Beautiful.
Pairing(s): Kara x Barbara (Dunkerle)
Words: 1,121
Summary: Kara finds everything beautiful - especially one person.
AO3
Day 80 of 2kficteen
Kara had always loved beautiful things. She’d fallen in love with the wedding gown her grandma had tucked away in her closet, even after all that time, at age five. She’d been allowed to try it on. The gown had swallowed her whole and had made her grandma giggle but Kara felt the power of the dress as she wore it. The dress was beautiful and when she wore it, so was she. Kara begged to keep it but her grandma said she couldn’t, that she had to save it for someone special when she was older. A wedding dress was for a special occasion. It was to be saved and hidden until the one who loved Kara (almost) as much as her grandmother asked for her hand in marriage. At the time, Kara was disappointed. To her it was just a pretty dress and she wanted it. Still, she didn’t protest and she took her grandmother’s words to heart.
When Kara was six, she fell in love again with a beautiful dog named Marnie. Her mother had taken her to an animal shelter, just to look – she’d been told but no amount of pleading or bribes could get Kara away from the dog once she’d saw her. The old Labrador’s tail had gone a mile a minute as Kara fussed her. They’d let her go and play with the dog and take her for a walk. When the walk was over, Kara had put on her most convincing pout and drew up the most convincing crocodile tears. Her mother had relented and not a month later Kara and Marnie were inseparable. Kara had been told countless times that the dog’s name was Marnie but she only ever called her beautiful.
Kara wasn’t always so focused on physical beauty, of course. She saw it in the young boy she watched help an old lady cross the road. Kara saw beauty in the way a mother kept an eye on her child and held onto their hand so tight because they were afraid to let them go. Kara found her smile when someone tipped just that little bit extra and asked how a stranger’s day was. People often told her she was naïve for falling in love with such small things and Kara was so often told that there was much worse in the world but she didn’t see it. She wasn’t oblivious, Kara just chose to ignore it because she couldn’t stand to focus on the bad when there was so much beauty in the world.
The first time Kara thought ‘beautiful’ about someone else other than her grandma and her mother it was in science class. The door had opened and a very nervous, very red in the face blonde girl had walked in. They were fifteen and she’d transferred in the middle of the year and looked like she hated it. The girl’s blue eyes stared straight at Kara and she chewed upon her pink lips as she stared.
“Class, this is Barbara.” Kara’s teacher had introduced and Kara couldn’t help that it was such a perfect name for a perfect person. She watched the way Barbara wrung her hands together and shuffled nervously and felt instantly bad. When the teacher asked who would mind Barbara sitting by them, Kara’s hand had shot into the air. Kara had to admit it wasn’t entirely for unselfish reasons.
Kara had learnt very quickly that everything about Barbara was beautiful. From her voice to the toes she painted every colour of the rainbow, nothing could compare to Barbara Dunkelman. She was smart, talented and had a strange affinity for puns that couldn’t be matched by anyone – not even a dad. Her hair always fell perfectly around her smile never failed to light up the room or fill Kara’s heart. Barbara could make a bad day a great one and she could turn a dark room into the brightest place on earth. By senior year, Barbara was everything to Kara. Kara hoped that Barbara felt the same to her but to be quite honest, her smile gave everything away. If Barbara lit up Kara’s room, then Kara illuminated Barbara’s.
Barbara hadn’t searched for beautiful things all of her life. Barbara didn’t care if the birds sung in the morning because could they please just shut up? She’d never fallen in love with a princess or stood in awe of a dance. Barbara didn’t care for beauty until she met Kara. She’d fallen for the Kara who stopped to point out the little kid singing to themselves or that man dancing to his favourite song in his car. Kara always tipped too much and she never said a bad word against anyone because they simply didn’t deserve it. Kara sponsored so many animals across the world she could have sponsored a zoo. Kara was Barbara’s rock and she didn’t know what she’d ever done without the girl.
Barbara had started to believe in beauty from their first kiss. When Kara had smothered her lips in lip gloss and she’d just eaten some gum. Kissing Kara that night felt like brushing her teeth just after lunch but it was nice. Kara sucked in a little breath when their lips met as though she didn’t believe that it was really happening. Then she reached out and pulled Barbara closer and Barbara realised what all the fuss was all about. This was beauty. Kara’s hands holding so tightly to her shoulders was perfection and the way she put all of her heart and soul into the kiss was everything. Barbara returned the favour will as much intensity and it wasn’t just perfect – it was beautiful.
Nothing, however, was as beautiful as the church on their wedding day. It was littered in white roses and splashes of gold. Everyone was there – Barbara’s family, Kara’s family and their friends. It was wonderful. The real beauty, to Barbara at least, was Kara as she walked up the aisle. She wore her grandma’s dress just as she had when she was five. Except this time it didn’t swallow her whole but it fit perfectly. Her grandma cried when she walked up the aisle. Kara knew in her heart that this time wearing the dress meant something. Finally she was wearing it for someone who loved her almost, if not more, than her grandmother did. When they kissed, Barbara found that Kara had put on way too much lip gloss and she tasted like mint as though she’d probably just eaten some gum. Barbara almost cried at the thought that Kara had remembered their first kiss just as much as she had. In the end together, in that chapel, they were beautiful.