The Memoirs

The lab was cold.  Deliberately so, because Lex had turned the thermostat down into the thirties for his lover.  Who was molting.  Like mad.  Lex currently had a small piece of the skin under his microscope, and was just... staring at it.  He shivered, and was definitely glad he'd gone with the turtleneck this morning, as well as jeans and boots instead of his usual light slacks and dress shoes.  He'd have been a Lexsicle by now.

 

At least the blizzard is good for one thing, Lex reflected.  Molting.  He sighed, and rubbed his eyes from where he'd been staring into the microscope for the last fifteen minutes.  His hand was cramping from the amount of notes he'd taken, and he cringed inwardly at the thought of the transcription chore that awaited him.  "Hey, Clark?  How fast can you type?"

 

Misery. Utter. Complete. Misery. Clark just looked at his lover under his bangs and a flap of skin that had fallen halfway down from his forehead, and just stared at his lover. Lex wasn’t looking at him much, AS he'd instructed here people, and he swallowed, shifting around in his light pajama bottoms. He wasn’t wearing much... the better to get this stuff the hell off, and he swallowed again. "Really fast.  You haven’t said anything since you started looking at it." He motioned to the microscope absently. "How...how is it? Bad?"

 

"Then I just might elect you my clerk-typist when this is over, and you can type these notes up for me."  Lex sat back in his chair and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands.  "Bad?  No.  Just... infinitely fascinating.  I could spend the next thirty years studying the solar field alone."

 

"Solar what?" But he got to his feet...skin, yes, FLAPPING, and he gagged, clamping a hand over his mouth until his stomach stopped roiling. He walked slowly towards his lover...stopped part of the way. "Can I see?"

 

"Solar field," Lex replied absently.  "Of course you can, come on.  It's fascinating.  No matter what I do it, nothing can penetrate this field of... solar energy that your cells seem to be giving off."  He waved Clark over with one hand as he huddled back over the microscope.  "The only thing that seems to even make a dent in it, is the sliver of meteor rock."

 

"Yeah?" He moved close...not too close, and scratched at his belly, which had been itching like MAD for the past two hours. "Let me see. I want to see how weird I am, too, dammit. And don’t look at me."

 

"You're not weird.  And here.  Look."  Lex got up and evacuated the chair for his lover, and moved across the room to the cooler.  Bottles of water were stacked and waiting for him, and he screwed the cap off one.  "Pick up the red vial; add just a drop of the acid to it; watch how the field around it repels the liquid."

 

He leaned over....and gasped. Oh. It… oh. It was pretty. Pink, red, blue, green, the colors swirled happily along the top of it...like a force field, only way prettier. He smiled... then did as his lover told him, and he picked up the red tube thing. A drop of acid... and he gasped, smiling as he watched the colors all swirl into a frenzy and push the red drop off of it. "Lex… hey, that is seriously cool. The colors all swirl and stuff. I wonder if my pee'll do the same thing."

 

"I don't know; I haven't gotten there yet."  He nodded to the sealed beaker of yellow liquid sitting on the rack.  "I'm still in the first stages of working with your skin.  I'll be interested to find out if I can tear it into smaller sections, even, because some of the larger pieces are just too large to work with and I need to cut some of them down."

 

"I could prolly break it for you. Maybe. ...You have my pee sitting in a beaker?" His eyes got kind of a little, y'know, wide. "Lex, that’s not...erm...sweetheart, that’s not a good idea."

 

Lex pointed with his water bottle.  "Sitting right there, sealed in it's own little bottle."  He swallowed more chugs out of the water.  "If I show you the score lines, do you really think you could break it?  I don't think I can even separate it."  Delayed reaction.  "Why isn't it a good idea?"

 

A sudden itch... he grunted, and scratched at the base of his spine, arching his back… which sent the loose skin to flapping… which sent him to gagging again, and he shuddered, all over, making "gyuh!" noises for a moment before slowly... softly... settling down. Oh, my GOD he was so disgusted with himself. "I could try...I can rip it off, but they always come o-off in... in str... strips." Another gag, and he stuck his tongue out in disgust. "Its not a good idea, Lex, because my pee, when kept under air tight conditions, becomes a nuclear weapon." And it would have been funny, if he weren’t totally serious. He took the beaker… peered at it, and put it between his palms, making sure it was completely closed in.

 

He squeezed, and a loud boom went off between his palms....smoke escaping between his fingers as he watched his lover and sighed. Another few moments...and when he opened his hands, there was nothing left but soot and glass from the beaker. He dropped them into the waste basket under the desk...sighed heavily, and walked back to his stool.

 

Lex was... blinking at his lover.  "That's... that's good information to know."

 

"It would have landed you in the hospital." Muffled, as he grunted… groaned... and tore off a strip along his arm. Fuck, how he wanted to go hide somewhere, and his voice was heavy and gruff with suppressed tears. "I’m so gross."

 

"You are not gross."  The scientist in Lex was utterly fascinated.  "Can you separate the layers, Clark?  Like tissue paper, can you peel it apart?"  He was peering at the flapping skin on Clark's forehead.  "I can peel that off for you too."

 

"LEX!" Half sob, and he leaned back so far the stool fell, and he landed flat on his back. He lay there, panting for a moment.. staring at the ceiling until his lover came into his field of vision. "I cannot believe you just asked if I can peel my skin like tissue paper. That’s the most disgusting thing I have ever, ever, in my sixteen long, industrious years, heard." But he didn’t move from the cold tile... feeling so good on his overheated back, and he whimpered. "You must be so grossed out."

 

The lab was utterly, and totally, magnificent. Or so Clark had thought when he'd first walked in it. A row of microscopes were lined up along one wall... sleek and modern and gorgeous. Rows of glass refrigerators, with beakers of numerous types sitting inside, were beside the microscopes... a huge one sat in the middle of the room, looking... well, probey. Bunsen burners, and row upon row of chemicals sat along steel shelves, of which Clark was currently sprawled beside.  It was all blinding white and slate gray...and it would have freaked Clark out, if it weren’t Lex's.

 

Along the back wall of the lab were sinks, water outflow spigots, a biohazard shower, even a small row of chemical and non-chemical fire extinguishers.  Breathing masks and biohazard suits hung like space suits in a clear plastic closet.  There were specimen jars and petri cultures growing in a heat tank, a terrarium that held several mutated flora and fauna, including the last existing green roses that had made Jeff invisible.  There were green blooms all over the clear tank where the bush was protected from the elements.

 

There was even a row of cages along the wall for test animals, but they were empty.  No more live experimentation for Lex.  Not since he'd met Clark, and the animals he'd had before had been humanely destroyed.

 

Lex moved until he straddled Clark's waist, and then fell to his knees so that he sat across Clark's chest, reached out, flipped the flap of skin back up over his forehead, and then kissed him.  Hard and wet.  "I... am not... grossed out."  He nuzzled against Clark's lips.  "If you want to take a cold shower, there's a biohazard wash station in the back of the lab."

 

And he squealed, loudly, into the kiss, when Lex flipped his skin up to kiss him. Oh, my GOD! He kissed back, but oh, good Christ, he was so sickened by himself, and he whimpered and squirmed. "I’m like Cousin It!  I’m like Clem from Buffy! LEX! I’m like someone off of Buffy!" Clark wailed, quite loudly at that, and sobbed.

 

"You're being a drama queen, Clark."  Lex pushed himself to his feet, and offered his hand to his lover.  "You're not like Cousin It--you're not nearly hairy enough.  And I don't even know who this Clem character is."

 

"I am not being a drama queen!" He wailed it, and climbed to his feet, all the loose skin fluttering in the movement. "I am having skin issues here! How would you like if your ass was coming off? And your lover had to push your skin out of the way to kiss you?!" He all but bellowed, pushing said skin out of his eyes.

 

"Personally, I'd peel myself like a banana, but that's just me," Lex said, sitting his stool back up and settling back in front of the microscope.  "And you are being a drama queen.  You're getting all worked up over this exfoliation, and it's nothing more than a case of... I don't know, sunburn.  That's how I think of it, anyway, especially in light of how your skin seems to emit this... solar shield."

 

He growled... dark, in his throat, "Are you trying to say I’m getting worked up over nothing, Lex?"

 

"I'm saying that you're over reacting."  His eyes were glued back to the microscope. 

 

And at that, Clark simply walked past him, to the small bathroom in the back of the large room. He walked in... and slammed the door shut so hard the walls shuddered.

 

Lex jumped as the door slammed, and then pinched the bridge of his nose, a gesture he'd unwittingly picked up from Dominic.  "Clark!?"

 

He slowly slid down the wall... skin catching... the light still off, and with X-Ray vision, began to peel the skin off.

 

When he didn't receive an answer, Lex went and pounded on the door... as much as he could pound on metal.  "Clark Jerome Kent!"

 

And the answering laser beam lancing through the bottom of the door was his answer. Back to X-Ray vision, and he ripped the piece on his forehead off with a hiss... then sludged off a long strip from his belly. He bled a little, but it healed in an instant, and he whimpered as he dropped the soggy mess onto the floor.

 

Lex danced back when the laser cut through the door, but went back to pounding.  "Goddammit, Clark!  Open up!  Don't make me cut through this door."

 

"You said I was being a drama queen." Yeah, he was crying. So fucking what? He peeled off another piece on his leg... ripped it clean up, and the blood rose and oozed down his thigh. He snarled... hissed, and cupped his palm against it until it healed and sealed itself off.

 

"Let me in, Clark."  Lex's voice softened.  "I'm sorry I called you a drama queen--I shouldn't have said that.  I just didn't... realize how seriously this was upsetting you.  Please... I'm sorry."

 

"No, you're not!" He sobbed, tugging another strip off his ankle and dropping it into the pile. "You're so, so not! You're just saying that because you want me to peel my skin like tissue paper!"

 

"No, Clark, I am.  Please..."  He put his hand against the metal of the door.  "I'm sorry I asked you that, too.  I just... when I get wrapped up in my scientific mode, I turn into an insensitive jackass.  I never meant to hurt you, Clark... please believe me."

 

He was quiet for a long minute... and the door slowly creeped open. Some of the skin was off...but he was still bleeding, where the new skin had been exposed too soon, and his chin trembled as he stared at his lover. "I’m not a drama queen."

 

"No, baby, you're--shit, you're bleeding!!"  Lex jerked Clark out of the bathroom.  "Jesus, Clark... when... what happened!"  He wrapped his arms around his lover's waist.  "Come on... let me take care of that for you.  Jesus!"

 

"You just want to help me because you want to take some of it." His chin was trembling again, and he reached back, picking up his pile of skin, and holding it close to his chest as they walked. It was his skin after all, dammit, as gross as it was.

 

"No."  And that was it.  "Sit down."  Very methodically, Lex picked up the first page of his notes, lighted the closest burner, and lit them.  "If that's what you think, then no more of this. Because baby, you are more important than anything else."

 

"Noooo... Lex." And his chin trembled worse, as he plopped down onto his stool again, right in front of the island counter with the microscopes. "I’m being a baby, I’m sorry. I dun mean to. I’m just icked, and you can have some blood, cause I want to know too. I’m just... my hormones… its all out of whack."

 

Lex had just lit the second of the ten pages he'd taken so far when Clark told him no.  He let the second page finish burning, and then turned to his lover.  "Clark... listen to me.  I know you want to know.  But all this can wait.  It can wait until you're molted, and you're yourself again, and your hormones aren't dancing around like this.  The only reason that I said to do it now was because we're snowed in for a while and I thought it would be a good idea.  But it's not.  So no more, okay?"  He stroked Clark's cheek with his thumb.  "I love you, baby.  I don't want to hurt you, or upset you."

 

"No... I want to. I do. Lex, I want to do it now." He grasped his lovers fingers tightly on his face, held them close. "I want to do it now. I want to see what I’m made up of. Its just... its the skin. Its gross. And I’m upset its gross. And my hormones are doing the conga, and I want to cry every ten minutes. I’m like a pregnant woman, minus the pregnancy. Just kinda... ignore my outbursts, okay?" He nodded a few times… scratched at his thigh. "Take some blood, Lex."

 

Lex shook his head, and then sighed.  "Baby... are you sure?"

 

"I’m positive." He dropped his pile of skin on the counter... gagged. "Please don’t ask me to peel this. Oh, ew."

 

"No, I won't ask you to."  Lex was quick to reassure his lover.  "If I get too into geek mode again, just let me know, okay?  I don't want you to ever think you're just an experiment to me."

 

"I know I’m not." Softly, and he kissed his palm with cracked, peeling lips. "Promise." Then he swallowed, and climbed to his feet. "I’m gonna rip a piece off my side… it always bleeds a little. Just kinda...get the blood before it soaks up, kay?"

 

"No!"  Lex fairly shouted with that.  "You are not ripping anything off, Clark!  Absofuckinglutely not!"

 

"Got to anyway. Here we go." And he picked up a peeling edge and yanked down...leaving a thin layer of blood that began to soak up. "Hurry, Lex."

 

"CLARK!!!!!!!!!!"  Lex was bellowing angrily even as he caught several drops on a microscope side.  "Clark Jerome Kent, I forbid you to do that ever again!!"  Out came the sterile swabs and the bottle of rubbing alcohol.

 

He jerked away from the swabs...instead rubbing at the exposed skin, and it soaked into his skin and healed in a few more seconds. His eyes roved to Lex's… he smirked... and shook his head. "What did you think molting was, Lex? It just sits there till it falls off?"

 

"That's generally how it works, yes!  Blood was NOT part of the equation!"

 

Clark just motioned to the gooey pile his already molted skin was. "This is why I hide. My mom passed out on me when I was eleven. It was one of those years where everything came off at once...and she found me in the closet in a pool of blood. She almost had a heart attack. Called my dad, screamed for about ten minutes, and passed clean out." He was chuckling.

 

"I don't blame her one bit."  Lex growled softly.  "You are NOT going to pull off another piece.  I am NOT going to watch you bleed!"

 

He ripped a piece off the back of his hand, peering at him as he dropped it onto the pile.

 

"CLARK!" Lex bellowed loudly.  "What part of what I just said didn't you understand?"

 

"Lex, it has to come off. If not, it gets infected and you have to cut it off with the pieces of meteor rock. Do you really want to do that?" Clark arched a brow at his lover but stopped ripping, rocking back a little as the new skin peaked out from the old.

 

"Which is less... painful?"

 

He pointed to the pile.

 

"I am not happy with this, Clark."

 

He couldn’t help it. He reached over... tenderly touched his lovers face, and said gently, "Wait'll my dick peels. You’re just gonna love that." And he grinned, but just a little, and climbed to his feet. "Its warm in here, Lex. I need to get cool...you said theirs cold showers?"

 

"Warm?  Clark, it's below freezing in here."  Lex pointed towards the shower at the back.  "Yeah... no hot water in them.  Cold water rinses and neutralizes most things.  Just push the plastic curtain back.  I'm sorry there's no privacy, though."  He sighed.  "I'll go get a jacket and turn the thermostat down again."

 

There was sweat beaded on his forehead, and he winced a little. "I’m sorry, Lex."

 

"No, don't be sorry."  He kissed his lover's cheek softly.  "Go on, get in the shower.  I'll be right back."  He smiled.  "But you're going to have to be responsible for warming me up... later."

 

"Leeex..." He whimpered. "Don’t make me think about sex when I’m molting. Cause then whenever we DO have sex, I'll be thinking about this." Clark opened their channel and shared a really gross mental image of himself screaming and yelling and running around ripping skin off...and The Fluttering Skin In The Wind. He gagged again, badly, and clamped a hand to his mouth.

 

Lex moved to his lover's side.  "Sssh... I'm sorry."  He cursed, mentally, swearing up and down and calling himself ten kinds of fool.  "Come on, baby... shower."  Knowing he was going to regret it, Lex steered Clark across the lab, and into the shower.  Running back to the phone, he called upstairs and told Enrique--who was the only other person in the house who knew where the lab door was located--to bring a dry pair of jeans, another turtleneck, a wool sweater, and his leather jacket.  Hanging up, he started stripping as he went back to the shower.  "Okay.  We ready to do this, baby?"

 

"Lex, no, baby," He gasped when he saw his lover starting to get undressed, and put his fingers on each shoulder, shaking his head. "Lex, baby, no, no, baby, you'll get sick." He whimpered as he pulled back the curtain to the shower, shaking his head as he touched his lovers already freezing skin. "Baby, no, you'll die of hypothermia."

 

"I'm not going to die of hypothermia, Clark.  Enrique's leaving me a fresh batch of clean clothes outside the lab.  As soon as I get out of the shower, I'll go put the dry clothes on, and I will be fine.  You know I don't get sick, Clark."

 

"No, but you can turn into Lexcream....." He giggled. "Not that I don’t like Lexcream. I’m just saying." And in turn, his eyes were extremely thankful, and he rolled the knob, turning the ice water on. "Oh." He stepped underneath it...and sighed, heavily. The water trickled down his back, over his hair, and he sighed in blissful pleasure… moaning softly. "Oh...yeah."

 

Lex finished stripping and stepped into the shower behind his lover.  "Turn around, let it hit your back," Lex instructed softly.  "If you need an abrasive, let me know; there's natural coral sponges under the counter for chemical spills, and I think they'll work here."

 

He just shook his head... eyes closed… and murmured something in a language distinctly not human, moaning softly as the freezing water his hit overheated skin. A heavy, dark sigh of the purest of pleasure and he slid his hands through his hair...out of his eyes.

 

"Let me," Lex said quietly, forcing his teeth not to chatter in the cold water.  He let his hands sweep gently over Clark's shoulders, sheeting the cold water down and over his back, down his thighs, everywhere that the spray didn't directly hit.

 

He groaned again… whimpered as the cold water splashed all over his skin, and it… oh. He was so relaxed… more then he had been in days, and he sighed softly, knees feeling like gelatin. "Oakenepel... trawre'jun." Softly, languidly as he let his fingertips touch his lovers back...the hair.

 

"Kal-El," Lex all but purred, upon hearing his name in Clark's language.  "Ask and you'll have it, my aushna'."

 

"Sleepy..." He mumbled it, eyes closed, chin on his chest. "So sleepy."

 

Lex thought quickly.  "I have an immersion tub, Kal-El... you can sleep in cold water."

 

"Please." He whimpered. He hadn’t slept right in days, and now that he was finally cooled down...the right temperature, the exhaustion was falling on him in waves.

 

"Wait right here.  Let me roll it out."  Lex stepped out of the cold shower, feet slipping on the cold tile floor as he crossed the lab, pulling the tub out of the wall indention it was stored in, and rolling it over to the shower.  A grunt and a push, and the tub was rolling around the island, and it stopped outside the shower curtain.  He walked around, pushing the curtain out of the way.  "Kal-El... get in.  The shower will fill it up... if it's not cold enough... I'll pack you in snow."

 
Clark whimpered, a second time, his body shaking with exhaustion. He was so tired… more tired then he could ever remember being. His lover was helping, but he was cold, and Clark could feel it, Slowly... softly... he walked over the slippery tile and grasped his lover tightly to him, warming him with the heat from his body as well as he could. Several long, toasty moments...Clark’s fingers dragging up and down his back, over his backside... up over his sopping hair. "You love me so, Oakenepel. Thank you."

Lex pressed against the warmth that his lover was offering, and God, in the chill of the room it was welcome.  "I adore you, Kal-El... you are my world."  He slipped his arms around Clark's waist, holding him tightly and touching everywhere, as much as he could to absorb the heat.

His fingertips skimmed over the swell of his ass... around the deep curve of his hip, and gently thumbed up along his rib cage, as his mouth lay peppering kissing along that angular, beautiful face. His skin was overheating again, but it was anything to warm his lover.

He withstood it until he could do nothing but cry out, pushing away and running his fingers over his own face...through his wet hair. "Baby, please...I need.." Desperation in his eyes, and he kept looking about, for another source of cold. "Please."

Lex absorbed the heat until Clark pushed him away.  "In the tub, aushna'.  Get in the tub; cold water will help."  He pulled Clark by the hand, tugging him back towards the shower, getting in and moving the tub under the spray.  "I'll get dressed... go outside and bring snow in for you."

"No." He shook his head fiercely, getting into the cold metal...and it hissed as it touched his skin. He lay down in the water quickly filling it and turned a little on his side, so the cold hit the side that had molted faster then the other. "I's okay... just stay with me… don’t leave me, please, don’t leave. Just stay."

"I won't leave you, then."  Lex crouched naked beside the tub, hand sliding in to cup and pour water over the shoulder that didn't quite make it into the water.  "I'll stay with you, aushna'.  Anything you need me to do, I'll do.  I'll stay."  He pressed a quick, light kiss on his lover's shoulder.  "I am yours, Kal-El."

He lay there... silent for a few minutes... then fifteen, and it seemed he had fallen asleep, nothing but the splash of water and the soft breaths escaping Clarks lips in the echoing room. The cold white was almost a glare, and his eyebrows were furrowed, unmoving in the cold steel tub.

Another five, and Clark heaved a sudden soft sigh of relief. His green eyes flickered open... and he shivered, from cold,  looking up at his attentive lover. "ET has nothin' on me."

His grin, though slightly crooked, was all Clark.

Lex laughed softly, and kissed the crooked grin.  "Feelin' better, baby?"

His grin broadened into an immediate smile. "Oh...oh yeah." He sighed softly and shifted his cramped limbs....slowly sloshing to his bottom and rubbing a hand through his hair.

Then winced, as he looked down.

The skin was coming off in strips. The fever, paired with the freezing water, had acted like peanut butter did for gum in your hair. It was coming off with every inch of his movements...and the new skin, now much more visible, glowed with health and beauty as Clark gagged and began to rub the old skin off.

Lex caught Clark's motions in the water.  "You want me to do that, Clark?"  He was just as naked as his lover and had stopped feeling the cold about ten minutes ago.  "I've got surgical gloves, if you don't want to touch it and don't want me touching it.  But if it's making you sick... I can help sluice it off.  But only if you want."

"Off. Lex, help me get it off." He arched his back, trying to get it off his shoulders and back, rubbing at his chest as it began to fall in the water. "Yeah. Yeah, this is gross. This is like an Austin Powers movie."

"One second."  Lex ran to the counter, skidded to a stop, picked up two pairs of gloves, and brought them back.  "Here you go, baby."  Lex snapped the latex gloves on over his fingers, flexing them once as he started on Clark's back.  "Sssh... be still, I'm gonna help you get rid of it."  Long, firm strokes down his lover's back peeled the skin off.

"You're practically Basil, Lex. And your dad can be Doctor Evil." Which Clark said, of course, between whimpers... then when Lex wasn’t looking, reached down between his thighs and "sluiced", as Lex had to colorfully put it, off the skin. Oh, my God. This was… yeah. He didn’t take the gloves but he did reach back and help his lover... rolling his shoulders as the new skin glowed with health underneath the old. "L-Lex, promise we'll never tell our kids this story." Grunt from Clark where he was peeling off the skin along one forearm... and a little almost birthmark shape appeared under the old skin. No matter, he was going to die of disgust anyway, and he was--"I’m sitting in my skin. Oh, my God." Another harsh gag, even if he wasn’t physically capable of making himself vomit...okay, well, that one time, but that was with the meteor rocks.

Lex nearly fell on his ass with that analogy.  "I'm the bald one, Clark, wouldn't that make me Dr. Evil?"  He caught the gag, and he grabbed Clark's wrist.  "Come on, stand up.  Get under the shower.  Get out of the tub, we'll wash it off as we sluice."

"I will never be able to use that word again." He whimpered, climbing to his feet with Lex's help, and shuddered as he got out of the tub. "God, its like gooey... goo, Lex, oh, this is sick." A mutter, as he got under the shower, rubbing it off his hips...and it hit with dull plops.  "And excuse me." He looked over his shoulder. "Do you have an evil volcano lair? No? Then you're not Doctor Evil."

"Well, it's not exactly like it's a common vocabularic constant," Lex said, still on his knees and working on his lover's legs.  "You'll live the rest of your life without missing the word sluice in your vocabulary."  He snorted.  "No, I have a secret basement lab in the refurbished dungeon, does that count?"

He spread his legs a little as he felt his lover at the bottom of his body, and his cock wanted to give a pulse, but Clark absolutely forbade it. Don't even think about it, Little Clark. "No. You don’t even have a Frau. Oh! Wait! You have Ms. Bird!" Clark looked down and peered at his lover. "Does that mean I’m Number 2?" Clark reached back, and rubbed and tugged at the skin on his ass...hearing it hit with a dull thud, and he shuddered. "Lex, only you and me would be spending Saturday night peeling my skin off."

"You're number one in my book."  He didn't know why this skin shedding didn't gross him out.  "Hey, I can't think of a better way to spend it than in the shower with you.  Now, granted, this particular scenario never entered my fantasies, but I'm a flexible person, and I can adapt."

Clark looked down, past his cock, and just stared at his lover...before bursting out laughing. Long and loud, and he rubbed at the new skin at the base of his spine...soft like silk under the fingertips that felt sensitive. "Lex, only you would be enjoying this."

Lex rocked back on this heels and looked up at his lover.  "Outside of the fact that I'm getting to put my hands all over you, finally, without you whining at me... there's the scientific fascination, as well as... I'm getting to help you.  It hurt that you wouldn't let me help you before, and now... now you are, and it fills me up inside."

Oh. At that he couldn’t help it… he moved to his knees, grasped his lover’s cheeks amidst all the molted, gooey skin... and kissed him, softly, on the lips. "Lex, I love you. Thank you... for putting up with me. I love you, so much."

Lex kissed back, his hands carefully not touching the tender new skin for fear of chafing or damaging it.  "I love you, Clark... there's no "putting up" to it... I love you, and I don't know what I'd do without you.  You put up with so many things from me... and I love everything about you, even down to the fact you love me and trust me enough to share this with me."

"Lex..." He set his forehead lightly against his lover’s, and stroked his cheek bones. "Baby," He giggled it. "You helped me peel off skin. Gotta say, we've coasted to a new level in our relationship. Now, when you feel comfortable peeing while I’m showering, then you and I are practically married." Another grin, and he pressed a soft kiss to his lips, as he rubbed a strip off his thigh.

Lex shuddered softly at that.  "I'll work on that."  He returned the soft kiss, and then caught Clark's cheeks gently.  "Speaking of being practically married..."  Lex pressed another kiss onto Clark's mouth and then whispered into it.  "Want to do it for real?"

Clarks eyes flickered wide... streams of water still falling down on his back and off his shoulders… and through that haze of water, he watched his lover. He pressed his lips back just as softly... fingers on his lovers cheek stroking from temple to behind his ear...then down to his jaw. "Married, forever, till death to us part?"

Lex hadn't been sure what Clark's reaction--or answer--would have been, and he had steeled himself for nearly anything.  "That's the general idea, yes," Lex answered.  "I do, I now pronounce you man and man, exchanging rings.  The whole nine."  He took a deep breath.  "If you don't want to--if you think it's too soon, or just... not sure, then that's okay too."

"Lex.." Softly, closing his eyes as he pressed his face close to his lovers. "Baby, you don’t understand. I’ve claimed you." He opened his eyes and looked into those deep baby blues. "I am married to you."  The uncertainty made him grin… and he tipped his head, waiting for his reply, eyes dancing.

A wide, happy smile spread across Lex's face.  "Then you and I have some shopping to do.  I'm not going to let my man run around without a wedding ring."

"Not rings." He shook his head...closed his eyes a moment, as he gently thumbed the new mark on his forearm… a symbol, that looked almost like a bird. It was a soft array of muted colors, beautiful against the dusky gold of his skin.

He rubbed his thumb against it, softly. "Hmmm."

Clark took his lovers arm and pulled it close to him...rubbing the same spot on Lex's forearm. "Hmmm. I see something." He blew softly on it.

Lex shuddered as first Clark's thumb rubbed over his arm, and then his breath skated across it.  On his forearm, the most un-sensual part of his body, and god... it felt like Clark was rubbing his cock, blowing across the head of it, and his entire body twitched.  "Cl--Clark?"

And under his fingertips, a symbol had begun to show. The same shimmering colors...the same beauty, and Clark glanced up under his lashes with a soft, soft smile. "See, I knew it was somewhere. Just had to rub off your past there." He blew again, softly, as if lightly blowing the dust off an old table, and he traced his fingertip in a pattern. "Hmmm."

Another shudder, and he looked up at Clark.  "Wha--what's this?"  Lex looked down, looking over at Clark's arm and then his own.  "Marked--us?  Together?"

Clark looked mildly confused, but his instincts hadn’t led him wrong so far. He didn’t know what he'd done...but he did know that he and his lover now shared the same symbol, and it felt like power...a brand, and pleasure under his skin. He gently leaned over...kissing it, and looked up at his lover. "We don’t need someone to tell us we're wed, beautiful. We already are...we have been since I saved you from the river."

Lex's hands threaded tightly in Clark's hair and kissed him deeply.  "I love you."  He rubbed his own fingers over the new mark, hissing with surprised pleasure as it tingled up his arm and straight into his chest.  "God."

He kissed back, just as deeply...and the hiss made him grin, his eyes dancing as he looked into those blue eyes that held some much expression, so much heart, even if Lex didn’t know. He leaned in and kissed the mark, gently, tongued it as the rest of the skin disintegrated and rolled down the drain. "I love you...I love you, so much, aushna'. I knew there was a reason my parents sent me to earth." Clark's smile widened, and he ran his fingers through all the red hair, gently rubbing it between his fingertips.

Lex hissed again as Clark's tongue licked over the mark, thrusting lightly forward and pulling himself back.  "Jesus... I love you, Clark... you were brought to me to give me a new life."  He ran his fingers through Clark's hair.  "God, you are my life."

"It's cause I’m a hunk." He nodded sagely, eyes dancing as he glanced up and gently shook his head. "I know you want me, baby...want to? You can. It’s gone… look, see?" Clark motioned to himself, clean of any skin...even his hair seemed shiny and new, long raven locks framing his face that was shining with a grin. "I love you. God, I love you." He all but leapt and tugged Lex into his arms… laughing and falling back onto the tile, holding his lover close as he could and tickling his neck.

"No... I can't.  Not yet... not until I'm sure your new skin is okay."  He touched it gently, and giggled softly, hands braced carefully on his lover's shoulders.  "Come on, you don't need to be on this dirty floor."  However, he made no move to get up, instead laying full length on top of Clark, sucking kisses from his throat.

He kissed right back... keeping his Lex warm on his chest and grinning into his kisses, the kisses tickling his neck and he giggled too, holding him close and smiling. "Knew I'd get you a tattoo eventually."

"I just... it's amazing, Clark."  He looked at the matching marks again.  "I never thought... I never thought I'd be able to get one."  He looked down sadly at his lover's skin.  "But your henna is gone."

"Got something better." Was his own whisper... holding his arm so his lover could see it...and skimmed his fingertips over his lovers. "Its.. it feels good, right? Like... like good." A nod, his smile lighting his face like sunshine over the earth. "We're stuck together, Lex."

"God, yes... feels... like it's wired directly into my brain."  He touched Clark's mark, and laid his head on his lover's shoulder.  He wasn't even cold anymore, thanks to the heat of Clark's body.  "I like being stuck with you... I always want to be stuck with you."

At that, he couldn’t help another chuckle, lifting his hips a little. "No...we're stuck. I’m all gooey still." He grinned, wickedly, and snuggled his lover up in his arms as he sat up...then stood, holding Lex close even though he knew he'd balk, and walked back into the much warmer lab. Alright, by warmer, it wasn’t ten degrees. Just forty. Clark gently set his lover down… snuggled him in one of the huge wool gray blankets, and put the thermostat at a normal 80 degrees.

Lex started to protest being carried around, but then shut his mouth and snuggled into the warmth provided by his lover.  He wrapped the blanket around his shoulders, and watched as Clark adjusted the thermostat.  "You don't have to put it up that high, Clark; you'll run everyone out of the house.  Seventy is good." 

He shrugged a shoulder and brought it down to 75, turning and grabbing his lover all over again… back up in his arms, and he pulled him close to his chest.

Lex wrapped his arms around Clark's shoulders and his legs around Clark's waist.  "Hi, baby."

"Hi, Lex." He grinned back.

-fin-

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