Silver Light

by a campbell

Smallville, Clark Kent/Lex Luthor

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This is my "Lex stays at the Kents during 'Prodigal' fic". It's dedicated to all the friends who were so thoughtful as to post kind wishes on my LJ today (8/7/03)!

Thank you, Elizabeth, Signe, and Consuela, for the beta and suggestions. It's been awhile since anyone looked at it, though. Don't blame them for any weaknesses herein.

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Lex sat up on his elbow, trying to focus through the darkness. The full winter moon had wheeled south, and pale light was beaming down through the high glass window in the Kents' guest room, where he'd been tossing.fitfully on the creaky single bed since retiring. The day's events-- his father's dismissal cold, sly, his supplanting by Lucas-- kept replaying incessantly in his mind, like a vague nightmare. His eyes flickered open as he sensed someone else in the room, standing motionless in the darkness at the foot of the bed.

"Clark?" Lex's voice was still thick with sleep. His friend stepped forward from the gloom and was bathed in cool, blue-silver rays. He was like a vision from a dream, a dark angel, Lex thought, catching a ragged breath.

Clark came to the side of the bed, and looked down at him. Even in the shadows, Lex could see that his eyes were misted with desire. "Can I come in, Lex?" He reached down to touch Lex's cheek with a blunt fingertip.

"You're in, already," Lex's voice was quiet. He was wearing only the bottoms of the pajamas Clark had loaned him, his chest was bare, and he shivered. "You look like a kid who's just had a bad dream."

"No," said Clark. "I just want to be with you."

Lex thought briefly back to earlier that evening, before he'd retired to face the darkness, the loneliness, the uneasy half-sleep.

"Well," Jonathan had said, after dinner and after the evening's chores, "It's 9.30. You boys had better get to bed. 5:30 comes early. Oh, and Lex? I'll need you at 5:00."

Clark turned to Lex in surprise, but Lex just smiled. "Okay, Mr. Kent," he said agreeably, getting to his feet. Lex hadn't told Clark that he'd volunteered privately to assist with morning chores from the beginning. Clark raised his eyebrows and exhaled, looking more than a little pleased.

"Okay, then. Come on," said Clark. "Let's go upstairs, Lex. I'll loan you a pair of pajamas."

The stairway landing was shrouded in darkness. Clark's parents couldn't see him take hold of Lex's arms when they reached it, and press him back against the wall. He raised one hand to brush his fingers down Lex's cheek and bent in for a kiss, slow and soft.

"I can't believe this," Clark murmured in wonder as he drew away, "Can't believe you're really here."

"I can hardly believe it, myself," said Lex. "But, shh." He turned away from Clark, casting a worried gaze through the darkness toward the golden light at the bottom of the stairs.

"Sleep in my room," Clark beseeched, lifting Lex's hand to his mouth, letting his open lips caress a thumb and finger. "With me."

Lex, trembling, pushed Clark gently back. "Clark, no. Your folks said, the guest room. And, that's what it's going to be."

"Then, let me be in there with you."

"No," Lex repeated firmly, with an abrupt shake of his head.

"Why?" Clark, his voice a low whine, shoved his hands in his pockets, letting his eyes go pleading.

No, Lex thought with stern determination. He's not doing this to me. Not this time.

His smile was slight, indulgent, as he bapped Clark on the arm. He'd defuse it. "Clark, listen. You're such a teenager. Bad enough that I've corrupted you almost every other place: my place, in my cars, in the barn. Your mom and dad have been kind enough to take me in, and I'm not going to abuse their hospitality." Lex felt both resolute and disappointed as he spoke.

Clark seemed puzzled--amused, first, then a little offended. "'Corrupted'? That's funny, Lex. Don't say that. You haven't 'corrupted' me, you've...'enriched' me. Yeah, that's it." Clark smiled brightly, as if pleased with himself for coming up with the appropriate word. "Anyway, Mom and Dad won't care." His eyes darkened as he moved in again, and opened his lips for a deeper kiss.

Lex turned from the kiss, so that Clark's mouth hit his cheek instead. He tried to ignore the heat of Clark's body as he backed even closer against the wall. "Yes, they will."

Lex could see, even in the semi-darkness, that Clark's disappointment burned on his cheeks like a brand. "It's not as though there's anything wrong with us," Clark argued. "With you and me. With our being together."

Lex sighed tensely, fighting the urge to embrace by stuffing clenched hands in his pockets. "Clark, you're not thinking clearly. There's nothing wrong with it at my place, or out somewhere. But, we're in your parents' home, now. If you think it over, you'll see I'm right. I'm sorry. Now, I'm going to my room. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night."

Lex glanced back as he shut the door to his room. At Clark, who still stood on the landing, staring after him, looking lost.

"Move," said Clark now, stepping into shadow again from the moonlight that bathed the floor at the end of the bed.

"Clark, I just got here. Are you throwing me out, too?"

Clark's grin was visible in the reflected moonshine, which gave an eerie white cast to his handsome face.

"I mean, move over," Clark directed. "I've thought it over, and I need to be here." Lex hesitated, opening his mouth to protest, then closed it again.

"Okay," His voice was cool. He shifted obediently to the wall, and threw back the blanket so Clark could get in beside him. Clark yanked off his pajama top and tossed it on the floor before sliding in and pulling Lex down beside him, drawing the blanket back up over them both. He snuggled close, curling one arm over Lex's bare chest.

"I belong here," he murmured, like a smug, defiant child.

Lex took a deep breath, but didn't pull away. "Not a good idea, Clark," he protested in what he hoped was his normal cool, in-control voice.

"I just want to talk," Clark insisted. He shifted in the small bed, trying to get comfortable. "Wow, this is a tight fit!" The frame of the compact bed gave an uneasy creak.

"You're warm," Lex observed. Which felt good, he had to admit, since the room was chilly. Turning on his back, he stared at the ceiling.

"Cold?" asked Clark.

"No," Lex replied.

Clark smiled, and gathered him closer in his arms, breathing in the clean scent of his smooth skin. "Mmm. You showered after chores."

"Yeah," said Lex, smiling. "It was great. You guys must have a kickass water heater." He couldn't help relaxing into the sensation of Clark running his big, gentle hand over his chest and side. He knew he couldn't let himself relax too much. Still, there was something about the darkness, the closeness of Clark, something vastly comfortable about being here at the Kent home. He felt a brief pang of envy--what must it be it like, to have this all the time, be surrounded by secure, casual love that belied its own strength. To be loved, part of a real family. Lex closed his eyes, trying to turn his thoughts in a different direction.

"I can't believe you're here," Clark repeated once again. "I lucked out." Lex could almost sense through the darkness the blush of shame in the awkward silence that followed. "I'm sorry, Lex," Clark continued. "I know there was nothing good, or lucky, about this for you."

"It's okay, Clark. Trust you to put a positive spin on the whole mess. That's just one of the things I love about you. And, I do feel pretty lucky tonight. Lucky to be here." Not for long, though, he thought.

"Yeah," said Clark. He pressed warm lips to Lex's brow. "This is so great, isn't it? Who'd ever have thought it? That you'd be here, like this? That Mom and Dad would know, and be okay with it?"

"It's a plus," said Lex evenly, enjoying the sound of Clark's gentle voice.

Clark continued to caress him. "It was all I could do to keep from touching you during supper. It just feels so good to have you here, be near you, here at home. Feels like you're part of the family."

"Like we're brothers," Lex said faintly, trying out the unfamiliar word on his tongue, trying to ignore the feeling of desolation that swept over him when he did. Clark wasn't his brother, his real brother was now at the manor. In his place. His father had a son that he loved. Had had, for years. He tried to send his thoughts in a different direction, and the path they took startled him.

Not like he really wanted Clark for a brother, anyway.

"More than that, you know, Lex." Anyway, I hope you'll stay with us for awhile. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be selfish, but I just can't be that sorry you had a falling-out with your dad, since it brought you here." Clark reached up and smoothed a gentle hand over Lex's scalp. "Try not to be sad."

Lex turned over on his side, toward the wall, with vague unease, but Clark spooned into him and kept on talking. Lex trembled at the soft breath that warmed the back of his neck, and hoped Clark didn't notice.

"I used to think about us, you and me, being maybe like brothers, having sleepovers-- real ones, the `barn' sleepovers don't count. Pajamas, popcorn, movies. Like regular friends, only more than that. That was when we first knew each other." Lex could sense Clark's grin through the darkness from the tone of his voice. "I was kind of a kid then, Lex. Since then--now, I mean--I think of us, doing other things. But, sometimes, I still.." Clark smiled, and fisted his hand in Lex's pajama top. "You know, when you guys drove up, yesterday-you and Lucas, I mean-- I couldn't help but...I felt like..."

"What?" Lex prompted, intrigued in spite of his attempts to retain emotional distance right now, for now. Till his heart quit hurting, till he didn't feel quite so strange about being here, at the Kents. Instead of at the mansion, which, however cold and stately, was where he belonged.

" I'd been replaced."

Lex smothered a chuckle as his heart tightened and flipped. His voice was husky as he asked, "Jealous, eh?"

"Yeah," Clark admitted. "I was."

"No need," said Lex. "You should know you're the only one for me. Lucas may be my brother, but we both know you're more than that."

Lex could sense Clark's warm smile even through the darkness. Clark picked up Lex's hand, nuzzling it like a terrier, and Lex couldn't help a shiver at the ticklish sensation.

"It'll be so great, now, going to school, going to work at the Talon, and knowing you'll be here when I get home."

Lex sighed. His vision of the next few weeks differed significantly from Clark's. But, he didn't have the heart to say right now that he didn't plan to be at the Kent's more than a few days, at the most.

"That we can play basketball, eat dinner, do the evening chores together," Clark went on happily. "It'll be like Christmas vacation. We can see each other all the time." He pressed in closer to Lex, and Lex felt the heat of his body warming him, all over. It was good, having Clark near like this: innocent, but also provocative. Something about the humble antique bed, the domesticity of it all, was calling up a yearning ache in both his heart and his body. It made him want to... He licked his dry lips and opened his mouth to speak, but Clark continued before he could produce any words.

"What about when Lana comes over," Lex wondered, and immediately could have bitten his tongue. Sometimes, when Lana's name came up in conversation, it was like a spark to dry straw, and before they knew it, their hands and mouths would be all over each other. He shifted at the thought, clearing his throat uneasily.

"I'll get rid of her as soon as I can," Clark chuckled. "So we can be alone. But, hey, you can help me with my homework, too. Maybe I can even make the honor roll this semester! How about it, Lex?"

Clark laughed, a low, pleasant chuckle, and Lex couldn't help it: the way Clark said his name, the way Clark's body felt, snuggled so closely against him in this small bed--not comfortable, but beyond comfort, somehow. Even though he knew he could never really be a part of the Kent family, never really fit in. He felt heat start to build in his groin, turned over again on his back, and shifted slightly to put a little space between his body and Clark's. He shouldn't know, Lex thought.

Lex took a deep breath. "I won't be here that long, Clark. This is just a temporary setback."

But Clark just kept talking, as though he didn't want to hear. "You being here at night, right down the hall from my room. I could almost hear you turning over in bed. I got hard just thinking about it. Look." Clark took Lex's palm and pressed it to the front of his pajamas. Oh, no, Lex thought, his throat so tight he was barely able to swallow. And, yeah, before he could blink, he was hard, too.

He exhaled. and stretched uncomfortably under the covers. "Clark...I told you--"

"Lex..." Clark murmured, sliding a hand over to fumble with the drawstring of Lex's pajama bottoms, pressing himself into Lex's side.

Lex sighed, and gently but firmly pushed Clark's groping hand away. "Clark, I told you before. No."

Clark smiled, "Mom and Dad won't know. They're already asleep, they're not close enough to hear anything, and neither of us will be talking, anyway." He reached down to stroke Lex's erection through the cotton fabric of the pajamas. Lex sighed as he felt his cock twitch in response, and spurt pre-come into the material beneath Clark's grasp. Clark responded with a low, needy moan, and raised his hand to his lips.

"You're already wet. Don't pretend you don't want to, Lex."

"Shut up," Lex hissed.

Clark ran his hands sleekly down Lex's arms, then his sides, and back down to his cock. "You're so turned on," he murmured, his voice thrumming with delight.

Lex opened his mouth to speak, closed it, then tried again. His throat felt dry as a desert. "Of course," he said huskily. "But, that's not the point. I'm trying to be good, here, Clark. Give me a break." Trying, and failing, he thought. Sinking fast, in fact.

Clark laughed. "Good? You? That's boring." He pressed in closer. "You make me so hot, Lex. Give it up."

Damn, thought Lex. So when did Clark start talking this way? He must be a better instructor than he'd thought. "Go back to your own room, Clark." Lex realized his hands were clenched, and clutching the blanket with a death-grip. "Now."

"You don't really want me to," Clark burrowed down beneath the blanket and nipped at the head of Lex's cock through the material. The bed shuddered and creaked again as Lex's body jerked in response.

"No, I don't," Lex admitted, a gasp catching in his throat. He tensed, and then relaxed with a deep sigh. There were limits to his resolve, after all. Clark ground against him, and he arched up to meet him.

Clark moaned again. Lex twisted away from his mouth. "Clark, could you at least keep your voice down? Your folks will hear!"

"Okay, okay," Clark gasped.

"At least respect that request, if nothing else."

Clark chuckled, then froze. Lex, biting his lips, wasn't looking at him, but couldn't help noting how tender yet disappointed his voice sounded

"Lex," he said, "if you really don't want this, I'll stop. You're my guest, after all. I'd be a bad host if I--"

Lex, panting, clamped a hand over Clark's mouth. "Shut up, Clark."

"Okay," Clark mumbled. mouth curving into a smile beneath Lex's palm.

Lex reached slowly down to pass a shaking hand through Clark's dark hair, a sigh of resignation turning into a groan as he thrust up toward Clark's mouth. craving the sensation that was no more than a promise, so far.

"Okay" he whispered, telling himself that Clark was probably right. His parents don't have to know, and even if they do find out, they won't care. What the hell...He let himself savor the delicious sensation of giving himself over to temptation, forgoing further protest, and opening his mouth to Clark's kisses. Clark shifted his body so that he lay almost on top of Lex, pressing him into the mattress, hard.

Lex groaned in discomfort, because the bed was really just too small and cheaply made for this. Plus, Clark was yanking on his pajama bottoms, which were getting snagged on his cock.

"Ow. Sorry," Clark winced in sympathy as he let go of the fabric, abandoning for the moment his objective of getting Lex naked. "This bed is kind of small--definitely just meant for one person. One small person. Never mind. It can work." The wood frame cracked and groaned, and they both froze in panic for a beat, listening in terror for any sound from the hall. Hearing nothing, they exhaled almost simultaneously.

Clark planted an elbow on both sides of Lex's shoulders, and pressed an open-mouthed kiss on his lips. "Don't move, Lex," he beseeched, reaching to hold Lex's hands steady as the kisses continued. "Lex, Lex," Clark moaned in a throaty whisper, hungry for more taste, more touch.

The bedframe rumbled again, and there was another snap of wood.

"Maybe we should get on the floor, Clark," Lex said worriedly. He cast a dubious glance into the darkness.

"No, it's okay. That floor is really hard. And cold! Lex, it's okay. Just stay like this. Getting undressed is too much trouble." He stroked Lex's cock up and down, through the fabric.

"Clark, no. I don't have anything else to change into. And I don't want to sleep in wet pajamas," Lex complained in a whisper. "It's too cold."

"Okay, well, we'll work something out. But, shut up and kiss me, Lex, please...." Clark massaged him through the pajamas, teasing his mouth open with lips and tongue.

Then, suddenly, he stopped. "Wait, Lex," he said, shifting again. "You get on top. That way, I won't crush you, and maybe we won't break the bed."

Lex slid out from beneath and Clark's arms folded around his slim body.

"Okay?" Lex braced himself, one hand on either side of Clark.

"Okay," Clark echoed. He reached between them to adjust so that their cocks were aligned. "Yeah, it's fine." Even though it was dark, Lex could see that Clark's eyes were glazed. He bent down for a gentle kiss, but Clark yanked him down, and thrust his tongue up into Lex's mouth, holding him fast.

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"Clark, I really was trying to be good, damn you."

"We really didn't do anything. We stayed dressed." Lex's response was between a hiss and a snort, and Clark could barely finish the sentence before bursting into half-muffled laughter.

"Sorry for laying on the pressure," He nestled against Lex, who let one arm steal around Clark's side. "Just wanted you to feel at home, Lex, to welcome you into the family."

"Not funny, Clark. You really just wanted to get laid. And, good job."

"And, I wanted to be with you. Didn't want you to be alone, after everything that went down yesterday. Because I love you. Remember that, and you'll forgive me."

"I suppose I will," said Lex. But, fuck. Everything's all wet, now."

"At least the bed is still in one small piece." Clark snickered.

"Enough chatter, Clark. Let's get to sleep. Five o'clock will be here before we know it."

"Why so early?" said Clark, brushing his lips against Lex's scalp with a satisfied mumble.

"I'm meeting your dad at the barn, remember?"

"Oh, yeah, how could I forget?"

"And, I want to be able to do a good job. Earn my keep. So, let's sleep."

"How about I go get you some clean pajama bottoms. Said I would." Clark voice was already growing thick and muffled with sleep as he burrowed into the flat extra pillow.

"Don't bother." Lex stripped off the ones he was wearing and threw them toward the door. "I'll sleep naked."

"You're cold, though."

"Not with you here. You're like a furnace, Clark."

"I just have to say this one more time. I like this," Clark murmured,, letting one hand linger down Lex's bare thigh under the blanket.

"Don't you dare tell your folks about this. Your dad already hates me."

Clark snorted. "Like I'd do that, Lex. And, he doesn't hate you."

Lex smiled. "I know. I really just said it for effect. But, do me one favor," Lex ran a palm through Clark's damp locks. "Try not to look too well fucked at breakfast tomorrow morning."

"Well, it's pretty hard to get anything by my mom. She's really sharp. Wait, Lex, don't hit. Come on."

"Going back to your own bed?"

"Nah. In a bit. Before Dad gets up." Clark's voice was sounding sleepier by the moment.

"Okay, you can stay for a bit. But, no more talking."

"Okay," Clark's mumble trailed off. Lex put an arm around his chest, snuggled down on his shoulder, and pulled the quilt over them both.

In a moment, they were both asleep.

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