That's What Lex Is

Disclaimer: Alas, not mine.

Superbly betad by the incomparable Melisande and Silvercat, to whom I owe many thanks.

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The book wasn't getting any more interesting. Not that Clark had thought that it would, but he was giving it a valiant try. He had been staring at the same page for the past thirty minutes, and his preoccupation had not gone unnoticed.

"Hey Clark!" Chloe bounced into the seat next to him and almost spilled her latte into his lap.

"Whoa, Chloe!" Couldn't she see he was busy here? Ruminating. About a man who was no doubt out having the time of his life. God he was pathetic.

Even Chloe, not always the most sensitive and thoughtful person, caught on that there was a problem. "Oh. I heard Lex was off on another business trip. Is that what's wrong?"

Clark nodded unhappily. At least he didn't have to pretend anymore while he was around her. Lana and Pete still had no clue, wrapped up in their own little world, but Chloe had known almost immediately when Clark had gone and fallen in love with Lex. As she put it, he gave off 'love vibes' like no one she had ever seen. It was a pity that Lex didn't seem to feel them.

"Where is he this time?" she asked, curling up on the couch next to him.

Clark sighed and closed his book. Well, it wasn't like he had actually been getting anything done anyway. "He's in Tokyo at some big time LuthorCorp business meeting. His father's there too."

Chloe whistled. "Wow, this must be a big deal then. Lionel and Lex negotiating the same deal? I thought they had all but dissolved their business relationship."

Yeah, Clark had thought so too, but obviously the deal had been too good for Lex and the burgeoning LexCorp to pass up.

"He sounded ok on the phone. He said his dad's been obnoxious, but didn't raise too much of a stink about Lex's company being involved. Apparently even he sees that it's too big a deal for him to handle alone." Either that or Lionel was setting Lex up for another fall. Clark wasn't sure which thought scared him more.

"I... I may have let on a bit too much though," Clark confessed.

"Why? What did you say to him? Did you finally tell him how you feel?" Chloe had been advocating the direct approach for a while, but Clark had been too scared of rejection.

"No. But I did tell him that I missed him."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Well, it's about time," she said, grinning. "So, what did he say?"

"He didn't say anything," Clark mumbled miserably. "He got really quiet and then he said something about being back next week. I'm not sure he got how much I miss him."

"He's really observant, Clark," Chloe said. "I think he probably got it, he just wants to be face to face with you to deal with it."

Shrugging, Clark took another swig of his lukewarm coffee.

Chloe leaned back. "So, what else did he say?"

"He asked about school, about my parents, about whether there had been any more weird occurrences around Smallville," Clark said.

"Hm. So the standard 'showing interest in things going on in your life' then," she said smugly.

"Yeah, I guess you could look at it that way." When she put it that way it made it sound like Lex cared. Which Clark knew he did. He suddenly felt better.

"Honestly, Clark," she said, "what else could he say under the circumstances? He's half a world away. You told him you missed him. That's all you can do."

"Well, he didn't say that he missed me," Clark mumbled.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Ok. So he's at a bigtime meeting and who knows where he was when he called you and you wanted him to get all mushy on the phone with you? When, for all he knows, his calls are being monitored?" She took a sip of her drink. "Plus, you didn't exactly declare your undying love for him, Kent. You just said you missed him."

"Well, I may have said a bit more," Clark said sheepishly.

Chloe fixed him with a stare. "Spill, Kent," she said in her best reporter's voice.

"I told him that I wished he was here."

"And? What did he say?"

"He asked why, so I told him it was so that I could show him how I feel about him," Clark whispered.

"And?" He could tell that Chloe was getting irritated.

"He said I could tell him how I felt about him."

"And did you? Or did you wimp out?"

"I told him he might be surprised how I felt about him," Clark said. "So then he said that I might be the one surprised."

Chloe grinned. "Cool, Clark! This is good! Maybe something will finally happen now."

"I dunno. I'm kinda scared of what will happen when he gets back," Clark confessed. "What if he's like 'I just want to be friends'?"

"You're already friends," Chloe pointed out. "That won't change. But now you may be on the way to something more. Isn't that what you want?"

Yes, it was what he wanted. She was right. She was always right. He smiled gratefully at her.

"You worry too much, Kent," she said. She tipped back her coffee cup and drained it. "So, you're on your own tonight then, Clark?" she asked, suddenly very interested in the patterns that the remnants of whipped cream were making in her cup.

"Yeah, why, Chloe?" Clark could use a diversion.

"Well, would you like to come over to my house and just get a pizza and talk?"

"Talk? Sure, Chloe, 'bout what? You ok?" Clark suddenly felt bad. They were friends, after all. She was the best female friend he had, bar none, and she had sat up with him and listened to him and even cried with him on countless nights when he was moping about Lex. And now she needed him, and he had been too consumed with Lex to notice.

"Me? I'm fine," she said, jumping out of her seat with a grin. "I have a new love interest that I need to talk about, ok?"

Ok. That was good. It would take his mind off of the whole 'being in unrequited love with Lex' situation.

Clark gathered up his books and waved to Pete and Lana as they sat at the counter together. They waved back to him, then returned to their cooing. Was everyone in the world in a relationship but him?

Exiting the Talon, they headed for Chloe's car, where she tossed her bag in the back seat and opened the door for him manually. Settling into her seat and starting to tune the radio, she glanced up at him. "You ok, Clark?" she asked softly. "I can drop you home if you prefer."

He shook his head. "Nah. I'll just end up having to do extra chores. At least if I'm out, Dad will figure I have schoolwork, or I'm out with you guys, so he'll leave me alone. Plus, we haven't done this in ages."

Chloe nodded and started the car. Soon they were on their way to her home.

Clark was curious about who the mystery man was. "So who is this guy, anyway?" he asked.

He could feel Chloe's grin as she started to talk. "Jake? Hmm, well, he's a college freshman at Met U. We met while I was interning at the Planet this past summer...."

That's right, Chloe had had a summer internship arranged for her at The Daily Planet by Lex. He had offered Clark a similar deal, but Jonathan had nixed it. Too much work to do on the farm, he had said. It would have been fun though, Clark thought as Chloe talked. He would have been in Metropolis. With Lex. They could have gone out to dinner and to the movies.... Hell, Lex owned just about every movie anyway, they could have hung out at the penthouse and talked. Maybe he wouldn't have read so much about Lex in the tabloids if they had done that.

"He's really smart! One of his articles was featured on the front page. And Mr. White even told him that he has a guaranteed job when he graduates...."

Smart? Oh, Clark knew someone who was really smart. Lex was a fucking genius. As Chloe gushed on about Jake, Clark thought about all of Lex's talents. He's got to be one of the smartest men on the planet, Clark thought. He had once had the chance off seeing Lex in action at a business meeting and had been blown away. He had seemed to be listening with only one ear, until a vice president had tried to slide something dubious past him figuring he hadn't been paying attention. Big mistake. Lex had summarily, and in coldly precise terms, proceeded to decimate the poor employee' s argument until the man had been practically babbling. "Come back when you actually have an understanding of your job," Lex had said, and Clark remembered hoping that he never gave cause to have Lex talk to him like that.

Yeah, Lex was smart. He was a scientist at heart, and Clark could see that in his approach to the world. The scientific method was his mantra.

"So he asked me out and we went to this great romantic restaurant in Little Italy..."

Romantic? Yeah, Lex was romantic. Clark had seen him in action. He had once stopped by the mansion on a whim and had found Lex lighting candles in his private sitting room, obviously preparing for an intimate evening. Lex had seemed surprised to see Clark, yet not. Clark had stammered and had been all embarrassed, but Lex had insisted that he hadn't had any important plans and had made a phone call. Clark had actually ended up staying for dinner that night when Lex had canceled his date. It had still been pretty romantic though. There had been times that night when Clark had felt like he had been on the date with Lex.

"But now I'm not sure how he really feels y'know? He hasn't called lately except to talk about school and I don't even know when I'll see him again...."

Yeah, he knew that feeling too. Sure Lex had called from Japan, but only to talk about work. And Clark had no idea when he would be back in town, or even if he would be coming back to Smallville. There were rumors that Lex was considering moving to Metropolis for good. And knowing Lex, it was entirely possible that he had met someone in Tokyo. In fact, he could come back married to some homicidal Asian woman....

"Well, here we are," Chloe said pulling up to her house. Off handedly she said, "So... think Lex will be coming back soon?"

It was the last straw. "Will you stop talking about Lex?" Clark snapped. Ok, so he was overreacting a bit, but she had been the one droning on about Lex after all. He ignored the concerned look she gave him.

"Y'know, Kent. You really should consider just telling Lex how you feel. I think he would surprise you," she said as she went to open the door.

As they got out of the car, Clark noticed an unfamiliar car in the driveway.

"Whose car's that?" he asked reaching into the back seat to pull out his book bag. Chloe shrugged, then stopped, staring at a brown haired man who was standing a little uncertainly on the porch.

"Jake?" she faltered.

"Chloe? You're home. Your Dad said I could wait for you out here," the man said, walking slowly down the porch stairs as if unsure of his welcome.

Clark watched the reunion, recognizing that he was no longer on Chloe's radar. It was as if he had disappeared. As Chloe and Jake just stood looking at each other, Clark could only watch. It seemed he was forever destined to watch his friends move into relationships, but be alone himself. He wished Chloe a good night, smiling at her absentminded farewell and figuring that he would officially meet Jake some other time.

He decided to walk home. Superspeed didn't feel right tonight somehow. As he walked, he thought about what he wanted from his life. He wanted someone who he could trust, someone who he could love and who would love him. And he wanted hot man sex. With Lex. Yeah, he wanted a lot of that. And soon. His steps faltered. As soon as he told Lex how he felt. Well, that was the problem wasn't it? He simply couldn't blurt out to his best friend that he was in love with him, could he?

As he stepped through the corn field on the edge of the farm, his eyes were drawn immediately to the red Ferrari sitting in the driveway in front of the house. Lex. Who was obviously back. And sexier than ever. The sight of him stilled the breath in Clark throat. Lex lounged casually against the car in a charcoal gray suit checking his PDA. He looked up as soon as Clark stepped out of the field and smiled slowly.

"Hello, Clark," Lex said, checking his watch. "Good timing. I was about to head home figuring I had missed you. Late day at school?"

And did Lex have to practice that voice? It never failed to make Clark's knees go slightly weak. And how embarrassing was that? Clark was grinning like a fool but he couldn't help it. His brain was screaming LexisbackLexisback!

"Hey Lex! You're back huh? That was fast. How was Tokyo? Did the business deal go well? Hope you didn't fight too much with your dad. I thought you said you'd be back next week." He was babbling and he knew it, but he was just so happy to see Lex, he couldn't stop talking.

And Lex was smiling that sexy half smile of his. The one that made Clark want to lick that scarred lip. And that bald head. Was it sick that Clark was fixated on Lex's head? On Lex's everything?

"Mmm. For some reason I got homesick and decided to expedite things. Got back this afternoon. So. Everything ok, Clark?" Lex asked, sauntering over towards his friend. "Did you mean what you said on the phone yesterday when we talked?"

Clark nodded and blushed slightly. Did he? Hell yes. And here he was worrying that he had been too obvious about how much he missed Lex. "Really, eveything's fine, Lex."

Lex smirked. "Hmm, funny. It sounded as if you were upset last night when we hung up. When you said you missed me. That you wished I was here. You know you can tell me anything, right, Clark?"

This was typical. Lex wasn't going to let this go. The man was like a terrier with a bone! Clark had to distract him. But with what?

"I was just over at Chloe's. She met a guy over the summer at that Planet job you set up for her. Looks kinda serious."

Lex's expression suddenly closed. Clark could almost hear the metal gates clank shut. "Is this why you're upset, Clark? Because Chloe now has a love interest? Do you have an interest in her?" Turning away he gazed towards the house. "Is that why you said you missed me? Because you wanted to talk about Chloe?"

And wow, Lex was sort of upset. This made no sense. Unless... "No Lex. Chloe and I are just friends. She listens to me when I have problems and I do the same for her. She had just been talking about this guy when we were on our way back to her place to watch a movie, then he shows up on her porch. Pretty romantic, I think."

Open faced Lex was back, and how interesting was that? All sorts of interesting. Clark needed to think about this, but he couldn't. Not with Lex sidling up to him and leaning in. "Well then, Clark, since you missed your movie with her, want to come over to my house and watch one with me?"

Clark would go anyplace just to hear more of that voice. "Sure, Lex."

As Lex turned away to go to his car he murmured, "And wait till I show you romantic."

What?!?

Lex turned to face Clark slowly. "That is, unless you're not interested in my idea of romance, Clark."

Clark had to ask. "Did you miss me, Lex?"

Long pause, then a whispered answer. "I always miss you when I'm not around you, Clark."

Clark grinned. "Then Lex, I am really interested in your idea of romance. As long as I can show you mine."

As they sped away in the Ferrari, Clark added two more things to the list of Lex traits. Lex drove really fast, and wow he could really kiss.

~Fin