A/N: This takes place before Bruce's meltdown.
It was a regular night. Bruce was armored in his gear given by Lucius Fox, patrolling over the streets of Gotham. Alfred was couple blocks away waiting him inside their car like a normal parent would wait their teens from friend's house. Tracing Ra's al Ghul had so far been fruitless. To spend time Bruce went on his regular patrols. They would make him better, he would make sure of it. He had to be on the field, focus on the mission no matter how much Alfred disliked it.
Just couple days ago he had interrupted some thief's mission to steal from Penguin's armed thugs. The thief nearly walked into their trap but they had managed to escape as Bruce fought with the thugs.
The mission had failed in that regard. Alfred had been mad at him for saving the thief but Bruce knew that no-one deserved to die. He had learned that the hard way. He did not regret his decision but he was afraid that the thief didn't regret their decision either and would try again. So Bruce had kept tracks of Penguin's movements in hopes of encountering the thief again.
His plan so far wasn't success so Bruce had left to roll around the rooftops trying to spot any criminal activity. It was not like he was trying to wipe out all crime, well not yet anyway, but he needed something to do to get his mind off from Ra's al Ghul.
He also was wondering how Selina was doing. They had kept their distance and Selina's life choices were… questionable and he had said couple things to her that he later regretted. Selina had her own life to live, Bruce knew and if she wanted to keep her life separate from his then so be it. Bruce would respect her decision. But no matter how much he tried to focus his attention on somewhere else his thoughts always seemed to return to Selina.
Alfred had noticed that too and loved to tease Bruce about it. Bruce tried to solemnly focus on his new mission to protect his city, the one that he loved so dearly, but young minds are a curious thing.
Bruce had to shake himself to the current moment. It was silent night but it was still unwise to stand about on rooftops and not focus on your surroundings. Alfred would scold him on that most likely.
"Alarm went off just few blocks away from your location, Master Bruce." Alfred announced through their com link.
"I'll go take a look. Will the police arrive soon?" Bruce asked as he moved from roof to roof.
"Not likely. As far as I know it is only a small pet store, nothing valuable in there." Alfred reported.
Bruce arrived to the crime scene. He saw that the door was left open and from there a small figure sneaked outside. The figure was dressed in black and carried a backpack. Bruce figured the burglar hided the stolen property there.
"I see alone figure, not carrying any weapons as far as I can see." Bruce said. He guessed that the burglar must be either really small adult or a child, most likely one of the many street kids of Gotham. Many of them survived only through pilfering some stuff from here and there.
"As far as you can see?" Alfred snorted.
Bruce stepped down to get closer to the small burglar. It was too dark to see the person's face but they were making their way quickly first to the nearby fire escape and then to the roof opposite to Bruce location.
"I'm going to follow them to see where they lead me." Bruce announced to Alfred and then jumped after the burglar. He had to admit that they were moving fast and being extremely agile. Jumping between buildings is not exactly an easy thing to do and even though Bruce was used to it by now he still made some mistakes. This burglar that he was following was clearly a pro at this.
"They are good, Alfred. Seems that they know their way around the city's rooftops." Bruce told after getting closer to his prey. So far the burglar hadn't noticed that they were being followed which was something that Bruce didn't want to change.
"Seems like you could make a new friend in them then." Alfred remarked sarcastically.
Bruce rolled his eyes but decided to stay silent. The burglar had stopped without any visible reason making Bruce believe that they had noticed him. Then the burglar removed their hood and mask, tucked them inside their backpack and opened their arms to embrace the night air of Gotham in a very familiar way.
"Selina?" Bruce asked out loud, surprised. It seemed that even when they were somewhat avoiding each other they still kept running into each other.
"Ah, not again." Alfred sounded tired.
Bruce should have guessed since he first saw her leave the pet store. She was probably getting stuff to her pets. The small size, the agile movements… it was obvious.
Selina kept standing still, arms wide open letting the wind ruffle her messy brown hair around making it seem even wilder than usual. Then she took a step forwards and disappeared from Bruce's line of sight.
"Well, are you going to go after her?" Alfred asked.
"No." Bruce said still looking at the spot where Selina previously stood.
"I take that as a yes then." Alfred said.
Bruce sighed and yielding to fate he approached the spot that Selina just occupied. He saw no trace of her which didn't surprise him. Selina knew her way around the city. She didn't know that she was being followed she was still too quick to be easily tracked.
Bruce returned to the pet store and saw alone police car in front of it. He doubted that they would be able to catch Selina.
"Anything else for me, Alfred?" He asked.
"No, it's a quiet night. Maybe we could go back to the manor and get some sleep for once." Alfred proposed knowing what Bruce would answer.
"Sure, it sounds good." Bruce said after a short silence surprising Alfred.
Selina, as always, had tossed Bruce off his game. His normally rational mind seemed to lose all of its ability to function every time Bruce even caught a glimpse of those brown curls or that playful smile. More often than not she just appeared, teased him and then disappeared without a trace. Bruce knew that he should find more about what Selina currently did with her new-found partners but he just didn't have the heart to do it. Penguin was much bigger threat anyways, Bruce tried to tell himself. Besides Ra's was still out there. They were petty excuses of course but they served their purpose. Bruce knew that sooner or later he would have to stop lying to himself and just have an honest discussion with Selina. Who they are, where do they stand and why do they keep coming back to each other but tonight wasn't that night. Tonight he went home with Alfred and tried his best to ignore the growing restlessness inside him.
A/N: Honestly I don't even know what this even is. It has been in my drafts for months so I just wanted it out there. I probably had a point starting this but boy if I remember it anymore.