SV fic: Emerging from the gentle grip of the night
Progress can be slow. Chloe/Bruce romance, mentions of Chloe/Clark friendship. Pg-13. Set in the future. Mild spoilers for season 8.
a/n: For eklipsed, shop_gal08, and monicaop who love Chruce and who have asked me to write it.
+++
At the first meeting he attends, Bruce shows up in full costume. No one else is dressed in their superhero costumes. Jeans paired with t-shirts and suits dominate the clothing choices among the mixed group of superheroes Chloe is proud to belong to.
Bruce stands out, likely would without even the suit she suspects. He doesn’t mingle, just sits at the table, waiting for the meeting to start. She wonders if as the meetings progress if he’ll loosen up. She suspects he won’t.
But then she’s judging him based on scant information. Of course she shouldn’t, does it anyway, the automatic assignment of characterization traits happening in her head without her permission. She sums him up without knowing his parts, as humans often do.
During the meeting she watches him. He is silent unless the topic interests him. Then he speaks, authoritatively, in a voice few of the superheroes gathered want to argue with. She does when she thinks he’s wrong, which is often. Team-playing is what she advocates while he is too into individual assignments. They disagree about how a plan for a Gotham raid should go down.
Her voice is calm and cool as she says, “No, I disagree. If we follow that plan we’re vulnerable. Three to a team is what will work best, Clark, J’onn, and Diana each assigned to one of the three teams.”
Bruce disagrees with her. “That’s unnecessary and will burden the mission.”
There’s silence, an impasse reached. They disagree and neither is willing to compromise. She doesn’t know Bruce’s reasons, although she knows hers. Of course she knows her own reasons.
Clark speaks, breaking the stalemate. “I’m with Chloe,” he says. “I want everyone participating covered. Let’s not take any unnecessary risks.”
For a short moment Bruce is motionless. With the mask on it’s impossible to see what emotion is covering his face. Finally he nods.
The meeting continues. When it is over she makes her way over to Bruce, smiling at Dinah and Diana as she passes them.
“Next time leave the suit at home,” Chloe says to Bruce. Her voice is tinged with mild amusement that he wore a suit when they told him it was not needed.
“You should all be wearing suits. It’s not necessarily safe for all these identities to be known.”
“It creates trust. If everyone is in their suits then it creates the impression that we don’t trust each other. That isn’t conductive to producing a good working relationship.”
“You superheroes trust each other too easily,” he says.
She smiles at him, at his inability to trust. “Who else are you going to trust?”
With that she turns and walks over to where Clark and Oliver are standing. She doesn’t see Bruce leave, but she has no doubts that he leaves almost immediately after that. He refuses to socialize and bond with the other members of the Justice League. It’s a shame given how much the Justice League is a family.
But then she supposes Bruce isn’t into finding a family. He’s just into catching criminals.
+++
She’s done her research on Bruce Wayne. His is a tragic life. Parents killed in front of him as a child, several years unaccounted for, childhood crush killed by the Joker several years ago. On the surface he is a billionaire playboy, who attends numerous parties and is often seen with at least one woman on his arm.
Batman is another story.
Batman is one of the human superheroes, no special powers to speak of. He is the alter ego of Bruce Wayne, although no one knows that, no one but the Justice League due to an insistence on this fact being revealed. It’s an insurance mechanism, just in case anyone decides to unmask the members of the Justice League. Bruce didn’t like it, but submitted when he had no choice.
Joining the Justice League wasn’t what Bruce wanted to do. Yet he had little choice due to supernaturally-gifted supervillains that even Batman couldn’t outsmart. So he came to them, reluctantly as Chloe is fully aware. They took him because he is a man who could be an asset and, as well, it provides a measure of control over his activities, his methods. The core members of the Justice League-her, Clark, Oliver, and J’onn-feel this is somewhat necessary. It’s implicit in their conversations, has been since the day Batman approached them and even before that day. Batman has been a topic on their minds for some time. This really isn’t a surprise. There’s been no lack of press coverage about Batman, some good, some bad, some neutral.
Like the other superheroes she knows, Bruce wants to serve justice. His methods, however, suggest he walks close to the line. Darkness surrounds superheroes, an abyss that calls and beckons. Some superheroes walk closer to the edge of this abyss, a dangerous location to travel as anyone will tell you.
When she sees news stories on Batman, she wonders how close he is today to falling into the abyss. Despite the fact that he doesn’t wish for any of the Justice League members to worry about him, she does and so do others. It’s impossible not to.
The darkness is what they all fear succumbing to.
+++
Slowly Bruce becomes more and more involved in Justice League activities. The other members respect him and his opinions, even if his methods do sometimes worry him. He is efficient and with them his methods never cross the line.
They generally read about the times he seems to skirt too close to the edge.
She tends to watch him at the weekly Justice League meetings, out of the corner of eye usually. Her goal is to be unobtrusive. This is something she knows how to do, given her career in journalism. The best journalists can go from obtrusive to unobtrusive at the drop of a pin. She has enough of an ego to admit she is one of the best journalists, or if not already rapidly on her way to becoming one.
But she learns she isn’t quite as covert as she thinks is when Bruce comes up to her after one meeting in the middle of January.
“Why are you watching me?” he asks, speaking barely upon a whisper.
The room is loud with the sounds of muted conversations. Superheroes stand in little clusters, sipping coffee from white mugs. Chloe is standing at the coffee station, refilling her coffee mug. She was alone until Bruce came up to her, surprising her because this is the first time he’s stayed and actually sought someone out.
A slight shiver runs through her at his words, at the thought that he’s noticed her, at the fact that he’s come to her. It’s a small thrill. It suggests he isn’t as oblivious to his surroundings as he pretends to be. A part of her, however, is disappointed that she’s been noticed.
“No reason,” she says after a brief pause. Perhaps the pause stretched out too long, but she had thoughts which needed attending to. She has no qualms about making him wait for her to speak.
“Generally a person doesn’t watch someone else for no reason. Usually there is a reason.”
“Guess today is an unusual day then.”
He quirks his head slightly, studying her. After a month he stopped wearing the Batman costume, coming dressed in expensive suits.
Before he can say anything else, she says, “I need to speak with Clark. Excuse me.”
If he watches her walk away, she doesn’t see it. She doesn’t turn her head to see if he does.
+++
The fact that they rarely seem to agree is not that surprising to her. They have different methods and the ideas which shape those methods often contradict with the other’s ideas. During meetings they’ll argue, sometimes heatedly, sometimes about something so inconsequential that later she’ll be embarrassed that she let herself go that far.
Typically it falls to Clark to settle the dispute. Chloe knows he dislikes this authority given to him silently, a sharp contrast to Bruce and his need to be in control.
In fact both she and Bruce have a need to be in control. Bruce’s need derives, she thinks, from his events in his life he couldn’t control which resulted in tragedy. Hers result from events in her life as well, specifically from the period of time when she was possessed and controlled by Brainiac for months. After that she was never the same, subtly altered, mostly with a need to control her life. If she can control her life then she’s safe, then she has authority over her own life.
If she can control her life then she is in control of her life, in a roundabout way.
After everything that has happened to her, this is important. It is necessary for her mental health she often thinks, sometimes bitterly. She remembers being a carefree girl once upon a time, in days which have been long lost. All she has are memories, and memories aren’t enough to make her that girl again. Instead she is the person she has become, a person who needs control.
She regulates everything in her life. She can be cautious to the extreme, in her regular life and to a certain extent her superhero life. She’s never hesitated to risk her life to save someone’s, but she has hesitated about potentially jeopardizing someone else’s life. This is how her need for control has manifested in her superhero work.
This is how life is sometimes.
+++
“I think you like him,” Clark tells her one afternoon over coffee.
It’s a Saturday. They’re in the coffee shop not too far from the Daily Planet, both of them working today. The Sunday edition of the paper is important and so they’ve both logging in hours today. Crime news never stops, not even for the weekends. But they’re taking a short break, enjoying coffee and pastries as two old friends do sometimes.
The coffee shop isn’t that busy, not on a Saturday. Weekdays it is packed with people from the surrounding offices. The café is quiet and offers a level of privacy to the conversation she’s having with Clark. She’s glad of that.
“Him?” she asks.
“Bruce. I think you like him and I think he likes you. In the sense of a more than friendly liking, a romantic liking.”
“Why? We constantly argue. That really doesn’t seem to suggest either of us likes each other in the fashion you’re suggesting.”
Clark smiles and says, “Actually it does.” He raises his cup to his mouth and sips his plain coffee, smiling while he does so. That takes talent.
“Whatever you say Clark.” She isn’t in the mood to argue with him.
“Precisely.”
Chloe changes the topic at that point. Clark may be her best friend, but she doesn’t always believe him. She’ll listen, always will listen, this habit formed over years of friendship. They listen to each other, not always agreeing, but they both always listen. Sometimes they don’t like what they hear and refuse to believe what the other is saying. That’s normal, it happens, each of them accepts this. Or she does and she hopes Clark does. It’s not like two people can always agree.
They agree on a lot of things, similarities in thinking one reason they’ve been friends so long. On the topic of Bruce, they share a concern over his methods, over the darkness which seems to linger around Bruce much more than it does other superheroes.
On this topic, on whether she and Bruce like each other, they disagree. Such is life. So she changes the topic to his mother’s birthday party, a nice innocuous topic, and they discuss birthday presents.
Clark’s words don’t leave her alone even though she doesn’t believe them. Words are a pain like that at times. She thinks mean thoughts about Clark when she tries to sleep that night and can’t.
+++
Chloe and Bruce continue arguing as spring becomes summer, the days long and warm. At the meeting during the third week of July, they argue again. The room is hot, the air conditioning breaking within minutes of the meeting starting. Crime has been on the rise and everyone has been stretched thin. People are tired and tempers are short.
Bruce and her are in fine form today, arguing passionately about nothing important while their fellow members of the Justice League sit and wilt in the heat. The windows have been cracked open, but there’s no breeze. There’s just warm still air.
Oliver interrupts after ten minutes of her and Bruce arguing about expenses to say that it’s too hot for a long meeting. “Let’s just get through the necessary stuff,” he says.
She and Bruce back down. The meeting passes quickly and then everyone disperses at a rapid rate. Bruce is one of the first to leave. She notices him leaving, and he notices her watching him. They hold each other’s gaze for a moment, until she drops her eyes and looks away. When she looks back up Bruce is gone.
She tells herself she isn’t disappointed he didn’t come up to her to argue some more. She finds herself telling herself a lot of things these days. It’s rather annoying.
A day later he shows up at her desk, dressed impeccably in a suit. She looks at him in surprise, unused to seeing him outside of the Justice League headquarters. The bullpen doesn’t stop with him in the room, although she notices out of the corner of her eyes a few reporters glancing their way. Even in Metropolis Bruce Wayne can be recognized on sight. Such is the result of the mass media and it’s obsession with billionaire playboys. She ignores the glances and focuses on figuring out why he’s here at her desk.
“What can I do for you?”
He stands in front of her desk, looking vaguely out of place. He seems slightly uncomfortable with an expression she can’t place spread across his face. She’s used to him looking annoyed or arrogant or angry. This expression she has no name for, although she will later on.
A minute passes before he speaks. “I was in town and I wanted to know if you wanted to go out for dinner.”
“You and me,” she says, “as in a date?”
“Yes, that’s what I mean. You and me, a nice restaurant, good wine, decent food, hopefully pleasant conversation. What do you say?”
She’s attracted to him, there’s no question about that. He’s handsome. But for one thing she isn’t interested in dating. She has career to nurture, no time for a relationship. Her experiences with love haven’t been stellar either.
And then there’s his nature, the darkness which surrounds him. She may be attracted to him, but it’s not the type of attraction she would pursue. The type of men she has fallen in love with have been bright boys and men. She’s loved Clark and Jimmy, two individuals filled with lightness. Bruce stands in sharp relief against Clark and Jimmy, too dangerous for her.
While she may be attracted to him in a purely physical way, she doesn’t need or want him emotionally.
Her answer she knows and she tells him it. “I’m sorry, but I’m not interested.”
His expression hardens, just a touch. “I see. All right then,” he says.
She watches him walk away. She pretends she feels nothing.
+++
In her condo three nights later she tells herself she made the right decision. But doubts plague her. She can’t stop thinking about him, although she attempts to convince herself she’s just missing sex and that’s why she can’t stop thinking about him. As a result on Friday night she goes out and finds a willing guy to sleep with her.
Sex taken care of, she assumes she won’t think of Bruce and her in a relationship again.
Yet she does. She dreams in black and white of him, of arguing with him in bed. The dream is vivid, although colorless. After a week of dreaming this and after a Justice League meeting where Bruce argues with her more for show than for anything else, she calls him. Unlike Bruce she can’t afford the airfare and she isn’t about to explain to anyone why she needs to be in Gotham. Clark would take her, but he would look at her knowingly and she hates that look.
It’s the look of her best friend when he knows her better than she knows herself. That look has never really appealed to her. She knows Clark doesn’t like it when she wears that look.
“Hello Chloe,” Bruce says after Alfred has fetched him. “What can I do for you?”
“I was wondering if you would be interested in having dinner the next time you’re in Metropolis.”
There’s a pause. “As in a date?”
“Yes,” she says simply. No need to add extra words.
Another pause and then he asks, “What made you change your mind? Two weeks ago you were adamant you weren’t interested.”
“Apparently I’m not so uninterested.”
He chuckles softly. “I see. I’ll be in town on Saturday. I’ll pick you up at eight.”
She dislikes him taking control. “How about you come to my place at eight and I’ll drive us to a restaurant. After all, I am the one asking you to dinner.”
“I suppose,” he says. He sounds reluctant; control not something he easily gives up himself.
Not a surprise. They both have a need for being in control. Navigating this reality will be difficult she knows. They’ve had years to become settled into their current personalities. Nothing will change overnight.
Baby steps, she tells herself.
“You can pick the wine,” she offers. It’s not enough, but it’ll have to do for now.
“I’ll see you Saturday.”
+++
Saturday rolls around. He knocks on the door of her condo a few minutes before eight. She’s been ready since seven and has been watching a rerun of the X-Files to calm her nerves. She runs a hand down her shirt, smoothing out invisible wrinkles as she heads to the door.
They exchange pleasantries. Bruce hands her flowers, tulips, her favorite. She takes them, slightly puzzled.
“Clark told me you liked tulips.”
“He did?”
“Yes, when he called me to threaten my life if I hurt your feelings. I have to say I can’t imagine Boy Scout kicking anyone’s butt when it doesn’t involve an actual crime.”
She smiles slightly. “Don’t underestimate him. He can be very protective of the ones he loves.”
“I see,” Bruce says quietly, watching her carefully as she puts the flower into a jar that isn’t meant for flowers per se but that she uses anyways. Flowers taken care of, she walks over to where he’s standing, in the doorway of the kitchen, at the spot where the entryway becomes the kitchen.
Bruce steps back into the entryway, her following. “Ready?”
“Yes.”
“Scared?” he asks. It’s not a standard first-date question. Neither is the serious way he’s looking at her.
She shrugs, not wanting to answer the question. The answer is known, but she doesn’t want to reveal it. Bruce nods, as if this is the response he has expected. She sighs under her breath, a little disappointed in herself and in him. Neither of them can admit when they both know. She wonders if this might prematurely doom them, although isn’t sure since the ending isn’t written.
The ending is unknown. Endings always are.
The date goes well. There’s good food and the conversation is indeed pleasant. They agree on another date. She has no clue what’s in the future. They are neurotic individuals with baggage stacked miles high. Getting to a point where they’re comfortable with each other. Trust is crucial and not just trusting each other, although that’ll be tricky. They respect each other, but still he’s too close to the darkness for her comfort and she likely is too cautious and too close to Clark for Bruce’s comfort.
But in the end they’ll have to trust themselves to let go of their inner need for control.
She wonders what will happen. She doesn’t allow herself to hope. Instead she focuses on taking things one step at time, one day at a time.
End.
Feedback is adored.
a/n: For eklipsed, shop_gal08, and monicaop who love Chruce and who have asked me to write it.
+++
At the first meeting he attends, Bruce shows up in full costume. No one else is dressed in their superhero costumes. Jeans paired with t-shirts and suits dominate the clothing choices among the mixed group of superheroes Chloe is proud to belong to.
Bruce stands out, likely would without even the suit she suspects. He doesn’t mingle, just sits at the table, waiting for the meeting to start. She wonders if as the meetings progress if he’ll loosen up. She suspects he won’t.
But then she’s judging him based on scant information. Of course she shouldn’t, does it anyway, the automatic assignment of characterization traits happening in her head without her permission. She sums him up without knowing his parts, as humans often do.
During the meeting she watches him. He is silent unless the topic interests him. Then he speaks, authoritatively, in a voice few of the superheroes gathered want to argue with. She does when she thinks he’s wrong, which is often. Team-playing is what she advocates while he is too into individual assignments. They disagree about how a plan for a Gotham raid should go down.
Her voice is calm and cool as she says, “No, I disagree. If we follow that plan we’re vulnerable. Three to a team is what will work best, Clark, J’onn, and Diana each assigned to one of the three teams.”
Bruce disagrees with her. “That’s unnecessary and will burden the mission.”
There’s silence, an impasse reached. They disagree and neither is willing to compromise. She doesn’t know Bruce’s reasons, although she knows hers. Of course she knows her own reasons.
Clark speaks, breaking the stalemate. “I’m with Chloe,” he says. “I want everyone participating covered. Let’s not take any unnecessary risks.”
For a short moment Bruce is motionless. With the mask on it’s impossible to see what emotion is covering his face. Finally he nods.
The meeting continues. When it is over she makes her way over to Bruce, smiling at Dinah and Diana as she passes them.
“Next time leave the suit at home,” Chloe says to Bruce. Her voice is tinged with mild amusement that he wore a suit when they told him it was not needed.
“You should all be wearing suits. It’s not necessarily safe for all these identities to be known.”
“It creates trust. If everyone is in their suits then it creates the impression that we don’t trust each other. That isn’t conductive to producing a good working relationship.”
“You superheroes trust each other too easily,” he says.
She smiles at him, at his inability to trust. “Who else are you going to trust?”
With that she turns and walks over to where Clark and Oliver are standing. She doesn’t see Bruce leave, but she has no doubts that he leaves almost immediately after that. He refuses to socialize and bond with the other members of the Justice League. It’s a shame given how much the Justice League is a family.
But then she supposes Bruce isn’t into finding a family. He’s just into catching criminals.
+++
She’s done her research on Bruce Wayne. His is a tragic life. Parents killed in front of him as a child, several years unaccounted for, childhood crush killed by the Joker several years ago. On the surface he is a billionaire playboy, who attends numerous parties and is often seen with at least one woman on his arm.
Batman is another story.
Batman is one of the human superheroes, no special powers to speak of. He is the alter ego of Bruce Wayne, although no one knows that, no one but the Justice League due to an insistence on this fact being revealed. It’s an insurance mechanism, just in case anyone decides to unmask the members of the Justice League. Bruce didn’t like it, but submitted when he had no choice.
Joining the Justice League wasn’t what Bruce wanted to do. Yet he had little choice due to supernaturally-gifted supervillains that even Batman couldn’t outsmart. So he came to them, reluctantly as Chloe is fully aware. They took him because he is a man who could be an asset and, as well, it provides a measure of control over his activities, his methods. The core members of the Justice League-her, Clark, Oliver, and J’onn-feel this is somewhat necessary. It’s implicit in their conversations, has been since the day Batman approached them and even before that day. Batman has been a topic on their minds for some time. This really isn’t a surprise. There’s been no lack of press coverage about Batman, some good, some bad, some neutral.
Like the other superheroes she knows, Bruce wants to serve justice. His methods, however, suggest he walks close to the line. Darkness surrounds superheroes, an abyss that calls and beckons. Some superheroes walk closer to the edge of this abyss, a dangerous location to travel as anyone will tell you.
When she sees news stories on Batman, she wonders how close he is today to falling into the abyss. Despite the fact that he doesn’t wish for any of the Justice League members to worry about him, she does and so do others. It’s impossible not to.
The darkness is what they all fear succumbing to.
+++
Slowly Bruce becomes more and more involved in Justice League activities. The other members respect him and his opinions, even if his methods do sometimes worry him. He is efficient and with them his methods never cross the line.
They generally read about the times he seems to skirt too close to the edge.
She tends to watch him at the weekly Justice League meetings, out of the corner of eye usually. Her goal is to be unobtrusive. This is something she knows how to do, given her career in journalism. The best journalists can go from obtrusive to unobtrusive at the drop of a pin. She has enough of an ego to admit she is one of the best journalists, or if not already rapidly on her way to becoming one.
But she learns she isn’t quite as covert as she thinks is when Bruce comes up to her after one meeting in the middle of January.
“Why are you watching me?” he asks, speaking barely upon a whisper.
The room is loud with the sounds of muted conversations. Superheroes stand in little clusters, sipping coffee from white mugs. Chloe is standing at the coffee station, refilling her coffee mug. She was alone until Bruce came up to her, surprising her because this is the first time he’s stayed and actually sought someone out.
A slight shiver runs through her at his words, at the thought that he’s noticed her, at the fact that he’s come to her. It’s a small thrill. It suggests he isn’t as oblivious to his surroundings as he pretends to be. A part of her, however, is disappointed that she’s been noticed.
“No reason,” she says after a brief pause. Perhaps the pause stretched out too long, but she had thoughts which needed attending to. She has no qualms about making him wait for her to speak.
“Generally a person doesn’t watch someone else for no reason. Usually there is a reason.”
“Guess today is an unusual day then.”
He quirks his head slightly, studying her. After a month he stopped wearing the Batman costume, coming dressed in expensive suits.
Before he can say anything else, she says, “I need to speak with Clark. Excuse me.”
If he watches her walk away, she doesn’t see it. She doesn’t turn her head to see if he does.
+++
The fact that they rarely seem to agree is not that surprising to her. They have different methods and the ideas which shape those methods often contradict with the other’s ideas. During meetings they’ll argue, sometimes heatedly, sometimes about something so inconsequential that later she’ll be embarrassed that she let herself go that far.
Typically it falls to Clark to settle the dispute. Chloe knows he dislikes this authority given to him silently, a sharp contrast to Bruce and his need to be in control.
In fact both she and Bruce have a need to be in control. Bruce’s need derives, she thinks, from his events in his life he couldn’t control which resulted in tragedy. Hers result from events in her life as well, specifically from the period of time when she was possessed and controlled by Brainiac for months. After that she was never the same, subtly altered, mostly with a need to control her life. If she can control her life then she’s safe, then she has authority over her own life.
If she can control her life then she is in control of her life, in a roundabout way.
After everything that has happened to her, this is important. It is necessary for her mental health she often thinks, sometimes bitterly. She remembers being a carefree girl once upon a time, in days which have been long lost. All she has are memories, and memories aren’t enough to make her that girl again. Instead she is the person she has become, a person who needs control.
She regulates everything in her life. She can be cautious to the extreme, in her regular life and to a certain extent her superhero life. She’s never hesitated to risk her life to save someone’s, but she has hesitated about potentially jeopardizing someone else’s life. This is how her need for control has manifested in her superhero work.
This is how life is sometimes.
+++
“I think you like him,” Clark tells her one afternoon over coffee.
It’s a Saturday. They’re in the coffee shop not too far from the Daily Planet, both of them working today. The Sunday edition of the paper is important and so they’ve both logging in hours today. Crime news never stops, not even for the weekends. But they’re taking a short break, enjoying coffee and pastries as two old friends do sometimes.
The coffee shop isn’t that busy, not on a Saturday. Weekdays it is packed with people from the surrounding offices. The café is quiet and offers a level of privacy to the conversation she’s having with Clark. She’s glad of that.
“Him?” she asks.
“Bruce. I think you like him and I think he likes you. In the sense of a more than friendly liking, a romantic liking.”
“Why? We constantly argue. That really doesn’t seem to suggest either of us likes each other in the fashion you’re suggesting.”
Clark smiles and says, “Actually it does.” He raises his cup to his mouth and sips his plain coffee, smiling while he does so. That takes talent.
“Whatever you say Clark.” She isn’t in the mood to argue with him.
“Precisely.”
Chloe changes the topic at that point. Clark may be her best friend, but she doesn’t always believe him. She’ll listen, always will listen, this habit formed over years of friendship. They listen to each other, not always agreeing, but they both always listen. Sometimes they don’t like what they hear and refuse to believe what the other is saying. That’s normal, it happens, each of them accepts this. Or she does and she hopes Clark does. It’s not like two people can always agree.
They agree on a lot of things, similarities in thinking one reason they’ve been friends so long. On the topic of Bruce, they share a concern over his methods, over the darkness which seems to linger around Bruce much more than it does other superheroes.
On this topic, on whether she and Bruce like each other, they disagree. Such is life. So she changes the topic to his mother’s birthday party, a nice innocuous topic, and they discuss birthday presents.
Clark’s words don’t leave her alone even though she doesn’t believe them. Words are a pain like that at times. She thinks mean thoughts about Clark when she tries to sleep that night and can’t.
+++
Chloe and Bruce continue arguing as spring becomes summer, the days long and warm. At the meeting during the third week of July, they argue again. The room is hot, the air conditioning breaking within minutes of the meeting starting. Crime has been on the rise and everyone has been stretched thin. People are tired and tempers are short.
Bruce and her are in fine form today, arguing passionately about nothing important while their fellow members of the Justice League sit and wilt in the heat. The windows have been cracked open, but there’s no breeze. There’s just warm still air.
Oliver interrupts after ten minutes of her and Bruce arguing about expenses to say that it’s too hot for a long meeting. “Let’s just get through the necessary stuff,” he says.
She and Bruce back down. The meeting passes quickly and then everyone disperses at a rapid rate. Bruce is one of the first to leave. She notices him leaving, and he notices her watching him. They hold each other’s gaze for a moment, until she drops her eyes and looks away. When she looks back up Bruce is gone.
She tells herself she isn’t disappointed he didn’t come up to her to argue some more. She finds herself telling herself a lot of things these days. It’s rather annoying.
A day later he shows up at her desk, dressed impeccably in a suit. She looks at him in surprise, unused to seeing him outside of the Justice League headquarters. The bullpen doesn’t stop with him in the room, although she notices out of the corner of her eyes a few reporters glancing their way. Even in Metropolis Bruce Wayne can be recognized on sight. Such is the result of the mass media and it’s obsession with billionaire playboys. She ignores the glances and focuses on figuring out why he’s here at her desk.
“What can I do for you?”
He stands in front of her desk, looking vaguely out of place. He seems slightly uncomfortable with an expression she can’t place spread across his face. She’s used to him looking annoyed or arrogant or angry. This expression she has no name for, although she will later on.
A minute passes before he speaks. “I was in town and I wanted to know if you wanted to go out for dinner.”
“You and me,” she says, “as in a date?”
“Yes, that’s what I mean. You and me, a nice restaurant, good wine, decent food, hopefully pleasant conversation. What do you say?”
She’s attracted to him, there’s no question about that. He’s handsome. But for one thing she isn’t interested in dating. She has career to nurture, no time for a relationship. Her experiences with love haven’t been stellar either.
And then there’s his nature, the darkness which surrounds him. She may be attracted to him, but it’s not the type of attraction she would pursue. The type of men she has fallen in love with have been bright boys and men. She’s loved Clark and Jimmy, two individuals filled with lightness. Bruce stands in sharp relief against Clark and Jimmy, too dangerous for her.
While she may be attracted to him in a purely physical way, she doesn’t need or want him emotionally.
Her answer she knows and she tells him it. “I’m sorry, but I’m not interested.”
His expression hardens, just a touch. “I see. All right then,” he says.
She watches him walk away. She pretends she feels nothing.
+++
In her condo three nights later she tells herself she made the right decision. But doubts plague her. She can’t stop thinking about him, although she attempts to convince herself she’s just missing sex and that’s why she can’t stop thinking about him. As a result on Friday night she goes out and finds a willing guy to sleep with her.
Sex taken care of, she assumes she won’t think of Bruce and her in a relationship again.
Yet she does. She dreams in black and white of him, of arguing with him in bed. The dream is vivid, although colorless. After a week of dreaming this and after a Justice League meeting where Bruce argues with her more for show than for anything else, she calls him. Unlike Bruce she can’t afford the airfare and she isn’t about to explain to anyone why she needs to be in Gotham. Clark would take her, but he would look at her knowingly and she hates that look.
It’s the look of her best friend when he knows her better than she knows herself. That look has never really appealed to her. She knows Clark doesn’t like it when she wears that look.
“Hello Chloe,” Bruce says after Alfred has fetched him. “What can I do for you?”
“I was wondering if you would be interested in having dinner the next time you’re in Metropolis.”
There’s a pause. “As in a date?”
“Yes,” she says simply. No need to add extra words.
Another pause and then he asks, “What made you change your mind? Two weeks ago you were adamant you weren’t interested.”
“Apparently I’m not so uninterested.”
He chuckles softly. “I see. I’ll be in town on Saturday. I’ll pick you up at eight.”
She dislikes him taking control. “How about you come to my place at eight and I’ll drive us to a restaurant. After all, I am the one asking you to dinner.”
“I suppose,” he says. He sounds reluctant; control not something he easily gives up himself.
Not a surprise. They both have a need for being in control. Navigating this reality will be difficult she knows. They’ve had years to become settled into their current personalities. Nothing will change overnight.
Baby steps, she tells herself.
“You can pick the wine,” she offers. It’s not enough, but it’ll have to do for now.
“I’ll see you Saturday.”
+++
Saturday rolls around. He knocks on the door of her condo a few minutes before eight. She’s been ready since seven and has been watching a rerun of the X-Files to calm her nerves. She runs a hand down her shirt, smoothing out invisible wrinkles as she heads to the door.
They exchange pleasantries. Bruce hands her flowers, tulips, her favorite. She takes them, slightly puzzled.
“Clark told me you liked tulips.”
“He did?”
“Yes, when he called me to threaten my life if I hurt your feelings. I have to say I can’t imagine Boy Scout kicking anyone’s butt when it doesn’t involve an actual crime.”
She smiles slightly. “Don’t underestimate him. He can be very protective of the ones he loves.”
“I see,” Bruce says quietly, watching her carefully as she puts the flower into a jar that isn’t meant for flowers per se but that she uses anyways. Flowers taken care of, she walks over to where he’s standing, in the doorway of the kitchen, at the spot where the entryway becomes the kitchen.
Bruce steps back into the entryway, her following. “Ready?”
“Yes.”
“Scared?” he asks. It’s not a standard first-date question. Neither is the serious way he’s looking at her.
She shrugs, not wanting to answer the question. The answer is known, but she doesn’t want to reveal it. Bruce nods, as if this is the response he has expected. She sighs under her breath, a little disappointed in herself and in him. Neither of them can admit when they both know. She wonders if this might prematurely doom them, although isn’t sure since the ending isn’t written.
The ending is unknown. Endings always are.
The date goes well. There’s good food and the conversation is indeed pleasant. They agree on another date. She has no clue what’s in the future. They are neurotic individuals with baggage stacked miles high. Getting to a point where they’re comfortable with each other. Trust is crucial and not just trusting each other, although that’ll be tricky. They respect each other, but still he’s too close to the darkness for her comfort and she likely is too cautious and too close to Clark for Bruce’s comfort.
But in the end they’ll have to trust themselves to let go of their inner need for control.
She wonders what will happen. She doesn’t allow herself to hope. Instead she focuses on taking things one step at time, one day at a time.
End.
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