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Title: You Were on Sale 1/2
Summary: Clark has not seen Lex in almost two years, but thinking that he spotted him in a bus station, he follows in hopes of uncovering the mystery of where Lex has been.
Warning: mpreg, futurefic AU post S3
Rating: PG
Part One
The bus station in Dallas was packed to the brim, despite it being almost five in the morning. The weary travelers stood around with their luggage, sometimes their families, enduring layovers with a grim, insular silence, although one might have expected more chattiness. A few of them were, but not many. There was a shop and some vending machines, and the one pitiful restaurant filled the air with a pungent, heartburn-inducing aroma from its greasy, overpriced food. A man wearing an ill-cut suit, tousled hair, rough stubble, and thick glasses sat at the bar eating his meal and looking around the station, occasionally narrowing his eyes and looking with intense concentration.
A people watcher. The man watched the people, apparently idly, but every so often, his eyes fixed on someone and something. Eventually, he tossed away his plate and walked up to the counter to buy a new ticket, then walked to his gate to wait.
It was then that he spotted something that made him blink in surprise. A faded Superman t-shirt stretched over a round, distended belly. He looked up and let his eyes follow the tall red-headed woman making her way over to a wall, where she set her duffle down and began to eat her breakfast. No one seemed to notice her, and no one offered her a seat, which surprised him. Because she was clearly very pregnant.
He took off his glasses and looked over her bag. Looked into her bag. A violation of privacy to be sure, but it was a small bit of guilt that he quickly rationalized away. By some strange quirk of luck, she would be on his bus, so he waited as she pulled herself together, made a trip to the ladies’ room, and then got in line behind the rest, hefting her duffle on her shoulder and rubbing her aching back.
When her chin lifted in regal dignity at having to wait in line rather than be given a seat, the man felt a pang of panic in his heart, a twinge of recognition, a flutter of discontent. He knew those curvy lips, so prone to acerbic wit and clever observation among their many other skilled traits. He knew that long, delicate jaw, one that could have belonged to a man or a woman or neither.
If Clark Kent was sure of anything, it was that those were Lex Luthor’s lips and chin. It was his narrow nose holding up lavender tinted sunglasses, his broad forehead under that wig. But why the hell would Lex be disguised as a pregnant woman in a bus station? Even more puzzling, why would Lex ever in a million years wear a Superman shirt?
His attention shifted back to the man who he was following for a moment. His story centered on getting pictures from the meeting this man was going to somewhere with a major player in a designer drug smuggling ring. These drugs were partially chemical, but also contained nanites that entered the bloodstream and changed the way the abuser’s body worked. Clark needed to follow him wherever he went.
Clark heard the ‘woman’ breathe out uncomfortably and rub the top of her belly. If that was Lex, he was a method actor because he genuinely appeared to be sweating. Peering beneath the lavender sunglasses, Clark looked into Lex’s eyes and became even more sure that it was in fact Lex, and a little worried about him. Lex’s eyes were lined with fatigue and stress. As they might very well be, Clark mused, since Lex had been officially dead for two years. It was possible that Lex had cloned himself, but if that were the case, he would likely have reappeared as his own son or lost brother. Clark couldn’t imagine Lex wanting to leave LexCorp indefinitely in the hands of the current CEO. He was too possessive over the company. It had cost him too much to keep it.
The line began to move, and Clark shuffled forward, shifting his eyes around at their fellow passengers as they got their tickets ripped off the stubs and made their way onto the bus. Clark had been raised fairly middle class, despite his father’s lack of business sense, so when he noticed that some of the people’s luggage was merely a garbage bag with clothes and toiletries stuffed inside, it was a bit of a shock and an eye-opener that anyone would just not have the funds or time to pick up a suitcase or even a duffle bag. Then again, he had to admit, he’d never ridden a bus before. He’d never had to. Superspeed and the ability to fly made certain that he would never have to.
Clark made certain that he got a seat near his mark, but he was distracted as Lex waddled down the aisle with his duffle. He took an outside seat and sat down slowly, cupping the underside of his belly as he went. Lex breathed a sigh of relief, shifting in his seat to make himself more comfortable.
Gawking at Lex the entire trip was not an option, and Clark had to wrest himself away from looking. There was a funny feeling deep in his belly every time he looked back at Lex, who had taken his sunglasses off and clipped them to the front of the Superman shirt and was now lolling his head to the side with his eyes half closed and rubbing circles over his belly.
Funny, funny feeling.
***
“Are you quite alright, sweetheart?”
Clark began to doubt that it was Lex when he heard the reply, the soft, half-whispered words, “Oh, I’m fine. Just a few aches here and there. You know how it is. Heartburn from the bus station food, soreness, cramps, backache… It’s nothing serious.”
“The cramps aren’t too bad, are they?” the first voice asked worriedly. It sounded like an older woman, perhaps the age of Clark’s mother.
“Not really.”
“Here, I think I have some antacids in my bag…”
“I truly appreciate it.”
Clark peeked back for a moment, and sure enough, Lex did look pretty queasy. He chewed on the offered tablets and looked up at the ceiling of the bus.
“Is it a boy or a girl?” the older woman asked interestedly.
“A girl. I’m going to name her Alexandria, I think. Or maybe Claire.”
“They’re both very pretty names. What are you doing traveling in your condition, dear? Aren’t you due very soon?”
“Oh, I have a few more weeks left, at least.”
“I would call that soon. Babies can come early.”
“Well, they can also come late.”
The woman chuckled. “True, true. Babies will come whenever they will. Where did you say you were going?’
“I didn’t. I think I’m going to the bathroom, though.” Lex grunted, pushing himself up, and waddled to the bathroom.
***
When the driver stopped the bus at a gas station and announced a fifteen-minute break, the smokers rose and found their way off the bus. When Lex managed to hoist himself up, Clark decided to follow him out, several steps behind. Clark didn’t know what he was after, or where this would end, but it didn’t feel wise to let this person out of his sight. He might not see Lex again for another two years.
The trip inside, however, proved rather uneventful. Lex first went to the bathroom. Then he bought several packages of Tums, a large bottle of ginger ale, a sad looking apple, a few packages of peanut butter crackers, and a hot dog, which he ate outside the store, trying to steer clear of the smokers. After wiping his mouth several times, he headed back to the bus, cupping his belly once more as he gripped the side bar and tried to pull himself up.
Clark’s heart nearly stopped when Lex stumbled, but the driver had been standing right there and put his hand against his back.
“Careful, little lady,” his voice boomed.
Lex nodded quickly. “Thank you.”
The driver grabbed Lex’s hand and waited for Lex to make it into the bus before he stepped back. “Poor girl,” he murmured.
Clark returned to the bus after that and moved to a seat further back, where he could watch Lex less obviously.
***
Between popping Tums every half-hour and waddling back to the bathroom at the back of the bus, it appeared that Lex wasn’t getting much sleep, and it also appeared that he could use it. Clark wondered if he were really ill, and also how he managed to look quite so pregnant, beyond the large bump at his middle. Even his hands and face looked a bit puffy, although his legs were as skinny as ever.
His discretion failing, Clark scanned Lex’s duffle bag again. It contained a second shirt and pair of sweatpants, as well as a small blanket, medical tape, a toothbrush, a bar of soap, and some prenatal vitamins. Clark frowned deeply. Lex should have more than that on him when traveling, no matter what. He was really surprised that Lex didn’t have a weapon of any kind.
The hand on the side of the seat pushed down, and Clark quickly pretended that he was reading the book he’d brought with him. Lex waddled past to the bathroom on the back of the bus with a sigh, and Clark let out a breath himself. He couldn’t bring himself to spy on Lex in the bathroom, or even to listen to see if Lex was only going as part of his disguise. Instead he stared blindly at his book and waited for Lex to return.
Soon enough, Lex was returning to his seat. Clark looked up at him briefly to notice that Lex was looking back at him with a sharply raised brow. His weary gray eyes gave Clark a once over before turning back to the front, grabbing the blanket out of his duffle, and wrapping it defensively around him.
Clark frowned wondering what that was about then looked down at his book. It was upside down.
Brilliant.
Looking up at the ceiling, Clark couldn’t think of his mission. He could only think of two years ago, when the Luthor/Superman war had reached its peak in more way than one. Clark had been lured. He knew that. He knew it when it had been happening. When Lex had begun baiting him just to get his attention. When Lois wanted his attention, she’d dangle herself from some high spot so that he could see her panties from where he was flying overhead and scream out as though terrified. When Chloe or Batman wanted his attention, they gave him a call on their communicators. When Lex wanted his attention, there would be a death ray aimed at the city.
The kicker had been that time when Superman hadn’t made it. Hadn’t been able to stop Lex. He had been fighting some superpowered mutant and trying to save Lois who had been hunting a new story for the Inquisitor and gotten herself tangled up in the wiring of Lex’s machine. The countdown reached zero. Nothing had happened.
Lex had claimed that it was a construction error. Clark had rolled his eyes and tore the machine to pieces, picked Lois up, and flown home. Sitting alone in his apartment, Clark had turned on some bad movie, kicked his heels up, and put on some popcorn. He didn’t want to think about what this meant. Lex could be the prince of lies… but really, when something was close to Lex’s heart, his excuses sounded a bit like “my bad,” and nothing more.
He’d found himself at Lex’s office, spying through the glass like he had so many times before. Lex was standing by a screen pensively. He looked up at it head tilted and hands in his pockets.
“What are you doing here? Come to scold me, Superman?” Then he’d looked over his shoulder at Clark, who had indeed changed back into his suit just in case someone had spotted him flying.
“Let me in.”
With a sigh, Lex had strolled over to his desk to press the button that opened the window, and Clark had hovered inside.
“Why do you keep doing these things?”
“I do what I must,” he had replied darkly.
“You don’t have to create elaborate plans to get my attention. You don’t have to hurt people,” Clark had admonished him.
“Once again, you fail to understand. Who was harmed today?”
“You’ve hurt people, Lex. You know that.”
“And I trust ultimately, I will be judged. But not by you.” His head had then turned back to the screen he’d been watching solemnly.
Clark had set down on the floor and walked up behind Lex. Then the screaming had begun. Clark had started it deliberately, knowing well how to press Lex’s buttons, how to make that calm veneer fall away to the anger that burned Lex’s insides.
Lips curling over perfect, white teeth, eyes widening, voices rising. Lex tended to spit when he got too angry, and Clark had never told him how hilariously adorable that was. Probably because Lex hardly ever let himself get that angry.
Then suddenly the two of them were kissing, Clark was ripping Lex’s clothes off without heeding to buttons or zippers, and Lex was letting himself be thrown against the desk and mounted like a preacher’s daughter on prom night.
It was their first but not their last time. They continued baiting one another, deliberately aggravating each other, until the tension built up and Lex’s legs were up over his head once again. Or he was bent over his desk. Or pinned to Clark’s body as two strong blue-clad arms wrapped around him.
Didn’t matter when or where or what excuses they made to themselves. The both of them knew that what was happening between them wasn’t going to stop. Neither of them had the power to stop it, and it had been coming since the day they’d met.
Until the explosion that had taken down the LexCorp building. Clark had known that day he would never forget standing there in front of the building, too late as they carried Mercy’s remains out in a body bag along with so many LexCorp employees. He had also known that he would never forgive himself, both for not saving Lex and for all the things he had let go unsaid while their bodies doubled.
Now Lex was here. And Clark wouldn’t fail to save him again.
***
There was something uncannily familiar about that pervert that had been watching him since they’d gotten on this godforsaken bus, but Lex was damned if he could figure it out. His head was aching, his back was aching, he was nauseous and had heartburn at the same fucking time, and when Lex saw that man staring at his fat ass covered in navy blue sweatpants, he had been sorely tempted to take the book the man was pretending to read and beat him senseless with it.
Instead, he hid his body under the blanket he’d stolen from the last hotel he’d been in and tried to get some sleep. He really couldn’t, but at the last stop, some people had gotten off and his partner in the seat had moved so he could stretch out a little more, so that much he could try. What he really needed was a real bed that he could lay on with good pillows for support. He knew he wouldn’t get it, though, so there was no use in complaining.
Besides, if he were going to complain about anything, it would be that wigs are itchy and hot or that men really, really shouldn’t be pregnant at all. Not human men at least, no matter who they slept with or what happened to them when they were nine years old.
Having been on the run more or less for the past two years had made Lex a paranoid man. Granted, he had been paranoid before, but being in enough trouble from enough parties that faking your death hadn’t quite covered all of the vultures out to get you stepped up the intensity of that constant feeling of being watched, being hunted, and not to mention, the attempts on his life. He tried not to stay in any location for very long. Leaving the country was out of the question, because inevitably, there was someone waiting for him at the borders. At the moment, getting on a plane was not an option.
Leaning his head against the side of the second seat, Lex slide a hand under his heavy belly and tried to wiggle himself into a position that didn’t make his back scream. It probably didn’t exist, but he pulled up one leg and rested his belly against his thigh. That was enough support for him to manage a slightly less uncomfortable attempt at sleeping.
He managed to drift into a sort of miserable half-sleep, frowning and occasionally rubbing sore parts of himself. He missed his king sized bed.
***
Lex woke and looked around irritably. Still on the bus, still miserable. They were no longer moving, however, and the driver was telling them how long they had at the stop. He didn’t particularly want to get up, but if he didn’t eat, he knew he would regret it, and if he did… he would still regret it in heartburn. So he hefted himself to his feet and made his way out of the bus, more carefully this time.
Bathroom first. Bathroom always first. Dammit.
Second was food, and thankfully they had a sandwich shop here and not just some greasy rotating food on a spit. He ordered two sandwiches, one for now and one for later. Who knew when he’d have a chance to stop. He decided to eat out on the bench, because the day was bright, though a bit chill, and the sunlight almost made him feel better sometimes. He didn’t have a jacket, unfortunately, but walking around warmed him up. He took a seat and tucked into the first sandwich.
He was wiping a bit of mayo off the side of his mouth when he noticed the scruffy pervert from before out of the corner of his eye. He was leaning against the corner of the building, and he was peering around it, watching him.
A bit of panic registered inside of Lex when he realized that the man really was following him, watching him. He might know who Lex was. Would he take him back to his boss? Was he waiting for a good, clean kill? Lex contemplated hiding in the bathroom until the bus had taken off again, but there was a good chance that the man would just wait for him and kill him when he waddled out to the highway to hitch a ride.
Lex felt sick throughout his body. Physically ill all the way through him. When he’d been running before, before he’d realized that he was pregnant, he hadn’t known terror like this. Not at all. Now that he had a squirming fetus moving around just below his ribcage, all he could think of was his own blood spilling and that his baby would go with him, never having had the chance to breath the air.
He set the sandwiches aside and vomited into the bag. Throwing up didn’t make him feel any better. He just leaned over it, letting his vision blur as he could feel and taste the bile burning through his nose and throat. He heaved a second time and gripped the table tightly, afraid that he might just fall over from dizziness. When he was certain that nothing more would be coming, he wiped off his tongue with a napkin and sipped his drink. He wasn’t going to try to eat any more at the moment.
Taking the sandwiches and heading to the bus, Lex began formulating a plan. He would have to try to get off on another stop when the man wasn’t looking. Either throw him somehow, or get his hands on a weapon, lure him into a secluded place, and kill him.
***
Clark had never, not in the decades that he had known the man, ever seen Lex throw up.
But Lex had. Clark watched it, and he watched Lex miserably waddling back to the bus after discarding the befouled bag. This time the bus driver took Lex’s arm without waiting for him to fall, and Lex again looked grateful. Mostly though, he looked white as milk and ready to drop.
That was enough to worry Clark into doing something he wouldn’t normally do, and that was give Lex a full scan. He doubted that he would find anything, but maybe Lex had cancer, or parasite of some kind, and if that were the case, then Clark would have to take him to a doctor.
After tucking the wrapped sandwiches in his bag, Lex curled up again and let his eyes droop closed. He was the very picture of tense and wretched. Clark retook his seat and narrowed his eyes, giving Lex a slow scan from head to toe.
He noticed first that Lex’s heart was doing double-time, although Clark had noticed that earlier. Still, it seemed to be pumping a lot of blood. By the time he was looking into Lex’s crowded lungs, Clark was frowning. A little further, and Clark had it all explained for him. Well, in as much as such a sight could explain it.
It dawned on Clark that he was not looking at a heavily pregnant woman or Lex in disguise; Lex was very pregnant. Although Clark’s mind spun with the impossibility of it, he was looking at a large fetus that was kicking just under Lex’s breastbone.
Clark fell against the back of his seat. Lex had been wrong, though. It was a boy.
An adorable, big, boy who had dark black hair and was jerking suddenly. Clark was worried for a moment, but then he realized that the baby had the hiccups. He watched as Lex grumbled, shifted in his seat, and pressed his hands on either side of his belly, rubbing rhythmically. Despite Lex’s obvious discomfort, Clark had to smile.
This changed things, but not too much. Clark would still have to do something about Lex. It didn’t matter really why Lex was wandering around pregnant and clearly ill like this when he was supposed to be dead. Clark couldn’t take him to the hospital, but he would try to get him to help. He was sure that Lex would need it, and by the look of him, soon.
***
This child, Lex decided, really needed to get herself a fucking glass of water.
His eyes flitted over to the scruffy man and felt his heart jump a little. The man’s eyes were closed, and the bus was coming to another stop. Finally. Lex pushed himself up quietly as possible, grabbed his duffle, and made for the front of the bus.
“Have a good trip, little lady,” the driver said warmly. He patted Lex’s arm and stood as he made his way down the stairs, watching to be sure that Lex didn’t stumble.
Normally, that irritated the hell out of him, but at the moment, it just made him nervous that the man would wake up before he could get away.
“Got any luggage under the bus?” the driver asked.
“No, no. Just this. Short trip,” Lex answered in a whispery voice. It was really the only way he could pass his normally deep tone off for something remotely feminine. Although the belly helped. When in doubt, people believed the simplest explanations that fit best into their worldview.
Pregnant mutant men didn’t fit well into most people’s paradigms.
***
Clark blinked and sniffed. The bus had come to a stop, and somehow, he had managed to fall asleep watching Lex’s baby inside him. Then he blinked. Lex wasn’t in his seat. Clark listened in the bathroom for Lex and the baby’s heartbeats, but they weren’t there.
He stood up and rushed to the front of the bus. The driver looked irritated, but he got off with him and asked for his luggage tag. Clark gave it to him and looked around the gas station frantically.
“Did… ah… Lex, Alex make her stop? The pregnant woman?” Clark asked.
The driver nodded and handed him his suitcase. “Yeah, she got off just now. Must’ve gone inside out of the heat, bless her heart.”
Clark nodded and hurried into the station. A quick look told him that Lex wasn’t there. He wasn’t in the bathroom either. Rushing outside again, he wondered how someone so pregnant could move that fast.
By now the bus had taken off, and Clark narrowed his eyes and used his x-ray vision to sweep the entire parking lot.
“Oh, Lex,” he whispered, spotting him curled over in the backseat of a blue Miata idling by pump #3. He could hear Lex’s heart beating wildly and just stood there unsure of what to do. He could go over there and pull Lex out of the backseat, but the man was obviously terrified. He didn’t want to make this situation any worse.
A tall, thin man with three-day stubble came out of the gas station stuffing his wallet back into his jeans and got into the driver’s seat of the Miata. Clark watched them for a moment, then walked around the side of the gas station and shot into the air. He followed over them, easily keeping speed with the car and watching Lex closely. He hoped to God the driver didn’t find Lex or get angry with him.
It was almost half an hour before Clark realized that he’d abandoned his post. He pulled out his cell phone to see if he had reception, then dialed Bruce Wayne’s number to tell him where his mark had been headed. Since Bruce was out, he left a short message with Alfred including the destination of the man he’d been tailing and an request that Bruce find someone to pick up following him there.
“Very good, Mr. Kent. I shall pass the message along,” Alfred told him in his neat British accent.
“Tell him I apologize, as well. There’s another person who needs saving, and I don’t think I’ll get another chance.”
“I’m sure Master Bruce will be able to pick up the slack, sir. It’s what the alliances you’ve joined are for, aren’t they?”
“I suppose. Thank you, Alfred. I’ve got to go. Not good to talk on your cell while flying.”
“Oh, no, I agree. Have a good evening, sir.”
“We’ll see about that.”
“Well, at least be careful.”
Clark smiled. Alfred was like a second mother. He really was.
***
The backseat was more comfortable than the bus seats, but Lex was so frightened that he was going to be caught, and so busy making up stories for the inevitability of his being caught, that his heart continued to pound and he remained quite alert. For a while, he thought that the driver would never put on any music. Who drove long distances without putting on music?
Eventually, he started flipping around the radio stations and caught an ‘oldies’ station. The man began singing along. The man was really quite tone deaf.
Lex considered briefly that he might be in hell, or that this was some sort of karmic retribution for all the wicked things that he’d done in his life. Rationalizing that he’d done them with the best of intentions didn’t get him out of the back of a car on the run from one of any number of his enemies who had found him, a car that potentially belonged to someone who might beat him and his child to death once he found out they were there.
The baby decided in that moment to get the hiccups again, and Lex closed his eyes for a moment, took a very deep, slow breath, then opened his eyes once more and kept them on the driver. He was Lex fucking Luthor. He would get out of this.
His fingers felt around the floor of the back seat and touched something cold and metal. They wrapped around it. Just in case.
After an hour or so of driving, the car pulled in somewhere, and Lex was elated. He could get out of this fucking car. The man got out and left. Lex waited for a heartbeat and then pulled on the door handle.
Child. Proof. Locks. Dammit!
Licking his lips, Lex peeked his head to see if the man was around. He wasn’t. They were at a motel, and he had likely gone inside. Quickly, Lex reached forward to lower the back of the passenger seat, then did his best to climb out that way. He was sure he was going to get caught, but somehow he had maneuvered his bulk, his duffle, and the tire iron he’d grabbed out of the car and made it to the sidewalk before the man came out again.
Lex took a relieved breath and looked around. The driver shot a look over at him, but Lex recognized it as one of those gawking looks thrown at very pregnant women, so he raised a brow and tried to look as though he were waiting on someone. Eventually the driver pulled a suitcase out of his backseat and headed to his room.
Scratching the back of his neck, Lex looked down at his belly and wondered what the hell he was going to do now. He didn’t have the money for another bus ticket and little means of getting more money. He’d been banking on moving around as much as possible to keep himself, and now his child, safe, but now he was stuck. He could start hitchhiking. It was a possibility.
“Let’s see how much a room costs, hm?” he asked his belly, then turned to enter the front office. “Excuse me?”
The heavyset man with thick glasses at the desk was reading the newspaper and looked up with eyes popping out of his head. Lex touched his wig to be sure it was still in place. Surely he didn’t look that ridiculous. He’d been passing just fine.
“Could you tell me how much for a room?” Lex continued in the most tender voice he could manage.
“Oh, you alone, sweetheart?” the man asked, sitting up a little. He looked over his shoulder. “Maude! Maaaaauuude!”
A skinny mocha skinned woman came out of the back. “What is it, Dad?”
“How much for a single, now?” he asked her.
She leaned on the counter and looked over at Lex critically. “Single?”
“Yes,” Lex replied without thinking.
Maude tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips. “Forty dollars a night.”
Lex suspected he was getting a pity discount, but he only had fifty-three left, so he would take it for a possible night’s rest. He waddled over to the counter and pulled the money out of his sweatpants. Once he handed the money over, Maude gave him the key and looked to her father again with an inscrutable expression.
But at the moment he was just too goddamn tired to figure it out.
Course of, his first action when he made it to his motel room was to toss the duffle on the bed and pull his shirt over his head. He unfastened the bra and dropped it to the ground, the damn tight thing. The shoes he kicked off, and he had to lean against the bed to steady himself enough to get his sweatpants off. Then the pair of briefs, which did nothing for his circulation, but everything for his tuck, because no one would believe that he was pregnant with his cock jumping up all the time.
Once his clothes were off, he walked to the bathroom, rubbing his back, and hoped the water was hot. Letting out a low groan, he bent over to turn the water on and tested it with his fingers. As the water filled the tub, he straightened himself up to look in the mirror. He’d forgotten to take off his wig and for a moment he glared at his reflection, thinking that he made a damn ugly woman.
He set the wig on the sink and avoided the mirror stubbornly. Then he eased himself into the bath and lay back as the water filled the tub.
“I’m doing the best I can, okay, baby? Go easy on me. I’m not sure how much longer you’re going to be in there.” He teased his fingers over the side of his belly and watched the little ripples appear and disappear over the surface of his taut skin, reacting to his touch and his voice. “However, I will protect you, no matter what. I promise.”
***
After the friendship of legends, after the rivalry of the same, after the accusations and the betrayals and murder attempts on both their parts some including Red K or just plain anger, after everything, Clark still felt it. They had loved and hated one another. Fought and screamed and fucked. Been everything two men could have been to one another and more.
Clark still felt that funny twinge, that not quite need, in the pit of his stomach whenever Lex was hurt physically or mentally losing his grip. There had been no active decision on his part to abandon his post and go after Lex, although he realized that he might have put more thought into running off of that bus after one—actually, two lives that needed saving—when there were thousands of lives being threatened with his former missions, but Clark doubted that any other member of the JLA would be able or willing (especially willing) to help Lex in his hour of need.
Chance had brought them together after the meteor shower, and yet again at the Loeb Bridge. Blind luck had put Lex on the same bus with him, and Clark wasn’t going to ignore the fact any longer that Lex was part of his destiny.
After Lex had gone into his room, Clark zipped into the office and snitched the second key. He felt like a pervert watching Lex in the bathroom, but Clark did worry a bit that Lex would slip. Thankfully he didn’t, and once he had bathed, he returned to the main room, pulled out a spare pair of briefs and his clean shirt and tugged them on.
Lex lay down on his side, one hand curved protectively around his belly and the other gripping a tire iron tightly. Clark had to smile, and he waited until he heard Lex’s breathing slow before he used the key and sat in the one chair available in the tiny motel room, watching Lex’s chest rise and fall.
Once again, he was almost hypnotized watching Lex and the child, who was now sucking his thumb. Right now, it didn’t matter how the baby got there, only that they were both alive and Lex was safe now. Clark would be sure of that.
He should have noticed when Lex’s breathing changed again, but Lex was up and moving before Clark could think what to do. Brandishing the tire iron and shouting angrily at Clark, Lex moved frantically back on the bed.
“Why are you following me?” Lex demanded. When Clark moved forward to help him, the tire iron came shattering down on his head. Lex blinked up at him in surprise. “Who are you?
“I guess I should have taken off my disguise before I came in,” Clark said gently as he took off his glasses and pushed his hair back out of his face. He watched as recognition registered on Lex’s face along with surprise and a bit of annoyance.
“Do you know how hard it is for me to get back to sleep?” Lex grumbled after a moment.
Clark smiled and brushed the bits of iron off the bed. “I can try to help.” He sat on the bed and touched his mouth, taking in a deep breath. “Lex, I’m so glad you’re alright.”
“Thank you,” Lex said, pulling his legs up and putting a hand over his belly. He looked slightly embarrassed, which only made Clark smile more. “Stop.”
“I’m not! I… Congratulations, Lex. I’m sorry for spying on you and for frightening you, but when I saw you at the bus station, I couldn’t just leave,” Clark tried to explain.
Lex raised a brow uncertainly. “What are you doing out here anyway?”
“Following a story.”
“And found a better one?”
“Oh, come on, Lex,” Clark scoffed. “You know I wouldn’t follow you just to make a story out of this. I was worried about you. You look sick, Lex.”
“Well. This is hard. And it’s harder when you’re constantly moving around,” Lex admitted. He frowned deeply and looked away.
Clark licked his lips and moved closer. “Lex, what are you doing out here like this? Why did you let everyone think you were dead?”
“The two aren’t connected. I didn’t know at the time.”
“You… that was two years ago. How could you have known that you would be pregnant?”
Lex pressed his lips together. “I couldn’t. But I was. The explosion, it wasn’t my plan. I just took the opportunity to get out of town. I didn’t imagine at the time that I wouldn’t be able to return.”
“Was it Edge and Mannheim?” Clark asked.
“Among others. It’s my own fault. It seems that while I was otherwise distracted the other criminal elements in the city and beyond decided to dethrone the king of Metropolis.” Lex shook his head. “They’ve eliminated any contacts I had, and any time I’ve attempted to stay in one place for too long, they’ve found me, and bullets come flying my way.”
Clark creased his brows. “You could have contacted me, Lex. Why didn’t you?”
“Could I? We were enemies with benefits, last I checked,” Lex replied pithily.
Clark scratched the side of his head and then reached over to take Lex’s free hand. “You could. I’m sorry I never made sure you knew that. I could have protected you. Helped take them down so they’d be off your back.”
“I don’t know about that. I have a lot of enemies.”
“Do they know about… your…?”
Lex shrugged. “I doubt it. No one has really gotten close enough in the past couple of months. Although I’ve recognized a few faces snooping around, I managed to get away before anyone noticed this wasn’t a disguise,” he said, licking his lips. He was quiet a moment, sucking in his cheeks. “Yours too, Clark.”
“What...? How can it be mine?” Clark asked incredulously.
Lex favored him with a sarcastic look. “Well, either you’re the father, or I’m budding. One of the two. I haven’t been with anyone else.”
“How could you be pregnant for two years?”
“How could I be pregnant at all? You’re an alien. You have different rules.” Lex began to move his hand away from Clark’s. With a frown, Clark tightened his grasp.
“I believe you. It’s just a bit much, okay?”
“Like I said, I didn’t know at first. As though it were just hibernating for a while before I felt it. Your species lives practically forever, so I’m guessing the long gestation is really nothing to yours,” Lex explained. Clark moved up to the top of the bed and slipped his arms around Lex until the man was snugly in his lap. Lex didn’t resist much at all. He laid his head back on Clark’s shoulder and looked back at him. “What now?”
“Now, I think we try to get you back to sleep. We’ll worry about what to do in the morning,” Clark pronounced. He paused, letting his hand move over Lex’s distended belly. “I can’t believe I…”
“Don’t worry. That was my first reaction as well,” Lex replied with a tinge of amusement.
Chuckling softly, Clark lifted Lex up and settled him on his side once again. Lex reached back to pull his shirt down over his briefs, but it was already stretched to capacity covering his belly. Clark gave Lex’s exposed tush a squeeze, and laughed at Lex’s offended noise.
“Don’t worry about that, Lex. Just get comfortable.”
“Easier said than done.” Lex grunted as he tried to shift himself. “Much easier.”
A smile teased Clark’s lips again, and he curled up against Lex, making just enough room to rub his lower back. “How’s this feel?”
“Good,” Lex murmured. “Thank you.”
“Are you cold?”
“A little, but sleeping next to you is like cuddling up to a radiator.”
Clark laughed again and continued to massage Lex’s back until he seemed to relax. Then he wrapped his arms around Lex, holding him closely and pressing one hand over Lex’s on his large belly.
”I’m sorry I frightened you,” he whispered.
Lex shrugged. “It helps to be paranoid when people are in fact out to get you.”
“Still.” Clark pressed his lips to the back of Lex’s head. “I’ve missed you. After the explosion, I thought I might die. Of guilt, maybe.”
“You didn’t plant that bomb. I’m also fairly certain you were probably saving someone else at the time.”
“That really isn’t good enough.” Clark felt his heart jerk when he felt a strong thump against his hand. “Oh my God.”
“Nope. Just your kid,” Lex teased. “She’s a strong one.”
“Actually, I looked. It’s a boy.”
Lex looked back at Clark with an expression of surprise and joy. With a wide grin, Clark leaned in to meet his lips and kissed the father of his child vigorously until Lex leaned back wearily and stared at him with his lined, gray eyes.
“Why were you wearing a Superman shirt, Lex?” Clark asked, caressing Lex’s puffy cheek.
Lex blinked slowly, looking as though he might fall asleep before he could formulate a reply. “You were on sale. Cheap. I got you for fifty cents.”
“You got me for a lot less than that,” Clark said and kissed Lex’s temple tenderly. Lex was completely out, so Clark snuggled in to keep him warm and secure while he slept.
Summary: Clark has not seen Lex in almost two years, but thinking that he spotted him in a bus station, he follows in hopes of uncovering the mystery of where Lex has been.
Warning: mpreg, futurefic AU post S3
Rating: PG
Part One
The bus station in Dallas was packed to the brim, despite it being almost five in the morning. The weary travelers stood around with their luggage, sometimes their families, enduring layovers with a grim, insular silence, although one might have expected more chattiness. A few of them were, but not many. There was a shop and some vending machines, and the one pitiful restaurant filled the air with a pungent, heartburn-inducing aroma from its greasy, overpriced food. A man wearing an ill-cut suit, tousled hair, rough stubble, and thick glasses sat at the bar eating his meal and looking around the station, occasionally narrowing his eyes and looking with intense concentration.
A people watcher. The man watched the people, apparently idly, but every so often, his eyes fixed on someone and something. Eventually, he tossed away his plate and walked up to the counter to buy a new ticket, then walked to his gate to wait.
It was then that he spotted something that made him blink in surprise. A faded Superman t-shirt stretched over a round, distended belly. He looked up and let his eyes follow the tall red-headed woman making her way over to a wall, where she set her duffle down and began to eat her breakfast. No one seemed to notice her, and no one offered her a seat, which surprised him. Because she was clearly very pregnant.
He took off his glasses and looked over her bag. Looked into her bag. A violation of privacy to be sure, but it was a small bit of guilt that he quickly rationalized away. By some strange quirk of luck, she would be on his bus, so he waited as she pulled herself together, made a trip to the ladies’ room, and then got in line behind the rest, hefting her duffle on her shoulder and rubbing her aching back.
When her chin lifted in regal dignity at having to wait in line rather than be given a seat, the man felt a pang of panic in his heart, a twinge of recognition, a flutter of discontent. He knew those curvy lips, so prone to acerbic wit and clever observation among their many other skilled traits. He knew that long, delicate jaw, one that could have belonged to a man or a woman or neither.
If Clark Kent was sure of anything, it was that those were Lex Luthor’s lips and chin. It was his narrow nose holding up lavender tinted sunglasses, his broad forehead under that wig. But why the hell would Lex be disguised as a pregnant woman in a bus station? Even more puzzling, why would Lex ever in a million years wear a Superman shirt?
His attention shifted back to the man who he was following for a moment. His story centered on getting pictures from the meeting this man was going to somewhere with a major player in a designer drug smuggling ring. These drugs were partially chemical, but also contained nanites that entered the bloodstream and changed the way the abuser’s body worked. Clark needed to follow him wherever he went.
Clark heard the ‘woman’ breathe out uncomfortably and rub the top of her belly. If that was Lex, he was a method actor because he genuinely appeared to be sweating. Peering beneath the lavender sunglasses, Clark looked into Lex’s eyes and became even more sure that it was in fact Lex, and a little worried about him. Lex’s eyes were lined with fatigue and stress. As they might very well be, Clark mused, since Lex had been officially dead for two years. It was possible that Lex had cloned himself, but if that were the case, he would likely have reappeared as his own son or lost brother. Clark couldn’t imagine Lex wanting to leave LexCorp indefinitely in the hands of the current CEO. He was too possessive over the company. It had cost him too much to keep it.
The line began to move, and Clark shuffled forward, shifting his eyes around at their fellow passengers as they got their tickets ripped off the stubs and made their way onto the bus. Clark had been raised fairly middle class, despite his father’s lack of business sense, so when he noticed that some of the people’s luggage was merely a garbage bag with clothes and toiletries stuffed inside, it was a bit of a shock and an eye-opener that anyone would just not have the funds or time to pick up a suitcase or even a duffle bag. Then again, he had to admit, he’d never ridden a bus before. He’d never had to. Superspeed and the ability to fly made certain that he would never have to.
Clark made certain that he got a seat near his mark, but he was distracted as Lex waddled down the aisle with his duffle. He took an outside seat and sat down slowly, cupping the underside of his belly as he went. Lex breathed a sigh of relief, shifting in his seat to make himself more comfortable.
Gawking at Lex the entire trip was not an option, and Clark had to wrest himself away from looking. There was a funny feeling deep in his belly every time he looked back at Lex, who had taken his sunglasses off and clipped them to the front of the Superman shirt and was now lolling his head to the side with his eyes half closed and rubbing circles over his belly.
Funny, funny feeling.
“Are you quite alright, sweetheart?”
Clark began to doubt that it was Lex when he heard the reply, the soft, half-whispered words, “Oh, I’m fine. Just a few aches here and there. You know how it is. Heartburn from the bus station food, soreness, cramps, backache… It’s nothing serious.”
“The cramps aren’t too bad, are they?” the first voice asked worriedly. It sounded like an older woman, perhaps the age of Clark’s mother.
“Not really.”
“Here, I think I have some antacids in my bag…”
“I truly appreciate it.”
Clark peeked back for a moment, and sure enough, Lex did look pretty queasy. He chewed on the offered tablets and looked up at the ceiling of the bus.
“Is it a boy or a girl?” the older woman asked interestedly.
“A girl. I’m going to name her Alexandria, I think. Or maybe Claire.”
“They’re both very pretty names. What are you doing traveling in your condition, dear? Aren’t you due very soon?”
“Oh, I have a few more weeks left, at least.”
“I would call that soon. Babies can come early.”
“Well, they can also come late.”
The woman chuckled. “True, true. Babies will come whenever they will. Where did you say you were going?’
“I didn’t. I think I’m going to the bathroom, though.” Lex grunted, pushing himself up, and waddled to the bathroom.
When the driver stopped the bus at a gas station and announced a fifteen-minute break, the smokers rose and found their way off the bus. When Lex managed to hoist himself up, Clark decided to follow him out, several steps behind. Clark didn’t know what he was after, or where this would end, but it didn’t feel wise to let this person out of his sight. He might not see Lex again for another two years.
The trip inside, however, proved rather uneventful. Lex first went to the bathroom. Then he bought several packages of Tums, a large bottle of ginger ale, a sad looking apple, a few packages of peanut butter crackers, and a hot dog, which he ate outside the store, trying to steer clear of the smokers. After wiping his mouth several times, he headed back to the bus, cupping his belly once more as he gripped the side bar and tried to pull himself up.
Clark’s heart nearly stopped when Lex stumbled, but the driver had been standing right there and put his hand against his back.
“Careful, little lady,” his voice boomed.
Lex nodded quickly. “Thank you.”
The driver grabbed Lex’s hand and waited for Lex to make it into the bus before he stepped back. “Poor girl,” he murmured.
Clark returned to the bus after that and moved to a seat further back, where he could watch Lex less obviously.
Between popping Tums every half-hour and waddling back to the bathroom at the back of the bus, it appeared that Lex wasn’t getting much sleep, and it also appeared that he could use it. Clark wondered if he were really ill, and also how he managed to look quite so pregnant, beyond the large bump at his middle. Even his hands and face looked a bit puffy, although his legs were as skinny as ever.
His discretion failing, Clark scanned Lex’s duffle bag again. It contained a second shirt and pair of sweatpants, as well as a small blanket, medical tape, a toothbrush, a bar of soap, and some prenatal vitamins. Clark frowned deeply. Lex should have more than that on him when traveling, no matter what. He was really surprised that Lex didn’t have a weapon of any kind.
The hand on the side of the seat pushed down, and Clark quickly pretended that he was reading the book he’d brought with him. Lex waddled past to the bathroom on the back of the bus with a sigh, and Clark let out a breath himself. He couldn’t bring himself to spy on Lex in the bathroom, or even to listen to see if Lex was only going as part of his disguise. Instead he stared blindly at his book and waited for Lex to return.
Soon enough, Lex was returning to his seat. Clark looked up at him briefly to notice that Lex was looking back at him with a sharply raised brow. His weary gray eyes gave Clark a once over before turning back to the front, grabbing the blanket out of his duffle, and wrapping it defensively around him.
Clark frowned wondering what that was about then looked down at his book. It was upside down.
Brilliant.
Looking up at the ceiling, Clark couldn’t think of his mission. He could only think of two years ago, when the Luthor/Superman war had reached its peak in more way than one. Clark had been lured. He knew that. He knew it when it had been happening. When Lex had begun baiting him just to get his attention. When Lois wanted his attention, she’d dangle herself from some high spot so that he could see her panties from where he was flying overhead and scream out as though terrified. When Chloe or Batman wanted his attention, they gave him a call on their communicators. When Lex wanted his attention, there would be a death ray aimed at the city.
The kicker had been that time when Superman hadn’t made it. Hadn’t been able to stop Lex. He had been fighting some superpowered mutant and trying to save Lois who had been hunting a new story for the Inquisitor and gotten herself tangled up in the wiring of Lex’s machine. The countdown reached zero. Nothing had happened.
Lex had claimed that it was a construction error. Clark had rolled his eyes and tore the machine to pieces, picked Lois up, and flown home. Sitting alone in his apartment, Clark had turned on some bad movie, kicked his heels up, and put on some popcorn. He didn’t want to think about what this meant. Lex could be the prince of lies… but really, when something was close to Lex’s heart, his excuses sounded a bit like “my bad,” and nothing more.
He’d found himself at Lex’s office, spying through the glass like he had so many times before. Lex was standing by a screen pensively. He looked up at it head tilted and hands in his pockets.
“What are you doing here? Come to scold me, Superman?” Then he’d looked over his shoulder at Clark, who had indeed changed back into his suit just in case someone had spotted him flying.
“Let me in.”
With a sigh, Lex had strolled over to his desk to press the button that opened the window, and Clark had hovered inside.
“Why do you keep doing these things?”
“I do what I must,” he had replied darkly.
“You don’t have to create elaborate plans to get my attention. You don’t have to hurt people,” Clark had admonished him.
“Once again, you fail to understand. Who was harmed today?”
“You’ve hurt people, Lex. You know that.”
“And I trust ultimately, I will be judged. But not by you.” His head had then turned back to the screen he’d been watching solemnly.
Clark had set down on the floor and walked up behind Lex. Then the screaming had begun. Clark had started it deliberately, knowing well how to press Lex’s buttons, how to make that calm veneer fall away to the anger that burned Lex’s insides.
Lips curling over perfect, white teeth, eyes widening, voices rising. Lex tended to spit when he got too angry, and Clark had never told him how hilariously adorable that was. Probably because Lex hardly ever let himself get that angry.
Then suddenly the two of them were kissing, Clark was ripping Lex’s clothes off without heeding to buttons or zippers, and Lex was letting himself be thrown against the desk and mounted like a preacher’s daughter on prom night.
It was their first but not their last time. They continued baiting one another, deliberately aggravating each other, until the tension built up and Lex’s legs were up over his head once again. Or he was bent over his desk. Or pinned to Clark’s body as two strong blue-clad arms wrapped around him.
Didn’t matter when or where or what excuses they made to themselves. The both of them knew that what was happening between them wasn’t going to stop. Neither of them had the power to stop it, and it had been coming since the day they’d met.
Until the explosion that had taken down the LexCorp building. Clark had known that day he would never forget standing there in front of the building, too late as they carried Mercy’s remains out in a body bag along with so many LexCorp employees. He had also known that he would never forgive himself, both for not saving Lex and for all the things he had let go unsaid while their bodies doubled.
Now Lex was here. And Clark wouldn’t fail to save him again.
There was something uncannily familiar about that pervert that had been watching him since they’d gotten on this godforsaken bus, but Lex was damned if he could figure it out. His head was aching, his back was aching, he was nauseous and had heartburn at the same fucking time, and when Lex saw that man staring at his fat ass covered in navy blue sweatpants, he had been sorely tempted to take the book the man was pretending to read and beat him senseless with it.
Instead, he hid his body under the blanket he’d stolen from the last hotel he’d been in and tried to get some sleep. He really couldn’t, but at the last stop, some people had gotten off and his partner in the seat had moved so he could stretch out a little more, so that much he could try. What he really needed was a real bed that he could lay on with good pillows for support. He knew he wouldn’t get it, though, so there was no use in complaining.
Besides, if he were going to complain about anything, it would be that wigs are itchy and hot or that men really, really shouldn’t be pregnant at all. Not human men at least, no matter who they slept with or what happened to them when they were nine years old.
Having been on the run more or less for the past two years had made Lex a paranoid man. Granted, he had been paranoid before, but being in enough trouble from enough parties that faking your death hadn’t quite covered all of the vultures out to get you stepped up the intensity of that constant feeling of being watched, being hunted, and not to mention, the attempts on his life. He tried not to stay in any location for very long. Leaving the country was out of the question, because inevitably, there was someone waiting for him at the borders. At the moment, getting on a plane was not an option.
Leaning his head against the side of the second seat, Lex slide a hand under his heavy belly and tried to wiggle himself into a position that didn’t make his back scream. It probably didn’t exist, but he pulled up one leg and rested his belly against his thigh. That was enough support for him to manage a slightly less uncomfortable attempt at sleeping.
He managed to drift into a sort of miserable half-sleep, frowning and occasionally rubbing sore parts of himself. He missed his king sized bed.
Lex woke and looked around irritably. Still on the bus, still miserable. They were no longer moving, however, and the driver was telling them how long they had at the stop. He didn’t particularly want to get up, but if he didn’t eat, he knew he would regret it, and if he did… he would still regret it in heartburn. So he hefted himself to his feet and made his way out of the bus, more carefully this time.
Bathroom first. Bathroom always first. Dammit.
Second was food, and thankfully they had a sandwich shop here and not just some greasy rotating food on a spit. He ordered two sandwiches, one for now and one for later. Who knew when he’d have a chance to stop. He decided to eat out on the bench, because the day was bright, though a bit chill, and the sunlight almost made him feel better sometimes. He didn’t have a jacket, unfortunately, but walking around warmed him up. He took a seat and tucked into the first sandwich.
He was wiping a bit of mayo off the side of his mouth when he noticed the scruffy pervert from before out of the corner of his eye. He was leaning against the corner of the building, and he was peering around it, watching him.
A bit of panic registered inside of Lex when he realized that the man really was following him, watching him. He might know who Lex was. Would he take him back to his boss? Was he waiting for a good, clean kill? Lex contemplated hiding in the bathroom until the bus had taken off again, but there was a good chance that the man would just wait for him and kill him when he waddled out to the highway to hitch a ride.
Lex felt sick throughout his body. Physically ill all the way through him. When he’d been running before, before he’d realized that he was pregnant, he hadn’t known terror like this. Not at all. Now that he had a squirming fetus moving around just below his ribcage, all he could think of was his own blood spilling and that his baby would go with him, never having had the chance to breath the air.
He set the sandwiches aside and vomited into the bag. Throwing up didn’t make him feel any better. He just leaned over it, letting his vision blur as he could feel and taste the bile burning through his nose and throat. He heaved a second time and gripped the table tightly, afraid that he might just fall over from dizziness. When he was certain that nothing more would be coming, he wiped off his tongue with a napkin and sipped his drink. He wasn’t going to try to eat any more at the moment.
Taking the sandwiches and heading to the bus, Lex began formulating a plan. He would have to try to get off on another stop when the man wasn’t looking. Either throw him somehow, or get his hands on a weapon, lure him into a secluded place, and kill him.
Clark had never, not in the decades that he had known the man, ever seen Lex throw up.
But Lex had. Clark watched it, and he watched Lex miserably waddling back to the bus after discarding the befouled bag. This time the bus driver took Lex’s arm without waiting for him to fall, and Lex again looked grateful. Mostly though, he looked white as milk and ready to drop.
That was enough to worry Clark into doing something he wouldn’t normally do, and that was give Lex a full scan. He doubted that he would find anything, but maybe Lex had cancer, or parasite of some kind, and if that were the case, then Clark would have to take him to a doctor.
After tucking the wrapped sandwiches in his bag, Lex curled up again and let his eyes droop closed. He was the very picture of tense and wretched. Clark retook his seat and narrowed his eyes, giving Lex a slow scan from head to toe.
He noticed first that Lex’s heart was doing double-time, although Clark had noticed that earlier. Still, it seemed to be pumping a lot of blood. By the time he was looking into Lex’s crowded lungs, Clark was frowning. A little further, and Clark had it all explained for him. Well, in as much as such a sight could explain it.
It dawned on Clark that he was not looking at a heavily pregnant woman or Lex in disguise; Lex was very pregnant. Although Clark’s mind spun with the impossibility of it, he was looking at a large fetus that was kicking just under Lex’s breastbone.
Clark fell against the back of his seat. Lex had been wrong, though. It was a boy.
An adorable, big, boy who had dark black hair and was jerking suddenly. Clark was worried for a moment, but then he realized that the baby had the hiccups. He watched as Lex grumbled, shifted in his seat, and pressed his hands on either side of his belly, rubbing rhythmically. Despite Lex’s obvious discomfort, Clark had to smile.
This changed things, but not too much. Clark would still have to do something about Lex. It didn’t matter really why Lex was wandering around pregnant and clearly ill like this when he was supposed to be dead. Clark couldn’t take him to the hospital, but he would try to get him to help. He was sure that Lex would need it, and by the look of him, soon.
This child, Lex decided, really needed to get herself a fucking glass of water.
His eyes flitted over to the scruffy man and felt his heart jump a little. The man’s eyes were closed, and the bus was coming to another stop. Finally. Lex pushed himself up quietly as possible, grabbed his duffle, and made for the front of the bus.
“Have a good trip, little lady,” the driver said warmly. He patted Lex’s arm and stood as he made his way down the stairs, watching to be sure that Lex didn’t stumble.
Normally, that irritated the hell out of him, but at the moment, it just made him nervous that the man would wake up before he could get away.
“Got any luggage under the bus?” the driver asked.
“No, no. Just this. Short trip,” Lex answered in a whispery voice. It was really the only way he could pass his normally deep tone off for something remotely feminine. Although the belly helped. When in doubt, people believed the simplest explanations that fit best into their worldview.
Pregnant mutant men didn’t fit well into most people’s paradigms.
Clark blinked and sniffed. The bus had come to a stop, and somehow, he had managed to fall asleep watching Lex’s baby inside him. Then he blinked. Lex wasn’t in his seat. Clark listened in the bathroom for Lex and the baby’s heartbeats, but they weren’t there.
He stood up and rushed to the front of the bus. The driver looked irritated, but he got off with him and asked for his luggage tag. Clark gave it to him and looked around the gas station frantically.
“Did… ah… Lex, Alex make her stop? The pregnant woman?” Clark asked.
The driver nodded and handed him his suitcase. “Yeah, she got off just now. Must’ve gone inside out of the heat, bless her heart.”
Clark nodded and hurried into the station. A quick look told him that Lex wasn’t there. He wasn’t in the bathroom either. Rushing outside again, he wondered how someone so pregnant could move that fast.
By now the bus had taken off, and Clark narrowed his eyes and used his x-ray vision to sweep the entire parking lot.
“Oh, Lex,” he whispered, spotting him curled over in the backseat of a blue Miata idling by pump #3. He could hear Lex’s heart beating wildly and just stood there unsure of what to do. He could go over there and pull Lex out of the backseat, but the man was obviously terrified. He didn’t want to make this situation any worse.
A tall, thin man with three-day stubble came out of the gas station stuffing his wallet back into his jeans and got into the driver’s seat of the Miata. Clark watched them for a moment, then walked around the side of the gas station and shot into the air. He followed over them, easily keeping speed with the car and watching Lex closely. He hoped to God the driver didn’t find Lex or get angry with him.
It was almost half an hour before Clark realized that he’d abandoned his post. He pulled out his cell phone to see if he had reception, then dialed Bruce Wayne’s number to tell him where his mark had been headed. Since Bruce was out, he left a short message with Alfred including the destination of the man he’d been tailing and an request that Bruce find someone to pick up following him there.
“Very good, Mr. Kent. I shall pass the message along,” Alfred told him in his neat British accent.
“Tell him I apologize, as well. There’s another person who needs saving, and I don’t think I’ll get another chance.”
“I’m sure Master Bruce will be able to pick up the slack, sir. It’s what the alliances you’ve joined are for, aren’t they?”
“I suppose. Thank you, Alfred. I’ve got to go. Not good to talk on your cell while flying.”
“Oh, no, I agree. Have a good evening, sir.”
“We’ll see about that.”
“Well, at least be careful.”
Clark smiled. Alfred was like a second mother. He really was.
The backseat was more comfortable than the bus seats, but Lex was so frightened that he was going to be caught, and so busy making up stories for the inevitability of his being caught, that his heart continued to pound and he remained quite alert. For a while, he thought that the driver would never put on any music. Who drove long distances without putting on music?
Eventually, he started flipping around the radio stations and caught an ‘oldies’ station. The man began singing along. The man was really quite tone deaf.
Lex considered briefly that he might be in hell, or that this was some sort of karmic retribution for all the wicked things that he’d done in his life. Rationalizing that he’d done them with the best of intentions didn’t get him out of the back of a car on the run from one of any number of his enemies who had found him, a car that potentially belonged to someone who might beat him and his child to death once he found out they were there.
The baby decided in that moment to get the hiccups again, and Lex closed his eyes for a moment, took a very deep, slow breath, then opened his eyes once more and kept them on the driver. He was Lex fucking Luthor. He would get out of this.
His fingers felt around the floor of the back seat and touched something cold and metal. They wrapped around it. Just in case.
After an hour or so of driving, the car pulled in somewhere, and Lex was elated. He could get out of this fucking car. The man got out and left. Lex waited for a heartbeat and then pulled on the door handle.
Child. Proof. Locks. Dammit!
Licking his lips, Lex peeked his head to see if the man was around. He wasn’t. They were at a motel, and he had likely gone inside. Quickly, Lex reached forward to lower the back of the passenger seat, then did his best to climb out that way. He was sure he was going to get caught, but somehow he had maneuvered his bulk, his duffle, and the tire iron he’d grabbed out of the car and made it to the sidewalk before the man came out again.
Lex took a relieved breath and looked around. The driver shot a look over at him, but Lex recognized it as one of those gawking looks thrown at very pregnant women, so he raised a brow and tried to look as though he were waiting on someone. Eventually the driver pulled a suitcase out of his backseat and headed to his room.
Scratching the back of his neck, Lex looked down at his belly and wondered what the hell he was going to do now. He didn’t have the money for another bus ticket and little means of getting more money. He’d been banking on moving around as much as possible to keep himself, and now his child, safe, but now he was stuck. He could start hitchhiking. It was a possibility.
“Let’s see how much a room costs, hm?” he asked his belly, then turned to enter the front office. “Excuse me?”
The heavyset man with thick glasses at the desk was reading the newspaper and looked up with eyes popping out of his head. Lex touched his wig to be sure it was still in place. Surely he didn’t look that ridiculous. He’d been passing just fine.
“Could you tell me how much for a room?” Lex continued in the most tender voice he could manage.
“Oh, you alone, sweetheart?” the man asked, sitting up a little. He looked over his shoulder. “Maude! Maaaaauuude!”
A skinny mocha skinned woman came out of the back. “What is it, Dad?”
“How much for a single, now?” he asked her.
She leaned on the counter and looked over at Lex critically. “Single?”
“Yes,” Lex replied without thinking.
Maude tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips. “Forty dollars a night.”
Lex suspected he was getting a pity discount, but he only had fifty-three left, so he would take it for a possible night’s rest. He waddled over to the counter and pulled the money out of his sweatpants. Once he handed the money over, Maude gave him the key and looked to her father again with an inscrutable expression.
But at the moment he was just too goddamn tired to figure it out.
Course of, his first action when he made it to his motel room was to toss the duffle on the bed and pull his shirt over his head. He unfastened the bra and dropped it to the ground, the damn tight thing. The shoes he kicked off, and he had to lean against the bed to steady himself enough to get his sweatpants off. Then the pair of briefs, which did nothing for his circulation, but everything for his tuck, because no one would believe that he was pregnant with his cock jumping up all the time.
Once his clothes were off, he walked to the bathroom, rubbing his back, and hoped the water was hot. Letting out a low groan, he bent over to turn the water on and tested it with his fingers. As the water filled the tub, he straightened himself up to look in the mirror. He’d forgotten to take off his wig and for a moment he glared at his reflection, thinking that he made a damn ugly woman.
He set the wig on the sink and avoided the mirror stubbornly. Then he eased himself into the bath and lay back as the water filled the tub.
“I’m doing the best I can, okay, baby? Go easy on me. I’m not sure how much longer you’re going to be in there.” He teased his fingers over the side of his belly and watched the little ripples appear and disappear over the surface of his taut skin, reacting to his touch and his voice. “However, I will protect you, no matter what. I promise.”
After the friendship of legends, after the rivalry of the same, after the accusations and the betrayals and murder attempts on both their parts some including Red K or just plain anger, after everything, Clark still felt it. They had loved and hated one another. Fought and screamed and fucked. Been everything two men could have been to one another and more.
Clark still felt that funny twinge, that not quite need, in the pit of his stomach whenever Lex was hurt physically or mentally losing his grip. There had been no active decision on his part to abandon his post and go after Lex, although he realized that he might have put more thought into running off of that bus after one—actually, two lives that needed saving—when there were thousands of lives being threatened with his former missions, but Clark doubted that any other member of the JLA would be able or willing (especially willing) to help Lex in his hour of need.
Chance had brought them together after the meteor shower, and yet again at the Loeb Bridge. Blind luck had put Lex on the same bus with him, and Clark wasn’t going to ignore the fact any longer that Lex was part of his destiny.
After Lex had gone into his room, Clark zipped into the office and snitched the second key. He felt like a pervert watching Lex in the bathroom, but Clark did worry a bit that Lex would slip. Thankfully he didn’t, and once he had bathed, he returned to the main room, pulled out a spare pair of briefs and his clean shirt and tugged them on.
Lex lay down on his side, one hand curved protectively around his belly and the other gripping a tire iron tightly. Clark had to smile, and he waited until he heard Lex’s breathing slow before he used the key and sat in the one chair available in the tiny motel room, watching Lex’s chest rise and fall.
Once again, he was almost hypnotized watching Lex and the child, who was now sucking his thumb. Right now, it didn’t matter how the baby got there, only that they were both alive and Lex was safe now. Clark would be sure of that.
He should have noticed when Lex’s breathing changed again, but Lex was up and moving before Clark could think what to do. Brandishing the tire iron and shouting angrily at Clark, Lex moved frantically back on the bed.
“Why are you following me?” Lex demanded. When Clark moved forward to help him, the tire iron came shattering down on his head. Lex blinked up at him in surprise. “Who are you?
“I guess I should have taken off my disguise before I came in,” Clark said gently as he took off his glasses and pushed his hair back out of his face. He watched as recognition registered on Lex’s face along with surprise and a bit of annoyance.
“Do you know how hard it is for me to get back to sleep?” Lex grumbled after a moment.
Clark smiled and brushed the bits of iron off the bed. “I can try to help.” He sat on the bed and touched his mouth, taking in a deep breath. “Lex, I’m so glad you’re alright.”
“Thank you,” Lex said, pulling his legs up and putting a hand over his belly. He looked slightly embarrassed, which only made Clark smile more. “Stop.”
“I’m not! I… Congratulations, Lex. I’m sorry for spying on you and for frightening you, but when I saw you at the bus station, I couldn’t just leave,” Clark tried to explain.
Lex raised a brow uncertainly. “What are you doing out here anyway?”
“Following a story.”
“And found a better one?”
“Oh, come on, Lex,” Clark scoffed. “You know I wouldn’t follow you just to make a story out of this. I was worried about you. You look sick, Lex.”
“Well. This is hard. And it’s harder when you’re constantly moving around,” Lex admitted. He frowned deeply and looked away.
Clark licked his lips and moved closer. “Lex, what are you doing out here like this? Why did you let everyone think you were dead?”
“The two aren’t connected. I didn’t know at the time.”
“You… that was two years ago. How could you have known that you would be pregnant?”
Lex pressed his lips together. “I couldn’t. But I was. The explosion, it wasn’t my plan. I just took the opportunity to get out of town. I didn’t imagine at the time that I wouldn’t be able to return.”
“Was it Edge and Mannheim?” Clark asked.
“Among others. It’s my own fault. It seems that while I was otherwise distracted the other criminal elements in the city and beyond decided to dethrone the king of Metropolis.” Lex shook his head. “They’ve eliminated any contacts I had, and any time I’ve attempted to stay in one place for too long, they’ve found me, and bullets come flying my way.”
Clark creased his brows. “You could have contacted me, Lex. Why didn’t you?”
“Could I? We were enemies with benefits, last I checked,” Lex replied pithily.
Clark scratched the side of his head and then reached over to take Lex’s free hand. “You could. I’m sorry I never made sure you knew that. I could have protected you. Helped take them down so they’d be off your back.”
“I don’t know about that. I have a lot of enemies.”
“Do they know about… your…?”
Lex shrugged. “I doubt it. No one has really gotten close enough in the past couple of months. Although I’ve recognized a few faces snooping around, I managed to get away before anyone noticed this wasn’t a disguise,” he said, licking his lips. He was quiet a moment, sucking in his cheeks. “Yours too, Clark.”
“What...? How can it be mine?” Clark asked incredulously.
Lex favored him with a sarcastic look. “Well, either you’re the father, or I’m budding. One of the two. I haven’t been with anyone else.”
“How could you be pregnant for two years?”
“How could I be pregnant at all? You’re an alien. You have different rules.” Lex began to move his hand away from Clark’s. With a frown, Clark tightened his grasp.
“I believe you. It’s just a bit much, okay?”
“Like I said, I didn’t know at first. As though it were just hibernating for a while before I felt it. Your species lives practically forever, so I’m guessing the long gestation is really nothing to yours,” Lex explained. Clark moved up to the top of the bed and slipped his arms around Lex until the man was snugly in his lap. Lex didn’t resist much at all. He laid his head back on Clark’s shoulder and looked back at him. “What now?”
“Now, I think we try to get you back to sleep. We’ll worry about what to do in the morning,” Clark pronounced. He paused, letting his hand move over Lex’s distended belly. “I can’t believe I…”
“Don’t worry. That was my first reaction as well,” Lex replied with a tinge of amusement.
Chuckling softly, Clark lifted Lex up and settled him on his side once again. Lex reached back to pull his shirt down over his briefs, but it was already stretched to capacity covering his belly. Clark gave Lex’s exposed tush a squeeze, and laughed at Lex’s offended noise.
“Don’t worry about that, Lex. Just get comfortable.”
“Easier said than done.” Lex grunted as he tried to shift himself. “Much easier.”
A smile teased Clark’s lips again, and he curled up against Lex, making just enough room to rub his lower back. “How’s this feel?”
“Good,” Lex murmured. “Thank you.”
“Are you cold?”
“A little, but sleeping next to you is like cuddling up to a radiator.”
Clark laughed again and continued to massage Lex’s back until he seemed to relax. Then he wrapped his arms around Lex, holding him closely and pressing one hand over Lex’s on his large belly.
”I’m sorry I frightened you,” he whispered.
Lex shrugged. “It helps to be paranoid when people are in fact out to get you.”
“Still.” Clark pressed his lips to the back of Lex’s head. “I’ve missed you. After the explosion, I thought I might die. Of guilt, maybe.”
“You didn’t plant that bomb. I’m also fairly certain you were probably saving someone else at the time.”
“That really isn’t good enough.” Clark felt his heart jerk when he felt a strong thump against his hand. “Oh my God.”
“Nope. Just your kid,” Lex teased. “She’s a strong one.”
“Actually, I looked. It’s a boy.”
Lex looked back at Clark with an expression of surprise and joy. With a wide grin, Clark leaned in to meet his lips and kissed the father of his child vigorously until Lex leaned back wearily and stared at him with his lined, gray eyes.
“Why were you wearing a Superman shirt, Lex?” Clark asked, caressing Lex’s puffy cheek.
Lex blinked slowly, looking as though he might fall asleep before he could formulate a reply. “You were on sale. Cheap. I got you for fifty cents.”
“You got me for a lot less than that,” Clark said and kissed Lex’s temple tenderly. Lex was completely out, so Clark snuggled in to keep him warm and secure while he slept.
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Date: 2012-07-29 11:59 pm (UTC)From: