The Memoirs

 Dick didn't know how long he'd been in the library, or even in the same position he'd been in when Pete left.  All he knew was two things.  He hurt, and he hadn't moved.  There were shafts of sunlight coming in through the side windows, but Dick didn't look up, or even care.  He just knew they were there because he could feel the warmth on his back.

 

The tears had yet to fall, and he was almost choking on them.

 

An hour had seemed like the proper enough time to give the boys. Bruce had walked to the other side of the mansion...had gotten into a lovely conversation with one of Mr. Senatori's beautiful sisters, and had slowly made his way back to the library. It was quiet...and he swallowed and pressed his glasses up further onto his face.

 

And when he saw his lover, crouched and sagged, he winced for him.

 

Quietly...slowly...Bruce walked in, shoes making no sound as he gently crouched next to his trembling lover. "Dick....baby."

 

Dick didn't say anything, only reached out and wrapped his arms around Bruce's shoulder, burying his face in his lover's comforting shoulder.  "I--it's over."

 

And Bruce knew, in his heart, what had happened here. He sat down on the hard wood… gently pulling Dick closer to him, and rubbing his back softly as his young lover held onto him. "Did you talk to him?" Softly.

 

"Yeah--tried to.  Did some yelling... some talking... he cried and I couldn't."

 

"Oh, Dick." He whispered, gently soothing circles into his back and rocking him slightly. "Dick, baby. I’m so sorry." He pressed his face into all that warm hair.

 

"He--Pete said that I--Sam--was dead to him.  I tried... I asked him to come back with me, to school... but he wouldn't."  He left his face buried in Bruce's shoulder, chest aching and tight.  "He--he laughed at me, when I said that I'd be checking in on him, watching out for him.  He fucking laughed, Bruce."

 

He frowned, deeper, and in Dick’s words, Bruce felt pain. He gently held his lover... rocked him softly, and rubbed his fingers through all that warm hair. "It... it couldn’t have been what he meant, Dick. I know... I’m so sorry, my baby. I’m so sorry."

 

"It wasn't, but oh, God... it hurt, Bruce.  It hurt."  He drew in a deep, shuddering breath.  "I hurt him, too, said things at first... cause he didn't care.  It was like... nothing was wrong.  I said things to hurt him."

 

"You cared very deeply for him, Dick." And a stab of pain hit his belly, but he soothed it away without leaving his lovers side. Dick had had every right to make a new life, and Bruce was so proud of him for that. So proud. "And when you care for someone that deeply... you make mistakes, and I know you didn’t mean those words." He shook his head, and gently touched his face.

 

"I didn't.  I just... I had to see him, had to see that he cared, gave a damn that it was going to be over."  Another deep breath.  "He did.  He--oh, Bruce... he loved me.  He was in love with me and I didn't know it.  I thought--I thought it was just... love, not in love."

 

"Its a by-product of knowing you, Dick." A low murmur, as he gently palmed that long back. "Everyone falls in love with you. No way around it." And he opened his eyes, and looked at the floor over his lovers shoulder. "Dick... do you want him back?"

 

"I--no.  Because Bruce... I love you.  Even when you hurt me, I loved you.  I mean, you're my life.  But--he was special to me, he loved me and he didn't keep any secrets from me.  I loved him, but--no.  It's always you, Bruce."

 

"It must have hurt you both very much." He said it softly, gently rubbing the backs of his fingers against a slim cheek. "I’m sorry you just had to go through that, Dick. Its always hard, when you have to let someone you love go. What could you do, Dick? Pretend to care for him in the same way he did, until it destroyed you both?"

 

"I didn't want to hurt him!" Dick yelled.  "I wanted him to be my friend, and he couldn't do that."  Then he scrubbed his face with his hands.  "I don't blame him.  I lied to him, about who I was, everything... I wouldn't want to be my friend either."

 

He didn’t jump...just soothed softly, hurting so, so deeply for his lover. "Give him time, baby. He's angry...he won't be angry forever. Perhaps someday, you both will be able to be as good a friends as you were." Bruce's fingers skimmed over that lovely chestnut hair.

 

Dick shook his head.  "He'll never trust me again, Bruce.  He kept saying that Sam was a lie, but he wasn't.  I'm Sam, just not all Sam."  He trembled against his lover.  "But he was my best friend.  Only friend here, really.  Except for Shayla, and now, she won't even--she basically told me to go fuck myself."

 

He kept frowning, skimming kisses over the top of his head, and tucked Dicks face close under his chin. "Give him time, Dick. People...it takes time sometimes. But if you both were as good of friends as you said, then he will come back. Give him time." Quietly, gently pressing his cheek to a warm forehead. "Give them both time. Shayla… she sounds like she's overprotective."

 

"I think--I think it's because of Pete.  Because of what I did to Pete.  She likes him, I could tell the other day, when we took her shopping.  I think she's just... hating me by proxy."

 

"Dick... look... look at me." He pulled his lovers face...destroyed by the pain he saw there, but he pressed a gently kiss to his cheeks. "Things will work out. You hear me? You're an amazing person, you're wonderful and kind and sweet. Give them time. It hurts, when… when that happens." He cuddled his lover closer. "It happened to me."

 

"To--to you?"  He wrapped his arms around Bruce's waist.  "When did it happen to you?"

 

"With Lex." Quietly.

 

"Our Lex?  You know, Daddy Warbucks?"

 

And then he sort of smiled and leaned back against the couch they were in front of, snuggling his lover closer and helping him get comfortable against his wide chest. "Our Lex."

 

~ *Flashback* ~ 

 

The summer of 1995 was sweltering. They'd been having a heat wave since early in April, and now, the end of June, and it wasn’t lightening up at all. The suits were the worst part of all, though, in Bruce's stark opinion. What stupid ass would have a bunch of boys wear suits and tie's in un air-conditioned rooms in the middle of the hottest heat wave England had ever had?

 

The British could take their scones and tea and shove it up their ass.

 

Finals were coming up...and Bruce was more then thrilled. He'd be a senior in a few short weeks, and then--on to the business world. His uncle Marley was doing what he could, but Bruce knew he didn’t have the qualifications that Bruce would have as soon as he graduated. And he knew he'd need it, to keep his fathers--...HIS business afloat.

 

As it was he was laying in his bed, reading Chaucer and taking notes. Or trying to, anyhow. He'd shucked the suit jacket and tie, and had his white shirt plainly open. He didn’t give a rats ass if the nuns liked it or not, to be quite frank, and amused himself with thoughts of bellowing as he wrote.

 

It was good to be eighteen. Really, really good.

 

As it was, he'd gotten yelled at six, count them, six times this week to clean up his room. Shoes were everywhere...books on law and physics piled every which way. His clothing was neat though, that much could be said. Sure, the petri dish in the middle of the floor wasn’t exactly cleanly, but he was quite proud of what he was growing.

 

Not like the school couldn’t loosen up a little. Until his uncle had sent him here, he was positive he'd seen enough tight asses to fill up a small continent.

 

Man, these nuns had a way of surprising him.

 

He smirked, very quietly, and continued to write, lounging on his side, one leg tucked under him and the other hanging off his bed.

 

"Forget the miller and his wife," came a voice from the doorway.  "You know that book as well as I do, inside and out."  Lex lounged insolently in the doorway, hip resting on the doorjamb, legs crossed at the ankle in a pose that he'd come to adopt later in his life.

 

His own jacket and tie had disappeared, and his shirt sleeves were rolled up as his shirt collar was open down the first four buttons.  "Reynolds is sweatin' his ass off in his office, suit, tie and everything still on."  Sweat beaded on the skin that was exposed through the open shirt, and he fanned himself with a folded sheet of paper as he waited for Bruce's notice.

 

He glanced up... and an eyebrow perked, before back down to his papers. "I like the musician… he seems to be the only one out of the lot who knows what he's talking about." He continued to write. "Reynolds can kiss my ass, as far as I see it." A moment... and the boy still hadn’t left, so Bruce looked back up, and pushed a lock of brown hair out of his eyes. "Can I help you?"

 

"I certainly hope so."  The offer in his tone was unmistakable.

 

Oh. Both brows perked, and he finally got a good look at the kid. Young...probably a freshman. Bald, completely, with large, piercing, innocent gray eyes. "Ah. Luthor, is it? I've heard of you." And boy, had he. This kid hadn’t been here for more then five months and he already had a reputation and a half.

 

"Call me Lex."

 

"Hello, Lex." And he smirked. "What can I do for you, today?" He sat up, closing his pen, one knee out in front of him, the other foot flat on the floor.

 

"It's more a question of... what I can do for you."

 

"Ah. Come in, then. Close the door behind you." But his smirk hadn’t left his face, and he watched the boy move.

 

Lex sauntered easily into the stuffy room.  "We could go back to my room; I have an air-conditioning unit."  He didn't mention how he'd gotten it, but he seemed to glide, so confident was his walk, and he flowed to his knees between Bruce's outstretched and spread legs.

 

Oh, his eyebrows all but hit his hairline. He watched the kid...Lex, he'd said, slide easily between his thighs, and he peered into those smoky gray eyes with a sort of shock. "May I ask what you're doing?"

 

"If you have to ask, then maybe I came to the wrong place."

 

"What you're telling me is that you just decided to waltz in here, and give me a blow just because I was sitting here reading Chaucer?" He smirked.

 

"No, I decided to give you a blow when I saw your ass in the hallway after Literature," Lex clarified.  "It just so happened you were reading Chaucer when I came in."

 

"Ah." He continued to watch him, sitting there lewdly between his thighs. Pen forgotten, paper forgotten, and he was having a normal teenage reaction. Despite the fact that he couldn’t put the smirk away. "Lex, you know... from what I’ve heard of you, I didn’t think you were this cheap."

 

Lex frowned.  "I'm not cheap.  I'm not easy.  But I am smart... and I know when to cultivate a certain type of... acquaintance."  He ran a single finger up Bruce's inseam.

 

"Really. And what kind of acquaintance would I be?"

 

"A very useful... very pleasurable one."

 

"Hmm." His brow rose. It was in a permanent arch, so it seemed. "I won’t deny either. However, despite what my pants say, I am not attracted to you in any way other then that rosy mouth you have. And what type of acquaintanceship would that be?"

 

"I get you off... you cover for me with my father when he bitches about how I waste my time here, and get him off my back so I can continue my... education."

 

"You mean, I’m basically going to whore you?"

 

"You have a problem with that?"

 

He didn’t like that. At all. Bruce was a teenager, and he liked sex and fun just as he liked anything else. But something about this little boy rubbed him wrong, and in a very sudden, very quick move, he had snagged Lex by the shoulders and threw him onto his bed… straddling him and pinning him down with his weight a second later. He looked down into those light eyes, giving him a good, hard shake, as he'd wanted to the first time he'd heard about him. "Yes. I do."

 

Lex shoved at Bruce.  "Then I'll find someone else that my father will... at least accept, if not approve of."

 

"No, I’m sorry." He kept looking down at him… and yeah, Bruce had a bit of a reputation himself. For being crazy off his fucking rocker. "What if I decide to fuck you now, Lex? Mmm?" He shoved his legs between Lex's slim, wiry body and rocked, hard. "Rape you? What then?"

 

"You can't rape someone who came looking for sex, Wayne."

 

"Yes, I can." He pulled Lex's arms up over his head and held him down, grip on his wrists vice tight. "Oh, yes I can. I will rip you up inside so bad, little boy, that you won't be able to sit for a week."

 

Lex thrust up against Bruce.  "Go ahead, if that's what gets your rocks off; I heal fast and I'll be ready again in a few days."  Another thrust up.  "At least Dad won't be able to bitch if I'm with you."

 

He shoved off of him in disgust... because in this boy, he saw himself from five years before. He rolled and sat up... shaking his head and looking away. "Get out of here, kid. You won't find what you want here." He looked down at him, hard. "But know this. He who sells his body never gets anything in return."

 

"I'm not a kid, Wayne.  I'm not that much younger than you, and I always get what I want."

 

"Yes, you will. But you'll go about getting it in the wrong way." He said it, nonchalantly.

 

"So what's the right way, O Wise and Broody One?"

 

And now, he looked at Lex with dark eyes. "When I’m making deals with presidents, you'll be getting fucked by them. Sure, we'll both get what we want. But I'll have respect, dignity, and self worth. And you'll have a bloodied asshole."

 

Lex flinched.  "Now you sound like my father."

 

"Don’t compare me to parentals, will you?"

 

"Then stop sounding like mine."

 

Bruce smirked very lightly, and shook his head at him. "You're young. But if you want… I can teach you how to use seduction...not give it."

 

"And what's it going to cost me?"

 

"Nothing. I just ask one thing of you."

 

"What?"

 

"Don’t fall in love with me."

 

Lex shrugged.  "That's easy enough--I've never loved anyone in my life." 

 

Bruce's lips quirked but didn’t say anything more, and he leaned back into his pillows and headboard. "Alright, kid. Blow me."

 

Despite the fact that his limbs seemed a little too large for his body, Lex flowed back to his knees on the floor, resuming his position between Bruce's legs.  Raising his hand, he put it on Bruce's zipper, sliding it down slowly and exposing his cotton briefs.  Slipping a hand inside, he stroked the hard prize waiting for him, moaning softly in his throat at the size.

 

He stopped his approach with a fingertip to Lex's small little nose, despite the warm, hot hand in his briefs. "Mistake number one. Already fucked up, Lex." He clucked his tongue, but there was a smile on his lips. "Seduction...is not about my pointing at my crotch and you going after it."

 

Lex's brow furrowed as he looked up at Bruce, the scrawniness of his body made even more evident by the powerful thighs he crouched between.

 

"First, lets get the definition right. Seduction...is a dance. Like the tango, sans Sister Judy. Its a mating of two bodies and two souls in the ever playing game of sexual want. Seduction... is teasing... taunting... learning what your body is, and how you can use it."

 

Lex looked down at himself, and then back up at Bruce.  "You've got to be kidding," he said dryly.

 

Oh, yeah. He couldn’t help a smile. "Oh, come on, Lex. You're alright." He pulled the boy’s hand delicately from his pants, despite... yeah, damn he knew what he was doing with his hands, and pulled him to his feet. "Look at you. You haven’t quite grown into your limbs, have you? But it'll happen." He nodded. "And if you start now...you'll know what to do with them once they don’t take up a third of your body." A slight smirk. "Seduction… is a game. What do you do when you seduce someone, Lex?"

 

At that, Lex smirked, though whether it was at Bruce or himself, he wasn't really sure.  "I usually show up, offer what the person wants, give it to them, and walk away with a fuck and what I want."

 

"And that, my boy, is your problem." He nodded, sitting back and zipping his pants up before climbing to his feet. "Sit down, right where I was. I want to show you."

 

Lex watched warily, settling himself back on the bed and precisely emulating Bruce's sprawl, down to the arrangement of his arms and his legs.  The warmth of Bruce's body was still on the bed and he nestled into it, soaking it up into his own cold skin. 

  

Bruce stood before him...and it was an almost physical change. His eyes warmed...his body flushed beautifully, his lip caught between his teeth. He had stepped to the end of the bed, but now he walked slowly...casually, his hips moving in a sort of gorgeous dance, as his fingertips reached up and skimmed his lower lip before down. Down, over his own body, though he didn’t really touch it...just tracing the shape in the air before his fingertips made it to Lex's legs.

 

He danced them...slowly...softly up, across the knees...tracing, tickling, teasing fingertips that didn’t exactly touch, but didn’t not touch either. Bruce licked his own lips...caught the lower between his teeth, and looked up under his lashes, as innocent and damn sexy as he'd ever remember being. Heee. He was getting better.

 

He leaned in...didn’t quite touch Lex's lips...backed away. Again....warm air blowing over the boys mouth…chin...neck. He let his mouth skim across clothes but never hard enough to rub skin...all the way down until he got to the cock he knew was hardening underneath.

 

He blew his heat all over it...searched with his lips barely stroking cotton until he got to the tip, and gave it a soft kiss, before he sat back on the bed.

 

Alright. So maybe his breath was a little shallower, and his heart a little faster. He was a tease...and a damn good one.

 

Lex was panting, his body trembling as Bruce slid down his body.  His hands were tightly knotted in the sheets, fingers pawing through them as he tried to move, touch, or rub against Bruce.  But every time he tried, he was pushed away, denied, and moved back down to the bed.

 

"W-Wayne... fuck... fucking touch me," Lex demanded breathlessly.

 

He couldn’t help it...he grinned down at the boy writhing on his bed, and gently, soothingly touched his face. "Yeah, I still got it. Lex..." He swallowed a little, but didn’t make a big deal of it. "That’s seduction. Are you seeing the difference, now?" But his palms were movingly apologetically over the boy’s thighs.

 

So what? So maybe he had a weak spot for pretty, demanding boys. Even if he liked them begging, better.

 

"That's... being a fucking cocktease," Lex growled, gripping the palms that were burning trails over his thighs and brought them to his cock, which was hard and aching.  "Please..." he said, pressing Bruce's hand down over his cock.  "Do something."

 

"No...I think I’m going to make you beg for a little while longer." He slid his hands away, and instead slid them up his chest...over his nipples, rubbing his palms through the cotton into the hard, aching nubs, before away and down again. His fingertips traced the outline of the hot, hard cock underneath, lips trailing wetly over Lex's hands. God knew where they'd been but Bruce didn’t mind, sucking the thumb into his mouth and sucking, hard. Twice...before he let go, stood, and smiled down at the boy. "I’m sorry...you wanted me to do something for you? I was hoping you could do something for me, first."

 

Lex shuddered hard, fingers stroking Bruce's face helplessly as his thumb was sucked, and whined deep in his throat as Bruce teased his nipples and then his cock.  Fruitless twisting and arching, trying to force more contact, and only being more and more frustrated by his inability to get off.  "wh--what?  What do you want me to do?"

 

"Aha! And that, my dear boy, is your first lesson." And this time, Bruce's eyes were dancing, as he climbed atop the sweet boy, rolled over him, and let him splay atop him. "Tell me, Lex. Are you still a virgin? Aside from getting fucked, I mean."

 

"I--" don't know what you mean "seriously doubt it, Wayne... I've done pretty much everything you can think of."

 

"Have you?" He wound his legs around the much smaller boys body and rubbed his ass right against the hard erection he could feel through the thin pants. His fingers were skimming over the slim shoulders...the hard muscles underneath, those gorgeous artists hands. "Everything?"

 

Lex shuddered, thrusting up, but he nodded.  "Yeah, ev--everything."

 

"Well, it just happens that I feel like a cock inside me at the moment." A glance at the door told him it was locked, and he ground his hips down. "We've got an hour before supper. Tell me, Lex. How big a boy are you?"

 

A moan spilled out of him.  "Eight," he grunted out.

 

Oh. God. "Mmmm. You'll grow." Was his sweetly innocent reply. He lifted his hips... lying back and gazing expectantly at him.. .before he took pity. His fingertips trailed gently over his back… down his backside, over his thighs. "You've never had it because you wanted it, have you?"

 

"N--no," Lex confessed softly, moving to his knees between Bruce's legs.  "Only because it's what people want from me... fucking the Luthor whore because they think they're fucking Dad over too."  His hands braced Bruce's knees open, slid down the insides of his thighs and back up again.

 

"I want you too...but not because of your father." He tipped his head… raising his hips and slowly tugging his belt off. "You intrigue me, Lex." The buckle hit the ground with a short thud, and he unbuttoned his pants, fingertips going over his swollen cock by accident, and he ground out a short moan. "What must have happened to you to make you the way are? I suppose its what happens to everyone who turns out this way... we get fucked over." He rolled his hips and his briefs and pants slinked down his thighs.

 

"Let me."  Lex's hands slid over the bared skin of Bruce's stomach and thighs, avoiding the other man's cock as he tugged the briefs and pants the rest of the way off, folding them meticulously over the back of the nearest chair.  Shoes and socks were removed next, and Lex placed those on the seat of the chair, and then that left only Bruce's shirt.  "You--you want me to take your shirt off, too?" he asked, straddling the larger man's waist with too-long legs and squirming briefly against his cock to get situated.

 

The clothes were all meticulously removed, one by one, and Bruce watched the young boy move as he did, tug off each article of clothing quickly and perfectly...but when he settled over his lap, and ground down on his cock, Bruce stopped his movements with a blink. "Lex..." he wasn’t sure what the lad was doing but his movement against him felt...like a fucking sin, and he shook his head. He reached up… unbuttoning the rest of Lex's shirt and tossing it away. His chest was slender but lovely, with the hint of the man he might be one day in the curves and angles. His belly was concave and tight...and when he undid his pants, and slid them down his hips, they got caught around his legs. "Lex, what are you doing up there? Come on, stop messing around, I...I’m wanting, here."

 

And Bruce Wayne NEVER admitted when he was turned on. ...Ever. But he hadn’t had sex in almost four months, after his relationship with a young Mr. Gordon had ended quite badly, so he just squirmed and waited.

 

Lex lifted himself onto his knees first, rolling his slacks down, and then put his hands on either side of Bruce's shoulders, holding and hovering over Bruce's body as he rubbed his legs together, working his slacks down the rest of the way until he could kick them off to the side and he settled back over Bruce's thighs.  Their cocks rubbed together lightly, and this Lex was familiar with.

 

He caught both hard lengths in his hands, jacking them off, slicking his own cock with the secretions from Bruce's.

 

He gasped and arched back...laughing as Lex did it, though the sound was breathless. "Holy, fuck. Lex...'ma" A deep, heavy groan. "I’m going to bottle your fingers."

 

A quiet, almost-shy smile was Lex's answer, and he jerked them faster, and then slid down further.  "You said... know what your body can do... I know what I can do."  He moved, tilting Bruce's hips up just enough, one hand still stroking the older boy's cock while the other hand slicked pre-come over Bruce's opening.  When that wasn't enough, he slipped his fingers into his mouth, wetted them, and as he slid one finger into Bruce, Lex twisted his flexibly-thin body at the waist until he could deep throat Bruce's cock in a single swallow as he stretched.

 

OhfuckohfuckOHFUCK! A sharp, loud gasp and he arched off the bed, eyes rolling closed as… oh, GOD. He was engulfed, completely, and he gasped again, harder, writhing on the sheets as he arched his hips. Oh, God, gone in a single suck, and he looked down at Lex's mouth as his lips wrapped around the base of his dick.

 

Ho-ly FUCK.

 

"L...Lex..." He grunted, darkly, voice foreign to him as he reached down to caress the naked skull. No one had ever...to him. No one. Had ever. Sucked him. And this… oh, my God.

 

It was only his hard grasp on his control that kept him orgasm free.

 

A dark murmur around Bruce's cock as Lex slurped around it, head starting to bob rapidly.  Red lips were glistening with saliva as he slicked Bruce's cock with it so that his tongue slid easily, and his throat was a long, smooth tunnel that tightened around his lover's cock with surprising ease.

 

Lex added a second finger, and crooked them both gently towards him once they were fully inside Bruce, seeking and then finding the gland inside him and thrusting against it firmly as he deep throated Bruce repeatedly in long, protracted sucks.  Wet slurp as Lex's mouth slid off his cock, and a fast swipe down as Lex sucked him all in with a single swallow.

 

He came. There was no way to not come. He tried to hold back, tried to show Lex he was as experienced as he'd seemed...and he was. But… this. Oh, holy Christ on a cross.

 

He let out a harsh, muffled wail into his arm, the spike of absolute pleasure from his prostate sent him over the edge. He let out another hollow gasp, coming and coming down that tight, hot, hard little sheath as hard as he ever had in his fucking life, and he'd been around. He knew what was available. But...this.

 

Orgasm was still dancing in his eyes when he grasped that head, tugged Lex up, and kissed him as hard and hot as he'd ever kissed anyone in his life. Sloppy and sexy and so indescribably hot, and this young mans fingers were in him, and he felt fifteen again.

 

Lex was prepared for the orgasm; his throat was open and he swallowed every pulse, keeping Bruce so deep in his throat that nothing was spilt.

 

He was not prepared, however, for Bruce to pull him up and kiss him.  Lex returned the kiss, slowly at first and then just as hungrily and wetly as Bruce kissed him, and his fingers stayed buried in Bruce's ass, stroking and scissoring as Lex sucked on his lover's tongue just like he'd sucked his cock.

 

He groaned, hard and hot, aching for cock inside of him because his spent, hot, soaking cock was twitching again, already, and this… this… this. He kept kissing him, stroking and biting at that full, soft lower lip, fingers stroking over the naked skin of his head as he pumped his hips up in want, begging without words. Yeah, he could beg, he was only eighteen. Leave the not begging for when he was a grown up. "Hurry, Lex, h-" He lapped at that soft mouth, biting his lips, grazing his teeth over that chin.

 

"Okay," Lex said, and he licked a straight line down Bruce's chest until he was at his cock.  A nip to the head, and Lex steadied the thrusting hips, but instead of his cock, Lex pushed his tongue in, wetting the stretched hole more so that he could easily slide his cock in.

 

"Lex, Lex, dammit," He growled. FUCK. When he said now, he meant now. Bruce wasn’t a demanding sort of fellow...not an excitable one either, despite his crazy as a fox mental state. He pushed Lex off of him… grabbed him by the shoulder, and rolled over him.

 

He reached over the young boy, into his side dresser, and pulled out a rubber and some lube. "I. Said. Fuck me. Not pleasure me." I want you to have pleasure, stupid boy. Bruce ripped the foil open and wound it down over Lex's hard, aching cock. Secured it...lubed it with a squirt of the small bottle and his palm.

 

Then arranged his hips over him, looking down at him and stopping before he sank down onto the hot, hard cock just barely teasing his hole. "Are you sure?"

 

Pure shock of fear shot through Lex as Bruce grabbed him and rolled him over--despite the earlier bravado, rape was actually not on his agenda for the day, but he relaxed almost instantly as Bruce snarled at him, the clench of fear in his belly relaxing into a roiling pit of heat.  He almost opened his mouth to defend himself, but then a rough hand gripped his cock and it was Lex's turn to start counting in Greek as Bruce rolled the condom onto his cock and jerked him off, spreading the lube over it.  "Y--Yes.  Sure... didn't mean--Yeah."  Lex slipped his hand down, steadying his cock, rubbing it lightly over Bruce's hole and spreading some of the lube over the outer rim of muscle.

 

Oh. He'd scared him. Bruce saw it, and he leaned down, leaning his elbows on either side of Lex's face and kissing him. Very gently and softly, and he made Lex focus on his face. "I’m not stupid. I know this isn’t new, but you're not used to it. I won't hurt you, Lex Luthor. Never purposefully. Because I have decided I like you. And I’m going to see you. And we're going to be doing this a lot more often. Are we clear?" But it wasn’t said menacingly, just softly, as he slowly rubbed himself against the hard cock. "Don’t be scared, because I would never hurt anyone. And I would most definitely not hurt you. Are we understood, Mr. Luthor?"

 

And without waiting for a response Bruce reached back, wound his hand around Lex's around that gorgeous, beautiful cock, and slowly began to sink onto it.

 

"We--God!  We're understood!" Lex shouted.  First the tender kisses to his face, and those were new to him.  Then the concern for him--also new.  The gentle touch of Bruce's hand around his own, touch not meant to degrade or humiliate, and he shook gently as he was enveloped.  He couldn't help the bucking thrust upward, couldn't help the hand that guided Bruce's mouth to his for another kiss, another taste of tongue and lips and teeth as Bruce took more of him in.

 

Not new.  But completely new at the same time.

 

His fingertips were gentle. Always. He couldn’t fuck rough even if he wanted to...and he'd tried. His fingers gently moved around Lex's face… holding him close as he kissed, as that slim, trembling palm cupped his cheek and pulled him close, at the same time.

 

The hard, jutting cock felt like molten steel sliding into him and he grunted quietly, pushing down on every buck upwards....but after Lex's hips got a little too rough, he stopped him. He pressed his palm to Lex's hip...slowed him...and let a soft breath escape his lips. "Hold on… I haven’t done this in a while. Hold on." He sat up, leaving that gorgeous mouth, and heaved another slow, relaxing breath as he sank lower. Rocked up...moved down, rocked up, moved down, accepting more and more of that entirely too long, thick cock into him. "Oh… oh, yes. Lex...you are a big b-boy, aren’t you?"

 

"L--lay down.  I can--I can fuck you better... that way," Lex said quietly, grunting between kisses as he tried so hard not to buck into Bruce.  "I'm--sorry I hurt you."  He cringed just a little, as though expecting a blow.  "I didn't know."

 

He left his hand on Bruce's cheek, then slid it to his shoulder, stroking restlessly and holding tightly.  "Br--Bruce... you're tight," he whispered, closing his eyes and setting his forehead against his lover's shoulder, determined to keep his hips from moving until Bruce was situated.  "I thought... opened you up enough."

 

"I will..." He panted it, slowly moving down again. "I’m going to get you in first, hmm?" And he smiled, crookedly, eyes shutting tight as he pressed up and down… up and down. "You did get me stretched...no need to apologize...its been a few months since I’ve fucked, is all." And he decided...now or never. So he just shoved and plopped himself down... gasped at the lance of pain… then the hot, hot pleasure that had his cock twitching as it began to fill. He rested his thighs and ass on Lex's hips for a moment... sighing almost in relief, and slowly began to get them over so he was on his back. "Mmmm. Lex." His eyes were at half mast. "You feel very... very good."

 

Lex tipped his weight forward just a little, pulling his hips back and thrusting forward as he did, helping tip Bruce onto his back as he moved gently inside.  "We'll get you... all loosened up... for next time," he promised, moving slowly with his lover.  "Won't hurt you again."  His hands braced easily on Bruce's wide shoulders as they moved, unbelieving the tightness that surrounded his cock.

 

Half of him couldn't believe he hadn't been belted already.

 

Bruce groaned, heavily, the blankets of his bed against his bare back like a sin. He undulated his hips, slowly but firmly, helping Lex move inside of him as he shut his eyes. "Next time... next time.." He whispered, rolling his body up and down, up and down. Every push in was pleasure... every pull out was loss, and he found Lex's hands by accident. He grasped them... squeezed as tight as he could, and linked their fingers, pulling their palms on either side of his head. "Mmmm… for... for being s-so young... so good..." He murmured, arching and pressing in tight. "Wasn’t hurt...feels really good, now... oh, yes... you can go faster, Lex... I’m not made of porcelain here." He risked a grin up at him, then let his foggy eyes flutter closed once more.

 

"Just waiting for the okay," Lex whispered, squeezing Bruce's fingers tightly as he started to fuck Bruce in earnest, hard thrusts that pulled out to the tip of his cock before slamming back in, lubricated condom beginning to slide easily in his lover's depths.  Lex's mouth dropped to lover's lips, taking another kiss, and then another before sliding his mouth to Bruce's chest, nipping lightly along his collarbone before down to his nipples, sucking each nub into his mouth to be bitten, raked with his teeth, and then soothed with gentle, tonguing licks.

 

"Don’t… have... to... wait." He managed. Hard, easy fucks into his body, easy, lengthy pulls out, and Bruce was in heaven. He hadn’t gotten fucked like this in... in too long a time. His last little fling had been a true pansy ass, and the only sex he'd wanted was up the ass. So that meant... no good, hot, full feeling in his ass for almost a year. Oh, God, and it'd been too long. It felt good, insanely, wonderfully good, to feel the young mans body moving and pushing. There was strength in those wiry muscles and he was thankful, using them to arch and shove his body with every single on of Lex's strokes.

 

His cock was so, so hard, and when Lex’s mouth slid from his mouth to his nipples, he couldn’t help crying out. Sobbing with want, even, though he'd never admit it.

 

This boy had the makings of a truly indescribable lover in him. And Bruce decided, in that instant, that he was going to make those qualities shine.

 

When Lex heard Bruce's keening sobs, he straightened abruptly.  Looking down at his lover with evil intent, Lex threw Bruce's legs over his shoulders, and used his arms to urge Bruce's back into a gentle arch.  "Don't move," Lex instructed shyly, and then demonstrated his flexibility again by extending his neck, straining his back just a little...

 

...and sucking Bruce's cock into his mouth.

 

He gasped... back arched, held by his lover... and as the hard, crushing thrusts continued... he felt...

 

Lex was sucking his cock.

 

And fucking him.

 

At... the same… time.

 

He let out a harsh, loud scream, eyes squeezing shut tightly, arching up further and letting out a harder cry of pure, complete, utter pleasure... and came. Lightening flew across every nerve cell, every thought, all across his skin… all centering on his groin, and ass. Lex hit his prostate, and that was pretty much all she wrote. He came so hard that his entire body shuddered. He came so hard he saw stars, in fact.

 

He came so hard he blacked out.

 

Lex muffled the scream that threatened to spill out of his throat as Bruce came.  He felt as though his cock were going to be torn off in the hard clasp of his lover's body and he couldn't help coming hard.  His legs locked in place, Bruce's legs still over his shoulder as his nails dug in for traction.  His entire being felt like it was emptying out through his cock, brain, heart, soul, everything. 

 

Shudders wracked his body as the tight clench of Bruce's muscles finally relaxed and released him, and Lex's watery limbs could no longer hold him up.  He collapsed on top of the bigger boy, panting for breath and puffing the ends of Bruce's hair as he did.  "Br--Bruce?  Are you--are you okay?"

 

He came to on the last words. "--ou okay?". Was he okay? was he OKAY?! He couldn’t move... couldn’t think, could barely hear. Lex had… and there… it was..

 

Pzzt. Brain short circuit.

 

He moaned...very, very gutturally and very, very softly, shifting... groaning again, and looking for his face… his lips. Oh, please, Lex, find my mouth.

 

Lex felt Bruce just starting to stir under him, and he ran his fingertips over Bruce's lips.  "Hey.  Did I kill you?"  He pressed a soft, chaste kiss to the parted lips, delving in briefly to taste.  "You, uh, you need CPR?"

 

"Mmmphaguh." Bruce kissed those searching fingers...then pulled him in by the ears, for lack of handhold, and kissed him. Soft… sloppy, long and hot. Lazy tongue rolling out of his mouth to find Lex's, and pull it into his own. Warm sucks at it...fingers driving over the bare, pale skin of his lovers neck, and he sighed in contended pleasure. "CPR. Mmmmmmm."

 

Lex moaned softly too, incoherent words that vibrated against Bruce's tongue as he sucked and nibbled, traded kisses and tastes.  He raised his hands, guided Bruce's to grip the back of his skull gently, demonstrating the handhold there, and then rolled off his lover to lay beside him, looking up in no small surprise.  "You--you don't want me to go?"

 

He rolled right over with him, splaying his body over the slimmer, smaller one, and his fingertips gently touched and explored all that creamy, hairless skin. "Nope." He skimmed his thumbs softly under his rib cage… then reached down and rubbed the wet condom. Slowly pulled it up and off… tied it and threw it somewhere not near them, so he could run his fingers over the smooth, hairless flesh around his cock. "Nowhere?"

 

Lex flushed and tried to pull away.  "I'm a freak, all right?  Nowhere.  Not on my head, arms, cock, anywhere.  I'm a fucking girlie freak." 

 

Which was both beneficial and degrading; people wanted to fuck him, yes, but... only because he was the Luthor Freak.  Benefit of that?  He could get almost anything he wanted, just by bending over.

 

He caught Lex before he tried to pull away...eyebrows creasing and keeping him still. "Lex... I don’t think you're a freak, or girlie. I think... I think you're beautiful. You’re like the statue of David... look. Here." He stroked over a tense, strong belly. "You're young... but when you grow up, oh God, how beautiful you're going to be. The women… and men... are going to be tripping over themselves trying to get to you." He forced Lex's chin gently towards him. "You are what you think you are. You are what you make yourself. Its you who has to see how attractive... fucking gorgeous you are. You're like a cat, Lex. All strong arms and sinewy strength. Christ, boy."

 

Lex stopped pulling away from Bruce, but shook his head anyway.  "You're out of your mind, Bruce.  I'm never going to be anything but the bald freak son of a bastard father."

 

"That’s what you think." He said it softly, and forced Lex his way again. "Lex, that’s what... that’s why. Its not about getting what you want… its not about the sex. Its because you don’t... you don’t feel you’re worth it, isn’t it?" He frowned, deeply so, and leaned in for a soft, hot kiss. "I figured." And he did something unexpected...he sat up, and pulled Lex up with him, keeping his arm about those slim shoulders. "I don’t want you seeing anyone but me. Are we clear? No fucking, no sucking, no rimming, no 69ing, nothing. You are mine until I decide you aren’t anymore." Or rather, Bruce was Lex's. Wrapped. Around. His. Little. Finger. He had a weak spot for hurting boys, alright? "I’m going to teach you everything I know, so when its time for me to leave... you'll be set." He glanced at his bed mate. "Lex?"

 

Lex returned the kiss, and then leaned back against Bruce's side.  "We're clear, Bruce... no seeing anyone else... just you."  A tentative arm wrapped around Bruce's waist at the call of his name.  "Yeah?"

 

He smiled and leaned in close. "I want...I want you to go to the nurse. Alright? Give a bit of blood... get tested. I’m in need of doing so, too. We'll go together... just to make sure. Alright?"

 

Lex shook his head.  "I--I don't get sick.  But I have my pedigree papers, if you want to see them.  I get them every six months--Dad makes me.  The last time was two months ago."

 

"Pedigree papers?" It made Bruce stop...and stare at his young friend.

 

"Ye--yeah.  Shows that I'm still clean, I'm not sick, things like that.  My pedigree."

 

"The first thing I’m ever going to tell you is this. Even if six years down the road you can't fucking remember my name--you remember what I’m about to tell you, Lex Luthor."

 

"All right."  Lex knew that Bruce was pissed.  He just didn't know why.

 

"You are not a dog. Do you understand me? Whatever that fucking man has done to you, you are not a dog. You are not an animal. You are not a pet. You do not, in any way, owe him anything. You are a human being, a damned fine one though I’ve known you for about an hour, even if he's been lead wrong. And you do not have a thing called a "pedigree". You have your sanity, and you have your health. But you aren’t some prize show dog that’s going to be matched with some bitch in heat. Understood?" Pissed? He was PASSED pissed.

 

"I--I understand.  But--that's what it's always been called.  Not Dad, but the doctor he hired."  Lex looked up at Bruce.  "I just--it never bothered me.  It's just... what it's called."

 

"No. Its not what its called, and the doctor has his head further up his ass then your father. Its called your health, Lex. Your health." Christ. Did he mention something about not falling for someone? "Your health. If you're healthy, if you're okay. Its not a pedigree. I don’t ever, ever, want to hear that word out of your mouth again, unless you're talking about some nice horses you plan on buying. Understood?"

 

Lex dropped his eyes to the floor, and then back up at Bruce.  "Yes, sir."  His eyes twinkled softly.  "I understand.  No more pedigrees."

 

"Good." Damn, that pissed him off, and he hauled the young man over, crushing a kiss to his mouth and hugging him, tightly. "Good. Okay. Now. Before Sister Annie has a fucking cow...lets get dressed and go eat." And this time, he did glance at Lex, shyly. "And maybe we can come back...and make out."

 

Lex grinned at that.  "I always did like a... special dessert after I eat."

 

And as he climbed to his feet, he stared at the young man still sitting in his sheets. "Can I just ask you one thing?"

 

"Yeah... you can ask me anything."  He met Bruce's eyes head-on.

 

"Will you teach me how you did that? The mouth and fucking thing? Cause...ah...well."

 

Lex made a show of eyeing his lover.  "If you're not too stiff and inflexible, old man."  He rose from the sheets and started picking up his clothing from the pile on the floor, and he sat down on the edge of the bed.  "And keep plenty of aspirin on hand the first few days, cause it'll kill your back."

 

He grinned... very broadly, and leaned down to press a warm, soft kiss on the crown of his head. "I don’t think my back will mind, believe me."

 

Lex grinned up at the kiss.  "Well... I can do back rubs too, if it does mind."

 

"Lex?" He crouched down in front of him, and gently pulled him in for a kiss. "Thank you for coming by my room today."

 

~ * ~

 

They'd gone through two years of Excelsior together.  Two... years.  Working together, school projects together, term papers together... loving each other.

 

Lex couldn't believe what Bruce had just told him.  "You're... leaving."  Leaving him.  Leaving the school.  Everything.  "You're leaving." 

 

His heart wanted to shatter.  Bruce was leaving.  And Lex couldn't stop him.  Not with all of his money, not with all of his pretty words, not with any sexual favor he could think of. 

 

Not even with his heart.

 

Bruce had known this was how it was going to happen. How it always happened. Despite the words he'd told the young man, those first words... Don’t fall in love with me. It had happened. Just as he'd known it would. ...And he'd fallen in love, as well. There was something about the younger boy that he adored... something good and pure, something he'd molded into a fine person. It had just taken patience... and patience Bruce had had. He'd kept Lex in his bed… and then finally, in his heart, despite every mental fight he'd had with himself to keep the boy away.

 

Lex was sneaky that way.

 

But, as things had gone, his Uncle Marley had died, and had cut Bruce's schooling way too short. He'd been in the middle of sophomore year of his university career...and it was time to start his life.

 

He was outrageously terrified.

 

His uncle's death had left a gaping maw in the middle east...one that Bruce had to fill. The deal with the Saudis would grant Wayne Enterprises over 3 billion dollars worth of oil in the next twenty years. He couldn’t lose this contract. Everything sat on making the deal...everything.

 

Even his own heart.

 

"Bruce... you can't go.  Someone else can make this deal for you.  Someone who has experience... who knows what they're doing."  Lex was sitting on the edge of Bruce's bed--their bed--watching his silent lover staring out the window.

 

Strong shoulders.  Broad back, narrow hips, solid thighs.  He stood statue-still at the window, silhouetted by the light, and Lex's words were choking in his throat.

 

"I have to, Lex." Quietly. "You know I do. Everything my father left me...I can't throw it away."

 

The years, though all the joy Lex had given him, had been clouded with dark grief. His parents sat in his heart...yanked away from him at such a young age, and everything his father had left him, everything he'd given him that shallow, dark night where he'd been murdered in front of him. And more and more he felt the pain, the shadow that their lives had cast on his own. Therapy hadn’t worked... medication was out of the question.

 

And now, leaving the one person he adored for the legacy his father, and the father before him, had left.

 

"I have to do this for him."

 

"I--you can.  Just another year, Bruce.  Finish here first.  Another year, and then you'll be ready."  Weak argument, and they both knew it.  Bruce was already probably more than capable even without the schooling behind him. 

 

He was a Luthor, after all... he would not beg.  But he wanted to; wanted to beg Bruce to stay.  Not leave.  Stay with him, please.

 

"I can’t, Lex." He finally turned, and gazed at his slender lover. Such a beautiful man... hadn’t he said it? Hadn’t he claimed it? He knew Lex would turn out to be a gorgeous man, strong and healthy...and here he was. Tall, thickened in the arms... broader of chest, though his waist had kept the slender shape. He was beautiful.

 

And Bruce was a fool, for never telling him how much he loved him.

 

"I have to, Lex. I have to go and do this. I’m ready... you know I’m ready. After... after the phone call, the other day, I knew. My uncle tried, Lex. But I have to."

 

"You are ready," Lex admitted quietly.  "But I'm not.  I'm not ready at all.  Bruce..."  Lex visibly bit off the words he wanted to say.  But I love you... I'm not ready to lose you. 

 

He swallowed down the words, and with them his heart, and he could feel his body stiffening with cold. 

 

But Bruce was ready. He was ready to say the words, because they would the be the first, and last time, he said it to this extraordinary, wonderful person that for a time had kept his soul out of the shadows. Who had cared for him, through all the ordeals in his life...who had held him when he cried, who had let himself be held when he did. This boy...this man, was why he was still alive...both in body, and heart.

 

He walked away from the sunlit window and sank to his knees in front of him...taking his hands in his own and linking the fingers, as they always did when they held hands. "Many years down the road, when I lie in my death bed...when its time for me to go, and I am surrounded by friends and family, I will remember you, Lex. You were the light in the dark beacon of my childhood, the person I saw grow and change and mature before my eyes. You are the reason I am the way I am today… and I love you. Very, very, much. I love you with my entire heart... and I don’t want you to ever forget that. We part now as lovers...and when I see you again, two years or twenty down the road, I want to look in your eyes and see the best friend I’ve ever had. I want to see the person I hold above all others. You are my best friend.  You are more then that...there aren’t words. You know, though. You do. Here." He pressed a slender, work hardened palm to Lex's chest.

 

Lex closed his eyes, shoulders shaking as he leaned forward and let his bald crown rest on the soft fullness of Bruce's hair.  "I love you, Bruce.  You--you've taught me so many things about myself, and it's... killing the heart that you woke up inside me to know that you are leaving me and there's nothing that I can do to make you stay."  His tears slid through Bruce's hair like raindrops.  "I don't want to see you in two years or twenty, I need you now.  His breath stuttered when Bruce's hand touched him.  "I know."

 

"I know. I know, my precious jewel, I know." He felt the tears, and they just broke his deadened, dark heart. "I know, my love. I know." He gently squeezed the fingers in his own. "I have to go. I have to... for my sanity, for my health, for the business my dad left me. The legacy. Lex, I have to." He swallowed the ball of heat in his throat. "You...you are going to make someone so happy. I can't even explain it to you... Lex, you're destined for someone better then me. Someone who's innocent, and pure, and you'll get the pleasure of giving that person your love. Someone who isn’t ruined, who can give it back to you the way you need to be loved." He looked up, and grasped Lex's cheeks, and recited what he'd told his sweet, wonderful lover every morning for two and a half years. "You are smart. You are intelligent. You are strong, you are hard, you are special. You have a heart. You are giving," And now, he wept. Softly, tears sliding from his full eyes, as he kissed each finger in the hands clasped in his. "You are loyal. You are amazing. You are the most beautiful, generous, exciting, gorgeous man I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. You have made my life better, just be smiling at me, every morning."

 

Lex pulled his hands away from Bruce and wrapped his lover tightly in his arms.  "I'm none of that without you, Bruce... please don't go.  Don't leave me alone."  Those words he choked out through a lump in his throat, a wad of tears that fought to come out behind his eyes.  "Don't.  Please."

 

"I have to, beautiful." He whispered it into a slim neck, and he kissed it softly, as Lex held him...and he held him back, tightly. "Don’t wait for me. I don’t want you to think about me anymore...do you understand? Lex, I want you to have someone. Don’t let your life get ruined for me. Do you hear me? You go on, and you become the man I know you're going to, and you show your bastard father that you're worth it."

 

"There won't be anyone, Bruce.  Nobody like you, nobody I love like you."  He rubbed his face in Bruce's shoulder as he felt something in his heart clanging shut.  "But I will do that.  I'll make you proud of me, Bruce, I promise you that.  I'll make you so proud of me."

 

"You already do. Lex, you do." He pulled back to clamp his fingers on Lex's face. "You make me so proud. Look. Look at the man you've become. You're good, and decent, and hard working. Lex, in three years you went from being a little sophomore halfling to this intelligent, amazing being, who's graduating two years early... who's so smart he puts me to shame all the time. You are my treasure. You take my breath away."

 

Lex shook his head.  "Don't say anymore, Bruce.  Just... don't.  Don't make this hurt anymore than it already does, don't make it any harder than it already is."  He wanted to sob, to howl, to scream until his throat was hoarse.  But he didn't, instead letting the tears roll slowly down his face as he looked Bruce in the eye.  "Nobody will ever be able to hurt me like this again, Bruce... I'll never let anyone else in as much as I let you in... I'll never love anyone as much as I love you."

 

In those softly spoken words, Bruce shattered. He felt it… whatever grip he'd had on the good veins in his life slipped out of his grasp, and he was numb. Dead inside. He just nodded, swallowed as hard as he dared, and pressed a soft kiss to Lex's forehead. "I’m so sorry to you, Lex. I’m sorry... I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me someday." A little swallow and he went back to the window, where his suitcase waited for him. "I left...I left something on your bed. You don’t have to keep it, if you don’t want it."

 

Lex didn't say anything until he got to the door of Bruce's room.  He stood over the threshold for several long moments, staring at the wall as his back was to the room.  "You were the best thing in my life, Bruce.  I want to wish that I'd listened to you from the start, that I'd never fallen in love with you, but I can't.  I can't wish for that because I'd never know how happy I could be.  And I know I'll never be this happy again."  He waited for a minute again, until he was back in control, his hands clenched into fists on the doorjamb.  "Goodbye, Bruce."

 

He could barely speak. His chest and throat felt like a vice, and the guilt that settled over him was like a suffocating blanket. "Everything in me hopes for you. Thank you...for coming by my room that night."

 

"And thank you... thank you for helping me grow up.  Thank you for loving me... for believing in me.  In a few years... I'll be able to thank you for this, for teaching me to be as strong as you are."  Lex wrapped his arms around himself as he walked out, closing Bruce's door quietly behind him.

 

"Goodbye." Bruce whispered to the room. "Goodbye, my Lex."

 

~ *End Flashback* ~

 

Dick snuggled in close to his lover, offering him comforting arms and gentle kisses to his shoulder.  "I didn't know that about you," he said quietly.  "What did you leave for him?"

 

"A pen. A pen my dad gave me the week before he was killed. Lex had seen me writing with it sometimes… and he asked me once, why I liked it so much... why I didn’t just throw it away and buy another pen, when it ran out of ink. So I told him, that my father had loved me very much, and he'd known I liked to write stories. I’d write them on the walls when I didn’t have paper. So he gave me that pen, and told me that in it adventures were waiting to be written. But to take care...because every story had to end well. Because that’s how stories always end."

 

"Did he keep it?"  Dick twined his fingers in through Bruce's.  "How... how did you become friends again?"  His head rested against his lover's.  "What happened?"

 

Bruce smiled gently, slipped his fingers through Dick's hair, and in his mind he saw the note he'd written for his young, beautiful lover. May you find your adventures, and may they always end the way they began. Happy. "Hmm? Oh." Bruce laughed, very softly, and rubbed his thumb across a high cheekbone. "In the most unexpected place."

 

~ *Flashback* ~

 

The White House was beautiful at Christmas. An enormous, lit tree sat in the middle of the grand foyer, and with all the ornaments glittering, it was truly a work of art. Bruce had loved seeing it the first time, though he wouldn’t tell a soul... and now, as he drank champagne from glasses he'd bought personally for the White House with the seal frosted along the side, he fingered a glass angel gently. Her wings were spread, her eyes wide, and she looked...peaceful. Innocent.  He envied her...but supposed that was the way of it. Angels were meant for peace... for innocence. Children of the night were not.

 

Lionel Luthor glared at his young son.  "Alexander, I do not ask much of you, but I do ask that for once in your existence, you conduct yourself as befitting a young man of your station!" he hissed, exasperated.

 

Eighteen-year-old Lex Luthor took one of the glasses of champagne from a passing waiter.  "You mean, keep my dick in my pants, stay sober, and don't embarrass you."  The tuxedo itched him, and he despised it.  He knew he stood out in the room because of his baldness, and he used it to his advantage, shielding himself behind a thin curtain of disdain.  "Don't worry, Dad.  I'll be on my best behavior."  A quiet, sneering chuckle.  "That's all you're worried about."

 

Dominic’s eyebrow rose slightly as he heard the conversation, but he kept quiet and smiled at a passing widowed senator's wife who'd had it for him for many years now. Christ, he all but wanted to hide behind Lionel’s body, but knew better then to embarrass his employer in such a way. So he stayed quiet, smiled again, and chatted with one of the Senator hopeful's who wanted to talk to Mr. Luthor and couldn’t quite work up the gall.

 

"I would settle for you being merely civil and quiet!"  Lionel turned his back on his son, and moved across the crowded room.  His target?  Bruce Wayne.  The young industrialist was making quite a few waves in the business community since his surprising recovery of a multi-billion dollar Saudi oil deal, and Bruce was high on Lionel's list of people to keep an eye on.  "Mr. Wayne!" he called out.

 

Lex's head jerked up as he heard his father's voice.  His eyes fixed on the great mane of wavy hair almost instantly, and his stomach jerked hard as he waited to see who answered.

 

And Dominic turned on his heel and worked the other side of the room. He was good that way.

 

Bruce's eyebrow peaked... someone had called him? Dammit, when Alfred had said coming to the White House, he didn’t know he'd have to talk to a great many people. As it was, he'd surpassed his weekly allotment of words. Dammit. Maybe if he kept looking at the tree...no. Dammit.

 

He turned, and looked into soft, dark eyes, taking a sip from his glass and smiling as much as was needed. "Hello, might I help you?"

 

Son of a bitch.  Bruce.  Here.  Cornered by his father.  Jesus Christ.  Lex downed his glass of champagne quickly and snitched another one from a passing water, trading the empty for a full.

 

Lionel held his hand out, businessman's smile in place.  "Mr. Wayne, my name is Lionel Luthor, of LuthorCorp.  I've heard a great deal about you, and I'm quite impressed."

 

And his entire demeanor darkened, visibly, before he could stop it. His eyes shadowed, and his body stiffened. Keep yourself on guard, Bruce. "Hello... Mr. Luthor." He accepted the hand, shaking it firmly, but only once, before he took his hand back. "I’ve heard a great deal about you, as well." Like, oh, run for the hills should he come looking for you, for one.

 

Lionel shook the offered hand firmly, and hid his discomfort at the vicious darkness that crossed the other man's face.  "Well, I can assure you... most of it's true, unless it's bad, in which case, none of it is."  Another oily, artificial smile. 

 

And Lex couldn't help it.  Hearing Bruce's voice over the din of the party... it was like his was the only voice in the room.  Christ.  Two years later, the pain was gone, but still... there was a slight hollowness inside, and the cold weight of Bruce's pen rested against his chest, in the pocket of his shirt.  He started wending his way through the crowd, nodding curt acknowledgements to some and brushing others off entirely.

 

He let a smirk touch his lips at that. Yes, Mr. Luthor. I’m sure. "Just as... most of what you've heard of me is true. And if its bad, its also, more then likely, true." Take those apples, bitch.  I don’t care if it puts my company behind two years. "So...how are you liking President Clinton's party so far?"

 

Lionel's eyebrow elevated.  Brave boy, he thought to himself.  This one's not afraid to speak his mind.  "Quite well, actually.  There's an air of... formality, perhaps, that other parties here have missed, but all in all, this is one of the best parties that I've been to."  A quiet sip of his champagne.

 

Lex couldn't stand it any longer, watching his father with his Bruce.  "Dad... trust you to find the only person I know at this whole damned gala."  He raised his glass so he didn't have to look at Bruce.  "Hello, Bruce.  I didn't know you knew my father."

 

His heart...it caught in his throat. Hard.

 

Very hard.

 

He'd changed. So confident… that confidence leaking out of every pore on his body. Swagger...disdain. This boy… this boy he'd left two years ago, had changed. Very, very much. He rose his glass to the young man, and smiled, just a little, to hide the sharp, slick pain that had stabbed through him. "Lex. It seems your father was being cordial...though I’m quite sure he simply wanted to meet the boy who'd made it on the cover of the New York Times, Wall Street, and the Stock Exchange in a single week." He took a sip of his drink and gazed directly into Lionel’s eyes. "It is a nice party. Very well orchestrated."  That’s it, Bruce. Don’t pay attention to him. Not yet. Don’t let him see the pain.

 

Lionel's eyebrows had elevated almost to his hairline.  "Mr. Wayne, I didn't realize you'd known my son."  He narrowed his eyes at Lex.  "And you, son, didn't mention that you knew Mr. Wayne."

 

Lex didn't deign to look at his father.  "Bruce and I were... quite close at Excelsior.  You requested that I not saddle you with knowledge of anything I did there after you cleaned up that... little mess with Headmaster Reynolds."  He raised his eyes from his champagne glass and challenged Bruce to look at him.

 

And he couldn’t. He could not. He tried...but he only made it as far as the boys shoulder before he had to look away. "I did, sir. For quite some time... he's a good lad. Very studious and hard working... he helped me with my English and chemistry papers, among other things." He nodded. "Tell me, Mr. Luthor, though I’m loathe to talk shop during the holidays. What exactly is it that you want with me?"

 

Lionel made a coldly dismissive gesture towards his son.  "Don't worry, Mr. Wayne.  We can talk after the holidays.  Don't trouble yourself.  Come along, Lex... let's leave Mr. Wayne to his contemplation."

 

"If it's all the same to you, Dad... I haven't seen Bruce in several years, and I'd like to... catch up with him, if you don't have any objection?"

 

Lionel's hand closed tightly on his son's arm.  "Do not embarrass me in front of this man, Lex," he hissed warningly.  "Of course I don't object, Lex.  Enjoy your... friend."  A very quiet, very gentle shake before his voice dropped again.  "I assume your pedigree is order?  If you're going to have sex with him, I don't want him catching anything from you."

 

Lex said nothing, just jerked his arm away from his father and looked back at Bruce.

 

The year before, Gotham had seen its first glimpse of a man in a cape and mask, who, as the months had progressed, had become some sort of icon. The police, at first wary, had put out an order on his arrest...until the so dubbed Batman had saved Sergeant Gordon from demise at the hands of the powerful Joker.

 

Bruce needed something. Day after day, in his office. Day after day, his heart and soul sinking further into oblivion. This was his out, his way to those too helpless to save themselves...much as he'd been, so many years ago, when his parents had been murdered before his eyes in cold blood.

 

And that anger, that resentment, that hate, included this man. This man, who didn’t see the beauty of his own son. "Mr. Luthor... I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that last part." His senses were all immaculate. Sharper then a tack, and twice as powerful. "Where you just whoring your son to me?" An eyebrow perked, calmly.

 

Lionel glared at Bruce.  "No, Mr. Wayne.  I was not.  I do, however, know that my son gets a perverse sense of power out of whoring himself to my peers in an attempt to embarrass me.  I merely told him I that I expected him to be clean if he were going to attempt to sleep with you."

 

Inside, Lex shuddered gently, even as he smirked on the outside.  Bruce was protecting him... like always.

 

"He does not have a pedigree." Sharply, but quietly. "He is not a dog in one of your prized kennels. He is not an animal, to be fed and pet to the side. He is a human being, with a soul, and I’m very sorry that instead of seeing his outcry for your help, your love, you see him as an embarrassment. He is not an embarrassment, he has never been an embarrassment. And you should feel a shame unlike any other on this earth for thinking so. Even if he were clean, or weren’t clean, I would not sleep with him, because I respect him more then your so called peers, Mr. Luthor. You see, I have what they lack. It's called Class." He set his glass on a waiters passing tray. "I bid you goodnight. Lex." And he turned, and walked away.

 

Lex followed, leaving Lionel behind in a stupefied wake.  "Bruce!"

 

He didn’t say anything, though he heard the boy running after him. He bid goodnight to a shocked president, the first lady, and slipped out, hardly noticed, other then for the Luthors and President Clinton and his cabinet.

 

Lex still followed.  "Thank you," he called out, once they were alone on the front lawn.

 

He stopped...dress shoes squishing on the moist lawn the workers had just cleared of snow, and cleared his throat. His hands slipped into his coat pockets... but he didn’t quite have the courage to turn. He could face his foes, both night and day and not blink... but this boy brought him to his knees. "You... don’t have to thank me. I spoke the truth."

 

"But you didn't have to."  Lex didn't stop until he was standing a few steps away.  "Thank you."

 

He gazed down at the grass… and shut his eyes tight. "You're welcome, then." He was silent for a moment...two. "You've changed."

 

"Maybe a little, I have."  He swallowed.  "It's... it was a surprise to see you."

 

"Well… you know." He shrugged, and finally turned around on that wet grass to gaze at his sweet, gentle lover… who wasn’t his lover anymore, no, but he'd kept that sweetness, even if no one saw. "Its not everyday one is invited to the white house."

 

"It's my first time here... but I don't intend for it to be my last."  He turned, slipping his hands into the pocket of his long overcoat.  "One of these days, I'm going to live here, Bruce."

 

"I know you are." And there was no doubt in his voice. "And you're going to make the whole world stand up and take notice."

 

"Just like you always said that I would."  He opened his coat, showed Bruce the silver pen.  "I've never let it out of my sight; it's gotten me through several rough spots."

 

Oh, the lump caught in his throat… made his voice hot and gruff. "You still have it."

 

"I still have it."  Lex closed his coat carefully, almost protectively over it.  "I don't have the happy ending yet, but I'm working on it."

 

"You will." Softly. God, he had to get out of here. "I've really....I should go."

 

"When I heard my dad calling out for Mr. Wayne, I thought that I was going to die," Lex said quietly.  "I wasn't sure I could stand looking at you.  But... there you were, just like always.  You stood up to my father, told him off, protected me, just like you always promised that you would.  And it doesn't hurt inside."  His hands went deeper into his coat.  "I still miss you, Bruce... but I don't blame you any more.  And I don't hate you."

 

He cleared his throat, gruffly, again, and looked at the ground between them as he shifted his weight. Dammit. "When your father called out Mr. Wayne, I looked around for my father." He glanced up again. "I don’t take well to people treating other people like shit. Its become my life, actually." A long, quiet gaze into Lex's eyes. "I’m sorry I had to leave. I’ve never been more sorry in my life."  That’s when the Batman was born. His mind whispered.

 

Lex took a step closer to Bruce.  "I understand why you did.  It took me a long time to understand that, but I do now.  I thought for a while it was because of me, and you were trying to spare my feelings, but then I saw you.  On the magazine covers, on the newspapers, on television.  I knew then.  You weren't meant for me, Bruce.  This is what you were meant for.  And I will always, always love you for everything that you taught me.  But you were right; we weren’t the ones for each other, though sometimes... I wish we had been."

 

"You kept me sane." For a little while. "You were everything to me...everything. But no, Lex. You and I were never meant to be the lovers we were. But you know like I do that people pass through your life, around and over it, that you're meant to take something from and move on. And I prayed, everyday, that the things you took were good things." He said it quietly. "You will never know...ever, what you mean to me."

 

Lex stepped forward, kissed Bruce softly as they stood on the White House lawn.  "They were very good things, Bruce.  You gave me confidence in myself, belief in myself, the ability to know what I'm worth and a thousand other things that I can't put into words."  He stepped away after the kiss, but let his arm rest around Bruce's waist in companionable quiet.  "You will always be my friend, Bruce.  Always.  And there is nothing that I would not do for you."

 

The kiss undid him. The trusting arm killed him. He pulled it up, and hugged him softly, press be god damned. It felt...it was amazing, to hold this boy like this again, to hug him just for the sake of the embrace. "I know its more then probable we'll never see one another again… at least not in person." He said it quietly. "I've got one more lesson for you to learn, one more thing to remember when you're sitting in that house behind you, with a cabinet of men and women and the world sitting atop your shoulders. The world is colored not in black and white...but shades of gray. The trick is to find out on which side of the spectrum you sit.  Once you've figured it out, you can never stray from your path. The trick, however, is figuring it out."

 

Lex wrapped himself in Bruce's embrace.  "Of course we'll see each other again.  If I'm going to be President... I'll need someone I can trust as my right hand.  How would you feel about being Vice President?"  He listened quietly to the older man's words of wisdom.  "I live in the gray, Bruce.  There is no spectrum for me."

 

"You're mistaken. Deeply so." he said it quietly. "You live more in the white then you think, Lex. Take it from an old man." He rubbed a hand over the bald pate… so beautiful, and this boy… this man, was so much more comfortable in his own skin than from the last time he'd seen him.

 

Lex nodded, but he didn't say anything for a long moment, just lingering in Bruce's gentle caress.  "I'm going shark diving off the Australian Gold Coast next weekend; do you want to dive with me?"

 

Batman needs you. "I..." Gotham will lose lives if you go. "I'll...." He looks so hopeful. "I'd love to. Tell me when, and I’m there."

 

Lex pulled out the pen Bruce had given him, and a folded square of paper from somewhere in his jacket pocket.  He scribbled a phone number and a reservation number on it.  "That's my phone number, and that's the confirmation number.  I'll have the tickets and the directions delivered to your office in the morning."

 

He grinned up at Bruce, the boyishness of his grin inescapable.  "You could never say no to me, Bruce."

 

"No..." He took the paper, and couldn’t help smiling… just a little. "I suppose I never could."

 

"Then it's a date.  Don't worry, Bruce.  Gotham City can survive a weekend without it's Dark Knight."  Lex tucked the pen back away in his jacket. 

 

His breath literally snagged in his throat. His eyes flickered across Lex's face...seeing if he was joking...if there was a way he could pass Lex's comment off as a joke. He was choking, on fear, embarrassment, shame. "W… what?"

 

"I'm young, Bruce.  I'm not stupid.  There's exactly five people in the world with enough money to provide Batman with all of his gadgets and gizmos.  Out of those?  Only one of them lives in Gotham City, and out of those same five, only one of them has a scarred past." 

 

He gripped Lex's arm… half in shame, half in fear. "You cannot tell anyone. No one. No one can know."

 

"I've known since Batman made his first appearance, Bruce.  I haven't told anyone yet, and I don't intend to."  Lex put his hand over Bruce's.  "Your secret is safe."

 

At that, he heaved a quiet, relieved breath, and looked good and long at his friend. "You must be ashamed to know me."

 

"Not at all."  Lex returned the hard look with one of his own.  "I'm proud to know you."

 

"Please. What sane person dresses as a bat and goes off killing bad guys at night?" He shook his head and instead let his friends arm go, and slowly began to walk to the cars...walking with his friend. His friend. "Self therapy isn’t always the way to go, another lesson you should know."

 

"It's a little late for that piece of advice," Lex said quietly.  "I think we've both found our own therapies.  You fight your demons... I fuck mine into submission."  He looked up at Bruce.  "It's not what you think; I've never forgotten what you taught me.  It's different now; thank you."

 

"Never thank me. It was a gift I had free to give." Bruce tucked his hands back into his pockets.

 

And walked with his friend.

 

~ *End Flashback* ~

 

Dick swallowed hard as Bruce finished relating the story.  "Wow.  I didn't know Lex knew about you.  I never would have guessed."  He leaned in close, his breathing easy now in the arms of his love, chest long since untightening and relaxing.  "So there's hope?  For me and Pete, I mean?"

 

"If there was hope for Lex and I...there is hope for you and Pete. Give it time." Bruce gently slid his fingers through the chestnut hair of his lovers head. "Lex knows...and he's never told a living soul. I don’t think his fiancé even knows." He shook his head slightly.

 

Dick swallowed hard.  "Pete knows.  He figured it out, after you came to town.  But he won't tell."

 

That made him pause for a moment, and his gently stroking stopped. He tenses for a moment...before slowly relaxing, and his smile was easy when he pressed it into Dicks hair. "Smart boy."

 

"Yeah, he is."  Dick snuggled against Bruce.  "Thank you," he said quietly.  "You've... you've made me feel better."

 

“I love you, Dick. I loved Lex, very much. But you....you are the one." He said it softly, and linked their fingers warmly together. "Don’t be frightened, or sad, when you're with me. I'll always be here for you."

 

"I know, Bruce."  He looked up at his lover.  "I love you.  You... you've been the one for me since we got together; I knew then anyone else would never, ever touch me the way you do."  He laid his head on Bruce's shoulder.  "I think that Pete was my Lex... but you're mine, forever."

 

"I’m sure neither of them appreciate that." But he smiled, and held him close, nuzzling his cheek with his nose and holding him close. "You're so beautiful. Do you want to come lay with me? Let me rub the aches out of your shoulders...we can take a nice warm bath, get the chill out of your bones."

 

Dick nodded.  "Yeah.  Yeah, that sounds good.  I just--I need to be around you, Bruce.  I need you."  He hugged Bruce tightly.  "You know that I'll never leave you again."

 

"Baby, you can leave me all the times you want." He stood, slowly, and offered his arms to his lover. "And every time, I'll come looking for you. No matter what."

 

Dick shook his head, but took his lover's arms as he pulled himself to his feet.  "I won't ever leave again... but it's nice to hear you say that."

 

"Its only nice because I left the part out about the Tazers." His eyes danced. "And ropes. And small army."

 

Dick laughed softly.  "Ropes can be fun when used properly, Bruce.  Are you threatening me... or trying to entice me?"

 

His eyes widened, as they always did whenever his lover mentioned anything even remotely kinky, and his lips spread and curved. "Maybe a little bit of both."

 

 

-fin-

 

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