Chapter 23

Oliver Queen had only ever been sure of a few things in his life, right now though, he was pretty sure time was slowing down. What should have been a short walk down the hotel corridor was making his goal seem further away than it really was, and the aspiration he'd felt after stepping off the elevator was quickly slipping away.

Could it be? Was he…nervous? No, it was just a little mild anxiety, it had been a while since his last date after all, and that had ended pretty badly. He knew he couldn't kid himself forever; was Oliver Queen afraid?

Impossible…he couldn't be.

That thought made him even more uncomfortable. Sure, he was glad, of course he was, getting that phone call from Kara made his evening but he was still, somehow, nervous. Oliver Queen did not do nervous. He regularly dealt with pressures that most people would collapse under, stood his ground in fights that would kill almost anyone else…hell he led an entire life as the mayor of a whole city while fighting crime at night!

Rolling his shoulders to try and release some of his tension, Oliver came to a stop before the room he was looking for. The door looked like all the others; rich white paint, authentic oak, shiny brass handle, but uniquely, just below the peephole, was the number '245'. Forcing his mind to stop panicking quite so much Oliver zoned in a little more.

Immediately he heard the muffled music blasting from within the room, though completely unaware of how he hadn't noticed it earlier, it made Oliver grin a little. It seemed a little redundant, to him at least, that someone with super-hearing would need to have music playing even remotely close to the volume that was emanating from Kara's hotel room.

With a smile now on his face, Oliver raised a clenched fist and rapped on the door with his knuckles, certain that Kara would hear him. In fact, Oliver was a little surprised that she hadn't heard his heartbeat or his breathing (or whatever else that super-hearing of hers could pick up) and opened the door to him already.

Hardly a second passed before the door was pulled open, undoubtedly aided by super-speed, revealing the room behind it and, more importantly, Kara. Oliver quickly ran his eyes over her appearance, a little surprised at how different it was to her usual attire. Gone were the bright blouses and skirts, in their place was a pair of tightly-fitted black jeans and an equally form-hugging black tank top. As taken aback by this change as Oliver was, he didn't register the dishevelled state of her hair.

"Glad you changed your mind about that drink." Oliver smiled, dragging his eyes up to meet her own.

"Come on in." Kara's breathy reply washed across Oliver's ears.

He was hardly through the door when Kara began closing it behind him, though again Oliver neglected to notice it, still distracted by both Kara's clothing and the music, which he had now identified as some kind of Electropop. On hearing the click of the door closing Oliver snapped back into reality.

"You should get changed, there's this new club opened up near Verdant that looks…"

Oliver didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. Before he fully registered what was happening Kara had taken him, albeit lightly, by the lapels of his leather jacket and backed him up against the wall beside the door. When his back collided with the wall, Oliver was beyond confused. The tip of Kara's nose lightly brushed against his and for a moment Oliver could meet her eyes, some dim thought in the back of his mind registering that she must have been levitating, before Kara's lips were pressed against his own.

The sensation of the contact completely shut down the vast majority of Oliver's brain, he was actually seeing fireworks, or at least he did for the brief moment that he allowed his eyes to drift shut. The kiss wasn't fierce or rough, it was light, almost passionate, and it was like nothing he had ever felt. Opening his eyes again, Oliver briefly managed to break his lips from Kara's, hardly a second later her hand tangled in the hair at the back of his head and her lips were once again on his own.

This time, Oliver was far more aware of himself, and managed to separate them hardly a second later. While Kara's lips never strayed more than a few centimetres from his own, it was clear she wanted to continue. While Oliver wanted nothing more than to do the same, he knew something wasn't right, Kara was never this brazen. Looking into her eyes again, Oliver noticed something, his brain finally connecting the dots.

"Are…are you high?" He managed to stumble out.

Kara's lips brushed against his own before she replied. "Uh-huh."

Oliver was so distracted that he didn't really register Kara pushing his leather jacket off his shoulders until the he heard the faint thud of it hitting the floor. Turning his head slightly to think, Oliver racked his brain for how an alien from another planet (not to mention another dimension) would managed to get stoned, all while doing his best to ignore the feeling of her lips against his cheek. Then it hit him.

"I thought you sent the drugs back to your Earth?" Oliver managed to ask.

Kara lightly tugged him away from the wall, pressing her lips to his again. "Not all of it."

The moment Kara's lips came to his again, this time a little more forcefully and with a purpose, Oliver lost enough of his control to kiss her back, relishing in the way she tasted. The sensation completely fried his brain, and Oliver began working on instinct. Oliver would, much later, try to convince himself that was why it took him so long to realise that Kara had almost finished unbuttoning his shirt.

Snapping back a little focus, Oliver gently took her hands in his own, holding them up to his chest while pulling back from her a little.

"Uhh, slow down…" His words came a little more breathless than he had hoped. Letting go of Kara's hands, Oliver took her shoulders so he could look into her eyes easier. "Your pupils are dilated! You're not…"

Kara had quite clearly grown impatient of Oliver's excuses and finally broke out her super-strength, tearing the shirt from his torso. Oliver was more than a little taken aback by the action, yet at the same time found himself all the more attracted to her for it.

"Come on, Oliver; don't turn into a good guy on me now."

Her words made something in him snap, Oliver had been fighting the attraction for long enough, didn't he deserve to just give in every now and then? With an unexpected passion, Oliver captured her lips with his own, and Kara, who was definitely levitating now, began to lightly tug them both toward what Oliver hoped was the bedroom

XXX

Light toyed at him from beyond his closed eyelids, the warm brush of the sun fliting against his skin. The sensations brought Oliver slowly from his sleep, his eyes flickering open. The first thing he saw was bright swathes of light spilling in through the open window, the faint hum of Star City's traffic accompanying it. There was an ache pulling at his muscles that Oliver knew wasn't from his activities as Green Arrow, those aches he had become almost numb to after ten years. He let out a satisfied sigh, before pulling himself up a little and turning his head.

Laying in the bed beside him, head propped up on one hand and wearing nothing but the brightest smile he had ever seen on another person was Kara Zor-El.

Memories of the previous night flooded through Oliver's mind. Him and Kara discussing the twisted morality of life as a superhero. Her retreating to her room insisting she wanted to be alone. The phone call he received less than an hour later asking him to come by the hotel. Kissing Kara and seeing stars before collapsing into bed with her.

Gravity. He had felt it the first time they kissed, back in the storeroom at the DEO. A mutual surrender to a force drawing them together more powerful than either of them understood. Crashing and burning together like meteors under Earth's gravity. He had given into it, stopped trying to rationalise and gave in. For the first time in a long time, Oliver Queen had willingly surrendered to something, and it had felt good.

Months had he been fighting what he felt for Kara, trying to find a way to stop himself from giving in to another relationship, another compromise. As he looked across at Kara, clearly comedown free and grinning like an idiot, Oliver found himself suddenly unable to recall any of the reasons he had tried to use to push Kara away.

"So," Oliver took Kara's free hand, and drew it up to his mouth, placing a kiss on her knuckles. "Now what?"

Part of it was a genuine question, a literal what now? A larger part of it was Oliver's overriding sense of dread. Whenever he felt content, the universe tended to remind him that he wasn't supposed to feel that way in a rather dramatic fashion. After what had happened the night before, Oliver had half expected Kara to bolt as soon as she woke up. That after everything he had put her through, she wouldn't have wanted to stay, to acknowledge what had happened.

But then, Kara was still there. The night before she may have been under the influence of whatever substance had been brought over from Earth-38 but that hadn't seemed to have clouded her judgment at all. If anything, all it had done was give Kara the courage to do what both of them had wanted to do for months. The fact that she was still there, in bed with him, and grinning like a mad woman meant that she wanted to be there. She wanted him.

"I know you, Oliver," Kara smiled fondly, shifting so that she could sit properly upright against the headboard, pulling the covers with her, and Oliver followed suit. "I know you're going to try and rationalise what happened last night away because you think you're protecting us both. But I meant what I said that last night at the DEO, an—and what I almost said when we were hunting for Jeremiah. There's this connection between us, Oliver, I don't know for sure what it is but I care about you more than I've—" Kara drew in a deep breath, turned a little so she was facing him fully, and took both of Oliver's hands in her own, then swallowed hard. "I love you."

The words landed on Oliver with a weight that almost knocked him flat but made him feel a million times lighter all at once. Kara had almost said it once before and cut herself off, and Oliver hadn't almost been convinced the same thing was going to happen again. Unable to fully form any of the thoughts rushing through his mind, Oliver instead reached out, cupped Kara's face, and pulled her in for another kiss. His mouth hot against hers, tongue running along Kara's bottom lip as he deepened the kiss. When they finally broke apart, Kara's smile had infected him.

"I know I'm not fantastic at expressing my emotions," Oliver chuckled nervously. "So, if it wasn't already clear, I love you too."

"Good," Kara leant in and gave Oliver a final peck on the lips. "Now, I need to ask you something serious."

Oliver paled, his mind running through a million different possibilities for what defined "serious" after confessions of love. Before he had a chance to get too far into his own head, Kara continued.

"Do you know a good place we can go get waffles for breakfast?"

End Note:

And we're back around to beginning. There's officially now only two chapters left of this story unless I get a brilliant idea in the next week or two and decide to expand on it.
Next chapter is going to just be Oliver and Kara working out their new dynamic, so be prepared for like 4000 words of just pure SuperArrow goodness.
I'm also currently binge watching Season 6 of Arrow and Season 3 of Supergirl to reacquaint myself with what with happened next in canon so I can decide what I want to keep and what I want to get rid of for the sequel.
Stay safe all, and keep throwing suggestions at me for what you want to see in the sequel.