Chapter Text
“It’s taking too long. They should have been back by now.” Alex mumbles, shifting nervously in her seat. “None of the other rounds took this long!”
Kelly gently places her hand on Alex’s fidgeting hands, “It’s the finale, honey, of course it takes longer than the other rounds. I’m sure they’re fine.” Her words soothe Alex’ edginess a bit, but it never truly disappears.
If Kara would just fly in, holding up the stupid banner, then Alex would surely be more… relaxed. “I know,” Kelly lays her head upon Alex’s shoulder, and a tiny bit of the tension knotting up her gut uncoils, “but three hours is a long time.” She leans into Kelly’s touch.
“Well, I liked the three hours together.” Kelly sounds amused, not at all minding the fact that she has had some quality time with Alex.
“Me too,” Alex smiles as she looks down at her girlfriend (yes, her girlfriend . Unbelievable, right?) “I’m just worried.”
Kelly smiles and presses a soft kiss upon Alex’s cheek, “Why? Scared you’ve lost some bets?”
Alex pinches the bridge of her nose. Right, Kelly doesn’t know. “Yeah,” she then lies, “Odin knows how many coins I’ve lost.”
“Well, miss grumpy, the answer to your question will appear sooner or later.” Kelly chuckles, as she rests her head down on Alex’s shoulder again.
Alex doesn’t believe in all the fate things and supernatural stuff, but she is slowly starting to suspect that her girlfriend may be a witch. Because as soon as the last word leaves Kelly’s mouth, cheers start to erupt from the crowd. Her head snaps sideways as she jumps up, earning a slightly annoyed huff from Kelly.
“There she is,” Alex says in surprise, as she recognizes the furred dragon shining fabulously in the sun. Balder roars in response to the crowd. Oh no, this is bad. Balder isn’t supposed to be in his own form. Kara knows the dangers of that. Alex has explained it to her a thousand times. Has her sister gone absolutely mental?
“What kind of dragon is that?” Kelly mumbles and rises to her feet too, “That’s not Lena’s dragon?!”
“Lena?” Alex can only see one dragon coming towards them, well, two if you count the gray silhouette in the distance. “No, no.” It’s not Kara sitting on Balder’s back but Lena Luthor.
She knew it. She knew that the Luthor girl was trouble. Odin knows how many times she has told Kara the same. And now she is finally proven right. How dare she? Rage fuels her insides, and she can feel her cheeks redden.
The brunette waves the banner above her head, half-heartedly smiling at the crowd. Her eyes scan the crowd and still when they latch onto Alex. Arrogentness, sassiness and smugness, that’s what Alex expects to see. But it’s quite the opposite. The youngest Luthor eyes bear concern, desperation. She is getting so close that Alex can almost see the tear-stained cheeks.
“Kara,” Alex whispers breathlessly. The realization hits her with a force strong enough to blow her back into the seat. All the anger evaporates like morning mist on a sunny day and is replaced by a heavy feeling.
Balder would never let another person randomly ride him. Which means that something had happened. The fact that her sister isn’t even in range or following behind on Jack Spheer says enough. Something is wrong, really, really wrong.
“What’s wrong?” Kelly’s worried voice penetrates her clouded mind. “What’s wrong with Kara?” Alex slowly turns her head to face the worried expression of her girlfriend. Everything has slowed down. She can barely hear Chief Olsen starting to speak.
Kara is hurt; Alex just knows it. She feels it. Her gut feeling is always right (except about Lena Luthor, but apparently, gut feelings are always off about her). Three hours is too long for a finale with just a stupid maze. Kara could be dead while Alex was just sitting on the tribune, sneaking kisses with her girlfriend.
“I have got to go.” She doesn’t spare Kelly another look before jumping up and racing down the tribunes. Hundred pairs of eyes follow her as she marches towards the middle. She makes a beeline for Lena.
“Lena!” Alex calls out her name and the smaller brunette spins to her side.
“Alex.” The Luthor girl sounds almost relieved to see her, if Alex isn’t mistaken. She meets Alex in the middle of the ring, Balder following closely. He whines softly, it’s high-pitched and emotional. Her brown eyes scan the dragon on any signs of wounds, but there are none to be found.
“What did you do to her?!” Alex yells and steps closer to the smaller Luthor girl. And however threatening Alex may act, Lena seems to see right through her. Lena sees a worried sister and not some crazy Berkian; Alex knows that.
“She got shot down,” Lena explains with a soft tremble in her voice. At Alex’ widened eyes she quickly adds: “With a net- a net. She is okay, well, not really but—”
“What do you mean ‘not really’?!” She takes another step closer, now towering above the smaller girl, but Lena doesn’t waver. Alex has to give it to her. Lena Luthor does have some steel balls.
Lena huffs, her lips a tight line and her hands fisted. “If you let me finish my godforsaken sentences then you would know.”
When Alex reluctantly nods, Lena continues. “We were racing up the mountain and we got shot down. Balder and I were able to escape, but my dragon and Kara weren’t. They used the dragon hunting nets so I couldn’t get her free because—”
“Of the iron core.” Alex finishes, her mind racing along with Lena’s quick explanation.
“Exactly. And even if I did, it wouldn’t have made the difference. Kara fell feet first and well, her right leg is probably broken.” Now Lena does look away, but Alex has already seen the tears welling up in those green eyes. It must have been some catastrophe if it is able to tear up a Luthor.
“She told me to take Balder and win, for their sake.” Lena ends her story.
Alex just laughs emptily as she takes a step back, “That’s so Kara.” Can’t her sister for once not end up in trouble? It’s the only thing Alex had asked from her sister. But if there’s one thing that Kara Danvers is good at, it’s disobeying Alex’s rules.
“You are a medic right?” Lena asks.
“Yeah, I’m going to her.” Alex takes more steps backwards, “Don’t you dare do something stupid, like expose her identity or, I don’t know, steal any dragons.” When Lena looks unimpressed, she opens her mouth to throw in some last threat, but another voice cuts through the field.
“Kara Danvers is Supergirl?!” The surprised voice of none other than Lillian Luthor manages to silence the whole stadium.
“Shit,” Alex mumbles in sync with Lena. They both stand frozen in the middle of the field, the sudden realization of all of the eyes on them. There are a couple of seconds of tense silence before everything erupts into chaos. As their surroundings come back to life, so do Alex and Lena.
“I’ll deal with this; you go and save Kara.” Lena is already walking away, and Alex can only nod.
“Good luck.” She turns around and sprints away, ready to save her dumbass sister.
--
Kara can handle pain very well. Once she got stung by Skullcrusher (how could she have known that he would pick Alex’s side in wrestling) and beside the fevers, throwing up, near-death experience, it was alright. It did hurt, but it was more dull and numbing, like not being able to feel or taste anything for the next half year.
And Rao knows how many times she has fallen for Balder’s or that of any dragon for that matter. She has had broken bones, contused ribs, and cuts all over her body. Her hair got set on fire once, and her stomach has had to endure some rough, really rough, times. But none of it compares to the stinging throbbing pain she feels right now.
It’s not as if she is dying, but it does feel like it. The pain combined with the coming and going panic attacks make it a living hell. Even if her leg wasn’t broken, she would have guessed that this is what the world outside of Rao’s light looks like. But she is not there because Rao’s light is shining down on her in an effort to grill her like a roasted chicken. Her skin scorches, and she can feel her lips drying out. Licking her lips is something she has given up long ago. Her tongue feels like sandpaper anyways.
And don’t forget the thing that is causing her the worst headache a viking has ever experienced. Lena and Balder. They roam her mind and poke every negative corner of her brain. Did Balder throw Lena off halfway? Did Lena win? Did Lena expose Kara to the world? No. No, Lena wouldn’t do that. Kara knows it. But did Jack expose Kara to the world? That she will never know. Have they taken a hold of Balder? Are they going to run experiments on him?
There is just too much to think about and too much time which pushes her to really think about it.
The sun has moved from the highest point in the sky to just a bit above the mountain, which means around four hours have passed. Four hours! Like how long does it take for Lena to get back and save her from this agonizing situation. And not only her but also the constantly groaning and puffing dragon beside her. Lena’s dragon. Aengus and Taegan are horrible companions. Never again is she going to spend alone time with them.
“Can you just shut up!” Kara groans. Speaking hurts her dry throat. Both the dragon’s head shoot her way, narrowing their eyes at her. At least they can move their heads and paws slightly. Kara, on the other hand, is constantly pushed down by the hefty weight of the nets.
“Thanks.” Kara sighs in relief when the dragons do shut up. The silence and uncomfortable calm doesn’t last long before flapping wings and soft roars interrupt Kara’s attempt at sleeping.
“I said sh—” It takes a second to recognize that the sound doesn’t belong to Aengus and Taegan. The sounds are distant and unfamiliar. “Finally!” Kara almost yells out.
The figures in the distance become more distinctive as they advance. Kara can make out the three familiar ( very familiar) stingers of Skullcrusher, and she can already imagine the worried look on its rider's face. Behind her fly two other recognizable dragons, Bikke and Ignatia, and one other dragon she doesn’t really recognize.
It must be a hallucination, Kara concludes when she sees the riders dismount. Alex is the first, already sprinting towards Kara, calling out her name in worry. Behind her, Eliza and Sam slide off their dragons and the last person, the one that makes everything feel fake, slides down too. Lex Luthor? What the hell is he doing here?
She comes to the realization that it is definitely not a hallucination when a rush of pain shoots through her leg up to her hip and back. “Don’t step on the nets!” Kara manages to groan.
“Shit, sorry!” Alex's voice is two octaves higher than usual. Rao, she must really be worried if she doesn’t try to hide her scared voice for Sam and Lex.
“I’m fine,” Kara looks up at Alex when she kneels beside her in an attempt to reassure her sister. It doesn’t work, just like the lie didn’t work on Lena.
“Kara, you are far from fine—” The brunette’s voice is breathy, and her eyes are focused on Kara’s leg, “For Odin’s sake, what did you do?!” Alex leans over to inspect the agonizing limb. “It looks like a Gronckle hit you or any Striker Class dragon thought you were a threat. Are you sure it was the fall?”
“Thanks, Alex. I know it looks like shit because it feels like sh- Auch!” Kara sharply inhales as her sister touches her leg.
“Yeah, it’s broken—”
“No shit!” If Kara wasn’t restrained, she would have punched Alex. “Forget about the leg. There are more important matters. Did Lena win? Is Balder safe? Why in Rao’s name is Lex here?!”
Before Alex can answer Kara’s questions, Eliza and Sam come closer, worry etched on their faces. Lex, on the other hand, doesn’t even glance at Kara. He just goes to Aengus and Taegan and begins to cut them loose. Much time to observate Lex she doesn’t have.
“Oh, Kara, foolish girl.” Eliza whispers, as she looks at her daughter with tears in her eyes. Seeing Lena, Alex, and Sam worried is one thing, but seeing her adoptive mom on the verge of tears is a whole other experience. She had seen Eliza worried and angry only a handful of times, but this was definitely different.
Eliza doesn’t cry. She has never cried in front of Kara, never. Kara opens her mouth to try and calm her mother’s nerves, but she knows that no word can make up for the agony she has caused Eliza.
“Cut her loose, Alex.” Sam interrupts the trio’s worried staring competition. It’s probably for the best because all of them were ready to burst at any given moment which would have resulted in chaos. And Kara has had enough chaos in the last few weeks for at least a year.
With her upper body being able to move again, she quickly pulls Alex into a hug. She needs the comfort of her sister, now more than ever. And if the bystanders notice the tears gliding down Kara’s cheeks, they don’t mention it.
“They are okay,” Alex mumbles the answer that causes Kara to choke out a sob, “Lena won. Balder is safe. You are okay. I’ve got you now.” Kara doesn’t even hold back anymore, and if she had wanted to it would have been useless. Her whole body shakes and aches, as she sobs into her sister's chest.
The pain, the relief, the hurt, the panic, it all returns. It doesn’t take long for Eliza to join in for the hug too. Kara cries till her tears run out and her shoulders rise and fall at a normal rhythm. The mixed feelings slowly ebb, and in return, there is just an accomplished feeling. Kara doesn't know what is going to happen or if her leg will ever heal normally, but she knows it will be alright.
For now it is alright.
“Let’s take you home.” It’s Sam that breaks the silence, and the trio nods as they separate from each other.
When Kara looks around, Lex is gone and so are Aengus and Taegan. “They know, don't they?” If Lex wasn’t even the slightest bit surprised by Kara being Supergirl. then someone must have let it slip.
“Yeah.” Sam is the one that responds.
To Kara’s surprise, Alex adds, “But Lena is on it.” Apparently someone has started to trust Lena. Maybe it’s not the ‘let’s get matching bracelets kind of trust’, but it’s a start.
Kara can’t help but smile proudly at her sister. She has nothing to worry about; Lena probably has it all under control. Lena is good at that kind of stuff.
The smile quickly gets wiped from her face when Eliza starts working on her leg.
--
The sun is setting when Lena finally arrives. Kara can hear Lena talking to Eliza. She can’t make out the distinct words but she recognizes Lena's voice. In front of her Balder and Skullcrusher are playing nicely, and by playing nicely she means they are not killing each other, but that’s the only nice thing about it really. But their attitudes will change. Kara knows it. They are just like Kara and Alex when they first met: first butting heads and after a while inseparable.
Her leg is propped up on a stool with a soft pillow below it. It hurts when she moves her leg and throbs dulling when she doesn’t. It’s not completely uncomfortable, but she wouldn’t say it’s the optimal situation either. At least she has her arms to swat the mosquitoes away (some manage to get through Kara’s high security defense system, but that is a revelation for tomorrow).
When Lena finally walks into the garden, Kara wants to jump up, only to be pressed down firmly by a certain Danvers. “No standing.” Alex sighs, and when Kara looks aside to glare at her sister, she notices she still has her eyes closed. She remembers quite vividly that Alex was snoring just five minutes ago (in return, Kara let the mosquitos sting her sister, hoping that they’d wake her up and let Kara escape from the living hell). When did she wake up? How did she know that Kara would jump up? How—
“Hi,” Lena greets politely, carrying along a plate with all kinds of treats on them (probably Eliza’s creations). To Kara’s surprise, she is all dressed up, not at all what she looked like before she left to win the Tournament. Her raven hair is tightly braided again and hidden by the huge, and in Kara’s opinion a bit ridiculous, helmet. It’s as if the helmet wants to say, “Look at me, I’m amazing. Look at my neck getting disformed by the heavy weight of this thing.” Kara also knows Lena hates the helmet but wears it anyway since it was her father’s.
“Hi.” Kara smiles. “You won.” Her eyes glance down to the council badge on Lena’s chest.
“I did, I—”
Alex jumps up and thereby shuts down Lena too, “Okay, before you continue, congrats, Lena, but I’m going to take these,” the taller brunette grabs onto the plate of food, “and go to my room.”
“Hey! Leave some for us.” Kara protests, already moving to stand up.
“Don’t move!” Alex and Lena say in sync and then look in surprise at one another.
“Awh, look at you guys!” Kara beams, as she stays put.
Their gazes focus on Kara again. “I’m gonna go. Maybe I’ll leave some leftovers for you.” Alex is away before Kara can say anything else. That leaves Kara and Lena to stand (well for Kara to sit) awkwardly in front of each other. It gives Kara some time to stare at Lena.
She looks gorgeous, as usual, but the bags under her eyes accentuate the fatigue she must be feeling. Her shoulders are slightly slumped, and her skin looks just a bit paler. Her eyes, however, still wear power and energy, excitement. She won.
“So how was th—”
“How is your le—”
They look at each other in surprise before bursting into a fit of laughter, any tenseness that may have been between them gone.
“Come here,” Kara chuckles and spreads her arms, inviting Lena in. The brunette’s eyes follow Kara’s movements and then look down at her broken leg. “It’s fine, I can barely feel it.” Kara reassures Lena. It’s not nice to lie, but it’s the only thing that will get Kara the healing hug she needs.
Lena accepts and bends forward to hug Kara. “Wait—” Lena immediately freezes up when Kara moves her arms again. “Let me just take this off.” She takes off the (ridiculously) huge helmet and puts it down beside them on the ground. “Continue,” she says, as she opens her arms again.
Green eyes look at her in confusion but narrow as Lena smiles and hugs Kara. “You really hate the helmet, don’t you?”
“Whaaat? No? It’s just—” Kara feels Lena chuckle in her arms and she presses her just a bit closer to herself. “It looks so unconventional.”
“It is,” Lena confesses and let’s go. “It’s really heavy, but it looks cool.”
Kara scoffs, as she pets the stool Alex had just sat on, “You make it look cool. On me it would look like I am some child playing dress up.”
Lena laughs and waves Kara’s compliment away, as she sits down. “Not true. Without it, I look so small.”
“But you are small,” Kara argues, as she lifts the helmet onto her own hat. Her neck almost gives in with the heaviness of it, “Oh Rao?! Did they put lead into this or something?”
Lena just chuckles and shakes her head, “I have a very strong neck, and I’m not small. I have an average height.”
“Average on the scale of the dwarfs?” Kara grins and lays her head backwards to save herself from most of the pressure that the helmet exerts on her neck. She is not ready to take the thing off just yet.
She earns a hard smack against her arm from Lena who glares at her. Lena’s expression, however, softens when Kara pulls a quasi-hurt face and then bursts out laughing when Lena’s expression doesn’t change.
They chuckle until silence takes hold again. The sky is now painted red, it causes Lena to look godly again. Kara remembers the way Lena used to feel like a god. Back then, Lena was unreachable, something to look at but to never touch. She was the girl you would want to talk to every night before going to bed, the girl who could get everyone on their knees and turned heads in admiration: Always look, never touch.
Now she is just human, and it makes her even more surreal. Her flaws, her perfections, they are like undiscovered land. Different, new, exciting. And Kara just wants to explore all of it. All of Lena. And she will. Kara knows it. Because Lena is no longer unreachable.
Lena looks up in surprise when Kara’s hand touches her. “Thank you,” Kara whispers, but it’s loud enough for Lena to hear.
“For what?”
What does Kara respond to that? The truth? That she is just saying thank you to Lena because of Lena? That she is grateful for Lena being just herself? That’s weird.
“Winning,” she says again.
“Oh, I only could because of Balder, and you for that matter.”
“Nonsense—”
Lena quickly interrupts Kara, “I gave the money to your mom. I don’t need it, but you guys can use the money for medical improvements. And you deserve it.”
“Lena, you didn’t have to.” Kara squeezes Lena’s hand, a look of gratefulness and astonishment in her eyes.
“I know,” Lena smiles and squeezes back, “but I wanted to.” And what can Kara really say to that? So she just nods and let’s Lena continue.
“I changed the rules too. My mom wanted to do it publicly and use her rules, but I managed to prevent that from happening, thankfully. This afternoon, however, I’ve mostly spent in the council, changing the rules. Since I was the ruling vote, we have managed to come up with certain rules that make it possible for a dragon to live free of harm, testing, and abuse on the islands. But I’ll specify those tomorrow, at the parade.” Lena looks quite proud of herself, which she has every right to be. She did what she wanted to do. She changed the lives of so many dragons for the better.
But that means she also made many enemies, “How did your family take it?”
“Horribly. But that’s not my problem anymore, so let’s forget about them for now.” Lena turns back to look at Balder and Skullcrusher. Balder is shifting in weird dragon forms, and to some, Skullcrusher reacts aggressively and to others more nicely. When Balder tries to change to a Triple Stryker (with an emphasis on try, because everything is out of proportion), Skullcrusher is done and scurries away.
“Balder is safe,” Lena says softly.
“Thank you for keeping him safe.”
“Always,” the brunette promises.
Outside, the noise is getting louder. Music is starting to play, and people are laughing a bit too loud. The celebratory evening is about to start, and it seems like the whole town is going to it.
“You should go,” Kara says. “They can’t start without you.”
“They’ll start without me. You can’t stop the Berkians from partying.”
Kara shakes her head but agrees. “True, but you are the guest of honor. You have to attend. So go.”
“I don’t want to go, and I don’t have to go. I can celebrate it just fine here, with you.”
“But I’m boring, look at my stupid leg.” The blonde argues, as she points at her leg.
“Boring is all I need then,” Lena says, and it’s final.
When she finally turns her head their eyes meet and do not let go. They just stare, no , gaze into each other's eyes.
“I gotta tell you something—”
“I want to tell you s—”
Once again, they’ve started to speak at the same time, and just like before, they burst out in a fit of laughter. “You go first,” Kara says, still quite breathless.
Lena looks at Kara and then directs her eyes to the night sky. “Well, remember how your mom put you under to treat your leg?”
“Yeah?” Kara answers, not quite sure where Lena is going with it all.
“Well, just before I went to go and discuss everything with the council, I wanted to visit you. And I did. But your mom was treating you, and well, I decided to help her a bit.” Lena waits a couple of seconds. “And then you woke up, still kind of fuzzy from the anesthetics. Anyways you thought I was Alex…”
“Oh no.” The realization hits Kara like a stampeding gronkle. She doesn’t know what she has said, but she knows that it couldn’t have been any good. “How bad was it? Wait no.” Kara shakes her head quickly, “don’t tell me, I do not want to know. Just, like, bury me already.”
But Lena doesn’t laugh at her attempt at a joke. She simply looks at Kara with furrowed brows. “You talked about me to me.” It’s the way she says it that triggers something in Kara. A memory otherwise forgotten jumps forward from the void.
It’s fagued, confusing and weird. It feels more like a dream than a memory, but Kara is sure it’s a memory.
“I like her, Alex…”
“Who?” Alex, well, Lena apparently, asks.
“Lena…” She says it with a deep relieved sigh, like saying it lifted the weight of the world from her chest. “She’s beautiful, and her hair—”
“Okay, Kara, I’ll just... bring you to your room.” Eliza quickly interrupts, and after that, everything goes hazy again.
“Oh no,” Kara mumbles, her face turning bright red in an instant. “I am so so sor—”
“Did you mean it?” Lena interrupts bluntly, almost as if the words had slipped out.
Did she mean it? How could she not? It is the truth, but is it the truth that Lena wants to hear? Because yes, she did mean it, but no, it is also a lie. She does not simply like Lena. No, the time of crushes has long passed. This is something different entirely.
So should she tell Lena the whole truth and risk their friendship? She would do it, risk it, that is. If she is to ruin their friendship, let it be for the sake of the truth and honesty, something that has been missing a lot from their friendship (and mostly to Kara’s fault). But moments like this, watching the sunset, laughing, holding hands softly and stolen glances, it’s something she would never want to lose. She doesn’t want to lose anything with Lena.
“No.” She decides.
Lena’s expression changes so abruptly, and Kara can see the pain and hurt on that beautiful face so vividly, that it makes her own heart ache. Of course, Lena pulls up her walls quick enough to hide it again, but she’s slipped, and it’s enough for Kara to panic.
“Wait, no! I didn't mean it like that. Yes, I meant the whole liking you part,” Lena clenches her jaw together, “but it’s like not some stupid crush, and I was barely concious, so how could I have possibly meant it if it was not said with a clear mind?”
“So you meant it back then, but you don’t mean it anymore? Because now you can think straight?” Lena let’s go of Kara’s hand and stands up, her back turned towards Kara. She is shielding her emotions, Kara knows it. But Kara doesn’t need to see Lena’s face to know how she must feel.
“No!” Kara wants to stand up, but her leg stops her. “Wait, can I just—” She breathes in deeply, trying to sort her thoughts and mostly her words. She doesn’t want to spew gibberish again and have Lena think she is being dishonest.
“The day I met you, you had me stunned immediately. I couldn’t stop talking about you,” when Lena throws her an unbelieving look she adds, “Really, just ask Alex. She was my victim. Anyways, then we became friends, and I just fell just a bit harder for you. Then everything happened with my identity, and I was sure I had forked it all up, like royally. But we overcame it, and everything was even better after. And when you fell asleep on my shoulder, how was I supposed to not fall again?”
“I knew it was fragile then, our friendship, but back then, I liked you... a lot. And then the finale happened. I accused you of something you didn’t do. I said some horrible stuff—”
“You did,” Lena agrees, and Kara can only apologize like she did before.
“And I’m, once again, so sorry.” She hesitates, knowing she should do better than just sorry, but right now something else is more important. “After that, how was I supposed to tell you? I didn’t know if you would ever forgive me. I don’t know if you have forgiven me.”
Lena shakes her head softly. “Look, Kara, what you said hurt… a lot, but you made an assumption in the heat of the moment. Balder was at stake, so, of course, you lashed out. But it wasn’t the end of the world. It hurt, but I forgive you. Of course, I do. Not because I would have done the same, but because I know you didn’t mean it.”
“I didn’t,” Kara confesses. “I just was so stupid and angry.”
The brunette now fully turns around.
“But that’s not the point,” Kara decides. “The point is that even after everything, and having you stand here in front of me. Or sit beside me laughing about something stupid. Or just silently staring into the sunset. I can’t help but to feel that the word ‘like’ falls short about my feelings towards you.”
They stare at each other for a couple of seconds. Kara feels her heart race, as Lena thinks deeply about what it all means.
“You don’t like me…” she whispers, the realization dawning on her. “You—”
“Yes.” Kara quickly interrupts, scared that if Lena utters the words, everything will fall apart, that Lena will fall apart.
“I think I don’t like you, too.” Lena says, as she steps closer, taking hold of Kara’s hand again.
A thousand things go through Kara’s mind, but it doesn’t really matter. Her thoughts are stupid anyways. The only thing that matters is her heart that feels like it’s growing tenfold, the touch of Lena’s hand on her own and the smell of Lena so close to her.
“Can I not kiss you?” Kara is barely aware of the words leaving her lips. The only thing that she is vividly aware of is Lena closing the gap between them.
“You can’t,” Lena whispers back, as she cups Kara’s cheek.
Their lips are just mere millimetres apart when a roar interrupts them.
“Oh, come on!”