Stocking Stuffer #9: There They Go A-Caroling
Our morning stocking stuffer. Back to the Christmas time! :) Another gift to be coming tonight. ^^
[ficlet by josephina_x]
Summary: Lex gets drafted to help spread some holiday cheer with the high school gang. Off-key lyrics ensue.
There They Go A-Caroling
"...Pleeeeeease?" And Clark gave Lex the huge puppy dog eyes. Clark knew that Lex could never resist the huge puppy dog eyes.
So did Lex. "Oh, all right -- fine!" he snapped, none-too-happy about it. He passed a hand over his head.
"Time and place?" Lex asked grumpily.
And so it came to pass that Lex was headed for the local church's parking lot the next night. He bit his lip absently, tucked his hands under his arms and stomped his feet lightly hoping to jar some of the snow off of them. He was cold, he could see his breath upon the air, and he wasn't proud.
What he was, however, was a bit nervous. He didn't see Clark around, or anybody else he knew, for that matter. Not to mention that this was a Protestant gathering, and himself a lapsed Catholic. Setting aside the risk of possible snide remarks about him once having been a choir boy, Lex wasn't even sure if they had the same hymns, and he'd been too busy to do any research. What if he didn't know any of the songs? He was familiar with all of the movements of Handel's Messiah, but he wasn't too sure about what the townsfolk would consider to be normal Christmas carols.
Lex had just about worked himself up to leaving when he heard a familiar happy laugh. He turned to see Clark walking up the drive surrounded by a group of friends. Lana and Whitney he recognized right away, trailing behind the pack, from the distinctive pink fluff and jock-walk, respectively. It took him a little longer to recognize Pete and Chloe, both buried under layers of warm clothing. Clark, on the other hand, was quite the winter warrior -- he was wearing a heavy jacket, his usual work boots, and nothing else: no hat, scarf, gloves, or earmuffs. There was a third girl hanging at Pete's elbow as well, probably Mr. Ross's flavor of the month.
Clark laughed at something Chloe said, then looked up and saw Lex and waved frantically, grinning up a storm. Lex strode over, trying to curtail his shivering.
"Wow, your lips are blue!" Chloe exclaimed, as inept at the social niceties as ever.
Clark's eyebrows rose, and he immediately unzipped his jacket, shucked it off his shoulders, and wrapped it around Lex. Then he proceeded to hold his hands over Lex's ears for a moment. Lex tried not to cry at the welcome warmth.
"Hey, are you gonna be ok?" Clark asked, worried.
"I'm fine. I've been outside longer in colder weather, Clark. I really don't need this," Lex protested, starting to slide Clark's jacket off to give it back, but Clark grabbed it, holding it shut at his chest.
"I wasn't asking you if..." Clark frowned, then stopped and sighed. "Look, I don't need it, I've got two sweaters on, and I'm used to being out in the fields at this time of year for hours. I don't even get the sniffles. Mom says I run warm." Clark smiled at him. "Please wear it?"
Lex acquiesced and shoved his arms into the sleeves before Clark turned the doomsday eyes on him again. He really didn't need that getting around. His reputation was going to suffer a hit as it was.
"Ok, so everybody's here, right?" Lana asked, glancing around.
"Where's Whitney?" Pete asked, and was slapped on the back hard by the star quarterback.
"Got the sheets," Whitney announced, passing around some stapled packets of paper around the group. "And the map," he waved in his fist.
"I've got flashlights!" Chloe announced, passing some assorted sizes around. She kept a large flashlight for herself, which looked hefty enough to not be out of place on a police officer's hip. She clicked it on and shone it on the sidewalk in front of them as Lana lit up the map and kibitzed with Whitney as the group started to walk towards their first house.
Lex got his copy last, along with one of the smaller flashlights, and tried to read and walk at the same time. He breathed a sigh of relief as he paged through the packet and recognized the lyrics to just about everything. There wasn't any music score, though. Come to think of it, he didn't think anyone had brought a music player. What were they going to use for instrumental accompaniment?
Nothing, as it turned out. Clark explained that they just walked up to a house, knocked on the front door, waited for the family to assemble at the door, spread out a little at the bottom of the porch steps, and broke out in one of the songs.
Lex pointed out that he wasn't too sure about this. He hadn't been to any of their practices, and... he was cut off by Clark's laughter.
Turned out practices weren't on the menu, either.
They stopped at the first house, and Lex remembered what Clark had told him: that they had needed another guy to 'round things out'. Now Lex could see why -- Pete was off to the side chatting with his girlfriend and far too busy to concern himself with singing, and Whitney was hanging off to the side, apparently too cool for caroling. That left only himself and Clark as the serious male singers. He still didn't see Clark soloing as that much of a mismatch in the numbers, though.
When the family was ready, they all gathered together though, and began to sing.
And Lex was hard put not to burst out laughing.
Lana knew how to sing. Chloe was fine; not great, but fine. Pete and his date were lip-synching. Whitney was adequate, barely. Clark...
Clark was horrible.
Seriously horrible. He had no business singing. His tone was way off-key, he was out of sync with everyone else -- sometimes too fast, at other times too slow -- and just all-around bad at it.
But he was grinning and enjoying every minute of it.
So Lex just smiled a bit, decided that no-one would make fun of his own singing, and raised his voice in a practiced lilt he'd refined at religious services for many, many years, adding it to the cacophony of their odd but happy little chorus.
END
[ficlet by josephina_x]
Summary: Lex gets drafted to help spread some holiday cheer with the high school gang. Off-key lyrics ensue.
There They Go A-Caroling
"...Pleeeeeease?" And Clark gave Lex the huge puppy dog eyes. Clark knew that Lex could never resist the huge puppy dog eyes.
So did Lex. "Oh, all right -- fine!" he snapped, none-too-happy about it. He passed a hand over his head.
"Time and place?" Lex asked grumpily.
And so it came to pass that Lex was headed for the local church's parking lot the next night. He bit his lip absently, tucked his hands under his arms and stomped his feet lightly hoping to jar some of the snow off of them. He was cold, he could see his breath upon the air, and he wasn't proud.
What he was, however, was a bit nervous. He didn't see Clark around, or anybody else he knew, for that matter. Not to mention that this was a Protestant gathering, and himself a lapsed Catholic. Setting aside the risk of possible snide remarks about him once having been a choir boy, Lex wasn't even sure if they had the same hymns, and he'd been too busy to do any research. What if he didn't know any of the songs? He was familiar with all of the movements of Handel's Messiah, but he wasn't too sure about what the townsfolk would consider to be normal Christmas carols.
Lex had just about worked himself up to leaving when he heard a familiar happy laugh. He turned to see Clark walking up the drive surrounded by a group of friends. Lana and Whitney he recognized right away, trailing behind the pack, from the distinctive pink fluff and jock-walk, respectively. It took him a little longer to recognize Pete and Chloe, both buried under layers of warm clothing. Clark, on the other hand, was quite the winter warrior -- he was wearing a heavy jacket, his usual work boots, and nothing else: no hat, scarf, gloves, or earmuffs. There was a third girl hanging at Pete's elbow as well, probably Mr. Ross's flavor of the month.
Clark laughed at something Chloe said, then looked up and saw Lex and waved frantically, grinning up a storm. Lex strode over, trying to curtail his shivering.
"Wow, your lips are blue!" Chloe exclaimed, as inept at the social niceties as ever.
Clark's eyebrows rose, and he immediately unzipped his jacket, shucked it off his shoulders, and wrapped it around Lex. Then he proceeded to hold his hands over Lex's ears for a moment. Lex tried not to cry at the welcome warmth.
"Hey, are you gonna be ok?" Clark asked, worried.
"I'm fine. I've been outside longer in colder weather, Clark. I really don't need this," Lex protested, starting to slide Clark's jacket off to give it back, but Clark grabbed it, holding it shut at his chest.
"I wasn't asking you if..." Clark frowned, then stopped and sighed. "Look, I don't need it, I've got two sweaters on, and I'm used to being out in the fields at this time of year for hours. I don't even get the sniffles. Mom says I run warm." Clark smiled at him. "Please wear it?"
Lex acquiesced and shoved his arms into the sleeves before Clark turned the doomsday eyes on him again. He really didn't need that getting around. His reputation was going to suffer a hit as it was.
"Ok, so everybody's here, right?" Lana asked, glancing around.
"Where's Whitney?" Pete asked, and was slapped on the back hard by the star quarterback.
"Got the sheets," Whitney announced, passing around some stapled packets of paper around the group. "And the map," he waved in his fist.
"I've got flashlights!" Chloe announced, passing some assorted sizes around. She kept a large flashlight for herself, which looked hefty enough to not be out of place on a police officer's hip. She clicked it on and shone it on the sidewalk in front of them as Lana lit up the map and kibitzed with Whitney as the group started to walk towards their first house.
Lex got his copy last, along with one of the smaller flashlights, and tried to read and walk at the same time. He breathed a sigh of relief as he paged through the packet and recognized the lyrics to just about everything. There wasn't any music score, though. Come to think of it, he didn't think anyone had brought a music player. What were they going to use for instrumental accompaniment?
Nothing, as it turned out. Clark explained that they just walked up to a house, knocked on the front door, waited for the family to assemble at the door, spread out a little at the bottom of the porch steps, and broke out in one of the songs.
Lex pointed out that he wasn't too sure about this. He hadn't been to any of their practices, and... he was cut off by Clark's laughter.
Turned out practices weren't on the menu, either.
They stopped at the first house, and Lex remembered what Clark had told him: that they had needed another guy to 'round things out'. Now Lex could see why -- Pete was off to the side chatting with his girlfriend and far too busy to concern himself with singing, and Whitney was hanging off to the side, apparently too cool for caroling. That left only himself and Clark as the serious male singers. He still didn't see Clark soloing as that much of a mismatch in the numbers, though.
When the family was ready, they all gathered together though, and began to sing.
And Lex was hard put not to burst out laughing.
Lana knew how to sing. Chloe was fine; not great, but fine. Pete and his date were lip-synching. Whitney was adequate, barely. Clark...
Clark was horrible.
Seriously horrible. He had no business singing. His tone was way off-key, he was out of sync with everyone else -- sometimes too fast, at other times too slow -- and just all-around bad at it.
But he was grinning and enjoying every minute of it.
So Lex just smiled a bit, decided that no-one would make fun of his own singing, and raised his voice in a practiced lilt he'd refined at religious services for many, many years, adding it to the cacophony of their odd but happy little chorus.
END