#luthority 1

 “oh, i don’t know about an eclectic resume, but...” clark trails, fumbling with the pamphlets against his chest just to give luthor something else to focus on besides the pultizer winning journalist’s accomplishments. playing humble to a narcissist is the least favorite part of the disguise, but lois had already snagged the better scoop while superman was across town stopping a meteor from sinking the entire city. in turn, perry hadn’t been pleased with him getting sick from what he’d described as a spoiled lunch, thus landing him here on ‘light duty.’ not that he minds too much; the new intern could use a break, he’d heard her crying in the bathroom because her girlfriend broke up with her and figured that the last thing she’d want to do is kiss up to the certainly-not-suspicious recent donor of the daily planet’s new back-up office space. 

“well thank you, mr. luthor. that’s very kind of you.” he makes a noise of reprieve when the pamphlets are taken from him, immediately using the newfound freedom to slide his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. another word of thanks leaves him mid-hand shake, clumsily colliding into the first one, so that both compliments are answered for separately - the kind of praise clark knows he’s expecting to receive. 

at least when clark smiles, it’s - as luthor says - genuine. he can’t help but find humor in the irony of being considered ‘incapable’ of anything else. 

“poker? oh, no. i’ve never played before, if you can believe it. my ma didn’t raise me to be a gambler, actually.” because while the other remarks about reporters integrity are very telling to luthor’s character, it’s best to overlook them here in favor of the friendlier latter.

truth, clark finds, is always the best balancer in both personas.

“ah - anyway,” clark resumes, politely clearing his throat to dig out his tape recorder. this is going to be a long interview... there’s nothing luthor loves more than talking about how great he is, but hopefully it will be plenty of time for lois and jimmy to sleuth out what inspired this charitable gesture.