A/N: So I wanted to give this one more read through before I posted it but it turns out I actually can't be bothered so sorry for any mistakes and here it is
Two minutes was actually three minutes and they passed like treacle as curiosity ate away at Lena's whirring brain but eventually she found herself standing outside...
"An arcade?"
"Yes, but no," Kara replied, which did little to alleviate Lena's confusion. "Inside."
Lena had never actually stepped foot in an arcade before and it was a sensory experience that she wasn't prepared for. When the CEO followed Kara into the building, she found herself assaulted by a virtual cacophony of bings and bongs, dings and beeps, honks and groans, and cheers and chatter. Her head swivelled from side to side, taking in the sights and sounds and smells of so many (primarily male) youth engrossed in gaming while Kara abandoned her near the door to go purchase a mystery ticket from the bored-looking student at the till.
It was actually fascinating, Lena thought, as she trailed behind the Kryptonian who was now marching purposefully to the back of the room. Kara then pushed through a door which took them to a far more subdued area with the entrance to a small bowling alley on the left and on the right...
"Smash Palace?"
The words blinked at Lena on a gaudy neon sign, clearly old or poorly maintained if the lack of light in the M was anything to go by.
"Yup," Kara confirmed, confidently grabbing Lena's hand to pull the befuddled CEO inside the slightly rundown space. Lena's eyes scanned along the rows of plates and other crockery that lined the back wall as she put two and two together even before the reporter launched into her explanation.
"Alex used to bring me here before I was Supergirl," Kara whispered conspiratorially, leaning close to the CEO's ear and looking around furtively as though someone might overhear her. "Breaking things helped me manage my strength when I was frustrated."
"You're good at breaking things," Lena replied after Kara had dropped her hand to feed the tickets into what appeared to be a ball machine and the reporter released some kind of strangled squeak.
"I'm sorry about the elevator, okay!"
"It's fine," Lena assured her with a chuckle. "I'm just teasing. And anyway, you're paying back the repairs one lunch at a time."
"Is that why you agreed to come out with me, huh?" Kara asked as she collected a ball from the chute and bounced it from one hand to the other. "To secure reparations for all the damage I've done to your property?"
"No," Lena said, shuffling forward imperceptibly as she wrestled with her substantial urge snog the reporter right then and there.
"Good," Kara replied, blatantly staring at Lena's lips before breaking the CEO's trance by suddenly waving a ball in her face. "Now smash a plate!"
"Smash a plate?"
"Yes. Smash a plate. This is Smash Palace after all."
Lena reached out to tentatively grasp the surprisingly heavy ball and turned it over between her fingers as she processed the instruction.
"So I just..."
"Chuck the ball and smash a plate, yes."
"I suppose I can do that..." Lena said slowly, a little like Kara had just told her to flip the bird at her biggest investor. Recreational plate smashing was completely counter to her deeply ingrained Luthor sensibilities but then Kara was looking at her with those entreatingly blue eyes and Lena started to think that maybe it was the best idea she'd ever heard.
"Seriously," the reporter insisted. "Imagine Carlton Hemings' face on one of those plates and tell me it doesn't feel good to make him explode."
"You sell it well," Lena said as she set her sights on a dinner plate with obnoxious floral edging and circled her throwing arm to loosen her shoulder, trying to recall the pitching practice she did for that charity baseball match that one time. Kara watched on from near the ball machine as the CEO wound up and unleashed with surprising force, cracking the Carlton Hemings stand-in into seven different pieces before it loudly clattered to the floor.
Lena stood stock-still for a moment, fondly gazing at the destruction she'd wrought before dusting off her hands and turning calmly on her heel.
"You're wrong. That didn't feel good," she started clinically and Kara's heart dropped off the proverbial cliff until the CEO's mouth curled into a smile. "That felt bloody fantastic. Give me another."
The reporter laughed with relief as she pulled a second ball out of the chute and wordlessly handed it to Lena, who was already scanning the wall for her next target. Ten seconds later a tacky bald eagle mug was blown to smithereens and Lena was grinning from ear to ear.
"This is excellent! Why haven't I been doing it for years?"
"Uh, because before now you didn't have someone awesome to introduce you to the epicness of the Palace and you never leave your office for long enough to discover it on your own?" Kara replied as she snatched up a ball for herself and took her place behind the counter.
"A little harsh," Lena chuckled as she stepped back, fearing slightly for her safety, "but true."
The CEO winced when Kara whipped the ball at a plain white saucer but the Kryptonian had plenty of experience at not breaking Smash Palace itself. Sure, the saucer was obliterated and the back wall shook like there was an extremely localised earthquake, but there was no structural harm done.
"Alright, shove over," Lena said as she grabbed a ball while the ceramic dust literally settled and Kara chuckled at the CEO's enthusiasm.
"I've created a monster, haven't I?"
"Absolutely. I need to get one of these installed at CatCo."
"And maybe at my apartment too," Lena added before she joyfully shattered a willow-patterned teacup that reminded her a little of her mother.
The Kryptonian and the CEO traded shot for shot over the next several minutes until half the crockery was destroyed and there was a crack in one of shelves where Kara had got a little exuberant.
"You create far more carnage than I do," Lena said as she surveyed the scene in front of them, ever so slightly out of breath from the exertion. The plates she hit were fractured into multiple fragments but Kara's victims were closer to pulverised.
"Yeah well," the reporter started, hiking her shirt sleeves up to her shoulders before ostentatiously flexing her biceps, "you know."
"Mm, I do know," Lena agreed, transfixed by the muscles rippling in Kara's deceptively lithe arms.
A number of moments later, the CEO's eyes flicked up to Kara's face just in time to see the reporter lick her lip and adjust her glasses. Lena wouldn't have been able to resist her overwhelming desire to lean over and suck that lip between her own if it weren't for the deep, pained groan that Kara released out of nowhere.
Instead of kissing her, Lena ended up looking at the hero quizzically as Kara literally smacked herself in the forehead.
"What's wrong?" the CEO asked, mildly concerned even though she could probably guess what the problem was.
"Duty calls," Kara sighed dramatically as she threw her head back with exasperation, confirming Lena's suspicions.
"It's fine," Lena promised, laying a conciliatory hand on the Kryptonian's forearm but Kara just pouted at her.
"I don't wanna go."
"To quote a wise woman I know - you're not four, you'll survive."
Kara's pout only deepened and Lena laughed lightly at the tragedy of it all.
"I don't want you to go either," she said, glancing down as she ran her thumb along the inside of Kara's wrist. "But duty does call, and I do understand."
"Duty sucks," the reporter groaned, moving her hand to weave her fingers between Lena's.
"Only some of the time," the CEO countered and Kara rolled her eyes even as she tightened her grip on Lena's hand.
"Stop being so level-headed and reasonable," she said, dropping her head onto Lena's shoulder. "I'm trying to complain."
"Oh don't worry," Lena assured her, resting her cheek on the top of Kara's head, "I'm only level-headed and reasonable on the surface. Inside, I'm actually bitterly disappointed."
"That's better," Kara laughed before she realised what she said and blanched. "Not that I want you to be disappointed! And not that I'm happy you're not happy but I mean I am happy you're not happy because it would be sad if you were happy that I had to leave early because that would be a bad sign, right? And I want there to be good signs, not bad signs and-"
"Kara," Lena said firmly as she cut the reporter off and twisted around so she could stare her in the eye.
"Mm?"
"Please shut up."
"Oh..."
"And just kiss me already."
"Oh!"
After that, Kara didn't need telling twice. She leaned in and grazed her lips all too fleetingly against Lena's before the CEO pulled away and gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder.
"Go save the world, Miss Zor-el."
"Fine," Kara huffed as she reluctantly turned to leave but she couldn't resist turning back to steal one more brief kiss before she made for the exit.
Kara was gone in the blink of an eye but Lena didn't instantly follow her out the door. Instead, she threw every single ball the machine would give her. When it cut her off and there was still crockery on the wall, she popped back out front to buy another ticket and she didn't call her driver until she was satisfied that every plate, cup and bowl in the palace was in pieces.
It was refreshing catharsis and when Lena got home in the late evening, she felt more relaxed than she had in at least weeks.
That night, the CEO was casually flicking through stock reports when there was a thud, followed by knocking on her living room windows which could only mean one thing, or rather, one person. When Lena slid the balcony door open, she didn't even get the chance to say hello before a bedraggled Supergirl was thunking her head against the doorframe.
"Sometimes I hate the DEO," she whined. "You know they made me debrief for an HOUR? How many times do they need me to explain that I had to break that fire hydrant?"
"Far more times than was fair, by the sounds of it," Lena offered sympathetically with a laugh bubbling in her throat as Kara gave her an extravagant 'I know, right' arm wave.
"I blame Alex," the Kryptonian said bitterly. "Just because she's miserable, she wants to make everybody else miserable too so she's not alone."
"Okay, Miss Conspiracy Theorist," Lena chuckled as Kara huffed and gently kicked the deck. "Do you want to come in?"
"I shouldn't..."
"But?"
"I will."
Lena smiled at that and stepped out of the way, pointing invitingly at her lounge as Kara squelched inside. The reporter nearly collapsed onto Lena's stupidly expensive couch (that was so comfortable it almost justified the price tag), but then she remembered the state of her suit.
"Ah," she started uncertainly, eyes flicking between her own front and the CEO. "I'm wet."
Lena's eyes blew wide at the innuendo as she snorted and had to clamp a hand over her mouth. She stayed frozen in that position for several long seconds until she pulled herself together enough to respond reasonably.
"I can... um... see that," she finally managed as Kara blushed, having clued in to exactly what she said.
"If you're going to stay for a while," the CEO continued, trying to bring a sense of practicality to the moment, "feel free to raid my closet for some dry clothes."
"Yeah... I might do that..." Kara mumbled and Lena was entertained by the dissonance between Supergirl's current demeanour and her typical behaviour as the Kryptonian ran an awkward hand through her damp hair. "Your room is second on the left down the hall, right?"
"You got it," Lena replied and Kara turned to traipse towards the hallway before the CEO called after her.
"Should I assume you're hungry?"
"Always!" Kara shouted back.
What a surprise.
"You weren't kidding about the joke shirts huh?" Kara asked liltingly as she re-entered the lounge so quietly that Lena got a fright when she spoke.
"I wasn't, no," the CEO laughed as the adrenaline drained from her system and Kara stretched out the front of her black I make horrible science puns but only periodically tee.
"And you own plaid shorts?" the Kryptonian continued, obviously amused.
"You really had a good look around didn't you?" Lena said, corroborating the accusation with her lack of denial. Kara snickered in response, entertained by something she hadn't spoken out loud yet, but she didn't leave Lena hanging for long.
"If only I'd checked the back of your closet sooner," she began brightly, flopping on the couch next to the CEO whose quizzical eyebrow was perched high upon her forehead. "Even I might've clicked that you're gay."
"What that pun deliberate?" Lena inquired with a smile and a whiff of laughter as she crossed her right leg over her left. "Or..."
"Happy accident, actually," Kara replied before she spotted the plate on the coffee table. "Ooh! Is that salmon?"
"No, it's tofu," Lena said dryly and her delivery was so deadpan that Kara briefly worried that tofalmon was the new tofurkey until the CEO cracked.
"Of course it's salmon! I had leftovers from dinner. And by the way, tofu definitely doesn't come in that colour."
Lena served up the explanation so casually that Kara never would've guessed that the CEO had deliberately cooked too much dinner in the hopes that she would drop by.
"Yeah I thought that, but I didn't know for sure," the reporter rejoined as she pulled the plate towards herself and ungracefully slipped onto the floor so she could use the coffee table like a regular table. "I don't have the most tofu experience."
"I plan to change that," Lena said in a tone that tried to engender enthusiasm but instead just came across as a threat, at least in Kara's interpretation.
"Oh no no no, you don't need to do that."
"Oh but I do. You're really missing out."
"I'm really not."
"I'll settle on agreeing to disagree for now, but we are revisiting this at a later date," Lena promised as Kara tucked into her food.
"O'course we ahrr," the reporter replied around a huge mouthful of fish and Lena just laughed, relaxing back into the couch cushions to watch the spectacle of Kara inhaling a meal.
"I'm sorry for skipping out on our date," Kara said once her plate was clean, and Lena fixed her with an almost scolding look.
"I told you it's fine. You don't need to worry. I do get it," she said, grabbing Kara's dishes and whisking them away to the kitchen as the Kryptonian resettled on the couch to rest and digest.
"And anyway, you're here now. Although..." Lena continued as she dropped the plate into the dishwasher and caught sight of the time on the oven, "you probably should get going."
"Mm, probably," Kara agreed reluctantly as Lena walked back across the lounge.
"But you are already basically in pyjamas..."
"And my suit is probably still wet..."
"And it's too late to bother with a cab..."
"And I shouldn't fly like this."
"No definitely not."
"So I guess it would make more sense if I just..."
"Stayed?"
"Exactly."
"It's just the most practical option," Lena said as she took a seat next to Kara on the couch.
"And we're all about practicality," the reporter replied, adeptly maintaining their charade as Lena kicked her feet up on the coffee table.
"Exactly! So, since you're staying, want to tell me about why you had to break that fire hydrant?"
"Only if you promise not to interrogate me about it afterwards."
"That I can definitely promise."
The pair ended up talking deep into the wee hours of the morning, until they finally crashed off to sleep sometime after midnight for their second sleepover in as many days.
Sleepovers actually became a regular occurrence over the next four weeks, perhaps because the practical thing about the CEO's super king was that Kara could starfish to her heart's delight without kicking Lena out of bed. They happened so often that Kara started keeping a spare supersuit at Lena's apartment and there was one week where they spent more nights together than apart.
(Those sleepovers also became not-only-sleeping-overs, for which Lena's giant bed had a number of other practical benefits.)
When Kara awoke to Lena's bare back after one such night, she stared for a minute before running her finger down the CEO's spine, reveling in the fact that she just could. She spent a while painting lazy patterns on the pale expanse of skin in front of her before Lena's breathing changed and she blearily joined Kara in consciousness.
"Good morning gorgeous," the reporter murmured into Lena's back before she pressed a kiss between her shoulder blades and the CEO hummed happily before she croaked "g'mornin'" in response. Kara had to drop another kiss onto Lena's shoulder for that because the Irish lilt that slipped into her voice first thing in the morning was adorable.
The pair lapsed into silence after that as Kara resumed her languid caresses that rendered Lena too comfortable to bother with talking until the Kryptonian piped up with a question that had been nibbling at the corners of her mind almost since their first date.
"What are we doing here?"
"I would've thought that was quite obvious," Lena replied, the bite of her sarcasm neutered by a tone that was still rough from sleep.
"No, like what are we?" Kara elaborated as she shifted to sit up and clutched the sheets over her chest. "What is this?"
At that, Lena rolled over and she found the reporter's modesty protecting move highly amusing given what they'd been up to the previous evening. The CEO stared appraisingly as she considered her reply, taking in the mussed blonde hair that formed a halo around Kara's head where it was beautifully back-lit by early morning sunlight.
"You're asking if we're girlfriends," she finally alleged, a sly grin slipping onto her lips.
Kara went to adjust her glasses but they were actually on Lena's bedside table instead of on her face so she ended up awkwardly scratching her cheek instead. That didn't help her mild embarrassment as she stared at her knees and mumbled, "yes..?"
"Well," Lena started blithely, propping herself up on her elbow as Kara kept avoiding her gaze, "I'm certainly not seeing anybody else, nor am I interested in seeing anybody else."
"Neither," the reporter replied quickly, flicking her hope-filled eyes up to Lena's.
"Well that settles it then," the CEO suggested but Kara couldn't resist clarifying, partly because she wanted to hear Lena actually say it.
"Girlfriends?"
"Girlfriends," Lena agreed and Kara happily flopped down onto the mattress, dragging the CEO on top of her as she went.
The reporter was about to yank Lena into a kiss when the Luthor killed the mood with a hint of a smirk and "Alex might not take it well."
"What?!" Kara yelped as she shot bolt upright, sending Lena flying slightly in the process. "Why?!"
"Fraternising with her monopoly nemesis?" the CEO teased from her position splayed across the bed. "Isn't that a betrayal of the sister code?"
Kara stared, frozen by shock, for a long moment before she grabbed a pillow and whacked it viciously into the side of her laughing newly-confirmed girlfriend.
"You had me worried!" she growled as the CEO kept snickering.
"Oops?" Lena offered with feigned innocence and Kara rolled her eyes as she prodded the other woman with her foot.
"You're an idiot."
"Yes," Lena agreed like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "but I'm your idiot."
"Yes you are," Kara laughed as she lay back down for the second time in two minutes, "now shut up and kiss me."
"Hmm... I might be an idiot but I think I can do that," the CEO murmured the second before their lips met and all thoughts of talking flew out the window.
The whole girlfriend gig was pretty sweet.
(And orgasmic.)
Both the Luthor and the Super could happily get used to it.
I'm going on holiday tomorrow for a week-ish so I won't be writing much but when I get back I'm going to finish pulling together the epilogue and then this story in d-o-n-e done