Stresseddepressedlemonzestsblog - Untitled

i hope you heal from the things no one ever apologized for

The Half of It is so good not just because it’s a beautiful queer love story, but because, at its heart, it’s about different kinds of love - not just romantic. 

Watching Paul, a straight white guy, love Ellie, a Chinese lesbian, was just the sweetest thing ever. I am literally crying while writing this. 

You can see throughout the film how Paul just cares for Ellie: making sure her time is compensated, sliding a guitar across the stage at the talent show, making her food, spending time with her father even with their language barrier, encouraging her to go to a party and making sure she’s okay after getting drunk at that party (he literally tucks her into his bed and he sits on a chair). 

Ellie’s a quiet nerd who doesn’t seem to engage at all with other high schoolers, let alone talk about herself. But you can see how Paul kind of disrupts that. Her ultimate expression of love and trust is revealing her past (specifically, her dead mother, whom she still clearly grieves for). She writes letters to food critics so he can do something he’s passionate about, she goes to his football games even though she doesn’t even like football, she literally facilitates dates between him and her crush. 

And so Paul thinks he’s in love with Ellie, because he doesn’t understand that his love for her isn’t necessarily romantic. He thinks there’s only one kind of love. And Ellie doesn’t think she understands love at all. They’re both wrong. 

I honestly thought the film would end with some declaration of love. I figured that Paul would shout “I love you!” as he chased Ellie’s train and that Ellie would mouth “I love you” back. But that’s not how they express love - it’s expressed in how Ellie cries and laughs and how Paul grins like a moron. 

TL;DR: The Half of It is a touching love story between two friends. 

I want to live by myself when I move out of my parent's place but I'm really afraid of money problems? I'm afraid that the only place I can afford will be in the ghetto and it'll all be torn apart and I'll only be allowed to eat one granola bar a week. I'm really stressing out about this. I don't know anything about after school life. I don't know anything about paying bills or how to buy an apartment and it's really scaring me. is there anything you know that can help me?

HI darling,

I’ve actually got a super wonderful masterpost for you to check out:

Home

what the hell is a mortgage?

first apartment essentials checklist

how to care for cacti and succulents

the care and keeping of plants

Getting an apartment

Money

earn rewards by taking polls

how to coupon

what to do when you can’t pay your bills

see if you’re paying too much for your cell phone bill

how to save money

How to Balance a Check Book

How to do Your Own Taxes

Health

how to take care of yourself when you’re sick

things to bring to a doctor’s appointment

how to get free therapy

what to expect from your first gynecologist appointment

how to make a doctor’s appointment

how to pick a health insurance plan

how to avoid a hangover

a list of stress relievers

how to remove a splinter

Emergency

what to do if you get pulled over by a cop

a list of hotlines in a crisis

things to keep in your car in case of an emergency

how to do the heimlich maneuver

Job

time management

create a resume

find the right career

how to pick a major

how to avoid a hangover

how to interview for a job

how to stop procrastinating

How to write cover letters

Travel

ULTIMATE PACKING LIST

Traveling for Cheap

Travel Accessories

The Best Way to Pack a Suitcase

How To Read A Map

How to Apply For A Passport

How to Make A Travel Budget

Better You

read the news

leave your childhood traumas behind

how to quit smoking

how to knit

how to stop biting your nails

how to stop procrastinating

how to stop skipping breakfast

how to stop micromanaging

how to stop avoiding asking for help

how to stop swearing constantly

how to stop being a pushover

learn another language

how to improve your self-esteem

how to sew

learn how to embroider

how to love yourself

100 tips for life

Apartments/Houses/Moving

Moving Out and Getting an Apartment, Part 1: Are You Sure? (The Responsible One)

Moving Out and Getting an Apartment, Part 2: Finding the Damn Apartment (The Responsible One)

Moving Out and Getting an Apartment, Part 3: Questions to Ask about the Damn Apartment (The Responsible One)

Moving Out and Getting an Apartment, Part 4: Packing and Moving All of Your Shit (The Responsible One)

How to Protect Your Home Against Break-Ins (The Responsible One)

Education

How to Find a Fucking College (The Sudden Adult)

How to Find Some Fucking Money for College (The Sudden Adult)

What to Do When You Can’t Afford Your #1 Post-Secondary School (The Sudden Adult)

Stop Shitting on Community College Kids (Why Community College is Fucking Awesome) (The Responsible One)

How to Ask for a Recommendation Letter (The Responsible One)

How to Choose a College Major (The Sudden Adult)

Finances

How to Write a Goddamn Check (The Responsible One)

How to Convince Credit Companies You’re Not a Worthless Bag of Shit (The Responsible One)

Debit vs Credit (The Responsible One)

What to Do if Your Wallet is Stolen/Lost (The Sudden Adult)

Budgeting 101 (The Responsible One)

Important Tax Links to Know (The Responsible One)

How to Choose a Bank Without Screwing Yourself (The Responsible One)

Job Hunting

How to Write a Resume Like a Boss (The Responsible One)

How to Write a Cover Letter Someone Will Actually Read (The Responsible One)

How to Handle a Phone Interview without Fucking Up (The Responsible One)

10 Sites to Start Your Job Search (The Responsible One)

Life Skills

Staying in Touch with Friends/Family (The Sudden Adult)

Bar Etiquette (The Sudden Adult)

What to Do After a Car Accident (The Sudden Adult)

Grow Up and Buy Your Own Groceries (The Responsible One)

How to Survive Plane Trips (The Sudden Adult)

How to Make a List of Goals (The Responsible One)

How to Stop Whining and Make a Damn Appointment (The Responsible One)

Miscellaneous

What to Expect from the Hell that is Jury Duty (The Responsible One)

Relationships

Marriage: What the Fuck Does It Mean and How the Hell Do I Know When I’m Ready? (Guest post - The Northwest Adult)

How Fucked Are You for Moving In with Your Significant Other: An Interview with an Actual Real-Life Couple Living Together™ (mintypineapple  and catastrofries)

Travel & Vehicles

How to Winterize Your Piece of Shit Vehicle (The Responsible One)

How to Make Public Transportation Your Bitch (The Responsible One)

Other Blog Features

Apps for Asshats

Harsh Truths & Bitter Reminders

Asks I’ll Probably Need to Refer People to Later

Apartments (or Life Skills) - How Not to Live in Filth (The Sudden Adult)

Finances - Tax Basics (The Responsible One)

Important Documents - How to Get a Copy of Your Birth Certificate (The Responsible One)

Important Documents - How to Get a Replacement ID (The Responsible One)

Health - How to Deal with a Chemical Burn (The Responsible One)

Job Hunting - List of Jobs Based on Social Interaction Levels (The Sudden Adult)

Job Hunting - How to Avoid Falling into a Pit of Despair While Job Hunting (The Responsible One)

Job Hunting - Questions to Ask in an Interview (The Responsible One)

Life Skills - First-Time Flying Tips (The Sudden Adult)

Life Skills - How to Ask a Good Question (The Responsible One)

Life Skills - Reasons to Take a Foreign Language (The Responsible One)

Life Skills - Opening a Bar Tab (The Sudden Adult)

Relationships - Long Distance Relationships: How to Stay in Contact (The Responsible One)

Adult Cheat Sheet:

what to do if your pet gets lost

removing stains from your carpet

how to know if you’re eligible for food stamps

throwing a dinner party

i’m pregnant, now what?

first aid tools to keep in your house

how to keep a clean kitchen

learning how to become independent from your parents

job interview tips

opening your first bank account

what to do if you lose your wallet

tips for cheap furniture

easy ways to cut your spending

selecting the right tires for your car

taking out your first loan

picking out the right credit card

how to get out of parking tickets

how to fix a leaky faucet

get all of your news in one place

getting rid of mice & rats in your house

when to go to the e.r.

buying your first home

how to buy your first stocks

guide to brewing coffee

first apartment essentials checklist

coping with a job you hate

30 books to read before you’re 30

what’s the deal with retirement?

difference between insurances

Once you’ve looked over all those cool links, I have some general advice for you on how you can have some sort of support system going for you:

Reasons to move out of home

You may decide to leave home for many different reasons, including:

wishing to live independently

location difficulties – for example, the need to move closer to university

conflict with your parents

being asked to leave by your parents.

Issues to consider when moving out of home

It’s common to be a little unsure when you make a decision like leaving home. You may choose to move, but find that you face problems you didn’t anticipate, such as:

Unreadiness – you may find you are not quite ready to handle all the responsibilities.

Money worries – bills including rent, utilities like gas and electricity and the cost of groceries may catch you by surprise, especially if you are used to your parents providing for everything. Debt may become an issue.

Flatmate problems – issues such as paying bills on time, sharing housework equally, friends who never pay board, but stay anyway, and lifestyle incompatibilities (such as a non-drug-user flatting with a drug user) may result in hostilities and arguments.

Your parents may be worried

Think about how your parents may be feeling and talk with them if they are worried about you. Most parents want their children to be happy and independent, but they might be concerned about a lot of different things. For example:

They may worry that you are not ready.

They may be sad because they will miss you.

They may think you shouldn’t leave home until you are married or have bought a house.

They may be concerned about the people you have chosen to live with.

Reassure your parents that you will keep in touch and visit regularly. Try to leave on a positive note. Hopefully, they are happy about your plans and support your decision.

Tips for a successful move

Tips include:

Don’t make a rash decision – consider the situation carefully. Are you ready to live independently? Do you make enough money to support yourself? Are you moving out for the right reasons?

Draw up a realistic budget – don’t forget to include ‘hidden’ expenses such as the property’s security deposit or bond (usually four weeks’ rent), connection fees for utilities, and home and contents insurance.

Communicate – avoid misunderstandings, hostilities and arguments by talking openly and respectfully about your concerns with flatmates and parents. Make sure you’re open to their point of view too – getting along is a two-way street.

Keep in touch – talk to your parents about regular home visits: for example, having Sunday night dinner together every week.

Work out acceptable behaviour – if your parents don’t like your flatmate(s), find out why. It is usually the behaviour rather than the person that causes offence (for example, swearing or smoking). Out of respect for your parents, ask your flatmate(s) to be on their best behaviour when your parents visit and do the same for them.

Ask for help – if things are becoming difficult, don’t be too proud to ask your parents for help. They have a lot of life experience.

If your family home does not provide support

Not everyone who leaves home can return home or ask their parents for help in times of trouble. If you have been thrown out of home or left home to escape abuse or conflict, you may be too young or unprepared to cope.

If you are a fostered child, you will have to leave the state-care system when you turn 18, but you may not be ready to make the sudden transition to independence.

If you need support, help is available from a range of community and government organisations. Assistance includes emergency accommodation and food vouchers. If you can’t call your parents or foster parents, call one of the associations below for information, advice and assistance.

Where to get help

Your doctor

Kids Helpline Tel. 1800 55 1800

Lifeline Tel. 13 11 44

Home Ground Services Tel. 1800 048 325

Relationships Australia Tel. 1300 364 277

Centrelink Crisis or Special Help Tel. 13 28 50

Tenants Union of Victoria Tel. (03) 9416 2577

Things to remember

Try to solve any problems before you leave home. Don’t leave because of a fight or other family difficulty if you can possibly avoid it.

Draw up a realistic budget that includes ‘hidden’ expenses, such as bond, connection fees for utilities, and home and contents insurance.

Remember that you can get help from a range of community and government organizations. 

(source)

Keep me updated? xx

My guys. the fact that so many of you are reblogging my post about Justice Thomas's desire to overturn Lawrence with exclamations of "how???" and with such lack of knowledge of our past is really disconcerting.

Gay sex was illegal federally in the United States until 2003 (when Lawrence was ruled on). Before Lawrence many MANY states had "Sodomy Laws" that prohibited gay sex within the state itself and criminalized homosexuality, often using targeting words like "pervert" to describe gay men much the way conservatives talk of "grooming" today. In fact prior to 1962 homosexual sex, as well as certain types of consensual sex acts between differently gendered couples, was a felony with the cost being lengthy jail time and/or hard labor. As of April 2022 14 states have STILL not repealed their sodomy laws. Keep that in mind.

In this last week of Pride month i am BEGGING you. LEARN SOME LGBTQ+ History. The history of your rights, your lack of rights, how recent it all is, how unstable your rights are RIGHT NOW. So many of what should now be our elders were killed during the AIDS Crisis. It is now up to you to learn these things yourself.

Wikipedia Article on LGBT History in the United States

LGBTQ Rights Timeline in America

Bring back captain CP! ❤️😭

inspired by this post.

-

Kara goes to the future. She hugs them all, a factory line of tearful goodbyes, in the shadow of a Legion cruiser, and then disappears in a flash of blue.

Lena watches her go, and opens up a little box.

-

Five years pass, and life in the twenty-first century soldiers on as normally as is possible in a world without Kara.

Alex, Kelly and Esme fall into the routine of being a family, all school drop offs and trips to the park and learning to control adolescent superpowers.

J’onn takes on the bulk of superhero duties, with Nia and Brainy at his side, and together they keep National City and the world from falling to ruin. It’s harder without their favorite Kryptonian by their side, but they manage.

Lena flounders.

She moved to National City to be near Supergirl and to use her family’s company as a force for good. Now, with no Supergirl patrolling the skies and no business to run, Lena finds there’s very little outside of her friends that’s tethering her to stay.

She helps the remaining Superfriends when she can, throws herself into mastering her magic only to find that it leaves a bitter, unfulfilled taste in her mouth every time latin slips over her tongue.

Sam invites her to Metropolis for a few weeks, as a way to clear her head, to search for a purpose in this still new world that suddenly feels so empty.

It’s there that she reconnects with James.

He’d been friendly at the wedding, warm and understanding and interested in Lena, in what her life had become after he’d set out in search of his own.

It’s nice, having someone care again.

She kisses him on their third unofficial date and moves back to Metropolis on their six month anniversary.

Sam hires her on as head of R&D at the new company she works for, and Lena finds peace in making things again. It feels good to put her scientific mind to work, to use her hands to build things that will help everyday people without the aid of superpowers or spells.

She tucks her mother’s grimoire away in the top of the walk-in closet she shares with James, underneath a National City University sweatshirt, and beside a moving box labeled ‘Kara’.

Lena gets on with her life.

-

Kara comes back on a Thursday.

She’s cut her hair short and traded her Supergirl blue and red for a sleek, dark navy suit with her house crest emblazoned on the chest in white. She wears a Legionaries ring, and when she walks down the gangplank of the ship Alex is waiting for her.

Mon-el doesn’t come with her and the Legion cruiser disappears back into the sky.

Kara comes back to National City and Lena isn’t there.

“I spoke to her at Christmas,” Kelly says over their reunion dinner, after Kara finally gets up the courage to ask in her most practiced, casual tone. “She sounded happy.”

Kara’s brow crinkles.

“It’s March.”

Kelly just hums and passes her the potato salad.

“We’ve all been pretty busy. Things have changed since you’ve been gone.”

“Yeah,” Kara says quietly, pushing a chunk of potato across her plate, avoiding Alex’s eyes that are locked on her. “They sure have.”

-

Kara flies to Metropolis.

The city of the future is bright and clean, and looks more like the world she’s just come from than anything in National City. It’s equal parts comforting and sad.

Lena is on her lunch break, waiting in line at her favorite Vietnamese food truck, when she sees a streak of dark blue across the sky. The color palette is different, but the shape of it halts her breath in her chest.

She leaves without ordering, sprinting despite her four inch heels in the direction she saw her go. She doesn’t plan to, doesn’t even think about it, before her feet are moving quickly down the sidewalk, shoulder bumping into pedestrians along the way.

They meet up in the park, across from the pond where a family of ducks is diving and splashing about in the sunshine.

Lena halts in her tracks when Kara lands gracefully a few feet away, dropping delicately to the earth on a single toe, nothing like the rough three point landing she had expected.

She’s all sharp eyes and strong shoulders, short blonde hair shaggy around her face from flight. It knocks the wind out of Lena, who stumbles on her heel.

Before she can catch herself, strong arms are wrapped around her waist, warm and familiar and enough to break her heart. She squeezes her eyes shut and leans her forehead against Kara’s shoulder, drawing in a shuddering breath.

“Are you okay?” Kara whispers after a moment.

Lena’s hands come up to rest against the crest on her chest, fingers digging in to the synthetic material.

She doesn’t have an answer.

-

They find a bench to sit on.

Kara presses a button somewhere and her suit melts away into a simple black t-shirt and pants, standard Legion fatigues. She looks sleek and strong and so good it makes Lena’s breath hitch loud enough for Kara to hear.

They both ignore it.

It’s awkward. Kara can’t share much about the future and Lena doesn’t know what to say about the present, so for a long time they just sit in the shade of an oak tree and look at each other.

Lena’s phone rings.

“It’s James.”

She slides to answer it slowly, eyes never leaving Kara’s form across from her like she’s afraid if she blinks she might disappear.

“Hey. Yes, I did. It’s her, I’m with her now. I know, me too. Okay. Yes, I’ll see you for dinner. Oh...okay, yeah. No, I will. Love you too.”

When she hangs up the call Kara is staring at her with an unreadable expression.

“James said to tell you hi,” Lena says, going for friendly but it comes out mournful. “And to invite you to our place for dinner.”

“Our place...” Kara repeats absently, but she already has her answer in the look on Lena’s face and the platinum band catching the sunlight on Lena’s left hand.

“We’ve been married for two years.”

-

‘Our place’ turns out to be a brownstone close to the Daily Planet where James has been working again for the last four years.

“I thought he couldn’t...”

Lena quirks an eyebrow, the barest hint of a smirk curling at her lip.

“Would you believe Andrea had a change of heart?”

Because of course Lena could talk Andrea down from a stubborn, bitter edge. There isn’t anything she wouldn’t make happen for the people she loves.

Inside James and Lena’s place is tidy and modern, with unblemished leather furniture and James’s photography on the walls.

Kara walks through the last five years, caught and captured in still frames. She spots Alex and Kelly, Lois and Clark, Brainy and Nia.

There’s Lena and Sam squeezing Ruby between them at her high school graduation. There’s James with Esme sitting high on his shoulders, red cape fluttering behind her shoulders.

Kara gets stuck at their wedding portrait, posed and perfect with James in a sharp tux and Lena all in white and lace. They look happy.

“I’m sorry that I missed it,” she says quietly, and Lena stills across the room. Something flares hot and wild in her chest and she wants to snap you missed a lot of things.

She takes a deep breath and smiles.

“Me too.”

-

James laughs when he sees her, ruffles her hair, pulls her into a tight hug. He’s the same as he’s always been, and it’s comforting in a world that feels so changed.

He and Lena make dinner while Kara watches them from the bar with a drink in her hand, the remnants of a bottle of Clark’s alien rum for which she finds herself grateful.

Lena chops vegetables while James hovers at the stove, and Kara watches them orbit each other in practiced synchronicity.

“Can you pass me the—“

“It’s over there.”

“Oh, I got it. Thanks.”

Kara finishes her drink.

-

Halfway through dinner, where James leads the conversation and things start to feel a little more natural, Lena’s phone rings.

She excuses herself quickly and slips into what Kara assumes is her office.

Kara tells herself she doesn’t mean to listen.

Kara tells herself a lot of things.

“So, you’ve heard,” there’s a shuffle as Lena drops heavily into her desk chair. “I’m fine. Yes, really. — Sam, please,” a heavy sigh and then a quiet “she looks good.” Another pause and then a tense “don’t be ridiculous” to which Sam says something Kara can’t hear and Lena breathes out slowly.

“Of course I do.”

Kara stops listening after that.

-

After dinner Kara says she needs to get back to National City. James and Lena walk her down the steps to the sidewalk, where James pulls her into another hug.

“You staying?”

As they break apart Kara looks at Lena, whose face is stoic, cheeks tinged pink in the cool night air.

“Yeah. I’m staying.”

When they hug goodbye, Kara's fingertips ghost the small of Lena’s back, and Lena’s temple presses against Kara’s cheek.

“See you soon,” Kara says quietly, and then she’s off like a shooting star. They watch her go quietly and then turn to each other, James holding out his hand.

Lena takes it.

-

Supergirl Returns! is splashed across the front of the Daily Planet in the morning, with a picture of Kara soaring in a majestic stretch of dark blue. Lena memorizes the article and then throws the paper away, burying it deep in the waste paper basket.

-

Chaos follows Kara like a shadow in the following weeks, every villain on the planet eager to take a bite out of the legendary girl of steel. She falls back into the familiar habit of punching, and flying and freezing things in their wake.

When a rowdy alien lobs an uppercut beneath her chin hard enough to sting, she takes it.

She decks him hard enough to feel bone crumble beneath her fist and drags him into a holding cell. When the containment force field sparks to life between them Kara feels like she’s the one in a cage.

-

“I’m not sure if I belong here anymore,” she says to Alex one afternoon as they walk along the pier, ice cream cones melting in their hands. Her sister takes a long lick of chocolate and then looks at her with careful eyes.

“That’s what Lena said, when she moved back to Metropolis.”

Triple scoops of mint chocolate ice cream, the same color as Lena’s eyes, melts over Kara’s knuckles, and she throws the cone into a nearby trash can.

-

Lena can’t focus. She’s been struggling to finish this project since before Kara came back, and each day it feels like the solution slips further and further away.

“You should take a vacation,” Sam says over take out salads and tumblers of scotch. “Clear your head.”

Lena pins her with a knowing stare.

“Oh, yeah? And where do you suggest I go?”

“I’m just saying.”

“Well don’t.”

Sam lets it slide, but when Lena gets home that night and James suggests they go to National City for Esme’s middle school graduation, Lena knows she’s been meddling.

It makes Lena feel feral, like a wild animal being led into a trap.

-

Esme has grown tall in the early stages of puberty, already surpassing Kelly who wraps her arms around her daughter with pride.

“Where does the time go?” she asks with a smile and a shake of her head. Kara presses in next to them for the group photo, Alex on one side of her, James on the other.

She’s been wondering that herself.

-

Al’s is the same as it was when they all left it, dark and loud and packed with people. Esme is off to a friend's graduation party, and Alex convinces them all to let loose for the night.

“We raised a whole almost pre-teen,” she says lifting her glass of whiskey over the table. It’s joined by the other’s drinks in a clink of celebration. “We deserve a night of fun.”

They do have fun.

Nia drags them all onto the dance floor, and James goads them into more rounds of shots than is probably responsible, and for the first time since Kara came back, everything feels close to familiar.

Lena laughs at Brainy’s jokes, and drinks the old fashioned Alex presses into her palm, but her eyes stay glued to Kara who sits across the table, watching her back.

After the fourth round, when James and Kelly are kicking Alex and Nia’s butts in pool while Brainy offers helpful calculations of angle and force, Lena slips out the back door into the alley.

The cold night air feels good on her cheeks, helping to cool some of the flush brought on by alcohol and the crowd of warm bodies.

A moment later the door opens, and she doesn’t have to turn around to know who’s standing behind her.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

They lean against the brick wall, half in shadow with only the flickering neon of the streetlight at the mouth of the alley to see by.

Kara picks at invisible threads on her jeans. Lena twists her fingers in her lap. They both study their shoes.

“I missed you,” Kara says quietly after what feels like too long, and Lena sighs heavily, a puff of mist in the night air.

“You left,” she says shortly, the thrum of alcohol in her veins just enough to loosen her tongue and the lid on her largest, most important box.

The ‘me’ at the end of the sentence goes unsaid.

“I’m sorry,” Kara breathes and it’s enough to get Lena to push off the wall, stepping in front of her with a stern brow and trembling fingers.

She wants to reach out, to pull Kara closer, to push her away, to pound her fists against the spot where her crest usually rests. Her fingers curl into fists and she shoves them into her coat pockets.

“What do you want, Kara? Why did you come back?”

Kara shakes her head, righting herself from where she was leaning against the wall, and it brings her closer to Lena, close enough to reach out and touch.

It might as well be the gulf of space and time between them.

“I realized I made the wrong choice.”

“When?”

“About thirty seconds after the ship left.”

Lena laughs, and it’s a cold hollow sound. She crosses her arms over her chest, turns to look down the alley, into the darkness, away from the piercing blue of Kara’s eyes.

“That was five years ago.”

“I know,” she doesn’t offer any further explanation, and Lena doesn’t ask for one. Her jaw tenses, a pale flash of muscle in the low light.

“It’s too late,” Lena says quietly, fingers curled against her bicep to hold herself together. She looks back to Kara, and can see the outline of a tear on one cheek.

“I know,” she says again.

Lena stares at her for a long moment, the tension tightening between them until it threatens to snap into something like disaster.

She turns on her heel and goes back into the bar. A moment later there’s a streak of dark blue across the night sky.

-

Six months go by.

Kara starts working as a freelance reporter and it gives her something to focus on that isn’t lost opportunities and alien bad guys.

She finds her stride in writing again, and gets a few pieces published that make waves. When Andrea offers her a position at CatCo she politely declines, finding she enjoys the freedom and challenge that comes with working on her own terms.

She rents a house at the edge of the city, with a little yard where Kelly helps her plant a garden, and a spare bedroom for any guests that may come to stay.

It sits empty for a long time before she decides to turn it into an art studio. She covers the walls in red paint, dousing everything in crimson and carmine until it feels like home.

-

Lena goes to work each morning and home each night. She and James make dinner on nights when they’re both home, and the routine of their life continues as it has for the last five years.

One night when Lena has a little bit too much to drink James finds her on the floor of the walk-in closet, digging through an old box. He looks at her for a long time before crouching down to take her in his arms.

“I deserve to be someone’s first choice,” he says against her hair, and she trembles slightly, an old photograph wrinkling between her fists.

“Me too.”

-

Sam helps her pack her things. Five years of a life packed away in neat boxes, ready to be shipped across the country, back to National City.

“You could stay,” Sam offers her an out, as they drive to the airport, James’s outline fading in the rear view mirror. Lena watches him grow smaller and smaller until he disappears.

“No, I can’t.”

-

Kara’s guest room is all covered in red, and smells like paint thinner. One wall is decorated with canvases of all sizes, mostly abstractions of space with a few familiar constellations that Lena recognizes easily.

“Sorry, it’s kind of a mess,” Kara says, pressing a palm to the back of her neck. Lena drops her bag just inside the door, and turns around to face her.

“It’s perfect,” she says, and a moment later Kara’s arms are around her, holding her close with no intention of letting go.

-

It takes two weeks for Kara to kiss her, and another two before Lena moves from the guest room into the master bedroom permanently.

“I’m sorry it took me so long,” Kara says one night as Lena stretches out half on top of her, their bodies slick with sweat, limbs tangled against the sheets. Lena lifts her head just enough to look up into her face, one hand trailing up her cheek to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye.

“You’re here now. Promise you’ll stay?” she leans up to mumble against Kara’s lips, before kissing her, slow and deep. Kara’s arms tighten around her like she’s trying to pull them into one form.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

supercorp and coming out at game night? ft lucy saying “give me the 20, danvers” “you bet on us?!”??

After… everything, Lucy flew home to National City and Lena started coming to Game Night.

Because Lena and Kara had become even more inseparable, and because Lucy needed to be with her family. 

It was strange for Alex, at first. Game Night had always been a more active version of Sisters’ Night; then, it was James and Winn, and sometimes Lucy, which started out feeling forced and uncomfortable and making Alex realize how little time she spent with people other than Kara outside of work, but then… then started feeling an awful lot like… well, like family. 

Then, Maggie joined in – at Kara’s invitation, after Rick Malverne – which had been stressful and scary but ultimately, wonderful. And even more like family.

And now, with Lena, Alex is… cautious. Because what if Lena is angry with Maggie for arresting her? Alex has been unusually frightened of fights since the tank, because, after all, she got into that elevator alone after Maggie and Kara tore into each other… 

Kara promises her that it’ll be fine, that Lena isn’t holding a grudge. That she needs a family, especially now, especially after the way she was played, the way she was used, the way she saved the Earth and was terrified that she’d have lost Kara in the process.

And… it is fine. More than fine, really.

Because Lena Luthor? Lena is funny. She and Winn won’t stop bringing little gadgets into the games to help them get the upper hand, won’t stop babbling, talking over each other, hands on each other, giggling in a way that Alex never imagined Lena Luthor could giggle, about the new tech they were working on, about the tech they wanted to dream up together.

Winn keeps whipping out napkins to write notes on for later, until Lena reminds him with an arched eyebrow that he could always use his phone.

Alex laughs as Lucy drinks, as James and Maggie whisper to each other. She leans into her little sister, who was also sitting back, taking it all in. Her family.

“You okay?” Alex nudges her, because she hasn’t been okay, lately. But around Lena, she seems… better. Happier. She even smiles and laughs, now.

Kara sighs and lets her head drop onto her sister’s shoulder. “Happy to be with everyone,” she tells her, and she doesn’t have to tell her the underlying implication.

That everyone is alive. Shockingly.

Alex nods quietly, and watches Lena’s eyes catch Kara’s. Feels Kara’s body sit up. Watches Lena bite her lip before looking away almost coyly. 

Alex wonders for a moment if she’d hear Kara’s heartrate increase if she had Kara’s superhearing.

But she doesn’t have her superhearing, so she has to just wonder. Lucy and Maggie have their opinions, she knows, but she’s just waiting to hear it from Kara herself.

She doesn’t have to wait long. 

Kara tells her before she tells everyone else. 

Tells her that she’s bi. That she hadn’t said anything earlier because she didn’t know, and then because she didn’t want to take away from Alex’s own coming out. But she has to tell her now, because… well, because she and Lena are dating, but Alex can’t tell anyone yet, because Lena’s not ready, but Lena knows Kara is telling her and oh Alex, please don’t be angry with me – 

Alex cuts her off with the longest, hardest hug they’ve shared in a while – while is saying something because their hugs have only grown lately – and promises not to say anything until Lena is ready.

Which turns out to be difficult, because Lena keeps coming to Game Nights. With everyone. Pretending not to be dating her little sister.

It amuses Alex, more than anything. Especially because Lucy and Maggie don’t officially know. 

So she sits through over a month of weekly Game Nights – all featuring Lena in attendance, looser than Alex had ever imagined she could be, Lucy jabbing Alex in the ribcage every time Kara and Lena’s hands brush, catching Maggie and Lucy playing a silent drinking game based on Kara and Lena’s interactions – without being able to say anything. 

Pretending she knows nothing.

Pretending she can’t bare to think about her little sister’s love and sex life, even though it’s almost all they’ve been talking about lately.

Pretending, that is, until Lena clears her throat and Kara nods and takes her hand.

Lucy practically spills her drink down her front.

Maggie does.

“Um, guys?” Kara asks to the already silent room.

Silent, that is, except for Winn, who’s still scooting Toad through Bowser’s Castle, his whole body moving along with the controls. 

They all wait, bemused, for him to notice that the only sound in the apartment is suddenly Mario Kart music. He pauses it and looks up.

“Wh – oh. Ohhhhhh.” He sees Kara and Lena’s hands, their fingers interlaced, and he purses his lips to contain his excitement.

“Guys, um… Lena and I wanted to tell you…” Kara adjusts her glasses, and Alex ignores Lucy’s persistent elbow at her side. “We’ve been seeing each other.” Another glasses adjustment. “Well, um, I mean, of course we’ve been seeing each other, I’m looking at her right now, I just… I really mean… Lena’s my girlfriend. And I’m her girlfriend.”

James smiles broadly at his folded hands, Winn reaches behind Alex to high five Maggie, and Lucy jumps up from her seat at the edge of the coffee table, knocking over a bowl of popcorn and utterly not caring.

“You owe me twenty bucks, Danvers!”

“You were betting on us?” Lena wants to know, and Alex shrugs with a laugh.

“Well, I wasn’t supposed to tell them that I knew, now was I?”

Kara and Lena nod, both grinning with relief, in concession, but Maggie and Lucy explode.

“You knew and you didn’t tell us?!”

“You let us play all those drinking games and you knew the whole time?”

“I thought we were friends!”

“I thought you were my fiancee!”

“I thought we were bonded for life after rescuing you from Cadmus – “

“To be fair, you also sent her there in the first place, Luce – “

“No one asked you, Olsen!”

“I love you, babe, but you’re totally sleeping on the couch tonight.”

It goes on, and on, and on, and Kara and Lena take the time to watch their friends bicker – bicker out of pure happiness that Kara is wearing that smile again, that they’ve gained another new family member again.

“Well, if I’d known the biggest problem anyone would have had with our relationship was a drinking game and a twenty dollar bet, I would have told them sooner,” Lena smiles into Kara’s lips, and the awwwwwwwwwww that rises from the Superfriends as they kiss is what finally ends the playful bickering.

Supercorp: The Proposal AU 💍

morgana. yes thats right - merlin fanart in 2021 (: / instagram

this belongs to the Louvre, she was sculpted by gods

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