Some Supercat fluff for @hypnobyl I hope it’s just what you were looking for
“This was such a good idea, I wish I had thought of it years ago,” Cat mused as she watched the joyful grin spread across Carter’s face. At hearing her words, Carter looked up from where he was crouching on the floor and shrugged at his mom.
“It’s okay, Mom. It never occurred to me either.” He quickly returned his attention to the soft, grey rabbit who was snuffling about in front of him, checking out his new surroundings. He reached out and stroked the bunny’s ears as he added, “Thank you, Kara, for suggesting it.”
“Yes, thank you,” Cat murmured. She pressed a kiss to Kara’s cheek, feeling the muscles bunch up under her lips with a smile. Kara wound her arm around Cat’s waist and rubbed little circles on her hip with her thumb as they all watched the bunny start to hop a little more boldly now.
“Of course. I remember how much Streaky meant to me when I was around your age Carter. He wasn’t even my cat, but he was just such a source of comfort.” The bunny hopped back over to Carter as she spoke, and seeing Carter reach out and pet him with just as much gentleness and care as she had pet Streaky all those years ago brought a small lump to her throat.
Cat bumped Kara playfully with her hip, and whispered, “Softy,” to her. Kara grinned, unashamed, and stole another quick kiss.
“Have you decided on a name, yet?” Cat asked, returning the focus to Carter.
“I was thinking Nubis”
“Like clouds?” Kara said.
“Yeah, he’s grey like clouds. And I think it sounds cool.” Carter shrugged again.
“That’s an excellent name.” Cat said indulgently. Carter smiled, but didn’t look away from Nubis.
Cat peered around the room that had essentially been converted into a rabbit paradise, and asked yet again, “Do you think we got everything he needs to be happy?”
Kara chuckled, and replied, “Yes, we did. We talked to the vet before we brought him home, and we all did so much research. I never thought I’d know so much about bunnies. He’s got food, space to nest and to move, and all these enrichment toys. We gave him his own room, Cat.”
“I know. I just want to make sure he never has to worry about anything.” Cat’s voice was calm and quiet, but it belied where her true anxieties stemmed from.
“Don’t worry, he won’t.” Kara said with a little wink that said I know exactly which he you’re referring to.
“Yeah, Mom. I’ll take really good care of him. We all will.” Carter chimed in, unaware of the silent communication taking place between the two women behind him. He stood and grabbed the raspberries he’d picked out for Nubis as a treat.
“I know you will, sweetheart.” Cat said, and she dropped a kiss Carter’s forehead, causing him to smile before sitting down again and presenting Nubis with the berries.
He was instantly delighted with his snack, and Carter’s responding smile was infectious. With huge grins to match, Kara and Cat laughed as the bunny munched on raspberries.
Cat rested her head on Kara’s shoulder. “Yes, this was an excellent idea.”
This is for Kim, @hypnobyl , who is super great and a superb writer and it is their b-day!!!! I hope your time in Florida is super great yo!!
May this silly little b-day fic brighten your day, just a lil :D
Also, thank you to @the-queen-of-the-light for betaing the first 3 sections, you da bae!!
The complete story is below the cut, but you can also read this on AO3
Cat doesn't hide her birthday, not really. She just doesn't find it professional to celebrate it on company time. There was far too much to do before worrying about her birthday.
However, nearly every CatCo employee receives a signed birthday card from their esteemed boss. Kara's got all of the birthdays right in front of her, in a calendar.
And Kara's looked, multiple times, but Cat's birthday isn't there. She's done digging on the internet, she's even looked at Cat's Wiki page and even there the date changes every few days.
Heck, maybe Cat's changing it because Kara just can't find the right date.
She's there, again, prepping a card for Cat to sign, when it really hits her. She's been Cat's assistant for well over a year and she still doesn't know Cat's birthday. Kara'd gotten a card on her arrival-to-Earth day, hand-picked by Cat, but she still doesn't know Cat's birthday!
Carter. Carter is her only option. Lois might know but… the things she would owe the woman.
Kara clicks her pen and pushes back from her desk. She knows Carter’s nanny. She can definitely get another evening with the boy. She snatches the card off her desk and waits as the last of the board members exit Cat’s office.
Cat doesn’t look too haggard and there’d been no yelling, but either way, signing the card will brighten her mood. It always does. It’s kind of cute really. Big, bad boss enjoying the little moments where she can brighten her ‘minion’s’ days.
She can’t really wipe the smile that the thought triggers off her face, so, instead, she just smiles all the wider and walks into Cat’s office. Cat gives her the signature eyebrow raise, but she just hands the card over.
“Here’s the card, is there anything else you need right now, Ms. Grant?” She bounces on her toes. She just can’t help it.
“No, not right now. Just make sure I have the layouts from advertising by four.” Her pen glides across the card, her usual flourish giving the whole process an air of elegance. She’s rather beautiful to watch. She holds out the card and Kara reaches to take it. “What has you so bouncy on this fine Wednesday, Sunny Danvers?”
Ah, whoops, but oh well. “Just a new project, Ms. Grant!” Her eyes trail to the card and really, Cat’s handwriting is magnificent.
Kim H. Nobyl
The name swirls under the printed ‘Happy Birthday’ with Cat’s own signature under that. And, oh, Cat is in a good mood; she’s used her extra fancy pen.
She doesn’t press for any more explanation, just waves Kara out the door. It’s for the best, Kara has lots to do now. She needs to call the nanny and arrange a day with Carter… and also figure out how to get Carter to tell her what Cat’s birthday is.
Well, food would work on her…
It’s about three months until she can finagle her own, Cat’s, and Carter’s schedule to where she and Carter have an afternoon alone. Cat thinks she’s running errands… technically it’s not a lie. Not really.
Cat just deserves something nice, she does! Cat's quite nice under her prickly exterior and her eyes are always so gentle. This will be good for her… it’s a white-lie, right? She’s heard from Alex that those aren’t bad.
Yeah, a white-lie.
Carter walks over to her when she waves. They’ve interacted before, just not a lot. He’s a smart kid and maybe she can convince him that her cause is worthy.
“Hi, Carter! I came instead of your nanny, sorry for the surprise, but I’m here to spend the afternoon with you!” She puts on her best smile but Carter just nods. That’s… well… kind of to be expected. He’s a shy kid.
“Okay then, the car’s right over here.” She leads him away from the school and he remains silent. “How were classes? Did you learn anything new today?”
She gets another shrug and a mumbled, “Plants follow sunshine.” Well… that’s something to work with, right? Better than nothing at least.
“Oh yeah!” She plops down in the backseat next to him and smiles at Raeni, the only driver she trusted to keep this mission secret. “It has something to do with water right?”
Carter turns toward her a little, his shoulders relaxing back and oh, he’s such a good kid. “Yeah, the cell walls use water pressure to grow toward the sun.”
No wonder Cat’s so enamored with him.
“Really?” There weren’t many plants on Krypton, but Earth science always fascinated her. Botany though… it’s not that plants are boring, but, how could she be interested in plants when there were birds around? “How does the plant know where the sun is?”
Carter lights up a little more and oh no, this boy, he’s truly his mother’s son. Adorable.
“Well, there are little receptors in the plant that take sunlight in and turn it into a chemical that…”
She’s fifteen wiki articles deep before Carter is satisfied with their explanations on botany. It’s nearly five in the evening and Kara’s stomach is being rude at the moment. Honestly, if it could just calm down, that’d be great.
Carter laughs and ouch, ouch, but he takes her hand and leads her to the kitchen so all’s forgiven pretty quickly. Quicker when she realizes that Carter’s pulling take-out menus from the drawer he’s just opened.
“Pizza or Chinese?” He glances up and golly, this kid’s a keeper.
“Both?” She shrugs and Carter rolls his eyes. That’s far too much like his mother, and gosh, he’s got Cat’s eyes too. Gorgeous.
“You’re calling it in then.” And that same bargaining that quickly turns to commands… he’s learned from the best.
She reaches for her phone and Carter points to the circled items on both menus. The line clicks through to-
“Hello, this is National Pizza, what can I do for you?” and she nods to Carter before replying.
“Hi, I’m ordering for delivery to the Grant residency.” Carter trundles off as the woman on the other side of the line forgoes her ‘we don’t deliver speech’ in favor of the 200 percent tip Cat always sends back.
She hears the soft ‘shhh’ of water running and good, she doesn’t even have to convince him of a shower. That’s always nice. Now, for the best potstickers in the whole city…
“So, how’d you convince Nan to take the day off? And why did you?” Carter’s got half a slice of pizza shoved into his mouth and it’s the first truly disgusting thing Kara’s seen from him.
She coughs, because, uh, why would he think that? Her eyes must say her question well enough because this… what is he? 12? 13? 47? year-old rolls his eyes again and Kara’s pretty sure he thinks she’s dumb.
“Nan never takes off unless mom asks her to or it’s her kids’ birthdays.” Yeah, he definitely thinks she’s dumb, ouch. He crams another slice of pizza into his mouth, and she must wince because he grins at her and, ew, ew that makes it so much worse, ew.
“Uhm, ew, and well…” He’s probably going to find it out anyway. Plus, how is she going to get him to not tell his mother about Kara being here? “Okay, so, y’know your mom, right?”
O-kay, that’s definitely Cat Grant’s child. Wow, and she thought she had laser vision.
“Okay, yeah, so, anyway. I can’t find her birthday.” His look darkens and she backtracks, raising her hands to placate him. “Not her birth year! Just the day! See, well, she gives cards to all her employees, and it’s actually really sweet. Even though she pretends to be mean, she’s really not. But the point is, she even got me a card! And usually I get the card for people and take it for her to sign, but she got me one on her own which is really nice, especially since I hadn’t even been her employee for very long so I wanted to get her a card or maybe like, a little gift or something to show my appreciation because she can be hard to work for but she’s also really great and kind and inspiring so I wanted to, y’know, get her a birthday card like she did for me….”
Carter’s just looking at her. That’s the same stare that Cat gives her. Oh, it’s just as disquieting. Why are Grants like this?
“So, I need her birthday for that… which is why I wanted to talk with you… not that! Not that the rest of our day wasn’t nice! I’m not trying to use you to get to your mom! Or… oh no, that’s kind of exactly what I’m doing. Oh no, that’s terrible, I’m so sorry. I can try to find her birthday elsewhere, I just wanted to get the date right.” Oh she’d royally messed up, oh golly, he’d probably kick her out and-
“It’s April 24th.”
Oh? “Oh? Oh. Oh, okay.” She blinks and he looks like he’s holding back laughter and that’s just what she needs, fantastic, a 13-year-old laughing at her. Alex will never let her live this down. And- “Shit, that’s next week.” Oh crap, golly -darn “I mean, crud! I meant crud! Don’t curse, it’s really rude!”
Carter laughs, head back and, grand, now he really is laughing at her. But Kara can't help her own laugh. This 13-year-old with far too much sass, goodness.
She has seven days to decide what to get for Cat. She takes six of those seven.
It's… difficult. There's nothing she can get for Cat that Cat can't just go out and buy. So, she makes something instead.
Maybe it's dumb but… well, it just sort of fits Cat because Cat loves what she does and loves what she's built so? Kara can't help but agree; Cat's done amazing things and she's an amazing person.
But the small, wrapped present in her hands feels so, so underwhelming. The card's fine, a basic Happy Birthday with Kara's signature and a small note wishing Cat a nice day. She's just nervous because Cat might get angry?
Or hate it?
But she still leaves the card and wrapped canvas on Cat's desk while she's at a meeting. She keeps it discrete, of course, no need to draw attention to something Cat wants kept on the down-low. It wouldn't be professional at all if she went about making a scene.
She places the package in the middle of Cat's deck. But no, it's not that important. Not that Cat isn't important, just that the present isn't that important. So maybe to the side a little… yes, just beside the layouts for the opening of the new high school next week.
Golly, why the butterflies? It's just a small painting. A painting of CatCo at high noon, the sun shining over the multitude of glass windows and CatCo is beautiful and powerful, just like it's creator. So the painting fits, yeah.
But it isn't as realistic as some of the paintings Cat could go out and buy… but, no. No, it's a nice painting, it really is and Kara shouldn't be doubting herself like this. She should trust Cat. Trust that Cat might just appreciate the thought?
Yeah. Yeah and maybe find something to eat because her stomach really needs to settle.
“No, Brian, I’m not following another one of your ponzi schemes. Now out with you.”
Welp, there she is. Kara scuttles back to her desk, standing to see if Cat needs anything. She gets a distracted wave as Cat answers a call on her cell. She won’t need anything for a while then…
Oh, except the edited version of Snapper’s newest updates! Woops, should have gotten that earlier.
Cat makes it to her desk and flops in her chair, ah, the phone call isn’t a pleasant one. Not that Kara would ever eavesdrop, just, if it’s Carter, Cat’s always so light in her movements. She should get Cat some water.
Cat’s fingers ghost over the layouts and skip to the letter, sitting on the covered canvas.
Oh golly.
Cat finishes her phone call and Kara can’t move now. She doesn’t want to attract attention. Oh golly, those butterflies are back. She can’t help but watch though, Cat’s curious look is… cute, really.
Oh golly, Cat’s cute. Oh but no, she’s not just cute, she’s gorgeous.
Oh no.
No. No.
Her fingers peel back the envelope and oh, she’s so graceful and her eyes flick over Kara’s handwriting and a tiny, soft- oh gosh, so soft- smile spreads over her face and her lips are so-
No.
No, Rao, no.
Her hands cover the canvas and oh gods above, the ocean is pounding around the building. There’s definitely got to be a problem with the cooling system. That can’t be a sound a heart can make.
The paper slips off the canvas and her lips part and all the air rushes from the room. Her eyes rove over the painting, the strokes in fine grey and gold, and her smile can’t be kept tamped down. Though the muscles twitching in her cheeks show how hard she’s trying and those green, green eyes that can swallow space and time and -
Oh shit.
Cat looks up at her and blinks and Kara breathes in so sharply she’s pretty sure Winn hears her. She swallows but those eyes are still staring at her and her mouth is moving and…
Thank you.
Oh.
Oh, all the weight of the world dropping from her shoulders couldn’t make her feel like this. Golly, the butterflies are gone and there’s just tingling through her whole system. She tries to squelch her smile, especially when Winn asks what’s going on but…
Hi! Are you giving up this account altogether or did you mean you're just going back to the name skinnylittlelesbian? I don't go on Tumblr often, but I always like to stop by your blog when I do.
I’m not posting to this account anymore. I have a new one that matches my new AO3 handle. I haven’t started posting fanfic to it yet, but I’m planning on gearing up soon.
Alex x Lucy/ The Directorship and Luclex those are the shipnames for these too. Go forth and enjoy!!!
Thank you!
I had never really thought of them together until @hypnobyl paired them together in this minific they wrote for me that was the precursor for today’s prompt, and I was very much enticed by the idea. Though I also ship Lucy with Kara. I love how many f/f ships Supergirl has ripe for the picking.
I can’t recommend hypnobyl’s Supercat stuff enough, go check them out on AO3. There’s also some really good Holtzbert in their AO3 works. And of course, if you prowl their tumblr you’ll find all sorts of great minifics. To use your words, go forth and enjoy! You won’t regret it if you check out their stuff.
Now that things have settled down in Storybrooke, Emma decides to go back to school. But after a good decade without being in any sort of class, her confidence is waning. Thankfully, she has a great support system (swan mills fam fluff pls)
Thank you for the prompt my dear friend! :)
“Damn it!”
Regina heard the cry emanating from the dining room just as she was putting the chicken in the pan to brown. She scrunched up her face at the minor inconvenience, but she was concerned. So she turned the heat off on the stove and wiped her hands on the dish towel before poking her head around the corner of the dining room doorway.
Emma sat hunched over her lap top, blonde curls tied up in a messy bun on top her head and her glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. Before Regina could say anything, Emma closed her lap top a bit more forcefully than was good for it, ripped her glasses off her face and carelessly tossed them onto the wooden surface of the table.
Slumped back in her chair, Emma covered her eyes with one hand and leaned onto that arm. Regina stepped out fully from the kitchen and murmured Emma’s name quietly so as not to startle her with her presence.
Emma didn’t look up when Regina approached her and draped her arms around her from behind her chair in a loose hug. She did, however, lean her head against Regina’s when she dropped hers to rest her forehead on Emma’s shoulder.
“What’s the matter, dear?” Regina murmured. She had an inkling what was going on, but she said nothing more and waited patiently for Emma to talk to her.
“I didn’t do so great on the test from last week.” The reply was sullen, and Regina felt Emma’s hands grip onto her forearms where they were still wrapped around her shoulders and upper chest. Regina had found she tended to do this, cling onto her when she was feeling particularly insecure.
She picked up her head so she could speak more clearly, and said, “You studied really hard, Emma. I’m sorry you didn’t get the grade you wanted. You’re working so hard though, I’m proud of you.”
Emma didn’t say anything, she just tightened her grip ever so slightly on Regina, and from the way her jaw was working Regina could tell she must have been chewing her lip. Regina straightened, and released Emma from her embrace for a moment. She came around to be in front of Emma, then carefully slipped herself onto Emma’s lap, sitting sideways across Emma’s thighs.
It was a bit awkward, and a little uncomfortable, as the dining room chair was not really intended for more than one person to sit in it at a time, but Regina knew Emma appreciated it when she slung her arms around Regina’s waist and buried her face in the soft fabric of her dress at her shoulder. Lovingly rubbing Emma’s back, Regina waited for Emma to say something. If she wanted to say anything at all.
It was a little while, but Emma did speak up. “What if I can’t do this?”
“I know you can, Emma.”
“Yeah, but what if?” Emma insisted, picking her head up and looking Regina in the eyes for the first time.
Regina’s heart hurt to see Emma’s eyes, bloodshot and wet. She tucked a loose strand of blonde hair that had fallen from Emma’s bun behind the woman’s ear. “Then I’ll love you just the same.”
“I don’t know why I thought this was a good idea. I feel like a dumb loser. I’m in classes with a bunch of 18 and 19 year olds and they’re all smarter than me.” Emma said, staring down at her lap once more.
Regina tipped Emma’s chin up, and gave her a fierce look. With a practiced gentleness tempering her determination, she spoke, “Emma Swan, you are allowed to feel disappointed in a bad grade, but you are not allowed to put yourself down.”
Emma’s lower lip wobbled a little, so Regina shifted her hand from her chin to cupping her cheek. She continued, “You have always been so much smarter than you give yourself credit for. I, for one, am proud that you had the courage and the ambition to go back to school in the first place. But you didn’t go because you already know everything, the whole point was to learn. Sometimes you can’t learn without being wrong first a few times.”
Emma didn’t say anything, she just rested her cheek against Regina’s heartbeat and let the sound and quiet thump, thump of it soothe her. Regina held her a little closer, and dropped her chin to the top of Emma’s head. Emma’s stomach grumbled audibly then, and both of them chuckled a little wetly.
“Well at least your appetite is still strong as ever.”
Emma just hummed, but she didn’t move away from Regina’s heartbeat still. After a few moments more, she piped up again. “You’re really proud of me?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to the professor tomorrow. Ask how I can do better.”
“Good. I love you.” Regina dropped a kiss to the top of Emma’s hairline. After another moment, Emma’s stomach broke the silence again with another growl. Regina chuckled again, and said, “Alright. Take a break from the studying tonight. I’m going to finish dinner.” She stood from Emma’s lap, and moved back toward the kitchen.
Before she got far, she heard a soft call behind her, “I love you, too.”
Okay, so, what about Regina discovering that Emma has a chronic illness, which Emma is used to dealing with totally on her own.
Thank you for this special prompt my friend. I hope you enjoy it!
Regina paced back in forth for a while. She wasn’t quitesure what else to do. Everything had been going so well. She and Emma had beenenjoying a lovely meal, or so she had thought. She’d been shocked when Emma hadhappily dug into her pre dinner salad, given what she’d seen of the woman’seating habits in the past. But Emma had seemed almost relieved when Reginapresented her with the leafy green dish that she’d made.
By the time they had started the main course, they were both alittle rosy cheeked from the wine and the laughter they’d been sharing. Overallit was the best date Regina had been on, and it was only their first. But aftera few bites of the chicken Regina made, Emma’s demeanor changed drastically.Regina had frowned, asked her what was wrong, if she had said something. Emmahad given her a tight smile and shaken her head but she excused herself asecond later.
She’d gone to the bathroom, and returned a little whileafter looking pale, except for the red splotches breaking out on her face. Shelooked upset, and Regina figured she must have been crying. She had gotten up fromthe table and rushed over to Emma, asking what was wrong. Emma had shrugged,given her an even weaker smile than the one before, and mumbled something aboutnot feeling very well and needing to take a raincheck.
That was a half hour ago, and Regina was still trying tofigure out what had gone wrong. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. Shestormed across her study and picked up her phone from the desk, swiping itunlocked, and dialing Emma’s number. It rang for a long time and Regina wasjust about to hang up when finally, the line connected and she heard Emma’svoice, quiet and strained.
“Hello?”
“Emma? What happened tonight? I’m sorry if I said somethingthat offended you, please can we talk about this?” Regina said hating thelittle wavering note to her voice.
“Regina, no, you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not likethat. I told you I’m just not feeling well.” Emma said, and as Regina listenedto her talk she realized she sounded pained and a little winded. She listenedharder, and she could hear commotion and a variety of beeps coming from Emma’ssurroundings. At that, she began to panic.
“Emma, where are you?” Regina asked, feeling her worry grow.
“Um, don’t get mad, okay?” Emma said, sounding impossiblysmaller and more timid than before.
“I’m not going to get mad, please tell me where you arebecause it sounds like you’re in a hospital right now.”
“I…am?”
“Is that a question?” Regina asked, losing her composure andbeginning to truly panic now.
“No, it’s- see you’re mad. I’m sorry, Regina. Yes, I’m inthe hospital, but it’s fine. You don’t have to worry about it or anything, youcan just-“
She never finished her sentence because the line went dead,and in the next moment Regina poofed to her side. Regina took in hersurroundings, a disgustingly white room filled with machines and Emma, lookingpallid and tiny, in a hospital bed. She saw Emma’s shocked expression and ran ahand through her hair, trying to regain some of the composure that she lostbefore.
“Emma, what’s happening? Are you ill?”
“Sort of. It’s a long story, Regina. I appreciate you cominghere to check on me but I’m alright, I’ve done this dance before plenty oftimes, I’ll be okay.” Emma said, her voice occasionally coming out in a breathless gasp asshe appeared to be fighting pain.
“That does nothing to assuage my worry.” Regina said a littlesharply. She watched Emma wince, and felt the stab of self-loathing prick intoher stomach knowing that she caused it. “I’m sorry. I’m not mad at you, I’m scared. Please, tell me what’sgoing on?”
Emma heaved a heavy sigh and said, “I have Celiac disease. Anda couple other GI issues.”
“Celiac? That’s the one where you can’t have gluten?” Reginaasked, stepping closer to Emma’s bedside.
“Yep.” Emma replied, popping the ‘p’ with a dark, cynical edgeto her voice.
“The chicken, I tossed it in flour.” Regina groaned, and sankinto the uncomfortable chair next to Emma’s bed.
“Yeah, I figured you must have.” Emma said quietly. Hervoice was fading a little, and Regina watched her eyelids droop.
A thought occurred to Regina then, and she asked, “Wait, but I see you eating bear claws at Granny’s all the time?”
“She makes them with almond flour. For me, cause I’m nice.” Emma giggled gently to herself, then moaned a little at the pain.
“I’m sorry, Emma. I had no idea, I-“ Regina brought her handto her forehead and silently began berating herself.
“S’not your fault. Never told you. How were you supposed toknow that gluten sends me to the, um, doctors?” Emma murmured sleepily, her wordsbeginning to slur together.
“Why didn’t youtell me? I could have easily made something that wouldn’t have hospitalizedyou.” Regina asked, her voice mournful.
Emma shrugged. “Dunno. I always just handled it myself. No oneever cared. It really pissed off some foster families.” She waved her hand in the air with a displeased look on her face, as though annoyed by the memory and shooing it away.
Regina felt that stab in the gut again, not just from herown guilt at causing Emma’s past and present pain, but just in knowing thatEmma had been suffering with this for years with no one to help her. Shetook Emma’s hand gently in her own; it was cold. She rubbed it between both herhands to warm it up and Emma smiled a little dopey at her. Regina hoped it wassome pain medication kicking in. And perhaps, a small part of her hoped it washer touch too.
“I care.” She said simply.
Emma eyed her with curiously sharp eyes given how sleepy shewas moments ago, but it passed quickly and she was once again pulled under byher exhaustion.
“Morphine’s great.” Emma mumbled, then drifted off to sleep,still clinging to Regina’s hand.
