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Kara Danvers is a track superstar.
Not really...but at her school? Hell fucking yeah she is.
She can run circles around everyone else on the team, and she comes out of it barely winded.
But she can't swim to save her fucking life.
Water is not a friend of Kara Danvers, and she understands that - always has, even from a young age. When Alex is feeling especially asshole-y (because yes, that is a word), she'll ask Kara to join her for a day at the beach and just sit back and watch wave after wave pummel the blonde Danvers into the sand. Anything that has to do with water, aside from hydrating and bathing, makes Kara Danvers lose that glow of cheery sunshine that radiates off of her and blinds anyone within a mile radius.
Kara Danvers just really fucking hates being in the water, okay?
So when the PE department declares that this semester they're going to change things up and add in a biathlon event (because "it'll be super fun!"), Kara's stomach does a flip in the not-so-good way, and she feels the dread spread throughout her body and end at her feet, dragging her down with its weight for the rest of the day.
"Why do you look like shit?" Alex asks after walking into the kitchen and snagging a piece of beef from the stir fry their mom just finished making, chewing thoughtfully as she leans against the counter and takes in Kara's appearance. "Actually, no," she corrects herself, now trying a piece of broccoli while Eliza glares and murmurs her pleas for the girl to just make a damn plate already, "Why do you still look like shit? You've had that face since third period."
"What face?" Kara gasps, offended.
"The ugly, weird one that only comes out when you're having really bad period cramps or that Mike dude tries to ask you out again."
Kara scrunches up her face in disgust at the thought of the aforementioned things, and Eliza admonishes Alex for calling her younger sister's face 'ugly and weird', quickly assuring the blonde bundle of energy that "your face is beautiful, honey. Don't listen to Alex. She's in her hormonal brat stage".
"She does have a point though, hun. You seem down," Eliza continues after that, cutting in before Alex can go on about how she's really stressed and has a lot going on, and before Kara can call her a liar and start listing all the times her older sister just used that excuse to get away with something. "And back to you," she says to Alex, "Get a goddamn plate!" Alex rolls her eyes, dropping her most recent steal of the stir fry to turn and grab a plate from a cabinet.
"The PE department is making us do a biathlon at the end of the semester..."
"HAH! That sucks!" Alex exclaims as she continues to fill her plate. "Glad I didn't have to do that..."
"Yeah, well I do! And it does suck! Majorly!" She gesticulates fiercely with her fork that Eliza is glad doesn't have a piece of food on the end of it. "You guys know that I can barely swim-"
"A.K.A. not at all,"
"What am I gonna do?" Kara groans, ignoring Alex's comment.
"Well... Looks like you're going to have to just start swimming, dear."
"Noooooo!" Kara whines, flopping around on her stool and throwing her head back with dramatic flair. Eliza lets Alex mock her sister with the opposing 'yeeeeeees' for her. "You guys are no help!"
"And how would you like us to help?"
"You could write a letter to the school demanding that the biathlon be cut out of the program."
"I don't have time for that."
"I could write it for you and you would just have to sign i-"
"No."
"Just one little lett-"
"No."
Kara huffs and does the dramatic thing with her head again.
"I'm sorry, honey, but you're just going to have to toughen up and do this."
"I can't swim!"
"Now she admits it," Alex mumbles under her breath, keeping her eyes focused on the next fork-full of food to ignore the way Kara's eyes snap over to glare at her.
"There's a recreation center that's not too far from us, and it has a pool. You could go there to practice."
Kara sighs. "Do I have to?"
"You know you do."
Kara's frown deepens because yes, she does know.
***
So, Kara Danvers ends up at the pool on a wonderful-but-soon-to-be-not-wonderful Thursday at 7pm, and not one minute earlier for fear of other humans occupying the space and being able to see her splashing around like a fish out of water even though she is in water.
Her plan almost works.
It is definitely desolate...
But not desolate enough.
There are two (re: two) bodies in the pool, doing laps at a speed that has the blonde absolutely mind blown because how in the fuck? Then there's another body, an older woman, standing outside of the pool just in front of the two swimmers, two stopwatches in hand and a bored expression on her face.
She's seen that bored expression somewhere before...many times...but she just can't get her finger on it-
Suddenly the two swimmers are going even faster after one of those flippy thingies on the wall across the one from where she's standing, and then they're almost barreling into the wall, arms reaching in order to touch first, and Kara still isn't past processing the flippy thingy.
One of the bodies is male, and the other female, and-
Oh, wow, yeah...that's a female. A really...great looking female. Wow, that's a hell of a female.
"Lex," the older woman states after a moment while the two swimmers huff and puff to regain their breath and allow the water around them to begin to calm. Clearly she was announcing the winner of the little race, if the male's little smirk and the huff of disbelief from that female is anything to go by.
"I touched the wall first!" the female - okay, Kara, her name is Lena Luthor, you know that, so stop with the 'female' thing you hormonal loser - shouts.
Lex Luthor doesn't say anything, and Kara has a small, nagging suspicion that he knows his sister beat him by the way he curls up a little and lets his mother do the talking for him.
"The stopwatches don't lie, Lena."
Lena scoffs to herself as she leans against the drainage grates, letting herself rest. She obviously doesn't believe Lillian Luthor's bullshit, and frankly? Neither does Kara. She may be a bit bias, but...whatever.
It's that shared disbelief that has Kara scoffing to herself as well, suddenly remembering that she technically didn't want to be seen here when she has three pairs gazes burning into her, her face probably as red as pizza sauce (or just a fucking tomato!? Come on, Kara, be at least somewhat mature) by now.
"Danvers?"
Oh...that's a voice... That's a very nice voice indeed...
And when Kara looks to the owner of said voice, her eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets, because, really? It's entirely unfair that Lena Luthor can still look that fucking perfect even with red raccoon eyes from the goggles she just pulled off her head.
"Hey, hi... Hi." Kara rubs her hands on the sides of her jeans, knowing that she definitely looks stupid right now. What's being normal and cool? Kara Danvers sure doesn't know, especially when Lena Luthor is around. The same Lena that's currently pushing herself out of the water, and wow if that isn't a sight that could bring any man/woman to their knees in prayer. Water rushing down her body, muscles flexing and looking delicious, hair now down and cascading down her shoulders and back in a sinful way, swimsuit so damn tight and wow that is a gorgeous pair of b-
"Ugh... Kal's friend..." Lex mutters, still in the pool, snapping Kara out of her thoughts. "What are you doing here?"
"Shut up," Lena hisses, dipping her toe back in the water to kick up some water, splashing Lex in the face.
"Yes, what are you doing here?" Lillian now asks, that weird little upturn of her lips not looking anything like a smile...at least, not one that anyone wants to ever be on the receiving end of.
"Just...uh, came for a swim?" Kara squeaks, trying not to run out of this place as fast as she can because being in an area full of this many Luthors is not at all ideal.
"Mother, we don't own the pool. She can come here if she wants," Lena says through a sigh, crossing her arms over her chest in that defiant Lena Luthor way (that usually has Kara suddenly unable to breathe or perform any human function properly).
"Everyone knows that we use this pool to practice at this time, and nobody seems to have a problem with respecting that."
"It's not so much respect as it is fear of being anywhere near us."
"Lena," Lillian warns, bringing out that beautiful little clench of Lena's jaw that Kara could stare at all damn day. "Miss Danvers, if you would please leave and perhaps try for another time?"
Kara somehow makes eye contact with Lena over the scary woman's shoulder, the mouthed 'sorry' completely missing its mark because the blonde is too busy watching the way her lips move and thinking about how much she wants to smash them against her own.
"Uh, yeah, uh... Uh, yeah. Sure." Nailed it, Kara. Absolutely wonderful usage of words. "I'll, uh... I'll go," she says with a small little gesture of her thumb pointing behind her, quickly nodding in silent goodbye before awkwardly shuffling away, huffing in a breath and already thinking of how she's going to explain this to Alex when the older girl pesters her about being home so early ("you fucking pansy. I knew you'd give up and run home" most likely awaiting her).
***
"Aaaaand you're not even listening to me, which, isn't anything new, but really? Can you at least pretend? Is she really that pretty that you can't even listen to my idea for my biology project? Or about the surprise exam that's worth fifty percent of your grade in English? Or the penguin that's waddling around the cafeteria? Or the unicorn in the auditorium?" Winn sighs when nothing gets Kara's attention. "KARA!"
"Hm?" Kara hums, finally snapping out of her very intense daydream involving her hands all over a certain swimmer's body-
"You haven't been listening to a word I've said."
"Yes I have." Winn just raises a brow to say seriously, you useless lesbian? "Okay, fine. I'm just...distracted."
"By Lena Luthor, I know."
Kara rolls her eyes, but also does nothing to try and deny the truth she's already accepted. "Sorry, I just... I ran into her last night."
"Ooohhh, do tell," Winn says, leaning against his locker with eyes full of mirth and curiosity. Ever since Kara came out he's loved gushing about pretty girls with her, and he especially loves the chronicles of Lena Luthor and how abso-fucking-lutely gay she makes Kara.
Kara punches his shoulder, but still blushes and immediately launches into her story. She recounts the way the Luthor siblings' bodies cut through the water, how Lena totally beat Lex no matter what Lillian said, and Lena's marvelous body as she came out of the water.
Winn gets the same wistful look on his face that Kara does after she finishes describing how much of a model Lena is. "She is quite the looker, isn't she?"
"Mine," Kara growls, and Winn quickly wipes the look off his face before the blonde has to do it for him.
"Right, right...no, yeah, of course. I know. Easy with the glare, tiger." Kara backs off when Winn shows his surrender. "Anyway," he coughs, eager to move on, "How are you going to train, then? If the Luthors have claim over the pool at those hours, and you're unable to swim without people thinking you're dying during the day...what are you gonna do?"
"I don't know, but I have to think of something fast because Alex has promised that she's going to force me to swim in the most public pool at the most public hours if I don't do this myself."
"Yup, that totally sounds like something she would say...and do."
"Help me, Winn!"
Kara Danvers cannot attempt to swim during the day over the weekend when she doesn't have school. It would be social suicide, and she really doesn't want to deal with the embarrassment of having people see how majorly fucked she is when it comes to water. Though, the only other time she has to do it is at night after she gets home from track practice, but apparently the stupid Luthors (not you, Lena, you're perfect) own the freaking place, and nobody wants to mess with the Luthors, not after the scandals and all the rumors that accompany their name. The Luthor name is like some old legend about monsters under the bed that come out at night to drag children away... That's how tainted the name is, and that's how much people don't want to go near anyone from that family.
"Well...you could ask Lena?"
"Ask her what?"
"To teach you to swim?"
"How on Earth do you think I'm going to have enough balls to actually talk to her? Nonetheless be okay with letting her see me drown on the shallow side of the pool!"
"I don't know, but you should hurry and grow that pair because she's coming over here."
"What?!" Kara spins around, eyes widening at the sight of Lena Luthor in all her beautiful glory making her way towards she and Winn. Her friend is trailing behind her, eyes locked on her phone as always, and the blonde really tries not to throttle that girl because she gets to be that close to Lena and she chooses to look at her phone? Ungrateful.
"Danvers," Lena says, her lips curling into a small, shy smile and Kara didn't realize that her heart could beat this fast. Kara loathes people calling her by her last name since thats usually a thing reserved for Alex and she really doesn't want to steal her thunder, nor get stuck in that whole sibling comparison thing, but she'll let Lena call her whatever the fuck she wants.
"Lena," she says, clenching her fists at her sides because that wasn't the pitch she was going for, much too squeaky and high to be anything close to the cool image she wants Lena to see her as. The girl beside Lena puts her phone away, suddenly deciding to pay attention now. "Sam," she continues, nodding to the girl only briefly before going back to ogling Lena.
"Hey," Sam beams, all friendly and adorable with that smile, and Kara realizes oh, okay, she's super sweet and decides that she won't throttle Samantha Arias, she'll just envy her from afar.
"Look, I'm sorry about my mother and Lex last night. We don't own the place and I've told them countless times that they need to get off their high horse and realize that."
Kara begins waving off the apology before Lena even finishes speaking. "No, no, no, it's fine. It's totally okay. I get it. Your mom is a really serious coach, and you and Lex are serious swimmers. Swimming is a big thing to you, so I get that practice space is important."
"Still, that doesn't excuse them for being rude. I'll talk to them, because you deserve to use that space just as much as anyone else does."
Lena has always been more of an outlier from the rest of the Luthor family, though not many people bother to notice since they can't get past the whole Luthor thing first. She's much more kind and gentle, intelligent in the good way rather than the wicked and manipulative way the others are (espeically Lex, ugh). Lena is different from the others of her family, and that's partially why Kara can't stop thinking about her.
"No, really, it's not a big deal. It's just the stupid biathlon. I can find another way to train." Re: learn how to swim. Winn coughs and nudges her with his elbow, obviously hinting that this is a perfect opening for a certain question, and suddenly her palms get really sweaty.
Sam graciously buys her some time to gather her courage. "Ugh, don't remind me about that stupid thing. I still can't believe they made that a thing. I hate swimming."
"I hate running," Lena says, pointing out the opposing perspective that she and her fellow swimmers have, and Winn somehow deems that this is a great time to speak up.
"Kara is great at running!"
"No duh, she's our track superstar," Sam says.
"Yeah, Winn, so shut up-" Kara hints, trying to get him to stop whatever he's planning.
"How about you help Kara with swimming, and she can help you with running?"
No, no, no, NO, Winn how could you do this to me- "That...actually sounds like a great idea."
"Really?" Kara and Winn ask simultaneously.
"Yeah, why not?" Lena shrugs, then gives Kara another perfect smile. "That would really help me out a lot, and I'm pretty sure I owe you after the way my family treated you last night."
They exchange contact information and make plans for tomorrow night after Lillian and Lex leave. Once that's done, Lena thanks her one last time before walking off, Sam smiling and waving goodbye as she follows.
Kara immediately turns to Winn and starts slapping him anywhere she can reach.
"I'm going to kill you!"
"You should be thanking me!"
Kara just keeps hitting him.
***
Kara walks in, clenching her towel tightly to her chest and trying to control her breathing, which only gets harder when she spots Lena resting once again against the grates, the lights glowing in the water exuding a sensual energy that the Luthor is probably unaware of, but boy is the blonde very aware of the fact that this looks right out of a Bond movie where the male audience is given what they came for.
Great, now she's thinking about Lena as a Bond girl...
"Kara! Hey!" If her last name sounded good from Lena's lips, then her first name sounds like the fucking heavens have opened up. Lena has now noticed her, pushing herself up so that she can sit on the grates instead of lean on them from in the water. Her legs swirl around under the water as she beckons Kara over, and the blonde is shocked she can even move because watching Lena push herself out of the water for a second time is still as mind blowingly sexy as the first time.
"H-Hey," she stutters, hand coming up to fix her glasses out of nervous habit. She then looks around, searching for the other Luthors if only to give herself something to do while her face works on becoming less red. "So, uh-"
"They're gone," Lena fills in, and Kara forces herself not to let out a surprised sound when she looks back at the brunette and sees those damn eyes watching her. "I said I wanted to stay behind and practice some more, and mother didn't even question it. In fact, she said I could use the extra practice and was happy I was taking initiative."
"So...they just left you? All alone? What if-"
"Oh, please. Mother doesn't care about my safety, and Lex would be foolish to show any type of affection or concern towards me if he wants to keep my mother's favor."
"That's awful!"
"Would you expect anything else from the Luthors?" Lena says with a teasing smirk, though her eyes seem sad. "Anyway, enough about them. Let's get started, shall we?"
It only takes a few seconds after she slips into the water for Lena to have to grab onto her and pull her back towards the ledge, saving her drowning ass. She really wishes she wasn't this afraid of the water and the prospect of dying, because then she could've instead focused her attention on those hands on her skin and the strong arms around her...
"Well, now I'm glad mother kicked you out. You were really going to try and swim alone?"
"Alex...A-Alex...Alex wouldn't...come with me..." she gets out between pants and gulps for air, holding onto the ledge for dear life. "And I don't...want anyone to see me..."
"You can't swim, so you could have drowned and died, but you were more worried about your pride?"
"Hey, I can swim!"
"Really?" A perfect brow raises in challenge and Kara is too busy being turned on to be scared by it. "Let go of the wall."
"N-no!" Kara grabs even tighter, tugging herself closer to the wall in case Lena tries to pull her away from it. "I like the wall."
"If you can swim then you don't need the wall."
"But what if the wall needs me, ya know? He can't have many friends-"
"Kara."
"Okay, okay! I can't swim! There! Are you happy?"
"No, because you were going to try and swim alone! Do you not realize how stupid and dangerous that is?!"
"What else was I supposed to do?"
Lena sighs, knowing that this isn't going anywhere, and Kara happily lets her go quiet for a while because it means she can continue holding onto the ledge.
"Alright, Kara Danvers... I'm going to teach you how to swim."
"I have to let go of the wall now, don't I?"
"Yup."
***
Letting go of the wall was totally worth it because Lena allowed herself to become its replacement, and boy did Kara enjoy getting to curl around the brunette and have her hold her.
***
"I thought you said you hate running?" Kara comments between her huffs and puffs, glancing at Lena beside her as she keeps up with her stride on the track.
"I do," Lena says between her own inhales and exhales of precious air. "Doesn't mean I can't, though."
"Oh that is so unfair," Kara groans, slowing to a stop, Lena following her lead. "You get to see me almost drown, and I don't even get to see you struggle at all!"
"You think I'm not struggling? Running is awful. My legs hurt and I can barely breathe. I'm actually glad you stopped because I don't know how much further I could've gone."
"So...endurance training, then?"
Lena grumbles to herself as she nods, and Kara just smiles because grumpy and winded Lena is the cutest/hottest thing ever.
***
"No."
"Kara-"
"I am not doing a flippy thingy!"
"First, it's a flip turn, second-"
"Why would I willingly put myself in a position to ram my head into solid concrete?"
"You're not going to hit your head if you do it correctly."
"But-"
"And I will make sure you do it correctly."
Kara sighs dramatically, but nonetheless allows Lena to place her hands on the back of her neck and at her hips in order to help her get the form right, because who fucking wouldn't? And, when she does one all on her own and doesn't end up with a bloody nose or cracked head, Lena cheers and looks so damn happy and proud of her that she feels her heart trying to beat itself out of her chest, wanting to jump into Lena's hands itself because Kara is taking way too long to make it happen.
***
Sam starts to join them on their runs, and Kara gets a bit irritated, but can't stay mad at that face for long because Sam is just too nice and too pretty to ever be mad at.
Plus, when Sam leaves, Lena leans on Kara, groaning about how exhausted she is since she had to keep up with two runners, and the blonde laughs through her offhanded offer to carry the poor swimmer.
It ends up actually happening when Kara has to give Lena a piggyback up the stairs to the locker rooms, and she tries not to think about how perfect Lena's thighs feel under the palms of her hands and locked around her torso, she really does. However, she doesn't even bother to steer her thoughts clear of the way Lena's breath brushes against her neck, because she'd be a fool to think she could keep her mind clear of that.
So, really, at the end of the day she's actually really fucking glad that Sam ran with them.
***
They race.
Of course Lena beats her, not only because Kara is a beginner, but also because the blonde was too busy looking at Lena's body under the water that she created a drag that slowed her down.
She can't even begin to be frustrated or mad, though, because Lena is panting to catch her breath when Kara finally swims into the wall, and her blue eyes are drawn (she doesn't know how, honestly...really...okay, yeah she does) to the perfect chest next to her as it moves up and down.
Damn, that's a beauty.
***
"There's a rumor going around about you and Luthor."
"Alex, I swear nothing is going on, she's just teaching me and I'm teaching her-"
"Yeah, whatever, just... Just let her know that I'll kill her if she does anything to hurt you."
"Alex, it's not like th-"
"And no sex until the twentieth date."
"Alex, it's- Wait... Twenty?! Alex!"
"Keep complaining and it'll be thirty."
"Alex!"
"Love you, sis!"
"ALEX, GET BACK HERE!"
***
"I'm really sorry about all the rumors going around."
"I'm not."
"What?" Lena just smirks as she runs faster, getting ahead of the blonde. "Hey!" She easily catches up, but the Luthor continues to try and outrun her, making their run turn into a race.
Onlookers watch with jaws dropped as Lena Luthor actually comes in close behind Kara, the blonde of course winning, but not by much... Which, is, like, unheard of for the track star.
So Kara was a bit distracted, and maybe she wanted to stay a bit behind at times just to see the backside of Lena, but at the end she did actually try, and she's surprised, but also very proud of Lena for keeping up with her.
And when the Luthor kisses her cheek before starting her walk towards the lockers, Kara internally combusts and forgets how to move, just standing there for a solid five minutes as she watches the retreating form of the brunette.
***
"Yo! Luthor!" Alex calls, getting weird looks from everyone around her, but she doesn't give a darn diddly fuck because she's cool enough to do whatever she wants. Lena catches her eye due to the shout, and with a shy smile she makes her way over to Kara's sister. "Come to see my baby sister in action, huh?"
"I figured I might as well," Lena says, taking her seat on the bleachers next to Alex and Eliza.
"She's gonna be so happy you're here. HEY KARA!" Alex shouts, standing from her seat. Eliza tries to pull her down, but Alex is having none of it, taking the opportunity to embarrass the crap out of her sister as payback for when Kara wove a flag with a huge picture of Alex's face on it at her last soccer game. "LOOK WHO'S HERE!" Alex continues, moving one of the cupped hands around her mouth to instead point at Lena next to her.
Kara's face goes red, the three of her main supporters able to see it even from all the way up on the stands, and she makes a 'cut it out' gesture with her hand across her neck.
Alex just laughs victoriously as she plops back down onto her seat, clapping Lena on her back when she catches sight of the red on her face that matches Kara's.
After that Alex decides to leave the two of them alone, instead cheering fiercely alongside Eliza whenever Kara's heat was up. Lena cheers with them, though much more subdued.
Maybe its because she's not used to cheering or having support...or maybe its because she's too focused looking at the blonde's sweat glistened skin and the way her toned body moves far ahead of everyone else she's competing against.
If Kara ran just a bit faster and seemed to have flexed on purpose...well, its totally not because Lena Luthor was in the crowd and she wanted to impress her... Pfft, no. Totally not.
***
When its Kara's turn to show up at one of Lena's swim meets, she cheers her freaking head off. The Luthors, including Lena, don't get any support nowadays, and when Kara notices that everyone starts booing when Lena is in the lead, she swears on her life that she's going to come to every single event Lena is in from now on and she's going to cheer as loud as she can, because if anyone deserves support, its Lena Luthor.
She's going to tell her that much, but is instead interrupted by warm, soft lips against her own and damp hands on her cheeks, and like hell she's going to throw away a chance to kiss Lena Luthor to do something as stupid as talk.
"I heard you," Lena explains one they break the kiss for air, and its then that Kara realizes she has her hands wrapped around Lena's swimsuit clad waist, and the front of her shirt is now wet since she pulled the other girl's body so it pressed against her own, and that she doesn't give a flying fuck and just wants to kiss her again. "Nobody has ever...I... You cheered for me."
"Of course I did. You were amazing."
Lena shakes her head, in disbelief, but also in a self-deprecating fashion that makes Kara's vow pop up in her head again with full force. "Nobody cheers for the Luthors."
"I wasn't cheering for a Luthor," Kara says, simply. "I was cheering for you."
Lena kisses her again.
Kara smiles and holds her tighter.
***
Kara and Lena cut through the water effortlessly, formulaic strokes carrying them through the water at incredible speed as they swim side by side.
When they run up the shore to change into their running gear, Kara can't help but grin, proud of how far she's come because she and Lena are the first ones out of the water.
And when Kara crosses the finish line with Lena only a few strides behind, she breaks out into the biggest smile because holy fucking shit she did it. She finished the biathlon without dying, and Lena is soon beside her with that frustratingly attractive flush on her face, and Sam is almost to the finish line, already screaming "you fuckers!" because they had promised they would all stick together.
It's all just so perfect and amazing, and Lena Luthor is hers and life can't get any fucking better than that.
Looks like she doesn't have to kill Winn after all...