Chapter Text
This time, it’s Tim’s lavender mint shampoo that wakes her softly in the middle of the night. It’s become the routine following her and Jason’s homecoming just a little more than a month ago. As soon as patrol is over, one of her brothers will lay with her and give her the rundown for how each night went. It had overwhelmed her at first, the lengths they were going to start including her in everything, but that’s what she’d wanted, right? To have it proven that they care about her and not just what she can do. She’s still getting used to the idea, getting used to unlearning everything she’s ever known, but it makes her chest feel warm.
Cass knows that everyone’s home safe just by how she’s been awoken, the lack of urgency in the entire process. Her brother is clean, took the time to sneak in to her room and crawl under the covers and lay there until the shift in atmosphere pulled at her consciousness. With the others, she wakes to their footfalls outside of the door, their attempt at stealth failing when it comes to her spacial awareness, but Tim is very much on her stealth level, at times even measuring how long it takes for her to wake after he’s in her space. So far, his record is a strong eight minutes, which he lets nobody forget.
Still drowsy from her prescriptions, Cass only burrows deeper under her comforter. Tim puffs a small laugh from his nose and buries himself down with her, poking at her nose and cheeks until she cracks an eye open to meet his.
“Cassie, you gotta get up, we’re sneaking out,” he singsongs, waggling his eyebrows until she groans and tries to roll over. An exasperated sigh leaves him, “See, we thought you’d say that.”
It’s then that her bedroom door opens again, and she knows it’s Jason who enters next. No amount of vanilla and cedarwood body wash could ever truly mask the underlying scent of Marlboro Reds. With as much care as possible, Cass is unburied from her blankets and pulled onto her brother’s hip (“Be careful with her cast, Jay–” “Shut up, Timbit, her leg’s fine.”), her arms snaking around his neck and head drooping on his shoulder. “C’mon, little bat. The four of us are going to 7/11 while Dick and Damian are setting up in the backyard. We gotta get supplies.”
Cass hums, barely registering anything he’s said before they’re on the move. By the time they’ve reached the garage, she’s snoring softly, the rocking motion of Jason’s gait lulling her back to some semblance of sleep. A car door opens, and she can hear whispers before Duke pipes up, “Pass her along, I’ve got her.” Jason bends down and does just that, relinquishing her to new arms that pull her across leather seats and tuck her against a solid chest.
For the whole show of whispering and quiet footsteps, Cass knows that the definition of ‘sneaking out’ is being used very loosely here the moment that Tim turns his Spotify playlist on while they’re still pulling out of the garage. Boygenius fills the silence as Jason pulls the car down the driveway and a few hundred feet past the manor before turning on the headlights. Light banter starts up between the three brothers as her breathing evens out again.
Duke shifts a little under her, keeping her slightly aware, but her eyes remain closed. “Are uh, are we sure we should be doin’ this? Cass only got outta surgery this afternoon, I think she’s still pretty out of it.”
After a moment of Julien Baker’s sweet voice being the only one to fill the silence, Tim replies, “She’s been stuck inside for, like, a month, only being taken out for surgeries and x-rays. She’s stir crazy, she just won’t admit it to anyone.”
Jason snorts in agreement. “Duke, man, they were just adjusting the screws in her calf. B and Leslie said it’s fine, plus I have her meds in my pocket if her leg starts to bother her.” He takes a deep breath, and his tone shifts, “If you’s ‘re as serious as I am about changin’ our tune, we’re… we gotta start now, or else we’ll fall into old patterns and she’s gonna keep suffering like before. I’m not letting that happen, it’s not– I won’t do it, I won’t.”
Her brothers fall quiet once more, and Cass sits on what she’s not meant to have heard. The day she woke up for the first time, Jason told her they would change, but she thought they had already. The patrol updates alone were more than she could have asked for, but to know that there could be more? It’s hard to swallow. He told her that they’d be better about taking her out, doing more for her, but she figured that would just mean stops for Batburger on patrol, or invitations to join their individual teams for missions. It won’t click in her head that they want to just spend time with her when she barely knows who she is yet.
She’s mostly awake by the time the car pulls to a stop in the parking lot, and when Jason opens her door, she blinks her eyes open for the first time tonight. He grins wide at her before pulling a hoodie over her head. “G’morning, sleeping beauty. Welcome to your secondary location.” Tim laughs from the front seat, still gathering his phone and backpack together. Jay gathers her hair out of her face and into a ponytail at the top of her head, wrapping it with the scrunchie he had sitting on his wrist. “We’ve got a surprise waiting for you back at the house, but first we gotta grab some snacks and shit. Y’ready to go?”
Cass hums in the affirmative, eyes searching for her– “Crutches, Jay?”
Jason’s face morphs into stage-worthy shock and horror. “Duke, how could you possibly forget your sister’s crutches? Just what do you have to say for yourself, young man?”
Duke sputters as he gets out of the car. “Wha– Do– Jay you, you told me we didn’t–”
“Ah-ah-ah, the damage is done,” he shakes his head. “Guess you’re just gonna have’ta ride piggyback. C’mon, scooch up, I’ll take ya.” Cass can’t help but laugh as she does, holding tight as Jason stands.
She has to blink a few times to get her eyes adjusted to the bright fluorescent lighting when they step into the store. By the time she can fully see, Cass finds that Tim and Duke have broken off to grab Slurpees and chips, respectively. Jason takes his time walking them over to the drinks cooler, already handing a cherry Zesti over to Cass, who cracks it open to take a sip. “How’s the leg doin’? I uh, I brought your stuff along, since I know your last dose was a few hours ago.” Jason tries his best to sound nonchalant, but Cass can hear the anxious note underneath it all.
“Fine,” she replies a little too quickly, and Jason notices, if the quick tightening grip on her thigh is any indication. “Cassie, we talked about this. Take a second, think about it. If you’re even starting to feel uncomfortable, you gotta take a new dose or you’ll be hurtin’ before it kicks in.”
Cass takes a breath and focuses in. It’s been an uphill battle trying to figure out when she’s meant to admit she’s in pain. Her nerve endings have been ruined since before she could peek over the dinner table. “Sore, I think. Achey?”
Jason nods, pulling the orange bottle from his sweatshirt pocket and shaking a pill out into her hand. “Thank you for telling me, Cass. You’re doing really good, I’m really proud of you.” She swallows the pill with a swig of her soda, not saying anything in reply, but feeling the tips of her ears warm at the praise.
“Hey, are we doing s’mores, or should I just grab, like… sour straws and stuff?” Duke calls across the aisles. Tim shouts back, “We’re not gonna have time, you doofus! Snag stuff that we can run with.”
Cass shoves her head over Jason’s shoulder, trying to figure out what they’re talking about, but his face is a carefully crafted mask. “Don’t even ask, you’re gonna know soon, I promise. Surprise, remember?” She rolls her eyes and settles back as Jason hands her more drinks to carry before they head up to the register.
Tim has two drink carriers filled with different Slurpee concoctions, Duke has an armful of Popcorners and bags of candy, and Cass lays down her bottles of soda for the cashier to pack away into paper bags.
With a trunk full of junk food and a lap full of Slurpees, all four of them are settled back in the car. “Alright, let’s get some Noah Kahan on here and try not to cry on the way back home, let’s go!” Tim shouts, cranking the radio nearly to full volume as Jason laughs and pulls out of the parking lot.
Even if this was the end of the night, Cass would be happy with it.