supercorp + learning kryptonian? :)
Lena learns Kryptonian to surprise Kara. She siphoned away the precious information from Lex's notes on Krypton and from the DEO's database without anyone finding out and constructed her own dictionary filled with nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs, the alphabet and conjugation tables.
It wasn't just for her, it was for anyone that might want to use it to learn Kryptonian for Kara. Lena made notebooks and pages of notes of the language as she learnt, originally messy scrawls in old notepads which evolved into her creating her own font on her laptop so she could create a more permanent copy.
Learning to read and write was the easy part but she struggled with speaking and listening with no partner to help her. Lex's notes only possessed translation but the DEO's databases held many more recordings from not just Kara but from many of her family on Krypton.
She had the blessing of hearing the voice of Kara's mother and father, aunts and uncles and even a cousin or two as she learnt to both speak and listen in her girlfriend's native tongue. She practiced the tapes she transferred to her phone whenever she could. Her headphones stayed in inbetween meetings, while she went to work and whenever she didn't have to be listening to someone else.
It took her six months before she was confident enough to let Kara know she knew Kryptonian. Kara had been speaking it to her in little murmurs for years and Lena had just begun deciphering her whispered words and somehow it made her fall in love with girlfriend more.
It was one of those whispered phrases that caused Lena to slip up and mess up and reveal her secret. She was tired and half-asleep as Kara ran her hands through her hair in a way that led Lena to melt into her girlfriend.
"Khap :zhao rrip, :zrhueiao," Kara had whispered through her tired yawn, her voice thick with a Kryptonian accent as it always was when Kara was just exhausted as she was in this moment.
Lena instantly translated it. I love you, beautiful. :Zrhueiao a nickname that Kara had gifted her early on in the relationship, one of the first things Lena had translated in her research.
"Khap :zhao rrip vahdhah," Lena had replied instinctively through her sympathetic yawn. I love you too.
Lena only realised her words as the hand that had been running through her hair stilled and she felt Kara's whole body stiffen.
"What did you just say?" Kara asked, looking down at Lena.
"I love you too," Lena bit her lip innocently, turning over in her girlfriend's arms so they could face each other properly. They'd said it before but that didn't matter. That was her proposal plan spoilt. She groaned inwardly as Kara looked down at her with so much love and affection, that was meant for another time.
"You didn't say it like that," Kara probed as her crinkle materialised, tucking a lock of Lena's hair behind her ear before she cupped Lena's cheek softly.
Lena looked up mulling over her words, she leant forward and pressed a kiss to her girlfriend's lips to distract her before she reached up and smoothed over the crinkle between her eyebrows.
"Did I?" she questioned with an innocent shrug, arching a singular eyebrow.
"You said it in Kryptonian," Kara whispered with a soft smile.
"Did I?" Lena questioned again innocently.
"You did," Kara laughed, "Stop acting like you didn't. When did you learn to say that?".
Lena sighed, letting her head fall to her girlfriend's chest in her exasperation. "I've been learning," she mumbled.
"What?" Kara laughed, picking her chin up so her voice wasn't so muffled but her girlfriend had superhearing, Lena knew she heard each word.
"I've been learning," Lena admitted, properly this time.
"You have?" Kara asked in disbelief.
"Yes," she assured her sincerely, "I have,".
Kara's eyes lit up with a bright smile as she studied Lena's face. "Ta-:bem nahn rrip,". How good are you?
"Rrip raozhodh khap kehp raogrhys osh iwahzrham," Lena smirked. You know I have a talent for languages.
Kara hummed as she processed Lena's words, a huge smile covering her face. She shook her head as her hands cupped Lena's face and brought her into a passionate kiss that said everything that Lena knew Kara couldn't say. Lena could feel the wet of Kara's tears and taste the salt of them but any attempt to pull away just had Kara pulling her back in. Lena didn't leave Kara then she just kissed her softly and gently and tried to pour all the emotions she also felt into that kiss, all the things she didn't know how to say.
