Note: I got the prompts "Halloween fic" and "Kara and Lena spend Christmas together," so I combined them. Happy holidays!
Kara awoke in pitch darkness.
She stretched luxuriously, a smile sweet with sleepy comfort tugging at her mouth. It'd been a while since she'd had such a good morning's sleep. Next to her, she could sense the warm lump that was the likely cause of her contentment. Endearing smile, intoxicating mouth, enticing long black hair and exactly the right sense of humor; her name was Lena, she'd said. She liked Kara's turtleneck, she'd said. And she'd spent the night.
Or, day, rather.
Lena shifted on the bed; Kara could feel her stiffen. Not everyone appreciated the dark the way a vampire would.
Kara reached for her, her hand making contact with that thick, silky hair. It felt decidedly less silky now. After the morning's activities, that wasn't entirely unexpected. "Mm," Kara hummed, patting that outrageous bed head. "Hey there."
Lena made a very strange snuffling noise.
Kara bit her lip. Sleepy Lena was adorable, apparently.
Kara ran gentle fingertips through Lena's messy hair. It felt much shorter too, somehow. "I, um, I had a lovely time this morning."
Lena's only response was a surprisingly deep, throaty rumble.
Okay.
Kara stretched over to switch on the nightstand lamp, and turned back around to meet two bright green eyes framed by glossy black fur. Long snout, triangular ears, four gangly legs and doubtlessly, under the blanket, a big bushy tail—where her cute, fun, very talented one-morning-stand had been, now lay a very large, very fluffy, very very canine black wolf.
"Oh," Kara said. "That's different."
The wolf stretched, its whole body shaking with it, pushing two large paws against Kara's chest, and let out a yawn that melted halfway into an unhappy grumble.
'I'm not much of a night owl, usually,' Lena had said just before dawn at the bar. Kara almost let out a snort.
Not a night owl. That's for sure.
"Lena?" Kara asked. "You're Lena, right?"
The-wolf-who-was-probably-Lena grumbled some more, rubbing her face in the bedding and tapping Kara's shoulders with her paws.
Kara couldn't help herself. She reached out and touched the tip of the wolf's nose. "Boop."
The wolf sneezed.
"Don't be mad, but you're kinda cute like this."
The wolf bared her teeth with a lazy growl, burrowing her nose deeper in the bedding.
"Aw. I'm sorry." Kara held out a hand, and the wolf immediately pushed her face into it.
Kara's still heart almost started beating again just then.
"Okay," Kara said softly. "So, you're a werewolf. That's nice. I'm not judging. But could you, maybe, change back? I don't think you're gonna be able to use your apartment keys like this."
The wolf stared at her with those luminous green eyes, unblinking.
"And, I mean, it's Christmas Eve. Don't you have somewhere to be?"
The wolf averted her gaze.
Oh.
"I also don't have any dog food," Kara added.
The wolf huffed and turned her head to gently close her razor sharp fangs harmlessly around Kara's hand. She released her after a moment with a lick of her palm.
Kara smiled. "All right. We'll take it a step at a time. First, getting out of bed. We'll figure it out from there."
As soon as Kara jumped out of bed, the next step made itself crystal, butt naked clear. She quickly threw on track pants, a sweatshirt and a scarf. She also picked up Lena's scattered clothes, folded them and placed them on the kitchen counter. She laid the lacy underwear delicately on top.
The wolf followed her silently, not seeming terribly invested in the proceedings.
"Um, do you want some coffee? There's no cream or sugar, but my friend got me these fancy Turkish grounds."
The wolf stared up at her. Judgmentally. Kara could tell.
She sighed. "Sure you're not in the mood to be a person?"
The wolf padded over to the couch and hopped right on, making herself comfortable. There wasn't enough room for her to turn in a little circle, but it was clear she wanted to.
"Okay. Let me just call your family or a friend or something. Do your friends know about the wolf thing? I'll be vague just in case, don't worry."
Kara found Lena's phone in her purse, discarded on the living room floor just two steps from the door. Flattering.
The phone was fingerprint locked. Of course it was.
"Umm, Lena? Can you unlock this for me?"
Kara held out the phone. The wolf pawed at it obligingly, but the contact failed to even register.
"Fudge." Kara flopped down on the couch. "You don't happen to have an emergency override code or anything, do you?"
The wolf's only response was to shuffle closer and lay her head on Kara's thigh, a warm and living weight.
"Oh, boy." Kara absently stroked the wolf's head in gentle circles. "I can't let you spend Christmas alone. As a wolf. Can I? Do you even celebrate Christmas? Why didn't I ask about your holiday preferences? I don't even know your last name."
The wolf whined pitifully at that. Kara rubbed her ears, sternly.
"Don't give me that, missy." She scratched at the wolf's cheeks. "You should have told me your last name. You definitely should have told me you were gonna—gonna—wolf out all night."
The wolf's tail swished against the sofa, her eyes drifting shut. Kara dug her fingers into the thick fur of her neck to pet more effectively.
"What are we gonna do? You wanna get up and lead me to your apartment maybe?"
The wolf rolled her head in Kara's lap and whined some more.
"Guess not," Kara murmured fondly. "You wanna stay here? With me? On Christmas?"
The wolf tilted her head, the cold tip of her nose pressing to the inside of Kara's forearm, those big green eyes looking up at her from her lap. Kara groaned. She couldn't help it. She leaned over and pulled the big furry thing into a good, tight hug.
"That settles it," she told the wolf, kissing the bristly top of her head. "You're staying over. We'll go shopping. And I'm gonna give you the best Christmas a wolf could ever ask for."
.
.
The first thing they needed was food.
Kara's fridge, naturally, was filled with only the freshest, most legally obtained of synthesized blood packets. In the pantry were some cornflakes and canned beans for when Alex stayed over, and a family packet of calorie-free gum for when Kara felt nostalgic for the sensation of chewing.
Not exactly a Christmas feast. Especially for a wolf.
Kara took a deep breath, braced her hand on the back of the wolf's neck.
"We're gonna have to go to 7-Eleven."
.
.
"I should tell you, I'm not exactly an expert on all this," Kara told the wolf on their way to the convenience store. "I've never really done Christmas. I've been Jewish for about a decade now, and before that—"
Kara winced, rubbing the hem of the sweater she'd thrown on over her sweatshirt. This definitely wasn't first date material. Especially not first-date's-feral-alter-ego material.
"Anyway," she continued lamely, "I might not be the best person to do this for you. But I'll try my best."
The wolf bumped into her gently, brushing against her hip. Kara smiled down at her.
Even as a wolf, Lena was a sweetheart.
When they arrived, Kara was faced with a dilemma. "Lena… do you think you should wait outside?" she asked delicately. "I don't want to leave you out in the cold but I don't think they'd appreciate your patronage in your current form. Which, now that I think about it, that's definitely discriminatory. We should get a class action together."
The wolf snuffled and sat down on the pavement with a thump. Kara got the impression that if she could roll her eyes, she would.
"Are you sure?" The wolf got up, turned her back on her and sat back down. Kara laughed. "Okay. I'll be quick."
The store was entirely empty, save for the very miserable looking staff. Kara felt a pang of sympathy. While she was here planning her little Christmas party with a wolf, people had to sacrifice their holiday to work a thankless job.
"Hi! Good evening," she told the cashier, who smiled politely.
Emotional labor, said Nia's voice in Kara's head.
Kara looked up 'how to Christmas' on her phone as she browsed through the large quantity of colorful holiday miscellanea. She picked the items that appealed to her the most: a collection of tree decorations that looked like pokéballs, a rainbow colored plastic bunch of mistletoe, a couple of massively oversized Santa hats.
Next up, presents. What would a wolf want for Christmas? In the pet section, she found a windup toy elf, a Santa patterned doggy bowl, a candy cane chew toy, and fir tree shaped biscuits. She'd have to see if the cashier could gift wrap them for her.
Finally, Christmas dinner. Kara may not have had much experience in the Christmas department, nor the food department, really, but the wolf part made it all quite a bit simpler.
The fresh meat section had only chicken, beef shoulder and packaged ground beef left at this hour. Figuring salmonella wouldn't be very much in the holiday spirit, Kara opted to leave the chicken, and cleared out the isle of all the available beef instead.
She grabbed a bottle of cabernet sauvignon on the way out. Lena didn't seem like the eggnog type.
Kara hoped there were no essentials she was forgetting. She'd call Alex, except it was the middle of the night, Alex worked mornings, was also Jewish, and hated fun. The internet and her own superior instincts would have to do.
As soon as Kara stepped out of the store, she was assaulted by a big, warm, fluffy weight launching itself into her arms.
Kara stumbled back a step to compensate for the wolf's impact. She was very, very large. "Whoa! Hi!" She hiked her shoulder to secure her reusable canvas shopping bag and adjusted the big cuddly animal in her arms. "Got a little bit of wolfy separation anxiety going on, huh? Don't worry, I still think you're cool."
The wolf pressed her nose to Kara's cheek, her tail thumping against Kara's side.
"Should I put you down now?" Kara mused, and immediately shook her head. "You know what, in a bit."
The wolf's tail thumped harder.
"Anyway, we've got decorations, food, fancy wine, presents, what do we need next? Oh, right, a tree! Where are we gonna find a tree at eleven p.m. on Christmas Eve?" Kara clicked her tongue as a very bad idea occurred to her. "Oh, shoot. I know where."
.
.
Kara carried the wolf in her arms all the way to the nearest state forest. As soon as they were among the trees, though, the wolf jumped out of her arms with an ecstatic yelp and ran off.
Probably for the best. Kara didn't want the wolf to see her murdering and then stealing a tree.
This was definitely very, very illegal. And immoral. And not terribly practical, either. But it was for a good cause, Kara told herself firmly. Giving a lone wolf a warm and happy Christmas. There was probably already a Hallmark movie about this premise exactly. It was doubtlessly very touching and universally celebrated.
(Kara vowed to come back on Tu Bishvat and plant a dozen new saplings. Two dozen. And an anonymous donation.)
Kara looked around for a suitable tree; preferably one small enough to fit in her apartment and sick-looking enough that she could tell herself it wouldn't have survived that long, anyway.
After a little searching around by her phone's light, Kara spotted a young pine with discolored needles and beetle marks all over it. Perfect.
She braced a palm on each side of the thin trunk, took a deep breath, and with a calculated exertion of her power, tore it entirely in two.
Kara picked up the rent tree, propping it over her shoulder, and turned around to find the wolf vigorously rolling around in the dirt, her glossy fur already clumping with mud.
"Jeepers! Lena, come on!" Kara whined. "You're gonna kill me when you see what I've let you do to your hair."
The wolf's eyes snapped to the tree in Kara's hands. She rolled onto her paws, head low.
Kara lifted the tree up over head and waved it around; the wolf's eyes tracked every motion.
A smile spread across Kara's face. "You want it?" she goaded, wiggling it some more. "Go get it!"
Kara chucked the tree deep into the forest, and the wolf went off like a bolt. She kicked up earth behind her, legs pumping, motions blurring; the perfect hunter. Of trees.
The wolf leapt and caught the tree in her jaws in midair, landing in a spray of dirt. She trotted over to Kara, head held high, tail swishing.
Kara laughed. "Okay, you can carry it home, then."
.
.
They got back home just a little after midnight, with almost scary timing. It was officially Christmas now.
Time to make it feel that way.
Kara set about unpacking her purchases, humming to herself, and froze. "Dang! Should I have bought a Christmas album?" she asked the wolf, who was mostly invisible behind her tree. "Oh, wait, what am I saying? I have internet."
Kara turned on her laptop and keyed up a Christmas playlist, shaking her head.
"Put the tree down here," she told the wolf, who obediently dropped the tree on the living room floor.
Kara propped it up against the wall and draped it with string lights and the pokéball decorations. She laid the presents beneath it, taped the mistletoe to the ceiling, slid the raw beef shoulder onto a fancy plate, and voilà, perfect Christmas atmosphere.
Kara eyed the scene before her critically. Something still felt missing. The tree was shimmering, the music blaring, the mistletoe… hanging. The wolf sniffed at the meat, dragged it off the fancy plate and onto Kara's cream-colored carpet, and started gnawing on it happily.
"You need to get into the holiday spirit," Kara told her, and pulled the large Santa hat over the wolf's head. She found a green and white scarf and wound it around the wolf's neck for good measure.
The wolf looked up at her, shaking slightly, ears lowered beneath her floppy Santa hat, snout slick with blood.
Kara took out her phone to snap a picture. "Perfect!" she announced. "What next?"
"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way," her laptop commanded.
"Well, I don't have any bells," Kara said. "But… I can make a cake!"
She smooshed the ground meat into a small pot, turned it upside down on a platter and gave the top a couple of pats. Just like making a sandcastle. Only gooier.
The resulting oozing lump left something to be desired, so Kara stuck a candle on top. There. Perfectly acceptable Christmas cake.
"What do you think?" she asked the wolf. "Pretty uncanny, right?"
The wolf looked at the cake, and started shaking again. Kara put down the cake and kneeled next to her, threading her hand into the wolf's thick fur and stroking down her back.
"Hey. Are you okay?"
The wolf closed her eyes, trembling against Kara's palm for a few seconds more. Finally, she stilled.
She took a large bite of the cake, tail thumping approvingly, fangs flashing white beneath all the glistening red blood.
Kara gazed fondly at the sight for a little while. Christmas really could be a magical thing, just like they said on TV.
The wolf finished eating with a satisfied rumble and licked the blood off her muzzle.
Kara smiled. "You know what this party needs? Drinks."
Kara retrieved the wine bottle and the lone wineglass she kept for those occasions that called for drinking blood out of a glass, taking an unnecessary bath, and wearing a robe just to feel sophisticated.
She tried to hand the wolf the glass of wine, only to be halted by a very judgmental green eyed stare.
"Oh! Right. Paws."
Kara put the glass down and looked around. A fantastic idea occurred to her. She rushed over to the tree, picked up the doggy bowl, and poured a generous amount of cabernet sauvignon into it.
The wolf stared at her for another long moment as Kara placed the bowl in front of her. Kara had the nonsensical thought that this wolf's taste was too refined for convenience store wine. After a beat, though, the wolf deigned to pad over and give the cabernet a couple rather dainty laps.
That's when the trembling started up again.
The wolf tipped her head back, shaking harder and harder, twisting and writhing on the floor, and then—just like that, she was a wolf no longer, only Lena, entirely nude but for the overlarge hat and scarf, dark shiny hair rumpled and inviting, laughing heartily on her stark naked butt on Kara's carpeted floor.
Kara's first instinct was to stick her hand right in that alluring mass of tousled hair. Her second, to join in that infectious, raspy laughter. Her third instinct, and thankfully the one she chose to act upon, was to take off her sweater and hand it to Lena, gaze fixed on her peeling ceiling. She should really scrape and repaint.
Lena climbed to her feet, still giggling. Before accepting the sweater, she gripped Kara's wrist in long, cool fingers, and brushed her knuckles over Kara's cheek.
When Kara finally met her eyes, she raised a single eyebrow. "Hey, Kara," she said, voice low. "Nothing you haven't seen before, you know." She pulled the sweater over her head, trapping that luscious tangled hair beneath its woven collar. The soft curve of her inner thigh was left completely bare beneath its hem.
Kara dragged her eyes upward. "So, I, uh, noticed you're not a wolf anymore," she said.
Lena's laughter seemed to get magically even hoarser with use. "Astute!" she praised. "I think it was the doggy bowl full of cabernet that did it."
"Um… why?"
Lena shrugged. "I just get like that when I'm anxious sometimes. Laughing helps."
"Oh! I get a bit weird when I'm anxious sometimes, too." Not exactly big furry animal weird, but Kara wasn't one to judge.
"I have to say, the raw ground beef Christmas cake was inspired as well."
"You seemed to enjoy it," Kara pointed out.
Lena reached out and dragged a fingertip along the outer edge of Kara's arm. "I am known to enjoy the occasional beef cake," she said.
Had Kara been capable of it, she would have blushed.
Lena smirked. "To be fair, I also enjoyed rubbing muck all over myself."
"Yeah." Kara reached over to pick a dried clump of dirt off Lena's hair. Lena's eyes drifted shut at the contact. "How much do you remember?" Kara asked her quietly.
"A fair bit," said Lena, tone equally subdued. "It's Luthor, by the way."
"What?"
Lena tucked the group of hair Kara had touched behind her ear. "My last name," she said. "You asked, earlier. I'm Lena Luthor."
Kara blinked. "Oh, wow."
The Luthors, aside from being tech industry giants, were some of the more aggressive, unapologetic anti-preternatural lobbyists.
Not exactly the most supportive family a werewolf could ask for. "I don't suppose you're about to hand me a flyer," Kara joked weakly.
Lena gave her a tentative smile. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not exactly a perfect paragon of humanity, myself."
Kara beamed back. "Okay. I did spend a little while with the big cuddly manifestation of your id, so, I guess I can give you the benefit of the doubt."
"So generous. But I knew that already." Lena reached out to take Kara's hand in hers, caressing it briefly with her thumb.
Kara leaned instinctively closer. "Lena, um, can I ask you kind of a weird question?"
Lena nodded silently, biting the edge of her lip.
"Can I play with your hair?" Kara murmured.
Lena let out an abrupt laugh and released Kara's hand with a squeeze. "Fuck, yes," she said emphatically. "I thought you'd never ask."
Kara reached out, and Lena strained her neck forward, leaning into her touch. She rolled her head back and forth against Kara's palm, so much like her wolfy self that Kara couldn't help laughing. Lena smiled, cheek cupped in Kara's hand, and twisted to press a kiss to Kara's wrist. A bubble of excitement burst in Kara's belly.
Her fingers trailed down Lena's jaw, and Lena lifted her chin to expose her neck. With careful fingers, Kara swept beneath the collar of her borrowed sweater, grazing the delicate skin of Lena's throat and gathering the lovely strands of her hair. Breath caught, and heart as silent as ever, she coaxed it free, hand sliding into its silky, luxurious depths.
Lena let out a breath, and Kara barely registered the way its warmth landed intimately on her lips before she was crushing her mouth against Lena's, tasting the wild, hot, sour flavors of raw meat and wine and Lena.
Lena groaned against her, the vibrations in her mouth, and Kara twisted her hand in Lena's hair, fingertips brushing her scalp, dislodging the stupid Santa hat. Lena opened her mouth, blunt teeth scraping the inside of Kara's lip, the side of her tongue, as simultaneously careful and aggressive as she had been the morning before. Kara felt her own fangs elongate in response.
Don't bite, don't bite, don't bite, she chanted frantically in her head.
Lena caught her lip between her own teeth and applied gentle pressure, as if in defiant response.
Kara whined. She shouldn't have expected anything less from a werewolf's kiss, she supposed.
Lena nosed across Kara's jaw, dragging her mouth down her neck, loosening Kara's scarf with a finger. She breathed in Kara's skin, teeth dragging over her pulse point, and licked a hot stripe up Kara's throat, lips sealing in a sloppy kiss just underneath her jaw. She found her way back to Kara's mouth, kissing even filthier, more carelessly, heedless of Kara's now fully extended fangs.
Kara tilted Lena's head backward, her fist in Lena's hair, and kissed back.
When Lena came up for air, she was flushed from ear to throat, her chest heaving. Kara's lips tingled. Lena's hand, which had apparently slid underneath Kara's shirt to press to her stomach, pushed against Kara's abs.
"Well," she said, voice low and rough. "I didn't get a chance to tell you this, but I think you're just a perfect slice of pie with whipped cream on top."
Kara felt a slightly dazed smile start to bloom. "What kind of expression is that?"
"Golly gee, does my vernacular not appeal to you? Not enough genteel early twentieth century expletives?"
Kara was fully grinning now. "Identity theft is a serious crime."
Lena brought up her hands in an exaggerated shrug. "Oh, fudge."
Kara bumped her shoulder against Lena's, and stayed there, resting against her.
"Thank you," Lena said softly. "That was my first Christmas since—since I became—you know."
Kara bent down to kiss her shoulder gently. "That was my first Christmas ever, actually," she told her. "So I win."
Lena laughed, and circled her arms around Kara's waist, drawing her closer.
"Lena," Kara asked quietly, "why were you anxious yesterday?"
"Oh, you know." Lena traced a finger along Kara's obliques. "Sharing a bed with a gorgeous, charming, generous woman I really, really wanted to impress, I guess I thought, hey, what's more impressive than turning into a big slobbering idiot with no warning?"
"For the record, it totally worked."
"You're saying, having a post-coital furry freakout was the right move on my part."
"I was definitely endeared," Kara assured her.
"So if I were to suggest a second date, you'd be receptive?"
"First of all, it would be our third date. I mean, what do you call all this?" Kara made a sweeping gesture encompassing the stolen tree, dog bowl of wine, and blood stained carpet. "Second of all, yes."
Lena smiled and pinned Kara with a long look. She squeezed Kara's waist. "Hey, wait here for a second."
She padded over to the kitchen, bare legs on full display. Kara only stared a little.
Lena returned with a dining chair, placed it underneath the fake mistletoe, climbed on top, and plucked the mistletoe off the ceiling. Settling back beside Kara with a smug look on her face, she reached out and draped the mistletoe right on top of Kara's head.
Lena straightened with an exaggerated gasp, hand over her mouth. Kara rolled her eyes.
"Oh, my, look at that," Lena said, voice lowered, already leaning in. "I guess we have to…"
Kara met her halfway, the mistletoe sliding off her hair as she tilted her head into the kiss.
Lena's lips parted eagerly, sucking at Kara's mouth, biting her lower lip. Kara cupped the back of her head, fingers threading in her hair, neck straining forward, filled with a deep sense of satisfaction and yet hungering desperately for more.
Lena suddenly broke their kiss with a frown. Placing one hand on Kara's shoulder, fingertip grazing her neck just beneath the scarf hiding two ancient bite marks, she asked: "Hey, is human blood even kosher?"
Kara barked out a laugh. "It really, super isn't," she said, running her hand down Lena's hair and twirling the ends around a finger. "Way to ruin the moment, you ass."
Lena gasped. "I got you to say a bad word."
"I bet I could be convinced to say a few more," Kara said daringly.
Lena quirked an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Stay the morning again, and find out."
"I can live with that," Lena murmured, and leaned closer. Before their lips could quite touch, she straightened up again. "But you can't," she said, incongruously excited. "Because you're undead."
"Holy moly," said Kara. "I think I liked you better as a wolf."
Lena laughed her husky, infectious laughter at that, and pulled Kara close for a sweet, sweatery, earth-scented hug.
This was definitely the best Christmas Kara could have ever wished for.