Sometimes I'm not sure whether Smallville is a heroic epic or a tragic one. There are arcs of all these small victories which add up to grand destiny; and there are ones of little failures, little betrayals that only make for inevitable and spectacular collapse.

Clex is so beautiful, I think, because it's so fragile - Lex wants so much from Clark, and so many little things destroy him. *This* was beautiful too, for all the ways you turned those little things on Clark and let him feel their sting. It seems fair; he's invincible after all, he can take it.

Your Lex here is so aching and vulnerable - so fitting for this point in the series, and the turn you're trying to make. I think you pulled it off, too. I'd love to see where this AU would lead.