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Lena was somewhat embarrassed by how her night was going. She still wasn’t sure how Sam even managed to talk her into coming to this charity date auction. It would have been so much easier to just write a big fat check for the new community center. But somehow, her friend did manage to convince her, so now Lena was sitting towards the back, squirming as she twisted the paddle handle in her hand. They were on the seventh person, six of which had been men, and Lena’s discomfort was growing.
For a moment, Lena had been optimistic about the one woman that had been up. She was cute and they described her as a mechanic, Lena was able to easily envision spending an evening talking to her about engines and machines. The image was shattered though when it was announced that the date would be a monster truck rally, which promptly made Lena cradle her paddle into her, lest there be any mistake for a bid.
The young Luthor was starting to zone out when the introduction of the ninth entry snapped her to attention.
“Alright, my wonderful crowd,” the host boomed. “We have a very special contestant coming up. This next contestant loves helping people, and she tells me that she loves dogs as well. You all know her, you all love her, hailing all the way from Krypton, may I present Supergirl!”
The crowd had been whipped up to a fervor by the time Supergirl flew out from behind the curtain and did a trademark superhero landing on the middle of the stage. The entire audience jumped to their feet and began cheering. Blushing slightly, Supergirl gave a small wave to the excited crowd.
The host took the crowd’s lengthy cheering as an opportunity to read the queue card in her hand. “Hey, Supergirl, this says your date would be to get a coffee at Noonan’s?” She asked, eyebrow raised.
Supergirl shrugged, offering a nervous smile. “It sounded nice.”
“Yeah, but you’re Supergirl ! I think we can do a little better than nice!” the host proclaimed. She gave the Girl of Steel a look up and down then winked. “I think I have an idea.”
It took another moment for the crowd to settle down. Once they did, the host cleared her throat before carrying on.
“That’s right, folks, our city’s protector is here to help out our charity, and to make somebody’s night!” That statement got the crowd roaring again, making the host wait until they quieted back down. While she waited, she detached the mic from her stand and sauntered over to Supergirl, who was standing there, hands clasped together in front of her, doing all she could to not blush.
“Now, a date with Supergirl has to be just as super,” the host proclaimed. She thrust her free hand out, slowly swiping through the air. “That’s why tonight you will be bidding for the right for a scenic flight around the city, courtesy of none other than the Girl of Steel! Imagine,” the host paused as her free hand shot to one of Supergirl’s biceps, and gently stroking it, giving Supergirl a flushed look of trepidation, “taking in National City’s sights, the skyline, stargazing, all while cradled in these firm arms!” Supergirl’s face turned a deep shade of red. This was all for charity, and she wanted to help, but she was already having reservations about the entire night.
The crowd erupted one more time, but this time, the host didn’t wait for them to quiet down. “Do I hear fifty?!” she shouted over the crowd. A paddle immediately shot into the air. “Do I hear sixty?!” Another paddle immediately shot up.
The bidding quickly got over a hundred dollars. Kara couldn’t decide if she was embarrassed at the attention, or flattered by it. All she knew for sure was that she was happy to be helping the charity.
It didn’t take long for the bidding to reach a thousand dollars, not even two minutes. “Do I hear one thousand fifty?”
“Do I hear eleven hundred?”
A paddle quickly shot up, prompting the host to point at it in acknowledgment. “Do I hear—” she began but was cut off by a shout from the back.
“Eight hundred thousand!”
Suddenly the entire room gasped then went silent, save for the noise of everyone shifting to find the source of the voice.
Kara’s eyes went wide, and for a moment she forgot to breathe, as she stared at Lena, holding her paddle high while standing on her chair.
As Lena was being ushered backstage, she found herself in a daze. Lena could barely remember jumping up onto her seat and raising her paddle. She certainly had no idea where “eight hundred thousand” came from, not that it’d be a problem for her, and surely the charity would appreciate it.
Before she knew it, Lena was whisked through the side curtains, to where a deeply red Supergirl was standing, hands still clenched together in front of her, and slightly biting her lip.
“Le—er, Miss Luthor,” Supergirl greeted, doing all she could to maintain her composure as if the woman in front of her hadn’t just given almost a million dollars just for a right to be carried around by the Girl of Steel for an hour. And just to make things worse, or better, whichever, it just happened to be the woman that Kara had been crushing on for almost a year now. That woman just paid a silly amount of money to be held in her alter ego’s arms. Kara was doing everything she could to not read too much into that. Lena just feebly waved in reply.
The assistant that ushed Lena gave her a brief description of the payment options. Lena pulled out a checkbook and wrote a check on the spot, causing the assistant to blush slightly. Then they explained that the details of the date would be left to the two participants to work out and to simply contact the organization if it falls through. After that, the assistant scurried off to their next task, leaving Lena and Supergirl alone.
“Soooooo, I guess I owe you a ride around the city,” Supergirl chuckled.
Hearing Supergirl’s voice drew Lena out of her daze. She shook her head to clear it, then offered a Supergirl a smile.
“That isn’t necessary,” Lena responded. She reached up to pat Supergirl on her arm, as a gesture of comfort, but as soon as the Luthor’s fingers touched the Girl of Steel’s solid biceps she found herself unable to let go, slowly dragging her palm down the firm arm, taking in the solid curves that had been stuffed tightly into that blue, resistant fabric.
Over the last year that Lena had lived in National City, she had been rescued by Supergirl on more than one occasion. All those times Lena’s heart had been pounding in her chest, running on adrenaline from the near-death experience. There was no such danger currently, so Lena had no idea why her heart was pounding in her chest again.
Lena had to pull herself out of a daze a second time. Once she realized that her touch had turned from comforting to lecherous, she quickly tugged her hand back, tucking the offending appendage under her other arm. She noticed the confused look on Supergirl’s face.
“Your life is so complicated, I’m sure. That last thing you probably need is to worry about some silly charity date.”
“But Miss Luthor, you paid so much for this. I’d hate to think I was cheating you out of your money.”
“Nonsense, it’s quite alright.”
“But I want to,” Supergirl was quick to reply. It was her turn to grab one of Lena’s arms, as a sign of comfort.
As soon as Supergirl’s fingers wrapped around her arm, Lena turned a deep shade of red as all the blood rushed to her face. “Y—you want to?”
“Yes,” Supergirl sheepishly replied, dipping her head as she did.
“Okay,” Lena replied, her voice strained. “Is now good for you?”
“Right now?”
Lena shrugged. “Well, I cleared my whole night for the auction. So, yes.”
A bright smile lit up Supergirl’s face. Without a word, the Girl of Steel scooped Lena up in her arms and darted out of the room in a flash.
It was a nearly cloudless night, with a bright, nearly full moon hanging brilliantly in the sky. Kara did everything she could to not take that as any kind of sign. This wasn’t the first time she’s flown through the city with Lena in her arms, it was probably closer to the tenth time. But all those other times, spread out over almost two years of knowing each other, were nothing like it was tonight. All those times were hectic, with Supergirl racing as fast as she could safely carry a human away from one danger or another, both hers and Lena’s hearts pounding from the stress of the situations they were in.
There was no danger tonight. Supergirl was soaring over the city at a pretty leisurely pace, save for a couple of times that Kara would bank sharply around corners to show off; and because when she did Lena’s arms would tighten around the Super’s neck, pulling them somehow closer. There was absolutely no danger tonight, not even a threat of rain, yet Kara still found her heart pounding in her chest. It started the first time Lena giggled. They were flying over the National City Metropolitan Museum, a high entry on the list of the city’s ten most gorgeous buildings, and Lena had been taken in by just how amazing it looked from above. The first of many fits of giggles the Luthor had over the next hour as Supergirl took her on the most unique sightseeing tour ever.
After a little over an hour, having covered most of the city, Supergirl touched down atop the tallest building in National City and gently set Lena down. The two stood there, silent for a moment and smiling at one another, barely a foot apart.
Lena was finally able to break her attention from Supergirl long enough to take in her surroundings; a simple skyscraper rooftop, but the real thing of note was the view beyond, the lights of the city far below them. “This is how you see our city,” Lena murmured, her voice soft, breathless. It was less of a question than it was an idle thought spoken aloud, but Kara nodded in response anyway. “No wonder you’re able to see the beauty in things. It’s breathtaking up here.”
“It is,” Supergirl sighed, staring directly at Lena.
The Luthor turned back to her date, it seemed both of them were blushing. “Well, this was simply magical,” Lena beamed. Her expression was light, happy, with a wide, toothy smile that did something to the pit of Kara’s stomach. “Would it be too much trouble to ask for a lift back to my apartment?”
“Already?” Supergirl croaked before she could even think about it.
The Girl of Steel’s quick question brought a new blush to Lena’s windswept cheeks. “I paid for an hour,” she answered, taking a second to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “We are well beyond that mark, and you’ve been so gracious, I would hate to take advantage of that.”
Kara simply blinked at Lena a couple of times. Then, she slowly moved even closer to the raven-haired woman. She carefully reached out and took Lena’s hand into hers, holding it gently as she padded her thumb soothingly across Lena’s knuckles. “We don’t have to call it a night, yet. Really. Maybe we can go get some dinner? Or perhaps a drink?” the Super meekly suggested.
“D—dinner? You, with me?” Lena stuttered. Supergirl stood just in front of her, nodding. If they were any closer Lena was sure she would be able to feel her breath. Lena squeezed the hand that was clasped into her own, the points of contact warming her entire body with a roaring heat.
“That sounds… That sounds…” Lena began. Before she could finish her thought, though, Lena’s eyes fluttered closed as she began to fall backward.
“Miss Luthor? Miss Luthor?! Lena!”
“Is she okay?”
“She just fainted, Kara. She’ll be fine, just make sure she drinks plenty of fluids.”
“Thanks for coming right over, Alex.”
“You told me it was an emergency!”
“It was! We were just talking and I asked her if she wanted to get dinner and she passed out on the spot.”
“...”
“What?”
“...Nothing.”
“Whaaaaat?”
“Goodnight, sis.”
The first thing Lena noticed was warmth, and that the air was still. The second thing she noticed was that whatever she was laying on was quite soft. Without even opening her eyes, Lena was sure that she was no longer on the roof.
“Lena, are you awake?” a familiar voice asked, the worry obvious in her voice. Lena’s hands shot up to cover her face and try to hide just how red she was getting. She understood the logic of what it seemed Supergirl had done, but that didn’t diminish the embarrassment that she was feeling. The worst-case scenario for the night.
A gentle hand covered Lena’s hands. The Luthor tried not to focus on the hot points of contact as firm fingers massaged Lena’s knuckles.
“Supergirl brought me to your place?” Lena asked, head still buried in her hands. Her voice was still a bit weak and hoarse as some of the fogginess lingered.
“Having Alex check on you here seemed like a better idea than marching you into a hospital or even the DEO,” Kara answered. “Can you sit up?”
The question prompted Lena to take a deep breath. “I think so,” she muttered, realizing that she couldn’t put off facing the world any longer. Kara’s hand was settled on top of Lena’s. She twisted her hands in place to grapple onto Kara’s, who gently pulled Lena up into a sitting position. Lena slowly opened her eyes and blinked away the blurriness.
A quick survey revealed that she was in fact in Kara’s apartment. The only difference from normal was that most of the lights were either dimmed or off, with only a couple of side lamps about the apartment providing light. In other circumstances, the lighting would have made the place feel downright romantic. Lena let out a light chuckle at how serious her ever-thoughtful best friend was taking the situation. An ever-thoughtful best friend that was crouching just next to her, holding out a glass of water. Lena nodded in thanks and took the glass, immediately taking a sip.
“Did Supergirl tell you what happened?” Lena ventured after downing the glass of water.
Kara blushed slightly as she took Lena’s empty glass and made her way to the kitchen. “I know what happened,” she responded.
“Fantastic,” Lena sighed. With Kara out of the room, Lena took a second to rub her eyes with the palms of her hands. She found herself internally cursing Sam’s name as she thought back to a few days ago when Sam convinced her to attend the charity date auction.
“C’mon, Lena, it’ll be fun! You’ll love it, I’m sure.”
“No, Sam, why would I waste my time at one of those things?”
“Um, because you need to get some, Lee, that’s why.”
“EXCUSE ME?!”
“Oh come on, Lee, all you do is work and hang out with Kara.”
“Running two companies is quite difficult, Sam.”
“I know, that’s why you brought me on board. And yet! Even with me helping you run L-Corp, and James in charge of most of the day-to-day operations at Catco, you never seem to have time to do anything. Well, unless Kara asks you to.”
“Telling you how I feel about her was maybe the greatest mistake of my life.”
“It’s not my fault your life has become a highly entertaining rom-com. Even though you seem to be stuck in the first act. And wouldn’t it be nice to finally get out of that rut?”
“...”
“Lena, how long are you going to sit around pining for Kara, huh? She’s been single for almost a year now, you’ve given her more than enough time to get over what’s-his-name, and you still haven’t told her how you feel yet.”
“... I don’t want to ruin what we do have.”
“Even if it was to have something better?”
“... How does going to a charity date auction help me with Kara?”
“Oh, it doesn’t. That’s the point. If you’re going to keep insisting that Kara doesn’t have feelings for you and pining from afar, then the least you can do is get out and have some fun with someone else.”
“ Sigh . Fine. But I won’t be ‘getting some’. Certainly not with someone who I only just met and is only out with me because I paid for it.”
“Yes! And that’s fine, I was mostly joking about the ‘getting some’. Just, you know, find someone you think is cute, overpay a little, and take her out for a nice cup of coffee or something.”
If Lena thought about it long enough, she had to admit that there was something humorous about finally doing something to get Kara off of her mind, even if just for one night, only to wind up in Kara’s apartment and being doted on by the very person she was trying to find a distraction from.
At the very least, she knew Sam would find this story utterly hilarious.
“Here.”
The single word was all that was needed to snap Lena’s concentration back to her surroundings. The Luthor looked up to see Kara’s outstretched hand holding a fresh glass of water. Lena took the glass and weakly thanked Kara, who proceeded to sit down next to Lena on the couch, a little closer than Lena had been prepared for, prompting her to chug more of the water than she initially intended.
“How are you feeling?” Kara asked. She was sitting upright, her hands resting on her knees as she stared ahead, a look of worry still set on her handsome face.
“Mostly just tremendously embarrassed,” Lena let out with a chuckle. Both of her hands were tightly gripping the glass of water as if it was the only thing buoying her at the moment. “Thank you for taking care of me,” she added, daring just a glance at Kara before returning to stare at the water in her glass.
“I’m always there for you, Lena. Always,” Kara responded, a small smile curling up at the corner of her lips.
A silence fell over the two, marked only by the sound of Lena taking a few more sips of water.
Kara was the first one to break the quiet moment. “So, you like Supergirl,” she said, more as a statement than a question.
Lena sputtered and almost dropped her glass of water, only managing to grip it at the last second. “What? Like Supergirl? No, certainly not.”
“You were on a date with her.”
“More just a pleasant evening between two colleagues,” Lena quickly protested. She could feel her resolve already breaking down at Kara’s eyebrow-raised, piercing stare.
“That you paid eight hundred thousand dollars to go on.”
Right. Lena had almost forgotten about the ridiculous amount of money she had spent to have an evening with Supergirl.
“How often do you get the chance to go on a date with a superhero?” Lena admitted. "And there’s no denying that she is quite beautiful.”
As she talked, Lena took care to stare at her drink, or straight ahead towards the wall across from her. She dared not make eye contact with Kara. If she did, Lena wasn’t sure she’d make it through this conversation in one piece. It was one of the few dead zones in Kara’s and Lena’s friendship; they tended to avoid talking about the love lives, or lack thereof, with each other. There was never a decree or agreement about it, it just happened. Lena had made sure to avoid it to not bring up painful memories of Mon-El for Kara. And even after it felt like Kara was healed and on her own, Lena still took care to not bring up their love lives, lest Lena accidentally admit that most of her love life involved lying in bed at night, alone, thinking about Kara.
Lena let out a sigh. “It can be quite breathtaking to be in her presence. The two of you seem to know each other decently well, I’m sure you’ve experienced it. It was just a good bit of fun, Kara. Something I thought could provide a nice distraction.”
“From what?” Kara piped up, seeming quite concerned once again, but was waved off by Lena.
“It’s okay, Kara, no need to worry,” Lena admitted. The Luthor leaned forward to set the now empty glass onto the coffee table just in front of her.
It didn’t seem that Kara was buying it. The blonde turned in her spot on the couch, lightly knocking her knee against Lena’s. Kara’s hands sought out Lena’s taking both of them into her grasp and setting their mess of tangled fingers on her knee. Lena just knew that her face was going red again.
Over the past two years, Lena had done a masterful job of training herself to hide her reactions to Kara’s touch. After all, Kara seemed to thrive on contact: holding hands as a show of support and comfort, a casual arm draped over Lena’s shoulders as they settled into the couch for a long movie night, and of course, the hugs. Always being a flushed mess with a heart-pounding so hard it would probably shake the whole couch simply wouldn’t do.
But Lena was caught off guard. All the twists and turns of the night had left her a little discombobulated and now that Kara was sitting next to her, knees pressed together, gently cupping her hands and staring at Lena with that soft, sincere look of worry that she always flashed Lena when she needed the Luthor to know that she was there for her, well, Lena was wholly unprepared to put her guard up.
“You know that if there’s something wrong, you can tell me, right?” Kara asked. “I won’t judge you, no matter what, Lena.”
“It’s not terribly important, I promise,” Lena murmured, her eyes transfixed on the perfect blue ones just a couple of feet from her.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. Everything is fine,” Lena weakly responded, adding a small nod in for good measure.
Kara’s expression lightened, although her grip on Lena’s hands remained. “Okay then,” Kara acknowledged.
There was another pause. Kara seemed to shift slightly in place. She was biting her lip, the happy expression replaced by something that seemed a lot more nervous. Her hands pulled Lena’s in a little more, giving them a light squeeze as she did. It was making Lena slightly confused, which, if she was being honest, was something of a recurring theme for the night.
“If…” Kara began, but she let the sentence die for a moment, instead dropping her head so that she was focused on their joined hands.
“If you’re sure, then… then there was something I wanted to tell you,” Kara finally got out. The blonde rose her head up so that she met wide green eyes staring at her. There was a nervous smile on Kara’s face.
Lena remained silent, her eyes unwilling to take themselves off of the woman in front of her. She had no idea what was happening, but that didn’t stop her heart from racing.
Maybe it was the low lighting of Kara’s apartment.
Maybe it was the way that it felt like her hands were basking in a wonderful fire as they sat firmly in Kara’s grasp.
Maybe it was just wishful thinking from a night of botched dates that had dropped her literally into Kara’s lap.
Maybe it was that smile: nervous, warm, there seemed to be a bit of hope in there too.
Maybe.
“What did you want to tell me?” Lena whispered.
The question seemed to embarrass the blonde. Kara dropped her head to the side and blushed, not enough to break eye contact, but definitely projecting a more diminutive stance than just seconds ago.
“It’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time, Lena,” Kara cooed, slowly refinding her nerve. Lena felt her heart somehow pounding even faster. “You mean so much to me,” Kara continued, “I don’t want to keep secrets from you, but I was looking for the perfect time to tell you. And if this isn’t it, then I don’t know what is. So, I’m just going to say it…”
Lena gulped. It felt like her heart was about to explode out of her chest. After all this time. She was so sure that her feelings were unrequited. It was never a question to her, because why would Kara, beautiful, wonderful, warm-hearted Kara, ever want to settle for someone so permanently damaged as her?
And yet.
Lena wasn’t even sure how they got to this; how the conversation steered them here to this very moment. Yet here they were. Kara looking at her with the warmest smile. With something profound to share with Lena. Something that was at the tip of her tongue. Three magic words that Lena thought she’d never hear. Three magic words that she could barely dream of hearing Kara tell her. Sitting there, at the tip of Kara’s tongue.
“...I am Supergirl.”
What.
Lena sat there, wide-eyed and staring at Kara. Her mouth opened and closed a few times without any sound escaping her.
“I know that this is a lot to take in,” Kara said, her soft voice cutting through the stillness of her apartment. She finally pulled her hands back, letting go of Lena’s. “I’m being serious, though. Here, look,” the blonde was biting her lip as she began unbuttoning her dark, navy blue top.
The action made Lena gulp hard. It was enough to finally rouse her from her state of shock and disbelief. Despite what she had heard Kara say, the idea wasn’t processing in her mind. There was no way that could be true. She must have been mistaken. But exactly why was Kara unbuttoning her shirt? Lena could feel her heart racing as she stared unblinkingly at Kara’s fingers as they played with the buttons, until, finally, with her shirt about halfway unbuttoned, Kara spread it apart, revealing the blue suit and about half the red emblem.
“Is… Is this an attempt at a joke?” Lena muttered, her eyes wide and transfixed on the suit peeking through the shirt.
“Not a joke,” Kara affirmed. She stood up, then, after scanning the apartment for a second, suddenly zipped away. The force of the wind kicked up Lena’s hair, startling her enough so that she fell back into the couch. Within seconds Kara was back to where she had been standing, and holding a small elephant statue that Lena had bought her, that they both knew was on Kara’s shelf on the other side of the room.
Another silence fell on the room as Kara stood there, holding up the item, an uneasy smile on her feet.
Once Lena’s brain was able to catch up to what she had just seen, the Luthor jumped to her feet, and stumbled backward a few feet before coming to a stop as she hit a side chair.
“Y-You’re Supergirl,” Lena stammered.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Kara smiled. She set the statue down and took a couple of steps towards Lena, but stopped when Lena recoiled. The blonde stopped in her place and held up her hands. “You’re mad.”
“I… I’m not… I’m not sure what I am to be perfectly honest,” Lena sighed. After staring at Kara for another moment, Lena relaxed her posture, and let out a chuckled.
"I thought... I thought you were..." Lena trailed off as a laugh bubbled up in her throat until it spilled out of her. She threw her head back and began cackling. The sight was highly unsettling to Kara. “I’m such a fool,” Lena muttered between laughter.
“No!” Kara asserted. “No, you’re not.” The blonde quickly closed the distance between them and pulled Lena’s hands into her own. The Luthor stopped in an instant. There was a look of unease on her face, but she didn’t pull back.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Lena whispered, a frown forming on her face. “Why didn’t you trust me? Is it because of my family? My heritage?”
“What? No, no of course not,” Kara insisted. She gently tugged at Lena’s hands, pulling them back to the couch where they retook their seats.
Kara took a deep breath, gave Lena’s hands a soft squeeze, and smiled at the woman in front of her. “Lena, I trust you implicitly. I always have. I should have told you sooner—”
“—You think?” Lena blurted out. Her eyes were wide still, her voice seemed strained, but there was a slight smile on her face. Enough to give Kara hope that she may not have just blown up the best relationship she’s ever known.
The interruption made Kara giggle slightly. “Okay, I guess I deserve that. I don’t have a great excuse. It was just… every time I wanted to, or tried to, something would come up, or something would interrupt us.
“I swear, Lena, I trust you. You mean the world to me and I don’t want to hide any part of me from you.” Kara dipped her head slightly, her face going flush. “I’m sorry I did for so long.”
Lena still wasn’t sure what to make of the situation. Thinking back to her encounters with Supergirl, the revelation went a long way to explain why the Girl of Steel seemed so quick to trust Lena. To trust her with help stopping Cadmus and her mother. With help stopping the Daxamite invasion. Some things poked at Lena, an argument with Supergirl in Lena’s office. The way the Super would carry herself with a mightier than thou attitude that Lena was still having difficulty picturing Kara doing. She wanted to believe her best friend, wanted to accept that this was Kara further letting Lena into her life, but there were things to still talk through, work through. At that very moment, though, there was only one question that Lena was focused on.
“Why now?” the Luthor inquired.
Kara bought herself a few seconds by clearing her throat.
“Because… you paid eight hundred thousand dollars to go on a date with me,” the blonde confessed. “And… I don’t know exactly what you meant by ‘just a good bit of fun’, but before you went any farther, I thought you deserved to know exactly who you were trying to have a ‘good bit of fun’ with.”
“Aw, were you worried I might ask Supergirl out again?” Lena shot back, her voice the liveliest it had been since she woke up.
“Actually, yes,” Kara responded flatly.
The matter-of-fact manner of Kara’s statement took Lena aback. She tugged her hands out of Kara’s grasp and turned slightly so that she wasn’t looking at the blonde any longer. “Right. The only way Supergirl would say yes to a date with me is if it was because I dropped an obscene amount of money on a charity. Got it,” Lena sneered.
“No, that’s not…” Kara began to protest. She let the sentence trail off as she rubbed her eyes. “This isn’t going how I was hoping it would,” she sighed.
The Kryptonian placed a hand on Lena’s knee; the Luthor, in turn, crossed her arms and turned further away.
“Okay,” Kara murmured. She took a moment to gather herself.
“I was afraid of you asking Supergirl out because if you did… I wouldn’t have been able to say no. And… And that wouldn’t be fair to you,” Kara confessed. Lena finally turned back towards Kara, an eyebrow raised as a look of confusion was settling in. “You would have just been looking for something light and fun, but I… I…”
Kara took a moment to readjust herself. She once again searched out for Lena’s hands, or at least, the closed one, and engulfed that hand of Lena’s in her own.
“Lena, you are my best friend. Besides Alex and Eliza, you mean the most to me in this whole world. I am so, so grateful to know you, to have you in my life, and the last thing I want to do is lose that, or jeopardize it…”
Suddenly, Lena felt short of breath. Suddenly, she felt like she was right back to where they had been a few minutes ago. Lena was reeling from all the twists and turns of the evening, from the revelations and feelings that still needed unpacking. There was a part of her that wanted to be mad at Kara, a part of her angry that Kara’s sudden reveal threw what was true between them and what was not into question. But all that anger, all that frustration was quickly falling away as her hand was once again encased in the warmth of the woman in front of her. The blonde flashed a soft smile at Lena, and the Luthor found herself entranced by the gaze of those striking blue eyes.
“...But you must know how I feel about you, right?” Kara continued. The implication of the statement slammed into Lena with the force of, well, Supergirl. “I thought I was doing good at hiding it, but Alex has assured me that I do not,” the Kryptonian chuckled. “It would have been wrong for me to agree to go out with you, as Supergirl, when I feel the way I do. That’s why I needed to tell you tonight. That’s why it couldn’t wait any longer. And that’s wh—”
“—I think I’m in love with you,” Lena blurted out.
It left the Kryptonian speechless. She was stopped midsentence, her mouth opening and closing in a futile attempt to speak.
Lena had shocked herself nearly as much by her sudden admission. Which is why she was so proud of herself for being able to push “and I’d really like to kiss you,” out of her mouth immediately afterward.
“O-okay,” Kara stammered breathlessly. Lena scooted over as close as she could to Kara, and leaned in, hovering just in front of Kara, her breath cascading onto the blonde’s lips. After a second to catch her breath, Kara closed the remaining difference.
Their lips seemed to slot together perfectly. Kara pressed a little harder into Lena, eliciting a moan from the Luthor. Kara’s hands slid up Lena’s sides, coming to a rest on Lena’s back, pulling her in as much as she could; Lena’s arms wrapped themselves around Kara’s head as she did so. Lena flicked her tongue against Kara’s teeth until the Kryptonian allowed her entrance.
It was as if the entire world melted away as they melted into each other’s arms, over a year of built-up yearning spilling out onto each other’s lips.
The need for air was the only thing that ultimately stopped them. Kara and Lena broke apart, but only barely, pressing their foreheads together and giggling. One of Kara’s hands moved from Lena’s back to cup her face, thumb gently brushing along her cheek.
“Alright, I am definitely in love with you,” Lena chirped.
“Me too,” Kara affirmed.
“So,” Lena began, a devious smile forming on her kiss-beaten lips, “if I asked Supergirl out, she’d say yes?”
“Well, it’ll still cost you,” Kara responded with a sly smile.
A small frown formed on the raven-haired woman’s face. “Oh?”
“Don’t worry, she takes kisses as payment,” Kara laughed and only stopped when Lena made her first payment.