Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Confessions

Eve POV:

‘Morris’, as it turned out, was actually a hole in the wall called ‘Mori no Tabemono’ — which a quick Google search translated into ‘Forest Food’. It was owned and run by a middle-aged Japanese guy called Junichiro, but apparently everyone just called him ‘Morris’. He had ridden the wave of interest in Japanese culture that followed the anime boom of the early 2000s, and his ramen shop had become a popular hangout for the local youth.

Donna was the type that wasn’t good at approaching new people, but had no problems once introductions were made. Milly quickly adjusted to Donna’s boisterous personality and the three of us chatted happily. We all tried to include Kara as well, but she was acting withdrawn and stayed even closer to me than usual — making sure we were always maintaining some form of physical contact.

I realized — or suspected, at least — what was going on. She was jealous. I’d felt the way I suspected she felt now, and it wasn’t a nice feeling. Fortunately, Milly started to complain about her boyfriend at some point, which seemed to ease some of Kara’s worries. This was still something we really needed to talk about though, and soon. I wanted to talk about it with Dinah first so I wouldn’t step on any landmines, but my gut told me I didn’t have time for that. Feelings had a tendency to fester far faster than any wound.

Naturally, Milly was curious about us. Of course, we had agreed on cover stories before we even came here, so we were ready for that. I hated lying, so luckily I was able to get the whole team to agree to cover stories that required as little lying as possible.

Our parents knew each other from work and we had all met at a social gathering between colleagues. They worked in security, of course. We hit it off, and had been friends ever since. This summer we were hanging out together and decided to go on a road trip. Simple, and relatively truthful.

“Why come here of all places, though?” Milly wondered. “CC isn’t exactly the center of the universe. That’d be Wallace, a few miles thataway.” She gestured vaguely towards the south.

“We like a good mystery,” I explained. “Someone on Reddit mentioned the pranking streak happening here, so we decided to check it out. Besides, Wallace is pretty stupid.”

Donna choked on her ramen as she fought back a laugh, and even Kara made a soft snort at my double entendre. Milly didn’t seem to have noticed, though.

“Of course!” Milly exclaimed in realisation. “You were asking about that earlier! Got any leads yet?”

“A few,” I hedged. “All we really have so far points to it being something magical in nature.”

While not exactly common, magic was a known factor in this universe. With half the Justice League’s powers having magical origin, it was only natural. Most people accepted that it existed, but surprisingly few actually sought it out or knew anything about it. People like Wally — who straight up refused to accept what was right in front of them — were a minority.

Milly raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Really?” she asked. “How can you tell? Do you know magic?” Her eyes grew wider as she spoke, realising the implications of what I had revealed.

I just gave her a mysterious smile and said, “Maybe.”

“Oh, come on!” she exclaimed, clearly not satisfied with my answer. “We’re friends, right?”

“Sure,” I admitted, but with a smug smile I continued, “But we’ve only known each other for like half a day. You can’t expect me to spill all my secrets right off the bat. Give and take, Milly. Give and take.”

She narrowed her eyes, glaring at me for a moment before seemingly deciding on something. “Alright,” she said. “See that alley over there?” She gestured towards an alleyway a few blocks down the street.

“Yeah?” I hedged, wondering where this was going.

“When I was 17, that’s where I lost my virginity. His name was Morgan. He’s an ass, and it’s my biggest regret. Now spill! Give and take.”

After that, I would. Or, at least I would later. When I was finished laughing my ass off. Not just at Milly’s blunt admission, but also at the synchronized spray of ramen from Donna and Kara. It was beautiful.

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Kara POV:

I felt weird. I felt a lot of other things as well — jealousy, guilt, shame, anxiety — but it all culminated in a sensation that I could only describe as ‘weird’. I had liked Eve since day one, when I first emerged from my pod. But it was only today that I realized how much I liked her.

Milly was great. She was funny, friendly, and charmingly blunt. If anything, she reminded me of Eve — it really wasn’t a surprise how they got along so well. Which made the fact that I just couldn’t seem to like her almost shameful. I knew why I felt like this, of course. I was jealous.

Ever since I saw Eve chatting so happily with Milly in the museum it felt like something cold and sharp had taken hold of my heart and was slowly twisting it. The rest of the day, I needed to be close to her. When she grabbed my hand afterwards, it was like the cold and sharp had been replaced by warm and soft.

Later, when we ran into Milly when looking for a place to eat, an uncomfortable pressure started squeezing inside my chest again. The relief I felt when she revealed that she had a boyfriend was what finally made me realize what I was actually feeling. I was in love.

On Krypton, love wasn’t really considered all that important. Sure, parents and children loved each other, and some spouses fell in love — uncle Jor-El and aunt Lara were good examples. Most of the time though, relationships were transactional.

In my short time here on Earth, I had become familiar with how Earthlings thought of ‘love’. To them, it was something to strive for — something worth spending a lifetime searching for. To me, it seemed silly. How could a simple feeling be that important? Now I understand.

I’m not sure I liked it much, though. Every moment I spent away from Eve felt like I had just emerged from my pod and learned of Krypton’s fate. Every time she touched me I felt like I did when she took me out to fly in the sun for the first time. My heart was spiraling out of control, and I was helpless to do anything about it.

When we were heading back to the motel and Eve asked me, “Hey, Kara? Can we talk for a bit?” and waved for Donna — who was wearing a smug smile on her face — to go on without us, my pulse was racing a thousand miles per minute.

All I could answer was, “Yes,” as I felt my cheeks flush. It didn’t help that she also grabbed my hand before leading me towards the small park we had been through earlier.

My mind was numb and I could barely form a coherent thought as she led me to a secluded bench and sat us down — not touching, but still comfortably close together. I wanted to scooch over the last few inches, but restrained myself. A second later I noticed a faint shimmer in the air around us before Eve let her disguise drop.

“I think I want to be myself right now,” she commented lightly as I took in her true form for the first time since this morning.

This was what she had looked like when I had first met her, and most of the time since then. This was what she looked like most of the time. This was the Eve I knew. But for some reason, it felt like I was seeing her for the first time. And she was beautiful.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I gazed at the way her silky, black hair moved in the light evening breeze behind her curved horns. The way her modest chest rose and fell as she breathed. I followed her breath up her slender throat to her soft, purple lips. I noticed that even in this charged atmosphere, a slight grin seemed permanently fixed in the corner of her mouth. Her cheeks were graced by a dark purple blush, mirroring the red in mine. Her dreamy red eyes were staring into the night sky with a distant look, as if she was looking past the stars themselves.

We sat there in silence for several minutes. I was almost shaking with anticipation as I waited for her to speak. It was obvious that she had something important to say, and considering how badly I had hidden my feelings today, I had a strong suspicion as to what she wanted to talk about. What would she say? Would she reject me? Feel the same? I felt like I had reached the edge of insanity before I finally got my answer.

“I like you, Kara,” she said with a resigned sigh, and my heart felt like the sun. “Like, a lot. More than anyone else. I think I’m seriously falling for you.”

A few seconds went by before I finally found my voice again. “Me too,” I said, my voice barely more than a whisper. “I l— I like you too. A lot.” I almost said ‘love’, but I knew that was a word that should be reserved for when you were sure about your feelings. I was sure, but I didn’t want to seem clingy or desperate. Eve had said ‘like’, so I used the same word.

“I, eh… I kinda figured,” she said with a bashful grin. “You haven’t exactly been subtle today.”

I felt my cheeks flush even harder as I looked down and stammered, “I-I’m sorry,” but Eve abruptly grabbed my face and forced me to look her in the eyes. Well, not ‘forced’ exactly. If I didn’t want to move, she wasn’t nearly strong enough to move me. But I let her.

My heart skipped a beat as I gazed into her intense scarlet eyes. “Don’t be sorry,” she insisted with a completely serious voice. “Never apologize for being this damn adorable.”

I could only manage a slight nod, and she let me go before leaning back and started gazing silently back into the sky. This time though, there was no space between us. Our sides were touching and she had her arm wrapped around my shoulders holding me tightly. I was leaning against her shoulder, listening to her heartbeat.

We sat in comfortable silence, watching the full moon slowly rise in the clear night sky. Most of the anxiety of the day had been washed away and in its wake I could feel a peaceful sort of giddiness settle over me. In that moment, I had everything I wanted. Well,almost.

“Eve?” I asked nervously.

“Hm?” she replied in an aloof tone. I had never stopped to consider just how cool she was.

“Will you be my girlfriend?”

“Hah!” she let out a single laughing bark that surprised me. It took a few moments before she gave me a response in a somewhat sombre tone, “At this point, I don’t think I can refuse.”

That… wasn’t a ‘no’? But it wasn’t a ‘yes’ either? What did she mean?

“Um…” I said after a few moments, the uncertainty nagging at me. “Is that a ‘yes’, then?”

She sighed and it took a few beats before she spoke again. “You know, I had a pretty shitty childhood,” she said. “My dad left before I can remember, and my mom drank herself to death when I was young. My brother and I were taken in by my grandma, but she was an abusive bitch.”

This… was a part of Eve I didn’t know about. I had asked her a few times about her childhood, but she had always avoided the question. I knew she was from another reality and had been transferred here after she died, and I knew she preferred this world over her old one, but I had never gotten an answer as to why that was. Before I could consider this any further, she spoke again.

“When I got old enough, I moved out and got my shit sorted out,” she said. “I was smart enough to know that my life had been pretty fucked up, so I went to see a therapist. You know what a therapist is, right?”

I nodded, but didn’t say anything. Mental illnesses were rare on Krypton, but it did happen.

“Right,” she continued. “Well, it helped. A lot. I’m not sure I’ll ever be completely fine — I still fixate on other people’s happiness more than my own, and I can get pretty hysterical if I fuck something up too badly. But it’s a lot better than it used to be.”

That… explained a few things. Eve always tried to make sure the people around her was happy. I had thought it was just how she was, but maybe she did it on purpose? Kal-El had also told me she had been freaked out when she realized that she had forgotten about me, and she had apologized to me repeatedly when we stayed at the Fortress. I didn’t hold it against her, of course. She was in a new world with a lot of things happening around her. If it were me… well, I had been completely useless after emerging from my pod. Still would be, if Eve hadn’t taken care of me.

“Anyway,” she continued, drawing me once again from my musings. “My therapist warned me that getting into a relationship could be… problematic.” She scratched her chin, awkwardly. “Being a people-pleaser can apparently make a relationship really toxic.”

My heart pounded in my chest. Was she rejecting me? I mean… I could understand it after what she had told me, but—

“I should be fine now, though,” she interrupted my panicking thoughts. “But… I am kinda worried about you.”

What? I blinked in surprise. That was not what I had expected.

“You’ve been through… a lot,” she explained. “If it were me in your place, I don’t know if I would have ever been able to leave the Fortress.”

“But… you saved me,” I said, confused at where this was going. She had saved me. She had dragged me out and made me happier than I ever thought I could be again. Why was she worried about me?

“Yeah,” she agreed with a sort of pained pride. “I kinda did. Thing is, if it were me in your place? I would definitely develop some kind of ‘savior attachment’, or whatever it’s called.”

I was starting to understand what she was trying to say. And… I could see where she was coming from. Eve was my anchor. Without her I would probably drift off into oblivion. But… was that really where my feelings were coming from…? No. No, it may have nudged me in her direction, but I fell in love with the kind-hearted girl beside me because of who she was, not what she did for me.

“I don’t think that’s where my feelings are coming from,” I said softly. “I fell for a kind girl, not a savior.”

The warmth of her smile rivaled the sun, and I could see her eyes get blurry before she responded. “Maybe,” she allowed. “But it’s not just about you either.” She made a self-deprecating smile before continuing, “As I tried to say, I’m not exactly the most mentally stable person. If I somehow developed a savior complex, I wouldn’t know. I don’t know if it actually matters, either way, but I want this to be right. I want us to be right. Healthy.”

She took a deep breath before finally giving an answer. “I want us to go see Dinah,” she said. “Together. To make sure we stay good for each other. I want us to go see her once in a while, to make sure we stay good for each other.”

She grabbed my hands and looked me straight in the eyes before finishing, “If you are okay with that, then yes. There is nothing in this world I want more than to be your girlfriend.”

This… was so much more than I had expected. She didn’t just want to be with me — she wanted us to be together. She didn’t want to try to make us work, she wanted to make sure we worked.

My eyes started to blur as well when I realised something else: this wasn’t a spontaneous decision. She had thought about it for a while. Which meant she had had feelings for me for a while too. And she had thought hard about it. Much harder than I had.

“...Yes,” I said weakly, my voice no more than a whisper. “Yes, I want that.”

The joy in her eyes made my heart dance. I couldn’t believe that only a few hours ago I had been worried that Milly would take her away from me. Eve loved me. Even if she didn’t speak the word, I knew it in my heart.

We stayed there staring into each other's eyes for a while. She had a silly smile on her face, and I was willing to bet that mine mirrored hers. The moisture in our eyes was certainly the same. Eventually, I spoke up again.

“Um… Just… one more thing,” I said and leaned forward. Her eyes widened slightly before she closed them and let my lips meet hers. My first kiss felt like sunlight on my lips. The yellow sun had nothing on Eve. She made me stronger than it ever could.