Ask the Luthors, Red Queen, White King verse.
6 how do they wear their hair? do they care a lot how their hair looks?
Senator Martha Luthor came back downstairs with a book tucked under her arm. She came over to where her husband and Miss Sullivan were and leaned in to whisper into his ear, "Play nice, sweetheart." She gave him a kiss on his bearded cheek and he merely raised an eyebrow at her. He had been quite civil and patient with the journalist, albeit less patient with his children.
Lionel reached out to clasp Martha by the hand and tug her toward him. She willingly let him pull her into his lap and gave him a questioning look in return. "You're not going to leave me to fend for myself against this columnist, are you?"
"It is your interview, dear," she pointed out to him and he huffed in reply. Martha rolled her eyes.
"I do have a question or two that I would like you to answer, if that is okay with you, Senator?" Chloe spoke up, latching onto the opportunity Lionel had offered her. If it gave him a moments respite from the questioning, he wasn't going to pass it up.
His wife looked to him and then back to Chloe before releasing a reluctant sigh. "Oh fine. I'll answer one or two questions. Shoot."
Chloe smiled like she had just been told she had won a Pulitzer for her work. She shuffled through her notes quickly until she found what she wanted to ask and Lionel wondered if she had intended on asking Martha something all this time and had been waiting for a chance to do so. "Alright. Senator Luthor, there has been a rumor going around in the political circles that you may be interested in running for the White House. Would you be willing to clarify to your readers if that is true?"
He should have shooed his wife away and let her go read her book in peace. Lionel felt Martha shift uncomfortably in his lap, clearly not expecting the question either. But she hadn't been a two term U.S. Senator to allow a simple question clarifying her future plans to unsettle her.
"There is an interest, yes," Martha answered. "But at this current time, I have no plans on announcing a run or seriously considering it. Right now I feel I can do more in the Senate where I am at than I could in the White House. The Vigilante Registration Act is too important to allow it to fail and turning my resources and time to anything but that would be detrimental to my campaign promises that have been made to my constituents."
"And when you have succeeded or failed to pass the law?" Chloe followed up.
The Senator was quiet for a moment. She stole a glance to her husband who simply gave her a gentle shrug of his shoulders. "I may reevaluate the political environment, but no guarantee that I may run."
"Fair enough." Chloe bit her lower lip lightly. There was something she clearly wanted to also say but wasn't sure whether she should or not. Lionel could see the moment she decided to throw caution to the wind. "If you do decide, I hope you win. You would be the better choice than what the Republicans have."
Martha smiled at the endorsement, "Is that off the record?"
Chloe laughed softly, "Yeah, unfortunately."
"A pity." The Senator stood and Lionel immediately missed the warmth of her presence and on his lap. Her hand lingered in his a moment longer as their eyes met, a silent promise for time alone later exchanged between them. "Well, I will leave you to my husband then."
"I feel abandoned," Lionel declared playfully and then laughed softly when his wife gave him an eyeroll before wandering away to find somewhere comfortable to sit and read.
He returned his attention back to Chloe and narrowed his eyes at her. This young woman was an opportunist and had been willing to use his interview to get answers about Martha's political career. He didn't like it and wondered if Pauline Kahn had put her up to it. It didn't sound like something the editor would do, but then again she had been Perry White's partner at one point in her career so he really wouldn't be surprised.
But if Kahn hadn't, then that would make this girl dangerous. She had a talent then for phishing out information someone would not want known. "Shall we," he pressed, deciding that it was time to take control of this interview and reminder her that such questions needed to be pre-approved by his public relations team first.
"Right. So, Mister Luthor," Chloe continued smoothly, that sweet smile she wore was beginning to irritate him. It was one of those fake smiles people gave in order to appear friendly or to mask a nervousness they felt. She was friendly enough that she didn't need it, but he knew when someone was nervous and afraid. "Care to share your hair care secrets?"
Lionel blinked, taken completely off-guard by the simplicity and innocence of the question, "I'm sorry?"
Her smile became amused and he was certain now that she was dangerous. "Not very many men in your position have hair like you do. They usually go for the crew cut or short mullet styles. You, on the other hand, have allowed it to grow out to shoulder length. Why?"
He shifted in his seat as he considered her words and took a moment to wrap his mind around what was happening. Before he could say anything, his eldest spoke up, "He wears it long to taunt me."
Lionel glared at his son, "I do not."
"I lost my hair at a young age and he's been upset about it ever since."
"Lex, I didn't start growing out my hair until recently. You," he pointed lazily in his direction, "despite believing otherwise, the world does not revolve around you and your baldness."
"No, it revolves around you," Lex sardonically replied.
"Um…" Chloe was looking back and forth between father and son, no doubt regretting now asking about his hair. He decided he would help put her out of her misery.
"The real reason why I wear my hair long," he enunciated each word, a clear sign he was irritated with his son. "Is because Martha likes my hair long."
"Yes," came the reply from across the room where Martha was sitting with her open book. "His hair is silky and I like the way it feels."
"So I keep it long for her."
"He also looks good with long hair," Martha added and they both heard Lex quietly snort. She threw a slightly irritated look at her son before relaxing her features into something calmer and more motherly. They both don't know what was going on with him, why he was suddenly being antagonistic toward his father but it was a conversation Lionel knows his wife is going to have with the boy later.
It was better Martha have that talk than him. He would probably make things worse.
Lionel focused on Chloe again and noted how she was looking him over, as if to assess for herself if he was handsome with long hair or not. He raised an amused eyebrow at her and she had the grace to actually blush, "Well?"
"Um…" Chloe blinked and then cleared her throat to hide her embarrassment. He suspected she was telling herself that she was not attracted to him at all. Which was probably best. The last thing he needed was a young reporter gushing over him, even if she was pretty. He didn't do blondes and especially ones this young, just out of childhood even.
Maybe if she was older and had something of value he might have considered it.
"Mister Luthor," she finally managed to gather herself up and continue. "I take it you color?"
He raised an eyebrow at the question, "No. This," he gestured at his dark locks, "is all natural."
"I'm surprised, to be honest. I thought the stress of being a CEO and a father would have put some gray into your hair by now."
Lionel laughed, "Oh, believe me it has threatened to do so. Especially when dealing with Lex and Clark conspiring together."
"They conspire against you?"
"As children are wont to do," he clarified.
"There is no hair dye at all?"
Chloe canted her head to the side slightly as she looked at him in disbelief. "Not once?"
He sighed and pulled back some of his hair to reveal strands of gray underneath. "I do have some gray hair, Miss Sullivan; fortunately, I can easily hide them." He let his hair fall back into place, some of the gray strands still visible.
"My apologies for doubting."
"I am not cross with you over it," Lionel dismissed with a wave of his hand. "You wouldn't be the first person to comment on the color of my hair."
"People who give me false platitudes in passing conversation," he clarified. "Its rather annoying really. I know I am getting old—er, but I enjoy my work despite the high stress it presents, and it is a proven fact that if you enjoy something, the less stressful it is for you and less you age."
"Then I guess it will be a long time before you're entirely gray," Chloe commented with a bemused smile.
"I'm sure my children will make it a mission to turn me gray sooner," he sardonically replied.