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Cass squints at Shiva, then tilts her head and squints more. The diner is empty aside from the two of them.
“What?” Shiva finally asks, lifting her eyes from her plate. Fake-bored, raw-curious. “What is it?”
“Your hair,” Cass says. She gestures at it with her chin. “It’s…curly.”
“Yes,” Shiva agrees. Her hair is the longest Cass thinks she’s ever seen it; well past shoulder length and almost mid-back. “It becomes curly when it grows out. That is why I keep it short nowadays.” She takes a sip from her teacup. “Doesn’t yours do the same?”
Cass begrudgingly shakes her head, suddenly very aware of her hair. “I cut my hair myself. It never gets long, it’ll get in the way.”
Shiva says nothing for a while, finishing her meal in silence. “Well,” she says, standing up from their booth. “You should try growing it out then. I receive many unnecessary compliments on mine, you will as well.” She stuffs her hands into her coat’s pockets and tilts her head with a half-smile. Teasing-but-not-cruel. Patronizing? Frustrating. “You would enjoy that kind of thing, no?”
Cass frowns at Shiva, tipping her head back to look up at her. She refuses to stand. “Why would I want that from men?”
Shiva’s smile widens into a full one, head still tilted. Definitely patronizing. Amused, also. “Who said it has to be from men?”
Baffling. Nonsensical. “What do you want?”
Uncharacteristically, she ruffles Cass’ hair with a hand. Very characteristically, she dodges Cass’ responding nerve strike. “Sloppy,” she tsks.
“Intentional,” Cass returns, even as Shiva starts to walk away. She leans out of the booth to let her voice carry across the diner. “Not everything is an attack, Shiva.”
“See you next time, Cassandra,” Shiva calls without looking back. Relaxed. “Tell the Batman I say hello.” Amused again. “And next time, you owe me a proper fight.”
Cass leans back into the booth, pokes at her pancakes. She doesn’t see why Shiva couldn’t have fought her today. Cass blows a strand of hair out of her face, and inspects her reflection in the window of the diner beside her. She wants to see what it would look like curly.
Later, when she flags over the waitress, she finds that Shiva has already paid for them both.
Baffling.