Chapter Text
High school was a time when no one stayed single for more than a couple of months—and no relationship lasted more than a couple of weeks. Well, at least it seemed like that to Kara, because whenever she turned her head she saw a couple snuggled up in a corner. Especially as summer approached, everyone started to couple up for what she assumed a “fun summer fling.”
Of course, that was only true for the “popular” students of the school. As for herself… It was the end of freshman year, and she hadn’t even gone on one date with anyone.
She couldn’t help voicing that thought to her best friend during lunch time, when the newest couple of the school—James and Lucy, who seemed to spend every bit of their free time together—passed by them, giggling. “Do you ever feel like everyone around you is in a relationship and you’re just the third wheel to all of them?”
Mon-El lifted his head from the blob of gray matter that school called mashed potatoes to look at her. He lifted his brow. “What?” She sighed, fiddling with her fork. The question had made her lose her appetite, despite not having anything to eat since that morning.
“Look at them,” she gestured around with her head subtly, showing Mon-El all those couples doing the coupley things…couples did that she didn’t even have the chance to experience before. “Almost everyone is in a relationship except me, and that isn’t even the worst part. I’ve never even met anyone that I could potentially see myself in a relationship with.” She rested her cheek on her hand with a grunt. “It makes me feel like I’m gonna be alone forever.”
“You’re not gonna be alone forever—“ Mon-El tried to say, but he was silenced by Kara’s glare. He lifted his hands innocently. “Hey, I’m just saying. It’s just the first year of high school. No one expects you to meet the love of your life now.”
“I know that,” Kara murmured, pursing her lips with distaste. She couldn’t help staring at James and Lucy. “But a relationship wouldn’t be too bad, you know?” She absentmindedly played with the strands with her hair until she heard Mon-El chuckle. She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. “What?”
“I was just going to say that you don’t need a relationship to be happy—which I still believe, by the way—but I’ve never been in a relationship either, so…who knows? Maybe if you find the right person, a relationship can make you the happiest version of yourself.” Kara arched her brow and straightened up. Mon-El had never been in a relationship? Well, that was news to her.
“You’ve never been in a relationship?” she couldn’t help asking. He stopped eating—seriously, how was he eating that thing anyway—to look up at her, his brow arched.
“Is that weird?” She blinked, shaking her head immediately.
“No, that’s not what I meant. I just thought… I mean, you’re objectively kinda hot and, I might be a bit biased here, but you’re also really nice. I just assumed… Whatever,” she tried to dismiss it when she saw that he’d started to grin. “Forget I said anything.”
“You think I’m hot?”
“Objectively hot—“
“And nice?” She threw him a piece of napkin, which landed on the table before even reaching him.
“Just shut up, you idiot.” She returned to her food, which became cold and even more uneatable in the last couple of minutes. She tried to ignore Mon-El when he reached forward to hold her hand.
“Hey, if you’re wondering, I find you objectively hot, too.” She snorted, still keeping her eyes on her plate. She tried to suppress her smile, even as he started to play with the sleeve of her sweater. “And nice. And the bestest best friend anyone can have.”
“Now you’re just sucking up to me,” she objected, lifting her head and shooing her hand away. He shrugged.
“You never said that wasn’t allowed.” She glared at him. “If you’re waiting for me to apologize, I won’t. I was being completely serious.” She threw him another napkin. He just laughed.
Kara scowled at him, turning to her plate to ignore him again, but his words stopped her yet again. “But I think this gives us a perfect opportunity.” She had to look at him with that, even though every part of her wanted to be stubbornly mad at him. She arched her brow. She already felt like she wouldn’t like where this was going. “We could make a bet.”
“A bet about…what exactly?” His grin looked almost too big to be real.
“About having a relationship. You know, which one of us is gonna get a boyfriend or a girlfriend first. And the loser would have to do something for the winner… What?” he asked when Kara snorted. She shook her head.
“That’s ridiculous, Mon-El. I could ask a random person to pretend to be my boyfriend to win the bet, but it wouldn’t mean anything.” Which was correct. It wasn’t as if no one had ever asked her out. She just never liked anyone enough to say yes.
“Exactly.” Mon-El smugly crossed his arms and leaned back as he said that. “It doesn’t matter that you’ve never had a relationship or you don’t have one now. What’s important is to be with someone that you actually like, and actually likes you back.” She almost wanted to roll her eyes at that. Well, duh. Of course she didn’t want to have a relationship just to have a relationship. But it would be nice to have someone she could lean on whenever she needed it.
“I know that, dummy. But you can’t tell me it wouldn’t be good to be in a loving relationship.” She arched her brow to challenge him. He opened his mouth to fire a retort…but stopped short. He sighed.
“Touché.” She couldn’t help grinning…until an idea popped into her mind. It was so ridiculous that in any other situation she would’ve face-palmed herself for even thinking about it, but for right now…it was perfect. She leaned forward and crossed her arms over the table.
“You know what, I’ll make you a bet,” she said, stopping Mon-El as he was about to throw a forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth. He narrowed his eyes.
“I don’t like the sound of that.” She smirked. Oh, he wouldn’t like this at all.
“How about we make that bet of yours about who’ll be in a loving relationship first?” Mon-El seemed almost exasperated as he opened his mouth, so she jumped forward before he could shut her down. “It doesn’t have to be something serious, or something like a competition. It can be like…like a fun thing between us.”
“Kara…”
“The winner could get something really big,” she offered, trying to coerce him into accepting. “Come on, Mon-El,” she said, poking his tray. “It’ll be fun. We could determine the rules and all… It would be like…like it has to last for more than a month. Two months,” she corrected herself, pointing at him when he started to object. “And it has to be real too, so that eliminates finding someone to pretend to be your boyfriend and girlfriend. And you should like them, at least enough to see a future with them.” She pursed her lips and widened her eyes, putting on the expression her sister Alex called “puppy-dog-eyes”. According to Alex, no one could say no to them. “Don’t tell me we can’t have fun with this, Mon-El.”
Alex was proved right when Mon-El sighed and shook his head. “Okay, fine, as ridiculous as it is… I accept your bet.”
Kara couldn’t help grinning from ear to ear with his answer. Oh, this was going to be so much fun.