Fixing Things

Lex stepped out of the helicopter, breathing in the dry New Mexican air. Of all the places he travelled for LuthorCorp, New Mexico had to be one of the most contradictory landscapes. Desert throughout most of it, and then just inside, the rich vibrant growth of the caldera.

LuthorCorp facility #259 was an industrial plant manufacturing HVAC chillers. It was located north-west of Santa Fe, also an easy drive to Los Alamos. Being near a government testing laboratory was not a normal requirement of chiller manufacturing process, however, Lex thought the location was not coincidental.

Nominally, Lex was here because the product output level had dropped 20 percent in the last year and the workmanship was below quality standards. Companies that used #259 chillers in their air conditioning systems were reporting inefficiency and stabilization issues. Yet just three years prior, production had been off the charts and companies had been begging to be on the list to get a #259 system. Lionel had sent Lex out to fix the situation.

Since he'd left Smallville eight years ago, Lex had been his father's "fix-it" man. Travelling from LuthorCorp plant to LuthorCorp plant, reorganizing them, turning them into effective parts of the company again. He had done it for the Smallville fertilizer plant in his time there, and he had done it for many others since. Half the time, it was as simple as contradicting his father's earlier draconian pronouncements of "lay them all off!" When Lex was fixing, he had complete authority to do anything he wanted and his father did not interfere; it was part of their deal.

In working for his father, Lex and the elder Luthor had come to terms that neither of them liked, but life was a compromise. Lionel had wanted Lex with him, however one rule that Lex had held firm early on about was that Lex would never enter Metropolis or be sent to within a 500 mile radius thereof. Anywhere within the state of Kansas was too close. Smallville had left him with a bitter taste in his mouth and a revulsion for even the idea of running into any of the people he'd known in it.

Lex told his father that it was a revulsion against him. That after being electrocuted and falsely accused of insanity, he never wanted to see his father in person again; which was true enough. Lionel's agreement to that part of the bargain was that Lex never tell anybody about the details behind Belle Reve. An agreement, and a warning that Lex heeded. As Lex traveled, he kept nobody around him for long, and he didn't stay in any one place long enough for a slow poison to work upon him. A precaution after the fact, yet his travelling served his other purposes well enough.

Lex paused on his way to the plant, looking at the sign that proclaimed it LuthorCorp #259. Every time he walked into a facility for the first time, he remembered the Smallville Plant. He had been so young then. He hadn't thought he was young – he'd been 21 and the world would be his. He'd been given a second chance at life, and a friend as well, and nothing would stop him. So little Lex had known back then.

Suited managers poured out of the building like a swarm of disturbed bees, confusedly heading for Lex. Lex didn't falter in his approach.

"Mr. Luthor!" the businessman in the lead called out. That was probably the Plant Chief, Mackerson. Muscular and fit, the man looked like he worked out on a regular basis, more concerned about the looks the muscles gave him than the health benefits.

"We thought you were coming next week." That was the one panting behind him, considerably less fit. Probably the one who did the actual work.

Lex walked through them and continued into the building. "My last project ended early." Not true, of course; giving people time to prepare was never wise. Lex liked to take his projects by surprise, and if the people had researched him, they should know that. This group was complacent, not worried, despite their lack of productivity and Lex's visit. He wondered if they really thought his father would protect them. Who did they think had sent him?

"Show me the manufacturing process." Lex turned right, away from the offices and towards the guts of the chiller factory, where the compressors and evaporators were made and the parts assembled.

"Would you like to review the books first?" The Plant Chief, who still hadn't introduced himself, though Lex knew who he was, tried to divert their path.

The other one shot the chief a look in disbelief and then glanced away before the chief could see it. "We would be happy to accommodate you, Mr. Luthor. I'm Tim Matthews, Plant Engineering."

Interesting. Efficient and a knowledge of when to bend. This one might be a keeper, except Lex had a feeling that he was one of the problems.

The followers settled themselves around and behind Lex, the chief, and Tim. One scurried ahead. Lex didn't worry about it. There wouldn't be anything obviously wrong in the daily routine work. This little stroll was meant to show his dominance and for him to get an eye over the workers before he was shuffled off to an office. To show everybody that he was the Luthor on the scene and his will was supreme.

They passed through the first few stages with nothing of interest. General details about manufacturing, the vast machinery churning out complicated parts with humans guiding and aiding the process. Watching the way things were put together, an alien could think it was the machines who ruled and people were but the lowly subjects; the worker bees to the queen. All in its order, all in its time.

There were also people working on the more complicated parts; adjusting the installations inside their casings, welding tricky spots machinery couldn't get to; programming the computer packages that would allow the machinery to run.

On the level below, which Lex wouldn't get to on his initial stroll through the plant, was the chemical refrigerant mix to be pumped into the chillers. That was the part he was particularly interested in, yet he couldn't get there without a protection suit. While he could likely commandeer one from the lockers, the minions of the plant would squawk most ferociously if he went there without proper channels, properly so. Safety was not something a manufacturing plant should fool around with. Tomorrow, Lex would visit it. At which point, he would still see nothing, for there would be nothing to see in the open, and yet it would give him the information he would need to dig further in.

In the assembly room, Lex came to an involuntary halt. This was the low level worker zone, where they were paid minimum wage and were either new, incompetent, or without sufficient motivation to move on. Not much was generally of interest in an assembly room. And yet, there was.

His back was mostly to Lex, only a small portion of profile showing at the angle Lex was standing. Hunched over the conveyer belt, his attention was on the moving parts, not on the horde of people who had walked in.

Dark hair. Large frame filling the blue construction overalls. A certain way of standing that was ultimately familiar to Lex, though he hadn't seen it in eight long years. Obviously, a 500 mile radius was too small of an exclusion zone. Lex should have stayed in Europe instead. Or Japan.

Feeling the weight of the stares, perhaps, or just finally aware of the mass of people who had entered and were now milling about uncertainly, Clark turned around.

No glasses. That was interesting. And the name tag read 'Leo'. But it was Clark, most definitely.

Their gazes met and held for a long moment. Clark's eyes widened and a very familiar looking fear appeared there, intensifying the longer the moment went on.

With a snort, Lex turned and walked out of the room. He spoke loud enough to be heard, without seeming like he was projecting. "Nice ass."

As the minions scuttled behind him, one of them dared to protest. "Mr. Luthor!"

Lex glanced at her badge but couldn't make out the name immediately. No matter, he'd find out. "Above all, you'll find that I am an equal opportunity..." he paused for a moment, drawing it out before the last word, "employer."

He turned towards the offices, ready now to settle into the mundane work of plowing through files. "Which does beg the point, Mr. Mackerson; where are the women in your managerial ranks?"

The plant chief snorted, not concerned. "We manufacture HVAC chillers. It's not a field women get into. If a competent one showed up, I'd hire, but none have."

"Mr. Mackerson, I worked in a crap factory that produced fertilizer. They had more women managers than you." At industrial work, women were just as competent as men. It was true that fewer of them entered into it in general, however, a certain percentage usually did and this company was not lacking for the women at the lower ranks. It was the upper ranks that were deficient.

Which was not the problem Lex had come here to solve, but it was a nice distraction from Clark. Both for him and for them.

... ... ...

As part of the paperwork to know a new plant, Lex made it a habit to interview people working there. Two managers, two mid-levels, and two lower-levels, with a mixture of employees who had been there for years and others who had recently come in. He was glad he had long ago settled this as a routine as he went through the personnel files with the admin to pick out his interviewees.

"Ms. Oakhust, yes," Lex said. The lady who had protested. She worked in human resources, which wasn't normally an area he delved into, but he liked her spirit.

"Also, one of the assembly workers. Perhaps that tall one..."

Judy, the administrative assistant who had been assigned to work with him, snorted. "You mean Leo Brown. He's new. Only been here for a week. He's a looker, I'll give you that, but I don't know how far your luck will go, he's got a girlfriend."

"Money and the Luthor name will often open doors where there are normally none to be seen," Lex remarked casually, hiding his own bitterness at the fact. "However, it's also often enough just to look. Touching is not necessary."

"Did you want to see Ms. Oakhust before or after you see Mr. Brown?" Judy asked archly.

Lex grinned. He liked the spirit here. They weren't all beaten down by the problems in the plant. There was enough for the company to regrow on once he was done.

... ... ...

A knock at the door flung Lex back into the past. Clark hadn't knocked at the mansion doors often, but when he did, it was always with the expectation that he would be let right in. A bare acknowledgement of the courtesy, though with a firm fist.

"Come in," Lex said, steeling himself. Their fight had been in the past; eight years in the past. Time heals all wounds, or so it was said. They could be courteous to each other, talk about things like adults and come to a mutual working agreement with the situation.

Clark walked in and shut the door behind him. "Damn it, Lex! You're behind this!"

Or not.

Outrage and memory held Lex quiet while he flashbacked to eight years ago with accusations thrown in his face and not even the question of why.

Some of the things Lex had done, some he hadn't. Either way, he'd been condemned and tried without even the courtesy of asking for a trial or an explanation. If Clark had ever told him why he didn't want Lex involved in this, that, or the other thing, Lex would have backed off. Maybe. But Clark had never said, only accused.

"Two Jitter deaths of maintenance men who worked with chillers from this plant. Other mutations that can be indirectly traced to units produced here. And you. You right here in the midst of it."

Lex thought it would be useless to point out that Clark had been here a week before Lex had arrived. Eight years, and not a thing had changed.

"How dare you?" Lex hissed, his anger boiling over. "You know nothing about me! You never did. God damn you to Hell, Clark! This was a waste of my time. How could I possibly think—" Lex cut himself off and came around his desk, detouring around the defiant Clark to the door.

"Get out." Lex said, his hand on the handle. "Get the fuck out and—. God Damn It." Lex enunciated the last bit slowly and carefully. He closed his eyes, fighting for control. He hadn't lost it this badly for a long time.

Clark turned to leave. "Gladly!" He hesitated at seeing Lex still in front of door and the door still shut.

"Don't leave," Lex said wearily. He let go of the door handle and walked back to his desk, sitting down again. "You haven't been here long enough. If you leave now, they'll know something is up. For both our covers, you'll have to be here long enough for the interview."

Lex ignored his sudden headache and flipped open files. "Leo Brown. Employed one week. So tell, me, Mr. Brown, how do you find things at the plant?"

Clark stared at him. "What do you mean, both our covers?"

"One presumes that you have not actually changed your legal name to Leo Brown. Therefore, you are here investigating those things you have accused me of, and you do not want me to walk around the plant calling you Clark Kent." Lex marked a note on the file. "Your supervisor is Howard Thomas. Did he take you through the plant when you first arrived? What was your impression of the company?"

"Do you seriously ask people this?" Clark walked back to the desk and hovered before sitting.

Lex looked up with a glare. "I would be a poor manager if I came in and started changing things without finding out what the working conditions are. Talking to people is the best way to find that out. Yes, they'll lie. All people lie. But they also tell the truth. Sometimes that truth is subjective, and I have to compare truths. Finding out what is lie, truth, or subjective truth is all part of knowing who to fire, who to promote, and how to change the plant methods to increase efficiency."

Clark snorted. "Efficiency. Firing people."

"Just answer the question," Lex sighed. He would never get away from his father. One Luthor was the same as another. Yes, Lex fired people – people who weren't good at their jobs. He did not, however, ever condone mass layoffs, unlike his father. Clark wasn't the first to mix them up. "Even if you are here for other reasons, you've still been working here for a week. What is your general impression of the plant?"

They actually made it through most of the standard script without eruption into further hostilities. Clark looking more and more puzzled as they went on, but answered as honestly as he could. For things not related directly to him, Clark could usually be counted on for fairly accurate observations. Or at least he always had been, and it seemed his years of investigative reporting had honed those skills.

Lex glanced at the clock. "Alright, that's enough. You can go now." He didn't rise from his seat.

Clark did, slowly. "Lex..."

"Don't go there," Lex warned. He could feel the anger and bitterness hovering just a bare layer under his control; the pain of his expectations had shattered a wound never completely healed, just ignored.

"I'm sorry, Lex." Clark ignored Lex's warning. "I told myself the whole way up here not to accuse you like that, but when I opened the door..."

"The truth of what you felt came out," Lex finished, the bile rising in his throat. "Better that than the lies. Get out, Clark. Don't interfere with me, and I won't interfere with you. Do your story, write what you will... just leave me alone."

That last came out worded differently than Lex had planned, making it about him and not about his work. Oh well.

Clark bowed his head, looking like a grown-up kicked puppy.

Given Lex's anger and pain, it shouldn't make Lex feel guilty. Maybe that was just reflex; too many years of giving Clark everything. He stayed silent, choking the impulse to apologize.

Clark partially opened the door, then turned back, his head up again and eyes gleaming with a bit of mischief. "You said I had a nice ass."

Lex eyed the partially open door and huffed out a laugh. "It is. A very fine ass. However, that was a simple observation, no need for anything more."

"Well, maybe I think you have a nice ass too." Clark grinned at Lex and then slipped through the door.

Ms. Oakhust walked in. "Mister Luthor!" Her hands were on her hips and her eyes angry.

"He started it," Lex murmured, his mind partially numbed by Clark's parting shot. Clark was straight. Wasn't he? And Lex hated him. Loved him. Something. Eight years and this meeting had not clarified matters at all.

"No he didn't, and that's not an excuse anyway! This is a respectful workplace."

Lex leaned back and let Ms. Oakhust yell at him while he puzzled over the mystery that was Clark.

Clark finished the rest of his shift in somewhat of a daze. It'd been eight years since he'd seen Lex, since they'd had their last fight and Lex had left Smallville for good. Clark hadn't expected to see Lex here, and he kept reliving their last encounter.

Lex had been investigating his memory loss and using meteor rocks to do it. At the same time, he'd been pushing his inquires about Clark when he'd promised to leave Clark alone. But he wouldn't. A day, two days, after asking Clark to forgive him, then Lex would be right back to the same old questions with that look in his eye that didn't believe a word Clark said. Lex had hurt people in his studies with the kryptonite, though he insisted it was an accident. Lex had too many accidents in his investigations, he was too careless of other people. And he was too insistent on finding out every one of Clark's secrets.

When Lex had left, Clark had been both relieved and scared, terrified that Lex or Lionel would come sweeping back to Smallville at any moment to take him away. Clark had also been lonely, though he tried not to acknowledge that part of the loss. First Pete, then Lex... Chloe was the only one Clark didn't drive away and that was only because she was in love with him, though it had never worked out between them. Lex... Lex was dangerous.

The danger had always been part of Lex, but early on, Clark had thought it wasn't the important part. Without their friendship, though... Clark realized how much he'd counted on Lex's friendship to protect him from the danger. Without it, the fear never quite went away, even as the years passed and Clark never saw Lex again.

Clark had spent his last year in Smallville worrying. He'd gone to Metropolis for college, watching behind him all the time. In a way, journalism was less of a career choice than a way of him being able to keep track of what Lex and Lionel were up to. Lex had faded into the background, never making the news, and Lionel had become the Luthor that Clark feared.

Or so Clark had thought until this day. Lex being here had taken Clark by surprise. All the old fears, all the worries came back. He had turned around with no expectations and instead seen his nightmare. When Lex had summoned him to the office... Clark had really thought Lex was here to get him, to finally claim the last of the secrets and find out the mystery behind Clark Kent. This would be it.

Instead, though, Lex was protecting him again. Keeping Clark's cover, telling Clark he could do what he wanted. It upset every view of the world that Clark had ever had, making him feel sixteen again and confused as hell. He was twenty-five, he shouldn't be this confused anymore.

And Lex thought Clark's ass was nice.

Okay, that had been a distraction comment, to cover their staring on the factory floor, yet it took Clark back to the early days of Smallville when people had whispered and Clark had wondered but Lex had never done a thing. Just the looking, and there had been less of that as they'd gone along, making Clark doubt his memories. Eight years later, though, and Lex liked his ass. How long had Lex been staring at Clark before he'd turned around? The gossip line had said it was minutes.

Clark hadn't meant to accuse Lex, he really hadn't. But the fear was still there and Lex had followed him here. This plant was producing some form of kryptonite and mutations and deaths were the trail Clark and Lois had traced back. Lex was here, managing the plant, and Luthors were not to be trusted. Lex had protected him, covered for him, let him go.

Clark's head ached.

... ... ...

"You said what?" Lois stared at him in shock. "Good God, Clark. That's liable. You don't tell the second-richest man in the world something like that unless you can back it up with a published story and facts! Not to speak of warning the subject of the investigation!"

Clark winced. "It just came out."

"It just came out." Lois sighed and sat down on the hotel bed. "Well go on, do we pack up and try a different angle, or can we keep pursing this one?"

Clark looked away. "He said he wouldn't interfere with us."

Lois eyed him. "You're a reporter, Kent. Report."

When Clark was done, Lois was watching him in a way that reminded him of both Chloe and Lex back in the day. Studying eyes, questioning, not quite believing what he'd said.

"Um, that's it?" Clark said uncertainly, his voice making a question of the statement as he wondered what else Lois was expecting from him. He'd told her everything. Well, almost everything. He'd left out the bit about Lex's remark about Clark's behind. And then Clark's remark back. Clark swallowed, not wanting to think about Lex's behind. It really was a nice one, though, now that Clark was thinking about it.

"Yeah, Lois... we were friends once, and then we were enemies, and that's all there is to it." Lois paraphrased Clark in a mocking voice. "Clark, you idiot..." She closed her mouth. "No, never mind. But I think we can keep going. Lex Luthor isn't going to be giving away your cover, and it sounds like he's here on an investigation of his own. I wonder..."

Lois turned to her computer and started accessing files. "All the LuthorCorp plants that Little Luthor has worked at. How much of what he does is making them more efficient, and how much of it is covering up what they do? If we track his work back, could we find more problems?"

Clark left her to it. His mind was still full of Lex rather than what Lex was doing. He went into his room in the little apartment they were renting and closed the door. He knew he should be out there helping Lois with the investigation, whatever new angle she was pursuing now, but he just couldn't.

When he had been a teenager, between his thoughts of Lana, he'd thought about Lex. Sometimes more often than Lana, truth be told. Lex, though, had been so much older than him that all it had been was dreams. Businessman, Luthor, best friend. The person Clark had failed the most, and also the one who scared Clark the most. After Belle Reve, Clark wanted his friend back, and he had him... yet Clark had even more secrets now and Lex was even more relentlessly pursuing the meteor rocks.

If there had never been Belle Reve, if Lex's father had never come to Smallville, if all they could have been was best friends with nothing between them...

Clark turned the shower on, leaving his clothes in a pile by the door and letting the steam warm the room and making seeing difficult. It didn't do any good for obscuring his thoughts. As he stepped into the shower, Clark's long-suppressed desires overwhelmed his fears. For this moment, he so desperately wanted the what-might-have-been that he let himself imagine it, standing in the steaming water and stroking himself roughly.

Lex would have been in his office as Clark dropped by. Sitting behind the glass desk, his attention on the laptop. Yet as Clark walked in, Lex's attention would have left the laptop and gone to Clark. His mouth would have dropped slightly open, his eyes widening as he took in Clark in the dark clothes and long jacket. Just as he had done at Clark on red meteor rock, yet this time there would have been no meteor rock, just Clark, acting upon his desires, confident in what he wanted.

Clark would have walked towards Lex, then detoured towards the pool table. The balls would have been scattered on the surface, left in disarray from Lex playing with himself. Clark would've pick up a ball, the six ball, and fondled it, turning it over and over as he turned again towards Lex.

By this time, Lex would have gotten up from the desk, his eyes carefully checking Clark out from all angles, making sure that it really was his friend and that this was what Clark wanted. There would be a joke upon his lips, the smile that was for Clark alone softening into something more. His gaze would be hungry, sharpening in intensity as he deduced that Clark was for real.

At a certain level of intensity, Clark would toss the ball back onto the table and walk towards Lex, as Lex stood confidently in front of his desk, waiting for Clark.

Clark's huge hands would be on Lex's shoulders, Lex's hands resting at his side as he tilted his head to Clark. Slowly, Clark would move forward the last few inches, making the moment last.

Lips touching. Pressure, moisture, lips parting as they moved. Tongues tangling, searching, darting as they stroked together. Lex's hands were now in other positions, one hand tangled in Clark's hair, holding Clark tightly to him, the other gripping Clark's hip, also pulling him closer. Clark's hands had moved around to Lex's back, holding him closely.

They ground together, bodies engaging in the same duel their mouths were in. At some point, Clark would heft Lex up onto the desk, stepping between Lex's legs and running a hand over Lex's zipper, feeling the hardness behind the pants, his own hardness straining the endurance of cloth.

Zippers down, pants off, somehow. Clark didn't bother envisioning that part, his focus now on Lex's dick revealed before him. Lex would have a nice one, slender and long, cut and leaking from the tip. Clark'd x-rayed it, he knew it. Clark would run his hand along the shaft, his thumb swirling around the tip, spreading the pre-come and making Lex groan. Clark would be making thrusting motions with his hips now, his need stronger than his desire to explore.

Lex would tilt back on the table, his legs spread in invitation. Clark would push forward. There would be no need for lube, there would be no pain, just the exquisite pleasure for both. Tight and hot around his flesh, feeling the stroke all the way in along his shaft, watching the open-mouthed expression of rapture on Lex's face. Doing this again, and again, each time bodies coming together. Their pulling apart was only an anticipation for the next meeting.

The pleasure mounted and Clark came. He opened his eyes to watch the white spurts wash off the wall of the shower, draining down as if it had never been. It hadn't been. Not then, not now. But Lex was here now, and Clark's body wanted him as badly as Clark's mind was confused about him.

There was definitely something wrong here. Lex studied his notes and looked at all the pieces. Three years ago, chiller production had soared rapidly, then dropped just as dramatically last year. The deaths that Clark, and presumably Lois as well, were investigating were part of it, yet only the most visible one. Morale among the employees was down. The Plant Chief, Samuel, was corrupt, however it was an ordinary sort of corruptness: some money skimming, paying little attention to the details, advancing himself and not his people. More interested in his gym and his things than his job. That wasn't where the main problem was.

The more Lex looked, the more he was sure the Plant Engineer, Tim, was the one. Competent and smart, he worked just below the Chief, promoting himself as the one people could come to while still upholding the Chief in his incompetency. There was a look in his eyes as he watched Lex during meetings that spoke of an underlying arrogance, a surety that his world was supreme and he was only going along with the motions of 'normal' trappings as a game.

It was a look that Lex had become familiar with over the years. Tim was a mutant, and becoming more unstable as time passed, not from any instability in the mutation, yet rather from the weakness of a human mind dealing with more power than they'd ever dreamed of having. Mutations in and of themselves weren't bad – many of them, in fact, could be beneficial to the recipient. It was how the person dealt with their new powers that usually broke them. Power corrupts, and mutants often felt they no longer belonged with the rest of the human race. For the arrogant ones, this led them to atrocities they would never have considered before.

There were also others who were involved in the problems with the plant. Assisting Tim in one way or another. Lex hadn't pinned them down yet and he was being careful not to show he suspected Tim. He wasn't ready yet.

Lex needed to explore the plant and do it without raising an alert. He was here to improve plant efficiency, only that, on the surface. Some of the factories he had been to in the past were careless, mixing their kryptonite experiments in with the regular work areas, easy for him to sniff out. This place was more careful, having only legitimate production even in the secured areas. The kryptonite chemical mix that was being shipped inside the production chillers was being made somewhere other than the regular factory.

Tapping his finger on the desk, Lex flipped through various spreadsheets, looking for a report that would be legitimate yet would also let him dig further in.

... ... ...

A knock on his door lifted Lex's head and drew his attention. Instincts. Old, old instincts. That wasn't the admin waiting to be let in, and Lex did not want to deal with this now. He had other things to do.

Lex didn't answer the knock, however the door opened anyhow and a body slipped through. How could a body that large be that graceful? Lex sighed, returning his gaze to his laptop, though not his attention.

"Hey, Lex," Clark approached the desk after closing the door.

"No," Lex didn't care what it was.

"Lex, I'm sorry."

"Aren't you supposed to be working right now, Leo?"

"I'm on break. Lex, I shouldn't have said that to you yesterday. I'm sorry."

Lex snorted. "I notice you aren't saying you didn't mean it." He highlighted a phrase in the report he was reading. There was potential there.

There was a pause. "Lex, will you at least look at me?"

"I'm busy, and you don't have an appointment. How did you get in?"

A creak of leather as Clark evidentially sat down. "You don't have the best of security. You never did."

Lex had meant Judy at the admin's desk outside, not security, but given Clark's previous experience, Lex'd give him the answer. Personally, Lex hated security, they only got in the way. When Lex did have security, they got themselves killed. It was better not to put people in that position if he could help it.

Clark sighed. "You got here after we did. While people were dying of Jitters, you were in Alaska, reorganizing the meat-packing plant."

That had been a heck of a job. Even with Lex's healing, he still had a yellow bruise on his side from the confrontation with the mutant there.

"Unless you've learned how to be three or four people at the same time, you didn't have anything to do with what is happening here."

Lex saved the report and minimized it.

"Your father is in charge of LuthorCorp. You haven't even been near Metropolis for eight years." Clark's voice faltered on the last part, his realization of what else Lex hadn't been back to leaking through.

Lex leaned back in his chair and stared out at Clark over the desk. He didn't say anything, just looked.

In the guest chair, Clark fidgeted. He was the wrong size and shape for it, really. Guest chairs were made for businessmen, some carefully fit and others carelessly overweight, yet neither category was that of over-large, farm-muscled, reporter-superhero. Women also had problems with the guest chairs most businessman provided, being over-delicate for them and looking out of place. It was either an unconscious psychological trick of man-on-top or a conscious one. Or just an accident. In any case, Clark didn't belong there.

"Lois told you to say that so I won't sue the Daily Planet for libel, didn't she?"

Clark grimaced. "Well, yes, but it's true."

"And you don't believe it." Lex twisted a pen within his fingers. "With the advantages of online communication nowadays, nobody ever has to physically be in the same room together to discuss something, and locations are irrelevant." Lord knew his father was able to harangue him from anywhere. The restrictions Lex had put on him for physically never meeting didn't stop him. Just look at what Lex was doing now.

"Lex..." Clark whined.

Clark was twenty-five, for pity's sake, he shouldn't be whining anymore, Lex thought. Unfortunately, it seemed that Lex was still susceptible to all of Clark's bag of tricks. The whining, the puppy-dog eyes, the droop of the shoulders, the way Clark ducked his head and then peered through his eyelashes to make the tall man appear as if he was looking up. The little crook of the mouth that said he knew Lex.

He didn't, though. Clark might know Lex better than any other person in the world, however he didn't really know him. Not if he believed that Lex was responsible for this. He was saying the right words, but Lex knew that Clark didn't believe the words. Likely, Clark was trying not to think about it at all, but that wasn't any better.

Lex sighed. "Clark, I'm busy. And if you're on break, your time is almost over. What do you want?"

Clark clasped and unclasped his hands. "Will you go out to dinner with me?"

Lex blinked. That was unexpected. "No."

Before Clark could protest, Lex raised his hand. "I'm having a dinner meeting with some of the plant managers."

Clark sighed. Then he frowned, "Which ones?"

"Tim Matthews, Orlando Diaz, Shawn Wilz." Lex saw no reason not to tell Clark, it wasn't exactly a corporate secret.

Clark's frown deepened. "Lex, they're the worst of the batch. I mean, not Tim, but Orlando and Shawn, they're... well, they're not very nice."

Interesting that Clark didn't include Tim in with that category. Lex knew very well who he was meeting with, and why. "It doesn't matter; it's business, not pleasure."

Clark's expression sharpened and then focused. His mouth with the pouty red lips twisted up and his dark thick eyebrows narrowed down. Lex had a hell of a time reading what it meant. With anybody else, he would have said... jealousy? Interest? Not, though, with Clark. Not now. Something, however, had gotten his attention.

Lex stood up. "Your break time is over, 'Leo', and I have work to do." He walked past Clark to the office door and went through without saying another word to Clark. Stopping at Judy's desk, he asked her to contact Martin for the last five years of preventive maintenance records.

Behind him, there was a weighty pause and he could feel Clark studying him. Judy kept glancing over Lex's shoulder, but Lex didn't turn around.

Finally, Clark moved. He walked behind Lex and Lex did his best to ignore Clark while being aware of him. A trick, yet one he'd learned to perfection under his dad's tutelage.

At the pinch on his ass, however, Lex jumped. A hand on his shoulder, he would have expected. Even a pat on the cheek. But his dad had never pinched his ass. Thank God.

Lex turned involuntarily, his eyes trying to return to their normal narrowness as he fought to calm his sudden heart-rate increase.

Clark grinned insolently. "I'll see you later... Lex." He walked off, his hips moving in a sway they'd never had in Smallville. Lex watched until Clark was out of sight, his heart unable to slow.

After a few minutes, Judy cleared her throat. "He is cute."

Honesty was sometimes the best disguise. "I'm wondering what he's up to." He turned back to the admin's desk.

Judy rolled her eyes. "I would have thought that was obvious."

Lex shrugged. "He's not really the type. I might have put it out there, but he didn't have to take it up, and I hadn't really thought he would." It had been a distraction, for pity's sake. Just a distraction.

"Money opens a lot of doors that are otherwise closed," Judy reiterated his former statement to him with a saucy wink.

Lex quirked a grin that wasn't a grin, accepting without being happy about it. Then he thought about that wink and raised an eyebrow at Judy in invitation.

It took her a minute to get it and then she flushed. "No!" She pushed her chair back but then thought better of standing up and folded her arms across her chest instead. "How is it you haven't gotten any sexual harassment claims placed against you yet?"

Lex's laugh was on the same scale as his grin. "They like the diamond earrings better, as either trophies or what they can sell them for." He glanced out the door. "Leo's ears aren't pierced. I wonder what he'd like."

Judy unfolded her arms, though still with an attitude of defiance. "Try a belt buckle," she sardonically suggested.

That would actually be... Clark would hate it. Lex loved it. His grin changed to real amusement.

"Is all this just a joke for you?" Judy asked.

Lex's gaze went to her in surprise. "How did you even get this job?"

Judy flushed, this time with embarrassment. "I'm sorry, that was out of line."

With a shrug, Lex dismissed it. He'd been out of line long before she was. "When I come into companies, usually the admins they give me are the spies for the bosses, and they can't wait to climb into bed with me and find out everything I'm planning." He eyed the mousey blonde, who was pretty but didn't wear makeup or dress herself up for the prowl. She was mostly just competent in her job. "You're a friend of Ms. Oakhust's, and you're not liked by Mr. Mackerson."

Judy's color deepened. "I... wait, usually?" Her voice rose a quarter octave, "They usually cli---" she shut her mouth on the rest and ended up balanced between horror and disgust.

"It's a time-honored way to raise in the ranks," Lex said softly, gentling his statement. "I don't get sent to companies that aren't having troubles, one way or another."

"And this is... your way to flush it out?" Judy was looking more thoughtful.

Not typically, but Lex might have to do it again in the future. His impromptu statement and action was having better results than if he'd planned it. In the plant, that is. Lex wasn't sure what was up with Clark. He looked again at the door, feeling the memory of Clark's hand on his ass. Clark had never wanted it before.

With a couple more comments to Judy about business, Lex let himself retreat to his office. He tried to concentrate on the reports he'd been working on, but his mind wouldn't cooperate. What was Clark up to?

Clark, so open, so beguiling, so dishonest and hurtful.

Lex had been grateful for his life, but what really had brought Clark into his circle was the combination of mystery and acceptance. It would be a lie to say that Lex hadn't been intrigued by Clark's mysteries from the start – he had a crumpled Porsche in his garage still that was proof of that. Yet when Clark had liked him, had ignored the Luthor name and the Luthor money and had approached Lex as a person, listening to him talk and genuinely caring... that's when Lex had fallen. People didn't listen to Lex; they listened to the money, or the orders from above, or were just waiting for their turn to talk, but they didn't actually hear him and sympathize and ask for more.

Only fifteen and still too young, but Clark had been somebody who moved into Lex's heart and made a home there. Lex hadn't known how to react. There was his training and his instincts, and a mystery to search out – multiple mysteries within the Smallville town as well as with his friend. There was also what he was learning from Clark – how to be honest and open, to care, to not manipulate but to "do the right thing." And Lex had tried, he really had, for Clark.

The lessons, however, were marred by the deceit. The lessons, also, hadn't all been one-sided.

Clark lied. While teaching Lex to be open, he lied. He also disapproved of things Lex did, without actually telling Lex what was wrong. For the longest time, Lex had been bewildered by Clark's shrinking from anything meteor-related. When meteors were on the table, all of Clark's native goodness went right out the door. Lex had been knocked unconscious by his friend while trying to help him (security cameras showed it clearly, and Lex had the only copy), Lex had been lied to, Lex had been yelled at more times than he could count, and Lex's gifts were thrown back in his face.

After the lies, Clark would come back, waiting for Lex's apology. Lex often himself did have things to apologize for, he made no bones about that. Yet as time went on... Lex was always the one apologizing, and Clark never did.

Lex's friendship with Clark had always been built in need, and that friendship had turned to an obsessive love that he couldn't turn away from. Lex knew it, and had known he shouldn't go to that obsessive level even at the same time as he was building and expanding on secret rooms. Yet, he loved Clark still and couldn't stop.

Clark, though, didn't love Lex. Lex knew that. He'd always known it. Clark was straight, had girlfriend worries that kept him talking for hours, and he kept backing away from Lex. The more Clark got to know Lex, the less he wanted to be with him.

The final straw had come after Lex's stint in the asylum. He had come back with a gap in his memory but he still had his friend, he had thought. How wrong he had been.

There was a knock on the door. "Mr. Sarelli emailed over the reports you asked for."

Lex glanced at the corner of his computer and blinked in surprise at the time. He'd been sitting there wallowing in memories for forty minutes. That was a chunk of time that he couldn't afford. Clark was as bad for him now as he always had been.

"Thank you, Judy." Lex checked his email and opened the reports. His eyebrows raised up his forehead and he picked up the phone.

"Martin, it's Lex. About these reports. No? I see... On all the machines? Thank you." Lex hung up.

Well, that explained at least part of the rise in production a few years ago and also the drop now. Nothing to do at all with the kryptonite gas in the chillers, just basic stupid management techniques. Much like Lex's father. Lex sighed and dropped his head into his hands. All machines had had their preventive maintenance programs switched off and had been placed on a run-to-fail schedule. That run-to-fail was now at the end of the cycle and the machines were on the verge of failing. Not all of them, but enough that it was cutting into the production.

Mackerson was going to be a casualty. No doubt about it. The only question was whether to fire him now and bring somebody in while Lex was still here, or to let it ride while Lex finished his other investigation. Lex had enough to deal with. He would leave Mackerson until later.

This would, though, be a good opportunity to explore the rest of the plant without suspicion. Lex had Judy call both Martin and Tim into the office while they arranged for a day to shut down the entire plant for any sort of production and concentrate on repairs to all the machinery. Sooner would be better, yet they also had to get the additional repair personnel in and make sure their operations would be covered by the days lost. They settled on the upcoming Thursday and Friday so the repairs could continue through the weekend.

As the personnel left, Martin had a spring in his step as he likely was planning out new preventive maintenance schedules and thought about how many people he would be able to hire. Tim left with an outward smile that wasn't reaching his eyes. Lex had noticed several side looks during the meeting and a few frowns when Tim thought Lex was concentrating on Martin.

It was too bad, really. Tim was a good Plant Engineer and a good manager. He would have been a strong candidate for Plant Chief, if it wasn't for his side interest. There wasn't really anybody else in the plant with the same level of experience and competence. Lex would have to bring in outsiders to take over, and he hated having to do that.

Lex went back to work.

... ... ...

The restaurant was more of a bar. Lex sighed just a little, internally, as he walked in and looked around. Dance floor in the middle, bar stools all around, a few tables, not a lot of quiet. Many more men in the seats than women, though there were quite a few women on the dance floor and circling the grounds. This wasn't a business meeting, it was a prey stalking. The only real question was who was the prey in this case.

Lex sat next to Tim, deliberately placing his back towards the crowd. It wasn't the old gunslinger days; if he sat with his back to the wall, it would be a sign of either nervousness or a desire to scope out the crowd. Lex wanted to give the impression that he trusted them, though he didn't, and that he was here for business. It gave him the advantage. Supposedly. Lex didn't really think they particularly cared what he wanted. Normal business went to hell when mutants were involved.

They started off with the business, at least. There was enough control and enough illusion to mask their real purpose, and Lex managed to learn a little more about the plant facilities and about the people.

They would make their move afterwards. Lex was sure of this. Let them finish dinner, some drinks, and Lex would head out to his car and get killed on the way home. Tragic, but in no way their fault. Lex wondered just how stupid they were to believe his father wouldn't come and shut down the whole facility if that happened. It would be smarter to wait him out. Lex technically hadn't discovered anything yet, and from all surface appearances, he wouldn't if the stated purpose really had been his. Unstable mutants, however, were not often given to rational thought, and they were paranoid to boot. It had less to do with the actual mutations than the sudden emergence of powers and a god-like complex when they could do what others could not. Different mutants handled their powers in different ways, and absolute power was a bitch.

"Lex, want to dance?"

Hearing the voice over his shoulder, Lex groaned. Not out loud. But in his mind, he did. Speaking of god-like complexes… "Leo," Lex purred, leaning back into the hand that rested on his shoulder. "I didn't know you were going to be here." He smirked at Tim, implying that Tim had brought Leo here for him.

Tim quickly controlled his look of surprise and managed a return smirk that was only slightly spoiled by the anger imperfectly hidden under it.

"I was passing through and saw you here," Clark said, his hand drifting over Lex's shoulder and down the front of his shirt, his body edging close behind Lex. "Are you almost done?"

The look in Tim's eyes was almost murderous. "No, he's not done yet. Come back in an hour."

At which point, their 'business' would be done and Lex would already be gone, and dead, supposedly, but 'Leo' wouldn't know that. Or it would give the goons a nice convenient scape-goat to blame the death on, if they could rearrange their plans. Lex half-closed his eyes and waited to see what Clark would do.

Clark slipped his hand down further and caressed Lex's chest, running his fingers over Lex's nipple. Lex shivered, unable to help it. "He's done with you," Clark purred, and pulled Lex up out of his chair and towards him.

Lex went along. He went to the dance floor with Clark and they slid into the song. There were gasps from people around them, this not having originally been a gay bar. Both Lex and Clark ignored them, Clark with his large hands on Lex's hips, not letting him go as they moved to the music.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Lex asked, his eyes half-lidded as he watched Clark.

Clark's eyes were dark and his pupils wide. He licked his lips and leaned in close to Lex. "I do."

"Do you," Lex murmured, half a question without the inflection. He ran a hand of his own up Clark's chest. "Leo."

Clark gasped a little as he felt Lex's hand travel its path. He tilted his head down and kissed Lex's ear, whispering, "They're planning to kill you tonight!"

Ah, that was it. Lex sighed and moved a little back, turning with the music and letting the beat wash over him. Clark's rescue instincts coming to the fore. It wasn't about Lex at all, this was just the convenient excuse. "I know that." He barely moved his lips, sub vocalizing the words. "They weren't going to try until after I'd started home. Car accident. I've got it taken care of. Don't worry. You can go home with your honor intact, this was just a mistake." Lex hadn't actually meant to say the last part. It just slipped out with the bitterness.

Clark opened his mouth then closed it again with a sigh. He rearranged his hands on Lex, putting one possessively on Lex's back and drawing him in closer again. The other was cupped on Lex's ass, warm and fitting comfortably there. It didn't feel like somebody who was just there to rescue him.

The body fit into his. Strong, powerful, big. Farmer's body with muscles and strength and taller than Lex. There weren't a lot of people who were physically bigger than Lex, and none whom Lex had loved. Clark pulled Lex to him and held him, dancing through the slow song, protecting him from life.

Lex wasn't sure when Clark had turned to the gay side. But he ignored the voice in his head crying out that something wasn't right. For now, at least; Lex would listen to it later. Clark holding him was a dream he had put away a long time ago and hadn't thought would happen. It might be happening now for the wrong reasons, but Lex thought he might take it. It was improper of him, almost as wrong as his obsession in the past, but if Clark was offering, no matter why Clark was offering, Lex would take it.

He tilted his head back, looking into Clark's eyes. Clark met his steadily, a little fearfully, yet determined, and he kissed Lex.

Not a long kiss, not a deep one, but it was a kiss, a press of lips against lips with no flinching and an intent of more behind it. Lex swallowed as Clark moved away.

"I do know what I'm doing," Clark said in a normal voice volume.

"Be sure," Lex said, warning in his own. "Be very sure."

"I am," Clark kissed Lex again, then pulled him off the dance floor and outside.

As they passed by Tim and his confederates, huddled together in a tight knot of consternation, Lex waved briefly to them. "See you tomorrow, Tim. Thanks for dinner."

Clark laughed a little. "Yeah, tomorrow."

The look on the faces was priceless. They just didn't know what to do now that Lex was with Leo. Go through with their plans for a car accident and kill two, or wait until later.

Lex could appreciate the dilemma, even as Clark kept going.

At Lex's car, they stopped. Clark kissed Lex again, this time with tongue and putting his leg between Lex's. Lex rested against the metal of the car behind him and let himself be devoured. He didn't know where this was coming from, or why, but he wasn't going to stop it. Clark was kissing him. Clark was undressing him.

Just a little; the buttons on his shirt opened so Clark's mouth could get better access to Lex's neck. It was undressing, though, and they were in a parking lot. Lex fumbled for his keys without looking, his hand going into his pocket with little thought and less attention. Clark's lips were on his skin, his tongue licking along the curves, licking in that little hollow down under the jaw.

There was a hand at his waist, moving lower and in.

Lex groaned. He was going to die again, he knew it. But first, the keys. Lex got them out and tried to look at the car. The expanse of Clark before him was incredibly distracting.

Clark took the keys from him with one hand while continuing to pin Lex against the car with his body. He unlocked the driver's door but didn't open it. Instead he walked Lex sideways a couple of steps, moving him with his body, before he opened the back seat.

There was no objection from Lex. Not what he'd planned, in a parking lot with his employees roaming around the area, yet he hadn't planned this at all. Clark's tongue was back in his mouth and Clark's hand cupping his head tenderly and possessively. Clark guided Lex into the car without Lex ever seeing any of it. He ended up stretched out in the back with Clark looming over him.

For a brief period, Lex was left alone as Clark retreated to tend to the door. He stared at the ceiling in the car, the fuzzy cloth that wasn't quite a carpet but gave texture and color to the interior. What was Clark doing? Rescuing Lex by robbing him of his senses. Clark had never wanted this, yet Clark was instigating this, and Clark's body said he wanted it. Lex should probably check for red kryptonite or something, yet...

With the door closed, Clark returned to sprawling over Lex's body and there went the end of Lex's thoughts. He opened up his arms and welcomed Clark there.

Clark snuggled in, laying himself along Lex and reclaiming his mouth, his hands wandering over Lex's chest and sides, loosening Lex's shirt from his pants and going under to the skin. Lex lost himself in the sensations, twisting under Clark as he reached for one sense and then the other. He clung back at Clark, kissing the lush lips and nibbling them into redness, sucking all the tastes from Clark's mouth. Clark had last eaten hamburger, he'd last drunk coffee. Lex drank it all in and wanted more.

For once, Lex really wished he drove a full-size car. He wasn't driving the sports cars of his youth, but the back seat of his Lexus just wasn't big enough for an actively moving Clark. Lex was contorted into odd positions as they twisted around each other. Yet there was no higher bliss he'd ever experienced.

As they shifted onto their sides, trying not to roll off the seat, Lex put up his hand to steady himself. He felt it sliding along the car window, trailing through the steam that had built up there. At least people couldn't see through the windows anymore. Lex brought his hand down and stroked through Clark's hair. Rich, black, soft, the strands sliding smoothly through his fingers as he knew they always would.

The sound of a zipper going down was suddenly loud amidst the gasps and moans and skin slapping. Lex stilled the rest of his body in order to feel Clark's hand reaching in and stroking along his dick.

"Ah..." Lex arched his body, gasping out his sensation.

Clark stroked, his hand enveloping Lex in heat and tightness, his gaze intent on Lex's face.

Lex kept closing his eyes, then opening them again so he could see Clark. Clark's gaze never wavered, his own mouth slightly parted and desire there to match Lex's own.

Lex cried out. Then he slumped, boneless with the force of his pleasure, sliding partially off the seat before Clark shifted his grip and pulled Lex back.

Kisses were rained upon Lex's unresisting face, covering his cheeks, his eyes, his nose, his mouth even as he tried to breathe.

Then he was left with air as Clark raised up above him, a hand braced on the roof of the car, a knee on the floor, the other leg straddled over Lex as he pumped himself while staring at Lex.

"Lex," Clark groaned. "Lex, Lex... oh, Lex!"

White spurted out, landing between the folds of Lex's shirt and his bare chest, spattering him in a way Lex couldn't help but think reinforced Clark's claim on him. It was inevitable, it was frightening, it was natural, it was alien.

Lex closed his eyes as Clark settled down on top of him, Clark murmuring words in an exhausted slurred blur that Lex couldn't recognize. He sounded happy and possessive, protective as he pulled Lex into his arms. Lex kept his eyes shut as his breathing settled and his mind started to work again.

"Well, as far as ways to rescue me, I admit I prefer it over another concussion."

Clark opened his eyes and glared at Lex.

"No, really. Artificial rescues are even better."

"They were going to kill you!" Clark moved slightly away, resting his weight on his arms, and slipping a leg down to the car floor.

Lex shrugged as much as he could, crammed in the back seat with a giant on top of him. "Comes with the territory. They wouldn't have succeeded, they're amateurs."

Clark sat up, or tried to, squirming around as he realized he couldn't actually do that without squishing Lex. "Lex! Why do you have to make this so hard?"

With a snort, Lex stretched his arms out over his head. The pleasure was leaving his body, though the relaxed feeling remained. "You can drive me home now."

"What?"

"You have my car keys, you can drive me back. Then, if they try and drive the car off the road, you'll know who's responsible."

Clark stared at Lex for a long moment, trapped in his awkward position. "Lex..." He sounded betrayed, like he'd thought a quick fuck would have fixed everything between them and he was astounded that it hadn't.

Lex looked calmly back, not giving an inch.

"I..."

"Did you really think this would solve anything?" Lex asked slowly, trying to figure out what Clark was thinking. "You might want to rescue me, but you still don't believe me or trust me. What will I get next? An accusation that I've put Chloe in danger?"

"You did!" Clark tried to scramble away, constrained by the car. He ended up sitting on the edge of the seat, with Lex's legs sprawled behind him.

"I was performing research that wasn't safe. There were four locked doors, including a combination code on a biohazard portal. Only authorized personnel could get through the doors, and only I had the combination code. Yet somehow, you and Chloe ended up inside the research room just in time for it to blow up. I never did find out what caused it to blow up – forensics were undetermined. I will take the possible blame for putting myself in danger from an untested, illegal research project to retrieve lost memories. Putting yourself and Chloe in danger, though... there is no humanly possible way you two could have gotten in there, so I refuse to take that blame." Lex glared, the unfairness of it all as clear in his memory as if it had been yesterday. He'd tried so hard to make sure he was the only one who would be hurt, and still, people he'd cared about had been sent to the hospital. He was lucky Chloe hadn't died.

His fault. Not his fault. Lex growled a little, remembering it. "I might have apologized to you at the time, if I had been given a chance, just like I did for all things that weren't my fault in the three years preceding it, but I refuse to do it now. You were not asked to come and rescue me now. It was your choice, and the results are on your hands."

Clark opened and closed his mouth a few times, looking more and more hurt as he did it. Finally, he turned away and reached for the door handle.

"You might want to climb over the seats," Lex mentioned snidely, having a pretty good idea as to what was outside. The steam was starting to dissipate from the windows, though it was still fairly thick.

Ignoring Lex, Clark opened the door. After a second, he slammed it closed again.

Lex snickered. He might now have a reputation he would never ever get rid of in this town for as long as he lived, but it was all worth it for the look of horror and realization on Clark's face at this moment. The cheering and jeers from outside the car could clearly be heard from within.

Clark glared at Lex, then scrambled awkwardly into the front seat, zipping up his pants as he did so. Lex's car seats would never be the same again. May not quite require a trip to the mechanic, but the car had definitely never been made for giants crawling around in them.

There was a metal wrenching sound from the passenger seat as Clark accidentally bent it back, and Lex winced a little.

With a bit more fumbling, Clark was able to adjust the driver's seat and he started the car.

Lex didn't bother sitting up, nor did he arrange his clothing, however he did glance to the windows. People could be seen faintly outside the car, but the remaining steam made them blurry. The front windshield was probably clearer.

The car drove forward. Lex didn't hear the windshield wipers, so Clark either could see okay without them, or he was using his x-ray vision. Lex hadn't yet admitted to knowing about that, had he? He didn't think so. That last experiment that had blown up might have put Lex in the hospital, but it had restored his memory. The hurt of Lex's lost friendship with Clark had been even stronger when he had known what else he had lost. He had left Smallville the day he got out of the hospital and never went back.

"Lex?" Clark sounded annoyed, his voice tight and tense.

Lex realized that he'd missed a question somewhere in his ruminations. He reviewed his memory, however even though he had the lost memories there, he didn't have what he hadn't heard originally. "Sorry, I was sleeping. What did you ask?"

There was a little creak from the front seat, probably Clark gripping the steering wheel. Lex's poor car. "Where are you staying? The Hyatt?"

Given his father's tendencies, and his own history at the time Clark had known him, Lex figured that wasn't an unreasonable assumption. It still annoyed him. He rattled out an address while he stared at the carpeted ceiling.

There was a noticeable pause from the front seat.

With a sigh, Lex sat up, settling himself into the seat and looking to see what road they were on now. "Go left on Wayfinder Drive." He tucked himself back into his clothes, straightening out without making it a production.

He continued to give Clark directions until they arrived at his townhome unit.

The car stopped, and Lex got out. After a minute, Clark did too.

Silently, Lex held out his hand. "My keys?" he prompted after Clark looked blank.

"Oh, right." Clark hesitated again, then put the keys into Lex's hand.

There was a moment where Lex wondered if Clark was going to take Lex's hand, his fingers resting closer to the skin than just handing them over would have been. Lex hastily grabbed the keys and dropped his hand before that could happen.

"Thank you for a delightful evening," Lex said politely as he turned to the walkway. "If you desire, I can call a cab for you."

"Lex..." Clark's voice still sounded broken.

For a moment, Lex felt sorry for him. It was a good thing his back was already turned. "You want the cab?"

"No. No, I... Never mind."

In his mind, Lex could almost see the large shoulders droop. He started up the steps. "Goodnight, Leo. I'll see you at the plant tomorrow."

Lex opened his door, stepped inside, and closed it, ignoring everything that was outside. He was home at his temporary home. That was enough. For now, all he wanted and needed was a shower.

Clark stared as Lex walked up the stairs and through the door, leaving Clark behind. He didn't know what he'd expected.

Hell, he didn't actually know what he had done. All Clark had planned to do was to get Lex out of that dinner meeting. He'd used the Leo excuse to get close to Lex, to whisper his warning, but once he'd kissed Lex, once Lex had kissed him back, Clark just couldn't stop.

If Lex had said no, Clark could have stopped, but Lex hadn't. Lex had kissed him back and there had been tongue and bodies and pressing and warmth and Clark just hadn't been able to help himself for all the rest of it. He'd just wanted more and more.

He still wanted more. As he stood outside in the night air, watching lights flicker on inside the townhome, Clark's hands curled up inside themselves as he tried to keep himself from breaking in and going to Lex. He wanted to kiss Lex again. He wanted to do it on a bed and lay Lex out where he could watch him without breaking anything, where nobody would be watching them.

With a sigh, Clark forced himself to turn and walk away. When he was sure he wasn't being followed or observed, he speeded up and ran until he reached the apartment.

"Oh, so, there's the Lothario of the hour," Lois' sarcastic voice greeted him as Clark walked in.

"Huh?" Clark said intelligently.

Lois rolled her eyes. "You were just going to warn Little Luthor about the plot, not make out with him in the front parking lot!"

Clark's mouth dropped open. "You heard about that?" he squeaked.

"Heard about it? I've got pictures and videos that people have been sending me for the last hour!" Lois held up her cell phone.

"Pictures?" Clark thought he was going to faint.

Lois scrolled through her phone. "This one is nice." She held it up to show Clark pinning Lex against the car, their bodies pressed together, Clark's tongue licking the side of Lex's neck. "Then there's this one." A picture of Clark contorted inside the car, looking down at somebody beneath him, no details, but it was obvious what they were doing. "This one is really my favorite, though." A hand on the car window, slipping through the steam.

Clark gulped, his palms dry, his heart racing, his pants too tight. He wanted... oh God, what he really wanted was to go back and do it all over again. He didn't even care that it was all public now, seeing those photos was just inflaming him again and he wanted Lex. He wanted Lex so badly.

"Smallville!"

Clark shook his head and refocused his attention on Lois. She looked both irritated and worried.

"Lord, Smallville, you have it bad, don't you? Men." She shrugged. "Well, it's one way to get a story, though I wouldn't have thought it of you. Now, is there a story? I take it no deaths took place."

"No," not unless one counted the little death. "I warned him and he said he already knew and it wouldn't be a problem, that they were amateurs and he could take care of it."

Lois rolled her eyes. "Men," she said for the second time, this time with a different emphasis on it. "Always thinking they're invulnerable. Well, it looks like you managed to thwart this attempt, though not quite like how Superman would have. A rescue is a rescue, though."

Clark cringed.

"Now I just have to figure out what Leo Brown's girlfriend is supposed to think about this." Lois snorted, and started flipping through the pictures on the phone again. "I guess it depends on how much monetary recompense you're getting for this."

Clark winced.

"Ah, well, I'll think of something." Lois put the phone away. "In amongst the rumors of you and Lex necking at the Crested House, which turned out to be a lot less than rumors, I also picked up a lot more information about the plant. Clark, I don't think your Tim is as good and upright as you say he is."

Heading to the couch, Clark sat down, not without another wince as he caught sight of the cum stains on his shirt. "Because of his association with the thugs?" Clark asked. He'd been wondering a bit about that himself. Out of all people for Lex to be having dinner with... Tim Matthews as the Plant Engineer made sense, the other two less so.

"That's a note out of place, but the real things were what people were telling me about his control of everything happening. Tim likes to keep an iron fist over the plant and everybody who works there, no matter who is technically in charge. He has a temper and it's getting worse. His girlfriend has been seen with heavy concealer on her face and walking with the occasional limp.

"More specifically, Lex isn't the first person to have come in and messed with the plant – he's just the only one to still be here. There have been three mysterious disappearances in the last year from investigators going to the plant."

"Why didn't we find them in the first place?" Clark knew they'd done their research. He'd poured through tons of records himself, looking for anything out of place, and Lois had done more.

"They didn't disappear here. They disappeared at their homes, or at another company, or somewhere along the way, but never directly here. I'm still working on that angle. Some of the disappearances at the plant can be tracked back to him."

"We didn't find anything like that originally."

"No, because it's not in the business lines, it's in the personal connections. When people who know people who know who Tim had gone off with that night... He's talked about, but in hushed whispers. I got warned off when I talked about complaining to him about you."

"You were going to complain about me to my upper management boss?" Clark's voice involuntarily rose in pitch.

Lois gave him a disgusted look. "Oh, give it a rest, Smallville. This isn't your real job. And if you're running around fucking the corporate sponsors of the Daily Planet, I really don't want to know it!"

"I'm not!" Clark protested, blushing. "Okay, so Tim's not so clean. Want me to find out more at the plant?"

Lois shook her head. "I think you better keep your nose clean at the plant. Concentrate on Lex, since you're obviously there now. You've got way too much attention on you now for anything more subtle." She paused, "But if you can find where they're producing that kryptonite gas..."

Clark was relieved to have at least some news he could legitimately tell Lois. "There is going to be a plant closure on Thursday. Lex has ordered a full maintenance review of the machinery and so all the regular workers are getting the day off. Friday too."

"At full pay?" Lois raised her eyebrows. "I wonder how much that's going to cost. Well, that's what having the Luthor Kid in to work on the plant can do. Throw money at the situation."

"I think it might actually help – the conveyor belt breaks down a lot. If it can get fixed, we'd do better."

"Clark, this isn't your real job."

"I know that!" Clark sighed. Could he help it if he liked to do good work, no matter where he was? His father wouldn't have wanted him to slack off, even if it wasn't real. "It doesn't matter. What matters is that people aren't going to be working that day."

"And we can get in and investigate." Lois nodded. "Okay, I like it. I'll request that day off from the shop. They should give it to me – I've been taking on other shifts, and they'll know I want to spend the time with you." She narrowed her eyes, "Try and see if you can get something tangible out of Little Luthor – they'll understand it better if we can show that."

Clark hated the nickname that Lois had given to Lex, but he couldn't quite figure out how to object to it now when he never had before. They regularly wrote articles against Luthor and investigated his projects. Lex didn't come on the reporting radar much, and he was generally dismissed when he did. Society news, rather than business. Clark was regretting letting it all slide now. He wished he'd followed Lex closer. He'd meant to, when he first got into reporting, yet the longer Lex stayed away, the less important it had seemed. Now, though...

"I'm going to..." Clark gestured at himself as he stood and edged towards his room.

"Oh, thank you so much for reminding me." Lois rolled her eyes. Then she grinned. "Check your email after your shower – I'll send you the photos."

That was just what Clark needed. Not. Clark bit his lip and then escaped to his room.

Before he left, Clark hesitated, and turned back towards Lois. "Lois, if you and I were... somewhere we weren't supposed to be in the middle of an investigation, and the place blew up... would you blame the owner?"

Lois blinked. "For the ... oh." Her expression changed. "Chloe."

Clark turned his head away. "Yeah." Lex's last words were haunting him. He had to admit that at the least, he and Chloe weren't were they were supposed to be, and they had gone through a lot of security to get there.

With a sigh, Lois gave Clark as honest an answer as she could. Clark recognized the signs for when she was trying to be straight with him. "I've heard it a few times from both of you, and I did check into it myself just to see. Lex Luthor was undoubtedly doing something illegal and illicit, however... I think he would have been the only victim if you two hadn't been investigating. The timing was horrible. He was definitely at fault for bad safety and for kludging together something against any proper regulation. Whether he was at fault for Chloe's injuries..." Lois shrugged. "The problem is, I don't know anything else about Lex. He's kept a very low profile for the last eight years.

"If it had been Lionel Luthor, and you and I had gone out to check out something he was doing... yes, I'd blame him most definitely. Luthor is almost what could be called evil in how he works. He conducts experiments on people, he tromps on his employees and associates without consideration, and he coerces people into doing things they don't want to do. His projects would be his fault, and our investigation would be legitimate, so therefore the injuries would be his fault.

"If, however, we had been checking out something Mitt Najaji had been working on... it would probably be our fault, or at least, I wouldn't blame him as I would blame Lionel. Mitt's projects are illegal and he uses dubious methods and he's slightly insane so they don't work, but he doesn't usually involve anybody else, and he goes to great lengths afterwards to try and make up for what he's done. It doesn't make him a good person, but it doesn't make him a villain."

Lois shrugged. "From what I've heard of what Lex was doing... I don't think he was trying to experiment on anybody but himself. That you two were caught in the explosion and Chloe was injured was unfortunate, but... it was just one of those things that happen. She's my cousin and I love her and I'd love for somebody to be able to fix her and make her the bouncy enthusiastic coz I knew, however, I don't know if that person exists anymore. I don't know if Lex was the one responsible, or if it was just bad luck all around. He was hurt too, though he recovered better."

"He always does," Clark said softly, remembering the time Lex had shoved Lana into the horse stall, causing Lana's injuries, and yet Lex had been poisoned by his father and wasn't himself so it was hard to blame him directly. Clark blamed himself more for leaving Lana with him. But Lex had recovered from the poisoning. Sort of. The pursuit for his memories was what got Chloe hurt. If it hadn't been for Lionel originally, though...

It was hard to give up the hate. Clark had blamed Lex for so long, every time he saw Chloe's limp, the way her mouth wouldn't smile anymore. It might also have been guilt, that Clark had been unharmed because of his alien heritage, yet unable to save Chloe. He hadn't been able to save Lex either. Either then, or back on the original poison and what had happened after. To this day, Clark still had nightmares of Lex strapped down unconscious with his father looming over him.

Clark went off to get his shower. He really needed it, for more than to just get clean.

He took a quick shower, trying not to think about other things as he did so. He had other things to do, and wasn't his libido satisfied yet? Clark blushed and resolutely pushed his mind away from the subject. After he was done, instead of going back to help Lois, Clark slipped into his Superman outfit and sneaked out the window, zooming faster than any cameras could possibly pick up. He'd had to refine his sneaking methods as technology got better, and speed alone was no longer a guarantee of not being seen in high tech areas. Here, though, he knew it was safe enough.

Clark flew to Metropolis and did a quick patrol. He stopped a few muggings, helped a couple of accident scenes. It was a fairly quiet night. He flew up to the top of the Globe and glumly stared across to the Luthor Towers.

Luthor was the main problem in their lives. Ever since Smallville, when he'd first come barreling into Lex's life and upsetting the easy relationship they'd have. Or sooner, actually, if one went back to the corn factory. Or Clark's adoption. Or... Clark could go on forever. But where Lionel had really become the villain for Clark was when he'd poisoned Lex. Turned Lex insane and put him into the asylum and then shocked him. Clark had lost his friend that day. Lex had never been the same.

Lex had always been obsessive, a little neurotic, and overly focused on finding out Clark's secrets. Despite, that, though, Clark had always liked Lex. He couldn't help liking Lex, like Lex was his other half and they needed each other. They both connected in a way that nobody else did, and Lex listened as nobody else ever had. Well, Clark's parents, but there were some things a teenager just didn't talk to his parents about. Lex always listened to everything Clark had to say.

More than just listening, Lex also learned. Lex had been curious and wanted to know more about Clark. Not the big things, like the secrets, but the everyday things like what did he like to read, why did he prefer bright colors, what games Clark wanted to learn. In the beginning, it was flattering and Clark felt like for the first time he had somebody who saw him as himself.

Clark missed Lex. Clark'd been the one to cut off their friendship, and it had been going wrong even before the final accident, but Clark missed him.

"Why did you always have to be investigating?" Clark muttered into the cold air. Lex's obsessive research, his curiosity over the meteor rocks, the way he just kept going towards Clark's secrets and wouldn't back off. And that final accident.

Yet, Clark perhaps shouldn't have been there. Nor should Chloe have been. Clark couldn't say Lex was wrong in that. Even if the explosion had been Lex's fault.

Clark dropped his head in his hands and groaned. He didn't know. He just didn't know.

"Lex, you've made a fool of us!"

Clark lifted his head and looked around. Nothing. Nothing except the Luthor Tower directly across from him.

"Lex, how dare you! This is not the sort of publicity LuthorCorp needs!"

Clark almost slipped off his perch as he heard Lionel ranting as he hadn't heard him do since Lex had left Smallville. Wildly, he looked around. Then across the way, he saw Lionel on the balcony of his penthouse, talking on the phone. Apparently Clark's super-hearing had kicked in without him noticing.

"Gee, Dad, you weren't this angry six months ago," Lex's drawling voice came through the phone, sardonic and mellow in contrast to his father's bluster.

Clark focused his hearing in order not to miss a word. He also felt an unfamiliar knot of... something – jealousy? – as he wondered what had happened six months ago.

"That was a starlet! That sort of publicity is expected and good for business. A nobody in the middle of nowhere, however, is to be strictly avoided."

Lex laughed harshly. "The biggest difference is one you can't even say. Come-on, Dad, admit it. It was a guy who was fucking me. That's what really gets you, despite the fact that I've been going out with them since I was thirteen. You hate it when I'm with a guy, because you can't seduce them. No, make that won't seduce them. Every single woman I've ever been with, you have to show me that they're all not loyal or true by dint of getting them in bed with you too. However the guys... you've never touched a guy and you hate the thought of it. When I was young, you had Dominic do the dirty work, but you were careless and lost him in... where was it again? Cincinnati? Central City? Three years without somebody to use as your surrogate – it must be driving you crazy."

"That's not true, Lex," Lionel said tightly.

It occurred to Clark to wonder why Lionel had let Lex get through that whole long diatribe without interrupting – it wasn't like Lionel.

Lionel turned and looked at the Globe. "And you shouldn't say such lies where somebody else can hear them."

Oh shit.

On the other end of the line, Lex snorted. "It's a secured line, Dad, and it's the truth. Who cares?"

"Superman might." Lionel narrowed his gaze. "He's listening right now."

Clark cursed silently in Kryptonese. It had taken a lot of work to get those particular words out of the A.I., but he felt better cursing in a language nobody else knew, even if he didn't say it out loud. With a sigh, Clark flew off the Globe and headed to the balcony window.

Before he got there however, Lex apparently decided not to just be a silent witness.

"Superman?" Lex purred in an instant switch of tone of voice.

Clark had never heard that voice from him, yet upon hearing it he was both turned on and instantly wary. It was a very sexy voice. Lex hadn't sounded like that while they were having sex. Actually, Lex hadn't said anything while they were having sex. Clark remembered calling out Lex's name. He didn't remember hearing the same from Lex.

"I've never met Superman. Tell me, Superman, is your dick as super as the rest of you?"

Clark blinked.

"I've heard you're super fast as well. Tell me, is that speed controllable? Can you speed just your... hand... and not the rest of you? Can you vibrate quickly while standing in place?"

Lionel pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it. Clark was staring too.

"All those women you've rescued, swooning in your arms. Tell me, Superman, had they swooned from the danger... or from a well placed finger as you were rescuing them?"

Clark blinked again and opened his mouth then closed it again.

"Alexander Joseph Luthor!" Lionel bellowed. "That is enough!"

Clark had never really been thankful for Lionel before. Clearing his throat, he flew the rest of the way to the balcony and pretended to ignore what Lex had been saying.

"Luthor," Clark greeted Lionel as he hovered fifteen feet away, crossing his arms over his chest. The ring Lionel wore was a deterrent from approaching any closer.

It occurred to Clark that Lex didn't wear a ring. Lex didn't keep any kryptonite on him at all. He had let Clark get close to him, very very close.

Clark forced his mind away from that thought quickly, before the heat could rise to his skin and produce an un-Superman-like blush.

"Superman," Lionel returned the nod and also ignored what Lex had said. "I had no idea you were so interested in my son."

"I'm not," Clark replied. "You, however, I watch. And you're slipping, Luthor, to be holding private conversations on your balcony."

"Perhaps what I had to say was nothing I wouldn't say in public," Lionel sneered at Clark, not giving an inch.

"And has said in public before," Lex sighed on the other side of the phone. "Do you mind speaking up a little, Superman? I can barely hear you, and you've got a wonderful sexy voice."

Lionel gritted his teeth. "Superman, even if you take me down, with your illegal campaign against me, know that I have a son ready to follow in my footsteps."

"Seems to me you've been following in mine," Lex put in, sounding bored. "Except for the guys. Left-overs any good?"

Lionel's hand on the phone tightened.

Clark cleared his throat. "A child is more than a biological result. There are choices and paths that decisions can go by. You yourself did not have to follow your parents' route. They beat you and abused you almost daily, teaching you pain rather than love. When you left, you could have just left, making a new life for yourself that did not follow their pain. Instead, you killed them. You deliberately took their lives and not just for revenge. You could have turned from what they taught you, and you did not. You took to the life of crime and hate without looking back, spreading your hatred amongst others and ruining innocent lives as you went on."

Clark had planned on saving that bit of history for some other time, perhaps an editorial in the Planet or something, but with Lex on the other line and Lionel spewing his evil, Clark found himself trying to reach out as he had so many years before, when they'd all believed in something besides the Luthor name.

"I have never beaten my son," Lionel hissed at Clark, his eyes boiling anger. "And what you say is lies. Rumors that have been spread because of the unfortunate method of my parents' death, yet completely unfounded, untrue. I can sue you for slander."

Clark shrugged. Superman was pretty much beyond those things, though Clark generally tried very hard not to get placed in that situation in the first place.

"Everybody has a choice," Clark reiterated. "Your son is not your possession, and neither are the citizens of Metropolis."

"As interesting as this might be," Lex broke into the staring match Lionel and Superman were having. "I have real work to do. Nice to hear your voice, Superman – anytime you want to give a super-fuck, come on by."

The click of the line disconnecting was clearly heard.

Lionel paused for a moment, then turned off the phone and sighed. "Children." He returned his attention to Clark. "Believe me, Superman, he does follow in my footsteps and if you were hoping to eliminate me, there is worse to come."

Clark knew a shiver of fear through his body. When he was young, he'd never believed Lex was anything like his father. But Lex investigated, Lex researched, Lex lied, Lex manipulated. Being good was something Lex had to work at. Without motivation to be good, what was there for Lex? Clark didn't know. He'd stopped paying attention to Lex years ago, though he'd never stopped fearing him. Even the night earlier didn't completely wipe that trained response. Sex was not trust, as Lex himself pointed out.

Lionel, however, was right here and right now. Clark knew his evil-doing and had faced him many times over the years since Superman had come out. So far, Lionel had never recognized Clark, but Superman was an avowed enemy.

Crossing his arms again, Clark stared at Lionel. "What are you up to now, Luthor?"

Lionel smiled and turned and went back inside the penthouse, closing the balcony door behind him. Instantly, the kryptonite shielding made itself felt, the door connection running the electricity through the line and making Clark shiver.

With a shake of his head, Clark flew away. He went up into the clouds, then scanned the city. He found a few people that needed his attention and flew to rescue them. There was nothing obvious about any particular LuthorCorp building. Nothing yet.

Lex hung up the phone and sighed. He hated talking to his father at any time and this time was no exception. Add Clark and his alter ego into the mix, and it just became full of potential disaster. Lex's father was an ass, and Clark was a stuck-up righteous bastard.

The bit about his dad with the girlfriends was real enough – Lex hadn't known Superman was listening at that point. It had always bugged him through the years that his dad would fuck the girls but not the guys. Okay, it bugged him worse that his dad would do it in the first place. The people Lex really liked, he didn't sleep with. It was always a problem.

Dominic had been happy to step in where his father would not go. Dominic had even taken it to a level that Lex's father would not have approved of, if he had known. Lex had never told his dad, supposedly out of pride. Really, though, it was because he didn't want to find out if his dad really did approve. There were some things that Lex just did not want to know.

There were other things, though, Lex did want to know. He grinned as he wondered if Clark really could have super-sex, and what it might be like. There had been no evidence of it in their episode tonight; the sex was strictly normal human, if very lustful and eager human. Lex had had encounters much like that before. That actress from a few months back. Of course, in that case, the car had been carefully staged as both of them enjoyed a bit of exhibitionism, and Lex had wanted something to distract people's attention from what else he was doing.

This time, Lex wasn't entirely sure what had happened. He had gone along with it, because it was Clark and it was something he wanted. If Clark was kissing him, Lex would respond, that was a given.

Clark, though. What was it about Clark that he could distrust Lex and still have sex with him? What was it that suddenly made Clark want Lex?

For the first time in years, Lex wanted a drink. He got a glass of water instead, but it wasn't the same. Clark just had that effect on him.

All those years ago, Lex thought he had been good... however looking back, Lex knew he hadn't. He had pressed his attention too much on Clark, made his attraction obvious even as he thought he'd been hiding it. He had liked Clark as a friend – the friendship would always have been placed before the physical attraction – but Lex had thought he was safe in fantasies. He thought he'd been safe in having secret rooms.

He'd forgotten that money did not necessarily buy security. Security could only be paid for, others could buy higher. Anything he kept secret was never secret. Not against his father, not against his friend.

First times. The first time Lex had kissed Clark was tonight. The first time their lips had touched was eleven years ago. Eleven years, three years, eight years. Lex wondered if there was anything mystical in the numbers. Was there a lotto he could buy with 11-3-8? What would be the next number?

Lex put his drink down and walked across the family room. He kept himself from pacing through careful practice. Don't look crazy, don't ever look crazy. There couldn't be anything obsessive or intense or strange about anything Lex did now. All of that had to be carefully tucked inside and never let out. Don't build secret rooms, don't hover around farmboys, don't pay scientists to do illegal research.

Well, maybe not that last. That last wasn't insane, not at least insane by clinical standards. As his father did research, so too did Lex. Cleaning up his father's messes was not all there was to Lex's life. That his father was hinting about it now to Superman was unsettling.

With a sigh, Lex reflected that at the very least, all the other things he had to worry about kept him from envisioning and imagining Clark naked and doing obscene things to Lex. Perhaps with a vibrating dick.

Lex laughed at himself and walked to his desk. If he wasn't going to get to sleep anytime soon, he might as well work on factory reorganizations.

Clark went into work the next day only a bit blurry-eyed. He'd ended up spending most of the night in Metropolis, searching for whatever it was that Luthor had been hinting about. He'd found nothing, of course. That whole call, though perhaps not to Luthor's script, had been designed to direct Superman's attention towards Lex. Why? Why Lex, why now?

It was probably as simple as the fact that Lois and Clark were here investigating LuthorCorp and Lex was here too. Though they were here in disguise, it was easy for somebody of Luthor's resources to find out where they actually were, and he was probably not happy about them being there. If Lionel could distract them with wondering what evil deeds Lex was up to, they may not find what they'd originally come here to look for. Which Lex had implied that it was why he was there too, so Clark wasn't sure how Lionel thought it would distract them. It was speculation anyhow; they'd never been able to figure out how Luthor thought, and he kept eluding them. They could publish investigative stories of company doings, but they'd never been able to directly pin anything on Lionel himself.

Clark warned Lois about Lionel over breakfast, citing sources in Metropolis that had emailed him. Lois shrugged and said she'd heard the same, which made Clark stare. Sometimes he wondered about Lois' sources.

As a distraction against Clark thinking about other things, it had worked very well at the apartment. Now that Clark was stepping into the factory, though, he was very aware that somewhere close, Lex was also here. He tried not to but eventually he used his x-ray vision to look in the direction of Lex's office. Lex, of course, was working.

Lex worked hard. Clark could remember years of walking into the mansion to interrupt Lex at work. He had rarely walked in when Lex wasn't working. Well, unless there was a woman around. Clark blushed as he remembered some of those times. Victoria had, by Lex's account, been both work and pleasure, and Lex focused just as intently on both.

Clark did not want to be thinking about that right now. He was getting the cold shoulder from all his co-workers, and he had to try and remember to react appropriately if they tried anything physical. Luckily, he wasn't in the Clark Kent persona right now, so he didn't have to be a coward. He did, however, have to remember to flinch if a blow hit – and to duck away enough that they didn't break their hands. Nobody tried it, though. At least not while they were working.

"Break!" The supervisor called and the conveyor belt stopped.

Clark stripped off his gloves and glanced around. The others avoided his gaze, but at least they didn't look like they were going to attack him for sleeping with the boss.

Girding up his loins, Clark wandered across the factory floor to the office section. He walked the carpeted halls in his steel toed boots with dust and grime over him. The further in he went, the more out-of-place he was.

Nobody stopped him.

"Hi Judy," Clark said as he got to the main offices.

Judy looked at him and blushed.

Clark had a very hard time not blushing in response. To cover, he went quickly past her to Lex's door. He x-rayed to make sure there was nobody inside, and then he knocked and went in.

Lex didn't look up from his computer. In the days before, Lex had always looked up as soon as Clark walked in. Now, Clark was sure that Lex recognized him just the same, by whatever clues Lex used to figure things out, yet Lex wouldn't give him that instant recognition anymore.

That was okay. It gave Clark the opportunity to watch Lex for a few minutes until he was deemed worthy of the attention. A few minutes to rest his gaze on the familiar bald head, smooth skin, delicate eyelashes, strong mouth always slightly turned down. The body that was so lean and yet so strong. There were muscles under there that Clark knew, and yet Lex hid them. He'd hidden them before, and that hadn't changed now.

The years had been kind to Lex. He was nearly thirty... or was he past thirty? Clark was twenty-five, so Lex was thirty-one. He didn't look that old, though. He looked like Clark's memories, except that there was no smile, no grin, no welcome in those eyes for Clark.

Lex looked up from the computer, his blue-grey eyes stern and measuring, not giving Clark an inch. "Leo. I presume you're on break?"

"Yes," Clark answered. He walked to Lex's desk and leaned in. It was like he was being pulled into a gravity well, there was so little thought about what he was doing. He kissed Lex over the desk, half expecting a slap in return.

Instead, he was kissed back, lips moving over his own, teeth nibbling at his lower lip. Clark moaned through the kiss and reached to hold skin closer to him. He needed Lex.

Lex moved away.

With the desk between them, Clark was forced to let Lex go. He could have gone through the desk, but that probably wasn't a good idea.

"Lex," Clark whispered, his gaze now looking for any marks on Lex's fair skin that he might have left the night before. There were none. Clark didn't know what to think of the sharp disappointment that flashed through him at the discovery. He hadn't wanted to mark his partners in the past. Yet, in this case... he wanted the world to know Lex was his. The pictures weren't enough.

"Leo," Lex said again, calmly. He turned his back to Clark and rummaged in his briefcase. He came up with something in his hand... a rope? He handed it to Clark. "For you."

Clark unrolled the belt and laughed. It was horrible. The belt was of the finest leather such that Clark couldn't even figure out how much it must have cost. The buckle... the buckle was obnoxious. Bright, bold, large. Cowboys had nothing on this buckle.

"Lois will be happy," Clark remarked as he unbuckled his own belt to put the new one on.

Lex looked disconcerted for a moment before he nodded. "Monetary gain. Why she's still with you. Of course. What is her name?"

Clark parsed through the meaning. "Um, Sally. Sally Lindan. She works at the mall."

Lex nodded. Clark was sure that Lex would not slip up if he met Sally here in town. He also was pretty darn sure that Lex had already known that information and that question had been a rebuke to Clark.

There were already too many identities that Clark kept track of. He knew very well how to keep secrets and play roles. He almost knew that better than he knew himself. All that was stripped away when he was near Lex and Clark didn't want to put them back on.

However, speaking of roles, Lex's gaze was back to its normal shaded expression and Clark wondered what had disconcerted him earlier. Then he realized that Lex had expected Clark to be offended by the belt. Clark quirked a grin at himself for it. If Lex was giving the belt to Clark, Clark might well have been annoyed. This belt, though, was for Leo, and the role they were playing. How convenient for them.

"Let me," Lex breathed and reached for Clark's hands.

Clark hadn't been paying attention and was distracted for a moment, holding still while Lex's hands enveloped his and took the belt from him. Clark had unbuckled his own belt, but hadn't yet slipped it out. Now, Lex did that. His body a foot away, the air between them hot and conveying every move. Lex put the new belt behind him on the desk while he slipped Clark's original belt from between the loops.

Carefully and slowly, the belt came out. An inch, a few inches, a hand brushing over the jeans loop to help guide it through. Nimble fingers, pale against the dark brown leather, hovering so close that Clark's body wanted more.

Then the belt was out and carelessly dropped upon the ground. Lex didn't look away as he picked up the new one again. Shiny black leather, wider than the other, a richer look, still smelling faintly of new leather, wrapped in Lex's hands, his fingers twined between the coils, deftly unrolling it, caressing it as he did so.

Sense memories jolted Clark back to the farm, in the loft, with Lex removing his leather driving gloves. One time, another time, a third... the memories flashed through his mind along with the smell of the leather and the focus on Lex's fingers, slipping through the gloves and being revealed. Nimble, clever fingers. Back then, Clark had never known what Lex's hands could do. Clark wanted those hands now.

Fingers at his waist, putting the end of the belt through the first loop, other hand reaching back to pull it, and on to the next. Lex stepped closer as his hands went behind Clark's back for the loops there.

Without hands to watch, Clark's gaze went to Lex's face to see him watching Clark intensely. There was an avid, hungry look in those blue eyes, and an attitude of the hell with it. Clark licked his lips as he felt Lex's hands at the small of his back and felt the bare inches between their bodies.

A second, maybe two or three. Lex's lips were right there, slightly parted. His tongue could be seen inside. It would be so easy to lean in and capture them again. Clark's gaze focused in on the little scar on Lex's upper lip. He remembered that, he thought. It hadn't seemed to hold quite the same attention when he'd been younger. Now it was like a landing pad, guiding him in.

One kiss. Two. A third, and then Lex was stepping back.

Clark growled in frustration, but Lex ignored him, buckling the belt and brushing his hand over the buckle without going any further down.

"Lex," Clark didn't care how needy he might sound. He ached. He physically needed Lex and it was hurting him to see the distance between them increase. Up to this point, Clark had been letting Lex take the lead -- the first physical lead Lex had made yet between them. But now, he just wanted.

Stepping forward, Clark pinned Lex against his desk, bringing his hands up to Lex's shoulders. Lex felt so malleable in his hands, yielding flesh and hard bones. Clark lowered his head to taste Lex's neck. He tasted like clean skin, no sweat, just the barest hint of cologne. He licked his way down the muscles of the neck from ear to front and enjoyed the way Lex tilted his head to the other side, making it easier for Clark.

There hadn't been a mark from the night before. Clark wanted one now. He pushed his leg between Lex's, pressing against the hardness there and he heard Lex's gasp. Reaching a hand, Clark held the back of Lex's head, securing him as Clark started sucking on the base of his neck. He nipped the skin a little between his sucking and licked the spot before going back to it.

"Clark," Lex whispered, his arms holding him to Clark while the rest of him settled onto the desk.

There was a thrill of hearing his own name on Lex's lips at this moment that couldn't compare to anything else Clark had ever known. Satisfaction, joy, glee, a something so right that it almost made him black out without having come anywhere close to completion. Clark growled in his throat and bit down a little harder. It was easy to see where vampire stories came from, he wanted so badly to just take Lex's throat and leave his mark.

When Clark did come up for air, finally, there was a nice large purple bruise on the base of Lex's neck, and an equally satisfactory glaze over the blue eyes.

Clark went in for another kiss, this time paying special attention to the small scar and memorizing it by taste and feel as well as by sight.

This time, when he came up again, Lex pushed him away.

Clark resisted for a long moment, then when it penetrated his mind that it was real, he stepped back. He kept, however, his hands on Lex's arms.

Lex looked at him for a long moment, desire and reluctance chasing each other through his eyes. Then he turned away, breaking Clark's hold as he moved around the desk, putting it between them.

"Your break ends in three minutes," Lex said, the tiniest of quivers in his voice.

"We'll only need two," Clark said, somewhat facetiously, though he did actually want Lex to say yes.

It brought the desired smile to Lex's face, his expression softening. He still, though, shook his head.

There was a long pause while neither spoke nor moved. Lex's eyes drifted down the full length of Clark and then up again, a hauntingly familiar sight that Clark had never appreciated when he was young. He clenched his fist as a distraction to keep himself from jumping Lex again. Lex was right, this wasn't the time, but Lord, Clark wanted to.

Lex shook his head against some sort of internal debate, and he looked away from Clark. "One thing I am curious about, though…"

A little coil of dread writhed in Clark's stomach. Was Lex going to ask how he got home? How he'd found out about the murder plot? Something Clark couldn't answer? It was as familiar a feeling as the sight of Lex's gaze, and infinitely less welcome.

With a little sigh that was all internal thoughts and had nothing to do with Clark, as Lex hadn't looked back at him during the pause, Lex continued, "Did my grandparents really beat my dad?" He turned further from Clark, walking to the window and gazing through the blinds. "My dad never hit me. Not once. Even when he was at his angriest. He would sometimes strike things, throwing statues or pots to the floor. I probably picked up my own tendencies from that. But he never once touched me, or Mom, and we were never worried that he might. You could see it in his face, that he wouldn't do that, even at the worst times."

Clark wanted to answer, to say something, but he was frozen. Lex was asking about something Superman had said, yet it was Clark standing here, not Superman. He couldn't. He didn't. This was a coincidence? How would Clark respond, if he hadn't known about the Superman conversation?

The coil of fear had become a snake, striking at Clark's nerves and his heart, paralyzing him and preventing breath from moving through his lungs, blood through his veins, hope in his soul.

Lex turned around, starting to say something else. He caught sight of Clark's face and his own changed. From, if not an openness, then at least approachability, to disbelief and progressing directly to anger.

"Oh, you will NOT," Lex said furiously, his voice quiet, the anger coiling under it just like the fear in Clark's belly.

"Not again. You will not do this to me again. Do not dare. If you thought that my father was your enemy, just wait until you see what I will do, if you do this. I will not be my father's heir, he will be lost in the dust of my name and none will remember him. They will only know Luthor, enemy of Superman." Lex's eyes glittered with hard lights, though he didn't move from his stance.

Clark opened his mouth, not quite sure what he would say. His fear was truly visceral now, almost all-consuming, seeing Lex's anger and knowing he was the target.

"Don't," Lex said quietly. "Don't say anything. You only damn yourself if you say anything but the truth. Damn you. Damn you to hell. I left Smallville and Metropolis so I wouldn't ever have to hear your lies again, and I refuse to let this chance encounter subject me to it again. Never ever again, Clark."

With a gulp, Clark closed his mouth. He felt fifteen again, or maybe seventeen and on the verge of losing his best friend. This time, though, it wasn't Clark who was leaving in the fit of righteous rage. Clark tried to summon some of that old anger up, to remember the room again and Lex's investigations and everything Lex had done that was so wrong. None of it, though, stood up against the fear and Lex's fury.

"Do you remember the last time we met, Clark? Do you remember it?"

The last time Clark had seen Lex, Lex was in the hospital room, unconscious, the doctors saying he would be okay, and Clark turning around to instead go back to Chloe's room where she was still in critical condition. Lex had been transferred to Metropolis and never returned.

The last time they had seen each other while both were conscious, the building had been in flames, explosions going off, Clark was crouched over Chloe, Lex pulling electrodes off his head as he stared at them in shock, coming towards them. Then the machine Lex had been in blew up behind him.

"Lex," Clark whispered. He had gotten both Chloe and Lex to the hospital, but it had been close for both. If Lex hadn't been experimenting with meteor fluid, trying to get his memory back...

"It worked," Lex hissed. "That last experiment that you objected to so much? It worked. I woke up remembering every single thing my father had taken away from me. I also got back memories I hadn't known I'd missed." He paused for a moment, before quirking his mouth slightly in what wasn't really a real smile, "I could have done without remembering the nights I'd drunk myself to blackouts. On the other hand, for the first time, I knew exactly what had happened to my little brother."

Lex turned and walked across the far end of the room, keeping his distance from Clark, while Clark stood there, stunned. Of all things Clark had worried about... he had never once thought about Lex getting his memories back.

"I got all my memories back, including the ones you didn't want me to have." Lex reached out and touched the side of one of the bookshelves, running his hand along the polished wood. "I also received some memories that weren't mine. Some of Chloe's."

Clark caught his breath.

"Some of yours." Lex turned around and looked straight at Clark. "I know, Clark. I know, and don't you dare try and tell me I don't. I won't take that, Clark. Not ever again."

The fear inside of him boiled up and over, burning flames robbing Clark of anything but reaction.

He ran.

There one moment, gone the next. The door slammed, crashing back, wind pulling papers through the office. If Lex hadn't already known what Clark was, this demonstration wouldn't have hidden it.

Lex watched the papers flutter downward and he barked out a laugh. It was so predictable. Clark would fuck him, but he wouldn't trust him. Not at all. Be your best friend, but lie to you at every turn.

There was an urgent knock at the door. "Are you okay, Mr. Luthor?"

Lex hated his last name. He strode quickly to the other side of the door without opening it, and reached out and knocked a book off the shelf. "Fine. Just..." he gasped loudly, "fine."

There was a pause outside and Lex quickly unbuckled his belt, letting the ends hang out, un-tucking his shirt and pulling it askew. He made sure that the mark Clark had left on his collarbone was fully visible. He held his breath, sucking in air and keeping it in as the pressure built up.

"I'm sorry, sir, but—" There was a rattle of the doorknob as Lex held onto the other end of it, keeping her from just walking in.

Lex continued to hold his breath, then let it out in a gasp, turning to one edge and letting the door swing slightly open. He wedged himself into the opening, sideways, his shirt falling off his shoulder, his face red, his breath struggling to catch more oxygen.

"Oh..." Judy's gaze took in Lex's condition, hovering on the mark on his collarbone.

"I'm, fine," Lex gasped out. His eyes darted to inside the room. "Stop that," he huffed, then turned his attention back to Judy. He smiled. "Thanks for checking. Please clear—" He jerked a little, yelping. "Knock it off!" Then he shook his head, and pulled back into the room. "Clear my schedule for the rest of this afternoon."

"Yes sir." The door closed on her voice.

Lex threw himself backwards to thump loudly against the door. Then he locked it. He moved over and scraped his fingers over the wall. "Leo," he cried.

It hurt. To see the light in Judy's eyes die. She had liked him, joked with him, respected him. Even though she had known Lex was involved with Leo, had seen the photos from the night before, she still hadn't quite believed it was as depraved as this. Sex in the office in the middle of the day, throwing off all responsibilities, taking advantage of a factory worker for something sordid. The respect was now gone, disappointment taking its place.

Lex had seen that light die in others before, and regretted it each time. Sometimes, he deserved it, bringing it upon himself. This time may not be as honestly gotten as the others, yet he lost all the same.

With a sigh, Lex knocked over another book or two, then desolately walked to his desk. He stared at it for a moment, then threw out a hand and swept everything off in a wide swath. He sat on the top of the desk and swung his legs. Damn Clark anyhow.

He remembered watching Clark holding Chloe and then feeling pain as shock rolled through his head. A memory of another shock through his head as his dad looked on, a leather band between his teeth, a metal bar around his head.

He remembered Clark staring at him, a crumpled metal car around his body, the same fear across his face that Lex had seen in this office a few minutes ago. He remembered Clark running.

He remembered Clark pulling the bars away from him, a smile on his face and determination in his eyes as he came to rescue Lex.

Lex sighed. He would never be able to hurt Clark. He might strike out verbally, knowing just where to wound, but as far as anything more... Clark wasn't the only one who knew how to run. Lex wondered if Australia would be far enough this time.

Except most of his operations were in North America, and so was his father. Lex's true goal wasn't against Superman, it was against his father. He'd been playing double-agent for eight years now, and the game was almost time for a new turn. Superman was a distraction to that goal.

Lex leaned back across his desk and stared at the ceiling.

Years ago, apparently his father's main goal in life was to destroy his parents. He succeeded, and just kept going from there. What were Lex's plans after he brought down his father?

Lex wasn't quite sure. He supposed he would have to think about it. After he took care of his father.

There was a spot on the ceiling, next to where the fire sprinkler poked through the tiles. It stained the pristine white to a muddy grey, shaped in an amorphous blob next to the solid metal of the sprinkler. Lex hoped it didn't mean the fire sprinklers were broken too. If they hadn't been doing maintenance on the fire systems, if the place had a fire, they were all screwed.

Lex thought about calling or emailing somebody to check on it, but he couldn't yet. He and Clark were supposed to be having sex.

With a sigh, Lex contemplated not having sex. It wasn't very fun.

He mentally poked at a couple of the memories that weren't his. They didn't seem to be "lost" memories, just random ones. He remembered Chloe's ninth birthday party, the other children gathered around as they ate cake and opened presents. He remembered Clark being tossed up in the air by his father, both of them laughing in delight. Clark's horror as he saw the car coming straight towards him, eyes locking with the driver inside before the car hit him.

Lex closed his eyes. He had hit Clark full on that day. Thank goodness Clark was an alien from another planet, or Clark would be dead. They both would be dead. Which, honestly, Lex would prefer, if Clark had died. If Clark had died and Lex had lived... Lex couldn't imagine a world without Clark. Superman was something that Lex could take or leave, but a world without Clark... that was something that wouldn't be worth living in. Even if Lex had avoided Clark for eight years.

He'd never wanted to see that look in Clark's eyes again. Hear the lies, watch Clark shift his gaze away, feel their friendship slipping away. Lex couldn't go through that again. Not ever again. Except that now he was repeating it all over again. It hurt as much this time as it had before. At least this time Lex knew what was going on. Could he blame Clark for running when he knew? Maybe not, but there were also the kisses.

Before, he'd had friendship, and lost it. Now, he had sex and would lose that as well. All in all, Lex would rather have the friendship. He always had. The sex was what he would take if it was offered, but he doubted if even that would be available after this.

If Lex hadn't stopped Clark at the belt, they could be having sex right now. Postponing this moment, because it would have happened sooner or later anyhow. It was inevitable, when Clark didn't trust Lex.

With a shake of his head, Lex sat up and got off the desk. If he couldn't do any legitimate work at the factory, he might as well work on his other projects. His cohorts at the other project wouldn't know that Lex was supposed to be having desktop sex right now.

A day later, Lex walked onto the busy factory floor and watched with satisfaction as repairmen swarmed all over the equipment. They were methodically going through each and every piece, cataloging problems, failures, and the very rare parts in good shape. By the time they were finished at a very late working hour this night, he would know exactly what needed to be fixed, what needed to be replaced, and what could hold on for awhile longer. Martin was overjoyed, supervising the workers with a barely constrained delight.

Tomorrow would be for repairing what they could. Lex would put the other things they needed on order and schedule another repair day in a month.

There was a pause in work at one end of the building that, while minor, caught Lex's attention as something abnormal. He strode quickly over, dodging around the work areas.

He got there just in time to see Lois and Clark starting to back out of the building. Lex laughed.

They stopped and turned to him. Lex shook his head. "Giving all the regular employees the day off, Leo, didn't mean that the factory would be empty. It's a maintenance repair day... that means we're doing maintenance."

A flush was creeping up Lois' face as she traded her glares between Lex and Clark.

Lex held his hand out to her, dropping his voice and putting on as much charm as he had. "It's a very great pleasure to meet you, miss."

Involuntarily, Lois returned his hand clasp and the meaning behind her blush changed as Lex turned her hand in his and brought it up to his lips. Beside her, Clark shifted his weight, looking uncomfortable.

Lex grinned at Clark, still with Lois' hand in his. "No fucking your girlfriend in my office today, sorry. Maybe tomorrow or the next day."

Within the instant, Lois had yanked her hand out of his, and Lex prepared himself for the slap.

When it came, however, it was Clark's head rocking to one side as the sound echoed through the factory, louder than all the machinery noise. Clark's hand quickly went up to his face to hide the fact that there was no red mark there, his eyes wide in shock.

Lex had to assume that Clark being slapped wasn't exactly an uncommon event; Clark had reacted so quickly and managed not to hurt Lois either. He smirked at Clark, giving a bow to Lois.

With a huff, Lois turned and strode out, swaying her hips as she went. Lex was sure she didn't normally walk like that, but apparently Sally did.

"What," Lex asked sardonically, "the belt wasn't enough?"

Clark flushed just as red as Lois had been.

"Right," Lex said, turning around. "Come on."

He wasn't sure if Clark would actually follow him or not, but when he paused for a moment to sign a form, Clark was, in fact, still there, shadowing silently.

None of the maintenance people they passed said a word, though Tim glared when he saw them. "I'll be back in a few minutes," Lex told Tim as they walked by.

After enough people had seen it in disarray the day before, Lex had cleaned up the office. It was the same as Clark had entered on any other day. Lex only imagined he remembered the non-sex on the desk.

He really hadn't been sure that Clark would come back, however there was still the investigation the reporters were working on. That was probably a more powerful draw than the desire to avoid Lex. Lex had been the one to run away before. He couldn't leave the plant, though, until his work was done. So they were stuck dealing with each other awhile longer.

"The maintenance will be ongoing through tonight, and probably through a great deal of tomorrow. The weekend, though, should be completely empty." Lex offered it with the voice of surety, though inside he was tentative.

"Normally there's somebody in on the weekends," Clark muttered, his head lowered in timid-reporter fashion, not out-going Leo manner. Clark hadn't been very timid the last few days. It was an interesting change to watch.

Lex shrugged. "We reserved four days for repairs, however I'm pretty sure that we'll need to order more parts than we have on hand. We'll run out before Saturday."

"Then... why did you schedule four days?"

Lex just looked at him.

Clark sighed. "Lex, I'm sorry." The timidity dropped away and Clark's shoulders straightened.

That was unexpected. Lex walked to his desk and sat down while he thought about it.

"Not accepted," he finally said.

"Um, what?" Clark blinked.

"I don't accept your apology," Lex repeated. "As hard as I'm sure it was for you to say the words – and I do acknowledge that it could not have been easy for you – it was much harder for me to live through it. It will be awhile, if ever, before I forgive you for it." This was, though, a step along that direction.

Clark wilted a little. "I know. I shouldn't ever have left you. I was just so scared. It doesn't make it right, it just means I've never been as brave as people said I was. How could I be when I've always been invulnerable? It's not as if I could be hurt, so why did I have to be brave?"

Fair was fair. "You've lost your powers more than once. You never stopped being brave."

Clark flipped his hand in the air, dismissing that argument. Lex smiled sadly, knowing that part would never change. Clark always thought less of himself than others did. It was, actually, reassuring to know that it hadn't changed over the years. Clark was still Clark, no matter what other names he wore.

"I have to admit," Lex said, "I half expected not to remember any of this. Again. If that had been in your arsenal, I presume it would have happened."

Wincing, Clark sat down in the guest chair. "I can. It's... I won't. Not unless it will save somebody's life."

Lex felt his eyebrows raising. "What about your own life?"

Using his hand again, Clark waffled on that one. Lex decided that it meant it depended on the situation and the person. He supposed he should be flattered that Clark didn't apparently think Lex would kill him.

"You won't," Clark said, exhibiting a heretofore unrevealed power of reading minds. "If you haven't done anything to me since... you won't." He swallowed. "I'm still scared, I admit it. But logic... I should have trusted you back then." His voice dropped, "You don't wear a ring."

Resisting the impulse to glance at his fingers, Lex sat back and studied Clark. He was still terrified, yet he was here. "Did you stay up the whole night?"

"Yeah," Clark's smile was a little wobbly. "Went back to Smallville and flew around the castle a lot."

The castle had never really been a home, and yet it was more of one than Lex had ever had before or since. What did that say about him, still wandering after all these years? The one thing the castle had, though, was a lot of memories of Clark.

"What have they done with it?" Lex asked, curious.

"Nothing," Clark shrugged. "It's still just sitting there, gathering dust. Like it had been before you moved in."

Lex idly wondered if he could make the castle into a home, like it hadn't been before. He could have a study, a laboratory, a computer center. He would still be too close to his father. Lex wasn't sure anymore about Clark. He didn't, at least, feel the need to stay a thousand miles away from him, though that could change still, as unsure as he was about anything about Clark. It was a very familiar feeling.

About his father, though, Lex was very sure. He wasn't going to risk a meeting with him until he was ready to bring him down. Regaining his memories meant that he now had, in vivid 3D, the memory of his father bending over him, uttering loving words while giving the order to send a thousand volts through Lex's body. Lex hated his father, hated him so much.

"You're not completely innocent in everything," Clark remarked, studying the carpet intently.

Ah, a spark of life. Lex quirked his lips. He liked this better than a completely groveling Clark; at the least, he believed it more. "No, I'm not. Nor have I ever been. Want to try and make me ask for forgiveness?"

Looking up again, Clark barked a laugh. "No. I think I know where that would be placed if I tried."

Lex grinned a devil's grin.

"I think I'll wait until you've accepted mine, and then I'll ask for yours." Clark turned serious. "I will need it, eventually. You've— I've hurt you, badly. I accept that. Yet it doesn't make all you've done right."

Starting with an investigation into Clark's family and extending onto a room of more secrets than Clark's. And those were only the ones that Clark knew of. Yes, Lex was not blameless. It had, however, been many years since he had needed Clark's approval so badly that he would beg him for forgiveness for anything, including the things that Lex had not done.

"Ask again at that point, and we'll see," Lex finally said. He didn't know if he could ever truly forgive Clark. It hurt, still. However it hurt less than it had in the past.

They stared at each other for a minute as they evaluated each others' answers and offers. Lex knew that Clark was still running through all of his inner turmoil from the day before and he was willing to let him have the time.

Finally, Lex glanced at the clock and stood up. "I have to get back." He came around the desk and waited for Clark to stand.

Clark did so and they stood for a moment with their bodies close together. Then with a lopsided grin, Clark leaned in and kissed Lex.

Lex blinked and didn't move until Clark had stepped back. He hadn't expected that. Not with all they still had between them. Yes, the sexual tension was part of that, however, "Clark, do you know what you're doing?"

"No," Clark admitted. "I'm doing it anyhow." He put a hand between Lex's shoulder blades and urged him in for another long kiss.

Lex thought that he really should have more willpower, but he didn't want to.

"Any closer to forgiving me?" Clark whispered against Lex's lips.

Lex snorted. "No." With a swallow, he smoothed his shirt and dodged Clark's next reach to go through the door and back to work.

"What sort of an idiot tells the person they work with that the place will be empty, when it is actually full of people!" Lois fumed.

Clark winced. He deserved it. However.. he'd gotten another kiss. That was worth it, wasn't it? Clark still wanted to run, yet he wanted Lex. The conflict was tearing him apart.

"Are you even listening to me?"

Somehow, Clark didn't think, "no" would be an appropriate answer. He forced his mind off Lex and told Lois about Lex's maintenance schedule. That wasn't getting his mind off Lex very well.

"Lex says so." Lois tapped a stylus against the wall as she stood in the dining room with her eyes narrowed. "Do you trust him?"

How was Clark supposed to answer that? Clark didn't know himself. He should, he thought. Logic said that if Lex hadn't hurt him by now, knowing all that he did... but logic had failed Clark before. People didn't go by logic, they went by emotions and reflexes and he'd hurt Lex bad. But Lex had hurt others, and not just Chloe. Or had he? There had been Clark's mom in the hold-up, but... Clark pushed it all firmly away and concentrated on the current issue.

"I think Lex wants to explore too. I think he set this up so he'd have an opportunity." Lex hadn't said so, but Clark really didn't think the whole thing was staged for their benefit alone.

"There were rumors of a Yeti monster at the Alaskan town he was at last week."

Clark blinked at the segue.

"Nobody's seen it since he left."

"Lois..."

"I'm just saying," Lois twirled the stylus as if it was an old gun that needed cooling before holstering. "Strange things. Not at every factory or company he's been to, but... nearby. And then the strange things stop when he leaves."

"He's a Ghostbuster?" Clark joked weakly. Lex knew about kryptonite, and mutants, and he experimented with them. If Lois hadn't been in the room, Clark would have been out in an instant, flying circles around Metropolis again. Or maybe the whole Earth.

"We'll go," Lois decided. She pulled out her Palm and finally put the stylus to use writing on it. "I don't know what's going to happen, but I want to be there when it does."

Of course she did. Clark got a glass of milk and drank it down. He tried to remind himself that Lex didn't wear a ring, but it was hard.

On Saturday, Clark and Lois tried it again. This time, they checked the parking lot behind the factory first. No cars were there, so they proceeded in. The factory was dark and quiet. Even the machines that would normally be humming in stand-by mode in the background were shut down and quiet.

"Flashlights or building lights?" Clark questioned. It often depended on where they were as to which they used. Flashlights moving sometimes caught the outside eye more clearly than a steady office light. Flashlights also often missed things they needed to see. Building lights, however, were obvious as hell. They were normal, though, and sometimes overlooked because they were on so many other days.

"Lights," Lois decided after evaluating the situation.

With a nod, Clark flipped the switches. They stood tense for a minute, then relaxed as nothing happened.

In his time working at the factory, Clark had managed to go through most of the office areas in both break times and after hours. He had found some interesting things there, but nothing too incriminating, at least not for what they were looking for.

For this tour, Clark and Lois concentrated on trying to find the illegal machinery that had to be there. The illegal refrigerant had to get inside the chillers somehow, and there was nothing in the everyday workings that showed signs of doing it.

They prowled around for an hour without finding anything.

"Damn it," Lois said. "I know there has to be something here!"

"And so there is." A smooth voice behind them inserted in. "It's simply a matter of finding it."

Lois and Clark both jumped. They turned to see Lex, but a very different Lex than they were used to seeing.

The smirk was the same. So was the way he held himself, superior and relaxed, mocking them.

Lex wasn't, however, wearing his normal suit over his business casual clothes. No colors at all. All shades of black and grey, with floppy cargo pants and a puffy jacket with pockets all over it. The clothes were practical and not form-fitting, making him look 20 pounds heavier. What really grabbed Clark's attention though was the baseball cap he was wearing.

After they both gaped at him for a moment, Lois frowned. "Doesn't that itch?" She pointed at the cap.

"It's lined," Lex replied shortly. "Have you found it yet?"

"It?" Lois asked archly, "What is it? Is there something to be found?"

Lex's mouth quirked. "Why Level Three, of course." His eyes met Clark's. "There's always a Level Three."

Lois looked blank but Clark smiled. "Not yet. I was wondering if there were any blueprints of the building." He'd already x-rayed through most of the structure and couldn't find anything different, yet he also didn't trust his x-ray to pick everything up. Lionel knew Superman, and Clark couldn't count on finding hidden rooms in plain view anymore.

"Blueprints have all been altered," Lex replied briefly. "You won't see anything on them that's not here. On the other hand..." He pulled out a stone from one of the pockets on his jacket and then let it drop, dangling off a cord he held in his left hand.

"What's that?" Lois regarded it with both suspicion and curiosity.

"Dowsing stone." Lex laughed.

However, the stone was moving, swinging gently. Though that could have been from the drop.

"Come on," Lex said, eyeing the stone but obviously not satisfied. He strode off, walking the parameter of the factory.

Clark watched him for a long moment. Lex had also done something to his stride, not even a hint of a sway but direct and forward. If Clark didn't know it was Lex, he wouldn't necessarily have picked him out at a first glance. Lex had never been into hiding who he was when Clark had known him. This didn't so much seem like hiding, though, as... Clark didn't know. It wasn't just a disguise, though that's how it served.

"Coming?" Lois had also hung back, yet now tugged at Clark's arm to pull him along in Lex's wake.

Lex didn't look around, his attention on the dangling stone.

As they walked through the factory, the stone would move gently from side to side but it was hard to tell whether it was the movement of their walking or something the stone was doing. After that first exchange, both Clark and Lois were quiet, watching Lex, more interested in what he was doing than actively searching themselves. There was a palpable air of anticipation and curiosity coming from Lois, and Clark was sure he wasn't much better. He really hadn't expected Lex to join them, despite Lex's earlier hints and his own thoughts that Lex had staged the shutdown.

Didn't Lex know what was going on? He was here investigating, but at his father's request... It was the Smallville Fertilizer Factory all over again, now that Lex had brought it up. Lex's father, sending Lex off into things with little or no information and expecting Lex to deal with them on his own. However, it seemed that Lex had his own agenda. Also, this time it was obvious that Lex didn't trust his father, which was, if not precisely different than before, at least a reassuring thing. It still didn't explain what Lex was up to.

They moved past a corridor to the chemical rooms and the stone jerked left and stayed at a twenty-degree angle off the cord.

"Whoa," Lois breathed.

Clark had to agree. He hadn't expected that.

Lex glanced at the stone and ignored the humans. He walked about half-way down the corridor when the stone rotated and instead of angling into the hallway, it now angled towards the wall. It was at a ninety-degree angle and when Lex got closer, it flew out and clunked onto the wall with a faint 'clunk'.

"Humm," Lex said. He plucked off the stone and returned it to a case that he put in his pocket.

Lois eyed the case greedily, "So, what is that?"

"About six years ago," Lex started running his hands over the wall, "my father ordered a set of door coverings to be made out of lead. He also ordered more wall insulations made with lead shot, but I was interested in the doors."

Six years ago was when Superman had started flying in the sky. Well, six and a half, but it apparently had taken Lionel some time to figure out how to counteract some of Superman's abilities. Clark flipped into x-ray vision and scanned the wall. He technically couldn't see anything... but there was a very obvious rectangular nothing now that he knew where to look.

"Lead isn't magnetic, not like that," Lois spoke archly.

Lex found a depression on the side of the wall a little lower than his waist, and pressed it. There was a click but then nothing. Lex moved his hand up a foot and pressed in a second spot, then reached over another foot to the left and pressed a third time. This time, a section of the wall moved in and then over.

With a satisfied air, Lex dusted off his hands. "I got wind of what my father had been planning with the lead and... persuaded... a technician to add certain elements to the mix while they were casting the doors. As long as there's a lead covering from that mix, and I am close enough, I can find it."

Clark and Lois looked at each other with identical "did he just admit to doing something illegal" expressions. However, the wording was vague enough, and Lex did work for his father, so it may not have technically been illegal. Shady and underhanded, yes, but since it was against Lionel Luthor, they really couldn't object. Particularly with what they were doing right now.

"Nice," Lois finally said. "Can I have a sample of the rock?"

Lex laughed and didn't answer. He entered the dark chamber which turned out to be an unlit elevator as Clark and Lois followed. This really was reminding Clark a lot of the early Smallville days and Level Three. From what Lex had said, this was apparently standard for Lionel... yet how much had Lex done to know this was standard? Clark didn't really think that Lex was working for Lionel, yet there still remained a little bit of doubt as to what exactly Lex was doing.

With the aid of a small wrist light, Lex pressed the lower elevator button, then quickly pressed the top one, then the lower one again.

When Lois made an inquiring noise, Lex shrugged, a movement barely seen as the doors closed. "Turning off the security alarm. Providing that the code is similar to Father's other facilities. He really is quite unimaginative, for all his ambition."

Clark made a choking sound at the audacity of the statement, and Lois' ears perked up. "Can I quote you on that?"

It couldn't be seen in the dark, but Lex's shark grin was heard in his voice as he answered, "Why not? Out of context, I presume, but it will still give Father fits to read."

Under her breath, Lois mumbled Lex's words again, memorizing them for the newspaper. Both she and Clark had excellent recall, but when there wasn't writing paper or recording devices, it was best to make absolutely sure the wording was as accurate as could be. Lois had her Palm with her, but now probably wasn't the best time to pull it out.

The doors opened, revealing a dimly lit laboratory. It looked, in fact, very much like the mixing facility upstairs, yet this one was obviously not part of the regular factory.

Clark swayed, feeling a bit faint. He couldn't see it, but he could feel it pressing in upon him. There was kryptonite within the room.

This really sucked. Clark hated pretending to be sick for one reason or another while letting Lois do most of the investigative work, exposing her to the hazards while he cowered in a corner. Lionel's facilities didn't always have kryptonite, but when they did, Clark was screwed.

Pausing just inside the room, Lex looked at Clark with concern. He handed a slim metal gun that he'd been holding over to Lois with quiet instructions, "Watch the room." Lex must have pulled the gun out while they were in the dark elevator.

Lois took it and gave more of her attention to it than to the room. "What sort of a gun is this?"

Lex was unzipping and taking off his jacket. "Stun gun. Don't hesitate to use it, and keep your attention on the room. Illegal operations don't keep standard working hours."

"I thought you sent them on a wild goose chase," Lois remarked but obediently returned to watching the room. Clark thought that Lex would have a bit of a fight to get the gun back again.

There wasn't anybody else in the room, at least not that Clark could hear, and his hearing was still unaffected by the kryptonite as yet. Clark's attention was distracted, though, by what was under Lex's jacket. It seemed that most of the extra bulk was in the form of a kevlar vest. Lex was taking the vest off, and under it, he wasn't wearing anything but a very tight olive tank-top.

Clark's salivary glands were working overtime. If it hadn't been for the situation they were in, and Lois right there, jumping Lex seemed like a very good idea. Hell with the situation.

Clark was reaching for Lex when Lex shoved the vest into his hands.

"Here. Put this on."

Clark blinked. "Lex..." A bullet-proof vest wasn't exactly something he needed. He'd much rather Lex keep it. He tried to give it back.

Lex side-stepped the attempt and leaned in close to Clark's ear. "It's got lead woven throughout. It won't be full protection, but it covers the vital organs of your body and should help."

Clark blinked. Then blinked again. "You should keep it," he protested. The kryptonite wasn't that strong, and Lex without protection worried him. Never mind that he didn't know Lex had had it until now.

With a growl, Lex leaned in again, "I can heal, and I really don't think they're here. Now put it on." He bit Clark's ear for emphasis.

Beyond an instantly raging hard-on and a visceral need to throw Lex down on the floor right then and have his way with him, Clark was also stunned into obedience. He put the vest on.

It was a bit of a tight fit, but Lex fiddled with straps at the sides and adjusted it for Clark's extra mass. The lead, surprisingly, helped. As soon as the vest was over his body, Clark could feel the underlying pain and weakness easing up. Not completely gone, but he could easily function like this.

Clark captured Lex's hands as Lex finished and brought them to his mouth. "Thank you," he whispered as he kissed each finger.

"We're in the middle of something," Lex rumbled. Yet he didn't pull his hands away.

Lois cleared her throat. "If you two are done..."

Reluctantly, Clark let go of Lex. It was hard to keep his mind on business when there was a nearly naked Lex standing next to him. Well, tank-top clad Lex, showing every defined muscle and...

Lex put the jacket back on.

Clark sighed in disappointment, though he was also slightly relieved. A minute more and it would have been to heck with Lois' presence and their job. It occurred to him to wonder how heavy the vest he was wearing was. Kevlar was heavy. X-ray technician aprons were heavy – and also unwieldy. Experimentally Clark moved a bit and didn't see too much problem with the flexibility. Whatever Lex had done to the vest, it certainly wasn't anything standard. Still, though, it was probably heavy. A reason for all those muscles Lex had just covered.

Lex held a hand out to Lois for the gun but she didn't give it back.

"This isn't military or service grade," Lois said. "It's not a taser, it doesn't have electrical leads. What is it and where did you get it and how many people have it?"

"I made it," Lex said quietly, "and only me and mine have them. No, I'm not ready to go anywhere near public with them yet, especially since I currently still work for my father. It's also still in field testing. It works on a similar principle to the tasers, disrupting the nervous system of a body, so it's not completely safe, however it's better than a bullet. I'll give you the exclusive when I am ready to release. Now give it back."

Lois gave it a last longing look and then handed the gun over, keeping her grip on it as she asked, "Promise?"

"Exclusive. I promise," Lex assured her and then he finally had his gun back.

They prowled around the room first together, then separately when it was verified that nobody was there but them. Lois was taking pictures and notes and muttering to herself about bringing Jimmy on the next assignment – Lois could take pictures, but somehow they never came out quite as clear and showing just what they needed to as when Jimmy did it. Clark avoided the gas tubes and mixing areas and instead watched Lex. Lex was frowning.

"What's wrong, Lex?" Clark finally asked after the umpteenth round of circling through the room with the look getting blacker and blacker.

"This is where the refrigerant is refined and made before being placed into the systems produced above, yes. However, it's not where the kryptonite is stored." Lex said glumly, flicking a beaker with a finger and making it ring. "There is nothing here at all that contains base or liquid kryptonite. Only the residues from where it has been mixed in with the original refrigerants to make up the new working fluids within the chillers."

"Kryptonite?" Lois questioned.

Lex gave her a slightly disgusted look. "If you were here investigating the Jitters and mutations with some other hypothesis in mind, Ms. Lane, please let me know what it was."

Lois shrugged. "It was worth a try."

"I'm not an idiot," Lex said tightly.

"Nobody knows all that much about you," Lois pointed out. "You've been very careful to keep out of the public's eye, until now. One has to wonder just why you're here now at all, with a pair of reporters who are watching your every move."

The look Lex turned on Clark was heated and Clark tugged at his collar, but Lex turned the look away before any damage was done, like Clark jumping Lex in front of his partner.

"I didn't have much choice in the matter," Lex said instead, "with you and your partner here before me. I won't delay my investigation to wait you out, and it made more sense to combine instead of work separately."

"Uh huh," Lois nodded sagely, her eyes darting between the two of them accompanied by an elegantly arched eyebrow. "That explains the video of the steamed car."

Clark blushed.

Lex flicked a hand to one side, not even dismissing that so much as ignoring it for its irrelevancy. "Regardless. The kryptonite is brought in from somewhere else. I'm going to go back upstairs and see if there is another laboratory within the confines of the building."

"Is there likely to be one?" Clark asked, finally inserting himself into the conversation now that it was a little safer.

"Not in my experience," Lex admitted. "However, there's always a first time for anything."

It would have been prudent for them to have split up at that point, however Lois didn't want Lex exploring without one of them to watch him, and Lex didn't trust Clark not to distract Lex from searching, though that wasn't the way he put it. Clark was the logical one to stay, but Clark didn't think he could be down in the room with the residual kryptonite for as long as Lois wanted him to, not that that was how he worded it either and Lex supported him on that. So after much wrangling, they first got as much information out of the underground laboratory as they could, with information about the process and samples of the non-EPA-approved refrigerants. Proving it might be a slightly harder thing, but they had the samples from the ones in the working industries, and they were reporters breaking a story, not police looking to prove a conviction.

They went back upstairs and explored some more. Lois was trying to beg, borrow, or steal a sample of the dowsing rock that Lex was using, but Lex wouldn't budge, not even as much as to give her another exclusive.

In the three hours they walked around the factory, they covered four-fifths of the buildings and surroundings, and found nothing. They hadn't quite made the whole coverage, though, when they had to dodge security guards on shift change and evening walk-throughs, and it became more prudent to depart than to stay to finish the rest. They parted on a tentative 'tomorrow' if conditions were favorable.

Clark wanted to go back with Lex to his place, but he knew that Lois would skin him alive if he didn't help her with processing the information they'd gotten. So he reluctantly gave the vest back to Lex, drawing the giving out with fingers touching and sliding along as their hands exchanged the vest. Lois rolled her eyes as the finger touching became kissing, but she didn't turn her back and even raised her camera before Clark hurriedly broke it off. Lex, typically, didn't look bothered at the camera, but gave Clark a last lingering smoldering look before he turned and walked away from them.

"Of all the people you could have fallen for, Smallville," Lois watched Lex walking away with almost as much appreciation as Clark was, "why did it have to be Lex Luthor?"

"I don't know," Clark admitted.

Lex went back to his condo and worked on plans for a new Superman suit that could be made with spun lead threads. It couldn't be a complete block, not while keeping the distinct elements of the suit recognizable, yet today proved that even partial protection would be better than none.

Of course, then there was the problem of getting the suit plans to Clark and having Clark actually wear it, but email could take care of the one, and the other was in Clark's hands, not his.

It was an exercise in futility. Perhaps.

Lex shook his head and set aside the non-productive work. Instead, he turned his thoughts to an assault on an unknown meteor mutant. The person of the mutant was known, the power was not. Yet he would have to work it into the plans regardless. Things were coming to a head and once it was seen that they had been poking around, Tim and his minions would not sit back and wait. As careful as they had been exploring the lab, they couldn't count on having left no traces.

Clark had saved Lex's life once already, and Tim had been confused enough with the resulting public exhibitions to hold off and see whether Lex really was a threat. This would prove it. Even if they had left no trace, their time was running out.

He couldn't really say why he'd been so open with Lois and Clark on the day's adventure. Perhaps it was a gesture of trust. Perhaps he was tired of being alone. The investigative reporters could really hurt him with what they now knew about him. The advantage, though, was that right now they were focused on taking down Lionel. Since that also was his goal, they could peaceably walk along the same street for awhile. By the time they turned on him, he could slip off down a side path.

None of that was very productive thinking or work either. Lex sighed and tried to stop thinking of Clark. It was harder than it should have been, just like a pink drunk elephant. Eventually, though, he was able to stage his plans with only the occasional Clark intruder.

... ... ...

The next morning, Lex was running on short sleep. What he didn't think of while he was planning had come out in his dreams. It had made his night restless.

Lex looked over the equipment that he'd laid out the night before. His guns, both the stun gun and the more lethal variety. Clark wouldn't like the second type, yet sometimes it was necessary when going up against meteor mutants. The dowsing rock probably wouldn't be needed. Lex wondered if he should send it to Lois as a gift. His father would be enraged if the reporters started getting into even more of his illegal operations than they already did. That might just be reason enough to do it. With a grin, Lex put the rock in a box and addressed it to Lois at the Daily Planet. It would be waiting there when she got back.

With a glance at the clock, Lex decided he had time to take care of more business before the reporters showed up. If they did. He wouldn't put it past them to sally forth on their own and leave him out of it. If he hadn't known that Clark was Superman, he'd be worried about their tendency to rush head-first into danger, but Lois had survived this far, and Clark was learning.

Picking up his phone, Lex looked through his contacts, found the one he wanted, and called her. Amusingly, it routed to Anita's office and through the admin pool before he got hold of her directly. He had, though, known her to be a hard worker, even on a weekend. One of the reasons he'd picked her.

"Why hello, Lex. It's been a long time." There were no hints of anything other than what she was saying in her voice, appropriately so since Lex had never slept with her. He respected Anita too much for that.

"Anita, my dear, I just had to hear your voice." On the other hand, flirting was second nature to Lex. He did it to everybody and the professionals just learned to deal. If they let it rattle or annoy them, they weren't as professional as they thought.

"And now you've heard it, dear boy." Anita sounded amused, which was good for Lex. She was also teasing him gently back as she wasn't that much older than he.

"And you sound simply lovely. Would I be able to have the privilege of hearing it for several more minutes while we discussed something, or would another time be more advantageous?"

There was a brief pause. "Now is fine; though do, please, hold on for just a moment."

Lex was put on mute for a few minutes presumably while Anita finished what she had been doing and arranged for no interruptions with her staff.

"Now then, what is it you wanted to talk about?"

"How do you feel about HVAC chiller manufacturing plants?"

There was a long pause. "LexCorp or LuthorCorp?"

Lex grimaced. "LexCorp does not exist, Anita, as well you know."

"Not on the books..." she trailed off suggestively.

"LexCorp does not exist," Lex repeated firmly. He let the pause sit for a moment, then added, "yet."

There was the sound of typing in the background. "You've been there for less than two weeks, Lex."

One of the reasons Lex loved Anita was her ability to get information nobody was supposed to have. It wasn't a strict secret where his assignments were, but theoretically it was very hard to find. Particularly when he'd moved the whole schedule up. "I've found the basic problem and am in the middle of... removing it. That will leave a void in more than one place and the plant will need new management."

In the middle of that sentence, there was a knock at the door. Lex frowned, thinking that he should have had more time.

"You normally are the new management," Anita sounded sarcastic yet intrigued. He could hear more keyboard taps and assumed she was scrolling through information.

Lex glanced cursorily through the peep-hole, then opened the door and waved Clark in. He held the door open for a few more seconds but there wasn't anybody else following him.

"Yes, well, there's a few problems in that area..." Lex sighed, knowing Anita would want more of the tale than that, yet reluctant to elaborate with Clark here.

"What?" Clark eyed him funny, then saw the earpiece Lex was wearing. "Oh, sorry." He turned to shut the door that Lex had left open.

"What about your partner?" Lex couldn't help asking.

"She'll be along," Clark answered quietly. "Want me to come back later?"

Lex shook his head, then answered Anita, "Not you, my dear. Sorry. Company's here. But suffice it to say I can't keep the reins without the horse's trust."

Clark shrugged apologetically for his timing and started roaming the townhouse, looking around curiously. Lex had rented it furnished, so he wasn't sure what insights Clark would get from it.

"Who did you sleep with this time?" Anita's amusement had returned three-fold. "And yet you expect me to take up management on your say so and have their trust? You know what they'll think if you bring me in after that."

Lex could just tell her to google the videos and that would answer most of the questions. "Yes, well, it's not exac—" he was interrupted with the sound of laughter on her end.

"Oh, Lex! You didn't. In the parking lot?"

It sounded like she'd found the videos anyhow.

"At least he was good looking. But that does give you some credibility problems, if not, at least, women problems."

Lex could feel himself heating up and concentrated on it not showing. Even if she couldn't see him, it was still not a good idea to ever let anything show. He turned and walked back to his computer so he could send her some files. "The plant doesn't have many female managers, only in Human Resources. They need somebody strong and efficient in charge, who will stay with them for a couple of years and guide them through transition into a more respectful workplace and change the culture of run-to-fail they were on. Most of the workers aren't bad people, but they've had a few years of bad management."

"A few years. Will there be a LexCorp in a few years?"

There would either be a LexCorp or Lex would be dead. There weren't too many more options between him and his father going forward. He didn't elaborate, though, and simply answered, "Yes."

"I want a place in LexCorp."

"You have great faith."

"Well earned. I want a directorate of my own."

There were many areas that could use Anita's talents. Lex had no hesitation in agreeing. "Do you want that in writing?"

"And let your father know what we're up to? No, I will have your word instead."

"You have it." Lex needed good people on his side; he would not cross her and he would not forget.

They finished up a few more details as to the when and where, and Lex emailed her files on the plant and a standard LuthorCorp contract, which he had the authority to sign in this instance. Lex himself would stay at the plant for another few weeks, finishing refurbishment of the equipment and giving him time to fire the incompetents. She would come in as the avenging angel to rescue the people who would, by that time, be quite sick of him. It wasn't his normal mode of operation, but in this case, it would work.

Lex hung up with a feeling of relief and satisfaction. That was one worry off his list. Now for the next part. He looked around for Clark, expecting to have to talk about what he'd overheard.

Clark, though, didn't seem to have been listening. His attention was absorbed in the vest Lex had left hanging over the couch back. When Lex came up, Clark turned, "Lex, is this... for me?"

"Yes." Some of the time the night before had been spent on revamping the vest specifically for Clark. It was now fitted to Clark's size and shape without the side gaps that had been present in the original. It had also been stripped of much of the extra protection for bullets, allowing it to be more flexible in case Clark had to fight in it. The lead weave, of course, was a special manufacture of the non-existent LexCorp, more flexible and lighter than traditional lead garments. For the theoretical version of Clark's suit, Lex had used experimental carbon nanotubes filled with lead and woven in. Clark's alien Fortress could probably make it easier than they could.

Reminded, Lex made another circuit back to his computer. "What is the Fortress' email address?"

Clark picked up the vest, running his fingers along the obvious hand-stitching on the sides. He was gentle, yet thorough with it. As he might be as a lover if he took his time, which he hadn't yet so far with Lex. Lex watched Clark's hands rove over the vest and suppressed a shiver. He was therefore taken by surprise when Clark answered the question.

"Icelover at fortress dot ant."

Lex blinked. He hadn't really expected there to be one. He thought he'd have to give Clark a flash drive. Not to mention, "You have your own country code for Antarctica?"

Putting the vest down and walking over to Lex, Clark shrugged. "Email is handy to send things to the Fortress when we need it. My address is bluenred at fortress. Don't worry, there're a lot of secondary routings in place and the firewalls are more like laser walls."

Security had been what Lex was going to ask about next. With a grimace, he sent off the suit designs.

"You're still protecting me. You're still giving me gifts. You do so much for me... am I forgiven yet?" Clark ran his hand along Lex's shoulder-blades, much like he had the vest.

Lex shivered. "No."

Clark snorted and pulled Lex out of his chair, continuing the pull until Lex was in his arms and being kissed deeply.

It was a hungry kiss, yet it was also a tender and sweet kiss. Something that had been missing from their earlier interactions. Lex returned it as if he had been starving and a chocolate mousse had been placed in front of him. He held on tightly and could feel the stirring between them, from both of them.

Without breaking the kiss, Clark's hands roamed over Lex's body, down his back, working at his shirt until it was untucked from his pants and Clark was touching his bare waist.

If this day went as Lex had planned, he wouldn't be seeing Clark again for awhile. Lex should have more will-power, but in this case, why should he bother?

Apparently, Lex didn't have to bother as Clark drew back. Lex refused to whine, though he could feel the sound rising in his throat.

"Lex, do you want this?"

Lex couldn't help the widening of his eyes. There was a very earnest imitation of a farmboy in front of him asking a truly ridiculous question considering what they had been through in the last week. He narrowed his eyes. "What is Lois really doing?"

"How did you possibly get to that from there?" Clark wondered. "Lex, I just want to make sure. You... you don't initiate anything. Every time we've been together, I'm the one who starts it. I don't want to be forcing you."

Lex snorted. "I think you've been through one too many sensitivity classes at the Daily Planet." He ran a hand over his head, grimacing when he realized what he'd done. He'd thought he'd trained himself out of that tell years ago. "I don't think it's a good idea. You still don't trust me, and you know nothing about the me I am now. Your fear sent you flying out of my office just a few days ago, so why would you give into your baser needs now? However, none of that means that I will say no." Lex stepped closer to Clark and reached a hand up to Clark's cheek. "I will never say no." He stood on his toes and kissed Clark. Behind his lips, Clark made a whimpering sound and opened his mouth for Lex. Lex entered in, knowing that he was revealing too much of himself. He didn't initiate because it wasn't a good idea, and because more than anything, initiation showed his love.

Despite the pain, despite the lies, the anger, the everything, the love had never died. It made things hurt more than they should, made his only choice one to run, and it made him helpless when Clark returned. Lex didn't like his love, he didn't believe in it, he didn't trust it, but he couldn't deny it.

He could, though, try to deflect it. He pulled back. "You wouldn't start this if Lois was really coming over. She's not, she's writing your story."

Clark's grin flashed across his face. "You wouldn't say that if you had known how close I was to molesting you in the lab yesterday, Lois or no Lois. But you're right. We have to get our story out before you shut down the illegal activity, or we have no story. So I'm here to delay things."

Lex snorted. He'd thought so. He wasn't, however, objecting. It played nicely to his own plans in general. However, they still needed to find the kryptonite processing area, and quickly, before the word got out or it would be relocated or shut down. After that, Lex needed to implement his plans to confront Tim; at this point, they couldn't risk what he might do when the story released.

They could, though, deal with those things in a few hours. Nothing would change that quickly. There was time enough to talk to Clark first, because while Lex had no objections to the sex, the combination of Clark's desires and his mistrust was getting old fast.

"And your method of delaying... is to have sex." Lex shook his head and stepped back.

Clark grinned.

Lex rolled his eyes.

Clark shrugged, "What would you suggest?

"I would think it would be more prudent if you asked me questions about what I'm planning to do. Not that I would answer all of them, but really, Clark, you're not an idiot. This behavior of yours, however, is."

"I'm trying to trust you here," Clark said tightly. "It may not be easy, but I am trying."

Lex blinked. "How?"

"Look, Lex," Clark sighed and walked around and hovered near a chair but didn't sit down. "I acknowledge that I made mistakes in the past. I was afraid, but it wasn't fair to you and I kept expecting things from you no person could be held up to. But I'm trying. This.... this whatever we have between us now—"

"It's called sex," Lex interrupted dryly.

With a glare, Clark acknowledged, then ignored that. He also apparently shortened up what he'd planned to say. "I'm trying to trust you now. So I won't ask."

Lex stared at him. "So, what, you're just going in blind? You're trying to... Oh Good Lord." Lex drew in a breath, suddenly seeing what Clark was doing. His throat closed up, knowing that if Clark continued on this route, Lex wouldn't just be hurt the next time – and there would definitely be a next time – he would be broken. If Clark did this, Lex should run now, further than he'd run before, run and never returned. But Lex wasn't sure if he had the will-power to do it.

He tried logic instead, not that it had ever helped him with Clark before. "Blind trust is the worst type of trust there is! If you don't know why you trust, the trust will break. Shoving all your doubts into a closet only works until the closet door opens."

"It's trust!" Clark said tightly. "If you have to question, then it's not trust."

Lex had to rub his forehead. "Suddenly, much becomes clear about our younger years."

With a sigh, Lex walked to an armchair and sat down. This would be either a really long talk, or a short one, but he wasn't going to risk himself near Clark for it. "There are different ways of trusting and different strengths behind them. The type of trust you're talking about is ignorant and naive. It's the type where people adhere to a faith or religion or person or company because they know nothing but they want something to cling to, or because they grew up with it, or because they think it'll be better then what they have.

"The problem is that it's the easiest type to break. When their faith is tested, either you end up with blind fanatics who have shuttered themselves down so tightly that they cannot listen or see anything outside their own beliefs, which are often a fantasy world at this point, or they break. They stop believing. They stop caring. They feel hurt and betrayed even though there was no promise given. There is a core group of atheists who are made up of people who once believed."

Clark was frowning, his arms crossed and a look of stubborn disbelief in his eyes. Quite proving Lex's point, but he wasn't going to say that. He had learned a few things over the years. He held up a hand to forestall what Clark might be thinking and went on.

"Informed trust is a much better trust to have. Somebody who has studied their religion and can quote not just the doctrine but also knows the conflicts and weak points and believes despite them. Knowing about them, but knowing enough else to trust that the conflict has a reason and will be resolved. If you know your god, you know the good things, you know the bad things, and you know there is unknown and you trust in that unknown. Look at the study groups and people who pour through their doctrines and see who comes out stronger for it. They deliberately face the unknown... and instead of ignoring it, they base their trust on what they do know.

"Similarly, science is informed trust; not all science is known, but the basic building blocks are solid and we trust that they continue to be." Lex didn't think he had to expand on that one, as obvious as it seemed to him. Just one more example, though.

"Breathing is informed trust, though it might look blind. But we have always breathed before, we know what is involved in breathing. We know what happens when we don't breathe – that being underwater stops breath. And so we trust that when we are in open air, that we will continue to breathe. It's knowledge that begets trust."

Lex finished and decided to try that breathing thing for himself. There was quiet in the room and he tried to evaluate Clark's response.

The other man was looking across the room, frowning at an undeserving window. After Lex's gaze had been on him for a bit, Clark looked back, his body still angled away from Lex. "I don't know. Is that why you were asking all the questions when I was a teenager?"

Lex snorted. "No. That was because I was an obsessive idiot."

Clark had to smile.

"I didn't know that back then, but taking things blind was never my style. If you had asked me..." Lex thought about it a moment, then shook his head. "I wouldn't have trusted you. Not by the end. Too many lies. Informed trust requires knowing somebody well enough to believe in them without the answers. In the beginning... yes. I trusted you so much in the beginning. Perhaps..." Lex sighed and looked away.

After a long moment, he went on. "I might be against blind trust because that is how I trusted you then. And it hurt when it was broken. It may not have been my style, but I did it anyhow, for you. I remember well the security recording of you knocking me unconscious and robbing my trucks when we were supposed to be keeping my dad from robbing them instead. I ignored that, and told myself you had a reason, and it was probably something to help me, because you were my friend. I trusted you, despite the evidence."

"You had a what???" Clark started, almost tripping himself as he jerked around.

Lex rolled his eyes. "You sucked at avoiding security cameras, Clark. I had so much damn footage on you…"

"I'm sorry," Clark blurted out. "I'm sorry about hitting you."

It had been so many years, and yet, "That was never the thing that hurt the most."

Clark looked blank.

"Back then, there was so much I lo... liked about you that the one betrayal was a blip on the rest. I would have apologized to you if I had known what it was for. I trusted you, no matter what. I knew you, with that sort of child's trust in a person they respected, without reason."

There was a stricken expression on Clark's face and he stepped towards Lex. "Lex—"

Lex held up his hand. He didn't want to hear it, not now. "As time built up, though, the lies overwhelmed what else I knew of you. For the most part, the lies were about you and I hated it, I really hated it, but the final blow was when you lied about the car."

There was a long pause while Clark looked blank. He finally grimaced and had to ask, "What car?"

He didn't even remember. Lex had to stand up and turn away before he answered. He couldn't face Clark with any composure about this. It still hurt. "The car you stole from my garage when I wouldn't give you money to help your friend. The car that you said you had no idea who had taken it or how it showed back up again. The car that my employees and the garage security cameras very clearly showed you driving out with and returning with in considerably less pristine state."

The pause continued for a little longer. "Oh, that car."

Lex gritted his teeth.

Clark sighed. "Yeah. I... I don't even know."

There probably wasn't anything that could explain it, so just as well that Clark wasn't trying. Lex shook his head and didn't reply. In that time period was also Clark's overall distrust of Lex, which hadn't encouraged Lex to trust Clark. But he'd said enough. This wasn't a time to rehash every single old disagreement they'd ever had. Lord knew he'd spent enough sleepless nights going over them when he was alone.

"So, informed distrust."

Lex had to laugh, even if it did sound bitter to his own ears. "If you like."

"I did it to myself," Clark said, the bitterness from Lex's laugh reflected as well in Clark's voice.

"I won't say I was blameless." The room of secrets had to be Lex's most egregious error.

"But would you have asked so many questions if I hadn't given you so many reasons not to trust me?"

Lex couldn't answer that one. "It's the past. Who knows? I was a different person back then; so were you. I was... facing a lot. I don't know if I would have stopped, I don't know if I could have."

The wall Lex was facing was appropriately blank. Cream wallpaper, with geometric raised designs. He didn't want to turn around. He'd started it, it needed to be said, and it still hurt. "Eight years later, we are here with all that between us. If you think to trust me now... how do you think you can do that without knowing who and what I am now? Especially when you could not then."

"I guess," from the sound of his voice, Clark was walking up behind Lex as he talked, "I'll have to learn."

There was a brush of a hand across Lex's shoulder. With years of practice, Lex controlled his flinch reflex and let the touch happen. It was better than his father's.

The hand withdrew, a faint touch lingering as if in regret. Lex wondered if super-human reflexes had seen or felt the flinch. He didn't move and there was a period of silence between them. Then the hand resettled, more firmly, yet still gentle. Lex could escape, if he wanted to.

Clark stayed behind Lex and didn't try anything more than just the one touch. His voice, when he next spoke, was quiet. "How would you trust me again? What can I do?"

Lex allowed himself a bittersweet grin that Clark probably couldn't see. "Don't lie to me, Clark. Tell me if you can't tell me, but don't lie to me, especially not over stupid shit. And don't take me on faith. There is nothing that I will believe less than that you trust me if you don't know me."

"You'll answer what I ask?" Clark tried, but apparently couldn't quite keep the skepticism out of his voice. Or maybe it was just disbelief.

"Not everything," Lex admitted readily. "Ask, and some of it I will answer, and some I'll hold back. You're a reporter, and you're Superman, and not all I am doing is above the board. I say that now, though I don't say what." Lex relaxed a little and leaned into Clark's touch. "You know what my father is. I'm following in his footsteps."

Through the hand on his shoulder, Lex could feel Clark's reactions. First he started to withdraw, but then he caught himself and the pressure returned. Lex smiled. Clark was learning.

"I follow in his steps as the tiger stalks its prey. I have almost come close enough to take him down. Just a few more steps, and I will be there." Lex stared at the patterns on the wall. "It will be a bloodbath. There will be casualties. It will not be pretty and it will not be simple. But he must go."

"You should leave him to the law," Clark said quietly.

Lex snorted. "You've been after him for six years. How close have you and Lois and the police gotten in all that time?"

Clark was silent, which was as close as he was going to get to agreement. "I can't condone murder."

"I don't expect you to." Lex shrugged; he didn't think it would come to that. "This will be lawful, just the law of the boardroom and corporate jungle. No less bloody for all that, but still legal. Condoned blood sports, the entertainment of the rich."

"I..." Clark sighed and didn't finish his next sentence, letting it trail off.

Lex turned in Clark's arms. "Nothing has to be decided now. We are here to fix this factory's problems for now. The rest of the world can wait." It was early in the morning and he was bone weary already from all that he had dredged to the surface. Trust might have to wait along with the world.

As Lex turned, Clark had let his hand on Lex's shoulder slide around. He brought up his other hand to envelop Lex in a loose embrace. "I'll think about it," he promised. "We've got the factory and the issues now, but tonight I'm going to go home and think about informed trust, and I'm going to think about you, and I'm going to remember the trust you've already given to me, despite everything that said you shouldn't. You've had informed distrust for eight years... and yet, you still protect me. You've never told a soul what you know about me, and even when I was an ass when first walking into your office, your first instinct was to save my cover. Lex, I love you."

Lex jerked in surprise and tried to pull away, to leave the embrace. Clark held him still.

"I don't know. I don't know what we're doing or what we're going to do, but Lex, I can't lie to myself about this. I love you. From the second I saw you again, you threw my world into disarray, and I can't keep my hands off you, and it's because I made a mistake eight years ago. Nine years ago. Ten." Clark paused for a moment, then shook his head and ignored the actual timeline to get back to his declaration. "I loved you then, and I love you now, and it may not be smart or wise, and I couldn't put any logic to it, but I do."

"Clark, shut up." Lex didn't want to hear it. He struggled and finally Clark let him go. He could feel the way that Clark first tried to keep him but then accepted the 'no' and released him. Lex walked away, trying not to let Clark's words settle anywhere near his soul, trying to push them out of his mind.

Lex had said he'd never say 'no'. He halted only a foot away in consternation. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut and clenched his fists. He didn't want to hear it. He couldn't hear it. Not now. Yet he couldn't leave Clark. There wasn't enough to run, and so much he wanted to stay for.

"I'm sorry," Clark said from behind him.

"Don't." Lex shuddered. He really couldn't deal with this now. He hadn't expected it, it was completely out of left field; he hadn't seen the ball and it had hit him right on the head. He would be lucky if he didn't come away with a concussion.

A little silence fell like rain in the room, splattering against loud thoughts and louder emotions. Neither moved.

Time to ignore the words and the thoughts, perhaps not all the emotions. Lex turned and came back to Clark. He reached up and placed his lips upon Clark's, pouring his frustrations and his want into the kiss. He wouldn't say more, he couldn't say more, but at least they could have this.

Clark whimpered lowly through the kiss and then grabbed Lex and returned it desperately.

They stumbled as they grappled at each other, trying to get close and closer yet while they didn't let go of the kiss. Their hands roamed, clutching at each other to both explore and hold close at the same time.

Tongues, heat, flesh, clothes, hands... but most of all, want and need. It had never been about anything else, just this incredible desire that rose up and overwhelmed reason and thought. Or so Lex would keep telling himself because he didn't want to think about the rest. He had been so hurt by Clark in the past, and he didn't trust him; didn't want to open up to him again and be slammed into little pieces shattered everywhere. He did, however, want this, and wanted it desperately.

To feel Clark holding him, wanting him, needing him. Even against Clark's better judgment or any judgment at all. At least Lex had this part of Clark, and he had it now, not as a maybe or a possible future or a bitter past dream, but it was here and now and real.

Lex held Clark's head between his hands and plunged his tongue deeply into Clark's mouth, curling his fingers into Clark's hair and holding on as he licked back into his own mouth and sucked Clark's tongue into following where he could swallow and feel the shudders in Clark's body as he reacted.

Lex wanted to growl out something possessive and claiming, something to make Clark his, yet he knew he didn't have that right or expectation. So he kept his mouth busy licking and sucking Clark's skin, moving from his mouth across his cheek, down to the jaw and then further onto the neck where he settled into a nice spot between shoulder and neck and tried to see if it was possible to leave a hickey on invulnerable skin. It probably wasn't, of course, but people did experiments all the time to confirm things they already knew.

Clark moaned and tried to swing Lex around to pin him up against the wall. Clark's greater strength and alien abilities would do it, of course, but then Clark would be in charge of this encounter, like he had the others, and hadn't Clark just gotten through saying he wanted Lex to initiate some of it? Lex squirmed away, using a quick jujitsu move to disentangle himself.

There was a pause while Clark stared at him with wide eyes, obviously not sure what was happening.

Lex held out his hand. "There's a bedroom."

The surprise in the verdant eyes faded and darkened again with lust even as Clark's generous lips turned up in a smile. "Lead on," he said huskily and took Lex's hand.

Lex shivered at the feel of the large hand engulfing his; Lex was not a small man and it made him feel odd to be the one who was delicate and dainty in comparison to Clark. He wondered how Clark felt around women, all of them much smaller and fragile. Maybe this was the real reason Clark had had so few relationships. Lex closed his hand around Clark's and remembered that size wasn't always dominant.

"This way." Lex tugged and Clark followed, at his side yet slightly behind, letting Lex lead... and apparently checking out his ass, as Lex discovered when he glanced back.

Clark saw the raised eyebrow and unapologetically shrugged. "Like I said, you have a nice ass, too."

Lex snorted, not displeased.

In the bedroom, they removed their clothes. Well, Clark removed his clothes while Lex looked through the bathroom for something to use as lube.

"I'm surprised," a naked Clark mentioned while he hovered in the bathroom door.

Lex rolled his eyes and finally pulled out some baby oil. He wasn't going to answer the surprise that he didn't have lube on hand. He might occasionally be a slut, but this was his townhouse and he hadn't planned on having orgies here. Not until he'd sized up the plant situation to see if they needed any, at least.

"Baby oil?" Clark was having a hard time not snickering.

"For cuts," Lex said. "To keep them moist while they heal. It's very useful for other things too." He managed to imply in his voice that it was a good lube substitute, which it was, instead of that the other things were for his hairless skin, which cracked easily. Not something Clark needed to know.

"I'm sorry," Clark's voice suddenly turned gentle. "I didn't mean to tease."

Lex shrugged. He was used to it. He went back into the bedroom, placed the bottle on the nightstand, then pulled off his shirt in one smooth motion. He'd dressed for action today, not the office, and a comfortable knit was better for action than a dressy button-up. It was also rather nice how it completely derailed Clark's train of thought, leaving him standing in the middle of the floor, mouth open, staring at Lex's bare chest.

With a grin, Lex dropped the shirt and put his hands on his pants button, flicking it open and swaying his hips slightly.

Mesmerized, Clark took a step forward, his tongue flicking out to lick his lips.

Lex left his fingers where they were, touching the zipper, thumbs hooked in his waistband. He sat on the bed without looking behind him, and toed his shoes off, thankful he'd put sneakers on this morning and not the steel-toed boots.

Clark followed him to the bed and knelt between Lex's knees, looking up at him.

Lex almost couldn't breathe, trapped in Clark's intense gaze. He held still as Clark's hands slipped up over the pants legs, inside along the seam, getting closer and closer as the two of them never looked away from each other.

Fingers other than Lex's touched his zipper, gently moving Lex's fingers away with a caress and taking the zipper down.

As Clark broke their gaze to look at what was in front of him, Lex shifted his hands until his fingers were happily engaged in petting through Clark's rich dark hair. Lex loved Clark's hair. When they'd been in Smallville, he'd spent many a long hour staring at it, dreaming of running his fingers through it, and spending so much of his energy in restraining himself. Now, he didn't have to.

Clark's fingers cleverly worked their way through the pants and shorts and gently eased Lex out of them. He stroked Lex's length just as Lex stroked through his hair. Lex couldn't help the breathy moan he let out.

In response, Clark made a sound that was close to a purr, something that Lex almost felt more than heard, with his fingers on Clark's head and touching his cheek. Lex wondered if it was an alien thing or just one of those odd sex noises that people tended to make. He hadn't heard it before and he was glad he heard it now, evidence of something more than just a quick fuck.

"Lex," Clark said, his head close enough to Lex's penis that he could feel the breath over his skin. "I really do love you." Then he placed his mouth where the breath had been and completely and utterly removed any ability Lex had to rebut or reply.

Warm. Wet. Movement. Sucking and that same strange vibration like a purr only intensified ten times over by the positioning. Lex let out whimpers of his own and let the fingers of one hand linger on Clark's cheek where he could feel himself through Clark's skin.

Clark wrapped a hand around Lex's now erect shaft and added stroking to the sensations.

Lex let himself spiral up, and let himself enjoy it without restriction. His hands on Clark, Clark's mouth on him, them together.

They continued this for a time that Lex didn't keep track of. Pleasure and almost a relaxation in the pleasure as they went on.

Finally, Lex tugged Clark up, knowing that if Clark kept on much longer, he was going to come, and that was going to be too soon.

Reluctantly, Clark yielded to the urging, pulling off with a pop as his lips left the head. He paused and licked what he had just left, swirling around and tasting some more, obviously not wanting to leave completely just yet.

Eventually, he accepted the prompt to move on, and he stood, leaning over Lex and kissing until Lex was flat on his back on the bed. When Lex was flat, Clark left him, standing up again and then turning his attention to removing Lex's pants the rest of the way. Lex stayed where he was, luxuriating on the bed, with Clark's hands on his thighs and calves and ankles, then working his way back.

When Clark was up to Lex's waist, he paused. "Lex, do you want to move?"

"Not really," Lex chuckled. That could have been better worded on Clark's part, but Lex knew what he meant. Legs over the edge of the bed wasn't exactly the best position for lots of long simmering sex. He couldn't help but tempt and tease Clark a bit, though, and he rolled over onto his stomach, groaning as his cock rubbed against the bed.

Clark drew in his breath sharply and let it out in a long hiss as he was presented with a picture perfect view of Lex's ass.

Lex grinned, then crawled on the bed fully, lying on his side and reaching a hand out to Clark.

Clark joined him, his eyes admiring as he watched Lex. Lex returned the gaze, letting himself look his fill of Clark's naked body. Strong and perfect, just as he'd always been. Since the moment Lex had opened his eyes and seen the man he'd hit bringing him to life, Lex had been gone. He'd been looking forward to furthering their acquaintance. Then he'd found that the man was actually a boy, and instead of an affair, he'd formed a friendship like he'd never had before. Now he was finally having the sex, years delayed, and he really hoped that he might have the friendship again too.

Without knowing who had reached out first, without it mattering, they came together in each others' arms, kissing gently and sweetly, with all the world in front of them. Bare chest to bare chest, nipples touching and rubbing as they shifted. Their hips came together, separated, back again, in a leisurely manner.

Exploring, as they had not yet so far. They took their time, roaming up and down each others' body. Nibbling on ears, fingers, nipples, hips, even knees and elbows. Touching, stroking, feeling skin and flesh, smearing the sweat and making circles and patterns with it.

Talking about random things, nothing serious, just little remarks, shared observations, little laughs. It made it so much more than just simply sex. It was them together sharing something wondrous and magical.

Even when Clark finally entered into Lex, it was still part of the whole, not an end.

Clark pushed into Lex while Lex was lying on the bed facing him, legs drawn up as they watched each other, eyelids fluttering to dip in pleasure and then open to see the other again. A progressive entering, with Clark careful of Lex as he hadn't been before, with Lex's reassurances keeping them going. Then a steady slow drive while they both enjoyed the pleasure and the being together.

After awhile, Clark pulled out and they shifted until Clark was standing and Lex was on the bed, still facing him but the angles and effort were different and Clark could get a stronger thrust, strong enough that Lex and Clark both had to hold on so that Lex wasn't pushed back across the bed. After a little laughter over that, Clark had to stop speaking to concentrate on the feelings.

Lex watched the play of emotion on Clark's face, the grimace that was pleasure, the little tongue tip hanging out just at the edge of his mouth, eyes darkened and eyelids dipped low. The spikes of pleasure in his own body were delicious, and Lex breathed heavily in time with them.

Clark started to speed up, but Lex didn't want to come just yet. He talked Clark into another position, with them both on the bed again, this time with Lex kneeling and Clark over him, taking him from behind.

That direction may not have the face to face contact, but it had the advantage of both parties really being able to get into it, with a better angle on the prostate. Clark's wide hands gripped Lex's hips tightly, sinking into the flesh and Lex almost hoped they would leave bruises that he could remember later, but he knew Clark's natural instinct was to be careful. All those times that Clark had slammed Lex into something or even their earlier sexual encounters, those were pots on the stove past their boiling temperature, above and beyond the thread of reason. Sometime in the future, Lex would have to goad Clark into more aggressive sex just because it would be good that way. For now, though, this was what he wanted.

The thrusts were starting to come faster, sliding along the inside of Lex's skin and the baby oil, hitting the spot that made even Lex yelp and taking the sex from leisurely to must-have-release-soon. Lex took the mental lock off his body that he'd been holding and let himself join the rise in anticipation, his body winding tighter.

"Clark," Lex whispered the name, and just that name, putting a slight sound of inquiry into his tones and then waiting to see if Clark had heard him or not. Normally, Clark would pick up on the slightest of sounds. However when sex was on the line, men's other senses often shut down in favor of just what they were doing at that moment, and nothing more.

There was no reply, just the sounds of Clark's panting as he kept thrusting into Lex. Lex couldn't tell whether Clark had heard him or not, and he wasn't sure which he'd prefer.

Lex shifted himself just a little to brace for what he knew was coming. Then he breathed his most precious secret, getting it out between his own harsh breathing. "Loved you always. Never stopped. Never will."

There was a faltering of rhythm while Lex was speaking, and almost a pause right before he finished. Then Clark was coming with a thrust that almost knocked Lex off the bed and a wordless shout in his ear.

Clark's heavy body settled over Lex's and pushed him into the bed despite Lex's holding himself up. Lex didn't fight it but settled with Clark's motions, enjoying the way the larger body was draped over his, knowing it was Clark and scared that Clark had heard him and wanting it all at the same time. He felt... almost completed as he was pinned by Clark, an unstoppable force he didn't want to fight, and Lex gave himself to the feelings he didn't want to acknowledge, letting himself go and pushing into the very slight yield of the bed until he also came.

Eventually, Clark moaned and maneuvered his way off Lex, rolling onto his side and then exploring Lex with his large hands until he found that Lex had already come. Clark left his arms around Lex and stoked him gently. "Bastard. Waiting until I couldn't see you to say it."

Lex rolled to his side as well, facing Clark, a lassitude of contentment settling through his body. "Say what?"

For a really long moment, Clark looked baffled and then apprehensive, apparently trying to figure out if he'd been imagining things.

It had been his intent to let Clark go without ever knowing if it was real or not, but seeing that look on Clark's face was too much for Lex. He couldn't help the laugh he let out, though he tried to bite it back and ended up almost hiccupping, caught between laughing or not.

A wave of relief and fond exasperation passed over Clark's face. "Bastard," he growled again, before pulling Lex in closer and kissing him on the nose.

"Um," Lex avoided an acknowledgement and kissed Clark back, enjoying the slow press of heated lips and lingering sweat. He licked the liquid beads off Clark's upper lip and breathed in the smell of their mingled musk.

Clark sighed, a happy sound, and drifted his hands over Lex's back and butt, gathering him in and letting him go in a repeated slow motion that almost mimicked their earlier sex, but was more of a contented, "this is mine, close to me" action than anything overtly sexual.

It was almost like riding the swells of waves after having descended on the surf's crest. Lex closed his eyes to better enjoy the motion and smugly thought he'd finally found a use for the little bit of surfing he'd done in Hawaii in his youth. Metaphors were always useful, and applying a surfing one to Clark appealed to Lex's humor. He would have to get Clark out there sometime, though really, the time for that was probably past. Clark as a teenager would have been best. Opportunity lost, though, and they could only go on from where they were now.

Seeming to catch Lex's more serious thoughts, Clark sighed a little and tucked Lex in beside him, holding him close but without the extra strokes.

Lex turned his head a little so he was breathing along the side of Clark's neck. They would have to get up eventually, but for now, just lying here like this was worth almost all the years between.

"Do you still experiment with the meteor rocks?" Clark suddenly asked with no warning.

For a long moment, Lex evaluated the question instead of answering. Clark was still holding Lex comfortably, he hadn't tensed up, nor was there any indication he was about to. This was just post-sex conversation, not an attempt to get something out of Lex while his guard was down.

Lex had to grin; Clark's post-sex talk could use some work. On the other hand, it was a time-honored tradition of sex to discuss sensitive things while both parties were satiated and relaxed, happy with each other and willing to be calm.

"Yes. You still call it meteor rock?"

Clark brushed a hand over Lex's back. "Memories. You... take me back. Lex, why? You know how dangerous it is."

This time, there was the glimmering of fear in Clark's tone. Lex wondered if Clark would ever be free of it completely, or if it would always be the one continuous flaw in an otherwise perfect being. He knew Clark didn't think of himself as perfect, but being Superman, as he was, and Clark Kent... there was a lot of perfection for a Luthor to live up to. The morals and caring that came naturally to Clark, instilled by loving parents, were things that Lex constantly had to work at, to recognize and act upon.

In this case, however... Lex inched away from Clark so he could free his mouth from Clark's neck. "We do research because it's dangerous. Kryptonite is out there, it exists, and people know about it and can see some of what it does. We need to know what exactly it does in order to harness it properly."

"You want to use kryptonite?" Now Clark sounded disapproving. Yet his arms were still around Lex.

Well, yes, but saying that wasn't going to get anywhere. Lex shifted inside Clark's arms until he was lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling, Clark's arm a band over his chest and the other a pillow behind his neck. Lex reached his own right hand to trail over Clark's hip, resting his fingers gently in the crease between hip, leg, and groin.

"Kryptonite is, in many ways, like nuclear fission, or asbestos, or lead. Products that could be dangerous, yet no one knew how dangerous until they were already in use. With nuclear power, people had an idea of the dangers, so they built containment systems and worked with it carefully. However, even with those precautions, it wasn't until years after they analyzed the data that they found how truly dangerous it was. Now, nuclear power is only worked with in even more controlled circumstances, with the safety factors outweighing the actual processes by a factor of fifteen to one.

"Asbestos was an incredible discovery when people started using it in building products – durable, flame-proof, strongly binding, and easily made. It's no wonder that it appeared everywhere, in roofs, tiles, insulation products... Decades went by before anybody realized that the very properties that made asbestos so wonderful, the perfect crystalline structure of serpentine down to their very molecules, were also what were dangerous to humans, the sharp edges of particulate asbestos cutting lung tissue if people breathed it in.

"The dangers of lead, however, while there, aren't enough to prevent lead's use in industry. Particularly now that it's also known as a barrier against kryptonite." Lex added that last somewhat whimsically and was rewarded with a slight flinch from Clark. He wasn't there to make Clark feel bad, though, but to honestly answer the question. It was probably a longer answer than Clark had expected.

"Pesticides are known to be harmful and dangerous, yet they are used daily and routinely. Even the weed-killer known as "Round-up" is dangerous, and yet environmental groups promote its use because it is less dangerous than others out there. DEET has long been banned for large-scale use, yet it's still active in mosquito repellents because it's better than being eaten alive."

Lex quirked a little sad grin, even though he knew Clark couldn't see it. "With kryptonite, we're ahead of the game, because we already know how dangerous it is. We can take precautions and test it carefully and find out just what it is, before it becomes a standard. Hopefully. It does keep making its way out, as we've so often seen. It's not just purely dangerous – it's also beneficial, which is how people keep stumbling over it."

"It is not!" Clark burst out, seemingly involuntarily. He withdrew his arms to himself, though the one under Lex's neck Clark ended up leaving there after he seemed to realize it would disturb Lex.

Lex missed the arm over his chest. He turned his head slightly to look at a different corner of the ceiling, though he didn't look at Clark just yet. He left his hand on Clark's hip, carefully not moving lest it be interpreted as a dismissal of Clark's words.

"Kryptonite gas added to coolant mixture apparently makes HVAC systems more efficient. Kryptonite added to corn crops makes them grow stronger and bigger, the beginnings of my father's research. It made vegetables in a greenhouse grow larger and quicker, to Jodi Melville's later detriment. When applied by a human, it can turn insects and bees into servants. It can make people walk through walls or become invisible. It has a great many effects that people keep stumbling across and trying to harness because it seems obvious to them that there is something there. What is also there, however, are the problems. The Jitters, the mutations, the cancers, the deaths. Kryptonite changes things on Earth, sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worse. It's also unpredictable, which is why it hadn't been harnessed long ago when people first started looking at it. But it's there. It's all over the place at this point, not just in Smallville. Turning away and ignoring or hiding it isn't going to make it disappear. Too many people know about it, and too many others are discovering it. The only way to ever be able to do anything with kryptonite, whether that be containment or usage, is to study it and find out why things react so differently to it."

"It's too dangerous to study," Clark stubbornly repeated, this time working his arm out from under Lex's neck and rolling to his back. Then he rolled to his side again and reached out to touch Lex's hip the way Lex had been touching his.

Lex took his hand that had been dislodged with Clark's movements and placed it over Clark's, lightly touching without pressure. "The Ebola virus is studied, and that's more instantly deadly than any kryptonite exposure ever has been."

"They study it to try and cure it!"

"And I don't?" Lex asked steadily, a flash of anger thrumming through his body that he forced away. He rolled to his side again and met Clark's eyes steadily. "I haven't forgotten my promise to Earl Jenkins. Or to Ryan, though his was not kryptonite related. In our wards are people waiting for a cure that have waited too long already. Jodi, Sasha, Jeff, Desiree..." Lex couldn't help the pang that went through him at Desiree's name. Pheromones were powerful things and he had really believed himself to be in love.

Clark growled a little and shifted closer to Lex, his hand on Lex's hip becoming a possessive clutch.

Lex had to smile, though it was a slightly sad one. "Believe me, Clark, I'm not doing it all for myself. I will admit that I am very curious, and that is a great motivator for me. However, the research has to be done. If it's not done by me, it will be, and is being done by my father, and by others who come across it, by design or otherwise. How do you think that Tim Matthews came to use kryptonite in the systems? There is research being done, whether you like it or not."

After he finished, Lex waited for the next outburst, but this time Clark didn't say anything. He was still for awhile, then Clark rolled over and scooted down so that his head was buried on Lex's chest. Lex hesitated a moment, then gave in and buried the fingers of one hand into Clark's hair and let the other drift down Clark's back.

Lex thought about describing his clean rooms, the precautions they took in the studies, the limitations on who could do the studies – mutants only for any needed direct contact, and unaffected researchers had to content themselves with computer modeling and working outside the direct labs. There were so many comparisons he could make – Clark's reaction to kryptonite compared to peanut allergies; deadly to those with the allergies, yet harmless to all others, so peanuts were everywhere, labeled with warning signs. However, Lex could talk forever. There were times to talk, and there were times to shut up. Right now, was a time for Clark to think, and Lex would ruin it if he let either his eagerness or his bitterness run ahead. He was afraid he might already have said too much. It was a hopeful sign that first Clark had asked, and then that Clark had stayed.

They stayed there quietly for a long time until Lex was restless. They had just had sex, but it was still morning and there were things to do. A factory to clean up, for one, and people to confront.

Lex wondered what Clark would think if Lex offered Tim a job. That was how Lex ended up with most of his people, by recruiting those who had already worked with kryptonite and had seen both the bad and the good around it. Tim, though, was probably not a good recruit, for all the reasons Lex had already gone over with himself. His assistants were a possibility. Not the goons, but the ones who helped with the chemical processing. Lex hadn't figured out who they were yet, though he had his suspicions.

And Lex really wanted to get going now. He tried to have a bit more patience; Clark was here, in his arms, they were both naked and it was a fantasy come to life. But. With a last stroke of his hand through Clark's hair, Lex sighed softly and spoke Clark's name quietly.

Clark stirred, He reluctantly pulled away from Lex, his green eyes troubled.

Lex internalized his next sigh. "You can't accept it?"

"I..." Clark leaned down and kissed Lex's collarbone, working his fingers along Lex's side, settling himself over Lex again as if his weight could keep Lex there forever.

Almost, Lex wanted to be kept. He stroked Clark's back, feeling the spinal column and the bottom of the rib cage. The back was the most vulnerable area, covered with only a little skin and not much muscle. All of the body's defenses went into protecting the front. One of the reasons why a knife in the back was so much worse.

He wanted to tell Clark that sex alone wasn't the answer, but Clark probably knew that. He just couldn't stay away, no more than Lex could.

"I'm going to have to think about it," Clark said, his mouth still along Lex's skin. "Fly around the world a few times, rescue some people from major disasters, burning buildings, traffic accidents. Put it all in perspective."

Lex laughed. "That sounds like a good plan." He brought one hand up to play in Clark's hair again. Dark silken strands, slightly tangled, but short enough to easily take care of. Not so short that Lex couldn't grip it if he wanted to. Not that there was a need to, or that it would hurt Clark even if he did.

How did the invulnerability work with things like hair and fingernails and even the saliva and softer parts like tongue and throat? If the hair and fingernails could be cut because they were dead, then one would expect them to also burn off in fire or explosions, which they manifestly didn't.

Lex wasn't going to ask. He had asked too much, too often when they were young. He didn't know now if he had realized what the asking was doing to Clark and continued on despite it, or whether he'd just not noticed. The need to know was something that was almost inbuilt into Lex's very genes, reinforced by a childhood that denied him nothing except love. He may not have had love, but he could always learn, and he did.

Learning about others was a matter of course in his world. Security checks, background files, reporters... it all came along with everything. Ever since he was a kid, he'd always known there was no such thing as privacy. New hires were scrutinized, their references called, and their bank accounts combed through. If Lex went to a new school, his records would be checked just as carefully, the interviews thorough, the lies analyzed. Not by the school itself always, money having paved that road, but by the parents of his peers, watching out for their own.

He'd never thought anybody could be so offended just by a routine background check. Of course, what Nixon had found was more than should have been there, and Lex hadn't known back then how to turn things off. He'd learned, though. Lex had painfully learned how hard it was to stop curiosity once stirred up in others, no less himself, and how normal people took questions, and how those who had something to hide reacted very badly.

So he wouldn't ask now, no matter how much he wanted to know. No matter how much he encouraged Clark to ask. It wasn't the same thing, and his curiosity could wait. There were other things he could focus on. The feel of Clark's hair (so like a human's), the rich hue between dark brown and black (would it turn gray when he got old?), the way the back of his hair came to a cute little v point on the neck, the softness of the skin over the strength and tension of the muscles (could Clark feel a massage? did his muscles get sore?).

Lex shook his head, scattering his thoughts. "Clark, we have to get going. If we're going to do this, it has to be today. Everybody will be back at work again tomorrow, and it will be harder to get another opportunity."

There was a moment of stillness while Clark stopped licking Lex's skin.

Lex wondered if Clark really had been working up to another round of sex, or if it was still just after-sex cuddling for him. Or a way of avoiding thinking about Lex's research. If they ever had sex again, Lex supposed he would find out what was normal. If this was their last time, though, he'd never know.

There was an ache in Lex's heart and he wished he hadn't told Clark about his love for him. It had been a moment of weakness that he now regretted. Lex curled his fingers in Clark's hair and made no move to dislodge the large body from atop his own.

With a long-suffering sigh, Clark made the point moot as he shifted and then rolled off Lex. He continued the movement and got off the bed with the same motion, as if he was afraid he'd change his mind if he didn't.

Lex's hands tingled with the sense memory of Clark's hair. His body shivered with the sudden exposure to air. He missed the weight atop him.

Sitting up, Lex swung his legs off the bed on the opposite side from Clark. Time to get going.

They drove to the plant in Lex's rented car. Clark couldn't help remembering what they'd done in the back seat the last time they'd both been in this car. The memories were overlaid with the more recent tender sex they'd just had.

Love. Clark couldn't quite believe it. He also wasn't sure if it was smart.

Lex had a point regarding trust, and Clark didn't know yet if he did, or could, trust Lex. Lex, whom he loved, yet was frightened of at the same time. Clark had spent too many years with the fear to let it go that easily. He wanted to, he really did; he just didn't know if he could, or should.

Clark glanced over at Lex while Lex drove, and his heart melted. He wanted to have sex with Lex again. He wanted to talk to him, to laugh with him, the way they used to. He'd thought his friendship had been destroyed all those years ago yet somehow, miraculously, it was here again.

Clark had grown up since the last time he'd seen Lex. He was only now realizing how young he had been. Teenagers never think of themselves as young.

While Clark had already recognized some of the mistakes he'd made back then, he'd somehow thought his relationship with Lex had been set in stone; the ending locking out all of the before, pain and betrayal the final note. Their whole friendship had been a lie, and that's where it was and forever would be.

Clark knew better now, and he was ashamed he'd believed that before. Lex had also been young, and now that Clark had lived through that age himself and was four years beyond it, he realized that Lex hadn't been as grown-up and assured as Clark had thought.

This Lex had also grown more, and was harder and colder, yet somehow Clark could see the young Lex too. Clark wanted Lex again. Their friendship. The sex. More. At the same time, Clark didn't want to break them again, to feel that pain, to cause that pain. This time, he would have to actually do something to make it work.

The obvious sticking point now was Lex's experiments with kryptonite, which scared Clark to death. Lex's reasoning had been logical, but Clark would have to think about it. Understand it. Believe it, and not just in a blind trust way. He would have to do that later, though, when Lex wasn't around, because Clark had a hard time thinking with Lex sitting there.

The parking lots at the plant were mercifully empty. Lex circled around each end to make sure, then parked the car near the factory assembly area. He glanced at Clark, "Can you confirm?"

It was weird to work with somebody who knew what he could do. After Clark was done being startled, he obediently x-rayed the building.

"Nobody in there that I can see. I can't see into Level 3."

Lex nodded, accepting both the x-ray and the limitations completely matter-of-fact. He slid out of the car and checked his pockets for the taser gun and some other equipment Clark wasn't sure about.

Clark was wearing the lead-lined vest that Lex had modified for him. It was an unfamiliar weight, the lead having an effect somewhat like weight if not literal poundage for him. It didn't hinder him, however, and he could still use all his powers.

More importantly, Lex had an extra one and was wearing it. If Lex hadn't had the second vest, with the bullet-proof properties, Clark didn’t think he could have accepted the modified one. But Lex did, and he'd put it on, along with his dark thick pants, and the pocketed jacket, looking less and less like the familiar Lex as every item went on, yet making Clark's mouth go dryer with every piece until he'd been quivering at the end ready to tear Lex out of it and fuck him right there. Even in the unsexiest clothes, Lex was pure walking and breathing sex.

He was also pragmatic. He'd indulged Clark's need for sex that morning, but after dressing he was all business and impatient at Clark's constant distraction.

With a small laugh at himself, Clark acknowledged his current distraction and turned back to the building. Meteor-enhanced HVAC systems. He shook his head at the utter mundanity of it. Yet, as Lex had also pointed out, people had experimented for years combining kryptonite with equally as normal things, with mixed results.

For a moment, Clark let himself consider it. Kryptonite-powered cars, kryptonite refrigerators, kryptonite-fertilized redwood trees, stretching up to the heavens. No, too common, too hard to shield and protect. The kryptonite power plants, on the other hand, were a real likelihood, considering the nuclear plants already in existence. And who could say they would be more dangerous than nuclear power? If a kryptonite plant exploded, there would be deaths. If a nuclear plant did, there would be even more. Clark was invulnerable to nuclear threats but not to kryptonite, and therein lay the real difference for the shivers down his spine. Or was it that kryptonite would have more of a subtly harmful effect than nuclear? They didn't know. They just didn't know, and without knowing, none could say. Which is why experiments were needed. Maybe.

"Clark?"

Shaking himself, Clark hurried to catch up with Lex. His mind had been spinning in circles ever since Lex had explained it. Clark really would have to fly around the world a few times before he came to any sort of conclusion. This wasn't something he could accept, or even deny, with a few minutes thought.

They made their way cautiously into the building, Lex accepting Clark's x-ray analysis, yet not relying completely upon it.

The door to the secret elevator slid smoothly open now that they knew where it was. Lex aimed a gadget at the hole in the wall.

"No recent heat traces," he finally pronounced.

Clark thought Lex sounded disappointed. But then, if nobody was there, there wouldn't be anybody to catch mid-crime. Maybe they could have sex in the lab instead.

As he realized his thoughts, Clark blushed scarlet. Lex glanced at him inquiringly, then rolled his eyes. "I swear, Leo, you're still a teenager."

Clark blinked three times at the use of his other name, and then recognized both where they were and the need for caution. Lex had every corner covered, even the ones they couldn't see.

"I thought we were going to be exploring the rest of the plant for another lab?" Clark finally pulled himself back to focus on the problem at the moment.

"I don't think there is one," Lex said. "Or if there is, it's not here at the plant. We need a clue to where it is before we start exploring other areas. Let's finish getting all the information from this one while we have the opportunity." Stepping inside the elevator, Lex motioned him to follow and they went down.

Inside, it was much like the day before. There were no signs that anybody else had been there in the meantime, and no clues as to where the kryptonite was being processed.

The layout of the interior room was similar to the processing room upstairs, with the chemical hoods, the laboratory tables, the processing machines. There was also a metal catwalk around the outer edge with periodic stairs going up to it, where computer stations and monitoring equipment overlooked the chemical lab. Prudent to have those slightly raised in case of a chemical spill. Clark checked out the nearby eyewash stations and the fire sprinkler system overhead. Then he looked closer at the floor and walls and frowned.

"What?" Lex turned from where he was poking at a chemical hood.

How had Lex even seen that Clark was frowning? Clark shrugged it off. "There's no drainage in the floor in case of chemical spills. No vents on the walls either."

"Drainage has to go somewhere, usually to secondary containment centers, which need access points elsewhere. And vents are easier done when a lab isn't buried underground. Either all that was too much extra work for a secret lab, or they reconverted this lab from something else into the refrigerant mixing set-up." Lex walked a foot over and nudged a metal bar inset into the floor with no apparent purpose. "I'm betting on the reconverted, though I wouldn't put it past my dad to also be stingy on the safety portion of secret labs."

Clark nodded; it made sense. He continued poking through boxes, trying to stay away from the residual kryptonite in the mixing stations. The converted lead vest definitely helped, though, and he could get closer than normal. Clark would have to have a serious look at those costume plans Lex had emailed.

Despite the extra protection, Clark still winced when he passed one chemical hood. "Lex," he called, and within a moment, Lex was there, his concern palpable.

"I'm okay," Clark reassured Lex, though he appreciated the touch to his arm as Lex reassured himself. "There's some meteor rock in that cabinet. Or refined kryptonite, or something."

Lex gave him one amused glance at reverting again to the older name of 'meteor rock', and then he positioned himself by the hood. "Go to the other side."

Clark obediently retreated, though he stayed within dashing distance if Lex needed him. He wasn't terribly happy about Lex's own exposure to the kryptonite, but knew it would be pointless to object. Somebody had to check it out.

Lex put on a pair of rubber gloves he found hanging off the side of the cabinet and a pair of protective goggles, then opened the hood. Several large beakers of liquids were in there, along with other boxes presumably of powdered chemicals. Lex sorted through them. Finally he pulled out one that glowed green. Clark backed a few more feet away.

"Is that it?"

"It's kryptonite," Lex said, frowning as he swirled the liquid around. "Mixed with something else, if I don't miss my guess. Straight kryptonite doesn't usually have this viscosity at room temperature."

"Usually?"

Lex snorted, putting the beaker back and closing the hood. "You know what it's like. For every hard and fast rule, there's an exception."

Clark had to admit that one, which was all the more reason to be leaving kryptonite alone. He took a cautious step forward. "You're leaving it there?"

Stripping off the gloves and goggles, Lex put them back where they'd been. "It's not enough for them to be using regularly. Looks like something left over from an experiment. I'm curious about it, but it's not what we need right now." He moved on. "I'll come back for it later to figure out what they've done to it."

And there again, Clark couldn't help the shiver of fear, both for and of Lex as he spoke so casually about the liquid kryptonite. Lex would take the beaker, would drive it back to... to wherever Lex did his research. With his people who knew the risks and did the research anyhow. Was what they would find out from it worth the risk? How many people in this town had already been changed by it?

Would Clark ever stop feeling guilty for his planet's remains? Not as long as they kept turning people into things other than human, he suspected. Or at least he hoped he wouldn't ever stop. It wasn't right, and just because Clark had been a baby, it was still his planet and his people, and pieces of his former world. Just because he wasn't the one to do it didn't mean he shouldn't take responsibility for cleaning it up now. The people who had made the mess were all long dead, and Clark was the only one left. Along with their powers, he'd also inherited the responsibilities for their mistakes.

He watched the closed hood and ached for what he could not change.

They searched more, but found nothing else of real interest. Two hours later, they were reduced to looking through computer files in the systems up on the catwalk above the lab equipment. Lex seemed satisfied with the information he was getting, but Clark was now the one who was restless and prowling on the outskirts of the catwalk.

Clark did plenty of online research and computer calculations both as a journalist and also when he was investigating things as Superman, but when they had come to the lab, he'd been geared up for direct action. Clark was also uneasy about how long they'd been in there and how absorbed Lex seemed to be with the computer files. Just because there was nobody in there with them now didn't mean—

There was a faint grinding sound on the other side of the lab and Clark turned. He wasn't in a position to see the elevator, so he moved towards Lex and a clearer view. Just as he saw Lex, still intent on the computer files, he heard the sound of a gunshot.

Sound didn't really travel as fast as most people thought it did. Sound: 340 meters per second. Bullet: 320 meters per second. By the time most people would have heard the sound of a gun, it would be too late to do anything about it. If it was a high velocity rifle rather than a normal .22, sometimes the bullet would be faster even than the sound.

Clark's super-hearing allowed him to hear things faster than the speed of sound, in the way that all his Kryptonian powers broke normal Earth physics. First, though, he had to be using his super-hearing.

Clark didn't know if he'd heard the gunshot normally or with his powers.

Time seemed to stand still as he shifted into the fastest possible speed for him. He didn't even try and track the bullet, not wanting to waste the time. He only really cared about one thing.

There. There was Lex. Starting to turn, starting to duck, to throw himself out of a possible bullet trajectory. Which meant that Lex had heard it too, and Clark hadn't heard it by super-hearing. The window of opportunity narrowed and Clark prayed the gun was a .22.

Lex's reflexes had been honed to a fine level. He moved, however, at a human speed and Clark's heart beat painfully as he watched the minuscule movements, a centimeter at a time. Slow, so slow. And Clark was still so far away, though getting closer.

He could see the bullet now, it was so close to Lex. Lex's motions had taken him out of the original path, but that just meant that a bullet that would have originally hit on his bullet-proof vest, would instead take him on the upper part of the shoulder, below the collarbone. There were a lot of blood vessels there, and arteries that could quickly bleed out. It wasn't a safe place to be shot, no matter what they showed on television.

Clark felt like he could feel every air molecule he hit along the way, he was increasing his speed so much. Almost there. Almost...

Clark crashed into Lex, sending them both to the wire catwalk floor as time resumed a normal path.

For one awful moment, Lex was still beneath Clark, and Clark started to panic but then Lex shoved at him, "Out of the way."

Raising up to a crouch, Clark visually reassured himself that Lex was okay even as Lex was squirming to cautiously peer around the catwalk. There was a slight metallic ping, and Clark looked down to see the flattened bullet bouncing off the rails. He breathed a sigh of relief, but knew it wasn't over yet.

"You are an interfering busy-body, Lex Luthor." Tim Matthew's voice was harsher and nastier than when he was helping the plant workers do their jobs. Another bullet fired over their heads, more of a warning shot than actually aimed.

"That's my job," Lex called back. "Is this yours?"

Tim laughed. "Your father approves."

Lex shook his head then poked his head up. Clark reached over, ready to pull him back down if needed. Lex glanced at Clark, then grinned at him and refocused on Tim. "My father sent me. You've gotten too noticeable." Lex looked again at Clark and frowned. Under his breath, he muttered, "And dangerous." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the non-taser gun. "If you're to continue, Tim, it has to be in another location and under supervision."

"Hey!" Clark let out a little cry of instant rejection, rebelling against the idea of letting a murderer go free.

Lex shot Clark a glare even as Tim laughed.

"Your boy-toy is upset, Lex. Didn't you fill him in on your plans ahead of time? Or does he just not want to share?"

Another shot forced Lex to duck down again, even as he continued glaring at Clark. In a whisper, he hissed furiously, "Do you want this to turn into a blood-bath?"

Clark winced and put his head up to see what Tim was doing. The other man was walking calmly from the elevator towards them, detouring around some of the equipment. The gun was held casually in his hand and he didn't look even remotely upset at the prospect of shooting them. Lex didn't really want to recruit Tim, did he? That was just a negotiation tactic to keep them from being killed. Right? Inside of him, though, Clark kept remembering all the other scientists that Lex had worked with. Hamilton, Walden... Though to be fair, they hadn't been murderous until they'd encountered kryptonite and the caves. But so had Tim.

Very quietly, Lex sighed. "I do recruit scientists, but not once they've started killing. Once they've started down that path for greed, there's no easy way back." Lex huffed a small laugh. "Just like your distrust. It's ingrained in you now. I don't think there's any way you can ever really trust me again."

"Lex, no! I'm sorry, I did—" Clark's protest was interrupted by another gunshot that he just barely dodged, his attention having been rather thoroughly taken off Tim. There was the sound of glass cracking as the bullet hit something behind him.

Lex edged over to the metal stairs, his own gun out and his attention once more on Tim. "If you keep shooting, the equipment is going to get damaged. It can be expensive to replace."

Tim laughed. "You have a point." He holstered his gun as he continued to walk towards them.

Both Lex and Clark frowned, trading a suspicious glance between them, not trusting the sudden appearance of peace. Tim didn't look like he wanted to make peace. He was still advancing menacingly, and now...

Clark blinked. From Tim's mouth, there was a swirl of green.

"Oh, fuck," Lex hissed. "That's the mutation... no wonder—" Lex cut himself off and tackled Clark, forcing him down, clamping a hand over Clark's mouth.

"Don't breathe," Lex ordered. "Hold your breath. Don't breathe."

In reflex, Clark almost took a breath but obeyed Lex instead. He could feel a general weakness coming over him and a low-level pain. Not like being exposed directly to kryptonite rock, but a muted version of it. He reached his arms up to hold Lex, touching Lex's mouth to order him not to breathe either.

With a slight rueful smile, Lex shook his head. "Couldn't for long enough. You have to hold longer." As the green gas swirled around them, Lex's eyes started to droop, but his hand over Clark's mouth was solid. "Kryptonite gas. Plus whatever else..." Lex's voice slurred and his body wavered.

Clark held onto Lex tighter, but his grip was for naught as Lex blinked and forced his eyelids open again, but then closed, his body slumping over Clark's, his hand sliding off Clark's mouth.

It was instinct to call out Lex's name, to hold him, to see if he was okay. It was the hardest thing ever to quash that instinct and let Lex fall and not call out his name. Inside, Clark was screaming.

Outside, he was fighting with himself not to breathe, to obey Lex, to give them both a chance. Not breathing was hard. Underwater, it was easy, with the pressure all around him and a reminder of what would happen if he opened his mouth. Here, there was nothing to remind him, and he wanted to scream for Lex, to talk to him, to pick him up and rush out of there and get Lex to safety, but he couldn't.

There was kryptonite gas all around him and while it was more muted than the rocks, it was also right there, against his skin, pressing in upon him, weakening him at the time he had to stay strong. Holding his breath had never been something he'd considered one of his powers, but at this point it was the most important one.

He wasn't sure if he could even pick up Lex right now, let alone get them to the elevator. Clark knew he didn’t have the strength to tunnel out of the underground lab, especially not while protecting Lex.

Please, Clark thought as fiercely as if he was screaming, please live. He could see Lex still breathing, head upon Clark's chest, but the rest of Lex was so limp, so devoid of what made Lex the incredible vital person he was. What was this gas doing to him? Clark slowly shifted Lex in his arms, easing Lex to one side, hating the way his body dragged, the way his unresponsive hand caught on Clark's clothes. The gun was gone, probably dropped when Lex was trying to save Clark.

A tear slipped down Clark's cheek and he fought the urge to sob, to gulp in air. Why did their last words have to have been about Clark's mistrust again? Why couldn't Clark just believe in Lex as much as he loved him? The way Lex believed in Clark. The way his last thoughts had been for Clark, to protect Clark. Never again, Clark vowed. Never again would he doubt Lex. If Lex died, Clark would never forgive himself. He placed a hand on Lex's cheek and watched him breathe.

Footsteps on the metal catwalk signaled Tim coming closer. Clark listened and waited, not letting on that he was conscious, trying not to breathe while still looking relaxed.

"Lex was right," Tim mused. "Why a bullet and a messy death here? Kill them later, down by the overpass. A lover's quarrel, I think. I'll have to get Leo's girl Sally as well. I wonder which of them killed which? A mystery and a scandal. Fitting for Lex Luthor."

The words filled Clark with relief. "Kill them later" indicated at least that the gas wouldn't do it on its own, that Lex would be okay. As long as they got through this.

Hands entered into Clark's view, reaching for Lex.

Clark erupted, uncoiling from his pretended slump on the floor and hitting Tim hard. They went rolling down the stairs together, Tim struggling to get to his gun and Clark fighting against the pain and weakness of the kryptonite.

This close to Tim, it was almost like being exposed to the rock. Clark gasped with the pain and then remembered why he'd been trying not to do that. Kryptonite gas in his lungs, burning, sapping his strength, his powers... Clark slumped and Tim hit him hard in the chest then pulled out the gun.

Clark couldn't let Lex be hurt. Pain be damned. Memories of the morning in bed flashed through Clark's mind. The way Lex had looked, lazy in pleasure, intent on giving to Clark, the gentle laugh and smiles as they'd joked.

With a sudden lunge, Clark knocked the gun out of Tim's hand and they crashed into one of the tables. Glass broke around them and equipment fell.

"Why won't you...?" Tim stopped his words and instead more gas came out his mouth, glowing an even brighter green.

Clark couldn't help the moan as the gas surrounded him, but he bit back the reflex to breathe in again. He couldn't. He wouldn't. Lex was relying on him.

Tim hit him with a beaker from the table and Clark went down, blood trickling over his skin where he'd been cut.

This wasn't going to work. It had to work. Clark rolled out of the way of another strike and scissored his legs, dropping Tim to the ground as well.

The gas was thinner down here on the floor. Enheartened, Clark wrestled with Tim, trying to get the upper hand. Instead, Tim got Clark into a lock and bent his arm back.

Involuntarily, Clark yelped, breathing in again and making the pain even worse. He could hold his breath indefinitely under water. He had even flown up where the atmosphere thinned to unbreathability. Clark didn't need to breathe. Holding his breath while fighting, though, seemed to be beyond his capacity. Silently cursing himself, Clark made a new resolution, clamping his jaws tightly shut and pushing the pain away.

A foot in his ribs almost knocked the air out again. Clark found himself lying on his back, looking up at the ceiling and wondering how he got there.

Tim kicked Clark again, savagely. Then he walked over to get his gun. "I don't know why you're not unconscious, and the jealous lovers would have been a nice scenario, but who cares? This works just as well."

Up on the ceiling was the automatic fire sprinkler. Clark had a sudden vision of Metropolis the day after a summer storm, fresh and clear with all the smog having been washed out of the skies. The sprinklers would wash the gas away, and he could get his powers back. If he couldn't use his powers, though, how could he activate the sprinklers?

College had been useful in more than one way. Clark rolled out of the way as a bullet dug into the floor where he'd been lying. He used the momentum to propel himself further and to get up at the end of the roll near the sink. With a heave, Clark threw a pan of soapy water in the direction of the fire alarm on the wall, praying that this would work.

To his great relief, alarms started ringing, the sensors having been disrupted by the water just as surely as if they'd been blocked by smoke. The fire sprinklers opened up and dirty water sprayed out.

Tim screamed, a high-pitched wail of fear and distress.

Clark whirled around, wondering what new danger there was.

Instead of a new danger, Clark saw only Tim being washed with the sprinkler water the same as Clark. But unlike Clark, Tim's hands were up, covering his face. It almost looked like he was trying to protect himself from the water.

It was water, wasn't it? Clark's heart beat faster and he sped over to Lex, his powers coming back as the gas was concentrated down to the floor.

Lex was okay. Damp, and still unconscious, but the water didn't seem to be hurting him. Still breathing.

Clark breathed himself, delighting in the moist clean air entering his lungs. Then he turned to Tim, who was still screaming.

Tim was... Clark gulped, sickened. Bits of his flesh were slipping, folding into themselves and sliding down. Any exposed area, his hands, his arms, his face... Tim was melting. That was the only way to describe it. With the water raining down on him, Tim was melting away.

"Oh, gross..." Clark had seen a lot of meteor-related deaths, too many, but this was one of the worst. It was as if Tim and the gas he exhaled had merged, and as the gas was mutable, so was Tim's flesh.

The screams had stopped, but Tim's mouth was still open. The lips had slid off already and the nose was dripping over it. Tim's body collapsed onto the floor.

Even though he wanted to turn away, Clark continued to watch while Tim dissolved, his bones holding together longer but in the end also melting, leaving only the clothes behind. Another victim of Clark's arrival on Earth, the meteors that had spawned him birthing monsters and destroying humans. Clark's fault.

Clark held Lex's limp body and wished he'd never been born.

Lex slowly came awake, his head muzzy, his body safe. How did he know he was safe? Lex forced his eyes to open and saw Clark's face. Those were Clark's arms around him, and Clark's body close to his. That's how he knew he was safe, he was with Clark.

"Hey." Clark smiled down at Lex.

Reflexively, Lex smiled back. Just as he'd done a hundred times before. Knocked unconscious in a fight, wakening to Clark's arms around him. Clark's green eyes searching his own, making sure he was okay. Lex was safe with Clark. He always had been.

It might have been Lex's imagination, but Clark looked pale. Pale and slightly green.

Suddenly remembering everything that had just happened, Lex sat up, struggling out of Clark's arms and putting a hand to Clark's face. Clark was damp and clammy, and... Lex glanced at Clark's hair, wet and plastered to his head, and became aware of his own damp clothes.

"Are you okay?" Lex asked as he tried to figure out what was wrong with Clark, his eyes darting around to gather information.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Clark chuckled, but there was a strain in his voice, no matter how tenderly he reached to gather Lex in again.

Lex allowed the gather, but kept looking. He saw a pile of clothes drifting on water... it looked like there had been a small flood and this underground lab had no drains, all the water just collecting. Green water.

Narrowing his eyes, Lex stared at the water, remembered the gas, and glanced back to Clark.

"I'm glad you're okay," Clark said woozily, his hold turning into a hug. He kissed Lex tenderly, his worry evident in the way he reassured himself through the kiss. His weakness evident as well.

Lex let the kiss continue to its natural finish, but then he pulled away from any further ones. "Come on." Lex stood and pulled Clark to his feet, the larger man wobbling as he gripped the rail for balance.

"We have to get you out of here." Lex guided Clark down the stairs, wincing in sympathy as Clark stepped into the green water and cried out. "Just to the elevator, just a little more." He coaxed Clark on, holding him up and trying not to wonder too hard about Tim's empty clothes in the water.

They made it to the elevator at last, and Lex hit the button for the ground floor with savage strength. Then he sank to the floor beside Clark and untied his shoes. "You've got kryptonite water soaked into everything. Let's get you out of these."

"Better than in my lungs," Clark quipped, then coughed.

Lex repressed his instinct to say, "I told you to hold your breath," and instead bit his lip as he peeled Clark out of his shoes. The elevator had reached the top by the time he was done with that, and they moved out into the corridor, Clark already looking better just from being out of the lab.

"Are you going to strip me in the hallway?" Clark asked, obviously amused at the prospect.

Lex glowered at him. "You have to get out of those clothes!" He realized he was just as soaked. "Me too."

"Sounds good," Clark purred, his large hand cupping the back of Lex's head and drawing him in.

With a sigh, Lex let it happen. Obviously Clark wanted reassurance more than he needed to be free of the residual kryptonite. Lex hated being out of the action. He wished he'd been there with Clark, through whatever had happened. Clark's need for reassurance afterwards, though, was familiar from the years before. The kisses weren't. The kisses were new, but perhaps they should have been there earlier too, along with the hot chocolate and hugs and gentle discussions while Clark's eyes never left Lex and rested on every bruise that Lex had obtained. The way Clark stayed so close to Lex until his parents made him come home again.

Well, maybe that was why there hadn't been kisses back then.

The clothes started to drop to the floor for reasons other than removing the kryptonite, and Lex struggled to remember they were in a hallway. Admittedly in a place that was supposed to be closed for the day, but still, in a hallway.

"Honestly!"

Lex and Clark jerked apart. They turned to see Lois standing there, her hands on her hips, her eyebrows raised.

Hallway. Lex sighed and he heard it echoed by Clark beside him. Without looking over, Lex found Clark's hand and held it within his, feeling the return pressure gratefully.

"Story all done?" Lex asked archly.

"One part of it. There's still another to be written." Lois eyed their wet clothing and looked them up and down. "I don't, however, work for the gossip column."

"The fire sprinkler went off downstairs," Clark explained, redness creeping up his face.

"Did you find Tim Matthews?" Lois asked, her gaze now tracking the drips to the elevator.

"Um," Clark hesitated. "He... uh, he..."

"He was a meteor mutant," Lex broke in, glancing at Clark. "The reason we didn't find a laboratory for gas mixtures was because that was his mutation, he breathed it."

"Obviously not all the time," Lois said, walking towards the elevator door.

"No," Lex agreed. He hesitated over what to tell her next, then gave a mental shrug. "When we fought, he had a bad reaction to my gun—"

"Lex!" Clark broke in, exasperated.

Lex grimaced. It would have been a logical explanation that Lois would have accepted.

"Why do you always have to take things on yourself to protect others, even when they don't need it?" Clark wrapped his arms around Lex and pulled him to his chest. "Tim melted."

"Melted?"

Lex was glad his head was currently slightly buried, so he didn't echo Lois's exclamation.

"The fire sprinklers went off in the fight, and... he melted." The horror in Clark's voice was real enough to convince both of them.

"Why does involvement with kryptonite mean really messy results and things nobody will believe in print?"

Lex pulled back from Clark in time to see the grimace and disgust on Lois' face, the same that had been in her voice. Her attention turned quickly, though, from Tim's fatal ending to Lex.

"Always takes things upon himself?" Her interrogation gaze went from Lex to Clark. "Explain."

Lex sighed and took another step away. Clark shot him a look, though, and Lex didn't retreat further. He wasn't sure if the look had been commanding or pleading, it had been given and received so quickly, but either way, it stopped Lex where he was.

"Amanda," Clark said quietly.

Lex blinked in surprise. "You remember her?"

"Of course," Clark eyes were full of sympathy.

Lex would have thought that if Clark had remembered anybody from that incident, it would have been Jude. Not-Jude. He looked away, not wanting to see sympathy, remembering the pain of that moment, though it had been so long ago. Longer, even, than them.

"Julian," Clark said then, and Lex flinched. From one bad memory to another.

"Tell me," Lois commanded, not without softness but with certitude. The factor that made her a good reporter.

And Clark did. Not the details, thank goodness, but enough of the broad outlines that Lex still cringed. The Club Zero mess. Lex taking the blame for the shot instead of Amanda. Clark didn't tell, but Lex still remembered with bitterness the failure of that part, how he'd left her even more alone until she'd taken her life. He'd loved her and failed her. Story of his life.

Then Clark told about Julian. Lex turned physically away, not wanting to see either one of their faces while Clark recounted that.

There was a little silence after Clark was done, but only enough for thoughts. Lois was too good of a reporter to let it continue. "Why do you believe him?"

Clark sputtered, and Lex turned back around, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

Lois calmly stood her ground. "If the official tales tell one thing, then how do you know that Lex really did what he said he did, that it wasn't him originally for either?"

"He didn't!" Clark defended Lex with sharp, reflexive instinct.

Blind trust. Lex smiled bitterly.

Clark also seemed to realize it, and he gave Lex a stricken look before firming himself. He started to say something, probably a version of the "I trust him" that Lex had heard so often when they were young, however Clark cut himself off. More thoughtfully, he studied Lex, looking for the reason behind the trust.

Lex didn't see how Clark was going to come out of this one. It could very well have gone the other way, Lex lying to make himself look better in Clark's eyes, not really the one to blame, and yet he was.

"Nixon," Clark finally said.

For the life of him, Lex couldn't see how that related. Unless Clark was still kryptonite sick and just blurting any random thing out. He still had his clothes on, and the kryptonite was still in the wetness. Clark was looking a little pale, though not as bad as earlier.

"When you shot Nixon—"

Lois made an inquiring noise that stopped Clark in his tracks.

"Nixon was this really nosy reporter... ah..." Clark seemed to suddenly realize the irony in what he and Lois now did for a living. Lex quirked his lips as he watched the play of emotions over Clark's face as he obviously tried to reconcile the two and then gave up. Clark determinedly continued, "He was an obsessed reporter—"

"That's not much better," Lex murmured, sotto voce.

Clark glared at him. "He was an insane reporter! Who trapped my dad in with him during a hurricane and when I got to them afterwards, he was going to kill us – he was striking at my dad with a... uh, well, something sharp and nasty, when Lex showed up and shot him, saving my dad."

"Convenient timing," Lois said, skepticism clear in her voice.

It had been. Lex still couldn't believe himself how close it had been. If it hadn't been so close, maybe he would have had another option. He shrugged.

Clark also shrugged, nearly at the same time as Lex, so it couldn't have been in response; they just both had the same thought. "It was," Clark said simply. "And it was..." he paused for words and then gave up on them. "Anyhow, Nixon died."

"And this is supposed to help me believe Lex didn't kill anyone earlier?" Lois baited.

Lex narrowed his eyes, hearing something else in her voice. She was playing a game. He wasn't sure what game it was right now, but she wasn't after the obvious. What was the point of those questions now, while they were in the hall and dripping wet? And why question Clark and not Lex?

"Afterwards, when we were heading home, Lex threw up."

Oh, thank you, Clark, for bringing that up, Lex thought sourly. So much for his suave image.

"He was pale and shivering, sick and in shock. Dad took care of him. Lex said... Lex said it was the first time he'd killed anybody."

Lex honestly didn't remember telling them that. He did, however, remember being sick and how embarrassing it had been to be taken care of.

"We believed him. My dad and I, and if you knew my dad, that wasn't an easy thing." Clark's face was set and grim. Lex suspected that instead of his dad, Clark was remembering his own first kill. With all the mutants around Smallville, that could have been at any point, but Lex was willing to bet Clark hadn't taken it any better. At least Lex had seen death before, even if he hadn't caused it directly.

Lois nodded, a slight grin tugging at her lips. "So Lex didn't kill Jude, since that would have been prior. Plus, autopsy reports show it was Lillian who killed Julian, not Lex."

Lex and Clark both jerked and turned to her, identical expressions of surprise. Lex quickly masked his own, his mouth tightening as he realized what game she'd been up to. She was checking on Clark's reasons, not the actual incidents. Playing Lex's same game, but for what reason?

"What autopsy reports?" Lex had to ask in spite of his not wanting to feed Lois any more lines. He'd never heard of any done on Julian. He'd even looked, though that had been years ago.

"Sealed and buried and just about vanished, but still there if one is persistent enough." Lois shrugged. "I was looking for something on Luthor. Lionel, that is. Found some interesting things, but not enough to use right now."

"Then what the fuck was that?" Clark balled up his fists and took a step towards Lois, hovering slightly in front of Lex in a protective stance.

Lex wondered just what Clark was reacting to. At the least, he'd figured out Lois had an ulterior motive.

Lois shrugged, not at all concerned, her eyes flicking to Lex behind Clark. "I wanted to know why you trust him."

A reluctant grin forced its way to Lex's lips. Lois was apparently familiar with Clark's knee-jerk response of trusting without reason. Sometimes rightfully so, and sometimes... less so. His distrusts as well. Instinct was all fine and good, but... "I'm not that person anymore."

Clark turned back to him, leaving Lois behind, his attention now one hundred percent on Lex. "I'm sorry, Lex."

Lex wasn't sure what Clark was apologizing for now.

"I'd forgotten. I'd loved you and trusted you, and it wasn't all blind, but it was rooted in knowing you, the you that you didn't show others. I lost sight of that, with the lies and the favors and Lana and Chloe and your dad. I didn't ask. I assumed, and I demanded, but I never asked, and I'd forgotten you." Clark shook where he was standing, his body drawn tightly in and his fists clenched. "I did have reason to trust you. It wasn't blind, and yet I forgot all that we had been before. I trusted you then, like I should trust you now. With reason." Clark drew in another breath. "I'm sorry."

Lex drew a shaky breath in, trying to control his trembling emotions. The apology was nothing more than Clark had said earlier, but this time there was more behind it, something solid and real, like there hadn’t been before. Clark had meant it before, but now he believed it as well. Lex couldn't stand the hope.

"Forgive me, Lex, please. I'm sorry."

Lex closed his eyes, remembering waking up in Clark's arms, remembering all the times he'd done the same in Smallville. Maybe this time he could finally let himself dream. It hurt, still. The years of remembering Clark's anger. Seeing it again so recently. Not knowing if he'd done enough yet to gain Clark's trust again. Not knowing if he could trust Clark again. Trust Clark with his life and his secrets, yes, but his heart... Oh, who was he kidding? That was already given as well. He might was well just face it and go on. "Yes."

Then Lex was being kissed again, audience be damned, and Lex could care less. He was in Clark's arms, and this was where he belonged.

Two days later, Clark finally tore himself away from Lex one more time and got in the car with Lois. They drove away with Lex standing in his driveway watching after them. The factory still had work to do, even more now that the Plant Engineering Head was missing, and Lex was awaiting his new director who would take over for him. Clark and Lois' job, however, was done.

They had turned in their story, it had run in the Daily Planet and had been picked up by the Associated Press. Lionel Luthor had egg on his face, smeared through the words of the report. They'd tried to leave Lex mostly out of it, primarily because of that internet video that was still picking up hits and being watched. Questions of favoritism would come up, and Clark's journalistic objectivity. Lionel had his own ammunition to fight any legal charges they could bring up now, and so it was back to Metropolis for their next story against him.

Despite the problems it was causing the paper, Clark couldn't regret his actions after the incident at the bar. He could wish people hadn't seen and videoed it, but as for loving Lex... it had no rhyme, no reason to it at that point, just raw desire and need. That had opened the door to more, though, and Clark could never ever regret that. The more was worth all the rest.

He sank down in the seat and sighed, longing to be back there even now, with Lex. Holding him, touching him, kissing him. Talking to him and listening to the answers. Being honest and thoughtful with each other. Having more sex.

"You can rent your own car if you're going to be doing that the whole way back."

With a blush, Clark straightened up and tried to pretend he hadn't just been thinking that. Lois' snort and sideways glance told him he hadn't been too successful, but the blush was fading.

"What do you think of Lex?" Clark asked. He hadn't asked before. He'd been trying too hard to spend every waking, and non-waking, moment with Lex that he could before they left, and had left Lois for later. He took care of his side of the business, but had also been aware of what was coming up, parting from Lex for a time.

He was going to be a rather distracted superhero for awhile, Clark feared.

Lois was silent for awhile, nominally concentrating on her driving. "I'm going to wait and see. I don't know him, not like you do, and while his history is not his dad's... he's still up to something. You trust him. I... don't distrust him, but neither will I take him for granted yet." She quirked a grin. "One of us has to stay objective."

Clark acknowledged the truth in that. "He's going to oppose his father." As he had the first time Lex had told him, Clark shuddered again, thinking of it.

"That will be dangerous, for all of us." Lois tapped the steering wheel with her fingers, not letting it out of her control. "But somebody has to. Lex... might be the best one to do it. We had just better hope he doesn't turn out worse than Luthor."

It could have happened. When Lex was intent on a goal, he crossed lines, believing in the end result more than the means. Clark knew that, yet he also knew that Lex didn't want to cross the lines, and if there was somebody he could count on to help him... "The difference is, I love him." And perhaps more importantly, "He loves me."

It would be enough. It had to be. Clark believed it this time, like he hadn't known to before. He believed in Lex, he believed in their love, and this time, it would work.