Title: Tangled - posted 2004
Series:  Dark Spaces (Shadows and Stone)
Author: Lacey McBain
Rating:  R.  Pre-slash.  Lex, Bruce.
Summary:  Lex and Bruce wrestle with their emotions in the dark.
Disclaimer:  I don't own them, but if I did, wrestling would be mandatory.
***

Tangled

Bruce looked up as the door to his and Lex's room was flung open, then slammed.  Hard.  Lex crossed the room in a few strides and grabbed Bruce by the collar.  Bruce wondered where the black leather trench coat had come from.  It suited him.

"What the fuck did you do?" Lex yelled, pushing Bruce up against the window, his fists full of white cotton. Bruce was grateful–not for the first time–that the windows were heavy and lead-lined.  He could feel every muscle of Lex's long lean body pressed against him.  Bruce tried not to smile.  He'd been expecting something like this all evening.

"What are you talking about?" Bruce's voice was perfectly controlled despite his roommate's death-grip on his shirt.  He could just imagine what kind of picture this made from the outside where their silhouettes would be perfectly clear against the lighted window in the night.  Anyone walking across the grounds to beat curfew was going to be getting an eyeful.  As if the rumours needed any more fuel.

Lex's eyes were bright blue and shining like the heart of a flame.  Bruce wouldn't have been surprised if he'd felt a jolt of electricity surge through him.  His skin prickled with anticipation of the fight that was coming.

"You know what I'm talking about."

"Really, Lex, I don't know–"

Bruce felt himself slammed back against the window again, the lines of lead making gothic patterns on his back.  He laughed, which only served to piss Lex off even further.

"You bastard!  You completely fucked-up the deal I had going down, and you know it."

"All I did was talk with your buyer."

"You threatened him, Bruce.  You told him if he did business with me, you'd break both his legs."

Bruce smirked.  He hadn't exactly said that, but it was flattering that was how the message had been received.  A few well-placed glances and a couple of vaguely worded statements could work wonders.  It hadn't taken much more than a glare to have Ferelli back off, promising never to do business with Lex again.

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to, and you know it.  You're fucking intimidating when you want to be.  All you had to do was lean over him and glare."

Yeah, that was pretty much all it had taken.  Ferrelli had practically pissed himself assuring Bruce that he wouldn't buy drugs from Lex.  In fact, by the end of the conversation he was swearing off drugs and promising to volunteer for community rehab programs.

"Don't you dare smile about this," Lex yelled.  He slammed a fist hard into the window frame.  Bruce knew that the next one would be pummelling his chest.  "You cost me a thousand dollars."

Bruce snorted.  "Like the money means anything."

"It's my money.  And none of your business."

"It's my business as long as I'm your roommate."

"Then maybe it's time for a new roommate."

Bruce could see the anger in Lex's face as he spit out the words.  Shit, he was serious.  Bruce felt a moment of panic.  He didn't want Lex hurt, but neither did he want to lose him.  They'd been through too much over the past six years.  God, had it been six years?  Bruce could barely remember a time when Lex hadn't been part of his life.  When Reynolds had tried to separate them that one time, Lex had been like some avenging angel screaming bloody murder loud enough that Lionel had seen fit to intervene.  It was probably the one good thing Lionel had done for them, Bruce thought.

"Lex, I was trying to protect–"

"Spare me!" Lex yelled.  "I don't need your protection, Bruce.  Stop trying to control what I do!"

Bruce caught Lex's fist as it came down towards his chest.  He wrapped his fingers around Lex's wrist and held tight, his other hand covering the fingers still tangled in his shirt.  It never failed to amaze him how much power Lex could channel through a body that looked like it was incapable of hard, physical labour.  Lex was practically humming with anger, and Bruce could feel him vibrating against his body.  Bruce knew it wasn't fear, but adrenaline–and maybe a hit of coke.  Lex had been doing the hard stuff more and more since his mother had died.  Bruce had watched the light in his eyes grow dimmer over a period of months–and he'd tried to stay out of it–but he was tired of watching Lex commit slow suicide day by day.

"Stop it, Lex," Bruce said, raising his voice.  He knew the walls in the dorms were thick enough that the guys next door would probably hear nothing more than the murmur of voices.  Lex pulled away, and headed for the door, hitting the light switch and plunging them both into darkness.  Bruce didn't know where the hell Lex thought he was going to go, but Bruce wasn't letting him leave.  Not like this.  He'd pull him off the rooftop one too many times, and there was no way he was going through that again.  Slow or fast, suicide wasn't an option that Bruce was willing to let Lex have.

Bruce grabbed him by the shoulder, hand slipping on the soft leather.  His eyes were still adjusting to the sudden dark and he was startled when Lex spun around, left hand connecting with Bruce's jaw.  Bruce cried out, more in shock than pain, stumbling backwards.  Bruce felt a hand on the back of his neck, long fingers tangling in his hair, shoving him down face first on top of the bed, one arm bent behind his back.

"Stay out of my life," Lex said.  Bruce was flat against the mattress now, Lex leaning over him, black coat flowing behind him like a shadow, part of the darkness.  Bruce felt Lex's knee dig into the middle of his back, and he shuddered as he tried to draw a breath.  God, Lex was high, and he was more pissed than Bruce had ever seen him.

"No," Bruce murmured against a mouthful of sheets.  He felt Lex's knee grind down against his spine.  Shit, Lex wasn't playing around.

"You're not in control here," Lex said, his mouth close against Bruce's ear.  He'd stopped yelling.  His voice had become a throaty purr, and Bruce felt his skin shiver as Lex swiped at his ear with the tip of his tongue.  Bruce twisted his head and tried to get some leverage on the bedspread.  Lex's weight was solid against his back.

"And you're out of control," Bruce snapped back.  "Fuck, Lex, let me up."  Lex hovered over him like a bird of prey.  Bruce knew if he'd been able to look over his shoulder, he would've seen Lex grinning with a cocaine smile.  He was in more trouble than he'd ever been before.

"Shut up."

"Lex, this isn't you talking," Bruce murmured.  He managed to get his knee under him, but buckled again when Lex shifted, straddling him.  Bruce moaned as he felt Lex hard against him.  Jesus Christ, everything was sexual with Lex.  Bruce felt his own body reacting in spite of himself.

"Maybe you don't know me as well as you think."  Lex drew out each word like a slow caress across his skin.  Teeth grazed the back of Bruce's neck.  He tensed when he felt a hand stroke casually down his side, achingly slow, stopping at his thigh.

"I know you better than you know yourself."  Lex laughed, breath hot against Bruce's ear.  Sure, they'd wrestled before, fought before, held each other through long, long nights, but this was completely different, and Bruce felt it in every muscle of his body.  Lex was massaging his thigh with one hand, his whole weight pressing against Bruce's back, effectively pinioning him to the mattress.  Bruce could feel the precision of each touch, as if Lex wanted to leave fingerprints on him through the cloth.  Bruce wasn't certain there wouldn't be bruises.  He didn't know why that thought sent a shiver down his spine.

"Yeah, and maybe I know you too," Bruce said, trying to sound more confident than he felt.  He did know Lex–knew him in all the ways that mattered, but this was something else, something to be afraid of.  Bruce felt a hand slip beneath him, reach between his legs and stroke across his groin.  Bruce tried to hold back a moan.  "Don't fight it, Bruce."

"Lex," Bruce said, his voice cracking.  He shook his head.  If he could just turn over and talk to him.  "Lex, what are you doing?"  Bruce was embarrassed at how breathless he sounded.  He should've been able to push Lex away without much of a struggle, but Lex was stronger than he'd ever appeared.  The coke wasn't helping.  Bruce was certain that Lex was feeling more powerful than he'd ever felt before.  Maybe they would both have bruises.  He didn't know if Lex would notice.  Or care.

"Nobody fucks me over and gets away with it," Lex said simply, and Bruce felt a stab of fear, as Lex gripped him with a sure hand between his legs.  Bruce was hard instantly.  He wasn't sure he'd ever been that hard in his life.  He could feel Lex's long fingers moving against him as if he did this every day.  Bruce fought down the humiliation of his body's so obvious betrayal.

"Let me up, Lex."

"Seems like you're already up."  A firm stroke and Bruce was pushing hard against Lex's hand and the bed.  Lex still had one of his arms pinned behind him.  Bruce turned his head to the side and struggled to breathe.

"Fuck," Bruce breathed out.  "Lex, come on, don't do this."  Bruce didn't think he'd have been able to convince anyone of anything right then.  His body was screaming ‘yes,' even though most of his brain was telling him to wait.  This wasn't Lex.  He had to do something to stop this before they did something they'd both regret–no matter how much his body was telling him to let it happen.  For the first time in his life, he understood want.

"What's the matter, Bruce?  Not so fun when you're the one getting fucked over?"  Bruce felt Lex's groin grind hard against him.  God, this shouldn't have been turning him on.  Lex was his best friend, his only friend.  Sure, there'd almost always been an undertone of sexuality between them, at least as long as they'd been sexually aware, but they'd never acted on it.  Any reactions that had happened at inopportune times, they'd mostly just ignored.

Bruce shifted his arm forcing Lex to loosen his grip, and he was finally able to get his arms under him.  He pushed off the mattress, only to be slammed back down.  The mattress creaked with the weight of them both.

"Going somewhere?  We're just getting started," Lex said, and his voice was hard.  Edgy.    Bruce kicked back and twisted, rolling them both over, using his bigger build to move them.  Lex was laughing when Bruce ended up on top, pinning Lex's hands against the mattress.  "Bruce.  I didn't know you liked to top."

Bruce flushed.  He could feel his cock twitch against Lex's groin.  Lex could feel it too.  He laughed again, and his tongue darted out and licked provocatively at the scar on his mouth.  Bruce felt his throat go dry at the hunger he saw in Lex's eyes.  Yes, the drugs were still there.  Lex's eyes were brighter than usual, glassy and large, but there was something else too–something raw and honest and entirely too painful to look at.  Bruce thought that look could turn him to stone.

He could feel Lex's need pressing against him, whispering to him, touching him like a ghost in the darkness, another actor in their boarding school tragedy.  It was as real as if it had stripped down and offered to join the game.  Bruce didn't know how he was going to push it back into a box when it was taunting him with promises of everything he might ever want.  Lex was half-heartedly struggling against him in a way that only served to rub their bodies closer.  Bruce couldn't ignore the heat pooling in his groin, the blood rushing into the head of his cock, hard and leaking and demanding satisfaction.  Lex wriggled his hips, laughing as Bruce rolled his eyes and leaned in close, pushing unconsciously as Lex pushed back.

"Stop it, Lex," Bruce said, trying to mean it.

"Make me," Lex taunted, thrusting his hips up against Bruce.  "You want it.  You know you do.  Fuck, you're as hard as I am."

With what he thought might be desperation, Bruce pushed himself off the bed and clung breathlessly to the wall, leaning his cheek against its cool, rough stone.  It felt like ice against his burning skin.

Lex propped himself up on his elbows and stared at Bruce with wild eyes.

"Come on, Bruce.  Don't you love me anymore?"

Lex's voice was bitter.  Sarcastic.  Wheedling.  Bruce closed his eyes and ignored the truth that threaten to pull down all his defences.  Underneath the drugs and the anger, he could hear Lex asking.  Needing to know.

"Don't you want me?"

Bruce swallowed hard and blinked.  He could see Lex's face in the moonlight, the way his mouth held a promise of other things.  Bruce licked his lips and tried not to think of what that mouth could do.

"Lex."  Bruce's voice was a whisper as Lex slid off the bed and sauntered towards him.  He didn't know how Lex managed to make the few feet seem like a mile, but Bruce had time to see every swing of his hips, every provocative twitch as he stepped into his space and shoved him against the wall.  Lex may have been four inches shorter than Bruce, but Lex was completely in control physically.  He didn't know how to get out of this without either hurting Lex or ruining their friendship completely.

Lex ran a finger lightly down Bruce's throat and flipped open the top button of his shirt.  "So uptight, Bruce.  So controlled."  Lex's right hand rested lightly, possessively on Bruce's hip.  He felt himself leaning into Lex's body almost against his will.  There was something absolutely magnetic about Lex's personality, his body, and Bruce wasn't any more able to resist than anyone else.  "You want to tell me what to do?  You like to be in charge?"

Bruce shook his head, feeling stupid.  He couldn't seem to form words.  All he could think about was the dark rush of blood in his veins, Lex's hand on his hip, the other unbuttoning his shirt, long fingers stroking against his skin.  Bruce felt the sharp edge of a fingernail burrow into the flesh of his chest.  Lex's face was close against his, so close that their breathing was in-synch, the steady in and out of their bodies speeding up slightly as the heat between them grew.  Bruce felt every breath like a brand against his skin.

"Come on, Bruce," Lex murmured, and Bruce could feel the slow drag of teeth against his neck.  "Tell me what you want."  Bruce felt his body arching against Lex's involuntarily.  He wanted to grab Lex's hips and pull him tight against him, cover his mouth with his own.  He wanted to push him down on the bed and wipe that smile off his face, make him scream his name, make him forget everything except how good it felt to let go, stop fighting, stop running away from the pain and the sadness and the things that woke them late at night.

"Tell me what to do," Lex whispered, and Bruce heard the shift in his voice.  He was trying to hang onto that high, hang on like a spider from a thread, but it was too late.  He was crashing hard, and begging for someone else to deal with the fall-out.  Bruce shivered as warm hands stroked over his chest, pleading for him to take charge.  Bruce put his hands lightly on Lex's hips, hesitating only a moment before he let his arms circle around his waist.

"Let it go, Lex," Bruce murmured against Lex's scalp.  He let out a deep, shuddering breath.  "Just let it go."

Lex shook his head against Bruce's shoulder, but the fight had gone out of him.  Bruce could feel Lex's shoulders sag, felt his own body relax, thankful that for once his body was cooperating.  Lex was so fucking confused, he didn't need any encouragement, and Bruce knew that it was going to be up to him to be the reasonable one in this partnership.  Hard as that might be.

"You keep fucking up my deals," Lex murmured.  "I don't need another father."

Bruce tensed.  "I'm not your father, Lex.  I care about you."  Lex snickered, and nodded against him.  Bruce realized what he'd said.  "That's–that's not what I meant."

"Yeah, but it's true."

"Maybe you should stop trying so hard to get his attention," Bruce said, letting one hand drift up to rest on Lex's neck.  He rubbed at the warm skin there.  It was damp with sweat.

"Maybe I'm not trying to get his attention," Lex whispered in a voice so soft that Bruce had to lean closer to hear him.  His hand tightened on Lex's neck.

"You already have my attention, Lex," Bruce murmured.  "You don't have to ... offer anything else."

Lex kept his eyes averted.  He didn't seem like he wanted to move from the dark shadows of Bruce's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Bruce."

"No, you're not," Bruce countered.  He manoeuvred Lex towards the bed, pulling his coat off as he pushed him lightly onto the mattress.  He knelt on the floor beside the bed.  "You meant every word of it–high or not."

"I didn't mean to get carried away."  Lex sounded more apologetic than Bruce had ever heard him.  The reality of their desperate tussle on the bed had started to sink in for both of them.  They couldn't ignore it forever.  Part of them hadn't wanted to stop, and they couldn't blame it entirely on the drugs.  At least, Bruce couldn't.  Lex was the most intense person he'd ever known.  There was something intoxicating about being wanted, being needed that much.  It was a gift Bruce didn't plan to take advantage of.  He hoped he was strong enough.  Friend enough.

"We both got carried away," Bruce acknowledged.  He leaned his head against the mattress, surprised when Lex tangled a hand in his hair.

"What's it going to take to make you give up on me?" Lex whispered, and Bruce found that he couldn't lift his head.  Lex's gentle pressure told him he didn't want to look at him.  Bruce shifted and raised his head, reaching out a hand to turn Lex's face toward him.

"There's nothing you could do to make me leave," Bruce said with certainty.  He knew it was true.  He knew it the way he knew that sooner or later they were going to stumble across a line in the dark and life would be wonderful and terrible and irrevocably changed.  "So stop trying."

Lex smiled, a half-smile that was almost as good as a hug, and Bruce nudged Lex gently til he slid over against the wall.  Bruce lay down beside him, not touching anywhere, body a perfect mirror image of his roommate's.

"Bruce," Lex's eyes were large and tired.  "Don't let me drag you into something that–that you don't want."  His eyes were focussed on the shadows.

"You're not dragging me anywhere," Bruce was conscious of what he was saying.  He was aware that Lex was too.  "Believe it or not, I can say 'no' to you."

Lex grinned, and Bruce felt his heart jump.  That quicksilver smile could lift his world out of darkness in the space of a heartbeat.  He had to stop himself from leaning forward and kissing that smile.

"But the question is, do you want to?" Lex murmured.

"When you're bouncing off the walls, yes.  When you're your usual pain in the ass self ..."

"Yes?"

"Definitely."  Bruce chuckled as Lex pretended to pout.  "But maybe ... sometime ..."

He saw Lex nodding.  He seemed thoughtful.  They'd put it out there.  It would always be between them, no matter what happened the next time they tangled in the darkness.

Lex rolled over to face the wall.  Bruce could tell his high was completely spent.  He felt Lex reach back and pull his arm around him.  Bruce scooted closer and smiled against Lex's shoulder.

"Go to sleep, Lex," Bruce whispered.  Lex threaded his fingers between Bruce's and didn't let go, even after sleep had taken them both.


THE END

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