Title: New Home
Author:

tallihensia
Fandom: Smallville and crossovers - Main Pairing:Clex (Lex/Clark) (main pairing - Lex/Clark/Chloe implied, plus a bunch of others in the story)
Rating: G - Size: 2137
Type: Silly and Fun, AU and Crossover (sortof)
Warnings: none
Spoilers: general SV (seasons 1-3)
Notes: Welcome to my new journal fic! :)
Summary: Clark and Lex are moving into a new home. They need to make sure it's the right one, where everybody is welcome. :)

Feedback: Comments, critiques, suggestions, etc, all welcome.
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.

New Home

Clark put his book to one side and regarded Lex thoughtfully. Older, but no less handsome, Lex was sitting on the other end of the couch, a laptop sitting on Clark's legs that were on Lex's lap. He was studiously working on something... or perhaps just surfing. Clark couldn't tell from the intensity in Lex's gaze, as the man could bring that same level to mindsweeper as well as to wormhole physics.

Lex looked up. "Is there something wrong, Clark?" He swept the mouse over to put the program on pause, then laid his hand on Clark's leg, stroking over the fabric.

"I was wondering..." Clark figured he might as well ask now; as good a time as any, "Do you think we could get a house together?"

"A house?" Lex blinked.

"Well, it doesn't have to be a house exactly, but some place that's ours."

Lex looked around the family room, at their stuff intermingled together, at the tv, the coffee table with Clark's books and Lex's comic, the walls with a weird mix of thousand-dollar paintings and five-dollar prints. At Clark's legs hanging over his lap.

Clark huffed a bit. "This is nice... but it's the penthouse over LexCorp! Half the time, you wake up in the middle of the night and go straight down to work. The other half, you bring the work upstairs with you. It's part of your work, and I don't think you ever really relax here."

"Having another house probably wouldn't change that," Lex pointed out. He studied Clark carefully. Grown from the gangling teenager with promise, Clark had developed into that promise and was the most handsome man Lex knew. In public, he kept some of that hidden with disguises and meekness, but in their home together, Clark was just Clark. Grown, but still Lex's hero. "You're the one who moved in... was this ever your home?"

Swinging his legs off Lex's lap (Lex rescuing the laptop as Clark did so), Clark shifted over until he was sitting next to Lex, leaning against him shoulder to shoulder. He tilted his head and nuzzled the side of Lex's cheek with his. Lex turned into it and made it a real kiss.

"Of course it is," Clark said softly, drawing back. "You're here. Anywhere you are is my home."

Lex winced at the clichéd statement.

"Hey, just because it's a cliché, doesn't mean it's not true." Clark slumped down and snuggled in next to Lex. "But I want someplace more... more ours. You kindof inherited this too -- I don't think you ever *picked* it as your home."

Discounting the hours and days he'd spend designing it, of course. Lex, though, could see the point. And more important, he wanted to make Clark happy. "Okay. What sort of place do you want?"

... ... ...

That weekend, they went shopping. After parading in and out of a variety of homes and doing the usual internet research as well, they got to one small cottage on the outskirts of town and paused.

"It's adorable."

"And cute."

Lex smiled and walked over to the apple tree in front of the house, where green apples were starting to shade to red. "In a month, we can have fresh apples."

Clark laughed. "Like Mom doesn't send enough over." His grin faded as he watched Lex under there. Then he joined him and drew Lex in close, pressing Lex's body against his as he kissed him.

Lex melted into the caress, returning the kiss and hooking an arm around Clark for support. When Clark let him go, Lex had a silly happy grin on his face. "Does this mean yes?"

"No." Clark shook his head as he looked regretfully around the perfect home. "It's perfect for you and me, and just you and me, happy together. But that's not all we are."

"It would be a bit exposed for your get-aways," Lex admitted, eying the place for security and not finding much he could work with.

"Or your labs -- I fully expect the midnight roamings to continue."

"And there's no place for our friends," Lex concluded, putting the door on that little home.

... ... ...

Lex looked around, up and up at the vaulted ceilings, squinting down the long hallway, wincing at the brightness of the white paint. "It's a little... ostentatious, don't you think?"

Clark looked at him in disbelief. "You lived in a *castle* in Smallville!"

"That wasn't exactly my choice," Lex pointed out. He'd always thought the castle was a bit over the top. No, more than a "bit"; a hell of a lot over the top.

Clark's face fell. "You didn't like the mansion."

"That's not what I said," Lex promptly jumped to recover, even if it's what he meant. "It became a home, especially with you there, and your friends and your family. I will always treasure our times there, and I love going home there with you now. But it didn't start that way."

"Your family too," Clark said, dropping the other subject.

... ... ...

They looked at each other, eyes speaking volumes. Then they turned and walked out.

"But what was wrong with *that* one?" the frustrated real estate agent asked.

"Too normal."

... ... ...

"And you thought the mansion was too ostentatious?" Clark looked around the reconverted half-block in disbelief.

Lex rolled his eyes. "It was a *mansion*," he said as he eagerly prowled through the rooms.

"So's this!"

"This *was* a mansion over a hundred years ago, which was converted into an apartment complex, and that we're reconverting back to a home."

"It's huge!"

Lex stopped on the third floor and walked over to the window. "This could be the living room. Doesn't it have a great view of the park?"

Clark joined him, glancing out at the city park across the street where families were gathering for mid-day relaxation and fun. He could feel the ever-present tension in Lex softening at the sight. And he admitted to himself that he liked it as well. Superman always saw the horrors and the disasters. Taking the time to look at the daily joys of life was something that he treasured. If they had this room for their's... he could see it every day and remind himself of what he stood for.

"We need the extra room for all your friends," Lex leaned back comfortably into Clark, who automatically encircled him in his arms. "Instead of guest rooms, they'll be *their* rooms. We could redo a set on the bottom floor for your parents, so that when they come, it'll always be theirs. No putting things away and making them feel like their imposing."

"And if they're on the first floor and we're on the fifth, you can still run and hide when Dad brings out the shotgun," Clark teased.

Lex laughed. He and Jonathan got along fine nowadays, but they ribbed each other all the time about the early uncomfortable beginnings. "And a room for Chloe for when she's between Jimmy and Oliver."

Clark raised an eyebrow, "She won't share ours?"

"Only if she wants to." Lex grinned. Chloe was a very good friend still. Very good. Though she was fiercely independent and made sure all the men in her life knew she was. Any home of theirs also had to be a home for her.

"On the other side of the courtyard, that half of the building can be made over into labs and research stations for both of us."

"Both of us?"

Lex snorted. "You are not spending all that time talking with the AI when you come home late from the Fortress. If you do some of the work here..."

Clark held Lex closer. "We'll still be together."

"And we can put escape routes in underground and side walls in so if you need to make quick disappearances, they won't be noticed."

Clark nodded, looking around with x-ray vision. It was still a bit on the large side... but they would quickly fill it up, he was sure. And not just Lex, but his own things as well. And yes, he did come with a lot of friends, who had become Lex's as well. Knowing that there was a place for them, that they would always be welcome, Clark felt happy. They had their own lives, and probably wouldn't be over often, but they could know that Clark and Lex would always welcome them.

Disengaging from Lex, Clark started exploring. Lex followed at his side.

"Hey, Lex! I've got this idea for a ZPM recharge, what ---"

"Not now, Rodney," Lex said, rolling his eyes at the figure who had appeared in the hallway. "Maybe some other time -- Clark and I are busy at the moment."

Rodney's face fell. "Sheppard and Ronan are off doing something warrior-like that involves a lot of pain. I thought we could work on it now."

"Later," Lex promised. "How about if you see if Dex is around? He's probably come up with a few ideas since the last time we got together."

"Good idea!" Rodney vanished.

Clark let the breath he'd been holding out and turned to look at Lex, folding his arms across his chest.

"Oh," Lex said innocently, "Did I forget to mention that this location also crosses over a dimensional barrier?"

"I don't think you did."

Lex grinned, unrepentant. Then the look softened. "All our friends are welcome. No matter who, no matter when, no matter what."

That was not something that Clark ever wanted to disagree with. He wrapped Lex up in his arms and showed Lex just how much he approved of that.

"Clark, I just wanted--- Oh!" The young blonde girl in pigtails and the short sailor skirt outfit blinked out again with a blush on her face. They could still hear her voice in the background. "Sorry, Mina, we'll have to try somebody else -- Superman was busy."

Clark drew a little ways away from Lex, "Can we tone that rift down a bit?"

Lex grinned. "Of course." He pulled Clark back to him, pausing just before their lips met. "But isn't this more fun?" Lex moved in the rest of the way, and Clark forgot to worry.

... ... ...

The party was in full swing. Everybody was there for the House Warming. Clark's parents, in from Smallville, proud of both their sons. Lex's dad too, sulking around on the sides and trying to get somebody to take over the world with him. Lucas was in the poker room with Catwoman and the Flash, and wasn't that just the oddest trio? Batman was trying not to hover, and Robin kept sneaking alcohol into the black bat's drink when he wasn't looking. Lana and Whitney had come, still radiantly happy after all these years together. Whitney had come back after the war surprised to learn he'd been reported as dead, and they'd reconnected after some time of getting to know each other again. Pete and his lady of the day were also there, looking elegant. Clark suspected that the environmental lawyer Pete was currently seeing would eventually be the one he would settle with. Pete had a respect for brains and attitude that his mother the Judge had drilled into him and that being friends with Chloe had only sharpened. Even Helen and Desiree were there, off talking shop comfortably while all the men in the room gave them a wide berth. Everybody from their past and some from their future. All claws in at the moment for the party, though who knew what would happen after it was over.

Fuzzy around the edges but still there were the dimensional friends shared in the universe. Joe and Dex and Frankie, mingling with the party but always coming back to each other. Ranma and Ryoga, who actually had gone out to the gym to spar, but they could hear some sounds of destruction as well -- at least it wasn't *really* in this universe. Hiei sat on a windowsill while Kurama and Yusuke watched him from across the room while they talked with Ios and Sword. A blue police box sat in one corner of the room. Others also kept fading in and out as they popped in and then returned to their own adventures.

"Everybody is welcome," Clark said softly, his arm around Lex, who in turn had his around Chloe.

"Always," the other two agreed.

"Want to ditch this party and go flying?" Clark asked, grinning.

With a laugh, Chloe turned them down and wandered back into the party for another drink and to talk to Lois.

Lex smiled his agreement, and shortly, he and Clark were gone from sight, to enjoy themselves not in quite as public a view.

The party went on. With everybody welcome.

End

Trying this out. Yes? No?
[Poll #1497397]