Chapter Text
Bruce is forced back to himself when he feels a tap on his shoulder.
“You have to let me down, Batsy,” The Cat whispers in his ear. “Unless that is, you want the rest to find us like this.”
‘Like this’ means against a wall, with their pants down, her legs around his waist, his hand inside her shirt and just recently…
“Sorry,” he mutters and The Cat sets her feet on the floor, looking for her pants, which Batman had thrown far away just minutes ago.
“Nothing to be sorry about, believe me,” she laughs before giving him a cheeky smile.
Bruce still can not understand how they had ended like this.
Well, he knows, like, he understands the mechanics.
Is just that he is still surprised.
He sighs, as he gets as decent as he can.
“Is something wrong, handsome?” The Cat asks, getting her jacket on. Bruce shakes his head and gives what he hopes looks like a reassuring smile before walking towards her; he holds her face in an attempt of being tender.
“Everything is more than all right, Cat,” he says, pulling her towards him and giving her a kiss. He had been trying that more recently; kissing her tenderly, showing her some amount of affection.
He has always been bad at that.
They still had not told each other their names. Bruce has not even showed her his face.
“Good," she says against his lips, "I will head back home and catch some sleep.” The Cat kisses him again, and Bruce smiles against her lips, “and you should get some sleep too.”
“I will.”
“Liar.” She teases before giving him one last short kiss on the lips.
She was correct though. There is no way Bruce would just go to sleep when he could be working on a pending case all night.
That is exactly what ends up happening. There are too many open cases, too many things to file, too many reports of the team to read.
And there is no time for sleeping after that, In the morning he is going to Arkham. To visit Jessica.
He pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to focus on what he is reading. His mind keeps going back to the first night he and The Cat had spent together. Going after a suspect that had been attacking prostitutes, The Cat had been following his lead for a while when she told Batman. After the bust, when everything whas settled and the police had taken the suspect, Bruce had kissed The Cat, and she had kissed him back.
And they had not stopped.
That morning Bruce manages to find a lead in a couple of his cases; easier ones without doubt, but it was still satisfactory.
Bruce needs the little victories; he needs them to not go insane.
He sits back, ready to head out and fighting with all his might to stay awake.
“B?” a voice calls and Bruce lifts his eyes to find Dick at the door. “Were you here all night?” the young man asks and Bruce looks at his watch.
“I am late,” Bruce mutters and Dick sighs.
“I’ll make you some coffee," Dick offers, when Bruce doesn't respond he adds "unless you want to ask Alfred?”
“Have you ever tried a coffee made by Alfred?” Bruce tries to joke and Dick just shrugs.
After the death of his parents, he had looked for Batman, asking him to help avenge The Flying Graysons. Batman had decided to take him under his wing, help him, and Bruce Wayne had decided to welcome Dick Grayson into his home.
It had been more than obvious that Bruce had no idea on how to help Dick with his grief.
One more to add to the endless list of things Bruce was not equipped to do.
“Hey, what is that?” Dick asks, pointing at a piece of paper on top of his files. The set of unlabeled fingerprints stare back at Bruce.
“Oh, it is nothing.”
“Do you need me to run them through the system?”
“It is not necessary Dick.”
“It would be no problem, really. I have not much to do today.”
“I said no.” Bruce tries not to sound too harsh, but he knows he does. He sighs, “I won’t take long,” he says standing up. “I will just go to Arkham and back.”
“Unless your friend recognizes you, isn't it?” Dick asks, injecting some needed positivity.
“Yeah.” Bruce tries to smile
Jessica does not recognize Bruce. This visit is short and bitter, with Bruce barely spending time with Jessica before she snarled at him and asked the nurses to take him out.
He tries not to feel anything about it, if he does, he is going to go insane.
Bruce arrives home, changes and goes to the bat-cave, focusing on his work.
He tries to relax; closes his eyes and sighs.
“Did you just feel asleep?” Waylon asks.
“I am not asleep; I just rested my eyes for a second.”
“That some bullshit little kids say. Go to sleep, you are not going to be helpful if you are not sharp during patrol.” Bruce can hear Bat-Dog trotting towards him. “Plus, you better put your cowl on before the rest come in.”
Bruce agrees and stands; a piece of paper he had been holding on falls.
The set of unlabeled fingerprints.
“Hmm? Are those for a case?” Waylon asks, and Bruce just picks them up, not answering his question.
“No.”
“So?”
“They…”
They are just The Cat’s fingerprints.