Title: Can't Stay Away
Author: me_ya_ri
Email: me_ya_ri@yahoo.com
Rating: NC17
Challenge: Written for CLFF Wave 30: Prompt# 18 - "I didn't say I didn't love you. I said stay away from me." - On the Waterfront - 1954
Notes: For this prompt, I decided to go back to my ficlet 'Home For The Holidays' from the Christmas Drabble challenge and do Clark's point of view.  Warnings for food porn, specifically brownie lust and chocolate sauce abuse.  Thanks to Val for her beta work!
Summary: Sometimes the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach.  Clark never expected that it would be as effective on Lex as it was, but he'd had to try it.

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Clark hovered out of sight behind the building next to Lex's penthouse.  It had been years since he'd been banished from Lex's life.  The only way that he managed to interact with Lex anymore was as the alien known as Superman.  The strange part was that Lex had never seemed to harbor any hatred towards Clark Kent, he reserved that for Superman.  The alien was frequently the target for Lex's tirades and public statements.  Superman was apparently one of the greatest evils Lex had ever seen, destined to take over the world.  On the other hand, Lex seemed to regard Clark with fondness, along with some lingering suspicion. 

The oddest part for Clark was that he knew that Lex knew Superman's identity in private life, yet Lex never did anything about it.  He'd told Lex just enough over the years for his former friend to put the pieces together easily.  He'd even overheard Lex commenting to his bodyguards on Superman's adventures using Clark's name.  The fact that Lex had his apartment monitored so he'd know when Clark went off to save the world as Superman was no secret.  He'd found the equipment shortly after it was installed and had left it there as a sort of linkage back to Lex.

The fact that Lex monitored Clark's life provided just enough hope that Clark was able to let their separation continue, always in the hope that someday Lex would relent and allow Clark back into his life.  It hurt to be away from Lex, especially given all the vituperation he heaped on Clark's alter ego, so much so that when he'd moaned about it to Chloe and Mom, they'd both suggested that he do something about it.  That was the reason why Clark was hiding across the way from Lex's penthouse, waiting for him to arrive home.  Everything was ready.

He'd already decorated the living room that Lex spent most of his time in, putting up an extravagant number of Christmas decorations, including a tree.  He'd even started a fire to take the chill off the room because although Clark didn't suffer from the cold, Lex certainly did.  It made him wonder why Lex insisted on keeping the temperature in his penthouse so low.  As he pondered whether it was Lex's way of punishing himself for what he'd become (not that he was really that bad), Lex's elevator activated. 

Clark grinned.  Showtime.

In the time it took the elevator to reach the top floor,  Clark had brought in all the food that Mom and he had created for Lex, including roast beef, mashed potatoes, fresh rolls and fresh churned butter, and a pie that he'd made himself.  A quick zap with heat vision warmed the items that had cooled, filling the room with the scent of Christmas dinner.  The last item he placed on the table was the note he'd written to Lex wishing him a Merry Christmas.  As Lex went one way and Mercy went the other with Hope, Clark zipped out of the penthouse and back to his hiding place.  He settled in to watch Lex's reaction.

The blatant shock when Lex entered the living room made Clark grin.  The chuckle at his note warmed Clark's heart.  Best of all, the quiet toast after Lex had eaten made Clark want to explode with delight.  Instead, he zoomed up into the stratosphere, smiling so broadly that his cheeks hurt.  He might not be able to talk directly to Lex (or better yet touch him, kiss him) but at least he could still make Lex smile.

Clark finished his nightly patrol and then headed home.  There was trouble even on Christmas night, so he was tired when he finally made it home.  He swooped through the skylight in his apartment and blinked in surprise.  There was a box on the table covered in red and blue plaid wrapping paper with a little tag on it.  He went over and checked the tag curiously.

"To Clark, From Lex.  Thanks.  Merry Christmas to you, too."

Clark laughed, using super speed to change out of his suit and into comfortable old sweats and a flannel shirt.  He supposed that he should be nervous about it.  If it had been labeled 'to Superman' he would have been, but it said 'Clark' so he trusted that it would be okay.  Tearing the wrapping open, he found a gift box full of hot chocolate mixes in a dozen flavors, expensive coffee, and those incredibly decadent brownies that Clark had raved about once when he'd had them at Lex's.

"Oh, yum," Clark breathed, immediately putting the kettle on for hot water.  "Thanks, Lex!  I love these!"

He chattered to himself (and the microphones that he knew were scattered around the apartment) about the brownies, how much he loved them, the various flavors of hot chocolate, and how jealous Lois was going to be of his coffee.  Once his peppermint hot chocolate was ready, Clark collapsed on the sofa with the bag of brownies and sipped from his mug before taking a brownie out of the bag.  God he loved these things…

Clark carefully set it on his knee and closed the bag again. He didn't want his treat to get stale, not that they'd last that long.  He sniffed the brownie, shivering at the scent of it, then he took one little bite, just a nibble off of the corner, letting the chocolate flavor melt in his mouth.  Clark groaned, stretching a little before taking a bigger bite and chewing slowly.  He savored the brownie, occasionally sipping at his hot chocolate.  It wasn't until he was done that he remembered that Lex had a camera mounted pointing straight at the couch.  He realized he'd put on a bit of a show, which made Clark blush at the memory.  It also made his pants tent out.

"God, I love these things," Clark moaned, taking a second one from the bag.

He took his time eating that one too, all the while imagining Lex was in the apartment with him, watching him eat it.  It had been so long since they'd last made love.  Clark made love to his brownie instead, then retreated to his bedroom and stripped down to jack off to thoughts of Lex covered in chocolate, Lex covering him in chocolate and licking it off, Lex there with him.  He slept more soundly afterwards than he had in years.

Lois was bitterly jealous of his coffee the next day at work, but Clark didn't care.  It was Lex's present, the first he'd received in ages.  Of course, he'd only had a period of about six months or so when Lex could have given him presents, but that was the past.  Chloe was amused by his obnoxiously good mood and took him out to lunch at a little diner close by so they could chat about the success of Clark's present.

"So it went over well?" Chloe said once Clark had described Lex's response.

"Yeah, I think so," Clark agreed, nodding slowly.  "At least, there was that great gift box when I got home.  Pity Christmas only comes once a year."

He'd love to be able to see that smile on Lex's face more often.  Unfortunately, it didn't seem likely given his hatred for Superman.  If there were some way for Clark to make Lex understand that Clark and Superman were basically the same person, he'd do it, but Clark didn't think it was possible.  He sighed, glancing around the busy restaurant.  Most people had the day off because of the holiday, so they were shopping up a storm. Their little corner in the very back was one of the few places that was even vaguely quiet.

"So extend it," Chloe said, grinning at him.  "Make it your New Year's resolution or something.  Give Lex a present every day.  Heck, Clark, I know how much you care about him.  It shows.  Why don't you try to woo him back?"

"He told me to stay away from him," Clark said, poking at his ketchup with a fry.  "He was really serious about it."

"So keep this thing up," Chloe said, nudging his foot with one toe.  "Give him little presents, surprise him.  He seemed to like it, so why not?"

Clark thought about it over the next couple of days.  In fact, he thought about it all the way up until New Year's Eve.  Every night after patrol, he'd settle down with a cup of hot chocolate and a couple of brownies, and every night he'd end up in his bedroom picturing Lex as he came...hard.  As the old year gave way to the new and Clark chased down criminals who'd decided to celebrate by committing murder, arson and robbery, Clark decided that Chloe was right.  He had to do something to convince Lex to let him back into his life.

The first present was a simple one, just a bag of Clark's favorite brownies and a big pot of Lex's favorite coffee with a note saying "Happy New Year's."  He hovered outside of the penthouse, waiting for Lex to find it.  Lex's response was a lot stronger than he'd expected.  It looked as if Lex's legs nearly gave out at seeing the brownies.  Lex's pants tented out, which made Clark blush so hard that he felt like his face was on fire.  Apparently, Lex actually had been watching while Clark ate the brownies.  Clark didn't dare stay to watch Lex eat any of the brownies.  The suit was easy to clean, but he really didn't want to come in it and have to clean the mess up, especially since he still had patrol.

Lex reciprocated with a refill on the brownies and hot chocolate.  Clark countered with a pie he made by hand.  Lex sent hand-made chocolates.  The presents continued edible—and delectable—for half of January.  On the 15^th, Clark left a small bouquet of wildflowers he'd found in Peru while saving some people.  It wasn't very beautiful in objective terms, but the smell was incredible, filling the room.  Lex countered with an aloe vera potted plant that Clark brought to work and put on his desk, truly confusing Lois.  More flowers followed, and then Clark switched to little knickknacks he'd find while out on patrol.  They were all things that he found beautiful or that reminded him of Lex.  Lex began to leave books on Clark's table, big thick tomes that he knew Clark would read in a night, or thin volumes of poetry or philosophy that Clark would ponder and reread for days.

Clark wanted to do something special for Valentine's Day, possibly make another dinner and decorate Lex's penthouse.  Since Valentine's Day was on a Saturday, he didn't have to worry about work getting in the way of the cooking and decorating.  Clark didn't talk to himself about his plans, but he knew that Lex had to suspect.  The cameras and microphones were still in his apartment.  Clark contented himself with adding things to the growing mountain of boxes, knowing that the final present would be so much more than the accumulated pieces he'd gathered. He went to bed on the thirteenth with everything ready. 

Halfway through the few hours of sleep he allowed himself, chaos broke out in China.  Clark got up, changed into the suit and went to deal with it.  That took a couple of hours, and then there was a huge oil spill in the Suez Canal that he worked to control.  A cruise liner sank in the Atlantic with several deaths that Clark couldn't prevent no matter how hard he tried, plus there was a mudslide in the Amazon that threatened a village and an earthquake in Africa and half a dozen other smaller disasters that needed to be dealt with now.  By the time he was done, it was February fifteenth in Metropolis, and his suit was an undifferentiated shade of brown.

Clark sighed in despair over his grand plans and flew home.  All he could hope was that he'd be able to get it right next year.  The thought that he might still be continuing his flirtation from afar a year from then nearly made him weep as he swooped in through his skylight. 

His apartment was still and quiet. 

There were three messages on his answering machine. 

The boxes mocked him, sitting quietly in his living room.  Clark sighed, shoulders slumping. "I suppose it's for the best," Clark muttered bitterly, brushing a finger across one box's lid and leaving a dark mark behind.  "It's not like I can touch you, is it?  I wish I knew why you stopped loving me, Lex.  I never stopped loving you.  I don't think I ever could."

He sighed again and headed to the bathroom to shower.  It took a long time to get the muck off his suit, and then even longer to wash it out of his hair.  Clark dried off, left his suit to drip dry, and pulled on his comfiest old sweats.  He needed to eat something and then he was going to collapse into bed for a few hours.  After that, he'd decide whether he'd go home to cry on Mom's shoulder about missing the most important day of the year with Lex.

"I didn't say I didn't love you.  I said stay away from me."

Lex's quiet words nearly sent Clark levitating through the roof.  He stared in disbelief at the other man, unsure in his exhaustion whether Lex was really in his apartment.  But he was there, sprawled over Clark's battered couch as if he owned it.  He had a bag of brownies sitting next to him, with a half-eaten one in his hand.  There was chocolate on his lips, and Lex smirked as Clark's loose sweats suddenly got tight in the crotch.

"Why…why are you here?" Clark asked, feeling like a total idiot as soon as the words left his mouth.

"It would be a shame to have all these preparations go to waste, don't you think?" Lex said, nodding at the brownie in his hand.

The way he consumed the treat was pure porn.  Clark whimpered as Lex nuzzled the brownie, giving it a little lick.  He slowly bit into it, moaning ever so slightly at the taste.  His eyes shut as he chewed lazily.  Lex let his head fall back against Clark's sofa as he swallowed, exposing a long, smooth expanse of throat that had Clark's cock so hard that his waistband pulled away from his waist.

"Fuck, Lex," Clark breathed, shaking from combined exhaustion and raging hormones.

"Why, Clark, whatever is the problem?" Lex drawled, opening his eyes to smirk mischievously at him.

"I'm not allowed to touch, am I?" Clark said, feeling as if he was going to break into pieces.  "Even though you're finally here, I'm not allowed to touch."

Lex blinked at Clark's plaintive words and then frowned.  He sighed and stood, brushing off brownie crumbs, then walked over to Clark.  Reaching out, he had to uncurl Clark's fingers from the fist that had formed during Lex's display.  Clark let him, considering his hand was shaking just as hard as his knees.  Lex placed Clark's palm against his cheek, leaning into the touch.

"Missed you so much!" Clark whispered as he curled his fingers along Lex's jaw.  He carefully rested his other hand on Lex's hip.  "Why did you send me away, Lex?"

"Where did you get that first bouquet of flowers from?" Lex asked, looking into Clark's eyes as if this was some sort of test.

"Um, Peru," Clark said, confused.  "It's this wildflower that blooms all over the place in the highlands."

Lex stiffened and stepped back, out of Clark's arms.  He glared as if Clark was Superman was standing there all of a sudden, and Clark wanted to shout in frustration.  He didn't understand what he'd done wrong.  He'd told Lex the truth. That's where the flowers were from.  Before Lex had always wanted the truth about everything, and suddenly he was angry when he had it.

"Oh," Lex said, tugging at the hem of his jacket.  "And here I thought that it was a gift from you."

"It was a gift from me!" Clark cried.  "They're all gifts from me!  Every single thing I gave you was something that I saw or found that I thought you'd like, or something I made just for you.  Everything was special just for you.  What do you want from me?  This is who I am—I can't be anything else!  These stupid powers are part of me, as much a part of me as my hair and eyes...or your baldness is a part of you.  Damn it, Lex! What do you want from me?"

"Only Superman could have given me that," Lex insisted, his nostrils flaring in anger.  "Clark Kent couldn't have."

"What is it with you?" Clark demanded.  "I am Superman.  I'm also Clark Kent.  I'm Kal-El, if you want to get technical about it.  They're all me.  They're just names, Lex.  They don't mean anything.  Who I am doesn't change based on what name I'm using at the time.  Well, not unless Jor-El's reprogrammed me again, but he hasn't done that in years so it doesn't count.  Why do you insist on treating Superman as someone completely different from me?"

Lex's jaw dropped open for just a second as Clark spoke, but he snapped it shut again.  His blue eyes were snapping with anger by the time Clark finished speaking. Stepping close again, he glared into Clark's eyes.  He could feel the heat of Lex's body, the puff of Lex's breath against his face.

"If that's the case, why does your appearance and behavior change when you put on the suit?" Lex demanded.

"So Lois doesn't figure out who I am, of course," Clark said, rolling his eyes.  "You know her.  I'd never have a moment's peace if she knew that Clark Kent is Superman.  I'd be her personal savior, her ticket to the Pulitzer.  It's also so that my enemies don't track down Chloe and Mom.  And you.  I don't want any of my family or friends to get hurt because of what I do, so I look and act a little differently in the suit.  Mostly though, it's to throw Lois off the scent.  She's annoying."

"The suit doesn't cause a change in personality?" Lex asked, blinking at Clark.

"What?  No!  Where in the world did you get that, Lex?"

"Available evidence tended to indicate…." Lex said, waving one hand while avoiding Clark's eyes.  "I thought it was some sort of special alien technology."

"No, just the alien version of spandex," Clark said, staring at him.  "More durable and easier to clean than actual spandex.  Rolls up smaller, too, making it so much simpler to hide that cape under my clothes."

Lex's lips were twitching when he turned back to Clark.  He began chuckling, shaking his head.  He laughed until he had to wipe tears from his eyes, then he looked at Clark, grabbed his head, and kissed him so hard that Clark's flagging erection surged back to full hardness.  Clark groaned, wrapping his arms around Lex.  It had been far too long since he'd held Lex, years, years of recrimination and silence, years of looking and wanting from afar.  Far too many years.

Lex was the one who tugged Clark towards the bedroom, leading with his hips and his lips, pulling Clark along for a few stumbling, clumsy steps, until he realized what Lex wanted.  Then Clark took over, sweeping Lex up and carrying him to the bedroom.  He dropped Lex on the bed, crawling up next to him.  He then began carefully undoing Lex's shirt buttons one by one.  Lex hauled at his sweatshirt and flung it across the room.  Lex obviously wanted hard and fast, but Clark grinned and moved as leisurely as he could.  However, Lex's needy whimpers made it impossible to slow down as much as Clark wanted.  Clark tried to savor Lex's body the way he'd eaten the brownies Lex had given him, but Lex was too delicious, too sexy, and far too demanding for him to get away with it.  It was over much too quickly for Clark's tastes, but Lex let him cuddle afterward so it was all right.

"Do you always eat brownies like that?" Lex asked once they'd caught their breath.

"Actually, yeah.  Well, if I'm in private I do," Clark admitted, blushing brightly.  "I love those brownies.  I kind of forgot about the cameras when I started eating and then I got all turned on thinking about you watching me."

"Did you watch me eating them?" Lex asked, smirking at him.

"Um, no," Clark admitted.  "My willpower isn't that strong, Lex.  I'd never have been able to stay away the way you wanted if I had.  I almost came watching you eat that brownie on the couch."

"Turnabout is fair play," Lex laughed, kissing Clark tenderly.  "My personal porn: Clark, brownies, and a couch.  Guaranteed winner."

Clark laughed despite the blush spreading down his neck and chest.  Lex grinned and pushed Clark onto his back.  He straddled Clark's hips, studying him.  There was something that looked like regret in his eyes, plus lust and laughter and maybe even an apology.  Clark ran his hands up Lex's sides, so glad that he got to touch again.

"So what were you thinking about when you came in here after the brownie lust?" Lex asked, bending down to lick Clark's nipple.

"Chocolate," Clark moaned, his erection starting to rise again.

"What?" Lex asked, a bit nonplussed.

"Me or you covered in chocolate sauce," Clark explained, "and licking it all off, followed by sticky sex, shower sex, and then brownies in bed." He grinned sheepishly.  "What can I say?  I like food."

Lex laughed, leaning on Clark's chest to kiss him tenderly.  He reached over the side of Clark's bed and pulled up a small bottle that hadn't been there before.  He displayed it for Clark to see.  Clark started laughing.  It was a bottle of gourmet chocolate sauce.

"Great minds think alike," Lex purred, opening the bottle. "Let's make that fantasy a reality."

The End