NOT LIKE US by herohunter
Summary: The Justice League comes to Lex for help. Bruce discovers a secret romance.
Rating: PG-13
Categories: Slash
Characters: None
Genres: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Published: 08/09/07
Updated: 08/09/07
NOT LIKE US by herohunter
Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Author's Notes:
NOT LIKE US
This is a mistake. A big mistake, the proper tug, unhook the grappling hook and leave.
But he knew that he would not. His black boots were flat on the surface of the building, the grip of his black gloves secured around the thin cord. It had taken him seventeen years to climb that seemingly endless wall of glass and concrete, and he was not about to turn back. An unexpected rush of memories and anticipation made him feel unusually warm under his suit, despite the crisp wind that grabbed and pulled at his cape.
He remembered the first time, when he had soundlessly crawled into the narrow and austere bed and had been overwhelmed by a world of warmth, smoothness and surrender. Lex. Fourteen and as frail as well as fierce and strong.
He swallowed the bitterness of the last time and pulled himself further up. After two years and after Lex's mouth had made him pound on the bed and cry out his name until he collapsed back onto the sheets, Lex had announced it. It was over, he was getting himself expelled from their school on a well-planned bad boy rampage.
One leg over the balcony ledge, then the other, no sound as he did so. The tinted glass door was open, both inviting him and making him become all the more attuned to possible dangers. It just did not seem like Lex Luthor to leave his penthouse fortress unguarded like that.
He had never been in there, but he found it easy to navigate along the elegant rooms and wide halls. Winter garden, two living rooms, sitting room, a movie projection room and finally, the soft yellow glow flickering from inside a slightly closed door. Even as he stood with a partial view of an impossibly organized glass desk, he could hear the crackling of the warming fire and, perhaps…breathing. Raspy and fast, but as soon as his black-gloved right hand touched the wood to open the door further, the breathing stilled, or silenced. He entered the room, instantly aware of a service door to his right, walls of interminable book shelves that reached the ceiling, and a single armchair facing the stone fireplace. Massive and of burgundy leather, over a thick white Flokati rug.
A lean left hand hanging loosely over the armrest, a lavender handcuff unbuttoned and nothing more. Silence. Then a soft moan that sent shivers throughout his entire body and he took two steps forward. Stealthily over the wooden floor. The hand never moved, but there was the low sound of fabric on leather and a black left pant-leg appeared, most of a black sock covered by a red blanket. Another step and his heart was thundering. Ridiculous, as he forgot whatever words he had meant to say. Demands, threats, pleadings? He could not remember. There was another sound in the room then, he could hear it but not identify it right away. Maybe something wet, dull, and repetitive. Slow, and it wrapped around his brain the wrong way.
Leave. Run if you must, and never return here.
Another step forward and he could see the face, almost the profile. Unmoving, eyes closed, the corner of the mouth curled up. One deep breath. He closed his hands in stiff fists and paused his own breathing.
The smooth velvety voice should not have startled him, but it did.
"I wasn't expecting you, Bruce," Lex uttered, quietly. Intensely, he added, "Don't. Stop."
The crimson blanket shifted as Batman took two more steps. As he came to a cold dead stop on the side of the armchair, he discovered that it was not a blanket at all. It was a cape, much like his own, only infinitely different, since the head of pitch black hair rising and falling between Lex's legs was not…his.
He could not breathe, he could not think. The bright yellow letter in the center of the cape moved to Superman's unhurried campaign, and the right pale hand he was able to see at last was only partially visible, buried as it was inside thick raven hair.
"Be right with you, Bruce," the voice said, businesslike, and then a low groan rumbled beneath Lex. Lex was slowly, barely moving his head back, digging his fingertips in the burgundy leather, moaning softly. Forever.
Batman found himself above a rippling mirror of black water. He looked around, unsure of how he had gotten there, squatting on a large wooden crate. He closed his eyes. Had absolutely no recollection of leaving the penthouse. No memory of Lex sitting back, spent for a moment before he leaned forward and gave full reddened lips light kisses and whispered words. He certainly could not remember Lex standing up, zipping up his woolen trousers while Superman stretched lazily over the rug. Lex had not walked, glided over to him and extended a polite right hand at him.
…………
"Mr. Luthor is still abed. I am, however, instructed to bring any of your group immediately to him. If you will be so kind as to follow me."
The trio made its way in silence, and Batman could fix his mind on details that had escaped him that night, six months before. With the help of the tame morning sun, he could, with a mental smirk, identify the valuable paintings and sculptures along the way. He and Lex had always had amazingly similar tastes. Expensive art, solitude, science. And if not for the previous night's beneficent LuthorCorp event, Lex would probably have been up and working even at such an early hour.
Double white doors were opened and the butler was sliding apart heavy curtains, eliciting an angry grunt from the occupant of the oversized four-post bed.
"The Justice League is here, master Lex," the servant announced to the naked back, and Batman could not help but suspect that all was exactly as Lex wanted. When Lex rolled over, sat up and grinned calmly at them, he was certain.
"Ah, my favorite superheroes…" Lex commented, stretching. In a fluid motion, he flung the covers off his legs and stood to his feet. Naked, of course, until the butler extended a light blue silk robe to him and he slipped into it. He thanked the servant, who bowed once and left, and he did not close the garment around himself. He stood in front of Batman, who was on the right, and stared at him fixedly. Non-aggressively but not friendly either.
"I hope you don't run off without a word today, Bruce, like the last time." Lex grinned, so close but never touching. It did not surprise Batman that Lex knew who he was, just like it had not surprised him that night. Lex knew everything. Before Batman could reply but after he squinted his eyes, Lex moved on. Smiled, then, looking up at the slightly taller Wonder Woman, whose own smile was enigmatic.
"Diana. Always exquisite," Lex murmured, leaned into her neck and inhaled deeply. Diana's breasts inflated and deflated dramatically under the tight legendary corset.
"Lex," She replied, and nothing more.
"And always jasmine…" Lex added, straightening, taking her right hand and kissing it.
One brief glance at Superman's chest and Lex was walking away, speaking over his right shoulder. "Please allow me a quick shower, friends, after which I shall be all yours."
As the three brunettes visibly relaxed when Lex disappeared behind an open doorway, Batman tried no to dwell on what had just happened and on all the possible meanings of Lex's final words. All of them.
Wonder Woman moved first, taking a seat at a nearby white chair, crossing one leg over the other and picking up the most recent edition of Forbes off a small side table. After the two remaining men followed her action with their eyes, Batman turned to Superman. They had not discussed their previous encounter at the Luthor penthouse, but Batman felt like explaining his actions, as unlikely of him as that was. He was not noticed. Superman was already moving. Large, confident Superman stepped towards the sound of the running water. When Superman closed the door behind him, Batman went to a window and tried not to clench the sides of his cape too tightly.
……….
"We need your help," Wonder Woman said, standing across the desk from where Lex sat, perfectly relaxed. Superman had chosen a place on the side of the desk, between his companions and his…and Lex. His eyes were on Lex, but the invisible hero mask was on. Unemotional, unwavering, not at all like he had just spent one hour doing -whatever he and Lex had done- in the shower. Batman, next to Wonder Woman, refused to acknowledge the wetter-than-usual look on Superman's gelled hair and the burgundy armchair behind them.
"How may I assist the Justice League?" Lex asked, and Batman forced himself to answer.
"We understand that you have a hidden laboratory where you perform a diversity of experiments, Kryptonite weapons included."
Lex's eyes went to Superman's, then lowered slightly. "Your mouth, Clark…" he retorted simply, and Batman did not think that it sounded at all like a criticism.
Superman's expression flattened. "This is serious, Lex."
It struck Batman how Lex had only used their given names, and not aliases. And how whenever a public face-off with Superman occurred, they only called each other 'Superman' and 'Luthor.' A farce, all of it. He kicked himself mentally for not having noticed before. Or maybe his perspective had been violently altered after he had witnessed 'Superman' suck 'Luthor' into orgasm inside that very room. He went on.
"The Vienna Observatory was the first, but two days ago we had several reports that there is a group of meteors headed towards Earth. Our own equipment has confirmed it. It is moving fast, towards Australia to be exact, but the cluster is so massive that we anticipate that it will alter the planet's atmosphere no later than thirty-six hours after impact. Normally, Green Lantern and Superman would simply meet its trajectory and pulverize the threat. But they cannot, and we believe that no other weapon we have available will achieve a sizeable enough damage at a safe distance for humans."
Lex touched his fingertips together over the desk. "Let me guess. The meteors are made up of gold kryptonite."
Diana discretely gaped at Lex's instant deduction. Batman narrowed his eyes once again, but concluded that he had not, in fact, received inside information. Superman was still Superman. And was speaking next.
"Precisely. GL cannot destroy them and I-"
"Will be rendered powerless upon proximity, I know. I take it that the cluster has probably been in an undetected orbit all this time, seeing that it is more remains of Krypton, and an unknown force pushed it within Earth's gravitational pull?"
The man's brain was amazing.
"Force yes, unknown…no. Long story." Wonder Woman replied. Lex nodded, running his tongue over his teeth behind his lips, and stood up. Walked to a nearby end table and poured himself a drink. Dark amber. Brandy, most likely.
"And we believe that Kryptonite weapons will destroy the meteors?" Lex inquired of Batman after a sip.
"My computer has found no other option."
"Mh. You need to let me have a go at your famed machine one of these days, Bruce." Lex smiled deliberately, like they had not been apart for almost two decades, like he was not -whatever- with Superman, and, possibly, Wonder Woman, too.
"Will you help us, Lex?" Wonder Woman took a step forward, never too fond of politics. Unnecessary question, if she had paid attention at Lex's use of the word 'we'.
"How long do we have?"
"Twenty-two hours." Superman replied as Lex sat back down. The billionaire's gray eyes went to Batman's.
"This being a bilateral endeavor, I'm assuming…"
Batman scowled. "What do you want, Luthor?" Even the impersonality of the Scottish last name burned a bitter trail on Batman's tongue. The ruthless grin that appeared on Lex's lips was one of the features he was mostly known for. The other was his hypnotically charming smile, which Batman also remembered well.
"To become President. In ten years or less."
Superman did not appear surprised. His fists remained on his hips. Wonder Woman, again, caring nothing for politics, impatiently crossed her arms in front of her chest. Batman was glad that his cheeks were hidden, even though his lips became nothing but a faint thin line.
"But you are only thirty-two years old. You'll still be too young in ten years."
"Or less. Not by law."
"How about in experience?"
"Not with the right support."
"Luthor, the League does not participate in or takes sides-"
Lex was on his feet in one cat-like movement. "No, Bruce, not the League." A slow stroll behind Superman, where a pale hand may or may not have traveled across the broad shoulders of the superhero.
"But Bruce Wayne's support just might swing the votes of half a nation, at least."
Batman's eyes widened as Lex came to a stop between him and Wonder Woman. "You live on this planet as well, Lex." That was how tired he felt, he had used the man's damned first name. Nickname, at that.
Lex made an unimpressed face. "Let me set the record straight here. If this plan fails or I refuse to aid you and gold kryptonite particles pollute the atmosphere, Clark becomes like us. And dies."
There was a small pause during which Lex did not move nor blink. But his eyes somehow transformed.
"I don't give a flying fuck about this world without him, Bruce, so I'll help you anyway. I have developed cannons that will fire kryptonite lasers and are likely to do the trick with only minor adjustments. They are at the service of the League as of right now. But I am asking you to reciprocate my assistance to the planet you appear to care so much about. Feel free to refuse, I'm not blackmailing you. I leave that to my enemies."
And what are we, Lex? Friends? Ex-friends? Once roommates and fuck buddies?
"Can I help?" Diana asked, touching Lex's right arm. No suits, no uniforms, no masks. A woman, a man, already a team. Lex gave her a genuine smile.
"If you would like, and are willing to become Lex Luthor's fiancée. Somehow I don't believe that a lifetime relationship with a man, as adorable as he may be, will sit well with voters. Nothing fancy, Diana, public appearances, photographs, that sort of thing. Your secret identity will remain safe."
Lifetime relationship? Adorable??
What rock had Bruce Wayne been hiding under? He knew that Lex and Clark had met years before, in Smallville; he knew a lot of things about Lex. But he had never seen that coming…or was it that he had not wanted to see? Diana was absolutely at ease with all of it.
"I'll do it. Not like it’s a huge sacrifice." She said, returning Lex's smile. Friends.
Bruce shook his head, minimally. It was perfect, really. The world already believed that Superman and Wonder Woman were lovers. Add the magnificent couple that Lex Luthor and Diana Prince would make, and Lex and Clark's secret would become virtually impenetrable.
"Bruce?" Clark asked from his small distance. All Clark now, eyebrows raised and eyes on Lex's shoulders. Bruce exhaled sharply. Clark was asking, and it was for Lex. An absolute no-brainer.
"Of course Bruce Wayne will support your nomination, Lex. As long as you don't try to become a dictator and take over the world."
"Damn!" A fleeting moment of humor, and Lex was spinning on his heels, serious again, speaking to Clark.
"You know where the lab is and all the passwords. Go ahead and get everything running and online. Bruce and I will need to figure out a way to uplink his computer to the lab's without compromising unrelated data. Diana, you will have to coordinate the shipping of materials to be transported to the Watchtower."
"The Watchtower?" she repeated, and Lex nodded.
"I won't fire green or red kryptonite, or both as further tests may determine, through the atmosphere unless I have to. And we'll need two cannons built there, just as a failsafe. Bruce?"
Bruce turned to Lex, interrupting the development, in his mind, of the formula to be applied on the weight change and orbital adjustments of their headquarters in space.
"I take it that your Batplane is nearby?"
A short nod and Clark had Lex's attention again, as well as pale hands on his colorful chest.
"Go, then, Bruce and I will be there as soon as I can. Be ready to issue a televised announcement from either the lab or later, at the Watchtower. We can write it, unless Bruce…"
"Feel free." Bruce cut in, briefly wondering who had appointed Lex the new leader of their group. But he could not contest any decision of his yet either, so he did not protest. Superman was the leader, and Bruce had no doubt that he would take over again when the time came. Right now, Lex was the one with the greatest knowledge and therefore, power.
A mutual movement and one brief kiss on the lips. Superman nodded to his peers and rushed off.
"Oh, and Clark?"
Almost at one of the two windows in the room, Superman looked over his shoulder.
"Try not to bump into any of the red buttons again?"
Clark, looking back, winced. "Gee, Lex, that only happened once!"
Lex shrugged one shoulder to the remaining duo, his face still warmed by his feelings for the man who flew away.
"Almost got himself killed, the big klutz!"
...
Two hours later, inside a Gotham hillside, Bruce, sans cowl, cape and gloves, checked Lex's hand-drawn diagrams on the schematics computer.
"So far, it all looks right," he informed his work partner, who grunted an absentminded acknowledgement as he typed furiously but gracefully. Only Lex could pull off such combination. Bruce did not look away from his smaller screen.
"Lex?"
"Huh?"
"I was a little surprised when you mentioned that Clark already knew the location of your lab."
Right hand holding a yellow sheet of paper, left hand still typing. "Oh yeah, he always has. He himself built most of the vaults, in fact. Who do you think I test the effect of kryptonite on, Bruce? It's all for Clark, about him."
"Then why come to you at all? The League, I mean. Why not just…take us there?"
Lex let out a soft chuckle before he turned slightly to the left to face Bruce.
"Firstly, you forget what a boy scout he is. Unlike you and me, 'any means possible' is the very last chapter in his comportment book. Secondly, he knew that I would help. For him, like I have a choice. Thirdly, bringing me along saves you precious time from having to figure out what I already know about how the rocks can be utilized."
"I see. What do you do there, exactly?"
"We basically test and catalog Clark's resistance and reactions to kryptonite. The more he knows about his own limitations, the better equipped he is to serve your cause. And there are two secured green rock cannons in case Superman…you know, goes irrevocably bad."
"Which is your entire preaching to the world."
"Yeah, my idea. he fought it for as long as he could but he needed a nemesis, and it might as well be someone who does not hate him. I don't mind sounding paranoid and psychotic, it's kinda fun, actually."
"But you would kill him if you had to."
A couple of short nods, the previously amused grin dying instantly on Lex's lips. "He made me promise."
"What about Diana and…that night?" There, he had asked, screw restraint, it was Lex.
"Diana came into our lives soon after the rumor started of the two of them. Clark denied it, of course, but it was driving me crazy with jealousy. So he invited her for a weekend at my ski lodge and I got to know her. I realized that there really was nothing going on between them and we've been friends since then. She's an extraordinary woman."
"Yes, she is," Bruce agreed, then waited. Lex licked his lips.
"You can imagine that Clark knew it as soon as you started climbing the wall of the tower. He told me it was you and asked me why you would be doing that. I didn't know, but I let it slip that we…you know, knew each other before. He went insane, thought you might have come to rekindle our fling. I told him that it couldn't be it, not after all this time, but he was freaking out and I thought that he was going to leave. So I suggested that we could be doing something explicit when you arrived, to kill any doubts in his or your mind, whichever the case was. What we were doing was his idea."
After Bruce asked nothing further, Lex returned to the uplink codes.
You love him. You never loved me, and shunned me when I told you, for the first time, that I loved you. Two years keeping it inside and when I finally whispered it, you left me. Found someone else, someone…perfect.
"You love him." The whispered reality Bruce did not try to prevent, but he bit his tongue to avoid any more words from spilling out of him. The back of Lex's head moved affirmatively.
"I do."
Their eyes met again. Lex smiled, Bruce did not.
"I know it's quite redundant to say it, but there's no one else like him, Bruce. For all the lying and deceiving he has to do on a daily basis, also because of me and my stupid ambitions, there's this part of him that remains so pure, so untainted that it almost hurts me to look at him. It heals me, this…innocence, of all the harm I've ever committed. He goes out on patrols and God only knows what he sees, though I'm sure you have an idea. I deal with despicable deviate bastards everyday, and who can help but be affected by that?"
"Clark does."
"Clark does. He's not like us, Bruce."
No, not like us at all…Lex.
Lex hit five more keys and stood up. "I'm done. One flick of the switch at the lab and we'll be linked, for now. You ready?"
Bruce stood up, grabbed his gear and became Batman again, and thankfully. "Lead the way."
.............
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