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Bruce sat on a bench observing the others at the park. Most were boring and he paid no notice to them but there was one person that caught his eye. The pale, lanky boy with longish black hair encaptured his attention like no one else had before. Unfortunately Aflred was about to take him home so he couldn't stare much longer in hopes that his feelings would sort out or the boy would notice him.
After a brief conversation with Alfred about his day he looked out the window expecting to see the boy again but he wasn’t anywhere Bruce could see. He probably just walked away. It wasn't like Bruce had eyes on him at all times.
“Alfred, can I come back to the park tomorrow?” Bruce asked
“Of course, my boy.” Alfred answered as they reached the highway to Bristol. “Is there any reason you want to go back?”
“I guess all those talks about getting fresh air are finally sticking.” A half truth, Bruce also wanted to see that boy again.
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It's been a week since Bruce saw the boy and he thinks Alfred is starting to suspect something with how many times he requests to go to the park. To pass the time Bruce made up a game where he would make up a backstory for people he saw for example, the woman walking her dog was secretly a spy to watch the man who sat and read. The man—Toby, Bruce decided—had an Etsy business where he would rebind books, the reason that the woman—Holly—was spying on him was because her husband also rebound books and she was trying to scope out the competition for him. But what Michael—Hollys husband—doesn’t know is that Holly and Toby are cousins but Michael doesn't know so it’s going to be really awkward at the family reunion….ok so maybe Bruce has gotten a little too into it. It's fine. Like he totally isn't figuring out a whole ass backstory for strangers at the park because he didn’t want to think about his feelings for the boy he only saw once, or what he would do if he saw the boy again. Totally. God I’m a mess Bruce thought to himself but that's when he saw it or should he say he, the boy he was back! And sitting under the same tree as before! And Bruce has no idea what to do, does he walk over there? What if the boy thinks that that's weird. Does he sit and stare? It's creepy but it also might be what Bruce is going to end up doing. Wait was the boy walking over here. Towards Bruce. Oh shit.
“Can I sit here?” said the boy who was talking to Bruce.
“Sure.” Good job Bruce way to seem cool, calm and collected. The boy sat down, head tilted to the sky, soaking up the sun. He looked peaceful (and pretty).
“I’m Bruce,” he said.
“Nico.” the boy Nico responded. They went back to sitting in silence. Bruce tried to come up with a new story for the blond woman with her child, should she be a doctor, dentist, or nurse? Maybe she's in witness protection because she went to Las Vegas and woke up hungover next to a—unbeknownst to her—mob boss with a wedding ring on her finger, and then she or maybe heard something she wasn’t supposed to so she did the only logical thing and ran. But then she found out she was pregnant so she went to the police for help and now she is raising a daughter in Gotham. But why would the police send her to Gotham of all places?
“What are you thinking about” Nico asks suddenly
“Hm?” Bruce.exe has crashed
“You look like you are thinking hard so I was wondering what you were thinking about”
“Oh” Bruce.exe has rebooted “do you see that woman over there? The blonde one with her daughter?”
“The one wearing the Mighty Crabjoys shirt?”
“Yes her, I was making up a story for her. Like what brought her to Gotham and such”
“Like a backstory?”
“Yes exactly like a backstory” god Bruce felt like such an idiot
“What was it”
“Well you know those people who drunkenly marry in Las Vegas” Nico nodded “she did that and accidentally married a mob boss but she didn't know he was a mob boss but then while they were in the hotel room she overheard him on a call and heard some stuff she wasn't supposed to. So she did the next logical thing and ran but then a couple weeks after she ran she found out that she was pregnant so she went to the police for help since she didn’t want her child to live in fear or hiding against a man they never met. The police puts her in witness protection while they try to hunt down her ex-husband, so now she's raising a kid on Gotham” Bruce explains, “I just don’t know why Gotham and not some small town in the midwest”
“Probally because the mob boss she married pissed off one of the local mob bosses here and is scared to even set foot in Gotham…Also Gotham's a shit-hole” Nico adds on
“Yeah, no one in their right mind lives here” Bruce agrees
“What about me?” Nico asks “If you saw me what would you think?”
Bruce thought for a moment. “You are the son of an important businessman who is the top seller of pomegranates in America, but your father is overbearing so you ran and after going to a couple of different towns and cities you ended up in Gotham where you have a small apartment and work for a local grocery store. With a side business where you sell and commission art for people, but what sells best are drawings of people's pets.”
Bruce hoped Nico didn't get offended by the father thing, who knows maybe he had a super good relationship with his father.
“What do you think?” Bruce asks hesitantly.
“I like it, though I actually did draw a lot at one point I haven't in a while,” Nico responds “can I try it with you?”
“Sure” Bruce sits back letting Nico get a good look at him.
“I think that you are secretly the son of a British spy who was sent to America to learn about the American government in case of emergency but while he was doing his spy duties he met a girl. Who he fell hopelessly in love with, but the girl is the daughter of the guy he was spying on so the relationship was doomed from the start. But your father decided to carry on with the relationship and 11 months later you were born. The British spy had to run away from his commanders so he ran to Gotham, however his love couldn’t get away from her overbearing father and was stuck while the spy had to figure out how to raise you.” Nico declared.
Bruce laughed, “That might be the wildest thing someone has come up about me.”
“Yeah, do you do this a lot?” Nico questions
“No, no, you’re actually the first person I’ve told about this”
“Oh so am I special” Nico said while wiggling his eyebrows. They both laughed, after that the conversation just seemed to flow easily. It was like talking to Nico was the easiest thing in the world.
“Damn, I have to leave,” Bruce said after checking his phone and seeing the text from Alfred.
“Ok” Nico said, “see ya.”
“Bye!” Bruce said, waving to Nico as he walked to the car. Grinning like an idiot, that has to have been some of the most fun he's had in a few months. As he slid into the back seat of the car Alfred chuckled.
“Have you had a good day, lad?” he asked.
Bruce realized that he still had a wide grin on his face, “yes, I suppose I did.”
“Well do tell, I’m waiting in suspense.”
“It’s nothing big. I just talked to someone today, it was nice.” Bruce said looking at the houses they passed on the way back to the manor. As Alfred glanced into the review mirror Bruce could see a smile on his face.
“I’m glad.” Alfred said.
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The week continued like that, Bruce went to the park and Nico showed up. They talked sometimes about the people in the park or about their lives or sometimes they would just sit in silence simply enjoying each other's presence. Until one day when Nico asked if Bruce wanted to get coffee one day, Bruce agreed immediately and they planned to meet up friday at .
“Here,” Nico said, “give me your phone.”
“Ok?”
Nico typed something into his phone, "That's my number, now instead of randomly meeting up we can just text each other!” Nico said with a joking smile
Bruce smiled back, he was about to say something when Alfred honked, “shoot I got to go, see you friday!”