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“Alex!” Kara gasps. Alex just makes a humming sound in response from the other end of the couch. Kara stands up and slaps her sister’s arm none too gently.
“Ow!” Alex rubs her arm indignantly. “What!”
“My feed is all messed up!” Kara pushes her phone into Alex’s face. Her sister just looks confused and annoyed.
“Huh?”
“My Tiktok feed! Why is it just mean pranksters and videos of people making juice?” Kara swipes up to show Alex the next few videos and screeches when she stumbles on yet another ‘deep cleanse diet’ video.
“Uh,” Alex stares at Kara. “Okay?”
Kara huffs. “Not okay! What happened to all my puppy videos! The algorithm has failed me.”
Alex snatches the phone from her hands like the rude sibling she is.
“Kar, look at who you are following! You know that affects what you see, right?”
“What? I only follow animal accounts! Okay, I follow, like, one that tracks all of Lena’s talks and another one that does compilations of ugly faces of Superman. I send the funny ones to Lois.”
“Oh, you have to send me them too.”
“Not the point here, Alex.”
“Okay, I can’t find those two accounts in your list. Are you sure you followed them?”
“Yeah, wait, gimme back my phone.”
Kara gasps so dramatically that Alex looks a little worried.
“Alex! They are gone!”
“Maybe someone hacked into your account? If you remember their handle, you can add them back.”
Kara realizes she does not, in fact, have the handles memorized. Kara throws herself back onto the sofa and groans.
“Stop being dramatic. If your account is hacked, I will need to do a security check on your phone and also, a –“
Kara tunes out, still distraught that her carefully curated feed is gone. Especially that one Lena-appreciation account that posts snippets of Lena’s talks and zoom-in-ed images of her face. She spends most of her time on TikTok doom-scrolling down that one tag.
She is not proud of it. But she has been deprived of Lena’s presence for weeks and she’s doing it cold turkey, so her behavior is more than justified in her eyes.
Still, it’s gone now.
Kara wails again and Alex smacks a pillow over her face.
Kara rolled her eyes and open her animal crossing app. If she can’t have her regular content, she can at least while away her time with the game.
“Alex! Where are all my neighbors!?”
Something is wrong with her apartment. Everything seems out of place. Her sofa was not this near her window. The television is angled a few degrees off from the optimal angle to face the sofa. She has already tripped three times over different things, taking a chunk off the wall the final time.
Kara thinks for a bit and then shrugs, dismissing it to focus on her dinner.
Kara opens the fridge and blinks a few times to take in the sight.
Green, so much green.
Her fridge is somehow filled to the brim with vegetables. Kara gags at the smell.
Cringing, Kara digs each stalk and bundle out and throws it carelessly on the floor. She thanks Rao for giving her the ability to hold her breath for so long. With each vegetable uncovered, her stomach drops an inch.
Where are her leftovers?
Where are her next day potstickers?
Her whipped cream and Hershey chocolates?
Kara’s fingers touched a box and pulled it out in relief.
“Garlic vegan ice cream?” Kara screeches, quickly dropping the tub as if she is scalded.
Kara pulled out her phone and dialed the first number.
“Alex! I have been robbed!” Kara cries out in despair.
Kara glares at her reflection in the mirror.
“I am not going out there like this.”
“Kara, come on. The fire is spreading and you need to get there, like yesterday.”
Kara gives her sister the side eye. “Can’t I just use one of my old suits?”
“No! The kryptonite shield is embedded only in this one and the flame has a greenish hue so we’re going to have to play it safe.”
Kara spares another glance at the mirror before she flies off.
She can already see the headlines tomorrow.
‘Clownery at Tenth Avenue as Supergirl puts out fire’
‘Halloween comes early – Supergirl hits the streets in clown wear’
‘Supergirl mocks Batman in this fashion piece, read more to find out – ‘
Kara shudders.
If Andrea makes her write the article, she will quit.
Kara quickly puts out the fire. A quick debrief with the chief of the fire station reveals that the fire looked green because of the copper sulfate a plumber had been using. Kara quickly fires a vindictive ‘told you so’ at Alex and sulks all the way back to the DEO.
“Alex, we need to find out who’s behind this.”
Alex sighs and pinches her nose bridge. “Only a few people have access to the image inducer in your suit, Kara. It’s kinda obvious.”
It dawns on Kara who the culprit is.
“Brainy!”
Alex exhales heavily and shakes her head before walking away.
Kara tilts her head sideway and presses a finger to her ear.
“It’s not going away, Alex,” Kara whines.
“I’ve done all the checks on you. Your hearing should be fine.”
“It’s been driving me crazy all week, just a flat tone that comes on and off.”
Alex frowns. “This room is virtually sound proof.”
“Are you sure I don’t have tetanus from that roaring monster last week?”
“No, your eardrums look fine.”
“What if it’s a villain trying to send me some message?”
“Do you hear any words?”
“No?”
“What if you track it to its source?”
Kara perks up at the idea. Speeding off, she traces the sound to a warehouse in a deserted industrial estate. Squinting, Kara x-rayed the place and sees no one. Cautiously, she lands in front of the building and pushes the door open.
There is only one small table in the middle and Kara walks towards it, eyeing the walls suspiciously.
Her eyes widen when she sees the content of the table. Just one small Bluetooth speaker hooked up to an analog computer and a newspaper clipping of Supergirl in a clown costume. The screen of the computer flickers to life and a winky face appeared before it combusts into flame.
Kara steps back by instinct and when nothing else happens, puts out the fire with a quick exhale.
Grabbing the now-charred-and-frozen computer and the rest of the setup, Kara flies back to the DEO. Dumping the stuff onto the DEO’s main control table, she ignores the Alex’s unhappy huffs.
“I want to find out who did this,” Kara folds her arms.
They did not manage to find out who the culprit was. Alex did not even put that much effort into the investigation, dismissing it as a harmless prank much too quickly.Kara drags her feet as she goes into her own apartment. It has been a bad few weeks, partially because of the ‘pranks’ and mostly because she misses her best friend.
She is trying to give Lena time to process her reveal as Supergirl. But it’s just so hard to give her space.
She understands that hiding her identity is wrong and that Lena deserves way, way better but how is she going to earn her back if she can’t be around her?
Kara continues to mope as she brings out her phone and dials the number for her favorite Chinese takeaway.
“Hi, you’ve reached Wong’s Restaurant. We are away until the 20th of June. Thank you for calling and we look forward to serving you then.”
Kara slowly sits down on the sofa as tears well up in her eyes. She chokes on the beginning of a sob as she draws her knees to her chest. The past few weeks catches up to her, abruptly and all at once.
“What the hell, Lena,” Alex storms into the office.
Lena forces herself to relax as she removes her hand from the panic button. “Good evening, Agent Danvers.”
“Don’t bullshit me,” Alex places both of her palms on her desk.
“What did I do now?” Lena drawls, examining her fingernails. She needs a manicure soon.
“You broke Kara. She cried for hours and I have not seen her like this, not even when Mon-El left.”
A flicker of guilt stirs, and Lena quickly tamps it down.
Alex must have seen something in her expression anyway because the manic energy bleeds out of her with an exhale.
“Look, Lena. I know hiding Kara’s identity was shitty of us and we are sorry. Kara is sorry. I am sorry,” Alex’s eyes bore into her own and the sincerity in them was so overwhelming that Lena has to look away.
“But this can’t continue. It’s not healthy.” Alex’s voice was soft. “You don’t have to forgive us. But we can work through this. Together.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Lena shot back reflexively.
Alex sighs, “Okay, how did you get into her flat?”
Well, the game is up and there is no point in hiding.
“Kara gave me a spare key a year ago.”
Alex raises an eyebrow but continues, “How about her phone?”
Lena rolls her eyes. “It isn’t that hard if you know her password. She uses it for all her accounts.”
Alex stares at her. “How did you figure out the frequency for Kara to hear the sound that annoyed her for a week?”
Alex’s expression is open and there is still no judgement in her tone.
“I have access to her medical files.”
“How did you mess with the image inducer of her suit?”
“The DEO gave me privileged access to her suit.”
“No, the DEO did not. Supergirl did.”
Lena slouches into her chair at the picture Alex painted her. Alex gives her a look that borders too closely on pity.
“Don’t you realize? She trusts you. With all parts of her life.”
Lena wills herself not to cry.
“Come back to us, Luther.” Alex stalks off with a parting pointed look.
Lena realizes that she does not mind her last name, not when it is uttered through the lips of a Danvers sister, rolling past their tongue like it means something good.
Lena scrubs her face with one hand and grabs her car keys off the table.
The journey to Kara’s apartment passes by in a blur, her mind too preoccupied.
She takes the stairs instead of the elevator, needing the extra time.
When she reaches the front door, she is suddenly overcome with an urge to run away. Before she can give in to that instinct, the door opens and Kara steps through.
“Hi,” Kara says timidly.
Kara’s eyes are red and puffy. Her shoulders are slumped and her fingers twist into the end of her sleeves. She gives off a nervous energy that mixes with Lena’s own and the whole situation makes her feel flat-footed.
“Do you want to come in?” Kara stands a little to the side, inviting her in.
“Yes, I would like that,” Lena gives her a small smile. Kara returns it with an infinitely bigger one.
When they are inside, Lena licks her lips nervously as she stands dumbly in the middle of the apartment.
“We can sit down?” Kara rubs the back of her neck and gestures at the sofa.
Lena sits, back ramrod straight, and clears her throat.
“I am sorry for cutting all the cables for your phone charger.”
“Huh?”
“And for stealing all of your hair bands.”
“You stole –“
“And for breaking into your phone.”
Kara raise her eyebrows in shock.
“Those were you?”
Lena chuckles. “Yeah, not my best moments.”
Something flashes through Kara’s face. “The clown costume?”
Lena cringes at the memory. “Okay, that one I am not proud of.”
“I thought it was Brainy!” Kara just laughs disbelievingly. “Wait, are you the reason why Wong’s is closed?”
“I won’t take back that one. Do you know that their family have not been on a holiday for nearly a decade? An all-expenses paid round-the-world trip is the least they deserve.”
“Okay, yeah. I can forgive that one.”
They stared at each other for a beat.
“Are we – are we okay?” Kara’s smile wavers.
“I don’t think I can fully forgive you just yet – “
Kara’s smile drops for a split second before she plasters it back on. “Take as long as you need.”
Lena continues, “But I think I’m already halfway there. And I need help, from you, to get to a place where we can be okay again.”
“Anything,” Kara breathes out.
“I want complete honesty.”
“Of course.”
“No lying again.”
“Never.”
Lena takes a fortifying breath. “Why did you give me your keys? Your password to your phone? Access to the suit?”
Kara is silent for a long while. Lena is grateful that she is taking it so seriously and not blowing her off with a flippant answer.
“I think –“ Kara lays out her words hesitantly, like she knows that what she says will pave the way forward for their relationship.
“I trust you, Lena. Implicitly. Supergirl is a part of me that I grapple with all the time. I have made choices as Supergirl that keep me awake at night. I dream about Alex, Nia or J’oon captured and tortured by someone who wants to know my identity. I can’t add you to that list. It would be too much.”
There is a haunted look on Kara and Lena’s heart aches. She wants to comfort the hero, but she is unsure where to start.
“Every time I put on the cape, I feel the weight of the city on my shoulders. I know that it is on me to protect every citizen.”
Lena frowns. “It’s not solely on you, Kara. You have to believe that.”
Kara chuckles wetly. “I’m working on that. But, Lena, you made me feel so free. Free of Supergirl, free of these struggles, free of those thoughts. I am only Kara when I am with you. You are the reason I still fight on, even during the days where I hate everything about Supergirl.”
“That doesn’t sound healthy, Kara.” Lena says softly.
“I am beginning to realize that.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
Lena leans into Kara’s space, wraps her arms around the blonde and presses a kiss to her forehead.
“I get your rationale, even if I really think you should see a therapist.”
Kara snorts into her shoulder. “Only if you see one too.”
Lena rolls her eyes affectionately. “If that’s what it takes.”
“Will we be okay?”
Lena presses another kiss to her forehead, hoping that, by some form of osmosis, her love and belief for the blonde will imprint onto her brain.
“We will be.”
Lena feels the certainty in her bones and she hopes Kara does too.