Archived fic rec - Not a Villain

[sakura_no_miko]

Title: Not a Villain series

Author: Tallihensia

Fandom: Smallville

Rating: eventually NC-17, but chapters vary

Pairing: Clark/Lex

Warnings: explicit sex (gay), discussion of childhood abuse, discussion of sexual abuse, manipulation, character injury, general violence, suicide bombings and terrorism,

Other notes: WIP, family, character study, superheroes and their lifestyle, secret identities,

Length: 140k+

Summary: When Clark makes a discovery about Conner, honor forces him to tell Lex. Lex comes by to see for himself.

 

I also binge-read this fic. Read it all the way through, then almost immediately read it again.

This series is pretty amazing for how much both Clark and Lex become wonderful parents, in their own ways. The story of this newly forming family is great to read, but the author also takes a step into the larger world of superheroes.

I don’t even know where to begin. Clark and Lex, trying to overcome years of slowly-festering distrust and outright hatred for each other, like all your worst ex’s combined? Again, we have Kon providing the calming element in this story, the one who’s able to see Clark and Lex without years of pent-up anger clouding everything up, but he gets a pretty powerful journey as well.

There’s also a fascinating scene–well, several–in one of the later chapters about there now being generations of heroes–about how Superman and Batman were people who grew up alone and injured and trying to find a way to change things, but they’ve now raised up a new generation of heroes who are–pretty cool with everything. They’ve had mentors, people to help them and protect them, and being a superhero, well, it’s not an everyday job, but it’s much more common. Kon, in particular, struggles with having a secret identity–because he’s never needed to. It’s a fascinating flaw. Superboy as ingenue. The son of Smallville canon Clark Kent and Lex Luthor unable to keep secrets.

Oh, and did I mention all this lovely world and character relationship building leads up to a horrible enemy with more than enough power to torment everyone, just as they start finding happiness?

This story is just so dense. So full of details. It’s–delicious. Mentally delicious. Filling. Satisfying.

Let me quote:

Clark was not a perfect or a pure being. He had a temper that he tried and sometimes failed to keep leashed in, he tended to use more force than necessary, and he was quick to judge. The judgment often came, however, from Clark’s sheer inability to realize what temptation was like for normal people and the way he couldn’t understand that most people didn’t have his strong internal compass. It meant that Clark could never be a good detective, for the best detectives could understand and figure out, in part, why criminals did what they did; and that was something completely beyond Clark.

I mentioned before that I tend to find it hard to put Smallville Clark Kent alongside Superman. But this–this helps bridge the gap a bit. it doesn’t help that it’s always been very easy to write Superman simply as the powerful Boy Scout, the paradigm of goodness, the Christ figure. Getting a hold of his character in a way that doesn’t reduce him down to being boring is hard. It’s easier to sink your teeth into Lex, with all of his excesses and his cutthroat ways of doing what he feels is necessary. Especially Smallville Lex, who tries so hard to be “good.”

But, really, this author gets Clark, Lex, and Kon quite brilliantly, and as a bonus, you even get some sojourns into Bruce Wayne and Diana. (Again, well-written, thoughtful Wonder Woman? You don’t get to see that nearly enough.)

And, well, this fic is still being updated. Nothing more great than that.

 

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Originally posted on tumblr on 12/05/14