#alex is the epitome of straight panic

[ghostlyarchaeologist]

Almost Paradise S01E09 A Wedding to Die For.

[aion-rsa]

How Julie and the Phantoms Normalizes Straight Male Affection

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The following contains spoilers for Julie and the Phantoms season 1.

Straight male affection in media has been handled with, charitably, mixed results. For every deeply moving film or TV show about the bonds between straight men and how much they care about each other, there are 20 others that conflate male intimacy with weakness or downright evil. Talking about manly feelings is one thing but physical affection? There’s still a strong stigma that straight men (and boys for the matter) who show too much physical affection are somehow out of the ordinary, immoral, or automatically seen as gay. For years this was fueled in the media with endless “gay panic” jokes featuring characters negativley reacting to any display of male on male affection. A prominent example comes in Friends’ “The One With The Nap Partners” where Joey and Ross accidentally fall asleep on each other and, upon waking up and discovering they’re cuddling, freak out and have to confirm that nothing gay happened. 

This has slowly changed in recent years, with the idea of the “bromance” gaining traction in many films and TV shows. With a bromance two men being close in physical and emotional ways is seen as a positive but more often than not it’s played as a joke. Many comedies dominated by straight men feature gags involving guys hugging too long, expressing their feelings to the point of it becoming awkward, or others assuming they’re gay based on how close they are. 

Scrubs’ ‘Guy Love’ song from “My Musical” is the epitome of this, the whole sequence based on the joke that Turk and J.D. are extremely close but have to clarify, “there’s nothing gay about it in our eyes.” After J.D. sings that Turk is “the only man who’s even been inside of me,” Turk has to hastily add, “whoa, whoa, I just took out his appendix.” 

It’s better than gay panic to be sure, but it’s still not great.  Straight men genuinely expressing their feelings for each other without being the butt of a joke are something that’s hard to find done well.  

Much of this has roots in decades of societal pressures to appear masculine and it can be extremely harmful not just to straight men but queer men as well. When society tells you, as a straight man, that showing affection toward another man is a joke or flat out bad,It’s not a hard leap to assume gay men are at best a joke or at worst something to fear. Even worse if you’re a gay or queer man, who may internalize this by assuming there’s something inherently wrong with you because of your desire to express affection to other men.

That’s what makes Netflix’s Julie and the Phantoms stand out because it shows, without fanfare, an example of two straight men who are not only comfortable with showing affection to each other but openly embrace it. It also manages to take a scene that would normally be used as a joke at the expense of male affection and turns it completely on its head in a way that’s rarely been seen before.

Julie and the Phantoms is a musical comedy drama series that follows Luke, Reggie, and Alex, three teen musicians who died in the ‘90s but have come back in 2020 as ghosts. Together they form a band with Julie, a living teen, and whenever they perform the ghosts appear in the flesh. Luke sings and is lead guitarist, Reggie plays bass, and Alex drums (he’s also gay and we wrote a lot about him and his male love interest here.)

In episode seven of the show’s first season, Reggie and Alex tease Luke about his crush on Julie, one that’s quickly grown throughout the episodes. Luke tries to shrug it off but Reggie doesn’t let him, pointing out, “everyone can see the way you look at her when you sing. You guys ooze chemistry.”

Luke denies this, claiming, “I have chemistry with everybody that I sing with.” He then proceeds to demonstrate this talent by serenading Reggie with one of the show’s many love ballads, getting extremely close to his face.

For most shows and movies this would be the set up for a typical gay panic joke where at least one of the straight characters would be revolted at even the idea of being flirted at by another man. Reggie might pull away and be grossed out. If it was a bromance joke they might pretend to kiss for laughs.

Julie and the Phantoms, however, has Reggie caught off guard by Luke’s flirting… but he’s really into it! Luke turns the flirt all the way up, grabbing the back of Reggie’s head as if they’re about to kiss. Reggie is flustered but he’s not confused or scared… he’s smitten with all the affection Luke is aiming directly at him.

Alex, watching all of this with a smirk, says, “Wow. I see chemistry.”

Having a gay guy say this out loud doesn’t then make the two pull apart in disgust or lead to the punch line of a joke. Instead the show has Reggie, still flustered, stammer out,

“T-that was pretty hot.”

It even goes one step further! Luke kisses his fingers and puts them on Reggie’s lips, flustering him even more. Reggie isn’t angry about this, he likes it!

This scene is incredible because it’s played for comedy but not because the two straight guys have chemistry or they get REALLY close to kissing. The joke is simply that yes, Luke can have chemistry with anyone he wants and is very good at it. So good at it that Reggie, who before now has only shown romantic interest in women, falls under Luke’s charm. There is zero negative association with the affection between these two straight men, it’s extremely positive and sweet. The joke isn’t aimed at the affection; it’s aimed at Reggie for underestimating just how smooth Luke is.

Now one could point out that Luke and Reggie are extremely progressive for ‘90s straight boys but in a lighthearted and wholesome show like Julie and the Phantoms there’s really no need for them to be homophobic for historical authenticity. It’s a tween show about ghosts from the ‘90s forming a rock band. The fact they even mentioned Alex’s parents hadn’t accepted him for being gay is more realistic than would be expected. 

After years of bromance scenes between straight men where their closeness is often played as a joke, this scene is a revelation. So often male affection has to be couched in jokes or “bits” to fly but here it’s perfectly normal. It gets to be part of a joke but it isn’t the butt of the joke. Reggie getting flustered by Luke’s charms is played as cute. (I should note it’s never flat out said Luke and Reggie are straight but the show emphasizes their attraction to women so I made the assumption.)

Seeing Julie and the Phantoms play this affectionate closeness 100% sincerely (as it does with so many of its plots) is heartening. Anyone who watches this is being shown that straight men, gay men, queer men, bi men, pan men, ALL THE MEN can be affectionate to one another and it’s not a bad thing. It’s just another way to interact with those closest to you.

The more we see of scenes like this, the better the world will be. It’ll hopefully lead to more acceptance of showing your affection to other men, which will hopefully make it easier for straight men to accept affection amongst queer men as well.

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Julie and the Phantoms was already a delightfully charming series for including a queer romance with one of its lead characters but this is just another reason to love it. More normalization of straight male affection in media, please!

The post How Julie and the Phantoms Normalizes Straight Male Affection appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[lnicol1990]

Defining Moments - Chapter 1

Okay, so... I’ve been sitting on this for a couple of years. Ideally, I wanted to have the whole thing finished before I uploaded it anywhere, but Alex has mentioned that I should start sharing it. And, to be honest, I’ve been wanting to do that for a while, so having cosplayed our avatars at RuneFest this weekend just gone... well, it’s given me an excuse to finally start showing this off. 

Long story short: this is a multi-chaptered RuneScape fanfic involving our avatar characters and a few other OCs we made up, detailing what made them who they are, their Defining Moments. This story ties in with a crossover fic Alex and I are in the process of writing, with him leading that one and me writing the prequel.

If people enjoy this, I’ll probably upload what I’ve written so far every Monday.

So, without further ado... Enjoy!

Novtumber, Year 150, Fifth Age

Ayla – aged 9

Two little girls peeked through the bushes to the man standing guard outside the Ranging Guild. He was watching the road for anyone who might want entry into the guild, ready to check their credentials. As it was however, the road had been empty all day, and he looked exceptionally bored.

The girls, unspotted by the man, leaned back and retreated from sight and giggled quietly to each other. One girl, standing half a head taller than her friend, held out two large stones, one for each of them to take.

“Marion, are you sure this’ll work?” the smaller girl asked, taking one of the stones and weighing it in her hand. “I mean, we don’t want to hurt him.”

“It’ll be fine, Ayla,” Marion assured. “Besides, what are a couple of stones to that guy? We just have to draw him over here and then run in before he can catch us. Then we can look around as much as we want. Trust me, this’ll work.”

Ayla looked at the stone in her hand for a long moment, contemplating what she was about to do. Then, shaking her head, she gave the stone back to her friend.

“This is wrong, Marion. It’s one thing to get back at Ceril Carnillean, but that guy hasn’t done anything to us.”

“Of course he has. He’s denying us destiny!” Marion hissed. “We’re destined to enter the Guild and he’s in our way. Or is Ceril right, and you really are a coward too afraid to take what’s yours?”

Ayla felt angry at the old taunt, almost rising to the bait, and she nearly took the stone back. But at that moment, the man across the road coughed loudly, drawing her attention for a moment. She stared at him, all the while thinking.

She knew what they were planning was wrong. The man was only doing his job, and shouldn’t be punished for it by them. It wasn’t what she had been brought up to do, and she wasn’t sure she’d be able to look her parents in the eye after today, not if she followed Marion’s plan.

“I’m not doing it,” she stated.

“Fine,” Marion snapped at her. “But that means I’m the only one who deserves to get in.”

Without a second thought, or a moment’s hesitation, Marion stood up, alerting the man to her presence, and flung the stones at him.

He flinched, raising his arm to protect his face as the projectiles hit him, one on the shoulder and the other went to his stomach. As he lowered his defensive stance, he saw Marion blowing raspberries at him. With an outraged shout he charged at her, who squealed in fright and bolted.

Ayla went unnoticed by the man and made a mad dash around him and for the door. She threw herself against it and it opened just enough for her to squeeze inside. She didn’t look behind her to see if Marion had managed to outrun the man and enter in after her, instead choosing to throw herself to the ground and roll under the wall of the nearest tent.

Finally safe, she scrambled behind a pile of boxes and sat there shaking, gasping for breath. As she calmed down, she could hear shouting from outside the Guild. Marion had obviously been caught, and was clearly getting scolded for her behaviour. A sudden fear caught the breath in Ayla’s throat.

Would Marion tell on her? Would she be blamed for the stunt? Would they come in and start looking for her?

She got to her feet. If she was going to get caught, she was not going let her last moments of freedom end with her cowering behind some boxes. She had done all of this to enter the Ranging Guild, and by Armadyl’s feathers, she was going to see what was in here.

Peering out of cover, she saw two men talking to each other, exchanging tickets for some arrows. Feeling safe and undetected, she fled the tent.

She stopped within moments and stared in wonder at the Guild. Tall towers rose up, with archers firing at those in the centre like a weird form of king of the hill. Whenever someone was hit, they’d retreat in the tower for a while before returning to the game.

There were a dozen vendors all selling their wares. One man was offering a tanning service, while another was showing off various armours. Bows and arrows were being sold by another vendor, while a scantily clad man with weird makeup was holding up various axes and long pointy sticks.

At the very back of the Guild were four men. Three were aiming bows at targets whilst the last man was standing behind them, watching and calling out their hits. The archers looked so graceful, pulling back the bowstring and holding still, before releasing the arrow. The projectiles flew straight and true before burying themselves into the targets standing several feet away.

“Hey kid!”

A shout from behind made Ayla flinch and turn around. It was a different guard from the one Marion had attacked, but he was advancing on her quickly all the same. Frightened, she fled towards the back to the Guild, feeling everyone’s eyes on her as she ran. She had hoped to dart to a side and sprint back to entrance in an escape, but she quickly found herself surrounded by various members of the Guild staff.

To her surprise, the people were not shouting at her. Instead, they were speaking calmly, even if they couldn’t keep the worry out of their voices. They were asking her if she was okay, where her parents were, and if she’d been left behind.

Without thinking, she assured them all that she was fine, and that she lived with her parents in Ardougne East, which was just a couple of miles down the road. The gathered staff quickly relaxed and all breathed a sigh of relief. The guard that had spotted her, however, then spoke up again.

“This isn’t a place for kids. It’s dangerous in here. How did you get in?”

Ayla stared at him, acutely aware that everyone had suddenly fallen silent. She knew straight away that she should admit to her limited part in stoning the entrance guard, but that would get her in trouble and she would never be able to come into the Guild ever again. And as much as she wanted to lie and say someone had let her in, she knew she couldn’t let someone else get in trouble. She felt panic rise up in her chest as she saw the man getting impatient.

“I’m a ranger!” she blurted out, unthinkingly.

A stunned silence fell upon the entire Guild, everyone in disbelief that this little girl before them had enough Skill to be allowed entry. Slowly, chuckles and sniggers began to fill the air, people turning to each other in mirth at the thought.

“How old are you, kid? Six?” a voice in the crowd asked.

“I’m nine!” Ayla snapped hotly.

“You’re the shortest nine-year-old I’ve ever seen,” another voice called out, adding to her building rage.

Her height, or lack thereof, had been fuel for Ceril Carnillean’s teasing and she felt anger flush through her as these strangers mocked her for it also. She could feel herself beginning to shake in indignation, and tears were threatening to spill from her eyes. She was going to be laughed at by everyone, adult and kid alike.

“Hey kid,” a gruff man’s voice called to her from the target range, startling her out of her rage with his sharp tone.

People moved aside so the man could have a clear view of her, and she of him. He was standing by the hay bales, bow in hand, and was the epitome of a ranger. He was dress in leathers with belts strapped across every part of him, all of which held knives and other throwing weapons.

He gestured to her, beckoning her towards him. Feeling slightly afraid of his appearance, but more so of disobeying him, she did as she was told. She walked slowly up to him and realised how much he towered over her when she stood next to him.

“So, you’re a ranger, eh?” he asked her, a slight smirk on his face. He held out his bow and ten arrows to her, which she took warily. “You’ve got ten shots to prove it. Hit within the red, and I’ll believe you.”

Ayla looked down at the targets. They were a series of ever shrinking circles, the outermost being black, then blue, then red, before finally finishing with a solid yellow centre. The red circle was very small, and the target was further away than she had originally thought.

The bow in her hand was too big, almost dwarfing her in height, and she could barely pull the string back. The arrows were longer than her arm and blunt. It felt almost impossible for her to use.

She looked back to the man, wondering if he was mocking her, but he stood there staring at her. He was waiting expectantly for her to take up a position and fire her ten shots, her ten chances of living up to what she had so drastically promised.

She gulped in dread and rested nine of her arrows on the nearest hay bale. Holding the bow in her right hand felt awkward, so she switched it to her left. She carefully notched an arrow on the little indent and pulled back as hard as she could on the string, which hardly moved. She tried again and pulled back harder and lifted the bow straight up, before watching the arrow fall out of the indent. She tried to flick it back into place, failing several times before succeeding. She then raised the bow again, at a slight angle this time, aimed and fired.

The flight hit the bow and the arrow careened into the hay bale.

“Oh come on!” a fellow archer laughed, doubling over. “Who doesn’t know to have the flights pointing away from the bow? I thought you said you were good at this.”

Ayla quickly grabbed her next arrow, trying to ignore her trembling fingers. She knew how to properly face an arrow; she should have noticed it was wrong. She notched the second arrow, taking care that it was correct this time, drew back, aimed, and fired.

The arrow fell short of the target by a couple of feet, as did the next one.

For the fourth arrow, Ayla pointed the bow upwards, aiming high above the target.  She watched as it sailed upwards before diving to the ground and passing over the target and landing several feet behind it. Aiming just above the target saw her fifth arrow graze over it, bouncing on the top and spinning away.

Her hand was visibly shaking as she reached for the next arrow. The jeers of the other archer were bringing tears to her eyes, misting and blurring her vision. It was then that she noticed the other man, the one who had given her the bow, hold his hand out flat, palm facing the floor. When he saw that he had her attention, he brought his hand up his chest in a sweeping gesture before lowering it again.

Take a breath.

She then realised how jumpy her breathing had been, how it had hitched almost into hiccups. She paused in reaching for her sixth arrow and took a deep breath in. The cold air was sharp as it rushed in, jagged and uneven. When she breathed out she felt slightly calmer, as if the air was taking away her fears and tension. She took another deep breath and then reached for the arrow.

This time, she aimed for the very top of the target, drew the string back, and fired. It flew leftwards and struck the black outer circle.

“Black: ten points,” the judge behind Ayla called out.

The suddenness of the judge’s loud voice startled her and she flinched, much to the mirth of her audience. She could feel her face burn in embarrassment at the sniggers that erupted from the crowd. The only one who remained unmoved by her was the guff ranger who’d given her his bow, and she took strength from him. Following his previous advice again, she took another deep breath and launched her seventh arrow.

It was black again and again left of the centre: another ten points, but another failure. Only three arrows were left for her to prove herself. She aimed slightly right and fired.

“Miss,” the judge called out.

It wasn’t good enough; she wasn’t good enough. Everyone around her was agreeing with her thoughts, echoing such in their whispers to each other. Seven arrows and she had only just managed to hit the outermost ring twice. Her arms were tired and her left elbow stung from the bowstring smacking it when she released each arrow.

She was tired, in pain, and she wanted to give up and go home. She didn’t want people laughing at her anymore.

But, there were three arrows left.

She huffed out a sigh and grabbed the next arrow, glaring at it all the while. She’d had enough. She was just going to shoot the last three arrows, hand the man his bow back and storm out of the Guild, never to come back. She notched the bow, drew back, and aimed.

Did she really want to throw away this opportunity? Was this really so hard that she was going to just give up? Is that what kind of person she was?

She stood, frozen in her drawn pose for a moment as those thoughts came to her. She could feel her mind rear up in disgust at the thought of quitting, of giving up before she’d given her all. It made her want to prove herself, to herself, that she could do whatever she set her mind to.

And, at that moment, something clicked into place for her. A coat of armour surrounded her heart, shielding her from the taunts and jibes of her peers. All her discomfort, her fear and tension, vanished like a teleporting imp.

She altered her aim and fired.

“Oh, that’s a close one,” the gruff ranger beside her commented, for the first time since she’d taken his bow. He turned to the judge expectantly. “It actually looks more north than south to me, what do you think?”

At that very moment, the judge had pulled out a funny pair of tiny binoculars on a stick and held it to his face. He was staring down at the range through them, his lips pursed tight in contemplation. As he made his decision, Ayla and her audience held their breath.

“Red: thirty points!”

“Lucky shot,” the archer in the crowd snorted derisively. He pushed his way into the competition range and stood towering before the little girl. He snatched the bow out of her hands and held it high out of her reach. “I suppose you’ve earned the privilege of walking out of here on your own, rather than getting thrown out by the guard. Now get lost, kid.”

“She’s still got two arrows,” the gruff ranger announced, taking his bow and handing back to Ayla. “Like you said; she’s earned the right to walk out, so she’s got the time to finish her last two shots.”

“Come on, you’ve had your fun, old man,” the archer scoffed. “But letting her stay any longer is an affront to the Guild.”

“Really?” the ranger asked in surprise. He looked over the archer’s shoulder and smirked. “It seems to me the only one who’s affronted is you.”

As the archer turned to look around him, Ayla peeked round to see the crowd dispersing and continuing with their own business. She had given them enough of a distraction and entertainment that they were happy to leave her be now that she had lived up to her hasty words earlier. Indeed, some of them were still talking to each other about her, some expressing their delight in her tenacity and their hopes that she would be returning to amuse them again.

In eight shots, she’d become something of the Guild’s mascot.

The archer glowered at the ranger before storming off, muttering something under his breath that Ayla couldn’t catch. She heard the ranger chuckled at his victory before turning back to her and kneeling down beside her.

“How about I help you with your last two shots, hmm?” he offered with an indulgent smile.

Ayla didn’t have a chance to respond before he took her second to last arrow and notched it for her. He held the bow with her and helped her aim, even pulling the string back with her, easing up when he was at her limit. When he was satisfied with her position, he let go and allowed her to fire the bow on her own. The arrow struck the red circle firmly, rather than on the edge as her previous shot had been. The ranger took her hand again for the last shot, guiding her aim one last time before leaving her to fire the last shot.

“Yellow: fifty points,” the judge behind the pair announced, lowering his binoculars. He smiled at Ayla, nodding his head to her as he walked away. “Well done, young lady.”

“But I didn’t hit the centre,” she argued, uncertain why she was being praised.

“That’s right, you didn’t,” the ranger agreed. He pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote something down with a stick of charcoal before handing it over to her. “If you can bring this to me with both of your parent’s marks, then I’ll teach you how to never miss again.”

Ayla held the parchment reverently in her hands, staring at the sincerity in the man’s eyes. She then turned and ran out of the Guild, not looking back as she raced home.

She had a piece of parchment for her parents to sign.

[magnificent-dragons]

Punched in the face supercorp

I know that I should have gotten this chapter done a while ago but here it is chapter four of punched in the face by her sexuality

CHAPTER 4

She had spent the last few nights trying to figure out what she was feeling, she about Lena, it helped that she had been hanging out with Lena, and talking to Alex each night. Lena and Jack had started sitting with them at lunch each day, it was fun to have the two geniuses sitting with them, Winn, Jack and Lena would debate different scientific subjects, Kara would hold her tongue while they did so, constantly reminding herself that she can not give away how much knowledge she has of science. The group had eagerly accepted Lena and Jack, after the whole punching incident seemed to be forgotten by the rest of the group.

Kara found herself unable to get Lena out of her head most days, she was amazing, smart, kind and so passionate Kara was enamored with the other girl. To say she was scared of losing Lena’s friendship because of her feelings would be an understatement. She had practically no experience telling anyone her feelings, she usually just bumbled around, and hoped that the other person noticed. It was not the best plan but it was her plan, Alex and Maggie disagreed with her plan but she was sticking too it, until she had a better idea.

Lena had asked if she and Winn, Lucy and James were away for the weekend, wanted to go with her and Jack to their usual weekend activities, Lena and Jack both refused to tell her what they were doing. Winn had showed up before her to the house, it could not really be called a house it was a castle.

The place could probably out do wayne manor, in terms of the look of the place. It was huge, and almost awe inspiring, she and Winn found themselves left speechless at the gate of the house. The house was built elegantly it gave off an air of royalty, if that  was even possible. Winn did not know what to do and neither did Kara, were they supposed to knock on the gate or what, they wondered.

“ so what do we do?” Kara said, finally piping up as she got used to the sight in front of her.

“ don’t ask me, the fanciest place I have been is olive garden.” It was said with complete seriousness, causing Kara too look at him while between laughter and confusion.

“ and you think I just go around hanging out with rich people Winn.” Kara retorted back, they looked at each other knowing, that they may end up just standing outside the gate until someone either shooed them away or let them in.

“ touche, so what do we do just stay here?” Winn said, looking around the fence for someone to wave down and let them in.

“ well why don’t we just wait here for a little while.” Kara suggested, after a tense moment of silence.

“ sounds good, breaking in is probably a bad idea anyways,” Winn tried to joke, although Kara had seriously considered picking Winn up and jumping the fence. That was probably not something a normal human would do though.

The two settled in sitting by the fence, unsure of what to do, Winn wanted to text them the only issue was that Lena’s phone was broke and they did not have Jack’s number. The other option was for them to yell until someone noticed that they were there and kicked them off the premis. No one would believe them if they said that they had been invited, they certainly did not look like they would fit in with the upper class.

Kara hated that she would never be able to walk in the same circle as Lena, she could try as she might but she was still just her, and what would Lena have to gain from dating her, Kara could feel the excitement from earlier fade in her. She did not want to accept it but she knew deep down that her hopeless crush on Lena, was just that a hopeless crush. Kara let herself deflate somewhat, where she sat. “ Kara, Winn what are you two doing sitting there?” Lena’s voice snapped the two out of their thoughts, causing them to turn around quick enough for Kara to hit her head on the metal gate.

“ uh, you a, um see the uh gate was, you know.” Kara tried to string together a coherent sentence, but it seemed that she once again found herself in a state of bisexual panic, it was not an uncommon occurrence when in the vicinity of one Lena Luthor.

“ We saw that the gate was closed and didn’t know how to get in, is what she is trying to say.” Winn stepped up, as Kara continued to try and talk to Lena. He sent a side glance at Kara, as she was trying to straighten herself out, while still freaking out about Lena finding her sitting on the ground outside.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I forgot to tell you what to do at the gate,” Lena hurried to open the gate for the two, before stepping outside of it to show the two how to get in.

“ Let me show you real quickly so that next time you are here,” Lena stated, she walked over to the side of the gate uncovering a small panel with a buzzer and com.

The tech was easily recognizable as Luthor corp, then again what other technology would be used in the Luthor mansion. Lena quickly showed the two how to use the high tech panel, putting in a code before some one on the other end of the intercom would answer and would let them in. It was a overly complex thing, but it was for security purposes as the mansion contained many items worth more than Kara and Winn’s homes combined.

“ right this way,” Lena motioned for the two to follow her through the gate.

The yard was set up beautifully, the grass cut perfectly there was not a weed in sight, hedges clipped into the form of sculptures, it was one of those places that would be found in a painting. Never before had Kara been somewhere so fancy on earth, except maybe the gardens at disneyland. She was in awe Lena lived like this everyday, it was incredible that the other girl had access to these beautiful surroundings.

“ Wow just wow.” Winn said, as he took in the surroundings. Lena laughed from where she was in front of the two.

Kara found her heart skipped a beat at the sound of Lena’s laugh, it was angelic and all she could think of was doing whatever she could to make the other girl laugh like that again. It was like that every time she heard Lena laugh, as if it was all happening for the first time. Alex would say that she was smitten with Lena, and Alex would be completely correct. It was clear to see that she was developing one hell of a crush on Lena, she just hoped that Lena had not noticed.

If she did not know any better Kara would say that Lena was acting like she was nervous, but Lena Luthor never got nervous she was the epitome of class, always put together never a hair out of place. She was almost too perfect to be possible. Lucy had noticed Kara’s crush on Lena rather quickly, Lucy had been teasing her non-stop since she had figured it out. It was lucky for Kara that Lucy had been unable to come along with them.

“ it is not all that impressive, you should see the castle we own in britain, you may have heard of it, the queen of england lives in it.”  Lena said with a completely straight face.

“You own the castle.” Winn said in awe.

“No Winn it was just a joke, although we do own a castle.” Lena replied her voice light with laughter at the computer nerds response.    

“ Winn tends to let things go right over his head, maybe because he is so short.” Kara joked, it earned her a light chuckle from Lena, as Winn simply glared at Kara.

“ that is true you are rather short.” Lena chimed in, smiling at Kara. Grabbing the taller girl’s arm Lena pulled Kara faster towards the house. Eager to show Kara what she had planned for the day.

“Wow you two just gonna leave me hear, stuck being the damn third wheel again.” Winn grumbled, as he walked behind the two running girls; he ran a hand through his hair wishing that James had decided to show up as well.

Lena and Kara were laughing as the went along, Lena was near skipping in joy, Kara had actually shown up, Kara her crush, her friend. She had worried over the details of the house all day, Jack had teased her over it but she simply told him to shut up. She wanted it to be perfect, no she needed it to be. It had taken her all week to muster up the nerve to ask Kara and friends to come out to her house. It was new for her to be able to relax around people especially around a crush, usually she was always just a simmering ball of nerves around someone she liked. Kara was different, something about the blonde put Lena at ease. She could not exactly put her finger on what exactly about Kara it was but there was something that just fell into place around Kara.

“Hey Lena wait up,” Winn’s voice broke her out of her Kara induced haze of thought. It took her a second to realize that Winn was at least ten feet behind them, as she and Kara had been running forward.

“Sorry Winn I kind of forgot you were here,” Kara spoke softly, her hand still intertwined in Lena’s

“ of course you did to busy giving each other heart eyes,” Winn snorted out. He was glaring at the two as they had practically skipped along in front of him; not even acknowledging his existence.

“Was not.” they both answered in sync, and turned to face him.

They reached the door large double door, Lena pressing the doorbell. The place was even more amazing than it had been from the previous distance. Kara noticed the intricate patterns carved into the door, not to mention the majesty that was the rest of the home, it was certainly reminiscent of a castle in parts of it's design. It took a few moments for Kara to come to terms, with the fact that her crush lived in a mansion. She was going to have to pull out all the stops if she wanted to impress Lena.The door was opened by a butler, who simply extended his arm to them in order for them to place their various jackets on it, for him to put away.

“ Thank you, Jerome.” Lena said, as she led the group into the house.

“Lena, I was wondering the architecture of the house is it based in the 18th or 17th century architecture, or was it more of a combination with some dashes of 19th century architecture.” Kara’s plan for impressing Lena, was to impress her with her knowledge.

“ I think it was mostly 17th with a few dashes of 19th century, I can’t believe you noticed that, most people think it is some castle we had imported in,” Lena joked although Kara and Winn could both remember when rumors started going around that the Luthors had a whole castle imported into the country.

“ I heard those rumors,” Winn piped in trying to get out of where he was stuck as the silent third wheel.

“I figured you had,” Lena said smiling over at Kara who was now blushing ove Lena’s attention.

“ so you still had it built with all the modern amenities. That is smart.” Kara said, her hand fidgeting in her pocket while one came up to  push her glasses back.

The earlier confidence that Kara had was gone, almost as soon as Lena had let go of her hand to remove her jacket. Kara was fidgeting trying to come up with something impressive to say, something that would make Lena think that she was smart, that Kara was on her level. Kara was nervous to say the least, even though she was certain that Lena was not about to kick her out, or start hating her she was still sure that she was still nervous. Lena lead them through the house as Kara would occasionally make comments, and Winn would make a remark or too as they continued.

They reached a game room it was large enough to fit the whole downstairs of the Danvers house. Jack was sitting comfortably in a gaming chair, controller in hand. He was completely focused on the game in front of him, playing on the large flat screen, the tv was near the size of one in a cinema. It was an amazing sight the high tech games mixed with the amazing decor. Jack waved his hand at them, acknowledging their presence in the room, while still intensely focused on the game. Although he did give Lena a small smirk as he saw how she was looking at Kara, not really noticing anything else around her.

“ What system is that, I hear the new wayne tech models are the best on the market right now.” Winn said, racing over to the gaming system to get a better look at it. He was examining it intently, Kara had to hold back her laughter she should have known that Winn would do that.

“ It is a system made by wayne tech but it has some adjustments that me and Jack made when we got bored.” Lena said, nonchalantly although she was certainly aiming to impress Kara with her genius.

“ that is amazing, did you rewire the circuits into a new system, and add on the features how did you adjust it?” Kara began asking, before Winn could even open his mouth. Jack was left near speechless at seeing Kara now begin to go through different options for adapting the system.

“ they are just gonna ignore us aren’t they” Winn said, sitting on the ground next to Jack who was still in awe of the blondes knowledge, then again he had heard that Kara was a continuous straight a student.

“ Does this make me the third wheel or the fourth wheel” Jack answered back, as he got up from his seat he motioned for Winn to follow after him.

Kara and Lena did not even notice as the two boys began setting up a different system, they were both far to focused on eachother. Kara was smiling as they spoke about the technology, Lena found herself enjoying being able to talk on the same ground  as another person that was not Jack, not many people could keep up with her intellect. The two moved over to the couch as they continued talking, oblivious to anything else except the other. Kara tried to hear Lena’s heart beat, but she could not hear it over the hammering of her own as she spoke to her crush, her amazing and smart crush, who was also a billionaire.

“ hey you two done talking or are you just going to let me and Winn be the ones to test out this.”  Jack shouted, after he had thrown a pillow in between Kara and Lena, effectively separating the two girls. Lena was shooting him a half hearted glare, as Kara looked slightly disappointed to be separated from Lena.

“ Oh yeah of course I almost forgot. Kara we have this new virtual reality simulator, that we were planning on trying today. You interested?” Lena said, she quirked an eyebrow and Kara felt her heart skip a beat.

In her head she kept repeating Alex’s advice, act cool, take interest in the things she likes, some light flirting helps and do not do not fawn over them. She seemed to be failing on all counts, being cool had gone out the window the second Lena had found herself outside, and fawning she was already busy doing that.  The last one she was nailing if she did say so herself, then again her and Lena were interested in the same subjects so it was not hard to take a genuine interest in Lena, and Kara could have listened to Lena talk about shredded cheese for hours

“ that sounds great,” Kara managed to stutter out, as she felt her heart pretty much stop at the sight of Lena’s smile.

“ you said virtual reality, I have not heard of any virtual reality simulators” Winn chimed, in skeptical of what they were about to do.

“ they have not even been announced yet but I managed to get my hands on one.” Lena stated proudly, she kept her focus on Kara as Winn rolled his eyes at the two.

Lena helped Kara get set up in her helmet, she may have purposely taken more time, enjoying the closeness to Kara. Winn and Jack shared a look that said they were completely done with the two girls antics. The game was based in medieval times each of them got to chose a character to fight with, they were supposed to help take down the rising evil in the kingdom. It did not go well though as twenty minutes into the game the righteous Night Danvers hit the lovely Lady Lena in the face.

“ oh my god Lena, oh my god are you ok,” Kara hurried to take off her helmet, and rush to Lena’s side.

“ I’m fine but we have to stop hitting each other.”