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“I once read we tend to be drawn to the people capable of hurting us the most. Do you think that’s true?”
“Honestly, I can’t think anything right now.” Kara laughed drowsily. “I can’t feel my feet. Is sex with women always this good? Or are you just really exceptional at sex?”
Lena made a flat hum in response.
“Actually, don’t tell me if it’s sex with women. I don’t need to think about how much of my life I’ve spent not doing this.” She turned and curled into Lena, slinging a boneless arm across her stomach. “It’s bad enough that we spent so long not doing this.” She nosed Lena’s collar, placing an open kiss across her neck. “But I think we can make up for lost time.”
Lena slid out from the bed without moving Kara’s arm. It flopped onto the blanket, and Kara grinned after Lena, clearly relaxed and sated.
Lena opened her dresser, staring into its contents with eyes unseeing. “What does it say about me that even with the infinite possibilities of imagination available to me, this is what I choose?”
Kara propped herself up on an elbow, confusion clouding her handsome face. “Lena…?”
“Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m just attracted to pain.” She pulled a shirt over her head. “Just some good old fashioned catholic self-flagellation.”
Kara sat up, the sheet falling away from her bare chest, brow furrowing in confusion. “Did I do something wrong?” Suddenly self-conscious, Kara gripped the cover and tugged it up to her chin, watching as Lena pulled on a trim pair of slacks. “I’m sorry, I haven’t… I didn’t mean…”
“I don’t know what I possibly expected this to make me feel.” Lena walked to the bed, staring down at her friend. “But let’s just see this all the way through, shall we?” She climbed up, crossing the mattress on her knees, staring Kara right in the eyes, nice and close. “I know you’re Supergirl.”
This close, she could see Kara’s eyes dilate. The color drained from Kara’s rosy cheeks, and her jaw went slack. “I don’t. I’m. It’s not…”
Lena watched the horror roll off of Kara in waves, and felt herself sink into the weight of it.
“The worst part is, it was so easy to give in to this. It’s nice to know that on some level, I can believe you would want this from me.” She plucked the sheets with a humorless smile. “But whatever I am to you, at the end of the day, it’s someone you don’t trust.”
Kara reached for Lena, and when Lena flinched, she pulled her hand back, scrunching her hand into a fist. “This wasn’t about trust, this was about… This was to protect you.”
“Protect me from what, Kara? From truly knowing you?”
Kara’s head tucked down, tears streaming down her face.
“That’s what I thought.”
Her phone buzzed a ridiculous pattern - shave and a hair cut. Of course. She pulled it out of her pocket and held it up. “No escaping the real world, is there?”
Lena brought her hand to her eyes.
“End simulation.”
She watched Kara dissolve in front of her, and felt nothing.
Perhaps this was working after all.
Lena answered the phone.
“Kara,” she said warmly, “Hi.”