nine crimes ;

Selina’s response took Bruce by surprise. He had been expecting her to brush off his attempt to comfort her. In the past he’d been clumsier at offering it. There were several things they were both trying to do differently, but this was the first time he saw tangible success. Nodding silently, he didn’t resist when she took his hand and held it. He didn’t ask for details, but there was no need to. In some ways they were eerily similar; he knew her fear because he shared it. The thought of anything happening to her was incomprehensible. 

The look in her eyes struck him in a way he hadn’t been prepared for. His hand moved in her grip, but he didn’t pull away. He knew how difficult it was for her to be here, to stay and face reality rather than taking off and putting this place and their complicated relationship behind her - especially now, when there was a real possibility of defeat, of not surviving the fight that lay ahead. The stakes were higher. He was older. So many of them had died already and not all of them had come back. “You live it by taking each day as it comes. There is no other way.” They had this moment together. Nothing else was guaranteed. Not anymore - and possibly never again.

They had been clumsy and stupid with each other before. Bruce had been wrapped up in that cowl, Selina in her independence, and neither of them knew how to meet in the middle. Frankly, they still didn’t know how to meet in the middle, but they were getting better at it. Selina’s increased presence at the manor was enough to help cement their bond, even if she didn’t spend all of her nights there. It gave them time to know each other in a better, more intimate way than the rooftops had ever afforded them. 

Selina had been living in the manor for far too long. She was starting to get restless, starting to feel like this was all a bad idea—even though she still had her own apartment, she felt a vice tightening its grip on her independence. The last thing she wanted was to end up under yet another person’s thumb, under another man’s control. She knew Bruce wouldn’t do that to her, rationally, but the irrational part of her wanted to run. 

That was why she was looking down at her packed bags, considering whether or not leaving would be the right decision. She turned as soon as she heard something in the hallway, certain that it was Bruce emerging from the Batcave to confront her about whatever it was she was planning, but she was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was Damian.

It had been far, far too long for someone to question Tanya’s actions in such a way that reminded her of her own mother, and yet, there she was, in a strange mansion, on a strange night, with a strange woman who liked to dress up like a cat and steal jewelry. It was certainly a strange moment for Tanya, but it was met with a frown all the same, though it didn’t hold as much strength as it usually did. She was tired—tired of not finding decent work during the day so she could leave her night job. It was getting hard to leave the manor at night, not to mention increasingly dangerous as the days went on. “Yeah,” she started and loosened her ponytail. “I had work.”

Cullen smirked faintly and nodded. He’d been to Wayne Enterprises a handful of times, usually to meet Harper, but he’d never been official involved with anything Bruce did. He didn’t have the same skill set as Harper did. Honestly, he wasn’t even sure what Bruce could use him for. “Me too. I wonder if Uber Eats is open to flying.” If delivering food via private jet was an option, Bruce Wayne would be the person with access to it. 

It was easy to think that money bought everything, even happiness. That was what Cullen used to think when he was a kid. But meeting Bruce and getting to know his kids was a quick lesson of the opposite: sometimes money could really screw things up. “I bet he missed you, though,” he said quickly. “If he had any sense.”

Selina knew that Cullen must have felt a little out of place amongst all these people with incredible, niche skills and a penchant for going out at night to beat up criminals, so she tried her best to make him feel welcome. She was fond of him in a way she wasn’t fond of the others—even if he had been through the wringer back in Gotham, he was still untouched by the burden that the rest of them carried as if they were Atlas. 

“Bah!” She screaming, jumping a foot in the air and nearly upturning her stupid little rooftop garden… Okay it wasn’t stupid but she was feeling pissy right now. “Someone should put a bell on you lady! And joke’s on you, my boobs can hold this towel up all night!” she declared before shivering, “Hypothermia, however is another concern… If you like you can help open my window and watch me freak out inside? I have pop tarts!” she got a better look at the woman and stuck her bottom lip out, “Wow, your outfit is slaying right now by the way… But i don’t think the coat would go with it… It would match my towel though.” She sing-songed, about ten seconds away from whining like a little bitch.

“Giving myself a good view wasn’t exactly a priority.” He glanced toward the window and added, “But I didn’t actually notice that until right now.” Which probably went a long way in saying how much Scott paid attention to the aesthetics of wherever he was. He’d always been more concerned with function. “It’s hard to prepare for the real trouble if you’re wasting your time with small stuff.”

@xselinakylex liked for a starter!

Tim wasn’t out as often as he liked, between NOVA and the police he needed to be much more careful; it didn’t stop him though. Criminals thought they could get away with more since so many vigilantes were forced to lay low and small-time thugs were running rampant. He spun his staff and clocked the last thug in the chin, sending him falling back and out cold. The alarm from the jewellery store they’d been trying to hide would bring the cops soon, so he retreated to a nearby roof and settled down to make sure they were taken in.

Just as the police buckled the last guy into a car he heard a soft noise behind him and spun with his staff at the ready, only to recognise the figure and lower it, alone with his gaze a little, “Oh- sorry, I didn’t know it was you.” He hadn’t seen Selina since coming here and… well, he’d never been exactly smooth around her. “Hi…”

Selina knew that it was a time where everyone was being careful—there was no way to truly be out and about as a vigilante in this city without running the serious risks of imprisonment and capital punishment. It wasn’t exactly a safe occupation before, but at least most people like Tim would have ended up in cops’ good books, instead of the bad. Selina felt that in this time, it was her job to check up on the people she cared about. If she didn’t do it, who would? She had grown up without someone like that. She knew it was no way to grow. 

@xselinakylex liked for a starter! :D

Fuck her fucking life and her fucking luck ten times over… She steps outside to water her tiny fire-escape garden box… okay fine. The window closes behind her… okay fine. The window is jammed, okay fine… Not fine? She’s just got out of the shower and is now stuck outside in a towel and it’s damn cold!

“Fuck you God!” she yelled into the night city, “Trapping girl’s outside in towels is what little boys do! I expected more of you!” The hell was she gonna do now?

“I wouldn’t say I’m staying holed up.” That sounded like he wasn’t doing anything at all. “I’m just not storming buildings and starting fights. Not just yet, at least.” He knew that the relief District X was providing them was temporary, that eventually they would have to protect it with more than walls, but in the mean time…it was working.

“Weird family is a real undersell. But the more time I spend here the more I’m realizing it might not be the weirdest family around.” Harper stretched her arms out behind her back and looked up at the too-high ceiling. “That’s fuckin’ scary, honestly.”

“Quiet nights in are boring. Wanna go beat up idiots with me? I came to see if Bruce was working on anything interesting, but since he’s not here I have to find something else to do now.” She’d cut back on her Bluebird time, but she had her mask and gear in her bag.

“I think you might be hard pressed to find anyone as weird and unpleasant as this group of misfits,” she replied, propping her elbow up against the piano. “I can’t imagine too many healthy people matching our level of dysfunction.” 

“Bruce has a private jet? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, considering…” All the tech Bruce had made a private jet seem insignificant. “I know the one. Not sure it has parking for a private jet, though.” The thought of the taco place made him feel a little nostalgic, even though Cullen didn’t exactly miss the early years in the city. He’d gotten to know it a little too well. 

Even though most people seemed to take Alfred for granted, Cullen made an effort to check in on him from time to time… but those times were few and far between. “…What? He forgot? I mean… Alfred didn’t remind him?” He smiled to show that he was joking - sort of. They all knew how Bruce was, but that didn’t mean it was easy for Selina to deal with.

“Wayne Enterprises has a private jet. I just like to borrow it sometimes,” she said with a crooked smirk. Selina shrugged a shoulder. “I’m sure we could figure something out. I’d kill for their al pastor right now.” It was nice to just feel nostalgic and homesick every once in a while, even if she wouldn’t go back. She missed home. She missed when things were easier. It was nice to remember. 

Being around Selina gave Kara a sense of comfort and well being. Lois was the closest she’d ever had to a mother figure, ever since losing her real mother, but moments like this made her believe Selina to be a close second. She admired Mera and Diana, but her relationship with them was tainted with a relentless desire to please and live up to expectations. Lois and Selina just… accepted her. The strained smile didn’t escape her attention and her own smile faltered. She reached over and gently put her hand on Selina’s arm, squeezing it as she took a low breath. “No depressing stuff, I promise, but um… I do have something to tell you that’s a little crazy. I’m going to be a mom. I mean… like a real mom.” 

Selina, despite coming off as aloof and being liable to disappear at a moment’s notice, had a strong affinity for the younger heroes. Perhaps there was something about them that reminded her of herself when she was young—or maybe what she could have been, if she hadn’t been set up to fail over and over. She wanted to spare people like Kara, vivacious and full of faith in the world, the heartache and tragedy of having to learn everything Selina learned the hard way. “A mom?” Selina blinked a few times. “As in, you are going to have a baby of your own?” An incredulous smile spread across her features. “Well, then I really should be feeding you.” 

Bruce had always been a light sleeper. It took the slightest touch to jolt him awake and he sat up, reaching for her arm and gripping it as if he expected her to disappear. Nightmares had been constant in his youth. The only cure to a poor night’s sleep was Batman. Somehow fighting crime in his waking hours succeeded in chasing away the demons that came at night. It was better than forcing it. Alfred had tried to convince him to let a doctor prescribe something to quiet his mind, but he would never allow it. Medications would only weaken him.

He didn’t have to ask what happened. He could see it on her face, the abject terror that he recognized so well. It was a look he hadn’t seen on himself in years, yet he could imagine it with perfect clarity - and he had to wonder if this was how Alfred felt when faced with it: Helpless. He pushed her hair back from her face, his fingers lingering at her hairline. “It’s all right. You were dreaming. You had a nightmare.” Having someone else in his bed had taken some adjusting, but he’d fallen back into the habit a bit too easily. It often unnerved him just how easily things happened with Selina.

Selina managed to catch her breath as Bruce woke up, nodding at his words. “I did.” It was just that simple, that admission that there was something wrong so different from what they used to be. The status quo for so long was to repress and repress and pretend that nothing was wrong with each other until it bubbled up from under the surface and exploded. Selina wanted to avoid that as much as possible. She had come to a revelation during her time in Gotham—while she valued her independence and was her own person, she liked how Bruce made her feel. When they were good, they were really good.