The pretty zookeeper (1/??)
content: AU, Zookeper Kara x Marine biologist (and veterinary) Lena, everything else is the same as in canon (kinda), Kara has her powers, love at first sight, kara is a disney fan, she also loves cats (no matter how big)
word count: 2,673
pair(s): Supercorp (Kara Danvers x Lena Luthor)
A/N: hiii! this is just a short thing i wrote yesterday because there was a power outage at my city and i was bored (and my best friend helped me out with the concept heheh), I'm still writing the next part of entropy but in the meantime have this! idk if I'll continue it though since it may end up like all my other unfinished fics in my notes app, if anything just consider this as a oneshot :)
That day started as usual for Kara Danvers: Waking up at 6:45 am, showering, brushing her teeth and getting dressed within minutes, taking her keys and her bag and exiting her apartment by 7 am.
She quickly waltzed into her favorite cafeteria and bought herself a pumpkin spice latte with extra foam and cinnamon, and a box of donuts that she'd probably finish before arriving at work. Yet today she felt like leaving a couple of them to have on her lunch break.
The blonde arrived at the National City Zoo, being greeted by some security guards and the people at the entrance barely opening up to start selling tickets and VIP bracelets for the day. She went through the staff only entrance and was received with even more smiles and some hugs here and there. Everyone loved Kara Danvers.
She quickly trotted to her locker, leaving her bag inside (the donut box as of now rested inside the lunchroom's fridge with a note) and quickly getting changed into her uniform, which was just a polo shirt and a visor cap with the logo of the place and the signature colors. Some had the choice to also wear leggings or khaki shorts to match the outfit but she preferred her usual jeans. After changing into her uniform she pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail and closed her locker, shoving her phone inside her pocket. She was walking down towards her usual spot at the feline enclosures when she heard her own name on the speakers.
"Kara Danvers. Kara Danvers, please present yourself at the HR office. Kara Danvers, please-" She quickly tuned out the sound and she turned on her heels to the opposite direction from where she was walking. Why was she called so early in the morning? She was now intrigued.
Upon arriving at the offices that were the furthest away from almost any enclosure she saw a small group of people muttering something. She thought about eavesdropping with her enhanced hearing for a second but then felt it'd be rude. When she approached them she was greeted with smiles again.
"Any idea why I'm being called to the principal's office?" She joked, making the other three women chuckle.
"Nope, but we're theorizing. If you get fired I want your locker, it's further from the staff bathrooms than mine." One of them poked her rib and she laughed, rolling her eyes at the joke.
"I'll make sure of that." Kara stepped into the office and immediately got a smile from the secretary there, she was ushered to come in and she saw her manager along with an unknown woman and one of the most known members of the HR department of the Zoo, although she didn't remember his name.
"Hi, I heard you were calling me?" She knocked and peeked her head through the door as everyone looked at her.
"Kara!" Her manager, James, fully opened the door for her with a smile. "Before you think of anything, don't worry, it's not bad."
"Miss Danvers, this is Lena Luthor, our newest hire for marine biologist and veterinary." The other man in front of her was sitting behind a desk, and he simply wavered his hand in the woman's direction without taking his cold eyes off Kara. She turned her gaze to the woman and she was gorgeous. Long dark brown hair that barely had a few lighter streaks when being hit by the morning sun, every strand of it neatly enclosed into a high ponytail that let Kara admire her features even better. Her eyes with long beautiful lashes were a shade of green she didn't know the name of, her ivory skin pale and completely smooth with only two little birthmarks on the neck, her eyebrows were neatly plucked and her mouth was what took the most attention she had a gracious smile and her red tinted lips complimented everything about her. Kara was speechless until Lena approached her, the blonde on automatic mode accepted Lena's hand and stretched it, immediately putting on a customer service smile.
"It's nice to meet you, Lena." The name rolled so swiftly off her lips it felt like she was a witch casting a spell. "I mean-, Miss Luthor."
"Nice to meet you too, Miss Danvers." Lena's soft chuckle filled the room, making Kara weak at the knees, she could even sense Lena's perfume and it was heavenly. Why was she called in anyway? She didn't care, she just wished to stay this close to the woman as much as possible.
"So, Kara, Miss Luthor doesn't need any training, she has seen our schedules and she's one of the best in her fields." James' voice took her out of her thoughts, her hand still holding Lena's. "However she needs someone to show her around the place, even if she's only going to be at the vet office and the fish tanks. It's best if she familiarizes herself with the whole Zoo. I was suggested to do it myself but I just have too many things on my plate today, so I suggested that you do it. Can you?" Just a tour? Show Lena the place? She could do that, she definitely could do that. If only she wasn't so focused on the hand tightly gripping hers. She quickly nodded and both James and the office guy sent them on their way, she was silent and avoided looking at Lena until she spoke first.
"Are all handshakes this long in National City?" The brunette teased, quickly making Kara let go of her hand, both of them missed the warmth for a couple seconds until their minds went back to the reason why they were together.
"Uhm, sorry- I didn't mean to-..." Lena just smiled and Kara sighed, trying to compose herself by taking a deep breath. "So, let's get you a tour. We can start in my zone first."
"Sure. I would love that, and there's no hurry. If they try taking this off our work hours I'm a lawyer too." The blonde's eyes widened, what else could this woman do? Her mind was barely comprehending when she heard Lena's beautiful laughter, this wasn't like the chuckle she showed earlier, this was a full laugh that made Kara want to throw herself into the shark tank. How on Earth could she be so perfect? "Just kidding. I know laws, and I could be a lawyer. But law school is way too... Cruel."
"I agree. I- I didn't go to law school either, but it just seems like a dark place."
"Good to see we're on the same page about lawyers. Now I believe we have a tour ahead of us, don't we?"
The Kryptonian nodded, immediately setting the pace as she walked towards the feline enclosures she was heading to earlier, this time with a beautiful woman right by her side.
[...]
The tour was going smoothly, she had planned to start by the felines but she changed her mind last minute, starting by the ponds and showing the brunette the ducks, flamingoes, turtles and geese. Then she took her to see the monkeys, hippopotamuses, zebras, and elephants. The ostriches were Kara's least favorites and Lena noticed this, but the woman still greeted the animals with respect and a hint of fear upon being approached by the gigantic birds. They also met with some staff members and she introduced Lena to everyone, the young Luthor didn't fail to notice how some worker's stares would linger at Kara for just barely a bit more than what one would consider friendly, something that Danvers seemed to not notice at all. Or if she did she just didn't seem to care.
They were now more than halfway through their tour of the installations, this part of the Zoo kept the animals that thrived better in cold climates so it was an entire building that made her skin shiver upon entering. The air conditioner was up to the max and it was a really sudden change from the fresh warmth of National City's summer.
"And these are the penguins, we only have rescued three so far and they're all male. Their names are Huey, Dewey and Louie. You can tell them apart by the little bracelets on their ankles." Kara pointed at them through the glass, and Lena immediately saw them and she laughed at the names.
"Who baptized them? Can I have a word with that person? Because so far I've been impressed by the creativity of the names here. And how do you memorize the name of each one of the animals? That's impressive." The blonde felt herself blushing at Lena's words, she just let out an embarrassed chuckle when she noticed the questions were actually serious, and the brunette was waiting for a response to all of them.
"I... I usually pick the names. And since the animals respond to them everyone else calls them that too. You wouldn't believe how happy George the monkey was when we gave him his name." They kept walking as Kara kept telling stories of how many animals she had named during her time working there, all of this while walking in front of some of them. Once they stepped out of the cold building she noticed how Kara's warm blonde hair seemed to shine with the sun rays, it was almost magical.
It was like the blue eyed woman was a magnet for every soul in the Zoo because she was approached by any animal that could reach her. Lena felt like she was in front of a Disney princess, even more so when two flying squirrels jumped from a nearby tree and graciously landed on Kara's visor.
"You... Kara-"
"Yes?" The girl turned around, looking at Lena with innocent eyes. Until she noticed Lena was staring at the top of her head and she sighed with a tired smile. "Those are Chip and Dale. They're technically not part of the Zoo but they live here and we're not kicking them out. The guests like feeding them." Both squirrels went down to Kara's shoulders making her laugh, and Lena could've sworn she has never heard such a beautiful and harmonious laugh before, it was like music to everyone's ears.
"You love Disney don't you? The penguins, the squirrels, the ducks called Donald and Daisy. What's next? A lion named Simba?" She arched a brow when Kara's face went red.
"What-? Pffft, noooo-" Lena's accusatory stare made her melt, as if she was under a magnifying glass that was under the sun. "She's a lioness. But she liked the name!" And with that both women burst into laughter, which made the squirrels go away and back to the tree they came out from.
They kept walking calmly until Kara happened to take a quick glance at her watch. She felt like time flew by when she was around her new acquaintance, but she didn't expect for almost the entire morning to be gone so fast!
Lena noticed the fear in Kara's eyes, and before she was able to ask what was going on she felt the blonde taking her hand and tugging her the opposite direction from where they were heading to.
"Kara-?!" The blonde was running and she was being pulled behind, barely being able to keep up because of her confusion.
"I-I'm sorry, I'm the only one in my area today and I got carried away. I have to feed almost thirty animals before lunch which is in..." She checked her watch again. "Twenty-five minutes!" A gasp left Kara's throat when Lena matched her pace (while wearing high heels) with a smirk.
"I'll help you! How bad can it be?"
[...]
Lena expected apes, maybe the petting zoo, zebras, literally any other animal would fit the embodiment of sunshine in front of her. But she was shocked at the fact that Kara Danvers was the one in charge of the wild felines. Lions, tigers, panthers, wildcats, and more, all of them under the blonde woman's care. She thought a work like that would have someone on the spot all the time yet Kara seemed to relax when she took her visor cap off and started separating the food by each animal's prescribed diet. She didn't know how she could be of help until Kara gaver her a list, it contained all the ingredients and names of the animals that needed each food item, and with a quick glance she understood Kara needed her to oversee everything as she laid down the raw food and filled each bucket for each hungry cat waiting for her.
They worked quickly, she didn't even know how someone could be that fast after walking so much during the morning, yet Kara Danvers had everything ready and started with two buckets on each hand and a pair of tongs that she almost forgot until Lena reminded her.
Lena smiled pleased at Kara's efficiency, and as they walked to the first cage she froze with fear, was Kara just going inside the enclosure to feed a hungry tiger? She looked around and noticed there weren't any visitors outside to watch the tiger, the enclosures were all connected by smaller gates to let certain animals be with each other, but for now they were closed. And the tiger that she had on the list was alone with Kara, who quickly closed the door behind her and walked inside, the animal circling her and that's when Lena felt like this was Kara's end. She was about to run to ask for help when she noticed how her new colleague wasn't remotely scared of the giant feline that was walking around her as if she was its prey. Kara lifted the bucket over her head with one hand and quickly made a gesture with the other, her face stern yet loving. The feline quickly sat down like a trained dog, its body language signaling it feared and respected Kara more than Kara would ever fear him.
"Tony, what have I said about trying to chase me?" The cat roared softly, making her chuckle. "Sorry about the delay, here's your turkey. And I got you some salmon too! I hope you treated the night shift guards nicely." She then looked back at the bucket and lowered it, instead of reaching for her tongs (which were forgotten outside with Lena and another three buckets of raw meats) she took the entire raw turkey thigh with her hand and acted as if she was playing with a dog, she then threw it, making the tiger follow to catch it and she left the rest of the food on a concrete bowl that was built near the door. "See ya, Tony!" She walked out as swiftly as she walked in, then she locked the door with the master key around her neck. Kara didn't think much of the situation until she noticed Lena's panicked stare.
"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Lena grabbed her shoulders and tried to shake her which Kara let happen. "YOU GUYS DON'T HAVE SAFETY PROTOCOLS HERE OR SOMETHING?! THAT THING COULD'VE KILLED YOU!"
"What- Le- Miss Luthor! Don't worry! Yes we have safety protocols, but Tony has known me for years! I've taken care of him since he was barely a kitten. I'm not afraid of him or any other animal under my care." Lena seemed to relax a bit, still uneasy about the woman simply going into a hungry tiger's cage with a bucket filled with food on her hands.
"What about the ostriches?"
"They're not under my care-"
"So you're afraid of them?" The brunette's panic seemed to steer away and it turned into teasing.
"What-? No! I'm not..." There was that glare again, looking to dig deeper inside her mind, but this time she didn't cave in. "There's work to do, Miss Luthor, who's next?" Lena's eyes left Kara and focused on the list on her hands, then a smile crept up her red lips.
"Simba."