(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

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[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."

She paused, clearing her throat. She couldn't help but think of the time that Bruce had been framed for murder. Everyone pitched in, to prove him wrong. Everyone but Steph -- because, see, she was the only one allowed in the Batcave who didn't know its owner's real name. All she knew was that Batman was gone, and no one could say why.

"I don't have a choice in Gotham. But I have a choice, here. And I'm not interested in in being the last person on your call list."

[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 what it was to want to be a part of something and to be treated like a tag along.

"I understand...this changes things. But don't walk away tonight. At least give it some real consideration. Maybe...talk to Tim." She hugged her arms closer still to her chest. "You do have a choice. Please take a little time to make it."

[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.

There was a part of her that wanted to misinterpret what Cassie said. To take the slight against her home and defend Gotham to distraction. But that wasn't what Cassie meant, and Steph damn well knew it.

Still. It was very tempting.

"I've given it consideration. It isn't like I get a whole lot of invites -- I wouldn't throw one out without thinking it the hell over." It was true. If Steph didn't join Young Justice, there probably wasn't going to be any other team that wanted her. She had enough problems getting the people in her own city to work with her!

She'd thought about it, and she just didn't see a way for it to work. Still, Steph sighed, looking off to the side. "I can keep considering it. Before I make any final decisions."

She didn't even mention Tim. The idea of talking to him right now was just a little more than Steph was willing to handle.

[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.

"What you said before...I should have been more honest with you about my feelings for Tim. I wasn't honest about it with anyone. Until Bart asked me outright I couldn't even admit it to myself." She took a breath and forced herself to look at Steph directly. "But my point is I know I have not been a good friend to you but I am your friend. Or at least...I want to be."

[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.

And speaking of the spandex-clad devil. As Steph listened to Cassie, her eyes were trained to the ground. Because what Cassie was talking about, right then, was one of the biggest reasons why Steph was hurting. Steph'd confided in her, and Cassie couldn't do the same. This girl, who'd helped Steph get into the new team, who'd gone out of her way to try and be her friend...

Steph had been starting to trust her. And she didn't trust easily. Now she just felt like an idiot.

"Friends are equals, Cassie," Steph said, finally. "It's a give and take kind of thing. And right now, it feels like you took..."

Steph didn't know how to finish that sentence. Tim? Because, no. They'd broken up, and had been broken up for a long time. Steph's feelings were her own problem. The team? Maybe, because this did change things, but the team had been Cassie's in the first place. She'd just been nice enough to want Steph involved.

"Everything," Steph finished, hoarsely. " And you didn't! Of course you didn't. But right now, that's what it feels like. I don't know how to make it feel any other way."

[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.

She hadn't been trying to take anything from Steph but she had. Steph and Tim had been broken up for a long time but as long as he'd been single there was the possibility they'd get back together. If Steph no longer felt comfortable being on the team, Cassie was responsible there, too. And she'd extended a hand in friendship and then turned it aside. Without any design but intent didn't matter. Steph had given, Cassie had taken and their inequality was glaringly obvious.

"Maybe that's what you have to feel right now," she finally said, dully, and parroting someone but she isn't certain who. She doesn't want it to be true. But she's got plenty of what she wanted in this equation. Steph's anger wasn't irrational in Cassie's eyes. "Whatever you need to do, you should do."

Cassie hoped this was at the least what a friend would say.

[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.

Cassie was gathering her response...that no one had any idea, and everyone except Bart had been caught off-guard...when Steph's question registered.

She immediately cringed. It was a horrible thought. Who would do that? Make an offer out of what appeared to be friendship or kindness or some kind of sisterhood solidarity but was in actuality about...what? Getting rid of the competition? Cassie doesn't want to be that person. She can't be that person!

Can she?

Because it was her plan with Bart just like tripling herself and Kon up with Tim had been her plan with Bart. And while it wasn't at all Bart...

But she was also trying to fix up Paco and Cissie and there was someone else...she had a list...a list of people but they didn't match up and...who was it? She couldn't think straight. But the point was she was playing matchmaker with a lot of people not just Steph, so....

But she had felt threatened by Steph on some level....

"...I don't know," she answered finally. It was almost a whisper and she was perfectly still now.

[busty_robin]

At Cassie's response, Steph just deflated. At least Cassie hadn't lied. But Steph didn't know what to do with all that. She didn't know if she'd been betrayed, or if Cassie's intentions had been in the right place. And Cassie didn't know either.

It was easy to be angry at someone when they had a clear motive. With this, there wasn't an easy answer. Instead, Steph had this whole big mess of panic in her stomach, and no one to direct it at. She leaned against the wall, resting her hands on her thighs and breathing out slowly.

"Okay. I don't know where this leaves us."

Because it wasn't alright. She couldn't say that. But she couldn't write Cassie off, either. Even if she wanted to.

[butimwondergirl]

A cool wind blew over Cassie. The city didn't care about her heartache or Steph's. Cassie had come here to fix this but she realized it was going to take more time. She just hoped it wasn't one of those things that can't be fixed.

Cassie straightened, squaring her shoulders into the wind. "Broken," she said. Their tentative friendship had a number of cracks. "But not irrevocably." Or so she believed and would continue to believe. "I...clearly we both have some things we need to work through." She didn't say think about. Cassie and Steph, and most of their friends, were the type to work an issue more often than think it over. "Take whatever time you need, Steph. But I hope this doesn't leave us here."

[busty_robin]

Steph nodded, making no moves to leave the wall. She did straighten up a bit, resting her hand on her grappling hook. She had to go, soon. Gotham was busy tonight, though not nearly as busy as Steph was pretending.

"I can't promise you anything, Cassie. I know me better than anyone, and I still can't tell you how the hell I'll feel tomorrow. But I appreciate you coming out here."

[butimwondergirl]

Cassie pulled her lips in over her teeth and nodded as well. Words didn't exist that could say how she felt or convey what she wanted Steph to know. She reached out as if to touch the other girl but hesitated. The right thing to do was elusive.

She took a breath and reached closer, grasping Steph's arm and giving a small squeeze. "You know how to find me." She turned and walked quickly to the edge of the roof; blinking back tears she jumped into the night and was gone.