Archive of Our Own

“A date?”

Kara repeated the words slowly, rolling her tongue like it was a foreign organ working to digest the also foreign words inside her brain. The pen she had been using to take notes had frozen midway writing down an address, she was glancing over her glasses to the older woman sitting behind the fancy desk in front of her and Kara half expected that to be the first time Cat Grant ever cracked a joke.

Not her lucky day.

“Yes,” the woman replied simply, but not without an once of annoyance for having to repeat herself. Cat was scrolling through her phone – in a way that made Kara wonder if she was searching for a name on her contact list or just looking at her personal Instagram, from which she still had to allow Kara to follow her. “Seven of them, actually.”

Kara tried not to make a sound as she clicked her pen and lowered both of her hands so she wouldn’t be frozen in the same position for too long. She licked her lips, adjusted her glasses briefly, and squinted as though she was facing a challenge she had no idea how to tackle. Which, to be honest, she didn’t.

“Why?”

Cat was gracious enough not to roll her eyes at her, although she looked up from her cellphone in a way that made it very clear that Kara wasn’t allowed to make another silly question. Her boss looked back down with an impatient sigh. “Valentine’s Day, Kiera.”

“Va-“ Kara stopped herself before repeating the obvious – and before she could annoy her boss to the point of no return. Instead, she nodded as she had just understood everything that was going on in the world – which she didn’t. “What do you want me to do?”

“Every year, CatCo writes an article about the origins of this... unimportant holiday.”

Cat waved a hand dismissively as she put her phone down and turned around just enough to grab some old magazine that was spread over her desk. Kara took a step closer, even if she didn’t have to, and was able to see that it was an article published last year about Valentine’s Day. She hadn’t read it, mostly because she didn’t think she had any reasons to, but a quick sway of her eyes gave her enough evidence to agree with her boss. It was rather generic and quite boring.

“We need something different this year or I, myself, will walk down the printing room and burn the whole thing down.” Cat had a look on her face, the way her jaws were set and her lips were pressed together, that told Kara she would do exactly that. It made her gulp. “So, I’m sending you to write an article.”

Kara looked down at the magazine just to have something else to look at before she cleared her throat, clearly uncomfortable. “Aren’t... Aren’t the articles for Valentine’s edition supposed to be handed in next Tuesday?”

It was Monday, which gave her just a week to write an article that wouldn’t make Cat fire her right on the spot. Not that she didn’t trust her abilities to please her boss, but that was also a very short notice. Especially if she had to follow Cat’s idea. When her boss called her in her office and started randomly giving her store’s names and addresses, she had no clue she would be the one visiting them. Let alone be the one who would write an article about them.

“I’m sorry, Kiera. You don’t think you can do that?”

It was the clearly fake, overly sweet tone that made Kara take the bait. She wasn’t one to be challenged, let alone provoked, but she also didn’t like to have her skills doubted. That was her Supergirl side, one she couldn’t push to the side, especially not when Cat was giving her that knowing look and that smirk that told more than words ever could. Cat knew what she was doing by throwing that question to her face, and Kara knew that she knew, but she fell for it regardless of that.

“I will do it, just...” The younger blonde pursed her lips for a couple of seconds as she tapped the back of her pen into her notepad. “Just give me the general idea of what you want me to write.”

Cat’s victorious look was amusing to see when it was directed to anyone else. To Kara, it was a bit stressful. Like it would, alone, make a vein burst inside Kara’s head. And she was an alien. “Well, Kiera, that’s very simple. You will visit the places I just told you about and you will write a review of each one. We will publish our new number on Thursday, as usual, and couples everywhere will want to read about the hottest spots to spend their Valentine’s Day.” There was a pause where they just looked at each other, not believing a single world she said about anyone reading their piece about Valentine’s Day, before her boss smirked again. “And take someone with you.”

“Take someone with me?”

“Good to see your capacity to comprehend words is intact, although I don’t need my words repeated back at me,” Cat bit back, finally adding an eye roll to her phrase. “You have the comprehension skill of a kindergarten, which doesn’t impress me. Yes, it’s a Valentine’s Day article, makes no sense to visit any of these places alone, does it? Now, go. Before I make you write next month’s weather forecast.”

When Kara sat back on her desk, quietly cursing her job, Winn was staring at her expectantly. “So... Did she gave you something good?”

“I’m about to find out,” she mumbled most to herself as she started typing the stores’ names to gather as much information as she could. She had no clue how Cat herself got a hold that any of those places even existed, but she had also seen Cat discuss a baseball article once, so it could hardly surprise her that much.

Finding the places, getting their number, explain what she was about to do and set up a time for her visit was the easy part. Every store was more than eager to have their business publicized in a CatCo article, especially so close to Valentine’s Day. In fact, it was hard to convince them she couldn’t visit them all on that same day. In the end, she chose the one she thought would be the easiest one – actually, it was just the one closest to her favorite Chinese restaurant, but it worked either way – and set up a time to show up later that day.

One problem out of the table, there was still one she needed to solve. Cat wanted her to take someone with her, which, she could agree, was a good idea. First because showing up alone would be a bit sad, but also because she didn’t want to have to go through any of that alone. She was already going to spend another Valentine’s Day alone, the last thing she needed was another reminder of that.

The problem was that she had to find someone to take with her. Alex would be an obvious choice, but she quickly pushed that idea to the side because she couldn’t take her sister to places that were specialized on Valentine’s Day dates. She could ask Maggie, but she knew her sister’s girlfriend would be a little shit about it – all jokes and teases. It would be even weirder to ask Winn, the guy that was once in love with her, and she was not going to ask James after the fiasco that was their failed attempt at dating. That left Mon-El, which was her ex-boyfriend and whom she would rather cut her arm off than having to ask him a favor, and Lena, which... would actually be perfect.

Lena was her best friend and, honestly, it would be way less weird to do that with a friend, especially if said friend was her best friend in the whole world. They would have fun, she was sure of that. Laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, make fun of the activities some couples might engage in the upcoming holiday, and curse Cat together for making them go through that. It was a great idea.

Lena laughed when she first told her. She did the whole thing – crinkling her nose, throwing her head back and then placing a pale hand in front of her mouth to muffle her sounds like she was embarrassed by them. Which was ridiculous because she had the most beautiful laugh Kara ever heard – and she hears a lot with her superhearing situation.

“I’m sorry, Kara,” Lena said while shaking her head and looking completely torn between acting serious to give her support and laugh her ass off. “You want to take me where?”

Kara groaned, letting her shoulders fall and her lips pout – the way that always made Alex give in. “I know, I know. I don’t want to go either, but Cat gave me this assignment and I can’t ruin this chance. You know she hasn’t let me write anything since the trench coat thing.” Not her fault she was bad at giving fashion advice. “Besides, I can’t go alone. This is a couple’s thing.”

Lena arched one dark eyebrow, the same way that made Kara’s throat feel a bit too dry, and started to swirl her fancy silvery pen between her fingers. Her elbows were resting on top of the table and it was hard not to look at her red lips when the pen was just a few inches from them. Across the table, Kara shifted in her seat.

“Can no one else go with you?” It must have been the pout increasing because, as soon as Lena said these words, she was quick to try to fix it. “Not that I don’t want to go with you. I’m happy to spend time with you, no matter what we do.” Kara felt her heart swell inside her chest and her entire body melted like potstickers inside her mouth. “But I don’t know if I have the time to go anywhere.”

“You work too much,” the blonde declared first and added her own reflections later. “I can’t take Alex, that would be too weird. And I can’t ask anyone else without... well, being weird.” Kara took a deep breath and pursed her lips as she ducked her head to stare at the hands in her lap. She knew she had won any argument when she heard Lena’s sharp intake of breath. Her friend always did that when she was about to give in to anything Kara was asking. “Besides, you’re my best friend. It will be fun to spend some time doing silly things.”

Just as she expected, Lena sighed, put her pen down and started reaching for her phone so she could call Jess in. “I swear you play so dirty with that pout,” she said under her breath, though she smiled when Kara raised her head to beam at her. “You’re right, it could be fun. Just keep in mind you’re giving Jess extra work.”

Before Kara could defend herself, the Asian girl walked inside the room with her iPad and ready to take notes as she walked quickly to stand beside Lena. She made a mental note to bring an extra burger the next time she showed up to have lunch with Lena and then blocked out their conversation to allow some privacy. It was only when Jess left that Kara looked back at her best friend and offered her a thankful smile.

“I will owe you one. Big time.”

Lena scoffed. “Please. Like spending time with you could be anything but a blessing.” She paused for a second before winking at the blonde across the table. “But yes, you will owe me one.” When Lena turned back to her computer, Kara took that as a cue to leave, knowing the businesswoman had a lot of work to do.

“I will come to pick you up at 5.”

“It’s a date,” Lena replied and the grin she tried to hide made Kara roll her eyes as she got up.

“Eat something and drink water. I will be back in a few hours.”

She did return after a few hours. After spending the afternoon writing the basics of her article and doing some other chores Cat threw her way, she walked back inside L-Corp with a small smile, holding her purse and waving at the people she recognized. Lena was waiting for her, surprisingly, and they left shortly after Jess promised to call if anything happened while Lena was gone.

Kara didn’t have a car and she didn’t want to ask Lena to use L-Corp's car, so she called a cab once they were outside the fancy building, opening the door to her friend once a driver pulled over. She gave him the address and turned to start a conversation with her friend. It took them only ten minutes to reach the store and, once they did, Kara paid the driver with CatCo’s credit card and pointed the store to Lena so they could make their way towards there.

It was easy to spot it. Among other dark shop fronts – painted in different gray shades – and all white ones, there was a very colorful wall, a tall showcase and a large plastic cute bear in the front. She thought she heard Lena whispering “you have to be kidding me”, but she decided to ignore it in order to open the door for her. Kara also chose to ignore the numerous plushies at display in the showcase and how their colors crashed in an almost painful way.

The bell above the door rang when she pushed the door open and Lena glanced up while she walked inside, glaring at it like it would make the noise stop. Kara covered her snicker with a fake cough when the younger woman turned to look at her and pointed to the very excited attendant walking their way.

“You must be Kara!” The middle-aged woman said. Her voice was a bit too high and she was basically bouncing on her feet, but Kara smiled and nodded, already taking a step forward to shake her hand. “My name is Sandy! We talked over the phone.”

“Yes,” Kara agreed with a small laugh. “Sandy from Sandyland.” The store name almost made her choke when she first saw it, but she had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing when Sandy announced she was the owner over the phone.

“We’re so excited to have you here,” the woman declared, offering both of them a too bright smile while her shoulders raised almost to her ears as if she could barely contain the excitement. Lena quirked her eyebrows, but thankfully said nothing about it. “I was so happy to hear you want to write about us!”

Kara chuckled, waving a hand around like the gesture was enough to explain it wasn’t her idea. “Yes, well, with Valentine’s Day coming up, we know your store has a special event for the couples that want to...” she paused, looked around, swallowed and smiled again. “Build their own... teddy bear.”

Beside her, Lena turned her head away and Kara just knew she was biting her lip to stop a laugh to breakthrough. She was happy her friend was looking away because she wouldn’t be able to hold back if Lena was looking at her like that. Sandy, on the other hand, took that as a signal the brunette was taking a look at the store and squeaked on her haste to start walking around to show them.

“We can do more than a teddy bear!” Sandy picked up an octopus plushie and tugged it so hard against her chest that Lena covered her laugh by clearing her throat. “We can make all types of personalized plushies. You can even make your own fabric, you can add smells, you can add sounds, everything. That’s a way to create your own teddy and it’s also a great, thoughtful gift. That’s why we host the Valentine’s Day Custom Your Own Teddy Bear event for over five years now.”

“That’s...” Lena stopped just in time before saying something that would break Sandy’s bubble, and for that Kara was thankful. “That’s a large name.”

Sandy laughed, loud and bell-like. “Yes, well, it’s a big event.”

Kara nodded, mimicking the woman’s smile, before she pointed to the end of the store where a bored-looking teenager was standing behind a counter. “Is there where we customize our... teddies?”

That was enough to send Sandy into another rampage explanation of how the entire process worked. She showed them every desk, explained every step you have to take to have your own stuffed animal and then took them to where the teen was standing, declaring they were now ready to start. Kara knew she would have to endure the entire thing to be able to write about the experience, but she also dreaded the moment she would have to build her own teddy bear. She never had one, not even when she first landed on Earth, so she was already a little behind on where to start.

“Now you can make one to each other!” Sandy exclaimed like that was the biggest dream in her life at that moment, waving her hands between Kara and Lena way too fast. Kara was not prepared to have to make a teddy bear for her best friend. She was less prepared for that than she was ready to make one to herself. “We usually put partners in different workstations during our event, but since there’s no one else here, I will let you choose where you want to sit.”

“You have to pick up the fabric first,” the bored teenager said before Kara was even done processing Sandy’s excited words.

Lena quickly turned to share a look with her – eyebrow raised, small smirk and all – before she pocked her ribs with a long finger. “You go find a place for you to sit. I believe this is supposed to be a surprise, so I will stay and choose first.”

Hearing those words made Sandy squeal in delight and she honest to Rao looked like she was living the best day in her life. Well, Kara might not get the point of her business, but she wasn’t going to pierce her happy bubble either. That was something Cat would do.

“Okay. Sandy, why don’t you show me the best spot in here?”

Lena sat down back to back with her at another table while Kara was listening to Sandy list all the different types of plushies she ever did in her life. The blonde tried not to peek over her shoulder in curiosity, wanting to know what Lena might have picked for her, but she was basically escorted back to the teenage boy by Sandy, who made sure she couldn’t see a thing while very loudly telling her she shouldn’t look. Lena’s delighted giggles reached her ears and Kara couldn’t help but obey, letting the older woman guide her back with two hands on her shoulders.

She had to admit the entire thing had already proved to be an adventure. Tony – the teenager, according to his name tag – was spreading several fabrics over the counter while Sandy wouldn’t stop rambling, but Kara couldn’t find it in herself to complain anymore. It was a little bit fun to see someone so passionate about their job talking non-stop about it.

“Some people cut and sew their own teddies, some people send us a model and we pre-make it, leaving the stuffing to them, some people...”

“Yes, I want that,” Kara interrupted her gently with a chuckle. “I’m not good with the cut and sew thing,” she confessed with a shrug. “Just give me something to stuff and we will be good.” A needle was far too delicate for her to handle, especially in public, so Kara didn’t want to run any risks with it. And she was also, indeed, very bad at the cut and sew thing.

Tony sighed as he pushed all the fabrics to the side and pulled a box from under the counter to start all over again, this time showing her the empty teddy bear projects. They had elephants, lions, suns, flowers, pillows and many others. According to Sandy, they had some abandoned projects from other people, just waiting for someone to finish them. Kara thought that was a very cheesy thing to say, but didn’t comment it out loud. Instead, she started going through the box with Tony until she spotted something almost at the bottom of the pile.

A classic one. A brown teddy bear with black plastic eyes and nose, looking just a bit creepy without any stuffing. She gave it a short nod when she pulled it to her eye level, only to quickly push it back when she realized Lena might be looking. She had no expectations, but now that she knew they would enter the whole ‘secret present’ thing, she was excited about the final result.

Sandy walked around with her another time, helping her pick some other things she would need, before walking her back to her table to make sure she wouldn’t try to steal a glance at Lena’s work. Once Kara was sitting down again, the older woman made her excuse, leaving both of them to work alone. The blonde smiled when they were graced with silence for the first time since walking inside the store.

“So...” she started in a teasing tone. “How are things going over there?”

She heard Lena snicker and huff, and had to battle the wish to turn around to see the way her brows had most certainly frowned in concentration. It was a cute look, she couldn’t deny it. “I never thought the sewing classes Lillian made me have would come in hand at some point.”

“Wait, you’re doing one from scratch?” Kara frowned as her blue eyes swept over her working table, feeling now a bit silly for picking something pre-made.

“Nothing overly complicated,” Lena replied. With her superhearing, Kara was able to hear when she put the needle down on the table, the rumble of fabric and Lena’s eventual shrug. “I’m almost done, actually.”

“What?”

Now in a rush, Kara picked up the empty teddy bear to start pushing the soft stuffing inside, the way Sandy had told her to. Every once in a while, one of them would make a comment that would make the other one laugh, lightly teasing each other. Kara pretended she was going to take a look over Lena’s working station a couple of times, just to have the other woman jokingly push her away.

Bringing the teddy bear together was a bit harder than she thought it would be, but she managed, dropping a drip of the fragrancy she had picked between the filling, before continuing with the stuffing. It took her almost fifteen minutes to do the whole thing without ripping anything and closing the zipper at the teddy’s back, but it was eventually done. With a pleased smile, Kara sat the teddy in front of her on the table to take a good look at him. She tilted her head to the side, knowing something was missing, before she nodded to herself and got up to go to one of the boxes she had seen before.

Kara returned with a checked green and blue bow tie, that she quickly tied around the teddy’s short neck before nodding to herself. It was done and she was a little proud of herself for doing that without any help.

“Are you done?” She asked over her shoulder, barely able to hide her excitement. She could see why Sandy loved her job now.

“Yes,” Lena replied, sounding just a bit nervous.

Kara chuckled. “Okay. On the count of three, we turn around. Ready?”

“Yes.”

“One. Two. Three.”

Kara spun on her chair, not bothering with turning it around, at the same time Lena pushed her chair back and to the side to be able to look at her. They were both holding their plushies in front of them, although Kara held the teddy bear in front of her face instead. She heard Lena’s gasp and she felt a bit triumphant over the fact that she had done it right. It only lasted a second because Lena was suddenly speaking, sounding completely out of breath.

“Kara...”

The blonde lowered the teddy bear in alarm, ready to jump and reach out for Lena if needed, but all she saw was wet green eyes staring down at the brown teddy bear. “Oh, no,” she whispered to herself. “What? What’s the problem? Is it that ugly?” Kara also looked at the teddy, not understanding what could have caused that reaction from her best friend and wanting nothing more than fixing it. “It’s bad, isn’t it? Damn, I should throw it out and...”

“No,” Lena’s voice was small, and the hand she used to reach out and hold Kara’s wrist was warm. The blonde stopped her rambling, her blue eyes searching instinctively for the other woman’s face to read her expression, but Lena was still looking at the teddy bear. Instead of dread, she just looked... amazed. “It’s... It’s perfect.”

In confusion, Kara looked back at the bear, then back at Lena, before frowning a bit. “Why do you look like you’re about to cry?”

Lena chuckled a watery laugh as she raised a hand to discreetly clean the corner of her eye. When she looked at Kara, it was with so much emotion swirling behind green orbs that Kara felt the air being knocked out of her lungs. “They’re happy tears, I promise.”

Kara raised a hand to brush Lena’s cheek as though she was drying a tear, even if her friend’s face was still dry. When her hand fell, she didn’t lose time searching for Lena’s hand to hold. The brunette’s face softened drastically when she squeezed Kara’s fingers.

“I had a very similar teddy bear when I was a kid,” Lena confessed quietly, like it was a secret no one else was supposed to hear but Kara. Sensing this, the blonde leaned in closer, even if she didn’t have to, and Lena gave her a thankful smile. “My mom gave it to me when I was three and I never went anywhere without taking it with me.”

“What happened to it?” Kara asked just as quietly.

“The Luthors,” was all Lena offered as an explanation before she shrugged and Kara knew not to press her to talk more. Instead, she looked down at the teddy bear she was holding between her fingers, then raised it to Lena’s eye level with a shaky smile.

“Well, I made it for you.”

“Thank you,” Lena whispered as she took the teddy bear from her friend’s hand and pressed it to her chest. “I love it.” Very, very discreetly, Lena pressed her nose against the crown of the bear's head, although Kara thought she did that only to hide her soft smile and her blushed cheeks, and her eyes widened as soon as she took a sniff of it. “Oh, my God! It smells like...”

“Chamomile, yeah,” scratching the back of her neck in embarrassment, Kara chuckled a bit. “I thought... You know... It’s calming.”

“If this is another way to tell me I work too much...” Lena teased.

“You do work too much,” Kara huffed and took the opportunity to look away. The way Lena was smiling and looking so... bright was doing things to her chest that she couldn’t understand. It was too much.

“Well, do you want to see yours?”

Now with renewed interest, Kara nodded eagerly. A gentle laugh reached her ears, filling her heart and mind, but she brushed it to the side once her eyes finally caught up on the plushie Lena had been working on. It was a ball, basically. Not too big, but big enough to lay her head or press it against her chest in a hug. The fabric was mainly red, with several shades creating the impression that it was moving, or that it had layers, and she was sure it had most to do with the way Lena had sewed the whole thing together.

“It’s Krypton,” Lena said while waving the ball around a bit before shoving it on Kara’s hand like she was suddenly very unsure about it. “Supposed to be, at least. That was the closest color they had and I used proportions. It doesn’t have a smell, but it’s very... fluffy.”

Her friend finished the sentence in the middle of a raging blush that Kara just found way too cute. She picked up the plushie mostly in a daze, pressing it to her chest as if testing Lena’s affirmative, before she looked down at it with a smile and a stumble of her heart. That had to be the most thoughtful gift someone had ever given her. Ever.

“That’s... perfect,” she declared, though she wasn’t sure she had enough words to describe that. In the end, it was perfect.

Before Lena could say anything else, Sandy was suddenly by their side – if Kara wasn’t so busy getting emotional with Lena’s plushie, she would have heard the older woman approaching them. “How was it, girls?”

Later that night, after having written her first review of the crazy week she had planned ahead, making sure to add how satisfying the experience turned out to be, Kara slept hugging her home planet against her chest and feeling surprisingly whole after a long time.

Their second adventure was, well, more of an adventure. Or at least that’s what Kara was hoping for while she walked towards James’ office with her pout already in place. James was the only friend she had that had a car and was willing to let other people drive it – J’onn was way too clingy to his own car – and she would need him to agree to land her that to be able to drive to their next destination.

“No,” he said at first, but gave in as soon as he looked up and saw Kara’s pout. He sighed, opened the top drawer of his desk, and tossed her the keys. “Please, I don’t have insurance.”

“I will take care of it!” She promised, already on her way out.

James’ car was... Well, it was certainly a car a man like James would have. Kara knew very little about cars, but she knew it could drive fast, but also go to rocky roads and do trips comfortably. It was big and high, it was also black and had leather seat, which was all she cared about. Their next destination didn’t require a middle-of-the-day getaway, so Kara agreed to go pick Lena up in her penthouse around seven.

Lena showed up dressed in jeans and a green sweater that made her eyes pop, and Kara was a little happy she had picked up some blankets for them because she knew her friend was always a bit cold. And that was the only reason why she kept ogling at Lena’s tight-fitting sweater. Before she could dwell too much on that weird train of thoughts, Lena opened the car door and slipped inside with a smile.

“James allowed you to drive his car?” she asked with a raised brow.

“Just have to make sure I don’t hit it,” Kara was eventually able to say.

Lena chuckled. “Maybe I should drive, then.”

“Oh, ha-ha, very funny.” The blonde rolled her eyes and started the vehicle, pulling into the street a second later. “It will take us forty minutes to get there. It’s a little secluded.”

“Do you want to stop to buy food?”

“You read my mind, babe.”

Kara blushed once her brain picked up on the pet name, but Lena didn’t seem to have listened to her, so she forced her body to relax again. She knew Lena was very reserved and that she was probably one of Lena’s only friends. She didn’t want Lena to freak out with her free way of acting. Thankfully, Lena looked busy sorting through the radio to find something they both enjoyed.

“How was work today?” Kara asked not too long after her slip to cover up.

That did the trick. Lena started talking about the new project idea she had been working with for the past month, happily giving Kara all the information she could and accepting every input her friend had on the subject. Since Kara told her about being Supergirl, Lena had taken great pleasure in asking everything her friend remember about Science on her home planet, and Kara was more than willing to tell her everything.

It took exactly forty minutes to reach the open field that the guy had informed Kara about over the phone. There was no one waiting for them, no one controlling the entrance and also no one around, so Kara stopped the car right on the middle of the field and at a good distance from the huge, white screen hanging close to some trees.

“This is way too quiet,” Lena said after a few seconds of silence where they both undid their seatbelts and looked around. “We’re not watching a horror movie, are we?”

The alien shook her head with amusement clear in her eyes. “Don’t worry. They let me chose the movie. Wait in here, I will try to find Peter.”

“Exactly like a horror movie,” she heard Lena whisper as she slipped out of the car, so she decided to leave the door open so the inside's lights would remain on. She always found it funny how Lena was so against horror movies, but she also knew that some fears were very real.

Peter wasn’t as excited as Sandy was, although he made sure she had the entire schedule for their drive-in movie day for Valentine’s Day to write it on her article before letting her go back to the car to enjoy the movie. Kara tried to picture the whole field filled with other cars, other people, and decided that would definitely feel less weird like that, but she was also happy there was no one else around so she wouldn’t have to try and block everyone else to be able to watch the movie.

“What are you doing?” Lena asked as soon as Kara started the car again.

“I will turn around.”

“Why?”

“Trust me,” Kara said with a chuckle and that was enough to make Lena shut up and wait to see what she was doing.

The blonde made sure the car was facing the opposite direction, but still on a good location, before she tuned the radio to the right frequency that Peter had informed her. Then, she slipped out of the car and walked to the back, opening the trunk at the same time Lena started to follow her. James’ car was big, but his trunk was just ridiculous. It could fit Kara’s entire couch if it wasn’t for the ceiling, especially after she laid the backseat to add even more space. After she made sure the seat wouldn’t suddenly go back to the right position, Kara pulled a comfy blanket and several pillows that she carelessly threw inside the trunk.

“Ta-dah!” She exclaimed, opening her arms as if she was showing the most impressive thing in the world.

Lena didn’t look that impressed, arching one eyebrow and eyeing the improvised bed in suspicion. “What is this?”

“Well. It would be uncomfortable to sit inside the car for over two hours, so I thought this would be better,” Kara shrugged and picked up the closest pillow to fluff it. “This way, we can pretend we’re having a movie night on my couch.”

“Oh.” Now Lena looked a bit impressed. “Okay.”

Satisfied by her words for now, Kara jumped inside the trunk, making the car move a little, and patted the empty space beside her. “Hop on.”

Lena followed her much more graciously, pushing some pillows against the back of the front seats so she could be more comfortable. Kara stretched to reach the bag of food that had been on Lena’s feet the entire ride there, handed it to the other woman and grabbed the blanket to throw it at their legs. She was almost done when the screen in front of them acquired colors and the radio inside the car came to life with the beginning of an old studio opening.

“What are we watching?” Lena asked as she started opening the first take-out box.

The blonde accepted the chopsticks with a thankful grin. “Turns out I know your favorite movie is Star Wars...” she started, drawing out the franchise name in a singing voice.

“It’s not.”

She ignored it because she knew it was a lie. “So I thought... Why not watch the last movie together?”

Lena turned to look at her with a frown while Kara tried to find the best place for her back while balancing a large card box of chow mein, trying not to look too smug about her choice. “The Last Jedi?” The blonde shook her head to deny it and Lena’s frown intensified for a couple of seconds, until realization hit her – just how her hand hit Kara’s arm in surprise. “Oh, fuck! The Rise of Skywalker won’t be in theaters for another month!”

Kara smiled, feeling way too proud of herself. “You’re correct, but Peter really wanted to have a nice review in my article.”

“Holy crap, Kara!” Lena’s eyes were big and shining like an emerald. Kara didn’t realize she was staring at Lena with a goofy smile until the other woman started moving around her pillows to cuddle against her side. “Let’s get to it!”

Not sure how to react to a sudden cuddly Lena – not that they had never cuddle before because they do it all the time while watching movies in Kara’s apartment – the blonde let her arms hover awkwardly for a few seconds before hugging Lena back. She made sure that she would still be able to eat before resting her chin on top of Lena’s head and making sure the blanket was covering the human to stop the cold air of the night from hitting her.

“Comfy?” she asked.

Lena nodded, her head making Kara’s shirt crumple a little bit where she was resting against her shoulder, and sighed. “Surprisingly, yes. Now, give me some food too.”

For the next two hours and twenty-two minutes, they stayed like that and Kara took pleasure in hearing every gasp, every intake of breath, every time Lena’s heart peaked in excitement. Lena could deny all she wanted, but Star Wars was her favorite movie of all times – and maybe Kara enjoyed it a bit too much as well.

Overall, Kara went home that night feeling lighter than she had ever felt. Not that she knew why. They had numerous movie nights before – and, okay, maybe she always felt more light with Lena.

After the movie was over, Lena jolted the entire car as she tried to sort of sit down so she could face Kara, her nerdy rambling causing the blonde to smile up at her so softly that she didn’t even realize she was doing that. She kind of missed Lena’s warm body pressed against hers, but she also couldn’t agree that seeing her best friend so invested talking about a movie was a very cute experience to have. She didn’t bother to tell Lena they were supposed to leave as soon as the movie ended.

Peter could wait just a little bit more.

Once Lena was done with pointing out every detail she had picked on, they started cleaning up the back of James' car the best they could. While Lena took their garbage to a trash can, Kara walked over to thank Peter for the very exclusive experience, then returned to the car so they could start making their way back.

“So...” Kara said, trying not to take her eyes from the road even if she wanted to glance back at Lena. “How was it? Does it get a five-star review?”

“It was better than the teddy bear,” Lena confessed in light teasing. She had one leg up on the seat, her back was half pressed against the car door and she was fiddling with the ends of her hair while she watched Kara on the driver’s seat. “I will admit, it was better than most dates I ever had.”

“Do I get extra bonus points for having pick the right movie?” Kara teased back, but not without feeling her heart doing a backflip inside her chest.

Lena hummed softly from the back of her throat, but didn’t say anything else, choosing to enjoy the music quietly playing in the background. Kara risked looking over at her for a second – maybe more than only a second – very aware that she could rely on her powers to drive safely without looking at the road for a while. What she saw made it totally worth it and she was smiling when she turned her head forward again. Lena, looking so relaxed, half smiling at her while playing with her hair, was definitely worth a lot of things.

Kara drove her friend home first, then dropped the car back at James, who looked at her weirdly when she smiled instead of answering his question of how the movie had been. She flew back home after promising him there was nothing wrong with his car, even if she wasn’t sure the soy sauce stain was there before or not.

She wrote more of her article that night, making some nice review about the field and the quietude that surround the space, and adding the schedule for the drive-in movie day for Valentine’s. For some reason, her arms didn’t feel as full hugging the Krypton plushie that night.

“Where are we going?” Lena asked as soon as they walked by Noonan’s, ignoring the small line to get inside the restaurant for lunchtime.

Kara tilted her head to the side to give her a smirk and a wink. “We are going to our third location.”

“Oh,” the shorter woman quirked one eyebrow – and, honestly, how did she make that gesture look so badass and cute at the same time?. “I see. I thought you asked me for lunch because we were friends, but you were just using me.”

Kara gasped in fake shock, placing a hand against her chest. “I would never! You agreed to help me!” She nudged Lena – gently – with her shoulder and they shared a quiet laugh before the blonde ran a finger from Lena’s elbow to the woman’s wrist, where she curled her fingers to pull her a bit closer. She liked having Lena closer. “And I think you will like it this time.”

“To be fair, I enjoyed the other ones too.”

“I knew it.”

“Shut up,” Lena rolled her eyes and tried to push Kara with a shove to her shoulder, but ended up pushing herself a few steps to the side instead. She scoffed when the blonde laughed. “Damn alien.”

“But I’m your favorite alien,” Kara teased. She almost reached out to pull the other woman closer again, but decided against it. Lena was walking just two steps to her side, she wasn’t that far.

“As a scientist, I can’t agree with that affirmative without further proofs.” Lena used her CEO voice, dropping it just a bit and adding a huskiness that Kara wasn’t sure she was even aware that happened with her voice. Then, her friend smiled, her green eyes shining bright when she glanced at Kara like she was important – like she cared. “As a friend, I have to agree.”

It was perhaps the way Lena was looking at her, or maybe it was the way her trench coat was tangling around her legs and her hair was flying around her face thanks to the wind, or maybe it was the curve of her lips forming a smile, but something made Kara’s brain shut down for a brief second. “Knew it,” Kara eventually said with a shrug.

The CEO rolled her eyes again, took a step closer without stopping her walk, and then used a slim finger to point at Kara’s face. “Don’t let it inflate your ego.”

“Come on, Skywalker, we need to go faster if you want me to return you to your office in time.”

They had to walk two more blocks, but eventually Kara spotted the sign she had been looking for. The coffee shop front was painted in dark green, with some plants hanging at the walls and a black sign sporting its name almost proudly carved in wood. The Honeybread Coffee and Library looked small from the outside, just a rustic door, the sign, the plants and a small window that allowed to see a few shelves from the outside, but inside it looked... majestic. Imperial, almost.

“Wow,” Lena breathed out as soon as she stepped inside. She started removing her trench coat more out of instinct as her eyes moved around in wonder, taking in everything.

As she helped her take the coat out, Kara had to agree. It was pretty wow. The inside was divided into two floors, where the floor one was where they held their books and the top floor was the reading area and the coffee shop. Everything looked a bit old, but in a perfect state. The shelves and bookcases were organized perfectly, there was a cashier a few feet from the door, and the entire place smelled like coffee, caramel and books, which was probably the best combination of smell Kara ever felt.

The blonde put Lena’s coat on the hanger while the man behind the counter started walking towards them with a warm smile, wearing a green apron and a name tag that read Tim.

“Hello, welcome to Honeybread! Can I help you with anything? Is it the first time you two come here?”

“It is,” Kara replied to him with a gentle smile, noticing how Lena gravitated towards the closest bookcase to grab a book that had caught her eyes. She smiled mostly to herself before looking back at Tim. “I talked on the phone with Carl. I’m from CatCo Magazine.”

“Oh, yes! Carl said you might come in today!” Tim nodded, clapped once and then motioned for her to follow him. “He couldn’t be here today, he took his wife to do some check-ups at the hospital, but he told me everything I needed to know.” Carl sounded like an older dude over the phone and he did mention his wife – at least fifteen times – so Kara was slightly worried about it. Tim must have noticed because he gave her a gentle smile. “Anyway, he told me you would come here to have the Valentine’s experience.”

Kara couldn’t help but blush a little at that – mostly because it sounded like some type of propaganda from a cheap motel and she was suddenly very glad she didn’t ask Maggie to tag along. “Yes. I have a few questions, if you can answer them.”

“Of course,” Tim said, rounding the counter again and waving a hand to indicate she could talk.

When she was finally done asking Tim some questions about the small event they hold every year on Valentine’s Day, she walked around to find Lena again, easily finding her thanks to her steady heartbeat coming from one of the corners. She walked through shelves and the hundredth of books in display taking small notes of where they were placed before she turned a corner and stopped in her tracks when her eyes landed on Lena. Her friend had created a small fort for herself while Kara was busy, apparently. She was sitting on one of the chairs that looked like belonged to a school, using the table in front of her to hold the dozen of books she had picked from the shelves.

“Lena!” Kara exclaimed, trying to sound annoyed but chuckling in the end.

The brunette looked up from the book she was reading – and looking damn cute while doing so, with eager eyes and slightly shaky hands – and opened a large smile. “This is the best place I have ever been to.”

Kara laughed in delight, not bothering to be quiet since she knew there was no one on the lower floor. “I can see you kept yourself busy.”

“I found so many books, Kara!” Lena started gently pushing the books around as she tried to grab her favorite ones to show her the cover, almost knocking a few of them off the table in her haste to do it.

Kara had never seen her like that. Genuinely excited about something, like a kid opening presents on Christmas morning, wide eyes and blinding smile without a care in the world, looking like she was having the time of her life. Something inside Kara’s chest tugged at that, a feeling she had been pushing away for far too long, but she ignored it in order to cross her arms and attempt to glare at her friend.

“You’re kind of ruining what we came here to do.” Lena frowned as she glanced down at her pile of books, unsure how choosing books from a bookstore could spoil whatever Kara dragged her there to do. She looked so cute at that moment, confused and still pumped up, that the older woman couldn’t help but smile again as she started to explain. “The challenge here is to pick your significant other a book in five minutes. Then you have to give it to them and you can both read while drinking coffee upstairs. If your partner likes your choice, you win a slice of apple pie.”

Lena couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Well, I just made things easier, didn’t I? Just pick something from here.”

“No, no, no,” Kara shook her head and started pilling up Lena’s books again, making sure she wasn’t going to ruin any of them since she knew the other woman could flip a table if something happened to her precious books. “I will take those to Tim and I’m going to pick something new for you. Just try not to wander around anymore while I’m gone. You might end up buying the entire thing.”

“You can’t carry all these books by yourself,” Lena said gently as she slid from her chair to pick a few books from the top of the pile to carry. Kara frowned at her in confusion, ready to tell her that she could, indeed, carry that many books and still stop a plane in midair, but Lena interrupted her before she could voice any of that. “Silly alien,” she whispered, booped Kara’s nose and started to walk away.

She blinked once, twice, thrice, before she blew the breath that she didn’t know she was holding. Kara looked down at the remaining books, then shook her head to clear her thoughts, before she started following the shorter woman with a slight stumble on her steps. She picked up on Lena when the brunette was already giving the first pile to Tim and she offered him a tight smile when she handed him the other one, although she had no idea why she felt so nervous out of sudden. Her heart was beating way faster than normal, even to her alien standards, and Kara was almost worried about it when Lena placed a hand on her shoulder and all train of thoughts stopped right there.

“Five minutes?” Her best friend asked with a confident grin that was usually restricted for the meeting rooms.

Kara opened her mouth to reply, only to come empty-handed on what to say. Her eyes glanced down at Lena’s face, to the curve of her lips, back to her green eyes, and she tried to speak again only to have Tim saving her like a life jacket.

“Yes, you have five minutes. I will count for you and I will tell once it’s over. If you don’t have anything in five minutes, you have to pick up the book that’s right in front of you.”

Lena nodded, squeezed Kara’s arm and then started walking away with a goal in mind. She walked straight to the second rolls of bookcases, turned left and disappeared from Kara’s camp of sight. The blonde kept looking at where she had last seen the other woman until a throat cleared behind her and she jumped five feet in the air.

“The timer is already started,” Tim gently declared – not without a smile – and Kara quickly jumped to action.

Darn. She had lost some precious seconds watching... watching Lena cheat! That was it! Lena was cheating! She had already walked around the store, she probably knew where all books were by now and it wasn’t fair that she already knew where to go when Kara wasn’t even sure where the Science section was! That’s what she was watching! Her ruin.

Well... not exactly. They could get an apple pie slice out of this, so maybe it wasn’t so bad that Lena looked so sure about herself. There was only one thing better than getting a slice of apple pie. Getting two slices. So Kara needed to up her game and get moving!

She walked through some corridors, ignoring everything about philosophy, geography, poetry and horror. Lena enjoyed fiction, but it had to be very well written, and she didn’t enjoy thrillers too much. She loved everything related to physics, math, biology, technology and those nerdy things, but Lena had already picked up everything she wanted from those genres from what Kara could tell from the pile of books she had helped transport. Eventually, Kara remembered Lena mentioning her favorite book from her school years and decided it was a safe enough choice.

With a plan in mind, she made her way back to Tim, who gave her a tiny smile. “Time’s not up yet.”

“I know. I wanted some help to find a book.”

“Of course,” Tim typed something in the small computer in front of him and then looked at her expectantly, waiting for a name.

Tim pointed her in the right direction shortly after and Kara made it just in time – though she would admit she would have sneakily used her powers if she had to. Walking back to the counter, she noticed Lena leaning against it like she had been there since ever waiting for her to return. Rolling her eyes, Kara stopped in front of her and poked her arms.

“Let’s go grab a coffee and eat. We still have to go back to work.”

“Not without reading first,” Lena reminded her with a smirk as they started making their way towards the second floor.

Just a few people were sitting here and there, but they were able to easily find an empty table at the corner, more secluded and close to some big windows that allowed them to see the traffic. A waitress showed up to take their order shortly after and Kara accepted the menu eagerly. Lena raised a hand to dismiss the other menu the young woman was handing her, and Kara knew she was going to order her black coffee as usual, but the CEO patiently waited until Kara had chosen before ordering for both of them.

Once they were alone again, Lena cleared her throat and shifted on her seat. “You go first.”

“No,” Kara shook her head. “I went first with the teddy bear.”

“You shoved it into my face,” Lena reminded her, although not with malice. In fact, she smiled and winked at her, and suddenly Kara couldn’t remember all the arguments she had to refute that.

“Okay, yeah, I go.” The blonde nodded, fumbled with the book in her lap and raised a hand to straighten her glasses before putting the book on top of the table. “I kind of stuck with the whole memory thing.” It wasn’t cheating, right? I worked once and she wasn’t even planning on it, so it doesn’t count.

“So, what did you get me?”

Kara nervously slid the book over the table, feeling her face heating up with a blush, and cleared her throat to buy herself some time. “Not your favorite one, I suppose, but you told me about a book you remember your mom reading to you when you were little.” She tried to picture it, a woman that looked like Lena and not like her at the same time, reading to a younger Lena in her bed, making voices and faces just to make her laugh. She never met Lena’s birth mother, but she was sure she would have loved the woman. “You couldn’t remember the title, but you said there were some trees and a boat in the cover, and some big animal with human feet. You also didn’t remember much of the history because you were so small, but, uh,” now even more nervous, Kara paused to scratch the back of her neck, “I believe is this one.”

She tapped the cover once she was done, then put both hands on her lap as she waited for Lena’s reaction. Much like the teddy bear, Lena didn’t say anything at first. She just stared at the book with slightly watery eyes until her hand reached out to grab it.

“Where the wild things are,” she read the title, emotions filling her every word.

“Yep,” Kara said with a nod, fiddling with her glasses again. “Anyway, I’m not sure you will still like it, but... Yeah, it’s, uh, it’s that one.”

Whatever Lena was about to say was interrupted by the waitress returning to their table holding a tray. She smiled at them before putting a small cup of coffee in front of Lena and a sweet bread beside it. In front of Kara, she placed the large cup of caramel coffee, a sandwich, two small squares of fudge and a large chocolate chip cookie.

“So,” the waitress started in a happier tone, using her hip to support the tray as she eyed them with a glad smile. “Does she deserve a slice of apple pie?”

Lena blinked at her in confusion for a second until realization hit her and she offered the young woman a nod. “She certainly does.”

“What about her?”

“Oh, I haven’t...” Kara shook her head and waved a hand in Lena’s direction. “I didn’t see it yet.”

“Well, go on.” The waitress left after throwing a wink her way.

Kara was almost distracted by the food placed all around the small table, but she was still curious about what book Lena had picked for her. Pushing her hunger to the back of her mind, she glanced at her friend in expectation and watched in amazement as Lena blushed under her stare.

“Right, well, this might be a bit silly, but...”

She didn’t finish her sentence, choosing to slid the book towards Kara instead. As soon as Kara got a glimpse of the cover, a delightful laugh escaped her lips, maybe a bit too loud since a few people turned to look at her. She shrank a bit on her seat, wishing to disappear, knowing her laugh was a bit too loud, but soon forgot all about her embarrassment when Lena reached out across the table to squeeze her hand.

“Was it a good choice?”

Kara nodded, divided between feeling all warm inside or, well, that was all she could feel around Lena, to be fair. “I loved it!”

“I took by your reaction that she also deserved some pie,” the waitress said as she approached the table with two plates in her hands, that she promptly placed at the empty spaces in front of them.

Kara laughed again, more quietly, and turned the book to show the woman like that was the best gift she ever got. “She deserves the entire pie! I loved this!”

The woman raised her eyebrows in question, but didn’t voice her doubts about Lena’s choice before telling them to enjoy their meal and walking to serve another table. Once they were alone again, Lena slid her pie over to Kara with a smile and took a sip of her coffee.

“I know you love dinosaurs, so...”

Kara read the words on the cover again – The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World – and felt her lips turning into a happy smile at the same time her chest started feeling all warm and fuzzy. “This is the best book ever.”

“I’m not sure about that,” Lena declared behind her cup, trying to hide her smirk. “I enjoyed my book very much so.”

The reporter blushed as she pushed her glasses up her nose. “Think we have some time to start reading them?”

Lena glanced at her watch, then back to her lunch, before reaching out to take the book from Kara’s hand. “I will read it to you while you eat. You have way more food than I do.”

While Lena started reading and the accent in her voice slightly accentuated, Kara started having the certainty that she could hear Lena reading a math book and still find it the best sound in the world. When the thought finally registered in her mind, she almost choked on the crust of her pie. She tried to cover it with a huge gulp of her caramel coffee, offered Lena a tight smile, and shoved a spoon-full of apple pie inside her mouth.

Later that night, while writing about coffee shops, bookstores, nice waitresses and cute date ideas, Kara could barely concentrate. Her mind kept going back to bright green eyes, bowed-shaped red lips, simple dimples on each cheek and an Irish accent that she could hear for the rest of her life.

That Thursday marked seven days before Valentine’s Day. Exactly a week before the most romantic holiday of the year, just a few days before Kara had to hand down her article, and the fourth day of her little adventures with Lena.

That time, their appointment, so to speak, was very early in the morning. Kara had spent most of the night rolling around in her bed, trying to make sense of the feelings crawling inside her heart, and the other half across town helping the fire department put the fire down, which meant she was not in her best mood when her alarm went off. They had agreed Lena would pick her up with her car and would later drop her at CatCo before heading to work herself.

Her humor instantly changed when she opened the door and saw that Lena was holding a large box of donuts and sporting a smile that tugged straight to Kara’s insides.

“Lena Luthor,” Kara started with a relieved sigh, “you’re my hero.”

The younger woman was wearing dark sunglasses, but Kara didn’t have to look at her eyes to know she was rolling them. Lena pushed the glasses to the top of her head, locking some of her hair with the movement, and walked inside Kara’s studio apartment once the blonde took a step to the side.

“You’re providing the coffee.”

“On it!” Kara shouted as she rushed to the kitchen to get the coffee started, trusting Lena to make herself at home.

“What are the plans for today?” Lena asked a while later as she sipped her coffee and watched Kara inhale another donut.

The blonde chewed – a voice inside her head that sounded suspiciously like Alex’s telling her not to speak with her mouth full – before reaching out to her own coffee. “Valentine's Day cards.”

“Really? That’s the big plan?”

Kara chuckled. “There’s a stationery shop that holds a DIY for Valentine’s Day card every year. You can use the material they give you to create your own card. It only costs five bucks.” Lena nodded as she accepted the information, though she didn’t look as excited as she did the day before at the bookstore. “Maggie told me about a place, a flower shop, where you can plant your flower in a small vase as a gift, but that wasn’t on Cat’s list.”

“I don’t think we should try that one out, I mean, you have a bad history with plants,” she teased.

Rolling her eyes, Kara started eating another donut instead of replying, since she didn’t actually argue against that. Kara quickly cleaned up her kitchen before they walked out of her apartment in the middle of a heated discussion about the strings theory.

The staff at Donny Stationery Shop was not as happy as Sandy seemed to be about her work, but they were very helpful in letting them chose a few materials to craft their own Valentine’s Day card. Just like the teddy bears, couples worked on different tables so they wouldn’t spoil the surprise, but they decided it was okay to share the same desk, even if it was quite small and their knees kept bumping under it.

“We also have the option for you to personalize your own gift,” one of the staff had said once they were sat. “Many couples DIY their gifts, and it’s particularly a huge success.”

Kara glanced over at Lena with a silent question in her eyes, but the brunette only shrugged as a response. “Yeah, sure, we can do that,” she eventually informed the young man standing in front of them.

“Great! You can think about what you want to make to your partner and come ask me for the material. Have fun!”

Okay, Kara did not realize she would have to think about Lena’s gift... again. The teddy bear had been hard, the book too, and now she had to come up with something? She was not ready for that.

Thankfully, Lena decided to save her ass – again. “Why don’t we look on the internet to see if we can have some ideas?”

And then Pinterest saved her ass too. It took her about five minutes of research, but she was able to find the perfect gift and one she was almost sure she could do herself. As usual, Lena seemed to be one step ahead because she was already working on her card, although she had only looked on her phone for a minute or two. Kara decided she would do the card last and then she got up to go find someone to hand her everything she would need for Lena’s gift.

Surprisingly, they had all she needed. Her surprise must have shown because the same staff from before explaining that it was a very popular DIY gift while giving her several boxes with different tea flavors. She knew Lena loved tea. Not in the morning – she was too attached to her black coffee – but certainly at night, after she got home from work and wanted to relax before going to bed. So she was going to make Lena her own personalized tea bags.

When she got back to the table, having already picked five different flavors that she had every intention of combining, Lena had moved from the card and, once again, she felt like she had fallen behind.

“This isn’t fair,” Kara huffed. “You’re way too good at this DIY thing.”

Lena scoffed at that as her fingers sorted out several options of... something. Kara wasn’t entirely sure what those things were. “I’m terrible at this. I hated art and craft at boarding school, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try to have a perfect grade.”

“Of course not,” Kara let out a breathy chuckle because that sounded exactly like the Lena she knew. “What are you going to give me?”

“Nothing that needs scissors,” the younger woman replied after stealing a glance at her own materials. “Although, I will need hot glue.”

They worked in silence for a few minutes while Lena waited for the hot glue to heat up and while Kara tried to figure out how to put together the two parts of the tea bag she had cut. Eventually, the blonde gave up and accepted she would have to sew, something she had avoided very hard to do before. She tried to pick up the needle as gently as she could and she held it in front of her face like it was a complicated puzzle she needed to crack down.

“Need any help?”

Her eyes snapped up to meet green ones. Lena was watching her, but not judgemental, instead, she had a soft smile that made kind of shut down for a second. Her friend chuckled as she reached out to take the needle from her fingers, easily sliding the sewing thread through it before handing it back.

“Just make a hole at every inch or something. Don’t put your finger under it, though.”

“It’s not going to punch my skin.”

Lena arched one eyebrow. “Exactly. It will break the needle.”

“Oh,” Kara lowered her hand, her eyes following the silvery thing, and frowned in confusion. Lena has some problem with the hot glue as well, which made her feel a little better about how lost she was, but she still wanted to make it look nice in the end.

They worked in silence for a few more minutes. Kara used her superspeed when she was sure no one was looking and it wasn’t as hard as she thought it would be. Lena had picked some colorful pens and she was working with them for quite some time not, though the blonde tried not to look at what she was doing. Kara moved to the card next, after putting the tea bags inside a tea box – that wasn’t customized, but would do the trick – and she happily went through the large box of used color pencils the store supplied for the DIY. She picked the colors she wanted, folded a piece of paper in half and started putting her idea into paper.

Lena walked away at some point, supposedly to pick another thing she would need, and Kara took that opportunity to quickly finish her card. Her friend returned, giving her a sheepish smile, and the blonde was suddenly awestruck again. Lena slid on her chair graciously, their knees bumped again, and then narrowed her eyes at her.

“Are you done?”

“I became a master at it now,” Kara shrugged, one hand supporting her chin while the other one tapped against the card that was facing down beside her elbow.

“Ok, a new artist in town,” Lena teased. “Show me what you got.”

“Nah-ah. I went first two times already.”

“Fine, do it your way.” The brunette pretended to be annoyed for a second, but her cover was blown as soon as Kara saw the corners of her mouth twitching while she fought back a smile. Something she hadn’t been able to do – she was sure she had been smiling like a lunatic since she first saw Lena that morning.

Her friend moved to grab the card first, turning it up and then sliding something inside it before handing both things to Kara with a light blush on her cheeks. The reporter accepted the gifts with a quiet thanks before she opened them, eager to see what Lena had gotten her. From inside the card, a yellow cord slipped and fell on the table, but she quickly picked it up. She had figure out in the middle of Lena’s crafting what the other woman was doing, but she had tried very hard not to look before time. Now that she could see it, Kara wasted no time turning it over to be able to see everything her friend had done.

The words ‘Best Reporter Ever’ was written with blue glittery pen all over the cord on both sides. There were also a few drawings such as stars, little hearts and something that looked suspiciously like her cape. Attached to it was a plastic thing where she could put all of her reporter access cards for when she was attending an event for CatCo.

She was gently rolling it over the tip of her fingers, brushing it lightly and taking in every single detail, and that was already turning out to be one of the best gifts she had ever won before she spotted a small thing right in the back. Her family’s crest.

“Your hair will hide it,” Lena declared lowly. “Not that I think you will ever wear it in public,” she quickly amended, sounding nervous out of sudden.

Blue eyes raised to look at her best friend, her vision slightly affected by the tears that decided to make a sudden appearance, but she was smiling too much to care. “You kidding me? Of course I will wear it!”

“Please, Kara, this is ridiculous.” The brunette’s hand reached out to tug at the cord like she was, somehow, offended by it. However, Kara pulled it against her chest protectively with a little pout.

“You made it for me and I love it, of course I’m going to wear it.”

There was a pause where neither of them said anything, even if she could feel Lena’s eyes burning at the side of her face. Kara put the cord around her neck as to make a point, nodding satisfied once it was in place, and looking back at Lena like she was daring her to say anything about it. When it became clear Lena wasn’t going to argue with her, Kara moved on to the card.

She could tell Lena had picked something pre-made and added her own touches to it, but she didn’t mind. It was something her friend gave her, so it was special all the same. The front of the card was a very generic Valentine’s Day message, and there was a small poem inside that made Kara chuckle.

“Roses are red, violets are blue,” she read out loud. “Sugar is sweet, and so are you.”

Written right under it in Lena’s own handwritten – messy and not as artsy as one might think – was another small message. Something Lena had written herself.

You’re the most important person in my life.

Kara felt herself tearing up again and this time she sniffed in a weak attempt to keep her tears at bay.

“Oh, no,” Lena whispered beside her. “Don’t cry. I don’t know what to do when you cry.”

The panic in Lena’s voice was far too amusing and the blonde couldn’t help but chuckle watery at her words. Lena was already ready to help her and make things better, but she always freaked out whenever she thought Kara might start crying. Instead of replying, Kara pushed her chair closer to the other woman and wrapped one arm around her back to find comfort in her touch. Her friend allowed her to pull her closer, even if she wasn’t very good at sharing small touches in public.

“Here, open yours.”

Kara slid the box towards her, but held the card behind her palm. She was also sure Lena didn’t have to open the gift to know what it was, but she did it anyway. Inside the box were ten heart-shaped tea bags, to which Kara had attached a string with the flavor described in a small square of paper on the other end.

“You will need to let me know if I can open my own tea industry.”

Lena’s fingers were absently brushing against the bag on top – the one that had ended up looking the best – when she looked back at Kara with a soft expression that made the hero’s heart clench. “Why don’t you come over tonight? You can try one yourself and be the judge.”

“Sounds like a plan,” the blonde wasted no time to agree, although she waited some extra seconds before sliding her card across the table until Lena picked it up.

She hadn’t written anything except for her name and Lena’s – from and to. She had chosen to express herself with a drawing, something she could admit she was good at, since she didn’t think words would ever make any justice. Kara had used several shades of green to draw Lena as she saw her. She was better with a canvas, undeniably, and definitely better painting landscapes or expressing her feelings through shapeless forms, but Lena’s face had turned out pretty great too.

“Green,” she started when Lena said nothing, “because of your eyes.”

“That’s me,” Lena stated in a low voice. Her fingers were hovering above the image like she was too scared to touch it. “That’s me... yesterday.”

Kara huffed a nervous laugh, raising one hand to push her glasses up her nose. “Yes. When you were reading that dino book to me.”

It had become one of her favorite memories with Lena, and that was the one she chose to perpetuate in the card. Her friend had a tiny smile, her face was slightly tilted to the side and she looked totally at peace. Kara reached out, clearing her throat, to open the card so Lena could look inside to the smiley face she had drawn as well. At that, Lena chuckled and turned her head to kiss Kara’s cheek.

“Thank you.”

“Well, it’s not the next Picasso painting, but...”

“Did you ever look at a Picasso painting?”

When Kara walked to the cashier to pay for the cards and gifts using CatCo’s credit card, another employee smiled at her and declared in a chirpy voice: “You and your girlfriend are the cutest couple I ever saw coming in here!”

“Oh, we’re n-“

“Kara, they have dinosaurs pins we can add to your gift!”

Kara’s words died in the back of her mouth and she smiled shyly at the young girl smiling brightly at her before she turned to see Lena walking towards her holding several pins on her hands. For a second, a very brief moment, Kara considered telling her friend that her gift was already pretty good, but then she looked at Lena’s smile and how she was genuinely happy to have found those pins, and decided she would put a dinosaur pin on every surface available if that meant to keep that exact smile in place.

She picked only two.

And thanked the girl behind the counter with a slight blush before walking out with Lena in town. Her friend was answering some texts or emails on her phone, but she put it away as soon as they stepped on the sidewalk.

“Jess told me my first meeting is in two hours. We could go visit that flower shop Maggie told you about if you want.”

Turns out Kara was truly a disaster when it came to caring for plants. She couldn’t even fill the vase she had chosen without the help of one of the employees, while Lena kept laughing at her poor attempts – even if she wasn’t the best at it either. At the end of the torturous fifteen minutes, they both agreed they would let the gardening with Maggie. Even so, she returned to CatCo with a small cactus that she added to her table.

“Nice plant,” Winn commented, looking over his computer – probably to hide his smirk.

“Thanks,” Kara replied and perhaps she was smiling a bit too much.

“So...” her friend was using his teasing voice, the one he used when he was about to make fun of someone but didn’t want it to be obvious. “How’s the article going?”

With her brows furrowed, the blonde sat down on her chair, turned on her computer and pushed the tiny plastic vase to stand beside a photo of Alex, Lena and her that she kept on her desk. “I’m onto something,” she admitted. “I think it’s going to turn out pretty good.”

“Good, good.” There was a pause. Winn kept looking at her and she did her best not to look at him, until he spoke again. “Are we going to talk about you taking Lena Luthor on dates or...?”

“Winn!” Kara gasped, finally glancing up with surprise all over her face. “I’m not-“

“Kara, good morning.” They both turned, both a bit startled, to see James now standing in the corridor in front of their table. “We need to talk about the press conference taking place next month.”

As she rounded her desk to follow James to his office, Kara threw Winn a glare and whispered a rushed: “Not dates!”

Kara wrote her new input to her article on her lunch break, exploring everything you could do with your creativity to create something special for your partner. She tried not to think about Winn’s teasing, or remember about the girl on the stationary shop thinking Lena and her were a couple, but her racing heart as the time to go to Lena’s place approached... Well, that was a bit harder to ignore.

Their next location to visit was... eccentric, for the lack of a better word to describe it. When Lena stepped out of the cab and looked up from the email she was answering, her eyebrows immediately shot up to her hairline in disbelief.

“I know,” Kara said quickly after doing a quick run around the cab to join her on the sidewalk. “I know, but it was on the list.”

“This is...” Lena waved a hand around, clearly not sure what she was supposed to say, before giving up trying to find words to describe the place they were looking at.

It looked... hippie. Definitely not a place she would ever think Lena would visit – or Cat, for the matter – and the colors were crashing in a way that made her eyes hurt a little bit. However, as she had already explained to her friend, it was on Cat’s list. Thankfully, she had managed to make an appointment for the end of the day, just past four, so she wouldn’t have to return to CatCo after that new... experience. Because she was sure it would be one.

“Please, tell me you’re not going to make me see my future,” Lena begged, her brows joining in a grimace. “I’m not in the mood to know how many times my family will try to kill me this year.”

“Okay, first of all, I don’t like when you make jokes about that,” Kara rolled her eyes, sighed and moved to open the door. They would have to walk through a curtain made of flowers to enter and she tried to ignore it the best she could. “But no. That’s not what we came to do here. I don’t even know if they do that.”

“What exactly are we going to do here then?”

“Apparently, they can help you find out your love language.”

“My what?”

They had already entered and a woman behind the counter had taken notice of them, quickly starting to make her way across the store to meet them, so Kara lowered her voice and leaned in a bit closer. “Love language. It’s a whole thing, but, according to this guy, everyone has a language for love and you must know what it’s yours.”

Before Lena could reply, the woman had finally approached them, big smile and clasped hands. “Welcome to All Things Love! How can I help you?”

“Yes, hi! I’m Kara Danvers, from CatCo. I have an appointment with...” Kara took a few seconds to be able to say the name without cracking a smile. “Ginger, I believe?”

“Oh, great! We have been waiting for you. Follow me!”

“Please, don’t,” Lena whispered behind her, but Kara chose to ignore it. She would reward her friend with a nice movie night with all the documentaries she loved some other day, it would be fine.

“I’m sure you remember I told you over the phone that our services are offered all year.”

“You did say that, yes. But there’s an open agenda on Valentine’s Day, right?”

The woman nodded. “Exactly. We only take customers with an appointment, but on Valentine’s Day we make an exception. You would be surprised with the number of people that want our services at this time of the year.”

“I can imagine,” Kara said even if it was a big lie. She couldn’t imagine, not even for a second, how many people actually looked for the store’s services. Not many, she would guess, but maybe she was wrong.

“Here. Ginger is waiting for you,” the woman pushed a very colorful, flowery curtain and pointed inside a room.

Kara entered first, smiling at the small woman sitting on a cushion on the floor, before looking back to make sure Lena was following her. Even if she looked like she would rather be anywhere else, her friend was right behind her. Kara made a mental note to buy her the best wine her money could afford as a thank you once it was all over.

“The love language was first mentioned by Gary Chapman,” Ginger started explaining after they were both sitting on cushions in front of her. There was a small table between them, with a candle right in the middle and three cups of water, which made less sense than the entire flower curtain at the front door. “He found five different love languages and later on published a book about them. We have copies of the book in the front, you can buy it on your way out.”

Lena huffed beside her and Kara prayed the older woman hadn’t heard it. She reached out to place her hand on Lena’s knee, giving it a light squeeze, and making her friend relax a little. She didn’t remove her hand.

“The five love languages are: words of affirmation, physical contact, receiving gifts, quality time and acts of service. Can you imagine what each one of them means?”

Always a good student, Kara was eager to answer. She had, after all, made her research before going there. “Words of affirmation mean you need encouragement, affirmations, appreciation and to be heard. Physical contact means you take comfort from non-verbal use of body language and you enjoy touch as a way to show love. Receiving gifts means you like to receive unexpected gifts, while acts of service are more directed to receiving help or having your load lighten. And quality time means you enjoy having one on one time.”

“Very good,” Ginger agreed with a nod. “There’s much more to it, of course, and you can later study more about it, especially after you find out your own love language and your partner’s.” She used a hand to point at Lena, who had been listening to the whole ordeal with a small frown, and Kara squirmed on her cushion a little bit. “Anyway, I will ask you a series of questions so we can establish what is your love language. Do you want to make any guesses before we start?”

“I think mine might be quality time?” Kara asked more than affirmed, raising her shoulder to her ears for a second before glancing at Lena. “And yours might be receiving gifts?”

By the way Lena raised her eyebrows at her, she didn’t exactly agree with that, but, thankfully, Ginger didn’t give her enough time to argue. “Great. We will see if you were right in the end. Are you two ready?”

While Kara nodded, and the brunette pretended she wasn’t even in the room, Ginger put two pieces of paper in front of her and grabbed a pen. She wrote the name ‘Kara’ in one of them and ‘Her Partner’ in the other one, even if she had asked Lena’s name when they first entered.

“I will ask you a question and give you two options. You will choose the one that works better for you and I will write it down, okay?” She waited for both of them to nod in agreement before getting started. “It’s more meaningful to you when you receive a loving note, a text or an email for no special reason from your loved one, or when you and your partner hug?”

For a brief moment, Kara considered if they should be doing that together. Maybe she should have gone to that one alone. First because Lena was clearly unbelieving, but also because they were only in the first question and it already sounded way too personal.

Lena didn’t answer right away and the silence draws out for a bit too long to be comfortable, so Kara shifted in her place, pushed her glasses up and cleared her throat. “To, uh, to hug.”

Ginger hummed, wrote it down, and looked up at Lena in expectation. The younger woman didn’t say anything, just stared right back, until Kara squeezed her knee – silently pleading her to play along even if she thought it would lead nowhere. Apparently, her telepathic communication was on point because Lena sighed and replied shortly after.

“The first one.”

Another hum, another note, and then another question. “Do you think it’s more meaningful when you can spend alone time with your partner or when your partner does something practical to help you out?”

And so they went. The questions seemed to drag on and on like torture, but they eventually reached the last one. As expected, many of them were very personal, but, thankfully, nothing that she didn’t want her best friend to know. Lena blushed when she answered a few of the questions, even if she made it look like none of that was bothering her.

“I already have the results,” Ginger informed them after a couple of minutes of silence where they tried to ignore the weird tension around the room. “Do you want to know yours first, Lena?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Your love language is words of affirmation,” the woman used her pen to tap against the paper that held Lena’s answers as she looked at her with a tiny smile. “That means expressing affection through spoken affection, praise or appreciation. You like it when your partner voices their feelings, you enjoy vocal communication the most. You feel love when your partner,” at that, she pointed at Kara with her pen, and the blonde tried to pretend she didn’t blush a deep shade of red, “tells you how attractive you look or how proud they are of you, it’s important to you that your partner regularly tell you how much they care. On the flip side, insults or negative comments may cut deeper than most.”

Lena didn’t add any comment after Ginger was done talking, but Kara could see she had her jaw set and was trying very hard not to show any emotions. She kept staring at the woman, unmoving and not speaking, until Ginger nervously looked away and decided to move on.

“Right. So, Kara, your love language isn’t quality time like you thought it would be, although it also has a high percentage. Your love language is actually physical contact.”

“Oh,” Kara breathed out, mostly because she wished to fill the room with something else other than just Ginger’s voice.

“It’s all about intimacy. Holding hands, a hug, laying in your partner’s lap, and many other displays of physical affection. Just as Lena might find comfort in a note from you, you will find that same feeling with a hand through your hair, for example. You like little touches, that make you feel loved and cared for, which is why is so important to know your partner's love language. See? Let’s say that, for whatever reason, Lena is feeling a little down for a few days and you try hugging her, or giving her little kisses, but none of that seems to work. In the end, all she needs are a few nice words from you, some affirmation that you love her and will be there by her side. At the same time, those words might not work with you as well as a hug would.”

Brushing to the side everything Ginger said about them being a couple – even if it made her heart trip over itself a little bit, for some reason she didn’t exactly understand – that made a lot of sense. Kara could see it now. The way Lena didn’t believe Kara enjoyed her company and considered the woman her friend until she said so. How Lena kept thinking no one wanted her at game nights until Winn said they had missed her when she couldn’t make it one day. How her entire body would melt when Kara complimented her.

And, speaking for herself, she did find a lot of comfort in physical touch. After spending 24 years stuck inside a pod lost in space and after losing her entire family, having the comfort of having the ones she loved close to her was very, very welcome. Even so, she kept her opinions to herself. She could feel that Lena wasn’t exactly comfortable discussing any of that, so she kept her analysis to herself.

“How about zodiac signs?” Ginger asked suddenly, snapping Kara out of her thoughts.

“Huh?”

“When were you born, hun?”

Blinking in confusion, Kara replied out of instinct. “September 22.”

Writing it down, Ginger pointed her finger at Lena. “And you?”

Surprisingly, the brunette gave her the answer without much fuss. “October 24.”

“Oh, you have birthdays very close to each other!” Without giving them any time to process whatever she was talking, Ginger pointed the end of her pen to Kara. “You’re a Virgo.” Then she pointed the pen to Lena. “And you’re a Scorpio.”

“What does that mean?” Lena asked and, impressively, she managed to do that without showing all her disbelieve and annoyance.

“It means that you two are a great match!” For some reason, Ginger sounded even more excited than before. She moved on her cushion, put both hands on top of the table and started rambling. “A romance between a Virgo and a Scorpio is used surrounded by companionship and trust. You both like liberty, talking and are always eager to understand the other one’s side as well. Virgos are very organized and practical, they need a strong presence that knows what they want, which Scorpios are very good at. Scorpio is passional and sexual, which ends up attracting the shy Virgo. You literally complete each other!”

Kara had pursed her lips in the middle of her speech, not sure what else she could do. Suddenly, the hand she had kept on Lena’s knees felt very wrong and she slowly removed it while trying not to let it show how embarrassed she was. Once Ginger was done talking, she nodded and tried to find words that would make the other woman stop walking. She wasn’t fast enough.

“And you have one of the best combinations when we talk about sexuality. There’s strong sexual synchrony between Virgos and Scorpios.” Kara could hardly believe how hot her face was feeling at that moment. “You will just need a lot of stamina to keep up with Scorpios’ energy!”

For some reason, that was the moment Lena decided to pronounce herself. With a laugh barely hidden behind her words, she declared: “I don’t that’s a problem for her.”

That was enough to make Kara want to disappear. Maybe fly off Earth and never come back again. Of course, Lena would choose that moment to tease her, to find a way to imply something about her powers, to make her blush even harder.

“Oh, see? The Virgo is getting shy!”

Kara couldn’t have pulled Lena out of there fast enough. After her friend noticed how embarrassed she was, she wasn’t in such a hurry to leave as before, making small comments with Ginger that caused Kara’s face to get hotter and hotter by the second. Eventually, she was able to pull Lena out, one copy of the love language book under her arm, and a terrible wish to be swallowed by a black hole.

“That was fun.”

Kara rolled her eyes. “I miss the time you didn’t even want to step inside that place.”

Lena laughed, looping their arms together as they walked down the street. The touch made the blonde melt away, easily pulling the other woman closer to her. “I’m sorry, but it’s so easy to tease you. Come on, I will buy you ice cream to make it up to you.”

Well, Kara could not say no to ice cream.

“Do you believe any of that is true?” Lena asked once they were walking through a park that would take them to L-Corp. The brunette was holding a small cup with a scoop of ice cream inside, eating the cold treat slowly with a plastic spoon.

Kara, on the other hand, was holding her cone, licking the vanilla ice cream like that was her last meal. “Well, the love language things make sense.”

“A bit, yes,” Lena agreed, even if she made it sound like it pained her to do so. “I would need to read more about it to give it any credit, but I suppose it makes more sense than the zodiac sign thing. Do you believe that the position of the planets when you were born determines what your personality will be like?”

“To be fair,” the hero started after shrugging, “it’s not like I was actually born on September 22. I don’t know when I was born exactly. So, there’s already a flaw there.”

“Didn’t you guys have those types of beliefs back in Krypton?”

Kara wasn’t usually comfortable talking about her home planet with most people. That just brought too many painful memories and made her heartache with longing. However, she had no problem talking with Lena about it, answer her questions and share her memories. She found that to be remarkably pleasant.

“Not really. I mean, we loved studying planets and other things related to the universe, but we didn’t believe that the position of the sun would change anything for us.”

“Oh, no,” Lena said with a fake concerned voice. “How did you found your perfect match then?”

The blonde huffed a laugh and rolled her eyes. “I’m sure the codex machine didn’t use anything like the zodiac signs to match couples.”

Now clearly eager to get more information and knowledge, Lena hummed. “How did it worked?”

“As far as I remember, it took into consideration your family background, your strengths and weaknesses, your life goals and your social status. This way, you would be matched with someone that would fill in the things you were lacking off.” The explanation came easily and Kara rewarded herself with another lick from her ice cream once she was over.

Beside her, Lena remained in silence for a few seconds to digest her words, until she clicked her lips. “Do you think we would be a match there as Ginger is sure we’re a match here?”

“Not a chance,” Kara snickered. “The codex would think I’m way out of your league.”

“Maybe it would think I am out of your league,” the younger woman said without missing a beat. At that, Kara laughed. That was hard to even imagine. “Makes sense to me.” The blonde hummed since she was busy biting into her ice cream and Lena chuckled lowly beside her. “Your love language is your stomach.”

Leaning in with narrowed eyes, Kara waved her ice cream a little bit. “This is touching my stomach. But you already knew that,” she added quickly, throwing one arm around Lena’s shoulder to pull her in. “Because you’re a genius.”

Beside her, Lena opened a shy smile and tried to hide it by glancing down at the now empty cup. Kara laughed, certain that she had hit her target, before letting her go. She enjoyed having Lena in her arms but she still had an ice cream to eat.

Later that day, while she used Lena’s laptop to type more information for her article, Kara couldn’t help but feel eager to read the book she had bought. She kept watching as her friend walked around her own ridiculously big kitchen, making them some tea and finding some biscuits Kara could nibble at, and suddenly felt like, perhaps, she would have faced a lot of consequences for Lena.

Alex always came to her apartment on Saturday morning so they could have breakfast together. It was their thing. That morning, her sister showed up with homemade cookies that Maggie had made the night before and promised to make some pancakes when Kara scrunched her nose to the vegan cookies.

“It’s good for your health,” Alex argued while whisking the batter.

“If I was human, maybe.”

“You didn’t even try it.”

“You sound just like mom,” Kara sighed, rolled her eyes and picked a cookie that she quickly shoved inside her mouth. It wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be, but it was definitely missing something. Not that she would admit it. Her sister would always believe she hated it. “What are you going to do for Valentine’s Day?”

“I thought you would give me some tips,” her sister said with a smirk, glancing at her from the corner of her eyes.

Kara rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Very funny.”

“What?” Alex moved on to grab a pan to start frying the pancakes, although she kept smiling widely to herself. “Will I have to wait to buy the magazine like everyone else? I thought I could have some privileged information since I’m your sister.”

The blonde sighed, resting her chin on the back of one hand while she reached inside the jar of strawberries to play with one of them. “Don’t let Maggie take you to that gardening thing she talked about. I believe my presence there might have killed all the flowers.”

Alex snorted, not missing a beat in her cooking when she turned to give Kara a funny look. “How is Lena taking this massive work you dragged her to? Does she hate you already?”

“Lena is doing a favor for a friend and I appreciate her for it,” the hero argued before biting into a strawberry. “But it’s not all bad. We’re having fun.”

“Hard not to have fun when you’re taking someone into several dates under the pretext that you’re working.”

Kara wasn’t sure she was meant to hear what Alex said since her sister had mumbled under her breath, but she did and it gave her a pause. Frowning, she raised her head to stare at Alex’s back. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing, Kara.” Alex sighed and flipped the first pancake easily, watching as it fell back inside the pan to finish the cooking. “Where are you two going today?” she asked eventually.

“To a music store.”

“Nice. I’m thinking about taking Maggie to dinner for Valentine’s Day, so I have no idea why someone would take their partner to a music store, but nice.”

Kara resisted the urge to roll her eyes again at her sister’s sarcasm, mostly because Alex was now turning around with the first pancake on a plate for her. She wouldn’t risk losing the food. “They make a ‘create your own CD’ thing every year for Valentine’s Day. Couples can create the playlist of their relationship and have their own CD.”

Alex’s face twisted almost like she was impressed. “Not that bad. And you’re just going to go there and make a romantic playlist with your best friend?”

The blonde gave her a weird look, accepting the plate and the fork without much thought. “We’re making a playlist that describes our relationship.” A pause. “Friendship,” she corrected.

Alex raised one eyebrow, though it didn’t have the same effect as Lena, and shot her a pointed glare. “Right.”

Kara stuck her tongue at her sister, decided to focus solely on the food, and the redhead was quickly moving to the stove again. By the time Kara was able to talk again – to voice her thoughts and not give defensives – Alex was sitting in front of her, quietly eating her cookies while scrolling through her phone, acting like she had nothing to worry about in the world.

“Alex?”

“Yes, Kara?”

“I think I might be in love with Lena.”

The most insulting part was that Alex didn’t even look surprised when her dark eyes moved from her phone to stare at Kara. She knew, from the look on her sister’s face, that there were a lot of things she wanted to say at that moment – most of those that would only make Kara feel worse and not help at all.

Instead, Alex swallowed her cookie and, calmly, replied. “I know. Since when do you know?”

Feeling like the biggest idiot that ever walked on Earth, Kara shrugged. The first time the thought occurred to her was last night when she was watching Lena walking around her kitchen holding two heart-shaped tea bags in her hands. She was wearing Kara’s university sweater that was a bit too big for her – she had to either pull the sleeves up or hold them, which made her look way cuter than it should – and she was talking about the latest finding on her research. The thought hit Kara like a kryptonite truck, which was bad because she had to leave as soon as possible to get her mind back on track.

And maybe, just maybe, she should have realized it before. But she had Mon-El and, after that, she didn’t wish to get into another love mess. Lena was also her best friend, something Kara never had before, and she was not expecting to feel anything of the sort for the other woman. In the end, she had just never given it real thought, but now she knew she should have.

She knew Lena for almost two years now and she had totally missed the moment she fell in love with her best friend.

Alex’s hand touching hers pulled her out of her thoughts. When she looked up, her sister's face was the perfect image of understanding and support that made her love Alex even more. The agent squeezed her hand, patted the back of it, and gave her a small smile.

“If that makes you feel better, it took me a while with Maggie too.”

It did made her feel better. Only a little bit.

“And, hey, at least you already took her to all those dates.” Alex’s attempt to cheer her up worked. Kara chuckled and shook her head fondly before stabbing another strawberry with her fork. “And, for what it's worth, I have reasons to believe she has feelings for you too.” Alex paused, either to wait for her to say something or to collect her own thoughts, but she spoke again when it became clear Kara was refusing to add any more to the conversation. “Just take one step at a time, okay? It’s going to be okay.”

Turns out, it was hard taking one step at a time when she stumbled all over her feet when Lena was in her presence. Ironically.

Lena had to be the one to go pick her up that morning, her fancy black Mercedes being a blatant contrast in Kara’s not-so-fancy neighborhood, but people were used to it by now. Kara rushed down the stairs holding a to-go cup of coffee and desperately trying not to look so nervous when she slipped inside Lena’s car.

“Alex made some coffee, thought you might want it.”

The brunette blinked at her with a smile slowly turning her lips up before she accepted the cup. “Good morning.”

Blushing when she realized she hadn’t greeted her friend, Kara chuckled and fiddled with her glasses for a second. “Good morning.”

“And thank you,” Lena added as she put the cup in the holder – because of course her car had one. “Where?”

“I will give you the address.”

The music store had a vintage vibe to it that made Kara instantly love it. Some guitars were hanging on the walls, a piano at the corner, drums right beside it, and several short shelves where they kept all their discs and vinyl. Surprisingly, there were no CDs around, but she recognized some very famous songs on the covers of the disks. As soon as they entered, Lena holding her cup and taking small sips, a guy with long dark hair and a t-shirt from a band Kara didn’t know about approached them.

“Hello! Are you the reporter from CatCo?” he asked.

Kara nodded, offering him a polite smile. “I am, yes. Kara Danvers.”

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Danvers. We spoke on the phone. I’m David.”

“Oh, yes, it was you I spoke with! And, please, call me Kara. My mom is Ms. Danvers,” she chuckled and he joined her. “This is Lena,” she waved a hand to Lena’s general direction, making the other woman look up from the vinyl she had been going through and offer the man a tight smile.

He waved at her before focusing on Kara again. “She must be the girl you’re creating the CD with.”

Kara blushed and gawked at him for a couple of seconds, not sure what she should say about that. Luckily, Lena chose that moment to join the conversation. “Creat a CD? That’s news to me.”

David laughed gently and nodded. “I will explain to you, then. We have several discs and vinyl around, but they’re mostly for show. You and your partner will create the playlist that represents your relationship, so you will have to talk, discuss and reach an agreement, and bring the covers of every song you chose. Then, I will put your CD together and you will have a personalized CD that best describes your relationship.”

As he spoke, Lena slowly raised one eyebrow until she turned her head to stare at Kara with an indecipherable look on her face. For some reason, the blonde gulped nervously, and raised a hand to move her glasses around. She cleared her throat, moved her feet and offered her friend a small smile.

Finally, Lena looked back at David and Kara felt like she could breathe again. “I can’t buy the discs, then?”

He laughed, quite loudly, and Kara felt her body relax again. David nodded, moved a few things behind the counter, and happily replied to Lena’s questioning. “You can, of course. But the ones around the store are empty. You have to make an order and come back another day for it. Making a vinyl or a disc isn’t exactly easy, so we only make them if we have a special order.”

Lena hummed in agreement, nodding mostly to herself, before she turned her head to glance at Kara, a smirk curling her lips. “Are we going to do that or not?”

That’s how Kara found herself flicking through vinyl covers while Lena did the same at the other side of the store rack. She hadn’t been brave yet to suggest any song, although she wasn’t even paying attention to the covers since she kept stealing glances at Lena. Her friend had also not said much since they started going through the options, but she seemed to be at least searching, unlike Kara.

Casually, or hoping it sounded casual, the hero cleared her throat and took a deep breath to gather enough courage to speak. “What would be the name of our band, if we had one?”

Lena glanced up briefly, just a flick of green eyes, before she looked back again with a smile. “A Luthor and a Super.”

Kara laughed, shaking her head, feeling all tension roll out of her body. “That’s not a band.”

“Fine. We can call it The Danvers Vengeance and let Alex be a part of it.”

At that, the blonde threw her head back making her laugh reverberate all around the almost empty store, but she didn’t care. Not when Lena was in front of her biting her lip to stop herself from imitating her friend.

“Alex would totally be the guitar player.”

Lena nodded. “Truth. You could be the singer. You have an amazing voice.”

“I knew you liked karaoke night,” Kara teased in a weak attempt to pretend she wasn’t blushing at the small praise. “What would you play?”

“I wouldn’t play. I would be the manager.”

“Of course you would,” rolling her eyes fondly, Kara scoffed.

Lena looked up with a little smile that made her dimple appear for a second, but said nothing in return. Kara couldn’t help but stare for a while, probably too long, before she snapped herself out of it by shaking her head and looking back at the discs. Her eyes caught up the cover of a song she heard a couple of times and pulled it up with a cheer.

“What about this one?” She turned it around so Lena could see it and waited in expectation to watch her friend’s reaction.

As expected, Lena rolled her eyes and snorted. “Galway girl?”

 “What?” Kara asked with her laugh barely hidden behind the simple word. “I think it’s fitting.”

“First of all, I’m from Dublin, not Galway,” Lena declared with a huff. “And you’re not an English man.”

“I knew you listened to Ed Sheeran,” Kara commented lightly and teasingly, only to make Lena roll her eyes at her again. She put the cover back, smiling down and holding back a giggle, and then shrugged. “And I don’t think we will find a song that talks about an alien that landed on Earth inside a pod.”

“This might be close enough,” her friend said suddenly, taking a cover out and holding it up for Kara to see.

It was time for the blonde to roll her eyes. “Very funny.”

“What?” Lena imitated her voice and question from before. “It says E.T.”

“I take full offense of Katy Perry for that song, just so you know.”

“Oh,” Lena cooed, putting the cover back and reaching out to squeeze Kara’s arm. “Don’t take it seriously. She didn’t mean to you could poison her with a kiss.”

“So you listen to Ed Sheeran and Katy Perry,” she quickly said, trying to interrupt Lena’s condescending tone.

“Honey, the lyrics are literally on the back.”

Turning a random cover around, Kara saw that the lyrics were, in fact, on the back. Signing, she tried to cover her distraction with a shrug. “You’re not denying it.”

Lena giggled softly, shook her head and went back to work. It took Kara almost two minutes, but she eventually found something that could work. Trying to fight back the heat that threatened to rise from her chest, she cleared her throat and slowly raised the cover to look at it. She didn’t turn it around at first, a bit embarrassed to show it just yet.

“Kara?”

She slowly, so very slowly, turned the cover for Someone to Stay so Lena could also see it. Then, feeling her heart beating a bit too fast for someone who was just trying to put together a playlist with their best friend, Kara gulped. “Not sure if we could use this one, but... Yeah, I don’t know.”

“I think it’s a good choice,” Lena declared after a few seconds, nodding and smiling affectionately. Cheeks red and on fire, Kara put the cover to the side and started searching again, only to be interrupted a few seconds later when her friend laughed. “We need to put this one.”

“Not funny,” Kara said after she looked at the cover the brunette had raised.

“Why not?” Lena laughed again, turning it to look at the cover with a worrying fondness in her eyes. “I’m in constant need of a hero.” She turned the disc so she could read the lyrics on the back and started listing things while her index finger slid through the carton. “And you’re strong, and fast, and, look, they even mention your cousin!”

“Please, don’t tell me it’s going to take Clark to sweep you off your feet.”

“Nah,” Lena shrugged as she started putting the cover for Holding out for a Hero back in its place. “Maybe Supergirl, though.”

Not sure what to make out of that comment, Kara only blinked and slowly ducked her head to keep her search for their next song. David had said they needed at least ten and she was starting to feel they would spend all day inside the store.

“You’re right, we shouldn’t put a song that was in a kids movie in our CD.”

“Damn, I was going to suggest Hakuna Matata.”

“’I just can’t wait to be king’ is more my style anyway.”

They shared a laugh and, once it had died out, silence fell around them again. For five more minutes, they looked through more and more covers, deciding to separate the ones they liked and discuss later to spare some time. They teased each other a few more times - Kara trying to make Lena admit she listened to pop music while Lena showed every song she found that talked about some sort of hero – until they had gone through every option the store had. When the brunette glanced at her watch, she noticed it was almost lunchtime and said she didn’t wish to spend all day there. She suggested then that they chose five songs each, without telling the other, hand them to David and come back another day to pick the final CD.

With her stomach begging for food and a wish to forget about all the songs she wished she could have picked, Kara quickly agreed and started sorting out the covers she had put to the side. She was able to narrow them down to five faster than Lena, so she walked over to David to explain her plan. She thanked him, not really sure why she was going on with it – she could write her article without actually making a CD with Lena, but whatever – and then waited for Lena to be done.

She walked out to study the instruments spread around the store for a few minutes and to text Alex to let her know she would bring chips for game night, and, once she came back to herself, Lena was walking towards her to let her know they could go. Lena drove them to Noonan’s for lunch, then to the supermarket to buy a few things for game night, before dropping Kara off in her apartment complex and driving away.

She had a few hours before she had to start getting ready to go to Alex’s for their friends' reunion, so Kara took that time to write about the days' experience, making it very clear that you should show up with a setlist already in mind so the whole thing wouldn’t take forever to be done. She also mentioned it had the potential to be one of the most romantic experiences anyone could have if you both reach an agreement about the songs. Once she was done typing, Kara took a deep breath, paused for a couple of seconds, and then let her head fall against the table, hitting her forehead a bit too harshly.

“I’m so screwed.”

They had six dates. Six dates where they tried out the craziest programs for couples to do on Valentine’s Day. Six dates that made Kara realize she wanted them to be true. She wanted to take Lena out on dates, real dates, where they wouldn’t be there because Kara had work to do. Dates that Lena would enjoy and where, perhaps, she could hold her hand and kiss her lips at the end of the night.

(think about kissing Lena’s lips made her blush for over five minutes before she tried to distract herself by texting Winn to ask what he was up to)

It might have taken her a while – and five dates that weren’t really dates – but she finally understood the reason why her stomach flipped, her heart raced and her nerves hit the ceiling whenever she was around Lena. Thinking back, it should have taken her less time. It’s not like she had never fallen in love before. Because she had and she knew how it felt like.

She had closed her eyes to the possibility of loving Lena like that.

But now she knew she did. And she had no clue what to do now that she knew it.

“Just tell her, little Danvers,” Maggie had said when she showed up to have lunch with her and Alex in their shared apartment. “Hero up and tell the girl how you feel.”

“I don’t even know how she feels about me,” she had whined like a contradicted child.

“And you never will if you don’t tell her, will you?” The detective looked very smug for being able to say those words, so Kara rolled her eyes and decided to focus on her only task to help with lunch – put the ice cubs in their cups. “Look, little Danvers, it’s okay if you’re not ready to say anything yet. Sometimes you just need a while to understand things. It’s fine. But, if you want things to change between Lena and you, you will need to say something to her.”

“But, if Lena feels the same, she would have said something already, wouldn’t she?”

“Aren’t you her first best friend in, like, forever?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

Maggie turned her head to stare at Alex, that had been quietly cutting some onions beside her while the shorter woman mixed something inside a pan. They shared a look, a meaningful one that made it clear they were silently communicating, before they both returned to their shores without saying a word. Kara huffed in frustration, certain that they were doing that just to make her feel worse.

Eventually, Maggie started talking again. “When you figure out things, you decide whether to tell her or not. Until then... Just stop being a useless gay.”

“What are the plans for today, anyway?” Alex asked, interrupting whatever reply Kara was ready to give.

That was a problem. They were supposed to visit the last location on Cat’s list – and, really, how did her boss even found out about any of those places? It was a diner, located in a quiet neighborhood, that allowed couples to make their own pancakes. To make draws and other things they wanted. According to their Instagram page, it was supposed to be a ‘romantic, funny and thrilling experience’, that would help you to ‘explore new things with your partner’.

Well, Kara was not known for denying any chance to get food.

However, something didn’t feel right in the pit of her stomach. She couldn’t go on another fake date with Lena when all she wanted was to take her to a real one. She would be lying, tricking Lena into something her friend had no idea about. She couldn’t, wouldn’t, lie to her friend.

That’s when, that night when Lena knocked on her door, Kara was still wearing her sweatpants and an old DEO shirt.

“Hey, why are you not dressed? Thought we weren’t done with the CatCo thing yet.”

Kara scratched behind her ear and chuckled nervously – her eyes kept trailing down Lena’s dark jeans, white tank top, and the leather jacket for some reason. “I thought we could change plans a little bit?” It sounded like a question, but she couldn’t help it. “Stay in? I stopped at the supermarket and bought a frozen lasagna. I have some of that wine you like.”

“Well, you already convinced me with the stay in part,” Lena replied with a wink and a smirk before she stepped inside Kara’s studio apartment.

She removed her jacket and Kara put it behind the door with the DEO hoodie she had used earlier that week, and also kicked out her shoes even if the blonde said she didn’t have to.

“The floor is cold, come one!”

“Nonsense,” Lena waved a hand dismissively. “So, how can I help with our fancy dinner?”

Kara had walked back to the kitchen, where she started taking the lasagna out of the package, a grimace firmly in her face. “Sorry. Wish I could cook something, but I also don’t want to poison you.”

“It’s okay,” Lena said, her voice gentle and smooth sounding right behind her. She had heard her friend moving, following her, but she was not expecting Lena to put a hand on the small of her back. “Why don’t I make us some desserts? I can make chocolate mousse. I know you love it.”

Smiling despite her nerves for having Lena so close, Kara nodded eagerly. “You’re a woman after my heart.”

“Tell me if it’s working.” Before Kara could even start to process what that could possibly mean, Lena was taking a step to the side and moving to her fridge so she could start looking for ingredients.

“Do you want to change? Sorry for not telling you about the change of plans before. You can pick something to wear. You know where my wardrobe is.”

Lena returned a few minutes later wearing some old basketball shorts that she was sure belonged to Alex before it was even hers and she had also put on a hoodie, that she had to pull the sleeves up to her elbows. When she walked back, Kara had already put the lasagna in the oven and served them both a glass of wine. She reached one out for Lena, held the other one to herself, and leaned against the counter when her friend moved to put the butter in the microwave.

“Is there a particular reason why you decided not to go out tonight?” Lena asked as she also leaned against the opposite counter from Kara and took a sip from the wine. “I thought the outline for the article was tomorrow.”

“Tuesday, actually,” the blonde shrugged. “And I will still be able to finish it. Just wasn’t feeling like visiting a restaurant and burning pancakes live for everyone to see.”

“Oh, so we were going to eat pancakes?”

She shrugged again, looked down at her wine, and sighed. “Anyway, you’re getting frozen lasagna instead, so...”

“I hope it’s not frozen after it comes out of the oven,” Lena replied with a small chuckle and Kara raised her eyes at the sound. There was a tug in her chest when she saw the single dimple on Lena’s cheek, but she ignored it.

Before Kara could think about something to say, the microwave made a loud beep and the brunette turned around to open it and take the butter out. Kara watched, in complete fasciation, as the woman started pouring small pieces of chocolate inside the bowl. She always found the cooking process to be intriguing, but having Lena in her kitchen, walking around like she knew the inside of her apartment like the back of her hand, was certainly something else.

(and how, exactly, did she miss it before?)

“Here, you can beat the egg whites until they’re foamy,” Lena said after having separated the egg yolk from the whites in different bowls. She handed one to Kara, giving her a small smile when the blonde picked it up. Then, she leaned over to grab a fouet from one of the lowest drawers and also gave it to Kara. “Careful, if you beat it too much we’re going to have a problem.”

With the clear warning, Kara tried to roll her eyes to look annoyed, but the smile on her lips was a bit too big to be seen as such. She started to beat the egg whites gently, aware of what the CEO had told her, and watched as Lena added one egg yolk at the time in the chocolate and butter mixture. Her hoodie was a bit too big for Lena and the sleeve of her left arm kept rolling down when she started mixing the batter, and her friend would have to stop, roll it back up, and keep going. Every time it happened, Kara would smile.

Finally, after Lena huffed in annoyance, Kara put her bowl down on the counter and approached her. She nudged her side until Lena let go of the spoon she was using, then she gently turned her around to face her and grabbed the cuff of one of the sleeves. Kara folded it back once, made sure it was smooth, before doing that again and again, revealing pale skin underneath it until she reached Lena’s elbow. Once in a place she was satisfied with, she pulled it up a bit more and moved to do the same process with the other sleeve.

She could feel Lena’s eyes burning on the side of her face – questioning, perhaps – but she said nothing. For once in her life, her cheeks also didn’t turn pink and she was able to finish her task, pulling her glasses up her nose once she was done. She offered Lena a small, shy smile as she stepped back to go back to her task, but made a conscious effort not to look straight to her face.

Kara wondered if that burning desire to kiss Lena was always there in the back of her mind and she had never noticed it before, or if it was a new development now that she became aware of her feelings.

They resumed their work in silence, and Kara tried to pretend she didn’t notice the tension that suddenly fell above them. She whisked the egg whites for a few more seconds until she silently approached Lena to show her work, asking if it was good. Her friend nodded and took the bowl from her hands to put it aside.

 “Can you get me the sugar?”

In a blur, Kara crossed her kitchen to grab the sugar jar, handing it to her friend a second later. Lena whispered a quiet thanks, added some sugar into the mix and drank another sip of her wine. Behind her, Kara took a deep breath and started to wish she had canceled their night. To stop herself from doing something she would end up regretting, she moved to the living room, where she picked something up from the coffee table.

“Hey, guess what I have.”

Lena looked over her shoulder, curiosity shining behind green orbs, and innocently asked: “What?”

Kara raised the plastic square to Lena’s eye level and smiled when her friend’s eyes widened a little. “I had some time yesterday, so I went back to pick it up.”

It was a bit of a lie. After Lena left her in her apartment and she found herself alone, Kara couldn’t stop wondering, thinking, daydreaming. She wrote for a bit, took a shower and tried to distract herself with other things, but she eventually gave up the idea and went back to the music store to see if David had finished their CD already.

They had picked up five songs each, and there was that first song Kara suggested that they both agreed on, so that was eleven songs. Right before finishing with the recording, David asked her if she didn’t want to add anything else and, completely on impulse, she said yes, picked something and then walked from the store with the CD in her hands. David said something about some couples using photos as the cover so it wouldn’t just be a blank front with nothing on it, but she had decided it was a step too far and just put it to the side once she got home.

She had no idea why she decided that was a good idea to remember she had the CD. Well, she did know. She needed something to distract them, to try to break the tension that had fallen around them, anything to make her think about something else that wasn’t Lena wearing her clothes and cooking in her kitchen like it was an everyday thing.

(like she wanted it to be an everyday thing)

“Well, did David think we have a future as music producers?” Lena joked, turning back to the mousse, and Kara missed seeing her smile already.

The blonde shook her head, opened the plastic cover and took the CD out carefully. She walked to the small stereo Alex had given her when she moved, put it on and pressed start. She hadn’t used the stereo in quite some time, having moved to the digital platforms like everyone else, but it still worked and soon enough the room was filled with the first notes of the song they chose together. David hadn’t said, she hadn’t asked and there was no information in the back, so Kara didn’t know how the songs were set, but that was a good start.

“He did say something about Beyonce asking for us.”

Lena laughed. “Oh, really?”

Chuckling to herself, Kara walked back to the kitchen. She grabbed the wine bottle to fill up Lena’s glass and add a little more to herself, before she leaned against the counter right beside the CEO to watch her work.

“How were things today? What did you do? And don’t say work. It’s Sunday.”

“Okay, I won’t.”

“Lena,” she whined, closing her eyes and pouting.

“What?” The woman replied only a little defensive. “There’s no rest for the wicked.”

“Wicked?” Kara wondered out loud. “There’s not a wicked bone inside your body.” She smiled when she noticed the light blush on Lena’s cheek and leaned over to press a kiss where a dimple was threatening to show up. Her friend squirmed, moving her weight to her other feet and ducking her head, but didn’t say anything. Thinking she might have stepped a little too far into Lena’s comfort zone, Kara leaned away again. Remembering something Ginger had said – and feeling just a bit ridiculous for listening to anything the weird woman told them – Kara tried another approach. “So, uh, I liked your jacket. Don’t think I ever saw you wearing a leather jacket before.”

“You also never saw me wearing a fencing garment, but I practiced it during high school.”

Kara rolled her eyes at her friend's sarcasm. “Of course you would do fencing. No surprise the codex machine would immediately rule me out for you.”

“Or maybe it wouldn’t,” Lena declared, sounding just a bit hesitant. She moved to drop the finished mousse into a larger bowl, carefully putting spoonfuls of it at a time. “Maybe it would think my killer biceps would be a great match to your brilliant brain.”

“Oh, please.”

“You were literally designed to be the next big scientist of your planet.”

“That’s not what I was complaining about,” Kara teased and poked Lena’s arm with her finger. “I was talking about the ‘killer biceps’.”

The brunette gasped, putting everything down to fully stare at her with wide green eyes and shock spread all over her face. Kara was starting to think she had overstepped, that she should apologize and say she found Lena’s arms to be lovely – and all of her, really – when the shorter woman cracked a smile. “But I did fencing!”

They both stared at each other for a few seconds before bursting in laughs. Throwing her head back, Kara’s fingers wrapped around Lena’s arm without her realizing, but the other woman was also leaning in her direction. Lena bumped her with her shoulder before grabbing her spoon again and shaking her head.

“Let me finish this or we won’t be eating it tonight.”

Kara decided to set up the table while Lena finished the mousse, ignoring the weird look her friend gave her when she removed her laptop from it to put on a tablecloth. It was, perhaps, because they had never eaten on Kara’s small kitchen table before. They would always eat on the couch or sitting on the floor to use the coffee table, but never in the kitchen – like normal people. Kara pretended not to notice her confusion and went on her task to lay down plates and cutleries - because she did not know how to explain even to herself why eating in the kitchen made it look like a damn date and why she would want that. She almost wished she had a flower to put in there too, quickly turned down the idea to add a candle and just decided to move the wine bottle to the center instead.

“Lasagna is almost done,” she said after Lena closed the fridge.

A silence fell around them again after the brunette hummed in agreement, and Kara couldn’t help but listen back to the song playing softly on the radio. It had changed from the first one to one she had chosen and was now playing one she knew wasn’t her choice. She cleared her throat when the lyrics hit her, but tried not to think too much of it (‘when you leave, the sun goes, so take my heart with you now, no need to say what I know, just be with me’).

Maybe it would be fine to take the lasagna out five minutes before time.

They made small talk while they ate. Lena graciously said nothing about the lingering taste of processed food – although it occurred to Kara that it could be the very first time Lena ever tried on any type of frozen food. The wine didn’t affect Kara in any way, and she knew it was one of Lena’s favorite, so she let her friend drink most of what was left of the bottle. By the time Lena was done eating, her cheeks were a little pink and her smile was slightly bigger, even if Kara could tell she wasn’t exactly intoxicated.

Other songs had played while they ate, some Kara knew had been her idea, others that she chastised herself for trying to read between lines (‘I know I don’t let you see, that you mean the world to me’ and ‘you fill my lungs with sweetness, and you fill my head with you’ were the hardest ones to brush to the side). They kept talking while Kara ate the rest of the lasagna, chewing slowly to extend the moment to the max, but, eventually, Lena started holding back little yawns, her jaw looking tense while she tried to keep them inside.

Kara smiled, knowing it was the wine added with the lasagna, and made sure to speed up just a little bit. Next, they ate some of the mousses while Kara kept telling Lena how damn good that tasted – and it wasn’t a lie, she could say that much. By the time Kara had devoured the mousse, Lena could barely keep her eyes open and she finally convinced her friend that they should sleep. She shut down Lena’s complaints saying they could clean the kitchen in the morning, even if she knew she would superspeed clean the second Lena turned her back, and the CEO had to agree when she yawned two times in a row.

“Go, go, go,” Kara said with a laugh as she pushed her chair back. “Go brush your teeth and put on my pajamas, if you want.”

Lena’s forehead furrowed deeply and a small pout showed up on her lips. “These clothes are comfy.”

That’s when she knew Lena was truly about to sleep on her feet. Lena never shortens any words unless her brain was too tired. She shooed Lena from the kitchen and watched her go to the bathroom down the hall, before she cleaned the entire kitchen literally in a blink of an eye. Once she was done, she looked around, trying to find a way to occupy herself until Lena was done so she could also change and brush her teeth. The CD was still playing, although Kara didn’t know if it had started again at some point or not.

The song changed while she was trying to debate if she could make an excuse to sleep on the couch or not. She immediately recognized that extra song she added at the last minute and was suddenly very happy that Lena wasn’t around to hear it. That had been a silly idea, she should have known.

With a deep sigh, Kara pushed herself from the counter she was leaning against and started making the way to her wardrobe to pick up some pajamas for herself. She was in the middle of the hallway when Lena opened the bathroom door and stared right at her. There was still sleep lingering in her eyes and muscles, she had a smear of toothpaste in the corner of her mouth and she was looking oh, so small wearing Kara’s clothes, and that shouldn’t be a thought that occurred to the hero then, but she couldn’t stop thinking it was a sight she wanted to see every night and every day for the rest of her life.

She approached the other woman more out of instinct, raising her thumb to brush against her skin to clean up the toothpaste but not really looking at it. Kara was staring right into green eyes, with enough intensity to burn, and Lena seemed to stare right back at her, although only half awaken.

Since she was watching her so closely, Kara had a front roll view as realization slowly started to draw to Lena. Her ears must have picked on the song, or it was Kara’s proximity that woke her up, but the brunette’s eyes started to round bit by bit until she was staring at the reporter with watery, big, green eyes.

Gulping, the hero took a step back, letting her hand fall to the side, and started looking for something to say. There was no way she would share a bed with Lena that night, so maybe she should start there. Find an excuse, anything that would make her accept without questioning her decision of sleeping on the couch. But she knew Lena and she knew her friend wouldn’t let her get away so easily.

Like she could just hear her thoughts, Lena’s eyes narrowed. Kara raised her hand to fiddle with her glasses and looked down at her silly SpongeBob socks. She heard Lena approaching, she could hear her feet hitting the ground softly, her heartbeat getting closer, and she held her breath in anticipation.

For good or bad, that would be a life-changing moment.

When Lena’s fingertips touched her jaw, just a brush at first, Kara thought she would never be able to breathe again. But then those same fingertips started going up her jaw, touching her cheek, cupping the side of her face, and with her eyes still down, she saw as Lena got on the tip of her toes to get higher.

And then they were kissing.

In a real life-changing moment. That type of kiss. The type where you instantly knew nothing would ever be the same. The ones where your entire body tingles, when you can feel your toes curling and every muscle in your body tensing and then relaxing, when you can’t think about anything else but the lips touching yours. Kara wound later describes that moment as if her body had just found another gravity to hold her to the ground, or like the last piece of the puzzle that had been missing was finally found and put into place.

Lena’s lips were soft, a bit humid, and she tasted like mint, wine and chocolate. Kara’s hand had found their place on different places – one at Lena’s hips and the other one on the back of her neck – while the brunette had cupped her face and was pulling her closer, closer, closer. She felt her eyes tearing up a little bit and was thankful that they were close. Crying on their first kiss would not cause a good impression.

“I love you,” Kara whispered as soon as she pulled away to allow Lena to breathe, since it didn’t seem like the human was going to do that anytime soon. Kara said the words and leaned for a quick peck, then another one and another one, not wanting to stop now that they started. “I love you.”

“Good,” Lena whispered back, sounding so in awe that Kara couldn’t help but smile brightly. “Because I have been in love with you for almost two years now and that was starting to get weird.”

The hero chuckled, leaned for another peck and, feeling like the luckiest alien in the universe, wrapped both arms around Lena’s body and pulled her in for a hug. The woman’s feet raised from the ground, but she hugged Kara just as tightly, hiding her face in the crook of the blonde’s neck. They stayed like that for a few seconds, until she felt the shorter woman start shaking with a laugh in her arms.

“Did we just had our first kiss with Stevie Wonder singing in the background?”

Kara giggled. She was 100% sure that Lena could hear her heart beating against her chest like it was trying to reach her, but she didn’t mind. She was too happy to care about anything but the amazing feeling of having just kissed Lena Luthor. “Was it a bit too extra?”

“Just don’t tell your sister,” Lena joked back.

The CEO pulled her head back finally and Kara couldn’t resist kissing her again. When they pulled away again, Kara kissed her forehead fondly. “Will you be my valentine?”

“Every year.”

“I admit that this isn’t the worse thing I ever read,” Cat stated as soon as Kara walked inside her office after hearing her name being loudly called, “but it’s definitely not on the top one thousand best ones either.”

Which, in Cat Grant's book, was a compliment.

Kara took it with a small nod. “Thank you.”

“I mean, it’s missing something,” her boss pointed at the printed version of her article with a pen and a frown, and Kara knew what she meant. “But it’s readable, nonetheless.”

Which was, surprisingly, another compliment.

“People can make pancakes at home,” Kara argued.

“I just don’t agree with the title, I think-“

“The title is not open for debate,” Kara interrupted Cat as gently as she could – because she still wanted her job. “It has... It has a personal reason.”

Cat arched one eyebrow at her, clearly not impressed yet totally unhappy with her words. “ ‘I called to tell you I love you’ has a personal meaning for you?”

Unable to hold back a smile, Kara nodded almost eagerly. “It does, yes.”

Cat remained in silence for a few seconds, seizing her up, before she clicked her lips and waved a hand. “Fine, you can keep the title. Just add what are your plans for this year’s Valentine’s then. People who read it until the end will want to know. And that is not up for a debate. Come up with anything, I don’t care.”

“Oh, actually, that’s something I wanted to talk with you about.”

“What?”

“I wanted to know if you have any other date ideas to share with me.” Kara smiled. “My girlfriend liked the other ones.”