[Sorry if there's any spelling/grammatical errors. They'll be fixed later.]
In this AU, I wanted a more humorous James, so I did:)
When Kara first got her job as an assistant for Cat Grant at Catco, she had gotten a lot of help from her new friend, Winn. The two became quick friends and hung out at work and out of work. Then the two met Mike Matthews, a reporter at Catco who didn't talk much to any of them. They noticed how lonely he was, and Kara wanted to do something about it. Winn was reluctant. He usually was when it came to social activities with people like Mike—people who would rather be alone.
After work, the two caught up to Mike walking out of the building. Winn groaned in frustration when Kara dragged him towards the man.
"Hi," Kara stopped Mike. His glasses-covered eyes looked up from his phone and saw her smiling face and Winn's tired one. "I'm Kara, and this is my friend, Winn."
Mike nodded, but looked at his phone when it rung. He answered it immediately, ignoring the two. "I'll be there," was all he said into the phone. He shoved it in his pocket, then looked at the two. "Sorry, I gotta go."
"Is something wrong?" Kara asked, worried.
He shook his head and left. He speed-walked away from them till he was out of sight, and changed in his supersuit. He flew to the problem, saving a little boy and his mother from their soon-to-be destroyed car before it could explode. After he saved them, he nodded when they said their goodbyes, and he left back to his place.
He entered his apartment, tired. "You know," Mike said to his roommate eating ice cream in front of the tv, "when you said there was going to be an explosion, I thought you meant, like, a nuclear one."
His roommate, James, chuckled. He kept his eyes on the tv. "Nuclear explosion, car explosion; same difference." He muffled out.
Mike poured himself some orange juice. "You're the Guardian. Aren't you capable of handling that on your own?"
"Yeah," he shrugged, "but I had a finale to deal with, and you disabled our recording. And you were fast enough to get there."
"I didn't disable recording, you just didn't bother to pay that part of the bill, and they cancelled it." He slurped his drink. "But I'll pay for it if it means you getting off that couch to do your night-job."
James smiled. "And this is why we're friends."
Mike put his unwashed cup in the sink. "We're not friends."
"Do you think he's okay?" Kara asked Winn. He spun around in his chair.
"He's fine." He said.
She sighed until she saw Mike coming out of the elevator. When he noticed her walking towards, he immediately turned the other direction, trying to avoid her.
"Wait!" She walked faster towards him.
Mike stopped and turned around to her. He was going to tell her to just leave him alone. He didn't need any friends, assuming that's what she wanted from him—a friendship. But she bumped into him, hard. His glasses fell off from the hit, along with a file he was carrying, and she gasped.
"Oh, my God. I am so sorry." She apologized. He grabbed all of his papers, messily shoving them back in his file. She helped by grabbing is glasses. She was going to give it to him until she saw his face. He looked so familiar. She continued to stare at him, but soon he noticed. He snatched his glasses from her hands and put them on.
He got up first and she did the same. "Just please leave me alone, okay?"
Before leaving, he gave one last scowl. She watched him, upset. She felt guilty, but she couldn't help but think about him without his glasses.
"No," she shook her head. "That's-that's not possible." She muttered.
"Who are you talking to?" Winn showed up behind her. She yelped in shock, then turned to him.
"Did you see that?" She ignored his question. He laughed softly.
"What, the part where you bumped into him or the part where he told you to leave him alone?" He told her.
She groaned. "I should've just left him alone."
Winn agreed. "Yeah, but at least you've learned your lesson not to bother people who clearly dislike social interactions."
Nodding, she sighed. "Let's just go."
Mike heard them talking from his office. He felt sorry for her, of course, but she saw him without his glasses. James told him that with or without glasses, people would be able to tell he was Valor quicker than the Flash, but through the months he worked at Catco, no one figured out who he was. Until now.
Lately, Kara had been noticing patterns. The news was usually on at work and whenever danger was mentioned in National City, Mike would disappear and Valor would be out there in the city, doing what he always did. A few times that she saw he was gone, she thought it was a pure coincidence. She assumed he was in the bathroom for the same amount of time as Valor was saving lives. Then one day when Valor was gone, Mike came in without his glasses. His hair was messy, he missed a button on his shirt, revealing the same shade of red as the one on his suit..
She didn't want to bother him, but she told him anyway. "Your glasses," she said, "they're not...and your shirt..."
It took him a second to understand what she was saying. Once he did, he put his glasses on and buttoned his shirt. Before he could thank her, she was already gone. She raced off to get home. She needed to prove to Winn she was right. She told him that Mike was Valor, but he didn't believe her.
"Winn, Winn, Winn, Winn, Winn!" She shouted through her phone.
"Ow!" He moaned, leaning away from his phone.
She was in her apartment building, too excited to use the elevator. "I told you! I told you he was Valor!"
He groaned. "Kara, Mike Matthews is not Valor, this is all in your head. Valor is busy saving the city while Mike is busy being the lonely, scary guy that he is at Catco. So please just stop-"
"No, you don't understand, Winn." She said. "I saw him-"
"In the suit?"
"Well, no, not in his suit-actually, yes, kind of, but-"
"Kara," he sighed, "I'm really tired. And I care about you, so I'm going to tell you to get some rest. Goodnight."
"Winn, don't-crap." She muttered when he hung up. She put her phone in her pocket and sighed.
Walking to her apartment, she grabbed her keys from her bag. Then she froze. Her hand stayed in her purse as she stared at the man by her door.
"Hi," Mike waved awkwardly. His glasses were off, showing Kara both Mike Matthews and Valor.
"You're here." She pointed out. "Wha-why are you here—how do you know where I live?" She walked to him.
Mike shoved his hands in his pockets. "I know you figured it out."
Kara looked away from him and took out her key to unlock her door. "I don't know what you're talking about." she faked a laugh.
"I know you know I'm Valor." He clarified, even if he knew that she knew exactly what she was talking about.
She faked a gasp and continued to lie. "You're Valor? No, that can't be. You? I never would've guessed that it was you!"
Mike folded his arms and smirked. "Kara."
"Okay, yes, I know." She looked at the ground. "I started to figure it out when your glasses fell when I bumped into you. Which I am still sorry about."
He shook his head. "You didn't mean it-"
"I mean, I was just trying to become friends with someone who seemed pretty lonely. But I guess I should've noticed that before I spoke to you." She sounded upset.
"I prefer to be alone." He grinned. "I shouldn't have been rude to you."
"You weren't really being rude, I was just being annoying." They both laughed.
He dropped his arms. "Just don't tell anyone."
Her smile dropped. "Um...uh, yeah. Sure, yeah. Of course-"
"Relax," he shook his head. "I heard you tell Winn about me while you were at the stairs, it's okay. But just tell him not to tell anyone. This is a really important secret. One that could get you guys killed."
Kara opened her door and went in. "He doesn't believe me anyway."
"Yeah, well…" he continued to stand outside. He looked down. "To repay you for keeping my secret-"
Kara began to feel excited. "We can be friends?"
He looked up and smiled. "Yeah."
"Then I would love that."
"Yeah. Me too, I guess."