Work Text:
Lena traced the words on her arms. Hi, welcome to Danvers Sisters Bakery and Cafe! They had been there since she was born, and ever since she could read she has been searching for the place.
Most people thought she was lucky, that she had the name of the location where she would meet her soulmate on her forearm. Most thought it would be easy to find them, because of it.
But really, it had just led from one disappointment to another. From the Danver & Co Coffee in Pittsburg, to Danvers Eatery in London. None of them had been exactly right, but Lena had tried anyway. She had hoped that perhaps the person inside would say the words she so desperately wanted to hear, even if the name on the door didn’t match perfectly.
They never had though, and as she was nearing her 30th birthday, she was close to giving up. Her family had long mocked her for caring about her soulmate. Her classmates had all found theirs by now. And Lena… well, she didn’t want to search forever. On her birthday, she decided, she would stop trying.
As fate would have it though, Danvers Sisters Bakery and Cafe opened down the street from her apartment a week before her birthday.
And Lena, well, she had a week left, didn’t she?
--
Kara sighed. It was the opening week of their cafe. Opening week, arguably the most important week , and she couldn’t do her job.
All because two days ago her and Alex had gotten into a stupid car crash, and the stupid airbag had injured Kara’s stupid throat. She was going to be fine, after the bruising went down, but for now the doctor had told her not to talk for at least a week. And, she had to wear a scarf all the time, to hide the gross bruising!
Alex wasn’t even injured at all! Which was good, Kara was happy her sister was okay, it just wasn’t fair .
Kara sighed, wiping a cloth over the counter one last time. They were opening in half an hour, at exactly 8 am. Brainy and Winn were in the back, working on their baking ‘creations’. Alex and Nia were setting up the tables and chairs for their customers to sit. The two of them would be taking orders, and handing out the drinks.
Kara would be making the drinks.
Even though she was the one who was the friendliest! And was way better at talking to customers than Alex, Alex had even said so herself!
Kara sighed again, throwing the cloth under the counter.
“I’m sorry, again, okay?” Alex said, coming up to lean on the counter.
Kara huffed, crossing her arms. It was so unfair that the crash hadn’t been Alex’s fault at all, and therefore Kara couldn’t even be mad at her.
“I know, I know you’re bummed about missing out on opening day. But, I mean, we were all working here last week, right? It just had a different name!” Alex tried to smile at her, “J’onn J’onzz Cafe wasn’t all that different from what we’re doing now, so, it’s not like you’re missing out on- okay!” Alex dodged the cloth Kara threw at her, “okay, that’s fair, I’m sorry!”
Kara rolled her eyes, and held out her arms. They hugged over the counter, before Kara squeezed her arms and pulled back.
“You’re going to make great drinks, and this time next week, after the doctor gives the okay, you’re going to be our customers favorite barista. I’m sure of it.”
Kara smiled at her.
“Okay,” Nia said, coming around the counter. “Ten minutes to go!”
Kara smiled at her, holding out her hand. Nia took it, Alex took the other.
“We got this!” Alex said.
Kara nodded. It was going to be great.
Even if she couldn’t talk.
--
Lena took a breath, shaking out her sweaty hands. Today was opening day, and she was first in line. Granted, there were only two other people behind her.
8 am sharp, a woman opened the door. Lena smiled at her, but she just stepped to the side, pointing to the counter.
Right, here goes nothing.
“Hi! Welcome to Danvers Sisters Bakery and Cafe!” The woman behind the counter said. Lena’s heart jumped. There it was, the words. The perfect words, written in cursive on her arm.
The woman behind the counter had short cropped hair. Kind brown eyes. Her name tag said Alex.
Alex… Alex and Lena, Lena and Alex. Lena and Alex Danvers? Alex and Lena Luther?
“What can I get you?” The woman asked, a second later. “You’re our first customer!”
Lena shook her head, cleared her throat. She was getting ahead of herself. She had planned for this moment for so long, but now she wasn’t sure what to do with herself now that it was happening.
“You have…” Lena sucked in a breath. “You have the most beautiful eyes.”
There. That was something nice, something wonderful to have written on her soulmates arm.
But the woman wasn’t reacting in wonder, she was smiling at Lena in confusion.
“Wow, thank you,” she said, “um, what can I get you? We have coffee, tea… muffins.”
“Oh. Oh, um,” Lena blinked. This wasn’t her. This wasn’t her soulmate, and this was now getting embarrassing. She glanced behind herself, noticing the line had grown from two to five people behind her. “Um, can I have a coffee, please. And a muffin.”
“Of course!” Alex punched in her order, “what kind of muffin? We have chocolate chip-”
“Yes, that, chocolate chip.”
“Okay! That will be $5.50.”
Lena passed her a $20.
As Alex handed back her change, Lena caught the words on her arm: Showed you mine. Show me yours? Definitely not her soulmate then. Lena held in her disappointed sigh as she stuffed the change in the tip jar.
“Thank you! Your order will be up on the other counter,” Alex motioned her down the counter, already turning her attention to the next person in line.
Lena smiled tightly at the blond woman who handed her her coffee and muffin. The woman smiled back before turning away.
With a heavy heart, Lena left. Promising herself that she would try again tomorrow. Maybe her soulmate just wasn’t working today.
At least it was good coffee.
--
The next day went very much the same.
“Hi, welcome to Danvers Sisters Bakery and Cafe! What can I get you?”
“You have beautiful hair,” Lena said to the woman, whose long, wavy, hair was tucked back into a ponytail.
“Well, aren’t you the sweetest?” She said with a smile.
May I get to know you? Was written on the inside of her wrist.
Lena just ordered coffee that day.
--
Lena tried something different, the third day. She went later, hoping different people worked the afternoon shift.
A tall, muscular, man stood on the other side of the counter. Lena couldn’t help but think that if her soulmate had to be a man, she wouldn’t mind it being him.
But he didn’t even say the correct line. He just said, “hey, what can I get you?” and Lena frowned.
She ordered a chocolate chip muffin, because they were, actually, very tasty.
Nothing, nothing, I like to come out here to… smoke. Was written across his wrist.
Lena took her muffin and left, she was starting to wonder about the people at this bakery. None of them seemed to care about covering up their soulmark signatures at all!
--
The next two days were strange men, who didn’t seem to know what they were doing, talking to the customers. Lena wondered if maybe something had gone wrong with the work schedule.
Hey, what’s up? Was across the wrist of one. I think we can make that happen. Was across the other.
Lena only ordered a coffee on both days. This was getting ridiculous.
--
Kara was ecstatic! Her throat was healed! Well, not entirely, but the doctor said she could go back to work!
It couldn’t have happened at a better time, either, because Nia had come down with a cold, and Winn and Brainy were not good replacements.
Kara was standing behind the counter, beaming, waiting for her first customer of the day. She was so happy when the first person to walk in was her favorite customer of the week.
The woman had long brown hair, a beautiful smile, and she was so nice! Kara had stood and watched as she’d complemented Alex’s eyes, Nia’s hair, Winn’s smile! She’d even told Brainy that he loved his shirt, which had made his day. No one loved Brainy’s shirts, they were all science puns none of them thought were funny.
Kara beamed, she couldn’t wait to hear what this woman thought of her.
“Hi! Welcome to Danvers Sisters Bakery and Cafe!”
“This is ridiculous !” The woman snapped, “My 30th birthday is tomorrow , I can not keep doing this!”
Kara’s eyes widened, “oh! You’re-”
“How many more people do you have hiding back there?” She spoke over her, “I have been coming to your cafe for a week , how many more times must I come to your cafe, before I finally meet the one person who I keep coming here to meet?!”
“I think - I think maybe this was it?” Kara said with a smile, pushing back her sleeve and putting her arm down on the counter between them. This is ridiculous! My 30th birthday is tomorrow, I can not keep doing this! Looked up at both of them.
“Oh my God,” the woman gasped, her fingers hovering over Kara’s arm.
“I always wondered why you were so mad, have you really been coming here every day this week trying to meet me?”
The woman laughed, pushing back her own sleeve to show Kara her arm: Hi! Welcome to Danvers Sisters Bakery and Cafe!
“Oh yeah,” Kara nodded, “I can see why that would be frustrating.”
“I’m so sorry, I always planned to say something nice! Like, like-”
“Like you have beautiful eyes, or I love your shirt?” Kara said with a smile.
“Oh gosh, you’ve heard me compliment your coworkers all week, haven’t you?”
“Yeah,” Kara laughed, “if it helps, I always thought it was pretty rude that none of them complimented you back. Your hair is flawless, and your eyes are gorgeous!”
The woman laughed, “well, I think you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen!”
Kara grinned, pleased. “I, uh, I’m Kara. By the way.”
“I’m Lena.”
Kara bit her lip, looked around the empty shop and then looked at Lena. “Are you… are you free? Right now?”
“Yeah- yes!”
“Do you want to get out of here? Go get some breakfast, maybe?”
“I would love to! As long as it doesn’t involve coffee or muffins.”
Kara laughed, already taking off her apron and moving around the counter.
“Hey Winn! You have to cover the counter!”
“What?!” Winn shouted, sticking his head through the back door, “are you serious?!”
“Call Alex or James to come help, I don’t care!” Kara waved him off as she grabbed Lena’s hand, “I’m taking my soulmate out on a date!”
Lena smiled at her, her fingers winding between hers. Fitting together perfectly.
--