Fic: Spooky Stuff (6/7, complete, all parts linked)
Art by sanadafaye
Back to Master Post
Back to Part 5
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Lex was pretty happy with this development. Clark was sitting on the couch with him, curled up in the corner. Lex was sitting in his lap, with Clark’s arms around him, and their legs were tangled together with the blanket over them both. Clark was quite warm, and it felt rather nice being held up against him like this.
Of course, Lex was apparently quite warm, as well.
“103,” Clark said grimly, reading off the thermometer, then shaking it with light, quick snaps before setting it down on the coffee table.
“There should be a law against somebody feeling so cold when they’re not,” Lex grumbled.
“I really don’t think that’d do any good, Lex,” Clark said evenly.
Lex started to talk, then coughed a few times again. Clark rubbed circles on his back until he stopped, which was also nice. Lex leaned into him a little more, and slid down his chest a little with a sigh, shuttering his eyes.
“How long have you been coughing?” Clark asked.
Lex burrowed into Clark’s chest a little more, not responding.
“Lex?”
“I’m not sure,” he said quietly. “A little after I collapsed…” He belatedly realized that-
“You collapsed?”
--it probably would have been better to have kept that to himself. “Maybe a little.”
“How do you collapse a little?” Lex could almost hear Clark’s eyes narrowing.
“Caught myself on the chair on the way down; my head never hit the floor.”
“Lex…” Clark said with no small amount of consternation. “You… Are you…” Then he sighed. “When was the last time you ate-?”
“I got something to eat,” Lex said.
“Besides the hot chocolate, I mean. That doesn’t count.”
“I had soup and warm milk.”
“When?” and Lex could hear Clark’s frown in his voice.
“A little while ago. While you were upstairs.” Lex shifted and curled into Clark a little more before continuing. “Is that… was that…?” he asked tentatively, because god knew whether that was something socially unacceptable or not in this household.
“Lex, you don’t need an open invitation to eat anything here, even when you aren’t sick, ok?” Clark chided. “Heck, Mom would be ecstatic if you took us up on it. She thinks you’re too skinny.” Lex relaxed again. “Was it the chicken noodle?”
“Yes. …I had two bowls,” he added as an afterthought.
“Good,” Clark said firmly. “What other symptoms do you have, besides the fever and the cough?”
Lex was glad Clark didn’t include the collapsing bit out loud, even if it was obvious that he’d mentally tacked it on to the end of the list. “My lung capacity’s diminished.”
“Anything else?” Clark said, and it sounded like he was thinking hard.
“I’m not sure,” Lex sighed softly. “I didn’t exactly have a tame day today.” He thought for a moment. “I’m tired and aching, but that could just be from everything with Rothman, and then the long walk through bad weather. I… did have a little chest pain earlier, and I sneezed once before that.”
Clark let out a long breath, then finally said, after awhile, “You might have pneumonia.”
Lex grumbled to himself. He knew what that was. It was just his luck that he’d come down with something that would take advantage of his weaker lungs. It would’ve been nice if the meteors had picked some other day to apparently revoke his ‘doesn’t get sick anymore’ card on him.
“I suppose I really am sick, then,” he muttered.
“Yes,” Clark replied, hugging him a little in an attempt to try and make him feel better, no doubt.
“Stupid pneumonia,” Lex grumbled. He felt Clark let out a small silent rush of air - a laugh? - and rubbed his arm up and down in a conciliatory gesture.
There was silence for a time, and Lex slowly felt warmer and overall better. He blamed that on Clark, really. After some indeterminate period, though, Lex remembered what he’d wondered earlier, that was maybe a bad idea to ask. But he really wanted to know, and all he had to do was…
…well, it was official: curiosity was going to be his downfall. “Clark?”
“Hm?”
“What would you do if I said I was going in to work tomorrow?”
Clark pulled back a little and shifted to face Lex, frowning down at him. “You are not going in to work tomorrow,” he declared firmly.
“But-“
“You’re sick!”
Lex smiled slightly. He couldn’t help it. “Clark-“
“--can’t believe you’d even think of-“
“I’m not going in,” Lex interrupted, relenting before things got bad. Clark gave him a disbelieving glare. “I’m not, really.”
“…Good,” Clark said after awhile, then pulled him back and hugged him against his chest again. That really did feel nice. Lex pushed his luck again.
“But, if I did…”
“Lex,” Clark all but growled down at him.
“It’s just hypothetical,” Lex mumbled quickly. “I’m just wondering what you’d do if you thought I might. That’s all.”
Clark seemed to be turning that over in his head. He could practically hear the judgmental nature of those thoughts, even. Something like: Is he lying to me or telling the truth? Do I trust what he said?
“Really not going in to work tomorrow. I’ll call Gabe and leave a message tonight if it’ll help convince you,” Lex grumbled.
“It’s a little late to call-“ Clark paused as the implications caught up to him. “Wait, you really mean that?”
Lex nodded against his chest.
“Oh. Well, good.” And he could almost feel Clark brighten as the tension against his cheek melted away under a more relaxed rise-and-fall.
“Clark?” Lex poked him gently with a finger. He hadn’t gotten his answer yet.
Clark paused for a moment, then laughed slightly as he realized what Lex wanted. “Oh, right! Well, that’s easy. I’d just sic mom on you,” Clark ended matter-of-factly.
Lex blinked.
“Ah, well,” Lex dissembled, suddenly feeling a little out of his depth, “how would she stop me? She’s not here.” Hell, she wouldn’t even know about any of it until after Clark’s parents had both gotten back the next afternoon, far too late and well after the fact.
“I’d call her up and have her yell at you,” Clark grinned. Lex twisted away a little and stared up in disbelief. “They left the number for the hotel they were going to stay at in the note on the fridge.”
Lex frowned and opened his mouth to retort, but Clark shook his head and cut him off. “What, you think she couldn’t make you take the day off?” his friend said with no small amusement.
Lex opened and closed his mouth a few times before snapping it shut. Then he favored Clark with a glare. “That’s not fair,” he said, before realizing how inane that must have sounded.
“Neither is you having to go in tomorrow after everything today,” Clark shot right back, taking him perfectly seriously.
Lex gave up. He knew when he was outmaneuvered, and it wasn’t like he was trying to win anything. He reminded himself that he’d already decided not to go in to work tomorrow, that this was not a challenge and there was no reason to feel so stubborn and like he had something to prove all of a sudden. He dropped his head against Clark’s chest again, tucked himself under Clark’s chin, and burrowed into him a little. Clark let him. Then he curled his arms around Lex a little more, squirmed slightly, and then relaxed even further into the side of the couch, slowly pulling Lex back with him.
Lex closed his eyes and he let out his breath in a very soft sigh as Clark’s warmth slowly sank into him. His fingers twitched slightly as he had the sudden urge to reach up and run his fingers through Clark’s hair. His really nice, silky hair. He curled his fingers into Clark’s soft flannel shirt instead, and slowly took as deep a breath as he could manage at the moment without wincing and felt the tension ease out of his limbs as he breathed out. After a few minutes of this he felt like he must resemble a pool of jelly.
It was quiet, broken only by the soft muffled rainfall. Serene. The only thing breaking the perfection of the moment was… the spacecraft sitting there on the other side of his eyelids, which probably should be bothering him, but it wasn’t. …Well, not in the way he’d expected. This was a private moment and not something he’d want to do in front of anything or anyone, and he had the sudden urge to tell it to get lost.
He opened his eyes and realized that he hadn’t actually been consciously thinking about the thing at all for at least a few-minute stretch, this time.
He highly doubted that he was going to doze off in front of it, though, despite how comfortable Clark was. That didn’t seem to have changed in the last… hour or so. He’d felt even more tired earlier and been completely unable to do so then, and that wasn’t going to change anytime soon, he realized. He really needed to get home and physically away from the thing so he could get some sleep. The thought sent a bolt of dissatisfaction through his frame, though, because the last thing he wanted to do right then was move.
“What’s wrong?” and Clark started to gently rub his back; he must’ve sensed something was the matter. That just made everything vaguely worse, and the decision so much harder.
“I should go…” Lex finally managed to say.
“…Go?” came the puzzled reply.
“I should go home.” Was this really a difficult concept?
“Why?”
Lex squeezed his eyes shut. Apparently, it was. “I need rest.”
“You can’t stay the night here?” Clark asked, sounding a little… odd.
“Clark, I can’t spend the night on the couch. I won’t be able to fall asleep.” Not to mention that I’m probably going to feel like hell even if I manage to fall asleep in a comfortable bed. He glared a little at the spaceship as Clark shifted. It felt like he followed his gaze and Lex could almost feel him start as he made the connection.
“Lex, you don’t have to sleep on the couch! I mean, I don’t want you to,” he dissembled a little bit.
Lex processed this, frowning. “Clark, I’m not kicking you out of your own room.”
“It’s fine,” Clark said, but Lex felt hitching tension in his friend.
“You… you wouldn’t be able to fall asleep staring it in the face, either; can you?” Lex realized with a sudden flash of insight, pulling away and sitting up straight. No wonder Clark had been able to understand Lex right away.
With his hands on Clark upper arms, he felt Clark wince under him. With that confirmation received, Lex set his jaw. “I’m going home, all right?” he said, his tone making it not a question.
“No, you’re not.”
Lex sucked in a breath all at once. That came across like… --Clark couldn’t have meant that the way it sounded. Like… an order… Like he had no choice.
Lex went still and he was suddenly highly aware of the fact that his cellphone wasn’t working, the landline was connected to the kitchen wall on the other side of the house, and Clark was larger than him, had demonstrated earlier on the porch exactly how much stronger he was, and was very close by. His paranoia screamed at him, and it was a real struggle to stay calm and relaxed. For the first time ever, he had to work to remind himself that Clark was his friend and would not physically force him to do something he did not want to do. He simply was not that sort of person.
“I don’t have the truck, you don’t have a car. You are not walking home in that,” Clark added quietly, waving his hand back at the window, and it helped take the edge off, but only slightly.
“I can-“
“What, hail down a taxicab?” Clark added sarcastically.
Lex was about to argue that yes, he could get one… up until he remembered that this was Smallville and they didn’t even have a taxi service within the town limits that he could call. The nearest was located in Metropolis.
“I’ll call the mansion; they can send someone down with the limousine,” he said quietly. It would be horrid, but there it was.
“You’re going to wake everybody up to have somebody have to get up out of bed and go outside to come get you in this weather?” Clark said, not believing what he was hearing.
Lex winced.
“Not to mention how sick you are? You need to be in bed, not moving around out in the cold and getting all wet again!”
“’m not that sick,” Lex mumbled.
“Yes, you are.”
Lex bit down on a snarl. Irrational anger pooled in his stomach, and he spat out, sarcastically, “Well, where am I going to sleep, then, Clark? Your parents’ room? Or perhaps the guest room?” Then he stopped short, startled, and looked up at Clark, suddenly wondering why he hadn’t thought of the guest room earlier, and then felt a little uneasy because he couldn’t think of a reason why Clark wouldn’t have suggested it first.
Clark sighed and shook his head. “No, you can’t stay the night in there. The guest room’s full of stuff, even the bed’s completely covered.” Lex started to frown and wondered why they couldn’t just straighten it up temporarily, and Clark misinterpreted it, adding, “What, did you think that the spaceship was left out here when we did have space someplace else? My parents aren’t stupid, Lex, they…” he trailed off and they both stared at each other.
Lex realized it about the same time Clark did. Lex started laughing hysterically while Clark just looked flabbergasted and a little pissed off at him. “Lex, they couldn’t… I mean… that’s not--!”
“It’s a… a big bed, right? At least queen-sized?” Lex managed to get out between giggles. “It’d… fit…” he grinned.
“Lex, they couldn’t--!” He was glancing at the ship and away, over and over, obviously having a hard time visualizing what it would look like nestled in the middle of his parent’s bed like a giant metallic egg. “That’s just wrong!”
The look of utter disgusted teenage horror combined with that tone… just set Lex off again.
“Oh, for--!” Clark exclaimed as Lex collapsed against him laughing again. He threw up his hands in the air and rolled his eyes skyward.
Lex finally calmed himself down a little. Clark’s death glare helped. “Sorry, sorry, I…” Then, he realized that not all of that ire was directed at him.
“Clark…” he started gently, then sighed. “Look, that’s not something most people would think of,” Clark tensed and crossed his arms, glaring off to the side, so he tried a different tack. “Could they even get it up the stairs?”
Clark blinked and turned back to him, shoulders dropping slightly. “What?” Then he glanced back at the spaceship again and over at the staircase, frowning slightly as he thought.
“…I don’t know,” Clark said after awhile. “It’s heavy, but not that heavy… I mean, they got it up the porch steps,” he frowned a little more as he probably came to the same conclusion as Lex did - they had probably brought it up those stairs side-by-side, an impossibility for the indoor staircase. “It could fit if they tilted it, but…” The angry tension slowly eased out of him as he thought through the difficulty of it. “No, they probably couldn’t.”
“And they must have moved it in here in the afternoon, while it was still light out and people were still tromping around your farm.” Otherwise, Clark would have known that it was in here. “That must’ve taken some deft maneuvering as it was to keep anyone from seeing it or becoming suspicious of what they were doing,” Lex said, feeling impressed despite himself at the Kent’s ingenuity. He’d had C.E.P. inspectors around the plant before, and they were notorious for getting their noses into anything and everything. They would have been on the lookout for any behavior that might have suggested that they could have been improperly storing fertilizers or other chemical compounds themselves, and with the ship having come from the storm cellar - a prime storage place for just that sort of material - and the house, part of the property and technically part of the area they were allowed to search if they had probable cause, could have been searched if they’d noticed anything. Trying to move something around with any sort of secrecy should have gotten the C.E.P. up in arms and demanding to see the offending items being hidden from their oversight. Lex honestly could not think of a way that they could have pulled it off.
“Not really. Mom could’ve just kept them busy while dad moved it up to the house,” Clark shrugged. Lex stared at him in astonishment. “No, really - you can’t see the cow pasture until you walk over the ridge; they were all over in the field - it goes both ways,” he explained.
“I thought you said it was heavy?”
“Not that heavy, and dad’s pretty strong. He just would’ve had to get it out of the cellar and onto a dropcloth or something on his own, then dragged it along up to the door.”
“But if someone else saw it-“
“Who else lives around here? Lana and Nell live a mile away, and the town’s farther. It’s just us out here. Mom’s friendly, and she could’ve asked whether everybody was there and what they’d found where in the field to get an idea of where everybody was and when. The C.E.P. guys had no reason to move past the fields where the dumping happened.” From Clark’s tone, he really wasn’t seeing the difficulty or the risk of attempting to perform such a daring feat in broad daylight and in plain sight, no less.
“Then why did your parents feel a need to move it in the first place?” Lex pressed.
“I guess somebody must’ve talked about taking samples from down in the cellar at some point,” Clark shrugged. “If they had to leave before the C.E.P. guys had finished working, then they wouldn’t be able to redirect them if they did that. …I don’t know; it’s just a guess. I haven’t talked to them yet, and it’s too late to call tonight. I’ll know tomorrow after we talk.”
"What are you going to tell them?" Lex asked, morbidly curious.
"About what?"
Lex looked up at him, frowning. "About me."
"What about you?"
Lex pushed himself up slowly, starting to feel a good bit of apprehension. "About me knowing. ...About the spaceship. ...What happened, how I saw it." Clark's continuing blank stare was starting to make him nervous. "I assume they'd like to talk to me about..." he trailed off.
"You're not talking to them about the spaceship," Clark said slowly.
"Why not?" He certainly wanted to. It was only the reverse that ought to be worrisome, right?
"Lex," Clark said, shifting farther upright and looking worried, headed towards panic, "You can't talk to anyone about this."
"But they already know about the spaceship," Lex pointed out. What was he missing here? Clark had taken him finding out fine, and trusted him enough to leave him alone for a nontrivial period of time with it and access to outside communication. His parents would surely be somewhat swayed by the fact that he hadn’t abused that trust, especially when Clark backed him up, wouldn't they?
"No, Lex--"
"They don't know?" Lex said, being contrary. Short of Clark having lied about the note and the spaceship having moved itself indoors without the opposable thumbs necessary to turn doorknobs, he didn't see how that would be possible.
Then he got sidetracked for a moment thinking of all the ways alien tech could have gotten it inside on its own: teleportation? Telekinesis? An ability to phase through walls? Given the range of meteor mutant abilities seen thus far, none of this was necessarily outside the realm of possibility, and--
Wait a minute...
"Yes, they know -- I told you... Lex, they can't know that you know. You can't tell them you know!"
Lex wrenched his thoughts back to their discussion. "Clark--" Lex had a sinking feeling about this.
"No! Look, you aren't going to talk to anyone about the spaceship, ever. So they don't have to know!"
Lex eyes widened in shock -- Clark was talking about keeping a secret with him from his own family, and he knew what sort of relationship Clark had with his parents; he knew what this implied. The Kents had always closed ranks together before, and generally presented a unified front against the world, despite any inner conflicts that might or might not exist. This would drive a wedge between them, and the cost to Clark would be... unacceptable. Mr. Kent did try to be a good role model for his son, though Lex did not agree with what that closed-minded bigot thought was "right" and "wrong" behavior -- such as where any association with younger Luthors fell into that spectrum -- and despite what Lex believed to be Mr. Kent's failings, he had never questioned the fact that Jonathan Kent did provide for his family, and it was undeniable that he loved his adopted son fiercely.
Poor choice in initial home placement aside, Lex did not want to come between Clark and his father in a manner that would force Clark to choose between them, even if it resulted in Jonathan's loss, because given Clark's feelings and upbringing, such a thing would irrevocably damage Clark, and Lex knew it. Lex knew better than to jeopardize what looked from all aspects to be unconditional love, something he never would have thought existed in this world before he'd met Clark and his family. And Lex was the one putting Clark in this position, which meant Lex was the one balanced on the knife's edge. This is dangerous ground, Lex realized. Tread carefully.
"Clark," he said lowly and with great care, "If you thought I would tell someone about the ship," he watched Clark go a little pale but continued anyway, because he had to know, "What would you do?"
"I'd have to call my parents," he said quietly, looking Lex in the eye, even though it was clear he didn't want to.
Lex stared right back, and slowly processed that statement. It was a warning. Clark was trying to tell him something he couldn't say. Then he closed his eyes and sucked in a breath and shivered slightly as he realized what Clark hadn't said. Because Clark didn't say that he'd have to tell them, or talk to them: Clark had said that he'd have to call them right away at this time of night.
Yet Lex still couldn't see the urgency that would cause. He blinked his eyes back open and then rubbed his hands up and down Clark's arms to try and calm his young friend down. He hadn't meant to scare him.
Well, they had just talked earlier about being more direct and open, hadn't they? So Lex started to explain his thought process at the moment, hoping that Clark would work with him, give him some clue as to what was going on that he was missing.
"Clark, I don't understand why this needs to be kept a secret so badly. Knowing that aliens are out there, seeing the spaceship, and learning from it..." he felt Clark tense under his hands, and he kept lightly rubbing his arms, trying to soothe him while keeping physical contact with him, because, if he'd learned anything about him at all, it was that Clark responded much better to close physical proximity than anything else when discussing things in close confidence. He didn't start talking again until Clark was merely bridge-cable tense once more and able to hold the load, not piano-wire tense and about to snap. "Sharing this could change the world, in a lot of good ways. What detriment could it cause to anyone if..." he trailed off as Clark tensed suddenly under his hands again.
Then he finally remembered that secrets and lies were not always used to misdirect solely for one's personal benefit and the loss of others. Sometimes they were used to protect--
Lex's eyes widened as it came to him like a lightning strike of clarity through the fog of his ill-structured thoughts. And it honestly hadn't occurred to him before; it was just that crazy...
"They didn’t just find the spacecraft. Your parents know the alien this belongs to, don't they?" Lex breathed out.
Clark trembled once and nodded. It was evident that he was afraid to look away for even a moment.
"They're... keeping it safe for... him?" Lex added slowly.
Clark nodded jerkily.
Lex swallowed. "Do you know who it is?"
Clark looked about to cry. He closed his eyes, bowed his head, and then remained stone still.
"Clark, you don't have to tell me who it is, all right? Just..." Clark jerked away from him suddenly, and he couldn't allow that to happen. Lex rearranged himself into a kneeling posture in front of Clark, ignoring the blanket as it slid down away from his shoulders and reached his hands up, gently stroking the sides of Clark's face. "Just, do you know..."
"Yes," came the hoarse whispered reply, eyes downcast.
Lex let a slow shallow breath out, because now would be a very bad time to start coughing.
"And you can't tell me." Lex had a growing, sickening feeling. "It hurts to talk about this."
"Y-yes. I'm sorry, I--" Clark voice broke as he brought his head up, unshed tears shining in his eyes. "I can't, I just can't. My parents --I can't!"
That alien bastard. Had he threatened Clark? Threatened the lives of his parents? Had it --he done something to them that physically prevented them from speaking about it by inflicting great pain?
"God, you are going to hate me when you find out--" Clark continued, pulling inwards and shuddering.
"No," Lex said firmly, tilting Clark's chin back up and laying his other hand on his shoulder.
"...What?" Clark said, startled beyond belief.
"I'm not going to try to track him down." Clark looked at him in utter disbelief, near-incomprehension. "If you think it's too dangerous, if you truly believe that and want me to stay out of it, I will. For your safety. But if that alien finds out that I know and tries to hurt you--"
"That's not--!!" Clark exclaimed, surprising both of them with his interruption. For a moment Clark looked like he wanted to clap his hands over his mouth, but then he seemed to regroup. "Lex, I-- the, the... alien isn't the problem here, ok?" he said, looking oddly nervous. "I'm... I'm not in any danger of..." He looked horribly frustrated and shook his head a few times, clenching his fists on his knees.
Lex was taken aback. "It's just your parents that are the problem here?"
Clark nodded miserably, looking away.
“So, wait-“ Lex was having trouble turning that one over in his head. “The alien wouldn’t have a problem with me knowing?”
“I-- the alien already knows, Lex,” Clark shrugged, trying to do it noncommittally.
Lex stared at him. Then his head whipped around and he stared at the spacecraft. Then he looked back at Clark and pointed at the spacecraft.
“What--? No! That’s not… No. Um,” Clark replied. “Just… no. He’s, uh, …around,” he ended vaguely.
Lex blinked, lowering his arm. Then he thought about that. There was only one conclusion he could draw from that, which coincidently could explain why Mr. Kent always seemed so protective when he was...
“Your parents are sheltering him on the farm?”
Clark looked a little startled, then hesitantly nodded sheepishly.
“Hm. I guess that explains why your father is always so ready to kick me off the property.”
“Oh. No, that’s because he thinks you’ll be a bad influence on him,” Clark grinned, then he realized it and tried to wipe the expression off his face with not a whole lot of success.
“…Not because he’s afraid I’ll spot him?” Lex said skeptically, raising his eyebrows. He slowly began to relax, Clark’s lightening mood lessening his own anxiety.
“Uh, no, why…?”
“He doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb?” Lex asked smoothly, borrowing the phrase.
“Well… no? Why would he?”
“He looks human?” Lex blurted out loud.
“Er, well…” Clark seemed to need a moment to think about how to best put it. “He looks as human as you or me?” he said finally, his eyes bright and sharp.
It was interesting. Suddenly, Clark seemed so much more alive. What was this? Had he really needed someone to talk to about this so badly?
Well, if it had been Lex in Clark’s place… in a word? Yes.
But, back to the matter at hand: “Clark, I’m not entirely sure I would be the best comparison for that,” he replied, tongue-in-cheek, running a hand over his scalp.
“Lex!”
Lex simply cocked his head, then reached down and retrieved the blanket, wrapping it about him again, and turning to sit sideways from Clark, a little closer than before… though not quite as close as sprawling on his lap again.
Clark sighed a bit, then said, “Ok - do I look as human as you do?”
“Clark-“
“Yes or no.”
“…Yes,” he admitted.
“Then he looks human,” Clark ended, crossing his arms and looking pleased with himself.
Lex rolled his eyes. Then he glanced over at the spacecraft again and rearranged what he had visualized the interior might look like. “That must have been an awfully uncomfortable trip, then.” At Clark’s odd look, he explained his thoughts. “There would have to be some room set aside for life support, propulsion. He would have had to have been all folded up inside to fit in that.”
“Oh, uh…” Clark looked a little embarrassed.
Lex looked back at him. “You’ve seen the inside? You know how to open it?”
“Er, no and no. But dad saw the inside once.” He paused, seemed to be considering something, then shrugged and said, “It was about this big.” He made a gesture with hands and arms.
Lex practically choked, then started coughing again instead. Clark patted him on the back gently and waited. Finally, Lex got out an incredulous, “He’s midget-sized?!”
“Wha- Nooo!” Clark laughed out, then bit his lip. “He’s, um. He’s bigger now.”
Oh, for heaven’s sake! If he wasn’t so sure that Clark was telling the truth, he’d swear the boy was pulling his leg. “What, to grow alien, just add water?” he spit out sarcastically, rolling his eyes again.
Clark covered his mouth to stop the laugh Lex realized was coming, and just shook his head instead. Lex crossed his arms and tried to glare, but his heart wasn’t in it.
“Fine. He’s a human-looking alien and he’s adult-sized,” he huffed. “Then I suppose he doesn’t have to spend all his time hiding out on the farm, then.”
“No, he doesn’t,” Clark replied with a smile, to the question he hadn’t even quite asked.
“Oh.” Lex thought about that, how this alien person could be any guy out on the street and he wouldn’t even know it, and he frowned, feeling a little pissed off.
“…Lex? What’s… wrong?”
“Nothing,” he grumbled. “I just don’t like it.”
Clark shifted uneasily next to him. “Don’t like what?”
“Well, he’s an alien.” Clark looked even more unsure. “I mean, here we are, on Earth, with a real live alien come to meet us, and he doesn’t even have the decency to be green-skinned, or anything,” he complained. First alien on the planet and he doesn’t even look alien? That’s just wrong.
Clark stared at him in complete amazement for a moment. And then he started laughing hysterically.
Lex gave him a sideways glance and pursed his lips slightly. His friend didn’t seem to be taking this very seriously.
“Oh… oh my god, I-I am never, never,” Clark got out between giggles, “never never never forgetting this conversation! Ever!” He was still grinning wide even after.
“You know what I mean, Clark,” Lex said, annoyed.
“Y-yeah, I do. I’m sorry. I just,” he grinned back, wiping at his eyes a little. “Really going to hate me later, I swear,” he smiled, with a half-wince.
“No, I don’t,” Lex said. “I mean, I won’t. If I ever meet him. It’s not your fault you have a horrible sense of humor.”
Clark sighed and slouched back against the couch again. “I might have to hold you to that, then.”
“Feel free,” Lex replied, waving a lazy hand.
“Um,” Clark spoke up again after awhile. “What would you do if you… met him, if you could?” He sounded really curious.
“Why? What do you do?”
Clark didn’t respond. Lex sighed. “Well, I don’t know. Is he… nice?”
“Nice?” Clark looked uncomfortable. “Um, define ‘nice’?”
Lex gave him a look. “Well…” He revised his initial question - Clark generally did not associate with people who did not meet some basic standards of decent social conduct. “Does he ever talk about his home planet with you, maybe compare things there with Earth? Show you, say, how to operate the spacecraft?” He searched around for something non-alien to add to that. “Does he play basketball?”
“Well, he plays basketball for fun sometimes. Not the others.”
“Why not? Some sort of Prime Directive against taking you on a joyride through space?” Lex grouched. If it was, then it was stupid - revealing alien existence to only a select few, and then thumbing his advanced technology in the face of the natives like holding a good textbook just out of reach like a rich schoolyard bully saying ‘Nah nah nah nah nah, you can’t have this?’ Especially since Clark was an avid stargazer; Lex had seen his telescope and they’d had many a fine discussion on star lore.
“Well, no.”
“Then why not?”
“He doesn’t know.”
“He doesn’t have a good reason?” Lex frowned.
“No. -I mean,” Clark started again before Lex could get in another word, “He doesn’t know how to operate the spaceship.”
“…He’s a dumb alien?” Lex felt scandalized. What sort of alien race of people didn’t tutor themselves in the use of their own technology?
“What? No! -Hey!!” Clark sounded annoyed. “He’s not stupid, just ignorant! It’s not his fault he doesn’t know!”
“Clark, you shouldn’t make excuses for anyone’s willful ignorance, least of all-“
“No! I mean it’s really not his fault!”
“Then why did he get into a spacecraft that he didn’t know how to operate in the first place?“
“He didn’t have a choice!”
What? “Someone forced him--?” So it was an accident that the alien had ended up on Earth, somehow? Did all aliens look human, or just his race? Either way, that seemed like a pretty big cosmic coincidence…
“No! I mean, sort of? I-I don’t know!” Clark half-shouted, running his hands through his hair and looking frazzled.
“He refused to tell you?”
“He doesn’t know! He doesn’t remember!”
That brought Lex to a screeching halt.
“What do you mean he doesn’t remember?”
Clark suddenly looked nervous. Lex had seen that body language on a horse once, and it had immediately shied away three paces to the left from him when he’d even looked like he’d try to approach. So Lex tried very hard to grapple down his irritancy and waited.
“He,” Clark swallowed, “He doesn’t remember anything before Earth.”
Lex waited.
After a minute or so, Lex determined that that was all Clark had to say on the matter.
“You can’t be serious.”
“I’m not lying,” Clark said, and there was an underlying tremulous urgency there that Lex had never heard from Clark before.
“Then he’s lying to you.”
“No, he’s not.”
“Clark-“ he started impatiently.
“It’s the truth.”
Lex stopped short at the tone. He realized that he was going to need to approach this carefully.
“Clark,” he started slowly, “Are you sure he’s an alien?”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re the one who said he looks human. Do you have any idea how astronomical the odds are against that?” Clark shifted uneasily and Lex knew he’d remembered his science fiction and his science fact. Good. “And now you’re telling me that while this male individual lays claim to this spaceship, he also claims to have some sort of amnesia that oh-so-conveniently prevents him from answering questions about his past, or anything else that could positively back up his claims?” How exactly had the Kents managed to get snowed by such a charlatan? Lex wanted to know.
Clark grimaced, crossed his arms protectively, and started, “It is his spaceship, and-“
“Did your parents actually see him come out of it?”
“Well, no, but-“
“Is there any other evidence that he is of unearthly origin? --Hard evidence that can’t be faked?”
Clark sighed heavily and looked away. “Yes,” he said finally.
Lex gave him a ‘Well??’ look.
“He… can do things.”
“Such as?”
Clark grimaced and didn’t say anything.
“Like the meteor freaks can do things?” Lex began dangerously.
“More than that. Way more.”
Lex started to retort, but then he stopped. Clark had been in the thick of meteor-related activity ever since he’d known him and, no doubt, from the time that Chloe initially involved him in her Wall Of Weird work. He, perhaps more than anyone else in town, would be qualified to be able to tell whether someone was human, meteor freak, or… more.
Damnit. Lex hated taking things at face value when dealing with secondhand information, but in this case he had no choice. He could try for more information, but…
“Honestly, Clark, what sort of things did he show you that would convince you that no-one else would… notice…” Oh. Dear god. “Clark, you-“
Clark winced and seemed to be holding his breath.
“Oh god, all those times. The broken concrete-filled doorway at the plant, how Kelvin ended up in the middle of that pond without anyone else getting hurt, what happened with Whitney and the meteor rock tattoo gang… That was-“ Lex shook his head. “That was him, wasn’t it? Clark, you’re lucky that he’s watching over you, but those were still some close calls. You shouldn’t go running into things counting on him to get you out of trouble.” Clark was looking grim and angry.
“I mean it Clark, you’ve been lucky. And you’re luckier still that no-one’s been asking more questions about you. I can’t believe that he’d just do whatever he does and run off like that, leaving you to try and explain everything away covering for him. That’s cowardly, and that just makes you the target of inquiry instead of him.” Lex didn’t want to count how many times he himself had thought Clark had done whatever strange thing that had happened; Clark just wasn’t a good enough liar to cover for his alien friend - not on-the-spot like that, at least. Though nearly every time Lex had caught him at it, Lex had been sure that the lying had been meant to cover himself, not someone else. That could almost be considered a good lie, except for the fact that it drew Clark directly into the line of fire, instead.
“It is really so hard for you to believe that I might be…“ Clark muttered angrily, then trailed off.
“What, the friend of an alien? I told you Clark, you’re extraordinary. If the sole reason that alien had come here was to get to know you, I’d give it high marks for good taste,” Lex said breezily.
Clark looked mollified, and turned a little red. “I don’t, I mean-“
“You’re worth it,” Lex stated in no uncertain terms. “That’s why I’m so frustrated with him. He ought to be teaching you self-defense, or helping you stay out of those situations. If he’s so strong and -- hm, fast? - among whatever other things he is, he ought to be the point-runner, not you. It’s good to want to help your friends, Clark, but you’re not invincible. I don’t want you getting hurt, and he shouldn’t either.”
Clark looked more than a little annoyed with Lex at the moment. “I know,” Clark muttered. “But I won’t stop trying,” he added, looking Lex in the eye.
Lex just sighed. Hashing out Clark’s savior complex yet again would have to be an argument for another time. Now he had a better feeling of what he was up against, though - an alien with powers and abilities well beyond mortal ken who Clark apparently looked up to and tried to emulate. Maybe he would have to suss out who this individual was, after all, in order to sit him down and explain to him exactly what he was doing to Clark. He might need the source of the problem -- the alien himself -- to explain to Clark the differences in their strengths and weaknesses and how and when he needed to be more careful.
“Just think about it?”
Clark shrugged.
Lex sighed and ran a hand over his head. He was definitely going to need to “accidentally” figure out who the alien was. Lex hoped that paying closer attention to what happened in town, now that he had an idea of what to look for, and not specifically going out of his way to set something up to force a reveal would count as ‘not tracking him down.’ It would be playing slightly fast-and-loose with his own moral code but, well, considering this was about keeping Clark alive… well, if the alien wasn’t worried about that already, then he deserved to have Lex breathing down his neck.
“So, what would you do if you met him, besides get on his case for helping me out?” Clark said with Sullivan-level snark.
“I suppose…” Lex tried to line up the clamor in his head into some semblance of order. Well, when it came right down to it, it all generally fell under a heading of: “Talk with him about things.”
Clark blinked at him. “Talk with him about things.”
“Yes.”
“Um, but he doesn’t remember-“
“--anything before arriving on Earth; yes, Clark, I remember you saying that. I don’t see how that has any relevance.” Then Lex paused. “He does speak English, I hope?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent -- then we’d be able to communicate easily. Never underestimate the worth of a good conversation, Clark,” Lex smiled. “He’s an intelligent alien - an alien intelligence. It would be interesting to see how he thinks - what the similarities and differences are. We learn more about ourselves through comparison to others than anything else. Being able to make a comparison between human thought and alien thought would be invaluable. And, I’m sure he would have a unique viewpoint and outlook on life on this planet, as well. Outsiders generally see more than those mired within the center of the system, and he would be the quintessential outsider, regardless of how welcome you and your parents might make him feel,” Lex ended gently. He didn’t want Clark to feel bad about it; he was a bit of an outsider himself, as was Lex.
“…That’s it?”
“That’s not enough?” Lex frowned.
“You wouldn’t want to… know how he does what he does?”
“He understands his own biology?”
“Um, no. Not so much.”
Lex tilted his head and considered, tamping down his excitement a bit. This was all theoretical, after all. He didn’t really expect Clark to ask the alien to approach him, introduce himself, and then sit down and have a chat. “I would certainly like to know how he does what he does, of course, Clark! Especially if it is in any way similar to the meteor freaks so that we could better devise treatment solutions and suppression drugs. But asking for private information on his biology during a first meeting, before any trust has been established?” Lex shook his head. “That sort of information could be easily used or exploited any number of ways, and twisted into something quite dangerous, certainly. I doubt he’d be so open. If he was, well, I’d be worried that you or your parents might have given him the wrong impression about the dangers inherent in that. And I wouldn’t be able to learn much from him on that score, short of convincing him to let me stick him under an MRI machine and take samples of his blood, and then finding a trustworthy doctor or two to work with…” Lex paused, remembering his earlier reaction, and then... “I don’t think it would be a good idea to have me involved in that, anyway.”
Clark’s head came up at that. “What? Why not?” he asked with open curiosity.
“In a word: Lionel.” Lex saw Clark shiver at the thought and nodded grimly at his friend. “To date, he has managed to worm his way into whatever I have done with remarkable ease. I would not want to risk my father getting his hands on any information to do with alien life - on this planet, or any other.”
“That’s… a pretty good reason.”
Lex nodded. “Besides, Clark, he’s been on this planet for twelve years. If he hasn’t found a doctor or medical professional that he could trust with his origins and his medical care by now… somehow I doubt I’d be the one to convince him otherwise.” He watched Clark wince and figured that he was right on that account. “Has he said anything to you about having a trustworthy doctor?”
“That sort of thing doesn’t usually come up in polite conversation,” Clark dissembled.
Lex had a suspicion that that might have just as much to do with Clark’s own aversion to needles as anything the alien might feel on the subject.
“But, I mean… an MRI and bloodwork? And talking? That’s it?” Clark sounded confused.
“Well, what do you think I should do, then?” Lex replied.
“That’s not… I mean… I don’t know,” Clark stammered. “It’s just… wouldn’t most people want to, I don’t know, lock him up or, um…”
“I am not most people, Clark,” Lex said darkly. “If he’s not a menace -is he planning on taking over the world or performing criminal acts?”
“What? No!!!”
“And I assume that having been wandering around for twelve years already, he probably isn’t the carrier of some disease beyond our immune system’s ability to cope that would shortly wipe us all out, yes?”
Clark looked a little ill at that.
“Can I also assume that since he’s been in close contact with your family that he does not otherwise exude toxic substances that would cause harm to living things?”
Clark squirmed.
“Well, if he isn’t a criminal, and he doesn’t need to be quarantined, then there’s no reason to lock him up. America doesn’t have very strict immigration laws as it is, and I doubt anyone could complain that he didn’t go through the proper border authority when we don’t have a checkpoint set up in space.”
“Um, what about the space station?” Clark asked, trying to stifle a slowly-forming grin.
Lex played along. “Doesn’t count. It’s not an official branch, and has no properly-trained personnel with the proper qualifications or clearances,” he drawled out with an imperial wave.
“Wow, maybe somebody should warn the president to do something about that,” Clark grinned.
Well, Lex certainly knew the only correct response to that! “Not it.”
Clark laughed.
“Anything else untoward you’re worried that the idiot populace might think is a good idea, Clark?”
“Uh, experiment on him?”
Lex twitched.
“Meaning?” he asked with deadly calm. Clark had best not be saying what Lex thought he was implying, because if he was…
“Uh, like alien autopsy stuff?” Clark said, squirming and trying to make light of it when he was obviously highly uncomfortable with the thought.
…then someone in the science department at the high school was going to need firing. Several someones.
“Clark,” he started slowly. “This is not the Dark Ages. It is not polite to torture other human beings. We have laws against that. No competent, licensed medical professional in their right mind would--”
“Right,” Clark said grimly. It was agreement, but… there was something lying underneath it, a hint of terrible darkness that Lex would never have thought Clark capable of.
Lex stopped.
“Care to elaborate on that?” Lex asked quietly.
“It’s not right to torture other human beings. It also doesn’t stop people from doing it. It happens. And he’s not human. And there are a lot of people with medical training out there who aren’t licensed, or professional, or just wouldn’t care so long as they had that excuse. And all those Nazi guys at the death camps experimenting on people? Were all doctors, too.”
Lex fought his rising nausea at Clark’s little speech. If this was the sort of thing that Clark had grown up with, it was no wonder that he had serious issues when it came to hospitals. What was the true wonder was that, after he’d been thrown into that car by Summers, that he’d let anyone bring him within a mile of a hospital, let alone ended up inside with X-rays taken. Lex couldn’t imagine what it must have taken him to walk into the hospital and visit Lex or any of his other friends when they were ill.
“It’s wrong, it shouldn’t happen, and if I ever came across a person like that…” I’d shoot them in the head. “But not all people are like that, Clark. You must know that. And certainly scientists would be less likely to do so than the uneducated mob,” he ghosted a hand over his head again, trying to think of a good way to explain this. “No true scientist would want to hurt your friend. If would be as if…” he sighed. “Not being human isn’t an excuse. If they’re an intelligent being, then they’re a person, and you don’t treat people like that. Anything less is racism, in the truest sense of the word. It would be as stupid as deciding it would be perfectly fine to gun someone down in the street if they lived farther away from you than a day’s travel could take you from your home. That might have been how things were decades ago, but not today. And even in the ‘Wild West’, when it was all ‘cowboys and Indians’ and a day’s ride could take you across the border of another hostile nation, people knew it was wrong, what they were doing. It’s unconscionable. It isn’t logical. And it isn’t right.”
“No, it isn’t,” Clark agreed, “But it only takes one person,” Clark ended quietly.
Suddenly Lex felt very, very old. And right there, he made his decision.
“Clark, I am not going to tell anyone about your alien friend or his spaceship, ever. No-one will hear it from me. And I will not discuss them with anyone who seems to have any knowledge of them, either, unless you explicitly tell me it is ok to do so with that particular individual or individuals. And even then, I will make my own further determination as to their trustworthiness and the security of our surroundings before proceeding. Is that acceptable to you?” Lex stated intensely. And he meant every word.
Clark’s breath hitched and his eyes widened. Then Lex realized that he had not actually promised this to Clark earlier; Clark had been assuming -- or perhaps merely hoping given his reaction, he realized grimly -- that Lex would keep the secret long-term without any real confirmation from him. That… was a lot more trust than he was used to receiving, even from Clark.
“Clark?”
“Y-yes. Ok. Yes, please. That would be good,” Clark stammered. “Thank you.”
“It’s the least I can do,” Lex ended quietly, leaning back into the couch. He looked sadly upon the ship. It might be the last time he would be seeing it for a good while.
“You are going to tell your parents eventually, I hope? I really would like to talk with them. I think they should know.” Lex tried. He was thinking a little more clearly now, and even if Clark thought it was a bad idea to tell his parents now, they might be able to make a successful attempt with them if they waited long enough that Lex’s good behavior would make the truth of his promise self-evident. The trick would be waiting enough time that the Kents would not outright dismiss the claim, but not so long that they would take Clark to task for the delay.
“Eventually?”
Lex nodded. Getting Clark to agree to telling them sometime rather than outright never telling them would also hopefully have far less of the divisive impact that the latter would otherwise create. He had little doubt that a lie of omission would be considered less of a sin in this family between its members than an outright lie. And if his parents claimed otherwise, well, then, he and Clark would have a twelve-year-long lie of omission to point out against their far shorter, and far less egregious, delay.
“I… I don’t know. I could try to work them up to it.”
“And in the meantime, I would be quietly showing that I can be trusted by doing nothing. I just recommend that you not wait too long, or they may come to that realization themselves before we say anything.”
“How would they realize it?” Clark asked, with a little suspicion.
“Clark, I will try to do my best to conduct myself the same as always, but if you are in danger and I have information or resources at my disposal that can help, I will use them,” he pointed out.
“But don’t you do that already?” Clark frowned.
“Yes… but now I know a critical piece of information that I did not have before. And, if we do talk about… alien things… at other times, I will learn a great deal more. I will hopefully be able to react more effectively when situations like that occur, but if I, say, turn my own focus of attention away from something as well as others, so that your alien friend can do whatever he needs to do without being seen, that is something helpful, but also noticeable. There may be questions.”
Clark… nodded thoughtfully, thinking it over. “That should be one thing we should definitely talk about more. Later.”
Lex nodded in agreement.
Clark resettled himself on the couch, and glanced over at the ship. “Um, I know we talked about… the alien. But what would you want to do with the ship, if you could?”
Lex held back a groan. “Please don’t tease me, Clark.”
Clark frowned a little. “What do you mean?”
Lex straightened and tried to be the least bitter about this as he could manage. “Even if you secured permission for me to experiment with the spacecraft from the alien…”
“That’s easy. Just don’t blow anything up.”
Lex closed his eyes and resisted the urge to throw things. “Even if you can follow through on that, Clark, I can’t do anything until your parents know that I know, and I have no doubt that they would expect me to get permission from them, as well, or restrict access as they see fit.”
“Huh?”
Lex tried very hard not to grit his teeth. “Clark, there is no way that your parents are going to let me anywhere near that storm cellar or the ship while they are here and uninformed of my accidental discovery tonight, and at least one of them is almost always home. Short of you smuggling me down there and locking me in so that they don’t see anything amiss from the outside, I won’t be able to do anything, and I doubt that performing experiments with that spaceship behind their backs will do anything but convince them that I am a sneaky bastard who cannot be trusted.” Because they will assume that the big bad Luthor either sweet-talked or threatened you into it for his continuing silence, no matter what you or I or your alien friend may say, and I will probably end up either shot or banned from the property and barred from ever seeing or speaking to you again if that happens.
“But that’s…” Clark sucked in a breath, and then looked more than a little miserable. Apparently he did understand Lex’s feelings enough in this to know what this was costing him to say, and would cost him to do. For an unspecified period of time.
“I’m sorry, Lex, I…” he swallowed. “I… don’t really want anything to do with the thing, but I know that you do and… you could probably…” He looked down at his hands. “I… god, I wish I could tell you everything. Then they’d have to… maybe…”
Lex blinked up at him. How much more could there be? That sounded like a lot more than the identity of one unknown human-looking alien friend-of-the-family.
Clark looked up at him and seemed to steel himself a little. “I know you promised not to try and figure out who the alien is-“
“Clark-“
“-but if you do,” Clark overrode him. “If you do, without hurting anyone or… or doing anything that would have anybody else find out… and you’re right?” Clark took a deep breath. “I’ll tell you everything I know. Ok? And I’ll make my parents be ok with it.”
Lex swallowed hard and nodded once. That was far more than he’d hoped for.
And then Lex did something rather embarrassing. He yawned.
Clark covered a grin, which also turned into a yawn.
“Ok, it’s official - we totally need to sleep,” Clark declared, sliding his legs over the side of the couch and getting ready to stand up.
“Clark, I still am not kicking you out of your bed. …Or taking your parents’ bed, either,” he added, suppressing a shudder. Ew.
“That’s ok, we’ll share.”
Wait, what?
“We’ll both share my bed. It’s big enough,” Clark repeated, holding out a hand. Lex frowned up at him.
“Clark, I’ve seen your room, and your bed-“ Lex began.
“Got a new one, it’s a little bigger. Not just the old repaired one. And it’s definitely long enough,” he added.
Lex was too tired to argue at this point, so he simply acquiesced. And, after all, long enough for Clark would be long enough for… wait.
“I need to call in sick first. I can call the main branch and leave a message, they’ll pass it along.”
“Sure, ok.” Clark waved him over to the phone. “You can sleep in. I won’t have to set my alarm, I was going to have to take the day off tomorrow anyway to deal with the aftermath of the C.E.P. stuff,” he shrugged.
Lex nodded, taking his hand and letting himself be pulled upright. He teetered over to the phone and made his call. The woman he talked to was very professional, and it didn’t take more than fifteen seconds to go through.
He hung up and was immediately assaulted with Clark and the thermometer again.
“104,” Clark frowned.
“Higher is better for the immune system,” Lex said, “And I do feel warmer now.” He’d had no cold chills for quite awhile.
Clark didn’t look convinced, but there wasn’t much he could do. Clark grabbed up his lantern, blew out the other candles in the living and dining room, and they made their way upstairs, changed into bedclothes - which were far too large for Lex, but he made do; at least they were warm - and each took one side of the bed.
They climbed under the covers, backs turned to each other, and said their goodnights. Clark blew out the candle in the lantern by his side of the bed.
It was not the most comfortable sleeping arrangement that Lex had ever had, but it was by far not the least manageable of many of the nighttime bedding scenarios he’d ever found himself in.
With a warm Clark at his back, and a solid door and flight of stairs between him and the living room, in a shorter period of time than he would have thought possible, he was out like a light.
~*~*~*~*~*~
On to Part 7