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Lex stands in front of the mirror, his hand shakily dabbing the blood that’s collected under his nose gently with a cloth. Hissing in pain and wincing each time the now red stained fabric touches his skin as he tries to clean himself.
“I still can’t-ah-believe you let her hit me, Wilson.” Lex chirps, the forced solemnity in his voice wavering as he yelps in pain. His eyes slowly shift to the side, trying to catch Slade’s eye in the reflection of the mirror. While his grey eyes don’t catch the amber of Slade’s one, his ears do catch the snicker that leaves the bodyguard’s lips.
“Oh please. Heh. You’re fine.” Waving his hand dismissively as he looks anywhere but Lex’s direction, Slade shrugs his shoulders before he continues. “It’s not like she actually fucking hurt you.”
The blood adorning Lex’s upper lip and under his nose beg to differ. A dull ache that radiates from the bridge of Lex’s nose forces a few insignificant tears to form in his eyes, though he’s keen to ignore the display. The tips of his fingers brush along his nose gingerly, even delicate and featherlight touches almost too much to bear.
“She punched me, Slade! My nose is bleeding and she cut the side of my face with her ring! I wouldn’t call that fine!”
Blowing air passed his lips as he shakes his head, Slade saunters over to stand closer to Lex, his eye scanning for any signs of break to Lex’s nose.
“It’s not broken so quit your bitching.” Flippant and harsh, Slade’s words are accompanied by a strong hand smacking against Lex’s back. The shorter male jolts forward before he whips his head to the side to glare up at his bodyguard, the one that failed miserably at protecting him.
“I pay you to be my bodyguard! Why the hell did you let her get close enough to punch me?!”
Slade’s bottom lip juts outward, a mild scowl across his face as he cocks an eyebrow upwards.
“Are you fucking stupid? She didn’t hit you hard enough to give you a concussion, Luthor. Take a wild guess why.” Slade raises his arm weakly, his left arm still pathetically confined to a sling from a prior fight, one that Lex had a front row seat to.
Lex doesn’t let his gaze linger on the sight, he knows damn well what happened between Slade and Henshaw but doesn’t think that is a good enough excuse. He’s seen Slade absolutely demolish someone without both arms, so he doesn’t think his non-dominant arm being out of commission is a good enough reason for the inaction.
“She’s like 5 foot, Slade! You didn’t need both arms to defend me! You could have easily stopped Lane before she assaulted me.”
Slade scoffs realizing that Lex missed the point. He absolutely could have dealt with Lois without an issue with just one hand. That’s not the reason he let her do it. Not by a longshot. But if he can fuck with Lex’s ego before he reveals the real reason he isn’t about to deprive himself of some fun at his boss—and boyfriend’s—expense.
“She’s like 5 foot, Luthor! I didn’t think I had to defend you from a girl scout!” A smirk replaces the sneer as Slade tilts his head to the side, sass lacing every word as he watches Lex’s hurt ego reveal itself.
“I shouldn’t have to defend myself! That’s what I pay you for! She hit me and it’s your fault!” His nose scrunches and his lips tense into a tight line, his brows furrowed as he looks away from Slade. Lex tried to bite back down the venom in his voice but failed, his voice cracking as he got just a little too worked up responding. His cheeks redden with embarrassment as he hears Slade cackle, each chuff bolstered with a short snort.
“Awww! You get hit by a girl and you finally go through puberty?! Did your balls just drop too, Lex?” Slade’s taunts only enraging Lex more.
“I’ve already gone through puberty, Wilson! I’m just pissed off at you! I pay you for a service and I expect it to be delivered! Just because you're a bit hurt doesn’t mean that I should accept you doing your job!”
Slade waits, watching as Lex’s eyes go wide and his cheeks puff out as he berates Slade on his lackluster performance. Each time Lex tosses his head to the side or shakes his head just a little too, more blood drips and runs from his nose, though the ‘injured’ man doesn’t seem to notice. Slade had honestly checked out, his mind unfocused as he just waits for Lex to finish.
Catching his breath, Lex goes to start again but Slade interrupts before he can. “You done yet, you whingey little bitch?” It’s a rhetorical question so Slade isn’t expecting an answer, especially not as he forces Lex’s head up and backwards.
“ACHK! Hey! Whwa-what are you doing?! You aren’t supposed to tilt your head back!” Lex tries to force himself upwards but Slade won’t relent. The auburn haired male forced to sit down on the toilet as Slade tends to him.
“Shuuuuuut the fuck up.” Dragging out the first word, Slade lets Lex sit forward just enough so his head isn’t tilted back but still forces him to look up at him slightly. Lex’s still tear riddled eyes wide as he looks up at Slade through his bangs with doey eyes. “Oh don’t you fucking give me puppy eyes, Luthor. You’re not that hurt, it’s just your damn pride.”
“It…It does hurt…” Muttering as he lets the man work, Lex watches the wet cloth in Slade’s hand before it gently dabs at the blood on him.
“Yeah, I bet. Getting popped in the nose hurts like a bitch when someone means it.” Slade’s words grow softer in volume but venom does slip between his lips as he continues. “So does getting thrown into the fucking ceiling…”
For someone so smart it took far too long for everything to click in Lex’s mind.
“Oh-oh…” Lex waits for Slade to finish before he probes further, the time he’s forced to sit through being used to study Slade’s hurt arm. Still carefully tucked in the sling, Slade makes sure to keep the injured limb tucked close to his chest as he tosses the used rag into the hamper towards the door of the bathroom. The ordeal being replayed in Lex’s mind as he watches Slade.
The fight Slade endured with Henshaw was rough.
Intense.
Brutal.
Each blow and toss Henshaw laid upon Slade was mostly taken by suit, though the protective wear took too much damage towards the end there. Slade took the brunt of the throw to the ceiling and the subsequent fall to the floor vastly underprotected. The collision with the floor is what broke his arm but what hurt most was how long it took for Lex to step in.
It wasn’t until Henshaw went in for a cheap shot for Slade’s face while he was on the floor that Lex put a stop to it. Slade having to fend for himself as he rolled over, the deep ache in his chest as he struggled to breath and the excruciating pain spreading from his arm all that could focus on as he staggered to his feet.
All that could have been avoided if Lex had stepped in earlier. He probably would’ve let it go on a little but if he knew Slade’s suit was going to take that much damage he would have stopped it after the first slam of Slade’s body against the floor, the man having been thrown around like a ragdoll that entire fight.
That was a few weeks ago and Slade’s still recovering.
“Slade, I..I…” Lex struggles, trying to find the words to start that conversation but his mouth snaps shut when he gets a stern slap to the back of the head.
“Don’t you fucking start. We’re not having a heart to heart over this. You let me get thrown around like a fucking squeaky toy by a rabid dog and I let Lane get a hit on ya. We’re even.”
Lex’s hand shoots up to rub the back of his head, the tears that had collected in his eyes rolling down his cheeks lightly, not from pain but simply because he blinked a little too hard and they decided it was their time to shine.
“I was just going to say sor-WAIT! You what?!” Lex’s apology is cut off and his jaw drops as he looks up at Slade shocked. “You let her do it because you wanted a get back?!”
“You’re damn right I wanted a get back! You let Henshaw absolutely beat my ass! You had a fist coming, and not the fun way! I saw Lane going for it so I just let it happen.”
Lex wants to be mad. He wants to tear Slade a new one for this but unfortunately he can’t exactly argue. He did let Hank go too far but it’s not like he wanted it to happen!
“I didn’t think you’d take that much damage from it! I thought you could handle it a little more than you did, I’m sorry!”
“I said we aren’t apologizing! You let Hank whip my ass and I got hurt! I let Lane puch you and you got hurt! Even! Done! END OF DISCUSSION!” Slade turns on his heel and points at Lex sternly, his face serious and his shoulders square as he makes the demand.
Lex puts his hands up defensively, submitting to whatever Slade declares to be the end point of the conversation.
“Good! Now get off the damn toilet, you still owe me a few more upgrades on my suit.” Slade opens the door and heads out, not waiting around to see if Lex follows—though he knows he’ll be on his heels any second now.
“I already upgraded your suit!” Lex calls out, his voice echoing gently off the tile of the bathroom before he stands up and goes to leave. As he passes the mirror, a small flash of color near his bottom lip catches his eye. “I thought he got all the blood off…” Lex internally scolds Slade’s sloppy attempt but stops mid thought when he gets a good look of his cheek in the mirror.
Lex’s tired grey eyes land on a neon orange bandage that’s now covering the small cut Lois ended up giving Lex during their scuffle. Lex raises his fingers to gently touch the bandage that he couldn’t even remember Slade putting on him. The bright hue contrasted starkly against Lex’s pale skin.
“When the hell did he…” Lex wonders out loud softly, his back straightening as he stands up taller before he leaves the bathroom. Setting his pace to a light jog, Lex quickly catches up with Slade before he dares to ask about the bandaid he gave him. “What’s this about?” Lex asks, a small grin on his face as he points to his cheek.
“What about it? You’re such a baby that you’d probably cry all night if I didn’t put a bandaid on your booboo.” Slade taunts, shoving Lex lightly with his good arm trying to ignore Lex’s stupidly enthused face.
“I thought this was supposed to be your get back. Kinda weird you’d do that since this was your little taste of revenge.”
“Fuck you, Luthor. You’re lucky I still like you after the shit you pulled.” Slade gets in the elevator to go down to the lab, Lex right behind him as he keeps poking with his taunts.
“I still like you too, even though you let Lois hit me. Kinda shitty thing for a bodyguard to do, Wilson.”
“Oh, shove it Luthor. You got what was owed to you, even if I’m not the one you paid up to.”
“Did I?! She hits hard you know! Plus the ring hurt…”
“HA! If you think that’s bad try hitting the ceiling then falling to the floor! That shit hurts. All you got was a slap, that’s nothing. Karma gave you yours but you got off fucking easy, Lex!”
“Doesn’t feel like I did…” Lex mumbles as he rubs his cheek, clearly playing up the pain just to tick off Slade more.
“You little shit…” Slade grabs Lex with his good hand and pulls him closer, taking a quick cursory glance to make sure Lex really isn’t in anymore pain before he does anything else. Once he’s satisfied that Lex really was just hamming it up, he bends down to press a gentle kiss to the bandaid on Lex’s cheek.
“Now that I am owed…” Lex starts, the corners of his mouth ticking upwards slightly when he sees Slade roll his eye and smirk down at him.
“Ohhh…I think you’re owed a little more than that, Mr. Luthor…”