Just like Kara had hinted at to Lena during their dinner together, there soon came a day when Supergirl asked Lena out on yet another date. This one was going to be fancier than just a simple late-night coffee date.
Supergirl: There's a fancy little restaurant on the east end of the city and I was wondering if you might like to meet up there some time.
Lena: I'd love to! What dates and times work best for you?
Supergirl: Any weekend, including this one.
Lena: Is that your way of asking me to go out with you THIS weekend?
Supergirl: I'd like to see you again sooner rather than later ;)
Lena: Done. This Saturday night at 6:30?
Supergirl: Done.
Lena exhaled slowly as she set her phone back down on her desk. Another simple conversation and another rush of nerves. One would think that she would've gotten used to texting Supergirl by now, but she hadn't. Every new message from National City's hero made her heart flutter like mad. Today was no exception, and she couldn't help but get caught up on the winky face Supergirl had sent in her third text. Was that supposed to mean something? Or was it just supposed to be funny and cute? Lena didn't know which potential meaning she preferred and she half considered screenshotting the message and sending it to Kara, asking her to help her decipher what the wink had meant in this context.
Lena ultimately decided against that, though, too embarrassed to try and ask Kara for help with something like this. Although Kara had been an amazing wing-girl, friend and helper to Lena so far, Lena felt like it was high time she learned how to talk to Supergirl herself and stop using Kara as an emergency emotional crutch. That, and she didn't want Kara teasing her that she might be reading too far into one little text from the Girl of Steel, which was also a possibility in this case. Lena couldn't help but laugh at herself. She was a Luthor! And a CEO of a giant company! She was supposed to be fearless, proud and strong! But here she was, fretting over what a winky face meant from her crush! How stupid!
But when that Saturday night finally came, Lena was all nerves once again. She went out wearing a simple but eye-catching black dress and she pulled her long hair back into a nice little bun. She also wore an extra layer of makeup and put on some nice jewelry to complete the look. As beautiful as she felt, however, she hoped that Supergirl wouldn't think that it was a bit too much. She didn't want to come off as a show off. But, of course, she didn't want to underdress either. Gah! Why was Supergirl able to get into her head so easily? Lena had never cared what anyone else ever thought about her before, but now, she was fretting over her outfit, wondering whether or not Supergirl would like it. What had gotten into her?! Apparently, her usual "I-don't-care-what-anyone-thinks" persona went out the window if the "anyone" just so happened to be Kryptonian. But it was too late to back out, so Lena just too another deep breath and headed on out to the restaurant.
"Wow!" she marveled softly to herself as she made her arrival to the diner. It really was a beautiful and elegant place, but it wasn't too large or gaudy. Lena felt herself relax the longer she studied the restaurant. Maybe it sounded prideful to say it, but the Luthor was very well acquainted with the world of fine dining. Stepping inside a fancy restaurant was as easy for her as stepping into an office or a meeting room. Even if she wasn't very good at romance, she could handle a dinner date like this! Already, her confidence was rising.
A couple minutes later, Supergirl arrived to the diner as well.
"Sorry I'm late, I-" Supergirl began, but the moment she actually had the chance to look Lena over, she went totally silent.
"Oh, that's alright, I haven't been here long," Lena smiled casually, totally missing the Kryptonian's sudden, stunned silence. Instead, she even shrugged to accent her point. Supergirl, meanwhile, swallowed loudly as she watched Lena's bare shoulder go up, and then down again.
"Well, uhhh, anyway, uhhhh, have you gone inside yet?" Supergirl's voice cracked slightly as she asked this next question.
"No, not yet... Are you alright?" Lena asked back, eyebrows furrowing as she finally realized how pale the Kryptonian looked.
"Oh! Me? Uhhh, yeah, I, uhhhh, am fine!" Supergirl gave Lena a giant smile that seemed a little more than forced. Lena raised an eyebrow, but Supergirl only continued to give her that too-wide smile before awkwardly rushing over to the door and holding it open.
"After you, madam," she tried to joke, but she sounded completely terrified as she said this to Lena. Lena gave her another cautious, worried and suspicious look, but she walked inside nonetheless. Supergirl followed embarrassedly afterward, failing to notice the large, finger-shaped dents she'd just left in the door's handle.
"Just water please, thank you," Lena said as their waiter came around for drinks.
"Ummm, I'll have water too, thanks!" Supergirl's voice sounded shaky as she gave the server a lopsided grin. What was going on here?
"Are you sure you're feeling alright, Supergirl?" Lena asked gently, trying to make herself look as calm and relaxed as possible. Already, a thousand theories were swarming her mind as to why Supergirl looked so uncomfortable today, but she silenced every single one of them in favor of listening to what Supergirl actually had to say.
"I'm fine!" she insisted, but Lena only shook her head.
"I can tell when someone's lying to me," she said. "Now, I'm not asking you to tell me everything, especially if it's top secret, or too personal or painful to go into, but I would like to know if there's anything wrong and if I can help you in some way."
"No, Lena, but thank you, you are very kind," Supergirl's smile was a bit more genuine this time and Lena silently congratulated herself for being able to say something that put Supergirl at ease, but Supergirl still didn't seem capable of looking her in the eyes tonight.
"How was work?" the Kryptonian asked carefully, staring hard at the table as she spoke.
"Not nearly as exciting as any adventures you had, I'm sure," Lena replied with a dry smile.
"That's alright," Supergirl replied, still sounding like she had to mull carefully over every single word before she said it. "I can tell you my stories later. I don't mind hearing something that you allege to be boring. Surely something funny or exciting, or even disastrous, happened in one of your offices today. Or maybe a break room? Or a board meeting?" Supergirl's eyes were glued to the table for the entire duration of that sentence but, every few seconds or so, her eyes would flit up towards Lena's face, or chest, and then they would shoot right back down to the table again.
"Well, if you insist," Lena tilted her head gently in amusement. Although she was still mildly concerned about this sudden lack of confidence from Supergirl, she wasn't going to pry, and if Supergirl wanted her to talk, then she would think of something to say.
10 minutes later, Supergirl and Lena had placed their orders and, once again, Supergirl could only speak in an unusually high pitch as she ordered the exact same thing Lena did. Lena wanted to ask why, but she decided that doing so would only fluster the poor Kryptonian even more, so she held her tongue and instead waited to see if Supergirl would tell one of her stories now, or if she wanted Lena to keep talking instead. Neither of those things happened. Instead, while Supergirl did speak, it wasn't to tell a story.
"I like your dress," she murmured.
"Oh, well, thank you," Lena dipped her head happily. "It was just a little something sitting in the back of my closet."
"Well, it looks really nice on you," Supergirl tugged on the sleeves of her own uniform, the same thing she always wore.
"I suppose you don't have a fancier version of your super suit that you could've worn instead of your usual?" Lena tried to joke.
"No!" Supergirl began to chuckle nervously, but then she paused. "Should I have a fancier suit commissioned?"
"Not at all!" Lena promised. "I was only joking. The suit you have now looks great on you! It's perfectly fine!"
"Heh," Supergirl gave Lena a thumbs up. A little odd, and something else Lena got a small chuckle out of, but she let it slide again.
"Yeah," the Girl of Steel continued weakly. "I guess you could say it really suits me..." but while she quickly buried her face in her hands, as though she couldn't believe that she'd actually made such a lame pun out loud, Lena laughed.
"Not bad," she admitted.
"No, it was completely awful!" Supergirl replied, but she spoke so softly that Lena didn't hear her.
Once the food arrived, Supergirl quickly distracted herself with it, devouring it and refusing to take her eyes off her plate for one single second. Lena was still a little perplexed, wondering if maybe Supergirl was just unused to eating in such a fancy environment, but she quickly put the thought of out of mind and dug into her own meal, enjoying every little bite of it. It really was delicious!
"Mmmm!" Lena made a small moaning noise in pleasure. A couple seconds later, Supergirl began to cough and choke. Lena looked up from her plate immediately, eyes flashing with concern, but Supergirl waved off her concern and quickly coughed once.
"S-s-sorry, I think I, uhhh, choked on the air... or something," she muttered as she cleared her throat.
"Well, just as long as you're alright," Lena tried to smile reassuringly again at the Girl of Steel and earned a weak laugh in return. Almost immediately, then, Supergirl looked back down at her plate, once again refusing to look anywhere else.
"If I didn't know any better, I would think you were trying to cook your food a second time," Lena tried to joke.
"I- what?" Supergirl sounded self-conscious as she looked back up at Lena.
"You're staring at your food so hard that I'm half expecting your laser vision to come on at any moment now!" Lena tried again.
"Oh! I-I-I was? Uhhh, guess I didn't even realize!" Supergirl cleared her throat loudly as she began to intentionally avoid looking at her plate. To distract herself, she grabbed her water glass and quickly downed the rest of it without even thinking about what she was doing.
"Hoo boy! Is it hot in here, or is it just me?" she asked as she set the empty glass back down. Lena couldn't help but blink in surprise. Somehow, Supergirl had also managed to swallow several of the large ice cubes that had been in the glass as well and she didn't even seem to notice.
Once Lena realized that she had asked a question, however, Lena shook herself awake.
"You can have the rest of mine," she offered, handing her water glass over to Supergirl.
"Oh, uhhh, no, I mean, I can always just ask for more, you know?" she chuckled nervously again. "It's all good. I can wait. I won't die."
"I know, I was just wondering if you wanted some right now. The waiter is busy with another table, so he probably won't be back for a while," Lena replied, still holding out the glass. Once again, without even thinking, Supergirl obeyed Lena's command and took the glass from her. Their fingers brushed as she did so, though, and Supergirl suddenly shrieked and yanked her hand back as though she had been burned. In the process, she sent the glass sailing backward over her head at an impossibly fast speed where it proceeded to shatter on a back wall about 10 feet away.
"Oh, my-" Lena's jaw dropped.
"Ooops," Supergirl was red now, but she didn't even dare to turn around. Instead, when a manager came around to ask what on earth had happened, Supergirl sheepishly told her that she had accidently freaked out and broken a glass.
"Which I will pay for!" she offered, quickly reaching into her cape. She produced a wallet and opened it up. The manager, however, seemed so starstruck to meet Supergirl that her anger faded instantly and all she asked for in return was an autograph.
"Good to see that being a celebrity gets you out of so many tight spots," Lena teased as the manager danced off, waving a scrap piece of paper that Supergirl had signed for her.
"It's nothing," Supergirl muttered embarrassedly. "I did offer to pay."
"I was only teasing," Lena promised, but the Girl of Steel still looked impossibly tense. She resumed eating just to give herself something to do but, this time, when she set the silverware back down, there were large, finger-shaped dents all up the handles.
"Ummmm," Lena pointed wordlessly at the silverware.
"Oh! Rao!" Supergirl muttered, quickly trying to sweep the mangled silverware behind her plate so that Lena wouldn't have see it any longer. In doing so, she nearly sent the plate flying off the table as well, though she managed to catch it before it hit the ground.
Once she sat back up, however, she accidently bumped her side into the table and shook every single last plate, glass and utensil on it.
"Woah!" Lena jumped back in her seat a little as everything on the table began to rattle and shake threateningly.
"Oh, Rao!" Supergirl repeated as she quickly grabbed the table to steady it.
"Hey, careful!" Lena warned at once, trying to caution Supergirl from grabbing the table too hard.
"Oh, right!" Supergirl let go of the table immediately. "Oh..." there was now a crack running from the edge of the table to about three inches in.
"At least it's small," Lena said sheepishly as she and Supergirl both inspected the crack.
"Urgh..." was all Supergirl could say in response.
"Are you ready for your-?" their server returned right at that moment.
"NOTHING!" Supergirl quickly slapped her hand on the table to cover up the crack. Lena gave one despairing cry, but she had no time to say anything before Supergirl, with a horrified look of her own, watched as the entire table split down the length of the crack and fell apart into two clean pieces, sending everything else on it clattering to the floor in one giant mess. Suddenly, every eye in the room was trained on them.
"I can pay..." the Girl of Steel offered weakly, hand still extended over the place where she had struck the table. The server could only gawk.
20 minutes later, the Luthor and Super awkwardly escorted themselves out of the restaurant.
"Don't think we'll be welcomed back there any time soon," Supergirl sighed regretfully, pocketing an empty wallet.
"Well, they didn't technically kick us out or ban us," Lena tried to offer up.
"That's just because I'm Supergirl," Supergirl replied miserably. "They don't want to get rid of me forever."
"Well that's good, isn't it?" Lena continued. "Besides, it was only one table. At least the restaurant is still standing!"
"I still wish I hadn't made so many mistakes tonight!" the superhero lamented in reply and even Lena couldn't help but agree.
"Seriously, what was wrong tonight? Weren't you feeling well? We could've postponed the date," she offered.
"No, it wasn't that," the Girl of Steel shook her head, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. "I guess I just kind of panicked."
"Panicked?" Lena echoed, genuinely confused. "What caused you to panic so much?"
"You!" Supergirl replied in exasperation. For a second, Lena looked genuinely worried and hurt, but before she could speak, Supergirl quickly amended her words. "I mean, not "you" as in "you as a person", but "you" as in "that dress" and everything else you've got going on!" she cried.
"I don't follow," Lena replied, still raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"I can tell," Supergirl sighed unhappily.
"Well, whatever it is, you can tell me! And I will try to understand," Lena reached out to touch Supergirl's arm consolingly but she felt Supergirl's arm twitch violently under her touch and she quickly drew back before Supergirl could accidently throw something else over their heads.
"I'm sorry," Lena apologized quickly. "I didn't mean-" but Supergirl cut her off gently.
"No," she said. "It's nothing you did. It's all on me..." and then she explained.
"I don't know how nervous you were tonight, but Rao knows I was in a panic. From the second I texted you a few days ago right up until we actually got together, I've been on pins and needles the whole time! Asking you out on a fancy dinner date was the third most stressful thing I've ever done. Waiting to actually go out on that date was the second. But then actually seeing you standing there and waiting for me while in that gorgeous little black dress was the first. Having to then dine with you while I was a nervous wreck and you looking like a goddess wasn't even just stressful, it was downright terrifying! I may be the Girl of Steel, but that refers to my body, not my nerves. Those aren't even half as strong!"
And then finally, all the obvious signs that Lena had somehow missed fell into place. While Supergirl continued to confess how scared she'd been about this date, especially after seeing how beautiful Lena looked when she was all dressed up, Lena felt her own sympathies skyrocket. Once Supergirl was finally done rambling, Lena was quick to reassure the Kryptonian that these anxieties were not one-sided and she had been just as nervous as the Girl of Steel about tonight's date. And then she thanked Supergirl heartily for thinking that she looked beautiful. It was a relief to hear. Lena really had been just as terrified as Supergirl.
"Guess we're well-matched, huh?" Lena joked finally.
"Yeah," Supergirl gave a weak laugh in return. Lena cautiously reached out to touch her arm again and, this time, Supergirl did not flinch.
"For what it's worth, I really did enjoy tonight," the Luthor promised. Supergirl gave her a disbelieving look. "I mean it!" Lena promised. "I mean sure, at first, I didn't understand why you seemed so frazzled and frustrated, but I still had a fun time with you tonight."
"Thanks Lena," Supergirl smiled weakly at the Luthor. "I think I'll be letting you pick our next date... If you would be willing to continue after tonight, that is," she said, a nervous and hopeful look in her eyes.
"Of course!" Lena replied. "I'm not that easily shaken. You can't get me to hate you after a few minor slip-ups. Especially not after we've saved the day together several times over already. You have a lot less to worry about than you think. You are a far better, braver person than you give yourself credit for. You won't scare me away, nor will you mess up too severely in my eyes. I promise," she added, unwittingly echoing the very same things Kara had said to her way back when she and Supergirl went on their very first date ever. That had also been the conversation in which Kara had first told Lena that Supergirl was just as intimidated by her as she had been of Supergirl.
Supergirl's eyes lit up in response to Lena's promise.
"Really?" she asked.
"Really," Lena replied with a nod. For the first time that night, Supergirl looked relaxed and relieved.
"Thank you so much!" she cried, a real and confident smile finally spreading across her face. It made Lena's heart melt to see it.
"Anything," she replied with a small laugh, glad that Supergirl was no longer feeling quite so flustered or scared.
Just then, once again, Kara's voice echoed in her mind: Supergirl hasn't told me much more about your dates than you have, but from what she has said, it's pretty clear to me that she's really into you. Lena hadn't believed Kara at first, but as Supergirl lifted off to fly back home, a giant smile and farewell to Lena on her lips, Lena finally began to believe it.
"Maybe you were right all along, Kara," Lena murmured as she made like Supergirl and headed home. "Maybe she really is just as nervous as I am and maybe she really is into me. I guess we really are well-matched..."
AN: Alright Leapyearbaby29, here's your role-reversal "It's Supergirl who gets flustered by Lena" fic. I guess this entire fic has just become an anthology of SuperCorp Date one-shots. *Insert Shrug Here*
Also, the dress I imagine Lena wearing here is the one she wore to Morgan Edge's party in 3x12. Don't lie to me that Kara didn't have a mini gay panic attack when she first saw Lena in it. She just managed to get a grip on herself by the time the two of them actually reached the doors to Edge's party.