Disclaimer: I owe the creators of Superman and Smallville a huge debt for giving me something wonderful to work with. I do not own or have any rights to the characters herewithin.

Note: Thanks to my lovely betas, Dizdayn, Antonia and especially to Rhiannonhero and Acampbell for embracing the "Whex." Written for the Ray Bradbury Title challenge. I also apologize deeply to Mr. Bradbury and his estate for the liberties I took with his story.

Whitney was surprised by his own clarity of thought. Aware of how drunk he really was, he still knew a brilliant thought when he had one. And he had such a good one now, even after so many beers.

He was going to burn the place to the ground.

Burning that bastard's house seemed a good place to start. Everything in Smallville had gone wrong since Lex arrived. All the attention Lex paid Clark was starting to make people think Kent was cool. Even Lana was paying too much attention to Kent now. All the troubles began when Lex started being all lordly up there in his castle. Whitney wondered if Lex was somehow responsible for making him lose his scholarship.

As he walked across the manicured lawns of Luthor Manor, he checked his pockets. Damn, no matches. There must be some in that bastard's house, he'd sneak up on the door and batter it down.

He slipped rather ungracefully on the wet lawn as he approached the house. Coming up to back door, he was startled as the door swung open.

"Uh, Mr. Luthor," he blinked, startled by the sudden light.

"Whitney? What are you doing here?" It was late, Lex wore only a fitted, long sleeve grey top and boxer shorts.

"I was, um, walking home, sir. A little too drunk to drive."

"Well, if I were you, I'd avoid my property in the future. You've set off every alarm in the place." Lex closed the door, leaving Whitney in the dark.

Well, Whitney had a plan, right? He was going to sneak up on the door and burn the place down. All he had to do was batter that door down and...

The door opened again.

"What are you doing out there, Whitney? Don't you have someplace to be?"

"I've come to... to burn this place!" As he blurted the words he felt terribly foolish.

"Oh. Perhaps you'd better come inside." Lex opened the door wide and stood to one side. "Scrape your feet, please."

Carefully removing the mud from his boots, Whitney followed Lex though the kitchen and into the office. The room was still warm from the glow of a fire which appeared to have dwindled hours before.

"Drink?" Lex called from the side of the room, bottle in hand.

"Uh, no." Whitney knew when he'd had enough and figured that he didn't need to get in any more trouble than he already was.

Lex took a glass of scotch, and retired to the dark leather chair in front of the hearth, indicating that Whitney should take the chair next to his. Whitney sat, awkwardly.

"So, you came to burn the place down?"

"Well, Mr. Luthor..."

"Lex, please. Mr. Luthor is my father." He looked completely at ease, as if he spoke of the possible destruction of his home all the time. Maybe he did, thought Whitney, realizing that he really didn't know anything about Mr. Lu... Lex as a person at all.

"Lex, I was going to, well, um, you know there have been a lot of troubles in town since you got here and I thought maybe if you went away then things would go back to normal." Whitney no longer felt as brilliant as he had 15 minutes before, his plan and the reasons behind it paling in the dim light of the barely smoldering fire.

"It's true that an alarming amount of unusual things have happened during my tenure in Smallville, but I hardly think I am to blame." Lex settled deeper into his chair and sipped his scotch, eyes locked on Whitney. The fire seemed to have gone out entirely but Whitney felt suddenly much warmer under Lex's gaze. "It would appear that the 'troubles' in Smallville started with the meteor shower, long before my recent arrival. Wouldn't you agree, Whitney?"

Whitney wondered what he had gotten himself into. "Maybe I'll have that drink after all."

Settled in front of the fire, a glass of scotch in his hand, Whitney found himself telling Lex everything about his problems. How he saw Lana looking longingly at Clark. Losing his scholarship. His desperate need to get out of Smallville. Surprised at how easy it was to talk to Lex, he decided that he must be drunker than he'd previously realized.

"Maybe, I can help," Lex leaned in as he spoke. Whitney could smell the scotch sweet on his breath. "You do something for me and I'll help you get out of this town"

"What do I have to do?" Mesmerized by Lex's eyes, he found himself trying to guess what color they were in dim light.

Lex leaned in further. Whitney closed his eyes as he felt Lex's lips brush his. He let the older man kiss him, slowly responding to the smooth lips, the tongue pushing for entrance to his mouth. Tongue on tongue, the heat of it overtaking him in a way kissing never had before.

When Lex finally pulled back, Whitney struggled to catch his breath, his cock stiff in his jeans. Lex returned his gaze unwaveringly as he looked up.

"What you have to do is come back tomorrow night. For now, I think you should go."

Whitney walked home in daze, trying to convince himself that it was the alcohol and not the kiss that had fuzzed his head so badly. He'd kissed another man and it wasn't disgusting. It wasn't horrible. It was hot.

The entire next day was blurry and confused. Whitney spent the better part of it convincing himself that he would not return to Lex's. He knew, though, that he would. Simply because Lex had said he would help him get out of Smallville, not because of the kiss and the promise it held. Although he found himself thinking more and more of the kiss as the day passed hazily by.

Whitney again approached the Manor from the back, this time just a little drunk, for courage. Although he'd surely be starting no fires this time, he had matches in his pocket. A talisman of luck. His rampage of the night before had clearly been ridiculous, but the matches were a small reminder of how he'd ended up here in the first place.

The back door swung open at his approach, just as before.

Finding himself again arranged in front of the fire with a glass of scotch, Whitney wondered, for the thousandth time that day, what he was in for. Lex had barely spoken four words to him since he arrived and now was simply staring into the fire, drinking. He was dressed in a long purple robe, soft and luminous. Grey silk pajama pants peaked out below the hem. Whitney was surprise to feel his cock twitch as he noticed that Lex's feet were bare. It just seemed so intimate.

Looking up from Lex's feet, he realized that Lex was watching him. Not really staring so much as gazing intently. Whitney slammed the rest of his drink and set the glass on the floor next to his chair. He sat up straight and boldly returned Lex's look.

"So, Whitney, you want to get out of Smallville?" Lex drained his own glass and set it on the table to his left, his head still turned to the right, eyes, clear, bright and focused on Whitney.

"Ye..," Whitney swallowed, his throat dry, "Excuse me. Yes. Yes, I do."

"And, you'd be willing to do a lot to make that happen." It was more of a statement than a question.

As if the previous evening was replaying itself, Lex leaned close in to Whitney. Closing into Whitney's personal space, his body asking what Whitney would give. The quarterback was a little alarmed to feel his own body responding.

"Yes." Whitney found himself leaning closer into Lex, seeking those lips again. Lex kissed him hard in response, his fingers twisting into the boy's blond hair. Emboldened by the fervor of the kiss, Whitney let his hand run up Lex's neck, over the back of his smooth scalp. The feel of Lex's bare skin under his hand was so comfortable, Whitney couldn't bring himself to move his hand, even as Lex pulled back from the kiss.

Moving to kneel in front of the boy, Lex never let his eyes leave Whitney's.

"Are you sure?" He whispered, tilting again towards Whitney's lips.

"Yes." The word was nearly lost as Lex's warm mouth met his. Bending forward, he let Lex slide his hands up under his shirt as they kissed. Moaning lightly as his hands fell onto the silk of Lex's robe. He pushed it off the shoulders, finding bare skin there. As his hands explored the hairless expanse of pale skin in front of him, Whitney was acutely aware of hot hands twisting up under his shirt, investigating him in turn.

Having removed his shirt, Whitney leaned back in the sleek leather chair as Lex unbuttoned his jeans. Skilled hands freed Whitney's cock as boxers and jeans were pushed low on his hips. Heated fingers played over his cock, teasing, stroking and finally grasping. His hips arched up off the chair into Lex's grip. Dipping forward, Lex's lips stroked the head of his rock-hard cock. Whitney gasped.

"Oh god, oh Lex, it's so good." And words suddenly became meaningless as Lex's mouth engulfed him completely.

Coming in Lex's mouth was like nothing Whitney had ever experienced. He didn't feel sated as he usually did after sex. If anything he felt more on fire. Passion struck, as Lex sat up Whitney grabbed him and kissed him hard, tasting himself in the older man's mouth. Climbing slowly out of the chair, he pushed Lex back onto the rug in front of the fire. Whitney straddled Lex's hips and fell into his mouth, kissing him again. He pulled at the slippery robe, freeing as much of Lex's skin as he could. The white, hairless skin reflected gold in the fire as Whitney moved his lips down over the collar bone and across Lex's chest.

He licked gentle strokes across the other man's firm abdomen as he caressed the rigid cock trapped in the grey silk pants. Silk pants that slid easily to rest below smooth hips. Surprised at how easy it was, how natural this felt, Whitney licked tentatively at Lex's cock. Encouraged by the tiny moans issuing from Lex in response, he closed his lips over the head and pushed his way down the entire length.

Overwhelmed at the mixed feelings of power and surrender that cock-sucking gave him, Whitney gave himself over to the task. He marveled the texture, the slick feel of Lex's skin, the salty taste of precome, the needy noises issuing from his momentary lover. As he slid a hand to cup Lex's ass, Lex's hips bucked up, and Whitney did his best to relax his throat and swallow everything as Lex came.

Whitney left Luthor Manor that night with two pieces of paper in his hands. One accepting him to Kansas State and one admitting him to basic training in the U.S. Marines. He had no idea how Lex had managed to get both in less than 24 hours, but he was glad of it. Now all he had to do was make a decision that would take him away from this fucked up town.

~finis~