#okay let me first apologize for accidentally making this into a sort of zari/kendra/sara thing

[doyelikehaggis]

Rowing the Rarepair Rowboat: Kendra Saunders x Zari Tomaz (Legends of Tomorrow)

Requested by anonymous

"What is it about this year?" Sara finally asks with genuine curiosity and confusion. It's only taken a few weeks for her to ask, "Why now, out of literally any year? What is it that keeps bringing you back here?"

But Zari doesn't answer. She doesn't really have one that doesn't make her sound like a total idiot, so opting out of giving one entirely seems like the smart compromise.

She just shrugs, slipping a hand out of her jacket pocket to push the doors of the coffee shop open.

They walk in, and Zari's almost surprised that Sara follows. She never has before. This is also the first time that Sara's ever actually come with her, though; usually she just takes the jumpship on her own or they just drop her off when they're not on a mission and she feels like taking a small break.

But it's not a big deal. They settle at a small table by the wall somewhere near the middle of the room.

"Oh, come on." Sara crosses her arms on the table, leaning forward with that secretive smirk. "You've been obsessed with 2039 since we did that mission here three weeks ago. There's a reason."

"There isn't a reason," Zari insists. "I just like the year. It's nice, and it's peaceful. And sometimes I just want a break from the ship. Is that really so hard to believe?"

Sara stares at her, gaze never wavering, not even blinking as her eyes narrow slowly. It's like a super weird, analytical staring contest, and Zari's feeling like she isn't winning.

"Nope. Not buying it," Sara decides after a beat. "The team is a nightmare at times but that's why you hide out in your room, not why you take weird trips to Central City in some random year almost every day."

Zari scoffs. "It's not every day. Just the occasional one."

"This is your fourth time this week," Sara states flatly. Raising an eyebrow, she makes a motion towards herself. "So, try again. And really try and convince me this time. Because I am not believing that you--"

"Hey, hope I'm not interrupting."

Zari's eyes widen, and she barely notices Sara immediately tense up in her seat, or her face losing a few shades of colour.

They both look up at the source of the voice, one of the baristas, as she sets a plate down in front of Zari. On it sits a particularly colourful donut, dripping with chocolate and icing and what looks like peanut butter.

Zari smiles at Ciara and receives a slightly nervous, heart-fluttering one in return.

"You usually ask for whatever's new on the specials for the donuts, so..." she bites her lip, her eyes darting to Sara, then back to Zari. "I should let you two get back to it. I'll be... over there. In case you wanna order anything else."

Sara doesn't speak, even when Ciara hesitates a moment longer with a slight raise of her eyebrows. Zari pushes out a chuckle, drawing her attention back to her.

"Thanks. We'll just be a few minutes."

Ciara nods, her eyes soft and lingering on hers, and Zari is a mess on the inside. Thankfully, she has far more composure on the outside or she'd just melt into a puddle on the floor and never come back to 2039.

She can't help but let her own eyes linger on her as she turns and leaves, heading back behind the counter with her colleague.

Doing her best not to act out of the ordinary, she turns back, going to pick up the donut to take a very casual bite.

"Do you know who she is?" Sara hisses out under her breath before Zari can make a move, freezing her to the spot with wide eyes once more.

"No?" Zari ventures uncertainly. "I mean, I've seen her around here whenever I stop by, and she--"

"That's Kendra," Sara cuts her off, a sense of disbelief and urgency to her voice, doing all but pointing over in her direction. "Our Kendra! Hawkgirl! Remember? I told you about her!"

For a second, Zari thinks she's kidding for some insane reason. But there's no trace of a joke on her face.

It's kicking in now. The reason why Sara was so quiet, didn't do her usual flirting thing.

"That's Kendra?" she hisses, leaning across the table. "But you said she died! I thought--"

"Reincarnation, remember?"

Zari shakes her head. Her mouth's open but nothing's coming out. Of all the baristas, of all the random women.

"We didn't know if or when she would come back. I didn't realize that she already had."

Sara turns her head, looking over in Ciara's--or Kendra's--direction, and Zari does the same. Only Kendra's already beat them to it. When their eyes meet, hers widen, and she ducks her head, turning to hide her face from sight.

Something flips in Zari's stomach. Hunger. Definitely hunger.

"Oh my god," Sara breathes out.

"What?" Zari asks in alarm, urgent, just waiting for the next bombshell to drop.

But Sara's smirking, and paired with that narrow-eyed, knowing stare she's giving her is a look that Zari knows all too well.

"You like her," she says. "And she--" She glances at the donut and her expression is beyond disbelief. "She likes you."

"What?" Zari repeats with far more alarm now. "No. No! I don't--what? I don't--she doesn't--"

"You do and she does," Sara insists, both delighted and bewildered. "This is why you keep coming back to this year, isn't it? For Kendra?"

Zari's shaking her head too frantically, too firm, she can feel it only having the opposite affect she wants. She feigns a scoff.

"That would be totally ridiculous." She pauses, hand hovering by the donut. "Right?"

Sara's gaze softens, and her teasing stops. She shakes her head. "No. I get it. If I had known Kendra was here, I'd probably be doing the same."

"So... what do we do now?" Zari asks.

"Well," Sara takes in a deep breath, glancing over at Kendra again, now busy with a customer, "we have to trigger her memories. Remind her who she is. Or was, I suppose."

Zari nods slowly. "Okay. That should be... easy, right?"

Sara makes a face at that. "It did take pushing her off a building and then letting her jump off of the same building to do it last time, but it can't be that hard to make someone remember that they're actually over four-thousand years old."

Just staring is the only response Zari can find in herself. This is great. She gets a crush on a random girl and she turns out to be the Hawkgirl, and technically totally off-limits from what she's heard.

"Wonderful," Zari mutters, as much sarcasm coating her words as there is chocolate on her donut.

Sara clears her throat, eyes wide, and Zari manages to grasp the meaning behind the subtle motion of her head before Kendra fully reaches them again.

"I'm headed out on a break," she says. "But Dora's covering, so if you want anything... you can talk to her."

Zari nods, smiling to keep the fluttering in her chest and out of her throat. "Thanks. Again. We, uh--"

"She does want something else, actually," Sara jumps in, confidence apparently restored now that she knows what she's doing, smirk and all. "And I have a feeling that Dora won't be able to give her your number."

Zari's eyes snap to her, Kendra's eyebrows shooting up in surprise. She really hopes that her silent threat of murder gets across.

But Sara just leans back in her seat, all casual-like, and waves a hand lazily at Zari.

"My friend here is really shy, but she would love to go out with you some time if you're interested," she says.

So this is what dying of embarrassment feels like then.

She expected to experience it because of Nate, or maybe Ray, even Charlie can say some things that border on making her want to disappear, but she trusted Sara!

To her surprise, when she chances a look at Kendra while consciously choosing not to deny what Sara's saying (for the sake of the plan, for Kendra's memories, obviously), she finds a smile curving her lips.

Her gaze locks with hers as Kendra says, "I'd love to."

She just watches in shock as Kendra then pulls her phone out and writes her number down on a napkin that Sara very enthusiastically offers to her.

"I guess I'll see you soon then," Kendra says, her smile bright as she tucks her phone back into her pocket once she's done.

"Yeah. See you later," Zari agrees, almost feeling completely disconnected from her body, like she's running on autopilot.

As soon as she's out if the door, Sara's leaning right back across the table, saying, "Okay, grab that donut and that napkin and let's get back to the waverider. We have a date."

"We?" Zari repeats.

Sara shrugs. "You know what I mean. But we need to get you ready, so, come on."