Title: SuperGlue
Fandom: Smallville
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Categories: AU, angst
Length: really freaking epic (~165,000 words)
Warnings: references to pre-story sexual abuse of minors

Author on LJ: n/a
Authors' Website: http://www.caffiends.net/

Review:
I recced Holding Out for a Hero a while ago, so now it's time to rec the remake (by the original author and her frequent collaborator). Much of Lex's backstory is the same: sexually assaulted by Senatori as a child, pulled from the river in Smallville by Jonathan Kent, decided to break from the Luthor family and become a CSI, and currently living alone and suffering from crippling anxiety, primarily because Lionel is an evil bastard and Lex no longer trusts anyone. However, in this version of the story, Clark is not a CSI. Instead, he's a reporter who happens to be interviewing the Metropolis CSIs for a fluff piece when the Senatori case breaks and much of the story is spent on the case and the resulting fallout.

Despite the fact that this is a much, much longer story than Hero, it's also much more focused. No Nick and Greg, no Whitney jealousy storyline (thank goodness), no other cases to deal with. Just Lex and Clark and a nightmarish past coming to light. Chloe, the Kents, and Lois help (or hinder as the case may be) in Lex's recovery, but the core of the story is Lex and Clark's relationship as it develops from strangers to friends to something more. Overall a fantastic remake that manages to be better than the original.

SuperGlue