2.4 Seconds in the Day.
Jan. 23rd, 2004 12:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hackthis_archiveThe things you love are as stupid as the things you hate and easily interchangeable.
Smallville
There are 86,400 seconds in a 24-hour day, and Clark does his best not to think about Lex during any of them.
He doesn’t think about Lex when he wakes up in the morning after sleeping for anywhere between three and five hours. The amount of sleep Clark gets really depends on the rest of the world and whether or not it’s a long night for Superman and the rest of the Justice League. On average though, that’s 14,400 seconds of time when he’s dreaming about someone or something that’s decidedly not Lex.
Clark isn’t thinking about Lex when he stumbles out of bed in the morning and stubs his toe on the dresser, which has always been too close to the bedroom door. He’s not thinking about Lex when he perfunctorily brushes his teeth, or even when he’s washing in the shower. Sometimes he thinks of faceless bodies and nameless people. Sometimes he thinks about Lois. On one occasion he even thought about Lana, but he stopped because that just wasn’t fair to Pete.
Clark’s not thinking about Lex when he’s walking to work or picking up his coffee from Sully’s on the corner of Third and Hall. When he walks through the doors of the Daily Planet, he’s really not thinking about Lex. Unless Lois tells him otherwise.
At work there are stories to write and people to interview. There are press conferences to attend and officials to rattle with facts that Clark and Lois may or may not know. A standard nine-hour day takes up 32,400 seconds of Clark’s allotment. That’s nearly 40% of his entire day.
Yes, there are times when thinking about Lex is unavoidable, when Lex Corp has a press conference to discuss its newest acquisition or when Lex does something just too far over the line. These are the times when Lois will drag Clark out of the bullpen by his tie, and he’ll let her call him ‘Smallville’ while she curses about Luthors and their complexes.
Clark won’t talk about the complex that he might’ve had first.
These are the days when Clark’s thoughts about Lex will spill way over their quota, and these are the nights when Clark will pay ‘Luthor’ a visit and warn him off from whatever reckless act he’s recently committed.
Lex will sneer, and Clark will sigh.
Lex will play the part of the villain, and Clark will play the part of the superhero, who is above all the lies.
There will be threats and callous disregard. They will try to hurt each other, because that’s all that’s left of what they used to share, and Clark knows that something is better than nothing at the end of the day. After all these years, they need to have something to show for all the work they’ve invested.
They will raise their voices and follow the script they learned by rote a long time ago. Clark will remember that he used to love Lex, and Lex will pretend otherwise.
Strangely enough, these exchanges take less than thirty minutes; 1,800 seconds of interaction in a day that is already too full with other things. And when it is over, when Clark leaves to go back to the Planet or the watchtower, or even to go home, there will be a moment when he wonders why they keep doing this to each other. He will ask himself what exactly they think they’re getting out of this, even though he already knows. All the time they spend with other people just goes to highlight the big holes in their lives; all these tens of thousands of seconds they're wasting by not being together that could be spent otherwise.
So, they fill these roles that the other needs, and yet all they do is call attention to what’s missing in their lives.
They’ve certainly tried to distance themselves, to walk away from each other, but truthfully, Clark knows it’s impossible for either one of them to leave the most important relationship they will ever know. It doesn’t really matter what they call it, it’s a life they share, and it’s pointless to try and do it alone.
Of course, it’s possible that Lex would be happier if Clark really were gone from his life, but no matter what Lois says, or even what Clark says, he just can’t imagine life without Lex. As angry as Lex makes him, he’s not quite sure life would be worth existing without Lex in it. And he suspects that if Lex really wanted him gone; he wouldn’t still be flying around.
Clark will consider this, as he invariably does, and there will be a momentary flash of regret, perhaps a few seconds to wonder how things could have been different if any one of a number of things had happened. If Clark had been killed in Smallville by a mutant or if he was just too late to save Lex one time, neither one would have all these countless hours on their hands.
If Clark had trusted Lex with his secret instead of letting the lies eat away at the friendship they always worked so hard to maintain, their days might be very different now.
Then the thought will pass, like so many others that Clark has during the day, and Clark will realize that such a lengthy regret really didn’t take that long.
Just 2.4 seconds of the day where Clark wonders what might have been.
-end-
Written between 11:41 and 12:09, which is approximately 1,680 seconds of time.
Inspired by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
happyminion and dedicated to her if she so wishes.
Smallville
There are 86,400 seconds in a 24-hour day, and Clark does his best not to think about Lex during any of them.
He doesn’t think about Lex when he wakes up in the morning after sleeping for anywhere between three and five hours. The amount of sleep Clark gets really depends on the rest of the world and whether or not it’s a long night for Superman and the rest of the Justice League. On average though, that’s 14,400 seconds of time when he’s dreaming about someone or something that’s decidedly not Lex.
Clark isn’t thinking about Lex when he stumbles out of bed in the morning and stubs his toe on the dresser, which has always been too close to the bedroom door. He’s not thinking about Lex when he perfunctorily brushes his teeth, or even when he’s washing in the shower. Sometimes he thinks of faceless bodies and nameless people. Sometimes he thinks about Lois. On one occasion he even thought about Lana, but he stopped because that just wasn’t fair to Pete.
Clark’s not thinking about Lex when he’s walking to work or picking up his coffee from Sully’s on the corner of Third and Hall. When he walks through the doors of the Daily Planet, he’s really not thinking about Lex. Unless Lois tells him otherwise.
At work there are stories to write and people to interview. There are press conferences to attend and officials to rattle with facts that Clark and Lois may or may not know. A standard nine-hour day takes up 32,400 seconds of Clark’s allotment. That’s nearly 40% of his entire day.
Yes, there are times when thinking about Lex is unavoidable, when Lex Corp has a press conference to discuss its newest acquisition or when Lex does something just too far over the line. These are the times when Lois will drag Clark out of the bullpen by his tie, and he’ll let her call him ‘Smallville’ while she curses about Luthors and their complexes.
Clark won’t talk about the complex that he might’ve had first.
These are the days when Clark’s thoughts about Lex will spill way over their quota, and these are the nights when Clark will pay ‘Luthor’ a visit and warn him off from whatever reckless act he’s recently committed.
Lex will sneer, and Clark will sigh.
Lex will play the part of the villain, and Clark will play the part of the superhero, who is above all the lies.
There will be threats and callous disregard. They will try to hurt each other, because that’s all that’s left of what they used to share, and Clark knows that something is better than nothing at the end of the day. After all these years, they need to have something to show for all the work they’ve invested.
They will raise their voices and follow the script they learned by rote a long time ago. Clark will remember that he used to love Lex, and Lex will pretend otherwise.
Strangely enough, these exchanges take less than thirty minutes; 1,800 seconds of interaction in a day that is already too full with other things. And when it is over, when Clark leaves to go back to the Planet or the watchtower, or even to go home, there will be a moment when he wonders why they keep doing this to each other. He will ask himself what exactly they think they’re getting out of this, even though he already knows. All the time they spend with other people just goes to highlight the big holes in their lives; all these tens of thousands of seconds they're wasting by not being together that could be spent otherwise.
So, they fill these roles that the other needs, and yet all they do is call attention to what’s missing in their lives.
They’ve certainly tried to distance themselves, to walk away from each other, but truthfully, Clark knows it’s impossible for either one of them to leave the most important relationship they will ever know. It doesn’t really matter what they call it, it’s a life they share, and it’s pointless to try and do it alone.
Of course, it’s possible that Lex would be happier if Clark really were gone from his life, but no matter what Lois says, or even what Clark says, he just can’t imagine life without Lex. As angry as Lex makes him, he’s not quite sure life would be worth existing without Lex in it. And he suspects that if Lex really wanted him gone; he wouldn’t still be flying around.
Clark will consider this, as he invariably does, and there will be a momentary flash of regret, perhaps a few seconds to wonder how things could have been different if any one of a number of things had happened. If Clark had been killed in Smallville by a mutant or if he was just too late to save Lex one time, neither one would have all these countless hours on their hands.
If Clark had trusted Lex with his secret instead of letting the lies eat away at the friendship they always worked so hard to maintain, their days might be very different now.
Then the thought will pass, like so many others that Clark has during the day, and Clark will realize that such a lengthy regret really didn’t take that long.
Just 2.4 seconds of the day where Clark wonders what might have been.
-end-
Written between 11:41 and 12:09, which is approximately 1,680 seconds of time.
Inspired by
happyminion and dedicated to her if she so wishes.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-01-24 12:19 am (UTC)I had written such a nice, light piece for Wendi's birthday, and then to have this come spilling out is rather typical of me I suspect. I used to be such a nice girl. I'm pleased you enjoyed this, thank you for commenting!