#so another round and wait for the second episode and unlock the romance and secret chat

[lyon-amore]

One chapter later, Adam will appear dead....

[ayurileopardsdream]

If you had told me sooner - Chapter 1

Description: What should have happened in the Fortress of Solitude when Lena told Kara she knew the Supergirl secret, Season 5 Episode 7. And then it immediately just gets off track. And then it turns into a musical. And then it finally gets gay.

Author’s note: This story is also posted on AO3. Only my discord friends saw this coming ahahahaha~

[Supergirl Season 5 episode 7 - when they’re fighting in the fortress of Solitude]

After Mxy happened with It’s a Super Life. Kara went back to that part, had to relive that horrible time all over again. The whole “If you forgive me, I’ll be there for you. If you work with Lex, I’ll stop you just as I would any other villain.” Yeah that? No. Don’t like that, didn’t happen. So onward with the gay.

Rating: T

Words: 5,550

Series: Supergirl (TV 2015)

Au: 

Characters / Pairing: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor

Genre: romance, hurt & comfort, fluff, angst.

Link to the AO3 copy: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22971949/chapters/54915007

The universe says that some things cannot be fixed with hugs. Kara Zor-El Danvers believes otherwise. Standing there while Lena yelled at her and holding that bomb Myriad thing, all Kara did was contemplate her entire life, her entire friendship. You see when mxy was sending Kara back in time to try and find a point to properly confess to Lena, Kara realized that when everything went to hell, there is no better way to fix a fight than with a hug.

Lena was yelling that she wasn't a villain. That Kara should have told her and not deceived her like everyone else. That she thought they were best friends, Kara should have trusted her.

Kara knew what she had to do even if Lena didn't trust her or like her or care for her anymore.

Kara flew at Lena, knocking the Myriad bomb out of her hands, hugging her tightly but safely for her strength.

"Kara what- What are you doing?! Get off of me!" Lena yelled struggling to no avail to get the kryptonian off of her.

"No!" Kara yelled, surprising the upset Luthor.

"I know I hurt you! That I betrayed you, that I deceived you. I should have told you and I didn't! I didn't want to put you in harm's way and I couldn't find the right time! Don't you know how hard it is to not tell you things? The number one villain rule is to target the loved ones of a superhero! Someone could have, would have come after you and I know you can handle yourself but I couldn't risk it! Damnit Lena! I love you! More than a friend, than a best friend! You're the most important person in my whole life! I know you're upset but I'm not about to deceive you like everyone else in your life has! I'm sorry Lex told you first, but he told you to get between us, to ruin us and it worked! He's a villain! Taking my loved ones away!"

Pulling away, Kara was shaking, sniffling, crumbling. It was.. really sad.

"If you hate me... then fine. I can't change your mind. I'm so so sorry Lena... I won't ever bother you ever again." And with that, Kara turned to leave, too depressed to fly. She was literally walking out of the fortress of solitude. Leaving Lena there to stare in shock and disbelief at what she'd heard. Kara... loved her... and watching her leave like that, then looking at Myriad on the floor... something ached in her chest and it wasn't hate.

"Kara wait!"

This was ridiculous. Love? Kara? With her ? Lena Luthor. Lena Luthor . A super in love with a Luthor. 

Lena’s over-intelligent brain was going through everything, every little thing. Since they’d got here, no, their entire friendship. She was more than sane enough to go through their.. 2, 3 years of friendship, over-analyzing everything. And then, watching Kara’s sad, shaking, hunched form as she walked out of the Fortress of Solitude, and Lena’s cold, frozen, stone, locked iron heart unlocked, melted again. She could almost cry again, but for another reason. Guilt? Apology? At times like this, before... everything... she wanted to comfort Kara, hold her, rub her back, hug her, tell her it was okay, that everything was okay. But… she couldn’t. Not like this.

A few minutes of more thinking, honestly, regretfully, Lena put Myriad back where it belonged. She sighed with a clench of her fists, before finally turning and making her way out of the Fortress of Solitude, finding Kara actually sitting on the ground, well, ice, knees to her chest, crying. It broke Lena’s heart, but then she remembered everything else. Killing Lex Luthor for her. The secret she’d learned from the enemy. She couldn’t shake that. Regardless of Kara’s reasons.

She was broken from her thoughts with Kara looking up at her, tears streaming down her cheeks, eyes risen sadly but a little hopeful. Wanting to apologize again, but Lena held up a hand.

“I think we should be apart for some time. I really need to think about things.” She said in her serious Luthor voice, the one usually reserved for depressing, frustrating, irritation business matters.

Kara broke Lena’s heart yet again when she sniffled and nodded her head, crumpling her form if she could do so anymore. 

Giving an almost sympathetic sigh, Lena called for a pickup from her very discreet security, one of the few, very few good things that came from Lex. She would wipe the pilot’s mind of this place later from the mind control technology she'd gotten with that Martian's evil brother. Surprisingly enough, as the jet appeared, Lena went towards it, and upon ascending, in a soft voice she knew only Kara could hear, she looked back, not looking at her directly, and spoke.

“Kara, I’ll call you when I’m ready to talk.” And like that, the Luthor was gone, out of sight, headed back to her safe spaces in L-Corp, National City.

And another surprising thing, Kara watched her leave, disappear, and as the paragon she was...

Kara actually had a little hope.

——————————————————————————————–

It had been 4 days so far. Just 4 days.

Kara’s POV.

The first, Kara sad and moping, too depressed to move, watch tv, even touch her favorite ice cream, Alex and Nia came over to comfort her and make her feel better, practically having to shove Kara’s favorite potstickers down her throat because Kara refused to eat. Get out of bed. She was super deadweight and even though the women wanted to complain, they knew Kara was hurting badly, and they had to give her sympathy. Eyes droopy, down to the floor, they were surprised Kara kept her breathing up, she’d forgotten to breathe before. Unfortunately they had work so they couldn’t care for Kara long. Kara’s friends made the rounds, each visiting her, taking care of her. 

The second day Kara got around to caring for herself, just doing little things. Her heart, her whole body ached with sadness and her brain never quit once to torture her of the previous events. But at least she was mobile again. She managed to get a bit of food and water into her system without extra hands, but still, her body ached at the emotional loss of her bestest friend.

The third day, the world started to panic ridiculously, as it always did. Where was Supergirl? Why had she been missing? She was always seen around National City at least twice a day by someone, so where had the heroine gone? Of course the news started getting around. CatCo denied and refused anything about it, not having an opinion. Everyone there also knew of Kara’s absence, the excuse being she had a really bad cold and would miss a while, using her saved sick days even when working for Cat Grant. But alas, James, Winn, Lena… knew the truth about the situation, but they didn’t say anything. The guys didn’t speak a word to Lena about it, as it wasn’t their place.

The fourth day, Kara would joke to say the city was on fire because Supergirl didn’t come to put out the flames. At least the city’s fire and police departments were getting their exercise. Who cares! Supergirl deserved some time off. But trying to turn her super hearing off, Kara stared out the windows of her apartment, sighing sadly, wishing and waiting for the phone call she hoped for every day. But it didn’t come. She practically had her phone on full blast, scaring the daylights out of herself if someone else called her. But she swore it was worth it...

——————————————————————————————–

Lena’s POV

The dumbest 4 days of her life.

Burying herself in L-Corp work she’d put off with all the.. cringe.. Superhero work. Well, now was a good time as any to get caught up. She awkwardly remembered she was a lawyer before all cape-wearing hell broke loose. Oh well. 

Unlike Kara, Lena didn’t have too many friends... She got Brainy as a part-time assistant since her prized tech had sacrificed itself, and with that her original assistant too. Well... she should really get around to making friends at some point.

Her first day was quiet, lonely. Barely ate, kept up her hydration with a mix of water and alcohol. Which wasn’t too good either. But she was getting through paperwork. It was calm.

Day 2 was less so. More work, finally getting food since her stomach was torturing her. But alas, quiet again. She was determined to be busy, to not think too much. It had only been 2 days.

And then it were 3.

Day 3, she was more lax. Work pretty much done, Brainy being ordered by the very much alive Lex Luthor to keep his sister alive while she secluded herself with the disappointing contemplation of “pitiful friendships with worthless people, especially supers” Lex had said.

Lena decided to watch some tv after finishing her work, grumbling when it meant she didn’t have much to do now. Upon seeing the news, the regular channel her tv usually stayed on, there were worried reports about a “missing Supergirl.” Lena sighed, knowing it was probably because of their... fight. Knowing the Kara side of things, the blonde was probably holed up in her loft, crying and either only eating comfort foods, or nothing at all. The small part of humanity, Lena believed, almost felt bad. But no. Kara had betrayed her. Lied to her, deceived her for so long. She wouldn’t be changed. She was hurt. So she rolled her eyes at the tv, and the rest of the day she caught up on some Netflix, getting as comfortable as she could in the big modern office.

And Day 4 for Lena, she was bored. Still hurt. But now, because of her copious amounts of free time, she decided to see from a 3rd point of view, her memories. And thankfully she could remember each and every one clearly.

The longer she stayed in her head, reviewing everything, the more her heart sank. All the lies, all the secrets from Kara... all the nice things Kara did for her, the way Kara looked at her when she thought Lena wasn’t looking... A pit began to form in her stomach, slightly guilty. And because the contacts allowed her to morph imagination into reality... her mind went faster than she intended it to, because when she suddenly found herself pinning a certain superhero to her desk, both faces flush, Kara’s stomach against the cool glass and metal, and Lena leaned right up against her curves, gripping her hair and whispering something she couldn’t make out into the shell of the blonde’s ear, well... 

Lena immediately turned the contacts off, gasping for air with hands tightly gripping the chair’s arms. What the hell was that? Was she... with Kara... and they were... She shook her head dramatically, opting not to do that again. Damnit, now she felt cool under her dress. What the hell. Damnit. It was probably just an accident in her head, mind wandering a little too far being cooped up in this place for half a week. So she decided to go out, go home, get some sleep. And not have weird sexy dreams of mounting National City’s finest.

The days after that were long and dry. Supergirl eventually got back out, flying, helping, saving. She was on the news yet again and when reporters asked what happened to her, she said honestly, into the camera “I really hurt a friend. I didn’t mean to, but I did. So I’ve been trying to put things behind me, accept the fact that this probably broke our friendship, and if there was even a chance of anything more, that’s gone too. Sometimes things happen, and... you can’t fix it. You can apologize as much as you’d like, but in the end, the one who was hurt the most, it’s up to them. If they want to forgive you, or forget you. Whatever she chooses… I accept.” And then, as one super did, she took off to the next objective.

Lena occasionally saw a blue and red blur through the sky when she looked up, making her sigh, roll her eyes and look away. And upon turning on the news again, watching the interview, Lena grumbled, trying to rub the pink out of her face. Why was her heart racing. Why did her chest ache? She didn’t love Kara. Not like that. Jesus, get it together Lena. You were stone cold, an icy glacier.

So why.. Was stupid Kara Danvers… suddenly melting her heart?

——————————————————————————————–

“... And I don’t know why I keep having..” She paused, looking around the little restaurant her and Sam were at, as if feeling she was being watched because of course she was, but Lena sighed and rubbed her temples. “ Odd dreams of her.”

“Odd as in?”

“You know what I mean, do not make me say it out loud.” Lena growled, squinting her eyes as she tapped on the menu book in frustration.

“Have you maybe considered that you li-”

“No. I already told you what she did.”

“Lena.” Sam called, having serious eyes and hands on the other’s. “I know she hurt you, I’d be hurt too but you have to understand that when people have… abilities, they become a symbol. A big huge beacon that everyone can see, can follow, like a lighthouse. But sometimes, people get offended, threatened by such a beacon. It’s too bright, too helpful, too kind, whatever. They want to tear it down, hurt it. Destroy it. And if this beacon has anything it cares about, finding that care and tearing it down too, can ruin the lighthouse that much faster. She did it to really protect you. She wanted to tell you, and she just couldn’t find the right time, because what with your mother, and Lex, and Crisis, and even my.. Crazy super side... when was there a real opportunity to sit down, take a deep breath, and unbox another massive thing alongside all of that?”

Listening carefully, staring into Sam’s eyes, once Lena completely understood, she looked incredibly pissed off, which made Sam laugh right away.

“You know I hate it when you’re right.”

“Oh I know, and it’s hilarious. So what are you going to do?”

“Well first I’m going to drink a lot of red wine, get something to eat… and figure out how I feel about her.”

Giving another laugh, Sam patted Lena’s hands before pulling away. “So, you forgive her?”

“I... I guess. I’ll have to have a long, long talk with her.”

“So that’s an indefinite yes.”

“Yes…”

“And?”

Sigh. “I haven’t dated as much as everyone else, alright. I don’t even know how I’d approach this.”

Sam contemplated, while waving a waiter over, taking their orders and then going off. “Why don’t you call up a bunch of Kara’s friends, to get advice not just on her, but dating women in general. From what I hear, a lot of Kara’s friends are queer.”

Lena blinked, before groaning. Gosh. She would have, what, 4, 5 women making fun of her for being a grumpy Luthor with a crush on a super rather than a grudge. This was going to be great.

“We’re gonna need a whole bottle tonight, Sam.”

——————————————————————————————–

And so, the sun was in the middle of the sky, as 6 women sat in park benches all around. It was almost mortifying for Lena. Alex, Kara’s sister. Nia Noll, Kara’s super friend and ally within the not-so-newly-shapen CatCo. Then Sam, Lena’s one real friend, surprisingly enough. Then the worst of them. Well, worst for Lena’s conflicted mood. Alex had suggested and then carried through calling some more super friends for Lena to really get a good view and grip on the thoughts, lifestyle and feelings of actual queer women. Not that Alex wasn’t up to it, she just needed some more help. Sara Lance, and her adoring partner Ava Sharpe. Upon dating a super, Ava knew all about… everything. The two never kept secrets, so everyone was brought up to speed about the situation. 

“So, yes… I guess.. I’ve come around to put an end to the anger I have for Kara, but I just wanted some outside opinions on-” Lena began, before being cut off.

“Dating women.” Sara interrupted, with that little gay smirk.

Lena snapped her head with embarrassed fury towards Sara, before fixing her skirt as she did and huffing.

“I don’t love her. I just wanted some… advice on how to deal with her feelings.” Lena said matter-of-factly.

“Because you want to return them.” Sara said again, having a shit-eating grin on her face. Ava gave a little laugh, patting her lover’s arm, hand and shoulder.

“Lena it’s completely normal and natural to feel this way.” Ava assured her, and everyone gave cute little nods together.

“Yeah besides, with how much Kara talks about you, I’m surprised this is only happening now and not ages ago.” Nia added, with Alex giving a knowing smile.

“Gosh, how my sister finally accepted her feelings and would just drone on and on about how much she cared about you. It might come as a shock but she was really stressed out all the time, wanting to tell you her secret but knowing you were too busy with the Luthor stuff so she kept quiet, not wanting to bother you.”

Oh… wow. Lena swallowed, trying to ignore the continued growing guilt in her gut. Kara was so upset, so stressed out, about her secret, her own problems and life but she shoved it all down for Lena. For Lena… because Kara loved Lena, not just platonically, but romantically. Maybe even…

“No!” Lena shouted, standing from her bench, startling all the other women.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Then she sighed, releasing some of the tension that had been built in her system. 

“Gods... what’s the matter with me? You’d think a girl would learn...” 

Suddenly she started singing as the sun began to set, and all the other women looked at each other, smirking at themselves and then Lena.

“If there’s a prize for rotten judgement, I guess I’ve already won that..”

The brunette picked up a flower, twirling it in her fingers before tossing it away.

“No person’s worth the aggravation… that’s ancient history been there, done that.

The women began to stand, all in a row next to each other before they too began to sing at the forlorn Lena Luthor.

“Who’d you think you’re kidding? She’s the Earth and Heaven to you, try to keep it hidden, honey we can see right through ya,”

“Oh nooo!”

“Girl you can’t conceal it, we know how you’re feelin’, who you’re thinking of!” Sam picked up the flower Lena had tossed, eagerly waving it within Lena’s view but she swatted it away with her hand, pacing away slowly, eyes half-lidded before she continued singing.

“Ohhhh, no chance, no way, I won’t say it no no.”

“You swoon, you sigh, why deny it oh-oh.” The women sang, crowding Lena with big grins, but again the Luthor waved them off.

“It’s too cliche, I won’t say I’m in love.” She means, really? A Luthor and a Super? No way. It was impossible. Their kinds were enemies. There was no way she was in love with Kara. Regardless of how the other felt.

The other woman cooed and sung in the background, following Lena as the gorgeous sunset brushed her face. They moved through National City Park, Lena unconsciously moving to the city’s large hero statue. The women all smirked even more if they could, they knew better and would continue to argue.

“I thought my heart had learned its lesson” (from loving and trusting people close to her, that it was a mistake) “it feels so good when you start out... My head is screaming ‘Get a grip, girl!’ unless you’re dying to cry your heart out, ohhhh oh!” Lena sang out, even putting a hand on her chest with the other extended, spinning herself and twirling as she belted out the tune.

“You keep on denyin’ who you are and how you’re feelin’, and baby we’re not buying, hun we saw you hit the ceiling! Face it like a grownup, when’re you gonna own up that you’ve-”

“Got!” Sara sang out.

“Got,” Added Nia.

“Got it ba-ad!” They sang in unison, all facing Lena with pointed fingers at her.

Lena stared with a startled look, before sighing, turning away and running a hand through her head. “Woahhhhh.”

“No chance, no way, I won’t say it, no no.”

“Give up, give in-” they sang, as Lena suddenly found herself up against the large stone statue of National City’s own Supergirl, making a power pose. A goofy lovestruck grin was plastered on her face, imagining those strong arms embracing her, holding her with love like nothing else mattered.

“Check the grin, you’re in loooove.” Sam called out to her with a snarky smile, insisting in song that Lena was beyond head-over-heels for Kara Zor-El. 

Upon hearing such a call-out, her grin disappeared, she hopped down from the statue, and shook her arms away from her in an “Absolutely not!” fashion.

“This scene, won’t play. I won’t say I’m in loooooooooove-”

“You’re doing flips! Read our lips, YOU’RE IN LOVE!!”

“You’re way off base, I won’t say it,”

Almost giving into Lena’s boasting, they sang a line of agreement, shaking their heads in unison while Lena sang her line. “She won’t say in love..”

“Get off my case, I won’t say it!” Lena half-sang/half-growled, glaring at the background singers with eyes ablaze with… denial.

Then the group grinned and moved to sit Lena down on what felt like the lap of a second stone statue. Lena instinctively wrapping her arms around the neck of the oddly smaller stone superhero statue with her eyes closed, before glaring at the group again.

“Girl don’t be proud, it’s okay, you’re in loooove.” They sang again, Ava giving Lena the flower she’d previously picked and discarded, before all of them shrugging, waving goodbye, and walking together out of the park as they finished their background singing.

“Ohhhhh.... at least out loud…” Lena began, curling close to the statue, holding the flower against the statue’s neck, not realizing one of the arms had gone under her legs, and was lifting her into the air, 

“I won’t say I’m in.... loooooove…”

“Sha-la-la-la-la-la, hahhhh…” The women sighed and swooned as they left the scene, and once the song was over, Lena opened her eyes to get a grip on herself, before screaming in surprise more than terror upon seeing she was way in the air over the park, in the arms of none other than her supposed nemesis, Kara Zor-El.

“I suppose we should talk about things, huh…” She laughed awkwardly.

——————————————————————————————–

Lena insisted they go to Lena’s penthouse, the apartment building closest to L-Corp while still being away enough to separate Lena’s work from her private life, if she even had one.

Her place was so white, so pristine, so modern. Kara, in her Supergirl outfit, landed on Lena’s balcony, gently putting her down.

“Were you following me? Did you know I’d be out there?” Lena asked right away, crossing her arms from leaning against the doorframe, blocking Kara from really entering her home.

“No! I wasn’t! Alex texted me during your uh,”

“Musical escapades,” Lena offered, rolling her eyes.

“Right, uh, yeah she told me to come down, said it was a good time to talk to you.”

Jeez, the Danvers sure were a team.

“Your song was really lovely. I didn’t know you could sing so well.”

Lena gave a playful smirk, with those mischievous eyes. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Supergirl.” She teased, before her face went serious, and she turned away, chucking her head a little to the side to silently invite Kara in.

“Do you have spare clothes? It.. feels a bit weird seeing you like this.” Lena murmured, hugging her arms to her chest as she sat down on the white couch.

“Oh! Uh, I’ll get changed hold on-” Kara flew to her place as fast as she could, changed, and flew back in a simple light blue blouse and dark blue jeans. Lena offered her one of the comfy white chairs across from the couch. Awkwardly Kara sat down, wringing her hands or fiddling with her glasses as she did when she was nervous. Lena almost felt bad. Maybe just a bit.

With a sigh, Lena got comfy before looking at Kara, then she sighed a little again. Gosh... Kara was so beautiful. Wait hold on. They were here to talk. That was all.

“So.. Kara. If that's even your real name?”

Kara looked incredibly offended, her face painted with hurt at such a first question, but she answered kind of angry. “Really?” Kara pouted, crossing her arms.

Lena shrugged with a smile, one Kara loved so much. Upon seeing a smile growing on Kara’s face, she looked away before making eye-contact. The seriousness was going to come by.

“Tell me. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Kara looked guilty, looking down, giving that whole vibe as if someone kicked a puppy. “I... I don’t know… I just.. I could never find the right moment, and then..”

“And then I found out by myself.”

“Right…”

“Because I was busy with all my stress, and the labs, and Lex.”

Kara visibly cringed.

“Being a Luthor, and my mother, the office, having CatCo at one point..”

Kara nodded, eyes full of guilt, sorrow, as she kept agreeing. Whether it was just to acknowledge or she really was agreeing with everything, nobody really knew.

Lena sighed again, running her hands against her temples, this time her sigh felt guilty and Kara actually lifted her head when she felt it. “I was so busy with everything, stressed out, with all the drama and the danger, you were always there for me when you could be. When you weren’t saving the world, when you weren’t helping other people, when you weren’t being Supergirl.”

Kara winced again, as if taking a kick to her actual form. She tried her hardest not to tear up because she felt so bad. But then suddenly there was a shadow over her face, and felt something on her cheek, it wasn’t just the tear that ran down… there… was something else. She looked up a little to see a thumb, then a hand, then an arm, and… Lena was standing over her, looking sad. Sympathetic.

Lena knelt down to be a little lower in height then Kara because of the chair, but then she painfully dragged the glass table over and sat on it to sit directly in front of Kara, doing her best to have her hand sit on Kara’s face the whole time. Once she was sitting, her other hand went on the left armrest. She wiped at Kara’s face with her thumb, stroking her cheek, and looking into those big sad blue puppy eyes, she nodded, and was almost relieved to give Kara permission to give her pale hand soft kisses to the muscle below the thumb, and her palm.

Kara was almost overjoyed at the touching, Lena’s sad eyes meant something. She put a hand over Lena’s, placing very light kisses upon the thumb’s base, and the palm, sliding it a little off her face to kiss the center of her hand but just as soon put the hand back on her face, taking a deep breath with a laugh when she heard Lena chuckle. This hand was practically her lifeline right now.

Lena smiled through sad eyes, but then frowned and Kara looked horrified like she’d just run over Lena’s dog. Oh Rao, what had she done to upset Lena now?!

“So… you kept the secret from me to protect me. That’s the truth, right?”

Kara nodded frantically, still holding the hand but even more delicately like if she really held onto it, it might break or turn to dust.

“You were keeping me safe from the possibility that someone might realize you have someone you care about, they’ll try to use that care against you. Right?”

Again Kara nodded, this time tears began to pool in her eyes and she did her best to be quiet, keep them in, not make a sound despite how much a whimper wanted to escape.

“You wanted to keep me safe. You couldn’t tell me your secret because you were too worried about all the other stress I had going on, you knew that this secret would just add to the load. You wanted to, as my best friend, but just couldn’t find the time? You absolutely wanted to but it just never found a time to come up. That’s the most part, right?” Lena was putting it into much better words than Kara ever could, not just because she couldn’t form a single word through the shaky sobs right now.

Then suddenly Lena stood, taking her hand with her. She moved the table back to its original spot. She moved away from Kara, back to the sofa on the other side of the table. Kara looked horrified. She’d done it. She’d ruined everything. Their friendship was over. Lena was going to kick her out, work with Lex, become her enemy. Kara morphed her face into the saddest thing ever possible, then she put her glasses onto the table to cover her eyes and face with her hands as she still tried hard, but the sobs, the whimpers were causing her to shake, almost violently, until-

“Come here Kara.”

Her sobs, her whimpers, her crying froze, and she looked up at Lena, who still had half-lidded eyes, but a small smile on her face. With knees to her chest, one arm on the closest arm rest, the other arm was extended out, patting the seat next to her. C’mere, girl.

Kara hesitated, as if this was a trick, a trap. In case Lena didn’t mean it, that this was how it ended, but then-

“Kara, please come here.”

With superspeed, Kara sat next to Lena, causing a slightly powerful gust of wind to go through but not enough to topple or damage anything. She sat on the couch with her back straight, legs pressed together, hands on her lap like the good girl she was, until Lena put her own legs on the floor, and reached over to drag Kara onto her lap. Kara was confused but she didn’t dare resist. Lena pulled Kara onto her lap, and with a grunt she moved herself and Kara to the middle of the couch so Kara could actually sit on Lena’s lap and also stretch her legs. Then Lena pulled Kara to her chest, wrapped Kara’s arms around Lena’s sides, and kind of gently forced them into a slightly awkward hugging position. Once Kara understood, she moved around a bit to make herself more comfortable, and as soon as Lena spoke again, giving her permission, Kara did exactly as she was told.

“It’s okay Kara. I forgive you. Let it all out. ”

And Kara did. She hugged Lena tight, not to hurt her, but a real genuine hug, and let out all her sobs onto Lena’s shirt. The brunette rolled her eyes but chuckled, rubbing Kara’s back and holding her close.

It was maybe an hour or two later. Poor puppy Kara had literally cried herself to sleep. And Lena seeing Kara without her glasses, she was definitely Supergirl. But wow had she cried a lot. And... wow... was she beautiful... Lena gently tucked a stray hair from Kara’s sleeping face, then leaned over to the table to get some very soft tissues, stroking them along Kara’s face, pressing a little roughly to wipe the dry tear streams, and any left over near her eyes. Then her stomach grumbled. She missed lunch and dinner. Thankfully she still had her phone on her so she ordered some food, enough for both of them if Kara woke up. And enough for breakfast. Thankfully she didn’t really need anything else till the delivery person arrived. And now back to Kara. Wow... she was so... so gorgeous... the gay in her wanted to place a kiss upon Kara’s sweet sleeping forehead… but the mature side of her knew she had to do something else.

Very carefully, Lena slid Kara’s slightly heavy body off of her to the other side of the couch, making her as comfy as Lena could. Giving her a pillow, covering her with a light blanket. Then… she did it. Lena leaned down, placing a soft kiss upon Kara’s forehead. Then admiring her sleeping face… wow. She would have and could have spent eternity watching that sleeping face, but thankfully, pizza was there. Lena went to pay, had a few slices as she put the boxes in her kitchen, and then watched a little bit of tv from her couch before wishing Kara a good night. Unbeknownst to them all, Kara smiled in her exhausted sleep. Finally, things were looking up for the most unpredictable pair of people.

[ilovelocust]

The Price Of Flowers - Chap 3

Note: Well nice thing about going back to edit. All these chapters are getting larger and read better than when I first wrote them. Only downside is this editing is taking way longer than I expected it to. I’m going to keep the once a day update schedule, but I don’t know how much spare time I’m going to get to write newer chapters after I run out of buffer.

Under a cut now, because I didn’t realize how long this post was when I posted it. Let me know if the cut is causing issues where you can’t read the entire thing on mobile, and I will remove it.

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Chapter Three - What Goes Unsaid

Hunk is extremely grateful for Keith taking his place. Thanking him more than once over the phone before telling him when Lance will be by. It’s a little weird honestly. Hunk must have felt extremely bad about having dropped his plans with Lance to be so pleased.

Lance picks Keith up driving Hunk’s car, most likely another apology for ditching last minute. It hadn’t been strictly necessary. Keith could have taken them on his motorcycle, but the car did have the advantage of being much more GPS navigation friendly.

That being said, if they’d taken his bike, he’d actually know where they were going, “Seriously, I’m already in the car, it’s not like I can get out of this now. You can tell me,” Keith says, on round five of trying to convince Lance to spill the beans. Not that there is much hope of this time ending any differently than the last four rounds. Lance is by far the most stubborn member of their group. When he gets excited by something there is no talking him out of it.

“Nope, nope, nope, that would ruin the surprise,” Lance says with far too much excitement. Keith snorts, “Don’t worry you’re going to have fun, I promise. You can trust me.” Lance says grinning ear to ear, and are his eyebrows? How does somebody even move their eyebrows like that?

Keith crosses his arms, “Last time I trusted you, you picked that awful movie for us to watch,” He’s teasing, but also the melodrama really had been horrible. If they hadn’t been in a proper theater, he’s pretty sure the whole group of them would have been riffing the thing the whole way through. Probably would have improved the quality of the plot if they had.

“Hey!” Lance gasps, “I will have you know, that was a classic romance.” Lance takes a hand off the wheel to poke Keith for emphasis, “It’s not my fault your too uncultured to appreciate it.”

“It was a Disney wannabe at best,” Keith says, grinning. There is no way Lance is convincing him that that mess was a classic.

“Hmphh,” Lance turns up his nose, offended. Before Lance can come up with some biting response, he spots something in the distance and beams once again, “Hah!” Lance crows, “You’re going to eat your words. We’re here and this is going to be awesome.”

Lance pulls off into a dusty gravel parking lot, and Keith gets his first look at what he’s going to be spending the rest of his day doing.

A cheap metal building sits on the edge of some enclosed fields with what looks to be faux buildings, ramps, and various other interesting structure erected in the middle of them. Off in the distance is a forested area with a cheap wooden fort hidden behind some trees. Keith doesn’t even need to read the sign to know where he is now. Lance is right, this is going to be a blast. He hasn’t been paintballing in forever.

-

The final member of the enemy team rounds the corner, and Keith puts a yellow splash of paint across his mask before he even realizes who he has stumbled into. That’s game, and a good victory to end the day on.

“Wow,” Lance says from behind him. He looks nearly as surprised as the man who’d been shot does. Today had revealed that Lance had phenomenal aim at a distance, but up close he couldn’t match Keith’s finely honed, if a bit rusty, reaction times, “You’re really good at this,” Lance blurts out, almost like he hadn’t meant to say anything at all.

“Thanks,” Keith says, shoulder his paint gun and  beginning the trudge back to the entrance, “I used to play in high school,” He and Shiro had spent many an exciting summer afternoon running around fields just like this one, “You’re not half bad yourself.”

Lance had needed some help in the beginning. Figuring out how to breathe behind the mask without fogging up his glass and other newbie problems, but by the third game he’d been fully in the swing of things. They’d made a pretty good team. Certainly winning more games than they lost, and leaving Keith with only a minimal amount of bruises for Shiro to kiss better tonight.

That being said, Lance could really use getting more exercise. He’d gotten winded so easily today, any running at all and he was panting for breath, but then, maybe that had just been his allergies. He’d had some pretty impressive coughing fits between bouts. Keith would have thought he was coming down with something if Lance hadn’t told him otherwise.

There is small line forming in front of the equipment stall, as they cross the border for the playing field. Lance tugs off his mask, and he’s smiling, high on their win. Keith follows his lead, and he knows he’s smiling too. He’s glad he came, this had been a lot of fun. Much more so than watching a couple more episodes on Netflix would have been.

“You know,” Lance says, sounding almost sly, as they step in to wait their turn to return equipment, “We should come back here again sometime.”

That sounds like an excellent idea. Maybe next time he could bring Shiro with them. He’d have a ball getting a chance to play again, and with him and Keith on the same team, they really would dominate the entire field, “Sure, maybe next weekend?” Both he and Shiro should be free then. It didn’t seem possible, but Lance’s face lit up even more, “Shiro can come, and we’ll have a three man team.”

The light went out. Lance’s face falls, “Oh,” Lance says quietly.

Huh, what’s with that response. Did Lance and Shiro somehow have a falling out without him noticing? “Is that okay with you?” Keith asks, maybe it’s something else bothering him?

“No it’s fine, just,” Lance rubs the back of his neck, “Are you sure Shiro would want to do something like this?”

What an odd question, “Oh course he would,” Keith says, one of the worst things for Shiro while he was healing was how it limited his activity, “He loves this sort of thing.” Their mutual love of things like this was a big part of their bonding when they first met.

Lance’s expression doesn’t pick up with Keith’s assurance. They reach the front of the line, and the conversation is quickly dropped as they exchange equipment for driver’s licenses.

Lance doesn’t pick it back up until they are walking back to Hunk’s car, “The thing is,” Lance says suddenly, “There are so many guns, and you’re being shot at and…” Lance pauses obviously searching for the right words. Keith uses the time to remember what they were talking about in the first place.

Lance starts again hesitantly, “I don’t know. After the whole thing with the war, sometimes Shiro has…problems. Like do you remember what happened at the 4th,” Keith does. Everyone had gotten together for the fourth of July to celebrate. Everything had been fine, but then Lance and Hunk had set off a rope of those little red firecrackers. The big displays and tiny light shows hadn’t bothered Shiro, but those little ones, those little ones had sounded a bit too much like gunfire. Keith had taken Shiro home early after that, and eventually he’d convinced Shiro that he really hadn’t minded. Shiro’s mental heal is far more important to him than some pretty lights he’s seen dozens of times before, “Sometimes he’s not okay with things that used to be fine.” Lance finishes lamely.

Keith bites back his first instinct to defensively snap at Lance. His little speech might not have been worded eloquently, but Lance’s concern for Shiro’s possible triggers is coming from a good place. Keith is not someone who gets to judge others for sticking their foot in their mouths, “Thank you for worrying about him,” Keith starts, thank then explain. Just like Shiro would, “But at the same time, you don’t need to worry,” Keith forces a reassuring smile, “Shiro will let me know if this will be too much for him to handle, and if he misjudges, we’ll just grab dinner early or head home instead,” Not that that is likely to happen. They’ve played laser tag since Shiro came back with little to no issues. Just because something has the possibility of being a trigger, doesn’t mean that it will be.

“Oh…Okay then,” Lance looks morose for a few seconds longer, then brightens up with a smile, “Well it’s not like it matters either way,” He waves his hands around as if to wave the whole matter away, “I’m busy next weekend, so we couldn’t meet up then anyways.” Lance unlocks the doors and gets in.

Keith crawls into the passenger side, “We’ll have to pick another date then.” He says. Though, he may still come back here with Shiro on his own next weekend. The nostalgia alone would be worth it.

“Yep,” Lance says, popping his p. He looks straight ahead and cranks up the music.

-

They don’t really speak as Lance drives him home. It’s a nice change to the constant chatter than normally accompanies Lance. A little silence to decompress in is a blessed relief after an outing, even if it is a bit of unusual behavior for his driver…Well that’s a thought to get stuck on. This was pretty weird for the typically loud mouthed Lance. There were times he thought the boy might explode if he had to be quiet for too long. Had he said something wrong? Or was Lance still worrying over Shiro? Should he even ask?

They are friends sure, but they aren’t the type of close friends who share deep dark secrets. He’s fairly certain he’s never even shared what happened to his dad with Lance. If there positions were reversed, he’d likely hate it if Lance tried to pry into why he was in a mood. Sometimes people did want to bare their souls everyone in a nearby vicinity. Best to keep his questions to himself. Besides, his apartment was just up ahead. There wouldn’t really be time for that type of conversation anyways.

Lance pulls up to the curb and turns the music down, “Hey Keith,” Lance says.

Keith’s already out of his seatbelt and halfway out the door. He has to duck back down to respond, “Yeah?”

“I had a lot of fun today, did you?” Lance asks, and there is something pinched about his expression. Some subtext Keith knows he’s missing, but knowing doesn’t help him decipher it.

“I did,” Keith says, and then tacks on, “Thanks for inviting me.”

Lance nods, then sucks in a deep breath. Holding it like he’s working himself up to something, but he loses his nerve. Lance blows out the breath and slumps. Keith quirks his head, but doesn’t comment on it, “I’m going to head inside now,” Keith says.

Lance straightens up immediately, “Wait!” Lance says, Keith pauses, “I’ve got two tickets for a thing tomorrow. Will you come with me?”

A thing? Why would he be inviting Keith again? Isn’t this normally the sort of thing he does with Hunk? Oh…Oh, no wonder Lance is morose. His best friend is too busy for him. Well now he just feels bad for him. Pity is rarely appreciated, so Keith keeps it out of his eyes.

“Sure, text me the details. If it’s after my classes, I’ll go.” Keith says. He waves as he steps away from the car.  waving as he steps out. Hopefully that will cheer Lance up.

It does the trick, Lance springs back to his normal form at Keith’s words, “Alright! I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Lance waves back at him. There you go. Good deed of the week accomplished. He can go to sleep knowing he’s brightened up a friend’s day.

Keith walks into his apartment with a clear conscience.

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