Work Text:
A collab between Supergaysupercat and Shadhavar, something we've done a bunch of times before, but have never done an 'official' AO3 post with both sets of work.
Variation Set Below
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Cat stood in the center of Main Street and 37th avenue, surrounded by the city and its denizens, each of them aglow with the giant screen her own company provided as a service. Even if now it was serving as a kind of injustice, replaying the footage over and over and over in a seemingly endless loop just as it had when she was still inside CatCo.
Of all the days, today had to be the one to result in a fight of all fights. Longer than Cat had ever been witness to Supergirl being a part of. The fight had started near the city center and expanded out, and up from the ground and higher. While whatever it was that Supergirl was up against couldn’t fly, they certainly liked to jump.
Fearful of the potential damage to be rained down upon the city, Supergirl had goaded the fight in another direction; ever the protector. Ensuring that if anyone was going to get hurt, it was her or this threat, with the latter as her and the city’s preference. Cat had sent a team, like any other, to cover it via helicopter, an on site van was ready to go live once the all clear was given and the DEO moved in.
It should have been over hours ago, it should have been finished with the last blow Kara landed sending the menace two feet into the ground; but the creature just kept getting up. While Supergirl just kept taking every blow, every kick, every knock, punch, claw and punishment, handing it back with equal measure. Unwilling to give up or alter the course she had set them on, even with the raging storm that had settled over the city.
Today was supposed to be filled with date nights and marriage proposals, rose petals and candles, secret admirers and first kisses, cliche, overpriced trinkets and cards and candy and anything but what Cat and the city had been witness to.
Certainly anything but what had pulled her into the street, surrounded by traffic and people and her entire city at a stand still.
“Get up.” She heard someone shout, her own mind adding to the sentiment as she stood in front of the screen.
“Get up Supergirl!” Came another rally.
Cat clenched her fists, already soaked, watching the footage again. The two figures were airbound, kept aloft by the city’s hero, locked around one another. Supergirl’s heat vision flared to life only to bring about some kind of explosion. The camera panned back swiftly, focusing on the limp figure of blue and red before zooming in, tracking the heroine’s lifeless body, only to cut to black just before impact.
The interior cut shot of the live report had caught Supergirl’s impact, zoomed in on her body embedded in the concrete until the authorities moved in and obscured the view. Cat tried to see, tried to will herself beyond the vehicles blocking the feed before the playback of the fall took over the screen again.
Where Cat watched the screen, other’s looked to the skies, searching the dismal grey of stormclouds for their hero, for blue and red and gold and the rays of sunshine she brought with her.
“Please..” She prayed, unable to turn her eyes away from the impact, the flutter of red and lifelessness before it started up again. “Little bird please…”
The rain continued, soaking everything and seizing the hope of the city with it. No word, no report, nothing to cut away the sinking notion of their hero having succumbed.
Cat had nothing, no words, no feeling, just a vast emptiness; as if all the life and change she had allowed in herself was being drained from her like sand out of an hourglass. She had plans, she had intentions. She had finally gotten the spine she pretended to taut and despite the over commercialized ridiculousness of this Hallmark inspired holiday, she was going to dive into that blue ocean marked by a big red S at its center.
Too little. Too late.
She wanted to scream, to yell, to angrily stomp and fight past those stupid men in black, past all those trained government agents that were supposed to support Supergirl, protect her, step in when she was in trouble and instead had just sat back and watched like the city had. To break through that line of black uselessness until Cat reached the heroine, drag her up by her cape and demand she stop playing games and get up, to fight and claw and struggle to wake up and prove she was still alive.
Instead she stood, rooted to the spot, even when cars began to move again, when people started to walk with their heads down and shaking. She stood until the rain seemed like nothing, until she seemed like nothing, while the screens above still relayed no update.
No change. No hope.
Cat ignored the voices asking if she was alright, if she needed help, those that tried to get her to move to no avail. Fists slowly relaxed, shoulders dropped and eyes burned from the tears building behind her lashes, threatening to get lost in the rain still pelting her body. She swore she heard her name, distant, fleeting, a whisper of a ghost trying to torment her mind.
Until she heard it again.
“Cat?”
It was behind her, so shockingly similar to the one she wanted to hear beyond anyone else’s in this moment, she couldn’t help but turn in her dazed state. She saw the gold belt and dark button up shirt Kara had on that morning staring back at her, and the hint of red behind the buttons, near her heart. Cat swallowed visibly, dumbstruck with the vision, as red rimmed eyes tracked up and looked into the ones she shouldn’t be able to.
Kara had covered the short distance between them in purposeful strides, coming to a halt as Cat’s eyes widened and she stepped closer; suddenly half afraid to touch the other woman for fear Cat had indeed had a complete breakdown and none of this was real. That she was a shattered heap of a catatonic mess in the middle of Main Street.
“Cat.” Kara tried again. Gone was the clumsy assistant with the mild disposition, and in its place; Cat’s own personal superhero.
Cat’s breath came in short bursts of broken inhales, her bottom lip quaking as she reached for Kara, fingers finding the solidity of her countenance, digging into her skin, prying away the glasses from her face once those eyes became obscured by the rain as it rinsed them both bare.
Deep down she had always figured, always suspected, always known Kara was indeed Supergirl, despite the woman’s best and worst efforts to keep the two separated. It was something else entirely to be faced with the absolution of its truth.
In this moment there was no mistaking one for the other.
“Don’t you ever-”
“Cat…”
Cat’s whispered threat never finished, her words seized as Kara pressed her body into her, wrapping her up at the waist with one arm, smoothing the tears and rain from her cheek with her opposite hand within the span of a heartbeat before kissing Cat with abandon.
Cat curled her fist around Kara’s glasses, her free hand tangling into Kara’s ponytail and pulling hard, reminding her never to do that again without warning. She kissed Kara back fiercely, biting at her lips, dueling with her tongue, whimpering the final drudges of her anguish out while Kara breathed new life into her.
Kara pulled her closer, chasing away the emotions pulling at Cat’s lips, constricting her throat and forcing tears from her eyes. Cat grabbed for her then, fisting her shirt to the point of straining the seams, their bodies attempting to meld into one until they broke apart with a broken exhale of a cry from Cat.
Kara kissed her eyelids, her forehead, rubbed at her nose and eased her grip until she was holding Cat’s face in her hands, eyes searching the other woman’s until they locked up in each other again.
Cat choked back a sob, relief flooding her body and adrenaline beginning to ebb, threatening to steal her balance and strength out from her legs. She felt Kara’s arms wrap around her waist again to counter the motion, hugging their bodies together to keep Cat upright.
“Y-y-you have to let the city know… you’re alright.” Cat pressed, realizing her words and clinging to Kara again. “You’re alright.”
Kara nodded once, capturing Cat’s mouth again with a pained expression before tipping away.
“You first. I had-...needed…-you-, -first-.”
“You’ve ruined me.” Cat allowed half between another sob and a laugh.
“Not before you ruined me…”
Cat pulled Kara down to her again, easing her way inside Kara’s mouth with a heady whimper from the super hero, staking her claim and bending the woman to her until she was sure they were both going to fall but never did. Worrying Kara’s bottom lip between her teeth before finally releasing her.
Kara’s eyes were still closed when they separated, fingers kneading at Cat’s hips where she held her before she felt the solidity of the ground jostle her upon finding it again. As she opened her eyes slowly, she caught the haze of rain and lead just as Cat fit her glasses back in place.
“Go..” Cat sniffled, swallowing visibly as her arms wrapped around herself, clawing at her opposite biceps for want to grab at Kara again.
“-Go-” She demanded, until Kara held the side of her face again, thumb smoothing across the curve of her cheek before she slipped away into the crowd.
Cat drew in a shaky breath, hugging herself in an attempt to keep the fleeting warmth of Kara’s body with her as she turned to the view screen again, watching, waiting. She never heard the other woman approach her again, nor felt the weight of her near until she was surrounded in warmth, dry and overwhelmingly Kara.
“Hang on to this for me... “
Kara’s voice sent goosebumps with its unspoken promises against her ear, her cape fastened tight around Cat’s body as she was eased under an awning, unaware the heroine had even picked her up.
“SUPERGIRL!?” Someone shouted, stealing their moment while Cat pressed back into the woman’s chest, holding onto that cape as the hero flashed her usual smile and actually winked at the onlookers before taking to the sky.
Kara hovered above main street, sans cape, the view screen behind her suddenly flipping over to a feed depicting her unscathed and alive. She offered a much more muted smile, nodding to the camera once she caught sight of where it was, before taking off in a streak of blue across the city where cheers and shouts followed.
No one dared to even touch the cape settled around Cat’s shoulders, fisted in her hands and pulled closed as she walked back inside her building, leaving wet footprints in her wake along the lobby and soaking the floor of her private elevator.
Her office floor said nothing, each employee standing at attention in silence, relieved and confused and some even a little impressed as Cat left her little trail, surrounded in Supergirl’s mantle before she disappeared behind the door of her private ensuite.
Hours later she was still minimally surprised no one in the building’s entirety had disturbed her, save for Olsen, who checked in with her through the glass of her office with a look and a nod before heading out himself. Given the hour and the holiday it was safe to say that aside from the lone security guard on the first floor, she was alone in the building. Par for the course all things considered.
Cat was changed, tucked inside a thick cable knit sweater not of her own choosing, Kara’s cape hung over the back of her office chair, providing a constant surround to her in place of the woman it belonged to.
No doubt she had things to do,to take care of, to settle up with the events of today; something Cat swore to herself she would eventually get used to before she heard the slide of her balcony door move aside.
Her heart was already aflutter before she turned her features to look at the woman, feeling her throat run dry when Kara stepped out of the shadow, dressed in a fitted black suit, sans tie, a small green object in her grasp.
Cat was up in an instant, crossing the distance between them only to stop a few breaths away.
“Someone might have seen you...”
“You’re wearing my sweater..”
“What’s that?”
“Are you alright?”
Kara rubbed at the back of her neck as they spoke over each other again, the small box offered to Cat without fanfare.
“I meant, didn’t mean for this all today, but for you to .. “ Kara huffed. “I wanted to give this to you before now but I couldn’t-”
“Find the time.”
Kara nodded up, hands going into her pockets as she drew in a slow breath, already biting at her bottom lip as Cat turned the box over before opening it and raising a brow. Nestled in the pillowy confines was a sliver of clear crystal, but instead of reflecting the standard rainbow prism, it only put out shades of green.
“It’s, the only thing that can get close enough to hurt me.”
Cat seemed taken aback, suddenly fearful and snapping the lid shut while Kara actually let out a small laugh.
“No, not… “ Kara stepped closer, fingers tangling with Cat’s as she pushed the box open between them, lifting the crystal out by the thin chain it was bound to. “Like that.”
They edged around one another like magnets, pushing and pulling until Kara drew the object around Cat’s throat and linked the clasp.
“I know you. I know deep down you secretly love the little nuances of today. Despite not having anything delivered to the office. No exchange of cards or secret notes on the stems of followers.”
Kara turned Cat around by the shoulders then, easing the pendant down until it rested flat against her chest.
Cat swallowed thickly, glancing down where she felt the crystal warm to her skin and a half degree higher before looking back up to Kara.
“I never meant to ruin today for you.” Kara glanced back up to Cat then. “I also know I’ve had this for two Valentine’s Days now, and was going to give it to you tonight one way or another.”
“Y..you said it, can hurt, I .. I don’t want to seem ungrate-”
“It’s Kryptonite.” Cat stiffened sharply until Kara stepped closer, as sure as ever. “Neutralized, Kryptonite.”
“So it’s not hurting you now?”
Kara shook her head. “But it can. I would never know it, never feel it or see it coming. It’s the only other thing I’m vulnerable to.”
Cat looked almost panic stricken, drawing Kara closer, pawing gently at her arms until they surrounded her waist and held her close.
“Why...I, it could- I don’t understand, only other thing?”
“You.”
“What?”
“You.. are the most vulnerable thing about me Cat... even more so now.” They moved easily, almost as if dancing to some tune only the pair of them heard. “I wanted, needed you to know that. Besides today is for secret admirers.”
Cat looked confused and Kara just smirked, leaning closer.
“Today, secret admirers are supposed to give gifts declaring their… intentions, that they might not otherwise on any other day right?”
Cat nodded, feeling Kara’s hands smooth along her back and around her hips.
“I’ve been admiring you for so long..” Kara whispered.
Cat nosed at Kara’s features, fingertips fanning across the woman’s jaw where her arms rested against the woman’s chest, easily catching sight of her super suit just below the buttoned line of her shirt.
“This feels like a goodbye.” Cat whispered, her lips barely touching Kara’s skin before she looked up at her, searching those blue eyes for the truth.
Kara licked her lips, hands fitting easily around Cat’s waist.
“It’s, an offer. An understanding.” Kara drew a deep breath, fingers flexing in place as she squared her shoulders. “If, you can’t. Because of Carter, Adam, because incidents like today will happen again and might be worse.” Kara hated this, had the day Eliza broached the subject with her when she was sixteen and supposedly in love.
“Your life will never be like it is right now, ever again, nor will your sons or anyone else's. Believe me, when I tell you I understand if, if you can’t. It, it can be enough just to know you’re in the world and that you care about me, maybe even..” Kara let out a breath shaking her head and refusing to finish the end of a sentiment that wasn’t hers to give. “There’s so much more that I’m forgetting but it-”
Kara never finished her sentence, instead Cat grabbed the lapels of her jacket and yanked her down, kissing the words right out of her lungs. She fought and pressed, gasping for breath as she turned her head for a deeper angle until Kara banged into her desk, jostling them apart.
“My life never was like anyone else's, I’ll be damned if I let it start to be now Kara.”
Cat ushered Kara back, forcing her onto the desk as she fit herself between Kara’s knees while Kara’s hands kneaded at her sides. Cat’s hands smoothed inward, palming over the muscle of Kara’s chest while her thumbs hooked around her shirt, easily prying the halves apart button by button until she reached Kara’s waist.
“You’re not the only one in the room who can claim being a secret admirer Kara.”
Kara swallowed visibly, glancing down the the exposure of her suit, her family crest blazing proudly behind the edges of white only to feel her body hum when Cat slid her hands around her suit from her solar plexus and out around her ribs.
Cat’s forehead brushed against Kara’s chin, eyes watching her hands tease and pull at Kara’s abdomen enough for her to see. The play of muscles at her simple explorative touch pawing at Cat’s insides.
“Even before you ever put this on..”
Kara surrounded Cat’s hips when the woman leaned her body flush between Kara’s legs, thumbs kneading at the round of her hipbones while Cat nuzzled her features with a soft purr of appreciation.
“I had plans for us, for you.”
“I’m sor-ry..” Kara tipped her head to the side, words catching with the press of Cat’s fingers high against her sides, thumbs teasing across the edges of her crest.
Cat shook her head back and forth slowly. “The storm ruined it not you, never you. You’ve only made up for it, coming here like this.” Cat nosed Kara’s chin, making the woman look at her as she reached up, smoothing her touch across Kara’s cheek, thumb brushing over her mouth.
“Would you, Kara-”
“Zor-El…”
Cat rose a brow at the interruption.
“My name..” Kara whispered, causing the corner of Cat’s mouth to quirk upward.
“Would you, Kara Zor-El Danvers, like to have dinner with me?”
Kara’s fingertips brushed across Cat’s face then, while Cat leaned ever closer, the weight of Kara’s touch at her hips replaced by the gentle vice of her thighs to keep her in place. She felt euphoric, like her entire body was brought to life by that simple question.
“Ask me again.”
Cat actually smiled, giving the smallest shakes of her head before licking her lips and drawing closer still.
“Would you..” She started, teasing Kara’s bottom lip with her words. “Like to have dinner with me..-”
Kara let out a soft whimper, half lidded eyes searching Cat’s own as they wavered closer to one another. “Name… say my name again Cat, please..” Kara’s voice barely registered as a whisper and Cat leaned her entire body against Kara’s own.
Her lips brushed Kara’s, forming each letter perfectly. “Kara Zor-El-”
Kara drew Cat close, fingers threading deep into her hair as she closed the breath of a gap between them with another reaffirming kiss. Cat went limp in her grasp, giving into the the intensity of Kara claiming her all over again. Kara’s legs flexed tighter, pulling Cat into the whole of herself as she bent her head back and kissed her breathless.
It wasn’t until Cat’s fingers dug into her sides that Kara eased up, tugging on Cat’s lips before separating from her.
Cat sucked in a deep breath, using Kara for balance as she felt her world tilt on its axis, the haze of her vision dispersing on the edge of a soft laugh of disbelief. “Damn..” She whispered before tucking her bottom lip in and chasing the taste of Kara from it.
She flexed her hands around Kara’s waist, thankful the other woman was holding her up before she finally opened her eyes and spoke again.
“Get your cape off the back of that chair and take me home then..”