Winn was running late.
Not running late as in they woke up five minutes before they had to go, not that that didn't always suck. No, Winn was late as in they woke up thirty minutes after they were supposed to leave. Cat was going to kill them.
Winn bolted out of bed and grabbed the first set of clothes they could find, it were times like these that Winn wished they were more organized, grabbed their bag and keys and sprinted out the door. Winn sprinted to Catco and checked their watch, only fifteen minutes late. They ran inside and quickly made their way to their desk, just hoping not to be seen.
"Hey Winn."
Winn jumped and turned to see Kara standing behind them smiling like always. "Oh, hey" they huffed, still out of breath.
"Are you okay? I saw you coming in late."
"Oh yeah. Totally. I just woke up half an hour after I was supposed to leave."
"Oh no," she gasped.
"Yeah." they turned towards Cat's office, nervously trying to see if she was inside. "On a scale of one to better find a shovel just how doomed am I?"
She bit her lip, "oh I don't know. I mean you are the only one able to fix her computers when someone downloads a virus."
"Don't remind me." It happened at least once a month and was always a pain for Winn to fix.
"William!" Cat called out.
Winn sighed, "I believe that's me." They hurried into Cat's office just hoping she wasn't about to fire them.
"So, William-"
"Actually it's Winn ma'am."
She just waved them off, "whatever. I have a problem I need you to fix." Maybe she wasn't going to fire Winn after all! "Someone downloaded another virus and I need you to get rid of it."
They stifled a sigh, at least they weren't getting fired. Turning around, they quickly fled the office to start working.
"Oh and Winslow." They did sigh, subtly, at the use of their full name, but reluctantly turned around anyways. "Don't be late again. It'd be a shame to have to fire my best IT guy but I'd do it."
Winn winced. They hated being misgendered, but in a society that refused to acknowledge more than the two binary genders it was tough to avoid. "Yes Miss Grant."
Winn rushed out of the room and got to work, glancing over at Kara. They'd been thinking of coming out to her for a while but every time they went to do so they chickened out. Winn sighed and glanced at the clock, 10:23, they'd been here for a little over two hours now so they felt that it was a safe time to use the bathroom, they'd been too scared of Cat calling them out for not working earlier. They sighed and reached down into their bag and froze. Oh no. ohnohonohono. They. Forgot. Their. Pads.
It was that time of the month again and they forgot their pads. Winn quickly glanced around and found Kara, maybe she'd be able to help. "Hey Kara."
"What is it Winn?"
"Could we, uh, talk in private?" While they weren't ashamed of their gender they weren't willing to risk their job for it.
She smiled at them but Winn could tell she was worried, "Sure!" They made their ways to the room that they sometimes used for superhero stuff at work. As they walked Winn got to thinking, maybe this could be a good thing. They'd been looking for the right time to come out to Kara, maybe this was it.
Winn stepped into the room and held the door open for Kara, closing it behind her. "So, what're we doing here?"
While they were pretty sure that Kara would accept them Winn couldn't help but be nervous. What if she treated him differently? What if she called him a liar? What if she didn't want to be friends anymore?
Winn wrung his hands and took a deep breath. "Well… I was just wondering if… you… had a pad I could use?"
Kara seemed taken back, "a pad?"
"Um, yeah."
She beamed at them and scooped them off the ground in a rib cracking, maybe literally, hug. "Oh Winn I'm so happy you trusted me enough to confide in me! Here," she dug around in her purse and pulled out a pad with a smile. "For my favorite guy."
"Actually… I'm not. A guy that is."
"You're not?"
"No. I don't have a gender." Winn winced and got ready for the rejection.
"Cool, what pronouns should I use?"
Winn was caught by surprise. She accepted them? Just like that? "What?"
"Pronouns." She repeated, "On Krypton there were lots of different genders. I always found it weird that on Earth people tend to deny that even with all of the proof."
"Yeah, some people are jerks. Anyways my pronouns are they/them."
If anything Kara's smile got even wider. "Great!" She hugged them once more, "Wanna hang out after work? Barring any alien attacks that is."
"That'd be great. I can't wait."
