Title: Maybe We'll Be Worth A Try
Rating: K+
Word Count: 1,900+
Characters: Conner/Cassie
Summary: Cassie and M'gann couldn't be more different from each other if they tried.
Prompt: #88: better
Other Inspirations: "All You Wanted" by Michelle Branch
Note: I adore this couple from the comics, and am praying for anything—interaction, friendship, romance?—between them on the show. But gah, I cannot for the life of me get their characterizations right. And frankly, I only like the beginning part of this but forced myself to finish so it'd be out of my system. This fic is just all sorts of awful, and I promise I'll write a better one of them in the near future…
Also, was I the only one who was kind of freaked out by M'gann towards the end of "Earthlings"?
Maybe We'll Be Worth A Try
He honestly didn't think anyone would be up this early in the morning, or at least didn't think they'd be training this early, but he hears the soft grunts and the muted thuds of someone punching a bag over and over again coming from the gym. He does consider turning back around and going somewhere else.
(He's admittedly better around others now, but when he's in a mood…)
But surprisingly he doesn't stop himself from walking in.
In the middle of the mats at the center of the large room is a girl with a head of golden blonde hair, and she's leaving dents in a punching bag dangling from the ceiling by a chain. He can't see her face, but he knows this is Cassie. She's the only blonde one on the Team right now and the only girl he knows that small. And frankly, the only one he knows other than himself that can bruise a bag like that.
Cassie throws a half-hearted punch, though with noticeably more effort behind it than the other ones, and he hears the metal chain rip as the punching bag flies across the air and hits the mats, sliding almost halfway across the room from where she's standing.
"Woops."
He laughs. (What? That was kind of funny.)
She gasps a little and turns around to face him, and yeah, he sort of forgot that she didn't know he was there.
"Sorry," he mumbles. "I didn't mean to scare you or anything."
"Conner," she breathes. He hears her heartbeat racing, blood rushing through her veins, and wonders if he should be concerned about her health or something. She looks fine, and he doubts an Amazon will suffer from high blood pressure or something, but still. "No! No, um, it's alright." She takes her lower lip between her teeth. "Um, did you see—?"
"I only walked in a minute ago." She nods once and he points to the bag across the room. "Nice punch."
She giggles, albeit nervously, and he frowns.
She's always been uncomfortable around him (he can hear all of the signs), ever since he met her that past Thanksgiving at the Kent Farm. He and Clark are pretty good right now, which he honestly thinks has a lot to do with the fact that Jon and Martha and especially Kara all adore him. But apparently Diana is close with Clark and therefore the Kent family, and has been invited to family stuff for a while now.
Anyway, that Thanksgiving Diana brought Cassie along to introduce her. Actually, Kara had told him Diana brought Cassie specifically to meet him, because they'd be teammates and Diana wanted Cassie to be comfortable with at least one person.
Obviously this wasn't the case, but whatever. Cassie's pretty hilarious and social with everyone other than him, so she never really had trouble fitting in to begin with.
"What're you doing up?" he asks. He doesn't usually like the pry, because it's their business and he sometimes hates it when people do it to him, but he's just making conversation.
"I couldn't sleep," she admits. "I haven't been sleeping well since New Year's, actually."
He blinks. That was almost two weeks ago. "Why not?"
"I… Okay, you're going to think this is really lame or something…"
He shrugs (what? He likes being honest) and she actually giggles again. No one's ever really found his bluntness amusing, so that's kind of awesome. Then her giggle dies down and she's just looking at him, and he hears her heart beating pretty quickly as she confesses, "I'm scared."
That's kind of surprising, actually. It's hard for him to imagine her being scared of anything. She's an Amazon. "Scared of what?"
"Do remember that clip that G. Gordon Godfrey kept playing on the news?" He nods, clenching his teeth a little. God, he hates that guy. But then he blinks and looks at her again, because he can kind of tell where this is going. That was her mission with Barbara, after all, and he remembers that look on her face when they got back. "What if he hadn't been a robot?"
"Cassie…"
"Tseng could've been killed because I wasn't fast enough," she interrupts. "It just… It just sucks."
He chuckles a kind of hollow chuckle, because yeah, they're on the exact same page. He's been thinking that exact same way about a lot of things lately. Then he remembers something and gives this small grin as he tells her, "Being scared isn't lame."
"It sure feels like it."
"If you're beating yourself up over wanting to save everyone, that's kind of lame."
She just stares at him for a minute and then he starts feeling bad for being harsh. He didn't really mean for it to come out like that. He just thinks that she's got no reason to feel bad about wanting to be the best she can be, right? She's obviously got a big heart. If anything, that's what they all need right now.
(And, alright, he kind of needs that right now.)
"Look, I'm…"
"Don't apologize." She's smiling when he looks at her. "You're right. I am being lame, and stupid. It's just hard, you know? Not having control over something."
He nods because he really doesn't know what to say to that. Actually, that's a lie. He knows exactly what to say to that. He knows what it's like not to have control, maybe better than any of them. But he doesn't know how to put that into words, which sucks, because he thinks maybe Cassie really needs to hear something, anything, right now.
But as he opens his mouth to speak, a loud noise cuts him off, and it's not until he sees Cassie laughing from behind her hand does he realize that it was his stomach growling.
"Hungry?" she teases.
"Yeah, I guess so," he says, scratching the back of his neck. "You wouldn't happen to…"
"I'm kind of terrible in the kitchen," she confesses. "But if you want to go out to eat, I could help you there."
"Nothing here would be open this early."
"Who said anything about eating around here?" she asks, a fiery glint her eyes. "You've got the Supercycle and I can fly. If nothing local is open, we can find something."
He grins.
Well, if they've got time to kill…
... ...
They find a diner in the middle of some town he doesn't know (whatever, if they really do get lost—which they won't—then Cassie knows the location of all the zeta tubs transporters in the country. Apparently Diana had her memorize them) after what feels like an hour of flying, which, yes, did include a little bit of racing and aerial tricks along the way.
What? It was fun.
Anyway, they're not in civvies and the Team's a lot more public lately, so people pretty much recognize them right away. They lucked out and happened upon a place where everyone adores them and the League. He knows there's a growing majority that hates heroes right now, so honestly, a few photos and autographs before actually being seated is way better than having people heckle you.
Cassie orders everything to go, and when he asks why, she arches an eyebrow and asks, "Have you ever had a picnic in the sky?"
"No…"
"Then that's why."
He just raises his eyebrows and shrugs, paying for their meal and giving extra in tip when they give them an extra container full of bacon and sausage and say it's for Wolf.
... ...
They end up in Metropolis, sitting on the top of the Daily Planet with their food between them and the view of the snow-covered cityscape beneath them. He's wearing a thermal long-sleeve so he's fine, but Cassie's doesn't even have sleeves. She claims she's fine, but he doesn't miss the way she sighs in relief when Wolf plops himself beside her.
Cassie's telling him about how she first became a sidekick, how she saw Wonder Woman fighting and just threw on a wig and her homemade costume and went out there, not knowing what to do.
"But we made the most amazing duo! We barely had to say anything to each other," Cassie gushes, eyes twinkling. "She made me fall in love with crime-fighting. She totally saved me, too."
"I thought you were trying to save her?" he questions, eyebrow rising.
"I meant metaphorically," Cassie explains. "If I hadn't gone out there and fought, I'd still be back home and going to school and doing typical schoolgirl stuff."
"You don't want a normal life?"
She looks at him like he's crazy. "No!" she laughs. "I love this life! I mean, don't you?"
He shrugs. He supposes he's never thought about it since he's just always had this life, and because he spent a lot of time with Megan, who was fascinated with the average Earthling lifestyles. He just sort of figured they all craved it, but now that he thinks about it, he does remember how the others on the Team—the old Team, their Team—always craved missions and training and everything of the like.
And yeah, he isn't such a big fan of school, or at least he wasn't when he still went to one. It was too slow and mundane. Megan loved it, of course, and she was probably what made it bearable for him.
"Well, I do," she states matter-of-factly. "It's much better than the everyday stuff. I mean, look where we're eating breakfast! A few months ago, I wouldn't have believed it."
"Neither would I."
He watches Cassie snap her head around and he follows his gaze to see…
"Gosh, Clark, don't scare me like that!" Cassie exclaims, flying over to punch him half-heartedly in his shoulder.
Conner gets up as Clark laughs and pushes her fist away. "Shouldn't you two be at the Cave?"
"We just went out for breakfast. Relax!"
Clark laughs again, and Conner walks over to him as Cassie turns back to Wolf and plucks a few more bacon strips from the container to feed to him. Clark throws up an eyebrow and Conner looks away because, yeah, he kind of tells Clark most things now. Clark knows about M'gann and the breakup, and Conner's highly aware of what this looks like.
And no, he doesn't think he's over M'gann, but Cassie…
Cassie's different. Actually, Cassie and M'gann couldn't be more different from each other if they tried. This is literally the first time they've hung out together, ever, other than Thanksgiving, and he isn't ignoring the fact they have things in common. It's just that he knows she also has a big heart (he can tell), just like M'gann had, and with M'gann acting the way she's acting…
Look, he knows Cassie's got all positive energy, and he knows she's got a fighting spirit. But he just doesn't want to get close to her, only to have to watch her get consumed by her own power like M'gann. He's already let enough friends slip away.
Clark brings him out of his thoughts as he places a hand on his shoulder, smiling as Cassie ruffles Wolf's fur and scratches the spot behind his ears that always makes his tail wag.
Conner grins at the scene, and he can't just think (hope) that maybe…
Maybe Cassie will be better at holding on than the others were.
"How are you feeling?" Clark asks, and Conner's not entirely sure if he's asking about the whole M'gann thing or just in general or what.
But Cassie laughs and looks over her shoulder, meeting his eyes and smiling at him, and the, "Better," that comes out of his mouth feels like a true enough answer for any of those questions.