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Lena can’t help but notice things. It’s just the way her brain is wired, and of course her upbringing exacerbated her natural inclination. She’s actually proud of her observational skills- they come in quite handy for not only her scientific and business pursuits but for her survival as well. She has lived through many an assassination attempt because she had noticed the odd behaviour of the wannabe assassin, or that something had been moved in her office, or even just the possible escape routes.
Surviving has become much easier since moving to National City. Lena is still attacked annoyingly frequently, but this city’s Super always seems to get to her faster than Metropolis’ Super. She isn’t saying Superman wants her to be killed, more like Supergirl seems to have taken a liking to her, or has some kind of sixth sense for when the youngest Luthor is in danger. Sometimes the heroine shows up before the danger has even revealed itself. It’s uncanny.
Supergirl is usually the solution to Lena’s problems, but this time, Supergirl is the problem. Because Lena can’t help but notice things. So of course she notices the red and blue blur zooming in and out of Kara’s window, and of course she notices the way both Supergirl and Kara get flustered when asked about the other.
So Lena comes to a totally logical conclusion: Kara Danvers is dating Supergirl.
Lena knows she should be happy that her friend is happy, but she can’t help but feel a little betrayed. Not because Kara hadn’t told her- Lena wouldn’t broadcast that she was dating a superhero either, what with all of the Kryptonian’s enemies (not the least of whom is Lena’s own brother, but she prefers to ignore his existence whenever possible). She feels betrayed because she’d started thinking that maybe, just maybe, Kara liked her back.
Okay, like is maybe putting it lightly. Lena will admit that she’s maybe, kind of, sort of, falling in love with her best friend. She’s not sure when it started, but between lunch dates (friendly lunch dates, Lena reminds herself) and game nights and Kara supporting her no matter what, she’s not really sure she stood a chance of not falling for the bubbly blonde.
Leave it to Lena Luthor to fall for Supergirl’s girlfriend.
Still, Lena thinks she can be normal around Kara. Maybe a little less flirty, but normal nonetheless. But every time she’s with Kara she still notices how her friend’s hugs linger a little too long, how she’s more tactile with Lena than she’s seen her be with their other friends, how her eyes occasionally fall to places that- had it been literally anyone else- would’ve caused Lena to quip about her own eyes being a little higher up.
Lena is handling it though. She won’t let her feelings for Kara, or what seems to be Kara’s attraction to her, come between Kara and Supergirl. The tabloids have called Lena many things, but a homewrecker is not one of them.
Then Kara decides that holding Lena’s hand, in public, is a totally platonic thing to do. Their lunch dates become almost daily occurrences, because I know you won’t eat otherwise, Lena. Kara’s hugs become more and more frequent, to the point that even Alex is giving Kara odd looks. Kara even starts taking food off of her own plate at game nights and putting it on Lena’s, and the first time it happens Alex chokes on her beer and Nia’s jaw hangs open for well over a minute. It’s spiraling out of control and Lena knows she should stop it, knows she should try to draw a clear line between this is what friends do and this is what girlfriends do but she just can’t. Even if her heart would let her, her brain has latched onto the affection and refuses to let go.
It’s in the middle of one of her lunches with Kara when the blonde rushes off, apologies and a vague excuse all that Lena gets before she’s gone, when Lena has a realization.
Kara is dating Supergirl, but she’s spending the majority of her time with Lena. So when Kara rushes off, it’s probably to see Supergirl. After all, the heroine is constantly saving people, so her free time likely doesn’t come with much notice. It would explain why Kara’s excuses are always, well… not very good.
This idea seems plausible for all of five minutes until Lena turns on the news to fill the sudden silence of her office and sees live coverage of Supergirl in the middle of a fight.
If Supergirl is busy, why did Kara rush off to see her? Had their plans been canceled so quickly? Lena frowns as she thinks back to the other times Kara has rushed off. Most of them were usually followed up by Supergirl being in a battle.
Lena had thought that Kara and Supergirl were in a happy relationship, but if Supergirl’s job is getting in the way of even seeing Kara then it would explain why Kara has been hanging out with Lena so much. Her girlfriend is choosing work over spending time with her.
How fucking dare she.
Before she can think it through, Lena texts Kara and asks her to set up a meeting with Supergirl.
///
“You wanted to see me, Miss Luthor?” Supergirl asks as she walks in through the balcony doors later that night.
“Yes. I wanted to talk to you about Kara.” Lena spins in her desk chair to face the heroine, barely managing to contain her eyeroll when she sees the panic on the blonde’s face.
“A-about Kara? What about Kara?” Supergirl stammers. Her blue eyes are wide and nervous, her hands making flustered gestures as she speaks. “We don’t need to talk about Kara! Kara is fine, Miss Luthor! Really, everything is fine, anything else?” Supergirl looks about ready to bolt, so Lena decides to cut to the chase.
“I know.”
“Y-you know what, exactly?” Supergirl asks, her voice much higher than usual. In any other situation Lena would find the heroine’s obvious nerves amusing, but this is Kara they’re talking about. Sweet, kind Kara, who deserves so much more than a woman who would choose her career over her. If Lena can make time for Kara when she’s running two major companies, Supergirl can damn well do it too.
“I know about you and Kara. And it needs to stop,” Lena says calmly, steepling her fingers. She wonders if she should get a fluffy white cat to pet menacingly since she seems to be going all in on the villain aesthetic at the moment: nighttime rendezvous with the hero to discuss their secrets, turning to face them oh so dramatically, classic evil ultimatum pose. Some eerie lighting would help as well.
“Wait, what needs to stop, exactly?” Supergirl asks. Her head tilts in confusion, and a crinkle appears between her eyebrows. It’s an odd look on the heroine, but Lena is too focused on the task at hand to let the niggle of familiarity it causes get too far.
“You either need to start making time for Kara, or you need to break up with her so she can be with someone who treats her right,” Lena says sternly. Supergirl just looks at her, mouth agape. When Lena continues the heroine reaches up and fiddles with her ear, but Lena ignores it. “I know you two are dating, Supergirl. I’ve seen you flying in and out of her apartment, and don’t think I haven’t noticed the way you’re both so flustered when you talk about the other. When Kara and I first became friends she told me she flew to my office… on a bus, and since I have yet to see any non-typical buses aside from the one in the Studio Ghibli film Kara made me watch, I think you flew her here. And the time I called Kara and you appeared right after was because you two weren’t just having coffee together- you were on a date. She’s constantly ditching me with vague excuses that she doesn’t even remember later, and it’s obviously to go spend time with you. But then I see you on the news fighting the villain of the week because you apparently think you’re the only one who can protect this city and that doing your job is more important than being with your girlfriend.” Lena does roll her eyes at that. Honestly, who in their right mind would rather work than spend time with Kara?
“You… think Kara and I…. are dating?” Supergirl finally asks, a look somewhere between amusement and horror on her face.
“Don’t lie to me, Supergirl. I’m not going to sell your little secret to the tabloids- I’ll admit I’m not too happy with you at the moment, but it would put Kara in danger. However, if you don’t want me to steal her away from you, you had best be the girlfriend she deserves.”
“Steal her away from me?” Supergirl squeaks, her face turning bright red. “You wanna date Kara?”
“Who the fuck wouldn’t want to date Kara?” Lena retorts, crossing her arms. A small blast of wind sends some of the papers on her desk flying, but Lena is too startled by the heroine’s sudden proximity to scold her. Supergirl is standing less than a foot from her, looking down with an oddly… hopeful look on her face.
“That wasn’t an answer, Miss Luthor,” Supergirl whispers. “Do you, or do you not, want to date Kara?”
“Of course I do,” Lena mutters, glaring at the Kryptonian. “But I figure between a Super and a Luthor, no one is going to choose the latter. Not even Kara. So you need to treat her well, damn it.” Lena’s eyes water at the admission, and she half expects Supergirl to laugh at her. Instead, Supergirl takes a small step back, a contemplative look on her face.
“Lena,” Supergirl says quietly, “I’m not dating Kara. But you can, if you still want to after this.” She brings something out from behind her back, but Lena’s sight is too blurred with unshed tears to see. She scoffs at what Supergirl says- she’s still trying to keep up the ruse, and how could she say that Lena could date Kara so confidently, and what the hell could make her not want to date Kara anyway?
Lena blinks rapidly to clear her tears so that she can level the full force of her glare at Supergirl, and that’s when she sees what the heroine is holding. Glasses. Very, very familiar glasses. Supergirl slips them onto her face and the suit starts to disappear, the soft pastels of the clothes Kara had been wearing during their lunch earlier left in its wake. In a few seconds Kara Danvers is standing where Supergirl was. Lena isn’t sure if she should laugh or find a nice rock to hide under, preferably one without cell reception in case anyone ever finds out she thought Supergirl was dating herself.
“Fuck.” Lena groans and hides her face in her hands. “What the fuck, Kara?” It comes out as a muffled whine, but Lena is too embarrassed to care. She just told Kara she needed to break up with herself because she wasn’t treating herself right. She just told Kara Lena would steal her away from herself. She just told Kara she wanted to date her. And Kara had said… Kara had said… wait one damn minute. Lena jerks her hands away from her face and stares at Kara incredulously. “Did you say what I think you said?”
Kara, face still flushed, bites her lip, shuffling her feet anxiously. She rubs one hand on the back of her neck, and after several moments of staring at the ground, she looks up and meets Lena’s eyes, her own hesitant.
“I said, um, that if you still wanted to date me after, well, this,” Kara gestures to herself, “that you, uh, could.”
“So… you’re not dating Supergirl,” Lena says slowly, rising to her feet. Kara shakes her head meekly, an embarrassed smile curling her lips. “And you want to date… me?” It comes out in a much smaller voice than Lena had intended, and judging by the soft smile Kara gives her she definitely recognized the insecurity in her voice. “Are you… sure?” Lena clasps her shaking hands in front of her stomach as Kara steps forward, and she takes in a shuddering breath when Kara slips her glasses off, setting them blindly on the table as her striking blue eyes never leave Lena’s.
“I’m in love with you, Lena Luthor,” Kara says softly. She brings one hand up and cups Lena’s face, gently stroking her thumb over her flushed cheek. Lena unclasps her own hands and steps forward so that there’s no more space between them. Kara leans down and presses her lips to Lena’s in a soft, slow kiss, and Lena tangles her hands in windswept blonde curls as she deepens the kiss, pressing herself flush against Kara.
///
Later that night, as Lena lays tangled up in high thread count sheets with a warm Kryptonian pressing soft kisses to whatever skin she can reach, Lena’s happy bubble is burst by one horrible little thought.
“Kara, please don’t tell Alex that I thought you were dating Supergirl,” Lena pleads quietly. “I’ll never hear the end of it.”
Kara pauses in her languid ministrations, giving Lena an apologetic look.
“Alex already knows. My comm is attached to the suit, and I didn’t think to turn it off until you started listing your evidence. I honestly only remembered it was even on when she started cackling in my ear.”
“Fuck,” Lena curses softly, but Kara laughs and presses a kiss to the side of her head.
“Don’t worry. I’m sure I’ll do something chart-toppingly stupid before long and take her mind off of it. Like the time I accidentally married an alien whose planet seems to think quickie marriages are okay but quickie divorces aren’t. I talked to them for like five minutes but we won’t technically be divorced for another two and a half months, actually.”
“Oh my god I am a homewrecker.” Lena groans, hiding her face in Kara’s shoulder. Kara chuckles for a moment before rolling on top of Lena and giving her a wicked grin.
“I can take your mind off it, if you’d like,” Kara murmurs, giving Lena a hot, messy kiss as her hands start to wander.
“Mmm, yes please,” Lena husks. And as Kara begins to take her mind off it, Lena can’t help but think, totally logical conclusion or not, that if this is where all of her failed conclusions lead, she won’t mind being wrong every once in awhile.