Title: Rode Hard; Put Away Wet
Pair: Clex
Summary: Between S6 Zod and Sneeze, Clark and Lex reunite for the first time since Dark Thursday.
Word Count: 1509
Author’s Note: Ficlet for![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tasabian’s birthday. Hope you like it!
What a day. What a goddamn terrible terrible day. Terrible set of days. Maybe, even one could say, terrible few weeks. Clark had been running himself ragged trying to secretly put right the worst of the damage from what the media was calling rather uncreatively “Dark Thursday.”
Yeah, it had been dark. There had also been an alien flying around in Clark’s former best friend’s body. The human race didn’t know how close they’d come to utter annihilation. Zod hadn’t been like the freaks that popped up once and a while. Little lost souls, off track with their petty little grudges. Zod was cold. Zod had plans. Zod had worn Lex like a cheap suit and used Clark’s hesitation to hurt Lex in order to throw him into the Phantom Zone.
“My fault.” Clark leaned over the tractor and dropped the wrench. After a day of zipping around fast enough that people wouldn’t be able to see him, he still had to make sure that this stupid farm was running. He had never been this tired in his life, and he knew... well, he suspected, that it had to do with more than the sum of his day. The guilt of letting the criminals out of the Phantom Zone, of letting Zod get out in the first place, of not paying enough attention to what Milton Fine had been doing.
Chloe was terse about the situation. She blamed Fine. She blamed Lex. Lois blamed Lex. Martha was quiet about it all, but she pretty much blamed Lex, and had Lionel’s support in doing so. No one blamed Clark, but as far as Clark was concerned, he was the only person who should be blamed. He had all of this power, and no outlet for it, no focus. He spent so much time thinking about Lana, about his father, about how he’d lost so much and messed up so many things.
He sighed deeply, then jumped as he heard someone stepping up behind him.
“You look like you’ve had a rough day,” Lex drawled.
Clark spun around sharply. Lex raised his brows.
“Now I know you’re tired. Otherwise how could I sneak up on you?” Lex’s expression was blank. “You always seemed to know when I was coming.”
“Maybe I’m nervous. The last time you came to this barn, you weren’t exactly friendly,” Clark said shortly.
Lex’s steely exterior weakened. Clark saw the uncertainty flicker over his features.
“I don’t remember that. The last thing I remember before the hospital is... lights.”
Clark frowned. “Lights?”
“Moving lights. In a field. I think the one where I lost my hair.” Lex moved closer.
Clark felt his heart speeding up, as though Lex could actually be a threat to Clark. Still, Lex looked on Clark sympathetically.
“Lana feels the same way,” he said quietly.
“She... what?” Clark looked down on Lex as the man stood next to him.
“She’s afraid. I don’t remember anything, but when that-- don’t laugh, but I’m going to call it an alien, because it was alien to me-- that alien was in my body, it attacked her. She won’t give me the details, but it hurt her hand.” Lex raised a hand gently to Clark’s shoulder and hovered it beside him, not touching. “Did I hurt you?”
“You didn’t do anything, Lex. It was him. When you came to the barn... It wasn’t even you then. The things you were saying. That wasn’t you. It was like someone was talking through you. Saying things that were designed to hit my weak spots.”
“Sounds like me.”
Clark wasn’t sure when he’d consented to a backrub, but soon Lex was doing it, rubbing Clark’s shoulders carefully with a firm grip. “No. It was Fine, talking through you. I know that.”
“I think we may need a professional in here to work out these knots.”
“What?” Clark turned his head back to look at Lex.
“Your shoulders. They’re harder than granite.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Why don’t you sit down?” Lex suggested.
Clark found himself being guided up the stairs, and he sat on the red couch, with Lex behind him, giving his shoulders another go. This time, Lex’s fingers somehow managed to hit the tight points in his back, and Clark hung his head forward.
“You don’t have to carry the entire world on your shoulders, Clark. I know that it’s been hard since your father died. I would help if I could... and if I thought a Kent would accept help from a Luthor.” Lex paused, both speaking and working Clark’s back. Then he resumed as though nothing had happened. “From this Luthor, anyway.”
“I’m not thrilled about my mom taking help from your father either.”
“It is what it is. Your parents were willing to accept Luthor money when Martha was working for him, but not when I was paying you what was your legal right from damages my company caused you-”
“Just because the barrels said LuthorCorp. It wasn’t really your company’s fault.”
“No, it was mine, because the person who did it was trying to get at me.”
“For the high crime of protecting your friend.” Clark rolled his eyes. “You would have died to keep that secret for her.”
“Pity it didn’t work out the way I planned.”
“Nothing does. Have you noticed?”
Lex let out a bitter laugh.
Clark closed his eyes and Lex moved his hands down Clark’s back. “How have you been feeling?”
“Feel like a horse,” Lex said after thinking for a moment.
“Like a horse?”
“You know. Rode hard. Put away wet.”
There was very little emotion in Lex’s voice, but Clark heard Lex’s heart speeding up nervously. He turned and touched Lex’s hand. “Lex...”
“I’m fine. I came away from it without a mark... well. Aside from this.” Lex held up his right palm, which had the symbol of the House of El seared into it. “It’s a glyph. From the caves. I imagine...” Lex turned his hand to look at it. “It means sucker.”
Clark laughed almost involuntarily. “If that’s the case, I need one, too.”
“If I ever remember how I got it, I’ll let you know.”
“Lex...” Clark looked at Lex hard, trying to will him to meet his eye. Lex suddenly seemed vulnerable.
Instead of looking up, Lex rose. “You should get some rest.”
“I have work to do,” Clark replied. He lifted his head and looked down at that damned tractor.
Lex turned slightly and looked at Clark. “It can wait until morning. You’re not the only person on this planet trying to fix things.”
“I... no, I guess I’m not.”
Lex leaned down, and Clark didn’t quite know what to expect, until Lex put his hands on Clark’s forehead and neck. “You have a fever. Hot, even for you. You’re going to get sick, if you don’t get some sleep.”
He walked over to the chest on the far side of the loft and pulled out a blanket. Clark wasn’t going to ask how Lex knew that was there. When Lex returned to him, he was unfolding the blanket.
“Lie back.”
“The cows aren’t going to milk themselves,” Clark said almost playfully. It was something they’d said between them so many times. The cows aren’t going to milk themselves. The cars aren’t going to crash themselves. Those lattes aren’t going to drink themselves. It had almost been like a conspiracy between the two of them, the way they had joked with one another about the almost silly things Jonathan Kent sometimes had said.
“This is Smallville. You never know. They might.” Lex pushed on Clark’s chest, and Clark finally relented and laid back on the sofa, putting his large feet on the opposite arm rest. Lex draped the blanket over him.
“Are you going to read me a story?”
“Not, but if you’re a good boy, I might sing.”
Clark chuckled, then blinked slowly. He was starting to feel sleepy already, lying down like this. Lex stood over him for a moment, watching with a serious, unreadable expression.
“What are you doing here, Lex?”
“I’m not sure,” Lex admitted.
Clark let his head fall to the side and looked up at Lex through slit lids. “Stay. You look exhausted. Sit down.”
To Clark’s surprise, Lex obeyed, first slipping off his suit jacket to hang on the chair, and then sitting against the sofa. He let his head fall back, then stiffened when it touched Clark’s warm body. Clark reached over and touched his fingertips to Lex’s head. Gingerly he coaxed Lex into leaning his head back.
Clark’s fingers stroked the soft skin of Lex’s scalp, tracing patterns and petting him. Lex’s eyes fell shut, and soon, so did Clark’s.
“I don’t have anywhere to go,” Lex murmured after several minutes of silence had passed between them.
Clark wasn’t sure if he was supposed to have heard that, but he nodded, and repeated, “Stay.”
“Maybe for a little while…”
Pair: Clex
Summary: Between S6 Zod and Sneeze, Clark and Lex reunite for the first time since Dark Thursday.
Word Count: 1509
Author’s Note: Ficlet for
tasabian’s birthday. Hope you like it!What a day. What a goddamn terrible terrible day. Terrible set of days. Maybe, even one could say, terrible few weeks. Clark had been running himself ragged trying to secretly put right the worst of the damage from what the media was calling rather uncreatively “Dark Thursday.”
Yeah, it had been dark. There had also been an alien flying around in Clark’s former best friend’s body. The human race didn’t know how close they’d come to utter annihilation. Zod hadn’t been like the freaks that popped up once and a while. Little lost souls, off track with their petty little grudges. Zod was cold. Zod had plans. Zod had worn Lex like a cheap suit and used Clark’s hesitation to hurt Lex in order to throw him into the Phantom Zone.
“My fault.” Clark leaned over the tractor and dropped the wrench. After a day of zipping around fast enough that people wouldn’t be able to see him, he still had to make sure that this stupid farm was running. He had never been this tired in his life, and he knew... well, he suspected, that it had to do with more than the sum of his day. The guilt of letting the criminals out of the Phantom Zone, of letting Zod get out in the first place, of not paying enough attention to what Milton Fine had been doing.
Chloe was terse about the situation. She blamed Fine. She blamed Lex. Lois blamed Lex. Martha was quiet about it all, but she pretty much blamed Lex, and had Lionel’s support in doing so. No one blamed Clark, but as far as Clark was concerned, he was the only person who should be blamed. He had all of this power, and no outlet for it, no focus. He spent so much time thinking about Lana, about his father, about how he’d lost so much and messed up so many things.
He sighed deeply, then jumped as he heard someone stepping up behind him.
“You look like you’ve had a rough day,” Lex drawled.
Clark spun around sharply. Lex raised his brows.
“Now I know you’re tired. Otherwise how could I sneak up on you?” Lex’s expression was blank. “You always seemed to know when I was coming.”
“Maybe I’m nervous. The last time you came to this barn, you weren’t exactly friendly,” Clark said shortly.
Lex’s steely exterior weakened. Clark saw the uncertainty flicker over his features.
“I don’t remember that. The last thing I remember before the hospital is... lights.”
Clark frowned. “Lights?”
“Moving lights. In a field. I think the one where I lost my hair.” Lex moved closer.
Clark felt his heart speeding up, as though Lex could actually be a threat to Clark. Still, Lex looked on Clark sympathetically.
“Lana feels the same way,” he said quietly.
“She... what?” Clark looked down on Lex as the man stood next to him.
“She’s afraid. I don’t remember anything, but when that-- don’t laugh, but I’m going to call it an alien, because it was alien to me-- that alien was in my body, it attacked her. She won’t give me the details, but it hurt her hand.” Lex raised a hand gently to Clark’s shoulder and hovered it beside him, not touching. “Did I hurt you?”
“You didn’t do anything, Lex. It was him. When you came to the barn... It wasn’t even you then. The things you were saying. That wasn’t you. It was like someone was talking through you. Saying things that were designed to hit my weak spots.”
“Sounds like me.”
Clark wasn’t sure when he’d consented to a backrub, but soon Lex was doing it, rubbing Clark’s shoulders carefully with a firm grip. “No. It was Fine, talking through you. I know that.”
“I think we may need a professional in here to work out these knots.”
“What?” Clark turned his head back to look at Lex.
“Your shoulders. They’re harder than granite.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Why don’t you sit down?” Lex suggested.
Clark found himself being guided up the stairs, and he sat on the red couch, with Lex behind him, giving his shoulders another go. This time, Lex’s fingers somehow managed to hit the tight points in his back, and Clark hung his head forward.
“You don’t have to carry the entire world on your shoulders, Clark. I know that it’s been hard since your father died. I would help if I could... and if I thought a Kent would accept help from a Luthor.” Lex paused, both speaking and working Clark’s back. Then he resumed as though nothing had happened. “From this Luthor, anyway.”
“I’m not thrilled about my mom taking help from your father either.”
“It is what it is. Your parents were willing to accept Luthor money when Martha was working for him, but not when I was paying you what was your legal right from damages my company caused you-”
“Just because the barrels said LuthorCorp. It wasn’t really your company’s fault.”
“No, it was mine, because the person who did it was trying to get at me.”
“For the high crime of protecting your friend.” Clark rolled his eyes. “You would have died to keep that secret for her.”
“Pity it didn’t work out the way I planned.”
“Nothing does. Have you noticed?”
Lex let out a bitter laugh.
Clark closed his eyes and Lex moved his hands down Clark’s back. “How have you been feeling?”
“Feel like a horse,” Lex said after thinking for a moment.
“Like a horse?”
“You know. Rode hard. Put away wet.”
There was very little emotion in Lex’s voice, but Clark heard Lex’s heart speeding up nervously. He turned and touched Lex’s hand. “Lex...”
“I’m fine. I came away from it without a mark... well. Aside from this.” Lex held up his right palm, which had the symbol of the House of El seared into it. “It’s a glyph. From the caves. I imagine...” Lex turned his hand to look at it. “It means sucker.”
Clark laughed almost involuntarily. “If that’s the case, I need one, too.”
“If I ever remember how I got it, I’ll let you know.”
“Lex...” Clark looked at Lex hard, trying to will him to meet his eye. Lex suddenly seemed vulnerable.
Instead of looking up, Lex rose. “You should get some rest.”
“I have work to do,” Clark replied. He lifted his head and looked down at that damned tractor.
Lex turned slightly and looked at Clark. “It can wait until morning. You’re not the only person on this planet trying to fix things.”
“I... no, I guess I’m not.”
Lex leaned down, and Clark didn’t quite know what to expect, until Lex put his hands on Clark’s forehead and neck. “You have a fever. Hot, even for you. You’re going to get sick, if you don’t get some sleep.”
He walked over to the chest on the far side of the loft and pulled out a blanket. Clark wasn’t going to ask how Lex knew that was there. When Lex returned to him, he was unfolding the blanket.
“Lie back.”
“The cows aren’t going to milk themselves,” Clark said almost playfully. It was something they’d said between them so many times. The cows aren’t going to milk themselves. The cars aren’t going to crash themselves. Those lattes aren’t going to drink themselves. It had almost been like a conspiracy between the two of them, the way they had joked with one another about the almost silly things Jonathan Kent sometimes had said.
“This is Smallville. You never know. They might.” Lex pushed on Clark’s chest, and Clark finally relented and laid back on the sofa, putting his large feet on the opposite arm rest. Lex draped the blanket over him.
“Are you going to read me a story?”
“Not, but if you’re a good boy, I might sing.”
Clark chuckled, then blinked slowly. He was starting to feel sleepy already, lying down like this. Lex stood over him for a moment, watching with a serious, unreadable expression.
“What are you doing here, Lex?”
“I’m not sure,” Lex admitted.
Clark let his head fall to the side and looked up at Lex through slit lids. “Stay. You look exhausted. Sit down.”
To Clark’s surprise, Lex obeyed, first slipping off his suit jacket to hang on the chair, and then sitting against the sofa. He let his head fall back, then stiffened when it touched Clark’s warm body. Clark reached over and touched his fingertips to Lex’s head. Gingerly he coaxed Lex into leaning his head back.
Clark’s fingers stroked the soft skin of Lex’s scalp, tracing patterns and petting him. Lex’s eyes fell shut, and soon, so did Clark’s.
“I don’t have anywhere to go,” Lex murmured after several minutes of silence had passed between them.
Clark wasn’t sure if he was supposed to have heard that, but he nodded, and repeated, “Stay.”
“Maybe for a little while…”
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Date: 2010-08-05 08:15 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-08-06 02:23 am (UTC)From: