TITLE: Tomorrow and Tomorrow
AUTHOR: TaleWeaver     
DISCLAIMER: All things Smallville belong to people who are not me. Jonathan's comment about making a million dollars is actually stolen from fictional private eye Phillip Marlowe.
RATING/CONTENT: PG. Couple of swear words.
CATEGORY: Futurefic, Drama, Clark/Lex friendship
SPOILERS: General season 1, future Superman 'canon'
DISTRIBUTION: CLFF page and the usual suspects. Send me the URL and ask nicely, and I'll consider it. 
SUMMARY: Several years after 'Smallville', Superman comes home to find an unexpected visitor waiting for him.
Written for the CLFF; you can find it at http://kardasi.slashcity.net/Lexclusive/ClexFest/
CHALLENGE: Write the final scene of the final episode of Smallville, in your perfect world.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This was originally meant for the Bradbury Challenge, (thus the title) but I ran out of time.  The main sources of inspiration for this story were 'Discourse' by Ryu I, and the following quote from an interview with Alfred Gough.  This is meant to take place pretty early in the Superman history: timeline-wise, it's sort of equivalent to the first season of 'Lois and Clark'.  I wanted to make it as close to actual possibility as possible; as a very nice piece of feedback put it 'I don't think Gough and Co would go for the gay porn version.'
MUSE-IC: Chris Isaak, 'Baja Sessions'.

TOMORROW AND TOMORROW
by Taleweaver

"Speaking of that (Lex Luthor-Clark Kent) friendship, Gough agrees that people seem to lose track of the fact that Superman ultimately becomes Luthor's enemy, not Clark Kent."
SFX magazine, Issue 91 (May 2002)


METROPOLIS
2011

The curtains at the open balcony doors were no impediment to Clark as he flew in, fast enough that no one could see where exactly he'd gone.  Just inside, he sighed and stripped off his spandex uniform, once again nearly strangling himself trying to get the cape undone.  Wearing nothing but a pair of boxer-briefs (actual boxers showed under the spandex, and wearing briefs constantly reminded him too much of his uniform) Clark put away his uniform and wandered into his living room.

There was a small movement in the darkness and a single lamp clicked on, shattering the gloom with a pool of warm golden light, and illuminating the couch and the visitor who sat on it.

"Late night, Superman?"

"Get bent, Luthor.  Go try a hostile takeover of Microsoft or something."

"I save stuff like that for when *I'm * in a really bad mood."  Lex tossed him a bottle of Ty Nant water that matched the one in his hand, the blue glass still frosty from the refrigerator.  Clark smothered a smirk at the sight.  A great many things had changed since their days together in Smallville, but Lex's taste in drinks remained the same.

Clark sat down on the couch next to Lex, put his feet up on the coffee table, and gave a deep sigh.

"Hard night?"

"You should know, Lex, you caused most of it.  Three bent cops, two slimeballs with guns, and a huge-ass drug haul in a pear tree.  Why didn't you tell me about these guys before?"

"I was investigating the source.  One of those drug dealers is a former employee of Cadmus.  Wanted to make sure he didn't have anything of mine he shouldn't have.  Little shit stole a prospective new drug to treat recovering addicts, and turned it back into something addictive and harmful."  Lex looked at Clark and raised an eyebrow, "I take it Superman administered suitable chastisement before turning him over to the cops?"

"Nothing permanent."

"Pity."

"He did piss his pants though."

"Excellent work.  Any casualties?"

Clark glared and told him, "*No*.  I still don't see why there should be any."

Lex looked at him fondly, and told him, "Because it's a part of collective human nature for there to be.  Not even you can save everyone, and you shouldn't even try.  Humankind can't be allowed to start thinking you're available for all their problems, up to and including cats in trees and lover's quarrels.  You're here to help people, Clark, not to be their nursemaid.  There are many excellent people in law enforcement, medical care and emergency services.  Let them do their jobs.  Don't fall into a messiah complex."

"Yeah, that's your problem," Clark replied, snickering.

Lex sneered elegantly and said, "Don't get into the trap of thinking you're a God, Clark, it'll get you and everyone else into too much trouble.  I told you that back when we first started this."

Clark nodded in acknowledgement of his best friend's point.  Almost every day brought a moment where he blessed whoever looked after expatriate aliens that he'd finally told Lex the entire truth about his origins and abilities. 

Some time before, he'd saved one too many people in a public place, and Lex had had to do some very fancy footwork to keep Clark from being outed and possibly taken by the government.  Always practical, Lex had immediately seen that Clark wasn't going to stop his hero gig, and he needed some sort of disguise to let him do it in peace.  All it took was mentioning the names 'Phelan' and 'Nixon' to convince Clark of the necessity.

The disguise itself had come easily, even the tag 'Superman', thanks to the intrepid Lois Lane, Clark's friend and partner at the Daily Planet.  The colors had come from Clark's clothes preferences as a teenager, the design based on the traditional clothing of the Kryptonian peacekeepers - a distinguished sect that were military and police in one.  Martha had insisted that something was missing, and Clark had immediately thought of the sigil of Alexander the Great, off the breastplate in Luthor Hall at the Metropolis Museum.  Not only did it symbolize several of the qualities that Clark wanted, it was a tangible link to the history of his adopted planet. 

Most of all, however, it represented his best friend, the man who had created 'Superman' in the first place.  A way of keeping Lex's support close to his heart.  Having someone in his life who knew everything about him, could always be counted on to be honest, and would never let him down, had become a lifeline to both Clark and Lex.  Clark in a disguise that people thought was all-powerful and without flaw, and Lex in a world where everyone hid behind a natural disguise for protection against everyone else. 

"I'd never want to be a God, anyway," Clark remarked.  "Too much trouble."

Lex nodded absently, staring out the window over the city.  "I still can't believe I held onto my delusions of ruling the world for so long.  Ultimate power might be fun, but riding herd on so many people is a bitch.  Besides, the world's so big now, it would be impossible.  There's always someplace far enough away that you can't control it."

"Poor Lex," sighed Clark, "Just has to settle for owning most of the land and the economy."

Lex snickered in memory, and added, "Like your father said to me once; 'you can have a thousand thrones made of gold and jewels, but you can still only sit on one at a time'.  Honestly, Clark, your Dad's got so many platitudes up his sleeve, I have to wonder sometimes whether the man was born or found in a fortune cookie."

Clark wordlessly threatened to dump the remainder of his icy-cold water over Lex's crotch, and Lex laughed and pushed him away.

"How was your day?" Clark finally remembered to ask.  Between the drug raid and a fire that broke out in an apartment building on 54th street, he was exhausted.

Lex shrugged.  "One of Dad's old business associates gone broke got into contact with me.  Could be a job for Superman in there."

Of all the contributions Lex had made to the myth of Superman, the most important had been his own place in that myth. 

Lex had told Clark a long time ago, that every hero needed a foil, and volunteered to become that foil himself.  Human nature being what it was, not everyone believed that Superman had nothing but the best of intentions, sure that he had a personal agenda that benefited no one but himself, because *they * would have in the same position. 

People had been suspicious of Lex for almost all his life, and the richer he became, the more it increased.  As Jonathan had said, "There's no completely honest way to make a million dollars."  Lex had slowly manoeuvred the criminal element of Metropolis into accepting him as a major player, regardless of the fact he didn't do anything really criminal (especially not anything that could be proven).  He then fed that information to Clark, who combined it with his own investigative skills to make either a news story or a bust by Superman, whatever was most appropriate - occasionally both.  The curious were so busy watching Superman take on bad guys, they didn't have time to wonder whether he had an ulterior motive.

It was also a security precaution for Clark; it was an open secret that Clark Kent was friends with Lex Luthor, but Superman was generally known as his foe, reducing the risk that anyone would connect the mild-mannered reporter with the unearthly superhero.

Lex received a great deal of personal satisfaction out of the whole charade.  Besides helping to keep his best friend safe - from both revenge seekers or people thinking that Superman was dangerous to more than evil-doers - Lex saw it as one more hedge against him becoming like Lionel Luthor.  However, it was the Luthor in him that saw the deception as the best fun he'd had in his life; in many ways, Lex was both the mastermind and a major player in the best scam ever played, on no less than the entire population of Earth.

"Speaking of jobs for Superman, shouldn't you be off rescuing Lois Lane about now?" Lex smirked.  Clark silently pulled out the nearest cushion, gently whapped Lex on the head and shoulder with it, then tucked it back behind his back.  "Come on, Clark, she's got Chloe's personality, Lana's looks, and she gets into almost as much trouble as I used to back in Smallville.  Sounds like a perfect match to me."

"I don't need you interfering in my love life any more, Lex.  Believe it or not, I'm perfectly capable of dating someone under my own steam, nowadays.  Anyway, she's interested in Superman, not me.  I don't want to date someone who just wants me for my cape."

"Don't be silly, Clark.  She wants you for your adorable red boots as well."

*That * comment set off a ten minute long cushion fight that ended with Clark's 'weapon' bursting, and the world's only alien superhero and the youngest billionaire in history sprawled on the floor laughing.

FINI