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The reason Lena had bought the penthouse suite in this condo building was that she had been assured that the neighbours below her were quiet, and kept to themselves. Of course the view had to be mentioned, she had the best vista of National City from her large and expansive balcony.
So imagine her surprise when, a few months into her residence a fire alarm went off in the condo below her while she was home, peacefully reading a book with a glass of wine one Friday evening. She jumped slightly, surprised at how piercing the alarm was considering she’d been assured there was sound proofing between floors. Furrowing her brow in annoyance, she waited.
The alarm quiets after another twenty or so seconds, and Lena huffs out a sigh as she turns her green eyes back to the book in her hand.
***
Another week passes and at almost the exact same time as the previous Friday, the fire alarm goes off in the condo below. Lena is less than pleased.
Narrowing her eyes in suspicion, the raven haired woman picks up her phone and texts her doorman intent on learning about the tenant below her.
Not five minutes pass before she gets a response and she is disgruntled to learn that her downstairs neighbour is new. Very new. According to Frank it is a young woman roughly her age who moved in about a month ago. He didn’t divulge much else as it would violate the strict privacy agreement in the building. But since Lena kept to herself, paid her condo fees and was pleasant to Frank whenever she saw him, he tended to indulge her queries.
Suffice it to say that learning that her perfect neighbours left and she was stuck with someone who was by all appearances, noisy and perhaps a fire bug was certainly not what she had hoped to hear.
***
Like clockwork the following Friday the alarm went off again. Lena growled in frustration, every Friday night for three weeks was entirely too often for the other woman’s alarm to go off.
With new found determination, Lena grabs her keys, sets her shoulders and holds her head high as she strides into her foyer and calls the elevator up. She stands, hips cocked and arms crossed as she waits impatiently for the contraption to make it to the penthouse floor, all the way up on the 35th level. Had she lived in any condo other than a penthouse, she would have used the stairs after she exited her home. However living in luxury meant she either had to go down one level via the elevator to reach a landing with stair access, or she had to take her emergency exit to the stairs. Which she would rather avoid as it had an alarm built in which notified the front desk that she had taken the exit and they would immediately call authorities if she did so. Therefore taking the elevator down one level was her only option. Never let it be said that Lena Luthor was lazy.
Dinging suddenly, the elevator announces it’s arrival and Lena takes two large strides forward and pushes the button for the 34th level. Seconds later it arrives and she steps out, moving with purpose towards the door to the condo on this level. There was no elevator access directly into the foyer of this condo, that was a luxury only afforded to the owner of the penthouse and only accessible with a fob which she swiped across the display in the elevator.
Crossing the small landing, Lena stops in front of the heavy fire door and raps her knuckles against it three times.
She barely had to wait before the door was swung open almost violently. A very frazzled looking young woman looked at her with an almost pleading expression. “Uh.... Hey there, I mean hi. What- uh, what can I do for you?” She ran a hand over her ponytail, presumably trying to tame it.
Lena squinted her eyes, looking the young woman up and down. She couldn't have been more than a few years her junior and was slim but well toned, her biceps were quite prominent and were straining against her pink button down shirt. Honey blonde hair was held back in a ponytail that was slipping from it’s tie. Thick framed glasses rested on the bridge of her nose which she kept adjusting every few seconds, like a nervous gesture. She was actually quite beautiful Lena noticed and she sighed, resigning herself to letting go of the anger she held not a moment before. She was always a sucker for the nerdy type.
“I’m here to help.” Lena shouldered passed the woman without any preamble.
“Hold on, what are you doing?!” The woman skittered after Lena, closing her door with a bang.
Lena rolled her eyes. “Like I said, I’m helping. I live upstairs and this is the third time in as many weeks that your fire alarm has gone off and disrupted my evening.” The other woman had the grace to look embarrassed. “I assumed you were cooking and it appears I was correct.” Green eyes survey the kitchen and ascertain that it looks like the scene of a crime. Dishes were littering every surface, food was somehow spattered across cupboard doors, and something was bubbling and smoking ominously on the stove top. Yet another sigh crested in Lena’s lungs as she efficiently removed the offending pot from the stove top to prevent any potential damage.
“Oh my gosh, I’m really sorry about that. It’s just, my sister is coming to visit me next weekend and I’ve been trying to figure out how to cook her favourite meal for when she’s here but I never cook. I eat a lot of take out and I’m just not good at this and oh man, you’re going to complain about me aren’t you? I-”
“I’m going to teach you how to cook.” The raven haired woman turned her head, hair flipping over her shoulder as she did so. She regarded the blonde with interest as her mouth hung open in shock at Lena’s words.
“Uh...” Nervous laughter escaped the blonde’s grinning mouth. “You’re going to, to teach me how to cook? I’m sorry but that really isn’t what I expected you to say, miss.....?”
Lena chuckled and extended her professionally manicured hand. This woman was absolutely adorable. “Lena, Lena Luthor.”
A shy smile graced the blondes lips as she stepped forward with a lurch, grasping the offered hand with both of hers in a surprisingly firm handshake. “Nice to meet you Lena, I’m Kara Danvers.”
Kara Danvers. How is a name even endearing? I don’t know but damned if it isn’t. Relax, she’s just a woman. A noisy, adorable, fit, beautiful, stuttering, nervous mess of a woman. Control yourself, you’re a LUTHOR and Luthor’s do not lose their poise. Oh god, snap out of it Lena, she’s staring at you.
“Not as nice as it is for me.” Lena grinned and held Kara’s hand for a beat longer than necessary.
So much for reigning in the gay, good job.
Kara coughed into her hand as she drew it back, her cheeks flaming an impressive shade of red. “Anyway! What did you mean when you said you’d teach me to cook? Like, do you have a cooking for dummies book lying around your penthouse, a dvd I should watch, some place I should go for lessons?....” She trailed off, her tone quizzical and confused.
Lifting an elegant brow and tilting her head back slightly, Lena had to fight herself so she wouldn’t show her amusement clearly. She had no desire to embarrass the girl. “I mean I’m going to teach you. Myself.” She then rolled up the arms of her slouchy pullover sweater and got to work condensing the mess in the kitchen.
Almost literally jumping, Kara flitted into the kitchen and started cleaning herself. She moved at about double the speed Lena was, but she only managed to do about the same amount of work as the raven haired woman. She was practically vibrating with energy as she banged dishes against each other in her haste. Lena just shook her head slightly with an amused tilt to her lips as she more sedately but accurately tidied. It looked like the blonde had literally used every dish and utensil in her kitchen and she had to wonder why she even had all these implements if cooking was such a rarity for her.
It took about a half hour between them but they had the mess contained to one section of the kitchen and were ready to tackle the food.
“Now. What were you intending to cook in the first place?” Lena leaned her hip against the island, arms crossed as she waited patiently for the blonde to stand still long enough to inform her.
The reservoirs of energy she has is remarkable, she must have incredible stamina-
Lena cut off that train of thought abruptly, clearing her throat delicately to cover her wandering thoughts.
“Tacos.” Kara had a hand raised fiddling with her glasses as the other was held against her stomach. Looking down at the ground as she fidgeted, it was apparent the woman was thoroughly embarrassed.
Finally losing her inner battle, Lena sputtered a short laugh. “Tacos? How on earth did you manage all of this trying to make tacos of all things?” Seeing Kara deflate slightly, Lena hastily backtracked. “It is actually rather impressive. You’re clearly quite talented.” With a wink, she managed to bring that blush back out again and was pleased with her efforts to cheer up the blonde.
“Okay then, let’s get to it.” The raven haired woman pushed off from the counter, striding towards the fridge with purpose.
***
All of a half hour later they were sitting down in Kara’s living room in front of the TV, enjoying perfectly prepared tacos. Honestly, Lena couldn’t quite comprehend how the blonde could have messed up a dish so royally considering you only had to cook one part of it. Sauté the meat and the rest was just prep and set up. Quite simple really.
“Have I thanked you yet?” Kara’s brow furrowed in question and her eyes were filled with concern.
She is the definition of a cinnamon roll.
Lena chuckled. “Yes Kara, you have. Multiple times.” She nudged the other woman’s shoulder with her own, their positions on the couch being far closer to each other than was necessarily called for. “But I don’t mind, truly.”
The dazzling smile that then graced the blonde’s features stole a little of Lena’s breath, and she found herself grinning softly at Kara in response.
***
Over the next handful of days, Lena came down to Kara’s and helped her prepare dinner and tried to teach the woman in the process. It wasn’t easy but neither was it a thankless task and the green eyed beauty found that getting to know the dorky woman was quite payment enough for her efforts.
They had been cooking every night for a week and the next day was when her sister was set to arrive, and neither Kara nor Lena had much faith that the blonde would manage dinner on her own. Not to say that Kara wasn’t improving. She was, but at a glacial pace. The blonde knew it too, and expressed her sentiments towards it with a loud groan as she banged her forehead against the kitchen counter following another screw up.
“So dramatic.” Lena absent mindedly patted Kara on the head as she walked passed her and efficiently correcting the mistake with little effort.
“At this rate I’ll never be able to cook Alex dinner when she comes over this weekend. It’s hopeless.” A long suffering sigh followed her words, marking her feelings. “Wait, what if you helped me cook on Saturday?!”
Lena quirked a brow in question. “I just mean, why don’t you help me and then you can hang out here with me and my sister and eat with us. It would be nice, I think you’d like her. And you’d be saving my butt.” Kara was quite eager, pout on full display. Lena was powerless but she tried anyway.
“But I would be interrupting your sister time, surely you don’t want any distractions when she’s here?” Lena pulled herself up, righting her posture as she was wont to do when she was slightly out of her element.
“Trust me, you’d be a welcome distraction. Otherwise she’d just talk about her fiancee Maggie the whole night and as much as I love Maggie, I can only handle stories about how perfect she is every once in a while. Although, I guess with you here Alex would harass me about you instead.” Lena’s lips twitched, hiding a smile as Kara continued to ramble. “I mean she’d ask so many questions, she’d probably think you’re my girlfriend or something.” Nervous laughter interspersed her word vomit. “Not that I think you’d be a bad girlfriend! I just- that isn’t our relationship. Not that I know what our relationship even is, I think we’re friends? Not that I wouldn’t enjoy you being my girlfriend, but holy crap I’m saying way too much right now, forget I said anything.” Kara covered her face with both of her hands, slouching into them as she tried to make herself appear smaller.
Over the past week, Lena had been consistent in her flirting whether it was intentional or not. She simply couldn’t help herself, she was utterly charmed by the blonde. Enamoured even. And hearing Kara’s accidental ‘confession’ had done nothing more than to increase her ardour.
Lena turned off the oven with a quick flick of her wrist and made her way to stand in front of Kara, slight hesitation in her actions. She lifted her hands, stuttering in indecision before she pressed on and gently grasped Kara’s wrists, pulling those strong hands away from a perfectly flushed face.
She was a few inches shorter than the built blonde, so she found herself looking up into stormy eyes. They were closer than they’d been at any point in their previous encounters, and Lena’s breath caught at the sensation.
Finding nothing to say in response, Lena acted instead. She tilted her chin up, green eyes hooded as she slowly closed the distance between them to allow Kara the option to retreat. She didn’t retreat. Rather she closed the rest of the distance herself and carefully pressed her lips to the tantalizingly soft ones in front of her. Both of their eye slitted closed entirely as they melted into each other, allowing the kiss to encompass them.
Lena gasped into the kiss, not expecting it to be as potent as it proved to be. And much to her surprise but ultimately to her pleasure, Kara took advantage of her momentary distraction and deepened the kiss.
They didn’t become devoured by lust, or allow the kiss to grow much more passionate. It had been building, but they were content to savour the moment. Plenty of time for more amorous activities in the future. There was an implied but unspoken agreement that this was far more than a momentary event. The interest was there in both of them, and they hoped fervently to explore it.
Kara nipped at Lena’s lower lip, shocking the raven haired woman into moaning as they descended into another kiss, this one slightly more heated than the last. Their tongues caressed each other and lips slid effortlessly together before they finally pulled apart in favour of breathing. They weren’t breathless for lack of oxygen, rather they had stunned each other into the state.
Their foreheads bumped and rested together, eyes open and taking in the other. Kara’s hand raised to stroke Lena’s cheek, prompting another sigh from the green eyed woman.
“So does this mean you’ll help me tomorrow?” Kara asked with a smile.
Lena just laughed and tangled her hands in blonde hair, landing a precise and fast peck to pink lips. “Of course it does silly.”
***
Turns out Kara was right, when her sister Alex arrived for dinner she was instantly curious about Lena and split her time quite equally between teasing Kara for her obvious crush and interrogating Lena. Thankfully the raven haired woman was quite practiced at these sorts of tactics as she faced them regularly in board meetings at her company, so she thinks she fared well.
Eventually Alex seemed to give and they instead found themselves all chatting amicably, enjoying each others company.
Alex’s eagle eyes surely didn’t miss the way Kara sat snugly against Lena’s side on the couch, hand casually resting on Lena’s thigh. Or Lena’s arm that found it’s way along the back of the low couch, resting just behind Kara in a way that allowed her to stroke a broad back with restless fingers.
Later on that evening Lena received a text from Kara confirming that Alex had noticed, but also that she approved and quite liked the green eyed woman. Lena smiled, teeth on full display and her lips stretched so wide she wasn’t sure she’d ever smiled so largely before.
I’ll have to send a thank you card to my old neighbours for leaving.