Chapter Text
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Young Justice was firmly situated on the couch in the old farmhouse, squeezed in and nearly falling off the edges of the arms, glancing around nervously at the Christmas tree and decorations.
Superman was standing in front of them, fists on his hips, glaring.
Normally, one would think that this sort of scene would involve the teenagers in question in imminent danger of getting the dressing-down of the century.
Normally.
But this was Lex Luthor's domain.
Thus, said teens all had power-dampening collars round their necks that they were tugging at (or about to have off shortly, assuming someone's lockpicks didn't keep melting...) and the person Superman was glaring at was Lex.
What? read Lex's pose, relaxed and leaning casually against the wall divider between the kitchen and living room. I was helping; you obviously needed it.
Clark glared back a That's not the point! glare, and his fists went from his hips up to a crossed-arms pose that screamed, I could have handled it!
Lex gave him a Lexian eyeroll and pushed off of the wall. Not without breaking my house you couldn't, he all but shot back in the way he shifted his shoulders. He turned and walked back into the kitchen.
"So, um, are you mindcontrolled, or what?" Bart asked Clark.
"No, no, you totally didn't let me explain -- Lex is the one who's mindcontrolled!" Conner burst out, sounding irritated in the extreme.
You could have heard a pin drop.
Instead, Lex's quiet stockinged footfalls across the kitchen floor echoed through the room.
"Um, I mean--" Conner stammered, shrinking away from the looks he was getting from the rest of his team. "That came out wrong..."
Clark didn't need superhearing to hear the huff of silent laughter Lex let out as he puttered about in the next room over, putting on the hot water kettle, probably for making hot chocolate.
The silence was suddenly punctured by a lot of sharp exclamations, demands for explanation, and general confused chatter, which Conner wasn't fielding all too well.
Nearly as abruptly, the group of teens shut up, turned back to Superman as one, and stared at the Defender of All That Is Good And Right in naiive accusation and censure.
"--Why'd you do it?!" Cassie blurted out angrily, speaking for all who wanted to know.
Lex let out a quiet laugh, one that only one person in the world ever heard.
Clark sighed.
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