Title: Family
Series/Sequel: Uh-uh
Author: Lydia
Pairing(s): Clark/Lex
Category: AU
Disclaimers: Smallville characters not mine. *sniffle*
Rating: PG-13
Author's Notes: This came to me a while ago, but I haven't had time
to type it up. Yesterday the internet was acting up, so I had extra
time on my hands since I couldn't check email. So here it is.
Summary: Clark gets a little push in the right direction.
Family 2
Lex finished his reports and leaned back in his chair at the Talon to
relax and watch how Lana was doing. His sight was interrupted by a
tall figure and he looked up to see Clark's cousin Greg grinning at
him. Inwardly he rolled his eyes, but he managed a polite smile.
Clark's family had some very interesting characters in it, and Lex
had been entertained the entire evening last night. He had also
entertained them with stories of Metropolis gossip they had missed
out on.
Clark had stayed close to him the whole time to what seemed like
protect him from the man in front of him. Lex had figured out Greg
was after him when they first met, and tried to tell Clark he could
take care of himself. Clark still stayed by his side, and he couldn't
really complain. After all he loved Clark's attention, and he had
received it in spades. Even if it wasn't the type of attention he
really craved.
'Now if only Clark was interested in me the way I'm interested in
him.' He sighed softly at the thought and came back to the present.
Greg had made himself comfortable and was currently looking at a
paper Lex had been reading over.
" 'Biochemical exposure of example A to meteor minerals.' Sounds like
fun. What's example A?"
Lex took back the page and placed it in the correct folder. "Nothing
of interest. What can I do for you Mr. Mattes?"
Greg grinned and leaned forward. "Well since we have Metropolis in
common I was wondering if you could show me around the small town of
Smallville. Anything interesting to take note of?"
Lex was steadily packing his things up and flashed a fake smile at
the man sitting across from him as he stood up. "Actually I've gotten
used to Smallville and it's a excellent place to get away from people
like you."
With that he was heading out the door with sunglasses on, and to his
silver Porsche. A hand on his arm stopped him and he turned to glare
at Greg, tipping his glasses up to rest on his head. He stepped close
and used the voice that made employees and factory worker tremble and
hide from him.
"I told you never to touch me. This is the last time. Stay out of my
way, and I'll be staying out of yours." He whirled and slid into his
car.
Greg let him go, leaned forward and caught the door before it could
be slammed. "You don't like me much do you?"
"What gave you that idea?" Lex said sarcastically and yanked at the
door to try and close it.
Greg didn't let it go, and won out of sheer strength, though he
didn't think Lex was weak at all. "You and I might have more in
common than you think." Was said softly.
Lex smirked and yanked at the door again. "I don't think so. Just to
let you know if you weren't Clark's family I'd have you out of my way
by now."
Greg smirked back and shook his head. "I'm shaking in my boots. Tell
you what, I'll come over tonight and we'll compare notes. If you
still hate my guts I'll leave you alone. Deal?"
Lex stared at the proffered hand and then back up into Greg's eyes.
He gave a smug smile and took it. "Sure Mr. Mattes. How about you
come by around 8:00 tonight."
"8:00 it is. See you then Lex." With that he let go of the door and
barely got out of the way in time to avoid getting his toes run
over. "This is going to be a hard game of hard to get after all."
*
Clark was out in the loft when Greg came up. Clark looked up from the
book he was reading and his eyebrows rose at the sight of his cousin.
He was wearing tight dark, almost black, gray leather pants, and a
second-skin-tight gray shirt that magnified his eyes. "What're you
all dressed up for?"
"I've been invited to the castle this evening." He said with a little
skip. Clark's jaw dropped and he started protesting before he had a
chance to think about it.
"What? Lex invited you? What do you wanna go there for?"
"You trying to say something Clark? I still have some of that Clark
charm in my blood. Don't worry I'll be on my best behavior. We're
just going to get to know each other a little better."
Clark frowned at his cousin, untrustingly. "Maybe I should go with
you to make sure everything will be okay."
"Did you forget you're meeting Chloe? The Torch touch-ups or
something."
"Oh! Right...Well just be good Greg. I don't want to worry about Lex
all night." Greg turned from his gazing at the stars to get Clark in
his sights.
"You're awfully concerned about a grown 21-year-old who has a lot of
power than necessary don't you think Clark?"
"No. Friends watch over each other, and I just don't want you to take
advantage of Lex."
"If you knew what Lex did in Metropolis you wouldn't be so concerned
Clark. He's a big boy, so let him do things on his own."
Clark flushed in anger and walked up to Greg. "Just keep your hands
to yourself. He has enough problems with his Father, and doesn't need
you hitting on him."
Greg stared at Clark for several moments before a slow smile crept up
his face. "Why Clark Kent I think you've got a thing for Lex Luthor.
Want me to keep my hands to myself so you can get to him first? You
have some designs on your 'friend'?"
Clark's mouth dropped open and he sputtered for a minute. "No! It's
not like that! I'm just looking out for him, because I know how you
can be. That's all."
Greg nodded and smirked. "Uh-huh. Well I'm off to the castle. See ya
later."
Clark stood there for a long time after Greg left. 'Why am I so
concerned? It's just for Lex's safety right?' He began to question
his motives for a long time in his head, mulling over his vehement
reaction.
After an hour of thought he finally realized the truth that had been
buried in a load of denial. 'Oh my god. I think I'm interested in Lex
Luthor!'
Safe to say he was late for his meeting with Chloe and got his head
yelled off because of it.
*
Clark sat in the kitchen at the counter after school chopping carrots
for his mothers' stew for dinner. Greg walked in and plopped on a
stool across from him. "What's up Clark?"
"Nothing, just sitting here chopping up carrots. You?"
"I'm doing great. I thought Lex was friend material and it turned out
that he is. We hit it off pretty well when I could spout some techno
babble back at him. He concluded that I wasn't a brainless freak and
he started calling me Greg before I left. That's phenomenal progress
huh." Greg had a self-satisfied grin on his face as he leaned forward
on his elbows to snatch a carrot slice.
Clark looked up, the knife in his hand held at an angle, and briefly
considered smacking Greg's hand, but decided to leave that up to his
mother. "Keep out of the chopped carrots, or I might get your hand
next time. And yes if Lex is calling you Greg you must have passed
his inspection of character."
"You don't look to happy about that Clark. Scared I'm going to take
your 'friend' away?" Clark resumed cutting the carrots less he be
tempted to cut at something else.
"No. Lex needs friends and if you're a good one, than I don't mind.
Besides you're closer to his age than I am. You must have a lot in
common."
"Actually we do. Lex has a great sense of humor once he lets himself
relax." Clark nodded and murmured that he knew. Greg grew serious and
smiled softly. "Hey man, I was just joking with you. Lex values your
friendship a great deal. He told me so himself. Even if I tried I
couldn't take him away from you. He said he considered you his first
true friend ever."
Clark looked up from his chopping and smiled softly. "He told you
that? He usually doesn't open up like that. You must've put him at
ease."
"Well we could relate, you know about our fathers expectations, the
social life, sexual preference, that kinda thing. He doesn't have
people his age he can just talk to I guess. That's the impression I
got anyway."
Clark's eyebrows raised at the sexual preference part but it left his
mind at the rest of Greg's comments. "You're right. It's just me and
sometimes I think he feels he can't really talk to me because of my
age. No matter that I'm mature enough to give him advice, or rescue
him, or distract and visit him in that huge castle when he's bored
and alone. I must not be 'old enough' to be a real friend."
"Hey hey! Don't get all melodramatic on me. I already told you he
cares about you a lot. And well I'll tell you I think he's afraid to
lay his burdens on you. He sees you as some kind of pure angel or
something. He said he can't taint your innocence with his evil deeds,
and misconduct, or with his dysfunctional father."
Clark suddenly looked very suspicious. "I can't imagine Lex telling
you so much. What did you do to him?"
Greg chuckled and shrugged. "I loosened him up with some of the good
stuff is all."
"You gave him drugs!" Clark looked as if he was about to attack Greg
as he held his hands up and shook his head vigorously.
"No, no, no. I meant alcohol. I had some stuff that'll knock you on
your backside, and he had three glasses. I don't think he realized
how potent that stuff was."
"And I'm sure you weren't in all that much of a hurry to let him
know."
"Well I made sure he drank plenty of fluids and all that with the
drink. He probably won't have a bad hang over today. So I took care
of him. Don't worry Clark."
Clark sighed and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. "Okay
Greg. So what did you do today?"
"I went shopping and saw not one soul to engage in some friendly 'get
to know you' sessions. Lex is the food, and drink to a starving man
in Smallville."
"I told you-"
"I know! I won't sleep with him, only cause I know you like
him...Well for a little while. If you don't act soon I'll have to
make a move." Clark frowned and started his denial tiredly.
"I said it wasn't like that."
"Uh huh. Your parents are back. Hey Marthy! When's dinner going to be
ready?"
Martha and Jon had walked through the door and sat down the bags of
groceries. "Don't call me that Greg! It'll be done soon enough. Now
go and do something out of the kitchen. Thank you for cutting the
carrots Clark. You can do what you want until dinner okay?" Clark
nodded and walked out the screen door with Greg close behind him.
As Greg passed by Jon he gave the man a bear hug and landed a kiss on
his cheek. Jon stood there and fumed silently as Martha and Clark
stifled their snorts and laughter. "See ya!"
Once Clark pulled the truck in a parking spot on the street he jumped
out and waited for Greg to meet him around front. "I'm going to meet
Lana and help her with her math homework, so I'll see you later."
Greg rolled his eyes at the mention of Lana and nodded at Clark's
comment. He thought life couldn't be more boring than Smallville
until he spotted a shiny black Ferrari pull up to a spot in front of
the Talon. He walked over and waited for Lex to get out.
Lex saw him waiting and walked over to him. "Hey Lex."
"Greg. What're you doing hanging in the middle of the sidewalk?"
"Waiting for you to rescue me from death of boredom." Lex smirked and
gestured him to come with him to the Talon. They started talking and
were so involved in the discussion they didn't notice Clark shooting
them strange looks as they found an empty table and settled down.
Lana came over to them and asked what they wanted and when they
finished ordering Lex showed Greg some interesting tidbits of
information he had collected. Greg ran a commentary and had Lex
cracking up.
Clark watched all of this as he sat by the counter where Lana was. He
felt a stirring in his belly as Greg moved to sit beside Lex, and
lean closer. His arm came around the back of the seat and their
thighs were pressed together.
Clark had started softly growling unconsciously as he watched Greg
lean in and whisper in Lex's ear. Lex laughed again and smiled up at
him talking animatedly.
Clark's eyes were drawn to Greg's over Lex's head when he leaned
forward to pick up a piece of paper. His vision blazed red when Greg
licked his lips and smirked in triumph directly at him. He saw his
mouth move and read 'make your move', before Lex sat back up.
Clark was out of there with a backpack stuffed with papers and
textbooks before he knew it, Lana and Lex's calls deaf on his ears..
He had had to leave, because a murderous rage had slammed into him,
and at that moment it was directed at Greg. 'Can't kill your cousin
Clark. Run it off.' And once he was out of sight that's what he did.
When he finally stopped he found himself in California.
He was in another state but his thoughts were very clear and back
with someone in Kansas. 'I have to be with Lex.'