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“I’ll be back in no time,” Clark said, brushing a soft kiss to Lex’s lips. “Don’t worry, it’s only one ship, a piece of cake.”
“Clark, the only alien invasion I am worried about is currently happening in my living room.” Lex gestured around at all the boxes of Clark’s belongings they had been unpacking when Superman’s comm had activated, summoning the hero to Washington DC.
Clark ducked his head as a sheepish grin spread across his face, and he swore they’d finish as soon as he got back. In a whirl, he was clad in blue, his red cape billowing. He spared a moment more to steal one last kiss before Superman took off through the window.
Lex could still feel the ghost of Clark’s lips on his own as he turned on the news coverage to see Superman joining the fray. Just one ship he’d said, but that ship's size was formidable. It was suspended high above the Capitol building and its edges didn’t fit within the camera’s view from where the news crews were reporting at the far side of the National Mall. What was visible was an opening directly above the Capitol’s domed roof where dozens of smaller ships were pouring out into the sky.
"Superman has just arrived!" A perky blond reporter was babbling into her microphone. "I'm sure it's only a matter of time until these invaders are sent packing!"
Lex stood where any optometrist worth his salt would call too close to the screen while he watched the battles live broadcast. Despite the distance between the press and the action, Lex was still able to discern the Justice League’s attack pattern: Wonder Woman, the Green Lanterns (it looked like Hal and John), and Martian Manhunter were in the middle of it all. Batman, The Flash, and Impulse were clearing civilians from the streets below. Superman flew circles around the edge of the fleet, attempting to maintain an outer boundary to the combat zone, in hopes of minimizing the spread of destruction. Given the intervals with which his favorite red-caped hero came in and out of frame, the battlezone must have covered nearly a dozen miles. Lex scoffed, noting that Green Arrow was nowhere to be found.
It was a fairly standard and effective formation for them. But this species, whatever they were, were not backing down.
"These guys are relentless, their fighter ships just keep coming! Could there be too many of them for the Justice League to stop?"
"Oh, shut up!" Lex snapped muting the broadcast.
The reporter's concerns were proved justified when Wonder Woman was shot from the sky and Lex actually held his breath as she fell. He leaned closer to the top left corner of the screen where Superman hovered perfectly still, desperate to make out the expression on the hero's face. But he was too far from the camera, and even Lex's top-of-the-line, high definition, screen couldn't compensate. Then he was gone and all over the newscast ships began falling to pieces.
Lex knew that outside of Martha, the League, and himself, no one on Earth understood how much of his power Superman held back in battle; but they were going to get an idea tonight. All the other heroes had stopped and cleared a path out of the Kryptonians' way; except for the Flash, who ran to catch Wonder Woman before she hit the ground, and even then the moment she was in his arms they both disappeared from the screen. Near lightspeed flight prevented the camera frames from registering Superman’s form; the path of fiery destruction left in his wake the only sign of the red-caped hero on the screen as ship after ship was torn to pieces and left to fall through the air.
Twin beams of green arced through the sky, surrounding the capitol building mere moments before the raining debris would have hit it. The carnage followed the stream of smaller vessels into the opening of the mothership and then everything on the screen went still. The correspondent in the foreground was no longer chattering into her microphone, it hung at her side while she completely ignored the camera and stared at the action unfolding behind her. The whole world seemed to wait with bated breath for a sign of their hero. But their concern paled in comparison to Lex's, he thought his heart might just stop entirely if this apprehension lasted much longer.
He was in the ship, Lex was sure; he had gone in with no backup with god knows how many hostile entities. They knew nothing about this species, but Lex had come to learn that almost every other race in the Galaxy knew about Kryptonians. What if this had all been a trap, to lure Superman in? Even if they didn't have Kryptonite they could just take off with him inside, take him far enough away from the yellow sun that his powers fade. How could he be so reckless? Didn't he understand that if anything happened to him the world would end? Or at least his world would.
The large alien craft gave a shudder and one side began to tilt down toward the ground. Explosions spread across its surface, speckling the hull with flames. The protective dome around the Capitol receded and the beams of Lantern light began to spread around the ship to stop its descent. The construct flickered as the two Lanterns approached the limit of their abilities, and the saucer continued to fall toward the seat of Congress. When the impending impact seemed inevitable, and the Statue of Freedom crumbled from the domed roof, Earth’s third Green Lantern appeared, his beam reinforcing and spreading the shield begun by the others. Leave it to Guy to wait until the very last second. With his added strength a green bowl formed under the wreckage raising it away from the city.
Lex watched spot fires spread over more and more of the hull, while the Lanterns moved farther into the atmosphere. He flinched when the center of the ship blew outward, the flames finally engulfing the entire surface. Lex took a step back trying to get a better view of more of the screen at once. He noticed that the reporter had turned back to the camera and was chattering into her microphone again: probably something to the effect of how lucky Earth was to have the Justice League.
"Come on," he muttered to the screen. "What happened to 'a piece of cake'?" Lex still couldn't find him, chest tight while his eyes darted around the image of the sky on the screen before him. But all he found there were the rapidly shrinking figures of three men, towing the flaming ball of ruin out into space. They moved farther up the screen finally exposing the figure he'd been searching for.
The camera panned up to center the Kryptonian in the shot. The focus shifted and moved, but at this distance, there was only so much that Zoom could do without distorting the image. But Lex knew every inch of the man that hung so still in the air, and blurry or not he could see every line of Clark's slumped posture. He could practically feel the weariness pouring through the screen and his heart ached at the sight. Lex had almost forgotten that other members of the League were there when J'on flew toward Clark, moving slowly like someone approaching a skittish dog. It wasn't slow enough, the motion caught the dark-haired man's gaze, and in less than an instant he had shot upward and vanished.
"Shit-shit-shit," Lex hissed, scrambling for the remote, trying to turn off the news while moving across the living room, and almost falling over an open box Clark had left in the middle of the floor in the process. Lex reached the balcony doors and the moment he threw them open he was nearly blown off his feet by the force of the air displaced at the speed Clark blew past him into the penthouse.
He turned to the living room to find Clark pacing furiously, the likes of which he hadn't seen since the first time Clark had kissed him in the mansion. He was tracking ash, soot, and some kind of goopy alien substance that Lex would rather not think about, into the carpet; not that it mattered at this moment. Clark was talking fast, too fast; so fast that it took Lex a long minute to realize he wasn't speaking English. In fact, it wasn't a language spoken on earth. It was all harsh, sharp syllables and far too many consonant sounds in a row to fit in any human's mouth naturally.
"Clark," Lex tried, stepping closer to his love. But there was no response, no sign that he'd even been heard.
"Clark, slow down, I can't understand you," still nothing to show that Clark even registered there was anyone in the room with him.
The next time Clark reached the end of his pace and turned to start back in the other direction Lex stepped directly into his path. "Kal-El!" He shouted, trying to jar him to the present. Finally, the larger man stopped, but his brilliant green eyes were wide and slightly wild, his breathing hard and the tension in his body so tight he was nearly vibrating with it.
"Clark," Lex said again, softly now, reaching up to take that perfect face between his hands. Clark's eyes finally snapped to focus on Lex's, who reached up to brush aside the curl at the center of Clark's forehead. Clark jumped at the motion, and for an instant, Lex was terrified that he would run like he had from J'on. "It's ok," he murmured, both hands returning to cupping Clark's face, his right thumb stroking gently over the cheekbone.
"I need you to slow down, Clark. I may be trying to learn Kryptonian but I'm nowhere close to being able to keep up with you at that speed." Lex smiled softly, trying to bring some levity to the moment.
Clark took several long slow breaths and the panic slowly bled out of his eyes. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, his brow furrowed in concentration. "L-lex," he said slowly, drawing out the one syllable name like he was testing the feeling of the word on his tongue.
Lex gently tilted Clark's head down, leaning in until their foreheads pressed together. "I've got you," he reassured. He moved his hands from Clark's face, smoothing them down his neck and across his shoulders to release the hidden catches that held the cape, letting it fall to the ground at their feet. One hand rested in the space left by the cape, the other stroking the side of his neck. "It's ok. It's over."
Clark made a choked-off sound in the back of his throat that might have been a sob and in that moment Lex decided that it was the worst sound in the world. Clark shifted his head to rest it against the side of Lex's neck, and strong arms wrapped around his back pulling him tight against the 'S' labeled chest. A weight settled on his shoulders as Clark leaned on him, as much as he would allow himself to, being so careful even when he was this upset. Lex had never wished for super strength more, to truly be able to hold up the man he loved.
He was pulled from his thoughts by that heart-stopping sound again, this time accompanied by hot tears on his neck. Lex was terrified, he had never seen Clark like this. Occasionally after a particularly devastating disaster, times he'd be gone as Superman for days at a time, they'd curl around each other while Lex stroked his hair, arms, neck, whatever to soothe the tension out of him. But this was different, this was more than that. This wasn't stress or exhaustion, it was more like anguish, like devastation.
He made soft gentle hushing sounds, moving to stroke his fingers through the dark hair at the base of Clark’s skull. "What happened? Is it Diana?" Lex had assumed she had just been knocked out at the time but what if- Clark shook his head against Lex's neck, shoulders shaking against the slighter man.
"Clark, baby, talk to me, I don’t know what to do. Please, you're scaring me, it’s all over, they’re gone now.”
Apparently, that had been the wrong thing to say. Clark shuttered as he took in a sharp breath and his grip on Lex tightened, it didn’t hurt but the pressure was significant. “I didn’t mean to,” he whispered. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“What choice? I don’t understand.”
“It wasn’t just them, there are more, so many more. They destroyed their home, and now they just take and destroy and leave, planet to planet, and once they come nothing ever survives. I could hear them, reporting back, planning for the return with reinforcements, it was never going to stop! It had to not be worth it. The cost had to be so great that it outweighed the drive to take. It took so much fire, and so much screaming. But I did it, I became too high of a risk.”
Lex hadn’t even blinked at the carnage he’d seen, it was an us or them situation. As long as Clark came home to him the ends would always justify the means. But that was how he saw the world, tinted by the selfishness that was spoon-fed to him by Lionel since birth. But he was starting to understand what this cloud around his boyfriend was. It wasn’t just that there had been no survivors, but that Clark had made sure that there were no survivors.
Sweet, good, kind Clark, who wanted to help everyone, to save everyone. Clark, who believed in justice, that there is always a right and a wrong way to achieve it, and that killing should be avoided whenever possible. Clark, who knew that where there was war there was death; but still believed in honor and mercy, and in graceful victory, where surrender and negotiation are strived for. He’d gone against his nature, against his core beliefs. Betrayed the ‘Good Man’ that the Kents raised him to be.
“Clark, look at me,” Lex lifted Clark’s head from his shoulder, fingers curled into soft shining hair, thumbs resting on his temples. He leaned back so that he could bring Clark’s face in front of his own to make him look, to make him listen. The tear tracks that marred Clark’s face made Lex blink back a few tears of his own before he could continue.
“You are good,” Lex insisted. Clark dropped his gaze and tried to pull away. Lex tightened his grip, aware that he couldn’t stop Clark, but hoping that he would stay anyway. It worked.
“You. Are. Good!” He repeated. “The best person I’ve ever known. It wasn’t your fault, you didn’t do anything wrong. It wasn’t even you, it was Superman that left here, right?” ” Clark tried to turn away from him again. “I’m sorry, that was a stupid thing to say, just stop that and listen to me. You were right when you said you didn’t have a choice. You saved us, you saved everyone.” Clark looked skeptical but he’d finally stopped trying to pull away so Lex continued.
“Close your eyes, and listen. Don’t sift, don't filter, listen to it all, listen everywhere. All that life out there, it’s still there because of you. It will continue because of you.”
“Lex,” Clark sighed, slowly opening his eyes. “How can you be so sure about me? What I did… I didn’t even know that I was capable of something like that. Even you thought the worst of me not that long ago. What if you were right?”
“When I thought that I didn’t know that you were you. Sure I was suspicious of some too good to be true alien. But you? Never. There is not a bad bone in your body. As far as why I’m so sure, that’s easy. You make everyone and everything around you better.” Clark scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Look at my life. Look at who I was every time you’ve found me.
“A purposeless, self-obsessed, spoiled rich boy, who couldn’t give a damn about consequences or who might be hurt by my actions. Then you pulled me out of the river, and you had faith in me. Being around you was like feeling the sun for the first time after living in a room without windows all my life. Then I lost you, and in those years without you, I went back into the dark.
“But it was so much worse than before because I knew what I was missing, so I hated the light. I became the power-hungry, spiteful, vindictive megalomaniac that surpassed Lionel’s wildest dreams. Then you came back and hauled me with you back to your light.
“I know that you’re good because you taught me what good is. You have been saving me your entire adult life Clark, and then some. So please listen to me, trust me; and let me save you, just this once.”
A fresh wave of tears fell down Clark's soot-stained face, washing clean fresh paths in their wake. He lowered his forehead back to rest against Lex’s and sighed heavily. “I didn’t make the goodness in you Lex, it was always there.”
”Maybe, but if it was you made it stronger, just by being you. You made the good grow and gave it a fighting chance against my darker demons.” Lex finally released his hold on Clark’s head, confident he wasn’t going to try to run away again.
Lex’s arms draped over Clark’s shoulders, occasionally stroking down the back of his neck. They stayed like that, heads pressed together, wrapped up in each other's arms for a long time. The penthouse silent except for their breathing. Slowly Clark’s tense muscles began to loosen, and the occasional shuddering breaths finally tapered off. Lex lifted his chin, placing a soft kiss to the corner of Clark’s lip, pleasantly surprised when Clark turned his head to brush their lips more fully together.
Another few minutes later, Lex eventually pulled back from where they’d been leaning on each other. Clark groaned a soft protest, arms still locked around Lex’s waist, giving no quarter. Lex rubbed his hands down Clark’s arms, murmuring a soft hush to his complaint. “Let’s go get cleaned up,” he offered kindly.
Clark glanced down and saw the state of his suit, and where all the grime had transferred to Lex’s clothes and skin. He started to pull back already apologizing, but Lex kept a firm grip on his forearms not letting him get too far, and shook his head to blow off the apology. Still holding his arms, Lex took a step back, making sure Clark would follow with him.
”It doesn’t matter,” Lex’s tone was soft and even, like gentling a startled child. “They’re just clothes.”
Clark looked down at their feet as Lex continued to guide him through the room. “And the carpet!” He groaned.
“Don’t worry about it. All that exists in your life tonight is a shower and bed.”
”We were supposed to finish the boxes.” Clark protested.
“Tomorrow,” Lex soothed, pulling Clark over the threshold to the master bath.
He settled the younger man seated on the closed toilet bowl lid, while he turned on the hot water, letting the steam fill the room.
Clark had lapsed back into his silence, and when Lex looked back he found him staring unfocused toward the blank wall, breath coming in faster, shallower huffs. Lex gripped Clark's chin, turning his head to bring his green eyes to focus on his gray ones rather than the spiraling thoughts he’d been getting lost in. “Stay here, with me,” he encouraged, planting a kiss onto his temple.
Nimble fingers made quick work of un-fastening the hidden seams of the super suit releasing Clark from it, before crouching down to do the same with the boots. Soon they were moving under the spray, Lex still holding Clark’s gaze. The hot water poured over them, bleeding the last of the tension from Clark’s body. Lex gently wiped smoke and tears away letting it all flow black down the drain. He patiently shampooed the soot and grime from Clark's hair again and again until finally the water around their feet had run clear.
Hand in hand they left the bathroom, each wrapped in a luxuriously plush robe, and crossed to the bedroom. Clark wound his arms around Lex’s waist, curling tight into his side to lay his head on his chest. Lex let himself be positioned how Clark needed fingers moving through the thick crop of dark hair laid on his torso.
The night was long, Clark woke often and harshly. Bolting upright to escape the destruction playing on a loop behind his eyes. Every time Lex responded instantly: soft hushing, and soothing hands lulling him back down onto the bed, followed by whispers —hidden in kisses to his hairline— assurances of love and goodness until sleep returned.
The sky outside the window was turning gray with the approaching first light when Clark finally drifted off again, and Lex slowly eased himself from the bed. He padded across the room to draw the thick blackout curtains that would keep night in the room indefinitely. Clark's breathing was still steady and even while he made his way to the bedroom door and slipped silently out.
The first call he made was to Mercy, all meetings were to be canceled, today and tomorrow, possibly the day after but he would follow up. The second ensured the stained carpet would be disposed of and replaced by the afternoon. The third had movers booked to finish unboxing Clark's belongings. The last was the most important, and the one he wanted to place the least.
The call connected but no one spoke on the other end of the line.
"Don't need him," Lex instructed.
"That isn't up to you," his least favorite former classmate dismissed.
"Goddamit, Oliver, I mean it! He can't be who he needs to, but if you call he'll try, and it will destroy him."
"How long?"
"At least through tomorrow, longer if you can."
"I'll see what we can do." Then the line clicked before he could insist that the answer wasn't good enough.
Finally, Lex walked through the rooms gathering the discarded pieces of the Superman suit, before slipping back into the bedroom with them, arranging cleaning for those could wait. Clark wasn’t going to need it in a hurry.
He’d just turned the lock, ensuring the solitude and rest that he planned to insist Clark have, when he heard the movement behind him. He turned to see Clark sitting up in bed. When had he woken up? God, please don’t let him have been alone when he had. The distress he heard when Clark called his name shattered Lex’s heart and his hope that Clark hadn’t noticed him missing.
He was drawn to Clark's side like a magnet, apologies pouring from his lips the whole way until he had him in his arms. He sat back against the headboard, Clark reclining on his chest, hands soothing through his hair and down the sides of his neck. “…so sorry,” he was saying. “I thought I’d be back in time, I just didn’t want to wake you with the phone and I had to get your suit before the staff came. I’m sorry, I’m here now.”
Already Clark’s eyelids were drooping again now that Lex was back. He caught one of Lex’s wrists, holding it tenderly, stroking the pulse point with his thumb. He raised his eyes to Lex's, concern creasing his brow.
“I’m not going anywhere, not again I swear.” Lex kissed away the line above his eyes. That seemed to satisfy Clark, his eyes drifted shut and his breathing once again dropped off into sleep.