When Winn Schott told Kara that, no, he wasn't busy that Thursday night, the last possible outcome he could have anticipated was to find himself volunteered to babysit the ten year old son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane-Kent. Kara had waited until after he'd agreed to reveal that he'd also be watching Bruce Wayne's thirteen year old, because apparently finding a real, qualified sitter was not in anyone's wheelhouse. But, willing or not, Winn had no intention of finding out what two of the most powerful men, like, ever would do if he failed at taking care of their sons.
Which was why he had the search results of "healthy meal for adolescent boys" spread out on Kara's counter when the pair were dropped off by a there-and-gone Supergirl.
"Hi, Winn," Jonathan Kent greeted politely, making a beeline for the chicken nuggets.
"I don't need a babysitter," Damian Wayne huffed, striding briskly into the apartment and choosing to sit on the arm of the sofa.
"Aren't you eating, Damian?" Jon asked through a mouthful of green beans.
»TT«
"Whatever. More for me, then."
Winn blinked at them. He eased the door closed and watched as Damian rolled his eyes, walked to the table, and snatched the plate of nuggets out of Jon's hand. Jon, meanwhile, didn't bat an eyelash at his behavior.
"So, we're bringing you in on a mission," Jon said matter-of-factly after swallowing a large bite of cornbread. Damian made another tsking sound, and Jon responded, "Come on. This will be so much easier with his help."
"What sort of mission?" Winn asked, taking a seat at the head of the table. "Because the whole reason I'm watching you two is so you don't get into any trouble."
"As if you could actually stop us if we weren't willing to be here."
Jon ignored Damian's sass and explained, "We want everyone to be together for the holidays."
"Aren't the Danvers and I already doing Thanksgiving at your house?"
"Yeah, but—"
Damian interrupted, "What happened here is that our youngest resident bleeding heart Kryptonian found out that Lex Luthor's less evil sister has nowhere to spend Cultural Appropriation Day and that that makes Human Puppy Dog Danvers sad, so he wants to fix it, as that's what families do, apparently."
"Apparently?"
"My mother frequently considers having me assassinated. Functional families aren't my expertise."
Winn nodded. "I feel you, there."
A frown settled across Jon's face, and he said, "I know Miss Luthor wouldn't be my parents' first choice to invite…"
That was an understatement. The reporters who helped put Lex Luthor in jail—one of whom doubled as his arch nemesis—welcoming his sister into their home for the most family-oriented holiday of the year. Along with the fact that said nemesis's cousin was the aforementioned sister's best friend. Basically, a Danvers-Kent-Luthor-Schott holiday extravaganza had the potential to be more awkward than all Winn's past Thanksgivings combined.
"…but no one should be alone on Thanksgiving."
"Yeah," Winn agreed, "that's why I always celebrate with Kara."
Jon grinned widely in approval then glanced down at his buzzing cellphone. His eyebrows shot up, and he announced, "My dad just texted that Thanksgiving has been relocated to Wayne Manor."
"No. Way." Winn cried. "That is…that is so totally awesome."
"Father must have proposed it," Damian noted blandly. "He did mention a desire to be kept abreast of the situation."
Winn snickered at the turn of phrase and discovered how it felt to receive twin looks of chastisement from children.
"Wait, are you saying your dad's in on our plan?" Jon inferred.
"Yes. He is recently engaged, and it has made him horribly sentimental lately."
Jon was immediately preoccupied with how that new information affected their "mission." "This changes everything!" he declared. "We don't have to convince my parents to invite Miss Luthor anymore, so we can forget all that stuff. And, since we know Mr. Wayne is okay with it, Winn can call to invite her tonight. Easy."
"Wait, I can do what now?"
A text from Kara about the change of venue for Thanksgiving momentarily distracted Winn. He replied that the pint-sized demons—or, more accurately, one bat-demon and one boy scout—had already told him, and she immediately asked if they were giving him a hard time. Once he'd reassured her that her apartment was still standing and her little cousin still safely inside it, he questioned why he had to babysit if she was apparently idle enough to text.
Of course, that was conveniently when she got too busy to respond.
"You're sure you know what to say?" Jon triple-checked as Winn put the phone to his ear. Before the computer whiz could say that, no, he had already forgotten, the line clicked to life.
"LCorp, Lena Luthor speaking."
She sounded harried.
"Hey, Lena," Winn greeted, attempting levity. "It's Winn…Schott. Winn Schott."
"Oh! Hello, Winn."
There was a rushed exhale and breathlessness to her tone that made him ask, "Is this a bad time? Sorry, I—"
"No, no," Lena interrupted. "Not at all. I was about to leave the office when the phone rang. Just give me a moment to take off my coat."
"You're seriously still at work?"
The clock on the mantle read 8:37 PM. A reliable source—Kara, of course—had mentioned that Lena usually arrived by seven every morning. No matter how much Winn loved his job, he couldn't imagine regularly working 13 hour days. Wow. The woman was a powerhouse.
"You sound surprised," Lena observed over some rustling on her end. "You did call my office. Were you not expecting to reach me here?"
Fair point.
A quiet thump sounded as an impatient-looking Damian hopped down from his perch on the windowsill. The baby ninja seemed chronically unable to sit properly on any furniture actually designed for sitting. Jon, meanwhile, peered eagerly at Winn from an armchair, probably using his superhearing to listen to both sides of the conversation.
"You know, I'm doing some research that you'd be interested in," Lena began.
"Wait, okay, I definitely want to hear about that, but I did call for a reason."
"Oh dear, this sounds serious," she joked.
"I—we…Kara and I, we want to, to invite you to Thanksgiving," Winn announced. "Our Thanksgiving, if that wasn't—You should come!"
There was a moment of silence, and then, "That's very sweet, Winn, but I wouldn't want to intrude."
"You wouldn't be!" he quickly denied. "You'd be…you'd be saving us, actually. Somehow, Bruce Wayne is hosting, which means it's probably gonna be really formal, and Kara and I are guaranteed to embarrass ourselves if you aren't there to guide us with your grace."
"I'm sorry, did you say Bruce Wayne? How on Earth…?"
"Turns out the Waynes and the Kents are…" He glanced at the two boys elbowing each other, since Damian had made the arm of Jon's chair his new perch. "…family friends."
Lena hummed. "The Kents. Of course. Winn, again, I appreciate what you're trying to do, and I realize Kara was bothered by my lack of holiday plans, but I assure you I do not need to be coddled."
Jon bore a very Kara-esque sad puppy pout, obviously thinking the mission had failed, but Winn knew exactly how to respond, because, "Hey, I get it; what it's like to find out your family is actually awful but still feel…sad, I guess, that you don't have anyone to do family stuff with anymore, even if the idea of, of celebrating anything with them makes you sick.
"And then feeling like most people either pity you or are suspicious you'll turn out just as evil…I promise this isn't a pity invite. Kara and I want you there. I know the idea of spending this holiday with someone else's family and traditions is probably terrifying. Because you're afraid of comparing it to how things were, afraid of feeling nostalgic and then hating yourself for having any positive memories of someone who's done such unspeakable things.
"Missing not being alone doesn't make you a bad person, Lena. Neither does mourning the loss of the good parts of even the worst relationships. I'm telling you this, even though I know it's not going to stick the first time, because hearing it is step one. I can't make you do something you don't want to do, but, just so you know, this is what helped me accept that. Thanksgiving's about being grateful and spending time with people you care about, and that doesn't have to mean family. I hope you consider me a friend—"
"Certainly," Lena insisted.
"So there's us, Alex, Kara, the Kents, and the Waynes. A bunch of friends eating turkey and carbs together because we all have off work next Thursday. Oh, and Alex is bringing her mom because she's a dork. As Kara's best friend, I can't promise there won't be awkwardness. I mean, it's Kara, but…"
Seemingly despite herself, Lena chuckled. "You think you're her best friend, hm?"
Winn smirked. "We can debate which of us is her best best friend later. Let's agree to disqualify Alex, though. Unfair advantage." Sensing Lena's lingering hesitance, he prodded, "Come on, it's Orphan Friendsgiving."
"Very well," she relented quietly, "I suppose you've persuaded me."
Winn cheered, and Jon pumped his fist in silent celebration. With their objective accomplished, the boys quickly changed focus to their more heroic, caped escapades. Winn switched to asking Lena about her latest project, moving to the kitchen island so Superboy and Robin didn't have to worry about being overheard. He kept a close eye on them, though. Which was why he noticed instantly when Damian pulled out and started fiddling with a sinisterly sharp…bat-shaped…
"What are you—put that down!" he yelped, cutting Lena off mid sentence. "Sorry," he told her hastily, "I'm, uh, babysitting."
Her raised eyebrow was nearly audible, but she noted that it sounded like he needed to go. He agreed while glaring at Damian until the weapon was set down on the coffee table with an eye roll. Just before hanging up, Lena said, "And thank you, Winn, for being persistent about Thanksgiving. I wasn't really looking forward to being alone."
That, Winn realized, was what defined the goodness of heroes like Jon and Kara. Not dramatic displays of strength but noticing people in need, especially those who might otherwise be overlooked, and feeling a completely unselfish desire to help. And then doing it. Being a part of that felt good.
With his phone in his pocket, he studied the item on the coffee table; considered picking it up, then discarded that idea. It looked really sharp.
"You probably shouldn't touch it," Damian confirmed.
"Why did you have it in your pocket?!"
"We may be stuck here tonight, but that doesn't mean we can't use the time productively," he reasoned.
Winn blinked. "What is productive about a throwing star in a small, open-plan apartment?"
"Batarang," Jon specified.
"Shuriken," corrected Damian.
"Whatever it is, how 'bout you strategize in less deadly ways while you're under my supervision?"
»TT« "Shurikenjutsu is child's play. You clearly know very little about what is actually life-threatening."
And Winn had thought keeping Cat Grant's son alive was hard…
Why had he let himself be talked into this again?
Thanksgiving was surprising in exactly none of the ways Winn had expected.
He knew his best friend, could read her like a book—not counting that time he'd willfully misread her feelings and kissed her, obviously. Or, at least, he'd thought he could. So the way Kara's face contorted into a scowl as Dick Grayson warmly welcomed Lena to Wayne Manor didn't make sense at first.
"It's an absolute pleasure to meet you, Miss Luthor," the handsome, young ward was saying as he clasped Lena's hand between both of his and grinned. "You know, the photos don't do you justice. Nothing against our pal Jimmy, of course, but some things just can't be reduced to two dimensions."
Lena blushed and, if looks could kill—okay, technically Kara's looks could kill, but in this case she kept her death glare metaphorical, and the side of Dick's head remained burn-free.
Nudging Kara, Winn whispered, "Hey, what's your problem with Dick? You're looking at him like he punches babies. He seems like a really nice guy."
"He is," she agreed quickly. "Everybody likes him."
"Except you?"
"Including me." She adopted an almost completely authentic smile as she moved toward her cousin. "And it's great he's being so nice to Lena. Really…great."
They'd barely made it inside the front door before the boys proposed a snowball war—apparently, snowball fights were too pedestrian for Damian—and Alfred, the butler, immediately began to retrieve snowsuits and boots of all sizes. The Kents, Waynes, and Danvers sisters divided automatically into family units.
"You can be on our team, Miss Luthor," Jon invited enthusiastically, leaning against his mother as he wiggled into a blue suit. "Damian, you guys can take Winn."
"Please, call me Lena," the woman insisted with a smile.
"What if we want her?" Dick challenged, donning the same black snowsuit as Bruce and Damian. "Nothing personal, Winn. Just wondering why Jonno gets to choose."
"It's fine. Hand eye coordination…" Winn mimed throwing. Poorly. "Not my thing."
"Hey!" Kara objected from within her borrowed turtleneck, pushing her head the rest of the way through to issue an annoyed pout. "Lena's my best friend. She belongs on our team."
Alex snorted, "Not to mention there's only two of us and three of you both as it is. Those numbers would not have been fair."
Lena looked bewildered to be in such high demand, but she silently accepted the winter gear from Alfred. As the boys laid out the rules, she reached over to help a struggling Kara zip up the back of her snowsuit. Smiling, she circled around and adjusted the blonde's scarf to cover her nose. Even with Kara's mouth hidden behind gray fleece, her returning smile was obvious. The whole exchange was oddly domestic.
Then Dick held out a hand to help Lena down the back steps and Kara twitched.
Wait, was Kara worried that he might steal Lena's friendship from her or something?
The backyard was predictably enormous and blanketed in fresh snow, and the stone patio featured a fire pit, which Winn, Eliza Danvers and Selina Kyle sat around with hot cider to watch the spectacle.
"We need team names!" Jon insisted, quickly claiming his father's hometown.
"Goliath," Damian decided unilaterally, and Bruce's grimace suggested it had nothing to do with the fable.
"Youngest gets to pick," Kara asserted emphatically, even though neither Alex nor Lena had shown any interest in taking the opportunity from her.
Lena raised an eyebrow and noted dryly, "Lovely of you to call attention to our ages," and Kara looked appropriately contrite but still proposed DCorp as their team name. It wasn't the worst. Probably.
The teams were given ten minutes to prepare, with Selina keeping time. Alex jumped right into building a wall for her team, which was closest to the fire pit, but hesitated as Kara pulled down her scarf to speak to Lena. The response contained the words "structurally sound," and "reserves," and Alex switched to following Lena's lead while Kara discretely began preparing ammunition.
Team Smallville, far and to the left, was chugging away at their own fortress. As honorable men must, Jon and Clark appeared not to be using their powers (yet). But, from the determination on Lois's face as she rolled snowballs, Winn guessed shemight not be above using any advantage they had.
By the time Winn looked to the right, all three members of Team Goliath were hidden behind a wall of snow. Seriously, how was that even possible? They were the only team without any superpowers.
"Time's up!" Selina shouted.
Snowballs started flying instantly, and Winn and Eliza pretended to be impartial while Selina shamelessly, if a bit mockingly, cheered on "her boys." Team Goliath worked silently, appearing and disappearing behind their barricade in quick, black streaks. But Team Smallville proved almost shockingly more organized as a square-shouldered Lois barked commands like, "On my mark," and, "FALL IN!" (The latter whenever Jon leaned too far over the top of their fort).
"Oo-kay," Winn commented.
"I always forget she was an army brat," said Eliza.
A few minutes in, Damian seemed to hover in sight for an extra beat after throwing. Seconds later, Lois called, "Right, FACE," and the look on Alex's as snowballs sailed toward Team DCorp from both sides was priceless. While her sister complained about being ganged up on, Kara used a subtle burst of speed to save Lena from a snowball to the face. The pair ducked for cover, sitting back against the inner wall of their fort, dissolving into giggles and being entirely unhelpful to Alex, who valiantly fought on.
"They're kind of adorable," observed Selina.
"Yes," Eliza agreed, "Kara's always gotten along better with boys. It's nice she's found a female friend."
As soon as Mrs. Danvers turned, Selina gave Winn a look as if they shared a secret that Kara's adoptive mom wasn't in on. And Winn shrugged and smirked as if he understood exactly what she meant, even though he was pretty sure he wasn't in on it either.
Until Clark pulled Lois out of the line of fire. Like Kara had done. For Lena.
Huh.
Maybe he did get it.
Because Kara wasn't saving her other teammate from face-fulls of snow, and Lena's smile was yellow-sun-bright, and maybe what Kara and Lena had wasn't the perfect gal pal friendship they all believed it to be.
Kara, still taking cover, started blindly throwing snowballs over her shoulder while Lena gripped the blonde's sleeve and laughed, and laughed, and laughed.
"Kara!" yelped Alex. "That's literally the opposite of helpful!"
Winn doubted any of them had ever seen Lena laugh so hard.
He only realized the snowball war was finished when they all started trooping in toward the house as Lois announced, "Team Smallville clearly won." Behind her, both the Smallville and Goliath forts had been decimated. When did that happen?
"How do you possibly figure that, Lois?" Bruce asked incredulously.
Meanwhile, Kara yanked off her gloves, fished out her phone, and hauled Lena against her side to take a silly selfie. Lena pulled a face without hesitation, and oh, my god, they must do that a lot.
"That gets posted nowhere, Miss Danvers," reminded Lena faux sternly.
"Aw, gee, Lena, I was thinking of making it my profile picture."
Lena stopped short, bringing Kara to a halt as well. "Is that so?" she asked before tugging Kara's scarf down and shoving a handful of snow in her face.
"Joke's on you," Kara spluttered. "It was getting hot under that scarf."
"Careful, Kara, or I might decide to leave you stuck in that marshmallow suit," Lena replied as she strode inside. Kara scrambled obediently after.
They all reconvened in the living room, the haggard snow soldiers trickling in gradually once they'd removed their outerwear. Winn noticed Lena left a space between herself and the arm of the couch and that Kara didn't have to ask to know it was meant for her. Conversation shifted to whether or not newspapers were really a dying medium, causing Lois to grimace as she sank into a seat near the fireplace.
"They're unnecessary," argued Dick. "In the digital age, everyone gets their news from Twitter."
Lena scoffed, "Do you need a hundred forty characters on why that's detrimental to society, or would you prefer it in the form of a WWE gif meme about our political climate?"
"I like this one," Lois chirped. "You can stay, Luthor."
"Cocoa for the weary warriors," Alfred announced, a tray of steaming mugs in his hands.
"Alfred, you missed the whole snowball fight!" Jon bemoaned.
"I'm surely devastated, Master Kent."
»TT«
Kara pushed herself up, asking if Lena wanted some hot chocolate, too.
"I've got it," Dick said, passing both women maroon mugs.
"Of course you do," Kara grumbled into her whipped cream.
Lena smiled, "Thank you, Mr. Grayson."
"Oh," Winn realized quietly, forgetting who was next to him, "she has a crush on Lena."
Jon's eyes went wide.
Oops. "I mean—"
"Kara has a crush on Miss Luthor?!"
"Um, no?" Winn tried.
Simultaneously, Damian scoffed, "Obviously."
So much for keeping Kara's secrets. Jon promised not to tell anyone, though. Damian just made that tsking sound as if to point out that he didn't care enough to spread gossip.
Damian was right, though. After Winn's epiphany, it became painfully obvious that Kara and Lena were more than friends.
In the way Kara beamed when her family was friendly to Lena, and the way she sometimes fiddled with her glasses when she spoke to the brunette directly.
In the way Lena stopped Kara from pouring a fourth glass of wine at dinner with a hand on her forearm and whispered, "Maybe you should slow down," without sounding controlling.
(Also in the fact that Kara drank wine at all, because that had to be Lena's influence.)
What wasn't clear was whether they knew they were more than friends.
When they went around the table saying what they were thankful for, both women used the word "friends" like they were trying to convince themselves, and Lena had this well-concealed longing in her eyes, and Winn made a mental note to research "how to stage an intervention" once he got home.
Damian and Jon stopped him in the hallway while everyone else headed for the dessert buffet.
"New mission assignment," Damian informed him.
"Does it count as an assignment if you're assigning it to yourself?"
Jon beamed. "It's from my mom, actually."
Winn's eyebrows shot up. "Your mom?"
"She wants us to make Kara and Miss Luthor realize they're in love with each other. By Christmas."
There was a long moment of silence.
"Start the countdown and queue up every Christmas movie on Netflix, boys. We've got work to do."