=======
Red Dust
=======

Lionel Luthor was the last person Clark expected to see standing next to the “Welcome to Metropolis” sign.

Clark pulled over and kept the engine running, in case Lionel started to bore him.

“Mr. Kent,” Lionel approached with a silver briefcase in his hand and a shark-like smile.

"Lionel," Clark nodded, but made no move to meet Lionel halfway. If Lionel wanted something, he should be the one to come get it. Besides, Clark was sure they both knew who had the power here.

Lionel stopped about five feet away from Clark.

“What do you want?” Clark asked, sensing the ball was in his court.

“Your powers.” The reply was simple, but nevertheless shook Clark.

How did Lionel know?

Did Clark care how Lionel knew?

Hell. No.

He wasn’t Clark Kent, the good farm boy anymore. There was nothing left to make Clark even remotely want to be that person. Nothing.

“You’re either stupid or insane.” Clark glanced at him, “Possibly both, what makes you think I’ll agree to that?”

The teen’s unspoken admittance to his assumption surprised Lionel, but he only let it show for a second before the too confident grin returned to his face. “Who said anything about agreeing?”

That was when Clark sensed that something was wrong. There was no fear in Lionel's posture. If anything, the man looked arrogant. It was more than mere bravado. Lionel looked like he knew he held the upper hand. Clark didn’t bother to x-ray the briefcase; he knew what was in it.

How could he have been so careless? Accustomed to using his speed to solve every problem, Clark lunged toward Lionel, mindlessly knocking over his bike in the process. He realized too late that his heat vision would probably have served him better in this situation. Lionel managed to push the tiny button on the handle of the briefcase before the blur he knew to be Clark Kent tackled him to the ground.

The lid popped open and a brilliant green light emerged.

“I would ask you to get off of me, but I don’t think you’re quite capable in your condition.” Lionel chuckled as he pushed Clark away.

Ignoring the painful gasps of breath coming from the teen, Lionel straightened his suit and dusted the dirt off his pants. "You're either stupid or insane," he said, throwing Clark's previous words back at him -- "Possibly both. What makes you think I'd come unprepared?"

“Fuck. You.”

“Now, now, what would Martha say if she heard you use such offensive language?” He waved his hand, and a limo emerged from the shadows. Two men got out of the vehicle, each approaching Clark with a chunk of kryptonite in hand.

“What do you want?” The mention of his mother’s name unnerved Clark a bit, but it was quickly ignored when the invisible hands of Kryptonite tightened their grip on his neck.

“Ah, now we’re getting somewhere.” Lionel signaled at one of the men, who then gripped a handful of Clark's hair and dragged him up onto his knees.

“Your powers, as I said before. You really should start listening to other people.”

Clark couldn't talk due to the pain streaming through his body, but his glare said everything his mouth couldn't.

“I know what you’re wondering. What could I possibly offer you, right?” Lionel lifted Clark’s hand, the one with the ring, and began to rotate the ring around his finger. “I could threaten you with those meteor rocks, but I doubt it would get you to do my bidding.”

“Stop.” It was a breathy command, but the urgency behind it came through loud and clear. Unfortunately, the tone only confirmed Lionel’s conjecture about the importance of the ring.

“What can I offer you? Money? No, you could break into any vaults you want to. Fame? You can achieve that without me. Power? Well,” he chuckled, “I believe you have that already, if not in plural form.”

Lionel pulled a small vial from his pocket, it contained a red powder. “What I can offer you is complete freedom from your conscience, which I'm sure would be eating away at you right now if not for this. Little.” He pulled the ring off with a flourish and handed it to his assistant, “Ring.”

“No…” Green eyes went dull for a moment, heavy under the crushing weight of guilt, disgust, and shame he felt for taking another life, destroying his parents' one chance at happiness, and fleeing his home like a coward.

“This,” Lionel opened the bottle and poured some of the powder onto his palm, “is what I can offer you.” He blew the powder into Clark’s face and watched in fascination as the teen’s eyes cleared up and shone with their former arrogance.

“Let’s talk.” Clark breathed through clenched teeth.

“Glad to.” Lionel waved his men off; they backed away but stayed close enough to keep Clark weak.

“I'll give you what you need,” Lionel dangled the vial before Clark, “And you'll do what I ask you to do.”

“What…” He commanded his body to grab the vial, but his limbs felt like rubber.

Lionel cut him off, “Before you start thinking that since the powder is in your system, you won’t need me, I’m sorry to inform you that the effects will only be temporary.” The smug grin on his face said that he was anything but sorry. “You need me.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Eager now, aren’t we?” Lionel took out a slip of paper with an address on it. “Get inside this building, and destroy all the files there. Hard drive, papers, disks, all of them. Make it look like an accident.” He gripped Clark’s chin, “And I don’t want it to be traced back to me.”

Clark took the paper without another word.

“I’ll see you in my office tomorrow morning at eight. Don’t be late.”

=======

Clark kicked the gravel as the limo sped off. “I’ll see you at my office…” He mimicked. "Fucking Luthors!"

Luthors.

Lex.

Where was Lex?

Lex was getting married and he was the best man.

Talk about irony, Clark was far from “best”, and one stage below worst.

Had Lex go ahead with the ceremony without him? Had Lex marry that insufferably dull and annoying woman?

God, he hoped not. But Lex probably had. They should be on the way to their honeymoon by now.

Well too bad for them, Clark decided with a gleam in his eyes. He needed Lex more than Helen did at the moment. If anyone could double cross Lionel, Lex would be the one. Granted, Lex might not have been successful in the past, but he did know all the right people, people Clark wouldn’t even know where to start looking for.

Clark was sure Lex would help him without hesitation. After all, they were going to be the stuff of legends. Marriage and honeymoon should never come in the way of achieving legends.

He needed to find Lex.

=======

Though Clark had imagined thousands of scenarios as to what kind of position Lex would be in when Clark found him, plunging to his death in a plane never made it to the list.

It wasn’t hard to locate Lex. Once Clark found out that they hadn’t check into the hotel, he simply backtracked along the route.

This course of action brought Clark to yet another question: Where the fuck was Helen? Unfortunately, he didn’t have much time to contemplate the whereabouts of Helen, seeing how close to the surface of the ocean Lex was.

Clark flew into a broken door on the airplane before the billionaire had a chance to react.

Wind rushed against Clark's face as they flew. He took them back to Metropolis, unable to think of anywhere better to go. Sure, they could go to anywhere in the world, but if Lionel wanted Lex dead - Clark made sure he didn’t tighten his grip on Lex when he suppressed the urge to strangle Lionel - then entering a hotel announcing Lex Luthor was alive didn’t seem like the best idea.

Plus, if Lex couldn’t help him, Clark needed to get to work on destroying those files.

Lex was unusually quite in his arms, Clark realized as he saw the bright neon lights of Metropolis' nightlife coming up ahead of him. A glance downward revealed that Lex had either fainted or fallen asleep. Clark began to worry. If Lex had fainted, there could be internal injuries Clark didn't know about. He did his best to quickly x-ray Lex while avoiding any flying objects.

There didn’t seem to be any broken bones or bruised muscles. So Lex had fainted…out of fear?

This time his grip on Lex's waist did tighten as he grimaced at the thought of Lex being afraid of him. However, a low moan from Lex prevented Clark from pondering the issue.

“Where are we?”

"Almost to Metropolis. Is there some place you can stay for the night?" Clark asked. "Without your dad knowing," he added, in case Lex hadn't been alerted of his situation. He was surprised that Lex wasn't in shock.

“My penthouse, it’s on the corner of Seventh and Pine.”

“Okay, we should be there in five minutes.”

“We?”

Lex’s tone didn’t show any signs of unwelcome, but Clark’s throat tightened like someone had just made him drink liquid Kryptonite. He and Lex had always been “we”; to hear the word that always made his stomach do funny things come out of Lex’s mouth as a question made Clark frown.

“I hope you don’t have a problem with that, I need a place to crash too.” Clark hoped his hurt didn’t show through his words.

“I just assumed that…”

“What? I’d want to go back to Smallville?”

A confused frown formed on Lex’s face, “Yeah, I thought you made plans with Lana…”

“Lana is old news, how about we focus on your love life for a second? Where’s Helen?”

“Hell if I know, that bitch is probably celebrating with my wonderful father.”

“I told you that she wasn’t good for you.” Clark grinned smugly.

“No, you didn’t. You were quite supportive, if I recall correctly.”

“That was the pussy Clark. I, on the other hand, hated that bitch.”

“So,” Lex paused, as if he was choosing his words carefully, “Which Clark are you?”

“You’ll find out.” Clark smiled as they landed on the balcony of Lex’s penthouse.

“Damn it, I don’t have the key…”

Clark broke the handle off the door, “Problem solved.”

Lex didn’t say another word as he went in to his room and changed out of his tux. When he reappeared in the doorway in gray slacks and black sweater, he found Clark lounging on his couch.

“Want to explain what just happened?” Lex asked as he went to the bar and poured himself some scotch. The occasion called for some heavy liquor. He had seen too many impossible things in the past few hours. He had too many questions to ask Clark -- questions like "What happened to bring him to Metropolis?" "How had he been found?" and "What was with the James Dean outfit that I thought your father would surely have destroyed by now?" Unable to say them all, he'd settled on the most important one.

“Took you long enough to ask the question.” Clark traced random patterns on the leather.

“Well, better late than never,” he took a sip of scotch and resisted the urge to close his eyes when he felt the liquid burn comfortably down his throat. Something told Lex that closing his eyes in front of Clark right now wasn't a good idea.

“I agree.”

In a blur, Clark was in front of Lex and crushed their lips together in a hungry kiss. The glass fell to the carpeted floor with a thud that both men ignored.

Suddenly, Clark pulled away with a look of pure horror on his face, all effects from the red kryptonite leaving his system.

“Oh God, Lex!”

“Clark?” Somehow Lex knew that the old Clark, the one who was supposed to be the best man at his wedding, was back.

“I’m so sorry… I didn’t mean… I…”

“It’s all right."

Silence settled over them.

Lex was debating with himself. He wanted to ignore the thirst for truth within him, if that would mean Clark would stop looking like a kicked-puppy. He might be able to overlook it before Lex had actually witnessed Clark's abilities, but he couldn't. Not now. Not after what he'd seen.

“Want to explain?”

“Not sure if I can.” Clark focused his eyes on the carpet.

“Try.” Lex said softly and led Clark to the couch.

It was going to a long night.

=======

“I ran into your dad outside of Metropolis, he wanted me to destroy some files for him and I didn’t want to, so I went to find you.” Clark finally glanced up from his hands when his story came to an end. He didn’t dare to look at Lex while he was telling Lex about his origins and filling in the gaps between events.

“So… You’re an alien.” It was Lex’s turn to avoid eye contact, though he had been staring at Clark while the teen was speaking.

“Yes.”

Lex sank back against the couch, chewing slightly on his lower lip as his eyes took on a far away look.

Clark wanted to say something, anything to remove that expression from Lex's face -- the one that made him feel less like a friend and more like a mysterious lab specimen. He opened his mouth and wasn't too surprised when no sound came out.

“You’re not a mutant. In fact, you caused the mutation.”

Grateful didn't begin to describe how Clark felt when Lex broke out of his daze. “I guess so, since it’s the rocks that came with me that cause people to change.”

“The green meteor rocks can hurt you and the red ones make you turn into a more-assertive-Clark. Or should I say,” Lex smirked, “non-pussy Clark.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind,” Lex met Clark’s eyes. “What are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, you’re not going to work for my father.”

“I never said I was going to.” That part was true, although Lionel offered the deal, Clark never agreed.

“And stay away from the red meteor rocks.” Lex snorted with disgust, “And the red dust my father had come up with.”

“Your dad! He's expecting me to destroy those files.” Frantic, Clark jumped up and began to pace. "He knows about me and the meteor rocks! My parents…" His voice choked at the mention of the word, "I have to warn my parents! I…"

"Clark, calm down!" Lex placed his hand gently on Clark’s arm. “You need to.”

“I can’t.” Clark hated the weakness in his voice, but slumped back on the couch.

“You can, sometimes; things aren’t as horrible as you imagine them to be.”

"How can you say that? He could tell the press about me and they would want to study me and…"

"That's not going to happen."

"How do you know?"

"My father wants to use you as a secret weapon, he wouldn't want to reveal his hand. He may make some threats, but you are valuable to him. Perhaps more valuable than me." Lex smiled mirthlessly.

"Lex…"

"Don't tell me you don't think my wonderful father wasn't behind the plane crash."

"I…"

"And Helen. God!" Lex threw an arm over his eyes. "She was part of it. She was part of it from the very beginning."

Clark tentatively wrapped his arm around Lex. He wasn't sure what do say, but when Lex's shoulder softened under his fingers, Clark knew he was doing something right.

"I sure know how to pick them, huh?" A dry chuckle. "Attempted murder by two wives in the same year. That has to be some kind of a record."

"It's not you."

"How do you know that, Clark? Stuff like this doesn't just happen to anyone, yet it's happened to me twice! " Lex threw his arms up in the air in agitation, mindful not to hit Clark in the process. "Twice." He repeated solemnly and his arms fell back in their original positions - one over his eyes and one by his side.

"Lex…" Clark was cut off again.

"There must be something wrong with me. Everyone screws me over," Lex dropped his arm and glanced at Clark, "even you."

"I never…"

Lex continued on as if he hadn't heard Clark. "You said that the red meteor rock makes you more expressive of your feelings." He looked to Clark for affirmation.

"Yeah,"

"And all three times you came in contact with those red meteor rocks, you behaved…"

"Like an asshole?"

"Not the exact word I'd have used, but yes." Lex squared his shoulders and willed his body to fight against the exhaustion. He was tired, but he needed to be strong for what he was about to say next. "Maybe that's how you really feel about me. Lex Luthor, the unwanted."

"You're forgetting something, Lex. I came to you, not anyone else, all three times. I wanted to go to Metropolis with you and I'm here with you right now!" He was careful not to flinch when he felt Lex's muscles tightened under his hand.

"That's only two times, Clark." Lex said slowly, the words felt like stale coffee on his tongue. "You also told me to stay away from you." As soon as the last four words left his mouth, he felt his resolve to be strong slipped away. Opening an old wound was never easy, especially one that had never healed.

"I'm sorry." Clark didn't know what else to say. It seemed like he was doomed to a life full of apologies. "I was so mad. I didn't know why I'm here, no one would tell me anything, I had to lie to everyone and you were spending all your time with her, and I just thought you don't want me around…"

"I always want you around, Clark. You should know that by now." Strangely enough, few sentences from Clark seemed to do wonders for his emotional wound. Hearing that Clark was jealous made Lex relax into Clark more, Lex allowed to let his head drop against Clark's shoulders.

Clark would never hurt him, not physically or purposely. Even when he was under the influence of the meteor rocks, Clark made sure to control his strength. Lex remembered the shove from Clark in the barn, if Clark had wanted to, Lex would have been pushed through the wall. But he wasn't.

Lex opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut when he heard what Clark said next.

"I asked Lana to come with me before I left Smallville."

"I see." He struggled to sit upright. He wasn't the only one Clark asked to leave Smallville with.

"No, you don't get it." Clark held Lex in his arm easily and continued before Lex slipped away from his any further. "I wanted to take her with me because she's a part of my old life. She represents Smallville." He took a deep breath, "It didn't hurt when she said no, because I knew I'd find you and we'd make a new life together, the stuff of legends."

"Clark…"

"That's the thing, Lex. No matter what happens, I always look for you."

"So what happens now?" Lex spoke softly.

"I don’t know."

"Neither do I. We can figure it out tomorrow." Lex leaned his head on Clark's shoulder.

"Okay," Clark whispered and laid his other arm around Lex's abdomen.

"We should get some sleep." Lex placed his hands over Clark's. Usually he felt trapped in someone's embrace, but with Clark, he felt…protected.

"You must be beat." Clark shifted so Lex could recline against him more comfortably.

"A bed would be better than this couch." Despite what he said, Lex made no move to leave his current position.

"I like it here."

"So do I." Lex smiled and snuggled closer as Clark planted a kiss on Lex's head.

~ END ~