Noonan's hummed with the morning rush of the citizens of National City seeking to resolve a devastating emergency, one much simpler than Kara's usual routine of aliens and criminal masterminds - human and otherwise. They were all on a fairly disgruntled quest for their morning coffee. Sure, Kara understood. It wasn't that caffeine had any noticeable effect on her Kryptonian biology. No, it was her stomach that led the way and she certainly didn't mind the taste of a sugary latte when paired with a fresh chocolate frosted donut first thing in the morning. Alex on the other hand? Alex needed coffee to function in any respectable fashion. So, it was for her that she stopped at the cafe that morning.

"Morning, Kara! What can I get you?"

"Good morning," she grinned at the friendly college-aged woman with brightly dyed hair at the register who'd come to know her as a regular. "An iced coffee - black, one sugar...and a caramel macchiato, both medium. And a donut, please. Oh, and cinnamon in mine. I mean, the macchiato." She fumbled awkwardly over her words. 'Mine'? How is she gonna know which one is mine? Idiot.

"Comin' right up. Your usual chocolate?"

"Yep!" The blonde chimed, appreciative of the small gesture of kindness from someone who seemed entirely too busy to remember her let alone her order.

The blue-haired woman gestured toward the payment terminal as the reporter rifled through her wallet for her debit card. "Swipe when you're ready."

The card was uncharacteristically difficult to remove and she momentarily considered just handing the barista the twenty dollar bill she knew was in her wallet, as she couldn't bear to prolong the embarrassment of her very public fight with a long dead and buried animal in the shape of a leather wallet. It, graciously, slipped free. She offered a small smile as she inserted the card, completing her purchase.

"You're all set. I'll bring those around the bar for you."

"Thanks!"

Kara fiddled absentmindedly with her phone, toggling between apps as she loitered near the bar. A text popped up from Lena.

Lena: Are you free for lunch later?

Alex had only briefly mentioned needing "help with something" at the DEO, so she wasn't entirely sure what she was heading off to that morning. New prisoners? Impending doom? Artifacts? Weapons? With a flash of blue hair, two cups and a small to-go bag were set down over her shoulder.

"For Kara," the barista called before setting off again.

She decided to take a leisurely walk to the DEO nearly a mile across town, instead of opting for a quick burst of flight, enjoying the sense of community among the people she dedicated her life to protecting as she devoured her fresh pastry. The blonde typed a quick reply to Lena's message - Does 1 work? I'll grab burgers - and it wasn't long before she stepped through the foreboding doors of the black ops agency.

She found Alex tucked away in the lab.

"Hey," The brunette greeted happily as her sister handed over her iced coffee. "So, we just got in a new shipment of artifacts. Everything was pretty standard-issue. This though," she gestured toward the mass spectrometer, "we can't identify." Sipping on her coffee, Kara let herself be led toward the cumbersome machine. In front of it in a petri dish laid a small pink rock. "I've tried pretty much everything at this point. Isotope tests, carbon dating, iodine...you name it, I've done it."

"Weird," Kara noted. "Can I…?" The reporter's eyes bounced between her sister and the small rock.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Let me just get you…" she turned around to locate the box of latex gloves on her desk. As she turned back, Kara was rolling the rock between her fingers…and was she about to lick the rock? "...some gloves. What the fuck, Kara?"

Alex loved her sister, she did. But sometimes, Kara was...well, Kara.

As the Kryptonian's head turned toward the voice, suitably embarrassed, her ponytail whipped around. "I don't know! You said you did everything. I assumed you didn't taste it."

"Well, no...but we don't even know what it is. You could get sick."

"From what? Space dust? It's a rock...looks like quartz to me."

The elder Danvers sighed in defeat, "Thanks for coffee, I guess."

"What? I'm not the space encyclopedia. Ask J'onn, human," she stuck out her tongue childishly before continuing, "I gotta go to work. Andrea will assign me to fashion if I'm late again."

Alex grimaced sympathetically, knowing her sister well enough to know what a disaster that particular assignment would be. "Don't forget to buy snacks for game night."

"On it! Text me what you want." Kara called over her shoulder as she exited the lab.

Work was work. Andrea only lightened up a little bit when she realized her star reporter's maybe-too-long lunches were spent at L-Corp in the company of her former best friend. She never asked about Lena, god no. That would be too obvious. She'd ask about L-Corp, or what Kara ate for lunch that day, or how is that story coming along? but never Lena.

Sometimes, Kara would take pity and share the information she knew her boss was desperate to learn. Andrea Rojas was perfectly capable of checking on L-Corp's stock returns and what Kara knew about L-Corp was limited to a constant loop of Rao, this is fancy let's hope I don't break it and whatever Lena mentioned that day. Usually, an endearingly bright-eyed update on her latest experiments which was surely classified information that she was being trusted to absolutely not tell her boss that ran a media conglomerate. So, instead, she'd say we got Thai or Lena wanted to try that new ramen place downtown.

Lena played the same exhausting game. It was a delicate balancing act and one day she was going to lock the two stubborn women in a room together until she could eat her lunch in peace, without playing a mental chess match. She didn't even know how to play actual chess.

Kara did, however, know how to play Candy Crush as she sat anxiously at her desk waiting for her computer to crash-restart for the nth time that month, even though she'd emailed IT about it three times. She opened Instagram in a fit of frustration after too many failed attempts on her latest level. Nothing was particularly surprising. Memes, baby pictures, strategically taken photos of coffee, event flyers, lots of portrait mode, more memes. Except, Lena…? Lena never posted.

It was a picture from their excursion to the National City Museum of Natural History the weekend prior, with Lena grinning into a to-go cup of tea as she gazed up at the large wooly mammoth skeleton. She'd spent that Saturday morning convincing the CEO that she did not, in fact, need to work and they were going to have fun whether she liked it or not. C'mon, we can even do something science-y. But your phone is mine for the rest of the day. Kara's chest warmed at the memory as she pressed the small heart on her phone screen.

She looked up at the sound of her computer finally booting to the log-in screen and she breathed a short-lived sigh of relief. As soon as she input her password, it started updating. Estimated wait time: 45 minutes.

She glanced at her watch, 12:37pm. I guess it's time for lunch.

Lena's favorite burger place was this greasy little vegan joint in the Arts District most of National City would be shocked to find a Luthor even knew existed, let alone loved. Kara landed in the alley behind Lou's and readjusted herself before sliding into the entrance of the exuberantly graffitied restaurant. The walls were covered in bold, bright colors and mismatched art from various local thrift shops; the booths filled with some of the city's more eclectic citizens, with smatterings of tattoos and piercings.

She could see why Lena loved it there, among other misfits. She, too, had found herself at home among rougher crowds over the years to the great confusion of virtually everyone but her sister. And now, Lena, who was utterly understanding and needlessly apologetic when she learned her best friend was an alien. The grin that shaped her face at the thought of the brunette held true as a scruffy-looking man stepped to the counter.

"Hey, what can I get you?"

"Hi, I'd like...a double cheeseburger, a spicy chicken sandwich, and two large fries. One animal style, one cajun. To go." She knew Lena would never order the fries she really wanted on her own, but that didn't stop her.

"Sure thing. Anything to drink?"

"No, thanks," she declined.

"It'll be about fifteen minutes," he estimated, before ringing up her total. She handed over an unfortunately fresh fifty dollar bill that she had taken out of the bank just a few days prior and prayed she'd get more change back than reality suggested. Note to self: ask Lena to make Andrea give me a raise. It's not nepotism if you're not related...right?

As soon as the food was ready, she was out the door. She was itching to see Lena. Nothing in particular had happened that day, no exciting updates, but their lunches were always the best part of her week. Between chasing down leads and chasing down criminals, she needed the comfort of Lena's office - a place where the only expectation was that she leave a little happier than she entered.

"Supergirl," Lena chimed as she touched down on the L-Corp balcony in admittedly not-safe-for-flight street clothes.

"Hey! I know I said burgers, but I thought you might want that chicken sandwich from Lou's instead," she offered self-consciously as she stepped through the entryway. "I got your fries, too."

A bright grin burst across the brunette's face, "Yes, please." As Kara unloaded the contents of the to-go bag onto her desk, Lena groaned in half-pleasure-half-stress. "You would not believe the day I've had. This is perfect."

The blonde grinned, delighted that her last minute change of plans brought some relief. "Couch?"

As they settled on the couch, Lena kicked off her heels to sit comfortably cross-legged and Kara couldn't help but feel unbelievably lucky. No one else in National City saw Lena Luthor like this: digging into her lunch, fries first, without a care in the world as she avoided getting vegan cheese and thousand island sauce on her $1000 blouse by a hair.

"Good?" Kara asked between bites with a knowing grin.

Lena just smiled back and picked up her sandwich.

Sometimes, Kara couldn't believe that Lena Luthor picked her. She spent hours on end with Andrea Rojas and it just didn't make sense. Lena's friends were so much more than her - human her at least, and that's the version that Lena knew first, the version that she kept around. Just an awkward woman with probably age-inappropriate social intelligence and a species-inappropriate appetite. Still, she was grateful that this woman who seemed to have stepped out of the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated and onto the cover of Forbes magazine was her best friend.

And it was normal to think your best friend was beautiful, sexy even. That's what everyone's been going on about, right? Female empowerment, women supporting women, women building each other up. No? Yeah, Kara didn't think so either. It was becoming a problem.

Like, last game night when Lena reached over her to grab a card from the deck during Cards Against Humanity and her shirt was just a little more low cut than usual and it had shifted during the evening. Her best friend's cleavage was in her face. She didn't know Lena was wearing a red bra before that moment, but suddenly it was on a loop in her brain. Lena's wearing a red bra. Lena wearing just a red bra. Lena in no bra. Was the oxygen in the room depleting?

When the blood reached her brain again, she nudged Lena and tugged at the fabric of her own shirt, the universal sign for your tits are out to women everywhere. The brunette quickly corrected it and the moment passed. Kara was maybe sadder about it than she should have been.

Anyway, lunch. She needed to focus on burgers and fries and chicken sandwiches and not the woman sitting across from her. At least, focus less. Re-focus. Re-focusing was good. Re-focusing was easier when Lena wasn't wiping spilled cheese sauce from her chest.

"Did I get it? It's not on my shirt, is it?" She asked, seemingly unconcerned with her sauce-to-makeup ratio, which was somewhere in the 3:1 range.

"No, not on your shirt," Kara said with a barely withheld giggle.

"Where is it? Can you get it?"

Kara nodded, grabbing a napkin as she shifted on the couch closer to Lena. "First of all," she wiped at the brunette's cheeks, smiling, "you're literally covered."

"Shut up," Lena grumbled.

"I don't think you've ever inhaled them that quickly." She paused under watchful green eyes to blend what bits of makeup she could that came off in The Great Animal Fries War of 2020, but Lena was going to have to re-apply. Her thumbs lingered on pale cheeks. They were so close, closer than they'd ever been before, and would maybe ever be again...she couldn't bring herself to move away.

"Thanks," Lena whispered.

"Yeah," her voice was soft, uncertain, and god, did she want to kiss Lena. Her brain was spinning with possibilities. If she kissed her, what would happen? Would they still be friends? Would it change things? Would they never speak again? She couldn't bear the thought. As she moved to pull away, Lena closed the distance between them.

It didn't take much encouragement for Kara to have her pinned against the couch. Somewhere in the back of her mind she remembered there was still cheese sauce on her sternum but she couldn't bring herself to care. Lena's lips were so soft and her hands were, in all the best ways, not, as they grasped at her hips. It was better than anything she could have imagined. As her own hand slid up the businesswoman's side to cup the weight of her breast and her teeth tugged at a lipstick-stained lip, Lena moaned. It was quiet, muted by their lips, but Kara felt it deep in her gut.

So, when her DEO earpiece chirped, "Supergirl," she briefly contemplated giving up the cape.

She sat back with a soft peck to Lena's lips, "Sorry. It's Alex."

Lena smiled softly, squeezing the hero's hip.

Kara pressed gently on the piece of technology, allowing for two-way communication. "What's up?. . .Be right there." She paused in Lena's lap, grinning down at the woman whose lipstick was now beautifully smeared.

"Don't you have a city to save, Supergirl?" The brunette asked after a long moment, no real desire to see the other woman leave.

"Right," Kara nodded, "right. I should...go. Hero-ing to do, and all."

"Hero-ing," Lena agreed. "Serious business." When Kara still made no attempt to leave, adorable as it was, she let logic win out. "Kara, you have to go. I assume someone is in danger."

"Oh! Yeah," she laughed. "Um, dinner tonight? We'll talk?"

"Yes, go, I won't be the Luthor that seduced the super out of Supergirl."

Kara gave her a teasingly disgruntled look and sped off.

She wasn't seduced. (She was.)

The next morning, after a bank robbery and two very angry aliens, Kara woke to a text from her sister.

Alex: Apparently that rock was pink kryptonite. It makes Kryptonians gay.

Alex: ...did anything weird happen?

Kara glanced over to the other side of her bed, where Lena slept. The brunette came over the night before - they cooked dinner together and talked and laughed like nothing had changed. Lena still hated reality television, Kara still had endless anecdotes about people she'd never met whose lives she knew too much about. "You realize I went to school with some of these people, right?" Lena still worked too much, Kara still couldn't get her to slow down. "Not all of us have superspeed, Kara." Finally, after two bowls of pasta and one glass of wine, Kara felt brave while she scrubbed their dirty dishes.

"I was hoping this would happen." She said it more casually than her racing heart implied, like can you pass me that plate or that goes in the second drawer to the right and Lena kissed her.

"Me too."

Kara: No, nothing weird.