#cue hour-long panic until they realise crystal has it

[lesbicosmos]

edwin: don't tell me the bag of tricks is gone.

charles: okay.

edwin: well, where is it?

charles: you told me not to tell you!

[gashinamoon]

vanished when i saw your face

Summary: (Inspired by this post by @hate-u) Kara is a well known model living in Paris and Lena's in the city on L Corp business. 

Paths cross and champagne flows and sparks fly and stuff happens.

Tags: Fluff, Some Humour, First Meetings, Meet-Cute

Read on AO3

“Lena? Are you listening to me?”

Lena tears her eyes back to Sam, feeling momentarily like she’s been snapped out of another universe and back into this one. She smiles, apologetically.

“Sorry. I must be tired,” she says as a way of explanation, but she can tell Sam doesn’t buy it before the words are even fully out of her mouth.

“Riiiiight, and it has nothing to do with the blonde woman over there who keeps making eyes at you?” She teases, and Lena feels herself blush.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she laughs, playing it cool, but Sam is right and they both know it.

And even though there’s roughly thirteen blonde women across the other side of the room, there’s no questioning which one she’s referring to.

Kara Danvers.

One of the most wealthy and well known models in all of Paris who is currently on another career rise after her most recent spread for a famous men’s clothing line.

Lena had seen the pictures a couple of months ago in a magazine, and even though she read the same magazine every month and most of the time barely paid any mind to the models with the same beautiful faces, something about Kara had been different, memorable.

Lena notices that Kara’s wearing one of the outfits from the spread tonight; a light, sand coloured suit, both the pants and blazer a couple of sizes too big, with a tailored shirt underneath, black brogues and a thin leather belt pulled tightly at the waist, the only hint of femininity in the entire outfit. Unlike the magazine shoot though, Kara has her hair poker straight tonight, and pulled into a high ponytail, and her makeup is subtle and light, no trace of a smokey eye or deep lipstick anywhere.

Lena wonders if it’s necessary for the models to wear the clothes from shoots or shows at these kind of events, whether it’s in their contracts that even during after parties, they’re considered on the clock and still have promoting and advertising to do. Given that it’s the last night of Paris Fashion Week, you would’ve thought the girls would be allowed some downtime, Lena thinks to herself. And then she realises that these events are the perfect places to do business after all, she herself should know that better than anyone.

Lena glances quickly at her watch; it’s nearing 11 and she knows she and Sam have to leave soon considering their flight back to National City leaves at 5am.

“It’s a long flight home, Lena. We’ll have plenty of time to sleep on the plane. So how about you stop thinking about work for once and have some fun?” Sam smiles, having clearly not missed what Lena thought was a subtle glance at the time, reaching for two glasses of champagne from the open bar next to them, and handing one to Lena.

Lena accepts, and then drains her glass in one go, because she knows Sam’s right and they didn’t come all the way to Paris just to work.

“You’re right,” Lena says, placing her empty glass back on the bar. “And today has been fun. So it would be a shame to end it already, wouldn’t it?”

“Exactly. And it would also be a shame to waste that amazing outfit you’re wearing, just standing here talking to me, you know?”

Lena smiles awkwardly and looks down at her clothes, feeling slightly uncomfortable not for the first time that evening. She’d been inspired by the show they’d seen that afternoon, and had spent an incredible amount of money on one of the suits from the collection, similar to one that Kara had worn in the magazine spread. It’s black and fitted, the pants just grazing her ankle perfectly to show off her brand new Louboutin heels, but instead of a shirt underneath her blazer, Lena’s simply wearing a lace bralette with 30 individually placed Swarovski crystals along the edge of the cups.

It’s not an outfit she’d usually wear, but at the same time it also isn’t too dissimilar to something she’d wear to work. But it’s the lack of anything substantial underneath her blazer which is making Lena feel out of her comfort zone, and she’s had to resist a thousand urges already tonight to button up her jacket all the way to her neck.

“You think so? I fear I’m a little out of my depth with it,” Lena replies, pulling her hair over her shoulder almost automatically.

Sam grabs her wrist and stops her. “You look amazing, Lena. You don’t need to cover up or hide behind your hair. You’ve clearly captured the attention of at least one person in here.”

Lena blushes, again, and she swears she’s never been a blusher.

Sam chuckles at her reaction, and then raises an eyebrow. “So, are you going to talk to her?”

“Do you even know who she is?” Lena asks, because she’s sure Sam wouldn’t be suggesting she just go and talk to her if she did.

“Do you know who you are?” Sam argues.

Lena rolls her eyes. “I’m not sure my name means anything over here.”

“Lena, you do realise the fashion show we were at this afternoon completely sold out six months ago, right? And that this after party is an extremely prestigious party that you can’t even buy tickets for. Your name is why we’re even here. Your name is why we ended up on the second row at the show today, barely two hours after you called and asked if they could spare two tickets. So cut the modesty and humility crap and enjoyit,” Sam says, handing Lena another glass of champagne.

Lena rolls her eyes again and takes a drink, and as she does, she lets herself glance over Sam’s shoulder again, back to Kara who is standing a few feet away with a bunch of the other models Lena recognises from the show.

As soon as Lena’s eyes glimpse over Kara’s face, Kara looks up, almost as if she can feel Lena’s eyes on her, and she smiles at her, a warm and affectionate smile that Lena feels all the way through her body. She wants to look away, because she can feel her cheeks blushing again, but Kara seems to have a way of looking at you that makes you feel almost unashamed to be looking back. Kara’s smile grows, softening all her striking and hard features somehow, and Lena’s stomach flutters.

This isn’t the first time she and Kara have been caught in a moment like this tonight, in fact, this is only one of many moments. But somehow, every time they catch each other’s eye, it feels like the first time.

Kara’s eyes leave Lena’s face then, and Lena watches as they drift down over her body, feels them slowly work over every single inch of her before coming back to her face again, Kara’s smile turning into more of a satisfied looking grin as they do so. Lena feels slightly self conscious under Kara’s apparent scrutiny, until Kara pulls her bottom lip between her teeth and looks almost nervous for the first time that night, and Lena has to look away before the sight of Kara chewing on her lip makes her do or say something stupid.

Lena downs the rest of her champagne just for something to do, whilst she tries to remember who she is and how completely unlike her it is to be acting like this.

Lena feels Sam place a hand on her forearm. When she meets her eyes, Lena can see the amusement Sam is clearly trying to hide.

“I’m gonna take this as my cue to leave,” Sam says, and Lena panics instantly.

“Wait, what?”

Sam leans over and presses a kiss to her cheek before whispering. “She’s coming over. You’re beautiful. You have nothing to worry about. Have fun. I’ll see you back at the hotel later. I’m gonna go FaceTime Ruby or something. Be cool, okay?” She adds, as she pulls back and looks at her, smiling warmly.

Sam gives her one last look of you got this, before she turns and heads for the exit, leaving Lena alone.

Except Lena’s barely alone long enough to remember to close her mouth and tell herself to breathe before Kara is slipping into the spot Sam has just vacated and is handing Lena a glass of champagne.

Lena manages to smile gratefully, manages to say “merci,” as she takes the glass from Kara because, well, they’re in France and she knows Kara speaks fluent French (not that she’s googled or anything), and then Kara is clinking her glass with Lena’s and she’s smiling that warm, affectionate smile again except up close it’s even more distracting than it was from across the room, which really is saying something.

Kara starts speaking, and it takes Lena at least 30 seconds to register that Kara’s speaking to her in French because she’s so captivated by the way her mouth moves over and around the words, by the way her tongue slips over her perfect white teeth on some words, by the way her hair starts to fall over her shoulder before Kara flips it back again, by the way her red painted fingernails look against the bubbles of the champagne. Lena notices now that Kara is just inches away from her, that she has a few light freckles on her nose and it makes Lena wonder why on Earth her freckles would be airbrushed out of magazine shoots. She also notices that Kara smells like fresh rain and flowers at the same time.

“Et toi?” Kara says, taking a sip from her glass, and Lena knows she’s asking her opinion on something, remembers that from her third grade French class, and then she panics again because she somehow has to tell Kara that she didn’t understand much at all of what she just said because she was too busy staring at her mouth and at her hands.

“I, um…” Lena blushes. “I’m sorry, I’m not too good at French,” she admits, laughing awkwardly.

“Oh?” Kara responds, frowning only ever so slightly. “I would have thought that a woman like you would be bilingual,” she smiles, and the way she speaks makes everything she says sound like a question, like she just wants to know more about everything.

“Oh, I can speak a few languages. Unfortunately French isn’t one of them. Which is ironic because it’s one of the languages my mother really wanted me to learn when I was a child. Which also explains why I didn’t learn it, I suppose,” Lena chuckles, and Kara laughs softly too, and it surprises Lena than she can make Kara laugh.

“My mom wanted me to learn how to play the cello,” Kara says with a roll of her eyes. “I can’t really picture that… can you?”

Lena laughs, but mostly she’s just lost on the way Kara rolls her R’s slightly, her French accent lingering on certain words and syllables, and all she wants to do is listen to Kara speak for the rest of the night.

“What do you think of the champagne?” Kara asks, taking another sip from her glass.

“It’s good. Not my drink of choice, but I’ll take it,” Lena replies, except she barely gets her sentence out because Kara’s staring at her mouth now, and god if it isn’t the most distracting thing in the entire world.

There’s a pause as Lena finishes talking and Kara doesn’t quite realise. That, or she doesn’t care to hide the fact that she’s staring at her mouth, and Lena’s about to say something else to fill the silence before Kara meets her eyes again.

“And what is your drink of choice?” She asks, and Lena swears she sees Kara’s grip on her glass tighten, as though she’s trying to reign in her focus.

“Why don’t you guess?” Lena asks, and she swears she doesn’t mean for that question to sound so seductive, only deep down she knows she does because Kara’s obvious interest makes her feel brave.

The response Lena receives from Kara is unexpected though. Because where Lena would blush and look away, Kara does the opposite. Her eyes darken and she meets Lena’s gaze confidently as she steps closer to her, so that there’s barely inches between them.

“Well,” Kara begins, and Lena swears her voice is deeper than it was just seconds ago. “From what I’ve heard about you, I’d say you’re a whiskey kind of woman. A scotch or a bourbon, maybe?”

“From what you’ve heard?” Lena questions, and she hates the way her voice cracks a little, but she can hardly be blamed because she’s sure this kind of close proximity with Kara would make anyone a little shaken at the edges.

Kara chuckles, lightly. “I know all about you, Lena Luthor. Which is why I can hardly believe my luck that you came to my show, and that now we’re standing here enjoying champagne together. I keep wondering why such a business woman like you has any interest in an event like this, but all the same I’m thanking whatever lucky stars I have that you do,” she says, and then she turns her head and gestures to the bartender.

Lena hears Kara asking for a bottle of scotch, but she misses everything else she says because she’s speaking in French again and for one of the first times in her life, Lena wishes she’d taken her mother’s advice, because she doesn’t want to miss anything Kara says.

Thankfully, Kara doesn’t keep her in the dark for long as she turns and says,

“I asked for a bottle of their most expensive scotch. Said I have a lady to impress,” Kara grins, just as the bartender places two glasses down on the bar and pours a little more than a shot of whiskey into the bottom of both of them.

“She must be a lucky lady,” Lena replies, her insides fluttering for what feels like the hundredth time that night.

“Oh, I’m sure I’m the lucky one, mon chou.”

Kara’s voice is soft and warm, and Lena forgets that she’s only just met this woman, because talking with her feels so easy and effortless. She wonders what Kara has just said at the end of her sentence, and then makes a mental note to google it later on.

“So,” Kara says, taking a drink from her glass. Lena follows suit and takes a drink too, and she’s definitely impressed with the scotch. “What are you doing all the way over here in Paris? Because something tells me you're not here just to indulge in a little high fashion.”

Lena smiles. “I’m looking into having an L Corp headquarters here in Paris, actually. So I brought one of my most trusted employees, who also just happens to be one of my best friends, here with me, and we’ve been looking at buildings and potential candidates for positions since we arrived on Monday. We weren’t even meant to be here tonight, actually. But Sam was missing her daughter and I wanted to cheer her up a little, so I managed to get us some tickets for your show. And now here I am.”

“I’m actually extremely impressed that you managed to get tickets. You know the show completely sold out months ago, right?”

“I guess. Sam said the same,” Lena shrugs as though it’s no big deal, and then she drains her glass.

Kara watches her, her eyes full of questions, before she does the same and empties her glass too.

The bartender is already refilling them before Lena can even ask if Kara wants another.

“I told him to keep them full,” Kara grins.

Lena smiles back and wonders briefly if it’s such a good idea for her to drink so much before a long flight in a few hours, but then she remembers Sam telling her to have fun and she thinks about how long it’s been since she actually took a night off from work to do that, before she’s swallowing her second shot of whiskey in one go, the familiar burn of it going down her throat warming every inch of her body.

She feels Kara watching her, and when she meets her eyes, Lena struggles to read the emotion behind them.

“You’re pretty impressive, Lena Luthor,” Kara says. “Do you know that?”

Lena shrugs, and she’s grateful when the bartender comes back to refill her glass again because she has something to pretend to be distracted by. She wonders if it’s the whiskey after all that’s making her feel so hot.

“Tell me about you, Kara,” Lena says, avoiding Kara’s question and changing the subject.

Kara almost looks disappointed for a second, but then she smiles. “What do you want to know?”

Lena almost says everything, but she bites her tongue.

“When did you move to Paris?” She asks, instead.

“Around 3 years ago. I came here to work one summer and then I just never went back. I was living in New York beforehand,” Kara explains. “And now I know what you’re thinking; a model moving from New York to Paris. Groundbreaking, right?” Kara says with a roll of her eyes.

Lena laughs, and she’s almost taken aback by Kara’s sense of humour, and how genuinely her sense of humour seems to fit into place within the rest of her.

“Do you ever miss New York?” Lena asks.

“The only thing I miss about New York is my sister. I tried to get her to move out here with me, but she loves her job too much. And in the end, I couldn’t take her away from that anyway. I know she would have come with me if I really wanted her to. But her whole life is in New York, and her work is so important to her. It’s hard being so far away, especially with the time difference and the schedules we both have. But we make it work. I try and fly home at least twice a year if I can and we always try to make time to FaceTime on Sundays. I miss her, all the time, and at least once a week I feel like jumping on the next plane home, but Alex keeps reminding me that the sacrifices are worth it. She knows how hard I worked to do the kind of things I do today and she won’t let me give any of that up, especially not for her,” Kara says, and for the first time that night, Lena sees a glimpse of sadness in Kara’s eyes.

Lena reaches over and rests her hand on Kara’s wrist. “I’m sure your sister is really proud of you.”

Kara’s eyes fall to where Lena’s hand is resting against her, and she smiles at the connection. “She is. And I’m proud of her too. Doesn’t mean I miss her any less though,” she adds, quietly.

Lena thinks about the sacrifices Kara and Alex make everyday, thinks about how much they love each other, thinks about what it must be like to be loved in such a way, and it brings on a familiar ache inside her chest.

“Are you alright?” Kara asks, and she reaches for Lena’s other hand, taking it in hers and squeezing it softly.

Lena smiles. “I’m fine. It’s just hearing you talk about your sister. It must be nice to know that she’s proud of you,” she says, because she doesn’t want to lie to Kara and this version of the truth is the easiest one to speak of.

Kara smiles softly, almost knowingly, and Lena wonders just how much Kara knows about her. Does she know about her mother, about Lex?

“People are proud of you too, Lena,” Kara says, and her words touch of every single inch of Lena’s body, and if she were anywhere else in the world with Kara right now, Lena knows she’d cry.

But she isn’t anywhere else, she’s here and there are cameras and journalists and beautiful people everywhere, and Lena knows better. So instead she just squeezes Kara’s hand back. “Thank you,” she says.

“You’re welcome, mon chou,” Kara replies, but she doesn’t let go of Lena’s hand.

Lena meets Kara’s eyes then, and when she does, Kara smiles, and Lena’s heart skips in her chest. She doesn’t look away, and neither does Kara, and once again Lena feels like this is the first time their eyes have ever met. Minutes pass, or maybe it’s just seconds, and then Kara’s eyes drift down to Lena’s mouth, and then further down to the expanse of skin at her chest and Lena’s entire body shivers as she sees Kara lick along her bottom lip.

“This is cute,” Kara says, her voice has fallen a few octaves again, and she tentatively traces the shining crystals along the lace of Lena’s bralette with her index finger.

Lena’s breath catches in her throat at Kara’s touch, and her skin suddenly feels much too hot. She wonders if Kara notices.

Lena clears her throat, thankful for the whiskey because she knows she’d never be able to speak otherwise, without the help of some liquid courage. She wonders if the alcohol is making Kara brave too.

“Thank you. I was inspired by your spread in L’Officiel and by your show this afternoon,” Lena says, sounding much more confident than she feels. “I actually bought the suit just today, after your show. The bra was more of an afterthought really. I’ve never worn it before and I wouldn’t normally wear an outfit like this but… when in Paris, I guess,” she chuckles, lightly.

Kara smiles and then removes her hand from the fabric at Lena’s chest. “You saw my magazine shoot?”

“Believe it or not, I get L’Officiel delivered to my office every month,” Lena admits.

“That shoot was my first time working with them. But I had a lot of fun. And it was nice to wear something I really felt myself in, you know? Don’t get me wrong, I love the expensive dresses and the high heels, but I never really feel like myself in them. So when they asked if I wanted to model for their February cover, and that the theme was “blurring gender lines”, I practically jumped at the chance. Not just because of the clothes, but also because it’s so amazing to see more and more media outlets being unafraid to approach these things now. And I want to be someone that people associate with all of that. With fighting stereotypes and the patriarchy et cetera, et cetera,” Kara laughs, but Lena can hear the passion and the emotion in her voice.

It makes her smile. Lena wonders how many people know this side of Kara, and she wonders how many people simple reduce her to a pretty face and blonde hair. She wonders how many stereotypes Kara is placed under every single day, and she hopes with all her heart that the industry Kara works in continues to challenge them.

Lena understands, to a certain extent, the kind of weight those stereotypes and expectations can come with.

“Did you always want to model?” Lena asks.

Kara shakes her head. “I wanted to be a superhero. Can you believe that?” She laughs, but Lena just smiles because in all honesty, she can. “I just wanted to save the world. Make a difference. You know?”

“I’m pretty sure that if you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll help a lot of people,” Lena replies, affectionately, and Kara’s beaming smile in response makes Lena’s cheeks feel so warm.

“How long are you in Paris for, Lena?” Kara asks, swallowing down the rest of her scotch in one gulp.

Lena’s sure Kara’s at least two drinks behind by now.

“Just until tomorrow, actually,” She responds, and then she glances at her watch, completely taken aback when she sees it’s nearing 1am already. “In fact, I probably should head back to my hotel. I have a flight in four hours and it might be a good idea to sober up a little first,” Lena laughs.

Kara chuckles lightly, and then the realisation hits Lena that she’s probably never going to see Kara again after this and she almost wants to cancel her flight so she can stay here in this bar with her until morning at least.

“That’s too bad,” Kara says, and then she reaches for the rest of Lena’s scotch and swallows it down. “I was having a great time with you,” she adds, after she swallows.

“Me too. Tonight has been fun, Kara,” Lena replies, and she loves the way Kara’s name feels rolling off of her tongue.

Kara smiles. “Well, next time you find yourself in Paris, give me a call, okay?” She says, as she reaches into her purse for her phone, urging Lena to do the same. Kara asks Lena for her number and then quickly sends her a text with a single heart emoji, so that Lena can save her number too. “I’d love to get to know you better and take you to dinner at my favourite restaurant next time you’re here.”

“Of course. And you know, New York isn’t far from National City. So if you have any free time next time you’re visiting Alex, feel free to drop by L Corp. My office has the best view of the city and it’s breathtaking at night,” Lena smiles.

“Not as breathtaking as you, I’m sure, mon chou,” Kara says, before she leans over and presses a kiss to Lena’s cheek.

Later, on the plane home when Sam is sleeping beside her, Lena opens her laptop and pulls up google translator. She types in those two words and when she does, she’s glad Sam is sleeping as the English translation pops up, because thankfully, that means she doesn’t have to explain the blush on her cheeks or the tears in her eyes to anyone.

3 months later

Charity galas are just part of Lena’s everyday job description at this point, but tonight she’s nervous.

It’s been 3 months since that night in Paris with Kara, and this morning Lena had woken up to a text from her saying that she was in New York visiting Alex and would definitely come and see her if she had time. Lena had invited her to the gala, told her she’s welcome on her own or with a +1, told her the when and where of the event, and then said she hoped she’d see her there. Kara had responded with a smiley face emoji, and Lena still had no idea what that meant. And given that up until today, Lena hadn’t heard from Kara and had put their night in Paris to the back of her mind under a mental category of things that will never happen again, she can’t help but hope the vague response means more than what it probably does.

She knows Kara’s been in the US a lot more recently, because she’s seen billboards of her shoots all over, and a couple of week ago, Kara was on a daytime talk show, talking about how she hopes to be able to move back to the US full time now she’s getting more work over here.

Lena isn’t crazy enough to think that that might mean she gets to see Kara again, but she’s happy that it means Kara and Alex get to see more of each other again. She’s found herself thinking about the two of them a lot ever since she got back from Paris. Well, she thinks about Kara a lot, and only sometimes thinks about Kara’s sister.

“Lena?”

Lena turns when she feels a hand at the small of her back, and smiles at her best friend.

“Is everything okay?” She asks.

Sam hands her a glass of wine and nods. “Absolutely. I just saw you without a drink in your hand and it made me worry. So I came to bring you this and to make sure you’re alright,” she chuckles.

“I’m fine. Just a little distracted is all,” Lena admits, taking a sip from her glass and letting her eyes scan the room. She knows she’d be able to spot Kara no matter how crowded the room was and a weird mixture of relief and disappointment churns in her stomach each time she looks for her and comes up empty. “I just invited someone tonight and they haven’t shown up yet.”

Sam’s brow creases. “Someone?”

“Remember the woman from Paris?”

Sam’s shoulders fall on a long exhale and she smiles knowingly at Lena. “I see,” she grins. “Well, it’s still kind of early so don’t give up hope. And if you need me, I’ll be taking advantage of the free bar.”

Lena laughs. “We wouldn’t be us if we weren’t taking advantage of free bars, would we?”

“Absolutely not. So I hope I don’t see you without a glass in your hand again, okay?”

“Yes Ma'am,” Lena chuckles, as Sam heads back towards the bar.

Sam doesn’t turn her back on her this time though, just sits with her body slightly angled in her direction and Lena thinks that she’s deliberately keeping her in her line of sight, and a warm bubble of affection appears inside her at the gesture. Lena must really seem more nervous than she thinks she does if her friend feels the need to make sure she’s alright, even from across the room.

Lena smiles softly to herself and turns back to the window.

She considers what a great idea it had been to host the gala here at L Corp, in one of the rarely used convention/function halls on the top floor of the building. The floor to ceiling windows and mood lighting makes for absolutely perfect ambience, and the view of the city in the last stages of the summer sunset is magnificent.

Lena hopes for what feels like the hundredth time that Kara is able to make it.

“You were right about the view, mon chou,” Lena hears a familiar voice say, and then she feels a hand ghost along her upper back. “But I was right too. I would much rather look at you instead.”

Lena turns and cannot contain the smile on her face as she meets Kara’s eyes again for the first time in months.

“You came!” She beams, and she swears Kara blushes.

“Of course I came, I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Kara replies, pulling Lena into a tight hug that makes Lena feel like she’s home.

Lena hugs her back, and they embrace for a long time, before eventually, Lena realises they’re swaying softly to the music and the sun has completely set around them.

“I don’t dance, you know?” Lena says softly against Kara’s ear, chuckling lightly.

“I was wondering when you’d realise we were dancing,” Kara laughs, and Lena feels Kara’s arms tighten around her.

Kara feels heavenly like this, and she still smells exactly like fresh rain and flowers, just like before, and all Lena wants to do is rest her head on Kara’s shoulder and close her eyes.

“How is Alex?” Lena asks.

“Alex is great. I was going to bring her, actually, but then she got called into work last minute. I’ll have to introduce you two at some point. Next week maybe? Will you have dinner with us?”

Lena pulls back slightly so she can look Kara in the eyes. “Next week? But won’t you be back in Paris by then?”

Kara grins and shakes her head. “I probably should have mentioned this sooner, but I left Paris three weeks ago. I’ve been living back in New York with my sister.”

“You moved back? And you’re staying?”

“Oui. And so next week, dinner will be no problem for me, if you have time, of course,” Kara smiles,

Lena wants to do something really uncool, like maybe lean in and kiss Kara right on the mouth. But she figures they’ll have plenty of time for that another day since Kara is inviting her to dinner and she wants her to meet her sister and she’s living just a short train ride away again. So Lena settles for kissing Kara cheek instead.

“Of course. I’ll make time for you, no matter what,” Lena says.

Kara smiles and Lena’s heart flutters and then before Lena even knows what’s happening, it’s Kara that’s being really uncool and kissing her, right on the lips in front of the view and the city and the crowded room.

“Stupéfiant, mon chou,” Kara whispers, pulling her mouth from Lena’s and embracing her tightly again.

Lena shivers, and makes a mental note to start learning French as soon as the party is over.

Thanks for reading! Please feel free to reblog etc. and let me know what you think :) 

[astrofireworks]

astro witch coven au (sanha)

au masterlist

The very last one to tumble into the Astro coven

Part-timed at the SF9 coven for a while

So sometimes you have specialised covens like the VIXX coven (in charms and talismans) and the Snuper coven (in healing)

and sometimes you have hodgepodge covens who have one specialist for whatever you need like a one-stop shop

such as Bangtan and Astro (where you can get potions, herbs and charms in the same house – which makes it endlessly easy for harried house-witches in each of their neighbourhoods to pick up stuff they need)

another such example is SF9

and at that point in time SF9 suddenly had a boom of magical people in their neighbourhood

so they had a lot of orders and stuff pouring in so Youngbin decided to hire some smol part-timers

i.e., excited young witches eager to flex their magical fingers and put their powers to good use to earn some pocket money

and so this is how smol Chani and Sanha, with their bright eyes and nimble fingers and penchant for mischief, end up part-timing for SF9

earned a little pocket money, earned a lot of experience

Chani mainly worked with the potion masters Zuho and Hwiyoung and with the gardening witch Dawon

Sanha spent most of his time with Youngbin, Jaeyoon and Inseong in the charms room after magic school, preparing different sets of crystals for spells they needed to do

Happiness charm? A bottle cap inscribed with ‘happiness’ in Inseong’s neat script, two crystals and three leaves

Calming charm? A hairclip that Jaeyoon’s scribbled on in white paint marker, a bottle of distilled water and four crystals

Cooling crystals? A small blue crystal and a thin copper wire

Sanha’s got it mostly in his head, but anything he doesn’t know, he consults a small manual written in Youngbin’s messy scrawl and prepares the sets for them

Very nimble fingers and can pack things really well and fast!!! Bless Sanha

Occasionally when the three weren’t as busy, Sanha skipped downstairs to help Taeyang and Rowoon with small errands like delivery

Helped Rowoon, a frost witch, deliver ice bags to people around the neighbourhood

Or sometimes helped Taeyang, an elemental witch, package stuff he spins out of thin air and label them for customers

Sometimes messed up the names and stuff but Taeyang sorted them out eventually

also earned a lot of exasperation and fondness

Sanha really is a pure bean he just needs the right goading to turn into a lil shit

Like that time Dawon was napping in his greenhouse

Sanha and Taeyang releasing tiny butterflies made out of thin copper wires charmed to fly for less than an hour into the air

Dawon nearly panicking because he thought they were eating up his children

Or that time Sanha ‘accidentally’ swapped out Jaeyoon’s dry-erase markers for permanent ones

And Jaeyoon usually uses them to note a list of charms and clients on his arm for easy reference so he can erase them later

Cue Jaeyoon walking around the whole day being grumpy because Chani and Sanha charmed his ink to stay on for 24 hours

Carried onto the Astro coven ohohoho I have so many stories from the Sanha-MJ vs Bin prank war

Bin loves pranking Sanha it’s hilarious

Like that one beetle incident

And also that shouting charm incident

Filed under Bin’s profile if you’re interested

More to come

But yes and so like this, business eventually settled into a steady rhythm

until Sanha’s dad decided to move them halfway across the country

rip Sanha’s after-school money-making means

But Sanha has to adjust to a new magic school and make new friends and stuff so the first month or so he doesn’t really have the time to go out and part-time anyway

Ok a bit more about the magic school system

I realise I’ve never gone into this with much detail rip but now I’ve gone into it with too much detail 

Me: I need to publish Sanha’s profile asap

Also me: ok but first you need to rewrite the laws of physics in each single AU you have

But basically you go to school for basic magic stuff like learning the theories and learning what different branches of magic there are

imagine Hogwarts but in a house and with like 10 magical kids at differing magical levels and ages

so they all learn the theory portion together in the mornings

and occasionally instead of magical theory they cover actual stuff they need for national exams because I mean ??? they still need qualifications just in case they want to go into something non-magical

but because they’re all of differing magical levels and different magical backgrounds, they spend the second half of the day either Shadowing their parents’ magic business or if their parents worked in a non-magical line, Shadowing a specialist coven

and this ‘specialist’ coven they Shadow usually falls in line with their interest

like how Chani was interested in botany and spent his Shadow time with the botany witch coven Honeyst (after which he went to Dawon’s greenhouse to learn more while earning pocket-money)

and this is the route the rest of Astro took too, with Eunwoo’s training in the Snuper coven and Rocky helping out in his cousin’s potions room and Bin living nearly full-time in the VIXX coven

and eventually in their later years they either fade out of theory entirely and just work in their specialist line or continue with national exams and go into non-magical lines

Sanha’s parents chose the non-magical line and work in entertainment, which doesn’t really require much of their magic but is largely enjoyable for them all the same

And so Sanha’s left with the choice to either specialise or go non-magical like his parents

But he knows deep down that he does want to do magic so that’s that

And so he has to specialise

I mean, he was thinking of specialising in charms with SF9 but since he’s moved halfway across the country he can no longer do so

And so he flounders around looking for help

Until one day Chani calls to tell him to knock on the door of the Astro coven to look for a place because while a lot of covens would love to have Sanha, the only Charmers there are in the neighbourhood are the VIXX coven and the Astro coven

And while VIXX is an established specialist coven, after Bin left, N’s been swamped with new students looking to create charms and talismans too

And not to worry!!! Because apparently Dawon knows a blood ritualist in that coven and apparently they’re all very nice and looking for some help

So Sanha marches up to the Astro coven door and rings the first magical doorbell he sees (MJ’s) and introduces himself

Sanha shouting: “HI I’M SANHA I’D LIKE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CHARMS AND MAGIC”

Jinjin, hauling this idiot in because who the hell shouts about this in the middle of the street????

Rocky, coven leader, sizing this beanpole up

Tol smol

Skinny

Easily startled

Lil bit dumb

Not sure if he wants to take him but-

MJ bursting into the kitchen where Rocky and Jinjin have Sanha sat down

“HELLO YES PLS TAKE THEM ONE OF OUR OLD NEIGHBOURS CALLED AND SAID HE’S A SWEETHEART”

temporarily forgets that Rockjin have no idea about KNK’s extensive immigration history

also comes to regret this statement many incidents of Sanha Talks Shit & Gets Hit™ later

Jinjin dragging Binu out of their second floor cave to evaluate this young son

Eunwoo peering into Sanha’s eyes and agreeing immediately because Sanha looks so pure and cute he can’t help it he’s weak

Binnie giving Sanha a couple of trinkets and asking him to sort them into charm sets for him

Sanha doing well so far until he comes across a dead beetle and yelps

Binnie’s eyes twinkling

“yES ROCKY I’M VERY SURE I WANT THIS ONE”

rip Sanha

Rocky, incredulous,

Instant best friends with MJ

Plays so well with MJ Bin gets alarmed because

He can prank MJ and he can prank Sanha but

Both at once???? He’ll admit he’s a little alarmed

Can talk to MJ about nothing for ages

Although MJ can’t talk for ages

He’s old, forgive him – he tires easily

Also that one time he talked about nothing to MJ and managed to turn the entire house purple and KNK’s coven house black

Incredible

And long story short, Rocky was the one who agreed that Sanha move in with them and train under all of them in the end

But if you ask him now lmao he’ll deny it to his death

He personally feels that Sanha is truly one of the most powerful witches he’ll ever meet and have the opportunity to apprentice

Although all he’s asked Sanha to do so far in his apprenticeship is fetching potion ingredients

Something Sanha is Actually Terrible at

Comes out into the garden with a list of different herbs Rocky wants found within two hours

One and a half hours of searching and talking to Chani and Dawon on speakerphone later he’s only found basil and it’s only because Jinjin was collecting some for dinner later

Jinjin sighing and slowly sifting through the list with Sanha  

Papa!Jinjin slowly teaching his son how to differentiate between plants

belleaves (non-spiky leaves, brownish-green, edible) and balleaves (also non-spiky leaves, greenish-brown, to be strained out of the potion at the end of brewing)

Rohas (space violet, five-petalled, strong smell, used in Healing aromatherapy potion brews) and Roahs (vivid plum, five-petalled, slightly sweeter and milder smell, used in Calming aromatherapy potion brews)

English parsley and Chinese parsley (for fun because Jinjin sends Sanha out to collect herbs for dinner sometimes)

Sanha struggling through himself when it comes to non-agricultural potion ingredients like feathers and stuff

Tries to ask Bin but then Bin starts asking him to help him collect other stuff too so he just kind of panics and runs away

Bin being mildly confused because didn’t Sanha prefer making charm sets anyway

He does, but he also prefers seeing Rocky’s proud beam when Sanha comes to him, exhausted and covered in whatever it took to catch that one pigeon to get that one singular feather off its back

Rocky raising his hand to pat Sanha on the shoulder

Rocky also letting Sanha sit in the Potions room (out-of-bounds to MJ and Bin after that One Incident with Magical Water Balloons) and complete tasks Bin’s set him

As long as he keeps a 2m radius from his cauldron, that is

Sorry Sanha

Because no matter how talented Sanha is, he’s still a Grade A Idiot

Like that one time Sanha nearly knocked over Rocky’s prized cauldron and Rocky got so mad about it

he slipped a potion into Sanha’s flask that made his skin purple for a week

and it was really funny bc Sanha usually flops around outside in the garden helping Jinjin because he’s mostly tasked to collect potions ingredients after he finishes assembling charm sets for Bin

but then with purple skin he was too afraid to go out of the house to even go to school lest Humans see him

so he just kind of whined at the window at Jinjin and MJ until Jinjin personally begged Rocky to either give Sanha back his regular skin colour or to give him something else to do

needless to say Sanha probably will never go near the cauldron ever again

wahahah i’m finally done with astro’s profiles it’s drabble time