DP Jupiter part 23
11/6/05 09:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
roxyPrevious Parts are here, dancing with gay wild gay abandon.
Well, nobody could be more surprised than I am that there’s more DPJ here. Honestly, I thought it was dead. I had so much nothing that nothing doesn’t describe it. I had anti-nothing—I had a huge black hole where DPJ was. And then, like a X-Mas miracle, Little Lucas appeared to me and waved his little crutch. “Courage, Miss Roxy,” he called. “All will be revealed in good time! And if you put in a scene of me feeding it to Clark one more time in front of Lex, I’d be ever so pleased!” And with that he danced off with an enormous goose, and snowflakes began to fall, and Angel turned to me and said…
whooooaaaaaah! That went all weird-shaped….
Anyhoo, here’s the next bit of DPJ, and sadly, Little Lucas’ scene is not included. Ever.
Amanda Smith unlocked the door to the Smallville Book Nook, hung her jacket on a hook next to the door inside. She ran a hand through her graying brown hair, and twisted it into a knot. She had a shipment that needed to be unpacked, she had an hour before the kid came in to sweep the floors and do some dusting, she could have him help unpack the books and…she set the coffee maker on, put out a few oversized chocolate chip cookies wrapped in plastic on an antique platter next to the cash register. She’d have to get in touch with Martha—see if she could get some brownie bars for the next order.
She sipped at her coffee and set the packing slip from the opened box of books aside, watched the sun begin to send weak rays of light through the front window. The lace curtains threw their pattern on the floor. She liked being in the store early in the morning. There was a real sense of peace here. She loved being here.
The phone she carried with her everywhere vibrated against her hip, she had the phone out and open and waiting for a voice before she was completely aware.
“I’m going to Metropolis, square away some business. I’ll be back on Friday.”
“That’s fine. I look forward to seeing you.”
“All right then. Excellent job last month. It was well worth the bonus.”
“Thank you.”
She disconnected and slipped the phone back in her pocket. Picked up her coffee and waited.
******
Lucas closed his eyes and leaned against the wood wall of the elevator and let his bodyguard’s voice play background music to his boredom. He kicked idly at the bag next to his foot and sighed. Cleaning up loose ends, finishing open business and making sure his people were up on the specifics of the current deals and ready to carry on in his absence had him up day and night. He wasn’t sure when he last actually slept. Thank god for Toby and his better living through chemicals philosophy. He felt like shit but at least he was awake, he didn’t care that he was half dead….
“Mr. Luthor did you hear me?”
He cracked an eyelid and thought about firing him—looked at his mouth and changed his mind again. “Shut up, Harris.”
“Sir…Mr. Luthor, you’ve gone to Smallville twice this month. I’d feel better if you had full time protection. People watch you, you know.”
Lucas shivered. He did know. People watched all the time, he didn’t need James Bond here to tell him that. “I have adequate protection in Smallville whenever I want it. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine—you’re not in danger of losing your job.”
Harris cheeks flamed and he said quietly but forcefully, “I’m not worried about losing my job.”
Lucas looked at his watch, muttered, “Yeah, you care about me.” He flipped open his phone and checked messages quickly and ignored the deep brown eyes on him. He had nice eyes, so dark…liked the way he looked so surprised when he came…
The bump under his feet told him they were in the garage. He rubbed his face, took a deep breath and signaled for Harris to go ahead.
The bodyguard walked out first, alert to everything, almost quivering… like a greyhound, Lucas thought. He always found that super-heightened degree of awareness—hot. He smiled to himself. He really needed to stop screwing the help. It was a bad habit he’d had since his teens…
Harris looked back, “All clear Mr. Luthor.”
Lucas nodded, called back to the office as he walked. “I don’t need to have a car in Smallville—I’m driving myself. I won’t need staff when I get there. Let them know tomorrow’s fine. The plant’s ready for my visit? Tomorrow. Good.” He disconnected, walked past his car and driver to the Porsche in the last spot. Harris nearly sputtered, “You’re changing your plans? But—what about security?”
Lucas smirked. “I’ll be fine—I’m driving straight through. No stops, okay?” He threw his bags into the back of the car, stopped and looked at Harris. The man actually looked miserable that Lucas was taking what he thought of as a security risk. “Look. My mechanic’s in Smallville. Any problem I have, she can fix it, all right?”
Harris nodded grimly and Lucas waved him closer to the car. He grabbed him by the back of the head when he was in range, and kissed him, a tooth clashing, lip-bruising kiss, only releasing him when the man groaned. Lucas let him step back, watched him try to regain his composure. “Okay? Take care of that for me,” he grinned and jerked his chin towards the cameras. “See you in a few days.”
He dropped into the car, and drove off, watching Harris in the rear view mirror. He really did have to stop screwing the help…especially his security. He’d have to look into hiring a new bodyguard soon; this one was getting confused as to what bodyguard actually meant.
As he drove towards town, the sun began to set and the sky went from pink to purple, stars winked alight and he wished Lex were next to him so he could see how beautiful it looked. The clouds still visible began to run across the sky like smears of paint …was Lex thinking of him now?
He chewed at the inside of his mouth, feelings of guilt nearly swamping him. Guilt that he’d ignored the signs that Lex was falling apart again. Guilt that he’d not realized how far it could go. And now, he was trapped somewhere with that freak, confused and lost and needing guidance, needing him, he was sure. Lex, Lex, no one can give you what you need except me…just like you’re the only one for me.
Lucas rolled down the windows and let the wind flow through the car. He imagined he could smell Smallville in the air, a different sort of scent than Metropolis, cleaner, a little. He shivered and rolled the windows back up. An hour to go until he got there, and then, what?
******
When Clark explained to Lex how he wanted to help him, he went white and stared at Clark, eyes impossibly wide. He tried to speak, nothing...Clark was afraid—Lex looked like he was about to faint or...worse.
“Clark—please don’t do that to me,” he whispered.
“But Lex, I’m only trying to help you.”
Lex’s lips worked for a moment and then, he exploded, “Help! You want to rip my brain apart and call it help?”
“But—it’s not going to hurt, I promise you…”
“Clark, listen to what you’re saying--you want to take my life away, and give me happy shiny new memories instead? I know my life’s fucked up, I know you can’t stand it but this is---this is frightening what you’re offering! Do you plan to do that to anyone who doesn’t live the way you want them to? You scare me worse than Lucas ever has!”
“I just want you to be happy! I want you to forget the bad parts and just be happy with me!”
“How the fuck did the people around you survive?” Lex spat.
Clark sat back, horrified. “I’d never hurt any one, never.”
“But you’re willing to make an exception for me?” Lex laughed.” Between you and my brother,” he snarled, “I don’t have a chance.” He pushed away from the table and began pacing.
Clark jumped up, held his hands out to Lex and every step he took forward, Lex stepped back from him. “Wait, Lex, please, wait. Okay, I know it’s a stupid idea, okay--”
“Stupid? It’s—it’s rape! I suppose I should be grateful that you waited to ask my permission--” he paled and swayed and Clark fought the urge to vomit, just watching Lex’s reaction.
“No—on my mother’s life, I didn’t touch you. I swear to god, I didn’t do a thing.”
Lex stared at him, seconds that felt like years ticked by before he finally nodded and sat heavily on his chair. “Clark…how are we ever going to trust each other?”
Clark dropped to the chair opposite, keeping the table between them. “We are going to trust each other, because we want to, okay? Look, we’re going to disappoint each other a lot. I’ve got a lot of practice in that, unfortunately, not such a good track record with relationships. But if you’ll just give me a chance, and believe me when I say, I’ll never hurt you.”
Lex looked skeptical, and Clark went on, “I’ll never hurt you like that. Your mind, your feelings, they belong to you. Mom tried to make me understand but—I’m an idiot sometimes.”
Lex murmured agreement, “Your mother is an exceptional woman, Clark—your mom and dad both are great people. I know you only want the best. Jonathan and Martha Kent might have raised an idiot, but at least he’s an idiot who lives his life trying to do the right thing.”
“Wow, thanks--I think." Clark smiled. “Mom and dad will be happy to know that they didn’t fail completely.”
Lex leaned his elbows on the table, folded his hands and looked at Clark. “What about Lucas?”
Clark groaned. “Do we have to talk about him now?”
“Clark, he’s on his way to Smallville. Wherever he was, he’s on his way here now, you understand? He’s going to threaten your mom and dad, he’s going to try to go after you, and he’s definitely going after Superman.” He nodded at the desk. “Those notes—they’re the only thing that will keep you from being hurt by Lucas. He’s been getting ready for you for a long time.”
“Yeah, well, I’m ready for him. Lucas wanted this. He chose a road that put him in conflict with Superman; I can’t ignore what he does. He’s a bad man. The only thing I can do for him is isolate him, so he can’t hurt anyone else.”
Lex nodded. “He was a sweet kid. You’d never believe it, but he really was. He looked up to me, he depended on me and I failed him, Dad and I both failed him.”
Clark watched his hands clench, unclench, pull at each other. “You want me to hate him Clark but I can’t. We’re so twisted into each other, I’m not even sure if we can survive without the other anymore…I hate my life, but I can’t hate him. Everything he‘s done to me—the things I’ve done to him—it’s wrong and I hate it, but I love Lucas.” He looked up at Clark. “You don’t want to hear that, but I do.”
Clark was motionless, still watching Lex's hands. His knuckles were so white, it seemed the bone had to come through the skin any moment. “If you stay with him, Lex, it’ll kill you. I don’t understand anything else, but I understand that.”
Clark stood and moved across the room. He kept his back to Lex and started to speak. “You know that it was you I loved, you from the start. Lucas just pushed his way in…” Clark laughed, a weird and frightening laugh, turned back to Lex, “and you know how good he is at making you do what you know isn’t quite the right thing.”
Lex grinned, a bitter twist of his lip. “Oh yes, I know that.”
“We can help each other.”
“Clark…you say you loved me from the start-it was the same with me. From the moment I opened my eyes and you were looking down on me, wet and muddy and so beautiful, your eyes were so amazing and they looked right into my soul. I always loved looking at your eyes Clark. It hurt when you looked away from me.”
“I won’t anymore, Lex. I promise.”
Lex shook his head. “Don’t promise me Clark--I can’t promise anything back, as much as I want to. I don’t know…”
“But…you want to, I know that, and that’s all I’m going to concentrate on. I mean it, we *can* help each other.”
Lex held the papers out to Clark again. “All right—then let’s start on this. What say we help keep Superman from dying in the first five minutes that he meets up with Lucas?”
Clark raised an eyebrow in mock outrage. “Five minutes?”
TBC in this lifetime, I swear it!
Well, nobody could be more surprised than I am that there’s more DPJ here. Honestly, I thought it was dead. I had so much nothing that nothing doesn’t describe it. I had anti-nothing—I had a huge black hole where DPJ was. And then, like a X-Mas miracle, Little Lucas appeared to me and waved his little crutch. “Courage, Miss Roxy,” he called. “All will be revealed in good time! And if you put in a scene of me feeding it to Clark one more time in front of Lex, I’d be ever so pleased!” And with that he danced off with an enormous goose, and snowflakes began to fall, and Angel turned to me and said…
whooooaaaaaah! That went all weird-shaped….
Anyhoo, here’s the next bit of DPJ, and sadly, Little Lucas’ scene is not included. Ever.
Amanda Smith unlocked the door to the Smallville Book Nook, hung her jacket on a hook next to the door inside. She ran a hand through her graying brown hair, and twisted it into a knot. She had a shipment that needed to be unpacked, she had an hour before the kid came in to sweep the floors and do some dusting, she could have him help unpack the books and…she set the coffee maker on, put out a few oversized chocolate chip cookies wrapped in plastic on an antique platter next to the cash register. She’d have to get in touch with Martha—see if she could get some brownie bars for the next order.
She sipped at her coffee and set the packing slip from the opened box of books aside, watched the sun begin to send weak rays of light through the front window. The lace curtains threw their pattern on the floor. She liked being in the store early in the morning. There was a real sense of peace here. She loved being here.
The phone she carried with her everywhere vibrated against her hip, she had the phone out and open and waiting for a voice before she was completely aware.
“I’m going to Metropolis, square away some business. I’ll be back on Friday.”
“That’s fine. I look forward to seeing you.”
“All right then. Excellent job last month. It was well worth the bonus.”
“Thank you.”
She disconnected and slipped the phone back in her pocket. Picked up her coffee and waited.
******
Lucas closed his eyes and leaned against the wood wall of the elevator and let his bodyguard’s voice play background music to his boredom. He kicked idly at the bag next to his foot and sighed. Cleaning up loose ends, finishing open business and making sure his people were up on the specifics of the current deals and ready to carry on in his absence had him up day and night. He wasn’t sure when he last actually slept. Thank god for Toby and his better living through chemicals philosophy. He felt like shit but at least he was awake, he didn’t care that he was half dead….
“Mr. Luthor did you hear me?”
He cracked an eyelid and thought about firing him—looked at his mouth and changed his mind again. “Shut up, Harris.”
“Sir…Mr. Luthor, you’ve gone to Smallville twice this month. I’d feel better if you had full time protection. People watch you, you know.”
Lucas shivered. He did know. People watched all the time, he didn’t need James Bond here to tell him that. “I have adequate protection in Smallville whenever I want it. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine—you’re not in danger of losing your job.”
Harris cheeks flamed and he said quietly but forcefully, “I’m not worried about losing my job.”
Lucas looked at his watch, muttered, “Yeah, you care about me.” He flipped open his phone and checked messages quickly and ignored the deep brown eyes on him. He had nice eyes, so dark…liked the way he looked so surprised when he came…
The bump under his feet told him they were in the garage. He rubbed his face, took a deep breath and signaled for Harris to go ahead.
The bodyguard walked out first, alert to everything, almost quivering… like a greyhound, Lucas thought. He always found that super-heightened degree of awareness—hot. He smiled to himself. He really needed to stop screwing the help. It was a bad habit he’d had since his teens…
Harris looked back, “All clear Mr. Luthor.”
Lucas nodded, called back to the office as he walked. “I don’t need to have a car in Smallville—I’m driving myself. I won’t need staff when I get there. Let them know tomorrow’s fine. The plant’s ready for my visit? Tomorrow. Good.” He disconnected, walked past his car and driver to the Porsche in the last spot. Harris nearly sputtered, “You’re changing your plans? But—what about security?”
Lucas smirked. “I’ll be fine—I’m driving straight through. No stops, okay?” He threw his bags into the back of the car, stopped and looked at Harris. The man actually looked miserable that Lucas was taking what he thought of as a security risk. “Look. My mechanic’s in Smallville. Any problem I have, she can fix it, all right?”
Harris nodded grimly and Lucas waved him closer to the car. He grabbed him by the back of the head when he was in range, and kissed him, a tooth clashing, lip-bruising kiss, only releasing him when the man groaned. Lucas let him step back, watched him try to regain his composure. “Okay? Take care of that for me,” he grinned and jerked his chin towards the cameras. “See you in a few days.”
He dropped into the car, and drove off, watching Harris in the rear view mirror. He really did have to stop screwing the help…especially his security. He’d have to look into hiring a new bodyguard soon; this one was getting confused as to what bodyguard actually meant.
As he drove towards town, the sun began to set and the sky went from pink to purple, stars winked alight and he wished Lex were next to him so he could see how beautiful it looked. The clouds still visible began to run across the sky like smears of paint …was Lex thinking of him now?
He chewed at the inside of his mouth, feelings of guilt nearly swamping him. Guilt that he’d ignored the signs that Lex was falling apart again. Guilt that he’d not realized how far it could go. And now, he was trapped somewhere with that freak, confused and lost and needing guidance, needing him, he was sure. Lex, Lex, no one can give you what you need except me…just like you’re the only one for me.
Lucas rolled down the windows and let the wind flow through the car. He imagined he could smell Smallville in the air, a different sort of scent than Metropolis, cleaner, a little. He shivered and rolled the windows back up. An hour to go until he got there, and then, what?
******
When Clark explained to Lex how he wanted to help him, he went white and stared at Clark, eyes impossibly wide. He tried to speak, nothing...Clark was afraid—Lex looked like he was about to faint or...worse.
“Clark—please don’t do that to me,” he whispered.
“But Lex, I’m only trying to help you.”
Lex’s lips worked for a moment and then, he exploded, “Help! You want to rip my brain apart and call it help?”
“But—it’s not going to hurt, I promise you…”
“Clark, listen to what you’re saying--you want to take my life away, and give me happy shiny new memories instead? I know my life’s fucked up, I know you can’t stand it but this is---this is frightening what you’re offering! Do you plan to do that to anyone who doesn’t live the way you want them to? You scare me worse than Lucas ever has!”
“I just want you to be happy! I want you to forget the bad parts and just be happy with me!”
“How the fuck did the people around you survive?” Lex spat.
Clark sat back, horrified. “I’d never hurt any one, never.”
“But you’re willing to make an exception for me?” Lex laughed.” Between you and my brother,” he snarled, “I don’t have a chance.” He pushed away from the table and began pacing.
Clark jumped up, held his hands out to Lex and every step he took forward, Lex stepped back from him. “Wait, Lex, please, wait. Okay, I know it’s a stupid idea, okay--”
“Stupid? It’s—it’s rape! I suppose I should be grateful that you waited to ask my permission--” he paled and swayed and Clark fought the urge to vomit, just watching Lex’s reaction.
“No—on my mother’s life, I didn’t touch you. I swear to god, I didn’t do a thing.”
Lex stared at him, seconds that felt like years ticked by before he finally nodded and sat heavily on his chair. “Clark…how are we ever going to trust each other?”
Clark dropped to the chair opposite, keeping the table between them. “We are going to trust each other, because we want to, okay? Look, we’re going to disappoint each other a lot. I’ve got a lot of practice in that, unfortunately, not such a good track record with relationships. But if you’ll just give me a chance, and believe me when I say, I’ll never hurt you.”
Lex looked skeptical, and Clark went on, “I’ll never hurt you like that. Your mind, your feelings, they belong to you. Mom tried to make me understand but—I’m an idiot sometimes.”
Lex murmured agreement, “Your mother is an exceptional woman, Clark—your mom and dad both are great people. I know you only want the best. Jonathan and Martha Kent might have raised an idiot, but at least he’s an idiot who lives his life trying to do the right thing.”
“Wow, thanks--I think." Clark smiled. “Mom and dad will be happy to know that they didn’t fail completely.”
Lex leaned his elbows on the table, folded his hands and looked at Clark. “What about Lucas?”
Clark groaned. “Do we have to talk about him now?”
“Clark, he’s on his way to Smallville. Wherever he was, he’s on his way here now, you understand? He’s going to threaten your mom and dad, he’s going to try to go after you, and he’s definitely going after Superman.” He nodded at the desk. “Those notes—they’re the only thing that will keep you from being hurt by Lucas. He’s been getting ready for you for a long time.”
“Yeah, well, I’m ready for him. Lucas wanted this. He chose a road that put him in conflict with Superman; I can’t ignore what he does. He’s a bad man. The only thing I can do for him is isolate him, so he can’t hurt anyone else.”
Lex nodded. “He was a sweet kid. You’d never believe it, but he really was. He looked up to me, he depended on me and I failed him, Dad and I both failed him.”
Clark watched his hands clench, unclench, pull at each other. “You want me to hate him Clark but I can’t. We’re so twisted into each other, I’m not even sure if we can survive without the other anymore…I hate my life, but I can’t hate him. Everything he‘s done to me—the things I’ve done to him—it’s wrong and I hate it, but I love Lucas.” He looked up at Clark. “You don’t want to hear that, but I do.”
Clark was motionless, still watching Lex's hands. His knuckles were so white, it seemed the bone had to come through the skin any moment. “If you stay with him, Lex, it’ll kill you. I don’t understand anything else, but I understand that.”
Clark stood and moved across the room. He kept his back to Lex and started to speak. “You know that it was you I loved, you from the start. Lucas just pushed his way in…” Clark laughed, a weird and frightening laugh, turned back to Lex, “and you know how good he is at making you do what you know isn’t quite the right thing.”
Lex grinned, a bitter twist of his lip. “Oh yes, I know that.”
“We can help each other.”
“Clark…you say you loved me from the start-it was the same with me. From the moment I opened my eyes and you were looking down on me, wet and muddy and so beautiful, your eyes were so amazing and they looked right into my soul. I always loved looking at your eyes Clark. It hurt when you looked away from me.”
“I won’t anymore, Lex. I promise.”
Lex shook his head. “Don’t promise me Clark--I can’t promise anything back, as much as I want to. I don’t know…”
“But…you want to, I know that, and that’s all I’m going to concentrate on. I mean it, we *can* help each other.”
Lex held the papers out to Clark again. “All right—then let’s start on this. What say we help keep Superman from dying in the first five minutes that he meets up with Lucas?”
Clark raised an eyebrow in mock outrage. “Five minutes?”
TBC in this lifetime, I swear it!
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![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
11/7/05 03:43 am (UTC)Oh, Lex's reaction to Clark was *perfect* and just what Clark needed and...
Poor Harris! He's not long for this world. And yes, they're trying! Good stuff.
Amanda is freaky.
*bounce*
Lex's naked ass! Right there! Wheeeee!!
:)
(no subject)
11/7/05 03:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
11/7/05 05:26 am (UTC):)
*smoooooooch*
You did great!
(no subject)
11/7/05 04:37 am (UTC):D
(no subject)
11/7/05 07:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
11/7/05 01:59 pm (UTC)Geeze, that's a nice ass.
I'm happy, Roxy, that you've let Clark and Lex have a heart felt moment here. I've had a bit of a hard time in the past seeing things from Clark's point of view, but I think that this chapter above all others has really shown me just how innocent and pure of heart Clark really is.
(no subject)
11/8/05 12:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
11/7/05 04:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
11/8/05 12:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
11/7/05 11:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
11/8/05 12:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
11/9/05 02:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
11/9/05 03:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
4/5/07 12:56 pm (UTC)hahahah... oh, help. :D
>he wished Lex were next to him so he could see how beautiful it looked.
oh! i get this -- things aren't real to him unless lex is there, or not meaningful anyway. he's a case of severely arrested development!
amanda? good job? hmmmm. poor harris...
(no subject)
4/5/07 01:22 pm (UTC)oh! i get this -- things aren't real to him unless lex is there, or not meaningful anyway. he's a case of severely arrested development!
Wow! Yes but no, not meaning that there--it's just an awkward line. But I wish I *had* meant that. He really does think that there aren't any other "real" people in the world except Lex and him.
Poor Harris. *nods*
(no subject)
4/6/07 06:23 am (UTC)