#Klarion: so here’s a baby for you to babysit :)

[noxcheshire]

I kept thinking of little baby man Phantom and the potential of Danny being an actual baby of the Infinite Realms. However, he’s more snake teenager than itty bitty Little Baby Man edition, cause I think it’d be so funny to just — imagine this teenage snake curled up in a summoning circle, obviously having been taking a nap and looking up with his big green, sleepy eyes and Constantine just stares and freaks because, “THATS A WHOLE ASS BABY, PUT IT BACK!”

But they can’t because apparently the summoning was more of a ‘knock knock I’m a babysitter’ and Danny’s ghost parent decided that this was the perfect time to have some time for themselves if Heroes were so willing to take care of Danny for a little while.

Another take — mainly in reference to a different post about Klarion actually just being a toddler of the infinite realms with no ideas on how to human and thinks him fighting with heroes is just a play date — zooms into the human realm where the heroes are and just goes, “Hey I’m dropping my baby sibling onto you guys cause my dad got mad last time Danny got hurt by the humans I hang with. So here you go, I’ll pick him up later.”

A teenage snake Danny is dropped into a hero’s arms where he mainly grumbles and then shifts to better take a nap. Klarion drops the baby essentials at them with no further explanations other then “here’s their favorite blanket, if they get fussy taco them; here’s the baby milk make sure it’s -200 F, they have an ice core, etc.” and then just DISAPPEARS after leaving what amounts to a month old infant in human heroes care.

[cartoonfangirl1218]

Babysitting

Here’s another Amistad/Team fic just as it is titled above. Enjoy the fluff. 

"Now understand this. If anything goes wrong, call Augustus no matter what. If he gets hurt, call Augustus. If he starts having a tantrum, call Augustus..." Raquel listed. 

"Raq, please. It's like you don't trust us" Wally laughed as he watched Raquel's 2 year old son, Amistad figure out a puzzle with Connor.

Rocket, Aqualad, Miss Martian, Artemis and Robin were going on a covert intel mission against some copy cat Injustice League, and while they were away for the afternoon she was leaving Superboy, Zatanna and Kid Flash to babysit.

"I don't." Raquel said honestly "I mean have any of you ever baby sat before?"

"It can't be that hard." Zatanna piped up as she walked in from her room. Seeing as Raquel was about to protest she added, "I mean we won’t be doing anything that would put him in danger. Don't worry, we'll just give him dinner, play and make him go to bed. Nothing is going to happen."

"Okay." Raquel edged dubiously before giving a final goodbye to Amistad and leaving with the rest, “Remember I will kill you if anything happens though.” 

The three teens shook their heads at her dramatic threat. 

“So what do you wanna do first little guy?" Wally bent down to Amistad's eye level.

"Hide and seek!" Amistad cried happily, scattering the puzzle pieces.

"Fine how about you hide and we all go seek?" Zatanna suggested as she covered her eyes.

Connor and Wally started counting as his little legs pumped to get out of the room as quickly as possible.

When they opened, he was gone as expected and they split up. Wally speedily looked at all the obvious places like under the beds, the couches, and in the cabinets.

When he gave the shrug that he found nothing, Zatanna and Connor split up to look at other unlikely spots. But he was no where to be found. 

The training room had no place to hide, they had rearranged almost all the furniture in the living room plus the rooms and the kitchen was a mess as they removed all the contents of the cabinets and drawers.

"Raquel is going to murder us!" Zatanna yelled as they flipped over Miss Martian's bed to find no little boy. "She is going to go chainsaw massacre and kill us. Who's stupid idea was it to play hide and seek?"

"It was his but you agreed to it." Wally retorted. 

"You agreed to it too!" Zatanna cried "I can't believe we are so stupid as to lose him."

"Guys!" Connor snapped at the two. "We can't fight. We have powers. Let's just use that to find him."

"Wouldn't your superhearing picked up anything by now?" Wally gensured at him frustratedly

"It didn't." Connor admitted "But Zatanna can search for him."

"Oh right." Zatanna smiled, calming down a bit. "I forgot I could do that. Dael su ot Datsima"

The trio were transported to where Wolf was sleeping in the corner of the training room, and for once noticed, barely peeking out was a small hand.

"Amistad!" Wally cried, pushing an irritated Wolf aside to grab the little boy under his belly.

"You took a long time." Amistad noted grinning. "Mommy's better. Let's play again. You hide and I'll find you."

"No, we're not. We're having dinner." Connor said calmly as he grabbed the boy by the collor and sat him down in the kitchen.

Zatanna grabbed the frozen lasangena Raquel had left for him and cooked it up while Amistad pouted.

"I don't wanna eat! I wanna play! I wanna play more!"

"Woah did anyone get a deja vü of witch boy?" Wally joked. Connor and Zatanna glared. "Too soon?"

"I don't want it!" Amistad screeched when Zatanna cut up a piece and lifted it to his lips. He smacked the spoon out of her hands, the noodle going all over the table, and floor.

"You're going to eat." Zatanna hissed as she tried once more, "Look, Amistad it's an airplane. See airplane spoon."

Amistad glared at the spoon as Zatanna forced it down. He was ready to spit it out when Zatanna threateningly started speaking backwards "Datsima.." in which he gulped it down.

"If we do it this way it'll take all night." Connor complained

"Guys I'll handle this. I know something from when Uncle Barry babysat me." Wally said.

He took the lasagna and waved it in front of Amistad, "Amistad if you promise to eat all of this without a compliant we will give you candy when your mom doesn't let you."

Amistad stared blankly, clearing waiting for something else.

"We'll give you candy and ice cream."

"With chocolate sauce?" Amistad perked up.

"Totally" Wally promised, "Now be a good boy and eat while I find some food to chow down to."

"Now?" Connor questioned

"Seeing all that wasted food made me hungry."

Zatanna finished up feeding him while Connor put all the kitchen supplies back in the cabinets and went to watch static.

Once that was done, she put Amistad on her bed, and started to tell bed time stories using her magic to create the images. Slowly Amistad drifted off.

"Finally" Zatanna yawned. She was surprised how tired she was. But then again, having a heart attack over a missing child, and food thrown at you in less than 5 hours did that to you.

Amistad slowly opened his eyes to see Aunt Z asleep at her desk. He didn't see or hear that Mommy had arrived yet, so he got out of bed and went to the living room to wait for her.

Connor was monotoneously watching static when he heard, "Uncle Connor, is Mommy back yet?"

"No. Aren't you supposed to be in bed?"

"Aunt Z's asleep and I wanna wait for Mommy...Why are you watching nothing?"

"I'm not watching nothing. I mean the tv is on but I'm thinking." Connor picked up the boy and put him on his lap.

"What are you thinking of?"

Connor smiled a little, "I was thinking of when Klarion the witch boy had made two worlds. One of adults, one of children. We all had to gather children and task care of them a little while and put them in the gym. I didn't think I would be with children again."

Connor was surprised at himself too. Even though babysitting Amistad had been trying, it was kinda nice at the moment. Him, sitting on his lap, listening intently and looking up to him.

"What happened? What did you do to get one world again?"

"Well you know, Shazam. So he is actually a ten year old."

"What!"

"I know, we were all thinking that when he came to the cave that day." Connor laughed a bit. "So he could transform into an adult..."

[arsaem]

Grey-Eyed Mirror

Summary: Batman catches a speedster who looks a little too similar to their own resident speedster. Flash isn’t sure what to make of this look-a-like, and Wally just wants to find his friend’s little sister and go home.

This is the more depressing version of my story, Ginger Invasion. Same basic premise, except Lian does not make an appearance and the tone is much more serious. Enjoy the angst!

Batman didn’t like outsiders in his city. He especially didn’t like metas in his city. And he really hated it when a criminal attacked any of the numerous Wayne industries spread throughout Gotham. It just hit too close to home, and always made him nervous that someone would look a little too close at Bruce Wayne and suddenly discover some incriminating coincidences.

So when a metahuman who definitely didn’t belong to Gotham broke into Wayne Corp in the middle of Batman’s patrol, he was seriously displeased.

It was pure luck, actually, that Batman noticed the disturbance in the first place. It was so fast, he almost didn’t catch it, but still his keen senses couldn’t ignore the brief blur that zipped up the tower of Wayne Corp, and expertly slipped into a window that should’ve been locked and alarmed. A speedster, then, which meant whoever it was was probably one of the Flash’s rogues. A closer look revealed a figure in dark clothing of average height, male, hood pulled down low over the face. He was on the top floor in the biggest office, fingers a blur as they typed away at the computer. Batman’s computer. Or rather, Bruce Wayne’s. That was his office.

Batman didn’t come crashing in like he normally did. Considering the perps meta-abilities, he had to be a bit more careful with this. Instead, he landed silently on the ledge outside the office, noticing how the window hadn’t even been opened, nor the alarm tampered with. He phased through, then.

The speedster had his back turned to him, so busy he was with the computer. Batman used the distraction to override the alarm on the window and carefully ease it open, just enough so that he could toss in one of his foam pellets.

The speedster noticed it a second too late. He ran just as the pellet exploded, clearing most of the blast but still getting most of his left leg caught. No amount of tugging would get him out.

Batman swept into the room, glaring as he loomed before the speedster. He still couldn’t get a good look at his face, due to the darkness, but he didn’t look frightened. Panicked, maybe, but not afraid.

“Aw crap,” the speedster said. He sounded younger than Batman expected. “Look, I’m really sorry for breaking in, I didn’t want to, but it’s really important, and-”

“What were you doing?” Batman growled, cutting off his rambling.

“I’m looking for someone,” he answered. “I swear, I’m not a bad guy or anything, I’m not even supposed to be here, I promise I can explain it all but it’s really important that I find this girl first-”

Batman ignored him, and instead walked over to the computer to see what the speedster was doing. What he saw made his blood freeze.

He had logged into the backup system for the Batcomputer. Batman didn’t like having such a blatant connection between himself and Bruce Wayne on something this public, but it was a necessary evil since he couldn’t be in the Bat-cave 24/7. Accessing it wasn’t easy. You had to know it was there to find it, and even then you’d probably only end up getting rerouted to the desktop where the computer would then freeze and wipe its hard-drive. This guys had to know exactly what he was doing to get this far. Even more worrisome, it looked like he didn’t hack in. Which meant he had the access codes.

“Aw man,” the speedster groaned. “I know this looks bad, but I swear, I’m not your enemy, Bruce, you have to just listen to me, I-”

He didn’t get the chance to say anything else, because he was already slumped on the floor, unconscious.

-0-

“He looks...really young.” Superman clearly wasn’t comfortable with the situation, and honestly, Batman had to agree with him, but for completely different reasons. They currently had a teenaged speedster who knew his secret identity and had the access codes to the Batcomputer unconscious on the Watchtower. Batman hadn’t wanted to take him here, but given the circumstances, it seemed like the best option.

“You said he was looking for someone?” Wonder Woman asked, equally unnerved by the speedster’s youth. He still had the barest traces of baby fat on his cheeks, freckles speckled across his nose and under his eyes, with bright red hair that fell messily around his head. He looked vaguely familiar, but Batman couldn’t quite place where he’d seen the boy before.

“That’s what he told me, in any case,” Batman replied. “The fact that he was looking through my files to do it makes me suspect that this person isn’t someone very friendly.”

“You think he was searching for one of your rogues?” Green Lantern asked.

“Possibly. This is all very suspicious.”

“Can’t J’onn read his mind, find out what he was doing?” Hawkgirl asked, turning to the Martian. He didn’t look too keen on the idea.

“Only as a last resort,” Superman said. “Criminal or no, that’s still a huge invasion of privacy.”

There was a woosh, and suddenly Flash was there, saying, “Sorry I’m late! I had to tell my boss that my uncle was sick. What’s the emergency?”

“Him,” Batman said, gesturing to the passed out speedster in the containment cell. “I found him in Gotham, using my systems. He’s a speedster, and he knows my secret I.D. It’s possible he knows all of ours. You know him?” Batman frowned when he didn’t get an answer, and turned to see that the Flash was frozen, staring at the unconscious boy. “Flash?”

The Flash started, looking wildly between all of them before choking out, “Know him? He’s...he’s me!”

“Um...what?” That was Hawkgirl.

Shaking his head, the Flash pulled back his cowl, revealing hair just as red and a face strikingly similar to the boy’s.

“Oh my god,” GL muttered as he glanced between the two speedsters.

So that’s where Batman recognized him from. The two did look remarkably similar, though the boy was obviously younger. He supposed it could be possible that he was just a younger Flash.

“What does this mean?” J’onn asked.

“Maybe he’s my evil clone?” Flash suggested with a nervous chuckle. “Doppelganger? From another dimension?”

That gave Batman pause. “That’s...possible,” he conceded.

“Wait, seriously?”

“It would make sense,” Batman insisted. “It would explain the differences, such as his age, slightly different appearance, and the fact that he has his speed at a much younger age than you first got yours.”

“How do you know when I got my speed?” Flash demanded, before huffing. “Y’know what, nevermind, you’re Batman. I shouldn’t even ask.”

“It would also explain how he knew my I.D,” Batman went on. “If he knows the Batman in his dimension, it’s possible that I--or rather, he revealed his identity.” It still didn’t explain the access codes, but that was a question for when the boy woke up.

“If he is from another dimension,” said Superman, “then why is he here?”

“I don’t know,” Batman replied. “Let’s ask him.”

The boy was waking up, groaning as he sat up until he noticed his hand cuffed to the wall. His arm started to vibrate, but when nothing happened, he started to panic. “Oh crap, shit, shit, oh man, shit,” he was muttering, looking frantically around the room. “Hey!” he yelled. “You have to let me out! Look, I can explain everything, I really can, but it’s really important that you let me out first!”

“He sounds serious,” Wonder Woman murmured.

“He said he can explain everything,” Batman grunted. “I say we let him.” He unlocked the door and opened it, fully intending to give his most intimidating Bat-glare, but before he had set no more than a foot in the room, the boy had suddenly zipped past him, leaving a pair of unlocked speedster-proof cuffs behind him. A quick glance revealed that he didn’t use his speed to get him out, he actually picked the lock. Batman didn’t even know that was possible (for someone other than him, obviously).

“Where’d he go?” GL asked, head whipping around.

“He’s at the command bridge,” J’onn reported. “I think he’s trying to escape.”

“Flash,” Batman said. “Lock down the hanger then meet us there. If we lose this kid we’re going to be hard pressed to find him again.”

“On it!” He had his cowl back up and zipped away a moment later, leaving the rest of them to chase after their rogue speedster.

“I thought those cuffs were designed so that someone like the Flash couldn’t phase out of them,” Hawkgirl huffed.

“They are. He picked them,” Batman grunted.

“He picked your lock?” Superman asked. “This kid is just full of surprises.”

They were at the command bridge a moment later, revealing the kid frantically typing away at one of the computers, clearly trying to get the teleporter to work. He whirled around at their entrance, eyes wide and panicked as he tensed to run.

“Hold on,” Superman said gently. “We don’t want to hurt you. We just-”

“Believe me, I’d really rather avoid a fight you guys as well,” the kid said. “But unfortunately, I really don’t have time to explain things. I have to-”

“Wally!” Batman cut him off.

The kid frowned. “How do you know my name?”

“Because of me,” the Flash said, appearing in the room with a woosh. He pulled back his cowl, an easy smile on his face. “You’re from another dimension, right? We just want to-”

“You’re Wally West,” the kid said, eyes wide and face pale.

“Well, there goes the rest of my secret identity, but yeah. And you’re-”

“I’m not you,” the kid interrupted, face suddenly hard. “Look, I came here by accident. It was Klarion the Witch Boy. I wasn’t expecting it, and afterwards, I found myself here. And I wasn’t the only one. There was a girl with me. My friend’s little sister. Her name is Ellie and I was babysitting her. I have to find her. She’s only six years old and while she’s a pretty spectacular kid, she’s still just a little girl and she could be anywhere in the world or even a completely different dimension and I have to find her.” He turned to Batman and said, “That’s why I was using your systems. I needed connection to a satellite to hack into her tracker.”

“Wait, tracker?” GL cut in. “And you said she’s six?”

The boy rolled his eyes. “Her dad is Nightwing and her mom is Oracle of course she has a tracker. Now can I please use the Watchtower’s computer to find her?”

Batman eyed him carefully. “How do we know you don’t intend to attack us?”

“Batman!” Superman said.

“We can’t know for sure.”

The kid sighed. “Look, I’m guessing there’s no Nightwing or Oracle in this dimension, so let me put it in a way you’ll understand. Ellie’s grandfather? Is Batman.”

-0-

“So…” the Flash said casually, looking over to the other speedster. “You said you weren’t me?”

The kid sighed, not taking his eyes off the building. “Look, I’d be happy to tell you my entire life’s story once this is all over, but for now, can we please focus on getting Ellie?”

“Right, right, sorry,” Flash nodded, hands up in surrender, but he couldn’t help it as his eyes drifted back to what really looked to be just a younger version of himself. It was almost like looking into a mirror from the past. Red hair, freckles, round nose. The only notable difference were the eyes, grey rather than green.

“I’ve located the girl,” J’onn’s voice echoed over the coms. “There’s a basement level where she’s being held.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Flash muttered.

“Then let’s get her out,” the kid huffed, already jumping from his hiding spot and zipping towards the building.

“Kid, wait!” But he was already gone, and Flash had no choice but to follow. “Figures Batman’s granddaughter from another dimension would get kidnapped by Lex Luthor of all people,” he grumbled to himself, easily making it past the security without raising any alarms. Hopefully, Superman had Luthor distracted by now. Otherwise, this next part might not turn out to be so easy.

By the time Flash made it down to the basement level, the kid was already crouched at the corner, carefully eyeing the room. “Two guards,” he reported once Flash was next to him. “And an alarm system that will automatically put the entire building on lockdown if tripped. Ellie’s in a cell in the back. She looks unharmed, but she is a bat, so she could be hiding any injuries.”

“I still think it’s so weird that not only does Batman have a kid, but a grandkid as well,” Flash whispered back.

“Batman has a bunch of kids,” the younger speedster replied. He pulled the hood lower over his face and said, “He has a habit of adopting orphans.” He tensed, ready to run, and said, “You take the guards, I’ll deal with the alarm.”

“Yeah, sure, take the lead,” Flash muttered, but he was already gone. With a sigh, he pushed himself up and ran straight for the two guards, slamming the first one into the wall and tripping the second before he even had time to raise his gun. He hit the ground hard, groaning while his eyes lolled to the back of his head. “How we coming, Kid?” Flash called, turning to the boy. He was messing with some kind of control panel, fingers a blur over the wires.

“Almost got it,” he called back.

“Wally!” the little girl exclaimed, jumping up from where she had been huddled in the corner. She was pretty small for an six year old, with bright blue eyes that shone with relief and hair just as red as the speedsters.

“Got it!” he shouted, grinning as the cell door opened. Ellie raced out of it and into the kid’s arms, who scooped her up and held her close to his chest. “Oh thank god,” he said, letting out a breath. “Oh man, your dad’s gonna kill me.”

“It’s okay Wally,” Ellie said. “It was the mean boy with the cat’s fault!”

Flash let a smile twitch at his lips as he tapped his coms. “This is Flash,” he said. “Three to the Watchtower.”

“Copy, Flash,” J’onn replied. “Standby.”

A moment later they were back in the command room of the Watchtower, the rest of the Justice League waiting for them, Superman included.

“I’m guessing your distraction went well?” he said to the Kryptonian.

Superman nodded, a grin on his face. “He’s pissed though. Figured out what was going on just as you guys were done. He’s probably having a tantrum right about now.”

“Wally?” Ellie’s soft voice spoke up. “We’re in another dimension, aren’t we?”

“Yeah Ellie, we are,” the kid--Wally replied. “Don’t worry. Lian will tell the Justice League what happened and your dad will find us.”

“Cause he’s been to another dimension before, right?”

Wally laughed. “Right.”

The Flash cleared his throat, getting their attention. “So, um…” He trailed, scratching the back of his head. “You wanna maybe explain a few things now? I mean, I, for one, would love to hear all about Batman’s domestic life as a single dad of numerous orphans, apparently, but I’m also a little curious about what you meant when you said you aren’t me? I mean, how many redheaded speedsters named Wally can there be?”

Wally frowned, shoulders slumping as a sadness the Flash wasn’t expecting suddenly took over his features,

“Wally,” Ellie said. “He’s not Uncle Barry.”

“No,” Wally agreed. “He’s not.” He set the little girl down and rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the ceiling, the ground, really anywhere but the Flash. Eventually, he sighed, and said, “I’m not Wally West. My name is Wally Crock, and Wally West was my father.”

Flash felt his breath catch in his throat, eyes widening behind his cowl.

“Wait,” GL said. “‘Was?’”

Wally nodded. “My dad, Wally West, died almost seventeen years ago saving the world. I wasn’t born yet. My mom didn’t even know she was pregnant at the time.”

Ellie reached up to grasp one of his shaking hands, leaning into his side and wrapping her other arm around his waist.

“So, no. I’m not you,” he finished, not meeting the Flash’s eyes.

For a moment, the Flash did nothing. But then he reached up to pull his cowl back and walked towards Wally. He placed his hands on the boy’s shoulders waiting until he met his eyes before saying, “I’m sorry, what happened to your dad. And I know I’m not him. But I am Wally West, and I can tell you that you are one impressive kid.”

A hesitant smile twitched on Wally’s face. “Really?”

“Definitely really,” Flash nodded. “I mean, I’ve known you for, like, three hours, and already you’ve gotten one past the Batman, bypassed Lex Luthor’s security, and, apparently, you hacked into the Batcomputer. I’ll admit, I am kind of a genius, but you’re something else kid.”

The smile on Wally’s face was full-blown now. “Th-thanks,” he said. “My mom taught me all her cool ninja moves. Though I didn’t actually hack into the Batcomputer. John gave me the access codes.”

“Still, pretty cool,” the Flash said, taking a step back.

“Who’s John?” Superman asked.

“He’s my big brother!” Ellie exclaimed, bouncing up and down on her feet. “He’s Wally’s best friend, but he wasn’t supposed to give Wally the access codes to the Batcomputer.”

Wally looked a little sheepish. “Yeah, sorry about that, Batman. And John only gave them to me because of what happened with Vandal.”

Batman gave him something of a half-glare, but was saved from answering when Wonder Woman asked, “So, what now? How do you get you home?”

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Wally replied. “Between Zatanna and Bart, I’m sure they’ll find us pretty quickly. This isn’t the first time one of us has been lost in another dimension, after all.”

“My daddy got lost in another dimension,” Ellie reported, quite seriously. “He was James’ age, and he met a Batman called Crazy Steve who fed him rat stew!”

“Oh my god,” Wally muttered. “I still don’t 100% believe that that really happened.”

“Crazy...Steve?” John asked.

“Don’t ask,” Wally huffed. “Seriously, it’s really weird. Anyway, the point is someone will come for us soon enough. Lian was with us when Klarion attacked, so she no doubt told...someone.” Hopefully that someone wasn’t her mom. Aunt Jade was scary.

“So you guys have a bit of time before you gotta go?” Flash asked.

“Uh, yeah, I guess so.”

“In that case...would you like to go for a run?” Flash looked a little sad, but also a little hopeful, and he hoped Wally understood his meaning. He didn’t remotely want to take the place of his real father, but maybe just one day, one day to pretend…

Wally’s whole face lit up. “R-really? You’d do that?”

“If you’re up for it,” Flash answered.

The redhead nodded excitedly. “Yeah! That’d be awesome! Uh-” He turned to Ellie and said, “Hey kiddo, you gonna be okay if I go for a run?”

“Can I have some cereal?” she asked in reply.

“Sure!” Wally agreed, then turned to the Justice League. “You have cereal, right?”

“We sure do!” Flash answered. “And I’m sure Green Lantern would love to get her some! C’mon kid, let’s see how fast you are!”

[angel-gidget]

Fire At My Feet Again (Tim/Cassie, post-Red Robin)

Title:  Fire at my Feet Again Fandom: DCU, Teen Titans, Red Robin (preboot)     Rating:  PG-13 | Words: 4.6K  | a03 link Summary: Tim and Cassie have been assigned to mentor the upcoming new version of Young Justice. Cassie isn’t drunk enough yet to process this turn of events properly. But if she has her say, with Tim’s help, she soon will be.

Set a handful of years after Red Robin. Contains miscellaneous comic references including 90’s YJ. Yet also borrows an element or two from the Young Justice cartoon. Bc I do what I want. Also unbeta’d. Bc impatience.

Note: Also using this fic to fulfill prompts/days 1-3 of Tim Drake Week (First & Lasts, Childhood & Adulthood, Dreams & Reality) bc this sucker took me long enough that I say it counts and I’d like to catch up.

The déjà vu was murder. Cassie wanted to scream at the Justice League that they had the wrong girl, she wasn't a MENTOR, if anything, she was still a MENTEE, but Tim was standing right next to her, giving his Serious Business head-nod, and Cassie realized that if she did, in fact, start screaming at the JLA, she wouldn't be screaming at strangers.

Because screaming at Aquaman and Superman and Batman was one thing, but the NEW Batman was once Nightwing and she didn't really like the idea of screaming at him. She would also be screaming at Vic, who was her friend. And--sweet Hera--she had FRIENDS in the JLA. You're a grown-up now, Cassie. You're a MENTOR now, Cassie.  So is Tim, for that matter. Hell. She didn’t want to admit out loud how familiar it was. How, in the last days before she gave up the Titans, she’d had trouble remembering the names of multiple team members; they had come and gone so quickly. So playing chaperone to a bunch of kids she didn’t know was actually way more familiar of a feeling than it ought to have been. But they weren’t asking her and Tim to be team leaders. They were asking her and Tim to play Red Tornado to their new batch of kids. Not to lead. Just to make sure they didn’t break anything. To help them with reporters.  To save their asses if things got out of hand. To be around if they wanted advice. "You start on Monday." Vick told them. "We start on Monday." Cassie repeated in a daze. When the rest had left, and it was only her and Tim, the feeling that it was real began to press on her lungs. "We start on MONDAY. Oh God." "Cassie? Are you o--Um. I can do it. You don't have to help. I--" "Do you remember what we were like?! You'll need my help. WE may need help. What if they have their own Kon? What if they have their own BART?" "Or Slo-bo." "Oh God." "It'll be okay. They're just as likely to have their own Secret, somebody they'll band around to protect. Or their own Anita, who can radiate reason. Or their own YOU, somebody smart who can represent the team and keep them in line. Ultimately, they'll be themselves and we can just give them the benefit of the doubt. It'll be okay." Maybe it was the truth of his words, or the blatant compliment, but Cassie did feel herself begin to calm down. This wasn’t history repeating itself. It was just a few parallels here and there. And the history wasn't all that bad anyway. When did she get so good at only remembering the rough parts? "I'm good. I swear I am, but I think I need a drink." Tim's smile was weird. Like he was about to be nostalgic, but it was 50/50 whether it was going to be a good idea or not. "I know just the place." She half-expected him to take her to the same zany hole-in-the-wall they went to for his 21st birthday years back, but he surprised her with a Gotham spot she had never seen before. It was kind of on the (conventional) sporty side, and kind of posh. Not really the sort of place she had expect him to go. "This was my dad's favorite place." Cassie shook her head to clear it. She could count on her hand the number of times Tim has talked about his dad with her, and four times out of five, he had been in tears while doing it. "Do you remember Klarion?" Tim asked. "Bum, bum, bum… The witch boy." She wanted to slap herself for completing the obnoxious little tune on autopilot, but decided not to be too hard on herself. It WAS catchy. "Well, when he had us stuck in adult bodies, I got the bright idea that I should go check on my dad in his natural environment." "There is no way that went well." Tim nodded, "He said I reminded him a bit of his son, and he invited me to sit down and have a beer with him." Cassie felt a smirk coming on. "And you had never had a beer in your life." "Correct. I spit it up all over him. And he never learned that the weird guy who chilled with him and wrecked his night was me.”

Cassie chuckled, “So, do you want a beer?”

“Hell, no. Can’t stand the stuff.” It might have been the funky lighting, but as Tim scratched the back of his head, she could swear he was blushing.

“Me neither. Good thing we’re old enough to admit it. Hey bartender!”

Cassie waved at the old man behind the counter. He seemed to be hard of hearing, as he kept cleaning the other end of the bar. She sighed, “Go over the new roster with me.”

“They haven’t got the official—“

“I know you know the biggest candidates for this thing, and I’d like to have a heads up, please and thanks.”

Tim nodded, as he waved his own hand in the old man’s direction to help her out, “Okay. So Lian has already said yes, and if there is a god, she will hopefully end up being team leader…”

Cassie smiled, “Roy Harper’s kid would be good at it. Though Robin will probably fight her for it…”

“Damian will be there under duress. Dick thinks it will be good for him, but the chances are that if he gets out of line…”

“He absolutely won’t listen to you, so I will have to do it. Uhgh.”

Tim gave her a pained laugh, “Thank you in advance?”

Cassie shrugged. She was already beginning to understand why the League was insisting on both of them. There had been some rosters of the Titans that were like that, some deferring only to Robin and some only to Wonder Girl. But by that time, she and Tim had mastered being in-sync to the point that it was a (mostly) doable nightmare.

“Who’s the heaviest hitter we’ll probably have to clean up after?”

Tim steepled his fingers thoughtfully, “That’s a toss-up between Damian’s friend Colin, who is actually an incredibly nice kid, and Jon Kent: our new Superboy-to-be.”

Cassie frowned, “Wait, I thought… what happened to Christopher?”

“You didn’t…?” Tim’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Um, a lot of things happened to Chris. But when he came home from the phantom zone a few months ago, he… well, it wasn’t like when a Robin gets replaced, but he told me it took a lot of adjusting to the fact that an entire time-line crisis had given him a baby brother that was already twelve years old. Last I’ve heard from him, he’s trying to decide on a new code-name and … well, he’s too old for the team.”

She felt her draw drop. “Chris Kent, who was like barely past my hip last I saw him, is TOO OLD for this team? What the hell?!”

“Cassie, the last time you saw him, I was babysitting him because he was ten. And with the phantom zone, well…”

“Well how old is he n—wait. Don’t answer that. Not until I’ve had whiskey, because this  now officially calls for whiskey. BARTENDER. WHISKEY.” The time for being polite and patient had officially passed.

Cassie cradled her head in her hands as she listened to Tim placate the offended bartender, and modify her order. Apparently whiskey wasn’t specific enough. Apparently the brown-eyed little boy she’d last seen wearing little boy shorts and a cartoon character wristwatch was now too freaking old to join Young Justice 2.0.

“So help me, Tim, if you’ve ordered something crazy-expensive, you are buying.”

Tim sighed, and Cassie felt a twinge of guilt. This wasn’t any easier for him. Hell, it might be harder. She knew Damian always made things harder for Tim.

Cassie was both boggled and somewhat grateful that she didn’t have a new Wonder Girl to contend with. Though, now that she thought about it, it did seem almost a shame for one to be missing from the roster… No.

No, she was still too young to be getting mopey over legacies. Not that she hadn’t always dug the idea of an Amazon legacy, but it was supposed to be, like, a general legacy. Not hers. Not yet. And yet…

“I am buying, and you will like it. I promise. It’s only a little expensive, but trust me that you don’t want the default of anything in this place.”

The next thing she knew, she had a strong-smelling double-shot over ice in front of her. It tasted like honey. If honey weren’t made by bees, but instead made by kangaroos kicking her in the face. She decided she liked it.

“Cassie, you’re supposed to sip that.”

She smirked at him, “I’ll sip the next one. Better hope our tab’s on your platinum card.”

He snorted, but didn’t really protest, taking a taste of his own glass.

She observed him.

He closed his eyes and tilted his head as he drank, though not with the speed of someone rushing a shot. It took the shadows off his face for a moment, so she could clearly see the tiredness around his eyes and the faint stubble around his jaw. She faintly recalled that said stubble had come very late in life to him. At the very tail-end of puberty.

She remembered that the first time she had kissed him—mourning Kon’s death in a sea of shattered glass in the Titan’s sublevel—the line from his cheek to his adam’s apple had been completely smooth.

Don’t go there, Cassie.

That was a long time ago, Cassie.

“So… um. So how’s Kon taking the whole codename thing?”

Tim shrugged, blinking his eyes open as he continued to hold the glass near his lips. “You know about as much as I do. He can’t decide what to pick. That is, he agrees that he’s years overdue to shelve “Superboy”, but replacing it is giving him conniptions.” Tim gestured the bartender back to refill her glass.

“That’s about what I know,” Cassie conceded, “But somehow, you always know a little more. So spill.”

As promised, she sipped the next glass. Sipping was like getting kicked by a baby honey-making kangeroo. It was still pretty damn good. She raised her pinky jokingly, which finally got a smile out of Tim that went up to his eyes as he spoke.

“He’s actually been trying to pick Chris’s brain on the matter. While Kon can hardly think of anything, Chris’s knowledge of Kryptonian language and mythology is giving him a ton of ideas and he just can’t choose.”

“Yeah, well. Kon’s gonna have to get used to choosing names in general. And soon.”

Tim’s puzzled expression stopped her cold.

“Oh Hera. He hasn’t told you yet.”

Tim similarly froze, “He… told me there was something he though he’d tell a lot of people in person. Said it wasn’t bad news. But with his new off-world mission, and how, um, busy we both will be… “

Cassie nodded. If Kon wanted to protest, he could blame her.

“M’gann is pregnant.”

It was always fun: managing to surprise Tim with something he’d clearly had absolutely no clue about beforehand. So fun. So rare. He was even choking a bit on his own drink.

“You’re serious. Kon’s going to be… a dad?”

“Totally.”

“Wow. He’s got to be over the moon. Both in a happy and terrified way. I’ll be an honorary uncle. Heh…”

He went serious then, totally quiet. Sometimes Cassie didn’t dig the reminder that she didn’t really have the full specs of the brain of Timothy Drake. But then again, did anyone?

She held back a tiny flinch as Tim set down his drink and put his hand over hers…

“Are you okay?” he practically whispered.

“Yes…?” she mimicked his low voice.

“Because I know you’ve never liked talking about how things ended, but it’s alright to…”

Gears clicked into place.

“Omigod. Tim. I’m fine. Kon and I are both totally over each other. Promise. Seriously, have you been worrying about that for the past five years?”

His face didn’t turn red, but his ears did.

“Hey, you wouldn’t talk about it, okay? And Kon may be my best friend, but… he’s not my only best friend. You and Bart… you can’t think I love you any less. Do you?”

Holy shit. The L-word. From TIM. In a totally platonic sense, of course.

As it should be, Cassie.

She knew Tim had been trained to resist truth serum and torture since his Robin days. Apparently, his own taste in alcohol was considerably more effective if it could get talk of actual feelings out of him.

Focus, Cassie. He asked you a question.

“I know you love me.” She squeaked.

A distinctly fraught look pulled his eyebrows together, and it occurred to Cassie that her assurance didn’t sound very believable.

So she tried again, “I’m serious. I don’t mean that in whatever placating double-meaning Bat-way you guys usually communicate in Gotham. I mean it. I know. You love me. I love you too.”

Those burning ears of his were back, but at least the distressed twist to his forehead had gone away. And that… Cassie knew she’d said enough. Her brain knew, anyway. Her tongue didn’t. “If… if a burning building had you and my mom inside and I only had time to save one, I’d save my mom because she didn’t sign up for the life we did. But I’d be every bit as devastated over losing you as if I had lost her.”

What the hell, Cassie?! Dark escalation much?

She spared a glance at her drink as though it had betrayed her. Was she on glass number two or number three?

Tim just snorted with a smirk, “Me too.”

He took another sip, which seemed to oddly sober his face again, “Though… I’d probably be more devastated if it was you. I… I sometimes wondered if there was something wrong with me considering how fast I recovered from my mom’s death. We weren't  close. I… I wanted us to be. So much. But we weren’t.”

Cassie held her breath. She… she had known that Tim’s mom was out of the picture. That when his dad died, that was it. Officially one of Batman’s orphans. But she’d never…

Apparently, it was Tim’s turn to look at his drink as though it were up to shady behavior.

“I’ve never admitted that out loud to anybody. Not in so many words, anyway.”

They both let the silence breathe a moment, before Cassie tentatively let her curiosity get the best of her.

“What was her name? Wanna tell me about her?”

Tim didn’t look her in the eye, preferring to keep his gaze pinpointed on the single oversized ice cube in his glass, but he nodded.

“Her name was Janet. She um…” A tiny strange grin quirked the side of his mouth and he finally looked up at her through messy black bangs, “Remember that time when your mom invited me and Bart to dinner with you, and she complained for half an hour about the ‘jet-set’ archaeologists who have all the money but half-assed dedication to historical findings? Who are all about the fun and polish?”

“Um, yes?”  Oh gods. Helena Sandsmark’s fifth favorite rant topic. She had hours of material on the unfairness of wealthy socialites’ interaction with the archaeology scene. Cassie always died of embarrassment anytime someone she knew was exposed to even a fraction of it.

“My mom was one of those.”

Cassie slumped in her chair, beginning to feel her own ears turn red.

“Oh gods, I’m sorry—”

And Tim giggled. Giggled. It was… stupid but nice and he kind of sounded like he hadn’t taken in quite enough oxygen at first to do it properly.

“Don’t be, Cass. Your mom didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. I wasn’t mad. It was… nice remembering her. She was spoiled, but in a classy kind of way. At least, that’s what my dad would say about it. But he might have been biased. Considering.”

“Considering.” Cassie let a relieved giggle of her own slip.

The silence that followed wasn’t a bad one. She eventually realized that Tim was faintly tapping on the edge of the bar to the tune of the music softly playing over he speakers, though she didn’t recognize the song.

At some point in their conversation, he had let go of her hand, and she tried not to overthink her awareness of that. She also tried not to overthink the fact that she was mentally listing the different ways she might get him to put it back.

She was startled from carefully not contemplating these things when his finger tips continued tapping, but this time against her own fingers lingering on the bar. She saw an expectant expression on his face, and it took her a moment to realize that the music had changed.

Cassie’s eyes widened. Was that.. Mmmm Bop? It was. The one hit from that stupid band that every member of Young Justice has solemnly sworn to hate into eternity was dancing over the speakers.

Some members, however, had been lying through their teeth when taking said oath.

Cassie had been one of them. Apparently, so had Tim.

Their moment of mutually tapping to forbidden tunes was interrupted as the old bar keep slammed a giant pink drink in front of Cassie’s nose.

“From th’ gentleman.” The man muttered, tottering away.

Cassie frowned. Tim seemed to be on the case, however, as he made a subtle pointing down the bar. She looked over her shoulder and saw the guy. He was tall and broad, with a lear and patch of scruff on his chin that reminded Cassie of Tim’s old Mr. Sarcastic disguise. Just… without the sarcasm. His target of choice hadn’t accepted the drink yet, and he was already elbowing his buddies and preparing to stand.

“He looks like the pushy type to me,” Cassie muttered, “Mr. Detective?”

Tim gave a small sigh, “I’m inclined to agree. How do you want to play this?”

There were a lot of correct choices. Not the least of which was taking the drink and pretending it meant nothing. Making eye contact and firmly pushing the drink away was a fair call too. If Mr. Pushy pushed, well… It would hardly be any skin off her back to return the favor. But a hero was always supposed to avoid escalating the situation or provoking it. Such was the correct choice.

You’re going to be a mentor, Cassie.

Meaning—she replied to the voice in her head— that if she was going to do something wild and on the side of crazy, it had to be tonight. So, she grabbed Tim’s hand and whispered in his ear.

“Pretend to be my boyfriend.”

His eyes went comically wide for a fraction of a second, but the next instant, he was giving her a succinct nod of the head.

She felt his fingertips slide up to her jaw, pinpricks of cold from the condensation of his drink. She barely registered the procession from one moment to the next as his lips were suddenly touching hers.

Barely touching. Very lightly.

But staying. Not a peck.

Rather, a quick brush followed by a very slow second brush.  

Her eyes slipped closed, acknowledging that the feeling was nice, if unexpected.

She held still everywhere save her mouth, mimicking his movement until she could breathe in the honey-tang from his breath instead of her own.

She then set her icy fingernails against his cheek, as was only fair.

He gave a quick inhale that let her know she had startled him back.

“Two for flinching.” She chuckled against his mouth.

In an instant, she wanted desperately to see his expression, but he ducked his head to whisper in her ear again.

“Why go back to competing when we’ve gotten so good at teaming up?”

Tim thought he was so clever sometimes. She wanted to agree and roll her eyes at the same time. She was about to reply when something in the shift of his shoulders told her they had trouble.

“What is it?”

“Pushy Type has strolled out with his friends, but they went around the alley area of the building without grabbing a ride and none of them had car keys.”

Cassie hissed, “They wanna jump us? Are you serious? This neighborhood sucks.”

Tim pulled back far enough that could see his face. There was some uncertainty there that he was doing his utmost to hide, but Cassie was too familiar with it to be fooled by it anymore.

Goddess. He liked it. He liked it as much as I did.

And now he’s wondering if he messed up.

“Tim—“

“I know the corner they’ve picked. No cameras, no witnesses. They’d be… very surprised to not have the advantage. We could change into uniform in the restrooms and sneak out the back of the kitchen. It’ll be fun.”

And… he was off. He even left the barstool he’d been sitting on spinning.

Fine.

Stupid bat-birds and their emotional issues.

She’d let him get away with it for now.

——

Two hours later, they stumbled into Tim’s apartment dripping wet, with an unanticipated number of cuts and bruises.

“Fun, you said. We intimidate them and they’ll re-think their life-choices, you said.” Cassie scoffed.

Tim clutched his bruised rib, “I didn’t know C-listers were developing their own knock-off venom pills these days. It’s a recent development.”

His other arm was over her shoulder, keeping weight off his bruised ankle. If knock-off venom could punch her right into him, she didn’t want to think about what the original Bane could probably do.

But it probably didn’t help that they were both a little tipsy. While Tim might not have guessed that Mr. Pushy—who had wanted to be called The Dejector, of all things, yeesh—would be carrying supervillain steroids, they both would have resolved the fight a lot faster if they had both been sober and had their minds off… well.. The Thing they were avoiding talking about.

After they had the perps bagged and tied for the Gotham PD, Tim had decided to play it safe and not drive his motorcycle back. Cassie had similarly decided against flying.

So they had walked.

And then it rained.

Because Gotham.

Cassie carefully set Tim down on his couch. She then followed his directions to find the first aid kit as he began to check himself for damage.

“Just so we’re clear: I’m not actually mad, Tim. Just grumpy. I had plans for tonight. They didn’t involve this many scrapes.”

“I… Oh.” He froze, “I didn’t know I was keeping you. Sorry.”

“You’re not,” Cassie corrected, setting the kit down by his foot and she cinched up the leg of his jeans. (The nice thing about his crazy expensive wardrobe: there was some extra stretch to the denim.) “You were at the center of the plans.”

“Oh.” He tensed again, and Cassie worried for a moment that she had hurt him just by applying ice. But as she looked up, she realized his ears were red again.

Okay, Wonder Girl. Time to be brave.

“Confession time. So… you already know I love you. We got that out of the way. The big secret is that I also might… kinda like you on top of that.”

Tim snorted, but it was with a tiny hopeful smile on his face that quickly smoothed itself out to boarder-line sly.

“Oh really?”

If he was gonna be that way about it, there was no need to be delicate with the application of the ice. He flinched for real.

“Yeah,” Cassie muttered, meeting his eye, “Funny how that works.”

“Funny how it’s mutual.” He panted.

Cassie blinked. “Does this mean we…?”

“If you want.” Tim whispered.

She kissed him.

Sweat, rainwater, scrapes and all. She had wrapped her arms around his neck, and even when she bumped his foot and his leg tensed, he still clutched back.

It was hard to tell who’s idea it was to lean back into the couch. Definitely her idea to start lifting his shirt off. His hair was just long enough that damp tendrils lingered where his neck met his shoulders and she didn’t resist the temptation to run her hands through it. He rolled into the movement like a cat with his eyes closed, and something like déjà vu struck her for the second time that day.

For all that Tim’s everyday body language exuded a polite distance, actually touching him was so very different. Kind of like a sunflower desperate for a hint of light. As if no one had held him for years. Maybe no one had.

Rain still clung to her own hair as well, water droplets shaking loose from assorted strands of her blond hair. They splashed onto Tim’s chest, making him shiver.

She knew he could resist the cold, if he wanted. He could use a simple stretch of his own self control to curb his reactions, but he chose not to. Chose to let her see it, and the thought lit something warm in her chest.

She leaned in close again, feeling her own shirt slide up, enjoying the contrast of warmth where their stomaches touched and cold where their hair got in the way. Tim was the one doing the kissing then, returning to that slow brush he seemed to have perfected, only against her neck instead of her lips. His arms held tight, tighter. And she gladly returned the favor until—

“OUCH!”

His whole body tensed, but Cassie knew it was the foot.

The Achilles Heel, as mom would say.

“Guess it would be more fun to save the rest for when we’re both in one piece, huh?”

Tim sighed, “‘Rest’ implies a finite amount. Was going more for an indefinite sort of plan.”

Cassie grinned.

“I’ll remember that. Now where are your towels, Young Man Wonder?”

He scowled at her, but he gave up the location of the towels. And the location of his popcorn machine. And blankets. And spare pyjamas. And dvd collection.

I could get very used to this.

She was cuddled in his arms on the couch again, but this time calm and dry with antibiotics gently applied to her minor scratches.

“It’s different this time, you know. I can feel it.” She whispered.

Tim stirred beneath her, though he took a moment to speak.

“You mean… us?”

She nodded against his chest, “Us. The vibe of it. The… the kissing. It’s different. We’re different.”

She didn’t have the energy to lift her head, but she felt him nod all the same.

“Last time, we were in a bad place. Now we’re in a good one.”

She smiled against him and trusted that he could feel it, “Even if you have to face down the Damian squad on Monday?”

“It won’t be Damian’s squad. Not immediately, anyway. But yes. Even then. We can do this. Together.”

Cassie threaded her fingers through Tim’s as her eyes fluttered shut for the night.

She believed him.

F.I.N.