Beta: Allexandrya
Words: 3,969
Disclaimer: Smallville does not belong to me. No malicious intent is involved in this story nor is profit made from its creation. Smallville is a copyright of Alfred Gough & Miles Millar and based on the DC Comics characters. The series is produced by Tollin/Robbins Productions, Millar/Gough Ink and Warner Bros. Television Production Inc. SUPERMAN was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster.

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Clark looked down at the present in his hands. It had taken him a month to complete and he wasn't too keen on the quality of it, but it was done – and just in the nick of time. Today was Lex's birthday and Clark knew it was time to tell Lex everything.

There had been a ferocious fight with his parents over telling Lex, but Clark insisted that since Pete had moved away, Chloe wasn't talking to him and neither was Lana, he needed a friend. He also pointed out that Lex knew most of it anyway and had just decided he was a meteor mutant. Lex also had the power to protect him in case his little secret was detected by outsiders.

They'd had several close calls where photographers had shown interest in him. Clark melted two cameras, and crunched the third. It was getting too dangerous. At the farm he now had to do a complete security sweep before he could do his chores in the morning and another when he returned from school. They were seriously thinking of home schooling him for his senior year; after all, the struggle to keep him 'normal' was becoming a farce.

If Clark did home-school his senior year, it would also enable him to finish early and start college through a virtual campus. With his father's weak heart it was making more and more sense to cultivate Lex's trust. Clark felt sick when he thought about how far he and Lex had drifted apart because of the lies between them.

Clark smiled. Today was the day. He carefully wrapped the present and drove to Lex's house, trying to ignore his father's frowning face as he pulled away from the farm. Clark was admitted to wait for Lex to arrive. Once again he was in Metropolis. He was coming back at Clark's pleading that they spend his birthday together. At one time it would have been an easy thing, but Clark had to use every last shred of their friendship to get Lex to come home. This was definitely it. If the gift and Clark’s honesty were not enough to mend the friendship Lex would never come back. It went unsaid but the sentiment was definitely understood.

Clark was so lost in his own thoughts he didn't notice that Lex had arrived nor that he was starting to cry. A hand was placed on his shoulder. "Clark?"

Clark jumped to his feet in surprise to stare slack jawed at Lex. "Oh Lex, God, you scared me!"

"What's this?" Lex took out a purple silk handkerchief and wiped the tears from Clark's face. Clark stared at his feet. He didn't know what to say. Hell, he didn't even realize he'd been crying. But Lex was his last friend - and as his heart tightened he realized his feelings ran even deeper than that. Lex stared oddly at Clark. "I'm waiting, Clark."

"I – I guess I got a bit emotional – sorry." Clark admitted. "Some way to tell you Happy Birthday, huh?" Clark used his shirt sleeve to wipe away the new tears that had arrived much to his embarrassment. "God, what's wrong with me?"

Lex stood rooted to his spot. Clark cried harder knowing if he hadn't let things go this long, Lex would be comforting him right now instead of acting like he had a damn plague. There were only a few steps between them, but it was like a wall. Clark wondered if the present would even work. Biting his lip he said. "Just ignore me. H-here's your present. Happy Birthday, Lex."

"Is this why I flew back to Smallville?" Lex asked looking at the box wrapped in colorful tissue paper.

"This is something that I'd rather you open in front of me and …well, um, went through it. You might have questions after you look it over." Clark hedged.

Lex looked caught between the spirit of the present and the need to return to work. At long last he sighed. "Fine." He walked over to his desk and sat down. Clark sat down in the chair in front of it, feeling the wall become even more omnipresent, represented by the desk. He wiped at more tears. There was a deep well of pain inside him. Nothing seemed to compare to it. Not the meteor rocks, not being at the edge of death – no, this was tearing him apart. He wondered if this was what it meant to 'wear your heart on your sleeve.'

As Lex began to unwrap the present Clark's emotions turned to fear. But there was no way to turn things back now as Lex grabbed the comic and pulled it out. "What's this?"

"Read it, Lex. Please." Lex raised his eyes to Clark's, folded his hands and glared.

"Clark, I'm trying to make some sense of you lately but this goes beyond the beyond. You insist I come out here. I have to cancel my morning appointments to fly back and for what? So you can sit there and bawl as you give me a handmade comic book?" Lex sounded exasperated.

"It's kind of an autobiography. My whole life story, all my secrets, everything, are in that. It's the only way I could explain and give you all the answers." Clark was starting to find it difficult to breathe. He'd prepared himself to be rejected once Lex read it, but never dreamed that Lex wouldn’t even read it. Clark rose unsteadily to his feet. "Okay, Lex, message received. I was hoping…nevermind." Without another word Clark left the room.

Lex stared after him. Sitting back in his chair he tried to make sense of what was going on with Clark. He looked at the homemade comic once more. His first glance had been a cursory one of the inside. Perhaps he was too jaded by having real artists like the fantastic ones used in the Warrior Angel series to recognize this for the olive branch it was. He picked it up and gaped when he saw the cover.

It was the symbol from the cave, the crazy figure eight in the diamond cut shape in yellow on a field of red and a background of blue. Lex's fingers brushed the cover in amazement. His brain clicked and he picked up the phone. "Stop Mr. Kent from leaving," he ordered briskly.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Luthor, but he just pulled out." Came Damien's apologetic voice.

"Well take one of the cars and go get him, damn it!" Lex barked and slammed the receiver down.

Lex huffed and turned his attention back to the comic. "The Adventures of Kal-El" Lex snorted at the title. Then he turned the cover page to see the fairly well-done artwork- for an amateur, that is. Each carefully inked block had been meticulously done with color pencils and pens. "On a sunny summer day in Smallville, Kansas everything is about to change…"

The first block showed the meteor shower, the second the Kent's truck, the third a tiny spaceship and the last on the page showed – no, it couldn't be. Was this how the Kent's came by Clark? Lex's hands were shaking slightly as he turned page after page quicker now, sucked into the story – Clark's story. It was all fitting together like a perfect puzzle, the speed, the strength – oh god, there was even a few blocks dedicated to when Lex hit Clark with the Porsche. Lex's hands fumbled for a desk drawer to find his old asthma inhaler.


Clark pulled over his dad's truck, sick of Damien beeping at him for the last mile. He really wished he had run to Lex's, if he had he could have just run home or anywhere for that matter. Damien wasted no time and ran up to Clark's window, which he'd just rolled down.

"Christ, didn't you hear me?" Damien gasped. Clark just barely avoided rolling his eyes. Lex really needed guards in better shape than this.

"I was trying to ignore it," Clark growled. "Most people would take a hint."

"Mr. Luthor wants you to come back – right away. He wanted me to stop you before you'd left, but you'd already gone." Damien snapped back in return. "So do us both a favor and just turn this around and come back, or I'll just continue to follow you beeping the entire time."

"Of course, his majesty calls and of course, I must answer his summons," Clark shook his head, shoved the truck into gear and ignoring the fact he almost ran over Damien headed back to Chez Luthor. His previous bout of waterworks had swiftly changed to anger. If Lex was going to insult him or hold his secret over his head Clark would fry the damn comic. His parents were right, he thought, this had been a bad idea.


Lex finished the comic that ended with Clark giving Lex his present with a huge smile and hug. It was the only part of the comic that wasn’t true to form. Guilt filled Lex that he'd treated Clark so badly. No wonder Clark couldn’t reveal everything. If this got out…

Clark entered the room for the second time that day to see Lex staring out into nothingness. It took all the wind out of his sails to see Lex looking so completely vulnerable. He took a moment to close the doors behind him. "Lex."

Blinking his eyes Lex looked up then stood. "Clark. Oh my god, Clark – why…why me? Are you insane? I'd only need to pick up the phone and you'd be strapped to a lab table surrounded by those damn rocks! You should never have told me! Why didn't you just let me go? It would have been safer!"

"Oh not you, too, Lex. Look I've already been through this with my parents. So just shut up." Clark growled anger filling him once more. "If I hadn't I would have lost you forever, don't you get it!?"

"All this time I thought you were the naïve one, Clark, and here it was me all along. This is bigger than the Trojan horse. You've completely decimated all my beliefs about you. I had assumed you were a meteor mutant." Lex whispered.

"Surprise, I'm an alien. Happy now? Make your goddamned call and strap me down. I've given you all that I can, Lex. And all I wanted was your friendship, not this look I'm getting now. I never wanted this…look." Clark bit back a new wave of emotion. The 'freak' look was almost as painful as the thought of losing Lex forever.

"I didn't know your vocabulary could ever be so colorful, Clark." Lex chuckled, but it quickly died in the tension filled air between them. "Look, I'm just a bit shocked. No one has ever trusted me with anything this big."

Clark rolled his eyes. "Oh please, you handle millions of dollars and company take-overs every single day."

"It's not the same, Clark, not in any way, shape or form." Lex came around the desk slowly as if approaching an unknown quantity. "This is your life, your destiny, everything about you was just offered up on a silver platter for me to do with what I will. I could destroy you and your family."

Clark felt like someone hit him with a nuke. Why had he done it unless he really did care about Lex? Oh god, he loved Lex. He was in love with Lex Luthor! When the hell had this happened? Then like a bad movie he could see himself on that riverbank breathing life back into Lex. He felt weak all over. The side effect of which, was the wind had gone out of Clark's sails again. "I know." He looked down at the floor.

"That entire comic was the absolute truth, wasn't it?" Lex whispered in awe and Clark was surprised to realize that Lex was standing right in front of him.

"Pretty much," Clark admitted feeling fear coil in his gut once more.

"You left something out?" Lex asked in surprise.

"Let's just say I could make it into a series," Clark quipped. He could just picture volume two. 'The Further Adventures of Kal-El, the gay alien.' A groan escaped his lips.

"That bad?" Lex asked evenly.

"Let's just say the next one would be dealing with more personal issues." Clark sighed, running a hand through his hair. He looked at Lex for the first time. "I guess I didn’t handle this too well, huh?"

Lex chuckled. "Let's start again, shall we?" He walked by Clark and out to the hall leaving Clark feeling very bewildered. Lex strolled back in a moment later. "Clark! Good to see you!"

Clark smiled feeling hope bloom inside his chest for the first time since he left the farm. "Um… Hi, Lex? Happy birthday?"

Nodding his head Lex walked up to Clark and put out his arms. Clark grinned and hugged Lex to him. Yet out of nowhere the waterworks started again and he began to cry. "Oh god. I'm sorry. I don't know what is with me today!" He sniffed.

"It's okay, Clark. It's okay." Lex whispered in his ear, rubbing a hand up and down his back. "What you did today was the bravest thing I've ever seen anyone do. I'd be back in Belle …well, you know what I mean."

Clark looked down into Lex's eyes and saw the heartfelt honesty that was his friend Lex Luthor. "Am I forgiven?"

"Yes. Am I?" Lex queried in return.

"Duh, Lex." Clark sniffed. "Friends?"

Lex made a face as if he was thinking it over. Clark punched him lightly in the arm. "Jerk."

"To know me is to love me, Clark," Lex smirked. Clark blushed. Lex's eyes went wide. "Clark?" Biting his lip, Clark kept quiet but looked steadfastly away all too aware that they were still holding each other. "Clark," Lex purred, "You old dog."

He stepped even closer putting a leg between Clark’s and rubbing against him. Clark felt himself go hard as steel in a heartbeat and heard himself moan like a cheap whore. Part of his mind wondered if the castle had a mouse hole he could crawl into and just die. His humiliation was now complete.

"Wow, you really are big all over, aren't you?" Lex teased. Clark wondered if his face would catch on fire. Lex leaned over and whispered into his ear. "I want you, too, Clark. Or should I call you Kal-El?"

Clark had never heard his birth name said in such a sexy way. It set every part of him on fire. "Lex," Clark was breathing heavily. "Please."

"Just a taste, I don’t want to rush things," Lex purred and brushed his lips against Clark’s, nibbling slightly at Clark's full bottom lip. Clark's eyes were still closed when Lex began to pull away. "Let's sit down, Clark, we need to talk."

Clark groaned. "Oh goodie, can't we go back to the kissing part?" He looked hopeful and Lex grinned.

"As much as I enjoyed that, Clark, we really do need to talk. Oh, and please call your parents they must be worried sick." Lex pointed to the phone and headed for the door. "I'll have Cook send up a tray."

Clark nodded unhappily and sat down behind Lex's desk to use the phone. It was picked up on the first ring. "CLARK?"

"Um, hi, mom, you can calm down. Lex is cool with it. He even yelled at me for telling him." Clark grinned touching his lips with his fingers.

"Oh, thank god," Clark could hear his father opening up a beer in the background – a sure sign that his mother's look of relief was enough for him. "What is he going to do?"

Lex re-entered. "I imagine I should be in on this call too." He walked swiftly to the desk at Clark's nod after closing the door behind him and hit the intercom. "Mrs. Kent? I just put you on intercom."

Suddenly Martha's voice boomed through the room. Clark put the receiver down and, going around the desk, pulled Lex into his arms with a silly grin plastered on his face. Lex shook his head and maneuvered them so Clark was holding him from behind. "Mom was just asking what you are going to do, Lex."

"Well, Clark and I were about to sit down and discuss that. I think the priority at hand is the safety of Clark. I'll have bug sweepers check the farm and install some safety measures. There are some people I know at the airport and I can make the farm a no-fly zone with the right contacts."

"OH Lex, that would…can you really do that?" Martha's voice was overrun by Jonathan’s. ."Aren't there laws about that?"

"I assure you, Mr. Kent, I'll do everything I can to help you keep Clark safe. At first I questioned Clark's sanity in telling me this," Lex admitted.

"You aren't the only one," both Mr. and Mrs. Kent chimed over the phone.

"However, now I see the wisdom in his actions. I know you have both done everything you can to protect him, but I have more connections and can do more. It's really amazing that you were able to handle this all these years. Tell me, what was he like as a toddler? When did the abilities start to show?"

"Lex, reel in the inner geek," Clark laughed. With the laughter the tension was broken.

"Perhaps it would be best if I were to come out to the farm and we could discuss this in person?" Lex offered.

"I thought you were only here for a few hours?" Clark asked.

Lex kissed Clark on the cheek softly so as not to be heard. "I think this warrants a day off, perhaps relocation, don't you?"

"But your father –" Martha began.

"Yeah, how are we going to keep his big nose out of this?" Jonathan asked.

"Let me worry about that. I suspect you two have done enough worrying for ten children," Lex chuckled .

"And how," Jonathan agreed.

"Jonathan!" Martha snapped. "But we wouldn't have changed it for the world Clark, honey."

"Mmm, me neither," Clark admitted nuzzling Lex's neck.

"I'd really like to talk to Clark a bit first if you don't mind before we come over," Lex voiced trying to hold his horny alien at bay.

"Alright, we'll see you later then," Martha agreed amiably.

"Don't forget your afternoon chores, son," Jonathan grumbled, clearly still unhappy with the situation.

"I won't, Dad," Clark came up from Lex's neck long enough to say.

"We'll call before we leave," Lex closed the connection, just before he was on the end of a rather eager kiss. Lex gave in returning the kiss and, slipping his tongue into Clark's hot mouth, tasted him for the first time. Clark tasted like raw lust and power. Lex was blown away by the addictive combination.

It was only the timely knock at the door of the cook that stopped Lex from pulling Clark to the couch. He pulled away panting. "God, Clark, cut it out." Clark grinned wickedly and shrugged.

After adjusting his pants and smoothing his shirt, Lex called out "Enter."

The cook came in smiling widely at them both. "Happy Birthday Mr. Luthor, sir." She was pushing a tray with a cake on it, milk and assorted small gifts from the staff. Lex was taken aback. "It is from all of us to show our appreciation that you did not close down the house when you went back to Metropolis."

Lex smiled "Thank you and please pass my thanks onto the rest of the staff. As a matter of fact, it’s looking like I'll be coming back if I can arrange things. It would seem I'm needed here."

The cook beamed. "That's wonderful, Mr. Luthor. I'll go tell everyone. Oh and it's very good to see you again, Master Kent. We all missed you."

Clark rolled his eyes. "Clark, please." She giggled and left the room, closing the door behind her.

"I can't believe they did this," Lex whispered putting a finger out to steal a dollop of fluffy white icing from the cake that declared 'Happy Birthday, Alexander!' "Mmm, this is good."

"Didn't you ever taste any of your wedding cakes?" Clark asked in disbelief handing Lex the knife.

"I was too busy trying to survive my homicidal wives." Lex's disdain dripped from the statement.

"Um… Lex, what about us? Are you still going to be dating?" Clark asked nervously.

"I saw this coming, you know. This is what I wanted to talk about before we saw your parents. You do realize this will be …dare I say 'the icing on the cake' for them?" Lex smirked.

"No shit, Lex." Clark plopped down on the couch. "But you didn't answer my question."

"No, I suppose I didn't." Lex handed Clark a slice of cake then cut one very small one for himself. "If for no other reason, your alien physiology might preclude me having any other relations."

"Oh that's romantic. Thanks, Lex," Clark frowned.

"What I mean to say, Clark," Lex began in his schoolteacher tone ,"is that you may develop some sort of bond or place a marker into my bloodstream that could trigger violent reactions if I were with anyone else. We need to proceed carefully. Have you ever done anything more than kiss someone?"

Clark flushed. "Hmm. I thought not. Clark, for all I know the simple of exchange of bodily fluids during that kiss might have made me able to carry your child, created a telepathic bond or even started to change my DNA!"

"I never thought of that. But nothing ever happened to Lana," Clark pondered aloud "or Chloe or -"

Lex held up a hand. "I get the picture Clark. So we know that kissing is safe. And as much as you will probably balk at this I should probably get a sperm sample from you before we proceed further."

Clark choked on his cake. "Sperm sample?"

"Don't worry I'll set up my own lab and test it myself. It should be fascinating, really." Lex lit up like a Christmas tree then frowned just as quickly. "Although, I'll never be able to keep any records of the results and I'll have to destroy them immediately."

"You really are a geek," Clark teased. He stared into his cake. "That could be a problem anyway. I've never…"

"NEVER?" Lex shouted. "Oh sorry, Clark," he countered at the look on Clark's face. "Come on, you mean to tell me that you haven't once had a fantasy so hot that you wanked off?"

Clark shook his head and stuffed his mouth with cake while Lex gawked. "Wow, you must have a lot of control." Clark shrugged. "But when I ground up against you your reaction was instantaneous."

"Can we please talk about something else?" Clark's blush was so complete Lex wondered it covered his whole chest. He readjusted his slacks.

"Okay, Clark. But in answer to your initial question, I think it would be best if we were both monogamous. Agreed?" Lex chuckled at Clark's happy grin. "Good."

They ate in silence for a bit until Lex added. "That was the best comic I ever read." Clark's grin could have lit up Smallville.

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