You're out getting groceries. Pizza and ice-cream, to be exact. It won't take long, and you'll be easily back at your apartment by the time your take-out arrives, not that Alex can't open the door…though you'd rather she wouldn't, as she and Astra are trying not to break down completely in the face of the elections. In truth, you should probably be joining them, fearing over whether Supergirl is about to get shot out of the sky and told to get off this planet.
After getting your purchases, you move towards the checkout, taking a shortcut through the medicine and toiletries aisle, and in the middle you stop.
You pause to choose a deodorant, despite how you don't even need it, because you aren't there to actually pick it up – you're scoping out the young person, maybe only a couple of years younger than you, college-age, whose hoodie is up hiding their eyes, but not their tears.
They're standing in front of the razors, and they're wearing a blue, pink and white rubber band around their wrist.
Rao and Rei.
You don't know what to do – you're at a complete loss. You want to help them, but you don't want to assume, or accidentally bring anything up that might hurt them or upset them even more. You swallow, looking at them in your peripheral before thinking, what the hell, and putting your basket down on the ground and walking a couple of steps towards them. They look up at you.
You bring up all the confidence and kindness in you that you can, holding out your hand. "Do you need a hug?"
The two of you are completely alone in the aisle, but it doesn't really matter anyway, as the person's eyes shine even more, and their chin wobbles, before they take a step towards you, and then another, and another, until you're close enough to wrap your arms around them, holding them as they silently cried. You yourself felt the sting of tears as you shut your eyes behind your glasses, resting your head against their's.
"You're not alone."
"I am, I am…"
"No, you're not. My name's Kara." They give you their name, before you release them reluctantly, taking your reporter pad from your pocket – it's always there now, and you're proud of yourself for only using it for reporting, but right now it's being used for something better. You write your name, number and address on the page, before ripping it off and holding it out to them. They take it, and you place your hand on theirs. "Phone me whenever you need. Text me. Message me. Find me on social media, whatever you need. I'll drop everything to make sure you're okay. If you can't, that's where I live. You're not alone."
"Okay," their voice shakes, and you hug them again, pressing a kiss to their cheek, before wiping it and the other of tears, "I'm not alone."
"You're not alone," you repeat, smiling until you get a wobbly one in return. You hug them again before picking up your groceries, talking about how they're welcome to come join you for pizza and ice-cream and take-out with your sister and her girlfriend. Their eyes brighten that little more at the confirmation that you aren't just a one-dimensional white girl trying to help that'll actually do nothing.
Not that you're even a proper 'white girl', what with your alien-ness, but it's the not-thought that counts.
"Sure. I don't have that much money anyway."
"College loans suck," you agree, before adding quietly, starting up the aisle with them. "I'd assume you're saving up for hormone therapy, or something similar, but I really don't want to be presumptuous or deliberately obtuse."
They shrug, playing with their wrist-band, smiling a little bit. "No, it's okay. I've still got so much to pay for. I'm that stereotypical broke college kid as well as the stereotypical broke trans trying to save up for meds. I'd like to join you for dinner, if that's okay."
"That's awesome," you smile brightly at them, before speaking in Kryptonese. "Being yourself is the ultimate objective in life."
The two of you approach the end of the aisle, and your companion looks at you with new eyes.
"Are you from America originally?"
You imagine that your eyes sparkle as you raise a finger to your lips, to say shh.