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Kara Zor-El sat at the small, unassuming kitchen table in Wayne Manor, finishing up her second helping of Alfred's famous chicken parm. Jason Todd sat across from her, carefully picking at his plate, though his appetite had waned after the long day in Gotham's gritty underworld. The dim light cast a warm glow over the kitchen, the kind of cozy ambiance that felt entirely out of place after an adrenaline-fueled mission.
Jason leaned back in his chair, swirling a glass of whisky in his hand. "So, what was teenage Kara like? Were you some kind of Kryptonian valedictorian or whatever?"
Kara laughed softly, shaking her head as she set her fork down. "Not even close. My teenage years on Earth? They were… a mess. A complete disaster, honestly."
Jason raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Yeah? You? Little Miss Perfect? Spill."
Kara rolled her eyes at the nickname but grinned. "Okay, well, when I first landed on Earth, I was 15. Back home, on Krypton, I had a normal life - school, friends, a future. Then Krypton explodes, I get thrown into space, and when I finally land here? I can’t even talk to anyone. I didn’t know English, couldn’t read it, couldn’t write it. And don’t get me started on Earth history or literature. It was all so… overwhelming."
Jason chuckled. "Yeah... And I bet Algebra II must’ve seemed like child’s play."
"Oh, it was worse than that," Kara said, leaning forward, her tone animated now. "The science and math? It was like being asked to finger-paint when I already knew how to build a quantum reactor. But English?" She groaned theatrically. "Learning to read English was the worst. Your language makes no sense. Why does ‘through’ sound nothing like ‘though’? And why does ‘colonel’ sound like ‘kernel’? I mean, who decided that?"
Jason smirked. "Yeah, English sucks. You’ve got a point. So, what? You just kind of… suffered through high school?"
"Pretty much. They enrolled me in 10th grade at the local high school. Clark and the Danvers cooked up this whole backstory - war refugee from Eastern Europe, no papers, no history. All I had was this fake story about being their distant cousin. I went to school with my foster sister, Alex, but really, that whole year was just me learning English and trying not to look like an alien."
Jason snorted. "No offense, but you must’ve stuck out like a sore thumb."
Kara laughed. "Oh, I definitely did. I tried so hard to fit in, but I didn’t understand anything. Pop culture references flew over my head, group projects were a nightmare, and don’t even get me started on gym class. Do you know how hard it is to not throw a dodgeball at super speed?"
Jason leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "So you were the weird kid. Got it."
"Basically," Kara admitted with a shrug. "By the time I turned 16, I realized it wasn’t worth it. I wasn’t going to catch up in two years on all of Earth's history or read enough Shakespeare to make it matter. And the math and science were so easy it was boring. So, I dropped out. Figured I didn’t need a diploma to be Supergirl."
Jason gave a low whistle. "Man, I’m kind of jealous. You got to skip out on all the awkward prom invites and SAT stress. Not that I really had time for any of that, either."
"Right," Kara said, her tone softening. "You were Robin back then. Fighting crime instead of worrying about homecoming dances."
Jason shrugged, a hint of bitterness creeping into his voice. "Yeah, no prom for me. Just nightly patrols and occasionally getting my ass handed to me by psychopaths. Then, y’know, the whole ‘dying’ thing kind of put a damper on my high school experience."
There was a beat of silence before Kara leaned forward, resting her chin in her hand. "Sounds like neither of us got the classic teenage experience, huh?"
Jason smirked. "Guess not. But hey, at least you got to skip the bad cafeteria food and pep rallies. Sounds like a win."
Kara smiled, her expression warm. "Yeah, maybe. But sometimes I wonder… what it would’ve been like to just be normal for a while. Go to school dances, have a summer job, complain about finals. I’ll never know."
Jason tapped his glass against hers with a crooked grin. "Here’s to skipping out on normal. Who needs it, anyway?"
Kara chuckled, clinking her
glass against his. "Yeah. Who needs it?"