kate kane.

-

“They’re iconic. Like, Spice Girls iconic. You’re not dating yourself by knowing them, if half the world still knows them.” Kitty shrugged, suddenly finding the bartender incredibly interesting. She’d unpack how someone winking made her think of Rachel sometime way later. “Uh! Whiskey? Neat, can I get a a whiskey neat? And–” She looked to the woman next to her, fingers drumming against the bar top.

-

Kate smiled and nodded, it was nice to find someone who understood her love for classics. “Yes, I’d like some whiskey” she chuckled, even if she didn’t know why the woman looked suddenly nervous. She raised her hand at the bartender and smiled “What she said”. 

.

“Things are great. And it feels weird.” He chuckled, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he started to walk with her. “I think I’m too used to being in crisis mode.” 

Kate smiled softly at the handsome male. She nodded as they started to walk together “Tell me about it, I’m so used to being alert that I don’t know what to do now” she chuckled. 

It’s somewhere close to midnight when Ray slips into the diner according to his watch. He’s watching it intently, mouth pursed in curiosity. Time is so cool, he decides. You don’t exactly get 24-hour days in the temporal zone, and so being outside as one day changes to another is always kind of fun. If he stopped to consider what he now considers fun, it would take far too long. Instead of pondering, he slips onto a stool at the counter, smiling. The person beside him is two stools over, but he smiles at them anyway, “It’s such a nice night, isn’t it?” 

/

Kate had decided to go out for a beer, she needed some time away from everything and she had ended up in a diner, sulking as she usually did when dark thoughts invaded her mind. She sighed as the waiter smiled at her, and she didn’t know if she would end up hurting him if he kept throwing glances and winking at her. He looked up at the voice that seemed to be talking to her, and was surprised “Ray Palmer... what brings you to this side of Gotham?” she asked curiously. 

.

“I think it’s always time to sing.” Barry grinned, tapping his feet and spreading his arms wide — the world would definitely be cooler if, a) dinosaurs existed and, b) life was a musical. “How you doing, Kate?”

/

“Sometimes you get painfully optimistic, Barry” Kate smiled a little bit and sighed “I’m good, I mean... as good as it can be. How about you, luv?”

/

“Oh, absolutely,” Scott agreed. “I’m a teacher. I think half my students think I was around when the dinosaurs were here. And that’s before I mention my music tastes.”

/

“Ugh, you are a teacher? How do you manage?” Kate opened her eyes in surprise, “I mean, they get in my nerves most of the time”

/

“You can — you totally can, Kate.” Zatanna waved her hand in the air, motioning between the two of them. “I mean, I think we aged pretty gracefully. If anyone says otherwise, they simply lack taste.” 

“You are way too good of a friend, Z” Kate smiled and nodded “And we are fucking hot, girl!” she chuckled and sighed. “I need to get laid soon, though” she blushed and looked up at Zatanna “Sorry, too much information for you”

“I think a lot of these kids have some kind of sensor to tell age,” Scott joked. “Doesn’t matter what we do, there’s no fooling them.”

“they do! totally!” Kate sighed and smiled at Scott “I mean, everything we do it’s considered old for kids nowadays, like we are so old we live in caves”

Zatanna laughed. “Well…” She let her voice trail off dramatically, waving her hand lightly as she did. “That might give you away too… I mean, Spotify only makes suggestions based on music you already listen to. So what other oldies are on your playlist?“ She gave Kate a cheeky look. “Any Oops I Did It Again on there?”

Kate frowned, because she realized Zatanna was right, and Spotify would totally give her away. “Damn, I can never win!” she exclaimed with a chuckle and nodded “Of course, it wouldn’t be a good playlist if Britney weren’t involved” she winked at the woman. 

“You can have your old boy band if I can sing Joan Jett without judgment,” Dinah shock back with a wink. “Is that your go-to for karaoke?”

Kate smiled and nodded “You can sing whatever you want to, I won’t judge” she said looking at Dinah. “It is, I’m always ready to sing ‘Everybody’ to the crowd”

“Depends on where you tell people you heard it,” Zatanna offered with a laugh. “If you say you heard it on the radio - definably ages you. Tiktok? Then you just caught the song on a trend.”

“Oops” Kate blushed, “I totally heard it on the radio, but I can say Spotify suggested me the song too, right?” she smiled at Zatanna and nodded “That will be definitely help me, Z!”

“I think it tells people you’re cool.” She was cool. Too cool, with the side swept hair and the eyes and okay, so she was old enough to potentially know Backstreet Boys from their conception, but that had no bearing on how cool she was. “Or that you want it that way.”

Kate chuckled when the beautiful woman mentioned the way too known song and she nodded “I always want it that way” she winked and sighed. “I’m glad somebody knows what I’m talking about”