Extra Pitch Hit for Fruitbat00! Twice Captured: Once Learned, Once Burned

[clexmasmystery]

Clexmas Note: Because we have enthusiastic lovely people here at Clexmas, this is a second pitch-hit fic for Fruitbat from last year's Clexmas. :) Thank you, Clexmas Elf!!

Title: Twice Captured: Once Learned, Once Burned
From: To Be Revealed! Josephina_X
For: Fruitbat00
Type: Fic, 10,400+
Rating: G for part 1; R for non-explicit part 2, NC-17 for explicit part 3
Warnings: bondage and dub-con that could be read as non-con and possibly triggering; also: mild h/c
!! Clexmas Note - Alert on the warnings - there is dub-con here. Lovely hot steamy dub-con, but dub-con - so careful when reading if it's not your thing.

Summary: Clark has captured an intruder snooping in his loft. Now that he has his prisoner, what should he do with him? (Lex gets caught trying to leave a Christmas present for Clark. [...Twice.])
Request: (see summary ^^) angst, action, drama, h/c, bondage, dub con, RedK Clark, Possessive Clark and/or Lex, Snarky or Sneaky Lex. Pissed off Lex is always fun *g* As long as there is a happy ending for the boys.-:
Giftee Notes: A(nother) super-belated pinch-hit for fruitbat00 for Clexmas 2012! (...it's the thought that counts, right? :) So, um, more crack!fic. For fruitbat00. Yes. *coughs*

The first shortfic is set during Christmastime in season 1 of Smallville, so I guess it could be considered 'old school Clex' ;)

The second shortfic is sort-of a continuation of the first, and happens a few years later, again at Christmastime, but disregarding most of canon since then, because of reasons. (Shh -- the first one kind of excuses it. You'll see. ;) ...It's, uh, kind of PWP. Except that the one P is... uh... kind of there, but not very good? And the other P is... kind of there, but not very good. And it's dub-con, sort of, except not-so-sort-of, except sort-of. Yes. Er. *hides*

There is a small bridge-fic between them.


Twice Captured: Once Learned, Once Burned

Lex groaned softly and slowly came to. Why did he feel like he'd just been on the receiving end of a full-body tackle? And why was his vision so dim? ...Oh. There was cloth over his face.

He looked down hazily, blinking and blinking again, and realized he was sitting in a chair. With rope over his arms and... Tied. He was tied to a chair.

Lex sucked in a breath all-at-once as that thought finally registered, because that was never good, and--

He jerked in place hard, coming the rest of the way awake almost immediately. But in his momentary unrestrained flailing against his bonds, the wooden chair that he was tied to wobbled with the motion and slowly started to go over.

Oh god! Lex flinched, squeezed his eyes shut, and braced for the impact... that never came.

He slowly opened his eyes and was face-to-face with... Clark?!

Who just so happened to be holding the seat of his chair one-handed like it weighed absolutely nothing.

And righted it just as easily with a thunk against the hard wooden floor.

It was about that point that the adrenaline rush started to clear, and with that clarity came the memory of how Lex had gotten himself into this mess, and why he was up here in the first place.

And what it meant that Clark had used his strength so openly right in front of him.

Oh, shit, Lex thought weakly as he stared up at his young friend. I am so dead.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Clark frowned at the weird ninja-thief sitting in front of him.

In retrospect, he probably shouldn't have reacted the way he had. Meteor freaks did generally come up into his loft to try and kill him, sure. But meteor freaks didn't generally dress up from head-to-toe in a full black bodysuit to do it.

The guy wasn't even wearing a ski-mask; it was more like a head-stocking. Clark couldn't even see his eyes, let alone his mouth.

He'd have thought that the guy must have X-ray vision like him to see through it, except that the material looked slightly thinner at the eyes, or at least different. So whoever this guy was, he had come prepared, mostly. Seriously, the guy had complete skin coverage going on here.

...At least, Clark was pretty sure he was a guy. He was built like a guy, anyway.

Clark frowned and reached for the head-stocking thing to pull it off of him and see who he was dealing with, except that he had to stop and grab the seat of the chair again when the guy nearly toppled himself backwards trying to get away from his hand.

"Okay, fine," Clark relented for the moment, before the guy hurt himself trying to get away when he obviously couldn't. "Well, I guess you don't have super-strength, if you can't get out of that rope," Clark commented as he righted the guy in his chair again. It was kind of a new experience for him. "Y'know, most meteor freaks who try to kill me have extra strength." It was kind of nice, running across one who didn't.

But then the ninja-thief guy pulled in a breath, then froze in place, then started shaking his head repeatedly at him.

Clark blinked, because that was supposed to be mostly a rhetorical question.

"Um," he said, cautiously sitting down on the edge of the couch, close enough to grab the chair again if the guy almost made himself fall over again. "No, you're not a meteor freak? Or no you're not trying to kill me?"

The guy hesitated, then tentatively nodded once, then shook his head repeatedly again.

Clark felt enlightened for a couple seconds, until he realized that it wasn't really clear whether the 'yes'es or 'no's were meant as dis/agreement or in/correction of response.

"Can't you just talk?" Clark asked, and the guy froze up on him again.

Hmmm. That seemed suspicious, especially since he'd taken in a breath earlier like he'd been about to talk before stopping himself. ...So, this was probably somebody he knew? Well enough to recognize their voice?

Well, who the heck would come up into his loft like this? Clark's first thought was Pete, but it couldn't be Pete -- he'd have given up immediately, and this guy was too tall to be Pete, anyway.

...Okay, well, he could X-ray the guy later if he wanted to. It wasn't like he was going anywhere.

"Yes, you're a meteor freak? No, you're not a meteor freak?" Clark tried.

He got a tentative nod again. Okay. "Sort-of a meteor freak," Clark confirmed. He bit his lip. "Trying to kill me? Or--" The vehement shaking 'no' response started before he even finished asking. "Okay, okay," Clark said, holding his palms outward, trying to calm the guy down. "Not trying to kill me; I get it already."

Clark sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "What were you trying to steal?" The guy jerked in place, but at least the chair didn't wobble very far this time. "I mean, you're dressed up like some thief or something, " Clark elaborated. "Why else would you be up here?"

The guy sat there for a long moment, then gave him a very exaggerated shrug: shoulders up, then down.

Huh. Weird.

"Were you looking for a place to sleep?" Clark asked, and got a tentative shake. "On the run from anybody?" Another negative shake. "Um, looking for me?" Another tentative shake. "Sort-of looking for me?" A more firm negatory shake.

Clark made a face. This was harder than it looked.

"If I give you a piece of paper, could you maybe just write down--?" he got another firm shake-of-the-head 'no.'

All right, he was kind of getting nowhere here.

Clark situated himself comfortably on the arm of the couch, propped his head on his fist, stared at his captured and silent intruder, and focused carefully.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Lex was more than a little taken aback at this turn of events. People came up into Clark's Fortress to kill him? Or steal from him? And it happened often enough for his best friend to be completely blase about it? What the hell was wrong with this town?

Worse (at least in the short-term...), Lex had no idea how to get himself out of this. He couldn't just let Clark know who he was -- he'd risk losing Clark's friendship. Clark had been lying to him from the start about his strength and Lex had let him, and now he'd just flat-out demonstrated it right in front of him. If Clark realized who he was... well, he would never believe that Lex hadn't come up here for the express purpose of trying to trick him into giving himself away.

Frankly, Lex didn't know how Clark would react to that. The panic being generated from that alone was enough to make Lex break out in a cold sweat.

So he couldn't let Clark see who he was, which meant trying to prevent him from removing his face-mask somehow when Lex couldn't even lift his arms or kick out his legs. (And, frankly, he was kind of lucky that he'd chosen the one he had, or Clark would've probably recognized him from the eyes alone, forget the scar on his upper lip.) He couldn't speak out loud either, to try and persuade Clark to let him go that way, because Clark would recognize his voice -- and he'd almost screwed that up from the first question. He couldn't write anything, because Clark would recognize his handwrting straight-out. And he certainly couldn't outrun Clark, to get away from him without him learning of Lex's identity if he decided to try -- not with the way he was tied up right now.

Frankly, he was kind of screwed, and he probably should've just given up from the get-go. It was bad enough that he'd gotten caught trying to sneak in all ninja-like, but the fact that Clark thought that he'd been meaning to steal something from up here, when all he'd been trying to do was leave a Christmas present behind? Was just insult to injury. (And what would somebody steal from up here, anyway? Clark's books? Or his couch? ...Actually, that would probably be of some concern, now that he thought about it. He had a somewhat-decent taste in reading material, after all. And a nice very comfortable couch.)

Well, at least if he managed to get out of here in one piece, maybe Clark might still end up accidentally accepting the gift? He'd not put a card or a label on it for a reason, hoping that if he left it here out in the open, without a return-to-sender, that Clark would just have to accept it. He'd even calculated out the expense carefully, trying to keep it within what he had hoped to be a normal family's budget, even, so that he wouldn't get caught out that way, either.

Except that now he'd gotten caught in an entirely different way, instead, and this hadn't been a part of his calculations at all.

He glanced downwards and away, then back up again quickly, trying not to give away that he'd been trying to look for something, or give away his sudden dismay. In the tussle earlier, when Clark had jumped him, the present must've rolled away under one of the pieces of furniture. Clark might never even see it.

...Though whatever he was seeing right now was somewhat unclear. For some reason, Clark was giving him a thousand-yard stare from his perch on the side of the couch.

Lex held up under it for a bit, and watched Clark finally blink at him, then shake himself slightly.

And frown slightly.

And glance away.

And frown some more.

And then say, "Um."

None of which was all that helpful, really, because Lex couldn't exactly hold up his end of the conversation right now.

And then Clark said, "So, um, why were you up here again?"

...That wasn't exactly a yes or no question, so Lex felt justified in continuing to just sit where he was tied down without making any attempt at a meaningful response.

Clark turned back to him, then quickly looked down at his hands in his lap. He rubbed them together, almost absently.

"I'm not sure if I can just let you go like that," Clark said, as if he was continuing some train of thought that Lex hadn't quite heard. "If I don't even know who you are."

Lex sat in place and didn't stir. Despite the but if I did... that dangled in the air between them.

"Except that you're sort-of a meteor freak," Clark continued after awhile, still looking down at his hands, and why was he beginning to sound like he was trying to talk himself into something? "And nobody... kind of talks about Wall of Weird stuff when they're kind of... part of it, right?"

Lex blinked.

"Um, do you know what I'm talking about?" Clark asked, glancing up at him. His eyes moved back-and-forth, as if he was trying to search Lex's face... except that he couldn't see his face.

Lex swallowed, then nodded carefully, just the once, because he thought he just might.

"And, um, if you don't ever tell anybody that you came up here, or anything, then it can be like it never happened?" he said almost tentatively.

Lex blinked at Clark again.

Oh my god, Clark, are you going to just let me go?! he thought with no small alarm. because, yes, he'd be getting out of here without a full-blown confrontation, which just would not and could not end well, but how could Clark just trust somebody who had seen him do... what he had done... who he had every right to be suspicious of... when he didn't even know--?!?

--and Lex jerked back in the chair, away from him in shock, because Clark was already up and untying the ropes from his arms when he hadn't even responded yet.

"It's okay," Clark said soothingly (...soothingly?!), stopping what he was doing for a moment, long enough for Lex to catch his breath, before resuming his work in finishing freeing Lex's arms, and then crouching down to work on getting his legs free.

Soon enough, Lex was untied, and Clark had stepped back away from him.

Lex slowly and warily got up from the chair, trying not to wince or wobble as he did so.

Clark just watched him, standing neutrally where he was.

Lex took a hesitant step sideways, away from him.

Clark didn't make any move too follow him. Not with anything but his eyes.

Lex ran.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Lex bolted down the loft staircase, across the barn floor, out the sliding doors, and raced for the edge of the property line.

He didn't even bother to look over his shoulder until he hit the treeline, and when he finally did he didn't see Clark anywhere at all.

He didn't stop running until he had a good chunk of forest inbetween him and the open expanse of the Kent property, when he was finally at least a good twenty trees back.

And then he skidded to a stop and pulled himself behind a tree.

He crouched down and hid in the dark, dark woods, and tried desperately to catch his breath, as his heart pounded away erratically in his chest, because Clark had just let him go?!?!

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, he thought frantically, not even feeling safe enough to breathe out the curses out loud under his breath. Not yet.

He shoved the side of his hand into his mouth and bit down to stifle a hysterical laugh... or a scream.

Jesus fucking Christ, Clark -- what in the hell were you thinking!?!?

After who knew how long (because Lex surely didn't), Lex just got up and started walking shakily away, because he wasn't calming down any just staying there where he had been.

He hadn't taken his car to the farm -- he'd been trying to go for full-stealth, there -- so it was a long, long walk through the woods and cutting across someone else's farm property, getting back to where he'd parked.

Unfortunately, he wasn't feeling any less shaky by the end of it. If anything, his shaking was even worse.

He still wasn't sure exactly how he managed to drive himself back to the mansion after, but he did at least remember to pull off the full-mask and shrug on a long, obscuring winter coat before he was around other people again.

It wouldn't do to arrive and get noticed by his staff, and then have rumors circulating around the town that Clark could hear. Not after all that.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Lex decided that his retry, his redo at another Christmas present for Clark, was dismantling The Room and destroying its contents completely. And stopping looking into things that now he already knew. And never, ever telling Clark or anyone else about it, ever.

Because the least he could do after what had happened that night was to keep a promise to Clark that he'd never really made.

He'd do anything for his friends. Anything.

And he only had the one.

~*~*~*~*~*~
~*~*~*~*~*~

The first week after that, Lex was on pins and needles.

And Clark didn't come with the usual Sunday delivery.

Lex told himself that it was 'because New Year's' the same way he'd told himself that Clark's absense the previous week was 'because Christmas' and did not bite his nails down to the quick with worry. That was a disgusting habit that he did not do.

He surreptitiously stole one of the broadswords from a suit of armor in the hallway and swung it around for awhile where nobody was looking, instead. On a couple occasions.

...Not that he destroyed any of his groundskeeper's sculpted topiaries over the course of that week in the process. Clearly that wasn't him, oh no. Clearly that must have been the deer getting at them and eating them all up to pieces. Clearly. Through the snow. And leaving only small little bits of stuff all around the plant-shrubbery behind them. Without leaving any visible tracks, because of the wind shifting the snow around. Besides, those things grew back just fine, didn't they? They'd probably needed some trimming, anyway.

...There were deer in Kansas, right?

Clark showed up the following Sunday with a box of winter produce: potatoes and cabbages, carrots, turnips, parsnips, onions, and winter squash.

Lex may or may not have been hanging around the hallway outside the kitchen area when he showed up, because Cook was making cookies and he wanted some. Not because he wanted any parsnips. That would be silly.

"So, I hear you've been terrorizing your gardener," Clark said, apropos of nothing.

"I don't know where you hear these rumors," Lex said breezily, while mentally cursing under his breath at tattletale Cooks, as he took a tray full ofcookies and milk from his Cook.

A frustrated, harried-looking Cook, who gave him a very dark look as she passed it over into his arms with almost a thump, and continued to look him in the eye, dead-on. And crossed her arms at him.

Lex decidedly did not hunch his shoulders at that in the slightest.

He took a very straight-backed posture and turned 180 degrees, making for the hallway door, instead.

"We need to eat these cookies in the library, though," he informed Clark.

"Sorry," he heard Clark say behind him, and Lex stopped in place and almost panicked, but then he forced himself to take a breath as Clark quickly turned and followed after him.

"You really shouldn't terrorize Cook, either," Clark admonished him.

"I wasn't!" Lex protested as he led Clark out the door down the hallway.

"So you weren't hovering around in the hallway waiting for cookies, ready to pounce?"

"No!" Lex said, shocked, stopping in place and turning back to face Clark and--

Clark was looking at him sideways and had a small smile going.

Oh. Teasing, right.

Clark walked past him and held the door to the library open for him.

Lex huffed out a breath of slight protest -- he didn't exactly need the help, the doors swung open both ways -- and walked straight in.

Well, so far so good. Clark had followed him in, so he probably must've not known that it was Lex who had been in the barn that night. Otherwise, Clark would have left, or not been in such a good mood. Or it probably would have been Mr. Kent delivering the goods, instead. Or gotten a call from Mrs. Kent stating that he had all his order cancelled from there on in, without explanation. Or maybe with an explanation, and several threats.

"So, I liked the watch," Clark said, still appropos of nothing. "Where did you find it?"

Lex almost dropped the tray.

"Watch?" Lex said. "What watch?"

Clark was giving his a sidelong look again, this time without the smile.

"The one I got for Christmas?" Clark said. It wasn't quite a question.

"Oh," Lex said, mind going frantically, "Why did you think it was from me?" he asked, sounding calm. "Did it have my name in the card?"

Clark got a slight frown. "There wasn't any card."

"Oh. The tag, then?" Lex asked, knowing full well that he hadn't put any sort of identification on the box that he'd thought had gotten irretrievably lost under a desk or some other furniture in the loft when he'd gotten himself caught in the act and nabbed.

"There wasn't a tag either..." Clark said slowly, taking a step forward and looking down at Lex very, very carefully.

Don't sweat, don't sweat, Lex told himself, looking up at Clark, trying to look innocent. (Whatever that was.)

If not for the mistake he'd made in finding out about Clark's powers, Lex might've considered fessing up and telling Clark that he'd found it in a pawnshop and thought it had looked nice, and bought it thinking that Clark might have liked it. It should have been okay; it had been marked down pretty cheaply, despite the quality. ...Frankly, it had been almost a steal -- but it had been in the right price range, at a place where Clark or any of his friends could have shopped, and within a reasonable budget for a small-town teenager giving gifts. So it should've been okay, right?

"Actually, now that I think about it, it didn't have my name on it," Clark said, consideringly, and Lex found himself unexpectedly confronted with the sudden worry that Clark might not keep his gift, after all.

"--Maybe Santa Claus brought it," Lex said quickly, and the warning bells went off in Lex's head a bit too late.

Oops, thought Lex, as he watched Clark's eyebrows go up, and then down again.

He watched Clark open his mouth, and Lex braced for the inevitable, terse, I don't think Santa Claus usually wears an all-black bodysuit, Lex, reply from Clark.

...except Clark paused, instead. And closed his mouth again.

And eyed Lex a bit more.

Lex decided that discretion was definitely the better part of valor and set the tray down on the coffee table. Quickly.

"Cookie?" he asked, picking one up and holding it out to Clark at armslength.

Clark continued to eye Lex for a little while longer.

Then he looked at the cookie.

"...Okay," Clark said, taking the cookie from him.

When in doubt, feed the Clark, Lex thought. Because, as far as good distractions went... Works every time.

Lex bent over and breathed a huge sigh of relief as he picked up a glass of milk for himself. Then he grabbed the second one, too, straightened and offered the other one to Clark. Then he sat down.

He watched Clark sit down on the other couch opposite from him -- not exactly a great sign -- and his thoughts got caught up in a tangle, wondering if Clark did or didn't know it had been him, and what he would do if he did, and not exactly sure if he was more relieved that he seemed to have convinced Clark otherwise, or dreading the inevitable fallout that would happen when Lex finally tripped up... because, eventually, he would. He knew he would.

"Oh, hey," Clark said, interrupting his thoughts, and Lex looked up to see Clark leaning forward and digging around in a back pocket. He pulled a small something out and tossed it to Lex, who deftly caught it one-handed.

Lex looked down at it with a slight frown. It was a small, wrapped present. With a bow. A wrapped-up box with a bow.

A very familiarly-shaped box-shaped box.

Er...

Lex carefully did not drop the familiar-looking box-shaped present.

He slowly set his glass of milk back down on the table between them, instead.

"What is this?" Lex asked Clark.

"A present," said Clark, before leaning back and taking a bite out of his cookie.

Lex looked over the box-shaped present.

"There's no name on it," Lex noted out loud.

"Must be from the same Santa," Clark said blithely.

Lex decidedly did not wince. He sat where he was and thought about whether it was a really good idea to say to Clark, 'But I didn't get you anything,' or a really, really bad one.

Lex settled for not saying anything at all and just working at the wrapping paper, instead.

...Yes, it was the same box he'd used for Clark's present.

Lex bit his lip absently and cracked open the box.

And blinked at the contents.

He slowly pulled out a small slip of paper.

It was a 'get out of jail free' card, in heavy card stock. It looked a little like a Monoply game card piece, except it was clearly handmade, and...

He flipped it over, then back again -- there was nothing on the back -- and read the front.

He felt himself still.

"...Entitled to one question answered, with no repercussions if caught?" Lex read off slowly, evenly, and very, very carefully, barely daring to breathe.

"Yup," said Clark, sounding completely unconcerned.

Lex slowly looked up at Clark.

Clark was looking down at his cookie. Lex watched Clark take another bite of his cookie, finishing it off, and then reach for another one and pluck it off of the plate.

Lex looked back down at the card he was holding.

"Do you think I need one of these?" Lex asked Clark very, very lightly, looking up at Clark again.

"Maybe," said Clark.

He didn't look up at Lex once.

Lex moved his eyes back down to the card he was holding.

He swallowed once.

He thought long and hard about this.

And then he slid the card back into the box and gently closed it, as a professional might treat a primed piece of explosive ordinance that they themselves did not manufacture -- with a very wary respect, and great caution. Outwardly, his expression was perfectly calm.

But his hand was shaking as he did it.

...Good thing it wasn't that kind of bomb.

He carefully, slowly leaned forward and set the box down on the table in front of them, between them. He pushed it forward until it was in the exact center of the table, equidistant from them both. He leaned back again.

Clark looked up.

He glanced down at the box, then looked back up at Lex again.

They stared across the table at each other for a long moment.

And then Clark dropped his gaze, slid forward on the couch, and set down his glass of milk.

He leaned in, and he scooped up the box.

He shoved it back into his pocket.

Lex watched this and swallowed, hard.

Clark got up.

Lex watched him do it. Clark's face was unreadable, almost expressionless.

Clark walked around the side of the table and dropped down onto the couch next to Lex.

"So," Clark said abruptly, flopping back into the cushions with a smile like nothing was wrong, "I know how you terrorized Cook, but what the heck did you do to those bushes out back that's got the gardener pulling out his hair?"

Lex glanced away and felt himself blush.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Clark," Lex told him, but then he couldn't help glancing back at Clark sideways.

"Uh huh," said Clark, eyeing him with a dubious, almost-conspiratorial look, before he took another chomp out of his second cookie and chewed away, watching Lex.

"...I'm pretty sure that it was the deer?" Lex tried, glancing away again.

Clark paused for a moment. "The deer?" he asked.

"Yes," said Lex, picking his glass of milk back up and taking a sip from it.

Clark watched him, then started to smile.

"Yeesh," said Clark, shaking his head. "Those darn deer!"

"Uh huh," Lex said, and he was smiling helplessly...

...as he lied to Clark's face about it...

"With their really sharp teeth, and their shapeshifting feet into looking like men's shoes ways," Clark added on, nodding like he was agreeing with Lex and getting into it, as he finished off his second cookie.

...in no small part because Clark was perfectly happy to go along with it.

"Stupid meteor-freak deer," Clark continued with a sigh, crossing his arms and shaking his head again.

"Stupid meteor-freak deer," Lex agreed, ruefully, "always running off and getting into trouble."

Clark let out a soft laugh, and Lex blushed again as he realized what he'd just said.

But Clark just shrugged at him. "Could be worse," Clark told him with a mischevious glint in his eye.

Lex ducked his head for a moment. "Yes," he said softly.

But as Lex sat there next to Clark, staring down at his milk, he decided that--

Screw this, he was done with being embarrassed!!

He glanced back over at Clark, and tilted his chin up almost rebelliously, eyes flashing.

"Yes," Lex said more firmly, meeting Clark's eyes, "It could be worse." He took a breath. "But it won't be."

Clark looked a little startled for a second, then tilted his head at him, considering.

"--Right, exactly!" Clark said happily, and he grinned.

~*~*~*~*~*~
~*~*~*~*~*~

Five years later...

~*~*~*~*~*~

Lex groaned softly and slowly came to. Why did he feel like he'd just been on the receiving end of a full-body tackle? His head was spinning, and he ached all over. And why was his vision so dim? ...Was there something across his face? He opened his mouth slightly to suck in a breath, and met no resistance. Nothing blocking the airways to his nose or mouth. ...No, it was just across his eyes. And he couldn't see. He also felt oddly constrained, and this situation felt oddly familiar somehow...

Oh, Lex thought hazily. Not again.

Well-informed from past experience in other instances of kidnapping, he tried not to move too much or too swiftly before he'd gotten back his mental bearings and taken full stock of the situation.

He shook his head, and tried unsuccessfully to shove the sides of the blindfold up by rubbing the side of his head against his shoulder several times, on one side and then the other, all with no luck. Unfortunately, the blindfold he had on him seemed to be made of a sheer material, and was tied on too tightly for that to work.

Lex hissed out a breath of consternation and then moved on to gently tugging and twisting his arms and legs carefully, testing his bonds to see if he might be able to try to get out on his own. No luck there, either. It felt like he had been tied down with a similar slick material, but that slickness wasn't working for him -- it had been wrapped around him in wide strips and the pressure was enough that it wasn't cutting off his circulation, but was preventing him from getting any real traction on the stuff.

And, if past experience dictated his relative position correctly, he was tied to a chair: to the chair arms at the wrists and elbows, to the seat across his thighs, and to the chair legs around his calves. His torso hadn't been bound to the back of the chair, and his elbows weren't tied right up by his sides, though, so he could bend his forward somewhat, at least. From trying it, he found he could manage something close to a twenty- or thirty-degree angle, if he was gauging it right, but that was it. The chair didn't rock from the motion in the least, either, so it was either very heavy, or being held down in some manner. That would make things more difficult. So he wasn't exactly going anywhere, anytime soon. Not without outside help, at any rate.

Lex concentrated on breathing in and out, and wondered if he should try calling out for help.

Instead, he settled for a quiet, "...hello? Is anybody th--"

And that was as far as he got, before he was blinking and squinting with watering eyes at the light that now assaulted his vision, as the blindfold was removed.

He slowly opened his eyes and was face-to-face with... Clark?!

Oh. Clark. Lex smiled in relief. Thank goodness--

And Clark smiled a rather toothy and wild and wide grin at him in return.

Wh--?? Then Lex sucked in a breath all-at-once as the look of him finally registered, because that was never good, and--

He jerked in place hard, coming the rest of the way awake almost immediately. But in his momentary unrestrained flailing against his bonds, the hard metal chair that he was tied to didn't move an inch -- probably because it was bolted down to the floor.

Clark's face was suddenly right in front of his, almost nose-to-nose.

Oh god! Lex flinched, squeezed his eyes shut, and braced himself for an impact... that never came.

It was about that point that the adrenaline rush started to clear, and with that clarity came the memory of how Lex had gotten himself into this mess, and why he was up here in the first place.

And what it meant that Clark had tied him up like this with his eyes looking that particular shade of gleaming red.

Oh, shit, Lex thought weakly as he reopened his eyes and stared up at his young friend. I am so dead.

He swallowed hard.

Clark's grin got just that little bit wider, and his eyelids drooped slightly in what looked like pure, pleased and pleasant pleasure at Lex's nervous reaction. And if he hadn't known he was in trouble before...

"Oh, fuck me," Lex breathed out, eyes widening.

Clark chuckled at him.

And then he said, "Oh, I intend to."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Clark was very glad he had a photographic memory, because the look on Lex's face was just priceless. He was going to call that one his 'eep!' face.

"Clark," Lex said nervously. "Clark, you uh, you know you're on red-K right now, right???" he said, almost babbling, and his voice started rising into the higher registers, as Clark languidly slid down onto the chair seat, knees framing either side of him. Then, when Clark settled down just a little lower in place, he slammed backwards against the chair frame, shaking slightly. It was amusing.

"Mmm, yeah? Red-K?" Clark said, taking about two seconds to think about it. "Makes sense."

"Do-- do you know when you were exposed to it?" Lex said, his eyes looking a little wide as he went off, grasping at information to try and calm himself down. Like that ever really worked. It was really so cute when he did that.

Clark decided to humor him.

"Oh, maybe it was in the spice packet from that new age shop," he contributed upon reflection.

"The... the one with the storekeeper who got Lois messed up on that Red lipstick on-- on Valentine's Day?" Lex all but squeaked, as Clark slid forward on the chair just a little bit closer.

"Yup, that's the one," he confirmed, lightly dropping his hands onto Lex's shoulders, then smoothing them down Lex's sides to stop at Lex's waist. "I put it in the egg nog," he confided, then leaned forward and whispered into Lex's ear, "And then I drank it."

He felt Lex's body tremble under his hands.

"R-right. Right. Okay," Lex said, then swallowed hard. "Right, so. That's... we can... yes, that's just, we just need a-- just a little green-K and... and then--"

Really, very cute how Lex was still focusing on how to fix things; it was so very him.

But Clark had his own ideas about how to fix things, and hey, Lex was even the one who had prompted the idea, so it wasn't like he should be able to complain about it, either.

So while Lex was both preoccuppied and distracted with glancing around the room, trying to determine the location of the nearest box of green meteor rock and babbling on and on about how everything would be all right and all that -- and Clark was secretly agreeing with him, only for a very different reason -- Clark reached a hand around behind him and snagged his half-full glass of egg nog.

He took in a mouthful, let the glass dangle from his hand off to the side, and used his free hand to carefully but firmly grasp Lex's chin and pull it upward towards him.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Lex's mind was fully-engrossed with the red-K Clark problem.

--In part. His mind was fully-engrossed with the red-K Clark problem in part.

His body, on the other hand, was causing him some trouble, what with all the nervous shivering he was having to expend a significant level of mental self-control to suppress. Because he really, really had to suppress it. Because Clark -- or Kal rather -- would take his reaction the wrong way, oh-so-very-much the wrong way. To make matters worse, the feeling of the heat of Clark's body due to such close-proximity, once it began to register, was making it even harder for Lex to focus.

Honestly, Lex's body was an idiot. It kept telling him, 'oh, everything's all right,' when NO, THINGS WERE VERY NOT ALL RIGHT!!

Clark was on red-K. Clark was not thinking clearly. So Lex had to think clearly for him.

...Except Lex was having a hard time thinking clearly himself, what with Clark kneeling right over his lap like he was.

And talking about fucking him.

--With him. Fucking with him. He had to have heard that wrong earlier. Misunderstood it, somehow. Simple Freudian slip, really. Honestly, Lex didn't know what was going on with his brain sometimes, these days. ...Actually, he did, but--

Clark wasn't thinking clearly, and Lex had to figure out how to keep Clark from making any mistakes that he might regret later, because they were friends, and Lex would do anything for his friends, even be very highly responsible and not suggest anything untoward to do while Clark was in a completely unrestrained and unrestrainable state like he was right now. Because Clark would probably go on and do it. And that would be wrong.

No, Lex didn't take advantage of his friends, not ever. He only had the one. He didn't want to lose him.

Yes, Lex's mind was fully-engrossed with trying to figure out a way to persuade Clark -- and possibly Kal -- into going off and retrieving the lead box from the drawer in the side table a few feet away.

And this was unfortunate.

This was unfortunate because, consciously, he wasn't really seeing the bigger picture problem of Clark being on the red-K. And, while Lex's mind was fully-engrossed with the problem of getting Clark off of the red-K, his body automatically did not tense or flinch at the hand on his chin. Thus, Lex wasn't paying attention to Clark-Kal-El anything like he should have, so Lex wasn't prepared at all for what happened next.

"Cl-Clark? W-what are you--MMPH!" And while he was cut off as Clark's lips came down on his, his eyes going wide and startled, he was also shocked enough that his jaw dropped slightly. Accidentally. Because his mind had been paying attention to all the wrong things.

And, in retrospect, that had been completely the wrong reaction to let himself take.

Because Clark's next move was to snake his tongue directly into Lex's mouth, which, with his jaw already loose, Lex was unable to offer any real resistance to, for various and sundry reasons, and the next thing Lex knew...

Lex shivered, and his shoulders dropped... until he felt a jolt and tensed again, because suddenly his mouth was near-full of something mostly-sweet and slightly-bitter, an oddly familiar and not-so-horrible taste, and when Clark pulled away--

--Lex started to open his mouth automatically because of the startling amount of the unexpected additional liquid, but Clark's grasp shifted, suddenly tilting his chin up and far, far back with a single thumb.

The backwards tilt of his head, of course, made a signficant portion of the liquid hit and fill the back of his throat completely.

"Gkk-lk!" Lex spasmed in place under his bonds, unable to breathe, and he struggled to try and move his head down, tried to open his mouth to expel the liquid, but he couldn't. The thumb that was holding his head back was also keeping his jaw closed, with the way the back of his skull was being braced against the top of the chair. Lex wasn't going anywhere.

And then Clark stroked the rest of his fingers down the front of Lex's throat.

The downwards stroking only exascerbated the situation, being a leading motion. But at the time, in the situation he was in, he already wasn't thinking very clearly, if at all. So it was really a completely involuntary reaction that had Lex quivering in place and swallowing reflexively to clear his throat. If he had been thinking clearly, he should have forced the liquid out through his teeth, no matter how much of a mess it would have made leaking out the sides of his mouth.

...In fact, it took two hard swallows to get it down, which he almost choked on as he did it, before Clark finally let go of him.

Lex gasped and coughed heavily once, as his head dropped back down to a more usual incline.

It was about this point that, through slightly-watering eyes, Lex finally noticed the glass of yellow-tinted liquid that Clark was holding in his other hand.

Oh. Uh.

Lex's eyes widened as he realized...

Oh--

"Nnn-k." Lex gave a not so very voluntary shudder as he felt the warm liquid hit his stomach, and the reaction wasn't just due to the copious amount of alcohol in the drink.

And then he hissed in a breath through clenched teeth and violently twisted in place, as he could just about feel when the stuff hit his circulatory system; he arched his back, squirming. He felt his eyes roll back in his head, and he jerked and jerked in place again and again against his bonds as he felt the foreign matter shoot down and burn outwards with every heartbeat, through and through him, to spread down and out and up throughout his veins to his extremities. Left him shuddering again as in its wake came and went a very pleasant thrumming warmth.

He breathed out shakily as he felt the tension in him drop, and drop, and drop, like falling down a staircase, hitting every jarring step... or at least until he realized that it was only the nervous tension in him that was going through this... at which point it just suddenly peeled off of him in a continuous cascade and finally all... fell... away.

"Aa--aaaah," Lex breathed in, shivering at the oh-so-pleasant sensation of loss, and his neck fell back, and his eyes went a little wide...

...and locked with Clark's own...

...and he suddenly felt a very different sort of shock hit.

It was like feeling something blossom up inside him, a shivery-fluttery warmth, and it filled his chest and then the rest of him and all of his thoughts with a lovely, slightly-red haze.

And it was all focused around Clark.

"Oh," he breathed out softly, feeling himself begin to flush, because Clark was just beautiful, glorious and sitting there, and, why, he was there all for him.

Lex leaned forward almost involuntarily, following a deep internal pull... up until he came to a sudden and startling halt. Because of the cloth ties that were still there, around him, and restraining him.

And then he whined in frustration, his fingers twitching ineffectually without any real direction. Because Clark was right there, kneeling right above him, not an inch away from his lap, and Lex couldn't touch him!

Clark smirked down at him, looking amused.

Oh, and it was such a good look on him, promising so very very much, and Lex felt the force of it go straight to his cock.

Clark chuckled, and it did things to his insides.

"Feel good?" he was asked.

"Y-yes," Lex breathed out, and, frankly, if this was what the Red felt like to Clark, it was a wonder that he wasn't just on it all the time.

"Mm," said Clark. "I think we can do better."

And Lex had to sit there and watch, restrained and incapable of moving any closer, as Clark took another large swallow of the tainted, spiced and drugged egg nog.

Lex bit down on his lower lip and shivered, watching the motion of Clark's Adam's apple move up, then down again.

Clark finished the one, and then took another, finishing off the glass and setting it down and off to the side.

And then he bent down over Lex from above and placed his lips to Lex's once more.

Lex felt a heady warmth shoot straight through him from the point of contact. He easily, readily opened up his lips to Clark's questing tongue.

And he greedily drank down out of Clark's mouth every last drop of the second mouthful of eggnog that Clark had saw fit to give him.

He almost choked on the second mouthful too, before Clark pulled away, but he knew what Clark wanted him to do this time, and he carefully swallowed it all down, down, down.

And all the while he watched Clark lick his lips and stare down at him in interest.

"Hh-h," he shivered. "Hh-h-hh," arching his back again, "aa-a-aaah!" and shuddering under Clark in pure, deepening pleasure, when the rest of it finally hit.

He was shivering, shivering, shivering now, and not because he was feeling cold. He wasn't cold. Not one bit.

Head tilted back, throat exposed, breathing heavily, and already feeling thoroughly wrecked, he gazed up at Clark and felt the rest of the world slowly disappear around him in a red, sparkling haze. Not that the world mattered all that much, anyway. It was all warm, rolling red clouds and faint outlines, now. All except for Clark.

"Mmm," said Clark, and the sound of his voice alone just made Lex shudder in expectation and want. "I think that ought to do it, right?"

"Yy-yes," Lex said, still shivering; he hadn't yet stopped. And he hoped he wasn't going to; it felt so good. "Yes, yes, yes."

"So," Clark asked, settling down lower on his knees over him, closer -- just a little closer, he was almost touching him! -- "Are you ready for some... fun?"

"Yes, oh yes," Lex said, straining forward, not just on-instinct anymore, but now out of a deep, deep, blood- and bone-deep desire for Clark from his own completely-voluntary will. Because he wanted this. So much.

"Anything you want, yes," Lex begged him. Because he would. Do anything. Because Clark was everything. "--Please!"

Clark smiled.

~*~*~*~*~*~

[...to read the explicit section, click here; otherwise, please skip-hop forward like a cute little fluffy bunny and assume there was lots and lots of petting going on all night long -- yes, petting, which Lex might have enjoyed a little too much, thank you for asking -- while you continue reading further down :)]

Lex shivered as Clark slowly drew a finger down his own shirt, popping every button. He wanted to lick every inch of that lovely, golden skin. If only Clark would let him.

He strained forwards as Clark slid his hands up and down his sides, warm hands held away from his skin by his now far-too-confining shirt. He'd take it off. If only Clark would let him.

He begged, and pleaded, and damn near cried -- except that he didn't, because he simply wasn't coherent enough to manage to force the noise up out of his throat properly, not anymore. It just came out as one long, high, breathy whine.

And Clark just chuckled at him, and teased him, and barely touched him at all, until he felt he'd nearly die...

...until he didn't.

Clark snapped the bonds at his legs, and his arms, and scooped Lex upright with a strong firm arm around his waist.

Which had Lex blissed out for several infinite seconds of time, with the light full-body contact between them.

...That is, up until he tried to move his hands forward to touch--

--and suddenly realized that he couldn't.

"Shh," Clark told him, holding him close, as he finished what he was doing with his other hand: tying his arms together behind his back, elbow-to-elbow, wrist-to-wrist.

"Cl-l-lark," Lex begged, panting, craning his head up towards Clark's face. "Cl-ark, please."

"Sh," Clark told him, smiling down at him in amusement. "You'll like this; no more teasing."

Happiness flooded his entire being.

Clark turned and dropped him backwards onto a somewhat soft red cloud, which Lex's brain faintly registered as Clark's bed, because they were still, despite all cloud-like appearances, in Clark's apartment loft, right across from the small plastic Christmas tree where Lex had tried to sneak in to leave a present for him, hidden among the few others that had been nestled under there already.

Clark held Lex's pants at the waist, above and below, and slowly pulled them apart, tearing them down the seams as Lex watched, and tossed them away. And Lex couldn't tell if it was a good thing or bad that he already wasn't wearing his socks or shoes anymore, because he'd taken them off earlier, thinking that the reduction in noise from padding across the floor in his attempted sneaking about would have helped keep him from getting caught.

Silly him.

Why would he not have wanted to get caught?

Lex couldn't remember anymore.

Because Clark had just finished slowly and casually ripping Lex's boxers off and away from him, and now he was fully bared and exposed -- shirt, gone, who-knew-where; trousers, gone; underwear, nonexistent, who needed the stuff anyway. Not Lex.

Clark's shirt was hanging open, barely on, and he simply shrugged his shoulders and let it dangle and fall, like a Greek god removing a cape. Negligently.

He unzipped his jeans and then just pulled them apart the rest of the way, smirking. Because he could.

Lex watched, swallowing and swallowing and trying desperately not to drool at the sight of him.

Clark eased forward onto the bed and inbetween Lex's legs.

He slowly slid a hand up Lex's stomach, turning Lex's shivers into a relaxed shudder of pleasure and warmth at the contact -- at last! -- while his other hand dropped much, much lower.

"Nn-wait--!" Lex barely had the presence of mind to speak out, then gasped and shuddered again, "Ah! ...oh," and grinned like a fool.

He didn't know why he'd bothered to even worry at all; Clark was just perfect, and so was the feel of the slick on his hands.

He moaned and twisted his head and neck about slightly -- the only parts of him that he could really move at-present, besides his rubbery knees and his curling toes -- as Clark pleasurably inserted a finger... then two... then three.

He spread Lex open slowly, stroking his fingers along Lex's stomach as he did so, Lex moaning happily under his ministrations at the dual competing sensations all the while, until finally he pulled them all away.

"Noooo," Lex begged breathlessly. "Clark, please!"

And Clark looked upon him, eyelids low, and smiled oh so slowly.

And then he wrapped his hands around Lex's hips and moved forward, thrusting into him.

"AH!" Lex cried out, scrabbling to grasp at the bedsheet below him, at the slick, slick feel of Clark inside him. But he couldn't do much of anything, not with his arms tied together behind him as they were.

And then he gasped and shook as one of Clark's hands reached down and around behind his back and then traveled up his spine, pulling him upright.

Lex gazed down into Clark's eyes, breath hitching high as he felt his eyes go wide, as Clark lowered him down onto his lap, shuddered again in pleasure as Clark buried himself in him thoroughly and completely.

Lex tilted his head back and whimpered in pleasure, and an almost-pain, because his legs were dangling down on either side of Clark's lap now, not really holding up his own weight, not with the way Clark was holding him...

No, and with the way Clark was holding him, he couldn't arch forward and rub chest-against-chest, either. He couldn't even meet Clark's mouth unless Clark leaned forward and let him. And his arms were completely out of play.

He hung slightly backwards in space, held in place only by Clark, being acted on only by the grace of Clark and gravity, and he whimpered again, this time with need.

"Shh," Clark told him again, chuckling at him, and he lifted Lex up and down, completely controlling the motion of his body.

Lex hissed, and laughed, and cried out in joy, as Clark moved him up, then down again, thrusted and moved within him, and when he did there was a spot that he hit--

He felt Clark come within him and shivered head to toe at the feeling of it.

And he came the moment Clark shifted the hand at his hip to his cock instead, and wrapped his fingers around it completely.

Lex shuddered and shuddered and shuddered through the aftermath, and finally remembered how to breathe. Though it was difficult, with Clark still gently stroking his aching cock.

And, with only the one hand at his back now -- not really holding him back, not really -- Lex took advantage of the lapse: he reached forward quicksilver-fast and captured Clark's mouth.

Clark hummed with pleasure and met him -- let Lex meet him -- and thrust his tongue into Lex's mouth.

Lex sucked on it greedily; couldn't get enough of it, really.

He shivered again when Clark lightly clenched his fist around his cock, and had to break free, arching his back and hissing at the increased pressure -- he was still-sensitive, but not yet hard again for a second time, not yet ready to come again.

Clark, however, seemed to have no real refractory period, because Lex could actually feel his cock beginning to stir and firm again inside him.

"A-aaaah," Lex shuddered, with a purely mental wave of pleasure taken at the thought of it: Clark, growing hard inside of him.

"Mmm, you really like this, don't you," Clark asked him, without really asking him, because it was obvious to anyone listening to his voice that he already knew. He stroked and then slowly let go of Lex's cock, to reach up and cradle his chin. "You like feeling me inside you."

"Yes," Lex breathed out, straining forward.

But Clark wasn't letting him go anywhere yet, again. Not yet. "You like having me in your mouth," Clark said.

"Oh, yes," Lex agreed, mouth watering at just the thought of Clark's tongue.

Clark leaned forward slightly, putting his lips next to Lex's ear, while holding him steady -- hands at his chin and now his hip again -- yet again leaving Lex unable to move, despite how he strained so. "I bet you'd like my cock in your mouth much better."

Lex shivered.

And then he hissed and shuddered and arched his back again as he felt Clark firming up even further inside him, and an involuntary smile flitted across his face -- because Lex had done that. Clark liked the idea of that, too.

Clark pulled back, away from his ear, but that was all right, because Lex knew...

"I'm going to fuck you again," Clark told him. "And then we'll see about your mouth, hmm?"

Lex looked forward to it.

At least, until waves of current pleasure drowned out the concept of 'later' entirely.

Until Clark was finally done with him again, for the time being.

Lex whimpered a little as Clark pulled out of him and chuckled at him again.

"Oh, don't worry," he was told. "We're going to wash up a bit, and then have some more fun."

Dazed and still-shuddering slightly, not having quite come down from the last rush yet, Lex could only nod feebly.

Clark chuckled again, and it went straight to Lex's still-aching cock.

He was quickly learning to love that sound.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Lex was hoisted up over a shoulder, and found himself sitting down again, but this time in the back of a shower.

...No, not sitting -- kneeling.

He blinked, and twisted slightly in place, and only realized that his arms weren't behind his back anymore at about the time that Clark was pulling them up and over his head.

Lex looked up hopefully, then got caught in a bit of a daze as he watched Clark loop the cloth material up around his wrists again -- just his wrists? -- and then pull it up to tie it around the towel rack mounted on the back wall behind him.

Lex twisted his head around, and tugged, thoroughly confused -- why was he stuck again? -- then tried to rise to his feet, but he didn't get very far.

Because now his ankles were tied together, he realized, as he craned his head and looked down behind him.

Tied together, and tied to a loop around his waist. He couldn't get out of his kneeling position.

He could barely straighten up in place, from where and how he was.

"...Clark?" he asked, turning his head to crane it up at his lovely (alien) Greek god.

Clark was smiling down at him, and working up a lather of soap.

And then applying it to himself.

In copious amounts.

All up and down his body.

Taking his time.

Being very, very thorough.

Lex's eyes widened and his fingers twitched. He really, really wanted to touch him--

"Watch."

--but watching was really good, too.

Even if he couldn't help but whine a little bit and strain forward towards him at the times when Clark crouched down so much closer to him, to wipe a bit of wet white terrycloth over and across his chest...

...down his thighs...

...over and around his cock...

...until Clark finally, finally finished washing every last bit of himself -- and his cursory washing of Lex -- including his own cock.

What followed was a period of masturbation right in front of him that had Lex leaning forward and whining again at the unfairness of being unable to touch again, still...

...and then Clark stepped forward with a smirk and let Lex take him in the mouth.

Inch by inch.

As Clark slowly moved forward and let him.

Lex was very greedy, he was informed by Clark with a truly wicked smile. Because he sucked Clark off three times in the shower, and then begged him into another four more.

By the time he was anywhere near done, he felt quite pleasantly full.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Lex blinked awake slowly, languidly, face down, with a light sheet above and a mattress below, feeling completely and wholly used.

And also possibly melted into the bed, which was far more comfortable than any bed had any right being, goddammit, and why didn't he have one of these, anyway? He ought to be able to afford a bed like...

He raised his head up slightly.

...Clark's bed.

...

In Clark's loft.

...

Where they had just spent a significant portion of the night...

...

And then, in the shower...

...

Lex slowly lowered his head back to the mattress and came to the somewhat-disturbing realization that, whatever the source of the red-K tainted drug, this time, at least, the human participant in the proceedings had been left with a perfectly clear memory of what had transpired over the duration of their exposure to it.

...Well, 'perfectly clear' for varying levels of however clearly he'd been able to think the night before, anyway.

Lex swallowed hard. And it didn't even hurt his throat. It barely ached.

Sometimes, he wasn't entirely sure whether his meteor-infected immune system and advanced healing were a good thing, or bad.

One thing he was sure about, though -- he didn't want to move.

...But he also really didn't want to be here when Clark woke up, either. Because that could not possibly go well.

So he grimaced, and forced himself to move.

He got as far as turning himself over, back to the mattress, and then froze as he turned his head sideways and realized that Clark was right next to him, lying on his stomach, head turned towards him.

And Clark's eyes were completely open.

"Hi," said Clark, looking at him.

Lex swallowed. Hard. "Hi."

Clark shifted slightly, stretching in place, and his eyes slid closed as he did so. "Mm."

Lex waited for the inevitable.

Clark finished his morning stretch, and then slowly slitted his eyes back open.

"So," Clark said. "Wanna do that again?"

Lex stared at him for a moment blankly.

Clark got a slow, devil-may-care smile.

Though his eyes weren't red at all.

Oh.

"...Yeah, okay," said Lex.

Then he had to blush and turn his head away, to look up at the ceiling.

"Could we, uh," Lex closed his eyes, "usetheRedKthough?" he managed to squeak out. Because, unfortunately, as unabashed as he was able to be around women, that side of him didn't exactly easily extend to how he felt around men.

...Not yet, anyway. Assuming that...

He kept his eyes closed and listened to Clark breathe next to him. And shift in place.

"Sure," he heard Clark tell him, with a tinge of amusement in his voice. "I've got a whole box of the stuff still left to use up." A pause. "And more egg nog, too."

"Okay," said Lex.

"Okay," Clark said, and he heard the rustle of sheets and felt the shift and creak of the mattress next to him, as his alien friend slowly got up and out of the bed.

Lex slowly pulled the sheets up to his chin.

And then up over his head to hide the flush he got before ducking and rolling back over onto his side, because he could just about hear Clark's teasing grin as he padded lightly away barefoot across the bedroom floor.

He could faintly see the traceries of light and shadow playing off the walls, peeking out from under the sheet. It took him a moment to place it as cast by the Christmas lights strung over Clark's very Charlie-Brown-looking plastic tree in the corner, and Lex wondered why Clark had chosen that one, of all things, to decorate with. When Clark could have had anything he wanted.

And he faintly wondered, as he sat up and tried not to blush furiously again, as the sheet fell down to pool around his waist, and he took a cup of warmed and 'especially spiced' egg nog from Clark's outstretched hand, how exactly this had become one of his best Christmases ever.

Well, maybe the how doesn't matter so much as the why, he thought, as he took a small sip of egg nog.

The story of his life, really.

And quite the rush.

~*~*~*~*~*~

END