Story: After Kara Zor-El breaks up with Mon-El, she heads over to Earth 1 to visit her good friend Barry Allen. Unbeknownst to her, he is going through a similar ordeal.

Note: Unlike my previous story this is just a single chapter story that may or may not have a sequel. I had this idea all the way back when I was watching the Musical Crossover. LOVED what the writers did with it, but since I ship Karry/Superflash I wanted to do a story about Kara and Barry bonding over their relationship problems. I also put it in this "Karry Stories" line-up. It's just a place where I can put short stories about Kara and Barry that aren't necessarily long-term stories.

Drinking & Wallowing

Kara was finding herself out of her element yet again. Just a night ago she had broken things off with her boyfriend, Mon-El, and now she was in an alternate universe, standing at the front door of an old friend. She really wanted to make things work with him, but he lied to her about who he truly was, and there was no way she could maintain a relationship built on lies.

…

Barry was finding himself out of his element again. Just a few nights ago, he told his fiancé, Iris, that they needed some space. After pushing things further than ever with her due to her potential future death, he knew he had taken things too far for the wrong reasons. Fear had ruled him and now he wasn't sure about their future anymore.

…

Kara took a deep breath and knocked lightly on the front door. She was expecting the response to be quick considering who she was visiting, but based on the footsteps she could hear, he was moving very slowly. When he finally opened the door, she could tell her friend was not his usual self.

"Kara?" Barry said, sounding surprised, but still with a smile on his face. "Hey! What are you doing here? You need some help on your Earth?"

"Umm, no. Everything is just fine on my Earth," she replied, not sounding so assured. There wasn't that usual air of bubbly confidence to her voice. She couldn't help but notice that despite his current smile, his hair was a mess and he looked tired. "It's just… I could kind of use a friend right now… if that's okay with you." She smiled trying to be as polite as she could be showing up unannounced. She wasn't as sure about it now seeing how Barry was looking like he wasn't doing well either.

"Yeah, of course," he said, sounding assured, gesturing for her to come inside. "I mean, I wish you called. I know I look like a mess right now."

"Yeah, sorry about that. It was kind of a sudden decision, but Alex and Winn insisted I take at least one night off." She put her bag down near a couch sat down on it.

"Why? Everything alright with you?" he asked, now with a look of concern, as he sat down on the couch next to her. She paused to take a deep breath.

"I really wanna just pretend everything is fine and drown myself in being Supergirl right now, but I would be lying to you… and myself." Barry waited for her to elaborate. "I kind of got a boyfriend in the last month… and he lied to me about who he really was… and I couldn't accept that. I really thought it was gonna be something special like what you have with Iris." Barry chuckled at that. "What's so funny?" she said, sounding slightly irritated.

"I'm sorry. It's just that me and Iris are sort of… off-track these days," he explained, cringing at his own situation.

"I'm sorry," she said, now aware of why he looked so down.

"I asked her to marry me," he said, making Kara look at him with a confused expression. "She did say yes, but… I didn't do it for the right reason. I did it to save her."

"I don't understand," she said, sounding even more confused.

"I was accidentally thrust into the future and saw this evil speedster named Savitar kill her," he explained, with Kara's confused expression not changing. "Ever since, I've tried to push things further with us. I noticed that she didn't wear a ring when Savitar killed her, so I figured if I change one small thing, I might change a lot more. But it was tearing us further apart, and I just had to get some distance between us. That's why I'm here, living in Cisco's apartment." Kara finally looked like she understood. "I don't know... I'm second-guessing everything about me and her. I've been in love with her my entire life, but once I finally got with her, it became less about making a relationship work and more about saving her." Kara put her hand on Barry's shoulder, rubbing it lightly, making Barry look at her. "I'm sorry. You came here looking for a friend, and I'm just wallowing in self-pity." Kara chuckled at this.

"You know, knowing I'm not the only one having relationship problems actually makes me feel a little better," she said with a big smirk, making Barry chuckle. "Which is great because… look what I brought." She suddenly took a large bottle of something that looked like liquor out of her bag.

"As flattered as I am, Kara, you know I can't get drunk… nor can you," he argued.

"True, but… this isn't just any kind of alcohol," she said, with a big smirk, handing the bottle to Barry. "This is from my favorite alien bar in National City, and the only place I've ever gotten drunk at."

"You better not be messing with me, Supergirl," he threatened jokingly. "Because I will destroy that bottle."

"Oh please, you mean to tell me the notoriously nice Barry Allen has ever been a heavy drinker?" she asked, not believing him clearly.

"Okay, I am a lightweight," Barry admitted, making her laugh, "but I got pretty wild at a few college parties back in the day."

"A few? Uhuh… How many exactly?"

"Well… two," he admitted, making her laugh again. "You know what? Hold this." He handed her the bottle and super-sped to the kitchen and back, putting down two shot glasses.

"Nice," she said with giddiness. She picked up the one with the unicorn art on it. "I'm guessing this one's for me?"

"Hey, I'm sorry Cisco hasn't made a Supergirl shotglass yet, but you know I can't let you have the Flash one," he explained as he held up a red shot glass with lightning bolts on it. "Besides, the unicorn does fit you pretty well." Kara couldn't help but smile at the sweet compliment.

"Alright," she exclaimed. "Let's drink!"

…

They had both been at it for at least three hours, sharing stories in their inebriated state.

"Okay, okay, so hear me out," Barry tried saying without laughing, gesturing excitedly with his arms. "I was ready to just face her, like finally ready to take things on with her, and I see her standing there inside of Jitters right?" She nodded, chuckling how animated he was. "And then… out of nowhere… a giant man-shark grabs me by the neck." Kara was dying at how ridiculous it all sounded. "I swear, like, in that moment, I was like, I just wanna ask someone out and I can't even get to that without something getting in my way. You know what I mean?"

"I so get what you mean, my friend," she explained. "When you left my Earth, after helping me out with uhh... Shrieky and Zappy, I was finally kissing James, you know, and at first he doesn't react, and I'm like "what's the deal?" Guess what?"

"Uhh, he isn't into girls?" Barry guessed uncertainly, slurring his words.

"No," Kara answered, like it was obvious. "Myriad took over his mind… and the mind of the rest of National City. Like, come on, Rao. What's your deal? Like, yeah, obviously I'm upset with everyone being mind controlled but I was so close to having a moment with him." They were now both laughing at the sheer absurdity of their lives. After gathering themselves, Barry finally said something.

"I can't believe how all that was only a year ago," he said, reflecting on their life. "I mean, it was so recent that both of us were pining for someone completely different, and now we're in a completely different pickle."

"Crazy how much can change so quickly," Kara commented. "Makes me wonder how different things will be a year from now." Barry nodded. "I don't know. Maybe I'll have found someone new by then… maybe you, too." Barry gave Kara a doubting look. "Come on, Barry! You have to keep your options open."

"I know, but I'm just not sure there's anyone else out there like Iris," he argued. "Besides I still love Iris." Kara nodded, understanding. "I mean, I think I still do. I wanna save her... but then, I wanna save anyone that I can." Kara now looked with worry at Barry. She scooted over to his side of the couch and slowly embraced him. "What's this for?"

"You looked like you could use a hug," she said softly. Barry wasn't sure how to react at first, partially due to his inebriated state, but hugged his friend back anyway. After they broke apart, Barry wiped his eyes, clearly trying to hide a few tears. Kara decided not to comment on it.

"Alright, I'm having at least one more of these. You down?" Barry said with confidence as he started pouring the bottle. Kara wanted to protest but figured she'd let him enjoy himself for tonight. A few more drinks couldn't hurt.

"Definitely", Kara said as she smiled at her friend. She knew she could use this.

...

Kara suddenly found herself lying down, only being faintly aware of her surroundings. She could hear an echo calling her name, and there were at least several skeletons in front of her.

"Kara, wake uuuup," she now could hear a familiar voice say gleefully.

"Cisco?" she said, finally being able to see the short man in front of her. Looks like she had been seeing quadruple the amount of Cisco's in x-ray vision.

"I mean, yeah, I do live here," Cisco replied dryly. Kara now finally took in her surroundings. She was lying on the couch and on top of her, lied a sleeping Barry.

"What time is it? What happened?" she asked, not being able to recall what happened since they started drinking again.

"Well," he said as he handed her a glass of water, "It's about 3am, and my guess is that you found a way to make you and my friend here intoxicated. I gotta say, I'm a little jealous. One, you got drunk with him before I did, and two, you also found a way to do that, period." Kara accepted the water and gently lifted Barry's upper body so she could escape. As she took a chug of the water, she could feel the pain in her head.

"I swear to Rao, I will never drink again," she replied, with pain in her voice, making Cisco chuckle. "This is almost as bad as Kryptonite."

"That's that thing that can hurt, slash, kill you, right?" Cisco asked curiously.

"Right," Kara replied painfully. "So where were you at?"

"Oh, me and Caitlin went out for drinks," he replied. Kara gave him a look at that. "Hey, I offered Barry to come along, but he has been super depressed for weeks now. He just sits here watching TV when he's not working or being the Flash," Kara now looked back at her sleeping friend. "Though, it looks like you may have been just what he needed… or maybe it was just the alcohol." Kara chuckled.

"I originally went to Joe's house because last time I was here, that's Barry he lived," Kara explained. "He told me Barry was staying with you, and I figured I'd pay him a visit."

"Any particular reason you crossed dimensions to see Barry?" Cisco asked, as he sat in a nearby chair.

"Broke up with my boyfriend," she explained, making Cisco nod. "Wanted to wallow in self-pity. Turned out we were in a similar boat." Cisco gave her a curious look.

"Well… did it help?" he asked gesturing towards Barry. Kara looked at Barry and thought on it for a second.

"Yeah," she replied with a smile, as she turned back towards Cisco. "I think it helped a lot, actually. Though, I think I'll go a bit easier next time we do this."

"Yeah, definitely," Cisco said as he picked up the alien bottle. "Damn, girl, this is completely empty. You guys go hard." This made them both chuckle.

"Yeah, I guess," Kara said, biting her lower lip. "Hey, where's the guest bedroom? I know I'm in no condition to fly, but I think I can carry Barry to a proper bed."

"Aww, how sweet," Cisco remarked, smirking. "It's over there." He pointed to a room right by the kitchen. It wasn't big, but hey, it was something. She picked Barry up easily and slowly carried him over to the small bed. She took off his shoes and put a blanket over him, tucking him in. She then took a nearby chair and sat next to the bed.

"Hey, I'm headed to bed, so if you wanna crash on the couch, that's cool," Cisco said, standing in the doorway.

"Actually, I'm just gonna head back home, I think," she explained. "Just gonna say goodnight to Barry."

"Okay," Cisco said. "Just make sure to lock the door on your way out." She gave him a thumbs up, which he replied back with. He went into his room and Kara now faced Barry.

"Hey," she began quietly. "I know you probably can't hear me, but… I really appreciate you spending time with me tonight. I know you're going through a lot, and you haven't made time for much of anybody lately, but you still made time for me." She paused for a second, smiling to herself. "My point is… you're a really good friend, Barry, and I don't know what I'd do without you. So, thank you." She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the forehead. As she sat back in her chair, she just looked at him for brief moment. He looked so peaceful, so calm… so handsome. Wait, what? Okay, let's back up a bit. It's time to leave. She walked towards and stopped at the doorway. She turned back to him. "Till next time, Flash." She turned the lights off, collected all her stuff, left the small apartment, and subsequently, her friend's dimension.

...