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Lex had been acting weird all day. He'd been completely silent as they'd watched the baseball game together, although he usually enjoyed nothing better than talking back to the television. There seemed to be something he wanted to say all during lunch, but he barely managed a word of conversation. Now Clark was trying to cook dinner, and every time he turned around Lex was right there, in his way. Crowding him at the sink. Blocking access to the refrigerator. Taking up much needed space at the center island. Finally he stopped what he was doing and fixed Lex with him a look.

"What?"

"Are you mad at me?" Lex asked.

"Why? Should I be?"

"No!" Lex insisted hotly. "I haven't done anything wrong lately. I even stopped trying to artificially boost the price of gold, although I still contend that wasn't strictly illegal."

"I'm sure investors everywhere appreciate your restraint."

"So there's nothing you want to discuss with me? Or possibly berate me about?"

"Not that I can think of. But if anything comes up, I'll be sure and let you know."

Lex left the kitchen in a huff.

Clark figured it was just some minor blip of oddness that would be gone and forgotten by the next morning.

Over breakfast, though, Lex said completely out of the blue, "You realize it's been years since I invested money in questionable medical experiments."

"Years, huh? I hadn't realized. I guess time really flies when you're not besieged by Kryptonite-powered human clones."

Lex was not amused.

"All LexCorp labs are completely up to code on EPA regulations," he said, in a put-upon tone. "Even the nonsensical ones that everybody else ignores."

"That's very environmentally friendly of you."

"Not to mention that I haven't even considered killing my father lately."

"And you didn't think you were making any progress in therapy," Clark scoffed playfully.

Lex's expression only darkened. "So there's nothing you want to say to me?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, there is." He got up from the table and bent to kiss Lex on the forehead. "If Lois and I get a lead on this article we're working on, I might not be home in time for dinner."

Days passed, but whatever was bothering Lex did not. In fact, he seemed to be going out of his way to annoy, insult and just generally make Clark want to throw him out the nearest window.

"What is your problem?" he finally asked.

"My problem." Lex stared at him, eyes glittering. My problem."

"Yes." Clark poked a finger into his chest. "Your problem."

"Fine," Lex said. "If you want to know what my problem is, then I'll tell you. I don't appreciate your cowardly, indirect way of giving me a message. If you're tired of this--" He waved his hand in the air. "All of this. Then tell me. Tell me you want to leave. But don't make me play stupid guessing games!"

For a moment, Clark could only stare. "What are you talking about?"

"I just told you!"

"No. I mean, you did, but-- What makes you think I want to leave you?"

"You put our picture away," Lex said, in the grim voice people used when talking about death.

"Our picture?"

"The picture."

Clark was perplexed. "Lex, we only have, like, a thousand pictures of us scattered around this apartment. Which one do you mean exactly?"

"The one that really matters." This didn't clear up anything for Clark, and that only made Lex angrier. "Fine. I'll show you." He walked curtly over to the sideboard and yanked a drawer open. "There!" He pulled a silver-framed photo out and waved it at Clark. "Ring any bells?"

"Oh." And what he really mean was, oops!

The picture had been taken the day they'd gone from being friends to lovers. Clark had just graduated from high school, and Lex had wanted to take him on a grand tour of Europe as a present. Clark's parents had, not surprisingly, nixed that plan, and they'd finally managed to compromise on a week in Metropolis. He and Lex had gone to museums and bars, tourist attractions and discos. On their last night together, Lex insisted on dressing up and going out to dinner at a fancy restaurant.

Afterwards, Clark had joked that his mother would be bummed she'd missed seeing him looking so presentable, and Lex had gone right into a store and bought a much-too-expensive camera just so they could take a picture. When Clark got tired of being the subject, he snatched the camera out of Lex's hands and took a few shots of his own.

There was a sense of momentum to the evening, and neither of them was ready to go home yet. They took the film to an all-night photo development place and talked about the best parts of their week together while they waited. When the clerk handed them their prints, they leafed through them right there. There were a lot of shots of Clark making goofy faces, a few of Lex looking like he wanted to kill Clark for taking his picture, but the last shot was the one that made them stare. Something had gone wrong with the camera or the film or the processing, and separate images of them had been juxtaposed into a single image. They were both smiling as if this was the happiest they were ever going to be in their whole lives.

"Remember what you said that time about destiny?" Clark had said, as he marveled over the picture. "That's what this reminds me of. Like we're just supposed to be together."

Lex had gone perfectly still, and Clark had seen it then, in his eyes. And everything suddenly made sense. They had their first kiss standing right there at the counter of the photo lab, and when they got back to Lex's apartment, they made love.

"Not only was our picture in a drawer, but it was face down," Lex said, sounding wounded. "And don't even try to tell me that Helga put it there. She knows better."

Clark couldn't argue with that. Lex had a way of terrorizing the hired help, and their housekeeper was probably too afraid to even dust this particular picture, much less actually pick it up and put it somewhere other than where it belonged.

"I didn't put it there either, Lex."

"Oh, no?"

His body language screamed: I don't believe you!

Clark reached for him. "Hey, come here." Lex was stiff in his arms, and Clark rubbed his back to try to get him to relax. "You know how much I love you. I don't want to leave you. And I didn't put our picture away. I swear." He pressed soft, reassuring kisses to Lex's temple.

Some of the tension went out of Lex's shoulders, but he still wanted to know, "Then how did it get there?"

"Um--" Lex really wasn't going to like this. "Well, remember when you were away on business last week? I sort of-- You see, Jimmy finally got a date with this girl he's liked for a really long time and--" Clark started to talk faster. "I let him use the penthouse so he could make a good impression and he hid all the pictures of us so it wouldn't be so obvious that he didn't actually live here and I must have forgotten to put that one back but it was completely an accident and not some kind of message I swear."

There was a long pause. "You let one of your co-workers use our home to score with a girl."

"It wasn't like that. Exactly. I mean, he just gave her a glass of wine and showed her the view. He knew I'd kill him if he even stepped foot in our bedroom."

Lex looked skeptical.

"Oh, please," Clark said. "You cannot tell me you don't understand wanting to make a big impression on someone you like, Mr. Here's-A-Truck-As-A-Token-Of-My-Esteem."

"That was different," Lex insisted, but he didn't sound angry anymore.

"Oh, yeah?"

Lex nodded. "That was destiny."

Clark smiled softly. "It certainly was. And here--" He returned their picture to its rightful place of honor. "Better now?"

"Better."

Clark pulled Lex into his arms and hugged him hard. Then he started to laugh.

"What?"

He kissed Lex on the cheek, grinning broadly. "You're such a sentimental softie."

Lex gave him the death glare. "I am not--"

Clark leaned closer and whispered in his ear, "Have I ever told you how much that turns me on?"

There was pause and then, "I'm listening."

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From:

celli

awwwwwwwwwww!

Destiny!

*loves*

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Not a homecoming queen

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