A/N: What started out as an innocent daydream about a Supercat love story spiraled into a three hour writing session at 2AM for a college AU. I hope my lack of sleep was worth it. Enjoy.
also, I am not American, so all my knowledge about college (heheh sorry I had to) comes straight from TV. So all my mistakes are mine.
/
When Kara first meets her roommate, she is only mildly impressed. If anything, the small woman annoys her. She stands in the middle of the room, a confident air hanging around her. Arms hanging besides her body, yet showing no intentions of helping Kara out, who is frantically trying to carry three bags, plus a suitcase into the small room.
"Hello," Kara grits out as she hauls one of the bags over the doorstep, "You must be my roommate."
"No shit," is all the other woman says, voice soft, but clear.
"Nice to meet you too.." Kara mutters under her breath.
She finally manages to get all her stuff on the available bed on the right side of the room. Her new roommate is still standing in the middle of the room, now scrolling through her phone and completely ignoring Kara.
Is she trying to tell me something? Is this some kind of power play? Kara thinks to herself. She decides to try again. she's going to share a room with this woman for a year, she will at least try to make it bearable.
"I'm Kara Danvers-"
"Yes I know that. I did read your appalling attempts at the get to know me emails." She interrupts her mid sentence.
Kara frowns, "Then why didn't you reply?"
"Oh please, I only got a shared dorm because my mother thinks it's good for me. I have no desire to make friends." With that she returns her attention back to her phone.
"Okay then. Can I at least know your name?"
"Cat Grant."
"Nice to meet you, Cat." Kara doesn't even try to sounds nice. How can this woman piss her off minutes after meeting her?
It puts a bit of a downer on her going to college excitement, but she won't let this woman ruin her year. Kara will get her to warm up to her, she's sure of it.
/
Sharing a dorm room with someone means you find out the others habits without asking for them. After only one month, Kara knows more about Cat than she knew about Alex after living with her for a year. And not even intentionally.
Cat sleeps curled up in a ball, her purple pillow trapped between her knees and chest, back turned towards the room. It makes the otherwise tall woman look small and vulnerable, and Kara wonders how she can possibly sleep comfortably like that every single night.
Cat is not an early riser. At all. How that woman makes it to class on time every morning is a mystery just as much as it is a miracle. She must have some crazy fast morning ritual. She doesn't go out much, but still seems to have quite a few friends outside of class. She never brings them to their room though.
She only drinks coffee and bottled water, and she likes to snack on apples and M&M's. Kara has never seen her eat anything that isn't remotely unhealthy. She is impressed with the woman's self control around junk food, a skill that Kara herself hasn't mastered yet. Nor does she want to, if she's entirely honest. She enjoys double cheese pizzas way too much to give them up.
Cat keeps a bottle of ibuprofen on her nightstand for her headaches. She wears glasses when she reads and she ties her blonde hair in a pony tail when she feels inspired to write. She sleeps with fuzzy socks on and only ever wears jeans when she's not in bed. When she's tired she gets grumpy, and when she's on her period she is downright mean until she can curl up with a hot water bottle on her belly and with a glass filled with M&M's in her hand.
But the most annoying thing about her cool faced roommate, is her love for opera music. Countless times when Kara gets back from anything, she finds Cat sitting on her bed, legs crossed and headphones on her head, opera music blaring hard enough for even Kara to hear from the other side of the room. Sometimes, when Cat hasn't seen -hearing her would be impossible with her music so loud- her coming in, Kara can hear her singing along, softly. And of course the damn woman can sing.
Kara knows so much about her Cat Grant that she could probably fill out her medical forms for her if the need arises.
Its very inconvenient, even more so when Kara realizes the might have the slightest crush on her roommate.
Very inconvenient indeed.
/
Kara can only fall asleep lying on her stomach, but wakes up every morning on her back, arms and legs spread out at odd angles. Her eyes still burn from staring at a computer screen for hours trying to get her assignment finished before the midnight deadline. She groans as she awkwardly rolls out of bed.
"Mornin," she murmurs towards the probably still sleeping ball of bed sheets that is Cat Grant.
She stumbles towards the tiny sink and looks in the mirror. Her hair looks horrific, and she tries to tame it a little while squeezing toothpaste out of the tube and onto her toothbrush.
She promised to meet Winn before class today, after he had excitedly called her the day before rambling about a double date that would be perfect for them. Kara had told him she'd think about it, and even though she wasn't really looking forwards to it, she was going to tell him she would go with him over a cup of coffee. If he paid of course.
Getting ready took slightly longer than usual. And not at all because Cat got out of bed wearing nothing but her underwear. Kara had never seen her in just that state of undress before, even though they had been sharing a room for almost four months now.
But even after that interruption, Kara manages to get to the café in time. Winn waves at her as soon as she walks in, and points to the two cups of coffee already on the table. He knows her too well.
Winn and her had been friends since kinder garden, and once Winn got over his one sided crush, he had actually become a very close friend to Kara.
"Good morning," he smiles up at her and slides one of the cups towards her.
"Morning," she grunts out.
"Bad night?"
"Bad case of procrastination until the very last moment," she offers as an explanation. He nods understandingly.
"Still glad you could join me," he tells her, "have you decided yet?"
"Okay, straight to the point it is. Can't you give a girl some time to drink her coffee and wake up?" it comes out a bit harsher than she intended.
"Really bad night, I hear."
They sit in silence for a while as Kara slowly sips her coffee. Letting it warm her from the inside as she can slowly feel herself wake up more with every sip.
"So, who are you going to set me up with?" she asked.
"Am I allowed to speak without you ripping my head of my shoulders?" Winn joked.
"Ha ha, very funny."
"Anyway, her name is Lucy and I have a feeling you're going to like her."
Internally, Kara let out a sigh of relief. In their last year of high school, she came out to Winn about the possibility of her being bisexual. And after countless failed dates with men, he finally seemed to accept that she might also want to date a girl. She knew it was hard for him, and she felt so grateful she almost jumped out of her chair to hug him.
"How can you be so sure?" Kara asked, trying to read his expression.
"Just wait till you see her." Winn said mysteriously.
/
"I'm gay," Kara blurts out one night as they sit across from each other on their beds. They had both silently been working until Kara broke it with her abrupt confession.
"Congratulations," is Cat's dry reply, not looking up from the book in her lap.
"Well, not really gay. I mean, boys are cute too. Sometimes. So I guess that would make me bisexual? Or pansexual. I don't know?" she rambles on.
As far as Kara can see, her facial expression doesn't change from her usual 'you-bore-me' look, and she has to keep down an annoyed sigh. she had hoped to get at least some recognition for her sudden outburst. It took a lot of build up courage to finally spit it out, but seeing her roommates disinterest almost makes her regret it. But Cat doesn't need to know that.
Kara huffs but doesn't say anything, instead she quietly returns to typing away at her laptop to work on her essay about some rich white dude and his opinion on democrats and oil reservoirs. The silence returns to their dorm room, somewhat tense but not unbearable. The only thing heard in the room is the clicking of keyboard keys and turning of pages.
Two paragraphs later, Cat suddenly speaks up,
"Did you finally fuck a girl? Because if so, Lois owes me 20 bucks." Cat states, matter of factly.
What?!
Kara feels her cheeks flush bright red, and she sputters some unrecognisable version of 'maybe?'.
"Thought so." Cat says with a smirk, amusement clearly visible on her face, though she's still not meeting Kara's eyes.
Then, as if nothing major just happened, she turns the page of her book and continues to read.
/
They were both very fond of their own personal space, but somehow they kept making exceptions for the other. Finding excuses to bump shoulders or letting hands linger longer than was appropriate for friends, even close friends. They both knew they did it, but it was never talked about or discussed, which Cat was grateful for.
Like now, Cat massages her temples, headache eating away on the inside of her skull and blurring the edge of her vision. She hates migraines, but had learned to work around them years ago, tricking her body into believing it wasn't all that bad. But it was, and staring at her bright laptop screen wasn't exactly doing it any good.
She groans and pushes the computer off her lap. She would have to write that article for her journalism class another time, her focus was way off and she wanted, no, needed, a good grade.
"Migraine?" Kara's voice drifts into her fogged over mind.
She just groans again in response.
"I noticed that you finished your last ibuprofen bottle yesterday. I can go get some for you if you need it?"
Cat looks up at Kara, who was typing away at her phone with one hand, while simultaneously writing in her notebook with the other. Her gaze wasn't on either of those things though, it was fixed on Cat, with questioning eyes.
"No, it's fine. I'm sure a good nights sleep will help loads."
Kara went back to her previous activities, and Cat rubs her temples once more.
"You know," Kara starts again, "I read online that some migraines come from held up tension in your neck and shoulders. And seeing how you've been hunched over that laptop for the past three hours, I'd say that that might be the cause."
Cat wonders why Kara would have looked that information up in the first place, but chooses not to comment.
"That may be, but it doesn't change the fact that I still haven't finished this assignment and it seems I forgot my personal masseuse at home." she said dryly.
"I can do it," Kara mumbled.
"What? The assignment? Don't think I'm going to let you anywhere close it it so you can ruin it with your eight grade English skills."
The statement stung Kara, Cat could clearly see it in her eyes.
"No, I meant I can help you relieve the tension in your shoulders. Alex gets these kind of migraines as well and she always says my hands can work miracles." Kara tells her confidently. "I mean, not that you have to, but it could work, you know. And-"
"Fine," Cat gives a dismissive wave of her hand and beckons for Kara to come closer.
Kara sits down behind her, carefully taking Cat's glasses off her face and placing them on the nightstand. She rubs her hands together in an attempt to warm them up a little, and Cat lets out an impatient whine.
Within seconds, Cat feels two warm hands run tentatively over her skin at the base of her neck where it meets her shoulders.
"You can use a bit more pressure, Kara, I swear I won't break."
Kara coughs awkwardly, but follows Cat's wish anyway.
Immediately Cat lets out a long, low moan, not really caring about anything besides those skilled hands moulding her flesh. Thankfully, Kara stays silent.
Cat lets her head fall forwards, exposing more skin to Kara, who lets her fingers run over it a second later.
It might be Kara's hands, the warmth, or the sudden relaxation, but Cat can actually feel the fog in her head clear up a little. Pain biting less furiously and pounding only very minimal. She doesn't want Kara to stop, ever.
So when Kara speaks up after a while, asking if its helping, Cat tells her yes, but urges her to continue to try to make it disappear entirely. She doesn't tell her about the warm, tingling feeling in her stomach, or the way Kara's hands make her head spin. Instead, she gives into the sensation completely, closing her eyes and focusing on those delicious hands rubbing away at her neck and shoulders.
When she wakes up the next morning, her headache is gone, and her assignment is finished, probably as good as she would have done it herself. And she smiles.
/
Winter had finally arrived on campus, and with it came the cold that seemed to nestle bone deep in Kara's body. Of course the heater in their room choose that exact moment to stop working, resulting in a very cold when she was bundled up in her bed under three blankets, she could still feel herself shiver uncontrollably. It was dark in their room, and Kara had to get up early tomorrow. She knew that if she didn't fall asleep soon, she'd be exhausted tomorrow.
She had almost accepted her fate when she heard Cat sigh loudly, "I can hear your teeth clatter from all the way over here," came her voice from an even bigger pile of blankets on the other side of the room.
"Don't tell me you're not cold," Kara said.
"I am, I just don't show it as openly as you do."
Kara rolls her eyes and sighs.
"I'll make you a deal," Cat spoke again, "if you refill this thing with actual hot water, you can sleep with me tonight. For this one time." she says while dangling her hot water bottle out on the side of her bed.
"Sleep with you," Kara grins.
"Decide now or the offer is off the table." Cat said seriously, either completely ignoring Kara's comment or just choosing not to reply.
Kara didn't need to think about that. Besides the fact that snuggling up would provide a lot more warmth, she would also never deny herself the pleasure of sharing a bed with the woman she had a not so little crush on.
She untangles herself from her sheets and yelps as her feet make contact with the freezing floor.
"Suddenly you're willing to move. You must have been colder than I thought."
"The thought of cuddling up with you motivates me," Kara teases as she tiptoes around the room to refilled the rubber water bottle.
"Yeah, yeah. Smooth talking will get you nowhere. Now get over here before I change my mind." Cat says as she pulls her sheets aside so Kara can get in next to her.
"Yes boss."
/
When Cat woke up, she was hot. Not the pleasant 'I just woke up and I feel comfortable' warmth, but to the point where she was sweating. She tried to move and throw the covers away in an attempt to cool down. She soon realizes she can't move. forcing one eye open, she is met with a face full of dark blonde hair.
Right..
Kara was sprawled out on top of her, trapping Cat between her body and the mattress. Kara's head was nestled in the crook of Cat's neck, and she could feel slow puffs of breath tingle her skin. Kara's right arm was thrown possessively over Cat's ribcage and one of the other woman's legs had been managed to get tangled between her own.
For a second Cat contemplates about what to do next. She was hot and she desperately needed to pee, but it didn't seem like Kara would wake up anytime soon. So she carefully tried to slip away, lifting Kara's arm from her body and slowly moving to the edge of the bed.
Kara let out a disappointed moan and tightenes her hold on Cat's small body.
Great, she thought. Seeing no other option, she roughly sat up, resulting in Kara jerking awake.
"Wha-" the sleep filled voice was soft but confused.
"I need to pee and you're in the way."
"Oh? OH! I am so sorry." Kara moved back as if she'd been burned and tumbled off the bed. She lands with an oof and a thud and Cat couldn't suppress a small smile.
"Thank you," she too gets out of bed, "I think the heater might be working again. It is frightfully hot in here."
"What do you mean? Its still just as cold as last night." Kara said as she got up from the floor. "You do look quite flustered though, maybe that hot water bottle was a bit too much."
Suddenly Cat remembers her dream from just before she woke up, and she feels her body temperature rise even more. She had never dreamed about her roommate like that. Must be the close proximity, she thought.
"Yeah, that must be it," she says absentmindedly.
With that, she hurries out the door and into the hallway, turning left in search for the bathroom, leaving a perplexed Kara behind.
As the cool air hit her, she feels her heartbeat slow down. Sleeping in the same bed was definitely out of the picture from now on. No matter how cold it got outside, she couldn't risk a repeat of this morning. She shudderes as she thanked whatever Gods there were that she woke up when she did. It would have been far more embarrassing if Kara had woken up before her and found her hot and flustered and dreaming.
She went through the rest of the day desperately trying to forget how Kara's lips had felt on her own, and how dream-her had let her hands run over Kara's toned body, listening to the sounds that elicited.
/
"Ugh," Kara spits out suddenly, frowning at her phone.
"What is wrong this time?"
"Winn set me up on yet another blind date. I swear, he never gives up." Kara wipes some loose strands of hair behind her ear.
"Why would you let that man child meddle with your love life in the first place?"
"He thinks I'm lonely and need a girlfriend."
"Then I'm sure you are competent enough to go get one by yourself."
"He means well, he just over does it a little sometimes."
"Sometimes? This is the forth one he's set you up with this month alone!" Cat exclaimed.
"I know," Kara sighs, "I don't even know this woman. But it's too late to cancel now." she smiles sadly at that.
"You should just date me, I'm clearly everyone's dream woman, wildly desired." Cat says, trying to get the sad look off Kara's face.
"Sure you are, remind me again why I wasn't dating you in the first place?" Kara laughs.
Success.
"Because I'm an emotionally crippled human disaster." Cat jokes.
"I knew there was something."
"Shut up."
That night, Kara reluctantly leaves for her blind date. Knowing that the person she wants most is in the room she leaves behind.
/
Kara has been acting weird around her. Skittish, avoiding eye contact and flinching whenever they brushed past each other. Cat didn't understand, and she was determined to figure out what had gotten into her friend. She was a journalist at heart, so she approached this like she would if she was writing an article.
Step one, checking the facts. All she had gotten out of Kara after trying to talk to her was some lame excuse about being in a fight with Winn. This, Cat knew, was untrue. Whenever the two of them were fighting, she could find Winn sulking around in front of their dorm building. He wasn't there this time, so she was quite positive about the fact that a fight wasn't the reason for Kara's sour mood.
Step two, asking 'when'. When had Kara started behaving like this? Easy, a few days prior when Winn had set her up with that blind date and Cat made that throwaway comment about dating her instead.
Step three, asking 'why'. Why was Kara behaving the way she was? Not so easy, Cat didn't know. Surely it wasn't her fault. That comment had obviously been a joke, Cat had even made sure of that by telling Kara about it when she got back that night. Now that she thought of it, Kara had returned from the date looking happy, joyous even. It wasn't after Cat said what she said that the woman seemed to shrink several inches in height.
Cat could almost physically feel the dots connecting in her head, and she had to resist the urge to slap her own forehead. Kara had looked happy and determined, but nervous at the same time. She had been trying to make a move. Or at least, that was the plan before Cat ruined it with her stupid, stupid mouth and told her it had been a joke.
She was going to fix her mistake. No matter how hard she had tried to fight her growing feelings for the girl who had so shamelessly barged into her heart, she could no longer deny that they were there. So she was going to fix this, now.
…
She had a plan.
She was going to whoo her Kara Danvers Style. That meant, Netflix, double cheese pizza, -even though Cat hates the stuff- and forced physical interaction in the form of cuddling under a blanket. It was a bit too cliché for Cat's taste, but she knew it would work on Kara, and that was kind of the whole point.
"Hey," Kara greets her as she walked in. She dumped her bag on the floor and fell face first into her bed.
"Long day?" Cat asks.
"You have no idea."
"Listen, I have an idea," Cat begins, "I know we both have afternoon classes tomorrow, so why don't we, you know, hang out tonight?"
This makes Kara lift her head and look curiously at Cat. It wasn't something the other woman would usually say.
"I have pizza?"
"Sold."
They opted for some new show Kara had heard Winn talk about. He had been very enthusiastic about it, and there was no harm in trying, right? Except that it sucked. It was weird, the special effects were downright sad and the actors looked all horribly uncomfortable, delivering their lines with either too much emotion, or too little.
That didn't mean they didn't like it though, because it didn't take long before they were laughing so hard they even had to stop eating so they wouldn't throw pizza all over the bed.
"This is such a bad show!" Cat hiccups.
"I know, but I love it." Kara manages between fits of laugher.
Cat rarely lets herself laugh like this. And lately she has been noticing how she only does it when she's around Kara. She knows what it means, and she's fairly certain that Kara knows it too. The young woman has been watching her like a hawk since Cat proposed the impromptu hang out session.
It took some coaxing from Cat's side to even get the girl to sit next to her on her own bed. As expected, Kara moved as far away from Cat as was possible on the narrow bed, but after a while they had moved closer and closer. Now they were pressed together from the shoulder to the knee.
Cat loves every second of it.
By the time they finish the fifth episode all the pizza was gone, and even Cat had tried a slice. It didn't taste as bad as it smelled. And Kara smiled when she took her first bite, that's what persuaded her into eating the whole thing.
But Kara didn't pick up on her painfully obvious tries at flirting. When Cat brushed her arm to reach for her bottle of water she flinched. When Cat rubbed her feet against Kara's exposed calve, Kara looked away. And so on.
Cat had had enough, she was going for the direct approach. She just had to find the perfect moment. She found it when there was a rather dull scene going on, and even though Kara looked engrossed in it, Cat spoke,
"I bet that girl ends up with that bossy man over there."
"Yeah? What makes you think that?" Kara said, looking somewhat interested in what Cat had to say.
"The pretty girl always ends up with the alpha male, that's common knowledge."
"But they're not right for each other. He is way too rude and sexist to ever be good enough for her."
"Yeah, I guess you're right.." Cat pretended to think about it, "Who do you think she should end up with then?"
"Uhm, I don't know?"
"I'm sure you've given this enough thought, Kara."
"Fine. I think she and that shy girl over there would make a nice couple."
"Why do you think that?"
"She's shy but she has so much potential, and the only person who gets it out of her is the pretty blonde woman. Even though she can be a little bit mean."
"Hmm," Cat hummed.
She watched as the shy girl, Kiera got ordered around by one of the lead males and she sighed. This was again, going no where. She had given Kara the perfect opportunity to make the bridge from the characters on the show to her and Cat, but she hadn't. Cat was growing impatient.
In a second she made her decision, and she slammed the space bar to pause the show. Kara looked at her confused, "Why did yo-"
Cat moves in and presses her lips against Kara's. It was soft, and over before it even started. She slowly moves back, eyeing Kara's face for any kind of reaction.
Kara's eyes were wide and her lips were still parted from being kissed in the middle of a sentence. A second later she tries to speak, but didn't get much further than some garbled vowels.
Cat grins and winks at the rattled girl in front of her. In her peripheral vision, she can see Kiera being pressed against a wall by the tough blonde lady, and she let out a surprised huff of air.
"Took them long enough now, don't you think?" She says smugly.
"Oh shut up," Kara splutters and closes the distance between them again.
This time the kiss lasts longer. It was more heated, fuelled by desire on both ends as they continued to explore each others lips, and later, mouth. Cat hums in approval when they break apart once again.
"I didn't think you had it in you. I must say I am very pleasantly surprised."
"Yeah well, who wouldn't kiss you back?" Kara blushes but smiles widely.
"Agreed, now kiss me again before I make you regret waiting so long in the first place."
Kara closes the laptop and pushes it to the side. She kisses Cat again, and again and then once more. TV show long forgotten.
/
Later in live, they always love to tell everyone the stories of how they fell in love. How they went from complete strangers, to roommates, to friends, and eventually to girlfriends and lovers. They will laugh, because they're in love. And because they know they will love each other for a very long time to come. And as Kara carefully places a ring on Cat's left hand years later, they smile. Because they're the luckiest people in the whole world right now.
A/N: Find me on Tumblr, faeydomm, if you want to scream at me about Supercat :)