Work Text:
Kieran emerged from the water and flew up to hover with his sister. She looked remarkably like Jeju at that moment her dark brown hair flowing gently in the breeze with the family crest standing out on her white t-shirt. Together they looked at the giant alien fish that was now lying in the water clearly in a bad way.
“Thanks for the rescue,” Kieran said smiling to his twin.
She returned the smile.
“Anytime.”
“Heat visioning it’s stomach to give me a way out was genius,” he enthused.
“Heat vision,” she said her smile dropping a little.
“Yup gave me an easy exit. Now I’ve got a plan.”
Astra nodded her eyes flicking back to the alien fish that was slowly leaking some kind of goo into the bay from it’s stomach.
“We dive down swim around behind and then run up the pier and pretend we fell in when it initially attacked. Mrs Brown can’t be mad if it was an accident.”
Astra nodded.
“Great plan. Stellar, A plus, gold star,” Astra said. “One tiny flaw.”
Kieran rolled his eyes there was always one tiny flaw in his plans according to his sister.
“I didn’t heat vision the fish.”
“You didn’t?” Kieran asked with a sinking feeling.
Astra shook her head. As one they turned to see their Jeju hovering nearby in her Supergirl suit arms crossed and glaring at them.
“Hi Jeju,” Kieran said brightly.
The glare intensified and he felt himself cringing a little.
“The fish started it,” Astra said.
Kieran quickly nodded.
“It tried to eat me,” he said indicating the clear goo that was covering him.
“Was that before or after you punched it repeatedly in the face?” Jeju asked.
They hesitated.
“After,” Kieran admitted.
“But before we hit it in the face it tried to eat a boat so…” Astra’s voice trailed off as Jeju continued to stare at them.
Jeju sighed heavily.
“We will be talking about this later.” The twins exchanged a look. “For now I want you to fly out over the water, clean that goo off then fly back, do not get seen! And then have Agent Vasquez take you back to your teacher.”
“Yes Jeju,” they mumbled.
She sighed again her expression softening a little as her arms uncrossed.
“Are you hurt?” she asked looking at them.
They shook their heads.
“Okay, go on then I’ll clean this up.”
They nodded again and flew out over the bay. Kieran dived down and using superspeed managed to get most of the goo off. Astra helped him as best she could and they flew back over the city as fast as they dared so his clothes would partially dry.
Landing in an alley they ran over to Agent Vasquez who was talking with the police.
“Sorry ma’am we lost our teacher in all the chaos,” Astra said doing her best little lost girl expression.
Vasquez turned around and looked at them. She scoffed and motioned for them to follow her. Their teacher was a little frantic looking for them.
“Kieran and Astra Luthor!” she yelled. “Oh where did those two-”
“Here Mrs Brown,” Astra said.
There was a sigh of relief from their teacher as she turned around to see them with Vasquez.
“Are these your charges?” Vasquez asked Mrs Brown in her most official agent voice.
“In a manner of speaking,” Mrs Brown said glaring at them.
They both adopted their best sorry faces.
“We’re sorry Mrs Brown,” Astra said sniffing. “We just got so scared when there was that giant thing.”
Kieran nodded doing his best kicked puppy look.
“We ran away and hid until this nice Agent found us.”
They both heard Vasquez quietly laugh at their performance. Mrs Brown faced with two pairs of watery green eyes and quivering lower lips caved. She sighed heavily and motioned for them to join their snickering classmates. Having skipped two grades they were significantly shorter than their fifteen year old classmates and easily hid among their taller frames as they headed back to the bus.
“Oh Mrs Brown we were so scared,” Ethan Lord said widening his eyes and giving an exaggerated pout.
The twins glared back at him.
“Shut up Lord,” Astra said punching Ethan in the ribs.
He coughed at the force and glared at her. Kieran grabbed his sister before she hit him again.
“Luthor, Lord what are you doing?” Mrs Brown called glaring at them from her place at the head of the group.
“Nothing Mrs Brown,” they chorused.
Kieran felt his watch vibrate and looked down to see a message from Mum.
I’ll pick you up today.
He sighed and saw Astra looking at her watch too. They were in big trouble.
Kieran tried not to itch as they walked out of school and saw the large armoured car waiting. They sighed and Astra looked over at Kieran. He tugged his hat down lower to hide his hair.
“Do you think she’ll kill us in the car or at home?” Astra asked.
“Car, easier to transport our bodies to the dumping ground,” he said giving her a look.
Astra smiled back then sighed. Resigned to their fate they walked over to the car. Kieran placed his hand on the handle and waited a moment for it to recognise his fingerprint before he opened it and climbed in removing his backpack. Astra followed.
Their mother lowered her phone as they climbed in and fixed them with a glare as they took their seats opposite her.
Anyone who looked at her knew Lena Luthor was not a woman to be trifled with. She sat in her seat wearing a perfectly tailored grey suit and blue shirt. A pair of black high heel boots —when she was standing— added enough height to put her on eye level with most men. Her dark hair was swept into a neat bun leaving her face and neck clear. The large scar on the left side of her face was faded but still stood out under the fine layer of makeup she wore.
She was dressed in her meeting armour. They were in very big trouble.
“Hi Mum,” Kieran said giving her a bright smile.
“Hello Kieran,” she said her voice deadly calm.
She narrowed her eyes a little and his smile quickly faded. He looked down at his shoes. They were still coated in a layer of the goo. He shuffled his feet to hide them under his bag.
“How was your day Mum?” Astra said giving her best smile.
Lena turned to her and was silent for a moment.
“Eventful. Though I’m sure not nearly as eventful as your own.”
They both shifted awkwardly looking out the heavily tinted windows.
“Are we-”
“I’m picking up Allie as well.”
The twins fell silent as they waited and a moment later their younger sister opened the car door in a whirlwind of blonde hair and books as she tripped into the car. She quickly corrected herself bouncing into a seat and closing the door.
“Hi Mum!” she said smiling brightly.
Lena gave her a small smile before returning her attention and glare to the twins. She tapped on the divider and the car immediately started moving.
“Seat belts,” she reminded them.
The three young supers immediately rushed to comply.
“So how was your field trip?” Allie asked smirking at the twins.
Kieran glared back.
“Shut up Allie,” Astra muttered.
“Astra,” Lena warned. “Alura, don’t start fights with your siblings.”
Allie gave her mother an apologetic smile and then pretended to look out the window as she waited.
“Now before I start would you two like to state your defence?” Lena asked.
Kieran and Astra exchanged a look and nodded. They’d practised.
“We understand that our behaviour broke several family rules,” Astra begun.
“And we feel a great deal of remorse for any worry or upset we have caused as a result. Especially to you dear mother,” Kieran said giving Lena his most sincere look.
“We understand looking back that our actions were rash and poorly thought out with little consideration for the safety of ourselves and others. For this we are again very remorseful,” Astra continued.
Lena raised a single eyebrow and they both swallowed. She said nothing.
“At the time we felt it necessary to save the life of the man on the boat the fish was trying to eat. We understand now that there was perhaps a better way to go about this and promise not to behave so rashly again,” Kieran finished and Astra nodded quickly.
They waited trying to look repentant as their mother looked them over.
“That’s a very good apology,” Lena said nodding at them. “You took responsibility, acknowledged your mistakes, and made a promise to do better.”
They relaxed slightly at her soft tone. She narrowed her eyes again.
“It is also almost word for word the same apology you gave the last two times you used your powers without permission.”
They sank lower in their seats as Allie snickered. Lena turned to glare at her.
“I don’t know why you’re looking so smug. Just because no one saw who put Robbie Edge on the roof doesn’t mean I don’t know you did it.”
Allie froze and then sank lower in her seat. Astra and Kieran exchanged a smirk.
“He called Emily-”
“I don’t care what he said you don’t use your powers unless it’s an emergency. Robbie being a jerk to your best friend does not constitute an emergency. There were other ways to settle that problem.”
Allie pouted for a moment under her mother’s glare then she got a small smile.
“How come Jeju got away with it then?”
Astra and Kieran quickly smothered their laughter as their mother gaped at Allie for a moment.
“That was a very different set of circumstances,” Lena said pointing a finger at her youngest daughter.
The glare she sent at them all quickly silenced any humour.
“If he’d known it was you do you think he would hesitate for a moment to tell his father. Morgan Edge owns a significant slice of National City’s media and has a grudge against our family. He could expose the whole family in less than an hour or use that information to hurt your Jeju. Is that what you want?”
“No Mum,” Allie mumbled looking actually sorry now.
“You’re on dishes duty for a week. I’m sure Becca will be happy for the help.”
Lena gave her one last glare before looking back at the twins.
“And you two! I’m not even sure where to start with you both. Just because you can now shrug off bullets now doesn’t mean you can take on a giant alien. Kieran it ate you. You could have been seriously hurt when it bit down or the acids in it’s stomach could have actually burned you. You’re very lucky your Jeju was there to cut an escape for you before you had a chance to find out. You could have gotten seriously injured today because you decided it would be cool to try and hold it’s mouth open.”
Kieran couldn’t bring himself to look up from his shoes.
“And Astra, your brother gets eaten by an alien and you decide the best course of action is to repeatedly punch it in it’s heavily armoured face. No heat vision, no freeze breath, no super speed. You decide to get in close to the thing that moved fast enough to catch your brother and punch it as hard as you can. And don’t think I didn’t see what you’d drawn on your shirts.”
Astra swallowed looking down at her hands.
“We’ve raised you both to use your heads. It would have made far better sense to have one of you distract it for a moment while the other rescued the man from the boat and then disappeared again leaving it for your Jeju to deal with the actual fight. Instead you decided to defend the whole boat by attacking it together. You’re lucky the boat didn’t capsize from the waves it made fighting you both.”
They both sank lower in their seats. Lena sighed heavily.
“Do you have any idea how scared I was watching that?”
A wave of guilt hit the twins as they looked up and saw their mother’s face. Her eyes were full of unshed tears her face softened with genuine fear as she looked at them both.
The car came to a stop and Allie quickly scrambled out leaving the twins alone with their mother. Lena sighed again undoing her seatbelt.
“You could have been seriously hurt today, or even killed. I hope you know that.”
“Yes Mum,” they whispered. “Sorry Mum.”
“Get out,” she ordered.
They scrambled to obey grabbing their bags as they went and stood on the gravel drive outside the family home. Lena got out behind them and wrapped them both in a tight hug kissing each of them on top of the head.
“Don’t scare me like that again,” she said holding them tighter.
They hugged her back.
“We’re really sorry,” Astra mumbled her face buried in her mother’s jacket.
“We didn’t mean to scare you,” Kieran added looking up. “We were just trying to help.”
“I know,” she said gently. “And I’m very proud of you for wanting to but please, for the sake of me and Jeju, don’t try to be superheroes just yet. Once you’re twenty one you can go out on patrol with Jeju or Aunt Alex or even your Uncle J’onn but not before. Okay?”
They nodded wiping their eyes.
“Yes Mum,” they mumbled.
She kissed them both on the head again holding them closer for another moment.
“No VR for two weeks and you’re both on laundry duty. Jeju also wants a word with you when she comes home.”
Neither of them argued. Lena’s hand moved to Kieran’s head and she sighed feeling the stiff spikes of his hair under the hat.
“Kieran honey go have a shower and get that gunk out of your hair. Astra put both of your clothes in the wash for Becca.”
“Yes Mum.”
The twins quickly made their way inside.
Lena sighed as she watched her eldest children run into the house. They were both determined to follow in Kara’s footsteps. They all were in a way. Well except Allie who apparently wanted to be a jazz pianist. Lena was not about to discourage her.
She opened the door and saw the little twins come racing towards her. She smiled bending down to pick up the two boys with an exaggerated groan. Jack and Kal grinned at her with identical blue eyes and dimpled smiles. She gave them both a kiss on the cheek. At six they had only recently started school and were thankfully less troublesome than their three older siblings. She supposed it was only a matter of time though.
“Were you two good today?” she asked.
They nodded quickly.
“I wrote a story!” Kal said grinning at her.
“I drew a picture of a robot!” Jack added.
She smiled at them both.
“Did you bring them home to show me?” she asked.
Both boys nodded and she let them down. The boys raced off towards the stairs at a slightly faster than human pace. Lena moved down the hall at a more sedate pace and entered the main lounge to see their housekeeper Becca putting a plate of sandwiches on the table.
“Hello Becca,” she said smiling at the alien.
Becca gave her a returning smile her scales stretching with the movement.
“Mrs Luthor,” Becca said slowly. “How was the meeting?”
“Rescheduled,” Lena said with a small smile.
Becca gave her a look then turned to look at the ceiling where the twins bedrooms were.
“I will make extra for dinner. They will be hungry.”
Lena nodded.
“Thank you.”
Becca turned and went back towards the kitchen muttering in her native tongue what was probably some commentary on teenagers. Lena sat on the couch with a sigh and was almost immediately joined by Allie.
“Are you still angry?” she asked.
“No,” Lena said putting an arm around her middle child.
“Good because he called Emily a horror show reject.”
Lena sighed heavily and pressed a kiss to Allie’s head. Allie’s best friend Emily also had one alien parent, it was just more obvious with her due to the spikes she grew instead of hair.
“How uncreative,” Lena said mentally drafting an email to the principal.
Adam Grant was a good man he’d take care of it. The little twins arrived then jumping over the edges of the couch and their older sister to show Lena their work. She smiled and complimented Kal’s handwriting then Jack’s colouring. The boys grinned at her snuggling in. Allie sighed looking away as her younger brothers stole her mother’s attention.
“Allie, didn’t you have a new piece you were practising?” Lena asked not looking up from Jack’s robot.
Allie turned back to her with a small smile.
“I’m not very good at it yet.”
“That’s what practice is for,” Lena said looking over at her. “Why don’t you play it now so I can listen.”
She gave Allie a look and the girl nodded getting up. The twins wriggled closer happy to have their mother’s attention. She smiled at them both hugging them close.
Astra arrived and threw herself into a nearby armchair with a sandwich and her tablet.
“Don’t you have homework?” Lena prompted.
Astra looked up and gave her a long sigh before getting up again to go get her homework. Lena’s watch buzzed and she checked the message seeing it was from Kara.
On my way from Catco. Please tell me the little twins were well behaved today.
Five hours later Lena sank into the couch with a glass of wine and turned on the television flicking to the news. She smiled as she saw the report on the big twins earlier that day. She clicked play. She still felt a moment of worry as she watched the footage of the twins fight but it was quickly erased watching Kara fly up behind them. The video was followed by an interview.
“I’m here with Supergirl after what was a surprising morning at the bay today. Supergirl would you care to comment on what spectators saw?” the reporter asked.
Kara smiled her professional Supergirl smile.
“We had the unexpected arrival of a Gexarian Hout this morning. Thankfully it has now been contained and efforts are currently being made to send it to a more suitable location.”
“Would that be an off world location?” the reporter asked.
“You’d have to ask the DEO about that, they’re the ones who will be handling transport. I’m just on cleanup.”
“And what do you have to say about the two individuals who were seen engaging the alien before your arrival?”
There was a slight tightening of Supergirl’s smile.
“They were very lucky,” she said.
“There is some speculation based on their displayed powers that they might be related to you or Superman. Early pictures suggest they had your family crest on their shirts.”
Supergirl took a deep breath and adjusted her stance a little as she looked at the reporter.
“I have heard this speculation.”
The reporter smiled and pressed her.
“You were seen speaking with the two. We’re all dying to know who they are and their connection to you.”
Supergirl laughed a little and sighed again.
“Well I hate to disappoint the good people of National City, but the two individuals involved will remain anonymous.”
“Do they have any connection to you or your family?”
“No connection to disclose,” she said shifting slightly.
The reporter gave her a big smile.
“There’s some suggestion that they could Superman’s children or even be your own.”
Kara’s eyes widened a little and she sucked in a breath her smile getting a little bit more strained. She forced a laugh.
“If they were my children they’d be grounded for the next ten years for giving their mother a heart attack.”
The reporter laughed.
“Did you have a heart attack when you saw them out there?”
“Well I certainly wasn’t excited to see one of them get eaten I’ll tell you that. I’m sorry please excuse me. I need to go assist with the cleanup.”
She gave her famous Supergirl smile and a small wave before flying off. The reporter turned back to the camera.
“Well folks it seems Supergirl isn’t about to tell us anymore about the two mysterious figures, but many are certainly convinced that they are at least connected to the Super family.”
Lena smiled and looked up as Kara came to sit beside her. Kara sighed heavily and dropped her head into Lena’s lap curling her feet up behind her.
“Remind me again why we had five children?” she said.
Lena laughed softly.
“Because we both wanted a large family,” she said stroking a hand through Kara’s hair.
Kara smiled up at her.
“Well I think we’ve certainly managed that.”
“And how are the children?” Lena asked.
“The little twins are fast asleep, it took three stories though. I left the big twins in their rooms feeling very remorseful. I take it you already gave them a chewing out?”
“Yes, with a side of guilt. And I also had to have words with Allie. She put Edge’s youngest on the roof after he called Emily names.”
Kara scrunched up her face and sighed heavily.
“I love that our kids want to help and stand up for people, but could they maybe not use their powers when they do. What happened to just punching your bully and saying yo mama jokes?” Kara muttered.
Lena laughed softly.
“Well at least the little twins are well behaved,” she said.
Kara scoffed.
“That’s because they only have super speed and strength. The moment the hearing and heat vision comes in we’re doomed. Yesterday I caught Kal trying to get his heat vision to work so he could make his corn into pop corn.”
Lena smiled and bent down to steal a kiss.
“We’ve still got a couple of years before then and hopefully their older siblings will have grown up enough by then to stop them.”
Kara scoffed.
“They’ll be sixteen by then and trying to get their help with anything will be a monumental challenge.”
Lena laughed and sipped her wine.
“Well it’s a good thing I married Supergirl then.”
Kara smiled up at her a hand tracing patterns on Lena’s arm.
“I think people know about the Supertwins,” she said softly.
“I’m surprised it took this long,” Lena said. “They’ve been almost caught five times now. I’m going to have to make them some kind of stealth masks just in case.”
Kara sighed and sat up. She traced her hand over Lena’s face her fingers dancing over the scar as Lena breathed out a sigh melting into her arms.
“How was your meeting?” Kara asked.
“Rescheduled for tomorrow. Apparently they couldn’t get past the police cordon.”
Kara hummed.
“So you got all dressed up for nothing,” Kara murmured her mouth moving closer to Lena’s.
Lena smiled and pulled her in for a kiss.
“I wouldn’t say nothing,” she whispered pulling away gently. “It did add an extra aura of menace when I chewed out the big twins.”
Kara chuckled and moved closer again her arm coming around Lena’s waist. Lena smiled.
“Did you notice Kieran was wearing a beanie after his shower?” Lena whispered.
Kara laughed.
“His hair’s green now from the alien saliva. I think he and Astra are planning to dye it back tonight while we’re asleep.”
Lena groaned picturing the mess that would inevitably follow.
“Where are they gonna get hair dye?” she asked rubbing her head.
Kara laughed.
“They are under the impression you have some.”
“What?” Lena demanded glaring at the staircase. “I am not that old.”
Kara laughed pulling her back into her arms.
“I swear we had geniuses,” Lena muttered. “We got them tested.”
“I remind you we’re both geniuses and we’ve done some very stupid things.”
Lena sighed and curled against her wife.
“Today has been very stressful,” she said.
“Well I know something that could take your mind off the very stressful day you’ve had,” Kara said nuzzling into her neck.
“Oh?” Lena asked biting her lip.
Kara held up her phone.
Two minutes of dirty talk and they’ll stop listening. Then we can sneak to the bedroom and eat the cake I hid in the kitchen.
Lena’s jaw dropped for a moment then she looked around and grinned at Kara.
“Oh Kara,” she purred wrapping her arms around her wife’s neck. “You know just how to tempt me.”
Kara grinned at her and crawled on top of her kissing her way up her neck.
“I think you need to you relax darling,” Kara murmured.
“Well after today I could use a massage, a very close, intimate, massage,” Lena said pulling Kara closer.
Kara moaned and kissed her.
“Ears off kids,” Lena said.
Kara laughed softly and went back to kissing her. They tugged at each others clothing as they kissed both of them glancing around as they did to make sure there was no sign of their children. A few moments later Kara pulled back and winked. They scrambled off the couch heading for the kitchen. Kara quickly picked Lena up and put her on the counter kissing her again. Lena tried not to smile too much as she reciprocated her eyes flicking around the empty space.
Kara tilted her head to one side and then dropped down opening a cupboard and removing a white box with a familiar French logo.
“My Supergirl,” Lena whispered stroking Kara’s face.
She winked and Kara tried not to laugh as they collected a knife and two forks. They looked around once more before heading towards their bedroom. The moment they were inside and the door closed Lena switched on the sound block. It had taken four years to find a way to create something that would allow Kara to hear out but their children to not be able to hear anything inside. She grinned at Kara and then laughed throwing herself onto the bed.
“Come on Supergirl. I’m waiting,” she said beckoning to her wife.
Kara landed beside her and they quickly opened the box carefully cutting a slice out of the cake. The first mouthful was almost from the box to their mouths when there was a polite cough from their bathroom.
They turned to see Kieran and Astra standing there arms crossed looking at them. Allie appeared from behind the twins and three pairs of eyes focused on the cake.
Kara and Lena exchanged a look. They turned back to their children who were all doing their best pout.
“What are you three doing?” Lena asked lowering her fork with a sigh.
“Getting ingredients to try and reverse the damage to Kieran’s hair,” Allie said. “What are you doing?”
“Well we were going to eat cake and cuddle but now…” Kara said also lowering her fork. “I guess we’re going to have to help you dye your brother’s hair back.”
Kieran ran his hand through his now dark green hair. Lena sighed.
“What were you going to do?” she asked.
“We were going to bleach it,” Astra said with a shrug.
“Using?” Lena prompted.
“Uh, bleach,” Allie said.
Lena closed her eyes and sighed heavily. She exchanged a pained look with Kara.
“If I fix his hair and we give you each a slice of cake will you go to bed and stay there?”
“Yes!” chorused their children.