Chapter Text
Getting drunk and going home with a stranger for meaningless sex wasn’t necessarily a good idea, even under the best of circumstances. Doing so when you have super-strength was downright dangerous. Carmilla had sent a girl to the hospital two years ago and hadn’t had any drunken one-nighters since.
So when she woke up in an unfamiliar bed with a warm body beside her and a hangover of truly epic proportions, it was understandable that her initial reaction was panic.
Carmilla sat bolt upright in the bed, trying desperately to take stock of the situation despite her stomach turning. It was morning. There was sunlight streaming in through the windows of the cozy little studio apartment she now found herself in. Her clothes from last night were spread across the floor between the bed and the door, and she was currently wearing her panties inside out and a Daily Planet t-shirt that had to belong to whoever’s bed this was.
She swallowed hard, turning to look at the girl beside her. She was breathing, that was good. Her face was hidden by a curtain of honey-colored hair and her body was tucked into a tight little ball under the covers. Carmilla swallowed again. Her mouth was dry and she could still taste booze at the back of her throat and her head was pounding but she had to know if this girl was okay.
Her hand shook a bit as she reached out, laying a hesitant touch on the girl’s shoulder. She shifted just a bit, letting out a long, slow breath, and Carmilla flinched back like she’d been burned.
“Hey,” Carmilla said, her voice hoarse. She touched the girl’s shoulder again, giving her a gentle shake. “Hey, are you okay?”
The girl just mumbled in her sleep and Carmilla started to panic. She could be hurt. Carmilla was too strong, and when she was drunk she couldn’t control it. There could be bruises or scratches or broken bones hiding beneath the sheets. She clenched her jaw and grabbed the covers, yanking them away from the girl’s body and preparing for the worst.
But there was nothing. No bruises. No scratches. Just an angry grunt at the sudden lack of covers. The girl shivered, cold in her tank top and boy shorts, which appeared to be on backwards, and curled herself up even further.
“You’re okay,” Carmilla blurted, eyes still sweeping up and down the girl’s body without blinking. It didn’t make sense. She didn’t remember most of last night, but she remembered enough to know that she hadn’t exactly been gentle.
“You’re yelling,” the girl groaned, turning her head to bury her face in the pillow.
Carmilla blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. Trying to remember details from the previous night. The girl’s name? Nope, nothing. Started with an L, maybe. Carmilla frowned. The sex was coming back to her faster than anything else.
There should have been bite marks on this girl’s shoulders. Scratches on her back. Bruises on her hips. Hickeys on her neck and the insides of her thighs. But there was nothing. Carmilla plucked at the girl’s tank top to peer underneath, just to make sure. But all she saw was smooth skin dotted with freckles.
There was only one way this made sense. And it wasn’t exactly impossible, but damn. What were the chances?
“Oh shit,” the girl said suddenly, her whole body tensing. Carmilla flinched away from her again as she sat up abruptly and turned to face her, and all of a sudden Carmilla had to remind herself to breathe.
No wonder she’d gotten her attention last night. She was gorgeous. More of the evening trickled back into her memory like ink in water. Dark amber eyes watching her approach from across the bar. A soft smile hidden behind the rim of the drink Carmilla bought her.
But she wasn’t smiling now. No, now she was staring at Carmilla like she was a ghost. Carmilla watched her eyes bounce restlessly up and down, checking her over, or so it seemed. Just like Carmilla had been doing to her.
“You’re okay,” the girl said blankly, echoing Carmilla’s own words. Carmilla’s eyes narrowed, regarding the girl suspiciously and trying to ignore the way her heart was pounding. She was really just unfairly pretty, especially after the night they’d had. Her mascara was smudged and her hair was disheveled but she still managed to look like some kind of angel.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Carmilla asked quietly, watching for the girl’s reaction. She swallowed hard and her gaze dropped away, fingers twitching against the sheets.
“I can be kind of… rough,” the girl muttered, and Carmilla couldn’t help the smile that grew on her face as the girl blushed. She blushed. And it was fucking adorable.
But then her eyes were back on Carmilla, and one of her fidgeting hands suddenly reached for her, and Carmilla reacted purely on instinct. She grabbed the girl’s wrist, stopping her touch from landing, and held fast.
They locked eyes and a silent struggle began, Carmilla holding and the girl trying to pull her arm out of Carmilla’s grip. It wasn’t long before Carmilla’s arm was shaking from the effort, watching the girl’s eyes go from narrowed in confusion to wide in surprise.
Carmilla finally let go, releasing her with a noisy exhale and slowly flexing her fingers. They stung from the effort of holding her. She was strong. Holy shit, she was strong.
“You’re strong,” the girl gasped, voicing Carmilla’s thoughts as she cradled her arm against her chest. Carmilla stared at the wrist in question. No redness. No bruising. By the end she’d been squeezing hard enough to bend steel.
“You’re stronger,” Carmilla laughed with an incredulous shake of her head. Carmilla was five foot four and she could lift a minivan, but this girl? At least an inch shorter and stronger.
While Carmilla sat and stared at her own hand, the girl started talking. And couldn’t seem to stop.
“I don’t… I mean… how is this… how are you…” she stammered, running a hand through her hair that drew Carmilla’s eyes like a magnet. Wow she was pretty. She was a pretty girl and she did pretty things and Carmilla was finding it hard to concentrate. “I mean when I brought you home last night I had no idea that you were… and really what are the chances that we’d just… and how is it even possible? All my people are dead.”
Carmilla was still staring at her hair, transfixed by the way the morning sunlight made it shine, but the word ‘dead’ got her attention. Shit. She hadn’t been listening.
“Except…” the girl trailed off. Carmilla lifted an eyebrow in question and the girl’s eyes turned hard. “Of course, you’re one of Non’s spies, aren’t you?” Carmilla blinked at her, completely nonplussed, but she was already scrambling out of the bed and pacing angrily across the floor. “It just figures, the one night I let my guard down. The one time I let myself go out without worrying and I bring one of his flunkies right into my apartment…”
“Hey, hold on,” Carmilla began slowly, confused, but the girl just glared at her.
“I should have known,” she sighed angrily, shaking her head. “Someone as pretty as you would never… god, I’m such a…”
“Whoa whoa, shut up for a second,” Carmilla snapped, sitting up on her knees and holding her hands up defensively. The girl came to a stop and blinked at her, surprised. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I just saw you at the bar and thought you were cute.”
The girl blushed again, and Carmilla felt weak. Shit.
“Oh,” the girl said quietly, plopping back onto the bed beside Carmilla. “So… you’re not from Krypton?”
“I’m from Manhattan,” Carmilla replied blankly. The small part of her brain that wasn’t still drunk and confused started working overtime. “You mean Krypton like the planet? Like where Super…” The girl’s eyes went wide and Carmilla felt as if the floor was very slowly opening up beneath her. “Hooooly shit.” She ran a hand distractedly through her hair, wide eyes dropping to her knees as she tried desperately to digest this information. “I had sex with Supergirl.”
Of course. Of course. It all made sense now. No wonder she was stronger, she could bench press a freight train. And she couldn’t exactly get bruises or scratches when she was freaking invulnerable. Why hadn’t it occurred to her sooner? Oh yeah, hangover. Also who would’ve thought Supergirl was into girls?
“Laura.”
Carmilla glanced up, meeting her eyes. The girl, Supergirl, Laura, looked away quickly, eyes darting to the pair of glasses on her bedside. That was what had been missing from Carmilla’s hazy mental image of the girl laughing at her awful pickup lines at the bar last night. She seemed to debate putting the glasses on for a moment, reaching for them before dropping her hand.
“It’s just… Laura.”
“Laura,” Carmilla repeated softly, and Laura nodded.
“You’re um… Carmilla, right?” she asked quietly, and Carmilla nodded back. “It’s starting to come back to me. Sort of.” Carmilla just kept staring at her, tilting her head a bit and watching the way the muscles in her arms flexed when she pushed her hair behind her ears. “I’m sorry, this is weird. I just… I’m not really a one night stand kind of girl, and I’ve definitely never met someone like… like us, who isn’t trying to kill me, so I don’t know what the protocol here is.”
“Slow down, cupcake,” Carmilla said quietly, and Laura’s eyes brightened at the nickname. She had called her that last night. “I’m pretty new to this too.”
“Can I touch you?” Laura blurted suddenly, and Carmilla had to blink a few times before she was sure she’d heard right. Laura somehow managed to blush even more than she already was and buried her face in her hands with a groan. “Oh god, I’m so sorry. That… that was… it’s just that I always have to be so careful when I touch people, like even for a handshake or a hug or anything, and it’s exhausting. But with you I don’t… have to think so hard.”
Carmilla wordlessly held out her hand and Laura’s mouth opened in surprise before she hesitantly took it. Carmilla hummed a bit at the contact and Laura smiled. Damn. Even something as small as her smile left Carmilla breathless.
The restlessness seemed to melt away from Laura as she turned her attention to Carmilla’s hand in hers. She squeezed it slowly, carefully, and Carmilla just squeezed back. Laura laughed out loud at that, and Carmilla couldn’t stop her smile. She laced their fingers together and heard Laura’s breath catch.
“How… how are you…” she began slowly, still staring at their fingers. She shook her head a bit and met Carmilla’s eyes. “I really didn’t hurt you.”
“No,” Carmilla confirmed quietly.
“But you’re human.”
Carmilla laughed, nodding and looking down at their hands. Laura was mindlessly sliding her fingers over Carmilla’s palm, tracing the lines with her fingertips and brushing along the creases of her knuckles. It tickled.
“As far as I know,” she sighed. Laura met her eyes briefly, curious, and Carmilla shrugged. “I was in an accident when I was younger. Went into a coma. When I woke up, I was… different.”
“An accident?” Laura asked softly. Carmilla froze.
This was crazy. This was way too much. Shit, what was she even still doing here? In bed with Supergirl? No, this was insane. She had to get out.
“I should go,” Carmilla said abruptly, frowning and getting to her feet. She tried not to look at Laura, she really did, but Laura held fast to her hand and she had no choice but to turn back and see the utterly crushed look on her face.
“Don’t go,” she blurted, eyes wide with panic. She squeezed Carmilla’s hand, most likely involuntarily, but it didn’t hurt. Supergirl squeezed her hand and it didn’t hurt. “Please, I’m sorry, we don’t… we don’t have to talk about you. We don’t have to talk about anything.” Laura sat up on her knees on the edge of the bed, turning to more fully face Carmilla. “Just please don’t go yet.”
“You could make me stay,” Carmilla replied darkly. Laura looked completely bewildered by the remark, so Carmilla looked pointedly at their hands. “You’re stronger than me.”
Laura dropped Carmilla’s hand as if it had burned her.
“Oh no, I didn’t… I wasn’t…” she stammered, shaking her head. “I’m so sorry, I would never… I just… I like holding your hand.”
Carmilla clenched her fists at her sides slowly, feeling the knuckles crack before she released them. She took a deep breath through her nose.
They weren’t all like Mother. Laura wasn’t like Mother. Just because she had the power to do something doesn’t mean she would. She repeated it in her head a few times, eyes closed.
Mother is dead. They aren’t all like Mother.
When she opened her eyes again, Laura was watching her. The panic had left her expression but she was still nervous, fidgeting as she waited for Carmilla to decide. The tense silence was interrupted, however, by Laura’s stomach growling. For a moment she looked completely horrified, but then Carmilla started laughing.
“Breakfast?” Laura laughed lightly as she got to her feet.
“Sure,” Carmilla sighed, nodding. And even though she felt it was against her better judgement, she took Laura’s hand in hers as they walked out of the bedroom. Laura immediately laced their fingers together and hummed happily.
Jesus, she was the cutest person Carmilla had ever met.
They were mostly silent as Laura poured them two bowls of Chocoa Crunch and Carmilla started to get restless. So as she leaned against the kitchen island across from Laura and started on her second helping of cereal, she cleared her throat quietly to bring Laura’s eyes up to hers.
“Sooo… what’s the heaviest thing you ever lifted?” Carmilla asked conversationally.
A smile the likes of which Carmilla had never seen lit up Laura’s face.
“Oh man, um… an ambulance?” she began, scrunching her nose up as she thought. “No no, well, there was this collapsing building. I kind of held up the fourth through seventh floors for a couple minutes.” Laura glanced up and caught Carmilla smiling at her fondly, and she started blushing again as she looked away. “I don’t know, I guess. Lots of stuff. How about you?”
Carmilla thought for a minute, aware of Laura staring at her and drawing out the suspense just to watch her squirm a bit.
“A bus, but only for a few seconds,” Carmilla said with a shrug, and Laura grinned.
“So what else can you do?” she asked in a rush, leaning toward Carmilla on her elbows. “I mean… if you don’t mind me asking.”
Carmilla could see her physically trying to rein in her excitement, and it was like watching a flower blooming in reverse. She shrunk in on herself, made herself small, and Carmilla realized this was what she probably did every day. Being Laura instead of being Supergirl.
“You don’t have to do that, you know,” Carmilla heard herself saying. Laura’s eyes snapped up to hers, a cautious edge to her surprise. “With me. You don’t…” Carmilla sighed and glanced away, running a hand through her hair to stop herself from twitching. She’d never met anyone who could get her so flustered without even doing anything. “I’ve seen you naked. You don’t have to hide from me.”
“Sorry,” Laura laughed, high and nervous and blushing again. “I just don’t want to make you uncomfortable or… make you want to leave, or anything.” Carmilla looked away. Shit. She should have left when she meant to earlier. Now she was starting to feel things. “I mean, everyone knows what my powers are, right? Same as my cousin. I was just curious. About you.”
“Guess,” Carmilla said, surprising even herself with a smirk. Laura smiled again, rolling her eyes.
“Okay, um…” she began slowly, twirling her spoon idly between her fingers. “I know you’re strong. Are you… invulnerable? Or do you just heal really fast?”
“A bit of both,” Carmilla shrugged. “I can get hurt, it just takes a lot of effort. And when I do I bounce back pretty quick. So even if you had left any bruises on me last night, they healed by the time I woke up.”
That blush again. Fuck.
“Are you… fast?” Laura tried.
“Not if you don’t want me to be,” Carmilla winked. Laura choked on the spoonful of cereal in her mouth and Carmilla burst out laughing. “Sorry, sorry, no. Regular speed. There’s just one more thing.”
Laura took a few moments to compose herself, licking her lips in a way that was obviously not meant to be as sexy as it was. Carmilla blinked, completely unable to stop herself from staring.
“Okay, one more thing,” Laura sighed, tapping her fingers on the counter. “Can you fly?”
Carmilla smirked. Laura’s whole face lit up again.
“Oh my gosh, you can fly?” she practically squealed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “I’ve always wanted someone to fly with!”
“Slow down,” Carmilla laughed, shaking her head. “I can only kind of fly. It’s more like… jumping really high. And then falling. And then not dying when I smack into the ground.”
“That’s just how I started! Jumping!” Laura emphasized her point by bouncing in place a few more times. “You never know, if you do it long enough you might just end up actually flying.”
Carmilla shrugged. Normally this was a kind of sore subject for her, but with Laura, she couldn’t really find it in herself to care.
“Maybe,” she hummed. “I might give it another shot someday.”
“What was it like? The first time you flew?” Laura asked, her voice hushed with anticipation as she leaned in again.
“Slightly less exciting than punching someone in the face for the first time,” Carmilla hedged, watching Laura roll her eyes again with no small amount of satisfaction. “Slightly more exciting than my first kiss.”
Laura wrinkled her nose and scoffed. Carmilla’s eyebrows shot up.
“There is a story there,” she said, grinning, and Laura just huffed a bit and grabbed both of their empty cereal bowls from the counter.
“Well what do you mean by first kiss?” she said airily. “Like… that first peck on the lips with Bobby Bernstein when I was thirteen? Or the first time I made out with Linda Lee behind the art building at my high school? Or you…?” She caught herself and trailed off, turning to put the dishes in the sink.
“Me?” Carmilla prompted curiously. Laura shrugged, her back turned to Carmilla.
“It’s like I said earlier about holding your hand,” she muttered as she distractedly rinsed the bowls. “I have to concentrate so hard on not hurting people all the time… I’ve kissed people before, but I never really got to just… feel it, be in the moment, you know? Not until you.”
Carmilla didn’t remember getting to her feet, but she suddenly found herself right behind Laura, clenching her hands into fists at her sides to stop herself from just reaching out and grabbing her. Her fingers itched, physically itched, to touch her. Laura turned to speak to her and jumped when she saw how close she was.
“You should know, it’s very hard to sneak up on me,” Laura whispered, and they were so close Carmilla could feel the words on her skin.
“I must be special,” she said just as quietly, her voice already much lower and rougher than it had been a moment ago. She couldn't help it. Because she was going to kiss Laura. Properly. And Laura seemed to realize that as Carmilla leaned in, because she met her halfway.
It started slow. Innocent, even. Like a first kiss out of a romantic comedy. Soft. Laura’s fingers tangled in her hair and Carmilla’s hands settled warmly on her hips. Laura sighed into it, and Carmilla smiled against her mouth because she could feel her relaxing under her touch, feel her letting herself go. Laura stepped back a bit to lean against the counter and Carmilla moved with her, entirely unwilling to go even half a second without her lips on Laura’s. This was bliss, a word Carmilla had literally never used in her entire life. But that’s what this was.
But then Laura made a sound. A content little hum in the back of her throat that dropped low at the end, tapering off almost into a moan. And suddenly the slow pace was agonizing. The stillness stifling. Carmilla pulled back for a breath, eyes opening to see Laura blinking at her in confusion. There was a haze over her eyes, a sleepy sort of pleasure, but there was something under it. Something smoldering. Carmilla licked her lips and Laura’s eyes were drawn to the action, pupils widening as Carmilla’s hands drifted slowly up her sides.
Yeah. They had sex again.
Really good sex. Sex that cracked the granite countertop where Laura squeezed the edge too hard after Carmilla had lifted her up onto it, and dented the drywall where Laura pinned Carmilla on the way back to the bedroom, and yeah, they managed to break the bed this time.
“I feel like we’re starting a pattern here,” Carmilla sighed, turning her head to look at Laura. They were both out of breath, lying naked on top of the sheets because it was too hot underneath them. Laura was clearly exhausted, fighting to keep her eyes open, and Carmilla gained no small amount of pride from the fact that she just wore out Supergirl.
Laura rolled onto her side to face Carmilla, forehead coming to rest on Carmilla’s shoulder. Carmilla was getting the feeling that Laura was usually a cuddler, but she didn’t want to overstep so she was holding herself back. So Carmilla snuck an arm beneath her neck and let her fingers drift slowly up and down Laura’s back. Laura hummed a bit, taking the action as an invitation to drape an arm over Carmilla’s waist and tug her a bit closer.
“It’s not the worst pattern,” Laura murmured. “In fact it’s probably the best pattern I’ve ever had.”
Carmilla laughed quietly, feeling Laura’s smile against her arm.
“I’m just… I’m not a relationship person,” Carmilla said slowly after a long, comfortable silence. She felt Laura tense, just a little, and immediately wanted to kick herself. “I’m shit at relationships, to be perfectly honest. And you don’t really strike me as a friends-with-benefits type of girl…”
“Well you’re kind of the only person I can have sex with,” Laura replied through a yawn. “So I am more than willing to try to be a friends-with-benefits type of girl.”
“I don’t know if post-coital cuddling and naps are typically part of this sort of arrangement,” Carmilla teased, closing her eyes comfortably.
“Does anything else about me strike you as ‘typical’?” Laura teased right back, and Carmilla grinned.
This was probably a terrible idea. But she was damn comfortable, so yeah, she fell asleep with Laura in her broken bed, naked and sore and disheveled and satisfied and weirdly content about the whole thing.
Whatever. Since when did she care if something was a bad idea?