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It’s a known fact in the Luthor/Danvers household that Lena Luthor cannot sing. Rigorous studies have been conducted, hypotheses made, testing completed. Only one conclusion remained: Lena Luthor has a terrible voice. She was tone deaf. Off key. Couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket if it had handles.
Kara, on the other hand, had the voice of an angel, and frequently gifted the public with her ethereal voice. Karaoke, musical theatre, open mic nights, and just around the house. Kara loved to sing, and Lena loved to hear her sing, especially when Kara was singing to her, which she did frequently. In fact, singing to Lena seemed to be her favourite activity. Car rides, date nights, cleaning the apartment, singing her to sleep -- it never ceased to make Lena feel special and loved.
Even when Kara would sing at Karaoke nights, her songs were always directed toward Lena. Whether it was Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” or the timeless Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back”, Kara always sang -- no, performed -- for Lena. She was so talented and sexy when she was on stage, dancing and gyrating her hips -- pointing at Lena and showing her just how much she adored her, how sexy she thought she was -- that Lena could barely restrain herself from jumping up onto the stage and showing everyone in that alien bar just how much she loved it, loved her.
But because Kara was so talented, at first, Lena was embarrassed to sing in front of her. Why would she ever subject her lover to her tone deaf caterwauling, when Kara could make small animals appear before her with just the croon of her voice? Lena would only sing whenever no one was around, when she was alone in her office or her lab, or when Kara wasn’t home. Music was a part of her, and she loved to belt out her favourite tunes, but she didn’t want to be blamed for killing Supergirl with her dying cat-like screeching.
But then one evening, Kara had come home early from work and caught her wailing out Natasha Bedingfield’s “Pocketful of Sunshine” (it reminded her of Kara), and Kara had just stood there in the doorway of the kitchen, watching her scream-sing over the pan of chicken cacciatore she was busy cooking. She didn’t even notice her girlfriend was there until halfway through the next song (“Helena” by My Chemical Romance), and when she finally did, the smile on Kara’s face was so soft, so happy, so content, that she couldn’t even bring herself to feel embarrassed.
From then on, Kara encouraged her to sing. All of the time. Anywhere. Everywhere. At game night (she refused). In the shower (the acoustics helped). If they were riding in the car and Kara caught her singing quietly along with the radio, she would turn down the music so she could hear Lena. When she first started doing this, Lena would just roll her eyes and continue singing quietly, or hush up altogether. But Kara would keep egging her on, dancing goofily in her seat, urging Lena to sing along with her. And with how happy it made Kara to see her dancing around, jamming out to “Bye, Bye, Bye” along with her, how could she refuse?
At first, Lena thought that Kara must be making fun of her or must be just being nice, but when she saw the soft, loving look in Kara’s eyes as she wailed Kara’s favourite Taylor Swift songs horribly off-key, it boosted her confidence and she began to understand that Kara really did just love seeing her letting loose and enjoying herself.
It became something of a tactic for her. If a Supergirl mission hadn’t gone particularly well, or Snapper was on her case again, Lena would just quietly, tonelessly, start to sing “Look What You Made Me Do” or “Shake It Off”, slowly growing to a crescendo along with the smile on Kara’s face. Kara could never stay in a bad mood for very long when Lena was shrieking, “My ex-man brought his new girlfriend, she’s like ‘oh my god’ but I’m just gonna shake it.”
When a villain had gotten the best of her or when a particularly bad nightmare about Krypton’s explosion had Kara bolting up in bed, trembling and sweating, Lena would just hold her in her arms, tonelessly humming “Safe and Sound” until she fell back asleep. It kept the terror at bay, made Kara feel loved and safe, and let her know that this world -- her world -- was still here, still alive, still wrapped lovingly around her trembling frame, gracelessly droning out sweet nothings.
The one thing Lena refused to do was sing in front of other people. No matter how many times Kara begged her to do karaoke, or tried to convince her that nobody cared if someone sang poorly (“Which you don’t, obviously babe, your voice is beautiful, but I’m just saying --”), that was all part of the fun! Just getting up on stage and belting one out is what people enjoy! All it would take is one sternly cocked eyebrow and Kara would drop it. Kara made her bold, but she didn’t make her that bold.
The day Lena Luthor sang in front of an audience -- well, that would be the day Lex married Superman and hell froze over.
She gripped the mic in her trembling hands, her knuckles white around the black metal as the soft bass, acoustic guitar, and drums echoed in her ears. Five years she had avoided this moment. Five years of denials and refusals and stern looks and flippant comments, all to avoid this very situation. But none of that mattered now. All that mattered tonight was the woman sitting in front of the stage, staring up at her like she was an angel, fallen to earth.
Lena took a deep breath, trying to remember what her singing coach had taught her. Not much, if she was honest with herself. He had told her pretty immediately that she was a lost cause and to just give up on ever trying to sing in key, but he had given her some tips for breathing techniques and stage fright, which is what she was dealing with now.
As the music resolved into the opening bars of the first verse, she took a deep breath and began to sing -- or whatever you wanted to call her toneless groaning.
We could leave the Christmas lights up til January
This is our place, we make the rules
From the stage, she saw Kara’s eyes light up, her smile growing wider and brighter. Lena had never understood why Kara loved her horrid singing so much, but tonight, as she approached the higher pitched chorus, she hoped the fondness would keep for a little bit longer.
She screeched,
Can I go where you goooooo
Can we always be this clooooose
Forever and ever and ah
Take me out and take me home
You’re my, my, my, my ....lover
As the song drew to a close and Lena tried her damndest to remain somewhere in the vicinity of the key she was meant to be singing in, she slid her hand into her jeans pocket and produced the ring she had been carrying to every karaoke night, trying to dig up the courage to do this.
“Oh you’re my, my, my, my … lover.”
She fell to one knee in front of Kara, holding out the ring, her hands trembling with fright, anticipation, anxiety, and excitement.
“Kara Danvers,” she gasped into the mic, trying to catch her breath. “I have just spent the last five minutes shrieking into this microphone about how much I love you in the words of someone else. But the fact that I’ve done it at all has to show you it’s all true. I swear to God, if you don’t marry me after this, I think I’ll die.”
Kara laughed, tears streaming down her face as she pulled herself up onto the stage with Lena and slid the ring onto her finger, her own hands shaking as she did so.
“Of course I’ll marry you, baby. After a performance like that? I’d be a fool to say no!”
She leaned in, pulling Lena’s face to hers and kissing her hard on the lips as the bar patrons cheered and wolf whistled in the background. As they pulled apart, Kara leaned her head against Lena’s and smiled softly, her lips curving up, eyes crinkling, dimples out in full force.
“As long as you keep singing to me, I’ll go anywhere you go,” she whispered, pressing a kiss to Lena’s cheek.
“You may be sorry you said that someday,” Lena replied with a grin.
Kara laughed, bringing her hand up to tilt Lena’s lips toward her.
“Not a chance.”
And she kissed her fiancee under the bright stage lights, with the people of National City cheering them on from below.