For the fic game: Kara and Lena meet in a book store as they're about to pick the same book. It's the last one so they kind of fight over it, each trying to prove why the book is important to them
(Also on ao3.)
Kara doesn’t recognize her at first. She’s wearing jeans, for one, and it’s not as if Kara is checking her out, per se, but she’d be a liar if she said she isn’t a tiny bit mortified when she realizes the backside she’s been admiring belongs to none other than Lena Luthor, the tech mogul, philanthropist and all around human marvel who Kara is no longer allowed to talk about to her sister, for some reason. She’s just. Here, in the bookstore around the corner from Kara’s office, browsing the stacks as if that’s a thing people still do even when they could probably afford to, like. Buy up Amazon, or something.
Kara makes an honest effort to stop ogling Lena’s ass in favor of figuring out whether she should say something to her. She hangs back, reaching to adjust her glasses before becoming worried her nervous fingers may knock them down and accidentally reveal more than just the fact that Lena Luthor’s butt looks terrific in jeans. She changes her mind, hastily shoving her hand in her pocket instead, but not before she thwacks it into an inconveniently located display, sending a selection of Dummies guides flying in every direction.
Kara is already scrambling to pick them up by the time the sound of it reaches Lena’s ears, already on her knees and flustered by the time Lena turns around.
“Oh!” Lena says, her eyes wide and startled. She’s wearing a pair of glasses herself, huge and heavy-rimmed. “Oh!” she says again, eyelashes fluttering, and then, “I know you.”
And she doesn’t, see, that’s the thing. Not really. Kara has only met Lena three times, and at least two of them were under less-than-ideal circumstances. Kara wouldn’t blame Lena if she didn’t remember her at all, especially when she technically wasn’t even Kara during the second one of those meetings, when she had plucked Lena’s wobbling chopper from a surprisingly unfriendly sky.
(Lena today looks lovelier even than she had looked during that hectic, disheveled encounter, which, in spite of the fact that Lena had been sort of busy surviving her own attempted murder, had been rather extraordinary, in Kara’s opinion. Alex was somewhat less impressed, even after the third time Kara patiently explained it to her.)
Kara tries to give Lena a smile that’s as intelligent and put-together as she can manage under the current circumstances. “Yeah, um.” She rises to her feet, keeping her fingers carefully folded around the books she’s retrieved from the floor. “It’s Kara—”
“Kara Danvers,” Lena finishes with a small, quizzical smile. “Of Catco magazine. Of course.”
And Kara can’t for the life of her figure out why it’s so ridiculously flattering to have this amazing woman place her immediately like this, or why her own name sounds so much prettier when it’s spoken with that peculiar, impeccable diction Lena Luthor has, rolling from lips that are free of the red tint Kara has become accustomed to seeing. This is out-of-office Lena Luthor, Kara realizes. A Saturday morning Lena Luthor, who loiters, perhaps even moseys, who lingers in bookstore aisles long enough to make even the densest version of Kara Zor-El realize (eventually) that she is, in fact, blocking her access to the very section Kara had come here for.
It’s also a Lena Luthor who smiles at her with genuine kindness. It crinkles the skin at the corners of Lena’s eyes just slightly, just an utterly captivating smidge. “That’s quite a selection,” she tells Kara, her voice warm with humor.
Kara blinks at her a few times, and then asks, elegantly, “What?”
Lena gives the books in Kara’s strangling grip a sharply amused glance. Dad’s Guide to Pregnancy for Dummies, Kara discovers when she follows Lena’s gaze, and also Ukulele Exercises, Catholicism, and, perhaps most incriminatingly, Raising Goats. For Dummies, naturally.
“Well,” Kara says. “That certainly paints a picture.”
Lena is grinning, now. “It looks like you have quite the weekend ahead of you.”
Kara rallies. “Don’t judge,” she chides with a cordial glare. “We all have our own ways to relax and unwind.”
“We do.” Lena’s laugh is melodious. “However I’d argue most of them don’t involve siring baby goats.”
“You would say that,” Kara improvises with a surreptitious look at Lena’s shopping basket, “But I bet your choices are actually more unconventional than mine.”
When Lena’s cheeks promptly flush a dusky pink, Kara fights the urge to lower her glasses a little and get a closer look — because she’s almost sure that, tucked underneath To Paradise and The Song of Achilles, she just spotted a copy of the very book Kara herself came here to buy.
The very, very sexy, very queer book Kara came here to buy.
(It’s for research.)
(Kara is interviewing the author on Monday.)
(The fact that Kara is also a huge fan of her work is irrelevant.)
Lena deflects Kara’s remark after only a moment’s hesitation. “Kara Danvers,” she drawls, smoothly placing her body between Kara and her intended purchases, “reporter for Catco magazine.” Kara gulps when Lena aims a single severe eyebrow at her, because this woman’s casual nudge a month ago accounts for an easy ninety percent of the reason Kara now holds that position, and she hadn’t held it last time they spoke. Lena chides, sounding scandalized, “Are you asking me about my weekend plans?”
“No!” Kara shouts. “I would never be so forward, or cross that— I mean. Journalistic integrity is—” She flails, just a little, just for a minute or so, and then she blurts, “Is that a copy of T. Mercer’s Tickled Ink I saw in your basket?”
Lena goes very still, her former fluster hidden away behind a flawless mask of cool composure. A flutter of movement in the muscle at the hinge of her jaw is the only indication she hasn’t gone full Nora Fries. This is objectively terrible. Kara has terrified a perfectly adorable Saturday morning Lena Luthor, and now she has anxiety.
“‘Cause I’m, um,” Kara attempts. She takes a breath. Anything to defrost Lena Luthor, maybe make her smile at her again. “I’m. Actually here for that one, myself.”
Lena’s eyes focus sharply, but her shoulders also ease, like, a millimeter, maybe even a millimeter and a half. “I’m sorry,” she says, and Kara’s already bursting forth to assure her she’s the one who should be apologizing when Lena finishes, flinching, “I think I got the last copy they had.”
Which is, hmm. Inconvenient, Kara wants to file it away as, but in truth it’s a little bit more than that. Because there’s the interview, on Monday. And this is the first in-person interview the author has ever agreed to, after countless emails and under strict order of secrecy regarding her real-life identity, and Kara already feels a kinship with her because of that. And Kara’s read her book, obviously, read all of them, the day they came out in fact, but she doesn’t have a physical copy of this latest one yet, and she’d really like to have the author sign it, maybe even add a little dedication saying Kara is her most persistent fan or something like that.
“Oh,” Kara says.
It gets Lena to soften her posture again, at least. “Are you—” Lena hesitates, seems to need a moment to muster her resolve. “Are you familiar with her work?”
Kara needs a moment too, mainly to stop being distracted by the observation that one of Lena’s eyes seems to be slightly less green than the other so she can choose her next move wisely. Kara can’t tell her the truth, she decides — if she gives away how much she loves the author, she ruins her chances of getting a physical copy before the interview.
Also Lena may start doubting her journalistic integrity, which, gosh. Kara can’t even stand the thought.
“Yeah,” she says. Lena’s eyebrows rise in question. Not good enough. “I mean, a little?” Kara amends. She sends up a prayer for forgiveness and closes her eyes. “It’s pretty run-of-the-mill escapist fodder, I guess.”
Lena’s eyes also shutter, behind long, thick lashes. “Oh,” she says. “Right.” They’re a deep inky black, even without her usual makeup. They form a pretty neat contrast with, you know, with the delicate pallor of her cheeks. She gives Kara a stiff little smile. “More of a guilty pleasure, then.”
“Sure,” Kara says with a miserable sigh, “Her romance arcs are actually a little… trite, you know?” Kara presses her lips together in an effort to keep her bottom lip from wobbling. Okay, that actually hurt to say.
Lena’s hum is unexpectedly shrill. “Trite,” she echoes, the color returning to her cheeks, and good — Kara almost has her where she needs her. Bolstered by Lena’s obvious distaste, Kara breathes out a final volley.
“Yeah,” she cries, “plus,” she lies, “the characters are—” just say it “one-dimensional, their motivations completely mystifying and ever-changing.” Lena is practically scowling now, fortifying Kara’s breaking heart with hope her betrayal will be worth it, in the end. “It’s also pretty obvious she has no idea how to write a proper ending,” Kara finishes with a whimper, convinced she’s stuck the landing.
Lena folds her arms in front of her body, the gesture only mildly impeded by the shopping basket looped around her wrist. “You sure seem familiar with her work,” she says. “For someone who claims to hate it so much.”
Kara freezes. “Hmm?”
Lena narrows her eyes at her.
Kara blows out a slow breath through her mouth and sniffs, her eyes still dripping. “You don’t want that book,” she pouts in a childish last-ditch effort.
Lena’s voice is every bit the CEO Kara had first faced safely ensconced in her cousin’s shadow. “And why is that?”
“It’s, well—” Kara clears the remaining phlegm from her throat. “It’s not… for you. Trust me.”
Lena huffs out a disbelieving laugh. “You barely know me.”
“Well.” Kara takes a breath, searching the ceiling for her next clue. Gotcha! “I know you’re not gay.”
Lena’s mouth and eyebrows all curve in different directions, a face journey so fascinating Kara just stares at it for a couple of beats. Her features eventually settle in an expression that reads as— comical derision? Kara isn’t sure, it’s so complex. Lena Luthor is a very complex woman. “I mean.” Kara panics. “Are you?”
Lena opens her mouth and blinks a few times before actual words come out. “I suppose that depends,” she finally says.
Kara’s terrified to ask, but also she absolutely has to know the answer. “On what?”
There’s that severe eyebrow again. “On whether we’re on the record yet,” Lena says simply.
Kara’s stomach lurches. “No,” she says. “Listen.” She tugs at her collar, suddenly uncomfortably aware of the supersuit beneath her button-down. “I’m here on my day off,” she assures her. “I’m not— and. ‘Yet?’ We don’t have, like, anything scheduled, or—”
“Don’t we?” Lena interrupts her tailspin. Kara watches her, uncomprehending, as Lena fishes the copy of Tickled Ink from her shopping basket before setting it gently down on the floor. “Can I borrow that pen?” She gestures elegant fingers at Kara’s breast pocket and the pen is in Lena’s hand before Kara remembers she’s not supposed to use superspeed when she’s in her civvies.
Lena blinks between Kara’s position a respectful couple of feet away and the pen in her hand for a couple of seconds before she starts flicking graceful strokes of ink onto the title page. “Seems like we both have some introductions to make,” she muses, and then she angles the book so Kara can read what she’s written.
Kara stares at the inscription.
Tess Mercer, it says, in a pleasing, loopy script, echoing the name of the author printed just below it. And above, To my dear friend and most oblivious fan,
“Should I make it out to Kara Danvers?” Lena asks, eyeing the collar of Kara’s shirt where Kara has been tugging at it. “Or to Supergirl?”
-
When they eventually sit down for that interview two days later, opting for lunch at a cozy café, Lena’s fingers find Kara’s own when she discloses she’d been meaning to buy the book for Kara all along, reminding Kara one of her emails had mentioned she owned only a digital copy.
“I’ve always preferred a good paperback, myself,” Lena tells Kara with a wolfish grin, sliding a wrapped gift across the table between them.
“For me?” Kara asks, already blushing under Lena’s fixed attention and the color of her voice.
“Oh yes,” Lena croons.
Kara swallows when she tears the paper to reveal a lurid yellow cover.
Flirting is the title. For Dummies.
“Figured it might come in handy,” Lena says before taking a big, toothy bite. “You know." She winks. "For your big interview.”
50 dialogue prompt. Supercorp 11 "we could get arrested for this" please
11 for supercorp?
“We could get arrested for this.”
---
“We could get arrested for this.”
Kara eyes the security camera on the wall, knows exactly what it must look like they’re doing. Well, they are technically breaking and entering, without the breaking part anyway.
“You agreed to help,” Kara replies, wondering if in fact they could be arrested for this. She just hopes that if they do, it’s Maggie that arrests them.
“I did,” Alex replies. “But I also thought you had a key to Lena’s apartment, I didn’t think we’d be breaking in.”
Kara should be glad her girlfriend keeps all her windows and doors locked, but right now she wishes for just one way she could sneak in without breaking anything, which is why they’re picking the lock to the front door.
“I lost the key, okay? I’m sorry, I’ve told you that already. Now can you just help me so we can get in, set up, and leave before Lena gets home?”
“Kara?”
Kara startles, both Danvers turning to find Lena stepping off the elevator. If she hadn’t been so focused on this stupid lock, maybe she would’ve heard her.
“Lena…uhhh…what are you doing here?”
Lena tilts an eyebrow. “I could ask you the same thing. I got a rather concerned call from my security saying two women were trying to break into my apartment, I had to stop them from calling the police.”
“No breaking going on here, we’re picking the lock specifically to avoid breaking anything.” Kara deflates when Lena’s expression doesn’t change, there’s really no point in trying to get out of this, Lena’s going to figure it out anyway. “I lost my key.”
“And why did you need your key?”
Kara sighs. “It was meant to be a surprise. After your birthday dinner tonight, I was going to bring you back here, where everyone would be waiting to surprise you. You said you’d never had a surprise party or even a real birthday party before, so I wanted to do something special for you. We were going to set everything up now so it would be ready for tonight. I’m sorry.”
“Come here,” Lena says, opening her arms towards Kara. This definitely isn’t the reaction Kara had expected. Kara melts into Lena’s embrace anyway. “The only thing you need to be sorry about is losing my apartment key. The rest,” Lena pulls away from the hug, but doesn’t let Kara go just yet. “Thank you, for going to all this trouble for me, even though you didn’t have to.”
“I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. You deserve everything, Lena Luthor, and I want to give it all to you.”
“Are you just trying to sweet-talk me so I forget the fact you were trying to break into my apartment?”
Kara laughs. “Is it working?” She’s a little sad she can’t surprise Lena with a party tonight but it doesn’t mean they still can’t have said party.
“Maybe.”
Kara tilts forward, her lips brushing Lena’s. “Good.”
Kara makes to pull away but Lena’s having none of that, capturing Kara’s lips in a proper kiss.
“Gross,” Alex mutters in the background, completely forgotten by both women. “I didn’t need to see that.”
You made very good points about what they did with James' character. How do you think they could have written him differently from s2 onwards?
the most general answer is honestly just “keep true to his S1 characterization” but like, for real.
i think one of the most egregious moves that the show committed against him was handing him CatCo and then hollowing out and abandoning everything CatCo stood for within the narrative of the series and could’ve potentially meant for James. like S1 repeatedly made a point of not only establishing CatCo as a media entity that could literally sway public opinion in National City, but making it very clear what it meant for a woman to be in charge of it. S2 gave James, a black man, a decorated photojournalist with a decade-long career seeking to establish his own legacy outside of his Super pal, command of this same company, and then practically froze him out of any storylines involving the editorial or journalistic workings of CatCo (which was basically rebrading itself at the time, to boot). this is the same season where minority issues, in a shoddy allegory as they were, came to the fore, where half of Kara’s storyline was intertwined with a high-profile businesswoman’s own battle with the public eye and specifically with media portrayals, and James is just left sort of standing through it all. like that was atrocious to me. he should’ve been given the chance to drive it all, battle it out with Snapper, guide Kara through her own first steps as a journo, affect meaningful change through the power of the press, as S4 so wanted to tout.
i don’t know where i would take him in S3 or S4 bc so much depends on how the other storylines are shaped, how the other characters interact, etc. i don’t think Guardian was the best use of anyone’s efforts and i so fervently hoped the show would fucking recognize this back in S2 where Winn was left yelling “That is a hero without a suit!”. also like, obviously not have him cozy up with nazis lmao. vile-ass storyline. maybe he could’ve gone back “into action” and gone actually undercover to document and expose AL/Lex’s dealings later on.
& i would certainly not want him and Kara to break up like that – if the show didn’t want to commit to what they already had, they still should’ve gone on a few happy dates, and later realized that it wouldn’t work there and then with their new workplace dynamics and responsibilities. i would’ve wanted him to stay as a much closer friend of Kara’s than he was allowed to be through S3/S4, he should’ve definitely been bonding more with Nia through the back half of S4.
it’s past midnight and this is not coherent at all but! yeah
Hi. I discovered today that fake mariage au had a part 2, 3 and 4 and would have more in the future! It made my day! This is exactly the kind of short fic I didn't expect to read more of after part 1 but I'm thrilled there's more. I really love your take on it, especially the name part that made me realize Kara's last name was actually her father's name ( because Alura is called Zor-El too I thought it was just a last name and Zor had been added to differenciate from Jor-El's side of the family)
Hi! I didn’t expect there to be more after part 1 either, but here we are! I’m so glad to hear you’re enjoying it :)
It seems Kryptonian women take the last name of the father or the husband, but I’m sure someone better versed in DC could say more. I think it’s an interesting detail though, because so often writers in the fandom casually mention that same sex attraction isn’t a big deal for Kara because it wasn’t a big deal on Krypton, but in a culture whose traditions are so rooted in patriarchy I feel like it could be more taboo there than it is here. It would be intriguing to write about Kara figuring out her sexuality and/or gender expression in that context (and let’s not forget the added pressure of needing to blend in on Earth) but I suspect a tumblr ficlet is not the place. Someday tho! Or if such a fic already exists, pleaaase link me.
Prompt: Barry and Kara meet to spend some quality friends time somewhere together. Far away from their heroes' duties and other Superfriends. It used to be an annual thing they never told anyone about, now post crisis it's a monthly thing.
“This is so much easier now that we’re both on the same Earth.”
“I know, right?” Kara agrees. “I’m glad we can do this more often now. It’s nice.”
“It is,” Barry agrees. “Just being able to relax and hang out is nice. And it’s not always possible with my friends, you know. We’re always kinda on duty.”
“Oh, tell me about it,” Kara groans. “I’m always on duty when I’m home. But we’re not on duty now, so we shouldn’t even be talking about it. How’s Iris?”
“Iris is doing well,” Barry replies, nodding with a smile. “I think she’s actually going to see about doing an article together with Lois, believe it or not. They hit it off during the Crisis.”
“You mean Iris has a new favorite Superman-affiliated female journalist?” Kara asks, pressing her hands to her chest in faux offense.
Barry laughs. “Don’t worry, Iris can be friends with both of you.”
“It’s not a matter of just being friends, Barry, it’s a matter of being the favorite,” Kara corrects. “But I guess Lois can have this, as long as I’m your favorite.”
“I have known you the longest,” Barry agrees. “And you are kind of becoming the go-to journalist for superhero stuff. I mean, Iris writes about me, and Lois and Clark write about Superman, but I saw the article you wrote about Kate.”
“Yeah,” Kara agrees, a little bashful, “people seemed to like that.”
“It was a great article,” Barry replies. “But before we get too into work stuff, do you want to talk about that, or do you just want to talk about other stuff?”
“I’ve got enough of work stuff at work,” Kara admits. “Let’s talk about other stuff. I’ve actually got a really important question I’ve been meaning to ask.”
“Do you?” Barry asks. “What is it?”
“Is that Italian place in Central City still open? The really good one?”
I saw your post a few days ago about art you want to show here that you spent time on but that isn't portfolio art material and how that irks you and you wouldn't change that. I feel you honestly.
Sometimes when people ask me to show them my art, I realize I only got fanart to show and I know most people judge fanart, look down on it. I always for a few seconds wish I had original art to show, but then I remind myself how much I love drawing fanart and how this art form pushed me to learn more about drawing, colors, and different mediums.
Draw what you enjoy drawing. Maybe one day you'll have more portfolio pieces or maybe you'll continue drawing other stuff, what's important is that you enjoy it.
(I really love your Supergirl/Supercorp arts by the way, can we expect more of these?)
Thank you. For sure, I hear you.
I don't really share that I do fanart with people until I very much trust them, and even then, maybe not lol.
The issue that brought that post up is that I am actively making a professional portfolio to try to get jobs. So kind of need pieces now, haha. And it's like, damn, my good, recent stuff is unshare-able. (According to my own personal terms - the industry has many different opinions on fanart and I'm not saying that it is in and of itself unprofessional). However this conundrum amongst many other things is making me pause and reflect that it might be wiser to preserve my art (fanart or otherwise) for non-professional capacities. I don't know yet; this is developing.
But I hear you in that I can definitely just enjoy drawing what I'm drawing regardless. And you're right, we've grown hugely as artists just by doing. It's been a huge positive, overall. I just like to complain :P
(Thank you very much. Yes! I still love them, and intend to do more. But on account of the above, my creative energy has been going largely elsewhere for a bit. I have been sidetracked by Rizzles, and even then haven't made much, but I have things I want to make for sg/sc too.)
Hi, I was wondering if you were planning a Sam Arias week for 2021? I remembered last year Sam Week was in february so..
We hadn’t planned on one this year! The reason we got so involved last year was because of the 100th episode and Sam being back for that. If we do plan another, it won’t be for a while- all of us have been super busy this year and kind of struggling with creativity due to COVID.
Sorry!
