The Unrightable Wrong

by Korey



Title: The Unrightable Wrong
Author: Korey
fb: dancinguniverse@comcast.net
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Rating: PG-13
Summary: "Some things can't be fixed." Set after Sacred. *

Clark strode up Lex's driveway at normal speed, and found the gate closed, which was unusual, but not terribly so. After all, he hadn't been around a lot lately anyway, so what did he know? Clark rang the buzzer at the gate, and simply said, "It's Clark Kent."

Instead of the gate swinging silently open, there was a pause, and a voice said, "Do you have an appointment?"

"No," Clark replied, puzzled.

"Just a minute, sir."

Clark eyed the buzzer with surprise and waited, and a minute or two later, the gate opened. The front door opened for him as always, but when Clark started down the hallway to Lex's study, the doorman stopped him.

"Mr. Luthor is busy right now. You can wait in the sitting room."

Clark frowned at him, too surprised to be really hurt, to honest to be truly surprised. For a moment, he considered just leaving. "Fine," he said instead, and let himself be led down the hall. Apparently, he lacked even the go-ahead to walk through the house unattended anymore.

It was fifteen minutes before anyone came, and even then it was another of Lex's employees, not lex himself, to say that Lex could spare him a few minutes.

When Clark finally walked into Lex's study, he could see he wasn't done with obstacles. Lex's face was detached, and a third party would never have known they used to be friends.

"What do you want, Clark?"

Clark swallowed. "We need to talk."

Lex leaned back in his chair. "About what?"

Clark walked closer, spreading his hands. "Everything. What happened, Lex? Why can't we just be friends again?"

Lex shrugged. "What do you want to be different?"

"We're not close anymore, Lex. I feel like we can't talk about anything anymore. And why did they act like they didn't know me when I came in today?"

Another shrug. "I tightened security."

"Lex." Clark walked closer. "We just came back from a wild goose chase across the globe, and I don't even feel like we did it together. I feel like there were four people over there, and we were all against each other."

Lex nodded. "You're right. We all had our own reasons. Jason's and Lana's I understand. Let's start with you. Why were you in Shaghai?"

"I went to help Lana."

Lex nodded again. He leaned forward, tapping his fingers on his desk. "That there, Clark? I think that's our problem."

"What do you mean?"

Lex shook his head. "I never expected this from you. I always thought that if there was one person who was honest enough not to lie to me, it was you."

Clark set his jaw. "Why do you do this, Lex? Every time I'm with you, it's like I'm under a microscope, and everything I say gets second-guessed."

Lex looked at Clark unreadably for a minute, and then stood, shoving his chair back in one angry, violent motion. He walked tensely over the minibar, and his voice, when he spoke, was dangerously quiet. "Tell me what you want or leave, Clark."

Clark's voice was loud. "I came to make things better. I want to be friends again, but all I ever get are accusations and suspicion!"

A glass slammed into the table. "Do you think I'm stupid, Clark?" Lex whirled to face Clark. "Suspicion? When you've lied to my face a hundred times over the past four years? Don't you think I'm entitled to a bit of suspicion?"

Clark glared at him. "I can't believe you," he spat.

Lex raised his arms. "Why is that? Go ahead, Clark, feed me some more lies, I enjoy the practice."

Clark shook his head. "I came to fix things."

"Some things can't be fixed," Lex stressed loudly.

"So you just want to give up on us?"

"I don't know how to fix it," Lex admits wearily. "I only see one solution these days, and if you're not going to take it, than I don't know where to go."

"What do you want me to do?" Clark really does sound like he wants to fix things, but Lex has heard it before.

"Tell the truth," he tries one last time, not expecting anything different from any other time. "Tell the truth, or it's over."

"You don't put an ultimatum on friendship, Lex."

Lex wouldn't look at him. "You want to take the moral high ground, go ahead. It doesn't change the outcome."

"Where did we go wrong?" Clark's voice was pleading, and then Lex couldn't look at him.

"Trust, Clark. It was always about trust with us."

Lex kept staring at his computer screen, and after a minute, he heard Clark's footsteps leave the room. Lex watched him leave through the security cameras, canceled his meetings for the rest of the day, and closed his eyes. It had ended now, and he guessed that was the bang. He just hadn't thought it would hurt this much.



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