Chapter Text
Steph misses Cass. Cass is away at ballet school and, sure, Steph calls her nearly every day but she still misses Cass. Cass is, and always has been, her favorite Wayne. Jason is a close second.
Jason is staying up with her while she studies for tomorrow’s test. He’s working on his own coursework on the other sofa, papers and laptop balanced in his lap. The tv plays a bad soap opera in the background to keep them company. Steph has learnt that these are Jason’s ideal working conditions (companionship and background noise).
Steph likes studying at Wayne manor. They have good WiFi, plentiful snacks, and someone willing to be bullied-bribed into being a study-buddy or proof-reader. At home there are loud neighbors, noisy streets, and shitty WiFi stolen from the previously mentioned loud neighbors.
She likes the manor in general. She loves the quiet, the space and the occasional chaos. Tim never got how lucky he is to have a house full of people who love him. She tried explaining it to him when they started dating and she'd stay over, but he had pointed out that Bruce and Dick were never around, Jason enjoyed punching him, and Damian was actively trying to kill him. He may have had a point. But it still seemed way better than her house.
Tim shuffles into the family lounge, carrying his tablet and can of Monster. They look at each other for an awkward moment before Tim backs away.
“Wait,” Steph says. He shakes his head, walking away. She dumps her books and laptop onto the sofa and goes after Tim. They need to talk. They’ve been needing to talk for weeks. “Tim!”
He’s doing an awkward i’m-not-running-because-that-would-be-too-offensive-but-i-want-to walk. She scrambles after him, wanting him to stop but not actually wanting to manhandle him into stopping. For her trouble, Steph gets a bedroom door firmly shoved in her face.
“Tim,” she says to the bedroom door. “This isn’t fair.” And it isn’t. She’s trying to be the bigger person here. Tim is (was?) her best friend. She has a few class friends from college but it’s not enough to even come close to Tim and her friendship. She’s lonely.
She also doesn’t really want to fight. All they did for the last few weeks of their relationship was fight. They should have broken up way before they did. It might have been easier to salvage the friendship then. Instead it all curdled into resentment and frustration and screaming fights. She can already feel that old annoyance resurfacing.
“You don’t get to do this,” she shouts, hitting the door. ‘Don’t cut me off. It’s not fair that you’re making me feel like the bad guy. It’s hella manipulative.” What she says next is cruel, she knows, but she can’t seem to stop herself, “You’re just like your mom.”
And the door swings open, “What the fuck, Steph?”
She should apologize. Instead she says, “Why are you avoiding me?”
“I’m not,” he picks at a thread coming off the oversized sweatshirt that looks suspiciously like Jason’s.
“So what were you doing just now?”
He sighs, pushing his too-long hair out of his face. Steph remembers when they followed a TikTok to cut each other’s bangs. He should do that again, he looked really good. “Steph…I’m seeing someone.”
“Oh,” Steph says. “Do I know her? Is that why you’re avoiding me?”
“Him,” Tim says. “And kind-of. It’s Bernard.”
“Like the one you went to high school with?”
“Yeah.”
“When did you guys start dating? Before or after the break up?”
“After, Steph. Very much so after.”
“And…” Steph finds herself pausing to try and figure out how to ask this. “...Are you…did you…you were into me right?”
“Super,” Tim says. “Well, maybe a little less so right at the end.”
“Samsies,” Steph says. And, because she knows she’s going to have to talk to someone about this, she asks, “Who else knows? About Bernard, I mean.”
“So far, just Jason,” Tim says. “But it’s not a secret. Well…I mean I don’t want Bruce to find out from someone else.”
“Okay,” Steph says.
“Are we okay?”
‘Always,” Steph says. Only after she says it does she realize that she’d lied. They’re not okay, but Steph doesn’t have a clue how to verbalize why.