Chapter Text
ROSE
I guess it's my turn to run away. It's funny, I never thought that if I ever left, you were going to be the one I would be writing to. But I need a break, from everything.
Maybe you will understand it better than anyone else. Or maybe not. Maybe you will get angry at me for leaving after that fight and I will deserve it. But when I come back, I really hope we can figure it all out.
Please tell the others I will be back soon.
– Cassie
"Fuck." Rose muttered.
Of course she made Cassie go away.
Now it had been three weeks since she had last seen her, and probably three hundred times had she read that note, like she would find some hidden meaning in it, like it would change anything.
They had been in a weird relationship since the whole team got back together, when Tim stopped freaking out over the Batman missing thing, and Bart and Conner stopped being dead.
And, a while after, Rose felt like she actually belonged in the team for the first time. Like everything was getting right on track, and Cassie must've felt it too, because they were in some kind of unspoken truce, not getting into each other's nerves as much and that also felt… right.
Then, one night, Rose was on the rooftop smoking a cigarette when Cassie came by.
"Is it ok if I sit with you?" She asked.
"Sure." Rose said, putting out her cigarette.
They sat there in silence for a few minutes, trying not to look at each other.
"Look, this is going to sound dumb and you can make fun of me all you want." Cassie said, looking Rose right in the eyes "Can we be friends? I mean, are we already friends, maybe?"
"As if you would ever let me make fun of you without a fight, princess."
"Probably not." Cassie admitted.
"And yeah, I guess we're already friends, we've been friendly, right?"
"Right. Good. Because I feel like we've been doing well, the team I mean. And not getting on each other's throats all the time is part of that."
"I kinda miss it." Rose said "It was fun when we weren't we didn't get too homicidal."
"No, it wasn't. You were always too creative with nicknames. And I was just so stressed all the time with everything that was going on, I guess I took it out on you sometimes. Sorry."
"Oh, so it wasn't just because you hated me?"
"Hey! It's not like you were fond of me either." Rose could notice Cassie's eyebrows arching and her cheeks turning red, just like old times. Damn it, she wasn't even trying to annoy her this time, why did she have to be so good at it? But Cassie took a deep breath and just continued "I never hated you Rose, we just often had different opinions and had too much on our shoulders. I say we forget it and start fresh, what do you think?"
Cassie held her hand out for Rose, which she took.
Cassie's hand felt soft and warm against hers, which was freezing from her being out in the night for too long.
Rose couldn't remember ever touching Cassie like that before, gently, without all the heat of a fight, which she didn't hate either. But this, this felt different.
When they fought, she used to have this urge to kiss Cassie and shut her up. Now, though, she wanted to hold her hand tighter and pull her closer. She wanted to run her fingers through Cassie's annoyinly perfect hair, kiss her annoyinly perfect lips and tell her how she was fucking in love with her and how Cassie had to be perfectly stupid to have never noticed.
"Deal." Was all Rose said.
After that, not much changed. Except hanging out at the roof became a habit for the two of them, when Rose went to the rooftop late at night, she didn't even smoke anymore, she just sat there and waited for the door to open and for Cassie to come sit by her side.
She felt ridiculous every time her heart skipped a beat when she heard the doorknob turning, and even more ridiculous when she got all disappointed at the times it turned out to be just the wind.
Sometimes they just sat there in silence for quite some time, laying on the hard floor and looking at the stars. Most of the time, though, Cassie was trying to make conversation. Which Rose liked, especially because she was getting to know a lot about Cassie that she didn't before. First of all, Cassie was not that good with awkward silences — therefore the need to talk —, she used to have very short hair when she was younger, she had this weird obsession with the movie Titanic.
"I never watched it." Rose said when Cassie mentioned the movie.
"You never…? You never watched Titanic? Oh no, I can't accept it, we can't have a Titan that has never watched Titanic."
"Now that you said it, it's in our name."
"It is! Don't tell the others but it's the only reason I joined the team."
Rose laughed. She didn't remember seeing Cassie that enthusiastic before and it was adorable.
"Oh, I know!" Cassie continued — What do you say we have a sleepover tomorrow? We can stay in my room and eat popcorn, watch a three hour movie and cry.
Rose froze for a second. Sure, she had imagined being invited to Cassie's room a billion times before. But not to be all buddies and paint each other's toenails and pretend like she wanted to settle for all that.
Every second that she couldn't tell Cassie how she actually felt, every second not being able to touch her in that room… It would be humiliation ritual after humiliation ritual.
Rose was not going to any sleepover.
She was going to tell Cassie everything: how she was in love with her since God knows how long, how sometimes she would pick a fight with her just to have an excuse to talk to her, how she loved that serious face that Cassie made when leading the team, and how she fit in that stupid jeans uniform. She would kiss her right there and knock some sense into her.
Sleepover? No way in hell.
"Sure, let's have a sleepover." Fuck, Rose thought, that girl had her wrapped around her finger and she didn't even know it. "Except, I won't call it that because I'm not thirteen. And I won't cry over a movie."
"It will be fun! Trust me." Cassie said, smiling. "And I dare you not to cry."
"Then get ready to lose."
It was not worth it, telling Cassie how she felt and having her back away. Not yet.