roxy. sv ifc post: East of the Sun part 44

Title: East of the Sun
Author: roxy
Pairings/Characters: Lex/Clark
Rating:PG
Word Count:3517
Summary: Lex learns about trust and love from an unlikely source.
Notes/Warnings: AU, so very AU

Fair warning, dear readers—the mistakes here are all my own. Thanks to

danceswithgary for her encouragement and of course, the lovely cover!

Now, what we have here…is an overabundance of communication.
I pushed this part a bit, because I'm pretty sure it will be a while before we move forward. The boys are willing, I just have to make sure they're all dancing to the same tune.

Alex barely got a chance to think about what Clark had told him—it ran in the background of his mind constantly, like a dim newsreel on a loop, but he never seemed to find a moment to sit down and really *think* think about it. In a way, what was the point? What Clark told him…it didn't change anything. So far it was just something that brought them closer together, something that they shared, that no one else knew—he knew Clark thought that way. He…he'd have to tell Clark the real, significant change that the meteors brought, soon. He'd never told anyone, his dad made it plain, had drilled it into him that it was freakish, inhuman…disgusting. He'd hidden it all his life. Until Wade. He knew Wade suspected something about him was strange. The closer anyone got to him, the more obvious it became. That's why no one made past through the gates Alex erected. No one… except Walt, to a degree, and Wade, who'd been a calculated risk….

And Clark.

@@@@@@

There are circumstances in life that one points to and says, 'this day, changed everything. This day changed my whole life.' Alex thought that he'd had that day—hell he'd thought that day had come a few times, like Gennie coming into his life, then leaving it so…dramatically, or leaving home, or Bruce…Clark…God, what could be more life changing than finding proof that humans weren't spinning through space alone—that angels really did exist. But sometimes, change happens so slowly, there's almost no sign of it…until one day, everything explodes.

Wade shocked him, showing up on his doorstep unannounced. "Can I come in?"

It was odd seeing him in the afternoon. He looked out of place on his doorstep. He didn’t belong here, not with the sun shining. He was supposed to be something that lived in the dark, not standing on his stoop, looking entirely too real in the weak yellow sunlight. He was dressed for the day like any successful young business man would be, and of course he was fooling no one—Wade always looked a like a tiger pretending to be human.

He was natty in pinstripes and blazing against a snow white shirt was a yellow tie, pierced by diamond stickpin. In his lapel, a boutonnière—a little crumbled daffodil that with a sick lurch, Alex realized probably one of the man's daughters had threaded through his button hole maybe that morning. He wished he'd taken it out before coming here. Wade held a bouquet of spring flowers, something one bought off street vendors. Alex could smell him—the scent of his hair oil, and the faint, faint smell of roses…the smell that later no doubt would be on his sheets and on his hands and on his body…

Wade's expression was oddly expectant, and even seemed a bit uncertain. He asked again, "Can I come in?"

Alex narrowed his eyes suspiciously, slowly stepped aside. "Sure. Could I stop you if you have your mind set on it?"

Wade chuckled and looked himself again. "Not really. You," he said to Wallman, as always at his heels, "wait out here until I call you."

"Boss--" He sighed irritably and nodded, eyes on Alex."Okay. I'll wait. But upstairs, not on tha stoop."

Wade looked like he was going to argue, and caught himself. He huffed, grinned. Okay."

Alex suppressed a little shiver, and walked them to the elevator. "You didn't call. I'm not ready."

"Naw, don’t worry about that. Here. Got some stuff from the kid." He smiled a little as Alex eagerly took the envelope from him. He smiled all the way up to his apartment, and as soon as they were inside, ripped the fat envelope open. "Hey, look at this, he says he got an award, best safety poster," he chuckled. "And he's on the honor roll again…good job. He's a good kid," he murmured.

Wade said, "Yeah, he is. A good kid." There was something in his voice that made Alex look up, but Wade was looking out the window, moving to the next one, as always. He shrugged and Alex saw the bulge of the gun strapped to his ribs. "Look at those mokes out there. Think they got it all figured out." He looked at Alex. "Think you got it figured out?"

Alex snorted. "The one thing I know, is that I don’t know shit."

"Yeah. No body does, right? Look at you. All this time, you been letting me run messages back and forth between you and your baby brother, all 'cause you know Dad wouldn't allow it. You know, you got no idea what people will do to protect their own. Even act like they hate 'em, if it'll keep 'em safe." He stared silently out of the window again, before shutting the blinds and turning to Alex. "So. You wanna see your kid brother?"

"I—what do I have to do?"

Wade laughed out loud. "Nothin'. This one's for free." He stalked over to Alex and grabbed his wrist." Do you think I only do what I do for payback?" He squeezed, watching Alex's face as he did, squeezed until the pain finally made him react.

"All right," he growled through grit teeth. "I get it. Now stop."

Wade loosened his grip on Alex's wrist, yanked him close, stared into his eyes for long seconds before letting him go. "You *don’t* get it. I didn’t think you would." He looked down at his watch, and shrugged. He unbuckled his belt and pulled his zipper down, shoved his pants to his hips.

Alex said, "But you said—and you didn’t call, I haven't…"

"You won't need to, he said, and pushed Alex to his knees, pushed his hands away when Alex reached for him. He took himself in hand and began stroking. "You won't have to do a thing." He gazed down at him with blank eyes. "…not a thing. Come in," he called out, and Wallman walked in, took up his station at the door, and watched.

@@@@@@

Dear Hannah,

I told her. My Alexa. She knows what we know. And she wasn't afraid. Well, by the time I was finished she wasn't. She's brilliant, so smart and strong, she's really strong. She can take a lot. I was afraid to tell her, you know that mom and dad always thought that it was the worst thing I could do, to tell someone, but when you're in love, you have to tell the person you love everything about you. You have to take a chance. And I took a chance, sure, but deep down I knew. She says that she thinks she knows me from that time. That maybe she saw me but she would have been a very little kid, so I don't think so. Anyway, she knows about Smallville. And now she knows about me.

Mr. Walt is all fired up now since the battle of the bands, and having seen Mr. Mac White send Glen Miller(!) packing. Banana, it was out of this world! That means it was really the best! And my friend was asked up on the stage to play with White's Knights, and that was kind of special for him. Oh, you should have seen him—everyone agreed that it was righteous. (See, I'm a hep cat now, you wouldn’t even know me) (laugh).

Now, Mr. Walt wants to take the band to New York, but he's going to have to get released from the Al-Kazar, and to tell you the truth, that's kind of a long shot. Mr. Mahaney isn’t likely to let the band go. He has a special interest in keeping us here. The rat. He's a lousy double dealing two bit hood who just got the job through friends. He doesn’t know the first thing about clubs, or being a manager or anything. He's a rotten goon and I don’t like him. I wish Mr. Louis ran the club. He's a pretty good guy. Not the warmest guy, but he's fair. He'd let us go. I think he would understand why it's so important to us to go to New York.

Oh well, hoping it happens somehow is surely all pipe dreams. But I've got my fingers crossed. Say a prayer for me, okay?

I love you. Kiss Mom and Dad for me and give Monkey a hug.

Clark folded the sheet of paper, slid it into the envelope and sighed. He'd told Hannah the truth, more or less…Lex did seem to accept everything he'd told him, even seemed kind of excited about it, but…there was something he was holding back. Some fear, some worry…Clark knew better than to push. Lex would disappear faster than the blink of an eye and only Alex would be there and he loved Alex but he needed Lex. And why Lex wouldn't let him handle Mahaney…Clark grit his teeth. Alex had some kind of oddball, tangled up sense of honor. Clark doubted he'd ever be able to tease it apart, but there it was, and it was Lex and there was nothing he could do about it. City life, that's what did it, he was sure. He sighed nostalgically…the country was a lot less complicated. In the country, a man's sense of honor was driven by the church and doing what was right and pretty damn easy to understand. He flipped the envelope over in his hand and a bitter chuckle escaped him. Of course, honor and respect applied to some people more than it did to others. Whit and his friends sure made that plain to him. At least a guy like Lex tried. At least to him, being a friend was more than just lip service, he meant it to his bones.

Clark shivered. No one should give so terribly much for a friend…

@@@@@@

Alex had come at Wade's call to the apartment he kept for them. So far, Wade hadn't touched him, or asked him to touch him. He hadn't really said a word. He just paced back and forth, looked angrier and angrier. At one point he came to stand in front of Lex and there was something odd about him…it took Lex a moment to realize that he smelled of more than cotton and soap. He smelled a hint of sweat…startling for Wade. Something out of the ordinary was happening and considering what Wade considered ordinary, that was pretty damn frightening.

"Listen…" he stopped and ran his hands through his hair. He suddenly deflated, and Alex realized how much taller he was than the man…he sighed and said, "I've killed a lot of people, you know? It's never been more than business. My--people think it jazzes me to kill but it don’t. Killing's nothing, it's like swatting a fly… I get my note and I whack who he wants me to. Business. But there's times I think I'm doing the world a favor, you know? One less piece of shit walkin' around in the world. Other times, I whack someone and I think, 'that's the one I'm going to hell for'…" Wade walked to the window, twitched the heavy velvet drape pulled back just enough so that he could see the street. He chewed his knuckles, eyes locked on the scene outside the window and Alex figured he'd forgotten he was even there. "Killing's easy," he said quietly, as if he'd never stopped speaking. "Pain…that takes thinking, yeah…?" He shivered all over, like a horse twitching off a fly and turned to Alex. "Get your coat," he said gently, and Alex froze.

"Why? What was going on?"

"Nothing bad, trust me. Get your coat. We're going to go to lunch, you and me…and your brother."

Alex shook. "Wha—what? But…how?" He was already going for his coat; his hand trembled as he tried to settle his hat properly on his head. "What about Lionel?"

Wade shook his head. "I don't want you to think about him. We're going to pick your little brother up at his riding school. His driver knows about you, what the situation is." Wade smiled, and his eyes crinkled. "He's a Good Samaritan, he is."

Alex was buttoning his coat and Wade stepped in front of him, slid his hands up the lapels of his coat, pulled him forward. He tilted Alex's head down to his and kissed him, a long lingering kiss. Alex closed his eyes and tried not to flinch when Wade released him, both of his hands sliding up to cup his cheek. "We're going to the riding school, we'll pick him up and you can have a grand lunch and then we'll return him to the stables where he's supposed to be. No one's hurt; no one needs to know anything. Julian will be safe," he said, and Alex felt a shiver down his spine as Wade traced his index finger over his cheek, behind his ear, pressed it gently into the soft spot under his jaw. He stared at the tip of his finger, as it pressed slowly harder, harder until Alex thought it had to bruise and he flinched. Wade lowered his finger, pulled an invisible trigger and smiled.

They drove south along Bessolo, crossed over into the nineteen hundreds, into the exclusive haunts of the filthy rich. Street after street rolled by, all of them familiar to Alex. That shop was were his mother would take him for uniforms, there they spent Saturdays, buying books and toys…here was the park Pamela would take Julian to in his little wicker carriage, and he would run along after her, or sail boats on the pond…there was the hospital his mother entered and never came out of….

After a while, he realized they'd begun driving in circles, and Wade looked troubled again, gnawing at his lip, then his thumb, and staring out the window. He huffed, threw one hand over Alex's knee and squeezed, and squeezed. He turned to Alex and started to speak, his eyes were deep and dark…the light shifted and they were dragon's eyes again. He closed his mouth without saying a word, let go and Alex tried to suppress the sigh of relief.

Wade leaned forward and tapped the glass separating the driver and Wallman from them. "Hey, they gotta be ready--head in." They turned onto a side road, and stopped in front of a drug store. Alex expected Wallman to fetch whatever it was Wade needed but it was Wade who got out of the car, walked into a telephone booth. Alex could see him, speaking sharply into the mouthpiece before slamming the receiver onto the hook.

He got in the car and this time they went straight to the school.

They came to a stop at the rear of the walled riding school where Alex had learned to ride, and where Julian was now learning also. The red brick topped with black metal spikes brought back memories, of ponies, and uniforms, hard work and horseshit. Alex smiled. He remembered the instructor--a tall, intimidating Russian gentleman, yelling, 'you're not a cowpoke, Alexei! Control, control…'

He looked at Wade who was watching him, studying his expression. "You liked this place, Alex?" He rolled a cigarette between his fingers, popped it in his mouth. "Good memories here?" He sat back, tapped on the roof of the sedan. Wallman got out, walked around a stand of hedges, and came back with a boy togged out in riding uniform. He had a bright, inquisitive face crowned with a wild shock of red hair. He walked along hesitantly, his hand in Wallman's huge mitt.

Alex felt like his heart was breaking. There he was…he never ever thought he'd see him again. With a faint sense of embarrassment, he wiped his eyes before tears could fall. He heard a small noise from Wade but refused to look. The boy looked both ways, his eyes fell on the car, and Alex opened the door and leaned out…The boy looked at him, his eyes slowly widened, his mouth fell open, he jerked his hand loose from Wallman's.

"LEX!" He ran to the car, coat flying, his red hair falling around his face as he sprinted down the sidewalk and threw himself into the car. Alex squeezed him as tightly as Jules squeezed back. "Lex, Lex oh, I missed you so much so much."

Alex could barely trust himself to speak. He just nodded, face buried in Jules' collar.

Wallman shut his door, and the car rolled away into the street. Wade watched and watched, his eyes hungry and avid on him. "Are you happy?" he asked, and must have asked two or three times. Each time Alex said, "Yes, yes I am, very happy."

The car rolled on and on, past the jewelry district, past the restaurants, headed into the residential area where the Waynes, the Queens, the Luthors, and others like them lived.

Alex turned to Wade. "I thought we were going to lunch." Wade shrugged, his eyes on Jules.

Jules held Alex's hand and bounced, he was so excited. "How much time do we have?" he asked, " isn't this a little like a Tom Swift story—mystery and a secret meeting? Dad will never know!" he said, in a rush of excitement. "Everyone has been swell about helping us get together, Lex. I missed you so much—and you missed everything! You missed all my plays and when I won the middle school's spelling bee and graduation and oh--so much--" he punched Alex's arm, "but I know all about you. I know you're in a famous band, Mr. Mahaney told me so! He said you lead the band."

"Well, not quite…but close enough." He smiled and ruffled Jules hair and Jules threw himself against Alex's side. Alex watched the houses get farther and farther apart, the trees lining the streets became small copses of beech and oak. The houses were behind walls now, stone and iron barriers. They turned off the road, and onto a smaller road. The trees grew tall on either side of the road, blocking the sky. Jules looked nervously at Alex. Where are we going?

"I don't know honey." He looked at Wade. "Where are we going?"

Wade said, "You'll be safe," but he was looking at Jules as he said it. "Nothing will hurt you." He looked up at Alex. "I promise you."

Alex felt his heart drop, felt like he was falling away into darkness…"Jules, don't worry. You're okay." His voice seemed to come from miles away. "We're going to have fun."

The home they stopped at was huge, and dark, made of dark stone, accented with dark wood. Huge oaks and pine made lakes of shadow across the lawn and driveway. The entrance was a black granite portico, ominous, threatening, like a gaping maw.

The car stopped in front of the mansion. Wade led them out of the car, and inside.

Inside, candles and lamps glowed all over, trying to offset the gloom inside. Heavy dark wood and velvet everywhere ate up the light. Wade went to a set of double doors and slid them open. Behind it, bright white curtains hung at the windows, white linen covered the table there set for a meal. Mirrors reflected back the golden lamplight; music played…Jules jumped into the room, and ran to a record player in one corner. "Wow, look at this, Lex!" He thumbed through the records excitedly. Alex watched him with a smile.

Wade came up behind him so quietly he hadn’t heard him, and startled him mwhen he spoke.

"He calls you Lex."

Alex shivered; Wade's breath on the back of his naked skull was chill. "I…family has always called me Lex."

"Yeah? Bruce Wayne calls you Lex."

"Bruce is like a brother to me," Alex said, and Wade laughed.

"Strange relations." He wandered away to stand with Jules and joke about the music, Lex looked around and the shelves were full of the latest books, and the newspaper rack on the wall near the chairs had a selection of the latest magazines on them, the chairs looked comfortable…and all of it looked unused. He called out to Wade, who sauntered over to him.

"How long are you keeping us? Whose house is this?"

"Come upstairs after dinner…your room is across the hall from your brother's." Wade leaned over and nipped at Alex's ear. "You and me, we have adjoining rooms…door in-between."

He bit down hard enough to make Alex gasp in pain. Jules looked over, "Did you call me, Lex?"

"No, Jules, I didn't. Are you ready for dinner?"

"Oh, I'll say! What's to eat?" He frowned. "Will Dad be angry?"

Wade stopped at the door. "Remember Uncle Morgan" he said, and Jules nodded, a little frown line marred his smooth forehead. "He arranged it with your dad. He finally convinced him to let you have a few days with your brother."

"Dad's not mad at Lex anymore?"

"Not anymore," he said. "All is forgiven." He walked out and shut the doors.

part 45
TBC

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Posted by

rednihilist.livejournal.com

You know, you got no idea what people will do to protect their own. Even act like they hate 'em, if it'll keep 'em safe.

Oh, man. Now I'm so totally pondering everything in this section, but I really, seriously need to go to sleep now. *pouts* You just keep weaving this story tighter and tighter together, it's amazing! I feel like we're really building up to something -- the tension is like rope being spooled. Great, roxy. I just *beams* truly love your writing. *hug*

CFMWH (a sad Lian POV) will be up tomorrow, and I'm hoping I can get WoT updated, too, so look out! XD

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sv ifc post: East of the Sun part 44

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