Fic - repost from sv_undercover
Jul. 26th, 2005 09:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arysteiaTidying up various entries, and it occurred to me I never posted this here. It was written for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sv_undercover last year. The challenge was to write something to do with a proposition. I wanted to avoid all the obvious marriage, sexual and business connations and come up with something else.
Met U Blues
"So, to sum up. If the Peace of Kallias was signed at all, it was likely…"
A shrill ring pierced the silence. Committed majors, bored seniors who'd stumbled into the wrong course looking for easy credit, and a few confused exchange students turned as one to face the back row, where a young man in jeans, a black pullover and a baseball cap was fumbling in his pocket and struggling to get out of the row. Professor Davidson's wrath when interrupted mid-flow by cellphone was legendary, outside the department as well as in. The boy tripped over something below his line of sight, disappearing momentarily before handing a pinch-faced blonde girl her slightly crushed handbag.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, the sound carrying wonderfully in the state of the art lecture theatre, considerately looped for the hearing impaired. "I thought it was on vibrate."
"Get out." Harder to place that mumble, though odds were on the tall, good-looking boy sliding down in his seat, face flushed with embarrassment.
"It's the red phone. I have to take it."
"Just get out."
The first boy reached out a hand to touch the other's shoulder, then thought better of it and bolted for the door.
All eyes swung back to Professor Davidson, who was standing in uncharacteristic silence, staring after the fleeing student with an odd look on his face. He visibly shook himself, flipping through the notes he never used, before returning to the lecture he'd no doubt given a thousand times before. The end of the hour ticked round mercifully quickly, and the students filed out, disappointed at being deprived of their spectacle but glad that for once there was no weekend reading.
Davidson stopped the young man at the door. "Mr Kent, isn't it?"
"Clark. Mr Kent's my dad."
"Clark then. I haven't seen you in any of my classes before."
"No, I'm a first year. I only started this semester."
"Ah. And the young man with the phone. Is he a friend of yours?"
"What?" The boy looked around wildly. "No. I don't know him. I just met him in the cafeteria."
"I see. Well, university is a great place for meeting new people. I'm interested though… This is a third year course, Clark. How did you get in without the prerequisites?"
Clark shuffled and looked embarrassed again. "I applied for an exemption. I've done a lot of reading, and a friend of mine's done all the junior courses, he went over his notes with me, and I…" He trailed off lamely.
"A friend you met in the cafeteria?"
"No! No, a friend from my hometown, and I… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lied to you. He just wants to take the course and not cause a fuss."
Davidson laughed, belying his reputation as the faculty martinet. "Then tell him to make sure the phone is set to vibrate next time, Clark. I don't mind adult students slipping out when they have to, but I do mind having class interrupted."
"I'll do that."
"Oh, and Clark? Welcome to Metropolis University."
*****
Clark was sitting up in bed when Lex got home that night, coffee mug poised precariously as he typed one handed on his laptop, hardcover texts piled high on Lex's side. "Don't move those!" he snapped, without looking up.
"Do I get to move them when you're done? Or am I sleeping on the couch tonight?"
"That depends. Was there a catastrophic meltdown at Lexcorp this afternoon?"
Lex sighed. "No."
"Then I guess the couch it is."
"I'll write your term paper for you."
"I've already finished."
"I'll do that thing on the vase you showed me in closed reserve."
Clark at least looked up at that, a flicker of interest crossing his face, but it died quickly, and Lex's hopes with it. Sighing deeply, he grabbed a pillow and a copy of Thucydides, and walked back out to the lounge.
*****
A sharp elbow suddenly collided with Clark's ribs, surprising rather than painful, causing him to gasp and gouge a hole in the laminated bench top. He glanced over to the next seat, where Lex was operating his PDA with one hand, and continuing to scrawl notes with the other. Nothing if not a multi-tasker. A row of capitals appeared beneath the neat paragraphs. I NEED TO LEAVE NOW. Clark sighed, and stood up to let Lex out. The rest of the row was empty, silent witness to the frequency with which these exits occurred. Professor Davidson lectured on, seemingly oblivious, but once again he caught Clark on the way out. "Tell your friend he's going to fail terms if he misses any more classes, Clark. Better yet, tell him to come see me. Office hours are posted on my door."
*****
Lex met Clark for dinner at their favourite restaurant. "I guess I'm sleeping on the couch again?"
"Course not, Lex."
He breathed a sigh of relief.
"You'll have your bed all to yourself. I'll be in my bed, at the dorm."
"Clark, wait…"
"I have an assignment to finish. I know I encouraged you when you wanted to sit in on some of my classes, and I really did think it was great when you decided to finish your BA, I know how much you regretted dropping it when you went to Princeton. But this is ridiculous. I can't keep covering for you. I'm beginning to wonder how you ever graduated."
Annoyance replaced contrition. "I run a company, Clark! I have more on my mind than most of your classmates."
"Don't even, Lex. Almost everyone in my class works, and they don't have the luxury of being able to delegate. They work their shifts. They just schedule them around class.
Lex sighed, and finished his asparagus. Looked like it was the only phallic object he'd be getting his hands on, or mouth round for that matter, any time soon.
*****
It took a military operation of truly Alexandrine proportions, logistics planned with the utmost precision, but Lex not only attended all remaining lectures, he also managed to stay put for the duration of the final exam, even dutifully handing over his cellphone. The red one. The moment the invigilator called time, however, he bolted for the door and across the flyover to the library, to the locker they shared. Clark trailed in his wake, remembering their initial conversation, and how this was supposed to give them more time together, not less. He found Lex in the stairwell, pulling his sweater over his head.
"The toilets are all full." Lex sighed. "Everyone must have been skulling powerade during their exams. Undergrads."
Clark shook his head, and began unbuckling Lex's belt. "It's too bad you have to rush," he murmured, leaning in to kiss him lightly on the lips. "I think that exam went really well."
Lex grinned. "I've been out of touch for three hours. Gabe will already have had a breakdown. And it did go well. One more hour won't hurt…"
A sudden cleared throat broke the spell. "If I could get past, gentlemen…"
They broke apart in horror, Lex dropping his suit bag.
"Professor Davidson! This isn't what it looks like." Clark gulped and cast around for a plausible excuse.
"Oh?" Davidson smiled, a knowing smile that reminded Clark oddly of Lex, and Lex of his father. "I think this is exactly what it looks like."
Lex to the rescue. Ineffable charm and razor sharp mind. "Two students having sex in the library stairwell?"
"I did go here, son." Davidson shook his head. "And anyone who's been here more than a semester knows that students have sex in the basement stacks. No, I think this looks like Lex Luthor changing out of his student gear and into his work clothes."
Lex deflated visibly. "You recognised me? You remember me?"
"You were the brightest student I'd taught in years, Lex, before your ignominious departure. I remembered you the first day I saw you. And I went to school with your mother. I recognised her maiden name on your enrolment form. It wasn't hard to put two and two together."
Lex sighed. "So I guess all the skulking round, and sneaking past your office, and getting Clark to hand in my assignments wasn't really necessary?"
"No it wasn't. I wish you'd just come to see me." Lex could hear Clark chortling maniacally in the background, and psychically chalking one up for honesty. "For what it's worth, I was very sorry to see you go. I still have a copy of your thesis proposition. It was outstanding."
"Oh. I, ah…" Lex was almost at a loss for words. Most uncharacteristic. "Thank you. I was really sorry not to finish it."
"I think you should reconsider your decision to attend this course next half, however. It's obvious you can't commit the time required."
"No." Lex hadn't felt so disappointed in a long time. "I can't. I just really missed it. And I've loved being back."
"But I'll be happy to supervise your thesis. I expect a revised proposition on my desk by Friday."
*****
Lex turned to Clark, on a roller coaster high but expecting a very rude return to earth. Thank heaven their couch was comfortable. It looked like he was going to spend the rest of his life on it, or at least the rest of the academic year.
Instead, Clark was positively beaming. "So, Lex… I've never been down to the stacks. Do students really have sex down there?"
Lex shrugged. "Far be it from me to disagree with the expert. I've learned a little modesty since I was here the last time."
"Have you done it?"
Another shrug. "Evidently I wasn't here long enough."
Clark's grin was positively demonic. "Wanna try?"
Lex was still recovering from that one as Clark brushed past him. "I'll meet you down there," he called back over his shoulder. "I'm going to swing past closed reserve. I want that print."
sv_undercover last year. The challenge was to write something to do with a proposition. I wanted to avoid all the obvious marriage, sexual and business connations and come up with something else.Met U Blues
"So, to sum up. If the Peace of Kallias was signed at all, it was likely…"
A shrill ring pierced the silence. Committed majors, bored seniors who'd stumbled into the wrong course looking for easy credit, and a few confused exchange students turned as one to face the back row, where a young man in jeans, a black pullover and a baseball cap was fumbling in his pocket and struggling to get out of the row. Professor Davidson's wrath when interrupted mid-flow by cellphone was legendary, outside the department as well as in. The boy tripped over something below his line of sight, disappearing momentarily before handing a pinch-faced blonde girl her slightly crushed handbag.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, the sound carrying wonderfully in the state of the art lecture theatre, considerately looped for the hearing impaired. "I thought it was on vibrate."
"Get out." Harder to place that mumble, though odds were on the tall, good-looking boy sliding down in his seat, face flushed with embarrassment.
"It's the red phone. I have to take it."
"Just get out."
The first boy reached out a hand to touch the other's shoulder, then thought better of it and bolted for the door.
All eyes swung back to Professor Davidson, who was standing in uncharacteristic silence, staring after the fleeing student with an odd look on his face. He visibly shook himself, flipping through the notes he never used, before returning to the lecture he'd no doubt given a thousand times before. The end of the hour ticked round mercifully quickly, and the students filed out, disappointed at being deprived of their spectacle but glad that for once there was no weekend reading.
Davidson stopped the young man at the door. "Mr Kent, isn't it?"
"Clark. Mr Kent's my dad."
"Clark then. I haven't seen you in any of my classes before."
"No, I'm a first year. I only started this semester."
"Ah. And the young man with the phone. Is he a friend of yours?"
"What?" The boy looked around wildly. "No. I don't know him. I just met him in the cafeteria."
"I see. Well, university is a great place for meeting new people. I'm interested though… This is a third year course, Clark. How did you get in without the prerequisites?"
Clark shuffled and looked embarrassed again. "I applied for an exemption. I've done a lot of reading, and a friend of mine's done all the junior courses, he went over his notes with me, and I…" He trailed off lamely.
"A friend you met in the cafeteria?"
"No! No, a friend from my hometown, and I… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lied to you. He just wants to take the course and not cause a fuss."
Davidson laughed, belying his reputation as the faculty martinet. "Then tell him to make sure the phone is set to vibrate next time, Clark. I don't mind adult students slipping out when they have to, but I do mind having class interrupted."
"I'll do that."
"Oh, and Clark? Welcome to Metropolis University."
*****
Clark was sitting up in bed when Lex got home that night, coffee mug poised precariously as he typed one handed on his laptop, hardcover texts piled high on Lex's side. "Don't move those!" he snapped, without looking up.
"Do I get to move them when you're done? Or am I sleeping on the couch tonight?"
"That depends. Was there a catastrophic meltdown at Lexcorp this afternoon?"
Lex sighed. "No."
"Then I guess the couch it is."
"I'll write your term paper for you."
"I've already finished."
"I'll do that thing on the vase you showed me in closed reserve."
Clark at least looked up at that, a flicker of interest crossing his face, but it died quickly, and Lex's hopes with it. Sighing deeply, he grabbed a pillow and a copy of Thucydides, and walked back out to the lounge.
*****
A sharp elbow suddenly collided with Clark's ribs, surprising rather than painful, causing him to gasp and gouge a hole in the laminated bench top. He glanced over to the next seat, where Lex was operating his PDA with one hand, and continuing to scrawl notes with the other. Nothing if not a multi-tasker. A row of capitals appeared beneath the neat paragraphs. I NEED TO LEAVE NOW. Clark sighed, and stood up to let Lex out. The rest of the row was empty, silent witness to the frequency with which these exits occurred. Professor Davidson lectured on, seemingly oblivious, but once again he caught Clark on the way out. "Tell your friend he's going to fail terms if he misses any more classes, Clark. Better yet, tell him to come see me. Office hours are posted on my door."
*****
Lex met Clark for dinner at their favourite restaurant. "I guess I'm sleeping on the couch again?"
"Course not, Lex."
He breathed a sigh of relief.
"You'll have your bed all to yourself. I'll be in my bed, at the dorm."
"Clark, wait…"
"I have an assignment to finish. I know I encouraged you when you wanted to sit in on some of my classes, and I really did think it was great when you decided to finish your BA, I know how much you regretted dropping it when you went to Princeton. But this is ridiculous. I can't keep covering for you. I'm beginning to wonder how you ever graduated."
Annoyance replaced contrition. "I run a company, Clark! I have more on my mind than most of your classmates."
"Don't even, Lex. Almost everyone in my class works, and they don't have the luxury of being able to delegate. They work their shifts. They just schedule them around class.
Lex sighed, and finished his asparagus. Looked like it was the only phallic object he'd be getting his hands on, or mouth round for that matter, any time soon.
*****
It took a military operation of truly Alexandrine proportions, logistics planned with the utmost precision, but Lex not only attended all remaining lectures, he also managed to stay put for the duration of the final exam, even dutifully handing over his cellphone. The red one. The moment the invigilator called time, however, he bolted for the door and across the flyover to the library, to the locker they shared. Clark trailed in his wake, remembering their initial conversation, and how this was supposed to give them more time together, not less. He found Lex in the stairwell, pulling his sweater over his head.
"The toilets are all full." Lex sighed. "Everyone must have been skulling powerade during their exams. Undergrads."
Clark shook his head, and began unbuckling Lex's belt. "It's too bad you have to rush," he murmured, leaning in to kiss him lightly on the lips. "I think that exam went really well."
Lex grinned. "I've been out of touch for three hours. Gabe will already have had a breakdown. And it did go well. One more hour won't hurt…"
A sudden cleared throat broke the spell. "If I could get past, gentlemen…"
They broke apart in horror, Lex dropping his suit bag.
"Professor Davidson! This isn't what it looks like." Clark gulped and cast around for a plausible excuse.
"Oh?" Davidson smiled, a knowing smile that reminded Clark oddly of Lex, and Lex of his father. "I think this is exactly what it looks like."
Lex to the rescue. Ineffable charm and razor sharp mind. "Two students having sex in the library stairwell?"
"I did go here, son." Davidson shook his head. "And anyone who's been here more than a semester knows that students have sex in the basement stacks. No, I think this looks like Lex Luthor changing out of his student gear and into his work clothes."
Lex deflated visibly. "You recognised me? You remember me?"
"You were the brightest student I'd taught in years, Lex, before your ignominious departure. I remembered you the first day I saw you. And I went to school with your mother. I recognised her maiden name on your enrolment form. It wasn't hard to put two and two together."
Lex sighed. "So I guess all the skulking round, and sneaking past your office, and getting Clark to hand in my assignments wasn't really necessary?"
"No it wasn't. I wish you'd just come to see me." Lex could hear Clark chortling maniacally in the background, and psychically chalking one up for honesty. "For what it's worth, I was very sorry to see you go. I still have a copy of your thesis proposition. It was outstanding."
"Oh. I, ah…" Lex was almost at a loss for words. Most uncharacteristic. "Thank you. I was really sorry not to finish it."
"I think you should reconsider your decision to attend this course next half, however. It's obvious you can't commit the time required."
"No." Lex hadn't felt so disappointed in a long time. "I can't. I just really missed it. And I've loved being back."
"But I'll be happy to supervise your thesis. I expect a revised proposition on my desk by Friday."
*****
Lex turned to Clark, on a roller coaster high but expecting a very rude return to earth. Thank heaven their couch was comfortable. It looked like he was going to spend the rest of his life on it, or at least the rest of the academic year.
Instead, Clark was positively beaming. "So, Lex… I've never been down to the stacks. Do students really have sex down there?"
Lex shrugged. "Far be it from me to disagree with the expert. I've learned a little modesty since I was here the last time."
"Have you done it?"
Another shrug. "Evidently I wasn't here long enough."
Clark's grin was positively demonic. "Wanna try?"
Lex was still recovering from that one as Clark brushed past him. "I'll meet you down there," he called back over his shoulder. "I'm going to swing past closed reserve. I want that print."
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Date: 2005-07-31 03:14 am (UTC)Hahahahahaha! Great story. :)
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Date: 2005-07-31 03:16 am (UTC)Glad you liked it hon.
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Date: 2005-10-26 12:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-27 08:01 am (UTC)I'm glad you liked it, thanks.
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Date: 2005-10-28 08:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-18 08:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-20 03:43 am (UTC)Feel free to friend me if you want, and I'll friend you right back. I've got several more pieces in the works.
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Date: 2006-04-23 03:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-05 01:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-28 09:23 am (UTC)Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Did you read the sequel?
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Date: 2007-03-28 11:39 am (UTC)