Summary: When it all becomes too much, when our own darkness and despair threaten to overwhelm us, there is always one we can turn to. That singular person in our lives who will stand by our side no matter what. That was what they were to one another. Inseparable, accountable, and each other's greatest hero. This is their story. PercyxSupergirl.
Rating: M
Word Count: 52,785
Status: Ongoing
Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13891130/1/Catch-You-if-You-Fall
Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Her day had started poorly, and had only gotten worse from there. She'd been up most of the night before helping her cousin deal with the cleanup after a tsunami struck the coast the El Salvador, and hadn't gotten back to Metropolis until nearly four in the morning. She'd then nearly missed her morning lecture because she'd slept straight through her alarm, and had stumbled into the lecture hall half-dressed and had gotten dressed down in front of the entire marine biology class by Dr. Goodman.
Making a bad morning even worse, she'd gotten dragged into a fight with a pair of super villains calling themselves the Terror Twins, and she'd completely screwed up the fight, leading to the villains managing to get away from her after leveling nearly an entire city block.
She'd then spent a very uncomfortable ten minutes receiving a very public dressing down from her cousin, in which he'd told her in no uncertain terms that he was all but grounding her for the time being. By the time she'd gotten back to her apartment, the video was already trending on social media, and the seeming unending stream of negativity had nearly driven her to tears.
All in all, Kara Zor-El, or Linda Lang in honor of her pseudo aunt Linda, was not having a good day. She had a few hours before her afternoon classes, and was spending them in the arboretum of Metropolis University, trying to eat her lunch and calling someone with the hopes that they'd be able to calm her down.
"Have you tried actually talking to him about it?" Her aunt, Linda Lang asked over the other end of the line, "I mean it seems pretty out of character for him to dress you down in public like that. He should have known better to that where he knew camera's were rolling."
"Of course I tried talking to him about it!" She snapped, her frayed emotional state was making her a little more bitter than usual, "But it's like talking to a brick wall! He's constantly coddling me, and any time I try and ask for help, he just threatens to dump me on Diana again !"
"I'm sorry Kara," Her aunt said, sounding genuinely remorseful, "Believe me, I get it. You wouldn't believe the kind of stuff he used to pull when we were growing up. For him to talk to you like that, knowing full well that he was so much worse off at your age is completely out of line. I'll talk to him."
Kara just slouched into the back of the park bench, the despondent feeling returning in full force.
"Maybe I'm just not cut out for this," She said softly, she hadn't even meant to say it, but the words had tumbled from her lips before she had a chance to stop them.
"Stop right there." Lana said sternly, "You are Kara Zor-El, one of the most powerful people on the planet, some guy with an ego the size of the daily planet has no right to be berating you for doing your best, in public ." She stressed the words, "Besides, what room does he have to talk? I grew up with him remember? Been following him and his story since he was just a kid in Smallville. It's not exactly like he was perfect. He made more mistakes and did a lot worse than what you did for years. Don't let it get to you hon."
While Kara appreciated the sentiment, it was doing nothing to make her feel better. This was simply latest in a long chain of events that had her questioning whether or not she was actually worthy of the power she wielded. Whether she was worthy of wearing the symbol of the house of El on her chest.
Her throat constricted and her eyes glistened as tears threatened the corners of her eyes, she managed to keep her voice clear enough as she could feel the imminent breakdown coming,
"Thanks Lana," She said, proud of herself for not allowing any waiver into her voice, "I gotta go, got class in a few minutes,"
"All right, it'll be okay Kara, I promise,"
"Yeah, thanks. Bye Auntie." She ended the call before her composure failed completely. She clutched her phone in slightly shaking hands, before she lost control completely and allowed the tears to start falling. She didn't care about the people that were no doubt staring at her as they passed through the arb, let them see, it couldn't hurt any more than what she'd been through already that morning. Didn't hurt more than watching Krypton explode. Didn't hurt more than knowing that she'd failed in her job of being there for Kal as he grew up.
Not for the first time since she'd arrived on the small world, she missed her mother and father. Wished nothing more than for all of this to be a hellish nightmare, and to be able to wake up, and run to her mother for comfort. But that was nothing but a fantasy. Martha and John were sweet, loving even, and had welcomed her into their lives like she was the daughter they'd never had, but it didn't fill the void. Didn't help her sleep at night as she dreamed of her home that no longer existed, of the billions of lives that had been lost, of the family she no longer had.
She felt alone. She felt like a failure. And worse still, was that she had absolutely no idea how to deal with any of it.
The bench shifted as someone sat down, but Kara didn't pay them any mind, too lost in her own thoughts to notice her surroundings, that was until a deep voice spoke up, soft and gentle, yet maintaining a gruff sense of masculinity.
"You look like you're not having the best of days," The voice said, and for a moment Kara didn't say anything, until she blinked, realizing with a start that they were talking to her. She pulled her fake glasses off, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. She didn't even bother looking at the strange man who'd bothered to invade her space. Couldn't the guy take a hint? She didn't want to some dude to hit on her in a fake attempt at being sympathetic.
"Look," She snapped, though the anger in her voice was mitigated somewhat by the slight hiccup that escaped her, "I'm not in the mood, so can you please just leave me alone,"
"It's Linda right?" The man said, ignoring her completely, "Linda Lang?"
The words sounded foreign on the stranger's lips, and Kara was still not used to the alter-identity she'd crafted for herself. Hearing some strange guy call her by something other than her real name was the final straw. Anger began to override her despair and she whirled on the intruder, only to stop abruptly, and the rebuttal to die one her tongue as she came face-to-face with a pair of eyes that were the deepest shade of green she'd ever seen in her entire life. There was something familiar about the man, and she could have sworn that she'd seen him before. His face was chiseled and angular, with high-cheek bones and an absolutely heart-warming smile. He had short black hair, styled fashionably in a way that looked unkempt, and had the beginnings of some fresh bristles dancing along his chin and cheeks. He was strongly built, though different to a lot of the men she knew. Whereas her cousin and his friends in the League, were all large and overly developed, Percy was athletic, with lean features more akin to that of a swimmer.
"Percy Jackson," He introduced, "We have marine bio and classics together." That explained it she realized, they had even worked together on some in-class work in their classics class together. Percy had a bit of a reputation for having an uncanny ability to understand ancient greek, and was probably top of the class,
"I saw what happened this morning, Dr. Goodman's an asshole, shouldn't have stopped lecture to shout at you, and sure as hell shouldn't have done it in front of everyone like that. But he's a crotchety bastard, I remember at the beginning of the semester I talked to him about getting extra time on the exam because I have dyslexia and he told me that he wasn't going to make exceptions for someone just because they lack the ability to read properly."
Kara, still not entirely accustomed to her abilities even after two years on the planet, couldn't stop herself from listening to the man's heartbeat, noting with no small surprise that he was being entirely truthful.
"You're kidding me," She said, looking appalled, all traces of her earlier depression seemingly disappearing, "What happened?"
Percy snorted, as he lounged back into the bench, propping one elbow up on the corner of the wooden frame,
"I brought it to the school, I'd already cleared the dyslexia with the student affairs offices and gotten my prescribed accommodations. I got an email the next day from him telling me that I'd get them for his exam."
"Is that why he's such a dick to you in class?" She asked, Goodman had been exceedingly critical of Percy and his contributions to class on a daily basis, chastising him for correct answers that weren't phrased in a way that Goodman approved.
"Pretty much, but he can be a dick all he wants, just gonna tear him apart on his end-of-year reviews. I'm trying to get an A in the class just to spite him."
Kara let out a laugh at that, and relaxed a little more into the bench, and they sat in silence for a moment, and Kara couldn't help notice that Percy smelled like saltwater, the beach, and a strange mix of chlorine. Maybe he really was a swimmer. Looking again quickly out of the corner of her eye, she had to admit that he certainly looked like he was a swimmer.
"I'm guessing though," Percy said, looking her in the eye, "That you're upset about a little more than Goodman being Goodman. Offer still stands if you want to talk about it. I know we don't really know each other, but I know that I always feel better about talking to someone about my problems, and sometimes it's nice to talk to someone who doesn't know as much, more of an unbiased party kind of thing." He then hastened to add, "I'm not pressuring you or anything though, like I said, we don't even really know each other and I don't want to pry or anything and-"
"Percy," Kara said, unable to stop herself from laughing at the man that was rapidly becoming flustered and turning a rather cute shade of red. Truth be told, she was rather touched by the kind gesture, she could tell from the way his body was reacting that he actually meant what he was saying too. There was no hidden agenda, he wasn't trying to put the moves on her or anything, he was just genuinely trying to help.
"It's okay… It's-that's really sweet of you," She said, smiling up at him, before sighing and turning away from him. Truth be told, she was actually considering his offer, it would be nice to talk to someone about her problems who was far enough removed from the situation to offer actual advice. Biting her lip in hesitation, she made up her mind.
"It's my cousin," She said, "We're more like siblings really than cousins, but he tries to act like my father just because he's older." She paused and tried to think of how to phrase it without revealing too much, "Clark is… Clark is overbearing, he means well, but he doesn't get it. He's so successful and so many people look up to him that they expect me to be exactly the same way. To do the kinds of things that he's able to do, and I've been trying. I've been trying so damn hard to do things the right way, to be as good as he is, but I just keep screwing up and every time I do, he tries to send me home. He doesn't try and help, he just shunts me off to one of his friends and has them do his work for him. Tries to tell me that it's for my own good or something. I know he means well, and I know that he genuinely just wants what's best for me, but I can't be my own person if I'm just constantly sitting in his own shadow, and it's-it's just so frustrating! Everyone keeps expecting me to be able to hold the weight of the world on my shoulders, but how am I supposed to do that if every time I try he just… he just grounds me and tells me that I'm not ready."
Percy was silent as he listened to her, his heart beating calmly in his chest, which was a far cry from the way that Kara was feeling. The more she spoke, the more worked up she got, and she could feel herself riding on the verge of tears once more.
"I'm just so tired of being a failure." She whispered, as another tear dripped down from her cheek. Percy didn't say anything for a moment, he just rustled around in his jacket, it was autumn now and the air was slowly growing colder. After a moment of rustling, he wordlessly thrust something under Kara's face, which she realized was pack of pocket-tissues. Thankful that he wasn't making a show of things, Kara gratefully took the tissues and dabbed at the corner of her eyes, realizing in annoyance that she had forgotten to wear her water-proof mascara that morning, and that she must have looked like an absolute mess.
"Screw him," Percy said, after Kara was finished dabbing at her eyes,
"Excuse me?" Kara asked, somewhat startled,
"Screw him," Percy said again seriously, looking off at a pair of birds that dancing around each other on the ground a few meters away, "It's your life, not his. Don't try and force yourself to live his life, you'll never be happy that way because that's not the path your meant to lead. Everyone has to find their own path in life, have their own journey. If you've been trying to do things like your cousin and they haven't been working, then stop trying to act like him. Be your own person, don't things the Clark way, do them the Linda way." He turned and looked at her,
"You're a force of nature in class, I should know, I've seen it. You don't take anything lying down from anyone or anything, so don't take it from your cousin." He sighed, and ran a hand through his unkempt hair, "Family is hard, believe me, I get that better than anything," There was a twinge of bitterness underlying the way he said that, but Kara didn't pry.
"You have to fall before you can walk. You're going to fail, there's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Everyone fails, everyone, even Superman." Kara didn't manage to suppress a wince, but thankfully Percy didn't seem to notice, "What matters is that you try your damndest. You know, I was expelled from six schools when I was a kid?" Kara's eyes bugged out of her head, and Percy laughed,
"Yeah, that's most people's reaction," he said casually, "I just couldn't stay out of trouble, or rather, I guess you could say that trouble had a way of finding me. Mix that in with the Dyslexia, ADHD, and a healthy does of a dislike of authority of any kind and you don't exactly have a winning combination." He played around with a strange beaded necklace that Kara only then noticed around his neck.
"All my life I've had people telling me that I'm not smart enough for something, that I'm not strong enough for something, that I can't do something." He leveled a firm gaze at her, "And every time I've proven them wrong. I can count the number of good things I've had happen to me on one hand, and I've failed an awful lot more than I've succeeded, but I've persevered. I've carved my own path and damn anyone who didn't think I could do it."
His features lost their hardened edge, and returned to the soft kindness of which seemed more accustomed to him,
"You're brilliant, you work hard as hell, and you're one of the most driven people at this school, five minutes in a study group with you is enough to tell anyone that. Don't let the naysayers get you down, they don't know you, you know you. And only you get to decide whether or not you're going to let your previous failings hamper your future successes. Don't try and follow in the footsteps of someone else, you'll always feel like you don't measure up, just be your own person, and carve your own path, and you'll be something great."
Kara felt a lump form in her throat at the incredibly kind words of the all but stranger beside her. She could feel her eyes burn with tears, not of sadness, but gratefulness, and she hastily swiped at them with another tissue, dabbing harshly at the corner of her eyes.
"Thanks Percy," She said, "That… that actually makes me feel a lot better." And to her own surprise, she actually meant it. Damn Clark and all the others, she didn't need to be a female Superman to do good, she just needed to be Kara Zor-El, last daughter of the house of El. She would be her own person, carve her own path, and neither Clark, nor Diana, nor that grouch Batman would stop her from being the best hero that she could be.
"I'm glad to help," Percy said meaningfully, smiling at her in a way that left Kara feeling a little fuzzy.
He checked his watch before standing up, grabbing his backpack and a smaller gym bag from the ground and tossing them over his shoulder,
"We have Classics in a few minutes, you want go together."
Smiling broadly, Kara nodded her head, and stood up from the bench, feeling better than she had in weeks.
"That sounds great."