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Clark hears a door click open above him and Chloe. A moment later, a pretty dark-haired girl descends the spiral staircase of the Talon. Right, Chloe did mention on the drive over that there's an apartment above the cafe. Clark turns back to Chloe to pick up their conversation, only to find her squinting at him like a lab rat that's been particularly slow in locating the cheese.
"Huh," says Chloe.
Some of Clark's memories must still be floating around somewhere within the deeper recesses of his brain, because something about her tone tells him he should be wary. Very wary. "What is it?"
"Not that I'm…happy you're not reacting the way I thought you would as soon as Lana Lang entered your periphery, but I honestly thought the heart would still remember what the mind had forgotten." Chloe sighs. "There goes that romantic notion, I guess."
Clark spares the girl—Lana—a quick glance, but he still can't see whatever it is Chloe's seeing. "Am I supposed to feel something for her?"
"I'm not sure," Chloe tells him, the words tumbling out in staccato, like she's trying to find the right thing to say without lying. "I mean, you've been in love with her for practically your entire life."
Clark raises an eyebrow at that, and turns around to get a better look at where Lana has paused by the entrance to chat with the florist next door. She is beautiful, and has a smile that can light up a room, so Clark doesn't doubt that he had—still has?—feelings for her. But he doesn't feel any differently looking at her than he did the first time he laid eyes on Chloe and Lois after waking up—at least, he can't hear his heartbeat quickening or anything like that—so his feelings must not be that strong.
"If you say so." Clark shrugs.
The next day, Chloe takes him to a mansion—an actual mansion—because that's apparently where his best friend lives.
Clark wonders, not for the first time since he woke up, just what the hell is his life.
"I guess the whole castle thing didn't take off in the neighborhood?" he asks when they're directed by one of the mansion's staff to what looks like a study. If Clark had any lingering doubts that Chloe was playing a prank on him, they evaporated when a security guard at the front gate took one look at them (at Clark, to be specific), and let them through without exchanging a single word.
"I can't believe I'm friends with a billionaire," Clark continues, not quite able to stop himself from staring at all the surrounding luxury.
"Funny, you never seemed that impressed before."
Clark turns in the direction of the voice, and—
Oh.
Wow.
Clark doesn't know what he expected when Chloe told him about the infamous Lex Luthor, but the man standing in front of him is...younger than he thought a billionaire is supposed to be, even if he is, in Chloe's words, a "trust fund baby". Clark wouldn't necessarily say he's the most handsome man he's ever met in his life (not that he would know, anyway, given his current amnesia), but he is probably the most striking—and it's not just because he's bald.
Luthor's eyes, which can't seem to decide whether they're gunmetal gray or sky blue, are looking right into Clark's soul—or at least that's what it feels like, and Clark can't look away. He doesn't think he would even if he could.
Luthor frowns. "Clark? Are you okay?"
Clark's cheeks warm. He shakes his head clear to stop staring. "Y-Yeah, sorry about that, Mr. Luthor," he says, offering what he hopes is a polite smile rather than a deranged one.
He's not sure if his abilities include detecting a person's gaze at his back, but he can feel Chloe staring at him as if she's the one with x-ray vision.
In hindsight, he can see why she wasn't so comfortable with that revelation.
Luthor looks between the two of them before his lovely Cupid's bow lips curl into an amused grin. "It's Lex," he says. "I'm guessing you don't remember, but we kind of dropped the formalities the day I ran you off a bridge."
"I—You did?"
"Yep," says Luthor—Lex, popping the 'p' like bubble gum. "And then you rescued me, gave me mouth-to-mouth, and the rest is history."
Clark's brain gets jammed on the 'mouth-to-mouth' part, and it takes him several seconds to hear Chloe mutter under her breath, "Oh my god, the heart really does remember."
"Pardon me?"
Chloe beams at Lex in a way that even Clark can tell is the furthest thing from genuine. "Sorry, I just remembered something, unlike Clark here." She punches him in the shoulder, about as effective as a feather brushing against his skin. "Speaking of which," she continues, stepping forward so she's now in Lex's line of sight, "I was hoping that you still had your contact at the Summerholt Institute."
Oh, right. That. "Chloe mentioned that they had done some experiments on you," Clark added.
"Yeah, we were guessing that the guy that did this to Clark is undergoing some sort of treatment to have his memory wiped."
Lex takes their explanation in without any hint of judgment, which either means he has an unusually high tolerance for Clark's shenanigans (and Clark is beginning to realize they're a lot more frequent and flat out weird than they should be for any teenager), or that this is just a typical day in Smallville. Clark's not sure which of the two explanations he'd prefer.
"Look," Lex tells them, "I'll make a few calls, see what I can find." He turns away, heading back to the side door he came in from. He doesn’t ask Clark and Chloe to follow him.
Clark learns two things about himself in that moment: one, he does not like being away from Lex, it seems; and two, his big, dumb brain is still capable of making him do dumb things even when it has amnesia.
"Actually, Lex, if you don't mind, could you—I was wondering if we could talk?" he asks.
Lex pivots around, and the look he gives him is incredulous but pleased. Oh, Clark thinks, so that's how it sounds like when my heart skips a beat. "Of course."
"Clark," Chloe interrupts, snapping the 'k' of his name like a whip. "I promised your parents that I would get you home."
"Well, I think I can manage that," says Lex, cocking his head and hips just so to turn the inside of Clark's mouth into a desert.
"It's alright, Chloe," says Clark. "You could use a break from chaperone duty. I'll be okay."
After eyeing them both for a beat, Chloe nods. "Okay," she says before leaving the room with slow, wary steps. Just as she disappears out the door, Clark catches her faint whisper, "Be careful." And then she's gone.
"So," Lex prompts, his grin widening across his face into something more easygoing and genuine. His shoulders loosen, too, and Clark wonders—hopes—it's because of him. "What did you want to talk about?"
Shit. Now that Clark's here, he...has no idea what to do. "Well—uh, I wanted to know more about how we...met. You said you ran me off a bridge?" he blurts out the first thing he can think of.
The brief furrow in Lex’s brow tells Clark he knows it’s a lie (a half-lie, really), but it disappears as quickly as it appears. "At sixty miles an hour," Lex replies as he heads toward a mini fridge by his desk. "It was lucky I didn't actually hit you, otherwise you'd be dead. Not to mention you wouldn't have been able to save my life afterwards."
"Um, wow," Clark gulps, choosing to believe it's because of what he just learned rather than the fact that Lex had just bent over to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. The warmth in his cheeks begins to crawl up to his temple.
Lex straightens up, twisting the lid off as he does. And then he tips his head back as he brings the bottle to his lips, his Adam's Apple bobbing in a hypnotic rhythm as he drinks.
Hot iron pierces the back of Clark's eyes, and he doubles over with a groan at the burst of pain. "Clark?" he hears Lex call out. "What's wrong? Are your memories coming back?"
"I don't know," Clark gasps out. "But—"
The next thing Clark knows, fire begins shooting out of his eyes, because of fucking course it does. He hears Lex yelp, and has enough awareness to keep his head aimed away from his voice, but is otherwise helpless as the heat in his temple intensifies into a roaring inferno.
After what feels like hours but was probably just a few seconds, the heat dissipates. Clark blinks his now dry eyes open to the sight of the mansion's checkered marble floor inches away from his face. He struggles to sit up, but only really manages to roll from his hands and knees into a sitting position. Meanwhile, Lex is already putting out the flames with a fire extinguisher.
Once done, he drops the extinguisher and turns to Clark with a far too blank expression on his face. Only the slight tilt of his head and the way his razor-sharp eyes narrow give away any emotion. He reminds Clark of a bird of prey about to go in for the kill with a peregrine spike. "So, care to explain what that was?" Lex asks in a mild tone.
The words, "I don't know," are on the tip of Clark's tongue, but instinct stops him from responding just yet. Something tells him the brief fires he started will be nothing compared to the inevitable explosion of Lex's anger if he tries to lie to him.
Because, Clark knows, he's done it before—lied to Lex about his abilities, that is. And...he doesn't want to do that. Not anymore.
Be careful, Chloe's voice whispers in his head.
Clark mulls over her warning for a heartbeat before coming to a decision. "I think it's one of my powers," he says. He can almost see the wind go out of Lex's sails as he blinks once, twice in surprise. He savors the brief rush of vindication before continuing, "I don't really remember—I mean, obviously I don't—but...Chloe thinks I'm a meteor mutant."
"Chloe knows." Displeasure pulls the corners of Lex's lips into a frown.
It takes Clark a second to figure it out. "I didn't tell her," he insists. "She figured it out on her own. Anyway—um, so far, we've learned that I can see through objects, have really good hearing, and that I'm stronger and faster than the average person." Clark groans as a thought occurs to him. "Aaand I can apparently set things on fire with my eyes."
Lex nods, and, to Clark's relief, his frown begins to disappear. "Don't forget your invulnerability."
Now it's Clark's turn to blink. "My what?"
"Remember when I said I ran you off a bridge the day we first met? I don't have any solid evidence, but I always suspected I did end up hitting you. Except that you walked away without a single scratch." Lex's eyes take on a gleam that makes Clark's heart ache with both fondness and dread. "Thank you for telling me, Clark. It means a lot to me." Lex smiles.
Clark pushes the dread aside in favor of drinking in that smile. "Of course. I know I must have had my reasons for keeping this from you, but...I don't think that was ever my intention." He feels freer, lighter, as the truth flows out of him. God, what the hell had his non-amnesiac self been thinking, keeping something like this a secret from everyone he cares about? It's enough to drive anyone insane. "You're my best friend, and I trust you. I know you would never betray me," he says, echoing Chloe's own words from the conversation they had yesterday. He means it, too. How could he feel this way about Lex if he didn't trust him with his life?
Something flickers in Lex's eyes, and it's only thanks to Clark's hearing that he is able to detect the soft hitch in his breath. "Lex?"
Before Clark can even blink, Lex is standing in front of him and gripping both of his arms like he's—
Like he's something precious.
"No, I wouldn't." Lex's voice is hoarse, shaky, desperate. "Clark, I promise you that no matter what happens, I'll always protect you and your secret."
His words fill Clark with warm affection. It's nothing like the frantic, blazing heat of...whatever that thing with his eyes was. No, this is a softer, tempered warmth, making Clark think of hearth fires and home.
Yeah, Chloe was definitely wrong about Lana Lang being the love of his life.
The first thing Clark sees when he gets back home from the Summerholt Institute is one of Lex's cars.
The second thing he sees is Lex himself. Clark has to clench his fists as his heartbeat quickens, just a little. He hates that Lex can still make him feel this way, even after everything he's done, but, apparently, not enough to try to run when Lex starts walking toward him.
"Clark, I was just looking for you," he says, and there's a breathlessness in his voice that sparks through Clark's veins. "Congratulations, I heard you got full retrieval." He's smiling now—it's a real smile, too, one that Clark hasn't seen in what feels like years.
"Everything," says Clark, "except the last twenty-four hours."
The smile dims, which...is a surprise. Clark would've thought Lex would be thrilled that whatever happened during the time Chloe left them alone in the mansion was now a secret that only he knows. Plausible deniability and all that.
"I see," says Lex. He turns around, striding to his car without another word. Clark narrows his eyes when he pops the trunk open and hefts a briefcase out, but all he can see inside of it is a laptop. "Here." Lex returns to Clark's side, opens the briefcase, and pulls the laptop out. "It's yours."
Clark looks from Lex to the laptop, then back at Lex. "What is it?"
"This laptop contains access to all of LuthorCorp and LexCorp's databases, as well as my own private network," Lex explains. "Everything you've ever wanted to know about me, my father, my research—it's all in here."
Wait. What?
"Wait. What?" Clark takes a step back, now eyeing the laptop as if it were Kryptonite. "Why are you giving this to me?"
"Because even when you didn't remember who I was, you trusted me enough to share your secrets with me," Lex replies. Clark flinches at the mention of his secrets, but Lex doesn't acknowledge it. "This is the only way I can think to repay you for that trust."
"What exactly did I tell you?" Clark asks as he takes another step back, icy fingers running down his spine. He tenses, prepared to run at the first sign of Kryptonite. He doesn't know where he can go, but if Lex really does know everything, then staying in Smallville will not only be dangerous for him and his parents, but also impossible.
The thought hurts a thousand times worse than all of his previous Kryptonite encounters combined.
Lex's gaze turns knowing and sad. "Will you promise to finish hearing me out before I tell you?"
He knows. Clark wants nothing more than to vomit. He tries to take another step back, but his feet feel like they've been nailed to the ground, so all he can do is jerk his head in a nod. There's really no point in listening to what Lex has to tell him, but at the same time, morbid curiosity is all he has left.
"I know about your strength, invulnerability, speed, and your x-ray and heat vision," Lex rattles off. "At first, I thought you were a meteor mutant, too, like me, but your powers are...different. You're not human, are you?"
A storm roars in Clark's mind, screaming at him to run, run, run. "Lex—"
"It doesn't matter," Lex cuts him off. He sets the laptop down on a fence post, and—
Walks away. Away from Clark. Clark's panic abates a little in the face of his confusion.
"What matters now is you," says Lex, only stopping once he's by his car. Even if he did have some Kryptonite on hand, it won't be able to hurt Clark at this distance. He wonders if this is something Lex knows, too. "I made a promise to you yesterday."
Clark can't help but ask, "You did?"
"I promised I would do everything in my power to protect you and your secret. And part of that means...providing leverage." Lex glances at the laptop before switching his intense focus back on Clark. "I've already terminated a number of projects, but I know from experience that means nothing without proof." Clark can't look away from his gaze—doesn't think he would even if he could. "Think of this as insurance. Whatever you choose to do with it is up to you, but you have my word that, no matter what happens, your secret is safe with me."
The Earth seems to choose that moment to tilt on its axis, causing every brick in the wall they’ve built between the two of them over the last year to crumble. The uncharted lands to which Lex is now taking them terrify Clark in their unfamiliarity. The closest he had ever come to experiencing this sensation was that split second of freefall he felt after leaping off the roof of the Daily Planet building over two years ago.
"You—Why are you doing this?" he asks, helpless as everything he knows about Lex begins to shatter around him, until the distorted funhouse reflection of his former best friend is gone, leaving behind a not-quite-stranger in its place. "You could've kept all of this to yourself—and I would never have known."
Lex smiles. "Trust is a two-way street. And like I said, I wanted to repay your trust in me with my own secrets." He gets into his car. As he starts the engine, he leans out the window. "Clark, when—if you want to talk, I'll be here. I'll wait, as long as it takes."
And then he's gone.
Clark waits, scans the farm in case Lex had brought some hired guns with him, but there's nothing. Just himself and the open skies.
If Dad were here, he'd already be taking a sledgehammer to the laptop, because there is absolutely no way they can trust anything Lex says, much less a 'gift' like this.
But Lex was right—trust is a two-way street, and it's been awfully lonely walking it by himself these last few years.
Clark opens the laptop.