Title: Flu Season
Author: Tallihensia
Fandom: Smallville
Pairing: Clex (Lex/Clark)
Rating: G
Summary: Lex doesn't get colds. Or does he? Just a bit of h/c with normal Smallville weirdness.

Type: short, fluff, h/c, pre-slash
Word Count: 2,860
Warnings: none
Notes: mid season two-ish. For CLFF 36, Flu and Hurt/Comfort


Flu Season

"Oh man," Pete groaned as they walked down the sidewalk, "That geometry test was hard! I hope it doesn't pull down my grades."

Clark squirmed a bit as he agreed out loud. He hadn't had much trouble with it, but had tried to mess up on a few questions anyhow. Whenever he got tests back, he could sense the teacher's disappointment, but it was just something he'd learned to do to blend in. Being a super-strong clumsy freak was bad enough; being a geek was worse.

They opened the door to the Talon and headed inside.

Clark took three steps in, then stumbled over his own feet, bumped into somebody else, and ended up crashing into a pole. He clung to it as he tried to regain his balance.

"Whoa, Clark, you okay?" Pete hovered, concerned. "You haven't been that clumsy for ages."

"Uh, I'm fine." Clark tested his limbs before letting go of the pole. Then he narrowed his eyes and looked around. He'd finally learned to recognize the difference between tripping over his feet on his own, and the weakness from small amounts of meteor rocks.

Over on the side, Chloe and Lana were already seated, though Lana was half out of her chair looking concerned. Clark waved to them and he and Pete stared over there. Lana wasn't wearing her necklace, though the view on the low-cut pink sweater was very nice. Chloe's wilder patterned shirt clung tightly, outlining the bra below. Lace. Clark glanced away before his vision flipped into x-ray and he was seeing more than he wanted to. Well, not that he didn't want to, but he shouldn't. Really.

A sneeze caught Clark's attention and he focused on the counter where a bulky man in dusty clothes was waiting for his order. "Dan's back in town." The prospector worked in quarries on the fringes of the town, periodically bringing in his loads of general rocks for the landscapers and the fancier ones for the carvers. Clark sighed to himself. The dust on Dan's coat was green-tinged. Three guesses as to what it was.

"Yes." Lana grimaced. "He could at least clean up before he comes in."

"I think that is cleaned up for him," Pete quipped, laughing.

Lana stood up. "I should get back to the counter. What would you two like?"

Pete and Clark dug out their money and placed their orders. Clark sat down next to Chloe, as far away from Dan as he could get without leaving. He hoped Dan would grab his coffee and go, rather than sit down to drink it.

The bell hanging on the door tinkled as somebody else came in. Clark looked up and his breath caught as he saw Lex framed in the doorway. Slender body draped in casually expensive clothes; the light purple shirt tucked into black slacks; no jacket today.

Lex glanced around for a moment before he saw Clark. His whole body turned on with the smile he gave Clark. In that instant, he changed from the reserved careful young businessman with barriers a mile thick around him to Clark's best friend, completely open with no walls between them at all. Even his body language changed, his poise turning to something more relaxed and not guarded in that moment.

Clark responded to the smile and to the changes, drawn to his friend automatically. It was even more special with the knowledge that there wasn't anybody else who ever made Lex smile like that. Clark grinned back, gesturing at the seat next to him in invitation.

With a nod, Lex accepted, but indicated with a small tilt of his head that he was going to get his coffee first.

When Clark returned his attention to his friends, Chloe and Pete were looking at him with exasperation. Clark shrugged. "Lex's here," he said.

"We noticed," Chloe responded dryly.

The three exchanged glances, with Clark blushing a bit. Then they all turned to watch Lex get his coffee.

Lex caught the weight of their stares and looked back, raising an eyebrow, turning slightly away from the counter as he did so.

Dan was moving away with his coffee as Lex turned and they bumped. Dan grabbed his coffee with both hands to keep it from spilling. Then he sneezed. Directly on Lex.

Chloe gasped. The entire Talon quieted as people swiveled around to look. Sound resumed as people started whispering, both horrified and amused. Their resident billionaire, covered in somebody's snot.

Slowly, Lex raised a hand and wiped his face.

"Oh gosh. I'm so sorry." Dan fumbled around, finally dragging out a handkerchief that was as dirty as he was.

Lex shuddered. "That's okay."

Dan sneezed into his handkerchief. "I'm sorry, really."

"It's okay," Lex said again. Gratefully, he accepted the napkins that Lana handed him. Then he disappeared into the back area, most likely going to the restrooms to wash up.

The trio looked at each other. Chloe and Pete stifling laughter, Clark trying not to.

"Oh, oh..." Chloe gasped. "Of all people for that to happen to!"

They got themselves under control before Lex came out, though at the look he gave them they almost started up again. With a shrug, he sat down at their table. "How to humanitize the Luthor," he said wryly.

"Are you okay?" Lana asked solicitously, hovering with Lex's coffee. She handed it to him. "I'm really sorry about that!"

Lex took his coffee and sipped it with evident pleasure. "I got sneezed on, Lana -- it's not the end of the world."

"Well, yes, but..."

"It's okay," Lex repeated with just a touch of steel. After Lana went back to the counter, Lex looked at the others with resignation. "Everybody's going to be asking me about it, aren't they? Like nobody in the world ever has been sneezed on before."

"It's not every day we see a billionaire being sneezed on. Most snot wouldn't dare!" Chloe giggled.

Lex tilted his cup to her in acknowledgement of the humorous hit and then drank. "So," he said with a forced change of subject, "how has your day been?"

They got through the horrors of the geometry test and went onto the current history lesson with Lex pulling out his usual annotates of everything the teachers didn't tell them. Then Lex sneezed.

"Gazuntite," the group automatically responded, and kept on talking. Lex looked a little surprised, but went on with a brief frown.

Then he sneezed again. Twice.

"Bless you," Chloe said. "Do you have a cold too?"

"Um, no." Lex shook his head. "I might have gotten a bit dusty when I was inspecting the bowels of the factory today."

The high schoolers giggled over the dramatic 'bowels of the factory'. "Is it very interesting down there?"

"No, not really." Lex laughed, then coughed. "It was a lot of crap."

"That joke just never gets old." Pete grinned.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Yes, it does."

Clark looked worriedly at Lex. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm---" Lex was cut off as he explosively sneezed.

"Guzentite." They all repeated. Clark dug out his handkerchief and handed it to Lex.

Lex blinked at the red and blue plaid handkerchief. Then he accepted it and held it to his face, sniffing.

"Lex, you have a cold," Chloe said definitively.

"Impossible," Lex said, sniffing.

"What, Luthors don't get sick?" Pete asked sarcastically. The two of them got along better than they had in the early days, yet there was still a bit of the sharpness there.

Lex snorted, then coughed. He closed his eyes for a moment while he coughed, then collected himself and opened with no signs of weakness. "You should have seen my dad the last time he got a stomach flu. He was horrible, raging all around while running to throw up. Completely beneath his dignity and he couldn't stand it. Especially when it got in his hair and he had to wash it out."

They all laughed involuntarily. The idea of Lionel throwing up was just too delightful. It was when Lex pulled out moments like this to share when they all just connected. Four friends and Lex was almost as young as they, now that he was allowed to be.

Then Lex sneezed again. He held Clark's handkerchief up and blew into it. "This is impossible," he mumbled through the fabric.

Chloe reached out and put her hand on Lex's forehead. "You've got a fever," she said, surprised.

Involuntarily, Clark half reached out to stop Chloe, but Lex was permitting it, and Clark settled back. He was torn between a bit of jealousy over Chloe's hand on Lex, and worry over Lex. Lex was a little flushed, and that was unusual for him.

Lex looked along the line of her arm at Chloe. "You know that's impossible."

Chloe took her hand down and raised her eyebrows at Lex.

"Why is it impossible?" Pete leaned over. "You're really sick, man."

"Because I haven't been sick since I was nine."

There was a brief silence around the table.

"What, seriously? Never been sick?" Pete asked, obviously not connecting the dots yet.

Lex took a sip of his coffee, then sneezed again. The liquid sloshed over the cup and he quickly put it down. "I used to be sick all the time. As I was running through the corn, a giant ball of fire baring down on me, I had an asthma attack. The last thing I remember was reaching for my inhaler."

Clark made a slight noise that he initially didn't even realize came from him. He'd always known that Lex had lost his hair in the meteor shower, he hadn't realized there was more to it.

"You're a meteor freak." Pete was obviously amazed.

Chloe looked vindicated but also a little worried. "Lex, what are you doing?"

Lex shrugged. "You three keep all the other secrets, why not mine also." He closed his eyes. "It doesn't matter."

The three high schoolers glanced worriedly at each other. For Lex to say anything didn't matter wasn't like him. His skin was flushed with a light sheen on it. There was a wheeze underlying his breaths when he wasn't coughing.

"Lex, you're really sick." Clark couldn't help it. They hadn't seen Lex sick before. Hurt, yes, but not sick. Lex got hurt all the time from meteor mutants. And always recovered. Huh. Maybe there was something there about that.

Lex glared. "No shit, Sherlock." Then he ran a hand over his face. "Sorry." Lex leaned over the table, gripping the edges.

"Oh hey, is that why you're always researching the rocks?" Pete glanced between Lex and Clark, enlightenment brightening his expression.

"Dan!" Clark burst out almost at the same time.

"Dan?" Chloe asked as she reached out to touch Lex's arm as a steadying gesture.

"When Dan sneezed on Lex earlier."

Lex sat back up again, not shrugging Chloe off, but not acknowledging her gesture either. "Clark, the flu incubates for days. I can't catch a cold from somebody and start sneezing an hour later."

"You can't get a cold at all, according to you."

"Point."

Clark took a breath. "Dan had meteor dust all over him. That could have cut through your immune system."

Lex lifted his head slowly to give a dull-eyed look to Clark. "Now how could you possibly know that?"

Clark opened his mouth but nothing come out.

"Yeah," Lex said with a hint of bitterness. He put his hands on the table and pushed to help himself stand up. He'd barely gotten a step away when he collapsed. Folding down like his bones had dissolved and there was nothing left to hold him together.

It took Clark a couple of stunned seconds to realize what was happening. Lex was half-way down before Clark moved. But when he did, Clark was there in the instant.

"Lex!" Clark went to his knees as he caught Lex. Lex was completely limp. He fell over Clark, draping into his arms without any resistance at all.

Clark held him close. Lex's body against his, his head on Clark's shoulder. It scared Clark, how little response there was. It reminded him of that very first time, when he'd pulled the stranger out of the car, praying that he was alive.

"Oh my God!" Chloe knocked over her chair as she knelt next to them. On the other side of the table, Pete rose from his, coming over.

Easing Lex carefully, Clark shifted his friend until he could see him, cradling Lex in his arms rather than holding him tight to his body.

Lex's eyes blinked, focusing slowly. He met Clark's gaze and something in Lex relaxed. Clark hadn't even realized Lex had tensed up as he awaked. "Lex," Clark whispered, holding his friend.

"What...?" Lex glanced to Chloe. "I fainted?"

Chloe sat back on her heels and breathed a sigh of relief. "You said it, not me."

"Okay." Lex let his eyelids close. "I guess I've got a cold."

"That's a bit more than a cold, man!" Pete hovered. "I think you need to go to the hospital."

Chloe nodded. "You're scaring us."

"Scaring me too..." Lex sighed. "Keys are in my pocket."

Clark didn't want to let Lex go long enough to get them out. Yet Lex was twisting out of his grasp, holding onto Clark to pull himself up. Clark rose too, steadying Lex, ready to catch him if he fell again.

"Lex!" Lana finally got to their side. "Are you okay?"

Lex didn't quite roll his eyes, but it was close.

Chloe inserted herself smoothly between them. "He's got the flu. We're taking him to the hospital."

Pete held up the keys to Lex's car. "I get to drive the Ferrari!"

Lex snorted with laughter before he sneezed into Clark's shoulder. He clung to Clark for a moment, thrown off-balance by the sneeze.

The four of them made their way out. Clark helped Lex into the back seat and crawled in next to him. Pete and Chloe in the front as they drove to the hospital.

Lex leaned on Clark the whole way, starting off with just a casual shoulder-to-shoulder but slowly falling over until Clark was holding him across his chest. Clark couldn't be hurt by much anymore, but luckily he hadn't lost his ability to feel things. Lex felt hot. Even to Clark, Lex felt hot. He was sweating, his skin glistening and drops rolling down. Clark mopped Lex's forehead with his handkerchief, drawing it over the skin and gently stroking his hope for Lex's recovery with it.

When they got to the hospital, they helped Lex in.

The nurse at the reception station looked them over. "Mr. Luthor. You're ambulatory today."

"Very funny, Tisha," Lex responded dryly. "I have a cold."

She urged him to a seat and took a quick vitals check. "I would say the flu, actually. You didn't happen to run into Dan Miller today, did you?"

They all gaped at her. She sighed. "21 people so far. You're from the Talon? After his coffee, he went to Fordman's before we found him. We expect a few more people tonight."

The high schoolers looked at each other, worried, and Lex tried to pull away from Clark. "It's contagious?"

"Surprisingly not. It seems to be direct contact with Dan only, but the recipients aren't passing it on. Or at least not this rapid six-hour version. Don't worry. Other than being extremely fast, it seems to be much the normal type of flu. We're keeping an eye out for weaker patients, but knowing you, Lex, you'll be fine."

The receptionist marked a few more things on her clipboard and then waved another nurse over. "Room 203, Mr. Luthor; your usual."

Lex sighed. "Thanks, Tisha."

"Um, you said you had Dan here..." Chloe was bouncing slightly on her toes, her reporter's instinct roused now that it looked like Lex would be okay.

"I'm not sure if I can let you see him..."

"Oh geez, she's at it again," Pete complained sotto voice.

"You better stay with her, Pete," Clark whispered back. They traded glances in agreement.

Lex laughed softly then went into a coughing fit as the nurse helped him into a wheelchair. "Some things don't ever change."

Clark possessively took charge of pushing the wheelchair as the nurse guided them to a room.

They got Lex up into the bed and the nurse hooked up an IV for fluids and to help with the fever and then she left.

"You don't have to stay," Lex said, his eyes shut as he relaxed onto the hospital bed.

Clark looked at Lex, lying there so pale and quiet. "I will," he answered quietly. He would. As long as Lex needed him, whether Lex thought he did or not, Clark would.

Lex opened his eyes and met Clark's gaze. Slowly, he nodded. "As long as you're here, I'll be fine." Lex smiled, his expression speaking of something more than what he was saying.

Greatly daring, Clark reached out and touched Lex's hand. Lex turned his wrist until their fingers were entwined.

"Always."

END