Freshman: Sirens
Notes: Find me on Tumblr at spoopercorp and on AO3 as Local_Asshole.
Chapter Theme: Sirens by Fleurie.
Summary: A meeting between two very different girls that grows into a tentative friendship.
TRIGGER WARNING: ABLEISM, ABUSE, AND BULLYING.
Kara Danvers had a plethora of friends to come by.
Or perhaps, more accurately, admirers.
At least that was what Lena heard while navigating the halls, not that she particularly went out of her way to garner information on the student, she just could not escape it; the entirety of the school talked about her, whether it be about appearance or accomplishments or otherwise.
Kara Danvers: artistic, athletic, beautiful, intelligent, has a cool older sister, has cool friends...
Midvale was located on the outskirts of Metropolis, Delaware. It was a small suburban town, and that meant everyone knew each other whether they liked it or not. There was exactly one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school—students have known each other since kindergarten if not earlier.
Not Lena though, she recently moved from the urban heart of Metropolis after her older brother's atrocious crimes that landed him in federal prison—Stryker's Island Penitentiary, arguably the most protected government facility in the world holding the baddest of the bad and the maddest of the mad, boasting hundreds upon hundreds of highly trained wardens.
Lex scandalized the Luthor name, so they had to move far away, but close enough to maintain LuthorCorp. So Midvale it was, a town sheltered and suburban. Not that Lillian would ever admit that Lex was the cause of their family's downfall, not that she would ever slander her precious little boy—it was just a mountain of stocks falling, millions of dollars lost, numerous holders and board members pulling their loyalties back. It was just thousands of employees walking out following their resignations to join the crowds of protesters surrounding the main building within a six block radius.
No biggie. Easy to fix. Totally.
He was always the favorite.
Then again, Lena was adopted after all, and Lillian never failed to exploit every moment to remind her of that.
He's in his thirties for fuck's sake. He should be held accountable for his own actions. He's no child.
She fought the overbearing urge to roll her eyes at the thoughts as she weaved her way to class, comfortably sitting down in the back like the rest, isolated.
Maybe she should have been partially thankful for Lex's infractions, it made navigating the school easier. She spent all summer at her mother's command to memorize every single millimeter of the school instead of accepting their offer to guide her and put her in special education classes.
"Luthors don't need help. From anyone."
Which, sure, Lena was always irked when people would baby her—treat her as a helpless little girl—she was a genius, honing her hearing within a few weeks of the incident, not that it was good enough for Lillian. She never was.
Even if her listening skills heightened due to her blindness, it did not make it any less frightening thinking about the beginning of freshman year, that she would happen to bump into the wrong person and that the situation would escalate.
The fear was significant, after Lena lost her sight there were several bullies that took advantage of her.
But her worries were quelled the first day.
People actively avoided her, and she was very sure it was more fear than pity judging from the shaky gossip that surrounded her.
"She's that Luthor girl, right? Sister of that lunatic that bombed the Capitol building?"
"Don't forget that he was also behind that massive school shooting at Smallville High."
"Shhh! No one talks about that, it's taboo."
"She's fucking creepy."
"Stay away from her if you know what's good for you."
"That bitch even looks like a psycho."
Being able to hold simple greetings with people was impossible, so making friends...clearly out of the question.
Not that Lena cared anyway, she was always alone, preferred to be by herself.
She was the talk of the entire school day one, but it seemed to ebb away at the arrival of Kara Danvers, her stardom rivalling and eventually overshadowing a Luthor menace's.
Lena startled when a series of quiet, shocked gasps filled her ears.
Then a single melodic voice resonated next to her.
"Is this seat taken?"
Lena short circuited, brows furrowed in confusion, still registering the fact that someone was actually talking to her.
"I don't...believe so?"
"Awesome," the person—the girl—said, and Lena heard a smile in her voice, "Mind if I sit here?"
"I...no, I guess?"
Lena heard some brief shuffling before a creak of the desk next to her told her that she had settled down into her new seat.
Is this some sort of joke?
"I'm Kara Danvers by the way," she whispered.
This is definitely a joke.
"Lena," she returned, "Luthor."
She expected some sort of scoff, anything that hinted at disgust or intimidation that would tell her the girl was successfully chased off.
But no, what rolled off Kara's tongue and slipped out of her mouth was not anti-Luthor vitriol, but something simple, yet unexpected.
"That's a pretty name."
A compliment.
A compliment.
There was another word that Lena added to her vocabulary to describe Midvale High's resident sweetheart.
Weird.
And 'insistent' was added onto that list soon after.
And maybe 'passive' as well.
"Hi, Lena," came the distant informality.
She halted in her tracks.
"Uh. Hello..."
She shuffled through the voices inside her head in an attempt to identify the person.
"It's Kara," the voice greeted, right next to her.
She could not help the jolt her body made at the sudden close proximity.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you. I thought you saw me?"
Lena straightened herself, an annoyed look crossing her features as she snapped, "I don't know if you knew this, but I'm kind of, well, blind? You know, unable to see properly?"
She wildly waved a hand in front of her own face as a primitive gesture.
Kara flushed, "Oh no, I thought—well, you...I guess that explains the sunglasses and the fact that you don't really...look at me when we talk, but I mean, most blind people walk with a cane, so I just assumed—I didn't mean to assume that," she huffed, hands fidgeting, "Oh man, this is kind of awkward and I'm probably sounding rudely ignorant right now—"
"Usually outside of school. When I use the canes I mean," Lena provided cautiously, "I've mapped this out, and there's plenty of noise bouncing around in a high school to go off of, not that this one is particularly difficult to navigate anyway."
Since everyone seems to avoid me.
She shook her head, "I'm heading to class. Goodbye, Kara."
"Uh. Yeah. S-see you later, I guess?"
Lena frowned, she could hear the disappointment in the girl's voice, leaking into something that sounded like anticipation and eagerness, but she opted to ignore it. Associating with Lena, and by extension her family, meant bad business—she would learn soon enough.
Apparently not.
Kara Danvers was now the bane of Lena Luthor's existence, next to her mother.
The greetings and pushes for conversation kept nagging at her at least once day, the annoying voice sending a horrid headache into her brain, and it did not help that they shared biology class together.
It was a few weeks or so into the first term when she finally had enough.
"Hey, Lena!"
"Seriously?" she muttered.
"What's up?" Kara asked, quiet now that she was closer.
The Luthor's lips twitched, entertaining the idea of a smile as a warmth inside her chest swelled at the girl's attempt not to startle her.
She shook off the feeling within a fraction of a second.
"What the hell is the deal with you?" she barked.
"I—what?"
Lena immediately regretted the way she snapped once she heard Kara's tiny voice, hurt and surprised.
She groaned, "You're...you. Everyone talks about how awesome you are—"
Kara tilted her head, a light blush painting her cheeks, "People say that about me?"
Lena pursed her lips at the naive girl, "That's not really the point. I'm a Luthor. Doesn't that mean anything to you? At all? In the slightest?"
"Why would your last name be important?"
"Do you live under a rock? When was the last time you watched the news?"
Kara chuckled sheepishly, "Forever ago. I'm kind of preoccupied with boy bands and cartoons..."
Lena scoffed, "Yeah, but I'm sure you've heard about the Metropolis High shooting and the Capitol bombing, right? The last one was a few years ago?"
The blonde's expression darkened for a split second, "I, yeah, I heard about it, kind of hard to miss the news about a crazy man murdering hundreds of people."
"I hate to break it to you, but I'm the sister of that crazy man."
"Oh."
There it is.
The apprehension, the trepidation that everyone succumbed to.
"I don't know if you've noticed, but this entire school kind of hates me. I'm ostracized, and I'm not certain how you missed the memo 'cause I'm pretty sure before you went to sit next to me in biology there was a circle of empty desks."
There was a moment of silence, Kara's jaw dropped in speechlessness.
Lena sighed, not waiting for an answer before walking off to her next class.
It had been a few days since the standoff she had with the most popular girl in school.
In hindsight, she should have played it out differently.
Now she was paranoid that something would happen. Positive reputation held influence, and influence held power, and Lena was jittery about what Kara would do to utilize that impact against her.
But it was almost a week's worth of silence from the blonde, and the more time that passed, the more anxious Lena became.
"Hey, kid."
She blinked, "Um, what?"
The man grumbled, "Are you blind and deaf? I need to see a pass."
She winced at the harsh statement, rummaging through her backpack before she felt dread fill her body at no familiar texture of plastic, "Sorry. I forgot today."
"No pass, no ride."
Lena frowned, desperate, "Please, I can pay double to make up for this next time. It's going to take me forever to walk home."
"Not my problem, kid."
She tried again, "Please, I swear—"
"I said it's not my problem. No pass, no ride. So scurry on off and—"
"I have an extra pass."
Lena's ears twitched at the sound of the familiar voice, footsteps echoing in front of her.
Kara tread up the stairs of the large vehicle and showed the driver two tickets with a tight-lipped smile.
Then she turned to the girl behind her, offering her palm out, "Come on, take my hand."
Lena hesitated, fumbling with her cane before successfully closing it, but the blonde reached out and closed the distance. She brushed her fingers gently against the Luthor's hand, who could not help the way she twitched at the contact.
"I can do it myself."
Kara quickly pulled back, retracting her hand, and Lena found herself longing for the soft touch immediately.
"Watch your step then," she warned, tone delicate.
They filed into the vehicle and sat together in silence.
Kara was the first one to break it.
"That guy's a jerk."
Lena pursed her lips, "Yeah... But there are worse people. And he was just doing his job."
"But you promised to make up for it next time," she countered.
Promises don't mean anything in real life.
The Luthor sighed, relenting from the argument, avoiding the way Kara actually sounded genuinely upset with the situation even after the problem was taken care of.
"Why'd you help me anyway?" she inquired, her tone slightly snappy.
"Why wouldn't I?"
Her voice sounded so puzzled at the thought that Lena almost laughed before her voice took on a sour taste, "But I'm—"
"I don't care if you're a Luthor," Kara interrupted, "You haven't done anything wrong."
"Of course you care," she bristled, "You didn't annoy me for an entire week once I told you."
She bit her lip, unintentionally implying to the girl that she actually noticed that she suddenly disappeared.
"You seemed really upset so I thought I'd give you some space," the blonde beamed, "And I see you missed me."
Lena pushed her sunglasses up and folded her arms, huffing an irked grunt, "Don't get so full of yourself, and don't expect me to owe you anything for this."
Her mind buzzed out at the sound of Kara's bright chuckle.
"I don't expect anything back. I just wanted to help. That's all."
Lena was caught off guard, "Really?"
"Why do you sound so surprised?"
"Most people usually want something from me," she murmured.
Kara shrugged, "Well, in that case..."
Lena's shoulders deflated.
Of course.
"How about you actually accept my friendship? That'd be pretty neat to know it's not so one-sided."
"You're weird."
"I get that a lot."
"Why would you want to be friends with me of all people though?"
"I think you're nice," Kara giggled, "You know, past all that..."
She trailed off.
"Go on, finish that sentence," Lena dared.
She mentally did a double take, surprised at the amount of tease that laced her statement, and that she managed to have a conversation with someone for more than a minute without them scrambling.
It was...a pleasant change, one she was not quite ready to admit.
Kara smiled, concluding her sentence without shame, "Past all that prickliness."
Lena scoffed, "Me? 'Prickliness'? I thought you'd say something more like 'bitchiness' or—"
"No, no, no. Definitely not," Kara shook her head vehemently, "You're prickly. Like a cactus."
"Well, I'm sure you've noticed that I'm not really a people per—did you just compare me to a cactus?"
"Yep!" Kara grinned, "You keep others at a distance. It's like you have, you know, um..." she scrunched her nose, looking for the right words before starting over again, "It's like you have..." another pause, "...pokey pokeys."
Lena's expression was one of utter confusion, "What do you mean by pokey po—do you mean thorns?"
Kara snapped her fingers and nodded, "Yes!"
The Luthor was amused, "Well, that was certainly one hell of a mental lapse."
The blonde laughed, "Yeah. My mind is all over the place right now, I'm kind of..."
"Scatterbrained?" Lena suggested, "An airhead?"
"Yes, those," Kara acknowledged, "That sounds about right. You know, you should be my personal dictionary from now on."
"Only if you pay for my fare from now on," Lena shot back with a smirk
"I wouldn't have to if you'd take the school bus—it's free. Why do you take the local one instead?"
"The school bus's jurisdiction can't drop me off close enough to where I live since it's so far, and I stay after school a lot of the time for extracurriculars. Though I could ask the same of you: what exactly brought you here?"
Kara chuckled, bashful in the spotlight, "I take this way home some of the time, when I want some peace and quiet—school buses are pretty rowdy. And some of the time I have to stay at school longer for practice so..."
"I can imagine," Lena agreed, adjusting her sunglasses, "I'm not a fan of too much noise, I'm more sensitive to sound."
Kara chuckled, "I can see that."
The second she finished her sentence she did a double take, "Or—I meant I can tell. Uh, yeah. I-I didn't mean to insult you by—"
"No offense taken. I don't mind, Kara," Lena reassured, "I'm not bothered by it. You can use visual language around me."
"Noted."
The Luthor's lips moved to make a smile before rising from her seat, "This is my stop."
The next sentence that slipped out of the blonde's mouth was bathed in disappointment, "Oh. How do you know?"
"Buses utilize the same route—I've grown accustomed; the last speed bump is the sixth one and I usually get up around thirty seconds after that 'cause it should—woah!"
The vehicle screeched to an abrupt stop, Lena toppling over and landing onto her classmate's lap.
Kara chuckled at the figure sprawled on her, helping the girl find her bearings and aiding her back up, "Don't get too comfy."
Lena shrugged herself off awkwardly.
"Wouldn't dream of it," she muttered out.
It seemed fate had plans to pit the young Luthor in the most embarrassing of situations with none other than the insufferable blonde. The majority of them were likely due to Lena's nervousness running through her veins and making her sweat at the prospect of the next encounter; she nearly tripped on her way to her desk until a pair of strong arms caught her, she almost fell asleep in her English class and was woken by a gentle tap on the shoulder, she dropped a plethora of her notebooks and they were promptly slipped back into her grip, among other things—all of the altruistic gestures done with a friendly chipper voice and genuine kindness.
They developed a bond that bordered on friendship due to Lena's 'prickly' nature.
But nothing could compare to the embarrassment of today.
Though she was thankful it was not her own blunder this time.
It was snowy, the particles of icy flakes drifting lazily onto the vast bed of snow outside that was impressively ankle deep considering it had only snowed for a day or two.
The noise in the cafeteria was perhaps the most troubling part of Lena's day. Students ran amok, filing in and out with loud screams and the occasional pop of a snack bag filled with junk food.
She had no idea why today of all days was particularly more dreadful than the rest, maybe it was just the winter effect, but other than that, this day was particularly normal; she would leave her class, walk to the cafeteria, sometimes get in line to retrieve lunch while she heard the mindless droning of the workers in the kitchen asking what toppings the students wanted and them replying with just as much lack of enthusiasm.
And Lena decided to get lunch, but her tray's fate remained the same; she would bring it to an isolated corner, hoping there would be less jeers than usual, and then go on about the break barely eating and picking at her food instead.
However, today was also the day where she was rudely bumped into by some ungraceful buffoon, and the fact that it was winter and obnoxiously loud and that she was already in a grumpy mood did not help the situation whatsoever.
"You're kidding. Seriously?" she growled under her breath before snapping at the offender, "Hey! Watch where you're—"
"Oh my gosh, Lena! I'm so sorry!"
She immediately relented at the sound of Kara's voice and found her own softening slightly at her presence.
"It's...it's fine."
"No, it's not!" she cried, and Lena heard the crinkle of napkins before being bombarded with swipe after swipe against her chest.
The distress in Kara's voice was clearly evident, "I got your food all over you—and oh gosh—your food! Now you don't have anything to eat and I'm—"
"Don't worry about it, it's fine," Lena repeated, probably with more bite than she intended, though not directed at the blonde, more at the snickers of passing spectators that surrounded them—or more herself.
"Good job, Danvers," a voice commended.
The wiping movement on Lena's shirt halted and she felt the hands tense, she could only imagine the angry and very unamused face the girl was making at the commentator.
Kara sighed, resuming her endeavors to clean the unattractive splatter off Lena, "I have a t-shirt you can borrow! It's in my duffel bag for practice and I have a lot more so it doesn't—"
"Look, I appreciate everything you're doing, but—"
"I insist," she pouted stubbornly.
Lena did not bother arguing, and for the first time, she felt like she would not win many with this girl, and she was very confident in her debating abilities.
"C'mon," she whispered, taking Lena's hand and leading her towards, what she recognized, was the nearby bathroom.
The Luthor pulled her hand away with pursed lips, "I can walk without you babying me just fine, Ms. Danvers."
Kara winced at the formality, "O-Of course, I-I didn't mean to—I know I can be kind of—"
"Touchy?" Lena finished with an edge to her voice, "I've noticed."
The blonde nodded, unzipping her bag and handing the girl her t-shirt, "I'm sorry. Again."
"I told you that you have nothing to apologize for. It was an accident—unintentional," she shook her head with a scoff, "Or at least I hope so."
"Of course not!"
Lena smirked at the aggressive statement.
Then the blonde's voice eased, "Um. You'll be okay?"
The Luthor tilted her head, "I—what? Kara, I'm not dying, or hurt. I just got food all over me. That's it."
"I got food all over you," the girl corrected, "And I'm sorry. You're sure you're fine?"
Lena crossed her arms, "Since you're so persistent, other than my dirty appearance, I think the snowy weather is getting to me."
"Yeah," Kara hummed, as if she was semi-deep in thought, "You've kind of been more...prickly around the edges since I last saw you."
"Are you going to keep comparing me to a cactus?"
"What about a sea urchin?"
"No."
"Porcupine?"
"No."
Kara made a face, pensive in thought, "Um..."
Lena smirked, "Are you done?"
She giggled, "Not really."
The Luthor scoffed, waving her hand, "Yeah. Okay. You can leave now, you can discuss this with me later."
It seemed that Kara was aware of the lighter tone in the dismissal.
"Okay, I'll leave now," she beamed, "See you around."
And Lena did.
Just not so soon, especially not in the way she was expecting.
She was strolling outside, a leisure walk to her local bus after spending her time being ignored by fellow T.S.A. members, all of which were boys, despite her being an officer. It was probably because they were afraid of Lena, which sure, she understood; they could shun her for being a Luthor, fine, so be it. But ostracizing her because she was a female? That would not fly with Lena, she knew better; they refused to take suggestions from—
"A girl?"
She rolled her eyes, "Yes, is that a problem for your childish, backward mentality?"
"Yeah, it's a problem. For you," another boy sneered, his animosity rising, "Don't think you can keep up with us."
"On the contrary," she countered, "I believe it's the other way around. I'm an officer."
"Guys, she has a point," another cut in, "She's an officer for a reason."
The other boy was dumbfounded, sputtering, "That doesn't mean anything!"
She ended up sitting in the back in frustration and rolled her eyes under her sunglasses at how base and unprogressive the school was, being in a small suburban and traditional town such as Midvale.
Lena was outnumbered as the only girl in the club, and she could only listen as they all scrambled and cursed for their parts, continuing to screw up their programming with a simple robot.
She absolutely refused to be underestimated and belittled, and certainly showed them all when they gave up. She constructed what they were doing and included a mechanism far more advanced than their puny sexist minds could conjure up, with a smug smirk and crossed arms to top it all off. It was clearly impressive, though if she had her eyesight she probably would have spent a lot less time trying to feel around for wires and counting at the circuit boards.
Lena even left her programming teacher impressed.
"You should apply for T.S.A. president next year. There's also a convention for girls in the S.T.E.M. field this spring—I think you'd excel and inspire with your skills. Disabilities aren't always limitations."
Lena was proud of the newfound respect she gained from her teacher, even if the woman still remained wary of the Luthor name.
Though she was unsure of the results with the boys; they could have grown more adamant in their hostility towards her—their jealousy. Or they would eventually come to respect her, as long as she did three times the work they did.
Lena did notice one of the boys that acknowledged her skills before she had to convince all of them. He was timid in his protests and was immediately rebuked for suggesting they should listen to their officer. Winn was the name if she recalled correctly, who glanced at her with utmost reverence at her skills.
It was a start.
Lena grunted, taking a small step back the moment she registered that she had walked straight into a firm body.
There was only quiet and the feeling made her uneasy.
"Kara?"
She yelped when a large stubby hand wrapped around her arms in a savage grip.
Definitely not Kara.
"What's up, Luthor?"
She was swiftly removed of her jacket, leaving her in Kara's t-shirt from earlier, and shoved to the ground.
"You think you're so smart, don't you?"
She fell in the snow face first, the rest of her body plunged into the cold ice, and she immediately felt her skin freeze from the sting.
Lena attempted to scramble up and away before a punch to the face sent her sunglasses askew and her reeling back into the snow. There would definitely be a bruise on her cheek later, she could feel the tenderness forming as well as the blood of her split lip.
"This your walking stick?"
She registered the second voice coinciding with the sound of her cane snapping and locking into place from its shortened form, and then a whistle as it whipped through the air and landed against her chest.
Lena was flipped onto her back by the force, a fit of coughing hacking out from her throat at her bruised ribs.
She hastily sat up, moved to back away until a third voice called from behind followed by a loud clang of metal that grated against her eardrums; she winced at the high pitch and made to scramble away until a similar series of sounds surrounded her, complemented by the cackles of the three boys.
Lena shook her head violently, plugging her ears, fearing they would bleed if they continued with their actions. She curled herself into a fetal position, no longer minding how cold and wet the snow was—skin numb and an irritated red from prolonged contact.
Tears spilled from her eyes as she whimpered out a futile, "Please stop!"
But they kept on laughing at Lena and worsened the grinding sound of the metal, and she just stayed there, clutching her ears and hoping they would get bored and leave her in the snow.
"Back off! I swear I'll—"
"Shit, scram, guys!"
The boys quickly fled the scene, taking their boisterous giggles with them.
Lena remained, shaking and curled in on herself, soaking from her time in the snow, arm secured around her chest as the sobs continued to wrack her body.
"Hey..."
She flinched, her jaw so frozen she had to speak through clattering teeth, "P-Please, don't h-hurt me."
"No, no. It's me. It's Kara. I saw those...jerks bullying you—here's your coat—and I couldn't not do something and..."
And suddenly it was not so cold anymore, the fuzzy feeling of the warm fabric draped over Lena's body and heated arms tentatively pulled her up to stand.
She whimpered, "They—my things, they—"
"I've got your backpack," she informed, helping the Luthor don her coat.
"My cane?" she ran a hand over her sunglasses to straighten its position.
She whipped her head around at Kara's voice.
"I can't find your cane," she informed somberly after a moment of quiet, "I think those guys took it with them."
Lena frowned, voice gruff from her sobbing, "Thanks."
She shrugged off the comforting hand that was placed on her shoulder.
"I'm coming with you," Kara proclaimed.
Lena shook her head, drying her tears with her sleeve, "I don't need you to."
"Yes, you do," she countered, "You don't have your cane, you'll get lost. I want to help you; the bus isn't far from here and when we hit your destination I'll walk you to your house and then I'll find a bus back. That's what friends do."
Lena straightened her hunched back, grimacing at how her aching ribs stretched with the movement.
She trembled as she trudged through the frost, unsure if the shivering was the effect of the cold or of the incident.
They traveled in silence to the bus, through the ride, and to her home, where she swore she heard some sort of gasp from Kara—she lived in a mansion after all, there probably were not many of those in Midvale.
And with quiet goodbyes and a quiet thanks, they departed.
Explaining to Lillian how she slipped on ice in the process of returning home proved to be...difficult, as usual.
But she was able to check up with the doctor and there was only a bruise on her chest and her cheek as well as a split lip, all easy to take care of.
If Lena thought that was difficult though, attempting to reassure Kara Danvers that she was absolutely fine proved near impossible.
"Are you sure? Those guys were jerks."
"They were," Lena agreed, gingerly caressing her bruised cheek, the timidness in her voice unbidden at the memories.
"But you're okay. At least I hope you are. Right?"
"That's literally the eighth time you've asked me that this entire class," Lena shook her head, "You should pay attention."
The blonde scoffed quietly, "Psssh, biology isn't as important as my friends."
"Friends..." Lena repeated.
"Are we not?"
The tone of the question was alarmingly concerned.
"No," she answered, "I mean, of course we're...friends, I'm just...I can't really remember the last time I could call someone that."
Lena could feel Kara frown next to her at the offhand comment.
"Don't worry, you'll have a lot of other friends!" she perked up, "You can meet mine! There's Lucy, James, Mike, and Winn!"
The Luthor's ears perked up at the familiar name.
"Winn? I think I know him? From T.S.A., right?"
Kara grinned, "Yeah! Gosh, he would not stop talking about how awesome you were last week. He's such a nerd."
"I'm glad to hear you're surrounding yourself with good company."
"Totally!" Kara beamed, "James is awesome at photography—"
"Jimmy Olsen?"
"You've heard of him."
"Who hasn't heard of him exactly? Everyone says he's the best football player and photographer in the school. And Mike is the M.V.P. of the basketball team, right?"
Kara nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, and Lucy is in J.R.O.T.C., she's pretty famous in that class since—"
"Her father is General Lane?" Lena mumbled uncomfortably, recalling his horrid slander against her brother, which she agreed with, but the hate in the speech still made her wince at times.
Lucy was polite though, in her physical education class, though she was stuck permanently paired to a blind girl to cater to her every helpless whim—not that Lena actually called nor accepted help from anyone anyway.
But Lucy was there as an option if she needed any, and though the Luthor would not admit it to herself, she did grow somewhat fond of her sassy comments, especially when she disclosed embarrassing little snippets of their mutual blonde friend.
"Yeah, how'd you—oh, yeah..." Kara frowned. Lucy had talked a lot about her father having to go over the Capitol bombing and his reluctance to let her attend the same high school as the madman.
"Class, we're going to be doing a lab today."
Lena released a breath she did not realize she was holding, thankful for the interruption.
The teacher announced, "Frog dissection."
The room erupted into a mixture of groans, cheers, and retches.
Kara was one of the gaggers.
"Gross!"
The Luthor snickered.
"This isn't funny, Lena!" she cried, "It's disgusting!"
"You have a weak stomach, don't you?"
"Well, you would too if—"
Lena raised a brow, "If I could see?"
"I—oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean—"
"Don't worry about it," Lena frowned, "Everyone else walks on glass and eggshells around me, sometimes they take too long to formulate a reply or they don't respond at all 'cause they're afraid I'll unleash some Luthor nonsense on them."
"O-Oh. Well. You're welcome, I guess?"
"Pick your partners and I'll go over the procedures!" the teacher called out, readying the frogs as he dodged the curious students following him, "Or you can opt out and do paperwork instead."
"Urgh!"
Lena nudged Kara, "C'mon, partner, it won't be so bad. Besides, you have me to walk you through everything after all. Unless you prefer to fill out a packet."
The blonde shrugged, "I guess that's true, but I still don't get the point of this."
"Well, if you were listening," she teased, "The layout of the organs in a frog is similar enough to a human's that students would be able to gain insight on how their bodies work, generally."
Kara huffed, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's just get going."
Halfway through the process Lena had second guesses and almost regretted her decision to pair up with the squeamish blonde; more than once the tray was nearly knocked over in Lena's attempts to console Kara.
"I should've done the packet instead," she whined, burying her face into her elbow.
The Luthor shook her head, "You haven't even touched the frog yet. All I need is for you to pin the flaps of the incisions down so we can identify the organs and get this over with."
Kara took a deep breath and reluctantly skewered the frog in place.
"I don't get why you find this so fascinating."
"'Cause it is," Lena chuckled, feeling around the slime of the amphibian.
Then she frowned.
"What's wrong?" Kara asked.
"I'm not sure if I can find all of the parts, they're too small and slippery for me to...and the gloves aren't tight enough," her expression hardened as she listed the anatomy, "Larynx, heart, stomach, lung—"
"That's the liver lobe," Kara corrected.
Lena smirked, "How about you finish labelling the rest of the frog then?"
"You know what," she started with a playful edge to her voice, "I will. Challenge accepted, and I'll wipe that stupid smug grin off your face while I'm at it too."
Lena did not doubt her abilities for one second, unsurprised when the teacher came around to check them off with a short congratulations before moving on to the next pair.
"Success!" Kara cheered, then she jabbed a finger to her friend's chest, "Take that!"
The Luthor titled her head, "I'm not impressed."
The blonde frowned, but before she could shoot a snarky comeback, Lena was quick to add onto hers.
"If I'm impressed, that'd imply I'm shocked, but I'm not—I was pretty confident you'd pull it off. And you did," she grinned, "You got us full points, I wouldn't have been able to."
"Oh, well..."
Lena heard a shuffle of feet and assumed that Kara was being her flustered self, the sound always followed a compliment.
"I look forward to working with you next lab," she smiled, "You could probably help me study for the A.P. bio exam since I'm..." she waved a hand in front of her face, "...quite inept with some aspects of the subject as you can tell."
Kara beamed at Lena's acknowledgement, removing her gloves and tossing them in the trash, "Don't sell yourself short, you haven't gotten a single 'A-' on a test."
"An 'A' is worthless if it isn't a first place 'A' in my family," she chuckled, "If someone gets a hundred percent, I have to make sure I give at least a hundred ten percent."
The confusion laced in Kara's tone was prominent, "But—that—geez, your family sounds really tough with school."
"Tell me about it," Lena smiled, a tease crinkling her eyes as she waved a hand towards her friend's voice, "You have frog goo on your lab coat by the way."
"Ew!" Kara screeched as she jerked to the side and flailed her arms, frantically spinning in circles trying to remove the cloth, momentarily forgetting that Lena was blind, "What? Where—"
Her sentence was interrupted by a disastrous crash and a wobble of metal where a scream followed soon after.
Lena was dumbfounded, "Kara, did you just...slap the tray and flip it to the other side of the classroom?"
"Uh, yeah..." she admitted sheepishly, "I think some goo splattered on Siobhan when it went soaring and landed. There's also some on Winn and Lyra too. Oops."
Then she grumbled, waving a sorry hand at the hysterically crying students, "And I checked, there's no slime on my lab coat you dummy!"
"It seems you aren't as clever as I thought you were."
"Oh," Kara placed her hands on her hips, "You think you're so witty, don't you? Well, do I have news for you—"
"Ms. Danvers!" the teacher shouted angrily, escorting the three students from the lab, "If you would so kindly clean up after yourself..."
"S-Sorry!" came the apology, "I'm on it!"
The encounters after that disaster could really not compare to its level of carefreeness and something that felt so genuinely delightful. What followed after were occasional greetings in the cafeteria where Kara would promptly be dragged away by her friends, all of whom gave Lena wary stares and gawked whenever she and her would hold a conversation. Mike was often preoccupied with balancing inanimate objects on his nose, like a pencil or spoon. Perhaps it was the tray itself today. Lucy and Winn were less vigilant compared to James and the other girl who she suspected to be Kara's older sister.
Nothing nor anyone stopped their interactions in class though, and Lena was thankful, else the lectures would have been mind-numbingly boring in English, and to have a partner in biology made it immensely more interesting.
Lena would always savor the little facts about Kara as time quickly passed through their freshman year.
"What? I'm not some dumb blonde!" she sputtered, crossing her arms defiantly.
"Let me rephrase," Lena scoffed incredulously, "My shock doesn't come from the fact that you're taking four A.P.s, it comes from the fact that one of them is Chinese Mandarin."
Kara shrugged, "So? I like languages."
"What do you mean 'so'? Chinese Mandarin is one of the most difficult languages in the world!"
She gasped, "Is the great Lena Luthor admitting that she's not good at something?" she chuckled, "First bio and now languages, what else is there?"
"I'm fine at bio and geo, but some of the more tactile and visual labs throw me off," she corrected, "Though English isn't my strong suit."
The blonde tilted her head, "It isn't?"
"You're taking the English literature test, right?" Lena inquired, "I'm taking the English language test."
"Oh," Kara caught on, "You don't like analyzing literature?"
"Not ones from the nineteenth century. They're irrelevant. I do enjoy them my free time if I happen to select certain texts I like, but I don't want to waste my time trying to read through metaphors and similes for educational purposes," she explained, a hint of annoyance tinging her voice, "I'm more into research documents when it's concerned academically, where they get straight to the point and give facts."
"But that's so bland and boring," Kara cried, "If I want research, I'll just do it myself."
"You weren't very active with the frog lab," Lena teased, "So much for 'doing it yourself' I'd say."
"Our interests lie on opposite ends of the spectrum," Kara defended, "What other tests are you taking though? Besides bio and English?"
"Psych and BC calc."
"Yuck."
Lena smirked, "I take it you're not a math person?"
Kara shrugged, "Math is fine, it just...sucks the life out of me with all the mindless calculations."
"What are you bad at exactly then?"
"Cooking? Sort of?"
Lena did a double take, "You, lover of all things edible—"
"A good edible," she interrupted, "Not all food is created equal."
The Luthor rolled her eyes, "You, a lover of all things that are a 'good' edible, can't cook?"
"Okay, I can cook!"
"But you're awful at it."
"I get distracted."
Lena did a double take and shook her head, "By what exactly?"
"By the television, by the dogs that walk outside the window, by—"
"So pretty much anything? Your attention span might be worse than your cooking."
"Hey! I'm—I'm good at sports!" she whined.
"Well, that makes only one of us then."
"You exercise your brain with all the academic clubs you're in. But you know," Kara nudged Lena with her elbow, "Maybe you are athletic, maybe you just need to spend some more time around me so it'll rub off on you?"
The Luthor tilted her head curiously, "Why the question at the end of the sentence? Is this an invitation?"
Kara nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah! You should come after school today for the scrimmage! I want to introduce you to everyone too."
Lena pressed her lips into a grimace, "I'm sure everyone would like to formally meet a Luthor."
"Hey," Kara nudged her with her elbow, "They'll adore you, and if not, they'll warm up to you and learn, whether they like it or not. It's March, so spring season is almost starting and you'll be able to hear how much I kick butt at soccer," she paused, scratching her head, "Or, at least I hope I kick butt."
"I'm sure you will," Lena assured, "I've heard a great many things about Kara Danvers: highest scoring forward and most protective goalkeeper on the varsity team."
Kara flushed and giggled sheepishly, "I only play the goalie when Lucy can't make it 'cause of her J.R.O.T.C. stuff."
"People also say that you have the most stamina on the team," Lena added, "Strongest as well."
"Don't tell the captain that," she chuckled, "She's pretty confident that she's the best player."
"Who's the captain?"
"My sister, Alex."
"Well, the real question is that is she the best player? She was elected captain after all."
"Yeah, she's the best, for her position as the midfielder. I'll admit that maybe, maybe, her accuracy is better than mine, but captains aren't the best players—they're captains 'cause they also possess leadership and patience—"
"Of which you seem to lack from my observations," Lena hummed, smirking at the huff she heard next to her, "And I'm not quite adept with soccer positions, nor am I so sure your sister will appreciate what you just said."
"You'll learn the more you come to the practices and games, it'd be great to have you there for moral support and to have my back when Alex and I discuss who's contributed the most to the team."
"'Discuss'?" she repeated.
"Sisterly banter," Kara rephrased when she cleared her throat and waved her hands.
"And that euphemism consists of name-calling and temper tantrums?"
"Exactly," the blonde laughed, throwing her head back, "How'd you know?"
"I had a brother once," Lena smiled, though the tips twitched with uneasiness at the mention of Lex.
Had a brother.
Once upon a time.
She felt guilty for arriving to the scrimmage late, spent the majority of her time beforehand fussing over whether she should actually go or not—she refused to be subjected to Kara's friends' untrustworthy stares again.
Lena eventually decided to take up the offer, and she made it easier upon herself by resorting to attending the event fashionably late; she would have to spend less time there as opposed to if she was early, but if she was tardy everyone would stare at the newcomer, not to mention the fact that it would be a Luthor.
Her overthinking never ceased even when she strutted her way to the lush field, until a soccer ball slammed into her face.
And the force of the momentum immediately sent her to the ground, disoriented and groaning in pain.
This was definitely a bad idea.
"Oh my gosh, Lena!"
Kara gently eased her to stand up, and the injured girl shook her head, tilting to the side when it created an instant bout of dizziness, but a pair of strong hands held steadfastly onto her.
"Are you o—you're bleeding!"
Lena could hear the guilt and shame in her voice, speaking through the iron liquid that poured out from her nose, "It's fine. Just another accident I hope."
"O-Of course it was," she replied, shoving a handful of napkins into her friend's hands, "I-I swear I'm not out to get you or anything. You were at the wrong place at the wrong time and I have bad aim—"
"It's fine," she repeated, inspecting her nose with her hand before hissing, "That's going to be tender for a while."
"Do you need a nurse?" came a separate voice, immediately answering its own question, "Yeah, you need a nurse."
Lena stiffened at the newcomer.
"Oh! This is Lucy," Kara introduced, "Lucy, this is—"
"Lena Luthor. I'm aware. We've been acquainted already actually."
The blonde tilted her head, her eyes darting from side to side, "You have? Why didn't I hear anything?"
"We have gym together, and the topic never really came up," the Lena supplied, relaxing somewhat.
"P.E.," Lucy corrected with an amused expression, "You know the coach doesn't like it when you refer to his class as gym."
"He's an arrogant child that can't take any form of criticism without whining like a baby."
Lucy snorted, "Very true, I've witnessed it firsthand all thanks to you. Way to make my day more interesting."
"Wait, P.E.?" Kara repeated, "But—"
"Just 'cause I'm blind doesn't mean I'm exempt from a class credit required to graduate."
"I'm also her partner," Lucy smirked, "To help out if she needs it once in awhile," she sneered at Lena teasingly, "Which you refuse to accept anyway, so I don't see the point in my position."
"I don't need a crutch," she shot back, "And you didn't seem very enthusiastic to be partnered up with someone like me anyway, so I don't see why you'd force yourself to offer any help. Nor am I a damsel in distress."
"That you're not," she agreed, "But it's fine to have help once in awhile, it isn't the end of the world. Anyway, we can save the small talk for later 'cause you need to go to the nurse."
"I'm fine," Lena answered, albeit a bit coldly.
Lucy was amused, "Oh. I forgot. You're one of those people."
"'Those' people?" she repeated.
"That say everything is fine when they're clearly not fine. And you're profusely bleeding. Really irritating actually," came the snarky comment, "Your nose could be broken for all we know."
"Well, Lucy," she addressed with pursed lips, "I believe if it was broken, I'd be writhing on the floor right now."
There was a small pause, and Lena felt like she was being scrutinized by the girl before she responded with a voice that made her think she was smirking.
"Point taken," Lucy jabbed Kara in the ribs, who jolted with a comical squawk, "You're right. I didn't have a term for it, but she is prickly around the edges. You certainly have a way with words, Danvers."
Lena curled her lips, flashing her gritted teeth in the blonde's direction, "Prickly, huh?"
Kara chuckled nervously, "Uh. Yeah."
"Guys, is everything okay—oh."
It took Lena a moment to pinpoint the identity of the voice from the recesses of her mind.
"Winslow Schott."
"Junior," he added, "Um, I go by Winn though. How'd you know..."
"T.S.A.," she explained through the bloody napkin on her face, "You were one of the sexist boys who wasn't with the complete idiots fooling around with the prototype."
"That was so cool by the way," he commended.
Mike bounced with glee, "Yeah, Winn showed me some photos, it was awesome."
Lena smiled, sincerely.
Meeting Kara's friends was actually off to a great start.
A deep voice caught up to their group, "Hey, guys," there was a pause, and the boy returned with a hostile tone, "Oh. It's you."
Kara gave him a small growl and elbowed him.
"Ow!"
The blonde piped in before he could make any further comments, "This is—"
"Jimmy Olsen," she finished.
The boy folded his arms and gave a rough grunt, "My friends call me James."
Lena tilted her head at the implication, straightening her posture, forcing a tight smile, "Jimmy it is then."
A tenseness swallowed up the entire group, except Mike, who sometimes struggled with social cues and stood on the side the entire time with a beaming grin on his face and occasional nods.
Before the awkwardness could fester, another voice rang out.
"Hey! What are all you dorks doing over there?"
Kara sighed, grateful for the interruption, "I accidently kicked a ball at Lena and now her nose is bleeding. Everyone was just heading back, but I'm going to walk her to the main campus to the nurse."
James shot her an angry expression with a harsh whisper, "I'm not so sure that's a good idea."
He shared a look with Alex, who nodded once.
Kara ignored them, grasping Lena's arm, "Let's go before you bleed out into unconsciousness."
"You might as well take your shit too," Lucy suggested.
"Your guys's practice ends soon anyway. We'll tell Coach Jones," Mike added, who received unhappy glares from Alex and James.
Kara's older sister sighed, rubbing her forehead, "Just get back before curfew, Mom and Dad don't like it when you come home too late."
The blonde pouted, "But this is an emergency, I have a good excuse if curfew passes! Eliza and Jeremiah won't mind if they knew I was helping someone."
Lena's ears perked up, noting that Kara called her parents by their first names.
Alex frowned, "Whatever. Just..." her eyes darted to her little sister's new friend, "...be careful."
Around her.
The Luthor fought the urge to scoff and left when Kara nudged her away from the group.
As she walked with Lena, she glanced over her shoulder to give her friends a reassuring smile and an 'okay' gesture with her fingers.
"Are you—"
"I'm fine. It stopped I think. I don't think we need to go to the nurse, it was just a nose bleed."
"Are you sure?"
Lena rolled her eyes, wiping around her face, "I'm not dying, Kara."
The blonde frowned at the sarcasm, "Oh, then I guess we won't if you don't want to, but I wasn't talking about that..." she elaborated, "The, uh...my friends—"
Oh.
"Are interesting," Lena provided quickly, "I like Lucy and Winn."
The blonde winced, "Sorry about Alex and James—he and Lucy had a thing. So I had a thing with Mike. Then James and I actually had a thing, but Luce is still one of my best friends. It was kind of a mess. Anyway, I guess he's a bit vigilant sometimes, though he forgets I could easily kick his butt and that I don't need his protection. But yeah, it kind of escalated and got tense, they'll come around eventually."
"Can we just...sit down?" Lena asked, unwilling to think about how her heart stuttered at the idea of her new friend being with someone else, even if it was in the past.
"Yeah, sure," Kara dropped to lean against a large tree, pulling her friend down and patting a patch of grass next to her.
Lena promptly sat down and rubbed her nose gingerly, then faced the blonde, "I got all the blood off, right?"
She grinned, "Yeah," then a frown pulled her lips down, "Your sunglasses are cracked."
The Luthor shook her head with a chuckle and slipped the accessory off before looking back up, "I can always buy new ones."
She heard a sharp intake of breath from Kara.
Half of Lena's smile faltered and she rotated her head for peculiar sounds, "What? What is it?"
"Oh, uh, n-nothing. It's just that you...you have really pretty eyes."
The Luthor smirked, "Were you expecting cataracts or some horrid scar?"
Kara rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, "Well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't."
"It's all right, the majority of blind people's eyes are still colored, there's nothing different other than the fact that our eyesight is bad or that the optical nerves are defective."
"That sounds like a bit of an oversimplification."
Lena waved her hand casually, "It gets the point across."
A moment passed, rain revealing itself from the sky and dripping, light, onto them through the leaves of the tree.
"They're green."
The Luthor tilted her head in confusion, "What?"
"Like, a really lovely green," she repeated almost breathily, "You should take your sunglasses off more often."
"I—thank you? Is that a good thing? Green that is?"
"Well," Kara chuckled, "I did say they're 'a really lovely green'," she paused, realization dawning on her, "Oh, do you not—"
"I lost my eyesight when I was really little, I don't recall much," Lena frowned, her shoulders sagging as her expression darkened.
"This is an isolated incident, Lena," Lillian smiled sickeningly, caressing her child's face, "Do you understand?"
The girl flinched.
"Yes, Mother."
"Good," the woman smirked, "You don't speak often anyway, but if anyone asks, you'll say what we rehearsed for Mother. Won't you, Dear?"
Lena trembled, "Y-Yes, of course. For you...Mother."
Kara quickly caught onto the lie, but wisely decided not to push.
"I'm surprised the Luthors didn't send me back into foster care when it happened, but..." she shrugged.
Maybe she should not have been all too surprised, she was but a simple centerpiece for the Luthors in the midst of yet another scandal. Lena's job was to lift the burden's weight off of her new family's shoulders with a prim dress and proper table manners and fake politeness at galas. It was regardless of the corruption shadowing her around like she was prey, awaiting her first mistake so it could twist it into some amalgamation. In return she would receive a house under her head and food for an endless generation of kings. She believed that she owed them immensely for taking her in and providing her a place to stay, even if she could not really call it her home.
"You're adopted?" an empathetic smile slowly grew on Kara's face, "I am too."
"Well, it's an often forgotten fact in gossip articles attacking the Luthors. I was adopted when I was four actually, what about you?" she inquired, curious.
The blonde's inflection was somber, "Not too long ago. Maybe twelve, thirteen."
Lena's face morphed into one of aghast sympathy, "I'm sorry, that must've been—"
"Scary? Traumatizing?" Kara laughed, breathless and without mirth, "Yeah. It was."
Lena Luthor was never one to exhibit even the tiniest amount of physical affection, towards anyone, she could not even remember the last time she genuinely laughed or smiled until Kara Danvers came into the picture around seven months ago.
But the forlorn whisper tugged at Lena, made her heart skip a beat and her lungs breathless from the pain that radiated from the usually bright and optimistic voice; she could feel the dreary cloud hover over Kara with such potency that she could only imagine the all too familiar faraway longing in her heart, and it tingled her skin—it itched with the urge to reach out.
And Lena did, brushing her fingers along Kara's forearm, which she swore she could feel tremors in, travelled up to her wrist and then enveloping her hand in a firm grip.
She squeezed once, reassuringly, pressing the droplets of water into soft and supple skin from the drizzle, with half a smile painted on her face.
It was not much, and Lena worried as she was not accustomed to the idea of providing comfort, but the way Kara relaxed into the therapeutic gesture communicated otherwise. It was not an impressive display of intimacy, but it was enough for her, more than enough coming from Lena, knowing she had difficulties with relationships. The amount of tension that drained from Kara's body was so significant that she had the audacity to lean into Lena, resting a cheek comfortably on her nimble shoulder.
She could not help but stiffen, then she felt the jaw on her clench.
"Is this okay?" came the hoarse croak, clearly attempting to hold in tears.
Yes.
She was an exception.
The answer came to Lena instantly, without hesitation, though the silence she emitted could be perceived as considerably reluctant, but Lena answered before Kara could pull away.
"Yeah. It's okay."
Notes: Constructive criticism appreciated.