Author's Note: HOLY CRAP IT'S CHAPTER 50 OMG OMG WE'VE MADE IT THIS FAR AND I'M FREEEEEAKKKKINNNGGGG OUTTTTT I'm so proud of what this story has become and how far we've come and ahhhhh I still remember when I started this so long agooooo :)))))
"Guys, I just had a huuuuuge revelation," Thea cried jubilantly as she slid into her place at the lunch table and looked at her best friends with a giant smile. "Guess what season it is?"
"Ummm..." Iris exchanged a blank glance with Sara. "Spring...?"
"Wrong," Thea said. "Well. I mean, it is Spring. But I meant that it's promposal season yayyy!!!!!"
"Ooooooh," Iris said, immediately catching on to the excitement. Sara scratched her nose, smirking at the two of them. "Do you think Roy is going to prompose?"
"No idea," Thea admitted. Her smiled dropped a little. "I'm cool if he doesn't, because then I will and embarrass him because embarrassing Roy Harper and getting that adorable blush on his face is one of my favorite past times. But I don't wanna put all this work into an elaborate promposal if he's going to want to prompose to me, and I don't want to ask him about it because then it'll either pressure him into promposing or spoil the surprise."
"Wow," Sara said after a moment of respectful silence for Thea's crisis had passed. "I never knew promposing could be so complicated. Also can I just get your permission to, like, never say the world 'promposal' again? Because it's really cringing me out."
Thea stuck her tongue out at her. "Of course it's complicated," she sighed. "This is our first prom as Juniors! It's both of you guys' first proms, overall."
"Yes yes, we know, you're so Prom-wise because you went as a Freshman," Sara said, rolling her eyes and snickering.
"Yes, I am," Thea huffed. "Okay then, Sara, has Leonard asked you?"
"Nope," Sara said simply, and took a bite of her sandwich.
"And you're not worried about that at all..." Thea prompted, raising an eyebrow.
Sara paused. Then, "Nope."
Thea threw up her hands in exasperation. "Fine. So maybe I'm the only one in the entire world that cares about promposals-"
"You're talking about promposals?" a voice from behind them said, and the girls turned to see Julian standing awkwardly at their back. He hurried to take an empty chair and leaned forward imploringly. "Please, you need to help me. I completely botched homecoming for Caitlin and I still feel guilty about it. I have to get this promposal perfect."
Thea's entire face lit up. "Now here is a guy who knows what he's doing!" she cried, beaming. "Of course we'll help you, Julian. My vote is something completely sciency."
"Okay," Julian said with a nod, before he pulled out a literal pad of paper and started to take notes. "Science. What kind of science?"
Sara wrinkled her nose. "You're asking Thea. About science?"
"No, he's asking me about romance," Thea corrected, sighing in a labor-of-love sort of way. "Julian, what do love and science have in common?"
He winced and considered. "Um... nothing?"
"No no no." Thea wagged her finger. "Chemistry. Love is all about chemistry, and chemistry is literally a type of science."
"I have an idea!!" Iris piped up. "Are there the right letters in the periodic table of elements to spell out the word LOVE? Or Caitlin? Or- ooh! ooh! Prom??"
"I gotchu hang on," Sara muttered, pulling out her phone and looking up the periodic table. "There's an O here... and a CS! That's Caitlin's initials."
"It won't work," Julian said after a moment of searching. "There's Pr and O, but there's no M without anything attached."
"Ugh," Iris groaned. "We're so close! Ok, which of these Ms with the extra letter would make the most sense? We've got -Julian, write this down- Mg, Mn, Mt, Md, Mo, and Mc."
"Well..." Julian thought. "Molybdenum (Mo) is a very tough element, like Caitlin. . Manganese (Mn) is important to all living species but it's also incredibly common. I don't want her to think I'm calling her common. Ah- I'll do magnesium- Mg. Magnesium is considered to be very "chemically active", which is something Caitlin would know."
"Love it," Thea gushed. Then she paused. "I just had a sudden urge to relate all of the elements to personality types. Julian... you may have just figured out how I'm going to pass Chemistry this year."
Julian grinned. "Awesome, mate," he said, and stood up. "Hey, thanks for the help. I guess I'm going home and making a poster. Or... possibly a chemical compound."
With that, he turned and hurried off.
"Guys," Thea said, turning back to her friends. "I just had the greatest idea on the planet."
"What...?" Iris asked slowly, looking a little concerned.
"We should be Prom consultants!" Thea cried. "We can put out an ad in the school newspaper. If anyone needs Prom help, we'll give them a number to call and we can help them with their promposal, or the outfit, or planning, or anything! We'd be perfect for it."
"Ooh, ooh, fun!" Iris squealed.
Sara shrugged. "Sure," she agreed. "But I'm still devoting a large majority of my time to our Operation Set Up Zari and Nate. We still haven't progressed to step two of our evil plan."
"One, our plan isn't evil," Thea said. "Two, you can focus on learning Nate's hall schedule while I focus on being a free and friendly Prom consultant. Iris... you can do whatever you want."
Iris laughed. "Okay, Queen Thea," she said with a playful wink. "We can reach out to Kara later and ask her about the advertisement."
AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High
Mon-El looked up at an awkward clearing of throats coming from his doorway. Brainy was standing about an inch inside his room, hands behind his back. "Uh... hello, Mon-El," he said. "May I enter?"
Mon-El grinned at the formality his exchange student always used, even around him, even after a few months. "Yeah, come on in," he agreed, nodding at his chair.
Brainy was staying in the guest room for the duration of his visit, and he didn't come up to Mon-El's room all that much. They spent a lot of time together, but it was usually playing games or watching TV in the living room, doing homework at the kitchen counter, out somewhere, or at school. So it was a little understandable how hesitantly Brainy walked into Mon-El's room and sat down.
"I... have a bit of a question," he said. "I've heard from Nia that your school's annual Prom is coming up, and that this is about the time that boys begin a ritual called a... promposal."
"Nia told you that?" Mon-El asked with a laugh. "Man, if she's explaining the concept of a promposal, I think that probably means she wants one."
Brainy cringed. "I know," he said. "That's my problem. I have no idea how to prompose, what they normally look like, or what Nia would want. I'm not even sure when to do so."
"Soon," Mon-El advised. "Girls like to have their dress shopping done awhile before Prom. I dunno... I guess they think all the dresses are going to go out of stock or something?"
"Peculiar indeed," Brainy agreed. "So, are you planning on promposing to Kara?"
"Of course," Mon-El replied with a smile. "Yeah, I've been thinking about it for awhile. The highlight of her year, other than me, of course, was getting cast as Belle in our school show."
Brainy smiled brightly. "She would make a wonderful Belle," he said.
"She did," Mon-El confirmed. "So I kind of wanted to make her promposal Beauty and the Beast themed. But that's about all I got."
"I see..." Brainy mused. "So, high school boys put quite a lot of thought into these promposals, hm? Is it... rather like mating, in the jungle? Do girls scope out the best promposals and pick their dates?"
"Oh gosh no," Mon-El laughed. "Thankfully. No, guys ask a specific girl, and she either says yes or no. If she says no... you're both out of luck. Unless she has another date, I guess. If she says yes, then pressure's on for you to make it the best night ever." He shrugged. "I'm not concerned; Kara's pretty chill. My guess is she'll just want a pretty dress and some nice pictures and she will be perfectly happy."
Brainy nodded, smiling. "I don't believe she will be a diva," he agreed. "And I don't believe Nia will be, either. But I would like to make this special for her. She hasn't gone to many dances before, and I know for a fact she's never been to Prom. This should be the best night of her life, and I'd like to make it that way."
Mon-El smiled at him. "Hey, you're a pretty great boyfriend," he said, nodding a chin in Brainy's direction.
"Thank you," Brainy accepted. "You are as well."
AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High
Thea was on her way out of school when she caught sight of a certain blond headed in the opposite direction.
"Kara!" she cried, arresting her before she could get out of earshot. "Just the lady I wanted to see."
Kara looked surprised. "Uh... hi, Thea. What's up?"
"Iris, Sara and I have been cooking up a bit of a plan," Thea explained. "We want to offer free services to any guys struggling with how to prompose."
Kara let out a surprised laugh, then quickly clapped her hand over her mouth. "Sorry, sorry. I just... wasn't expecting that."
"Oh, you laugh," Thea said, wagging her head. "But you should have seen the way we cleverly solved Julian's entire promposal conundrum with about 10 minutes and the periodic table of elements."
Kara looked intrigued, but Thea didn't give her the chance to ask any questions. "The reason I need you is because I want to spread the word. We're going to put up a notice, but I was thinking you could maybe put a little blurb in the school newspaper?"
"Ooh, I see where you're going with this," Kara said, grinning. "Unfortunately, what goes or doesn't go in the newspaper isn't up to me. You're gonna have to talk to Lena Luthor."
"I can do that," Thea agreed. "Where does she reside, this Lena Luthor?"
Kara laughed. "Usually? In the newspaper room upstairs. Come on; I was just heading that way. I can introduce you to."
She led the way to her now much-frequented school newspaper room and let herself inside. Lena, true to form, was sitting behind her desk with her hair up in a neat bun and the layout of that week's newspaper out in front of her. "Kara," she greeted without looking up. "Did you end up getting an interview with Oliver Queen about what it was like to get selected for a Div 1 school for football?"
"Uh, yes, I just need to go over it for mistakes," Kara said quickly. "Um, Lena, I have someone I want you to meet."
Lena finally railed her head, and then her eyebrows when she caught sight of Thea. "Oh look; it's the younger Queen."
"You know who I am?" Thea asked, surprised.
"She knows who most people are," Kara said.
"Hazard of the job," Lena agreed, getting to her feet and holding out hand for Thea to shake. "Lena Luthor. What can I do for you?"
Thea wasn't usually intimidated, but Lena Luthor's entire vibe (no matter how friendly) was incredibly intense. Also.. mature. And Thea suddenly felt a little bit embarrassed about the somewhat silly idea she'd previously been glowing about. "Uhhh..." she floundered for a second. "I was just... so I had this idea, about, um-"
"Thea wants to put a sort of add in the school newspaper," Kara jumped in. "She and some friends want to offer promposal consultants to help out the boys."
"Oh," Lena said. "That's... interesting."
"We just thought it'd be fun," Thea said, trying to defend her idea. "Also, I know how stressed out guys get at this time of year about having to think of the perfect promposal. High school boys just aren't naturally romantic. I think any edge they could have would be pretty well received."
Lena shrugged. "I've got nothing against it," she said. "Though... I don't usually put ads in the school newspaper. In the real world, you'd have to pay."
"You're going to make her pay?" Kara asked, disbelieving.
"No," Lena replied, letting out a little laugh. "But... I will ask for a favor."
"You name it," Thea agreed.
"You're aquatinted with Iris West, correct?"
Thea frowned. "Uh, yeah, she's one of my best friends. Why?"
"Iris is always in the know about everyone," Lena explained. "She, as I've heard from Kara, is also a remarkable writer. I want her on my team. I'm not going to ask you to make her work for the newspaper in return for me putting your ad in, but could you at least ask?"
"Oh, yeah, sure," Thea agreed easily. "Honestly, I think she's been interested in it for awhile. She's really busy, though, so she doesn't like to add new things to her schedule."
"Understood," Lena nodded. "Well, I hope she can make this the exception."
"So it's a deal?" Thea asked.
Lena held out her hand a smirked a little. "Pleasure doing business with you."
AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High
"Pretend you're a ninja," Sara whispered as she crept along the hallway with Leonard close behind her.
He, walking quite normally, rolled his eyes. "Sara, it's one o'clock on a Tuesday. You look way more out-of-place walking like a 'ninja' than you do acting like a normal person."
Sara straightened up and stuck her tongue out at him. "You're no fun," she huffed.
"But you love me anyway."
"I do," Sara replied, breaking into a smile. Ever since Leonard had confessed his feelings for her, the two of them had exchanged I-Love-You's quite a few times. Like multiple times a day. Like multiple times a conversation.
Sara loved it.
"Remind me why I have to be here?" Leonard asked after a few more minutes of Sara carefully scanning the faces in the hallway.
"Because it's fun," Sara groaned. "Because I like spending time with you. Because I love you."
Like she said. Multiple times a conversation.
"I'll take that," Leonard allowed.
"Alright," Sara said after a moment, squinting a little. "I've managed to find Nate's class-route after a few weeks of trail and error. We need to pinpoint the exact place he'll be at this time so that Iris or Thea and I can come back later and make our move."
"You know, I'd tease you about being into him, but I think you're actually just a stalker," Leonard told her with a snort.
"You know the plan..." Sara lamented. "We have to bump into him and Thea or Iris has to be all like, 'you're Nate? Oh, we know because Zari showed us a picture because she's into you'. But like... better than that. Less direct."
Leonard shook his head. "You girls and your matchmaking plans," he said with a sigh. "Things weren't like this at the beginning of the year, were they? And we got together alright."
"Yeah, only out of fierce and relentless determination on my half," Sara scoffed. "You never would have made a move if I hadn't sat with you like a billion times after soccer practice."
"That is true," Leonard allowed. "But do you ever think that maybe you should just let these things happen... naturally?"
Sara was about to reply, but then she spotted a familiar brown-haired head bobbing through the crowd. "Looooook," she said, tugging on Leonard's arm. "It's Nate. And ohmygosh- he's with Zari right now!!"
Leonard raised his eyebrows, trying not to stare too openly at the pair.
"Oh my gosh look at how adorable they are," Sara fangirled in a whisper. "Even their height difference is aesthetically pleasing. That does it, Leonard, we are getting them together or I can not call myself Matchmaker of the Year."
"You were planning on calling yourself Matchmaker of the Year?"
Sara nodded gravely. "I'll be competing closely with Kara Danvers for the title," she elaborated. "We all saw how Brainia turned out."
"Gotcha," Leonard said, giving her a weird look as she pulled out her phone and quickly wrote down what time it was and what hallway she was in and which direction Nate was headed.
Once she'd finished her undercover work, she and Leonard headed off in the opposite direction. "To answer your question," Sara said, "yes, I think it can be important for relationships to happen naturally. But sometimes guys and girls get so wrapped up in being teenagers and doubting feelings and logistics that they don't look a perfect opportunity in the face. For example: when I saw you outside AV High that day all the way back in September, I just knew something was there. I don't know how. But I did. And sure, everyone was warning me away from you and you were pumping out the anti-Sara vibes. But I took a chance, and look how we ended up?"
"And you don't think other people are capable of that?" Leonard questioned, honestly curious to know her opinion.
Sara considered. "I think... some people are," she said. "But then if you look at Caitlin and Julian, they were so stressed out about ruining their friendship that they were completely blind to the fact that they were both insanely interested in each other. And true, they managed to figure their stuff out with some unexpected help from Hunter Zolomon, but there are other people out there that might not. I just want everyone to have the same happiness that we do, and if takes a little push then I'm willing to get that swing started."
Leonard frowned. "Isn't it a ship?"
"Yeah, I was trying to make an analogy with a push and a swing," Sara said, sighing. "Forget it."
"I get what you're saying," Leonard reassured her. "Just remember that if you, uh... push the swing too hard, the person in it could fall off."
Sara smiled. "Yeah," she agreed. "I'll remember."
Author's Note: PROMMM I have so much to write about PROMMM everything is gonna be written about PROMMMMMMMMMMM
I went to prom in 2019 with my then-boyfriend. We sat on the balcony almost the entire time and talked with a mutual friend. It actually wasn't half bad but I'm not even kidding they played the best songs during dinner and then the songs during the actual dance part literally sucked.
