NICE TO HAVE A FRIEND

for Stubbleglitter

by Houie

Cissie dumped her duffel bag heavily on the ground, just beyond the doorway of Cassie Sandsmark's room. It was like Cissie's, but so much different-- Cissie didn't have nearly as many posters and, well, things in general. The carpet felt good on her toes as she took off her shoes, however, and Cassie was happily shoving a lemon-lime soda into her hand. It was welcoming, not like her own house.

"Well," said Cassie, at length. "What should we do, now?"

Cassie threw herself onto her nearby bed, bounced a few times, and looked at Cissie with a pleased, questioning smile. Cissie tucked her long, blonde hair behind one ear and took Cassie's invitation-- she was patting at the bed with her hand-- and sat down beside her. She glanced around the room.

"Board game?" Cissie offered.

Cassie shook her head 'no', "There's a reason they call them bored games. I play too many of those with my mom."

They sat in silence for a few more seconds, running ideas through their head and not saying them. Most of them, Cissie thought, was in much the same vein as a board game.

"Television?" She suggested.

"It's Monday night. There's absolutely, like, nothing interesting on," Cassie said, with the air of a TV-viewing champion." I wish the TV companies would realize that when they let kids out of school for the summer, they have less to entertain themselves with. TV is their only hope. Unless you're really popular and never have any time for stuff like laying around at home with nothing to do."

It was true that they were super heroes-- for any number or reasons not in their control-- and they usually didn't have a lot of time to do things like...do nothing. But that didn't make Cassie's point any less valid, Cissie reasoned, because here they were. The two of them trying very hard to have a totally awesome super hero bonding Girls' Night In, and absolutely failing-- you would absolutely think they would have more in common, but, well...this clearly needed remedied.

Cassie was giving her the look she gave Bart when he said something particularly confusing. Cissie was suddenly very conscious of the uncomfortable silence.

She opened her can of soda, which fizzed and dripped on her fingers, and glanced around Cassie's room to make it look like she was just really, really interested in the minutiae of Wonder Girl's day-to-day life, which probably worked well enough. Cassie had relaxed onto the bed and turned the TV on. She stopped clicking at the remote and Cissie could hear the drone of a history program in the background. History programs were very distinct in sound.

Cassie's attention drawn, she continued her spatial review of the other girl's room.

There was a stuffed white unicorn, a calendar with pictures of world capitals, clothes on the floor. It was a lot messier than Cissie's room ever was. Cissie's mother had problems with mess. Her mother had problems in general. Another unicorn-- Cassie must like unicorns, and Cissie tried to keep this in mind-- a clarinet on the desk, open and looking like it wanted to be cleaned, but never got the chance. A poster of Superboy. A poster of...oh.

"Hey, Cass?"

"Yeah?" Cassie said, the sound pleasant and muffled by her chin against her hand. She didn't look away from the television screen. The historian droned on.

"Is that a poster of Superboy on your wall?"

The remote clattered to the floor. Really, it thumped on the carpet, but the effect was close enough to a clatter. Cassie cleared her throat self-consciously. A blush was slowly working its way up her face, starting on her neck.

"You have a Superboy poster on your wall?"

"I...yeah, I do."

A laugh suddenly erupted out of Cissie's chest, and Cassie blushed harder, giving her an embarrassed look. Really, Cissie, you should laugh, but...

"You are so crushing on him. You so are. How long have you liked him?

Cassie rolled over onto her back, smashing a pillow over her face. She didn't respond for long enough to let Cissie guess what the answer would be.

"A while. Since he-- well, since he's been alive."

Cissie giggled again, despite herself (there really was no suppressing it, and maybe it was just the room), and she grabbed the pillow from Cassie's face. Cassie lay there for a moment, squinting up into the ceiling light until her vision adjusted. Cissie leaned over, looming over Cassie's face. She rolled her blue eyes up at Cissie and Cissie patted her playfully on the cheek, twice.

"Don't worry, Cass. I understand. Who wouldn't have the hots for Superboy? He's tall, dark, handsome. He's Superman's clone. He's sweet and friendly and energetic and totally cute, and, oh yeah, he's also a completely egotistical, talky moron half of the time."

Cassie snorted loudly, mostly because, Cissie was sure, she knew it was mostly true. Cassie shoved her on the shoulder.

"Like you've never had a crush on, like, anybody before."

"I might have," said Cissie plainly.

"Yeah? I'll bet I know who."

"Really?" Cissie smirked, and it was just as much of a dare as it was a question.

"You have a thing...for Robin."

Cassie snickered. Cissie sniggered back. It was ridiculous-- they were teenage super heroes. Bonding. About boys. Well, true, they were super hero boys, but it was still so...simple.

So normal.

Cissie missed this kind of normal.

"He's smart," she said pointedly.

"True," said Cassie, unconvinced.

"And mysterious."

"If you like that kind of things," the other girl replied magnanimously.

"And he's adorable."

"Well, yeah, OK, he is. In a geeky, skinny sort of way. Not my type," she clarified. "But definitely cute. The cape is cool."

They stared at one another for a long, long moment. Cassie was the first to look away, her face breaking into a wide grin. She threw a pillow at Cissie, who ducked and threw it back. They laughed wildly.

"Ow," said Cissie, and rubbed her ribs.

"Yeah, my sides hurts too. God, I can't believe we just had that conversation. We totally just gossiped about boys. That was so--"

"Normal?"

"Yeah," said Cassie, and wrapped Cissie in a hug that was warm and strong, a lot like Superboy's, and Cissie was suddenly very, very glad she had teammates. She was on a team. There was a girl on the team she could relate to, even if she did have silly stuffed unicorns all over her room. And even if she did think Superboy was infinitely cuter than Robin.

They hugged for a long, comfortable, happy couple of minutes, just enjoying one another's company, because somebody understood. They might never discuss it directly, and they would always be different-- people were different, teenage girls were different-- but it was nice to have a friend.

Cissie smiled as wide as she could, and Cassie let her go.

"What about Bart?" Cissie said, the smile turning mischievous.

"Oh. Oh...no."

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