Gotham City

As Supergirl began her descent, I saw that we were approaching another city, though it definitely wasn't Metropolis, and not just because we had been flying in a straight line for the past five minutes. For one, the architecture of the buildings were more Gothic, giving the entire city a darker aura than Metropolis despite there actually being fewer clouds. The other was the zeppelins floating in the air overhead, which Metropolis didn't really have. And when Supergirl managed to find another alley to land in, this one was distinctly dirtier than the one we had left.

"Aaaaand touchdown!" Kara cheered, setting me gently down on my feet, "Hang on a moment while I get changed."

As the whirlwind picked up again, I took the opportunity to peek out of the alley to get a better idea of where I had been taken. While the city looked rather foreboding from the sky, the street where we were now actually looked pretty nice. A lot of the people walking by actually appeared to be close to my own and Kara's age, which combined with the occasional 'GCU' branding made me think we were in a college neighborhood.

Wait a minute... Gothic architecture... zeppelins... GCU... did Kara take me to...?

"Welcome to Gotham City, Charlie!" Kara said, wrapping her arm around my own as she confirmed my worse fears.

"G-Gotham?" I stammered, my brain barely even registering that Kara was back in civilian clothes, "You took me to Gotham?"

Seeing the horrified expression on my face, Kara gave me a reassuring smile, "Relax. Gotham's not as bad as people say... at least during the day. Plus, we're in the nice part of the city."

"There's a nice part of Gotham?" I asked, brow raised.

"Relatively speaking," Kara responded, gently guiding me out onto the sidewalk, "Besides, we're not staying long, and I'll be right here with you the whole time. And if anyone tries anything with you..."

I felt her squeeze my arm tighter, and in a low voice she finished, "...I'll protect you. No matter what."

As stupid as it might sound, in my panic at suddenly being in one of the most dangerous cities in the country, I had actually forgotten exactly who it was I was currently with. Even though I was starting to get worried about her behavior, being reminded that Supergirl was constantly watching over me was actually rather comforting in this case.

Just as I was starting to feel at ease again, Kara tugged me towards a nice looking cafe on the corner of the street, "This is the place! And..." She squinted for a brief moment, then said, "She's here! And... Wally's with her? That's a nice surprise!"

"Who's Wally?" I asked, assuming at this point that she's using her X-Ray vision.

"You'll find out in a second," she replied, pulling me into the cafe, "Trust me, you'll get along great!"

The cafe itself was nothing too special, pretty much exactly the kind of hipster chic place you'd expect millennial to hang out in. Kara led me to a table next to a window where a man and a woman were both already seated. They both had fiery red hair, the guy keeping his short and messy while the girl had hers long and straight down to her back. Unsurprisingly, they were both pretty fit as well, despite the fact that the guy was shoveling a plate full of scones into his mouth at a frightening speed. And while I couldn't speak on the guy, the girl was very attractive, though she tried to hide it with a grey 'GCU' sweatshirt and glasses not too dissimilar to Kara's.

"There you are!" the girl said, "We were starting to worry that you wouldn't..." Upon seeing me, the girl furrows her brow in confusion, "Who's this?"

"This is Charlie!" Kara chirped excitedly, "My... well, we haven't really put a label on it yet, so for now I guess you could call him my date. Charlie, these are my friends Barbara and Wally."

"Mmhey!" Wally said, his mouth half-full. He swallowed, then continued, "Nice to meet you!"

"It is nice to meet you," Barbara said, standing up to get a better look at me, "Though Kara didn't tell me she was bringing a date..."

Kara winced, "Sorry about that. It was kind of a last minute decision. I hope you guys don't mind."

Barbara opened her mouth to respond, but before she could Wally spoke over her, "Well considering I also dropped in on your girls' brunch date last minute, it'd be hypocritical of me to object!" He patted the cushion of the booth, "Have a seat, Charlie!"

Kara looked over at her friend, "Um, actually Wally, if it's not too much trouble, I kinda want to sit next to Charlie. Would one of you mind...?"

Wally looked up at the already standing Barbara, who sighed and sat down next to him.

"Thanks guys!" Kara said, and we sat in the empty booth, with me on the edge and across from the bookish Barbara, who was looking me over suspiciously. Almost as soon as she noticed me staring however, her expression softened and she gave me a bright smile.

"So Charlie," she said, adjusting her glasses, "Are you from around here, or...?"

"What? Oh, n-no," I stammered out, "I'm... er, from Metropolis."

"Yeah, you have the look of someone who's never been to Gotham before," she said, "Relax, not all of us Gothamites bite."

"Metropolis is a pretty long commute," Wally chimes in, licking his fingers of the last remaining crumbs of his scone, "Hope traffic wasn't too bad."

"Um, actually we flew here," I said, before realizing my mistake. Too late however, as both of them immediately stared at me in shock.

"O-On a plane..." I muttered, nervously looking over at Kara. She was frowning at me, as I expected, but rather than disappointment or anger her expression seemed... pitying, almost as if she was chastising herself rather than me.

"Don't worry Charlie, they already know," Kara said to me, before turning to her friends and saying, "Relax guys, I met him on the job. In fact, I kind of saved his life."

Barbara and Wally looked at one another, apparently not exactly sure what to make of what Kara just said. Eventually, Barbara broke the silence with a question, "So, Charlie, are you... er, in the business too?"

"Huh? O-Oh, no, no, not at all," I said, "There's nothing really special about me. I'm just a regular guy."

Kara reached over and hugged me, "Aw Charlie, I think you're special!"

I smiled, though somewhat nervously given we had an audience. And judging from the expressions on their faces, they found it even more awkward than I did.

"Not to pry," Barbara said, "But what do you do, exactly?"

"I, uh... I work in the restaurant business," I said, feeling suddenly self-conscious. It was very quickly dawning on me that Kara might not be the only superhero sitting at this table.

"Fast food, got it," Wally chimed in.

"And how long have you and Kara been dating?" Barbara asked, "No offense, but we've been friends for a long while, and she's never brought you up before."

"Yeah, well, um, that's not surprising," I stammered, "This is... sorta our first date."

Barbara blinked, "First date?" She looked over at Kara, her face hardening into an inquisitive stare, "Kara... when did you save Charlie's life?"

"Five days ago," Kara beamed.

"And that was when you first met, right?" Barbara asked her.

"Um, y-yeah," Kara said, pulling herself into my side nervously.

The four of us sat there in awkward silence, only broken when the waitress came to take our orders. Once our order was taken and we were left alone again, Barbara suddenly stood up, "I need to use the ladies' room. Kara, mind coming with me?"

"Oh no, I'm good," Kara said, snuggling further into me.

"I'd like the company," Barbara said, glaring at her in that 'I wasn't asking' kind of way.

Kara got the message, and hesitantly let go of me. She kissed me on the cheek and said, "I'll be right back. Shout if you need me."

"Um, o-okay..." I mumbled.

I let Kara out of the booth so she could follow Barbara to the back of the restaurant, leaving me alone with Wally. Once I sat back down and the girls were out of earshot, he gave me a smile and said, "Don't mind Barbara. She's usually much friendlier. She's just worried about Kara, you know?"

I sighed, "Yeah, I don't blame her. Things have been moving pretty fast between us."

"Good to know it's not just me," he said with a smirk, before leaning forward, "Hey, mind if I give you a word of advice?"

"Um, sure," I said, not sure where he was going.

"If you're going to be dating a superhero, you really need to get your cover stories straight," he said, "And more importantly, don't panic if you slip up. Specifying that you were 'on a plane' was way more suspicious than just saying you flew here, especially when you look like you got caught with a bloody knife in your hand."

"G-Got it," I said, "Thanks. This is all so new to me. Last week I was just a regular guy, and now I'm dating..."

I held my tongue, causing Wally to shrug, "Yeah, I can't really relate, unfortunately. Kara and I have been friends for years, but I've never dated her or anyone else outside of my weight class before. I wish you luck, though."

He sniffed the air and crinkle his nose, "Also, the girls are too polite to say it, but you freaking stink, man. Use some deodorant."

Okay, yeah, Supergirl definitely has a BO fetish.

"Sorry," I said, "I just got off work, and..."

Thankfully I was interrupted when the waitress came by again with a plate of fries, which she set in front of Wally. He grinned, "Finally!"

I raised a brow, "Wait, didn't you order a triple cheeseburger?"

"Yeah, with the rest of you," he replied, popping a fry into his mouth, "I ordered this right before you got here." After eating a few more, he asked, "So, who do you think I am?"

"Huh?"

"Who do you think I am?" he repeated, "I'm curious. You know Kara's Supergirl, and I think you're starting to suspect who Barbara is... so what about me?"

In truth, I hadn't really started trying to deduce anyone's identity quite yet, but what the heck, he asked me to, so I might as well give it a shot. I considered what I knew. Wally's around my age, lives in Gotham... not that many young male heroes in the area, and he's definitely not Batman... which can only mean...

"Are you Robin?" I asked in a hushed voice.

"Robin? What? No, I'm not Robin!" he hissed, "He's like ten! Do I look like a kid to you?"

"No," I said, "But I thought Robin was older..."

"Not the current one," he pointed out while he ate some more fries, "You're probably thinking about one of the older Robins, like Nightwing, or Red Robin..."

"Oh, Red Robin!" I said, "You know, because of the red hair."

"None of the Robins have red hair!" he snapped, then sighed, "Look, I'm not any of the Robins, former or otherwise. I'll give you a hint: I don't operate in Gotham. And like you, I got here today through unconventional means."

I thought about that, and took a good hard look at him, trying to put the pieces together. He did look kinda familiar...

He smiled, "Eh? You recognize me now?"

"I think so..." I answered, thinking about where I had seen him before, "...are you Green Lantern?"

Wally's jaw dropped, and he pinched the bridge of his nose, "Green Lantern? Are you freakin'-"

Just then Kara came storming back to the table, her face alight with rage. Not far behind her was Barbara, looking very concerned.

"Kara, I'm sorry, let's just drop it and-"

"No, we're not dropping it," Kara snapped at her, before turning to me, "Charlie, Barbara here thinks you're not good enough for me."

"That's not what I said!" Barbara shouted, "Kara, listen to me, this isn't normal-"

"Save it!" Kara said, before grabbing my arm, "Come on Charlie, I want to go home."

"A-Are you sure?" I asked, looking wildly between her and her two friends, "Our food's almost here and..."

Looking up at her, I could see tears beginning to form in those baby blue eyes of hers. Whatever Barbara had actually said to her, it clearly hit her hard.

"...Okay, we can leave," I said gently. Turning to the other two, I told them, "Um, nice meeting you two. If you're ever in Metropolis, drop by the Metro Burger on 64th and Conway and say hi."

"64th and Conway, got it," Wally said, wiping his mouth, "Maybe by then you'll have a better answer than Green Lantern. I'll also do you guys a favor and call ahead, since I'll be ordering a lot."

I nodded, then looked over at Barbara, "Um, sorry about... um... just sorry."

"Don't apologize to her," Kara said, "You did nothing wrong. Despite what she might think."

She glared daggers at Barbara, who in contrast actually looked surprised at what I said to her. Then Kara pulled me out of the restaurant, leaving her two friends bewildered in our wake.

"I can't fucking believe her!" Kara yelled, tears streaming down her face as we flew back towards Metropolis, "'This isn't normal'... so what?!? I finally find my soulmate, and she has the gall to say that it isn't real! That you... that you brainwashed me!!!"

"Did she actually say that?" I asked.

"Yes! Either that or that I'm under the influence of Red Kryptonite, which I haven't even seen in over a year. Plus, where would someone like you even get Red Kryptonite?"

"I can't really blame her," I admit, "I can hardly believe this is real myself."

"Well it is," Kara said, holding me close, "It's more real than any relationship I've had before. And I bet Barbara sees that too, and is jealous that she doesn't have it for herself!"

I blinked, "Wait, so she and Wally aren't...?"

"No, Wally's just a good friend of ours," Kara said, "And he has a girlfriend of his own. But the guy Barbara likes got together with someone else, and she's still pretty salty about it. So of course she has to take it out on you and me!"

I highly doubted that's what was happening, but given how upset Kara was I didn't feel like now was a good time to mention that. Besides, we were starting to land, and I had a more pressing question to bring up.

"Um, Kara? Where are we?" I asked as we approached the window to a nice looking loft in a neighborhood I didn't recognize.

"...My apartment..." Kara answered softly.

"Well, um, I'm flattered... but I need to be back at work in like five minutes."

"I know, and I'll take you if you insist, but..." Kara's bottom lip trembled, "I don't want to be alone right now."

She opened the window with her foot and flew inside, still holding me in her arms.

"Please Charlie," she whimpered, tears trickling down her face, "Stay here and make love to me. I want to prove to you that this is real. Please..."

Ordinarily, I wouldn't need any prompting whatsoever to have sex with a hot girl that was literally begging for it, and Tom did say he'd cover for me if things got to this point. But there was a part of me that was still hesitant. As much as she was insisting that her feelings were genuine, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about this entire situation. It could have just been self-doubt creeping through, but the fact that Kara's friends didn't see her current behavior as normal had me worried. Even if she wasn't under the influence of Red Kryptonite (which I didn't even know was a thing), there was clearly something weird going on with Kara. Maybe it would be better if the two of us had some space away from each other to cool down and think things over.

On the other hand, the part of me that was very quickly getting attached to Kara could see that she was upset, and wanted to make her feel better in whatever way I could. And if she was being influenced by some outside ****, it's possible that leaving her by herself could make things worse, or give whoever was doing it the chance to swoop in and do... whatever it is that making her fall in love with me would let them do. And again, she was literally begging me to stay.

Goddammit, why did a date with Supergirl of all people have to be so complicated?