Work Text:
Lena had just finished making her rounds around the animal shelter, Precious Paws, feeding every single dog, cat, hamster, and bird in the building. Her favorite part of working there as one of the only employees wasn’t just that she got to hang around beautiful and sweet animals all day long, or that she got paid to do it (although that almost took the cake). It was because she got to work with her best friend, Samantha Arias. Sam and Lena had been friends since college, starting out as roommates and instantly clicked. They both studied for Bachelors to become Veterinarians, and a Minor’s in business. When Sam decided to start up an animal shelter in her hometown of Midvale, Lena came on board without hesitation, thinking that working alongside her best friend would be absolutely amazing.
Not today. This morning wasn’t a busy day by any means, so Sam thought it would be fun to put Lena to work while she relaxed with a box of doughnuts, twirling around in the comfy chair at the front desk as her raven-haired coworker burst through a door leading to the back, wiping a little bit of sweat from her brow.
“That is the last time I unload those bags of food for you!” Lena huffed at her snickering friend. "I'm not kidding, those damn things are heavy!"
“I am your boss,” Sam clarified, smirking as she wiped some strawberry jelly off of her cheek with a napkin. “And as your boss, I say it’s your job.”
“Your job is to not work your only employee to the dirt!”
“You love me,” Sam smiled innocently, stopping her chair-spinning and stood up and waved delicious-looking powdered doughnut at Lena.
“Jerk,” Lena rolled her eyes as she accepting the hard-earned sugary treat before plopping herself down on the desk chair with an exhale of relief, able to rest her aching feet.
“Don’t get too settled down, there’s still some serious scrubbing to be done in the dog’s kennels,” Sam teased.
Lena’s mouth dropped open before she could put the lemon powdered doughnut in her mouth. “Sam! Do something for heaven’s sake!”
“Fine, but you’re running the front desk,” Sam shouted as she strolled into the back room, dodging a pen thrown her way by her annoyed friend.
The raven-haired woman ate her doughnut in enormously needed silence, save for the occasional bark, meow, or squeak from the animals. Time went by as Lena began filling out paperwork for a few new pets, making sure they had their rabies shots or health checks done in the last two months.
The sound of Precious Paws’ front opening pulled her attention away from her boring, tedious paperwork. Lena cast her eyes over to the entrance, almost dropping her pen at the sight in front of her:
A woman, an insanely, jaw-droppingly beautiful woman with long blonde hair that looked like golden flames in the beams of early morning light shining through the windows. Lena had never seen someone pull off a deep red button-up shirt and blue jeans as well as this woman right in front her did. Lena’s gay-as-hell thoughts almost distracted her from seeing that the Greek goddess was walking up to her, adjusting the black glasses on her face in the most adorable way. She was easily the most beautiful thing Lena had ever seen in her whole life.
The flustered Luthor couldn't quite calm her rising heartbeat as the gorgeous woman came to stand at the front of the desk. “Hello,” The woman said with a smooth voice that just did something to the poor brunette.
“H-hi,” Lena mentally cursed herself for not remembering how to say basic words in front of pretty girls.
The woman smiled brightly at her, not helping Lena’s heart to slow down, almost positive she could hear the beating in her ears. “I was looking to adopt a pet because I just moved here, and my sister told me that this was the best place to go.”
Lena pulled herself together as best as she could and nodded lightly, smiling up at the blonde. “Your sister sounds very smart,” She smiled sheepishly and looked around the desk in front of her for adoption papers, eventually finding them in a small stack to the left. “What kind of animal are you looking to adopt?” It took all she had to not add 'you can take me home too' at the end of that sentence.
The blonde shrugged. “Well, honestly anything willing to be adopted. It’s gotten lonely in my home and I’d love to have a furry companion running around when I’m there too.” She replied with a more sad voice than before, but her smile still stayed strong.
Lena nodded in understanding before leaning forward to give her the documents. “You can just fill this out before you come in the back to look at the pets.” She said, handing the papers to her.
“Thank you.” The woman grinned widely took the papers and a pen from the holder on the desk and sat down in a chair by the doors, getting to work by checking things off on the form right away, briefly sticking her tongue out as she read through something on the parchment.
While the angel of a woman was distracted with the papers Lena slowly pulled her phone out of her pocket, unlocked it with her whopping 36 digit passcode (So Sam couldn’t get in) and brought it up to her face. To anyone else, it looked like she was just checking a message or playing on an app, but in reality, she was silently taking a picture of the woman currently sitting by the windows, a smile on her pretty face even as she wrote hurriedly on the paperwork. Lena then sent the picture to Sam and quickly typed out: ‘Help me! Gay crisis here!’
After the message was sent she slid her phone back into her pocket. Lena moved to look at the woman and stare like a creep again, only to see that the blonde had already filled out the paperwork and stood at the desk, her blinding smile unwavering. Lena jumped in surprise.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” The blonde said, giggling in the cutest way Lena had ever been able to witness. The dark-haired woman couldn’t say anything after hearing her giggle. She was 100% certain that this girl was trying to kill her. After the woman calmed down from her little laugh she stuck the papers out to the crushing employe. “I don’t have a name for the pet yet, so I didn’t put one down.”
Lena scanned over the pet adoption form, skipping over the more legal questions and taking in every detail she could about the stunningly happy blonde smiling down at her.
Name: Kara Danvers.
Name of Spouse/Significant other: None
Age: 24
Phone: 208-588-0372
Occupation: Law enforcement.
Lena immediately fell in love with the girl’s name. It just seemed perfect for her, not to mention her handwriting was something to absolutely worship. She’d be lying if she said the fact that Kara was single gave her hope for the future. What she didn’t understand was how someone so nice, bright, and kind was in Law Enforcement. Lena wasn’t too surprised though; the woman’s forearms alone looked like Straight. Up. Muscle.
Just before the silence between the two women became awkward Sam swung open the door to the back and walked through. “Hey, welcome!” The brunette waved at Kara, who easily returned the wave brightly. “Dog, cat, or something else?” Sam asked.
“Um, probably a dog,” Kara replied, sticking her hands into her pockets and rocked back and forth in her converse shoes as if to contain her excitement.
“Well, do you wanna come in the back and meet some of them?” Sam pointed behind her with her thumb.
At that Kara looked like she was about to squeal in delight, her smile growing impossibly bigger as she practically skipped over to the door Sam was pointing to. “Why didn’t you tell me the literal human version of a golden retriever just walked in here?” Sam whispered loud enough to Lena that Kara heard it, blushing as she ducked her head to hide it and rubbed the back of her neck.
“I’ll take her to see them, okay?” Lena stood up from the chair all too quickly, opening the door for Kara, flipping Sam off before coming through as well, the knowing smile on her friend's face pissing her off.
“Oh my gosh!” Kara beamed at the different puppies in their kennels, running over to the first one and petting the little miniature pinscher happily before moving on to the next one. Lena couldn’t contain her gay thoughts around this woman. She was just too cute and innocent for Lena not to completely faun over this absolute angel. She didn't usually go for blondes, so this entire situation had Lena thinking her heart might give out.
The raven-haired woman expected Kara to move on to the last dog kennel and pet the dog like usual, but she just stood up and stared in awe at the animal in the kennel.
“I-Is something wrong?” Lena questioned, slightly concerned at Kara’s sudden silence and shock.
The blonde shook her head, unable to take her eyes off of the puppy scratching at the bars from the inside of the kennel. The piece of paper above the kennel door showed the dog’s information: Siberian Husky, Male, 8 weeks old.
“Who’s this little guy?” Kara got down on her knees to get closer to the small light grey and white husky puppy licking and sniffing at her fingers. The raven-haired employee swore she could see hearts in Kara's eyes as she stared in awe at the hyper puppy.
Lena wondered how she was still standing up on her quivering legs at the girl’s adorable self. “He doesn’t have a name yet. That little guy was abandoned as a newborn down the road about two months ago. He’s been here the longest.”
Kara looked like she was going to cry. “Why would someone ever get rid of him?” She wasn’t really asking, just expressing her thoughts to no one in particular.
Nevertheless, Lena answered. "People don't usually take huskies because they're very active dogs." Kara nodded along as she explained, huffing out a laugh as the tiny husky butted his nose against her open palm. "Do you want me to open the door so you can hold him?” Lena offered.
“Yes please!” Kara brightened up again and reluctantly stepped back from the kennel to allow her to unlock the door of the excited husky.
Lena walked forward with the kennel’s keys and unlocked the door and slowly opened it for the little bubbly puppy to run out.
Kara laughed as the cute husky puppy scrambled across the tiled floor to the excited blonde, almost tripping over his small legs in its enthusiasm to reach her. Kara held out her arms and practically caught the husky as he jumped into her lap and started licking her face with its tiny pink tongue, making Kara laugh out loud. “Aren’t you just the cutest thing ever!” She exclaimed, rubbing the puppy’s belly when it turned over in her crossed legs.
Lena swore her heartbeat could not get any faster if she purposefully tried hyperventilating. Never before in her entire time working with animals had she ever met a human Just watching the extremely hot blonde play around on the floor with the little husky did something to Lena that had her cheeks flushed with crimson.
“How much is he?” Kara questioned, looking up at Lena with big, bright blue eyes. The baby husky barked happily, seemingly understanding what she was saying.
“Wait, you want him?” She honestly didn't think that the blonde would decide so quickly.
“Of course!” Kara almost shouted as she picked up the husky puppy and bumped its cute little black nose with hers.
Lena led the human personification of a golden retriever and the husky wrapped in her arms to the front desk, asking Sam to whip up some forms to allow Kara to officially take home the little guy. Claiming that the dog didn’t need a carrier or leash, Kara said her goodbye’s to both employees.
“Thank you guys so much! This is amazing.” Kara giggled as the puppy barked happily in her tan arms that Lena had to stop herself from staring at.
“You’re welcome. That little guy has had a tough few weeks. Animals here usually get adopted pretty fast, but until now he’s only been able to call this place his home. If you have any questions feel free to contact us.” Sam said when she noticed her friend absolutely drooling over the happy customer, not saying a word as she didn’t trust her mouth to not blurt out something embarrassing about the woman and how she was just so attractive, especially when she nodded along to Sam’s story of the husky, unintentionally showing off her biceps when she gripped the dog tighter.
“It’s a good thing he’s going home. People don’t usually adopt huskies that much, as they need to be worked out a lot,” Sam remarked as she too watched Kara’s biceps tense.
“Oh, no worries. I run a lot, so he’ll be perfect!” Kara looked very close to skipping out of the store. With one last wave, she was flinging the door open and headed to the right, presumably to her car, smiling brightly the whole way with the tiny puppy licking and sniffing her face with affection.
“Damn, you’ve got it bad,” Sam teased as Lena didn’t even try to hide the fact that she already missed the cheery blonde.
“Tell me if I’m dreaming right now, but I think a literal angel just walk out of this store, Sam.” The dark-haired woman stared out into the sunny roads, holding onto the tiniest bit of hope that Kara would walk back in and stay there long enough for Lena to take a proper photo and frame it, because Damn!
Sam threw her back and laughed. “Well, we do have her number in the paperwork, if you ever need it."
“She’s way out of my league.” Lena finally turned away from the window and ran a hand through her hair. “Also, that’s totally unprofessional.”
“Yes, because taking a picture of her in secret at the front desk and sending it to me is not.”
“You can’t tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing. I mean, Law Enforcement, single, young, toned muscles for days, I’d have to be a robot to ignore that!” Lena exclaimed, slightly frustrated as she replayed the scenes of Kara in her mind, wondering how stupid she looked. Lena rolled her eyes, reaching for her phone to check the time. “Come on, we’ve got to get lunch. I’m starving, and it’s closing time.”
“You just want to get that woman out of your head,” Sam smirked. She knew Lena all too well.
“Fingers crossed, Samantha,” She said to herself. Lena knew Sam hated to be called her full name, so she considered it as pure payback. “Fingers crossed.” Grabbed her thin black jacket and threw it on, waiting for a glaring Sam to join her.
{***}
Two days later with the ridiculously hot blonde still stuck in her head and no luck of getting her out, Lena sat at the front desk early in the morning and worked on going through paperwork, sums for the pet’s food, punching some numbers into the computer as she got into the ‘Work Zone,’ as Sam liked to call it. Not even five minutes later the Precious Paw’s glass door was opened and a familiar face out of the corner of her eyes caused her to look up.
Kara Freaking Danvers was walking into the shelter with a smile, slightly smaller than normal, wearing a light and dark grey flannel shirt this time, making the blue eyes of her’s pop. She didn’t have glasses on this time, which at this point Lena just wanted to ask her if it ever hurt looking so perfect.
Only having about three seconds before Kara was standing right in front of her to pull herself together. She wasn’t sure if she was just dreaming and her mind was conjuring up the woman, or if this was really happen-
“Um, hello again,” Kara smiled softly, seeming incredibly anxious.
“Hi.” Lena smiled back earnestly. This woman was too cute. “Can I um, help you with something? For the husky?”
“Oh, no, Slade is fine,” Lena was glad that the woman had named the puppy, and she had to admit, it was a cute name for him. “I actually came to talk to you,” Kara confessed, not making eye contact for a second, suddenly finding her fiddling fingers very entertaining.
“Me?” Lena faltered. Great, she’s probably going to give me a restraining order for undressing her with my eyes, she thought, her imagination running in all the wrong directions. She quickly cut off her train of thought as Kara opened her mouth to speak.
“Yes. Well, if-if it’s not too inappropriate of me- I just thought that- I don’t want to be presumptuous but...” Kara stopped to take a shaky breath and gather herself together, looking Lena in the eyes again. “I came to ask if you would like to go on a date with me?”
Lena couldn’t help but just stare up at Kara with her eyebrows raised almost to her hairline. She was sure both she and the blonde would have laughed if the two women weren’t so nervous. A date! Why the hell aren’t you saying anything! Say yes, you idiot! Lena argued with herself in her mind.
Eventually, before it seemed like the silence would swallow them whole, Kara tore her gaze away from her green eyes and ran her hands through her golden waves, fingers shaking slightly. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry. I didn't mean to offend you—I thought—I'm sorry, I’ll—I’ll just go.” Kara stammered out and began to turn around, cheeks pink in embarrassment.
“Wait!” Lena launched forward, grabbed Kara by the wrist and pulled her back with surprising strength, hard enough to bring the blonde to face her again, their faces only inches from each other. Of course, Kara had to look a million times more attractive up close.
Both women stood there for a few more seconds until the blonde briefly glanced down to her lips then back up to her eyes. “Well, nice to meet you too,” Kara lightly teased as she felt Lena’s grip lessen.
Lena huffed out something similar a breathless laugh, trying not to show her disappointment when Kara took a respectful step back, gaining a little more personal space. “Here, let me start over, I’m Kara and I was wondering if I could take you out on a date at whatever time is best for you.” She stuck her hand out for her to shake.
“Hi, I’m Lena and I would love to go out on a date with you.” Lena smiled, finding the taller woman’s seriousness look quite funny. “But, I have to admit you kind of caught me off-guard today. I’m a mess.” She gestured to her profile. Lena wore a pair of jeans and a simple black t-shirt, her long, dark hair pulled up into a last-minute ponytail.
Kara squinted and tipped her head, shaking her head as her smile returned. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
The young Luthor didn’t know what to do, her brain short-circuiting. With the blonde looking at her like she was an elegant statue, Lena practically melted. Nobody had ever called her pretty before. There had been men that had told her she was ‘hot’ or even sometimes ‘sexy,’ but no one had ever told her she was beautiful."W—Well, that's...umm.." Her brain was positively fried now. For a good five seconds, her mouth opened and closed like a fish fresh out of water, trying to find any words to say. Only in her dreams would she ever believe that this woman would be flirting with her.
"Was that too forward?" Kara winced as she asked, worried about ruining her chance.
Lena quickly shook her head and collected herself again. "No, I was just gonna say the same thing." She counted it as a victory when Kara blushed scarlet, the tips of her ears burning.
After a comfortable silence of just smiling, blushing, and looking at each other, the door that led to the dog kennels opened with a click. "Lena, can you order some more of that Purina's Puppy food for the smaller dogs—oh." Sam stopped in her tracks as she saw her friend and the woman she'd been crushing on for two days. She felt like she was intruding on a private moment between the two girls. "I'm I interrupting something?" Sam pointed back and forth to Kara and then Lena a few times.
"Oh, am I keeping you from work? Well, of course, this is your place of work after all." The blonde's words all came out in a rush, an apologetic expression stretching across her face.
"It's okay," Lena waved off her apology politely. She turned to Sam with an eager grin that thankfully the blonde couldn't see, lest she face the wrath of a hot blush burning the tips of her ears. "Kara was just asking me out on a date."
The Luthor's friend looked a little shocked by the information, eyeing both girls with a growing smile. "Oh, well, don't mind me." She shrugged and gave the two women another quick, proud glance as she made her way to the farthest side of the open area, walking back into a different entry with no door.
Lena was grateful that she and Kara were alone again, but also terrified at the same time because now her friend wasn't there to stop her from saying anything stupid to the hot girl in front of her. "Um, anyway..." She laughed shyly, straightening herself out a little.
"Yeah, um, as I was saying..." Kara huffed and briefly brought her lip between her perfect white teeth, making Lena's eyes follow directly to her mouth. Holy shit, everything about this woman is perfect. "I don't want to intrude, I was just wondering if you'd be interested in grabbing something to eat with me sometime." The Greek Goddess' smile lit up the whole room, and the brunette swore she couldn't possibly get any gayer.
Fortunately, Lena could remember how to talk this time. "I'd really like that." The smile that stretched across Kara's face from the brunette's words was totally worth all the nervousness and mental-drooling over this woman that somehow had the same idea about her.
"G—Great!" Apparently, Kara wasn't expecting her to say yes if the stuttering and the surprised look was anything to go by. Lena couldn't help but laugh lightly before saying more.
"I don't know when I'll be free, but maybe tomorrow—"
"She's free!" Sam's voice cut Lena off, the ravenette looking around to find her friend peeking out from behind one of the back door's small windows, smirking and holding her thumb up for the employee to see.
Kara laughed at the playful murderous/grateful look that Lena shot her friend's way and smiled brighter when she locked in on those wonderful green eyes again, a blush painting their faces at the exciting thought of going on a date as soon as possible.
"Okay, how about...right now?" The blonde suggested with an adorable shrug, her hopeful gaze out-shining any other light around the two women that illuminated the building.
Lena would be an absolute idiot not to accept the offer from the Greek Goddess herself. She was quick to confirm, trying half-heartedly to stem feeling of butterflies conjuring a hurricane of emotions inside of her. "I'd like that a lot."
"Whew." Kara let out a sigh of relief. Was she expecting Lena to say no? Like anybody could turn this woman down? "Um, do you like burgers?"
"Who doesn't?" The brunette joked, resisting the temptation to just stare at Kara longingly. Remembering that her feet could work, Lena walked around the front desk without grabbing her jacket. She looked back to see whether or not Sam was still eavesdropping on them before focusing on her insanely attractive date.
Being the human personification of a golden retriever, Kara appeared as though she was two seconds away from skipping out the door. "I will confess, I didn't think you'd actually say yes, so I'm not as presentable today,"
"Are you kidding?" Lena chuckled, amazed by how easy it felt to fall into a conversation with the blonde. "I told you, I must look like a mess right now!"
Kara graciously held the door open for the Luthor to step through, smirking and raising her right eyebrow. A deadly combination... "And I also told you that you're beautiful, Lena."
Damn, she wanted to hear her name on Kara's tongue a lot more. Lena knew she was absolutely whipped when her neck and ears flushed red, making the blonde duck her head and look away as they walked along the pavement, proud yet nervous that she had elected that reaction out of the brunette again. Secretly, both women had forgotten how nice it felt to just enjoy someone's company so much. Nevertheless, Kara and Lena didn't care one bit that they ended up chatting for three hours in a booth and Big Belly Burger, walking around the park of another two, and then walked to Kara's house just a few minutes away. Surprisingly, the Danvers got a quick and electric kiss goodbye, as well as a random neon green sticky note from one of their pockets with the beautiful Precious Paws employee's phone number, and a cute little heart drawn just after the last digit. Lena made Kara promise to call her that night if she wanted to talk more, but Kara never did. Instead, she asked for Lena's address over text and drove to that destination, Slade even tagging along in shotgun with his tail wagging furiously like a maniac.
When Lena opened her door, she was forever grateful that a stunning blonde walked into her pet store looking for a puppy, and even more grateful that she came back to give the poor ol' girl a chance.