Indathrene Blue

Book cover to go with the lovely fic by @reydarfic

Inspired by ‘at least we had today’ by @reydarfic. Imagining Bea when she found Ava...

what you are is beautiful...

Inspired to write this by a line found in a wiki article by @kryptamazon about biphasic/polyphasic sleep: “This was also a favourite time for scholars and poets to write uninterrupted, whereas still others visited neighbours, engaged in sexual activity, or committed petty crime.”

--------

Ch 4: Petty Theft

It’s not a crime, she told herself. Not really. She was leaving plenty of money on the counter — enough to cover the cost of what she was taking, plus extra for the trouble — and she didn’t even break into the shop. A window had been left open on the second story and she just sort of let herself in. She’d tip-toed around bags of cocoa beans, sugar, and cocoa butter, then quietly walked down the stairs where she found the display case and…well...yeah. So maybe it was a crime. But even if it was, she had good reason. Tonight was special.

She and Lena officially became a couple one year ago today, and Kara was determined they celebrate their anniversary properly. She’d started researching restaurants months ago, made reservations at a place both of them would love, and even left work early today so she could get dressed up without rushing. And, of course, everything went off the rails halfway through dinner. Not even halfway. The appetizers had only just been placed on the table when Alex’s call came through, and Lena knew from Kara’s expression that she had to leave.

“Don’t worry about it,” Lena assured her. “I’ll get these and our entrees wrapped up, and you can meet me at my place after.”

Kara kissed Lena on the cheek and quickly slipped out a side door, but as she took to the skies, she let out a soft sigh. She’d really wanted tonight to be special. To make matters worse, the emergency cascaded into a series of crises, and now Kara was exceptionally late for meeting back up with Lena. She didn’t want to show up past midnight empty-handed, so here she was, at a small chocolatier’s in Metropolis, because Lena had once mentioned she had a weakness for their matcha truffles.

Kara wrote a note to go along with the cash — she didn’t want the proprietors worrying this would become a repeat offense. She didn’t use those exact words, though, because that would make her sound like a real criminal. This was petty theft at best (no need to bring up the trespassing part of it) and not really theft at all because she was leaving money.

Just as she was about to make her escape — nope, not an escape, she wasn’t a criminal — she noticed a small display of hot chocolate. She debated it for a second, then grabbed a tin. The truffles were for Lena, but the cocoa was calling Kara’s name, and at this point ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’. She added a quick addendum to her note, placed some more money on the counter, then snuck back out the way she came.

It didn’t take long for Kara to fly to Lena’s apartment, but as she approached the penthouse balcony, she realized Lena might not still be awake. It had been a long week for the both of them, and she wouldn’t fault Lena if she’d succumbed to slumber. But as Kara softly touched down, she spied Lena reading a book on the couch, sipping at what Kara guessed was tea (it was what Lena drank at night when she wanted to be alert but not wired).

Kara slid open the glass door and offered a quiet ‘hi’ as she made her way over. “I’m sorry it took so long.”

“No need to be sorry, Kara. You know I understand.”

“I know,” Kara sighed. “But it’s our anniversary. And I wanted tonight to just be about you and me.”

Lena set down her book and mug and came to stand in front of Kara. “The night’s not over yet,” she said, then slipped the small gift bag out of Kara’s hands to put on the coffee table.

“That’s for you,” Kara protested softly.

“And I’m sure I’ll love it,” Lena answered, bringing her hands up to softly cup Kara’s face, “but right now, you’re what’s most important and what I want most.” And then Lena brought her lips to Kara’s, and the love she conveyed made Kara realize she needn’t have gone through all her earlier troubles.

Kara kissed Lena back with as much love and affection as she could, and all Kara could think was, Rao, she loved this woman so much. They eventually both pulled back and gazed at each other silently for a while — Lena tucking a curl of hair behind Kara’s ear, Kara brushing her thumb along Lena’s jaw — until matching smiles bloomed on both their faces.

“Happy anniversary, Kara.”

It didn’t seem possible, but Kara’s smile got wider.

“Happy anniversary, Lena.”

—

Late the next morning — and it barely qualified as morning because ten more minutes and it would have been afternoon — Kara lumbered into the kitchen, drawn by the smell of fresh coffee. The bag she’d brought Lena last night was on the island, the contents laid out neatly.

“Oh! You found my gift!”

Lena looked up from her tablet, a slow smirk appearing. “I did. But Kara -” and Lena slowly turned the tablet towards Kara, “do you know anything about this?”

It was an article from The Metropolitan Times. Kara stepped closer, hoping somehow her eyes were deceiving her. But the image and text didn’t change, and a blush bloomed on her face.

“I can explain.”

“Oh, you already did. I read the note.” Lena pointed at the image onscreen. “Who would have thought, between a Luthor and a Super, the Super would be the one engaging in late-night thievery.”

“It wasn’t thievery,” Kara groaned. “I left money.” But then Lena’s words registered, and Kara’s eyes widened. “Wait, do they know it was me?”

Lena laughed. “Relax, Kara. Did you even read the headline?”

Kara quickly glanced down at the screen, then sighed in relief when she read the headline: “Leaving on a Sweet Note: Chocolate Bandit Creates Delicious Mystery.” Thank Rao, no one else had figured it out. She could — and would — endure a fair amount of teasing from Lena, but if Alex or any of her friends had found out, she’d never hear the end of it.

Unfortunately, her relief was short-lived. When her phone buzzed on the counter — once at first, followed by many more in quick succession — a feeling of dread washed over her. Lena quickly held her hands up in defense. “I didn’t say a thing.”

Kara stared at her phone for several long seconds. This is what she got for having a team of superfriends. Maybe Batman was onto something with his whole loner superhero gig.

She took a moment to gather some courage, then swiped open her phone to reveal a flurry of texts from a group chat. At the top was a screenshot and a link to the article, followed by Alex’s “I recognize your handwriting, Kara….care to explain?!” and everyone else’s eager comments below. Kara buried her face in her hands. She was never going to live this down. The screenshot was a picture of her note — a large heart outline with her words of apology within:

I’m so so sorry. Normally, I’d never do something like this, but there’s a very special person out there who deserves better than a girlfriend messing up anniversary plans. She’s kind and wonderful and I love her more than I can even express, so please trust me when I say she deserves everything. And she’s usually a super healthy eater, but she told me how much she likes your chocolates and I thought I’d surprise her with some, but by the time I got here you guys were closed and I didn’t know what else to do for her, and again I’m really sorry. I left more than enough money, so I hope that makes up for any trouble, and it won’t happen again, I promise.

PS. I took two boxes of matcha truffles.

PPS. Also, a tin of your hot chocolate.

--------

Inspired to write this by a line found in a wiki article by @kryptamazon about biphasic/polyphasic sleep: “This was also a favourite time for scholars and poets to write uninterrupted, whereas still others visited neighbours, engaged in sexual activity, or committed petty crime.”

--------

Ch 3: Sexual Activity

Kara kept her head down as she continued towards the elevators, the blush on her cheeks still burning. It hadn’t occurred to her that she’d have to check in when she arrived at Lena’s apartment building. She almost always flew here, and the few times she hadn’t, she’d entered the building with Lena. But she’d blown out her powers yesterday, which meant she had to enter through the lobby, and the security here was understandably tight — you weren’t allowed beyond the lobby unless you were on a tenant’s approved guest list. That wouldn’t have been a problem, except it was almost three in the morning. The list of reasons for showing up at this hour of the night was small, and it was obvious from Kara’s demeanor that her visit wasn’t due to some emergency...unless Lena’s insomnia-fueled booty call classified as an emergency.

The staff person was professional and hadn’t drawn attention to the time nor Kara’s mismatched apparel — it was glaringly evident she’d picked her clothes out with the lights off — but Kara still felt like she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. To make matters worse, she’d been asked for her length of stay, and she’d answered morning-ish? It was an honest answer, but it basically highlighted the purpose of her visit.

Thankfully, her mortification dissipated during the elevator ride up, when she switched her focus to Lena. This stage of their relationship was relatively new, and while Kara had been nervous at first, it had worked out fine. More than fine, actually. Now that the sexual tension had finally broken, there was no holding back thoughts, feelings, or desires. And wow, were there a lot of desires — as evidenced by the text she’d received twenty minutes ago.

Kara’s heart rate ticked up in anticipation. She ran her hand through her tangled locks and stared at the numbers slowly climbing higher, hoping she didn’t look too disheveled. Lena always managed to take Kara’s breath away, whether it was in blouses and tight skirts or oversized sweaters and jeans, and Kara wanted to look at least somewhat presentable. But she never got a chance to gauge Lena’s reaction; no sooner had she knocked on the door than Lena was grasping the front of her shirt, pulling her inside the apartment.

Lena was clad only in a robe, and it soon became apparent that she wanted to get Kara down to a similar state of undress as quickly as possible. She eagerly unzipped and pushed Kara’s hoodie to the floor, then tugged at the hem of Kara’s shirt to lift it up and off. Her fingers hooked inside the waistband of Kara’s joggers, and Kara had to momentarily stall Lena’s hands, mumbling ‘shoes’ before bending over and shucking them somewhere towards the door. When she straightened back up, she let Lena resume undressing her, but when Lena got her down to her bra and underwear, Kara took over.

She scooped Lena up and carried her to her bedroom, doing her best not to get distracted by the wet trail of kisses Lena was leaving on her neck and jaw. When Kara laid her down on the bed, Lena immediately tried to sit up, but Kara placed a hand on her sternum and lightly pushed until her back hit the mattress again. Not unexpectedly, Lena’s breath hitched, and her eyes darkened. Kara had learned early on that this was something Lena liked. When Kara showed her strength — when she silently asked for control — Lena was happy to give it.  

Kara reached for the belt on Lena’s robe. The pads of her fingers slid along navy silk, and when she tugged the silk ties apart, the robe slid open. Lena was bare from the waist up, and for a moment, that’s all Kara saw — an expanse of pale skin with breasts partially covered by the edges of the robe. But when her gaze drifted lower, she saw that Lena wasn’t fully naked. She had on maroon silk underwear, and when combined with the navy of the robe, she was wearing Kara’s colors. It caused Kara to pause, to glance up at Lena to see if it was just coincidence. The look in Lena’s eyes told her it wasn’t, and the feelings that rose in response were unexpected. Kara leaned down and hid her face on Lena’s sternum, quietly overwhelmed at this middle-of-the-night realization that she had a possessive streak in her, and a strong one at that. It tapped into a part of her that wanted to possess Lena in other ways, too, to dominate a little more forcefully, to see Lena wearing her symbol as well as her colors…but Kara pushed those thoughts aside for now. Before indulging in those impulses, Lena needed to know that Kara was hers first. So she kissed her way downward, pulling Lena’s underwear off when she reached them, and channeled her emotions into more appreciative actions.

They barely spoke until afterwards — when they were sweaty and wrapped in a tangle of moonlit sheets, and Lena softly asked Kara to stay over. It wouldn’t be the first time Kara spent the night at Lena’s apartment, nor the first time they’d be sharing a bed, but the intimacy of it always made Kara’s breath catch.

She’d answered with a nod and pulled Lena closer. And now Lena’s head was resting against her chest while Kara’s fingers stroked along Lena’s side. The slower breathing and heart rate told her that Lena was asleep, but Kara wasn’t tired just yet despite the late hour and their earlier exertions. Instead, she stared at the ceiling and thought about how different her life would have turned out on Krypton. Or what life she’d be leading if she’d stayed in Midvale. She couldn’t say that she wouldn’t have been as happy if either of those scenarios had played out, because there was no way to know. But they would have been different, and a small part of her was glad there was no way to go back in time and change things — to save Krypton — because of course she would…and it would mean sacrificing this version of herself.

The person she was right now, and the happiness she was feeling, existed only because her planet had been destroyed. That event had put her on a path to Earth, to Eliza and Jeremiah, to Alex, and to Lena. And she was content, despite the trauma she’d gone through. Or possibly even because of it. It was why she’d bonded so quickly to Alex — Kara had desperately needed to latch onto and feel safe with someone. And it was part of what drew her to Lena. They shared similar childhood pains — ones that left invisible yet recognizable scars.

So even though she’d faced a lot of challenges thus far, Kara was happy right now. And she’d learned early on to savor this state. It could disappear quickly, and more difficulties were assuredly waiting. But right now she had Lena next to her and a quiet night surrounding them, and that was more than enough.

Lena tucked in closer, seeking Kara’s heat, and Kara pulled the sheets up higher. Tomorrow was Saturday. They had plans to go to the farmer’s market in the morning, then make brunch back here at Lena’s place. The afternoon was still up for grabs. Maybe they’d go to the park or waterfront, or catch a movie, or just stay here and read and invade each other’s personal spaces. The specifics didn’t really matter to Kara. Nor to Lena. They had time and each other.

Kara smiled and closed her eyes, the same thought crossing her mind as before, but with more weight this time. Right here, right now, she was happy — and that was more than enough.

Inspired to write this by a line found in a wiki article by @kryptamazon about biphasic/polyphasic sleep: “This was also a favourite time for scholars and poets to write uninterrupted, whereas still others visited neighbours, engaged in sexual activity, or committed petty crime.”

--------

Ch 2: Visiting Neighbors

She ran into Mrs. Carlson halfway up the stairs. Not literally, thankfully. One time she nearly did, back before Kara realized she wasn’t the only one up at this hour.

Kara gently took the laundry basket out of the elderly woman’s hands, receiving a quiet, ‘thank you, dear’ in return.

They walked up the stairs quietly, not wanting to wake the other neighbors. Once they reached their floor, she waited for Mrs. Carlson to open her door, then followed her in and set the basket on the table. The apartment was familiar to Kara, and not just because of the similar floor layout. Whenever they crossed paths in the wee hours of the night — Kara doing laundry after a late night of Supergirl duties, and Mrs. Carlson awake because of her insomnia — Mrs. Carlson would invite Kara over, and Kara would spend a half hour or so helping with whatever chore the older woman was in the middle of. This was their routine.

A waft of something delicious caught Kara’s attention, and the scent of food at this hour of the night triggered a long ago memory.

When Kara was a child, there was a certain Kryptonian holiday meal that required overnight cooking. It was made in the Kryptonese version of a slow cooker, and Kara would wake in the middle of the night to the smell of spices permeating the house. She’d lie there, soaking up the aroma while giddy with anticipation at seeing her cousins and opening gifts the next day. Eventually she’d fall back asleep, but she’d reawaken a few hours later, just before dawn. She’d get up and find her way to their dimly lit kitchen, where her mother would be adding the final ingredients — the slight variation specific to each family on Krypton. The variation that Kara could never recreate here on Earth. The base recipe was in the Fortress, and there were similar enough ingredients on this planet, but the database didn’t have the specific versions for each House of Krypton. Kara had tried making it anyways, but having only vague recollections of the herbs and jars of spices her mother used, she couldn’t get the flavor right. It was yet another thing lost with her planet…something her cousin would have no way of empathizing with.

The gentle clanging of a spoon against the rim of a pot broke Kara out of her reverie. Mrs. Carlson was stirring something on the stove, and the smell of oregano, basil, and garlic clued Kara in that it was a pasta sauce. Mrs. Carlson favored Italian meals. The last time Kara visited, the older woman had been making fresh cut lasagna noodles and-

“Your lasagna dish!”

Kara clapped her hands over her mouth, remembering too late that it was still the middle of the night. Mrs. Carlson looked over her shoulder, smiling at Kara with amused affection as Kara turned towards the door. “I’ll be right back,” Kara said, then dashed over to her apartment. When she returned, she handed the older woman the empty dish, and as she placed it in a cupboard she asked Kara how she liked the lasagna.

“Oh my gosh, I loved it.” And love wasn’t too strong a word in Kara’s opinion. She’d had lasagna before, but this was at a whole new level. It’d been a struggle not to wolf down the whole pan in one go, but Kara had forced herself to set half aside for the next night; she’d wanted to prolong her enjoyment past one meal.

“Oh, good. Next time I’ll make you two.”

Kara didn’t bother protesting that it was too much food for one person — Mrs. Carlson was sharp as a tack, and Kara was ninety-nine percent certain that she knew Kara’s secret identity at this point — so instead her eyes lit up with excitement as she gushed, “I love you, Mrs. Carlson.”

The older woman chuckled. “Thank you dear, but I think you’ve reserved that sentiment for a different friend of yours.”

Kara’s face heated up. She reached for a towel to fold, using the distraction to avoid replying right away. Accepting that she liked Lena as more than a friend was one thing. Admitting to emotions that ran deeper than physical attraction was quite another.

“She’s just a friend, Mrs. Carlson,” Kara argued, focusing on folding the gingham into a neat rectangle and not nervously tearing it to pieces.

“Hm. My friends don’t sleep over my place regularly.”

Yep, sharp as a tack. But Kara still tried to deflect. “She works too much, so she gets really tired sometimes when she’s here, and it’s just easier to stay over. There’s nothing going on with us romantically.”

“Whatever you say, dear. But if that’s true, it’s a shame. She’s a lovely young woman.”

Kara looked up in surprise. “You’ve met Lena?”

“Oh yes, several times. I see her in the mornings, when she’s leaving your place. I like to ask her about her recent projects.”

Mrs. Carlson was retired, but she’d been a computer scientist for several decades. It made sense that she would have recognized Lena, with her being one of the most high-profile figures in the tech field.

“Like I said, she’s quite lovely. I can see why you like spending time with her.”

Mrs. Carlson started chopping some herbs, and Kara could have switched to a different topic. Unlike Alex or Nia or any of her other friends, Mrs. Carlson would have let her do so without a fight. But that non-pressure was what Kara needed, because truthfully she did want someone to talk to about it.

“That’s sort of the problem, though,” Kara said slowly. “She is lovely, and I love spending time with her. I don’t want to jeopardize that with feelings that might not be returned.”

Mrs. Carlson — the neighbor everyone else in the building saw only as kind and sweet — rolled her eyes at Kara.

“Oh please, dear. Even without my glasses on I could tell that she has more-than-friend feelings for you. And you know I can’t see a thing without them.” She put down her knife and looked over at Kara, eyes gentle now. “But I think you know that.”

Kara took a deep breath and let it out slowly through her nose. “Yeah, I do.”

“So what’s the real problem, then?”

“I just…I don’t want to mess it up. I’ve kind of lost a lot of things in my life. And I don’t want to lose this if it doesn’t work out.”

Mrs. Carlson hummed to herself as she resumed her chopping. “Would it help to know that she’s probably thinking the same thing?”

Kara’s eyes flicked over to the other woman.

“Did she say that?”

Mrs. Carlson answered with a knowing smile. “We don’t only talk about science-y things, dear.” Then she took Kara’s formidably-sized stack of dish towels and put them into drawers in the far cupboard, leaving Kara to absorb what she’d just learned. Knowing that Lena had the same fears as her…it eased something in Kara’s chest. And for the first time, the thought of bringing this up to Lena didn’t include a wave of panic.

Mrs. Carlson came back a minute later, this time with a stockpot in her hands that she placed on the table next to Kara. “I made you a stew this time, dear. I think you’ll enjoy it, especially with it getting a little colder outside now.”

“You didn’t have to, Mrs. Carlson.”

“Oh, I know. But you do so much, you deserve some good things in return now and then. Both you and your girl.”

—

Kara returned to her apartment and managed — after some expert-level jenga maneuvering — to find room in her fridge for the stew. She’d have to consume her leftovers in a top-down approach now, but that would be a short-lived inconvenience. She ate leftovers too fast for them to last long.

The whole time she’d been stacking, though, she’d been thinking of Lena, and wishing it wasn’t the middle of the night. Kara wanted to talk now, while hope and excitement were coursing through her; in the light of day, she’d fall into her Kara Danvers persona, and her confidence might falter. But as late as Lena worked, and as early as she woke, she still had to sleep at some point. It was the middle of a work week, and at this hour she should be asleep. Kara even double-checked — briefly listening in on her heartbeat — but no, it had the slow and steady cadence of a person at rest.

Kara brushed her teeth, climbed into bed, and thought about what tomorrow would bring. She needed a plan. If she waited for the right time to talk to Lena, that time would never come, and if she didn’t know what to say, she’d never say anything. So she lay there, going over scenario after scenario, until she realized she’d gone too far and was overthinking it. She needed to keep it simple: text Lena in the morning, ask if they could do lunch, and at lunch ask Lena to dinner. Dinner not as a friend. Dinner as a date.

Kara closed her eyes, and didn’t worry about the what if’s or oh no’s. She’d put her trust in what Mrs. Carlson had said: how Lena had the same worries, and that both of them deserved some good things in their lives. She fell asleep ten minutes later, and ten minutes after waking up and texting Lena, she got a yes to lunch.

Five hours after that, she got a yes to dinner, too.

Inspired to write this by a line found in a wiki article by @kryptamazon about biphasic/polyphasic sleep: “This was also a favourite time for scholars and poets to write uninterrupted, whereas still others visited neighbours, engaged in sexual activity, or committed petty crime.”

(First of four chapters, with Kara experiencing each of these scenarios.)

--------

Ch 1: Writing Uninterrupted

Kara leaned back from her laptop, rereading the article one last time. It flowed naturally, in a way she sometimes struggled to achieve with tight deadlines. But this hour of the night was the quietest, when she didn’t need to spend so much effort tuning out the cacophony of the world. Instead, she could just be. She could take comfort in the quiet aliveness of the city around her. It made writing easier, and she took advantage of the opportunity whenever it arose.

She closed out the document, satisfied with how it turned out, then opened another. This one was still in the ‘notes and quotes’ stage of messiness — desperately needing to be organized before she even thought of writing anything. She sighed, resigned to the work ahead, but wanting to put it off a tiny bit longer with a short trip to the kitchen.

Her sister wouldn’t have been surprised when Kara put a kettle on to boil instead of rifling around for food, but likely she’d have been the only one. Except, of course, for Lena. They both knew that Kara wasn’t an actual non-stop eating machine, and that at this hour she didn’t want the shift in focus that came with eating a meal. A hot drink, in a warm mug she could wrap her hands around, was what she wanted.

Tonight it was tea. In the past it would have been cocoa, but lately she’d been gravitating towards its less sugary counterpart. She knew the reason why — knew it had everything to do with Lena and things that reminded Kara of her. Kara liked Lena, and had come to realize that her feelings had taken a non-platonic turn at some point. But she wasn’t ready to act on them yet, and so that knowledge was lying dormant for now.

She sifted through the tea flavors and finally settled on a mint one — she’d already used up the fruity ones — when a light rain started to fall. She dropped the tea bag into a mug, then wandered over to her living room window. If it was pouring out she would have had to leave it closed, or maybe open it an inch or two at best. The way the wind swirled outside of her apartment, it always blew the rain in. But it was a gentle precipitation, and so she was able to open it fully, to see and hear and smell the wetness of it.

The thing is, it never rained on Krypton. And by never, she didn’t mean infrequently, she meant never. Rain just didn’t exist on her planet. There was moisture in the air, of course, and mist would roll in from time to time, but it didn’t rain. Her first experience of it on earth became one of her strongest memories: watching Alex let herself get drenched head-to-toe, because thirteen-year old Kara was terrified and overwhelmed by her first thunderstorm. Eventually Alex coaxed her out of the house, and with Eliza and Jeremiah out for the evening she spent the rest of the night experiencing the rain with her new sister. It was the first time Kara felt joy and happiness since her planet died, and it was when her bond with Alex began. Kara had loved and been in awe of rain ever since.

The kettle started to sound, and she sped over to the stove before it woke up any of her neighbors. Mrs. Carlson across the hall might be awake at this hour — the elderly woman had occasional bouts of insomnia — but her other neighbors were very much asleep. After pouring the water, she returned to her spot on the couch, setting the mug on the coffee table to steep. She picked up her laptop again, but took one more look at the window — at rivulets forging pathways down the glass and droplets sneaking onto the sill. She inhaled slowly, closing her eyes and smelling the soaked pavement; feeling kinship with a city bathing quietly in the dark.

A few minutes passed, and she opened her eyes to the world again. She looked down and stared at words that held promise and potential, but needed purpose…just like she had once upon a time. But she’d found her purpose — in being a sister, in being a hero, in being a friend. Now she needed to help these words find theirs.