Interlude
The last thing Kara remembered was being in a waiting room at Owen's hospital, so waking up in her own room tucked in neatly with her shoes on the floor beside her is a little unexpected. The light coming through her window tells her it's just before noon, and the echo of one heartbeat tells her she doesn't need to get out of bed yet. Instead, she rolls away from the light, dragging the sheets with her, and wonders about what's under her skin-
"You're up?" Power Boy asks quietly from the doorway, Sunshine at his heels.
"...yeah." She sits up, hugging her knees, and rubs her eyes hastily with one hand. "I'm up. You're up. What's up?"
He smiles faintly at her joke, if it counts as one, running his hand through his tousled hair, and crouches to scratch behind Sunshine's ears. "Not much. I made some breakfast, I hope you don't mind-"
"No, breakfast sounds- breakfast sounds awesome. Give me a minute." She rolls out of bed and goes to her dresser, pulling her shirt off as she goes, and for once she doesn't do it just so she can gauge how reluctant he is to drag his eyes respectfully away. For the record, very, but he does it fast. Nice boy.
"Okay," he says, keeping his eyes on the ground, "Come on, Sunny, let's go finish it up."
***
When she emerges from her room in a pair of jeans and a tank top he's just finishing setting out her plate, and looks up with a nervous, subdued smile at her approach.
"You look nice," he says, and she knows better; fingernail polish chipped, hair a frizzy mess no comb will tame, in junk clothes. Any other day, she'd be mortified to let a boy see her like this, but today she nods and sits down at the kitchen table and looks at what he made for her. Bacon, blueberry pancakes, and a sunnyside-up egg, with a glass of milk beside it.
"I figured- a little sunshine might help you feel better," he explains, sitting down across from her and tugging at the bottom of his rumpled t-shirt with faint tear stains somebody without supereyes would miss on his shoulder. Deductions gained from this: he's not used to wearing normal clothes, which means he's probably not a kid from Iowa who fell into a vat of chemicals, and he didn't go home to change his outfit or take a shower.
"Thanks."
For the next few minutes, she eats. It doesn't taste like anything, but if somebody goes to the trouble to make you breakfast after you used them as a hankerchief you fucking well eat it. When she's done, she picks up her plate, intending to take it to the sink, but he gets up and takes both dish and glass before she has a chance.
"I'll get it, okay?" He smiles again, so unsure she doesn't know what else to do but smile back, weakly. He hustles off and opens the tap, and as he washes she folds her arms on the table and rests her head on top of them. A wet nose bumps against her bare foot, but she doesn't pay attention.
"I slept on the couch last night, I hope you don't mind, I just didn't want to leave you alo- Kara?"
He puts his hands on her back, and she doesn't know what it is about that, but the heat gathering in her head drains back to her stomach. Crying is basically a localized thunderstorm, when she thinks about it, and she lifts her head with dry eyes to look at him.
"I'm okay." She puts her hand on his arm and watches the worry etched into his face so clear even she could read it recede, though not disappear.
"Are you sure?" He bends over to put himself at her eye level, leaving his hands on her back, and she nods. She's not, but God-
"Why are you here?"
"What?" He blinks, confused, and his big brown eyes catch some of the light from another of the windows she has all over the place. She brings her hand up, suddenly, and almost cups his face with it before she stops herself, leaving it still and pointless in the air between them.
"Why are you- look, okay, I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything, but you barely know me, and yeah, we've been getting along great the last couple weeks and I like you, and I sort of think you don't totally hate me, but I mean- you don't have to be here. Dealing with- with this stupid-"
"Kara." He picks her chair up and turns it around to face him, his hands on the armrests as he leans in to talk to her. It's too close for comfort, too close, period, for anybody to be if she's not sucking on their face or hitting them, but there he is. "I want to be here. Why else do you think I would be?"
"Because- I don't know, because you think I'll be mad or something if you leave? I'm a big girl, I don't need-" She squirms in place, breaking eye contact and folding her arms over her chest "-I'm sure you've got a lot of better things to do, so you know, just- go and do them."
For what feels like a long time after that, both of them are silent.
"You want me to leave." He's so quiet when he says it she looks up, and their eyes lock together- his wide and something that makes them soft, crumpling (hurt) and hers wide too, though she doesn't know what else they are without a mirror.
"That's not what I said," she protests as he straightens up, stepping backwards with his hands at his side.
"Did I do something wrong?" She can't read him at all, and it's getting worse by the second. She stands up herself, raising her hands. If she'd admit it, she'd say she was scared. Scared of fucking up something else, everything else, and not even knowing how this time.
"No, that's not what this is, okay? I just- I didn't mean it like that." She didn't. (Did she? She can't remember.)
"Then what did you mean?" He's stopped moving, at least, and she doesn't until she's close enough to touch him again. If she wanted to.
"I meant that..."
This silence definitely does last a long time.
"I just meant that it's okay if you aren't here. That's it. But I mean- you know. I don't mean I don't like- you're being really nice, okay?" It sounds weak, even to her. It is weak, and he's not a sucker.
"Okay," he says, stiffly, turning around, "If that's what this is-"
"No!" She's surprised at how sharply that comes out, how scared, and she follows it up quickly with a softer "No," as she steps back and looks down at her hands.
"That's not...I'm making no sense right now, I'm sorry, it's been a really- I really don't know what I'm doing right now and I- I know there are a billion people who probably need rescuing right now and this is no big deal in comparison and there are a lot of better things you could be doing with your time right now, but I really don't want to be alone right now and I know I'm sending a lot of mixed messages but if you could-" She stops babbling when his hands cover hers and squeeze, shutting her eyes just to get some relief.
"I'm here for you," he says, simply, and pulls her into an embrace that ends with him kissing the top of her head and her clinging to him like she's trying to bury herself somewhere in his ribs. "You're not alone. Not as long as I'm around, okay?"
She can feel crystal under her skin, scraping and tugging, and she knows that's not true, but he's warm and he's right here and she can almost believe he's safe from her, if she tries very hard to.
"I think this makes us an official couple, you know that?" She murmurs against his chest, eyes still shut.
"...super."
She laughs, tightly, and holds on, because there's nothing else to do.