A/N: It's been a while since I've published a BrucexSelina oneshot, and it's gotten harder to come up with new, fresh ideas since we won't have any new content until next year. Well, few weeks ago, one of my favorite reviewers, angellcakes23, sent me a prompt for a BabyBatCat oneshot set on Bruce's eighteenth birthday, and I just had to write it.
Oh and btw, anything that is italicized and in between two apostrophes is inner dialogue within Selina. I saw another writer using this method for a character's inner thoughts and I'm using it to try out a new writing technique. Anyways, hope you enjoy!
A Perfectly Good Cake
Bruce had rushed off with Gordon and Alfred over an hour ago, and Selina was starting to get bored.
She had been hoping to spend a bit of quality time with him, but alas, he was too busy being a hero.
She huffed.
The most offensive part of all of it wasn't that he'd just up and left her there, or that he hadn't seemed to be picking up on the obvious hints she'd been dropping since she'd arrived.
No.
The most offensive part was that he'd left a perfectly good cake behind.
Selina had legitimately forgotten how good cake tasted.
When she had started training with Tabby, the woman had imposed a strict diet onto her, which meant everything she liked, excluding milk and fish, was off limits.
However, Tabby wasn't there, was she?
Bruce had cut a slice for her, and Selina dug in instantly. Years on the streets had taught her to eat quickly, in fear of someone else seeing her food as a free meal. Bruce had looked on bemusedly, but she ignored him, savoring the heavenly chocolatiness.
Then, that damn Jim Gordon had burst in, asking Bruce to run into the hands of a maniac who wanted nothing more than his head on a platter. Selina had wanted to tell him to stay, that going there was practically suicide, but she restrained herself, reminding herself that it was his life and therefore it was his choice.
Still though, it hurt when he left her.
Again.
He had a habit of doing that.
But back to the matter at hand: Bruce Wayne had up and abandoned a perfectly good cake.
Selina looked at it longingly. She wasn't a big fan of Alfred, but even she would admit that the man knew how to bake a damn good cake.
Even though Selina knew she was alone, she glanced around suspiciously for onlookers. Reaching the conclusion that there was no one else in the house, Selina took the stainless steel cake server, and cut off another piece for herself.
She was sure Bruce wouldn't mind, hell, he probably wouldn't even notice.
It wasn't like him to notice her, anyways.
Her thoughts drifted back to the day she'd found him in the hospital, after he'd apparently stabbed Alfred.
All she'd wanted to do was check on him, make sure that he knew he wasn't alone and that she was there for him.
Instead, he'd been an utter douchebag in return, and she'd left him alone.
'Damn him,' Selina thought. Every time she tried to get close to him, he pulled away.
Granted, that wasn't entirely fair for her to say.
The amount of times that she'd broken his heart when they were younger… She'd probably turned him into what he was now.
She turned that sweet, innocent kid into someone that didn't feel much emotion; someone that didn't trust people.
Someone like her.
She shook her head. Glancing down at the plate, she realized that she'd finished off her second slice of cake.
Selina considered taking another slice, but wasn't in the mood anymore.
She was getting bored.
Bruce had only been gone just over an hour and a half, but it felt like she'd been sitting at that counter for an eternity.
Sighing, Selina decided to get up and look around the old house for a bit.
She and Bruce had shared many adventures in those corridors, from his their first kiss, to their first real fight…
Selina noticed a particularly familiar looking vase.
She picked it up and started weighing it, subconsciously taking a guess at the worth of the piece.
She could almost hear Bruce's first words to her, back when she was just thirteen, and him only twelve. Closing her eyes, she pictured the scene:
He'd told her, "It's from the Chinese Ming Dynasty. Five…"
He'd suddenly stopped. At the time, Selina hadn't really noticed, but looking back, it was really cute to see him squirm a bit.
"Five hundred years old," he finished.
Selina had scanned over the boy, taking note of how he was kinda cute up close. Granted, she'd seen him several times before then.
Modern day Selina scoffed at her younger self.
She'd basically been stalking him for weeks prior to getting caught by the police and brought to Wayne Manor.
The younger Selina had coolly replied, "You can get one just like it for five bucks in Chinatown."
It'd been the first thing to pop into her head at the time, and later that night she'd laid in bed for hours with thoughts of self-loathing swimming through her mind at her idiotic response.
That'd been the first thing she'd ever said to him.
'Really, Cat?' Modern day Selina asked her younger self.
'What? It was the best I could think of!' the younger Selina retorted. 'I had no idea was going on. Besides, it isn't like you were there to help!'
'I was there, stupid,' Older Selina replied. 'I'm you, remember?'
Younger Selina rolled her eyes. 'Whatever. Just skip to the next part, will you?'
Modern Selina relented. 'Fine, but we're finishing this conversation later.'
Selina set down the vase and made her way upstairs. She stopped at the balcony overlooking the foyer, where a particular memory fought its way into the forefront of her mind.
The woman had walked in, all bloody and scared looking. However, the moment Selina had made eye contact with her, she'd known something was up.
The woman dropped her blanket to reveal dark body armor, and Selina had acted on impulse, grabbing Bruce by his wrist and dragging him up the staircase while Alfred attempted to fend their attacker off.
Bruce eventually fell into stride with her, and led her into a servant's hallway.
He'd tried to get her to leave without him, to escape while he went back to help Alfred. That was the first time he'd done that, put himself into harm's way in order to protect people close to him, and it certainly wouldn't be the last time.
Hell, that was the reason he wasn't there with her right then.
However, the fact that he would never give up on someone, no matter what the cost to himself, was one of the things she lov…
Selina stopped herself.
It was one of the things she liked most about him.
'What were you about to say?' another Selina asked the modern day Selina. This one was a bit older, probably around fifteen. Her hair was straightened out, and she'd pulled it into a dark beanie.
'When are you from?' Modern day Selina asked her.
'From when you thought you loved him,' the younger Selina replied simply.
Selina physically blushed. 'I never loved him…' she replied.
The younger Selina scoffed. 'Selina, you are literally lying to yourself,' she said. 'It's kinda sad.'
'Piss off,' Modern day Selina told her.
'Sure thing,' the younger Selina responded. 'I just want what's best for you is all, and lying to yourself isn't helping anyone.'
'I always liked this room,' a different younger Selina said. It was the one from before, back when she was thirteen.
Modern day Selina looked around and realized she was standing in Bruce's study.
How did she get there?
The younger Selina walked over to the windows that she always entered through. 'Why did you start using the other window?' she asked older Selina.
'Because, I wanted to keep Bruce on his toes, obviously,' another, different Selina replied. This one seemed more recent, as she was kitted out in a skintight, leather suit with a whip attached at her waist.
Modern day Selina was starting to get confused with all the different versions of herself in the room, so she assigned the youngest version of herself, from when she first met Bruce, the name of Selina 1. The one with straight hair, who'd claimed that she was in love with Bruce, Selina assigned as Selina 2. This new one, with long curly hair and the whip, she assigned as Selina 3.
'How many of you are there?' Modern Selina asked.
Suddenly, over a dozen different versions of her appeared in the room. She cringed at seeing a younger version of herself, probably from when she'd helped Bruce unmask that lying bitch, Silver, who looked like she had a freaking chia pet on her head, and another rocked a jaunty, futuristic hairstyle, had several fake piercings, and was carrying an assault rifle.
Until then, Selina hadn't realized just how many times she'd changed her hair and clothes styles, and seeing all of them made her head ache.
Modern day Selina held her hands up in the air and closed her eyes, announcing, 'I only want the ones who've had important stuff happen to them in this room.'
When she opened her eyes, most of the Selina's had disappeared, leaving only a handful.
Selina 1, the youngest of the bunch, spoke up, 'I think I should go first, since I've had the most happen.'
'No kidding,' Selina 3 lulled, hopping over the back of the couch and stretching out on it. Other than modern day Selina, she seemed to be the eldest and most recent version of herself. 'Didn't you dump him here?'
Selina 1 sighed. 'It was the best we could come up with, but that wasn't all that happened.'
'Yeah, you threw bagels at each other, right?' the Selina with the chia pet hair teased.
'It was fun!' the youngest Selina defended.
'Alright, alright,' modern Selina intervened. All the others shut up immediately, and she told the youngest, 'Go on then.'
Selina 1 perked up and said, 'I got him to like us!'
The others laughed at her enthusiasm.
'Please, sweetheart,' one of the elder Selina's chided. 'It wasn't that hard. You had him at hello.'
'And then I kissed him!' Selina 1 pointed out.
'Honey, three of us have kissed him,' a new Selina told her. This one was wearing an earpiece and had longer hair than most of the others. She'd been the one that had stolen that crystal owl with Bruce. She'd also been the one that'd tried to fight him, but none of the others mentioned that.
Next to her, another Selina had shown up. This one wore a flowery dress and had gotten all dolled up. 'Yeah, the first kiss was cute, but the second one…' The new Selina shook her head. 'Just…wow.'
'Why is it that we always kiss him?' Selina 1 asked modern Selina.
All eyes turned to her.
She sighed.
'I have no idea,' she replied. 'I've given him chances, but, it just feels like…oh I don't know…'
'I'll tell you what,' flower-dress Selina started, 'when you wake up, tell him how you feel.'
Modern Selina shook her head. 'That may've worked when I was your age, but, I feel like it's too late for that, now. I've already blown it too many times.'
'You're kidding, right?' the Selina 1 asked. 'He's head over heels for you!'
'Maybe before…' Selina started.
'No more maybe's,' the Selina 3 told her.
'Do you want to be with him?' straight-haired Selina asked.
Modern Selina paused.
She knew the answer, obviously.
It was just hard to admit.
'Yes,' she finally whispered.
When she looked up, all of the other Selina's disappeared, leaving Modern Selina alone with her youngest self. 'Then talk to him,' Selina 1 told her. The youngest looked out of the windows longingly and smirked. 'Here comes your chance…'
"Selina?" Bruce asked, lightly shaking her arm in an effort to wake her up.
"Hmm?" she replied, still trying to figure out what had just happened. Her eyes adjusted to the dim light in the kitchen, and she realized she'd fallen asleep. In front of her, the once perfectly good cake sat, now probably stale. She glanced over at the boy sitting next to her. She couldn't believe he was eighteen, already. It'd seemed like just yesterday when they'd first met, just two scared kids from the opposite ends of Gotham. She saw that his hair had gotten messed up, and his face was rather dirty, but otherwise he seemed unharmed. "You okay?" she asked.
He shrugged, dropping his gaze to the floor.
Selina sat up, the haze of sleep leaving rather quickly and replaced with concern. "What happened?" she asked, taking one of his hands in her own.
He flinched slightly at her touch, but eventually relaxed. He wiped his cheek with the back of his hand.
Was that a tear?
Selina didn't wait for a response. She stood up from her stool and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He froze. However, when he realized she wasn't attacking him, he melted into her embrace.
"He's dead," Bruce finally uttered. "Jerome, he's dead."
Selina was severely confused. In her opinion, that was incredible news, but she kept the thought to herself.
She stroked the back of his head with her nails, whispering to him, "Are you sure you're okay?"
He pulled away from her embrace, searching deep into her eyes.
She froze.
'Here comes your chance,' the youngest Selina had told her.
Bruce glanced down at her lips and then back up to her eyes, wordlessly asking for permission to continue.
She nodded and he kissed her.
At first it was light, and sort of reminiscent of the first and second kisses they'd shared. However, it escalated quickly, ending with Selina on his lap and their hands wrapped around one another.
At some point in there, Bruce whispered a response to her question.
"I'm okay, now," he told her. "I have you."
As the evening went on, the perfectly good cake would go forgotten by the inhabitants of Wayne Manor, which, for the night, increased in population by one.
A/N: That was so much fun to write! Hopefully the multiple Selina's thing wasn't too hard to follow, as I got confused a couple times while writing this. Also, I should probably mention that I wrote this at one or two in the morning, so take that as you will.
If you enjoyed or have any pointers on this new style of writing, please review as this was completely different from anything I've ever done prior and I'm still learning and developing as a writer. Thanks for reading!