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Alex was never quite sure what had inspired her to enter that store on that day. She liked wearing all black – she’d even been wearing all black at the time – but the store had “vampire goth” written all over it, and that wasn’t her thing. She liked her clothes simple, while goth style often seemed… busy, at least in her eyes. Still, she never knew what she might find. She entered the store, perused past black denim jackets she’d never wear and jewelry she couldn’t care less about, and wandered into a section of collars. Literal, actual collars. Muttering, “How do you even kiss someone with spikes on their neck?” she made an about-face – and then paused. Something had caught her eye. She almost didn’t want to look; it surely wasn’t as nice as it had seemed in her motion-blurred peripheral vision, right? Nothing there had been her style, because big leather collars weren’t her style.
Alex turned and looked – and lost her breath. Around the throat of a plastic woman’s head was a black velvet choker necklace, narrow, thin, and plain. From the front hung a thumbnail-sized silver charm.
It was the crest of the House of El.
Before she’d even processed the blatant Superman profiteering, she’d already taken the necklace off of the head-mannequin and closed it around her own neck. Alex stared at herself in a nearby mirror. The black velvet looked perfect against her skin, and the charm… she found herself touching it with reverence. It wasn’t silver, like she’d thought; it was simple stainless steel, cut out so that her skin provided the background for the symbol inside the crest.
She wondered if the cashier could ring it up without her having to take it off. He’d probably think she was a hopeless Superman fangirl, but so what? She’d never see him again. Besides, his store was selling the thing. “Just this,” she told him, and twisted the tag to show the barcode. She still hadn’t looked at the price.
“That, huh?” The cashier leaned over the counter to scan the tag. “Never thought it was that creative. I mean, he’s Superman. I get it. I don’t need a big ‘S’ to tell me.”
“It’s not an ‘S’.” Alex stopped herself before she said any more. The cashier just gave her a strange look and took her money, which suited Alex fine.
On the bus back to campus, it would’ve been nice to have a light jacket or a something to cover her neck. Wearing Kara’s symbol while alone in public was a self-conscious experience. If Kara had been with her, though… sitting close, holding her shoulders…
Still smiling to herself, Alex pulled the cord for her stop, and then hid the necklace inside her bralette. That put her mind at ease for the walk back to her dorm, yet still kept the crest close to her heart. Once inside her room, she decided, she’d put the necklace on again, and then change into her one and only turtleneck shirt. She’d be able to relax in the common room of her suite while she waited for Kara to return from her last class of the afternoon. Kara, and only Kara, would see exactly what her girlfriend was wearing, and know exactly who Alex belonged to. Alex didn’t think Kara would be able to keep her hands to herself for longer than ten seconds. She expected to be pinned against the wall of their room within twenty.
Kara proved her right – and Alex didn’t give a fuck who heard.