Noonan's

Notes: Find me on Tumblr at spoopercorp and on AO3 as Local_Asshole.

Summary: An onlooker's thoughtful perception into the ups and downs (not really any downs honestly) of Kara's and Lena's relationship.

TRIGGER WARNING: DEATH AND ANGST.

But a happy ending.

Kind of.

More like bittersweet.

I'm a barista at a local restaurant in National City known as Noonan's and I work full-time shifts. The job is quite dull and mundane, probably as bland as the drinks I concoct and serve to the customers…uneventful, boring, passive…

Then this couple always comes in on Saturdays and I honestly don't think they've ever missed a week. I find that watching their interactions and listening to their conversations is entertaining, more so than waiting for coffee to be brewed; their shenanigans are romantic and sweet.

I don't particularly favor any customers, but the pair have me intrigued. After about three of their visits I've already memorized their favorite products, but they pay me no mind and neither do I; we simply exchange greetings and niceties before they take their seats at the booth – no, their booth – in the far corner, away from other people and into their personal bubble.

Of course, I immediately recognized Lena Luthor, C.E.O. of L-Corp, previously LexCorp, the moment she stepped into the building. She's alluring, enigmatic, possesses power, but albeit harbors a negative and unpopular reputation. She's beautiful, wealthy, intelligent, independent, and many more; sometimes I don't know if I want to be her or be with her because how I see it, she seems to have positive qualities compared to her psychopathic megalomaniac of a brother.

The other woman though, I don't know her, as in she's not famous and doesn't have a throne to an industry leading in technology and science on a global level. I overheard that her name was Kara Danvers. Didn't ring a bell. Apparently, she works for CatCo, her former position was a personal assistant to the Cat Grant herself until her departure. Now she's a rookie reporter for the renowned Snapper Carr, who she really, really doesn't like and often talks about how she'd just love to throw him into space, much to Lena's amusement.

Not that she can actually do that. She isn't Supergirl for crying out loud.

But I mean, Kara is inhumanely dorky, kind, thoughtful…it's like the moon comes out because she wills it to, like the sun rises just for her, like any stars' light is nothing compared to the bright smile that belongs to the woman. Scintillating at the least. Her actions and behaviors, though embarrassing and clumsy the majority of the time, are incredibly endearing. Nope, not possible, no human is born with that much happiness.

It's almost as if the couple contradict each other, in appearance and personality.

Lena is experienced with business matters, being a leader herself. She's calm and collected, always manages to control her emotions, except when she's around her puppy of a girlfriend. I can only imagine for her how hard it's been to take on the mantle of her family's company. Being a Luthor, she'll forever hold the mantle of death, glared at as the harbinger of destruction and loss. I understand being blamed or judged by something your family is responsible for, that she'll probably never escape the shadow of her older brother. I can tell that she still cares, but I can also tell that she really doesn't want to care. It's unfortunate that the world has turned her to almost radiate with coldness and cynicism, untrusting of everyone she encounters; they'd either take advantage of her and manipulate her to do their bidding, use her for her riches, or kill her. I guess the blonde is really something special to make all of that melt away the moment their eyes meet.

Kara, on the other hand, has an aura of innocence about her; she was nervous and fidgeted a lot her first date with the Luthor at Noonan's, but they both found themselves comfortable after a while. She's considerate, looks out for others, always sees the good in everything and everyone. Also, she's surprisingly strong for such an "average" body, then again, Lena has probably been the only person that's seen anything under those modest clothes besides her family.

However, despite their differences, they both share this naivety and this look that makes them seem like they're wise beyond their years; they understand one another immensely, to an ineffable extent that only they have the right words for. They balance each other out, rarely have problems if any, and the last time they argued was over who should pay the bill…I ended up giving their meal to them on the house, much to my boss's, Sean's, disappointment. Except he was quite fond of the pair as well, and neither of us minded the food coming out of my paycheck, but that was pretty much the only way I could get them to stop arguing, else they'd have been there forever.

Sometimes they were just insufferable to watch. It was like the rest of the world was absent when they were together.

Their love was the most immaculate and pure thing I've ever had the pleasure of witnessing. It made me feel like I should do something with my life rather than constantly fighting with my father and sister.

Speaking of family, I accidentally picked up from their conversation that they were adopted, the both of them.

Kara was assimilated into a loving, suburban family. However, there was an accident involving the government and her father, Jeremiah, is either in custody or dead. How her simple suburban family was involved in shady and sketchy things like that is beyond me. She even got an older sister and apparently, they get along swimmingly. Jealous.

Lena's story was a bit more tragic. She was adopted into a strict and conservative family, but found herself getting in trouble often to the point she was sent to boarding school. I never took her for a rebellious one. Her father, Lionel, was an alcoholic and often abused her and her brother, no wonder Lex went mad. I don't know how Lena didn't though, her entire family was pretty much insane, guess it was genetics. Nature over nurture.

The most interesting of their dates was when they both got drunk, extremely drunk. Lena took three shots of very high proof vodka and was already out of it. Kara though, she utterly shocked the entire staff with the gifted ability to hold in her liquor, a lot of it. She probably emptied our entire shelves of alcohol, of which we all thought was endless. It was definitely not possible for a human to down a bottle of moonshine without even batting a single eye. I jokingly suspected that she was an alien out loud and noticed the look of panic in the blonde's eyes and her date's incessant giggling.

We all looked in such astonishment, at the couple's drink-off and at their alarmingly expensive bill, which Lena gladly payed for, and even gratuitously tipped. We ended up offering to call a cab for them, but the billionaire insisted on bringing in her private chauffeur.

Sean and I had to haul the drunken ladies out to their designated driver, helming a painfully luxurious ivory vehicle, which I now know is a Phantom Rolls Royce. I felt bad for him, having to deal with Lena's drunken lascivious comments to Kara, who was increasingly getting redder and not just from the liquor, but I think it's worth the paycheck he receives.

Then we had to call in a tow worker to drag Lena's personal car, an obsidian Audi R8, to her mansion; from what I've heard, the Luthor manor had a lavish contemporary architecture to it and the person who stole a peek in one of the windows claimed it to have a very modern appearance. It made me want to trespass her private property just to tour her chic villa. I can't say I wasn't surprised that she didn't purchase a more expensive vehicle, but I think it suits her: poised, professional, and elegant, with a fanciful design that was polished and sleek.

Another very memorable date they had was when the two of them arrived with a handful of books. Apparently, Kara suggested that they should play a more casual game because she was humiliated by all the board games they carried: chess, go, checkers, dominoes, Monopoly, scrabble, backgammon, mahjong…the blonde was so desperate to beat her that she even brought in Dungeons and Dragons.

They were both extremely intelligent in very different ways; Lena was great with anything pertaining to strategy, science, mathematics, business, psychology, luxurious things… Kara, however, was quite odd and specialized in aliens? I was appalled by her knowledge of the sciences, even more so than Lena, it was like she was from an entirely different advanced planet, like humans were primitive species compared to her.

Well, the game that Kara suggested was not competitive, it was more for fun, and they would alternate turns choosing two random numbers: the first was for the page, the second was for the paragraph. They would turn to the assigned leaf and read to each other aloud.

Unfortunately, one of the other rules for the game was that they would swap their books so that the other had no idea what they were expecting.

So, Lena took advantage of the game and went out of her way to purchase the most erotic and carnal novels out there. And awkward Kara being…well, Kara…brought multiple children's stories in tow of course, and had absolutely no idea what was coming for her.

It's safe to say that she was very embarrassed and instantly regretted her decision to participate in the game while Lena smirked at her with seductive and not-so-very-innocent eyes, sipping her delicious wine in a very suggestive manner. Then she maneuvered her free hand under the table and grinned provocatively at Kara's squeak. I never thought someone could get so red and flushed, but the blondie takes the cake, no competition.

I did learn that Lena preferred science fiction, and while Kara enjoyed that genre along with fantasy, she preferred the latter.

After that interesting date, the staff began to exchange Lena's name with temptress, seductress, siren…the like. We all agreed that she was very skilled at flirting, and I was surprised to overhear the C.E.O. complain about her girlfriend's initial obliviousness.

I remember one time a wowed Sean leaned into my ear and whispered, "Woah…Lena's pussy game is strong."

I also distinctly recall Kara choking on her cup of water with a spit take, right after my boss's statement. What followed was a hacking fit and a laughing Lena, so either she's got super hearing or she's got truly impeccable timing.

Then there was yet another game, this time from the genius billionaire: guessing each other's most played songs from a snippet of it.

Lena successfully guessed every single one of her boy band fanatic girlfriend's songs, who was particularly fond of NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, and One Direction, much to her distaste.

Kara, on the other hand, failed miserably.

"What's with all of the stupid numbers and boring names?" she'd shouted at one point, clearly frustrated, "Piano Trio No. 1? Piano Trio No. 3? How's anyone that's remotely normal able to memorize those?"

"Well, at least you got Fur Elise right," Lena replied, chuckling, "You seemed to memorize one of Mozart's canons."

"What composer in the seventeenth century names a song 'Lick me in the Ass' exactly?"

"Mozart apparently," Lena answered, shrugging, "It's the eighteenth century by the way, remember that it's one up from the time era you're thinking of."

"Whatever!" Kara huffed, flailing her arms, blowing a puff of air to remove the golden locks away from her eyes, "I never got that aspect of time in history class."

Then there was this one day that the couple came in and the blonde looked distressed judging from the reddened eyes and the tears pouring out of it. Apparently, she'd watched a documentary on circus animals.

"But those elephants!" Kara cried, "How can humans be so cruel?"

"You, of all people, are really asking that question?" Lena almost mocked, quirking her eyebrows.

"Well, how can you not ask that same question."

"Clearly you've forgotten that I come from a family of psychopaths."

"Right, heh…" she brushed her blonde tresses over one shoulder and rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

I didn't really get what she was insinuating with that statement, how much malice and barbarism could Kara possibly experience in her mid-twenties?

Then there was this one day where the couple didn't come in, but Kara burst through the doors before closing time to ask for tea.

"Where's–"

"She's sick," the blonde frowned, furrowing her brows, her eyes worried and anxious, "It's just a little flu bug though: fever, coughing, chills, sweating, weakness, it'll go away."

But after a week of Kara entering the building alone every day to acquire take-out, we all realized that this "little flu bug" was more serious than we'd all originally thought; her eyes became more somber, complemented with bags under her eyes and sluggish movement from sleep deprivation.

It was her lethargic and hoarse voice that really worried Sean and I though, as if it'd lost a bit of hope with each passing day.

The week after, Kara stopped coming. We were all concerned.

Then a week later, they both showed up.

However, we weren't expecting Lena to have an IV bag in tow. Though her girlfriend's worriedly creased face diminished, there was still a melancholic look in her eyes.

The billionaire wouldn't let that get to her though, after all, she had all of the money in the world to cure all of National City's inhabitants from sickness. But after a significant amount of time had passed, it seemed as if Lena's illness worsened, and the look on Kara's face was almost dejected, like she felt defeated.

They did visit every day now and the two refused to order anymore alcohol, opting for healthy doses of tea or water.

Then there was this one day about a month later when Lena arrived before her lover and purchased a glass of wine.

Kara wasn't happy and swiped the alcohol away, placing it at her end of the table, far from the other woman's reach.

"You know you're sick! Don't make it worse by drinking!"

Lena whined, "But Kar–"

"But what," the blonde raised her voice, trembling slightly with anger, obviously the Luthor's condition had taken a toll on her emotionally.

She muttered something I couldn't quite pick up.

"What?" Kara repeated. She heard the statement, but wanted to make sure she didn't hear wrong.

Then it was Lena's turn to raise her voice, but not enough to disturb the other customers, "I'm dying anyway!"

The reporter opened her mouth, then closed it, speechless. Her expression morphed into different emotions: shock, sadness, finally settling on anger. She slammed her fist down in a rage and the table cracked.

Honestly, I had a feeling that she held the rest of her strength back.

Kara abruptly stood and began to storm out. Lena attempted to grab her, but she was too fast, so she rose from her seat to catch up to her.

As quickly as the scene escalated, Lena grunted, clutching at her chest and hyperventilating, then she was suddenly on the floor. She groaned at the pain before coughing out a mix of blood and bile.

Kara gasped and was on her side immediately and Sean dialed the paramedics.

A week later, they returned, except with the addition of Lena's wheelchair; she was gaunt, her skin so pale that there was no way there was blood in her body, her eyes were tired and sunken in…

They rarely exchanged any words between each other since the incident.

Truthfully, it was sad to see their love – no, their hope – fade away until it was almost nothing. The reality of the situation was registered by the both of them, and neither were strong enough to bring the subject up, so they opted to eat their meals in melancholic silence.

There was this one particular day where they exchanged loving statements and actually smiled genuinely, and that was the last I saw them share their last, lovely, sweet kiss.

Their love for each other never changed, never faltered, but their hope did. Their hopes of marriage, of raising a family together, of waking up every day to see their beautiful wife, of growing old together, of romantic dates whether it be a stroll through the park, having a picnic under a shady tree from the sun, or stargazing at the constellations.

It was all gone.

Then they stopped coming.

A month later, Kara returned, but with a crushed expression. She ordered our strongest bottle of moonshine, along with dryly admitting that she never liked alcohol, that she only drank it with…Her voice faltered, cracked open, showing the broken heart that rested inside her still-beating chest.

We all left her there to cope, too frightened to engage the once sunny Danvers. Once it was ten minutes past closing time, Sean took all of us to the back and whispered, "So…who wants to be the one to make her leave?"

Some employees instantly bolted, others shook their heads, but I decided to do it. Sean gave me the keys to close the restaurant and patted me on the back, "Go get her, tiger."

I sighed solemnly.

It was around 11:30 at night when closing was finished and I walked out of the kitchen to see the hurt woman, still sitting in the booth in solitude, her back turned so that no one could see her face.

I approached her, tapped her shoulder.

Kara turned, her eyes puffy and red, still wet, a look of loneliness; it was agonizing, bleak, made me unconsciously sit next to her and hold her shaking hand.

She turned, wide-eyed, surprised as much as I was with my action.

Then she blubbered out, "She's gone. I lost her."

The blonde clutched tightly onto me, sobbing into my shoulder, seeking comfort where there wasn't for her when she was there alone.

Her pure anguish racked her to the core

I returned the embrace and rubbed her back in soothing circles, with nothing else to say than the typical "I'm sorry".

We stayed like that for another half hour until she calmed down as much as she could.

I contacted a cab driver and walked her outside into the unforgivingly chilly winter night, I opened the car door and gestured her in, shivering in the light snowfall.

But before she did so, she gave me a tight hug and whispered a "thank you" until entering the passenger seats in the back.

About three months passed and all the staff members thought up the worst scenarios, the most common one being that she took her own life, which was very upsetting to Sean as his fellow soldiers committed suicide from the horrors of war.

Then today, on a Saturday afternoon, it's very bright; the sun breathing life into the new season of spring, the birds chirping, the city bustling, but it's particularly slow, the restaurant is empty so the rest of the workers went out back while I keep a lookout up front, messing with my phone.

I was too distracted to hear the chime of the door and footsteps approach me until a familiar voice cleared their throat, "Ahem…"

I look up and my mouth gapes open.

"K-Kara?" I ask in shock, managing to close my teeth.

She nods a slight smile pulling the corner of her lips into an almost unnoticeable curve. Her eyes are still tinged with loss and grief, but it seems less intense than last time. Though it wasn't a drastic change, it's only been three months and it's definitely a start.

"W-What can I do for you?" I straighten myself.

"I…I didn't properly thank you last time…" she sighs unsteadily.

"O-Oh, you did, but I didn't really do anything."

Her lips upturn slightly, "But you did, and I didn't know I needed that until you came."

I nod my head, a grin pulling at my mouth, "You're probably my favorite customer, Kara – er, Ms. Danvers."

She lets out a chuckle, not as bitter as the last time I heard it though, which is good, "You can call me Kara after making that night less horrible for me."

The beautiful woman hands me a lovely vase filled with blue poppies.

I'm speechless, "W-Wha – how'd you know these were my fave–"

"Lucky guess," she shrugs.

She probably does have super hearing.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it, I'm very grateful to you, Ms…"

I reach my hand out to her, she meets me halfway, and we shake hands.

For the first time, she gives a genuine smile. Hope is lit in her eyes, maybe with the company of happiness.

Some unknown force compels me to think, "I'm going to help that light grow. No matter what."

"Lane," I smile, answering her unasked question, "Lucy Lane."

Note: Constructive criticism appreciated.