Chapter Text
By all accounts, it should have been a normal day.
It was a normal day, until you opened your bedroom door to see Bruce Wayne on the other side. He wasn't even raising his fist to knock or anything, no - he was just standing there.
He continued to stand there long past when the moment got awkward. This might not have been the most unusual thing, if it weren't for the fact that your father hadn't spoken to you since 3 months ago, when all you got was the slightest "Hn" as you bumped into him on your way out the door, and if it weren't for the fact that it was 7 in the morning.
On closer inspection - did he look a little pale? And, why were his eyes so wide, fixated on your own.
"Um, Bruce can you like- give me a little room to squeeze by you please and thank you?"
Smooth. But it wasn't like he was doing any better, the sound of your voice seemed to shake him out of his stupor and he cleared his throat.
(Name), I- uh, well I wanted to see if you were free today?" He clenched and unclenched his fist rhythmically, as if grasping at nothing.
There was one conclusion: This wasn't Bruce. There was no possible way. Bruce was smart, collected (to an extent), and definitely never forgot that you had school on weekdays.
You needed closer investigation to figure out whatever the hell this was.
"I have school today?" You realized a little too late how snarky your tone was and rushed to add, "But if there's anything you need me to do let me know! I don't think I'm missing anything, I mean I-"
"Why don't you take the day off?"
You couldn't help the way your mouth dropped open in shock this time. Take the day off? Fuck closer inspection, you needed to call in the big guns. Now.
Bruce, looking just as lost at what he was saying as you were, continued on, "I just- I realized the other day that we haven't really spent much time together recently, and well, I was hoping to grab some breakfast together in the city? We can do whatever you'd like afterward and I can call you in with the school?"
For a second, you two just stared at each other. Two generations of baffled Waynes. The silence got awkward for the second time in 10 minutes. But Bruce was determined.
"U-uh, I mean, are you sure, I wouldn't want to bother you on a workday-"
"I've got a day off."
"I dunno if I can just skip school y'know, the work just piles up-"
"Your teachers said it would be okay when I emailed them. They'll let you make up the work later.
Now you paused. He emailed the school? You didn't think he even knew who your teachers were. No scratch that, he definitely didn't know who your teachers were. On the first day of school he asked you how Ms. Conroy was, she was your seventh grade homeroom teacher. You were in high school for crying out loud! This obsession with pulling you out for a day was a new development.
Suddenly though, it struck you that this, strangely enough, was inline with Bruce's normal behavior. Covering every base, being persistent, making sure that he left no reason to refuse him, these were all things he did on the daily, only with his other children. Never you.
So why now?
You bite your lip as he keeps staring at you expectingly.
'What if this really is Bruce, and what if the reason why he's trying to get me to follow him into the city is because he's finally gotten tired of me taking up a room in his house'
No, no shot Batman was going to leave you on the street corner or something right?
Right?
Bruce seems to get tired of waiting for a response, because, with the most resolved tone you'd heard from him all morning, he goes to speak again.
"I'll see you downstairs in half an hour, be dressed for the cold."
Well, so much for a normal day.