Work Text:
———
one.
“Lee, are you ready?”
“One second, can you help me with my dress?”
“Of course.” Making her way to Lena’s room, she found her best friend in the prettiest dress she had ever seen. Her brain stopped as she tracked her eyes up the high right thigh slit, the low cut exposing smooth cleavage, and exposed collarbones.
Lena Luthor was pretty. She knew that. More than that, she knew how to accentuate her best qualities, and she had the resources to make herself look drop-dead gorgeous.
Kara was aware of the fact that her best friend was attractive. But it was a whole other thing to actually see Lena’s beauty in action. She didn’t have a lot of chances to see this side of her nowadays.
Despite her wealth and her fame and notoriety, Lena was actually a humble person. She hated flaunting her wealth and preferred a simple life. She hated dressing up and wearing heels. She hated mingling with rich people and having to listen to their dumb stories.
Most days, you could find Lena wearing comfortable, loose-fitting clothing and a pair of worn sneakers. She believed in buying clothes that were durable, flexible, and could be worn year-round. Except for her corporate clothes, she preferred to thrift used clothing.
“Kara? The zip?”
Why did her mouth feel so dry? Was that her heartbeat that was thumping so loud in her ears? Her hands felt moist.
Slowly, she walked up behind the shorter woman and grasped the zipper. The zipper teeth interlocked with a clicking noise. Finally, she got up to the top. Sweeping the hair aside, she finished the zip. “There.”
Lena made eye contact with her in the mirror in front of them. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.” Kara put her chin on one of her shoulders and quirked her lips up.
Her words hung in the air as they looked at each other. Slowly, Lena turned around to face her. With a finger, she took the blonde’s chin off of her shoulder and tipped it upward.
“You look handsome.”
“Thanks.” Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her cheeks turn beet red. Even after all these years of knowing Lena, the Luthor still managed to reduce her to a blushing mess because of a compliment.
They were so close, their noses were touching. Kara could feel every puff of air across her lips. She wanted to kiss her so badly.
There was a look in Lena’s eyes that made her think her best friend felt the same way.
They had danced around this subject for a few months now. It was always the wrong time, wrong place. Kara took it as a sign from the universe that she and Lena were not meant to be together. But maybe now?
She slowly leaned forward. Just as their lips were about to touch, Lena’s phone rang on the vanity. They jumped apart.
“Hello?” Lena’s cheeks were still flushed and she sounded slightly out of breath.
“What’s taking you two so long? Get your asses out here.” Nia, as always, was impatient. She liked keeping to a schedule. “J’onn is going to kill us if we’re late to his wedding.”
Kara sighed and stuck out her arm, not looking directly at her best friend. “Let’s get going.”
—
two.
“Knock, knock.” Kara stuck her head around the door.
Her favorite part of the day was spending her lunch break over at the Foundation.
She loved greeting Jess and sneaking down the hall to Lena’s office, slipping into the room and seeing her best friend smile when she saw her.
“Hey, love. Give me a second.”
“Take your time.”
Today, she brought with her Korean takeout: specifically, soft tofu stew, seafood pancakes, and large bowls of rice.
“Mrs. Kim threw in a serving of fried zucchini, she said I’m getting too skinny and not eating enough.” Putting the plastic bag on the coffee table, Kara shed her thick coat and threw it on the back of the couch.
Lena shut her laptop softly and smiled at her even more softly. As she walked over from the desk to the couch, she deflated and became less Head of the Foundation and more like the best friend Kara knew and loved. Her jaw relaxed, her shoulders dropped, and her hands loosened up.
Instead of opening up the bag of food, Lena immediately went for Kara.
“I missed you.”
Lately, she had noticed that their hug sessions were getting longer and longer. She didn’t question it, because physical touch was her language of love and intimacy. And Lena had come a really long way from where she had been. Plus, she figured that her best friend was incredibly touch starved and not aware of how social norms worked.
“Missed you too. Now come on, the food’s going to get cold.”
They dug into their meals, moaning at the taste of simple, humble, good Korean cooking. In Kara’s opinion, the price was very much worth it.
They didn’t say much, just savoring the amazing flavors exploding in their mouths. Before they knew it, the bowls and takeout boxes were empty.
The blonde sighed and leaned back into the couch, patting her belly. “That was good. I needed that.”
Lena chuckled and nodded as she looked over at her. “Oh, you’ve got something on…” She trailed away, leaning closer to her and putting a hand on her chest. Using a thumb, she swept the corner of Kara’s mouth, lingering just a tad.
Without breaking eye contact, Lena licked her thumb. “That tastes good.”
Kara was dumbstruck. First of all, this was ridiculously attractive. But did Lena actually mean anything by it? She knew that her best friend was a notorious flirt, especially with people she knew well. Was she supposed to do something?
Once again, her mouth grew dry while her palms grew damp. Just as she leaned forward slowly, a loud knock sounded from the office door, making them spring back from each other.
“Come in,” said Lena in a shaky voice.
Jess poked her head in. “Lena, you have your meeting with the Tracey Foundation in 10 minutes. I put them in Conference Room 1. You asked me to give you a warning?”
Standing from the couch, Lena nodded, already stiffening up back into Business Lena. “Yes, thank you Jess. I’ll be there shortly.”
The secretary nodded and made her leave. Kara cleaned up the takeout containers and put them in the bag. She didn’t want to look at Lena just yet, so she spent extra time on the knot.
“I’ll see you at home.” A vague glance to the desk and she exited the office.
If only she had been a little quicker.
—
three.
“I would like to draw Train Cars, please.” Nia rubbed her hands together and cackled quietly.
Kelly squinted at the young reporter as she leaned forward and drew the cards. “What do you have planned, Nia Nal?”
“Oh, don’t worry about her. We’ve got this in the bag.” Alex nudged her wife gently on the shoulder. “Come on, honey, it’s our turn.”
It was their weekly game night, held at Kara and Lena’s place. This time, they were trying a new game, Ticket to Ride . It was a little bit complicated, but a thorough reading of the rules and with Kelly having played the game before, the gang jumped in with only a little bit of apprehension.
Although the game was probably usually played as single-player teams, they split into pairs: Nia/Brainy, Kelly/Alex, J’onn/M’gann, Kara/Lena. This way, the game would take less time and each person would have someone to bounce ideas off of.
The bowl that Kara had been snacking on was sadly empty. She put a hand on Lena’s shoulder as she stood, silently signaling her gaming partner that she was getting up and heading to the kitchen. Surprisingly, Lena followed her.
As she opened the snack closet and pulled out a couple bags of salty chips and a few boxes of Pepero chocolate sticks, Lena poured herself a fresh drink.
The one dimmed kitchen light from above brought out the shadows on Lena’s face, highlighting the bags behind her thick glasses. Despite that, the younger woman looked relaxed and happy for the first time in a while.
“Is there something on my face?” A dark eyebrow was raised as Lena focused on her rum and root beer.
“No, you just look really good in this lighting.” The words slipped out of her mouth before she could catch herself, but she didn’t bother trying to pretend she had made a mistake. It was the truth, after all.
The younger woman looked up in surprise, the dimple on her left cheek making an appearance. “I thought I looked good all the time.”
“You do! Especially right now.”
“Charmer.” Lena shot her a fond smile as she mixed her glass with a spoon. “You look nice in this light as well. Very handsome.”
Somehow, as they had been speaking, they ended up gravitating towards each other. Kara put down her bowl of snacks on the island counter and spontaneously hugged Lena.
“Thank you for being my perfect game night partner.” She pulled back and touched their foreheads together. “I couldn’t do this without you.”
“I couldn’t do this without you, either.” Lena whispered softly across the short space. They were so close, Kara could hear her tongue as she sounded out syllables.
They got closer and closer, and then—
“Kar, Luthor! It’s your turn, get your butts over here!”
Just like last week at the Foundation, they jumped away from each other like magnets with alike poles. Internally, Kara screamed. She was so close! They were so, so close.
Damn it, Alex.
—
four.
At this point, Kara was severely fed up by the last few months. One could even say frustrated . Every time she tried to kiss her very pretty best friend, they were interrupted.
What did it take to get a few moments of peace?!
She was reaching the end of her patience. But she was also trying to be a mannerly gentleman about things, and she was also scared of losing her best friend in her quest to quell the raging fire in her chest.
Tonight, she decided, would be the night she would finally put her heart on the line. She was going to kiss Lena Luthor.
At least, in theory.
Lena had come home hours ago, they had enjoyed dinner together soon after, and now they were sitting on their comfy, broken-in couch. Golden Girls was playing on the television in front of them, but Kara couldn’t pay attention.
All she could hear was her heartbeat in her ears. Her skin felt hot, and she was pretty sure her breathing sounded erratic.
Lena had been giving her worried and concerned looks all night. She probably could tell that Kara was being distant and not as cuddly as she usually was. Mercifully, she had said nothing so far, but she couldn’t take it any more.
“Lena, I have to tell you something.”
She probably should have said something different, but her mind was going a million miles a minute.
The other woman immediately turned the television off and turned her body towards her. Her face was serious, but her hands were warm and soft.
Despite having a rough childhood and not the best role models when she was younger, Lena was a great listener and had a caring soul. Kara felt like she could tell her anything.
Or, in this case, ask her anything.
“Can I kiss you?”
A fond, warm smile bloomed on Lena’s face. Later, Kara would realize that Lena had been smiling at her like that for months. But for now, she was too worried about her response.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
———