It had come at a tipping point for him. A push that came from Alfred and a clarity he’d never quite had before. The dangers that came with his life ; the tragedies that had befallen him ; all of that loss, had convinced him, for the longest of times, that this was all he could allow himself. A piece here and there. A slice indulged and then completely disregarded. Because people get hurt.
Life, in general, was a cycle of happiness and hurt.
But maybe, she could be different. She’d said it once before: I don’t think you’ve ever known a woman like me. And she was quite right. Most of the women he’d met had barely lived through two world wars let alone creatures and beings from other worlds. Not quite like she has. And in it, inherently, came a realization that there were things there that didn’t come as easily as it would with the other women he’d been with in the past.
She’d come then. Shared a night of some whine and other things. An invitation extended forward by Alfred for the most part when he reminds him, out loud, that it was his Birthday soon when the Amazonian was just within ear shot. Clever and sneaky like the devil he was. Bruce was at an odds at denying the fact. And now there he was, thrust in a moment he’d never thought he’d be caught in since…his thought ends there. Past failures shouldn’t compare to the moment. Not when his expectations fall short of the reality.
A small smile and he’s cupping her cheek, fingers lightly wrapping around her wrist, tugging on her gently to pull her towards him. Without another word, he’s tilting her head back so he could press his lips to hers. A kiss gentler than the ones they’ve shared before in the heat of passion or sexual frustration. ———— @echoerthei / cont .
The gentleness in Bruce’s reaction terrifies her. Bruce was rarely gentle with her. There was no need to be. It was she who was gentle with him. Already there was something different.
She looks at the way he holds her wrist, forever bound in leather and metal, and how he pulls them towards him. The softness in his callouses brushing against the smooth skin of her cheek. It all feels as if she’s looking at them from the highest heights of Mount Olympus.
Their lips touch, the gentleness continues and so does the strange feeling in her gut. She knows she just went against it seconds ago, and they’ve kissed before but never with such care. When they kissed it was always two bodies seeking to rid themselves of excess adrenaline or the need to fulfill those sins of the flesh.
“Bruce,” she whispers against his lips. “Bruce, we need to talk. This isn’t the same. We need to talk first.” Brown eyes look down, “We have the League to think about too.”
If it was just the two of them, or perhaps Bruce and the rest of his team here in Gotham she would not be so desperate for a conversation in the middle of a kiss. The League oversaw galaxies and more importantly their home and a home seven billion other people also lived upon.
And to be frank, she was terrified. She wasn’t the child she was upon first stepping foot on man’s world and she hadn’t felt this exposed since then - only without the wonder of a child upon seeing something new and unexplored.