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gotham wasn't a place for good girls, selina knew that.
ever since she had moved in, almost eight months prior, she had realised that gotham city was more like literal hell erupting from the ground. the crime rate was incredibly high, and even if the rape prevention class she'd recently started attending was helpful, she couldn't avoid feeling a bit uncomfortable while walking down the sidewalk. of course maximillions had to send her to pick up his lunch from the takeaway shop three blocks down the street, after it had just quit snowing and everyone was in a rush to get last-minute christmas presents.
she had to admit that since her first day in the city, gothamites had proved themselves to be completely nuts and her boss wasn't any different. damn max, she hoped he choked on his food.
"that's not very nice of you, selina", she whispered to herself. "then you'd be unemployed."
she passed a group of children playing in the park, their screams and laughs filling the winter air. she could hear that one of them was pretending to be batman, while his friends were dangerous criminals who threatened the city. that almost got a laugh out of her. what kind of place would rely on the help of a mysterious man who fought crime dressed up as a bat? it was complete nonsense.
still, selina let out a short sigh while thinking about him, her walk getting faster as she made her way back to shreck's department store, carrying the little bag containing max's lunch in one hand.
the batman. or was it just bat-man? she wasn't really sure, but even the simple thought of him made her heart beat faster.
she had never seen him in action, and maybe that was a good thing, because it meant that she'd never been in a life threatening situation, but she had heard stories about him. gotham people couldn't stop talking about the way he had defeated that homicidal maniac known as the joker. ladies would keep gushing about him, the mystery surrounding his identity making him even more appealing. selina herself had to admit that she wasn’t immune to his allure. he was so different from any kind of man she'd ever fancied, dark and enigmatic, the kind of guy her mum would forbid her from seeing. she would spend hours in her lonely apartment, wondering who could be hiding under that cowl and why he had decided to become a masked vigilante. maybe he just needed the right woman to understand him, to love him.
as if he would ever fall in love with you, you corn dog. her mind constantly scolded her, and she recognized that it was probably right. sexy superheroes don't date lousy secretaries, or lousy assistants. but even that thought hadn’t stopped her from buying a beautiful leather coat. it was still stored in her closet and she had never once worn it, but maybe she just had to wait for when she and batman would be face to face for the first time, then he’d fall head over heels for her.
as if selina, as if, her internal voice kept chanting. it could be extremely brutal sometimes.
selina was so lost in her own thoughts that she almost didn't feel the impact as she collided directly with a man coming exactly from the opposite direction as her. her glasses fell onto the snowy ground, so she wasn't able to recognise the stranger's face as he started to apologize.
"i'm so sorry", the man's voice was kind and she was almost surprised. a nice guy in gotham? that would be a first.
"it's fine. i'm fine", she mumbled while kneeling to look for her glasses. she could make out his blurry shape getting down near her, recollecting a unidentified object from the ground and then handing it to her.
"i think these are yours."
understanding that he was probably talking about her missing glasses, she took them and was quick to put them on. her blurry vision finally focused, so she could clearly see him offering her his gloved hand to help her stand up, something selina gladly accepted.
when she was back on her feet, bruce could take a better look at her. that woman was pretty. so incredibly pretty. the more he stared at her, the more he found her beautiful, with blonde curly hair tied in a messy bun and ocean blue eyes. the glasses made her look even more lovely, if that was possible.
on her side, selina was in a loss of words as well. not only had that stranger been nice to her, but he was also incredibly handsome. it was that realization that made her loose all her cool. what was she going to tell him? should she thank him? every second they spent in silence led her to believe that he was going to think of her as a complete disaster. finally, he started talking again.
"really, i'm sorry. i didn't notice you", he hoped that she couldn't detect the tension in his voice. he didn't even know why he was nervous.
"oh, don't worry", she chuckled. "no one ever does."
"i don't see how", his reply was immediate and she could feel a familiar warmth running up to her cheeks.
she was blushing, it was freezing cold and she was blushing because of some stranger she had just bumped into, and he had probably noticed. the only thing she could think of was to smile, a smile more coming from the fact that she felt incredibly awkward, but one he returned immediately. what was it with his heart starting to pound faster when she looked at him? bruce didn't know, but for some reason he liked the sensation.
”i should probably go”, she said quietly, knowing it was the exact opposite of what she wanted.
”wait”, bruce stopped her before she could move. “why don’t we- i mean why don’t you join me for a coffee or something. i really want to make it up to you for what just happened.”
bruce wayne would have punched himself right there and then. that was probably the worst way to ask a pretty girl out. but selina didn’t seem to notice his embarrassment, she bit her lip to avoid smiling again, when reality hit her.
”i can’t-”, i have a boyfriend. but the words died in her throat as she looked at him. selina didn’t exactly know why, but she didn’t want him to know that she was already seeing someone. “i mean, i can’t right now. you see, i’m a working girl and mr. scrooge isn’t exactly the type of guy who’d let me get away so easily.”
the way she said that last sentence, followed by a small laugh, made him raise an eyebrow in amusement. this woman was unusual in her own, incredibly charming way.
”i understand. then maybe i could see you in the next few days?”, his question made her heart flutter. for the first time in her life, selina was living inside a scene from a romantic film, or a fairytale book, with a charming prince who didn’t look at anyone else but her.
”maybe.” she replied, a feline smirk playing on her lips. it was so different from the sweet smile she’d given him just seconds before, but that only made bruce more intrigued by her.
”sorry, i didn’t catch your name.”
“uh, of course, i didn’t say it!” she laughed again, her playful grin gone as quick as it had appeared. “i am-”
in that moment, real life stepped in and her eyes became wide in realisation.
”i am late! i am so late, he’s gonna kill me!”, she cried out when she glanced at the small watch on her left wrist. luckily, the lunch bag was still safely in her grasp and it seemed like nothing had spilled out of it. but the food was probably getting colder with each passing minute she spent in the company of that stranger.
"i am sorry! i work at shreck’s and… i will see you, i promise”, she reassured the man as she walked past him.
"you promise?", he echoed her words, doing something he hadn't for a while. for the first time in months, bruce wayne was genuinely smiling.
selina turned towards him, almost walking backwards, "cross my heart and hope to die!"
in that moment, something caught in her shoe and she almost fell, but she was able to keep her balance and reserved him a last flustered chuckle. she was really one of a kind, that was sure.
he stared at her for another moment, then recomposed himself. that casual walk down gotham’s streets hadn’t sounded like a great idea at first, but now he was positive that something good had come out of it.
bruce knew he would’ve spent every moment of his day thinking about who could that woman possibly be, perfectly aware that his question would be answered soon. she had told him that she worked at shreck’s, probably for max shreck himself, judging by the anxiety in her voice. the same max shreck bruce was going to meet the following morning.
he was definitely going to see her again.
***
”wow, the batman… or is it just bat-man?”
selina’s question sounded dumb even to herself while she was saying it, but what else was she supposed to do? she had imagined batman coming to her rescue thousands of times, yet every single possible scenario had been thrown out of the window in the moment she had seen him. he'd saved her from that crazy clown in just a matter of seconds, but usually her dreams ended with batman passionately kissing her on a rooftop amongst the sunset, and that was very much not happening.
he really didn’t know what to say. it was her, after all. the woman he had met just a few hours earlier and who had invaded his thoughts ever since. he could talk to her, he really wanted to, for the first time in his life, even if he was batman. and that’s exactly what stopped him.
she’d met bruce, she’d talked with bruce, not him. no one ever wanted to talk to the dark knight, even if they thought they did. that was the whole point of his batsuit, to scare people away. he still remembered how vicki had reacted to him, after the first time he’d saved her from the joker, and that memory was enough to make him want to walk away from the blonde woman as soon as possible. he didn’t want her lovely eyes to look at him the same way vicki vale had.
with a last glance, he turned away from her without saying a single word. selina tried to stop him, but she took just one small step before stopping in her tracks. he was batman, she was selina, what could ever possibly happen between them?
”your choice, of course!”, she called out to him one last time, before giving up.
the dark knight made his way back to the batmobile, feeling relieved that he hadn’t seen any look of fear on the young woman's face, that thought alone making his choice not to talk to her less painful.
what batman hadn’t realized was that selina kyle wasn’t scared of him at all.