It's Mon-El's first Christmas and Kara takes him tree shopping the day before she's due to host their friends for a small Christmas party. She also buys some mistletoe, and Mon-El misunderstands the tradition behind it.
"Hey sweetie, are you ready?" Kara asks Mon-El as she wraps her woolly scarf around her neck and places a bobble hat over her blonde hair, adjusting her glasses to do so.
"Ready for what?" Mon-El replies, looking up at his girlfriend.
"Christmas tree shopping."
Mon-El hesitates for a moment, taking in Kara's words. "Wait, that's real? That's, like, a real thing?"
"Uh-huh."
"I thought Winn was making it up to make me look stupid," Mon-El admits.
"Nope. It's real and we're going," Kara declares, picking up her bag.
"Do we have to?"
"Yep." Kara nods and grabs Mon-El's hand, yanking him from the couch towards the door. "C'mon, have a little Christmas spirit! Everyone's coming around tomorrow and I want the apartment to look perfect." Kara's bold blue eyes meet her boyfriend's, and he just can't say no.
/
Tree bought, Kara and Mon-El head back to the apartment. Kara carries the tree while Mon-El juggles all of the Kryptonian's shopping bags which are filled with Christmas decorations and food for tomorrow.
They amble down the quiet street, which is bathed in an orange early-evening glow, until Kara stops suddenly.
"I almost forgot!" She exclaims before propping the tree against a shop and dashing inside.
Mon-El waits outside, wondering what she could possibly have forgotten to buy. He peers through the window and sees Kara making her way back towards the door, carrier bag in hand.
"Mistletoe," she declares, waving the bag in Mon-El's face.
"Mistletoe?" Mon-El has never heard of this mistletoe before.
"You hang it up and kiss under it."
Mon-El nods his understanding as they continue on their way.
When they arrive back at Kara's building, Mon-El heads inside. He crams himself and the shopping into the little elevator. When he approaches Kara's front door, he drops almost a handful in an effort to get the key into the lock. He dumps all of the bags onto Kara's couch before flinging open one of the long windows.
Kara notices the window open and looks around, checking that no one is watching. When she's satisfied, she grabs the tree and flies it into her apartment.
"I knew my powers would come in handy one day," Kara jokes, and Mon-El smiles.
They set to work decorating the apartment, starting with the tree. Kara carefully wraps the lights around it before adding the decorations, ensuring that there are no gaps. She raises herself from the ground to put the star on top and then carefully places everyone's presents underneath, warning Mon-El not to open his until Christmas Day.
It really was easier to decorate when you could fly.
Next, they delicately hang fairy lights over the windows, giving the apartment a soft glow, and for the final touch, Kara hangs the mistletoe over one of the windows and plants a kiss on Mon-El's lips.
The Daxamite smiles. "This seems like my kind of tradition."
Kara laughs.
They begin to prepare the food. Mon-El butters bread for some sandwiches and Kara adds the fillings.
"We make a pretty good team," Mon-El decides. Kara nods her agreement.
When Kara is making the finishing touches to the chocolate cake she's baked specially for Alex, Mon-El clears away the mess and they flop onto the couch to watch A Christmas Carol. It just wouldn't be Christmas without a classic.
/
The following evening, Alex and Maggie arrive first, prompt and early. Kara opens the door to them, pulling them into a joint hug.
Maggie hands the younger Danvers a bottle of wine.
"Oooh, let's get this open!" Kara exclaims. "Thanks, you guys."
They head to the kitchen where Mon-El has already got the glasses ready. He pours some for each of them and they sit in the living room.
"It looks beautiful in here. You've done a lovely job," Alex says, admiring the tree.
"There are more lights in here than I think I've ever seen in my life," Maggie says, but she thinks that it matches Kara's personality perfectly; light and bright.
There's another tap at the door. Kara puts her wine glass on a coaster on her coffee table, leaving the others to their chat.
"Kara!" Lena squeals.
"Hey! Come in!" Kara closes the door behind Lena. "Drink?"
"Of course."
Kara pours another glass of wine and hands it to her friend.
"Thank you for inviting me," Lena says.
"Of course," Kara replies. She couldn't bear the thought of her best friend spending all her time alone during the holidays. Lilian was hardly going to be hosting Christmas dinner and inviting her daughter, so Kara hoped that inviting Lena to her party would make up for it in a small way.
"So many lights! I love it!" Lena looks around Kara's apartment in awe, each little light reflected in her eyes. "You're festive enough for the both of us. Here." She gives Kara a small wrapped gift. "Just don't open it yet!"
'Thank you, Lena! Yours is under the tree, I'll grab it later." Kara smiles before grabbing Lena's free hand and guiding her to the rest of the group.
Lena sits on one of Kara's comfy chairs and the group all welcome her warmly.
"The food smells so good," Alex says. She's pretty sure that she can smell potstickers.
"It's almost ready," Kara replies, checking her watch. "You're going to love dessert, Alex."
"Is it chocolate cake?" Alex's eyes light up with excitement.
"Yep!" Kara squeals in return.
She hears three voices coming down the hallway. "It's open," she calls, standing from the couch.
Lena looks a bit confused but doesn't question it when no one else seems to react.
"It still freaks me out when she does that," Winn declares to James and J'onn as they open the door to Kara and Alex approaching them.
They all say their hellos, grab a drink and then join the group around the coffee table. Kara had made J'onn promise not to grill Lena for information about her mother, not that Lena would know anything or even try to hide it if she did. Still, Kara just wanted everyone to be relaxed and have a good time.
They talk about work and what they'll be doing over Christmas, and when Lena steers the conversation towards Supergirl, Kara quickly tries to change the subject before responding to the repetitive beeping noise the oven was now making by excusing herself and hopping up from her seat. Alex follows her.
"You really ought to tell her, you know," Alex warns Kara, glancing at Lena who was smiling at something that Winn had said.
"I will, just not yet," Kara replies, busying herself with grabbing the potstickers out of the oven.
Alex opens the fridge and begins to unload the party food that Kara and Mon-El had prepared the previous night.
"You know that she'll be upset that you didn't tell her more than anything else? She'll probably blame herself and think that you didn't feel that you could tell her." Alex lays out trays of food as she talks, her voice little more than a whisper.
"I know, and I will tell her." Kara is firm, and Alex knows not to push the subject any further.
They re-join the group just as Maggie asks whether Mon-El is enjoying his first Christmas.
"I wish we'd had it on Daxam. All the games, all the food and drink and kissing under the mistletoe," Mon-El admits.
The rest of the group whistles and whoops at the mention of kissing under this mistletoe, and Kara would blush if she could.
"Aaanyway," Kara begins, embarrassed. "The food's ready, so help yourselves."
Everyone jumps up and grabs a plate. Barely any food is left when they're all done, and Kara wraps some extra chocolate cake in foil for Alex and Maggie to take home.
"So, Papa Bear," Winn begins. "What're you getting for Christmas?"
"Some peace and quiet," J'onn replies flippantly, getting a laugh from everyone else, especially Kara, Alex and James.
"I think it's time for a game!" Kara declares. She grabs Headbandz and hands out the bands and cards.
"I love this game!" Mon-El declares. "I'm great at it."
"You suck at this game. Sorry, babe," Kara says with a shrug when she sees the look on her boyfriend's face.
"We'll see," Mon-El says with a grin.
Winn starts. "Am I a flower?" He asks.
"No."
"Am I alive?" James asks.
"Yes."
"Am I an animal?" He asks for his second question.
"No."
"Am I some type of food?" Lena questions.
"No."
"Well, actually, on Daxam, we did have a type of edible rose-"
"Mon-El!" The group exclaims.
The Daxamite realises his mistake and sighs.
"Kara was right, dude, you do suck at this," James teases.
When the game is over, Kara goes to pour herself a glass of lemonade. Maggie goes to the kitchen with her. Both women watch as Alex stands in front of one of Kara's long windows, looking out at the street below her, while Mon-El excuses himself to go to the bathroom.
"I'm really looking forward to spending Christmas with you guys at Eliza's," Maggie says. "I guess not many people can say that about their girlfriend's parents, but I can't wait."
Kara smiles at the detective and holds out her arms for a hug. 'We're all really excited too."
At that moment, Mon-El reappears. He spots Alex standing at the window under the mistletoe and dashes towards her. He pulls her towards him and tries to plant a kiss on her lips.
Alex, confused as to why her sister's boyfriend is trying to kiss her, wriggles around and pulls her face away, trying to retreat.
"Mon-El!" Kara and Maggie shout together.
Lena, James, Winn and J'onn look towards the commotion.
The Daxamite lets Alex go and throws his hands out questioningly. "What?"
"You're only supposed to kiss me!" Kara explains. "You don't have to kiss everyone who stands under it!"
"Oh. Sorry, Alex." Mon-El is sincere in his apology.
"It's okay, really," Alex says.
"Just don't try anything like that again," Maggie says, pretending to be annoyed but finding the whole thing really funny.
"Oh hey, look, it's snowing!" Alex exclaims in an effort to avert everyone's attention. She can see that Mon-El is embarrassed.
Everyone rushes towards the windows. Crisp white flakes fall from the cloudy sky, and when enough has fallen, the group goes outside. The fresh snow crunches under their feet and they have a snowball fight and build a few snowmen before going back indoors, their hearts as warm and full as the mugs of hot chocolate that they cradle.