The waitress placed the burger in front of Alex with a smirk. “Would you like anything else?” she purred and brushed her hand on his bicep.
“No. thank you.” the blonde answered and took a bite out of his burger. He hummed happily at the delicious food, not caring about the scoff the waitress gave him. He wasn’t in the mood to be extra nice tonight.
Someone sat across from him when he reached for his Aldebaran rum. “Not interested.” he simply said and ate a few fries.
“Fine, we won’t play pool.” the man said with a disappointed voice.
Alex looked up and smiled. “Hey, Lakren.” he greeted.
The green man reached for a fry but froze at Alex’s deadly stare. “Gees. What got you all moody?” he asked, raising his hands in surrender. He waited patiently while Alex chewed angrily.
The blonde swallowed and sighed. “Do you know how many dates I had the last three months?” he asked while reaching for his drink.
“Hmm..” Lakren raised his hand to his chin and rubbed it. “I will go with nine..?”
The blonde nodded. “You are close.”
“Really? How far off was I?” the bald man asked, slowly reaching for a fry.
Alex swatted his hand away before answering, “You were about….20 off.”
The green alien froze and looked at his friend. “I’m sorry you went to 29 dates in the past three months?” Alex nodded. “With the same being?” Alex shook his head. “So you had 29 different dates with 29 different people.” he stated.
“Kind of.” the blonde swallowed the food he was eating. “One of the girls decided to bring her identical twin sister on our date. I don’t know if that counts as two or one.” he shrugged and took another bite from his burger. “It was weird either way.” he added while chewing
“Is this your way of bragging with how many beings you slept with.” Lakren asked.
“If I was bragging about how many people I slept with I wouldn’t be eating a SadBurger.” Alex replied and took another bite.
“That’s a SuperBurger.” The other man pointed out.
“I’m Sad. This is a burger and I’m eating it. Thus it’s a SadBurger .” The blonde stated and ate more fries.
“Why are you sad? You had so many dates. What’s wrong?” Lakren questioned.
Alex took a sip of his rum and sighed. “First of all I only slept with 5 of them. Second of all, most of them wanted to go on a date with me because of my money, fame or looks.”
Lakren looked him up and down and nodded. “I get it.”
The blonde rolled his eyes and sighed. “Second, do you know where I was before I came here?”
“I was gonna say in your studio but you are dress way too good for that.” Lakren said. He tried once again to reach for a fry and Alex grabbed his hand.
“If you don’t stop I will test Luna’s theory about whenever you regrow limbs or not.” Alex growled. He let go of Lakren’s hand and rubbed his face. “I’m sorry...I just…” he sighed.
“Where were you?” Lakren asked with a more serious tone, realising how upset Alex was.
“I went on a date with this girl, okay. She came over to my gallery a few times and she seemed nice. So we went to have dinner at an Italian place. We met outside the restaurant.” he finished his drink and looked at the empty glass with a pout. He signalled for a waiter and continued. “We entered the building and there was this family in front of us waiting to be seated.” The waiter came and placed the new drink on the table. “So we talked while we waited for the family to be seated first and I noticed she started getting upset.”
“Did you guys wait for a long time?” The green man asked.
“Not really. But I thought the same, that it was because of the wait.” Alex took a sip. “So we ended up sitting close to the family because the restaurant was packed. We got our menus and all but she kept glancing at the family.” He ate a fry and sighed. “So I asked her what’s wrong and she loudly says ‘ I just can’t believe they let cockroaches eat in here ’” he said with a mocking voice. Alex didn’t yell, but just the word got some patrons’ attention.
Lakren frowned. “Were they..?”
“Starhavenites.” The blonde said and bit his lip. “I turned my head and looked at the mortified look of the family. The youngest one looked like seven or something.” Alex sighed and took another sip.
“What happened next?” Lakren asked.
“I placed the menu on the table, stood up, ignored her questions and walked to the family. I apologized to them and paid for their dinner and told them they can get dessert too. Then I came here because I was starving .” he said and finished his burger.
The green man leaned closer. “You did the right thing. She doesn’t deserve you.” he stated.
Alex tilted his head with a smile. “Thanks.”
Lakren noticed that his smile didn’t reach his eyes as usual. “There’s more?” he asked.
Alex sighed and stared at his drink. “All my siblings are married with kids, while I keep going on meaningless dates. I’m 36 years old and I still haven’t found... someone .” he sighed and placed his head on the table with a groan. “Am I doomed to be alone forever?” he mumbled, his face smashed to the table.
Lakren patted his head and sighed. “You just didn’t find the one yet.” he said before pointing at the mostly empty plate. “Can I have the leftover fries?”
“Sure.” the blonde replied.
Alex woke up with a groan when someone opened the curtains. His head was hurting to his surprise and the sunlight was too strong for his eyes.
“Good morning.” a cheery voice said next to him.
“Good morning Jeju.” he mumbled and closed his eyes again.
“Come on. Up, up. Time to wake up.” The blonde said and pulled the sheet off her son.
Alex just pouted and didn’t move. He wanted to sleep and thanks to the red sun lamps, he is hungover.
“If you don’t move, your mom will come wake you up.” Kara declared while walking to the door.
“I’m 36 years old. She doesn’t scare me anymore.” he mumbled.
Kara was the one who mostly woke up the kids. It’s because she could always get ready faster, so she had the time. Lena rarely woke them up. When she did it was with a kiss on the head and a whisper that was time to wake up. That was until one day Lena woke up their Aunt Alex with a jar of cold water in her face. Their mom told the redhead that she should have gotten up when Kara woke her. After that day, the kids had a fear that if they don’t get up when Kara wakes them, Lena will come with a cold jar of water.
But Alex is not a kid anymore. He isn’t scared of his mom. He is a strong man who can sleep in if he wants to. He fell asleep within minutes and did not hear the clicking of heels coming closer to his bed.
“Alex?” Lena whispered and her son hummed. “Wake up, sweetheart.” she said and brushed some of his hair back.
“Don’t wanna.” he mumbled.
“You need to go to the gallery.” The mother said with a soft voice.”
Alex hummed but did not move. Then he felt it. A single drop of water on his cheek. Then another, closer to his eye. His eyes snapped open and looked above him. Lena was holding a jar of water and had a raised eyebrow. The man could only move away while yelling “I’m awake. I’m awake.”
The ravenette smiled and placed the vase on the side table. “Good. Now, go shower and join us for breakfast. You need to head to your gallery soon.” she said with a cheery voice before walking away.
Alex’s head dropped on the bed with a sigh.
“ Now , Alexander.” Lena called out from the hallway and the blonde jumped in surprise before falling off the bed.
Twenty minutes later he walked to his kitchen while buttoning his shirt. His hair was freshly washed and brushed, currently on its full fluffiness. “Why did I give you my apartment’s key?” he asked with a pout.
“Because if you didn’t we would find another way to enter anyway.” Lena simply replied and placed a plate with pancakes in front of him.
“Your date went that bad last night, huh?” Kara asked.
Alex sighed and told them about his awful date while eating.
His mom left a few minutes later since she had to attend an L-Corp stakeholders meeting. Alex and Kara cleaned up before heading out the door. “Does your art folder have lead around it?” the man asked with a frown.
Kara swatted his arm. “Yes, because I don’t want you to see what I’m drawing until it’s done.” she stated.
They took the private elevator to the ground floor where it opened in the employer's area. “See you after my class.” Kara said and kissed her son’s cheek. Alex smiled and waved at his Jeju before heading to his office.
His land has two buildings. The first building is the L-D Gallery and his house. It was a three-story building shaped like a sideways ‘T’. The second building is the Luthor-Danvers Academy.
The first floor if the L-D Gallery is called ‘the feature’ floor. Only a few of his pieces are there as some of his sculptures can’t be move to a higher floor. This level has art from some feature artists that managed to get their request approved by Alex so they can sell their art in that building. Every month, the gallery hosts 10 different artists who get to showcase five pieces of art. If they sell all of the pieces before the end of the month, then they can bring more into the gallery. When the month ends, the art is taken down and replaced with a new one by different artists.
The second floor is split into two sections. On one side is where Alex showcases his paintings and different other pieces of art that are not for sale. His favourite piece is his ‘A Decade of learning’. Between the age of 12 and 22, Alex drew the same piece of art. He always started the same day and recorded when he finished it along with notes. The drawing was made on a normal paper, a canvas and even digital. The blonde wanted to show young artists that you aren’t just born with the talent, but you have to work on it, and this piece showed it perfectly. The other half of the floor was the ‘Space section’. He loved to draw different planets, stars and space in general. He loves that section and so most of his visitors
The third floor is where all his art that can be sold is. He wanted to place them on the third floor so the people interested to buy them would have to go through all the other sections first. Real art enthusiasts could find pieces from feature artists interesting and buy one from there. On the other hand, people who just want to say they own a piece of his art will complain about it being on the 3rd floor or leave because of it. Alex believes those people don't deserve his art. His apartment was also on the third floor. A door was on the right side that led to a small hallway where the lift and door to his apartment was.
The Luthor-Danvers Academy is next to the gallery, a small park separating the two buildings. The build was created after Alex realized how lucky he was. He never apprehended how expensive art supplies are and he is sure his last name made it easier to show some of his art. He even tested his theory when he tried to sell his art under a fake name and then under his real one. Obviously, the one with his real name sold easier than the other. After that experiment and the many articles and tweets he read, he decided to help his community.
The building had different classrooms where anyone could join in and learn how to draw with and on different materials, learn how to sculpture, take professional photos and even use digital software. He provided the resources and place and all he asked was respect for others. Most items were free and those that cost money were usually cheap. He wanted to give the artists of National City the resources he had and maybe even more. After a decade, the academy was going strong. Multiple companies funding it, especially L-Corp, and having special events where artists can get scholarships from different colleges and universities.
Alex believed that he created something great here.
He walked through the hallways to his office to get his speech before walking to the front of the gallery.
“Good morning, sir.” Callum, his right-hand man greeted him.
Alex gave up a long time ago correcting Callum to calling him just Alex. Now, if the man calls him by his name, he knows something serious is going on. “Good morning Callum. Can you give me an update on today’s fundraising?” he asked while looking at the new paintings of the first floor.
“Yes, sir. Everything is going according to plan. We have all the paintings you are going to sell ready, the reception informs everyone who enters that we are going to close early and the catering confirmed our orders.” the man said.
“That’s amazing, Callum. Here.” The blonde passed a paper to the short man with a smile. “I tried my best so please be nice. I will go grab something to drink until you read it.” Alex said before heading to the door. He tried to ignore the British man’s sigh as he started reading his speech. Alex might be talented in a lot of things, but he is terrible at writing speeches.
He made his way through the small park and headed to the Academy. He could always tell who visits for the first time. The new ones always point at him and whisper or try to secretly take pictures but the old ones wave or high five him as they got used to his presence.
He waited in the small line of the cafe, reading his messages from last night. Lakren made sure to take a lot of pictures of him drunk. His friend even sent a selfie of him standing next to Alex who was face down on the floor.
“Next.” the woman behind the counter called and he walked closer with a smile. “Good morning boss. What can I get for you today?” she greeted.
“Good morning, Elena.” Alex replied with a smile. “Can I have a hot chocolate, please?” he asked with a smile and reached for his wallet.
“I heard you had a date last night.” the young woman said. “How did it go?” she asked while preparing the hot chocolate.
“Awful.” Alex sighed. “How is your partner?” He instead asked, changing the subject.
“They are good. We were on a video call last night and when I woke up this morning they were asleep.” the brunette said with a sad smile.
“One more year and they will graduate.” Alex said as he paid. He picked up his drink and waved goodbye before heading back to the gallery.
There is a strictly ‘no eating or drinking’ rule inside the gallery that applied for Alex too. He opened his door and found Callum reading his speech with a red pen in hand. “How bad is it?” he asked as he took a sip.
“Could be worse. Do not worry sir, I can make it better. Also, this is the final list for the auction tonight.” the man said and pushed a folder to his boss.
Alex opened the list, reading the items and their prices while drinking his hot chocolate. The blonde choked on his drink when he read the last item on the list. He looked at Callum who had a mischievous grin. “Who put this on the list?” he asked and glared at the brunette.
“Multiple people suggested it, sir. We believe the foundation will earn a lot of money.” Callum answered before standing up. He passed the speech he was correcting back to his boss before quickly leaving the office.
The night was going great. A lot of people donated and more paid a lot of money during the auction. But now it was time for the final ‘item’ to get on the stage. Alex was nervously trying to tie his bowtie but he kept falling.
“Need help with that?” a voice said behind him and the man raised his head.
His green eyes connected with identical green and he smiled. “Yes please,” he mumbled and turned around as his mother walked closer.
“How are you feeling?” she asked while fixing his collar.
“Nervous.” the blonde answer. “I can’t believe I agreed to this,” he grumbled with a pout.
“You know, maybe this is how you will finally find the one.” the woman pointed out.
“I don’t know mom…” he scratched the back of his head with a sigh.
“No matter what, your Jeju and I are proud of who you became and what you created, okay?” she told the tall man while finishing his bow tie.
“I know mom. Thank you.” he replied and hugged her.
“Sir, we are ready.” Callum informed him.
“See you later, sweetheart.” she placed a feathery kiss on her son’s cheek, making sure to not leave any lipstick.
“Alright, everyone. Are you ready for the final auction for tonight?” the auctioneer said and everyone cheered. “Ladies, gentleman and everyone between, please welcome National City’s most eligible bachelor Alexander Luthor-Danvers .” The man announced with his deep voice and Alex stepped on the stage. The cheers got louder when he smiled.
“The winner of the final auction gets to go on a nice dinner date with our lovely host.” the bald man announced and multiple gasps were heard. “Starting price is 10k.” the auctioneer stated.
“20k”
“30k”
“50k”
People started bidding and the price kept getting higher and higher.
“200k” A woman yelled and silence fell in the room.
“Number 34 for 200k, going once.” The auctioneer yelled.
Alex looked at the woman and frowned. Monica Edge was a vicious woman. The only reason she is here is for her elite status. The fact she still has money after all her father’s crimes surprised him.
“Going twice.” the man yelled.
Alex turned to his parents with panic in his eyes. His parents never bet in the auctions since they were getting free art by Alex all the time. This auction was for guests thus neither woman held a number.
“500k” A man said and Alex turned to the direction of the familiar voice.
“Lakren?” he whispered. His friend was currently wearing a nice suit and had a charming smile. The blonde frowned. He knows Lakren doesn’t have that much money. He rolled his eyes when he noticed the number he was holding. ‘ 69? really?’
Monica glared at him "600k.” she raised her own number again and raised an eyebrow at the green man.
Lakren scoffed at the weak eyebrow game. Growing up with the Luthor-Danvers meant living with the original raised-eyebrow genes and these copycats would never intimate him. “One million dollars.” he loudly yelled as he raised his number.
Gasps were heard and everyone looked at him.
A silence fell in the room.
The loud hammer slapping on the wood broke the silence “ Sold to number 69.” the auctioneer yelled.
Alex walked to the register where Lakren was paying. “You actually have the money?” He asked, surprised.
“I have 500k cash on me. The rest are in my bank account so I wrote a check." Lakren answered with a smile.
Alex frowned but didn’t have time to ask more.
“Everything is done, all you have to do is sign here.” the employee said and passed a paper to the green man.
Lakren signed with a smile. “Prepare for your dream dinner date tomorrow night.” he winked, his tail moving happily.
Alex raised an eyebrow.
1 year later
Alex had a really bad week.
Just today, two women broke into a fight because they wanted to buy the same painting and they almost destroyed two other pieces of art. Then he was called away for a fire at a restaurant that almost exploded and had to take a really long shower for the stink of smoke to disappear. He is so happy his hair can't catch on fire.
After that, he spent hours in his studio writing down ideas about his next collection. He had no inspiration for weeks and today was no different.
He groaned and rubbed his face. He took a deep breath and froze. He sniffed and turned around. “ Potstickers ” he whispered. He looked at the paper with scribbles and sighed. No point in torturing himself.
He opened the studio door and walked down the small hallway to the living room.
“Well, look who came out of his batcave.” Lakren said with a smile. He was wearing a unicorn onesie and was removing containers from a bag.
“Har har. Are those potstickers?” He asked. His eyes zoning on the container.
“Yep. You had a bad week and I’m going to fix it.” Lakren said and rounded the kitchen island. He pushed the taller man back.
“What are you doing?” Alex asked with a pout.
“Pushing you to the bathroom. Go shower and wear your dino onesie so we can watch ‘Night at the Museum’ and eat food.” he tried to push Alex back further but it felt like pushing a wall. He looked at him with a frown.
The man was grinning. “Are you recreating our first dinner date?” he asked. Lakren nodded and he pulled him closer to kiss him. He felt Lakren’s tail hugging him and he giggled. The blonde sighed and leaned back. “I love you.” he whispered.
“Mhmm.. I love you too. And if you realised that a couple years ago your mom wouldn’t have to give me one million dollars so I can take you out on a real date.” The green man said and kissed a shocked Alex before moving back to the kitchen.
“My mom gave you the money? ” Alex asked with shock.
“Alex, I barely had money for gas. How else would I get one million dollars?” Lakren asked with an eye roll.
The blonde groaned and headed to the bathroom.
~~~ Family Chat ~~~
ManBun🎨
YOU PAID LAKREN TO ASK ME OUT ON A DATE!!?
OG Eyebrows 🤨
Oh!
He finally told you?
To be fair, sweetheart, you are as oblivious as your Jeju.
Mamaaa ooh ohh🥟
I am not oblivious ;-;
I was the one who asked you to be my girlfriend, remember.
OG Eyebrows 🤨
Darling, you thought our first date was the day we reunited in the second year.
Our first date was in March when we went to that Italian place.
Mamaaa ooh ohh🥟
That wasn’t our first date.
It was a normal dinner between friends...
OG Eyebrows 🤨
We end up cuddling in your bed afterwards…
Aquaman 🧜♂️
OMG Jeju ⁿ⁰
Yue 🌙
This makes me feel better about my obliviousness
Sunshine 🌞
I think the oblivious gene skipped me?
ManBun🎨
That’s sad, Jeju.
Yue 🌙
Lakren has been crushing on you for over a decade, Alex.
A DECADE!!
~~~~~~