#just supercorp things

[katethewriter]

Maybe the Princess Prefers the Dragon

A Luthor and a Super Walk Into a Bar

Pairing: Supercorp

Words: 3.5k~

Summary: Lena saves Kara from the knight in shining armor.

A/N: AU w/ no powers, Mon-el has NO chill and needs to take a hint, Sanvers if you squint

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Kara nervously fiddles with a napkin as she glances around the bar. She normally would pass on a night out, opting for Chinese take out and netflix in her pajamas instead. That's what she had planned to do tonight, but her sister had other plans.

 Alex and Maggie had insisted she come out for a few drinks after work. It took nearly an hour of haggling, but the pair had finally convinced the blonde. No matter how much they tease her, she always enjoys time spent with her sister and Maggie, even if it usually lands her in this situation at some point in the night. Sitting alone at the table, tearing a napkin into ridiculously small pieces while she tries to think of ANYTHING, but what the two are most likely doing in the bathroom right now. The bar is pretty full right now, so she can people watch as she waits for them to come back.

Kara pulls her phone out to scroll mindlessly through her camera roll. It's mostly just pictures of her and her friends and family, with the several pictures of baby animals and the occasional meme. She glances up to the bathroom door, hoping to see the pair on their way back to the table. She sees no sign of Alex or Maggie; she glances over to the dance floor just in time to see a man approaching her table. He gives a confident smirk, and she quickly looks to the bathroom hoping her sister is on the way.

When the guy gets to her table, he stands right next to the table and leans a little too close for Kara's comfort. Never dropping his grin, he says, "You looked a little lonely over here; I figured you could use the company."

Kara smiles and politely responds, "I'm good, I'm here with some friends." She smiles and nods her head to the other drinks on the table and the appetizers the girls are sharing. "They're in the bathroom," she adds when he arches an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Well then, they won't mind if I sit with you until they come back," the dark haired man sets his drink on the table. Kara opens her mouth to stop him, but he is already sitting down next to her before she can say anything. She looks to the bathroom door as if she is willing Alex and Maggie to return with her mind.

The girl is brought out of her concentration when the man taps her hands with his pointer finger. "I think you killed it," he laughs. After she recovers from being startled, Kara looks down to her hands where she has completely mutilated the already torn napkin. The flimsy square has now been reduced practically to powder under the ministration of the blonde's nervous fingers. She uses her hands to sweep it all into a pile in the center of the table, "I fidget," she says quietly when she's done.

"It's an awful habit," the guy states, "gross actually. You should really quit." He sits back and takes a swig from his drink. "I guess," she says quietly and adjusts her glasses shyly. She knows he probably means well, but this whole conversation has made her feel a little anxious. "I'm Mike, by the way," he stretches his arm across the back of Kara's chair. She can't stop the involuntary move to lean forward away from his arm. As always, Kara wants to be polite, so she covers the move by moving her hands to her drink. Automatically, her hands gravitate to the straw. Stirring her drink, rolling it between her fingers, bending the top of the straw back and forth. She realizes she is fidgeting and balls her fists tightly, before wrapping them around her glass. "Kara," she sighs and keeping her eyes glued to the bathroom door.

"Can I buy you a drink, Kara?" he asks. She wasn't paying attention, so it took her a minute to figure out what he said. "Oh, that's alright," she smiled and waved off the question by lifting her glass of club soda. "You don't have to do that, I haven't even finished this," which wasn't a lie. She still had about a third of the glass left, but that wasn't enough for Mike.

"What? But it's practically just ice left, come on let me buy you a drink," his tone has shifts. This isn't a flirtatious offer, it sounds more like an annoyed demand. It makes Kara feel like she owes him this. He motions for a waiter to bring over another glass of whatever he is drinking. Kara can smell the alcohol on his mouth from his drink. She is about to stop him because she is Alex and Maggie's D.D. tonight, but Mike has pushed the new drink in front of her before she can even open her mouth. She smiles politely, and if he notices that she never takes a sip, he doesn't say anything.

Lena has been watching the blonde from across the bar since her and the two brunettes walked in. How could she not? The girl is stunningly beautiful. The other two are really attractive too, but their body language towards each other screams of being in a relationship. Plus, Lena can't help it, her eyes continuously find the blonde all night. She caught herself watching as the three interacted. She couldn't hear a word they were saying, but she watched as they gossiped and vented and joked and that smile. Just seeing her smile, Lena swears there has never and will never be any star or sun as bright as her smile. She contemplates the entire night about going to introduce herself, maybe buy her a drink, but she can never work up the nerve. Lena can tell they are enjoying their night; the last thing she wants to do is ruin it with unwanted advances, not to mention the possbility of the blonde being straight.

When she sees the two brunettes get up and go to the bathroom, she finds that she is succeeding to convince herself that an innocent introduction couldn't hurt. 'Compliment her outfit, people compliment outfits all the time and it's not creepy... not at all... totally normal,' Lena thinks to herself. 'Except normal people don't forget how to talk when they see a pretty girl, Luthor.' Lena is so done for. Her flirtation skills are normally very confident and charming, but with the blonde Lena can't form a complete thought, let alone sentences. To make it even worse, she hasn't even approached the girl, just stared from across the bar like a creep. Lena drops her head into her hands for a minute, trying to pull herself together, 'This is pathetic! You're better than this Lena!' Except she wasn't, Lena knows she is way out of her league here, and she still hasn't even met the girl.

Taking one last deep breath, she picks her head up ready to go talk to her. When she looks at the table, she now sees a man talking to her blonde- THE blonde. 'She is NOT YOUR blonde, Luthor,' she mentally corrects herself. Lena feels her heart sink a bit. There's no way a girl as beautiful as her would go for Lena anyway. She still watches from across the room. Her disappointment turns to confusion as she watches the man and the blonde interact. Something isn't right. Lena watches the man's blatantly confident and flirtatious advances, but the girl doesn't look flattered or even amused. Lena's confusion shifts to concern as she watches the bright, smiling girl she's watched all night disintegrate into something very close to intimidated. Her concern burns into anger as she watches the blonde shrink into herself uncomfortably as the man is more and more forward.

Lena watches as the blonde keeps looking back to the bathroom. 'She needs help,' she tells herself. Lena quickly contemplates her options: 1. Go to the bathroom and tell the girl's friends that she needs help. Or 2. Go over to the table and help her herself. A quick glance around the bar tells Lena that no one else is aware of the interaction occurring at the table against the wall. Her instincts tell her not to lose sight of the blonde. Before she is aware of what she is doing, Lena is crossing the bar headed straight for the table she has been watching all night.

Kara looks to the bathroom door, again to no avail. She wonders what is taking the two so long. She glances over to the dance floor, checking to see if they maybe came out of the bathroom and straight to the dance floor when she wasn't looking. Mike, who still has his arm practically around Kara, follows her line of sight. He sets his drink down and stands up, "Let's dance." He holds out his right hand, which Kara guesses she is supposed to take.

She smiles and gently shakes her head, "I'm not really a good dancer." She is smiling but she is making no move to stand from her chair. Mike steps closer and grabs her left hand, "I'm sure that's not true! Come on, it'll be fun." She gently tries to retract her hand from his, but freezes as she feels his grip tighten a bit.

The moment he grabbed her hand, Lena's footsteps quickened. Trying to get to them faster.

Kara stays seated and looks for the hundredth time to the bathroom door. "I don't really like to dance, plus my sister will be back in a minute and-" she doesn't even finish her sentence before he interrupts her. "One dance won't hurt," he mocks. Mike tugs some more on her arm, successfully bringing her to her feet.

All Kara wants is for this guy to leave her alone, so she can enjoy her night. Kara wants to protest some more, but her mouth can't find the words. Surprisingly she doesn't need to. Kara is shocked to feel a gentle kiss pressed to her right cheek. She turns her head and finds perhaps the most beautiful woman she's ever seen smiling apologetically, gently wiping lipstick from Kara's cheek. The brunette quickly wraps her arms around Kara, "I'm so sorry I'm late, babe! My meeting lasted longer than expected and the traffic was awful."

The blonde isn't quite sure how to react, until she hears the girl whisper, "Hug me back," quietly into her ear. Kara instantly brings her right arm up to rest on the girls back. She doesn't know how to explain it, but embracing the stranger didn't feel foreign like she was expecting. Kara didn't feel uneasy or awkward; she just felt safe, and relieved, and warm. The unknown hero whispers into Kara's ear again, this time asking the question, "What's your name?" The blonde instinctively burrows into the raven hair to mask her face when she whispers, "Kara." The brunette replies with a quick, "Ok," before gently squeezing the blonde and turning to the man who is unaware of the quiet exchange.

Lena leaves her left arm around Kara, as she opens up to face him. She smiles tightly and offers her free hand as she greets him, "Hi, I'm Lena. I can see you've already met my girlfriend, Kara." At the word girlfriend, Kara feels her cheeks turn pink and her breath hitch. Mike doesn't notice the quick intake of breath, but Lena can feel it. She gently rubs her hand across Kara's back to reassure her. Lena worries for half of a second that she might have gone to far, but feels Kara's hand tighten her grip on Lena's back. The brunette resolves that she is not letting Kara go anywhere with this man.

The man narrows his eyes. "Mike," he says. He doesn't drop Kara's hand to shake Lena's, and both women realize that he isn't planning to. The brunette somehow manages to smile and stare coldly at Mike's right hand that still holds Kara's left. The two stare each other down, neither refusing to back down.

Lena becomes aware of two movements that happen at the same time: 1. Mike's grip on Kara's hand tightens and 2. Kara leans into Lena's side and away from Mike. Her anger hardens into protectiveness as she thinks to herself, 'Not only has he made this sweet girl uncomfortable and ruined her night, but he is about to pull her away from who he believes to be her girlfriend.' It takes Lena less than a second to figure out what to do.

Lena drops her arm from around Kara, and only Lena hears the gasp of fear and despair when the blonde thinks she is being abandoned. The Luthor lets that fuel her as she steps half in front of Kara. Squaring her shoulders, she turns her hand, the one that was reached out for Mike's, palm up. When he doesn't drop the blonde's hand, Lena slides her hand right next to his grip on Kara. She looks him straight in the eye and demands, "Mike, I have had an agonizingly long day. I have been waiting for hours to see my extremely patient and stunningly beautiful girlfriend." Kara chooses to ignore the butterflies in her stomach that the description used, but can't disregard the smile that tugs at her lips. "I'm already late, and that's my fault. But I refuse to let your ego keep her waiting any longer," Lena cocks her head to the side when he still doesn't let go. She clears her throat, this time speaking a little louder than before, "If you don't give me her hand right now, I will call the cops and have you arrested for harassment."

Mike's confident smirk finally falls as he looks around the bar to see if the brunette had managed to catch anyone else's attention. Satisfied that no one else heard, he turns back to the girls. Kara is looking between Mike, her hand, and the brunette, while Lena glares unwaveringly at Mike. His anger is plastered all over his face as he finally relents. He deposits Kara's hand into Lena's; she brings her other hand to wrap them both around the blonde's. Mike grabs his drink from the table and agitatedly walks away muttering to himself. Lena swears she hears him say the d slur, but decides not to provoke him again.

The two watch him until he sits at the bar; Kara squeezes the brunette's hand. The blonde smiles, ready to thank her hero, but when Lena turns around, the confident, protective, and beautiful woman is replaced by a scared, rather small, and still beautiful woman.

Before Kara can even begin to thank her, Lena speaks really quickly, "I'm so so sorry. I only wanted to help. I'll leave right now if you want." The brunette tries to retract her hand, but now Kara has taken them both into her hands. Lena continues her voice getting really small, "I'm sorry. I didn't want to ruin your night."

Confused, Kara smiles and squeezes Lena's hands, "What? No! You didn't ruin my night; you saved it actually." Lena tries to back away again, "Honestly, Kara I can go-" Kara interrupts her before she can finish, "Lena, it's alright! You didn't ruin my night." The blonde is still holding the other girl's hand when she sits, motioning for the brunette to join, "Plus, if you don't sit down, he'll probably come back." Both women look over to the bar where an obviously agitated Mike is glaring at them, then immediately looks away when he knows he's been caught.

"You're probably right," Lena says. She turns to the table, now faced with the terrifying choice of where to sit. There is the seat next to Kara, which Mike had inconsiderately claimed as his, and two empty chairs across from her where the still missing brunettes had been sitting. Lena remembers how uncomfortable Kara was when Mike sat next to her, so she decides to sit at the seat across from her. Lena lets go of Kara's hand to sit down. They both miss the connection instantly, but neither say anything. Lena is happy with her seat decision when she realizes she can see Mike over Kara's shoulder.

"Is he still looking?" Kara asks trying to not blatantly turn around and check herself. "Yeah," Lena confirms. Green eyes meet blue, and the agitation that is tightening the brunette's chest dissolves as she is captivated by the blonde's warm smile. This is the girl Lena has been hypnotized by all night. The one with the smile that's brighter than the sun can ever hope to be. The one who was turned into the nervous and uncomfortable girl by Mike's unwanted advances.

Lena shyly looks down at her hands as she starts wringing her fingers together. "Kara, I'm sorry if anything I did was too forward. You looked upset, and I know a stranger coming up and hugging you is not comforting at all. Quite the opposite actually, but-" she takes a deep breath looking everywhere but the girl in front of her. "...but honestly I just wanted to help," the brunette looks up nervously. Her heart is beating so loudly; she was certain the blonde hears it too.

"Lena, stop. You were comforting," Kara blushes. Her hands immediately gravitate to a napkin on the table. "I was hoping he would take a hint and leave, but he was very persistent," the nervous girl takes a deep breath. "So, thank you for... scaring him off, I guess," the blonde mentally cringed at her lack of tact when it comes to flirting. Lena is smiling at her though, so that has to be a good sign. She adjusts her glasses, "I don't know... just, thank you." Kara looks up to her new friend, "I guess this makes you like my knight in shining armor right?" She smiles, and the Luthor forgets how to breathe.

Lena laughs at the title, "More like crazy dragon lady." Brushing off the comment, the brunette tries to regain her composure. "Well if he's Prince Charming, I'd pick the dragon." They're eyes meet, and the rest of the bar falls away. They sit there for a moment, neither wanting to break the connection.

Unknowingly, their hands have been gradually inching closer together during the course of the conversation. Their knuckles finally meet in the middle, and they both jump at the touch. Lena smiles, but Kara's eyebrows furrow when she sees the mess her nervous hands have recreated with the new napkin. The blonde quickly begins pushing the destroyed napkin pieces into the pile with the rest, "I'm sorry; I fidget. I know its gross. I can't really help it." Lena places a hand on Kara's nervous ones, calming them instantly.

The blonde looks up to the smiling brunette with apologetic eyes. "It's not gross," Lena reassures. "Not at all, I actually find it endearing really," she smiles. Her comment brings the smile back to Kara's face, and Lena decides she would do anything to keep that smile on her face. She tells her about her friend Jess who does the same thing at every restaurant. Except instead of tearing the napkins like Kara, she folds them into different origami animals. The blonde listens intently. She watches as the brunette brightens, happily reliving stories of her friend and napkin animals and amused and unamused waiters.

Past Lena's head, Kara sees the bathroom door open. Her sister and Maggie walk back into the bar. Alex sees that Kara isn't alone at the table, and the younger Danvers can tell that her big sister instincts kicked in immediately. The couple are quickly approaching the table. Kara doesn't want Alex to scare away her beautiful new friend. The blonde tries to signal Alex and Maggie to stay away without Lena noticing. She smiles and slightly points away from the table with her head. Alex doesn't understand and begins walking faster, but Maggie caught on immediately. Before the older sister makes it to the table, her girlfriend grabs her arm and drags her away from their table.

The two watch from the opposite side of the bar for a while, making bets on Kara and the new stranger. Eventually Maggie and Alex rejoin the pair at the table, being introduced by Kara. Alex nearly tore down the entire building when they told her about their encounter with Mike. Maggie is able to stop her from making a scene, barely avoiding having to handcuff Alex to her chair. The four sit and talk and joke for the rest of the night.

When it's time to call it a night, Kara and Lena hug again. The brunette nearly has a heart attack when the blonde asks for her number. She takes Kara's phone and enters her number into a new contact before handing it back. Kara laughs when she sees that next to her name Lena has added a dragon emoji.

Yep. Kara will definitely pick the dragon over the prince every time.

#supercorp #lena luthor #kara danvers #supergirl #supergay #kara and lena #kara x lena #wlw #just supercorp things

[elainiisms]

i love queerbaiting if queerbaiting has no fans i am dead

#im sorry... i find immense joy in it (it has genuinely ruined my life) #johnlock #destiel #klance #supercorp #buddie #hopefully i can remove buddie very soon though #macdennis #uhhhh fuck me i cannot think can i just tag things and start queerbaiting accusations for fun? #no i cant do that... #well i might #swanqueen #faberry #fuffy #hilson #bechloe #grindledore #rizzoli and isles #ugh okay sorry if i accidentally accused your favs of queerbaiting without proper cause actually idc #gay #lgbtq+ #mlm #wlw #lesbian #sapphic #queerbaiting

[ssaseaprince]

I hate when there's a queer ship, and people will fight tooth and nail with you because they insist that those characters are definitely not queer, even though there is no proof that they aren't. Their only "proof" is that they see straight as the default and can't imagine a character being queer without it being specifically stated, but have no problem assuming a character is straight even though it's never talked about. "Well, they only dated people of the opposite gender!" Okay? You know how many queer people have only dated people of the opposite gender? It doesn't mean they're not queer or that they would never date someone of the same gender. It's just all kinds of mental gymnastics to justify homophobia, let's be real here.

#honestly though if you automatically assume all characters are straight unless specifically stated thats your problem #because again #straight should not be the default #also just because someone says that theyre not *gay* does not mean theyre 100% not queer #there are so many identities between those two things #hannibal #nbc hannibal #hannigram #house md #hilson #supernatural #destial #byler #supercorp #stucky #sherlock holmes #sherlock and watson #finn and poe #merlin #merlin and arthur #arthur and merlin #ao3 #gay #bisexual #lesbian #queer #pansexual #gay ships #gay representation #queer representation

[diver5ion]

and that is one of the things I love about you.

#supergirl #supercorp #lena luthor #kara danvers #kara's just frowning about the other things #what are the other things ;c #katie mcgrath #// #i have 10775 posts tumblr #the badge is cool #but i'd rather have rights for gif-makers back #;c #do not repost anywhere

[missluthorwillseeyounow]

What do you do when someone you love is a psychopath and a serial killer? How do you pick up your life and move on from it?

If you're Lionel Luthor, you don't. Your son betrays you and the legacy you built for him, and so your heart betrays you too. You sit at your desk with those damn pills your quack of a doctor prescribed and one too many drinks. You feel a warning twinge on your arm before excruciating pain, red and angry, blooms in your chest, and you never see the morning. 

The only good thing about this is that you never see your son go to trial for killing 47 people over a span of 6 years. People whisper that you are one of Lex Luthor’s victims.

If you’re Lillian Luthor, you don’t either. You clean the damned mess these Luthor men left you. You take over the company that your husband had the gall to leave you, just as he left you with your only daughter. You clean up the tatters of your family’s reputation and legacy that your son left behind. 

In the eyes of the world, you move on. You rise, finally able to flex the muscles so long held back by your husband and the rest of the world's expectations. And you bring Luthor Corp with you. 

The millstone of the trials and scandal hang heavy on your neck, but all your life you have taught yourself to walk gracefully among lesser beings with your back straight and your head held high, just as you did as a young girl with textbooks on your head. This is no different.

But once a month, you make a pilgrimage to Stryker’s Island. To Lex. To the son you loved the best way you knew how, the only way you knew how - with a firm grip and the relentless, uncompromising push to achieve excellence, the intractable determination to make him grow into his fullest potential. That this potential was realized in murder, malice and manipulation was not your intent, but the world is far too quick and vindictive in their judgement because he is a Luthor. The mightiest always fall the farthest, and those beneath them wait hungrily for the chance to pull them down.

Your daughter leaves you too. The daughter who emerged, not from your body, but from your husband's infidelity. The same one who once looked up at you with eyes full of innocent trust that you vowed you would reciprocate in the best way you knew how. And so you did your best to prepare her, to mold her in your own image - into what a Luthor woman should be in this cruel, savage world that both worships and hates Luthors. 

You’ve seen what the world does to Luthors who do or say the smallest wrong thing and you never want her to suffer those whispers and so you tell her yourself. Better she hears it from family than the mouths and forked tongues of strangers.

But she is too hard-headed and too soft-hearted to comply. She rejects your bequest, the ungrateful girl, and tries to escape the Lena Luthor you tried so hard to cultivate all these years. 

As if you don't know. As if you could forget that it was her who brought this down upon all of you. Her, and that detestable Clark Kent. 

And if you are Lena Luthor, you cannot move on. You cannot escape it. No matter how far you stray from your family. No matter how many reparations you make, no matter how hard you strive to separate yourself from the curse it brings -- it always finds you.

It finds you in the dark hours when you’re by yourself without the touch of another woman or the burn of alcohol to distract you - and suddenly you’re a scared little girl again, walking into an ominous house made of grim oak, unforgiving marble and dark shadows. And the only warmth you receive is not from a largely absent and formidable father nor from a condescending and controlling mother, but from a charismatic and mercurial brother who taught you how to play chess and promised you the world.

But it turns out his shadow was the darkest of all, and you didn't see until it was too late.

How could you not see it?

You were just a girl at that time, Agent J'onzz once tried to comfort you with that fact. Back when Lex was arrested.

Just a schoolgirl home for the holidays -- shoes polished as bright as the naivete in your eyes, uniform pressed to Lillian's exact standards, picture perfect but always with just one tiny detail you forgot that was enough to attract notice and invite criticism. This time it was the glasses sitting slightly crooked on your face. 

You were more concerned with weathering the scorching disapproval just long enough until you got back to boarding school that you failed to notice Lex's distance. You failed to recognize the signs. You failed to decode his lies.

You failed.

By the time you got back to boarding school, he would have killed 2 more people.

By the time you caught on, he'd already killed 31. Those lives are all on you, because you were so absorbed by yourself, you didn't see what was happening under your nose. And those 3 agents Lex killed because he refused to come quietly? The judge and jury he poisoned at the trial? That's on you too.

Forty-seven lives taken. Forty seven more than there should have been if you hadn't been so blind. 

If only you hadn't been comforted by the gentle hand holding yours under the table throughout Lillian's litanies of your shortcomings everytime you were home from school. If only you hadn't fallen for the "adventures" he had tricked you into that always ended with you in disgrace or punished, like that time you stole Lionel's prized pen from the King of Jordan, just for him. 

If only you hadn't believed the fairy-tale dream of the two of you escaping to the snow-covered mountain peak, of finally being free of the Luthors’ oppressive presence.

And now he's serving 20 consecutive life sentences, and you've devoted your life to studying and stopping people like him.

Now you have 10 years of experience as a profiler and an undercover operative for both the Interpol and the FBI. Your work has taken you from Toran, to Kaznia, to Corto Maltese, to Metropolis, and now to National City.

You have seen the worst humanity has to offer, from terrorists to human traffickers to serial killers. But you keep looking into the abyss.

Because you looked into it once, you stared it in the face, and you didn't recognize it for what it was. 

_________

Or, a Supercorp Criminal Minds AU

There's actually 3 major plots in this, and they all intersect in varying ways

The first is Lex as a serial killer

The second is about Sam and Reign

The third is the most vague one, which includes Lena’s birth mother and Leviathan

It starts (as the intro says) with Lex being a serial killer who killed 47 people. In one version of this story, Clark is a reporter who, like Lena,  made the connection between Lex and the murders. One night after dinner  with the Luthors, Clark sneaks into Lex’s study to find evidence he can use for his story. 

He’s rummaging in a desk when he hears a voice from the doorway.

“You  won’t find anything there.” Clark whips around to find Lena standing  there, silhouetted against the light coming from the hall. He tenses,  thinking she’s about to tell her brother what Clark was doing. 

“If  Lex really is behind these murders, and I know you think he is, you  won’t find anything there. He’s not foolish enough to hide evidence  here." 

Clark doesn’t say anything, he just stares at her.  Lena pauses, looking away. "I… I didn’t want to believe it. Not Lex… He  wouldn’t…” Steel injects itself into her green gaze. “But the more time I  spend with him, the more clearly I see the truth. You see it too, don’t  you?" 

Clark straightens up and nods gravely. “Yes.”

The FBI eventually becomes involved in the investigation, and the team includes a certain agent on the fast track to becoming the unit chief, J’onn J’onzz.

J’onn meets Lena only briefly, but he’s struck by the young girl’s keen intelligence and remarkable calm. (Eventually, he becomes the one who suggests that Lena consider a career in profiling and criminal psychology).

Fast forward a couple of decades later, Lena is working with the BAU. The other members of the team here are J'onn, Alex, James, Brainy and Winn. Lena is a transfer from Interpol, and she's had years of experience in profiling, suspect and victim identification, as well as infiltration, under her belt (I also hc that she worked briefly with the CIA and the MI6, mostly in intel, profiling and undercover work).

For the sake of her anonymity (and also because it was necessary for her undercover work), she's erased all connections to Lex and the Luthors (including old photographs and newspaper articles until the name Lena Luthor is but a footnote in the Luthor history with nothing to tie her to who she is now). She's also changed her last name. (I'm torn because I just don't know if I can use the name Walsh for Lena, it doesn't sound.. right? Idk So for now, she's Agent Kieran).

Lena is very professional, almost intimidating. She’s revered by the younger agents in the Bureau, well-respected by her colleagues and highly praised by her superiors. But she's very guarded and keeps everyone at arm's length, doesn't go out for after-work drinks with the others, practically sleeps with one eye open — years of working undercover and living with a serial killer will do that to you.

Until a certain promising young recruit comes along.

Kara is new in town — the adopted sister of Alex Danvers, the cousin of one of J'onn's old friends (I don't think teaming family members up is actually allowed in the FBI, so some suspension of disbelief is required here). Lena is assigned to oversee her training and transition into the team herself.

Kara's sunny demeanor couldn't clash more with Lena's icy, professional facade. Lena approaches the task with thinly-veiled impatience and something remarkably close to disdain.

However, Kara quickly proves to be more than a perky attitude and a pretty smile. She squirms at blood, which Lena is quick to exploit at first (What FBI profiler can't stand the sight of a corpse? "We profile serial killers here, not celebrities in high-waisted jeans.").

But Kara displays true empathy to the victims and their families, she's sensitive to other people's emotions and knows just what to say to get a reluctant victim or witness talking. She's extremely dedicated to catching the unsubs, and relentless in her investigation. Not to mention, she's extremely handy to have around in a crisis.

Lena finds this last part out when they're on a case, trying to find a missing girl.

The team is headed to the unsub's apartment, but on a hunch, Lena heads to an abandoned warehouse near the apartment, with only Kara as backup. They enter the warehouse, and just as they're clearing the rooms and checking for the missing girl, the unsub attacks Lena and manages to pin her to the ground, choking her. Kara gets there just in time to shoot the unsub in the leg, saving Lena's life.

Later that evening, Kara and the rest of the team go to the bar to celebrate. Lena is absent, as usual.

Just as Kara is getting another round of drinks at the bar, a low, smoky voice interrupts her. "Didn't profile you as a drinker, Danvers.”

Kara squeaks, nearly dropping the drinks, and turns to see Lena smirking behind her. “I wonder what other surprises you're hiding behind those glasses and cardigans."

"Agent Kieran! I didn’t expect to see you here— No, these aren't all for me, I— " Lena's face softens at Kara's babbling, and she takes a few of the shot glasses from Kara's hands.

"You know, I have a rule..." A wry smile lifts one corner of her lipsticked mouth. "Anyone who saves my life gets to call me Lena."

Kara blushes profusely at the other woman’s arched eyebrow. "Well then, if I'm calling you Lena..."

Lena smirks. "Kara it is, then."

For the first time — much to the gaping surprise of the rest of the team she's worked with for years — Lena joins them for a post-case drink.

To everyone's — and no one's — surprise, the pair quickly become the best of friends.

Two days into their friendship, Lena starts jokingly calling Kara Supergirl. Three weeks later, they start grabbing lunch together. Three months in, Kara sends Lena a video of herself petting a St. Bernard on the street only to be bowled over in a mass of furry paws and puppy licks — and the cadets Lena is training are even more bowled over to hear the "Ice Queen" laugh. Of course, they're later treated with a scorching glare and a sharp reprimand, but it's a revelation just to discover that she's actually physically capable of laughing.

By six months, the whole department is in a secret "will they or won't they" betting pool. A year in, and every other department has stakes in the pool (Alex publicly condemns the pool, but secretly bets a hundred bucks that "they will" by winter).

One time while they're eating lunch together, Kara tells Lena why she became a profiler when her career was in journalism.

"It just felt... too late. I'd be covering these stories about these terrible things, people who were already victims, and I thought... it's too late... Don't get me wrong, I loved being a reporter. Journalism was a way to bring truth out there, to give voices to these victims, but.... I wanted - needed - to do something more. I wanted to stop these things from happening. To keep these people from becoming victims."

But despite their growing closeness, Lena has yet to tell Kara about Lex, or about her life before the BAU.

She doesn't tell Kara about the woman she'd loved once, who hates her now because of the lies Lena told her. She doesn't tell her about Reign. She doesn’t tell Kara about the sweet young girl living far, far away, who plays soccer and loves to sing and read. The little girl Lena loves from afar, but knows only through secret updates from James, because it's for her own good.

Because that sweet little girl that Lena hasn't seen since she was a baby deserves to live a life that's whole and good — away from those who love her, but could hurt her. Whether she's thinking about Sam or herself, Lena doesn't know.

There are too many secrets, Lena decides, as she shoves them all one by one into their little boxes, clamping the lid securely shut. Kara is too good to be tainted by any of them.

Kara, who gets squeamish at the sight of blood, but resolutely hunts each killer like an avenging angel. Kara, who somehow, somehow still believes in the good in people.

And when she realizes that there is very little of that to be found in Lena Kieran or Lena Luthor, Kara will hate her as much as Lena hates herself.

But then the day comes when Lena receives a package in the mail.

She reaches in and pulls out two things: one, a chess piece — the white knight — and the other, a surveillance photo of Kara and Lena having lunch together.

On the back of the photograph are three cryptic little words that fill her with dread: “See you soon, sis.”

Panic overrides logic and years of training, and Lena stashes the package and its cursed contents into her safe. Heart racing, she calls the warden at Strykers. It takes several favors, but she manages to procure video footage confirming that her brother is still incarcerated. Despite the visual confirmation, she doesn’t sleep a wink that night, nor the night after.

Everything is quiet after that, so quiet that Lena is almost lulled, if not into a sense of complacency, then at least a state of less vigilance. Everyone needs a breather, a reprieve from paranoia at some point, and that is exactly what Lex is counting on.

A string of seemingly-unrelated murders heralds Lex's return, luring the BAU — and Lena — closer and closer. Lena knows she should leave, and leave soon. The closer the team gets to figuring out it's Lex, the more danger they're in — not just Kara, but the rest of the team that Lena has now come to care for.

But Kara, being Kara, holds onto Lena and keeps her from leaving.

Kara knows her too well now. She knows that something is wrong. She pushes without pushing, in that earnest yet respectful way, relentless in her concern for the people she cares about, yet still mindful and considerate in her efforts. It's one of the things Lena loves about her.

And then, after coming home from a case one night — Kara is shot by an intruder in her apartment.

The whole team is thrown into chaos trying to find Kara’s assailant. They all agree that the attack cannot be random, but there’s a frustrating lack of evidence anywhere.

But Lena knows.

The lack of clues is a glaring clue in and of itself. She knows this is Lex’s handiwork. Her brother’s way of getting back at her for “telling on him”, just like he used to when they were children. Except the stakes are infinitely higher this time, and he has gone too far.

And Lena — who should've known — didn't prevent it. She was too selfish, too greedy, wanting more time — more time with Kara, more time with her team, her family — and now this is the result.

Lena knows that Lex will go after everything and everyone she loves, because he wants to hurt her. Luthors are not raised on half-measures. Win the game, or burn the board. He will not stop, Lena knows this. Not until either of them is dead.

While half the team is waiting at Kara’s bedside, and the other half is delving into Kara’s case — two people are noticeably missing.

Alex can’t bear to see her sister looking so weak and vulnerable in that hospital bed.

Instead, she goes to Kara's apartment to clean her sister’s blood off the wall before Kara gets home from the hospital.

She's just getting a bucket full of soapy water when she hears movement at the door. Alert, Alex already has her gun out and trained at the door.

When the door opens, all Alex sees is a flash of black hair and wide green eyes before she gets a gun aimed at her too.

"Lena?? What the fuck?! What are you doing here??"

Alex puts her gun down slowly, her heart still hammering. Lena cautiously does the same, her hands held out to her sides.

Alex gestures at the door "How did you—?"

"Kara gave me the key three months ago." Lena's eyes haven't lost their wary edge, but she has the decency to look a bit abashed. "She said I could come over anytime."

"Yeah, but Kara's still in the hospital. What are you doing here?"

"I know that," Lena slants her a light glare as she looks around Kara's apartment. "I just — I wanted to make sure the place is secure, and... well... I didn't want Kara to come home to that."

She gestures at the blood-spattered wall, but looks away quickly. As if she, like Alex, can't bear to stand the sight of Kara's blood.

It's funny. They're both seasoned agents, they deal with horrific things on an almost daily basis. The sight of blood rarely fazes either of them anymore. Except this is Kara's blood.

It seems impossible that Lena could get any paler, but here she is, as white as a ghost and looking just as sick as Alex feels. And yet, she's still here. Out of everyone in Kara's circle of friends and family, only Alex and Lena are here, performing a task that somehow seems more terrible than anything either of them have encountered.

It's in this moment that it begins to dawn on Alex just how special Lena is. How special she may still become.

Alex bends down and drags the bucket of soapy water to the wall. She doesn't look at Lena, and instead focuses on the wall and swallows down bile at the sight of her sister's blood. Over her shoulder, she mutters "Grab a sponge."

"That's not gonna be enough. We, um—" Lena clears her throat and chokes out. "— need bleach."

Alex nods curtly. "Under the kitchen sink."

Lena gets the bleach, and the two of them silently begin scrubbing Kara's blood off her walls, and that's that. Once they're done, Alex gets a couple of beers that Kara keeps especially for Alex in her fridge and offers one to Lena.

Then Alex gives her a mild version of a shovel talk lol

And then, two days before Kara is released from the hospital, the news breaks. Lex Luthor, convicted serial killer, has escaped from prison.

All eyes are focused on the BAU screen, except J’onn’s. He turns to his left. Lena Kieran watches the television without batting an eye.

Lena waits only until after Kara has come back home, to make sure that she's safe, that Alex is staying with her for now.

Looking at the blonde tucked into blankets on the couch, soft and vulnerable, Lena can't bring herself to say goodbye, so instead, she just leans over to kiss Kara on the forehead and says good night.

Then without a word, without even packing a bag, Lena Luthor leaves National City to lure her brother out of the shadows.

Lena makes her exit just as the team is on the cusp of finding out that Lena Kieran is Lena Luthor.

She leaves her apartment intact, knowing that Kara and the rest of the team will eventually search it. She sticks the surveillance photo of her and Kara on the bedroom mirror and writes on the glass in red lipstick: "I'm sorry. I promise I'll make this right."

J'onn is the only one who knows the truth of who Lena really is, and in the end, he's the one who tells them.

With Lena gone, it's clear to J'onn that she's about to do something monumentally stupid, like sacrifice herself for the team. He gathers everyone, and tells them the truth.

The group is gathered around the conference table, staring at pictures of young Lena on the screen.

Tiny Lena, not even 5 years old, just after she was adopted by the Luthors, her wide green eyes sad and confused, her little hands clutching a worn, well-loved teddy bear.

Six year old Lena and a teenaged Lex Luthor standing together in front of Lena's new school. The little girl in her neat uniform, holding onto the older boy's hand, looking at her big brother with an adoring smile.

Fifteen year old Lena on summer vacation, and a now-adult Lex, the young girl perched on the hood of a restored vintage car with Lex's hand on her shoulder. Lena is thinner, more gaunt, and her smile less bright, but Lex is different. He's grinning at the camera, looking every inch the charismatic billionaire playboy. You would never know from Lex Luthor's easy smile that he had already been killing for 5 years at this point.

Finally, the last Luthor family portrait, taken the year Lex was arrested. They're a beautiful family, there's no denying that. Each person in the photograph is regal and proud — but in each set face, there's a private war being waged. Lena looks far older than her sixteen years. Her face shows no emotion in each cut line, but her eyes betray all: a somber intensity that's impossible to look away from. Lex is the exact opposite. His smile is charming and draws the viewer's gaze, but his eyes are cold and dead. Within 8 months, Lex would be in prison, Lionel would be dead, Lillian would be running the company, and Lena would no longer be a Luthor.

Kara feels... she doesn't know how she feels.

There's anger, shock, confusion and... hurt. A lot of hurt, a heavy ball of it resting on the base of her spine, mixed with the ache of a longing she doesn't understand, something broken that only confuses her more. So she decides to settle on the anger.

Yes, anger is good. It gives her a sense of purpose and clarity, and it doesn't threaten to make her curl up into a tiny ball. She's angry that her best friend — one of the most important people in her life, second only to Alex — has been hiding all of this from her for years. She's angry that Lena, who has taught her so many things — not just about being a profiler, but about life and love and friendship — didn't trust her enough to tell her about any of this.

Anger is good, because it keeps the tears stinging the back of her eyes from falling, because... because Kara's always thought she knows Lena better than anyone. Had believed that out of everyone, Lena had trusted her, Kara Danvers, enough to get to know her. But now, it seems she doesn't really know Lena at all.

The screen flickers.

Everyone blinks up at the screen in confusion as it begins to glitch. Suddenly, the photos of Lena disappear from the monitors. It’s replaced by what looks like a grainy video feed. Kara turns to J’onn, who shakes his head, frowning. This was not his doing.

“What the hell?” Alex frowns up at the monitor and nudges Winn, who immediately squints into his computer screen. “Who’s doing that?”

“I have no idea...” Winn mutters. “Gimme a second...”

It looks like feed from a surveillance video, except it’s showing what looks like a cabin. Even from the pixelated image, it looks well-decorated, expensive, like something from a country home magazine. Outside the far window, Kara can see a view of snow-capped mountains. Outlined in the middle is a dark shadow of a man.

“They live soft, luxurious lives, don’t they? Your so-called friends. Oblivious, unencumbered by knowledge, and so pathetically... mortal. Fragile.” A smooth baritone voice cuts through the static, and Kara’s blood chills. That voice is familiar. “You and I, we have been trained in the hard school of danger and war. Haven’t we, sister mine?”

Another figure steps out of the shadows and into view, and Kara gasps. Even in the grainy image, Lena’s smile is sharp and icy. “Comparing yourself to Alexander the Great now, are you? But then again, you always were trying too hard, Lex.”

I don't know exactly how happens, I haven't figured it out yet, but Lena confronts Lex with the intention of killing him, except she's the one who's "killed".

And Lex, being the sadistic ass that he is, had the whole thing captured on a hidden camera and it's being broadcast on every BAU monitor, for Lena's family to see.

The whole team watches Lena "die".

But Lena had a failsafe. She told someone of her location, maybe Andrea or Jack or Jess idk, and had them standby to help her in case something happened.

The whole time Lex streams their confrontation, Kara is frantic. The table suffers under her fury, splintering with the force of her desperate grip.

Every time they get nowhere trying to track Lena and Lex, Kara punches the walls, and Alex has to hold her sister back, afraid of how Kara is losing control.

When the feed broadcasts Lena's death, it seems almost unremarkable. One second, Lena is standing, the next she's on the floor, lifeless and unmoving.

A deadly silence grips the BAU conference room. No one is moving, not even breathing. It's as if when Lena dropped dead on the feed, so did they. They wait. And wait.. and wait.

Lena doesn't move.

On the screen, Lex checks his sister's vitals and satisfied, steps over his sister's body and out of sight. The camera blacks out.

They all stare dumbly at the screen for a long moment, afraid to move, as if moving from their frozen spots would make it true.

It's Alex who stirs first. She jumps into action, frantic, ordering Winn to get the feed back, but it's impossible. The room erupts in a blaze of action, but Kara... Kara's the only one left staring at the screen, frozen in shock and disbelief, as if she can't believe it's real.

It’s not. It’s not.

In the interim between Lena's death and the reveal that she’s alive, Kara spends every waking moment hunting down Lex or secretly looking into Leviathan (which she also uncovers when she digs deeper into Lena’s life before the Luthors and learns more about Lena’s mother).

Kara goes down so deep into the rabbit hole, that Alex is genuinely afraid for her sister. She almost prays that they don't find Lex Luthor. Not because she doesn't want that man brought to justice, but because she's afraid of what Kara can and will do once she sees him.

Kara hasn't mentioned Lena's name in months. But then again, most of their team hasn't.

In the months since Lena’s death, two new members have been brought int the BAU team, William Dey and Nia Nal.

William and Nia know very little about Lena from the team itself, because her name is hardly mentioned. Nia only knows Lena through her reputation, and through what Alex and the other agents outside of their team have told her. 

Alex is the only one in the team who says Lena's name because she hates that everyone tiptoes around it.

Lena was their friend. Her friend, and it's not right that everyone flinches at her name, that they can't look at the plaque of her on the memorial wall. She knows how hard it is to look at Lena's picture there, just as hard as it was to look at Kara's blood on the walls.

But Alex is not gonna be the one to look away. Lena didn't look away when they cleaned Kara's blood off the walls, and Alex will not look away from her either. She's gonna hunt Lex Luthor down like the animal that he is and make him pay for taking Lena from their family.

But Alex is getting worried about Kara.

Her sister doesn’t sleep anymore. Barely eats. Kara doesn't stop — she pores over old files of Lex's murders, goes over the old profile, possible places he might be. Alex is worried about her fixation with Lex. It's not healthy. Kara's grief — or her refusal to grieve — is gonna drive her to the ground.

So she confronts Kara about it.

They're in the BAU conference room when Alex finally speaks up, but Kara meets her gaze head on. With one hand, she points to the empty seat Lena used to favor, right across Kara's. "Lena's chair, Alex. What do you see when you look at it?... Nothing, right? We've left it empty all this time. No one can bear to sit it in. Tell me, what do you see, right now?"

Alex glances over at the chair, then back at her sister "Kara..."

"Tell me what you see, Alex."

Alex sighs. "Nothing."

"Exactly. Nothing." Kara nods, her eyes hard. "Do you wanna know what I see? I see her, Alex. I see Lena sitting across from me, just as clearly as I can see you now.”

Alex swallows at the intensity burning in her sister’s eyes.

“I see her everywhere, Alex. All the time. I see her smile, her eyes, and I—" Kara's voice cuts off with a sob. The agony in her eyes is almost too much for Alex to take. It takes a long moment before Kara can speak again.

"I can't stop, Alex. Whenever I stop and I look at her, I — I know she's - she's gone, but she looks so alive, and I— I know the only way I can get any kind of peace about it is knowing that Lex Luthor has been wiped off the face of the earth."

A frisson of fear shivers down Alex's spine. "Killing Lex won't bring Lena back, Kara."

"I know that, Alex." Kara's eyes are dark as flint. "Believe me. I know."

Sometime after Lena’s “death”, the BAU receives an unannounced visitor.

Lillian Luthor strides into the BAU bullpen, tall and imperial in her furs, her icy glare making everyone it lands on feel small and insignificant.

She strides past the bullpen, past Kara, and comes face to face with J’onn. Her cold blue eyes render everyone in the room silent. She scoffs her hatred into his face.

 "Taking my son away from me wasn't enough for you people, was it? You had to take my daughter away from me too. I warned her. I warned her this would be her undoing, and I was right. And now she's dead." 

They end up having to work with Lillian to find Lex, because as Lillian says "It takes a Luthor to find a Luthor." [And there's gonna be an interrogation lol. I just have this vague idea of Lillian talking about Lex and Lena.]

"The truth is, I lost Lena long before now.” Kara suspects that this is the closest anyone has come to hearing regret in Lillian Luthor’s voice.

“I was.... harsh on her, in a way I never was with Lex. Lex always had a sharp edge to him, but Lena — Lena was too soft, too vulnerable. A Luthor cannot be soft. Not when the world is watching, waiting for you to make the smallest mistake."

It’s not enough. It’s nowhere near enough. Kara slams her hands on the table, unable to believe the nerve of this woman. J'onn grips her arm in warning, but Kara ignores him, snarling at Lillian, her anger plain on her face. "You abused her! You made her feel unworthy of love, unable to trust anyone—"

Lillian lifts her chin. "I made sure my daughter could face a world that's hungry for Luthor blood. I made her a Luthor."

"She was just a little girl when she came to you!" Kara shouts, her fury growing by the second. "A little girl whose mother just died, who was looking for love, and instead she found you. She trusted you—"

Lillian's voice rises, a flash of heat scorching the cool, detached dignified tones. "I made her strong!" 

"She didn't need to be strong!" Kara yells, surging up to her feet, her face inches away from Lillian. J'onn grabs her shoulder, restraining, but Kara presses forward. "She needed someone to love her! And you answered that with nothing but condescension and neglect! The only one in your family who made her feel loved was a psychopath who betrayed her!"

Lillian is struck silent, her eyes wide and her face strained as she stares at Kara. Kara meets the older woman's eyes, staring her down without the fear that a younger Lena must have shown Lillian all those years ago.

Kara wishes she could've been there to hold that young Lena in her arms, wishes she could've taken her away from the family that broke her.

"The Luthor name didn't deserve Lena. You never deserved her."

#supercorp #lena luthor #kara danvers #supergirl #katie mcgrath #melissa benoist #me trying to write #I guess it could also fit with any crime drama not just CM #tbh I haven’t watched the show in I don’t even know how long. I was just watching a crime drama show and I had these in my drafts so #enjoy I guess? or not there’s a truck full of angst in this thing #p.s. this is like my FAVORITE characterization of Lillian. i tried my best 👉👈 please be kind #this is version 2.0 of my Criminal Minds AU cos i had to rework that one. and honestly i think this one is better #more fully realized i guess? idk it's 2am #sorry for the long post 😅

[sheltereredturtle]

Day 20: control

#supercorp #supercorptober2023 #the claaaaaw #just girlfriend things

[whatsagirltoblogabout]

Just casually tracking some script to episode changes, as one does for fun on a Friday night, and uh... wow this is blatant.

#supercorp #don't mind my taking pictures of my monitor instead of using screenshots #I was originally just texting this to my friend #and then decided that I wanted to put it on my tumblr blog for posterity as well #girlblogging #just scripty things

[vox-ex]

Give me your hand

SCBB 2023

Kara just wants to protect Lena, but when has it ever been that simple. Over the course of one night, Lena and Kara let fear and ghosts unravel as they learn how to hold onto each other again.

Read it here or on AO3

_____

I had the unexpected chance to write something else for this year's @supercorpbb and I am so excited for you all to see the art that was the reason I was expected to say yes to the opportunity! Please go take a look and send some love to @guessimreallyhere

_____

Lena sighs, rolling onto her back as she listens to the raindrops ping off the windows before they made their way to the pavement below, the monotonous rhythm making the city feel heavy and frantic despite the late hour and stillness of the streets. Her fingers trace the path of the fading bruises and angry red lines of shallow cuts that stood in stark contrast to her pale skin—every mark on her body, a testament to the cruel irony of the unforgiving laws of motion.

It had been an almost tragedy in three acts. 

The burst of heat that came first, the explosion that came after, but like always — never quite the fall. 

Only Kara. 

Her body in front of her. 

Her cape spread around her.

Her weight pressed against her.

One body in motion meeting another not. 

And how many times must Kara have caught her in the same way?

Held her in the same way?

But the universe does not concern itself with those kinds of odds. 

And so the fall did come, after all, just in a different way. 

Lena could still feel the ghost of her arms around her. She winces as she recalls the sound of her ribs cracking under the impact of them. But the physical pain was nothing compared to the anguished look on Kara's face when she realized what had happened — the frantic look in her eyes, the trembling in her hands, the breathless apologies that slipped out over and over and over through lungs that couldn't hold enough air to keep up. 

She turns and glances at the clock— 11:50pm — she wonders how it was possible it could be the same day still, time feeling as fragmented as the rest of her. Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she feels the ache of her body and the deeper pain of something else. She pulls a coat over the sweater that hung loose from her shoulders, the smell of sun-drenched wool and worn leather mixing with the heady scent of rain and asphalt as she stepped outside. 

----

Kara's knees buckled as she landed heavily, the floor creaking beneath her, her breaths coming in ragged gasps. She pressed her shaking hands hard enough against her ears until she could almost forget the sound of Lena's body hitting hers. 

Too hard. 

Too fast. 

She had been too slow. 

Too uncontrolled.

And she should have stayed. 

But didn't. 

Couldn't. 

So she left. 

Ran.  Flew.

She flew so fast the city underneath had blurred, luminous smears streaking across her vision like stars disappearing until they became indistinguishable from every other bit of sky and stars and empty expanse of space she ever found herself in. Maybe she's disappearing again too. Maybe she never came back. Maybe she shouldn't have come back. 

"I'm sorry," she whispered over and over and over. "I'm sorry," her broken voice matching the hurried but steady rhythm of Lena's distant heart, promising her at least one more chance.  

But how many times had she saved the world, only to fail again and again at protecting one single person in it, the same single person in it? 

How many more chances could there be? 

The cape on her shoulders felt heavy and cumbersome.

The sigil on her chest pressed in against her lungs. 

It felt hard to breathe with them on.

Hard to stay standing. 

She tore and pulled at them both until they lay in a pile on the floor. 

What good had they done anyway? 

She sank down beside them. 

What good had she been anyway? 

----

Lena pulls the key to Kara's apartment from the patterned groove it had worn into her pocket; the edges softened a little by its use over the past weeks.  

But unlike the quiet that used to greet her, that only ever felt empty, this quiet was overwhelming, like it had a weight to it. 

Pieces of Kara's suit littered the floor, rain pooling under the heavy fabric. 

"Kara?" Lena whispered as she moved into the room. 

"Don't!" Kara's choked sob broke the imprint of stillness. 

Lena could barely see her pressed against the shadows. 

"Don't," Kara said again, almost a plea, quieter, softer, but no less desperate. Her shoulders trembled, the hands knotted in her hair and around her knees, trying to hold herself together. She looked as if she had been put away in pieces, too. 

Slowly, she lifted her head, her eyes meeting Lena's for the briefest of moments before she looked away, tears glistening on her cheeks. "I can't," her voice raw with pain. "I hurt you — I always hurt you."

Lena kneels down next to her, her hands and her heart, aching to prove her wrong. 

"I think we've both done our share of hurting each other." 

"I just want to protect you, but instead, every time, every single time, I just..." Kara murmurs, her breath hitching in her chest as she fights to keep the panic at bay. 

"You did protect me," Lena cuts her off gently. The words you 'you always have' left for another time, another conversation. 

"These hands," she said, reaching towards her slowly. 

Kara's gaze flitts between Lena's eyes and her hands. 

"They're not going to hurt me," Lena assures her. "Trust me," her fingers brush against Kara's arm, the contact fleeting but grounded with intention, "trust that I know what I can bear."

"You shouldn't have to bear it." Kara looks away, her hand twitching, open and close, open and close.   

"Kara," Lena reaches for her hand,"...can I just..." fingers brushing against trembling skin.

Kara closes her eyes, and gently, Lena draws both their hands up, fingers laced together. 

She had become familiar with Kara's touch. With its strength. With its warmth. Its gentleness. Its tenderness. It is a wonder that her hands alone never gave her away. But it has been a long time since they have been close in that way, have let themselves be close in that way, were allowed to be close in that way. 

She had missed it — missed her. 

Had ached to see if was still as she remembered it. 

It is. 

She remembers it again in the gentleness of fingertips that lift her chin, tilting her jaw to ease away the purple and blue edges blooming under her skin. Feels it again in the warmth of her palms as they press just under the hem of her shirt and across the skin they find there. 

"Even after everything I've done?" Kara asks, her voice cracking under the weight of guilt and doubt, and every other ghost lay bare. "Even after all the pain I've caused?"

"Hey, look at me," Lena urges gently, her fingers curling around Kara's wrists to draw her gaze upward, pulling Kara's focus back to her. 

"It's not your decision. I choose to bear it because I choose you. Just like you bear everything for me...choose me." Lena replies firmly, her gaze never wavering from Kara's tear-streaked face.

"Okay," she whispers, the word fragile. "Together." 

"Always," Lena vows.

----

Slowly, Kara's hands become her own again. 

When they do, she reaches up once more. 

Gently, she brushes a strand from Lena's face, tucking it behind her ear. Her finger lingering, tracing one more time the line of Lena's jaw. They stay a little longer this time, and she can feel the way Lena turns into the touch, the way she lets her head fall just a little into her hand. She thinks maybe it says something about the irrationality of the universe that one of the heaviest things she has ever carried would fit so perfectly into her palm. 

"You're cold," she murmurs, more fact than question, feeling for the first time the small shivers and flecks of rain on Lena's skin.

Lena nods, the movement barely perceptible, and something unspoken passes between them – a quiet understanding, a shared vulnerability.

And with a gentle determination, Kara does the thing she wished she had hours ago. She takes care of her. She leans in just a little first, reaches out slowly, gives Lena time to pull away or maybe herself to, but neither of them do. Kara slips her arms around her then, one threading itself under her knees and the other around her back, and as she stands Lena curls towards the warmth of her chest. 

Together, they move through the dimly lit room and Kara sets her on the edge of the bed.  

"Let me get you something to wear" she says softly, turning around to pull out a heavy sweatshirt and a pair of soft cotton boxers. Lena winces slightly at the pull on her bruised ribs as she lifts her arms up to take them and Kara's brow creases with concern. 

"Do you? C-can I?" she tries to get the words to settle into any one question. 

"Just the sweater maybe." 

Their hands work together once more, easing the slightly damp sweater over Lena's head. 

She's slow and careful still, will always be careful with Lena, the word itself repeating over and over with every brush of a hand against chilled skin, with every trace of fingertips along the small scars she found both old and new. 

She didn't realized she had stopped, her thumb running back and forth, back and forth, over one small scar at the base of Lena's collarbone, until the lilt of Lena's voice breaks through. 

"Hey. You with me still?"

Kara looks at the scar, but it's not guilt that settles in her stomach, it's something else. 

"I won't always be able to protect you."

And this was a different kind of confession altogether. Because even if Kara could protect Lena from her, there was a whole world set against them too. 

"No, no you won't." 

Lena puts the sweatshirt down in her lap and places her hand over Kara's chest instead. 

"But I won't always be able to protect you either."

Kara looks down at the sweatshirt again, notices the faded MIT logo, realizes that she wasn't the one who put it in her drawer, places it instead in her mind among the other peices of Lena she had been finding in her apartment since she'd been back. Little hints of how the world had moved without her in it, the people that came and went. Those that stayed. 

She lifts Lena's hand off of her chest. Presses a kiss to her palm before letting it back down. 

She turns away to give Lena privacy, feeling a gentle tug on her arm when she was done changing. 

"Lay down with me" she asks, but it isn't really a question. 

Kara nods all the same, the mattress dipping under their weight, but it settles quickly, as do they. It's odd to feel so still in the aftermath of so much motion. 

"I like that your hands are always so warm," Lena said, her voice barely more than a breath. "I missed that."

"Really?" Kara asks, her heart swelling at the admission.

"Really," Lena affirms, her own hand coming up to cover Kara's where it rests against her cheek. "I always noticed it, but then we weren't close anymore and then you were gone. So it's... it's a reminder that you came back, but also that I am close enough to know that about you again."

Kara lets her forehead rest against Lena's, breathing in the comforting scent of her. The rain that still clings lightly to her hair, dampening Kara's shirt, but she doesn't mind. She would ruin every part of herself long before she let go of her again. 

 "It was always cold there. I don't um, I don't usually feel cold here, but there, it was always cold. And dark. And the darkness could have been okay I think, after everything, it's something that I've learned to carry with me, but the cold just never went away. I still feel it sometimes. When something goes wrong, or when I worry something isn't real, my hands get cold and there's this moment where I'm sure I'm there again."

Lena brings her hand up resting it over Kara's heart as she tucks herself into Kara's side just a little further.  Kara releases a shaky breath, focusing on the sensation of Lena's touch. Any cold quickly receding. 

"You're here." 

"I'm here." She confirms, tightening her hold on Lena, drawing her in, before pulling back just a little, brushing her thumb over her cheek.

"And you're here."

Lena's eyes flutter shut at the contact, hands coming up to grasp loosely at the front of Kara's shirt.

"I am."

And the world, with all its uncertainty and ceaseless motion, seemed to be held back, at least for one night, by that one piece of tangible proof. 

----

Kara had laid awake all night, daring the darkness to try and take this from her, too. But it was dawn now, and there was nothing left to fight. Lena was still there. She could still feel where her fingers had passed through the ends of her hair, could still feel where she had left kisses pressed into her skin, could feel the weight of her head laid across her chest and the warmth of her body next to hers. 

There had been no ghosts to chase away that morning. There was only Lena. Nothing but Lena.  Nothing but Lena's hand as it slid along her ribs, nothing but her hair as it brushed her bare skin, nothing but her breath against her ear.  Nothing and everything tethered together.  She realizes then she was clinging to Lena, her arm trembling to keep her close. As if to say to gravity and anyone else that they couldn't have her yet. But when Kara looks up at the corners of the room; they were bright in a way that hadn't quite reached the rest of the room yet, like the world too was giving them just a little more time together before the rest of it demanded their attention. 

And she would have lied there just like that until it did. If not for the gentle press of a kiss against her cheek. 

Kara tilts her head down to look at Lena, who was staring back at her with a soft smile. 

"Good morning," Lena whispers, her voice still heavy with sleep.

Kara's eyes trace the morning light spreading across the healing bruises on her skin and in the flecks of gold in her eyes.  

"Good morning," Kara replies, her voice barely above a whisper still weary of the world pressing in and still hesitant about her ability to keep it out, to protect Lena from it and her and all the other things that could cause her harm. 

"Cold?" Lena asks, running her fingers through Kara's disheveled locks, pushing them out of her face. The question heavy with what it really asked. 

"No." Kara shakes her head, cupping Lena's cheek, her thumb running over the delicate skin. 

"How about you?"

Lena reaches across and takes Kara's other hand threading their fingers together and holding their joined hands up for Kara to see. 

"Never with you" 

Kara sits up, pulling Lena gently onto her lap. She runs her hands along the bruises she could see and the ones she couldn't. If she couldn't always protect her then she could at least always be there to take care of her. And for all the times she hadn't before, she lets herself in that moment ask forgiveness. Lets her body and her hands and the gentle press of lips say all the things she should have all along. 

#sg prompts #supercorp #supergirl #scbb 2023 #supercorp big bang 2023 #scbb things #listen they all just need hugs #and a break from the universe messing with them #back on this thing called angst with a hopeful ending #I love it when artists and writers get together #please go take a look at the artwork #it’s perfect

[silv3reyedstranger]

broccoli and cheddar au 👀👀

AH i’m so glad you asked. this has been on the back burner since, oof, probably 2020?

so, basically. it’s based on this tumblr post:

and what happens is that kara is a regular at panera and when she sees lena there for the first time she’s like, heh, yeah she’s gorgeous, but there’s not way in hell i’m going to say anything.

but the thing is, lena keeps showing up. and alex is like wtf you dumbass go say smth (because of course kara told her about lena), but again, in classic kara danvers fashion she’s not going to go up to lena like a normal person.

no, what she, as a self-appointed wikipedia connoisseur, does is recall a specific article involving sappho and broccoli and runs—sprints—with it.

this dumbass decides to order broccoli cheddar soup for lena as some awkward way of making a move. turns out lena’s lactose intolerant, but she appreciates the broccoli??

i feel like lena would know immediately that it was kara who sent the soup because 1) she notices the hot blondes and 2) the hot blonde in question is not subtle at all.

the rest is history or alternatively: “and that, kids, is how i met your mother” - kara probably.

#this could be very fun #i just need time to sit down and word vomit #if anyones actually interested ill plan this thing out just lemme know😂 #because im fully happy with having this live in my head #supercorp #ask farren #appropriatelystupid

[sssammich]

collateral pt3

author's note: it's atypical for me to post daily, so please don't get used to it. at this point, i'm just posting as it comes to me. anyway re: rarepair, just trust me, it's fine. hold my hand i'll get you through it.

ao3 link (made it official! lol just fyi that the link goes to ch1)

part 1 | part 2

---

Kara’s job as maid of honor was basically done after her speech, which she was thankful for. She’d dutifully checked in on Lena throughout the course of the hours-long reception to see if there was anything she could do, but Lena always shook her head and thanked her, letting her know that her presence alone was enough comfort to her. Kara warmed at the sentiment, but she knew better than to delude herself by attaching more meaning to these words, so she smiled and ushered Lena towards the other guests who wanted a moment of her precious time. It wasn’t very hard to do considering Lena’s attempts to spare a moment and chat with her was somehow always intercepted by Jack or someone else from the wedding party so that Lena could just briefly chat, it’ll only take a minute. 

When it looked like Lena got a moment for herself, Kara watched her make a beeline to the table she and Andrea randomly occupied while they watched the dance floor filled with strangers dancing and having a good time. 

“This is a lovely surprise,” Lena said, eyeing the two of them. Kara’s smile was small, yet Andrea only cocked her head to the side and smirked. 

“Well, Pulitzer here was just regaling me about her upcoming piece.” 

“Pulitzer?” Lena asked, quirking a brow in question. 

“It’s a new nickname she’s trying out,” she offered with a shrug. “Jury’s out on how much I like it.” 

Andrea poked her with a finger on her exposed bicep as she exaggerated how much she’d been pushed, Lena’s eyes trained on them all the while. 

“She resists, but you can tell she secretly likes it.” 

Despite her best efforts, Kara’s cheeks warmed and she had to duck her head as she chuckled, wondering what kind of game Andrea was playing at. 

“Anyway,” she started, clearing her throat. “Is everything alright? Do you need anything from me?” Kara asked. Regardless of her own warring feelings for her best friend, she wanted to make sure that Lena had the best time at her wedding. 

“No, no. Everything’s fine. I was mostly wondering where you ran off to.” 

“Here I am,” she said. 

“I see that.” 

Their small table grew quiet, she and Andrea on one side with Lena on the other. It was turning out to be a strange moment, and Kara desperately wanted to change it.

“I’ll get us some drinks, Pulitzer,” Andrea said, breaking the growing tension between them, rising to her feet. Kara glanced at the table in front of them where two brand new drinks they’d just gotten sat untouched. But Andrea was already out of her seat and resting her hand on Kara’s shoulder. The hand didn’t linger for too long, but it lingered long enough that Kara felt the warmth of her palm on her skin; long enough for Kara to but turn her head to see well manicured fingers painted a shiny red against the tan of her skin. “Lena, can I get you anything?” 

“No, I’m fine.” 

“I’ll be back, querida.” 

Kara’s gaze followed after Andrea before she turned her attention back to her best friend who was eyeing her curiously. 

“That’s new. I didn’t know you two were such good friends.” 

She laughed, the sound coming out strangled and awkward. “We’re—I mean, we’re not. I stepped out earlier and she was smoking and we just got to talking. That’s all.” 

“Is that where you were after the…” 

“Yeah, yeah,” She interrupted. “I just got a little overwhelmed, lots of emotions on your big day and just needed some fresh air. I’m fine. I promise.” 

Lena nodded, studying her, before she finally seemed to accept her words at face value, offering her a gentle smile. She then steered the conversation elsewhere . “God, I’d love to have a smoke right now.” 

Kara snorted. “You still have your pack in your dressing room. But I doubt your uptight mother would appreciate you leaving to grab a smoke and drop ash all over your pristine dress.”

Lena snorted, leaning forward. “I would risk Lillian’s wrath for a drag right now. But I suppose you’re right.” 

“I normally am,” she offered, a teasing smile on her lips.

Lena adjusted herself, pulling at her dress as she pivoted in her seat slightly. She then reached towards Kara and placed a hand on her forearm. The touch was warm and soft, yet it ignited the space underneath Kara’s skin and she had to fight the urge to pull back, unsure if she could trust her emotions from not snapping from how taut they’d been pulled in all sorts of directions. 

“Listen, Kara, is everything alright? You gave such a lovely speech, which I think was far too nice—” 

“Everything I said was the truth.” 

Lena, bashful, dropped her gaze momentarily. “Thank you, darling. I appreciate that. But I guess I was more concerned after your speech—” 

Yet before Lena could say anything more, one of the groomsmen tapped Lena on the shoulder to retrieve her so she could talk with a group of Jack’s college friends sitting and laughing on the other side of the grand hall, all of them waving Lena over. 

Lena smiled apologetically. “Sorry, it’s just never ending, it seems like.” 

But Kara only shook her head, offering her best friend a sympathetic smile. “Don’t apologize! You’re the bride. Of course everyone wants to speak with you. Go enjoy your own wedding. If anything, I’m literally the last person you should be talking to right now, you talk to me every day.” 

Lena made a face, but Kara couldn’t quite get a read on her.  “I’ll find you later, alright? Maybe I can use you to hide.”

She nodded and gave Lena her most winning smile. “Go, they’re waiting for you.”  

She watched from her seat as Lena stood and let herself be whisked away by the elbow, turning to look over her shoulder and comically point at how she was being dragged away. Yet when she reached Jack’s side, Kara couldn’t help but turn away. She didn’t bother lingering at the table and instead headed to the bar where she found Andrea standing to the side and leaning against it, sipping on some type of amber liquid. 

“Here I thought you were going to get us drinks,” she said, sidling up to the other woman. 

Andrea only smirked. “I lied.” 

“I know. I am without a drink,” Kara said, making a show of her empty hands. Andrea, amusement in her eyes, turned to face the bartender and signaled wordlessly with her glass. From the corner of Kara’s eye, she watched the bartender quickly fill an identical tumbler with the same amber liquid before placing it on the bartop between them. 

“There’s your drink.” 

Kara scrunched her face. “Scotch’s not really my thing.” 

“You already smoked today. Might as well add this to the list.” 

She proceeded to stare down at her drink, her fingers tapping on the counter just a few shy centimeters from the glass.

“Wow, it’s like being back in boarding school.”  

“I resent that.” Despite herself, she laughed, her head tipping back slightly as she picked up the tumbler. Andrea clinked her glass against hers and nudged her to take a sip. So Kara did, the warmth quickly spreading from her tongue down her throat and into her belly. The nuanced flavors were lost on her, and she simply grimaced as she downed the whole glass. Then she slammed the glass back on the bar and pointed to the bartender for a refill. 

“You’re like an alien fresh off from space,” Andrea commented as if studying her, but she followed suit, downing the rest of her drink and requesting a refill. 

“I feel like it sometimes.” 

The pair of them gathered their glasses, their backs digging into the edge of the bar counter as they resumed their observation of the grand hall. 

“This must be miserable for you.” 

Kara laughed mirthlessly before she met Andrea’s eyes. “It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m happy for her. Them.” 

“How long?” 

She chewed her lip in thought. She felt like she’d been in love with Lena since the moment they met four years ago, but she wasn’t sure how much more pathetic she would feel in front of Andrea if she admitted that, so she cleared her throat instead. “Too long.”

#samfic: collateral #supercorp #superrojas #samfic #i have forgotten all the tags i use for these #please don't get used to the posting frequency this is not a thing i normally do #i just have most of this already written out #ok thanks bye #fanfiction

[katethewriter]

They Dared Me To

A Luthor and a Super Walk Into a Bar (series)

Pairing: Supercorp

Words: 1k~

Summary:  Superfriends dare Kara to go get the number of the cute girl across the bar.

A/N:  AU w/ no powers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lena Luthor is sitting alone at her usual table in the bar, waiting for her best friend, Jess who is running late. She opens her messages to see how much longer Jess will be when she hears someone nervously clear their throat in front of her. She looks up from her phone to see an obviously uncomfortable blonde swaying anxiously back and forth. The blonde smiles widely, but to the Luthor's surprise doesn't say anything. The brunette arches an eyebrow and playfully asks, "Can I help you?"

The blonde's widen and then she is looking down nervously wringing her hands together. "Oh, yes! Or no... I mean... I'm sorry. I'm really nervous; I don't usually do this... um I'm..." the rambling girl loses her train of thought as the two lock eyes. The blonde forgets how to breathe as she gets lost in green eyes, "...so screwed." 

Lena lets out a laugh, and the blue eyes grow wide.

 "I mean Kara! I'm Kara," she says before looking down again nervously adjusting her glasses.

Lena smiles, completely entranced by the very flustered woman who is now muttering to herself. The Luthor picks up a bit of Kara's whispering and hears her whisper, "Oh Rao, Kara! Why are you so bad at this? She's just a girl... a really, really pretty girl... who probably thinks you're crazy now." The blonde is obviously trapped in her own thoughts, so Lena decides to take pity on her. She smiles broadly, "It's nice to meet you Kara. I'm Lena and flattered." The brunette watches as Kara's cheeks turn a deep red.

Kara smiles nervously before ducking her head apologetically, "Could you do me a huge favor?" Lena arches an eyebrow, waiting to hear the stranger's request. Kara takes her silent head tilt as a sign to continue. The blonde nervously nods over her shoulder and whispers, "My friends over there dared me to come over and get your number... and I know that sounds really pathetic and embarrassing on my part... but if I didn't come over here, they were going to tell the DJ play What's New Pussycat and dedicate to you from me... and I really hate that song... and I just... felt like this was less embarrassing for you..." Kara pauses her rambling and takes a deep breath when she sees the brunette smiling at her. She smiles shyly pulling a napkin and pen from her pocket and hesitantly placing them on the table. "Can you just write down 7 numbers? Any 7 numbers, I don't even need a name. Then, I'll get out of your hair, and I promise I won't let them bother you again," the blonde nervously pulls her bottom lip between her teeth.

Lena looks past Kara to the indicated booth. Watching her are two women and two men who look away and try not to laugh as soon as they are caught. The Luthor can't stop herself from laughing and smiling ear to ear, "Well Kara," she arches a flirty eyebrow, "you need new friends. I'll help you under one condition..." she smiles cheekily. Kara is so entranced that Lena could ask for the moon, and she would find a way to give it to her.

The blonde is lucky and slightly relieved to know the brunette's request is not so large. Lena slides a napkin of her own across the table and offers the pen to Kara, "You write down your real number for me." She winks and watches the blonde gape at her. Kara quickly grabs the pen and scribbles the 7 digits followed by her name. She had only asked for 7 random numbers, but Lena decides to give her one better, more like 3 better.

The brunette writes down her correct number followed by her name. She picks up the napkin, but before she hands it to Kara she brings it to her lips leaving behind the imprint of a kiss in the bright red shade of her lipstick. Kara's cheeks turn an impossibly darker shade of red as she takes the napkin the brunette offers her. Lena winks, "It was nice to meet you Kara." Kara is absolutely beaming, and Lena knows no words that can describe the effect it has on her.

The blonde pulls her bottom lip between her teeth smiling, "Thank you, so much." Lena gives her a quick "Of course" before Kara turns and walks back to her table. The brunette watches and laughs as Kara displays the napkin and everyone at the table cheers.

Lena catches them looking over at her table several times throughout the night. Everytime, Kara smiles and waves apologetically and her friends duck and trying to hide their guilty laughter. During a short moment where they aren't watching her, Lena slips the DJ a $5 and waits patiently.

A few minutes later, the DJ asks if there is a Kara anywhere in the room. The entire bar goes quiet, and he asks again. Of course, everyone at her table immediately gives her up. "Alright, Kara this one is for you," he says before pressing play. All of Kara's friends completely lose it as "What's New Pussycat" fills the bar; the DJ turning the volume up even louder. Lena can't help but laugh as well as she watches everyone except Kara at the table nearly fall out of their seats in laughter. The blonde shrinks in her seat as she tries to disappear; her cheeks reaching an ever deeper red than Lena thought possible. She pulls out her phone and types off a text to the beautiful girl across the bar.

Lena: I'm so sorry, I couldn't resist! I hope you can forgive me; I'd really like to make it up to you. May I buy you dinner tomorrow night? You can pick anywhere you'd like -Lena

She watches as the blonde pulls out her phone to check the message. The blonde's jaw drops as she gapes at the other woman. Lena gives a wink, and Kara is typing immediately.

Kara: ...I hate you...

Kara: Noonan's, 7pm.

Lena smiles ear to ear.

Lena: Sounds perfect :)

#supercorp #lena luthor #kara danvers #supergirl #wlw #supergay #kara and lena #kara x lena #just supercorp things

[thatonebirdwrites]

Compliation of fic I wrote

So for the Holidays, here's a masterlist of Fics I've written:

On AO3:

TLOK: How Was Those Three Years?

TLOK: Asami's Hidden Box of Letters and Poetry

TLOK: Is This A Romance?

TLOK: Spirit World Vacation

TLOK: Shared Moments Series: Book 1, Book 1.5, Book 2, Book 2.5, Book 3, and Book 3.5

Supergirl: Supercorp Endgame Series: Confession and Unraveling Realities

Supergirl: Terminal Velocity, Texts, and Cats

Supergirl: You Are the Only One Who Sees Me, Trusts Me, and Believes in Me

Supergirl: Reach For The Sky

Supergirl: Tear Apart the World To Save You

Supergirl: Lena's Grimorie

Supergirl: Books of Destiny (where most of my oneshots will be posted)

On Tumblr (now ported to AO3):

Supergirl: Boardgame Practice

Supergirl: Kara crashing Lena's Date

Supergirl: Reach For The Sky (Hiking and Recovery)

Supergirl: Indiana Jones AU Idea for Supercorp

Supergirl: Sam Confronts Kara Over Her Hurting Lena

Supergirl: Kara's Love of Misshapen Pumpkins

Supergirl: Confession

TLOK: Rain and Thunder AU

Supergirl: An Analysis of Risk (my continuation of FazedLight's ficlet)

TLOK: Endless Autumn

Supergirl: Balcony Scene

Supergirl: She Wants Me For Me

Supergirl: Medieval AU

Supergirl and TLOK: Crossover Shenanigans

Supergirl: Color Out of Space

Supergirl: Building Inspection and Lava

Supergirl: Happy and Carefree

Supergirl: Some of Lena's Handmade Spells

Supergirl: The Food Stand

Supergirl: Secret Wedding

Supergirl: The Golden Potato

Supergirl: Lena Regrets Reading Supergirl Smut (But not really)

Supergirl: Matching Tattoos

Supergirl and TLOK: A tale of Two Gentle Moments Supergirl: Cold of Death, Warmth of Love

My Original Fiction (characters from my Elivera world): A Short Trip

Supergirl: Memories

Supergirl: Fallout AU

Supergirl: Nia's Lessons on Intuition

#tlok #korrasami #the legend of korra #writing #Supercorp #supergirl cw #fanfic #my writings #Just a list of things I've written this year #Will reblog to add in any others I write #I guess I have only two fandoms Korrasami and Supercorp. Ha! #I have not posted any of my original fiction on tumblr however but should I? #original fiction

[blackbirdblackbird]

#right in front of clark's salad #supercorp #kara danvers #lena luthor #supergirl #spgrl so2e01 #*mp #no but like the significance of this exact moment #not just in terms of sc but for her career and everything #tbh if I was doing something like the 100th ep or some kind of time travel thing this is the moment I'd want to come back to

[jazzfordshire]

Hello I have a question!!!

This question is not specifically about your fic, but supercorp fics in general.

How come the first time kara and lena have a smut scene together, kara always gets lena off, but insists she doesn't need lena to reciprocate? That feels EXACTLY like kara, but I personally don't feel like lena would go for that (consentially obv). I just really feel like lena would religiously go down on kara at the given chance!

Lmao okay this is actually something I hear a lot about my fic, so I’m going to get into why I often write this way for first times between them and you’re gonna get some insight into the absurd amount of thinking I do about how these two express intimacy so BUCKLE IN

I don’t know about supercorp fics in general, but here’s how my weird brain sees them. Kara often avoids being truly vulnerable by being hyper-focused on helping and meeting the needs of others to her own detriment, and I like the idea of viewing her powers/alienness through the lens of her having needs that aren’t considered ‘standard’ (different sensitivities, penetration aversion, anxiety around certain acts, etc) which she, like a lot of real people who share those, wouldn’t always feel comfortable expressing in detail right away. And Lena is so repressed and traumatized by her upbringing that when she’s shown the slightest amount of tenderness and consideration to her needs she collapses like a cheese soufflé. Funnily I actually think Lena does skew more toppy with anyone besides Kara, because with anyone else she doesn’t have enough trust. Sex is a great tool for expressing character development, and that’s Lena’s journey a lot of the time. I often write that scenario because I think it realistically reflects the beginning stages of their relationship both in the show and in whatever narrative I’m writing.

I think after some trust and communication about their actual desires and some boundary-setting that dynamic would definitely change and they’d be much more likely to switch things up considerably, but for a first time? In the heat of the moment you’re usually going to fall back on what you’re most comfortable with, because you don’t always know yet what the other person wants or expects from you. Kara specifically, in my mind, would fall back on service because she’s not used to her needs being prioritized or she thinks her needs are too weird/difficult to accommodate and she doesn’t understand yet that Lena cares about them just as much as her own, and Lena would go with it because 1. She’s usually in the midst of an emotional breakthrough while Kara is blowing her back out and 2. In the moment it’s making Kara very happy. She absolutely would go down on Kara for 12 hours straight but if she thinks Kara doesn’t want that? She’s going to go with the thing she knows Kara does want. I usually write that Lena has to sort of push Kara to admit she does want attention, and I think in some stories Lena wouldn’t do that right away. She’d sometimes wait until they’re more comfortable in their intimacy to broach the topic. But once they do get there, Kara gets all the attention! It all depends on the narrative and where they are in their relationship. Sex is complicated, especially first times!

Idk man, everyone sees them differently. In some people’s minds I’m totally off-base, and there are so many interpretations that don’t line up with mine, which I think is the beauty of fandom. But it’s what makes sense in my head! That’s the beauty of writing for yourself, I get to make what I want to see exist in the world and people who want to see something else can make it themselves or find it elsewhere, ya know?

#long post #I spend literally my whole day thinking about this when I’m writing so forgive the essay #I don’t know why things skew the way they do in fic in general #but when I’m writing this is the dynamic that makes sense to me most of the time #which does not mean whatever dynamic you see them in isn’t valid! #I need a hobby that isn’t just thinking about how and why supercorp would bone

[aqueerchronicle]

✨Date Idea✨

I play you my specially curated Supercorp playlist and explain in excruciatingly vivid detail why each song fits them line for line while we cuddle and play with one another’s hair.

Any takers? No? That’s fine…❤️💙

#if you can’t listen to me ramble about my special interests/hyperfixations then it ain’t real #just writer things #supercorp #supergirl #lena luthor #kara zor el #kara danvers #katie mcgrath #melissa benoist #sapphic #lesbian #wlw #nblw #fanfic #fanfiction

[missluthorwillseeyounow]

“Your sister found me because she was ready.”

Kara frowns. “Ready for what?”

“For the truth.” Lena replies simply. “To wake up and leave the lie behind.”

“The lie?” Lena’s words bring back echoes of Alex’s message. The Matrix still has you… You’ll find me, if you’re ready to wake up. “You mean… the Matrix?”

“Yes.”

Kara leans forward, her attention caught. “What is the Matrix?”

Lena sighs, her eyes clouding over. “I’m afraid no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. Right now, all I can tell you is that the Matrix is everywhere. It’s all around us. It’s in the air we breathe, in everything we touch…”

Lena ventures a hand between them to touch Kara’s, their hands connecting in the slightest. And even though she knows that she’s not really touching Kara’s hand, her mind feeds her the sensations of it — the softness of Kara’s skin, the gentle press of her flesh under Lena’s fingers.

Lena draws her hand away, and Kara follows it avidly with her eyes. “For you to know what the Matrix is, I have to go back to the beginning. Or at least, to where it begins for us.”

Or, the Supercorp Matrix AU

[So I found an old Matrix AU from a different fandom while I was rooting through my drive, and I thought it could be retooled into a Supercorp AU. Little did I know what I was inviting into my brain, but here we are suffering the consequences. (And now I have 2 different supercorp Matrix AUs. Great.) Spoilers ahead for the OG trilogy.]

In the movies, Neo is the One, but there are other Potentials. Each Potential displays extraordinary abilities beyond the standards of normal. Kara and Lena are both Potentials. Either one of them could be the One.

It begins in the Matrix, when Lena gets adopted by the Luthors as a little girl.

The Luthors are a picture-perfect family. Powerful, affluent, and respected. The father, the mother and the golden son. And Lena - smart, angelic and pretty, the perfect daughter - is the ideal addition to make their picturesque family complete.

Except when she's about 4 or so, it becomes apparent that Lena is not like other children.

It's immediately clear that her intellect far surpasses people four, five times her age. Lena is sharp and brilliant, able to grasp complex concepts most adults cannot. She seems to see the world around her in a different way.

The Luthors are no strangers to gifted children, their son Lex was deemed a prodigy at around the same age. At first, Lionel and Lillian take this as yet another proof of how exceptional Luthors are, and Lena is proudly displayed as their indigo child.

But Lena's talent develops as fast as she does.

Soon, she begins to exhibit strange, unexplained abilities. An expensive Waterford crystal goblet in Lionel's hand explodes when Lena has a tantrum. Once, Lillian walks into her playroom to find Lena having tea with her dolls, and when Lillian enters, all heads turn to her. Lena's and all four of her Madame Alexander dolls.

Her intellect begins to surpass what defines “normal” intelligence. She predicts and successfully foils an assassination attempt against Lionel. She prevents Lex from getting hit by a driver in a car chase five blocks away.

The last straw comes when Lena finds out that the cleaning lady's five year old son has cancer.

Lena convinces Alma to take her to see him. Five hours later, a tearful Alma brings the little girl back with something akin to wonder in her eyes. "Your little girl is an angel, Mr. Luthor. Bendecida por la Virgen. She cured my Carlos! She took away his sickness! Ella es un milagro de Dios!”

However, far from seeing it as a miracle, the Luthors circle the wagons. The next day, Lena finds out Alma has been dismissed, and a shift occurs in the Luthor household.

When Lena's abilities were within the parameters of "normal", they were good, something to be proud of. But now that her gifts have proven to be beyond that, they become alien, freakish. Something to be hidden. People would be asking too many questions, and Luthors do not permit those.

Suddenly, instead of being lauded for what she is able to do, Lena is now scrutinized and examined to find out what's "wrong" with her. It begins to strain the family that is obsessed with order and perfection.

They take Lena to various doctors and put her through all sorts of tests, but none of them seem able to find an explanation for Lena’s strange abilities.

Until they meet Rhea, an educator who runs an exclusive facility for “gifted” children.

An elegant and well-spoken woman, Rhea seems fascinated by Lena. Her teaching “methods” seem vague, but out of all the specialists Lena has seen so far, she is the only one who seems to understand and make a connection with her. At the very least, they seem to speak the same language. Rhea knows about this Matrix Lena has been talking about.

Rhea asks Lena if she wants to find out what the Matrix truly is. And when Lena agrees, Rhea takes the little girl to the Oracle to confirm her suspicions that she is a Potential.

Lena is taken to a tall building, riding all the way to the top floor with her little hand in Rhea’s. On the 64th floor, they enter a glass office in which an imperious looking blond woman sits, watching her with a piercing eye.

“Leave us.”

The woman orders sharply, slanting a glare at Rhea. She is at least 6 inches shorter than Rhea, even in heels, but her tone and her face brook no argument. Rhea retreats with a seething sneer, but she complies.

“Now, you,” the woman turns to Lena with a dark look and a raised brow. It fails to intimidate Lena, who has lived with Lillian Luthor’s pointed glares for the past three years of her life. “Do you know why you’re here?”

Lena merely blinks at her. “Because I know things.”

The woman scoffs. “So do I. Doesn’t make you special.” She gestures around her at her office with a spectacular view. “I know things too.”

Lena’s eyebrows rise as well. “Not everything.”

The woman’s glare intensifies, but Lena stares her down. After a moment, a corner of the woman’s mouth lifts, and she barks out a laugh. “You’re a smart one, aren’t you?”

Lena clasps her hands behind her back. “So I’ve been told.”

“Do you know who I am?”

Lena nods. “You’re the Oracle.”

The woman snorts delicately. “Did Rhea tell you that?”

Lena regards her solemnly. “She didn’t have to.”

The woman’s eyes narrow at her, but Lena says nothing more. She is scrutinized for another moment before the woman smirks. “Alright. Since you’re so smart, why don’t you tell me what you already know.”

Lena blinks at her, responding to the woman’s scrutinizing gaze in kind. “I know that you’re not human.”

Another laugh, this time louder. Piercing blue eyes gain a twinkle of mirth. “Very good. What else?”

“I know that you’re not real.”

The woman scoffs disdainfully. “Real is an abstract concept.”

“I know that I’m dreaming, and none of this is real.”

The mirth suddenly vanishes from the woman’s gaze, and her blue eyes stare at Lena intently. “What do you mean?”

Lena sweeps her little arms across the room. “This. All of this. Everything. It’s not real. It’s just a dream.”

The woman is leaning forward now. It looks to Lena as if she is holding her breath. “And what makes you think that?”

Lena chews thoughtfully on her lower lip. “Have you ever read Plato’s allegory of the cave?”

The woman’s eyebrows rise and an amused smile dances over her lips. “Of course.”

“It feels like that. Like the people chained to the walls of the cave, watching just shadows and reflections. Other people — even my parents, even Lex — they look around them and think that this is the real thing. But all we’re seeing are just shadows. Sometimes it makes me feel confused and blurry, like I’m dreaming, but I can’t wake up.”

The woman hums and her hands form a steeple under her chin as she continues to observe Lena.

"In the story, the prisoner who is freed into the sunlight was angry and in great pain after being in the dark for so long. Why would they go through that? Why not stay in the comfort of the darkness that they’ve known all their lives?”

Lena’s gaze doesn’t waver. “Because they would finally know the truth. They wouldn’t be living in a lie anymore. They would be free.”

A smile spreads across the woman’s face, and the nod she gives is almost approving. “Is that what you want?”

“Only if you tell me the truth.” Lena nods solemnly. “Will you tell me the truth, Oracle?”

“I’ll tell you everything you need to know.” The woman chuckles. “And one more thing. Call me Cat.”

Despite their animosity toward each other, both Cat and Rhea decide that Lena is more than ready for extraction.

The only problem is that Lena, at 6 years old, is one of the youngest children to be extracted so far. Because she’s so young, it’s decided that her family should be brought with her too. Lex, by then a teenager, is given a choice: to stay in the Matrix, or go down the rabbit hole, as it were.

Lex chooses to follow his family, and the Luthors are extracted by Rhea. They are brought on-board her ship, the Daxam. All four Luthors are taken to Zion, and told the truth about everything — the lie of the Matrix, the human harvest fields, and the fact that there is no going back.

That’s when it all goes to hell.

Lionel barely lasts three months.

Unable to accept the truth that his life of power and control was all a lie, and unwilling to believe that he now exists in a world where his name holds no weight, he somehow escapes Zion and finds his way to a human pod to try to inject himself back into the Matrix.

They search for him for weeks, and eventually they find him in the pod, impaled on the metal breathing hose stuffed into his mouth with the end sticking out the back of his head.

Lillian lasts longer, but this is no comfort.

Torn from her privileged life, her resentment begins to build and build, as she’s forced to accept her new reality.

Her perfect life was stolen from her. The high-paying job, the distinguished career, the unlimited influence, the beautiful house, the comfortable lifestyle — all gone. All apparently just a dream.

And now, Lillian has woken up to the dirt and drab and heat and toil of Zion’s underground, with nothing to show for her former life but the daughter she didn’t even ask for. The same daughter who is the very reason she’s trapped here now with no chance of going back.

She refuses to reconcile with her new reality, but she is no weakling like her husband. Instead, she lets the ugly, bitter ire fester inside her over the years, until it finally comes out.

One night, Lillian enters the rough, tiny cave that has become her unwilling home, creeps into the alcove carved into rock where her teenaged daughter sleeps and pours acid over her.

Lena’s screams wake others in the neighboring dwelling, and healers are immediately dispatched to tend to her wounds. Thankfully, Lena was turned away in her sleep, and the burns were limited to her back.

By the time her condition is pronounced stable, Lillian is gone.

Without her parents, Lena is taken in by Rhea to live with her, her husband Lar Gand and their infant son, Mon-El.

Rhea keeps Lena very close, almost jealously so. She prizes the young girl above all else in their household. Most of her time is devoted to teaching Lena, training her using the fight simulations and programs on the Daxam, instructing her on how to pilot the ship.

For Lena — who had grown up under Lillian’s growing resentment and bitterness, who had just survived a horrific attack on her by her own mother — Rhea is a godsend. Under Rhea’s maternal affection, Lena thrives. She pushes her own limits during her training, masters techniques with unparalleled speed and unerring accuracy, devours knowledge programs downloaded into her mind every time she’s plugged in. She blooms under Rhea’s freely-given praise, and works harder, starved as she was for acknowledgment and affection over the years.

As Rhea’s son, young Mon-El, grows up without displaying any unique abilities, he is often shunted to the side. Despite their age-difference, Lena makes a conscious effort to spend time with him, to give him the same nurturing Rhea is giving her.

She teaches Mon-El how to make repairs to the ship, explains how the thrusters work, how the pads keep the ship in balance. He’s most fascinated by the robotic armed exoskeletons that are kept at the dock for the city’s defense. He often asks Lena to take him to the bridge to watch them, and the two of them watch the exoskeletons being loaded, Lena leaning on the top rail, and Mon-El perched on the middle one, his skinny legs swinging in the air. As Lena smiles, the young boy boldly tells her that one day, he’ll pilot one of those.

It feels… nice. Almost like having a brother again. It feels like a second chance

After all, her own brother — well, that bridge was burned a long time ago, and Lena tries not to think about it.

But it’s hard to forget when she sees him all time, a nightmare come to life, whenever she’s plugged into the Matrix.

Lena will never forget the first time she saw her brother there.

Lex had abandoned them, had left his mother and sister in Zion years ago, as soon as he was of age. She’d tried to find him, had spent weeks, months, looking for him, to no avail.

Finally, Lena had been forced to accept that Lex had met their father’s fate. He could’ve been attacked by sentinels, gotten lost in the mechanical sewers, or worse, attempted the same thing Lionel had.

Either way, the result was the same, and the guilt and pain of it had been agony, but Lena had accepted it.

Until the day she met the Agent.

Most agents were already nigh indestructible, with their speed and brute strength, not to mention the internal communication they kept with each other through the program.

But this one… this one stayed on Lena’s tail with a dogged, malicious ferocity that she couldn’t shake off. It had been dangerously close several times already as he chased her throughout the dark, rain-soaked city streets. She couldn’t get a good lock on him, and it was all she could do to follow Jack’s instructions to the nearest extraction point.

Lena’s almost there, sliding into the booth, hand outstretched to grab the phone — when she sees it.

The Agent wearing her brother’s face, a feral smile stretching his lips as his fingertips brush the corner of her dark coat. The grin turns into a snarl as Lena lifts the phone to her ear, and he misses her by a millimeter.

It had been only a second, but… it was Lex.

Lena was sure of it. So sure that she had spent months hacking into the system with Brainy’s help, trying to find out what the hell was going on.

It takes six months of hacking into the mainframe to discover the truth. Lex had succeeded where their father had not. The son had surpassed the father.

Not only had Lex somehow managed to get himself reinserted into the Matrix, the anomaly of his presence in the code had also caused a glitch in the system itself.

It takes another encounter with Lex — in his new regalia of a generic black suit, bland tie and FBI-issued sunglasses — sneering at her as he points a gun at her head, to realize yet another knife-wound truth.

Her brother has become a virus in the Matrix.

________

Kara’s experience in the Matrix could not have been more different from Lena’s.

More than a decade before Lena was born, Kara Zorel was like any normal thirteen year old girl. She went to school, hung out with her friends, had a crush on the boy living next door. She got straight A’s, and volunteered at the local senior home.

Her quicksilver mind that could spot things others couldn’t was easily considered as part of her intelligence. She was a very smart girl, after all. Her obsession with puzzles and codes was easily filed away as a quirk or a phase she was going through until she found a new hobby.

Everything about her life seemed to be on track to become ordinary, until the day of the accident.

At least, they told her it was an accident. Kara doesn’t remember any of it. All she really remembers is waiting for a train at a subway station. She remembers her father mentioning a Trainmaster who would take them away, somewhere new. To a new home, her mother had said. [This is from the 3rd movie]

And then nothing.

Kara thinks she must have been dreaming, because she can remember being left alone in that subway station — the walls were blank and a sterile white, with nothing to indicate the presence of life except Kara herself sitting on the otherwise empty bench. She can remember the feeling of waiting, waiting endlessly for the nothing that would come — no trains, no other passengers, no one else at the station with her. She can remember running along the platform tirelessly, only to end up in the same place she’d started from. She remembers the feeling of being left behind and trapped and scared. Mostly scared.

And then the next thing she knows, she’s awake on a hospital bed with Eliza Danvers sleeping on the chair next to her.

The Danvers had found her on the train platform, curled up, unconscious, on the same bench she’d dreamed of. They’d thought she was a runaway, or a missing child, but the FBI agents who had come to Kara’s hospital room had told her that her parents were dead.

An accident, they’d said. A subway malfunction that had taken out a whole car. Under investigation, the man in sunglasses and a dark suit had reassured Jeremiah and Eliza in a monotonous voice.

With no one to claim her, no other family to speak of, Kara is taken in by the Danvers. They’re good people, kind and understanding when Kara wakes up in the middle of the night with nightmares of being trapped in a white sea of nothingness.

When Kara wakes up crying and sweating, Eliza is there to soothe her and rock her in her arms until she fell asleep again. When she tells Jeremiah that everything is too loud and bright, he sits her down and teaches her to calm her thoughts and meditate.

Alex, who had gone from being an only child to having an anxious, high-maintenance little intruder in her room, is less than happy about the situation. She keeps her distance, and gives Kara cold glares from across the bedroom or ignores her completely.

Until one night when Alex sneaks back into their room from the concert she’d snuck out to earlier, and finds Kara sitting on one corner of her bed with her knees curled up. With Alex gone for most of the night, Kara had been alone and had refused to fall asleep, terrified of having nightmares again.

With only a little bit of grumbling, Alex tosses all their pillows and blankets onto the floor, and drapes one of her sheets over both their beds to make their first blanket fort. The first of many.

Curled up on the floor next to Alex, Kara sleeps soundly through the night for the first time since waking up without her parents.

Still, despite slowly settling in with the Danvers, Kara can’t shake the feeling that something is off.

It feels as if everything around her is just a little bit off-kilter. As if the world had somehow changed in the time she’d been unconscious. Or maybe she had. Either way, it feels as if both Kara and the world around her know on some level that she’s not supposed to be here. Perhaps it’s because she was meant to die along with her parents. But by some unknown anomaly, here she is, half of her present, half of her straining to join her mother and father wherever they are.

It’s not a reflection on the Danvers. Kara couldn’t have asked for a better family to care for her. And she cares for them too. Over time, Kara gains a sister she would die for in a heartbeat, instead of a roommate who barely tolerated her presence when she first arrived. Her definition of ‘mother’ slowly expands and makes room for Eliza in her heart. She finds a man to respect and admire in Jeremiah.

Still, the feeling of being out of place persists throughout the years, always in the back of Kara’s mind.

Tragedy strikes when Jeremiah disappears.

It happens quickly, too quickly. One day her foster father is there, the next he’s gone. The only clue the police get is the last voicemail on Jeremiah’s phone.

The message starts with Jeremiah’s voice, reminding Alex that he’ll be picking her up from softball practice later, then it cuts off abruptly without warning.

Ten seconds later, another voice is heard through the other end, this time a smooth monotone. It sounds nothing at all like Jeremiah, and it sends a chill down Kara’s spine.

“The Luthor girl escaped again. She has eluded us one too many times for a human. She cannot avoid the inevitable…. Send the Brother. Next time, she dies.”

Nothing is found at the scene but Jeremiah’s phone. No evidence, no ransom note, no explanation for the strange message, nothing to trace, nothing to at all to suggest that Jeremiah Danvers was there. The blank-faced FBI agents offer no sympathy when they inform Eliza of the news in a smooth, apathetic monotone.

[[In case it’s not clear, Jeremiah got turned into an agent by the other agents who were chasing Lena during one of the times she was plugged into the Matrix]]

Their little family is shocked and reeling, but they cling to one another in their grief. Kara remembers something her mother always used to say. Stronger together, Kara. Life is hard, and we cannot face it alone. We must be each other’s strengths. We are always stronger together.

Still, life goes on. Keeps moving on, even after tragedy and loss. Sometimes, Kara feels as if the world is in constant motion, its inertia having no time to waste on a young girl who feels as if she has been left behind.

The sense of alienation increases, and Kara is diagnosed with depression. Which only serves to increase her family’s concern, and puts a near-permanent look of worry in Eliza’s eyes.

So Kara puts on her brightest smile and hugs her foster mother. She talks more, smiles wider, laughs louder, and makes more friends to go out with so she’s not at home alone in her room which no longer has Alex in it.

Alex goes to college, then med school, the chip on her shoulder large enough to be seen from space. She’s determined to find out what really happened to her father, and Kara knows how stubborn she is.

But she only really finds out how serious Alex is when her older sister declares that she’s joining the FBI, and no amount of talking from either Kara or Eliza can dissuade her.

And it’s not as if Kara has a leg to stand on. At least Alex has a purpose, a direction. Meanwhile, Kara has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She meanders around after college, a little bit lost and floundering. She’s intelligent, her professors said, but she lacks focus.

Eventually, she gets hired at Catco as an assistant to the big boss herself, Cat Grant.

All of 5’4” in heels, the woman herself strikes fear into the heart of every intern roaming the halls. It’s impossible not to snap to attention when her private elevator dings and she steps out. Each click of her heels is a reminder of the power she wields, and honestly, Kara is a little terrified of her.

But she straightens her spine and her glasses, tucks her hair behind her ear, and refuses to be cowed.

And it’s as if Miss Grant takes it as a challenge to break her, because her demands become more and more unrealistic, more and more impossible. But something inside Kara tells her not to back down, to stare her right back, and wait her out. Cat Grant is a puzzle, and Kara has always been good at puzzles.

The key comes in the form of Carter Grant.

Cat tasks Kara to pick her son up from school one afternoon, and Kara finds the young boy waiting for her right outside the school gates. He’s a very sweet boy, a little shy, but he eventually tells Kara about this comic he’s been reading about a young superhero named Supergirl.

As he begins to brighten up talking about his new favorite character, Carter doesn’t notice the car coming from the other side of the street. Neither does Kara at first. But something inside her tells her to turn around.

Maybe it was a sound, an instinct, and unconscious observation too quick for her mind to consciously process. Whatever it was, it had her turning just in time to see the car heading straight for Carter.

She barely has time to pull the boy back to the sidewalk, and the car almost clips him. Almost.

“Are you okay??” Kara hurriedly checks Carter for any injuries or signs that he’s shaken up. Other than the boy’s wide eyes, he seems to be fine.

“That- that was amazing! You were so fast, Kara! You were like Supergirl! How did you do that?”

As they walk back home, Cart gushes about how awesome Kara’s save was, how she was as fast and strong as Supergirl. Kara laughs it off, but the relief that the boy is okay lingers.

The second the front door closes behind Kara, Carter pulls out a phone and scrolls through the contact list until he finds ‘Mom’.

When Cat answers, he whispers excitedly into the phone. “She did it! She was even faster than Lena by 0.02 seconds!”

“Good. Did she say anything else?”

“She mentioned her sister. Are you going to tell the Manhunter? Is J’onn going to pull them out? Or maybe Lena can come? I like it when she comes to visit.”

A rustle of paper in the background, and Cat drawls in an almost bored voice. “Not yet. She’s not ready.”

[[In this AU, Carter is a computer program designed to assist the Oracle. Kinda like Seraph in the movies. He and Cat have a very unusual relationship. He was just supposed to be a simple program to help ward her, but he was designed to be charming in an innocent and disarming way to help distract from his real purpose. Cat developed a fondness for him, so when he tries to protect her when she’s in danger, she ends up shoving him behind her and protecting him.]]

On the anniversary of Jeremiah’s disappearance, another tragedy rocks the Danvers family.

Alex Danvers disappears.

Eliza is inconsolable, but Kara… Kara is numb, at first. Denial is always the first instinct of the human mind when a shock is delivered to its system. There’s talk of a search, trying to find out where she might have gone, her usual routine, any places Alex frequents — it all rolls over Kara’s head. They’re looking for a body, but that’s not how Alex is gonna be found.

Unlike Jeremiah’s disappearance, Alex’s is not without a trail. She is an FBI agent after all. There will always be a trail, and like in most FBI cases, it can be found in the absence of one.

In this case, it’s Alex’s computer. It’s missing.

The more Kara thinks about it, the more it galvanizes her. Kara knows Alex, knows her quirks and her habits. She didn’t have many friends outside of work, mostly people from med school she’s since lost touch with. No, anything that happened to Alex would be connected to her work, and Alex kept all her work files in that computer.

She throws herself into finding it. Find it, and she finds Alex.

For months, Kara follows every lead, every loose thread she can find, all in the hope of finding the computer. Every time she comes across a dead end, she doggedly retraces her steps until she can find another lead. The chalkboard in the kitchen that used to house her grocery list desk becomes a list of all possible locations. Her desk at Catco is a disaster of papers and post-it notes — a receipt from Cat’s dry cleaners here, the number for Annie Leibovitz’s assistant there, and Alex’s bank statements piled on top.

All the while, Cat watches her. Observes her tenacity, her ability to find patterns that no one else would’ve noticed, her keen attention that allows her to find details that other people would’ve ignored.

Finally, after nearly a year of looking, Kara finds Alex’s computer in a security deposit box under the alias Alice Liddell.

It takes her all night, but Kara manages to gain access to Alex’s documents. She finds file after file on Alex’s investigation into Jeremiah’s disappearance. Articles on similar disappearances all over the world. Some incidents are identical to Jeremiah’s, some with more of a trail. The victimology is all over the place, but in certain cases, there is a disturbing pattern.

A number of the disappearances occur in National City, and nearly all of them have one thing in common. They’ve all been patients or relatives of patients at the Luthor Family Hospital — a stroke patient and his fiancee, a woman in a car accident, a man with a gunshot wound, an old lady with Alzheimer's and her widow, even three children from the cancer ward and one of their mothers. Most of these people were deceased, but there must have been some reason Alex thought otherwise. And if she was right, then there is something very disturbing going on in the Luthor Family Hospital.

Kara keeps searching the files, and finds a certain devolution in Alex’s notes. Towards the end, she seemed more and more disorganized, her thoughts more and more disjointed. And Kara feels a terrible sense of guilt at not noticing what her sister was going through.

Throughout the files, she finds multiple references Alex made to something called the Matrix. She stumbles upon a mess of a pdf that she’d originally thought was gibberish, but upon closer inspection actually more closely resembles computer code. And in the middle of the unintelligible tangle of letters and symbols, she finds a question.

What is the Matrix?

Just as Kara is trying to make sense of the question, a new message alert appears in Alex’s inbox. Kara stares at the screen. It originated from Alex’s own email. Frowning, she clicks on the message, and her eyes widen as she reads.

I’m alive.

Kara springs forward so fast, she almost dislodges the laptop from her kitchen counter. She tries multiple times to reply to the message, but nothing happens. Kara growls, and almost as if the computer can sense her frustration, another message appears.

I’m alive and I’m out.

Kara’s brows furrow. What? What the hell?

The Matrix still has you, Kara.

Kara’s frown deepens and she looks around her, checks the computer. Is this some kind of prank?

I’m sorry I had to leave, but you can’t follow. Not until you’re ready.

Ready for what, Kara thinks.

Ready to give it all up. Ready to wake up. You told me once that you felt like everything since you woke up in the subway station has felt strange, like a dream. You were right, it is. And you’ll find me, if you’re ready to wake up.

Kara’s jaw drops in shock.

Follow the white rabbit.

The message flashes across the screen for a moment, then the monitor goes black. Kara snaps it shut and pushes it as far away from her as she can.

That — what was that? A-a trick? A hallucination brought on by the lack of sleep and her hyperfixation?

She could check it again, turn the laptop back on and click on the messages again — but suddenly Kara is gripped by fear, and denial feels more like a comfort.

She packs away the computer, stowing it under the desk where she can’t see it, and goes to bed. She doesn’t sleep until 3 AM.

But of course, Kara is no coward. She’s never been one to back down to her fears. In the morning, armed with a cup of Noonan’s coffee and a clearer mind, she opens the laptop again.

She doesn’t quite have the courage to check the messages yet, but she finds another article. This time, about the [head] of the Luthor Family Hospital, a woman named Lena Luthor.

It takes no time at all for her quick mind to make a connection, but it takes a while for the rest of her conscious brain to catch up.

Luthor. She’d heard that name before. In a voicemail, the only thing left of Jeremiah Danvers. “The Luthor girl got away again.”

Lena Luthor.

That can’t be a coincidence. Alex had been looking into their dad’s disappearance, and the Luthor name has already come up more than once, and now a female Luthor.

All the research she does on Lena Luthor comes up with next to nothing. Other than business articles and some papers in several scientific journals, there’s very little mention of the woman. So far, all Kara knows is that Lena Luthor is the CEO of one of the leading tech companies in the world, dedicated to providing accessible technology and communication devices to billions of people all over the globe — their new L-Phones are popping up everywhere. She’s also apparently a brilliant scientist and researcher, invested in scientific research to help prevent and cure diseases. She also owns and is directly involved in the running of the Luthor Family Hospital, a facility known for innovative and experimental medicine.

And for all of her work and accolades, there has never been a single photograph of this woman past the age of 6. Nothing. This woman’s image has never been recorded in any way, in any kind of media, in any event, in all the years that she has been running L-Corp. How is that even possible?

Now, Kara’s definitely suspicious.

Three days after the computer is found — plenty of time for thinking, but not too much time to do something stupid, she thinks — Cat makes her move.

She summons Kara to her office and delivers her ultimatum, in the form of an offer.

“Y- You think I have what it takes to be a reporter?”

“You’re an intelligent woman, Keira. But more than that, you can see things others can’t. You observe far more than people give you credit for. You could have a bright future here at Catco.”

Cat surveys her intently over her glasses. “It’s your choice. You can take the job, or you can keep wasting your life going down this rabbit hole.”

Cat gestures toward Kara’s messy desk, but again Kara’s quick mind gives her a nudge. That’s the third reference she’s heard in as many days. Rabbit hole. Alice. White rabbit.

Kara asks Cat for time to think about it, but really, she’s already made her decision. She uses her connect as Cat’s assistant to set up an appointment, introducing herself as Kara Danvers from Catco, writing an article about the Luthor Family Hospital.

The assistant confirms that Miss Luthor would be delighted to give Catco a glimpse into the facility to bring awareness of the work they do, and confirms the time.

When Kara arrives, she is directed to the children’s cancer center. When she sees the whimsical mural of a white rabbit hopping along a trail on the walls, she knows she’s at the right place.

Kara follows the mural until she reaches a room at the end of the hall. A soft feminine voice floats down the hallway and reaches Kara’s ears.

“To begin with, tell me, do you think that these men would have seen anything of themselves or of one another except the shadows cast from the fire on the wall of the cave that fronted them?

How could they, he said, if they were compelled to hold their heads unmoved through life?”

Kara walks closer, drawn to the sound. She stops just outside the door to what is clearly a child’s hospital room. A little girl in white pajamas and a colorful bonnet sits cross-legged in the middle of the bed, listening to the dark-haired woman sitting on the chair by her side. The woman’s back is turned to Kara, but she can see the book she’s reading from. Plato.

“By Zeus, I do not, said he.

Then in every way such prisoners would deem reality to be nothing else than the shadows of the artificial objects.”

“Quite inevitably.” The little girl on the bed quotes with a smile. Kara hears a soft, amused hum from the woman.

“Consider, then, what would be the manner of the release and healing from these bonds… When one was freed from his fetters and compelled to stand up suddenly and turn his head around… and lift up his eyes to the light, and in doing all this, felt pain…”

Kara sees the moment the reader realizes that she’s there. The woman’s head turns just the slightest, and Kara can see her sharp, elegant profile silhouetted in the light. She keeps reading, but at this point, they both know she’s aware of Kara’s presence. Kara continues to listen silently.

“What do you suppose would be his answer if someone told him that what he had seen before was all a cheat and an illusion… But that now, being nearer to reality and turned toward more real things, he saw more truly?”

Just then, the little girl’s eyes snap up to meet Kara’s, and big black eyes blink owlishly at her. “Miss Lena, we have a visitor.”

The woman finally turns, and Kara gets her first glimpse of Lena Luthor. Cut-glass green eyes are perceptive as they take Kara in, and a small smile plays on the corner of red lips.

“So we do, Zuri.”

She sets the book down on the bed beside the child and rises from her seat, a pale hand extended. "Kara Danvers, I presume?"

It takes Kara a second to reply, unable to take her eyes off the woman. There’s something arresting about her, something that could probably stop anyone in their tracks. Even the way she tips her head to survey Kara is fluid and mesmerizing.

Clearing her throat, Kara takes Lena Luthor’s proffered hand. “Yeah – uh, yes.”

The woman's smile grows. "I've been expecting you."

For a moment, the words make Kara's stomach flutter, then the 'duh' moment hits her. Of course she'd been expecting her, they had an appointment. Kara's face flushes red. "I've been looking forward to meeting you, Miss Luthor."

Green eyes gain a look of amusement and crinkle at the corners. Lena Luthor looks as if she has a secret, or like she’s in on a joke Kara doesn't know. "Not as much as I have, I'm sure."

Kara's brows furrow in confusion, but before she can ask the woman what she means, the Luthor bends down and kisses the top of the child's head, before heading out the door and gesturing for Kara to follow.

[[I just love the idea of Lena reading the Allegory of the Cave to the children like she did when she was a kid, as her way of preparing them, a way of telling them that yes, extraction will hurt, it won't be easy to accept the truth, but they will be free].

[Also in this AU, the extraction points used to be the pay phones like in the movie, except those got phased out once the machines figured out that’s what the resistance was using. So Lena developed the L-phones, and made it so one would always be easily accessible. That’s the work she does at L-Corp]]

After their tour of the hospital concludes, Lena watches Kara walk out through the double doors, throwing a friendly wave behind her. As soon as she's out of sight, she pulls out an L-phone.

"Well, she’s persistent, I'll give you that."

"Told you. Who do you think she got it from?��

“I see stubbornness runs in the family.” Lena hums in amusement.

A chuckle from the other end of the line. “You have no idea.”

"How close is she?"

Alex’s voice turns business-like. "Well, she’s made the connection to you, and Kelly’s seeing some sizeable fluctuations in the code, so I'd say she’s getting there. J’onn thinks she might be ready soon. He says she’s responding quickly for someone who hasn’t had as long to adjust. Sooner if you prepare her, probably.”

“That won’t be a problem.”

“Rhea,” Lena can hear the seething disdain Alex’s voice, and thinks her mentor is probably standing over Alex’s shoulder as they speak. “Would like me to remind you that the sooner we pull out my sister —“ Lena can almost see her glare at Rhea. “The sooner you can get back to the Daxam, and this can ‘all be over with’.”

Lena shakes her head. “I’m not pulling her out before she’s ready. The consequences could be disastrous.”

“Yeah? Try telling that to your Captain.”

They’re interrupted by an excited young voice. “Hi, Lena!”

“Mon-El?”

Alex snorts over the line. “Yeah, can you believe her? She brought the kid over just to get you to ‘speed things up’.”

“When are you coming back, Lena? I miss you! I snuck into the dock last week, but M’gann caught me. She said she’d teach me how to make shells if I promised not to go past the bridge again. And Imra asked if she could come with us the next time we go to the bridge to see the loaders, I told her yeah. That’s okay, right?”

Despite the seriousness of their situation, Lena can’t help but smile a bit at the young boy’s enthusiasm. “Of course she can. I’ll be back soon, Mon-El. Stay out of trouble, and do what your ranking officer says.”

“Okay, kid, you heard the lady. Go bother Brainy and Kelly at operations. It's about time you learn to read code anyway."

Lena can hear the boy grumbling in the background, but he obeys. As soon as he's out of earshot, Lena goes back to business.

“Start a trace for Kara's pod location, and standby. Be ready to plug in when I tell you to.”

"Copy. J’onn’s gonna try to get us as close as he can, but it's the fields. We can never be too careful. And Lena…? Try to make it easy for her."

Alex’s voice softens at her request, her concern for her sister evident in every word, and Lena understands. Just as Alex understands that there is nothing easy about the truth Kara will have to see.

"I'll do what I can."

This is not the last time Kara pays her a visit.

Under the guise of her article, Kara returns to Lena again. And again.

The first time she comes over under the guise of an interview, she stays until lunch. And then takes Lena to lunch, partly to make up for ruining her schedule, and partly because the CEO confesses that she often forgets to eat throughout the day.

They eat at Kara’s favorite lunch spot, Noonan’s, where Kara is aghast to learn that Lena has never tried any of their desserts despite the café being less than a block away from L-Corp. They end up trying nearly every dessert on the menu. Or at least Lena samples a little bit of everything, and Kara finishes it all off.

They part, with some reluctance on Kara’s end, three hours past Kara’s allotted time, but Lena assures her that it was worth clearing her schedule, considering how much she enjoyed Kara’s company.

It’s only after she’s no longer in Lena’s presence that Kara realizes she’d all but forgotten about her purpose for coming, which was to interrogate her about the suspicious disappearances at the Luthor Family Hospital, and about Lena’s possible involvement in Alex’s own disappearance.

She returns, this time with the flimsy excuse of bringing Lena lunch now that she knows the CEO won’t remember it herself. Lena suggests they go out to the nearby city park to enjoy her break there.

Lena leads her to a bench on a hill and they sit there quietly, enjoying their view of the park. Lena gives Kara a shy smile. “I like to come out here sometimes. When everything becomes… too much. Sometimes, everything around me just feels so wrong and… fake. Especially with what I do. It feels like none of it, none of this is real.”

Kara turns to look at her fully, a crinkle in her forehead, and Lena wonders if she's pushing it. “What do you mean?”

“Have you ever had that feeling where… you’re not sure if you’re dreaming or awake? And you’re not quite sure if anything around you is real or not?”

Lena chances a look at the other woman. Kara is looking back at her, eyes wide and intent. It takes a moment, one long moment where Kara is just staring at her, as if trying to puzzle her out. Then she nods.

“Yeah. All time.”

“That’s how I used to feel.” Lena holds her gaze, steady green meeting wondering blue. Kara is so close right now, so close that Lena could tell her. How easy it would be if Lena could convey the truth just by looking into Kara’s eyes. But she’s not ready yet. Lena drops her gaze with a soft laugh.

“I guess I was just thinking, if none of this is real, then none of my problems there would be real, either.” She gestures back at L-Corp with a wry smile.

Kara takes the bit, and her smile softens, blue gaze losing some of its intensity.

Kara fails her mission again that time. And the next. And the next. It feels as if she forgets her problems when she’s with Lena. For the first time in a long time, it doesn’t feel like she’s out of place. The world doesn’t feel so wrong when she’s with Lena, or at least, it doesn’t bother Kara as much. She feels like… herself.

As for Lena, she knows they’re running out of time, and that the agents will catch wind of them soon. Especially since Kara is on the precipice of the truth.

But for the first time, Lena finds herself delaying the inevitable. It’s unlike her — the Potential who has spent her whole life freeing as many minds from the Matrix as she can; the second-highest ranking officer and chief engineer of the Daxam, who seizes every situation with a level head and a calm command.

“What are you doing, Lena?”

Rhea’s voice is an imperious snap, even over the line. “You have never spent this long in the Matrix since I pulled you out. You’re putting yourself in danger for a simple extraction. It shouldn’t be taking this long.”

“No extraction is ever simple. I told you, she’s not ready.”

“I know you and that Oracle—” the word is practically a hiss in her mentor’s mouth. “—think that this woman is a Potential, but if she really were that special, she would’ve been ready a long time ago. You were ready long before I found you.”

“This is different—“

“Why? Because you’re sweet on her?”

Lena’s eyes narrow. “You know that’s not why.”

As soon as Lena’s tone gains an authoritative edge, Rhea softens. “I know, my dear. But you know how I worry about you being plugged in for so long with… Lex out there. Besides, you have been neglecting your duties on the ship. Your crew needs you, Mon-El needs you. Come back home, Lena.”

Lena relents. “I will. Soon.”

But ending her time with Kara is easier said than done.

It may be selfish, but around Kara, Lena feels lighter. Her responsibilities don’t weigh as much, and the bleakness of war vanishes in the company of someone so earnest and warm and hopeful. Kara is… resilient. In spite of all that she’s been through, she remains strong, determined, and most incredible of all, kind.

Lena watches Kara with the children — the youngest Potentials, who see the wrongness of the world around them, but aren’t ready yet to be pulled out — and watches her pull gap-toothed smiles and belly laughs out of even the most solemn ones.

She extends this kindness, even to Lena — over daily reminders to eat and take care of herself, to lunch dates she tags Lena along to because she thinks Lena will forget to eat otherwise.

Once, after a successful extraction of one of Lena’s children, a somber Kara brings a small bouquet of plumerias to the little girl’s empty room. She finds Lena sitting next to the child’s empty bed.

“I’m so sorry.” Kara plucks a single plumeria from the bouquet, before setting the flowers on the girl’s pillow.

Lena shakes her head, a serene smile on her face. “Don’t be. She’s free. She’s in a better place now.”

Kara, not understanding her words, gives her a sad smile. She takes Lena’s hand and presses the single plumeria into her fingers. “I’m sure she is.”

Every day, Lena fails to tell Kara the truth, wanting to prolong their time together. And most of all, wanting to spare Kara for just a little longer. Lena can’t bear the thought of being another person who adds to everything Kara’s gone through, of being the reason why that smile dims a little more, or worse, never appears again at all.

Her hesitation nearly costs them everything.

#supercorp #supergirl #katie mcgrath #lena luthor #melissa benoist #kara danvers #me trying to write #I've been working on this thing all weekend ugh. i just wanna yeet it out there #there's more if anyone wants it #also in case it’s not clear the kid at the end of the moodboard is young Mon-El #i should sleep. ugh. i so sleepy #i forgot brainy in the moodboard *facepalm #oh well too late to add himj #gotta sleep. gotta sleep #fuckin tumblr took away all my formatting ugh #alex danvers #cat grant #nia nal