This wonderful cover was made by in_the_bottle. Thank you so much! :D

I Feel Pretty
by Suz suzvoy@tesco.net

Disclaimer - WB and DC own them. Uh huh.

For fromward. Who demanded.

Feedback would rock. PG-13, no spoilers, though I guess this is set season two. Clex of course!

'I feel pretty
Oh, so pretty
I feel pretty, and witty and
gaaaaaaaaaaay!'

- I Feel Pretty, West Side Story

*

Lex hated his father.

"Lex, son, come on..."

"No, Dad!"

In fact, Lex hated his whole fucking life.

"Lex..."

"No! I'm an adult. I don't have to do that anymore!"

When really, he should have been delighted.

Somehow, miraculously, they'd achieved the impossible: he and his father had apologised to each other. And actually meant it. They'd talked through all of their problems, all of their trust issues and escaped largely unscathed. There'd been shouting and almost physical violence at some points but now they'd managed through it. Lex no longer felt as if he always had to one-up his father, and his dad...his dad had actually said that he loved him.

It hadn't sounded false. It hadn't sounded fake.

For the first time in years, Lex had actually believed something his father had said.

He should have been happy.

But then there was...this.

"I can't tell you how much it would mean to me, Lex," Dad continued. "It brings back memories of such happy times. Maybe, one day, we can have new times like that."

Happy times? What universe did his dad live in? Lex remembered nothing but abject humiliation. Maybe, in the spirit of their new relationship, he should share that.

And then Clark walked into the office, pausing when he saw Lex's father. "Oh...sorry. I didn't realise you had company."

Seeing that Clark was turning away, Lex just couldn't let that happen. "No, Clark!" He all but ran after him. "Please, stay!" Please God stay.

Surprised at the passion of Lex's insistance, Clark immediately turned back and frowned heavily. "Is something wrong, Lex?" His gaze slid deliberately towards the only other person in the room. "No one's upsetting you, are they?"

Dad immediately snorted laughter. "Relax, Mr Kent. While I appreciate your...protectiveness of my son, Lex and I have recently put our disagreements behind us. We've reached what I suppose you could call an understanding."

Clark's frown only grew worse. "Seriously?"

Grabbing Clark's arm to pull him further into the room - anything so he wouldn't have to be alone with Dad right now - Lex spoke. "Yes, Clark. Seriously. I can understand it's a little hard to take in-"

"A little hard?"

"-but it's the truth," Lex concluded, guiding Clark until they were both sitting down on one of the leather sofas.

Sitting there for some time, Clark kept blinking. "So...you two have made up?"

"Exactly."

"And you've..." Clark paused. "The two of you?" He looked from father to son, obviously still having trouble with the concept. "Really?"

Lex decided it was probably a good thing that he didn't love Clark just for his mind. "Really."

Leaning back against the sofa, Clark shook his head as if to clear it. "Huh."

"In fact," Dad began, and Lex was filled with a deep sense of foreboding, "I was just trying to convince my son to partake of an old Luthor family tradition, to help really bring us back together."

There was no way Lex could keep his response in. "Dad, for God's sake, we haven't even done that since before Mom died."

"All the more reason for us to do so now, Lex. Makes it all the more important."

"Uh..." Clark interrupted. "Just what kind of tradition are you talking about?"

Dad beamed. It was actually kind of creepy. "The Luthor family sing-along."

Lex groaned silently. He was sure he'd always suspected, but now Clark knew just how completely weird his family was.

All two of them.

Clark looked like he was having something painful inserted somewhere personal. "The Luthor family...sing-along."

Sighing, Lex surrended to the inevitable explanation. "I know it sounds crazy." And maybe Dad really was. "But it's true. When I was a child, Dad used to gather us round the piano and lead us into song. Claimed it brought us closer together." If anything, it'd made Lex want to get further away.

"What kind of songs?"

Damn. "Sorry?"

Clark seemed genuinely curious. "What kind of songs did you sing?"

Gritting his teeth, Lex said it. "Show tunes. Dad has a fondness for musicals."

It was a very long time before Clark spoke again, and during the silence he looked from Lex to Lionel and back again. "Well," he said eventually, "that's understandable. There are a lot of good songs in musicals."

Lex could have kissed him. Very nearly did.

"I'm glad you think so, Mr Kent!" Dad exclaimed. "I was wondering if you'd do us the honour of joining us."

The painful thing up Clark's butt had apparently just been shoved up hard. "You want me to sing with you?!"

"If you don't mind," Dad said. "Since Lillian's sadly no longer with us, we need a third voice. I'd be deeply honoured if you could take her place."

Not actually completely hating this idea, Lex smiled a little. It might actually be worth doing, just to see what Clark looked like when he was singing. It was certainly not an oppotunity he'd ever expected to have. Realising Dad was still talking, he quickly paid attention.

"Besides, you are Lex's best friend. His only real friend, as he's said to me on numerous occasions." He actually looked a little...sad? "You're practically family as it is."

Clark Kent was immune to cars travelling at sixty miles an hour and whatever the town's latest meteor-mutant was, but apparently not to his father's plea for normal family interaction.

Except this was Smallville.

And they were the Luthors.

They didn't have normal family interaction.

"Okay," Clark replied quietly.

"Excellent!" Clapping his hands together loudly, once, Dad started heading towards the door. "I have some sheet music with me. I'll just get it from my briefcase."

He kept sheet music in his briefcase?

Oh. He really should be saying something to Clark. "Clark, you really don't have to..." Screw it. If he was doing this, he was not doing it alone. "Thank you."

Much more animated with Lex's dad out of the room, Clark grinned at him. "You're my friend, Lex. And it makes your dad happy, which actually seems like a good thing for once. And anyway, I wanted to ask something." Turning until his side was pressed against the sofa, Clark was face to face with Lex when he spoke again, his expression alive with mischief. "I think we still have Grandpa's banjo at home. Want me to go get it?"

Any amusement Lex was feeling was masked by the fake indignation he knew he was supposed to be showing. "You think you're so cute, Kent."

"Of couse I am!" He fluttered his eyelashes. "I'm adorable."

He really, absolutely, completely was.

So that was the moment Lex kissed him.

Clark didn't suddenly grow still, like Lex had always imagined. He didn't pull back, or he didn't hesitantly kiss back. Clark practically surged against him, pushing Lex down on to the sofa, mouth opening wide to eagerly suck at his tongue.

Lex was enjoying himself entirely too much to even be shocked, opening his legs wider so Clark could rest between them, groaning when Clark moaned against him and-

"Oh I see," Dad's voice interrupted, and Lex was suddenly thinking how to a) shove Clark off of him without being rude, and b) come up with an explanation that would actually sound believable. "You two are going to be that kind of family. Just as well you're not actually related, I suppose."

Dad harrumphed as he came into view over Clark's left shoulder, slid his glasses onto his nose and looked down at the sheet music he was holding.

Lex looked back up at Clark - close, so close - and by mutual silent agreement, they moved until they were sitting up.

"Now," he heard Dad say, as if he and Clark hadn't just been making out on the sofa, "I was thinking we could start with," Dad eyed both of them speculatively over the top of his glasses. "'I Feel Pretty'."

~FINIS

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