Well, after a five-year hiatus, here's something new. I honestly didn't think I would be able to get 500 words, but here we are, over 2600. I have about six more ideas floating in my head for this week, so you will be seeing a lot of me hopefully. I'm Chalek1725 on Tumblr, but I'm sort of new so I'm still trying to adjust to everything. Hope you enjoy. A lot of stuff mentioned is from real life experience, so enjoy the life of an RA (wish I had Supergirl's powers, though)!
Kara Danvers was sometimes unsure why she took the job. Yes, it would look good on her résumé, and yes it would help her be more vocal, but should an alien really be worrying about making herself more known? She did not know what had caused her to even apply for it in the first place. Maybe she felt being an English major with a minor in creative writing was not hard enough (lies), or maybe she was just lonely and wanted to feel helpful, but before she knew it she had aced her interviews and was now hired. As a Resident Assistant, or as her residents called her, the "Floor Mom". Yes, she loved being helpful and loved talking with her residents, but what if she somehow revealed her powers. Her sister would kill her. Alex had told her to keep a low profile, and she had for the first year, and could being a Resident Assistant really be that dangerous?
Her staff of eleven covered three buildings, eleven floors, 198 rooms, and way too many freshmen. Kara wondered if she acted the way her residents did when she was a freshman, but then remembered she had never made a sound. Keeping a low profile had been etched into her mind, and honestly she was too scared of her RA anyway. Luckily, her staff did not scare her, and she was able to be herself, well her human self, a whole lot easier. Winn and James had become her new friends, and when they were all on campus for the weekends they had game nights. There were a few times, though, that if they had been any more observant, they would have noticed her not-so-normal skills: super speed during Dance Dance Revolution, X-Ray vision during card games (not all the time, just when being on-call was the bet. She HATED being on-call. Too many lock-outs and parties at 4 am), and the one time she might have thrown the dice a little hard during Monopoly. They had truly become her best friends, and it was nice to have people she enjoyed on her staff. However, there was one person on her staff she could not stand. Thinking of his smug grin when he made a joke, usually at her expense, his ability to befriend every freshman (Kara might be a little jealous of his ability to make friends, but she would never tell him that), the fact every girl wanted him and every guy wanted to be him (thank goodness there was a rule in place that RA's could not date residents in their communities, otherwise she would fear for the female population), and just the fact he seemed like a better RA than her, made her want to punch him with her super strength. He was always confident when knocking on a resident's door regarding quiet hours, always had the best ideas during staff meetings, and always threw the best programs for his residents; he could get his entire floor to come to his programs, and Kara was lucky to get five, even when she did have food at hers. That stupid, cocky, ignorant, charming-
"Kara, are you ready for second rounds?" Speak of the Devil, and he shall appear in her lounge doorway. Mike Matthews, in another universe, would probably be her partner in crime. Kara could admit he was good looking, and he pulled off wearing glasses more than she did. However, there was something off about him, but she could not put her finger on it. There were a few times he spoke and acted weird (okay, "Jolly Thanksgiving" was not that bad, but who had never heard of Monopoly before?), but maybe Kara was just being hard on him. Kara and Mike, because of their class schedules, were always on duty together during the week. Every Tuesday, Kara had the unfortunate task of walking all eleven floors with Mike twice, while dealing with his annoying commentary and cute smile, and... Wait, she did not just say his smile was cute. Yeah, they might have had less fights and arguments since being on duty this semester, but she could not "like like" him right? Besides, she cannot date humans; if she broke four guys' noses while actually focusing on not hurting them, what would happen if she was not so focused and was with a human? So even if she did like him, which she totally did not, she could not be with him anyways.
"Kara? Are you okay?" Mike asked. Kara shook her head, realizing she had not answered his original question and had been too busy thinking about his smile and his face. So maybe she did have a slight crush, but that is all it was and would ever be.
"Yeah, sorry, I was thinking about a project I need to do. I'm ready, let me just put my stuff in my room. Didn't realize it had been so long since first rounds." Kara grabbed her duty set and her badge, put her laptop and textbooks in her room, and started the trek down her floor, stopping under each emergency light to check that it worked.
"Any calls?" Kara asked, secretly hoping Mike had received at least one after she had received five within the first ten minutes of being on duty last week.
"Nope. Pretty quiet so far. I'm sort of hoping we won't get any calls; I have an exam in my 8 a.m. tomorrow."
"I can hold the phone so you don't have to worry about it," The words were out of Kara's mouth before she registered what she had said.
"Are you sure? I promise I didn't say that to convince you to hold the phone. I'll take the phone next week too since you have an exam the next day."
"How did you know I have an exam? And of course I'll hold the phone tonight, no worries."
"You mentioned it at our staff meeting last week. I was going to offer anyway, but I am definitely taking the phone next week since you're taking it tonight. Thank you so much." Kara was trying to figure out if the extreme happiness she was feeling was because she was not on call next week, or if it was the fact Mike remembered some passing comment she had made while everyone had been talking in the staff meeting. But if anyone asked, the small smile she was wearing was because she did not have to worry about receiving a three a.m. call next week before her exam, not because of Mike.
They were about half way done with rounds when Kara stopped walking halfway through her walk of Winn's floor.
"Hey Kara, is everything okay?" Mike asked gently next to her. Kara held up a hand to shush him while trying to figure out what her hearing had picked up. Clinking bottles, a classic sign of drinking. And here she was thinking rounds were going to be simple tonight.
"Um, there are people drinking in 209B," Kara replied, praying Mike did not ask how she was able to hear bottles from six doors away.
"Good catch. Do you want me to knock? I can take charge unless you want to? You can hold the door. You're writing the incident report though, English major" Kara quickly agreed, and they started walking to the room. Kara discreetly took off her glasses and pretended to wipe them when they reached the door, quickly using her X-ray vision to watch where the bottles were currently, and once Mike knocked, where the freshmen hid the bottles. Nothing unpredictable; a couple empty bottles hidden in the bathroom, a couple under the sink, but the full bottles were hidden in the boy's backpack, and Kara knew she would have to somehow tell Mike.
"Hey guys! How's everyone doing tonight? Mind if I come in?" Mike walked into the room after gaining permission while Kara hung back, just in case someone tried to leave or tried to gang up on Mike. Mike asked the residents to open the fridge and cabinets for him, and after spotting the empty bottles, asked if there were any others. The residents grabbed the bottles from the bathroom, but made no move to grab the ones hidden in the backpack, probably since they knew they would have to empty the contents of the bottles and this alcohol probably cost more money than the residents could easily replace.
"It this it?" Mike asked. The residents quickly agreed, but Mike did not look too convinced. Mike turned with his back to Kara while scanning the room.
"Kara, are there any other bottles somewhere?" Kara almost missed Mike's question, since he literally said it under his breath without facing her while across the room. Kara's breath caught in her throat. He had realized she had better hearing than she should, and she doubted he would accept she just had good hearing.
"Um, check in the backpack under the bed to your right." She could hear the residents' hearts start to beat louder, knowing they had been caught. After finding the bottles and dumping them in the sink, Mike walked the residents to the dumpster to dispose of the bottles while Kara jotted down the information she needed from the residents' ID's. Mike returned, and after telling the residents they really should not be drinking on campus, let alone while underage, they departed from the room. Kara and Mike walked in silence, finishing rounds on Mike's floor. Kara tried to quickly walk away when they reached Mike's floor, but he grabbed her arm. And for once, she actually felt someone's grasp.
"Please don't go. I just want to talk." Accepting defeat and wondering how long she would be able to hide the fact she had inadvertently revealed her secret to someone from Alex, she walked through his doorway. Mike locked the door behind him and gestured for her to sit on the couch across from his chair. Kara started picking at her nails while trying to remember how to breathe.
"Kara, breathe. Just answer me, preferably honestly, how were you able to hear the bottles from far away, and how did you know where they hid the alcohol?"
Kara tried to innocently smile, "I have pretty great hearing. I don't use headphones to listen to music so I haven't damaged my ears. And the one resident kept looking at the backpack. Deductive reasoning."
Mike just shook his head, "Kara, don't lie to me. You heard me when I mumbled a question under my breath; that's beyond just having great hearing. That's beyond any human hearing."
"I have great hearing; I can find you my results from my hearing tests throughout school. Maybe you didn't say it as quietly as you think you did and—Wait, did you say 'human hearing'? Why wouldn't I have human hearing? I am a human. I am very human. As human as you are."
Mike chuckled, "Well then, you aren't very human then, are you?" Kara's jaw dropped. "My name is Mon-El, and I am from Daxam, and if I had to guess, based on your abilities, you are from Krypton like your cousin."
"But how? I thought Kal and I were alone. And does that mean you have superpowers too?"
"Unfortunately, being the prince meant my life was more important than my people's and I was able to escape. I was sixteen when Krypton's destruction started the destruction of my planet. I got caught in the Well of Stars for an extra five years after you were released from I'm guessing the Phantom Zone. So I've had a little less time to adjust to being a human, which I'm sure you've caught on to."
Kara shook her head, still trying to wrap her head around the situation, "I thought you just had strict parents who didn't let you on the internet or something. Not that you were from a different planet. And you didn't answer me about the superpowers."
"I think you just didn't want to get your hopes up. I've had a little less time on the planet, so I haven't really tested out if I have any powers. I think I might be a little stronger than humans, but I haven't had a safe way to test out any other powers. No comment on me being from Daxam?"
"I mean it explains why you charm every girl on campus. Also a little surprised I haven't heard of your attendance at more parties."
"I may have been the prince, but I didn't like how my planet lived. I survived, and I have to believe is was for a reason to keep me from the constant guilt. I have stopped drinking to forget; I have a duty to live and help people now. I have experienced more emotions these past three years than I ever did in my time on Daxam. And I charm every girl? Including you?" Mike, or Mon-El, had a smirk on his face.
Kara sputtered, "No, it was a figure of speech. Slight hyperbole. You know what I meant."
"Okay, English major, whatever you say. We can continue this conversation in the morning after I take my exam and after you have processed everything we have revealed tonight." Mon-El started to lead her towards the door, and Kara wondered just how everything she had thought she had known had turned on its head all in one night. Here she was thinking she was going to have to somehow find a way to wipe Mike's memory, and instead she realized she was not alone anymore. Mon-El, while from another planet, was more like her than anyone else, save her cousin. However, she would not even let herself think about the fact she could theoretically date him now. He was a 10, she was a six on a good day.
She was almost to the hallway door when she heard a noise and quickly turned around to see his face pop up around the corner as he started whispering, "Hey Kara, if you weren't from Krypton, my next guess would have been from Daxam, since you have charmed every guy here, including myself." With that, he winked and walked back into his room and she heard his nervous laugh as he closed the door behind him.
Kara was in a daze. This had to be a dream. She started down the stairs to walk back to her building hoping she did not bump into any residents who knew her. She did not even notice until the second-to-last ring the duty phone was ringing. "RA on duty, this is Kara. How may I help you?" She prayed whoever was on the other side of the call did not hear how breathless she was.
"Yeah, could you put me out of my misery and go out with me next weekend?" a familiar voice asked from the other side.
Kara could not help the grin that took over her face, "Yes, Mon-El, I would love to."
"Who would have thought, a girl from Krypton and a boy from Daxam teaming up to take care of freshmen and going out on an actual date? Oh, and since I called you on the duty phone instead of your cell phone, remember to log it into the duty log. Please tell our Community Director exactly why I called you on the duty phone. Bye lovely."
"Mon-El!" Kara said into the phone in exasperation, but she could not stay too mad at him. She looked up at his window as she passed and saw him wave and laugh at her expression. She made her way to her room, and if anyone had been paying too close attention, they would have noticed she was slightly floating off the ground with the most peaceful smile she had worn since landing on Earth.
