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Lena casually lets it slip one day.
They’re having dinner on some terrace, she’s not even sure where in the world they are, but the view is magnificent. They’re surrounded by jungle, overlooking the ocean at sunset. It’s almost as nice as the company. Lena’s not even sure how it comes up, just that in between courses of farm-to-table fare she finds herself mentioning that Pretty in Pink is her favorite movie.
“Oh, really?” Kara tilts her head, in that way she does, “I’ve never actually seen it. What’s it about?”
“Just a high school rom-com about social status.” Lena responds with a shrug, like all of her feelings towards the film are trivial. Like she hadn’t found the movie at just the right moment in her life, to help her form an inner strength she didn’t know she could be capable of when surrounded by the family she had. Like she didn’t find aspects of herself identifying with the three main characters. Like this silly movie, from a long time ago, wasn’t a deeply personal secret that only three people in her entire life knew.
There’s got to be something in Kara’s Kryptonian DNA that gets Lena to just blurt things out without second thought or hesitation, things that only catch in her brain hours later when Kara’s no longer around. Things that get caught in an endless cycle of anxiety inducing thoughts until she can properly contain them into her Kara box. It’s not that they’re keeping secrets from each other, not anymore, but…
They’re still working on getting back to where they were, and maybe Lena’s subconscious let the movie slip as a trust fall exercise. What will Kara do with this information? How will she hold it? Would she understand everything Lena gets from the movie, unlike the other people in her life who know?
Eventually, Lena forgets it happened.
They get back and there’s Supergirl emergencies, L-Corp mergers and acquisitions, and getting to tinker around in the DEO labs creating technology she’s only ever dreamed of. Lena’s fairly sure she’s found the cure for the common cold, with what she’s been working on with Alex, when over the comms they hear that they’ve finally found Lex’s trail and everything gets forgotten. From then on her brain is an endless loop of Find and capture Lex. Find and capture Lex. Find and capture Lex.
…and then they do.
They save the world (again), and Lena’s so caught up in the euphoria of being a part of the team that did it, that she didn’t have to perform any subterfuge to help make it happen. Well, not with her team, her friends. She’s riding high, and wants to celebrate it all being over, so Lena invites the team over for a celebratory dinner. She’s still riding high on that euphoria when she decides that she wants to make it all herself, and by scratch.
There’s only a mild panic when it eventually sets in how many people will be coming over, and how much food she’ll need to prepare. Especially when there’s a Kryptonian in attendance, but the euphoria of it all being done takes over again. She’s always enjoyed cooking, it’s a beautiful combination of science and intuition that has served a somewhat therapeutic release mechanism. She puts on her Soul playlist, rolls up the sleeves on Kara’s NCU sweatshirt, pours herself a glass of wine, and gets to work.
It’s not long before she’s singing and dancing along to her music. She’s not even really paying attention to what song is playing, just singing and chopping with an occasional booty shake that sometimes matches the rhythm of the song. Lena feels a sudden gust of wind, and turns around to find Kara sliding across the floor in her direction.
“Kara? You’re early, what–” Kara just smiles and starts dancing, and it’s then that the current song playing clicks in her head. If it hadn’t, it certainly would’ve clicked the moment Kara starts singing with the song, along with dance moves Lena recognizes. A certain scene, from a certain movie, that always pops into Lena’s head when Try a Little Tenderness by Otis Redding comes on, and Kara is reenacting it perfectly in front of her.
Lena’s overwhelmed, but remembers to put the knife down.
Kara sings and dances her way through the entire song, making up her own absurd (and cute) dance moves once the ones from the movie run out. She pulls Lena in to join her halfway through, and Lena can’t help but let out a laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. The song ends, but Kara doesn’t let her go, just keeps on dancing to the next track.
“Kara, I’ve got to get dinner going.” Lena laughs out, but doesn’t even attempt to struggle away from the dancing.
“Super speed, I’ll help you catch up.”
“Alex has informed me of your talents in the kitchen, darling.” Lena says, raising her eyebrow, but still not resisting in the slightest.
“C’mon, Lena. We deserve to celebrate a little.” Kara moves Lena in a leisurely twirl to match the mellowness of the current song. When Lena makes it back around, Kara holds her in place with her arms and her eyes full of something, “Let us have the prom moment we never got to have?”
And ‘Oh’, Lena never should’ve questioned that Kara would understand. Of course she’d understand what it’d be like to identify with Andie, Duckie and Blaine, and all that comes with the various roles Kara has had to play. Kara’s always read Lena like an open book, known who she was inside. Lena never should’ve doubted. Kara will always be there to catch her whenever she falls. Lena’s just falling in an entirely different way right now. She wraps her arms around Kara’s neck, just to be safe.
Dinner’s late, but no one seems to mind.