#background supercat

[cardcaptorsakura96]

Taxes, Taxes, Taxes-Chapter 21

Fandom: Supergirl

Characters: Kara Danvers, Clark Kent, Samantha Arias, Lena Luthor, Lillian Luthor, Ruby Arias, Oliver Queen, John Stewart, Diana Prince, Bruce Wayne, Barry Allen, J'onn J'onnz, Alfred Pennyworth, Lois Lane, Cat Grant, Lucy Lane, Damian Wayne, Felicity Smoak, Streaky the Supercat, Martha Kent, Selina Kyle, Talia Al Ghul, Lucius Fox

Summary: What if superheroes had to pay a property damage tax every time they had a fight in the city?

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20

Bruce rolled his eyes as he listened to the board members arguing in the background over the phone while he talked to his CFO Lucius Fox. They were trying to push a vote on expanding Wayne Enterprise to Canada. Most were for it. They just couldn’t agree on where the corporate headquarters should be. The places being thrown around were Toronto, Quebec City, Halifax, and Vancouver. Bruce honestly didn’t care about where they built, but his board members fought back that it was all about location, location, location. 

Lucius sighed and said, “If it wasn’t for the fact that you pay me handsomely for this bullshit, I would have bailed on these idiots an hour ago.”

Bruce smirked and asked, “So it isn’t the box seat passes that I got you for the Giants’ games for the rest of the season?”

Lucius chuckled and said, “Oh, that definitely took the edge off.” Lucias paused for a moment and said, “What exactly do you want me to do with this stalemate they have about Canada? We tried holding a vote but ended up with equal votes for all the cities.”

Bruce rubbed his head for a moment and said, “Have one of the associates make out a proposal for the mayor of each of those respective cities. We know what we can offer in terms of job opportunities and increasing value to the city. See what the representatives can offer us in terms of tax breaks and things of that nature. Whoever offers us the best benefits is the one we go with.”

Lucius sighed and said, “This is why I wished you were here with us an hour ago. We could have ended the meeting in five minutes with an idea like that.”

Bruce chuckled and said, “I needed to be here for Damian. This is an important milestone for him.”

“Are you sure you are not using this as an excuse to get out of a board meeting? Disneyland was a weird choice, but I have seen you choose stranger places to avoid the Board.”

Bruce rolled his eyes and said, “Damian really did have a field trip for Disney. I wasn’t going to let him go by himself. The PTA already think I am an idiot and absentminded as it is….”

Lucius burst out laughing for a few minutes. 

Bruce narrowed his eyes and asked, “What’s so funny?”

Lucius’ laugh started tapering off and said, “I’m sorry. I just never thought that you of all people would care what other people think. Imagine what your opposition in your second life would think.”

Bruce gave a deadpan stare and said, “Ha, Ha. Very funny.”

Lucius chuckled and said, “You know I’m kidding right?”

Bruce smiled coyly and said, “Sure you are.”

“Anyway, how is Damian taking to Disney? I’m sure it is different to the other eclectic things he has been exposed to in his childhood.”

Bruce sighed while rubbing the back of his head. He knew going to Disney would be a very foreign concept for his youngest, but he didn’t expect him to fight him the whole way. Or maybe it was wishful thinking. It would definitely explain the looks his other three boys gave him when he mentioned their trip. Dick and Jason just bursted out laughing at the suggestion and Tim started to do research into securing Damian an attorney in case he decided to burn the theme park down in vengeance. 

Bruce shook his head and said, “Damian hasn’t taken too kindly being here. He has already pressed the panic button he has twice to try to get Tim to pick him up since he is with the Titans this week in California. When that didn’t work, he tried to ditch me to go back to the main road to hitchhike before I caught up with him.”

“Considering his other antics are you really surprised by this?”

Bruce sighed and said, “My three older boys have already indicated the same thing. I just want him to have people his age to associate with.”

Bruce looked out the corner of his eye and noticed Lena coming back with several Dole Whips.

While looking at her thoughtfully, Bruce said, “Lucius, if there isn’t anything else, I am going to have to call you back after I get back to Gotham on Monday.”

“Okay, hope things go better with Damian this weekend.”

“You and me both,” muttered Bruce under his breath as he hung up the phone. 

He quickly changed his frown to a passive smile as Lena finally walked up to him. 

Lena smiled and said while handing him a Dole Whip, “Damian and Kara wanted some. I got some for you in case you wanted one as well.”

Bruce gave her a blank stare. He knew that Kara trusted her implicitly, but he still had some nagging thoughts about her. 

Lena chuckled nervously and said, “If you don’t want it, that is fine. I can just give it to Kara. She would probably be excited at the prospect of having two more.”

Bruce let out his charming smile which took Lena off guard for a moment. 

Bruce said, “I would actually like to try some. Some of my employees have talked wonders about this so I am curious if it lives up to all the hype.”

Bruce took the cup from Lena. He began to eat. His eyebrow went up in surprise. He knew that this was similar to ice cream but this is the best ice cream that he has had in a while.

Lena smirked and said, “I take it this means that it far exceeded your expectations.”

Bruce chuckled and said, “Definitely.”

They stood in weird silence with one other. Bruce could tell that Lena kept nervously looking around. Probably wish that Kara would come back as quickly as possible. Originally, Bruce thought about keeping silent until his son and Kara came back but then saw it as an opportunity to get to know the girl. Clark hadn’t been too keen on anyone approaching Lena. Several veiled threats were made if anyone did. If asked, he could use this as an innocent run-in, although he can hear it now from Clark accusing him that it was planned. 

He sighed and said, “Kara has said that you run a children’s hospital.”

Lena smiled and let out a sigh of relief and said, “Yes. I believe in the importance of getting children the best healthcare they could as possible no matter what the cost.”

“What caused you to want to focus on children’s health though?”

Lena looked up thoughtfully and said, “My niece Ruby inspired me actually. She was sick. Most doctors thought it was a cold or at most the flu and said with just over-the-counter medicine it would go away. However, she kept getting sicker and nothing was working. We went to doctor after doctor until one actually did their research and found out what was wrong with her and got her the treatment that she needed to get well. I don’t want any family to have to go through that. Being dismissed and thinking that your concerns aren’t valid. I wanted to have doctors look into everything instead of looking at what is most common. That is when I decided to scout for the best of the best in pediatrics and start my own hospital.”

Bruce gave her an insightful look. Many had regarded Lena using her hospital for nefarious purposes, but he has seen that the commercial that Kara and Lena did a couple of weeks back had changed the discourse around it. Now, more patients have been giving reviews and it has been overall positive. It was good to know that Lena created the hospital as a way to inspire change. Bruce was about to comment as such when he heard his phone ring again. He sighed and looked down and saw that Alfred was calling. He looked at Lena sheepishly and mouthed “One moment.”

Read the rest on AO3

[lovesick-joey]

Hey! I’m not in the Warrior Cats fandom, im just aware of it. But I can appreciate a good “cats AU”. And you are DELIVERING! I love them all so much!

And your OC? Sneakers the Valiant Crusader? Peak!

If it’s ok to ask, did Sneakers ever join the Justice League? If so, how did that happen? And what were the JL’s impressions of him?

aaaa thank you!!

yes, at some point, Sneakers did join the Justice League. But he's not very active - he's more like an part-time member and isn't really included on a lot of missions/tasks with the Justice League. before joining the Justice League, Sneakers have heard their team's name thrown around. He's seen them from time to time but never actually got the chance to meet them properly.

he meets Booster Gold while out hunting down a criminal that they were coincidentally chasing together, and it was hard for them to communicate since, well, Sneakers is a cat and Booster Gold doesn't understand him. but regardless of that Booster knew he was a fellow crime-fighter, and he found him adorable. he took the cat after the criminal was taken down and carried him around as he resumed his Booster Gold shenanigans (Sneakers was confused the whole time but he enjoyed the ride). eventually, Booster took him to the Justice League Watchtower/Satellite, and that's where Sneakers gets to meet the Justice League.

during this time, Sneakers the Crusader Cat is already pretty well-known, maybe not as much as the other superheroes and the super-pets, but he's definitely popular in Gotham. there have been a few articles/online posts made about the cat, so Sneakers wasn't just a stranger. this makes a few heroes in the Justice League recognize him. they were mildly surprised that he was inside the watchtower but he was overall a welcomed presence. they were very fond of the little guy. they knew he fought crime just like them so, after a background check and some research, the League recruited Sneakers to the Justice League.

I feel like the League wouldn't be too surprised by Sneakers, since they've already got Krypto, Ace,....and especially Streaky the Supercat. not to mention there's plenty more super-pets. They're probably very familiar with the concept of animals fighting crime. anyway, Sneakers spent time with the League for a while, helping them and fighting alongside them. though he became less active as time went on, as he started focusing on himself, Gotham, and also becoming a father for the third time. he still hangs out with the Justice League whenever he feels like it.

and that's it! sorry if there's any grammar errors or spelling mistakes - english isn't my native language. I'm pretty giddy to know people are genuinely interested in this silly oc haha

the full Sneakers origin, if you want to read abt it: link

[sapphicscholar]

Pride Month Prompts Day 12: Fairytale (Gen, background Sanvers and Supercat)

From this Pride Month Prompts post! I’m taking the opportunity to write some short fics for a variety of pairings that I haven’t written for as much, maybe at all. They won’t be going on AO3, so I’ll be sure to tag them all with #pride month prompts so you can find them later if you want.

Day 12: Fairytale

Pairing: Not relationship focused, but Alex of Sanvers babysitting for Supercat

“Alright, it’s almost bedtime. You know what that means, right?” Alex asked, her voice taking on the soft, higher-pitched quality that had made Winn trip in surprise in the little DEO hospital room when Kara had welcomed baby Amelia Astra Grant-Danvers—“You’ll always be a Zor-El too, even if we can’t put it on your official records”—into the world. Later, when she’d caught him trying to get a recording of her cooing to the baby in her arms, she’d turned to him and, voice still soft and sweet, whispered, “If you don’t put down that camera in the next two seconds, I’ll show you all the ways I can kill a man with my free hand and a rattle.” He’d run at that.

“Story time!” Amelia cried out, clapping her hands excitedly as she planted herself in Aunt Alex’s lap.

With the room bathed in a soft red glow, just enough to keep the little charge from accidentally killing her babysitter or hurting herself, Alex pulled out one of the many books from the shelves Kara had assembled but let Carter paint, which explained why they were covered in bright colors and cartoon-style action graphics and the House of El crest.

“Read that one last time.”

Alex let out a little huff of laughter, wondering how long the game would last this time.

After pulling out over a dozen books deemed “already read,” Alex gave up on her quest. “What if I tell you a story instead, huh? A nice fairytale.”

“My moms said I don’t need a prince to come rescue me.”

Alex bit her lower lip to keep from laughing when the girl was so serious, blinking up at Alex with those big blue eyes that no one could say no to. “They’re right. But I’m gonna tell you a different sort of fairytale.”

“Oh.” Amelia paused to consider it, forehead scrunching up in thought. “Okay.”

“Once upon a time, there was a beautiful lady—”

“This sounds like all the other ones.”

Alex pursed her lips in mock annoyance. “Maybe if you’d let me get to the end you’d find out it’s different!” She booped Amelia’s nose with her fingertip, grinning at the small laugh it pulled from her.

“Okay, okay.”

“So where were we? Right, once upon a time there was a beautiful lady with long, dark hair and dark brown eyes that lit up whenever she smiled. She lived in a sunny kingdom ruled over by…by a very powerful queen with green eyes and wavy blonde hair.” She peeked down, watching as Amelia’s brow furrowed the smallest bit.

“Like me!”

Alex smiled at her. “Just like you. But the kingdom was a good place to live. People were happy. Kids got to run around and play in the summer and learn all sorts of important things during the year. And dogs always got to sleep in real beds.”

“Did you know,” Amelia whispered, a giggle forcing its way through, “that Gertie slept in bed with my moms when you and Aunt Maggie went away?”

Alex’s eyebrows shot up. “Did she now?” Because as far as she’d heard, Cat most definitely did not allow dogs in her bed—certainly not 90-pound mutts like Gertrude that had a bad habit of finding their way up to the pillows in the middle of the night.

“Mhmm. Mommy took pictures when she came home.”

And oh now that was even better news if Kara hadn’t been the one to secretly airlift the dog into the bed. “Do you know where we could find these pictures?” Cat had a birthday coming up, and Alex would be damned if she didn’t get her a nice cake with a photo of her and Gertrude curled up together printed on the icing.

“Her phone. More story now!”

Maybe next sisters night… “Okay. So the kingdom was a good place generally. But there was a fair maiden who was beloved throughout the whole kingdom. Only she had been dating a total jerk—”

Amelia gasped. “You said a bad word!”

“Sorry, she was dating a mean prince from another kingdom who wasn’t good enough for her. And too many people were distracted and didn’t notice until it was too late.” Amelia’s eyes widened in fear. “He came from an evil family, and in their kingdom only a few people were happy. Everyone else had to work to keep them happy, but they didn’t get to enjoy anything for themselves.”

“Even the kids?”

“Even the kids.”

“And the puppies?”

“Um… I don’t know if they had puppies. But probably them too.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. And so that king and queen showed up to the good kingdom to take back their son, the prince. Only the prince decided he didn’t want to go, so the king and queen came back with their whole army to take over the good kingdom and make it another evil kingdom!”

“What did the good queen do?”

Alex had to fight back a laugh at the memory. “Well, she called out to the evil queen and told her she wasn’t a real queen at all—not if she would let her people be so unhappy and try to take over another kingdom for no reason.”

“Did she win?”

“Well, not at first. The evil queen was so angry, so she sent people to go get the good queen.”

“Oh no!”

“It’s okay, though! Because the fair maiden, who was secretly kind of like a knight…or something, went to save her life.” And that’s how two weeks later Alex stumbled into a scene in Kara’s apartment she’d never wanted to see. But Amelia didn’t need to know about how her two moms reconnected. “But while they were busy, the evil queen had sent all of her soldiers into the kingdom to take over. Luckily, that beautiful lady from the beginning with the perfect smile? Well, she was kind of like a knight too, and so she got her sword and kept dozens of the evil soldiers away so that the innocent people could escape.”

“Did she get hurt?”

“Nope. Want to know why?”

“Why?”

Leaning forward, Alex lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Because she knew that the lady she loved was waiting for her on the other side of the kingdom.”

“Who’s that lady?”

“She was one of the soldiers who was working with the queen and the fair maiden.”

“Oh! Are all the soldiers girls in the good kingdom?”

“Not all of them, but the best ones,” Alex answered with a wink. “But things seemed really bad for a while. The queen had lost her castle, and she was forced to wait in a dark little tavern with some of her best soldiers and the knight and the fair maiden while they came up with a plan to reclaim the kingdom from the bad guys.” Alex’s brow furrowed for a moment as she tried to find the right analogy for a positron cannon. “They found out about a big… sword. A sword that could make all the bad guys run away.”

“Where was the sword?”

“It was hidden away in a fortress that had been taken over by the bad guys. But luckily the beautiful knight and her soldier found a way to sneak in to get it. Only then the fair maiden cried out for everyone to stop.”

“Why?”

“Because she found out that the evil queen had the prince and one of the good kingdom’s, uh, magicians with her. And if they used the sword, they would disappear forever too.”

“Hold on.” One of Amelia’s hands landed on top of Alex’s, stopping her gesticulating. “Isn’t the prince evil too?”

Considering her words carefully, Alex explained: “Well, the fair maiden has a really, really big heart. That’s why everyone loves her. And she told everyone that there was good in the prince too, even if it was buried deep, deep down. Plus, the magician was one of her best friends in the whole wide world.”

“Ohh. I wouldn’t want to hurt my best friend either.” She nodded her head with a level of self-certainty that was so reminiscent of Cat that Alex had to stifle a laugh.

“Probably a good idea. So instead the fair maiden put herself in grave danger to go rescue the prince and the magician. She almost didn’t make it, but at the last minute, with some help from those people who loved her so much, she managed.”

“And then she used the big sword?”

Rubbing at the back of her neck, Alex ducked her head. “The big sword sort of disappeared. It was a little like magic, so it only worked for a certain period of time.”

Amelia clambered further into Alex’s lap. “Oh no! What happened to the good kingdom?”

“The queen urged all of her people to keep hoping, to fight back and make sure the evil soldiers knew that the people weren’t going to back down so easily. Everyone was still very scared, though, because they didn’t know how they were going to win when the evil soldiers were so much stronger than almost everyone but the fair maiden. So for a long while there was a lot of fighting, and many people were hurt, but the queen kept faith alive while the fair maiden worked with the magician to come up with a potion that was fine for everyone in the good kingdom but made everyone from the evil kingdom very sick.”

“What about the prince?”

“Him too. So he thanked the fair maiden for her help, but then he left to go try to make the evil kingdom better.”

“Did it work?”

Figuring a partial lie was better here Alex shrugged her shoulders. “The good kingdom never heard from them ever again, but don’t you believe that people can work to change things for the better?”

After a moment, Amelia nodded enthusiastically. “Mom says that we need to make sure everyone knows the truth.”

“That’s probably a good idea.”

“What happened to the kingdom? Was everyone okay?”

“Well, it took a lot of time and teamwork to rebuild the kingdom. Lots of buildings had fallen down, and the paths between cities had been cut off. But everyone came together to help make the kingdom the wonderful place it was, and the queen even returned to her castle for good after a long trip away.”

“Where did she go?”

“All sorts of places. She visited so many of the other kingdoms and made friends with the rulers of a lot of places. But when the evil kingdom attacked, she realized that she needed to be back at her home with the people who loved her. In fact, lots of people realized how important love was after the battle. Soon enough, the beautiful, brave knight married the soldier, and the queen married the fair maiden, and everyone lived happily ever after.”

Amelia paused to consider it. “That was better than lotsa fairytales. Not as good as Frog and Toad, but maybe if you made it a book it would be.”

“Oh yeah?”

Amelia nodded. “Carter can draw the pictures for you. He ill’strates all my stories. Did you know he did that?” She pointed at her colorful bookcases.

“I did. And did you know your Mommy is also a very good artist?”

“Duh.”

Alex fixed her with a stern look; she’d been put on strict orders not to let Amelia keep up the sassiness that had started to rear its head. Alex had arched an eyebrow at the instructions, insisting that she had no idea where Amelia could possibly have learned sass from, earning herself a patented eye roll from Cat.

“Sorry.” The word was stretched out into many, long syllables. “Yes, I already knew that.”

“Maybe one day we could all work together on drawing the story.”

“Tonight?” Amelia asked, eyes shining with excitement.

“It’s almost bedtime, and your moms are gonna be out late for Carter’s celebration dinner”—he’d managed to earn acceptance letters from 6 of the 8 colleges he’d applied to, plus a scholarship or two to boot—“but maybe you and I could try to draw one scene before bed. How’s that sound?”

“Can we draw the good queen against the evil queen?”

“Sure thing, kiddo.”

[catelyngrant]

For the writer asks, how about 1, 9, 12? 😄

1. what’s the fic you're most proud of? This is a really interesting and hard one! There are a few that come to mind, in no particular order:

my house is haunted by rotten desire (CAOS, post s3, Zelda-centric): I always feel satisfied when I feel like I've a) nailed a character that I find hard to write and b) made sense of or fixed something that really frustrated me or was just plan wrong, gross, or ignored in canon. I felt like this fic accomplished both.

beckoning towards me from behind that closed door (Supergirl, Kara-centric): Gen fic doesn't usually get the same love as fic tagged with popular fandom pairings and I totally get that, but this was one of the very first Supergirl fics I wrote (shortly after season one ended) and I've always thought it was a bit underrated. I think it does a good job of exploring a lot of different aspects of and possibilities for Kara in ways that felt believable.

love leaves a mark and love leaves a strain (Supergirl, Supercat): I thought that this one explored parts of Cat in a way that I hadn't really seen, and considering what a talented and thoughtful fandom this is, that felt rare! I also really like reading/writing Kara and Cat navigating new stages of their relationship dynamic, no matter what that dynamic is, and I thought that this fic was set in an interesting moment between them.

sugar, we're going down swinging (Hacks, Ava/Deborah): I hesitate with this one because I'm really proud of the first chapter but less so about the second chapter - I was so determined to get it out before season two started, and I think if I'd spent another week or two with it, I'd be much more satisfied for having fleshed out some areas that right now leave me a little disappointed. That said, this was a fic I never expected to write, was terrified to write, gave me no small amount of grief, and really challenged me in new ways. I'd written next to no really explicit smut before, for one thing, and picking Ava/Deborah as the ship to change that was...a choice.

I was in my mid-twenties through 30 (my current age) when I wrote all of these, but I do have a few older ones that - while I'd definitely change some things - I think hold up really well for having been written when I was much younger.

9. what’s your writing process like? Lie awake at night or get caught up in daydreams while commuting, fleshing out entire worlds and specific scenes, and then being frustrated at how many of them vanish before the Divine Inspiration to actually put them on the page hits. When it does, I pretty much slam them out very quickly. This also happens when I'm facing a deadline of any sort, only without the Divine Inspiration and a lot more anxiety.

For non-fic writing (mostly poetry), it's a little different. It involves a TON of reading and being inspired by other works, which serves to get me into a mindset where I feel like I just start viewing the world a little differently and everything suddenly feels like it has potential to be a poem. Generative workshops or my local queer craft night are great, and I have so many bits and pieces of imagery/phrases/anything that feels like it might have a place in a poem someday scattered all through my life (my phone, scraps of paper, jotted in notebooks or the margins of books, voice memos, etc.)

12. What’s your perfect environment to create/write? I like working in groups with other writers, so local writing groups are great even if I don't share much of what I'm working on. At home, it's usually just me on the couch. My favorite - though rare - options are holing up at my aunt and uncle's little camp on a lake and writing on the dock or in the cozy cabin which feels like it's designed for writing, or on my mom's porch with the cats dozing nearby. I like silence when I write, at least in terms of no music/TV/talking going on in the background.

Ask me fic questions!

[rtarara]

Hi! I just finished reading a Supercat fic of yours — Collared and it really reeled me in. I know that’s it’s been in progress for awhile and I was wondering if you’d be interested in having a co-writer? I have some ideas on how to finish it. Or if you want to be less hands on, but would be okay with me finishing it? I would of course run everything by you. Of course I completely understand if you’d rather not. Thank you for your writing!

Hello anonymous human! I actually know the 'official' ending of Collared and most of the major story beats of how it comes together. A lot of it's foreshadowed, but I honestly have forgotten some of what I wanted to do(there's a whole subplot and I can't remember what it was leading to).

If you want to write YOUR ending to it, feel free! How could I disallow fanfiction of my work considering I'm a fanfiction author myself? I won't say it's the 'official' ending, but you're welcome to go for it.

If you'd want to co-write, I'd need to have some idea who you are/what you'd written before and it would mostly be me giving you the deets on what's happening in the background and how it all builds together.

[lost-your-memory]

Hi! For the prompt thing, could you do "Zero fucks given. Next please", supercat? Thank you! Have a nice lockdown :)

Heeey thank you for the prompt and for the lovely words on the previous one! I hope this one will please you as well. After Bhutan, let’s travel to Washington D.C and have some classic Cat Grant, ‘cause we all miss her.I know I was supposed to keep it under the 2K words limit ... Well, this is 3K words but you know ... Oops? ---

Cat is barely ten minutes in when she loses her patience.

There are unorganized piles of documents threatening to spill over her desk, all the lights on her phone are blinking red with missed calls and voicemails and there’s not a single cup of coffee in sight.

“Oh for the love of …” Cat swears under her breath, already striding toward her desk.

The sound of her heels hitting the luxurious wooden floor is enough to induce the beginning of a migraine and, not for the first time, she misses the soft carpeted flooring of her carefully designed CatCo office. She drops her purse on the chair strategically placed in between two massive French doors and fishes out her phone and a glass case before moving to her desk. She turns her laptop on and takes one glance at the still blinking phone display before raising a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose, to try to alleviate the ever growing pain.

She slowly sits in her plush, comfortable chair and takes a deep breath before opening her mouth.

“DYLAN!”

She stares at the door across the room, waiting for her exceptionally incompetent assistant to show up.

She’s seething, clearly not having expected that level of sheer laziness and utter amateurism from the cohort of assistants she’s already gone through since she got here.

She would have thought that her position at the White House, as Olivia’s right hand, meant that she would get the best of the best, la crème de la crème but sadly, she’s been stuck with wannabe politician who could barely handle the phone. It is telling that James Olsen, who once manhandled the phone for her, did better than any of the poor, useless souls that she’s been stuck with and at a time, he’d been an editor in chief and awarded photographer.

The door finally opened and young man with short blond hair and deep blue eyes popped his head through, looking downright terrified.

“You called, Miss Grant?”

Cat notices how the pale blue color of his shirt, perfectly ironed and stretched around his tanned neck, clashes with the crimson red tie. That fashion mistake should be motive enough to fire him, Cat briefly thinks. Only Supergirl was able to pull off that god-awful combination of childish colors.

“Come on in,” Cat gestures for her assistant to approach the desk.

The man pales, and he looks like he wants to be anywhere else in the world, but he eventually closes the door behind him and takes a few steps into the office. His real name isn’t Dylan and Cat knows it but so far, no one had been competent enough to earn the right to be called by their actual name.

“Have a look, Dylan,” Cat distinctly enunciate the wrong name, knowing he won’t say anything about it. She gestures for her desk and asks “What do you see?”

The wrongly named Dylan glances down at the desk and frowns, looking utterly confused. He’s almost shaking, Cat can tell from the way he’s tightly holding his hands together in front of the buttoned jacket of his suit.

“Uh, Miss Grant?” Dylan asks, obviously not understanding the question.

Cat lets out a deep and aggravated sigh. She brings her hand to hoover above the blinking phone display and waits but nothing happens. The look of utter confusion in the man’s eyes only deepens.

“For God’s sake!” Cat sharply stands up and places her palms flat on the surface of her desk, leaning forward to be able to stare right into the man’s eyes. “The phone is exploding with missed calls and voicemails, there are piles and piles of paper stacked on my desk and where the hell is my coffee?”

That seems to finally sparkle something in the man’s eyes, a gleam of recognition. He looks almost relieved and then words spill out of his mouth.

“Oh, if it’s a coffee you want I can …”

Cat pinches the bridge of her nose again, closes her eyes and takes another deep breath.

She raises her other hand to signal for Dylan to stop talking. Thankfully, he’s not that obtuse as to ignore that order, and so she takes a moment to count backward in her head. When she finally reaches zero, she opens her eyes and stares into the terrified blue eyes.

“Pack up your things, you’re fired.”

She slowly sits back in her chair and with a typical flicker of her wrists, she finishes dismissing the new former assistant.

---

“Cat, it’s the tenth assistant you’ve fired,” Olivia sighs, accepting the heavy glass of Scotch her friend is handing her. “You’re only six months in the job and my chief of staff is already threatening to quit.”

Cat chuckles and comes to sit in front of the president, in one of the luxurious and comfortable armchairs that match the couch on which Olivia is settled. She’s got her own glass in her hand, half-full of a honey-ish beverage that gently swirls with every move her wrist makes.

“That’s because Russell doesn’t like me, it has nothing to do with the level of turn-over in my team,” She sarcastically retorts.

“Probably, but you still fired Donovan, who also happens to be the nephew of a senator I was hoping to get endorsed by …” Olivia reproaches before taking a sip of her drink. She hums appreciatively. “Oh, that’s good Scotch.”

“Zero fucks given. Next, please!” Cat retorts with a shrug.

That gets a reproving look from the President of the United States.

“Come on, Olivia. You know I don’t like nepotism and beside, that boy was utterly and desperately useless. He once announced that the French president was on the line for me but when I picked up, I got to talk with the king of Belgium …”

Olivia now looks positively horrified. She shakes her head, lets out another sigh and then decides to chase it all with another sip of Scotch.

For a moment, they stay quiet and enjoy their drink, as well as the soft music that plays in the background, a piece of Vivaldi’s four seasons.

The many high windows along the wall let in the fading light of the late summer day.

The skyline view is far away from the one she had from her penthouse in National City but it’s still decent enough so she can watch as Washington bathes in the golden halo of the late afternoon. On the other side of the sky, it’s already dark enough for a few stars to start twinkling.

“You know you won’t ever find someone as good as her, right?”

Olivia’s words are soft and gentle and when Cat tears her eyes away from the view, she falls into a pair of knowing brown eyes. She hates that her friend can read her so easily, but she doesn’t deny that she’s got a point.

“Oh, I know,” Cat whispers, trying not to be overloaded with memories of Kara. “I’m not trying to.”

“Aren’t you?” Olivia counters, leaning forward to place her glass on the coffee table in front of her.

“I’m not, I promise,” Cat nods, bringing her own drink to her lips and savoring a few sips before adding. “I have impossibly high standards but even I know that finding another Supergirl to be my assistant won’t be possible.”

An amused smiles graces Olivia’s lips at that, and she lets herself fall back against the cushions.

“Ah, so the cat’s out of the bag, so to speak …” Olivia muses, extending her arms on either side of her, along the slope of the couch. “I was wondering …”

Cat scrunches her nose and glares at her friend.

“You know I have cat puns,” Cat grits out, slightly annoyed that the President of the United States would even make one in the first place. “And yes, of course I knew. I’ve known since the very beginning but I figured that one day, she’d tell me herself ... "

“Careful, Cat, you sound bitter,” Olivia arches a brow, her smile still firmly in place.

“That’s because I am. I branded her, you know …” Cat retorts, standing up from her armchair and going to her liquor cabinet to pour herself another glass. “I helped Supergirl be the hero she is today, by giving her a name, a platform and a reputation, by protecting her identity … and she never told me who she really is.”

“That may be so, but she doesn’t owe you anything,” Olivia gently replies and when Cat rises the decanter in her direction, she simply shakes her head no. “Beside … you probably left before she got a chance to tell you.”

Cat replaces the alcohol atop her liquor cabinet and comes back to her previous spot to face her friend.

“I didn’t leave because of her,” Cat states, making the Scotch swirls at the bottom of her heavy crystal glass.

“No?” Olivia throws her a knowing look. “You could have fooled me …”

Cat grits her teeth and looks away to the falling night. More stars are now blinking in the sky, neighboring a shy crescent of moon while Washington slowly blurs into an indistinct shadow.

“You should call her, you know,” Olivia offers, checking the phone she just pulled out of her pocket. Whatever she sees on it has her frown.

“Everything alright?” Cat asks, purposely ignoring her friend’s advice.

“Nothing I can’t handle,” Olivia replies, already putting her phone back. “Also, nice try but I know you heard me. You might think you’re not looking for someone like her but I know you, Cat. I’ve known you for a long time and despite the fact we didn’t talk for many years, I can still read you pretty well.”

Olivia stands up and grabs her glass, finishing it bottoms up. She then moves to retrieve her jacket, pulling it on and adjusting it before turning back to face Cat.

“Call her, Cat,” Olivia says, flattening the lapels of her jacket. “Do something, otherwise you’ll live with “what if” and “maybe” and I remember how you hate it. Be a big girl and follow your own advice : in order to survive, we must keep daring …”

“Diving,” Cat corrects, despite the fact she did use the word daring as well.

“I mean, that too but what you do in bed is your business,” Olivia smirks and Cat gasps before laughing out loud.

She didn’t see this coming but then again, Olivia Marsden had always been full of surprises, from the pot brownies she used to cook in college to the fact she was an alien.

“Seriously though, give it a try. What’s the worst that can happen?” Olivia asks, the malicious gleam in her eyes having been replaced with something far more serious.

Cat doesn’t answer the question and Olivia seems to know that this time, she shouldn’t insist.

“Anyway, I have to go Cat,” Olivia says, already walking toward the entrance door. Cat stands up and follows after her friend to make sure the bodyguards at her door will safely take her back to the car.

“I will see you tomorrow at the office, probably first thing in the morning since Russell asked for a meeting about you going through so many assistants in so little time …”

“Eh, let him barks, it’ll keep him busy while I find someone myself,” Cat chuckles, moving to drop a kiss on her friend’s cheek.

“Call her,” Olivia says again before exiting the loft, the door closing behind her after those last words.

---

“I hear you’re having trouble finding a decent assistant these days …”

Cat smiles around the rim of her glass and looks up to the night sky.

Supergirl’s floating a few inches up, her cape fluttering softly in the quietness of the night and her golden hair flowing freely around her delicate and otherworldly features. The moon at her back gives her silhouette a pale, silver glow that truly makes her look like a goddess from another universe, a mythical creature.

“Good evening, Supergirl,” Cat greets her, raising her glass in a mock-toast. “Care to explain why you conveniently show up on my balcony minutes after I sent a text to my former assistant?”

Supergirl floats down a few inches, half of her body disappearing behind the ledge of Cat’s balcony until their eyes are approximately at the same level. The light that spills out from Cat’s bedroom enlights Kara’s small smile and makes her eyes shine ever so dimly.

“I could spring some lie on you, say that Kara told me that you texted and that it made me want to check on you myself but what would be the point?” Kara asks, her voice soft and quiet but still clear, carrying into the night. “We both know you were never fooled, not even that time you saw Supergirl and Kara Danvers at the same time in your office.”

“To be fair, I never truly understood how you managed such an exploit,” Cat nods and takes another sip of her drink. “Anyway, no you never fooled me. How could you, with the way you were always darting out of the room with the flimsiest excuse, every of those times coincidentally happening whenever Supergirl’s presence was required? It’s like you forgot that I am a journalist, before and above anything else.”

For a moment, Supergirl looks almost outraged, but then she laughs and the sound echoes into the night like a sweet melody.

“That’s fair, I was never good at lying, despite the whole other identity situation …”

“Would you tell me?” Cat asks, searching into Kara’s eyes. “You real identity, I mean …”

Kara looks a little hesitant for a few seconds but then, she flies up and closer.

Her boots softly land on the balcony floor, and she stands up in front of Cat, a hand resting on the symbol on her chest.

“My name is Kara Zor-El,” Kara says, reverence lining her voice.

Cat notices the way Supergirl stands, tall and proud, with her chin up and steel in her jaw. She’s royalty, framed by the stars twinkling behind her golden mane and the moon hanging high above her head.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to finally tell you, but I wanted to protect you, back then.”

Cat doesn’t say anything.

She’s been abducted by the Silver Banshee and Leslie Willis once, so she knows the risk of being tied to Supergirl. She can understand why Kara never told her about her alter-ego. It still stings a little but she understands anyway.

“Why now?” Cat eventually asks, looking up to meet Kara’s eyes.

Kara seems to hesitate for a moment, suddenly looking thoughtful and distant at once.

“Someone very dear to me once told me to put on my big-girl pants and to own up to my power …” Kara eventually whispers. “I think it’s time I finally followed that advice but that’s not all. See �� my sister also got good advice from someone dear to her. Someone who told her that life is short, and she should kiss the people she wants to kiss.”

Cat’s heart misses a beat when Kara takes a step forward. The smell of wind and flowers overload her senses, and she almost forgets to breathe, drowning in Kara’s presence.

“That’s … good advice indeed,” Cat whispers, getting lost in the baby blue of Kara’s eyes.

“I thought so,” Kara smiles and then adds “I really, really, really want to kiss you now, Miss Grant.”

Cat can feel her heart go wild in her chest, beating frantically against her rib cage, drumming in her ears and pulsing in her temples. She’s been hoping for this moment for so long she can’t wrap her head around the fact it’s about to happen.

“Then … what are you waiting for, Kara?” Cat whispers, slowly enunciating the right name.

It’s all it takes.

The kiss is mind-blowing, full of all the pent-up frustration they’ve been suffering through for years. It’s deep and a little blunt, with Kara’s playful tongue exploring the inside of Cat’s mouth and hands roaming along the flexed muscles stretched underneath the superhero suit. It lasts and lasts and at some point, Cat eventually feels the need to come back up for some air.

She pulls away, one hand tangled in Kara’s hair and the other clutched around the rim of Kara’s cape. Their breath come out ragged and irregular but Kara’s smile is blinding, full of joy and hope.

“Damn,” Cat whispers, a little dazzled.

“Speechless is a good look on you, Miss Grant,” Kara teases, dropping a kiss at the corner of Cat’s lips.

“Cat. Please, call me Cat,” Cat says, looking up into Kara’s eyes. “Beside, don’t get too smug, it will take a lot more than just a kiss to render me unable to speak.”

“Is that a challenge, Cat?” Kara asks, tilting her head to the side as interest sparkles in her eyes. The way she pronounces Cat’s name sounds like a secret and a promise at once, it makes Cat tingle.

“Only one way to find out,” Cat offers, stepping backward to her bedroom.

She lets a hand slide along Kara’s arm, until it reaches her hand. Their fingers instinctively intertwine and Kara instantly follows, her smile full of wonder and her eyes as bright as the thousand stars shining in the sky behind her.

[italymystery-swanqueen]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Supergirl (TV 2015) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Kara Danvers/Cat Grant Characters: Kara Danvers, Cat Grant, Astra (Supergirl TV 2015), Alex Danvers Additional Tags: background Alex/Astra, Quarantine, no illness/virus/sickness Series: Part 5 of General Danvers & Supercat Week 5 Summary:

National City is under mandatory lockdown after an alien attack cuts all communications within the city. Or at least, almost all...

[alwaysr3ading]

From The Desk Of…

Go read this amazing, well written and beautifully executed story that will steal your heart from the get go.

The pictures above are my humble way of saying thank you to the wonderful writers @fictorium @bridgetteirish

[pictura-reparo]

Next fanfic cover project

So, for quite a while I had plans for a cover for an amazing Supercat fanfic series called Future Shock by @argyle-s that has, like most of my other stuff, been on hold due to depression and every day shit. Now that I'm trying to get back to being active and promoting my mad skillz by showing what I can do with fic covers I thought this one would be a good choice.

But after some thinking I think I'll have to wait until the fic is over. Not because it'll be super hard or time consuming, but because I had some pretty cool new ideas for it and unfortunately while I love them and solve a few issues I had before, one in particular is completely dependent on me knowing how the story ends, which it hasn't, so I see no other choice but to wait.

Still, I would like to share my ideas, because I got really excited about this project. So, for starters, the first fic on the series is called The Shape of Things to Come, which sounded familiar, but couldn't figure out why, until I remembered that there's a novel, and a movie, with the same title. Now, I never asked Argyle if there was any connection between their fic and the novel/movie, but it inspired me to make a sort of, tribute cover? using the movie poster as a reference:

The bad guys would be on the background and the heroes on the front, but they would be all confronting the villains, instead of running away from them, if I can find pics of them taken from the back.

I was, and still am, kinda in love with the idea, but my first problem was that I didn't just want to make a cover for the first fic, I wanted to make one that would work as a cover for the series and for each fic. What's the problem with that, you may ask? Well, that I wasn't sure how to make it different for each fic.

But the other day inspiration hit me and now I have an idea: have all the heroes and villains that haven't appear yet as shadowy figures, each becoming clear on the cover of the fic they show up. But as I said, unfortunately that means I need to know each and every one that will show up or I might miss one. And that's kinda impossible when I don't know how the story ends. I mean, I knew who the main ones are from the beginning, but some other major players have appeared and I would hate to not include one of them.

Anyways, that's a long and overly complicated way of saying I need to find another cover to work on. I have a few ideas, but if anyone has some fic they would love to see a cover of, preferably from a show I know or a pairing I ship, let me know. Just keep in mind that if I haven't read it I'd have to do that first or if it's from a pairing I don't ship I might say no, unless it piques my interest. But Rao knows I can be so easily tempted, all it took to get me to read a Bellamione fic was a drawing by @chlove-art and I was lost, but

So yeah, that’s how things are right now. I’m also gonna be posting some of the other covers I’ve made, although to my shame they’re not as many as I would like. I mean, I added covers to like 50 or so fics, but most were made during a time when I had like zero inspiration and was reading so many fics that I just made text covers with a nice background for most of them and put them on my phone to read them as soon as I could.

Obviously I won’t be posting those, I’d rather go outside naked. But the others I will, even though some are actually not much better than the text covers, meaning it’s that but instead of a simple background I took the effort to look for an specific image that I felt suited the fic. One day I might go back and remake them, with some actual edits this time, but for now I can say I don’t hate them, so I don’t feel a desperate urge to change them.

[ao3feed-supercat]

The Unfortunate Results of Miscommunication

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3bUsKDo

by JustcallmeStar

At some point, Kara realizes her and Cat are not on the same page. It leaves them both confused, and Cat comes searching for answers.

Miscommunication is more powerful than people give it credit for.

Words: 5541, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Supergirl (TV 2015)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/F

Characters: Kara Danvers, Kara Zor-El, Cat Grant, Carter Grant, Brief mentions of Supersquad

Relationships: Kara Danvers/Cat Grant

Additional Tags: supercat, its gay, Carters like 7 i dont know why, Idiots in Love, Pining, Fluff, Slight Cursing, brief mention of the word whore, but not in a bad way, Random OC, he figures stuff out, Bisexual Kara Danvers, Miscommunication, I love Carter, Alex being kinda shady in the background, What else is new

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3bUsKDo

[cardcaptorsakura96]

Taxes, Taxes, Taxes-Chapter 22

Fandom: Supergirl

Characters: Kara Danvers, Clark Kent, Samantha Arias, Lena Luthor, Lillian Luthor, Ruby Arias, Oliver Queen, John Stewart, Diana Prince, Bruce Wayne, Barry Allen, J'onn J'onnz, Alfred Pennyworth, Lois Lane, Cat Grant, Lucy Lane, Damian Wayne, Felicity Smoak, Streaky the Supercat, Martha Kent, Selina Kyle, Talia Al Ghul, Lucius Fox, Maggie Sawyer, Alex Danvers, Jason Todd

Summary: What if superheroes had to pay a property damage tax every time they had a fight in the city?

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20

Kara floated in the sky absorbing the sun’s rays. Flying is one of her favorite things in the world. She liked listening to the sounds that abound all around her. Sometimes it will be the laughter coming from kids playing, a group of people sharing the latest gossip about someone else, or hearing the rain pouring over a city. She lets the sounds absorb in her. She felt something tapped her. She frowned because she didn’t feel anything approaching her. She quickly opened her eyes and was pleasantly surprised. Her mother was floating right beside her. 

“Mom!” Kara squealed as she quickly flew to embrace her. 

Her mother held her tightly and said, “It is so good to see you my sweet child.”

Kara felt tears streaming down her face. 

“How is it that your here? And you’re flying! That is amazing!”

Alura caressed her face and said, “I will always come to you when you are in trouble Kara.”

Kara chuckled and said, “But I am doing well now mom. I made so many friends, have a kick ass girlfriend, defend the people of Earth…”

Alura look gave Kara a solemn look. 

Kara frowned and reached out to hold her mother’s hand. 

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

Alura cocked her head and asked, “Kara dear. Don’t you remember what happened?”

Kara looked at her quizzically while feeling an intense amount of pain in her head followed by a bright light. Once the light subsided, she saw Lena leaning over her crying. She tried to reach for her hand, but her whole body felt like it was hit by a train. Felicity came up behind Lena and put a hand on her shoulder. 

Felicity said, “Lena, Kalex needs us to clear the room so she and the other robot can operate on Kara and Damian.”

“I can’t leave her here. Besides, I have a medical background. I can assist.” 

Felicity said softly, “I know you don’t want to leave her, but you are in no shape to be anywhere near an operating table.” Felicity turned Lena towards the door and said, “You haven’t eaten anything for the last couple of hours. We can go up to Kara’s apartment floor and get a bit to eat.”

Lena quickly stepped back away from Felicity and shouted, “I am not leaving her.”

Felicity sighed and said, “Please don’t make me force you.”

Lena scoffed and asked, “How are you going to make me?”

Felicity shook her head, turned around, and yelled, “Barry!”

Barry instantly appeared with Lena suddenly in his arms. 

Lena looked up baffled and  exclaimed, “What the hell!”

Barry looked at Lena sheepishly and said, “I’m so sorry about this.”

Lena scowled and said, “Don’t you….”

But Lena didn’t get a chance to finish. She and Barry were gone in a blur.

Kalex came up to Kara and observed her carefully for a moment. She turned to Felicity and said, “I know that was hard, but I appreciate you both getting her out of the room. I didn’t really want to resort to the measures that we used to get Bruce out of the room.”

“I have to admit, it was something seeing him being tased by a robot. Are you sure he is going to be okay?”

Kalex nodded and said, “Based on his healing rate, he should wake up when Kalex 1.0 finishes Damian’s surgery. I also did as you and Barry suggested and invited Bruce’s other family members here. They should be arriving in a couple of minutes. Do you mind waiting for them on the first floor and bringing them up?”

Felicity nodded and said, “Will do. I will just take them to the guest rooms.”

Kalex nodded and said, “I estimate I should be finished in about six hours. Kalex 1.0 and I will give updates through the intercom systems on the floor on Damian and Kara’s progress.”

Thanks!” said Felicity as she walked away. 

Kalex looked at her thoughtfully and then went to get medical supplies. 

She felt her head hurt again and saw immense bright lights. When the lights faded away, she was back floating in the air with her mother. Kara looked around worriedly. 

“Wait! What just happened? asked Kara baffled. 

“You don’t remember what happened to you?” asked Alura quizzically. 

Kara frowned and said, “I remembered Lena looking so sad and, and…..”

Kara let out a frustrated cry and said, “I can’t remember any more.”

Alura nodded and said, “It is understandable. You were injured dear.”

Kara frowned and asked, “Injured? But I feel just fine.”

Alura placed a hand on Kara’s shoulder and said, “You are unconscious Kara. Your body is trying to recover from the vicious attack that befell you and your friend.”

Kara rubbed her head while squinting and said, “I remembering me being with Damian and something….happened…. I think we were…..we were…..”

Kara screamed out in frustration. 

Alura embraced Kara who leaned into her embrace with tears streaming down her face. 

Alura kissed her forehead and said, “I known this is difficult, but you will eventually remember. Your mind needs a break as well.”

Kara sniffed and said, “I know that. It is just so frustrating not being able to do….”

Suddenly, Kara felt tremendous pain in her head and a white blinding light surround her. As it fades, she looks around and sees that she is on the medical floor. She noticed that someone is holding her left hand. She turned and saw that Lena was lying in a recliner next to her bed fast asleep while holding her hand. She tried to squeeze her hand, but her hand barely moved. Kara tried to say something, but no words would come out. 

Kara turned to her right and saw Damian lying in a medical bed with a dark blue light surrounding him. To the right of Damian were two men. Bruce was the closet of the two. If Kara could gasp she would. She was used to seeing Bruce looking very calm, cool, and collected. The Bruce before her now looked broken. There was so much sadness in his eyes. It looked like he hadn’t shaved or showered in several days. The man standing next to him placed a hand on his shoulders. He was a strong build, about nearly six foot and four inches. He had mostly brown hair with a little bit of white at the front. Kara was used to Jason Todd looking indifferent or just scowling. But now he looked hesitant. Kara knows that Jason and Bruce have a difficult father-and-son relationship. Partly because they were both so much alike in that they were very stubborn, but they will fight like hell for their loved ones. 

Read the rest on AO3

[femslashhistorian]

Supercorp AU Fic Recs Part 4 - Different Realities

In the fourth part of my SuperCorp (Supergirl) AU Femslash Fanfiction Recommendation, I have collected 13 excellent Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor Alternate Universe (AU) stories which Kara and Lena live very different lives and meet under very different circumstances from the show: Stories in which they are actresses, models, singers, figure skaters, baristas or professional cuddlers - and one in which Kara is French. This collection includes many of my favorite SuperCorp fics and is maybe the ultimate testament how many talented authors have poured their creative energy into different ways for Kara and Lena to fall in love.

Nearly all of the included stories are No powers AUs, in which Kara is human. All of the stories have a happy ending.

 Overview of the 13 Kara / Lena stories

Detailed recs and links after the cut. My favorites are marked with *

A) Actor and Model AUs

No one mourns the wicked * by kellsbells: The wickedly angsty musical AU

We're playing to a full house, darling (but this show can't go on) * by The_Ominous_Owl: The actors AU in which Kara is an actress that used to play Supergirl

Blockbuster (it's the movie au ok) by unnecessary_databass: The nonlinear actors rom-com

Maybe we were made to dance around each other, babe by goon: The Kara/Lena and Alex/Lucy model/singer AU

B) Coffee Shop/Barista AUs

Dripping Onto You by spymaster: The Barista & Public Pool AU

The Name Game - A SuperCorp Coffee Shop AU by DKGwrites: The Coffee Shop AU

C) Other Job AUs

These feelings I can't fight * by Jazzfordshire: The Ice Skating AU

Hold me, my dear (and don't let go) * by potstickermaster: The Cuddler Fic

D) Fluffy/Happy No Powers AUs

As luck would have it by spacemanearthgirl: The fake dating AU in which Lena rescues Kara from Mike

Jar of Happiness by Cloud_Lightning: The sweet AU in which the Luthors are not evil

Of Charcoal Lines and Accents by IHaveTheWrongGlass: The College AU in which Kara is a French exchange student

I'll be your muse? by heryellowcup: The College AU in which Lena models for Kara’s art class

What if I asked you to stay? * by heryellowcup: The one in which Kara and Lena are neighbors

This series includes

Supercorp AU Fic Recs Part 1 - Distorted Realities: of Time Travel, Amnesia and Black Mercies [tumblr] [WordP]

Supercorp AU Fic Recs Part 2 - Hope and Despair: of Lighter and Darker Worlds [tumblr] [WordP]

Supercorp AU Fic Recs Part 3 - Complicated Realities: Weddings, One Night Stands and Friends with Benefits [tumblr] [WordP]

Supercorp AU Fic Recs Part 4 - Different Realities: Actors, Baristas and Other No Powers AUs [this post] [tumblr] [WordP]

Notes:

Originally this was planned to be the last AU recs part, but there might by one more. This collection took me a while to compile and I concluded it in July 2019 (between the end of the shows 4th and before the 5th season), but most stories were written and finished long before that.

This post might be a bit long for tumblr and with the links above you can also the complete series on my blog.

A) Actor and Model AUs

The actor AUs of course share a few similarities (and I loved them all) but they all are quite distinct and different enough to include all of them here.

One aspect in which they are clearly different is in the amount of angst: Most of them are not to not particular angsty, but No one mourns the wicked has a substantial amount of angst. It also carries over the strongest Lena tries to redeem for the sins of her family vibes from the show, although this is also present in we're playing to a full house, darling.

 1) The wickedly angsty musical AU

No one mourns the wicked by kellsbells

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 16 chapter, 69k words, 2017-2018

Mature

Lena Luthor has just reluctantly returned to her role as Elphaba after a messy break up with her co-star. Her new co-star is a young, enthusiastic and incredibly talented performer who initially drives Lena crazy in the worst way. In time it becomes clear that they have a less-than-ideal history, along with a chemistry that neither can fight. Can they make it together despite the history between them?

This actors AU that takes place behind the scenes of a Wicked musical production. You don't need to know anything about musicals or the particular musical that is featured in this fic (I did neither) to enjoy the story, the story explains everything you need to know (and not more). This is a no powers AU, but the author manages to construct a background that creates a very similar tension between Kara’s and Lena’s families (and where Kara is coming from) as the Super vs Luthor dynamic in canon.

 While this is clearly a Kara / Lena story, this is not the only relationship we come across in the story. There is background Sanvers (pretty usual in SuperCorp fics) and there are more past and present ships that are discussed and/or shown: we have Kara / James and a hint of SuperCat (actually Kara crushing on Cat) and several reverences to one of Lena's previous relationship. I loved that Cat was Kara’s mentor and how the story dealt with Kara’s crush on her.

This is a novel length story with a long story arc with ups and downs: while most fanfics have a relatively linear romance progression towards a happy ending, this one has a more complex plot that features a pretty substantial crisis in their relationship (that I don't want to spoil).

This is a brilliant, very well written story. A long story that was very well paced and never felt too long. Absolutely loved it. One of my favorites.

Favorite Quote

You need your pills, am I right?”  

Lena looked startled, but nodded. ...

“How did you know?”

Kara touched Lena’s forehead gently, right between her eyes.

“You get a tiny line here when you’re especially tired or in pain,” she said, stroking Lena’s forehead slightly with her thumb automatically. She swore internally when she realised what she’d done.

Lena took a breath, one that hitched just a little, and Kara took her hand back.

“You always knew me best,” Lena said, turning away.

I thought I did.

2) The actors AU in which Kara is an actress that used to play Supergirl

we're playing to a full house, darling (but this show can't go on) by The_Ominous_Owl ; @the-ominous-owl

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 9 chapter, 37k words, 2017

AU, actors, fandom, consAU, actors, fandom, cons

Kara’s struggling to find work. Lena’s struggling to find herself. When fate (with some help from Cat Grant) casts them into the same orbit they find themselves completely off-script, because while everyone knows about the sins of the father, they're somewhat less clear about the sins of one’s siblings. Throw into that an audience hungry for stories at the expense of fact, a showrunner with a plan nobody saw coming, and a co-star who steadfastly refuses to keep it in his pants, and you’ve got a tale so dramatic even the protagonists have noticed. or the one where they’re both actresses with a surprising amount of baggage for two people who haven’t met yet.

Kara Danvers is an actress who played Supergirl in a series of movies until her boss Lex Luthor ruined the movie series, the whole studio and it seems Kara's whole career with it. Set behind the scenes of a successful crime mystery show, at the core of this story is a love triangle. While Mon-El/Mike, Kara and Lena love triangles are not that unusual in Supergirl fic, this story turns it on its head as Lena and Mike are a coupe at the start of the story (or are they?).

Usually I don't like love triangle all that much, but I enjoyed it in this story - I guess because it was written well, was less of a traditional triangle, and ultimately nobody I cared about got hurt. (emphasis on nobody I cared).

While there is drama and angst, it is pretty benign compare to No one mourns the wicked. I really enjoyed the look at fandom, especially when the cast of the crew went to a con. This is a wonderful and well written story that I loved.

Favorite Quote

“What?” Alex looked up at her, distracted, then waved a hand. “Your thing’s easy. Lena’s in love with you but she’s convinced herself that she doesn’t deserve you because her family looks like a Bond Villains Anonymous meeting and she thinks you’ll never reciprocate,” she explained, glaring back down at her phone and oblivious to the way Kara was staring at her with wide eyes, her mouth opening and closing soundlessly. “My thing is that Lucy is being a stubborn, infuriating pain in the—what?” she asked, finally looking up to notice her sister’s poleaxed expression.

It took several seconds for Kara to force words up through her throat. “Lena doesn’t…She’s not…”

Alex smiled sadly at her, leaning over to rescue her ice-cream before it slipped from her slackened grip. “Kara, I love you, but there is a reason I am a cop and you are an actress. Trust me, Captain Oblivious, Lena’s been completely gone on you for months, ...

 3) The nonlinear actors rom-com

blockbuster (it's the movie au ok) by unnecessary_databass ; @unnecessary-database

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 30 chapter, 90k words, 2018-2019

Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor are the stars of a groundbreaking new lesbian blockbuster. It's the film that makes you cry, wins all the awards, and defeats all the stereotypes. And the chemistry between the stars in real life is insane. Everyone says so. Except for them. Mhm.

it's the freaking movie au all in one place wouldya look at that

This is an oblivious idiots in love rom-com. Unusual for fanfic it is a non-linear fic, in fact it jumps around quite a bit in the timeline and it is done very well.

This well written fic started out as a serial fic on tumble.

Favorite Quote

“I still don’t understand what’s so funny about my abs,” Kara said petulantly, jerking her hips so Lena rolled off her.

“Because you eat like a starving five year old at a birthday party whose parents never let them have sugar,” Lena said, waving aside the information like it wasn’t important.

 4) The Kara/Lena and Alex/Lucy model/singer AU

maybe we were made to dance around each other, babe by goon

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp), Alex Danvers/Lucy Lane (Director Danvers) (f/f)

Completed, 4 chapter, 21k words, 2017

The next day, Kara's phone almost overheats from the sheer number of text messages she receives. Most of them are from her publicist, insisting she call them. Some are from Eliza and Alex and the other angels, others from people she hasn't spoken to in three years and one from Lucy just reads, hahahahahahahahahahahaha with a thumbs up emoji.

The close to crack AU where Kara and Lucy are models, Lena is a popstar and Alex is like wtf (basically the Karlie Kloss and Taylor Swift AU)

Unusual for fan fic there is not a main and a background pair, but two equal main relationships: Kara/Lena (SuperCorp) and Alex/Lucy (Director Danvers).

Each of the  four chapters in told from one of the four protagonists point of view. One from Kara, one from Lucy, one from Lena and one from Alex. And this works amazingly well.

This is a pretty angst free story especially for Kara and Lena. There is a bit of angst for Lucy as without wanting to, she is falling in love with Alex, while doubting that Alex really does want a relationship.

Pretty lighthearted. An excellent and well written fic, that I enjoyed.

 Favorite Quote

"I'm on a massive billboard in front of your apartment!"

Lena gives her a puzzled look, eyebrows drawn together. "My band is on the massive billboard next to your massive billboard in front of my apartment, and we're also on the cover of Rolling Stone this month."

Kara winces. "Cool, so I'm just blind and deaf then." Lena grins at her knowingly, probably because she's too nice just to say yeah, you are, or maybe because this method is extra smug. She opens her mouth to say something else, but Lucy stumbles back into the fold, cheeks flushed and glowing.

B) Coffee Shop AUs 

1) The Barista & Public Pool AU

Dripping Onto You by spymaster ; @spymasters-blog

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 4 chapter, 23k words, 2017

Meaningless sex to lovers

Kara went to relax at the pool where she met with Lena and they fucked in the shower room

In this no powers AU Kara is a barista. The story, however, does mostly takes place outside a coffeeshop. Lena and Kara meet at a pool. They have sex. Lena never intended for this to mean anything, but things turn out differently.

This medium length story has a satisfying story arc but ends long before a full novel plot. I enjoyed it.

 2) Coffee Shop/Barista AUs

The Name Game - A SuperCorp Coffee Shop AU by DKGwrites

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 1 chapter, 11k words, 2017

Kara Danvers, an art student in National City, works part-time at her local coffee shop. Every morning while she works there a mysterious woman shows up and orders a cup of coffee but always with a different alias. At her sisters coaxing, will Kara finally get up the nerve to ask this mystery woman her real name? When she does what will happen next, and will fate rear its ugly head?

This is a wonderful, sweet and funny no powers rom-com. I loved the Sanvers & Kara interaction. Alex and Maggie tease her mercilessly but they support Kara lovingly.

Favorite Quote

“Maybe you should ask her,” Alex suggested.

Kara sighed.  “That would require talking to her, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s generally part of the whole dating process,” Alex replied.

“Argh.” Turning and falling onto the couch, Kara flopped back.  “Not my strong point.  Can’t I just be pathetic and long for her?”

C) Other Job AUs

1) The Ice Skating AU

these feelings i can't fight by Jazzfordshire ; @jazzfordshire

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 3 chapter, 28k words, 2018

Mature

Kara only gets better with each practice session, and slowly Lena comes to accept two things. One, Kara is an infinitely better fit as a partner than James ever was; and two, she’s hopelessly attracted to her. OR

When James gets injured, Lena needs a new ice dancing partner if she wants a chance to qualify for the Olympics. Kara Danvers offers her services, and Lena is thrown headfirst into a gay panic.

 I watched a little bit of figure skating when I was younger, but I don’t have a clue about it - and this does not matter at all to enjoy this story.

Why is this such so brilliant, perfect AU?

Everything is different, but the core dynamic and characters are intact. In fact, Kara and Lena are spot on. And so are all supporting characters: Alex, Sam, James, J'onn, even Winn have roles that are true to their characters and fit nicely into this world.

The love story is powerful and beautiful. There is a perfect setup and just the right backstory to create a brilliant but troubled and lonely Lena. The right amount of tension with her mother. The perfectly balanced obstacles to create the Romeo and Juliet dynamic that is in the heart of so many Supercorp love stories in a universe without Supergirl/superpowers.

And finally, there is a perfect balance of romance and angst that makes the conclusion even sweeter.

This is a brilliant and very well written fic that I adore. Jazzfordshire is a fantastic author and I think this story is a masterpiece.

  Favorite Quote

There are a hundred little things she misses about Lena. She misses her scrunchy smile and the high, surprisingly girly sound of her laugh, which she always tries to hide with a hand over her face. The prominent beauty mark in the middle of her throat, the one that practically calls out for Kara to kiss it. She misses the way she runs her teeth gently over the edges of her fingertips when she’s nervous without biting down, as if she’s trained herself to stop chewing her nails but finds the memory of it comforting. How she somehow manages to always smell good, even after four straight hours of exercise.

  2) The Cuddler Fic

hold me, my dear (and don't let go) by potstickermaster

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 17 chapters, 119k words, 2017-2019

Service provider/client to friends to lovers

“So… How is this done?” She asks seriously, to which she replies, quite simply, “We get on the bed and we cuddle." Lena Luthor is the last person to admit she's touch-starved, but after one hour of service from Kara Danvers, professional cuddler, she finds herself craving it.

Apart from no powers this AU is relatively close to canon: Lena is the CEO of L-Corp and Kara is a professional cuddler (and in her day job she is a junior reporter at CatCo).

This is Lena centric fic, told purely from her POV. It covers a range of popular and important SuperCorp themes:

Kara has a cute pet (her puppy Krypto). Lena's difficult relationship with her mother Lilian (who is not evil in this fic) and their work to salvaging their relationship. Glimpses of a past Lena/Jack relationship. Lena as CEO and scientist. Her loneliness.

Lena has exactly one (1) sassy friend, and in this story it is Veronica. While she only has a small part and is crass and a bit of an asshole, I loved Veronica and her friendship with Lena. And especially her comment in the quite intense sparring scene: “Please don’t fuck on my ring …”

We see Lena slowly falling in Love with Kara, at first without realizing it. And her uncertainties and fears.

This wonderful and beautifully written fic is one of my favorite stories.

  Favorite Quote

Lena chuckles again. “... but I didn't expect you , is all.” She gestures for Kara to sit down. The blonde doesn't take the offer though, only continues to speak.

“Ah, right. Ta-dah,” the blonde makes jazz hands. “My day job—junior reporter at CatCo. Can I just say that it’s really nice to see you outside the bedroom?” 

She laughs, then halts completely and she frowns. “Okay, that- that sounds wrong. I just mean it’s good to—” She flails her hands and laughs again, the sound strained this time. “It’s good to see you, is all." Lena is unable to hold back an amused smirk as she replies.

It isn’t odd why meeting someone new makes her nervous. It’s not the first time she felt such trepidation either. She has grown hesitant meeting anyone that isn’t with the facade of business; she hasn’t done so for a long time. Kara had been different—she had been introduced to Lena’s life at the pretense of some service, and the offer of friendship had been after the fact. The idea of meeting someone, Kara’s sister no less, is something that she thinks she can handle, hypothetically, but it doesn’t mean she wanted to do it.

D) Fluffy/Happy No Powers AUs

1) The fake dating AU in which Lena rescues Kara from Mike

As luck would have it by spacemanearthgirl ; @spaceman-earthgirl

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 7 chapter, 30k words, 2017

Who knew that bumping into a stranger in a bar could turn into this? Or Kara meets Lena at a bar then Lena pretends to be her girlfriend to get rid of Mike.

This no powers AU is pretty close to canon: Lena is the CEO of L-Corp, Kara is a reporter. Technically this is a fake dating AU, but only the first chapter: although they just met in the bar for the first time, Lena helps Kara to get rid of Mike/Mon-el by pretending to be Kara's girlfriend.

No drama, no action, no angst. Just romance and fluff. I really loved their first date. A wonderful and very well written story.

  2) The sweet AU in which the Luthors are not evil

Jar of Happiness by Cloud_Lightning

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 1 chapter, 6k words, 2016

No powers, Luthers are not evil AU

It was just a joke from Lex when he told his sister that maybe she really should start to put a dollar in a jar every time people told or ask her whether she and Kara were in a relationship. Plus Lillian really wanted to win the betting pool. Lionel promised to not make another bet. And Lena just wanted to fill the jar with a piece of paper containing the details of her happiness.

Kara and Lena become best friends and Lena is afraid to ask Kara if she too feels more than friendship for her. The jar of happiness is a nice idea and done well.

This is a cute and sweet story that I enjoyed.

  3) The College AU in which Kara is a French exchange student

Of Charcoal Lines and Accents by IHaveTheWrongGlass

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 1 chapter, 32k words, 2018

Explicit

Introvert animation student Lena is left to take care of the the new French exchange student. Abandoned by her family who've decided to go on holiday, how will Lena survive trying to take care of a flirty, bubbily blonde?

It's only 6 months, what could go wrong?

In most SuperCorp AUs in this collection some core aspects of Kara's and Lena's life stay unchanged or are only slightly changed: Kara being a reporter, having lost her parents as a teenager or suffered a big tragedy in her childhood; Lana being rich / a CEO, has a problematic relationship with her family, her brother committed crimes. This story, however, has more differences different, it actually reminds me a bit of Korrasami (modern day) AUs that I have read.

Lena's family is not evil but absent for most of the fic. As a college student without a tragic upbringing, Lena feels very close to her character in the show. Kara is enthusiastic, likable and a bit strange, her backstory however is very far away from Canon and she is much flirtier than on the show.  As the story is told exclusively from Lena's POV we don't get to know French!Kara that well.

I liked this light and angst free story.

 Favorite Quote

Kara, in all her smug Frenchness, looked Lena right in the eyes as she paid for not only a bullet vibrator but also a small dildo. It only got worse because Lena was under the impression that both were for Kara, but oh how wrong she was. Nup. Because as soon as Kara paid for it, she linked their arms and pulled Lena out of the shop. It was only once they were walking down the path that Kara, in her fucking beautiful accent, bent to whisper in a bright red ear. 

“I bought the phallus for you, mon chéri. It’ll help with the stress.”

 4) The College AU in which Lena models for Kara’s art class

I'll be your muse by heryellowcup

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 1 chapter, 13k words, 2018

She’s sitting on a simple chair, stark naked, and Kara forgets how to breathe, just for a second. Maybe more than that, perhaps a few too many. She vaguely remembers their prof telling them about a model, but he has clearly left out some very important details. Like the fact that she’s an act model, or the fact that she’s incredibly stunning in a way that makes Kara’s heart stop momentarily, then speed up immensely right after.

Or, Kara is an art student in College/University and Lena is the stunning act model she immediately falls for

 There is not that much story above what is stated in the author's blurb. Told exclusively from Kara's point of view, this story very much focuses on the here and now: Kara is completely fascinated by Lena and starts crushing on her as soon as she sees her for the first time.

I loved how Kara is flustered constantly and gets teased mercilessly by her sister Alex and her best friend Sam.

Funny, fluffy, sweet, no angst: this is a beautifully and well written story that I enjoyed a lot.

 Favorite Quote

If there’s one thing Kara can’t deal with, it’s compliments. Another one being pretty women, meaning that she’s literally turned into a puddle of incomprehensible stuttering at this point, unable to find the words she’s looking for, unable to act like a normal human being around Lena. She’s almost surprised Lena’s still there with her, still talking to her.

 5) The one in which Kara and Lena are neighbors

What if I asked you to stay? by heryellowcup

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 1 chapter, 17k words, 2019

Mature

Neighbors to friends to lovers

She forces the words out of her mouth before she can think of the certain humiliation that will come with her question. They don’t know each other, the encounters they’ve assembled together are countable on two hands, the times they’ve actually talked to each other on one. It’s foolish to even entertain the thought, foolish to think of Mike’s priceless face when he hears about this, hears about Kara saying yes - because she most certainly won’t.

“You could stay with me, if you wanted to.”

Or, Lena invites her charming neighbour (that she totally does not have a crush on), Kara, to live with her while her apartment's being fixed. Lots of mutual pining and some smut ensues, but it's mostly just them being adorable.

 This novella length no powers AU is told from Lena's POV (nice character study).

There is no substantial amount of angst. The story is funny, romantic and very well written. I loved it.

 Favorite Quote

Leaning back against the wall, Mike looks at Lena and embarrasses her further. “The infamous U-Haul, huh?”

Lena feels her cheeks turn red and her heart speed up while Kara reduces her own reaction to nothing but furrowed eyebrows. She notes how flustered Lena is, she has to, but in the end all she does is tilt her head and regard Mike with a curious look. “What?”

The way Lena’s stomach sinks is more humiliating than the situation itself. The joke is lost on Kara, which can only mean that clearly she is not gay.

  This rec was cross posted to Pillowfort, tumblr and my WordPress blog.

..

[sapphicscholar]

A/N: Set in S2 before Cat’s end of season return but completely ignoring a certain alien who arrived in a pod and need not be included

Chapter Text:

Kara stared at the invitation in her hand, drumming her fingers against the countertop as she tried to figure out whether it was some kind of forgery—perhaps a Mischief Night prank that didn’t involve the usual toilet paper thrown across tree branches and eggs tossed at houses. Surely—surely, Cat’s way of reaching out after so many months away would involve more than an invitation to a Halloween party signed by both Carter and, Kara assumed, a rather begrudging Cat. She could at least that it was printed on cardstock as nice as the stuff Cat normally insisted upon, though it lacked the usual CatCo watermark.

As she debated the merits of reaching out to Cat to confirm that surely she had received the invitation by mistake, that surely Cat hadn’t returned from her many months away—months where Kara could have used her guidance, her advice, her help and, dare she say it, friendship—only to throw a Halloween party, her phone trilled.

“Hello?”

“Hey,” Alex’s voice crackled through the line, the sound of Maggie calling out a greeting in the background. “I know you said something about using your day off for cleaning, but I wanted to see if you wanted some company for lunch.”

Kara grinned. It had taken a little while for Alex to find the right balance between her new relationship with Maggie and her existing commitments—and Kara certainly wouldn’t begrudge Alex her newfound happiness now that she was out and had come into her own, even if she sometimes missed how easy it used to be for Alex to drop everything and come over whenever she was feeling down—but they’d found a new balance. Kara had learned that it was no longer a good idea to swoop in through the large bay windows unannounced, and Alex had realized that, as much as she loved Maggie, they didn’t need to spend every second together for that level of commitment to still hold true. And now that she got along a bit better with Maggie, Kara found that she enjoyed having the couple over too, relishing in the chance to see Alex taking her advice to heart and letting herself be open to love and other people, to living that full, happy life she’d promised Kara she would try to find.

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Kara agreed, figuring she could use a burst of superspeed to get the living room back in order in time for them to come over. Sure, it wasn’t the slow, methodical deep-cleaning she found soothed her anxiety when life felt like it was on just the wrong side of overwhelming, when she could have used nothing more than one of Cat’s slightly acerbic pep talks that always got right to the heart of just what was bothering her, but it would do.

“Perfect, we’ll pick up pizza and be there in twenty.”

With a quick goodbye, Kara put down the invitation to deal with at a later time and sped through the living room, distributing her newly organized piles into drawers and cabinets until the room looked perfectly clean. As she debated the merits of rearranging the furniture, she heard the sound of Alex and Maggie’s voices down the hallway. Swinging open the door before they could knock, Kara pulled them inside, hugging Alex as hard as she knew she could and letting the touch ground her in a way that few other things on this planet did.

“Damn, it looks so clean,” Maggie whistled, giving the apartment an appraising once over.

“So, what’d Snapper say this time?” Alex asked. She knew well enough from having shared a room with Kara over the years that things only reached this level of clean and organized when something was bothering her.

“Nothing.” Seeing Alex’s knowing look, Kara shrugged, her gaze dropping to her hands as she picked at her nails. “Just something about how I’m not getting better—I keep turning in the same biased op-eds when I’m supposed to be writing news.”

“Are you still covering the anti-alien attacks?”

“Yeah,” Kara admitted.

Stepping closer to her little sister and throwing an arm around her, Alex kissed her forehead. “Of course it’s hard for you to try to write only the facts when you’re this passionate. You know things and have experienced things that other journalists haven’t. And you know my offer to come threaten this bald little man still stands. Always.”

Kara snorted, shaking her head. “I should probably fight this one on my own.”

“If I know your sister—and I think I do—I know she’s not kidding about those offers. Plus, I prefer a pro-alien bias to my news,” Maggie added with a wink.

Figuring Kara could use more in the way of distraction and less discussion of Snapper, Alex motioned to the pizzas Maggie was still holding. “We come bearing food.”

“Did you get the garlic knots this time?”

“After the guilt trip we got last time, you really think we’d forget?” Alex teased, motioning for Maggie to drop the pizza off on the counter, while she pulled out plates and napkins.

“Ooh, what’s this?” Maggie asked, gesturing to the invitation left on the counter. “Got a Halloween party you’re not inviting us to?”

Plucking the invitation away from Maggie before Alex could see, Kara shook her head. “Nothing. Besides, you already have your big Halloween party.”

“Big gay Halloween party,” Maggie corrected.

“Well, I didn’t want to make assumptions.”

“No, that’s literally the name of the party. Well, party and drag show—which just makes the party better.”

“So what are you two going as?”

“We were supposed to be Danny and Sandy,” Alex began, narrowing her eyes as she looked at Maggie. “But someone decided she also wanted to be Danny.”

“Everyone knows gay Halloween is about looking cool, and leather jackets, skinny jeans, and white t-shirts are definitely the best way to do that.”

“It’s literally your outfit most days!”

“Because I’m super cool!”

Seizing the opportunity while Alex and Maggie were distracted, Kara dumped most of the garlic knots onto her plate and made her way over to the table.

“Not so quick!” Alex called out, rolling her eyes at Kara’s attempts to look innocent.

“If you want me to ignore the fact that you took most of our food, you should at least tell me who sent the invitation you’re trying so hard to hide.”

After a moment of debating whether it might be worth it to hand over one or two of her garlic knots, Kara finally admitted in a quiet voice: “Carter…and Cat.”

“Who?” Maggie asked, not yet well-versed in deciphering Kara’s mumbling.

“Cat Grant?” Alex asked, eying her sister incredulously. “What happened to her living in some yurt in the middle of the mountains?”

“I guess she came back. But I don’t know if it’s even real.”

“Well then let me see it.”

“No.”

“Why? Did she write you some special note with your invitation telling you about how smart and talented and astonishing you were?” Maggie looked slightly confused, but Alex kept going, teasing Kara as her cheeks flushed a light pink. “Or does she want you to dare and dive right into her Halloween party?”

“That sounds incredibly gay,” Maggie mused, watching as Kara flushed an even brighter shade of pink.

“She just signed it. I think Carter’s the one who actually wants me there.”

“What happened to your whole speech about how things between you and Cat had really changed? I distinctly remember you gushing about getting a promotion and an office and a hug and, oh god, how could I forget, she even used your real name!”

“Yeah, well, then she left,” Kara snapped, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall. Cat had told her to dive and be brave, but she’d left her alone; she wasn’t there waiting on the shore to call out encouragement or help her know in which direction to swim. Instead she’d thrown her off the ledge and left her, and Kara didn’t feel like she was thriving and coming out a new and better version of herself; instead she felt like Icarus, launched into the sky with encouragement that melted and burned up into nothingness as Cat’s guiding hands—the words and wisdom that kept her from flying too close to the sun—vanished with barely a warning.

Maggie busied herself with finding drinks in the kitchen while Alex wrapped Kara up in her arms. “I doubt that’s what she meant to do.”

Kara sniffled, letting Alex hold her the way she had when she first made her way to the Danvers home—a lost kid without a planet, without a family, without even the mission and sense of purpose that had driven her this far. “It’s what happened, though.”

“I know. And it sucks. Trust me, I’m not Cat’s biggest fan.” Kara snorted at that understatement. Alex had loathed the woman through Kara’s entire first year at CatCo, and on more than one occasion had been ready to storm in and demand the CEO treat her sister better. “But…I can admit that by the end of it, she did right by you. And I’m sure that somehow in that perfectly styled head of hers, she thinks she was doing right by you by leaving too.”

“How? How could that possibly be helping me?”

“I thought I was helping you by encouraging you not to come out as Supergirl,” Alex shrugged, her attempt at nonchalance belied by the haunted look in her eyes, her guilt still evident even now when she knew Kara had forgiven her for doing what she thought was necessary for her protection.

“I guess.”

“So, why don’t you tell us more about this party?” Alex motioned for Maggie, who was still lingering in the kitchen, to come back and join them.

“I don’t even know what it is. It’s tomorrow night at Cat’s beach house. Apparently costumes are mandatory.”

“So you’re going, right?” Alex asked at the same time as Maggie wiggled her eyebrows and asked, “So is it a date?”

“Excuse me?” Alex and Kara exclaimed in unison.

“She told you how amazing you were. She invited you to dive into her waters or something gay like that.”

“Just dive,” Kara corrected, ignoring Alex’s wide eyes.

“Still super gay. And then the first thing she does when she gets back in town is to invite you to some party at her house. And not her National City apartment, but her house out on the coast, where she totally could have hidden herself away if she didn’t want her employees or anyone to know she was back.”

“I—I don’t think it’s like that,” Kara insisted, shaking her head as if to convince herself that the suggestion was ridiculous. Had she harbored a crush on the woman for a while now? Sure. But that was only natural—she was freakin’ Cat Grant. She was gorgeous and successful and brilliant. Who wouldn’t have a crush on her? But the idea that Cat might like her back? Well, that was just ludicrous.

“Plus, Cat’s straight,” Alex added. “She’s been married multiple times—and always to men.”

“So were you, sweetie,” Maggie reminded Alex, flashing a shit-eating grin up at her. “Besides, who knows, maybe she’s bi or pan or just head over heels in love with National City’s resident superhero.”

“I don’t think she knows I’m Supergirl—we convinced her that Kara and Supergirl were two different people.”

Maggie kept her mouth shut, though she couldn’t quite disguise the skeptical expression. She couldn’t imagine how a woman as astute as Cat Grant who worked in such close proximity to Kara and covered every single daring exploit of Supergirl’s wouldn’t be able to put two and two together, but she’d learned that it was better to let the Danvers women admit to these things on their own timeline.

“But you’re going, right? Why would you give up the opportunity to see her after all that time away?”

“I don’t know…what if she doesn’t really want to see me?”

“I might not know the woman as well as you do, but I don’t think Cat Grant is the type to let someone make decisions for her—especially if she really doesn’t want to do something.”

“Carter’s always been her weak spot.”

“Still, mothers have a way of laying down the law if it’s something genuinely important.”

“I guess.”

“So you should go,” Maggie declared, smiling and folding her hands in front of her as thought the matter were perfectly settled.

“I don’t have a costume…” Kara trailed off, looking nervous at the excited glint in Maggie’s eyes.

“Don’t you worry, little Danvers. Cat won’t believe what hit her!”

---

The next night, Kara paced nervously up and around the block one over from Cat’s beach house. She tugged down her jean shorts and shirt, feeling like even the more appropriate version of Harley Quinn’s costume was still quite a bit skimpier than she liked—though she’d chosen it in a heartbeat over the proffered spandex Catwoman suit, knowing better than to wear anything Cat-themed around Cat. She swung the baseball bat by her feet until the wood creaked under her grip, releasing it before the whole thing could splinter and leave her with an incomplete costume. Noting a large group of guests pulling up in front of Cat’s place, Kara sprinted to catch up with them, hoping she could blend in and slip into the party relatively unnoticed. Maybe she could just go say hi to Carter and then hightail it out of there…

As she watched the SUV unload, though, she saw only a group of kids Carter’s age, followed by a mere two adults—one of whom was dressed normally, while the other simply wore a witch hat overtop of a perfectly normal, decidedly “mom” outfit. Kara gulped, feeling every bit the part of Elle Woods in a costume that suddenly felt much too revealing, even if she’d flown past much skimpier costumes on her way over. Deciding it would be better to go in alone than have to face judgmental parents, Kara waited until the kids had settled in and the parents had driven away before slipping over to the front door and ringing the bell. After a moment, it swung open, revealing Carter dressed as a bow-tied Dr. Who complete with a Tardis friend, who ran off as soon as he realized the guest wasn’t another kid from their class.

He beamed and threw his arms around her as soon as he realized who it was. “Kara! You made it!”

“Of course, bud! How could I miss it?”

“Well, I know we sent your invitation a little late…I got worried…”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. Really,” Kara insisted. “I’m sure as a timelord, you have plenty of other very important things to worry about.”

Looking bashful, Carter dropped his gaze down before realizing they were still in the doorway. “Oh! Come in!”

Kara stepped in and shut the door behind her, looking around as she took in the house she hadn’t visited in what felt like ages.

“Mom’s down in the kitchen. The games are downstairs, but it’s mainly the kids.”

Kara took a few deep breaths before finally leaning in and whispering, “Do you think your mom knows I’m coming?”

Carter shrugged. “She thought you might have better things to do, which is why she told me not to send an invitation.”

Kara nodded, steeling herself to go surprise Cat, knowing full well Cat hated surprises.

“I think she wanted you here though,” Carter added, shrugging and looking too wise for his age, as though he could see every one of Kara’s fears written on her face.

“Well, wish me luck. Have fun tonight, Carter!”

“You too!”

Figuring now was as good of a time as any, Kara squared her shoulders and marched back into the kitchen. She found Cat with her back to the doorway, sitting on one of the barstools and looking out over the ocean. “This isn’t quite the yurt I expected,” Kara managed, grateful that her voice had remained fairly steady.

With a wry laugh, Cat spun around, freezing for a moment at the sight of her former assistant in an outfit that was a far cry from the Old Navy Cardigans and ill-fitting pants she normally wore. “Decide to play a villain for a change?”

“For a change?” Kara asked with a strained laugh.

“Mm, still playing with that old charade,” Cat muttered before speaking up. “Can I offer you anything? Glass of wine? Scotch?”

“Wine would be nice, thank you.”

Cat filled a glass and handed it over before settling back down onto the stool as the room descended into an uneasy silence.

Finally Kara broke the tension. “Why are you back?”

“Is a Halloween party not enough of a reason?”

Feeling emboldened, Kara simply arched an eyebrow in return.

“Fine. There were…perhaps, a few things I’d left unfinished in National City. And before I move into the next stage of my own diving, as it were, I thought it best to come back.”

“So are you coming back to CatCo?”

“No, no,” Cat shook her head. “Those weren’t the things I left unfinished.”

“No, you just left me there,” Kara mumbled, quickly covering her mouth with her glass as she sipped her wine.

“Left you there? Kara, I left you in a job I knew you would excel at under the direction of one of the best in the business.”

“He’s hard to handle,” Kara retorted.

“So am I.”

“It’s different.”

“He’ll make you into a seasoned reporter.”

“He’s not you!” Kara finally snapped, blushing a faint shade of pink but refusing to back down. “He wasn’t the mentor I needed when everything else was already changing.”

“Kiera—”

“It’s Kara. I know you know.”

“But you’re still going to pretend like you’re only Kara?”

Kara clenched her jaw. “What do you want me to tell you?”

“The truth.”

“Why? So you can fire me again? Abandon me again?”

With a deep breath, Cat gestured to the door that led to the small balcony overlooking the ocean. “It’s not quite 40 stories up, but the view compares.” Kara followed Cat out onto the balcony, perching her wine glass on the railing as she leaned over, breathing in the salty sea breeze.

“I—my reaction was not, perhaps, ideal.” Kara bit back a snort. “I thought that, after all the time we spent together, after how I had tried to support Supergirl, how I had tried to support you, even if I didn’t always show it in the best of ways, that you might trust me enough to tell me.”

“It’s not that simple.” Kara knew the implicit admission was there, but she couldn’t bring herself to care, knowing Cat knew, knowing she was simply waiting for the confirmation.

“After Myriad I think I understand that better. But I was hurt, and so I lashed out. I’m sure Lois or Adam or any number of my ex-husbands could tell you it’s what I do best.”

“It’s not—no, Cat, it’s not all that you are.”

“Cat, is it?”

“If we’re dropping the charade…”

“I suppose Supergirl already calls me Cat, why shouldn’t Harley Quinn get the same privilege,” Cat mused, the corner of her mouth curling up slightly.

Kara rolled her eyes but felt some of the tension ease out of her shoulders. It wasn’t just a repeat of how things were before; Cat knew—she knew and she wasn’t yelling, wasn’t firing her. Of course, there wasn’t the same charged moment of reveal—the slow removing of her glasses and awestruck expression, the soft smile and whispered thank you that left Cat close enough to touch, to kiss…

Pulling herself out of her musings, Kara shook her head. “Where’s your costume? What happened to them being mandatory?”

“Well, if you haven’t noticed, this is primarily a party for Carter’s classmates.”

“Is he doing better with making friends?”

Cat couldn’t help the soft smile; it was so like Kara to be thinking about Carter even now. “You know, his adventures with Supergirl helped to bolster his confidence. And being able to say he hugged the Girl of Steel did win him over a few admirers.”

“I do give pretty excellent hugs.”

Cat couldn’t quite help the way her mind drifted to a few other things the Girl of Steel might do exceptionally well. “Mm, yes, they were adequate.”

Kara bit back a smile and shook her head slightly. “So, if this was mainly a party for Carter’s friends, why am I here?”

“I think he likes to think you two are friends.”

“Fine, but he knew I wouldn’t be down in the basement with him and his classmates.”

“No…I think he knew that—that I wanted to see you too.”

“Just to confirm the things you already knew?” Kara asked, her voice a bit lower, knowing she was slipping into uncharted territory, knowing she could send things careening off course in all the worst of ways, but unable to find it within herself to stop. She was Icarus flying toward the sun once more, only this time, she suspected, flying close enough to its orbit might destroy her and remake her in one go in the best of ways.

“There was a part of me that wanted to know if you might tell me now—now that I’m not your boss, won’t be your boss, won’t even own CatCo anymore in a few short months.”

“What?” Kara gasped.

“It’s neither here nor there—simply part of my own diving into new waters.”

Seeing the determination not to delve into that particular subject at the moment, Kara pressed: “So you know now. Is that all you wanted?”

“If you’re still asking, I think you know it isn’t.”

“So why is it that you wanted to see me, if not just to confirm that I am exactly the person you always hoped I was?”

“You’ve always been her, Kara. It didn’t take that suit to make you exceptional.”

“So why, Cat?”

“I told you, I left certain things unfinished here. I left certain things unsaid…” Kara looked up at her expectantly, stepping just a little closer, leaving a scant few inches between them. “I can’t be the only one to dive here. I can’t be the one to push you into diving for me, either.”

Smiling softly at Cat’s consideration, Kara inched closer, nearly closing the distance between them. “Then dive with me.”

Before Cat could make a snarky remark about that metaphor becoming a bit overdone, Kara was leaning forward, and she felt herself drawn to her by some sort of inexorable pull. The soft press of lips was somehow more than she had ever imagined it might be, and as Kara let herself relax, let her strong arms slip around Cat’s small waist and pull her closer, Cat found her hands cupping at Kara’s jaw, drawing her in and kissing her deeper. The taste of expensive red wine and cheap Halloween candy mingled with something that was undeniably Kara, and Cat felt dizzy with the thrill of it all. As Kara’s tongue flicked across her lower lip, she couldn’t help the small whimper—a noise that seemed to inspire Kara as she swept Cat off her feet and into her arms.

“If you’re taking me upstairs, I want that ridiculous outfit gone.”

“Outside? Seems a little inappropriate, Ms. Grant,” Kara teased, ignoring the eyeroll and using her free hand to at least pull her hair from the high pigtails, letting it cascade into soft waves that Cat soon tangled her hand in, pulling the woman forward once more. “Is that good enough to earn a place upstairs with you?”

“It’ll do. Now come on, Supergirl, up, up, and away.”

[superfem-imagines]

Day 3- Delirium

Whumptober Day 3 with SuperCat

Warnings: none, other than like not sleeping, but that’s short

Kara stood by Cat’s private elevator, listening to her boss yell from downstairs. Kara tuned out of her super hearing as Cat got into her elevator, preparing to try and control the storm. Elevator dinging, Kara grinned and greeted her boss, holding out her coffee. She trailed behind Cat and read out the days schedule, interns and workers scattering in their wake. 

Practically falling into her desk chair, Cat released a sigh, oblivious to her assistants stare. “Ms. Grant?” at her name, Cat dragged her heavy eyes to meet the brighter, concerned ones.

“Yes Keira,” Cat asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I- it’s just- you look tired Ms. Grant. Is everything ok?” Kara winced, afraid she stepped over a line. If the narrowed eyes staring her down was any indicator, she’s guess that she might have.

“Peachy,” Cat returned in a clipped tone, powering up her computer. “Now, why don’t you run and get me one of those salads.”

“Yes, Mrs. Grant.” Kara sighed, turning and leaving the office.

---------

Hearing Cat end the conference call, Kara stood up and entered her bosses office, filling a bowl with m’n’m’s as Cat rubbed her temples. Setting them down silently along with water and a tylenol, Kara clasped her hands and waited. Cat had been at the office for a couple days now and she had dark circles from not sleeping.

“Ms. Grant, I-” Kara was cut off by the phone ringing on her desk. Reluctantly excusing herself, Kara went and answered it. Crinkle forming, Kara listened to the man on the other end of the phone, now understanding why Cat hasn’t been sleeping and has been short with people. Confirming with the man, Kara went back to Cat, not entirely sure how to tell her what she needed to.

“Ms. Grant, that was Carter's father on the phone,” Pausing as Cat snapped her gaze from the emails to her face, Kara continued. “He’s uh- he’s bringing Carter home. Says Carter is too sick to enjoy the trip and that he keeps asking for you.” The last part he didn’t admit but Kara could hear Carter in the background asking to go home.

Cat’s expression softened at the last part so Kara took it as a silent victory. “However,” Kara continued before Cat could say anything. “They won’t be here until tomorrow due to a heavy storm over there.”

“Well, that’s just fine. I’ll continue working and pick him up tomorrow-” Kara quickly cut Cat off, scolding her.

“Cat, you’ve worked yourself thin, obviously worried about him. You need to go home and take care of yourself so you don’t worry Carter,” Kara quickly shut up, mouth clamped and eyes wide, worried she overstepped. Though once Cat stood up and grabbed her purse, she released the breath she was holding.

“Well then, Keira. Clear my schedule for today and tomorrow, reschedule where necessary. I think I’ll take your advice, wouldn’t want to worry Carter, now would we?” Cat raised an eyebrow, clearly dismissing her.

“Of course, Mrs. Grant.” And with that, they left the office, Kara with a smile and Cat with an amused gleam in her eyes.

[sapphicathenas]

quiet nights poured over ice and tanqueray

(aka i actually wrote a fic, wow)

It takes a little too long for Alex and Maggie's giggles to fade after they leave the bar, and it leaves Kara biting at her lip, fiddling with her straw, tears pricking at her eyes. Her sister's guilty eyes keep flashing behind her eyelids, and despite her overwhelming sadness, Kara wishes she weren't acting so selfish. She's an adult, and so is Alex. Plus Alex has a girlfriend now, and Kara knows — knows, but hates acknowledging — that Alex's time isn't all for her anymore.

"Alex deserves to be happy," Kara whispers to her glass, in a pitiful attempt to change her own mind. "She deserves to be happy with Maggie." The words are true, no matter the circumstances. But it doesn't change the fact that Kara is unbearably and unequivocally lonely.

It's her Earth birthday. Lucky thirteen. The one day she expected to be just her and Alex — no aliens, no Mon-el, no Maggie. Just the Danvers sisters as they always were. As much as Kara loves Alex and Maggie, she knows somewhere, deep down, that it shouldn't be selfish to want this.

"Someone's got their head in the clouds." Kara glances up to find M'gann smiling at her. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes...no," Kara admits, cradling her head in her hands. "I just — today's kind of a big day for me, and I had planned to spend it with Alex."

M'gann pulls up a stool and leans against the bar. "But Alex is with Maggie."

"Yeah. And I know Alex is less available now, I mean, I wouldn't want her being clingy on me if I were in a relationship, but I just wish she was here for this, you know?" Kara pouts slightly and looks up at M'gann. "Is that selfish?"

"Honey, no," M'gann soothes. "I've known Maggie Sawyer for a long time, I know she would never intentionally do something that would hurt someone that she loves, or someone that person loves. I saw Alex's face when you talked to her, I can tell she feels guilty. So maybe it's not perfect, and maybe Alex shouldn't have done what she did. But that doesn't mean she won't change her mind, and that doesn't mean you can't make it better."

Cracking a small smile, Kara sits up straighter. "How, though? I celebrate today but at the same time it's..." Her smile drops. "It's a constant reminder of Krypton, of losing everything. I'm just not used to being alone on Earth birthday."

Kara diverts her gaze and sinks into another stupor. Sighing softly, M'gann reaches out and encases Kara's hands in her own. "You're never alone, Kara. I'm here late but you're welcome to stay as long as you like, or I'm sure you could call your friends to be with you. Do you have someone that you really want to be with right now? Someone who you could go to when Alex isn't there?"

"Umm," Kara starts, closing her mouth before she can say there's no one. Because there is. There is one person that was Kara's friend, her confidant, her safe place to land. Her loneliness turns to nerves, as she imagines every terrible way reaching out could go. "I don't think that's a good idea. I'll just stay here."

"I see that look in your eyes, Kara Danvers. Don't be afraid of reaching out. If they were there for you enough that they popped into your mind just now, they're not going to leave you behind when you need them." M'gann reaches over and grabs Kara's phone, placing it firmly in her hands. "Text them."

"M'gann, I can't, it's been too long, I don't even know where she is—"

"Uh uh! No excuses!" M'gann smiles and slowly backs away. "Text her, Kara. You can do it."

A patron grabs M'gann's attention and Kara is left to flounder on her own. Her fingers flit nervously over her phone screen, and she manages to unlock it before freezing again. It's been months, she thinks, months! And really, would she even answer? She taps the messaging app and scrolls down, until she finds the conversation she's looking for. A rare photo of Cat Grant smiling fills the bubble beside it, one that Kara had taken when her boss wasn't paying attention. She bites down on her lip and hesitates again.

Her mind draws her back to balcony conversations; to late nights sitting in Cat's office, a pillow in her hands to still the nerves, a drink in Cat's to do the same. That balcony had been a haven to both Kara and Supergirl, a place to leave the world behind when things got to be too much. Kara misses that balcony. And, if she's being honest, she really, really misses Cat.

At least you're not drunk, she tells herself, and begins typing.

Hi Cat.

Pathetic.

I know it's late but I just wanted to talk to you. I miss you.

She hits send before registering the weightiness of that last sentence, and hisses a string of Kryptionian curses to herself when she does. Jittery with nerves, Kara turns her phone face down and tries to pretend she didn't do anything.

By the time she's downed the rest of her club soda, M'gann has left Kara's range of vision, and Mon-el is meandering back over. Kara contemplates leaving, but then her phone is buzzing, and oh Rao, now she really wishes she was drunk.

Diverting her gaze from Mon-el, Kara unlocks her phone and gazes in shock at the messages appearing on the screen.

Long time no speak, Kara.

Is everything alright? You better not be drunk texting me.

Penthouse. Half an hour.

Kara forgets how to move and tries to process what she's reading, because that's Cat Grant, Queen of all Media, responding to her pity texts, and agreeing to meet up with her, tonight. Her brain starts working again and she goes to type, but another bubble has popped up from Cat, so she waits.

Chop chop.

She can see Cat's grin and lets out a laugh, her heart feeling that much lighter. She pulls out money for her drink and tosses her bag over her shoulder. Mon-el calls her name and Kara ignores him, but she pauses long enough to find M'gann in the crowd and call out a thank you. M'gann grins in response and gives her a thumbs up, and Kara makes her way into the night.

Cat had given her half an hour, so Kara rockets into the sky and flies around the city to calm her nerves. She barely lasts ten minutes — whether it's her yearning to see Cat or her jitteriness, she can't tell — before she heads toward CatCo. Hovering high above the building, Kara spots a figure on the balcony, and grins to herself because of course Cat would be here early. She contemplates going in the normal way, but she trusts Cat, and besides, there's no way Cat doesn't know. Kara descends slowly, and lands almost silently on the balcony. Even through the dark, she swears she sees Cat smile.

"Still one for theatrical entrances, I see," Cat teases, casting a glance at Kara as she approaches.

Kara can't help the smile that spreads over her face. Cat's voice sounds like coming home and Kara still can't believe that Cat's here, that she came back, just for her. "I learned from the best," she says, and stands beside Cat, her arms on the railing. "It's good to see you again, Cat."

"Yes, I heard you missed me."

"Uh, yeah, about that—" Kara blushes and fumbles, but Cat interjects before she can finish.

"Oh, don't freak out. I missed you too." Cat's voice is surprisingly soft, and Kara frowns. "What? I have feelings too."

"I know," Kara responds, "you just...don't usually express them."

Cat huffs, but her lips quirk into a smile regardless. "Fair enough. But enough about me, we came here to talk about you." Taking a sip from her glass, Cat motions for Kara to speak. Fumbling with her hands, she searches for the right words.

"When I first came to Earth, I felt like I had lost everything from Krypton. After the first few months I was here, Alex's birthday came around, and it hit me for the first time that I had no idea when my birthday was. Alex and I spent weeks trying to figure it out, but there were so many differences between Krypton's times and Earth's that we gave up." Kara sighs, her eyes watery, but manages a small smile. "It was Alex's idea to celebrate Earth birthday, the day I landed here. Every year, she and I would get together and eat cupcakes and just do silly sister stuff. It made me feel like I still had something, you know? That even if I couldn't figure out my real birthday, I still had this. And it made dealing with the loss of Krypton a little bit easier."

Kara reaches up and wipes a tear from her cheek, embarrassed that she's crying in front of Cat. But the woman in question makes no comment; instead, Cat puts down her glass and rests her hand on top of Kara's, and nods for her to continue.

"Well, like in most cases, things changed as we got older. We spent our time with other people, got new jobs, but Earth birthday never changed. Until this year. Because now Alex has a girlfriend and is living life and doing all the things she never got to do before, and I'm just not used to her being somewhere else. So tonight is the first time in thirteen years that I'm spending Earth birthday alone, and it's a lot lonelier than I thought. A friend told me to go to someone I trusted, and I didn't know where else to go." Kara lifts her gaze shyly, and tightens her hold on Cat's hand.

"I'm honored that you came to me," Cat whispers, at a loss for anything else to say. "I can't imagine why I'd be your first choice, however."

Kara lets out a sound that is half laugh, half exasperated sigh. "Well, Alex and Maggie are unavailable, Lucy moved away, James and Winn are out doing who-knows-what, which leaves Mon—I mean Mike, who is honestly kind of....garbage." Cat chuckles at her analysis and Kara can't help but smile. "He really is! I kept telling myself he wasn't but the only reason he's nice to me is because he thinks I'm cute, but he's honestly just a jerk."

"So, he's a man," Cat concludes, and Kara bursts into laughter. She never imagined she'd end up trash talking Mon-el when she sought out Cat, but hey, she's not complaining.

Recovering, Kara continues, "And my friend M'gann, she suggested that I go call someone. She didn't want me to be alone. And, like I said, I...I miss you. I always knew I could go to you, and I hoped that hadn't changed."

"It hasn't," Cat reassures her, "and it won't. You always have a place here. Conveniently, I was local tonight, but even if I'm not, you know how to contact me. Don't ever feel like you're alone, Kara."

Kara can feel herself blushing, but she keeps her gaze locked with Cat's. Blue eyes are staring right back at her, and Kara feels giddy, like her heart is pounding right out of her chest. She feels grounded but at the same time feels like she's flying, and if it weren't for the fact that Cat's hand is locked in her own, she might have begun to float. Kara has no idea what's going on it Cat's mind but she's sure of two things — she really doesn't want to let go of Cat's hand, and no one has ever looked at her before the way Cat is right now.

"Thank you, Cat," she finally whispers, and her companion's resulting smile is enough to set her heart fluttering. Before she can rethink her actions, Kara drops Cat's hand and wraps her arms tightly around her. Cat hugs her back and Kara buries her face in Cat's hair, and suddenly, everything feels okay. The world drops from her shoulders and for a moment, Kara forgets what it feels like to be alone.

Regretfully, she pulls back, still too much in Cat's personal space. But Cat's smiling at her and tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear, and Kara knows that eventually they're both going to have to leave, but she'd give all she has if it meant she could spend just a few more hours with Cat.

"You know," Cat says after a moment, "I don't have to leave until the morning. Still want to celebrate your Earth birthday?"

Kara's resulting smile could've outshone the sun. "Yes!"

Cat chuckles. "Earth birthday it is. Let me just make a phone call, and then we can go."

Giddy with happiness, Kara watches Cat go into her office — well, James' office, except it isn't, really — and make a call. She leans once again on the ledge of the balcony, her eyes glued to the stars. Years of star searching has given her a perfect radar to find where Krypton used to be; a prick of darkness that is just visible through the mass of light. There's a star in that empty space now; too small to be a planet, but it makes Kara smile nonetheless. Perhaps the star is Astra — the Kryptonians did tell stories where their souls became stars. But, fiction aside, it lightens Kara's heart to know that something else has been brought to life where her home once was; that something can live on in its absence.

Cat's reappearance shakes her from her reverie. "Ready?"

Kara nods and takes Cat's outstretched hand. They could fly, but the distance to Kara's apartment is short, and Kara wants it to last as long as possible. They walk there hand in hand, trading quiet tidbits about what had conspired in the months they'd been apart. Cat tells her about the time she's spent with Carter, and Kara shares her adventures as a reporter.

"I think Snapper is warming up to me," Kara states as they enter her building. "He said 'Atta girl, Danvers' when I stood up for what I wanted to do. I mean, he didn't say it to me, he kinda mumbled it after I left, but he said it!"

Cat laughs as Kara punches the button for her floor, her joy scarcely contained. "You're doing very well, Kara." The compliment draws a blush from the girl in question. "I'm proud of you."

Kara steps out of the elevator and almost drops her keys as the statement registers in her brain. "I, um, ah—oof," she mutters, bumping her shoulder into the wall as she fumbles to catch Cat's gaze. Cat lazily pulls her clumsy partner down the hall, her mirth spilling over into a fit of laughter. They reach Kara's door and Kara finally finds her words, cheeks flushed. "Really?"

Cat smiles, and with her free hand tucks a strand of hair behind Kara's ear. "Always."

"Thank you," Kara whispers. Her heart is fluttering and she can't stop smiling, and she tears her eyes away from Cat's out of fear she'll do something stupid like kiss her. She unlocks her door and pushes it open, and loses the ability to speak again.

Because in the middle of her apartment are Alex and Maggie, and Winn and James are beside them, and J'onn is looking grumpy but he's here, and M'gann is beside him, and Alex is running and throwing her arms around her and Kara squeezes her back and tries not to cry.

"Happy Earth birthday, Kara," Alex whispers, letting her sister go. She places her hands on Kara's shoulders and smiles even with teary eyes. "I'm so sorry that I ditched you earlier. It was selfish of me to leave you on the one day that was always about you, about family. I love you so much Kara and I want you to know that I'm never going to leave you, okay?" Alex breathes and blinks away her tears. "Please say you'll forgive me."

"Of course I forgive you, Alex!" Kara pulls her sister back into a hug. "I love you too."

When they pull apart, Maggie is beside them, holding out a cupcake with a candle in the middle. "Happy Earth birthday, Little Danvers," she says with a smile. "Make a wish!"

"Gently!" Alex interjects as Kara goes to blow out her candle, and Kara giggles as she does.

"Thank you, Maggie," she says, before gasping and turning to Cat, who is standing a few feet away and grinning. "Wait a minute — did you know?"

Moving forward to join the group, Cat says, "I suppose I did join in on a little scheming. I received a harried call from Alex worrying over ruining your birthday, and she asked if there was anything I could do to help her. Apparently your friend M'gann had passed on the information that you had reached out, and well..." Cat spreads her hands, and Kara looks gratefully around at her friends, her family. "Here we are. I figured it was the least I could do to see you happy."

Kara's eyes well with tears and she's smiling so wide it almost hurts, but Cat is looking at her like she's the sun and Kara has never wanted to do anything more than this. Her hands are soft on Cat's cheeks and before she can talk herself out of it, Kara's kissing her. James is hooting and Alex aww's and Maggie is cheering atta girl, but all Kara cares about is Cat's lips on hers and Cat's hands on her waist. Kara pulls away blushing and she thinks Cat is too, but they're both smiling and really, that's all that matters.

"So," Winn says, breaking the moment, "can we eat cupcakes now or are you gonna keep kissing?"

"Why, are you jealous?" Kara teases, and laughs when Maggie captures Alex's lips to prove her point. Winn pouts but it doesn't last long, and he passes out the cupcakes without complaint.

Cat slides her hand back into Kara's and pulls them to the edge of the group. "Well I must say, I wasn't expecting that."

"Too much?"

"Not all all." Cat smiles. "Brazen is a good color on you, Kara."

"I'll keep wearing it then," Kara says with a grin, and kisses Cat again.

[lost-your-memory]

Hey boo! How about 61 for Supercat NC x

Sooooo … you guys remember the sexy librarian!cat prompt I wrote for @racheltuckerrr? Here’s what you can read as a follow-up piece. It isn’t quite a highschool AU but well … close enough I guess!

61. “Hey, have you seen the..? Oh.”

It was raining in that soft and gentle way only summer days could pull off. As the long and thin drops of water fell straight from the thick, sombre sky, it created a dark curtain over the world, blurring the grey buildings of the campus, soiling the dust of the paths to turn it into mud and bending the vegetation into an odd angle, making the leaves and the grass bow to the weight of it all. The air smelled that distinct scent of a summer storm day, a mixture of wet dust, bloomed flowers and the earthy, yet metallic, smell of the rain.

Kara liked this typical August weather, with the way the world seemed to become almost poetic and nostalgic at once. She liked the faint glow of the rain under the rather dim daylight, the regular splashing sound of the drops in the puddles, the intense green of the grass and tree leaves and she especially loved how soothing it was, after the suffocating heat wave that had crushed the world for the past three weeks.

“Earth to Kara, are you listening to me?”

Her sister’s voice suddenly broke through her reverie, abruptly bringing her back to reality. She blinked a few times before remembering she was in the middle of a phone call with Alex, who sounded a little annoyed now.

“Sorry, I was watching the rain and I got lost in my thoughts, you were saying?” Kara apologized, making sure to sound sheepish enough to soften her sister.

“Wait, it’s raining in Midvale? You have got to be kidding me!” Alex exclaimed, loud enough to make Kara wince and pull out one of her earbuds, in a vain attempt to lower the impact of her sister’s voice volume on her ears.

“What? Why, why are you yelling?” Kara groaned, tentatively putting the earbud back but keeping her hand up just in case.

“We’re on week four of the heat wave here in Metropolis, with no storm in sight for another four days …” Alex whined, sounding dejected indeed. Kara could only sympathize. She was a superpowered alien with an enhanced metabolism and no sensitivity to most human temperatures but even for her, the intensity of the sun’s rays during the last few weeks had been a little too much.

“Sorry sis’, but yes it’s raining here. The storm has been gathering above town for the past two days, with low and dark grey clouds hanging around, but it only burst today, around noon …”

“Urgh, this is so unfair. Wait,” Alex suddenly asked, making Kara wince but not because of the volume this time. She knew what her sister was about to ask but she didn’t think of a plausible answer beforehand. “Are you on your way to the library again? In the middle of summer break?”

“Uh, well, you know … I’ve been meaning to … I mean … French books, I’ve run out of them …” Kara stammered, wincing even more as she realized how terrible this sounded. She cursed her inability to lie, and not for the first time since she landed on Earth.

“French books, riiight,” Alex sassed and Kara could basically hear the smirk in her sister’s voice. “Nothing to do with the librarian then?”

“Well, uh, no, I mean …” Kara let out a frustrated huff before taking a deep breath. “I mean, I’m sure she’ll be there, of course. She’s the librarian and I am going to the library.”

“I feel like I should mention there is a perfectly well-furnished public library next to city hall …” Alex started, clearly amused. Kara swallowed and tried to think of an excuse but before she could speak, Alex sighed. “But don’t worry, I get why you would prefer the campus one.”

“Uh? You do?”

“Oh, Kara. I think every student who went to the Midvale High School developed a crush on Miss Grant, at some point. I know I did,” Alex chuckled but Kara didn’t. The realization that her sister had a point darkened her mood and made her feel a little heartbroken, even though she didn’t exactly understand why.

“Anyway, I should get back to work, and you need to go take care of that crush of yours,” Alex added, with another sigh that betrayed how unhappy she was at the thought of returning to her lab.

“Urgh, shut up. You’re the worst,” Kara groaned but she then smiled. She had missed Alex, ever since the older Danvers went to Metropolis to work for LuthorCorp. “Say hi to Lena for me and call Mom sometime soon, she’s been asking about you lately.”

“Yeah, yeah I will. Lena says hi back, she’s sprawled on the couch in the break room at the moment,” Alex replied and Kara heard a muffled voice speak behind her sister. “She says you should come visit for a few days.”

Kara considered the offer for a few seconds before nodding to herself. She’d been a little lost, without her sister and her best friend, lately. It might actually be a good idea to go pay them a visit and she might even jump on the opportunity to see her cousin while staying in Metropolis.

“Actually, that’s a good idea. Maybe I will, when summer ends,” Kara replied and she heard Lena’s excited squeal of joy, as well as her sister’s enthusiastic ‘awesome!’. She smiled and looked at the time on her phone, spread in big, bold numbers at the bottom of the screen.

“Guys, I gotta go, the library is going to close in about an hour and I really want to get that Fred Vargas book.”

“Sure you do, sweetie,” Lena said, her voice low and raspy despite the amused edge in it. Kara guessed Alex must have put her on speaker. “Say hi to the queen of the library for me and I guess I’ll see you soon then!”

“See you soon Lena. Bye Alex, I love you!” Kara added before punching the red button on her phone, hanging up with a relieved sigh. She removed her headphones and put them away in the inside pocket of her raincoat, along with her cellphone and her library card.

Midvale High School was a rather pretty and well-built campus, for such a small town.

It had the merit of hosting students of all the little towns in the area and as such, it had several buildings in which classes were dispensed, a small but cosy auditorium, a nice sports complex with a swimming pool, two fields for the Lacrosse and Football teams and an athletic ring. The best part of the whole campus, however, was the library.

It wasn’t exactly well-located, for the building was at the very end of the campus, well after the sports complex and far removed from the buildings where classes happened, but it was bordered with well-maintained paved paths with benches on either side, and the many trees around the edifice and the little stone-roads provided an odd kind of intimacy, making the landscape look like something straight out of a fairytale.

The building itself wasn’t remotely the kind that evoked Snow White’s little cottage; however. It was a very well-thought-out blending of old and new material, with a rather modern look that still didn’t seem too out of place in such a natural setting. It was a two-floor edifice. The first part, made of the entrance porch, stayed on the ground floor but a little further on, the second floor went up. The frontage was made of clear red brick but the industrial style was broken by a good number of high-windows with a dark grey-steel frames, placed at a meticulously regular intervals from each other. Kara loved that building, despite having secretly wished it could look more like the Oxford library for all of her time in high school. It had been her refuge for a long, long time, when the drama of a student life had been too much, when her senses had been overloaded with talk of sex, of parties and drugs even, when she’d experienced her first heartbreak because Imra told her she was in love with a douchebag and not with her.

She pushed one of the double entrance doors and ventured toward the reception area, after having swiped her feet on the rug to avoid dragging too much dirt on the marble floor. The front desk was empty and clear of any books, which made Kara feel a little guilty when she pulled off her backpack to retrieve four of them. She gently placed them on the spot reserved for returns and walked further into the building.At some point, the marble floor disappeared, replaced by a dark but warm hardwood floor that contemplated the lines and lines of bookshelves coursing through the whole length of the building. From time to time, the regularity of said bookshelves was broken to show either a lounge space, with leather couches, armchairs, coffee tables, nightstand and lamps or a study space, with long wooden tables, matching chairs and working lamps.  

The dim daylight outside wasn’t nearly bright enough, and to remedy it, the whole library was also lit up by spotlights strategically placed in the ceiling and along higher shelves. Still, it was rather dark in here, and Kara liked it that way.

She knew the layout of the place by heart and she instinctively moved through the English literature aisle to get to the French one. She hadn’t lied to Alex, she truly wanted to find the next adventure of the French cop she has become hooked on, a saga she had discovered during her last trip to France.

She was so engrossed in her search for the right book that she didn’t fully process the noise in the background, a quick heartbeat paired with high heels clicking on the floor, all coming her way. Worse, she took it for granted.

“Hey, have you seen the …” Kara asked, absentmindedly, before looking to her side and trailing off, with only one sound escaping her lips. “Oh.”

Cat Grant was even more stunning than in her memories, and God knew she had a lot of them. Like the burning image of the librarian standing atop a classical wooden ladder, in a pencil skirt and a white fitted shirt, which was still firmly implanted in Kara’s mind and often resurfaced at random moments of the day and the night.

Today, however, it was a whole other kind of fantasy, for Cat Grant truly was a vision. She was draped in a sleeveless black dress, the kind made for cocktail parties or charity galas, and the soft fabric hugged the librarian’s silhouette in such an indecent way, Kara’s mouth went dry. A pair of classic Louboutins topped the whole outfit off, black as well but with a hint of the signature daring red underneath.Cat had aged a little since Kara was a student here, and the recent crinkles of time around the sparkling hazel eyes gave the woman a healthy glow. Her hair, still as blonde and silky looking as in Kara’s memory, was longer now, practically brushing the shoulders despite the natural waves and tiny little curls showing here and there.

“Miss Danvers, fancy seeing you here,” Cat said, the shadow of a smirk tugging at the corner of her red painted lips. Kara absentmindedly noticed it was the exact same shade as the one from underneath the shoes. “I wonder why, though, since you are now a renowned author yourself … I think your books are somewhere on the shelves of the historical fiction aisle. So tell me, are you walking down memory lane?”

There was a teasing edge in the woman’s voice that made Kara’s knees feel a little weak. She’d been dreaming of Cat for a long time, despite the fact she was now twenty-six years old and had left high school behind ten years ago, a little before she turned seventeen. The woman had left an imprint on her, without Kara ever being able to understand why. She only knew it ran deeper than a simple crush and no matter how much she had tried to move on, everything always brought her back to the Midvale High School Library and the woman who ruled it like an empire.

“Actually, I only wanted the next book of the Adamsberg adventures …” Kara managed to say, her voice sounding strange to her own ears. How was she even able to speak was beyond her and she swallowed, thickly, against the lump of anticipation lodged in her throat.

Cat arched a brow but didn’t say anything. If she was surprised or disappointed by the weak comeback, nothing transpired as she only took a few steps closer, making Kara’s breathing hitch and her heart race. When the librarian reached a hand to her face, Kara thought it was a dream and she held her breath.Only, Cat’s fingers, long and deft, like the ones of a pianist, slid past her left cheek and then Cat moved even closer, almost touching Kara’s body with hers. She smelled like pine wood, dusty old books and a hint of something spicy, heady and strong. Kara’s senses, already enhanced because of her superpowers, were overloaded and she felt like she was when she had a hangover, head dizzy and swimming, unable to focus on anything else but Cat.

Eventually, Cat took a step back and brought back her hand in front of Kara, with a book in between her fingers. Kara instantly recognized the black and white cover, a chiaroscuro picture of a forest with a boar going down a barely visible path.

“How did you …” Kara swallowed, her heart still beating too hard in her chest and drumming like a tambourine in her ears. She still felt disappointed that nothing happened. “I mean, thank you… How did you know I wanted this book and not the new one?”

Cat’s smile was amused when she answered. “I read the latest interview you gave to the Planet, where you explained you were slowly catching up on the saga. Now, the exclusive was from January and you were still reading ‘L’armée furieuse’ … I figured since it’s August, you couldn’t be so up to date as to want ‘Quand sort la recluse’ … Which means you wanted ‘Temps Glaciaire’.”

Her French accent, when she enumerated the titles, was perfect and Kara internally swooned a little, before realizing something.

“You read my interview?” she asked, trying not to let it go to her head and failing already.

“Oh yes, I’ve been following your rise with attention, ever since you first got published at the tender age of eighteen,” Cat nodded, her smirk morphing into a genuine and somehow proud smile.

Kara blushed and to avoid being too awkward, she gently took the book that was being handed to her. Her fingers inadvertently brushed Cat’s when she did so and she blinked a few times before looking down at her feet, trying to recompose herself. It took a few seconds before she could find the courage to meet Cat’s eyes again.

“Oh, uh. Thank you. You … hm you look beautiful, by the way,” Kara let out in one single breath that left her panting a little. She thought she heard Cat’s heartbeat quicken but it might have been just hers, given how loudly her own heart was racing again.

“Why thank you, I am on my way to a play and I thought I would close early today …” Cat said with a pleased smile, still staring right into Kara’s eyes. The younger Danvers had a little experience with plays and she knew one wasn’t going to the theatre without being accompanied, especially not dressed in such a beautiful dress as Cat’s.

“Well, your date is one lucky person,” Kara stated, ignoring the way her heart dropped in her shoes as she managed the words out. She should have known someone like Cat Grant wouldn’t be single but still, the brutal realization was painful.

“I’m not sure he agrees, seeing as my date is my fifteen-year-old son, who begged me to go see this Moliere modern mise en scène,” Cat replied, a hint of amusement lining her voice and Kara’s heart suddenly returned to its rightful place, instantly resuming its fanfare even louder than before.

“Oh, you guys are going to see ‘Le malade imaginaire’?” Kara asked, remembering her mother saying something about the play and how it was surprising that such a prestigious troupe would play in Midvale.

“We are indeed! Have you seen it?” Cat asked, looking both surprised and curious.

“I haven’t, no, but I’ve heard a lot of very nice things about it,” Kara shook her head before  realizing she was keeping Cat from leaving. “Oh Miss Grant, I am so sorry! I’ve been delaying you I’m so sorry. I’m on my way, so you can close after me if you want.”Kara pressed the book against her chest and crossed her arms over it, blushing again as she tried to walk around Cat’s silhouette to reach the exit. The bookshelves were rather close and two couldn’t walk side by side, which mean that when Kara tried to brush past Cat, she accidentally collided with the woman’s hip and nearly send her into the Fred Vargas book collection.

Thankfully, Kara had quick reflexes and super strength and in the blink of an eye, she dropped the book and reached both hands to close her fingers around Cat’s waist, pulling the librarian closer without realizing it. It was only when the agitation settled down that she noticed she was pressed against Cat’s front, her head swimming with her heady perfume and her skin tingling from the warmth radiating from Cat’s body.

“I’m so sorry, I’m incredibly clumsy I’m sorry,” Kara rambled, another shade of red colouring her cheeks as she blushed, and tried to take a step back. To her surprise, Cat seemed to hold her in place for a split second, before letting go of her forearms.

“It’s quite alright,” Cat waved the apology off with a flourish of her wrist. ”The shelves are not spaced out like they should be, it’s pretty narrow in there. Thank you, for catching me before I could stumble into the wooden bookshelves, by the way. They tend to leave nasty bruises …”

Kara tried very hard not to think of another kind of bruise she wanted to leave on Cat’s skin as she carefully extricated herself from the narrow space, picking up the book and then striding towards the exit once she was free.Cat’s heels followed her and they met again by the front desk.“Here, give me the book, I’ll process it before closing,” Cat said in that authoritative tone that had lulled Kara all the way through high school. Kara did as she was asked and their fingers touched again during the exchange. This time, Kara’s ears did pick up on the quickening of Cat’s heartbeat, not confusing it with her own, and she wondered what had caused the sudden change.

Once the book was correctly registered under Kara’s name for the loan, Cat turned off the computer and punched a few buttons, closing the metallic curtains on every window and switching off the lights in the whole building, aside from the reception area.

“It’s raining even harder …” Cat noticed as they approached the front door. She grabbed her beige Trench coat and tried to wrestle with it while balancing with her purse, a few books and an umbrella as well.

“Here, let me help you,” Kara offered, having already put her own book away in her backpack. She gently took the coat and held it out for Cat to put it on, draping it properly on the shoulders and pulling the collar up.

“Thank you, that’s very sweet of you,” Cat said with a smile and Kara blushed again. “Would you like to accompany me to my car? You’ll enjoy the umbrella until then …”

Kara almost said no. She almost let it slip that she’d fly right back home, but she bit the inside of her cheek at the very last second, before nodding. “That would be very nice, yes. Thank you.”

Kara got out of the building first and waited under the large porch for Cat to close the doors and turn off the few remaining lights.

The rain was getting pretty heavy, having lost its previous charm since the day had started to fall to let the night take over. The few lampposts lighting the path towards the campus were glowing rather dimly, making the whole landscape appear almost sinister.

“Here we go,” Cat announced as she opened the umbrella. Kara gently took it and as much as she tried not to touch Cat, their fingers brushed again and she lingered, a few seconds longer than strictly necessary.

“I’m a little taller, it’s only fair I carry it,” Kara explained once she had placed the protection above their heads.

Cat nodded, before asking “Shall we?”

Kara smiled and stepped out from under the porch. Cat followed instantly, staying very close to Kara to avoid being drenched by the unforgiving rain. They made their way across the whole park, along the sports complex and in between the buildings before finally reaching the parking lot.

Cat guided Kara towards a night-blue BMW car, a small urban SUV that seemed a little too big for her. Kara would have guessed a sports car, something a little fast but nowhere that close to a soccer mom car. Then again, Cat did have a teenager son.

“Thank you, for walking with me,” Cat said as she unlocked her car, the flashing of the warning lights piercing the relative shadows of their surroundings.

“Sure, no problem,” Kara replied with a smile and she opened the door for Cat to slide in behind the wheel.

“Would you … “ Cat paused and Kara tilted her head, slightly startled by the fast heartbeat that was echoing from the woman’s chest. “Would you like to come to the Lacrosse match, next weekend? My son has been bugging me to get an extra place for his friend Jason but the young man broke his arms two days ago, while doing something reckless, and he is grounded for a few weeks.”

Kara frowned and mentally went through her program for the next few days. She didn’t have anything planned, other than spend some time with her mother and do some writing. She still didn’t want to sound too eager so she took an extra few seconds to think, before smiling.“I would love to, yes. Who’s playing?”

Cat’s smile was wide and joyful and Kara forgot about her question, staring abashedly into a pair of hazel green eyes that sparkled intensely, despite the almost non-existent light.

“I think it’s Midvale against some nearby town, I’ll have to check. I’ve never been a huge fan of the sport, I must confess …” Cat explained and she was still smiling, so Kara didn’t quite catch the answer. When the silence lasted long enough for Kara to realize she should say something, she blinked a few times and mentally racked her brain for a comeback.

“I am. A fan, I mean. I miss playing, sometimes. Anyway, I’d be happy to come, yes,” Kara finally blurted, a little too fast. Cat didn’t seem to mind though, she looked surprised instead.

“You played?”

“Whoa, you really didn’t pay any attention to the high school sport events, over the years … I was captain of the Lacrosse team for three years in a row and we won like, 95% of the games, yes,” Kara laughed and then winked at Cat, in a bold move she almost instantly regretted. Almost, because she heard Cat’s heart jump and then race, betraying the impact Kara’s gesture had on her.

“I never really cared, no. A mistake, I realize that now,” Cat nodded, before checking the time on the dashboard of her car. “I’m sorry Kara, I should get going. I have to pick up Carter before we head out to the theater … Here.”Cat pulled out a piece of paper from her purse and then rummaged around to find a pen. Once she had one, she scribbled down a series of numbers and handed the paper to Kara.

“That’s my number, send me a text so I can have yours and I’ll text you the details of Saturday’s game. It starts at 7pm, in the campus’s stadium …” Cat explained and it seemed as if she didn’t want to leave, for a few seconds. The way her blonde waves gently fell around her features made her look like an angel, and under the lights of her car, turned on to allow her to write her number, she was more beautiful than ever.

“Thank you, Miss Grant. Have a nice evening with your son, I hope the play lives up to the reviews I’ve read,” Kara offered, folding the umbrella and placing it on the backseat of the car before closing all the doors. She took a few steps back and watched as Cat maneuvered a U-turn. After one last wave, the librarian was gone and Kara watched the tail lights drive away and then disappear.

Kara stood there with a stupid smile across her lips, despite the fact she was standing in the pouring rain. She only had one thought, circling over and over in her mind.Oh gosh, I’m in love.