Three birthday parties over a single weekend! One with the hero community, one with family, and one with Lara’s closest personal friends. It certainly was a wild time that the young girl wished could happen multiple times a year. But the last party was upon her, and it’d be another 364 days until the next one! 

 

Granted, party number three was a relatively small event, but Lara was still excited to see Laurence and Izzy, after so much time in Supergirl mode. Heck, even seeing Colin and Damian in normal civilian circumstances would be a welcome change of pace. 

 

This felt even more welcome, now that she knew about her upcoming summer vacation on Themyscira! She would have plenty of time then to be Supergirl. Now was the time for Lara Ella Kent, the mild-mannered trans girl from Metropolis to enjoy her birthday.

Back at the Kent’s apartment in Metropolis, and wanting a chance to show off more of her new looks, Lara was now dressed in the outfit that Lian had given her; the designer jeans and the Girl Boss hoodie. She had almost forgotten to include her glasses in the ensemble. After so much time as exclusively Supergirl, she had almost forgotten they were part of her normal look. 

 

As Lara examined herself in the reflection of the TV, she felt very happy to have traded out her old thick blocky glasses for something more fashionable to her new style. The purple frames complimented the outfit perfectly! She’d have to remember to send Lian a selfie later.

 

As time ticked on, Lara started to think about how she had seen very little of either Izzy or Laurence since she had come out to them, and it was beginning to worry the young heroine. 

 

Lara fidgeted with the fasteners of the hoodie when her thoughts were interrupted by a ring at the apartment buzzer. Suddenly perking up, Lara rushed over to the intercom and pressed the call button. “Kent residence.” With her father out on patrol, and Lois setting up in the living room, it was up to Lara to greet and let in her guests.

 

“Good evening, Miss Kent,” a familiar voice said with a dignified British accent. “Masters Damian and Colin are here with me. Shall I send them up?”

 

“Hi Alfred! Go ahead! You can come up for the party too if you want.” Lara called back, buzzing her friends through.

 

“Thank you for the generous offer, Miss Kent. But I am afraid I must dash. Master Bruce has a very pressing engagement tonight, and he shall need my assistance in preparations.” This was clearly the dignified, coded way of saying, “I can’t come to the party, I must help with various Batman things,” which was about what Lara had expected.

 

“Alright! Say hi to everyone from me and dad!” Lara said before letting go of the call button. Moments later there was a knock on the door. “Hey guys!” Lara called through the door even before she opened it. 

 

Standing on the doorstep was Colin, wearing his favorite red hoodie, along with Damian, who wore a simple black button shirt and jeans. Lara was somewhat taken aback by Damian’s relatively plain attire. It wasn’t like him to dress in such a manner.

 

“Hey Lara! Long time no see!” Colin said, grinning as he entered the apartment with an arm around his boyfriend’s shoulders, and a wrapped present in his free hand. 

 

“Good to see you too, Colin! I see you’ve shaved since this morning.” Lara chuckled, joining in Colin’s jokes as she shut the door behind them. She was about to make another joke when she noticed Damian’s somewhat distant expression. “Damian? Are you ok?” She asked gently.

 

“I am perfectly fine, thank you!” The shorter boy responded, a little too quickly with a smile a bit too wide. It almost felt like he was trying to act happier than he felt. As Damian made his way into the apartment, Colin gave Lara an apologetic look.

 

“Talia had to leave suddenly this morning.” Colin explained softly. “Dami was hoping she’d stay for longer. He was a little upset on the ride over, so I’m hoping this party should help take his mind off of things.”

 

Lara felt her heart sink a little for her friend. She knew how deeply Damian cared for his mother, and couldn’t imagine how it must have felt to have their reunion cut short. While Lara was certain Damian would recover, and would certainly see Talia again in the future, she also knew that Damian didn’t usually act this way unless he was really upset. “Well…” she smiled at Colin. “I’ll just have to make sure that this party will be the best one yet!”

 

“I can hear you two!” Damian called, having sat himself down on the couch. “Really, I’m fine! You don’t need to worry!”

 

Colin walked over to the couch, and sat down next to his boyfriend. He gave Damian an empathetic smile and, after a few seconds of hesitation, Damian reluctantly snuggled up to Colin, finally admitting defeat and accepting that he needed cuddles. 

 

“Not a word of this to anyone!” Damian ordered, giving both Lara and Colin a stern look. 

 

Lara smiled, glad to see that her friend’s mood was already improving. “Don’t worry, Damian!” She said, “This party is gonna be just what you need. Great food, not too many people, and you get to see what life is like for Lara Kent, not Supergirl.”

 

“I guess so…” Damian sighed, looking around the apartment, “I don’t suppose you talked your parents into letting you have a pet yet, Kent? I’m starting to regret not bringing Titus with me.”

 

“I’m afraid not,” Lara said, trying not to think of the chaos that would ensue if Damian’s great dane were allowed in the apartment. “Right now the best I can get is shared custody of Krypto with Conner.” She suddenly perked up as she remembered what she had been so eager to tell the two boys. “Anyway, I doubt I’m getting a pet as a surprise gift either, because of the big surprise I got in Smallville!”

 

“Oh? What happened?” Colin asked.

 

Glancing briefly over to the clock on the wall, Lara knew that the other guests would be arriving soon. She’d have to tell Colin and Damian now, or else she would have to keep them in suspense all night. She turned to her friends, smiling from ear-to-ear, “I’m going to be spending a whole month training with the Amazons on Themyscira!”

 

Colin’s jaw dropped as he almost leaped to his feet. Even Damian perked up upon hearing the news. “Fantastic!” The young heir cried. “Does this mean you’re going to learn to fight like them, with a sword?! I’ll finally have someone new to spar with!!”

 

“Ha! I don’t know about that, Damian.” Lara laughed, glad to have pulled her friend out of his dreary mood. “I’m only gonna be training for a month, so I think I’m gonna be more focused on… Y’know, superpower stuff?” She levitated herself momentarily to illustrate her point.

 

“Themyscira?!” Colin repeated. “That’s so cool, Lara!” He added, snapping out of his bewildered state. Being a trans boy, Colin had mixed feelings about the island’s ‘No Boys’ rule. While it did mean he could never visit, the exclusion was oddly gender affirming in a strange way. “Training with Amazons?! You’re gonna be giving me and Dami a run for our money at this rate!”

 

“Yep!” Lara smiled, “Though I suppose I could do a little bit of sword training while I’m there? I could work it into our next LARPing session!”

“A sword-wielding fairy?” Colin chuckled, before turning to Damian. “Looks like you’ve got competition, Dami! Maybe we should get you a pair of wings so that you don’t feel left out? Maybe a matching dress as well?”

 

If anyone aside from Colin had made that joke, Lara would have worried about Damian annihilating them on the spot. As it happened, the young Robin instead gave his boyfriend a free pass and simply smiled smugly. “Tt! Be careful what you wish for, habibi. You know as well as I do that I would look amazing as a fae!”

 

Lara was relieved to be saved from having to watch the two boys flirt by the sound of the doorbell buzzing once again. “I’ll get it!” She cheered, floating over to the door. “Must be Izzy and Laurence!” She pressed the button on the intercom. “Kent residence?”

 

“Hey… Kent…” Izzy’s voice said a little awkwardly over the intercom. “I’m here with Laurence and his Uncle Mike.” 

 

“Izzy, you don’t need to hide it from Mike!” Lara said, relieved to understand Izzy’s hesitation to say her name. “Everyone’s gonna find out soon or later. Come on up!”

 

“Thanks Lara!” Lara could practically hear her friend’s sigh of relief as the buzzer went dead. Izzy must have been worried about saying Lara’s new name in front of the wrong person. 

 

 Lara heard Damian clear his throat and only then realized she was still flying a few inches off the ground. She landed quickly, glad he had caught it before the company came up. Maybe she’d tell her friends her identity some day, but this wasn’t how she wanted them to find out.

 

Soon after, there was a knock at the door and Lara opened it, finding Izzy, Laurence and his Uncle Mike, the latter evidently having come along to chaperone the pair. “Hi guys!” Lara said cheerfully. “Good to see you, Mr Stamp!”

 

Michael Stamp was… something of an anomaly to Laurence’s family. Unlucky with jobs and money, but he had been happy to accept the responsibility as Laurence’s guardian while he was going to school in America, especially since he got to live in a deluxe penthouse for free as he watched his nephew. 

 

“Oh hey, Lara was it?” Mike asked, poking his head into the apartment to look around. “Larry, I didn’t know your friend had a sister! Why didn’t you tell me before now? Where’s the birthday boy?”

 

Lara honestly wasn’t sure how to react to these questions. On one hand, she loved the implication that she passed well enough that Mike mistook her for her own imaginary sister. But on the other hand, did this sort of confusion even count as misgendering? 

 

Laurence cleared his throat, “Uncle Mike, I told you I hate that name. And it is Lara’s birthday!” He put a little extra emphasis on her name to try and get his point across.

 

“Oh? Well that’s very nice! You look lovely, young lady! So I’m guessing you’re twins?” Mike asked, thinking he understood his nephew this time. Before any of the kids had a chance to correct him, the confused adult’s phone started ringing in his pocket. “If you’ll excuse me, I better take this! Call me when you need to get picked up kids! Happy birthday Lara, and tell your brother I’m sorry I missed him!” He waved goodbye quickly and was out the door in seconds.

 

Once the kids were all alone in the doorway they began laughing at Mike’s antics. “I think I like your uncle, Laurence.” Lara chuckled, inviting her friends in and shutting the door behind them. “He’s supportive, if a bit clueless.”

 

Lara found it pretty cool that she passed as a girl well enough to be confused for a different person altogether! She wondered how long she could pretend to be her own sister before Mike finally figured it out.

 

“That and he’s the only person I’ve heard call you “Larry”, without you yelling at him.” Izzy interjected with a smirk. “That’s impressive all on it’s own!”

 

Laurence smirked a little. “He is an idiot, but he is nice to have around. But now we can get back to the point; Happy birthday, Lara!”

 

“Oh yeah...” Izzy said, moving forward to hug her friend. “Happy birthday, girl!”

 

“Thanks guys!” Lara smiled, accepting hugs from the pair of them. She led her friends into the living room, where Colin was waiting on the sofa still cuddling Damian. 

 

“Introductions are in order!” declared Lara, acting the part of the gracious host. “You already know Damian from school. This is his boyfriend, Colin! He’s the guy I told you about. The one that helped me come out in the first place!”

 

“That’s giving me too much credit Lara,” Colin said, waving at the newcomers as Damian merely inclined his head in greeting from his position in the redhead's lap. “You were right on the verge of figuring yourself out. I just happened to give you a little extra clarity.” 

 

“Nice to meet you both!” Izzy said, a bit taken aback to see the famously proud and dignified Damian Wayne being cuddled by another boy without a care in the world.

 

Laurence gave Colin a polite nod, before looking at Damian. “You… uh… Doing alright there, Wayne?” He asked, not really sure what to make of the sight of Damian Freakin’ Wayne being so intimate.

“Perfectly fine, Stamp.” Damian replied bluntly, not shifting from his position. “Why do you ask?” he added, with the slightest hint of a cautionary tone.

 

Fortunately, the kids were saved from an awkward moment by Lois’s perfect timing. “Hi kids!” she called, coming in from the kitchen with chips, dip and a vegetable platter. “Clark’s calling in a few pizzas for dinner, but I thought you’d like these to start with.” 

 

A call of “Thanks, mom!” accompanied by several more calls of “Thank you, Mrs. Kent!” greeted the snacks.

 

“Is this your Buffalo chicken dip?” Laurence asked hopefully. The quiet boy had a particular fondness for two things; superheroes and spicy food.

 

“Not today, Laurence,” Lois apologized, “Damian is vegetarian, so I made a veggie taco dip. Still went nice and spicy, don’t worry.”

 

Both Laurence and Damian took a heavily ladened chip and took a bite, nodding their approval. Now it had been approved by two of the pickiest eaters, the other kids dove into the food.

 

“So Colin, how did you and Damian meet?” Izzy asked the red head, curious how the prince of Gotham had started dating a boy that didn’t even go to the same school as them.

 

Lara was actually curious how he would cover for the story of their actual meeting. Of course, she had heard all about how Colin first met Damian while they were both independently investigating a case in Gotham. Damian had only just started out as Robin at the time, and Colin had been using the codename “Abuse”, since this was before he had been merged with Goliath, and had a more basic set of powers. 

 

Colin swallowed his mouthful of chips before answering. “Oh, Well… Skipping over a few details, we…” He looked down at his boyfriend, giving him a subtle call for help.

 

Damian rolled his eyes, raising up from his position in Colin’s lap. “We met in a crowd on the streets one day. Some fight was going on involving Victor Zsasz and a big dumb meta. Luckily, Robin showed up to save the day.”

 

Lara stifled a laugh at Colin’s expression. While Izzy and Laurence were unaware, the words “big dumb meta” were clearly referring to Colin, back when he still just had his basic Venom-fuled brute strength powers. Plus, it was so typical of Damian to paint himself as the biggest hero in every retelling of any mission.

 

“Whoa!” said Laurence. “You got to see Robin in action? Did anyone else show up? Batman? Nightwing? Red Robin?!”

Colin shook his head, joining in with the story. “Nah, this wasn’t really a big threat. At least, not by Gotham standards. Me and Dami just hid together while we waited for the all clear. We got to talking during that time and, well…” He met Damian’s gaze. “I’ll never forget the words you said in the alley that day…”

 

Damian grinned as everyone turned to look at him. “I’ll admit, my memory of that day is hazy, but I’ll never forget your face when I said that it was no place for a boy your age.”

 

Izzy, Laurence and even Lara were confused by this. “Is that considered a romantic phrase in Gotham?” Laurence asked.

 

“Aren’t you two the same age?” Izzy added.

 

“Oh right!” Colin laughed. “You guys might not know… That was the first time anyone had called me a boy, without me having to tell them first. Dami could just tell from the moment we met!”

 

A small squeak involuntarily escaped from Izzy at this comment. She remembered more details from Lara’s coming out talk weeks before. “That’s right! You’re trans too!” She cleared her throat, trying to recover from the little outburst. 

 

“That’s right.” Colin nodded and smiled. He had been waiting for something like this. Lara had hinted Izzy would probably pick his brain on trans issues during the party. 

 

“I didn’t know it worked the other way… girls that become boys, I mean.” Izzy said a little awkwardly.

 

“Personally, I wouldn’t phrase it that way.” Colin corrected her gently. “I may have been assigned female at birth by society, but as far back as I can remember, I’ve always been a boy. I knew I wasn’t what everyone told me to be, so I did everything I could to become myself.”

 

“I see…” Izzy said slowly. She seemed to be contemplating Colin’s words very carefully. Colin and Lara briefly met each other's eyes. The two trans kids definitely got the same impression from Izzy, but it would be unwise to poke her with further questions. Best to let Izzy figure things out for themself...

 

“Anyway…” Colin said, continuing the story. “Damian made a pretty good first impression, and we stayed in touch after the incident.” The redhead smiled and kissed Damian’s cheek, “I got a crush on him almost immediately, but he took longer to figure it out.”

 

“Maybe like five minutes longer.” Damian said in his own defense. “I still confessed first when you had spent months just pining for me and not saying anything.”

 

“Oh? And what were you doing during those months when I wasn't saying anything?” Colin asked, a devious smile on his face.

 

As much as Damian wanted to contest it, he had to admit defeat. “...Pining…” He said, with the slightest hint of a shy smile.

 

“That’s what I thought.” Colin kissed his boyfriend again and held him a bit tighter. “So let’s just agree we were both idiots and move on from there.” 

 

“Agreed, habibi.” Damian said with a small sigh and a smile. 

 

Laurence and Izzy were more surprised by Damian Wayne admitting that he was wrong than they had been by the casual discussion of an encounter with Victor Zsasz. As adorable as the boys were, inwardly Izzy worried that the Waynes might send Batman after anyone that saw Damian show weakness… Or maybe that was an overreaction. After all, Bruce Wayne didn’t seem to know what the word dignity meant… 

 

“So which Robin were you saved by?” Laurence asked, trying to get off cutesy topics of conversation. 

 

“The cute little one with the hood.” Colin said with a smile. “He’s always been my favorite, even before he saved us.”

 

“You’ve only met one of the Robins, dear.” Damian interjected. “I have to say Nightwing is also pretty cool, but the current kid is very impressive. He’s certainly better than the one with the big stick running with the Titans. Gotham’s incumbent Robin, on the other hand, has a sword and knows how to use it!”

“And a giant pet bat-dragon!” Colin added, with a cheeky grin. “Can’t forget about Goliath! He’s by far the coolest thing about living in Gotham!”

 

“Who wants to play a party game while we wait for the pizza?!” Lara cut in before her friends’ flirting gave their secrets away.

 

“Yeah, that sounds good!” Izzy agreed before Laurence could join the debate over the best Robin. Lara and her friend felt it would get out of hand fast, especially since his favorite was Red Robin.

 

“How about some Truth or Dare?” Lara suggested, ignoring Damian rolling his eyes behind her back. 

 

“Nothing too extreme kids!” Lois called from the kitchen in a warning tone. “No stunts, climbing on furniture, or anything dangerous, ok?”

 

“Yes mom!” Lara smiled. Normally those sorts of comments could be chalked up to an overprotective mother, but 3 of the 5 kids present were literal superheroes, so it was an actual possibility with this group for things to get very out of hand without proper supervision.

 

“Alright then,” Laurence said, trying not to sound too disappointed that the Robin debate was over before he could join it. “Lara, as the birthday girl, you can go first and pick the first victim.”

 

“Thank you very much, Laurence.” Lara smiled, looking around at her friends. It would have been mean to pick on Izzy right now while she was deep in thought, and she couldn’t think of any good dares for Damian or Colin (At least not any that Lois would have allowed), plus she already knew enough secrets about Robin and Goliath. 

 

Lara’s eyes eventually landed back on Laurence, and the birthday girl gave an apologetic grin. “Bad start for you Laurence! Truth or dare?” She asked, her brain starting to plan out potential tasks or questions for him.

 

“Hmm… Truth, I guess. I don’t trust your imagination thinking up dares.” Laurence said after a moment of thought.

 

Lara was subtly aware of the amazing power she had in this moment. Laurence could be so secretive about everything a lot of the time! Now she had one powerful question that he had to answer truthfully! She had to be careful and clever about this…“Who is your celebrity crush?” 

 

Dang it! The pressure to pick something mixed with everyone staring at her had made Lara jump into action with the first question in her mind! This wasn’t fair! Such a wasted opportunity!

 

Surprisingly, Laurence’s cheeks actually went pink, and he seemed to freeze up. This certainly grabbed everyone's attention. Did the nerdy quiet kid have a secret crush after all? “Well… If I had to pick…” Laurence’s words trailed off until they were barely a whisper. “I actually kinda like… Supergirl…”

 

“Wait, really? Izzy spoke up, a little thrown by that answer. “The old one or the new one?” 

 

“The new one…” Laurence said, defensively. “I just think she’s cute, ok! Also, she might be the first openly trans hero! I respect that.”

 

Lara wasn’t exactly sure how to take this information. Maybe the question had given her more fun results than she had thought. One of her best friends had just unknowingly admitted to having a crush on her, in front of her! And she couldn’t do or say a thing! Curse you secret identity!

 

She turned to look at Colin and Damian. Damian was looking back at his friend, struggling not to laugh at the awkwardness of it all, whereas Colin was giving Lara a look that seemed to say, “Yeah! Get it, girl!” Feeling her cheeks turning red, Lara desperately tried to shift the topic away from Laurence’s confession.

 

“Wait, is she really the first trans superhero?” Lara asked, trying not to blush too much, but also genuinely interested to know and wanting to be a part of the conversation.

 

“Maybe not the very first. There was a woman named Coagula from the Doom Patrol. Not many talk about her,” Laurence clarified, happy to be back in his element. “But Supergirl could be the only one in this generation, unless you were to count closeted heroes. I bet there are at least a few heroes or even villains that have been trans the entire time and we just haven’t been told.” 

 

He did have a point. Lara could understand if not every trans hero would want to be open about it, even if that sort of visibility could help those who were questioning their own identities.

 

Laurence kept talking, eager to chat more about his favourite subject. “I actually did a little research on this, and only found a few more openly trans people who really have anything to do with the superhero community that we know of.” He pulled out a small pocket notebook to check his information. “There’s a Dr. Victoria October, a big researcher from S.T.A.R. labs. Also Dinah Lance, Oliver Queen’s wife. She and her husband are two of the JLA’s biggest supporters.” 

 

Lara was about to answer with practiced surprise, ready to pretend that she didn’t know about the good doctor… but that second one genuinely shocked her. “I’m sorry, what was that last name?”

 

“Dinah Lance,” Laurence repeated. “Most just know her as Ollie Queen’s wife and from her work with his company, but she’s actually a very outspoken activist for tons of things!”

 

“Huh… neat…” That was a major understatement, but it was all Lara could say right now! As it happened, Laurence had just unknowingly revealed another major hero to be trans. After all, he obviously didn’t know the truth about Dinah Lance-Queen, AKA Black Canary!

 

Lara had met both Dinah and her husband, the Green Arrow, a few times at various JLA get-togethers, but they had never exchanged more than a few words. Since Lara had come out, she had received messages of congratulations from countless other superheroes, including both Black Canary and Green Arrow. The sheer number of messages she had received had meant many of them tended to blur together, but even so Lara was completely dumbstruck that she had missed something as big as this!

 

How had she never known that the Black Canary herself was trans too!? Had she really spent all this time learning about her own identity, and yet completely missed this incredible truth right under her nose?! How had she never considered that there could be trans heroes who were only openly trans in civilian mode?! How come no one had told her?!

 

“Hey Mom...” Lara called, with sudden realisation. “You’ve met the Queens through work before! Did you know that Dinah was trans?”

 

Lois emerged from the kitchen once again, carrying a tray of drinks for the kids. “What’s that, hun?” She asked, setting the tray down. “Dinah Lance? Yeah, she’s been pretty public about being trans for years. Why do you ask?”

 

Lara was about to ask the obvious question of “How come you or dad never told me about her?”, but quickly realised that she was at risk of exposing Dinah’s secret identity if she started asking about too many details. Instead, Lara simply smiled and said, “That’s so cool! Could I tag along the next time you do a piece on her?”

 

Lois laughed and ruffled her daughter’s hair. “That’s more of a question for Perry than me." Suddenly, Lois’s phone buzzed and she paused to read the message. “Good news, kids! Clark’s on his way back with pizza! Should be here pretty soon.”

 

The kids all cheered. Lara felt very grateful for her Kryptonian stamina at that moment. After breakfast pancakes, watermelon in the forest, picnic food, and birthday cookies and cake in Smallville, she was starting to realise just how well she had eaten that day. Hopefully, she would still have room for pizza...

 

“I have one more name you missed, Laurence.” Colin added, getting the conversation back on trans topics after a brief pizza detour. “Edward Nigma, AKA the Riddler. My mom’s worked with him a few times. He’s been very outspoken about gender protections for prisoners and ex cons.” 

 

“I mean, should we really be counting supervillains?” Laurence asked, more curious that Colin spoke positively of the infamous criminal than the gender identity discussion. “Would you say the same if someone like the Joker turned out to be trans?”

 

Colin’s voice was calm when he spoke, but Damian and Lara saw the redhead tense for a fraction of a second at that particular comparison. “Hey now, that’s uncalled for. Nygma’s gotten a lot better in the last few years. My moms always say that you can’t judge a person solely on their past actions, especially when they are making an effort to change. And I’m not just saying that to defend a fellow trans man.”

 

“Trans man?” Izzy asked quietly, coming out of a thought.

 

Colin nodded, “The Riddler is like me. Well, he’s further on in his transition than I am, but that’ll change when I’m older. ”

 

“I… I see…” Izzy looked like she was ready to interrupt and ask something, but Laurence cut her off.

 

“I’m sorry about that. Colin. No offense meant. I probably said too much there.” He spoke with a rather blunt and formal tone, which Lara and Izzy recognized as Laurence’s way of saying that he wanted to try and change the subject, but needed help.

“Hey!” said Lara, a little louder than she had meant to. “Is it okay if we do presents now?” She had been eyeing the package that Damian and Colin had brought in for a while now, and was starting to wish that her x-ray vision would spontaneously kick in.

 

“Of course,” Damian said, picking up the package and handing it to Lara. “This is from me and Colin. Happy birthday, Lara!”

 

Lara thanked her friends as she accepted the gift. The parcel was fairly light, and it’s contents were soft. She smiled as she guessed what it could be. A new outfit, perhaps? Damian had previously gifted her with some amazing dresses, so it felt like a reasonable assumption.

 

After carefully tearing through the wrapping paper, Lara looked down to see… a neatly-folded, soft pink outfit, with white silk leggings and a pink tutu. After a few seconds of staring, a beautiful smile spread across the birthday girl’s face.

 

Colin smiled and nudged his boyfriend. “Told you she’d remember it.”

 

The outfit in Lara’s lap was the very same ballerina’s outfit that Lara had danced in the night she had first realised she was a girl! Back when Damian had just meant to show off his ballet skills by teaching his friend some basic moves, and had inadvertently kick-started Lara’s entire journey of self discovery!

 

Lara would never forget how she had felt seeing her own reflection in the mirror when she first wore the outfit. How it had felt to see the girl she truly was staring back at her! How wonderful the euphoria had been when she had danced and twirled in a pink tutu for the first time in her life!

 

Both Damian and Colin braced themselves as Lara leapt across the couch to pull the two of them into a massive hug. “THANK YOU, GUYS!! SO MUCH!!” Lara squealed, remembering not to squeeze too hard. “You’re the best!!”

 

“Wait, what did they get you?” Izzy asked, curious as to what could have prompted such a reaction. But Lara didn’t seem to have heard her friend, as she immediately grabbed the outfit and ran off into her bedroom to change.

 

As soon as Lara shut the door behind her, she quickly changed out of her party clothes and into the ballet outfit. Thanks to her super speed, she was able to do all this in a matter of seconds. Obviously, she would never have used her powers like this in front of Izzy and Laurence, but she felt it was safer to do so behind a closed door.

 

Having gotten changed at such speed also meant that Lara had an extra minute or two to admire herself in her bedroom mirror. As she gazed at her reflection, she felt the familiar warm feeling of euphoria wash over her. She looked amazing!

 

The outfit had even come with the same pink ribbon that Lara had used to wear her hair in a bun, on that fateful night. She had had plenty of time since then to practice her hair-tying, and it had grown out a little too. She also noticed how even her posture seemed to have become more distinctly feminine over the last few weeks. Had she always held herself in such a way? Heck, even the mere addition of her new girly glasses were making Lara feel giddy with euphoria!

 

She once again found herself fondly reminiscing about her first time wearing the outfit. How everything had clicked into place in that moment, as she saw her true self for the first time. How she had been moved to happy tears at the realisation that she didn’t have to live as a boy any longer. She was allowed to be the girl she had always secretly wanted to be.

 

The happy memories filled Lara with such joy, that she found herself starting to float off of the floor. It wasn’t until she heard a knock at the door, that she suddenly remembered that she was supposed to be hosting her party!

 

“Just a sec!” Lara called out, landing quickly before running over to open the door.

 

In the doorway, stood Laurence. “Hey Lara, what’s taking… oh!” The tall boy’s words trailed off as he saw Lara. “You, uhh… You look nice…” He said after a brief pause.

 

“Uh oh…” Lara thought silently to herself. She may have been mistaken, but the expression on Laurence’s face seemed to suggest that he was flustered! First he had admitted that he had a crush on Supergirl, now this! Lara was starting to feel a series of nervous feelings deep inside her. Feelings that she had been feeling a lot more frequently since coming out. Feelings about… well, Laurence!

 

“Kent! Stamp!” Damian’s voice called out from the living room, snapping both Lara and Laurence out of their frozen states. “What’s the hold-up?”

 

“Be right there!” Lara called, relieved for the distraction. She made her way down the hallway, with Laurence following close behind her. These strange new feelings would have to wait until later; The party was only just beginning. There was still so much more to say and do, not to mention pizza was on the way! What kid wouldn’t be excited?