Work Text:
“But Alex, if UV-light is necessary for the reaction to start, wouldn’t it just stop if you put it in a dark closet?”
“No Winn, first of all very few things stop when you shove them into a closet, pun intended, and second, once the molecules are activated they start reacting with others no matter if there is any light or not.” Alex explained. Winn hummed in understanding.
“So what you’re saying, once out in the light, there is no stopping, no matter what happens?” Winn asked, grinning.
“Well no Winn, not that I know anyway. Sorry, I can’t really give you a straight answer there.” Alex said, amusement showing on her face and Winn burst out laughing.
“Got no response, kid? Does that mean I win?” Alex teased.
“Oh come on, we all know this little contest can still go both ways,” he started “But in the end, I promise you, I’ll winnnn.”
“Dude come on that was just weak and you know it.” Alex said, not convincingly because she was laughing pretty hard.
“If I can interrupt you two unbelievable nerds, Kara wants you to come downstairs. Something about enough tutoring and time for game night.” Maggie said from the doorway.
Alex got up a lot quicker than she should have and got a head rush, she smiled awkwardly through it though. “Yeah sure, you can interrupt us no problem, right Winn? Right. We were almost done anyway, I think, it was only chemistry anyway so no big deal… We’re coming though, now, right behind you, but by all means, lead the way.” She stuttered at her absolute favourite neighbour, followed by Winn snickering, “Dude, that’s my joke to make.” For which he got a not so subtle slap to his side.
Maggie smiled at the pair and shook her head, she was harbouring such a giant crush in this giant dork and every time that giant dork started rambling when she saw her, the butterflies in her stomach took over.
She turned around before any of them could see her forming blush and headed downstairs, followed by Winn pushing a dazed Alex in front of him.
Alex was sending her sister and their best friend a death glare. She knew exactly what they were planning. It couldn’t be a coincidence that the two of them had somehow taken over the entire couch and were now forcing Alex to choose between sitting right next to Maggie on the small love seat, that name alone made her want to groan, or going to sit on the ground. She really was tempted to choose the latter but she knew there was no way Kara would let it happen, so she mustered up all her courage and turned to Maggie.
“Do you mind if I…?” She muttered, looking at the seat instead of at the girl sitting on it.
“Not at all, it’s your house, you are queen here!” Maggie said way too loudly. Why do you speak, was what she asked herself immediately after. Alex was about the same shade of pink as Maggie had turned but they both smiled at each other awkwardly.
Maggie shuffled to the side and Alex took a seat on the other side of the chair, which didn’t really do much since their legs were still very much constantly touching. Both of them were completely fixated on the feeling, so much so that neither one of them heard Kara and Winn ask them if they were okay with playing Pictionary.
“Earth to love seat, are you two there?” Winn called out, which earned him another death glare from Alex and a nervous laugh from Maggie.
“Yes we’re here Schott, what do you want?” Alex responded with an underlying growl.
“Oh nothing, we just wondered if you two want to play Pictionary with us. Kara and I think you should be together,” Winn deadpanned. Kara followed with “As a team of course.” right after, but it was painfully obvious they weren’t gonna show mercy at all.
Alex looked at Maggie as to ask if she was okay with this. She got a wide smile and a nod as a response.
“Okay, we’re in, just remember we’re going to crush the both of you.” Alex threatened. If they we’re going to be teased the whole night, she would at least make sure they won whatever game they played.
Surprisingly they had no trouble at all to beat Kara and Winn. Every time one of them had to go draw, the other would be able to guess where they were going in less than ten seconds. Even when Alex was sure Maggie would never be able to guess benzoic acid, she’d gotten the answer before Alex was halfway through drawing the carboxyl group.
They were having fun together and somehow they didn’t have any trouble talking while they were playing. They didn’t notice, but Kara and Winn sure as hell did. The younger teens had spent the last ten minutes whispering about how they could get the two girls to just make a move because it was plain painful to watch them melt around each other without doing anything about it. In the end, it was Kara that decided there was no point in being subtle.
“You guys are too good together, we want to go do something else. It’s getting boring watching you win every time.” Alex just laughed and said, “Happy to hear you two admitting we’re so much better at this game.”
“Yeah, yeah, you two are by far the biggest nerds.” Winn said, “I want to watch a movie instead, that cool for everyone?” Everybody nodded. “Great! Then why don’t Kara and I pick a movie and you two go make popcorn?”
“Why do you two get to pick? If I remember correctly Alex and I won the game pretty convincingly.” Maggie said. Alex hummed in agreement.
Kara and Winn exchanged a look. “You know what? You’re right, we’ll go get snacks, you pick the movie. Just choose something fun please, I am starting to get a feeling you two are capable of picking a documentary as a game nigh movie.” Kara said.
“What’s wrong with a documentary?” They both asked at the same time. Winn and Kara just sighed and turned to the kitchen.
It was at that moment that reality caught up with Alex. She was alone with Maggie, alone. She looked up to see that Maggie seemed to have the exact same thoughts. They looked at each other a little too long before Alex decided she really needed to say something.
“So we’re a good team, huh?” Is what she came up with. To her surprise, Maggie seemed to find it a decent conversation starter.
“Yeah, I think we are. It seemed like we are into a lot of the same things.” Maggie said with a smile that showed off Alex’s favourite dimples in the world.
“It did seem like it, yeah. So I guess we need to pick a movie now, right?”
“Probably would be best, before Winn makes us watch cartoons.”
They laughed a little while their nerves calmed, right up until Alex remembered that on the DVD shelf stood a not so small collection of gay movies. They both knew the other was queer, but knowing and acknowledging it are two very different things.
Maggie took in the collection with a grand smile on her face and Alex calmed down completely, this could actually be fun. Maggie reached for one of the discs that Alex had gotten from her equally queer English teacher, who was her favourite teacher period, after they’d talked about how Alex was feeling a little undereducated on the sexuality front.
Alex saw which one it was and they both looked at each other and grinned, this was really gonna be fun.
When Winn and Kara walked back in with two gigantic bowls of popcorn and a bag of salty chips, the two girls were sitting next to each other with shit eating grins as the opening credits of But I’m A Cheerleader were gracing the screen.
“Are you two serious?” Kara asked.
“I don’t care if they’re serious, we’re watching this.” Was Winn’s immediate response.
Alex and Maggie burst out laughing at his eagerness, but they didn’t disagree with the sentiment. Kara shook her head softly but didn’t complain, she liked the movie, absolutely, but Alex had made her watch it four times in the last month and she was pretty sure she could quote it by now. But if watching it together made her sister happy, than who was she to tell her that there were other queer movies. Besides, it seemed like her sister was suddenly a lot more comfortable around Maggie, if this got them to have fun together, she’d loop it for six days straight.
The next two hours the foursome was constantly swinging in between laughing and clapping in amazement. Not even halfway through Alex had shuffled even closer to Maggie than she’d been when they were mushed together on the love seat earlier. Maggie had laid her arm on the couch behind Alex ten minutes later and by the end of the movie they were practically sitting in each other’s lap because whenever they laughed one of them would hide her face in the other girl’s shoulder.
On the other side of the couch, Kara and Winn were grinning at each other but they kept quiet, it seemed like they wouldn’t need to push that much at all.
When the movie ended, Maggie said that she had to head home and Alex offered to walk there. Which made her sister look at her best friend with wide eyes because, damn, when did Alex get the courage to actually ask that. Maggie accepted the offer and again Winn and Kara we’re exchanging a look of Holy crap, it’s happening.
The two girls walk out in semi-comfortable silence but once they get to Maggie’s porch they look at each other nervous to see which one of them is going to speak first. It ends up being Maggie.
“Thanks for tonight, it was a lot of fun.”
“It really was.” Alex said and Maggie smiled.
They fell back into silence for a few seconds before they both started talking at the same time. They laughed and Maggie signalled for Alex to continue.
“I was just wondering,” Alex started, “Since tonight was really fun and we apparently make a pretty good team, if you would maybe, I don’t know, like to go out some time? I mean go out with me in a date sort of way, if that’s cool for you. If it’s not that’s cool too but just…” She blurted out before Maggie interrupted her.
“I’d really like that, Alex, to go out with you, in a date way.” She said.
Alex’s heart was beating a mile a minute but she smiled and asked, “Next weekend? I’ll plan something, I swear I’ll make it worth your time.”
“It’s a date.” Maggie said before leaning forward slightly and giving Alex a light kiss on the cheek.
From then on everything went by in a daze for Alex, next thing she knew she was in her room wondering if any of that night had actually happened.
She was even less sure that Friday when she found herself at Maggie’s door again to say goodnight and instead of a peck on her cheek, she got the most wonderful kiss she could ever imagine.