So this isn't exactly a response to a prompt, but I've been seeing a lot of headcanons about Kara going into full-out research mode when Alex comes out to her, and utterly transforming their next Sisters' Night into Gay AF Sisters' Night. And since I feel like we all need cheesy, happy fics right now, here's my go at it!
Kara Danvers had a healthy guilt complex.
Especially when it comes to her sister.
Especially when it came to realizing that she hadn't given Alex enough space, all these years, to process – or even to consider – her own sexuality; her own needs; her own desires.
But Kara's guilt rarely spilled over into projection or anger.
No: in this case, Kara's guilt spilled over into a total gay invasion of Sisters' Night; by way of rainbow cupcakes and streamers; wlw movies with actual happy endings ("How hard can it be to give gay girls a happy ending?" she'd asked her empty apartment during her preparation through a mouthful of donut); and a stack of, among other things, Tegan and Sara CDs.
Alex didn't react quite how Kara had imagined.
"What the hell is this," she'd deadpanned like a statement when she walked into the explosion of rainbows and the lyrics of Tegan and Sara's "Boyfriend" hanging in the air.
"The feeling that you give me, wanna give it right back
I know you always win at this particular game
I need to know the rules if you want me to play"
"Happy coming out!" Kara exclaimed, the wine glass in her hand spilling chaotically over her shoulder as she raised her arms in exultation, just as she'd done when she'd told Mon-El, "It's your first day of work!"
Alex couldn't help but laugh as her sister's enthusiasm sprayed the kitchen cabinet with white wine and seeped into her bones.
"You're very weird," she informed her sister as she shrugged out of her jacket, looking around the be-rainbowed apartment like she'd never quite seen it before.
Kara scampered over to draw Alex into a (literally) rib-crushing hug.
"It's a big life event! Big life events should be celebrated!" Her arms shot up again before she paused with a furrowed brow. "The happy ones, anyway."
"But what… Kara, what is all this?" Alex strode cautiously to the stacks of DVDs and CDs that Kara had loaded the table with.
Kara bounced on the balls of her feet at the invitation.
"Well, I just thought, you know, since we spent all those Sisters' Nights watching heteronormative – " she grinned broadly at her new vocabulary word and paused for praise. Alex blinked and Kara rushed on, trying not to think of how impressed Ms. Grant would be, unperturbed by Alex's blank face. "rom coms, I thought now's the time to catch up on some lesbian rom coms! The happy ones! And – " she bent over a chair and emerged with a chin-high stack of DVDs Alex hadn't noticed before. "All six seasons of The L Word! It's apparently racist and transphobic, but Alex, it's also a cult classic."
Alex smirked full out now as Kara struggled to balance all those seasons in her excitement. "You know this is probably all on Netflix."
"Well yeah, but there's something about the box sets, Alex!" The oven chimed and The L Word box set of season 6 clattered out of Kara's jumping arms; the box cracked down the middle at Alex's feet. Kara shrugged apologetically as she opened the oven and reached in bare-handed.
"I read that that season doesn't really count anyway."
She stood back up with a tin full of rainbow-colored cupcakes, and Alex sank into the couch, face in her hands.
"Oh no! Alex! I'm sorry, is it – is it too much? I'm sorry, I can – I can put it all away – "
When she felt Kara's arms slip around her body, Alex automatically curled back into her, choking on the tears in her throat.
"No, no, it's just… I don't know what I did to deserve a sister like you, Kara."
Tears sprang to Kara's eyes, too, and she put her forehead to Alex's.
"You exist, Alex. You exist, and you are tough, and smart, and so, so beautiful."
At her reference to Maggie, Alex sobbed hard, once.
"And that's what tonight is about. Owning your gayness separate from Maggie. Just like she told you."
"My gayness."
Kara beamed and Alex felt gears clicking into place; she hadn't said it out loud, not like that, not yet.
Maggie had been right; everything certainly was shiny.
"So," Alex snuggled deeper into her sister, reaching for a blanket and smiling with a scoff and an eyeroll to realize that Kara had bought a unicorn-themed throw for the occasion. "What's first on the watch list?"
"It's already loaded up!" Kara practically squealed, elbowing Alex in the head as she launched herself at the remote.
Before she pressed play, she shoved the DVD box into Alex's hands.
"D.E.B.S. A crime-fight-y solider-y girl who doesn't know she's gay falls for a super criminal girl who's actually just a big gay softie."
Alex puckered her lips and mock glared. "A crime fight-y soldier-y girl?"
Kara giggled and poked Alex significantly. Her big sister groaned amiably and swiped a cupcake out of the tin.
"Taste the rainbow," she muttered, grinning, Kara applauding raucously at Alex's first bite of the sweet.
Alex had cheered through D.E.B.S., cried her way through Imagine Me and You, held her heart through I Can't Think Straight, and chomped popcorn non-stop through the pilot of The L Word. Unaccustomed to quite so much TV, even on Sisters' Night, she passed out somewhere in the middle of The L Word's second episode. Kara was still awake, riveted by the gang's scientific attempt to discover if Lara played for their team; and Kara found herself examining her own shoes, her own finger nails; thinking about whether Shane would be able to seduce her with her talk of deserts.
She thought of Cat; she thought of Lena; she looked down at her sleeping sister next to her, and shook her head firmly. This was supposed to be about her.
A knock at the door shook Kara from her quickly spiraling thoughts. "It's 3 am," she muttered as she checked Alex quickly; she was undisturbed, her breathing deep and even. Kara squinted at the door and immediately rolled her eyes and huffed out a frustrated breath. "What is she doing here?"
She shifted from the couch carefully, not pausing the episode in case the sudden lack of background sound would wake Alex. And she didn't want her waking up right now.
Because Maggie Sawyer was at the door, the same Maggie who Alex had broken down over, had questioned her entire sense of self-worth over. She was just starting to feel better. Just starting to slip into her own, with this who coming out thing.
And now Maggie was showing up at Kara's door… at 3 am?
Kara opened the door roughly and stepped outside immediately, clicking the door shut gently behind her. Maggie, wide-eyed, stepped back, wordless.
"Is something wrong?" Kara asked with her voice pitched lower than normal, more like it was when she was in Supergirl mode.
Maggie shook her head silently before she could actually speak. "No, no, nothing's – no. I just – I'm sorry Kara, I know it's late, I just – is Alex here?"
"She's sleeping. What do you need her for at 3 am, Maggie?"
"I… Kara, she hasn't been returning my calls, I just wanted to make sure she's okay, I – I care about her, Kara, and I don't… I don't easily care about people. Alex is… you know, Kara. Alex is special. And I think she's misinterpreted why I – I just want her to know that I – I want to be here for her, I want to…"
A shuffling sound made both Maggie and Kara stiffen.
"Kara?" Alex's sleepy voice called from right behind the door, and before either could move, Alex was opening the door and blinking blearily into the light of the hallway.
"Alex, go back to – "
"Maggie?"
And suddenly Kara was as invisible as she'd been the first day she met Maggie, when they were investigating a dead body in the trunk of that car.
"Alex. Hey."
Alex was blinking slowly, scrunching her eyes up and shrugging away the heavy sleep she'd fallen into.
"Everything okay? What're you doing here?"
"I…"
Seeing the way Alex's hair stuck up on one side; the way imprints from the pillow she'd leaned on still marked her face slightly; the slight puffiness in her eyes, the way her body was relaxed, half-asleep still; made Maggie lose her breath, lose her words, lose her ability to think. She looked past Alex, into Kara's apartment, in hopes of regaining some semblance of composure.
Instead of composure, she just got baffled.
"Is that – are those rainbow streamers? Are you playing The L Word?"
"Coming out Sisters' Night," Alex murmured, her eyes increasingly becoming more awake, more alert; increasingly unable and unwilling to leave Maggie's face.
Kara stared between them; at the way Alex's eyes were battling between humiliation, anger, and something bordering on love; at the way Maggie's eyes were soft, open, welcoming, filled to the brim with something almost akin to reverence.
Kara took a deep, steadying breath.
"Maggie, why don't you stay an episode? There's rainbow cupcakes."
"Alex?" Maggie asked.
Alex stared at Maggie, and Kara stared at Alex. Maggie licked her lips and stared at her feet.
Her heart leapt when she felt Alex's fingertips touch hers. "Come."
Kara let her smile grow behind Maggie's back as Alex pulled Maggie gently, sleepily, inside. Something in Maggie's eyes – Alex was wrong. Maggie did want her. She was just too concerned about Alex's well-being to pursue her right now. And sticking to that choice was killing her.
Which made her, in Kara's book, almost good enough for Alex. (Almost: no one would ever be completely good enough, in Kara's book.)
And certainly good enough for 3 am rainbow cupcakes.