Written for comment_fic on livejournal

The Prompt was Lex/Clark, reflections in the water

Sometimes, looking at the blue ripples in the lake, reflecting the harsh red light of the sunset, Lex thinks of Clark.

Lex sees his own face, the image in the water below, grow bleary, covered with the wiggling motion of soft waves, and it turns Lex's face into something else. A kinder face, perhaps. Or just a blur of someone moving too fast for Lex to see.

Lex resists the urge to wade in, to ruin his suit and his good reputation by becoming the lunatic rich boy who jumps in the lake because the reflections look so shiny and pretty.

Instead, he'll go home and have a bath. A paltry, over-civilized imitation of a living body of a water.

And he'll go under. He'll keep his head under water just a little longer than he should. And he'll wait for Clark's hands to grip him tight, and for Clark's lips to breathe life back into his lungs. He'll close his eyes, thinking that they'll open to a face. And at first, he'll think the face is his own. But then it's not, it's far too beautiful and healthy and pure, all muscle and black hair and water dripping down fat pink lips.

Lex has nearly drowned himself in his bathtub a dozen times, thinking about the day he met Clark. He keeps waiting for time to circle back in on itself, for the past to pull him back to his former self, pulling him down with watery fingers.

It doesn't happen. Lex just ends up alone, naked, gasping for air on his bathroom floor, trying not to notice how thin and pale he looks in the mirror.