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Kara Danvers might have been the meek, mild-mannered reporter to Supergirl’s confident and collected hero, but Kara Zor-el was a descendant of one of the mightiest houses of Krypton. She was genetically selected to be smarter, braver, better-than. Had Krypton survived, she would at this moment be poised to take leadership of whichever Guild she had chosen.
Kara Zor-el did not enter important situations lightly. She considered all her options, planned an appropriate course of action, and took deliberate steps.
So when she decided it was finally time (past time, really, for all her vaunted bravery) to tell her girlfriend about her secret double life, she did the most logical thing first.
She made a playlist.
Which was why she was currently barefoot in her living room, shadowboxing to ‘Eye of the Tiger.’
It was important to set the right mood. Plus, it made her feel slightly more bad-ass, channeling a little of that Supergirl persona. Lena would be coming over soon, hopefully with takeout, and Kara was ready.
Probably.
At the very least, she was prepared. Suit tucked neatly under her clothes - slacks and a button-down for maximum ease of reveal, and also because Lena really, really liked her in those shirts and she was not above taking advantage of that. Three copies of the DEO NDA forms in a folder on her desk. “Call if you need anything,” from Alex, just in case...well, just in case things went the way she was steadfastly refusing to think about.
She was on her third cycle of ‘It’s Gonna Be Me’ when the door swung open.
“I don’t know why I didn’t believe you when you said you still had that dance memorized.” Lena commented, voice heavy with warm affection. She crossed to the kitchen, depositing several bags of takeout on the counter.
“You, uh….weren’t supposed to see that. Aren’t you early? You seem early.”
“Ten minutes late, actually.” Kara joined her in the kitchen, and Lena curled her fingers gently around her neck, pulling her down for a soft kiss. It was warm, unhurried, the shape of Lena’s mouth familiar after a month of dating.
Lena nipped at Kara's bottom lip playfully, smirking at the quick inhale of breath the action drew, before pulling back to begin unpacking the food.
“I got you the tofu and veggies; I don’t care what you say, it cannot be healthy to eat as much fried food as you do.”
“That sounds fine.” Kara agreed, for once not really paying attention to the food. She had a mission. “Look, Lena-”
Lena nearly dropped the carton of rice. “I’m sorry? Were you replaced by the pod people while I was out?”
Kara shook her head furiously, clearly nervous about something. The sight made Lena smile. Definitely not the pod people; no force in the universe could recreate the feeling that spread through her in Kara’s presence, the way the stains on her Luthor soul lightened with every moment until she was just Lena and everything was easy, and simple, and good. She knew, because she had spent almost her entire life looking for it. It felt a lot like words she shouldn’t be thinking so early in their relationship.
“Or maybe you wanted something?”
Just because she was maybe-in-love with her amazing girlfriend didn’t mean she was going to stop mercilessly teasing her.
Kara took a deep, calming breath. She was Supergirl, for Rao’s sake. Although that was kind of the problem...okay. New tack. She was Kara, and this was Lena, and Lena was kind and gentle and endlessly supportive. She could trust Lena. She did trust Lena. And Lena deserved everything.
“Well, I just…wanted to tell you something.”
Lena ran her fingers softly over Kara’s jaw. “Anything, darling. You know that.”
“I...I, ah-” Where was a giant belligerent alien when you needed one? Also, on a completely unrelated note, Kara wondered if the reason Lena was such an effective CEO was related to the fact that being the sole focus of those beautiful green eyes completely disarmed everyone she talked to.
The words were there; she’d been rehearsing them all day. She could feel them caught in the back of her throat, the nerves churning in her stomach nearly pushing them out. ‘I am Supergirl.’ Three words, so easy to say in her mind or while flying home or in the workout room at the DEO or alone in her kitchen. But here, in front of Lena? Waiting patiently for Kara to say something, her brow slightly furrowed with worry, Rao, worry for her, the longer Kara kept silent?
Yeah, maybe it was time to reassess her plans.
Supergirl was a woman of action. Maybe that was it. Kara had had a hard enough time talking to Lena when they first met, either rambling incoherently or letting silences stretch awkwardly while she thought of something to say.
Just like now.
Well, it was kind of an introduction of sorts.
With a deep breath, Kara moved shaking fingers to her shirt, undoing first one, then the other buttons with painful slowness. She kept her eyes on Lena’s face the entire time, trying to separate the pounding of her heart and the blood rushing in her ears from any sounds that might give her a clue as to what her girlfriend was thinking.
Usually, Kara could read Lena like an open book. Others might complain that the CEO was distant, or unemotional, but Kara knew better. She’d memorized every smile, every quirk of perfect brows, every tightening or relaxation or unconscious expression that was like a Kara-only window to her feelings. Lena had never been closed off to Kara.
Which was why it was so disconcerting for Kara to realize that she had no idea what was going on in Lena’s head. Lena’s jaw tightened in a bare ripple of muscle, but from what? Fear? Anger? Eyes couldn’t just change color on a whim, so she must be imagining the way they suddenly seemed dull. And were Lena’s fingers trembling when they reached up to remove her glasses, or was Kara hallucinating because she was probably about to pass out?
“Lena?”
“Well.” Lena said, as she tucked the glasses into Kara’s pocket and reached to pull Kara’s hair down, tangling her hands in the blonde strands as she drew them apart. “I suppose I do see the resemblance.”
“You’re not mad?”
Kara finally felt like she could breathe when Lena tilted her head and suddenly, thank Rao, this was the Lena she knew. Soft, so soft, at her eyes and lips and fingers.
“Darling. Why would I be mad?”
“Because I’m…” She trailed off, gesturing to herself helplessly.
“It’s a surprise, yes, but…” Lena bit her lip. “Not completely unwelcome.”
A smile began to tug at the corners of Kara’s lips. “No?”
“Well I mean, who doesn’t have a little bit of a crush on the Girl of Steel?” Lena ran a manicured nail over the raised red and gold symbol on Kara’s chest, and Kara forgot all of her burgeoning confidence and how to breathe and almost her own name. It was incredible, the effect that Lena still had on her. She hoped it would never fade.
“So.” Lena drawled in that low, seductive tone that had Kara feeling less like the Girl of Steel and more like the Girl of Gallium - melting in Lena’s hands. “Rescue any damsels today, Supergirl?”
“I-uh-uhn.” Both of Lena’s hands were on Kara’s suit now, tracing the curves and dips of the fabric, and honestly skintight ballistic fiber was suddenly the worst and best design decision that had ever been made. “T-There was a cat?”
“A cat?”
“Up a tree?”
“Well…” Kara Zor-el you are an adult, you have had sex with your - really, really hot - girlfriend before, you are Supergirl, you can keep it together...holy shit, “I’m a damsel.” Lena ran her hands up Kara’s shoulders to hook around her neck, pressing their bodies together. “And I’m in distress.”
Rao help me.
Kara swept Lena up in her arms - grinning at the excited squeal the movement produced - and carried her to bed.
It was only later, when she was padding into the kitchen for a midnight snack, that she realized she’d never actually said the words ‘I am Supergirl.’
It was fine. Probably.
Lena was smart.
She’d understand.
***
It was not fine.
Somehow - and Alex had been exactly no help about this, laughing until she choked when Kara told her - Lena had gotten the idea that Kara had some kind of... fetish about pretending to be Supergirl.
Ok, yes, sex with the suit on was fun, and Lena peeling it off her body, kissing each new patch of exposed skin like it was a gift, was definitely something she was enjoying, but that wasn’t the point.
She could almost hear the petulant tone in the words and these were her own thoughts. No wonder Lena didn’t believe she was a superhero.
It wasn’t like she hadn’t tried. She’d definitely tried. Hard. Multiple times. She’d tried to tell Lena at least three times before she’d begun to think that her apartment, with an easily accessible bed, maybe wasn’t the best spot for this kind of confession.
And if anyone wanted to give her a hard time about that, well, she’d like to see how many words they could string together when faced with a determinedly seductive Lena Luthor.
So she’d regrouped. Thought about her plan. A change in venue was in order; someplace formal, but personal. Someplace they could be alone and wouldn’t be overheard.
It was perfect, she thought as Jess barely glanced up before waving her in. Lena would never have sex in her office.
“Kara?” Lena looked up from her computer screen, the fading light from the sunset behind her setting gold highlights in her hair but shadowing the rest of her face. It was one of those moments that somehow always caught Kara off-guard, a visceral reminder of just how beautiful Lena Luthor was. “I was just finishing up. I thought we were going to meet at Noonan’s?”
“Just thought I’d surprise you?” Kara offered with a sheepish smile.
Lena smirked back at her. “You dropping by unannounced? I think it might be more surprising if you didn’t.” She softened her teasing by crossing the room to pull Kara into a sweet kiss.
“Hey, I can be surprising.”
“Of course you can, darling.” The smirk had fully settled now that Lena’s lips weren’t otherwise engaged, and her nails scratching lightly at the nape of Kara’s neck, and the bob of Kara’s throat at the feeling, was doing nothing to contain it. Oh Rao, Kara thought as she shuddered against the feeling. If she was developing some sort of Pavlovian sexual response to attempting to tell Lena about her secret identity, she was just going to fling herself into the sun and be done with it.
“I could have a secret double life, you don’t know.” Smooth, Kara, she thought to herself. A+ transition.
Wait. Lena was doing that devastatingly sexy eyebrow thing. The thing that did not bode well for all of Kara’s carefully crafted words.
Unfortunately, Kara was too busy silently freaking out about Lena’s eyebrows to notice that her girlfriend’s fingers had slipped from around her neck and were tracing their way over the buttons of her shirt.
“You’re wearing it, aren’t you?”
This is it! Kara could practically hear a little supergirl on her shoulder cheering her on. Or she was finally going crazy. Tell her!
To her credit - she was going to take moral victories where she could find them, dammit - she managed to get “I’m -” out before Lena was tearing at her shirt and red lips were on hers and the rest of the words were dying in her throat.
Lena pulled away before Kara could really get her breath back.
“I am very, very surprised. Supergirl.” Her voice was full and low, the barest tremble betraying that Kara wasn’t the only one affected at the moment. Lena reached behind herself blindly, groping until she found the intercom switch.
“Jess?”
“Yes Ms. Luthor?”
“Kara and I are just finishing up in here. Why don’t you go ahead and go home.”
Oh.
Kara’s eyes widened as Lena pushed away from the desk, hungrily biting at Kara’s lips before sliding to her knees in front of the superhero.
Maybe one more day wouldn’t hurt.
***
Ok, fine. Time for a re-re-evaluation. A plan C.
There was absolutely no shame in that. The DEO went to plan C all the time. During a mission you had to be prepared for any and all eventualities. And Lena Luthor rendering Kara unable to talk was certainly becoming something of an eventuality.
One she’d definitely like to get back to, just as soon as she could manage to hold out long enough to make her girlfriend believe she was, in fact, an alien superhero and not some wannabe with an overly-elaborate wardrobe.
So, if talking was the problem here, maybe she could just dispense with that.
She had powers, after all. She hadn’t wanted to start with that, of course. She’d wanted to ease into it, get Lena used to the idea before she started overtly using super-speed around her and casually making tea with heat vision.
However, times, and Kara, were becoming desperate.
Maybe just a slight show of power. Super strength seemed the way to go. Nothing too crazy, but enough to distract Lena and require an explanation that would hopefully give Kara the space needed to come clean about the whole thing.
It seemed like a perfect plan.
Unfortunately, unlike the DEO, Kara had forgotten one crucial detail about top-level planning. Specifically, that a plan is only as good as the information it’s based on.
And remembering that your girlfriend has a serious appreciation for your muscles, and that therefore all strength-related talents are not likely to result in calm, collected decision-making?
Yeah, that’s a pretty big variable to leave out.
“God, babe, have you been working out?” Lena moaned onto her skin between presses of lips and tongue, nails tracing delicate patterns over the taut lines of Kara’s back.
And if she wasn’t quite sure how a simple, romantic gesture like picking up and spinning her girlfriend around effortlessly the moment she walked in became Lena pressed tightly against the door, legs locked around Kara’s waist and Kara’s hands on her ass, well, Kara was sure that it was absolutely not her fault.
***
After plans D, E, and F all ended (fantastically) in much the same way as Plan C, Kara was about ready to give up. Rao was not with her on this, and she’d just have to resign herself to whatever awkward or violent scenario would eventually out her, both as a superhero and as a complete failure of a girlfriend. She wondered if there were any support groups for aliens dealing with human relationships. Probably not. Probably everyone else on the planet was smart enough to actually be honest with the person they were in love with.
She threw herself down on the couch, a small huff passing her lips and only avoiding becoming a full-on pout because Lena was resting at the other end, and not only did Kara not want to explain herself, it was really hard to keep a pout when Lena was within a fifty-foot radius. Unless food was involved, but that went without saying.
The problem, she thought wistfully as she gazed across at Lena, was that she really, really wanted to tell her. Rao, Lena looked so good, dressed in cotton sweatpants and a Supergirl t-shirt, feet tucked underneath her body as she read. The occasional, unconscious movement of her lips or the barest furrow of a brow as she concentrated on a particularly dense or convoluted passage. Kara loved seeing her like this. It was so different from the way she was with everyone else that it was like a secret identity all her own, one that belonged just to her and Kara and this amazing relationship they’d built.
Cripes, she was such an idiot.
Kara felt love for Lena spreading through her body, filling her heart and radiating outward until she could have sworn even her toes were vibrating with it. And suddenly she couldn’t wait another minute to tell her, because this feeling was too much, too big for just Kara Danvers, and this relationship was too important, and she just - she could feel Rao’s light flowing through her, giving her the courage and wisdom to seize the moment and-
“Kara?” Lena’s eyes were wide, her mouth half open. “You-you’re floating.”
The book slipped from her fingers, slowly at first, but faster and faster as gravity took hold until it fell to the floor with a soft ‘thunk.’
“You really are Supergirl?!”
Kara mimicked the book’s downward trajectory, only with a lot more crashing and a pitiful moan that the book, if it could have produced vocalizations, would have deemed quite unseemly.
“I’ve been trying to tell you!”