An Afternoon In A Single Dorm

Pairing: Jaime Reyes and Cassie Sandsmark

Word Count: 1290

Universe: Future canonverse

A/n: Guess who's getting back into writing for Young Justice? Anyway, if you like it, feel free to review


If he had to be honest about her place, Jaime admitted that it was smaller than he originally thought. There wasn't much of an explanation for it, but part of him had Cassie pinned as the kind of girl who needed a lot of space in order to live comfortably.

But still, as Jaime laid on the bed in Cassie's single dormitory, he did figure why Cassie seemed to like the place a lot. The privacy was a plus, and the place had some sort of cozy charm to it in the aura it projected.

It was in the midst of the afternoon when Jaime arrived to Cassie's dorm, and just now, the sun in the sky was starting to set, putting a light pink hue in the atmosphere over the Chicago skyline.

Jaime laid on her bed with his hands behind his head, his mind in a pleasant state of peace. But in a contrast, Cassie had moved from her previous position of snuggling on Jaime's chest to sit at the foot of her bed, playing around with one of those old film cameras that all the cool and hip kids seemed to be using these days.

"What are you doing?" Jaime asked.

"Loading film," Cassie explained, putting a new unexposed roll of photographic material into her rangefinder and loading it with ease. She was getting much better at putting film inside her cameras without accidentally breaking the damn thing with her strength. Superstrength did have its downsides every once in a while. "The sunset's perfect outside, and for once, I'm gonna get a good photo of it with the right film speed."

Jaime rolled his eyes. By now, he was very used to Cassie's little photography habit. Actually, it was more than just a 'little habit,' considering what university courses she took. Cassie had a new tendency to keep a camera on her, whether it be analogue or digital, and snap photos wherever she went on her daily civilian routine. Whether she and Jaime were taking a walk together down the Chicago waterfront, or even when she was just lounging in her dorm. (Though, she would never take photos in the Watchtower or Hall Of Justice.)

With Cassie's camera loaded, she got off the bed and Jaime watched her as she walked up to her window, pointed her camera lens, and looked through the viewfinder. She adjusted the lens as so, doing her best to get the photo in focus before eventually pushing down on the shutter button.

"You're such a shutter bug," commented Jaime, the grin on his face either coming from his state of relaxation or amusement.

"That's coming from an actual bug," Cassie brought up, which was partially true. "Actually, alien bug would be the proper term, right?"

Jaime shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe, whatever floats your boat, really."

Cassie advanced the film with the camera's lever and focused the lens once more, taking yet another shot. The second she felt satisfied with her few shots, she sat back down on the edge of her bed.

"Be honest," started Jaime.

Cassie turned her head to him with her attention caught, "Yeah?"

He turned to face her on his side and knelt his head on his hand and his elbow on the mattress, "How are you hiding your whole second job from everyone else living in this dorm?"

In all truthfulness, Cassie hadn't thought of it too much ever since she moved into her dormitory. She didn't do too much to hide differentiate her civilian identity from her superhero one. Sure, she took a note from Superman, and most recently, Kaldur, and tried the whole glasses-with-civvies trick. (Wonder Woman told her Superman's trick, and she swore to not tell anyone else.) But aside from that, she didn't do much else to keep her secondary career outside of photography away from prying eyes.

So, since Jaime requested for her to be honest, Cassie could only shrug, "Not much, really. Most people don't expect much from a photography major, to be honest, so I don't think anyone would suspect I'm secretly 'the blonde wonder.'"

Jaime raised an eyebrow.

"I overheard a few students in the library gossiping about the league and I think they were referring to me when they said that," Cassie explained quickly.

He understood with a quick nod, "Oh, okay."

Cassie continued her response, "But aside from that, I guess all I really do is not try to appear on live television too much. And of course…" She reached over to her night-stand and grabbed the pair of glasses on the top, "… these tend to help out." She put the thick rimmed frames over her eyes and faced him, "How do I look?"

Jaime replied both truthfully and amusedly, "Like a dork."

Cassie rolled her eyes, "You're a dork." With the camera still in her hands, Cassie raised it up to her eyes and pointed it to Jaime, "Hey, smile."

Jaime gave a modest expression as Cassie hit the shutter button.

"You know, I'm not against you using film," Jaime started, Cassie putting her camera down and now snuggling back onto the bed as he spoke. "But if you ever take a bad photo of me, think you can burn it?"

"That'd be a waste of film," Cassie reasoned, her voice originally blunt, but soon smoothing down into a more friendly tone. "And a waste of a good picture."

She cuddled against him like most couples did, sharing the edge of the pillow with him. She had gotten used to such a small dorm, and so far, the fact that it was so small only meant that staying close to her lover whenever he visited was a must.

But even if the room was larger, she would still probably cuddle with him anyway. He had this odd sort of warmth to him, even in the cold of the night. And over time, Cassie had soon learned how much of a teddy bear Jaime Reyes could be.

"How much longer can you stay?" Cassie asked, facing him and looking straight into his calming brown eyes.

Jaime shrugged his shoulders and checked the time on his phone briefly, "I should zeta back to New York eventually, I've got a class tomorrow."

"Can't you stay here and just zeta in the morning?" Cassie insisted, putting on her puppy dog eyes to the best of her abilities despite the fact that she was now in college.

Jaime shook his head, "My roommates don't know I'm Blue Beetle, and I've been arriving home in the morning too much for them to think not think that I've been up to sketchy stuff. I gotta be honest, I'm a bit sketchy looking."

The people he shared a flat with would have probably been okay with their roommate being a superhero with an alien scarab fused to his spine, but Jaime knew it was best to limit who in particular learned of his secondary job.

"Sorry, Cass," Jaime apologized sincerely, planting a kiss on the top of her forehead. "But I could stay for another hour or two."

At first, Cassie seemed a little saddened, but suddenly, a suggestive smirk took her face before she grasped Jaime's collar, "Then lets make the most of it."

Jaime did his best to smile in response and ignore the internal screaming the scarab was making at the moment.

The Wonder Girl attempts assault, Jaime Reyes! You must attack!

'Quiet down, ese. I haven't seen her in a while.'

"Get over here, Hunk Beetle."


Disclaimer: I do not own a thing