paradisalogs | Eyes wide shut, unopened

She's sitting, waiting. Tim's been dealt with, she's talked to him already. If you could call it that. He'd hid it from her because he hadn't wanted to upset her and it hadn't gotten very far after that. She hasn't seen him since, which is good. She's not really sure she can hold back from knocking him out, she needs time to deal with the feeling of betrayal.

Her loss was Barbara Gordon. She has the name now, the vague memory that someone had cared for her, but that's all.

Stephanie knew too, they both decided between themselves not to share this with her even though it wasn't their secret to keep. So Cass is waiting, sitting on the couch by herself because Ace has fled from the hostility she can't keep out of her body language.

Today, Cass' mission is simple: get Ezio out of his room and keep him out until it's time for his birthday party. She's lucky really, she gets to go out and do fun things while Steph is stuck decorating and coordinating a surprise party. Maybe it's the castle getting a little bit of payback, who knows.

And since doors are for boring people who don't know how to scale the sides of buildings, Cass is doing exactly that, climbing up to Ezio's window and prying it open, poking her head inside to see if he's there. She listens first, just to be sure he doesn't have any company that would make a visit awkward, and when she doesn't hear anything she calls out for him.

"Ezio?"

Ezio didn't have company the night before -- fortunately -- but he is a late riser these mornings, and as such, he is sprawled out in bed. The summer warmth means sleeping without much in the way of blankets, too, so if Cassandra makes her way into his bedroom, she'll find his nude body barely covered by a red sheet. (She wouldn't be the first to walk in on that, either.)

He just groans in his sleep in response. Who could be waking him?

That... doesn't really sound like the kind of groan that would mean he was busy busy, so she slips in through the window and rolls her eyes when she finds him. His sleeping habits aren't really something she's considered before but now that she's found him like this, it's not even slightly surprising.

She makes her way to his bed silently and pulls the sheet up so it's covering his waist a little better, then rests one knee on the mattress to lean over him and touch his shoulder.

"Wake up, Ezio."

He opens his eyes, blearily, and then reaches for her. He's not going to question why Cassandra is leaning over him in bed at this hour, or why she's wearing so much clothing whilst in his bed, but that can be fixed, in his mind.

"Or you could come to bed..."

Well, it's not like Steph is on her way over right this second, so wasting a little time is fine. She lays down, but leaves a bit of space between them for obvious, naked reasons.

"Up late, last night?" That was always the reason why she was still in bed way longer than she should have been, anyway.

Ezio chuckles, ignoring her attempt to keep space and instead rolling towards her, an arm wrapping right around her.

"I needed to bring in my birthday with good cheer, didn't I?"

It's at that moment that Cass is very glad she repositioned his blanket. She's always up for cuddling though, so she puts her own arm around him and grins up at him.

"Did it without me, huh? So rude. Would have... celebrated, with you." Not that that isn't going to happen later, but hey. She doesn't want to give the surprise away.

"Mmm," he hums, "but there is a whole day ahead of us for that."

With her arm around him, Ezio feels more than comfortable. It's all-too easy to shift up against her, his hand finding her stomach and slowly sliding downward.

"And you're here now."

She catches his hand and twines their fingers together, then leans into him to nudge him over onto his back. Pressing his hand into the bed, she stays leaning over him for a moment before smiling at him again and leaning in to kiss his cheek.

"Good morning, Ezio. Time to get up."

And now she slides out of his grasp and gets up herself, turning to try to discern where he keeps his clothing.

"We're going riding. First, you need pants."

He's leaning up to ensnare her in a proper kiss when she gets herself out of his arms, and instead he just ends up with nothing. With a moan that turns into a deprived laugh, he tries to beckon her back to bed.

"Dolcezza, we could do plenty of riding here, with no need for pants," he coaxes. On second thought, perhaps he should be less blunt. What was it she had said about not wanting to be one of those girls? Listen to how syrupy his voice gets. "Come here. I would very much love to begin my birthday anew, in bed this time."

She just smiles at him over her shoulder and goes to rummage through his things, hopeful she won't find anything she shouldn't see on her quest for clothes for him to wear.

"It's a nice day. Should be outside." Aha, pants. She tosses them to him, then makes very sure she isn't facing him so he can put them on.

Thankfully, Ezio owns remarkably little in the way of "scandalous" possessions, and what he does have is meticulously hidden. One does not leave socially and culturally taboo items where just any rummaging hand could reach, save a few bottles of oil and perhaps some discarded women's clothing left behind by past lovers.

"If you would prefer I make love to you in the sunshine, I could take you on the balcony," he replies. But alright, he's finally waking up properly. He takes his pants and untangles himself from his sheets to get dressed.

"Where anyone... could see, if they looked up? Not very romantic." It seems natural enough to have this conversation with him, it's not as though it's the first time they've discussed the way Ezio likes to have sex.

And yeah, she's just... going to very pointedly not touched any ladies undergarments she might find, however amusing it might be to tease him about why he's kept them instead of throwing them out. She probably doesn't want to know the answer.

"Then we will wave to them and carry on. I think it is nice, sometimes, to put on a show..."

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Ezio fumbles with his pants.

She laughs, when he says that. How can she not, it's kind of an comical image, them waving to people in the middle of... that.

And she shouldn't look. She knows she shouldn't look.

She looks anyway, because it sounds like he's having issues and pants shouldn't be that hard.

"Problems?"

He's so sleepy. He'd normally sleep another hour or two, at least!

"No," he replies, shifting to stand once he's gotten his damn pants right-side-out, but he doesn't bother putting them on yet. He needs underwear, first, so he gets up and walks to his wardrobe. If Cass sees him, so be it.

"Are you laughing because you like the idea of getting nailed on the balcony? There is a nice view, you know..."

She can see that he's going to stand before he ever does, so there's plenty of time to turn away. She has all the time in the world to find somewhere else to look, she just... chooses not to. It's not every day she gets a free pass to find out what men look like naked.

It's not really what she expected, but... yeah, after she's gotten her eyefull she does her best to keep her eyes on his face.

"Was thinking... must not be good, if there's... time to wave."

Ezio flips through articles of clothing until he finds the aforementioned underwear. "Modern" underwear is one of the things he has readily adapted to.

(Italians are pretty hairy, Cass. The most sincerest apologies to your eyes for catching sight of that.)

"Ah, but that opinion means terribly little from a virgin," he teases. "It is not all incoherent moans and hair-tossing and screaming when it comes to pleasure. Sometimes it is just fun."

Since he's looking like he's got this handled now, she goes to sit on his bed to wait.

"That's okay. Don't have much hair... to toss." Unlike some other people in the room. And now that she's thinking about the moaning and the screaming part, she has to wonder if she'd do that. She's quiet as it is, conversations that go on for any length of time are new.

She nods, mind made up.

"I'd be quiet."

Steph enters, completely unaware of what's going on. She's been out gathering supplies for Ezio's surprise party, and it was only once she was out there that she realized she really didn't know what to get. Still, she comes home with a few bags of brightly colored decorations.

"Hey," she says, dropping a pair of sunglasses and her keys onto the table by the door. Summer is bright, ow. "What are you up to out here?"

"Waiting for you."

Obviously. This would be where she'd get up, offer to help carry things, but she doesn't. She stays where she is and tries to keep her temper in check.

It doesn't work well.

"Want to know- about Barbara Gordon."

Steph's bags get set on the coffee table with a clunk.

Busted.

"Oh," she says, very eloquently. "How... did this come up?"

Cass doesn't reply, because how is that even important. She's figured it out, that's what matters, and she wants answers. All she does is narrow her eyes at Stephanie and wait.

Was it Tim? Oh, she'll kill him. It's not fun, being on the unfriendly end of that glare. Still, she dares to sit next to her on the sofa.

"I'll tell you anything you want to know. Including why I didn't tell you about her before."

Eyes wide shut, unopened

Stephanie

Ezio

Cass

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