Demarcation
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Demarcation |
| Author(s): | Livia Penn |
| Date(s): | April 2002 |
| Length: | 96 K / 16645 words |
| Genre(s): | slash |
| Fandom(s): | Smallville |
| Relationship(s): | |
| External Links: | Demarcation (AO3) Demarcation (Smallville Slash Archive) Demarcation (Livia's Library) |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Demarcation was a Smallville slash novelette by Livia Penn, posted in April 2002. It was originally posted to either ClarkLex or ClarkLexFic (or possibly both, as for a time both lists accepted fic posts) and the Smallville Slash Archive.
It was written in response to a growing trend of angsty, depressing or super-dark futurefic stories in Smallville, where Clark and Lex had a horrible falling-out or bad break-up, and ended up as mortal enemies. In a response to a story of Livia's, Callaesthetics, that fit this trend, The Spike told Livia that she was beginning to hate sad futurefics.[1]
Livia took this as a challenge to write a story where there was no great "Rift," just Clark and Lex growing apart and losing touch with each other like normal people. Furthermore, in Demarcation, Lex falls for Superman, not Clark; Lex and Clark never actually have a scene together in the story. This was perhaps the first SV futurefic to feature Lex/Superman as a pairing.
Author's notes: So when I say "This story could not have been written without the late night IRC crew, I really mean it. Thanks especially to Te and Basingstoke for encouragement. Going back and checking the chat logs, I find that Sarah T. first suggested the idea of Lex and Superman teaming up to take down Lionel, and LaT provided some funny bits like Lex's "It makes me feel pretty" and "Do you eat" dialogue. Sarah T. also suggested Lex being injured, and the basic idea of the final scene. So yes. The Collaboratingest Fandom Of Them All. smooch (I was also very, very tempted to use The Spike's suggested summary for this story, which was "They fight crime!" hee hee) And yes, immense thanks to my original muse: The Spike, who responded to my story 'Callaesthetics' by saying she was beginning to hate sad futurefics. I took it as a personal challenge to write a happy Lex/Superman, and... hopefully it turned out plausibly, if way longer and more complicated than I'd ever intended. :) The future can totally be like this.[2]
Fandom response
People liked it a lot.
There was quite a bit of speculation on TWOP among readers as to just when Lex guessed Superman's secret identity. Other readers really wanted a sequel to find out what Clark's reaction would be to Lex's final actions in the story, but a sequel was never written.[3]
The story was podficced and translated into Chinese.
Recs and Reviews
Demarcation - Liviapenn NC-17, Bottom!Clark, Future!fic, Identity PornSummary: and i try / to draw the line / but it ends up running down the middle of me / most of the time.
Futurefic where Clark is superman, and Lex/Clark drifted apart. Identity Porn because Clark thinks Lex doesn't know. They have sex. [4]
Lex is a smart, tricky bastard. Hot story, with an interesting view on Clark's struggle with his identity.[5]
References
- ^ See the Author's Notes at the end of Demarcation.
- ^ Livia Penn. Demarcation. (Accessed 03 April 2021)
- ^ Comment on Livia's LJ, 'demarcation' by Livia Posted April 1, 2002. Accessed November 29, 2008.
- ^ bea_recs. Smallville, 03 January 2012. (Accessed 03 April 2021)
- ^ "Inaugural post from Steph". Archived from the original on 2023-08-23.