Dated to October 14th

[capable_of]

This was the most miserable and humiliated Lex had ever felt in his life.

A few days ago, he'd come down with horrible headaches, sore throat and slight fever. Without his mutation, he thought he'd just caught a cold from someone, nothing too serious. But when the first welt had appeared on his neck, he'd finally given in to Anatoly's insistence that he go to the clinic to get checked out. That was where he'd found out that he'd contracted chicken pox, a children's disease, and he couldn't have been more embarrassed.

No one in Lex's social circle growing up got the chicken pox. Children of the elite were sequestered together in fancy private and boarding schools, so there was just no exposure. And if someone did happen to contract it, many parents pulled their kids out of school until the disease had passed. It wasn't fashionable to have a child who was sick with such a common illness and it was even a bragging point if a child made it to their teens without getting it. After the age of nine, Lex hadn't had to worry about it anyway, which had allowed him a small, fleeting glimmer of pride from his father.

But now he was paying for that pride. The embarrassment of having small red welts dotting his pale skin made this worse then when he'd been sick with hypothermia. They were even on his head, dotting his bald scalp. And of course, those were the ones that itched the most, as if wanting to cause a scar where everyone would see it. It took everything Lex had to grip the blankets Anatoly had wrapped around him and not scratch at them.

Speaking of Anatoly, the Russian had been hovering like a mother hen ever since Lex's throat had begun to scratch. At first, Lex had been flattered and ate up the attention, but now he had to hold back from groaning when he heard a soft, accented voice asking if he needed anything. He loved Anatoly, he really did, but all the attention was smothering him. Granted, hearing Anatoly tell stories of taking care of his children when they had the chicken pox was adorable, but it still didn't make up for it. He'd spent more time pretending to be asleep then he ever had in his life.

At the moment he was sitting up in bed, wrapped in blankets despite the heat, trying to read. Anatoly had brought him back a book about Alexander the Great which he'd pleaded from the bookshelf to sooth Lex's temper. It was a good book, with good theories devised from Roman monuments and tombs but Lex was finding it hard to concentrate on the words. Instead he was mainly gripping the cover tightly in his hands so he didn't give into the urge to scratch.

Comments

[chesspolitik]

"Lex? Are you awake?" Anatoly carefully balanced the tray he was holding so its contents wouldn't fall over as he opened the door to the hut. "I have lunch."

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

Lex looked up quickly, having not heard Anatoly come in during his intense concentration of the words in the book. When he could see past the haze of need to scratch that is. Somehow, he relinquished his hold on the book and put it aside. "What did you bring?" He asked in a soft, raspy voice, that still made him wince to hear.

A Luthor did not get sick. Especially this Luthor.

[chesspolitik]

"Soup and tea," Anatoly answered as he set the tray near the bed. "I know you must be sick of it by now but it's the best thing for you to have."

He smiled fondly at Lex and squeezed his shoulder before going off to sit in a chair. He knew Lex was probably just as sick of being fussed over as he was of the soup but it wasn't something he could help. He needed looking after, especially now, and it felt good to Anatoly to be be able to do something, to be there for someone who needed him.

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

Somehow Lex managed not to groan. He appreciated Anatoly taking care of him like this but he was getting very tired of the same thing over and over again. "Thank you." He said instead as he took the bowl of soup off the tray and set it securely in his lap. There was a hesitation before he started eating it slowly, that he hoped he could pass of as trying not to scratch.

Between bites he asked, "What did your children do while they were cooped up like this?" Maybe he could get some ideas. He was getting ideas from Russian children. The voice of his father in the back of his head was choking on a heart attack.

[chesspolitik]

Anatoly laughed softly as he leaned back in his chair. "Besides be very misersable that they couldn't go out and play? Mitya was very surly and wanted to be left alone with his toys unless he wanted something and then he would shout the place down. Ilona wanted someone to stay with her and read to her."

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

"It's not the going out and playing that I'm missing. It's more the kind you do indoors..." Lex muttered behind a bite of soup. This was the longest the two of them hadn't been intimate since New Years and he missed it. Not that he was up for much of anything but that wasn't the point. He cleared his throat as he swallowed the soup. "I think I like your daughter's approach." Yes it was perhaps a bit needy, but it would occupy them both in ways that wouldn't get on Lex's nerves.

[chesspolitik]

"I'd be happy to read to you if you would like," Anatoly said, completely willing to do whatever it took to make Lex happy and distract him from his urge to scratch. "Your Alexander the Great book or something else?"

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

Lex glanced over at the book that looked almost shredded. "Read to me from one your poetry books." The soft Russian would do alot to calm them both. He finished the soup and set the bowl back on the tray. Then he moved over to make room for Anatoly before taking the tea to sip slowly.

[chesspolitik]

"Of course," Anatoly murmured in Russian as he stood up to fetch the requested volume. Book in hand, he joined Lex on the bed, being careful not to jostle the tray. He pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek then settled in, starting from where they'd last left off.

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

The tray was moved so Lex only cupped the mug of tea in his lap so he could move closer to Anatoly. If asked, he would say that the fever was making him cold and he wanted to share the Russian's body heat. But really, the closeness just felt so good when he was feeling so very low. It was not a luxury he'd ever given himself, because he knew he'd never be able to give it up, but right now, he didn't care.

[not_the_s]

"Knock, knock!" Kon called, ducking his head in before getting an answer. In hindsight, it probably wasn't such a good idea considering just what he might be subjected to. There were some sights one was not meant to see and Lex Luthor, even more so if he was in some way a parent, having sex was one of those sights.

Luckily, there was no sex going on.

Unluckily, it looked as if his so-far spotless record for getting people sick had finally ended. He could see the spots from here.

"Hey. Uhh. I see you're...sick."

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

Lex looked up and couldn't help an initial glare. When Cassie had told Anatoly about Kon being sick with the chicken pox, and then Lex having the same diagnosis, it wasn't hard to figure out where he had gotten it. While he knew Anatoly worried about Lex's relationship with Kon, could he blame him a bit of resentment for his current situation? "Yes, I do believe I am." It took everything Lex had to not find something to cover his head. At least he had enough control to not to show how embarrassing this was, especially in front of Kon.

[not_the_s]

Kon held a container of something that was steaming slightly in front of him. He hadn't planned on bringing it for Lex, but no one else he had run across had been sick. "I bring a peace offering? I didn't know I was sick. I'd only ever been sick once before. Well, twice if you include the clone plague." And that had been closer to dying, not just sick.

"It's soup. Cassie made it for me when I was sick." The pox on Lex's head made his lips twitch, but he struggled not to laugh, if only for fear that the other man would shoot him or...something.

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

If Kon laughed, Lex would find a worse punishment then shooting him with a mere gun. Though it was only three feet away in his computer case...

And really, his throat was killing him. The hot soup would go a long way of making it feel better. It still took Lex a moment to find something polite to say. "That's a decent gesture. Thank you." He moved to sit up straighter and pretend that he wasn't covered in red spots. "And if you were cloned from Clark and I, I'm surprised you got sick at all. With Clark's alien constitution and my mutant abilities, I'd think you would be pretty much impervious to illness."

[not_the_s]

"Mutant abilities?" Kon snorted. "Apparently I'm a real boy thanks to the island. Except for the clone plague, here's the only place I've been sick. I got to have a cold." He made a face. Powers or the ability to have a cold. Maybe being Peter Pan wasn't such a bad idea after all.

He moved closer and offered the soup. "Here. It worked wonders for me." He laughed. "No pun intended." If Lex even knew about the Wonders.

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

Lex only raised an eyebrow at the pun comment, as he did get the joke, but he chose wisely not to say anything. He had a turbulent relationship with Ms. Sandsmark at best, since it seemed most everyone close to him adored her and he could barely stand her. "Thank you." He said as he took the soup and tried it. It was salty but it felt amazing on his throat. "It's very good."

"I was caught in the meteor shower that brought Clark to earth when I was nine. The meteors mutated the DNA of many residents of Smallville, including myself. I was granted a heightened immune system in exchange for the lose of my hair." He clarified since it seemed like Kon didn't believe him. "I haven't been sick a day since, until here of course." Then he cocked his head curiously. "Clone plague? There are more then just you?" He wouldn't deny that the process of cloning fascinated him, especially since it seemed like he was the one to develop it in the future. The uses it would have...

[not_the_s]

"Not more of me," Kon answered. "But Cadmus was doing cloning and genetic manipulation." He smiled as he thought of the kids. "In fact, they ended up cloning their lead staff. I don't think they liked it when they ended up not being able to control the kids." And it was, of course, the kids who had gotten him out.

Was he completely wrong or did Lex look...eager? No, that had to be the fever.

"Meteors? Huh. Green, I guess, right?"

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

"Yes, mainly green. Though a red strand was discovered as well. It had...interesting effects." Before the thought of Clark during the ring incident had been a pleasant memory, even it had been worrisome. Now, after the return of the brazen behavior on the island, it was bittersweet.

He was eager. While he enjoyed the history and such that he taught on the island, his mind fed on science like a drug. He cocked his head as he asked, "Did they just clone the bodies of their staff or were they able to transfer their knowledge and memories as well?" The ramifications of that were nothing less then immortality...

[not_the_s]

"Red Kryptonite?" Kon frowned and shook his head. "I think I've heard of it, but only because of Mxyzptlk. I don't know what it might have been where you're from." He wasn't sure he wanted to know what Lex thought was interesting. He was even less sure when he saw the expression on his face. He took a couple of steps back.

"Do I need to remind you just what happened when I was cloned? Or what ideas were put in my head by the person cloning me?" he said softly, looking away. "I think that I'm not going to answer that one." In his mind, any Lex Luthor having too much information on cloning, even on an island where he couldn't do anything about it, was a dangerous thing.

"Because I wasn't the only one affected by the clone plague. So was Lex Luthor."

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

"Mxyzptlk? What in the world is that?"

Then there was the familiar expression on a familiar face and Lex sighed. If he hadn't promised Anatoly, Lex probably would have been more defensive. But he'd promised to try so he backed himself down before he said anything.

"Kon, you are allowed to tell me to stop asking questions. I can't help myself, I have a scientific mind. Asking questions is what I do and I sometimes do not know where the line is to stop. But if I am making you uncomfortable, I will not be offended if you politely tell me to get off a topic of conversation." The corner of his mouth lifted in a small smile. "You may have to remind me a few times. But I will stop." It would be hard, but he would. He really didn't want to make the same mistakes with Kon that he had with Clark.

"So...Can I ask what you meant about your Lex Luthor being affected by the clone plague?"

[not_the_s]

"Just that. You...he was a clone. I'm not sure of the hows of it, but...he was dying." Kon never did find out how he'd gone from dying to President. "And then he wasn't." With Lex at least giving him veto rights over what questions not to answer, Kon stopped backing up and he sighed. Even being here was a bad idea, but... But what if he could changed what happens? What if another Kon didn't have to live with the things that the one in the comic did?

"Mxyzptlk is a trickster from the Fifth dimension. Always running into Superman and causing trouble. But my friends and I found out that things were even worse if he wasn't around than when he is."

He gestured around. "This is something he'd do, but he'd have put in an appearance before now."

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

So many questions Lex wanted to ask about his other self and the clones and in his weakened state, the stress of not asking was showing physically. His effort really deserved to be rewarded and he was going to make sure Anatoly knew that.

"Tell me about this Mxyzptlk? I could use the distraction." He gestured to the chair by the side of the bed, where Anatoly had been keeping vigil for most of the time Lex had been sick. Hopefully that was a safe topic and Lex genuinely did want to know about this other world he occupied.

[not_the_s]

"Uhh, okay." Kon glanced around briefly and sat down in the indicated chair. "Well, let's see. Well, we met him at a Halloween party in Happy Harbor. He turned the party haywire, making some of the kids old, making others bizarrely fast. We found out that it wasn't the one we knew. He hadn't met Superman, yet, so we kind of showed him what would happen to him. It, uh, didn't work out so well."

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

Lex bit his lip to not say anything about people not being who they seem. "What happened?"

[not_the_s]

"The entire world imploded? We were the only thing left." Kon still remembered looking out and seeing destruction around them. "We had to get him back to the same trickster we knew."

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

"It was balance. A world can't exist with the struggle for good and evil..." Lex replied, saying his thoughts out loud. "It seems your Superman needs alot of evil to balance him." Then he looked back up at Kon. "What did you do?"

[not_the_s]

Kon glanced away at the mention of evil. The evil who had balanced Superman had been Luthor. After a second, he cleared his throat and turned back. "You might not believe me. We showed up clips of the Three Stooges. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk."

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

"The Three Stooges? Really?" Lex raised an eyebrow with a small smile. " Your right, that is hard to believe. But creative none the less."

[not_the_s]

"So we got him back in working order and the universe went back to normal. That time." There were plenty of times it had taken a lot longer and a lot more effort to get things back to normal.

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

"I somehow doubt all world crisises are avoided by a trip to Blockbuster." Lex said good naturedly. He bit the inside of his cheek before he ventured, "You should tell me of a time that required more skill..." If Kon didn't want to stay, Lex wasn't about to make him, but it was worth a shot to learn both about the other world and Kon himself.

[not_the_s]

"I'm not the...the man with the plan has always been Tim. I'm just the one who gets by with a good helping of blind luck." Or at least that was how he always saw it. He didn't plan for things to go well. They just did. And sometimes, those rare, awful times, they didn't go okay. And those were usually because of one or another of his screw-ups.

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

Lex couldn't help a small chuckle. Sometimes Kon reminded him so much of his Clark that it hurt.

"Perhaps I should make myself more clear. I was trying a subtle attempt to get you to tell me more about yourself and your adventures with your friends to build on the relationship I know we both promised Anatoly we would work on." Lex said with an amused grin. "Though if you'd rather not, I understand."

[not_the_s]

Kon had know what Lex was looking for. Still, there was a difference between what he'd asked and what he was looking for.

"Well, if that's what you're asking, I can tell you all kinds of stuff. Like when all the children around the Tower turned into green animals. I mean, I signed up to be a superhero, not a rodeo clown. Turns out it was this virus that had turned Gar into the green wonder that he is and that it was temporarily infecting the kids, just like it affected him and turned him normal for a while."

[capable-of.livejournal.com]

Lex was being as plain as he felt he could. Out right questions seemed to only get offense as an answer so he'd tried to soften it. Surely Kon could forgive him that since his intentions were exactly as plain as he said: to work on their relationship.

"I will listen to anything you wish to tell me." Lex replied easily and honestly as he settled back into the pillows to listen and try very hard no to itch.