(rp for busty_robin)

[butimwondergirl]

Cassie would rather be home in bed. Or somewhere else in bed. She's exhausted by all the Serious Conversations she's had over the last forty-eight hours. Drained, and wanting to be in bed, and enjoying the results of those conversations, in one way or another, instead of flying the skies of Gotham looking for Stephanie. Knowing that when she found

Comments

[busty_robin]

On the plus side, when Steph was pissed off she fought very well. As the would-be burglar, whose face was currently making nice with her first, could attest.

But she was still pissed off. About a whole lot of things. Most of which, she didn't have any right to feel one way or the other about. Tim could date who he wanted -- she was the one that left. Steph didn't like it, but that was the reality.

But what was also the reality was that no one involved -- all of whom claimed to be Steph's friends and future teammates -- had thought to give her a heads up. She hadn't even mattered enough for a stupid phone call. And that was...well, not an unfamiliar thought. She'd been kept in the dark plenty of times. By Batman, by the Birds, even by Tim himself. And maybe she was just a little too sick of all that to put up with it again.

((ooc: sorry about the lag! Papers ate me!))

[butimwondergirl]

Cassie finally caught sight of Steph and dropped down to the rooftop. She was determined to fix this. Everything was happening so fast, not in an entirely horrible way, and relationships do often fall together quickly. But she felt out of control. Certainly posting a glib announcement online would not have been Cassie's choice of method to let friends know what was going on. Obviously she should have said something, she just wasn't thinking that far ahead.

The truth of it was Steph had come up in the conversation with Bart even before Kon had. Cassie should have called her from the Manor itself. She just wasn't thinking.

Cassie squared her shoulders and approached Stephanie. "Hey."

[busty_robin]

And there was Cassie. Wow, but demi gods were quick. Steph had a guy in a choke hold (don't worry, he had it coming) when she heard the approach. She knocked the guy unconscious, taking a moment to think of the right greeting for a so-called friend who'd listened to Steph confide about feelings for an ex all the while holding a torch for said boy.

"...hey."

Steph was very eloquent. She got is from Cass.

[butimwondergirl]

It had come down to a lot of denial on Cassie's part. She wasn't supposed to have any such feelings for Tim. She mostly believed she wasn't ever supposed to have, even when Kon had been gone. Having gotten Kon back and still...it was unthinkable.

But the heart doesn't follow that same logic. She'd been jealous of the random pretty girl Tim had been sent on a date with. She'd been jealous of the feelings Steph still had. Just because it was unthinkable didn't make it any less true.

And she has no idea how to explain any of this to Stephanie.

"...I'm really sorry you found out that way."

[busty_robin]

Now, Steph thought highly enough of Cassie (usually) to know that she hadn't set out to hurt anyone. God knew Steph could sympathize with that. She managed to hurt people all the time, without meaning to. And she usually got a fair amount of crap for it. So she should have been more sympathetic. But right then? She wasn't feeling it. She was feeling stupid and left out and frustrated that this was happening again, not to mention the whole myriad of feelings associated with Tim moving on and up.

Seriously -- he was supposed to rebound with someone uglier than her. Did his next real relationship have to be with two -- not one, but two! -- of the most powerful people on earth?

So Steph was feeling shitty, and despite the fact that Cassie had flown out to see her, she really did not want to talk about this. At all. So she didn't!

"So I think I should probably not be on the new team," Steph answered, going for the classic distraction reaction.

[butimwondergirl]

Cassie started. "No, don't say that, we all want you there." She hadn't even gotten to how this was going to affect the new team. GAH. She needed an hour or twelve to just think. She shook her head in an attempt to clear it. Focus.

"I don't want this to...this is separate. We all honestly and absolutely want you to be a part of the team." It occurred to Cassie that this is why Diana doesn't have any real romantic relationships. "I know it will be different...it might be difficult at first but we're a team and all friends. Family."

It might not appear to be the best choice of words but Cassie would rather Stephanie yell at her than not talk to her.

[busty_robin]

Cassie was a thinker, because Steph's initial reaction to that speech was a loud, sarcastic laugh. A familiar flash of anger went through her stomach, as she decided if she wanted to laugh, cry, or hit things. Maybe all three!

"If we're a family, we're the most incestuous one I've ever seen. What am I supposed to do, Cassie? Hang around headquarters, while you guys are all...couple like? It's not gonna work. I don't want to put myself through that -- I'm not that masochistic."

[butimwondergirl]

Cassie made mental note of that. It could be one of the "rules": don't be too couple like while at headquarters. And agree on what was couple like. It's probably better to over think it at first, if this encounter were any indication.

"No, when we're on duty we're on duty." She paused and crossed her arms for lack of something better to do with them. She felt fidgety. She hated feeling fidgety. It was another outward sign of her lack of control. "And we're not going to be...overt." She lowered her eyes. "This is very new, Steph. It only just happened. I...none of us wants to hurt you."

[busty_robin]

"But then I'll know that you're being non-coupley to hide the fact that you are, in fact, a couple. And you'll be doing it for my benefit. Either way, it's awkward."

Steph rubbed at her forehead, grateful for the mask. Under it, she was looking red and blotchy and pissed. Cassie didn't have x-ray vision, right?

"Yeah. 'Cause I thought you guys concocted this entire thing specifically to hurt me. I get that I had nothing to do with it. That's what sucks." Or, at the very least, that's what Steph was allowed to think sucked. "The fact that you guys didn't think of me at all. I didn't warrant a heads up. The internet did, but not me. Cassie -- I've been the odd man out in a group before. The last person to know. That's what it was with Batman and company all the time. And that's shitty, but Gotham is his city. If I want to operate in it, I don't have much of a choice

[butimwondergirl]

The oddly focused part of Cassie wanted to point out it was even more awkward than that since they would actually be acting non-tripley to hide the fact they were a triple. The growing increasingly erratic due to exhaustion part of Cassie considered bringing up Bart's idea that Stephanie join in, too. Lucky for Cassie, it was the determined to make things right part of her that won out.

"You're right. I should have called you right away. Or Tim. I agree with you entirely and I am sorry. There's no excuse." She took a breath. "I'd hoped...I wanted you to feel like you were a real part of our team with Young Justice. It's why I want you to stay. Because you deserve better than...this." She gestured to the city at large, looming over them as it was wont to do. Cassie, like anyone who didn't live there, always felt that tiny bit uncomfortable in Gotham no matter what she did. But she didn't really mean the city. She meant being the least important of the Batclan. Cassie wasn't always one of te most powerful people in the group; she knew

[busty_robin]

Steph never felt that way about Gotham -- not for a second. She looked out at the rooftops and felt home. Gotham wasn't perfect, but it was the city that raised her. It was the city she'd sworn -- and failed (they all burned and it was by her hand) -- to protect

[butimwondergirl]

Cassie nodded. Pressuring her into an answer tonight was no more right than any of it. Steph had said she'd think it over; Cassie should trust she would and hope she'd come to the conclusion Cassie wanted. In the end it was more important that Stephanie be comfortable with her own choice than Cassie be happy about it either way. It wasn't about Cassie. If Steph pulled out of the team it would be just another thing for Cassie to be guilty about and work through anyway.

Honestly it Steph didn't pull out it would be just another thing for Cassie to be guilty about and work through anyway. Cass was observant; she noted that Steph avoided mentioning Tim at all. It would probably be reasonable of Cassie to let it go, to agree to giving Steph some time to think and leave her to her city. And it would certainly be easier. But reasonable and easy doesn't add up to right necessarily

[busty_robin]

It was good that Cassie didn't bring up the guilt thing. Because then a part of Steph would have felt guilty for making her feel guilty, and there would have been this whole weird cycle. Plus, Cassie was making out with Steph's ex-boyfriend. A more vindictive part of Steph would have been upset if Cass hadn't felt guilty

[butimwondergirl]

Cassie didn't say anything for a long moment. She hasn't ever really been good at being a friend that way. Ask Cissie or Kara. Hell, ask Tim. Cassie had a lot of boundary issues that got in the way of equal give and take in one way or another

[busty_robin]

"You sound an awful lot like him," Steph said, not bothering to elaborate on who "him" was. They both knew. She kicked her foot against the pavement of the roof. Steph was bad about staying still during important talks -- she always had been.

"I don't want to feel this way, Cassie. Honestly, I don't. But I can't help it. I just -- I know, objectively, that the main issue here is just really shitty timing. But I'm pissed, and I'm hurt, and I'm really freaking embarassed that this was happening right in front of me and I had no idea." She was supposed to be a detective, for fuck's sake! And while Steph wasn't up to Batman or Tim's level, she could still connect point a to b. But this, she honestly hadn't seen coming. Not even when Cassie and Bart...

Wait a second.

"Cassie," Steph said, like the idea was just occurring to her -- because it was. "Why did you want to set me up with one of your friends? Was it...did it have something to do with how you felt about Tim?"

[butimwondergirl]

Cassie was the opposite normally. She tended to become very still during important conversations. It was something else she had in common with "him". Tonight she was more twitchy than usual; she'd been infused with and surrounded by high amounts of nervous energy for days