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Lena is excited to go to the beach with Kara for a lot of different reasons, but the biggest reason, rather selfishly, is that she’ll finally get to see Kara with a bit less clothing on. Sure, just admitting that to herself makes her feel like a bit of a creep, but ever since they’ve started dating Kara has remained wrapped up in her pretty sundresses and brightly-colored cardigans. Lena doesn’t mind taking things slowly, especially for Kara, but all it took was seeing Kara in an uncharacteristically tight t-shirt once and now Lena’s curiosity must be satiated.
It’s a double-date, of sorts, with Alex and Maggie, so Lena can’t ogle too much. But she will ogle. Just a little bit.
They set their things down on the sand and get to spreading out beach towels and pulling out sunscreen. Lena can’t help but watch Kara, who busies herself with smoothing out the towels and making sure their bottles of water and snacks are all there (which they are). Alex makes a silly joke about Kara needing to put on sunscreen, and Kara just laughs her off.
And then, the moment of truth.
Kara’s fingers curl around the hem of her loose-fitting t-shirt and she pulls up, up, up. Lena is immediately enraptured. The sun hits Kara just right and she glows, a golden goddess.
The first surprise of the day is that Kara has abs. Not just a slim, toned stomach, no – she has full blown abs that look like they’ve been hand-crafted by marble sculptors. Lena knows that she’s staring, and knows that Kara’s sister can see her staring, and she doesn’t even care.
The next surprise is that Kara has broad shoulders. It’s almost like a magic trick, since Lena never would’ve described Kara as someone with especially broad shoulders just from seeing her in her normal business casual attire. But now, here, shirtless? Kara has broad shoulders, like that of a swimmer. Like full-blown, Katie Ledecky-esque shoulders. Lena has no idea how Kara fits those shoulders into the slim shirts and blouses that she frequently wears. Those shoulders flow into biceps that bulge and peak even when Kara’s arms are completely relaxed.
Lena worries that she’s drooling.
As Kara starts to shimmy out of her jeans, Alex comes up behind Lena and smacks the back of her head.
“I know you two are dating,” Alex says. “But eyes to yourself, L-Corp.”
Lena’s cheeks burn bright red.
“What’s wrong, you two?” Kara asks, the absolute picture of innocence, as always.
Kara is out of her jeans, though, and Lena tries her hardest to not drink in the sight of Kara’s powerful, muscular legs. She had no idea that Kara even worked out, let alone that she somehow has the physique of a veteran bodybuilder.
“Nothing,” Lena manages to say, though her voice is barely more than a hoarse whisper.
Kara smiles and kneels down, reaching out to rub the back of Lena’s head, where Alex smacked her. Lena tries to look into Kara’s eyes and not directly at her bicep, which is just so close.
“My sister can be a bit overprotective,” Kara says. “Don’t worry about it, though, she’s a big softie deep down.”
“I heard that!” Alex calls out.
Lena grins weakly. It’s not Alex she’s worried about, she’s worried about not fainting every time her gaze falls on Kara in that goddamn bikini.
“Thanks, Kara,” Lena says, her voice returning to normal. “I still wouldn’t want to anger your sister, though.”
“Oh, she loves you,” Kara says. “She just has a funny way of showing it. Now let’s actually get into the water! I’ll race you there.”
Kara’s already sprinting down the beach by the time Lena gets up. Lena shakes her head and chuckles. No matter how sexy Kara looks, with those muscles – she’s really just a big puppy dog underneath it all. Lena jogs after her and is greeted by a big splash of water from Kara. Lena giggles and splashes Kara back.
Alex and Maggie watch from the beach, both very amused.
“Ah, young love,” Maggie says. “Isn’t it sweet?”
“We’ve been together for exactly two weeks longer than they have,” Alex says.
“Exactly,” Maggie says. “We have seniority.”
Alex just chuckles and shakes her head.
Kara and Lena quickly tire of trying to splash each other, and decide to just float lazily in the water.
“Hey, are you a strong swimmer?” Kara asks.
“Not as strong as you,” Lena mumbles.
“What was that?” Kara asks.
“Nothing,” Lena says. “I’m decent – I swim laps to stay in shape.”
“There’s a sand bar not too far from here,” Kara says, pointing out to the horizon. “Want to come with?”
“Let’s do it,” Lena says with a small smile.
Kara leaves the way, her strong figure effortlessly carving through the water. Lena struggles to keep up with what looks like a completely casual pace for Kara. Thankfully, it only takes about five minutes of serious swimming to get to the sand bar.
Kara gets there first, and laughs happily as she stands up on the elevated section of sand. Lana quickly joins her, and marvels at being able to so easily stand up with ocean all around her.
“This is pretty amazing,” Lena says.
“Isn’t it?” Kara asks. “I don’t get to the beach as often as I’d like, but I do love it here.”
Kara launches into a story about the first time she came to this beach, and Lena wants to pay attention, she really does, but her focus keeps on drifting down to Kara’s everything – her abs, her arms, her legs…
“Lena,” Kara says.
Lena blinks a couple of times, like she’s coming out of a trance.
“What is it?” Lena asks.
“Lena, it’s okay if you like my muscles,” Kara says, somehow sounding bashful as she does.
Lena’s eyes widen. She’s been caught.
“I do not – I wasn’t staring – that’s ridic - ,” Lena stammers.
Lena thinks she’s going crazy. She can nail international business deals and stare down threats to her life, but Kara Danvers takes off her shirt and she becomes a flustered little high school girl again.
Kara just laughs and takes a step closer to Lena, her arms coming to circle behind Lena’s neck.
“We’re dating, Lena,” Kara says. “I can handle a little staring.”
“Sorry,” Lena says. “I don’t normally get so flustered, but you’re just so…strong.”
Kara blushes and stares down at her feet.
“I like working out,” Kara says, which is technically true, she just works out by bench-pressing tanks and dodging missiles. “It’s a good release when work drives me crazy.”
Lena smiles at her and brings her hands up to rest on Kara’s biceps. Which oh, Jesus Christ, they feel bigger than they look. Lena feels faint, again.
“Maybe I could join you at the gym one time,” Lena says. “I’d love to see how you build up all of this.”
“Oh, it’s really nothing,” Kara says. “But I’d love for you to join me.”
Kara makes a mental note to have Alex teach her normal human exercises.
“Kara, can I make a very serious request before we go back to shore?” Lena asks.
“Anything,” Kara says, her face almost painfully earnest.
“Can I touch your abs?” Lena asks shyly.
Laughter bubbles up from deep with Kara’s chest, but she nods and steps back, giving Lena free reign of her torso. Lena bites her lip as she reaches out and traces her fingers up and down the hard, sculpted muscle. Lena lets her fingertips linger, far beyond what she deems is appropriate even for two people who’re dating, but Kara exhales audibly. Lena looks up to see that Kara’s cheeks are flushed.
That’s as much of a go-ahead that Lena needs, and she steps forward and kisses Kara. Kara leans into it and wraps her strong, strong arms around Lena, who feels like she’s melting into the embrace. It’s a totally sensory overload for Lena, whose entire world right now is Kara’s lips on hers and Kara’s strong body presses up against her own.
It feels like the entire rest of the afternoon has gone by when they both reluctantly pull back from the kiss, though it’s only been a couple of minutes.
“You’re really hot,” Lena blurts out.
Kara laughs an earnest and well-meaning laugh.
“I like that you’re the one who’s getting flustered now,” Kara says. “Makes up for how I acted the first few weeks I knew you.”
“Quiet, you,” Lena says. “Let’s just get back to shore before your sister thinks we’re doing something really inappropriate out here.”
“Something inappropriate?” Kara asks. “Whatever could you be talking about, Lena?”
This time, Kara’s innocent tone is entirely feigned, and Lena grins and playfully presses her fist against Kara’s shoulder (that glorious, glorious shoulder) and pushes her.
“You’re ridiculous,” Lena says.
“I know,” Kara says, a big smile on her face. “Hey, I’ll race you back!”
Kara smoothly dives into the water, and Lena know she doesn’t have a chance. Right now, she’s happy to just be a spectator.
When they get back to the beach, Kara only teases Lena a few times about her obsession with Kara’s muscles. All things considered, Lena considers that a win.