Chapter Text
Kara was sitting in her usual spot on the second row, waiting expectantly for her teacher to come in. Cat Grant was always on time and expected her students to be ten minutes early. Those who didn’t know her would be chastised for arriving just on time on the first class but Kara wasn’t one of them. She had worked under Cat’s supervision for a year already, even though she really wasn’t sure how she got so lucky.
Catherine Grant was one of the most famous painter in the country, building her reputation with pieces that depicted the horrors of the world they lived in. She had painted war situations, homelessness and illnesses. She wasn’t known for painting beauty or happiness contrary to Kara, who could only see the positive side of life and it was why everyone had been shocked when the older artist had come to Kara after an exhibition at University and asked her if she wanted to be her apprentice.
Kara would have been a fool to refuse, she had admired the woman her entire life and though she was demanding, she had discovered that working with and for Cat was very rewarding and she couldn’t be more excited to have her as her teacher for the first time.
That’s why she was sitting in the classroom, pretty much alone except for a few students who had probably heard about the teacher’s reputation. She had left a streaming hot cup of coffee on the desk, knowing that Cat would need it and hoped it would still be hot enough when she arrived.
Fortunately Miss Grant arrived earlier than she would normally do since it was the first class of the semester. She entered the room in her tight dark blue pencil skirt and her white blouse, high heels on her feet, as usual (unless she was painting). She barely gave the room a look-over, going straight for the cup of coffee on her desk. She nodded curtly at Kara to thank her quietly and sighed when she took a sip before pulling her papers out of the bag.
The class filled quickly, and in less than ten minutes the teacher was ready to start, a sharp look on her face. All students were quiet, a sign of the fear she inspired, she liked it.
"Good morning class!"
There were a few voices that answered her but she didn’t pay them any mind.
"My name is Catherine Grant, I’ll be your journalistic painting teacher for the semester. For those who have heard about me, I’m much worse than the rumors, and for those who didn’t, you’re going to hate me."
Kara was trying to hide her smile, she loved how she could control a room so efficiently but Kara knew her and had experienced the softer side of the woman which made it very funny for her to watch as the student started shaking in their boots.
"I will be very demanding and I will not settle for mediocrity. You have been admitted in this class because you have the potential to pass so prove me I was right. I expect everyone to be ten minutes early for each class so you’re done with your chit-chat before I step in."
She threw a pointed look at her students, especially to the ones who arrived right on time before turning on the video projector. A slide appeared with the examination modalities on it.
"You will of course be tested on your knowledges at the end of the semester but it will only count for twenty percent of your final grade. I’m trying something new this year. I’m going to give you an assignment. It will be a difficult project and I expect of you to put a lot of thoughts into it."
She changed the slide and one of her painting appeared.
"This is the first work I did that wasn’t a hundred percent realistic and I want you to do the same. At the end of the year I want you to present to me a painting that will represent someone’s personality by whichever means you want as long as it’s with paint."
There were low murmurs coming out of perplexed students and even Kara was a bit surprised by the difficulty of the assignment. She saw someone raise her hand and felt sorry for the person who would question her teacher.
"Mrs. Grant, how does that fit in the journalism class?"
Kara flinched at the choice of words and sighed, waiting for the older woman to assassinate him with words.
"Thank you for asking such an idiotic question. If you had read the file I sent you prior to this class, you would have known that I intend to teach you about how to paint reality but journalism is much more than that. It’s about understanding a situation and interpreting it to paint it in a way that will convey informations to the public. I want you to get this ability to paint something complex in a simple way. I want to be able to understand your subject without knowing them."
All the students seemed a bit scared by the project and Kara couldn’t blame them, even she was a bit nervous about it.
"And one last thing, if you call me Mrs. Grant one more time I’ll swear to you that your assignment will be the last of your worries."
He nodded, his face white as he looked at the notebook in front of him. Well, this semester would be interesting. Kara opened her notebook as she listened to her mentor continuing her class, already thinking about what she could pull off to impress the older woman.
***
Two hours later, her notebook was full of notes and doodles. She respected Cat but the first class was about things Kara already knew because she had been working with her for some time. She waited until most of the students left the classroom, only a few staying at the end to ask questions about the class, and made her way towards the desk.
"Ah, Keira, I was expecting you. You have next period free, right?"
Kara nodded, smiling at the fact that Cat had remembered her schedule.
"Walk with me then, I have an appointment on the other side of the faculty."
They exited the classroom, the younger blonde following the power walk of her mentor.
"I suspect you already have an idea for your assignment?"
There was a soft humming from Kara.
"Well then, tell me about it, I don’t have all day."
"I was thinking of doing body painting, I know that it’s unusual and you’re not a big fan of it but I think it would make sense, given the assignment."
Cat Grant was indeed not a fan of modern art but she also knew that Kara had magical hands and a very peculiar style of painting fueled by her emotions.
"It suits you and we’ve already worked on this before, haven’t we?"
Kara smiled shyly and looked at Cat’s face.
"It’s fine by me, but you should know I will be extra demanding with you because I know what you’re capable of."
The blonde chuckled as Cat entered her office.
"I wouldn’t have it any other way, Miss Grant."
*****
Kara was sitting on the couch of her shared apartment with her sister, staring at the blank page in front of her as she sighed for the tenth time in fifteen minutes.
"Oh come on, Kar’, it’s not that hard, it’s not like you’re asking for a kidney or something!"
The blonde glared at her very unhelping sister.
"It’s usually Cat who provides me with the models, I’m not used to do that."
"I know, but just write the basic stuff and ask them to come to the studio. If you write that the project is supervised by Cat Grant, people should trust you, right?"
"I suppose…"
Alex smiled and sat next to her sister, putting one arm around her shoulders.
"Then write."
Kara frowned, a determined look on her face as she let her fingers dance on the keyboard. It took a few minutes but eventually she came up with something she liked. She printed it, excited to put the ad up the next morning. For the time being, she could just settle on the couch with Alex and fall asleep in front of Netflix.
*****
Lena and Sam were walking out of their communication and management class, chatting about where they were going to eat when Lena noticed the new colorful paper on the advertisement board. She stopped in front of it, always curious to see what the students pulled off. She remembered one time when there was an ad from someone who was looking at three students to pretend to be cats for two days straight for an artistic project, or that time when a computer student had been looking for someone to cook for him for free while he finished his final assignent.
Sam was by her side, ready to laugh at the poor student who thought someone would actually answer the advertisement.
"Hi, I’m Kara Danvers and I’m an art student looking for a model (m/f) for body painting. At least twenty hours required. Project under the supervision of Catherine GRANT."
Lena hummed, looking at the infos at the bottom of the ad. It said to meet the student at her studio.
"Body painting? Sounds a bit pervy to me…"
Lena looked at Sam who had a weird grimace on her face.
"Well, it’s art, it doesn’t sound more pervy as you say, than nude modeling."
The tall brunette chuckled, "I keep forgetting that you actually love art."
"Cat Grant is very famous, I love her work. I didn’t know she was supervising students."
They walked away, Lena checking the time on her phone while Sam avoided the flow of students exiting the building.
"Maybe it’s a very cute girl. You should do it, you need to make friends."
Lena rolled her eyes as she pushed the door from the marketing building, her friend right behind her.
"I have friends, I have you."
"So you have one friend. You spend your days studying, it wouldn’t be so bad if you did something else for once…"
Sam was right, Lena’s social life was really sad but she liked it that way. She had Sam and she studied things she loved so really, she was fine; Though she knew that Sam wouldn’t let it go until she accepted.
"I’ll think about it but I don’t know if I’m comfortable getting naked in front of someone I don’t know."
The answer seemed to content Sam because she dropped it, choosing to go back to safe territory. Even as her friend started rambling about their latest assignment Lena couldn’t shake the idea forming in her head to actually go and get her body painted…
***
Kara was working on a sketch for her next piece at the studio when she heard a loud knocking at the door. She jumped a little, not expecting anyone so soon, Cat had gone home an hour ago to spend time with her son and Alex rarely visited her here… She stood up, stretching a little as she made her way to the door.
Behind the door was a man with a smile that he probably thought was charming. He had a paper in his hand and Kara recognized it as one of the ad she had put up earlier this morning.
"Hi! I’m Mike, I saw your ad?"
Kara smiled back, glad that someone had answered so quickly. She stepped aside,
"Oh, uh sure! Nice to meet you, I’m Kara, come in."
****
"Oh my god, Alex, I swear I almost punched him in his stupid face!"
Alex snorted as she took a spoonful of ice cream from Kara’s bowl.
"Kara Danvers resorting to violence, what did he do?"
"This… buffoon came to the studio because he knew me from an exhibition and had been trying to get my number. He didn’t even listen to me, he just flirted and he was terrible at it…"
Alex frowned a little.
"Do you need me to break his knees?"
Kara shook her head, finishing her ice cream. She yanked Alex’s bowl from her hands and started digging into it.
"Hey, that’s mine!"
"Well not anymore", she sighed dramatically and swallowed a spoonful of ice cream, "I just don’t know how I’m going to find someone to model for me…"
The older sister rolled her eyes as she went to the freezer to take more ice cream.
"You put the advert up this morning, be a little bit patient."
"‘Cause patience is my best quality."
"You’re the worst. And you have a whole year to do this, so give yourself a little bit of time."
"But what if I disappoint Miss Grant?"
"Kara, you are very talented and Miss Grant saw something in you, you’re going to pull this off, no matter what. I know you will."
Kara leaned back against her sister, sighing as she felt strong arms enveloping her in a hug. She was so grateful for Alex, she didn’t know how she would have survived without her. She closed her eyes and settled deeper in her big sister’s embrace, a few minutes later she was asleep and dreaming about paint and floating bodies.
***
"Hey Lee’, you coming with me to the library?"
It was the last class of the day, it was almost six and Lena had a ton of stuff to do. The beginning of the semester had been rough since she was doing three master’s degrees at the same time but for a reason she couldn’t quite pinpoint, she had been out of it all day. Her mind was stuck on the idea of being painted and she cursed her lack of human contact and Sam for planting this ridiculous idea in her head… But she couldn’t help it, she had this weird sensation that the student was cute and fun and it was more than her gay self could handle.
"Lena?"
"Mmh?"
Sam rolled her eyes at her friend and pushed her gently.
"Okay, you’re not coming to the library with me. Just go home and sleep."
"No, no, I have a paper to write…"
The tall brunette shook her head with a soft smile on her lips.
"Lena, you’ve been day dreaming since this morning, you obviously need to rest," she left a kiss on her cheek and started walking away, "I’ll see you tomorrow!"
Lena sighed, checking the time on her phone. It was still early and she decided that a little walk in town would help her get her ideas in order. She walked for an hour, earphones on, music covering the noise of the street.
She didn’t know where she was going, she let her feet carry her and before she realized it, she was in front of Catherine Grant’s studio. It was an elegant building, with a glass front window through which you could see several paintings. She sighed at herself and decided to check the gallery while she was here, it had been a while since she had checked Miss Grant’s work. She pushed the door open and found a young man rearranging the flyers by the register.
"Good evening, may I help you?"
Lena smiled, walking towards him.
"I’m not sure…"
"Are you here to meet with someone?"
"Do you know if Kara Danvers works here?"
Lena hadn’t planned to actually meet up with the student, but being in here, with him asking what she was doing here…
"Of course! She is in the back, you go through that door and then turn left. Her name is on the door."
"Uh, okay, thank you…"
The man smiled brightly.
"Winn! If you need anything, just ask!"
She smiled back before tightening her hold on her bag’s strap, going through the door just as Winn had instructed her. There was a long hallway with several doors that she supposed were used for storage or workshop; Everything was white with barely any decorations except for a few framed articles that Lena recognized as the earlier front pages that Cat Grant covered with her art.
She slowly walked, taking the time to observe each picture, each painting, until she reached the last door where a small wooden panel was hung with "Kara Danvers" painted on it. It was cute, floral and colorful, something that didn’t really match Cat Grant’s style.
Lena sighed quietly and raised her hand, knocking lightly on the door. She waited a few seconds, not hearing anything on the other side of the door, when the handle moved. A second later, a young woman taller than her with blonde hair gathered in a side bun and paint on her cheek appeared in front of her. She had deep blue eyes and a small smile on her lips. The denim overalls she wore gave her an innocent look even though it displayed her strong arms that Lena couldn’t help but look at for longer than deemed appropriate…
"Hi! Can I help you?"
Lena blushed, stopping her ogling. She smiled shyly and looked at Kara’s face.
"I saw the ad, about the modeling?"
The look on the blonde’s face softened, as if it was possible, and she stepped aside to invite Lena in.
"I’m sorry about the mess, I was working on something for Cat. Let me clean this up…"
Kara started working around the room to get Lena somewhere to sit, she almost ran across the room to clean the table from paint and brushes. The brunette used this time to discreetly look around the room. There were dozens of canvas, some painted, some still blank. She noticed that the studio was sort of split in two parts, one was furnished with a high table and equally high stools. It was mostly covered in sketches and pencils and Lena found herself wondering how much time the girl spent in the room.
On the other side was a large sink and three different easels. She really wanted to get a closer look but she felt like it was intruding. Kara was washing her hands in the sink and looking over at Lena, wondering what a beautiful girl like her was doing here.
"You can look around if you want, there’s no secret project going on."
Kara chuckled at her choice of words, feeling silly. She dried her hands and went back to the table, organizing her sketches so the girl could sit and be comfortable. Lena was watching her half painted canvas with curiosity, a small frown on her face. She was trying to guess what the final work would be when Kara interrupted her.
"Hum, you can sit down, I’m really sorry about all that…"
Lena smiled and shook her head.
"Don’t worry, you’re an artist, I would have been worried if the room was clean."
"You would be surprised by Cat’s studio then."
Lena sat down, putting her elbows on the table as she looked at the blonde.
"I’m Kara, by the way, Kara Danvers."
"Lena Luthor."
They shook hands, Kara’s hands were cold from the water and a bit rough from spending so much time holding brushes.
"You seem a bit tense, do you want something to drink? We have tea, coffee, juice and I think Winn keeps some coke hidden in the back of the fridge…"
"I’m fine thank you."
"Okay."
Kara sat down on the stool in front of the brunette.
"So, you want to model for me?"
"I’m not… I’m not sure actually. I’m sorry."
There was a soft chuckle and Lena felt herself blush, she felt stupid, coming here was a mistake. Kara could probably sense that she was about to leave because she looked at her kindly and spoke in a calm voice.
"It’s alright don’t worry. There wasn’t much information on the ad anyway. How about I tell you a little bit more about what I’m looking for and then we can talk about what you think?"
"I suppose I have nothing to lose anyway…"
Kara nodded as she started playing with a pencil.
"So, my assignment is to paint someone’s personality and I decided to do it with body painting because it’s the only canvas that made sense to me in this particular situation. So what I’m looking for is someone who’s willing to sit for several hours so I can get to know them. It will be a process and during these hours we’ll need to test the body’s reaction to paint, how they feel about exposing their body to me because well… Body painting happens on the body."
Lena chuckled at that and she started to feel a bit more at ease with the girl.
"I know it’s a bit weird to bare yourself in front of a stranger, so I’ll also answer any questions thrown my way, I guess it would make it fair, right?"
"I guess so, yeah."
"And of course the final design will be run by the model before painting because well, it’s their personality and their body. But also there’s my creativity that needs to match with the person and they need to be comfortable around me so yeah… It will require some time. Cat… Miss Grant, she said she could negotiate for some extra credit or monetary compensation."
Lena raised an eyebrow, looking skeptically at the blonde.
"Really, the Cat Grant proposed to help a student this much? She’s not so hard after all…"
The blonde snorted cutely and waved her hand.
"I doubt she would do that for anyone actually, I’m her apprentice so she is expecting a lot from me, which is why she wants me to get a serious model."
"I see, I didn’t know she took apprentices."
She noticed the slight blush on the painter’s face and it piqued her curiosity.
"I’m the first one."
Lena understood that it wasn’t something that Kara wanted to discuss right now and she let it go, deciding that it wasn’t fair to try and learn more about the girl if she wasn’t going to open up herself.
"I don’t need the money nor the extra credit."
Kara raised her head at that, her mouth opened slightly as she took in the remark.
"Does that mean you would like to try it out?"
"Well, I’m not the only one who needs to be okay with it. I suppose you have to like me at least a little bit, right?"
A soft laugh escaped Kara’s throat and Lena knew that she would be safe with her.
"I’m sure we’ll get along just fine as long as you’re not here just to get into my pants."
Lena frowned as she wondered where it came from.
"A guy came yesterday, it was awkward, he wasn’t here for the art."
"That’s… disgusting."
"It wasn’t great, but nothing too bad, though I have to ask… I know you weren’t sure about this but is there a reason why you came?"
Lena shrugged, it was uncharacteristic of her, she always knew how to answer a question.
"I… I love art, and my best friend told me I needed a life outside of my studies so…"
"I see. Well, I don’t know if I can give you much of a life but there’s definitely a possibility for distraction."
"It’s more than enough."
Kara took a piece of paper and wrote her number on it, giving it to Lena.
"Here’s my number. We can work around our schedule to meet. I would like to do once a week but if it’s too much we can make it work differently…"
"No, it’s fine by me, I think. It’s the beginning of the semester so I don’t have that much work for now."
"That’s great. Well, you have my number, so you can text me your schedule… I don’t want to keep you too late and I actually have something to finish for Cat."
Lena stood up quickly, embarrassed that she hadn’t seen the time fly. It was almost eight…
"I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you from your work!"
"Don’t be ridiculous, I’m very grateful you answered the ad, I have a feeling that something great will come out of this!"
Lena couldn’t help but smile at the blonde’s positivity and overall brightness.
"I’ll get out of your hair then, thank you for giving me this opportunity."
"You don’t have to leave if you don’t want to, it’s probably not very interesting but you can stay here and look around. If you haven’t checked the gallery you definitely should!"
Lena thought about it for a second. She really wanted to stay a little bit more but she felt like it was too much too early and she actually had some work to do now that her mind would be free from modeling prospect.
"Maybe next time? I have some studying to do, but I’ll text you later with my timetable and when I’m free."
"Perfect! I’ll show you out, Winn has probably left now."
Kara walked Lena out in silence, guiding her to the front door, the smile never leaving her face.
"It was a pleasure to meet you, Lena! If you have any more questions don’t hesitate to text or call, okay? And I’m here after school almost everyday if you want to see more art from Cat, I have some exclusive pieces that I’m allowed to show to trusted people."
Lena chuckled as she stepped out of the gallery.
"Thanks, I might take you up on that offer."
Kara watched as Lena walked away. She couldn’t stop smiling as she returned to her studio and it never changed while she painted for the next three hours.
***
Kara arrived home at almost midnight. She could hear the faint sound of a movie playing in her sister’s room and smiled as she made her way towards the room. She knocked quietly on the door, worried that Alex had fallen asleep.
"Come in."
She could hear the sleepiness in the brunette’s voice as she opened the door, walking to the bed and sitting on the other side of it. Alex pressed pause and turned on her side.
"How was your day?"
"Great! I think I found a model for my assignment."
"See! Told you you would find someone!"
Kara hummed as she settled against the headboard.
"Yeah, she’s nice, I think it will be great."
Alex smiled knowingly at the faint blush on her sister’s face.
"I bet she’s pretty too."
There was a string of incoherent words coming out of the blonde’s mouth as she crossed her arms.
"It’s totally irrelevant…"
"If you say so. Did you manage to finish your painting for Cat?"
"Yes, but I’m exhausted and I still have to finish my paper for the end of the week."
"You know you could ask Cat to give you less work, you can’t…"
"Jeopardize my studies, I know, Al’. Don’t worry, I’m fine. I just need a good night sleep."
"If you say so. Did you eat?"
"Of course, you know I can’t paint on an empty stomach!"
There was a chuckle coming from the older sister and she shook her head.
"I know. I love you, Kar’, but it’s late and I was falling asleep before you came in."
"I’m sorry, but you really shouldn’t fall asleep in front of a movie, it’s going to fry your brain."
Alex rolled her eyes and smashed her pillow against her sister’s face.
"Get out!"