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The hum of Metropolis drifted like a faint lullaby through the sealed windows of the Hall of Justice. Even up on the seventh floor, the distant sounds never really stopped but Kendra had long since learned to tune it out. The harder part was tuning out her own thoughts, her brain hadn’t exactly been quiet lately.
She’d just settled into bed, one bare leg looped lazily over the edge of her sheets, letting it twist around her thigh. Her muscles still hummed faintly from training earlier but exhaustion was winning. Her eyelids finally began to shut….
Then came the taps.
Three of them. Not frantic. Not hesitant. Rhythmic.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Kendra’s eyes opened slowly but didn’t focus on anything. She knew the sound. Someone at the seventh floor window meant one very specific thing. Max, Michael, and Rex all used doors like normal people. Clark respected privacy too much to ever intrude, and Guy? Guy would’ve used his ring to play a trumpet fanfare through the wall.
But not… her.
Kendra lay still, eyes fixed on the dim ceiling; she knew exactly what came next.
Instead, she slowly turned over, dragging the covers with her. Her back faced the window and Kendra stared at the wall. She sank deeper into the mattress instead, pressing her cheek into the cool pillow. Maybe if she didn’t move, didn’t even breathe too loudly, it would go away this time.
But she knew that damn well it wouldn’t. Still, Kendra refused to move. She buried herself deeper into the pillow and focused on keeping her breathing even. If she didn’t respond, maybe Kara would take the hint.
Then came the voice. Slurred but unmistakably upbeat.
“C’monnnnn!”
Kendra’s jaw tightened. She tried to relax, but it didn’t last. Another call came, louder this time, right up against the glass.
“Kendrrrrrrraaaa!”
She clenched her teeth. Not because Kara was yelling, though she was and it would likely attract attention sooner rather than later, she was still the only one who knew about Kara after her drunk ass dropped from the sky, nearly leveling a bridge. She promised Clark she wouldn’t say anything, but that also meant… visits.
No, Kendra clenched her teeth because of the way Kara rolled that damn “r.”
Like a purr.
Kendra swallowed hard and kept her back turned. If she gave her anything, even a grunt, it would be over. Yet sure enough, right on cue, came the next slurred line.
“I know you’re awake! I can hear your heartbeat!”
Of course she could.
Kendra rolled back onto her back. Her voice came out just loud enough to carry though if she hear her heartbeat, it’s likely Kendra could whisper and be heard.
“Yes, that is because I am deliberately ignoring you.”
There was a pause, just long enough for Kendra to feel a flicker of hope that maybe she’d go away. That hope evaporated instantly when she heard the window unlatch.
“No, no, don’t you dare…”
Kara’s boots clanked awkwardly against the metal frame as she stumbled through. She was clearly not steady, her landing more of a collapse than a touchdown. Her knee hit the floor first, then her shoulder, then a loud grunt as she flopped the rest of the way into Kendra’s room like a sack of glowing blue embarrassment.
Kendra groaned and sat up. Her sheets pooled in her lap as she pushed herself upright with one arm and raked the other hand through her messy curls.
Kara was already blinking up at her from the floor, one hand propping up her chin like this was normal.
“Wha?”
Kendra gestured vaguely toward the window and stared at her, exasperated.
“How could you have possibly taken that as an invitation?”
Kara gave a crooked, smug little grin and shrugged. “Cuz I know you,” Kara said, dragging the words out like they were heavy and adorable at the same time.
Kendra narrowed her eyes.
“I said no, Kara.”
The smugness faded just a little. Kara sat up straighter, then slouched again, still parked on the floor like a lost puppy.
“I just wanna cuddle…”
Kendra didn’t say anything right away. She just stared, jaw tight, one leg now pulled up under her.
“No,” she said finally, a little more firmly. “I’m still pissed about last time.”
Kara tilted her head and gave her a lazy, confused squint.
“What? When your wings popped out when you came to comple…?”
“No!” Kendra snapped, cutting her off fast, cheeks flushing. “No. When I woke up at four and you were gone, asshole!”
Kara blinked. It took her a second to process.
“What? I was really hungover. I needed sun.”
Kendra raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest.
“The sun wasn’t up.”
Kara paused for a moment before giving a helpless shrug.
“It was… in Blüdhaven.”
“Blüdhaven.”
“Yeah, Blüdhaven.”
Kara was now sitting cross-legged like she lived there, one boot half unlaced, hair clinging to the collar of that ridiculous trashy trench coat. Kendra exhaled slowly through her nose.
“Then go to Blüdhaven,” she said, attempting to lay back down.
Kara didn’t answer immediately. She tilted her head and looked at Kendra through half-lidded eyes. The softness of her mouth shifted. Her tone dropped an octave, smoother now, the same kind of voice she’d used the last time… this happened.
“Why would I,” Kara said, “when everything I want is right here?”
Kendra didn’t respond to the words so much as the way they were delivered. It wasn’t sweet, wasn’t even playful. It was a pull, deliberate and practiced. Kendra leaned over toward the nightstand, grabbing her phone and turned back with a flat look.
“Do I need to call Clark to come pick you up?”
That got a reaction. Kara’s face tightened in a way that was rare, her brows drawing low as her whole expression tensed.
“Kal,” she corrected sharply. “His name is Kal.”
“Fine. Kal.” Her voice didn’t waver. “Do you need me to call Kal to come pick you up?”
But Kara was already shaking her head, the scowl evaporating as fast as it came. Her smile returned, lopsided and a little glassy.
“Nah, I’m good,” she said cheerfully, as if that settled it.
Kendra stared at her for another few seconds, trying to decide whether she was actually going to go through with dragging Kara back to the roof herself. But then Kara puffed her cheeks out and stuck out her bottom lip in an exaggerated pout, “Puh, puh, please”
It was such a cartoonishly pathetic act that Kendra groaned out loud and tossed her hands up in surrender.
“Fine!” she snapped, rubbing at her eyes with the heel of her palm. “Just cuddles. I mean it, Kara. I have an exam at 10:30!”
The last thing she wanted was to wake up tomorrow in the same mood she’d woken up the last time this happened, annoyed, confused, naked, and alone. It would’ve been terrible.
Kara didn’t seem to need further convincing. She beamed like she’d just won a prize at a Kansas county fair and stumbled her way toward the bed without even removing her coat. She landed on the mattress with a solid thump, the belt of her uniform sliding across Kendra’s thigh as she pulled herself in.
Kendra didn’t resist. She turned over onto her left side, back facing Kara again. One arm lazily draped itself around her waist, and the faint weight of a knee bumping against the backs of her thighs. Kendra tends to forget how much taller Kara is than her.
Then Kendra felt the blanket lift, just enough to let in cool air from the room. A low, appreciative hum came from behind her. She didn’t have to look to know what Kara was staring at.
“Knock it off,” Kendra muttered, not turning around. Her voice didn’t rise, but it didn’t lose its edge either.
The blanket fell back into place. Kara didn’t say anything else, but Kendra could feel the grin pressing into her skin.
♣ ♥ ♠ ♦
Kendra had known it was coming. She always did. It was just a question of when.
At first, things were still. Kara’s breathing evened out behind her with her arm draped loosely around her waist. But then came the shift, the subtle way Kara’s fingertips started to move. Slow, barely-there circles traced into Kendra’s hip. Lazy and aimless, like someone fidgeting in their sleep. Kendra kept her eyes closed, hoping maybe she’d pass out before things escalated.
No such luck.
By the time twenty minutes had passed, Kara’s hand had crept lower, the curve of her fingers slipping beneath the waistband of Kendra’s thong at her hipbone.
That. That was the line.
She didn’t hesitate. Her wings sprang from her back without warning. Kara yelped behind her as a burst of feathers scattered around the bed.
“What the hell!” Kara spat… literally, she pulled a feather from her mouth. “Did you just wing-punch me in the face?!”
Kendra rolled onto her back and looked at her, unimpressed. “I said cuddles only, asshole,”
Kara rubbed her cheek, “I was just cuddling.”
Kendra raised an eyebrow, then gestured at her own hip. “Yeah? It starts at the waistband, then it moves south. I know how this works.”
Kara groaned and flopped back down dramatically, the mattress bouncing with the movement. “Fine! Fiiiine. Just cuddles. Happy?”
Kendra didn’t answer, merely staring at her stone faced. She didn’t fold her wings back in either.
Kara grunted softly, “Guess I’ll just be little spoon then.”
“Good.” Kendra said before. “Wait what?”
Before she could stop her, Kara clumsily climbed over her, in that uncoordinated way one did when they were tipsy. The trench coat snagged on the blanket and dragged across Kendra’s thighs as Kara repositioned herself, clearly pleased with herself.
“Here,” Kara mumbled, settling in like she hadn’t just been caught violating boundaries. “Little spoon.”
Kendra let out a sharp sigh and sat up fully, pushing the blanket aside. “Absolutely not.”
Kara didn’t even turn to face her. “Ugh, what now!”
“I am not cuddling someone in a trench coat,” Kendra said as she walked toward her dresser. Better encourage the ending rather than force it. “It’s like spooning a leather couch. Also, stop staring at my ass.”
There was a beat of silence behind her. Then a loud, overly sincere, “But it’s so prettyyyyyy.”
Kendra opened the drawer with more force than necessary. “I’m gonna regret this…”
“So we are still cuddling,” Kara said, smug again.
“Don’t tempt me,” Kendra muttered, grabbing a long, oversized t-shirt and a pair of red flannel pajama bottoms with little white reindeer on them. The unsexiest thing she owned. She walked back and held them out. “Change.”
Kara pushed herself up slightly, then grinned. With zero hesitation, she stood and used her superspeed to strip and change right in front of Kendra. The coat and the suit hit the floor in a heap of blue, red, and beige.
Kara had, predictably, ignored the pants.
She had pulled on the shirt, but it hung low off one shoulder and stopped just past her upper thighs. Well, thigh. The other side ended closer to her hip
Kendra’s eyes then went blurry. She could see Kara’s nipples poking through the thin fabric, though Kara didn’t seem to care. She stood there smirking like she knew exactly what she looked like.
Kendra sighed and ran a hand through her hair, “Don’t give me that look. Lay down.”
Kendra slipped back into bed after snapping off the bedside lamp. The mattress shifted beneath her as she climbed in. Kara was already curled up on her side, the oversized shirt draped over her curves, legs bare and leaving little to the imagination.
Kendra settled in behind her, one arm sliding loosely around Kara’s waist. She tucked in close, face near the back of Kara’s neck. Kara gave a quiet, satisfied hum at the contact.
Then she started wiggling her butt into Kendra’s hips, like she was getting comfortable but doing it in the most obnoxiously suggestive way possible.
Kendra rolled her eyes in the dark and didn’t say anything for a moment. She just let out a low breath, her hand shifting slightly against Kara’s stomach to keep her in place. Kara stilled a little, then made a soft noise.
“This is nice.”
Kendra stared at the ceiling through the dark for a moment, her arm still resting across Kara’s waist.
“Yeah, I’m sure you say that to all the girls,” she said, voice dry.
Kara stiffened slightly, then shifted her head to glance back.
“There are no other girls,” she said, not defensive exactly, but definitely offended. “Why would you even say that?”
Kendra exhaled through her nose and pressed her forehead gently into Kara’s shoulder for a moment before lifting it again.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Because I’m not an idiot? Because you disappear for weeks and then show up drunk at my window in the middle of the night wearing a trench coat and wanting to cuddle?”
“I was in space,” Kara said quickly.
“Yeah yeah,” Kendra murmured, her fingers idly tracing the hem of the oversized shirt at Kara’s side. “You’re not building your own super harem or anything, right?”
There was a pause. A long one. Kendra couldn’t believe she said that! What she… jealous? Kendra expected a snarky reply in return. Instead, Kara shifted under her arm.
“…Okay, I don’t think we have that word in Kryptonian,” she said awkwardly. “Or Rāoinian. What’s a harem?”
Kendra blinked, lips parting in quiet disbelief. “Seriously?”
Kara turned her head again, squinting over her shoulder in the dark. “Yeah. What is it?”
“Have you… Have you not talked to Cl… Kal?”
Kara’s nose scrunched slightly. “Not really, no. I just got back to Earth like, an hour and a half ago. I pretty much came straight here.”
Kendra let out a quiet groan and pressed her eyes shut, already regretting this. She hesitated a beat before responding, trying to find the bluntest but least vulgar explanation.
“It’s…” she started, her voice tired, “a collection. Usually of women. Kept around for sex. Like, in some cultures, a man with a lot of power, status or wealth, would keep a group of women he slept with. Didn’t necessarily love them. Just… kept them.”
There was a silence behind her.
“That sounds nice,” Kara said, her voice soft and but Kendra could tell she was teasing. “Really nice.”
Still… Kendra’s lips tightened. Her hand stilled on Kara’s waist. She didn’t say anything.
“But no,” Kara continued after a moment. “I don’t have a harem. Why would I have a harem? You’re the only one I want.”
Kendra’s stomach gave a strange little pull at that, but she kept her voice flat.
“Mhm.”
“Oh, Rāo… Does Kal think I have a harem?” Kara asked suddenly, her voice confused and genuinely curious.
Kendra felt the full weight of what she’d now have to explain settle on her shoulders like concrete. She immediately regretted everything.
She sat up, twisting her. Twisting Kara so she could face Kendra fully.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” she began, already bracing for whatever this would become. “It happened while you were gone. It’s… complicated.”
Kara looked at her without smiling, just waiting.
Kendra exhaled slowly. “The message. The one that came with your cousin’s pod. The one that had been too damaged to translate when he landed… they finally got it working. Fully decoded. It got aired.”
Still, no real reaction from Kara.
“It wasn’t a… pleasant message. Not really.” Kendra kept going. “It was from your aunt and uncle. It said… It said Kal was to… conquer the planet. Kill whoever got in his way. And start… repopulating your species. As in, impregnating as many women as possible. An earthling harem…”
She let the words hang there. She was already grimacing, already regretting every part of this. She hadn’t wanted to be the one to tell Kara.
Kara herself was quiet. She didn’t flinch or laugh or even show much anger. She just blinked slowly, her expression unreadable.
“You don’t seem too surprised,” Kendra said after a beat, trying to keep her voice calm but unable to mask the unease creeping in. Her little joke from earlier seemed much more sinister. “Or broken up.”
Kara shifted, “I… am not surprised,” she said quietly. “Can I see the message?”
Kendra didn’t answer right away. She stood slowly and walked over to her desk. Her wings, still partially flared, finally folded in and fading away as she reached forward, bent down, and pulled out the slim drive from the drawer. As she did, she felt the gentle pressure of a hand settle on the small of her back warm and steady.
Kara had followed and now stood behind her, hand resting against her lower back, grounding her in a way… though that didn’t stop every nerve ending she had from going Haywire from the feel.
“Terrific confirmed that, the recording at least, was authentic. The translation… well we don’t have a native speaker so…”
She didn’t watch the screen after she hit play. She’d seen the footage enough times. Her eyes stayed on Kara’s face instead, the dim light playing across her features as the message began to play.
Kara said nothing at first. She didn’t move her hand either. When it ended, Kendra kept her voice measured. “So… is what they said…”
Kara sighed, “They didn’t use the word kill. The exact word is closer to ‘defeat,’” she said, slowly. “Though if I’m being honest… I don’t think there’s much of a difference in context.”
Kendra nodded, arms folded across her chest now. “Yeah, that tracks. Luthor probably wanted to put it in a light to make it sound as bad as possible.”
“He didn’t really need to change anything, now did he,” Kara said softly.
Kendra shifted her weight to one foot. She didn’t argue.
“Does it sound accurate?” she asked after a pause. “I mean does it sound like his parents? You were an adult when you last saw them. You knew what they were like.”
Kara took her time answering. Her hand slipped away from Kendra’s back as she moved toward the bed again.
“Jor-Sire and Lara-Dame… they were strange in the weeks before we launched. They were desperate. No one listened to Jor-Sire about his warnings for the planet, and my father said they were spiraling… spiritually and mentally. This message…” Kara trailed off, then shook her head. “This isn’t who they were. Not really. But it’s who they became at the end.”
Kendra took that in without speaking.
“Your cousin was really broken up,” she said finally. “It hit him hard.”
“Yeah,” Kara said quietly. “He’s sensitive like that.”
Kendra didn’t respond right away. It didn’t take someone sensitive to respond badly to such a reveal. She leaned back against the desk and looked down at the floor for a moment.
“So,” she said eventually, “I’m not gonna have a dozen sister-wives to compete with?”
That finally cracked Kara’s composure. Her head snapped toward Kendra, eyes wide with disbelief before she burst into laughter.
“You’re ridiculous!” she said, crossing the space between them and wrapping her arms tightly around Kendra’s hips. Without giving her a chance to squirm away, she pulled her down toward the bed, both of them tumbling back with more giggling than either of them probably expected.
Kendra let it happen, her hand catching Kara’s arm as they hit the mattress. Her cheeks were warm, but not from embarrassment. And for the first time that night, she let herself laugh too.