Revelations

 

Jonathon sighed as another night found him in the kitchen when he should have been asleep.  Too many worries crowded his mind as he poured milk into a pan to heat.  Warm milk had done the trick for the last two weeks and he figured it would work now as well. 

 

As he pulled a mug down from the cabinet, he caught the light still coming from the loft.  With a scowl he took in the late hour and the car still parked in the drive.  Damn Luthors didn’t respect anyone but themselves.  Didn’t Lex know that it was a school night and Clark had to be up at four a.m. for chores?

 

Setting his mug down on the kitchen counter and turning off the burner he headed toward the barn; he’d put a stop to this even if Clark wouldn’t.

 

As he neared the barn he could hear his son’s raised voice.

 

“Lex, can’t you just tell me the truth for once.”

 

“Clark, I told you—“

 

“Bullshit.  That’s the truth you want me to believe.  That’s the truth you think is going to get you off the hook.”

 

Jonathon couldn’t help but smile at the fierce determination in his son.

 

Maybe he wouldn’t have to put a stop to anything.  Maybe Clark was finally realizing what he himself had always known.  You can't rust a Luthor.

 

“Clark, you’re seventeen years old, you can’t possibly know—“

 

“You know I was adopted, Lex. They didn’t know how I old I was so they made something up.  That’s beside the point anyway.  I do know what I want.”

 

With a sinking feeling Jonathan debated making his presence known.  He could hear feet shuffling above him and knew Clark was moving.

 

“It’s you, Lex.  It’s always been you.  It’s you in the dark when I’m alone.  Your hands, your mouth, touching me, tasting me.  And I know you want me.  You keep pushing me away.  I just want to know why.  I want the truth this time, not this crap about state laws and my parents and the rest of the world.  I want your truth.”    

 

He didn’t know what shocked him more.  Clark’s feelings for Lex or Lex’s obvious responsible behavior toward those feelings.  He had never been a betting man, but he’d have laid the farm on the fact that Lex wanted more from Clark than friendship and would have jumped at the first opportunity that presented itself.  But it was clear he hadn’t done that.  Hadn’t betrayed the trust Clark had placed in him; hadn’t used Clark’s age and innocence to get what he wanted.  Jonathon felt a grudging respect take up residence where once there had been nothing but mistrust and suspicion. 

 

He knew he should back away, knew he should leave them with their privacy but he couldn’t make his legs move.

 

“God, Clark, don’t do this.  Don’t—“

 

“You want to know what I think.”

 

More shuffling feet, only this time two sets.  He heard a small thud and surmised that Lex must have been backed into a wall. 

 

“I think you’re scared.  You’re scared that if you let me in, if you let me get close, you’ll lose control.   You’ll love me, more than you already do and you’re afraid I’ll hurt you.  But I won’t, Lex.  I’d never hurt you.”

 

Jonathon heard Lex’s sharp gasp and registered at once that it wasn’t one of pain.  Again he debated.  Now, instead of his son’s safety, he worried for Lex's safety.  How far would Clark push?  He’d never heard that tone in his child’s voice.  Never known he could be so manipulative.  He wanted to believe that no harm would come to Lex, but for the first time he doubted Clark’s ability to control his strength.   Clark’s soft voice broke through his thoughts.

 

“Tell me the truth.”

 

“I’ll lose myself in you. It’s difficult to give anyone that much control.  What happens when you find someone else?  I don’t know if I would survive watching you walk away.

 

“Already I feel too strongly for you.  There are things in my life, Clark that I’m not proud of.  Things I’ve done since I’ve come to Smallville.  Things that you may not be able to overlook.  I’m not a good man.”

 

“For a genius, sometimes you’re really dumb, you know that.  I know about all that stuff, but you’ve done good things too.  Things you don’t take credit for.  Everybody stumbles, Lex.  I just want to be there to pick you up when you do.”

 

In the silence Jonathon could almost picture the pleading stare Clark had to be giving Lex.  He heard a deep sigh of resignation come from Lex and knew that the scales had just tipped in Clark’s favor.

 

“Two conditions.  If this happens, I have two conditions.”

 

“Mmmhmm and they are?”

 

“We—God, Clark, stop.  We tell your parents.  Tomorrow.  Not next week, not next month but tomorrow.  And no sex until you’re eighteen.”

 

 “What?!  That’s…that’s nine months away.”

 

“I mean it, Clark.  I want us to be out and open about it, but I don’t want you to have any regrets if it goes wrong.  I don’t want you to regret losing your virginity to someone you never really loved.  You’re too good for that.  Your first time deserves to be special.  And you sure as hell deserve someone better than me.  If I had any self-preservation at all I’d walk away now and save myself the heartache that I know is coming, but I can’t.  I want you too much and I’m a selfish bastard when it comes to you.”

 

“I want to make an amendment to your conditions.  Give me tonight.”

 

“No.  You need to think—Clark!  Jesus…C-Clark, please.”

”You’re so hard, Lex.  You feel so good.  Let me, please, just this once, let me."

 

A harsh moan and ragged breathing floated down to his ears and Jonathon knew it was time to leave.  For all of Lex’s protests and good intentions, Clark wasn’t stopping and he knew all too well that a man could only take so much before he gave in.

 

The last sound to reach Jonathon’s ears was Lex chanting his son’s name with the reverence one usually felt for the Almighty.

 

Once inside the house he looked again toward the barn.  Although this wasn’t the path he would have chosen for his only child, Jonathon realized that Clark could have done much worse than someone who would devote all of their energy to loving him.  His concern now was for Lex.  If Lex was correct and Clark eventually left him, what would become of the young Luthor?  Turing the burner for his milk back on, Jonathon realized that he had just added another worry to his mind.

 

 

~finis~       

 

SEQUEL - Damnation

 

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