Notes: Inspired by a tumblr post. Despite the extremely silly premise, this turned out pretty serious and angsty. Sorry! This premise probably deserves a funnier fic. Hope you enjoy anyway! This is part 1 of 3. Next part up tomorrow!
Warning for mentions of abusive behavior (on Mon-El's part; nothing is depicted directly). Also lots and lots of miscommunication.
Lena Luthor's girlfriend is a bit forgetful. Truth be told, perhaps more than a bit. Sometimes she forgets dates, or conversations, and sometimes she can go days without contact, and when confronted, remain convinced that she had just seen Lena the night before.
That's all right. Lena's girlfriend is sharp and bright and brilliant, gentle and fun and beautiful, and if she hadn't had this minor, tiny, entirely negligible flaw, Lena would have thought her far, far too good to be true. She's already in danger of being that as it is.
Which is why Lena is steadfastly determined to be the best she can herself, to constantly challenge herself to be kinder, softer, more thoughtful, to mind her tendency toward egocentricity, so she might, one day, perhaps, conceivably, be worthy of Kara Danvers.
In service of this endeavour, it's therefore no big thing for Lena to graciously accept that sometimes dates are missed or cancelled, that Kara might occasionally go long periods of time incommunicado, or that she doesn't seem terribly interested in kissing.
Certainly, Lena herself prefers taking things slow, has her own hangups concerning physical intimacy, and in any case, Kara's hugs are exhilarating and overwhelming enough all on their own.
Yes, all that is good and well, but, some things Lena finds somewhat harder to adjust to. For example, Kara apparently forgetting to mention that she's dating someone else.
"You - you're dating Mike?" Lena blinks, mind stuttering, barely able to process this absurd - surely, absurd - input. "Of the interns?"
Kara adjusts her glasses, smiling, bashful. "Well, yes. I was sure I'd mentioned it? It's been a couple weeks."
A couple weeks - Lena needs to sit down. It's true that they haven't discussed being exclusive - haven't discussed their relationship much at all, not in explicit terms - it was all so new - and certainly Kara deserved to have all the love she could want, but - Lena had thought things were going so well. Two weeks… Lena racked her brain for anything significant that might have happened two weeks ago.
"Lena? You okay?" Lena glances up to see Kara leaning over her, awkward smile gone, replaced with very visible concern.
Lena looks away, rubs at her temple in a vain attempt to ward off an inevitable headache. "Wh-why?" she stammers. How embarrassing.
"Why am I asking if you're okay? You flopped down in your chair, and you look pale, and now you're rubbing your forehead -"
"No. Why -" Lena waves her hand, tries not to grit her teeth, "him?"
"Oh! Well." Kara sits down opposite her, rests her hand atop Lena's. Despite herself, Lena melts. "He's sweet, and funny, and pretty okay in a fight, I guess. And he loves me a lot. Lena, should I get you some water?"
I love you a lot, Lena wants to say. But they haven't gotten there - haven't even come close - and it's still too early - they haven't even kissed - and this certainly isn't the time. "Do you - do you lo- like him?" Lena forces out. If this isn't casual, if this thing with Mike is serious, should she step back? Or would this be one of those polyamorous relationships? In times like these Lena desperately wishes she had more experience with any kind of relationship.
Kara squeezes her hand and lets go. "I - I don't know," she says, and Lena tries not to feel too relieved. It seems wrong to wish for your probably polyamourous girlfriend's other romantic relationships to be unsuccessful. Even if they had been previously unknown to you. Damn, but she wishes she were more versed in this sort of etiquette. "I guess so?" Kara says.
"You don't seem convinced," Lena points out.
Kara sighs. "I don't know. He really is very sweet, Lena. He just - doesn't listen, sometimes."
"I see." Do not gloat. Do not gloat.
"I mean, I told him, multiple times, not to rush over without - and I know what I'm talking about, I mean, in this case, I'm the one between us with actual experience, but he's like a puppy. He just can't stay still."
Lena feels slightly lost. Is Kara talking about sex? She takes a deep breath. Jealousy is unattractive, Lena. More importantly - "Does he do things you - you don't want him to?"
Kara looks taken aback. "Oh - no, it's not like that. Nothing like that, Lena, I swear."
"Kara…" Lena looks forward, searching Kara's face. "You deserve for your boundaries to be respected."
"He does!" Kara half lifts out of her chair in her protest. "He does. It's fine, Lena, you don't need to worry about me, I promise." She laughs nervously. "How did we get here? This is not where I was going with this conversation."
"Kara… I will support any decision you make. Of course. Of course. I want you to be as happy as you possibly can. We'll figure this out."
Kara looks at her so softly then, smile morphing seamlessly from nervous to pure sunshine. She looks at Lena like she's shining, like she's worthy and comforting and good, and Lena is instantly on the verge of tears.
No matter what, Lena loves her girlfriend. She's worth it. She's worth everything. And they will get through this. Together.
"Thanks, Lena," Kara says, so soft and heartfelt and - and -loving. "Please don't cry." She sounds almost choked up herself, now.
"I can't, I - I care about you so much," Lena can't stop herself from admitting, even if it isn't the proper time, even if she can't even look at Kara, too busy carefully intercepting her tears before they smear her mascara.
"I care about you, too." Kara is sniffling now, laying her hand palm up on the table, and, screw her mascara, Lena stops dabbing in order to take it. "Dinner at mine?" Kara offers. "I'll even cook."
And it's okay, it must be okay that her girlfriend might be seriously dating some possibly highly dubious man, because Kara Danvers cares about Lena, enough to say so and to cook her dinner and to hold her hand and to cry with her for no good reason.
Everything else, she's sure, can be handled with some patience, compassion, and, of course, proper communication.