A/N: Okay, this is another chapter that I've been looking forward to since I started this project, so I'm super excited to finally publish it! The chapter picks up right after the last one, so if you missed the previous upload make sure to read it first! Now, without further ado here's Chapter 17! Hope you enjoy!
Sterling St. Cloud
Selina had had a really good evening with the Galavan's the night prior. She'd had a family dinner with them, something she had no idea she'd been missing.
She had mostly talked with Sterling about school stuff, but Tabitha, his aunt, was really cool too. A couple of times, Selina and Tabitha teamed up on Sterling to make fun of him. Sterling would just laugh right along with them good-naturedly. Galavan himself would shake his head disapprovingly but with a smile, occasionally telling Tabitha to lighten up on the kid.
They all seemed so happy together; it made Selina long for what she was missing at home.
Alfred was great, but he just wasn't the same as her parents.
It was an all around great night.
However, the highlight of the evening came when Tabitha and Sterling excused themselves to clean up the dishes.
Galavan had told her, "I'm glad we have a moment alone. There is something I need to discuss." That normally would've set off some alarm with Selina, but she trusted Galavan. She nodded for him to go on and he told her quietly, "An executive at Wayne Enterprises has been reported missing. Sid Bunderslaw…"
Selina's heart clenched up in her chest.
"Do you know him?" Galavan asked.
Selina took a deep breath and replied, "Yes. We've met several times." She paused. "What happened?"
"No one knows," Galavan told her, lowering his voice even more. "But it doesn't look good."
"How did you hear?" Selina asked him.
"Let's just say I have friends in high places," Galavan replied vaguely. "And I've been following the goings-on at Wayne Enterprises very closely."
"What have you learned?" Selina asked.
"That your father was a good man. A great man, even. But in spite of that, bad things happened at his company," Galavan said gravely.
Selina stared into the fireplace next to them, carefully picking out her next words. "Unfortunately," she started slowly, "I think you're right."
"I can tell you've become very mature for your age," Galavan told her. "Ready to tackle the problems of your company head-on. But you'll need help. Once I'm mayor, I would very much like to be that person."
Selina looked up at the man. She knew he was a politician, this was his job: convince people that he had nothing but good-intentions. But he seemed so genuine…
"Thank you, Mr. Galavan. I appreciate it," Selina said.
Galavan nodded and stuck out his hand. Selina shook it. Now, she had one more ally, and a powerful one at that.
Bruce, on the other hand, had just lost his most powerful ally.
He didn't hear about the whole thing until the next morning. Penguin, Gilzean, and a couple of goons had raided some shipping yard at the southern pier. Then, everything had gone bad. Really, really bad.
All Bruce knew was that Penguin's mother was dead, Penguin was injured but escaped, and Gilzean was nowhere to be found.
In one foul swoop of a night, he'd lost Garfield, Gordon had betrayed him, Bruce nearly shot Gordon, Bruce nearly shot himself, and then to top it all off: Penguin had lost control of the Narrows.
Bruce didn't dare stay in the Narrows. He had a good reputation in the Gotham Underworld, but Penguin sure as hell did, and now that he was gone…
Bruce crossed Gotham via rooftop, arriving at the northernmost bridge that went upstate. He needed to visit a friend.
His only friend, really.
The window was unlocked like always. Alfred had all but given up on keeping him out by now.
Inside, the television was on. A reporter said, "It is official. Theo Galavan will be the Mayor of Gotham. A crowd had gathered outside and the excitement is brimming."
Standing in front of the television was none other than Selina Wayne herself.
She switched off the TV and turned to him, jokingly asking, "What do you have against the front door?"
"Nothing," Bruce replied simply, tracing a finger along the back of a couch. "It's the ape who opens it who I could live without."
Selina shook her head. "I haven't seen you in…" She shook her head. "Bruce, what are you doing here?"
Bruce's eyes dropped to the floor, refusing to meet hers. "You wouldn't believe the week I've had," he told her, his voice accidentally cracking at the end. "This friend of mine, Garfield, decided to build this fire suit…"
Selina glanced behind her nervously and started, "Bruce…"
"Some people just don't…" Bruce trailed off, noticing a suit jacket thrown carelessly over the back of a nearby chair. It was too small for Alfred and it was clearly a men's jacket… "Whose is that?" Bruce asked.
Just about that time, Bruce heard heavy footsteps approaching the room.
They weren't Alfred's.
"Sorry, Selina, I got lost on the way back from…"
Bruce's radar went on high alert. What the hell was he doing here?
The other boy looked at Bruce confusedly. "Hello," he said, walking up close next to Selina.
Too close.
Sterling St. Cloud.
That son of a…"Hi," Bruce replied in fake boredom, as if he'd planned the whole situation.
They looked at Selina, both clearly wanting her to give an explanation for what the other boy was doing there. Her cheeks were beet red. "Sterling St. Cloud, this is my…friend, Bruce," she stuttered out. "Bruce, this is Sterling."
Bruce knew well and good who Sterling was. He was the punk who'd been walking Selina to her car.
Sterling smiled at Bruce warmly, too warmly. He stuck out his hand. Bruce took it.
And that's when the games began.
Bruce didn't initially squeeze down hard on Sterling's hand. It was actually Sterling who started the fight. He had a firm grip; Bruce would give him that. Unfortunately for Sterling, he had no idea who he was messing with. He was the little brother of Ted Grant, for God's sake. Bruce applied more and more pressure, eventually causing Sterling's hand to go limp in surrender. Yet the kid didn't flinch in the slightest, giving no recognition that the silent competition was occurring.
The entire battle had only lasted two seconds, but Bruce got a feeling that Sterling St. Cloud was more than he seemed.
This was gonna be interesting.
"It's nice to meet you," Sterling told him, still smiling even though he must've been in serious pain.
Bruce smiled back as warmly as he could, "You too."
They dropped their hands. Sterling asked, "So, what are you doing here, Bruce?"
"Actually," Selina piped up, her voice squeaking at first, "Bruce was just le-"
"Coming to have lunch," Bruce interrupted, giving her his most dashing smile. He turned to Sterling and told him, "We should eat together."
Sterling smiled back at him, exclaiming, "That's a great idea! I just moved here and I don't have many friends…"
"What a shock," Bruce muttered under his breath, too low for either of them to hear.
Sterling turned to Selina and asked, "Could you have Alfred set out another plate for lunch?" She looked at Sterling, then at Bruce, and then back at Sterling, clearly trying to piece together some way for her to escape this horrible fate. Both boys simply smiled at her.
She slowly nodded and left the room, probably very worried about what was to come.
The two boys stood there silently, smiling at each other as they listened to her footsteps disappear down the hall.
Sterling's smile dropped. He sneered at Bruce and got up in his face, saying, "I don't know who you are, but if you know what's best for you, you'll turn around and go right back out that window before you get hurt."
Bruce smiled near-devilishly. "I knew there was something underneath all that. Where you from?"
Sterling glared at him. "I don't think you heard me, so I'll give you one more chance. Walk away right now."
Bruce scoffed. "You know, that was actually pretty good, for a rich kid. But…" Bruce whipped out his knife and held the tip to Sterling's left side. "You really need to work on your intimidation tactics. You just aren't a very scary looking person…"
Just about then, Selina walked back into the room.
"I told Alfred…" she paused, noticing the knife being held at Sterling's side. "What're you doing?" she asked apprehensively.
They both smiled at her, Bruce saying, "I was just showing Sterling my favorite knife."
"And I was telling him that I have one just like it, although mines bigger," Sterling finished.
Bruce chuckled mirthlessly.
Selina looked between them, clearly confused. She just nodded in bewilderment and went to sit down.
Sterling reacted first, scoring the seat next to her. Bruce smiled calmly, showing that he wasn't fazed, and sat atop the couch opposite them.
Alfred came in a few moments later. He glanced warily at Bruce before setting a tray of sandwiches down on the coffee table. He looked at Selina and said, "I had no idea we were entertaining today, Miss Wayne."
"Yeah," Bruce started, taking a sandwich from the tray. "Surprises sure do punch you in the face sometimes, don't they, Alfred?" Bruce asked pointedly. He took a bite of his sandwich as Alfred glared at him icily.
Sterling and Selina both took sandwiches as well. Bruce noticed that Sterling initially reached out with his right hand (the hand that he'd shaken), winced, and then took the sandwich in his left. He took some kind of sick joy in that.
Selina looked between the Bruce and Alfred confusedly. "Thank you, Alfred," she said. "That will be all."
"My pleasure, Miss Wayne, Mr. St. Cloud," Alfred replied, his eyes glued on Bruce the whole time. He bustled off, leaving the doors open behind him.
Bruce put his sandwich down and started, "So, Sterling, how old are you?"
Sterling wiped his mouth politely and replied, "Thirteen. Going on fourteen in January. What about you?"
Bruce shrugged. "Thirteen, fourteen in February."
Sterling smirked and told him, "Before you showed up, I was telling Selina about my past few years abroad. My sister and I went all over, helping out needy countries, building schools, you know…"
"The norm," Bruce agreed offhandedly.
"Exactly. It's just, the eyes of those kids, the gratitude, it made it all worth it."
"There're plenty of needy kids in Gotham," Bruce said. "Why go so far?"
Sterling smiled at him mirthlessly, unable to respond.
A point to Bruce.
Sterling apparently decided to go on the attack, asking, "So Bruce, where're you from?"
"Gotham," Bruce replied.
"Were you born here?" Sterling asked. Bruce nodded, not entirely sure where Sterling was going with this topic. "So was I," Sterling told him. Bruce knew there was gonna be some big twist sometime soon. "My parents were big-time business owners, kind of like Selina's. What did yours do?" he asked.
There it is.
Bruce shrugged. "Never met my dad and my mom left when I was five. I live with my uncle and cousin, now," he said. Henry wasn't actually his uncle. It was just the excuse he gave anyone who asked.
"Where do you go to school?" Sterling asked.
"I don't," Bruce told him.
"What?"
"I'm a street kid," Bruce said. "I don't go to school. It's a waste of time, if you ask me."
Sterling shrugged, patting Selina on the knee and saying, "Well, school is where I met her, so it couldn't be so bad…"
Selina's cheeks flushed a little. Bruce growled under his breath. That was smooth.
A point to Sterling.
"You met at school?" Bruce asked. He turned to Selina for the first time and asked, "When did you stop homeschooling?"
Sterling answered for her, "She's new, just like me. We met a gymnastics practice. She's a total natural, way better than me…"
"Actually, Sterling," Selina interrupted him, "Bruce is the one who taught me most of that."
Bruce smirked at Sterling who shot eye-daggers in return.
Another point to Bruce.
Sterling was about to ask Bruce another question when Selina asked, "Hey, Sterling, could you go ask Alfred to make another round of sandwiches? These don't taste right."
Sterling gave her his most dashing grin and told her, "As you wish," almost making Bruce gag.
Bruce gave him a little smile as he left.
When he was gone, Bruce joked, "I gotta say, Cat, you sure know how to pick 'em."
Selina set her plate down and asked him, "What's up with you?"
Bruce furrowed his brow in fake confusion. "What do you mean? I was having a perfectly pleasant conversation with your new friend. What's wrong with that?"
She apparently wasn't fooled. "Look, Bruce, Sterling is a really nice guy. Try to be friendlier."
Bruce rolled his eyes, muttering, "This is not how I saw today going."
"What had you been expecting, exactly?" Selina asked him.
He shrugged but never got to respond. Sterling walked back in, saying, "Hey, Selina, my uncle called. I have to go." He grabbed his jacket from next to her and then kissed her on the cheek.
Bruce had never rolled his eyes harder in his life. That was a total desperation move if he'd ever seen one.
He turned to Bruce with a victorious smirk and said, "It was really nice meeting you, Bruce."
"You too, Cloud," he replied coolly.
Bruce shook his head as Sterling's footsteps disappeared. "Wow. I don't think I've met a better liar in my entire life," he said in mock awe.
Selina arched her brow, asking, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Bruce sighed and told her, "Selina, he's manipulating you. He's just acting all nice to get you to trust him."
He'd never seen Selina get angrier. She stood up and started telling him off, saying, "For starters: you can shut your mouth, Bruce Kyle. Sterling is a real gentleman, more than you've ever been…"
Bruce stood up, raising his hands in surrender and saying, "You know what? I can't do this right now."
"And why is that?" Selina pushed. "Oh right, I forgot who I'm talking to."
Bruce froze. "And what's that supposed to mean?" he groveled, trying to not let his irritation leak into his voice. This was Selina. He was here to fix his relationship with her. Getting into an argument would not help that.
"It means that when life gets hard, when it gets difficult, you run away," she told him, getting right up in his face. "You're a coward."
He stared at her in disbelief, all of his rational thoughts going straight out the window. "I'm the coward?" She nodded. He scoffed. "That's rich. Honestly."
"Are you implying something?" she asked, getting louder now.
"Who kept you safe when those assassins came after you? Huh? Who was the one who stole Bunderslaw's keys right off of him, for you?" Bruce asked. "Who was the one who went after Payne so you didn't have to? Who was the one who saved Alfred's life a few weeks ago?"
"What?" Selina started, but she never got an explanation of the last comment. Bruce was getting hot.
"You have no idea what I've been through!" he told her. "The stuff I'm dealing with…" He huffed. "You know what, I don't have time for your crap, today." He turned and started to march back to the window.
"Maybe you were right," Selina said quietly. He froze, listening with his back turned. "Maybe I'm not the best judge of people. Because all of this time, I thought you were my friend…but clearly you have no idea what that means."
Bruce could've contradicted her. He could've told her all about how he'd shot someone to save Alfred, how he nearly died trying to save Garfield's life, how he'd almost killed a police officer in rage when he'd heard that they'd killed his friend.
But she wasn't worth it.
If she couldn't see the obvious truth, then she didn't deserve to know.
He didn't respond, instead walking straight back to the window and walking out of Selina Wayne's life.
Selina slumped into one of the big armchairs and pulled her knees into her chest.
She felt like crying, but forced herself not to.
He wasn't worth the tears.
Unbeknownst to either of them, Sterling St. Cloud was standing around the corner, listening in on the entire conversation with a smirk.
He was no longer worried about Bruce Kyle interfering with his plans for Selina Wayne.
Selina knocked on the penthouse door.
Sterling opened it, smiling the second he laid eyes on her. "Hey, Selina."
"Hey, Sterling," she replied. "Can I come in?"
He nodded, opening the door. He closed it behind her and asked, "What's up?"
She glanced at the ground sheepishly and said, "I just wanted to apologize for earlier."
Sterling scoffed good-naturedly and said, "Yeah, your friend is quite the character."
She nodded, agreeing, "Don't I know it. I didn't know that he was coming by or I would've…"
"Hey, Selina, it's fine. I'm sorry I put you in such an awkward situation. It wasn't fair to you," he told her earnestly. "I should've left earlier. Bruce obviously didn't want me there."
She shook her head, "No, you were fine. Bruce was just acting…I don't know. He isn't usually like that."
Sterling nodded. "He was probably just felt threatened."
"Threatened?" she asked.
"Yeah, well…I probably would've felt threatened, too, if, you know, one of my friends was hanging out with someone else." He glanced at his feet and told her, "I actually felt threatened, too. I'd felt pretty alone when I first moved here." He looked up at her, his cheeks dusted pink, "Until I met you. But…I don't want to come between you and a friend."
"You won't," Selina assured.
He sighed. "Bruce is never going to like me."
She reached out and took his hand. "I don't care," she told him. She felt her own cheeks flush. "I like you."
Then Sterling kissed her.
It was…interesting. She didn't mean to compare it to her kiss with Bruce, but she did. Something was just…different.
But was different really so bad?
Bruce sat atop the roof of the building opposite, a clear view from his position into the penthouse suite. When Sterling kissed her, he clenched his jaw so hard he thought his teeth were about to shatter.
Then, the bastard did something even worse. When he hugged her, he glanced off to the side where she couldn't see and rolled his eyes.
Bruce saw red.
Now he knew for certain that he was using her.
He wanted nothing more than to cross the gap, bust through the window, and beat the living hell out of Sterling St. Cloud. But that wasn't the plan. He had to keep a clear mind.
At least, for now.
He'd lie in wait until he could get into the apartment unnoticed.
He'd protect Selina, no matter the cost.
He would find out what was wrong with Sterling St. Cloud, and that meant being patient for the time being.
Although it would still be pretty satisfying to go down there and break his perfect teeth.
A/N: So that was a whirlwind of a chapter! Also, I know, three uploads in a week. Don't get used to it ;) I'm on Winter break right now so I have literally nothing else to do and it's awesome! Hopefully I can get a lot more done and start backlogging chapters, since January is gonna be insane for me and I will have basically no time to write.
Also, this chapter has my favorite joke that I've ever written and I hadn't even planned it in the original outline. It just kind of happened. Let me know in the comments which one you think it was.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and if you did or have any questions/comments /critiques, PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks for reading and ciao for now!
