"And were You lost, I would be —
Though My Name
Rang loudest
On the Heavenly fame —

And were You — saved —
And I — condemned to be
Where You were not —
That self — were Hell to Me —

So We must meet apart —
You there — I — here —
With just the Door ajar
That Oceans are — and Prayer —
And that White Sustenance —
Despair —"

Emily Dickinson (Fragment)

Bruce was a strange person, although he would say she was not exactly the epitome of normalcy either. He used words like that, epitome, hat's how weird he was. In the beginning she used to think he did that on purpose, use fancy words while talking to her to make her feel inferior. She used to pretend to know what he meant just to not let him to have the taste of knowing something she didn't and feel superior. Later, she found that's how a boy talks when his only friends are books and a stuck-up butler. Nowadays, she has no qualms about asking him to explain himself, she even thinks it's kinda sexy, that nerdy way of his of explaining concepts to her. And by the way he looks at her when she asks him to explain a word she doesn't know, he knows what it does to her.

But when he did completely normal stuff after nowhere, and especially when he was thoughtful in a normal way people are instead his brand of thoughtfulness (usually impractical, over the top and somewhat invasive) that she'd get suspicious.

"What is this?"

He frowned, that way he always did, he had watched his hair today, and not styled it up yet, so when blinking at her expression and tilted his head slightly like a confused puppy, his still damp curls bobbed, it made her think of their beginning, and how hard she tried to pretend that he didn't make her nervous.

"What you mean?"

"That thing," she nodded to the object he threw on the bed in front of her, "what is that?"

"A candy bar…?" He said as if he wasn't sure either.

"No, what is it really?"

"Selina," he said slowly, putting his hands inside his pocket and sitting on the bed too; "it's a Mars candy bar, I'm confused here, I don't know what you want me to say."

She sighed and leaned forward, taking the sweet and opened it. It was really chocolate and caramel. It was a bit old considering how long Gotham had been in lockout, but she had eaten worse things. He observed as she bit it, taking half of it in one go.

He chuckled.

"What?" she asked, licking her lips.

The mirth hadn't left from his lips when he answered; "nothing."

She ate the rest of the candy a little bit more slowly, but her attention was in him, Bruce looked away, as if he was a little embarrassed for some reason, he fiddled with a loose thread of his turtleneck, only daring to look up when he heard she crackling sound of Selina crumping the packing of the finished treat. She threw it on the bedside table carelessly and reached out her arms to him.

"Come here."

He did. Her breath smelled chocolatey as she rubbed the tip of her nose against his, her arms hugged his neck in such a possessive way that he thought about powerful tropical snakes, crushing their prey before swallowing them whole, but instead of feeling suffocated, he felt like he couldn't get close enough to be satisfied. He took her lips seeking closeness and, of course, she tasted sweet, Bruce took his time enjoying every bit of it until the chocolate faded and all that remained was pure Selina on his tongue. By then, half of their clothes were already missing and he was kissing down her body. He undid the button of her trousers and pulled it down with her underwear.

She moaned loudly when he went straight to her clit and something crossed the haze of desire numbing Bruce's brain, he heeled back.

"Oh," he swallowed "you're not…?"

"What?" she asked, breathless.

"Nothing," his guilty consciousness might have been playing tricks at him, and he confused the dates. Bruce smirked at her trying to ease the mood again and bit her inner thigh, Selina hissed. "Forget it," he whispered before diving back to the oblivion provided only by pleasure.

Much later, he watched her sleep, she was spent, so much, that she, who was a light sleeper, barely moved when the left the bed to sit by the window. Bruce wrapped himself on his dressing gown, and sat on the chair by the window, resting his chin on his knees and just looked at her, the cadence of her breath moving her chest under the quilted blanket, her little sighs and mumbled dreamy nonsense. He wished he could preserve that moment in amber and never leave.

But he would do it, leave. He had to.

Because it wouldn't stop. Every single crazy bastard in that city wouldn't stop coming for him. And even if fled, if he took Selina and ran he wouldn't be free. Because the normal, every-day completely random violence, like the one that caused his parent's deaths would always follow, and would never stop, that sort of thing was invincible. You could only be prepared to deal with it, and right now, he wasn't. He was vulnerable. And that put Selina in danger.

He could pretend all he want that her promise of being there whenever he needed her was something he could count on. He knew she meant every word and he loved her so much for it, and for everything else she was and meant. And he wanted more than everything to believe that she was more than a possible causality, that the chaos couldn't take her away from him. But he knew better, and that's why he had to leave.

A deeper sight brought him back from the haze of his thoughts and Bruce rose his head from his chin, relaxing the grip of his arms around his legs.

"Watcha doing over there?" she asked, blinking slowly, her voice thick with sleepiness, making him smile. "Come back to bed."

He obeyed, of course, burrowing himself under the blankets warmed by her body, she curled on his chest like a kitten. Bruce kissed the top of her head, trying to preserve in his memory all the notes of her smell, his heart constricting in anticipation for the unavoidable goodbye.

I'm baaaack. Itzel and other readers, asked me for a Four Names AU in which Bruce stayed. This is sorta it. But not quite, because I have no intention of make this long and plot driven, to make sure I'll not trick myself into writing another novel length story I'm not even using a script, this will just go with the flow. I hope you guys will appreciate it nevertheless, and if you do, let me know.