Lena stumbled down the street, taking a swig from the rapidly-emptying bottle. She could still taste the last boy—Bradley something—on her lips and she was trying to burn him away. She needed to put a block or two between her and Kara but the distance did nothing to keep the blonde out of her head.

The vanilla smell that hung around her wasn't helping either, the summer night air doing nothing to dispel it. It made it into a cocoon, a lingering smell that wrapped its tendrils around her and permeated her brain.

Kara had looked at her so earnestly that Lena thought her heart was going to explode. What if she just leaned forward those last few inches, and closed her eyes and—

She landed heavily on her hands and knees, the bottle smashing against the ground. Gravel bit into her skin and she looked up through the fog of booze at the curb she had just tripped over.

Shit.

For a minute she didn't move. She didn't recognize the street she was on and couldn't see any landmarks in the dark. She stood up, gingerly brushing her hands on her pants; her jeans had saved her knees from the cement but her hands weren't as lucky. Little beads of blood were forming and she winced as the rough fabric scraped her raw flesh.

Headlights flooded the road in front of her and she turned. She couldn't make out the face of the driver but the car slowed and the door opened.

"Lena?"

Squinting into the lights, Lena tried to pinpoint the voice. Crickets chirped nearby and she blinked as though it would help her identify the car.

"What are you doing out here? Aren't you supposed to be at Mike's?"

Alex.

Feeling stupid and slow from all the scotch, Lena raised a hand in greeting. A crunch of gravel and a few seconds later, Alex was at her side, worry on her face.

"Jesus, Lena, what happened?" She flattened the injured hand and inspected it. "It's not deep, but we need to get it cleaned up."

"Blame your sister," Lena said thickly, her eyes half-closed.

"Kara?"

Lena lets out a humorless laugh. "Do you have another hot sister?" She met the older woman's gaze defiantly.

Alex's bewildered expression looked back at her. "Are you saying Kara did this to you?" She sounded like she didn't believe the words coming out of her mouth.

Lena shook her head and the whole world spun. "No." Alex's hand caught her elbow and she frowned, her head already starting to throb. "I left the party because of her and then I fell."

Alex's brow furrowed and she led the girl over to her car. "Why'd you leave?"

"I don't know," Lena said truthfully. "Maybe because I can't stand being close to her."

Making sure her seat belt was on, Alex closed the door. "You know," she said with an undertone Lena was too drunk to place, "She dragged me out of bed to come find you."

Dull green eyes squinted at her, a sliver of hope shining through. "She did?"

"Yeah, she did. She was worried you would get lost and wanted to make sure you weren't walking around drunk. Good thing, too." She started to drive, casting long looks in Lena's direction as she navigated the familiar streets.

"I don't deserve that," Lena said emphatically. "She's too good for me." She wondered why Kara hadn't come after her herself, then forced the idea from her mind. It wasn't Kara's job to watch after her, she should be able to handle herself.

"What are you talking about? She loves you, you're her best friend. She never stops talking about you."

The rest of the drive was a drunken blur. Somehow they were inside and Alex was cleaning her hands, white bandages covering the angry-looking skin, and the roar of the sink was filling a glass of water.

"Drink this," Alex commanded.

"I'm already drunk." Lena tried to prop herself up on the kitchen counter and failed, hitting her knuckles on the marble.

"It's water." When Lena just stared at the glass, Alex sighed and pressed it into her hand, busying herself with cleaning up the cluttered counters. After a long minute, Lena lifted it to her lips with a shaking hand and took a slow sip, heedless of the bloody hand print she left on the side.

"I'm no good for your sister," she said out of nowhere.

Alex said nothing, just refilled the water.

"She's like...she's like the sun. And I'm not," Lena finished with a frown. "I'm a black hole. They don't even let light out."

Guiding her up the stairs, Alex tried to remember her high school science courses. "They're vacuums, right? Vacuums so strong that light doesn't escape?"

"Yeah," Lena said bleakly, falling onto Kara's bed. She didn't seem aware of the fact she was in Kara's house and Alex raised her eyebrow at the way she clutched Kara's pillow to her chest.

"Maybe that's not such a bad thing. To be that strong."

With a deep sigh, Lena rolled over. "I'm not strong. I'm weak. Worthless."

Alex digested that and knelt by the bed. "Do you need anything else?" she asked with concern. She had never taken care of Kara drunk—her sister didn't drink—but she knew what to do. She had done pub crawls in California and was no stranger to the reckless insistence of drunks, especially when the drunk was a girl seething with self-hatred.

"I need a lot of things," Lena answered cryptically, pulling her bra off and tossing it on the floor. "Smells like Kara," she mumbled, settling into the mattress.

Pursing her lips, Alex pulled the quilt up Lena's body, brushing her hair back.

I wonder if she knows yet. That she's in love with her.

"No. No, please!"

Familiar with Kara's childhood nightmares, Alex was up in a heartbeat and stumbling across the room. Blinking sleep out of her eyes she flicked the bedside lamp on. "Kara, it's okay."

It wasn't her sister's blonde hair fanned out across the pillow.

Lena.

The girl was twisted in Kara's sheets, knuckles white against the blue bed spread. Her eyebrows were furrowed together even in sleep and her eyelids were fluttering.

"Lena, wake up."

"I didn't mean to," the sleeping girl muttered hoarsely. "I didn't mean to kill you."

A pause, her arm jerking to the side and hitting the bed.

"I don't want to be alive anymore."

Icy shock shot thought Alex's veins and she shook her awake. "Lena. Lena, you're dreaming."

Lena shot up with a gasp, her flailing arms trapped in Alex's steel grip. Alex didn't miss the blind panic in her eyes and tried to calm her down, the mattress sagging under her as she sat down.

"Hey, hey. You're okay, everything is okay." Lena didn't hear her; her breathing was shaky and rasped against her throat. Wrapping her arms around the younger girl like she used to do with Kara, Alex kept murmuring comforting things in her ear.

Slowly, steadily, she coaxed Lena back to consciousness. She knew the moment it happened because Lena's face flushed with embarrassment.

"Alex?" she said timidly.

"Shh, it's okay. Go back to sleep."

"What happened?" She hugged her arms to her stomach. "Where am I?"

Sensing her withdrawing, Alex backed off. "You're at my house. You had a bad dream. Do you remember it?"

Lena shuddered, rubbing her forehead with an uncoordinated hand. "No," she said unconvincingly, staring resolutely at the wall. She still felt drunk and she hoped if she went back to sleep she would wake up in her dorm room.

Not sure what else to say, Alex got back into bed. "I'm here if you want to talk," she said as Lena switched off the lamp.

Lena didn't respond, just waited for Alex's breathing to deepen and even out. When she was sure she was asleep, she slid her legs over the side of the bed and put her head in her hands.

How did I get into this mess?

She couldn't believe she was sleeping—in Kara's bed, of all places! It was filling her with anxiety and a deep-rooted thrill that made her body hum with electricity.

There was no way she was getting any more sleep.

Feeling like she was committing a crime, she crept over to the dresser drawer and inched it open. Rooting around in the dark, she pulled out a tee shirt—she knew she'd picked the right dresser when it smelled like vanilla. Shucking her own designer blouse off, she pulled Kara's over her head before she could change her mind, touching a finger to the fabric.

How was it possible that it felt softer just because it was Kara's?

She was tempted to go downstairs—after all, she was a creature of the night—but stopped herself, climbing back into Kara's bed. It was like a bizarre fever dream, her being slightly drunk in Kara's house and sleeping in her bed.

Against her better judgment she opened Kara's nightstand, curiosity eating her alive. Using the light of her phone's lock screen (a selfie that Kara had insisted they take) her groping fingers hit a familiar feeling glass bottle.

She has the same perfume as me?

Moving towards the back of the drawer, she found a small pile of photographs.

Must be important for her to hide them like this. Then again, how many people snoop through her things?

Lena squinted at the first one. They were film photos, black and white, and as she made out the image her heart stopped.

It was a picture of her. Her hair was messy and she was wearing sunglasses, sitting with her legs folded under her and her nose buried in a book. The title of the book read Ship of Magic and her brow furrowed. She had just started that a few days ago.

The next photo was also of her, sitting in the grass, tucking her hair behind her ear.

Then her putting her hair up.

Another one, but this time she was laughing at someone outside the frame.

Her teaching Thomas how to use chopsticks.

Playing the piano, her eyes closed in concentration, fingers blurring in the long shutter speed.

Leaning against Kara's backpack reading The Count of Monte Cristo.

In her homecoming dress, a glass of cider in her hand and a borderline haughty expression on her face because of the setting.

The photos chronicled their friendship almost completely from the start, and her breath caught when she reached the final, earliest photograph. The edges were worn down and cat-cornered, like it had been shoved into too small a space a few too many times.

Lena, standing outside her dorm in the outfit from the first day, waiting for Kara to pick her up and go to the diner.

It was taken from farther away and had an almost wistful tone to it. She stared at it for so long that her phone dimmed and her eyes adjusted in the moonlight, making out her own silhouette in the dim, silver shine coming through the window. She shuffled them back into a pile, placing them carefully at the back of the drawer with the exception of the last one. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she forced herself to lie down, her mind abuzz with questions, her hand clutching the photograph underneath the pillow.

She's been taking photos of me since the beginning.

What does that mean?

It paralleled her collection of drawings so closely that she found herself wishing Kara was there with her. Maybe even in the bed next to her.

Dismissing the thoughts as drunken rambling, she rolled over and stared at the ceiling. She definitely wouldn't get to sleep now, not with all these ideas and dreams running through her mind like squirrels on crack. Not with the possibility that Kara might—might what? Might have the same feelings?

And what, exactly, would those feelings be?

Lena woke up to a harsh ray of sunlight in her face. Her head throbbed in unison with her heartbeat and her mouth tasted like something had died in it. With a groan, she squeezed her eyes shut and rolled over, trying to cling to the fraying ends of her dream.

In her dream, Kara was lying behind her and her arm was draped over Lena's body. She was wearing close to nothing—a sports bra and boxer briefs—and breathing into the back of Lena's neck, her lips pressed against the skin there like it was the most normal thing in the world.

As it faded away, she realized that the smell of the dream was just as strong, and her eyes snapped open to stare at the wall.

Maybe it had all been a drunken fantasy. Maybe if she closed her eyes again—

The photograph in her hand told her it wasn't a dream. She was lying in Kara's bed, inexplicably wearing Kara's shirt, and with clear evidence of having gone through her things.

A glance across the room told her Alex had already left, but she felt intensely on edge—a feeling that only tripled when she recognized Kara's humming coming down the hall. A soft knock at the door had her closing her eyes and slowing her breathing; she didn't want to face Kara like this. She couldn't.

"Lena?" Kara's chipper voice was quiet and the door creaked open. There was a pause and the snap of a glasses case and Lena imagined her taking out her glasses, sliding the black frames up her nose. "Just gotta grab some clothes," Kara said, half to herself.

There was an unmistakable rustling and the sound of fabric hitting the floor. Lena's heart sped up but she kept her eyes shut, counting the seconds on her watch. She almost squeaked in surprise when the bed sagged, Kara's warmth radiating off her body and through the blankets.

Kara watched her friend sleep for a moment. Lena's always-perfect eyebrows were knit together and something came over her as she smoothed the crinkle they formed with a gentle thumb.

Lena shifted in her sleep and Kara froze, her heart beating in double time. She was in a mildly compromising position and was coming up with an excuse—you had something on your face, I was just brushing it off—when Lena sighed and settled back down.

Her fake sleeping must have been better than she thought because a second later Kara's hand was brushing her hair back and lingering on her cheek.

"I'm so sorry, I should've followed you. I was really worried about you."

She was apologizing.

To me?

She kept her breathing even, wanting to hear the rest. Kara took a small breath, her hand leaving Lena's face.

"I don't pretend to know what's going on in your head, but I don't think you like Thomas. You shouldn't lead him on. It's not fair."

Kara's voice was soft but her tone was accusing and Lena felt a prickle of guilt start in her stomach. Kara had been friends with Thomas a lot longer than her, of course she would defend him and not want to see him—

"It's not fair to you," the blonde continued, surprising her. "I know you. You have a penchant for self-hatred. Making out with all those guys at the party had less to do with them and more to do with your image of yourself. You're punishing yourself, and I'm not sure what for but I hate seeing it."

Kara put her hand on Lena's torso and kissed her shoulder. It was meant to be a friendly gesture but Lena's skin was slightly salty from the night before and she smelled like perfume and alcohol.

Feeling Kara's breath on her bare skin sent goosebumps up her arms and she couldn't stop a quiet moan from escaping her lips. Kara sprung back, busying herself with her dresser.

Lena gave her ample time, slowly stretching and rubbing at her eyes like she had just woken up. "Kara?" Her voice sounded sufficiently sleepy and she ignored the twinge in her chest when the blonde turned, a nervous smile plastered on her face.

"Hey, you're awake!" she said in an unnaturally high voice. "Eliza's making pancakes, do you want some?"

Still reeling from the sensation of Kara's lips on her shoulder, Lena blinked and tried for surprise.

"What are you doing here?"

A chuckle burst out of Kara and her smile softened into something more genuine. "This is my room?"

Not that surprised.

Shielding her eyes from the sun, she stifled a yawn. "I'm so sorry," she got out, thinking back to last night. She lurched out of the bed on unsteady legs and Kara caught her. The rock-hard muscles of Kara's forearm did little to steady her and she clung to her like she was a life raft.

"It's fine, Lena. I'm glad Alex found you." Kara's fingers were splayed against her ribs and burning through the cotton shirt. "Are your hands okay?" she said with a concerned look at the bandages.

Lena ignored her question. Something was rearing up inside her, pulling at the edges and spilling over, and she knew she couldn't control it for much longer.

"Are you still drunk?" Kara tried another question.

Her breath smelled like mint and chocolate and at this overwhelming sensory input, Lena tilted her head towards Kara's subconsciously.

Kara swallowed, her throat tight. Lena's green eyes were dark and hooded with something close to desire and a loss of control and—maybe it was just the alcohol.

"I'm not drunk," Lena breathed, watching the pulse pounding in Kara's neck. "I'm Irish. We digest liquor faster than most people digest potatoes."

Kara trilled out a laugh at that, using it as an excuse to break away, but Lena hooked an arm around her waist and her laughter cut off abruptly as they stood face-to-face.

"Lena, what are you—"

"I really like you," Lena blurted out, then froze as the burn of embarrassment started somewhere in her stomach.

"I—what?" Kara looked at her like she'd grown a second head. Her eyes had widened, the pupils shrinking in surprise.

Someone else had taken over Lena's body because her mouth was opening and she was talking again. "I like you. I think. I don't know, it's all so confusing but ever since your sister told me about that girl you kissed, Veronica, I can't help but think—" She snapped her mouth shut at the look on Kara's face, shame flooding her from head to toe.

The blonde looked crestfallen. If Lena didn't know any better she would have said heartbroken, but she did know better and had already hardened her heart against the response. It still hurt to hear.

"Lena, I can't," Kara said haltingly. "Veronica was—a mistake. It's not fair to Mike, and it's not fair to you either."

Kara's imploring gaze was making the situation so much worse. Lena pushed her away hard enough that Kara stumbled into her bed, cursing the day she met Kara Danvers. Her life would've been a lot less conflicted without her perfect hair and perfect smile.

Her life would have been a lot darker, too.

She did what she was best at, what felt natural to her. She deflected.

With her eyes glued to a spot behind Kara's shoulder, she clenched her jaw. "Forget I said anything."

"Lena—"

A quick step and a creak of the door and Lena was outside Kara's bedroom, downstairs before Kara got out another word. She was standing by the door, her bare feet cold against the floor, and debating what to do next when Eliza's voice rang down the hall.

"Kara, is that you? Is Lena staying for breakfast?"

Oh, god. Eliza.

What would Kara's mother think of her now? The girl who ran out of her house and then spent the night because she was too drunk to see straight?

Bracing herself for a verbal thrashing, she padded her way to the kitchen.

"Hi, dear. Is Lena hungry?" Eliza didn't look up from the mixing bowl, her arm moving in smooth, even strokes.

Briefly, Lena wondered what she would do if Eliza flung the whisk at her.

When she was met with silence, Kara's mother looked up, only half surprised to see the quiet girl pressed against the door frame. "Good morning, Lena." Her smile was warm and inviting but Lena stayed out of the kitchen, her eyes darting to the door.

"Hi," she said in a small voice. "Thanks for letting me stay, but I should get going."

Eliza pulled her apron off and approached her with a glass of orange juice. She moved slowly, like she was walking towards a cornered animal. "I've already made pancakes," she said with another smile. "And I want to take a look at your hands. Alex said you fell down."

Taking the glass, Lena sat down at the counter. "I'm not really hungry," she started lamely, "And I don't want to impose."

"You're not imposing, darling. Where's Kara? She always likes to lick the batter off the whisk."

Once, when Lena was 6 she had licked a spoon used to make brownies. Her mother hadn't let her forget it, and now she had a scar by her right eye as a permanent reminder.

"I think she's changing," Lena said timidly. The orange juice washed the bad taste out of her mouth and she sat up, her back ramrod straight. It took a lot of willpower to keep her eyes from flickering to the stairs but she managed it. Forcing her chaotic thoughts in line, she offered Eliza prim answers to her questions, dreading the moment Kara came downstairs.

Still standing where Lena had left her, Kara's hands grasped empty air.

She couldn't deny the compulsion she'd had to kiss her friend. She thought staying at Mike's for the night would have washed out that line of thinking but if anything, it seemed to have made it worse. After spending all night comparing her drunk, crass boyfriend to the enigma that was Lena Luthor, Kara had driven back home determined to catch her before she went back to school.

And then Lena had gone and said all that.

It was almost enough to make her repressed feelings break the chains holding them in. She knew from Lena's face and the harsh tone of her "Forget I said anything" that she had resolutely crushed her feelings. The work she had spent the last month on breaking Lena's walls down had been undone the second she rebuffed her.

Sinking onto the bed, Kara fluffed up her pillow. A paper fell to the floor and as she bent down to pick it up, she recognized the photograph.

It was the first picture of Lena she had ever taken. The one that had made her cut across campus and send Thomas to bring her to the diner.

Hopefully Lena hadn't seen it. Hopefully she was too drunk to put the pieces together and realize Kara slept with a photograph of her underneath her pillow. She thought she'd put it away, but she must have forgotten to. Guilt made her hastily slide it back in the drawer, wiping her hands off on her pants.

Best not to dwell on it. She would've said something.

When she joined Lena and Eliza for breakfast, she was overcome by how natural it all felt. Lena sitting next to her, her hair still messy from sleep, adorable sleepy dust in the corners of her eyes. The way Lena was holding herself wasn't lost on Kara and when she asked if she needed a ride back to school, she wasn't surprised by her polite refusal. The brunette had shored her walls back up.

"Cabs can be expensive," Kara quipped, pouring syrup on her tenth pancake.

Lena blushed and mumbled something about money that neither of them heard, and Kara didn't push it.

When they finished, Lena insisted on clearing the table and started washing the dishes, desperate to avoid conversation. Kara got up to help and Eliza watched them with a quiet smile; every time Lena moved Kara moved with her without noticing it.

"If you're going to do the dishes then you're welcome any time," the older woman commented.

Lena shrugged. "It's the least I could do," she said humbly. "You've been so nice and understanding and you barely know me.

Eliza smiled knowingly. "I'm a mother. It's my job to be understanding."

Not sure what to say to that, Lena scrubbed a little too hard at a clean plate. In her experience, mothers weren't understanding. They existed only to disappoint, to prove that you had failed yet again.

The moment was broken by Kara dropping her fork into the sink with a loud clatter, making Lena jump.

"I, for one, am thankful because dishes are my chore. Hang on, you have an eyelash." Seeing Lena's hands submerged in soapy water, she licked a finger and pressed it under her eye.

Lena held perfectly still, not missing the tingling that radiated out from the point of contact. Kara looked equally affected, her pupils dark and blown out, and Lena stammered out a "thanks" before hastily finishing the dishes. She was gone before Kara had the chance to say anything and missed the look Eliza shot her daughter.

Neither of them mentioned the exchange for the next couple weeks. Life went on, except for the fact that Lena's every waking moment was consumed with thoughts of Kara Danvers. When she went to sleep at night, she imagined Kara doing the same thing, lying down in the bed she had spent one perfect-smelling night in.

The other girl's demeanor changed slightly but Lena was so attuned to her mannerisms that if felt like a personality overhaul to her.

Before, when they would go out or do a photo shoot, Kara was friendly. She would try to sit next to Lena and she would direct the photos and let her do her own thing.

Now, Kara insisted that Lena sit next to her. She asked for Lena's input on the photographs and had started asking to take photos of Lena with no actual project in mind. Her hands would linger on Lena's arm or shoulder for longer than necessary. She was flirty with her texts and one-liners, and it was slowly driving Lena insane.

But she was handling it.

Until one day, she wasn't.

"Hey, can you do me a huge favor?" Kara caught her at the end of the day. People were less wary of Lena and a few even smiled at her when she passed them in the halls, though she suspected that had more to do with her relationship to Kara than her own popularity.

The bad habit of agreeing with Kara without thinking hadn't changed. "Anything."

"Well, I have a long block off today and I didn't get much sleep last night," Kara said, not meeting her eyes. She hadn't gotten any sleep because after staying up to text Lena until 2 am, she'd scrolled back and reread their entire conversation, trying not to read too much into the exchange and failing.

"You can use my bed," Lena said immediately. The idea of Kara sleeping in her bed made her feel strangely special and she clamped down on the enthusiasm. "If you want," she added, trying to keep her voice casual.

"Bangarang! I'll be in and out, I swear. You won't even know I was there." Kara's smile was as bright as the sun and Lena smiled back.

An hour later as she was emerging from her one-on-one maths class, she checked her schedule and groaned.

You absolute fucking idiot.

The only reason Kara had a long block off was because Rojas had canceled class for the day. They had the same long block.

The guilty grin Kara had on when she met Lena at the door to Potter told her the blonde had realized the same thing.

"Whoops," she said sheepishly.

"You can still take a nap if you want," Lena offered, trying to keep the note of eagerness out of her voice.

Kara smiled gratefully. "Mike is being a real ass."

Lena arched an eyebrow as she unlocked her door. "Trouble in paradise?"

"Not actually. He's planning a surprise birthday party for me and he won't let me hang out with him while he does it but he knows I know what he's doing, so..." Kara left her bags by the door and kicked her shoes off, then stood in the center of the room and inspected the walls again. "Still have 2 photos up, I see."

"Still wearing my shirt, I see," Lena fired back. The strange disappointment she felt at Kara's correction only troubled her for a second before another thought hit her. "When's your birthday?"

"You don't know when my birthday is?" Kara still hadn't made a move towards the bed and she put her hands on her hips. "I know when your birthday is, I can't believe you don't know mine."

"You know when my birthday is?" The shock in her voice was unmistakable and Kara winked at her.

"October 24th."

"How?" Lena sputtered, honestly at a loss for words. She had celebrated her birthday so few times that even she sometimes forgot about it.

"I'm a woman of many talents. Plus, it's a week after my birthday." Kara's cheeky grin morphed into a yawn and Lena melted at the way her eyes scrunched up, one hand coming up to cover her mouth.

Pushing Kara to the bed and making sure her hands didn't touch her a second longer than necessary, Lena ignored Kara's apologies. "I have some reading to catch up on. Take a nap, I'll wake you up for the next class."

"I don't want to ruin your shirt though, hang on." In the middle of Lena's almost panicked objections, "it's fine, it's just a shirt," Kara unbuttoned it and draped it over the foot of the bed. She heard Lena make a quiet choking noise behind her and glanced back. Secretly pleased at the look on Lena's face, she pulled back the covers to reveal Lena's sheets.

"God, you're such a nerd," she snorted, lying down, trying to pretend like she didn't feel the same way. Like she didn't think about that first photo shoot when she had peeked at Lena changing.

"What's that mean?" Lena said in a strangled voice.

Kara was already closing her eyes. "Your sheets have Lewis dot structures on them. It's adorable."

"Your sheets have ice cream all over them," Lena fired back, "Which is just as adorable."

"Shhh," Kara mumbled into the pillow. "I'm not adorable. I'm a lean, mean, fightin' machine."

Rolling her eyes, Lena sat down at her desk. Every part of her was tense, like she was under a microscope and constantly being watched. She didn't know how to act around Kara, and was relieved when her breathing deepened. Opening The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to a random page, she tried to distract herself from the sounds of Kara sleeping.

It turned out to be impossible. Kara was making the cutest snuffling sounds and occasionally murmured in her sleep, and Lena found herself rereading the same sentence for the fifth time before giving in.

Carefully opening her drawer, she took out a tin of pencils and opened her sketchbook to a blank page. Sitting with her back to her dresser and the sketchbook on her knees, she stared across the room at Kara's sleeping form, her hand starting to draw as her eyes drank in every detail.

Without glasses, Kara somehow looked younger and older at the same time. The curve of her jaw captured Lena's attention and she forced herself to say seated. Her hair was perfect even as she slept and she looked peaceful—usually Kara had an almost forceful enthusiasm to her. Wrenching her eyes away from Kara's face, Lena trailed them down her body. Halfway through her dream Kara rolled over and pushed the blanket away, and it was a true testament to Lena's willpower that she didn't immediately fix her eyes on Kara's exposed stomach.

What a terrible idea. Letting Kara sleep in her bed? Where the hell did that come from?

She knew where it came from. It wasn't like Kara was lacking in friends, or had never taken a nap in the hallways of the stud. But she had asked her, right? Which meant that she preferred Lena's bed.

Yeah, preferred it to a wooden bench. Stop thinking like this.

When the next class rolled around she shook Kara lightly and the blonde groaned.

"Five more minutes."

"We have AP World." Lena hid her sketchbook away before Kara woke up, stretching her well-muscled body out along Lena's mattress.

"We could skip it," she mumbled, already sitting up. "Wow, I really needed that."

"You also need to put on a shirt," Lena said pointedly, loving the notes of sleep in Kara's voice. "Want to borrow another one?"

Kara rubbed at her eyes. "I wore your shirt to school because I needed to return it. Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of my good deed?"

Lena waved a hand at her, gathering her own books. "What's mine is yours and all that. Take a look in the closet." A second later she realized her mistake because Kara was commenting on her wardrobe.

"Jesus, Lee. You have a billion dollars worth of clothes in here."

Lillian was never one to dress her children in casual clothes.

"Maybe I'll stick with this one." Kara pulled out a striped blue shirt and Lena watched appreciatively as she did up the buttons, her capable fingers moving too quickly for Lena's liking. In no time at all she was dressed and tucking in her shirt, her bag over her shoulder.

She looked even more attractive in the dress shirt than she had with no shirt on and Lena smiled at her through clenched teeth, locking the door behind them.

"You okay?" Kara asked, seeing the tendons in her jaw jump out.

"Just...thinking," Lena said vaguely. "Maybe I'll help Mike with the surprise party," she said, more to throw Kara off her trail than out of interest in working with the football player.

"Oh, god, no." Kara linked their arms and Lena let her pull her outside, reveling in the close proximity. "I hate surprise parties. That's why he told me about it when he started, but I still go along with it."

"Don't want to hurt his feelings?" Lena asked in a neutral tone. Why does she let him get away with all this bullshit?

"Something like that," Kara answered, not meeting her eyes.

"What about my feelings?"

Kara's eyes widened and she pulled them to a stop. "Lena," she started in a warning tone.

Lena slipped her arm out of Kara's, swallowing at the look of apprehension on her friend's face. "I don't mean it like that, I just—I want you to be happy. And if that's with Mike, then fine, I'll never bring it up again. But look me in the eye and tell me you're happy with him. That you don't mind the drinking and the parties and the fact that he ignores your opinion most of the time." Her words were stilted, rushed, and her hands fidgeted nervously with her backpack strap.

The silence went on too long before Kara answered her in a voice that screamed of doubt.

"We're happy."

I'm not asking about the both of you. I'm asking about you, Kara, the girl that I—

Lena swallowed and broke the eye contact. Staring too hard at her watch, she cleared her throat.

"Okay. I forgot something in my room, so I have to run and get it..."

"Lena," Kara implored.

Lena dragged her eyes back up to Kara's face. "No, really, I...I'll see you." She turned on her heel and walked away, trying to ignore the second sting of rejection.

Love makes you say stupid, stupid things.

Kara wasn't surprised when Lena never showed up for AP world.