Vallo was a wonderful place, the perfect mixture of magic and technology on-level with some of the alien civilizations Carol had worked with during her years playing space police. It had its problems – usually a monster or mystery of the month that needed to be solved – but overall, it was easy to be content here, to find a rhythm, to find happiness.
She’d found it, too, with Emme. She’d put herself through the damn ringer to get there, but with a few shoves from the right people, she’d found her footing again. She’d found someone she loved, someone she’d made a lifelong commitment to, someone she could lose at any second. But wasn’t that true of any relationship? She’d been all losses up until now. All she could do was hope that Vallo didn’t put her through it a third time.
Vallo’s size and restricted space posed its own set of issues, though. It wasn’t like Earth, with new countries, cities, and sites to see. The grand honeymoon she’d have liked to take with Emmeline after their wedding was a dream they couldn’t quite fulfill; travel options were limited in this little pocket dimension. They’d stayed at a nice hotel for a few days, at Pepper and Tony’s insistence, getting their fill of pampering while Wanda kept an eye on Kamala.
And as soon as they’d gone back home, the future crisis had hit – it had been nonstop save-the-world action for the next two weeks.
Now that it was calm again, Carol had decided she and Emme were long overdue a date night. Somewhere other than Al’s, somewhere she could focus entirely on her wife without being interrupted to take care of brawls. Thankfully, there was no shortage of venues in Vallo City, plenty of which matched Carol’s agenda for the night.
Karaoke.
Karaoke had been part of their love story from the day they’d matched on Tag; their first date had been at Al’s, breaking the ice by singing onstage and making fools of themselves. It would always be the most appropriate choice for a night of bonding after enduring another bout of crazy, their comfort zone.
They curled up in a corner booth with drinks and appetizers, watching people in various states of drunkenness traipse up to the stage, some bold and brave under the influence, some coaxed by their rowdy friends. Some entranced the crowd with how good they were, and some just did their best. Watching it was a good time all on its own.
As another contender made their way up the steps onstage to put in their request, Carol reached for another fried pickle and turned to her wife to steal a quick kiss. “So, what are you thinking for tonight, baby? Duet or should I serenade you?”
Emmeline smiled into that kiss, her eyes drifting closed. The bar around them was joyfully loud and chaotic, which was just the way she felt in that moment. As they pulled apart, she stared adoringly back at Carol for a long moment. Her wife, who somehow managed to make gesturing with a fried pickle look incredibly sexy.
“I require serenading.” Emme grinned and leaned back against their booth seat with satisfaction.
“Oh, you require serenading, huh?” Carol chuckled, popping that fried pickle into her mouth before reaching for her drink. “Any requests or are you requiring me to surprise you?”
“You’re damn right I do.” Emme smirked at Carol from over the top of her pint of beer. She took a long pull from the glass as she mused over the question. By the time she’d swallowed her drink, she knew exactly what she wanted to hear. “Time Of My Life.”
Carol’s eyebrows raised. “You gotta join me for that one, then,” she insisted. “That’s a whole two-person show.” They’d done it before, the whole performance, ages ago. It was fun, and it was usually the infectious sort, stirring up the rest of the patrons. “We can do the lift again.”
Emme took another long drink from her beer, then set it down on the table with a satisfying thud. There was a glint in her eye as she leaned forward and hooked a finger around the front of Carol’s shirt. She pulled her in for another kiss. “You’re on.”
There wasn’t even an ounce of resistance when Emme started pulling her in. Carol’s arms looped around Emme’s waist as she pressed in closer, palms flattening across the small of her back. She would actually be pretty damn content to just curl up here and kiss her all night, audience be damned. Nothing else mattered to her right now.
Emmeline hummed her approval as she felt Carol’s arms slip around her and pull her in closer. She was extremely tempted to deepen that kiss and pull her wife deeper into the booth with her, but there would be time enough for that later on. She nipped at Carol’s lip as she pulled back to end the kiss.
“God, you’re so hot,” Carol murmured, grinning playfully when they parted. “How’d I get so lucky?”
Emme’s head tilted in response, as if she was thinking it over. “Karaoke,” she finally said with another grin. “From that first performance, I was all yours.”
“Back at you,” Carol chuckled. “I was in love with you by the end of the night.” The connection had been so intense and so immediate. There had been no going back from her from that first moment onward. Nothing had rivaled the way she’d felt for Maria until she met Emmeline.
One hand left Emme’s back for her chin, fingers sprawling up her jawline. “No regrets, yeah?”
“None whatsoever.” Emme’s response was accompanied by a soft look. She’d been so closed off before Carol came into her life. Shut down after too much loss, and she’d been okay with that. Then Carol had come in and quite literally swept her off her feet. They faced the possibility of losing each other every day, and there would always be a part of her that would be terrified of that moment, but she was no longer content to let that dictate her life. These moments now were irreplaceable.
“Good,” Carol murmured, “because you’re the best choice I’ve made in a long time.” She met Emme’s eyes for a long moment before tilting her chin up and meeting her halfway to kiss her again. Someone else had started wailing on the stage at this point, and despite the ear pain, she was okay waiting. Getting to make out like teenagers with her wife wasn’t an opportunity she would ever refuse.
A response wasn’t really necessary with Carol’s lips already on hers, but Emme made sure to let her know that the feeling was certainly mutual in every other way that counted. Her lips parted in an open invitation as her arms wrapped themselves around Carol’s shoulders. It only took a slight bit of maneuvering for Emmeline to plant herself squarely in Carol’s lap.
Carol let out a little hum of surprise, but the feeling passed in favor of enjoyment quickly. It would never fail to thrill her a bit, being so open with her relationship. The world she knew had come a long way, and Vallo was an even more progressive beast. No one would look twice in their direction here, even with Emme in her lap.
Eventually, reluctantly, she let their lips part again. “I should go sign us up for a spot,” she murmured, lips still trailing a path down her wife’s jaw. “Wouldn’t want to neglect my serenading duties.”
“Right, right. Serenading duties.” Emme’s voice was low and warm, her eyes still closed as she enjoyed the path Carol’s lips danced across her skin. She didn’t move right away, reveling in the moment and unwilling to let go of it. Eventually she opened her eyes again and kissed the tip of Carol’s nose before gracefully shifting herself back to sitting on the bench seat.
“Grab me another drink on your way back?”
“Mmhm,” Carol hummed, pecking at her wife’s lips one more time before she slid out of their booth. The sign-up process didn’t take long, though there was a bit of a line ahead of them before they’d get a slot. It didn’t matter to her; they could go up there at one in the morning with half the club gone, and she’d still have the best time.
After a stop at the bar, she returned with Emme’s requested drink in one hand and a platter of potato skins in another, placing the still hot plate down between them before she passed over her wife’s glass. “Smelled too good to resist,” she explained, picking up her beer for a sip.
Damn, Emme thought to herself as the potato skins landed on the table. They really did smell amazingly tempting. “What I wouldn’t give for your metabolism right about now.” She chuckled to herself before picking up one of the skins and taking a large bite. She’d have to get some extra activity in to counteract it, but at this moment, it felt incredibly worth it. She savored the gooey, cheesy mess before swallowing and chasing it with her beer. “How far down the list are we?”
“As if your metabolism is suffering,” Carol scoffed, rolling her eyes fondly before grabbing a potato skin to chomp on herself. It was, thankfully, just as delicious as it smelled, the perfect mix of bacon, melted cheese, and sour cream topping the steaming potato base. She swallowed before answering, “We’ll be on sometime before midnight, but ‘no guarantees’ according to the big guy. Figure if they get a couple of bad performances in a row, he might bump us up the list.”
Emme stuck out her tongue at Carol before taking another bite of her food. She often missed some of the culinary staples of England, but Vallo’s foods certainly had their own appeal. She finished it off, then delicately licked the tips of her fingers before wiping her hands on a napkin. “You mean he didn’t bump The Captain Marvel straight to the top of the list?” Her eyes glinted with mischief as she teased.
“I guess he hasn’t heard about what an awesome singer I am,” Carol chuckled, scooping up another potato skin. “He seemed unimpressed in general, though. I guess we’re technically competitors, so.” She shrugged and took a bite. “Feel free to try charming him yourself.”
“I would,” Emme cocked her head to the side and gave Carol an impish grin. “But I’m not leaving you alone with these beauties.” She scooped up another potato skin for herself. “So I guess we’ll just have to find something to do with our time while we wait.” She punctuated the comment with a comically large bite of food.
“That feels like an accusation, Vance. I’m wounded,” Carol huffed dramatically. “Do you really think I’d eat all these delicious potato skins the second you stepped away?” She took a big bite of the potato in her hands and winked. They both knew she absolutely would.
“Danvers-Vance,” Emme corrected quickly around a mouthful of potato. “And I don’t think, I know you would.”
That made Carol smile instantly – bright and dazzling, closer to a Supergirl smile than her usual grins. She abandoned the potato on its plate and used those slightly greasy fingers to hook into one of Emme’s belt loops and lean in close. “Danvers-Vance, my bad,” she corrected herself. “God, I’ll never get over you having my last name.”
Emme followed suit and set her food back down on the plate as she saw Carol start to lean in towards her. A radiant smile of her own on her lips. She used her now free hand to cup Carol’s cheek. “It’s a very good name, and I love having it.”
“Good because we’re past the buyer’s remorse period. You’re stuck with me now, gorgeous.” That said, Carol leaned in to slot her lips against Emme’s in what would surely not be the last kiss of the night, savoring the cheesy taste on her lips.