Chapter Text
Kara had a habit of not taking crises seriously. Not only because there was literally always a crisis. Like on an almost weekly basis for about eight months out of the year, strangely enough. But also because her superpowers kept her from feeling the need to be nervous, since she was so much less at risk than everyone else due to her powers and near invulnerability. So, admittedly, Kara had been a little blase about the whole pandemic thing when it first started popping up on the news. Even when there was a debrief at the DEO about changes in priorities and funding within the government to handle the upcoming crisis, she had made a couple of off handed comments, asking if it were really that big of a deal.
And then she blinked, and everyone was out hoarding toilet paper and eggs like a bunch of psychos, and she realized that she had spoken too soon. But all that accepting the gravity of the situation did was make her feel restless. What could Supergirl possibly do to help? It was a question she wasn’t used to asking. She almost always had an answer to that, and it almost always involved punching. But she couldn’t beat up an invisible pathogen, now could she?
It wasn’t until Lena made a public announcement that she would be shutting down LCorp, giving all of her employees a paid leave of absence, and self isolating for at least two weeks, that she had an idea.
“People listen to Supergirl, right?” Kara asked, tapping her thumb against her chin as she thought. Oh wait, she wasn’t supposed to touch her face. No, wait, it didn’t matter, she was Supergirl.
“For the most part, yeah, depending on the public opinion of you at the time,” Alex replied.
“Hmm,” Kara mused.
The two sisters were sitting around at the DEO, mainly out of a need to maintain a sense of normalcy, even though the building was almost entirely vacant. Alex sat in one of the swivel chairs in front of the control board, Kara sitting across from her on the control board itself even though J’onn had told her not to like a million times…
“So do you think they’d listen and stay the heck home if I told them to?” Kara asked after thinking for a moment.
“I mean, literally everyone with half a brain is telling people to stay home. But no one will listen. Not even you,” Alex retorted.
“Wha-hey! I’ve been staying home more than usual .”
“Kara, you’ve been to the grocery store three times in the past two days.”
“I’m really bad at making shopping lists!” Kara insisted, and then sighed in concession. “But you’re right. I can’t just tell people to do something if I’m not even doing it myself...Okay, I know what to do.”
“What’s that?” Alex asked, spinning around idly in her chair, bored out of her mind.
“I’m gonna do what Lena did. Make a public show of self isolating. If people see Supergirl, someone invulnerable to sickness, making a point to stay home, maybe they’ll finally take all of this seriously. It’s worth a shot at least.”
Alex gripped the console to stop her chair spinning long enough to look Kara in the eye, stumbling slightly becuase she had made herself a bit dizzy.
“And what if the city needs you?” Alex asked. “What if people start looting or some other dumb shit? Hell, what if they start looting just because they know Supergirl won’t be there to stop them?”
“Huh,” Kara replied, thinking. “Okay, maybe you have a point. Maybe Supergirl needs to stay visible in the public when the situation demands it. Kara, however…she’s a different story.”
Alex looked doubtful.
“You really think a CatCo reporter announcing she’s staying home will change anyone’s mind?”
“Well, probably not, no,” Kara admitted. “But! Maybe if publicly teamed up in her efforts with someone more prominent like...I dunno, Lena Luthor?”
Alex narrowed her eyes at her sister.
“Are you just trying to find an excuse to get yourself quarantined with Lena?”
“What?” Kara asked innocently. “No!”
“Kara,” Alex pressed suspiciously.
“Fine, okay? I need a quarantine buddy! You already paired up with Kelly, and I am not about to third wheel that love fest.”
Alex shrugged, knowing that Kara wasn’t wrong in assuming that she was planning on spending most of the time in isolation ravishing her girlfriend...
“And what exactly are you and Lena gonna do stuck in an apartment together for all that time, hmm?” Alex asked, her voice pitching up oddly on the last word.
“Arts and crafts,” Kara said bluntly.
Alex’s burst of laughter was so loud and sudden that Kara jumped in response to it.
“Seriously?”
“Yes!” Kara insisted defensively. “Why is that so weird?”
“Kara…” Alex said in that tone knowing, very aggravating tone. “I just think that you might have another reason to be so eager to get yourself locked in with Lena indefinitely.”
Rather than let Alex continue that train of thought that Kara had a feeling she didn’t want to hear, she made quick work of making a call on her cell phone.
“Can’t talk, gotta pitch an idea to my editor!”
*
Kara knocked on Lena’s apartment door eagerly, in part because she was anxious to tell her about her idea and in part because she hadn’t seen Lena in two whole days and that was just unacceptable, pandemic or not.
Kara snuck a peek at Lena through the door before Lena opened it, which was not weird at all. She saw Lena look through the peephole, saw her eyes go wide, heard her heartbeat quicken just slightly, and saw her fix her hair and smooth out her outfit a bit before finally opening the door.
“Kara!” Lena said, as if she had no idea that she was the one knocking. “What are you doing here?”
“Making sure you aren’t getting cabin fever?” Kara offered jokingly, and held up the bottle in her right hand. “And look, I have wine!”
Lena’s shoulders slumped in relief.
“Thank god for you, Kara Danvers,” Lena said, and opened the door, ushering Kara in.
Kara laughed.
“Already feeling the pinch of the liquor stores being closed?” she asked.
“What? No. I have a wine cellar built into the floor, remember?” Lena said, gesturing to the patch of the kitchen tile that was a slightly brighter white compared to the rest of the floor. “I’m good for a while. I meant thank god you came by,” she said, talking as she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a couple of wine glasses and a corkscrew. “Becuase I missed you.”
“Oh,” Kara said, trying to ignore the heat creeping onto her cheeks in response to Lena’s words. “I thought you might not answer the door. You were pretty adamant about limiting contact with people.”
“Well, technically, I said I’m limiting contact with other humans . You, my dear, and your alien DNA, being unable to contract or spread the virus, do not count. So,” she said as she poured Kara a glass of wine, a smile forming on her lip. “Cheers.”
Kara brought the glass to her lips, soaking up the sight of her friend. She didn’t see this version of Lena enough. The one in sweatpants and a T-shirt instead of designer dresses and carefully tailored suits. The one with her hair down in their natural loose curls instead of pulled into submission in a tight bun or singed into uniformity with a flat iron.
“What?” Lena asked as she poured herself a glass.
“Hmm?” Kara replied, pulled out of her trance.
“You’re staring.”
“Am I?” she asked, even though she knew she absolutely was.
“Mmhmm,” Lena replied, with that glint in her eye that always promised something more if Kara would just make the first move.
“Well I,” Kara said, shaking her head to rid herself of the intrusive and not-so-innocent thoughts threatening to take over. “I actually wanted to pitch an idea to you.”
“Oh yeah? Well then, pitch away,” Lena said.
“Okay,” exhaling slowly to get past her nervousness. Why was she so nervous? “So! You made a big point to announce that you and all your employees were self isolating to encourage people to stop being…”
“Assholes?” Lena suggested.
Kara squirmed uncomfortably in response.
“I mean, you’re not wrong, but…” she struggled.
“I know. You won’t say it. But I will.”
“Anyway,” Kara tried to deflect. “Since people are having a...hard time adjusting, I thought we could try and help get people into the spirit of staying home by giving them a good example.”
Lena frowned, perplexed.
“Well what more do you want from me, Kara? I’m already staying home, trying to live off of what I have in the apartment so neither me or my assistant have to go to the store.”
“I know you are. And it’s admirable. But saying you’re self isolating and showing that you’re self isolating are two very different things. So…”
“Oh no…” Lena bemoaned.
“I thought that-”
“Kara I don’t like where this is going…”
“That we could do a live stream from your apartment on the CatCo website!”
“Fuck,” Lena muttered, apparently hoping that if she had voiced her objections faster than Kara could make her suggestion that Kara wouldn’t go through with it. But they both knew that would never happen. “And let me guess…”
“I already pitched it and my editor loved it. Mostly because no one ever gets more than a quick snapshot of you from your way from LCorp to your car.”
“Yeah and there’s a very good reason for that,” Lena lamented. “So, what? You want me to just sit here in my apartment, by myself, with a camera on me so all the world can see me doing paperwork all day? Not exactly captivating content.”
“No, of course not. I’ll be here with you! And we’ll be doing fun stuff like...following along with art tutorials and trying new recipes and live Q&A with viewers.”
Lena arched an eyebrow at Kara, barely able to believe what she was hearing.
“You want to be stuck in my apartment with me for the next two weeks?”
Kara rolled her lips together in a hopeful if not slightly self conscious smile.
“Yes,” she replied.
“And you want to broadcast this to the world?” Lena pressed.
“More or less, yes.”
“Kara,” Lena sighed, “I’m not the...sharing my personal life type of person. And neither are you! What happens if someone needs Supergirl in the middle of a stream? Gonna whip the suit out in front of live viewers?”
Kara put her hands on her hips, in a stance that was a bit ironic considering Lena’s question.
“No,” Kara said. “We’ll only be streaming briefly during scheduled time frames. And if Supergirl related stuff comes up while we’re streaming we can just wrap it up early.”
Lena still looked unconvinced.
“Come on, Lena,” Kara said in the tone of voice that usually got Lena to change her mind. “It’ll be fun. People need things that are fun and light hearted to break up the panic and the isolation right now. Don’t we owe it to people to use our platforms to give them just that?”
Lena frowned, but her eyes already gave away her crumbling resolve.
“Ugh, fine ,” Lena groaned, and Kara squealed excitedly in response. “But for the record, I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“It’s a great idea,” Kara reassured. “What could possibly go wrong?”
*
“Oh-kay!” Kara beamed excitedly to the camera of her laptop. “Hi there, viewers! And welcome to this CatCo sponsored stream, coming to you live from…” Kara made an attempt at a drumroll by slapping the kitchen counter rapidly. “Lena Luthor’s apartment!”
Kara shifted the computer slightly to the left to reveal Lena frowning as she entered the kitchen and leaned against the counter behind Kara. Kara looked at her through the mirrored screen of the laptop and shook her head.
“Lena, what are you wearing?”
Lena crossed her arms.
“What are you talking about?” she asked, looking down at her outfit and then back to Kara.
“You’re wearing a pantsuit.”
“Yes? And?” Lena asked.
“Lena, we’re in your home. I thought you’d wear something more comfortable .”
“How do you know I’m not perfectly comfortable the way I am?”
Kara shook her head exasperatedly, glancing down briefly at the corner of the screen to see that they already had a couple hundred viewers.
“Fine. We will just make cookies in pantsuits,” Kara said with a lighthearted laugh. “Okay. So this is day three of Lena’s self isolation period. And day two of mine. How we feelin so far, Lena?”
“I’m feeling,” Lena said as she made what seemed like a conflicted decision to come and sit on the barstool next to Kara. “Like I’m happy to do the bare minimum to protect those around me with more compromised immune systems. And anyone who doesn’t agree is-”
“Okay!” Kara said with a forced laugh. This was going to be a little more tricky than she had anticipated. “Thank you for bringing up that point. Yes, to everyone out there watching, it is very important to stay home for the time being, even if you don’t feel sick. We’re all in this together, friends. And speaking of friends, the reason we are doing this stream together is becuase Lena is my best friend in the whole world,” Kara said, turning to look at Lena long enough to see a blush forming on her cheeks. “And there is no one I would rather be stuck with in isolation with for a couple weeks.”
“Just don’t use up all my toilet paper,” Lena quipped, seeming to find it hard to maintain eye contact with Kara for long.
“Hey! We got her to make a joke! Good job, guys! Now, onto making cookies!”
Kara fumbled with the computer for a moment as she resituated it to face the pile of baking supplies she had set up in the middle of the kitchen island.
“So, I posted the recipe we’re gonna be following on the CatCo website earlier in case any of you want to bake along with us. Or just look at it later.”
“Or don’t if you can’t find any eggs anywhere in the city, either,” Lena added, voice monotone despite a cracking smile on her mouth.
“Listen,” Kara quipped, holding out the recipe card to the camera. “This recipe only needs one egg! One! How’s that for rationing?!”
Lena chuckled.
“Okay. What are we making then?”
“I am glad you asked, Lena! So over the holidays, my sister’s girlfriend Kelly made the mistake of making these things she called cloud cookies for the cookie exchange. I say ‘mistake’ because I have guilted her into making them at least half a dozen times since because they are so good.”
“Oh my god, we’re making Kelly’s cloud cookies?” Lena asked, suddenly more excited to participate in the live stream than she had been since Kara talked her into it.
“Yup,” Kara said with a knowing smile.
*
“Oh my god, these are so sticky,” Lena said as she tried desperately to scrape the gunk off of her fingers as Kara popped the cookies in the oven.
“Yeah, now I know why Kelly gets so annoyed when I ask her to make them,” Kara replied, glancing over at the computer. They had at least a couple thousand viewers, which made Kara smile. If people were at home watching their live stream, they weren’t out spreading their germs. Her plan was working.
“Ack,” Lena exclaimed as she looked down at her clothes, “I got some of it on me.”
“And that is why we don’t wear designer clothes while making cookies!” Kara said with a laugh.
She noticed that on the right side of her screen people who were leaving comments as they watched. Though, ironically enough, her glasses made it harder for her to see the screen from where she was standing a couple feet away, and besides that, there was something more pressing drawing her attention…
Lena, who had wiped the rest of the cookie batter off her hands and clothes with a towel, had apparently noticed a glob of the batter caked to Kara’s bangs. She reached out, taking a lock of Kara’s hair between her pointer and middle finger, gently removing the batter while tucking Kara’s hair behind her ear.
Kara found herself unable to move, frozen in response to just the simplest of gestures from her best friend. It wasn’t the first time. It seemed like more and more often she found her brain short circuiting because of Lena. It didn’t take much. A laugh, a smile, a lingering stare, a touch...
But now was not the time to address that. Not with a few thousand live viewers watching their every move. Maybe Lena was right. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea.
“So, uh,” Kara said, all but jumping away from Lena’s hand as she focused her attention back on the computer. “I don’t think we need to keep this stream going long enough to see the finished results. I’ll make sure to post pictures on the website later. But before we go, my editor wanted you to answer a couple of quick questions from the viewers, Lena, if you’re up for that?”
“If I must,” Lena replied, with that quirk of her eyebrows and with that suggestive tone that did things to Kara she didn’t want to admit to.
“Cool! So,” Kara said, sitting back down at the kitchen table and patting the chair next to her so they could both be in the frame of the laptop’s camera. “Let’s see here, umm…” Kara said, trying to read the comments as they came pouring in on the right of the screen, wiggling her glasses as she tried to pick one out to read. “Oh! Here’s a good one. How do you focus on your work when you are away from your office and your normal routine?”
“Huh. That’s actually a great question,” Lena said, in that practiced professional tone she had all but mastered when she was being interviewed. “To be honest, it’s easy to get a little distracted here and there. Especially if your best friend decides to turn your time at home into a group activity.”
“Hey!” Kara said, surprised at Lena’s sudden shift from her usual business tone to a light teasing one.
“The point is,” Lena said with a chuckle. “Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t keep your focus all the time. This is a completely abnormal and unusual time to be enduring, and it’s more than okay if you find yourself not fully able to adapt. At the end of the day, humans aren’t meant to be cooped up by themselves for long periods of time. But for now we must, for the good of everyone.”
“You’re not alone, though, Lena,” Kara insisted.
Lena shook her head, a small smile on her lips.
“I know that, Kara.”
The air between them suddenly felt tense, the lack of distance between them as they sat hunched over the computer screen palpable.
“Okay,” Kara said, clearing her throat. “Next question, Lena. Do you really wear pantsuits when you’re at home? No!” Kara answered for her. “She does not! She wears sweatpants and takes her makeup off and wears her hair down and it’s adorable! Not that she will ever let you guys see that, becuase heaven forbid.”
“Alright. I get it,” Lena said with a shake of her head. “No more dressing up for the live stream.”
Kara chuckled, completely enamored by the way Lena was smiling at her, a small blush on her cheeks. Then she remembered what they were supposed to be doing.
“Right. Last question,” Kara said, looking for one more question that stood out amongst the incoming flow of them in the comments. It was hard to read them fast enough before the next ones came pouring in, so she just read the first one that popped out to her. “So are you and Kara,” she read, unthinking, “Like...friends or friends ?”
Lena scrunched her nose at the question.
“I don’t get it,” she said.
“Me either,” Kara replied cluelessly. “I thought we already went over this. Me and Lena are best friends. Why else would we choose to spend all this time cooped up together, right?”
*
“Well, that wasn’t quite as painful as I thought it would be,” Lena said as she nibbled at a slightly burnt cookie. “Ugh, why are they so much better when Kelly makes them?”
“Food always tastes better when you don't have to make it,” Kara said. “Also she never burns them. But see! I told you this livestream was a good idea. We got a lot of viewers! And there’s already people posting pictures of their own attempt at the recipe we posted. This is a good thing!”
“Alright, maybe you’re right. So what time is the next stream?”
“Uh,” Kara said, looking at the schedule she had compiled on her phone. “Tomorrow afternoon.”
“Okay, cool. I’ll see you then,” Lena said with a hollow smile.
Kara looked blankly at Lena, thrown off enough to not even reach for her fifth cookie.
“What do you mean ‘see you then’?” she asked.
“What’s wrong?” Lena asked. “Did you want to stick around for dinner or something?”
“Lena, I’m...I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying with you until this whole thing blows over. That’s kind of the whole the point.”
“Oh,” Lena replied, looking surprised, if not a bit hopeful. “I thought you would just pop in here to do the livestream and then just go back to your own apartment.”
“Of course not!” Kara said, almost offended. “Lena, I am a journalist. If I said I was going to commit to something and then only pretended to, that would be against the integrity of my whole career! When I said I was sticking out this isolation period with you, I meant it.”
Lena blinked, taken aback by the passion in Kara’s statement. Kara shook her head at her friend’s confusion.
“What did you think the duffel bag I brought with me was for?” she asked.
“I dunno!” Lena said with a breathy laugh. “I guess I thought it was art supplies or something for one of your project ideas.”
“No! It’s, well yeah, there’s a few reams of yarn in there, but it’s mostly my clothes and stuff.”
Lena leaned against her kitchen counter, considering Kara.
“Okay,” she said, biting her lower lip. “I guess you’re really staying with me for a while, then.” The expression on Lena’s face was a mixture of anxiousness and glee. “So...what do you want for dinner? Or were you planning on eating cookies until you make yourself sick?”
“Oh, I’m gonna eat all these cookies,” Kara said, reaching for another one. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not still gonna be hungry after.”
“Of course,” Lena said with a laugh. “How could I forget that you’re a bottomless pit? We’ll be out of food in a day.”
“Hey!” Kara retorted playfully. “Don’t forget we can still order plenty of takeout.”
“Hmm,” Lena replied thoughtfully. “Fine. But just for tonight. If we eat nothing but takeout one of us is going to gain weight like crazy. And I don’t mean you, Miss SuperMetabolism.”
“Oh, please,” Kara said, moving towards the fridge to grab the clump of takeout menus stuck on it with a magnet. “I’ve seen you put away enough donuts and burgers to know that you can eat pretty much whatever you want and still look hot as hell.”
The apartment fell silent. Kara realized what she had said the second it left her mouth. It shouldn’t have been weird. Best friends compliment each other like this all the time. But something about the tone in Kara’s voice, and the way that Lena was looking at her when she turned back around to face her said that it hadn’t quite landed as just a friendly compliment in either of their minds. Lena looked surprised, but also intrigued, her heartbeat unmistakably picking up in speed. Kara swallowed, wondering if she should just follow her instincts and stutter out a backpedaling clarification until they both resolved to shrug the statement off. You know, like they always did when one of them did or said something that danced on that line between just friends and something else…
“So, um,” Kara ultimately said, unable to stand the silence and the nervous thrumming of her own heartbeat any longer. “Pizza or Chinese?”