Special Brew

Disclaimer: Not mine. If they were, they would both wear less clothes.

Lana might as well do something useful.

Thanks to Melisande, who keeps inspiring me, and who is the bestest beta ever.

Lana was busy making coffee when she saw Clark seat himself at the counter of the Talon. He looked a bit depressed.

"Hey, Clark," she said cheerily as she walked over to him. "What can I get you?"

He shrugged. "Whatever you have is fine, Lana," he said.

Hmm. This was the third day in a row he had shown up like this. Lana decided that the situation called for special measures. As she started making up a new pot of coffee she glanced back at her friend. "Have you noticed that Lex has been really happy lately?"

The question surprised Clark. "I... not really, Lana. Why?"

She shrugged and then went to pour a cup of coffee for another customer. "He's just been different lately," she said as she walked back towards him. "More... cheerful somehow."

Lex was happy? Since when? Clark didn't think he would have missed that development. He paid alarming amounts of attention to Lex's mental state, and Lex seemed the same to him.

When the new pot was ready, Lana poured him a cup and pushed it towards him. "Try this," she said. "It's a new blend. I created it."

Clark sipped the coffee pensively. Maybe that meant that something was going on in Lex's life? Was there someone new? Or maybe he and Lex were growing apart. He hoped not. He'd believed Lex when he'd said they had a destiny.

Then Lex walked into the Talon humming. Humming? Clark's head snapped up at the odd sound. Not that Lex had a bad voice. In fact, Lex had quite a melodious voice. Strangely soothing. No, the odd part was the humming itself. Clark was pretty sure that he had ever heard him hum or sing, at least not in public. Yet there was no mistaking it, Lex was humming a catchy tune and he seemed to have a spring in his step. Ok, so yes, this probably indicated happy Lex. That could mean one of two things. One; a new woman in his life, or two; Lionel Luthor was in a coma. Clark hadn't heard anything on the news lately so....

"Clark. Lana." Lex stepped up to the counter clapped Clark on the shoulder.

"Hey, Lex!" Clark gushed as his friend came up behind him. "You seem... cheerful. So, who is she?"

Lex left his hand on Clark's shoulder and grinned. Grinned? Ok something was definitely off here, and Clark did a quick skeletal scan to confirm Lex's identity. Yeah, it was Lex all right, and was it strange that Clark knew Lex down to his bones? Don't think about that. Just move on.

"She who, Clark?" Lex asked, still smiling. He accepted a cup of coffee from Lana, and then turned and started walking away from the counter.

"The uh... woman who is probably responsible for the uncharacteristically cheerful you, Lex," Clark said, grabbing his cup and following Lex to his customary seat in the corner. "Is Victoria back?"

Lex's grin got bigger, if possible. "No woman, Clark," he said, sitting down and leaning forward as if he were going to confide some secret. "You want to know why I'm so happy? Actually, it's because of a man."

A man? What the...? Clark looked at Lex in shock.

Lex sat back with a satisfied look on his face. "Well well," he said silkily. "What could you be thinking, Clark Kent?"

"I..." and Clark was at a loss for words.

Lex smiled gently and sipped his coffee. "Mind out of the gutter, Clark," he said. "It's not what you're thinking."

"How do you know what I'm thinking?" Clark asked.

Soft laugh. "The look on your face, Clark. You had sex on the brain, so naturally when I said I was in a good mood because of a man your mind went... there." And Lex flicked a scorching look down Clark's long length. Was it suddenly hot in the room?

Clark looked deeply into his coffee mug as if the contents held the secrets to the universe. His mind had gone there the moment Lex had walked into the Talon. Like it always did in Lex's presence.

Lex took pity on his blushing friend. "My brother is getting married, and he's asked me to be the best man in his wedding, Clark," he said.

His brother? Oh, right. The short guy with the horrible jump shot. Lucas. That twit was getting married? Who would have him?

"That's great, Lex," Clark lied. "But why is this making you so happy? I didn't think you were that close."

"You have no idea how this takes the pressure off me, Clark. Now that my father will be focused on Lucas and his bride, I won't be getting the weekly 'you need an heir' calls from my father."

Oh. Lex was under pressure to get married? Clark had had no idea that he was being coerced to settle down and produce baby Luthors.

"Oh, is that why you keep getting married, Lex? " Clark asked. He had been wondering about that.

Lex rolled his eyes. "Partly," he admitted. "My father insists that it's good for business for me to be married. He says I'll seem more stable, less... wild."

And what was Lex doing now that could be considered wild, Clark wondered. As far as Clark could tell, Lex was home alone every night. Not that Clark was stalking him or anything.

"When's the wedding?" he asked.

Lex studied his nails. "Next week," he said. "In Metropolis. A huge spectacle. In true Luthor fashion." A quick look under his eyelashes at Clark had the boy squirming. "Why, Clark? You want to come?"

"You mean with you? Um, sure... maybe. I may need to save you from a future ex Mrs. Luthor."

Lex laughed. "You have rescued me a lot lately, Clark. But even I can't ask you to sacrifice yourself in such a fashion. It might ruin your own dating hopes, after all, to be linked with me."

I could live with that, Clark thought.

"But you are more than welcome to join me if you want," Lex continued. "There is no one else that I particularly want to take as a date."

No one else? Did that mean Lex wanted this to be a date? "You want this to be a date?" Clark said, and then gasped. He was going to have to check his reaction to caffeine, because that had not been what he had planned to say.

A Lexian eyebrow lift and a surprised look. "My my you are full of surprises today, Clark," he murmured. "A date you say? Well, I can't say I have any objections, but what will your friends say?"

"You, you don't?" Close your mouth Kent. You're attracting flies.

"Don't what, Clark?" Lex said gently.

"Have any objections to us going on a date?"

"Not particularly," Lex shrugged. "Have you seen yourself, Clark? Anyone would be happy to date you, woman or man."

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound as they say. Clark leaned forward to look Lex full in the face. "Do you really care what my friends think, Lex? I know I don't. I want to know what you think."

"I think I want some of what you're drinking, Clark," Lex joked. "You must have the special brew."

"Leeeeex!" Clark was not going to let Lex get away with turning this into a joke. It had taken him too long to get to this point. He needed an answer. "Seriously," he continued, "I need to know how you feel about this."

"This being dating you, Clark?" At Clark's nod, Lex suddenly sobered. "Why do you think my father has been so adamant about my getting married?" he said. "He knows that I lo... have strong feelings for you, and he wants me safely married before any rumors start circulating."

"I have strong feeling for you too, Lex," Clark whispered, running his fingers up Lex's arm.

Lex smiled and shifted closer. "So I gather, Clark. So I gather."

~

Lana watched with satisfaction as Clark and Lex sat close together and talked in the corner. They both looked quite happy now. They couldn't keep their eyes off of each other. And the way they kept touching each other, brushing fingertips and laughing softly together, she suspected that her special brew had done its work again. It would only be a matter of time before they had to leave because the couldn't keep their mouths off each other as well. She glanced over at Chloe and Pete who were arguing at a separate table. Hmm, maybe she needed to fix them some too.

~Fin