Chapter Text
lena luthor doesn’t get nervous; she learned how to curb her anxieties long ago. she’s too sure of every move she makes to ever second guess them. but for some reason that doesn’t stop the slight tremor in her hand, the ice clinking against the side of the glass tumbler she holds. she supposes that if there’s something she’s allowed to be nervous about, it’s tomorrow. tomorrow’s her first official day at newly-christened l-corp. tomorrow’s the first time in months that she’ll probably be forced to talk about her brother, about why she’s different . sometimes lena wonders if the world has forgotten that she’s only twenty-four, that other young women her age are having the time of their lives, like one is supposed to do in one’s twenties.
then again, lena luthor has never been like other young women her age, and that was something lillian never let her forget. she’s supposed to be smarter, better, superior. instead, she just feels like some sort of imposter, given way too much credit and responsibility.
but she can’t back out now, no matter the fear that runs through her, no matter the anxiety that swirls in the pit of her stomach. she sips her whiskey, hoping it’ll help settle the nerves. she takes another, and she leans against the balcony railing, peering out at the sleeping city below.
and maybe it’s because she’s got too much to worry about, but the sight of a stranger floating mid-air in front of her barely even registers. the stranger doesn’t even see lena; she floats horizontally, her arms folded behind her head, peering up at the starry night sky. she whistles something, too, something lena can’t quite place. and then it clicks, and lena smiles.
‘hey, kermit,’ she calls out, ‘you can’t see rainbows at night.’
she startles, but only slightly. she rolls over, still horizontal, but this time on her stomach. she props her head on her fist, like she’s lolling on a bed instead of floating in the middle of the air.
‘i didn’t see you there,’ she says. ‘you spend a lot of time spying on pretty girls?’
lena doesn’t mean to laugh as loudly as she does. part of her wonders if she’s hallucinating this beautiful, greek goddess of a stranger. can stress make you conjure hot women with your mind? is that a thing?
‘you know, i always mean to schedule more time for looking at beautiful women.’
she tries not to look directly at the stranger’s bright smile, a smile much too genuine for lena’s cynical sensibilities.
‘what’s your name?’ the stranger asks her, and lena’s impulses tell her to lie, to keep talking to this wonderful creature for as long as she can.
‘kieran,’ lena replies, not quite lying, but also not giving the stranger the truth she’s looking for. ‘and you are?’
the stranger laughs. ‘it’s been a long time since anybody asked me that while i’m wearing this.’ she gestures to the big S on her chest.
of course. supergirl. another person destined to hate lena eventually. but for now, she’s not lena, she’s not a luthor. she’s just… her.
‘i assume your parents didn’t christen you supergirl,’ lena says, feeling a lot braver than she did just five minutes ago. ‘so again: you are?’
supergirl hesitates. ‘zor-el. my name is zor-el.’
lena knows, like her, supergirl is only being as truthful as she can, and she guesses that’s all she can ask for.
‘zor-el,’ lena repeats. she likes the way the foreign sounds feel on her tongue, like she holds a secret that few others know. ‘it’s very nice to meet you.’
‘likewise,’ zor-el replies. ‘what brings you onto your balcony so late at night?’
‘probably the same thing that has you stargazing: had a long day, and i’ve got a whole lot more of them to come.’
‘that’s why i like to stare at the stars -- my problems feel a lot more benign when i remember that there’s an entire universe out there looking down at me. do you know how many problems that universe holds? more than we could ever imagine.’
‘what’s so amazing that keeps us stargazing?’ lena quotes, ‘and what do we think we might see?’
zor-el smiles again. ‘i’m always looking for the lovers and dreamers, they’ll lead me straight to the rainbow connection.’
‘well i think you’re barking up the wrong tree then.’
‘you’re not a dreamer? nor a lover?’
lena shakes her head. ‘who has time for that stuff?’ she says, half-joking.
‘i don’t think it’s something you have to schedule in; it sort of just happens. you dream. you love. you don’t need a degree to do it.’
‘what do you love, zor-el?’
zor-el rolls over once more, staring up at the stars. ‘i love warm summer nights. and my sister. and staring at stars and feeling impossibly small. and bumping into strangers who feel like old friends.’
‘and what do you dream of?’
‘i dream of somebody i can share my love with. of raising a family and retiring my cape and feeling like i’ve finally done enough. and what about you?’
‘i dream…’ lena thinks. ‘i dream of being good enough.’
‘and what do you love?’
lena smiles. ‘I love bumping into strangers who feel like old friends,’ she quotes back to her.
zor-el grins, and then she sighs, pressing a finger to her ear. ‘copy that. be right there.’
‘gotta go save the world?’
‘unfortunately,’ she replies. ‘can i see you again, kieran? is that a strange thing to ask?’
lena shakes her head. ‘Not strange at all. Same time tomorrow night? i anticipate being awake again.’
‘it’s a date,’ she replies, before disappearing into the night.
lena knows that by tomorrow, zor-el will probably have figured out who she is, that the mask of anonymity she had been gifted tonight is all too temporary. but for now, she can’t bring herself to worry about that; maybe zor-el will be different. maybe lena has found her first friend in national city. the worries that have plagued her start to disappear, and instead, she stares at the stars. and for the first time in a long time, she allows herself to dream.