fille_fatale | ( IC CONTACT )

I think I can manage.

[He moved to stand, and immediately...there might have been a slight stumble, but he caught himself well enough that it was barely notable. The others around them did start to move to make way as he inched away from the table and towards the dance floor, looking back just long enough to see if Selina was following him.]

After you.

[A fairly moderate gesture of the hand indicated for her to take the lead.]

[If she feels awkward, followed by a pack of his “friends,” dancing with him for - Jesus, she’s not going to think about any of that - she hides it well, and grabs his hand when he looks back at her. She does take the lead, straight into the crowd of people bobbing and weaving to the beat. There’s no getting him alone, here, but she’s already decided she doesn’t like the crowd he’s running with.

Dancing is easy enough, here: it’s just a lot of swaying and jumping. She leans in to shout into his ear, to be heard above the music.]

Think I was going to stand you up?

[There was an initial shift in the crowd as they entered the dance floor. But all too soon did they blend in as focus returned to the music. This meant very few would notice when Bruce placed his hand lightly on Selina's upper arm as she leaned in. Mostly for balance as he turned his head to hear what she had to say.]

I did consider the possibility. [He admitted before smiling confidently. Perhaps a little smugly.] But I knew you wouldn't!

Oh you knew, huh?

[It's a strange balancing act: she likes his confidence, but has always been freaked out by the way he sees her better than most. And this, all this - she doesn't know how to factor that into him yet.]

Next time, maybe I won't come. [To prove a point. She likes to be unpredictable, even to him.]

You will.

[This time, it was less knowing her and more of a boast. Or maybe a challenge. And to prove his point, before she could say anything, he reached for her hand to spin her around. His movements a little wobbly but coordinated and fluid. ]

[He's himself and so very not, and it's really messing with her head. But then he's spinning her around, and Selina finds a smile tugging at her lips despite herself. The skirt of her dress flares a little around her legs, and when she comes back she puts her hand on his arm. It's not for her own benefit: she saw that wobble, even if he handled it.]

Is this what you been doing every night?

[Alcohol: the solution to--and cause of--so many life problems. In this instance, it was causing Bruce to act very much like himself...but a far more uncensored version. Less restraint. More sass.]

[He beamed at her touch, and this time, it wasn't a gloat. Only pleasure that she seemed to be going along with his plans to cut loose and try to bury away everything outside the club with partying, dancing, and maybe more drinking once they got back to the table.]

Not every night.

Although I think this night is my favorite one yet.

Should have invited me out sooner, then.

[As if she'd have come out sooner - it's never easy to tell, with her. Selina comes when she wants to, and not a minute before. Using her hand on his arm, she takes the opportunity to spin him around: she's not tall enough, but that doesn't stop her, just forces him to duck under her arm.]

Gotta give to you, B - place isn't half bad.

[He's like Bruce amplified one minute, and then just a shroud that looks like him the next. That's the part that keeps her tense - not because she's worried about him, she doesn't operate like that, not with him - but because the last time she was with someone else who looked like him, she almost died.

But this is him. Just a little more fucked up than the last time she saw him.]

Didn't have the chance before now.

[Which wasn't meant to imply anything beyond the surface. Because it was true. They had gone their separate ways for a time. And now they were back together again. If only for the next few hours.]

[Story of their lives, really.]

I've grown rather fond of it. It's certainly preferable to the Manor.

Could have made the chance.

[And so too could she, but Selina's hardly one to take the blame in any given situation.]

If this place makes weird noises at night, you'd never hear it.

[The song ends and the music shifts; Selina wrinkles her nose, and pushes him - not hard, she's only to make him leave the dance floor - back toward his table.]

I hate this song.

[Could have given me a chance to...would have been his argument, except suddenly he was being pulled off the dance floor. Which was fine with him, if a bit sudden. Disorienting. For all of two seconds before they were away from the thickest of the crowd.]

[Even the gathering around his table had notably thinned, leaving only a few select individuals sitting around. Doing shots, it seemed.]

I could just ask the DJ to change it, you know.

You don't need to be the most powerful person in the room all the time, B.

[She skims the few left at his table, wishing they were all gone, but it doesn't stop her from grabbing the her whiskey and having a sip. It's terrible: she's much more used to the cheap stuff that's all but guaranteed to give you a hangover.]

So is this what you're gonna do, now? Build a clubbing empire?

[He actually pouted at that. A little.]

It's not about power. It's about getting you what you want.

[...and for some reason, he saw no direct parallel between the two.]

[He saw down next to her, half plopping into the cushioned seat, and found a shotglass shoved into his hand. Without questioning where it came from, he held it up in the air before downing it in a single shot. Growing accustomed to the taste, and barely reacting to the sting as it poured down his throat.]

Nah. This one suits me just fine.

[Wow. Selina just arches her eyebrows at him, because if he can't make the connection right now, she's not even going to try.

Watching him down the shot and eyeing the boy who passed it to him - how many times have people tried to kill him in this town, and he just accepts whatever's handed to him - Selina turns her glass in her hand.

She could get wasted with him. Let some of her guard down, party a little. She could try hanging him off a roof to sober him up, but she has a feeling he'd be a little too heavy for her, these days.

Neither of those options will change how fucked up he is. So she shakes herself - wake up, Cat - and downs the rest of her whiskey. He's not her responsibility, she's not his caretaker, and if Alfred can't handle the kid, then that's not her problem either.

He's right about one thing: getting drunk usually keeps you from focusing on how sad something, or someone makes you.]

Right now, I want one of those shots.

[And she leans forward, snatching a glass from a girl's hand before she can drink it. They 'Hey!' is answered with a smirk, and she knocks the shot back. She can put the facade on, but this is going to suck come morning.]

[Bruce had absolutely none of these thoughts floating through his mind. Honestly, he didn't have many thoughts floating through his mind. There was only the here and now, and maybe that's why his smile seemed to brighten a little more genuinely when Selina asked for that shot.]

[She was here. With him. Partaking in a shared activity. She had danced with him. She was drinking with him. They weren't arguing, and he didn't have to think about anything else aside from...well...her. And the liquor bottle he picked up to pour two more shot glasses. One for each of them.]

Cheers.

[He held up his, completely ignorant of the girl who'd had her drink stolen--Selina wouldn't be Selina if she hadn't already taken something from someone else--and waited for her to do the same.]

[She takes the newly full shot glass, already feeling it: things are brighter at the corner of her vision, everything's starting to get louder in her ears.

It's okay. If anywhere is safe, it's probably here: it's not like some street thugs are going to try breaking in here. That's why Barbara gave her the mask, anyway - maybe not so that she could do this, but so that she could do whatever she wanted, on her own time.]

Cheers.

[Turning to twine her arm through Bruce's, she brings the glass back to her lips, forcing them both to lean closer with their elbows locked. She pays not attention when the girl storms off, but Selina kind of hopes it's Grace, or whoever the other girl he'd mentioned was.]

[When the other girl stormed off, Bruce didn't even notice. He didn't notice when a few others started to wander off as well. Nor did he notice when the music changed, signaling a chance to ask Selina if she wanted to go back on the dance floor with him.]

[There was only her and him and the shot glasses. The latest of which he slammed down with enthusiasm before leaning back and turning to him with a lazy smile.]

You really are amazing, you know that?

[Her head is starting to swim, and she's starting to feel like she could drink her body weight in water. Still - Selina didn't expect to enjoy herself. she turns her empty shot glass upside down on the table, leaning one elbow against the surface so she can turn to look at him.

She smiles a lot more easily at the flattery than she usually would.]

I've been telling you that for years now.

[Selina laughs, because she never had to tell him: she had him wrapped around her little finger, then. Leaning back, settling next to him, she turns to keep her eyes on him.]

I missed you. [She never would have said it, if she hadn't been matching him drink for drink. She hates admitting things like this, putting a target over her weak spots. But it's out, and she doesn't try to take it back.]

[Bruce was pretty certain she hadn't. Unless she had, and he hadn't been paying attention at the time. Which seems almost impossible because he always paid attention when Selina was around. Or tried to.]

[Like right then. The way she was smiling...sure, it was probably the alcohol, but whatever it was doing to Bruce it was doing to her as well and he couldn't help thinking how beautiful she looked when she smiled. She should always smile like that. Smiling meant she was happy. He loved it when she was happy.]

I missed you too.

[Even in his drunken stupor, he somehow managed to make the words sound genuine. Because they were. What's more, he was even able to lean over just enough that his lips barely brushed against her ear, breath tickling those blonde curls.]

I missed being around you. Like this, and...like before.

[She can feel his breath along her neck, and it makes her want to pull away and lean in at the same time. She stays still instead, listening and relishing in just - being missed. Not a lot of people who would say that about her.

More now than there used to be, sure, but none of them in the same way as Bruce.

I like you, he had said, as more than a friend. It should be so hard to just say that, he hadn't had much trouble with it.

Selina does lean in, turning so that her nose briefly brushes against his.]

Let's not talk about before.

[They kept screwing things up, before. She doesn't want to think about screwing things up, not while she closes the distance and kisses him.]

[That was fine with him. Not talking.]

[She initiated. It wasn't the first time. In fact, if he allowed himself to think on it long enough...hadn't she initiated just about every kiss they'd ever shared? Not that he minded. Or cared. Or anything, really, because in that moment, there was only Selina's lips against his and she had initiated and it was perfect.]

[Kissing her wasn't like kissing anyone else--something he could now actually state with a bit more knowledge. When he'd kissed Grace, it had been out of hormonal attraction. Grace was pretty, yes, and she was fun. but Selina was Selina. There was less of a desire to prove himself or show off with her. They were past that now. Now, there was only the conveying of desire. Of want. He was kissing her because he liked her. More than anyone.]

[He kissed her with confidence. With pressure to her lips, but also the gentle stroke as his hands went to the sides of her face, fingers brushing along her hair. Strong and sweet and letting her take the lead but also showing no signs of wanting to stop anytime soon.]

[She's not the only girl he knows anymore. That's good, she knows, logically, that's a good thing, because it makes them being here now mean more. The thought of him with that Grace girl still annoys her, but the thought slips away from her like fog. There are better things to focus on: his lips against hers, the taste of him, the way it seems he's missed kissing her the way she's missed kissing him.

She'd pretend to not remember, but she knows: they haven't kissed, haven't even been together like this, really, since her mother showed up.

But they're not talking about before, so she's not going to think about it.

When he cups her face she deepens the kiss, and lets her hands wander up; one hooks around his shoulder, fingers curling into his shirt, and the other finds the back of his neck, brushing against the short hairs there. Why did she stay away so long? It suddenly seems stupid, now.]

[What they were doing might not have felt right, but it was certainly the closest Bruce felt to right in a long time.]

[She deepened the kiss, and he felt her body shift and her hands move. Pressure against his chest as she gripped the front of his shift. Pulling them even closer to one another. He paused just long enough for a breath, and even then, their foreheads touched during those fleeting seconds when their lips didn't. No words were exchanged. Honoring her wish of no more talking about before...or anything...and trading off between more feverish moments of teenaged passion and softer, sweeter kisses mixed in between.]

[Taking his cues from her, his own hands settled first at her waist, then one of them snaking around to the small of her back. Fingers lightly trailing up and down the base of her spine. The other hand still toying with the tips of her curls, loving the way they felt between his fingers.]

[If feels almost desperate to Selina, peppered with sweetness that reminds her there's years worth of before between them, but only in the best way. For all that she has made fun of him in the past for being the most bizarre kid in the world, it's not like she's had a normal life; her experiences don't come from holding hands with classmates, or making out in the back of a movie theater. She hasn't even been to school in she doesn't know how long.

But Selina doesn't mind admitting, at least to herself, that this is better.

Her teeth catch briefly at his lower lip; she's certain that the laugh threatening to bubble up from her chest is because of the shots, but when she stops to breathe, she lets it out anyway.]

I'm gonna go to the roof. [After she figures out how the hell to get out of here: she needs to clear her head. The invitation to join her is implicit.]

[For as many times as he'd paused for a single breath...Bruce was strangely out of breath by the time they truly parted. Though not without one last tug to her lower lip. With her teeth.]

[Even her words didn't seem much of a deterrent to him, and he smiled back with glazed eyes and a longing expression as he nodded. The roof. Of course she would choose to go up there. In some ways...it was almost becoming their place. Somewhere they could go to be alone, even if not for long.]

[Tonight, though, it would be long enough.]

Down the hall. Past the main office area. There's a door that will lead us there.

[Us. He fully expected to follow.]

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