Kara meets Cass. Cass is very…friendly.
Girls, Friends
The thing about living in the Fortress of Solitude, is that the only visitors are people Kal - Clark - brings with him. Which means that generally, the only visitors are people Clark’s age.
Half the time, when Kal - Clark - brings Kon to the Fortress, Kon brings Robin. Krypton hadn’t had anything like homophobia for centuries, and Kara might be unused to the ways of Earth people, but she isn’t naïve. It’s not like she can’t tell why Kon and Robin go practically everywhere together. She doesn’t even need to use her super-hearing to confirm it - not that she would. That would be wrong. - to know that they are bond mates. No, not bond mates…boyfriends? That seems misleading to her. What do you call a boy that is simply your friend, and not a bond mate?
Not that she’s ever going to find out, as long as she only ever leaves the Fortress to be Supergirl. She won’t be able to make friends if she can’t meet people. Mostly, the only people her age who visit the Fortress are Kon and Robin. And if Robin is there, Kon doesn’t really spend much time with her. Not that he ever does, even when Robin isn’t there, but…
But this time, Kal - Clark - has brought Kon, and Kon has brought Robin, as per usual, but Robin…
Robin has brought Batgirl.
And considering the smile that Clark is giving Robin, and the way in which the three men go off together, leaving her alone with Batgirl, it’s apparent that the only reason Batgirl is here is to keep her company. Kara doesn’t care; she’s just grateful that she isn’t alone anymore.
“Hello,” Kara says, and tries to remember her Earth manners. “I’m Kara.” She then sticks out her hand to shake, and wonders if it’s wrong of her to do that, considering the origin of the handshake. But she isn’t planning to hurt Batgirl, so…
“Cass,” Batgirl says, and clasps her hand. She doesn’t shake, and Kara thinks that maybe she holds on too long, but she’s enjoying the contact too much to care. Then she realizes that Batgirl gave her her name, which Robin never did, and what does that mean? Kal - Clark - had told her the importance of using different names as superheroes, and Kon had told her that all the members of the Batclan were very secretive about their identities.
Kara isn’t familiar with Earth names, but there must be several hundred people, at least, named Cass. And she still doesn’t know what Cass looks like.
And she’s standing there, like a, like a goof, she thinks that’s the word, and so Kara scrambles for something to say. “Would, uh, you…like to see Kal’s zoo?” Maybe she should have said Clark. She doesn’t know if Batgirl knows that Kal is Clark, though, and the Fortress is Superman’s, which means that the zoo is Kal’s. She thinks.
Kara wishes that she were still on Krypton for lots of reasons, some of which are pettier than others.
Batgirl is still wearing her full-face mask, but Kara swears she can see her smile. “Yes,” she says, and Kara smiles back and leads her to the zoo.
They spend about an hour looking at the alien creatures in their glass cases - Kara can’t quite bring herself to call them cages, even thought they technically are - with Kara pointing out interesting features, and Cass asking the occasional, short question.
Apparently, Cass doesn’t talk much. But since Kara is practically babbling, that must make up for it.
Finally, they’ve seen the majority of the zoo, and Kal - Clark - hasn’t contacted them to say that Batgirl needs to go home, so Kara takes Cass back to her room to talk. Somehow, they wind up on the topic of people they know, and it turns out that Cass doesn’t know many people outside of the Batclan, just like Kara doesn’t know many people outside of the Superclan.
Kara thinks she and Cass could be really good friends. Girlfriends?
“Is…is Batman as scary to you as he is to me?” Kara asks, and feels herself blush. Batman is only human, Clark told her as much, but she remembers how mean he was to her, as if he wasn’t afraid of her superpowers at all, and while she wouldn’t use them to hurt him, it still feels…wrong…that she’s afraid of him.
Cass shakes her head. “Batman not scary. Batman just…not nice.”
“So it isn’t just me he doesn’t like?” Kara is pathetically happy when Cass shakes her head.
“Batman rarely likes anybody,” Cass tells her, and Kara has to laugh at the seriousness with which she says that, even thought she can tell it’s true.
And it’s probably not nice to ask, but: “What about you?” She does want to be friends with Cass, but if Batgirl is as…not friend-making as Batman, that won’t work.
“I like you.” Then Cass tugs off her mask, and before Kara in her surprise can even register the messy, short-ish black hair, or the sparkling brown eyes, and the secret little smile on her face, Cass is kissing her.
Kara’s never been kissed before, not like - not like this, and it’s…nice. She doesn’t know how to kiss back, but tries anyway, leaning in, and pressing with her lips not nearly as hard as she wants to, but only hard enough to be felt by a human, and then it’s more than nice.
By the time Clark has come to collect Cass and take her and the boys home, Kara’s learned a lot about kissing. And she makes a point of mentioning to Clark that she hopes Cass visits again soon.
It’s nice to have a friend.