Satisfied?!

by twinsarein

Summary:

Can anything survive the ashes of their friendship?

Notes:

Spoliers for S5 Mortal and S6 Reunion, but spoilers for all eps in S1-5 are possible as well. Also, this was my entry of Smallville's 2009 Big Bang.

Chapter One
When Chloe came to him at the farmhouse and told him that Lex had been watching what had happened as Clark tried to get the green serum from Level 3, he’d known immediately who’d been responsible for those three meteor mutants coming to his house and terrorizing everyone that was most important to him in the world. He hadn’t wanted to believe it, but he knew it was true with an inner conviction that wasn’t going to be swayed by any of Lex’s attempts at backpedaling or lies. Not this time.

After getting to the mansion and seeing Lex, hearing his efforts to cover up what he did, Clark is even less inclined to believe him.

“I thought we could start over, Lex, but you're too obsessed with the past. With me. But I'm different now, and I'm through playing games with you. You want to test me? You want to see what I'm really made of? You do it yourself, you coward.”

Clark throws another punch at Lex, and puts all the hurt and anger he’s feeling into it. He can’t get over how betrayed he feels by this man he used to consider his best friend.

Lex decides that Clark’s had enough free hits and blocks it, and then manages to get his own punch in. He can’t believe his plans had gone so wrong again. Why do they never seem to work out the way he intends around the Kents? They’re always the one variable in his equations that he can’t quite pin down. Especially Clark. No one was supposed to get hurt, or even be seriously threatened. Clark was supposed to swoop in and save the day, as he always does, only this time Lex would capture how Clark managed it on camera.

Of course it hadn’t worked out like that, and now he feels the final threads of their fragile friendship snap completely. It hurts. He buries it deep and lets it turn to anger. He can bear the anger much better than the emotional pain of finally losing the best friend he’s ever had.

Clark feels his lip start to bleed. It hurts, although not as much as Lex’s betrayal, and inside he’s smiling bitterly. This should be sure proof to Lex that he’s just like everyone else.

“Satisfied?”

Lex feels his blood boil in rage at the smug question from Clark. He closes the distance between them and Clark stumbles backward in surprise at the suddenness of the fury that suffuses Lex’s face. He continues to back away as Lex advances, until a wall finally brings his retreat to a stop.

Lex pushes inside Clark’s personal space and clenches his fists in the fabric of Clark’s shirt, yanking him forward a little and then shoving him harder back against the wall. “Satisfied?! What should I be satisfied with, Clark? That you hold me to impossible standards? That those standards are sky-high for me and you accept much less from everyone else around you? That you find it easy take and take and take from me and never give anything back? Am I supposed to be satisfied that I keep waiting for you to act like the friend you’re supposed to be, only to never have it happen? No, Clark, I’m far from satisfied. However, that’s going to change right now.”

Lex is standing toe-to-toe with Clark, so close that Clark can feel the other man’s hot breath blowing over his cheek, can see the angry flush on his neck, and can practically feel his body vibrating against his own. After the last declaration from Lex, Clark isn’t aware of much more than Lex’s mouth crashing down onto his.

Clark starts to pull back in shock, or tries to, but with a wall behind him, there’s nowhere to go. Before he’s able to bring his hands up to push Lex away, the feeling of Lex’s mouth on his starts to seep into his consciousness. Clark can’t believe how good it feels. No one but Lana is supposed to be able to make him feel like this, but he’s never felt quite this way with her before. As far as they’d gone earlier that day, before Clark put the brakes on, he’s never felt this intense rush of pleasure with her, has never felt like wrapping himself around her and never letting go. He’s always wanted to feel that way, but he hasn’t. He figured it was his problem, his alien nature, only now he’s feeling something different with Lex.

God, he’s wanted this for so long. What?! No! Where had that thought come from? He struggles a little against Lex in half-hearted denial, but Lex brings his hands up and latches onto Clark’s biceps, pinning his upper body to the wall. Lex places a leg between Clark’s slightly spread ones and thrusts into him hard. Clark jerks in his arms and suddenly goes pliant, surrendering to a passion he’s never experienced before.

Lex shoves up against him harder, Clark moans in mingled pain and pleasure, as Lex takes advantage of the slightly opened mouth and bites and sucks on Clark’s split lower lip before pushing his tongue inside. Clark catches his breath and Lex slides in deeper, twining their tongues together, and pulling Clark’s tongue into his mouth to scrape and suck on. Clark bucks up into Lex’s body and only the realization of his increasing arousal shocks him into forcefully pushing Lex away.

Lex stumbles backwards and the two stare at each other, chests heaving. “Lex, what the hell…? What was that supposed to be?” He swipes the back of a hand across his lips and wipes it on his jeans. His cock is pushing against his zipper, and wiping his hand on his thigh moves the cloth against his erection. It’s all he can do to bite back a moan.

Lex doesn’t answer, just swipes some blood off his lips with his thumb, and then proceeds to lick and suck it clean. Clark watches and feels tingles sweep through him as Lex takes Clark’s blood into his mouth and he feels something inside of him snap. His cock pulsing with lust, Clark steps forward, grabs Lex by the arms and twists them until Lex is the one against the wall.

“For years, Lex, you’ve had me investigated. Poking and prodding where you had no business being. I’ve defended you to everyone, pointing out all the good things you’ve done for the town. Yet you can say I’ve never given you anything? Just who do you think you are? You’re nothing but a hypocritical ass.”

Clark stares into Lex’s eyes, seeing the enlarged pupils, the swollen lips, and feels himself pulled forward irresistibly as he realizes that this…this is passion…need. He wraps one hand around Lex’s neck and the other around Lex’s waist and yanks him into his body. He uses the hand on Lex’s neck to tip his head back. It gives him easy access to the vulnerable column of his throat and Clark savors the sight as he tries to decide on his next move. He can’t resist the call of that pearly white skin though, so Clark swoops down, wanting to leave a mark…his mark…on that perfect flesh. He licks up a bead of sweat first and enjoys the sharp tang before he latches his lips to the same spot and sucks as hard as he can, using teeth and tongue to really work the small area he’s chosen, just a few inches under the left ear.

Lex hands scrabble against Clark’s shoulders, and he moans at the assault on the sensitive skin of his neck. Briefly, he shuts his eyes in surrender, arching his neck a little for Clark’s mouth. It feels like there’s a direct link between his neck and his cock, because every time Clark sucks, there’s a throb in his groin. As Clark starts sliding the hand at Lex’s waist down to his ass, Lex takes action. One hand buries itself in Clark’s hair and yanks back, at the same time his other hand pushes against Clark’s shoulder while one leg sneaks behind Clark’s ankles and pulls.

Clark tumbles to the floor, bringing Lex with him. Lex lands on top, momentarily driving the breath from Clark’s body. Lex levers his upper body off of Clark’s, which drives his hips into the body beneath him. His eyes start to roll back in his head as the hard bulge of Clark’s cock rubs against his at the maneuver, but he shakes it off for the moment and swallows hard. “You sanctimonious prick! You defended me?! What the hell good did that do, since you obviously never believed a word you said? You never trusted me, not even a little bit. I’ve had to fight for every crumb you ever deigned to give me.”

Lex looks down at Clark, and then rips open the offensive flannel shirt, the buttons pinging as they hit the floor, and rucks up the t-shirt underneath. Clark’s nipples are hard and pointed and Lex pins Clark’s arms to the floor, lowering his head at the same time. God, he’s wanted this for so long. He’d wanted the innocent boy, but he’d been trying to be so good back then, so he’d left him alone. He also hadn’t wanted to ruin the best friendship he’d ever had. Now it didn’t matter anymore, the only two hindrances to his desires are gone. Clark’s an adult and the friendship is obviously over. It’s freeing in a way, and he’s going to enjoy that freedom.

He opens his mouth and bites right under Clark’s nipple. Clark bucks under him, but Lex uses the leverage he gains at being on top to hold Clark down. He bites all around each of the brown peaks, leaving teeth marks in his wake, and then branches out, away from the enticing nubs.

Clark hisses between his teeth and swears at Lex, his head tossing from side to side. He’s determined not to ask for anything. He might feel like he’s being turned inside out by Lex’s talented mouth, but he’s not going to beg for what he wants. His hands clench into fists by his sides, and he bites his lip until it bleeds again, but he doesn’t say a word.

When Clark’s upper body is covered in bites, Lex finally gives in to what he really wants to do, which is to suck one of those succulent bits of flesh into his mouth. He swirls his tongue around the little nub, sucks as much as he can into his mouth and bites down firmly. At the same time, he lets go of one of Clark’s arms so he can pinch the other one and twist it with his fingers. Clark arches off the floor and lets out a huge yell that makes Lex glad his security is so bad. Then he switches sides, tugging on the other nipple with his teeth, while he rolls the one he’d just left between his fingers and pulls.

Lex slides his other hand down Clark’s body and squeezes the erection he finds, making Clark buck up into the sensation again and knocking Lex’s mouth off of his nipple. “Jesus, Clark, you’re huge. I bet you’re tight too; I’m looking forward to finding out. I want to know if you hold yourself as tightly closed as your mind.”

As Lex reaches to undo Clark’s pants, Clark feels his eyes burning at Lex’s words. He knows it isn’t heat vision, since that’s gone, so it must be fury. Moving suddenly, he catches Lex by surprise, wrapping his arms and legs around his former friend and rolling until he’s the one on top.

He wrestles with the fastenings of Lex’s pants, fighting to get them open and down as his voice rises and he shouts at Lex. “Damn you, Lex! I don’t owe you my secrets. I never did. You judge me for lying to you, but what else have you done to me all these years – what about the Nicodemus flower, Nixon, my mom’s kidnapping, the Summerholt Institute and their memory recovery treatment – you lied about all of it.” Finally, he finds all the catches and works the pants only as far down as Lex’s knees, effectively hobbling him.

He catches a whiff of the precome leaking from Lex’s cock and suddenly decides he has nothing more to say. Instead, he descends on Lex’s cock with more enthusiasm than skill, and takes as much as he can in one gulp, not bothering to cover his teeth.

It’s Lex’s turn to yell, and arch his back, as his cock is swallowed into the wettest, hottest heat he can ever remember. But damn it, this isn’t the way it’s supposed to happen. He pushes against the head between his legs, twisting his lower body, hoping to buck Clark off. Clark just settles an arm over Lex’s chest and presses down. Then he sucks harder. Lex lashes his head back and forth, not able to move much more of his upper body with the way Clark is holding him down.

“Damn you, Clark Kent! You want it that much? Then let’s see how much you can really take!” He grabs a hold of Clark’s hair and starts fucking into his mouth, hips snapping in a hard, fast pace. Clark swallows and sucks, just barely managing to keep up with the brutal, pistoning movements.

Lex can feel saliva running down across his balls and into the crack of his ass. Clark realizes what’s happening at about the same time, slides a hand under Lex’s pumping hips, and presses a thumb against the small opening he finds there. As Lex continues to thrust his hips, Clark’s thumb slides in the saliva and massages Lex’s puckered entrance, over and over. Lex’s rhythm falters and he groans loudly at Clark’s unintentional tease.

At least he thinks it’s unintentional, until Clark starts to swirl his thumb over Lex’s most private area, driving him crazy with lust. He feels his balls start to draw up at the same time that Clark’s thumb disappears to quickly be replaced with two fingers that he pushes in up to the hilt with no ceremony or other preparation. Lex freezes in the middle of arching his back and, as Clark’s twisting and scissoring fingers brush against his prostate, he starts coming with no warning other than a small grunt. He doesn’t let go of Clark’s hair until he’s utterly spent. Then he collapses back to the ground, boneless.

Clark chokes as the first spurt of come hits the back of his throat and he quickly pulls back as far as Lex’s grip will let him. He swallows a couple of time and then holds the rest of Lex’s release in his mouth. As soon as Lex relaxes his grip, he yanks his head back, kneels up and undoes his own pants. When he pulls out his own engorged cock, he can barely stand to touch it, since he’s so close to coming. He spits Lex’s come into his hands and, as quickly as possible, coats his cock with it.

Lex struggles to recover and then toes off his shoes and wiggles out of the vice his pants had become. Then he surges to his own knees and pushes Clark over onto his back as he’s slicking his cock. “You really are a sanctimonious prick, aren’t you? Yes, I lied to you, just like you did to me, but I let you further in than anyone else since my mother. I told you about so much, admitted to so many feelings, let my guard down around you, and I never got anything in return except for false promises of a friendship that never got beyond the gimme stage.”

Lex swings a leg over Clark’s hips, his shirttails tickling the stomach of the man below him. Clark manages to wiggle the rest of the way out of his pants, and then he reaches up to grasp Lex’s hips. Lex shrugs out of his shirt and then grasps Clark’s cock. Together they line up, and Lex pushes down as Clark thrusts up. Just that quickly Clark is seated balls deep. Both men freeze, Lex gasping at the sudden fullness and burn of having a cock much wider than two fingers suddenly stretching him, as well as the stirrings of an erection he thought completely spent, Clark gasping at suddenly being surrounded by the tightness and heat of Lex’s body.

“Lex, I’m…I’m gonna…I’m gonna come.” Clark gasps and moans as he tries to last, but he’s afraid it’s a losing battle. He’s never felt anything like this before and he has no defenses against it.

“Oh no, you aren’t.” Lex reaches behind himself and yanks down on Clark’s balls. Clark cries out, but Lex knows he accomplished his mission because he feels Clark wilt a little inside of him. “Now fuck me, you beautiful bastard.”

Clark grabs Lex’s hips in a bruising grip and sets a punishing pace, angling them both so he slides into Lex as deeply as possible. The change in angle makes Lex writhe above him. Clark watches closely and repeats the move. He locks his eyes on Lex, and sees the other man’s eyes widen. Without thinking of how much he’s giving away, Clark settles himself so his cock scrapes against that special spot with every thrust. “I hate you. God, I hate you so much, Lex.”

Lex shivers at the continual stimulation of his prostate and feels his cock begin to fill again. Still, he finds it in himself to smirk down at the man beneath him. “No, you don’t, you just wish you did. What you hate is that you see your dreams of a normal life with Lana going up in smoke.”

Clark turns his head away, trying to hide from a truth he doesn’t want to accept. A clenching of Lex’s muscles around his cock makes him gasp and turn back. When he does, he sees Lex’s renewing erection and he grasps it with a hard hand. He sets the same pace with his hand as he does with his cock, and on every third stroke he slides over the head and presses a fingertip against Lex’s slit, making the man above him swear and arch his back.

Lex doesn’t like how passionately Clark is making him respond. He needs to do something to break Clark’s concentration and rhythm. He leans down over Clark’s chest, as best he can, to speak into Clark’s ear. “This is all you’ve got farmboy? God, I feel sorry for Lana. You’re going to have to become a better lover than this if you hope to have her forgive you for cheating on her.” Lex makes his tone as derisive as possible to help cover his involuntary reaction to Clark. He’d let his former friend get one over on him once today, since he’s the one getting screwed, but he isn’t going to give up any more of himself than he has to.

At the mention of Lana’s name again, and as Lex’s cruel words sink in, Clark freezes and his vision whites out for a few seconds. When he can see again, he narrows his eyes at Lex, and lets out an animalistic growl. Without losing his place inside Lex, he surges up and slams Lex’s back into the floor, raising the other man’s legs up until he’s almost bent in half. “Don’t you say her name, Lex. Don’t you fucking say her name!”

Clark’s rage and suppressed shame makes him speed up even faster. His balls slap hard against Lex’s ass and his cock makes lewd, wet sounds as he slams in and out of the other man. The smell of sex is strong in the air around them, and the heady scent is making Clark’s head swim.

Lex is left gasping on the floor, both from the pleasure spiraling in his belly and at the speed and strength that had been used to get him there. Clark might not be the super strong man he’d thought before today, but Lex had obviously pushed the right button just then. He can’t resist a small smile through his lust-contorted features at the pounding he’s now taking, a proof of sorts at the hit he’d scored against Clark.

The small smile drives Clark over that last remaining edge and, not letting up on his movements, he arches down over Lex’s body and latches onto his neck, over the same mark he’d made earlier. He bites down and worries at the spot, like a dog with a bone.

Lex lets out a hoarse shout as the pain adds to the other stimulation Clark is giving him. He throws his arms around Clark and claws at his back, digging deep as he nears completion. When Lex comes for the second time his muscles clamp down around Clark’s cock in a vice-like grip, and his nails bite into Clark’s shoulders. The pleasure is so intense Lex blacks out for a few seconds, but only for a few seconds. He struggles back to consciousness, not wanting to give Clark the satisfaction of knowing how violently he’d made Lex react. Lex has never come like that. Never.

Feeling Lex clamp down around him makes it impossible for Clark to hold back his own orgasm anymore. He doesn’t even want to, and he releases pulse after pulse into Lex’s grasping passage. He collapses on top of Lex, his breathing coming out like a bellows, arms trembling with the sudden release of tension and lack of exertion.

He swallows hard and his eyes dart around in uncertainty as he slowly lifts his head from Lex’s neck to check the other man out. He stops cold when his flitting eyes spot the huge bruise blooming on Lex’s neck. He reaches out to stroke it, hardly able to believe that he’d been that vicious, but his hand is batted aside.

“Jesus, Clark. You weigh a ton. That was a great fuck, but if you’re going to get off do it now. Unless, that is, you’re thinking of going another round.” Lex reaches out and pinches one of Clark’s nipples hard, smirking up into the suddenly horror-filled face above him.

Lex’s harsh words help Clark come down off the endorphin high the intense orgasm had caused, and Clark starts to realize just what he’s done. He feels his cock start to soften and slide from Lex’s body, and he can feel the warm wetness of his semen dripping from Lex’s ass as well. He catches his breath in anguished shame and a blush spreads from the roots of his hair all the way down to his chest. He wants to run, to superspeed out of there, but he can’t. He’s stuck moving at human speed and never has the lack of his powers been missed as much as right now.

Clark scrambles backwards, off of Lex. To his increasing humiliation however, he doesn’t move back because of what Lex had said, but because that touch went zinging straight to his cock, which he feels trying to fill again. He hurriedly turns his back on Lex, to hide the evidence of Lex’s effect on him, and pulls on his boxers as quickly as he can.

Oh, this was too good. Lex had gotten to release some tension with the rough sex, especially since it was with the object of his desires for so many years, and now he plans on enjoying the obvious distress said object was feeling. He gets up off the floor silently and sidles up behind Clark, plastering his naked body against the other man, placing his hands on Clark’s shoulders and squeezing gently. “Are you going to tell Lana that you cheated on her, Clark?”

At the feel of Lex naked front against his back, Clark freezes and bites back a gasp as his returning erection gives another surge. Not even Lex’s further cruelty completely douses the renewed arousal, unfortunately. Clark’s shame, guilt, and embarrassment quickly turn to anger though, and Clark is relieved. He shrugs off Lex’s touch and takes a couple of steps away, before rounding on him. “I told you to stop saying her name, Lex! And I didn’t cheat on her, this was a onetime aberration, but what I have with her will last a lifetime.”

Lex doesn’t like being brushed off as if he was no more than an afterthought. Luthors were no one’s onetime fling. Not that he wanted anything more from Clark, but Lex should have been the one to say it. “Sorry to burst your self-righteous bubble, Clark, but when you’re in a relationship and have sex with someone else, that’s cheating.”

Clark’s chest swells out as he throws his shoulders back in anger. “Lana and I haven’t had…” Clark cuts himself off in horror at what he’d almost revealed to Lex. “Lana and I are none of your business, Lex. What I choose to tell her, or not tell her, isn’t your business either.”

Lex stares at Clark incredulously and watches him squirm under his gaze. A big smile stretches his lips wide and he laughs. “You and Lana haven’t …what? Had a relationship? That’s what I mentioned anyway, but that isn’t what you were about to say, was it? Are you telling me that you haven’t had sex with her yet?! Jesus, Clark, what are you waiting for? You’re eighteen and you’ve been sniffing around her like a dog in rut since I’ve known you.”

Lex laughs some more and then abruptly cuts it off as something occurs to him. “Does that mean…oh my god, I bet it does…I’m you’re first, aren’t I? You were a virgin before today.” He steps forward, pressing his still naked body against Clark, raises his hands to start stroking over Clark’s shoulders and down his arms. He leans closer and lowers his voice. “Oh, Clark, you poor, poor boy. You’ll never be able to forget me now. A person always remembers their first lover.”

Lex is excited by this revelation. It explains so much. A virgin would have no defenses against a person who was as well versed in the art of sex as he was. If this had been Clark’s first time though, then he had incredible instincts and will be a force to be reckoned with after he has some experience under his belt. Until then though…oh yes, until then, Lex figures he can have some fun and work out some pent up hostility towards the boy/man in front of him.

Clark decides he needs to take Lex down a peg. He pushes Lex away and shakes his head. “Oh please, conceited much, Lex? I’ve already forgotten about it. And for your information, Lana and I already almost had sex earlier today. I stopped her because I wanted it to be special for her. She deserves more than a lap and a ratty couch to support her. She deserves to have it done right.”

Inwardly Lex seethes at the self-righteousness of the person he used to consider a friend, as well as at his continued worship of Lana Lang. He doesn’t let any of that show as he retaliates, however. “Was that supposed to wound, Clark? You, intimating that I don’t deserve more or to have it done right? Oh, Clark, Clark, you’re just digging yourself in deeper and deeper. You stopped the two of you. You decided to wait. You had the girl of your dreams pliant in your lap and you put her off. You don’t love Lana, or respond to her sexually, if you could do any of those things, not really. She’s nothing more to you than an idealized fantasy, a dream girl that you forever want to reach for, but never really touch. Now, even if you do finally take her to bed, she won’t be able to satisfy you. Your body liked what we did and it’s going to want more of it. Maybe not the violence, but the passion and the intensity. You won’t find that with a placid little girl such as Lana. You’ll wind up scaring her or putting her off if you try to recreate any part of what we just shared. You’ll never be able to act the same around her again, and you’ll never tell her why. Not Clark Kent, the master of the lie. You and Lana are through, Clark. It’s just a matter of making it through the death throes of your relationship.”

Every point that Lex made drove Clark back a step, but Lex followed relentlessly, tasting blood, and enjoying the power over the man who’d held him to such impossible standards over the years.

Clark backs up, shaking his head over and over, until he hits another wall. Lex brackets him in, rubbing his upper torso against Clark’s lightly. “If I reach down right now, Clark, what will I find?” He rubs a cheek against Clark’s stubbly chin and purrs into his ear. “Are you getting hard again, Clark?” He pauses to take a deep breath. “Are you leaking for me already, Clark? Should I find out?”

He braces himself on one arm and slowly starts to reach down Clark’s body. He doesn’t expect to get to his goal, and he’s correct, Clark grabs his hand just inches from its target. “You’re wrong, Lex, about all of it. However, it doesn’t matter if you believe me or not. Time will show you just how wrong you are. Lana and I aren’t over; we’re going to be stronger than ever.” Clark shoves Lex away again, hard enough to make him stumble and almost fall. Clark strides to his clothes in indignation, ignoring the steel-hard rod in his boxers as best he can, and dresses as quickly as he can.

Lex just watches him, enjoying the show, noticing the surreptitious adjustment before the jeans get zipped up. He continues to watch as Clark silently stalks across the room. Lex stops him with a well-timed comment just before he can open the door. “Contrary to what you believe, Clark, this will happen again. I’ll give you fair warning, the next time you burst into my private office like you did today, you can expect to find yourself bent over the nearest piece of furniture and fucked raw.” His eagle eye notices, much to his satisfaction, the shiver that works its way down Clark’s body before he continues out the door without acknowledging the assertion.

Lex turns away from the now empty doorway feeling satisfied for the first time in a long time with how life is going. If he knows Clark, the boy will convince himself that Lex was just making an idle threat. It might keep him away for a day or two, but he’d soon fall back into his old habits. Lex plans to be ready for it.

 

Chapter Two

Clark slams the front door on his way out of the mansion. It’s juvenile, but he needs to let out this tension somehow and he can’t run a few laps around Kansas like he used to. He stands in the driveway, with his chest heaving and his fists clenching and unclenching in agitation, the cooling air of the encroaching twilight doing nothing to soothe him. What the hell had happened in there? How had he wound up having sex with Lex Luthor? Thinking back over the sequence of events doesn’t make it any clearer, unfortunately. It just makes his cock leak.

He tries to calm himself down by remembering all the hateful, hurtful words Lex had thrown at him, but that doesn’t work either. Along with all those words are the memories of being backed across the room, of Lex’s body moving with fluidity and erotic promise. Clark throws his head back and gasps as a surge of lust shots through him, tightening his balls. Clark’s never reacted like this to anyone or anything and he’s at a loss. He just came, violently, endlessly. How can he be this aroused again, and without even a touch to his body?

He needs to find some way to calm down because he doesn’t think he can drive this way. He starts thinking as many unsexy thoughts as he can. Meteor mutants, green Kryptonite, what his father would say if he knew what had just happened, his mother with curlers in her hair and cream on her face all flit through his mind. It starts to help. His erection is a little less rigid in his pants when he hears the sound of tires coming up the driveway.

The site of the limo arriving effectively douses the rest of his ardor. The thought that Lionel might be in there, arriving to visit his son, is the most effective downer he can imagine. He can’t see through the tinted windows anymore, but he doesn’t need the confirmation. The suspicion is more than enough. If it’s accurate, he really doesn’t want to be confronted by the man, smelling like he does right now. Clark hurries to the truck he arrived in, giving a polite wave in the direction of the limo. Then, before it rolls to a stop, he takes off down the driveway. He really doesn’t want to know if it’s Lionel or not.

The trouble is, he’s not sure where to go. He’d been planning on going to see Lana after he confronted Lex, to check on her after the afternoon’s ordeal, but that isn’t possible now. He smells like what he’s been doing. Lana might be as innocent as he is to actual sex…or…as innocent as he used to be, but he’s sure she’d know what he’d been doing, if not with whom.

God, he still can’t believe he had sex with Lex. What should he tell Lana? Should he tell her? In spite of what he’d said to Lex, Clark knows that he cheated on her, and he knows he’s betrayed her trust and love. How should he fix it? Could he fix it? He feels so guilty, should he confess? She might forgive him if he tells the truth. What if she doesn’t though? Clark doesn’t know if he can bear to lose her like that. If she doesn’t forgive him, then she’d hate him for what he’d done.

Whatever he decides to tell her though, he definitely can’t go to her smelling like this. He can’t throw it in her face like that. She deserves better than that from him. Of course, she deserves better than having the man who’d professed to love her, cheat on her as well.

Clark pulls the truck off the road and rests his forehead against the wheel. It’s all starting to sink in now, especially the possible repercussions. He’d had sex with Lex Luthor. If he told Lana, she’d probably leave him, which would be no less than he deserved. If he didn’t tell her, then he’d be right back to lying to her again. Something he’d promised he was done doing, now that he was normal. Clark moaned softly in despair. How normal could he be, since he’d just screwed his former best friend-turned enemy in an act that was just as much violent as it had been passionate? That wasn’t the behavior of a normal person. He might not know a lot about sex, but he did know that what they’d done hadn’t been normal. He’s pretty sure anyway.

It’s also not normal to have sex with someone you hate. Only…if they hated each other…why had it felt so good? Lex had come twice and he…he’d acted like a man possessed, bending Lex in half like that. He’d been so angry, but also so turned on and aroused. He hadn’t wanted to stop. If Lex hadn’t made that cruel remark and pinched him….he’d still been hard inside of Lex after all. Afterwards, after they’d both come, he’d been thinking that he’d’ve liked to start a nice, slow pump in and out, to gently bring them back up to that pinnacle again. To press kisses over every inch of Lex’s soft, smooth skin that he could reach. Take away the sting of all the previous touches and harsh words.

Clark gives his head a sharp shake. What is he thinking? He doesn’t want any more sex with Lex Luthor! He needs to put it out of his mind and forget it had ever happened. He’s going to go home, shower away all the evidence of what he’d done, and wash the memories down the drain as well. It had never happened. If he thought it often enough, he’s certain he’ll come to believe it in time.

Clark peels away from the side of the road, leaving a layer of rubber in his wake. He needs to get home as soon as possible, so he can put this brief interruption of his real life behind him once and for all.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Clark slows down his bat-out-of-hell impression when he reaches the driveway to his home. He pulls up close to the front gate, with the intention of hurrying inside and upstairs, hopefully avoiding everyone. If no one else found out, it would be even easier to pretend it hadn’t happened.

Clark slams out of the truck, but doesn’t get more than two steps when he hears his father’s voice from the barn. “Clark, son, is that you?”

“Yeah, Dad. I’m back. I’ve got something to do inside.” Clark shouts from where he is, still hoping to avoid contact with anyone.

“I need your help, Clark. I’m stuck.”

Now that he really listens, he can tell his dad’s voice sounds tinged with pain. Clark forgets all about his own difficulties, or his thoughts of avoiding everyone. Someone he loves needs him and that’s all he thinks about as he runs for the barn.

Clark skids to a stop at the entrance to the barn and looks wildly around for his father. He spies him by the workbench, his foot stuck through a broken floorboard. “Dad!”

“Don’t worry, son. It isn’t as bad as it looks. Only, there’s a sharp piece down there digging into my calf. I can’t reach any of the tools I need to get myself loose.”

As soon as Clark takes in the situation, he starts to reach for the tools he needs to get his dad free. It doesn’t take long to saw at the boards around the trapped foot and free his father. When the foot is finally out though, Clark can’t hold in his gasp at the blood saturating his dad’s sock and work boot. “Dad, God, we need to get you back to the house. Where’s Mom?”

“She went back to the barn-raising to get our dishes and containers. If I know her, she probably got involved with the clean-up, in spite of what we went through this afternoon. She could very well be another couple of hours.”

His dad sounds exasperated, but affectionate at the same time. This is what Clark had hoped to have with Lana – the same kind of relationship that his parents have. He doesn’t want what Lex offers, the non-stop challenges, the constant thinking outside the box Lex makes him do. He doesn’t want someone that’s devious, manipulative, immoral, complicated, aggravating, intelligent…passionate…loyal…shit!

Forcefully, he shoves all thoughts of Lex from his mind. He needs to focus on his injured father. “Well, let’s get you back to the house at least, Dad. I’ll clean you up and we can see if you need to go to the hospital.” Clark crouches down and wraps his dad’s arm around his shoulders, then puts a hand around the older man’s waist and stands up, hoisting his dad up as he does. Slowly, they make their way back to the house.

The steps to the front door are the hardest, but they make it, and Clark pulls out a seat at the kitchen table. “I’ll be right back, Dad. I’m going to get the first aid kit and a basin.” When he comes back, he has what he needs, plus a pitcher and a couple of old towels. “I’m going to clean you up first, Dad, make sure the bleeding has stopped, and see if you need stitches.”

Clark gently removes his father’s boot and sock, puts the basin under the foot and pours water from the pitcher over the bloodied skin. Carefully he rubs as he pours to help loosen the dried blood so he can assess the damage. After two pitchers full, he carefully pats his father’s foot and calf down with a towel and looks the skin over.

“I don’t think it’s as bad as it looked, Dad. The bleeding stopped on its own and didn’t start again while I cleaned it; it’s just seeping a little bit. I’ll put some antibiotic ointment on it and wrap it up. That’ll keep it clean until Mom gets home and she can make the final call.”

Clark suits actions to words and soon has the foot all set. He looks up at his dad from his kneeling position and is startled to see himself being studied intently.

“Dad?”

“I’m just impressed with how much you’ve grown up, Clark. You’ve always been mature for your age, and you’ve never been one to panic in an emergency. Just now, taking care of my foot, it really came home to me that you’re a man now. You didn’t ask me what to do, you didn’t waffle, you decided on a course of action and you just did it. I’m very proud of you son.”

Clark smiles at his dad in pleasure. “Thanks, Dad. That means a lot.”

He feels his father’s gaze travel over his face and then rest on his split lip. Clark stiffens at the intensity of the look. “I wanted to be sure to tell you that first, Clark, but I think there’s something else we need to talk about. I didn’t notice at first, because of the pain I was in, but, Clark, you look like you’ve been in a fight and you…well, quite frankly…you smell like sex.”

Clark curses to himself as he feels a telltale blush stealing over his features. “Dad…”

“You were gone a long time, Clark. Last I knew you were going to confront Lex Luthor about his part in our unpleasant afternoon adventure. Is he the reason your lip is split?”

“Yes, sir. To be fair, I threw a couple of punches before he retaliated. Making me bleed seemed to s-s-satisfy him.” Clark can’t help stuttering over that word, the word that started everything in the office after the fight was over…no, the fight hadn’t been over at that point, not really. It just…changed form. Clark also can’t help blushing yet again as he remembers exactly what form it changed to.

“So you two fought. Normally I don’t believe in fighting, but if any man deserves to be taken down a notch or two, it’s him. Then, after the fight, you did what? Go to see Lana? You sly dog, you. Figured you’d soften her up with your injuries? I bet she was a bit of a mother hen. Your mother is like that when I’m injured. I hope you were at least safe. Did…”

“Dad!” Clark has to stop his dad’s babbling. He hangs his head. He’d never wanted anyone to find out, but now, the first person he sees since it happened, has already guessed. Even if he didn’t want to admit it. After that one word outburst, Clark feels like his voice is gone. All he can do is whisper. “Please, Dad, please stop. That isn’t what happened and I can tell you already know what did, or, at least, you have a good idea. You really aren’t going to make me say it, are you?”

Jonathan looks down at his son’s hanging head and takes a deep breath, then really wishes he hadn’t. Knowing that his son had had sex with a man he ha…didn’t approve of was bad enough, but to be able to smell it was somehow worse. “Yes, son, I am. What happened?”

Clark realizes he no longer needs to be kneeling at his father’s feet and gets up to sit at the kitchen table with the man he respects more than any other. His praise had meant a lot, but Clark has to wonder if he really meant it, because he’s still feeling like a kid under that penetrating stare. “Dad, if I’m an adult, I should be able to h-have sex with…”

Jonathan clenches his hands together at that confirmation of his suspicions. “Clark! You had sex with a man that has the power to destroy you and this entire family if he chooses to do so, and in fact tried to do just that earlier today.”

“But, Dad, he wouldn’t, he didn’t. He’s never tried to hurt me or this family, not really.”

“Never tried…just what would you call what happened today then, Clark?! There have been other cases as well. How many times has he put one of us in jeopardy with a crazy scheme?”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t mean to. It’s usually because something he planned went wrong. How many times has he helped us? Shouldn’t those times count for something? You’ve told me before, when I’ve broken something by accident, that intent matters. That I should be more careful, but that I shouldn’t feel too bad because it was an accident. That it was understandable if I hadn’t really meant any harm. Well, he never intends on anyone getting hurt.” Clark doesn’t even think about what he’s saying, he just speaks from his heart. Surely, he can make his dad understand.

Jonathan can barely believe that it’s his son speaking. He feels like they’ve gone backwards in time. “You’re defending him, Clark?! I can’t believe this. What the hell happened over there?”

“I…” He is defending him! Why is he doing that? After all the rotten things he said…but what did Lex say that wasn’t true? No, Clark can’t accept that, it would mean that he and Lana are over and that’s just not possible. “You’re right, Dad. I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m still confused about what happened earlier, that’s all. One minute we were just fighting and the next…the next, we were still fighting, but we were also doing…more.”

“You mean you were…what? Still hitting each other?”

“No, not with fists, but we continued to hit each other with words. We had so much anger, Dad, and it just…exploded…turning into…you know.”

“So…it sounds like you don’t plan on it happening again then?”

“God, no. I still don’t know why it happened the first time, Dad.” Clark kept the doubts out of his voice, but they crept through his mind, ignoring his efforts to silence them. He did not want that to happen again, and he knows that Lex’s last parting shot was an empty threat. Lex had just been trying to get a rise out of him again. There is no way that there was going to be a repeat of what had happened earlier today. No way. He wanted Lana, not Lex. Even if Lex had been his first.

A sudden thought occurs to him and he asks before he has time to censor his thoughts. “Dad, you had sex with women before Mom, right?”

“Yes, I did, son. Not many, but she wasn’t my first. Why?”

“Well…when you finally…when you…jeez!” Clark drops his head into his hands, but soon looks up again. He needs to know. “Dad, were you able to put all of those others out of your mind, or were you…did they creep into your thoughts when you were with mom?”

“Clark, I can honestly say that when I met your mother, all other women just faded into the background. No one could compare to her. They never entered my thoughts again, especially when we were…intimate…with each other.”

Clark is too relieved to be embarrassed. He’d been worried, especially after what Lex had said, that any experience with Lana would be overshadowed from now on with memories of Lex. He realizes he’s still not done with what he has to find out about though.

“Dad?” God, Clark does not want to talk to his dad about this, but he really needs to find out. He can’t let his embarrassment get in the way of knowledge in this case. He might seriously wind up hurting someone…Lana…if he doesn’t know.

Jonathan still feels several conflicting emotions about what he’s just learned, none of them positive, but he pushes it to the back of his mind to think about some other time. Right now, he can tell his son needs him. “What is it, Clark?”

“It’s just…I think…I think there might be something wrong with me. I was hoping with my powers gone that I’d be completely normal. I was hoping that I’d be able to have an average, uneventful life. After what happened today, though, I think there’s something not…normal…about the way I…I…have sex. Even though we were both being nasty to each other, flinging accusations, saying every mean thing to each other we could think of, I still…responded. Do you think I might still be able to…respond…if there isn’t violence involved?”

Jonathan runs a hand over his face to give him a vital second to compose himself. This is not a talk he ever thought he’d be having with his extremely strong, but still gentle son. However, he does his best to put his embarrassment aside. He knows how long Clark has desired to be normal, to be like everyone else. This is too important to let his squeamishness about the topic to get in the way. “Clark, there are many ways of having sex. Perhaps I, and your mother, sheltered you too much if you believe otherwise. While sex isn’t usually violent, it can be. As long as both parties are okay with that, then there’s nothing really wrong with it. Enjoying it also doesn’t mean that you can’t also take pleasure in different kinds of sex either, Clark.”

Jonathan stops abruptly as a horrible thought takes a hold of his mind. “Clark, it was consensual on both sides, wasn’t it? He didn’t…force you, did he?”

Clark struggles not to blush and manages to meet his dad’s eyes. “No, Dad, as violent as it was, he never forced me. And, so you don’t have to ask, I didn’t force him either.”

“It never occurred to me as a possibility, Clark.” For a split second, Jonathan is sorry that Lex hadn’t forced himself on his son; he’d almost prefer that to the thought of Clark being a willing participant in sex with Lex Luthor. Then he blanches inwardly at the terrible thought. He wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone, let alone his own son.

“Dad, you said there were lots of kinds of sex. Like what?”

Jonathan sighs quietly and forces himself not to run a hand over his face again. “That’s a hard question to answer, Clark. The kinds of sex that are possible with just a single partner can depend on the kind of people involved and the depth of feeling they each have for the other, as well as many other factors such as time and energy level. Also, the kind of sex you can have with one partner may be very different from the kind of sex you have with another partner. In generalities though, sex can sometimes be playful, adventuresome, leisurely, or even kinky, and, you can combine those of course. There are many ways, son, I can’t list them all. Sex can even be boring, if one or both partners are just going through the motions because it’s expected of them. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with ordinary sex either. None of the other stuff involved that I already mentioned, just two people who care for each other, taking some time to make the other person feel good. Why your mother and I…”

“TMI, Dad, TMI!” Clark puts his hands over his ears and laughs over the table at his father. As embarrassing as it had been to listen too, he’s feeling much better. After what Lex said about his body craving at least the intensity of what they’d shared, he hadn’t been sure that he’d be able to enjoy sex any other way. His dad had given him a lot to think about.

“Sorry, Clark. I got carried away. Look, you go on upstairs and shower before your mother gets home. I’ll have to tell her about the fight, but the rest of this conversation will be just between us men.”

Clark turns his full smile on his father. “Thanks, Dad, I appreciate that. I’ll be down before bed to say goodnight to you both, unless you or Mom need me for something.”

“No problem, Son. Now git.”

 

Chapter Three

As soon as Clark leaves his study, Lex’s mind starts sifting through everything that happened and all that was said, examining it from every angle. How could he make everything that had happened between them work to his best advantage? Some of the memories make him shiver in reaction, but he forces the emotions out. He doesn’t need to be distracted by the fact that Clark had made his body react like none of his other lovers ever had. Not even Desiree had had such an effect on him.

He indulges his desire to make plans for tormenting Clark in the future with what happened between them and what he’d learned about his former friend for just a few minutes. Then he gives himself a mental shake and decides that he needs to get down to the real business of cleaning up the mess made by Tommy Lee and the twins. He has several phone calls to make to get the ball rolling for that. He’s going to have to go through some…unofficial…channels to get this done. Lex looks down at himself and sees the dried semen and streaks of sweat still on his body. He also still needs to clean up and get dressed.

It’s getting too late for him to want to go out tonight to see to things himself, and truth be told, he’s feeling several aches and pains he needs to get rid of if he’s going to be able to be at the peak of efficiency that he needs to be in for the next day or two at least. He could call his regular masseuse here in Smallville, but he’s feeling the need for something a little extra tonight, to help him bury the memory of this day and his encounter with Clark. That means he’ll need to get his special masseuse from Metropolis.

It’s late, but not that late, and more to the point, at the amount Simon charges for him and his team when Lex does call him, he’d better come running even if he’s contacted at three in the morning. However, Lex doesn’t want to be up until three a.m. himself; that would defeat the purpose of having the masseuse and his assistants come in. If he calls Simon before he does anything else though, and sends the LuthorCorp helicopter to pick them up, then by the time he’s done with a shower and the calls, they should be here.

With a firm plan made, Lex decides to head upstairs for the shower first. He really needs to get clean, and hopefully wash himself free of the memories of this day as well. Before he can get out of the room, security calls for him through the intercom. “Mr. Luthor, sir? The limo you ordered brought around this evening is here.”

Shit. Lex had forgotten about that. He’d planned to take the evidence on Clark to Metropolis and lock it in his safety deposit box tomorrow morning until he decided on what to do with it or how to use it. He’d timed the trip so he’d get to the city just in time for some good late night celebrations at his favorite club.

Being reminded that he doesn’t have the evidence he thought he would, puts him in an even fouler mood. He has to force himself not to bite off the head of the caller when he orders it sent back. It doesn’t help his mood either, when he realizes that he’s started to stroke the mark on his neck that Clark gave him, and how much he’s enjoying the sensation. He’s even more in need of Simon and his team now.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

An hour later, Lex is just hanging up from the last phone call he needed to make to get this mess taken care of. Any release from stress his shower gave him, has been undone by the kind of people he’s just had to deal with on the phone. What’s worse is that he’ll have several more phone calls to make in the morning too. Some of the people he’s dealing with are actually legitimate and so have regular business hours. This day is just not going his way. He’s looking forward to the arrival of Simon and his team.

He gets up to pour a drink and then tilts his head as the unmistakable sound of a helicopter reaches him. Perfect. In the time it’ll take the team to arrive and get set up, he should just be able to finish his drink. The end of his day is finally shaping up to be much better than the rest of it had been.

Simon and his two assistants push through the doors into Lex’s study several minutes later. Lex is more than half finished with his drink and he waves them to a spot he’d had the servants clear to set up. The three masseurs are prime specimens of the Nordic people they’re descended from. All three are blond, blue-eyed examples of physical perfection. Until he’d met Clark, Lex had thought they were the most beautiful people he’d ever seen.

Simon, his wife Ella, and his sister-in-law Ulla are the best at what they do in a five state area, and they’re greatly in demand with the jet-setting crowd. It’s only Lex’s status as a long-time customer that got them here on such short notice. Well…that, and a truck load of money.

It takes the team a surprisingly short amount of time to be ready for him. Simon quickly folds the table out and sets down a stack of towels, Ella gets the other supplies they’ll need organized nearby and turns down the lights, and Ulla puts on some relaxing music. They know his tastes, and even though it’s been at least a year since he’s used their services, they still have him on file.

After his shower, Lex had only donned a short robe, knowing that to get fully dressed would be a waste of his time. He drops it to the floor when Simon signals their readiness, totally unconcerned with his nudity in front of them. He tosses back the last mouthful of his drink and slams his glass down in determination. This treatment will erase everything that happened earlier between him and Clark.

He climbs up onto the massage table and lies down on his stomach, making sure the he’s in the right position to take advantage of the hole in the table for his face. He closes his eyes, and consciously tries to relax his body. He’s determined that this will work and that for the next hour he’ll be able to turn off the whirling maelstrom of his thoughts.

As Simon’s deep voice fills the room, though, Lex lifts his head momentarily. “Do you want your usual full treatment today, Mr. Luthor?”

“Simon, I told you years ago to call me Lex, not Mr. Luthor.” Lex’s voice came out more sharply than he’d intended it too, but he really didn’t want thoughts of his father intruding on this evening, and that’s what hearing himself called Mr. Luthor always did.

“My apologies, Lex. It’s been so long since you’ve called for our services that I didn’t want to presume. Now, what exactly are you looking for from us today?”

“Apology accepted.” Lex answer was distracted as he was trying to decide if he wanted the full treatment today. Did he? After what he’d felt with… “Yes!” Lex modifies his voice to a more controlled tone. “Yes, Simon, the full treatment is just what’s warranted after the day I’ve had today.”

Lex lays his head back down and settles himself comfortably while the trio gets into position.

Ella and Ulla each takes one of his hands and dips them into scented, warm water. After a few minutes of this, they’ll take them out to pare and buff the nails and straighten out his cuticles. Then they’ll rub lotion into each hand and use that to help give him a gentle, but thorough, hand massage. Every finger, even his thumbs, will get equal treatment.

The team has the timing worked out to a science, because as they finish his hands, Simon will be done with his neck and shoulders. The ladies will move to his feet to repeat what they’d done to his hands, while Simon would begin to work on his torso and his legs. They would all finish within seconds of each other, and then he’d turn over for the remainder of his session.

Lex sighs with contentment as they begin. They’ve barely touched him and he can already feel himself relaxing. Simon stands by his head and starts to gently twist and maneuver his neck. Under the careful and steady motions, Lex can feel his neck beginning to unknot. Lex lets himself drift into a haze of relaxation.

His mind, usually active, starts to drift as well. It’s a wonderfully freeing feeling for Lex and he decides to go with it for now. He knows it won’t last long, it never does for him. His thoughts start pinging from one topic to another, never settling anywhere for long. Until, inevitably, his mind brings up an image of Clark. Clark as he first knew him, almost five years ago now, waterlogged, stunned and worried, but still beautiful. Also, all too young, as he discovered soon after, to his horror. Lex had never lusted after a fourteen-year-old before, of either sex, even when he’d been fourteen. In his defense, he’d never seen a fourteen-year-old look like Clark Kent before.

Unseen, Lex’s lips quirk into a small smile as he remembers how they quickly settled into the most satisfying friendship of his life. Images of Clark from those early years flash through his mind. At the farmer’s market; at the Beanery and later the Talon; smiling and laughing as the wind made a mess of Clark’s hair while Lex drove one of his convertibles too fast; playing pool; working together on the farm that one time.

The smile dies, still unseen, as, inevitably, Lex’s mind flits to the memories that aren’t so good. Clark’s anger at discovering the secret room hits him first and he unknowingly tenses up under Simon’s hands. Long strokes down his back from Simon’s talented hands help to soothe him and send him drifting again.

Eventually, his mind shifts to earlier today. Clark arriving so angry, Lex realizing that his actions had cost him a friend. His anger at that realization. Lex doesn’t understand why Clark has to hold onto his secrets so tightly. What could be worth all the lies he has to tell? Lex knows it can’t be easy. The entire Kent family is honest to a fault, except around that one aspect of their lives.

Lex thinks back to his friendship with Duncan Allenmeyer, another lost friendship he regrets. The regret and guilt he still feels about what happened to Duncan, and his part in it, pops Lex right out of his drifting mindset. He manages to keep from tensing up under Simon’s hands this time, however, and he continues to think about the topic his mind had taken him to.

Duncan is about the only other friendship he has to compare Clark’s to. Duncan and Clark are both very similar people. Clark came from a less than privileged background, just like Duncan. Duncan was a shy, fade-into-the-background person, just as Clark is, although Clark is much less successful at fading into the background than Duncan was. Duncan was very interested in helping the downtrodden. Clark, of course, just tries to help everyone. However, there the similarities stop. He doesn’t remember lies and secrets being a problem between Duncan and himself.

Duncan was a simple, down-to-earth kind of boy. He had no secrets, nothing to hide. Clark should be just like him, given their similar backgrounds. However, Clark’s whole life is shrouded in mystery. From his adoption, to his lack of medical records, to having to lie to all of his friends on a daily basis. All except Pete apparently, possibly Chloe now too, but definitely Pete.

Lex has thought about going after Pete to discover Clark’s secrets many times. He didn’t think it would be hard to break him. However, Lex has always wanted that information from Clark, as a sign of trust, of his regard for Lex. If that was something that Clark was willing to share with him, that would mean that Lex was worthy of…well, if didn’t matter anymore. It wasn’t going to happen now.

Going after Pete was still an option, he was out of Clark’s life for the most part and Lex is pretty sure he could keep Clark from finding out about it. However, it’s something Lex would need to do in person. He couldn’t trust Clark’s secrets to lackeys. Unfortunately, Lex can’t spare the time away right now. Chloe is an option he felt he better reserve for the future. He isn’t positive she knows, and she’s too much in Clark’s life at present. Clark would move heaven and earth to find her, and knowing Clark, he would certainly find her and then there’d be hell to pay.

Lex can’t give up though. He needs to know why he keeps surviving, against all odds. It all started with the first meteor shower, but that wasn’t a direct hit. Lex could understand how he survived that. It was a near miss, but several people survived those that day, including the elder Kents. The second time though, at the riverbank, he shouldn’t have survived that, but he had. If Clark had special abilities then it would help explain that first miraculous survival and so many others over the last few years.

If the reason he kept getting saved from certain death is Clark, then he can understand the miracles and he’s just an ordinary guy with a savior for a friend…former friend. If it isn’t Clark though, then he must be getting saved for a reason. He must be meant for something special. He’s always known he has a destiny, but is he driving towards that destiny under his own power, or is something helping him along?

Lost in thought, although not drifting along with it anymore, Lex hadn’t really been all that aware of Simon and the ladies, not even when Ella and Ulla had shifted to his feet. Just another sign of how good they were at their jobs. Now, however, Simon’s hands are straying to his ass. Lex knows he asked for the full treatment, but suddenly he isn’t sure anymore. The touch just feels…wrong somehow. The trio’s touches hadn’t bothered him before now, because all of their hands had been in very neutral territory, but now that the touches are becoming less neutral, he’s noticing. He doesn’t like it. Lex starts to shift uncomfortably.

“There you go, Lex. I was beginning to think something was wrong. You’re usually stimulated by the massage much earlier in the session.” Simon is assuming his movements are due to arousal. His voice and his assumption are intrusive now. That’s never happened before; Simon’s voice is deep, but melodious. Lex also can’t understand why he isn’t getting aroused now. Maybe because he’d already come twice today.

Simon is partially correct though. He does usually get hard every time he gets a massage from this group, or at least he used to. Part of it is their talent for a pain-free massage, but part of it’s also just the feeling of being touched. Lex isn’t generally a person who likes to be touched by others. Even during sex, he’s the one in control. He’s touching the woman, or man, and gets aroused by their responses. He very rarely allows his lovers the freedom to touch him where and how they’d like to.

Helen had been the last one he’d given that freedom to, and he’d loved her. No, that isn’t true anymore; she was no longer the last lover he’d allowed himself to be touched by. His mind flashes to a few hours ago and how Clark’s hands had been all over him. He’d even let himself be marked. Lex makes an abortive move to his neck, but stops the revealing motion before he completes it.

Remembering how Clark had touched him earlier is what finally starts to get him aroused, so when, just a few minutes later, Simon asks him to turn over, his partially erect cock bobs in front of him.

Simon’s hand comes to rest at the top of his thigh. Not touching anything more intimate, although the promise of more to come is implicit in the gesture. Lex feels the hand lying there and isn’t sure how he feels about it.

“How would you like to finish your session, Lex?”

Lex thinks about the possibilities, but then decides he needs to erase the feeling of Clark Kent’s mouth on him. “A blow job, Simon.”

Simon simply nods, bends over Lex, and engulfs him into his talented mouth. Simon was certainly more practiced than Clark at this. Clark had been all strong suction, heavily pressing tongue, and scraping teeth. With Simon, Lex could hardly tell he was there. The motions were a smooth up and down, the suction was gentle, and the teeth were carefully covered. Lex hated it.

He could feel himself wilting a little, and he started to squirm away and push at Simon’s head at the same time.

Simon’s mouth came off of him with a soft pop. “What’s the matter, Lex?”

What’s the matter? Lex laughs silently, despairingly. What’s the matter?! He isn’t even sure himself. He just knows that Simon’s mouth had felt like a violation, even though Lex had invited it, asked for it.

Simon lays a hand on his shoulder to bring Lex’s attention back to him. “Would you like to finish the session in another way?”

“Yes. That would be acceptable, Simon.” Lex speaks decisively, but inside he’s still unsure. He doesn’t even feel like he still wants this, but he does want…needs…to rid himself of the feeling of Clark around him, in him, touching him. He’d mocked Clark earlier, telling him that nothing else would satisfy him anymore, but Lex isn’t going to let that be true for him as well.

He’s still hard enough that Simon is able to roll a condom onto him. And when Ulla gets on the table with him, she’s able to sit down on his erection. She starts to ride him and he lets her do all the work. The friction created by her movement, and the constriction of her inner muscles are enough to get him fully hard, but it’s a much slower process than usual.

When Ella reaches over and massages her sister’s clit, Ulla comes around him several minutes later. The clenching of her passage is finally enough to get him off. It’s the most unsatisfying orgasm he’s ever experienced.

The trio pack up their belongings, and Lex pays them. He exchanges a few sentences with them, but he hardly knows what’s said. He feels dazed and unhappy. Usually when this team leaves, he’s left feeling utterly relaxed, but at the same time energized, ready to take on the world.

Now as they leave and he trudges to his bedroom, he just feels lost.

 

Chapter Four

Two days after the incident with Lex, Clark finally has a chance to head to his loft. He desperately needs to think. He climbs the steps to his Fortress slowly, filled with aches and pains from the labor he’d been doing to help the community rebuild. They didn’t feel quite as wonderful as they did at the barn-raising a couple of days ago, when he’d told Chloe so happily that the sore muscles made him feel like he’d accomplished something during his day.

Part of the lack of enthusiasm for them now, though, might be from knowing that not all of them had come from the labor he’d done. Some of them are still leftover from Lex. One power he finds he’s missing is that of fast healing. He didn’t get hurt often as a kid, but when he did the injury would heal almost miraculously fast. The scratches on his back, for example, are killing him. Every time he’s reached for something over the last forty-eight hours he’s been reminded of that night, as the forming scabs pull on the skin. That wouldn’t be too bad, except that every time he feels the pain of them, he remembers how they got there and his cock starts to harden.

He’s also exhausted. His nights have been so restless he hasn’t slept deeply enough to even dream. When he’s awake, he’s been kept so busy by his father that he hasn’t had any time to rest or come to any decisions about what to do about what happened between him and Lex. What makes that so hard is that every chore his father had given him was something necessary. None of it has been busy-work. There’s just so much to do, and since he’s largely responsible for the tragedy, he needs to do everything he can to help. So, he didn’t feel like he could say no whenever his father directed him to the next task.

Clark slowly lies down on the couch in his loft, sighing with relief at taking the weight off his tired feet. He puts a throw pillow under his head so he has a little cushioning from the hard arm under his head and to angle his upper body off the couch a little ways so that he’s not lying directly on those sore scratches. He flings an arm over his eyes and continues to think about the last several days.

Part of his trouble is that Clark isn’t sure what his father has been trying to accomplish by keeping him so busy. If he’d bothered to ask, Clark could have told him that he does not intend to go back to see Lex any time soon. He’s still too confused about what had happened and his body’s reactions when he remembers it.

The one time that Lex had roared up to a site he was working on, Clark had stared across the construction site and watched Lex slide gracefully from the car. He’d felt his breath hitch at the fluid way the man moved, just as he had that day when Lex had backed him across the study. He’d jumped a little in startled surprise when Lex had looked across the way and caught him watching. Clark had been the first to drop his gaze; he was just too confused about what he wanted to hold that penetrating stare for long.

His father had rushed over to Clark and had given him an errand that would take him off-site for an hour. He’d been glad to go at that point. His body was acting up on him again, just from seeing Lex, and Clark knew he needed to get himself under control before the next time he saw the man face-to-face. He couldn’t let his desires make his decisions for him.

One thing he’s certainly grateful for over the last couple of days, though, is that he’s been kept too busy to see Lana, and that she hadn’t been at the same rebuilding sites that he’s been at. He still has no idea what to say to her. He keeps hoping that if he ignores events long enough, they’ll go away. It hasn’t worked yet, but he’s hopeful. He knows he doesn’t really want to tell her, but he also knows he doesn’t want to have to lie to her anymore. Basically, he’s between a rock and a hard place and he only has himself to blame.

Clark grinds the heels of his hands over his closed eyes in frustration at the way his thoughts are whirling. Why can’t he figure this out? What is he missing? What piece of information does he still need?

“Clark?”

Clark jumps at the soft sound of his name being spoken by one of the two people he feels least prepared to face right now. He swallows hard, but lowers his hands, swings his feet around to clomp on the floor, and smiles gamely at Lana.

“Hi, Lana. What brings you here so late?”

Lana looks at her hand resting on the railing by the top step to the loft, and then starts slowly walking towards Clark. “It’s only nine o’clock, Clark.”

Clark stands to meet her, and tries to keep from fidgeting uncomfortably. “I guess you’re right. It probably just seems much later because I’m so tired out from all the work I’ve been doing the last couple of days. I’ve been keeping really busy trying to help at as many different reconstruction sites as I can.” Clark realizes that he’s babbling and forces himself to stop talking.

Lana moves a little closer and looks at Clark from under lowered lashes. “You know, I was expecting you to come to my apartment the other night, Clark.”

“I…I’m sorry, Lana. My…visit with Lex went longer than I was expecting, and I thought you could use the rest after our ordeal that day.” Clark tries not to wince guiltily at the lie. He’s such a coward.

“I set up and lit dozens of candles to create the perfect atmosphere for a special…first time for us. Like you said you wanted.” Lana moves even closer and puts a hand on Clark’s broad chest, then slides it down to the waistband of his jeans where she stops to fiddle with the top button.

Clark sucks in a breath in surprise at her boldness, and Lana takes advantage of the space created to slip her fingers past the top of Clark’s jeans to tease the sensitive skin there. “Lana!” Clark stumbles and falls backwards onto the couch when he hits it with the backs of his knees.

Lana follows him down and straddles his lap, mimicking their posture from the last time they were up here together.

Clark’s hands come up automatically to support her, but he isn’t sure what to do. His mind is still in such turmoil. He stares up at her, perched above him. He still thinks she’s as beautiful as ever, and Clark’s glad that hasn’t changed at least. Then, for a few blissful seconds, Clark’s thoughts stop whirling when Lana lowers her head and captures his mouth in a kiss.

Clark surges up against her, wrapping one arm around her small waist and the other arrows up her back and he cups the back of her head with his hand and tilts it for a better angle. He pushes the voice that’s telling him her mouth is too small and she’s too delicate for him even without his super-strength to the back of his head, trying to silence it.

He is responding to her after all. If his cock isn’t throbbing in time to his heartbeat as it did with Lex, he’s at least still getting hard. His father had said that a person responds to different lovers in different ways after all. That’s all that’s going on here.

He breaks the kiss and reaches for the hem of her shirt. “I was wrong, Lana. We don’t have to wait for a special time. A first time with a person you care about is always going to be special.” He lifts her shirt and takes it off while he talks and then he quickly takes off his own.

“That’s beautiful, Clark. What changed your mind?”

Clark freezes in the act of taking off Lana’s bra when he remembers just where it was he’d heard that last. It had been Lex, right after they’d…they’d…and he’d been trying to be cruel to Clark. Clark knew that, but it didn’t make the words any less real. The first time with someone you care about is special. The circumstances and the place don’t matter. Just the person you’re with.

He does care about Lana, he really does. He knows this will be special with her, if he can just stop thinking about Lex. Quickly, Clark finishes undoing the front clasp of Lana’s bra and then peels it away from her skin. He can’t believe he’s finally seeing her like this or that the experience is being marred by his feelings of guilt and thoughts of Lex.

Lana arches her back when he covers each breast with one of his hands, and he feels the hard tips of her nipples pressing into the center of each palm. “You’re beautiful, Lana.” He twists them both until she’s lying underneath him on the couch and he leans down to lave around her areolas, each by turn, nibbling gently on the tender skin, before suckling on a nipple.

He can feel himself getting a little harder as she moans under his gentle onslaught, but there’s still a feeling of wrongness. Part of it is that he’s feeling softness in places that should be hard, and she feels too small in his arms now, but part of it is also the pull of his scabs as he hunches his upper body over her slight frame. They’re a constant reminder of what had happened two days ago, that he had cheated on her, and that he was lying by omission again. Even worse, he’s getting even harder now because of what that pain reminds him of, not because of the half-naked woman in his arms.

He can’t do this. He does care about her; he knows he does, but obviously not in the right way. That’s the piece of information he’d been missing, or maybe that he refused to see. He wants her to be his happily-ever-after so badly. Unfortunately, she obviously isn’t. If he’d loved her the way he thought he had, completely, deathlessly, then he never would’ve given in to Lex so easily, he’d never have had sex with someone else.

What had his father said a couple of days ago? When he’d met Martha, all thoughts of the past women in his life ceased to matter. He didn’t think about them anymore, especially when they were in bed together. Well, Clark can’t get someone out of his mind, but it isn’t Lana.

She’d been saving herself for someone special and he realizes in sorrow, that person isn’t he. Even with Lana half-naked under him, he can’t stop thinking about Lex. That isn’t fair to her, and even if she isn’t the one for him, he does care about her enough not to use her like that. She doesn’t deserve to have him hope that sex with her will help erase what he did with his former friend. He needs to let her go.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Several hours later, Clark is sitting on the floor in the loft throwing a ball against the wall. He hadn’t been able to stay on the couch after Lana had left. His thoughts aren’t whirling anymore, he just feels numb. It hadn’t gone well with Lana. He just hopes that they’ll be able to salvage something of their friendship eventually. He knows it’s going to be a long wait, though. She isn’t going to forgive him easily.

He obviously needs to stop avoiding the root cause of all of this. He needs to talk to Lex. Clark doesn’t feel ready to do it in person though. Looking around, he spots the mobile phone his parents let him bring up here sometimes. It’s sitting on his desk next to the college texts he’d been planning to get a head start on reading, now that he could no longer speed read through them all. Clark figures that with all the stuff he’s been busy doing, he’d overlooked taking it back to the house at some point. He guesses he’s lucky that his parents had also been too busy to notice. They’d have taken him to task for it and not let him bring it out here anymore.

Clark laughs at himself silently. He’s so desperate to avoid this that he’s even procrastinating with his thoughts. He heaves himself off the floor and trudges to his desk. He drops into the chair heavily and picks up the phone.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lex is finally ready to go see Tommy and the twins at Level 3. There’d been a day’s delay that had frustrated him to no end, and that had completely undone what little good had come from his visit from Simon, Ella, and Ulla.

He’d managed to finish making the phone calls he needed to complete his plans the morning after the trio had left. He’d contacted the legitimate businesses first, to get the easy ones out of the way. Next, he’d called the under-the-table firm he’s been dealing with more and more as he fills Level 3 up to full capacity. He’d only been able to talk to an underling last night and he wanted to be sure that his instructions had been carried out to his specifications.

He’d found in his past dealings with them, that their skills had not been exaggerated or oversold at all, and he hadn’t been disappointed in their performance this time either. He’d ordered them to get the three meteor mutants back where they could be contained, and then to cover their tracks. By the time he’d called midmorning, they’d already done it. He’d been eager to drive over right away, but knew he had one other call to make before he could. Waiting had been his mistake.

His last call had gone to his team of lawyers. It had also been his very first call last night. He wanted to make sure he’d be covered in the event that the so-called professionals in this town managed to do what an eighteen-year-old Chloe Sullivan already had, and link him to the escape of Tommy Lee and the twins from Belle Reve.

During that phone call, he’d absently started to stroke his neck with his fingers, as he had last night. It wasn’t until he hung up the phone that he realized what he’d been doing…again. He was running his fingertips over and over the spot that Clark had been biting and sucking on so hard. He’d looked down and seen that his cock was half-hard just from the light touches. He’d pressed down, right in the middle of the bruise, and a sharp gasp was torn from his lips at the surge of lust that slammed through him, hardening his cock almost completely.

He’d torn his hand away from his neck and quickly left his study. He’d overslept that morning due to a restless night and had come down in just his dressing gown, so that he could make the calls as early as possible and have a light breakfast at the same time. Then he’d headed upstairs to get dressed. After touching his neck though, he’d decided to make a detour to the shower. The shower is what had delayed him enough to still be in the mansion when his father showed up.

He blamed it all on Clark. It was his fault Lex now had a direct line from the bruise on his neck to his cock. Lex had had to give himself an orgasm while the water had pounded over his body. When he’d finally made it downstairs, his father had been waiting for him. He’d started with questions on why he’d taken the company jet to Alaska to pick up Miss Sullivan and ended with an interrogation on Tommy Lee and the twins.

His father suspected he knew something about that, but Lex had managed to deflect and frustrate him enough for him to finally leave…much too late, unfortunately, to go see Tommy and the twins. The way his father had wound him up, Lex had known that he wouldn’t be in top form against the meteor mutants. He’d decided to wait to see them until the following day, when he’d be fully able to appreciate Lee’s reactions to what Lex had to say.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The second day after the incident with Clark, Lex is finally sitting in one of the examining rooms in Level 3, waiting for Tommy Lee to be brought to him. There’s a vial of the green serum, the liquid that had made the mutants so eager to do his bidding, on the table by his arm.

He’s going to be starting this interrogation from a bad place for himself. He’d really wanted to be at his peak for this visit, but he’s still too consumed with thoughts of Clark. He just can’t get what had happened a couple of days ago out of his mind. It doesn’t help that the mark on his neck is a continuous reminder.

He still can’t believe that he hadn’t been able to get out of the shower without masturbating again this morning. The feeling of the water falling against the mark on his neck was like a constant caress and had made it impossible not to become as hard as a rock. His thoughts had been filled with what he and Clark had done together, how good his former friend’s mouth had felt under his, how delicious his skin had tasted, and how big, hard, hot, and talented his cock had been.

Lex had taken his own cock in hand and had been disgusted with himself with how few strokes it had taken before he was shooting against the tiled wall. He’s tried since then to banish thoughts of Clark from his mind, but it has proven impossible. Even if the mark on his neck isn’t reminding him, he has a second souvenir. Every time he sits down – to drive here, sitting at this dining room table – he’s reminded of their activities together two days before. Clark wasn’t small anywhere, and Lex is still a little sore.

The anger Lex feels about the incident that led to the events at the mansion the other day is just building up as time goes on and he continues to be unsuccessful at forgetting or for finding an outlet for it. His hands are clenching and unclenching in frustration and he can feel it churning up his thoughts.

That’s the state his mind is in when Tommy Lee is escorted in by two very large men from the agency he’d hired. Lex smiles coldly at the man, knowing that he’s finally going to get some satisfaction out of this situation. After two days of aggravation, he feels he’s earned it. His smile only broadens when he sees the hardened criminal shiver in reaction.

Lex looked up at Lee in time to see him take in the serum at his elbow. “Sit down, Tommy.”

The man tries to sneer at him, but it’s a difficult task as he’s also practically salivating at the sight of the green liquid in its clear vial. “After what you put me and the twins through in the last few weeks, Luthor, by cutting off our supply of the drug and dumping us at Belle Reve, only to then help us break out and send us on a crazy, futile mission, I have no desire to share a table with you. I’ll stand, if it’s all the same to you.”

Lex gestures to the two men still in the room with him and Lee, and they forcefully push him into a chair on the opposite side of the table from Lex. “It isn’t all the same to me, Tommy, and you’d do well to cooperate with me if you ever hope to get any…satisfaction…from me again. He negligently picks up the vial and rolls it between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand. He watches Tommy eyeing the liquid inside hungrily. “Now tell me everything about your interactions with Clark Kent.”

++++++++++++++

Lex is infuriated by the things he learns from Lee, so much of which he hadn’t heard about prior to this interrogation. They’d held Lana hostage to Clark’s ability to get rid of his parents, made several comments in poor taste about her attractiveness, threatened the life of Clark’s mother, and electrocuted Clark’s father. Lee is extremely lucky Mr. Kent didn’t die from his bad heart, or Lex would have had to kill the mutant himself instead of carry through with his plan. No wonder Clark had been so furious when he’d gotten to the mansion the other day.

Which begs the question, why had he allowed Lex to do all that he did? Even without the extra strength that Lex knows he usually has, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, Clark is still a strong individual. Lex felt it that evening in the way Clark had manipulated and moved Lex’s body to suit his needs. There’s no way Lex could have forced him to do anything he didn’t want to do. So why had he allowed Lex such liberties? Could he have been wanting Lex for as long as Lex had been wanting him?

Lex shakes off the speculation to be considered another time. He needs to carry on with interrogating Lee. Unfortunately, Lex is disappointed in how little else Tommy has to tell him about the afternoon. He’d missed all of the nuances of expression, body language, and voice that could have helped Lex to understand what the Kents, especially Clark, had been feeling. Really what else should Lex have expected? After all, Tommy is a criminal and a junkie, not the most conducive combination for creating an intelligent or observant individual.

Still, Lex decides to risk asking some pointed questions in the hopes of learning more. He doesn’t want to show his hand too much, but really, who is Tommy going to tell that Lex needs to worry about? The man is going to spend the rest of his life in Level 3. Lex hesitates for a moment at that thought, struck by the idea that Clark certainly wouldn’t approve of his doing such a thing, as unauthorized as it is. Lex shakes off the feeling as best he can. It doesn’t matter if Clark approves or not, and Lex isn’t sure where that thought came from. It certainly isn’t a welcome one. It does leave him feeling a little unsettled however.

In the end, the rest of what Lex winds up learning are intangibles or things he’s aware of. While Clark hadn’t shown any signs of unusual abilities he had still been brave, willing to put his life on the line for those he cared about, and had shown resourcefulness in solving his problem.

He’d only learned two tangibles. The first is that Clark had been able to take down three super powered men with nothing more than what was around him at the time.

Lex had always thought Clark was special, but he’d attributed it to the abilities he thought Clark had. Lex can’t help wondering if he’d been wrong. Maybe Clark’s special because of who he is, not because of what Lex suspects he can do.

Lex quickly shakes off the maudlin thoughts. In spite of all evidence to the contrary, Lex refuses to believe that he’s been so wrong all these years. There is something special about Clark beyond the loyalty, bravery, and looks. For some reason though, it’s suppressed right now, or missing. Lex definitely wants to figure out what’s changed for Clark recently and how Lex can go about exploiting that knowledge.

The second tangible was that he’d been in the loft with Lana when Lee and the twins had arrived, and that his mother had noticed that his shirt was on inside out almost as soon as she came through the door. Lee thought that was the funniest thing - that the kid had gotten caught like that by his mother of all people. He said he also thought mothers were very scary people. She’d been the only one to notice after all.

Learning about the shirt brought Lex up short. Clark had left the barn raising with Lana that very day. That must have been when they’d started getting physical and Clark had stopped her. If he hadn’t, if they’d had their first time, Lex doesn’t think he ever would have gotten as close to Clark as he had. Missing strength or not, Clark wouldn’t have cheated on Lana to that extent if they’d made love.

The jealous rage that had been building inside Lex since learning of that part of the day lessened at that thought. He’d had Clark’s first time. That wasn’t something that Lana could ever take away or have for herself now. Lex feels a surge of savage pleasure rip through him, before he reigns himself in and turns his attention back to Tommy a final time.

“You failed, Tommy. Both you and the twins failed. You weren’t supposed to hurt anyone, you weren’t supposed to get anyone’s attention but Clark’s, and you certainly weren’t supposed to be arrested.”

“You said you wanted to know what was so special about Clark Kent! That was the main goal you said. Well you found out didn’t you? Nothing. There’s nothing special about that overgrown Boy Scout, except his idiotic willingness to put himself at risk to save someone else. I mean please, who in their right mind does something like that? You’re supposed to take care of yourself first, last, and always.”

Lex feels his lips thinning in displeasure and fights to clear his face of any telltale reactions.

“Do you have any idea how much your junkie’s desperation has cost me? Still, some good will come out of it. I have no use for the three of you anymore for tests with the serum, but you’ll be the first subjects we’ve had going through withdrawal of the chemical.” Lex smiles viciously at Lee, knowing how desperate the other man was for the serum he craved.

Tommy Lee quickly shoots to his feet, but the hired goons behind him are even faster. They clamp down on him and look to Lex for directions.

“There’s a specially designed room waiting for him down the hall gentlemen. Please escort him there and help him get settled.”

Lex listens to Lee’s yelling as he’s dragged down the hall. Lex hadn’t gotten exactly what he wanted, but he’s nothing if not good at spinning situations to his best advantage. It’ll be useful to find out if the withdrawal of the drug has any interesting affects. He starts thinking of ways he can expand the research without compromising his other projects, forcefully pushing away thoughts of Clark’s disappointed face if the brunette learned what he was doing.

++++++++++++++++++++

Lex heads back to the mansion in a much better mood than he’d been in when he left it, at least as long as he ignores the feeling of discontent and the image of Clark’s disapproving face. Plans are circulating in his brain. Plans involving Level 3, the serum, and best of all, plans on getting into Clark Kent’s head again, not to mention his pants.

Back at the mansion, Lex decides to draw a bath. No more showers for him for a while. Dealing with people like Tommy Lee might be necessary, but it’s also distasteful and always leaves him feeling dirty. Sometimes he hates the things he has to do to keep the world safe, but no one else is doing them, so it’s left to him. People who see things only in black and white don’t understand the choices he makes. The choices he has to make.

Lex gets undressed while the water is running and then walks into the bathroom. He slips into the water and luxuriates in the warmth of it. He’s reaching for the controls to turn on some Vivaldi when the phone rings.

 

Chapter Five

 

Lex pauses in turning on some soothing music and lets his hand hover over the phone, debating about whether he wants to pick up or not. He’s in a fairly good mood right now and has been looking forward to a relaxing soak in the tub to end his day on an excellent note. Lex sighs as he realizes that he has too many projects going on right now to ignore late night phone calls. He makes one concession to relaxation. Instead of picking up the handset, he turns on the speaker so he can continue to lie back while he talks.

 

“Lex Luthor. Whatever you want it better be important enough to be calling me at this time of the night.”

“Lex, I…I just…I need…”

“Clark?!” Lex sits up in shock at the sound of Clark’s voice. Water sloshes around him and over the rim of the tub. He doesn’t care. He just can’t believe that Clark is calling him to talk, and that the conversation hadn’t started out with yelling or accusations. Instead, it’s starting out with stammers. Lex finds that to be a bit surreal.

“Yeah, Lex. It’s me. I really need to talk to you about…about the other day. About what happened. Between us I mean.”

Lex has to force himself not to verbalize his glee. Clark is calling him, sounding all uncertain and vulnerable. He really does leave himself too open, and lays himself out to be so easily hurt. This is truly too good to be true. His day actually is ending well for once.

Lex leans back against the tub again and moves the water around him with his palms to watch the swirls and eddies as he contemplates what to say to the younger man. “Clark…”

“Lex, where are you? I hear water splashing and moving.”

“I’d just gotten into the tub when you called, Clark.”

“You…you’re taking a bath? You’re on the phone…naked?!”

Lex grins again at the sound of curiosity and shock mixed together in Clark’s voice. The brunette really should learn to hide his feelings better.

“That’s right, Clark. Naked and wet.”

“Oh. Um…”

Lex’s smile gets bigger and more predatory. He’d heard the gulp Clark had just made over the phone quite clearly. Lex figures he can work with this. After what happened between them the last time, Lex would like to balance the scales and take some of the control back that Clark had wrested from him two days ago. Before he can say anything else, though, Clark continues.

“I…I was in my loft earlier…well…I still am…and Lana came in, and I just…I just need to talk to you, to tell you…”

“Lana?!” Lex barely manages to restrain a growl at Clark bringing up her name. He’s not ready to let go of the hold he has on Clark yet. She can’t have him until Lex is done with him.

“Yeah, Lex. You see, I’ve been having a hard time trying to decide what to tell her, and what I felt, and…”

“Clark!” Lex really doesn’t want to hear Clark talk about Lana at all. Now that they aren’t friends anymore, it isn’t something he feels the need to put up with. Besides, he’s starting to have other plans for this phone call.

“Yeah, Lex?”

Lex settles back in the tub, putting an arm on either rim, and letting his head just loll back. “My skin is very smooth when wet, did you know that? With no hair to pull against skin as I stroke myself, it’s almost like touching silk.”

“Lex.”

Lex revels in Clark’s almost girlish squeak. This is going to be so easy. “My skin is also very sensitive. Just the water lapping against them can make my nipples hard.”

“I don’t…I…Lex, I’m calling…I want to tell you…”

Lex really doesn’t want to hear it; it can only be about Lana after all, so he talks right over the other man. “Are you hard, Clark?”

The second gulp is even more audible than the first, and Lex smirks at hearing it.

“Yes.”

Just a whisper of sound, but Lex can still hear it. The tiny voice and the admission make his cock stir, but he clamps down on the feeling and pushes it to the background. This isn’t about him getting off; it’s about power. About who has it, and the deft wielding of said power.

“Good, Clark. Good. I’m going to tell you how I’d touch you, if you were here. I want you to tell me how it makes you feel, to think about me touching you like that. Can you do that for me, Clark?”

“I…Lex…I don’t know…”

Lex continues as if Clark hadn’t spoken. “I’m trailing just the tips of my fingers over your lips, brushing over them so lightly again and again.

The catch of breath on the other end of the phone is gratifying to Lex. He ignores the small twist in his belly when he hears it. “Tell me, Clark.”

“I…my lips are tingling, Lex. Almost like I can feel your smooth fingers gliding over them. It’s strange, you aren’t even here.”

“Is it strange when I dip one of my fingers inside to run along the inside of your sinfully plush lower lip, and then push past your teeth to stroke your tongue?”

Lex hears a low gulp and a gasp before Clark responds, and he feels his cock begin to harden a little at the thought of Clark doing what he said.

“Y-yes, but it still feels good. W-what else?”

Breathy and wanting more already. God, Clark is so easy to manipulate right now. Lex reaches down and pinches the base of his own cock hard. He bites back a gasp of pain, but the action has the desired effect, and he grimaces out a grin as his growing erection deflates. “I want you to take off your shirts first. You are wearing them, aren’t you?”

Lex hears the distinct sound of a phone being fumbled and partly dropped to a hard surface, and then faint sounds of rustling cloth.

“I was, Lex, but not anymore.”

“Excellent. You have such a sexy chest, Clark. You should go shirtless much more often. I like looking at it, but I’m looking forward to touching it even more. I’m skimming my fingertips along your collarbone very lightly, so you aren’t even sure if you can feel it or if it’s your imagination. Now I’m running them down your chest, just brushing past your nipples to tease around your navel, feeling along that hard abdomen of yours.”

“Oh, Lex. Please.”

“What do you want, Clark?”

“My…my nipples. Lex, please…”

“Want more, do you? Okay, I’m trailing my fingers back up, and then I’m taking each nipple between my thumb and forefinger, pinching down gently, and then rolling them. I’m giving a little tug and pinching harder.”

“God, Lex! It feels…feels so good. More, please.”

“Yes, I’ll give you more. I’ll use my nails on those tight little buds of yours, scratch over them; get them all red and swollen.” Lex can feel his erection struggling to come back despite the pain he caused himself earlier, but he ignores it this time. He doesn’t think he can hurt himself like that again, and he knows he can control himself. He just has to focus on wringing more pleasure out of Clark and ignoring his own needs.

“Yeah, yeah, Lex. Do it. Scratch me, just like you scratched my back. I can still feel those marks on my back, Lex. They make me think of what we did together every time they pull on the regular skin.”

“Jesus, Clark!” The exclamation is involuntary, but Lex defies anyone to resist that sex-filled voice saying he likes your marks on his body.

“I can feel them right now, Lex. I was in a chair when I called, but I’m sitting on the couch now, leaning against the back. I’m pressing into the cushions, and I can feel every mark clearly. It’s so good, Lex. Has my mark on your neck healed, Lex, or is it still there?”

Automatically, Lex’s hand goes to the fading bruise just under his ear and presses down. He hisses at the sensation and feels his erection hardening even more. He starts to let out a soft moan, but bites it off. He needs to nip this in the bud and bring things back under his control.

“It’s still there, isn’t it? That’s why you moaned. God, Lex, I want to run my tongue over it and scrape it with my teeth. Lex, I…I even want to bite down there again, feel that skin under my teeth, feel your moan vibrate against me as I make it vivid again. Is…is that bad, Lex?”

The question breaks the spell Lex had been woven into by the sensations Clark had created with his words. This has to stop. Without even thinking about it, Lex had had one hand on his neck and the other just wrapping around his growing erection. He’s breathing faster already and he has to bite back another moan. He’s Lex Luthor goddamnit and he can control himself.

Judiciously, Lex ignores the brunette’s question and brings the control back to where it belongs. “Clark, I want you just as naked as I am. I want you to slide out of the rest of your clothes and lie down on the couch. Will you do that for me?”

“I…Lex…I don’t…someone could see…”

“No one’s going to catch you, Clark. Besides I want to run my fingers over that crease at the top of your thigh, I want to hold your balls in my hands, and then drag my hands up and close them over your cock. Don’t you want me to do that too?”

“God, Lex! Yeah.”

Lex feels like he gets some of his pride back with the alacrity with which he hears Clark disrobing. He hears the thumps of two workboots hitting the floor, and then the phone is being picked up again. Clark is breathing a little harder, and Lex likes the thought that it’s because of Clark’s anticipation, not the minor exertion of undressing.

“Are you all stretched out, Clark?”

“Y-yeah. God, Lex, please.”

Lex smiles at the breathless, needy tone. That’s more like it. “I bet you look so good all laid out like that, Clark. I can picture how your hard cock must be jutting out in front of you, as if it’s just waiting for me to swallow it down. Only I’m not going to do that this time.”

“Why not, Lex?”

The whine in Clark’s voice makes Lex grin some more. “I have something else in mind, Clark. Are you leaking for me yet?”

“Y-yes.”

“Good. That’s very good, Clark. I’m scooping up some of that liquid on my finger, reaching behind you, and just rubbing right over that tight entrance to your body.”

“I…that’s…Lex, I’ve never…”

“Oh, but we’re going to do it today, Clark. Lift your knees up for me, or better yet, put one foot on the floor and hook the other over the back of the couch.” Lex can hear Clark whimpering and the telltale sounds of shifting on the couch, and his eyes slip close as he imagines what Clark’s doing.

“Good, Clark. Very good. God, Clark, you look gorgeous all spread out like that. Your little pink pucker is winking at me. You’re thinking about what I’m going to do to you, aren’t you?”

“Ye-yes. Yes, Lex. Hurry, please.”

Lex can practically see Clark all spread out and he starts to get lost in the visual of that beautiful body all spread out for him, just because he asked. That broad chest heaving, the flush stealing over those chiseled features, the large erection leaking and quivering in arousal.

“Clark…” Lex has to clear his throat before he can understand himself, but it doesn’t break him out of the visual he’s sunk into. “Clark, I’ve got some of your precome on my finger and I’m going to start rubbing, just like I said. Softly, teasingly, whirling my finger around that tight little bud. Tell me how it feels, Clark. Let me hear you.”

It’s an unnecessary request, because Clark can’t keep quiet. As soon as Lex said what he was going to do the second time, Clark had started, all resistance to the idea gone from the picture Lex had created. “Lex! God, Lex, it’s…I can’t describe…I’ve never…oh, God! More. I want more. Please, Lex.”

With his eyes still tightly closed, and getting more and more lost with the sounds Clark is making, Lex starts to mirror what he’s telling Clark. “I’m going to slip my finger inside, Clark. Just a little ways, up to the first knuckle.”

“Oh, Lex! Yes! It feels…feels…God!...so good.”

“Yes, Clark! Jesus, you’re so tight and hot around my finger. I’m going to fuck you with it, real slow. So slowly. And then push it in as far as I can, over and over.”

“Ahhh! Lex!”

Clark’s whimpers and moans are more potent aphrodisiacs than any Lex has ever tried and he can feel the desire coiling tighter in his belly.

“Clark! God, Clark! I’m going to wrap my other hand around your cock and match the speed with the finger in your ass. You’re going to come for me, Clark. Do it. I want to feel your ass clenching around my finger. Come for me, Clark.” Lex can hear the water splashing around him as he moves his own hands in conjunction with what he told Clark to do and he can hear the springs on Clark’s couch squeaking as he moves his hands over that luscious body. The sounds, the sensations, the images in his head all combine to push him over the edge before he’s even aware he’s there. A cry is surprised out of him as he starts coming in the water. “Claaark!”

“Yes, Lex! Yes! God, Lex! Yeeees!”

Lex hears Clark coming, and he wishes that he could be there to see it, to hold him through the tremors. He savors the sound briefly. Until he realizes what he’s thinking and that hearing it means he not only came when he hadn’t been planning too, but that he’d come before Clark. He’d come before an unsophisticated, inexperienced farmboy. Maybe not by much, but it had happened. The knowledge makes him burn with shame and anger. He should have been able to control himself better.

It’s easily fixed though. He just needs to go on the offensive and Clark will never know. The knowledge only makes him feel a little better, because no matter what, Lex will still know what happened.

Lex forces as much derision into his voice as possible. “Jesus, Clark. You give it up so easily. First here at the mansion and now over the phone. I barely have to touch you before you’re rolling over for whatever I want to do. If I’d known what a slut you were, I would’ve fucked you long before now.”

“Wha-?”

“Just think, Clark. We could have had this for years, if it hadn’t been for my wasted efforts to be good.”

“No, Lex! Not wast…”

“Would you give it up just as easily if I touched you in the alley behind The Talon or if I bent you over the hay bales in your barn? I bet you would, wouldn’t you? I could get you to give it to me anywhere.”

“Lex, stop! Why are you…”

Lex cut Clark off yet again. He can feel himself weakening every time he hears the confusion in Clark’s voice, and he won’t let himself be weak again. “Clark, it’s been a fun phone call, but I’d like to finish the rest of my bath in peace. I don’t know why you called, but…”

“I called to tell you about Lana. Remember, Lex. We finally talked tonight and I wanted…”

“…To call and gloat. I get it, Clark. It’s always about Lana, and it always will be for you. She was quite the unwelcome intrusion to the last time we had sex, at least this time she didn’t intrude until we were finished. I’m glad she’s forgiven you, although it’ll be interesting to see if she’ll do it for your latest transgression. However, since we aren’t friends anymore I don’t have to pretend to care about the never-ending drama that is Clark and Lana. I hope you enjoy your pretty, pink, and passionless princess. I guess my one satisfaction will be in knowing that you’ll always have to live with the understanding that she’ll never be able to make you feel like I can.”

Lex reaches up and disconnects the call, not wanting to hear anymore. That’s twice he’s let Clark get to him this week, and Lex isn’t sure how much more he can handle. Especially since Lana is obviously still the only important person in his life besides his parents. Also obvious, Lex has some walls he needs to rebuild. He can’t keep letting Clark get under his defenses like this.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Clark stares at the phone, the automated little voice at the other end mocking him, telling him that there was no longer anyone on the line and to please hang up. He knows there’s no one on the line. He heard Lex hang up on him. He’s still a little out of it from the force of his orgasm, he’s definitely confused about Lex’s reaction at the end, and he’s trying to decide if he’s also angry at the way Lex talked to him. He doesn’t need the little voice telling him to hang up, he needs it to tell him what in the hell happened.

Clark finally clicks off the phone and throws it back to his desk. He grabs his shirts from where he’d dropped them earlier and uses the t-shirt to clean himself off. He shudders a little in remembered pleasure as he cleans his still sensitive cock and the movement causes his ass to clench, which makes him remember a finger where none had ever been before and he shudders again. Clark forces himself to shake his rising pleasure off and quickly redresses himself.

He considers going back to the house, but he doesn’t really want to risk running into anyone yet, and he thinks better out here in his loft anyway, so he stays where he is. He lies back down on the couch again and throws his arm over his eyes. He laughs ruefully as he remembers being in this position earlier tonight as he tried to sort through his confusion. Now the confusion is even worse. Still, he really needs to think about what happened.

Lex had sounded so controlled through most of the phone call and it had really turned Clark on to have Lex tell him how he’d touch his body if they were together. Clark had wanted to ruffle that control a little, and he thought it had been working when he started talking about the mark he wanted to intensify. He wanted Lex to know he was marking Lex as his. That what happened wasn't just about what Lex wanted, but about what he needed too.

It hadn’t worked though, because after that was when Lex had really started to play hardball. He’d really upped the seduction at that point. Clark blinks a couple of times as a thought occurs to him.

Maybe Lex had stepped it up because he’d been trying to cover up his own reaction. Could he have…Clark thinks back over the rest of the phone call. It’s hard, because he’d really started to lose it after he was completely undressed. Clark forces himself to think about Lex’s tone of voice, about how he said things, instead of what he said.

Then he remembers Lex’s almost wail at the end. He’d been on the verge of coming and Clark remembers it had been that sound that had driven him over the edge. Lex had come right before he did.

Clark smiles at that realization. Lex does care about him. He never would’ve lost control over the phone otherwise. No wonder Lex had started to sound so mad. He doesn’t liked losing control at all. Clark would bet his parent’s farm that that’s why Lex had lashed out. He thought it was weak to come first, especially since he’d been the one seducing Clark.

That explains the anger, but not the bitterness at the end. That had come out when he’s mentioned…Lana. That was when Lex’s tone had turned bitter, even resentful and Clark would bet even money that Lex hadn’t even realized his tone had changed, otherwise he would have tried to cover that up too. He would have seen that reaction as an additional weakness.

What had Lex said? It’s always about Lana. Clark guesses that’s been true for most of the time he’s known Lex. Time and again, Clark had gone to the slightly older man for advice and to complain about his latest failure with her. He hadn’t realized that it had been such a problem. Had Lex wanted more from him than friendship even before their first time in the mansion? Lex had never said anything. Maybe that’s pure wishful thinking on Clark’s part. It would be nice to believe that Lex had cared for him so much that he’d push Clark at the person he thought would make his friend happy. Clark could just be spinning fairy tales, but Lex had said he should’ve jumped his bones years ago.

Lex had said something else too, right at the end. What was it? I guess my one satisfaction will be in knowing that you’ll always have to live with the understanding that she’ll never be able to make you feel like I can. ‘His one satisfaction,’ what did he mean by that? It sounds like he’s saying since he and Clark won’t have a relationship, at least the one Clark has with Lana will be tainted by memories of Lex.

That sounds to Clark like Lex would’ve liked more. If that’s the case though, why hadn’t he ever said anything? Of course, he’d also mentioned how good he’d been trying to be in those early days. Clark despairs momentarily when he remembers that Lex thinks his efforts then had been wasted. He won’t let it get him down for long though. Lex had asked him a year ago to not give up on him yet, and Clark hadn’t really taken that to heart. Now he thinks he should have. Is it too late for Lex though? He’s done some awfully bad things, if everything Clark suspects is true.

Clark just isn’t sure, but he obviously has a lot of thinking to do.

 

Chapter Six

The next several days are filled with more projects around the community. Clark’s father is still trying to keep him really busy, only now he’s sending him to all the places Lana is working too, instead of in the opposite direction as he did the first couple of days after he found out what had happened between him and Lex. The emotional strain of being around her is starting to wear on him. Clark had made his choice, and he’s still convinced it’s the correct one, but that doesn’t make it any easier to see her, to know he’s the cause of her current unhappiness. He wants to make it better for her, to fix the problem, but knows that he can’t, which makes the situation even harder.

At supper tonight, Clark had finally told both of his parents that he and Lana had broken up. His mother had been all sympathy, concern, and reassurance, but his father had given him a sharp look. He hadn’t said anything though, so Clark supposes he should be grateful for small favors. He’s hopeful that this will mean an end to his father’s attempts to throw him together with Lana.

Even with his concern and discomfort around the issue with Lana, Lex has been on his mind constantly. His sleep continues to be disrupted as he wrestles with all the things he suspects and has outright learned about Lex over the last couple of interactions he’s had with the man. Clark’s hoping he’ll sleep better tonight, because he’s finally made a decision. He promised his parents he’d work on their own house tomorrow, but after that, he’s going to take the bull by the horns and go see Lex. He needs to see the man face-to-face and talk some things out. To start with, Lex needs to know that he and Lana broke up, and that it’s permanent this time.

Stretching out in bed, Clark smiles when he imagines Lex’s reaction to the news, and he’s still smiling when he falls asleep. Several hours later, Clark is deeply asleep when he slips into a dream. He’s dreaming about the end of his summer in Metropolis. He’s dreamed of that time often in the last few years, but it’s usually about the awful things he did or the fight with his dad.

This time, though, is different. He’s lying in an alley; the mark put on his chest by Jor-El is burning, flames licking all around it. His dad appears with a blanket, smothers them, and then holds out a hand to help him up. His mom appears to give him a giant hug and then Chloe and Pete join in. He feels a hand on his shoulder and turns to see Lex behind him, smiling at him.

He starts to move restlessly on the bed as his dream changes and begins to fill with bizarre images. In his dream, he’s suddenly become Lex. He’s running from a giant head that looks like Lionel, with wild hair waving in a nonexistent wind. He can’t get very far though. Even though he’s trying to run in a straight line, things keep tripping him. When he finally looks to the side to see what it is, he sees another Lex with his foot out!

All of a sudden, he can see them all. A whole line of Lexes, stretching as far as he can see, but then the faces start to change too – a few are of Clark himself, some are of Clark’s dad, he can see Lucas a couple of times, and there’s others as well. People like Victoria, Helen, and Desiree appear a few times. So do some of the meteor mutants that have gone after Lex over the years. Nixon makes an appearance as well, as do the doctors from Belle Reve.

Then they all turn into Lionels, and Clark-as-Lex starts to veer from his chosen path, but the Lionels change direction too and they keep pushing him back and forth between them. Then they smile and he can see the fangs, blood dripping from the tips. He suddenly has blood streaming from dozens of different puncture wounds, and he starts to get weaker and weaker. They’re going to drain him dry of everything he is, of everything that matters!

He sees a man walking in the distance and tries to shout for help, but the man ignores him and keeps walking. He shouts louder and runs faster, but the figure just gets further and further away. Finally, the man stops, turns, and Clark-as-Lex sees that it’s another Clark. This one just stands there until he raises his hand, which holds a still beating heart. Clark-as-Lex looks down at his chest to see a big, gaping hole and he starts screaming.

Clark wakes with a gasp and shoots upright, breathing hard, his heart beating like a trip hammer in his chest. He’s glad it’s beating hard enough for him to feel it at least, the last bloody image from his dream still vivid in his mind. He pushes the palms of his hands to his eyes and realizes that he’s trembling. Where the heck had that come from? The last time he’d had a nightmare of that severity was after the scarecrow incident when he was fourteen. Which Lex had saved him from…huh, he hadn’t thought of that in a long time.

Clark draws his knees up and rests his forehead on them, forcing himself to take several deep, calming breaths. He’s fine, nothing is wrong. It had just been a dream. A very vivid and intense dream, but still just a dream.

Clark tells himself that, but he doesn’t really believe it. It was a dream, but not just a dream. His subconscious had obviously continued to think about Lex and Clark’s relationship with the other man even after he’d gone to sleep. He just has to clear his mind of the adrenaline that the dream had sent coursing through him and sort through the images so he can figure out what it all means.

Clark flops backwards with a sigh, his arm crossing over his face to cover his eyes. The dream is already starting to fade, so he quickly goes back through what he can remember to fix it more permanently in his mind. He, Lionel, Lucas, and a bunch of others were all in it, the running, the tripping, the yelling for help with no one listening, the giant head, Metropolis, hugs, yanked out heart. Jeez, it sounds even worse with everything listed out. What’s his mind trying to tell him?

Clark shakes his head and decides to push it to the back of his mind until he gets started for the day. He’s already overslept, and he’s surprised his parents haven’t come knocking on his door. Getting out of bed doesn’t sound too appealing right now, but he’d promised his parents to get some work done on the house today, so Clark forces himself to his feet.

As he dresses, his hand brushes over his morning wood, and he considers taking care of it in the usually manner, but jerking off has never sounded less appealing than it does fight now. Clark realizes that the dream is really affecting him to think like that about an erection, and he resolves to peel back all the layers of meaning he can after he’s all set up to start his work.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Forty-Five minutes later, Clark’s had breakfast, washed his dishes up and has all the tools and supplies he needs to panel the kitchen. His dad had already cut the boards to fit each section, so all Clark has to do is hold them in place one-by-one and then nail them in. Nice mindless work. Just what the doctor ordered.

Even better is the fact that Clark has the house to himself. His dad is out in the fields repairing some fences, and his mother had been picked up by some neighbors before Clark had even gotten up that morning.

Clark gets all the images from the dream straight in his mind again, and then starts to hammer. The repetitious motion is hypnotic and relaxing, and soon Clark is deep within the memories of his dream. Once he lets himself really think about it, he realizes that the message isn’t actually that difficult to decipher after all. In fact, his subconscious was clearly trying to tell him to get with the program, and had made it as easy on Clark to do so as possible.

Clark remembers learning, almost four years ago, that he has his own dark side. It had been a scary realization, and after his dad and Pete had ambushed him to get the school ring off his finger, Clark had vowed not to let that part of himself out again. It had been tricked out of him a couple of times, once by Pete and once by Alicia, but that summer he’d gone to Metropolis, he’d consciously chosen his dark side. He hadn’t wanted to face the consequences of what he’d done, or have to face the people he’d disappointed and hurt.

So at the first test of his resolve, he’d chosen the easy way out of the mess he’d helped to create of his life. And in so doing, made that situation ten times worse. It was a choice that still haunted him, but he’d had people who cared about him fighting to bring him back from it. People who had sacrificed for him and who’d let him know he was loved. Chloe, Lana, and his dad had all done their utmost to bring him around. His dad almost lost his life, had certainly been willing to do so, all to save him. Lex didn’t have that.

Instead, Lex had people getting in his way or at least weren’t the presence in his life that he needed from them. Lex had fought against his dark side for years, had tried to stay on the straight and narrow path, but all along the way no one reached out a hand to help him, to support him in his efforts. Instead, they, Clark included, made his path harder, made staying good less attractive instead of something to really strive for.

Clark stops for a brief break and is shocked to see how late it is and how much he’s gotten done while lost in thought. There are only ten or so panels left to go, so instead of lunch, as he’d planned, he just gets a big drink of water and goes back to hammering.

The way Clark figures it, Lex never really had much of a moral compass to get him on the right path to begin with, so that means he got there by himself. Clark knows that he, himself, has always been able to rely on his parents to set him straight if he makes the wrong choice. The second time he and Lex met, for example, was because his father insisted he return that awesome truck Lex sent him for saving his life. Clark knows that if it had been left up to him, he would have kept the truck with no second thoughts.

His father had stuck to his guns though, and made Clark return it, instead of giving in. Clark had made the child’s choice, and he’d hated the decision his father had made for him at the time, but he’d since come to see how right his father had been and what lesson he’d been trying to teach him.

Lex had asked Clark a year ago not to give up on him, but Clark had made the child’s choice yet again and ignored his friend’s cry for help. He’d paid lip service to it, but he’d never really tried. Since his father didn’t like the Luthors, he hadn’t stepped in to show Clark the error in his decision. Maybe he just felt that Clark needed to start making up his own mind on things like that, to start following the right path on his own. Only Clark had screwed up…again.

Clark sighs as he drives in the last nail. He stands back to observe his days work and is satisfied with what he sees. However, he’s very disappointed in the choices he’s made since he’s known Lex. Looking at everything he’s said and done to the man over the years, he realizes that he’s done nothing to make his life easier and usually made it harder. All the demands he’s put on Lex’s times and resources. Lex never said no, and Clark has gotten use to that and taken advantage of it.

There’s no doubt in Clark’s mind that Lex has done some very bad things, but so has Clark. The only difference is that Clark has people that believe in him and Lex doesn’t. Everyone always expects the worse from Lex. For years he fought against it, and now that he’s started to falter, everyone around him is pointing their fingers and saying, “See, we were right.”

Clark makes a disgusted sound. Of course they were right. If you slap someone down enough they’re going to go one of two ways. They’ll either give up and start to believe they deserve it or they’ll fight back. One thing Clark is sure of, Lex is no quitter, so of course he fought back in the only way he knew how.

Clark takes another look around the kitchen and then decides to head upstairs to shower and change. He’s drenched in sweat from all the labor and he wants to wash it away. He also hopes it’ll help clear his mind. He’d already decided to see Lex tomorrow, but now he’s going to have a hard time waiting. Maybe he should go over today.

++++++++++++++++++
Back in the kitchen after a nice refreshing shower and dressed in his oldest, most comfortable set of sweats and sneakers, Clark is putting together a huge sandwich. He hasn’t eaten since breakfast and it’s now midafternoon. He’s starving and couldn’t even wait to be dressed properly before coming down. No one’s going to see him anyway. If he does go over to Lex’s today, he can change before he leaves.

He’s still on his own. He’d known his mom was going to be out all day taking food around to the various rebuilding sites around the countryside and helping where she could. His father had been out repairing their fences today and must have taken a meal out with him to save time. Then Clark had heard the truck take off about an hour ago. Jonathan hadn’t even stopped in to let Clark know where he was going or when he’d be back. Clark isn’t sure if it was because his dad just didn’t think of it or if he didn’t want to see his son because of his news about breaking up with Lana last night.

Clark knows he’ll have to sit down with his dad at some point and talk this out. The man’s never liked Lex, and the latest incident certainly hadn’t helped, but Clark knows that if he really tries, he could be a good influence on Lex. Especially if their future is filled with a relationship that’s more than friendship. His mind is feeling a little clearer than it has been for days, and he’s calmer now that he’s made some choices and taken back a little control over his life. However, it might be better to wait until tomorrow to go to Lex, when he can go over fresh from a good night’s sleep and after he’s had some time to process all of his realizations.

After finishing his sandwich and washing it down with the bottle of milk in the fridge, Clark sits back to enjoy the fruits of his labors. The kitchen looks good in his opinion. It did give him quite a sense of satisfaction for a job well done, a feeling that using his powers just never gave him.

He leans the chair back to get a slightly different perspective when the screen door banging almost makes him fall over in startled surprise. Chloe hurries into the room and doesn’t even notice the change. She’s got her laptop with her, and if it wasn’t for holding that, she might be wringing her hands.

Clark heads over to her and holds her shoulders to help calm her. “Chloe! What’s up?”

“Clark, I’ve just confirmed that Tommy Lee and the Twins, the three meteor mutants who were here last week, have disappeared from police custody, right before they were to be transferred back to Belle Reve.”

“Chloe, they’ve escaped?! Are you sure?”

“No, Clark. They haven’t escaped; they’ve just disappeared, before they were even processed back into the system. I got a call from a contact a few hours ago and I’ve just finished confirming it. People posing as FBI agents came in, cuffed them in those specially made cuffs, and took them right out. No one knows where they’ve gone, but I have my suspicions.”

“Lex.”

“That’s right, Clark. Lex.”

Clark is surprised by his lack of surprise at hearing that news. He knows that just a week ago he would have been storming over to the mansion, filled with righteous anger at this latest example of Lex’s willingness to work on the wrong side of the law. Now he’s going to go over, but not with anger. This is the first test of his new resolve and he isn’t going to falter the way he has in the past.

“Chloe, my dad’s off with the truck. Will you drive me over to the mansion?”

“Sure, Clark. I’d be glad to.”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lex is getting increasingly agitated. He’d like to think he doesn’t know why, but he does. He isn’t happy about the reasons for his feelings either, but he can’t seem to banish them. It’s been three days since he’d ‘talked’ to Clark Kent on the phone and five days since they’d fucked in his office.

He’d delivered a threat then, and told Clark that the next time he burst into Lex’s office he’d be the one on the receiving end. Lex had figured then that Clark wouldn’t really take the warning to heart, and he’d be back in a few days and Lex would be able to get a little of his own back.

To his chagrin, Lex has found himself wanting to see Clark coming through that door, of having that threat as an excuse to touch him again. It wasn’t supposed to work like that, though. To look forward to it in a desire to actually touch him. It was supposed to be about revenge; revenge for getting the upper hand that day and then again over the phone. Although, Clark doesn’t know about winning that second time and Lex aims to keep it that way.

Lex doesn’t understand why he doesn’t hate Clark. By all rights, he should. The man has lied to him for years; he’s stolen from him, even if he’d later returned the car; he’s accused him numerous times without even being willing to hear Lex’s side of things; he’s punched him; he’s even betrayed Lex to his father before. Even knowing all that, though, doesn’t make Lex hate Clark. Angry yes, furious even (although that’s been tempered during the course of this week), hate no. He wishes he could; it would make his life so much easier.

Instead, he’s making plans to get Clark to come to him, even to storm into his office. Lex is presently enjoying a late, light lunch in his office and plans to stay where he is for several more hours. That way, when Clark does show up, Lex will be ready for him. Lex steals a quick glance at his Rolex and smiles. It could be any time now that Clark will be hearing the news, his employee should have contacted Chloe a few hours ago and at some point, presumably today, she’ll contact Clark and he’ll storm over to the mansion in a righteous rage. The arranged stool pigeon had to be careful where and when he makes the call so he doesn’t get caught, but Lex had arranged for him to have some private time in which to do it.

That thought reminds Lex of his new security. He’d better let them know to let Clark through when the time comes. He wants Clark to think he caught him by surprise after all, and the best way to do that is to actually be surprised when he bursts into the room.

Lex punches in the number for the intercom in the security booth.

“Yes, Mr. Luthor?”

“There will be a Mr. Kent arriving sometime this afternoon, James. Please let him through and send him right up. You don’t need to call me for confirmation. He’s tall…”

“Actually, Mr. Luthor, and I apologize for interrupting, but there is already a Mr. Kent here to see you. I was just about to call and let you know.”

“So he’s right there?”

“Yes, sir.”

Shit! “Alright, send him on up then, James.”

Damnit, once again Clark has managed to mess up his plan. Clark knew that Lex wouldn’t be surprised by his arrival now and that advantage is gone. Lex is nothing if not adaptable. He can make this work for him, he knows he can. He just has to go on the offensive right away. Keep him off balance.

Lex hears booted footsteps outside his office doors and stands so he can be moving forward when the door opens. He starts talking before they’re even all the way open.

“Clark, I know you haven’t forgotten what I said would happen the next time you…”

Lex breaks off as the doors finish opening.

“Mr. Kent!”

Lex turns away and goes back to his desk to give him a few precious seconds to switch gears and compose himself.

“To what do I owe the honor of this visit, sir?”

Lex reseats himself and steeples his fingers in front of him, elbows on his desk. The very picture of attentive concentration.

He doesn’t let any of his surprise or discomfort show on his face when the farmer strides right up to his desk, slams his hands down and leans forward until his face is no more than a foot away from Lex’s.

“You were expecting my son, weren’t you, Lex? Why is that I wonder? I know he wasn’t planning on being here today. He’s working on doing some restorations over at our house. What have you done that would have gotten him to hurry over? Hmm, Lex? What scheme are you hatching now?”

Lex spreads his hands out in an effort to placate the man as he leans back in his chair. “Look, Mr. Kent…”

“No, Lex! You know what? I don’t even want to hear it. I’m not interested in whatever excuses or justifications you’re going to try and offer. I won’t believe you anyway.”

Lex watches as Jonathan Kent starts to pace in front of his desk. He used to respect this man greatly, until his continued prejudice against all things Luthor had worn most of it away. He still admires the kind of father he is however, and still wishes he could have had one like him growing up. Lex is starting to realize, though, that wishes and dreams are pretty useless. Only ruthlessness and focused purpose will get a person what they want in life, not high morals and an easy-going attitude. His time in Smallville and his own father had taught him that lesson very effectively.

Lex waits for Jonathan to stop pacing, but finally just wants the suspense over. “I’m a busy man, Mr. Kent. What exactly did you want? Say your piece, and then I’d appreciate it if you’d leave. I have other things to do with my day.”

“You’re a real sanctimonious jerk, Lex.” Jonathan turns towards the desk again, hands on his hips. “I came over to have a talk, man-to-man, to try and make an effort to discover what exactly my son sees in you. Why he would defend you to me, even after you set those thugs on our family. Before I even get to your office though, I find out that you’ve got some sort of plan to lure Clark here. What, were you in need of some convenient sex, Lex?”

Lex can’t disguise his start of surprise at that or the slight widening of his eyes.

“Oh, does it surprise you that I know? Well, believe it or not, Lex, some families actually talk and communicate with one another. We hadn’t been in house together for more than fifteen minutes before he was spilling his guts. So, what, Lex? Were you hoping for a little action when you got him over here today? Were you hoping to manipulate him into bed again?”

Lex stands abruptly, but stays on his side of the desk. He knows that if he moves around it to go toe-to-toe with Jonathan Kent, this situation would escalate very quickly. He doesn’t think that Clark will be very inclined to sleep with him again if he incapacitates his father.

“Is that what he said, Mr. Kent? That I manipulated him?” Lex clenches his hands into fists on the desk, but then makes a conscious decision to relax them. He can’t believe that Clark would say that. That would be an ever worse betrayal than when he’d gone to Lex’s father a couple of years ago to keep Lex from regaining his missing memories. “No, don’t bother answering that. I know Clark wouldn’t have accused me of something like that. He isn’t the type of person that would avoid responsibility for his actions by blaming them on someone else. Even if it was true, Clark is too chivalrous and too decent to let someone else take all the blame. Believing him to be manipulated must be your hope, not his accusation.”

Jonathan seems taken aback at Lex’s conviction. A look of surprise crosses his face, as well as a glimmering of something else that Lex doesn’t quite understand. It almost looks like understanding, albeit reluctant understanding. However, that doesn’t make sense. What is the older man beginning to understand? Lex wonders, but the man’s next words push his curiosity to the background.

“Well, what else could it have been, Lex? He’s been in love with Lana Lang since he was five years old, he doesn’t trust you, he barely even likes you anymore, and he’s never shown any interest in a man before. So tell me, Lex, other than manipulation, what else could it have been?” Jonathan almost sounds like he’s pleading for answers from Lex now. A confused father wanting the inexplicable actions of a son he thought he knew well explained. Lex almost feels sorry for the man. Almost.

Lex schools his features carefully as he feels hope bloom in his chest for the first time in a long time. If Clark barely likes him, that means he still does to some extent. What had Jonathan said a couple of minutes ago…he wanted to make an effort to discover what exactly my son sees in you. Lex was hard pressed not to smile as he remembers that. Those were also very good questions Jonathan had posed, and Lex doesn’t know why he hadn’t pursued the answers himself. Why had Clark let Lex kiss him, why had he participated so ardently?

Lex squashes the hope down brutally; he can’t believe he almost softened again. None of what Jonathan Kent said matters. Clark had only contacted him the other day to talk about Lana again, and he hasn’t gotten in touch with Lex since then. He obviously feels nothing if he can ignore what happened between them like that.

“I don’t know the answer to your questions, Mr. Kent. I wish I did, but I don’t. Believing as you obviously do, I have to admit to being surprised that you didn’t show up with a gun in your hands. However, I did not manipulate your son. I simply kissed him and he responded. Things escalated and went from there. You won’t believe me and that’s fine. You have no reason to trust me, you never have trusted me, but that doesn’t negate the fact that it’s the simple truth.” He stares evenly at the man in front of him and doesn’t allow his gaze to waver.

Jonathan stares at Lex silently for a few moments and finally looks down. “I don’t like you, Lex. You’ve done too many things to the people I love to forgive you easily. I wasn’t impressed with the reports in the papers of your rebellious teenage years, you certainly didn’t endear yourself to me when you almost hit my son after driving recklessly, and I haven’t seen many signs in the intervening years of a man worthy of either my trust or my respect.”

In spite of everything he’s tried to do to harden himself over the years, Lex still feels those words pierce him to his core. He forces himself to make no betraying flinch. There isn’t much he can say to those statements that Mr. Kent would be willing to listen to anyway, so Lex simply nods his head. “I know…”

“Don’t interrupt me, Lex.” Jonathan stops and runs a hand over his face. “I do however, trust and respect my son. He’s a man now and is free to make his own choices, no matter how much I don’t approve. I know it’s too much to ask that you don’t hurt him. You’ll do it sooner rather than later, I have no doubt. However, I do ask that you do the best you can to ensure that his heart isn’t in too many pieces when you’re done with whatever it is you want from him.”

Lex looks at the man across the desk from him incredulously. “Mr. Kent, it seems to me that you can’t respect Clark very much if you think that anyone who’s lucky enough to have your son in their lives will ever just toss him away as you describe. He’s a forever sort of man. If someone truly loves him, you won’t have to worry about that person leaving him. It would be impossible. However, I’m not sure where you got the idea that he and I are going to have a long-term relationship. It just isn’t going to happen. He’s only contacted me once since the day he came to my office, and that was just to talk about Lana. He hasn’t contacted me since then, so you have nothing to worry about.

Jonathan stares at Lex confusedly. “If he told you about Lana, then why do you say…”

Lex waves Jonathan to silence. “I cut him off. I really have no desire to hear about Lana anymore. I only listened so intently and tried to help him in the past because we were friends. Now that we aren’t anymore, I no longer feel the need to listen to him either rhapsodize or lament over his relationship with her.” Lex congratulates himself on keeping all traces of jealousy out of his voice.

Jonathan stares across the desk at Lex long enough that he has to force himself to not start squirming. That glimmer of understanding Lex noticed before is stronger now, but Lex still doesn’t know what it’s stemming from. Lex tries to shake off the curiosity and the discomfort he’s feeling from the stare. What is it about the Kent men that can make him react in ways that are totally out of the norm for him? The most hardened businessman has never been able to even come close to making him squirm, so how is it that this no-account farmer has threatened his self-control so easily? Two more seconds and Lex knows he’ll have to drop his eyes. Luckily the man chooses to speak just in time to prevent that tell-tale sign of his weakness.

“I still don’t like you much, Lex. I believe you’re dangerous to Clark in many ways. But what you’ve said has given me a lot to think about.”

Lex is relieved that the staring contest is over and looks at the other man wryly. “I’m sure it’s a great relief to know that we’re no longer friends, Mr. Kent. Rest assured that it’s so, and will likely remain that way for the rest of our lives.” Lex can’t quite keep the depression off his face entirely at that statement, but he quickly schools his features back to his general air of indifference, and convinces himself that Jonathan Kent hadn’t noticed.

Jonathan looks at him a little strangely, but then smiles enigmatically. “No, that wasn’t what you said to make me feel better, Lex. Well, I still have work to do at the farm, and I should let you get back to your lunch. Thank you for seeing me, Lex. It’s been an enlightening visit.”

The older man turns without further ceremony and walks out of the room. Lex watches him go, feeling bemused by his statement at the end. What could he have said to make Clark’s father feel better. He’d said it wasn’t the lack of friendship, so what can it be? Lex sits back down behind his desk and stares at his lunch. He finds he’s lost his appetite for the food in front of him. He pushes it away and leans back in his chair in contemplation.

 

Chapter Seven

Lex feels very dissatisfied after Jonathan Kent leaves, as well as a little antsy. The man’s last comment keeps spinning around in his head. He can’t think of anything he said that would make Mr. Kent even slightly more accommodating towards Lex.

Finally, Lex decides that it doesn’t matter and that it isn’t something he needs to waste his brainpower on. He and Clark aren’t friends anymore. That had been established several days ago, in spite of what had happened between them the last two times they’d had some kind of contact together.

It’s just as well. Lex is finding that he is spending way too much time thinking about Clark, even more so than when they were friends. It’s starting to disrupt the rest of his life. He hadn’t been able to come with Simon, and had only come with Ulla when he started to think about that first time with Clark. He’d faltered with Tommy Lee, wondering if Clark would approve of what he was doing. He’d let Clark get the better of him during the phone call the other day. Then, to top it all, he’d concocted a plan to get Clark over to the mansion today, because Lex found that he missed the younger man.

Obviously, Lex needed to do something about this. If Clark did come over today, then Lex would have to ensure that it was the last time. He couldn’t afford to let himself become emotionally attached. Friendship was bad enough, but Lex has the feeling that Clark could possibly start to become something more if he wasn’t careful. He needed to get Clark out of his life once and for all, not come up with ways to get him closer.

He knows what’ll do it, what will make Clark turn from him forever. Lex closes his eyes as he contemplates what he’s going to have to do to drive Clark away forever. He forces the despair away and buries it deeply enough that he doesn’t even have to acknowledge that it had even been there in the first place. He starts to steel himself for his chosen course of action. He’ll have to be his father’s son completely to pull this off.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Staring out the window, lost in thought as Chloe drives him to the mansion, Clark is startled when he spots his dad going the opposite direction in the truck. He can’t think of anything that would’ve taken his father out in this direction. Jonathan doesn’t see them though, and Clark is glad about that. He has no desire to have to submit to a third degree when he gets home. Not that he plans on keeping the visit a secret, but he’d like to tell his parents about it on his own terms and in his own time. Unlike the last time. That conversation with his father can still make him squirm in remembered embarrassment when he thinks about it, and Clark figures that probably won’t change any time soon.

Chloe is talking a mile a minute, speculating about why Lex had wanted the three meteor mutants back, and where he’d had them taken. Clark doesn’t contribute much to the conversation beyond polite noises. For once, he wants to hear it from Lex first, instead of drawing all of his own conclusions. Chloe is too lost in her own world of theories to really notice, although Clark knows that will change if they don’t get to Lex’s soon.

Only when Chloe mentions coming in with Clark does he react. He needs to see Lex alone. It’s always just the two of them when Clark goes to confront Lex at the mansion, and Clark wants it to be that way today as well. He’s also remembering Lex’s threat from five days ago. He doesn’t think anything will really happen, but he isn’t sure. Having Chloe there would ensure that nothing did, but for some reason Clark still would rather that she not be there. He isn’t going to examine why too closely.

Chloe isn’t happy with his arguments and pulls over just shy of the gates so she can make her points more forcefully. Unwilling to argue with her anymore, and feeling anxious to get the confrontation over with, Clark gets out of the car.

Chloe gaps at him in surprise, and then her look changes to one of anger. Clark flinches, but doesn’t get back into the car. Chloe takes off in a fit of pique and Clark walks the rest of the way to the mansion. He’s so caught up in his own thoughts that he doesn’t even notice how the security guard just lets him through. When he gets inside, he takes the stairs two at a time and arrives at the doors to Lex’s study before he really feels prepared.

Stopping with his hands on the doorknobs, Clark takes a few deep breathes to calm the butterflies in his stomach. Butterflies? Clark isn’t sure why he’s feeling nervous, he’s never felt this way whenever he was about to see Lex before. Finally, he decides that the feeling isn’t going to get any better and figures that it’s just better to plow forward. He turns the knobs and pushes the big doors open wide.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Clark strides several paces into the room before stopping with his hands on his hips. “Lex, I need to talk to you!”

Lex looks up from his laptop and smiles predatorily. “Clark, how…provocative…to see you here again like this.”

Clark’s steps falter, but then he brushes aside Lex’s comment and strides right up to the desk the other man is sitting at. “Chloe just told me that the three meteor mutants have been removed from police custody, before they could even get to Belle Reve. They were taken by fake FBI agents, although the local police don’t seem to be aware of that. Did you have something to do with it, Lex?”

Lex leans back in his chair and steeples his hands together. He stares into Clark’s eyes and licks his lips suggestively. He sees Clark’s eyes widen and his nostrils flare a bit, but to his credit he doesn’t drop his gaze. Of course, Lex hadn’t really expected him to. Clark is nothing if not focused when he’s in search of the truth. “Yes, Clark. Yes I did.”

Clark is momentarily taken aback at the honesty of the reply. Lex never just admits anything like that, he usually sidesteps questions or misdirects or changes the subject. Clark’s mouth opens and closes a few times before he finally shakes off the surprise. “Um, okay. Thanks for the truth, Lex. Will you tell me why? Please?”

Lex stands up and goes to get a bottle of Ty Nant. He turns back to Clark, wraps his lips around the bottle, and takes a long drink. He watches from the corner of his eye in satisfaction as Clark gulps, and the outline of his cock becomes a little more visible against the stretchy material of his sweats. “Because, Clark, I have better facilities for dealing with meteor mutants than Belle Reve does and because there are still some things I’ve discovered I can learn from them.”

Clark shifts on his feet, feeling a little uncomfortable with how Lex is behaving, and not happy with what he’s admitting. “So, you’re experimenting on them? You’re taking them without their consent or with the approval of the authorities, and you’re using them to further your own agenda?”

Lex fondles the bottle of water suggestively, licking his lips, and looking at Clark the whole time. Then he walks around to the same side of the desk that Clark is on and sits on the corner of the deceptively sturdy piece of furniture. The move stretches his pants across his legs and he’s happy to see Clark’s gaze dart down and then back up just as quickly. “Would it make any difference if I told you that I was working with full support from the government?”

Making an aborted move forward, Clark looks at Lex askance. “Is that what you’re telling me?”

“Just answer the question, Clark.”

“Well, if you and the government were working together, then I guess, yes, it would make a difference.”

“So, it’s okay for me to take people against their wills and experiment on them, just as long as the government approves, it that it?”

“What? No, that’s not what…I…damn it, Lex. You’re trying to cloud the issue, just like always.”

“No, Clark. I’m just trying to ascertain just what it is you object to. People being experimented on against their wills or the fact that it’s me doing it.”

“It’s wrong no matter what, Lex. You shouldn’t be doing this to people without their consent.”

“So, you’d like to have all of these dangerous people running around, hurting those who can’t defend themselves against their mutant abilities? You’d rather not discover what exactly about the meteor rocks causes the mutations so they can be stopped or cured? You’re telling me that you’d…”

“Damn it, Lex! I don’t mean any of that and you know it. You’re just trying to twist things again. What you’re doing is wrong; it’s as simple as that. It’s morally wrong, ethically wrong, and you shouldn’t be doing it.”

“So, you have an alternative suggestion for me then?”

“What? No, I don’t know what should be done about them, but there has to be a different way.”

“I didn’t think so. It’s easy to object, Clark. To point out problems and say ‘this is wrong.’ However, until you have a solution, you’re just part of the problem. Now…” Lex slides off his desk and lets his gaze go predatory again. He takes a step towards Clark who suddenly straightens up and puts his hands out a little. “…I believe I told you the last time you were in this room, what would happen if you came through those doors in a confrontational way again, didn’t I?”

Clark swallows hard and takes a half step back before stopping himself. “Um, yeah, I guess, but you didn’t mean it, Lex. Right?”

Lex advances on Clark, rolling his hips and licking his lips. Clark backs up another step and then keeps going, as Lex doesn’t stop moving forward. “Oh yes, Clark. You can rest assured, I meant every word.”

Clark puts a hand out in ineffective protest as he takes slow steps backwards. He’s not sure how he lost sight of his objective today so quickly. He hadn’t meant to turn accusatory and judgmental like that, but as he scrambles around for a topic to distract Lex with, it’s the only thing he can think of again. “But, Lex, we still have things we need to talk about. I need to know why you wanted those men back and how you got them away from the authorities, and…”

Allowing Clark to set the pace, Lex continues to stalk forward, subtly steering the other man to where Lex wants him to wind up. This is it. This is where he and Clark will be finished. Lex is going to make sure of it. “We’re done talking for now, Clark. You burst into my study, flinging demands at me yet again, butting your nose in where it doesn’t belong. You complain and complain about what I’m doing, but don’t offer any alternatives. I meant what I said, Clark, if you aren’t part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”

“Yeah, but, Lex…” Clark draws up short as he bumps into something that doesn’t budge under his weight. He glances behind him and spots the pool table – extremely sturdy, purple felt, just the right height to bend over easily for a good shot... He quickly looks forward again, the expression on his face a combination of trepidation and desire. “Um, Lex…”

“Clark, you’re big, you’re strong. If you want to leave, you know where the door is.” Lex spreads his hands and just stares at the brunette. He can’t believe he’d just given Clark an out. The plan was to push relentlessly, to make it so Clark would never want to see him again. Lex decides that he’s been soft for long enough and he steels himself for what he has to do. It’s time to play hardball. No more chances.

Clark looks at Lex and bites his lower lip in agitation. “I…Lex, I don’t want to leave. I want…”

“Your wants don’t really come into play here anymore, Clark. I gave you your chance. Now turn around.” Lex is so annoyed at himself he practically growls at Clark and then puts out a hand to turn the other man around.

“Lex, please. I don’t want to do this in anger again. I want to give this to you, but can’t we calm down first? Maybe talk some more…not about the reason I came…just talk. We should work some stuff out first.” Clark can’t believe that Lex really means to go through with this. Not with what went on during their last phone call anyway. Clark had felt like they’d made a connection that night, in spite of the things Lex had said at the end and the abrupt way he’d ended the call.

Putting his hands on one of Clark’s shoulders and the opposite hip, Lex spins Clark around quickly. While the younger man is off balance Lex pushes him down until he’s bent over the pool table. “No.” Lex runs and appreciative hand over Clark’s flank and then quickly hooks his fingers under the elastic waistband and yanks downward.

“Lex!” Clark feels himself blushing at his vulnerable and exposed position and starts to struggle, but it’s halfhearted at best. No more than a wiggle against the felt really. He’s starting to realize, to accept, that he came to the mansion the way he did, that he’d burst into Lex’s office the way he did, in the hopes that Lex would carry out his threat of five days ago. He wants this to happen with Lex, but he also wants it to be about more than just anger this time. He tries to turn around, but Lex quickly kicks his legs apart and unbalances him.

Lex swallows at the sight in front of him. The firm, round ass, the shadowed cleft, the heavy balls he can just make out between the splayed legs. He works his gaze back up the delectable view and frowns at the fabric still covering Clark’s strong back. He wants to see more of Clark’s beautiful skin.

Pushing the fabric up under Clark’s arms, Lex freezes at the sight of the scabs marring the smooth back. He’d done that. He remembers doing it at the time, he knows Clark had mentioned them on the phone a few days ago, but he hadn’t realized how bad they were. Six lines, three on each side. They started near the base of the shoulder blades and trailed off as they reached the rounded area of the shoulder. Six inches long at least.

He’d hurt Clark that much, and yet the younger man had still responded to him on the phone and was willing to give himself over to Lex now. Except for a cursory struggle, he hadn’t tried to get away and he was still lying passively, letting Lex examine his back. Why was he doing that? Why is he letting Lex do this at all? Clark might be an easy-going man for the most part, but he’s anything but passive.

Lex runs his fingers over the marks and feels the shiver that Clark doesn’t make any effort to conceal. Lex swallows as his own body starts to betray him. He feels his cock swelling in the confines of his pants. Right now he wants nothing more than to sink deep inside the warmth in front of him. He knows Clark is accepting, and he’s willing to bet that it would feel like coming home.

Hearing a small moan, Lex looks down, startled out of his thoughts. He sees Clark gently undulating against the felt and realizes that he’s been gently stroking and petting the skin under his hands. He’d forgotten how responsive Clark was. Lex bites back a moan of his own at the sight his…what? His lover…former friend…nemesis? The question draws Lex up short and reminds him of what he’s supposed to be doing.

Damn it! How had he let himself get so distracted from his goal, and so quickly too? Clark is supposed to hate him after this, to never want to get near him again. Angrily, Lex clamps a hand down on Clark’s hips, forcing them to still. Clark makes a noise of protest and tries to turn his head. Lex clamps his other hand onto Clark’s neck and pushes him into the table. His father’s been right all along. He is weak. That needs to change now.

Clark isn’t sure what just happened. Lex had gone from angry, to tender, and apparently is back to angry again. Clark is effectively pinned to the table, and he doesn’t like the feeling of being trapped very much, of having no control. He has to force himself not to panic. Lex isn’t going to hurt him, not really. There’s an explanation for what the older man is doing, Clark just doesn’t know what it is yet. “Lex, what’s going on? Did I do something wrong?”

Lex slides his hand up into Clark’s hair and then yanks the younger man’s head back, exposing the long, vulnerable length of his throat. He forces himself to ignore the sharp inhalation of pain Clark makes, and infuses his voice with as much coldness as he can. “No need to worry your pretty head about whether you’re doing things right or wrong, Clark. I’m going to be doing all the work starting now. You just need to lie there and take it.”

“Lex? What are you…ow!” Lex’s tightening grip on his hair makes Clark stop in pain. What in the hell is going on? Why is Lex acting like this? Whatever it is, Clark is determined to remain calm. He has to show Lex that things have changed, at least on Clark’s part.

Leaning forward, Lex puts his mouth right up next to Clark’s ear. He makes an effort to sound as menacing as possible. Clark needs to understand that Lex is doing this deliberately. He doesn’t want him to be under any illusions that what’s about to happen is anything other than a conscious decision on Lex’s part. “I’m going to take this virgin ass of yours, Clark. I’m going to take it with no preparation and no lube. There’s nothing you can say or do to stop me, so don’t even bother trying. This is going to happen whether you like it or not. When I’m done, when I’ve finally come in your tight ass, then you’re gone. It’s all I want from you, and when it’s over I want you to get out and not ever cross the threshold of the mansion again. Understand?”

“Yeah, Lex, I understand.” Clark is pretty sure he does understand what’s going on now, but he doesn’t dare voice his thoughts aloud. He hadn’t imagined that connection on the phone the other day. There is something between them, and Lex is running scared. Clark is sure that’s it. The only thing Clark can think of to diffuse the situation is to not provide Lex with anything to fight against.

Lex can’t figure out why Clark isn’t fighting him at this point, but he plans on taking advantage of his unexpected compliance. His cock had gotten semi-hard while he’d stroked Clark’s back, and he lets go of Clark’s head so he can unzip and free his erection.

He strokes himself a few times, trying to make himself harder, but this kind of power play has never been his preference. He resorts to thinking about Clark’s responses on the phone the other day and how he’d been in the office that first time. Finally, Lex feels himself firming up, and he lines his cock up against Clark’s ass.

Clark’s chooses that moment to turn his head and look over his shoulder. He doesn’t say a word, just watches, and Lex feels unnerved by the silent stare. Why isn’t Clark fighting him? He’s strong, even if it isn’t the superhuman strength Lex used to think he had. He’s certainly strong enough to push Lex away, but he isn’t even trying.

Holding his cock to the entrance of Clark’s body, Lex can’t make himself push. Telling himself he isn’t delaying his plan, he just needs to know, he looks up at Clark. “Why aren’t you stopping me, fighting me, damn it? Why are you just lying there waiting for me to rape you?”

Looking over his shoulder, Clark tries to put as much sincerity into his expression as possible. “Because I trust you.”

At the sight of the belief in those beautiful eyes, the core of anger Lex has been keeping clenched tight to his soul starts to unravel and Lex bows his head in defeat.

Carefully, Lex backs away from Clark’s body. He tucks his cock back into his pants and then smoothes the sweats back up over Clark’s hips and pulls his shirt down over the healing scratch marks. He turns to leave, but is forced to stop when a large hand encircles his bicep. “Where are you going, Lex?”

Lex looks up in dull surprise. “I think it would be best if I absented myself from your presence, Clark. Don’t you?”

Clark quirks a small grin at the bald man. “No, I don’t think it would be best.”

Lex looks at Clark incredulously. “Are you insane? I was going to rape you.”

“I know, but you didn’t. I knew you wouldn’t go through with it, Lex. You aren’t that kind of man. I knew you’d do the right thing if I just gave you the chance, and you did.”

Stiffening again, Lex tries unsuccessfully to pull away. “Damn it, Clark! Don’t be so naïve. You’ve got to know by now that I’m not a good person. I’ve done many things you would…that you have…found fault with. I did send those men to your house a few days ago as a way to try and learn your secrets. It was my fault your parents and Lana almost died.”

“I know that, Lex. Thank you for confirming it, but Chloe figured it out, and I didn’t doubt it despite your protests when I came to confront you that day.”

Grimacing at the failure of that particular gamut, Lex quickly casts around for something else and remembers what had set Clark off the last time. “Well, what about just Lana then, Clark? Are you going to tarnish your lily-white image some more and cheat on her again? Should I let her know that you just can’t keep it in your pants?”

Smiling, Clark reaches out and manages to capture Lex’s other hand in his, so now they’re square against each other. He doesn’t pull him any closer, but he wants Lex to be facing him for this. “Nice try, Lex, even though that won’t work this time. If you’d let me tell you what I wanted to talk about a few days ago when I called, you’d know that Lana and I broke up permanently. I love her, I always will probably, but I’m not in love with her; she isn’t what I need in my life. She isn’t the person that completes me.”

Lex freezes in shock at hearing such a thing, but shakes it off quickly. Desperate to convince Clark to leave before he weakens again, Lex lets that revelation go for another time, even though he’s reeling from it, and he reveals something he knows Clark won’t have any knowledge of. “I lied to Lana and tried to convince her she was crazy when she mentioned the spaceship during the second meteor shower. There was one and I confiscated it before the government could get to the site. I also manufactured the reason you’re here today. I told an employee to contact Chloe with the tip about the meteor mutants. I wanted to get you over here so I’d have an excuse to follow through on my threat. You didn’t know that, did you?”

Pulling Lex even closer, fitting him in between his thighs, Clark leans in and runs his lips down the smooth cheek. He relishes the slight hitch of breath that Lex can’t hide. Lex’s confessions are things he’s going to want to know more about, but now isn’t the time. If today plays out the way he’s hoping, they’ll have plenty of time for discussions like that in the future.

Clark pulls back a little so he can look the older man in the eyes. “Lex, a year ago you asked me not to give up on you. I didn’t do such a great job then. I pretty much ignored you, too caught up in my own life to do what you asked. I gave up on you, on my best friend, but I’m not going to give up on my lover. We’ll work everything out. I’ve done some things that I’m not very proud of too, and a lot of them involved you in some way.”

Shivering from the caress as well as the words, Lex tries to get some much-needed distance, but fails to pull away again. “It’s too late for me now, Clark. Why can’t you understand that? I don’t want the help you’re offering anymore. My life is much easier now that I’ve given up my futile effort to be good.”

Clark tightens his grip and yanks Lex forward, pulling him to within a few inches of his face. “Bullshit, Lex.”

Stunned by both the profanity and the rough treatment from the normally gentle man, Lex can only gape at him.

“If it was too late, you’d have gone through with what you were going to do, Lex. You’d have continued with the rape no matter what I said or how I acted. If you were as evil as you persist in thinking yourself, then you would have taken advantage of my trust and faith and never blinked an eye. As to your life being easier now, maybe that’s true, but since when have you ever settled for taking the easy way through life?”

Lex slumps his shoulders a little in despair, but quickly shakes it off and straightens up. “Since I got tired of fighting against everyone to be something I’m so obviously not. Since I got tired of hoping for someone to care enough about me to really believe in me.”

Clark resists the urge to shake the man in front of him again. “You’re fundamentally a good man, Lex. You’ve always been worried about turning bad, and I get that more than you know, but a bad man wouldn’t have been troubled by thoughts of whether he was bad or not. You fought so hard against your dark side, a side that all of us have, Lex, but you got tired of fighting it alone. I don’t blame you either; no one should have to fight their dark side alone. At least not all of the time.” Clark reaches out to cup Lex’s neck and strokes a thumb up and down his jaw line. “Everyone needs help fighting temptation, Lex, and you never got that help from anyone. The surprise is that you fought for so long, not that you finally succumbed. You were so strong for so long and I admire that about you more than I can really express. You don’t have to fight alone, though, not anymore. From now on, I’ll always be there for you.”

Lex starts shaking his head before Clark even finishes speaking. “Clark, I don’t think I’m strong enough to work my way back, and I know I’m not strong enough to stay out of your secrets. I’ll start poking at them hoping they’ll fall out when you aren’t paying attention. I don’t know what I’ll stop at to learn them, but your family almost died last week during my last attempt to discover what they are.”

Closing his eyes, Clark gathers Lex closer in his arms, brushes a soft kiss over his lips, and then buries his face in the other man’s neck. He nuzzles at the spot under Lex ear that he’d marked last week and listens with satisfaction at the other man’s quick inhalation. He kisses that same spot and finally pulls back to look at Lex again. “First of all, you’re the strongest man I know. You can work your way back from anything…as long as you want to that is. Secondly, you don’t have to be strong enough to resist my secrets if they aren’t secrets anymore.” Clark holds up a hand to forestall the exclamation and gush of questions he can see gathering in Lex’s eyes.

“I’m going to tell you, Lex, I promise. Only…just not immediately. You have to give me a little time to come to terms with it. I’ve never told anyone voluntarily before.”

Standing speechless for a few moments while he sorts through the several thousand words that want to pour out of his mouth at the same time, Lex settles on the three he thinks Clark will be most likely to respond to. “What about Pete?”

Clark grimaces at all the memories that simple question brings to the forefront and looks down, away from Lex’s face. “He found out something, so I had to tell him or lose his friendship. If it hadn’t been for that, then I never would have told him either. In the long run, telling him cost me his friendship anyway. He couldn’t handle my secrets and that’s why he left Smallville. I know you’re strong enough to handle them, but I don’t know if you’ll want to or how you’ll feel about me once you know how much I’ve lied to you over the years.” Clark raises tormented eyes to look at Lex again. “I’d like a chance to enjoy this new…aspect…of our relationship for a little while before I tell you. Just in case…” Clark trails off, not wanting to think of the possibilities if Lex reacts badly to what he’ll learn soon.

It’s Lex’s turn to cup the side of Clark’s face, to pull him in for a soft kiss. “Clark, I can’t imagine you telling me anything that would make me turn away from you permanently.”

Clark looks back at the older man sadly. “That’s just the trouble, Lex. You can’t imagine, no one can, and once you know the truth you can’t unknow it. Knowing it changes everything. Please, Lex. Let me have a little time before I tell you. I promise I will, but just…not right away. Can you be satisfied with that for a little while? Please?”

So close, yet still so far. Lex can’t help thinking it, but Clark doesn’t make promises lightly. In addition, Lex is quite aware that he’s never been very good at saying no to Clark. Besides, knowing that his questions will be answered eventually does take some of the burning desire to know out of the equation.

He starts to nod his head and Clark beams at him happily. Lex finds himself wrapped up in an enveloping hug before he’s done basking in the warmth of that smile. He hasn’t felt this close to Clark since the day they’d met after Lex’s involuntary stint on the island two years ago. It feels beyond wonderful to be enclosed in his arms. Lex lets himself sink into it briefly, before pulling back a little. He gently grabs the back of Clark’s head and guides him so their mouths meet in a tender kiss. Lex enjoys the vibrations of Clark’s moan before ending the brief contact.

 

Chapter Eight

Lex quirks a smile at the brunette. “I think I’d like to try again, minus the anger this time. What do you think?”

Clark grins broadly and nods his head. “I think that’s the best idea I’ve heard all day, Lex. You might want to consider trying again as soon as possible.”

“I agree completely, Clark. How does right now sound? I have a wonderful bed upstairs that should make it all a bit more comfortable too.”

Clark hops up onto the pool table behind him, toeing his shoes off his sockless feet as he does, and pulls a surprised Lex forward. “I can get behind the idea of right now pretty easily, Lex, but I have some reservations about the bed. It’s pretty far away for one thing, and for the other…this is where things went wrong a few minutes ago, so don’t you think this is where the memory of it should be erased?”

Lex’s expression turns salacious as he nods his head. “I hadn’t considered those very valid points, Clark. I do believe you are correct. Move back a little ways, I’m going to come up there and join you.” Removing his own footwear, Lex waits until Clark scoots to the middle of the felt, legs splayed wide, then puts a knee on the table and hoists himself up. He crawls the short distance to Clark, putting plenty of roll into his hips as he moves forward. He lets his gaze go heavy lidded and he slides his tongue out to wets his lips.

He’s gratified to see the front of Clark’s sweats tenting out a little and when he aims his gaze upwards, he’s pleased to see the further proof of the effect he’s having in Clark’s dilated pupils.

Clark watches Lex move towards him and swallows hard at the show the other man is putting on for him. He can’t believe that everything is working out for them this time. He really thinks that they’re going to be okay. He’s nervous about telling Lex the truth, but he has to stay hopeful about that too or he won’t be able to move forward.

When Lex moves between his legs Clark snaps out of his worries, and he decides that he just needs to stay in the moment for now, this was too good to miss a second of. Eagerly, Clark removes his shirt and reaches out to do the same to the man in front of him.

Capturing the large hands, Lex caresses them, running his fingers over the palms and encircling the wrists. “Slowly, Clark. We have plenty of time.” He brings one of the hands to his mouth and sucks in a finger, reaching out with his tongue to lick at the web of skin between two fingers. Leisurely he draws the finger out; nipping the tip before it completely leaves the warm recesses of his mouth.

Looking up at Clark through his lashes, he brings the bigger man’s hands to his shirt. “Unbutton me, Clark. I want to feel your skin against mine again. I’ve missed that over the last few days.”

Trembling just a little from the sensual assault on one of his hands, Clark struggles to comply. His task is made even harder when Lex leans forward a little and starts to suck on his neck. He gasps as one hard suck zings straight to his cock and he’s dimly aware of a button snapping off into his hand. “Lex! God, Lex, I can’t…can’t concentrate. You…I…a button came off, Lex.”

Switching to the other side of Clark’s neck, Lex hums against the skin and licks the spot he wants to bite down on next. “I don’t particularly care about this shirt, Clark. I just want you to get it off.”

Clark is shakily trying to undo another button when Lex’s words penetrate. “You don’t…oh god, yes!” When Lex bites down again and starts to suck, Clark takes the shirt in both hands and rips it apart. It’s harder to do than he thought, and the fabric doesn’t separate completely, but he manages to get it off of Lex anyway. He’s shaking harder now and he want to feel Lex against him as much as the other man does. Wrapping his arms around Lex again, he pulls the bald man to him, cupping one large hand under Lex’s ass to make sure their entire torsos are plastered together.

Both men moan as their erections press together, and when Clark starts to rub his body against Lex, the older man grabs Clark’s hair and guides his mouth into a kiss that isn’t as gentle this time. When Clark shows no desire to pull away, Lex drops his hands and flicks both of the younger man’s nipples with his thumbnails.

Clark rears back at the sensation and a full-bodied shudder flows through him when Lex pinches both nipples between his fingers. “God, Clark, you’re so sensitive and responsive. You…”

He’s cut off when Clark presses their mouths back together, the kiss turning sloppy as desire begins to rob Clark of his control. Lex starts to stroke one of Clark’s arms with one hand while he raises the other to stroke a cheek, trying to calm the brunette down a little.

Clark breaks the kiss with a gasp and buries his face in Lex’s neck breathing hard. “Lex, I don’t know what’s happening to me. I’ve never felt so much, not even in this room last week, and I don’t know what to do.”

Making soothing sounds, Lex moves his hands so he can stroke Clark’s back and card his fingers through the soft, thick hair at the base of his neck. “It’s all very new to you, Clark. Of course it’s going to feel overwhelming. Just remember that it’s supposed to feel good, and if we’re both enjoying ourselves, then nothing you feel is wrong.” Lex pulls back to look searchingly into Clark’s eyes. “Do you feel good, Clark? Are you enjoying yourself?”

Lex enjoys the small blush that taints the younger man’s cheeks as Clark’s head ducks down a little. “Jeez, Lex, can’t you tell?”

“Yes I can, Clark, but I still wanted to hear it from you, especially since I’m going to ask you to lie back now. I want to see you without these sweats in the way.”

Clark gasps at Lex statement and can feel the blush growing. Everything seems very different this time. He doesn’t remember being so embarrassed during the sex last week or of feeling everything quite as acutely. He doesn’t want to stop though, so he lies back when Lex pushes on his chest.

Laying there watching Lex with a little bit of trepidation and a lot of desire, Clark can feel himself trembling. The anticipation is building as he watches Lex gaze slip down his body. His eyes follow the same path as Lex’s and he feels the blush growing as he sees how distorted his pants are by his erection. It makes him want to cover himself with his hands, but he knows the urge is childish so he resists it.

He whimpers a little when he feels Lex’s hands touch his skin, easing under the waistband of his pants so they can be tugged down. Clark plants his hands palm down on the surface of the pool table to stabilize himself and lifts his hips to enable Lex to slide his pants down and off. Clark hisses as his erection is freed to the caress of the air and arches his back when he feels a soft touch ghost over his cock.

Lex licks suddenly dry lips as he takes in the perfection of Clark’s body. He’d been too focused on his anger last week to appreciate fully the sculpted form that lies before him now. Lex lets his gaze roam leisurely over Clark, taking in the valleys and planes until Clark’s writhing under his stare snaps him out of his self-induced trance.

“Do something, Lex. Please. I want…need…to feel your hands again. I promise to not lose control again, but just touch me.”

Immediately Lex stretches out besides Clark and runs a hand over his chest and abs. “Clark, I wasn’t touching you because I was afraid you’d lose control. I wasn’t touching you because I was trying to etch your beautiful body into my memory. Lose as much control as you want, Clark, that’s kind of the point after all. I assure you, I’ll enjoy it if you do.”

“Don’t tease me now, Lex. I’m not beautiful, you’re the beautiful one – all your pale, smooth skin and the way you move. I could look at you for ages.”

Lex scoots a little closer to Clark and catches his mouth in another kiss. He’s never been with anyone that makes him feel as special as Clark already has. As he deepens the kiss, he undoes his own pants and manages to wiggle out of them without losing contact with Clark’s soft mouth.

Clark moans as he realizes what Lex is doing and turns in the slimmer man’s arms so he can gather him closer. His hands roam over Lex’s back, running his nails lightly over smooth skin, looking for those spots that will make his lover shiver. He discovers one under the left shoulder blade that makes Lex twitch and another one to the right and top of the spine that makes him moan. Clark’s new favorite spot on Lex’s body though is at the base of the spine, right above the cleft of his ass. When Clark runs a nail over that spot, Lex bucks his hips into Clarks and breaks off their kiss with a gasp.

“Jesus, Clark, what are you doing to me? I wanted to take hours exploring your body, but I don’t think I’m going to last much longer.”

“Even if you could last, I know I couldn’t, Lex.”

Lex grins evilly. “Oh, Clark…you’d be surprised at how long I could get you to last. I could bring you to the brink of satisfaction time and again and never let you tip over that edge, but that just isn’t going to happen this time. I want you too much and I’d never be able to control myself enough to go slowly for long.”

“Good. I don’t want to go slowly, Lex. I want you now.” Clark lowers his hand to cup Lex’s bare ass and runs his palm all over the rounded surface, finally reaching down to lightly scratch at the tops of his thighs.

Jerking himself out of Clark’s arms, Lex rolls to the side of the table, dips his hand into a pocket, and brings out another tube of lube. He turns back over and shows it to Clark, watching the other man’s eyes darken more with lust, but also taking in how he bites his lip in nervousness. Lex feels sorrow at the fact that he put that uncertainty there, but he’s determined to fix it now.

“Lay back, Clark.”

Determined to do this no matter how anxious he is, Clark lies back against the purple felt and nervously tries to figure out what to do with his hands. He rests them on his stomach and then slides them down to his sides to clench into fists, and then he moves them up to rest his head on them, and then moves them back to his stomach.

Lex grabs the anxiously moving hands and brings them to his mouth for a kiss. Then he places them on Clark’s chest. “Touch yourself, Clark. I want to watch you pinch your own nipples.” Lex grins as he sees another blush wash down Clark’s face, to his neck, and finally to his chest.

He’s also happy to see the hands still their restless movements as Clark swallows and starts to do as he suggests. “That’s it, Clark. Let me see how you like to touch yourself. I want to see you writhe under your own hands, to know that I’ve turned you on enough that you’ll do this in front of another person for the first time in your life. Now close your eyes and imagine those are my hands caressing you, pinching and rolling your nipples.”

Lex is distracted by the sight of Clark doing as he said, eyes closes, head slightly tilted back, mouth open and panting a little, cock jutting out, begging to be touched. It’s hard for Lex to tear himself away, but a little moan from Clark galvanizes him into action. He opens the new tube of lube and generously coats the fingers of his right hand. He’s not going to take any chances of hurting Clark, even by accident.

Running his clean hand down Clark’s thigh, Lex coaxes the other man’s legs apart. Clark jumps at the first touch to his ass, but Lex isn’t about to rush him. Lex rests his left hand against Clark’s abdomen, pushes the other hand past the firm globes of his bottom, and runs his index finger over the entrance to Clark’s body. He doesn’t do anything else for at least a minute, just rubs over that one spot, trying to build a sense of anticipation instead of trepidation in his younger lover, as well as try to turn it into something pleasurable.

“How does it feel, Clark?” Lex knows the answer to his whispered question from the way Clark’s hips are starting to make small thrusts and from the pearl of liquid clinging to the tip of his cock. Still, he wants to hear Clark say it.

Clark squirms against the felt and tries to bring his breathing under control so he can answer. “It…it’s starting to feel good, Lex. Better than on the phone. I never thought…I never knew...” Clark’s legs open more, almost, but not quite, unconsciously. “I want…I’m ready for more, Lex. Please?”

Lex swallows hard at the trust in the simple gesture and words and shivers as desire for the man in front of him flows through him. Carefully he inserts just the tip of a finger into Clark’s body. He moves it in and out a few times, closely watching Clark’s reactions before he starts pushing further in every time he moves the finger forward.

Clark’s stopped touching himself and his hands are by his sides, clenching and unclenching on the felt. His head is moving back and forth restlessly and he’s whimpering under his breath. Lex is glad to see his obvious enjoyment, but he knows the next finger is likely to hurt more. Therefore, just as he’s poised to push in a second finger, he leans over and sucks the head of Clark’s cock into his mouth.

Clark cries out and arches his back, trying to get closer to the moist heat surrounding his aching erection. He’s never felt anything like it before and he barely even notices Lex’s fingers until the older man twists them just right and Clark’s vision whites out and his mouth opens on a soundless shout.

When he can see again, Clark isn’t sure if he should push forward into the warm cavern of Lex’s mouth or back onto the teasing fingers. He makes some aborted movements with his hips, unable to think clearly enough to figure out what he should do, until Lex uses his free hand to guide Clark into a rhythm that lets him experience everything that his lover is sharing with him.

Once a rhythm is established everything else freezes for Clark. His head stops thrashing, his hands stop clenching, and he focuses his entire being on the feeling below his waist. There’s a bit more burn when Lex adds a third finger and he dimly feels the pain as his flesh is stretched further, but it’s minor next to the pleasure he’s lost in.

His speeds up his rhythm, eyes almost blinded from the pleasure coursing through him, gasping for breath as the desire starts to coil tighter and tighter within his belly. When Lex slips in his pinky and rubs his perineum with his thumb, Clark is lost. He tries to warn Lex, to say something, anything, but he can’t force words past his throat. Lex seems to know though, as he tightens the suction around the head of Clark’s cock and reaches up with his free hand to flick at one of Clark’s distended nipples.

Clark’s hips stutter to a stop as he starts coming down Lex’s throat. He can feel the other man’s throat muscles working to swallow him all down, the fingers in his ass twist and rub against that fantastic spot, and then he isn’t aware of anything else for several minutes.

Feeling Clark go limp as he swallows the last of his lover’s release down his throat, Lex knows that the younger man has passed out from an overload of sensation. Lex doesn’t waste any time in feeling self-satisfied. Instead, he carefully withdraws his fingers and cleans them on a piece of his ruined shirt that’s still on the table. Then he eases up until he’s flush against Clark’s utterly relaxed form and starts to card his fingers through the other man’s luxurious locks.

Lex’s own cock is so hard it’s painful, but he isn’t going to do anything until Clark is awake and aware of what’s going on. Besides, the short wait will help him calm down his own arousal a little so that he’ll be able to last longer inside of Clark. He starts to lay tender kisses on the parts of Clark he can easily reach – his jaw line, his ear, his cheek, the side of his throat, his lips –because he wants Clark to see him right there when he finally opens his eyes.

Clark starts coming around and smiles as he feels soft lips pressing kisses around his face. He could get used to waking up like this. He can’t believe how relaxed he can feel while still feeling his body zinging with the pleasure that Lex had wrung from him. He becomes aware of something extremely hard poking him in the hip and when he shifts minutely, he realizes that it’s Lex’s erection. He opens his eyes to see Lex’s solemn face above his, the expression marred by the satisfied gleam in his eyes.

He parts his lips in invitation, which Lex takes him up on, but when he reaches for the hard cock still pressing into his side, the older man grabs his hand and forestalls him. “Lex, wha…”

Lex sips from Clark’s mouth once more before pulling away to look at him. “Clark, I want to come inside you, surrounded by you. Will you let me?”

The eager nodding of his head makes Lex smile, and Clark can’t believe he even felt the need to ask. “God, yes, Lex! It’s practically all I’ve really wanted since I got here earlier, even if I hadn’t quite admitted that to myself yet.”

Swallowing, Lex has to look away from the purity of emotion in those guileless eyes. He feels desire of a different sort bloom inside of him at what he sees in those eyes. He wants to be deserving of what he sees in them. Shaking off the brief bout of melancholy, Lex pushes gently at Clark’s side. “Then turn over, Clark. This will be much easier on you if you’re on your hands and knees.”

However, Clark doesn’t budge. He just shakes his head and looks at Lex with a small smile. “I’m like you, Lex. I don’t take the easier path through life either. I don’t want to have my back to you; I want to be able to see you as you make love to me.”

Lex’s heart squeezes at those words, especially as he considers that he’ll be making love to the man below him, not just fucking him. The closest he’s ever come to making love was with Helen, and that certainly can’t compare to the level of emotion and desire he’s already feeling, even before he’s encased in Clark’s warmth.

Taking a deep breath, Lex moves between Clark’s hurriedly splayed legs and thickly coats his cock with lube. He looks into Clark’s eyes as he moves the legs up over his shoulders and lines up against the entrance to his body. He sees no hesitation in the younger man’s gaze, only acceptance and something else Lex isn’t ready to name yet. “Let me know if I hurt you at any time, Clark. Alright?”

Clark smiles gently at the man above him. “I’ll be fine, Lex. Please do it, I want to feel you in me so much.”

Turning to place a loving kiss on one of the legs that’s draped over his shoulder, Lex closes his eyes and hopes he has the strength to make it good for the younger man. Slowly he starts to push in, but freezes when the head of his cock slips past that first ring of muscle. Clark groans and clenches his body around him and it’s all Lex can do to keep from coming in that instant. Clark shifts under him and Lex moans as the movement pulls at his cock. “Don’t move, Clark, unless you want this over before it begins.”

Doing as he asks, Clark can’t help but feel a little satisfied that the older man is so far gone already. He must be doing something right; he just wishes he knew what it was so he could keep doing it. He wants Lex to move some more, but isn’t sure what to do to make that happen. He can’t believe he’s feeling like that, but Lex’s breeching of his body is nothing like he expected. There’s an odd feeling of fullness and the beginnings of what he thinks might be pleasure. If. Lex. Would. Just. Move!

Clark makes some small whimpering noise that he’s embarrassed to realize comes from his own mouth, but it gets Lex to look down at him and finally start to push in farther. Clark is very careful to not make movements or sounds that would get him to stop again. It’s very hard though. He can feel a moan building in his throat and his hips just want to lift off the felt to make things easier on Lex, and so Clark can feel him even more intensely. Clark bites his bottom lip in his effort to control himself. His lip it pretty much healed from the punch Lex threw at his almost a week ago, but it is still tender. The small pain of biting it helps him find a little control.

Going in small increments, Lex finally feels the short, crinkly hairs at the base of Clark’s cock rub against his own hairless body and he can’t push in any farther. He closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths. He wants so much to start slamming into Clark, but doesn’t want to risk hurting the inexperienced man.

Opening his eyes after he feels the urgency recede a small amount, Lex looks down at Clark. He’s surprised to see the other man biting into his lower lip so hard he’s drawn a little blood. “Clark? Clark, what are you doing?”

Releasing his lip and licking at it, Clark can’t believe that he actually tastes blood. Such easy injuries are still new to him. However, the small pain is hardly noticeable compared to the frustration that Lex’s slow pace is causing him. Now that Lex’s voice has broken the spell of control Clark had over himself, he can’t stop his body from writhing under his lover’s. “Lex, I need more…harder, you’re killing me with the care you’re taking. I need you now. Please.”

Lex stares incredulously down at Clark. “You want me to go faster? Aren’t you worried I’ll hurt you?”

Narrowing his gaze at the other man, Clark lowers his legs and edges them past the other man’s sides. He wraps them around his lover’s hips and pulls in sharply. “No! I want more, Lex. Please!”

“Fuck! You better mean it, Clark, or you’ll find out just how evil I can be.” In spite of Clark’s demonstrated willingness, Lex builds his pace slowly. Soon enough though, he’s pistoning in and out of Clark’s body as piercingly as he can, his lover’s moans music to his ears. His rhythm falters when Clark levers himself up and latches on to that spot on his neck.

It’s Lex’s turn to moan, especially when Clark doesn’t stop. He can feel one of Clark’s hands running over his back, sliding in the sheen of sweat he’s building up, and finding all of those spots he’d discovered earlier. The motion of his hips stutters once again when the same hand slides up to cup the back of his head and he’s drawn down into a kiss.

Lex slowly finds a rhythm again and then reaches between their bodies to find Clark’s cock as hard as if he hadn’t just come ten minutes before. Lex starts stroking him, knowing that he isn’t going to last much longer and wanting to bring the brunette with him.

Breaking away from the kiss, Clark gasps for air as he feels Lex’s thumb slide over the head of his cock at the same time as the man pushes into him just a little bit harder. Clark starts to shake and tremble at the multitude of sensations he’s being bombarded with. He flings both hands away from Lex’s body and tries to grab the felt below him, in an effort to ground himself and stave off his impending orgasm a little bit longer.

It doesn’t work.

Clark arches his back, pressing his cock harder into Lex’s hand. “Lex! I’m going to come again!”

“God, yes! Let me feel it, lover. Come for me!”

For all that he doesn’t fall unconscious this time, the orgasm that crashes through him feels no less intense than the last one. Clark starts jerking under Lex as his cock coats his stomach in come.

As Clark’s muscles contract around him, Lex finally lets go of his own control and starts coming deep inside his lover’s body. He stays in position, propped above Clark on his arms, as the tremors zing through him much longer than he’s used to. Finally, they end, and Lex collapses, letting himself fall onto Clark’s strong body. He feels the younger man’s arms come around him immediately and doesn’t like to admit how good it feels to have someone hold him as he comes down off the endorphin high.

Lex lets himself enjoy his lover’s stroking hands for several minutes and then starts placing kisses on the skin he can reach and stroking Clark in return. Lex takes pleasure in the rumbling noises coming from Clark’s throat, knowing that he’s the cause of such contentment. It’s not a state he’s used to inducing in other people these days, if he ever did. It’s wonderful to know that it’s something he’s caused Clark to feel.

Clark enjoys the closeness with Lex immensely and doesn’t want it to end, but he wants, maybe even needs, to know something. “Lex, are you…satisfied…with everything now?”

“Well, Clark, I’m certainly satiated. As to satisfied…right now? Not totally. But do you want to know something? I think I’m going to be.”