Author: MidKnight
Title: House of the Rising Sun
Rating: R to NC-17
Summary: Clark's new job upsets a few people.
Challenge: Clark is a rent boy.
Disclaimer: I don't own this. I haven't got any money.
Feedback address: MidKnightslair@juno.com
NOTE Part of the Clex Fest at http://www.kardasi.com/Lexclusive/Clex-Fest/
BETA: Me. I can kick my own butt.

House of the Rising Sun

by MidKnight

Lex eyed his teen friend with a certain amount of curiosity and hunger. The delivery boy and all around do-gooder was dressed in nicer clothes than usual, had been for the last week or two, but Lex had refrained from speaking for fear of sending his friend right back into the arms of flannel and baggy jeans. Evidently the boy had gotten a job somewhere and was now doing his own shopping.

"Nice shirt." Lex said and watched as the muscles beneath the material clenched as Clark picked up the crate of vegetables. The cloth stretched and fitted itself immaculately and Lex had to wonder how much it had cost and if Ma and Pa Kent approved.

"Thanks." Clark answered, his eyes on Lex’s own silk dress shirt. His tone was humorous, almost joking and Clark’s lips pulled in a small smile.

"Did you get a job?" And this time Clark did laugh, maybe a little colder than Lex liked to hear from the teen. It reminded him of… Himself. "Clark?"

"Yeah." He set the crate down onto the counter with exaggerated carefulness and paused to gather his thoughts while staring at the vegetables. "You could put it that way." He grinned up at Lex and the older man saw something in the smile. Something worldly. It made fingers crawl up and down Lex’s spine.

"So?" Lex asked and Clark merely smiled mysteriously. "The job, Clark?"

"Oh, you know, just something to pass the time and earn a buck." The teen looked down at his clothes for emphasis and Lex realized Clark had somehow lost his insecurity along with the flannel.

Clark wore a black long sleeved tee shirt, which was tight enough to show off every last muscle the boy had earned on the farm. Lex hoped this new job would not cause his friend to lose his physique, and then moved on to the rest of the outfit. Dark dyed straight leg jeans and a thick black nylon belt, and a pair of black Doc Martens completed the outfit. In other words Clark looked like sex personified. At the collar of the shirt something silver glimmered and as Lex stared at it Clark fished out a silver chain that held a tarnished silver charm. On closer inspection it revealed itself to be a small voodoo fetish done in silver.

"Nice, Clark." Lex said in a puzzled tone of voice. The teen shrugged and slipped it back inside his shirt.

"You should have seen the lady I got it from." Clark chuckled a little and moved to the door, heading for the truck to finish his deliveries. "See you later?"

Lex waved and as Clark drove off, the Luthor Heir decided the visit had made him feel decidedly off balance. Clark the Confident and Sharply Dressed was another horse entirely from the usual Clark.

This time Lex hadn't been the only one with wandering and appraising eyes, and as aroused as he was by the returned interest it startled him.

He wondered if Smallville had somehow gotten through to his friend, somehow warping the boy into something different. He also wondered if locks would hold up against the boy who continually slipped through his fences.

Next morning found Lex in the Talon, ordering his morning cappuccino while his luxury car of the day idled outside. A friendly hand on his elbow got his attention and he turned to see Clark in line behind him.

"Hey." This time Clark was a little more open, more excited and Lex wondered where he’d gotten the idea of worldliness.

"Hey, Clark. Coffee before school?"

Clark laughed a little and shrugged, bringing attention to the fact he wore a white dress shirt, something like one of Lex’s, and a wife beater was obvious beneath it due to the stunning tan. This time his jeans were black and his Doc Martens polished. Luckily Lex’s coat was cut long and the older man turned his eyes back to the menu quickly.

"It was a late night." The teen answered and shrugged again. Lex found himself staring at the white shirt material again, where it gaped at the collar because Clark had left it unbuttoned. The teen snickered and Lex realized he’d been caught staring. "Well, at least the shirt works."

"What?" Lex demanded, caught between chagrin and absolute shock at the words coming out of his friend’s mouth. Clark laughed again and pointed towards the cashier. It was Lex’s turn in line and people were staring. By the time he made his order and turned back around the teen was long gone.

By the time school was out Lex had discovered several things.

First, and most important: Clark was not working in town.

Second: After scrambling his near-photographic memory for what had been hanging around Clark’s neck and searching the net he’d discovered exactly what it was. A voodoo fetish of certain powerful Loa, or spirit, called Baron Samedi. Who evidently guarded cemeteries.

Neither piece of knowledge was especially helpful to Lex and with an annoyed sigh he left the Plant and headed for Smallville High. But not for Clark.

At a stoplight he paused to wonder why he was so worked up over all of this. Perhaps Clark had taken a job a few towns over and his route home brought him near Metropolis city limits where he shopped out of sight of his mother. Of course, Clark might also be growing something entirely illegal on one of the back forty and hawking it at school. But that didn’t seem very much like the teen he’d known for months. The voodoo fetish was trendy enough that Clark might have snagged it out of a boutique somewhere, but that didn’t exactly ring true with what Clark had told him about an old woman.

In truth his curiosity was piqued by the strange, new Clark who had the body of the shy, old Clark.

So he drove to Smallville High looking for answers he wasn’t sure he’d get from his friend.

"Hello, Chloe." Lex smirked as the blonde girl jumped in her chair, fingers rattling on the keyboard.

"Lex?" She glared. "Scare me to death, why don’t you?" Covering for her earlier shock the pretty blonde primped her hair and glanced back to her computer and the news story she was writing.

"Can I talk to you?" She looked up at Lex, startled again and he shut the door to the room.

"I… Sure." Chloe’s shrug was remarkably similar to Clark’s and Lex wondered if that imitation was because she was in love with the dark haired boy.

"Without this getting to anyone? Even Clark?" And this time Chloe managed to look faintly alarmed.

"Are you," She swallowed. "Sure you want to talk to me?"

"I’m- Its Clark." He admitted and her demeanor totally changed.

"Ah, so I’m not the only one who noticed." Chloe grinned and leaned back in her chair. Lex laughed as the tension suddenly dissipated. "Do you know where he’s working?"

"No. I was hoping you did." Lex sighed and snatched a chair where he took a seat. "Just in case I missed it, how long has he been working?

"Only a few weeks. I guess. Clark hasn’t told me where or when and he never seems to be at work. Just one day he started dressing nicer and saying he was working." Chloe frowned. "He’s not in trouble, is he?"

Lex did his own imitation of the shrug he was receiving so often.

"I don’t know. I don’t think so." Lex put his jaw in his hand. "He just feels… Off." The teen girl nodded. Lex sighed and stood up, pushing his chair back into place under a desk. As he reached the door Chloe called his name.

"I don’t… I’m not sure it’s a bad thing." She said and that caught Lex’s attention. He turned back, leaning on the wood and glass door.

"How do you mean?"

"He’s gotten over Lana, he doesn’t let Whitney push him around. Clark’s never been shy, but," She paused, searching for words. "He’s more sure now, I guess."

"So you think this ‘job’ and his clothes are a good thing?" Chloe smirked at Lex’s question.

"You’re asking if the clothes are a good thing?" She mimed fanning herself and against his will Lex grinned too.

"Do you think Pete knows?"

"Pete has yet to notice Clark’s clothes; he probably hasn’t asked where they come from." Lex glanced around the homey office, at all the things he’d bought when the school had caught fire.

"Thanks, Chloe." He said and she nodded, miming zipping her lips. That made Lex laugh, too, and he decided he liked Clark’s blonde friend.

Time went by and Clark remained well clothed and cheerful. Deliveries were made on time, the teen’s job not seeming to come in the way and winter slowly bled into spring. As the months passed the two men studied each other, though no flirtations were made.

In February Lex went to Mardi Gras, booking an apartment on Bourbon Street with a wrought iron terrace overlooking the parade path. He kept up a stock of liqueur and let all the pretty people in, watching as beautiful women took off their shirts to earn beaded necklaces. Despite the cold weather Lex left the apartment wearing a black tank top and a pair of tight black jeans. In the street he slipped on a black feathered mask and slid between the crowd on the way to his destination.

A friendly little brothel down the street, called, humorously enough, The House of the Rising Sun.

It's entryway was empty, the whores standing further back in the building and also bedecked with feathered masks, though they wore far less clothing. The jazz was low and needy and the mother of the house came up to take his arm and guide him around.

Delorna was her name and she had a face like a pug, all wrinkles and too much flesh.

"Lex, darling, it's been so long." Delorna cooed.

"I've been busy." He answered even as she waved a set of twins over, their long red hair and nude bodies making him think of an all female Eden. The girls were soft and sweet smelling and more than willing, but not at all what Lex wanted or needed. Delorna saw it and sent them away in only a second.

"You want some boys?" Delorna asked, grinning and for a second Lex was afraid she was going to pinch his cheek. Strong arms wrapped around him, warm as molten gold and almost the same color. The massive hands gripped his hip bones and pulled him back against a muscled frame, even as feathers brushed Lex's bare scalp. Teeth sank into the side of his neck, gnawing for a moment before sucking the flesh in and marking him.

Delorna smiled and walked off, leaving Lex in capable hands.

"Lets go to your room." Lex said, gasping for air and he felt the other man nod. They went up the rickety stairs to the second floor and Lex studied the tanned body in front of him, the way the jeans hung low on the sculpted hips and the muscles flexed across his lower back. He found himself wanting to bite the other man and his eyes went up to the back of the neck and the black curls that hung like so many bunches of grapes.

His new companion led him into one of the rooms and Lex glanced around before reaching back and shutting the door. The walls were whitewashed, the thick paint peeling to reveal the stains beneath even as new stains covered the white paint. A large bed stood against one wall, the sheets and coverings bleached white and threadbare. A small dresser leaned against the bed, also covered in white paint, and Lex could easily imagine what was concealed within. Turning back to his whore Lex pushed the other man back against the door and crushed their mouths together, feeling the other's feathers brushing his skin.

He kissed well, Lex acknowledged, his own hands stroking the tanned and muscled flesh, feeling the other man's hands caressing his back.

They pulled apart and thats when the other man, eyes closed, moaned. "Lex..."

Lex froze, sure that he'd never told the whore to call him that, and almost equally sure that Delorna hadn't called him that within hearing of the man. His pale hands left the half opened fly of the tanned man and reached up to pull the black feathered mask away.

Clark's hands stayed on Lex's hips, smirking even as the mask was pulled away and Lex stared at him in horror and puzzlement.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Lex demanded, backing away. The backs of his knees brushed the bed and with a glare at it Lex sidestepped. Clark hitched an eyebrow and posed seductively against the door, worn-in blue jeans barely staying on his hips.

"Well, I had been thinking that we were going to fuck..." Clark trailed off and shrugged. "But you know what they say about assuming..." He pushed away from the door and walked towards the bed, letting Lex hug the wall until he was past and then flung himself down on the bed. He looked like some kind of virgin sacrifice and Lex was not going to think about that.

"Clark...You...You're..." The words seemed to get lost somewhere between his brain and his mouth and Lex began to wonder if one of his oh-so-pretty house guests had slipped something into his coffee that morning.

"Working in New Orleans as a Rent Boy?" The teen smirked playfully, keeping his tone so that the words almost seemed to be a joke. In Smallville they would have been. But here, in the Quarter, in a whore house, the Clark wearing the low slung jeans and the voodoo fetish was not joking.

"How could you do this to yourself?" Lex hissed, and of all the questions he *could* have asked that had to be the one that made it to his mouth.

"This?" Clark pushed himself into a seated position. "This? Lex, do you even know what you're talking about? Do you want me to tell you what it's like, having people want you, they want to worship you, have you worship them?" Clark got to his feet and Lex stepped back, leaning against the wooden door that was still warm from when Clark had stood against it. "They want you because you're good looking or because they think you're the only one who can give them what they want. Do you know what kind of ego boost that is? Having people just *want* you? Not because you're a Kent or you're the person that has always been there for them." He stalked closer to Lex and practically pinned the man to the door. "You wanted me Lex. Not more than a few minutes ago. How did you imagine it? Did you want it hard and fast or did you want me to spend hours tasting every inch of your body? Do you want me to grovel? Do you want to beat me? Do you want me to tie you up?"

Lex wavered on his feet, reflexively leaning into the teen siren who was offering him every one of his desires on a silver platter.

"No." Lex breathed, leaning away. "I don't want you. Not like this."

Clark shrugged and stepped away, going to the bedside table and opening it. As he pawed through everything Lex caught glimpses of condoms and heard the rattle of a pair of handcuffs, before Clark pulled out a box of cigarettes and held one to you his mouth. He struck a match and as he inhaled, Clark looked up to see Lex staring at him with wide eyes.

"You're smoking."

"Helps with the bad boy image." Clark said and shrugged.

"You don't smoke in Smallville."

"This isn't Smallville, Lex." He took another few puffs before picking his feathered mask back up and looking at the dust bunnies that were stuck to the pitch colored feathers. It was a total loss and Clark sighed, throwing it into the garbage can. "You want to go get some begniets and coffee?"

Lex took the last stab at normalcy and nodded, following Clark out of the small room, down the hall, and out of the brothel. As they walked a few people waved and Clark or smiled, and sometimes Clark smiled back. It irritated Lex and by the time they reached the Cafe du Monde he was seething. They walked past a man selling chess classes and Clark paused to ask how the man's day was going.

Lex didn't miss the way the chessman was checking out Clark.

"You're angry." Clark observed when they were walking again.

"You're whoring yourself." Lex snapped.

"I never asked you how you spent your past or how you got your money." Clark retorted before going up to the brightly lit window in the cafe and ordering for both of them. The two men took seats in the cafe, near the wall where no one was paying attention to them. "I don't feel filthy or used, if thats what you're wondering."

"What about diseases?" Lex asked. Clark smirked, looking out into the street where a group of drunken revelers were weaving back and forth and singing.

"I don't get sick." The teen replied, turning back to Lex. "And I've never been hurt by anyone and I'm sure you know how much my family needs the money."

"Do they know about this?" Lex demanded, then paused as a waitress unloaded her tray onto their table. Clark had ordered a large plate of powdered sugar covered beniets and two cups of chicory laced coffee.

"They know I'm working somewhere out of town." Clark responded just before shoving a whole beniet into his mouth. "Aren't you curious as to how I get here with enough time left to work?"

"Tell me." Lex demanded.

"I run." Clark smirked, leaning back in his chair and Lex absently realized how many people were staring at them. "I can run the whole distance between here and home in only a few minutes.

"How?"

"I wasn't born on Earth, Lex, I just landed here back during the meteor shower. I can run fast and see through things and I try to stop the bad people-"

"And you work as a whore in New Orleans?" Lex asked, remembering his own research into Clark. He was so off kilter he couldn't fathom feeling betrayed. Clark hiked one eyebrow and smiled. God, Lex wanted him.

"It pays well." Clark acknowledged. "It sounds like some bazaar B-Movie doesn't it? 'Alien whores in New Orleans'?"

Lex was so startled he actually laughed.

"Are you really ok?" Lex asked.

"Most of the time, yes, when I'm not dealing with some new alien freakishness." Clark sighed. "I'm sorry I lied to you about that. At least now you have some little truth about me that no one else has."

"Fair trade, huh?" Lex asked, smiling as he finished his coffee.

"If you want to think of it that way." Clark looked out into the road again, seeing a tall man who was staring back intently. He smiled and the man waved. "Do you mind, Lex? I've got a prior engagement."

Remembering his own wild youth Lex nodded and watched as Clark sauntered off. The teen met the man halfway across the street and Clark turned back a moment to wave to Lex. Then he and the man wandered off.

Lex finished off the beniets and his and Clark's coffee. The caffeine in his blood did nothing to stop the almost hysterical giggles he had as he fell into bed in his apartment.

He was back in Smallville before he realized it, the rest of Mardi Gras spent in his apartment drinking and trying to analyze how he'd accepted both Clark's alien heritage and the job as a rent boy. In Smallville things were no different between the two of them, no closer, no more distant. Clark still delivered the produce and they chatted about school and sword fighting. Neither one ever said anything about New Orleans.

It was raining, pouring really, and dark outside. Lex grumbled, thinking that summer shouldn't be like this and carefully poured himself a glass of scotch before picking up the remote and flipping around to find something on the television. The power went out only seconds later and Lex sat in the darkness with his scotch, willing to let nature have it's way.

It was only when he heard the door opening that he realized he wasn't alone in the house and Lex glared off into the darkness, expecting his father to start bitching about the power being out. When the person didn't say anything Lex set his glass down and got up, turning to see Clark posed in the doorway wearing nothing but a pair of vinyl pants. Lex's brain ceased any higher functioning it had at the sight.

Clark stalked across the room to stand in front of Lex and the teen gave the older man a push, sending Lex sprawling across the leather sofa. Before Lex could get up, Clark sat down on top of him, pinning him in place.

"Clark?" Lex asked, his tone startled.

"I think we've waited long enough, don't you?" Clark asked, leaning in and pressing his lips to Lex's. The older man surrendered immediately, moaning as Clark's hands came down to circle his wrists and keep him in place. The silk shirt peeled open and pulled off, flying off into the darkness somewhere and the feel of the cold leather against his back and the hot farmboy on his chest was enough to make Lex dizzy. He felt a hot mouth come down on his chest, following the line from his collar bone, down his abs to his navel and as Clark mouthed his skin the teen was also busy undoing his friend's pants. The expensive fabric was tugged away and Lex practically screamed as Clark swallowed his cock into his throat.

His hands found Clark's hair and threaded into the raven locks, grasping and pulling but affecting Clark not at all.

"Oh, Christ, Clark! Right...There..." The teen's time in the brothel had gifted him with skills, honing natural talent to a sharp knife edge. Lex writhed on the sofa feeling Clark's tongue tracing his flesh even as one hand held him down and the other stroked his hairless sacks. Lex absently realized the high pitched whining sound was coming from him and as he locked eyes with Clark he screamed again, coming.

When Lex could open his eyes and breath again, he looked up to see Clark still seated at his feet. The teen grinned and with big hands pulled Lex off the sofa and laid him out on the floor. Lex was limp enough that Clark was easily able to put his friend on his hands and knees before grabbing the tube he'd brought with him and squeezing out some lube.

Still gasping for air and a grip on reality Lex moaned when he felt Clark's broad fingers stroke his cleft before finding the hole and stretching it. One finger slid in and twisted easily, the earlier orgasm having loosened Lex and Clark quickly added a second, his fingers searching purposefully for Lex's prostate. The billionaire howled when Clark found it and while he kept Lex writhing, Clark tugged at the vinyl pants, pulling the zipper open and sliding them off his hips just far enough to pull his cock out and slick it up.

Finding his hands trapped in Clark's grasp was as much a shock as it was to feel the younger man's well endowed penis nudging it's way inside of him. Moaning incoherently, Lex rubbed his forehead on the expensive carpet, his sounds only encouraging Clark's assault.

"God, Clark..." Lex howled as the first thrusts began and his face was crushed into the carpet again and again. Clark pulled him up abruptly, shifting them so that Lex was kneeling, his hands braced against the couch, fingers digging into the soft leather. Clark's hands gripped Lex's hips, hard enough to bruise, no doubt, and was using every ounce of his strength to pull Lex back into every thrust and angle so that Lex kept seeing stars. "Clark!"

"I know." Clark growled, teeth digging into the back of Lex's neck before moving around to the side and licking Lex's jugular. "Going to come for me, Lex?" Clark demanded. "Come for me, now." One hand slid down Lex's chest; it was just touching Lex's cut abs when the older man gave into Clark's demand, spraying the leather. Clark's thrusts took up speed, slamming Lex into the couch and each time he hit, Lex let out a weak cry. He was barely coherent enough to keep his arms up and support himself off the edge of the couch. The thrusts that kept hitting his prostate made Lex lean his head back and moan low in his throat.

"Clark..." Lex moaned, breath coming in gasps. Teeth nipped into his back and across his shoulders before Clark began sucking in earnest and he felt the blood coming to the flesh. "Clark..."

"God, Lex!" Clark's teeth broke the skin this time and Lex felt blood drip down his back and across his chest to splatter on the leather. He felt Clark's scalding hot come pour inside of him as the teen collapsed, pressing both of them into the couch.

"Clark, I can't breathe." Lex gasped minutes later, his face pressed into the leather.

"Sorry." The younger man kept an arm wrapped around Lex's waist and pulled Lex back and laying them out on the floor without disengaging them. "I quit my job."

"What?" The post-coital haze was keeping the words from making any sense in Lex's head.

"I decided I'd rather just sleep with you." Clark murmured, his other arm closing around Lex.

"What about the money?"

"I can get another job; I can't get another you."

The End