Archive of Our Own ^beta

Title: Honesty -- Chapter 6, The Truth
Author: PepperjackCandy
Series: Follows "The Dark Knight Pushes the Plot Forward" Archive : Smallville Slash Archive, my writing at fanfiction.net Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Category: Established Relationship
Spoilers for: Nothing. Mentions of past VotWs.

Disclaimer: I own nothing Smallville-related, or related in any other way to Clark Kent, Superman or any of the various creations of the wonderful folks at DC Comics.

Feedback: Always welcome, either by e-mail or using the review system at fanfiction.net.

A/N: For anyone who recognizes the term "nasty sex things," yes, I did lift the phrase, with permission, from Keelywolfe's wonderful "You Don't Bring Me Flowers." I just heard the words coming out of Pete's mouth and couldn't resist.

It's also been over ten years since I've taken algebra (but I got A's in it when I did), so the math stuff is necessarily sketchy.

Pete and Clark had just been heading for the school bus, when Pete said, "Hey, isn't that Lex?"

Clark was about to say something about how Lex had to be at work, but stopped when he saw that Pete was right. "Come on." He encouraged Pete to follow him to his lover's car.

"You're not going to do any . . . nasty sex things, are you?" Pete asked dubiously.

"Nah. There are far too many people here." Clark joked.

Pete looked even more dubious, if that was possible, and started heading toward the bus again.

Clark grabbed his arm, guiding him back towards Lex's car. "I promise. 'Nasty sex things' aren't even on the agenda right now. I actually expected him to still be at work."

They finally drew close enough for Lex to call out to them. "Pete! Clark! You want a ride home?"

Clark grinned. "Sure. You sure you're going our way?"

Clark and Pete exchanged a look, and as Clark opened the door, Pete climbed into the back seat. Once Pete was situated, Clark sat on the passenger's side of the front seat, shutting the door firmly and clicking his seat belt shut.

Clark and Lex exchanged a warm smile. "Pete wants to know if we're going to do . . . 'nasty sex things.'" Clark said with a grin, watching Pete squirm.

"No plans to. Unless he wants us to, of course. Just for the educational value." Lex said in an entirely too-solemn tone, just to make Pete more uncomfortable.

"God, will you two just quit it." Pete complained.

Lex threw the car into first and peeled off from the curb, heading out towards the Kent farm. Once they were out of the outskirts of town, Lex pulled to the side for a moment. "Come here." He said to Clark.

Clark leaned in, and they kissed once, gently.

Clark looked back at Pete. "That 'nasty' enough for you?"

Pete looked stunned. "That wasn't that bad. Kinda nice, actually. You two look . . . right for each other."

As Lex began driving again, Clark asked, "Was that the first time we've kissed in front of someone?"

Lex thought. "I think it might be. We didn't kiss at the restaurant in Chicago, did we?"

Clark thought back. "No. We definitely didn't."

"Then I guess it was." He grinned back at Pete. "You should feel honored."

Pete rolled his eyes.

"So, why aren't you at work?" Clark asked.

"Too nervous. Dinner with the in-laws tonight. I almost exploded from the pressure of sitting behind my desk until you were out of school." He looked back at Pete. "And no, that wasn't a reference to any kind of 'sex thing.'"

Pete laughed. "I'm glad to hear it."

Lex slowed down as they reached the Kent farm driveway. "You're welcome to come in, Lex. I've got chores to do before dinner though . . ."

Lex winked at Clark. "Actually, we're having a special meeting of shareholders next week, and I've got to drop Nell Potter's proxy statement off at her house. I suppose you'd want me to drop you off at your house first, right, Pete? I mean, I'm going to be talking to Nell for a long, long time, and I know you've got stuff to do this afternoon besides . . . talking with Lana."

"Um, er, well . . ." Pete stammered.

Clark grinned at Lex. "I think he's saying that he'd be fine with coming to Nell's house with you."

"Yeah. What he said." Pete responded, grinning.

"I hoped you'd say that." Lex said as Clark leaned forward for a quick good-bye kiss.

"See you after you take Pete home?" Clark asked.

"Can't wait." Lex responded, pulling Clark back for another kiss.

Clark watched until Lex pulled off down the road, and then took the driveway the rest of the way up to the house. Once he was close enough, he saw the storm cellar door. It seemed to be mocking him, as he remembered his strange meeting with Bruce Wayne the previous day. {Tell Lex what's in the storm cellar.} Clark shook his head to clear it. {I'll do it tonight. After dinner. God knows, just eating a meal with my Dad will probably be enough to make Lex want to call the whole thing off. What else do I have to lose?}

He threw open the front door and dropped his book bag on the living room floor as he headed up to his bedroom to change into work clothes.

"Wait just a minute, Clark." His mother's voice brought him to a complete stop.

"Yes?" He asked as patiently as he could, knowing that he wouldn't be able to spend time with Lex until he was done with his chores and the last thing either Lex or Jonathan needed was time alone without him as a buffer.

"Did you just drop your book bag on the floor over there by the door?"

"Um, yes?" Clark was beginning to get a bad feeling about this.

"Come back down here and pick it up and take it to your room with you."

Clark closed his eyes. "Really, Mom. Lex doesn't need all of this. He'd be fine with my book bag on the floor." He looked at Martha, but could see that it wasn't working. Sighing, he came back downstairs, picked up his book bag and took it upstairs with him.

Meanwhile, Lex's car pulled up in the driveway at Nell Potter's house and Lex, carrying a manila folder, and Pete climbed out. Together, they walked up to the front door and Lex rang the doorbell.

Momentarily, Nell answered the door. "Lex! And you brought . . . Pete Ross, isn't it?"

"Yes, ma'am." Pete responded. "Lana and I have algebra together. I was wondering if she could . . . help me with the assignment for the weekend." Pete was grateful for his dark complexion, that kept the blush from showing at his lame excuse.

"I'll see if she's available." Nell said uncertainly and Pete felt his heart drop clean through his intestines as he realized that Lana might refuse to see him.

Nell admitted Lex and Pete and then headed upstairs.

"She'll see you." Lex whispered conspiratorially.

Pete narrowed his eyes. "Did you call ahead and ask or something?"

"Of course not. But what girl would want to hang around here alone when she has you to talk to instead?" He winked at Pete in a way that made Pete briefly wonder if he was flirting with him.

But before he could ask, Nell came back downstairs, followed by Lana, who was carrying her algebra book in her hands.

"Hi." Lana smiled. "You had some questions about the algebra homework?"

"Yeah." Pete hoped he wasn't smiling like an idiot, but he was reasonably certain he was. "Have you been working on it?"

"No." Lana shook her head. "Procrastinating, I guess." She smiled back and Pete felt a little better about his own manic grin.

"Well, we could work on it . . . together?"

"Sure. Let's go into the kitchen."

Lana led Pete into the kitchen and indicated for him to sit down at the table. Pete took out his algebra book, pencil and paper.

"You want something to drink?" Lana asked as she opened the refrigerator.

"You have a Coke?"

"Pepsi all right?"

Pete nodded. "Yeah."

She took two cans from the refrigerator and sat down across from Pete at the table, handing one of the cans to him.

Pete prayed that the can would open without incident and the patron saint or deity or whoever watches over teenaged boys opening cans of soda in front of their crushes was listening. The can hissed slightly and popped open as smooth as silk. Breathing a sigh of relief, he took a sip and waited while Lana opened her book to the assignment page.

They were embroiled in debating their varying interpretations of synthetic division when Lex stuck his head into the kitchen. "You ready to go, Pete?"

Pete looked at Lex, so that Lana couldn't see him silently willing her to ask him to stay. "Yeah. In a minute."

"Why don't you stay for dinner?" Lana asked.

Pete hoped he didn't look too desperate as he looked at her. "That'd be all right with your aunt?"

"I guess so. Nell, can Pete stay for dinner? We're in the middle of this assignment . . ."

Pete held his breath, only releasing it when Nell responded, "I don't see why not."

"You all right with that?" Lex asked, knowing full well the answer.

"Yeah. I can get home on my own." Pete said to Lex, smiling.

"I'll see you around, then." Lex left, trying not to show the joy in his heart that Lana might actually be noticing Pete. He hadn't lied to either Lana or Clark when he said that Lana deserved better than Whitney.

His statements that Lana would be better off with Clark were a touchier issue, and something that Lex thought best left unexplored.

So, congratulating himself on his role in helping two of Clark's friends find true love, he got back into his car and headed back towards the Kent farm.

Clark had finished his chores and ducked into the shower quickly before his mother could demand that he do so. He hadn't been all that sweaty, and he knew that Lex would love him regardless, but there was no way he was going to say that to Martha Kent.

He stepped out of the shower and as he toweled himself dry, he heard voices coming from downstairs. Lex was there already. "Damn!" he swore, as he toweled faster. He dressed quickly, in clean, presentable but still comfortable clothes. One of the benefits of Lex already being there was that his mother wouldn't order him to change into something dressier.

As soon as he was dressed, he hurried downstairs to defuse any tension that had come up between his parents and Lex while he was gone. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, to find Lex chatting companionably with Martha. Jonathan was nowhere to be found.

"Where's Dad?" He asked, startled by Jonathan's absence.

"He's still outside. You were in the shower, so he decided to keep working until you were through. You might want to tell him that the shower's free." Martha said with a smile.

Clark nodded and walked through the kitchen to the back door.

"I'll come with you." He heard Lex's voice behind him. "It might be the last excuse for us to be alone for a while." Lex whispered as he joined Clark at the back door.

They walked close together out to the barn. "Dad!" Clark called out.

"Yeah?" Jonathan looked up from the piece of farm equipment he was repairing. "Could you give me a hand with . . . . Lex." He finished flatly.

"Mr. Kent." Lex responded evenly.

"Actually, Mom sent me out to tell you that the shower's available."

"I'll be along in a minute." Jonathan said as he wiped some of the oil from his hands onto a dingy rag.

Lex and Clark headed back towards the house, but halfway there, Clark headed off to the right, towards the fields. Lex followed.

"So, you obviously didn't stay at Nell's that long, if you were able to get Pete home and be here by now."

"Actually, I was there for a couple of hours. I shaved another hour off my time by not taking Pete home." Lex couldn't help grinning in anticipation of Clark's next question.

Clark responded as Lex expected. "You just abandoned him?"

"Only if an invitation to dine with Lana Lang constitutes abandonment."

"Pete's having dinner with Lana?"

Lex nodded. "I think there's really something there. A connection. The spark of romance."

"Why couldn't you have swung a dinner invite for me?" Clark asked before he thought about it.

"Hey. I busted my ass trying to get you with Lana." Lex said pointedly. "Now, granted, I didn't want you to be with her, but I loved you enough to want you happy. And if the cheerleader is what would make you happy . . . . I guess I was naive enough to think that I make you happier."

Clark stood, stunned, as Lex stomped away, back towards the house.

"Lex!" Clark called out. When Lex didn't respond, he hurried over to his lover's side. "Lex." He put a hand on Lex's shoulder. "Of course you make me happy. God, I'm so sorry. It was so easy to get Lana and Pete together, I just spoke without thinking. You make me happier than I have any right to be."

Lex looked at Clark, curiously. "What do you mean by that?"

Clark sighed. "I can't go into it right now. It's something that Bruce said when he was here. I've thought about it, and he's right. We'll talk after dinner."

"Are you all right? Are we all right?" Lex asked.

Jonathan, on the way into the house, called out. "You two all right over there?"

"Yeah, Dad. We're fine." Clark reassured him. Then, after he'd moved on, he said, softer, "we are fine. I promise." What he didn't say was that he feared desperately that they wouldn't be 'fine' any longer once he told him what his parents kept in the storm cellar.

Together, they walked into the house.

Once Jonathan had returned downstairs, freshly showered and shaved, they sat down to dinner. To Clark's great discomfort, Martha had indeed brought out the good china, and they ate in the dining room. Clark couldn't remember ever having eaten in the dining room before.

The food, at least, was relatively simple -- steaks -- but the addition of the sauteed mushrooms and baked potatoes instead of mashed, made for a dressier dinner than Clark was used to.

"This is excellent, Mrs. Kent." Lex said as he tasted the steak and mushrooms on his plate.

"Thank you, Lex." Martha responded with a smile.

They ate in silence for a while, then Lex spoke. "You know, now that you're so much more friendly to me, I'd recommend that Clark take ballroom dancing lessons."

"Ballroom dancing lessons?" Jonathan asked in disbelief.

"Well, yes." Lex blinked like he was surprised. "If we're going to spend time together, then I'll want to take him to one or two of the social functions that I'm invited to. You know, knowing the right people can make his college selection easier, not to mention his employment opportunities, should he choose not to return to farming after college."

"Knowing the right people." Jonathan muttered darkly, and Clark could see the detente he'd negotiated crumbling before his eyes.

"Yes," Lex said as if he hadn't heard the tone of Jonathan's voice. "Bruce Wayne, for example."

Jonathan gaped. "Bruce Wayne? Wayne Foundation Bruce Wayne?"

Lex nodded. "Diametric Opposite of Lionel Luthor Bruce Wayne," he grinned. "Yes, that one."

Clark never thought that his father could be that impressed by a bit of name-dropping. But he was.

"Where do you know Bruce Wayne from?" Jonathan asked.

"Prep school."

"And college?"

Lex shook his head. "Bruce didn't have the . . . luxury of attending college. After prep school, he went right into his position as CEO at WayneTech."

"Really?" Martha responded. "I'd always thought that a college degree was, you know, required before you can become a CEO."

Lex shook his head. "I suppose Bruce might have accumulated continuing education credits enough for a degree by now, and I think he actually has one or two honorary degrees, but running WayneTech, and making Chicago a better place to live, have always been his primary interest. Even back when we first met, when we were fourteen and fifteen."

"And you'd be interested in introducing Clark to Bruce Wayne?" Jonathan queried intently.

"Oh, yes, indeed. In fact, Bruce was just here yesterday."

Clark's heart nearly stopped, until Lex continued.

"We had a meeting at my office. Anyway, he's having a sort of soiree at his house in Lake Forest in a few weeks, and I would love to take Clark with me. It would be a good experience for him, you know. Getting out and meeting people."

"And he'd need to know ballroom dancing for this?" Jonathan continued.

"Oh, yes. It's one of those drinks, dinner, dancing affairs. But Bruce is always sure to provide non-alcoholic beverages for the drivers, and anyone underage who happens to attend." He hastened to assure them.

Jonathan looked at Martha, who said, "We really don't have any extra money for dancing lessons . . ."

"Oh, don't worry about that." Lex assured them. "I actually have a private tutor on staff. For the children of my executives, you understand. I'll simply send for Anneke to come out to Smallville a few times in the next weeks."

Martha and Jonathan looked at each other, conferring silently.

"I don't see what harm it could cause," Martha said smiling warmly at her son. "I've always thought that learning to dance could be a good thing."

"Good. Well, that's decided then. I'll have my secretary call you to make arrangements for Clark's tuxedo for the party, too?"

"Um, well, I guess that'd be all right." Martha looked at Jonathan, who, much to Clark's surprise, merely shrugged his acquiescence.

After dinner, Clark and Lex excused themselves to go out to the loft of the barn.

Once there, Lex leaned back, grinning like a madman. "I did it."

"Did what?"

"Gave you an excuse to be at my house evenings and weekends, and bought us a full weekend away together."

Clark blinked twice. "That's what all of that about ballroom dancing was about?"

Lex nodded. "I just thought of it on the spur of the moment. I would like to take you to that party at Bruce's. But if you want to go a different weekend, your parents won't know the difference."

Clark found himself laughing. "And what's going to happen when I don't learn how to dance?"

"Oh, you will. But I'll be your teacher."

Adrenaline and passion surged through Clark's body at the thought of his body pressed up against Lex's, moving in time with the music. He leaned forward, kissing Lex firmly.

Then he pulled back abruptly. "We've got to talk." He said firmly, allowing no argument from his lover.

Lex could hear the determination in Clark's voice. "All right."

"It's actually about Bruce. About what he said to me yesterday."

"All right . . ."

Clark closed his eyes. "Your hair. Lana's parents. All of the weirdness going on - Greg, Jodie, Sean, all of it. Chloe's 'Wall of Weird.' It's all my fault."

"What? How could all of that be your fault?"

"My parents found me that day. The day the meteors fell. By the side of the road. The official story was that my parents, whoever they were . . . ."

"Were killed by a meteorite the same way Lana's were, and you were spared." Lex finished for him. At Clark's surprised look, he said, "I had you checked out. Six months ago. Long before we were an 'us.'"

"But that's not true. Only my parents know the real story. Well, my parents, and me, and apparently, Bruce Wayne. And now you'll know, too. I only hope you can forgive me."

Clark stood and walked over to look at the house. "You see that door? Up against the side of the house?"

Lex nodded. "It's your parents' storm cellar, isn't it?"

"Yep. It's also where our deepest family secret is held. It wasn't an accident that I was found the day the meteors fell. I was one of them."

"One of what?"

"The meteors. At least, that's what I'm sure it looked like to anyone watching, and on the radar readouts and everything. But it wasn't. It was a spaceship."

"A spaceship." Lex tried to keep his tone from reflecting any doubt about Clark's story.

Clark nodded. "Yes. Remember how weak I was when you found me on the cross?"

"Yes."

"Didn't it seem . . . odd to you how quickly I recovered, once you removed Lana's necklace from my neck?"

"The necklace that was made from . . . one of the meteors."

Clark nodded.

"One of the meteors that arrived when you did."

Clark braced himself for Lex's next statement.

"That is . . . You are . . . a miracle."

Clark blinked. "What?"

"Do you know what this means?"

Clark shook his head slowly. "No."

"For centuries. Millenia, even. People have wondered if there's life on other planets. And now I'm one of, what? One, two, three, four, five. Five people who know the truth. There is." Lex scratched his head. "Or there was, at any rate, since the only extraterrestrial I know is now living here."

"You're not angry? Or scared?"

"Why would I be angry? Or scared?" Lex shook his head in bewilderment.

"Well, because. I took your hair away."

"Only in the most abstract way, Clark. And in a very, very real way you, a, gave me my life back, and b, give me a reason to go on living every day since." Lex kissed Clark, then.

"Lex, my parents . . ."

"Eh. Let them find their own beautiful farmboys to kiss. You're spoken for." Lex grinned.

Clark, stunned, sat down hard on the floor of the loft.

"Now, the next thing we have to do is find out exactly how different you are from humans. I have a lab if you don't mind giving me things like blood samples, etcetera."

"What?"

"Bear with me, Clark. I'm a science geek at heart. And finding extraterrestrial life's a science geek's wet dream. And then there's the meteorites. You're apparently sensitive to them. Would it be more practical to clean the area of them, or to inoculate you against them somehow?

"You do realize I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight, thanks to you?" Lex demanded, as he continued plying Clark with questions on into the night.