Summary: For the LJ Icon Challenge.

Warnings: Rated PG. m/m.

Notes: This is from a challenge that was floating around LJ. People picked one of my icons, and I wrote a short little story about it.

Another afternoon at the Talon, and Lex is sprawled in the easy chair by the window, going through a stack of paperwork. Clark sits nearby on the sofa, nose buried in a history book.

Pete has snagged a stool at one end of the bar, trying to decode the mystery of polynomial equations. At the other end, Chloe and Lana huddle together over a glossy magazine, snickering to themselves. Pete doesn't ask what the article's about, just in case it has something to do with feminine hygiene.

The girls try to keep their voices down, but he's sitting too close not to overhear them.

"Is there lingering eye contact?" Lana reads.

"Of course," Chloe answers.

"Leaning in, invading each other's personal space?"

Chloe glances over her shoulder. "Even as we speak."

Lana follows the direction of her gaze and smiles. "A big yes on that one."

"Do they smile at each other more than they do other people?"

"Totally," they both say at the same time, and it makes them snort with laughter.

"Okay, let's see what the total is," Chloe says. "Wow, they got 99 points out of a hundred. They <i>definitely</i> have the hots for each other."

"Not that we needed a Cosmo quiz to tell us that," Lana says.

Chloe nods. "But do you really think they don't realize it?"

"For some people, denial is a way of life."

Pete finally stops even pretending to study. "Okay, what are you guys talking about?"

They shoot a nervous glance at each other,

"Um, we were just…" Chloe stammers.

"We took a quiz to see if the couple over there are secretly in love with each other," Lana confesses.

Pete glances around the room and turns back to them totally confused. "Who? The only people sitting together are Clark and Lex."

Lana coughs.

Chloe rolls her eyes. "It seems denial is a way of life for a lot of people, Lana."

They both laugh. Pete lets out an offended huff and goes back to his math book. He'd ask just what the hell they mean by that, but he suspects he has a better chance of understanding trigonometry than he does women.