fille_fatale | ( IC CONTACT )

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.]

[Gotham's rooftops had always been a place of freedom, in Selina's mind: not many people would bother climbing all the way up just to bug you.

Bruce had, and she's surprised every time to realize she doesn't mind having him along.

Well, she's not surprised this time.

She's mostly steady when she rises, but still puts her hand on his shoulders for balance while she shifts around him to get out of the booth. She pauses there to steal another kiss, and then she's heading down the hall, past the office. She doesn't look back to make sure he's following: she knows he will.]

[He got up roughly the same time she did, after making sure the hand on his shoulder had properly balanced her. A few steps later, and he was stopped just long enough for her to kiss him again.]

[To some, it might have seemed like a goodbye kiss. Bruce knew better.]

[A few whispers and murmurs surrounded them as they headed towards the back hallway together. Full of suspicions and making every assumption. He paid them little heed as they reached the door, and he punched in the security code that would allow them access to the stairwell. Stopping to allow her to go first once more.]

[The sounds of the club, the people in it, turn into ambient noise: she's already tuned out his friends, and she feels people watching. She barely notices.

Making an annoyed sound when she sees the door needs a key code, Selina steps out of the way to let Bruce punch in the pass. No quip comes to mind fast enough, so she pushes through the door once it's open and nearly trips on the first step. It makes her laugh, and she peels her shoes off without stopping, taking the rest of the stairs barefoot.]

[Bruce's shoes were a little easier to manage in,, and he took the steps at precisely her pace, reveling in the look of her silhouette in the darkened stairwell. The way her laughter echoed off the walls. The door at the top was opened with a single push of the handle--]

[The air was cool and refreshing and, were he a few shots shy of his current condition, it may have even sobered him up a little. For the time being, however, Bruce continued to ride his alcohol-induced high as he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.]

[It was quiet up here. Perhaps one of the few quiet places left in this part of the city. The sounds of street life continued on below, but were muted to the point where one could almost ignore their presence. There was no one around to see them. And he was 90% certain he had closed the bottom stairwell door behind them, meaning there shouldn't be anybody coming up anytime soon to disturb them either.]

[For the first time since...well...before...they were alone.

[The air is bracing, and once she's out in the open, Selina closes her eyes and tilts her head back, filling her lungs. Everything always sounds better, up here - the city was still there, a comforting backdrop of noise, but quieter. It was like the city giving her a place to think.

She's a few drinks shy of him, and she hasn't been drinking like this for the past God knows how many days, weeks, like he has. It helps clear her head a little, of the thrum of the speakers downstairs, the crowd of too many bodies.

Turning around to face Bruce, she lets her mouth quirk up in a half smile.]

Just going to stand there?

I'm enjoying the view.

[Spoken genuinely, even though he was very cheekily grinning at her.]

You're having fun. You're smiling. It's nice to see.

I smile. I have fun.

[It's less defensive than it might normally be: she feels a little less like she has to defend herself. Dropping her shoes, Selina heads to the ledge, though she's at least aware enough of her BAC not to jump up on it.

She just looks out at her city, and for once doesn't first think of how gross it is, how bad it smells.]

I'm also drunk.

[She turns to smile at him over her shoulder, crooking her head in an invitation to join her.]

I know. So am I.

[Though not enough to miss that invitation. It had him crossing the last remaining space between them until he was standing right at her side. Arms resting on the raised surface, looking out and down onto the city lights below. A breeze blew at his face, lightly tousling his hair.]

[She leans against his shoulder once it's there, turning into the breeze. It sends her curls bouncing, and she looks up at him - he just kept growing, she feels like he's gotten two feet taller since they first met - with an immediate smirk.

Reaching up, Selina ruffles his hair, mussing it up. He always looked too put-together - maybe less, tonight, but his hair was still so well coiffed that she wanted to ruin it.]

That's better.

[Only not so long ago, it seemed like Bruce still had to look up at her to meet her gaze. Now, the situations were reversed, and...for some reason, he still felt like he was looking up at her. Just not physically.]

[Then he blinked, and her hands were in his hair, and he had to pull back before freeing himself. Not before the damage was done, however. And he...pouted.]

Hey!

What was that for?

[He pouts, and she wonders how he always looks so wounded--

--in the back of her mind, where she's still mildly aware, she knows exactly how he manages that--

--but she smirks up at him despite it.]

Trust me, it looks better.

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