"How long is going to take you to get ready?" Kara whined, her head falling hard against the closed bathroom door. "You said we'd leave at seven."
"Kara! If you keep harassing me, it's just going to take longer!" Lena shot back, calling out through the door.
As the sound of whatever-it-was being banged around in the bathroom filled Kara's ears, she huffed loudly in frustration.
"But Lena—" she tried.
"Why do we need to be there at 9 anyway?" Lena groaned.
"I wanna get there when they open!" Kara fussed. "You promised!"
"Kara Danvers! Enough! Leave me alone so I can get ready in peace."
Letting out a loud whine, Kara banged her head on the door once more before walking away and flopping down on Lena's bed with an exasperated huff. Despite seeing Lena dramatically rolling her eyes in her mind, Kara continued to huff and groan throughout the next twenty minutes while her best friend got ready for their upcoming adventure.
When the bathroom door finally opened and Lena finally appeared in the bedroom before her, Kara sat up and growled, "Finally."
"Hush."
"Such a girl."
"Am not!"
"Says the basic bitch who likes chai tea."
Lena had to laugh at this, knowing her friend was just teasing her all in good will. When she saw Lena's smile, though, Kara felt her heart flutter and skip a beat. In a short trance, at the sight of Lena's smile, the off-duty hero stared.
"Hey. You okay?" Lena asked curiously, noticing Kara's distracted gaze.
"Huh? Oh. Yeah. I'm good," the hero blurted, finally sitting up. "Totally good."
"Cool. We going or what?"
"Yeah!" the blonde exclaimed, bouncing a few times on the bed before rising to her feet. "Can't wait! Vamanos, chica!"
Laughing lightly, Lena followed her friend out of the penthouse.
"I can't believe we're doing this," she chuckled, upon shutting the door to the back seat of the car that had met them at the street.
After telling her driver where they were going, Lena leaned back in the seat and glanced over at the hero.
"What?" Kara asked. "Why?"
"Because it's dorky."
"So?" Kara fussed. "Why can't we just relax and have some good old-fashioned fun? Besides, life isn't all about work."
"Okay, Kar. Whatever you say. I'm just doing this to make you happy."
"It's our friendiversary. Let's just have fun, okay? Just try to relax."
"Re….Re-what?" the brunette joked, causing Kara to playfully bump her shoulder. "Speak my language."
"I said relax," Kara laughed. "Hakuna Matata. It means no worries."
Laughing along with her friend, Lena asked, "Did you just quote me Disney's The Lion King?"
"Maybe," her friend answered with a proud grin.
"Well, I love it."
Noticing Lena's warm smile, Kara felt her cheeks grow slightly warm, so she looked away, just in case any hint of a blush had appeared along with the heat.
They continued to converse and tease each other periodically throughout the two-hour drive up to Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, where they arrived at their destination.
As soon as the sign came into view – 'Funspot: Largest Arcade in the World!' – Kara jumped in her seat and shouted, "We're here!"
"Kara—"
"We're here! Oh, my goodness! It's been forever!"
Rolling her eyes playfully, Lena thanked her driver and followed her friend out of the car.
"Hurry up! Gotta get coins!" Kara exclaimed, grabbing Lena's hand without thinking and tugging her into the building at a fast clip, nearly running.
Practically sending herself crashing into the coin machine, the hero jammed two twenty-dollar bills into the slot and bounced on her heels as she waited for it to spit out the coins that served as a pass to the games on all three floors of the enormous building.
"Relax," Lena chuckled, putting her hand on Kara's shoulder. "We'll be here all day. We have plenty of time."
"But I wanna play all the games!"
With a knowing smile, Lena opened her arms and said, "Come here, dork."
Kara took the invitation gratefully and embraced her best friend tightly, still vibrating with excitement.
"Okay, kid," the brunette announced with a smile, putting a single twenty-dollar bill into the coin machine. "Let's do this. But first… beer."
"What?" the Kryptonian asked blankly, looking confused.
"Did you really think I was gonna do this thing without a buzz?"
"Lena!"
"Kidding! Just one drink."
"Okay," Kara agreed with a bright smile, holding her two cups full of coins and following Lena to the bar. When they got their and she smelled the food being served, her eyes went wide as she asked Lena, "Pizza? Please?"
"Kara, it's ten in the morning."
"But…"
"It's not lunch time yet."
"Snack?"
Smirking at Kara's endless chasm of a stomach, the CEO of L-Corp conceded, "Yeah, yeah. Get a snack."
"You want anything?" her friend asked.
When Lena shook her head, Kara ordered a small pizza, rushed over to the nearest table when it was served, and are the entire thing by herself. Lena had to cover her mouth not to laugh at the look of intense disappointment on Kara's face as she swallowed the last bite.
"Should've gotten a medium," the hero sighed.
Choking down her laughter, Lena rose from her seat at the table, grabbed Kara's empty tray, and returned it to the food counter.
It didn't take long for Kara to look around at the games and completely forget about her disappointment in the finite amount of pizza.
Bolting for the Ghost Busters game, she called out, "Lena! Do this one with me!"
Approaching at a slower pace, Lena sat down next to Kara on the bench and grabbed the toy gun, preparing for her friend to start the game.
"You ready?" Kara taunted with a grin. "Better buckle up. You're going down, biatch."
"There aren't any seatbelts, Kara…"
Rolling her eyes, Kara groaned, "It was metaphorical."
"Game on," Lena shot back, still grinning as she turned her attention to the game's display screen.
Without really realizing it, Lena's competitive nature kicked in, and where she'd been completely nonchalant and rather uninterested in arcade games just moments before, she was suddenly determined to kick her friend's ass with a high score.
To Kara's shock and horror, when the scores were displayed on the screen, Lena had done exactly that.
"What the—" she started. "How did you—"
"Mad skill, bitch," the brunette cackled, shoving Kara's shoulder.
Mouth hanging open, Kara stood up in a daze and wandered with a vacant expression of shock over to the giant Space Invaders game. Lena rushed over to her, throwing herself excitedly into the seat, and grabbed the controls.
"Better buckle up," Lena taunted, repeating Kara's previous words. "You're going down, biatch."
Growling with determination, Kara gripped the controls until her knuckles were white. This time, Kara's focus and determination paid off, and her score far surpassed Lena's.
"There," Kara announced. "Was just a little rusty for the first game. Put you in your place, didn't I?"
"Just wait 'til we get to the classics, punk."
Over the next hour, the two spent half their coins on the vintage, classic arcade games. Again, to Kara's surprise, Lena completed dominated her on most games, to include Pac Man, the original Mario Brothers, and Duck Hunt. When they reached the Walking Dead game though, a covered game with curtains to block out the light, Kara nearly flew into the contraption and positioned herself with her toy crossbow and prepared herself to take down some zombies. Lena, on the other hand, approached this game hesitantly, slipping into the covered seat slowly, saying nothing.
Surprising Kara further – shocking her, even – when the first zombie popped out from the side of the screen, Lena jumped, screamed, dropped her crossbow, and grabbed Kara's arm. Eyes wide at her best friend's reaction, Kara's head whipped around and looked over at her. As the zombies continued to advance on the screen and loud crashes of noise filled their ears, Lena reflexively wrapped her arms around Kara and buried her head in the hero's neck. Then, peeking out in an attempt to be brave, when Lena saw the next zombie jump out at them, she let out another screamed and jumped into her friend's lap. Holding Lena with her eyes wide as the woman clung to her, Kara gently rubbed her back until the game was over.
As soon as the screen turned off, Lena lifted her head and briefly met Kara's gaze before rapidly dropping hers.
"Hey," Kara whispered, not letting go. "What just happened?"
"I… I'm…" Lena tried, but couldn't finish her sentence.
After a brief pause, Kara carefully asked, "Are you… afraid of zombies?"
With a soft whimper, Lena nodded, burying her face in Kara's neck again to hide her tears.
"Why'd you play this with me then?" the hero gently pressed. "You didn't have to—"
"You wanted to play. I didn't want you to have to do it alone, and I didn't want you to know I was scared, and I thought… maybe I could do it… but…"
"It was too much," Kara expressed her understanding, absently stroking Lena's hair. "I understand. It's okay, Lee. It's really okay. I'm sorry I didn't know. I wouldn't have had you play. But I got you, okay? Nothing's gonna hurt you. Not ever."
Slowly gathering the bravery to lift her gaze to meet Kara's again, the brunette looked up into the hero's eyes and whispered, "I love you, Kara."
As the blonde's eyes went wide, Lena paused briefly, then surged forward, softly kissing her best friend's smooth, pink lips.
When Lena finally broke the kiss, several long moments later, Kara whispered back, "I love you too."
Carefully helping Lena out of the game's covered seating area, the hero kept hold of the woman's hand almost constantly throughout the rest of the day, including the entire two-hour ride back to National City. Despite wanting to look away, Kara spent the entire drive staring in awe of Lena, nearly disbelieving the kiss they'd shared. But every time Kara started to doubt her own senses and consider the possibility that she'd simply hallucinated her deepest fantasy, she noticed Lena staring back with a fiery gaze of love in her eyes.
She didn't want to say, 'I told you so,' out loud to Lena, so Kara kept the thought of, 'I knew this trip would be worth it,' silently to herself, the knowledge of the day's turnout pulling the corners of her lips into a smile that refused to fade.