Work Text:
Lena feels like her whole body is shaking and she only has her genes to thank for the fact that she looks steady. She and Kara are filming another video together. Though normally that would not be something to make her nervous anymore, she has a special something planned for this one. And that is nerve-wracking.
She pulls her sleeves over her hands, plays idly with a loose strand of hair and watches Kara fix the camera set-up.
It has been a few years since they moved in together and Lena is still amazed and thankful that they can keep on making videos for their audiences. After the announcement of their relationship, there was a brief drop in viewer and subscriber count for both their channels. But the virality of that video soon helped the two channels rebound and increase above what they ever thought possible on such short term.
The biggest upside of the shift in their following was the increase in positivity and support in their comment sections. They were both always careful about curating a positive and safe space and their coming out gave those sentiments a strong boost. Relentlessly blocking everyone who spewed negativity and hatred also helped.
Sometimes, Lena still cannot believe this is her life right now. Living with her girlfriend in their own place, out to the world and surrounded by supportive people. If she were to tell her 10-year younger version this, she would not have believed it possible.
And that is exactly why today is making her so anxious.
She shifts her legs again to get more comfortable. When Kara looks away, Lena sneaks a hand down to check if the small jewellery box she has hidden there is still where it should be.
It is.
She breathes out slowly and purposefully. Closing her eyes for a moment to center herself.
If she thought uploading the video that announced her relationship with Kara was the scariest thing she would ever do, she now knows that was wrong. This feels even more terrifying.
When Kara turns around, Lena flashes her a reassuring smile. Or at least, she hopes that is what it looks like.
Kara sends back a bright smile, though Lena senses an edge of nerves. Probably because it has been a while they did fluff content like this. They try to keep their channels on-topic. Lena does science videos. Kara does food videos. And now they are adding something about them as people, not their usual informative content.
When Kara finishes checking their setup, she flashes Lena a thumbs up. Lena sends her one back and Kara presses the record button.
“Today, we are doing something different,” Lena explains to the camera when Kara has taken her seat. “We decided to join in on the girlfriend tag.”
“For those who don’t know how it works: we have a list of questions asking who is most likely to do something and we each write down a name these small whiteboards.” Kara holds up her whiteboard and marker.
Lena joins in and shows her own set. “We used questions you guys have asked us in comments, came up with some ourselves and asked our editor to add some.”
“Without further ado, I’ll start with the first question.” Kara sneaks a peek at the list of questions and reads out the first one. “Who is most likely to sing in the shower?”
Lena does not need to think about this and knows they will have the same answer. Only one of them ever even sings in the shower.
They flip their boards and they both read ‘Kara’. Kara shrugs and raises her eyebrows. “I like singing when others can’t hear.”
“I can hear,” Lena argues.
“That doesn’t count. We live together.”
Lena shakes her head with a smile and moves on to the next question on the list. “Who is most likely to cry during a touching movie?”
“Oh, they will love this,” Kara mutters as she writes down the four letters Lena expects there.
This was definitely a question Nia, their editor, came up with. Just to torture Lena and create little dents in her put-together persona.
The whiteboards read the same again. ‘Lena’.
Lena smiles awkwardly and gives the camera a half-shrug but doesn’t comment on it. She wipes away the words on her board.
“Who is most likely to buy the other a gift for no reason?” Kara presses on.
Lena has to think about that for a moment. They both like buying each other gifts for no reason. But she has gotten more recently than she has gifted Kara, probably. She doesn’t really keep count so it’s hard to tell. She decides to follow her gut feeling and writes down Kara’s name.
They flip their boards and, this time, the names don’t match. They each wrote down the other person’s name.
“I guess that’s a good thing,” Kara notes, “we both think we receive more gifts than we give.”
“You do give a lot of random gifts.”
“So do you.”
They share a loving smile and almost lean in for a kiss, but catch themselves at the same time and look apologetically at the camera.
With slightly reddened cheeks and a slight stumble in her voice, Lena moves on to the next question. “Who is most likely to get a pet rock and name it?”
They don’t hesitate, both having an immediate answer.
‘Kara’.
“Fred is the best pet. He is never needy or sick or needing vet visits and he always wants hugs.”
“A very convenient and cheap pet indeed,” Lena says.
“I love Fred. Nobody is allergic to Fred or afraid of Fred.”
“Very considerate to your friends. Ten out of ten, would recommend. We never get in a fight over who has to clean Fred’s enclosure or take him for a walk.”
Kara nods enthusiastically. “Seriously, think about getting your own pet rock!”
A brief silence follows as Kara checks her phone for the next question on the list. An evil smirk appears on her lips. Lena notices immediately.
“Who’s most likely to scare themselves with their own reflection?” Kara asks, barely able to hold in their laughter.
“That was a one time thing!” Lena exclaims.
“Spoilers,” Kara mumbles, excitedly writing in huge capitals ‘LENA’ and turns her whiteboard over.
“That was not really on the list,” Lena disputes.
“Were too. Here.” Kara hands over her phone and Lena furrows her brow as she reads that exact question on Kara’s screen.
“Fine,” Lena grumbles before looking back at her own screen and reading the next question.
“Who’s most likely to get their hand stuck in a jar of candy?”
“Now you’re just taking revenge,” Kara protests.
Without a word, Lena hands Kara her phone to avoid the same argument they just had.
“Oh,” Kara says apologetically. “Well, the jar was too small and my stomach wanted candies.”
“I hope that was the last of those,” Lena laughs, as she holds up her whiteboard reading ‘Kara’ with an arrow to Lena’s left where Kara is sitting.
“I think so.”
Kara scans her next question, takes a deep breath and reads it out loud. Voice ever so slightly trembling. And Lena would have commented on it if not for the question that comes out of Kara’s mouth.
“Who is most likely to propose to their partner?”
This is her cue! Lena scribbles a sloppy ‘Me’ on her whiteboard, yanks the jewellery box out from its hiding place and fumbles to open it, revealing a shiny ring with a tiny little jewel embedded in it. She hurries to sit on one knee before Kara has time to finish thinking and turn around to look at her.
Lena turns around and is about to open her mouth for the words she practiced in the mirror so much these past weeks. Then she notices what she’s looking at.
Kara is sitting in a mirror position from her own. One knee on the floor, one up. A sign with ‘Me’ in one hand and an open jewellery box with a ring in it in the other.
Lena’s mouth drops open, another perfect mirror image of Kara.
“Wait, how did you know this question was coming up?” Lena is the first to find her words.
“I asked Nia to put it in.”
Lena frowns. “But I asked Nia to put it in.”
A brief beat of silence as they piece everything together.
Then it dawns on them that they have been set up by their editor. In unison, they exclaim, “NIA!” to the camera.
Lena follows her shout up with, “Nia did you set us up and know we were both going propose to the other?!”
“You little shit,” Kara mumbles affectionately at the camera.
A second moment of silence follows as they both try to figure out what to do with this situation.
“Wait.” Kara holds out her hands. “Is that a yes?”
Lena nods her head vigorously. “Of course that’s a yes, silly!”
“Good! Because I’m also saying yes.”
They giggle sheepishly. Then Kara leans in, putting a hand on Lena’s cheek.
“Will you really marry me?”
“Only if you will marry me.”
“Definitely. I’m the luckiest woman in the world.”
“I love you.” Lena barely gets a chance to finish her sentence before Kara pulls her into a deep kiss. With both of them on one knee, they end up an unstable mess and fall over. They don’t care, too distracted by the prospect of their future marriage.
When the dust has settled, they will get back at Nia for setting them up like this. Right now, they have other priorities. Like kissing the other senseless and putting rings on fingers.
The camera stands forgotten, recording minutes of footage that Nia will have to cut and might make her want to clean her eyes with soap. That is only the first part of Kara and Lena’s revenge. And they aren’t even aware of this one.