Similis

It turned out that Haze apparently wanted Jonathan to think about letting both the boys stop at the mansion again for the coming night, or better yet, over the weekend…



"Why?" Jonathan was immediately sceptical.



From the direct look, it was immediately obvious that Haze was going to be straight with this. He communicated through his movements that Jonathan owed Lex, that they all did, and that if it hadn't been for the younger Luthor, his car and his generosity, Jonathan might not still have a son.



Jonathan gave a suspicious scowl and glowered. "Probably his damn fault Clark was taken in the first place."



Haze was determined, and uncompromising. He conveyed to Jonathan that Lex certainly hadn't started this, but what the younger Luthor had done was to drop everything to recover Clark, helped Haze without protesting his actions, and not hesitated to welcome a dying Clark and a proven killer into his home. After which Lex had volunteered to risk his own life in the healing process, and then helped sit watch over Clark for part of the night, and was still looking after him now.



"Lex has his own reasons for what he does, Haze." Jonathan told him. "He's a Luthor."



Haze didn't seem to buy that.



Jonathan narrowed his eyes. "I realise that you don't know what that really means, Haze, and I pray you never discover it. Too many people in this world have found out the hard way. They can't all be wrong."



'Words' Haze signed, meeting Jonathan's eyes calmly. The rustle of unfolding wings rippled loudly through the echoing room.



"I know you're an Angel." Jonathan told him.



Haze drew the shape of a large book with a cross on the cover, then a halo. He looked up and tested the air above his head, widening his eyes in mock-surprise at not finding either a halo or a dress...



"I take your point." Jonathan sighed. "I guess a lot of people did get that bit wrong…" That raised a smile on the elder Kent's craggy face.



Continuing to press his point, Haze's hands elegantly described masses of mere humans kneeling in adoration at the feet of the angelic hosts.



With a heartfelt sigh, Jonathan gave in. "You're right, we don't do that either, and I'm glad you don't expect us to worship you just because of you being an Angel. Okay, Haze, I reckon I get the point. Things aren't always what they seem, but even so, what do you expect me to tell Martha? After all, it isn't you that's going to have to explain this to her. We don't have a video link on our house phone … not yet anyway."



The angel gave him an amused look and signed 'Big beds' and 'Shower'.



"I guess at least if you're here we won't have to worry about feathers clogging the drains…" Jonathan supposed. "Or having to hose you down in the barn."



Haze shrugged the aforementioned articles back into storage.



Jonathan had a sudden question. "Why big beds?" He reddened slightly. "And before you answer, bear in mind that while I reckon I'm a reasonably broadminded man, I also have to be able to tell this to Clark's mother…"



Haze mimed being used as a hug toy for another night. He might not need to sleep but Clark did, and the other boy dreamed.



"Okay, okay… you convinced me!" Jonathan agreed. "But you stay with him, Haze. Every possible minute?"



Haze indicated that he had no intention of leaving Clark's side.



"Then we'll expect you both back on Tuesday. We have to go over the state line on Monday for some farm business. You be sure and have either Lex or Clark call us up every day, I want to know what's happening!"



'Deal.' Haze shook on it, as Clark and Jonathan had taught him.







On a sudden impulse, Jonathan reached out and hugged Haze. "I'm glad you came to us. We're real fond of you, Haze, and that's nothing to do with you being the spitting image of Clark." Having gotten to know the angel better, both Kent's had begun to be thankful for Haze's unexpected arrival. It had weighed heavily on Clark's adopted parents to know that their special son would have to be alone down the long years after the last of his human intimates were finally reduced to dust.



And Haze is probably a lot less fragile than a human in many other ways… Clark will be glad of that too as he matures …



While Jonathan was as heterosexual as they came, he could understand perfectly well that it was not the same for everyone, nor had it escaped his notice how young Clark had reacted to his new buddy from the very outset. As Martha had been so quick to point out, subtlety was not one of Clark's gifts, at least not yet. Maybe that was one thing that Jonathan wouldn't mind Lex teaching his son?



Under other circumstances maybe Jonathan would not have been so ready to accept what his alien son seemed to need, but then who was he to say what was normal for Clark's people?



Besides, Martha seems to think that it'll all work out for the best…



"I reckon you can give him what we can't, Haze." He added, tearing himself back to the present with a wry grin.



Haze indicated that in his opinion there wasn't much that Clark needed that Jonathan and Martha couldn't or hadn't already given him, but that he would be actively looking out for his 'brother'.







Haze sensed that there was more to the farmer's words than met the eye. Surely Jonathan was not implying approval? Still, their brief contact had not carried any hint of antipathy from Clark's human father.



Clark … Parenting … Sex … With that familiar tightening in his loins, Haze abruptly recalled the sensual feel of Clark held tight against him. Images of naked Clark, willing naked Clark, began to intrude into his thoughts. Haze had needs too, even though he had been able to firmly shut them away for the present.



Later, maybe? But hopefully sometime soon? Despite the distraction, he managed to confirm to Jonathan that he would do his best, hoping that the other man had not noticed the slight pause, or Haze’s rapidly controlled reaction.



"We'll hold you to that." Jonathan warned mildly, as he headed out to the truck. "Oh, and Martha's fixing Beef Stew on Tuesday." He called back over his shoulder. "So I reckon it's safe to predict that nothing on this Earth will stop you both from sitting at that table in time for supper. Feel free to drag Lex along with you if you want, assuming he hasn’t had enough of the two of you by then?"



With a grin, Haze stood at the door and waved him off.







Early evening was settling in, and Clark was still out for the count. Haze smiled fondly down at his 'sibling', having reclaimed his teenage blanket at the earliest possible opportunity.



"So did you want to share what the blonde one did?" Lex swallowed hard and forced the words out, ignoring the bile in his throat. "While Clark is still oblivious?" To cover his reaction, he knelt down and exchanged the finished disc in the DVD player for the next in the stack.



Leaving one hand remained comfortingly in the centre of Clark's back, Haze gave Lex a querying look, plainly asking if Lex was sure he really wanted to know?



"I think I have to." Lex told him. "Ironically my father was right about one thing: it would make me uncomfortable to think that I was a witness to an unprovoked slaughter. Haze, I only need to know if all of those men deserved what I saw done to them." He chose his words diplomatically, trying to convey to Haze that he had no intentions of even thinking about informing the proper authorities, and that all he wanted was an explanation.



"I really don't care much, beyond that." He said finally.



Shrugging, Haze deftly settled the empty bottle of Ty Nant down onto the floor, shifting position slightly and being careful not to disturb his sleeping charge.



"Discount the redhead, he obviously enjoyed hurting people." Lex told him. "He was the one doing the kicking while Clark was lying on the floor of the car, plus he was getting ready to shoot the pair of us, so getting him out of the way made perfect sense. The driver tried to run and might have fetched in more troops, so that was in defence. The guy with the glasses was a paedophile and he richly deserved what happened to him. But apart from being a bigoted bastard and waving a knife rather close to the pair of us, what did the blonde do?" He paused. "Defence of Clark, or us, is one thing, Haze, but you already had the man disarmed when you practically tore his head off."



The look that Haze gave him left Lex feeling very uncomfortable. Haze tapped his forehead and looked down at Clark.



"Something in Clark's memories? But I didn't think you knew that at the time?" He watched as Haze made a very slow and careful pantomime.



"Okay, so you're trying to tell me that you were touching something, Haze, but I still don't understand." Lex winced at the expression of frustration on Haze's face.



"Sorry, I can’t read minds." Lex tried to lighten the tension with a small joke, but on seeing the immediate change in Haze's expression he gave a little more thought to what he had just said.



"Haze. Can you?" The subtle tension in Haze's shoulders told Lex that he might have scored an indirect hit. "Can you read minds?"







What if Haze can tell what someone is thinking? The implications of that shocked Lex deeply: he had always supposed that thoughts were one of the few things that were truly private. However, from Haze's posture, that didn't seem to be quite it, instead Haze made the signs for 'feeling', and 'picture'.



Lex finally caught on. "You can read emotions!" He made an intuitive leap. The hands flickered another set of gestures. "But not everything? And maybe you can't do it with everyone?"



Delighted that he had been understood, Haze nodded.



"Do you have to touch them?" Lex asked, scientific curiosity winning out over unease. In reply he received a broad shrug.



"So, not always?" Lex felt that a full answer would not be that far off now. "When, then?"



Drawing the triangle sign that Lex now associated with the healing ritual, Haze signed 'feeling' and 'see'.



"You can read anyone clearly once you've healed them?" Lex marvelled. "Impressive. Haze." He hesitated. "Of course, it goes without saying that my father should not even suspect that, or he'll never stop hounding you to find out how you do it, despite the risks. The Kent's are right to be wary of at least one Luthor."



At that moment, Clark sighed and muttered to himself, shifting slightly in Haze's comforting embrace. The edges of Haze's mouth tilted up slightly as Clark's hair tickled his chin and he edged the stray curl off of Clark's face.



That reminded Lex. "Haze. You were going to tell me about the bottle?"







Nodding, Haze met Lex's eyes and his hands spoke for him, demonstrating how the man had coated the rim of a glass soda bottle in meteor dust, before jamming it into Clark's mouth.



"He what?" Lex was nauseated, having seen up close what the dust did to Clark. The abductors could not fail to have been aware of the effects of the green rocks on the sensitive youth. Lex felt his guts churning. "Why? What could they possibly be hoping to gain by that?"



Haze gestured again, indicating that this was less about the bottle than about what was in it.



"So it's irrelevant that it was glass? Then what, Haze, I'm not following? Why should soda be so terrible?"



Haze signed that it was the bottle's replacement contents that had so upset Clark, and by implication, had also decided Haze to despatch the blonde man.



"More dust then?" Lex queried. Then why not just tell me that in the first place?



Haze frowned, and shook his head. He gestured a horrifyingly graphic sequence.



Lex rushed for the nearest bathroom and lost his lunch, followed closely by whatever remained of his breakfast.







When Lex finally felt sufficiently recovered to return to his houseguests, he slipped back into the room and inched the door quietly closed behind him. On the large screen another movie was playing to itself, sound on low. Both of the raven-haired boys seemed to be resting comfortably. While one of Clark’s arms rested down along Haze's waist, the other was draped around the back of his neck, with Haze's arms taking up the mirror position.



Lex stood at the end of the sofa, watching in awe at what he felt had to be the closest thing to Heaven on earth. Emboldened, he took one step closer.



Haze opened both eyes. Feeling better? His facial expression spoke volumes.



"Some." Lex admitted, guessing the question. "How about you?"



They were evidently fine. Haze pointed at Clark and mimicked sleeping. He signed Clark waking for about three seconds on Lex's urgent ascent to worship the porcelain.



Lex gave him a narrow-eyed stare. "How could …"



'Hear good'. Haze explained with a couple of quick gestures, one hand still resting possessively on his 'brother'.



"I don't believe you. I mean I do, but …" Lex decided to call Haze's bluff. "Okay, where was I?"



Haze indicated about halfway along the mansion, two fingers for the second floor. Lex winced as Haze pointed in the general direction of where he had just been.



"You could hear me … upstairs?" He asked weakly. "The whole time?"



Haze gave him a knowing look and a smug half-grin.



"Oh great." Lex spent a full minute contemplating the ceiling, and deciding it was marginally better than the movie, since looking at that would have meant chancing becoming more than peripherally aware of the two youths sprawled on his sofa and his hormones were already resuming normal function, at least as normal as any part of his life ever got with Clark around. He could feel the familiar tightening, even without looking at either of the objects of his interest.



A soft sigh drifted across the room.



'Lex. Human you.' Haze signed to him, his expression suggesting that he found Lex's reaction appealing. 'Not stop that.'



"Oh, like you aren't?" Lex replied tersely, feeling more than a little self-conscious.



'No.'







For a moment Lex was feeling too sensitive about his recent lapse of control to consider the full impact of his question, let alone the implications of the answer. His mind caught up with his eyes. "What?"



'Not human, me.' And Haze smiled. 'Plus, you good looking.'



Lex really hoped that Haze was not actively taking the piss at that particular moment. He was definitely interested in Haze … in a number of ways… And the former piece of information was equally intriguing in its own right.



Extracting himself very carefully from under Clark, Haze let his 'twin' settle onto the sofa, and then stretched to his full height. 'Show you. Now.'



"Yes, please do show me what you are." Lex agreed. "I'm listening, er … watching."



'Good. No noise. Clark sleep.'



"Let Clark sleep? Okay, Haze, as long as you don't start trying to attack me, I don't foresee any problems with that." Lex agreed. "So you feel ready to show me… all of you?" Could he get that lucky?







Pulling off his t-shirt and casting it aside, Haze leant back a little, hunching his shoulder blades, and then relaxed. The spotlights in the room left little dappled patches on the glossy feathers.



Of course it wasn't the first time that Lex had seen Haze’s wings, but that first time out in the garden had felt more like a dream than reality. This was right here, in his living room, in his face. He felt his jaw drop, but was too surprised to do anything about it.



Haze strolled across the room and stood by Lex, reaching forward he tapped him gently on the underside of his chin, smiling as he took Lex's hand and guided it over the sleek feathers.



They were real! And warm! Lex's fingertips explored delicately even as his mind span. "Are you …an A…?" It was too preposterous, and Lex suddenly found that he couldn't even say the word.



Haze's smile deepened. 'Think what you?' He signed.



"You're not a meteor mutant, are you?" Lex asked suddenly.



'No. Not one.' Haze regarded Lex with sparkling eyes. 'Told you before.'



"So you're exactly what I think I see in front of me right now?"



'Yes.'



"Wow!" Lex's mind was exploding with questions, but he couldn't slow it down long enough to stop at a single one. "You're really an Angel?" He asked at last.



'Yes.'



"But you killed people …" Finally Lex managed to get at least a few words to come out together. "I saw you do it. That's not exactly angelic behaviour." He hesitated. "Is it?"



Haze gestured at his wings and then shrugged. 'Kill. Heal. Fix.' He held his hands out in a balancing action.



"As an angel you do whatever is necessary to maintain a balance?" Lex suggested.



Haze nodded and smiled, standing again, he reached out one hand and drew a long bright object from nowhere.



"A sword…" Lex breathed reverently. And it was, fully four feet long and seemingly made from a single tongue of pure flame.





His eyes watering in protest at the unearthly brilliance of the weapon, Lex watched Haze brandish the blade in an easy figure of eight. The unearthly youth held the blade level for a moment more, before smoothly returning it to wherever it had been plucked from.



After images of the brilliant light danced in Lex's eyes even as he absorbed the significance of what he had just been shown.



"You're really one of the Holy Army?" Lex breathed, recalling the title from one of the ancient manuscripts he had purchased at great personal expense. "Creation's own elite killers? They exist!" He had a sudden grim thought. "How many more are there? Are we going to be invaded?"



Haze sank down gracefully at Lex's feet. 'No.' He signed, gesturing at himself. 'Gone...' He made a gesture that could only mean wings.



"You're the last of your kind?" Lex could scarcely believe it.



'Yes.'



Haze's hand was on Lex's knee, and part of Lex’s mind pondered on how good that felt.



'Last. Soldier.'



"Angel sounds so much better, doesn't it? Whole different image." Lex smiled, reassured. "What a marvellous PR job though…" He continued absently, concentrating on the hot fingers that were confidently tracing a slow path up the inside of his thigh, while his own fingers brushed down through the plush feathers.



Haze's hand stopped just a few finger lengths away from where Lex was hoping it might be heading.



'Okay this, you?' Haze signed, and watched Lex.



"Okay what," Lex interpreted, quickly he corrected himself. "Uhm, am I okay with what?" A touch on his knee had most of the blood deserting his brain and heading south, and Lex was finding it remarkably hard to sustain coherent thought while his head was running on empty. "Uhmm, I guess."



'Though kill?'



"Even though you executed them?" Lex managed to say, over the pounding in his ears, and in his groin. "Executed sounds better."



'Words.' Haze gave a dismissive shrug. 'Killing bother you?' His wings twitched, shivered, and were suddenly gone again. 'Bad wings up.' He explained. 'Still attached, put away. Question killing?'



Lex was finding him easier and easier to understand. "Before I answer, is this the part where you suddenly turn into a crazed killer and I end up with another concussion?" He couldn't help but wonder.



Lately his life seemed to have been following a definite trend. Temptation in the form of an underage and far-too beautiful Clark, mutants with strange abilities and usually unpleasantly aggressive tendencies, culminating in more sexual frustration and even the occasional painful hospitalisation, usually for Lex, and generally with a kidnapping or two thrown in somewhere just for good measure.



And I told all of the staff to have the night off and not to re-enter the mansion until morning, regardless of whatever they might think was happening here…



Perhaps Lionel was right about Lex failing to learn from previous mistakes?







Haze shook his head softly, gesturing 'No', and signing that this was the part where Lex was supposed to say that it didn't bother him at all,



"And what happens then, Haze…?" He looked at Haze, who leant forward and pressed a tender kiss on his lips.



"And what if I had said 'yes'?" Lex wondered.



Haze kissed him again, indicating that Lex was getting ahead of himself and that he really wanted Lex to answer the previous question.



"Oh that? I really don't have a problem with what you did, Haze, or with why you did it, although I did have difficulty in following quite HOW you did it."



'Good. I like you.' Haze leant in and rewarded him with another kiss.



“I’m glad you do, I like you too.” Lex assured him. Their lips barely met, but Lex felt his pulse race at the fleeting contact.



"Will you ever tell me how you do what you do?" Lex wondered. Haze indicated that he would try to tell him now, but that Clark would be able to help Haze give a better answer.



Lex watched his new friend explain that Angels had certain differences from humans, for a start, they were very hardy, immensely strong, fast, and adaptable, and that they were intended to serve as the ultimate weapon: one that would know when and how to eliminate the opposition, and would do so without hesitation.



"My father would love you." Lex told Haze.



Shaking his head, Haze mimed that Lionel would run screaming from the country if he knew exactly what Haze was capable of and that any sane person would do the same.



"Ignoring the issue of my father's sanity, or lack thereof, why?" Lex wondered. "What makes you so dangerous, Haze?"







Haze very carefully outlined to Lex that he had been the last one left alive in the place that he had come from, and had been called on to destroy everything rather than leave the slightest chance that their enemy might survive to escape and spread itself elsewhere. That it was only by purest chance that Haze had escaped the same fate.



Lex was aghast that Haze should have had to do such a desperate thing, but he thought he might just understand. "Haze, does Clark know this?"



Haze signed that Clark did, and that he also knew why it had been necessary.



"Then Clark isn't …?" Lex left it hanging in the air, still uncomfortable with the word 'angel' when applied to something as real and downright erotic as Haze. Apparently Clark didn’t have wings, at least not according to Haze.



"He isn’t one of your kind? Despite the resemblance?" Lex interpreted.



Haze signed that he looked like Clark, not the other way around.



"You didn't always?" Lex guessed.



'Like this, no. Came here hurt, self changed.'



"So you adapted somehow, and that process left you looking exactly like Clark?"



'Yes. Clark outside.' Haze patted his stomach and chest. 'Not …'



"You're not the same inside?" Lex filled in the missing blanks and completed the notion. "I think I see." He added. "So you really can't be related?"



'No.'



Lex didn't know whether to be relieved, or insecure?



"You want him, don't you?" He asked. "Sexually, I mean? Like we started to talk about in the car?"







Haze nodded.



"Does Clark want you too, Haze?"



There was a wide smile from Haze that time.



"And yet you seem to be encouraging me?"



The smile brightened, becoming almost impossibly wide.



"So you aren't exactly conventional?" Lex suggested.



Haze gave a soft shrug, and watched Lex with gentle eyes.



"Haze, if I told you that I also like both you and Clark in that way," Lex said carefully, "But that I've been worried that Clark wouldn't share my feelings, and that I would scare him off if I even mentioned it. Would it be unfair to ask you … just for a hint as to whether I have any chance at all with him?"



Haze mimed his 'time' sign and pinched his fingers together as he nodded at Clark.



"So, I might have a chance with Clark, soon maybe?" Lex decided to go for the next stage. "And how about with you?"



Another nod, and a very unambiguous gesture.



"Uhm, both of you? Together?"



Haze's ready grin needed no additional interpretation.







While the two of them sat, silently sharing the moment, Clark shifted and finally roused. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and looked around sleepily.



'Bed, Clark?' Haze signed.



"MmHmm." Clark nodded.



Haze was on his feet and had Clark in his arms before there was any time for anyone to even begin to register a protest. He looked at Lex expectantly.



"I guess it's time to show you your rooms?" Lex smiled.



Clark yawned and snuggled tighter into Haze's arms. "Don't leave me, Haze…" He whispered.



Haze planted a tiny kiss on the end of Clark's nose, looking at Lex and raising a suggestive eyebrow.



"You don't mean me?" Lex looked at him.



"Haze says that it's your house, Lex, and don't you want to make sure that your guests are properly taken care of?" Clark relayed sleepily.



Lex tried for a casual grin, "Oh, just that?" He asked.



"Mmmm. Haze says you could get a few perks along the way? And you'll have to see what the morning brings?" Clark yawned again, too sleep-fogged to understand quite what he was saying. His eyes slid shut again and he nestled in Haze's arms in perfect contentment.



Lex rolled his eyes. "I know what the morning will bring. I already have a sample right here." He told Haze, glancing down fleetingly to the growing tent in his own pants.



Smiling the same million-watt smile that Clark wielded to such devastating perfection, Haze gave him a slow wink, the quick slide of his tongue over his lips suggested that he was quite willing to offer a little assistance in dealing with that particular problem, once everyone was safely tucked up in bed…