Title: Choices in Chocolate
Fandom: Smallville - Characters, Pairing: Clex
Rating: G - Words: 1046
Type: college, future fic, romance
Warnings: none
Spoilers: none
Summary: Clark wants to get Lex something for Valentine's Day, but doesn't know how Lex feels.

Disclaimer: Only mine in my dreams. ^^ This story was written for free entertainment purposes only and may not be reproduced for profit or altered without permission.

Notes: Oops. Forgot about this one. Sorry. From February, just reposting here.

Originally posted at Clexmas TLDF.
Cross-posted to Archive of our Own.

Choices in Chocolate

Valentine's Day at college wasn't all that much different than Valentine's Day at high school. People went rushing all around, anxious to impress their girlfriends or boyfriends and one could tell the most popular people by who had the most chocolate.

Clark sighed and turned away from the sight of another guy down on his knees holding a box of chocolates out to a girl who looked like she was about to die of embarrassment. In high school, Clark did, once or twice, contribute to the flurry himself, his chocolate for Lana lost in the masses of all her other gifts.

There was nobody in college his attention was focused on, despite the urging from his friends and parents to go out and meet new people. He was meeting them just fine, but none had caught his fancy, and Clark doubted any would.

Thoughts of a certain slender bald businessman flashed through Clark's mind, quite proving his point. There was no room left in his heart for anybody new, as focused as he was upon Lex.

Clark had no idea how Lex felt about him. Lex was as he had always been. Attentive, flirtatious, with the roving eyes and the quirked grins, drinking suggestive water and eating farm-grown fruit. The problem was, he was all that and never more. He flirted up to the line and not a single step over it. Four years now, going on five, and Clark had no idea if Lex actually meant anything by any of it, or it was just his thing with Clark.

The only part that really gave Clark hope was that Lex didn't do it to anybody else. Oh, Lex could be charming and charismatic, flirting with waitresses and socialites alike, but there were smiles that were for Clark alone, focus that he gave to Clark that he gave to nobody else. It gave Clark hope. And made him long for more.

They were having dinner tonight, and Clark wasn't even sure if that meant anything or not. They always had dinner on Tuesday nights, and when Clark had mentioned over the weekend that this Tuesday was Valentine's Day, Lex had just laughed and waved it off. It had been rather funny the way Lex had, a moment later, turned in anxiety to Clark to wonder if he had or wanted to have any other plans. Clark had reassured Lex and they were still on for dinner this night.

Valentine's Day. There should be something special. Something that would declare Clark to Lex or Lex to Clark. Five years was too long for flirting without action. Though to be fair, Lex probably hadn't been sure about Clark for several of those years, what with all the Lana and Chloe talk and the other girlfriends Clark had had as Lex listened patiently.

That thought gave Clark pause. Maybe Lex didn't do anything, because he didn't know about Clark. Clark's heart thumped in his chest as he realized that he could make the move. That perhaps he needed to, that nothing would happen if he didn't.

But what if Lex didn't want him? Clark was gripped with a fear greater than any he'd ever had about his secret. He didn't think he could stand it if Lex laughed at him. No, Lex wouldn't laugh, but a gentle letting down would be just as bad.

It would take every ounce of Clark's courage to do this. Greater than his secret, more important than his alienness. But if he wasn't to spend the rest of his Valentine's Days without romance, he had to try.

Clark ran to a grocery store to do some shopping before he went to Lex's. He turned around in the aisle, looking hopelessly at all the red hearts and chocolate everywhere. Which would really say the truth of his affection more than the others?

"Clark, welcome." Lex opened the door himself instead of waiting for Clark to let himself in. His eyes did the run over Clark's body, pausing briefly at the grocery bag in Clark's hand, but continuing on the travel before ending up back at Clark's face, a smile spreading over his own at the assurance of Clark's continued health and presence.

Shivering, Clark let himself absorb the whole of the effect before he made himself move inside. "Hi, Lex."

Dinner was... strained. It was a little fancier than their normal, but not so much so that Clark was uncomfortable. Every now and again, Lex liked to do something more, and Clark usually let him, enjoying the flights of elegance, just like Lex.

It wasn't the food, it was the tension between them. Lex kept glancing at Clark with a tiny frown between his brows, then would force his skin smooth again. Clark wasn't sure what his own face was reflecting, as nervous as he was.

After dinner, Clark cleared his throat, deciding that to plunge into it would be better than this tension. "Hey, Lex. Time for dessert?"

"Yes..." Lex glanced back towards the kitchen. "I'll go get it."

While Lex was in the kitchen, Clark got out his grocery bag and set up his surprise.

When Lex came back in holding a cake, he looked at the table for a long moment, then he laughed.

Okay, Clark had been a little silly, buying bars and bars of milky ways, herseys, snickers, almond joys, kit kats, and other chocolate traditional and then arranging them in the shape of a heart on the table. But he hadn't thought it was that bad.

Clark's face started to burn, but then Lex set his cake down on a free space by the bottom curve of the heart. The cake was chocolate and had the shape of a heart on it, with a "C + L" on it.

With that, Clark had to laugh too, and he walked to Lex, hands extended. Lex took them in his own and they stared at each other with happy goofy looks upon their faces for the longest time without saying a word.

"Want some cake?" Lex finally asked, his smile in his voice.

"Sure," Clark said, feeling his own smile stretching his mouth. The chocolate bars could wait. They had plenty of time to eat them together now.

END