Chapter Text
"Kara, I hate to break it to you but sending corny Christmas jokes to a woman you've never even met does not count as flirting." Alex had been called over to Kara's apartment to hear some big news. She hadn't expected the news to be that Kara was trying online dating.
"Well, you should see the way she reacts," Kara bragged. "She sent me four laugh emojis today."
"That's…" Alex paused for a moment, "not something you should be bragging about. Remind me again why you don't even know this woman's name?"
"Well, that's the whole point of Bantr," Kara started. "Instead of matching with someone based on their profile picture, you match up with them based on their personality. You don't even find out their first name. All you get is their username. It means instead of the usual shallow world of online dating where everything is based on looks, it's based on a real connection."
"I didn't know sending Christmas jokes counted as connecting with someone," Alex teased.
"What did you expect from me? Christmas day is in a week!" Kara said defensively. "That's not all we talk about, you know. Besides, LadyL27 seems to like my corny Christmas jokes."
"LadyL27?" Alex raised her eyebrows a little. "As in Lady Lesbian?".
"I mean, I guess," Kara paused. "What else could the L stand for?"
"I mean, it could stand for," Alex started, "No that's ridiculous, forget I said anything."
"Okay, you're being weird." Kara wondered what Alex had stopped herself from saying.
"No I'm not." Alex was trying to change the subject. "What's your username on the app?".
"BigDEnergy." Kara said proudly.
"Your name on a dating app is big dick energy?" Alex exclaimed.
"No, it's big Danvers energy. Obviously, the D is for Danvers." Kara made it sound like Alex was the one who had made a mistake.
"No one on the app is gonna get that!" Alex shouted.
"Oh my god really?" Kara was starting to sweat a little. "So Lady Lesbian thinks she's been talking to big dick energy this whole time. That's so embarrassing."
"This is why you should have come to me first." Alex was enjoying being right. "I don't know why you sent her daily Christmas jokes though."
"We matched in December and I thought I should show her how festive I was," Kara shrugged as she said this. "And the Christmas jokes are a real icebreaker. Get it? Icebreaker?"
"You do know I carry a gun right?" Alex should have expected the Christmas pun but Kara had surprised her with that one. "And the minute she sees you in person she'll see how festive you are."
"Oh you mean this?" Kara motioned down to her Christmas dress. The dress was bright red and was covered in miniature gingerbread men. To make matters worse, some of the gingerbread men had bits of them broken off and were saying "Give me a break!" in speech bubbles.
"Are you sure that's what you want to wear to a first date?" Alex sounded worried for Kara.
"Of course," Kara answered smiling. "If she can't handle me at my most festive, she's obviously not the girl for me."
"Can we at least talk about the tights?" Alex pointed down to Kara's legs. The tights, which Kara had bought the second she had seen them in a store, were green and filled with drawings of elfs. Above each elf it said "treat yo elf" in capital letters.
Alex had tried to convince Kara not to buy them at the store, her efforts had been in vain in the end.
"I love these tights!" Kara spun a little to show them off." "They help me to express my elf."
"Was I not clear about me carrying a gun?" Alex rolled her eyes at the second Christmas pun she had to hear in the space of a few minutes.
"You love my jokes," Kara laughed back.
"I don't think love is the word I'd use." Alex crossed her arms as she said this. "I guess I can't talk you out of wearing those boots either."
The boots in question were red leather ankle length zip up boots. Kara had insisted on buying them because they made her think of Christmas as soon as she saw them.
"Nope. You definitely can't." Kara beamed back. "I didn't spend all this time putting a Christmas outfit together just to let you talk me out of wearing it."
"Well in that case," Alex paused. "Can you at least tell me where you're meeting your mystery date?"
"We're meeting in National City Square." Kara couldn't hide her excitement when she said this. "Under the massive Christmas tree they put up there every year."
"The one you drag me to every year?" Alex asked.
"That's the one." Kara said, sounding a little guilty. "Then we're getting hot chocolate and going for a walk in the square. It's gonna be perfect!"
"Maybe curb your expectations a little," Alex warned. "For all you know, you could be meeting a middle aged man with a bald spot."
"As if." Kara wasn't hearing a word Alex was saying. "She literally has lady in her name. I mean come on."
"You've clearly never been catfished." Alex groaned. "You better go, you don't want to miss your date."
"You're right. But first, I need to get my coat, gloves and scarf. And of course, I can't forget the pièce de résistance."
After putting on her extra layers, Kara then took out a headband that had a pair of reindeer antlers attached and placed them on her head. The antlers shook around a little every time Kara moved her head.
"Okay wow." Alex stared in disbelief. "This is a lot to take in."
"I told her that she would know me if she looked for the woman wearing the reindeer antlers." Kara explained.
"Oh yeah. It's not like the Christmas dress, tights or boots are a dead giveaway." Alex said sarcastically. "How are you gonna know her?"
"She told me she'd be wearing a low cut black dress. You can never be too careful though." Kara checked her watch. "Just call me Rudolph because I gotta run."
Before Alex had a chance to sigh or groan at yet another Christmas joke, Kara was gone with only a breeze behind her.
Kara hurried over to the Christmas tree in the square. She had landed away from the crowds and was scanning every woman she saw. So far she hadn't seen any women in low cut black dresses.
After a few minutes of scanning, she did see one woman in a black dress. This wasn't just any woman though. This was Lena, her best friend.
Lena was wearing a fluffy coat with leather gloves, a beanie hat and a knitted scarf. She had left the coat open though, to show off her black dress.
As opposed to Kara's festive tights, Lena had opted for a pair of black tights. And of course, she had picked out a pair of red high heels that probably cost more than Kara's whole outfit put together.
"Kara?" Lenas eye's met Kara's through the crowd. "What are you doing here?" Lena then looked Kara up and down seeing the reindeer headband and realising what had happened.
"Oh my god, are you BigDEnergy?"
"Yeah that's me." Kara looked down at her feet when she said this. "Which would make you LadyL27 right?"
"You got me." Lena laughed. "I have to admit, this is a surprise. I had no idea you were-"
"Into women?" Kara interrupted.
"I was gonna say dating but that works too." Lena was clearly surprised by Kara's outburst. "So the D in BigDEnergy stands for…"
"Danvers!" Kara cut in. "Definitely Danvers!"
"Okay, I thought maybe it stood for something else." Lena smirked at Kara when she said this.
"Nope, just Danvers." Kara laughed "And the L in LadyL27 stands for…"
"Lena, of course." Lena explained. "What did you think the L stood for?"
"It's not important." Kara hadn't expected to be this nervous. "All that matters is we know what our usernames mean now."
"I am a little surprised though," Lena admitted. "I didn't even know you were trying dating. Especially not with women."
"Well there's a story behind that," Kara paused to collect her thoughts. "Alex talked to me a few weeks ago and said if I didn't ask you out before the year was over she would kill me. She said she couldn't watch all my failed attempts at flirting anymore."
"Alex is certainly honest," Lena giggled. "She's not wrong though. I've been wanting you to ask me out for years."
"You have?" Kara hadn't been expecting that from Lena. "Now I feel really stupid. I was gonna ask you out a few weeks ago but then I totally chickened out at the last minute. I thought maybe you weren't into me so I backed out."
"Which led you to Bantr?" Lena inquired.
"Pretty much," Kara answered. "Something about talking to a woman online and not even knowing what she looked like felt easier. Of course, I had no idea that woman was you.. What led you to using Bantr?"
"Well," Lena bit her bottom lip. "I was waiting for this really cute girl to ask me out and she never did. I've had a crush on her for so long too"
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Kara rubbed Lena's arm a little. "Who was it? Oh my god! Was it Andrea? I know you two have been friends for years but I didn't know you liked her like that."
"I'm talking about you Kara." Lena explained. "I've been into you for as long as I can remember. And Alex talked to me about her plan. How she was going to make you take action. When you never asked me out I just assumed you changed your mind. I thought maybe I had misread things."
"Lena I had no idea, '' Kara said apologetically. "I was just so scared of you saying no. And I didn't want to ruin 5 years of friendship."
"Kara, this has been so much more than just friendship for so long now." Lena fidgeted with her gloved hands. "I just wanted it to go further. And when it didn't, I downloaded Bantr. I thought maybe I could distract myself from thinking about you all the time."
"Did it work?" Kara queried.
"Clearly not, the first woman I matched with was you." Lena was smiling again. "No wonder I enjoyed our conversations so much."
"I enjoyed them too!" Kara shouted a little louder than she had meant to there. People passing by gave her a glance before going back to their business.
"Oh, sorry. I got a little over excited there."
"I could tell," Lena teased. "Especially seeing as you're going redder than Rudolph's nose right now.
Kara then attempted to pull her scarf up over her face as if hiding would make her any less embarrassed.
"Well now you just look even more adorable." Lena said through laughter. "You know I can still see you right?"
"Yeah I know," Kara answered. "I thought maybe it would help me though."
"A for effort," Lena gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up."
"How about we just focus on the positives," Lena began. "Even though it's not the way I thought it was gonna happen, me and you are on our first date. And it's Christmas. So let's just enjoy it okay?"
"Okay," Kara readjusted her scarf. "This isn't how I saw us doing this either. It doesn't make it any less perfect though."
"Aww Kara," Lena squeezed Kara's hand. "This is the best present I've ever gotten for Christmas. Just being with you, that's all I ever wanted."
Before Kara could answer, Lena was kissing Kara's lips with hers. Pulling Kara in closer, their bodies sharing warmth and passion.
The tree above them was sparkling and both their faces were illuminated by the Christmas lights.
"That was…" Kara was still attempting to regain her composure. "The best kiss I've ever had."
"High praise indeed," Lena glanced at Kara's lips as if she was already thinking of kissing them again. "You were definitely worth the wait darling."
"Merry Christmas Lena!" Kara proclaimed.
"Nollaig Shona Dhuit." Lena replied. "That's Merry Christmas in Irish, in case you were wondering."
"One day you have to teach me the whole language." Kara pleaded.
"You've got yourself a deal." Lena agreed. "But for now, let's just enjoy our date. I've been waiting for this for a long time."
Kara and Lena hadn't imagined that this would be the way they had their first date. That didn't stop them from enjoying the Christmas festivities though. Two lost souls who had been brought together by something stronger than fate. For the first time, they could experience Christmas together.
They joined the crowd of happy couples and families wandering through the square. As Kara and Lena walked hand in hand, they knew that this Christmas was going to be perfect. Their first Christmas as a couple, the first of many.