Work Text:
“Cass?” Steph called, shouldering her way into the apartment. It was quiet inside, but that wasn’t exactly unusual. She didn’t think Barbara was in at the moment, so it was just Cass, and she wasn’t exactly the loud type. “You in here?”
No answer. Steph closed the door behind her, peering into the apartment. She was supposed to meet up with Cass for another round of training, even though she was still sore and bruised from the last one. It was hard to not feel ridiculously inadequate next to her; Steph tried not to hold it against her. She was learning from Cass, after all, but Steph would be lying if she said that was the only reason she kept coming back. There was a tug in her chest when Cass looked at her, something foreign and confusing and thrilling.
Most of the lights were off, and Steph made her way to the training room, thinking that was the safest bet for where Cass would be.
Sure enough, she was, out of costume, slumped against the wall. As Steph got closer, she noticed the abnormal limpness to Cass’ posture and the sheen of sweat reflected on her brow.
“Cass?” she asked. “Are you okay?”
Cass startled a little, almost as if she hadn’t heard Steph come in at all. Which was concerning, to say the least. Steph had never been able to catch her off guard before. Cass always seemed to be hyper aware of her surroundings.
A slight nod was her response.
Steph frowned. “Are you sure?”
A more insistent nod.
“No offense,” Steph said, crouching down in front of her, “but I don’t believe you.”
Steph reached out a hand to check her temperature. Cass tensed up a little at first, probably on instinct, but relaxed when Steph gently laid the back of her hand on her forehead.
“Jeez, you’re burning up,” Steph said. Cass’ brow furrowed. “You’re sick,” Steph clarified.
Cass’ frown deepened. “I don’t… get sick.”
“Everyone gets sick, silly. Come on, let’s get you into bed.” Steph stood up and offered Cass her hands, which only seemed to make Cass more confused.
“I’m training,” Cass said slowly.
“Not anymore, you’re not. Come on,” Steph said. “It won’t kill you to take one day off.”
“It might,” Cass said, and her tone was so painfully earnest it made Steph’s stomach twist.
Steph sighed. “Either you get up or I drag you there myself.”
Cass looked doubtful, recognizing the empty threat for what it was, but she took Steph’s hands anyway and hoisted herself up. She wobbled on her feet for a second and Steph stepped closer, putting her arm around her waist.
“Lean on me,” she said.
Cass looked at her with bleary, glassy eyes. She didn’t lean on Steph, but she also didn’t pull away, which she was counting as a win. Cass let herself be led to her room without much resistance. Steph deposited her on the bed (unmade, of course) and left to go try and scavenge some medicine. She found a half-empty bottle of ibuprofen in the bathroom and took it back with her, shaking a few out and stopping to fill up a glass of water.
When she returned, Cass was curled up in bed, tangled in a nest of blankets with a pillow clutched to her chest, looking half asleep already. Steph shook her gently by the shoulder, and Cass blinked up at her. Steph wasn’t sure she’d ever seen her so vulnerable. The skin under her eyes was dark and ashen, and there was a bruise healing on her chin, hair sticking to her forehead.
“Here,” Steph said, holding out the pills. “Take these.”
Cass wrinkled her nose slightly but grabbed them and tossed them into her mouth, not bothering with the water. Steph hovered her hand over Cass’ shoulder, wanting to comfort her somehow but not completely sure how. She wondered if anyone had come to see her when she was injured and barely conscious as a small child, if anyone had stayed at her side and watched over her while she slept. She doubted it.
Cass, as if sensing her thoughts, glanced back up at Steph. She looked like she was debating something with herself. After a second she shuffled over, just a little bit, just enough to leave some space on the edge of the bed.
Steph almost asked her ‘are you sure?’ before realizing that that was a stupid question; of course she was. Cass was always sure. Steph tentatively laid down next to her, resting her head on the pillow. She could feel the warmth radiating off of Cass’ body, curled up next to her like a coil of red-hot wire.
“Once,” Steph said, mostly just talking in an attempt to fill the empty space,“I got really sick. I felt awful, and it just kept getting worse. My dad wouldn’t let me go to the hospital or see a doctor or anything. I felt like I was dying.” She remembered it vividly. “Turned out to be the flu. Which we found out after I collapsed later that day.” She swallowed, trying to remember where she was going with the story. “I just… you need someone looking out for you, you know?”
There was another stretch of silence that lasted for so long that Steph thought Cass might have drifted off, and it was too dark now to tell. Small slits of light slashed across the ceiling and wall from the street outside the window, filtered through the blinds.
And then there was a pressure on her wrist. Slowly, hesitantly, Cass wrapped her hand, still hot and shaky from the fever, around Steph’s. Steph pressed gently, running her thumb back and forth along the back of her hand.
The whole room was still. The air became heavy with night and all the words that Steph wasn’t brave enough to say.
Barbara found them a few hours later, both asleep on the bed, Cass curled up with her body facing Steph, curved unconsciously like a flower to the sun.