action. “Get a Luthor to English dictionary.”
“I’m just trying to be honest.”
She rolled her eyes. “Honest shmonest. Let’s do something else before Lex gives us homework on the origin of the linguistic genealogy of the word ‘virgin.’”
“No, no, wait. I want to hear about one of these ‘interruptions,’ guys.” Pete nodded his head suggestively. Lex pushed his lower lip against the top, musing on what to say next.
“I assume you are looking for the age-appropriate version…”
“Age appropriate nothing. Why have friends older than you if they can’t tell you about all the things you’re missing out on?” Chloe sat on her heels eagerly. Clark didn’t hear much of the story. About some girl named Mandy. He was too busy watching Lex’s lips bow and curve and purse into a kiss. His mouth opening wide on drawn out vowels, drawling in his engaging but reserved voice. Understating the sensuality and making it seem more exciting with his blunt and clever delivery.
***
“So, uh, you never really answered Chloe’s question.” Clark looked down at his feet. Chloe had hopped off to do some research, and Pete had not so subtly decided to accompany her. He should be getting his jacket and going home before his dad came over with a shotgun.
“When I ‘lost’ my virginity?” Lex ran a hand down his amethyst sweater.
“I guess that was the point of the lecture, huh?”
“I was seven.”
Clark looked up, startled and a little horrified. Lex’s face remained passive. “But you said…”
“That I’ve never willingly given it up,” he replied easily. Lex turned and began to sort out the disturbed cushions of the sofa. Clark felt his face grow hot in a way entirely different from how it normally did around Lex. The older man fussed with the cushions in a manic way until he deemed them fit again.
“But… so others have… interrupted?”
“Yes. Not for a long time now, though.” Lex perched on the arm of his chair. “I’ve enjoyed a blissful virginity for quite some time now. And I generally only interact with others when I have to for business. My father considers my coercive skills as part of my contribution to the company.”
Clark couldn’t control the look of sheer bafflement. He’d never heard anyone talk about sex that way before. Of course, he hadn’t heard many people talk about it. His father had sat him down and warned him how dangerous sex could be for anyone he loved. His mom had told him he should wait for marriage, and if he didn’t to use protection. They didn’t know what could happen to his partner if they contracted something from him or got pregnant. Upperclassmen talked about it, he admitted, the way Lex had intimated but not outright stated: as an object. Taken, lost, valued in the having. Now that he thought about it, it was a weird concept. It was like it was outside of you, something you had no control over.
“You can go, Clark.”
“What?”
“I’m not really in the market for looks of pity.”
“No! I, uh... Well. I was thinking about what my parents said about this stuff, which… wasn’t much.” He paused a moment, looking into the soft, sad blue of Lex’s eyes. Suddenly, before he could think on the action, he dropped down and pressed his lips hastily against Lex’s. Lex cupped the boy’s chin gently and pulled back. To Clark’s relief, there was no look of disgust on his face. All that talk about sex had him confused about how Lex really felt about it.
“Sometimes I think your father sees me as a predator looking to deflower his young beautiful daughter,” Lex said in a confiding tone. Clark laughed. Lex looked out the window. The sun was going down. “That humans hurt and take advantage of those less powerful than them… it’s a reality in our world. You should know that. …I’m remembering the Scarecrow incident, of course.”
“It’s not like they ra- uh. Did stuff. You would never hurt me like that, though.”
“I have no intention of giving up control just to violate a farmboy.”
Clark sat in the chair under him and tried not to cry, he was laughing so hard. “Why do you have to put things like that??”
“It’s clearly a mental disturbance.”
“Um… Lex, if you ever… want to uh, tell me about… stuff…”
Lex smiled and put a hand on Clark’s shoulder. “I know.”
Clark looked up at him worriedly. Lex continued to smile calmly. “Lex…”
“Looking for a little interruption on your quest for Lana Lang?”
“Maybe? Would… uh…” He stopped as Lex bent down to smell Clark’s hair. His strong hands ran through it fondly.
“You have such nice hair. It can only be an interruption, Clark. You know that, don’t you? Nothing more than that.”
“No, I get it. Maybe we shouldn’t, anyway. ‘Cause we’re friends. Though, what, um... Would you be looking for in someone you wanted to…?“
“I don’t know that I ever want to. I so rarely have control. I’d like to keep it.” Lex tried not to burst into laughter at the fallen look on Clark’s face. “I suppose, though, if I ever took leave of my senses… I would want someone who could see me.”
“That’s not very… limiting criteria.”
“Very few people see me. Not really. They see my father. They see the creation the tabloids have made. They don’t see me at all.” Lex mused on that for a moment before continuing. “I think, also, they would have to accept what they saw. Even you haven’t seen everything. And they would have to understand because I have no delusions that Lex Luthor is difficult to understand. If they could accept and understand… I don’t know that anyone could. But after that, I think I would have to be able to trust the person not to hurt me purposefully. I’m realistic in thinking that, whomever I’m with, we’re going to hurt one another at some point. That’s inevitable. But I want some who wouldn’t intentionally betray me.”
“Is that so hard to find?”
“Harder than you’d think,” he admitted solemnly.
Clark frowned at him skeptically. “I think you’re just walling yourself up in a fortress so you don’t have to deal with the possibility of getting hurt. I bet you haven’t even looked.”
“So, how are things going in your quest for Lana?”
“Uh… okay. Point.”
Taking his chin in hand once again, Lex tilted Clark’s face so that he could give him a proper kiss. He pressed forward, licked the front of Clark’s lips with the tip of his tongue, tilted his head and pressed forward again. Clark felt himself getting hard at Lex’s touch, their melding lips.
“God, Lex, your lips,” Clark sputtered as Lex let him go and closed his eyes in a moment of silence.
“Never knew they were good for more than issuing smart assed remarks and giving lectures?”
Clark lunged forward for another kiss. Lex stopped him with a hand. “You should be getting home.”
“Yeah. Before my dad decides to run you out of town for corrupting his darling little girl.” Clark grinned. He looked into Lex’s eyes, which were still a little sad. “I’ll come over tomorrow.”
“Ooo.” Lex smirked naughtily. “I’m all a-tingle with anticipation.”
Clark dipped his head a little then gave a little wave. Lex’s eyes pinched at the edges, the way they did when he thought Clark was being dorky or cute. As Clark walked out of the library, he felt a funny feeling in his stomach.
Ever since he’d met Lex, he had felt naked and exposed and needing to put up walls to keep Lex from finding out who he was. The way he’d kind of felt about Lana, only without the nausea. Maybe that was her necklace. Lex seemed so open and confident about everything that Clark had never thought there were parts of him that he might try to hide. That Lex also felt there were things about him that other people would fear like a wicked snake coiled up deep in his insides, which would hurt them if they got close.
Clark wasn’t sure he understood Lex’s ideas about virginity, but the way Lex operated was beginning to be a little more uh… opaque? Whatever that meant. Lex had changed the meaning of virginity to put the ball entirely in his court. His innocence was never something that anyone could steal from him, only something he could decide to give to someone he had decided to trust.
He used to think that attracting Lex would require him knowing how to be confident and sexy, or at least a little less awkward and falling all over himself. This changed a lot. Clark figured he had one and four of Lex’s little list down. He might not know everything about Lex, but he knew the difference between him and his father and the stories the tabloids made up. He’d have to make sure Lex always knew that he knew. And he’d never betray Lex, so that would be okay. What he needed to do was try and learn more about Lex. And try to understand what he learned so Lex wouldn’t have to feel that his insides were something wrong or scary. It shouldn’t be too hard. Clark knew how he wanted people to react to his secrets.
It wasn’t until late that night, awake in bed, that Clark realized that he was plotting to convince Lex to give him his virginity.
Author: ladydreamer
Pairing: Clex
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Season One
Warnings: Season One AU. Slightly evol and sadly unbetaed.
Word Count: approx. 2376
Summary: Lex tries to control his situation. Clark plots against him. >:3
Notes: This isn’t the virgin!Lex I was planning, but that one was too long and complicated, so Lex gave me this to give to you instead.
Why am I writing this instead of doing my homework?!?!
“Societies around the world have had differing definitions of virginity. In ancient times, one couldn’t really ‘lose’ it, per say, like a favored watch or maybe a coin. It wasn’t an object or a possession in a materialistic sense, but rather a state of being. One practiced virginity for a part of their lives, and when circumstances changed, they were no longer virgins. That simple.
“This is due to the fact, I think, that the ancients viewed virginity as discipline, as chastity rather than a symbol of purity that could be polluted. For example, Vestal Virgins were sacred priestesses, and as often is the case, they were chaste. However, one could still qualify as a Vestal Virgin if one had been married. Women could come to the calling later in life. Other cultures don’t value virginity much at all and have mothers and sisters use an object, a bone or something like it, to exercise the vaginal walls and puncture the hymen, thereby preparing her for motherhood.
“Other cultures entrust the duty the priest marrying them. The sexuality of woman being so horrifying that their stories tell of men who had their penis bitten off by a snake coiled up in her untouched insides. Some cultures think that the state of ‘purity’ is so strong that to have sex with a virgin will cure AIDs.”
“I’m never playing Truth or Dare with Lex ever again.” Chloe looked up to Clark with unadulterated annoyance. He blushed and shrugged. He wasn’t sure why Chloe had wanted to come over and spend time with Lex in the first place, and now he was embarrassed for all of them. It had been Pete’s idea to play Truth or Dare, though, so maybe they were conspiring against him.
“You asked when I lost my virginity. I’m just trying to make the concept a little more opaque. There are a lot of misconceptions about virginity,” Lex explained, taking a sip of his coffee and setting back on the table. He had taken a large, soft chair, as had Clark. Chloe had pulled off her shoes and curled up onto the couch as close to Clark and Lex as possible. Pete had tried, and failed, to discretely sit next to her. Clark had to fight blowing his cover by laughing every time Pete tried to get closer to her.
“Well, there’s no misconception that you aren’t one,” she replied shortly. Instead of enjoying some raunchy tale of fluff and fluids, she was getting a sociohistorical lecture. Ugh.
Pete laughed at the expression on her face and tried to scoot closer. She unconsciously moved away, sensing her space being invaded. Pete sighed and slumped over, resting his chin in his hands. Clark bit his lip hard.
“Actually, I do consider myself a virgin.” Lex’s face expressed amusement at the situation. He frowned in that deeply pensive way of his, and Clark shivered watching his lips twitch with a near-smile.
“No way, man. The tabloids show you with women all the time,” Pete protested. Lex shrugged.
“Not in bed with women. Having a woman on your arm is distinctly different activity than sleeping with her. Trust me.”
“Sorry. I’m not buying this. You ooze sex,” Chloe argued.
“Thank you.” He smirked and ran his index finger over his lip.
”You do!”
“That’s because I’m not having any,” Lex laughed. “Just because I’m celibate, doesn’t mean I don’t want it. Okay okay. It’s like this. As I said before, some consider virginity a discipline. It’s not a state of purity that can be objectified, taken away, sold, or polluted. But it is a matter of discipline that I can impose on myself. It’s a matter of being in control of your situation.”
Clark watched Lex’s lips curve, open, laugh slightly, close.
“You know how much I like being in control.”
“Yeah. I just thought uh, I guess,” Clark muttered. “I mean, it seems like you could give me advice on stuff like that. You seem so confident. And you haven’t ever done anything?”
“I never said I hadn’t had sex. I said I’m a virgin.” Lex sighed at the confusion on their faces. “This isn’t that difficult a concept. I’ve never given up my state of virginity to anyone. That doesn’t mean I haven’t had that state interrupted by others, or that I haven’t interrupted the virginity of others while taking no pleasure myself.”
Chloe pinched her lips together. “Okay. I’m just making a mental note for future interviews with you. You know, when I’m head reporter at The Daily Planet and you’ve taken over Luthorcorp and named it after yourself?” She mimed a writing action. “Get a Luthor to English dictionary.”
“I’m just trying to be honest.”
She rolled her eyes. “Honest shmonest. Let’s do something else before Lex gives us homework on the origin of the linguistic genealogy of the word ‘virgin.’”
“No, no, wait. I want to hear about one of these ‘interruptions,’ guys.” Pete nodded his head suggestively. Lex pushed his lower lip against the top, musing on what to say next.
“I assume you are looking for the age-appropriate version…”
“Age appropriate nothing. Why have friends older than you if they can’t tell you about all the things you’re missing out on?” Chloe sat on her heels eagerly. Clark didn’t hear much of the story. About some girl named Mandy. He was too busy watching Lex’s lips bow and curve and purse into a kiss. His mouth opening wide on drawn out vowels, drawling in his engaging but reserved voice. Understating the sensuality and making it seem more exciting with his blunt and clever delivery.
***
“So, uh, you never really answered Chloe’s question.” Clark looked down at his feet. Chloe had hopped off to do some research, and Pete had not so subtly decided to accompany her. He should be getting his jacket and going home before his dad came over with a shotgun.
“When I ‘lost’ my virginity?” Lex ran a hand down his amethyst sweater.
“I guess that was the point of the lecture, huh?”
“I was seven.”
Clark looked up, startled and a little horrified. Lex’s face remained passive. “But you said…”
“That I’ve never willingly given it up,” he replied easily. Lex turned and began to sort out the disturbed cushions of the sofa. Clark felt his face grow hot in a way entirely different from how it normally did around Lex. The older man fussed with the cushions in a manic way until he deemed them fit again.
“But… so others have… interrupted?”
“Yes. Not for a long time now, though.” Lex perched on the arm of his chair. “I’ve enjoyed a blissful virginity for quite some time now. And I generally only interact with others when I have to for business. My father considers my coercive skills as part of my contribution to the company.”
Clark couldn’t control the look of sheer bafflement. He’d never heard anyone talk about sex that way before. Of course, he hadn’t heard many people talk about it. His father had sat him down and warned him how dangerous sex could be for anyone he loved. His mom had told him he should wait for marriage, and if he didn’t to use protection. They didn’t know what could happen to his partner if they contracted something from him or got pregnant. Upperclassmen talked about it, he admitted, the way Lex had intimated but not outright stated: as an object. Taken, lost, valued in the having. Now that he thought about it, it was a weird concept. It was like it was outside of you, something you had no control over.
“You can go, Clark.”
“What?”
“I’m not really in the market for looks of pity.”
“No! I, uh... Well. I was thinking about what my parents said about this stuff, which… wasn’t much.” He paused a moment, looking into the soft, sad blue of Lex’s eyes. Suddenly, before he could think on the action, he dropped down and pressed his lips hastily against Lex’s. Lex cupped the boy’s chin gently and pulled back. To Clark’s relief, there was no look of disgust on his face. All that talk about sex had him confused about how Lex really felt about it.
“Sometimes I think your father sees me as a predator looking to deflower his young beautiful daughter,” Lex said in a confiding tone. Clark laughed. Lex looked out the window. The sun was going down. “That humans hurt and take advantage of those less powerful than them… it’s a reality in our world. You should know that. …I’m remembering the Scarecrow incident, of course.”
“It’s not like they ra- uh. Did stuff. You would never hurt me like that, though.”
“I have no intention of giving up control just to violate a farmboy.”
Clark sat in the chair under him and tried not to cry, he was laughing so hard. “Why do you have to put things like that??”
“It’s clearly a mental disturbance.”
“Um… Lex, if you ever… want to uh, tell me about… stuff…”
Lex smiled and put a hand on Clark’s shoulder. “I know.”
Clark looked up at him worriedly. Lex continued to smile calmly. “Lex…”
“Looking for a little interruption on your quest for Lana Lang?”
“Maybe? Would… uh…” He stopped as Lex bent down to smell Clark’s hair. His strong hands ran through it fondly.
“You have such nice hair. It can only be an interruption, Clark. You know that, don’t you? Nothing more than that.”
“No, I get it. Maybe we shouldn’t, anyway. ‘Cause we’re friends. Though, what, um... Would you be looking for in someone you wanted to…?“
“I don’t know that I ever want to. I so rarely have control. I’d like to keep it.” Lex tried not to burst into laughter at the fallen look on Clark’s face. “I suppose, though, if I ever took leave of my senses… I would want someone who could see me.”
“That’s not very… limiting criteria.”
“Very few people see me. Not really. They see my father. They see the creation the tabloids have made. They don’t see me at all.” Lex mused on that for a moment before continuing. “I think, also, they would have to accept what they saw. Even you haven’t seen everything. And they would have to understand because I have no delusions that Lex Luthor is difficult to understand. If they could accept and understand… I don’t know that anyone could. But after that, I think I would have to be able to trust the person not to hurt me purposefully. I’m realistic in thinking that, whomever I’m with, we’re going to hurt one another at some point. That’s inevitable. But I want some who wouldn’t intentionally betray me.”
“Is that so hard to find?”
“Harder than you’d think,” he admitted solemnly.
Clark frowned at him skeptically. “I think you’re just walling yourself up in a fortress so you don’t have to deal with the possibility of getting hurt. I bet you haven’t even looked.”
“So, how are things going in your quest for Lana?”
“Uh… okay. Point.”
Taking his chin in hand once again, Lex tilted Clark’s face so that he could give him a proper kiss. He pressed forward, licked the front of Clark’s lips with the tip of his tongue, tilted his head and pressed forward again. Clark felt himself getting hard at Lex’s touch, their melding lips.
“God, Lex, your lips,” Clark sputtered as Lex let him go and closed his eyes in a moment of silence.
“Never knew they were good for more than issuing smart assed remarks and giving lectures?”
Clark lunged forward for another kiss. Lex stopped him with a hand. “You should be getting home.”
“Yeah. Before my dad decides to run you out of town for corrupting his darling little girl.” Clark grinned. He looked into Lex’s eyes, which were still a little sad. “I’ll come over tomorrow.”
“Ooo.” Lex smirked naughtily. “I’m all a-tingle with anticipation.”
Clark dipped his head a little then gave a little wave. Lex’s eyes pinched at the edges, the way they did when he thought Clark was being dorky or cute. As Clark walked out of the library, he felt a funny feeling in his stomach.
Ever since he’d met Lex, he had felt naked and exposed and needing to put up walls to keep Lex from finding out who he was. The way he’d kind of felt about Lana, only without the nausea. Maybe that was her necklace. Lex seemed so open and confident about everything that Clark had never thought there were parts of him that he might try to hide. That Lex also felt there were things about him that other people would fear like a wicked snake coiled up deep in his insides, which would hurt them if they got close.
Clark wasn’t sure he understood Lex’s ideas about virginity, but the way Lex operated was beginning to be a little more uh… opaque? Whatever that meant. Lex had changed the meaning of virginity to put the ball entirely in his court. His innocence was never something that anyone could steal from him, only something he could decide to give to someone he had decided to trust.
He used to think that attracting Lex would require him knowing how to be confident and sexy, or at least a little less awkward and falling all over himself. This changed a lot. Clark figured he had one and four of Lex’s little list down. He might not know everything about Lex, but he knew the difference between him and his father and the stories the tabloids made up. He’d have to make sure Lex always knew that he knew. And he’d never betray Lex, so that would be okay. What he needed to do was try and learn more about Lex. And try to understand what he learned so Lex wouldn’t have to feel that his insides were something wrong or scary. It shouldn’t be too hard. Clark knew how he wanted people to react to his secrets.
It wasn’t until late that night, awake in bed, that Clark realized that he was plotting to convince Lex to give him his virginity.