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‘Lena, can we talk?’
Lena paused in brushing the night’s tangles from her hair and glanced back to where Kara was sitting on the edge of their bed (not just her bed anymore, their bed, officially. She still got a little thrill of joy every time she so much as thought about that).
‘Of course darling, what’s on your mind?’
‘Well...’
Kara reached up to fidget with glasses that weren’t there, groping at the side of her face a couple of times before dropping her hand back to her side with a small, frustrated (ridiculously adorable) huff. Under other circumstances Lena would have climbed into her lap to lick the pout that came with that sound until it turned into a smile (or a kiss. Or several kisses), but she resisted. Kara wanted to talk, and nothing that came after that would be conducive to talking.
‘It’s just… I still haven’t had time to buy a new phone since I- um. Crushed mine.’
Ah.
‘Yes… I really am sorry about that.’
And Lena was sorry.
Mostly.
She knew it was wrong to take pleasure in making her girlfriend so flustered that she broke things (let alone to deliberately use the power of her boobs against her), but there was a small (not that small) part of Lena that couldn’t help taking a devilish delight in knowing that the mere existence of her cleavage in Kara’s vicinity was enough to cause... accidents. It wasn’t that she actually wanted things to get broken. It was just that it was so incredibly endearing to see the unflappable girl of steel mentally blue screening as she struggled to keep her gaze respectably above the level of Lena’s chin, only to inevitably slip, her cheeks turning red as quickly as if they hadn’t seen each other naked an unguessable number of times by this point.
But still, it was hard on Kara when the thing she broke was important, or expensive. It was understandable for her to be annoyed.
‘How about I set up a cleavage related incident fund to cover the costs? Or… or do you want me to stop wearing such low cut shirts around you? Because I can, if it would help.’
‘What?’ Kara choked ‘Nonono, don’t you dare! Those shirts are one of my top ten reasons for getting up in the morning.’
Lena chuckled ‘alright then, the shirts stay. But in that case, what is it you wanted to talk about?’
‘Right. Yes. Okay. Well… look, I swear I wasn’t snooping, but I needed to let Alex know what time to expect us for brunch and I didn’t have a phone of my own, so I didn’t think you’d mind if I borrowed yours…’
‘I don’t mind. That sort of thing is exactly why I gave you my passcode, and it’s hardly the first time it’s happened. Why would you think I’d mind now?’
Kara shuffled awkwardly in place, not meeting Lena’s searching gaze.
‘Because I- I found something.’
I found something.
The words sent a prickle of unease shivering down the length of Lena’s spine.
Kara knew the bones of her. There was nothing left unspoken between them, from past attempted murders to secret sexual fantasies, and all of it had only served to bring them closer (emotionally closer and, in the case of the latter, physically too. Oh, so deliciously physically).
So given all of that, what could she possibly have found on Lena’s phone that would make her look like this?
She tried to think over the possibilities while Kara struggled to find words, mentally preparing for the worst.
Had she left some old messages from Lex on there that somehow read as incriminating, despite the fact that she had never deigned to reply to his ravings? But surely not, she had always deleted anything he sent as soon as it arrived, and then set to work blocking his new work around of her previous block. Besides, Kara trusted her, she would never believe Lena would willingly have worked with Lex, no matter how bad he had managed to make something sound.
So maybe she’d inadvertently saved drafts of vindictive diatribes she’d considered sending to Kara in the early days of their fight, after Lex had revealed Supergirl’s identity but before he’d kidnapped her? Those would certainly be upsetting to read, for all Kara knew about them in theory.
But no, she was certain she’d only ever gotten as far as composing those in her head, and besides she cleared out her drafts weekly, there was no way she’d have missed something like that.
So…
Wait.
Wait.
Kara needed the phone to text Alex?
Oh no.
Oh no no no, surely she couldn’t have seen-
She swallowed against a suddenly dry throat, praying she was wrong but knowing she wasn’t.
‘You- you read my text chain with Alex, didn’t you?’
‘I didn’t mean to! She’d sent a message about brunch and I scrolled up to check if she was asking us to bring anything, but I guess scrolled too far, or hit the wrong button or something, because suddenly I was in your old Atlantis chat, and-’
Lena closed her eyes.
Fuck.
She had told Kara almost everything about those days, but this was the one part she was never supposed to know about. It had seemed like such a small, inconsequential secret to keep in the face of everything else, but she should have known it would come back to haunt her.
‘I know what you found, and I’m sorry, I wish you hadn’t had to see that. You just- you have to understand Kara, things were different then. We were desperate, we all had to do things we wouldn’t have chosen to-’
‘But Lena…’ Kara interrupted, her voice tight with barely suppressed emotion, her lower lip trembling ever so slightly. Lena let her hairbrush fall to the floor and went over to sit beside Kara, talking hold of both of her hands and gripping them imploringly to her chest.
‘I know, okay? I know. It was a really dark time and I wish it hadn’t been necessary, but it was, and I’m not ashamed of what I had to get you back. I’d do the same thing again if it came to it, because there is no line I wouldn’t cross for you. I’m sorry if that makes you see me differently.’
The tremble in Kara’s chin became a wobble, and then she could hold it in no longer.
‘LULU?!’
She exploded with laughter, head thrown back, tears welling in her eyes and rolling down her cheeks as she continued to shake with peal after peal of it.
Lena groaned, dropping Kara’s hands and flopping backwards onto the bed, only to have Kara swing her leg over to straddle her hips, leaning forwards until they were face to face again. It was usually a position that they both very much enjoyed and would have completely diverted them from discussion of more or less any other topic, but this time Lena wasn’t getting off so lightly, and she knew it.
‘Shut up’ she grumbled feebly as Kara gently prised away the arm she had flung dramatically across her face to hide from the delighted mirth dancing in her girlfriend’s eyes.
‘But Lulu though. You actually let Alex call you that? For real? Out loud and everything? And she’s still alive?’
‘Yes, okay? Yes, I did. And since you know now, you might as well know the worst of it. She still calls me that when no one else is around to overhear. It’s… kind of a thing now.’
She tilted her chin up defiantly, attempting the air of unruffled nonchalance she could manage so easily with business rivals seeking to undermine her, but it turned out to be much harder to pull off while wearing marshmallow pajamas and pinned beneath the god-like beauty who was the love of her life, and who also just so happened to be laughing at her right now.
She switched to a pout instead, and the merriment faded into something softer as Kara continued to gaze down at her, her hands bracing on either side of Lena’s head.
‘You must really love me.’
She sighed.
‘Of course I do, you Kryptonian nightmare. I would legally change my name to Lulu for good if for some reason that would keep you safe.’
Lena was still pouting as she said it, but not for long.
Before the words were all the way out Kara’s lips met hers in a searing kiss, and one of her legs slipped between Lena’s in a practised motion that would have made her groan if the sound hadn’t been swallowed by another kiss.
Somehow their pajamas found their way to the bedroom floor with a speed only achievable by Kryptonian hands, and Lena let herself get lost in Kara’s deep (deep) appreciation for her ‘sacrifice’.
The final secret of Atlantis was out in the open at last, and the outcome was better than Lena had dared to imagine.
They were half an hour late for brunch.