Fic: Just A Matter Of Time (CLFF21 Entry - Gold Prize)

[danceswithgary]

CLFF21 Website

Title: Just A Matter Of Time
Author: danceswithgary (danceswithgary@yahoo.com)
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: None
Spoilers: None
Word Count: 6409
Archive: Fine, just let me know
Summary: Lex wasn't sure what had happened the night before, but he suspected that the last bottle of vodka hadn't been such a good idea after all.

On AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22142

Comments

[lexalicious70.livejournal.com]

This was sweet and sad and beautiful! No wonder it took the gold. Congrats and what a lovely story!

[danceswithgary]

Thanks, I loved writing this one - they were great prompts to combine. :-D

[morganichele.livejournal.com]

*sigh* I loved this the first time I read it, and it's even better now. So beautiful.

[danceswithgary]

Thanks, I always love to have them overcome the odds. :-D

[roxymissrose.livejournal.com]

oh, that was just wonderful! You always write the kind of stories I love!

[danceswithgary]

What a coincidence, I say the same about you! *hugs* Thanks!

[arianstarr.livejournal.com]

Congratulations Ms. Gold Winner :) Really a wonderful story, hon.

[danceswithgary]

Thanks so much! I'm so lucky - I have TWO lovely arianstarr award banners in my profile. (and posted above) :-D

[lapetite-kiki.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! That was an awesome story!

[danceswithgary]

Thanks, I really like how it came together. :-D

[rosy5000.livejournal.com]

I can't tell you how much I loved this story! :D (And I finally voted for a winner *grins*)

I love bonding stories and this had a bit of everything. I especially loved the reunion. :)

[danceswithgary]

Bonding is absolutely one of my favorites, 'cause they really belong together. Glad you enjoyed. Thanks!

[hoperoy.livejournal.com]

That was so wonderfully done! I had a feeling as soon as Lex got sick that it had something to do with Clark. By the way, I love the cover for the story as well. Nice job all around!

[danceswithgary]

I glad you enjoyed it, it was a story that kept popping up as a bunny and I kept finding out I already had it written down. I was pleased at how well it turned out and had fun making the cover. :-D

Thanks!

[tasabian.livejournal.com]

Lovely story, with lots of heart and emotion. That's a very romantic rescue by Clark (*cuddles poor, frozen Lex*) and yay, there's some wonderfully hot Fortress sex to follow!

Congrats on the Gold!

[danceswithgary]

You can never have too much romance, I say! Thanks!

[matryoshkarose.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed this story. Clark/Lex bonding fics are favorites of mine and you did a really lovely job with this one!

[danceswithgary]

I love writing bonding fics, I have to struggle not to put some in every fic. :-D Thanks!

[elgraves.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's me!! Cool! Loved the story. Thanks! I'm all happiness.

[danceswithgary]

It was a great prompt to write to, glad you liked it! Thanks!

[plnunn.livejournal.com]

That was just awesome. I love a Clark that's desperately worried about Lex. And a Lex in peril - - my biggest kink. Very well done.

[danceswithgary]

I love having them rescue each other, Hurt/Comfort (and Reconciliation) are my favorites. Thanks!

[flexible-k.livejournal.com]

That was lovely. I really enjoyed the softness in places and the urgency in others. Great fic!

[danceswithgary]

Thanks so much for letting me know you enjoyed! :-D

[kayladie.livejournal.com]

Lovely story! Bonding is one of my favorite storylines, too, and you do it so wonderfully. I admit, at first I thought Lex might have been pregnant (I can only read mpreg stories in SV and HP!) and that would have been cool, too, but bonding was better.

[danceswithgary]

I must say I can read mpreg - even enjoy it in SV - but I'm not sure I'll ever be able to write one. Bonding is the way to go for me. :-D Glad you enjoyed! Thanks!

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

I really love this story, and I'm so glad you took the gold!

[danceswithgary]

With your help! I'm really pleased that so many people enjoyed it. :-D Thanks!

[attaccabottoni.livejournal.com]

Oh man, Lex preparing himself for the eventuality of death is always something I don't want to read if I can't help it, because it never fails to be traumatizing. And I could only imagine how finding Lex curled up on the snow felt like for Clark.

Thank goodness the drunken sex/bonding turned out to be worth the pain of almost permanently leaving one another.

Congrats for winning! :D

[danceswithgary]

It is hard to avoid some trauma when the prompt is 'leaving to die', but at least it wasn't permanent. *grin* Thanks!

[amberporce.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful! You did great with the idea that Lex was the one so suffered from the bond. And the reunion was just so sweet.

[danceswithgary]

The two prompts just came together for me and love having them up up together and happy. :-D Thanks!

[epeters.livejournal.com]

Well, first off, I'm so behind in all my feedback but I've been reading like a madwoman while I was on vacation this past week.

I love this one. I'm partial to "bonding" stories anyway, (and first times, and nose-kissing and rent!boy and hurt/comfort and overlord and, and, and...damn, guess I love it all!! lol)

This was another great fic and you so deserved the award. Love the banners too!

"Let's just say I really don't want to think about why my mom packed it in with the food she sent, okay?"

GO MARTHA!!

[danceswithgary]

Hope your vacation was great. I guess I hit a few of your favorites in this one with H/C, bonding and first time. *grin* Glad you liked it! Thanks!

Oh, and Martha? She probably figured it wouldn't be missed if she put where Clark was guaranteed to look...for food. ;-P

[touchstoneaf.livejournal.com]

>>they were joined, moving as one, gold over silver, the sun held the moon>>

okay, this poetry took my breath away; literally. i can say nothing about how much that phrase affected me, because you used all the words already and it's just dusted velvet gold PERFECT!

man, you really have a thing for (not to mention a way with) these stories about the bonding. i am SO not complaining; you do it so damned well! i love the idea, since it explains so much from their first meeting onward...its like...Lex was MADE as he now is for Clark...and...GAWD...

anyway, this was gorgeous. it was like the other half of Without You. GREAT stuff! and the setting of the Arctic, and the Fortress...somehow so perfect rather than seeming, you know, strange or an odd setting...

and of course, gotta love Martha. she makes me happy, all silently rooting for them for years the minute the objectors are out of the way.

*hugs her*
i love you!
*goes to bed happy*

[danceswithgary]

I love that line - it's one of my favorites! *wiggles happily*

Bonding seems such a natural with those two, the connection so immediate and intense, and still can't be ignored despite the growing Rift in the show.

Thanks!

[touchstoneaf.livejournal.com]

just rereading this to fulfil a brain that has been forced to think of other things than CLex all day and is going through withdrawals. your fics are so good for that!!! i can't think well enough to write on my own, but i can sit back and reread yours and just be made content.

>>whether it had been worth waking up with the worst hangover he'd had in years and with an odd taste in his mouth he couldn't identify>>

hehe; been too long for you, Lex?
clever. and i can't believe i missed that the first time around. must have been reading too fast in my eagerness to dive into your stories and absorb them all immediately. now i will savour.

poor Lex. finally had him a taste of Clark...and he can't even remember.

there's an ad for controlled alcohol intake if i ever saw one. drink ENOUGH to lose the damn inhibitions for once and enjoy yourselves...but not so much you don't REMEMBER...or else its like you don't even get to feel like you earned the hangover, LOL.

strangely, i don't get hangovers, but i bet they suck. poor Lex seems to have earned a doozie, though.

can Clark GET drunk?!
well, maybe if he drinks ENOUGH...or maybe it's a linkage/bonding/shared body chemistry/sub-telepathic contact high thing...

i love your stories so damn much. you just take an idea and GO for it. in mine, it takes bar-hopping across every state between Metropolis and Gotham for Clark to get drunk enough to lose his inhibitions (they had a fight, long story).

i think i may like your way better.

[danceswithgary]

Indeed, you should always be careful what you put in your mouth!

When you've drunk enough to forget how to stop, you're in trouble. I do believe they've probably learned their lesson. :-D

Thanks!

[touchstoneaf.livejournal.com]

>>folded up the note to tuck away in the box where he kept all of the other infrequent cards and letters he'd received from Clark over the years. If asked, he would deny any tendency to sentimentality, but discarding anything Clark gave him just wasn't possible for him>>

you know, it's stuff like this that makes it possible for you to blindside me with unexpected tears pricking at the corner of my eye and this wonderful choked up throat symptom i so enjoy. god; these TWO!!! and YOU!!!

>>so Lex had just tried to tolerate the constant ache that traveled from the base of his skull to behind his eyes>>

your brain chemistry has been subtly changed, m'boyo!
somehow, methinks he won't mind the remedy so much.

LOVE that you got another 'we are connected' dream thing going in this one. i don't think it is possible to use that theme too much, because it's just too wonderful!

two things i've come to count on with you, much to my delight: incredibly hott! and inventive shower scenes, with or without shampooing, LOL...and shared (and occasionally prophetic, or at least poetically symbolic) dreams. what kills me is that you always manage to make BOTH scenarios different and unique in EVERY version!!! Your mind obviously has an endless capacity for variation. that is a rare gift, and you employ it well indeed. i really love how Lex THINKS he's drawn to check out the Arctic because of that research that fascinated him, when it's as much the dreams drawing him on...dreams secretly telling him where to find the one thing, the person he needs to be whole...because they are connected without knowing it. LOVE that you did it all so SUBTLY!!!

>>Lex had willingly paid that price to be Clark's friend>>

god, if only he had done so on the show; found somewhere in himself the strength to rise above... (i personally believe, and use it in my fic as a reason, that he subconsciously needs to have something OF Clark, since he believes he can't have Clark himself; and if it be the secret, the info, that's something he can hold in his hand. to touch Clark. to KEEP Clark. instead... it has the opposite effect. kind of like how Clark not telling Lex so Lex won't see him as a thing and he won't lose that imperative friendship ends up backfiring and making that friendship become exactly what he'd feared...

i hate irony.)

well, poot to the show, anyway. we all know what REALLY happens, right? AND IT'S RIGHT HERE, BABY!!!

>>Jor-El's stipulation that no one be told of Kal-El's origins, and that there be no use of his powers until after his training was complete, had been a difficult condition to accept three years ago. Nonetheless, Clark had accepted the terms gratefully. Clark had known those additional years living as a human would be vital>>

not to mention he could just be Clark and stop lying to Lex, avoid situations where he would have to lie at all, and therefore kept Lex as a friend, and i so love you for the amazing variety of alternatives you come up with in that fertile brain of yours!.

[danceswithgary]

I do love hitting the showers with the boys and dreams, well I've always considered them significant in my life so it's a natural for me to put them in fics whenever I can. I like all the different ways you can play with them.

I'm glad you like all the variations, I work hard not to be too repetitious. Thanks!

[touchstoneaf.livejournal.com]

>>no one had seen Lex since he'd set out earlier that day to check one of the remote monitoring installations>>

you know, the first time around, and despite your 'it's always happily ever after with me' vow, you REALLY scared me there thinking it would be a 'we admit we love each other and then Lex dies in Clark's arms', romeo and juliet kind of ending. but at the same time i was SOOO happy when i realized the times had finally coincided and Lex had only gone out that same day, i actually whooped out loud with hope.

you do make me emote.

>>He was losing the man he loved because he'd been too late>>

took one of them nearly dying for Clark to admit that? Lex admitted it to himself YEARS ago, kiddo! bout time you caught up! (granted he's had other things on his mind, a lot to juggle, but STILL. if they were spending all this time together for three years...C'MON!)

>>and Clark was thinking of ways to join him when the end finally came. Clark knew that if nothing else, there was always the kryptonite Jor-El kept for training>>

seriously started worrying again here. and yet how SWOONY!!!

>>Clark ducked his head, cheeks blazing red. "Sex. They have to have sex and share...you know. God, this is impossible.">>

i love how realistic you madet his very awkward scene...because how to EXPLAIN something like this to someone you aren't even sure includes you in his sexuality, much less wants to live with you, loves you that way (not even getting into the fact that it's just a damn weird thing to have to explain in the first place when you've only just gotten the alien part out on the air!).

>>"Clark, you're acting like a blushing virgin."
..."Well, yeah, not a big surprise there."
..."Wait, you've never? Not even with Lana...or Chloe?">>

you know, this entire exchage was just so adorable i nearly cooed. (is that even a word that can be conjugated thus?)

>>"No! I mean, after I found out I could bond someone to me just by...well, the urge to indulge in casual sex kind of went away, Lex.">>

i can SO hear him say those words!!!

>>I know I'm not the one you planned to spend the rest of your life with, but I love you, Lex. Please don't leave me>>

okay, SNIFFLE at his tortured words! Lex, will you kiss him please?! (why does Lex have to pick this moment to be too weak to drag Clark's fool head down and shut him up in the most mutually satisfactory way?)

>>"Clark, I've loved you for years>>

well, that works too. in the absence of the strength to kiss him out of his penance, we'll take him shocking him out of it. hehe, grateful relief is fun too.

>>In spite of everything that's happened, I'll never regret taking the chance to be with you for as long as I can...all my life, if possible. Yes, Clark. My answer is yes>>

okay, that's a WEDDING there! talk about SWOONING!
now on to the wedding night. i've heard it can put new life into a person, but this is the first time i've seen that happen literally. *grinning like a pure shipper idiot*

>>Pulling back a little, Lex smiled. "So...how do we do this?">>

*snort*
well, i guess he could be thinking they need some kind of alien ritual or specific act to satisfy the necessary or something. we'll let it pass.

>>"You're the one with experience, Lex. I was kind of hoping you could tell me.">>

what he said.
you know this is all just too damned cute, don't you?

>>"You can have anything you want, Lex>>

ooh, watch how you'll have to twist his arm with THAT one! LOL, with a statement like that from Clark's lips, you could get Lex up if he were three days dead!

[danceswithgary]

Blushing virgin wishes to meet cynical man about town, object: matrimony under laws of Krypton, if not the local government.

I loved putting together this dialogue, glad it amused you!

[touchstoneaf.livejournal.com]

>>We're a cliche, Clark. We had sex when we were drunk, and we can't remember anything about it."
Nodding, Clark frowned. "I'm sorry, Lex. I've thought about being with you for years, and I always imagined that our first time would be special>>

somehow I'm thinking Clark has imagined it a bit different (and for possibly much longer, hehe) himself. ah, well...make a new first time. location doesn't matter really, if it's right. don't sweat the math. it'll always be special with you two!
(LOL, i sound like a sex cheerleader)

>>I've really messed up.">>

still don't think he's gonna hold it against you. though you really could have spoken up sooner. i'm sure he wouldn't have minded bonding with you knowingly.
though i can understand Clark's uncertainty, not wanting to challenge the status quo of their friendship.
poot.

>>"We're in a crystal fortress in the Arctic, you're an alien and I'm a mutant. It would be hard to top all that for special, Clark, no matter what we did.">>

well when you put it that way...

>>"How much research have you done on the internet? I'm sure 'virgin' doesn’t equal 'ignorant' when it comes to you, Clark.">>

GOD, i love how much he CARES!!!
how can people watching the show not SEE this side of Lex?! it's there, just beneath the surface!!! and they Just. Keep. Wounding it!!! *screams in frustration*

>>I just never wanted to take the chance....">>

*waps him for Lex, because Lex is too romantic and probably too weak to do it himself*

have i mentioned lately that i LOVE Martha?!

>>"Sorry." Clark was out of the bed and naked without any further delay>>

i remember thinking at this point, if a bit irrelevantly, that i'd be a bit self-conscious, feeling the AI is over in the next room watching/monitoring and approving the 'process' and 'progress' of the 'bonding', greedily awaiting it to work so that Clark can come back to train without distractions. I admit the thought still crosses my mind in the re-read.

that AI annoys me, LOL.

>>"It feels weird to think about doing this without protection.">>

and to be watched by an AI. (censored)
LOL, i think it's funny that he'd even ever consider protection, since he can't exactly catch or spread human diseases, et cetera...

>>I want to see your face as you come inside me.">>

he wants to compare it to years of daydreams in the sure knowledge that the reality he now gets to keep for the rest of his life is far sweeter than any imagining could be... ooh. gonna use that in fic. *cuts and pastes to document*
god, you're inspirational!

i love that Clark is so unsure about talking about it...but not at all unsure when it comes to doing what he's wanted to do for years; suiting actions to words!

and GAWD, that ending is still just as sweet the second time around! oh, what a gift youv'e given them! be it muscle memory or whatever, how sweet! The wording you used to describe that first time was so wonderfully evocative without being a blow-by-blow; from assurances to the Words, to a need to show it...and then explaining how all caution had been thrown to the winds in a need to cement what neither had thought they would ever have. just incredible. not to mention, as i said the first time, one of the most incredibly POETIC things i have ever read. that contrast, spoken of lyrically as night and day, yin and yang, sun and moon...ARTISTRY! and then, remembering what they had each thought during, and after...

>>Clark had resisted bonding for years, but he knew then it was because he belonged to Lex, and it had felt so right>>

HEAR HEAR!!!

>>Lex had dreamed of Clark for years, and afterwards he'd prayed Clark would come back to him and that it wouldn't be the only time they shared>>

talk about rip your heart out!!!
i love that you can always make me see, make me hear; make me cry, make me FEEL. THANK you.
you rule.

[danceswithgary]

I indulged myself with metaphor at the end of this fic. I love writing Lex and Clark as yin/yang, sun/moon - the ultimate in opposites attract which is what Smallville set us up for right from the start - spoiled rich boy and sweet farm boy and all the other contrasts in between. 'Tis a very fertile ground.

Thanks!

[mskatej.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed this! It was just what the doctor ordered. *g* Thank you!

[danceswithgary]

Glad you enjoyed this little foray into cliche!fic. I tried to give it a bit of a twist. :-D Thanks!