april catch-all.

[beknight]

Who: bruce wayne (beknight) & various others.
What: shenanigans for april
When: throughout april
Where: everywhere
Warning(s): none yet, will add if needed.

Comments

[beknight]

[ They've both lost, and they both take it hard. His own breath betrays him with a stop, his eyes close, she answers the unspoken, unacknowledged need. Prolonged contact, the reminder that he still has her. That he can close his hands over it and hold it as long as he needs. ]

There's a glass case in the cave. It belongs to my son.

[ Speaking after a moment, after her apology has sunk in (it says enough, he accepts it). Bruce knows she's seen it, the graffiti, the unspoken horror. ]

[ A beat, and, ]

I swore no more, after him. Then —

[ Then Cass. Then Tim. ]

[wondie]

( it's not something he's showed her — not yet, in the kinship they've built and the fledgling partnership they've started back in a world that seems like an entire lifetime apart. it doesn't surprise her to hear it, though, even if it hurts in a familiar way. )

It's easier said than done, to close off your heart. I've learned that lesson more than once in my lifetime. ( it had taken her how many decades to become mostly detached from connection and humanity?

and it hadn't been the same as not caring at all. )

I know it doesn't feel like it, in moments like this one, where letting someone into your heart only brings you pain. But to love is a strength, Bruce. Don't let yourself ever forget that. ( her smile is heavy, stained with the bitterness of loving and losing more times than she could count. she'd forgotten that light (or ignored, looked away, thinking it was easier to avoid it) for so long, and Bruce may not know it, but he was part of what brought it back to her. )

[beknight]

[ More than once. Their tragedies are like reflections, no distortions, just the same vein of loss and loss again running through them. He has only a litany of regrets. And now that she's back in the world, he wonders about the minutiae of hers. He's picked at her story, wanting to grasp it, knowing it would be in his hands if he only asked. Diana trusts him. ]

[ To love is a strength. Trust is like self-delusion, but having it requires submitting to the indignity of being known. In some way. ]

There are more of them.

[ Barry and Victor. The names he has of that other world. There are more people in his circle than he knows what to do with. More people who have grasped on to the shadowy tendrils he reaches out and used them as shelter. ]

[wondie]

( even the mention of their names brings a hint of warmth to her smile that she can't quite chase off. Bruce can't remember them as she does, all he has to hold onto are the pictures she can paint him with words. words don't seem to do either of them justice. to Barry's brightness and voracity, Victor's strength and resilience. she tells him all she can despite it. )

There are. And don't think I don't know how much you care for many of the people you've met here.

( don't fight her on it, Bruce, you won't win. she's met more than a handful of the connections he's made for himself. seen the fondness disguised in gruffness. )

It seems you're not quite as unapproachable as you thought, Bruce.

[beknight]

Social lubrication.

[ This, groused out. It's temporary. His guard is not down, but even the most steadfast of fortresses has passages that lead to the interior, and those who walk them freely. ]

Speaking of. You and Steve.

[ He pauses, a kindness to let her decide on her redirection, if she so chooses, ]

Have you thought about entering the Pact with him?

[wondie]

( wryly: ) Are you trying to divorce me?

( the correlation to marriage had been extremely lost on her when they'd entered their pact. not so much now. it's a deflection of sorts. truth be told, no, she hadn't; as much as she loves Steve, it had not occurred to her, even for a moment. )

[beknight]

[ That's a no, then, he shouldn't feel so gratified that he has a hold on her heart. But Bruce is nothing less than catlike in his possessiveness. ]

I'm saying think about it.

[ She loves Steve, and he loves her. Bruce does not compare, and the allure of a happily ever after, even here, appeals to him on her behalf. He will regret a loss that makes his bones ache and his body less resilient, but it's a material thing. He'll manage. ]

[wondie]

I don't think I need to.

( she's content as things are. as ridiculous as it is for the beau that blew himself up to save the world, Steve is truly the more cautious one. her offer to form the pact had come from a desire to make their partnership stronger, and that hadn't changed with the reemergence of Steve Trevor.

a magical moon and a mystical pact in Wyver couldn't hope to make her connection with Steve any stronger. she valued that invisible thread between them, and all the things she'd wanted when she offered it to him then still linger. why should she want to break it, knowing that? )

[beknight]

[ It has the honesty of a sword's edge. His expression shutters as he regards her for a moment. And it's not often he finds himself without defence. ]

If that's your choice.

[ He'll make his peace with it — secretly his heart expands. ]