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smoke and mirrors
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They try their best to fit in with each other. [jasoncassie]
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She doesn't notice it at first. They're beating up the filth of Gotham, leaving them bloody and bruised, but every time she's about to take a hit, nasty or not, he'll either take it for her, push her out of the way, or beat the hell out of the thug before he can land a hand on her.
But fight after fight, night after night, she's been noticing that she's not getting as bruised up as she used to, and he's getting blue and black.
So Cassandra decides to confront him about it.
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Cassandra knocks on his door. No response.
She knocks again, a little harder. Silence.
Finally, she bangs on the door with her first, wood threatening to splinter.
She hears an angry, "What the fu-", before a crash and a groan.
"Jason, open up!" she yells, knocking again. She's afraid she might break the door if she knocks again, but Jason Todd answers in nothing but his boxers.
She tries very seriously not to look at his abs, his particulary well defined abs at that, and instead focus on the multi-colored bruises around his body. "It's three a.m." he groans, leaning on the door frame. She allows herself in and settles herself on the couch.
Cassandra looks at him again, and she hopes it's dark enough in the apartment so that he won't notice her blush. "What is it?" he asks, pouring himself a glass of cold coffee. "Stop it." she says firmly, standing up.
"Stop what?" he asks, downing the entire glass in one gulp.
"Stop taking my hits for me." she hisses, mentally berating herself for looking at his abs again. "What are you talking about?" he says, his eyes narrowing. "These-" she points at all of his bruises, "should be on me. But they're not. Because you have some hero complex or something."
"I'm don't know what you're talking about," he lies smoothly, pouring himself another glass of coffee.
"Bullshit!" she yells a bit too loudly.
"Even if it was true, why do you care?" he asks, ruffling his hair unconsciously. She goes silent for what feels like a moment too long, and he finally says, "Just go home, Cassie." He's walking away, back to his bedroom, and she says, "No."
He turns around and gets very close to her. She can feel his coffee-scented breath on her forehead, and she suddenly realizes that she's still in her nightshirt and nothing else, and he's very, very, close to her body.
"I said go home, Baby Bat," he snarls.
"No."
Her voice seems to come out weaker than before, a squeak that comes out of her lips as she continues to stare at his stupid, but kinda handsome face that she wants to kiss and-
It starts to rain. "I can't go home now. It's raining," she quickly says, as Jason scoffs in disbelief. He settles himself down on the sofa, and so does she. They sit together for a while, Jason occasionally leaning on her head in bouts of sleep and then quickly readjusting himself. She can only fumble with the hem of her nightshirt. "Does he know you're here?" he asks after a while. Probably, she thinks, since Batman is all-knowing. But she breathes a "no", and he seems to relax a bit.
"Wanna go to bed?" he asks, standing up and offering her a hand. She takes it, and they walk silently to his large mattress. Jason practically falls into the bed and throws a thin sheet over himself. She climbs in after him, and Jason is quickly falling asleep.
A long moment passes. The rain continues to patter on the roof. Crickets chirp in the distance. There's a slight wind that howls at the window.
"I'm sorry for yelling," she says softly, just before he falls into a deep slumber.
"Fuck, Cassie, I was almost asleep," he groans, facing towards her.
"I was only trying to apologize," says Cassandra, in a tone of voice she knows will drive him crazy.
"I'm sorry for hurting your feelings." says the raven-haired male, voice dripping with sarcasm.
Cassandra giggles, it's something she shouldn't do, but she's not going to be Cassandra Cain around Jason, she'll be his Baby Bat, his Cassie.
"I'm cold," she whines, and Jason does something like a "hn" groaning sound. He raises one arm and mumbles, "Com' 'n, Cass." She moves into his embrace, and she hugs his well-toned body, pressing her head to his chest. She's still dressed in her nightshirt and a thin one at that, but he's half-asleep, so she moves in closer, resting her head in between the crook of his chin and collarbone.
They lay there like that for a while, before she falls asleep in his warmth.
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note: updated on 1/14/19 to iron out some kinks.