I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters.
Complicated
Cassius watched as Tim helped Cassandra up, smiling somewhere between shy and relieved. They'd been fighting Bane's cartel, again, and Cassandra had volunteered to fight Bane. Not a hard task for her, but not one she generally walked away from without getting hit. It was Bane, after all. She hadn't been hurt, of course, but Tim, and the gigantic crush he was developing for her, couldn't help but worry. Cassius rolled his eyes as Tim stumbled over his words, instead going to help Rose, Batgirl, and Cassandra Sandsmark, hero name Wonder Girl restrain the cartel thugs.
"Seriously Bane," Cassius said as he was cuffing him. "How many times do we have to go through this song and dance?"
"At least as many times as I get payed to do it," Bane said.
"Oh, now Bane, you know I have to extract that information from you now," Cassius said, setting him on his knees. "What's it gonna be this time. Truth serum, or a one-on-one match?"
"Neither, niño," Bane smiled. "I'll tell you, free of charge. You see, he payed for my employment, but not my silence."
"Who's he? "Cassius asked.
"El fantasma blanco," Bane grinned.
"El what now?" Wonder Girl asked.
"The White Ghost," Cassius said. "Nemesis."
"Sí, niño," Bane grinned. "Nemesis."
"Where is he?" Cassius asked.
"I don't know," Bane said. "He is a ghost. He dropped off money and instructions without anyone ever knowing he was there."
Cassius nodded and stood, raising a hand to his ear. "We're pulling out, now."
"What's going on?" Nightwing, the current leader ever since Kaldur stepped down after Tula's death, asked.
"Bane says he was hired by Nemesis," Cassius said.
"Understood," Nightwing said. "Everyone pull out."
They all did as instructed, knocking Bane and his cartel out before loading them on the Bio-Ship, then flew them to Belle Reve before returning to the Cave. Cassius, as the temporary leader of the squad sent to deal with Bane, went to debrief Nightwing and Batman. Once he was finished, he left the briefing room, finding Tim and Cassandra together in the kitchen, making a snack together, as they tended to do from time to time. He left them to it, deciding he'd live without grabbing a bite to eat at the moment. He was glad she had finally found someone that might, possibly, maybe be able to win her over. He wasn't going to risk it.
Cassius read through the list of their newest member, Jaime Reyes's abilities. He had a machine called a scarab attached to his back, which looked about like its name would suggest. It was blue, and when activated, spread blue and black armor over his body, which could then generate basically any kind of weapon Jaime could imagine, from a laser cannon, to a blade, a sonic cannon, a flame thrower, or a giant stable gun. If Jaime could imagine it, the armor could make it.
"Well, I'm not fighting him," Cassius said flatly, passing the list to Nightwing, who laughed.
"That's fair," Nightwing nodded. "We'll figure something out."
Cassius nodded. "Yeah, we'll just have you train him."
Nightwing chuckled. "Suit yourself. So, it's the girls' first mission without you. You worried?"
"Oh, I'm not worried about Cassandra and Rose," Cassius snorted. "They can both handle themselves, and they're taking the entire team, so the Shadows shouldn't try anything, and if they do, I've got Superbike to get me there. No, the only person I'm worried about is whoever has to try and fight Cassandra and Rose."
"You hide it well," Nightwing said.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Cassius said.
Just then, they stepped into the hangar to see the Team off, arriving just in time to see Tim trying desperately to flirt with Cassandra, doing a fairly bad job at it, but Cassandra didn't seem to mind. She was smiling pleasantly, using sign language to talk to him, since Tim still hadn't gotten the hang of figuring out what she was trying to say with her extremely limited vocabulary and still shaky ability to even say the words she knew.
"Hey...um...do you want to go see a movie after the mission?" Tim asked after a minute. "Like at an actual movie theater?"
Cassandra smiled brightly and nodded just as Megan, the leader for the mission, called for everyone to load up. Cassandra ran over to Cassius first, giving him a hug, then signed, "Do you want to come see a movie later?"
Cassius shook his head. "I have something I need to take care of. You go ahead and have fun, though. Just be careful."
Cassandra nodded. "Yes."
"Good luck," Cassius smiled, hugging her then letting her run to the Bio-Ship and climb on before Megan left the hangar.
"You're going to let him steal her, aren't you?" Nightwing asked.
"It's not stealing," Cassius said. "I've told you, time and again, I don't feel that way about them."
"Mhm, sure you don't," Nightwing smirked. "Come on. Let's go and find our fantasma blanco."
"Christ I hope he's face-down in a ditch somewhere," Cassius grumbled as they headed for the briefing room.
"Somehow, I doubt that's the case," Nightwing said.
"You know, surprisingly, so do I," Cassius said.
Cassius watched Cassandra's eyes light up in joy as she opened his gift to her, pulling out a small bracelet with Jason and Tula's pictures on a pair of beads on it. She wouldn't be able to wear it on missions, but she could wear it in between them just fine. She hugged him and he smiled, hugging her back.
"Thank," Cassandra said.
Cassius squeezed her lightly. Unlike everyone else in the room, Cassius knew she wasn't saying it just as thanks for the bracelet. In the last week, Tim had taken her on two dates, and twice she'd had to be a bit rude by just leaving him as soon as they got back in order to avoid him trying to kiss her, as well as keeping several feet between them during them in order to keep him from trying to during the dates. She appreciated his feelings, but she didn't feel the same, and she felt guilty for not knowing how to tell him, which had put her in a bad mood. The second reason she was thanking Cassius was for making her Birthday as special for her as he could in order to cheer her up.
"Alright!" Megan grinned, standing. "Guess what time it is, Cassandra!"
Cassandra's face lit up instantly just as Artemis and Wally walked in, Artemis carrying a four-tiered marble cake with Cassandra's favorite multi-colored vanilla frosting, toys of all of the members of the Team lining the tears in a mock battle against various villains, and with the words "HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASSANDRA" written across the side of the lower three tiers. Wally, on the other hand, had his arms laden with five one-gallon buckets of ice cream, one vanilla, one chocolate exclusively for Cassandra, one cookie dough, one strawberry, and one coffee. Piled on top of the ice cream jugs were various toppings, which Nightwing took so he could set them down.
Cassius smiled, looking to Cassandra, who was inspecting the fight on the cake, frowning.
"No," Cassandra said, then frowned, wracking her brain. "Lose."
Cassius chuckled, walking over and picking up Deathstroke's toy, wiping the frosting on his feet on her nose, making her recoil and scrunch up her nose.
"You know we never lose," Cassius chuckled. "Besides, how can we lose when we can just throw all of the bad guys in the trash. Or have Rose use them for target practice."
"Oh, can I!?" Rose asked excitedly.
Cassandra laughed, wiping the frosting off her nose and licking it off her finger, nodding. Rose cheered and Cassius laughed, taking the top tier off the cake and putting it on a plate, which he then handed to Cassandra. She grinned widely and hugged him with one arm before snatching up the chocolate ice cream and sitting on the couch. The others all laughed and Cassius quickly served everyone, getting himself some coffee ice cream and a slice once everyone else had been served, then sat beside Cassandra. As she was lifting a spoonful of chocolate ice cream to her mouth, however, he reached over, catching her wrist and pulling her arm over, stealing the ice cream. She pouted and glared at him instantly.
"Thank you so much," he grinned. "That tasted great."
She continued to glare at him so he grinned and reached over, kissing her on the cheek.
"I'll behave," he said.
She glared at him suspiciously for a few more seconds before returning to eating.
"So, Artemis, Wally, how's retirement?" Cassius asked.
"Not bad," Wally said. "But I have to deal with her nagging me constantly."
"I wouldn't nag you so much if you would just do what I say the first time," Artemis said.
Cassius smiled, shaking his head. Both had decided to retire from the team in favor of living together, and now they acted like they were married. They bickered for a few more minutes until Megan used telekinesis to shove a spoonful of ice cream into Wally's mouth and cake into Artemis's, effectively silencing both and getting them to return to eating. After a while, once everyone had eaten and socialized for a bit longer, they all called it a night, heading back to their rooms, Cassandra going with Cassius, as was becoming usual again recently. Also as usual, she changed after she was in his room, Cassius lying in bed and facing away from her, as he always did when she or Rose did that. After a few minutes, she rolled him onto his back and lay down beside him, resting her head on his chest. He smiled, wrapping his arms around her, but after a couple minutes, she pushed herself up enough to look up at him. He looked down at her curiously, seeing the indecision in her eyes. He swallowed, suspecting what she was thinking.
"Can I ask for one more present?" Cassandra signed.
"What do you want?" Cassius asked, though he knew from Cassandra's expression that she could tell he knew exactly what.
So, instead of signing anything, she simply leaned down, pressing her lips to his. Cassius had thought he was prepared, and would be able to either push her away gently, or else let her have it, but then tell her that it was only because it was her birthday and he didn't feel the same. At the very least, he had thought he'd know how to react. But he was wrong. As soon as she kissed him, his stomach twisted into a dozen agonizing knots, his heart skipped several beats, and a stuttering breath slipped out of his mouth. His body returned the kiss instantly, but after a couple of seconds, his brain caught up to his reaction and he pressed against her shoulders gently. Cassandra pulled away, smiling.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I...I shouldn't have let you do that. I don't feel that way about you, Cassandra. I'm sorry."
She smiled, shaking her head, then signed, "It's okay. I know you don't. Thank you for letting me have my one wish for my birthday, and for making it feel real."
He swallowed hard and nodded, smiling. "You're welcome. Now, you should go to sleep."
Cassandra nodded, laying her head down and snuggling into him, Cassius holding her tightly, then swallowing hard, trying to force himself to do the same.
Cassius looked around, seeing Cassandra and Tim sitting together in the living room, watching a movie, Tim's arm along the back of the couch behind Cassandra, not around her shoulders, but enough for him to be happy. Cassius returned his attention to the matter at hand, grabbing a soda out of the refrigerator. He headed back to his room, where he'd decided to have a lazy day, only to find Rose already there.
"Hey, what's up?" Cassius asked.
"Did you kiss Cassandra the other day?" Rose asked.
He frowned. "Sort of. She kissed me, technically, but close enough."
Rose nodded to herself. "I thought so."
Then, she stepped forward, pushing him back against the door and kissing him. He sucked in a surprised breath as his heart again skipped a beat and his stomach again twisted into knots. Then, he pushed her back, letting out a shaky breath and swallowing hard.
"Why did you do that?" Cassius asked.
"Because I wanted to," Rose said simply. "Don't worry. I just wanted the one."
Then, she slipped out past him. He sighed heavily, kneeling and picking up the soda he'd dropped, holding it to his head in hopes that the cold would help stave off the same headache he'd developed after Cassandra kissed him. It didn't.
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