Work Text:
congratulations you’ve been
pretending to be human
so well
might even fool the neighbors
reading your sunday papers
I won’t tell
-
I folded the laundry in the basket, it just needs to be put away. I didn’t want to wake you up opening and closing drawers. There’s some EGGS-tra breakfast in the fridge if you’re hungry! I love you, I’ll see you tonight.
xx Kara
Lena smiles and leans her head back against the headboard of her and Kara’s bed, scooting herself up a little higher and switching off her alarm. She opens the drawer to her bedside table and reaches in blindly, pulling out a stack of similar morning notes left behind by her wonderful girlfriend, Kara Danvers. She moves the paperclip holding them together and tucks the new one inside, returning the stack to its home and pushing the duvet aside.
Most mornings for Lena start like this.
Fairly early into their relationship, Lena discovered Kara has a habit of waking up at inhuman hours, doing various household chores, and then going on a run just before heading to Catco, where she works as a reporter. Lena had tried to keep up with her at first, but 5AM is simply too early when you’re the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company.
Lena glances at the clock. 7:32AM. She groans and pushes herself out of bed.
Lena spends the first ten minutes of shaking off sleep putting away the laundry. She does it with an ease that could only come from the routine she’d build with Kara over the past several months since they moved in together. She finds pieces of Kara all over the place as she begins her daily motions of getting ready. Pieces that make her feel a little more grounded.
There are clothes hung beside hers, makeup items mingled together in their vanity, and photos all around the room, sure. But there’s also little things too. Like the extra towel Kara laid out for Lena, the crossword she left half-completed on the kitchen island, and the eggs-tra breakfast tucked away nicely for her.
Before Lena heads out, she finds the remaining words in the crossword. It’s a thing they do. Kara pulls puzzles out of the morning newspaper, starts them while she eats, then leaves them behind for Lena to continue. Lena has always found it cute.
The last thing Lena sees before she walks out the door is a sticky note pasted above the door handle that says: Last minute decision. I’m making pork roast tonight. Be home by 7! Love you!
Lena tucks the note into her pocket and carries on with her day, the smile never really leaving her face.
-
“Knock-knock!”
It’s enunciated with a cute little knocking pattern. Lena doesn’t even have to look up to know who’s standing in her office doorway, “Who’s there?”
“I didn’t have a punchline, I was just vocalizing the knock so you didn’t think I was some corporate sleazeball trying for your attention,” Kara explains, stepping into Lena’s office and closing the door behind her. If Kara were anyone else, Lena’s assistant would have been all over it, but Lena had put in a strict order long ago that Kara could come through whenever she wanted.
“One day, when I least expect it, you’re going to say ‘knock-knock’ before you enter and you’re going to be mad when I don’t say ‘who’s there?’ So I’m just making sure I’m always prepared,” Lena shoots back, her eyes glinting up at Kara playfully. She stays seated, watching Kara make her way over towards Lena’s desk. She steps around so they’re on the same side, leaning her hips against Lena’s desk. Her legs brush Lena’s in the chair. Lena reaches up to touch Kara, running a hand down her arm as she bends over to give Lena a gentle kiss.
“Smart woman,” Kara says as she pulls back, leaving a hand down to clasp Lena’s.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?” Lena says after a moment, fiddling with Kara’s fingers and suddenly wishing it wasn’t only 2PM so they could go home and cuddle. Maybe watch an episode of Shark Tank. Or two. Or three.
(Kara likes Shark Tank. It’s growing on Lena.)
“I missed you,” Kara pouts, “Things were getting so bleak at Catco. Slow day. Do you have any devices I can mess with and probably break?”
“Nothing you haven’t broken already,” Lena jokes. Kara chuckles and rolls her eyes despite being the one to set that up. “Is my mere presence not enough? You need to break something for this to be entertaining?”
“You’re not supposed to match my level of drama,” Kara’s pout deepens, “No, but for real, I just wanted to see you. Maybe see if you’d be down to get a pizza.”
“Didn’t you eat an hour ago? You sent me a picture of you with potstickers. Like, a lot of them,” Lena picks her phone up with her free hand and opens it to their messages, turning it around to show Kara the image like she hadn’t been the one to send it.
“Yeah, but you haven’t. And I want pizza, so…”
“How did you--” Lena cuts herself off, pursing her lips and staring up at Kara with a mild look of awe. “Is Jess messaging you about my wellbeing again?”
“No. I just have a sixth sense for these things, Lena,” Kara says. “The pizza is already on its way. So you can’t say ‘no.’ Also, if you did, I would say ‘no’ right back. So.”
Lena narrows her eyes. She’s mostly teasing, but they always do this. Lena always ends up melting and giving in long before Kara ever would. Maybe because she just loves Kara so much, and actively making a decision that would ultimately not be good for herself makes Kara upset. And Lena hates seeing Kara upset.
As predicted, she melts almost immediately. Still, she tries to act tough with her words, “You and your sixth sense…”
Kara does a joyful little clap and leans back down to kiss Lena once more. Lena can’t help the stupid grin that passes over her face.
-
“Do you think Apple would like dogs? Well, a dog.”
Lena glances up from her book, peering at Kara over her reading glasses. Kara is seated in the balcony chair opposite Lena’s, looking down at her phone with a dead-serious expression on her face. So serious that her little crinkle has formed between her brows. Lena folds her book closed, keeping her thumb between so she doesn’t lose her place. She takes her glasses off and tucks them with the book.
Apple is their white and grey siamese cat. He is currently lounging on the rug by their sliding glass balcony door, which sits ajar. Lena glances over at him, then looks back at Kara.
“Depends. Are you going to name this one ‘Orange’?”
“Har-har,” Kara glares playfully over at Lena, then continues looking through her phone, “I was just… I was on Facebook, and an ad for the shelter a couple blocks down came up. I was looking through the dogs available for adoption…”
“Kara…”
“There’s a german shepherd named Kindred who needs a home. They found him alone in National City Park, Lena. He’s the only dog that’s been at the shelter for over 6 months in the last two years!” Kara turns her phone around, showing Lena a current picture of Kindred. He’s a beautiful brown and black german shepherd, with some of the gentlest eyes Lena has ever seen on a dog. She immediately feels her gaze soften and she reaches to grab Kara’s phone, scrolling through the images. Her heart breaks when she sees some of the pictures from when he first arrived at the shelter.
Lena has to force herself to stop looking before she can get out what she says next, “That’s a pretty hefty commitment, Kara.”
“I thought you might say that, so I spent the past six minutes drafting a little pro-con list for you to look over,” Kara gestures for Lena to switch tabs on her phone. Lena sighs and does so, finding the notes app open. She reads over what Kara has typed.
Pros: He’s cute, he’ll have a home, he can come on runs with me, I could convince James to let me work from home after noon 3 out of 5 workdays so he won’t be alone
Cons: Fur, Apple might not like him, but who cares about his opinion anyway
Lena chuckles a bit, lowering Kara’s phone in her lap. When she looks back up, Kara is watching her with the exact same puppy-dog expression Kindred had in the first picture Kara showed her.
She sighs, “I swear, the love in your heart is overwhelming sometimes. He better not chew up any of my shoes.”
“ Yes! ” Kara cheers, pumping a fist excitedly. She stands, leaning downward and kissing Lena once, twice, three times. She does a little hop over Apple and dances her way into their apartment, “I’m gonna go get started on the paperwork!”
Lena chuckles again, shaking her head and bringing her reading glasses back up to put on her face. She smiles as she re-opens her book. What a wonder.
-
Knock, knock, knock.
Lena almost doesn’t hear it. It’s just past one on a Saturday, and she’s currently preoccupied looking over spreadsheets for her company. Work had slipped away from her yesterday afternoon, and she needs to catch up before Monday.
Then the knocks come again. Lena jots a note down so her thought doesn’t escape her and stands, padding over to the door quietly. She leans down to pet Kindred on her way, and he lifts his head to stare curiously at the door as Lena peeks through the peephole. Lena can’t help but think he has that same cautious, protective look Kara sometimes gets.
She’s relieved when she sees it’s only their neighbor, Mrs. Evans. She opens the door, hugging her cardigan tighter around herself and smiling warmly at her. Her wrinkled, kind face brightens significantly when she sees Lena. In her hands is a piece of tupperware filled with what looks like cookies.
“Lena! Oh, you look lovely today!” She says, reaching a hand out and touching Lena’s forearm instinctively in the way a mother might. Lena doesn’t have a great track record with her mother, but she’s always thought since the moment she met Mrs. Evans that she must be a great mom.
“So do you, Mrs. Evans,” Lena leans against the threshold. “What can I help you with?”
“I was wondering if your beautiful girlfriend is around? She helped Erik bring in our new furniture yesterday and I brought over some cookies to say thanks. They’re her favorite,” Ms. Evans holds the tupperware up higher, and Lena can see that they are indeed snickerdoodles.
“She’s with her sister this afternoon. I can pass on a message, though?” Lena accepts the container as Ms. Evans passes it over.
“Tell her she’s a good kid, and her kindness is always appreciated,” Ms. Evans nods, smiling in the way people tend to when talking about Kara. She seems to have this sort of magical glow about her. People always notice.
“I… will do that,” Lena nods, cracking open the box and taking a whiff. Her eyes close instinctually and her smile grows, “She’ll love these.”
“Bring her over for tea sometime next week, Lena dear,” She says as she starts turning to head back to her apartment. “Don’t be strangers!”
“Of course,” Lena agrees, closing the door gently behind her. She leans back on the door and pulls the lid off of the container completely, grabbing one of the cookies and taking a bite out of it. She moans, locking eyes with Kindred, who is still watching curiously. Through her chewing, she says, “If Kara’s enchanting energy means I get to eat Ms. Evan’s fabulous baking more often, I’m never letting her go.”
He huffs in agreement.
“She’s really got us all fooled, huh, Kindred?” Lena says as she comes back over to the kitchen island, setting the container down and grabbing a glass of water. “There’s no way she’s human. She’s so much more than that.”
-
Lena comes home late one night to find Kara curled up on the couch, Kindred’s head in her lap and Apple laying across the couch right behind her head. They’re all asleep, and it’s about the cutest thing Lena has ever seen. She sets her keys in the dish by the door and puts her things down as gently as she can, stepping around and pressing a gentle kiss to Kara’s forehead.
The glow of the fire casts a soft halo of light around Kara’s blonde hair. Her glasses have fallen down her nose. Lena reaches forward to pull them off, only breathing once she’s sure she hasn’t woken her. She busies herself cleaning up Kara’s empty plate from the coffee table.
It’s only when she gets into the kitchen that she sees the remnants of what Kara has cooked sitting on the stove, being kept warm. Lena lifts the lid off and eyeballs the pasta, veggies, and seared chicken with hungry eyes.
“I love you,” She whispers to an asleep Kara. “You’re an angel.”
-
By some miracle, Lena decides on a random Wednesday that she’s going to get up with Kara to help her with her usual morning chores, make breakfast with her, and… go on a run with her and Kindred.
Lena learns very quickly that she is not nearly in the shape Kara is in. She already knew this, of course. Kara’s physique is no less than perfect. Her arms are probably more solid than James Olsen, and he has weights set up in his office at Catco.
It doesn’t help that Lena is distracted almost the entire time. Kara is so attractive it actually hurts. It takes her breath away every day, and her body is unforgiving seeing Kara in morning sunlight, concentration on her face, and sweat dripping down over her inhuman muscles. You would think, somewhere in her genius brain, some chemical would be working to make sure Lena gets a little extra oxygen. But no. Why would it?
Lena is surprised when Kara doesn’t bring a leash. She hadn’t realized just the extent Kara had trained Kindred. But he stays by her side the entire time, never wavering.
They take a break around the second mile when Kara realizes Lena is struggling to keep up. She’s somehow breathing at a semi-normal rate.
Lena takes the opportunity to place both hands on either of her knees, hunching over and taking several deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. She repeats it like a mantra, like if she doesn’t think it she’ll forget what to do exactly. Kara is watching her, slightly amused.
“Is there… something I can… help you with… darling?” Lena gets out between breaths, looking up at her. A bit of sweat drips down her brow and rolls over her nose. Lena brings a hand up to wipe it away.
“No. Just happy you’re here with me,” Kara says. “So… when you said you’ve been getting steps on the treadmill at the private gym in your building, you meant…?”
“I…” Lena tries to think of an explanation. Literally any explanation. But she comes up blank. She simply hasn’t been doing that. She just eats salads for lunch and hopes that will be enough to keep her calories down. “You are… enhanced. How are you real? You’re sure they didn’t make you in a lab, or something?”
“If I was, would I have memory of it?” Kara gives Lena a cute but stupid, silly look as she asks.
Lena laughs breathily, “I guess not.”
Kara smiles, “Really, though. I’m happy you came with me. I like spending time with you in any capacity.”
Lena picks herself up, stretching her arms. She feels the familiar warmth of her love for Kara pass through her chest. It heats her up even more than the exertion of her body has been. She can feel herself blushing, though she’s sure it’s covered by the already cherry-tomato look of her face. Lena shrugs shyly, “I’m… happy I came too.”
-
but I know better than to
bring up the weather with you
and talk about the rain
after you fall asleep, I’ll
kiss both your eyes and cheeks, I
know we’re not the same
-
It’s the quiet moments that Lena thinks she enjoys the most.
She loves when they sit together in the living room, doing completely separate things and saying nothing to one another, but just existing in each other’s presence. She loves when Kara plays video games, and she can lay her head in Kara’s lap and watch. She loves cooking together, and doing the dishes, and cleaning together. She loves that they anticipate each other’s needs without asking, and that they do their best to fulfill those needs.
They don’t do small talk. Lena likes that about them.
Lena’s thoughts are disrupted as she feels Kara’s hand on her lower back, coming up behind her in her home office where she’d previously been zoned out staring at her computer screen. She briefly wonders if she can summon Kara with her thoughts.
She sees a cup of steaming hot tea get set down beside her, along with a plate of some of Lena’s favorite snacks. Lena’s mouth opens when she sees a scone. She reaches for it happily. She feels Kara kiss her temple, and she turns her head slightly to meet her in a kiss. Kara’s hand comes up to cup Lena’s cheek, her thumb smoothing over Lena’s skin in a way that makes Lena’s head spin.
Lena feels Kara pull back, but she keeps her eyes closed as she smiles. She feels Kara’s hand squeeze her shoulder before she steps back out of Lena’s office. Lena turns her head just in time to see those magnificent blue eyes smiling at her before the door closes.
It’s all in the quiet moments…
-
“No, I’m not saying that. I’m saying I think it’s… well, it’s not really an appropriate angle to take.”
Lena glances up at the first sign of distress in Kara’s voice. They’re at the dog park, Lena sitting on the bench reading Catco magazine (and actually, one of Kara’s articles) while Kara stands just a few feet ahead throwing a ball for Kindred. Lena sees him coming full-speed back with the ball in his mouth. Kara leans down to pick it up with her free hand, the other occupied with her cellphone.
“James, this isn’t something I want to debate,” Kara pauses, listening. Lena sits up a little straighter. “No, I know he’s a horrible person, but when I was starting out Snapper Carr nearly bit my head off for being biased. We are not Fox News, you know.”
Lena huffs out a laugh. Kara glances back at her with an expression that screams just kill me now.
“I’ll rewrite it for you if it’s going to be this much of a problem,” Kara continues after a few moments of silent listening. “Yeah. Yeah. Sounds good. Send me the draft and I’ll get started on that. No. I’m at the park with Lena. Yeah, yeah, I’ll tell her. Okay. I’m gonna hang up now. Yes, I will give Kindred a few pats from you. Okay. See you at game night tomorrow. Bye.”
Kara groans the second she tucks her phone away in her pocket. She reels her hand back and throws the ball that Kindred had dropped at her feet. He immediately launches off in the direction it goes.
As she waits for him to come back she turns around. Lena smiles as supportively as she can, “Work things?”
“ Work things, ” Kara sighs, “I think James is a little too close to this whole Max Lord thing. I can’t go into too much detail, but basically Max smashed his camera for being a little too nosey.” She comes and sits down beside Lena, her arm settling behind Lena’s back. Lena leans into her. She pauses and reaches down as Kindred comes back around with the ball in his mouth. Kara grabs it and holds it in the air, and he watches intently before she throws it in a different direction.
“Forgetting his reporting fundamentals, huh?” Lena comments.
“ Yeah, ” She sighs again, “Oh, he, uh, wanted me to tell you he’s going to beat you at virtual chess one of these days. As if .”
“As if, ” Lena agrees, reaching a hand out and giving Kara’s thigh a reassuring squeeze, “Don’t let yourself get worked up. You’re doing the best you can, darling.”
Kara tucks her face into Lena’s shoulder, “Sometimes I think you’re the only thing in my life that fully makes sense. You know?”
Lena tilts her chin down to look at Kara, snuggling in a little tighter, “I know.”
-
Kara bends over slightly, her hands tucked in her coat pockets as she eyes the price tag on a blender. Theirs broke last night when Lena was trying to make them milkshakes.
She comes back up, looking over at Lena quizzically, “On the one hand, we can get the same exact one we had before. On the other hand,” She does a side-step over to a rather large blender, that’s at least an inch wider on each side, “ This one has, like, ten different buttons. You can blend, grate, grind, crush, or liquefy!”
“You’re very excited about this blender.”
Kara nods, “Look at it! It even fits with your kitchen theme.”
“Does it now?”
“Yeah, absolutely. White goes with everything,” Kara picks it up. She makes a face as she hugs it to her chest, beginning to guide Lena out of the aisle, “Do you think I’m becoming my mother? You can be honest.”
“Even if you are, Eliza is lovely,” Lena says.
“You say that now, but pretty soon I’m going to ask you if we can decorate our bathroom with a beach theme,” Kara says, looping one of her arms with Lena’s as they walk to the front of the store.
“You’re not serious, are you?” Lena asks as they step into the line. Kara eyeballs the candy there and scoops up a snickers bar.
“I dunno, ” Kara says in a sing-song voice. “Wanna get ice cream before we go home? I’ll buy.” Lena smiles.
Lena thinks that Kara Danvers could turn anything into an adventure.
“How many articles do you think I’ll write before I die?” Kara asks twenty minutes later when they’re exiting the shop, each with a cone of their favorite flavors. “I think a thousand. I hope a thousand.”
“What brought this on?” Lena asks, pulling a chair out for Kara at one of the outdoor tables before taking the seat right across from her. She feels Kara’s leg brush against her own and smiles instinctually as a comforting warmth enters her chest.
“Blenders,” Kara says, taking an extra large lick of chocolate.
“Blenders?”
“I’m just thinking about life. We just wasted an afternoon shopping for a blender,” Kara frowns, “How much time do you think we lose doing silly things like that? How many people could I have helped with that time?”
“I think you’re forgetting that you have to take care of yourself too, Kara. And, you know, it wasn’t a total waste. I got to spend some time with you,” Lena reaches across the table to rest a hand on Kara’s forearm, giving a gentle squeeze. “You’ve helped so many people. You help me every day.”
“You are… so right,” Kara breathes out, seemingly letting a little extra weight off her shoulders. “I’m too young to have an existential crisis. And I’m eating ice cream, so that should basically cancel it out.”
Lena chuckles, “That logic is sound to me.”
With a goofy grin on her face Kara says, “You’re a big-name science lady, so if you think it’s sound, then I believe it, too.”
-
“If you could be any type of animal, what would you be?”
Lena isn’t sure how long Kara has been lying beside her in the dark, completely awake. All she knows is that she’s been facing away watching the time slip by for the past ten minutes, and Kara’s voice is a welcoming halt to the silence of the room.
Lena rolls over, wrapping an arm around Kara’s waist and snuggling into her. She feels Kara’s body curve to welcome hers. Lena takes a moment to consider her question, “Anything?”
“Anything.”
“Why are you awake thinking about this at…” Lena glances back at the clock, “3:42AM? And how did you know I was awake?”
“I had a dream that I was a golden retriever,” Kara says, “And I just know.”
“Hm,” Lena hums, pressing her nose into Kara’s shoulder. She breathes in, smelling Kara’s shampoo and something sweet she can’t quite identify. She closes her eyes as she takes it in, “I think if I had a choice in the matter I’d be something cool. Like a leopard.”
“Of course you pick a predatory animal,” Kara tsks.
Lena scoffs, jokingly offended, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that you don’t take shit from anyone,” Kara says.
Lena hums again. It’s quiet for a moment. Lena hears Kindred in the next room get up and move around his bed, his collar jingling with the movement. “So… what happened in your golden retriever dream?”
“It’s stupid.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Ugh. Fine. I dreamed I was up for adoption and you chose another dog over me,” She sounds sad as she says it, and regretful, like she’s sorry her brain ever came up with the notion that Lena would choose someone else over her. Like it’s her fault for having the fear.
“What kind of dog were you up against?”
“A stinkin’ dachshund.”
“What? Lame,” Lena tsks, “Your subconscious clearly doesn’t know me that well. I’m a big dog person, through and through.”
She can feel Kara’s brighter-than-sun smile, even through the darkness surrounding them.
-
The next week is rough for Lena.
Work is an absolute shitshow. She isn’t sure if it’s always like that, or if the fact that her mother rolled into town is simply giving her a far different perspective. Every time she comes to town, everything around Lena seems to fall apart at the seams. Her mother has hardly ever approved of anything in her life. It’s done a number to Lena’s confidence and self-assurance.
Kara has helped her rebuild in the years they’ve been together. Lena has since improved significantly. But part of her always retracts in towards the woman she was when her only support system was the AI she developed, Hope.
Even one of Lena’s biggest sources of pride--her loving relationship with Kara--gets bullets shot at it every time her mother comes to visit. Lena thinks Kara must be bulletproof, because if she’s ever been bothered by Lena’s mother’s rude, blatant comments, she’s never shown it. It’s only a little more evidence aiding Lena’s argument that Kara is not human.
When Lena’s mother leaves at the end of the week, Lena feels drained but relieved. It’s the evening of the day she drops her mother off at the airport that she finally feels like she can breathe again. She sets her bag down as she comes in from work, letting out a sigh and leaning back against the door.
“Kara?” She says after a moment, pushing herself up and stepping further into the living room. Kindred hops up from the couch and comes to her side, reaching his head up. Lena scratches behind his ears, smiling as his tail wags happily.
There isn’t a response. Lena’s eyes are drawn to the kitchen counter, where a lot of items that were not there when Lena left sit, taking up almost the entire span of the counter. She feels her chest expand the closer she gets.
Flowers. Lena’s favorite candies. Cupcakes. A spread of chinese food from Lena’s favorite chinese place. And a homemade card tented at the front, with Lena’s name in Kara’s handwriting written across the front. There’s a small stick figure depiction of her and Kara that makes Lena snort. She picks it up and opens it.
For my beautiful girlfriend,
This by no means makes up for the week I know you’ve had, but I hope it can be the kick-off point for a better week to come. I’ll probably be over at Ms. Evans helping her fix her computer when you get home, but I’ll be back shortly. Until then, dig in! :)
xx Kara
-
you’re an angel
in disguise
you’re an angel
in my eyes
-
Lena remembers the day she met Kara Danvers like it was yesterday.
She was sitting at her desk. She’d received notice that Kara Danvers of Catco wanted to stop by for a brief interview. Lena had been new to town, having taken over her late brother’s company, Luthor Corp (which she’d immediately renamed “LCorp”). Kara had been there to take a statement on how Lena planned to run the company. Their interaction was short and sweet. Kara hadn’t wasted time with small talk.
She’d looked so beautiful. The light from Lena’s wall of windows behind her desk had made her glow in a way that was entirely too angelic.
(Kara still maintains that angelic glow today, even though Lena has since seen her in much darker settings.)
Lena had stared when Kara walked in. She’d stood at the speed of light to welcome Kara into her office with a firm handshake. She’d feigned confidence, but she’s sure she’s never said the world ‘um’ more than she did throughout that interaction.
Lena couldn’t describe the feeling she’d felt when Kara had left. She still can’t. She’d never met a woman who had so quickly grasped her interest. And then, of course, when Kara’s article came out… Lena’s mild obsession only grew.
It seemed it wasn’t just her. Kara had started popping by her office after that, making excuse after excuse on reasons to show up. It started with, “Oh, I just wanted to stop by and make sure you liked the article.” Then it became, “I was in the area and thought I’d come say hi.” Lena had pushed it back in her mind, convincing herself it was all because a good reporter keeps in touch with their sources, and Kara is a good reporter. But then it turned into, “I just wanted to see you.”
...It turned into Kara, clumsy and nervous, nearly knocking a vase off Lena’s desk when she’d asked if Lena wanted to go on a date. It turned into Kara coming to Lena’s office after work to keep her company. It turned into Kara bringing lunch, and makeout sessions on Lena’s office couch, and Lena visiting Catco in the middle of the afternoon just to say hi, and Kara sending flowers and Lena sending them back, and then…
Well, then… Lena was in love.
Lena is one with the feeling of falling at this point. For her, it had started with quick heartbeats, and unsure touching, and getting-to-know-you, and moments of quiet. It had built into familiarity, and deeper conversations, and “just because” moments. It had continued into comfort, and family, and love. It became never-ending.
Lena is still falling. Lena will always be falling.
Meeting Kara Danvers was a new, welcomed, beautiful experience. But getting to love Kara Danvers more and more with each passing day is Lena’s favorite thing in the world.
-
I bought a house to live in
but you’re the home I’m missing
I know
nothing good lasts forever
but nights with you are better
so go slow
-
“Do you think we’ll move to the suburbs when we get married?”
Kara says it so casually that Lena almost doesn’t think twice about it. Almost.
She chokes on her coffee when it clicks. She keeps it subtle, but there’s still a moment where she feels her breath hitch as she comes to terms with Kara’s words. When we get married. When. Not if.
Kara is watching her. Lena sets her crossword down on the table between them and looks out across the city. It’s a quiet Sunday afternoon, perhaps the perfect time to have this conversation. A gentle breeze brushes by, and Lena takes a breath.
“Do you want to?” Lena phrases the question in such a way that it makes Kara pause to consider which want Lena is talking about; getting married, or moving to the suburbs.
Kara avoids the real question of marriage floating through Lena’s mind (or she just doesn’t notice, but Kara always notices these kinds of things), “It would make getting to work for both of us a little more difficult. But I think it would be nice for Kindred to have a place to run around whenever he wants. We could get a little doggy door and train him,” She smiles, the sun glinting on her perfect teeth.
Lena can sense it. Kindred isn’t the only thing she’s thinking about. She looks out, spotting her building in the distance. Part of her has always believed a family is impossible. She saw the way her family fell apart over the years, starting with the loss of her father and building into something she’d never imagined. She remembers every moment she’s ever questioned her mother’s love for her. Starting a family of her own has always felt out of the question.
But Kara… Kara is nothing like any of the people Lena ever thought she would end up with.
She inhales slowly, “And… there’s always kids.”
Kara’s smile widens and they both turn to look at one another at the same time. Lena returns her smile, trying to put every ounce of love she’s ever felt and every ounce of love she feels growing more and more, day by day, into it.
The second Lena opens that gate, Kara runs right into it, “Right, right. You bring up a point I absolutely hadn’t even thought about. Raising children in a city is hard. And nerve-wracking! Have you seen Sam? That woman is losing hair at a rapid rate stressing over Ruby. I mean, of course I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it’d certainly be easier to raise children in the suburbs. And there’s loads of options that are only a short car ride from both our workplaces. And Alex, for that matter. Alex would be heartbroken if we were too far away. She really wants to be the cool aunt--”
Lena chuckles, “Kara?”
“...M-hmm?”
“We’ve got plenty of time.”
-
“That’s a wonderful choice. Do you like it?”
Lena glances up from the case she’d been staring into for probably just over two minutes now. A woman, probably a foot or so shorter than her with brown eyes and a knock-off Prada suit, stands just on the other side of the glass case, watching her with a polite smile. Lena looks back down, “Maybe. I don’t know.”
The ring is a little dramatic. It has more diamonds on it than Lena could possibly count without getting one of her microscopes out. And it costs more than one of Lena’s real Prada suits.
“I can see on your face that this isn’t the right ring for whoever you’re shopping for,” The woman squints her eyes at Lena, stepping away and peering into another case. Lena looks up curiously and follows behind her.
“Is that so?”
“Tell me about your partner,” The woman pulls a tray of rings out and starts looking between them and Lena with a quizzical look, like she’s about to read Lena and her words for filth. Lena puffs out a short breath and lets her mind drift to Kara.
“She’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever met,” Lena starts, “You know when you see someone and you just think, ‘wow, it doesn’t get better than this’? That’s what I feel when I’m around her.”
“M-hmm,” The woman hums, reaching towards a ring and then changing her mind. “Can I see a picture?”
Lena has never been ring shopping, but she supposes this kind of thing must be normal. And besides, she never wastes an opportunity to show off Kara. She pulls out her phone and flashes her lockscreen; a photo of Lena and Kara from a few months ago. In it, Lena is latched onto Kara’s back, and both of them are grinning as Kara carries her towards whatever is behind the camera. The woman smiles as she looks down at it and returns to the rings.
She thinks for another moment before removing one, offering it over to Lena to look at. Lena takes it in her hand slowly, spinning it around. It’s a beautiful silver piece, with a simple diamond in the center and a small vine design along the band. It almost brings Lena to tears as she looks at it and tries to imagine it on Kara’s finger.
“How did you…?”
“I have my ways,” The woman tucks the rest of the rings away, “You make a gorgeous couple, by the way.”
“Thank you,” Lena’s attention is mostly focused on the ring at this point. She doesn’t even give a shit about price; not that it would have been a problem regardless. She simply cannot take her eyes off it. “She’s all I’ve ever wanted, you know?”
“I can’t say that I really do, but I can say that I’ve seen a lot of people come and go through here, and it’s rare that I see someone who has a glint in their eyes like the one I see in yours,” The woman guides her to a counter with a register. “And people with that glint almost always don’t need anything flashy. They usually just need each other.”
“Kara is a treasure,” Lena says. “I was scared for a little bit. To make this shopping trip, I mean. But looking at this ring… I just can’t stop thinking about how it will feel to put it on her.”
“That’s how you know it’s the one.”
“...She is the one.”
-
Lena has never been able to hold onto something good before. All her life, everything that has ever meant something to her has faded away. Sometimes abruptly, sometimes with a little warning. It all started with her father passing when she was twelve. Everything else started to crumble after that. Lena struggled to maintain any and all relationships outside of her brother, Lex. Then he passed, too. The only things she could rely on were herself and her company.
So when Kara Danvers stepped into her life, at first she was a little skeptical. It was originally an inconvenience to Lena when she’d discovered that Kara has this magnetic drawl about her that Lena simply couldn’t stay away from. Kara kept coming back, again and again, and suddenly Lena was forgetting that she’d been hiding behind multiple barriers for so long, tensed with her weapons drawn. Suddenly, Lena didn’t feel the need to push someone away.
A year went by. Two years. And now, only a few nights before their three year anniversary, Lena is coming to terms with just how far she’s come. She’s accepting the idea that Kara Danvers is in her life for good.
But what does that mean, really? ‘For good’? The word good has always had a negative connotation in Lena’s mind. Lena isn’t allowed to have good things. The universe always made sure of that.
Lena could spend her time with Kara dreading. She could run through a million different ways she could lose Kara in an instant. But… Kara has never made Lena feel like she’s about to lose her. All Lena knows anymore is that any moment with Kara is a blessing.
Nothing good lasts forever, it’s true. Lena has heard it before. It’s become a mantra for her. But she and Kara have found ways around things that seem inevitable before. Kara has taught Lena how to see the true good in things.
And no matter what happens, Lena will always be grateful for that.
-
“Do you know how long three years is?” Kara says to Lena, her legs draped across Lena’s lap on their living room couch. She’s curled up fairly close to Lena, with Kindred right beside her. She scratches his head as she talks, “One thousand and ninety-five days. Think about how many minutes that is!”
It’s the eve of their three-year anniversary. In fact, technically, that starts in twenty-two minutes, at midnight. Lena has Kara’s gift stowed away in the side table to her right just in case Kara decides she wants to exchange gifts immediately at midnight.
“ So many,” Lena smiles playfully, tilting her head. She reaches a hand over to play with Kara’s hair absentmindedly, much like Kara is with Kindred.
“I couldn’t imagine spending any of that time beside anyone else,” Kara sighs happily, “Has it been 11:38 for the past ten minutes? Is your clock frozen?”
“...Would you like to exchange gifts now, Kara?” Lena asks instead of offering up a cute-sy, sarcastic response.
“I’m so glad you thought of that completely on your own. And not because you know me so well and knew that was exactly what I was thinking,” Kara immediately hops up off the couch, startling Kindred and Lena a bit. She sprints off to the bedroom. Lena giggles, rolls her eyes, and reaches into the drawer beside her to pull out her gift.
Almost the second her hands touch the little box, the nerves she’d been convincing herself were completely absent begin to rise in her chest. She gulps down a breath and tucks it into her pocket.
Thoughts like ‘should I have found a more romantic moment?’ and ‘maybe I should have done it at that restaurant’ pop into her mind, but she tries her best to ignore it. She reminds herself that Kara Danvers isn’t a flashy woman, and she doesn’t need over-the-top schemes, or crazy romantic plans.
“I want you to open first,” Kara says from behind as she skips happily back into the room. Lena quickly tucks the small box beside her so Kara can’t quite see it. She smiles as Kara steps back around, sitting down closely beside Lena and offering a small bag with cute, frilled-up blue tissue paper.
“A turn of events,” Lena says, trying her best to breathe normally. She’s always thought Kara could, like… hear her heartbeat, or something. She always tends to know when something is wrong with Lena. “You usually always want to go first.”
“You’re basing that off of two anniversaries. As a scientist, you should know that isn’t enough to have proper data to analyze.”
“Kara, darling, your memory seems to be a little selective right now. Are you forgetting about all the birthdays, holidays, and mid-year anniversaries?” Lena raises a brow, her hand paused over the tissue paper.
“I was really hoping you would forget about that long enough for me to convince you I’m right,” Kara says, then pats Lena’s leg gently, “C’mon, open it!”
Lena rolls her eyes teasingly and starts to pull out the tissue paper, setting it aside carefully. She peers into the bag, pulling out a thin rectangle and immediately figuring out it’s a picture frame of some kind. Lena sets the bag aside and flips the frame around in her hands so she can take a look at what’s inside.
In the image, Lena and Kara are sitting on Kara’s old couch in her apartment before they moved in together. Lena has both her arms wrapped around Kara’s waist, and Kara is sitting in her lap looking down at her like she’s the only thing in the entire universe. Lena has that same look in her eyes reflected as she looks up at Kara, the both of them smiling.
“Do you remember that day?” Kara asks after Lena stares at it for a moment in silent shock, feeling transported back to that moment.
“It was a week after our first date. After you asked me to be your girlfriend,” Lena says quietly. “Who… who took this?”
“Alex did, without either of us knowing. She sent it to me a week ago,” Kara says, watching Lena stare down. Lena runs a finger over the glass, admiring Kara’s smile. “I thought it was beautiful. Because we didn’t say ‘I love you’ until almost a year after that, and yet it’s so obvious that we did. Even if we might not have known it yet.”
Lena looks up at Kara, their gazes matching. She can feel tears building up in her eyes, spilling over with the smile she can’t control.
“I guess I just… I thought you might like this. I know it’s not much, but…”
Lena leans forward, cutting Kara off with a kiss. Even after three years, Kara still lets out a little surprised sound before leaning into it, one of her arms wrapping around Lena’s shoulders and pulling her closer.
After a moment they both pause, pressing their foreheads together and smiling just as stupidly and as cutely as they did in the beginning. Lena sets the frame aside, staying in place, and reaches for the small box at her side. She whispers, “Do you know how much I love you?”
“Enough to get weepy over a picture of us,” Kara teases, despite looking a little emotional herself. She doesn’t notice as Lena opens the little box, the ring now exposed. They keep their gazes locked together as they pull back a bit.
“Kara,” Lena starts, “You make it easier for me to breathe. ”
Kara smiles, blue eyes glowing with so much love they almost look unnaturally bright. But they’re still so, so beautiful. Her brow crinkle forms the longer she looks at Lena so softly, and she looks so gorgeous that Lena could cry (again).
“I’ve never had a love like that,” She continues, “I’ve never looked up at someone doing something so bland like folding laundry and thought, ‘wow, what an angel.’ Not until I met you. And I just know I’m never going to find something like this again. Not that I’d want to, anyway…”
It’s then that Kara glances down. A light catches on the ring and it sparkles, drawing Kara’s attention away from Lena’s eyes. She gasps when she sees it and looks back up at Lena quickly, frozen with shock.
“I know this must come as a surprise. Even after that conversation we had a few weeks ago,” Lena smiles, “But it got me thinking. You’re unreal to me. The fact that we’re even sitting here together right now is unbelievable. Why would I wait if I’ve already found the person who takes my breath away every day, and simultaneously makes it easier to find my footing and breathe?
“All that being said… Will you marry me, Kara Danvers?”
-
I never knew I needed you
before I found you for the first time
I’m out of step, I’m off my feet
I’m waking up inside a dream
teach me how to fly
-
The stack of catalogues on Lena’s office desk is honestly taller than any pile of work she’s ever had in a day. And that’s fairly impressive, because most of Lena’s stacks are so tall that her assistant has to peer around them.
“I know vanilla is, like, a traditional wedding cake flavor, but I think I might die if we don’t have chocolate. At the minimum, double chocolate,” Kara says, seated across from Lena with one foot draped up over the seat beside her own. She’s flipping through a cake catalogue. “And I want a cool little wife and wife thing on top. I was thinking we get it custom-made, so you’re carrying me bridal-style and I’m draped over dramatically.”
She mimics the pose, bringing her other leg up so she’s curled up like she would be if she were being carried by Lena bridal-style. She tosses her head back and brings a hand up, letting out a dramatic gasp like she’s about to faint or something. Lena can’t help but snort.
“If that’s what you want, darling, I’m sure we could make it happen,” Lena looks back down at the catalogue in front of her, staring at a lovely white suit with a lace pattern that has her name written all over it.
“Can Kindred be the flower boy?”
“What about Ruby?”
“They could go together!” Kara gasps, sitting up straight, “Imagine! He’s trained for off-leash walks, so it wouldn’t be hard. He could get a little bowtie!”
“We’d need to make sure the petals aren’t toxic in case he decides to be a nuisance,” Lena points out.
“Psh, he knows not to eat flowers,” Lena gives her a pointed look. “Oh, so because he ate a leaf off your plants on the balcony one time he can never be trusted with flora again?”
“That happened last week, Kara.”
“He’s a quick learner! I’ll train him,” Kara puffs her chest a bit, “I’ll cry if he can’t come to the wedding, Lena. Don’t think I won’t.”
“What’s Apple going to do? Are you giving him a little bowtie too?”
“ Aw, ” Kara coos, “Of course. He can be the ring-bearer.”
“And how do you plan on pulling that one off?”
“He’s a simple cat. We just have to make sure Alex has treats on her,” Kara shrugs. Lena laughs.
“I love you,” Lena says without thinking about it.
Kara grins, “I love you, too.”
-
you’re an angel
in disguise
you’re an angel
in my eyes
you’re an angel
in my eyes
you’re an angel
are you mine, mine, mine
tonight?
tonight
tonight, tonight