Lights, Chapter 4

Clark/Lex
Season 3, sometime after "Phoenix"
Rating: Adult. If you're under eighteen, please go elsewhere now.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the CW and DC Comics, not to me.
Read the previous chapter here.
Read the story from the beginning here.

They sat like that a long, long time, Clark's face pressed against Lex's shoulder. Lex's hand slid through his hair, stroking it gently, occasionally sliding down over the nape of Clark's neck in wordless consolation. Clark didn't cry-- well, not exactly, although his eyes might have leaked just a little. He simply leaned against Lex, letting the older man give him comfort and strength.

"It's all right," Lex whispered in his ear. "Shhh, Clark. It's all right."

For some reason the brush of Lex's breath against his ear made him shiver, although he wasn't quite sure why. He turned his head just a little, so that his nose was almost against Lex's neck, and breathed in deeply, inhaling the warm, familiar scent of Lex's soap. He'd always liked the scent of that soap, kind of like the woods on the farm, a mixture of pine needles and moss and ivy, but with a little hint of lemon mixed in.

A little embarrassment broke through his remembered grief as it dawned on him that it was kind of weird to be sniffing another guy's skin, even if it was his best friend. Maybe especially if it was his best friend. He straightened up, blinking hard to get rid of any residual leaking, and looked into Lex's eyes, realizing that Lex's lips were bare inches from his own.

Which was also a weird thing to be noticing. He swallowed hard.

"Uh," he said. "If we're going to go to a nice restaurant, I probably ought to take a shower. I've been working hard all afternoon."

"Okay," Lex answered. He didn't seem at all flustered or confused, in sharp contrast to Clark. He pulled away from Clark and stood up, turning and heading toward the opposite end of the huge space. Clark rose to his feet, noticing that the sun was beginning to set, so that crimson and dark gold light filled the penthouse with shadows.

He followed Lex through a bedroom with a truly massive bed with a curving cherry headboard. It looked solid and masculine, and its coverlet was the shade of pale purple that Lex was so fond of.

"You can use my shower," Lex said, pushing open a door. Clark walked through it, seeing a huge, luxurious room, larger than his bedroom at home, clad in dark green marble.

"Thanks," he said, and casually stripped off his red t-shirt. He tossed it to the floor, then suddenly realized Lex was staring at his bare chest with an oddly arrested expression.

Clark's cheeks heated until they were the same color as his shirt, and he had to fight not to lift his hands to cover himself. It was just his chest, for God's sake. It wasn't like he'd stripped naked in front of Lex or anything.

But the way Lex was staring-- God.

For some weird reason, his nipples felt like they were stiffening into little peaks, the way they did when it was cold out. A slow, throbbing ache began to pulse in his jeans, and to his immense dismay, Clark realized he was getting a hard-on. A big one.

"Uh..." he said, uncomfortably aware of the gravelly quality of his own voice. "If we're going to get going, Lex, I guess I better get cleaned up..."

Lex stared for a moment longer, then suddenly jerked his head away. He spun on his heel and left the bathroom without another word, closing the door behind him. Clark stared after him with dismay, wondering if Lex was pissed off or what.

What the hell just happened?

Bewildered and flustered and more than a little off balance, he leaned into the shower, which was big enough to wash a horse in. He turned on the tap, then shed the rest of his clothes in an untidy heap on the floor. He still had a hard-on, but he ignored it. He tested the water with a hand, and when it was hot, he stepped in, closing the frosted glass door behind him.

He stood there for long moments, letting the hot water caress his skin. For some reason he was tense.

Oh, hell, he knew the reason. He closed his eyes, feeling the slow, steady throb of his erection.

Yeah, so okay, he had a hard-on. But he wasn't hard because of Lex. He just wasn't. His erection had absolutely nothing to do with the way Lex had stroked his hair and the nape of his neck earlier. And it definitely had nothing to do with the way Lex had stared so avidly at his chest.

The two of them were just friends, damn it. Always had been, always would be.

Still ignoring the insistent throbbing, he picked up the bar of soap and began lathering himself up. A familiar scent drifted up on clouds of steam, the scent of pine needles and moss and ivy and a touch of lemon.

The scent of Lex's skin, all over his skin.

Clark closed his eyes again, and gave a little moan of despair. Suddenly he couldn't help imagining Lex's skin against his. Lex, entirely naked, pressing up against him in the shower...

No. That was crazy. He wasn't interested in Lex that way, and Lex wasn't interested in him that way, damn it. He lathered, the familiar scent rising around him, trying to focus on his shower, but his traitorous imagination kept imagining Lex's hands touching him, everywhere the lather touched...

Oh, God.

Overwhelmed by his rioting thoughts, he stood there panting, his hard-on pulsing a lot faster and a lot more urgently. But not because of Lex, damn it. He wasn't sure why he was reacting this way. Maybe it was just the excitement of being back in the city or something. But whatever it was, it damn... well… wasn't... Lex.

He scrubbed himself off fiercely with a washcloth, then stood beneath the rush of water, quivering all over. He needed release, damn it. He couldn't go out for dinner with a hard-on the size of a rocket in his pants.

But... this was Lex's shower. He couldn't... he couldn't...

He thought about Lex standing right here, right in this very same shower, under this spray of water, water beading on his moon-pale skin, water misting his chest, steam rising in billows around him...

A low groan rumbled its way out of his chest, and he wrapped his fingers around his erection, hissing at the sudden pressure. His hand felt good, so good, against his slick and swollen flesh. Suddenly he couldn't control himself another second.

He began to move his fist, thrusting into it eagerly. Pleasure swelled in him, and his mind reeled helplessly through a vivid slideshow of images-- Lex staring at his bare chest, a strange expression in his gray eyes; Lex's hand, stroking his hair and the sensitive skin at the nape of his neck; Lex's breath against his ear.

And the image of Lex, naked and wet, in this very shower.

His back arched and his head fell back, and he moved his hand harder, in fast, frantic jerks, gasping desperately for oxygen. He wanted to groan, to cry out, but he wasn't sure if he could be heard over the splashing of the water, and the thought of Lex overhearing him-- well, it was safer to keep his silence.

Hot water sluiced over his shoulders, and steam rose in thick clouds around him, and he moved his hand even harder.

Oh God oh God oh goddamnit yes yes yes...

He wasn't thinking of Lex. Not Lex's pale beautiful body all wet and slick in the shower, not the scent of Lex all over his skin, not Lex's hand grasping his cock, stroking him firmly, not Lex's mouth on him, licking and sucking...

Oh, God, he was definitely not thinking of that. He wasn't. God, he wasn't...

His hand moved violently, and his hips thrust just as hard, slamming his engorged cock into his clenched fist, and suddenly he was coming in a surge of ecstatic heat that almost dropped him to his knees. Come exploded from him, white ribbons all over the dark green tile, spurt after spurt until he thought there couldn't possibly be any more, and still it didn't stop, and the pleasure just grew more and more intense, until a soft, involuntary sound of anguished rapture forced its way from his throat.

And at last he did collapse to his knees, gasping, as the pleasure finally ebbed, leaving him weak and drained and helpless.

He knelt there, breathing in deep lungfuls of the humid air, and tried really, really hard to convince himself what had just happened had absolutely nothing to do with Lex.

Read Chapter 5 here.