10. Chapter 10(2)

“It would just make sense.” 

As Lena thinks on it, she realizes Kara’s probably right. Her comments about getting traded make far more sense in that context than the implication Kara might have been sleeping with Lex. “I can’t say it’s all too comforting knowing your nemesis has the power to expose our relationship in such a way.” 

Kara acknowledges that with a soft hum. “I’m going to talk to her. She might know about us, but I think she’s confused about a few other things.” 

“She can’t possibly think I had a hand in her trade, I didn’t even know you when she was on the Lakehawks.”

“That’s why everyone naturally went to Lex, but I really don’t know what she’s thinking. Like I said, I’m going to talk to her.”

Lena hums, thinking about the situation. “Actually, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

“Yeah?”

“Lex has offered to take control of the team back,” Lena explains succinctly. “And I think, as long as we get the language worked out, that I’m going to give it to him.”

Kara’s quiet for a moment. “Oh.”

Somehow that one word manages to encapsulate just how Lena feels about it – hesitance and all. “It would give us a buffer against insinuations like Leslie’s.”

“Yeah, totally,” Kara says, but she draws the words out enough that they sound insincere. 

“I thought you’d be pleased,” Lena says - not entirely the truth. She imagines Kara feels similarly to herself. Something closer to resigned, but optimistic. 

“I - uh - I guess I am. I just - I’d gotten used to you as the owner. Being around and everything.” 

“Well, it’s a better option than trading you to a different team.” 

“You wouldn’t let me do that,” Kara says, sounding exasperated by the memory. 

“And have you resent me for the rest of our lives?” Lena replies. 

Kara laughs and then goes quiet a moment. “No, you’re right. Definitely the better option,” she says. “Can’t have you resenting me far into our old age together.” 

Cheeks warm, Lena presses her lips together a moment. “No, can’t have that.”  

--

Lena watches the clip of the interview on her phone when she gets into bed. Kara’s sitting in her locker, sweaty from practice with a towel around her neck. Her hair is still in its ponytail, but she reaches up to tuck flyaways behind her ear as she looks up to answer questions, a circle of microphones and recording devices held out in front of her. 

When Lena finally hears the question, she sees Kara’s jaw drop in shock, her eyes wide. It sounds like the rest of the crowd silences too, just as surprised, before ramping up again with a flurry of shutter clicks. 

Kara pulls a deep look of confusion, shaking her head and blinking dazedly at the reporter who just asked the question. All she’s able to get out is a bewildered what before her media team is pushing through the journalists and ending the interview immediately. 

Separated from its content, it’s almost funny. Kara’s expression is so taken aback and stunned it’s comical, and Jack seems to think so too based on the amount of memes he sends her that use the image. Lena rolls her eyes as the pictures roll in, but allows herself a laugh and saves a few good ones to show Kara later. 

--

Lex is inappropriately smug about the entire thing. 

“People aren’t even supposed to know you’re officially back in town and now you’re about to re-enter the public circle the same way you left it. In scandal,” Lena scolds him as he lounges casually about her living room. 

“Out with a bang, in with a bang,” he says, hopping up from his seat to move to her wet cart and start rifling through the bottles there. 

“Don’t say it like that,” Lena groans, scraping a hand over her face and wondering how feasible it’d be to just ship Lex back to wherever he’d been hiding the past year. 

“Oh, come off it. You should be pleased,” Lex tells her, laughing at her incredulous look. “No one seems to care all that much about the implication I’ve slept with Kara. It’s the tabloids and little else.” 

“And that should please me why?” 

“Think of it as a primer for when they find out I’m not the Luthor she’s sleeping with,” he says dropping ice into glasses.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Lena takes a breath. “That’s not at all comforting.”

“It’ll be fine, Lena,” Lex tells her, this time more serious, though he doesn’t move away from where he’s pouring a drink. “It will fizzle over. Neither of us traded Leslie in exchange for sleeping with Kara. You weren’t even part of the organization then and it wasn’t me that wanted Leslie gone. That was Cat and James. It’s all laid out in very provable e-mails and inter-office memos.”

“That’s all very nice, but –”

“Lena,” Lex interrupts firmly, walking over to hand her a tumbler of amber liquid. “I promise you. It’s going to be okay.”

There’s something reassuring in the way he holds her gaze, steady and strong, his smile soft and eyes easy.

Taking the offered drink, she returns the expression and exhales. “I suppose I’ll just have to trust you on that one.”

“Indeed,” he replies with a wink, clinking his own glass against hers and moving on, “So, remember that nanny we had that one summer we spent in Greece?” 

“Do I even want to know?” 

Lex smirks. “Probably not,” he says, but tells her anyway. 

--

Lex turns out right, for the most part. Kara’s reaction to the question is clearly so shocked that most major news outlets dismiss the question of her sleeping with an owner out of hand; the only people who seem to pay any attention to the story are gossip rags and tabloids. Apart from some mention on the bigger sports news networks, most outlets move on to a more interesting discussion of the Lakehawks-Skippers series, filing the incident away as just another moment in the never-ending saga of Leslie and Kara.

Thankfully, Lena’s not faced with giving any kind of formal interview to address the issue, but for a few days she does get questions yelled at her whenever the press so much as catch a glimpse of her in Luthor Corp Arena. It keeps the drama in the forefront of her mind for far longer than she’d like it. 

When Kara arrives at Lena’s apartment the next night it’s with a bag of takeout and a tired expression. She’s wearing a simple black hoodie and jeans, and she flops onto Lena’s couch with enough drama that Lena laughs a little before settling down beside her and inspecting the contents of the bag while Kara seems content to just stare at the ceiling in silence. 

“I talked to Leslie,” Kara says after a moment and Lena glances over from where she’s pulling boxes out of the bag and setting them out on her coffee table. 

“Oh?” 

From the way Kara’s slouched against the couch looking exhausted, she can’t imagine the conversation went particularly well. But National City doesn’t seem to be on fire and her phone isn’t blowing up with notifications, so it can’t have gone too poorly. 

“Yeah,” Kara says, drawing the word out. “We got everything squared away.” 

It’s said sarcastically enough that Lena stops what she’s doing and shifts on the couch to face Kara, a spike of nervousness collecting on the back of her tongue. 

“What happened?” 

“Well, she definitely thinks I intentionally tried to railroad her career,” Kara says, her head lolling to the side to look at Lena, her expression a mixture of incredulity and indignation. “But she didn’t throw any shoes at me so that’s a plus?” 

Lena sends Kara a look, suppressing her urge to laugh through thin lips. “Why would she think you wanted to railroad her career? You two won a championship together.” 

For a moment, Kara looks like she’s not going to say anything, her eyes studying Lena a few seconds. “Apparently she saw us together at Seven way back when the season started and I guess she got the impression we’ve been together this whole time.” 

“Despite having never seen us together once before,” Lena adds, trying to understand the level of hysterical you’d have to get to stew in this kind of conspiracy. 

Kara throws her hands up, seeming just as lost. “I’m just telling you what she told me,” she says. 

“She really thinks that you slept with me so that I’d trade her to the Skippers?” 

Blowing out a heavy breath into a laugh, Kara nods through a shrug. “Yeah,” she says. “Or that you’d tell Lex to trade her.” 

“That’s just -” Lena shakes her head, can’t understand how Leslie’s just been sitting on that for months, stewing in the paranoia of it. 

“She was very confident,” Kara says. “And when she started talking about seeing us out in Tokyo and at that one club on the north side and she had this whole thing about how we must have been fucking on the down low while I was with Leslie which is ridiculous because I was never with Leslie, right? But then she was all -”

“What did you say?” Lena interrupts as the words start to tumble all too rapidly out of Kara’s mouth. 

“The truth. That I was an idiot about realizing she had feelings for me, that I didn’t get her traded, that you and I only met like eight months ago and that we only just got together two months ago,” Kara says. “And that if she didn’t shut up about you I’d try to fight her again. And then she told me I was a dickfuck and to get the hell out of her apartment.”

“So you….” Lena tries to move past whatever kind of playground insult dickfuck is and focus on the important details. “You confirmed we’re together.” 

“I -” Kara’s mouth opens and closes soundlessly. “Yes?” 

“And then she kicked you out of her apartment.” 

Kara nods. 

“And that’s...squared away, in your mind,” Lena says. She sort of feels like she could have a heart attack, considering Leslie Willis apparently has enough information to topple her carefully planned series of moves to deflect attention from she and Kara’s eventual coming out. 

“Well…” Kara winces. “At least she’s mad at me for things I did do now instead of a bunch of stuff I didn’t.” 

“Comforting,” Lena deadpans, but takes pity on the longsuffering look Kara’s affected. 

“I’m sorry you got dragged into all this,” she sighs and Lena reaches out to tangle their fingers together. 

“Ah, that’s part of the fun in relationships isn’t it? Dealing with each other’s dirty laundry and all that.” 

It makes Kara chuckle, just the slightest. “Does that mean you’re going to finally tell me where Luthor Corp hides the skeletons?” Kara punctuates the tease with a wink that makes Lena laugh. 

“You don’t have high enough clearance yet,” Lena jokes. “But I can tell you where I hide them.” 

Kara lets out a deep laugh, genuine enough that Lena’s chest warms as she sinks closer to her on the couch. “Even better.” 

It doesn’t feel resolved, but Lena can’t find it in her to be too worried about it. At this point, she’s accepted the circumstances. If Leslie outs them, so be it. With Kara looking at her like this, bright blue eyes and happy smile even through all that exhaustion on her face, Lena feels like they could maybe face anything. 

--

“There’s no harm in delaying this with everything going on,” Lena suggests to Lex as they shuffle into a conference room. They’re set to meet with company and team lawyers about restructuring the ownership agreement for the Lakehawks and Harriers. She’s not sure she’s really ready for their scrutinizing faces as they try to sort through their intent on the matter, but there’s a part of her looking forward to putting it all behind them. 

“We’re not signing anything,” Lex tells her, pulling her chair out and striding to a cart on the side of the room to pour himself a drink. “This is just a meeting of the minds.” 

He drops casually into a chair next to her, his smile as if he hasn’t a care in the world and Lena takes in his well-tailored suit and brightly colored tie. “You look too happy these days,” Lena grumbles, but she’s unable to fight her smile at the way his grin broadens.  

“As if you’re one too talk,” he says, crossing his legs and leaning back in the chair. “I leave for a little bit and my baby sister not only took my team to another winning season, but fell in love with the star of the show.”

Lena arches a brow at him, glances to the glass wall on the far side of the room. “Did you hit your head out in the Bahamas or wherever you were?”

“Yoga,” Lex answers, a grin on his face as he steeples his fingers over his stomach. “It does wonders. You should try it.”

“I’m fine, thanks,” Lena tells him, trying to roll her eyes, but his happy expression just makes her laugh.

The lawyers arrive then, and the meeting begins. Lena focuses on going through the pros and cons, reading through the different agreements and trying to think through the situation as a businesswoman. It makes sense, she must admit. And though she tries to keep her opinion professional, she knows the decision will do wonders for her personal life. If anything it will give her peace of mind going forward.

All said, it won’t be too difficult. The way the contracts are structured make it rather simple to confer ownership power to Lex and after they’ve gone through the entire thing once, twice, three times, the lawyers leave and she’s left alone with Lex again.

“Well?” He fiddles with his tie, regarding her with a neutral look.

“You’re right, it’s a smart move,” she says, closing her laptop and falling back into her chair.

“But?”

Lena smiles, lets out a little laugh through her lips. “But I think I’m more attached to the Lakehawks than I realized.”

“Don’t think of it like you’re losing them,” he says, leaning forward in his chair to catch her eye. “Think of it more like…”

He pauses, searching for words, but Lena already knows them. “It’s more like I’m gaining Kara.”

Chuckling softly, he shifts back, shrugs a shoulder. “I wasn’t going to say that exactly, but yeah, sure. I suppose it is like that.”

“It’s the only reason I’m doing this,” she admits softly, looking away a moment.

Lex takes a breath, nods. “She’s worth it then?”

Smiling, Lena nods back. “Yeah. I think she is.”

The serious look on Lex’s face fades into something more mischievous and he stands. “Plus, it’s only right when I’m still not confident you know the difference between a point guard and a shooting guard,” he teases, moving towards the door to open.

“Oh, as if you do,” she jibes back, and they laugh at each other as they pick their things up and exit.

--

In addition to the Lakehawks loss, Kara, Cat, and Leslie all get suspended for game four. The NWBA announces it the day before, sending much of the city into a neverending argument over whether it was an appropriate punishment for any of them. 

“To be honest, I’m just glad that it wasn’t longer,” Kara says, when Lena asks about whether she’s upset about it.

So, Kara is forced to spend game four at home and Lena finds herself courtside with Jack to watch a Kara Danvers-less Lakehawks take the floor. It feels eerily similar to Kara’s injury when she’s been barred from the arena and Lena discovers once again how unsettling it is to watch the Lakehawks have to adjust to having their centerpiece out of the lineup. They’re still a great basketball team, but it takes them the entire first quarter to seem to remember that fact. 

It doesn’t go smoothly. It seems the Skippers are more prepared to play without Leslie than the Lakehawks are without Kara - though all the journalists will speculate the real triumph of the game is Siobhan Smythe’s thirty-six points and Eve Tessmacher’s inability to guard her.

After the game, Lena brings food over to Kara’s apartment to find her sulking over the loss and pacing about with restless energy, carrying around a mini basketball printed with the Lakehawks logo. The purpling under her eyes and around her nose has deepened, but otherwise she looks fine.

“I hate not playing,” Kara says, picking at her food and practically pouting. Lena reaches over to clasp her hand and tries not to laugh at her miserable expression.

“You’ll be back next game.”

“I just want to win,” Kara groans, letting her head fall back dramatically enough Lena can’t stifle her laugh this time. Kara gives her a listless glare from her head’s position.

“How does your nose feel?” Lena asks in an attempt to distract her.

Kara takes a breath, pokes at her nose lightly until Lena slaps her hand away to get her to stop. “It continues to be fine, but the doctors want me to wear a mask anyway. They made me get molded for it today.”

Kara’s eyes are still ringed with purple, so it seems altogether amusing that she’s so surprised the doctors would act with caution in this situation. Lena can’t help but laugh again.

“You’re experiencing a lot of hardship, then,” Lena says. Kara picks her head up to glare.

“Don’t be mean to me,” Kara whines. 

“I know you’ve never been in a relationship before, but traditionally, your partner is allowed to levy constructive criticism,” Lena says dryly, lifting her wine glass and taking a sip as Kara huffs.

“That was you making fun of me for how much I care about my livelihood, not constructive criticism,” Kara mutters. Her face is contorted into a funny frown that Lena just can’t stop laughing at. 

“I’m sorry, darling, let me rephrase,” Lena says. “Maybe next time you get into an important workplace scenario that requires your full concentration to achieve good results, don’t get goaded into a playground fight.”

“Wow, if this is what a relationship is…” Kara says, though she’s smiling softly now, her eyes twinkling and focused on Lena’s face. 

“Second thoughts?” Lena asks. Kara laughs, sliding slowly along the couch cushions, leaving her food abandoned on the coffee table. 

“I don’t know. Can’t complain about my mask, can’t get into fights with a former teammate, can’t do anything really,” Kara jests with tease in the lines around her eyes. 

“Must be so suffocating,” Lena says dryly, enjoying the way Kara looks at her as she comes closer, her hands pressing into Lena’s thighs. Lena’s own hand presses into the line of Kara’s jaw, drawing her close. 

“So suffocating,” Kara agrees with a hum. “I can barely breathe.” 

“That could be your nose,” Lena whispers, just before Kara leans forward to kiss her.

--

Games five and six run similarly to the slog of game four. 

Kara, Leslie, and Cat all return, but the Skippers have stumbled onto a strategy of badgering the Lakehawks quick passing game until they’re forced to grind out points. Kara scores low in both games even when the Lakehawks claim game five. 

It’s one of the first times Kara’s come over after a win and looked somewhat dejected, lying on the couch and watching a movie Lena picks out with her head on Lena’s lap and frowning heavily for most of it. 

She’s clearly frustrated, and pundits ponder if her broken nose is affecting her more than she’s let on - the clear facemask she’s made to wear an easy reminder of her fight with Leslie. It doesn’t help that it’s apparent how much she hates the thing, snapping it off every timeout and nearly throwing it into the stands after game six ends in a tough loss. 

One of the only good things about both games is that Kara and Leslie stay away from each other, Leslie’s jaw working any time they come close while not in play, but thankfully not opening up. It’s about as solid an improvement as Lena could imagine after hearing the depth of Leslie’s anger from Kara.

Lena manages to catch Kara’s press conference after game six at Luthor Corp Arena. She idles behind the row of cameras in the back and stays mostly out of view, giving a small smile to Winn where he hovers off to the side of the stage. Kara is dressed in a pair of dark jeans, a pair of nice boots, and a light pea coat, and she takes the barrage of questions with impressive grace even when Lena can read the slight irritation in her spine. 

“What did you think of your performance tonight, Kara?” 

“Not amazing. I think I need to work on getting more involved in the transition game, turning points quick,” Kara says, running her hands through her hair. She glances toward the back of the room and her eyes stick to Lena for a second, her shoulders loosening up as she leans more into her podium.

“Are you feeling affected by the mask?”

“The mask sucks, but I’ve played through worse,” Kara says, smiling. She adds after a second: “Though it is really sweaty.”

The comment sends up a round of chuckles, easing up the amount of concern palpable through the press corps over something as stupid as a mask. It’s funny how even though she knows Kara more intimately than ever, Kara somehow still feels larger than life in moments like these. 

“Kara, how do you think your, uh, altercation with Leslie Willis has affected this series?” asks one reporter. Kara sighs heavily, clearly tired of talking about Leslie, and there’s a little round of laughter when she makes a bit of an eye roll.

“Leslie and I are both one of twelve people on two different basketball teams,” Kara says. “I can’t say how much it’s affected the series as a whole.”

“The Lakehawks have held a lopsided record against the Skippers since you’ve been here, Kara,” says another reporter. “Do you think that maybe it’s just not the Lakehawks’s turn?”

“Uh, no,” Kara says, then shakes her head as laughter comes over the room. “I do not think that.”

“Kara, Mark from the Press here,” says a man hovering off to the side of the room. “There’ve been rumors that Lex Luthor is back in town and looking to regain control of the team from his sister. How do you feel working under Lena Luthor versus her brother?”

It’s a curveball, but still a soft question, all things considered. The first time Lex has been brought up in one of Kara’s interview with no reference to the previous rumors, though the tone of the question and the titter of noise it brings up around the room brings Lena pause. It makes Lena happy she thought to mention to Kara about the possible change in ownership earlier so as not to have her caught off guard.

A ghost of a laugh passes over Kara’s face and her eyes flicker towards Lena before back to the reporter. 

“The Luthors have owned this franchise its entire existence and it’s seen its share of different people at the head. We won under Lex and we’ve won under Lena and both of them have shown a deep care for this team. Frankly, it hasn’t affected our ability to win in the past and I don’t see why that would be any different going forward.” Kara grins, shrugs. “We’re the Lakehawks.”  

“Last question,” Winn says at the side of the stage and nods towards an eager reporter at the front waving his hand frantically. 

“Kara, what’s the game plan for game seven?” 

It’s clear even from so far away that Kara’s doing her best not to look at the reporter like he’s an idiot. She does an admirable job even if Lena can read it easily in the quirk of her lips. Shaking her head, Kara looks casual as ever and fixes her stare on the reporter. “Simple,” she says. “Win.” 

—

It’s never really that simple. Winning. Lena knows that perhaps better than anyone. 

Winning takes work, it takes careful planning and precision execution. In chess, the process of winning starts before even the opening move when you take measure of your opponent across the board. 

From what Lena’s come to understand about basketball and about Kara, it seems the approach to game seven is no different. Kara may act like it’s simple, but Lena has a front row seat to just how complicated and involved it is. 

The two days between games six and seven are spent with Kara locked in meetings and practices and long film sessions. Even when Kara insists Lena should still come over for a late dinner, Lena finds her poring over a playbook and comparing it to game footage on a small tablet at her counter. 

The city feels no different, wrapped up as they are in the series. Every single resident seems to have picked a side and are out in staunch support ahead of the game. Even the counter at a local coffee shop Lena sometimes frequents has two tip jars in front of the register - one in support of the Skippers and the other the Lakehawks. Do your part to help your team win, the little sign between them reads. 

(Lena drops a hundred dollar bill in the Lakehawks jar as subtly as she can.)

--

Game seven goes to triple overtime. 

The atmosphere is tense and electric and Lena feels her heart beating rapid and heavy against her ribcage as the Lakehawks inbound the ball down two with sixteen seconds left. She doesn’t know where to look. At the clock ticking away above the basket or where Alex is passing Kara the ball at the top of the key. 

It’s Leslie that’s guarding her, waving her hands out wide and tracking the ball. Kara dribbles between her legs, attempts to juke Leslie off balance with a quick move, but is unsuccessful. It doesn’t look like she’s going to get very open and time is running out. Lena looks at the rest of the floor, Alex posting up against Siobhan under the hoop and Lucy jostling with another Skippers player Lena doesn’t know. M’gann makes a run like she’s going to set a pick for Kara, but Lena can already tell there’s no time. 

Kara doesn’t look all too concerned though. Lena feels like her heart might beat straight out of her chest, but Kara’s low, eye to eye with Leslie and she looks deadly calm. As the seconds evaporate Kara makes one last move and despite her inability to shake Leslie she takes a step back and jumps, the ball arcing out of her hand at an impossible angle as she fades backwards. 

There’s no way the shot should fall. Leslie bodies Kara as she goes up for the shot and Kara’s well outside the arc, but as the buzzer sounds loudly in the arena everything goes still, all eyes on the ball as it moves in a perfect line towards the hoop and swishes there definitively. 

The place erupts. 

Though they’re not on home court, Lakehawks fans makes so much noise they might as well be. Kara, who’s making a shushing gesture with her finger against her lips, gets absolutely swarmed, a pile of players falling somewhere near center court right in front of the scorer’s table as they cheer in jubilation. 

Even Cat is making victorious gestures, high fiving her staff and hugging J’onn. 

Jack loses his mind, grabs Lena by the shoulders and full body shakes her. It spills what’s left of her drink all over her hands and the floor, but she can’t even find it in her to care. For one ridiculous moment she gets it. 

The camera on the jumbotron is showing a close up of Kara’s face at the bottom of the pile, confident smirk and calm expression like of course she hits a buzzer beater to win it, she’s Kara Danvers. It runs a thrill up Lena’s spine, a primal sort of vindication that makes her contemplate letting out a loud yell. 

It’s not the championship game, but it sure feels like it. 

--

There’s a short ceremony celebrating the Lakehawks victory - a Conference Championship trophy and everything. It’s quick and then the Lakehawks are off to their locker room to celebrate in private. 

Lena’s invited back, but declines, feeling like if she so much as gets within four feet of Kara right now she’ll have to kiss her. Anything else would be torture. 

Instead, she joins Jack for their ritual post-game drink and then heads home. Her phone buzzes constantly, but it’s just Lex texting her in all caps about how WE’RE GOING TO THE SHIP over and over again. Lena doesn’t know how to tell him that yes, she’s very excited about that, but could he stop texting so she can wait patiently to see if Kara’s interested in celebrating with her. 

But time passes and Kara doesn’t text. It goes on long enough that Lena thinks maybe she won’t. She’s disappointed, but she understands - it was a long series and a long game and Kara’s got a team to celebrate with. 

Just as she’s given up hope and is set to undress and get in bed, there’s a knock at her door. Her heart jumps in anticipation and she strides quickly to answer it. 

“Hi,” Kara says, sounding breathless and bright, her hands propping herself up on each side of the door. She’s changed from the game into jeans and a light blue oxford shirt under her leather jacket, but there’s still the same intensity in her eyes she had when she took that final shot. Just like that, Lena’s whole body wakes up.

“Hey,” she greets. She spares a brief thought that maybe she needs to have a chat with her doorman if he’s just keying people into the penthouse without notifying her. 

“We won,” Kara says, sounding exhilarated. The way Kara says we does something to Lena’s insides. 

“We did,” Lena replies, stepping back when Kara takes a step inside. It feels predatory in a way that makes Lena think she should have already taken her clothes off before Kara got here. Kara is looking at her like she can see right through them anyway.

“Yeah,” Kara says, kicking the door closed behind her and stripping her jacket off. “And now we’re going to celebrate.” 

“Are we?” Lena asks, arching a brow and crossing her arms, but unable to take her eyes off the way Kara throws her jacket carelessly to the side. “You still have a championship to win.” 

It makes Kara stop in her stalk towards Lena, her look a little incredulous as she starts to laugh, hands at her hips. “Is that so?” 

“Last I checked,” Lena replies, faux defiance in the way she lifts her chin. She’s sure the smile she’s unable to suppress is giving her away. 

Kara regards her a moment, so fondly Lena feels like she’s being touched all over. Her words take the hot feeling in Lena’s chest and make it heavy. 

“I love you, you know,” drops softly out of Kara’s mouth and Lena hears the words like a warm blanket over her shoulders. 

Her arms drop from where they’re crossed over her chest and she fumbles for how to respond, so taken aback by how casually Kara’s said it. It’s absurd. It’s not like the words don’t already sit between them, but there’s something about the open way Kara says them now.

“You don’t have to say that to get laid,” Lena says, finally, knowing her cheeks are flushing, but unable to stop it. The smile on her face feels almost too wide.

“If anything’s getting me laid tonight it was that buzzer beater I sank to take our team to the finals,” Kara says with a cocky little smirk Lena’s never been able to resist. “I don’t know if you saw.” 

“Yeah, I saw,” Lena says, laughing a little. 

“So…” Kara shrugs a shoulder. “I just love you and want to make sure you know.” 

Lena’s chest feels tight, her throat thick and yeah, “I love you too,” she murmurs. 

It makes Kara grin, wide and cocky. "Sorry," Kara says, feigning as if she's hard of hearing with a hand cupped over her ear. "I couldn't hear that."

Lena rolls her eyes and pulls Kara closer by her lapels. She gets halfway through a shut up, Kara before the words get cut off by Kara closing the distance between their lips and just like that the rest of the world stops around them.