okay I wanna do meta about the ig controversial cass & bruce panel because i did not find it either OOC or surprising for babs to think this
so fundamentally I think this is another stitch in a long pattern of babs oversexualizing cass. babs frequently pushes being a romantic and sexual object on cass
including when it’s obvious cass does not want that. she’s uncomfortable and doesn’t want to be sexualized. but babs pushes for it regardless. and babs does at one point acknowledge that she’s going too far with it, that this isn’t what cass wants
but them she still falls into the same habits after, showing that while she’s less directly aggressive after this, she hasn’t really changed her mindset much. BUT pin in that —
cass is being pushed by a mentor figure, one who is helping her define what being a woman means, to explore her sexuality. cass views babs as someone so focused on pushing (let’s be clear; STRAIGHT relationships) that when she’s hallucinating everyone after being drugged, her idea of babs basically can’t talk or be talked about without bringing up romance with men.
and imo it’s ambiguous whether cass does have an interest in exploring her sexuality, post-tai’darshan, or whether she’s just exploring expectations of her but she does wear babs’ old costume which is way more catered to the male gaze than cass’ batgirl outfit. whether it’s explicitly for the purpose of finding out her own feelings on it or not, she is experimenting with being sexy on purpose and of her own free will. to her, babs is her only example of female sexuality, so she tries to recreate babs’ experience
i think cass’ key takeaways from this interaction were: wearing this costume, babs ensnared the attention of her Robin and delighted in it
so cass puts on the same costume and ensnares the attentions of her Robin with it
but has no interest in it in reality. she does not engage with it. she immediately gives the costume back because she did not find any fulfillment or delight in the experience it gave her
and then babs immediately sexualizes her again. PIN BACK OUT.
this is not pressuring cass to do anything, nor is it really pushing anything on her, its engaging with cass sexuality on cass' level when she expresses interest. however, its clear cass did not like the experience. she shows no interest in discussing it. babs lamenting not being able to see it is a marked improvement from forcing things on cass, but i do think it shows that she hasnt changed how she thinks about cass. just the actions she takes in regards to how she thinks about cass
so, now we turn to cass and bruce at this time.
cass' entire existence is one of abuse. we get constant parallels between batman and david cain, even bruce acknowledges he may be continuing cass' abuse and chooses to bench her to try and force healing and peace in her life (prompted by babs, so babs is definitely not out of the phase entirely of trying to make cass' decisions for her but i digress)
cass wants to be batgirl. she is loyal to what batman stands for. the misunderstanding between bruce and cass is what is causing cass' continued suffering; bruce thinks it is batman forcing her to be apart of violence by being a vigilante. it is, in fact, batman not engaging with cass with tenderness.
cass craves touch from her new father figure that is not violence. she has no issue with violence, but she wants more than just that. she clarifies that it hurt when batman benched her, it did not help heal her. she curls up on batman and says this is what she was missing. holding and affectionate touches. this is a HUGE turning point in their relationship because up until now there's been tons of instances of bruce trying to help cass and just failing, but this is a success.
so yes, during this entire fight she had with bruce she was actively craving affectionate touch. she was not trying to hurt him, she was going for being held and touched with tenderness.
she relaxes into it immediately, even though they're in the middle of maybe drowning in the middle of a fight. she takes the first opportunity for tenderness she is presented. its what she's been wanting the whole time. its the thing that will confirm to her the abuse is over
so back to the panel
yes, babs can undoubtedly tell that cass does not want to be fighting batman. look at this pose -- she's going for a hold, she looks like she is seeking out affection. her expression (and she pulled off her own mask during this fight) is not angry or violent, it is longing.
and of course babs views that in a romantic context. she views cass as a being of repressed heterosexuality. all men are ways for cass to become "a real person" by interacting with them romantically. so when babs sees cass go to a man all on her own, actively wanting and craving affection, i think its extremely in character for babs to assume that cass has romantic feelings towards him despite cass wanting something completely different
