Work Text:
“Should I wait for you to start the shower?”
You bite your lip. You should feel much guiltier, but the truth is, you don’t. You don’t feel guilty at all, in fact, you feel giddy as you mount your bike and start towards your destination. “I’m sorry, bug, I won’t make it tonight.”
Her disappointment is easily heard through the in-built Bluetooth on your helmet. “You are working late tonight?”
You smile, changing lanes. “I’m sorry, babe, no. It’s Sister Night.”
“Oh!” The switch on her voice warms your heart. Gone is the disappointment and it’s replaced with excitement. “Right! I forgot. What are you doing today?”
“I don’t know. Kara’s the one planning tonight. I was asked to stay the night, though.”
“She’s still down?”
You nod, even when she can’t see you. “Yeah. She’s still pretty sad.”
Earlier the week you busted an illegal alien fighting ring, again, but this time around all the fighters were there against their will and also, most of the aliens were barely teens. It was so hard for Kara to see that many kids forced and controlled to entertain humans. It was a blow to her faith in humans and her belief that the evilness in the world was shrinking.
You spent the night then too, cuddling your crying sister as she tried to convince herself defending humans is still something good to do.
“Care for your sister, love. And have fun. Text me if you need anything, okay?”
“Yes, bug. Text me when you head to bed? I’ll call to say goodnight.”
“No, Alex. Focus on Kara. We can have brunch tomorrow. The three of us. I’ll bring doughnuts.”
Your smile threatens to split your face in two. “You are perfect, bug. Kara will be so happy, it’s been a while since you dropped by.” You pour out the sultry voice she so loves. “And I’ll reward you once we leave Kara’s place.”
“You can reward me by stopping calling me bug. I hate it.”
“Oh, I know,” you say proudly, finding the perfect parking spot near Kara’s building.
“You are a brat.”
“And even so, you love me.” The bike is turned off and you sit in place. You can tell the call is close to an end and it doesn’t make sense for you to switch to your phone right now.
She sighs. “That I do.” The resignation in her voice makes you chuckle. “I’ll go now. Have fun. Make wise choices. And for the love of God, don’t try to out-eat your sister again.”
You chuckle. “I promise. No more pie eating contests.”
“Night, babe.”
“Love you, bug.”
“I hate you.”
You laugh as she disconnects the call and you finally climb down the bike, taking off the helmet and combing your hair in place. You timed your arrival just right and you smile when another bike comes park behind you.
“Hey, Jessy,” you greet the delivery guy that’s been bringing you pizza since Kara moved into National City.
He too takes off his own helmet and smiles at you. “Hi, Alex. Game night?”
“Nope.” You wait patiently for him to gather the seven pies Kara asked him for. “Sister Night.”
His mouth forms a little ‘o’ at that, eyeing his cargo, and he exchanges the pizzas for the money you hand him. “Rough week?”
“It was shitty. Yes.”
He shakes his head. “Say “hi” to Kara for me, then. And don’t let her eat all those pies in one go.”
You nod as he packs up to leave. You don’t think he knows Kara’s an alien, but he never judges when you order enough food to feed an army for just the two of you and that’s the one thing that puts him in your good books. He’s also polite and he knows by heart exactly what’s your order, so mix-ups and mistakes are a thing of the past.
“Have a nice night,” he says, peeling off and you wave him bye.
So, with pizzas and helmet in hand and your bike locked, you make the short trek up to your sister’s apartment.
“Kara!” you yell to be let inside. You can totally juggle all the stuff in your arms as you fetch your keys from your pocket, but you don’t feel like it. “Kara!”
You hear a muffled thud and a small yelp and your eyebrows raise. You are about to call again her when she opens the door.
She’s already in her sushi pajamas and her hair is in a messy bun. Gone are the glasses and you see she’s already started with the ice-cream if the glob of chocolate in the corner of her mouth is any indication.
“Pizza!” she exclaims happily, taking the boxes from you and leaving you by the door.
“How are you, Alex?” you mock, crossing the threshold. “Long day at work? How’s the missus?”
You entertain yourself taking off your jacket and kicking off your shoes. Putting the helmet by the door and stretching languidly after such a rough day and an even rougher week. Kara, as predicted, doesn’t rise to your teasing.
But, unpredictably, when you turn fully into the apartment, Kara’s is nowhere to be found.
In her place, though, you see a series white sheets arranged into a meticulously built blanket fort. “Kara?”
~Get in, dummy. I want cuddles!~
You snort. Of course.
You’re the one who taught her how to build blanket forts, but damn if the student didn’t surpass the teacher.
The whole thing is amazingly supported and so well built you’d think Kara spent hours on it and not the half an hour it took you to reach her place from the DEO where you last saw her.
Looking closely at it, Kara made it so the TV is within its walls and, yep, there’s a half-eaten gallon of ice-cream resting by the coffee table.
“You little shit! You started without me!”
Kara’s full mouth of pizza grosses you out when she smiles, all teeth, at you.
You sigh. Some things never change.
“Lemme change and I’ll be back. Don’t eat all the pizza. I’m hungry too.”
Instead of answering, she points to the edge of the fort where a large collection of pillows rest. Above them – you can totally recognize several that were no doubt stolen from your own apartment earlier today– are your favorite baggy t-shirt and your roomier basketball shorts.
Oh.
Her use of Kryptonian should have hinted you that tonight is that kind of night.
Your little alien is feeling worse than you thought.
She needs you more than you think she did.
You kicked yourself mentally. You should have known. You should have seen it.
~Kara…~
She’s no longer stuffing her face and it’s now looking down her lap. She doesn’t say a thing, but you know.
You know that she needs you close that she needs to be with you, that, just like when you were kids, she can’t bear to be apart from you now that you are so close.
So, you smile and crawl into the fort. You change without thought and without shame out of your uniform. You’ve changed in front of each other several times and this one is no different.
~Scoot,~ you say, easily adopting her native tongue. ~Your feet are on the way.~
She smiles timidly and waits for you to build yourself a comfy pillow nest to rest half lying and half sitting. The perfect position, to eat and watch TV without moving for hours. Once you’re settled, with your pizza box within reach and the cold beer Kara hands you, your sister waits no time in climbing between your legs, resting her back to your chest.
~What troubles you, little sun?~ you ask the air, well aware that now that you are cuddling, now that she’s eating more slowly that she’s focusing solely on the Law and Order episode so she doesn’t have to focus on anything else, she’ll go non-verbal for a little while.
You watch the episode rerun in silence, eating and drinking at your own leisure, always making sure you don’t mess Kara’s hair and clothes. You eat and drink, letting the show and its familiar plot lull you into a relaxed state.
Pizza eaten, beer drunk and the second episode just about to be resolved, you turn down the volume and push away the remnants of your pig-fest. ~Time to talk, sis.~
Kara whines, turning so she can hide her nose on your neck.
~Kara… you need to let it out.~
Your sister shakes her head. ~No. Don’t want to.~
~Kara…~
~Please, Alex. Please.~
You sigh. You can hear the tears in her voice, but you can also hear the soft denial in it. She won’t talk. Not today. ~Fine, little sun. Fine. We don’t have to talk.~
~… can we watch Lilo & Stich?~
You smile down to her, even when she can’t see you. ~Yes, love. We can do whatever you want.~
~Hold me, Alex. Just hold me.~
You nod, dropping a kiss to her hair and reaching for the controller to look for Kara’s favorite movie.
By the time Lilo is taken by Captain Cantu Kara will be a sobbing mess and maybe, just maybe, she’ll not only cry with the movie but for whatever else is weighing down her heart.
XxXxX
You wake up with a face full of hair.
Dark hair.
You blink once, twice and raise your head just enough to get your bearings and compare them to what you remember of last night.
You fell asleep in the blanket fort. Check.
You fell asleep in the middle of your pillow nest. Check.
Your uniform is rumpled just outside the fort entrance. Check.
The seven empty pizza boxes are in a neat pile next to your clothes. Check.
The two bottles of beer you drank are on top of that pile. Check.
Kara is a drooling mess on your stomach. Check.
A hand is under your shirt, groping your boob. Che-.
Wait. What?
You look to your right. Nope, your sister’s not the one reaching first base. Kara’s hands are on you, yes, but one is clutched tightly on your shorts and the other is resting on your knee.
So, you look to your left, where the hair you woke up eating is.
Dark hair.
Dark, flowery and sweet smelling, hair.
Hair you are so used to that you didn’t think twice about opening your eyes to it.
It’s the first thing you see most mornings now.
“Kara let me in,” her groggy voice and retreating hand let you know she was sleeping until not too long ago. “Brunch is in the kitchen.”
You scrunch up your nose. Your breath stinks and you don’t want to make her suffer through it, so you turn your face away from her. “What time is it?”
“I got here at noon,” she slurs.
“And Kara went back to sleep?”
She looks down to where your sister is still knocked out. The tear tracks from last night make a sad contrast to her still rosy cheeks. “I don’t think she slept that much,” she says around a yawn.
Remembering the tossing alien from the night before, the little whimpers as she slept through the worst of her nightmares, the tear escaping her closed eyes, yes, you don’t think she slept that much either.
“C’mon,” you push her a little, prompting her to roll away only to roll back into your empty spot the moment you move. “Lemme go brush my teeth so I can properly say good morning to you.”
“Good afternoon, you mean,” she mumbles out.
You groan, crawling out the fort. You’re getting too old for this.
Once out, you stretch, feeling your back pop and something snap into place.
Yep, definitely getting too old.
You look back once you don’t feel your girlfriend following behind you.
And an enormous grin makes its way to your lips, regarding the two ladies in your life.
Because nestled together, fast asleep, with their legs intertwined, their arms thrown around each other and their foreheads almost touching, are one Super and one Luthor.
Kara is still drooling and the small whimper-snort you’ve come to associate with Lena is the only sound that can be heard.
You decide to let them sleep a little longer. Kara’s night terrors always do a number to her and you know Lena was probably up with the sun. So, a little more rest is what the doctor ordered.
The doctor, of course, being you.