an: so i feel like this chapter got away from me a little, and i'm not sure how i feel about it, but ehhh. i'm also back at work now, so updates probably won't be as frequent, but i'm still gonna aim for a chapter a week.
StarSnap!
The cast of popular NCB series Dusklight were snapped letting off steam in a trendy new hotspot in downtown National City on Saturday night. Co-stars and alleged sweethearts Mike Matthews and Lena Luthor were joined by regulars Lucy Lane, Susan Vasquez, Josh Demos and series newcomer Kara Danvers at hot new club Vortex until well into the early hours of the morning. The couple were openly affectionate all night, and were clearly enjoying their time together.
"They were so cute," one source told us. "He was so attentive to her, and she was sitting in his lap for half the night. #relationshipgoals, right?"
We've got more pic of the happy couple, as well as the rest of the cast, in link below. Dusklight returns on March 19th on NCB.
…
The night passed in a haze of drinks and dancing and laughter. They stayed out far later than was probably wise, and Kara drank more alcohol than she had since college. She couldn't remember much beyond Lucy pulling her onto the dancefloor, but she woke up alone, clothed, and in her own bed, which was a good sign, though there was a glass of water on her bedside table that she didn't think she'd put there. Her head was hurting too much to give it much thought, though, so she just drained it slowly before fumbling for her phone to message Alex. She got a random string of emoji's back a minute later, which Kara took to mean her sister was alive and feeling it.
Satisfied that nothing had gone catastrophically wrong last night, Kara dropped her phone back onto the pillow beside her and curled up, wanting a few more hours of sleep before dealing with her hangover. She was just drifting into that weird place between awake and asleep when her phone trilled loudly right beside her head. Kara jumped, then groaned and buried her head in her pillow when the sound stabbed through her brain. She groped for the demonic device blindly, only raising her head when she had to and blinking blearily at the screen to see the stupid selfie Winn had picked as his contact pic.
"Hmmphh," she said intelligibly in greeting, pressing her face back down into the cool darkness of her pillow.
"Kara, he-ey," Winn answered, squeezing more syllables into three letters than Kara thought was possible. "Have a good night last night, did we?"
That sort of question from her publicist-slash-social media manager should've raised red flags, but Kara wasn't fully awake yet. "Mmmmmph."
"Yeah, didja have fun at Vortex?"
That made her open her eyes and speak with words instead of sounds. "How do you know I was at Vortex?"
"Because, sister, you are all over just about every social media site I monitor," Winn said, sounding far too amused for someone in damage control mode. "Like, even the really obscure ones. I'm sending you a link to the best bits."
Her phone vibrated against her ear, and she sat up and stabbed the speakerphone button so she could open her Instagram. "Oh god," she muttered as the images loaded in all their dim, blurry glory. They were obviously taken on a phone from a fair distance away, but the subjects were still clear. The first showed Kara dancing, sandwiched between Mike and Lucy with Alex grinning like a lunatic behind them. The second showed Lucy tugging a reluctant Lena out onto the dancefloor, with Vasquez and Demos in the background laughing and holding Kara between them, who looked like she was trying to escape. Another one made her heart seize briefly, because it showed Lena and Alex sitting alone in a booth together, but when Kara looked closer she saw that they both looked…not relaxed, exactly, but certainly not hostile, which was a good start.
Then Kara found one that made her pause. It featured Mike enfolding Lena in a hug, with Lena's chin resting on his shoulder. One of her arms was around his waist, but the other one was reaching out behind him to hold Kara's wrist. Kara was smiling drunkenly at Lena, and she was staring back at her with her eyes narrowed searchingly. Mike – apparently unaware that Kara was behind him – was winking at someone off camera. All of it was unfamiliar, but seeing the pictures was bringing back disjointed flashes of memory from the night before; Lucy laughing as she pulled her up to dance again— hands on her waist as she stumbled out of a spin— green eyes glittering inches from her own.
There were more pictures, but Kara got the idea. She groaned and dropped her phone into her lap and pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. "Winn, this is bad. Alex is going to kill me, and then probably Lucy. This was all her idea."
Winn laughed. "I think Lucy's safe. It's not actually that terrible. There's nothing that scandalous in there now, and it won't hurt you to get some exposure," he said, probably aiming for comforting but hitting amused instead. "Just pick your favourite one and retweet it with a happy caption and boom, we control the narrative."
Kara groaned again, but did as he asked, scrolling back through the pictures. Her finger hovered over the one of her and Lena, but in the end she picked one that showed all seven of them goofing around and looking just like any other group of drunk twenty-somethings enjoying themselves. 'Great night out with this bunch of lunatics!' she added as a caption, and tagged the official Dusklight BTS account but no one else. She watched the likes flood in for a moment, and then fell back against her pillows, resting her phone on her chest and throwing an arm over her eyes.
Winn was obviously watching her account from his end, because he chuckled and said, "This is what happens when you go out as one-sixth of the most telegenic cast on the planet plus your incredibly hot sister who can probably actually kill me so please don't tell her I said that."
"She not actually that scary," Kara started, but as she spoke, her hungover brain caught up with the conversation and she paused. "Winn," she said slowly, almost dreading the answer, "what do you mean there's nothing scandalous now."
"I...Nothing! Nope, nothing, it's fine," Winn stuttered, and Kara sat up as her heart plummeted.
"Oh god, Winn, what did I do?" she asked breathlessly, mind racing through what little she remembered of the previous night and snagging on that picture of her and Lena.
"Oh, no, Kara, it's not you, and I know technically that means I should've left it alone, but Lucy's people were probably asleep and Alex doesn't have people and I didn't wanna just leave it out there and—"
"Winn!" Kara snapped as his babbled explanation got too rapid for her interpret while hungover. "What. Happened."
"Lucy and Alex, they um… It's probably easier if I just show you." He trailed off, and after a second, her phone vibrated again. Kara clicked the message open and waited for the attachment to load with her stomach churning. "I kept a copy for back-tracing, not anything…weird."
It was a photo, obviously from the same batch as the others. It looked later in the night; there were fewer people on the dancefloor, and the majority of the picture was focused on Lena tugging an unsteady-looking Mike towards the door. But in one of the booths in the background, out-of-focus but still visible, sat Lucy and Alex, twined together and obviously kissing.
"My crawlers caught it quickly enough that I don't think it got further than the first post," Winn explained as Kara sat staring at the picture, dumbstruck. "I also did some totally-not-illegal snooping and corrupted the original, so whoever put it up shouldn't be able to repost it. Besides, it's pretty blurry, it's possible they didn't look close enough to notice what they'd got and you haven't said anything yet. Are you okay? Kara?"
"I…" The sound of her name broke her out of her daze, and she jolted herself out of bed, wincing as the sun hit her eyes but pushing through it. "I have to talk to Alex. I have to talk to Lucy. I…"
"Well, I mean judging by that picture, there's a pretty good chance you can do both at the same time…"
"Winn! Not helpful!"
"Sorry. I've already been in contact with Lucy's PR guy, so they'll be onto it if it does get out again, but really, Kara, it's not that bad. I caught that one before it got out into the wild, and if the press runs anything other than a page six puff piece about the others, I'll fry my hard drive."
Kara trusted him, she did, but… "I still need to see Alex."
"Okay. I'll call you if anything comes up, but it's gonna be fine."
"Thanks, Winn." Kara said with a smile, thanking her lucky stars again that she had a friend like Winn in her corner.
…
It was early enough on a Sunday morning that the traffic wasn't terrible, and it didn't take Kara long to get to Alex's apartment. She paced anxiously as she waited for the elevator, and fidgeted the whole way up, mentally cursing the fact that her sister insisted on living so high. She knocked exactly once before she went for her emergency key, but nudged the door open carefully and called a greeting before going in.
The jacket Alex had been wearing last night was slung over the back of the lounge, so Kara was confident that whatever else had happened, Alex had made it back here. She called out again, and there was muffled reply from the bedroom, followed by the sounds of someone stirring. Kara paced as she waited, pointedly ignoring the fact that there was a phone that wasn't her sisters sitting on the coffee table.
After a few minutes, which to Kara felt like an hour, Alex emerged from her room wearing an oversized t-shirt that Kara was fairly certain belonged to her and looking like she hadn't slept in a week.
"Kara, it is fuck-this o'clock on a Sunday and I didn't get home 'til almost three because someone wanted to go clubbing," she rasped, and Kara automatically moved into the kitchen to get her a glass of water, which she accepted gratefully and held to her head for a second before taking a sip. "Not that I don't love seeing you, but—"
"Is Lucy here?" Kara interrupted, and her sister's jaw snapped shut abruptly. "I really need to talk to both of you."
Alex's mouth opened and closed a few times before she managed to get words out. "What? No. Lucy? No, why would Lucy be here?"
Kara, guided by a lifetime of experience, said nothing and just waited as her sister talked herself out.
Finally, Alex sank onto the couch and wrapped her arms around herself. "Would it be okay?" she asked in a small voice that didn't suit her. "If she was?"
"Of course it is." Kara sank down next to her and wrapped herself around Alex's shoulders. "Why wouldn't it be?"
"I just…she's your friend," Alex said, guilt and self-loathing colouring her tone and making Kara's heart hurt, "and I feel like I've taken so much from you already—"
"Alex, no," Kara murmured, squeezing her arm. "You didn't take anything from me."
"I sent your boss to jail. I almost ended your career." Alex insisted, and Kara realised her sister might still be a little drunk, because they rarely talked about this if they were both sober.
"You did your job," Kara countered, refusing to release her arm. "Lex Luthor embezzling millions of dollars and bankrupting the studio almost ended my career. All you did was make sure he got punished for it."
Alex drew a breath to argue, but Kara continued before she could.
"And none of that has anything to do with you and Lucy. She's my friend, and you're my sister. I want you both to be happy. If that means the two of you being happy together, even…" Kara blushed but kept talking," even for a night, that makes me happy. So yes, if Lucy is here, it would be okay."
Alex smiled softly at her, then tilted her head until their foreheads touched. "Love you," she murmured, then straightened. "I'll go get her."
"No need," Lucy said from the doorway, startling both of them. "Sorry. I didn't wanna interrupt the moment."
Kara smiled over at her, then frowned. "How do you do that?" she asked, taking in Lucy's appearance. She looked like she'd had ten peaceful hours of sleep, and her hair was far closer to perfect than the rats' nest Kara had woken up with.
Lucy smiled at her. "Practice, younger Danvers." Then she ruined the illusion by rubbing a hand across her eyes and pointing to Alex's glass of water on the coffee table. "Can I get one of those?"
Kara pushed herself off the couch using Alex's shoulder, earning herself a swat on the leg, and rummaged through the cupboard for another glass as Lucy took her vacated seat.
"Wait, how did you know Lucy was here?" It was a sign of how out-of-sorts Alex was that it hadn't occurred to her to ask before. "I saw how much you were drinking, lightweight. There's no way you remember anything after about ten-thirty."
"Only flashes," Kara admitted as she handed Lucy her water, realising that she was stalling but doing it anyway. "I'm not even sure how I got home."
"Last I saw, Lena was herding you, Mike, and Vasquez towards the door," Alex said. "I'm not sure what time. I was…distracted." She was determinedly not looking at Lucy, which only made Kara grin at her anyway.
"That makes sense," Lucy said with a smile. "Lena's always been a bit of a mom-friend. Was there a glass of water near your bed?" Kara nodded, and Lucy chuckled. "Yeah, that was Lena. She likes to pretend she's this big scary Luthor who can't have friends or smile at children, but if you get past that she's actually a really good person."
Kara blinked at her. The picture she was painting of Lena was so far removed from Kara's experience with her that she was having trouble processing it. She blinked again and filed that information under 'to deal with later' when she noticed Alex glaring at her with her Cop Face on, though the effect was somewhat undermined by her bed-hair and racoon eyes.
"Kara," she asked slowly, "how did you know Lucy was here?"
Kara fidgeted with her glasses for a moment before looking at Lucy. "Have you checked your phone this morning?" she asked, and Lucy frowned and shook her head, reaching for the device on the coffee table. As she unlocked it and began thumbing through menus, Kara turned to Alex, who was trying to pretend she wasn't looking over Lucy's shoulder. "It's not as bad as it looks, okay?"
Alex's eyes were wide with dismay, but Lucy looked almost relieved. "These are actually pretty tame. Why are you…oh." She opened a message, presumably from her publicist, and from where she was standing Kara could see a copy of the picture that she dearly wished she could unsee.
"Shit. Shit! I have to go," Lucy said, standing and heading for the door, but Kara caught her arm before she got there.
"No, it's okay. Winn caught that one before it went anywhere. No one else saw it." Lucy visibly relaxed and let out a long breath. Alex hadn't moved from her place on the couch, her expression carefully neutral, but Kara knew her well enough to spot the apprehension underneath it.
"Thank god," Lucy murmured, but she glanced between them apologetically. "I still have to go, though. I have to let Jim yell at me in person or he'll start sulking. But I'll call you," she said, crossing back to Alex and leaning over to kiss her gently. "Because last night was fun, and I'd like to do it again." Alex blushed, but she was grinning like an idiot as Lucy straightened and pointed at Kara, who was politely and pointedly not watching. "You, I will see at work. Don't let her freak out about the pictures."
"I won't," Kara said with a smile, and Lucy disappeared out the door. "So…"
"Don't start. My captain's gonna kill me," Alex said, but there wasn't any heat to her words. "How bad is this? For you, I mean."
Kara flopped down next to her and shrugged. "Winn says it'll probably actually help. Something about getting more exposure or something." She twisted so she could poke Alex with her foot. "Speaking of exposure, you and Lucy, huh?"
Alex blushed but met her eye. "Yeah, me and Lucy."
"You slept with Amara Chase," Kara sing-songed, naming Lucy's character on the show. While Alex had long since stopped being star-struck by celebrities, both because she interacted with them fairly regularly in her job and because she'd been to more than one event with Kara, she did still have celebrities crushes, and Kara had suspected that Lucy's on-screen lawyer had been one of them.
Alex covered her face with her hands. "Oh god, don't make it weird."
"Is it serious?"
"It was one very drunk night. I don't know. But I like her, and it's fun. Isn't that enough?"
Kara smiled at her. "Of course it is. I meant it, if you're happy, I'm happy."
"I'm happy." Alex said, smiling, then rubbed her head. "Happy-ish. My head hurts and I need more sleep. You look like you to do. C'mon." Alex stood and offered her a hand, but Kara shook her head with a disgusted expression.
"Ew, no, I'm not going anywhere near that bed until you change the sheets you defiled," she said, struggling to keep a straight face.
"Then you might not wanna sit on that couch, either," Alex said with a wicked grin, and Kara's eyes widened as she sprang up, throwing herself into the armchair on the opposite side of the coffee table as Alex laughed.
…
The fallout from the photos was far less intense than Kara expected, and Winn wasted no time in doing his I-told-you-so dance after the few outlets that did pick the story up ran it with a tone closer to 'look at those crazy kids' instead of the 'Kara Danvers, Drunken Mess' that she'd been dreading. Most of the cast just shrugged and ignored it, though Lucy did pull her into a quiet corner of the set a few days later.
"Thank your twitter guy for me?" she asked, looking apologetic and vaguely nervous. "I know what that picture getting out would've meant. I didn't mean to do that to Alex."
"You were worried about Alex?" Kara asked, surprised. She liked Lucy, but she knew most celebrities would worry about their own reputation first.
Lucy smiled bitterly. "The press ignores me when I do shit like that. I could go down on her on the red carpet and the headline would be 'Lucy Lane Enjoys Night Out With New Gal-Pal'." She smirked when Kara pulled a face at that mental image, then shrugged. "They're still confused by gay celebrities, bisexual ones are well beyond their understanding. But I know it could've hurt Alex's career, and I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I'm glad you care," Kara said, pulling her into a hug. "You said that to her too, right?"
"I did," Lucy said, then pulled away and smirked wickedly. "Repeatedly."
"Okay gross, that's my sister and I do not need that in my brain." Kara said, pushing her away as she laughed. "Hey," she called when Lucy was almost to the door. "Remember, if you hurt her I know where she keeps her guns."
"Yes, Ma'am." Lucy turned on her heels and snapped out an almost perfect military salute that she'd picked up somewhere, but there was sincerity in her eyes so Kara smiled and waved her away.
…
Despite Kara's vague hope that her drunk-self had said something that night that had magically smoothed over their relationship, Lena still seemed to be actively avoiding her, though every now and then Kara would catch her watching her with thoughtful eyes. Lena had been the least inebriated of them by far and she remembered much more of the night's events than anyone else, and Kara was desperate to know what she'd said or done to provoke that scrutiny. But Lucy had been otherwise occupied, Mike couldn't remember any more of the night than she could, and Kara knew Lena wouldn't tell her, even if she could bring herself to ask.
So filming continued. The second episode was much the same as the first, but the third episode was based around them investigating a murder in Jax's hometown, and meant that they spent most of the week shooting on location in a small town about an hour outside the city. While it was fun to get off the soundstage for a bit, there was a lot more waiting around while the production tried to balance the need to film quickly against unduly disrupting the lives of the people whose town they'd invaded.
It was during one of these interminable delays, when Kara was trying to decide whether it was worth ducking back to the production circus where their trailers were, that Mike bounded up to her and grabbed her hand.
"C'mon Kara, we're going to the fan line to say hi," he said, tugging her towards the makeshift barricades they'd put up after people kept wandering into the background of the shots. There was a sizable crowd there, but they seemed calm enough and the security guys were nearby, so Kara followed him without reluctance.
He didn't release her hand until they were well in-view of the fans, and Kara swore she heard the ripple go through the crowd as they noticed. They were bunched up at one section of the barricade, and it took Kara a moment to realise that it was because Lena was already there, and had turned to watch her approaching co-stars with a raised eyebrow.
Mike seemed oblivious to the stir he'd created. "Hi guys!" he said, flashing his charm smile at them, and was quickly surrounded by fans.
Kara stood off to the side until one girl noticed her and gasped. "Oh my god, you're Supergirl!" She rummaged briefly through her bag, then frowned. "I don't have anything for you to sign," she said, disappointed, and Kara smiled at her.
"That's okay. Do you want a selfie?" she asked, pointing to the girl's phone, and her eyes lit up as she nodded.
Recognised and with the ice broken, Kara spent the next twenty minutes working her way down the line, signing autographs and taking pictures and just generally interacting with people. She loved meeting fans, loved hearing their stories and seeing the things they'd created, and most of them seemed thrilled to just be able to say hi to her.
The flow of the crowd eventually pushed her closer to where Lena was standing with a security guy hovering at her shoulder, non-threatening but present, and Kara got a first-hand look at how the she and Mike interacted with their obviously-adoring fans. Mike was friendly, but Kara could see the falseness of it, the way he never really dropped out of character. Lena was a massive contrast. Kara had seen Lena at press events before, and she always seemed closed off and distant, but seeing her now was like watching a totally different person. She was genuinely warm and patient with the fans, with an almost awkward sincerity to her interaction that Mike lacked, and as she watched her Kara saw flashes of the person Lucy had described, the person who'd made sure her drunken co-stars got home and left a glass of water on Kara's nightstand.
The fans responded to the warmth with familiarity, and some of the banter Kara heard made her eyes widen.
"Do you guys really hate each other?" one particularly blunt fan asked, making both women laugh, though Kara's was closer to a hysterical giggle than Lena's more graceful chuckle.
"Of course not," Lena answered, smiling at the fan but not looking at Kara. "We spend far too much time together to hate one another."
"Then can I get one with both of you?" the fan asked, holding up her phone.
"Of course!" Kara said, jumping in before Lena could say anything. She slid next to the fan as she handed her phone to her friend, wrapping an arm around the girl's waist. Lena did the same on her other side, except her hand landed on the small of Kara's back. Kara almost flinched at the contact and she glanced quickly at her co-star, but Lena was looking into the camera. Kara barely had time to shift her gaze back to the phone when she heard "Say cheese!" and she hurriedly plastered a smile on her face just in time for the shutter click.
"Thanks, you guys!" the fan said, bouncing out of their arms and reclaiming her phone. Lena dropped her arm and stepped away, turning to talk to another fan, and the spot on Kara's back were her hand had been tingled.
Her attention was quickly claimed by other fans, but Kara caught her gaze wandering to Lena more than once through the small sea of people. She didn't return Kara's look, but when a hand landed on her back in the exact same spot, she flinched and turned, half-expecting Lena but instead coming face to face with Mike. He didn't withdraw his hand when she turned, and the movement left it resting on her hip, which the fans were quick to notice.
Mike didn't react to their murmuring. "Sorry everyone, but we've gotta go back now," he said, partly to her and partly to the crowd, and Kara looked over his shoulder to see a harried-looking PA watching at them impatiently and speaking into his radio.
"Okay, lemme just…" Kara turned to call Lena, but found her approaching anyway. She was glaring pointedly at the hand Kara had forgotten was on her hip, and Mike dropped it with an apologetic smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Shall we?" Mike said, gesturing back towards the set to the obvious relief of the PA behind him. Mike fell into step with them as they started back, and wrapped an arm around Lena's waist as they walked. There was a collective 'awww' from the crowd behind them at the sight, and Kara could hear the click of several camera phones immortalising the moment. What they couldn't see, though, was how Lena's posture was all wrong for someone accepting an affectionate gesture from her boyfriend or how her face was settled into a mask of total neutrality and her hand was clenched into a fist over her stomach, and Kara spent the rest of the walk feeling like she'd missed something significant.
ps: i love every single one of you who is reading and kudosing and commenting and just generally making my month. y'all are awesome 3
