FIC: What He Knew (SV) MPREG, 1/2
Title: What He Knew
Author: Dayspring
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Rating: Soda (PG equivalency)-Language, vague sex
Warnings: Futurefic, Mpreg
Notes: It's been so long since I posted anything, forgive any errors. Thanks for the read over, K.
Disclaimer: Smallville was the property of the WB and now belongs to the CW, et al. I'm just borrowing their ideas for a little while.
Summary: Lex didn't know what Clark thought he knew, but what he knew, he'd always known.
WHAT HE KNEW By Dayspring
"Mr. Luthor? There's a Clark Kent to see you."
Lex Luthor frowned at the intercom. Clark? Here to see him? He did a quick check of his planner. No, no interviews scheduled. No attempts to take over the Daily Planet. No dead women in his bed. Or mutants in his basement/attic/warehouse. And he could've sworn he missed that opossum in the middle of the road last night. Hmm. What could Clark possibly have to lay into him about? Since, of course, that was the sum whole of their last month of contact--five years ago. Curiosity compelled him to reply, "Send him in, Charity."
The tall reporter came in with a solemn face which disappeared as soon as Charity closed the door behind her. "Tell me you know, Lex. Please tell me you know," Clark demanded with more than a touch of desperation. "You know, right?"
It was the little break in his voice that had Lex lying. He'd labeled Clark a friend years ago and despite their present, where Clark believed Lois Lane's and Superman's lies (and remembered Jonathan's old ones), Lex would always react to Clark's pleas. "Of course I know, Clark. Now take a deep breath and tell me what's going on? How can I help you?"
Clark collapsed in a conveniently placed chair, and Lex propped himself against the desk and looked down at the bowed head. "You know I'll do anything for you," he prompted when Clark wasn't forthcoming.
Clark gave a painful snort. "It's bad enough I'm an alien--"
An alien? Lex frowned. Just how many aliens were on earth? That Martian person, Superman... It all clicked in Lex's mind with a painful clink of his jaw. Jesus fucking Christ! Clark was--why the fuck hadn't he known? The eye color was different. The hair. But.
You are one fucking idiot, Luthor.
"--but now I'm a pregnant alien," Clark wailed.
What? Wait. "Um, you want to repeat that last part, Clark?"
Clark ignored him. "But I can't tell Mom. I mean, I killed her baby. I can't… Besides, she's just now starting to get on with her life, without Dad, I mean, or yours, for that matter. Did you know she's dating this guy she met while working the food pantry on 23rd street? She doesn't need... Damn it, Lex. This is all so screwed up." All this was said without lifting his head.
Martha Kent dating (Lionel NEVER counted). Clark Kent was Superman. And pregnant. Lex headed to the bar. He started to offer Clark a drink, then remembered his condition. "So? Who's the father? The other father, I mean?" Why hadn't he run to him with this news?
"Do you--do you really need to know?"
Need? No. Was going to find out and destroy? That was a sure bet. "Just wanted to know if he was going to be a--complication," he said diplomatically. If Clark wanted nothing to do with this character, Lex was going to remove him from the equation of an already complex problem. Obviously there was going to have to be some kind of cover-up. Superman in maternity tights wasn't an image the public needed to see. At least Clark Kent was a print reporter and not a television personality...
Clark sighed. "You're right; he could be a-a complication. That's why I didn't--aw, hell, Lex, it's Batman, and I'm afraid if he finds out he's going to have me stretched out in one of the Wayne labs so fast, it'd make my head spin."
Wayne labs? As in Bruce Wayne? Lex splashed more alcohol in his glass. Bruce Fucking Wayne was the Batman and he had more money that Lex did. Which means a cover-up could get tricky. But Wayne had ethics--even if they didn't, as Clark supposed, include not putting his lover and embryo through an alien autopsy--and Lex was not so encumbered. Anything for a friend. "It must get interesting up there in the Justice League Watchtower," Lex said, trying to lighten the atmosphere a bit.
Clark lifted his head for that one. "It's not like that. Batman was captured by the Joker and when I rescued him, the ceiling opened up, and we were assaulted with rubber duckies that had some kind of aphrodisiac payload. We got out of there, but then... God, Lex, we ended up rutting in mid-air." His face turned bright red.
"Added a new dimension to the mile-high club, did you?" Lex teased as he plotted a takeover of Wayne Industries. It was a long-term plan, but just like satisfying sex, good revenge took a while.
"Lex!" Clark said in an affronted tone, but Lex saw the tension leave the broad shoulders and knew Clark appreciated the levity.
Lex smiled and slid into his chair behind the desk. It was a very good chair for thinking. "How far along are you?"
"The um--incident happened seven weeks ago."
"How long is a Kryptonian pregnancy?" Before he could formulate a plan, he needed the facts.
"I--I don't know."
"What did your A.I. say when you told it?" Everyone, well, everyone who had a good spy network, knew that Superman had a secret fortress run by an artificial intelligence that was a billion times smarter than any computer humans had come up with.
"Um--"
"You haven't told it," Lex said with a shake of his head. "How do you know you're pregnant then?"
"I saw it." He looked down at his stomach. "It's floating around in there."
"Oh." Lex took a deep breath and leapt to his feet. "Well, first things first. The A.I. has answers we need, Clark. You're still good to fly, aren't you?"
Clark nodded. "Can we leave from here?"
"We?"
"You'll go with me, won't you?"
"Sure," Lex replied, holding back a big "Hell, yeah!" Superman's secret hideout. Superman's super computer. Damn. He had to be dreaming. "Do you have to change or something?" he asked to keep hold of his enthusiasm.
"No. Unless, you want me to?"
Lex shook his head. Flying in Superman's arms would be like a rescue or a trip to the local police station. Flying in Clark's arms would be like a dream, an old dream--a very old wet dream. "Let me inform the office that I'll be away. Wouldn't want my employees thinking you're kidnapping me or anything."
"Yeah, those Kryptonite bullets hurt."
Lex was surprised. "Really? They're just meant to slow you down, not cause agony or lengthy suffering."
Clark shrugged. "They don't. They just sting really badly."
"Wuss," Lex scoffed. "Just for that I think that baby of yours should come out your butt."
"Gee, Lex," Clark said with a wince, "people actually pay to attend your motivational conferences?"
"And I sell the DVDs on eBay at premium prices." He clicked on the button that would immediately connect him to all his heads of staff. "Ladies, Clark Kent and Superman have asked for my assistance with a problem. I don't know how long I'll be gone or how often I'll be gone, so Protocol Five is in effect until further notice. Understood?"
A chorus of "Understood"s followed quickly and Lex cut the connection. "Will I need my heavy overcoat?" Even in the middle of summer, the arctic was bound to be a bit chilly.
Clark did a quick spin and suddenly he was in Superman costume. He unhooked his cape, did another twirl, and was back in Clark Kent's ill-fitting, off-the-rack suit. "This will protect you during the trip and I'll have the A.I. heat the Fortress to human norm."
Lex suffered to have the cape draped around him. "If we're going to do this often, I'll need something in purple, gray, or black, you know."
Clark rolled his eyes. "Being a demanding tyrant is what you teach on those DVDs of yours, isn't it?"
Lex just shrugged and adjusted the cape. "It's an under-appreciated art. Oh, and when we get to the Fortress, you have to ditch this so-called suit you have on, even if it means--and God, I hate to say it--the donning of flannel."
Clark laughed and they took off from the balcony.
+++
Lex never saw the Fortress from the outside. By the time Clark unwrapped him from the protective confines of the cape, they were in the crystalline belly of Superman's lair. Lex looked around in awe, noting the superb support system employed by the crystals. The place would definitely survive an earthquake or two.
"Welcome, Kal-El and friend," a voice echoed in the chamber.
"A.I. this is Lex Luthor. He is here by my full consent and you may speak freely in front of him," Clark said authoritatively. "I need you to scan me and give me a report on my health."
A crystal aimed at Clark, then bathed him in a diffuse light. "You are edayta. How curious."
"Curious how?" Lex demanded.
"Twenty-five million Earth years ago, Kryptonians discovered the sheer joy of exploring their intellect, preferring the mental to the physical to the point that it became a detriment to the continuation of their population. To insure the continuation of the race, a biological mutation was induced into the males of the species. The kendhar is engineered to cause a male to be fertile in two ways--their sperm is increased in number and they will also produce ova. If sex occurs, either the male will impregnate a female or if the intercourse is intra-gendered, the kendhar male will be impregnated."
"So what happened to Clar--um, Kal-El is normal?"
"In a sense. But Kal-El did not go through kendpar, the transitional period. There should have been hormonal and enzymatic fluctuations which would have alerted me to Kal-El's impending condition. If I had known, Kal-El, I would have warned you about unprotected intercourse with either gender."
"Kal-El was exposed to a foreign agent, a particularly potent aphrodisiac. Could this have triggered the kendhar without kendpar?" Lex was exceedingly glad he'd cut back on his drinking during business hours.
"Did you have an intense desire for intercourse, Kal-El?"
Clark looked extremely uncomfortable as he answered. "Yes. I--I impaled myself on my partner immediately after freeing him from his tights."
Lex didn't even want to think about how that must have looked in the skies of Gotham. Well, he didn't want to think about it at this particular moment. Maybe in the privacy of his own bed...
"This foreign agent must be analyzed immediately. Do you have a sample, Kal-El?"
"No, but I know someone who does." He shot a look at Lex.
"Go on," Lex urged. "I have some more questions for the A.I. We'll be fine here together for a few moments. Maybe you better--" Lex did a twirling gesture with his finger. Clark nodded and immediately switched to his Superman costume.
After blinking at the fading streak of color that used to be Clark, Lex addressed the computer. Although the only pregnant women he'd spent any appreciable amount of time with was his mother, who had her own problems, and Lana Lang ((and no, no way in hell was he going there)--Anyway, years of listening assured him that this question was better asked without the subject being in the room. "So, are Clark's hormones acting up?"
"Is he experiencing behavioral changes?" it asked delicately, assuring Lex that there were indeed similarities between human and Kryptonian pregnancies .
Yeah, one big fucking one. "He came to me with this problem. It doesn't make sense. Why me? Why not--the other father?"
There was a pause. "You are not the father?"
"No. Is that a problem?" Lex asked cautiously. A problem as in he had to be neutralized or something for knowing something he shouldn't know?
"I was doing calculations on a hybrid between a Kryptonian and you. Now, I shall have to make adjustments."
"Oh. But the actual father is human."
"But you are not. At least, you are not a typical human. You know of your mutational intricacies?"
Mutational intricacies? That tripped off the tongue a lot easier than, "you're a freak." "Yes, I know of them. Back to the original question, however. How atypical of Cl--Kal-El's behavior was it to confide in me?"
"Not atypical at all. You are his maa'ta."
"His what?"
"Maa'ta. His Other."
Other what?
"He trusts you to be his balance."
Oh. That kind of other. He wondered if it were possible for an A.I. to intake questionable substances. In other words, the A.I. had to be on crack. The cheap stuff. Like found in the alley between 10th and Pine (many, many years ago). "Clark has never trusted me."
"Not true, Lex Luthor. It was always instinctive that he trust you. Unfortunately, the humans who acted as his parents trained him to act against his instincts. Jor-El, the original of my matrix, did not realize humans would be so prejudiced against another's true nature--although their wholesale domestication of some species should have clued him in."
Wholesale domestication? Ah, the A.I. apparently read Clark Kent's occasional op-eds. "So he was supposed to trust me?"
"Yes. He marked you within minutes of his arrival on this planet."
The Kents rescue of his father and him. "There were others who found him first."
"You were the one he chose."
Lex ignored how good that made him feel. He shrugged. "I really wasn't that trustworthy anyway."
"You would have been with his secrets."
Maybe. Probably. Didn't matter. That was the past, and the future was now. "So, tell me what I need to know to make this pregnancy the easiest on Kal-El."
+++
"Kal-El returns."
Lex crammed a small crystal in his pocket and turned from the video screen that had appeared in one of the walls of the Fortress. Superman appeared in the chamber, clutching a small vial. Lex looked at his watch. "Was Batman being excessively stubborn about parting with a sample?"
Superman shook his head. "Brush fire in California."
Lex's eyes narrowed in concern. "You okay?"
"I'm not an invalid!"
Lex looked at Superman. Clark looked at Lex. "Oh, jeez, I sound so pregnant," Clark wailed.
"Guess it's a good thing you are," Lex said casually. "I'm glad you're back. I need a ride on the Super Shuttle back to Metropolis. I have companies to raid and people to break."
"Yeah, okay. I--I can make you forget this...if you want me to."
"If I--You're the one taking the risk, not me."
Clark stared at him, a look deeper than any x-ray. "Am I? Taking a risk?"
Lex shook his head. "No. But you knew that. I am, after all, your maa'ta."
"The A.I.'s giving away all my secrets?" Clark asked with a lopsided smile.
"No, not all. Why would you think I'd want to forget this?"
Clark shrugged. "Keeping my secrets isn't easy."
"Clark, nothing about us has ever been easy. Maybe...maybe if we'd accepted that a long time ago, we wouldn't be living the farce we've been indulging in."
"That's all it's been, isn't it? An indulgence. Otherwise, we would have killed each other years ago."
"Our fathers are both gone. It's time we left them in their graves and got on with being who we were meant to be, Clark. We can't--can't keep reaching back, using their mistakes as our excuses."
Clark nodded and placed a hand on Lex's shoulder. "This, this is why you were my best friend."
"I want to be again." He wasn't going to beg, but this time he was going to make things clear. Clark didn't do subtle well. And apparently from the bright colors of his costume, Superman didn't do it at all.
"I want that, too. Of course, having to get knocked up by a guy in a bat suit just to figure that out, doesn't speak well of me, does it?" Clark joked dryly.
"Hey, don't talk about my best friend like that, all right? I'm Lex Luthor and you don't want to get on my bad side," Lex said with a playful mock jab to Clark's arm. Mock because he had an appointment with his manicurist tomorrow and considering the bitching he'd suffered for having a hangnail--"Gloves, Mr. Lex. Beautiful, sensual leather gloves--even for wiping ass"--he figured Kim would go into a permanent swoon if he showed up with bruised knuckles. And the man really did know his way around hands...
Clark caught the fist before it returned to his side. "Wasn't this fake at one time?"
Lex nodded. "Had to have it amputated because of that damn Kryptonite ring. Took me the better part of a year to re-grow it. Don't tell me you're just now noticing it?"
Clark shrugged. "I just saw the leather gloves and assumed nothing had changed."
Lex snorted. "Let me tell you about a certain obsessive manicurist I know..."
+++
"We can be friends in Metropolis, you know."
"What an original concept," Lex quipped before he looked up from his watch, already smiling at Clark lounging in the doorway of Lex's Smallville "castle" office. He knew it would be Clark standing there instead of Superman, because the Man of Steel was too polite to be five minutes late. Clark, on the other hand, was on time if he arrived within half an hour of an appointment. "We'll have to try it sometimes. As for now, there's method to my madness." He shut down his laptop and reached for his phone. "I'm going out for a while with Mr. Kent," he told his assistant. "If I'm contacted, the earth better be spinning off its axis again."
"Yes, sir."
"So that really happened," Clark remarked when Lex hung up. "Batman was still running diagnostics when the problem just seemed to disappear."
"Still running diagnostics? What kind of slow-ass computers are Wayne Industries shilling these days? I knew of the problem about a week before I got tired of waiting on superheroes and fixed it myself."
"That's, um, kinda fast, Lex. What kind of computer are you using?"
"Just some scrap of metal I cloned from an original at a private school I found in upstate New York."
Clark's eyes widened as he put two and two together. "You're talking about those X-Files people, right?"
Lex dropped his head, shaking it with a sigh. "X-Men, Clark, X-Men. Not Mulder and Scully."
"Riiight. That's those dolls--"
"Action figures."
"Action figures that you have in your bedroom, right? Last time I scanned your bedroom for, you know, nefarious machinery and such, wasn't the Mulder doll--I mean, action figure--shacking up with Warrior Angel in the Angel Lair playset--I mean, scale model replica?"
"That was during the impossible pregnancy arc. After Scully dropped the kid, Mulder moved back home to the basement office."
"How wonderful for both of them, and where are we going?" Clark asked as he followed Lex to the garage.
"Out for an evening drive. And yes, their reunion was quite wonderful. Warrior Angel visits whenever he can."
"So Mulder's living on the down low with Warrior Angel. Isn't this the way to the Kawatche caves?"
"Yes, this is the way to the caves. And no, there's no 'down low' when a three-way satisfies everyone."
Clark leaned back against the smooth leather seat. "You're weird. And a geek."
"At least I don't wear spandex."
"I didn't know you knew the X-Men. Is there some mutant-only club I don't know about?"
"The professor and I share a scalp masseuse."
"Oh."
They pulled up in at the caves. "I'm surprised you haven't started charging an entry fee," Clark commented wryly.
"Nah, I saved that for the Kawatche themepark I opened in Japan a few years ago. It's all underground with an attached under the sea aquarium. Michael Jackson plays the amphitheater at least once a year."
Clark got out of the low-slung car and stared at Lex doing the same. "This is why I have to search your bedroom for nefarious machinery," he pointed out calmly.
"You're giving me shivers, Clark. Come along. Bright and shiny objects await us inside."
Clark followed docilely until they came to a cave wall that was flashing with multi-colored lights. Actually, it reminded Lex of his club-hopping days--and really good drugs. "Lex, what is that?"
"A portal, gateway, wormhole--pick your choice."
"And it leads where?" Clark asked hesitantly.
"Alpha Centauri, of course," Lex replied, barely keeping from rolling his eyes. "Honestly, Clark. I know we've been enemies for years, but come on, man. I thought we'd put all that shit behind us. Trust me, all right?"
"Um, sure."
Lex gave in and rolled his eyes. Then he grabbed Clark's arm and pulled him through the portal with him. They stepped out into a lot of sunlight. Lex pulled out and slipped on a pair of shades. Clark just gawked.
Lex had to admit, once he cut the glare, that their surrounding was a sight to behold. The crystal fortress was spectacular in snow, but was spellbinding in the center of the white sand island, ringed by a spectacular blue ocean.
"You moved the Fortress?" Clark asked, raising his face automatically to the full sun.
"No, just grew another one. Crystal is crystal--made of ice or sand."
Clark gave him a sharp look. "You stole a matrix crystal?" he asked in a Superman tone of voice.
Lex sighed. "Feel free to get over yourself at any time."
"I requested Lex Luthor take one of the matrix columns, Kal-El," the A.I. scolded. "We discussed what and where would comprise a safe, healing environment for you to spend your gravid period and made plans accordingly. It was to be a surprise."
"Oh. Sorry, Lex. Old habits can be a bitch."
"So can old friends."
Clark nodded meekly, then grinned. "I really like this! All this sunlight!"
"Guaranteed sunny days until monsoon season, and by that time you'll be back in not so sunny Kansas. This is a very remote island, so you don't have to worry about intruders. And it's owned, wholly and entirely, by me--not LuthorCorp, LexCorp, or any subsidiaries. My own sovereign nation of one," Lex said.
"Where are we?"
"South Pacific. Outside of any shipping lanes or flight paths. The perfect hideaway for the hero who 'got into trouble.'"
"Papa don't preach," Clark sang glibly.
Lex sighed. "There just had to be a Madonna revival, didn't there?"
"But I made up my mind, I'm keeping my baby," Clark continued to sing. Then he stopped. "I've fucked it all up, haven't I?" he asked sadly.
"Nonsense," Lex said sternly. "If anyone fucked up anything, it was the Joker. And I don't agree that it is fucked up--this is a good thing. There need to be more Kents in the world." His eyes sparked with amusement. "Even those who might run around in little red cowls one day."
"It's a good thing you went into business and not comedy," Clark said dryly, but with a hint of a smile. "How am I going to explain this?"
"Easy. Superman will tell the League and anyone else who needs to know that the A.I. has found evidence that suggests there may be another living Kryptonian somewhere in the universe--outside the Phantom Zone, that is, and you're going off-world to search. You will return with a baby Kryptonian, who has apparently been in stasis since the planetary explosion. It is, of course, your duty to raise the child.
"Clark Kent will request a sabbatical from the Daily Planet. You're tired. You're losing the objectivity that made your bylines so unique. You need to travel, to see life more pure, less corrupt than in Metropolis. A young, dying mother makes an appeal to you, and you being you, you honor her deathbed request that you adopt her child. You write a series of articles about being a single father, win several awards, and Perry White worships at your feet. Does that cover everything, or do you have another secret identity I don't know about yet?"
Clark stared at him for a long moment. "Damn, you're good."
Lex shrugged. "Lots of practice."
"What about emergencies? If the League has trouble?"
"World spinning off its axis, remember? I'll pick up your slack. What?" he nearly snapped when Clark continued to stare at him.
"When I was a teenager, you were my hero. You saved me from that stupid field. You went into the plant to save a bunch of scared teenagers you barely knew. You helped me--and my friends--whenever I asked. You had cool cars and cool toys and you eagerly shared them with me. Watching you follow your dad down that dark road...it broke my heart. I wish I hadn't been the typical teenager, so full of myself that I didn't have room for anyone else. I wish I could've been the man you wanted, the man strong enough to hold you back from that road, or at least give you encouragement to keep searching for another way, to keep fighting. I let you down. I let you fall. Yet, when I called for help, when I threw myself at your feet yesterday, you didn't hesitate."
Lex shrugged. "You're my friend."
"And it's just that easy for you?"
"Why should it be more complicated?"
Clark sighed. "Seriously, Lex. I've been to different planets, different solar systems, met beings that in no way, shape, or form resemble humans. Some speak with their minds, some with their limbs, some have their pets speak for them. But none has confused me, messed with my mind, rocked my sense of my self, like you. You...confound me."
Lex cleared his throat. "Is that good or bad?"
"I have no idea."
"Well, you'll have a lot of time to think about it while you have your lie in."
"Lie in? You make me sound like some nineteenth century maiden!"
Lex snorted. "Well, you are an unwed moth--um, parent."
Clark rolled his eyes. "Next thing I know, you'll be offering to marry me and make an honest wo--uh, man out of me."
"Would you like that, Clark? Because I will, if that's what you want."
"This is Kansas," Clark said, wide-eyed.
"And I'm Lex Luthor," Lex replied with a laugh. "If I don't pay attention to the 'good' laws, why would I even give the 'bad' ones any consideration. So should I have one of my minions bring me my best tux or what?"
Shaking his head, Clark smiled. "As Superman, I've raged so much about your stubbornness that I'd forgotten your tenacity could be useful. Thanks for the offer, Lex, but your friendship is enough for now. No need for 'plighting your troth' or whatever."
"Just know the offer's permanently on the table, Clark. So, you going to stop off at the farm to fill your mother in?" Once she'd retired from politics, Martha had decided to come back to Smallville. Although the farm land was rented out, she continued to live in the still yellow house.
"I'm not--I'm not going to tell her the truth, Lex. She'll get the same off-world story I'm telling everyone else."
"You think she'll be disappointed in you?"
"No, it's nothing like that. It's...It's been years since she had to put up with a new freakish talent of mine. After what I put her through during my teens, she deserves to have a real break."
"She loves you, Clark. And she'll love the idea of having a grandchild."
Clark shrugged. "I really want this to stay just between the two of us, Lex."
"Your wish is my command," Lex said with a minimal bow of his head.
"Master," Clark said with a smirk.
"Excuse me?"
"I think the general term is 'your wish is my command, master.'"
"Is my navel showing? Do I have tassels dangling from um...places? I'm not your personal djinn, Clark." Lex stomped toward the gateway that suddenly popped into existence. "But I can do submission at times," he added, winking at Clark before stepping through the portal. He did so hope Clark wiped the drool from his lip before getting into the car.
+++
"There's a Bruce Wayne to see you, sir," Charity chirped through the intercom.
Lex grinned at his secretary's audacity. A Bruce Wayne? Like there was more than one. "Well, if it's the one who's almost as rich as I am, by all means show him in." Last week's Top 100 had put LexCorp a couple of million ahead of Wayne Industries--and, no, he hadn't danced in front of his mirror with a copy of the magazine. He'd been chasing a rather stubborn fly.
Lex walked around the desk and held out his hand to the dashing playboy he now knew was also the Dark Knight. Was he the only person in the whole frackin' world that didn't have a secret identity? "Wayne, what brings you to my fair city?" he asked amicably.
"Just thought I'd give you the courtesy of letting you know I was in town, Luthor," Wayne's deep voice rumbled. "As one 'prince of the city' to another, of course."
"Of course. Can I get you anything? Coffee, cognac, a vestal virgin, perhaps?"
"Ah, now I know I'm not in Gotham; we ran out of virgins years ago."
Lex shared a laugh with him, noticing the whiteness of his teeth and the sexiness of his voice. Damn. No wonder why Clark had jumped on that. "So what brings you into the light of Metropolis?"
"The Prudhomme auction. There are a couple of pieces I'm interested in."
Bullshit. There was nothing worth bidding on in the entire collection. So that meant Wayne wasn't here--the Batman was. Probably trying to figure out why Lex was being so cooperative the past three months. Hell, just two days ago, LexCorp had sent people down to help out hurricane victims in fucking Mississippi. The only thing he knew about Mississippi was the song he'd learned in school to help spell Mississippi. "Knock yourself out. You have no competition from me."
"Thought you might be looking for pieces for that castle of yours in Smallville. Heard you'd been visiting there quite a bit recently."
Definitely the Batman trying to suss out evildoings. "Well, to be frank, without Superman to vex, Metropolis has been kind of boring."
"Oh, Superman's not here?"
Lex struggled not to roll his eyes. "He took off for parts unknown a few months ago. Told me himself. Made me promise to behave."
Wayne gave a dry chuckle. "Surely you're not serious."
"I am," Lex replied, throwing up his hands in innocence. "Superman knows the rest of those costumed freaks can't handle me, and well, without him it'd be like visiting a zoo without predators, you know. The monkeys by themselves can only be so amusing. You need a lion, an alpha beast, to amp the adrenaline, you know?"
Wayne coughed and fought back a glare. "And Smallville amps the adrenaline in his absence?"
Lex laughed aloud. "Smallville? No, Smallville is a place of quiet contemplation most of the time. It's the place I go when I need to slow down and look at where I am and where I want to be. Smallville changed my life twice. I guess you can call it my personal crossroads."
"Just think, I went all the way to China to find myself, and I could've just gone to Smallville," Wayne said dryly.
Lex smiled. "I was never big on Chinese imports. Go American is my motto." Go away was also a good motto.
Wayne seemed to read his mind. "Well, I hate to cut short this informal meeting of the Billionaires Boys Club, but I have merchandise to examine and beauties to escort."
Lex stood when he did. "Ah, the pain of being a professional playboy. At least you get to moonlight."
The blue death ray glare made it to the surface this time. "Moonlight?"
Lex would've shivered if he wasn't used to large, dark men barking threats at him. "Yes, as a businessman, Wayne. Whatever did you think I meant?"
Wayne just shook his head. "I hope I get the same courtesy if you ever come to Gotham?"
"Of course. However, I don't say this to hurt your feelings, but Gotham's one big asylum. I can't see me ever willingly visiting the place."
"Every city has their dark side, Luthor, even glittery Metropolis."
"I know all about fool's gold, but even Gotham's resident tights wearer is rumored to be a bit unhinged. He dresses up as a giant bat!" Lex bit the inside of his jaw to keep from laughing as Bruce Wayne's eyebrows shot to the top of his head.
A second later, Wayne's demeanor was back in place and he glanced at his watch. "Sorry to cut this short, Luthor, but I have places to be and--people to do," he added with an exaggerated wink.
Lex held out his hand again. "Hope you enjoy your visit to Metropolis, Bruce."
As soon as Wayne was on the elevator headed down to the street, Lex was ordering the building swept for bugs or, as he thought evilly for his own amusement, bat droppings.
+++
"You missed lunch," Clark accused as Lex walked into the crystal bungalow. Since it was a fourteen hour time difference, whenever Lex was in Metropolis, he made it to Clark's for lunch; when he was in Smallville, he made it in time for breakfast.
"Don't blame me," Lex replied smoothly. "Blame your baby daddy."
"My what?" Clark paled. "Batman came to see you?"
"No, Bruce Wayne. Batman slinked in the darkness and wasted more of my time trying to lose him before going to the caves. You do know he's insane, don't you?"
Clark shrugged. "He has his--moments."
"He's paranoid as hell. Hope that's not genetic."
"It's not paranoid to think you're up to something, Lex--it's common sense."
Lex was shocked by the pain of that particular jab. It wasn't as if he didn't know Clark felt that way. Maybe the fact that they'd been getting along so well during this particular "crisis" had led him into fooling himself about the truth of their relationship. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Clark," he said in a near whisper. Then he shook his head and said in a more definite tone, "Listen, Wayne's visit put me behind a bit. So, I'm gonna go back to Smallville and put in some extra time at the desk." He turned toward the portal, but didn't move as Clark's hand wrapped around his arm.
"No, don't go, Lex. I'm sorry about what I said. It's just--I was worried, okay? When you were late I got worried, and I'm a jerk when I'm worried. I even had the A.I. scan the Watchtower's transmissions and the Metropolis P.D. to make sure you weren't in trouble."
"I can take care of myself, Superman."
Clark nodded. "Please, stay for breakfast. I had the A.I. put a plate in stasis for you."
Lex shrugged out of his suit jacket. "It's a good thing I'm an experienced international traveler. Breakfast before bed doesn't faze me in the least."
"There are a lot of good things about you," Clark agreed softly.
Continued in part 2 because lj says the post is too long.
Author: Dayspring
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Rating: Soda (PG equivalency)-Language, vague sex
Warnings: Futurefic, Mpreg
Notes: It's been so long since I posted anything, forgive any errors. Thanks for the read over, K.
Disclaimer: Smallville was the property of the WB and now belongs to the CW, et al. I'm just borrowing their ideas for a little while.
Summary: Lex didn't know what Clark thought he knew, but what he knew, he'd always known.
WHAT HE KNEW By Dayspring
"Mr. Luthor? There's a Clark Kent to see you."
Lex Luthor frowned at the intercom. Clark? Here to see him? He did a quick check of his planner. No, no interviews scheduled. No attempts to take over the Daily Planet. No dead women in his bed. Or mutants in his basement/attic/warehouse. And he could've sworn he missed that opossum in the middle of the road last night. Hmm. What could Clark possibly have to lay into him about? Since, of course, that was the sum whole of their last month of contact--five years ago. Curiosity compelled him to reply, "Send him in, Charity."
The tall reporter came in with a solemn face which disappeared as soon as Charity closed the door behind her. "Tell me you know, Lex. Please tell me you know," Clark demanded with more than a touch of desperation. "You know, right?"
It was the little break in his voice that had Lex lying. He'd labeled Clark a friend years ago and despite their present, where Clark believed Lois Lane's and Superman's lies (and remembered Jonathan's old ones), Lex would always react to Clark's pleas. "Of course I know, Clark. Now take a deep breath and tell me what's going on? How can I help you?"
Clark collapsed in a conveniently placed chair, and Lex propped himself against the desk and looked down at the bowed head. "You know I'll do anything for you," he prompted when Clark wasn't forthcoming.
Clark gave a painful snort. "It's bad enough I'm an alien--"
An alien? Lex frowned. Just how many aliens were on earth? That Martian person, Superman... It all clicked in Lex's mind with a painful clink of his jaw. Jesus fucking Christ! Clark was--why the fuck hadn't he known? The eye color was different. The hair. But.
You are one fucking idiot, Luthor.
"--but now I'm a pregnant alien," Clark wailed.
What? Wait. "Um, you want to repeat that last part, Clark?"
Clark ignored him. "But I can't tell Mom. I mean, I killed her baby. I can't… Besides, she's just now starting to get on with her life, without Dad, I mean, or yours, for that matter. Did you know she's dating this guy she met while working the food pantry on 23rd street? She doesn't need... Damn it, Lex. This is all so screwed up." All this was said without lifting his head.
Martha Kent dating (Lionel NEVER counted). Clark Kent was Superman. And pregnant. Lex headed to the bar. He started to offer Clark a drink, then remembered his condition. "So? Who's the father? The other father, I mean?" Why hadn't he run to him with this news?
"Do you--do you really need to know?"
Need? No. Was going to find out and destroy? That was a sure bet. "Just wanted to know if he was going to be a--complication," he said diplomatically. If Clark wanted nothing to do with this character, Lex was going to remove him from the equation of an already complex problem. Obviously there was going to have to be some kind of cover-up. Superman in maternity tights wasn't an image the public needed to see. At least Clark Kent was a print reporter and not a television personality...
Clark sighed. "You're right; he could be a-a complication. That's why I didn't--aw, hell, Lex, it's Batman, and I'm afraid if he finds out he's going to have me stretched out in one of the Wayne labs so fast, it'd make my head spin."
Wayne labs? As in Bruce Wayne? Lex splashed more alcohol in his glass. Bruce Fucking Wayne was the Batman and he had more money that Lex did. Which means a cover-up could get tricky. But Wayne had ethics--even if they didn't, as Clark supposed, include not putting his lover and embryo through an alien autopsy--and Lex was not so encumbered. Anything for a friend. "It must get interesting up there in the Justice League Watchtower," Lex said, trying to lighten the atmosphere a bit.
Clark lifted his head for that one. "It's not like that. Batman was captured by the Joker and when I rescued him, the ceiling opened up, and we were assaulted with rubber duckies that had some kind of aphrodisiac payload. We got out of there, but then... God, Lex, we ended up rutting in mid-air." His face turned bright red.
"Added a new dimension to the mile-high club, did you?" Lex teased as he plotted a takeover of Wayne Industries. It was a long-term plan, but just like satisfying sex, good revenge took a while.
"Lex!" Clark said in an affronted tone, but Lex saw the tension leave the broad shoulders and knew Clark appreciated the levity.
Lex smiled and slid into his chair behind the desk. It was a very good chair for thinking. "How far along are you?"
"The um--incident happened seven weeks ago."
"How long is a Kryptonian pregnancy?" Before he could formulate a plan, he needed the facts.
"I--I don't know."
"What did your A.I. say when you told it?" Everyone, well, everyone who had a good spy network, knew that Superman had a secret fortress run by an artificial intelligence that was a billion times smarter than any computer humans had come up with.
"Um--"
"You haven't told it," Lex said with a shake of his head. "How do you know you're pregnant then?"
"I saw it." He looked down at his stomach. "It's floating around in there."
"Oh." Lex took a deep breath and leapt to his feet. "Well, first things first. The A.I. has answers we need, Clark. You're still good to fly, aren't you?"
Clark nodded. "Can we leave from here?"
"We?"
"You'll go with me, won't you?"
"Sure," Lex replied, holding back a big "Hell, yeah!" Superman's secret hideout. Superman's super computer. Damn. He had to be dreaming. "Do you have to change or something?" he asked to keep hold of his enthusiasm.
"No. Unless, you want me to?"
Lex shook his head. Flying in Superman's arms would be like a rescue or a trip to the local police station. Flying in Clark's arms would be like a dream, an old dream--a very old wet dream. "Let me inform the office that I'll be away. Wouldn't want my employees thinking you're kidnapping me or anything."
"Yeah, those Kryptonite bullets hurt."
Lex was surprised. "Really? They're just meant to slow you down, not cause agony or lengthy suffering."
Clark shrugged. "They don't. They just sting really badly."
"Wuss," Lex scoffed. "Just for that I think that baby of yours should come out your butt."
"Gee, Lex," Clark said with a wince, "people actually pay to attend your motivational conferences?"
"And I sell the DVDs on eBay at premium prices." He clicked on the button that would immediately connect him to all his heads of staff. "Ladies, Clark Kent and Superman have asked for my assistance with a problem. I don't know how long I'll be gone or how often I'll be gone, so Protocol Five is in effect until further notice. Understood?"
A chorus of "Understood"s followed quickly and Lex cut the connection. "Will I need my heavy overcoat?" Even in the middle of summer, the arctic was bound to be a bit chilly.
Clark did a quick spin and suddenly he was in Superman costume. He unhooked his cape, did another twirl, and was back in Clark Kent's ill-fitting, off-the-rack suit. "This will protect you during the trip and I'll have the A.I. heat the Fortress to human norm."
Lex suffered to have the cape draped around him. "If we're going to do this often, I'll need something in purple, gray, or black, you know."
Clark rolled his eyes. "Being a demanding tyrant is what you teach on those DVDs of yours, isn't it?"
Lex just shrugged and adjusted the cape. "It's an under-appreciated art. Oh, and when we get to the Fortress, you have to ditch this so-called suit you have on, even if it means--and God, I hate to say it--the donning of flannel."
Clark laughed and they took off from the balcony.
+++
Lex never saw the Fortress from the outside. By the time Clark unwrapped him from the protective confines of the cape, they were in the crystalline belly of Superman's lair. Lex looked around in awe, noting the superb support system employed by the crystals. The place would definitely survive an earthquake or two.
"Welcome, Kal-El and friend," a voice echoed in the chamber.
"A.I. this is Lex Luthor. He is here by my full consent and you may speak freely in front of him," Clark said authoritatively. "I need you to scan me and give me a report on my health."
A crystal aimed at Clark, then bathed him in a diffuse light. "You are edayta. How curious."
"Curious how?" Lex demanded.
"Twenty-five million Earth years ago, Kryptonians discovered the sheer joy of exploring their intellect, preferring the mental to the physical to the point that it became a detriment to the continuation of their population. To insure the continuation of the race, a biological mutation was induced into the males of the species. The kendhar is engineered to cause a male to be fertile in two ways--their sperm is increased in number and they will also produce ova. If sex occurs, either the male will impregnate a female or if the intercourse is intra-gendered, the kendhar male will be impregnated."
"So what happened to Clar--um, Kal-El is normal?"
"In a sense. But Kal-El did not go through kendpar, the transitional period. There should have been hormonal and enzymatic fluctuations which would have alerted me to Kal-El's impending condition. If I had known, Kal-El, I would have warned you about unprotected intercourse with either gender."
"Kal-El was exposed to a foreign agent, a particularly potent aphrodisiac. Could this have triggered the kendhar without kendpar?" Lex was exceedingly glad he'd cut back on his drinking during business hours.
"Did you have an intense desire for intercourse, Kal-El?"
Clark looked extremely uncomfortable as he answered. "Yes. I--I impaled myself on my partner immediately after freeing him from his tights."
Lex didn't even want to think about how that must have looked in the skies of Gotham. Well, he didn't want to think about it at this particular moment. Maybe in the privacy of his own bed...
"This foreign agent must be analyzed immediately. Do you have a sample, Kal-El?"
"No, but I know someone who does." He shot a look at Lex.
"Go on," Lex urged. "I have some more questions for the A.I. We'll be fine here together for a few moments. Maybe you better--" Lex did a twirling gesture with his finger. Clark nodded and immediately switched to his Superman costume.
After blinking at the fading streak of color that used to be Clark, Lex addressed the computer. Although the only pregnant women he'd spent any appreciable amount of time with was his mother, who had her own problems, and Lana Lang ((and no, no way in hell was he going there)--Anyway, years of listening assured him that this question was better asked without the subject being in the room. "So, are Clark's hormones acting up?"
"Is he experiencing behavioral changes?" it asked delicately, assuring Lex that there were indeed similarities between human and Kryptonian pregnancies .
Yeah, one big fucking one. "He came to me with this problem. It doesn't make sense. Why me? Why not--the other father?"
There was a pause. "You are not the father?"
"No. Is that a problem?" Lex asked cautiously. A problem as in he had to be neutralized or something for knowing something he shouldn't know?
"I was doing calculations on a hybrid between a Kryptonian and you. Now, I shall have to make adjustments."
"Oh. But the actual father is human."
"But you are not. At least, you are not a typical human. You know of your mutational intricacies?"
Mutational intricacies? That tripped off the tongue a lot easier than, "you're a freak." "Yes, I know of them. Back to the original question, however. How atypical of Cl--Kal-El's behavior was it to confide in me?"
"Not atypical at all. You are his maa'ta."
"His what?"
"Maa'ta. His Other."
Other what?
"He trusts you to be his balance."
Oh. That kind of other. He wondered if it were possible for an A.I. to intake questionable substances. In other words, the A.I. had to be on crack. The cheap stuff. Like found in the alley between 10th and Pine (many, many years ago). "Clark has never trusted me."
"Not true, Lex Luthor. It was always instinctive that he trust you. Unfortunately, the humans who acted as his parents trained him to act against his instincts. Jor-El, the original of my matrix, did not realize humans would be so prejudiced against another's true nature--although their wholesale domestication of some species should have clued him in."
Wholesale domestication? Ah, the A.I. apparently read Clark Kent's occasional op-eds. "So he was supposed to trust me?"
"Yes. He marked you within minutes of his arrival on this planet."
The Kents rescue of his father and him. "There were others who found him first."
"You were the one he chose."
Lex ignored how good that made him feel. He shrugged. "I really wasn't that trustworthy anyway."
"You would have been with his secrets."
Maybe. Probably. Didn't matter. That was the past, and the future was now. "So, tell me what I need to know to make this pregnancy the easiest on Kal-El."
+++
"Kal-El returns."
Lex crammed a small crystal in his pocket and turned from the video screen that had appeared in one of the walls of the Fortress. Superman appeared in the chamber, clutching a small vial. Lex looked at his watch. "Was Batman being excessively stubborn about parting with a sample?"
Superman shook his head. "Brush fire in California."
Lex's eyes narrowed in concern. "You okay?"
"I'm not an invalid!"
Lex looked at Superman. Clark looked at Lex. "Oh, jeez, I sound so pregnant," Clark wailed.
"Guess it's a good thing you are," Lex said casually. "I'm glad you're back. I need a ride on the Super Shuttle back to Metropolis. I have companies to raid and people to break."
"Yeah, okay. I--I can make you forget this...if you want me to."
"If I--You're the one taking the risk, not me."
Clark stared at him, a look deeper than any x-ray. "Am I? Taking a risk?"
Lex shook his head. "No. But you knew that. I am, after all, your maa'ta."
"The A.I.'s giving away all my secrets?" Clark asked with a lopsided smile.
"No, not all. Why would you think I'd want to forget this?"
Clark shrugged. "Keeping my secrets isn't easy."
"Clark, nothing about us has ever been easy. Maybe...maybe if we'd accepted that a long time ago, we wouldn't be living the farce we've been indulging in."
"That's all it's been, isn't it? An indulgence. Otherwise, we would have killed each other years ago."
"Our fathers are both gone. It's time we left them in their graves and got on with being who we were meant to be, Clark. We can't--can't keep reaching back, using their mistakes as our excuses."
Clark nodded and placed a hand on Lex's shoulder. "This, this is why you were my best friend."
"I want to be again." He wasn't going to beg, but this time he was going to make things clear. Clark didn't do subtle well. And apparently from the bright colors of his costume, Superman didn't do it at all.
"I want that, too. Of course, having to get knocked up by a guy in a bat suit just to figure that out, doesn't speak well of me, does it?" Clark joked dryly.
"Hey, don't talk about my best friend like that, all right? I'm Lex Luthor and you don't want to get on my bad side," Lex said with a playful mock jab to Clark's arm. Mock because he had an appointment with his manicurist tomorrow and considering the bitching he'd suffered for having a hangnail--"Gloves, Mr. Lex. Beautiful, sensual leather gloves--even for wiping ass"--he figured Kim would go into a permanent swoon if he showed up with bruised knuckles. And the man really did know his way around hands...
Clark caught the fist before it returned to his side. "Wasn't this fake at one time?"
Lex nodded. "Had to have it amputated because of that damn Kryptonite ring. Took me the better part of a year to re-grow it. Don't tell me you're just now noticing it?"
Clark shrugged. "I just saw the leather gloves and assumed nothing had changed."
Lex snorted. "Let me tell you about a certain obsessive manicurist I know..."
+++
"We can be friends in Metropolis, you know."
"What an original concept," Lex quipped before he looked up from his watch, already smiling at Clark lounging in the doorway of Lex's Smallville "castle" office. He knew it would be Clark standing there instead of Superman, because the Man of Steel was too polite to be five minutes late. Clark, on the other hand, was on time if he arrived within half an hour of an appointment. "We'll have to try it sometimes. As for now, there's method to my madness." He shut down his laptop and reached for his phone. "I'm going out for a while with Mr. Kent," he told his assistant. "If I'm contacted, the earth better be spinning off its axis again."
"Yes, sir."
"So that really happened," Clark remarked when Lex hung up. "Batman was still running diagnostics when the problem just seemed to disappear."
"Still running diagnostics? What kind of slow-ass computers are Wayne Industries shilling these days? I knew of the problem about a week before I got tired of waiting on superheroes and fixed it myself."
"That's, um, kinda fast, Lex. What kind of computer are you using?"
"Just some scrap of metal I cloned from an original at a private school I found in upstate New York."
Clark's eyes widened as he put two and two together. "You're talking about those X-Files people, right?"
Lex dropped his head, shaking it with a sigh. "X-Men, Clark, X-Men. Not Mulder and Scully."
"Riiight. That's those dolls--"
"Action figures."
"Action figures that you have in your bedroom, right? Last time I scanned your bedroom for, you know, nefarious machinery and such, wasn't the Mulder doll--I mean, action figure--shacking up with Warrior Angel in the Angel Lair playset--I mean, scale model replica?"
"That was during the impossible pregnancy arc. After Scully dropped the kid, Mulder moved back home to the basement office."
"How wonderful for both of them, and where are we going?" Clark asked as he followed Lex to the garage.
"Out for an evening drive. And yes, their reunion was quite wonderful. Warrior Angel visits whenever he can."
"So Mulder's living on the down low with Warrior Angel. Isn't this the way to the Kawatche caves?"
"Yes, this is the way to the caves. And no, there's no 'down low' when a three-way satisfies everyone."
Clark leaned back against the smooth leather seat. "You're weird. And a geek."
"At least I don't wear spandex."
"I didn't know you knew the X-Men. Is there some mutant-only club I don't know about?"
"The professor and I share a scalp masseuse."
"Oh."
They pulled up in at the caves. "I'm surprised you haven't started charging an entry fee," Clark commented wryly.
"Nah, I saved that for the Kawatche themepark I opened in Japan a few years ago. It's all underground with an attached under the sea aquarium. Michael Jackson plays the amphitheater at least once a year."
Clark got out of the low-slung car and stared at Lex doing the same. "This is why I have to search your bedroom for nefarious machinery," he pointed out calmly.
"You're giving me shivers, Clark. Come along. Bright and shiny objects await us inside."
Clark followed docilely until they came to a cave wall that was flashing with multi-colored lights. Actually, it reminded Lex of his club-hopping days--and really good drugs. "Lex, what is that?"
"A portal, gateway, wormhole--pick your choice."
"And it leads where?" Clark asked hesitantly.
"Alpha Centauri, of course," Lex replied, barely keeping from rolling his eyes. "Honestly, Clark. I know we've been enemies for years, but come on, man. I thought we'd put all that shit behind us. Trust me, all right?"
"Um, sure."
Lex gave in and rolled his eyes. Then he grabbed Clark's arm and pulled him through the portal with him. They stepped out into a lot of sunlight. Lex pulled out and slipped on a pair of shades. Clark just gawked.
Lex had to admit, once he cut the glare, that their surrounding was a sight to behold. The crystal fortress was spectacular in snow, but was spellbinding in the center of the white sand island, ringed by a spectacular blue ocean.
"You moved the Fortress?" Clark asked, raising his face automatically to the full sun.
"No, just grew another one. Crystal is crystal--made of ice or sand."
Clark gave him a sharp look. "You stole a matrix crystal?" he asked in a Superman tone of voice.
Lex sighed. "Feel free to get over yourself at any time."
"I requested Lex Luthor take one of the matrix columns, Kal-El," the A.I. scolded. "We discussed what and where would comprise a safe, healing environment for you to spend your gravid period and made plans accordingly. It was to be a surprise."
"Oh. Sorry, Lex. Old habits can be a bitch."
"So can old friends."
Clark nodded meekly, then grinned. "I really like this! All this sunlight!"
"Guaranteed sunny days until monsoon season, and by that time you'll be back in not so sunny Kansas. This is a very remote island, so you don't have to worry about intruders. And it's owned, wholly and entirely, by me--not LuthorCorp, LexCorp, or any subsidiaries. My own sovereign nation of one," Lex said.
"Where are we?"
"South Pacific. Outside of any shipping lanes or flight paths. The perfect hideaway for the hero who 'got into trouble.'"
"Papa don't preach," Clark sang glibly.
Lex sighed. "There just had to be a Madonna revival, didn't there?"
"But I made up my mind, I'm keeping my baby," Clark continued to sing. Then he stopped. "I've fucked it all up, haven't I?" he asked sadly.
"Nonsense," Lex said sternly. "If anyone fucked up anything, it was the Joker. And I don't agree that it is fucked up--this is a good thing. There need to be more Kents in the world." His eyes sparked with amusement. "Even those who might run around in little red cowls one day."
"It's a good thing you went into business and not comedy," Clark said dryly, but with a hint of a smile. "How am I going to explain this?"
"Easy. Superman will tell the League and anyone else who needs to know that the A.I. has found evidence that suggests there may be another living Kryptonian somewhere in the universe--outside the Phantom Zone, that is, and you're going off-world to search. You will return with a baby Kryptonian, who has apparently been in stasis since the planetary explosion. It is, of course, your duty to raise the child.
"Clark Kent will request a sabbatical from the Daily Planet. You're tired. You're losing the objectivity that made your bylines so unique. You need to travel, to see life more pure, less corrupt than in Metropolis. A young, dying mother makes an appeal to you, and you being you, you honor her deathbed request that you adopt her child. You write a series of articles about being a single father, win several awards, and Perry White worships at your feet. Does that cover everything, or do you have another secret identity I don't know about yet?"
Clark stared at him for a long moment. "Damn, you're good."
Lex shrugged. "Lots of practice."
"What about emergencies? If the League has trouble?"
"World spinning off its axis, remember? I'll pick up your slack. What?" he nearly snapped when Clark continued to stare at him.
"When I was a teenager, you were my hero. You saved me from that stupid field. You went into the plant to save a bunch of scared teenagers you barely knew. You helped me--and my friends--whenever I asked. You had cool cars and cool toys and you eagerly shared them with me. Watching you follow your dad down that dark road...it broke my heart. I wish I hadn't been the typical teenager, so full of myself that I didn't have room for anyone else. I wish I could've been the man you wanted, the man strong enough to hold you back from that road, or at least give you encouragement to keep searching for another way, to keep fighting. I let you down. I let you fall. Yet, when I called for help, when I threw myself at your feet yesterday, you didn't hesitate."
Lex shrugged. "You're my friend."
"And it's just that easy for you?"
"Why should it be more complicated?"
Clark sighed. "Seriously, Lex. I've been to different planets, different solar systems, met beings that in no way, shape, or form resemble humans. Some speak with their minds, some with their limbs, some have their pets speak for them. But none has confused me, messed with my mind, rocked my sense of my self, like you. You...confound me."
Lex cleared his throat. "Is that good or bad?"
"I have no idea."
"Well, you'll have a lot of time to think about it while you have your lie in."
"Lie in? You make me sound like some nineteenth century maiden!"
Lex snorted. "Well, you are an unwed moth--um, parent."
Clark rolled his eyes. "Next thing I know, you'll be offering to marry me and make an honest wo--uh, man out of me."
"Would you like that, Clark? Because I will, if that's what you want."
"This is Kansas," Clark said, wide-eyed.
"And I'm Lex Luthor," Lex replied with a laugh. "If I don't pay attention to the 'good' laws, why would I even give the 'bad' ones any consideration. So should I have one of my minions bring me my best tux or what?"
Shaking his head, Clark smiled. "As Superman, I've raged so much about your stubbornness that I'd forgotten your tenacity could be useful. Thanks for the offer, Lex, but your friendship is enough for now. No need for 'plighting your troth' or whatever."
"Just know the offer's permanently on the table, Clark. So, you going to stop off at the farm to fill your mother in?" Once she'd retired from politics, Martha had decided to come back to Smallville. Although the farm land was rented out, she continued to live in the still yellow house.
"I'm not--I'm not going to tell her the truth, Lex. She'll get the same off-world story I'm telling everyone else."
"You think she'll be disappointed in you?"
"No, it's nothing like that. It's...It's been years since she had to put up with a new freakish talent of mine. After what I put her through during my teens, she deserves to have a real break."
"She loves you, Clark. And she'll love the idea of having a grandchild."
Clark shrugged. "I really want this to stay just between the two of us, Lex."
"Your wish is my command," Lex said with a minimal bow of his head.
"Master," Clark said with a smirk.
"Excuse me?"
"I think the general term is 'your wish is my command, master.'"
"Is my navel showing? Do I have tassels dangling from um...places? I'm not your personal djinn, Clark." Lex stomped toward the gateway that suddenly popped into existence. "But I can do submission at times," he added, winking at Clark before stepping through the portal. He did so hope Clark wiped the drool from his lip before getting into the car.
+++
"There's a Bruce Wayne to see you, sir," Charity chirped through the intercom.
Lex grinned at his secretary's audacity. A Bruce Wayne? Like there was more than one. "Well, if it's the one who's almost as rich as I am, by all means show him in." Last week's Top 100 had put LexCorp a couple of million ahead of Wayne Industries--and, no, he hadn't danced in front of his mirror with a copy of the magazine. He'd been chasing a rather stubborn fly.
Lex walked around the desk and held out his hand to the dashing playboy he now knew was also the Dark Knight. Was he the only person in the whole frackin' world that didn't have a secret identity? "Wayne, what brings you to my fair city?" he asked amicably.
"Just thought I'd give you the courtesy of letting you know I was in town, Luthor," Wayne's deep voice rumbled. "As one 'prince of the city' to another, of course."
"Of course. Can I get you anything? Coffee, cognac, a vestal virgin, perhaps?"
"Ah, now I know I'm not in Gotham; we ran out of virgins years ago."
Lex shared a laugh with him, noticing the whiteness of his teeth and the sexiness of his voice. Damn. No wonder why Clark had jumped on that. "So what brings you into the light of Metropolis?"
"The Prudhomme auction. There are a couple of pieces I'm interested in."
Bullshit. There was nothing worth bidding on in the entire collection. So that meant Wayne wasn't here--the Batman was. Probably trying to figure out why Lex was being so cooperative the past three months. Hell, just two days ago, LexCorp had sent people down to help out hurricane victims in fucking Mississippi. The only thing he knew about Mississippi was the song he'd learned in school to help spell Mississippi. "Knock yourself out. You have no competition from me."
"Thought you might be looking for pieces for that castle of yours in Smallville. Heard you'd been visiting there quite a bit recently."
Definitely the Batman trying to suss out evildoings. "Well, to be frank, without Superman to vex, Metropolis has been kind of boring."
"Oh, Superman's not here?"
Lex struggled not to roll his eyes. "He took off for parts unknown a few months ago. Told me himself. Made me promise to behave."
Wayne gave a dry chuckle. "Surely you're not serious."
"I am," Lex replied, throwing up his hands in innocence. "Superman knows the rest of those costumed freaks can't handle me, and well, without him it'd be like visiting a zoo without predators, you know. The monkeys by themselves can only be so amusing. You need a lion, an alpha beast, to amp the adrenaline, you know?"
Wayne coughed and fought back a glare. "And Smallville amps the adrenaline in his absence?"
Lex laughed aloud. "Smallville? No, Smallville is a place of quiet contemplation most of the time. It's the place I go when I need to slow down and look at where I am and where I want to be. Smallville changed my life twice. I guess you can call it my personal crossroads."
"Just think, I went all the way to China to find myself, and I could've just gone to Smallville," Wayne said dryly.
Lex smiled. "I was never big on Chinese imports. Go American is my motto." Go away was also a good motto.
Wayne seemed to read his mind. "Well, I hate to cut short this informal meeting of the Billionaires Boys Club, but I have merchandise to examine and beauties to escort."
Lex stood when he did. "Ah, the pain of being a professional playboy. At least you get to moonlight."
The blue death ray glare made it to the surface this time. "Moonlight?"
Lex would've shivered if he wasn't used to large, dark men barking threats at him. "Yes, as a businessman, Wayne. Whatever did you think I meant?"
Wayne just shook his head. "I hope I get the same courtesy if you ever come to Gotham?"
"Of course. However, I don't say this to hurt your feelings, but Gotham's one big asylum. I can't see me ever willingly visiting the place."
"Every city has their dark side, Luthor, even glittery Metropolis."
"I know all about fool's gold, but even Gotham's resident tights wearer is rumored to be a bit unhinged. He dresses up as a giant bat!" Lex bit the inside of his jaw to keep from laughing as Bruce Wayne's eyebrows shot to the top of his head.
A second later, Wayne's demeanor was back in place and he glanced at his watch. "Sorry to cut this short, Luthor, but I have places to be and--people to do," he added with an exaggerated wink.
Lex held out his hand again. "Hope you enjoy your visit to Metropolis, Bruce."
As soon as Wayne was on the elevator headed down to the street, Lex was ordering the building swept for bugs or, as he thought evilly for his own amusement, bat droppings.
+++
"You missed lunch," Clark accused as Lex walked into the crystal bungalow. Since it was a fourteen hour time difference, whenever Lex was in Metropolis, he made it to Clark's for lunch; when he was in Smallville, he made it in time for breakfast.
"Don't blame me," Lex replied smoothly. "Blame your baby daddy."
"My what?" Clark paled. "Batman came to see you?"
"No, Bruce Wayne. Batman slinked in the darkness and wasted more of my time trying to lose him before going to the caves. You do know he's insane, don't you?"
Clark shrugged. "He has his--moments."
"He's paranoid as hell. Hope that's not genetic."
"It's not paranoid to think you're up to something, Lex--it's common sense."
Lex was shocked by the pain of that particular jab. It wasn't as if he didn't know Clark felt that way. Maybe the fact that they'd been getting along so well during this particular "crisis" had led him into fooling himself about the truth of their relationship. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Clark," he said in a near whisper. Then he shook his head and said in a more definite tone, "Listen, Wayne's visit put me behind a bit. So, I'm gonna go back to Smallville and put in some extra time at the desk." He turned toward the portal, but didn't move as Clark's hand wrapped around his arm.
"No, don't go, Lex. I'm sorry about what I said. It's just--I was worried, okay? When you were late I got worried, and I'm a jerk when I'm worried. I even had the A.I. scan the Watchtower's transmissions and the Metropolis P.D. to make sure you weren't in trouble."
"I can take care of myself, Superman."
Clark nodded. "Please, stay for breakfast. I had the A.I. put a plate in stasis for you."
Lex shrugged out of his suit jacket. "It's a good thing I'm an experienced international traveler. Breakfast before bed doesn't faze me in the least."
"There are a lot of good things about you," Clark agreed softly.
Continued in part 2 because lj says the post is too long.