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seriousficTitle: The Villain Of The Story
Fandom: Smallville
Rating: R
Word Count: 3,333
Author’s Note: Betaed by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
vagrantdream.
Characters/Pairings: Chloe/Davis, Clark/Lois, Lex, Phelan
Last Part: Chapter 8
Next Part: Chapter 10
Summary: Chloe works out how to tell Davis what she’s feeling.
She wasn’t like other women. They were cold and hard, jaded. They knew what they were giving and what they were getting, all carefully weighted and factored in. There was no giving, no feelings. It was just another kind of business deal.
Lex seemed comfortable with that. Clark wasn’t. He had a tendency for ‘bringing home strays’, trying to make things work when everyone said they were doomed. It got him into trouble—jealous lovers, bad break-ups, paternity suits—the things that slid off Lex like melting ice, clung to Clark like tabloid remoras.
Still, with Lois perched on his lap in literally the finest lingerie money could buy, he couldn’t bring himself to regret his outlook on life. It was his one great weakness, but it was also the only weakness worth having.
Lois nuzzled his neck, rubbing against him like the world’s classiest lap dancer. “Admit it. This is better than another board meeting.”
“My dad is going to kill me,” Clark laughed, leaning forward so Lois could untuck his shirt, fingers skipping over his waist.
“Ah, I’m sure he’ll let you off with a light beating.” She guided his hands to her breasts, kissing his fingers before she let them touch her. “And I promise I’ll kiss it better.”
Lois wasn’t like anyone else. Never any half-measures with her. No compromises. She arced against his touch as he curled his hands around her waist, pressing her to him like he’d never let her go. Reaching back, she dropped her bra, but surged back against him before he could catch more than a glimpse. With her lips against his, he could only imagine the sight of her flesh currently rubbing against him.
“If you don’t slow down, I’m gonna lose control,” Clark groaned.
Lois tongued his ear before whispering into it “That’s the idea.”
Clark felt a quickening heat in his groin, matched in his fingertips as if Lois were too hot to touch, and even in his eyes, making him blink away tears.
Lois pulled away long enough for him to wipe at his eyes. “I’ve had that. Sex so good you have to cry.”
“I haven’t.” No matter how much Clark rubbed, tears kept coming. They singed his hands.
“Not yet.” She sunk down, skin now only connecting with his in fleeting snatches, everything but her eyes cast invisible by shadows. He felt her tongue scathe, cat-like, over the lines of his abs and the contours of his ribs. His eyes burned like embers and he squeezed them shut, trying to quell it. Her tongue dipped into his belly button and lower as her fingers found his belt buckle. His eyes shot open. The bed he was looking at, still neatly made for the evening to progress to, burst into flame.
“Oh my god!” Lois cried, jumping up.
“That’s never happened to me before!” Clark said.
“It has to me, but that’s Tijuana for you.” Lois emptied an extinguisher into the bed, putting it out. “Well, bed’s a wash.” She stomped her foot a few times. “Floor’s still good, though.”
“Actually, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you…” Clark crossed his legs, hopefully underlining his seriousness. She deserved to know his secret, and of all the woman he’d known, she seemed the most trustworthy. The most worthy, period.
But then, he had almost flambéed her just now. And as long as they’d been going out, some things ran deeper. It was time for a change, but not here, not yet. It wasn’t being a coward, it was just being prudent. Besides, it was shaping up to be a lovely evening.
“You look beautiful in the firelight.”
Lois smiled. As it turned out, the floor was very good. Before thoughts of anything but Lois were violently ejected from his head, Clark pondered who to ask for advice on telling Lois his secret. Making her a part of the family, so to speak.
He wondered what Lex was up to.
***
A fist rammed into Davis’s abdomen, making the contents of his stomach roil violently. He also felt a rib splinter. It was nothing new, but usually he could see who was hitting him.
After making the connection between Lex’s stalker and the ghost of Smallville High, Davis had traced the invisible man to Jeff Palmer’s doorstep. Now he was in Lex’s office, fighting to save Lex from the stalker’s overprotective, transparent, insane brother. Life was a rich tapestry.
A vase to his left stirred. Davis ducked as it launched himself at him. All this provocation with no target was driving the Red mad. If he didn’t suppress it, it would rip apart Lex just for being there. He recited Bible verses to himself, trying to distance himself from the rage. “Ye, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death—“
“That’s comforting,” Lex grumbled. His face jerked to the side, red blooming on his cheek.
“You’re going to defend him?” Palmer’s disembodied voice echoed. “This son of a bitch didn’t think my sister was good enough for him! He preferred to spend his time with whores and sluts!”
“I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t refer to me in the past tense,” Lex said.
Davis backed off, keeping his arms up to ward off attack. “Jeff, you’re not going to like how this ends. Turn visible. We can work something out.” He backed into Lex’s desk.
”It’s too late for that! He ruined everything!”
Davis’s eyes darted around, searching for a clue to Palmer’s location. Lex doubled over with sudden violence; another blow.
“Once you’re gone, my sister can finally be at peace!”
Davis reached backward until his hand settled around a letter opener. “Jeff, your sister sucks cocks.”
“My sister is a—”
Davis flung the letter opener. It spun end over end, stopping at the source of Palmer’s voice. There it stopped in mid-air, the blade turning red with blood. Davis smelled eyeball ichor. The letter opener dropped with Palmer’s invisible body.
“Only child,” Davis finished under his breath.
Fake-nursing his healed wounds, he went to untie Lex.
“Nice shot,” Luthor said, wide-eyed.
“I pretended I was playing strip darts with Chloe.”
Freed, Lex rubbed his wrists. “Davis, I think he’s dead.”
Davis turned around. Blood was spreading from nowhere, outlining a motionless form spread-eagled on the floor. “Oh. Oh God. He’s dead.” Davis whirled back to Lex. “I didn’t want him dead, I swear! I didn’t mean it!”
“It’s alright.” Lex stood and walked to his liquor cabinet. He poured a glass of brandy, knocked it back, then poured another for Davis. “Drink up.” Davis was motionless. Lex pulled him back before the spreading blood reached his shoes. “It’s for your nerves, Davis, drink it.”
Davis reluctantly did. “What happens now?”
“You’re my friend. I’m not going to let your life be ruined because of me. Our pal here is going to stay disappeared, I have people who will make sure of that. And you are going to forget this ever happened.” Lex straightened up Davis’s clothes. “You saved my life. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“You’re right, you’re right.” Davis poured himself another drink. “Thank you.”
Lex smiled. “You’re a good friend, Davis. I have to go make some phone calls. Help yourself to whatever you like.”
Davis toasted him.
It wasn’t until Lex left the room that Palmer became visible. From the steady motion of his chest it was obvious he was alive. After pouring another glass, Davis walked up to him. He downed the drink and, in the rush of the burn, stomped on Palmer’s throat.
Jeff’s windpipe shattered, ensuring he’d never wake up. Davis went for another drink, no longer wondering what he’d become.
***
“He’s avoiding me,” Chloe said from the cold comfort of the passenger seat of Lois’s Oldsmobile. Ever since Davis had gotten that truck from Lex, he hadn’t ridden the bus with her anymore, fuel economy be damned.
“He’s not avoiding you,” Lois said. “You’re overreacting because you’re a teenager.”
“He quit the school paper. I am the school paper!”
“Yes, he’s palling around with Lex Luthor when he could be writing about cows with two heads. Clearly he’s developed a deep personal animosity for you.”
“We don’t study together anymore. He doesn’t answer my phone calls. We don’t even sit together. It’s like he’s cutting me out of his life and I don’t even know wuh-why.”
“Are you gonna cry? Because if you need to cry, I can pull this car over and fake a very convincing doctor’s note to get you out of school,” Lois said, bluntly compassionate.
Chloe wiped at her eyes. “I’ll be fine. I just don’t wanna lose him.”
“Honey, you don’t have him.”
Chloe thumped her head against the window. “I know. But sometimes, it’s like he’s with me but then he’s stolen away. Like there’s something between us I can’t get past. He wants to be with me, I can feel it, he just… can’t.”
“He’s gay?”
“No way, he and I…” Chloe ran a hand through her hair. “He’s not gay.”
“I believe you,” Lois deadpanned. “But he’s definitely interested?”
“He keeps looking at me. He always gets flustered when I catch him. It’s kind of cute.”
“Okay, maybe he’s the kind of guy who likes the woman to take the first step and this is all some passive-aggressive attempt to get into your pants. So just walk up to him and tell Davis you want him. To go on a date. It’s feminist and it sets a good precedent of you telling him what to do.”
“No way! My head would explode on the first syllable. I’m not… you!”
“You could be,” Lois said with a grin. “One growth spurt and you’d have the Lane Cannons.”
“I prefer people looking at my face,” Chloe replied. No matter what, her cousin always seemed to be able to ferret a smile out of her.
“Okay, you really want to press delete on the drama, do what I did to Bruce Wayne. Tell him how you feel, only don’t tell him.”
“You lost me.”
“Write him a letter! You don’t have to send it, just get all your hormones on the page so you can approach him as an adult. A really small adult, but still an adult.”
“Wow, Lois, that scheme is neither harebrained nor half-baked.”
“I know. To tell the truth, I’m a little surprised myself.”
***
“You got sloppy, kid,” Phelan said.
And to think, Davis had been relieved.
After all, if the police knew what he was doing, surely they also knew why. Maybe God could finally stop testing him. The burden could finally pass to someone else. Of course, it was a lie. Every miracle came with a price, every genesis had an exodus. And if you weren’t of the chosen people, you were only destined to burn.
Davis sat in an empty classroom, Phelan leaning against a nearby desk. He felt the Red stirring inside him, like his mother’s fears had come true and he’d swallowed razor blades in a candy apple. He greeted it with a resigned detachment. Not yet. Be patient. You know I won’t fight you when the time comes.
He tried to think of Chloe, which always drove the Red back, but realized he couldn’t quite remember all of her. What color were her eyes? What color did she paint her nails? What did her laugh sound like?
Phelan read Davis’s distress as his evil genius act working. “That body Lex had me dump, for instance. You put a boot print on his neck that fits your shoe size exactly. Not too smart.”
“Not a lot of people with feet as big as mine?” Davis mouthed off.
“Then you killed Bob Rickman. Big mistake. You angry your father was selling the farm, so you made sure Bob bought the farm?”
“Bob was a demon. He had the power to cloud men’s minds. He used it to cheat countless people as well as commit murder.”
“A demon.”
“Mm-hm. Just like Jeff Palmer. You’re a detective. When you buried him, didn’t you detect he was translucent?”
“I just assumed he was one of your pal Luthor’s experiments. Wouldn’t be the first.” Phelan strolled up to the chalkboard. “But as long as you’re doing the Lord’s work, maybe you can exorcise one of my demons.”
“Try Al-Anon.”
“Funny. I like that in my murderers. Ah.” He picked up an apple from the teacher’s desk. “We’re on the same side, Dave-o. Fighting the forces of darkness. I just need your help. There’s this IA rat who doesn’t understand that the ends justify the means. You don’t have to kill him—I could do that myself. Just scare him a little. Cut off a few fingers. Quote some Bible verses.”
“I’m not the villain in a fucking Ashley Judd movie,” Davis growled.
Phelan slapped his cuffs down on Davis’s desk. “You wanna watch your mom’s face while a jury finds you guilty?”
Principal Kwan knocked on the door. “Detective Phelan, are you done?”
Davis looked up from the cuffs to Phelan’s face. “No, I don’t.”
“Good. Keep that in mind.” Phelan walked to the door. “Don’t do drugs.”
***
Clark watched Lex line up his shot, the pool cue drifting between his manicured fingers. Lex took a deep breath and stopped, his cue absolutely still.
“Rob any banks lately?” Clark teased.
Lex scratched. Reached for a brandy sniffer. “Every time something goes wrong in Smallville they blame me. When forty cakes went missing from that bakery, they…” His phone rang. Lex answered it. As soon as he heard who it was, he gave Clark a lopsided smile. “Hello Davis.” He walked out onto the balcony. “The cable company finally set the plasma TV up. Would you like to come over and see if there’s anything good on?”
Davis sounded like he’d been out in the cold so long the warmth had frozen out of his voice. “Phelan. You know him.”
“Is he troubling you? I can handle him.”
“Don’t bother. Just tell me about him.”
“He’s one of any number of disposable napkins my father keeps around to clean up messes. He’s a thug, but he has his uses.”
“Not a good guy, is he?”
“No. He’s not.” Lex would’ve explained how sometimes a bad guy could be the right man for a job, but he suspected Davis already knew.
“Good.”
The line went dead.
***
“You fail, Jedi.” Davis brandished his lightsaber at Chloe. “You’ll be brought to justice like the rest of Lord Vader’s enemies.”
“Cut!” Chloe cried, and Pete lowered the camera. The video shook accordingly. “Why are you holding your lightsaber backwards?”
“I don’t know, it just feels right.”
“And justice? Sith hate justice!”
“They formed the Empire. From their perspective, they’re keeping the peace by fighting the Rebels. And the Jedi were jerks, let’s face it. They kidnapped kids and indoctrinated them into their celibacy cult. And why is Yoda so hung up on little kids anyway?”
“Save it for the Jedi, Davey.”
“Davis. It’s not that hard.”
Chloe paused the video. Davis had been so adamant about abandoning his childhood nickname once he’d entered high school. He’d pinched his lips up tight whenever someone called him Davey, before explaining the name on his birth certificate was Davis as if calling him anything else was a dire insult. He’d lightened up after Chloe had hacked the school’s computer to say he was David Kent. Of course, Chloe had regretted it once she figured out why.
After the Kents had told him he was adopted, it turned out his name was one of the few things he’d inherited from them.
Chloe took another look at Davis’s chiseled face, sighed, and dug out her notebook. Later… maybe… much later… she’d do it on some of that Sherlock Holmes paper, in ink, maybe even in cursive. For now, she’d settle for just getting it down with graphite.
“Hi, Davis,” she said, pencil automatically scrawling behind her words. “It’s Chloe… obviously. I don’t really know how to begin here, so I guess I’ll just start from the start… I’m crazy about you.”
***
Davis stood on the sidewalk outside the church, wondering if this was what a vampire felt like. He didn’t dare take a step toward it for fear he’d be repelled, sniffed out. It was even overcast, as if the light wouldn’t touch him. God knew what he’d been thinking.
A car pulled up behind him. Davis could smell Phelan’s splashed-on cologne from miles away, but he waited until the horn honked before he turned. It was a nice car, convertible. Corruption paid well.
“Phelan. Just the man I was looking for.”
“You thought about my offer, kid?” Phelan lowered his Ray-Bans with slender fingers. “A few hours’ work, and no more summer jobs pushing popcorn. Once you’re under my wing, you’re set for life.”
“You’re right, Phelan. This may be a golden opportunity for me.” Davis got into the car.
***
“I don’t know when it started, really. Maybe it was all set in motion before either of us was even born. But there’s something inside me, this force, this… need. I need to look at you. I need to take care of you. I need to talk to you and be with you. God, I feel so stupid saying this, but you’re my best friend and I’m so… glad for that. I just wish you could be more. Then things would be perfect.”
***
Davis felt the roar of the engine, tactile under where the soles of his shoes met the floor, and felt the wind snatch at his hair. He savored it. Phelan was saying something about the injustice of the universe, how he did more good than harm, while he only took what he was owed. Davis wasn’t listening. He felt like he had heard it all before, all cover songs on the same old music.
The bridge was up ahead.
***
“It’s like there’s this thing growing inside me, this presence that’s taking over my life. And… it’s you.”
***
Davis reached over and put his foot down over Phelan’s on the gas. Now he noticed what Phelan was saying, the rapidly dawning realization, the panic. He’d still heard it all before. No one ever believed they were about to die.
Phelan beat at him, but at this point, Davis couldn’t even feel it. He took hold of the steering wheel and pulled it to the side. The car hit the railing and ripped clean through.
***
“I love you, Davis.”
***
The car hit the water. Davis savored it. The water rose up and swallowed him down and he stayed under, letting it pull him down further and further. He kept one hand on Phelan’s seatbelt, stopping him from disengaging it, but aside from that he just watched the sky through the churning water. It took a long time for the waves from a car crash to settle. He didn’t pay any attention to Phelan’s death.
***
“And I know even as I’m saying this, even as I write it down… that I can’t tell you. I don’t know what you’re dealing with, but I don’t think you can handle this right now. So I’ll wait. I’ll be your best friend. I’ll be whatever you need me to be. Because one day you’ll be what I need. I just have to be patient.”
***
Eventually Davis decided to come to the surface. It wasn’t any pressing need for air, or the fact that air bubbles had stopped trickling out of Phelan’s throat. He just didn’t want to be down there anymore. He let go of Phelan’s seatbelt, which had crushed in his hand, and unbuckled his own. Then he swam a ways downstream, letting the current carrying him for the most part, before finally coming to the surface.
Then he screamed and screamed and screamed.
Author’s notes: This chapter covers 1x10 Shimmer and 1x11 Hug.
Man, I put in all those jokes and this is still the darkest chapter yet, wasn’t it? Fuck. The way I write is to gather up notes throughout the writing process, then incorporate them into the narrative as I write so it’s not ‘just’ a scene of Davis calling Lex, it’s Davis calling Lex as he’s playing a pool game with Clark. I think it gives the characters more life. Did you catch the foreshadowing in that scene?
Even with some of the more overt in-jokes in this chapter, like Davis pretending to be a Sith Lord and Lex being accused of stealing forty cakes (how terrible), this is still the chapter where Davis hits rock bottom. He has this justification of how he’s only killing demons, not people, a self-delusion which has been slowly growing within him until he spouts it to Phelan as fact… a fact which might not even matter to him anymore.
Then he kills a human. Even after hearing from Lex that Phelan is scum, that breaks Davis, rips the ground right out from underneath him. Davis is going to be in a very dark place next chapter. Just so you know.
Not that he’s much better before then. He’s almost totally accepted being a killer, as shown in his cold-blooded execution of Palmer. Despite it all, that was a fun scene to write, having Davis actually think his way past Palmer and generally being a very clever serial killer. Plus, more of the Triangle of Luthory Doom. Always fun.
One of the things I enjoyed doing with this story in fanfic form, as an AU, was to appropriate bits of canon and mesh them into a new narrative. Obviously, there’s Lois and Davis here in season one, but there are also some extremely specificrip-offs homages, like the variant of the Fever Letter here. Believe me, I’m not waiting seven years to bring that up again.
I think one of Chloe’s flaws is that she can be kind of a martyr, kind of passive-aggressive (for instance, how she takes her time deleting pictures of her and Clark together, then restoring them out of her recycle bin. Psychologically healthy!). It’s the flipside of how self-sacrificing she can be that she has this tendency to think it’s better to deny what she wants in favor of other peoples’ wants, when a little selfishness would make her happier and probably improve her situation generally (see Olsen,Jimmy Henry). But fortunately, I had a much better idea of what to do with the Fever Letter and thus I put it in here to come up again for a very specific purpose, very, very soon.
One of the very last scenes I wrote was the Clark/Lois sex scene (yeah, good luck backbuttoning out of this fic now, Clois haters! Nine parts in, twelve to go! Hey, don’t worry, the next sex scene will involve Davis. Ooh, could I be more vague?). That’s there to show some of the widening gulf between Clark and Lionel (he skipped out on a Luthorcorp meeting for sex! Good hustle, Kent. And good hustling, Lane!), and conversely the growing relationship between Clark and Lois. Plus, eyejaculation. STILL LOLARIOUS. I love shoring up the Luthor B-plot, since it pays off in such a big way as the story continues.
Next week: Davis’s life changes forever, but for better or for worse? Oh, and did I hear someone ask for some Chlavis? The wait is over, mofos.
Fandom: Smallville
Rating: R
Word Count: 3,333
Author’s Note: Betaed by
vagrantdream.Characters/Pairings: Chloe/Davis, Clark/Lois, Lex, Phelan
Last Part: Chapter 8
Next Part: Chapter 10
Summary: Chloe works out how to tell Davis what she’s feeling.
She wasn’t like other women. They were cold and hard, jaded. They knew what they were giving and what they were getting, all carefully weighted and factored in. There was no giving, no feelings. It was just another kind of business deal.
Lex seemed comfortable with that. Clark wasn’t. He had a tendency for ‘bringing home strays’, trying to make things work when everyone said they were doomed. It got him into trouble—jealous lovers, bad break-ups, paternity suits—the things that slid off Lex like melting ice, clung to Clark like tabloid remoras.
Still, with Lois perched on his lap in literally the finest lingerie money could buy, he couldn’t bring himself to regret his outlook on life. It was his one great weakness, but it was also the only weakness worth having.
Lois nuzzled his neck, rubbing against him like the world’s classiest lap dancer. “Admit it. This is better than another board meeting.”
“My dad is going to kill me,” Clark laughed, leaning forward so Lois could untuck his shirt, fingers skipping over his waist.
“Ah, I’m sure he’ll let you off with a light beating.” She guided his hands to her breasts, kissing his fingers before she let them touch her. “And I promise I’ll kiss it better.”
Lois wasn’t like anyone else. Never any half-measures with her. No compromises. She arced against his touch as he curled his hands around her waist, pressing her to him like he’d never let her go. Reaching back, she dropped her bra, but surged back against him before he could catch more than a glimpse. With her lips against his, he could only imagine the sight of her flesh currently rubbing against him.
“If you don’t slow down, I’m gonna lose control,” Clark groaned.
Lois tongued his ear before whispering into it “That’s the idea.”
Clark felt a quickening heat in his groin, matched in his fingertips as if Lois were too hot to touch, and even in his eyes, making him blink away tears.
Lois pulled away long enough for him to wipe at his eyes. “I’ve had that. Sex so good you have to cry.”
“I haven’t.” No matter how much Clark rubbed, tears kept coming. They singed his hands.
“Not yet.” She sunk down, skin now only connecting with his in fleeting snatches, everything but her eyes cast invisible by shadows. He felt her tongue scathe, cat-like, over the lines of his abs and the contours of his ribs. His eyes burned like embers and he squeezed them shut, trying to quell it. Her tongue dipped into his belly button and lower as her fingers found his belt buckle. His eyes shot open. The bed he was looking at, still neatly made for the evening to progress to, burst into flame.
“Oh my god!” Lois cried, jumping up.
“That’s never happened to me before!” Clark said.
“It has to me, but that’s Tijuana for you.” Lois emptied an extinguisher into the bed, putting it out. “Well, bed’s a wash.” She stomped her foot a few times. “Floor’s still good, though.”
“Actually, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you…” Clark crossed his legs, hopefully underlining his seriousness. She deserved to know his secret, and of all the woman he’d known, she seemed the most trustworthy. The most worthy, period.
But then, he had almost flambéed her just now. And as long as they’d been going out, some things ran deeper. It was time for a change, but not here, not yet. It wasn’t being a coward, it was just being prudent. Besides, it was shaping up to be a lovely evening.
“You look beautiful in the firelight.”
Lois smiled. As it turned out, the floor was very good. Before thoughts of anything but Lois were violently ejected from his head, Clark pondered who to ask for advice on telling Lois his secret. Making her a part of the family, so to speak.
He wondered what Lex was up to.
***
A fist rammed into Davis’s abdomen, making the contents of his stomach roil violently. He also felt a rib splinter. It was nothing new, but usually he could see who was hitting him.
After making the connection between Lex’s stalker and the ghost of Smallville High, Davis had traced the invisible man to Jeff Palmer’s doorstep. Now he was in Lex’s office, fighting to save Lex from the stalker’s overprotective, transparent, insane brother. Life was a rich tapestry.
A vase to his left stirred. Davis ducked as it launched himself at him. All this provocation with no target was driving the Red mad. If he didn’t suppress it, it would rip apart Lex just for being there. He recited Bible verses to himself, trying to distance himself from the rage. “Ye, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death—“
“That’s comforting,” Lex grumbled. His face jerked to the side, red blooming on his cheek.
“You’re going to defend him?” Palmer’s disembodied voice echoed. “This son of a bitch didn’t think my sister was good enough for him! He preferred to spend his time with whores and sluts!”
“I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t refer to me in the past tense,” Lex said.
Davis backed off, keeping his arms up to ward off attack. “Jeff, you’re not going to like how this ends. Turn visible. We can work something out.” He backed into Lex’s desk.
”It’s too late for that! He ruined everything!”
Davis’s eyes darted around, searching for a clue to Palmer’s location. Lex doubled over with sudden violence; another blow.
“Once you’re gone, my sister can finally be at peace!”
Davis reached backward until his hand settled around a letter opener. “Jeff, your sister sucks cocks.”
“My sister is a—”
Davis flung the letter opener. It spun end over end, stopping at the source of Palmer’s voice. There it stopped in mid-air, the blade turning red with blood. Davis smelled eyeball ichor. The letter opener dropped with Palmer’s invisible body.
“Only child,” Davis finished under his breath.
Fake-nursing his healed wounds, he went to untie Lex.
“Nice shot,” Luthor said, wide-eyed.
“I pretended I was playing strip darts with Chloe.”
Freed, Lex rubbed his wrists. “Davis, I think he’s dead.”
Davis turned around. Blood was spreading from nowhere, outlining a motionless form spread-eagled on the floor. “Oh. Oh God. He’s dead.” Davis whirled back to Lex. “I didn’t want him dead, I swear! I didn’t mean it!”
“It’s alright.” Lex stood and walked to his liquor cabinet. He poured a glass of brandy, knocked it back, then poured another for Davis. “Drink up.” Davis was motionless. Lex pulled him back before the spreading blood reached his shoes. “It’s for your nerves, Davis, drink it.”
Davis reluctantly did. “What happens now?”
“You’re my friend. I’m not going to let your life be ruined because of me. Our pal here is going to stay disappeared, I have people who will make sure of that. And you are going to forget this ever happened.” Lex straightened up Davis’s clothes. “You saved my life. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“You’re right, you’re right.” Davis poured himself another drink. “Thank you.”
Lex smiled. “You’re a good friend, Davis. I have to go make some phone calls. Help yourself to whatever you like.”
Davis toasted him.
It wasn’t until Lex left the room that Palmer became visible. From the steady motion of his chest it was obvious he was alive. After pouring another glass, Davis walked up to him. He downed the drink and, in the rush of the burn, stomped on Palmer’s throat.
Jeff’s windpipe shattered, ensuring he’d never wake up. Davis went for another drink, no longer wondering what he’d become.
***
“He’s avoiding me,” Chloe said from the cold comfort of the passenger seat of Lois’s Oldsmobile. Ever since Davis had gotten that truck from Lex, he hadn’t ridden the bus with her anymore, fuel economy be damned.
“He’s not avoiding you,” Lois said. “You’re overreacting because you’re a teenager.”
“He quit the school paper. I am the school paper!”
“Yes, he’s palling around with Lex Luthor when he could be writing about cows with two heads. Clearly he’s developed a deep personal animosity for you.”
“We don’t study together anymore. He doesn’t answer my phone calls. We don’t even sit together. It’s like he’s cutting me out of his life and I don’t even know wuh-why.”
“Are you gonna cry? Because if you need to cry, I can pull this car over and fake a very convincing doctor’s note to get you out of school,” Lois said, bluntly compassionate.
Chloe wiped at her eyes. “I’ll be fine. I just don’t wanna lose him.”
“Honey, you don’t have him.”
Chloe thumped her head against the window. “I know. But sometimes, it’s like he’s with me but then he’s stolen away. Like there’s something between us I can’t get past. He wants to be with me, I can feel it, he just… can’t.”
“He’s gay?”
“No way, he and I…” Chloe ran a hand through her hair. “He’s not gay.”
“I believe you,” Lois deadpanned. “But he’s definitely interested?”
“He keeps looking at me. He always gets flustered when I catch him. It’s kind of cute.”
“Okay, maybe he’s the kind of guy who likes the woman to take the first step and this is all some passive-aggressive attempt to get into your pants. So just walk up to him and tell Davis you want him. To go on a date. It’s feminist and it sets a good precedent of you telling him what to do.”
“No way! My head would explode on the first syllable. I’m not… you!”
“You could be,” Lois said with a grin. “One growth spurt and you’d have the Lane Cannons.”
“I prefer people looking at my face,” Chloe replied. No matter what, her cousin always seemed to be able to ferret a smile out of her.
“Okay, you really want to press delete on the drama, do what I did to Bruce Wayne. Tell him how you feel, only don’t tell him.”
“You lost me.”
“Write him a letter! You don’t have to send it, just get all your hormones on the page so you can approach him as an adult. A really small adult, but still an adult.”
“Wow, Lois, that scheme is neither harebrained nor half-baked.”
“I know. To tell the truth, I’m a little surprised myself.”
***
“You got sloppy, kid,” Phelan said.
And to think, Davis had been relieved.
After all, if the police knew what he was doing, surely they also knew why. Maybe God could finally stop testing him. The burden could finally pass to someone else. Of course, it was a lie. Every miracle came with a price, every genesis had an exodus. And if you weren’t of the chosen people, you were only destined to burn.
Davis sat in an empty classroom, Phelan leaning against a nearby desk. He felt the Red stirring inside him, like his mother’s fears had come true and he’d swallowed razor blades in a candy apple. He greeted it with a resigned detachment. Not yet. Be patient. You know I won’t fight you when the time comes.
He tried to think of Chloe, which always drove the Red back, but realized he couldn’t quite remember all of her. What color were her eyes? What color did she paint her nails? What did her laugh sound like?
Phelan read Davis’s distress as his evil genius act working. “That body Lex had me dump, for instance. You put a boot print on his neck that fits your shoe size exactly. Not too smart.”
“Not a lot of people with feet as big as mine?” Davis mouthed off.
“Then you killed Bob Rickman. Big mistake. You angry your father was selling the farm, so you made sure Bob bought the farm?”
“Bob was a demon. He had the power to cloud men’s minds. He used it to cheat countless people as well as commit murder.”
“A demon.”
“Mm-hm. Just like Jeff Palmer. You’re a detective. When you buried him, didn’t you detect he was translucent?”
“I just assumed he was one of your pal Luthor’s experiments. Wouldn’t be the first.” Phelan strolled up to the chalkboard. “But as long as you’re doing the Lord’s work, maybe you can exorcise one of my demons.”
“Try Al-Anon.”
“Funny. I like that in my murderers. Ah.” He picked up an apple from the teacher’s desk. “We’re on the same side, Dave-o. Fighting the forces of darkness. I just need your help. There’s this IA rat who doesn’t understand that the ends justify the means. You don’t have to kill him—I could do that myself. Just scare him a little. Cut off a few fingers. Quote some Bible verses.”
“I’m not the villain in a fucking Ashley Judd movie,” Davis growled.
Phelan slapped his cuffs down on Davis’s desk. “You wanna watch your mom’s face while a jury finds you guilty?”
Principal Kwan knocked on the door. “Detective Phelan, are you done?”
Davis looked up from the cuffs to Phelan’s face. “No, I don’t.”
“Good. Keep that in mind.” Phelan walked to the door. “Don’t do drugs.”
***
Clark watched Lex line up his shot, the pool cue drifting between his manicured fingers. Lex took a deep breath and stopped, his cue absolutely still.
“Rob any banks lately?” Clark teased.
Lex scratched. Reached for a brandy sniffer. “Every time something goes wrong in Smallville they blame me. When forty cakes went missing from that bakery, they…” His phone rang. Lex answered it. As soon as he heard who it was, he gave Clark a lopsided smile. “Hello Davis.” He walked out onto the balcony. “The cable company finally set the plasma TV up. Would you like to come over and see if there’s anything good on?”
Davis sounded like he’d been out in the cold so long the warmth had frozen out of his voice. “Phelan. You know him.”
“Is he troubling you? I can handle him.”
“Don’t bother. Just tell me about him.”
“He’s one of any number of disposable napkins my father keeps around to clean up messes. He’s a thug, but he has his uses.”
“Not a good guy, is he?”
“No. He’s not.” Lex would’ve explained how sometimes a bad guy could be the right man for a job, but he suspected Davis already knew.
“Good.”
The line went dead.
***
“You fail, Jedi.” Davis brandished his lightsaber at Chloe. “You’ll be brought to justice like the rest of Lord Vader’s enemies.”
“Cut!” Chloe cried, and Pete lowered the camera. The video shook accordingly. “Why are you holding your lightsaber backwards?”
“I don’t know, it just feels right.”
“And justice? Sith hate justice!”
“They formed the Empire. From their perspective, they’re keeping the peace by fighting the Rebels. And the Jedi were jerks, let’s face it. They kidnapped kids and indoctrinated them into their celibacy cult. And why is Yoda so hung up on little kids anyway?”
“Save it for the Jedi, Davey.”
“Davis. It’s not that hard.”
Chloe paused the video. Davis had been so adamant about abandoning his childhood nickname once he’d entered high school. He’d pinched his lips up tight whenever someone called him Davey, before explaining the name on his birth certificate was Davis as if calling him anything else was a dire insult. He’d lightened up after Chloe had hacked the school’s computer to say he was David Kent. Of course, Chloe had regretted it once she figured out why.
After the Kents had told him he was adopted, it turned out his name was one of the few things he’d inherited from them.
Chloe took another look at Davis’s chiseled face, sighed, and dug out her notebook. Later… maybe… much later… she’d do it on some of that Sherlock Holmes paper, in ink, maybe even in cursive. For now, she’d settle for just getting it down with graphite.
“Hi, Davis,” she said, pencil automatically scrawling behind her words. “It’s Chloe… obviously. I don’t really know how to begin here, so I guess I’ll just start from the start… I’m crazy about you.”
***
Davis stood on the sidewalk outside the church, wondering if this was what a vampire felt like. He didn’t dare take a step toward it for fear he’d be repelled, sniffed out. It was even overcast, as if the light wouldn’t touch him. God knew what he’d been thinking.
A car pulled up behind him. Davis could smell Phelan’s splashed-on cologne from miles away, but he waited until the horn honked before he turned. It was a nice car, convertible. Corruption paid well.
“Phelan. Just the man I was looking for.”
“You thought about my offer, kid?” Phelan lowered his Ray-Bans with slender fingers. “A few hours’ work, and no more summer jobs pushing popcorn. Once you’re under my wing, you’re set for life.”
“You’re right, Phelan. This may be a golden opportunity for me.” Davis got into the car.
***
“I don’t know when it started, really. Maybe it was all set in motion before either of us was even born. But there’s something inside me, this force, this… need. I need to look at you. I need to take care of you. I need to talk to you and be with you. God, I feel so stupid saying this, but you’re my best friend and I’m so… glad for that. I just wish you could be more. Then things would be perfect.”
***
Davis felt the roar of the engine, tactile under where the soles of his shoes met the floor, and felt the wind snatch at his hair. He savored it. Phelan was saying something about the injustice of the universe, how he did more good than harm, while he only took what he was owed. Davis wasn’t listening. He felt like he had heard it all before, all cover songs on the same old music.
The bridge was up ahead.
***
“It’s like there’s this thing growing inside me, this presence that’s taking over my life. And… it’s you.”
***
Davis reached over and put his foot down over Phelan’s on the gas. Now he noticed what Phelan was saying, the rapidly dawning realization, the panic. He’d still heard it all before. No one ever believed they were about to die.
Phelan beat at him, but at this point, Davis couldn’t even feel it. He took hold of the steering wheel and pulled it to the side. The car hit the railing and ripped clean through.
***
“I love you, Davis.”
***
The car hit the water. Davis savored it. The water rose up and swallowed him down and he stayed under, letting it pull him down further and further. He kept one hand on Phelan’s seatbelt, stopping him from disengaging it, but aside from that he just watched the sky through the churning water. It took a long time for the waves from a car crash to settle. He didn’t pay any attention to Phelan’s death.
***
“And I know even as I’m saying this, even as I write it down… that I can’t tell you. I don’t know what you’re dealing with, but I don’t think you can handle this right now. So I’ll wait. I’ll be your best friend. I’ll be whatever you need me to be. Because one day you’ll be what I need. I just have to be patient.”
***
Eventually Davis decided to come to the surface. It wasn’t any pressing need for air, or the fact that air bubbles had stopped trickling out of Phelan’s throat. He just didn’t want to be down there anymore. He let go of Phelan’s seatbelt, which had crushed in his hand, and unbuckled his own. Then he swam a ways downstream, letting the current carrying him for the most part, before finally coming to the surface.
Then he screamed and screamed and screamed.
Author’s notes: This chapter covers 1x10 Shimmer and 1x11 Hug.
Man, I put in all those jokes and this is still the darkest chapter yet, wasn’t it? Fuck. The way I write is to gather up notes throughout the writing process, then incorporate them into the narrative as I write so it’s not ‘just’ a scene of Davis calling Lex, it’s Davis calling Lex as he’s playing a pool game with Clark. I think it gives the characters more life. Did you catch the foreshadowing in that scene?
Even with some of the more overt in-jokes in this chapter, like Davis pretending to be a Sith Lord and Lex being accused of stealing forty cakes (how terrible), this is still the chapter where Davis hits rock bottom. He has this justification of how he’s only killing demons, not people, a self-delusion which has been slowly growing within him until he spouts it to Phelan as fact… a fact which might not even matter to him anymore.
Then he kills a human. Even after hearing from Lex that Phelan is scum, that breaks Davis, rips the ground right out from underneath him. Davis is going to be in a very dark place next chapter. Just so you know.
Not that he’s much better before then. He’s almost totally accepted being a killer, as shown in his cold-blooded execution of Palmer. Despite it all, that was a fun scene to write, having Davis actually think his way past Palmer and generally being a very clever serial killer. Plus, more of the Triangle of Luthory Doom. Always fun.
One of the things I enjoyed doing with this story in fanfic form, as an AU, was to appropriate bits of canon and mesh them into a new narrative. Obviously, there’s Lois and Davis here in season one, but there are also some extremely specific
I think one of Chloe’s flaws is that she can be kind of a martyr, kind of passive-aggressive (for instance, how she takes her time deleting pictures of her and Clark together, then restoring them out of her recycle bin. Psychologically healthy!). It’s the flipside of how self-sacrificing she can be that she has this tendency to think it’s better to deny what she wants in favor of other peoples’ wants, when a little selfishness would make her happier and probably improve her situation generally (see Olsen,
One of the very last scenes I wrote was the Clark/Lois sex scene (yeah, good luck backbuttoning out of this fic now, Clois haters! Nine parts in, twelve to go! Hey, don’t worry, the next sex scene will involve Davis. Ooh, could I be more vague?). That’s there to show some of the widening gulf between Clark and Lionel (he skipped out on a Luthorcorp meeting for sex! Good hustle, Kent. And good hustling, Lane!), and conversely the growing relationship between Clark and Lois. Plus, eyejaculation. STILL LOLARIOUS. I love shoring up the Luthor B-plot, since it pays off in such a big way as the story continues.
Next week: Davis’s life changes forever, but for better or for worse? Oh, and did I hear someone ask for some Chlavis? The wait is over, mofos.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
ur ff is my current addiction :)
Date: 2009-07-27 06:34 pm (UTC)my DEX heart grows happier & happier w/ every davis/lex interraction :) and lex's unintetional (probably??) need to make clark realize that he might be his brother but davis is more of a brother & someone he can be close w/... i dunno if it actually affects clark that lex does that to him...
the little film they were doing is cute... especially since SW is a hardcore star wars fan :)... very clever of you to incorporate that in.
LOVED the letter chloe wrote to davis, love that it was so much more than what i was expecting... and EEEEEEEEEE CHLOE LOVES HIM :)
NOW onto that davis scene(s)-- i didn't know what to feel when davis approached Jeff, watched him breathe and shattered his windpipe by stomping on it and not to mention the car scene where he drowns Phelan. DARK!DAVIS should scare me and it does but i also like seeing where this is leading him... and unlike SV where he didn't have a choice until later on to go vigilante, he's been making CHOICES early on, coices enough to mess w/ him mentally, emoionally and psychologically...
i LOVEd the way you wrote the ending scene of davis waiting near the church contemplating his next move, chloe's love letter to him & phalen's death... as i visualized it, i felt as though i were watching a re-wriiten version of SV, which btw i LOVE...
we get CHLAVIS in the next chapter?? really?? so it's not some ploy to be like bitches read the story you will eventually get chlavis... b'cos the fact that davis is trying to push himself away from chloe and than in the next ch. (i think) is going to have a sex scene scares me, a teeny bit... ;)
GR8 JOB, update soon pretty please :D
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Date: 2009-07-27 07:47 pm (UTC)And Lois is fun as usual. I love her giving Chloe advice. You know that was true to Lois. She can be blunt and out there at times but at times she surprsies Chloe with her awesome advice. I like that Lois.
And I can't wait for Chlavis.
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Date: 2009-07-28 01:56 am (UTC)I thought the Ashley Judd movie line was going to be my favorite part of this chapter — but then you had him go all Starkiller on us, and I really have no defenses against that whatsoever.
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Date: 2009-07-28 04:08 am (UTC)Does it count as a Bond One Liner if they didn't mean to kill the victim?
>He picked up an apple from the teacher’s desk.
I see what you did there.
>And the Jedi were jerks, let’s face it. They kidnapped kids and indoctrinated them into their celibacy cult.
Those children were free to leave at any time!
Seriously, blame Lucas. I doubt they were such dicks before the prequels. Somebody back me up.
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Date: 2009-07-28 04:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-28 04:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-28 04:25 am (UTC)Because it would be so fun for Davis to just keep Force Throwing Clark around and around and around.
Chloe: Stop that! It's not funny!
Davis: *Force Lightning*
Chloe: Okay, it's a little funny...
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Date: 2009-07-28 04:38 am (UTC)Now that it's been brought to my attention, what IS it with Yoda and those kids...?
Date: 2009-07-28 06:11 am (UTC)Oh, your AN. I love your AN. They always make me giggle... And then laugh hilariously.
Oh, and you totally didn't rip off the Fever letter. Why? Because yours was so much better.
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Date: 2009-07-28 08:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-28 07:51 pm (UTC)It is so easy to picture Tom Welling and Erica playing this Clois. So easy. And why do you keep taunting me with the notion of the OTP that Davis/Lex could have been? Phelan's a prick, then again that was part of his charm. And Davis, Davis, oh Davis. Did he scream "I'M A MURDERER!!!" at the end all crime and punishment?
Oh Chloe when are you going to find out what that sweet thing of yours has been doing?
Re: Now that it's been brought to my attention, what IS it with Yoda and those kids...?
Date: 2009-07-29 01:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 01:18 am (UTC)And why do you keep taunting me with the notion of the OTP that Davis/Lex could have been?
Hey, if anyone wants to write a Dex fic set in the Villainverse, they can feel free. I will gleefully watch slashers have to wade through Clois so they can understand the hot, hot supervillain sex.
Oh Chloe when are you going to find out what that sweet thing of yours has been doing?
*checks watch*
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Date: 2009-07-29 01:19 am (UTC)I think it's safe to say Davis meant to. But still, it's more of a Freddy Krueger One-Liner.
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Date: 2009-07-31 11:37 pm (UTC)Your author's notes are makin me loopy! Remind me to review like a normal person sometime.
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Date: 2009-08-02 01:52 am (UTC)