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Two lithe figures faced each other across the strip. One was taller than the other, unsure of his grip on the epee as his opponent demonstrated proper poses, face obscured by the black mesh mask. "Again, Clark, it's forward, twist, touch, back." Clark echoed Lex's parry, clumsily at first, but Lex was a patient teacher, if nothing else. He crossed the strip and moved behind Clark, pressing their bodies together as Lex used his form as a guide to direct Clark's movements. "Forward, twist, touch, back. Forward, twist, touch, back." He moved Clark through the motions, each time moving a little further away until his body was separate from Clark and the move was perfect. "Beautiful form, Clark."
"Thanks, Lex. It's not as good as yours though." Clark blushed bright red under the wire mask, hoping against hope that Lex didn't realize that Clark was finally getting up the nerve to flirt back.
Lex smiled behind his own mask. "Don't sell yourself short, Clark. You've got the finest form that I've seen on a beginner in quite some time." Ah, so finally my shy little angel has decided he wants to flirt back, Lex sighed happily. About fucking time.
"Better than Lex's was when he started out." Both young men whipped their heads around to see Lionel entering the training room, also in white fencing garb. "How about a little challenge... Clark, isn't it? You against me, mano a mano? I'd like to see how much better you are than Lex was when he began--though you've chosen the wrong Luthor to teach you, young man. Lex has yet to win a bout that I've ever fought with him... he's just not good enough to take me."
Clark simmered angrily under his mask and reached up to rip it off. Lex took a brief moment to admire Clark's anger, the flashing eyes and the flushed cheeks, the hair mussed from ripping the mask off and yet still incredibly sexy. "Don't sink to his level, Clark."
Clark slid angry eyes back to Lionel's lounging form, studying the man who could apparently care less about what was being said about him. "Why do you let him talk to you that way, Lex?"
"Because, Clark, it's not a battle worth fighting. I have other battles I fight with him, and if he wants to insult me, then let him take his hits where he can get them. It keeps him complacent and gives me a way to nettle him when I don't rise to the challenge." His hand rubbed Clark's bicep calmingly. "He's challenging you to see how good a teacher I am."
"Then let me take him, Lex. I know I can beat him."
Lex raised his mask and looked at his friend skeptically. "Clark, I can't beat him." He left his hand on Clark's arm, heartened slightly when Clark didn't shake him off. "How can you?"
"I'm younger, I'm stronger, and I'm pissed off that he treats you this way."
Lex squeezed Clark's arm, and forcibly lowered his voice to a near-silent whisper, his lips grazing Clark's ear. "That's just why you shouldn't go against him, Clark. He'll beat you down and jump on every weakness that you've got." He didn't want to see Clark fall victim to his father, even on something as trivial as the training floor. "Let me do this in your place."
Clark shivered as pleasant tingles crawled up his spine at the touch of Lex's lips on his ear. "You want to fight Lionel?"
Lex took careful note of Clark's reaction, and despite the situation, it brought a small smile to his face. "No, but I will. You can't, you're not ready yet. Let me handle this." Lex looked at his father, blanking his face to an emotionless mask. "I'm going to change his guards and his mask, Dad, we'll be back."
"Oh, please, I've got nothing better to do than wait on my son and one of his little boyfriends."
Lex manhandled Clark into the locker room. "Lex! Even I couldn't miss that insinuation!" were the first words out of Clark's mouth. Lex shoved him against the lockers and kissed him once, brutally. Clark's hands were firm on Lex's shoulders as he pulled him in. "Lex..."
"Shut up and let me defend your honor for once, all right?" Lex growled. "My father is out to hurt me through you, and I'm not going to let him do it."
"You... want to defend my honor?" He ran his gloved fingertips over his lips.
Lex leaned his forehead against Clark's. "Yes, I did. And I promise you that I will explain it to you later. Just let me take care of my father."
"All right, Lex, I trust you."
"Thank you." Lex quickly stripped Clark of his fencing garb, and then stripped off his own, switching outfits with Clark. Clark fumbled his way into Lex's outfit and then followed Lex back outside. "Wait by the door."
Lex walked out to face Lionel. "What, my son didn't follow you out here? The way he's been sniffing around you for the last few months, I figured he'd have been at your heels like a little puppy dog."
"He didn't want to distract me," Lex said, mimicking Clark's voice to almost-perfection, and as he adjusted the fit on his gloves he shifted the epee from his left hand to his right.
"Well, then, let's get to it, shall we? I don't have all day." Lionel raised his epee in salute, and Lex returned it. Then the battle began.
Clark watched from the locker room door as Lionel and Lex battled on the strip. Back and forth, their motions so quick and fast that even with his speed they were hard to follow.
Lionel was deeply surprised by the depth of experience in his son's friend and conceded to himself that perhaps Lex was a better teacher than he'd given his son credit to be. He'd even transferred some of his quirks to the boy, and Lionel used them all, pushing Clark back. Then, to Lionel's surprise, the boy pushed back, using a light flurry of thrusts and parries, always keeping his blade in motion to protect his point-spots. At each clink of their blades, Clark's foil slipped closer to Lionel's padded vest and, finally, scored a hit over his heart. "Touché!" Lionel allowed, and Clark saluted him.
Under the mask, Lex smiled. Lionel wasn't fighting dirty, and it was going to cost him his pride. He acknowledged the call of Touché with a salute of his saber, and then resumed the first position again.
"This is all your fault, you know," Lionel said conversationally, tapping the point of Clark's saber with his own to signal the beginning of the second round.
"Oh?" Lex asked, again copying Clark's voice.
"If it weren't for you," Lionel snarled, flicking his wrist and shifting the angle of his stance to meet Clark's steel blade with a sheen of metal on metal, "then Lex would still be under my spell, and I wouldn't have to continue threatening you as I've been doing."
Lex jerked the blade back and hissed as his father scored a hit on the exposed flesh of his wrist. "Touché," he acknowledged grimly. The news of threats on Clark's life had thrown him off-balance, but that was all for the best. Lionel would expect Clark to have been off-balanced as well. "Why?"
"The last hit for the truth?" Lionel offered, and Lex nodded. Their blades touched again, the screech of metal on metal sounding discordant as their feet scuffled on the strip. When Lionel began his feinting push towards Lex, Lex didn't give the expected ground; instead he used the elaborate hilt of the epee to deflect Lionel's blade away from his chest and, in the process, scored the final hit over Lionel's heart. "This can't be."
"Yes it can be," Lex said. He took a vicious pleasure in ripping the fencing mask off as he faced Lionel, showing him just who had beaten him. "Why are you threatening Clark's life?"
As soon as Lex revealed himself, Clark moved swiftly across the room to stand beside Lex, removing his own mask and standing beside his friend. A united front met Lionel's hard gaze, and he cursed. He'd made the deal with Lex and now he had to deal with it. "The truth is, Lex, he's a bad influence on you. You care too much about what he thinks and what he does, you spend more time playing his chauffeur than in your office, and you have no idea what's going on out at the plant."
Lex went over to one of the lockers, pulled it open, and threw a report folio at his father. "That's the weekly reports from the plant for the last three months. Mid-quarterly reports are in there too, as well as a great many methane analyses and one very interesting proposal from Gabe Sullivan as to how we can raise the efficiency of the plant. I've got a task force already looking into his suggestions, and preliminary reports indicate that they're all definitely achievable." He took off the gloves and threw them at his father's feet in a symbolic gesture of throwing down the gauntlet.
Lionel caught the portfolio as it was hurled at him and flipped cursorily through the pages. Everything was there, dammit. Lex had been entirely too thorough, leaving nothing for Lionel to drag him over the coals about. "Don't get cocky, Lex."
"Don't get complacent... Dad."
Lionel gripped the folder and dropped the foil as he left the room.
Lex turned to Clark and sighed. "You didn't tell me that my father was threatening you."
Clark just shrugged and gave his disarming half-smile. "He'd have won if I did."
Lex just looked at Clark, his eyes riveted on Clark's. "You're starting to think like me, Clark." And oddly enough, that idea sent a shiver down Lex's spine. An unpleasant shiver. "Don't." He looked down a brief second, and then back up at his companion. "What was he threatening you with?"
"Nothing important," Clark said softly. "Can we talk about this later, Lex? There's something else we need to talk about first."
"I won't let it go," Lex warned softly.
Clark nodded solemnly and then looked at Lex again. "About that kiss..."
The End