Archive of Our Own ^beta

Title: Honesty -- Chapter 10, Monday
Author: PepperjackCandy
Series: Follows "Jonathan's Tale"
Archive : Smallville Slash Archive, my writing at fanfiction.net Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Category: Established Relationship
Spoilers for: Nothing

Disclaimer: I own nothing Smallville-related, or related in any other way to Clark Kent, Superman or any of the various creations of the wonderful folks at DC Comics.

Feedback: Always welcome, either by e-mail or using the review system at fanfiction.net.

A/N: Lena is based on a real DC comics character, Lena Thorul, who was Lex Luthor's younger sister. She was, in fact, blonde, and she also had ESP. The original Lena Thorul grew to adulthood, married and had a son, Val, who had telekinesis. That Lena was erased in the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline and the current "Lena" was Lex's foster-sister from his days growing up in Suicide Slum. His daughter by the Contessa, Lena, is named for the foster-sister. And in nearly every DC comics timeline in which Lex's parents are dead, they were killed in a car accident. I just exchanged Lena for Lionel in the accident. The full Lena Thorul story will be forthcoming, as soon as I can get the page, with all of the appropriate disclaimers and things, together.

Clark woke up pressed against Lex's warmth, a not terribly familiar feeling. Adding to the unfamiliarity was a lack of space, as if Lex's bed were smaller than usual. "Lex?" He whispered. "Are we in my bed?"

"Mm-hmm. Go back to sleep." Lex mumbled.

Suddenly the events of the previous evening came back to Clark - defending Lex from his father, hearing Jonathan's tale of Lily and Lena Luthor's deaths, listening to his lover talk about his mother and sister for the first time. Clark wondered if there was something he could do for Lex when they went to Metropolis the next weekend. If they would still be going at all, for all Clark knew his folks were going to pack him off to stay with Jonathan's Aunt Louisa in St. Paul for the rest of the school year.

"Go to sleep." Lex reached up, finding Clark's face in the darkness and pulling himself up to kiss Clark gently.

"You need your sleep, too." Clark whispered back.

"I didn't almost die yesterday."

"Yes, but you've got to go to work tomorrow and look like you haven't spent all day Sunday helping your boyfriend through a near-death experience."

Lex grinned. "I've functioned after worse."

Clark cocked an eyebrow at him. "Oh?"

"Never mind. That's all in the past now." Lex kissed him again, then pillowed his head on Clark's shoulder.

Down the hall, Jonathan was awake, listening to the sounds of voices from the other bedroom.

"You all right?" Jonathan started as he heard his wife's voice next to him.

"They're talking."

"What about?"

Jonathan shrugged, staring at the ceiling. "I can't hear what they're saying. I just hope they're not . . ."

Martha rolled over to her husband's side and put her hand on his chest. "They're not. I'm pretty sure. I don't think that Clark would, in our house."

Jonathan noticed that his wife had implied that she knew that Clark was now sexually active, but didn't comment on it.

"You want to talk?" She asked. "About Lionel? About Mrs. Luthor?"

Jonathan sighed and cuddled closer to his wife. "The last thing I was expecting was for Lex to say that I wasn't to blame for the accident. The very last thing." He paused, debating what to say next. Decided to take that chance. "Because I've always been afraid that I was."

"Jonathan. How could you believe that?" Martha asked, aghast.

"If I hadn't been right there, right then . . ."

"They still would have died, Jonathan. You heard what Lex said."

"Lex." Jonathan repeated bitterly. "I don't have to like whatever it is they're doing, you know."

"I know. But you do have to accept it."

"You like it." He said accusingly.

"I accept it. And I think that they're good for each other. I don't know if it'll last, and I hope that Clark's heart won't be broken, but I think they do really love each other, and that they deserve the same chance as any other couple."

"I'll have to defer to you on that. But still, I think I'll watch Lex carefully. It'll take more than him saying that he doesn't blame me to convince me."

Martha resisted the urge to sigh. "You've been living with this on your heart for nearly ten years now, Jonathan. I'd expect it to take a while."

Jonathan looked at the clock. "Damn. Quarter after five."

Reluctantly, Jonathan and Martha stood, and Jonathan turned off the alarm clock before heading down to breakfast.

The hall light clicked on, casting a beam into Clark's room. "Clark?" His mother whispered as she placed one hand on his head and sank to her knees next to the bed.

"Huh?" Clark, drowsy and warm, his lover's head pillowed on his shoulder, responded.

"Your dad and I are getting up, but you can just stay in bed until you feel like getting up. I'll call the school to tell them that you aren't feeling well, and I'll call Pete to see if he'll pick up your assignments."

Clark nodded sleepily.

Lex lifted his head, blinking blearily at Martha. "What time is it?"

"Around 5:30."

Lex nodded. "D'you have an alarm clock?" He asked a now-sleeping Clark.

"It's on the dresser." Martha answered for her son.

"Could you please set it for 6:30?"

Martha stood and, looking at the two young men lying tangled around each other, set the alarm clock as Lex had requested.

"Thank you." Lex whispered as he fell back asleep on Clark's shoulder.

Martha smiled at what she was surprised to be thinking of as 'her boys,' and closed the bedroom door as she walked downstairs to fix breakfast for her husband.

An hour later, Clark heard the strains of some pop melody coming from his clock/radio, then felt Lex stand. After the radio had quieted, Clark felt Lex's lips touch his forehead, briefly. "I'll see you tonight. I love you."

And then Lex was gone.

Clark awoke a little after two and stood, swaying unsteadily. Bracing himself against the banister, he carefully picked his way down the stairs, wondering if he could somehow harness that ability that made him still sometimes awaken floating above his bed, and use it to carry him instead of his weak, wobbly legs.

"Clark!" His mother cried as she saw him, rushing to his side to keep him from falling when he released the banister. "What are you doing? You know you should have called me and I would have brought lunch up to you."

"I know." Clark said as Martha lowered him into a chair. "But I was tired of being in my bedroom. I need to change clothes, anyhow." He looked down at the clothes that he'd worn to lunch with Lex, Pete and Lana the previous day.

"Do you need any help?" Martha asked as she bustled around the kitchen, heating soup and layering ham and cheese on a hard roll.

Clark blushed. "Mom! I haven't needed help with my clothes since I was six!"

"Well, you know that you don't have anything that I haven't seen before, and I'm willing to help if you need it." She placed the sandwich on the table in front of him and moved to the stove to stir the soup.

"Don't worry. I think I can undress myself." Clark finished the sandwich in record time, even for him.

Martha sighed and dished the soup into a bowl, taking in Clark's empty plate as she put the soup on the table. "You want another sandwich?"

"Yes, please." Clark grinned up at his mom as he dug into the soup.

Martha returned to the cutting board and assembled another sandwich for her ravenous son.

Two more sandwiches and another bowl of soup later, Clark pushed himself away from the table. He stood carefully, testing his legs gently before attempting to walk.

He took one halting step, then another, stronger than the first. Soon he was walking, if not as steadily as always, steadily enough to make it to the stairs. He carefully, slowly, walked back up to the second floor, then to the bathroom to take his shower.

He returned downstairs half an hour later, dressed in clean clothes, to hear the voices of his mother and . . . "Lana?"

"Clark!" Lana turned to face him, smiling. "I actually had sort of hoped that you'd gone to school today, and I could get the homework from you."

"Sorry." Clark smiled gently. "But I'm expecting Pete to bring it by. You're welcome to wait with me if you want."

Lana smiled widely. "That'd be nice."

"Would you like something to drink?"

Lana shook her head. "No, thanks."

They sat together on the sofa in silence for a few minutes.

Finally, Lana spoke. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. Anything."

"This is . . . " She blushed. "Going to sound really conceited, but I always thought that you liked me."

"I do like you, Lana. I like you a lot."

"No." She shook her head, blushing even more brightly. "I thought, oh, God." She broke down in hysterical giggles.

"You thought that I liked you."

"Yeah."

"Well," Clark felt himself blushing to join Lana, "you were right."

"You do like me that way?"

"I . . . did like you that way."

"Did?" Confusion reigned in the depths of Lana's green eyes.

"It was a crush. I outgrew it."

"Oh." An uncomfortable silence descended.

Clark felt awful. He had been trying desperately to get Pete together with Lana, and now here Lana was, all but offering herself to him.

The silence was broken by Pete's voice at the screen door. "Clark? You there?"

Clark blinked. "Yeah." He stood and crossed the room to open the door for his friend.

Friends, as it turned out. Chloe was with him. "Just wanted to see how the hero's doing." Chloe said with a grin as she hugged Clark.

"Hero." Clark laughed and rolled his eyes, but delight rolled off him in waves.

Everything came to a halt, however, when Pete saw Lana on Clark's sofa. "Lana." Pete, hurt, looked from Lana to Clark and back.

Lana looked a little relieved, then beamed brightly at Pete. "Clark told me I could wait here for you with him. I need the homework, too."

Pete sighed in relief, but the wariness in his eyes stayed for a moment longer. "Oh. Well, you're welcome to it."

The four friends sat together on the floor.

"You look so much better, man." Pete said to Clark.

"Better? What happened?" Lana looked from Pete to Clark for an explanation.

{Damn!} Clark swore silently. "I'm sort of . . . allergic to the rocks from the meteors. I don't know why. Maybe I came across them before Mom and Dad found me." He shrugged, striving for nonchalance.

"And . . .?" Chloe prompted.

"Well, Jenny had a pin or something made with the meteor rocks, and I made myself sick restraining her. What got her so upset?" Clark asked Lana.

Lana shrugged. "I came in in the middle of it, but it seemed like Jenny had asked Nell to rearrange the store so that she could get through it more easily in her wheelchair, and Nell had refused. I guess it set her off."

"I guess it did." Clark responded.

Martha came into the room, then. "Pete. Chloe!" She seemed surprised to see the blonde there.

"Hi, Mrs. Kent."

"I'm just about to start dinner. Will the three of you be staying?"

"No, thank you, Mrs. Kent. I've got to get home." Lana, ever polite, responded.

"Yes, please, Mrs. Kent." Pete smiled at Martha.

Martha cocked an eyebrow at Pete, noticing his sudden politeness. "Chloe?"

"Yeah. I'd like that." Chloe nodded.

"Clark? Will Lex be joining us?"

"Um, yeah. I expect so. I'll go call him and ask."

Clark walked to the kitchen and picked up the receiver, dialing Lex's office number.

"Lex Luthor."

Clark couldn't help grinning at his lover's voice. "You up for dinner at my folks' tonight?" He asked without preamble.

He could hear Lex's grin in his voice. "Sure. Just name the time."

"Five-thirty?"

"I'll be there."

"Oh, and Lex?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, first, Pete and Chloe will be here for dinner, too."

"Ah. So this is going to be one of those kinds of dinner, huh?"

"Huh?"

"You know, you with your mob of enforcers. . . ."

"Oh, undoubtedly." Clark chuckled. "And secondly, I love you."

"I'm not alone, but same here. You know that."

Clark hung up, wishing that things were different - that Lex could openly say that he loved him in front of secretaries, or business associates, or the faceless minions. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear Chloe sneaking up behind him.

"Hey."

"Chloe! What the hell are you doing?"

"I need to call my mom."

"Oh. He stepped out of the way and allowed Chloe access to the phone.

Clark returned to the living room and, picking up his book bag, whispered to Pete, "Come on, let's go into the dining room and start our homework. If we're using the dining room table, maybe Mom'll relent and treat Lex like family this time."

"Not likely, man."

"Well, Mom seems pretty cool about Lex and me. It's just that when we had Lex for dinner on Friday." He thought back. Here it was, Monday already. How much could happen in such a short time. "Mom did the whole good china, dining room thing. Like Lex was the King of Spain or something."

Together they went to the dining room. "Where's Lana?" Clark asked as he put his book bag down on the table.

"She went home. So, what do you think? Do I have a chance with her?"

Clark sat down, debating whether to mention his bizarre conversation with Lana earlier. Then he remembered the way the brunette had beamed when she saw Pete. He smiled. "More than a chance."

"Really? You think so?"

Clark nodded. "Yeah. I really think so."

Soon, Chloe joined them and the trio worked on their homework for the next hour, until Martha came in and caught them taking up her dining room table.

"All right, you three. Out!"

"Mom, we're in the middle of something here."

"Mm-hm. And I'm sure you couldn't be doing your homework somewhere else, like the Fortress of Solitude?"

"Um, well," Clark felt himself blushing.

"Yes?"

"I sorta thought we could eat at the kitchen table tonight?"

"You still won't let me live down the treatment I gave Lex on Friday, will you?"

"Nope."

"Well, I'm not fixing anything special, just chicken and rice, but I really would like to use the dining room, if only because fitting six of us around the kitchen table would be a really tight squeeze."

"Chicken and rice, huh?"

"Yes."

"The good china?"

"No. The everyday stuff."

"And silver?"

"Everyday again." Martha rolled her eyes good-naturedly as she left the room.

"Well, we heard the lady." Pete said, picking up his books and standing.

Chloe and Clark followed suit and together, the three friends trooped out to the barn and up to the loft.

At five, they were joined by Lex. "Mrs. Kent told me you were out here." He said as he joined them on the floor. Clark leaned over and kissed his lover in greeting, eliciting exaggerated sighs and rolled eyes from the other two teens.

"Get a room if you're gonna do that sort of stuff," Pete ribbed after the relatively chaste kiss.

"You're just jealous." Clark replied, winking.

Pete's face grew serious. "Actually, since you're here, Lex, could you help me with my biology homework?"

Chloe snorted. "You can't do that, Pete."

"What? Ask Lex for help with my homework?"

"Well, yeah. He's an important businessman."

Pete rolled his eyes. "It's called taking advantages of what's there, Chloe." He said as if explaining to a very small child. "Lex is a scientific genius. He was probably doing freshman biology in sixth grade."

Lex cleared his throat. "Fifth, actually," he said, averting his gaze and rubbing a hand over his scalp.

He turned toward Pete, then. "So, what's your question?"

The three high school students were so wrapped up in Lex's freshman biology tutoring that Martha finally had to come out to the barn to call them in for dinner.

Chloe and Pete went ahead, and Clark and Lex stayed behind.

"I want to talk to you after dinner." Clark said, looping his arms around his lover's body and pulling him closer for a kiss.

"Talk?" Lex asked archly.

"Talk." Clark responded.

Lex sighed theatrically, "If we must."

Clark laughed, kissing Lex again. "Oh, and one more thing."

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to scare my dad and Chloe out of a year's growth."

"Scare out of a year's growth? Who talks like that?"

"You know what I mean."

"What're you going to do?"

"Uh-uh." Clark shook his head. "You'll find out when it happens."

Together, they went in to dinner. Jonathan was seated at the head of the table, Martha at the foot. One seat of the far side of the table was occupied by Chloe, and the diagonally opposite seat by Pete. Clark narrowed his eyes at Chloe for this obvious attempt to separate him from Lex, but since the meal had already started, Lex moved to sit next to Chloe. Before he took his seat, Clark asked, "Would you like something to drink, Lex?" Boy, Chloe was going to pay.

Lex, startled, said, "Water, thanks." From the grin on Clark's face as he left the room, Lex wondered if this was what he'd warned him about in the barn.

A few minutes later, carrying two glasses, one filled with water, the other with Pepsi, Clark returned. First, he put the Pepsi glass at his own place, then carried the water over to Lex's place.

He put the glass down in front of Lex, then gave him a very quick, very casual kiss. One that spoke volumes about the level of their relationship -- that they had left the passionate, honeymoon phase, and had moved on to forming a real commitment to each other.

Clark returned to his seat, not looking at anyone seated at the table. After he'd sat back down, he looked at his father. He could almost see Jonathan's hair turning white.

"C - Clark?" Chloe spluttered. "You know that . . ." She looked from Jonathan's astonished face to Martha's amused one. Then she looked at Clark. "Your folks know about you guys?"

"Yeah." Clark said, smirking.

Chloe leveled a playful yet deadly expression at Clark as Jonathan began to regain his composure.

"Actually," Lex said, trying to calm everyone down, "it's kind of nice, being here with the four of you. Having to keep this a secret from everyone is very trying. But here, with you, we can let our guards down." He smiled at Martha, Chloe, Pete and Jonathan, and with the exception of Jonathan, each returned his smile.

Dinner passed without further incident, and soon Pete and Chloe had left for their respective homes. Lex and Clark returned to the Fortress together.

Lex picked up a blanket and indicated for Clark to sit down in the entrance of the loft. Lex folded the blanket up as small as he could get it and put it on the floor behind Clark and sat down on it. "You hold me all the time," Lex said from his position behind and above Clark, "And sometimes I want to hold you without smothering myself with your back."

Clark leaned back into Lex's embrace as they watched the night outside.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I had the strangest conversation with Lana today."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. She came right out and asked if I was interested in her."

Lex stiffened. "And what did you say?"

"I told her that I used to be, but that I wasn't anymore."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I said that it was just a crush, and that I outgrew it."

"Did you?" Lex couldn't help grinning like an idiot.

"Yes. I did." Clark picked up on Lex's grin and shared it, his teeth flashing white in the reflected light from the house. He snuggled back closer to Lex. "And I think she really likes Pete."

"Oh?"

"You should have seen it. She seemed kind of nervous talking to me, but she almost glowed when she saw Pete."

"So, that's Pete taken care of, then. Next we need to hook Chloe up with someone."