FIC: Like a Fish Needs a Bicycle
Title: Like a Fish Needs a Bicycle
Pairing: Clana, Clex
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Through S5 Reckoning
Summary: Clark needs Lana like…
Author’s Note: I hate you, AlMiles. According to Lana’s canon attitudes, this is how she would REALLY react.
Bunny by tobywolf13
Thanks to the ineffable, sexful herohunter for the beta.
Clark stood in his loft facing the window and looking out on the horizon, where he could see the castle of his former best friend. Who in the whole world could say something like that? A castle in a small farming town seemed as mismatched as a fish riding a bicycle. As an alien and the town princess. He played with a lump of coal in his hand and was so nervous that he could barely think straight as he rehearsed the words over and over in his mind. He wanted it all to be perfect.
He heard Lana coming long before she entered the barn, but from practice he waited until she hit the stairs to turn around. Lana came up to the loft, dressed warmly. He sighed and swallowed. Her warm hazel eyes were so beautiful in the cold February morning, like shining amber jewels contrasted against this mundane rural setting.
“I brought gloves and a scarf like you said,” she announced, coming towards him.
Clark stood to face her. His heart sped up. “I was afraid you weren’t gonna come.”
Lana tensed her lips haughtily and said in her breathy, displeased voice, “Well, to be honest, I don’t think that a mystery date’s exactly what our relationship needs right now.”
Clark felt as though her resentment was stabbing him through the heart. He put his hands on her arms gently and sighed again. “That’s why I called.”
“Are you okay?” she asked with a little frown. She placed her hand on his chest. “Oh my God, your heart’s racing.”
“That’s… because I’m terrified.”
“What’s going on?” she asked in confusion, and if Clark wasn’t mistaken, a little bit of concern.
“Lana, the way you've been... I can tell by the way you look at me that I'm losing you.”
She dipped her head. “Clark-“
“And it’s not your fault!” he assured her. He paused as Lana looked back up at him. “There’s something I should have shown you a long time ago.”
Clark took her to the Kawatche Caves, trying to keep from looking over at her face too often. She was curious, and worried, and a little annoyed. Well, maybe more than a little. He was afraid she’d storm off any minute. When they finally reached the caves,
Clark led her to the altar with the Kryptonian symbols on it.
Lana approached the altar with interest. “I don’t remember this place ever being here… how’d you find it?”
Clark took a deep breath. Truth time. “It was left here for me.”
Lana spun around, startled and staring him down. “For you?”
Clark moved to stand beside her. His eyes scanned her face, and his nervousness bubbled up into laughter.
“I've rehearsed this like a thousand times.” He felt giddy, and he was grinning like a schoolboy. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the octagonal key that had once belonged to the ship that had brought him to this planet. It felt strange showing it to anyone, as though he were already revealing part of himself. “Lana, what I'm about to show you... may change the way you feel about me.”
“Clark, whatever it is, it's okay,” she said softly.
Clark met her eyes for a moment, then he reached down to put the key into the slot in the altar. Light flooded out of it, filling the chamber with a golden aura. He smiled down at Lana, the girl he had loved since he was seven years old. She looked around with wide, disbelieving eyes.
“It’s okay.” He offered her his hand. “Do you trust me?”
Lana hesitated. Then she took his hand and the two of them stepped toward the altar. The light turned blue and enveloped them.
All at once they were standing inside the Fortress. Lana’s breathing caught, and she looked around, dumbfounded by the spectacularly beautiful sight before her. Snow. Ice. Crystals glimmering all around them.
“Oh my god.” She turned back to Clark.
For a moment, Clark was speechless as well. “Wh… when you asked me if I believed in life on other planets you had no idea how ironic that question was.”
Lana looked back at him, confused, overwhelmed.
“I'm from a planet called Krypton.”
Her eyes lit up with terror as she began to back away. “No. No, Clark. You aren’t from another planet.”
Clark stepped towards her, and she stumbled backward quickly.
“You’re just like everyone else!”
“No, Lana, wait!”
In her haste to get away from him, Lana slipped and fell on her ass.
“Lana, please. I’m an alien, but I still love you,” Clark pleaded, holding up his hands to show her that he meant her no harm.
“I’ve seen what those things do. Are you one of them?” Lana asked coldly.
Clark blinked in disbelief. He’d known that Lana was afraid of aliens. He’d know that she hated the Disciples of Zod who had come during the second meteor shower. Still, he’d somehow expected that their love for one another would allow her to make an exception. But her frightened eyes, her wide and gaping mouth, lip curled back… she was obviously terrified and disgusted by him.
“There were so many days I wanted to tell you,” Clark whispered, moving away from her and straightening his back. He felt horrible and awkward, a big terrible thing.
“What makes today any different?” she asked, inching her way back to her feet.
“I-I just wanted you to know who I really am.”
“Those aliens… they came with the second meteor shower.” She sucked in her cheeks as she slowly began to rise to her feet. “Did you come with the first?”
Clark felt his eyes stinging. “Yes.”
“What are you going to do with me?” she asked, as though she was feeling defiant to the hostile alien that had taken her captive.
“I… I just brought you here to show you. I can take you home if-“
“Then take me home!” Lana demanded. She crossed her arms in a very standoffish stance and looked at him expectantly.
Clark knew he’d never be able to get that look of utter hatred on her face out of his mind.
***
Of course, Clark mentioned nothing to his parents. They never reacted well when he told someone. No wonder he had issues divulging his secret. At worst, both his parents and the person he told would hate him for it. Things had never been the same with Pete. Lana had been disgusted and scared, obviously. Sure, some people had thought it was cool… but they had powers too.
Clark didn’t know what to do, or think. It was so hard to believe that Lana was really out of his life. He kept expecting her to come through the door. When his cell phone rang, he expected it to be her. The election party had begun an hour ago. He’d hoped she’d be there. No Lana. Even Chloe hadn’t seen her all day.
So he sat moodily waiting for the news to announce the election results. It was kinda funny, how far ahead they were in the polls. Clark hadn’t thought that they could have gotten that many votes. Their campaign had been pretty small, comparatively, and Lex was better known in general. But still the numbers kept rising.
“We could win this thing, Clarky,” Lois said. “Cheer up. What’s your problem?”
“Um. Nothing.”
Lois bumped his hip and frowned at him. “Then stop moping. Have some cham-pag-en.”
“It’s champagne.”
“I’m kidding, you tard.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “What is it? Don’t make me rough you up to get it out of you.”
“I quake in terror. It’s nothing. Lana and I broke up.”
Lois blinked. “Again? Well, wait a week. Your relationship is a boomerang. No matter how hard you try to throw it away, it comes back.”
”I think this afternoon it snapped in half.”
Lois crossed her arms, then took a sip of her drink and patted Clark’s back. “Hang in there, Smallville. Look, in the long run, I don’t think Lana was the girl for you. She’s kinda bipolar. I don’t she could make up her mind to save her life. And she’s been sniffing around Luthor.”
Clark’s eyes went round.
“Yeah, I know, right? He’s bald and ugly. If I were inclined to date boneheads, I’d totally pick you over him.” Lois picked up her glass. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get you some hooch, and you can forget all about her.”
When she turned to look back at him, he was gone. “Uh… wait. Where the hell did you go?!”
***
Clark navigated Lex’s security easily and found himself in the study. Lex was by sitting on his sofa by the fire sipping scotch, and although he didn’t turn his head, his voice came tersely up to greet Clark: “Why aren’t you at the celebration party for your… father?”
“I wanted to come see you. I… uh.” Clark realized that he should have come up with something to say before speeding over here.
“You… uh… whaaat?”
Clark tensed his lips and raised a brow. The way Lex enunciated his words told him that he was drunk. Funny. He’d never noticed Lex drunk before, though he had noticed him drinking. “I was uh… wondering if you’d seen Lana.”
Lex laughed loudly. “Have I seen Lana?”
He pushed himself off the sofa and almost fell. Clark lurched forward to catch him, but Lex held up a hand.
“Have I seen…. Lana?” he repeated, looking up at the ceiling, as though he were thinking about it. “Yeah, I think your little girlfriend may have come over this afternoon. Oh… ex-girlfriend, right? My bad.”
“Lex, she… I don’t know what she told you, but-“
“But you’re going to lie to me about it? Say that she was mistaken? I know that the caves send you to somewhere in the Arctic. How else would Chloe end up there? I know a lot of things about you, Clark.” He slammed his glass down on the table. “I know what she told me was true. What I don’t know is why you would tell that two-faced bitch before you told me!”
Clark’s eyes widened. “Lex-“
“She came running in here to tell on you the same fucking day! And you told her before you told me?” Lex threw one hand wide. Clark stepped backward. Lex seemed so angry. He shook his head and laughed again. “Because Luthors aren’t trustworthy.”
”That isn’t it, Lex! You’ve got it all wrong!”
“Then what is it? Huh? Huh???”
“Don’t pretend like you’re this innocent party, Lex!” Clark yelled. “You sent mutants after my parents!”
Lex’s eyes seemed to bulge out of his head. “You are paranoid and CRAZY!! Get out of my house!”
“Are you telling me that you didn’t do that?”
“I told you that when you came here to beat me up, you pathetic bullying redneck.” Lex turned to go get more scotch.
Clark paused. They didn’t have much proof of that… now Clark was starting to doubt himself. “Then why were you watching the security video of me and Chloe when I came to your office?”
“You think that’s my evil plan?” Lex took another sip of his scotch and stumbled onto the arm of the sofa. “Set up a test with no controlling factors, using mental patients booted from my program, let you get inside my facility, and fail to get any information. whatsoever Then wait for days to watch the security footage just as you’re walking in?”
Clark crossed his arms.
“You and Chloe tripped a silent alarm. Nice job, Scoobies. The outside guards didn’t come after you because it was you. They were on standing orders at the time not to arrest either of you, since you don’t seem to be able to keep off my property.”
Lex took another long drink, then frowned at his empty glass. “Imagine my joy at seeing the two of you try to steal from me.”
“That wasn’t what we were doing,” Clark tried to explain. “The meteor freaks that came to the farm-“
“Shocker and the Twins, I know. I know now.” He sniffed and set his glass down. Then let his body fall back onto the sofa. “I can’t believe you told her.”
Clark slipped his hands into his back pockets, suddenly nervous again. “Do you think she’s told anyone else?”
“She hasn’t.”
“How do you know? Is she here?”
“I doubt it.” Lex threw an arm over his eyes. “She hasn’t told anyone else because I told her that she’d be arrested for murder within a hour of telling anyone.”
Clark eyes bulged, then he moved towards Lex slowly. “You don’t have to go making up stories to keep her in line, Lex.”
“No? I could have her killed.”
“No! Hey, what is up with that! No killing!” Clark protested.
“Or I could have her locked up in Belle Reve.”
“A no to that, too!” Clark sat beside Lex on the sofa.
Lex moved his arm a little and looked back at Clark. “It was good enough to keep me quiet.”
Clark felt a stab of guilt. “You’ve known a long time, haven’t you?”
“I suspected the day we met. You threw me off a couple of times. However, at Summerholdt, I remembered what you did with Morgan Edge’s car. If I ever doubted my sanity regarding that, I saw you shove a grand piano across the room on Chloe’s birthday and pull me up into your lap as easily as if I were a child.”
“Oh… yeah.”
“You have to be more careful, Clark.” Lex stared at him with a sudden heat. “When your little friends came with the second meteor shower, it wasn’t hard to put together.”
“They are not my friends,” Clark objected strongly. “They’re crazy disciples of this dead warlord or something.”
“Why are you here, Clark?” Lex asked.
“I was scared that if you heard it from someone else, you’d hate me,” Clark admitted. “I never know how someone’s going to react. Pete freaked out, and Chloe, God, she got crazily overprotective of me. Alicia, like, claimed me as her very own, Phelan tried to use me, and Nixon wanted to make a story out of me.”
“What were you afraid that I’d do?”
“Hate me. Want to study me, or destroy me.”
Lex turned and leaned on his arm. “Why? Why would you think that?”
“Because I’ve done bad things to you, Lex. Because I didn’t trust you.” Clark bit his lip and looked down at Lex, who smiled.
“Not trusting me doesn’t warrant destruction, believe me.”
“When you saw what happened right before they took you away… you looked so scared,” Clark whispered. “I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”
“Then stop picking me up by the neck and tossing me around.”
“I didn’t mean that! It was the silver meteor rock you created!”
Lex made a small huffing noise and sat up completely, putting some distance between them. “I didn’t create that, Clark.”
“Then who- never mind. I know who did it.” Clark sighed. Of course. Milton Fine. “I’m sorry.”
“I meant, when I asked you why you were here, why did you come to this planet?” Lex’s penetrating eyes searched his face.
Clark could tell this was genuinely worrying him. He already knew about the Disciples of Zod and so he was probably worried about what the aliens wanted from Earth. “Oh. Um… I’m not really sure. Our planet blew up, and I think it was a last ditch effort to save me. My father had been here before. There’s so much technology lying around on this planet I wonder why they were here to start with. They couldn’t have been at war still during ancient times here, right? “
“Maybe your people found this place interesting, but a bit out of the way for conquest at the time,” Lex suggested.
“Well, we won’t be conquesting anything these days. There are only a handful of us left, as far as I can tell.”
“I think a handful would be enough, considering the powers you have,” Lex said in a stern tone.
Clark shrugged. “If there’s going to be an invasion, I haven’t gotten the memo.”
Lex smiled then, softly. “Don’t worry about your secret, Clark. As long as you’re still on our side, there’s no need. The problem is, Clark, that you don’t know for certain what’s out there. There is something coming, and I have to prepare for it.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’ve been looking to the skies as long as you have, I suppose,” Lex replied vaguely. “Don’t worry about Lana, either.”
“Lex, you can’t blackmail her with false charges,” Clark scolded. Really, Lex was just like a wayward child. He had no conception of right and wrong sometimes.
“I’m not. I have evidence on her murder of Chloe’s lead sorority vampire as well as her murder of Genevieve Teague. Granted, during the latter she was possessed by Isobel, but there is still damning evidence.” Lex paused and reached for the scotch on the coffee table again. “I can see from the look on your face she never told you about that.”
Clark leaned over and caught Lex’s wrist. “No more, Lex. You’ll pickle yourself. No, she didn’t tell me.”
Lex scowled, a bit petulantly from being denied his scotch, but leaned back nonetheless and looked at Clark. “She won’t risk herself. Not when she has no proof and no one to back her up, but you should be careful, regardless. She might get it into her head to strike back at you.”
“She might get it into her head to strike at you. You’re the one blackmail her.”
“You caused the meteor shower that pancaked her parents.”
“That is horrible, Lex!”
Lex shrugged and hugged his arms.
Clark patted his shoulder gently. “Come with me to the party.”
“Yes, sounds like a brilliant idea. Go join the people who hate me.”
“They do not hate you, Lex.”
“They hate me.” Lex stood and walked away from Clark. “I’ve succeeded in pushing everyone away from me in this race and for what? So your camp could smear my name and take money from my father?”
Clark got up and walked over to Lex, his heart pounding. He took a breath, wishing he had something rehearsed. “If you really didn’t set up that test, then you’re completely welcome. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I don’t hate you. And if something’s coming, then you aren’t alone in pushing it back. I don’t like what my people seem to want to do with this planet. There aren’t that many of them left. We can take ‘em.”
Lex turned and scanned Clark’s face. He didn’t seem to believe him at first, then he nodded and walked over to get his coat. “I’d offer to drive but that might not be a good idea.”
“Do you trust me?” Clark walked over to him and held his shoulders back anxiously. “I learned something new today.”
Lex looked intrigued. “Oh?”
“Yeah.” Clark motioned with his head, and Lex followed. Through the hallway, Lex put a hand on Clark’s shoulder to steady himself, so Clark walked more slowly. “You should drink less.”
Lex groaned. “I try. It never works.”
They stepped out into the light, and Clark looked around to see if anyone was looking. “I sort of did this as a vertical thing earlier today, but it wasn’t very good.”
Lex moved back a little when Clark reached out to put his arms around him, then after a tense moment of looking into each other’s eyes, he stepped forward, letting Clark embrace him tightly.
“Don’t let go, Lex.”
“I won’t. Promise.” Lex’s arms went around Clark as well.
They rose high into the air, floating miraculously above the castle. Clark drew in a sharp breath as he looked down.
“Focus on me, Clark. You can do this, okay?” Lex seemed completely calm, for someone who was hovering high above his home midair with an alien. “Breathe and let yourself get used to it.”
Clark looked back to Lex, who was smiling and looking on him with amazement. No fear. No disgust. He seemed a little proud.
“I can fly, Lex,” Clark whispered in astonishment.
Lex laughed. “I knew you could. I always knew you could. Remember what I asked you in the castle, the day you returned the car?”
“I guess… a man can fly.” Clark made sure that he was holding Lex tightly enough and moved them forward a little. They lost a bit of altitude, and Clark squeezed Lex tighter as he caught them.
“Though maybe a man needs a bit of practice.” Lex grinned. “Can you move your head forward a bit?”
“I… um. Let’s see?” Clark leaned forward a little, but he was afraid that Lex would fall.
“Hold on a sec.” Lex wrapped one leg around Clark’s, then the other. “Okay. Hang on to me with one arm and use the other one to help you guide yourself. Hold it out in front of you.”
“What? Why?”
Lex shrugged. “That’s how they always fly in the comics.”
“Crazy.” But Clark did as Lex suggested, pulling his right arm away slowly, and when Lex didn’t drop, Clark tried to concentrate on going forward. They floated along for a moment, and then suddenly, he was soaring over Smallville with Lex beneath him. He let out a whoop of excitement, barely able to believe that he was doing this. He’d always been so afraid of heights. For a moment he looked down at Lex, who was watching the passing town with boyish glee.
Too soon they were over the Talon, then past, and Clark had to figure out how to turn midair with someone on him. It only took a moment with some support from Lex, however, and then Clark lowered them down slowly into the alleyway.
“That was so cool.” Lex laughed, still hugging Clark once they were down with both feet on the ground.
Clark leaned back and rubbed Lex’s shivering arms. “I can’t believe you’re okay with this.”
“Do I seem so xenophobic?” Lex turned slightly to look at the back door of the Talon.
“Well, no, but…”
“Tell me, Clark.” Lex met his eyes. “Are you okay with this?”
“With you knowing? Well, since you aren’t too mad.”
“No. I mean, are you okay with who you are? All of it. I know from experience that coming to accept an identity that isn’t… quite human can be very difficult.” He sighed. “And very lonely. I wanted you to be a mutant so badly.”
“Why?”
Lex shook his head. “Because then maybe I’d be in good company. Maybe you and I would have that in common; we could share it and watch each other’s backs.”
“You know, Lex, earlier I was thinking that I wished I could do today over. I woke up hoping it would be the happiest day of my life, but then Lana… gosh, she hates me for what I am, and it seemed like the worst day ever.”
Lex tilted his head and smiled a little. “And now, your assessment would be?”
“I’m glad everything blew up in my face. Having you at my back is a lot better than what I had planned… what’s funny about that?”
Lex shook his head and fought a grin. “C’mon. Let’s go crash the party.”
“It’s not crashing. I’m invited, and I’m the son. I get to bring whoever I want.”
Clark could feel every eye turning to stare at them. For a moment he felt his face reverting to a frightened, embarrassed expression. Then something inside him seemed to growl and fight back. He put his arm around Lex’s shoulders and steered him toward his parents. Perhaps they didn’t seem to fit together, but Clark had once been so sure that they had. Maybe it wasn’t destiny. Maybe they would have to work at it. But if Lex could forgive him, and if Clark was willing to forgive Lex, then they maybe they could end up the stuff of legends after all.
Pairing: Clana, Clex
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Through S5 Reckoning
Summary: Clark needs Lana like…
Author’s Note: I hate you, AlMiles. According to Lana’s canon attitudes, this is how she would REALLY react.
Bunny by tobywolf13
Thanks to the ineffable, sexful herohunter for the beta.
Clark stood in his loft facing the window and looking out on the horizon, where he could see the castle of his former best friend. Who in the whole world could say something like that? A castle in a small farming town seemed as mismatched as a fish riding a bicycle. As an alien and the town princess. He played with a lump of coal in his hand and was so nervous that he could barely think straight as he rehearsed the words over and over in his mind. He wanted it all to be perfect.
He heard Lana coming long before she entered the barn, but from practice he waited until she hit the stairs to turn around. Lana came up to the loft, dressed warmly. He sighed and swallowed. Her warm hazel eyes were so beautiful in the cold February morning, like shining amber jewels contrasted against this mundane rural setting.
“I brought gloves and a scarf like you said,” she announced, coming towards him.
Clark stood to face her. His heart sped up. “I was afraid you weren’t gonna come.”
Lana tensed her lips haughtily and said in her breathy, displeased voice, “Well, to be honest, I don’t think that a mystery date’s exactly what our relationship needs right now.”
Clark felt as though her resentment was stabbing him through the heart. He put his hands on her arms gently and sighed again. “That’s why I called.”
“Are you okay?” she asked with a little frown. She placed her hand on his chest. “Oh my God, your heart’s racing.”
“That’s… because I’m terrified.”
“What’s going on?” she asked in confusion, and if Clark wasn’t mistaken, a little bit of concern.
“Lana, the way you've been... I can tell by the way you look at me that I'm losing you.”
She dipped her head. “Clark-“
“And it’s not your fault!” he assured her. He paused as Lana looked back up at him. “There’s something I should have shown you a long time ago.”
Clark took her to the Kawatche Caves, trying to keep from looking over at her face too often. She was curious, and worried, and a little annoyed. Well, maybe more than a little. He was afraid she’d storm off any minute. When they finally reached the caves,
Clark led her to the altar with the Kryptonian symbols on it.
Lana approached the altar with interest. “I don’t remember this place ever being here… how’d you find it?”
Clark took a deep breath. Truth time. “It was left here for me.”
Lana spun around, startled and staring him down. “For you?”
Clark moved to stand beside her. His eyes scanned her face, and his nervousness bubbled up into laughter.
“I've rehearsed this like a thousand times.” He felt giddy, and he was grinning like a schoolboy. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the octagonal key that had once belonged to the ship that had brought him to this planet. It felt strange showing it to anyone, as though he were already revealing part of himself. “Lana, what I'm about to show you... may change the way you feel about me.”
“Clark, whatever it is, it's okay,” she said softly.
Clark met her eyes for a moment, then he reached down to put the key into the slot in the altar. Light flooded out of it, filling the chamber with a golden aura. He smiled down at Lana, the girl he had loved since he was seven years old. She looked around with wide, disbelieving eyes.
“It’s okay.” He offered her his hand. “Do you trust me?”
Lana hesitated. Then she took his hand and the two of them stepped toward the altar. The light turned blue and enveloped them.
All at once they were standing inside the Fortress. Lana’s breathing caught, and she looked around, dumbfounded by the spectacularly beautiful sight before her. Snow. Ice. Crystals glimmering all around them.
“Oh my god.” She turned back to Clark.
For a moment, Clark was speechless as well. “Wh… when you asked me if I believed in life on other planets you had no idea how ironic that question was.”
Lana looked back at him, confused, overwhelmed.
“I'm from a planet called Krypton.”
Her eyes lit up with terror as she began to back away. “No. No, Clark. You aren’t from another planet.”
Clark stepped towards her, and she stumbled backward quickly.
“You’re just like everyone else!”
“No, Lana, wait!”
In her haste to get away from him, Lana slipped and fell on her ass.
“Lana, please. I’m an alien, but I still love you,” Clark pleaded, holding up his hands to show her that he meant her no harm.
“I’ve seen what those things do. Are you one of them?” Lana asked coldly.
Clark blinked in disbelief. He’d known that Lana was afraid of aliens. He’d know that she hated the Disciples of Zod who had come during the second meteor shower. Still, he’d somehow expected that their love for one another would allow her to make an exception. But her frightened eyes, her wide and gaping mouth, lip curled back… she was obviously terrified and disgusted by him.
“There were so many days I wanted to tell you,” Clark whispered, moving away from her and straightening his back. He felt horrible and awkward, a big terrible thing.
“What makes today any different?” she asked, inching her way back to her feet.
“I-I just wanted you to know who I really am.”
“Those aliens… they came with the second meteor shower.” She sucked in her cheeks as she slowly began to rise to her feet. “Did you come with the first?”
Clark felt his eyes stinging. “Yes.”
“What are you going to do with me?” she asked, as though she was feeling defiant to the hostile alien that had taken her captive.
“I… I just brought you here to show you. I can take you home if-“
“Then take me home!” Lana demanded. She crossed her arms in a very standoffish stance and looked at him expectantly.
Clark knew he’d never be able to get that look of utter hatred on her face out of his mind.
***
Of course, Clark mentioned nothing to his parents. They never reacted well when he told someone. No wonder he had issues divulging his secret. At worst, both his parents and the person he told would hate him for it. Things had never been the same with Pete. Lana had been disgusted and scared, obviously. Sure, some people had thought it was cool… but they had powers too.
Clark didn’t know what to do, or think. It was so hard to believe that Lana was really out of his life. He kept expecting her to come through the door. When his cell phone rang, he expected it to be her. The election party had begun an hour ago. He’d hoped she’d be there. No Lana. Even Chloe hadn’t seen her all day.
So he sat moodily waiting for the news to announce the election results. It was kinda funny, how far ahead they were in the polls. Clark hadn’t thought that they could have gotten that many votes. Their campaign had been pretty small, comparatively, and Lex was better known in general. But still the numbers kept rising.
“We could win this thing, Clarky,” Lois said. “Cheer up. What’s your problem?”
“Um. Nothing.”
Lois bumped his hip and frowned at him. “Then stop moping. Have some cham-pag-en.”
“It’s champagne.”
“I’m kidding, you tard.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “What is it? Don’t make me rough you up to get it out of you.”
“I quake in terror. It’s nothing. Lana and I broke up.”
Lois blinked. “Again? Well, wait a week. Your relationship is a boomerang. No matter how hard you try to throw it away, it comes back.”
”I think this afternoon it snapped in half.”
Lois crossed her arms, then took a sip of her drink and patted Clark’s back. “Hang in there, Smallville. Look, in the long run, I don’t think Lana was the girl for you. She’s kinda bipolar. I don’t she could make up her mind to save her life. And she’s been sniffing around Luthor.”
Clark’s eyes went round.
“Yeah, I know, right? He’s bald and ugly. If I were inclined to date boneheads, I’d totally pick you over him.” Lois picked up her glass. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get you some hooch, and you can forget all about her.”
When she turned to look back at him, he was gone. “Uh… wait. Where the hell did you go?!”
***
Clark navigated Lex’s security easily and found himself in the study. Lex was by sitting on his sofa by the fire sipping scotch, and although he didn’t turn his head, his voice came tersely up to greet Clark: “Why aren’t you at the celebration party for your… father?”
“I wanted to come see you. I… uh.” Clark realized that he should have come up with something to say before speeding over here.
“You… uh… whaaat?”
Clark tensed his lips and raised a brow. The way Lex enunciated his words told him that he was drunk. Funny. He’d never noticed Lex drunk before, though he had noticed him drinking. “I was uh… wondering if you’d seen Lana.”
Lex laughed loudly. “Have I seen Lana?”
He pushed himself off the sofa and almost fell. Clark lurched forward to catch him, but Lex held up a hand.
“Have I seen…. Lana?” he repeated, looking up at the ceiling, as though he were thinking about it. “Yeah, I think your little girlfriend may have come over this afternoon. Oh… ex-girlfriend, right? My bad.”
“Lex, she… I don’t know what she told you, but-“
“But you’re going to lie to me about it? Say that she was mistaken? I know that the caves send you to somewhere in the Arctic. How else would Chloe end up there? I know a lot of things about you, Clark.” He slammed his glass down on the table. “I know what she told me was true. What I don’t know is why you would tell that two-faced bitch before you told me!”
Clark’s eyes widened. “Lex-“
“She came running in here to tell on you the same fucking day! And you told her before you told me?” Lex threw one hand wide. Clark stepped backward. Lex seemed so angry. He shook his head and laughed again. “Because Luthors aren’t trustworthy.”
”That isn’t it, Lex! You’ve got it all wrong!”
“Then what is it? Huh? Huh???”
“Don’t pretend like you’re this innocent party, Lex!” Clark yelled. “You sent mutants after my parents!”
Lex’s eyes seemed to bulge out of his head. “You are paranoid and CRAZY!! Get out of my house!”
“Are you telling me that you didn’t do that?”
“I told you that when you came here to beat me up, you pathetic bullying redneck.” Lex turned to go get more scotch.
Clark paused. They didn’t have much proof of that… now Clark was starting to doubt himself. “Then why were you watching the security video of me and Chloe when I came to your office?”
“You think that’s my evil plan?” Lex took another sip of his scotch and stumbled onto the arm of the sofa. “Set up a test with no controlling factors, using mental patients booted from my program, let you get inside my facility, and fail to get any information. whatsoever Then wait for days to watch the security footage just as you’re walking in?”
Clark crossed his arms.
“You and Chloe tripped a silent alarm. Nice job, Scoobies. The outside guards didn’t come after you because it was you. They were on standing orders at the time not to arrest either of you, since you don’t seem to be able to keep off my property.”
Lex took another long drink, then frowned at his empty glass. “Imagine my joy at seeing the two of you try to steal from me.”
“That wasn’t what we were doing,” Clark tried to explain. “The meteor freaks that came to the farm-“
“Shocker and the Twins, I know. I know now.” He sniffed and set his glass down. Then let his body fall back onto the sofa. “I can’t believe you told her.”
Clark slipped his hands into his back pockets, suddenly nervous again. “Do you think she’s told anyone else?”
“She hasn’t.”
“How do you know? Is she here?”
“I doubt it.” Lex threw an arm over his eyes. “She hasn’t told anyone else because I told her that she’d be arrested for murder within a hour of telling anyone.”
Clark eyes bulged, then he moved towards Lex slowly. “You don’t have to go making up stories to keep her in line, Lex.”
“No? I could have her killed.”
“No! Hey, what is up with that! No killing!” Clark protested.
“Or I could have her locked up in Belle Reve.”
“A no to that, too!” Clark sat beside Lex on the sofa.
Lex moved his arm a little and looked back at Clark. “It was good enough to keep me quiet.”
Clark felt a stab of guilt. “You’ve known a long time, haven’t you?”
“I suspected the day we met. You threw me off a couple of times. However, at Summerholdt, I remembered what you did with Morgan Edge’s car. If I ever doubted my sanity regarding that, I saw you shove a grand piano across the room on Chloe’s birthday and pull me up into your lap as easily as if I were a child.”
“Oh… yeah.”
“You have to be more careful, Clark.” Lex stared at him with a sudden heat. “When your little friends came with the second meteor shower, it wasn’t hard to put together.”
“They are not my friends,” Clark objected strongly. “They’re crazy disciples of this dead warlord or something.”
“Why are you here, Clark?” Lex asked.
“I was scared that if you heard it from someone else, you’d hate me,” Clark admitted. “I never know how someone’s going to react. Pete freaked out, and Chloe, God, she got crazily overprotective of me. Alicia, like, claimed me as her very own, Phelan tried to use me, and Nixon wanted to make a story out of me.”
“What were you afraid that I’d do?”
“Hate me. Want to study me, or destroy me.”
Lex turned and leaned on his arm. “Why? Why would you think that?”
“Because I’ve done bad things to you, Lex. Because I didn’t trust you.” Clark bit his lip and looked down at Lex, who smiled.
“Not trusting me doesn’t warrant destruction, believe me.”
“When you saw what happened right before they took you away… you looked so scared,” Clark whispered. “I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”
“Then stop picking me up by the neck and tossing me around.”
“I didn’t mean that! It was the silver meteor rock you created!”
Lex made a small huffing noise and sat up completely, putting some distance between them. “I didn’t create that, Clark.”
“Then who- never mind. I know who did it.” Clark sighed. Of course. Milton Fine. “I’m sorry.”
“I meant, when I asked you why you were here, why did you come to this planet?” Lex’s penetrating eyes searched his face.
Clark could tell this was genuinely worrying him. He already knew about the Disciples of Zod and so he was probably worried about what the aliens wanted from Earth. “Oh. Um… I’m not really sure. Our planet blew up, and I think it was a last ditch effort to save me. My father had been here before. There’s so much technology lying around on this planet I wonder why they were here to start with. They couldn’t have been at war still during ancient times here, right? “
“Maybe your people found this place interesting, but a bit out of the way for conquest at the time,” Lex suggested.
“Well, we won’t be conquesting anything these days. There are only a handful of us left, as far as I can tell.”
“I think a handful would be enough, considering the powers you have,” Lex said in a stern tone.
Clark shrugged. “If there’s going to be an invasion, I haven’t gotten the memo.”
Lex smiled then, softly. “Don’t worry about your secret, Clark. As long as you’re still on our side, there’s no need. The problem is, Clark, that you don’t know for certain what’s out there. There is something coming, and I have to prepare for it.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’ve been looking to the skies as long as you have, I suppose,” Lex replied vaguely. “Don’t worry about Lana, either.”
“Lex, you can’t blackmail her with false charges,” Clark scolded. Really, Lex was just like a wayward child. He had no conception of right and wrong sometimes.
“I’m not. I have evidence on her murder of Chloe’s lead sorority vampire as well as her murder of Genevieve Teague. Granted, during the latter she was possessed by Isobel, but there is still damning evidence.” Lex paused and reached for the scotch on the coffee table again. “I can see from the look on your face she never told you about that.”
Clark leaned over and caught Lex’s wrist. “No more, Lex. You’ll pickle yourself. No, she didn’t tell me.”
Lex scowled, a bit petulantly from being denied his scotch, but leaned back nonetheless and looked at Clark. “She won’t risk herself. Not when she has no proof and no one to back her up, but you should be careful, regardless. She might get it into her head to strike back at you.”
“She might get it into her head to strike at you. You’re the one blackmail her.”
“You caused the meteor shower that pancaked her parents.”
“That is horrible, Lex!”
Lex shrugged and hugged his arms.
Clark patted his shoulder gently. “Come with me to the party.”
“Yes, sounds like a brilliant idea. Go join the people who hate me.”
“They do not hate you, Lex.”
“They hate me.” Lex stood and walked away from Clark. “I’ve succeeded in pushing everyone away from me in this race and for what? So your camp could smear my name and take money from my father?”
Clark got up and walked over to Lex, his heart pounding. He took a breath, wishing he had something rehearsed. “If you really didn’t set up that test, then you’re completely welcome. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I don’t hate you. And if something’s coming, then you aren’t alone in pushing it back. I don’t like what my people seem to want to do with this planet. There aren’t that many of them left. We can take ‘em.”
Lex turned and scanned Clark’s face. He didn’t seem to believe him at first, then he nodded and walked over to get his coat. “I’d offer to drive but that might not be a good idea.”
“Do you trust me?” Clark walked over to him and held his shoulders back anxiously. “I learned something new today.”
Lex looked intrigued. “Oh?”
“Yeah.” Clark motioned with his head, and Lex followed. Through the hallway, Lex put a hand on Clark’s shoulder to steady himself, so Clark walked more slowly. “You should drink less.”
Lex groaned. “I try. It never works.”
They stepped out into the light, and Clark looked around to see if anyone was looking. “I sort of did this as a vertical thing earlier today, but it wasn’t very good.”
Lex moved back a little when Clark reached out to put his arms around him, then after a tense moment of looking into each other’s eyes, he stepped forward, letting Clark embrace him tightly.
“Don’t let go, Lex.”
“I won’t. Promise.” Lex’s arms went around Clark as well.
They rose high into the air, floating miraculously above the castle. Clark drew in a sharp breath as he looked down.
“Focus on me, Clark. You can do this, okay?” Lex seemed completely calm, for someone who was hovering high above his home midair with an alien. “Breathe and let yourself get used to it.”
Clark looked back to Lex, who was smiling and looking on him with amazement. No fear. No disgust. He seemed a little proud.
“I can fly, Lex,” Clark whispered in astonishment.
Lex laughed. “I knew you could. I always knew you could. Remember what I asked you in the castle, the day you returned the car?”
“I guess… a man can fly.” Clark made sure that he was holding Lex tightly enough and moved them forward a little. They lost a bit of altitude, and Clark squeezed Lex tighter as he caught them.
“Though maybe a man needs a bit of practice.” Lex grinned. “Can you move your head forward a bit?”
“I… um. Let’s see?” Clark leaned forward a little, but he was afraid that Lex would fall.
“Hold on a sec.” Lex wrapped one leg around Clark’s, then the other. “Okay. Hang on to me with one arm and use the other one to help you guide yourself. Hold it out in front of you.”
“What? Why?”
Lex shrugged. “That’s how they always fly in the comics.”
“Crazy.” But Clark did as Lex suggested, pulling his right arm away slowly, and when Lex didn’t drop, Clark tried to concentrate on going forward. They floated along for a moment, and then suddenly, he was soaring over Smallville with Lex beneath him. He let out a whoop of excitement, barely able to believe that he was doing this. He’d always been so afraid of heights. For a moment he looked down at Lex, who was watching the passing town with boyish glee.
Too soon they were over the Talon, then past, and Clark had to figure out how to turn midair with someone on him. It only took a moment with some support from Lex, however, and then Clark lowered them down slowly into the alleyway.
“That was so cool.” Lex laughed, still hugging Clark once they were down with both feet on the ground.
Clark leaned back and rubbed Lex’s shivering arms. “I can’t believe you’re okay with this.”
“Do I seem so xenophobic?” Lex turned slightly to look at the back door of the Talon.
“Well, no, but…”
“Tell me, Clark.” Lex met his eyes. “Are you okay with this?”
“With you knowing? Well, since you aren’t too mad.”
“No. I mean, are you okay with who you are? All of it. I know from experience that coming to accept an identity that isn’t… quite human can be very difficult.” He sighed. “And very lonely. I wanted you to be a mutant so badly.”
“Why?”
Lex shook his head. “Because then maybe I’d be in good company. Maybe you and I would have that in common; we could share it and watch each other’s backs.”
“You know, Lex, earlier I was thinking that I wished I could do today over. I woke up hoping it would be the happiest day of my life, but then Lana… gosh, she hates me for what I am, and it seemed like the worst day ever.”
Lex tilted his head and smiled a little. “And now, your assessment would be?”
“I’m glad everything blew up in my face. Having you at my back is a lot better than what I had planned… what’s funny about that?”
Lex shook his head and fought a grin. “C’mon. Let’s go crash the party.”
“It’s not crashing. I’m invited, and I’m the son. I get to bring whoever I want.”
Clark could feel every eye turning to stare at them. For a moment he felt his face reverting to a frightened, embarrassed expression. Then something inside him seemed to growl and fight back. He put his arm around Lex’s shoulders and steered him toward his parents. Perhaps they didn’t seem to fit together, but Clark had once been so sure that they had. Maybe it wasn’t destiny. Maybe they would have to work at it. But if Lex could forgive him, and if Clark was willing to forgive Lex, then they maybe they could end up the stuff of legends after all.