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The Finale but Supercorp becomes Canon
There was something about wedding ceremonies that made Kara emotional. It didn’t even have to be a wedding where she knew the couple. She’d flown to Paris one evening to pick up a special brand of chardonnay for a victory over Nxly and lingered by the Seine as an older couple renewed their vows on the bank. She spent the flight home trying to keep herself from getting choked up and dropping the wine. It was the idea of forever that made her emotional, Kara thought. When she tries to picture herself spending the rest of her Kryptonian life with someone, she sees the faceless shape of a person and her stomach tightens at the thought, her heart constricts at the notion of such loneliness—
“Hey, you.” Kara blinked at Lena’s voice. How long had she been sitting here staring into space?
“Hey,” said Kara, her grip tightening on the wooden chair beneath her.
“Where’d you go? You missed all the fun.” Lena strode over and claimed the seat opposite Kara, smiling as Kara tried her best to shake the daunting loneliness that had just washed over her. “Nia caught the bouquet,” Lena continued, and Kara managed a small smile before her best friend noticed the sad sort of crinkle between the Kryptonian’s eyes. “Hey, did you fly away to rescue some people? No rest, even on your sister’s wedding day?” It was phrased as a question, but Kara couldn’t help but perceive the words as a light admonishment, so she didn’t respond, choosing to smooth out non-existent wrinkles in her dress instead. She only looked up when she felt a warm touch settle on top of her own fidgeting hand. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Kara hesitated. She was glad to have Lena to confide in now that there were no secrets between them, but she didn’t want to burden her with her woes about romance. Supergirl. They could talk about Supergirl. That was easier. “I’m supposed to be the strongest person on earth, but I think I’m actually the weakest.” Kara internally groaned. That was not a good start. This wasn’t supposed to be a pity party.
“What are you talking about?” Kara tried not to pull away as Lena’s fingers traced the curves of her hand resting on the table, and she found her nerves skyrocketing as her friend leaned forward with genuine concern.
Kara let out a breath of defeat, pulling her hand away to fidget with her glasses. “I—Ms. Grant—glasses…” She couldn’t bring herself to look at Lena. “I give speeches inspiring people to live their best lives, but I—I’m too afraid to live my own—”
“No, that’s not true, Kara—” So quick to comfort, Kara thought. So quick to comfort me even though my inability to be my best self with you almost cost us our friendship.
“It is,” Kara realized she was about to take this conversation on a difficult path, but she forged on, recognizing there was no taking this back. “My entire life, I hid behind these glasses. It’s gotten in the way of every job I’ve ever had, everything I’ve ever wanted to do. Every relationship, every friendship.” Kara emphasized the last one, reaching across the table to take Lena’s hand again, and she frowned at the smirk on Lena’s dark lips at that last word.
“Maybe we did have a bit of a bumpy road,” said Lena, trying to lighten the mood, but Kara was on the verge of a breakdown, and the only thing keeping her from sobbing was her sister’s wedding, so she nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat.
“I think hiding who I am is the reason I couldn’t pass the courage gauntlet. I created Supergirl that night because the thought of saving my sister as myself was too terrifying.”
“For me,” said Lena, standing up. “It’s always about protecting the Luthor name. You know, I went from trying to make that name stand for something good to trying to be my true mother’s daughter.” Kara walked alongside the CEO, who, Kara noticed, for the first time in months, was holding herself with a different kind of confidence than when they had first met. In her office on the top floor of L-Corp, Lena had introduced herself to Clark and Kara as someone with something to prove. Regal and imposing, absolutely, but lacking the self-assured confidence Lena demonstrates now. As they drew closer to the wedding party, Kara was suddenly struck by how stunningly pretty her best friend was. She hadn’t noticed, while planning the wedding, that Lena’s dark hair had been slicked back in a modern style, and Kara couldn’t help but be drawn in by the green in her eyes. “…I realized I hadn’t been living my own life. And finally, now I am. And it feels amazing.”
As Lena smiled, Kara couldn’t help but remember the version of her life that Mxy had offered to her where Lena hadn’t been mad about her secret only for three of her friends to be kidnapped and killed because of it. “What if I just let myself be who I am, and someone gets hurt?”
“You can’t always be our savior, Kara. You shine your light and inspire others to shine theirs. Your words, not mine,” said Lena. “If somebody does come. If they try to mess with this family, then we will take them on together. El Mayarah.”
Hearing her family motto fall so easily from Lena’s lips with that smile cut straight through the solemn loneliness and into Kara’s heart, and she couldn’t choke back emotion that swelled to the surface as she pulled off her glasses to swipe at some stray tears. She rubbed at her eyes as Lena was quick to move forward in comfort, hands on her shoulders while Kara tried to collect herself. When she couldn’t find the words to express the overwhelming love she had for Lena, Kara pulled her in for a hug.
As she continued searching for the right way to tell Lena everything she was feeling, about Supergirl, about Cat, about marriage…she felt a shift. Lena’s arms had encircled her neck, and Kara’s were around the CEO’s waist, which required her to stoop a little, and Lena to move to her tiptoes even though she was wearing heels. So, when she felt Lena’s nose nudge her neck, Kara figured it must’ve been because of their height difference and moved to pull back when she felt the lightest of kisses on her bare shoulder, and she stiffened.
For a moment they just stood there. Only an arms-length apart, looking at each other, before Lena laughed—her fake laugh, the one she uses in a boardroom full of old men—and stepped forward, reaching out to rub a dark smudge of lipstick from Kara’s shoulder. “My mistake, Kara. I don’t usually wear lipstick this dark…” she trailed off, and Kara, with all her Kryptonian senses, noticed self-doubt creeping into Lena’s eyes, and caught Lena’s hand before she moved it. Kara caught her around the waist and gently touched her forehead to Lena’s, whose eyes were wide.
“You know,” said Kara, smiling cheekily. “The Super friends may have saved the day, but you, Lena Luthor, are my hero.” Kara could feel Lena’s breath on her face as she laughed—a genuine laugh—and shook her head smiling. It came to rest on Lena’s shoulder, where she placed a gentle kiss before pulling away. “Things are going to change, Lena.” Kara felt Lena’s arms make their way around Kara’s shoulders. Easy. Like they were made to be there. “I’m going to do some things that scare me to death.”
Lena remained silent; her brows furrowed.
“I don’t want—I don’t want us to get hurt,” Kara continued as she watched her friends and family gather in the distance. “This could hurt us.”
Lena laughed, not cruelly. “I’m willing to take that risk, Kara. Stronger together, right?”
Kara felt an overwhelming sense of love wash through her as she wound an arm around Lena’s waist and guided her toward their family. In a quick moment of insane courage, Kara placed a chaste kiss on Lena’s cheek, as they walked.
“You’re getting awfully bold, Supergirl,” Lena teased as Alex and Kelly took off in J’onn’s car.
“Ah,” said Kara, pulling off her glasses. “That reminds me.” She handed the glasses to Lena. “Can you hold onto these?”
Lena held the spectacles, confused for a moment, and looked around. “Kara, are you—”
“Keep them for as long as you love me, will you?”
For a moment, Lena was speechless. But as Kara heaved Esme onto her broad shoulders, waving at Kelly and Alex, Lena tucked the glasses into the inside pocket of her suit jacket. “Always.”