Chapter Text
Kara is absolutely exhausted. Beads of sweat have started forming on her forehead and her hair is all over the place. She would love to take a break, but she knows she must keep going, otherwise she is going to spiral, and she cannot deal with that at the moment. Despite what her current state might indicate, her day had started out pretty well.
2 MONTHS AGO
The whole team is gathered at Kara’s apartment. Tensions are high as stress levels have been steadily rising over the past 30 minutes. Screams and cursing can be heard from outside. The super friends are currently partaking in the activity that quickly turns the best of friends, into sworn foes, Mario Kart.
“NIA NAL, I swear to every ever-loving god out there, if you use that blue shell right now, I will literally never talk to you ever again.”
Nia scoffs from across the room. She is sitting next to Brainy who is still struggling in last place.
“Well, tough luck Agent Danvers, because I don’t talk to losers.” And with that, Nia signs Alex’s death sentence.
The older Danvers audibly gasps when the blue turtle shell hits her, allowing Nia to reach the first place. Meanwhile, Kara is just enjoying a quaint drive at 6th place. She’s sitting on the floor between Lena’s legs. Lena has opted out of this round since she had some documents to read for work. She is instead intensely focused on her tablet while absentmindedly playing with Kara’s hair. Nia triumphantly fist pumps as she reaches the finish line in first place. Alex shakes her head as she gets third place. Kara isn’t even looking at the screen anymore, a pout forming on her face.
“Hey Lena, why did you stop?”
Lena is now using both hands to type something on her tablet. She gives Kara a warm smile.
“I’m sorry darling, I need to write down some notes. Give me a couple of minutes.”
Kara quickly nods and resumes her pouting before crossing the finish line in 10th place.
“HA, maybe if you stopped being gay for like, two seconds, you’d do better at Mario Kart, Kara.”
“Har dee har Nia, nothing gay to see here. You’re such a sore winner…”
Kara passes her controller to Kelly and moves next to Lena on the couch. As soon as the new race begins, Kelly starts struggling with the controller, not quite knowing what to do. Alex puts hers aside and helps her wife, showing her the controls.
“Come on, Kelly, you are NOT old enough to not know how to play Mario Kart!”
“Hey! I know how to play! Jimmy and I used to play all the time on the Wii. The switch is just a bit different.”
“Alright, alright. Either way, you’re helping me. Alex isn’t even driving right now.”
“Yeah, I’m helping my WIFE. You’ll get it once you get married, kid.”
Brainy sits up straighter at that comment.
“I predict there is a 98.7% chance of Nia Nal and I getting married within the next five years.”
For the first time that evening, Nia looks away from the screen to give Brainy a quick kiss on the cheek. The Coluan just stares back at her with a dumb smile on his face.
“Babe!! Focus, you’re letting Kelly pass you, you were doing so well!”
Brainy scrambles to get back ahead of Kelly. Kara sits there, watching everything unfold. It had been so long since they were all allowed to be normal people. For a while, it was hostile alien after alien, in the midst of invasions and universal crises. And one bald supervillain who just would NOT die. Kara would lie if she said she wasn’t burned out, not that she would ever admit it to anyone. She loved seeing her friends bicker over the most ridiculous things. It reminded her that they had a life outside of fighting to protect this city, and planet. They were allowed to relax and have fun, and the whole world would not crumble if they did, if she did. Although these brief moments of respite in an everlasting cycle of fighting might seem futile, it is what keeps her going. It’s what makes everything worth it. She peers over at Lena’s tablet.
“Watcha workin’ on?”
It had already been over a year since the unfortunate “Supergirlgate” as she likes to refer to it. Although Kara dearly regrets the decisions she made that landed them in that position, they’ve both been doing a great job of working through it and moving forward. Now that Lena knows all of her, she has reached a new level of comfortable around the other woman. And ever since they started hanging out again, Lena has become significantly more tactile. They used to hug frequently before, but now Lena would also randomly touch her arm and her face, and it made Kara feel things that she had not felt in a long time.
“Oh, nothing interesting darling, just some contracts I have to read before a meeting with some of our investors tomorrow.”
“Couldn’t you just have L-Corp lawyers do that for you?”
“Technically, yes. But this is a very important contract, and I don’t really trust anyone else to get this right.”
Kara shakes her head before resting it on Lena’s shoulder.
“You work way too hard Miss Luthor. You need a break!”
Lena laughs softly and shakes her head.
“Well, I’ll rest when I’m dead…”
Kara straightens up and looks at Lena like she just murdered her new puppy.
“Lena! We’ve talked about this, stop joking about your death, we’ve had too many close calls in recent years for it to be funny…”
Lena winces and slightly drops her head. She turns to Kara and rests her free hand on the Kryptonian’s cheek and says, “okay, Kara,” before placing a quick kiss to the blonde’s cheek and resuming her work. Kara, seemingly satisfied with that conversation, turns back to the screen. However, the race is over, and everyone is looking at her. Nia sighs loudly and goes to grab something from her bag that she then proceeds to hand over to Alex. Kara eyes them suspiciously but doesn’t have time to further investigate.
“I think I’m going to call it a night darling. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow.”
Kara gives her the standard puppy eyes, which makes Lena raise an eyebrow. Kara can understand even micro changes in Lena’s facial expression; she got the message.
“Alright, okay, fine… At least let me fly you home?”
“Kara, everyone is still here, it’s fine, I’ll just give my driver a call.”
At that, everyone starts getting up. Alex places a hand on Kara’s shoulder.
“You know what, it is getting late, we should probably go relieve the babysitter. Hopefully Esme is still asleep, and we can just go to bed.”
“Yeah, I still have to review an article before submitting it tomorrow.”
Since Brainy still hasn’t caught on yet, Nia adds, “and I’m taking Brainy with me for emotional support!”
Nia and Brainy leave first, before Kara has a chance to ask about what Nia suspiciously handed Alex. Lena is gathering her things as Kara walks Kelly and Alex to the door. Kara hugs them both and is about to turn around and close the door.
“Hey sis, you know you can talk to me about anything, right? Like literally anything. Especially, maybe, you know, dating issues?”
Kara curiously eyes Alex as if she’s trying to X-Ray her way into her sister’s thoughts.
“Um… yeah, sure, I mean, I always tell you when I have dates…”
Alex gives Kelly an exasperated look as the other woman rubs her back.
“Well, we’re both here for you if you want to discuss dates or if you’re dealing with unidentifiable and confusing feelings.”
Now, Kara was truly confused.
“Oh, um, thanks guys, I appreciate it. Also, don’t forget, I’m taking Esme for ice cream after school tomorrow!”
And with that, Alex and Kelly head towards the elevator. As they’re getting in, Alex lets out a long sigh. Kelly gives her a sympathetic look and hooks her arm around Alex’s shoulder as the doors close.
“It’s okay babe, she’ll realize she’s in love with Lena eventually. Don’t feel like it’s your responsibility to make this happen. Kara and Lena are both grown women, I trust they’ll get there.”
“Ugh, you’re right, you’re right. I know it’s not my place, but it’s just becoming painful to watch them interact! And Kara was such a strong support system when I came out, I don’t even know if she’s oblivious because of sexuality issues or because she’s truly just, blind… I just want to be there for her, you know?”
“I completely understand, and I also know that she loves and trusts you enough to immediately come to you when she figures this out, but she has to get there on her own first.”
“Yeah, you’re right… I do feel kinda guilty for those little bets with Nia. They just make it so easy, they’re so predictable, and you know I love winning a good bet…”
Kelly lets out a laugh as she leads them out of the elevator.
“Well, you already know what I think about this. I know it seems innocuous, and it might be for now, but you know Kara’s going to feel a bit betrayed and will be at least a little angry with you when she finds out about this.”
Alex tentatively eyes Kelly, “That’s why she will never know? You know, snitches end up in ditches…”
“You know, I’m starting to think someone is going to end up on the couch tonight...”
Alex throws her head back in laughter and places a quick kiss on Kelly’s cheek.
Kara turns around after closing the door and sees Lena standing next to the window, still on her tablet. Her stare lingers on the other woman’s face. Her brows are slightly furrowed as she is entirely focused on whatever she’s reading. Kara could probably look at Lena forever. Sometimes, she just gets lost in the other woman's eyes as she's explaining something to her. She's been to outer space and has soared among the clouds, but somehow, Lena's smile, with those damn dimples, remains one of her favorite views. A strand of hair that was tucked behind Lena’s left ear drops to her cheek. Kara walks over, stops right next to Lena, who is still intensely focused, and tucks the strand back in, her hand lingering next to Lena’s neck. Lena looks up at Kara, and smiles. Kara just stares at her, trying to hold back a smile threatening to escape her lips.
“You look cute when you’re focusing Miss Luthor.”
“Oh? Only when I’m focusing?”
“Oh, no, I mean, you always look good, I just- “
Lena puts the tablet back in her bag and starts quietly laughing. “It’s okay darling, I’m just teasing you.” She places one arm around Kara’s shoulder, “can you take me home please? I’m starting to realize how exhausted I am.”
Kara gathers Lena in her arms and quietly nods. She's used to flying people around and carrying them bridal style. It's never really awkward until it's Lena. Awkward is probably not the right word to describe how it feels. Kara just becomes hyper aware of all the places in which she's touching Lena and how the other woman clings to her. Her right hand resting on Lena's lower back, awfully close to the other woman's... and then there's also their faces being so close to each other. Kara carrying people never feels intimate, especially while she's on Supergirl duty. But for some reason, it feels extremely intimate when she's carrying Lena. Maybe it's because they're best friends? It's actually a nice feeling, she just wishes it would last longer, but it's a quick flight to Lena’s place. Kara softly lands on the balcony and drops Lena off.
Lena whispers a quick, “thank you darling,” before placing a hand on Kara’s shoulder and pressing a kiss to her cheek.
Kara stands there, a bit dumbfounded, before waving as Lena closes the balcony door. She stands there for a moment before flying back home. She’s never had a friend quite like Lena, that’s for sure.
As soon as Lena gets home, she goes straight to the bathroom and looks at herself in the mirror, both hands placed around the sink. She prides herself in being a woman who goes for what she wants. She’d never been this shy before. She’s been with both men and women, but no one has made her feel quite as shy as Kara Danvers. Sweet, considerate, Kara Danvers. Lena hated being the stereotypical sapphic who fell in love with her straight best friend. A tale as old as time. She technically didn’t know for a fact that Kara was straight. They never explicitly talked about it, but she didn’t want to assume that her best friend being overly tactile meant anything more than Kara herself being a very affectionate person. God, this woman was going to be the death of her…
Every time she contemplates letting Kara know about her feelings, she thinks of 50 different reasons why it would be a bad idea and how it could go wrong. Lena has stood in front of guns, lain in a falling plane, and been kidnapped by aliens. She’s survived a handful of assassination attempts, by none other than her own “family”. But somehow, it’s letting her best friend know she’s in love with her that scares her the most. Lena hates this line of thinking, but there’s a little voice in the back of her head that keeps reminding her that Kara already left her once. They have been slowly but surely moving on from the incident that almost shattered their friendship beyond repair, but Lena’s heart is still too fragile for her to put it on the line again. She tries to promise herself that she’ll do it eventually. That she’ll tell Kara how she feels and deal with whatever consequences arise. But Lena is a woman of her word, and at this point in time, she does not know if she can guarantee to follow through that promise.