Author's Note: Y'ALL! I have the next seven scenes planned. This is gonna be sick.
"I cannot believe he said that," Alex said, slowly shaking her head. She, Kara and Eliza were all seated around their kitchen table over mugs of tea, and Kara had just laid out the entire Return of Schott Senior debacle to her family.
"Poor boy," Eliza sighed. "I can't imagine how hard this must be for him."
"I know." Kara pushed her tea aside and put her head down on the table. "And I get that. And that makes me feel even worse. Like, he was going through such a hard time in his life and I just completely rejected him. I don't even think it was a tactful rejection. I thought he was over it but, look at that, he's still dwelling on it!"
Alex shook her head. "He's not," she told her sister. "Trust me- as weird as this sounds, Winn and I have actually talked about this before. He's completely over you and completely fine with your friendship. I mean, I'm sure he still loves you but he loves you as a friend, and that's enough for him."
"So why did he bring up me rejecting him?" Kara asked, lifting her head as her hope also elevated.
"There could be a few reasons," Eliza interjected. "One is that he wanted to tell his dad about the most painful thing that's happened to him since he was in prison. Another is that all the frustration and anger he was feeling towards his dad needed somewhere to go, and it fell on the first thing he could think of."
Alex made a face. "Sometimes I forget you were a psychology minor," she sighed.
"So what am I supposed to do?" Kara asked desperately. "For starters, I ran out on him when he needed me the most. And even though that's on me, you know he's going to approach me on Monday- or come see me even sooner- and apologize and it's going to be insanely awkward. And yeah, you guys seem convinced that he's over me and my breaking his heart but what if he's not?"
She broke off, her voice having risen steadily in volume over the past few sentences.
"Have some more tea," Alex urged, pushing Kara's mug closer to her sister's hand. "The drinking kind, not the drama."
Kara laughed a little, taking a sip of her drink.
"You know what I'm going to say," Eliza told her daughter. "Conversation and communication is always the best way to resolve an issue. Treat Winn with empathy and respect and be willing to make some allowances because he's going through such a hard time, but also let him know that his words made you concerned that you guys' past isn't really behind you."
"Do I have to?" Kara groaned, putting her head back down on the table. "We can't just drop it and pretend like it never happened with the unspoken agreement never to speak of it again?"
"No," Eliza and Alex replied at the same time.
"Fine," Kara sighed. "I'll text him to meet me somewhere tomorrow and we can talk."
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Winn managed to get all the way through "family dinner" before he'd had enough. His father was asking him an endless stream of questions about his life, school, his friends, his hobbies, colleges, the future... and with every question Winn was reminded that his father hadn't been there to know any of those things.
He supposed Winslow Sr. was trying. He was making more of an effort to get to know his son than Winn was to give up information or being accommodating in any way. But he hadn't asked for this. He hadn't asked for his dad to leave and he certainly hadn't asked for him to come back.
"I'd love to meet some more of your friends, Winn," Mr. Schott said as he sipped on a glass of wine, the remnants of a meal of homemade mac n cheese on the plate in front of him. "Kara was a lovely girl."
"Yep, she is," Winn said stiffly. He didn't really want to talk about Kara right now. Not only did he have to deal with his dad, but he had to push down the overwhelming guilt about causing Kara to have that look on her face. Why had he opened his stupid mouth and brought up what had happened between the two of them over a year ago?
"So, you said she rejected you?" Mr. Schott went on. "It's her loss."
"Can we stop talking about Kara, please?" Winn answered, his fists tightening around the napkin in his lap.
Mr. Schott let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair. "Winn, I'm just trying to get to know you a little more," he said patiently. "I've missed so much of your life-"
"Yes, you have!" Winn cried, shooting to his feet so hard his thighs hit the table and made all the silverware rattle. "And whose fault was that? It wasn't my decision that made you get arrested and miss basically all of the years that I'd need a father the most!"
He threw his napkin into his plate and turned to his mother. "I'm going to say with a friend," he bit out, before glaring at Winslow Sr. "Enjoy your dessert, dad."
With that, Winn strode out of the kitchen and then out of the house entirely.
He realized, after making it an entire sidewalks length away from his home, that he didn't have anything on him but an outfit, some shoes, and his phone. He hadn't thought to pack and overnight bag or even grab his backpack with all his homework and his computer. Now that he thought of it, he didn't even have a charger for his phone.
That turned out to be a pretty huge problem, because when he pulled out his device he found it to be dead.
"Come on!" Winn yelled, kicking at a broke piece of sidewalk. The result was that it moved about an inch and he was left with a stubbed toe and even more pent up frustration.
He didn't know what to do. His original intention of storming out of his house had been to head to James' place- the older teen had offered and Winn knew that his mom would be incredibly accommodating.
But there was one problem: Winn didn't know how to get to James' house. He had been there quite a few times, but his mom always drove him and he never really paid attention to directions. Even if he had known how to get there, the drive alone was a good twenty minutes. He'd be walking for a long time.
In truth, there was only one place Winn knew how to get to by heart that he could feasibly walk to: The Danvers.
Winn weighed his options. He could walk back inside his house, risking the mortification of seeing either of his parents after his epic storm-out, and use the home phone to call James. Or he could find a bench and spend the night outside. Or... he could suck up his pride, walk to Kara's, and beg her for forgiveness and a place to sleep. And, considering he was going to have to apologize to Kara anyway, the last option seemed like the best.
Winn set off. It wasn't terribly far to the Danvers', but it'd been late when he'd started out and it was nearly 9:30 when he came across the familiar front lawn. Taking a deep breath, Winn steeled himself and rang the doorbell. Through the frosted glass fringing the door, he could see three figures crowd into the hallway.
Kara opened the door.
"Hey Winn," she said, shifting awkwardly in front of him with her hand still on the doorknob.
Winn swallowed. "Hey," he answered, his voice cracking a little. "Kara, I am so, so super sorry about what I said tonight. I mean, bringing up our past was stupid and I swear I forgave you like a year ago and I'm so completely contented with our friendship. It was just- seeing my dad made me remember everything I'd had to go through without him and- and that was the worst of it and I wanted him to know that he left me high and dry and how much that hurt, but in trying to get to him I never meant to hurt you in the process and-"
Kara stepped forward and pulled him into a hug, and Winn broke into wrenching sobs.
"Ohh you poor baby," Eliza murmured, pulling the two friends gently inside and closing the door.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Winn mumbled, pulling back and starting to wipe at his eyes. "I didn't mean- I just-"
Kara hugged him again. "Please don't apologize," she murmured, rubbing his back. "I don't blame you for what you said tonight, at all, okay?"
Winn nodded, sniffling, and rested his forehead against her shoulder.
"Winn," Eliza said gently. "I'm going to call your mother and let her know you're staying the night, okay? Alex, can you go make up the pullout couch in the guest bedroom? And Kara, why don't you get Winn some of that chamomile tea we were having earlier."
"Come on," Kara urged, putting her arm around Winn's shoulders and leading him into the living room. She plugged the electric kettle back in and got the mug ready while she waited for the water to boil. "Do you want anything to eat? I'm pretty sure we have brownies in the freezer."
"I do love a good frozen brownie," Winn admitted with a watery laugh.
"I know," Kara replied, smiling a little. "That's why I offered."
Eliza came back from the living room. "Your mom said it's perfectly find for you to spend the night with us," she told Winn. "And if you want to spend the weekend that's okay, too; she'll drop of some clothes and your homework tomorrow."
Winn nodded, rubbing his face with the heel of his hand to wipe away and remnants of tears. "Thanks," he mumbled. "I'll see how tonight goes, though."
Alex poked her head out of the guest bedroom. "How many pillows?" she asked Winn. "You can have a maximum of three and a minimum of zero."
"Why a max of three?" Kara asked, wrinkling her nose.
"Because who sleeps with four pillows?" Alex rejoined, wrinkling her nose right back.
Winn laughed. "Two is fine," he said. "Thank you, Alex. Thank all of you."
She sent him a finger gun and disappeared back into the guest room, and Eliza reached over to rub Winn's back. "You know you always have a place with us," she said soothingly. "We're your family, Winn. No matter what."
His eyes welled again and he nodded, looking down at his hands.
"Ooookay," Kara said with a deep sigh, putting Winn's mug down in front of him, along with a frozen brownie on a napkin and another one for herself. She took the seat next to him and put her chin down on her crossed wrists. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Winn shook his head, picking a piece off of his brownie and then poking at the crumbs on his napkin. "There's nothing to say," he murmured. "I don't know what to do."
Kara reached over and put her hand on top of his and they sat in silence.
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"So... someone, meaning Felicity, said that she needs a dress for prom," Thea said casually to Oliver as they sat together after dinner, deep into bowls of ice cream.
Oliver gave her a weird look. "Is this going somewhere?"
Thea sighed, licking her spoon and then mushing her ice cream into the bottom of the bowl so it started turning into soup. "Generally, a girl doesn't need a prom dress unless she's going to prom," she went on. "Which either means she's going alone, or you found a way to ask her."
"I didn't, actually," Oliver replied, taking a small bit of pleasure in the fact that he knew some social tidbit that his little sister didn't.
Thea immediately got her 'disappointed mom' expression on. "Ollie..." she started.
"Because she asked me," Oliver cut her off. He had been originally intending to keep her in the dark for a little longer, but he really wasn't in the mood for a lecture about taking the lead in his relationship.
Thea looked surprised. "She did? How did I not hear about this?"
"Because it was casual," Oliver answered with a shrug. "She asked me while I was walking her to the bus. Turns out she thinks showy promposals are stupid." He shrugged again and stuffed some ice cream in his mouth. "So it's a good thing you didn't help me after all."
Thea's face fell a little. "Ollie, about that... I'm sorry I insulted you and Felicity's relationship just because I failed as a promposal consultant. That wasn't kind of me. I know that every relationship is different, but it doesn't make you two any less special."
"Thanks," Oliver replied gruffly. "I appreciate that. And I'm sorry, too."
Thea's eyebrow raised. "You are? For what?"
"For taking out my frustration at not being able to be a good boyfriend on you and Iris and Sara. Especially on you."
Thea smiled a little and put her hand on her brother's arm. "I think you're a great boyfriend," she told him. "I mean, you could be a little less bipolar with the romance-"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Oliver spluttered.
Thea sighed. "You give Felicity rainbow roses for her birthday one second and then don't text her for a week the next! It really gives a girl whiplash."
Oliver looked disgruntled. "She's said that?"
"I've said too much," Thea winced. "My point is that you make Felicity super happy like 80% of the time and that makes you a moderately good boyfriend."
Oliver was still looked bewildered and Thea sighed, patting him on the arm and turning back to her ice cream.
Some guys you just couldn't help. Her brother was definitely one of them.
Author's Note: Wowzers that was MAJORLY Winn-centric but I hope you guys enjoyed! UGH I'm such a sucker for hurt comfort. I based the scene primarily off of that part of HSMTMTS when Ricky goes to Nini's house when his parents tell him they're getting a divorce.
Also omg I've been skim-rewatching Season 1 of Supergirl today and I MISS WINNARA SO MUCH WHAT THE HECKKK.