#making him acutely familiar with just how formidable the guy is and how much there IS to live up to....

[beatcroc]

there's no way the bathroom at peppino's pizza is actually that big but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . hey ummm anyway.... i care them...... anyway there's a lil ramble on my take on fake pep's like psyche or whatever in tags on the og post if ur into that kinda thing :y

hey! it's a series! fake peppino world tour: [noise] [noisette] [peppino]<- u are here [gustavo] [gerome] [noisette again]

[supercitycarnival]

I couldn’t resist. If you guys like it, I’ll so as many chaps as movies :-)

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Kara rode the elevator up, balancing the items in her hands while she tried to hold her cell phone between her cheek and shoulder.

“This is a stupid idea, isn’t it?” She asked her sister.

Alex chuckled on the other end of the call. “You know her better than anyone. If you think she’ll like it, I’m sure she’ll like it.”

Kara grinned. “You guys have fun without me.”

“Will do, and if she thinks it’s stupid, come find us at the bar.” Alex and the others were going to celebrate the Daxamite defeat.

“Absolutely,” Kara told her. “Talk to you soon.”

Alex ended the call and Kara realized she was stuck with full hands and no way to put her phone away. She awkwardly knelt down and almost spilled the popcorn as she set the bowl down, freeing her hand, putting her phone in her back pocket.

Kara regathered all the items just as the elevator doors opened. Standing, she took a deep breath as her heartbeat quickened. She shook her head against the mounting doubt that told her this was, indeed, a stupid idea.

Squaring her jaw, Kara lifted her chin. She needed to appear confident if she was going to get Cat to agree. Walking across the bullpen, she was grateful it had cleared out. Cat had always been the last one here. Some things never change.

Kara slowly approached the glass entrance of Cat’s office. She came to a stop when she caught sight of the woman. Cat was sitting behind her desk, glasses on, and focused. Kara couldn’t help the quirk of her lips. She hadn’t realized how much she truly missed Cat until she was back.

In the short time since Cat’s return, she had already managed to make Kara feel stronger and more confident. Cat had an effect on her that she didn’t understand. If Kara hadn’t already been able to fly, she was sure that Cat’s unshakable belief in her would give her wings.

Suddenly, her relaxing grip on the objects in her hand made her almost drop them. Kara fumbled, but caught everything. Still, the commotion had gotten Cat’s attention. When Kara looked back up, Cat was watching her curiously.

So much for seeming confident, Kara thought. She crossed the threshold and came into the office with a smile.

Surveying the things Kara was holding, Cat narrowed her eyes. “What are you up to?”

Kara didn’t answer right away. She sat the items down on the glass top coffee table. There was popcorn, a two liter of soda, chocolate​ chip cookies,  a box of Milk Duds, and a box of Sour Patch Kids. Then, she stood tall and revealed the last item.

Cat raised an eyebrow at the DVD box in Kara’s hand: Star Wars, Episode 1.

“You must be joking,” the media mogul said, dryly.

Kara was already moving furniture around, indicating that she wasn’t joking at all. She pulled on one of the sofas, attempting to make it look difficult to maneuver. Once the sofa was facing Cat’s wall of screens, Kara pulled the coffee table in front of it.

With a satisfied breath, she glanced back to Cat. The woman was looking back with furrowed brows and parted lips, like she couldn’t believe Kara had dained to think it was okay to mess with the layout of her office.

“Come on,” Kara chuckled. “It’ll be fun.”

“Fun?” Cat’s scrunched eyebrows shot up. “We were just under threat of an alien invasion,” she pointed out. “I realize that you might still be new to this profession, but this is a big story, Kiera.”

“Okay,” Kara interrupted, becoming serious, “can we please not go back to ‘Kiera’?” She saw the tiniest glint of surprise cross Cat’s face at the request. “I don’t want to take two steps forward with you, just to take one step back.”

Clearing her throat, Cat slowly slipped her glasses off. “Very well.” She gave Kara one of her gorgeous half smiles. “Kara.” Kara’s moment of triumph was short lived as Cat waved her hand dismissively at Kara’s movie set up. “But this is not happening.”

She was about to put her glasses back on when Kara’s voice stopped her. “Come on, Ms. Grant.” Their eyes met again. A pause lingered, and Kara quietly said, “We haven’t spent any time together since you got back.”

Kara remembered what Cat had said in the alley. The point was human connection. As formidable as Cat Grant was, she still needed people, and Kara was determined to be there for her.

After a moment passed, Cat finally gave an exaggerated sigh. “Oh, fine. Since you went to all this trouble.” She rose from her desk to Kara's​ delight, and came around to sit on the sofa.

Biting her lip to contain her excitement, Kara rushed around the desk to pop the movie in. She was more than familiar with Cat’s media setup and had the movie menu up on the screens in only a few clicks of the mouse. She snatched the remote and walked back around.

Cat was poised at the edge of her seat, legs crossed, and sitting up much too tall. Kara giggled, “Relax, Ms. Grant.” Cat glanced around, seeming uncomfortable. Eventually, she settled back into the sofa.

Coming back around​ the desk, Kara made her way to the small bar in the office. She took two of the tumblers, filled them with ice, and came back to the sofa. Kara took the bottle of soda and turned the cap, releasing a hissing sound.

“Oh, no,” Cat said, wagging a finger at Kara. “You are not putting a carbonated beverage in my glasses.”

Kara ignored the comment and poured, much to Cat’s chagrin. Her mouth dropped open and Kara grinned. Then Cat stood. Kara was sure she was about to leave, but she watched as Cat retrieved a decanter and came back. She sat, adding a splash of bourbon to her soda, and smiled up at Kara, who allowed the compromise.

This was already going better than Kara had anticipated. She sat down beside Cat, surprised by the temptation to scoot close to her, but stayed put.

“Okay, so here’s what you need to know-,” Kara began.

“Just hit play,” Cat cut her off. She was acting annoyed, but Kara knew her well and knew the irritation was feigned. She smiled and hit the play button.

The booming theme music started and Kara instantly felt a rush of joy. She fought the urge to read the crawler out loud, like Jeremiah used to do when they watched it together.

Kara grabbed the bowl of popcorn and set it between them, beginning to munch. The opening scene began and Kara was acutely aware of Cat’s eyes on her. She turned to face her.

“Why do you like this movie so much?” Cat asked, quietly.

Kara slowed her chewing. Allowing Kara to invade her office like this was a step of vulnerability for Cat. Kara could at least return the gesture with some openness of her own.

“I used to watch it with my adopted dad all the time,” Kara answered. “It was the first thing we watched together when I came to Ear-,” she caught herself. “When I came to live with them.” She shrugged. “I loved that it was about space and all these different worlds and people.”

Cat slowly nodded her satisfaction at the answer. After another moment passed, Cat reached over to take a couple kernels of popcorn.

They fell into silence, watching the movie. Kara was so happy to share the experience with Cat. The older woman would occasionally ask a question about the plot. Kara easily answered every one of them. Cat sipped on her drink, getting a refill when it was drained. Kara opened the boxes of candy.  

“Milk dud?” Kara offered the candy to Cat.

Turning her nose up, Cat asked, “Milk, what?”

“It’s chocolate and caramel,” Kara told her, laughing.

“No.” Cat said emphatically, like the offer was below her.

Kara shook her head at the woman and set to the task of emptying the box. As the movie went on, Kara got into the fight scenes, moving her body in imitation of the moves that the characters performed.

She sat back at the end of one particularly intense scene and looked over, seeing Cat grinning at her.

“What?” Kara asked.

“You’re cute,” was all Cat said, holding her gaze.

Kara was caught off guard. “Um… you, too.” It just came out. It was a silly response, but Cat simply kept the grin and turned back to the screens.

The last big battle scene came. As Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan fought Darth Maul with all they had, the two women unconsciously moved closer to one another, leaning forward, on the edge of their seat.  Qui-Gon fell and, despite that she had seen it a hundred times, Kara collapsed against the back of the sofa, upset.

Cat turned to her. “Did you think it would be different this time?” The sarcasm was evident.

Kara smiled at the joke. “It just makes me sad. Qui-Gon meant everything to him.”

Soon, the credits were rolling. Cat sighed and stood from the sofa. Kara was immediately disappointed, but she stood as well. Together, they moved the furniture back to its place and cleaned up.

“Thank you for sharing this with me, Kara,” Cat said.

There was a softness to her expression that Kara hadn’t seen before. It made Kara want to touch her, touch her face or her hair. It didn’t matter. She was struck by how beautiful Cat was.

Blinking, Kara told her, “There are seven of them, you know. Eight if you count that spin off.”

“Maybe we can watch another one sometime.” Cat went behind her desk and gathered her things. She walked passed Kara, stopping at the door. “See you in the morning?”

Kara could only nod. She felt betrayed by her feelings, suddenly. She had been enamoured with Cat before she left. It had taken months to move past it. She had even resorted to using Mon-El as a distraction.

Now, Cat was back and talking about human connection and looking at Kara with those deep eyes. All the emotions came flooding back. Kara’s feet were stuck to the floor and her voice was caught in her throat.

Cat gave her a closed-lip smile and walked toward her elevator, leaving Kara standing alone in her office, wondering what she had just started.