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A smirk painted Livewire's face as Supergirl walked through the dark corridors of Fort Rozz with a straight back and purpose in her step, the white-haired woman hot on her heels. It was amusing—or perhaps so insane to the point of being funny—that even when the kryptonian didn't have her powers, she would throw herself into danger to keep the world safe; it also sent a weird sensation to Livewire's stomach, one that she begrudgingly acknowledged long ago didn't have anything to do with the anger she once felt for the alien.
Supergirl trusted her, despite everything. The idea made Livewire feel slightly ill—yet the part of her that was still Leslie, the part that the blonde never gave up on, felt needed. The absurdity of the situation, though, made her feel entirely stupid.
Livewire was a bold woman with a sharp tongue and a knack for trouble. It wasn't in her character to display of—God forgive her—friendliness or fondness or anything remotely in this direction. So she would never admit she respected—even cherished— the beacon of hope and strength dressed in blue and red right in front of her. The thought made her feel like gagging. What if the kryptonian started to think she had gone soft? Ugh.
Then the white-haired woman settled for the thing she did best when she felt threatened or overwhelmed by things she didn't want to deal with: being a snarky, hot-headed, bully. As the artificial fog thickened, Livewire increased her pace, just enough to be almost invading the Girl of Steel's personal space. Kara glanced over her shoulder, narrowing her eyes at her, making Livewire's smirk grow even larger, showing her white teeth. Nevertheless, the kryptonian didn't say anything, opting to move her head in different directions, trying to pinpoint any signs of oncoming danger.
Inconspicuously, Livewire stirred her fingers, willing her electricity to appear with a low buzz, the potency weak enough to not cause any harm or make additional noise. Pointing the blue wires at Supergirl's lower back, she set the electricity free for half of a second, before hiding her hands quickly behind her back. The blonde almost jumped, startled, before coming to a halt, a gasp escaping her lips. Livewire suppressed a laugh as Kara's incredulous blue eyes turned to her.
"Did you just zap me?"
The accusatory tone made Livewire's lips twitch.
"No," she said with amusement at the obvious lie that escaped her lips, her dark gaze holding that familiar teasing air that Kara always found as exasperating as her delinquent nature. "Why would I do that?"
Kara scowled at her.
"Don't you think you are too tense? Wondering if a weird alien is going to jump on us?"
"That's because that could and probably will happen," Kara scolded. "This isn't a joke, Leslie."
Here she goes again. That name. If Supergirl noticed the way Livewire pursed her lips or how her back set a bit more straight, she didn't acknowledge it.
"I told you not to call me that," she reprimanded. "And even if they jump on us, I'm going to fry their alien asses. Being all tense just because of this ridiculous attempt at a spooky spaceship party isn't going to help either."
Kara frowned, her eyes softening but still holding that annoyed spark as she translated the casual rudeness of Livewire's dialect to normal-person dialect.
"Are you worried about me, Leslie?" she asked, pointedly ignoring the other woman's request. Livewire scowled.
"As if. I'm just making sure you weren't going to be stiff as a board when those ugly bastards show up. You are agile as a human here; every second counts."
"Uhum," Supergirl hummed, clearly unimpressed. "Funny thing, because I just got the impression you're trying to reassure me. And even worse, you're saying you are going to protect us."
Livewire scoffed, avoiding that blue gaze.
"I might, since you're useless here," she rebuked with venom, but the blonde was familiar with Leslie's antics—she felt exposed. Kara had a talent for seeing people for who they really are, beyond the ugly layers they wrapped themselves with, bringing the most raw emotions to the surface, even if the kryptonian hurt herself in the process.
Kara was no fool. If she engaged in this petty squabble she knew she was going to give Leslie exactly what she wanted—which was probably Leslie's way to calm her own nerves, if she was being honest—but one of them had to be the adult here. Plus, being forthright was far more effective to get under Leslie's skin (and far more satisfying).
"You didn't deny it." Kara stepped further, directly into Livewire's personal space, challenging her to say otherwise.
"Are you really this stupid or are you being purposely obtuse?"
Kara didn't take the bait.
"Whatever you say, I see right through you, Leslie," she said, prolonging the name like she was savoring it. The lack of immediate answer only cemented the blonde's words as Livewire huffed in annoyance and a flick of static made the hair on the back of her neck stand up almost imperceptibly. Since her body didn't work, well, normally anymore, that was how she expressed embarrassment—not that Kara knew that, fortunately. "Now, zap me again and I’ll give you a reason to be all tense about."
Leslie blinked.
"Oh? And how exactly do you intend to do that?" As far as Livewire knew, she had the upper hand here, no matter what the stupid increasing buzz of her electricity hinted at.
Kara took another step closer and Leslie hated how she automatically retreated. Supergirl noticed, eyeing her from head to toe, arching a blonde eyebrow. The woman had no power under the blue star; there was no reason to feel suddenly nervous.
Except that even then, Kara's presence filled the whole place. There was no escape from her light and that unnerved Leslie. Those clear blue eyes, as bright as the morning sky were turned to her, scrutinizing her face, searching for bits and pieces of the real Leslie, solving her like a puzzle and pouring her seemingly infinite amount of hope on her, of all people.
It was so foreign, so ridiculously alien that it made Leslie not want to disappoint her—because Livewire could spit whatever derogatory thing about herself she wanted, but Supergirl would still find something worthy about her. And she hated that at the end of the day, she felt good about it.
Leslie didn't think she deserved it.
That's why that honest face in front of her was way more scary than the life and death situation they were in. Here, at least she could fight back. But with Kara, it was too personal, too raw. It was ludicrous—preposterous even—that she was frightened by Supergirl. Livewire wished Kara would disappear; away with that gaze that she couldn't hide from.
Kara raised her right hand towards Leslie, her fingertips barely touching the skin of the white-haired woman's cheek. It was so soft, so careful, that it did send a tickling sensation through Livewire's spine—almost like she had been zapped herself.
For a second, vulnerability flashed through her face, before being quickly replaced by anger. Leslie slapped the kryptonian's hand, fuming; her already disheveled hair was now getting even messier with blue energy.
"Who's tense now?" Kara asked with a sly grin, her eyes doing that thing that made Livewire’s insides feel warm with something felt like fondness.
"Screw you," Livewire all but snarled, walking past the blonde towards the dark corners of the alien prison.
"You would like that, wouldn't you, Leslie?"
If the crack of electricity didn't give away her embarrassment, the fact that she stumbled on her own feet while turning around with an incredulous look on her face certainly did. The white-haired woman was about to threaten to end the heroine's life—again—if that ridiculously open, vulnerable look wasn't there; her posture keeping that stubborn instance of someone ready to jump into danger if that's what needed to be done. Kara was brave in everything she did; it made a lump constrict in Livewire's throat. She tried to ignore it.
"Excuse me, what the hell?" She crossed her arms. "Did the lack of yellow sun damage your brain too? I thought I was the deranged one, but apparently I was wrong," Leslie taunted, a muscle pulsing in her jaw. She didn't know what was worse: what the other woman implied, the fact that she seemed so certain about it or the fact that she wasn't actually wrong.
With a shake of her head, Kara pressed her lips together; she didn't seem surprised by the other woman's answer, just annoyed—and maybe a bit hurt, too. And Leslie hated that, because it made her tongue feel like sandpaper and everything else was just weird.
"Keep lying to yourself and see how well it goes." Supergirl resumed her steady pace, once again taking the lead as Livewire followed her briskly. Then, Kara changed her approach abruptly, "You have an actual chance to start a new life once this is over, but you keep downplaying your own worth and isolating yourself."
"And you're so full of yourself. What do you even know about me?"
"Enough to see that you're so scared to stop relying on your anger that you won't even give it a chance."
"Give a chance to what?" Livewire stomped, grabbing Kara's forearm aggressively.
"To me!" Supergirl blurted, yanking herself out of Leslie's touch and spinning around, fully intending on getting away, but it was too late. Leslie had seen her face; had seen the anger and had seen the hurt caused by Livewire's erratic behavior. She exhaled in frustration, running her hands through her white locks, stopping dead in her tracks.
"I gave you all the chances!" she admitted, exasperated. "Everything good I did, I did for you. Because of you." Her lungs contracted as if there were needles scratching her at every word she managed to force out of her throat.
To Leslie, it was easy to spit hurtful things, no matter how much of a deadly—addictive—poison the action was. A long time ago she deemed it necessary out of self-preservation.
Nothing could hurt her more than herself. The truth didn't feel good; she didn't want to deal with that can of worms and she couldn't believe how strong—and how naive—the other woman was to do that all the time.
With a resigned tone, she said, "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."
There. She tore herself open and now Kara could as well twist the knife to the gut to finish the job. She even expected the rebuke, the typical chastise about how everything she didn't wasn't enough—and why even bother when everyone expected her to be a disappointment anyway?
Nevertheless, Leslie should have known that the blonde wasn't like that—which somehow managed to be worse—because Kara always had faith in her; how could she try to be up to Supergirl's expectations when she didn't believe in herself to begin with? The mere thought of those clear blue eyes looking at her like she was a failure was enough to cut deep into her heart. An accomplishment very few people had managed.
So Livewire's words were always sharp like razors, since it was best to reject than to disappoint; to keep her distance than to betray.
"I know," the blonde said, a crinkle on her forehead. While her tone was low and understanding, her voice sounded loud in the quiet of Fort Rozz. "I know you did. I trust you. I wouldn't have asked you to come with me if I didn't."
"And that"—Leslie inclined her head emphatically—"is your problem. I wouldn't trust myself. You certainly shouldn't."
"No, that's the real problem, Leslie!" Kara approached her again. "You try so desperately to shrug me off, to make me abandon you, but you don't see that I won't." The blonde grabbed Livewire's shoulders, her touch firm yet gentle. "I won't, no matter what, because I see you, Leslie."
Livewire felt like choking. Leslie wanted to breathe.
"You shouldn't," she stated. However, her resolve had already crumbled. "You're going to be disappointed."
"Disappointment is just part of life," Kara reassured her. "It doesn't matter, as long as you promise to keep trying."
"I could break you," Leslie couldn't help but warn her. If she was going to do this, if she was going to be honest, then she needed to show the blonde everything that came included in her package. "If you walk away now, I won't blame you."
"Too late for that."
Her thumbs felt soft on Leslie's collarbone; Kara's blue eyes were like the sky in a clear morning—beautiful, yet so clearly out of reach. For even then, Leslie felt like she didn't deserve what she'd been given. What was right in front of her.
"But I need you to know I'm going to ask far more of you," Kara said. Leslie felt her eyes burn and she blinked hard to keep the tears at bay, as she refused to let go of that bit of her dignity—she was still Livewire, after all. "Just try."
"I will," Leslie promised and she never got back on her own word. "Since you won't leave me alone," she added as an afterthought, a shadow of a smile at the corners of her lips, despite the glint of uneasiness that cracked through her dark pools.
Kara's expression softened and the pressure on Leslie's shoulders felt more insistent. However, the blonde wouldn't lean in—she needed Leslie to do it.
"Exactly." Supergirl smiled; warm.
Leslie stepped further, her gaze darting to Kara's lips. Slowly, so close that their mouths almost touched, Supergirl let her eyes fall closed and Leslie could watch her like that forever with her delicate lashes, relaxed expression.
There was a squeeze on Livewire's stomach that felt like affection but also oddly like pain. Then, their lips barely touched—a ghost of a kiss, before Kara tugged her close with a lightness, with a care, as if Leslie were going to break if she pulled any harder. Which felt so different from anything that Leslie experienced before, so alien—she smiled at the silliness of the statement mid-kiss—that she was taken aback by Kara’s tenderness.
"What?" Kara asked, the corners of her lips slightly curved upwards, a light pink spread through her cheeks.
"Nothing." Leslie shook her head. Then, she smirked, a mischievous glint in her dark eyes. She leaned in again, giving a quick peck at Kara's lips and—
Zap.
As the blonde yelped in surprise, the white-haired woman started to run down the corridor laughing, because she was still Livewire as much as she was Leslie and all of her always has been such a troublemaker—and she probably wouldn't change anytime soon.
"Leslie!" Kara scolded, hot on her heels.
"Why so shocked, Supergirl?"
"I'm going to strangle you!"
Leslie only laughed harder.