WHO: Max Evans and Kara Danvers WHAT: Two aliens walk into Starbucks… WHEN: This morning WHERE: Starbucks WARNINGS: Nope STATUS: Closed/Completed Gdoc
Max had woken before Liz this morning, and on a whim had decided to surprise her with breakfast. Unfortunately, they didn’t really have anything in the fridge in the morning, so he’d gone to the store to pick up some things and was on his way back home when he decided to stop by Starbucks and get some coffee to take home too.
It was morning, so the line was long, but he patiently settled into his place in it. He was behind a pretty girl with blonde hair who he was pretty sure he hadn’t met before. The line was almost out the door and moving slowly, so when the next person came in they all had to squish a bit closer together so the person could close the door behind him. When this happened, he bumped into the woman in front of him, blushing terribly as he stammered an apology.
“Sorry about that! The place is crowded this morning.”
***
Caffeine didn’t particularly do much for her Krypontian physiology and yet Kara had developed a serious Starbucks habits like so many humans. In National City, it was a way to help her blend in and keep her true identity a secret. Here, it was simply a matter of routine. Plus she enjoyed the taste.
She turned and smiled when the man behind her bumped into her. “No problem,” she said. “Everyone needs their coffee this morning.”
***
“Yeah, I guess so,” he grinned. “I admit I didn’t expect it to be quite this busy.” But people always surprised him with how much they’d pay for coffee. To be fair, it wasn’t all that ridiculously expensive here if you honestly just got plain coffee, but really, who would go to Starbucks for that?
“I’m Max,” he said. There were still so many people here he didn’t know. Sure, he’d been here a couple of months, but he’d been trying to lay low after all the mess he’d made back in Roswell.
***
Kara definitely liked the drinks that were more sugar than anything else. She had a wicked sweet tooth and was blessed with a metabolism that meant she could eat whatever she wanted without gaining weight or having medical issues.
One of the many benefits of living on a planet with a yellow sun.
“I’m Kara,” she replied. “Have you been in town long?” The past few months had been rough for her and she hadn’t really paid a lot of attention to the new arrivals.
***
“No,” he said. “A couple of months?” He couldn’t remember exactly when he’d arrived here but he knew it hadn’t been very long. It hadn’t been long enough for him to get comfortable with the place, or to be honest to people about who and what he was. He’d seen a lot about people - werewolves, vampires, etc., - being honest about who they were, but he just hadn’t been able to overcome years of hiding and do that himself. Anyway, if he outed himself he outed Michael as well (or at least cast suspicion on him) and that wasn’t really his place.
“Can’t say I’m really looking forward to winter coming on. It doesn’t really get all that cold in Roswell. I mean, some places in New Mexico get snow and everything, but that’s mainly up in the mountains. I’m not up in the mountains.”
***
“Oh, the winters here aren’t too bad,” Kara said. “I lived in California before I ended up here and I adjusted pretty well.” To be fair, the cold didn’t really bother her that much. Neither did extreme heat. It was all part of the Krypontian package.
She couldn’t help but chuckle that he was from Roswell though. “It’s funny,” she said. “Roswell has a reputation for aliens, but I’ve never actually been there and neither have any of the others I’ve met. It’s a lot easier to blend in when you live in a big city.”
***
Well, that was certainly interesting.
“You know aliens? Like real ones? From other planets?”
She spoke about it like it wasn’t a big deal. Max disagreed with that; he thought it was a really big deal. And after what Michael had seen with the other Crash survivors...well, he wasn’t exactly in a hurry to make himself known in a place he couldn’t escape.
*** Considering she was one, it definitely wasn’t a big deal to Kara. “Well, yeah,” she said. “My cousin and I are both from Krypton. One of my dear friends at home is from Mars. My ex is from Daxam.” She shrugged. Back home, she’d kept her identity under wraps, not letting too many people in on the secret that Kara Danvers was Supergirl. Here, things were different.
“There are a lot of people here from different planets,” she added. “And different universes and time periods.”
***
Max just stared at her for a long moment. He really didn’t know what to make of that. He knew there were other aliens here, that ‘Doctor’ guy had claimed to be one, after all. But she wasn’t afraid at all. She wasn’t hiding it. Max felt a twinge of envy at her lack of fear.
“Aren’t you afraid that people will find out? That they’ll lock you up, perform tests on you?”
***
Kara shook her head. “Here? No. Back home there are people who would like to, but there are protections in place.” They might not be the best protections, but the DEO tried and she knew that Alex and J’onn would never let anything like that happen to her.
“There are plenty of people here who can be open about things that they have to keep secret at home.” She got the impression he might be one of them, though she was too considerate to flat out ask.
***
Max had noticed that was the way things worked here, but he was still scared. He was scared of what might happen, who might want to use him as a guinea pig in their terrible experiments. He wasn’t excited about that idea.
“It seems like a lot to trust people with, though. I mean, I know how people can be against other humans, just if they come from another place.”
He’d seen plenty of that with ICE in New Mexico. He wasn’t impressed, and it had just made him more convinced that he couldn’t let people know who - or what - he really was.
***
“Yeah, I guess,” Kara said. “But for me, the opportunity to be open about who and what I am is freeing. It’s not something I had at home and I always hated that I was keeping secrets from the people in my life.”
She had definitely seen the way that people treated each other, especially anyone they deemed different, and that was a big part of the reason she’d taken on the mantle of Supergirl in the first place.
***
Max could definitely understand that. I could only imagine how amazing it would be to be able to be himself, to help people as he could without the burden of fear that always bothered him now.
“I wish I could,” He said, softly, but loud enough for her to hear. “I think you’re really brave.”
***
Lucky for him, Kara had excellent hearing. She offered him an encouraging smile. “If you ever want to talk, send me a message. Kara Barnes.” She wouldn’t give away his secret, but she would offer her support, whatever his reasons for being hesitant.
***
“I might just do that,” he said with a small smile. Actually, he might be able to work up the courage to tell her if they weren’t so obviously in public. Maybe...maybe she’d even know where he came from. There was so much that he wanted to know about his past and about who he was. Unfortunately, he didn’t remember anything before he came out of his pod.
“Let me buy your coffee?”
He could at least do that.
“And maybe you could tell me about where you come from?”
Maybe, just maybe, it would spark a memory in his own mind. If not, it was still bound to be interesting.
***
“Sure, but only if you tell me your name,” Kara said with an easy smile.
She never minded talking about Krypton, even though her memories of her planet were faded thanks to the passing of so much time and the fact that she’d been so young when she was sent away. Though she was grateful she had any memories, considering Clark did not.
*** “Sorry,” he said, blushing a bit. “It’s Max. Max Evans.” Most people in Roswell knew him and had known him for years, so introducing himself wasn’t something he was all that used to.
“I just...well, it’s fascinating, talking to someone from another place.”
And someone who remembers that place, he thought, although he didn’t say the words.
***
Kara smiled. “It’s nice to meet you Max. I love talking about my home, even though I was sent here as a child.” And she had some time before she needed to be at work, so she could sit and chat with a new friend.
***
Max didn’t know anything about his planet. He didn’t even know what it was called, or how far away it was, or who his parents were. It didn’t matter to him as much as it mattered to Michael, because he had human parents who he loved, even if he’d always harbored guilt over the fact that he’d had a good childhood while Michael hadn’t. He was curious, though, especially over everything that had happened lately.
“Perfect,” he smiled. “I’d love to hear whatever it is you remember.”
Even just images, or ideas of the place was more than what he had.
***
It was finally their turn to order and Kara stepped up to the counter to do just that, stepping aside to allow Max to do the same when she was done. She always enjoyed meeting new people.