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Lena Luthor didn’t believe in love. She didn’t believe in soulmates either. Even thou everyone around her had one and It was scientifically proven they existed, she still didn’t believe there was someone who could love her.
Ever since she was adopted by the Luthors, she was constantly told that love wasn’t real. Her adoptive mother always reminded her that love was a weakness. Feelings were for fools. Lena had to be better. She had to act like a Luthor. Hold her head high and never feel a thing. So the green-eyed girl did as she was told. She banished any thoughts about love from her mind and tried her best to be accepted by her new family, even thou it was never enough. She still persisted. If she could not have romantic love, she could at least have familial.
She remembered how excited Lex was when he finally got his. He came bursting in her room before the sun even rose over the horizon. At first, the dark-haired girl didn’t even understand what he was so happy about. Sure he had a soulmate, someone who would love him unconditionally and always be there for him, but wasn’t he supposed to give up on love as she did. Then again, Lena reminded herself that Lillian always treated them differently. Lex was always her favourite. The golden boy. He could never do anything wrong. The young girl was always in his shadow. She was never good enough.
Everybody was supposed to get their mark on their sixteenth birthday. Your soulmate’s initials appeared tattoed on your wrist. Even after everything her adoptive mother had said she still hoped. The emerald-eyed girl still believed that when she finally turns sixteen a set of initials will appear on her hand and prove that there is someone out there for her. To be with her and to love her. Someone who she could love. Her hope, however, disappeared the day she turned sixteen. Instead of two letters, marking her wrist, there were two strange symbols she could not read. At first, she thought that they were written on another language but after countless hours of searching everywhere she could, she just gave up. She accepted that there was no soulmate for her. No one was ever going to love her. She wasn’t good enough to be loved.
As she was getting older, she was slowly coming to terms with the fact that she was destined to be alone. Fully accepting that, however, wasn’t an easy task even for her. Sure she was a Luthor and Luthors were emotionless. They stayed above things such as love. That didn’t make the pain any less. Every time she saw a couple walking by, holding hands. Every time someone showed her their mark, wondering who their chosen one was. All of these things were reminders that she was different and alone. There wasn’t a chance for her to have a romantic partner. Instead of wasting her time, trying to find a soulmate who most likely didn’t exist, she decided to devote her efforts somewhere else. Spending her time studying seemed like the logical option. If she could not find love, she was going to use her intellect to help others. The green-eyed genius managed to get all three of her degrees without any trouble. In fact, it was easy for her, but as she was staring at them, hanging on her apartment wall she was yet again reminded of the lonely life she was living.
The world kept changing around her. It continued to evolve. Humans made new discoveries every day. That was probably why she allowed herself to hope. The day the man, who called himself “Superman”, revealed himself to the world, she started to hope again. Suddenly, an enormous amount of other intelligent life forms existed. It wasn’t that the thought of aliens hasn’t occurred to her before. On the contrary, the raven-haired woman has spent countless nights theorising about other species and other languages, still unknown to humans. However, all of these thoughts remained just that, theories. Now, her hope burned stronger than ever. There was still a chance that she wasn’t alone.
Destiny, however, quickly proved her wrong. It seemed like every time she allowed herself to hope, tragedy always struck. And every time, worse than before. This time it was in the form of her brother going mad and trying to kill The Man of Steel. Looking back, she should have seen it coming. The signs were obvious. Her brother, the only person who has always been there for her, had committed crimes that killed thousands of people and injured countless others. She should have stopped him. She could have done more to prevent this from happening but she was too busy trying to find someone who didn’t exist. This was her punishment. The universe was punishing her for thinking that there was someone for her. She was meant to be alone and it wasn’t going to change.
The aftermath of her brother’s crimes wasn’t pretty at all. Many were killed and even more injured. Her family name, once respected, was now shamed. Everyone she knew abandoned her almost immediately. She thought that at least she could still count on her adoptive mother to be there for her. However, Lillian only wanted to manipulate and use her. She did not care for Lena’s feelings. All she cared about was that her daughter was now in charge of the family’s company. All she wanted was money to fund her projects and research. Once Lena realised this, she stopped contact with her mother. Lena may be young and alone, but she wasn’t going to let anyone use her and her company’s resources. She was determined to turn the company into a force for good. Her goal was to rewrite her family’s mistakes and prove that not all Luthors were evil after all.
Meeting Kara Danvers was not something she planned nor anticipated. She had to give an interview after yet another attempt at her life. Her brother had tried to assassinate her again, even thou he was locked in prison. It seemed like being locked behind bars wasn’t going to stop him from trying. She should feel sad, knowing that the person she once cared for is sending assassins after her but she knows better. Lex never cared, he never loved her. As her interview began, Lena noticed that instead of only one reporter, this time there were two. Alongside Clark Kent, there was a blonde-haired woman with the brightest blue eyes she has ever seen. The woman didn’t look like a reporter, she kept silent during the interview. That didn’t stop Lena from being curious. The green-eyed girl wanted to know more about her. Wanted to know what her voice sounded like, what were her goals, what was her favourite colour, she wanted to know everything about her. The young Luthor felt like she was being compelled to learn more about this mysterious woman. Realising that she hadn’t even heard the reporter’s last question, she ignored the man and turned towards the blonde woman.
“And who are you exactly?” She asked raising an eyebrow.
“I….I am Kara Danvers. I’m not a reporter, I’m just tagging along”, said the blue-eyed girl.
Lena thought that she saw the woman blush under her gaze. The young genius found the woman adorable. She suddenly wanted to talk to her, hug her and spend every moment with her. However, Lena knew better. She knew she couldn’t let herself hope, she shouldn’t. Every time she allowed herself to hope something bad happened. The green-eyed girl couldn’t allow this to happen. Not when she was so close to finally making her company a force for good. To have the chance to help others. So she sped up the interview, saying she was busy and forced the thoughts about Kara Danvers out of her mind.
Fate, however, seemed to have other plans for her. Her second encounter with the blonde woman was after they had published the most recent article about L-Corp. The entire article praised Lena and her company and showed her in a new light. It proved that she was different from her brother. To say Lena was surprised was an understatement. The reporter went even as far as apologising about judging her. The genius, however, was too focused on the woman, accompanying him. This time she decided that she is just going to follow her heart. Soulmates or not Lena didn’t care. She was willing to risk getting hurt if it meant spending more time with Kara. When the end of their second conversation came, the raven-haired woman spoke, with hope in her voice.
“I hope this isn’t the last time we talk”
“I hope not either” responded the blue-eyed woman with determination.
After that meeting, Lena continued to spend more time with Kara. At first, it started as interviews but eventually, it turned into lunches and movie nights. The two women were growing closer and closer. At one point, Kara had even told Lena her biggest secret. She had revealed that she was Supergirl. The young genius felt amazed by the amount of trust the blonde was showing her. All her life she has been judged based on her last name. For better or for worse she was a Luthor. None of that seemed to matter to Kara. She had decided that Lena was good and her last name didn’t matter. Afterwards, the two of them talked for hours about everything and nothing. Lena hesitantly asked the superhero about her home planet and was incredibly happy when Kara started talking. The blonde told her everything about her planet and her culture. She even went as far as explaining about their customs regarding soulmates. On Krypton, there weren’t things like soulmate marks. There was a machine that predicted your perfect partner when you turn eighteen. However, as Kara wasn’t old enough when her home was destroyed she believed that she was destined to be alone. Lena instantly hugged the blue-eyed hero, knowing how much it hurt to be alone. It never occurred to either of them that they weren’t as alone as they thought.
One night they were having dinner in Lena’s office when the topic of soulmates was brought up again. The green-eyed girl was instantly filled with sadness and eventually, she said she didn’t have one. Kara noticed and quickly reassured her.
“Every human has a soulmate, Lena”. She said determinedly.
“Well, I don’t. All I have are two symbols, written in a language I could never understand. Look, can we just forget about it?” finished the younger woman, not wanting to talk about this anymore.
“Can I at least see them? Maybe I can translate them. After all, I do speak several alien languages.” replied the Kryptonian.
“Fine but don’t get your hopes up. It never ends well.” Lena said pessimistically.
Taking a closer look, Kara couldn’t believe her eyes. There, written on Lena’s wrist, two Kryptonian symbols were displayed. They weren’t just any symbols, those were the hero’s initials. This could not be happening. She wasn’t supposed to have a soulmate. Her partner, whoever they were, died with the rest of her planet. Did this mean that Lena was her soulmate? She has definitely felt attraction towards the younger woman but has never acted on her feelings. She hasn’t dared intervene with Lena’s destiny and stop her from being with her perfect partner. This, however, could truly change things between them and Kara was terrified. She was afraid that her friend was going to reject her and cut all contact with her. Losing Lena was something the hero wasn’t capable of surviving. She has lived through a lot of tragedies but losing her best friend was something she couldn’t survive. Noticing Kara’s reaction but still unaware of her inner conflict Lena finally spoke up, with a hint of hope in her voice.
“Do you know what it means?”
“Yeah, I...I think I do but I don’t think you are going to like it” the hero answered hesitantly. Gathering up all the courage she had, the blonde continued speaking. “The symbols on your arm aren’t of Earth origin. They are written in Kryptonese. My home planet’s native language. They… they show my initials…..”.
After hearing this Lena was stunned. Silence fell over the room as both women considered what this new information meant. The brunette was in shock. Moments ago she thought that she was destined to be alone. She was afraid to believe that it was true. Too afraid of what the hero would think of her. Sure she had accepted being her friend but being her soulmate was completely different. Lena was a Luthor after all. She was unlovable. Being in shock felt like an appropriate reaction. After she eventually got over the surprise, she considered what this new development could mean for both of them. Remembering her first interactions with Kara, a lot made sense. Lena had felt intrigued about who the blonde was. She had also trusted her almost instantly, something she never did with anyone. Of course, she had also noticed how beautiful her friend was. But until today, that was all Kara was. She was just her loyal, supportive friend. The dark-haired woman hesitated for another second before trying to get the hero’s attention.
“Kara...” Lena’s voice was soft and gentle as she didn’t want to scare the blonde away. However, the Kryptonian didn’t even react. She was too stuck in her thoughts to focus on anything else. She didn’t dare to look her in the eyes. The hero was too afraid that there is going to be rejection in her best friend’s eyes. Noticing that Kara didn’t even look towards her, Lena moved so she was standing directly in front of the hero and gently lifted her chin. When she was certain that Kara was listening she started speaking.
“You have nothing to be ashamed of. You have done nothing wrong. This isn’t a bad thing. In fact, I believe it can become something amazing”.
The Kryptonian couldn’t believe her ears. Not only did she have a soulmate but her soulmate was the one and only Lena Luthor. Her brilliant, gorgeous perfect friend was her true partner. Moreover, she wasn’t disgusted with her and was even willing to explore this new discovery further.
“You...you want this to happen. You want to try and be more than friends?” uncertainly asked the blue-eyed woman.
Taking in the sight in front of her, Lena considered her next actions very carefully. She couldn’t mess this up, not right now. Not when Kara was so fragile and vulnerable. She got closer to the blonde and then slowly leaned towards her. The kiss was slow and one-sided at first. Lena was concerned that she made a mistake kissing the hero. She was quickly proven wrong when Kara returned the kiss. Sharing such an intimated moment felt amazing for both of them. They continued kissing until they were both out of breath, then rested their foreheads together.
“Does this answer your question, darling?” Lena asked, teasingly
Still blushing the Kryptonian happily answered “Definitely”.
“Does this mean you are joining me tomorrow night for dinner?”
“Yes, I would love that” replyed the excited Kryptonian
“Good”, said the young genius and then kissed the blonde again.