The Slushy
by Nymph Du Pave

CHAPTER ONE

He'd run out of excuses.  He just needed to see Clark.  He had no justification for being there.  There was no 'I wanted to see your parents about this' or 'I needed some more of your mother's delicious that'.  He just wanted, needed, to see Clark.

"Slushy?" he asked holding up the rain-soaked paper cup.  The drink was half empty and no doubt watered-down, ruined.  He really had no excuse for being there.
"Jesus, Lex," the awed whisper caused shivers to wreck him -- or was that the icy rain, the chilly wind, the inert vacancy of a soul?

Clark pulled him into a warm house and he immediately felt guilty, horrible in fact.  He was bringing cold and wet into the Kent home and, yup, there was Mr. Kent not at all appreciating it.

Tears welled up in his eyes, a now familiar feeling.  It was almost comfortable.  "I should go," he whispered.

"Absolutely not!  Look at you!  Your shivering."

Martha Kent -- nice, warm, lovely and thoughtful -- stood, leaving her place next to her husband and in front of the fireplace and walked over to them.  He felt a burning hot hand on his forehead and flinched away.

"Oh!  Oh, no!  Clark get him into the guest bed immediately!  Tell him to get out of those freezing wet clothes."  She turned to her husband.  "Jonathon, get him a pair of your thermal PJ's."

Surprising Lex for a moment, Jonathon nodded and ran for their bedroom.  It took him a moment for the action to register.  The Kents were not like the Luthors.  They were not petty and always wondering what was in it for them.

He shut his eyes tight, feeling Clark's big hands on his waist pulling him away.

"Lex, God."  Clark pulled him closer and ran his hands over Lex's arms.  "Didn't you at least have a jacket?"

Lex didn't answer.  When he'd gotten the phone call, he'd just walked out of the mansion and to his cars.  He'd driven to the Talon, looking for Clark, driven everywhere, praying that the boy wasn't home.  He'd driven to the outskirts of Smallville, then back.  He'd picked up a slushy at the same time the rain began to fall, because it reminded him of better time, happier times.  He'd then steeled up the courage to drive to the Kents and after only five minutes, the sky darkened and the thunder rolled.  He knew that fate was daring him to go any further.  He did.

Four and a half miles from the farm, on a slippery mud road, his car took water up the intake valve and stalled.  The engine would not start and the battery drained completely with his repeated efforts to start.  He'd have to get someone to jump-start his vehicle, but his cell wasn't working in the horrible weather.  He couldn't stay as his need to see Clark had grown immeasurably.  His chest was tender and his brain was mush.  He grabbed his car keys, his visor and his slushy, then made his way.

On a good day he could have run and been there in little more than forty-five minutes.  But he couldn't run, nor walk fast and, once the wind started to blow the rain in his exact direction, he could barely see.  It had taken him two hours and 28 minutes to reach the farm.  It would have been longer if Lex had kept his shoes on.
"Oh, Lex.  You're shivering.  What happened?"  Clark opened a door and guided Lex in.

Lex looked up and demanded that his teeth stop chattering.  It didn't work.  "Clark, this is your room."

He nodded.  "It's warmer and the bed doesn't have a wooden plank going right down the middle of it.  Considering they're both twins…"  He shrugged.  "The middle is the whole bed in a twin."

"Clark!"  Jonathon ran into his room with Martha not far behind.  Jonathon held out the thermal pajamas and Lex wanted to laugh.  They were red and green plaid.

"Thanks, Dad."

Martha pushed in front of Jonathon -- who ran out the room again -- and walked to Clark's bed.  "I've got the foot massager. I’ve put the water from the sink in it; it’ll be warm in jiffy.  I've got the cocoa water cooking but he can't have any of that until he's had the tea."

Jonathon came back in.  "Here are the blankets."

Lex couldn't believe the fuss being made over him.  "I'm f-f-fine.  Jussst little-ittle c-c-cold."

Real convincing, Lex.

There was a moment of silence where everyone looked at him, then they turned back to Clark.

"Bring him down to the living room when you're done." Jonathon told Clark.  "Let him stay in front of the fire for at least half an hour before he goes to bed.  And make sure-"

"He wakes up for a bit every two hours."  Clark walked towards Lex.  "I know."

"It's not the most scientific, but it works," Martha chimed in.  She handed Clark a thermometer.  "Not until-"

"I get him out of the wet clothes.  I know the drill."

Lex looked at the three of them.  "Uh, ha.  I c-can und-dress myself, th-thanks."  The thought of Clark undressing him, peeling layers of wet clothing off his shivering body, putting his big, warm hands in places to steady Lex's unbalanced limbs…

Even if it felt like he had no blood, what little was still circulating would be going to one place and one place alone.

Shit.

Jonathon crossed his arms.  "Wh-what w-was th-that, L-Lex?"

"Dad."

"No, Clark.  Mr. Luthor thinks he can undress himself."

"Jon," Martha warned.  She turned to Lex, patient smile.  "Try it, Lex."

He nodded and took a deep breath waiting for her to leave.  He gave her an expectant look after a minute.

She threw her hands up in the air and headed towards the door.  "For heaven's sake.  Two brothers, five cousins, three brothers-in-law, a husband and a son-"

Her voice continued down the stairs and Lex looked guiltily at Clark.  He smiled.  "She's just mad cause she’s a girl and it matters to guys.  She’s a volunteer medical aid at the shelter and during tornadoes and stuff, and she’ll rave about how nobody seems to mind down there."  Lex looked down and Clark continued.  "It's okay, really.  I still chase her out when she walks in on me changing shirts."

"Give it a shot, Lex."  Clark glared meaningfully at his father, but Jonathon was having none of it.  "Try to get out of yours."

Lex's arms were crossed and felt frozen.  He jerked them apart and tried to start unbuttoning his shirt.  The only problem was he couldn't seem to aim his hands right, much less convince the trembles to subside.

Jonathon looked at his son.  "Once you've checked his temperature, I've got some thermal socks."

Clark looked down at Lex's feet.  "Okay. I think-  What the hell?!"  He bent down and touched Lex's foot.  "Dad, he's only wearing socks!  And they're frozen."

"Get his feet in foot massager immediately, Clark.  If the storm lets up before too late, get him in the shower."

With that, Jonathon left Clark to his duties, closing the door to allow them some privacy.  If he knew the thoughts that were threatening to break into Lex’s mind, he would have tossed the rich baldy back to nature.

"Damn it, Lex.”  Clark ducked down to pull Lex’s socks off.  “Where the hell are your shoes?”

“They g-got ssstuck in the mud.”

“And where’s your car?”

He shrugged as Clark managed to get the first sock off.  “Couple of miles out.”

Clark gave him a tolerant look.

“Four,” he whispered wondering how, of all his numerous opponents, a farmboy keeping who knows how many secrets from him, could always get the truth.  If he knew what to ask.  Lex still felt guilty for wording around the whole “What do you think?” answer.

~“Was Pete telling the truth?  Was Hamilton really here?”~

A question to a question is never the correct answer, Clark.  He thought briefly about telling his friend the truth, but only when Clark fully trusted him could Lex reveal his own hidden truths.

“Four miles out?”

“Yes.  My cell wasn’t w-working.  I’m su-sure that if you w-were t-to c-call the m-m-mansion one of the st-staff would c-come and p-pick me up.”

"Can you hear yourself?"

He merely nodded.  Clark lifted Lex's pant leg and reached in to peel the other sock off.  "Well, sorry to inform you, Lex, but you're stuck here for now.  Power failure.  Lines are down for as far as we could see from the attic.  Or did you not notice the lack of light in the house?"

As a matter of fact he hadn't.  Now that he looked he found that Clark's room was currently being lit by a halogen lamp.  He hadn't remembered it being in Clark's hands when he helped Lex up the stairs.

Lex lifted his leg to help Clark with the sock, and lost his balance.  Before he could even start to tumble backwards, Clark caught him around the waist and looked up at him, brow creased, green eyes open with worry.

“Lex?”

Lex tried to ignore how close the boy was to his crotch.  He stood there sockless as Clark pulled the massager from the bed and placed in front of Lex.

“Mom’s already put in the hot water.  It’s battery powered so it’ll stay warm.  Step in.”

Lex braced himself, hand on Clark’s shoulder, and put one foot in.  He winced at the burn, pulling his foot back.  “It’s too hot.”  He hated the whine in his voice.

Clark looked even more worried.  “It just barely above lukewarm, Lex.  God…  You know, you’ll be lucky if you walk away from this with a raging case of pneumonia.”

Lex watched as Clark stood up, wondering how he got so lucky to have someone worry about him so.  “C-Clark, I’m sorry.“

Clark put his hands to Lex’s face, his burning hot hands, but Lex didn’t shake them off.  They were Clark’s hands after all.

There was something intense in Clark’s eyes, something with meaning and if Lex could just stop the shakes, could just pay attention to something other than the cold for just a moment, he was sure he would like what he found.

Such a beautiful boy, he thought vaguely.  So pretty and nice to me.  I hit him with a car and now he’s my best friend.  I wonder what I could do to get him to love me.

“You have no idea, do you?”

Clark’s whisper broke his trance and he swallowed.

“W-what, C-Clark?  N-n-no id-d-dea ab-b-”

Clark’s finger on his lips shushed him and he resisted the urge to lick it, taste it, feel it’s warm suffuse him.  Clark had to taste better than any morsel he’d ever bit into, any liquid he’d ever sipped.

Better than the damned slushy, that’s for sure.

The slushy!  He was still holding it in his right hand.

“C-Clark?”

His voice interrupted whatever thoughts were going through Clark’s head and he started.  To Lex’s great disappointment, Clark’s hands left his face, and the cold came rushing back.  Clark's fingers found the buttons of his lavender shirt, water-soaked to a deep, royal purple.

“Yes?”

“I g-got you a s-slushy.”

Clark’s eyes shut tight for a second.  “Lex…”  He opened his eyes, still mere inches away from Lex’s face.  “Thanks for the drink.”

He took it from Lex’s hand and placed it on the bed, then returned to unbuttoning Lex’s shirt.  Halfway down the shirt he started to shiver uncontrollably.

“Lex?!  What’s wrong?!”

Lex heard the worry in Clark’s voice but he couldn’t respond.  His whole body was rattling so hard, so violently…

When the darkness came, it was a blessing.

+_+_+_+_+
Lex went limp in his arms, still shuttering.  Clark started to panic.  Lex's whole body.  Limp.  Heavy with an exaggerated weight that felt far too much like death.

Okay, frostbite, pneumonia, system shut down…

He couldn’t take Lex to the hospital in this weather.  Normally it would take him five minutes to get there, but with the way everything looked out there, it would take him at the very least ten.  He didn’t want to expose Lex to the cold for that long.

Maybe if I wrapped him in a bunch of blankets-

The rain would soak the blankets.

And then put a couple of raincoats over him-

Besides how would you be able to tell if he was breathing or not?

-I could use my X-ray vision.

How often would you have to stop to make sure?

“Too often.”

He was about to call his parents and have them help him when he got an idea.  He’d seen a few movies where it had worked and it was worth a shot.

He’s just too cold, he told himself as he placed Lex gently down on the floor.  I have to warm him up, that’s all.

Clark tried to unbutton Lex’s shirt, only to find his hands trembling brutally.

“Fuck it.”  He ripped Lex’s shirt open then, finding it too hard to slide the sleeves off the lifeless arms, just ripped those off as well.

He was able to unbutton and unzip the slacks Lex was wearing and clumsily pull them down while still cradling the older boy.  Even his monogrammed boxers were drenched and Clark looked away as he pulled them off.  Still he caught sight of curly red hair, surprising him.  He’d seen Lex shirtless a couple of times and always thought, like his head and chest, the rest of him was hairless.  The eyebrows and eyelashes should have been a hint that further hair could exist.

"Lex?"  He pulled the older boy to him in a last ditch effort to revive him.  "Lex, please.  Wake up.  Come on, come on."

The pale face just lie there, not moving, not flinching when Clark patted him, not crying out in indignation when Clark slapped him.  He was completely passive, inanimate and the hysteria was starting to build inside Clark's gut.

Hypothermia, he thought, knowing that you're not supposed to let someone suffering from the cold go to sleep.  They could slip into shock.

He picked Lex up and moved to the bed tossing the multitude of covers aside and slipping Lex beneath them.  He shed his own clothes as quick as he could, leaving on his boxers, and climbed in with Lex.  He pulled his naked best friend to him, curling his arms and legs around Lex's chilly form and began to rock.

His eyes filled up with tears.  Clark could normally get by the winters without feeling the same cold as others.  He wasn't as effected by the chill, but he could feel the icy hardness of Lex's usually beautiful pale skin, so soft looking and delicate.

He wouldn't let Lex die.  There was no way Clark was going to lose him.  Not at all.  He'd do anything.

"I'll tell you the truth, Lex," he whispered, burying his face in Lex's neck.  "I'll tell you everything that I know.  How I came down from the sky with that fire, with those rocks.  How my voyage is the reason you lost your hair.  And probably your asthma."

He could see Lex's gorgeous smile from his memory and his breath hitched.  Tears rolled down his cheeks.  "How every time I see you I feel filled with energy and love."  He let his hand trace the small scar under Lex's chin.  "How I want to kill anyone that tries to hurt you.  I can't stand seeing you in pain, or in danger.  I just want to keep you with me, in my arms."  His fingers found Lex's lips.  "If you come back I'll tell you everything, Lex.  Like…  Like how much I want to kiss you and hold you and… make… love to you."

He pressed his lips to Lex's, the tears streaming, and wished with everything he had that he could take Lex's chill away.  That he could force warmth onto him.
 
 
 

To Be Continued...
[tomorrow, I promise!]