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“Don’t worry, Kal. You got this.”, Kara said as they landed in front of the entrance of Mount Justice, Young Justice League’s headquarters. There was a Christmas party going on that Wally and the rest of the team had organized. “He’s going to love it.”
“I don’t know. It feels kinda stupid now.”, Clark said as he held a medium sized box in his hands.
“Oh come on. You spent weeks on it. You carefully thought this out so that he’d like it.”, she tried to reassure her cousin. “Besides, it’s the thought that counts.”
Kara placed a hand on Clark’s shoulder. “Lex is going to like it.”
“God, I hope you’re right.”, he said as he pushed the doors opened. The two Kryptonians entered the base. The heroes from both leagues stopped to look for a second before moving on with their activities. Kid Flash waved at Kara and she waved back.
“I’m going to hang out with my team. I’ll see you later.”, She flew towards Kid Flash’s direction.
“Yeah, bye.”, Clark said as he walked away towards the bar where the other older Justice League members were in search of his nemesis.
After Clark’s constant barging into the Watchtower and Mount Justice(both of which he mostly had Kara in tow), the heroes had somewhat grown used to his presence. It didn’t mean that they trusted him with anything or anyone as he was still technically a criminal, but it at least meant that when he was in either place, no one automatically threw hands at him:
So many members were talking with each other and doing the stupid little things you do during the holidays. Like Booster Gold and Blue Beetle were bugging people into playing Cards Against Humanity with them. The Green Laterns joined them as well as a few different members that, with all honesty, he could care less for. Shazam attempted to join in on the games but they kicked him out because his age. Arguing with his age did not result in him getting in. It just made it miserable on that planet.
Wonder Woman was attempting to rizz up Batman but failing as the man was distracted by his children who were adults. Nightwing was dancing on a pole closeby. Red Hood was laughing his ass off. Batgirl was recording everything.
Aquaman was passed out in a fish tank that Aqualad had brought. Green Martian was chilling on the couch along with some members of the Teen Titans. They were watching Beast Boy and Cyborg duke it out in the game, Mortal Kombat. Both Flashs were speeding around and handing out the special eggnog to right people.
He walked past all of them, hoping that they wouldn’t try to include him in any of their activities. Clark was never that good with people. Years of being almost invisible to others and never really acknowledged do that to a person. Sure, he could report or ask questions in interviews like no one’s business but that didn’t mean he was exactly comfortable about it. He was strange like that.
The only people who he was comfortable with walking up to and talking with were in the middle of something and they weren’t the reason he was here right now. Besides already dropping Kara off, Finding Lex and giving him this gift was the priority.
After a minute or two, Clark finds him. His nemesis was in the corner talking with Green Arrow. They were talking about random life stuff like how Arrow had tried to pop the question to Black Canary but crime kept cockblocking him. Stuff like that. Lex just drank his drink and they laughed like old college friends.
Which Clark suspected(well pretty much knew) was the deal. Probably even younger than that and included Batman too. Those three were like the trio of old money rich boys. There was no way they didn’t know each other before becoming adults.
For some reason, seeing the two together made Clark grip the box harder and closer to him. It made him feel jealous and he knew it stupid. Clark knew about Green Arrow. The archer was probably the 10th person he could trust if anything happened. And he was trying to get with this girl after 47 tries, which he was now going on 48. But still, even if Clark could trust this man, he wanted him to go away. If his gift was rejected, Clark wanted to be able to save some face and not leave feeling publicly shamed.
Almost as his thoughts/prayers were heard, Green Arrow left from Lex’s side, leaving the billionaire alone. It was then when Clark decided to make his move.
“Hey Lex.”, the Kryptonian waved as he floated towards his direction. “Merry Christmas.”
Lex turned and his entire face lit up. “Merry Christmas, Kal.”
Clark stop floating and adjusted himself. He had his feet touch the ground.
”I wasn’t expecting to see you at the party.”, the billionaire continued as he took a sip from his cup.
“Yeah, that’s because I wasn’t invited. I just came to drop Kara off and to give you this.”, the Kryptonian held up the box in his hands.
“Thank you.”, Lex said as he grabbed the box from Clark’s hand. He opened up the box to find a book inside. “English to Kryptonian for Dummies or Billionaire Scientist Businessman Heroes by your best pal, Superman(Kal).”, he read aloud. He look back at lack. “You got me a translator dictionary and wrote it all by hand?!”
“ Yeah, the Fortress AI was pissed at me so you got to do what you got to do.”, Clark subconsciously rubbed his neck. “Figured since you’re a smart guy and interested in this sort of thing that you would like it.
“I love it.”, the billionaire said as he flipped through pages. He looked up at Clark again and said,”Thank you, Kal.”
“You’re welcome.”
The page flipping came to an end when he reached the end of the middle section of the book. On the page there was lots of bloodstains and parts that looked like blood was used as ink. Lex frowned.
“Whose blood is this?”
Clark looked over Lex’s shoulders to better see what he was talking about. Once he saw the blood, he face-palmed. “Goddamnit. I thought I got rid of all that. It’s my blood. I wrote this section after one of our fights got out of hand. Dangnabbit.”
“You were bleeding and your first thought was to write a couple of pages while waited for treatment.”
“Well, Lex, you’d be surprised how much you can accomplish by pure willpower.”
“More like pure stupidity. Kal, you can’t disregard your health like that.”,Lex said before he began on his rant about self care. Clark listened for the first minute before tuning out the familiar speech. Out of boredom, he took a quick glance up to see a mistletoe hang directly above the two of them. His face slowly turned red.
Both Lex and him had both been oblivious to the presence of the plant before and the rest of the league wasn’t as sober to not try and mention it. (That is if they were mature enough)
“Uh Lex, let’s move to the other side. But slowly.”, he said nervously. Clark couldn’t stop looking up at the plant. That stopped Lex’s rant. He tilted his head in confusion and asked, “Why?”
Before Clark could explain, Green Arrow came back, heavily intoxicated, pointed up at the plant above them, and yelled, “Yo Lex, you and Supes are under the mistletoe! Everyone look!”
The adults in the nearby vicinity all faced in their direction. Lex finally looked above him and saw. Clark face-palmed again and looked at that alcoholic beverage in Lex’s possession. He cursed Oliver under his breath.
“That’s why.”, he said belatedly.
“Oh.”
“I guess this is the part where we complete tradition.”
“Yep.”, Lex popped the ‘p’ sound. He stayed where he was and made no moves. Clark gave a shy but quick peck on his cheek. It happened so fast that the billionaire was caught off guard by it. His eyes widened little bit and he saw that Superman pulled away as if he was embarrassed by his actions.
It was crazy how much he wanted another kiss after that one. It was perfect and a complete dream because it was truly sweet. The Kryptonian was dangerous, terrible, did not really predictable. Still, he hadn’t expected him to actually do that.
“No, you got to kiss him on the lips.”, someone who sounded suspiciously like Booster Gold said loudly from within the crowd of viewers. It was then where everyone decided to throw in words of support.
“Do it, playboy!”
“You got this!”
“Kiss the guy!”
They all chanted, “Kiss him. Kiss him. Kiss him.”. Over and over and over again.
Lex made the first move this time, he held Clark’s head and kissed him squaredly on his lips. The kiss was short and sweet. It felt good. Like they could conquer the world. Clark opened his mouth a tiny bit and Lex bite at his lip. The billionaire pushed further but Clark grabbed his arm to stop. He did.
Going further in public around all of these people was a big no no. The reason they couldn’t go further and had to stop before if they got a little too comfortable in public areas, Clark would never be able to show his face again.
Every hero cheers and after everyone stopped for a minute and went about their business. Now they were standing alone together, lips both warm and red from the kiss.
“I should probably go.”, Clark said breaking the silence. “Do you want to stay?”, Lex asked. He didn’t want him to leave. “We could finish what we started. You know with that kiss.”
“Really? I’d love to-“, Clark’s watch beeped. His blood drained. His face fell immediately into a grave and more serious look. “I have to go.”
“What?”
Clark took the filled glass of alcoholic eggnog from Lex and drank it entirely. He handed the cup back and began to levitate off the ground. He kept staring at his watch. “I need to go.”
“Okay? Maybe next time?”
“Maybe.”, the Kryptonian said noncommittal. He flew away as fast as he could. Lex was confused and went to get another shot before Barry approached him.
“Why did he leave so soon? Was it the kiss underneath the mistletoe?”
“No, I don’t think so. His watch started to beep and then he got this look in his face. Sort of like he was distressed.”
“About?”
Lex shrugged. “Who knows? He’s been acting weird ever since Kara’s got that Kryptonite poisoning.”
“Dang. That was almost two years ago.”
“I know. One of these days, I’m getting answers.”
Barry patted him on the back. “Based on what Kara told me and Wally at our family dinner, you aren’t getting those answers for a very, and I mean, very long time.”
“I’m a patient man, Barry.”, he responded but he didn’t sound convincing. The speedster even gave him a disbelieving look as if to say what they were both thinking. “Sure. I’m going to get more eggnog now. You want some?”
Lex looked down at his glass that was emptied by Superman. A person who just wouldn’t give him the answers he needed but still acted like everything was fine. Some trust would go a long way. He glanced at the dictionary translator book in his hand. God, He needed a drink.
“Yes.”