Joy

Disclaimer - DC and WB own them, etc.

Clex, schmooooop. Seriously. I'm thinking second half of season one for this.

PG-13. Many, many thanks to fromward and nel. *huggles*

Thank God for fic, huh?

********

Lex has just had another conversation with his father when Clark arrives. 'Conversation' these days means 'Lionel shouts down the phone about pride while Lex pretends to listen and examines his nails'.

Still, as much as he likes to pretend otherwise, Lex's little chats with Dad always leave him feeling...restless.

It's the only term he's willing to use to describe it.

Clark has become remarkably adept at knowing when Lex is in that particular mood, when he's been talking to his father. They've exchanged all of seven words when Clark's face droops.

"Your dad again, huh?"

It's spooky. If Lex used words like 'spooky'.

Saying nothing about it, he shrugs and turns away. Open admissions are rare for Lex, even in front of Clark. But then there's a hand on his shoulder and a smiling face near his.

"We're going for a drive, Lex. Grab the keys to your favourite car."

Lex immediately thinks of the truck, before remembering that Clark isn't supposed to know he still has it.

********

"What do you think, Lex?"

Lex is confused. It's not a feeling he likes very much. It's also a feeling he's beginning to become accustomed to in Smallville. "It's a field." Wait - Clark had asked his opinion. "How exciting." That should do it.

Clark doesn't even roll his eyes, and Lex tries not to feel disappointed. "Anything you notice about this field in particular?"

Well, it's...green. As in grass.

At least it isn't corn.

He really isn't sure what he's supposed to be understanding. "It's a field," he repeats. "What concept am I supposed to be grasping?"

Smiling, Clark bends down and starts...untying his laces. Pulling off his sneakers.

Then his socks.

Wait. If this little exercise - whatever it is - somehow involves nudity, Lex is suddenly a hell of a lot more interested. "Clark?"

But he's stopped now, and is standing up. Barefoot.

Clark has really nice feet.

Lex did not just think that.

They're certainly big, though. Strong, and...big. Definitely.

"Lex?"

He tries not to look like he wants to hump Clark's feet at any point in the near future. "Yes?"

"Your turn."

Of course. Clark wouldn't be baring his feet just so Lex could develop a new fetish. No doubt there's some purpose to all of this.

It's quite remarkable, really, how Clark can persuade him to do things like this with very little persuasion at all - or maybe it's just the residual rebellion that builds up whenever he has to deal with Dad.

Regardless, Lex is bending down already, tugging at the expensive shoes he's only worn twice before. Not long after that his socks are balled up inside them, and Lex's feet are as naked as Clark's.

He tells himself that his feet do not look puny in comparison.

"Come on," Clark says, moving forward, easily climbing over the fence that surrounds the field. Lex has a little more trouble but makes it over, and then, standing next to Clark, he...pauses.

The grass is soft and a little damp beneath his feet. He tries not think about what he could be stepping in at any moment. "This is someone else's property."

There's something a little wrong about that; that Lex is the one worried about getting caught and Clark is the one grinning as he happily trespasses.

"I know." A few more steps, and Clark turns back towards him. "This is it."

The only 'it' Lex can see is the slope now before them. It's not a hill - Smallville doesn't have hills - but they are looking at a definite slope. It goes down for quite a few feet. Maybe there'd been some kind of erosion here at some point, and-suddenly there's a hand wrapping around his wrist, a hard tug forward, and Lex is *falling*.

He squawks, loudly (later, of course, he will completely deny it), as he stomps down the first few feet with all the elegance of an elephant on roller skates, and his top half is completely over-balancing. "Claaaark! Let go of my hand!" He's released, then, and nearly tips over backwards because of the loss of the extra weight. He manages to stay on his feet, somehow, but that's about all he can manage thanks to the momentum, arms pin-wheeling wildly as he tries not to fall on his ass.

Clark is *laughing* - bastard! - and Lex catches a glimpse of Clark's head turning back towards him, just a moment of that smile, and Lex *gets* it.

Somehow, running barefoot down a not-quite-hill and risking manure-foot as well as a broken neck is, amazingly, *fun*.

It's not a windy day, but what there is of it is pushing against Lex's clothes, and, trying to meet Clark's gaze again, Lex is laughing when the not-quite-hill stops being quite-so-slope-y and Lex, completely un-prepared, pitches forward and ends up sprawled across the grass.

"Uuurf."

He manages to roll onto his back. This is not his most dignified moment.

Clark, not even breathing hard - *complete* bastard! - is grinning down at him, blocking the sun with his body. "Could have sworn you once told me something about fencing being good for reflexes."

Lex kicks Clark's ankle.

Clark just snickers.

The laughter fades a few moments later, and then Clark's kneeling down next to him. "You're seriously okay, right?"

"Aside from the fact that you just *pulled me down a hill*? And that I probably have grass stains on my favourite pants? Yes."

Shaking his head, Clark lets his body slide until he's lying down. "You don't have a favourite pair of pants, Lex."

"How do you know?"

Clark shrugs. "Because you don't. Maybe a favourite shirt. On first guess I'd say it's..." He looks up at the cloud-free sky, and fakes concentration. "...purple."

Lex kicks Clark in the leg. It's a habit he can see himself becoming used to. "Thank you," he says, unexpectedly, quite sure he'd been meaning to say something sarcastic about smart asses. But then maybe talking about Clark's ass wasn't such a good idea.

Turning his head back to study him, Clark smiles as he holds Lex's gaze. "Therapy through violence. It's one of my specialities."

Lex tries not to do it, he really does, but- "What are the others?" Damn. His toes point up to the sky in surrender.

"Well," rolling onto his side, Clark props his head up on his right hand, "I may need some advice in that area. I haven't had a great deal of opportunity to try out what I think one of them is, so hopefully you'll be able to-mpfh!"

Clark doesn't yank back when Lex pulls his head down and kisses him, and thank *God* for that. Instead he leans further down, their bodies shifting to fit against each other, and Lex discovers that kissing Clark is like basking in sunlight.

He should probably be pulling away, saying something about how this really is one of Clark's specialities, but instead he just lays on the grass, trespassing, kissing, and thinks that he should argue with his father every single day.

~FINIS