this is a birthday present for my wonderful friend @wiitts! gaysians gotta stick together. happy birthday cess! สุขสันต์วันเกิด!
Cass lands softly on the roof, settling into a crouch and putting her finger to her comm as it crackles in her ear.
“Nightwing to all points. What are the specs?”
“No need to sound so fancy about it,” Jason’s voice crackles back.
“Would you prefer ‘What’s the sitch?’”
“Fine,” Dick huffs. “Nightwing to all points. Report.”
“Well now you're just being demanding.”
“All good in the Hill and the Fashion District,” Tim interrupts. “Just need to wrap up in Little Italy.”
“Thanks, double R,” Dick replies.
“All good in the hood,” Jason jeers.
“All clear in the Bowery,” Jason huffs. “Nearing the end of the East End route now.”
“Perfect, that’s all I asked for. Robin?”
“Gotham Heights and Coventry are taken care of,” Damian answers.
Cass taps out her response using the button on her comm. Morse code. All clear in the Diamond District.
“Fantastic. Reconvene at the cave. Nightwing out.”
Cass takes her finger away from her ear and stands, stretching her arms above her head. She’s about to jump to the next roof when she hears the soft thud of someone landing near her.
“Spoiler,” she says, turning to face the new arrival.
“The one and only,” Steph says, smiling wide. She notices Cass tilting her head at her and shrugs. “I know I said I was going to stay in and study for my finals, but I was getting a little restless.”
Cass looks at her for a second, raises an eyebrow.
Steph puts her hands on her hips. “Stop doing that.”
“That thing where you read me front and back like a leaflet.”
Cass just keeps looking at her.
Steph huffs playfully, a smile on her lips. “Okay, maybe I just wanted a little patrol time without the bats breathing down my neck.”
Cass nods, turning towards the next roof over. “Cave?”
“Go back to the cave? Are you serious?” Steph asks incredulously. “No thanks. You guys are working on the Mullins case, right?”
“Yeah, that is not a lion’s den I want to walk into. Besides, I don’t wanna hear shit from them about patrolling while off comms. You won’t tell them you saw me?”
Cass shakes her head, small smile tugging at her lips.
“Great, you’re the best,” Steph tells her, taking a step back and retrieving her grapple from her belt. “We’re still on for Friday night, yeah? My dorm room, 6 p.m. sharp, be there. We’re watching the entirety of the Witcher and eating so much fucking popcorn we’re going to be popping kernels in our stomachs.”
Not waiting for any kind of response, Steph shoots her grapple and jumps off the roof. Cass smiles and shoots her grapple in the opposite direction.
When she gets back to the cave, the boys are in the middle of an argument.
“I’m with Drake on this one, for once,” Damian pipes up, crossing his arms and slumping in his seat, his hood up. The cave goes silent for a minute as they all turn to look at him. Damian just shrugs. “I mean, if he’s right, he’s right,” he says simply, swiveling back and forth in his chair.
The rest of them shake themselves out of it pretty quickly, and it doesn’t take long for Jason to start yelling again. Cass creeps closer and Dick’s gaze flicks up to her, notifying the others to her presence.
“Come on, Cass, back me up on this,” Tim pleads, and Jason slams his fist down on the table.
“You can’t just get Cass on your side just like that!” he complains.
“Yes I can, I’m her favorite.”
“You’re not her favorite—”
They dissolve into arguing again, yelling back and forth at each other. Dick tries to step in, but it just turns into a shouting match between all three of them. Damian tuts and spins around lazily in his seat. Cass smiles. She’s home.
