I HOPE EVERYONE IS DOING WHAT THEY CAN ABOUT NET NEUTRALITY. I'M LOOKING RIGHT AT YOU, AMERICANS.
And heads up, this chapter isn't explicit but... I guess, risque? Anyways, read at your own risk, could get sinful.
Special thank you to Eloquentdrivil (WHERE IS MY NEXT CHAPTER?!) and justanexercise for dealing with me freaking out about little details and being all over the place. thanks, buddies!
Also, thank you thank you thank you for all the comments. I really do love reading them and I reply when I can. If you wanna touch base with me, you can always find me on tumblr!
"I didn't know what he was doing, but I don't think he knew what HE was doing either. And when he tried to kiss me, he banged his nose against mine and broke his. It was so embarrassing."
Kara had to do an extra half-year to make up credits she needed for university, since her whole academic history had been forged by Clark Kent, who did not realize how many credits and what type of credits Kara needed to graduate. It had irked Alex to no end, because her and Kara had made plans to be at the same university and now they had one more year to go, and Sharon, Kara's best friend, had graduated high school and gone off to her own university of choice. That left Kara basically alone and Alex knew Kara tried to be brave, but Alex also knew it was hard for Kara to be there alone.
"I just can't wait to be there with you, you know? … I'm doing okay. But I miss you."
When Kara dropped in in the middle of the first semester of Alex's second year, Eliza again, was frantic at the start of Kara's second shedding period. Alex had taken up the responsibility without another word. Explained to her housemates that it was just for a little while. Then, Eliza had driven back home after staying for a day to recuperate from the drive. Eliza left a shaking, wild-eyed Kara, with Alex. This second bout of the Stage of Growth was apparently much worse.
In Alex's presence and the privacy of her room, Kara had mindlessly ripped out of all of her own clothes, clutched at Alex and sighed in relief at Alex pressed against her. But Alex found that every time Kara rubbed against Alex's clothes, Kara would let out a little mewl of discomfort. So the first to go was Alex's shirt. Alex didn't sleep with a bra on, but she didn't have a chance to be embarrassed at all when Kara had pressed herself against Alex with a groan of pleasure. The sound Kara had made stripped all other thoughts from Alex's brain, which left Alex mortified, her heart pounding at her own reaction. But when Kara winced at the rub of Alex's sleeping shorts, those were kicked off in a hurry, too.
"When was your first kiss, Alex? Was it… was it good? Did you like it? How did it feel?"
It was still something awful to see and hear Kara's shedding. Holding on to her didn't make much of a difference during the worst of it, and the beginning was always the worst. Kara's old skin would get milky and cloudy, her features pressed and constrained.
That first time in Alex's dorm room, had lasted a week. During that week, Alex holed herself up in her bedroom, barely going to classes, keeping Kara entertained and doing her work with a Kryptonian young adult on her back, attached to her. Kara went back to Midvale when the shedding was done and her skin had subsided to a sunburned-pink colour instead of the angry red of new flesh.
This whole first experience in Alex's dorm set a precedent, and the end of third semester found Kara back at Alex's sharehouse, going straight to Alex's room and shucking off all of her clothes before Alex's room door was even completely closed. It was a bit different than the first couple of times, though Alex couldn't tell what exactly made it different. Was it the look in Kara's eyes? It definitely hurried Alex's hands to the buttons of her own shirt and it definitely made Alex try to undress as quickly as Kara had.
Kara had watched Alex, her expression hungry, while Alex had her back against the door. Impatience and pain seemed to radiate off of Kara as she stalked forward, Kara's body no longer awkward and pubescent, but sinewy and long. Maybe Alex had watched too many nature documentaries with Kara and Sharon, but at the moment, Alex likened the image of Kara moving towards her at that instance, like a young adult wolf. Skinny, stretched out, reaching towards and almost grasping adulthood. She was losing the baby fat in her cheeks, made more apparent by the stretch of old skin across the fine bones of Kara's face.
It didn't take a second for Kara to be in front of Alex, impatiently pulling at Alex's clothes, her eyes dark and needy. By the time Alex was out of her pants, Kara already had a hand slipped under the waistband of Alex's underwear, fingers digging into the meat of Alex's ass, pulling Alex into Kara, but simultaneously pushing Alex up against the door, the cheap wood at Alex's back creaking dangerously. In a bid to stop Kara from actually ripping off her underwear and pushing them through the door, Alex had to place a hand against Kara's chest and another one over Kara's hand on her last piece of clothing. It stopped Kara enough that Alex was able to take that pause she bought to step out of her last stitch of clothing.
Alex's role in managing Kara's pain was like the game Alex played when she was a kid, where the floor was lava and she had to jump on to different objects-chairs, tables, cushions on the floor-to avoid the lava. Except now everything was lava and Alex was the only safe place Kara could be on. Kara's eyes on her, her forehead pressed tight against Alex's… Alex could feel this low hum of excitement underneath her skin, the gut-punch of almost drunken headiness when Kara gathers her up effortlessly, Alex naturally had to wrap her legs around Kara's waist-Alex still marvels at how easy it is for Kara to just pick her up-and Kara moves them to the bed. Kara was solely focused on getting on top of Alex, not commenting on or most likely not registering the fact that Alex was breathing short and fast, skin flushed, as Kara drops her weight on Alex with a guttural sound of relief.
Kara watched her underneath pale eyelashes, hands gripping her hips so hard, Alex would later find that Kara's touch left bruises. Alex wondered if she was having some kind of sensory confusion too as she clung on to Kara. The younger woman had almost sounded like she growled as she pushed Alex into the bed with little undulations of her body. Alex wondered why she was letting out little breathy sounds, mouth pressed against Kara's ear, why she felt hot all over and why she felt so strange.
"When I touch you, I feel… better. I feel GOOD. … How do you feel when you touch me, Alex?"
Kara didn't go into her shedding period again during Alex's second year in college. Which was all well and good because the weird looks Alex had started getting from her housemates after Kara left were really uncomfortable, and one housemate took to leaving the room whenever she entered it. During Kara's stay with Alex those few times in second year, Kara had mostly stayed in Alex's room-albeit completely naked-just sleeping and cuddling with Alex. Maybe sometimes Kara's noises of discomfort were a bit loud. Loud enough that rumours about Alex's 'sister complex' spread in no time. Alex gained a new vulgar nickname, and the steadily rising hostility in her housing situation made Alex go looking for her own place. One of her profs helped her out and she found a pretty big loft, the owner seemed to think highly enough of her prof to rent her the space for pretty cheap.
Alex also needed the space because Kara had applied and been accepted to National City University on an undecided major. It would be easier to share a place with Kara while the Kryptonian weathered out her Period of Growth. Jeremiah and Eliza both came to move Kara in, fussing over both Alex and Kara and making sure they had enough food and money to last them. Jeremiah had taken Alex off to the side, passing her a credit card with a wink and telling her not to tell her mother, while Eliza and Kara hugged it out in the kitchen. Soon, they were gone and it was just Kara and Alex, beaming at each other.
"This will be so much fun! Just me and you again, don't you think, Alex? Oh, I have to call Sharon and tell her that I'm all settled in now! Do you want to order some food, or do you want to cook tonight?"
They never got around to buying a second bed for Kara, Kara and Alex both agreeing that the king-sized mattress Alex had splurged on was big enough for the both of them. It also was a great excuse for the two of them to be tucked up against each other, Alex enjoying the extra heat that radiated off Kara, which was just perfect in their drafty, open-concept apartment. Kara just enjoying the fact that Alex was there. And even though now she was taller than Alex, she enjoyed tucking her head underneath Alex's chin at night, safe and content. They both kept their clothes on but sometimes Kara would sneak her hands up the back of Alex's shirt. Alex would grumble about it but couldn't seem to deny Kara anything.
Eliza had been worried they would fight when they were together, but it honestly was the happiest Alex could remember being. Sure, they fought over inconsequential things, but they were usually cuddled up together by bedtime. Alex had school, studying, her lab, and Kara. University was where she learned and grew and exchanged her thoughts with like-minded people. But Kara, Kara helped her expand on her ideas and followed Alex's process easily, and Kara was both at once her teacher and her student, just like Alex was for her. There was no other person that complemented Alex so perfectly.
The time came when Kara hit another growth spurt and it was easier when Kara started another shedding, with Alex being there from the beginning. But Alex remembered skin on skin and molten heat and things that she didn't want to think about and drag out of the little box that she had pushed all those thoughts into, the same box she had shoved in a corner of her mind and tried to forget about. When Kara pulled at her clothes, Alex begged off and encouraged Kara to try to weather it out. Kara bravely tried, nodding and trusting Alex to always know what's best.
"Alex… Alex it hurts. Alex, come back. You make it better. ...Please. I need you."
Alex had come home to find Kara, naked in bed, keening piteously for Alex. It was definitely a good idea to have her own place, with Kara literally ripping her skin off, crying out loudly enough for probably even their neighbours to hear. Alex spent a full three days with Kara's face pressed against her neck, as the Kryptonian ripped out of her skin violently. Alex was a bit relieved, guiltily so, that this time she wasn't distracted by that weird low-drop twisting sensation in her stomach when Kara was so clearly in pain. Kara's pain felt less uncomfortable than whatever sounds Alex had been dealing with before. Which also made Alex feel guilty because what kind of monster let someone feel even a little bit of this kind of discomfort and not do something about it as soon as they could?
But even with that thought in mind, when Kara was recovered enough to appreciate Alex's closeness and vocalized her pleasure with little pleased groans, Alex had slipped away with the excuse of cleaning up Kara's sheddings and going to class. Kara had let her leave with no complaints, but the way she looked at Alex when she left, with an intense, unreadable expression, made Alex's stomach flip flop.
"When you're with me, when you hold me during the times when I need you, you sometimes smell a bit different. It's… nice."
Alex barely had time for a social life, but was popular enough. It seemed that whatever popularity she had managed to get in high school followed her to university. Some of the people she hung out with on occassion listed out her pros and cons at a bar one night. Alex still kept pretty active and surfed on and off with some other surfers that lived in the area, so she was, as her friends put it, 'ripped'. Alex was also surprised to know that she was fairly attractive, apparently. Even when she hadn't washed her hair in days and looked like a disheveled hobo in the labs, her friends rated her easily an 'eight or a nine on your worst days'. She didn't know what else to do but frown when some of her guy friends high-fived each other and pronounced her 'highly-bangable'.
Alex laughed along with everyone when they jumped back to how smart she was and brushed off her blazing intellect and her scholastic dominance in her fields of study. This topic lead to her cons, one of them being that she worked way too hard and she didn't have enough time for people. Then they had started talking about her foster sister, Kara.
And that became a lot harder for Alex to laugh off.
Alex's friends had met Kara and mentioned to Alex that they could tell Kara was 'special', looking at Kara in a way that was too understanding and too pitying. Kara's attachment to Alex also accepted in a deeply condescending way. But now they laughed at how ridiculous it was, that Alex couldn't possibly be banging her foster sister.
Alex's friends seemed oblivious to her discomfort though and started discussing in detail, the rumours that had went around during second year. Alex again, laughed and joked along with everyone, but a deep feeling of shame rooted inside her, and she felt… afraid. The jokes they were making, crude and harmless, harmless because, of course they weren't true, they were just poking fun. And of course it was weird and of course, Alex definitely didn't do anything with Kara. Definitely didn't. So why did Alex feel so guilty?
By the time she had gotten home, Kara was still in bed, the lights off and curled up tight under the sheets. Kara had had a group project she had to do so this was one of the rare occasions that Alex and Kara weren't attached at the hip. Alex watched Kara for a few seconds before she headed to the washroom to finish getting ready for bed. When she got to bed, Alex looked at Kara again, laying there quietly. On a whim, Alex pulled off her long flannel pants, picking them up and chucking them over the armchair near the bed.
Shivering at the sudden chill, Alex slipped under the covers, Kara turning to face her, tangling their legs together. The delight on Kara's face made Alex chuckle and scoot closer, pull Kara underneath her and hug her against her chest. Kara made cute little grunts as she wiggled around and got comfortable, her hand straying downwards to press a warm palm against Alex's thigh. With a little sigh, Kara tugged at Alex's leg until it was draped half on top of her.
"Your face is really red, Alex. And you're kinda burning up! Are you getting sick? Snuggle closer, I'll keep you warm!"