Work Text:
“Ms. Bishop.”
“Hello Mr. Fox. Burning the midnight oil?”
He gives her a soft laugh. “Something like that. Sometimes inspiration strikes.”
“Anything I can know about?”
Lucius gives Kate a Look. She laughs outright at him. “Okay then. I’m just here to pick something up for Mr. Wayne.” She pulls out her notebook and flips it so that Lucius can see the product IDs. He frowns at the numbers.
“That’s–hm.” His eyes flick up to her. “And he didn’t say why he wanted those shelved projects?”
“Honestly, I don’t really ask. He’s rich, rich people are weird, I figure the less I know the better.”
He looks at her. “Hm.”
“What ‘hm’? What?”
He starts walking down the long rows of the R&D archives and Kate trails behind him. “Seriously. What?”
Lucius peers up at her from a drawer. “Most people want to know more. One of the reasons most of his personal assistants don’t last long. Too interested. He’s a private person, Mr. Wayne.”
“Yeah, I got that impression. My goal is not to know more, my goal is to keep a job.”
Lucius laughs and hands her the first item on the list. “A very healthy mindset, working for Mr. Wayne.”
They shuffle down the rows in companionable silence until they reach an item that has Lucius going “why on earth–what is this boy thinking?”
“You respect him a lot.”
“Hm? Who?”
“Mr. Wayne.”
“He is my boss.”
Kate’s eyes narrow, just a bit. “It’s more than that. You trust him with the stuff in here. When he has ideas or suggestions, you take him seriously. Not in a he’s-my-billionaire-boss way, but as someone who knows what he’s talking about. Everyone else in this building thinks he’s a bit of a joke–a good-natured, well-meaning joke. Not you.”
Lucius looks flustered by that, dropping the last item on Kate’s stack. “I’ve been with this company a long time. I’ve known him a long time. He’s an interesting man. A good man. And he’s smart. Not big on the common sense, but very knowledgeable. Doesn’t always have follow-through,” he adds quickly.
“Like how?”
“Well, he went to medical school. Never did a residency, never started practicing.”
“Holy shit, really?”
Lucius gives her a look.
“Oh. Sorry. Um, no kidding?”
“No kidding.” Lucius gives the list another once-over before nodding. “That’s everything. Paper or plastic?”
She glares. “Har har. Do you even have a bag?”
“I do have a case.” He gestures over to the workspace and helps her pack it all in a sleek matte black case with a discreet Wayne Industries logo on the side.
“Very classy,” Kate says. “I feel like a secret agent.”
“Just don’t get made,” he jokes. “You’re all set. Let me know if you find out what he’s doing with that, won’t you?”
Kate looks from the case to Lucius. Too late to back out now. He won't ask Mr. Wayne. He won't. He knows better, and Bruce does weird shit with weird shit all the time. “Fight crime? Liberate a small European country? If it’s not illegal, I’ll let you know. If it is illegal, then I didn’t find out.”
He laughs at that, a real one with his head thrown back. “Be safe, Ms. Bishop.”
“I will, Mr. Fox. Thank you again.”