Author's Note: So you may be like, "WTY! Why are you blowing over midterms? Isn't that something fun to write about?" And I'd be all like "Yeah, let's do it!" Except, as I said in the Author's Note of chapter 1, I have NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING BECAUSE I'VE NEVER BEEN TO PUBLIC/PRIVATE HIGH SCHOOL OR MIDDLE SCHOOL SO UMMMM...
I literally don't know how to write midterms.
Like at all.
Anyways, enjoy the chapter :)
After Winter Formal, everything calmed down... sort of. Midterms were taken with much stress and studying, Barry had his birthday, and the first two-thirds of the month of March passed with surprising speed.
Unfortunately, Thea was starting to think that nothing interesting would ever happen again. No one had gotten together or broken up. She hadn't gotten up the nerve to tell Roy she loved him yet. In fact, nothing noteworthy had happened since Sara and Leonard kissed at the end of the basketball game almost a month ago.
That was until Sara sat down at the lunch table with some very interesting tea.
"So, you know how Mon-El and Kara played matchmaker for Brainy? Well, that looked like fun to me. And there's this girl in my history class that I had to a project with recently because Iris ditched me for Barry-"
"I'm sorry!" Iris protested. "It just made more sense. We live together!"
"Whatever," Sara huffed, clearly not over it. "Anyway, her name is Zari and I absolutely love her because she is a riot and a ton of fun."
"So see!" Iris cried, interrupting her again. "You should be thanking me."
Sara ignored her. "Anyway, she was telling me one night about this guy that's in her science class that she thinks she might like, and guess what? It's Nate!"
"Nate, like Nate Haywood?" Thea asked, jaw dropping. "Like... the Nate Haywood that dated Amaya Jiwe on your soccer team? Like the one you used to be besties with?"
"Okay, we were never besties," Sara said, rolling her eyes. "We hung out a couple times back when we were in middle school, but I've barely spent any time with him since high school. But regardless, I think he's a great guy, and that he and Zari would be impossibly cute together. So I'm going to set them up, and if you three don't want to help I'll ask Leonard."
"Okay, calm down," Iris said, holding up her hands. "We never said we wouldn't help you. But how exactly to you expect us to aid you in setting up two people we don't know?"
Sara pulled a face. "Well, I hadn't gotten to that yet," she shrugged. "But I think our goal should be Prom, which means we have plenty of time."
"Let's see..." Thea considered. "Today is March 19th, and Prom is May 13th. That means we have almost a full two months to set them up. What's the game plan? Are we going to get Zari to confess how she feels, or are we getting Nate to ask her out?"
"Hmm..." Sara put her chin on her palm, food forgotten in the wake of more important matters, mainly shipping. "Zari is crazy stubborn. Something tells me that Nate will be more malleable to suggestion. But at the same time, it would be really weird for me to suddenly go up to Nate, who I haven't talked to in, like, two years besides the occasional 'hey' or a comment on a post, and be like, 'sup dude, I think you should ask out Zari who it's possible that you don't even know'."
"Well yes," Iris agreed, snorting. "If you said it that way, you're right, that would be very weird."
"You know what I mean," Sara groaned. "So I guess that Zari is our best bet."
Thea had a thoughtful look on her face. "Or..." she suggested slowly. "We tell a little white lie."
Iris and Sara exchanged glances. "It scares me a little when she gets that look on her face," Sara whispered.
"It's a scary look," Iris agreed, wincing.
Thea gave them both disapproving glances. "Okay, both of you chill. It's not that crazy of an idea. Iris or I could just accidentally crash into him sometime and then pretend to get a good look at him and be like, 'omg, you're Nate right?' And then he'd be like, 'Uh, yeah, how'd you know?' And then we'd be like, 'Oh! Uh... Zari was talking about you one time and she showed us a picture. Haha that sounds so creepy but it really isn't.' And then he'd be like, 'Zari was talking about me?' And we'd be like, 'Oh she talks about you all the time- I think she's totally into you. Anyway, gotta go!' "
Sara made a face. "Uh, part of me loves this plan and part of me's like... there are literally eighty things that could go wrong."
"Also," Iris put in. "What if Nate doesn't like Zari? We haven't even considered that possibility."
Sara slumped. "Yeah, I guess I didn't," she sighed. "It would suck to work so hard just to get her rejected. Okay, new plan. We find out about Nate's feelings before we do anything else. He's bros with Ray Palmer, and I actually know Ray a little bit. He's a super peppy dude, and I think that he would love to help in anyway he can."
"Nice," Thea said, nodding. "Also, his girlfriend Nora seems super cool and I kind of totally want to meet her."
"In my opinion, she seems way too edgy for him," Sara replied, making a face. "But sure Thea, whatever you want. Okay, new game plan: I'm going to talk to Ray when I see him, and then he can get some (hopefully covert) info, and then we can arrange a meeting time with him and Nora and the three of us, so Nora and Thea can meet and Ray can fill us in on what he's learned. Then, depending on how Nate feels, we will proceed from there."
Iris nodded. "Sounds like a plan," she agreed. "Keep us posted, okay?"
"You got it," Sara agreed, grinning. She was ready to get started.
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Lena was absolutely delighted to see Brainy walk into the newspaper room on Tuesday. "Brainy!" she cried, face lighting up. She hadn't realized how much she had missed seeing him until that moment. Since Mon-El had recovered from his double ear infection, Lena had only seen Brainy once, when she and Sam had unexpectedly run into him and Mon-El when they had gone out for coffee at Jitters. Their school paths never crossed, and Brainy had had no reason to come back to the newspaper room until, it seemed, this moment.
"Hello, Lena Luthor," Brainy beamed, looking just as pleased to see her as she was to see him. "It has been way too long. I know that I said I would come visit you after Mon-El recovered from his disease, and I apologize that I did not."
"It's alright," Lena said, coming around the side of her desk. "I haven't been in here much, honestly. Midterm studying has kept me pretty busy."
"Me as well," Brainy agreed, dipping his chin and folding his hands behind his back. "Now I must ask... how is it all going with you and Mr. James Olsen?"
Lena smiled faintly at Brainy's tendency to use people's full names whenever talking about them or addressing them. "How's it going? There's not really anything to be going, I guess."
He frowned for a moment, trying to puzzle out what she meant.
"Like..." Lena tried again. "There's nothing going on between us, so there's nothing to update you on. How's Nia?"
A few weeks ago that may have worked to completely distract Brainy from asking her about James, but now it didn't succeed in quite the way she had hoped. "Nia Nal... Nia Nal is incredible. Well, she's actually rather stressed about her testing, but to me she is amazing and wonderful and- well, anyway. I do believe that there could be something between you and James, if you would still like there to be."
"I-" Lena bit her lip and glanced out the window. "I mean, I still like him, if that's what you're asking. He's very... charming, and kind, and professional when he works on the newspaper with me." Suddenly words were pouring out of her mouth. "There was one evening when I had to stay late because I had lost track of time and hadn't finished editing the newest edition of the newspaper and it needed to go out the next morning, and I had to call him to send me the pictures he had taken, and it turned out that he was actually still at school so instead of just emailing them to me, he came up and spent the next hour helping me going over all the edits because he said that he didn't want me going home super late because midterms started the next day."
Lena took a breath, blushing. "Sorry, you probably didn't need to know all of that. There's just something about spending time with him that... I don't know. It's nice."
Brainy smiled kindly at her. "I understand completely," he said. "Mon-El shared this thing with me that he and Kara like that read: 'A day with the right person can feel like an hour'. I feel that way with Nia, and I believe that you might feel that way with James."
"Yeah," Lena agreed. "But still, it's not as if it matters. I really don't think that he likes me like that, Brainy. And there is no way that I'm putting myself out there if he doesn't, because he is currently the school newspaper's only photographer. There was already romantic drama in the news room this year; I don't know if it could take much more."
"It has been a month," Brainy said. "James will have moved on by now, right?"
Lena shrugged. "Well. I haven't, have I?"
"Hm." Brainy looked thoughtful. "No, I suppose you have not."
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After the brief fight that had taken place when James got rejected by Kara, James and Winn had started spending a considerable amount of time together. James was new to AV High, and as much as he liked to pretend he had been there since Freshmen year like most of the other students, in truth he was really just a kid who had been forced to transfer halfway through his Senior year. He was desperate for some kind of solid friend to replace the ones he had left, and Winn was just as desperate for some male companionship. Their friendship worked.
They were watching a track meet that James was taking pictures for one afternoon when Winn thought he'd broach the subject of Kara. "So, have things smoothed over between the two of you?" he asked.
James shrugged. "Yeah," he replied. "For the most part. I feel like she's always a little more awkward around me then around most people, especially when we have to be alone, but it hasn't been so bad. Come on, I want to go get a photo finish of these sprinters."
Winn followed him dutifully across the bleachers and closer to the track. "And you've moved on from her?" he continued. "If you haven't, no judgement, it took me like a year. She's just one of those people you honestly wonder if you'll every get over."
"Yeah," James repeated, getting down on one knee and prepping his camera. "Honestly, I think most of my attachment revolved around the fact that I got here and was lonely and she was a pretty face that seemed nice enough and could be interested in me. Wasn't too hard to get over that, which means our relationship wouldn't have lasted anyway."
Winn hadn't had a crush on someone in so long that he kind of forgot what it was like to move on from one quickly. He let out a sigh and then shoved himself out of his self-pity. "Well, that's good. I'm glad for you, dude."
"Besides," James added. "I've gotten to know someone else pretty well over the past few weeks and there's the possibility that there's something real there. But I guess we'll see. I'm not going to jump into anything right now."
Winn shrugged. "Well, if you think it's the right choice, I wouldn't wait too long, dude. The end of the year's gonna come up before you know it, and if there's stuff you haven't gotten to you're just going to regret it."
"Yeah, I know, I know," James sighed. The sprint started and he was silent for a moment, focusing on his camera. Once he was satisfied he and Winn headed back to the bleachers. "How about you man? Any girl you're interested in?"
"Uh..." Winn picked at his thumbnail. "Nah, not really. I haven't really liked anyone since Kara, honestly. I'm ready to, but... well, I basically know my entire Junior class. I can't imagine someone would suddenly just catch my interest enough that I would want to date them."
"I see your point," James agreed with a laugh. "Well, maybe you should be stupid and transfer halfway through the year like me. Then there will be too many new faces."
"Yeah, I'll pass," Winn replied, grinning. He considered James' comment for a second before tilting his head in question. "Hey man, I never did ask: Why did you move here?"
James leaned back on his heel and scratched his chin. "Well, my dad's in the military," he explained. "So we moved bases. I think it's a little stupid that we moved, though, because he's going to be shipped off in a few weeks."
"Aw man, I'm sorry," Winn said, his face falling. "That really sucks. But hey-" He reached over and slugged James on the shoulder. "I'm glad you moved, because otherwise I would be sitting here alone."
James snorted. "Dude, you wouldn't even be here if I wasn't taking pictures, would you?"
"No I would not," Winn admitted. "But I'm okay with that."
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"Cisco, I don't even like coffee."
Caitlin glanced up from her table at a coffee shop downtown to see her best friend pushing a petite, dark-haired young woman in front of him into the room. She beamed at the two of them and started waving, vigorously enough to catch Cisco's eye.
"Hi," Caitlin greeted as soon as they were close enough. "You must be Gypsy? I'm Caitlin, Cisco's-"
"Best friend, yeah, I know," Gypsy interrupted with a sigh and a reluctant smile. She shook Caitlin's hand. "Nice to finally meet you. I swear he talks about you so much that I kinda thought he was into you before he asked me out."
Caitlin's face twisted. "Oh, ew, no no no. Um, I have a boyfriend and even if I didn't Cisco and I... he's like my brother. That's just weird."
"Yeah, figured that out eventually, too," Gypsy replied with a snort. She sat down across from Caitlin and glanced up at Cisco. "Babe? Get me a drink that's not coffee?"
"On it," Cisco agreed, kissing her cheek. Then he looked down at Caitlin with a hopeful expression on his face. "Uhh, you two get to know each other! I'll be right back."
Caitlin waved at him with a smile, and then immediately turned back to Gypsy. "Sooo he seems smitten with you."
"Oh pah." Gypsy waved her hand through the air and then ran it through her long, inky-black waves. "I mean, he's my boyfriend. I'd hope he'd at least act a little smitten."
"Word of warning, and kind-of advice," Caitlin said, leaning forward a little and dropping the volume of her voice just in case Cisco would overhear. "Cisco has a pretty fragile heart. You might not think he does, but he does. He really wants a girlfriend, but he also wants someone who will just love him for him. He hurts easily, even when he doesn't show it. So just... be gentle with him, okay?"
"Okay..." Gypsy replied awkwardly, leaning back. She forced a quick laugh. "So, you're going to be the friend who's going to absolutely despise me if I end up breaking up with him, huh?"
Caitlin's mouth pinched. "Generally, no. I don't despise anyone," she replied stiffly. "I think that there are tactful, kind ways to break up with someone, and I would hope that you would use one of those if you ever found the need to break up with Cisco."
"Who's breaking up with Cisco?" Cisco himself asked, appearing suddenly at their table with two large mugs of coffee and looking slightly terrified.
"No one, honey," Gypsy replied immediately, reaching up to rub his arm.
He looked dubious, but shook it off to put down one of the mugs in front of Gypsy. "Cinnamon hot cocoa for you, and a mocha latte for me. And let me guess, Caitlin, you got a black coffee."
Caitlin grinned at him over to lip of her mug, taking a small sip of what most high schoolers would find to be an absolutely disgusting drink. "You know me so well."
They fell into light conversation about where Gypsy went to school, what classes all of them were taking, and the ever-looming threat of colleges. Gypsy was interested in pursuing a criminal justice major, but she and Cisco both enjoyed science and robotics which gave them at least one class-interest in common.
From Caitlin's perspective, they seemed pretty well matched. They weren't exactly similar; Gypsy was intense where Cisco was laid-back, and Gypsy's humor was more dry and morbid than Cisco's constant comical references. But they talked and flirted with incredible ease and Caitlin found herself mentally crossing her fingers that this girl could last. Cisco deserved a girlfriend that wouldn't dump him after a month.
Maybe Gypsy could be the girlfriend.
Author's Note: As I'm writing this, I'm honestly torn about the whole Gypsy plot. Cannonically, Gypsy and Cisco break up. Butttttt so do Caitlin and Julian and logistically in this fanfiction that wouldn't make sense so we're kind of ignoring cannon.
I dunno. We're gonna have to see where everyone ends up.
