TBH at this point the only reason I want Wally to come back is so he can be the emcee at Kiran and Kaldur's wedding with Cassie and still be working within canon.
But since Kiran's story is already canon-divergent anyway you never know ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
If I wasn't so nervous, I would be dancing along with Mum and Dad as they blasted their favorite Bollywood dance numbers from the car's radio.
I fiddled with the cap on my lap, spreading the tassel out in a fan before twisting it all back together again.
"Oh Kiran!" Mum clapped her hands as the car jerked to a stop again, "we are so proud of you, you know that?"
"I know, Mama," I did my best to smile at her in the rearview mirror, while dad jerked the car to the side in an effort to get around a line of rickshaw carts.
In the backseat, Doctor Sandsmark was looking a little green. "There's so much traffic-" she stopped herself while the car rocked back and forth, "Are you sure we won't be late?"
"Don't worry, it's crowded like this all the time," Mum assured her. She rolled down the window to shout at another driver, going the other direction, to get out of the way.
She ducked back inside, and turned up the volume on Buddhu Sa Mann as a way of ignoring him.
From years of being her best friend, I knew that Cassie knew this song, and not only that, but it was her favorite Bollywood song. So why was she glued to her phone instead of singing along with my parents and trying to get me to shake off my nerves.
"Whatcha doing?" I asked, leaning over to her seat.
She grinned up at me, showing off her screen of red and gold. "I made a Pinterest board."
A Pinterest board for my wedding.
"Cassie!" I squealed, hiding my face in my graduation gown.
"What? If I leave you to plan it on your own with your knight in green and orange armor-" Cassie gagged "-You'd never get married!"
I threw my cap at her, flushed with laughter, or maybe it was the heat.
"Like you'd do much better with planning a wedding, you're the least organized person I know!"
Cassie stuck her tongue out at me and threw the cap back at me.
"Oh Kiran! Speaking of marriage, Karan- you know the wonderful young man at the top of our classes- is getting his Bachelor's tonight too!" Mum gushed.
"In business, no less!" Dad added. Since when did a career matter to them? They were professors, for crying out loud.
The car went quiet, except for the string music of Bolna, and Cassie leaned over to whisper to me, hoping to keep my parents oblivious.
"Have you told your parents about-"
"No, not yet," I slapped away her hand so it wasn't suspiciously cupped over her mouth when my parents looked back again.
"Nervous, Kiran?" Dad asked, a sympathetic look glinting off his dusty glasses lenses.
I nodded, my stomach flipping back and forth for more than one reason now.
"Don't be," He shook his head, "you've done everything already, all you have to do is grab a piece of paper that recognizes you've done it all!"
"Yeah. Onstage. In the spotlight. With everyone watching."
The adults weren't paying attention. As usual. But to Helena's credit, she was trying not to retch out the window and onto a cart of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Cassie took my hand and squeezed it gently as we pulled up to the Delhi University Stadium. My phone and my world shone a little brighter with a text from Kaldur.
'Where are you?'
'Just got here.' I started typing as fast as I could to get him a follow-up message before he replied, cringing inwardly at my many abbreviations. All's fair in love and texting.
'Have to meet up w/ the rest of the class. Look for Cassie, sit w/ my fam. See u after the ceremony.'
Mom's two fingers- with the perfectly manicured nails that showed she was spending this semester in the classroom and not at a dig- plucked my phone out of my hand just as I hit "Send".
"Kira, do I need to keep your phone from you during the ceremony?" She tutted disapprovingly.
"Mum, I'm twenty years old now!" Being slightly taller than her, I snatched my phone back when she tried to hold it out of reach.
"Oh really? Then why am I still paying your phone bill?" Dad teased. I shoved my phone deeper into the pocket of my graduation robes while Cassie reasoned with Helena that she needed her phone to be able to take pictures of me.
I found my spot in line next to Jai. Alphabetically, 'Lita was just a bit behind us, while Karan and Shiv were somewhere ahead of us in the long line of University students set to receive their diplomas today. Most, like Karan, Jai, and myself, were set to receive bachelor degrees before continuing on to something bigger and better, like a doctorate. Lalita was going to pursue an internship in London's fashion industry, and from what I'd learned from Karan, Shiv had no plans for the apparent future other than to float along with a job at his father's bank. Which was strange because he bragged about being accepted into a nursing program over gelato the other week.
I laughed to myself at how hard he was trying. After today, we'd probably never meet up again, even Jai and Lalita were "breaking up" because they didn't want to worry about long-distance relationships. Under any other circumstances, Jai would have been the only friend from school I'd ever see again, but since Karan's parents were dead set on arranging a marriage between the two of us, we'd probably be seeing a lot of each other until my parents got it into their heads that I was my own, independent woman, and my relationship with Kaldur was more serious than not .
I marched across the stage after Jai without any mishaps, and took my degree from the college dean. An hour after this whole thing was supposed to start, I finally got to throw my graduation cap in the air, never to be seen again. At that moment, I didn't care. all I wanted to do was scream with my best friend and find some comfort in the arms of my boyfriend-slash-technical-fiancee. Despite my high hopes, I knew that wasn't how the evening was going to go.
Kaldur was waiting out in the parking lot, but I couldn't tell if he was with my family because the moment we met eyes we were sprinting to each other. As always, he lifted me up into the air, spinning me around until I was breathless and dizzy. I had no idea how he managed to stay upright when he set me back on solid ground. Thank goodness that I wasn't wearing heels, despite my diminutive stature.
"I am so proud of you," He whispered. I wondered how I'd gotten to this point, where my Atlantean boyfriend, who'd spent his life training a dozen superheroes and training himself to finally become the leader of the Justice League of Earth, could tell me how proud he was of me.
I had to be the luckiest girl on Earth.
Or at least I was, until my parents started shouting my name.
"Kiran! We have someone we want you to meet!" My father shouted over the crowd, blissfully unaware of my romantic interlude with Kaldur.
Cassie snuck up behind me before I could meet who could only be Karan's parents.
"You're not allowed to get set up with another guy when you're already engaged," She pouted, arms locked around my waist with Amazonian strength.
"Cassie, you're not my fiancee."
"Nyah!" She stuck out her tongue at me, "I'm acting on Kaldur's behalf."
Kaldur laughed awkwardly, but smoothly pinched a nerve in Cassie's wrist that made her release me instantaneously. "Thank you, Cassandra, but I can act on my own behalf." He said, taking my hand in his.
"So, my dear fiancee, shall we go meet the parents of the man my parents want me to marry?"
"After you, my dear," He bowed with a mock British accent, which would have cleverly disguised the return of his stony face if I didn't know him so well.
"I'm coming too!" Cassie squeaked. Fortunately, her mother, knowing only the most basic of Hindi, was attached to my parents at the hip, and we located her when we located my parents and Karan's.
"Kiran!" I saw Karan wince beneath the glint of the sun on his glasses as he mother practically floated through the air to greet me with a big hug.
"It's so wonderful to meet you at last! Your parents have nothing but wonderful things to say about you. Have you met my Karan? Oh, he is just the perfect son, this is just wonderful-"
How many times was she going to use that word?
"Hi Karan!" I waved with my free hand, the other one still holding Kaldur's. I was pleased to note that took all five adults by surprise at the ease with which we greeted us, as if they didn't know Karan and I had been texting all week to create a plan of attack for our parents.
Karan beamed congenially as he approached us. Kaldur, I was pleased to see, was relaxing when he saw how Karan and I were at ease with each other, thanks to our mutual understanding. Cassie was still sizing him up, as if she was calculating how she could get away with punching Karan from here to the Mediterranean.
"I take it that this is your boyfriend, Kiran?" Karan asked, just a little bit louder than was necessary to be heard over the crowd.
"Yes!" I gushed, "Karan, this is my boyfriend, Kaldur. Kaldur, this is my friend, Karan," I stressed the differences between "boyfriend" and "friend". Not necessarily to the aforementioned gentlemen, but for our parents, who had devolved back into excited conversation while ignoring our spectacular performance.
Cassie sighed as she scrolled through something on her phone, probably texting her team for help, "I wouldn't be surprised if they had a date for the engagement party already."
"We're doomed." I sighed, leaning my head on Kaldur's shoulder.
"There you are!" The crowd had thinned out some, making it easier for Shiv, Jai, and Lalita to spot us after escaping from their parents. Shiv had already ditched his graduation robes and loosened his tie.
Shiv slung his arm around his best friend, careful to avoid me and my boyfriend. At least someone around here could pay attention. "We were just about to head over to the graduation party at the Mutyala's place if you wanted to tag along. 'Lita! Save me a dance?" He shot his shot.
"Nice try, Shiv," Lalita dodged, "This is my last week in India, and I'm spending every second of it with Jai."
I leaned in closer to Kaldur, thanking the gods above for zeta-tubes and instantaneous transportation. A relationship didn't count as long-distance if you worked together, right?
"Kir? Last chance!" Shiv crowed, half-dragging Karan off to his rented sports car.
I sighed and glanced back at my parents, still engrossed in their conversation with the Tahils.
"Actually," I grabbed Kaldur and Cassie's hands with renewed vigor, "I just remembered I haven't gotten to show these two the great sights of Delhi yet, so I think I'll pass this time, guys."
Shiv shrugged, "You have my number!" He shouted, all but throwing Karan in the passenger seat. Jai and Lalita had already disappeared. I decided that we'd better follow their lead.
-------
I shut off my phone after the fifteenth harried text from mom. She hardly even glanced my way after I'd gotten my diploma, and now she wanted to talk? I scoffed irritably, popping my second bottle of kombucha. Kaldur and I were abstinent, though we were of legal drinking age, and Cassie was still just sixteen, thank goodness.
"I get why you don't want to drink, I really do," Cassie babbled over her bottle, "But what are you gonna do after a really bad mission and you wanna forget stuff like the other leaguers?"
"I face my problems like a sane person."
"Yeah right!" Cassie and I jabbed at Kaldur.
We sat on the rooftop of an abandoned sweatshop in a darkened part of the city, where no one should notice us or our powers should we decide to mess around like we actually were drunk. Still, I manipulated the light around us so that we could see better. Even with my boyfriend and my best friend by my side, the dark still freaked me out.
"Anyone want some more laddu, or the chocolate?" Kaldur asked, rifling through the grocery bag of the convenience store we'd stopped by for supplies.
Cassie took another ball of laddu, which was almost pure suger, and stood up to stretch, "Hey Kal, betcha can get my bottlecap through the wall of that silo over there."
"Not if I can do it first," Kaldur flipped his cap over in his hands, and I noticed the subtle blue glint of his tattoos, charging the bottle ap with electricity.
I grinned and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to make my light appear red, just for a moment.
"On your marks...get set..." The three of us held our breaths.
"Go!" I tossed my arms in the air, and the light I'd been collecting showered down on us like raindrops of light.
Cassie hurled her bottlecap with all her might, and Kaldur's shot through the air just ahead of hers, leaving a tingling static current in its wake. There was the thud of metal on metal, and then the resounding pinging noise, as the cap (or both) ricocheted inside the old rusted tower.
"I got it!" Kaldur and cassie insisted at the same time. I fell back laughing, and because no one was around, I let myself be enveloped in my light, sliding down the roof and lifting up into the air.
"I know this afternoon was cruddy," I said, floating in the air above them, or above Kaldur, at least, Cassie joined me in the air and lay her head in my lap, "But being here, with you guys, it makes me think that everything is going to be okay."
Kaldur stood up- all of us had ditched our shoes at some point this evening- so that he was at eye level with us girls, "What are you most looking forward too?" He asked me.
I grinned, "You first."
Kaldur grinned, lifting the bottle to his lips. "Getting married to you, of course," He said, wiping his mouth after a long slip.
Even after two years I still had to look away because my face was so hot and if I kept looking at him for too long, I'd overheat like a car's engine in the Sahara.
"Uh, you guys know I'm still here, right?"
"Cass, You wanted to be here," I reminded her.
Kaldur reached up and took my hand, pulling me back to the rooftop to dance with him, swaying back and forth to some unheard beat. "And what are you looking forward to?"
"Well, getting married, of course," I said softly, resting my head on his chest.
The moment ended all too soon as the buzzing from Kaldur's phone shook his whole body.
Without a word, he checked it, intending to return his attentions back to me if it was inconsequential, but by the way his arms tensed around me, I knew it was anything but.
"What is it?" Cassie asked, voice quiet as her finger hovering above the play button for the Taylor Swift playlist on her phone.
It was to me that Kaldur directed his answer.
"Catherine Cobert just received an alert that a new bill to ban metahumans was just introduced to the Indian Parliament."
Honestly Cassie just exists at this point to serve as a voice for all y'all readers.