AN: What's up, mes amis? Here's my first (and, most likely, last) Karry story, brought to you by the one and only Kryptonian Potato. If you love Karry stories, well you should totally check Kryptonian Potato's profile out! But yeah, man, this one's for you!
Without further ado, here we go!
In hindsight, he probably should have just asked for Clark's help, but that man is ever busy due to the world's demand for Superman and Perry White's demand for reporter Clark.
Well, he also supposes he could have requested the use of his Fortress of Solitude or even just Kelex but he can't lift the key to open the damn place since it was composed of the same structure as stars, meaning it weighed way too much for a regular human (or even ten of them) to pick up. Plus, it was called the Fortress of Solitude for a reason; it was his place... he was simply an outsider.
He sighs. There's no other way to do this, no one else to turn to... to ask.
Three raps on the wooden door. It takes about a minute before it opens to Winn's smiling yet confused face.
"Barry, hey!" He greets, putting his fist out for a bump to which he does. "What's up? Is it— Oh my god, is it Flash business? Are you in trouble? Is Kara in trouble? Did you hurt her—"
"Winn." He cuts him off. He nods to make sure Winn's listening to him and says, "I'm not here as the Flash, I'm not in trouble and neither is Kara and you know I'd never hurt her."
Winn considers him for a second before his shoulders sag in relief. "Okay, that's good. So... why you here?"
He twiddles with his thumbs. "I need your help. But you have to promise to keep it a secret."
"Barry!"
He startles awake, having dozed off at work again. Because he'd nodded off on his office chair, his jerky movements cause the chair to wheel back a few inches, displacing his balance and making him fall quite badly on to the floor. And down he went, yelping. He groans and rubs at his hip that had collided with the base of his chair. Actually, never mind his hip; it's his ego that's damaged from the high-pitched keen he'd managed to elicit.
He looks up to find Joe, looking at him with that awfully sympathetic paternal concern he's so used to seeing every time he comes back home from being the Flash, and Iris, with that raised brow of amusement.
"I thought the Flash was supposed to have quick reflexes," Iris teases, corners of her lips curling up.
He glares at her but it lacks any real intensity. "Oh ha ha," he shoots back sarcastically, using the arm of his chair to support himself. This has been proven to be quite the awful decision; he puts too much trust, too much weight that it makes the chair wheel back from him and he falls on his ass again.
"Okay, Bare, there we go," Joe says as he grabs his arm to haul him back up to his feet. "What's going on with you, son?"
He squeezes his eyes shut and rubs them with his fists. "Nothing, I'm good." He drops his hands to his side. His eyelids really are heavy. He fights back a yawn. "Just haven't been sleeping enough."
"You getting nightmares again?" Joe asks, dropping the volume of his voice to convey his concern.
He laughs, mostly to fill the void of silence that would have stretched in the room filled with the two people he knows are demanding an answer. He laughs also because... he doesn't get them anymore; he's long reconciled with everything that's happened with his life, and he's never been more content.
"Nope, no nightmares. Just... work."
"Yeah, we can see," Iris says before looking pointedly at his board and his desks that are littered with an abundance of notes that are, for sure, indecipherable to them. Letter-sized papers and little sticky notes are scattered everywhere; he just knows his family is probably thinking he's cracked. "Please tell me this is all for a new case and not your insane way of tracking down every easter egg in those comic book movies because this is just a sad use of your powers."
"No," he says simply, feeling the tips of his ears become warm; he knows he's flushed.
"You sure you okay, Bare?" Joe asks, firm hand on his shoulder.
God he's tired. He's exhausted from the many nights he doesn't sleep. Ah but it's worth it. It'll be all worth it in the end...
He nods. "Trust me. If I wasn't, you two would be the first I'd tell."
And just like that, Joe accepts his answer and he's never been more thankful for their steadfast belief in him.
He wishes there's some sort of website he could go to or an app he could download. Winn's great and all, but he can't keep visiting Earth-38 just to ask for tiny little specifics. Besides, that'd cause alarm on both ends, with Team Flash fretting over his disappearance and Team Supergirl panicking over why he'd rushed over.
He grumbles and picks up his pen and paper, ready to go back to the task at hand.
He has a goal, and he intends to achieve it.
Kara notices. He knows she's long noticed because she's as observant and smart as she is impeccable and gorgeous but it's the first time she asks about it.
He locks his phone and slams his notebook in a panic, frantically telling her it's nothing.
He supposes he could have handled that better, but it's too late to take it back.
When Kara leaves her loft, leaves him with his eyebrows furrowed and pen tip between his teeth, saying she needs to the DEO when in reality she's going to her sister's, he doesn't realize her face is tear-streaked and her mind goes straight to the worst case scenario.
Alex comes barging in precisely three hours since Kara left, donned in her DEO uniform and a cold gun at hand aimed at his head.
He can't move away; he's stuck there with wide eyes, staring at who he considers the scariest person in the multiverse, heart beating fast as he thinks about the will he'd written and left with Gideon in the time vault.
"Who is it?" Alex says through gritted teeth. Eyes narrow into slits, she doesn't need Kara's heat vision to give him heart attacks. The urgency of the question throws him off, however, not understanding at all what she means. But the way she said it... the gravity in it tells him she needs to have an answer before she can kill him.
"I... I-I don't—"
"Don't lie to me, Barry!" She growls, voice cracking at the mention of his name. "God, you know I actually liked you? You were so good to her... She loved you! You just had to ruin it."
His eyes widen in alarm. "Loved? She's... She's breaking up with me?" God, it stings so much more than he could ever imagine having to say that out loud.
Alex exhales a puff of exasperation, as if she truly doesn't understand the audacity of his question. "Do you really think she's that kind of girl? To come back to a cheater?"
He blinks.
He blinks again.
"A... cheater?"
Alex straightens, look thoughtful as she drops the arm with the weapon to her side.
"I didn't cheat on her, Alex." The mere thought sickens him. How — just how — could he even think about doing such a dick move to the most amazing girl ever?
"But— She said you're being so secretive!" She accuses. "That every time she walks in on you on your phone, you tense up and immediately close whatever it is you were doing."
His palm connects with his forehead as he laughs at the absurdity of it all.
"Alex, I swear I'm not cheating on her!"
"Then what's with the secrets?"
He sighs. "Promise me you won't tell her?"
She puts down the cold gun and crosses her arms over her chest. "I make no promises."
The embrace Alex gives him once he's explained what he's been up to is more than just astonishing, it's downright unbelievable.
"Do... you think it's a good idea?" He asks sheepishly when they part.
Alex smiles and slaps his shoulder good-naturedly. "I think it's the best idea ever. She'll love it."
He beams back, relieved to have his girlfriend's sister's approval. "Thanks, Alex."
A month later and he's as ready as he'll ever be...
"So... we drove all the way out here in the desert at night for why?"
He grins at her as he takes off his seatbelt. "For our date."
"Oh. You know you could've just run here and I could've flown?"
He shrugs. "Yeah, but I like taking our time."
By the time she finishes the last bite of her chocolate pecan pie (Alex helped him ask her mother bake one for him to give to Kara), he adjusts himself so he's facing her. He holds out his hand to her. She looks at him cautiously, most likely wondering what he's planning, but takes his hand slowly nonetheless. He hauls her up to her feet.
"Barry, you okay?"
He smiles in response and presses the play button on the iPod. A gentle strumming of an acoustic guitar sounds through the speaker he'd managed to hide earlier in the day behind a rock.
"I've never needed much
Just that simple rush
Moment you walk in
Yeah I'd rather be blind
Than not look in your eyes
'Cause no one else can see
How you look to me"
Kara's eyes, bright as starlight like always, glisten with tears that accentuate their blueness and innocence. She realizes what's going on and she chokes back a strangled cry, that kind that made your own heart twinge in empathy. He can practically see as her mind form the pieces together, all the times spent in secrecy for the last few months.
"All I want is you
No makeup or perfume"
She's so beautiful, rare like that kind of sunrise people almost always take for granted. She is the sun, bright and promises hope with each day that passes, so it's no wonder she draws power from it.
His smile stretches further, unable to fathom just how lucky he is to have such a wonder in his life and to be able to call her his. He spins her around; she laughs, that kind of laugh that sounds like bells in a soft breeze, that kind of laugh that just sounds musical in a way that's effortless.
"So give me that kind of love that makes the hair stick straight up upon your neck
The kind you give your life for theirs
Like Montagues and Capulets"
He dips her. He shouldn't be stunned by the trust and affection that shimmers in those big blue eyes behind the façade of her spectacles, but he is anyway.
"Don't need to live forever
Growing old with you is much better
Just give me that kind of love"
He slowly brings themselves back up to their feet, foreheads pressed together as he quietly sings the last part.
"Just give me that kind of love
Don't need to live forever"
"Barry, I—"
He kisses her nose, effectively cutting her off. His hand reaches for his pocket, pulling out the ring he'd been carrying for months now as he slowly gets down on one bended knee.
He takes in a deep breath. This is it, what months with Winn tearing out his hair for have led up to. "Mi havas kaj ĉiam amos vin." I have and will always love you. She gasps. "Mi intencas plenumi tiun promeson al vi." I intend on keeping that promise to you. He hopes he's saying it right. "Kara Zor-El, Kara Danvers, Supergirl... Ĉu vi edzigos min?" Will you marry me?
She's quiet and not moving. Before he can internally scream, wondering if he'd accidentally said anything wrong, she puts her hands on both of his cheeks and kisses him earnestly, that kind of kiss where you'd think you'd combust, that kind of kiss that leaves you needing to breathe.
"Jes," Yes. She breathes against his lips before kissing him again.
He laughs against her mouth; he can feel hot tears spilling onto his cheeks from his eyes. Relief knocks into him as if the moon had been dropped onto him. He really does owe Winn one.
When they finally part and are gasping for sweet air, he slips on the simple band with the single cut stone of ruby adorning its center.
"Oh, Barry. Barry, hey," she says soothingly as she brings him into her warm and comforting embrace; he's openly sobbing now.
God, he loves her.
And that's exactly what he promises, what he tells her, over and over again.
"Mi amas vin. Mi tiom amas vin." I love you. I love you so much.
Song: That Kind of Love by MAX (Huge thanks to scarletspeedshits on AO3 and Tumblr for helping me pick the song)
So I searched for "Kryptonese/Kryptonian" on YouTube and it gave me this scene from an animated DC film where Kara speaks and the whole comment section was like "that's Esperanto" so yeah let's pretend that Barry's been learning Kryptonese and not Esperanto. (Also I got the translations from Google Translate. If you actually know the language and the translations are wrong, feel free to tell me!)
(Shameless self-promotion: i have a tumblr! come say hi/follow me: temmie-loony)
AN: Happy birthday in advance, Kryptonian Potato!
(to everyone else: I am very grateful that you took the time to click on this story and read! But please don't ask me to write more/continue this fic; I don't ship Karry. Now I know what you're probably thinking: "but you ship Kara/Barry/Oliver! how can you not ship Kara/Barry alone?" I know, I know, it's weird, but to me, it just feels incomplete without Oliver. Maybe I'm drawing parallels to my own real-life relationships and wishful thinking, or maybe I'm just a weirdo, but nonetheless, yeah. I did this 'cause the KryptonianPotato was really sweet and offered to exchange stories even though Karivarry isn't his ship. Like if that didn't tug at my heartstrings, I don't know what would.)
Thank you so much for reading! Feel free to leave a review; they mean the world to me!