thoughts on Cissie kissing Tim out of nowhere in Young Justice #17?
I swear to god some of u ppl read my mind I was JUST thinking about that yesterday
But I was thinking about it in terms of ‘how id make this about Cissie having a crush on Cassie but being closeted’ for the sake of a cissiecassie fic i one day want to write as opposed to necessarily how it went down in canon, but I will talk about both ❤️
So. Anyways. That kiss huh, it feels super out of nowhere, right? Lets look back at the whole scene
(Young Justice (1998) #17)
Cissie has this really emotional private moment with Cassie, a playful one with Bart, a tense one with Match pretending to be Kon, and then when Tim tries to do a normal goodbye (as basically the only one not trying to pressure her to stay/come back) she just... grabs and kisses him.
Now lets pretend we're back in December 1999 when these issues came out- and hop over to that month's Wonder Woman issue that starts off with this little disclaimer
(Wonder Woman (1987) #153)
What do we find out there? That Cissie apparently has a secret crush on one of their teammates.
(Wonder Woman (1987) #153)
So with the way things go down in YJ #17, it's pretty heavily implied that she was talking about Robin, and the YJ thing was just her making her confession bluntly as she leaves- a 'now or never' type thing. Overall it's kinda random still because before this stuff it really didn't seem like she had a thing for him (compared to how Cassie's thing for Kon was blatant) but 🤷♂️
I think it's interesting that she kisses him after specifically saying this stuff though:
(Young Justice (1998) #17)
Robin (who at this point none of them have seen unmasked AND don't know the name of) is arguably the person they know the least about- seems a little odd that she'd make such a point of calling out how little they know each other before confessing feelings she apparently has for the most closed off member of the team via a kiss.
WHICH is part of what leads into my queer hc reading of all of it:
Cissie does not actually have a crush on Robin, it was just something she said to get Cassie off her case at some point*, and Cissie kissed him as an impulsive thing because she wanted to make a dramatic exit that would leave everyone more confused than anything else, as a distraction from feeling sad (because as evidenced by the tears, Cassie in particular was sad) and this opportunity just presented itself (especially bc Cassie had urged Tim to say something to her- Cissie could easily think 'Cassie thinks I like him and is trying to use him to sway me into staying, doing this and exiting will make a big scene and show how serious I am about leaving')
Obviously that wasn't the actual intent as it was written, the intent was probably more something like 'oh surprise drama! Cissie had a secret crush on him the whole time!' BUT I can interpret things how I want to for fun <3
*I imagine the conversation going something like this:
Cassie: Okay- well I told you who I like... do you like someone on the team? Cissie, thinking about that time she fell asleep holding Cassie's hand in YJ #7: It's none of your business, Cass. Cassie: Oh come on! You totally do- you gotta tell me, we're best friends, right? Cissie, panicking: Um... Okay, but you have to guess. Cassie: Bart? You did tell him that one time- Cissie: [laughs] Oh god no- he's like my little brother. I just did that to shock his senses. Cassie: Wait... is it... is it Superboy? Is that why you don't want to tell me? Cissie, rolling her eyes: Trust me, if I liked him, I already had plenty of chances. He's all yours. Cassie: Then it's Robin! The whole man of mystery thing does it for you? [laughs] Cissie, realizing she has to say yes now or else Cassie might realize something's up: Well, yeah, he's gotta be cute under that mask- I bet he's got pretty eyes. But... promise not to tell?
