Chapter Text
“Spit it out, Little Danvers. What has got you all worked up?”
“Why do I need a reason to spend time with my sister’s girlfriend?” It’s somehow slurred and it makes Maggie wonder how much she already had drank before Maggie even got there.
Maggie stares at Kara, eyes narrowing while the young girl blushes and ducks her head down, fingers rapidly coming to push her glasses back, and she knows there’s something Kara wants.
She takes a look down; at the three empty glasses of a drink she’s sure Kara shouldn’t be drinking on her own, especially on a Wednesday night. Then back at red cheeks and adverting gaze.
The crinkle appears in between her eyebrows when all Maggie does is tilt her head to the side, waiting for an answer. Not so long ago, Alex had told her, her sister has a weakness: not being able to endure the silence. So Maggie takes a long swing of her beer and waits, because she knows it won’t take long.
And Kara honest to God starts squirming under her gaze. She groans, plays with the glass in her hand and finally drops her shoulders, loud sigh leaving her lips.
“How did you know?”
“What?”
“That something is bothering me.”
“Crinkle.”
It amuses her, how not so sober Kara brings the back of her hand to rub her forehead as if it would change something. But she lets her do it anyways; she needs to have some fun tonight, after all, since Alex is going to murder her for letting Kara get drunk.
As if it is her fault.
Maggie tries anyways: hand slowly reaching for the glass and she can already feel the cold air around it before Kara takes it, drinking half of it in one go.
Alex is so going to kill her.
“Okay, maybe we should slow it down, Kara.”
“But we are not even moving.” Maggie snorts, Kara pouts. She has already drunk way more than she should. “Maybe I didn’t call you because I wanted to spend some time with you.”
“No shit.”
Kara ignores her. Her mouth opens slightly, but closes faster than Maggie thought it was possible. Kara groans again.
“Would you feel better if I promised you Alex won’t know any of what we talk about here?” The woman nods, blue eyes coming to find brown ones. “So, what’s wrong, Kara?”
“What does it mean when someone overflows your office with flowers?”
Realization hits her. Her girlfriend’s little sister wants advice on relationships. From her. This is something that shouldn’t be happening.
But Maggie conceals, because Kara looks like a kicked puppy who just wants to be heard. Maggie takes a quick glance at Mon-El mixing drinks and yes, he really went out of his way this time. Finally one nice gesture.
“It depends.” Kara leans in, eyes narrowed, listening intensely at every word coming out of Maggie’s mouth. “How many flowers are we talking about and what flowers?”
“Plumerias. And I couldn’t enter my office.” She looks at Mon-El again, confused. Weird. “I mean, it was a thank you, right? For friendship and all?” Right. “And it’s not like I haven’t thought about it, but I didn’t realize it wasn’t one sided. But maybe it is, and it just means we’re friends and I’ll probably screw everything up with my feelings.”
“Kara, breathe.” She stops, takes a deep breath. “Look, I’ve seen you together like, one time, and I can assure you: it’s not one sided.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Maggie returns the huge grin Kara sends her way and they take a sip of their drinks together. “Why didn’t you talk to Alex about it?”
Kara laughs. Really loud, like she has just heard the stupidest idea in the world, and Maggie is confused. More than she was before.
“Alex wouldn’t approve.” Scratch that, now she is confused.
“I thought she had already given you a green light, to give it a try. She told me you were going to give Mon-El a chance.”
“Who?”
“Mon-El. We’re talking about him, right?”
The absence of answer and wide eyes are enough. Maggie didn’t know there was someone else in Kara’s life right now. But she can’t help but feel lighter knowing it’s not walking trash can over there.
“You thought I was talking about Mon-El?” Maggie nods. “Oh, Rao. Can we just forget this happened?”
“Look, Kara, I’m not going to push you. But you obviously wanted to talk to someone, and you called me. I’m sorry for thinking it was him, but Alex didn’t tell me you liked another guy.” Kara grumbles, her voice is getting heavier and more slurry. “What was that?”
She looks at Maggie in the eye, and, what it feels like a whole minute later in which Kara gathers up the courage, she sighs, defeated.
“It’s not a guy.”
“Oh.”
Now it makes sense. Now Maggie gets it.
“Please, let’s just forget this ever happened.”
“Kara, I told you Alex will know nothing of this. You can talk to me.”
She hides her burning red face in her hands, elbows resting against the wooden table. Maggie waits, she needs to let Kara set her pace.
“Does she, uh, do you know if she is into women?” Kara shakes her head. “Okay, do you mind telling me who she is? Kara, I can’t understand you when your hands are in front of your mouth.”
“Lena Luthor.”
“Oh.”
“She’s just so perfect, and she says I’m her hero. Not Supergirl, me, old plain Kara Danvers. And when she smiles, I can’t even, and I don’t want to ruin what we have. But I don’t even know if she likes girls, and, even if she liked, why would she like me?”
“Did she really fill your office with flowers?”
“Yeah.”
“I think she likes you.” Maggie smiles, but it only makes Kara sulks harder.
“As a friend.”
Kara takes the remains of her glass and Maggie realizes she forgot about her own beer, now hot and way too bitter even to herself. She sighs; maybe they should call it a night. She needs to process it all.
But her mouth betrays her. When she’s not even drunk.
Good one, brain.
“Maybe I could try to figure it out for you.”
“You’d do that for me?”
“Yes.” Kara beams at her and is already halfway up to a ‘celebratory drink’ when Maggie lays her hand on her forearm. “With one condition.” Kara nods, eyes widening like a child. “We’re leaving now. If Alex sees you drunker than this, she’s going to murder both of us, then bring us back to life so she can scream at us and kill us again.”
**
It’s how, on a Thursday evening, she finds herself being led to Lena Luthor’s office by her secretary.
And Maggie is not prepared at all. What is she even supposed to say? So, my girlfriend’s little sister is totally whipped by you, and wants to date you, by the way, you’re gay right? What had Kara gotten her into?
She doesn’t have much time to think about it, though, because sooner than she thought, Jess is already letting her in, Lena’s head raising just enough to acknowledge her presence in the room.
“That will be all, Jess. You can go.”
Like that, Maggie is alone with the woman she arrested barely a week ago. Lena is just as intimidating as she remembers, with the tailored gray suit and hair up in a tight ponytail.
Lena closes her laptop, readjusts herself on her chair and signs for Maggie to take a seat in front of her. As Maggie conceals, she is met by one of Lena Luthor’s polite smiles, and this is escalating to become one of the strangest weeks of her life.
“How can I help you, detective Sawyer?”
“I wanted to apologize.” She starts. Good one brain, acceptable excuse. But Lena only stares, her head leaning to one side. “For arresting you and all.”
For a moment, Maggie thinks she hasn’t heard, but then Lena is laughing, and from all the reactions she could’ve got, this was the one she expected less.
“Detective, please, you were only following orders. I’m assuming it was nothing personal.” Her perfect eyebrow raises and Maggie can definitely understand what Kara sees in her. She nods. “Then, no harm done.”
“I’m still sorry about it, though. And I would appreciate if you’d let me make it up to you, Miss Luthor.”
She squints her eyes, while they roam her up and down, and Maggie is sure this is how Kara felt last night. The urge to squirm under her gaze is absurd. Maggie gets it now.
But something flashes in green eyes and the small smile on the corner of her lips is enough for her now.
“Call me Lena, please. Miss Luthor is” Lena doesn’t finish it, she understands. “And what would you have in mind?”
“Have a drink with me.” Her left eyebrow joins the right one and, okay, it was a little forward. “There’s this bar a couple of blocks from here, I think you might like it.”
“As flattered as I am, detective, I can’t drop off from work for a date.”
“It’s not a date.”
Maggie cringes at how fast she said it, but Lena doesn’t seem affected by it. Maybe it’s because of the CEO expression she mastered over the years.
“I have a girlfriend.” A nod, followed by silence. Maggie continues. “It’s Alex, Agent Danvers, uh, Alex Danvers. You know, Kara’s sister.” Could this go any worse? She sighs. What is she even doing? “Look, Lena, the truth is, Kara wants to invite you to game night tomorrow and she doesn’t want it to be awkward. Alex respects you after everything, Winn is pretty much in love with you, James is professional and J’onn is diplomatic; which leaves me. Kara doesn’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”
By the look on Lena’s face, lying was a good choice. Nicely done, brain.
And by the grin appearing on her face, accompanied by the blushing cheeks and the duck of her head, Maggie is sure it’s not one sided.
Little Danvers chose well.
“Just give me a minute to grab my things and dismiss Jess.”
In roughly thirty seconds, Lena is almost dragging Maggie out of the office.
So fucking whipped.
**
“No, wait, you have to tell me exactly how it happened.” Maggie laughs with Lena, as the woman takes a sip of her sixth (or was it her seventh?) glass of whiskey. And the way Lena leans against her side is proof enough she is at least a little tipsy. “You and your ex moved in together after dating for three weeks?”
Lena laughs harder, hand resting against the bar counter. She puts her drink down, slowly than any sober person normally would, and rests her chin on her hand, elbow against the counter, eyes on Maggie.
“What was wrong with you?”
“So I was nineteen.”
“You were nineteen?”
“Technically we started dating when I was nineteen; I was twenty when we moved in together.” Maggie snorts and takes the time to catch her breath. “It lasted two weeks and we haven’t seen each other since.”
She takes a sip of her beer and motions for the bartender to bring them another round. Lena, then, downs the rest of her drink and shakes her head a little bit, trying to sober up. Maybe another round wasn’t the best idea.
But it took her five glasses to open up, and she had promised Kara, so she promised herself this was going to be the last round. Maybe one other after this.
“You’re telling me, Maggie Sawyer, you have no poor life choices?”
“Does dating someone with the same name as you count?” Lena spits a bit of her whiskey, rather ungracefully, and oh boy, how drunk she actually is? “In all seriousness, probably it’s rewatching season six of Buffy. I don’t know why I keep doing this to myself.”
“We enjoy the pain. It’s like watching Xena again. I’ve watched it, like, four times already. Speaking of it, I need to watch it again.”
“What else did teenage Lena Luthor did? How rebellious were you?”
“I followed the USWNT to every game for maybe a year. And I would always scream ‘You are a wanker, number nine!’ at them, I was banned from the games after the twentieth fourth time.”
Maggie stops and takes a look at Lena, then. The all so composed CEO, now with her hair down and blazer neatly folded at the side of her bag, and she has such a stoic expression, Maggie believes in her.
“I need proof, or it never happened.” But she leans in, eyebrows rising and Lena smirks. “Did you really?”
“I have to keep some of my secrets; otherwise I’ll lose my air of mystery, won’t I?”
They toast to that, Maggie’s beer way fuller than Lena’s glass, but it doesn’t stop the woman from taking two large gulps from it. If anything, Maggie is impressed at how well she handles her alcohol.
“What about a boyfriend?” Lena’s smirk gets bigger, if that’s even possible.
“Oh, detective, there are no boyfriends around me right now.”
She lifts her chin up and Maggie does the same, a small nod is shared between them. And, oh God, Maggie got gayer after talking to Lena. She didn’t think it was possible.
There’s no way she’s straight.
Lena sighs, grabs her purse and gets her wallet out to pay the bill. Before Maggie can even protest, she has already given the bartender her credit card and is smiling.
“I drank way more than you and take it as a nice gesture from a possible friend?”
Maggie nods and smiles at her.
“Maybe we could do this again some other time?”
“Sure.”
And, like that, Lena is leaving. She barely looks like she drank half a bottle of whiskey by herself.
**
“Kara, stop and listen to me!” She stops in the middle of her ramble and Maggie shoots the couple walking next to her on the sidewalk a silent apology. “Trust me, she is into girls.”
“Did she say it?”
“We nodded at each other.”
“Maggie, this makes no sense.”
“Her favorite flowers are violets; she had a poster of Abby Wambach on her dorm while she was in college; she told me the worst part of going to work is not being able to wear flannels; her favorite book is The Price of Salt for fucks sake. She is gay.”
“Violets are pretty, Abby Wambach is a legend, flannels are comfy and the book is really good. Also, language.”
“Listen to me: invite her to game night tomorrow. I’ll have the confirmation you need by then, okay?”
“Okay. Thank you Maggie.”
“Not a problem.”
**
Of course she’s back to Lena’s office first thing in the morning.
She should’ve come later, she would’ve come later, but Kara had barged into her apartment (thank God Alex had already left, if she got there fifteen minutes earlier things would be awkward) with donuts from Lena’s favorite bakery.
And it’s how she’s already at L-Crop, five past seven in the morning.
Lena stands by the side of her desk organizing some papers and her outfit makes Maggie stops dead in her tracks. How does Kara think she is straight?
Because Lena Luthor straightens herself (the only possible scenario to use the word straight to define Lena) and smiles at Maggie. Lena Luthor, who is wearing tight jeans and a white social shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a gray vest being covered by yet another black vest. This is the gayest shit I’ve ever seen and I had Alex’s head between my legs this morning.
Lena Luthor is currently running for biggest lesbian in National City.
“You’re looking very Shane today.” The laugh she earns makes her forget about the urge to kick herself for saying it. Very Shane, what the fuck?
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You should.” She fumbles with the paper bag in her hand before taking a step forward and handing it over to Lena. “Uh, Kara is going to be quite busy today so she asked me to bring you those. Along with her apologies for canceling your lunch date.”
“Thank you.”
“Can I ask you something, Lena?”
“If it does not involve thinking too much, of course. Someone got me drunk last night and now I have a bad case of a headache.”
“Not my fault, Miss Luthor. Not my fault. But, uh, do you, you know, like to make crazy science? Being Harold and all? Being someone’s little spoon?”
Lena smiles, huge grin on her face as she crosses her arms in front of her chest. And maybe it was too much. Asking like this? Not subtle at all.
“Oh, well, detective Sawyer, are you asking me if I’m gay?”
“It was weird, wasn’t it?”
“A little. I thought I had made it pretty clear after yesterday.”
“So, you’re gay, right?”
“Yes. Nice work detecting, detective.”
“I just needed to make sure before I ask you the next thing. So, are you into Kara?”
**
Maggie was currently trying to calm a very distressed Kara Danvers on said’s kitchen, while Lena talked to Winn about hacking. What is wrong with Kara’s friends?
She’s trying to calm her down because ever since Lena arrived (ten minutes ago) she hasn’t been able to form a coherent sentence. Just because she was wearing plaid and shorts. Kara had really stuttered while she opened the door for Lena and then proceeded to drag Maggie to the kitchen and start pacing.
Alex would probably come to find them in no time.
“It’s a good thing, Kara. She is into girls, just talk to her. Ask her out.”
”What if she’s not into me?”
She is. She really is. But I can’t tell you that.
“Kara, I swear to God, if you don’t go over there and ask her out I’m gonna tell Alex!”
“You promised!”
“Go over there and ask her if she would like to be your Totino.”
“What does that even mean?”
“She’ll understand.”
Kara grumbles but obeys. Maggie drops her head on the top of the counter and sighs. Kara is going to be the death of her.
But she hears Lena’s loud laugh and looks up to a confused red cheeked Kara and a very amused Lena. Both of them look at her. She shoots them a thumbs up.
She sees Lena agreeing and she says something to Kara before the blonde makes her way towards Maggie again.
“What did she say?”
“To call her tomorrow so we can set up a date.” Her blush gets darker. “What did I get myself into?”