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Sometimes, Barry forgets the little differences between the worlds.
Now, there’s a lot of universes, so he forgives himself for the fact that he doesn’t remember everything, but there are universes that he frequents more than others, and should therefore probably be better at telling apart. There are, of course, universes that differ so much from each other that there’s no way he can confuse them. But there are ones with smaller contrasts, like his favorite coffee shop being on the wrong side of the street or advancements in technology that make gum flavors last longer.
Kara’s world fits somewhere in between. Gum still gets cardboard-y pretty fast, and his favorite coffee shop is right where he left it, but there are a few major differences. Mainly, Supergirl. And, by extension, Superman.
Kara Danvers and Clark Kent exist in his universe, but they aren’t Kryptonian, and they’ve never met. (That he knows of.) In fact, their identities change a lot from universe to universe. They’re both wildly inconsistent. It’s so annoying. But there are things about them that are more predictable:
Clark is usually a reporter. And his face usually looks a little unsettling, like he’s not totally real, or something. Barry isn’t sure what it is, but it’s definitely something about his face. Kara is nearly always a ray of pure sunshine. She doesn’t always wear glasses, but she never wears contacts. If they’re related, Clark more often than not abandons Kara. She usually belongs to the Danvers. She’s rarely related to them biologically, but she gets them anyway.
None of those things are always. Most things in the multiverse aren’t always. Some things are, though. Or, as close as they can be. So close that he forgets he shouldn’t assume he’ll always find them, no matter where he goes.
And so the first time he goes looking for Lena Luthor in Earth-38, it doesn’t even cross his mind that he may not find her with Kara Danvers. So he shows up at Kara’s apartment without so much as considering that Lena might not be there, or that they might not know each other, or that in this universe, she might not even exist.
When he arrives, Kara is standing in her kitchen, heating up a mug of hot chocolate (It’s totally an adult drink, Alex!) with her heat vision when a loud knock breaks her focus and she almost incinerates her dining table. It’s early in the morning—really early—so she figures it’s probably just her sister stopping by for breakfast. Even still, she pulls down her glasses to look through the door, because usually Alex doesn’t knock. Instead of her sister, it’s Barry standing awkwardly on the other side, pushing his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose and looking like he definitely just speedily changed out of his suit.
She opens the door a little too hard and the hinges loudly complain. She beams at him, and ignores the fact that she may need to tweak the screws back into place on her door again.
“Barry!” She says cheerfully, waving him inside. “Come on in!”
“Actually, I’m just stopping by,” he says. “Is Lena here?”
“Who?” Kara asks. She wonders if she has a roommate in Barry’s universe. She’s a human there, which she’s a little jealous of sometimes.
“Lena Luthor?” He says, waving his hands around as though that will help her understand. Kara narrows her eyes, mostly in confusion. She knows the Luthor name, but she’s never heard of a Lena Luthor. Maybe she doesn’t exist on Earth-38, and Barry’s confused again. It happens a lot.
“Yeah, who?”
Barry freezes for a second, and nonmotion looks strange on a man who’s always moving. He begins to backtrack as fast as possible, which for him, is quite fast.
“Nevermind, I must be confusing worlds. Sorry! I’ll see you later, okay? Okay. Bye!” He zooms away, leaving Kara standing in her (slightly broken) doorway with a lukewarm cup of hot chocolate and a baffled expression.
Weird, she thinks. Then again, it is Barry.
-
The second time Barry Allen goes looking for Lena Luthor, he makes sure ahead of time that she exists.
“Does Lena Luthor exist in your universe?” He asks Alex Danvers, trailing after her through the DEO, picking up things he probably shouldn’t to look briefly at as they go. Alex gives him an odd (suspicious) look, but confirms it. Unfortunately for Barry, this is not where the conversation ends.
“Why do you ask?” Alex asks, narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms. Barry swallows hard. Alex is scary.
“I figured I’d ask her to help me get home. Usually she does that when I get stuck an—hey!”
Apparently, a throwaway comment about asking Lena Luthor for help is all it takes to piss off Alex Danvers, who slams him back against the nearest wall, hard, and demands to know: “Why do you want help from a Luthor?”
“Lemme go!” Barry whines, only struggling half-heartedly. He could flash out of her very aggressive hold if he really wanted to, (and considering that she is completely capable, and maybe not totally against, killing him in creative ways, he probably should), but he doesn’t want to piss her off any more than he already has, so he stays put.
The DEO agent sighs irritably, like his complaints of pain are annoying to her, but she releases him. In turn, Barry answers her question (it’s only polite) without really (at all) thinking about filtering his answer.
“She’s a good place to go when I get stuck in other universes. Even when she doesn’t know me, she’s interested enough in the multiverse that she helps anyway. I know I haven’t met her here so she won’t trust me, but Kara does and that’s basically the same thing.”
“What do you mean that’s the same thing?” Alex says, and Barry drops the small action figure he’d picked up off someone’s desk with a thud.
“Nothing. I meant nothing. Obviously.” Barry tries to laugh it off, but the strangled noise that comes out of his throat is less ‘this is fun, haha’ and more ‘I fear for my life.’ Alex has a way of inspiring that emotion in people.
She makes a sound as close to a growl as a human can do, and it’s pathetic how hard he flinches. He’s doing his very best at resisting the urge to run like hell.
“I’m sorry, please don’t hurt me,” he says. “I just meant, you know, if Kara vouches for me, then Lena will probably trust me at least a little?”
“That’s not what you said.”
“It’s not?” Barry squeaks. “Are you sure? I think it’s pretty clo—”
His back hits the wall again. If he didn’t heal as fast as he runs, he’d be suffering some nasty bruises on his spine for a while.
“Okay, this is getting old,” he unwisely complains.
“Listen very carefully,” Alex says, slowly, like she thinks he’s too stupid to understand her at a normal speaking pace. “I don’t know what kind of shit is going on in your universe, but in mine, my sister isn’t stupid enough to go near that woman. So don’t even think of spreading that bullshit to her, understood?”
Definitely understood.
-
Once again, it’s too early in the morning when Barry knocks on Kara’s door, and she strains the poor hinges as she opens it, beaming.
“Barry!” She says brightly, pulling him into a tight hug. “I wasn’t expecting to see you! What are you doing here? Is everything alright?”
“I’m stuck in your universe again,” he admits. “But I’m here here because I’m looking for Lena.”
Kara’s cheeks go red and she stutters. “Why—um—would you think—uh, that she’s—here?”
There’s an awkward little pause during which Kara looks everywhere but at Barry.
“Darling, have you seen my other earring?” Lena chooses this moment to step out of Kara’s room and head toward the kitchen, holding a lone earring in one hand and reaching to pull a mug from the cupboard above the sink with the other. Kara offers Barry a weak smile.
“How’d you know she’d be here?” She says. “You’ve come here for her before.”
She waves Barry into the apartment as Lena sets her coffee on the table.
“Hello, nice to meet you,” Lena says with a polite smile, holding out a hand. “I’m Lena.”
Unthinkingly, Barry pulls his friend who doesn’t actually know him into a hug. Lena tenses up with a little squeak of surprise, but he doesn’t linger long enough for her to pull away from him. He heads further into the apartment to help himself to a mug of coffee from the pot that’s still mostly full.
“I’m Barry, Kara’s coolest superhero friend,” he starts, and Kara doesn’t bother telling him that he’s really not. “And, Kara, I really just guessed. I usually find her here, so it’s a safe first bet.”
“Oh, cool!” Kara grins, turning toward Lena, who’s back at the table retrieving her coffee. “We’re roomies!”
“Well, no,” Barry says, not thinking (that seems to be a trend. He doesn’t like it). It takes him a moment to realize he’s dug himself back into the hole he’d promised Alex he’d cover up. (The bruises from her grip haven’t even faded yet, even with his speedy healing. It’s like they know she wants him to suffer, so they’re sticking around.)
“What do you mean?” Lena says, looking at Barry over the rim of her mug. She doesn’t seem to trust him, and he doesn’t like that much.
He weighs his options. Telling the truth seems like a mildly bad idea, but he’s not certain whether he’s more afraid of Alex’s violent tendencies or Lena’s interrogation skills. He’s familiar with both, and it’s honestly a little concerning how easily he caves under their pressures, even separately. He’s not sure he can do both in one day.
“First, please don’t hit me. Second, I have seen you as roommates before, once or twice, but usually it’s not quite that…platonic. You know, dating, married, that kind of stuff. Anyway—”
“Why would I hit you?” Kara looks genuinely baffled, and honestly, it speaks volumes that that’s the part she’s baffled by.
“That’s what you focus on in that sentence?” Lena asks from over by the table, her tone completely disbelieving. Barry sighs internally very dramatically.
“I—well—” Kara’s stuttering again, and Barry is fighting the urge to shove them at each other so they can get to the part where she helps him go home “—I would never hit Barry. The other stuff…sounds really nice.”
“Oh,” Lena says, really softly, looking down at her coffee. She sounds confused, but she’s smiling. She looks back up at Kara, and her eyes are a little shiny. “I think so too.”
“Alex hit me,” Barry says, because he feels a little uncomfortable and thinks he should explain himself. “With a wall.”
He pauses, and the room is silent.
“It still hurts.”