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At first, the things Lena would ask Kara to do were simple. Sometimes she didn't even have to ask; lunch from her favorite cafe in Paris, dinner from the best restaurant in Italy, hell she had even brought her wine from Australia at one point.
Lex’s journals were something that she had agreed to with absolutely no thought. As sketchy as taking from a highly guarded government facility was, what are friends for?
Lena was her friend. Her friend in need . She was still reeling from the loss of her brother—no matter how psychotic, xenophobic and genocidal he may have been—and she needed some type of closure. Considering Kara had contributed to the turmoil and pain Lena had been going through these past two months, she didn’t hesitate.
So Kara had given it to her.
Along with so much more. And Kara would keep doing it.
Because Lena was her friend.
And what are friends for?
But then the things she asked for became more peculiar.
The favours and requests were of course still within Kara’s ability, but now she’s noticed that they’ve become more and more personal. It all started one chilly October night, one where she met Lena in her apartment after she had gotten home from a long day at L-Corp.
Lena sighs, rolling her neck. She takes off her heels and leans back in her chair, letting out a long groan. Blinking a few times, she makes eye contact with Kara, a small smile on her face. “Sorry. I fell asleep at my desk this afternoon and now I’ve got this bothersome crick in my neck.”
“Oh,” Kara nods, understanding now. “Do you want me to help with that?” she says as she places her hands stiffly onto her hips, before awkwardly letting them relax. She still didn’t exactly know how to act around Lena now. There was still a bit of a learning curve, but bit by bit she was learning to relax around the CEO when she was in the suit.
Lena laughs. It’s light and airy, a laugh she always does when she wants to feign unacceptance. “No, no, I couldn’t ask you to do that. It’s my fault after all. I’ll just go to the chiropractor during the week.”
“It’s fine, don’t worry. What are friends for, right?” Kara’s smile reaches her eyes, though it’s evident that behind it she's tentative and nervous. “Um, I’ve sort of got experience in this kind of thing, you know? Alex kind of taught me all the pressure points in the body and stuff.”
“Well then,” Lena says, her voice deep and teasing. “I have nothing to worry about then, do I?” she turns her back towards Kara with a smirk.
“Nope,” Kara responds, popping the ‘p’. Her eyes train themselves to Lena’s neck, her right thumb finding its place on a stray beauty mark. Her left thumb joins it, and soon her hands were moving of their own accord, with one goal in mind.
This feels...intimate.
Peculiarly intimate, especially for two friends who’s friendship just went through a Lex sized rift. But what were friends for? She couldn’t just let Lena suffer all week until she found the time to see a specialist. Solving her chiropractic problems was the least she could do.
She must have been too focused on her task because she doesn’t hear what Lena says. “Huh?” she mumbles dumbly, blinking. Her attention had drifted elsewhere.
Specifically the nape of her best friend’s neck.
“I said you might have to unzip my dress to get a better angle,” Lena’s voice is strangely laboured, as if she had run a mile and back.
Kara nods before remembering Lena can’t see. She swallows. “Sure. Yeah.” Her hands go from Lena’s neck to the zipper connected to the fabric obstructing the hero’s view of the rest of her best friend’s creamy skin.
This zipper was the only thing between her and Lena’s bare back.
Kara’s heart pounds as she releases Lena’s skin from that barrier, her mouth going dry at the sigh—or perhaps moan? Kara can’t tell—that Lena breathes out.
The dress falls away with the help of her strong hands, exposing the band of a lacey black bra and even more beauty marks. Kara can’t help but notice the way Lena shivers at her warm touch. “You want me to go lower?” the sentence isn’t even the slightest bit lascivious, but in this atmosphere anyone with two brain cells could guess how bad it sounded.
Lena stiffens, but nods with a shuddering breath.
Kara’s hands travel from Lena’s neck to her shoulder blades, thumbs never relieving their pressure. She releases a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding, beginning to work her magic again.
There’s a sigh that comes from Lena that ends in an upswing, and Kara assumes she’s hit some kind of sweet spot. “Does it hurt?” She asks, making sure.
“No,” Lena’s voice is taunt, almost as if she’s holding something back. “No, it’s fine. I think...I just think that might have been a place that needed attention.”
Again, the sentence sounds dirty to Kara. Though nonetheless, she continues with her work. At one point Lena’s head lolls back, and Kara can smell her expensive lavender shampoo. It engulfs her, and before she can think twice, her body moves on it’s own.
Kara nuzzles into Lena’s neck, breathing in her intoxicating scent. She can feel the other woman taking shallow breaths, her grip tightening on Kara’s cape.
“Kara,” Lena’s voice is soft, vulnerable. “You know how you said before that there are no boundaries between us?”
Kara swallows. “Yeah?”
Another exhale. “Could you do me a favor?”
Kara nods. “Yeah.”
Lena turns to face her. “Kiss me.”
Kara awakes the next morning in a bed unfamiliar to her, entangled in sheets she knows aren’t hers. She rolls over to see Lena sleeping soundly, her hair splayed out into a dark halo. She can’t exactly remember what happened the night before, though once she sits up, her questions are answered.
Hickies and bruises adorn her bare chest, with bite marks peppered here and there. The events from the night before are very clear in her mind. The sounds Lena had made—sounds Kara had never thought she’d ever have the chance to hear—were very clear in her mind too. A small part of her told her that this was a bad idea, that friendship was supposed to have boundaries, and lines that were never meant to be crossed.
Unfortunately, Kara realizes, all of that went out the window the moment she had taken Lena up on her request. What were friends for, after all? It wasn’t like it was going to happen again.
But it does.
In the coming weeks, the lines bordering friendship and something more blur with every pant, every orgasmic cry, and every moment Kara looks into Lena’s eyes with rapt attention and admiration.
It scares her, mostly because she hasn’t even gotten used to the new normal of Lena knowing that she’s Supergirl. To now pile on something like this, something so complex and relationship defining, she didn’t have the capacity to handle both.
It was interfering with the rest of her life too, and pretty soon starting to bleed into her work at the DEO. Alex pulls her aside after one particular mission with a frown, her hands on her hips.
“What the hell was that?” she asks harshly, making sure that her voice is low enough that no one else can hear. “You let yourself be pummeled into the ground by a K’hund that would have taken minutes on any other day.”
Kara sighs. “You’re right. It’s just....there’s this thing with me and Lena—”
Alex holds up a hand. “Wait, you and Lena? I thought everything was fine after you told her. Did something else happen?”
Kara indignantly rolls her head, making a mental note to kick herself for being so open with her problems. "Nothing...It’s just, nothing.” She tries to step past but Alex stops her.
“Uh, no, that is not nothing. Something happened between the two of you. This isn’t something you can just ignore, Kara. It’s getting in the way of your work here and you or someone else could seriously get hurt from you being so distracted.” Alex looks into her eyes searchingly, almost pleading with her.
“Lena...asked for specific favour one night and...things escalated from there.” Kara’s answer is vague, and judging by the deepening frown on Alex’s face, not appreciated. “Lines got blurred. Sort of.”
“Define blurred,” Alex presses. “Was it illegal again? God Kara, what did I tell you about—”
“It wasn’t illegal! Isn't illegal.” Kara insists, although she can’t quite seem to look Alex in the eye right now. In fact, she’s literally looking everywhere else but Alex’s face. “She asked me to...kiss her. And I did. And that lead to other....things. And now I don’t know what to do or where she and I stand.”
Alex blinks. “Kara, are you saying that you've been sleeping with Lena?”
“It’s not like that!” Kara blurts loudly, causing everyone to look in their direction. She lowers her voice. “It’s just a favour as a friend!”
Alex looks completely flabbergasted. “Friends don’t fuck each other!”
“Shh!” Kara’s face is beet red. “It didn’t start out like that! I was helping her with something and things got out of hand.”
“You call this out of hand?” Alex tilts her head, gesturing in Kara’s general direction. “Look, I’m not like, gonna sit here and try to police your sex life, because you’re a fully grown adult and it’s none of my business, but you need to figure out how you feel about Lena before things get worse.”
Kara makes to walk away from her. “You’re being dramatic.”
Alex stops her. “Lena’s already been through enough, Kara. You know that more than anyone else. This would just be more icing on the shit cake for her. You need to figure out things for yourself before you go ‘helping’ her again. Understand?”
Kara folds her arms, pursing her lips. “Yeah, sure.”
Alex’s warning is ignored.
That night Kara finds herself entangled in Lena’s sheets once again, the familiar smell of vanilla and lavender overwhelming her senses as she’s basking in the afterglow of what was essentially a booty call.
Steam billows from the bathroom across the bed, and Kara can’t help but smile at the soft singing barely audible above the pitter-patter of water.
A few months ago, such an intimate scene would have never crossed Kara’s mind, especially with someone so dearly as her best friend.
But what are friends for?
She couldn’t really tell anymore. Were they friends? Were they something more? Were they even okay? Lena accepted her being Supergirl pretty quickly for someone who had been emotionally lied to by her best friend of three years.
Things had gone on as normal; minus the favours of course, but some small inkling in the back of her mind told Kara that things weren’t as great as they seemed. The sex was good, sure, but she was more concered with Lena’s mental health. They barely talked now outside of this, and it was starting to make Kara feel used. It was as if Lena was using her as an escape from her feelings.
The shower curtain opens and the water stops. Out walks Lena in nothing but a towel, and every doubt in Kara’s mind seems to dissipate.
Lena smiles, seeing her gape. “Ready for round two?” she teases, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Yeah...about that,” Kara says slowly. “Can we talk?”
Lena shrugs. “Sure. What seems to be the matter?”
Kara swallows. “Are...you okay?”
Lena’s brows furrows. “Yes? Why do you ask?”
“No reason, it's just..things have escalated really quickly between us. One moment we’re trying to rebuild what Lex destroyed, and the next thing I know we’re regularly going to pound town.”
Lena guffaws. “Pound town?”
“You know what I mean!” she hisses. “This isn’t healthy, Lena. You’re ignoring the problem, and shoving yourself into something that I honestly don’t think you understand the consequences of.”
Lena arches a brow. “Really? And what exactly are those consequences, Miss Danvers?” she folds her arms over her chest, making Kara lick her lips nervously. “As I recall, you’re the one who said our friendship has no boundaries.”
“Yeah but...” she had her there. Kara had said their friendship had no boundaries, but she was starting to regret it immensely. “I feel used. I feel like you’re using me to feel something. Anything.”
“That’s rich coming from the girl who lied to me for three years.”
“I thought we were over that!”
“Three years, Kara! You think that I’m just gonna be okay with this as if nothing happened? I had to kill my brother, Kara, I had to kill him. And with his dying breath, he shattered my entire world.” Lena’s hands are shaking now, and her eyes are glossy and out of focus.
“Hey, hey—” Kara goes to reach for Lena’s hand, but Lena retracts her hand before she can touch it.
“Don’t touch me!” Lena snaps. “You’ve already hurt me enough.”
Kara’s nostrils flare. “You don’t think I’m hurting too? I didn’t want to lie to you, Lena. I thought everything was okay. When you hugged me, and said that I’d always be your best friend, I thought everything was okay.”
Lena scoffs. “Well, it’s not.”
“So what are we then, huh? If we aren’t best friends, and we aren’t together, what are we? Just two people orbiting around each other because we don’t know what else to do?”
Lena stares at her blankly for a moment before muttering, “Get out.”
Kara blinks, not really processing what she’d just said. “What—”
“Leave, Supergirl!” she grabs Kara’s clothes and tosses them at her.
Kara storms out of the bedroom, looking back only to be met Lena’s glare. She quickly throws on her clothes and walks out the door.
It slams with a resounding echo.
Kara doesn’t see Lena much after that.
Things continue on as normal—as normal can be after something like what happened that night, and Kara was too busy going through the motions at the DEO to care.
Though completely out of it, she makes sure to pay attention to what she’s doing to avoid another interrogation by Alex. She’s proud of herself. She avoids any kind of probe for a solid month. That is, until she sees the tail end of a familiar ponytail turn a corner.
“Uh, why is Lena here?” there’s a strange sense of hostility in her voice that perplexes both Brainy and Alex, and she attempts to smooth it over. “What’s Lena doing here?” she reiterates, this time not as angirly, though the twelfth level intellect and director beside her aren't buying it.
“Did something happen between you two?” Alex folds her arms.
“No. Everything’s fine.” Kara says, folding her arms.
Brainy clears his throat. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I have reason to believe that Supergirl is lying,” he gestures to her while speaking to Alex. “I’ve noticed that every time Kara Danvers is annoyed, there is an eighty eight point nine percent chance that she will cross her arms over her chest. Hence her position now. There is a hundred percent chance this action has to do with Miss Luthor being in the vicinity.”
Alex blinks. “How can your numbers tell that?”
“She has been staring in the direction that she went for almost two minutes now.”
“Hey Brainy, can your numbers tell you how much it would hurt if I punched you through that wall?” Kara asks, cracking her knuckles.
“Ignoring environmental factors, it would hurt very much. However the likelihood of that happening almost nil with Director Danvers here to stop you from doing that.”
Kara looks from Brainy to Alex, who was giving her the same look her mother gave when she wanted to do something reckless. She drops her shoulders in defeat, “Fine I won’t punch you. But yeah, I’m not really on speaking terms with Miss Luthor.”
Alex gapes. “Wow, okay. Do you want to talk about it?”
“No,” Kara snaps. “I just wanna know what she’s doing here.”
“Miss Luthor is here to help with our understanding of Q-Waves. She said she has made recent breakthroughs that might be of importance to us.” Brainy explains.
Kara’s confused now. Why would Lena be interested in Q-Waves? She couldn’t have known about them before hand, and she didn’t have any experience with them as far as she knew. Could Lex’s journals have something to do with this? It was all starting to make sense, and Kara didn’t like it.
Kara makes a beeline for the direction Lena but was stopped by Alex grabbing her arm. “Wait a minute, where do you think you’re going?”
“I need to talk to Lena, there is something that doesn’t add up and I want to hear it from her.”
“Okay, well, are you sure that’s a good idea, considering you two arent on speaking terms?” Alex cautioned.
“Does it matter? I wanna know what she’s up to.” Kara sneers, pulling from Alex’s grip.
Kara stomps into the DEO laboratory to announce her presence. Lena is too engrossed in her computer terminal to notice the Girl of Steel entering. Or at least, she seems to be.
Kara storms over to her desk to stand behind Lena and she clears her throat but fails to get a response. She starts again this time much louder and obviously growing more agitated by the second.
Lena spins around in her chair to face Kara, not trying to mask her annoyance at the intrusion. “What do you want, Supergirl? Can’t you see that I’m busy?”
“What are you doing here, Lena?”
Lena stares at her blankly. “I’m writing a new sonnet on how love and friendship is a lie.” She rolls her eyes when Kara scoffs. “Your sister obviously told you why I’m here, why do I need to reiterate it for you?”
“Enlighten me, Miss Luthor. You're the genius. How does a brilliant woman with no interest or experience with Q-Waves suddenly become an expert in them?”
Lena’s eye twitches at the emphasis put on her surname. “Like you said, I’m brilliant. If I put my mind to it I can understand any subject, unlike some meatheads in the room.”
Kara is dumbfounded by Lena’s childish insult, “Seriously? That’s your best shot?” She crosses her arms as her eyes grow more serious, “Get back to the question, how do you know about Q-Waves? Did Lex’s journals have anything to do with this?”
Lena purses her lips. “Does everything have to revolve around that cretin? Andrea’s tech utilizes Q-Waves in their design, it interested me so I dug myself into learning more about it.”
“Yeah that doesn’t smell like a Rondor’s butthole,” Kara says rolling her eyes. “Lex wrote something about it in his journals didn’t he? Just admit it!”
Lena shrugs. “If he did, so what? I don’t see how that could be such a bad thing.”
“Oh I don’t know, maybe it’s because the man was insane and a murderer! Anything that belonged to him or was written by him can’t be good.” Kara’s eyes widen as realization hits her, “You knew the information was there! You didn’t need it for closure, you needed Dr. Frankenstein’s book for some freaky experiment!”
Lena claps her hands sarcastically, “Well done Detective Danvers, I applaud you for knowing how to read. How does it feel to be the one left in the dark?”
Kara slams her fist into the table next to Lena, leaving a sizable dent, and causing the aforementioned woman to jump. “Is this what you wanted?" her voice trembles with emotion, “to hurt me as much as I hurt you? Mission accomplished then, you stabbed me in the heart just like I did you. Does that make you feel better then? Does this make us even? Should I grovel in the dirt and beg for your forgiveness?”
“I-I—” Lena sputters, flustered. “I don’t—”
Kara gets down on her knees, maintaining eye contact with Lena the entire time. Clasping her hands together, she pleads, “I am so sorry that I hurt you, Lena Luthor.”
Lena’s face is red now. “Kara get up. You’re making a fool of yourself.”
“I won’t! I need to make amends, I need to make things right between us! And I swear on the grave of Krypton and all of my people, I Kara Zor El, will bend the very universe to bridge the rift between us. No more using each other, no more secrets, no more lies! We may be separated by birth and ability but you are my equal Lena,” she locks eyes with Lena. “And we both deserve each other’s respect. Each other’s acceptance.” Kara intertwines her fingers with Lena’s, “Each other’s love.”
“This is absurd,” Lena pulls at Kara’s arm, failing to make her stand. “Get up! Get up!”
Kara doesn’t move, still staring at Lena as she keeps repeating the command before it just dissolves into incoherent sobs.
Finally stands, and she takes Lena into her arms, gently caressing the back of her hair. They stand there for a moment, Lena softly crying and beating her fist into Kara’s chest. It seemed like every emotion she had been holding back for months had finally come forth. Lena couldn’t handle it, but Kara was there to catch her.
Kara lifts Lena’s chin to look her in the eyes, those blue and green gems radiate like the brightest stars. She finally realizes what they were, what they should be, and what they are now. She had been so caught up she couldn’t see it, and that she could, she knew what she had to do. “Lena, do you think you could do me a favor?”
“What is it?” she sniffles.
“Let me love you.”
Lena laughs with a cheeky smile before reaching up to pull Kara into a kiss. "Yeah."
Kara laughs too. "Yeah?"
Lena nods. "Yeah." She smirks, leaning in for another kiss. "After all, what are friends for?"