The Memoirs

Metropolis in the spring time was beautiful. The city, after finally warming from its thaw, was springing up like a new flower. New shops everywhere, weddings, church bells and happy kids laughing in the street. Clark enjoyed it, immensely, as he kept walking down the street towards the apartment Lex and Lionel kept in the city.

He was going to sign the next twenty years of his life away today. And he hadn't been this happy in his entire life.

It put a bounce in his step as he slipped in through the door the doorman held open... didn't question who he was, and Clark supposed it was the expensive clothes. Heh. Amusing enough. He smiled at the receptionist and walked up to her, setting a hand on the tall counter. "Lex Luthor's penthouse, please."

"And your name, sir?" The woman asked pleasantly.

"Clark Kent."

"Hello, Mr. Kent." A smile. "Please, go on up. Mr. Luthor left instructions to let you in and out of the building at all times."

"Thanks." He smiled back and all but whistled to the elevator.

Lex was watching on the security cameras. They were everywhere, both in the penthouse and mansion, offices too, and he gave a little grin as Clark was sent up with no question. Eventually they'd come to recognize him if they stayed in Metropolis long enough, but until then, at least they were fulfilling their orders, and letting him up without question.

That was good.

The smiles and the whistles pointed out to him that the news Clark had promised him through the link was actually good news, and he smiled over his shoulder at Chloe and Whitney. "I believe that tonight is going to be a very good night. Whitney, go into the kitchen and bring out the champagne and the ice bucket--it's sitting in the refrigerator, and there's also sparkling cider for Chloe." He flicked off the camera and went to sit on the couch beside the mother to be in question, and propped his feet up on the table. "You guys up for dinner?"

"Of course."

Chloe, for the last three hours, had been swallowing her jealous rage like a river. There was a sour taste at the back of her throat that she couldn't shake, no matter what she did. The Torch... was hers. She'd been working on it for three years, and Clark had it for three MONTHS and suddenly the Daily Planet wanted to talk to him? He was getting job offers? She couldn't help it--she felt a hot, sad void in her heart, one she wished she didn't feel.

One she was hiding, VERY well, from her ashimel, which she smiled at. She gave her tummy a little rub, and giggled when it growled.

"We're both hungry."

"I bet you are." Lex followed her hand down and rubbed her stomach too, stroking her hair gently, and kissing her jaw. "You'll be the most beautiful woman wherever we go tonight." A little smile, and he heard the elevator ding. He kissed her cheek again, and he got off the couch, opening the door and leaning against the door frame, waiting.

Whitney carried the two drink bottles, the ice bucket, and four champagne flutes in the large living room on a silver tray, and sat it down on the coffee table. He sat down in the spot that Lex had just vacated, and slid his hand under Chloe's chin. "You okay, baby?"

"Fine." Chloe gave another smile, and kissed her lovers thumb gently, even as she looked over his shoulder and motioned for him to look.

Clark had seen his lover and just, thrown his arms around his neck, hugging the stuffing out of him as he laughed. He hugged him as hard as he could, not looking anywhere but Lex right now, even as he did a little dance of joy.

Lex had wrapped his arms and legs around Clark as soon as he'd heard the laughing, and he was laughing too as he let Clark carry him back into the apartment, dancing every step of the way. His hand slid inside the first button of Clark's shirt to feel his heart beating, and Lex's laughter doubled. "You must have good news," he said blandly, face split wide with a grin.

Clark gave another sharp cry of happiness, saw his sha'nauch, and grinned like an idiot all over again, hugging his lover tightly close and kissing his neck, his cheek, even as he smiled at them. "They offered me. A contract. Renewable every five years, have my own column, five hundred dollars a week, ten months a year, until I start working for them completely and then we'll do contract negotiations to get me up to a normal reporter's responsibilities and wages."

Lex gave a huge grin. "I'm going to have the LuthorCorp lawyers look over it, just to be safe, but I don't think that the Planet would do anything irresponsible, especially not to a high school kid. The pay he's offering you is more than generous; experienced freelancers average anywhere from twenty five to eighty five thousand a year, and this is close to that."

Whitney couldn't help beaming broadly. "Clark, that's amazing." He bounced up from the couch to give his ashimel a hug, engulfing Lex in the process and squeezing them both in rib-cracking hugs. "This is so great for you, man. You can finally stop slingin' coffee!!"

"Yeah! I know!" Clark let out another cry of joy and jumped up and down--and for him? Jumping up and down? That was saying something. He did another little dance and squeezed them both, laughing, even as he beamed. "He really liked my articles... he offered me much less at first, but after I let him look over my other stuff, he was all, You'd be stupid to turn down my next offer, and yeah, it was awesome, and did I mention how cool this is?!"

Whitney jumped with him, couldn't help it, squeezing and hugging and sharing in Clark's happiness. "You would be stupid not to say yes to that, man! That's like, more money than I'll see from the damn store this year and that's gonna be a nice chunk of change for you to get into Met U with."

Lex disengaged himself from the group hug, and he noticed Chloe hadn't joined in. He walked back over to the couch, sitting down beside her and popping the cork on the champagne with his thumbs. "Something I learned from my father," he said with a little grin, pouring the foamy liquid into three glasses, and then pouring a fourth for Chloe. "Here. I don't blame you for not getting all jumpy. I'm sure little Fordman wouldn't appreciate the exercise, especially after he's just gotten settled down for the night." He held her glass out to her first, and loaded the other three onto the silver tray again.

Chloe smiled, and nodded, and lifted the glass to Clark, before drinking the whole thing in one gulp.

"Its... its amazing. Mr. White, I think he really liked me. We talked for a while, he told me a ton of his old, like, 'war' stories, and did you know he and J. Jonah Jameson are friends? JONAH! JAMESON! I mean, the guy... the guy who was like, the first to be in the middle of the war reporting back, the guy who's got fifty billion awards under his belt! How cool is that?" Clark did another little dance, wriggling as he took his champagne glass from his lover.

Lex served Whitney's glass, and then set his own on the coffee table before bending to refill Chloe's from the sparkling cider again. "Yes, I know that. Perry and Mr. Jameson worked together for a few years when they were younger, I do believe, and are still friends. Though I believe Jameson has a burr in his saddle by the name of Parker, who I gather annoys the hell out of him." A little smirk. "I like to keep up."

Whitney took his glass, and held it carefully. "To... Clark. The luckiest guy in Smallville. Not only does he have two great boyfriends and a spectacular girlfriend, but now he's got an amazing future ahead of him."

Clark just beamed... but he noticed Chloe's blank look, and he met her eyes, quietly. "Chloe?"

"Mmhmm?"

Some of his happiness slid out of his heart and fell to the pit of his stomach, where it churned and clenched. "Is everything okay?"

"Mmhmm."

Lex followed the look, and gave a little sigh. Didn't take a rocket scientist, but then again... out of the four of them, he and Whitney had the worst cases of foot in mouth disease he'd ever seen. "Whitney? Can you help me get the champagne back in the kitchen before it gets warm?"

"Huh?" A blink, and then he got it. "Oh. Yeah, sure, one sec." He leaned over and grabbed the bottle and the ice bucket, and Lex took the bottle of sparkling cider and the empty flutes. "Guys? We'll be in the kitchen." He followed Lex and closed the little half-door behind them.

Clark tipped his head, carefully, and looked at Chloe in the eyes. Crap. He set his glass to the side and then sat on the wooden coffee table in front of her, testing to make sure it would hold his weight, then looked at her, quietly, and reached for her hand. "Chloe... look, I'm sorry."

She flinched away, just enough so that her hand slid off her knee as she put her glass down, and then straightened back up. "Sorry for what, Clark? You did good."

"I never planned this, Chloe. I know what the Torch meant… still means... to you. I don't want this all to get in the way of us, you know?" Realizing the pain he was putting his ashikana through, and his throat tightened.

She swallowed hard, and shrugged. "You did what you had to, Clark. I got kicked off the paper, and you filled my shoes. It's not your fault that you filled them better."

He reached for her hand, gently, and took it in his much bigger palms. "Chloe… I never filled your shoes. They're still there, baby. None of this couldn't be done without you... you're the one who inspired me, so long ago, to write."

She gently disengaged her hand, and reached for her half-empty glass again. "No, Clark, they're not. Okay? They're not. People think of the Torch as yours now, because you've done it better. In what, three months? You've hit the chord in everybody that I worked for three years to find, and never quite got there. But you did it, so hey. I'm proud of you. I'm happy for you. Really."

"No, you're not. You're upset with me." He took his hand back, and let his brows furrow. "I'm sorry this upsets you, Chloe. This position is one you deserve. Your work is wonderful, you know."

"Stop patronizing me, Clark!" She threw the glass at him, missed, and watched it shatter against the mahogany paneling behind him. "Just stop it! Yeah, my work is good. It's actually very good, if you ask me, but nobody did. Apparently, it's not as good as yours, and don't tell me differently, because you're the one with the contract in your hand, not me, so I pretty much think that speaks for who's the best and who got noticed and who didn't." Little heaving intake of breath at the end of her sentence turned into a sob, and she was mortified.

Clark's eyebrows furrowed, even tighter, as she gave the sob, and it was worse than her angry eyes, the shattered glass, and her hard grasp on herself. It killed him inside to see her so upset because of him, and he choked on his own sound of horror as his fingers tightened. "Chloe... Chloe. I won't accept it. I don't want you to feel like this...your work is wonderful, ashikana. I just won't take it, okay? I won't take it."

"No, Clark!" She punched him in the arm, as hard as she could, and then rubbed her knuckles. "You stupid idiot, you have to take it!"

"But I can't have you angry with me, I can't let it come between us. You mean more to me than any contract, any writing, anything, Chloe." He said softly, and took her fingers in his, rubbing them gently, pressing kisses to them, as he squeezed her hand. "Ashikana, you mean everything to me. I won't take it if it hurts you."

She hit him again, and then again. "You have to take it, Clark, it's the best thing that could happen to you, and you know, things like this don't come along every day. I should know, it's everything I wanted, so take it, okay? Take it, because you're never going to get this chance again."

"Okay, first, stop hitting me." he muttered, as he squeezed her fingers, ever so gently, and kissed them again even as she tried to beat him up. And for some reason, her little fists did more damage than Lex ever did, straight against his heart. "Chloe, I love you so much. You're my own, don't you see? I love you so very much, and I can't let it... its not important, not like you are, don't you see that?"

"I'm going to keep hitting you until I beat some sense in to that thick skull of yours. Christ, Clark, you're the one who's not seeing! This... this is like, the opportunity of a lifetime. Yours, mine, anybody's. Ask Lex, ask Whitney, hell, ask me and I'll tell you. This is... this is like, the deal I've been waiting for all my life, Clark. But you got it. So you have to go for it."

"And you are not seeing." Clark said softly, as he kissed her knuckles, gently, and then reached forward to brush a kiss across her forehead. "I would lay down my life if it meant making you happy. I can't stand you unhappy, Chloe, because then I'm unhappy, and it all becomes pointless."

She shook her head, and tried half-heartedly to pull away. "No, Clark, I get that, but you've got to think of your life too. You, and Lex, you're going to have this great life, and you're going to have a family and you're going to have this great job and be a great writer, and Lex is going to be a great whatever he is, and if you don't take this job, then you're not going to have that, and you're always going to resent it. You're going to resent passing up your chance, and you're going to resent that Lex has it better, because you could have been there too, and you're going to resent me because I'm the one you'll blame for taking it away from you, and you just... you can't. Do you think I'd let anybody stand in my way of getting what I wanted?"

"No." Clark looked at her, helplessly. "But I can't think of myself before others, Chloe. its not how I'm built, its not how I'm wired. I have to make sure that the people I have taken as my jurnei-oh are safe, don't you understand that? I have to take care of them, first." But he wanted the contract. He wanted it so badly, so deeply in his soul, that he could taste it, feel it, see himself working there for the rest of his life and loving every single breathing instant of it. He wanted it so badly he could already feel his desk under his fingers and see Lois sitting across from him everyday.

But he couldn't take it, couldn't touch it, knowing how deeply it wounded his sha'nauch.

She pulled her hands out and just started beating him over the head. "Clark, dammit, you have to! I don't care about the way you're wired, I can see in your face and your eyes how much you want it!"

"OW!" he wailed it, as she started to bang on his head. "Watch the noggin, I need it!"

"Then pull it out of your ass and start using it!" She kept smacking her hands against his head. "You have to take this, Clark. You have to."

He tugged out from under her wrath and grasped her wrists in his hands, even as he clasped her hands in his bigger palms and brought them to his heart. "Ashikana... you have to assure me that this won't get in the way of what we have. Even when I'm excited over it, and talking about it, you have to tell me you won't hate me. I can't live knowing you hate me."

"I don't... I don't hate you, Clark. I'm jealous. I'm so jealous of you I should be green. I hate the situation; I hate that you have the paper and I don't, I hate that you have the contract and I don't, I hate that you have... you have everything in your future that I wanted for myself, but I don't hate you."

His eyebrows furrowed, tightly, and his heart cracked with pain. "I'm jealous of you, too, Chloe."

And she knew why. Deep down, she knew why. "I know why you are, but you don't hate me because of it, do you? You may hate the situation and be jealous of me, just like i am of you, but that doesn't mean you hate me and I don't hate you."

He nodded, quietly. "Yes. You get to have what I want more than anything, Chloe." He took her hands and squeezed. "You get to have the future I wish to God I was having right now. Don't think your lot and life is so bad--you're an amazing woman, and just because I'm getting this now doesn't mean you won't get something like it in the future."

"C'mon, Clark, we both know better than that," Chloe said. "You'll keep the paper until we graduate, because Reynolds won't let me have it back. My chance is gone, and it's not going to come again. But yours will. You're going to have everything, Clark. You're going to have the family, and the career, and the dogs, and the house, and everything."

"Do you think so little of yourself, ashikana?" He asked, softly, and his brows furrowed. "Do you think yourself worth less than greatness?"

She sighed. "Clark, I've been at this for three years. If I haven't hit it by now? I'm not going to. You hit it in three months. You tell me."

"I also know what others don't--you are an amazing writer, an amazing, intuitive, woman." He quieted after a moment, and looked into her eyes. "I want this, Chloe. I want this so much."

"I know you do, Clark. You want it almost as much as I do, and that's why you have to do this. You have to take it. Cause I'm serious when I say it'll never come again."

"I love you, Chloe. You are my ashikana."

"I love you too, Clark. You're my ashimel. And I really do want you to be happy. It's just... going to take a while, okay?" She blinked hard, pushing back the frustrated tears that wanted to fall.

"Just, please don't hate me. Kay? I don't want you to hate me." He swallowed again, throat burning hot. "I love you so much. I'm so sorry this happened this way."

"I told you, I don't hate you. Just... the situation." She wanted to pick up her glass, but it was broken, and she picked up a pillow instead, fidgeting with it in her lap until it was tucked comfortably under her tummy.

"I've learned that a hate for a situation can become a hate for a person." He squeezed her hand, again. "Thank you, Chloe. For understanding this. I just feel like shit."

"Well, don't," she sniffled. "You're good. Don't be sorry for that."

Clark looked at her, quietly, for a moment. "If it helps you feel any better, Chloe, I don't think that Lex being my boyfriend has hurt me." A quiet wince at that. "Don't ever tell him this, but sometimes… I wish he was a poor joe, just like me, you know?"

"I won't tell him," Chloe said firmly. "And of course it didn't hurt. If you were chasing some girl, then you wouldn't have had anything meaningful to write about, and nobody would have noticed. So, be glad you've got a boyfriend. For once? Being Lex's boyfriend was good for you in a way that had nothing to do with his money."

Clark… shook his head quietly. "Maybe." Which hurt him. He could write damn well, and not just about Lex, goddammit. "Though when I was chasing Lana, I still had stuff to write about outside of my romantic feelings for her. Or… possibly... stalkery feelings for her."

"Yeah, I vote for the stalkery thing, cause the whole telescope thing? Scary, and not in the good way. And yeah, you did have other stuff to write about, and you did write it. It just didn't get you noticed like this did." She patted his knee gently. "Don't worry, your stalkery history stays safely with us."

Uh. Hello? He looked at her, quietly, for a moment. "Three of the four papers I wrote during that time is what got me this contract, Chloe."

"Well, then, congratulations for you. You are the best of the best." Tight little smile. "I think I'm going to lay down, before little baby Fordman decides to try out his placekicking skills on my belly button again."

Anger spurned darkly in his heart, but A, she was in a delicate condition and he'd already upset her enough. B, he was sick of fighting with people. And C... well, there wasn't a C. Just A and B. Didn't mean he was any less angry. Just because he was a poor farm hick who scraped by in school didn't mean he couldn't freaking write here, dammit. Which… yeah, anger, but he swallowed it down. He knew his ashikana hadn't meant it. "Okay. Do you need anything? Some tea or something?"

"No, no, I think just a quiet place to lay down will do the trick." She took the pillow out of her lap, and struggled briefly to her feet. "Think Lex will let me borrow the bedroom for about half an hour?"

"Yeah, right, like you have to ask." He helped her to her feet with a palm under her elbow, and motioned down the hall. "First door, I think. Nap well, sweetie." A little smile at her.

"I will, thanks." She stuck her head in the kitchen. "You can come out now, boys, it's all clear. I'm going to take a nap while the baby's calm--Whitney, stop. Don't worry, I'm fine, I'm just going to lay down without him kicking me, okay?" At his nod, she smiled. "Lex? I'm going to borrow your bedroom."

"Help yourself," Lex said evenly. "First door on the right."

"Thanks." Chloe disappeared down the little hall, and into the bedroom. She closed the door tightly behind her, and lay down gently on the bed, rolling her torso over and burying her face in the soft pillows before sobbing.

Clark just... he thumped down on the couch, and rubbed his palm over his face. Crapola. Fuck. Fucking crapola, and all that stuff. He took his glass still sitting on the coffee table and downed the whole thing in a single swallow, before helping himself to a refill.

Then two.

When he finished his third glass he closed his eyes and lay back, attempting to calm his roiling stomach, and rest his eyes.

Whitney gave a sigh. "Okay, I'll flip you. Pregnant woman or distraught alien."

Lex gave a little chuckle, but it was a little forced. "I'll take care of the distraught alien. You get to deal with the pregnant woman."

Wry grin from Whitney. "Right. Give me the hard one." Then he looked at Clark. "Then again..."

"Go on." Lex watched as Whitney squared his shoulders and knocked on the door of the bedroom, then slipped in at a muffled invitation. He carried the champagne bottle back into the living room and set it on the table, then sat down on the couch and propped his feet up on it. "That wasn't pretty."

"Yada yada, everything will be alright, yada yada you have to take it, blah do it blah." Clark muttered in response, as he propped his own feet on the coffee table, closing his eyes quietly as he pinched the bridge of his nose--something he'd taken from Dominic, that actually managed to reduce stress. "I'm so tired of fighting."

Lex rubbed the side of his foot against his aushna's. "Don't tell me you didn't see it coming. I just didn't think it was going to be such a meltdown."

"I did, but… yeah. I mean, I know she's not happy over it, but Lex... I mean..." He squeezed his eyes shut and let his head rest against the couch. "I can't take it, if its going to upset her."

"Not to repeat what Chloe just said, because I know better than to tell you that you have to do anything, but you'd be passing up a great opportunity if you didn't. And I can speak for the resentment; you know how much I've resented Dad for not letting me pursue what I was good at. You know what will happen."

"Yeah, but Lex...she's my sha'nauch. My ashikana, who I chose. Doing this is like stabbing her in the back, and its... its not like that, but its going to seem like it is. And she's going to end up hating me."

"Or you're going to end up hating her for making you miss out on this." He sighed. "It's a tough situation all around, and I can't tell you what to do. I just think that you're not giving Chloe enough credit. You said you can re-negotiate this thing, so take it. And if it doesn't work out, then it doesn't work out."

"I want it." Clark said, very quietly. "I want it so bad. I want to do this, I want to follow this, Lex. I want to be a writer so much. Professional writer, with a group of people who get why writing is so great. You know?" He rolled his head, to look at his aushna'. "I feel so bad, because a part of me doesn't care what she thinks."

"Clark, every person has that part of them. It's called self-preservation, and it's the part of us that allows us to make decisions that are the best for us, even when it may upset people that we care about." Dry chuckle. "Believe me, I know all about that little part of you."

Clark flickered his gaze at his aushna'. "I hate it. I want it to go away. I don't want to feel like this, I just want her to be happy."

"It won't go away," Lex said quietly. "It's part of what makes you human. To want things for yourself, to want to be happy for yourself. That part of you is what gives you ambition, drive, focus. Without that part... you're nothing but a vessel for other people's wants and desires, and nobody can live like that. Not even you, Clark."

Clark took his lover's hand, gently, in his own. "Its part of you. You give me that drive, and focus. Lex... from the bottom of my soul, I want this. I know I should feel badly about it, and I do, but even if Chloe didn't want me to take it, I probably would have, anyway. You know? I feel so bad saying it, but you should have seen it. I want to be a part of what those people do... I've never found something so incredibly clear, so... so full of...." He was at a loss for words, and he sighed.

"Purpose?" Lex said softly. "Meaning?" A little sigh as he linked his fingers with Clark's. "I feel that every time I sit down behind a research desk at Cadmus, or even my lab at the house. Clark, if you've found that for yourself, then you owe it to yourself to go for it. No matter what anyone else thinks."

"I want it. I see myself changing the world from that room, Lex, like I finally found the niche I was meant for, you know?" he looked across at him, and squeezed his hand. "I hate being like this. You guys mean the world and more to me."

"Then you owe it to yourself to take it. And I won't let you turn it down. Chloe's right, this is the best thing that could happen to you, and if you know that you want it, then you take it."

"Will you come with me, tonight?" Clark's eyes searched his lover's. "When I go sign the papers? Come as yourself... not Lex Luthor?"

"I'm always Lex Luthor, Clark," he said softly. "I can't be Joe Anybody off the street. I'm sorry." He squeezed Clark's hand tightly. "But what I will do is come, just as your friend, and as your lover."

He'd heard. Clark squeezed his hand, tightly. "I'm sorry, for that, Lex. I didn't mean it that way, beloved." Another squeeze, and he brought his fingers up to kiss them. "You're Lex, then you're... Lex Luthor. You know what I mean. Walk in, demand to see everyone's ID and proof of insurance, glare, look sexy." A little grin, as he nudged his lovers chin with his thumb.

"I know what you meant, Clark." Lex said it softly, and stroked over Clark's lips with his fingertips. "No asking for ID. Got it."

"No grilling them on their world views, either." Clark let the tease at his lover go with a smile, as he rolled his head to look at his lover. "No demanding for their business charter. No demanding to look at their acquisitions and sales for the last ten years." Another teasing smile, followed by a soft poke in the ribs.

"Why would I ask for those things, Clark? I already have them." Lex said it with a completely straight face. I have their sales records from 1990 forward, I have a list of all the papers and other media outlets that have been recently acquired by the Daily Planet and their parent company, and, as my father owns stock in the newspaper as do I, I have their annual reports outlining the fiscal year to date."

Clark's mouth dropped, and he paled. "You do not."

"Yes, actually, I do. Most of it is on my work terminal, and I can access it remotely and show it to you, if you'd like." Lex propped his feet back up on the table, and tried not to smirk.

Clark just… shook his head, and lay back down. "You're crazy, Lex. But, hey, I'm going to rest for a while, okay? I'm tired today, after last night. We'll go out in a little bit?"

"I'm just looking out for your interests, Clark. When I heard the Planet was interested in you, I made a few phone calls, did a little investigating to make sure the paper was still on the up and up, and they are. They're firm, they're stable, and they don't seem to be in any kind of trouble, aside from employing that Grant woman." He gave a little grin. "I've got something to ask you, especially now since you're going to be receiving a fairly sizeable check now every week."

Clark couldn't help a beam, even with closed eyes. He was going to have money. Actual. Money. How cool was THAT? Another beam, and he shifted his eyes to Lex. "Between two thousand and three thousand a month."

He shifted, rolled his head to look at his lover, and opened his eyes. "What is it that you want to ask baby?"

Lex moved in close. "I make... a little more than that myself." A wry grin. "But, like you, I still get a paycheck at the end of the week. How would you feel about getting..." He paused, thinking of a way to phrase it so it wouldn't offend. "How would you like to share a bank account with me? Like normal people? We both deposit our paychecks, like normal people, and we take what we need out of it, like normal people."

Whoa. Two blinks, and wide eyes. "Sharing an account with you? Like... a two people account?"

"Yes, like a two-people, joint household account. But we don't actually touch it until you're in college. Until then? We're just building up a nice little nest egg."

"Yeah?" Oh. Oh. Clark felt a little flame of hope start deep in his heart, and he peered at his lover intently. "NO catch? No joke? I mean, you won't add in a billion dollars in one whack just to do it, right?"

"No joke. I'll be up front with you, Clark. I make roughly thirty-one thousand dollars a week. That's what I'll be depositing every week, if you agree to this. Otherwise, it'll just keep going in my current account. So yes, there is going to be a lot of money going into the account. But not in the way you're thinking."

Clark's mouth dropped. Had to. He looked at his lover for a moment, staring. They'd never, ever discussed money before, and he blinked, twice, at his aushna'. "Thirty... thirty one thousand dollars a week? Mother of God." A whisper, eyes still wide.

"Yes, Clark. In a year, stock dividends and accruals all counted, I average between 1.25 and 1.5 million dollars. And I expect that to grow as LexCorp and LuthorCorp both do."

Clark's eyes were double ovals. "Whoa. Lex... what the hell do you need all that money for?!" He grabbed the couch cushion and coshed his lover over the head with it. "Almost two million dollars?!"

"You don't want to know what my father makes," Lex said dryly. "His base salary alone is close to a million dollars."

Clark's eyes were just huge. "Wow. I never… I mean. You guys don't really... flaunt it. You know? Yeah, the pretty house and the cars and stuff, but you're normal guys. That's just so weird." A little grin though, and he kissed his lovers nose. "My cutie millionaire."

Lex gave a little chuckle. "Too weird to share an account with?"

"No. Not too weird." A smile at his lover, and a pressed kiss to his temple. He turned and lay his head on his lovers shoulder, turning onto his side to cuddle against him, and heaved a quiet sigh into a lovely smelling throat. "Thank you, for trusting me."

Lex immediately turned and cuddled Clark close to him, stroking his side and his hip, then kissing his temple. "You're welcome, but I should be the one thanking you. I mean, it's not every day Lex Luthor goes domestic." He laughed softly. "We'll go in the morning and open it... I'll have them transfer thirty thousand from my account to open the new one with, and then I won't add Friday's paycheck. It'll go in to replace the transfer, then I'll have the direct deposit switched over to the joint account. How does that sound? Fair?"

"Sounds good." Clark smiled again, himself, and looked at him shyly. "And I'll close my account, after I transfer everything into the new one. Sounds good?" A beam up at him, as he kissed his lovers neck, and throat, and ear gently. "I can't believe you'd want to do this with me."

"You don't have to close it, Clark. You can split your check between the two, if you like. I've got close to eight million dollars split between four other accounts and I have no intention of pouring all four of mine into our joint one; it wouldn't be fair. Or you can alternate, if you'd rather keep one of your own."

He shook his head. "I don't need anything. If I do, I'll take it out of our account. Why would I need two open?" He shook his head again, and closed his eyes for a moment. The moment turned into a minute or two, and he sighed, quietly, softly, as his body finally relaxed and the sobs coming from the back room stopped.

"Tell you what. Keep yours open, we'll turn it into your college account. When the time comes? You can transfer what you need out of the joint one, and use yours just for school. So my name isn't attached to anything you do there." He gave Clark another little kiss. "That way, nobody can accuse you of riding off the Luthor dime. You've done it yourself."

"Kay." a quiet smile at his lover. He'd thought of everything. Everything. And Clark... he felt something like... thankfulness towards him, and his smile spoke a thousand words. "Thank you, Lex. Seriously. You're the best aushna' ever."

Lex leaned over and kissed that brilliant smile deeply. "I'm not the best ever," Lex said softly. "I'm just good." He hugged Clark tightly to his chest, and cuddled close to him on the couch. "You're my aushna'. I'm proud to do this with you. I'm proud to share with you."

For some reason, the thought gave Clark such a delight that he almost couldn't contain himself, and he just beamed, chest puffing out slightly as he looked up at his lover. "And I am worthy of being your equal. I really, really like that." Another pressed kiss to his lovers cheek and jaw, then lips, licking the lower one as he pulled away. "Speaking of equals? On Friday, are we still meeting Aden and Rico?"

Lex stroked over Clark's puffed up chest. "Yes, yes, we are. And they're coming over to the house on Wednesday for your father, and they're going to be coming over tonight to help us pick out and alter suits and tuxes and such for the wedding and the dance competition, because I'm guessing you and Whitney, like Dominic, rented your tuxes for the school dances?"

Clark grinned, and nodded. "Yeah. Don't have a suit to my name. The closest I've got are slacks and a dinner jacket, which I hate, but mom made me buy anyway." Another grin, then. "Dominic doesn't have a tux either? That's so weird, but oddly, like him."

"Dominic doesn't have a tux. He rents it every time, and I think my father is going to make him buy one now." He stroked his thumb over Clark's shoulder. "I'd like to buy you one, but if you're more comfortable renting it, then that's all right too."

"Prom's next month. I think I need one." A quiet, shy smile at his lover, as he pressed a gentle kiss on the underside of his jaw. "So, yeah. Definitely. You can buy me one... I can help, and stuff. Not that it matters." He made a face. "Formal clothes suck."

"I actually have fond memories of certain pieces of my formal attire," Lex said with a snort. "Tell you what. We'll split the cost of the suit, and on the tux, you pay what you would usually pay for a rental, and I'll pay the rest."

"Okay." Another grin, a bigger beam, and he smiled adoringly at his lover. "I had to have the one from the spring formal two years ago dry cleaned, you know. After you came to help me with my bow tie. I creamed those pants about five and a half seconds after you left."

Lex gave a little chuckle. "I'm not surprised. It was, at the time, as close to you as I could get and my fingers got a little more familiar than they should have." A grin. "Notice, however, that I am not in the least bit ashamed."

Clark just grinned. "A little more familiar? You might as well have been grinding against me, Lex. You were so close I could count the hairs in your eyebrows, and you kept looking at me like you were about to kiss me. And your rumbling voice... I thought I was going to die. I was so sure you were about to kiss me, but... then nothing. I hated you, and loved you, for it."

"The thought did cross my mind, but at the time? You were a little too young, a little too straight, and a lot too unsure of yourself." Lex walked his fingers up Clark's chest to his shirt collar. "I was willing to wait for you to ripen. Even though I was never quite sure if you felt the same way I did."

"Are you joking? You mean my barely contained pants weren't a signal?" But his lips twitched. "Too young, too straight, too unsure. Definitely all three of those. When I came to you the first time… I think I'd finally gotten over the last two. And heh... I was never too young."

"Yes, you were," Lex said softly. "I don't think you even understood who you were, much less who I am, and you couldn't have accepted me without getting to know me as much as you have."

He smiled, then, quietly, but only a little, as he looked up at his lover, cuddled there with him, lazing away the afternoon. "There were times when I was afraid of you, at first. What you could do, the power under your disposal. As I got to know you... I saw you as the scared kid you were, and for some reason, it made you more… approachable. And then with approachable came damn you were sexy, and with that, I started to... you know. Have fantasies."

"I'm still a scared kid a lot of the time, Clark," Lex confessed softly. "As much as I've tried to be the adult, there are still times that I am just a kid who wants to think that Dad still has all the answers and I can hide under the bed and let him deal with the monster in the closet like I did when I was five. But I can't do that anymore, and it's hard for me to admit that I'm scared. But I am sometimes." He paused to think. "Sometimes, I think the thing I'm most afraid of is that I am the monster in the closet."

Clark grinned. Broadly. "Not the monster. The sexy, hairless, slithering, sneaky, deliciously wicked transgender gay man. But not a monster." He pressed a kiss to his lovers neck. "Besides, the castle is haunted anyway, baby, so I don't think your fears are unwarranted."

"The castle comes complete with poltergeist," he muttered, not aware he was repeating Chloe from ages ago. "I have been a monster, Clark." He stroked his lover's cheek gently. "Just not since I met you." His thumb kept stroking over Clark's cheekbone. "I had fantasies about you ever since I found you in the cornfield. They never stopped. Not with Vicky, Keri, nothing."

"Not a poltergeist. But there's a little girl, and an old man, up on the fourth floor." Clark said musingly, tipping his head as he thought. "And I think there's a young woman down in the basement, but I only saw her once, so that's kind of null." He shrugged, quietly, and pressed his lovers fingers to his cheek. "The cornfield thing is kind of when I started to dream about you, you know."

Lex just shook his head. "As long as they don't bother me, the mansion is big enough to share. Live and let haunt, I say." A little grin as he looked down. "I didn't want to get you down, at first, but then I realized that you were in pain and I had to."

"Didn't want to get me down?" Clark's eyebrows came up. "Why not?" A wicked little gleam caught in his eye.

"Because I was going to suck your cock down to the root and take you then and there," Lex confessed. "But then, you were in such pain. And I couldn't do that to you. So I got you down, and you ran off before I could say anything, and all you left behind was the necklace."

Clark nodded, quietly. "Lana's necklace. Kryptonite. It was burning me from the inside out." He thought for a moment. "Until I gave birth to Mar, it was the worst pain I'd ever been in. Like... I don't know how to explain it. Like poison, I guess, sliding and filing me all over. It was horrible, so bad."

"Knowing what I do now, I wish that I'd never given you that necklace back." He kept his fingers stroking through Clark's hair. "It never would have hurt you again. But at least she was buried with it."

"As well as the rest of her earthly possessions." He glared. "The bitch. Did she not trust my saving skills or something? I mean, honestly, making a will? How rude."

"I have a will," Lex said softly.

"You also have more head trauma inflicted on you than the Rolling Stones had ducking panties, baby."

Lex had to snort on that. "I've financed the new CAT scan machine at Smallville General, that's for sure." He sighed; now or never. "A year and a half ago, when I made it out? I left you and your family most of my money and possessions, what I had, anyway, that didn't already belong to my father."

Clark stopped... looked up at his lover. Blinked. "Why?"

"Because I already knew how I felt about you," Lex said softly, meeting Clark's eyes. "And I knew how I felt about your family. I wanted to make sure you were protected, even if I wasn't around to do it, especially from my father and people like him that might have tried to take your family's home."

Clark melted. "Baby... God, I love you." He leaned up and claimed his aushna's mouth for his own, his arms coming around to carefully hold his lover around the waist. "You're such a good man. But, you know? Maybe, after we get married, you can change it again. For our kids and stuff, you know?" A quiet smile up at him.

Lex nodded. "If that's what you want, yes, I can do that." He rubbed Clark's back gently.

"Not that we'll need it." Clark murmured, and pressed his lips to his lovers throat gently, even as he smiled at him.

"But it never hurts to be prepared," Lex nodded, and purred softly to Clark's little nuzzling kisses.

"My little boy scout," Snickered into Lex's lips, before he looked at him, gently, for a moment. "You always make me feel better. I think... Chloe and Whitney are asleep. Let's go downstairs and get some food from the deli next door. Wanna?"

"Yeah, I think that'd be a great idea. I'm thinking that maybe dinner with Chloe out in public isn't the best idea, at least until she's not quite so upset about this." He returned the little nibbling kiss with a grin. "We'll buy enough for you two lumberjacks and us two normal people too."

"I'm not a lumberjack." A hoity little sniff, even as he pressed his lips to his loves cheek. "When we come back... I'm stealing Whitney for an hour. Do you mind? You can have him for a while first, if you like." A very innocent, wicked little smile on his face, as he rose up to sit, then stand.

Lex chuckled softly. "No, I don't mind." He gave a little smile. "You can have him; I'm going to see if I can help Chloe get cheered up and pulled together."

Yeah. Cheered up." Snicker at his lover, as he pressed another kiss to the corner of his lovers smile. "I love you, Lex. Does it hurt you that I do this with Whitney?" Quietly, because more than once lately he'd found himself making sure Lex's human parts were okay with those sorts of thing.

He shook his head gently, and smiled reassuringly. "No, it doesn't. I'm surprisingly okay with it." A little grin. "Does it hurt you that I do the same thing with Chloe?"

Clark grinned, broadly, and shook his head. "Its sexy as hell. Did you see her boobs? When she doesn't hate me, holy God. How did they get big like that, from pregnancy?"

"They swell because they're mammary glands," Lex explained softly. "When they become active and start producing milk for the baby, they grow and swell, because the milk is stored in the glands, and waiting to be sucked out through the nipple."

"Weird. But? Really sexy." Clark's lips twitched, just the smallest bit, and he took his lovers hand. "Come on. Lead the way, baby."

"Lead the way?" Lex slid off the couch, and made sure his wallet was in his pocket as he straightened his jacket. "How about we go together?"

"Okay." Another beam, another quiet smile, and Clark squeezed Lex's hand tightly in his own as he walked with him towards the door.

 

-fin-

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