Chapter Text
Kara feels so out of place in this room, sitting in one corner donned in her blue sweater and tight jeans — her comfort clothes, basically.
It’s not even that she particularly sticks out like a sore thumb. she can look around and see plenty of people dressed up like her, or similarly like her, but what makes her different from them is that she’s sitting on a folding chair with her name written on the back of it while those people walking around are, well, crew members and one can say that they’re excused for dressing up practically for a long day of work.
She fiddles with her fingers on her lap, casting her head down to watch them quietly as the room continues to bustle around her, busy and alive and noisy and just — busy. There’s nothing more than she wants at this moment than to sit in the silence of her trailer with her guitar, coming up with melodies in her head. With words to match, if she’s lucky. But as it goes, there’s been a shift in everybody’s call sheets due to a recent decision to kill off a character that was considerably famous among the fans, and they need Kara to come in to shoot a couple of scenes they weren’t supposed to do until next week.
She refuses to think about the reason behind it. Not that it’s not worth remembering how Mike had been dumb enough to let his popularity get to his head, said popularity is the reason for his career’s demise eventually and— well, she’s thinking about it and she really doesn’t want to think about.
She really needs her mind to stop.
Sighing softly to herself, she slides down just a little bit in her seat and slumps, scratching the hem of her sweater lightly with blunt nails as she thinks about her dinner for later instead. Maybe she’ll get potstickers despite her sister’s inevitable protest against it. So what if she’s eaten potstickers for breakfast? And the meal after that? It’s not like there’s a law that specifically makes it illegal, right?
Right.
So, potstickers for dinner and—
“You look very deep in your thoughts there, Danvers.”
Kara blinks out of her stupor and looks to her right, mouth instantly popping open as she watches Lena take the seat next to her with the grace of a swan— if a swan can even sit on a chair like a human, but that’s beside the point.
Kara scrambles to sit upright, smiling nervously at Lena as her fingers fiddles with her sweater this time. “Yeah, just, um, thinking about dinner. It’s nighttime, you know? Um, eight in the evening and I haven’t had dinner because…” she trails off, blushing beneath the amused look in Lena’s eyes. “Miss Grant called and… yeah.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Lena says, mirth clear as water in her voice. “Were you in the middle of having it when they called you in?”
“No,” she replies, shaking her head nervously— she’s sure she looks like one of those toys on a car’s dashboard. She really needs to stop. “I was, um, recording a video for my fans. Just a small thank you thing for them.”
It’s quiet between them for a while, or as quiet as it can get in a room full of people moving around, setting up props and lights, and whatever else they need for a scene. Kara looks up, cheeks still a flaming red, wondering why Lena hasn’t spoken yet.
Her blush only seems to intensify at the soft smile on Lena’s face.
“You know,” Lena begins. “Your acting is so natural that I sometimes forget that you started off as a singer and not as a rookie actor fresh off of acting school.”
Kara honest-to-god giggles to herself at the compliment, hand shooting up to push her glasses back up on her nose bridge. “I mean, I’m still a singer, Lena— um, it’s my main gig, and I think it will always be my main thing. I think, you know, music will always be my priority… so.”
“Right,” Lena chuckles softly, the sound briefly interrupted by her tongue swiping across her lips as she leans back and crosses one leg over the other, clearly getting comfortable in her seat. “I apologize. It’s just really easy to forget sometimes.”
“You say that, but you manage to memorize five pages worth of lines.”
“Eight, actually, but I’ve done more.”
Kara laughs at the look on Lena’s face; calm and seemingly humble, betrayed by the smugness in her tone. Usually, Kara can’t stand arrogance in people — but then again, none of them are Lena, and it’s not like Lena’s lying. She’d been there to witness Lena memorizing more lines than she thought was possible for a human to do so, and she’s never stopped being amazed by her since then.
“Can’t be me with my short appearances as Kieran’s roommate,” Kara says, relaxing into the conversation even more. She leans into one side of the chair, the one closer to Lena, careful not to teeter. “All I have to do is roll around in bed, ask Kieran something, and groan and go back to sleep.”
Lena rolls her eyes, a slight smile on her lips. “Stop lying.”
“It’s true! I once had to come in just to shoot a scene like that and—”
“It became a pretty famous clip on Twitter.”
“— I thought… wait, what?” Kara blinks. “What do you mean?”
“What?” Lena blinks back. “The clip went viral on Twitter. Someone posted it and—”
Seeing the confused look on Kara’s face not leaving, Lena's mouth clicks shut. Curious. A pretty shade of pink starts creeping from her neck up to the tips of her ears which— it’s so cute and Kara wishes she can take a picture of it, but there are more important things to think about right now — like a viral clip of her that she has no clue about.
“You really don’t know?”
Kara shakes her head slowly, her hand already hovering over the bump of her phone through her pocket. “Should I take my phone— I mean, should I check it?”
Lena’s fingers are already pinching hard on her nose bridge even before she finishes asking, ears still alarmingly red and Kara wants to ask why. What is it about that sleepy scene of her character that has her reacting like this?
Is she missing something?”
“Look,” Lena says with a sigh. “You can check it but just… be open, okay?”
“... Open?”
“Want me to bring up the video for you?”
“Yes, please!”
She fishes her phone out of her pocket, unlocks it, and hands it over to Lena, keeping herself locked in place lest she is tempted to lean over and be way too close to Lena Luthor. Is she even allowed to be that close to Lena Luthor outside of scenes?
Kara’s thoughts halt to a stop as Lena hands her phone back, the screen already showing what is clearly a post on Twitter. Tilting her head slightly to the side, she presses play and watches a familiar scene where she remembers being dressed in a plain white muscle tee that hugged her body like a second skin. It wasn’t exactly what she had in mind for a comfortable sleep shirt, but apparently, there had been a mix-up with wardrobe and so they had to put her in whatever shirt was available that time.
It resulted in her looking a little bit stiffer than usual, conscious about her figure for once — because she usually isn’t, but a camera sometimes does that to you. The scene continues to unfold. Kieran, Lena’s character, barges into the room where a sleeping Ellie jerks her head up as the noise awakens her. A quiet groan rumbles from her chest as she looks up at Kieran with narrowed eyes, eyebrows furrowed, clearly annoyed at having been so rudely woken up from her sleep.
“Kieran, what the f—”
“Shut it. I’m looking for something.”
“And you couldn’t do it quietly?” Ellie asks with another grumble, pushing herself up from the bed, briefly stuck in a position where she looks like she’s planking when really, she’s actually trying to wake up. She ultimately fails and flops back down on the bed with yet another groan, arms sliding up and over the pillow past her head with a soft hum. “Close the door after you, will you?”
“No promises,” Kieran replies and then exclaims when she finds what she’s looking for, immediately turning on her feet to leave the room again. She definitely didn’t make a promise.
Ellie lifts her head up to check and groaned for what seemed like the ninth time as she pushed herself off of the bed completely, and walked over to the door to slam it close.
It shows her in the rest of the sleepwear she had put on; another plain blue sleep shorts that were a size smaller than what she usually wears — yet another mishap in wardrobe — which makes it almost look like cycling shorts instead. Almost.
And then the video cuts to a man in a white jacket, and Kara nearly tosses her phone as he starts slamming his hand on the table while holding a… credit card?
Kara looks up at Lena, more confused than ever, and laughs uncertainly as she swipes out of the application. “That.. didn’t really explain anything.” And she feels like it should have, especially with how Lena is looking at her with what she can only describe as exasperation on her face. “So, you mean, people liked that scene? Like, me being … relatable, maybe? I looked disheveled? And.. sleepy? Is that… it?”
Kara’s words begin the trail off the heavier the look Lena is giving her as she continues shooting question after question. Again, it's really curious how redder Lena is getting the more she figuratively nudges her for answers.
"Are you okay? You look flushed..."
Lena clears her throat, pressing her palms on her cheeks briefly, before perking up with a grin. "It's nothing."
She really is missing something here.
“Oh, Kara,” Lena says with a friendly sigh and a shake of her head. “Never change, okay? Just… never change.”
Someone calls for Lena in that moment, saying something about giving her five minutes to prepare before she to shoot a scene or something— Kara’s not really sure. She’s still confused, heavily so, and she can only watch as Lena gets up from her chair to leave, but not before winking in Kara’s direction.
Kara huffs.
“This is why I’m a singer.”
The night drags on, but what Kara likes about life is that there’s always an end to something. Yes, it’s not a particularly happy thought, but when it comes to working, she’s very glad about it.
She only had a few scenes with Lena, but in those short moments with her, Kara thinks there's just something odd in the way Lena is looking at her. She can't really say if it's because her character is supposed to be listening to her character intently as the latter talks about the perks of putting a sock on the doorknob to signify certain things out of respect for each other as roommates. Kara had to repeat the scene about three times until the director pretty much gave up on covering up the stubborn flush in Kara's neck. It's not like she can help it. She's not usually the type of person to talk about things pertaining to that, and if Lena is judging her with that look, then.... then all she can do is huff through it all.
So what if a pretty girl like Lena was judging her for it? So what?
She’s in the process of wiping her makeup off when her manager, Kelly, walks through the door after knocking. She looks at her through the mirror, greeting her with a smile, which instantly drops at the look on Kelly’s face.
She can’t really tell if it’s a good look or not. Both? A fair mix of good and bad? Putting her cotton down on the vanity table, Kara turns and regards Kelly with her full attention. “What’s wrong? What’s happening?”
Kelly walks over and takes a seat next to her, holding out her phone to show her the trend list on Twitter. There, on the number one spot, is her name next to— Lena?
Kara looks up at Kelly, then at the screen, then back at Kelly again. Apprehension began to bubble up from within her stomach. “Why?”
“Someone… sneaked a video of you two while you were talking earlier, or at least I think it was earlier, considering the clothes you’re wearing in that video.”
“Okay…” Kara trails off. “Not… necessarily bad, but also not good. Is… are her fans mad?”
Kelly guffaws, a hand pressing lightly on her forehead. “God, Kara, no. It’s— it’s actually a good thing— a good reason why you’re trending. It’s just, well, it’s not necessarily legal to record you without your consent. You know this, right?”
Kara nods.
“But…” Kelly continues. “But you’re trending because of her fans and, well, your fans are freaking out because you guys were watching that viral clip of yours. Together.”
“Okay…”
“Kara, you were watching your viral clip with Lena,” Kelly repeats like it’s supposed to mean anything to her.
“Okay, let me just—” Kara laughs, both in frustration and pleased confusion. “What’s with this clip, Kelly? Am I missing something here?”
Kelly blinks. “You don’t know?”
“Am I supposed to know?”
“I sent you that clip a month ago!”
“You know I don’t check Twitter most of the time!”
Kelly sighs. “Well, you need to start checking your account because, honey, you went viral last month because of that scene in the bedroom. Your fans, especially your female fans, liked what they saw and, well, it blew up on Twitter.”
“Oh.”
“You love going to the gym, Kara.”
“Only twice a week…”
“And you have muscles in places some women like on women.”
“Right…”
“And you were making… noises.”
Oh.
Oh.
And it finally clicks.
The muscle tee, the thigh-fitting shorts, the groans and the arms and—
“Oh, god—”
The door bursts open again and there stands the producer of the show, Miss Grant, herself. “Miss Danvers, I see that you’re already on your way to leaving the studio, but your plans have changed; you’re staying for another hour, maybe less if you are agreeable to what I have to offer. And no, I don’t take no for an answer. I’ll see you in my office.”
Cat Grant is gone as quickly as she came, never one to linger or beat around the bush.
Kelly and Kara are left staring at the still ajar door, the silence only interrupted by the appearance of Lena at the door. Kara straightens up instinctively, greeting Lena with a timid wave of her hand.
Lena smiles, almost sympathetic as she crosses her arms over her chest. “I’m sorry. For what happened.”
Kara softens, shaking her head lightly. “You have nothing to apologize for.”
It’s clear that Lena wants to argue, but decides to swallow her words in favor of gracing Kara's ears with that melodious laugh. "Right. I'll see you at Cat's office?"
Kara blinks. "You're going to?"
"Kara, it's your name and mine on that number one spot."
"Right," Kara clips, points at Lena while doing her awkward, fumbling laugh— if that even makes sense. "Yeah. Need to do damage control. Yep."
"Damage control," Lena repeats with a snort, before pushing off of the door frame and walking away with a slow shake of her head, clearly amused.
She waits a couple more seconds until Lena is far enough to not hear her talk before turning to Kelly. "It's damage control, right?"
Kelly shakes her head, almost indulgently, before clapping her hands on her thighs. “We have a meeting with Cat Grant. Let’s hope it doesn’t last an hour, yeah?”
“You're dodging my question, but yeah, definitely.”
Kara gathers her things and slings her bag over her shoulder. As she walks out of the changing room, she sees Lena walking — or more like strutting towards Cat's office.
If Kara's gaze drops to her rear and stays there for a couple of seconds—
"Oh, god..." She shakes her head briskly, cheeks flushing warm as she jogs after Lena.
She's not entirely sure what's about to come just yet, but she knows Cat Grant well enough to know that a big change is just about to come crashing over her head.
All because of that bloody clip.