Textbooks and Underwear by jessica
"I want to kiss you."
"I know you do."
When Clark smiles, Lex does, too. It's not a tiny smile you send across the room to an acquaintance. It shines. It draws Lex in and holds him there until he turns away at a sound. He throws a glance around the room. There's a group of kids playing a drinking game with cans of root beer. They're not looking, but Lex still wonders: do they know? Can they see?
"Stop thinking."
Clark's hand comes up to rest at the back of Lex's head. His fingers are probably covered in ink, but Lex just leans back into the touch. There's an open textbook in his lap and a notebook filled with smudged writing that are doing a better job of distracting Clark. Even with his fingers stroking Lex's scalp lightly, Clark still isn't paying much attention to him.
Lex found him spread out on the couch in the lounge when he got to the campus almost an hour ago. Now they're ten minutes late for their reservations and Clark's still in his pyjamas, still doing his homework.
"You need to start keeping clothes at my place, Clark."
"Simon'll be done any minute. He promised."
Clark's hand drops away to pick up his pen and scribble a few notes.
Lex stares up the stairs. "I'm hungry," he whines.
Clark laughs and leans over to kiss his cheek. Turning his head, Lex catches his mouth before Clark can pull away. Clark sucks his tongue for an agonisingly long second.
"How long can college boys keep it up these days?" Lex asks with an idle smile when Clark does manage to pull away.
"Aren't you supposed to know?"
The kiss at his neck comes with a smile that Lex can feel. Clark turns back to his book and Lex turns back to the room. Maybe they are watching. Lex has gotten used to that kind of thing. But, he still doesn't like meeting Clark for lunch in the cafeteria.
Lex puts his feet up on the table and slides down in his seat. Clark's shoulder is at just the right height for Lex to lean on. Their bodies work together in so many ways, Lex thinks, and closes his eyes. Clark rubs his cheek on the top of Lex's head and hums a little as he turns the page.
They both turn when a voice calls Clark's name from the stairs. Simon walks into the lounge, a nearsighted James Dean in his leather jacket and thick-framed glasses. A tiny brunette follows, clasping his hand and smiling.
"Hey, Clark," she says in a high-pitched voice that doesn't surprise Lex at all.
"Sarah." Clark turns to Simon. "You guys going out now?"
"Yeah. You two?"
Lex shrugs when Clark sends a questioning look over his shoulder.
"I don't know. Maybe?"
Simon grins with perfect teeth that Lex imagines only just lost their braces. "Okay, well, I'll tiptoe quietly."
Sarah waves as Simon pulls her away. "Bye, Clark."
Lex leans in to put his lips at Clark's ear. "She likes you," he says as Clark watches them leave.
"I know she does," Clark replies, gathers up his books, and pulls Lex off the couch. "Come on," he says, and Lex lets Clark lead him up the stairs.
"That's a different girl than last week," Lex is saying as Clark opens the door. He's bracing himself for the smell; not sex, but sweat and dirty laundry. They don't spend a lot of nights in Clark's dorm.
"Sarah? Yeah. I don't know, she might last."
Lex snorts and clears himself a place to sit on Clark's bed. Clark sprays something from a yellow can and Lex identifies another smell: artificial flower. He's guessing the aerosol is a gift from Martha.
"I don't get that kid. He's a bigger dork than you and yet, I'm always finding condom wrappers and empty boxes," Lex says, holding up a Trojan box from the bedside table and shaking it. "Unless there's something you're not telling me, Clark."
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Clark teases, pulling his shirt off, then turning back to Lex.
"It's perfectly normal to experiment in college, you know." Clark steps up to the bed and sets himself down in Lex's lap. "I'd just be happy you're practicing safe sex. God knows, I'm not always the best role model."
The words are muttered and barely leave Lex's mouth before reaching Clark's, scant inches above.
"Shut up," Clark says with his tongue and Lex can only moan in agreement.
He kisses with a hum in the back of his throat. Clark's concentration isn't on Edward R. Murrow and Great Names in Journalism, but on Lex and how if he sucks his tongue and bites his lower lip, he can get Lex to hum too. Clark's hands on his head guide the kiss, angling him back and forth until no part of Lex's mouth isn't shiny from Clark's tongue.
Lex lets himself fall backwards, hoping Clark will follow. Instead, he's pulled back up against Clark's warm body. He rubs on Lex, hard and damp through flannel and cotton. Lex holds himself up with hands on Clark's bare back. Sliding down and under the elastic waistband, Lex presses his finger at Clark's hole, massaging it until Clark shudders and comes.
"Oh, Lex," Clark sighs, and when Lex pulls him down, he doesn't argue. Clark puts a kiss under Lex's jaw, then picks himself up off the bed. He strips his pyjamas off and Lex can't help but wince when he balls them up on the floor.
"It's the glasses," Clark says, like their conversation wasn't just interrupted for sex. "With the glasses, Simon's just a geek. Then he takes them off and the girls fall all over themselves. It's cool. Like having a secret identity."
He's dressed in a t-shirt and boxers, a towel thrown over his shoulder, when Clark turns back to Lex. "I'm gonna shower."
Lex just yanks at his tie.
"You didn't come?" Clark asks, nodding to the bulge still in Lex's pants. "You want me to--"
Shaking his head, Lex gets up off the bed and backs Clark up against the door. "Go take your shower," he says, licking at the beads of sweat on Clark's neck. "Then we're going to my place."
"Why? I don't--"
"No condoms," Lex says, and holds up the box again.
When Clark's gone, Lex phones to cancel the reservation and he isn't surprised to find them still holding it. He throws Clark's textbooks and the only clean clothes left in the drawer into a bag so when Clark returns, all he has to do is dress and they're gone.
Lex makes it down the stairs, through the lounge, and outside, halfway to an erection and convinced that it's not just Clark that has x-ray vision. Clark's quiet, walking a step or two ahead. Lex isn't watching where he's going, but where Clark has been instead. He's still watching when Clark stops at the car and turns around. Clark's smiling when Lex finally raises his eyes.
"Yeah. That's what I thought you were looking at." Clark's the one looking now, like he's ready all over again. "So." He bounces a little on his feet. "Can I drive?"
Lex tosses the keys with a smirk and they get in the car.
He doesn't sing aloud to the radio, like Clark. Lex does it in his head, and Clark teases him anyway because he knows.
"You packed me a bag," Clark says, turning off the radio when they turn into the parking garage. Lex doesn't say anything because it wasn't a question. "How long am I staying?"
"I suppose that depends on you."
Lex gets out of the car and waits for the beeps of the alarm before walking to the elevator. His footsteps echo against the walls and he listens for Clark's to fall into the same random pattern. Clark speeds instead, and he's waiting at the elevator, button already pushed.
"Actually," Clark is saying when Lex arrives, "it depends a lot on what's in this bag."
"It's your bag, Clark. Just look," Lex tells him after the ding of the elevator and they've stepped inside.
"I don't know." Clark holds it up, shaking the bag like a Christmas present. "I kind of like not knowing. I like wondering if you know me well enough to pack all my favourite things."
"Oh, so this is a test?"
Clark grins. "Kind of."
They reach the top floor with another ding. Lex leads them out and into the penthouse. As he empties his pockets onto the table and hangs up his jacket, Clark stands just inside the door. Lex's tie is already loosened, but he busies himself with the knot, waiting for Clark.
"I'm no good at waiting, Clark," he says, looking up.
Clark drops the bag and stalks closer. "But it gives you the cutest wrinkles." He smoothes a hand over Lex's head, coming to rest at the nape of his neck. Cradling Lex gently, Clark brings him forward for a soft kiss. It's almost enough to distract Lex from Clark's other hand trailing down to find him still hard under his rumpled dress pants, waiting.
"This must be killing you."
"Not really." Lex finds his voice surprisingly calm. He speaks slowly, though, to hide any wavers should Clark suddenly decide to squeeze. "It won't take you long to get us to the bedroom."
"But how do you know you've passed the test?"
"Despite the fact that you're chewing on my ear?" Clark stops, and takes a step back to meet Lex's eyes. "You've already looked in the bag."
Clark looks pointedly back at the red knapsack on the floor. "It's still closed."
"You've already looked in the bag, Clark," he says again, because he knows, but Clark likes to play.
The smile on Clark's face is slow to form, but it's bold and bright when it does.
"Textbooks and underwear. Is there anything you want to tell me, Lex?"
"Yeah." Lex grabs him by his jeans, pulling Clark in for a biting kiss before dragging him to the bedroom. It doesn't take Lex long to get them there. "I'm not letting you out of my bed this weekend."
Clark falls to the bed with Lex's push. He pauses, watching Lex strip off his clothes, then wrestles out of his own.
"I need textbooks and underwear to do this?" asks Clark when Lex is on top of him.
"Can't fall behind in your studies, Clark."
"You're such a dork," Clark laughs.
"Only when I'm wearing my glasses," says Lex, and kisses him before Clark can disagree.
03/15/03