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“Hey Cass, are y— ?” Stephanie stopped, midword and midstep, peering through Cassandra's bedroom doorway with wide eyes. “Uh, are you wearing makeup?”
“Yes.” Cass said. Stephanie watched as she finished tracing her mouth with a tube of glittery pink. “Does it look nice?”
“You look gorgeous,” Stephanie said without missing a beat, but she still felt unsteady. “Is there a Wayne party or something going on today?”
“No,” Cass shook her head. “I'm going on a date.”
Stephanie felt her ribs knot like vines in her chest, heard the rustle of papers as her fists clenched. “A date?! You're going on a date and you didn't tell me?” She tried to bury the shock in her voice under a tremulous smile. “Wow, that’s so awesome! I’m happy for you.”
Cass hummed. “What’s that?” she asked, turning from her mirror and nodding at the papers in Stephanie’s hands.
“This?” Stephanie folded the sheets once, twice, three times and shoved them into her jeans pocket. “It’s nothing, forget it. Now, tell me who this mysterious date of yours is!”
“Secret.” Cass shook her head, distracted as she turned back to the makeup kit in front of her. It looked completely new and incredibly expensive, probably something Bruce had bought for her ages ago even though it had barely been touched since.
“You're not going to tell me?” Stephanie bounded over, leaning against Cass’ back to look at the mirror. “Wow, you look so pretty. Will you tell me if I do your hair?”
Cass shook her head, miming a zipper across her mouth. “My lips are sealed.”
“Damn right, they are. And glossed, too.” Steph prodded at Cass’ cheek. “Please?”
Before Cass could answer, a knock on the open bedroom door interrupted her.
Stephanie spun on her heel. “Duke! What are you doing here?”
Duke raised an eyebrow. “I live here? Shouldn't I be asking you that question?”
“Did you know that Cass has a date today?”
“Uh yeah, that's why I’m here, actually,” Duke said. “Dick’s ready to drive you into the city now, Cass. If you're ready.”
“Thank you, little brother. I'll be right there.” Cass stood, pulling a yellow sweater on over her black dress and slipping the tube of lip gloss into the pocket.
“You're going into the city. ” Stephanie echoed forlornly. “On a date. And you won’t even tell me who it is.” She swallowed down her hurt and looped her arm through Cass’, trying to ignore the way the papers in her pocket seemed to suddenly weigh a million pounds. “Well, you’ll have to tell me all about it afterwards, okay? Promise?”
Cass smiled. “Promise.”
Stephanie decided to follow Duke to one of the Manor’s many sitting rooms, complaining loudly that “best friends have to tell each other all their secrets! I mean, does Cass not trust me or something?”
Duke sighed. “I’m sure that’s not the reason. Don’t you think you’re overreacting a little?”
“I’m absolutely not — ” she stopped as they stepped into the sitting room. “Oh. Hey, Jason. What are you doing here?”
“Here?” Jason looked up from where he was lying on the carpet, Titus sprawled across his stomach. “Well, Titus knocked me over and then he fell asleep and I didn’t want to get up and wake him, so...”
“I think she meant here as in the Manor,” Duke said.
“Oh. Because there's a dog here? Duh.” Jason said.
“Actually, Jason and I were going to hang out today, but you can join us,” Duke said. “Maybe it’ll take your mind off of this Cass thing.”
“Cass thing?” Jason asked. “Oh, right. She has her date today.”
Stephanie threw her hands in the air. “Does everyone know about this date besides me?!”
Duke ignored her, lifting a box on the nearby coffee table. “I found this board game the other day in...one of those giant, pointless rooms upstairs. Maybe we could try it?”
Stephanie wrinkled her nose, tracing a pattern through the dust on the box. “Yikes. Looks like there’s one part of the house Alfred doesn’t clean like crazy.”
“Ah sure, let’s play it,” Jason shrugged the best he could with a dog on top of him. “We’ve got time to kill before the next Gotham disaster strikes. What could go wrong?”
“Uh, have you guys never seen Jumanji ?”
“We’re playing it,” Duke said, opening the box decisively. “Come on, everyone choose a piece.”
Cass tapped on the car window as they approached the store. “Here.”
Dick obliged and turned into the parking lot. “Alright then. Lead the way, Cassanova.” He winked at her in the rearview mirror and she giggled.
“This is ridiculous. I don’t understand why you’ve forced me to come shopping with you,” Damian huffed, slamming the door as he jumped out of the car.
“Need you to help carry the bags,” Cass rubbed his hair. Damian scowled and batted her hand away. “And...you need fresh air. Summer vacation does not mean only going out at night .”
Dick slung an arm around Cass’ shoulder. “I can’t believe it. My little sister, all grown up and going on a date. I should give you some tips! You know, I used to be quite the charmer back in my day...”
Cassandra clasped a hand over her mouth to contain her laughter, even as Damian shouted, “Grayson, you are not that old!”
A sudden boom! shook the ground, a shrill scream coming from past the store’s sliding glass doors. Cass exchanged a look with her brothers; of course Gotham couldn’t give them a moment’s peace, could it?
Dick was already turning back towards the parking lot. “I’ve got extra domino masks in the car.”
Cass pulled out the one she had stashed in her pocket and flipped her sweater hood over her hair. “I’ll see you inside.”
“I’m boooooooored,” Stephanie groaned. “This is stupid unfair. You guys are obviously going to win so why should I even care? I’m supposed to have a teammate!”
“ Titus is your teammate. I already called dibs on Duke.” Jason said, moving the piece he and Duke were sharing so it was on the tile just before the finish line.
Titus growled from where he was sitting on the couch next to Stephanie. Jason stuck his tongue out in response.
“Stop bullying my teammate,” Stephanie said, wrapping her arms around the dog’s neck. “Okay, Titus. We still have a chance. All we have to do is keep them from reaching the finish line, and—”
Titus apparently took that as a command, because he barked and leapt onto the table, flipping the board over and sending pieces flying everywhere.
“Well, I guess that’s one way to do it,” Duke sighed.
“Bad dog!” Jason scolded, trying hard not to grin (and failing) when Titus jumped into his lap and licked his face. “Fuck, what a mess.”
“What is going on in here?” Tim asked, poking his head into the sitting room. Bruce was behind him, both of them in suits; there must have been some important Wayne Enterprises meeting today.
“We were trying to play a board game, but it didn’t work out,” Duke explained, scooping a few of the fallen pieces into his palm and depositing them onto the coffee table. “Uh, sorry about the mess. We’ll clean this up.”
“A board game?” Bruce picked up the box where it had dropped onto the floor. “I remember playing this with my parents and Kate, as a kid. Where did you even find this?” He rubbed at the dusty lettering with his expensive suit sleeve. “It probably didn’t work out because it’s impossible to play without four people.”
“Yeah, that’s ’cause Jason forced me to team up with a dog !” Stephanie said. “Tim, come join us. Be my teammate!”
“Alright, fine,” Tim sat down on the couch next to her. “You’ll have to teach me how to play, though.”
“I’m not even sure we know to play,” Duke said, thumbing through the instructions booklet. “Yeah no, this game makes absolutely zero sense.”
“It’s a lot easier with a moderator,” Bruce said. He sat down on the nearby armchair and took the booklet from Duke. “Alfred was always ours when I used to play, but I think I remember enough to do it instead.”
“Speaking of Alfred,” Duke said, “we should probably pick all this up before he sees it.”
“Yeah, and then we can play another round. And this time we get to kick Tim’s ass, too,” Jason grinned. “What a fucking bonus.”
“Don’t listen to him, Timmy,” Stephanie laughed and nudged Tim with her elbow. “You’re definitely, like, my second top choice for a teammate. After Cass, of course.” Cass. Damn, and she’d been doing so well at distracting herself till then. She wondered how Cass’ date was going, whether she was having fun and forgetting all about Stephanie...
Tim seemed to notice her forlorn expression, because he changed the subject. “Hey, isn’t tomorrow your big day? Got any plans?”
“Yeah, actually I—” Stephanie stopped, remembering the papers that were currently crumpled in her pocket. “—I’m just going out for dinner with my mom.”
“Yo, enough chatting over there!” Jason straightened the gameboard, all its pieces recovered and propped in their positions. “Let’s raise the stakes a little, shall we? Losers have to get their picture taken in Dick’s old Discowing costume.”
“What the hell is a Discowing?” Duke asked.
“Oh kid,” Stephanie said, sympathetically. “Just trust me. You do not want to lose this round.”
Cass peered as far as she could around the shelf without knocking over the bottles of tomato sauce stacked on it. Dick and Damian were crouched in the aisle behind her.
Damian poked her in the back. “What’s going on? Is it a villain we know?”
“No.” Cass shook her head. “Just regular people. Four robbers. But they have super weapons.”
“What kind of super weapons?” Dick asked, his voice low.
“One has plasma guns. Another has a big, spiky hammer. Last one has brass knuckles. With tasers,” Cass listed.
“Yeah, those sound pretty super. And the fourth one?” Dick whispered.
“Shotgun.” Cass whispered back.
“Super shotgun?”
“No,” Cass shook her head. “Just regular.”
“Hm. Well, no points for creativity, but I guess that’s still a weapon,” Dick said. “Alright then, the plan is you two stay here while I distract them until the police show up. They seem inexperienced so I’m guessing that—”
“No!” Damian hissed, cutting him off. “We are trained! You won't be any use without backup.”
“You’re in civilian clothing right now, Damian. You’re not armed.”
“Neither are you!”
“Shush,” Cass warned, but it was too late. Their heated whispers had caught the attention of Shotgun Man, and he was looking right at them.
Cass sighed, giving up stealth and shifting into a defensive stance. There went all her plans for a peaceful shopping trip.
“What the hell, Duke?” Jason smacked Duke’s shoulder. “You just cost us ten life points!”
“Yeah, thanks Duke,” Tim grinned, scooping up the dice. “Okay Steph, all we need is a six and we get a double bonus.”
“No,” Bruce said without looking up from the booklet. “You get a triple bonus card because your last power-up is still in effect for the next two turns.”
“That’s pretty sweet,” Stephanie said, eyeing Titus warily. He was lying on the floor by the fireplace, looking dangerously interested in the board game again. If he knocked it over again when she and Tim were this close to winning...
“But only if you roll a six,” Bruce reminded. Tim rolled the dice. A one and a two.
“Tough luck,” Jason passed the dice to Duke. “Alright, Narrows. Seven or higher. Don’t let me down.”
Duke shook the dice between his hands for a solid ten seconds before rolling. A three and a two.
“Damn it,” Jason said. “This is why the Red Hood works better alone.”
“I can hear Artemis and Bizarro’s hearts breaking from here,” Tim said drily.
“This game is impossible!” Duke cried, burying his head in his hands. “We’ve been at this for like five hours, and we’re not even halfway to the finish line.”
“Yeah, not so easy when you have real opponents, huh?” Stephanie said. She still had no idea what was going on, but that wasn’t going to stop her from getting way too competitive about it anyway.
“Pick up a card, Stephanie,” Bruce said.
She picked up a card. “Move your opponent’s piece twelve spaces backward. Ha!” She pushed the opposing team’s wooden token across the board. “Your move, losers .”
Bruce flipped through the booklet. “Duke, you can play an attack card or you can roll.”
“Do we even have any attack cards?” Duke asked, and Jason shook his head. “Okay, roll it is.” A four and five. Duke obediently moved his token nine spaces forward, landing on a black square marked with a skull.
“That looks promising,” Jason remarked. “What’s it mean?”
“Hm. Well, it says here,” Bruce consulted the booklet, “that the team that uses a gold card now wins the whole game.”
“What?!” Duke said. “That’s totally rigged! We don’t even have any cards left!”
“Ha! Sucks to be you!” Stephanie grinned, picking up the fat deck of cards she and Tim had collected. “It’s gotta be in here somewhere, right?” She flipped through the cards, heart sinking as an array of colors passed by without a single one shining gold. “Um, never mind. Nope, we don’t have it.”
Tim turned to his dad. “Bruce, what happens if no one has it?”
“Ah.” Bruce stopped at a page and stared at it. “Well, that’s...unfortunate.”
“What?” Tim demanded, apparently not liking Bruce’s tone any more than the rest of them.
“According to the rulebook, if nobody has the right card,” Bruce closed the booklet. “Nobody wins.”
A long moment of thunderstruck silence followed, broken only when Jason said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Duke dropped his head back into his hands. “Five hours of my life, completely wasted .”
“Hey, I wouldn’t say it was a complete waste! It was family bonding, you know?” Stephanie said over Tim’s groan. “So does this mean we all have to wear the outfit?”
“What outfit?” As if summoned, Dick chose that moment to walk into the living room. A bruise was forming under his left eye, his shirt singed and smoking. “Whoa, what happened in here? You guys look like you’ve been to hell and back.”
“You’re one to talk,” Tim said. “What happened to you? I thought you were helping Cass with her date.”
“Yeah!” Stephanie leapt to her feet. “How was her date? Did she come back with you?”
“She did.” Dick smiled and gestured for Stephanie to follow him. “Why don’t you come to talk her about it yourself?”
Stephanie trailed behind Dick across the Manor. “Why are we going to the backyard?”
“Cass is in the backyard,” he answered, which was no help whatsoever.
“Okay. Let me rephrase then. Why is Cass in the backyard?” Stephanie asked. When Dick didn’t answer, she opened her mouth to ask again, but the words caught in her throat as they stepped through the back door.
The yard was decorated beautifully, string lights wrapped around the shrubbery and zigzagging from tree to tree. Against the night sky, the little bulbs looked like the stars that Gotham’s lights normally drowned out. A huge table in the center was laden with pastries and a giant, purple frosted cake, ringed with lit candles. Colorful streamers were wrapped around the trunks of Alfred’s carefully-kept cherry laurels, and confetti covered the shrubbery.
And at the center of it all was Cass, lighting the last candle on the cake, her beautiful dress torn and tomato sauce in her hair. She looked like a constellation come to life, like a star so bright that even Gotham couldn’t drown her out.
“Oh,” Stephanie said, breathily. “Is this...?”
She heard, distantly, Dick stepping back into the house and closing the back door shut behind him. Apparently Cass did, too; she looked over her shoulder and smiled at Stephanie.
“Sorry,” Cass said. “I wanted to change before you saw. I look bad.”
She looked like she had been in a fight. The mascara she had painstakingly applied that morning was smeared around her eyes, as if she had hastily stuck on a domino mask. There was a shallow cut on her cheek and her lips were reddened by blood instead of balm.
Behind her, the candles from the towering cake seemed to light a halo around her head.
“You look beautiful.” Stephanie corrected automatically. “But...I thought you had a date today. You were actually getting all this ready? For me?”
“Damian and Dick helped. But yes.” Cass said, adding softly: “And I do have a date today. With you.”
“ Oh ,” Stephanie said again, this time with a squeak in her voice. Then she started to laugh, almost hysterically, the vines that had wound around her chest all day giving way to a blossoming joy she could barely contain.
“Are you okay?” Cass asked, sounding concerned.
“I’m more than okay! I’m...Cass, look.” Stephanie reached into her pocket, pulling out the crumpled papers she had stuffed in that morning.
Cass took them. “Concert tickets?”
“For a ballet concert. There’s this really famous ballet troupe coming to Gotham tomorrow, and I wanted to go with you. Like, on a date,” Stephanie smiled sheepishly. “I was going to ask you this morning.”
Now it was Cass’ turn to look stunned. “With me? You don’t like ballet.”
“Not really, but there’s this really cool pianist playing there,” Stephanie took Cass’ hands in her own. “Besides, I wouldn’t have minded if I was going with you.”
Cass leaned forward, standing on her toes so their foreheads were touching. “So this means yes?”
“Yes!” Stephanie giggled. “Absolutely, Cass, I’ll be your date if you’ll be mine.”
Before she could do anything more, Cass pointed behind her. Stephanie looked to see her pointing at the kitchen clock through the window, both of its hands perfectly upright. Her grin widened. It was midnight which meant —
— she turned back and felt Cass’ lips against her own, and she was sure her brain short-circuited because she heard fireworks explode.
“Happy birthday, Stephanie.”
Yeah. Pretty much the best present ever.