Chapter Text
Alex knew it had been a bad idea to allow Winn to play with unknown alien tech. But he had seemed so excited about it that she let him have the ray gun or whatever it was that they had found in the abandoned warehouse. Winn had always been a kid around technology, the only problem was that he therefore treated it like a toy.
It had been an almost too quiet day until that point. Alex and Kara just came back from a sparring session, when he excitedly shouted “I know what it does!”
He accidently pushed the button too soon and shot Alex and Kara with the light beam. They were paralyzed for a second, a weird tingle was spreading through their bodies, until the light disappeared. Everything still felt normal.
To be honest, someone should have seen this coming. Winn nervously chuckled and then carefully put the gun down, getting ready for Alex shouting at him.
“So, tell us what it does, now that you already shot us with it,” Alex furiously snapped.
“I thought it was a device for mind exchange, but you still seem normal so maybe that’s not it.”
He carefully took a few steps back as Kara tried to calm her sister down. They went into the lab for a check-up, but Winn couldn’t detect any changes in their minds. He just shrugged and promised a growling Alex that he would find out the true function of the gun as fast as he could.
Alex simply sighed and grabbed her jacket to leave. She couldn’t deal with this now. She’d already had a hard week and just wanted to relax. A few days ago, she’d almost lost an Agent on a mission and of course she only blamed herself for it. It had been under her command after all.
For some reason, even hours of sparring with Supergirl hadn’t taken the edge off of her and now this.
In the end, Alex left the DEO and went to a club to dance away her problems and it worked, even though she went home alone. She’d figured out some time ago that drunk hookups with strange women weren’t really her thing. She just liked flirting with them. And drinking with them.
When the redhead fell into bed, she felt a weird tickling in her whole body, but before she could think about it, she was asleep.
Alex woke up to the constant ringing of her phone. She groaned, her head hurt and her mouth was way too dry. She slowly opened her eyes to realize that this wasn’t her apartment. Had she really been so drunk that she had to crush at Kara’s?
Slowly, she sat up and grabbed the phone. Her long hair was tickling on her back. Wait- she didn’t have long hair. Alex looked down herself and ran her hands through her hair a few times before hurrying towards the bathroom. She looked into the mirror and Kara’s scared face was looking back at her.
Finally, she answered the phone that was still in her hands.
“Alex?” Kara’s shaky voice asked. “I think we might have a problem.
Alex was so going to kill Winn for this. How could he just fire an unidentified alien gun at them? Both her and Kara quickly made their way to the DEO.
In the first moment, Winn didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry. He didn’t even flinch at Alex’s intense stare, because it just wasn’t the same coming from Kara’s face.
They spend all morning trying to find a solution, but they still didn’t have an idea where the gun even came from. Alex groaned in frustration and buried her face in her hands. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be any emergencies for Supergirl today. It was hard enough controlling her powers while acting human. (She might or might not have broken Kara’s door knob this morning.)
“Hey, what’s going on here?” Lena asked as she joined the group. For a few months now the CEO had helped out at the DEO every now and then. Today was one of these days and she had probably heard them arguing way too loud. Good thing Alex had decided to put the super suit on this morning. It would have been no fun to explain to Lena exactly why Kara was at the DEO and also body swapped by unidentified alien tech.
“Well, Agent Schott body swapped us,” Alex growled, hands in her hips and still glaring at Winn.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she almost hit Winn with her heat vision, but he managed to jump away just in time, letting out a panicked squeak that Alex would’ve made fun of in a normal situation.
“Shit, Winn, I’m so sorry,” Alex stumbled back.
“Okay so who is this?” Lena asked. “Alex is that you in Supergirl’s body?”
Alex gave her a nod, her eyes still widened from the shock.
“Do you need help with that? Maybe we can find a way to reverse it,” Lena offered as she looked at the alien gun.
“I think I know what I need to do, but if I need help then I’ll call you, okay?” Winn answered and Lena agreed with a smile and wished them good luck.
Kara let out the breath she’d been holding the whole time. For some reason she’d thought that maybe Lena would see through this in a second. They turned back to find a solution while Alex started cleaning up the pieces of the table she’d just split in half.
Only a few minutes after Lena had left, Kara’s phone started ringing but everybody seemed to ignore it.
“Can you please answer?” Alex eventually asked.
Kara picked it up but then shoved it into Alex’s hands.
“You answer. It’s a call for Kara.”
Alex rolled her eyes but still answered the call with a soft “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me.” Lena’s voice came through the speaker. “I wanted to ask if we’re still on for lunch? My meeting ended early so we could meet now if that’s okay?”
“Uhm…” Alex didn’t really know what to say. “Can you give me a second?” she said as she saw Kara wildly gesturing.
“What?”
“Please go to lunch with Lena.” Kara whispered. “I’ve cancelled on her twice last week.”
Alex sighed. There was nothing else to do than to wait for Winn to find a solution so she could go to lunch with Lena to pass time.
“Uhm Lena? Now sounds good, where do we meet?”
Lena seemed almost relieved at Alex’s words and they quickly agreed on a place. Kara mouthed a thank you into her direction and Alex simply sighed. Hopefully this would go by quickly.
When Lena spotted Kara in front of the restaurant, her face lit up like a Christmas tree. Alex smiled back and gave her a quick hug as they entered. This whole set up seemed weird. She had no idea how to act like Kara and also no idea what to talk about.
Also, Winn had given her a kryptonite necklace, which would dampen her powers but it make Alex feel a little nauseous.
“I’m so happy we finally found time for lunch again,” Lena said once they were seated.
“Me too, sorry for cancelling the last time.” But Lena just shrugged it off.
Alex hoped that no one would sense her nervousness. It wasn’t easy acting like Kara, especially not in front of Lena. They were best friends so there was a chance Lena would notice that something was wrong.
Alex looked through the menu, trying to find something Kara-like to order. In the end she decided for a burger with extra fries, knowing that it would mess with her diet. Then she stopped for a second and realized that she wasn’t in her own body and she also had a kryptonian metabolism. Alex grinned to herself and ordered a milkshake on top.
“You seem tired.” Alex looked up to meet Lena’s concerned eyes. Lena would never look at Alex like that. It seemed way too familiar.
“Yeah, I was at the Neverland last night and- “
“You were at a gay club?”
“You know the Neverland?”
“You do to, apparently.”
“Uhm yes, I was… I was there with Alex! Right… she didn’t want to go alone,” Alex cringed internally while speaking of herself in the third person. Great, this had gotten out of hand within five seconds.
“I could go with her next time, or with both of you. I know some people there.”
“You would go to a gay club with Alex?” she chuckled, still no idea how they had gotten here.
“Of course, I told you I’m not shy about my sexuality.”
“You are? I mean yes, you are!” Kara had never said anything about Lena being queer in any way.
The brunette got lost in her head for a few seconds. Picking on some leaves in her salat.
“Or maybe that is a bad idea. I’ve never spent time with your sister outside of the lab. I’m not even sure if she really likes me.”
“Alex likes you, Lena. She just expresses that differently, I guess.” Alex cringed again. This was really fucking with her brain. She still gave Lena an encouraging smile.
Alex was about to say something when her phone rang.
“Speaking of the devil… Hi Alex.”
“It’s Kara.”
“You don’t say.”
Kara groaned at the other end of the line.
“Winn thinks he might have found a solution for our… eh problem.”
“Okay, I’ll come by after lunch,” she said and ended the call. For some reason she didn’t want to leave Lena just yet. That girl didn’t get out of her office often so they could at least finish lunch.
“So, Kara told me-, no wait I’m Kara.”
Lena let out a sweet chuckle, as if this was something normal-Kara would say as well.
“You told me your new project involves polyanions in unnatural habitats and…” Alex trailed of for a second. This was harder than she’d thought! “And I googled what that is so now you can tell me about your work and I actually know what you’re talking about.”
Alex finished her sentence with a smile. That was smooth, she applauded herself in her head.
Her smile got even bigger when she saw how Lena’s eyes lit up. The brunette started talking about her research so passionately and Alex was glued to her lips.
They talked for way too long and Alex was surprised as she looked at the time. They bickered about who should pay for a minute. In the end Lena won, simply because was faster than Alex. They got up from the table and grabbed their stuff.
“This was really nice,” Lena said with a smile. “I never thought you could be so passionate about my work.”
“Yeah well, I’m full of surprises,” Alex chuckled nervously.
“Do you want to have brunch again sometimes this week?”
Alex agreed and before she realized it, she was wrapped into a tight hug by the smaller woman. Now that she thought about it, she’d never been so close to Lena. They only ever shook hands or gave each other an encouraging pat on the back when they were in the lab. But now Lena’s arms were completely wrapped around Alex’s body (or well, Kara’s body).
As Alex breathed in the sweet scent of Lena’s perfume, she realized that this hug was definitely longer than average, but Lena showed no sign of pulling back.
They only stopped when Lena’s phone rang. It was Jess telling her that her next meeting would start soon. Alex made her way back to the DEO, Lena’s warm smile and strong arms still in mind.
“Alex! There you are!” Winn said as he came jogging towards her. “Wait you’re still Alex, right?”
“Yes? Isn’t that the reason I’m here?”
“You’re right, sorry,” he cringed. “Come on! I spend all morning on this and I think it might just reverse everything back to normal. If it works the way I planned.”
“Good, I can’t wait to be in my own body again.”
Alex groaned when she saw her own cheerful self, making her way towards them.
“I had so much fun today!” Kara declared loudly.
“It’s so weird to see Alex smiling like that,” Winn laughed and earned an angry look from Alex, which didn’t really come across from Kara’s face. A fact that Alex still had to accept.
“When I tell people what to do, they actually listen to me!” Kara giggled again.
Alex just rolled her eyes. “Can we please get to it now?”
“Yep, just stand here and I’ll point this at you.”
Winn took a few steps back and pointed the alien gun at them. It lit up blue for a second before making a weird rickety noise and then nothing followed.
“Really?” Alex groaned.
“No, wait, I got it!”
This time they were hit by the blue light beam. They both felt a tickle pass through their bodies and then the light disappeared and nothing happened.
“Are you still me?” Kara asked and Alex looked down her body and nodded.
“Maybe you need to sleep for it to sink in or something. Just like last time,” he shrugged.
“If I wake up tomorrow and I’m still Kara, I’ll beat your ass, Schott,” Alex said and turned around to leave.
“I’ll beat your ass, Schott,” Kara imitated her sister.
“See, having Alex’s face say it makes it ten times scarier,” Winn chuckled and Kara joined in.
“I heard that, Schott!” Alex shouted all the way across the room and Winn and Kara ran away as fast as they could.
When Alex woke up the next morning, she lifted the blanket to take a look at herself. She groaned into her pillow when she saw that she was still in Kara’s body. This couldn’t be real. How was she supposed to imitate Kara? She couldn’t do the smiley face all day.
Alex got up and dragged herself into the shower. It was definitely weird to do this while not being in her own body.
“At least I’m still a woman,” she mumbled to herself and continued to wash her hair.
The day was passing by relatively uneventful. Alex and Kara were at the DEO and tried to stay under the radar. They didn’t need everybody to know about this.
There wasn’t any progress with the alien tech. Winn assumed it was valoritan, but that was a species they barely knew anything about.
Alex was enjoying her second breakfast and Kara was angrily staring at her. She’d forbidden her sister to stuff unnecessary amounts of unhealthy food into that body. Kara had already refused tot train with the other agents because apparently ‘exercising was hard.’
It had been a few days since the accident and Winn promised them, he would be ready every day now. Alex was fed up. The kryptonite necklace still made her feel weird and she had to deal with Lena almost daily.
She’d come by a few times, trying to help them with their problem, but she also had no idea how to solve this riddle. And when Alex didn’t have to play Supergirl in front of Lena, then the CEO texted her a lot, asking for brunch. Alex tried to cancel without feeling guilty.
“Can you please spend time with her a little more?” Kara asked her again. “Lena is really important to me and I don’t think she has anybody else who drags her out of the office.”
Kara’s pleading look made Alex finally give in. Kara even got the food for them and then Alex made her way to L-Corp.
Alex would probably never get tired of the way Lena’s eyes lit up once she laid eyes on her. (‘Once she laid eyes on Kara’ the tiny voice at the back of her head said, but Alex decided to ignore it for the moment. She had more important things to think about.)
“Hi, I come bearing gifts.”
Lena quickly got up and pulled Alex in for a tight hug.
“It’s an apology for bailing on you. Again.”
“Oh, that’s okay. I know you’re busy,” Lena said and started unpacking the food. “You even brought me a kale smoothie!”
Alex smiled and leaned back. Kara had done all the work here, but it was surprising how easy it was to make Lena smile.
“So how is that article you were working on?”
Alex sipped her water. There it was again. She had no idea what the article was about. She should listen to her sister’s rambles more often.
“Uhm Snapper didn’t like it so I’m rewriting it,” she answered. That was probably something that would happen, because she knew Kara’s boss was an idiot.
They fell into light conversation about bosses and not being appreciated enough.
Lena smiled as she sipped on her green smoothie.
“Can I try that?” Alex asked half lost in her head.
“You want to try my kale smoothie?”
Shit, Lena’s face was now more than confused and just a little amused.
“Uhm no… I’m just joking.”
Lena stared at her for a little while longer and Alex tried changing the topic again.
“So tomorrow the new natural science exhibition opens in town and I thought we could go together?”
Alex had wanted to go anyway and maybe it would be nice to have some company for a change. She wasn’t lonely per se, it was just hard to find someone with the same interests.
“Yeah, that would be nice.”
“What? No complaining about how you have to work?” Alex chuckled and popped the last potsticker into her mouth (she was really turning into Kara).
“Nope, tomorrow will be just me and you. Work can wait.”
“Wow, I feel honored.”
“Oh, shut up,” Lena chuckled and Alex laughed out loud.
She had no idea where this was going, but it felt good.
For some reason Alex had been nervous about meeting Lena again all day. She'd talked to Kara and Winn in the morning, only to hear that there wasn't any progress. When Alex told her sister about her and Lena's plans, Kara seemed more than happy about it, rambling about all of Lena's favorite science-y things. Alex smiled, she couldn't wait for the afternoon to come.
They were the only people their age at the exhibition. Most of the visitors were way past fifty. They passed one school class and Alex quickly grabbed Lena’s hand so they wouldn’t lose each other in the crowd.
“It’s sad that all these kids look so bored,” Alex said once they were walking next to each other again. “Dragging them around here isn’t really the right way to show them how fun science can be.”
“I thought for you the glass is always half full,” Lena chuckled slightly.
“Well actually the glass is completely full. Half with water and half with air,” Alex said before she could contain herself. This was such an un-Kara-like thing to say, but Lena laughed so she guessed it was okay.
They walked a few steps into the next section when Alex realized that she was still holding Lena’s hand. There was no reason to let go of it now, so Alex kept holding it and smiled to herself. They came to a stop in front of different atom-models.
“What are you thinking about?” Lena asked and softly bumped her shoulder into Alex’s.
“Why can you never trust atoms?” Alex asked and Lena gave her a confused look. “They make up everything!”
“Seriously?”
“Yep,” Alex proudly smiled. That one had been stuck in her head for some time. It didn’t matter that she was acting un-Kara-like again, it was easier to just be herself.
“I have a lot of bad science puns from Alex. She tells them all the time and they get stuck in my brain.” Alex was back at bringing her name into this. She wanted to hang out with Lena after this was all over and maybe she could ‘wingman’ herself just a little.
“Then tell me some. I’m dying to hear them,” Lena said with a wink and Alex felt herself thrown off balance for a second.
“Did you hear oxygen went on a date with potassium? It went OK.”
Lena just shook her head with a grin on her face.
“I wish I was adenine, then I could get paired with U.”
“Oh, wow that’s cheesy,” she laughed and Alex cheered inside.
“Let me guess, you had to make these bad chemistry jokes because all the good ones Argon.”
Alex spluttered out a laughter. “Okay okay, you definitely win. I’m horrible at this.”
Lena grinned and pulled Alex further to look at an info chart.
Another group of people passed by them and Lena took a step closer to Alex to let them through.
She hadn’t expected that one step closer basically would mean that she ended up in Alex’s arms. The taller woman looked down to meet Lena’s eyes. They were closer to each other than ever before and Alex had no idea how they’d gotten here. Her eyes flicked down to Lena’s lips and then back up.
A smile spread on Lena’s face, but then suddenly an old lady jostled her from behind. Alex steadied her with both arms as the lady complained about them standing in the way.
“Well isn’t she a gentlewoman,” Alex scoffed and as the lady turned back to them with an outraged look, Lena broke into a loud laughter and they hurried away.
They spend a few more hours at the exhibition. Alex tried to turn down her knowledge a little, letting Lena talk most of the time.
It was only when they went towards the exit that Alex let go of Lena’s hand to open the door for her.
She instantly missed the warmth and was surprised at how normal it had felt.
“This was a great idea. Thank you for this.”
“There is nothing to thank me for,” Alex smiled. “You’ll even hope you’d never joined me in the first place because I just came up with another joke.”
“It can’t possibly get worse.”
“You sure about that?” Alex laughs and Lena just grins at her.
“Okay hit me. What’s the worst one you have?”
“Girl, you’re so hot you denature my proteins.”
Lena shook her head in disbelief before she broke into a loud laughter.
“One could think you’re making a move at me with all those bad pick-up lines.”
“Oh Miss Luthor, I would never,” Alex said fake offended, even though she wasn’t sure if that had been true. She shook her head for a second. Her only mission was to make Lena smile. Everything else was unimportant.
“So, what do you think about dinner tomorrow? Then you can make it up to me, you know?”
“You really are something,” Alex chuckled. “Sure, my place at seven?”
“Sounds good.”
And then Lena went to hug her again, with one of these tight hugs that felt as if she was scared that Alex could slip away if she didn’t hold on tight enough. Alex melted into her arms. She knew hat Lena thought she was hugging Kara, but Alex pushed that thought far away to the back of her mind, because she wanted to live in this dream world just a little longer.
Alex’s day wasn’t going well. There had been a Supergirl emergency that morning. A car crash had two people stuck in the wrecks and she’d tried to get them out. It turned out that without her kryptonite necklace a car was way lighter than she’d have expected. The car she’d wanted to lift up was thrown a few feet into the air and Alex barely caught it again.
Still, she got the man out safely and handed him to the paramedics. He was only a little shaken up. But then Alex had tried to put out the small fire with her freeze breath and accidently covered the whole sidewalk in a thick layer of ice.
The media quickly noticed and came up with more than a few articles about a super-confused Supergirl.
After that she went back to the DEO where she almost broke one of Winn’s ribs because she ‘softly’ pet him on the back. Then she had to listen to Kara ranting about her sore muscles and how horrible being human was. Honestly, Alex couldn’t wait to be human again.
After all of this she completely forgot about dinner with Lena. Shortly after she got home there was a knock on the door and Alex used her x-ray vision to see Lena with a bottle of wine. With almost super speed she put on some pants. Kara’s clothes were one of the things driving her crazy. There weren’t that many dark clothes in her closet and Alex was more than sick of the pastels. They did look good on Kara’s body, but still. Nothing against a simple black shirt.
Alex opened the door with a rushed “Hi!”
“Hey, am I too early?” Lena asked with the always present smile on her face.
“No, I just got home a little late. Please come in.”
She opened the door wider and took the bottle of wine out of Lena’s hands. She told Lena to make herself comfortable as she poured them some wine.
They sat down on the couch and ordered some food, before Lena started ranting about her day. Alex was listening closely as always. She’d never thought that she would get along so well with Lena.
The small angry voice at the back of her head told her that it was only because Lena thought she was talking to Kara. Alex shushed the voice again. This wasn’t the right time to deal with this problem.
Their food arrived and they picked a movie to watch, which wasn’t easy because Lena was fine with everything, but Alex didn’t want to watch anything of Kara’s usual favorites. They ended up watching a random chick flick, talking over it most of the time anyway.
“It’s something different to see you eat healthy,” Lena said as she looked at Alex’s vegetable noodles.
“Even I need some vitamin sometimes,” she chuckled nervously.
The truth was that Alex was more than sick of eating greasy or sugary food. Sure, she loved pizza and donuts every now and then but everybody expected Kara to eat nothing other than that.
“That body can’t come from sugar only,” Lena mumbled but Alex heard her anyway and instantly choked on her food.
“What?” she coughed out.
“Nothing, uhm… I said I bet you wouldn’t try my salat.”
“And what makes you think so.”
“There is kale in it,” Lena said playfully provocative.
“You know I can’t back down from such a challenge.”
Alex leaned over, put a fork full of kale in her mouth and happily chewed it.
“Who are you and what did you do to Kara?” Lena asked with a laughter, while Alex almost choked again. She really had to think before she did something! Why was she so distracted?
Alex picked up the wine bottle from the table and filled up their glasses. If she was somewhere else in her mind than at least she could make Lena a little tipsy. Then maybe she wouldn’t notice any further slip ups.
They had almost emptied the first bottle before Alex realized that normal alcohol couldn’t get her drunk. She groaned internally.
This really was the worst.
One benefit of still drinking more was definitely that Lena got more and more relaxed with every glass. Alex got them some water and then they started a new movie. Once she’d sat back down, Lena scooted closer and placed her head on Alex’s shoulder. Alex slid lower and tried to throw a blanket over the two of them.
“Are you okay?” she whispered to the brunette.
Lena softly nodded, “Just sleepy.”
“We don’t have to watch another movie if you’re too tired.”
“No, I want to. And I’m too comfy to get up now,” she mumbled and scooted even closer so that she was almost lying on top of Alex.
Alex smiled to herself as she softly stroked Lena’s smooth hair, while listening to the movie. Only listening because her eyes were focused on Lena’s face.
Somehow, she had spread out on top of Alex without her noticing it. Alex’s eyes couldn’t let go of Lena’s sleeping figure. Her face seemed so free of worry, which made her look even younger than normal. Alex had no idea how old Lena was. It was a hard thing to guess, especially because CEO Lena was at least 10 years older than tipsy movie night Lena.
The movie was over quicker than Alex would’ve thought. She hadn’t paid attention to it at all. Softly, she tried to lift Lena’s head off of her but the brunette woke up anyway.
“What time is it?” she asked with a raspy voice that send a shiver down Alex’s neck.
“I don’t know. Late.”
She gulped down the rest of her water before turning back to Lena.
“Do you uhm… do you want to stay here or sleep in my bed…”
Lena was already getting up from the couch.
“What we’re not sharing the bed like always? You don’t want me in there anymore?” she chuckled, but Alex could see that there was some hurt behind her words.
“No! I just meant you look comfy here so you can stay here but you’re already up so let’s go to bed.”
Lena quickly stumbled to the bathroom before slipping under the covers next to Alex. Apparently, Lena knew where Kara kept her pajamas. Now she was wearing the pair with the tiny sushi roles on them and Alex had to grin.
After a few seconds of silence, Lena’s hand searched for Alex’s and she tightly squeezed it. It didn’t happen very often to Alex that she shared an intimate moment like this with anyone. But she simply closed her eyes and decided to enjoy it, letting Lena’s soft breathing lull her into sleep.
“You really are my best friend, you know that?” Lena whispered next to her. “I mean you’re my only friend but if I had more than one, you’d still be my best friend.”
“You’re my best friend, too.” And out of all the things Alex could say about Lena, this was the one thing that just wasn’t right in any way.
The morning came faster than expected. The first rays of sunlight woke Alex up, quickly recharging her cells. During the night Lena had curled up next to her. It seemed cliché, but Alex had to watch her sleep. She looked even softer in the warm morning light.
Her phone rang and ripped her out of her head. She quickly answered, hoping it wouldn’t disturb Lena.
“Yeah?” she whispered into the phone.
“Alex? It’s Winn. I solved it! I found a way to reverse the effects of the gun!” he cheered loudly.
“For real this time?”
“Yep, I’m kinda proud of myself,” Alex could her him laugh. “Come by this morning okay?”
“Yeah, sure. See you later,” she said quietly and ended the call. Lena was still soundly asleep next to her. Alex let out a shaky breath.
Why now? Why did this have to happen? Of all the things that could possibly happen to her on her job it was the one thing that ended up breaking her heart.
She scooted a little closer to Lena, who instantly pulled her arm around Alex. At least she could enjoy this for a few minutes before she would go back to her own life.