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i. The Lab
Moon Girl’s Secret Hidden Underground Lab is one of the coolest freaking things Casey has ever seen.
There’s in-progress experiments and equipment and machinery everywhere. It’s cluttered and bright and so much like Lunella it makes Casey very, very aware that the other girl is essentially trusting her with a huge, hidden part of herself.
“It’s amazing,” she says, turning to Lu and smiling. She reaches up to tickle Devil along his jaw, and he trills at her, eyes wide.
“I think he likes you,” Lunella laughs, slinging an arm across her shoulders. “Do you like movies? It’s movie night.”
ii. I. S. 833
School doesn’t come easy to Casey, so when Lu says, “Hey, what if I tutored you?” It almost seems like fate. It also gives them a good, non-Moon-Girl reason to hang out, which is nice. They end up in Casey’s room, sprawled across the bed, and Lunella’s eyes look around, at the photos of her dads, at the awards for art and design, at the pride flag she’d sewed herself hanging off her desk. Lu’s eyes linger on it, for just a moment, before she turns to Casey with a grin.
“So, what you need to understand about algebra is…”
iii. Roll With It
She’s not confident in skates the way Lunella is. Lu is skating around the rink like it’s nothing, like she doesn’t even have to think about it. Casey’s seen her in action as Moon Girl and knows just how damn good she is in skates. But it’s something else entirely to see her do it for fun.
Lunella skates up to her and grabs her hands, tugs her onto the rink.
“Lu!” Casey protests. “I’ll fall!”
Lunella grins wide. “I won’t let you.”
Casey allows herself to be pulled out on the floor, and they skate together, hand in hand.
iv. Ahmed’s Deli
Getting Lunella breakfast on the way to school becomes second nature. Casey walks into Ahmed’s, grabs two of the world’s best breakfast sammies, and swings by the Lafayette’s building on her way. Lunella’s not a morning person, so it usually takes a few bites of her sandwich (and a sneaky sip of Casey’s coffee when Adria’s not looking) to get her to her bright, fantastic self.
“Love you,” Lunella murmurs one morning. Casey isn’t sure if she means her or the sandwich, but it doesn’t stop warmth from blooming beneath her ribcage regardless.
“C’mon,” she says. “Let’s get to school.”
v. East River Park
Casey picks up Devil’s frisbee and gives it an almighty throw, sending it soaring (and the ten-ton T-Rex thundering after it.) As she sprints the other way, waiting for Devil to get ahold of it, she can hear Lunella’s laughter somewhere behind her, clear and bright and full of glory.
They don’t get a lot of time like this anymore, time to just be kids. There’s always some superhero emergency or another pulling Lu away. But for now, they have this. Casey wouldn’t give up these moments for anything.
“Gotcha!” Lu tackles her, and they sprawl in the grass, giggling.
vi. Casey’s Shul
Lunella goes with Casey to shul sometimes. She’s not religious herself, but she knows that it’s important to Casey, and that’s reason enough for her to tag along. They sit quietly while Casey studies the texts, murmuring Hebrew to herself under her breath. Somehow, somehow, Casey’s hand always finds Lunella’s own, her own way of grounding herself as she learns.
The texts don’t say a lot about love, the kind of love Casey feels for Lunella. But they do say to love others as you love yourself. And Casey? Casey loves Lunella like she loves everything: wholly, completely, without shame.
vii. The Rooftop
Their first kiss is magical.
Casey cups Lunella’s face and leans in, pressing their lips together in a gentle embrace. Lu’s hand snakes up and tangles itself in her silky hair, pulling her closer, and her other hand finding Casey’s, entwining their fingers together.
When they break apart, a giggle bubbles out of Casey’s mouth, and Lunella looks at her like she hung the stars in the sky.
She wraps an arm around Lunella and draws her closer, looking up at the night sky above them. Lu’s head drops on her shoulder, and she sighs, smiling brightly.
“I love you.”
viii. Bubbe Bina’s Knish Niche
The macarons Casey bundles up get tucked into her bag as she slides a few bills over the counter to Zekiyah.
“Are these for Moon Girl?” Zekiyah asks, counting the change. Casey smiles.
“They’re for my girlfriend.”
Zekiyah grins. “Is your girlfriend Moon Girl?”
Unable to help the blush creeping in her cheeks, Casey shakes her head. Truthfully, she wants to scream it from the rooftops: MY GIRLFRIEND IS THE BEST SUPERHERO IN NEW YORK! But she can’t.
She can buy macarons, however.
She waves at Bubbe Bina as she leaves. With these macarons, they’ll have an amazing Valentine’s Day.
ix. The SHIELD Airstrip
With Lunella’s arms around her, Casey breathes in deep and inhales the soft scent of argan oil and science, something she’s not going to get for who knows how long – Days? Weeks? Months? Thinking about it makes her want to cry, and she’s not going to, because this is so big for Lunella. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime.
She’s happy. She’s going to keep saying that.
“I’m going to miss you,” Lu whispers in her ear. Casey swallows back an “I love you” and settles for, “I’ll miss you, too.”
The SHIELD plane disappears as quickly as it came.
x. The Goldberg-Calderon Apartment
It’s been a year.
It’s been a year, and Casey has cried herself to sleep so many nights it almost feels like it doesn’t matter anymore. She’s starting high school, soon. It feels weird to be going through it without her. Eduardo sits next to her in class, sometimes, but they don’t talk about Lunella. It’s too hard.
She has the Good Word Warriors to keep her busy, at least.
There’s a knock at the door, and she opens it, expecting a package or something.
Lunella doesn’t even speak, just grabs her face and kisses her, kisses her, kisses her.