For Tim

[thethirdwonder]

It was less then an hour between the time Cassie had found the brand new heavy bag with her name on it outside the hut and when she'd had it securely chained up in the branches of a near by tree. The accompanying gloves had been promptly tied in place and since then, she'd been pounding away her frustrations on the bag for a good few hours every

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[liestobatman]

"Now that looks like a great idea," Tim says when she catches sight of him, having held back to watch the end of her session before making himself known. He'd come to see her--to talk--but not everyone likes to chat when they're training, and he hesitated to interrupt.

It's nothing new, hesitating around Cassie, and he takes what comfort he can from that. "Are you busy?"

[thethirdwonder]

When Cassie caught sight of Tim, she smiled despite herself. She could say it was still the high from a good work out but she was glad to see Tim. He was new and not part of the complicated thing that was the island. Really...it was a relief. "It's about the only thing keeping me sane at the moment." She admitted as she waved him inside the hut with her.

"Let me change my shirt and I'm all yours," she said in reply to her question, indicating for him to wait in the common room for a moment while she changed. It was only a short time later before she returned after changing and putting her gloves away. "What's up?"

[liestobatman]

Tim still isn't used to the huts, isn't sure if this one is particularly nice, or average, but it strikes him as lived in. Reminds him that his friends have been here for considerable amounts of time. Even Jason says he lives here now, and he's continually struck with evidence to its truth.

His posture rarely anything but, he straightens that much more when she returns, tries to relax all over again and loosen his arms where they're crossed against his chest. "I was hoping I could speak with you about. Kon and I had a fight," he admits. It was more and less than that, but fight is a good word for it, makes him feel a little less...blameless than he'd been feeling at the time. "Did you know about the Batman and Robin game?"

[thethirdwonder]

Watching Tim try to relax reminded of her of home and she bit the inside of her cheek to stop from smiling. But then, mention of Tim and Kon fighting was enough to rid her of the urge completely. When he mentioned the game...Cassie had a bad feeling about this.

"The LEGO one that Kon got last year? Yeah, but I've never played it. I thought it was kind of creepy." She cocked her head. "What did he do?" Kon had to have done something, she doubted Tim would be this agitated over a game.

[liestobatman]

He managed to vent the fear and confusion at Jason, while it was fresh, and he's glad. Cassie could have handled it, wouldn't have held it against him, he's sure, but she hadn't deserved any of it. He wouldn't have liked himself if he'd brought any of it here today.

"I caught him playing it, he was...killing Robin, and his behavior when I reacted poorly made me realize some things. He's so." Tim pauses, because Cassie's missed things too, and he's here today because he's trusting her to still be someone he can talk to. He took that for granted, when they were Young Justice. "He's so different," he settles on, looking down at his folded arms. "I'm different, and I'm worried it's going to hurt you guys." Easier to say that, than admit how much it hurts him too.

[thethirdwonder]

Tim might not have said it, but Cassie heard it anyway. She knew it had hurt the previous Tim and she'd seen it in Dick's eyes every time he pointedly didn't tell her something about the future. "And it hurts you that we're not the versions of ourselves that you know. That Kon hasn't died and I haven't lived through the death of my sister and my best friends." Oh there was more to it then that, Cassie knew, but she figured the basics bared repeating.

"And wait...Kon was sitting there killing Robin in the game? Right in front of you?" Cassie felt her anger return and she was tempted to go back and get her gloves. "What an insensitive jerk!" There were other words she wanted to use but her inner Wonder wouldn't allow it. Then she sighed. "Kon...Kon here is different. For me too." Maybe it was the island. Maybe it wasn't. But Cassie was beginning to feel like she didn't know this Kon at all. Because any Kon she knew would never be such a jerk to his best friend. "Let me guess...he didn't really see anything wrong, did he?"

[liestobatman]

His smile is tight and brief: he wouldn't have come to Cassie without wanting this, wanting her to see through him despite the gap of time and experience. Wanting to know if she still could. "It's not your fault, I don't. He was a jerk, but I was upset for a lot of reasons, and I don't want that to be one of them."

Tim shakes his head. "No, there's just--there's so much he doesn't know, even things he's heard second hand, and just. So much happens, and I just feel stupid and selfish, wishing he'd gone through something horrible for the sake of perspective."

[thethirdwonder]

"So, if I ask, will you tell me what the other reasons are?" Cassie asked boldly, since she knew how Tim liked to keep things close to his chest and she might be good at reading him but not even she was that good. "I promise...no one else has to know Tim." The offer was always on the table but she knew she had to remind him sometimes.

With a sigh, she reached out and touched his arm. "It's not selfish. I'd think you were insane if you didn't, just a little. We're not how you want us to be and it's frustrating. It's frustrating that you and Bart are from so far in the future for the rest of us. It's just something we all have to deal with together. It...it takes a while to get used too." She shrugged slightly, "Sometimes better then others." Though she then gave him a pointed look, "Still doesn't give him an excuse to be a jerk to you though. Don't rationalize that away."

[liestobatman]

Tim makes a face, a grimace that eases into a grudging smile, because she's right. "Don't sell yourself too short," he says, touching the hand at his arm and giving her fingers a light squeeze, "You're not very far off the mark." Not far at all, really, still just as good at helping him find his way through his tangled feelings.

"I know it doesn't excuse it," he says, even if it took Jason to make him admit it to himself. "He...pushed me. I wanted to walk away when he didn't understand, and he just pushed until I was more upset, and that was part of it. Part of the rationale is just." He sighs. "I don't want to be upset with him, I'm just glad he's here."

[thethirdwonder]

Cassie squeezed his arm in reply with a small answering smile. "I"m just glad I can help." It was the genuine truth after all. It was who she was, especially as a Wonder. And it was reassuring to know that she still could, despite all the differences that existed between them now. Especially after how disconnected she'd been feeling of late. This was helping her just as much as him

[liestobatman]

He laughs at that, feeling less like something in him is tearing so much as finally tearing loose. "Sometimes it does, sometimes he's right. I just didn't want to.

"He grows up so much," he sighs. "You all do, though I think you never had as far to go as the rest of us," at the very least, she's managed to gain the experience here, too, and he wonders if he'll have to be ready for that. To lose people again, as suddenly and unfairly as they had at home.

He really doesn't want to think about it right now. "You two aren't as...close as I'd expected," he hazards, wondering if Cassie needs this talk as much as he does.

[thethirdwonder]

Sometimes Kon was right. Painfully right. But Cassie wasn't in a frame of mind at the moment to admit that. His last painful truths was what got her in the current mess she was in.

Which was good because Tim rendered her speechless for a moment, her eyes wide as she thought about that. Funny, she never felt very grown up. She at least felt Cissie had her beat there, even when they were Young Justice. But then, maybe that's why Cissie had had the strength to leave. "I don't feel very grown up. I wish I did." Maybe things would make sense for a change.

At his observation, Cassie pointedly looked away to hide the pain in her eyes. It wasn't so much that she didn't want to share with Tim, it was just reflex from trying to be strong all the time. "A lot has happened while we've been here." She said simply, more from not knowing how to say it then not wanting too. "We've both made a lot of mistakes that I don't think we're going to recover from." It was her fear after all, that she'd finally lost him.

[liestobatman]

"Hey," he says carefully, letting the moment stretch and strain before he stops hesitating, lifts her hand from his arm and holds it in his own. It's strange, to not have his gauntlets on, to be touching skin instead of nomex to a metal cuff, but he'll adapt to that too.

"I don't always feel very grown up either, but sometimes it's for the best, right? We didn't form Young Justice because we wanted to be the new Justice League." His smile is a bit strained, thawing out as he hears himself say it and...remembers.

He's been doing too much on his own lately, trying to find himself without Bruce when he'd been someone without Bruce for years. Someone with his friends. "Are you okay, not recovering from them?"

[thethirdwonder]

Her cuffs. She hadn't even thought about them for a long time, since she hadn't worn them since her arrival. But even though she was used to being out of uniform with her friends, holding his hand still felt nice. She squeezed it with a small fleeting smile.

A smile that returns when he mentions Young Justice. "We were so young then. No, we weren't trying to be the Justice League but I don't think any of us quite knew what we were getting into." She didn't, couldn't, regret it but it was true. "Sure was less complicated though wasn't it?" When they had voted for a leader like a new class president and Cassie still wondered if they'd been right.

Cassie knew that feeling, but it had been here on the island. Donna being around for a while had helped and Cissie made things better now but she was still figuring it out. Tim...Tim really helped and she was very glad he was here. Cissie was her best friend but Tim understood. She paused for a long moment before looking back at him. "Would you hold it against me if I said...if I said I

[liestobatman]

Tim looks at her hand in his and doesn't think about that dinner, doesn't think about her finding him in the cemetery when he'd set off on his own, cut himself off from everyone and--and resented her for trying, after they'd been on such poor terms.

He doesn't want to remember that, wonders why he couldn't be like them, cut off from that future. He wonders if Bart feels it too, and that--helps, some. "I couldn't, even if I wanted to," he says. "We'll just...help each other through it, like old times."

[thethirdwonder]

"I know. Thank you." Ignoring how watery her eyes got for just a split second, Cassie smiled warmly at Tim. She wondered how their conversation had gone from him venting about Kon to him comforting her about the same but...it was what they both needed. "I'm really glad you're here, Tim," she said before using their joined hands to pull him into a hug.