Last Minute
Notes: Batfamily Christmas Exchange. For webofdreams89 who asked for Steph and Cass against the world. Sorry this isn't more of that, my brain got stuck on fluff and sappiness. I hope you enjoy this, and that it does some justice to the prompt.
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They'd done movies and dinner. Patrol dates and practice dates. They've even done the unexpected saving thing that seems to come with wearing a mask and being interested in someone else who wore a mask. Which was great, really, it was. Stephanie just didn't want that to be all they did.
Sappy domestic things, according to Tim. Though Steph doesn't think there's much that can be called sappy in the teeming mass of people flooding the mall in front of them.
"This is a battle," Cass states like she's just now figured out the answer to a tricky puzzle after months of long study.
"No," Steph corrects with a patience that she's willing to admit is more than a little bit manic. The holiday spirit has infected everyone, and she knows she's not immune to it at all. "This is Christmas shopping."
Two days before the holiday itself, and in Gotham to boot. Steph knows that Cass isn't all that far off from the mark. The mall is packed and the air is downright bloodthirsty even to someone who can't read people the way Cass can. Tim had given her a hard time over inviting Cass out to it. He didn't think beating back the masses was worthy of being called a date, but only because he seems to have forgotten what half of their own dates actually consisted of.
Steph gives Cass a crooked grin that's probably looks closer to something Joker gas inspired than genuine goodwill to all mankind. She holds up a list, nothing complicated though she's confident Cass could handle it now, and asks, "Are you ready to shop?"
The arched eyebrow she gets in response speaks loudly, and Steph feels a little thrill. She got it right, and Tim can eat his doubts. Cass is going to love this.
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"We'll hurt them," Cass points out when they come across the knot of snarling and confused people trying to maneuver in the tight spaces of the makeup and perfume counters. She's not concerned with hurting people though, even civilians not doing anything wrong. Which is the right mindset to be in for shopping right now.
Someone is going to get hurt before the day is over and Steph knows it's not going to be one of them.
Steph can clearly see their objective in the middle of the mess. The counter of men's cologne and aftershave is unmanned. Filled with towers of box sets that are slowly getting smaller as harried people grab gifts and flee.
"Injuries are acceptable as long as there's no blood or broken bones," Steph points to a couple of arguing women in time for the smaller woman to punch the other in the kidneys and gain the prize they'd both been fighting over. "At this time of the year any other consideration is useless. Think we can get two boxes?"
"I can," the small smirk that crosses Cass' face is an answer and a challenge. "Can you?"
"Oh, it's so on!" Steph moves before either of them can say anything else. Taking the small chance given to get a head start because there is no such thing as cheating in the games they play. Especially not when Cass normally has all the advantages.
She slides between two families trying to sort out which kids are which. Feeling confident from the start for once. For all her skill, Cass isn't used to moving with a crowd. Hasn't ever had to deal with the particular insanity that comes two days before Christmas and a limited stock of gifts dwindling fast.
An elbow comes flying out of nowhere and Steph goes under the harried woman trying to desperately reach over a man to get something. Steph doesn't even slow as she winds through the crowd toward her objective throwing a few elbows and shoves herself when the people around her stop moving. She can't see Cass anywhere but she doesn't let that stop her. It's an admittedly small advantage she has and she can't let it go to waste after all.
She shoves her way through a dense line of people impatiently waiting to be wrung out and breaks into a bubble of emptiness that lasts long enough for her to see her goal. Steph gets winged in the head by something hard when she's in the last stretch. The hit makes her stagger into an empty display rack that screeches as it moves, and lists dangerously to the left.
Steph doesn't pay any attention to if it falls all the way over or not when she rebounds off of it. She lunges forward toward a gap and the counter is right there... and her foot is sliding too far out. Aided by someone else. She yelps as Cass comes up out of her blind spot and kicks her foot even further out.
"No!" Steph lunges forward again. Throwing her weight in the opposite direction of where she wants to fall. Cass grunts as the shift means Steph is now falling on her. Stephanie grins and latches onto the other woman. "If I'm going down, you're coming with me!"
Which would sound better if Cass actually did go down under her weight. Or even made any kind of move to show that she's burdened at all by Steph hanging off her back. Even when Steph lets go and just hangs all her dead weight off of Cass.
"Nooooo!" Steph whines as Cass easily, insultingly so, walked the last few steps to the counter and plucks up one box out of the mess that's been left behind by shoppers. "So not fair..."
Cass' snort gets lost under the loudness of the people around them, but Steph can feel it. "Which?"
Steph pulls herself up instead of getting her feet under her again. Wrapping her legs around Cass for enough leverage to look over her shoulders at the choices left to them. Cass has something that looks better than decent from what Steph knows. It's not Axe, which is all that really matters for decent gifts.
"Not this," Steph says and plucks the box away, because the best part of shopping two days before Christmas is the fact that she can get away with not having to work to get decent anything. "We're looking for something terrible, but not awful."
She can't see it from her position on Cass' back, but Steph can tell the other woman's face is scrunched up just from the tension in her shoulders. Her question obvious from that and because Steph knows her. Steph points at two different boxes and grins. One is dented and the cardboard nearly falling apart from being thrown around though the two bottles inside are still intact. The other is a single bottle inside a gaudily colored box that promises the scent smells just like Christmas. If Christmas smells like grinning gingerbread men and dancing polar bears then Steph would believe it.
"We get these ones because then they have to like it," Steph explains and doesn't bother getting down when Cass picks them up. If Cass wants her down she'll let Steph know.
"They won't," Cass turns and the crowd seems to actually melt back a little from her. Whether it's because of the fact that Steph is still on her back or something else is hard to tell though. "Like it, I mean. They won't like it."
"I know," Steph smiles brightly at a few sour looks that come their way, and winks at an older woman who looks like she's bitten into something bitter. "That's the best part. They'll have to pretend to like because that's what the holiday's all about!"
Cass hums in amusement and hooks an arm under one of Steph's legs. Shifting her slightly until they're both comfortable enough for the long wait in line.
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The line leads them past several tables of random gifts, and Steph adds five more gifts to their pile before they reach the register. It's cheating a bit, but even extended holiday hours can only do so much to alleviate the rush of people buying. There's still more to their list, but she's confident that they can knock all the gifts out in one or two more stores.
Cass punches someone in the face at Hot Topic. Not hard or with enough force to break anything, and Steph wishes she had a hand free to film it but she needs both hands to snatch the last exploding cat shirt off the shelf before anyone else can get their hands on it. She flips the shirt over her arm with the other shirts of bad quotes and old memes and steps back from the guy who'd apparently been trying to snag her haul from her.
"Tim?" Cass questions after she's finished silently staring down the guy she hit. He'd huffed and made vaguely threatening noises that faded the longer Cass didn't blink. Shrinking in on himself until he slowly backed away. Swallowed up in the crowd that made moving in the store nearly impossible.
Steph's grin feels feral to her as she lightly pats the newest shirt. The cat is a ginger colored tabby and she can imagine the slight twitch Tim's face will make as he tries to find something nice to say about it. "I could have gotten him some hair gel, but I think Dick's been threatening to set his product on fire if he doesn't start using it all up. What'd you find?"
Cass presents a small black compact and Steph squints at it for a minute before the writing on the sticker starts making sense. "Hair chalk? For who?"
Three more compacts appear with the first one. Each a different neon color and Cass' grin is savage, "Everyone."
People look over when Steph starts to cackle, but none of them bat an eye when she slings a more than companionable arm around Cass. "Now you're getting it."
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They manage to hit the Hickory Farms booth in a rare lull and that finishes up Steph's list. Food qualifies as more than decent, but the rest of the list are for people that are more than acquaintances but not quite friends. People a year away from being granted the privilege of getting awful gifts.
The photo booth that catches Steph's eye when they turn is new. There's always been one in the mall, but Steph's never paid the old one much attention before. Never had a reason to use it, and had steered clear of the thing because it was usually surrounded by loud pre-teen girls. It's out of the main throughway and no one is paying it any attention now though.
"We need picture evidence of this victory," Steph states and leads the way to the booth.
"Cats!" Steph laughs as she cycles through the options on the brand new, and barely smudged screen. Cass grimaces a little over her shoulder but says nothing. "Fine, no cats Ms. Grinch, but I'm getting those reindeer."
Steph cycles through the different backgrounds and filters again. Choosing things at random or based off of the slight shifts in Cass she can see on the screen. It's almost an art form, translating each expression the other woman has and it's one that Steph is starting to excel at.
"There!" Steph selects the last option with a flourish and sits back on the bench with Cass.
The bags are shoved neatly under them and they have the whole booth to move around in, but they lean against each other with smiles as the countdown begins. Cass' hand is warm and firm against her side as the picture is taken. The two of them against a cartoony sky background and overlaid with a filter of purple and yellow sparkles.
The next one is busy with every holiday themed option Steph could select, and the picture for that probably isn't very flattering for Steph. Cass had started laughing at it the second a floppy little elf had dangles from cartoon garland between them and Steph couldn't help but join in. Louder and long enough that she misses the preview of the picture.
"We can use that one in a Christmas card," Steph says when she gets her breath back. She doesn't know who they're going to give a card to this late, but the thought that they could makes her happier than it probably should.
"Really?" Cass asks with hint of a smirk as the last countdown comes up. It's pink and frilly, a heart frame cutting off everything else but the two of them. "This will be for February then?"
"Nah, this is for every day," she doesn't have to move very far to get her other arm around Cass and pull her in for a soft kiss. Cass moves easily to meet her. It's not their first kiss, or even their hundredth, but Steph's heart still speeds up like it is.
The sound of the photos being printed out parts them reluctantly. Cass traces a looping line across her cheek. Her voice is fond and gentle, "Sap."
"You love it," Steph can't resist leaning in to place a loud, smacking peck on Cass' cheek. It makes her smile deepen into something that creases he face, and makes her eyes scrunch up slightly.
The bags weigh heavily when she picks them all up in one hand, and the crowd isn't as thick as it had been before. People are beginning to trickle out. The shopping rush dying down as stock dwindled and stomachs grew empty.
"Dinner," Cass catches Steph's free hand and laces their fingers together. "Lou's?"
"Hm, pizza. Yeah that sounds great," "It's your turn to buy."
Last minute Christmas shopping and pizza. Not a bad end at all for the day and perfect as far as she was concerned.
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