Pulse

Lex noticed it for then, that beautiful arch of Clark's neck, the sweep of golden skin by his pulse point, when he met him at the farmer's market his first full weekend in Smallville. He'd stolen an apple out of the Kent's truck (he did have an evil legacy from his father to maintain, after all), and stood there, chewing and watching as the sun played off his friend's skin.

Nothing about Clark seemed real. Aside from the fact that Lex i knew /i, damn it, that he had hit Clark with his Porsche earlier this week, the young man (no one that tall was a "boy" any more) was too much-too tall, too broad, too tan and sun-kissed. There was no way on Earth that Clark was only i fourteen /i. No way he was anywhere close. Lex sighed. On the adoption records he was for Lex had already had people look into that. Jonathan and Martha must have underestimated Clark's age when they adopted him by several years at least.

It just wasn't possible, like some taunt from above. Lex was trying to go straight (in more senses than one), be the good son, run the Crap Factory and maneuver his way up the LuthorCorp corporate ladder.

He wouldn't make it well, if people, especially Clark himself, learned of all the scenarios playing through his head, of the things he'd actually like to do with Clark.

All night long.

"So that's the quarterback?" Lex asked, eying the blond with his arm draped possessively over Lana.

Pulse point moved, shuddered, and Lex licked his lips, trying to play it off as just juice at the corner of his mouth.

Bronze skin went pale. "I…yeah. That's Whitney Fordman, he's a senior."

"And the star of the game or so I've been told by several employees who kept track and bragged about beating the Granville Giants this morning. I think you could compete with him. He lacks finesse. You'd merely have to be more suave with Lana, wouldn't be hard."

It was incredibly pathetic that while all he wanted to do was to tear off Clark's clothes and ravish him right there, he was keeping himself relevant in his friend's life by giving inane high school dating advice. Oh how the mighty had fallen.

Clark shuddered and grabbed a bushel, deliberately not making eye contact anymore. Lex frowned at the obstructed view now of that beautiful neck, that place he wanted to lick and suck and own. "Nevermind, Lex. It's not worth it."

Lex stalked after him and then past him, waiting for Clark to set the bushel down and to come into an alleyway between the stalls, so they'd be alone and rimmed in shadows. "This is about how I found you last night?"

Clark shivered again and kept looking at the grass. "I-"

"Whitney led that because you have a crush on Lana."

Clark swallowed and Lex forced himself to focus on the young man and not just at the sweep of his skin. "No, actually, it wasn't about Lana. Not at all."

Lex furrowed his brows, confused by all of it. "I don't follow you."

"I…Fitz saw me."

"I don't understand at all."

Clark licked his lips and Lex fought back a host of lascivious thoughts. "He's the cornerback and, well, he might have, well he did, catch me staring a lot at you when you came to school two days ago to work something out with Principal Kwan for the schedules for work study students."

Swearing under his breath, Lex reached out and touched Clark's shoulder. "I think I'm seeing where this is going. They assumed-"

Clark blushed, red sweeping up that graceful, beckoning arch of his neck. "Well I dunno, exactly. I've never had thoughts like that before."

"See, then exactly, and that's why you should have gone to Kwan. He seems reasonable. Bashing like that is unacceptable. Mistaken on top of it," Lex said, hoping his tone on the last wasn't bitter. Of course Clark didn't i think /i of him like that.

"I said I never had before. i That /i was my first time, Lex. I…they weren't completely wrong." He was scarlet. "I haven't thought once about Lana since I pulled you from the river, but," he added, leaning down and kissing Lex with more skill than he should have had, maybe he was a natural. Pulling back, Clark, blinked shyly. "I've been thinking about you."

Reaching out, Lex traced the curve of Clark's neck by his collarbone. So golden, so gorgeous. "This will get me arrested. We'll talk about something until you're sixteen, because, believe me, I'm interested. However, not five feet from your parents' stand and not in public, you're many things but not worth jail time, believe me."

"I-"

Lex brushed a quick feather light kiss over the left side of his neck. "We'll figure it out. Get back to your parents; they'll notice."

Nodding, Clark straightened his shirt and returned to the brightness of the crowd. Waiting until Clark was gone, Lex pulled out his cell and made a call. Whitney and his cohorts had vengeance coming and Luthors exceled at that.