Mask

Notes: Find me on Tumblr at spoopercorp and on AO3 as Local_Asshole.

Summary: Song fic. Takes place after the arrest of the leader of Cadmus. Mask by Niykee Heaton.

The aftermath of the arrest of Lillian Luthor was a blur of inquiries from police, flashing lights, clicking cameras from paparazzi, and several members of the press forcing personally invasive questions at the criminal's daughter.

Lena was, as expected, keeping a calm and elegant exterior, her demeanor never failing to exude regal confidence in its business-like gait.

Supergirl was dismayed by the fact the reporters were hounding her friend for information when it was clear that she was already going through a rough time, even before her mother was exposed as the head of a radical anti-alien organization; not to mention they were hell-bent on extinguishing any traces of extra-terrestrials from Earth.

What was surprising was that Kara was more bothered by them than Lena was.

Her stride was hasty, but still maintained some shreds of dignity from the embarrassment of yet another one of her family member's arrest.

She hid her shame well. Exquisitely so.

The curious people trailing behind Lena all stopped when she turned to glower at them, biting her lip back to refrain from growling.

They suffered under her glare for several seconds before dispersing, hoping that the Luthor would not go psychopathic on them.

Lena narrowed her eyes before shifting and walking away from the scene.

Kara saw her back turn and took a step in her direction, "Hey!"

The woman turned to the side, giving National City's beloved hero a cold look before continuing her way.

As Supergirl was about to give chase, she halted when J'onn gripped her shoulder, pulling her back.

He nodded his head towards the government officials, "We've got to clear some stuff and clean this place up before you do anything else. Protocol, Supergirl."

The blonde nodded reluctantly and took one last look at Lena before her figure disappeared in the darkness along with her silhouette.

Went a long way home.

Pretty little thing shouldn't walk alone.

The Luthor finally arrived to L-Corp, the majority of her staff left due to how late it was, and she sighed with relief, making her way towards her office.

Her legs ached from the distance she treaded from the missile incident to her company, discarding her outerwear on the floor and swiping an extremely strong liquor from her cabinet, taking a huge gulp straight out of the bottle.

Lena's phone buzzed, vibrating in her coat's pocket, which she lifted from the ground, retrieving the hand-held device.

It was a missed call from Kara. The third one in the span of five minutes, where she had been so preoccupied with her beverage she had failed to notice.

A text popped up in her notification menu.

[Kara Danvers]: Are you all right? I heard what happened tonight, Supergirl told me.

The moment Lena decided to ignore the message, another popped up.

[Kara Danvers]: I was wondering how you were handling the situation, if you needed anything from me, you know?

A minute later and she sent another.

[Kara Danvers]: I'm worried about you, please let me know that you're okay.

It went unanswered.

I just wanted to call and let you know,

I miss you so.

Shouldn't have let you go.

Apparently, time flew by much faster than Lena had calculated as it was already near midnight, and she had gotten to L-Corp an hour ago, though it had felt like several minutes.

She was outside on her balcony, sitting on the rails and looking down at the dangerous distance from the top floor of her building to the ground of National City.

The Luthor shed a single tear, let it drop, watched as the clear shine the moonlight gave it fade away as it got farther.

At that moment, Kara rushed into the room, but paused, her mouth agape as she took in the appalling scene in front of her.

Papers were scattered, there was a bottle of empty liquor, the desk, the chair, the sofa, they were all flipped over due to the Luthor's anger.

What terrified the blonde the most was seeing her friend sitting on the edge of certain death.

Well, not certain anymore now that Kara was there.

"Lena…" she said cautiously, taking tentative steps towards her.

"What are you doing here?" the C.E.O. nearly snarled, but failed to do so in her inebriated state.

"I-I wanted to check up on you, I was worried something happened. You didn't answer my calls or messages."

"I chose not to answer them," she corrected, stumbling onto the safety of her office floor, much to Kara's relief.

She wobbled her way into the light, nearly tripping over until a pair of strong arms caught her.

Lena glanced up, her expression contorting into one mixed of hate, anger, confusion, and hurt.

She roughly pushed away the blonde, "Get off of me!"

It was Kara's turn to take on a hurt expression, momentarily looking at the floor to hide it, "I'm sorry…"

When she focused her eyes back on her friend, it was the moment where she really took her in.

Lena had a formal, white dress shirt, half of it untucked from her sweatpants, which Kara had assumed was recently adorned. Her hair was falling out of its messy bun and her blood red lipstick was smudged, which Kara had again assumed was due to her aggressive intake of alcohol.

The blonde's eyes were somber at the hideously beautiful sight.

Could've loved your worse.

Lena narrowed her eyes, voice cold and sharp, forcing herself not to jumble her words, "What do you want? An interview?" she chuckled darkly, gesturing at her office's and her own physical state, "As you can see, I'm not really prepared, nor am I willing to actually accept one."

"I – no!" Kara protested, then winced at the loudness of her own voice and quieted, "No… I…I said I came to check on you."

"You're not obligated to do that."

"I know, but…" the blonde took a hesitant step closer, reaching her hand out.

Lena swiftly moved back and the arm immediately retracted.

Kara dropped it to her side, frowning, "I'm your friend, I care about you, I want to know that you're okay."

"You can drop the act," Lena growled, "We both know you pretended to do so just to get some information about my mother."

The blonde flinched at the words, the partial truth in them stinging, "I…"

Her voice trailed off.

The Luthor expected her to make excuses to defend herself.

"You're partly right," Kara squeaked.

At this, Lena's eyes slightly widened and her composure almost crumbled.

The blonde took a deep, shaky breath, "I did exploit our friendship to get information about your mother when I should've told you outright, not hidden my intentions from you, not broken the trust between us."

"Now it's too late, isn't it?" the Luthor replied bitterly, "Voicing regret and remorse is of no use in this world anymore, especially for people like me."

"You're not like them," Kara countered, confident.

The billionaire rolled her eyes, "Stop playing games, I know you don't trust me. I'm a Luthor after all, right?"

"You're not a machine, Lena. You're not invincible," the blonde raised her voice, "What you did was so reckless! You could've gotten yourself killed!"

"My death won't harm anyone, it'll only do good," the woman remarked, taking three more gulps from her drink.

Kara snatched it away, "You breathe, you bleed, you have a beating heart, Lena! You're human!" she took another step closer until they could feel one another's breaths, "You don't have to act cold, don't lock everything up inside; you can smile, you can be vulnerable, you can shed tears."

"'Human', I'll take off my mask if you take off yours," Lena chuckled mockingly, her voice cracking, wavering more and more, "I'm not going to cry, but it fucking hurts," her breath shook, "Tell me, what's it worth? Humanity I mean. Let's set it on fire and watch it burn."

The Luthor found herself suddenly engulfed in heat, warm and comforting.

Her eyes widened in shock as she realized that Kara had embraced her into a hug.

As hard as Lena tried to hold back in the tears, they came pouring out as the floodgates released.

She felt as if she was crumbling, shattering into a million pieces.

But no, Kara refused to let her do that.

Not alone.

If Lena was falling, she would gladly follow.

The force of Kara's care and love held those remnants together.

The Luthor collapsed onto the floor in body-wracking sobs as she continued to be held in her friend's arms.

The only one in National City.

Her only true friend.

That she had grown to love.

Much time had passed until her cries dwindled into pained whimpers, still cradled in Kara's arms and tucked under the crook of her neck.

Lena barely registered the fact that they atmosphere around them had somehow lightened.

Then she realized that they were flying.

Before she could scream in fear, a melodic voice soothed her nerves, "Hey, it's okay, I've got you."

The Luthor gazed up at her savior, whose face was backlit by the moon's gentle light.

She knew Kara was Supergirl long before this revelation, and the blonde knew that she knew as well, though it was Kara's to be told and she never felt ready to disclose the 'secret'.

"Why?" Lena asked.

The Kryptonian grinned, her sea blue eyes boring straight into deep green ones, "You took off your mask, so I took off mine."

Been away too many days.

All I can say is…

The Luthor felt them touch the ground, recognizing her home.

Then she looked at Kara, beaming her scintillating smile down at her, illuminated by the synthetic light outside of her home.

Lena tilted her head back down, relaxing in her arms as National City's hero strode towards her house's entrance.

"I hope you stay…" she whispered quietly, aware that the alien's super hearing would be able to pick it up easily.

"I will," Kara promised.

Lena smiled.

Notes: Constructive criticism appreciated.