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It took a truly monumental headache to incapacitate Lex Luthor. Though headaches were not infrequent in his line of work- being the intellectual and economic leader of the free world (or at least of Smallville, Kansas) and a corporate mastermind, that is. Sometimes the frustrations of the day seemed to mount until they manifested in a physical pain so sharp and unavoidable at Lex’s temples that even he, workaholic though he may be, had no choice but to close the shades and stretch out on the leather couch in his office with one hand thrown over his eyes in a maudlin display of despair.
Ever since Clark had spilled his secrets to Lex, and experienced Lex’s awe and curiosity of them, he’d taken to, well… showing off. At first Lex had been so baffled and impressed by every new type of ability Clark displayed that there had been no room for any emotion but shock. But now the cocky, expectant, grin Clark flashed Lex whenever he made a point of sneaking up on him by arriving faster than the speed of light behind him to tap him on the shoulder or picking up his Porsche with just his index finger, was starting to be just a little bit… obnoxious. Especially since Lex’s rules of being a good boyfriend extended to a promise to not try and get Clark under a microscope or in a lab of any kind, even just to satisfy personal curiosity on a strictly confidential basis. At this point, Clark was just teasing him.
It was this exact teasing, cocky, smile that met Lex when he dared to open one squinting eye to shift over to the seat across from his couch. Of course there had not been a single sound to herald Clark’s arrival, he may have been sitting there for the past five minutes for as much as Lex could guess. On any other day Lex may have put in the effort to reward Clark’s ‘trick’ with a pat on the head and an enthusiastic ‘how DO you do it?’ like Clark was a good puppy but this day even anticipating the thought process of wonderment at the physical improbabilities of Clark’s super powers was enough to make the throbbing in his temples increase. So instead he made a grunt of annoyance and rolled onto his side on the couch testily.
He could practically hear Clark’s smile fall in the tone of his voice when he whined “What’s wrong?”
“Headache,” Lex explained, offering a vague hand wave toward his own bald pate.
And again, he could hear Clark’s grin return to his voice as quickly as it had left. “Probably hurts from thinking too much.”
“You know, that had occurred to me as well,” Lex admitted with a sniff.
In another whirlwind of impossibly fast movement Clark was perched on the edge of the couch, looking down at Lex with bemused if not unsympathetic eyes, head cocked to one side as if Lex’s little aches and pains of being a weak little inferior human were as fascinating to him as Clark’s invulnerability and feats of strength were to Lex.
Well, as inferior of a human as he may be, Lex knew he would always best Clark when it came to arcane, historic, or ancient world anecdotes to whip out unsolicited and though Clark was now technically in college, he still considered it his duty on some level to offer him pockets of wisdom and mentorship- well, besides that, Clark was the only one who actually listened to him when he went on one of his asides that Chloe and Lana had both in no uncertain terms referred to as ‘nerdy’.
“When Zeus’s first wife, Metis, became pregnant he swallowed her and her unborn child whole out of fear of a prophecy that her second child would overthrow him. Soon afterward, though, he was overcome with an unbearable headache. Finally his head split open and out of it burst Athena, fully formed and already wearing her battle armour.”
“So even Gods get headaches sometimes?” Clark surmised.
“Or sometimes headaches give birth to great inspiration.” Lex speculated.
Clark put one hand to Lex’s shoulder, letting it slide up his neck, strong fingers pressing into the nape of his neck, thumb rubbing up into the bony protruberance always visible at the occipital point of his skull. God, that felt good.
Clark’s palms dared to seek higher up, smoothing over the vulnerable soft skin of Lex’s scalp. Lex opened his eyes to look at him.
“I don’t usually let people touch my head, you know,” he said quietly.
Immediately Clark’s touch was gone and his cheeks were that beautiful rosey color, his eyes flicking to the floor that way they used to when Lex would catch him in a lie.
“Sorry…” he mumbled.
And Lex remembered, to his own endearment, how despite physical invulnerability, Clark was still shy, inexperienced in matters of the heart, and oversensitive especially when it came to Lex. It actually warmed his spirit to see how wounded he looked at the thought that he might’ve accidentally triggered Lex’s insecurity about his baldness. But though Lex usually relished in keeping people on their guard around him, he hated to make Clark feel awkward yet somehow found himself doing it all the time. Force of habit, he supposed. Ever since he’d met him, Clark had always been the one allowed past Lex’s usual defenses.
He forced a playful smile to reassure Clark and took his hand, guiding it back to the side of his face. “It’s okay… You’re just… you were massaging the wrong spot. It hurts here.”
Once again, the sunshine returned to Clark’s face at supersonic speed and he seemed to let the breath he was holding go. His touch returned- too soft to ever believe he spent most of his day doing farm work. The pads of his thumbs might as well have been silk rubbing into Lex’s temples but they were wonderfully warm and firm. Lex let out a happy little sigh of relief.
“I think we’ve discovered a new super power in your arsenal- magic fingers,” Lex said, “I’ll have to start taking advantage of them more often.”
Clark raised an eyebrow at the obvious flirtation. He pressed the heels of his hands into the hollows of Lex’s temples and unbidden Lex released a groan of pure contentment.
“That was an interesting noise. Are you about to give birth from your head too?” Clark teased.
“Quiet,” Lex ordered, fighting back a smile.
“Want me to carry you the bedroom…?” Clark offered.
Lex hummed his approval.
End.