Chapter Text
"Oh my god."
The sudden outburst had both James and Winn searching out the source of the exclamation, their eyes settling on Lucy's shocked expression, mouth agape in a gasp.
Following Lucy's gaze, her eyes had been locked on the display past the glass windows separating Cat's office from her employees, to the space beyond.
Encased within, Kara was seated next to Cat on the couch, the two women angled toward each other as they leaned over the coffee table to view the newest outline they were currently discussing. Though the three weren't privy to what was being said, they could see Kara with a look of concentration on her face and she studied the outline, her glasses having tracked a bit down her nose.
But Cat's attention wasn't on the outline she was poised to approve, but rather fixed on Kara. The three observed as Cat lifted a hand to Kara's face, effectively interrupting whatever musings Kara had about the new design. Cat turned Kara's face toward her as she pushed the glasses further up her face, her hand lingering a moment on her cheek after righting the glasses, before falling back into place at her side. A smile shared between them both as Kara gestured to the table, their conversation resuming once more.
"Oh. My. God." Lucy exclaimed again, each word annunciated to reflect the disbelief enriched in her tone, seemingly oblivious of James and Winn standing a few feet from her. Her eyes were wide, eyebrows raised, her expression an open reveal of bewilderment.
James and Winn looked between one another, equally panicked looks adorning their features. James brought his hand up to his face, making a notion Winn thought to mean 'glasses', before the two turned their attention to the shocked woman who remained fixed to the interactions of the medial mogul and her assistant in the office beyond.
"Lucy," James trailed off, his tone a careful tread as he reached a hand out toward her, drawing Lucy's gaze to the two anxious men before her.
"You can't tell anyone that Kara is Supergirl!" Winn spoke in a rushed whisper of panic on the heel of James's appeal, head bent closer in to whisper his conspiratorial musing.
At this, two pairs of eyes were instantly on Winn, James's still a panicked stare, and Lucy's brow furrowing in questioning at his sudden outburst. But then her eyes grew wider as realization dawned.
"Wait," Lucy said, quickly glancing behind her at the office and back to Winn in a flash, "Kara is Supergirl?!" she questioned in a whisper, astonishment and disbelief coming together in her voice.
James's head whipped back to her as Winn's eyes threatened to tumble from his head at the taken aback expression about his features. Then the two of them looked to each other for a second, and then turned their attention back to her once more.
And really, if she weren't so preoccupied by the massive revelation that just happened, Lucy might have considered the sight they must've have presented–the two men twisting their heads back and forth and back again, their eyes comically wide.
It's like they belonged in cartoon.
Cut to two sets of eyes bulging out of their heads, increasing three times in size.
"Oh my god!" Well, damn. Kara is Supergirl. She can’t really say that she had seen that one coming.
"Shhh!" James hushed at the same time Winn exclaimed, "Keep your voice down!" James turned his head about the office–and really, again? Wasn't it getting uncomfortable by now?–to check for anyone that may have overheard their exchange. Satisfied that their conversation had gone unnoticed, he turned an accusatory stare in Winn's direction.
"What?" Winn shot back, shrugging his shoulders in defense. "We were both thinking it, I'm just the one who said something."
"No, you're the one who blew it up–"
"You did the whole glasses thing."
"That doesn't mean you had to–"
"I panicked! It happens."
"It was premature–"
"You wouldn't know anything about things coming premature would–"
"Seriously?!" Lucy interrupted their snipping. "My god, the two of you bicker like an old married couple, it's like your dating him instead of me," Lucy said offhandedly in James's direction.
Mind still processing, Lucy's thoughts raced at the new revelation, before a new thought tickled her conscious and her brow furrowed in thought. "Do all of your bff's have super powers?" Lucy questioned with a hint of exasperation, her attention on James. "First the big guy, and now her?"
"Any more super friends that you’re hiding?"
James shot her a disbelieving look. "I do have other friends!" James asserted in defense.
"Yeah, I know about the time The Bat came to Metropolis and you wouldn't stop talking about–"
"I do!" James cut in before he looked to Winn for help.
Lucy scoffed, her eyes leveling a fierce look before at him before she focused on Winn once more. "Wait, don't tell me," Lucy began, "Is Green Lantern hiding beneath that shirt and tie?" Lucy said, her hands on her hips, gaze appraising Winn.
It was Winn's turn to scoff, as he questioned, "Why would you assume I'm Green Lantern?" a hint of offense to his tone.
"Why can't I be Spider-Man?" Winn continued, a petulance evident in his voice as his own hands took up residence on his hips.
"Not helping, Winn," James interjected as the stare off between his girlfriend and the other man continued full force.
"But Spider-Man is more badas–," Winn began, before a sharp look silenced him.
"Lucy," James drew out the word, breaking their intense stare.
A deep breath of composure, James continued, imploring Lucy's silence "You can't tell anyone."
And glancing back through the glass windows of Cat's office, at the two within, Lucy thought she wouldn't have to. Because if the two of them couldn't get it together and stop acting like two lovestruck puppies, the whole world would be able to see it.
She knew that look–that look of intensity that passed between the two of them sometimes; the one filled with impossible longing–because she had seen it before.
In how Supergirl looked at Cat. And how Cat looked back at her.
The strength of that look, the simmering suggestion of what could lie underneath it–it didn't matter which persona the newly revealed hero portrayed, the look stayed the same.
She found herself honestly surprised she hadn't picked up on it before. Now that it had been brought forth to her conscious mind, it was obvious. And she couldn't un-see it now, her mind playing over the countless interactions she had seen between the two.
It wasn't just obvious now. It was glaring.
"Lucy—" James's voice brought her from her musings, back to the present, where the implied question waited for a resolution.
This would complicate things with her job, yes, but it wasn’t the first time she had been charged with the arduous task of keeping such a big secret.
"Alright, alright," she acquiesced. "Her secret is safe with me."
The two men breathed a sigh of relief, before James spoke in consideration, "We could actually use your help."
At Lucy's questioning glance, he continued, "We do what we can to help Kara," lowering his voice before he added, "to help Supergirl as best we can."
"We could always use someone else that we can trust," he concluded, a hopeful look coloring his features..
Lucy took a moment to consider it, as she turned to observe the happenings within Cat's office again. Kara and Cat were conversing again, Kara listening intently, all of her focus on whatever Cat was saying, until Kara laughed, her hand landing on Cat's forearm in an unconscious casual contact.
And Jesus, didn't they realize that the office walls were made of glass?
That people could, you know, actually see them?
...They hung off every word the other one said. They could be talking about what stamps to use on the outgoing mail and Lucy had no doubt their expressions would be the same, so positively infatuated with each other.
Cue the cartoon heart eyes.
But maybe–maybe something that delicate and precious deserved to be protected.
Mind made up, resolute in her decision, she turned her attention back to the two anxious men. "Alright," she spoke with vigor, "I'm in!"
James and Winn shared a look of gleeful surprise, a wide smile overtaking Winn's face.
"Welcome to the Supersquad!" Winn said excitedly to Lucy, eyes alight as he reached out his hand for a high-five.
Except he was left hanging by the judgmental look on Lucy's face as she stood, arms crossed over her chest. Looking between the two, she added dryly, "Please don't tell me you actually call yourselves that."
Winn looked at his still unclasped hand, hanging limp in the air. Waiting. Patiently. Just waiting.
This always seemed to happen to him.
"It was his idea," James and Winn exclaimed in tandem a beat later, each pointing a finger and blame at the other.
The challenging lift of Lucy's eyebrow said all she needn't speak.
Seconds into an awkward silence later, Winn righted himself, straightening his tie. "Um, right" Winn began again, his hand rubbing the back of his neck in an attempt to quell the creeping redness of embarrassment that threatened to overtake his face. "I'm going to," he continued, "Supersquad," he said, flustered. "Do Supersquad stuff!" he amended a second later, turning to leave.
"In our headquarters," he added as he brushed past Lucy. "For Supersquad members only," she could hear his continued muttering as he stalked away.
Staring at the retreating form of the man, Lucy questioned dryly to James, "Please tell me he isn't hiding a Supersquad undershirt beneath all of those cardigans.”
"I wouldn't be surprised," James spoke, his deep timbre reflecting his amusement.
After a pause passed between them, James questioned "So you're really ok with," he trailed off, his hands gesturing toward Kara, where she was laughing at something Cat must've said, a light blush coloring her cheeks and a nervous smile in place.
"Well it makes sense," Lucy said after a brief consideration, her voice holding none of the speckled disbelief it held earlier. "Clark Kent is Superman, after all," she said, letting her statement trail off into the air.
"You know?!" James said immediately, his turn now to be exasperated and surprised.
"Although at least he works with my sister, instead of under her." Lucy continued, musing to herself as if she hadn't heard James's outcry. "I wonder if that makes her the bottom in the relationship or if the super strength gets in the way of that?" her face twisted in consideration of the question.
"Wha—," James began, confused a bit at Lucy's musings and lost in his attempt to follow thm, before his mind refocused. "Wait," he said, trying to turn his thoughts into a coherence that could be verbalized. "You knew" he continued, "all this time?"
Lucy scoffed, "Of course I knew!" before she elaborated, simply, "He's dating my sister," voice reflecting the disbelief that he thought she wouldn't know. That she would allow Clark to date her sister without knowing everything there was to know about him.
So she was a bit over protective. It was her job as a sister. Large in part, she felt she always made calculated, smart decisions when it came to protecting her.
Except that time she threatened harm to Clark if he ever hurt her. Of course, that was before she had found out his true identity. But really, "I will cut you if you ever hurt her"–not the best idea she's ever had.
Seriously, I will cut you? Damn teenage years.
James's look brought her back to the present, conveying that he wished her to elaborate further. "No one from this planet is as squeaky clean," she shrugged in nonchalance. "Certainly not between three different vets from the FBI, CIA, and the DOJ," she continued, still in disbelief that once she had the access to look, her search hadn't turned up a shred of indecency.
"You had him vetted?!" James cried, shock further etched into his features.
He really did look comical, she mused.
She's just waiting now for the anvil to fall somewhere and complete this cartoon of a spectacle.
"He's dating my sister," she annunciated each word in emphasis, as if such a reason was obvious and justified.
"And he's your secret boyfriend," she added, another reason to know exactly who she cared about was getting into bed with. Figuratively. Ok, literally too. For her sister at least, but just...no...
A look of queasiness passed briefly over her features, before it faded, replaced by mirth.
"Do I have to worry about him," she gestured in the direction that Winn had left, "being your secret boyfriend too now?" she questioned, an upward tint to her lips signifying the amusement coloring her tone.
James rolled his eyes, "Lucy."
"I don't know, you two seem awfully chummy," she teased.
"Lucy!" And even though he sounded ruffled, Lucy could see the smile in his eyes, hear it in his voice.
"Relax," she reassured him. "At least I can keep an eye out that your bromance doesn't go too overboard," she continued, smile taking over her features before she finished "now that I'm part of the Supersquad too."
Another eye roll form James, he replied in jest, "Winn will be just thrilled." He let out a sigh, and left them in the comfortable silence that settled between them.
Side by side, leaned back against the desk, the two turned their attention once more to the happenings of the office in front of them. And though they still couldn't hear what was being said, it did not deter their quiet observation.
Apparently the two women had reached a pause in their debate over the design outline, as Kara was now at the far side of the room, fetching Cat a glass of water. She returned to stand in front of the other woman, Cat's gaze on her as she moved. Cat's hand closed around hers as she took the proffered drink, her eyes never leaving Kara's. Their gazes remained locked for a beat, before Cat completed the transfer of the drink, her attention focused once more on the layout as Kara sat down again, if only slightly closer to Cat this time.
"So wait," James began, a question beneath the surface of his tone, drawing Lucy's gaze away from her fixation with inner room and back to him.
"If you didn't know about Kara, what was the 'oh my god' about," and with this he raised his voice to a higher pitch, shaking his hands about in a spectacle as he mocked Lucy, "in the first place?"
Lucy answered in a smirk that covered her features, turning her head back to observe the scene that had started all of this. In her periphery, she could see James cross his arms over his chest, his eyes trained in her, waiting for an answer.
Lucy continued to look forward, before she replied, her tone confident in her assertion, "Just the fact that they're totally in love with each other."
She could see James's mouth fall open and his gaze shoot forward to the office in front of them. "Or have they not realized it yet?" she finished.
Oh, she was going to have so much fun with this.
Out of the corner of her eye, Lucy saw James's mouth right itself closed, his head tilt his head in contemplation, forehead crinkled, taking in the two women behind the glass once more.
Here’s the cloud thought bubble.
Wait for it.
Wait. For. It.
"...oh my god."
And there's the anvil.