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Lena smirked at Alex as she sipped the last of her Scotch. “For a woman trained as a scientist, you’re awfully confident arguing a categorical negative.”“Hypnosis isn’t real, Lena.” Alex set her own empty glass on the end table in the corner between the white leather armchair she occupied and the matching couch where Lena sat. She’d found that she liked facing Lena; the young tech tycoon’s expressive face and brilliant green eyes deserved to be viewed head-on. Watching her girlfriend’s world-beating mind at work, and knowing that it was working on her, gave Alex a warm, wonderful thrill. That someone as intelligent and skeptical as Lena could disagree about something as silly as hypnotism surprised Alex. “It’s all fantasy and placebo effects,” she said.Lena replied with a noncommittal nod. “So then, for example, it would be impossible for me to hypnotize you?”Alex snorted. “Of course it’s impossible.”The young CEO swirled her crystal tumbler, making the ice cubes skate around the inside rim. “There isn’t, for example, anything I could possibly do to put you in a hypnotic trance.”“That’s what impossible means.” Where was this going?A gleam lit Lena’s green eyes. “I know.”Alex knew that look; it was the same one Lena showed when she held a winning hand at game night. When Lena crushed her enemies, she wore a poker face or a benign smile; when she crushed at game night, she teased, coaxed, and goaded her opponents into having as much fun losing as she had winning. In over a year, Alex had never seen Lena lose when her eyes held that gleam. She knew better than to think this conversation would be any different. That gleam meant that Lena knew, beyond any doubt, that she could hypnotize her.The gleam also meant that Lena saw this as a potential game—a game which it was okay for Alex to lose, and which would end with both of them grinning and laughing. Alex was always happy to play a game like that with the woman she loved. Alright, so hypnosis was a real thing; if Lena thought it would be fun for them both, then Alex wanted to try it. She liked where this game was going. “Lena Luthor,” she said, leaning forward and smiling a glittering, suggestive smile, “there’s not one solitary chance that you can hypnotize me.”“Well, then.” Lena matched Alex’s smile as she leaned in, too, crossing her legs and resting her wrists on her knee. The tumbler hung between her fingertips above her sleek, pale shins. “If hypnosis isn’t real, Alex Danvers, then it’s not only what I say and do that can’t hypnotize you. What you do can’t hypnotize you, either, right?”Oh, Alex thought, now that’s just devious. In another setting, she would’ve stopped to question the implications; at home together, it was just another dare to challenge Lena’s winning hand. Alex took it with a grin. “That’s what impossible means, Lena.” The feeling of facing off in a contest made her pulse accelerate.Lena smiled—making little effort to keep a sly edge out of it, Alex noted—and gestured with her glass towards Alex. “You seem like you’re getting excited,” she said, sounding amused. “You’ll probably be better at catching any sneaky hypnotist tricks if you’re level-headed, don’t you think?”Alex rolled her eyes. “There are no sneaky hypnotist tricks, remember?”“How could I forget.” Lena swirled her glass. “Still, I want this to at least be a challenge for me. It’ll be too easy if I can just slip things by you.”Pursing her lips, Alex narrowed her eyes at her girlfriend. Was it reverse psychology, or was it bait? Did Lena simply mean it? There was no way to tell—or was there? Hypnosis was supposedly about your mind going blank, right? The thing to do was pick the option that made her mind the least blank. All she had to do was stay alert—but if Lena had that light in her eyes, then surely she’d thought of an obvious thing like that…With a start, Alex realized that she was staring into space. Learning experience; don’t drift. It wouldn’t be enough to merely stay alert. She needed to keep her thoughts present—to fix them in place, somehow. Where to pin them… Lena’s eyes? They would be a useful focal point—after all, Lena was her opponent. Then again, wasn’t staring into someone’s eyes a hypnosis cliché? Better not to risk it.“For a total badass,” Lena said, “you’re endearingly flustered by something that isn’t even real.”The brunette’s teasing smile grounded Alex. It was true; she was getting lost in the weeds of a fundamentally simple game. She needed to calm down, refocus, and just not fall for whatever Lena was going to do. She steadied her breathing, sat comfortably forwards, and dared Lena with her eyes.Lena smiled. “Alright, then. Now, how to do the impossible…” It occurred to Alex that a smile from Lena was probably a bad sign, but it was too late to change her mind. Lena was talking, and Alex definitely needed to scrutinize Lena’s words if she wanted to avoid being hypnotized. “As you and I know well, Alex, the ideal strategy in any engagement, whether battle or business, begins with misdirection.”Alex raised an eyebrow. “Is that why your tone is just a little too casual?”“Why indeed.” Lena looked like she was thoroughly enjoying herself. “Am I speaking like this because what I say isn’t important for hypnotizing you, or because it is and I want you to let your guard down? Or is my voice not important, but I want you to think it is so you miss what I’m really doing? I suppose you can’t know.” She paused, tipping her head one way and her scotch glass the other. “Well, you could know, if you had intel on hypnosis—but you don’t, because hypnosis isn’t real. You could guess, or you could just keep your guard up. By that reasoning, though,” she gestured with a raised finger, rocking her glass in the process, “you’ll have to guard against everything you even suspect is an attempt to hypnotize you. Surely that’ll be tiring.”It crossed Alex’s mind that accepting a battle of wits with a Luthor had been the most foolish move of all. She narrowed her eyes, though, and glared as her girlfriend continued her one-sided conversation.“Of course, most people don’t multitask as well as they think they do.” Lena motioned towards Alex with her glass, and the melting ice cubes slid around to the new lowest point. “You’re much better at it than average, actually. Better than me. I think it’s the intense practice you get at as a DEO agent. Still, skills like that deteriorate surprisingly quickly—even in a matter of days, if you’re not using them.”Alex started shaking her head. What was this, an attempt to wear her down by boring her?“I guess the question is, if you’re resisting hypnosis—although you said you wouldn’t need to—are you better off responding to threats as they come, or picking one line of defense and clinging to it?”Alex’s ears perked up. Lena had overplayed her hand; she should’ve said “sticking”, because “clinging” had too clear a negative connotation. It betrayed her intent for Alex to discount that option. Alex kept her eyes on Lena’s while she thought through what she might fix her mind on. The scotch glass was out, obviously. Lena had been too casual with it since the beginning. She was wearing a lovely necklace with her V-neck blouse… no, that put her eyes near obvious distractions. She could keep watching Lena’s eyes, but eyes were a hypnosis cliché—and she couldn’t just look away at something else; that would be throwing in the towel.“You’re getting stressed again, Alex.” The gleam was back in Lena’s eyes. “If I’m calm and relaxed, and your breathing is shallow with tension and your eyes are flicking around, then I’d say I’m winning, wouldn’t you?”Alex pursed her lips. Fine, then; she scooted back in her seat and let her body relax—and wow, she had been tense. She felt better already, and more confident because of it. “Do your worst.”The brunette grinned and raised an eyebrow. “Who says I’m not?”“Mind games,” Alex muttered, rolling her eyes.“I thought they weren’t real, Alex—or have you already found that your resistance is no match for me?”The thought of being unable to resist Lena sent an unexpected frisson down Alex’s spine, but she still caught the veiled implication. “There’s nothing ‘already’ about it.”Lena smiled indulgently and swirled her tumbler. “By the time this ice melts, Alex, you’ll be deep in a trance for me.”Misdirection was the key, Alex reminded herself—just like with magic tricks, because hypnosis wasn’t real, either. So, was Lena calling her attention to the glass again and again to distract her, or to deceive her? Could it be that the glass, or the ice in the glass, was actually the safest focal point in the room, and Lena was trying to make it seem sinister?Clearly, Alex thought to herself, Lena’s trying to tie my brain in knots. She wasn’t going to fall into that trap again. She was going to relax, stay calm, and wait out the ice. Those cubes looked more than half-melted already; they couldn’t have many minutes left. How long had they been—no, Alex told herself, don’t look at your watch. It didn’t matter how long they’d been playing this reverse-psychology staring contest. The ice was going to melt, no matter what Lena tried to do—and Alex would still be alert, just like this.Lena tipped her head in thought and swirled her glass. “Do you think-”“Nope.” Alex smirked and shook her head.Lena chuckled, eyes gleaming. “That’s the goal, but I was-”“I meant that you’re not going to give me any more mind-benders to distract me.”“Now, Alex,” Lena said, “you told me at the beginning that hypnosis isn’t real, so you can resist no matter what I say or do. Don’t tell me you’re giving up.” Alex glared, but shook her head. “Then it won’t matter,” Lena continued, “if I ask whether you think it’s better to let thoughts keep moving through your head, or to pick one and stick with it.”Alex had decided on picking one when Lena made that comment about “clinging”, but she didn’t want to let her opponent know. “I’m listening, but I don’t have to answer.”Lena gave a small, concerned shake of her head, and tipped her glass to the side. The ice sloshed in the growing layer of water. “I think you do. We said that it doesn’t matter you do, which means telling me what you’re thinking can’t matter, either.”“it’s no game if you can see both our hands.” Alex willed Lena to keep moving her glass. The specific heat capacity of ice was two-point-one Joules of energy per gram of water and per degree Kelvin of temperature. The specific heat of liquid water was four-point-two Joules per gram-Kelvin. Every time Lena moved her glass, she spread the melted water around the still-frozen ice, bringing more heat into contact with the cubes than they could hold. Every time Lena absently swirled and tipped her fingers, she made the ice melt a little faster…Which meant either that Lena didn’t think she needed the time—a worrying prospect—or she wasn’t paying attention to the ice at all. Or both. If Lena was expecting to hypnotize her with the ice, though, then surely she’d want to keep the ice cubes nice and large?“…matters what you do, then you’re admitting hypnosis is real, and I win. I know you’re not going to do that.”No, Lena was losing time whether she expected to hypnotize her with the glass or not. Alex couldn’t conclude that the ice was safe to focus on. Shit, it was probably a gambit—Lena didn’t think she needed the time. Alex needed to look somewhere else. It took more conscious effort to lift her eyes than she was used to.“I really would like you to answer me, sweetheart. Is it better to keep your thoughts moving, or to focus on one?”Alex looked into her girlfriend’s green eyes. “Focus on one.”Lena smiled her loveliest smile. “That’s right, Alex. You can’t be distracted if you’re focused on one thing. If you fill your attention with one thing, there’s no room for anything else to get in, right?” Alex nodded in agreement. “And if some stray thought does get it in, it’s easy to let it slip out again, too, because you just stay focused. It’s especially easy when you’re so calm and relaxed. That’s how you stay in control: focus, be calm, relax, and let distractions slip out of your attention.”Two distracting thoughts, that Lena’s voice was getting slower and her smile was getting wider, evaporated out of Alex’s mind.“The more you let thoughts go,” Lena was saying, “the more confident you feel in your focus and your relaxation, because you’re in control. Since you’re maintaining your focus and your relaxation, the more you focus, the easier it is to relax even deeper, and the deeper you relax, the easier it is to focus. The deeper you go, the easier it is to keep your attention on one thing, and to let other thoughts not matter for a little while. You’re focused, which means you’ve already decided what matters, and that’s why you’re focusing on my eyes and letting everything else go.”Alex was dimly aware that she was seeing nothing but gleaming green eyes.“And your body is so relaxed now, so deeply relaxed, that your eyelids don’t want to stay open, but that’s okay. It’s even easier to focus on my voice without your eyes. It feels so easy now to let go and sink deeper… that’s right, follow my voice and let everything go… sink deeper… good, even deeper…”Letting go felt lovely; Alex wondered if she’d ever been this relaxed. When that thought, too, slipped away, her mind was empty.“…mind rising up, taking on more awareness.”Alex realized that her eyes were closed. How long ago had that happened?“Four, you find that you feel clear-headed and refreshed, and energy is flowing back into your body. You open your eyes… and five.” Alex saw Lena smiling at her, still seated with her legs crossed and her glass hanging between her fingertips. “Alex, what time is it?”Alex glanced at her wrist—and found it bare. “What? Where’s my watch?”Lena seemed to remember something. “Oh, but didn’t we have another timer?”“Timer?” Alex furrowed her brows, and then her eyes went to the scotch glass. The brunette tilted it towards her.Three slivers of ice bobbed amid the water.Alex threw back her head and groaned in comic defeat, then laughed and reached for girlfriend’s hands. “How in the world did you do that?”Lena grinned, triumphant and adoring at once, set the glass aside, and pulled Alex to cuddle with her on the couch. “There were three things: you really did want me to hypnotize you, you clearly knew nothing about how it works, and you’d seen enough portrayals of it in fiction to call it ‘fantasy’.” Her grin became warmer and gentler. “I exploited the hell out of those things and played them against each other. As you hopefully can remember, going into a trance is something you do with your own mind. I thought that, if I fooled you just enough to get you to take the first steps on your own, you’d forget to keep playing the game.” She pressed a kiss to Alex’s cheek. “Victory.”Alex shook her head in amazement. “I can’t believe you got me to do all that.”“Can’t believe?” Lena’s smile faltered.“I mean I’m in awe of you. Like…” Counting on her fingers, Alex retraced her steps. “First, hypnosis isn’t real, but then I need to resist going into trance, but then I don’t because it’s not real, but then I do because I might hypnotize myself, but then why am I tense if it’s not real? Then it was… should I focus, and what should I focus on, and what should I take seriously and what should I ignore—and you kept calling my attention to the glass, until I couldn’t not think about it, even though I figured I probably shouldn’t…” She trailed off because Lena was laughing.“Alex. Alex…” Lena cupped Alex’s cheek. “I wish you could’ve seen yourself just now, because it was like watching a replay of all your expressions while you were trying to resist, but with a happiness filter laid on top.” She let out a sweet sigh and settled down. “Did you enjoy that, or some parts more than others?”“I liked… well, actually, I’m glad you kept coaxing me away from getting tense, because that would’ve stopped being fun. I liked going into the trance, and I liked feeling…” Alex felt herself tinge pink. “I felt a bit like… like you were making me give in, and it was a struggle for me, but effortless for you.”Lena’s lips parted and stayed that way. She stared—and then seemed to fluster. She looked away, moved her hands, and shifted in her seat. “Um… oh, right, here’s your watch.” Lena dipped her fingers into her V-neck and pulled Alex’s watch from her bra. “I had you give it to me for proof, just in case you didn’t remember anything.”“Wow…” Alex caught her breath and smirked. “Did you do anything else?”“No.” Lena tapped her phone, which was on the couch’s armrest; it hadn’t been there when they’d started. “I recorded everything from just after your eyes closed, so you can see that I didn’t…” She trailed off as Alex’s hand reached out and covered hers, still resting on the phone.“Lena, it’s fine. I trust you.”“Alex, really, it’s okay.” It seemed to Alex that Lena was trying to reassure herself more than her girlfriend. “It’s not uncommon to not remember everything that happened during a trance. It’ll just take a minute to watch.”Alex gave a kind, but final, shake of her head. “Lena, If I thought you had the capacity to gaslight me, I wouldn’t be with you.” She lifted Lena’s hand off the phone; the video was paused on the screen, waiting to play. She placed the phone in Lena’s hand, tapped the options, and deleted the file. “Lena Luthor,” Alex said, focusing all her attention on Lena’s eyes, “I will never question your intentions towards me.”Lena’s chin tightened. Her eyes grew taut at the corners, and tears shone around their edges. “How do you know I didn’t just suggest that you’ll feel that way? I-I could, Alex. I mean, not just like that, but I could talk you into quite a lot.”Arguments sprang to Alex’s mind—Lena’s manifest fear among them—but she decided that a trained scientist would respond better to evidence than to postulating. Opening her own phone, she pulled up her chat thread with Kara and searched for a word. There: a text she’d sent just before she and Lena had made it official. She offered Lena her phone and watched her read.
Alex: You know I trust her.
Kara: I’m asking for her sake, Alex, not yours.
Kara: If you don’t sincerely, completely trust her, you will break my best friend’s heart.
Alex: I would trust her with Kryptonite.
Lena’s fingers gripped Alex’s hand and held it tight against her eyes while she wept.