Jumping Over Shadows

Jumping Over Shadows

Sequel to: A Summer of Broken Hearts
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Clark/Lex

A Huge thanks to Skuf for her tireless beta work. This Chapter was an absolute dog to write and I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without Skuf’s patient and always helpful critic. Any remaining mistakes are my own. Please feel free to point them out.

Disclaimer : Smallville belongs to DC comics and WB. This is non-profit entertainment, and no infringement is intended so please don't sue me.

A/N: This is an AU Alien!Clark/Lex fic. I have changed the original episode content in places in order to bend the story to my whims.

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Chapter 1

The Protector


Martha leaned her head against the door frame as she stared out into the pale light of dawn. Jonathan was still upstairs getting dressed and she really should start making their breakfast. Clark had not come home last night, which had saddened, but not surprised her. When midnight struck, she’d gone up to her bedroom and climbed in beside her sleeping husband; Jonathan was worried, certainly, but he was also exhausted. Martha had forced herself to put aside her worries about Clark and let her weary body have its rest.

Now, even though she’d slept surprisingly well, there was still a distinct feeling of fatigue in her bones. She’d always known that Clark’s ship had the potential to threaten the happiness of her family. She wished it had never been found, even though she knew it contained Clark’s heritage. Martha sighed. It was a heritage that had now managed to reached out and cause her son obvious distress.

It was no longer possible to deny what the ship represented, but Martha was determined to do everything in her power to lessen the impact; she would take whatever measures were necessary to keep her family intact. Right now, she didn’t even care what Clark had found out. All she wanted was for her son to be home where he belonged; not out wandering around all night in the dark, alone.

At the sudden sound of feet on the stairs, Martha turned and regarded her husband. He looked exactly as he did every morning – rested and ready to greet the new day. Still, she knew his very first thoughts upon waking were of Clark and he would be no more at ease than she was until his son came home. Yesterday she had repeated for him several times exactly what had taken place and everything Clark had said to her in the storm cellar; she hoped that he wouldn’t ask her to go over it again.

“No sign of Clark yet?” It was more a statement than a question.

Martha shook her head and headed towards the fridge. Her husband always ate a large breakfast and standing around worrying about Clark wasn’t going to get it cooked. Jonathan surprised her by taking the eggs from her hands, grabbing a bowl and then carefully depositing the contents of each shell into it. Lost in thought, they worked silently beside each other, Martha slicing a slab of bacon and Jonathan seasoning and scrambling the eggs for an omelet, until the slamming of the screen door caused them both to jump.

“Clark!” Martha’s face lit up with both relief and joy at seeing him.

“Son, where have you been?” Jonathan’s tone made it clear that he was relieved and not angry.

“Out feeding and watering everything on this farm that needed it,” Clark stated matter-of-factly as he walked over and kissed his mother on the top of the head. “I also cleaned out all the stalls and the chicken coop. The eggs are in the cellar.”

Jonathan’s eyebrows shot up appreciatively at the news. “Clark, we didn’t realise you were even here.”

“I’m sorry. I wanted to get all the important chores done so you wouldn’t have to go out right away. We really need time to talk,” he said neutrally as he opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of milk.

“Sure thing, son. Your mother and I were just getting breakfast started,” Jonathan said good-naturedly and reached for a frypan.

Clark eyed the prepared ingredients skeptically as he poured milk into a glass. “Um, maybe that should wait until a bit later.” At his parent’s curious expression he added, “I mean, maybe it would be best if we had this conversation on an empty stomach, you know, before breakfast. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about keeping it down.”

Jonathan and Martha exchanged a startled look.

“That bad, Clark?” Jonathan asked gravely.

Clark merely shrugged, downed his milk, and headed towards the stairs. “I just need to change out of these clothes and then we can talk.”

Martha remained silent and set to the task of covering the breakfast food, placing it with shaking hands back in the fridge.

OoOoOo

Clark accepted the coffee cup his mother handed him with a small smile and then waited until she settled herself onto the sofa next to his father. He knew she would be able to accept what he had to say much better than his father would; she always did.

“I’m sorry I took off like that yesterday. It was just too much information for me and I needed to be alone with it for a while,” Clark began, both of his hands cradling the steaming cup. “It’s hard enough to reconcile myself with the ancestry the ship represents; trying to find some way to make sense of it all and then express it in our language is difficult and just plain frustrating.

“Honey, just take your time – don’t worry about making it easy for us. We’ve always known that we would have to deal with your origins – whether it comes in the form of super-abilities or the information the ship holds. We love you, Clark. Whatever comes, we will deal with it together as a family, okay?”

“Okay,” He nodded gratefully and took a long sip of his coffee, silently praying that he would find the right words to explain. No matter how much his parents wanted to support him, he knew it was going to be difficult for them to absorb and accept what he had to say. Clark finally set his cup down and said, “I guess the easiest place to start is at the beginning – the very beginning. The first thing I learned yesterday was that when my biological parents sent me to earth, they didn’t send me alone.”

Jonathan was immediately alarmed. “Clark, are you saying that there was another ship – that there is another from your planet here on earth?!”

Clark was shaking his head. “No, dad, not like that. I meant that I wasn’t alone in my ship.”

“Honey, we were there only moments after you crashed. There wasn’t anyone else – your father and I would have seen them,” Martha said reasonably.

“Not to mention that there isn’t any room in that ship for more than one small child, Clark.”

“There wasn’t another person, but there was another life form with me – a sentient, energy-based entity sent to watch over me.”

Martha and Jonathan exchanged a quick glance that told Clark they were hoping he had made a mistake.

“Okay, son, if it was with you, what happened to it – where did it go?”

“It didn’t go anywhere. It’s with me; it has always been with me.” Clark sighed and reached over to grab his coffee again. “I don’t really understand if this…this being is something special or if it thrived on Krypton as a foreign species or sub-species. For all I know it could be something created, like some form of artificial intelligence.”

“Clark, there is a world of difference between the two and I think you should have made sure to get more definite information than that.” Jonathan was irritable with the stress of once again being faced with the unknown.

“Dad, that ship isn’t an encyclopaedia! You can’t expect to open it up and just start asking questions!”

Martha placed a hand on her husband’s arm to still him and said in a calm voice, “Clark, you said this life-form was sent to watch over you, but you have been safely on earth for thirteen years. Why is it still here?”

Leave it to his mother to cut right to the heart of the matter.

“When my biological parents sent me out in that ship, there was no way to know what would happen – if I would reach the earth and, if I did, what would become of me. If I did make it, they couldn’t know if the ship would be damaged, or if I’d ever have access to it. The key was lost for all those years, so they were right to assume that they needed an alternate plan.”

Clark rolled his cup back and forth between his palms and continued quietly, “I’m the last son of Krypton. They wanted to do everything possible to assure my safety and survival on earth. They needed to be certain that if I was without my ship I’d have another source to guide and protect me. That’s how the Kryptonian name of the energy-form translates into English: Protector . It has a set amount of time that it’s to stay with me and then it either dies or goes or something.” Clark shrugged and absently set his empty cup back on the table. “It’s really hard to translate the concept of time, but I think it could be either twenty or twenty-five earth years.”

“Son, if it was sent to watch over you, then why are you just finding out about it now? How is it you never knew it was there?”

“It never communicates with me…well, except maybe when I was a baby travelling through space. I think it was a source of stimulation and comfort during that long journey. There are familiar voice-like sounds I have been hearing in my head since early this year and, though I don’t understand them anymore, I know now they come from the Protector. Since I landed here, it hasn’t communicated with me directly in any way that I was ever aware of before. It just went about its job.”

“Just what is its job, Clark?” Martha asked pointedly.

Jesus, his mother should have been a lawyer. “To see to it that I come to no harm – that I don’t cause harm to others and to guide me in keeping the customs of Krypton.”

“How, Clark?” Martha pressed when he didn’t continue.

Clark knew he had to tell them everything; god, he hated trying to find words for something so foreign – something that they would never be able to fully grasp, something that could never be right.

“Mom, you always said that you didn’t find me, that I found you,” he said softly. “The truth is, I didn’t find you, the Protector did. That was part of its job; to find a home for me with people who could be trusted to raise me. If you think about the fact that Lionel Luthor wasn’t far away in those corn fields…I mean, just think about what would’ve happened if I had gone walking in his direction…if he’d been the first person I ran into.”

“Oh, Clark, you can’t seriously believe…how could it know if we were any better than Lionel?” Martha wouldn’t allow herself to even think about what would have happened to Clark if Lionel had found him first.

“I think it must have the ability to feel out what a person is…that it can somehow ascertain character and intent. It found you and dad and knew that I’d be safe with you, so sent me to you. It’s as complicated and as easy as that.”

“Alright, let’s just accept for the moment that is true. It sent you to us because it was somehow able to examine our very minds and knew we would be good parents. That was thirteen years ago, Clark. Exactly what has it been doing since then?” Martha asked, obviously annoyed that some foreign element had been interfering without her knowledge or consent.

Clark shifted in his seat, nervously stretching his legs while he thought of how best to answer.

“Out with it, Clark.”

Startled, he looked up at his father.

“Your mother told me how upset you were yesterday, so it is obvious that there’s an anvil you need to drop on our heads. Let’s just get it over with.”

God, having to do this sucked. “Okay. Since I didn’t have access to the ship until recently, there was no way for me to know anything about either Kryptonians or their customs. I also couldn’t know many of the things they were aware of with regard to my interactions with humans on earth. People from Krypton have visited this planet and knew that I would thrive in its environment, especially when I fully possessed all my abilities, yet that there were things that needed to be avoided.”

“Like the meteor rocks?” Jonathan asked, frowning.

“Well, I don’t know if they realised that those would follow me here, but, um, yes, I suppose that…and, er, women.”

“What?!” Martha and Jonathan cried out simultaneously.

“It’s not allowed,” Clark’s voice was unsteady and his face flushed.

“Clark, just what the hell does that mean?” Jonathan demanded.

“It obviously means no girlfriend, not to mention no wife and no family of my own. That’s what it means,” Clark snapped.

“Son, even if you couldn’t have children of your own, no one can stop you from falling in love and getting married!” Jonathan was beside himself.

“YES, they can! They can and they have – it’s not even a debatable topic.” Clark was shouting angrily, but tears of frustration were already staining his cheeks.

When her husband opened his mouth to reply, Martha shot him a look that immediately silenced him. She got up and moved to sit next to her son and wiped the wetness from his face with the heel of her hand. “Jonathan, there is a pitcher of lemonade in the fridge; I think we could all use something cold to drink.”

When he returned carrying a tray with their drinks, Martha was still by Clark’s side, but he had calmed down considerably.

“I’m sorry, dad. I didn’t mean to shout at you. I’m just so frustrated at having such important decisions taken out of my hands.”

“Clark, you have every right to be upset,” Jonathan said, handing him a glass.

“Yeah, but none of this is your fault.”

“Sweetheart, can you explain it to us? Why exactly would you not be able to have a girlfriend? I think you and Lana…”

Clark groaned and shook his head stopping his mother mid-sentence. “Mom, let’s just say that none of this happened – we never opened the ship, and there was never a protector. Let’s pretend that things worked out with Lana. I marry her and, being completely ignorant of what could happen, we decide to have a family. She would get maybe as far as the fourth month and then both she and the baby would die. A human woman can easily get pregnant, but she would never be able to survive the pregnancy. Even though it would only receive half of my DNA, those genes would be dominant. No human would be able to carry a child with that kind of strength – her body could never withstand the demands the baby would put on it.”

“Oh, Clark.” Martha’s voice was full of compassion.

“Son, you know what you’re facing now. I understand the circumstances will make it difficult, but, still, there is no reason you shouldn’t be able to find the right girl one day. You can always adopt children.”

“Do you think I would ever put anyone at risk like that? And what would I tell my future wife? Do I just say, ‘Oh, sorry, but to be safe you’ll need to have your uterus removed before we can have sex’?”

“Don’t be smart with me, Clark. I’m just saying that it doesn’t mean you have to be alone.”

Clark made a derisive noise. “It was never intended that I remain alone. Marriage apparently played a critical role in Kryptonian society – no one ever remained single. The way they chose partners was based on an ancient custom, full of complex rituals that I couldn’t completely understand.” Clark looked down at the glass in his hands, his finger nervously tracing a pattern through the condensation as he continued, “My biological parents never even considered forsaking such an elemental tradition just because they wouldn’t be there to see me through it. They simply relegated the duty to the Protector.” He glanced up at his mother as he finished speaking and immediately saw the penny drop.

She would have made a fortune as a corporate lawyer.


OoOoOo


Lex drew in a deep breath and opened the car door, bracing himself for the waft of hot air that would cling to his over-cooled skin like a leech. He reluctantly let it embrace him and walked towards the yellow house; he wanted to be here as much as he wanted not to be. In the end, logic had won out. Since he’d expressly forbidden that Clark come by the mansion, the only way he would get his questions answered was by seeking out Clark.

Lex snorted. Right. Logic. If he were honest with himself, and there was certainly no reason not to be, it was once again the inexplicable need to see Clark that had driven him here – the need to see that face, to see what was written on it and reflected in those eyes when they lit on him. It was similar to the incessant, restless longing that had made a nuisance of itself from the very first time he opened his eyes and saw that face looking down at him.

Lex wondered, as he had for the past two days, if he was going to get a straight answer from Clark. He thought he would go mad if he didn’t. He would probably go mad if he did. Maybe he already was mad. Then again, maybe it was just the heat. Summers sucked.

The sound of a slamming screen door interrupted his thoughts and he looked up to see Clark coming through the small garden to meet him. Lex stood reserved and unsmiling, hands stuffed in his pockets, the dark sunglasses giving him a further air of distance.

“Lex.” Clark spoke quietly, but the emotion carried on that one word was not to be overheard. “I was really starting to worry that you weren’t going to come.”

“Your friendship has always meant a great deal to me, Clark,” Lex said stiffly. “I’m not very happy with you at the moment, but whether or not our relationship has a chance to survive depends on you and what you have to say to me.”

“I know, Lex,” Clark said earnestly. He threw a nervous glance at the house as he motioned for Lex to follow him. His father had barely been able to restrain himself when the Porsche pulled up in the drive – removing Lex from his field of vision would go a long way to avoiding a confrontation. “It’s hot here and even worse in the loft. Down by the orchard it’s shady and we can talk privately.”

Lex couldn’t help but notice that Clark was looking nervous and more care-worn than he’d ever seen him. “Is my being here a problem, Clark?” he gestured with his head in the direction of the house as they walked.

“It’s just been a tough day,” Clark said evasively. “Right now everything’s turned upside down and inside out. Lately I seem to bring nothing but unhappiness to the people who are most important to me.”

“Did you tell them what happened?” Lex asked warily as he followed Clark.

Over his shoulder, Clark threw Lex a look that said the answer should have been obvious and continued to lead down into the orchard. He headed towards the heavy shade of the apple trees, sure that Lex would appreciate being out of the blazing afternoon sun. At the base of his favourite, he sat himself down and looked up at Lex, who had a curious expression on his face. “Oh, shit, sorry. I didn’t think about your clothes,” Clark said embarrassed and started to get up.

“I don’t give a damn about my clothes, Clark,” Lex said emphatically and dropped down beside him. “I was just trying to remember the last time I sat in the grass under a tree.”

Clark had to smile at that. Then, as if he felt he needed to explain his choice of location, he said, “This part of the farm has always been my mom’s domain and, as soon as I was old enough, I took over from my dad, helping her out with the pruning and harvesting. It’s peaceful here, shaded and closed off from everything and everyone else.”

Lex removed his sunglasses, tossing them onto the grass as he looked over the surprisingly large orchard. It was incredibly quiet and cooler than the upper part of the farm. It was windy today and that was pleasant here; up by the house it had only blown hot air and dust around. Lex thought if he closed his eyes and tuned in to the rustling of the tree leaves, he could easily drift off to sleep. Instead, remembering why he was here, he squinted up into the lush, green canopy and simply said, “What happened, Clark?”

Clark glanced over at Lex’s profile. The newly acquired knowledge of what Lex was to him suddenly hit home and he felt an unbidden surge of both guilt and apprehension wash over him. After a moment he shook the feeling off and leaned his head back against the tree.

“Oh, god, Lex. It all just seems so unreal. One minute we were sitting together talking – I was trying to explain how I felt a kind of change in the way I thought about you – then you went to get the mayonnaise. When I looked over, you were standing in the light of the fridge with an expression of such intense concentration on your face. Normally I would just find it funny that a jar of mayo was the object of your undivided attention, but something else happened.”

Clark closed his eyes and let the familiar scent of Lex fill him as he tried to put into words what had taken hold of him that night. “In that moment I didn’t see just you, but the sum of your entire person – everything that we’ve been through, and everything that you’ve meant to me. I felt an overwhelming need to reach out to that moment…to touch it. It’s weird, because I don’t even remember making the decision to get up and walk over to you. The next thing I remember was your face as you looked up at me. I was sure that I would die on the spot if I didn’t touch you. Then I did and…Jesus, Lex.” Clark ran a hand through his hair and let out an exaggerated breath. “I didn’t know anything could be like that.”

Lex felt the knot in his stomach loosen. The ‘I don’t know, Lex,’ that he expected and feared, hadn’t come. Clark had two days to think up an excuse, but didn’t offer one. He merely recounted what had happened – what he’d felt. Lex suddenly realised that his left hand was aching; he’d dug his fingers into the grass and earth and was fiercely clutching at it. Slowly, he loosened his grip and absently wiped his hand on his thin cotton pants.

Clark continued, his voice strained, “The next thing I knew, you were screaming. I was terrified, Lex. I knew I’d done something awful, but it took me a moment to realize what.” He’d had to choke down his own vomit when he grasped that the strange taste in his mouth was blood – Lex’s blood.

“I’m so sorry, Lex,” Clark said, wishing it didn’t sound like too little too late.

Lex looked at him intently for a moment and then nodded curtly. Clark had told him the truth and, although it didn’t change the facts of what Clark had done to him, he could live with it. Then Lex asked another question that had plagued him since Sunday night, causing him to doubt his own recollection of events. “Clark, did you hear anything odd that night?” At the confused expression on Clark’s face he added, “Like a voice?”

“I don’t remember,” Clark said, shaking his head; he honestly didn’t, though he was certain he knew what voice Lex was talking about. That Lex had heard it confounded him, but that was a problem for another day.

Lex watched Clark’s face carefully as he continued, “Didn’t it seem to you as though there was something more to it than just sexual arousal? Like something that was too intense – as though something wasn’t quite right?”

Slowly, Clark nodded. “In the beginning, I remember it felt like I was being flooded with sensation. I was a little freaked, because it seemed so out of control, but, then again, I don’t have any experience with that kind of passion…I mean, it’s never happened before.”

Lex smirked. “It’s never happened to me before either, Clark. You can be certain I would have remembered it.”

Clark looked down and began picking at the blades of grass next to his thigh. “No, that’s not what I meant, Lex. I meant, um, it has never happened before. You know…an orgasm.”

Lex blinked and fixed Clark’s bent head with a curious stare. “You mean with another person?”

“No, I mean never at all.”

“What?”

“Please don’t make me repeat it, Lex,” Clark said, finally managing to look up at him.

Lex let out a low whistle. “I know this may sound like a stupid question, but are you sure – I mean, wet dreams…”

Clark cut him off. “Never had ‘em.”

“Wow, Clark. That’s quite…”

“Freakish? That’s me. Clark Kent, freak of nature.”

“Well, it is unusual. It’s certainly not as though you aren’t properly mature for your age. Weren’t you worried that something was wrong? I mean, didn’t you consult a doctor?”

Clark looked at him incredulously. “Sure, Lex. I ran right to my mother and told her to make me a doctor’s appointment because I couldn’t jerk off properly.”

Lex had to laugh at the idea. “I suppose it would be awkward. Though I’m sure your dad would have been quite pragmatic. I can just hear his advice: ‘Clark, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again’.”

Clark grinned at the impressive mimic.

Lex continued a bit hesitantly, though he couldn’t completely rein in his curiosity, “Was it a matter of you wanted to, but you couldn’t? Or was there just no specific need?”

“Oh, there was plenty of need. It just…oh, man, I can’t believe I’m telling you this.” Clark shook his head. “I got hard and jerked off like any other normal guy, I just never got results. I’d either get bored and fall asleep, or become frustrated and give up.” That his uncontrolled lust had taken the form of fiery ejaculations from his eyes was not something he could tell Lex. Not yet, anyway.

“Clark, as unhappy as I am about being an unwilling participant in your first successful act of frottage, I guess I can understand why you were at a loss to control it. Damn – that must have been like Mount Vesuvius going off.” Lex smiled at Clark’s embarrassed groan. Then he added lightly, “So now that you know everything is in working order, you might want to give it another go with Lana.”

Clark threw his hands up in frustration. “Are you expecting me to believe that you have totally missed the point of what happened between us? Do you really think it was no more than misdirected lust?”

“Clark, if you are going to try and convince me that you’re gay or even bi-sexual – ”

Clark angrily cut him off. “Don’t try to slap convenient labels on this, Lex! You can’t measure my feelings in those terms. This isn’t about my sexuality, or even yours. It’s about having a connection with another person that’s so deep the desire is just there – to hell with the normal inclinations.”

“I’m sorry, Clark, but I don’t believe…”

“Screw what you believe, Lex. Kiss me.”

Somewhat annoyed by the forward request Lex said, “You should know by now that giving me orders is really not the best way to get me to do something, Clark.” Still, he couldn’t help wondering if Jonathan Kent was a safe distance from the orchard.

“I’m asking you.” Clark slowly leaned towards him, leaving Lex the option of retreat. “Pleading, if you like. Kiss me and then tell me about what you believe – tell me that this isn’t what it feels like.”

Lex felt any annoyance dissipate with every inch Clark moved in his direction. Clark stopped just short of him, his eyes never leaving Lex’s face. When it was obvious that he was not going to come any closer, Lex instinctively placed a hand behind Clark’s neck and gently pulled him forward so that their lips brushed. He waited a heartbeat and then carefully traced Clark’s lips with the tip of his tongue, causing Clark’s mouth to fall open and a small, needy noise to escape his throat.

Letting a hand rest on Clark’s hip, Lex pressed closer, attentively drawing in and sucking on soft, full lips before finally pushing his tongue insistently into Clark’s yielding mouth; the unique taste was like an adrenaline rush. He could no longer hear the rustle of the trees over the sound of their labored breaths and the slamming of his heart. He moaned into Clark’s mouth as his cock swelled uncomfortably against his pants – the familiar wetness of precome slick against the head. Lex wondered if anything had ever been this good – had ever been this pure.

Clark’s mouth so completely claimed Lex’s attention, that he was caught off-guard when Clark wrapped an arm tightly around his waist and lowered them both down onto the grass. At the feeling of being held against Clark’s chest, a small jolt of panic gripped him and Lex pulled back.

Clark leaned up slowly on his elbows and when Lex looked into his face, he realized this was Clark – just Clark. The odd burning intensity he had seen in those eyes the last time wasn’t there. There were no voices and no unexplained emotions. In Clark’s face there was nothing more than a measured amount of uncertainty and a great deal of lust.

Holding his gaze, Lex asked, “Do you want me to touch you, Clark?” He let a hand rest on Clark’s thigh, leaving no mistake about what he was asking.

Oh, god. Clark briefly closed his eyes against Lex’s piercing, knowing look, and nodded. When he opened them again, he realized that Lex wanted something more. Lex wanted verbal consent. “Please?.”

Satisfied, Lex moved his hand up Clark’s leg with deliberate slowness and then slipped it between his thighs, skillfully cupping and lightly squeezing his sack. Clark groaned and his head fell backwards as his hips rocked forward, pressing himself into Lex’s hand. Encouraged by his response, Lex continued to work his way up the thick length of cock, his experienced fingers gripping and stroking.

Touching Clark’s erection only through denim was beginning to severely test the limits of Lex’s control. He desperately wanted to tear open their pants, exposing them both, and move on to showing Clark the pleasure of oral. He didn’t dare. Not now, and most certainly not here. After a moment’s consideration, Lex settled for bending down and pressing his open mouth to the bulge under the zipper – sucking at it until the cloth was moist, then gently grasping at it with his teeth.

Clark cried out, writhing and pushing up over and over again, against Lex’s mouth. There was no way he could last like this; the burning pulsing ache in his abdomen was a clear warning. He reached down and pulled Lex up, kissing him fervently, but without force.

“Lex, I don’t want to come alone…not again,” he whispered urgently, shifting his body so that Lex’s leg fell between his. “Either we do it together or we need to stop.”

Lex had no intention of stopping.

“Spread your legs a bit wider, Clark,” Lex requested, need evident in his voice. He quickly repositioned himself between them when Clark complied, bracing his arms on either side of him and roughly pressing their hard cocks together. Clark cried out again, automatically bending his knees and grasping Lex’s ass, trying to get more friction by pulling him tighter against his body.

As they rutted against one another, first slowly and then with greater urgency, Lex felt a dire want for something he couldn’t put a name to – something that had nothing to do with what was happening between his legs. He covered Clark’s mouth with his own, greedily sucking as though the intoxicating taste could somehow satisfy the undefined need. He felt Clark’s body quake, heard his small scream of pleasure, and then Lex tumbled into oblivion.

After what seemed like an eternity Lex opened his eyes and lifted his head. Clark was grinning up at him; from the expression on his face, Lex doubted that he’d come as quietly as he’d thought. Lex kissed him lightly and carefully rolled onto his back, wincing at the slimy wetness in his pants, made even worse by the sweat that was soaking his clothes.

They lay limp and languid beside one another, their breathing slowly returning to normal.

Clark finally broke the companionable silence. “I’ll be right back,” he said quietly, standing and pulling a perfectly ironed square of bandanna from his back pocket.

Lex propped his head up under his right arm, and rolled a bit to the side, taking some of the pressure off his left shoulder. He was sated and drowsy; amazingly, he felt content for the first time in ages. He must have drifted off to sleep, because he was startled when Clark sat down next to him and called his name.

Lex sat up slowly and looked at Clark, who was holding the large bandanna out to him; it was now unfolded and damp.

“There’s a pump…I washed it out and everything, I mean, it’s clean…” Clark mumbled, looking pointedly elsewhere as Lex unbuckled his belt and opened his pants.

“It’s fine, Clark. Thanks.” Lex quickly wiped the partially dried seed from his skin and clothing with the damp rag. Definitely better. He did up his pants, but before he could buckle his belt, Clark’s hand reached out to stop him. Lex gave him an inquisitive look.

“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to check the bite mark on your back. I mean, it’s my fault and I just want to be sure that it isn’t infected or anything.” Clark was certain that Lex wouldn’t have let anyone treat that particular wound.

“I took care of it. It’s fine.”

“How well can you see your back, Lex?”

“Mirrors, Clark.”

Clark sighed. “Please.”

Lex slowly pulled his shirt back out of his pants and unbuttoned it, sliding his left arm out of the sleeve. Clark had done the deed; he might as well see the damage he’d caused.

Clark sat behind Lex and carefully peeled away the bandage covering the wound. He had to stifle a gasp when he saw what lay under it. The small, square puncture wounds from his teeth formed a slightly oval, incomplete circle. The entire area was swollen in mixed shades of blue, red and yellow, and topped off with thick scabs. The scabs, however, were not only there where his teeth had pierced the skin; they were also between those marks. These scabs were much thinner than the others, and he doubted that with all the other bruising Lex would have noticed them.

Clark adjusted his vision to look under the surface and into the muscle. There he saw what he had suspected, though he hadn’t realised it would be so complex. He’d been expecting one symbol; instead there was a small ring of them, with Clark’s personal character at their center. It looked like he had seared them indelibly into Lex’s body, though Clark thought it probably wasn’t that simply explained.

When the entire mess healed, there would be no hiding what was there from Lex.

“Clark?”

“It’s fine, I mean not fine, but there is no infection or anything,” Clark said as he flipped the bandage back over the wound. He held out the sleeve of Lex’s shirt so he could slip his arm back in.

“I can’t even begin to tell you how awful I feel about what happened, Lex. I’m so sorry I did that to you, I had no idea it would happen.”

“I’m not particularly pleased with your little souvenir, but considering the circumstances…well, it’s not like I’m going to carry a grudge or anything. It’ll heal. Though,” Lex knitted his eyebrows in thought, “it seems to be taking much longer than it should. I told you before that I heal quickly, but this seems to be mending at a snail’s pace.”

“I’m so damn sorry, Lex.”

At the tone of Clark’s voice and the stricken look on his face, Lex leaned in and kissed him. “It’ll be alright, Clark.”

Clark desperately wanted to believe that. He wanted to sit here in the shade of the trees for the rest of the day without a worry about what tomorrow would bring. The reality was that things were going to get much worse before they would get any better. He knew there was no way to put it off any longer and decided.

“Lex, we need to talk about some of the things we’ve been avoiding for a long time. There are things I need to say…things that I couldn’t talk to you about before.” Clark sighed and stood up, holding out a hand for Lex, pulling him up. “We can’t do it now, because I have chores and unfinished business with my parents. Still, we really need to do it soon. Tomorrow evening would be good, if you don’t have any other pressing business.”

Lex was stunned. He never dared to believe that there would come a time that Clark would volunteer to open up to him. Amazing what a little dry humping could achieve. “Alright, Clark. Just call me tomorrow and let me know when and where. You know I’ll be there.”

“I know, Lex.”

Clark wished he wasn’t already dreading it.

tbc...