Archive of Our Own ^beta

“I’m in love with you.” Lena’s smooth voice floats over the noise and straight to her ears, and Kara freezes. Her mind replays every way too in depth emotion she’s ever had for Lena, and then it freezes too, because this is the answer she’s been avoiding for five whole years. 

Lena looks so hopeful. Kara is sitting on a stool, turned towards the table where all of their friends sit, and Lena stands between her legs, a little tipsy, cheeks pink and eyes shiny. Kara had already thought that she looked beautiful that night, but not in the way that she’s thinking it right now. She wants to kiss her best friend and the feeling isn’t new, but it should be, because she’s pretty sure she’s never wanted to kiss Lena before. 

That feels like such a lie when she says it in her head, but it isn’t! She has not wanted to kiss Lena before. She would know if she’d wanted to kiss Lena before. 

A crack of doubt opens up in her now, because would she?  

Kara wishes she could think faster, but even super speed is not helping her right now. She’s watching as Lena’s eyes turn from hopeful to fearful, but she can’t say anything to reassure her because she’s just so stuck and shocked. 

Lena is in love with her? She’s never even considered the possibility. Staring at Lena now is like a smack in the face. This has been in front of her this entire time. This has been within her this entire time, and she never knew. 

Maybe she heard her wrong. The crowd at the bar is a little rowdy, the music is loud, and Lena is on the verge of slurring her words. 

Kara remembers the fact that she has super hearing and curses herself within her mind. No, she definitely didn’t hear Lena wrong. 

Lena is in love with her. Is she in love with Lena? Her mind screams a loud chorus of YES’s, and the shock of it paralyzes her. How could she have missed this? 

She thinks about the need she feels to hug Lena every time they might not see each other for more than a few hours. She thinks about the way Lena feels in her arms and how much she’s wished that they could just spend more time together, do more things together, how did she miss this?

“I’m in love with you too.” She blurts out after way too long of silence between them. She may not have known that she was in love with Lena until this very moment, but she’s definitely sure, and she needs to wipe that terror out of those pale green eyes she’s spent so much time staring at and thinking about… seriously, how could she miss this?  

A bright smile takes over Lena’s face and Kara’s heart leaps, how did she miss this, and then she’s leaning forward to kiss her and this is all way too fast for Kara, but like hell is she going to stop it. Lena’s lips land on hers and a chorus of cheers erupts from the table of people next to them that she’d forgotten about completely. A little bitterness wells in her, none of them could bother to tell her that she was in love? It’s quickly swept away by the feeling of Lena’s lips on hers, those fingers on her cheeks. Her own hands come up to rest on Lena’s hips and it’s the most natural thing in the world, the way they press together and don’t let go. 

She wonders in a split second what had encouraged this confession from Lena. How long Lena has felt this way, if she was sure that Kara felt the same before she’d said it or if it was a terrifying leap of faith. 

She’ll ask these questions later, and find out that Lena had spent years pining away during her oblivious dismissal. That she had no idea what Kara felt for her, but she looked so sweet and red and happy sitting on her stool that tipsy Lena had lost all control of her mouth. She’d hear Lena call those seconds of her silence following her confession as some of the most terrifying she’s ever lived through, and she’ll kiss her the second she’s finished talking to reassure her some more. 

When she tells Lena that she had no idea what she felt, when she explains with a red face and eyes fixed on the floor that she’s just not very good at emotions, but she has been in love with Lena for a long time, Lena will kiss her cheek and tell her that it’s okay, it’s more than okay because they’re together now. 

They’ll have one awkward date where they’re both trying way too hard that ends up with them just going back to the apartment and “watching movies” (making out) on the couch. 

Lena will start getting a lot more over the top and obvious with her gifts, because Kara is hers and she doesn’t need to hide her feelings anymore. She can reserve kitchens and hire chefs and buy out entire restaurants… okay, a lot of Kara’s gifts are food related but that is what Kara likes, okay?

And Kara will be even touchier, somehow. It is odd for Lena to be treated as some sort of kryptonian’s teddy bear but she would be lying if she said she didn’t like it. Having a girlfriend that can pick you up and carry you anywhere, who likes to grab you from wherever you are simply to deposit you in her lap, wrap her arms around you, and press her forehead to the back of your neck while whispering about how much she loves you is nothing to complain about. 

With every new moment, every grasp of their hands together, every whispered I love you, the love they share will only grow. 

Here, now, Kara is stunned, confused, and overwhelmed as she accepts desperate kisses from the friend she just realized her feelings for. Lena can still feel the fear she’d felt moments ago, even through her relief and happiness, but it’s soothed by Kara’s hands smoothing over her hips, her back, pulling her against a firm, warm body. 

It is a sweet beginning, a sapling for the massive tree of love they’re bound to create. They have no idea what is to come, how their feelings will grow, but for once they’re just too happy in the now to care.