Enjolras and Éponine argue over what pet to get. My first E/É one shot!
A/N: Based on the fic prompt by let-your-mind-start-a-journey
graphic by Lorri and fic by Jess.
“Maybe we shouldn’t go in together,” Enjolras hesitates as they reach the door.
“One of the benefits of living in the cheaper parts of town is that your landlady doesn’t ask when you bring young men into your room,” Clara smiles.
Enjolras feels his neck getting warm and he’s sure his cheeks are pink at what she’s implying.
“Don’t give me that look. It’s not a habit of mine,” she scoffs and he follows her up the stairs.
graphic by Lorri and fic by Jess
His nostrils flare as he clenches his jaw. “You are the most impossible woman!”
“You’re the most impossible man!” she snaps back.
His eyes roll to the heavens asking for some assistance or at the very least some patience with this woman. “Do you have to have the last word in everything?”
“Do you?” the fire in her eyes holds his gaze. What Clara lacks in height, she makes up for tenfold in ferocity.
graphic by Lorri and fic by Jess.
Her eyes lock onto the blond boy, but she isn’t sure if boy is the right word. Yes, he is young, but he does not act it. His blue eyes are ablaze as the sunlight bounces off his golden curls. Clara is reminded of fearsome angels being drawn into battle from sermons she had heard as a girl. His face certainly is angelic. The thought makes her smirk to herself.
It happened suddenly while they were walking down the river Seine. Selina jerked her hand out of his. She was shaking her head over and over/
“I-I can’t. I can’t do this—”
“Selina—” he reached for her, but she threw her hands up and stepped back.
“I can’t do this, Bruce.”
His heart stung seeing her this upset, ”Do what, Selina?”
A cold laugh emitted from her lips as she stared, looking at him like he was insane. “This! I can’t walk down the fucking Seine holding your hand! Not—not after—”
Her lips began tremble as the tears burned in her eyes, “Not after what I did to you.”
Bruce let out a sigh. He knew the guilt had been eating away at her. He could see it. When they were at dinner and he reached for her hand and she tucked it under the table. When she would simply sigh and roll over onto her side, unable to look at him after they made love. When she’d flinch when he touched her back. How never mentioned Bane and didn’t dare ask him about where he took him or how he got back. It was all too much and it was finally breaking through.
“Selina—”
“I handed you over to him. I kicked you in the face while you clung onto a cane. You never told the police about me stealing the necklace. Then you helped me fight his men and get away from Dagget. And I thanked you by trading your life for mine. So I could stay in Gotham and steal some more—”
“Selin—”
Her voice cracked as the hot tears streamed down her face,”I-I watched as he beat you. You tried so hard to fight him. You gave it everything and you wouldn’t stop. But he was just too strong. He was so fast and so ferocious—he knew he was gonna break you—”
Bruce placed his hands on her arms and tried to pull her into his chest, but she wrestled against his grip.
“You don’t know, Bruce! You don’t know how many times I woke up in the night hearing the sound of your back snapping against his knee like a twig! You don’t know how that sound haunted me for months. It didn’t matter how much I stole from rich snobs or how much booze I drank, that sound was waiting for me. Because I did that. I let that happen.”
She was sobbing now, “I couldn’t look away. I wanted to leave. I wanted to run the minute that door went down, but I couldn’t. I had to watch…I had to watch him break you. I wanted to take it back. I wish I could take it back!”
She finally let him put his arms around her as she cried against his chest, “I’m so sorry, Bruce. I’m so sorry!”
He rubbed her back, hoping she would calm down. He lifted his chin and looked down at her.She stared up at him, tears swimming in her pretty brown eyes as she waited for him to speak.
She wanted him to kick her out, throw her things into the street and say she betrayed him. She did betray him. But their story didn’t end there. She took him to Lucius when he needed him. She shot open the tunnel. Most of all, she came back. When Bane was going to shoot him, she got him first. She saved his life and she continued fighting with him until the end. She even found him on the banks of the bay. She never left him again.
“Selina, I wanted to go to Bane. I knew how strong he was. I knew he’d fight me. Yes, you led me there, but it wasn’t like I didn’t ask. He broke my back and dragged me into a hell of a prison. I tried to climb out over and over, but I fell each time. But that didn’t matter. You know why?”
Fresh tears ran down her face,” Why?”
“We fall so we can learn to pick ourselves up. That’s what happened down there. I learned true despair and anger, but I found myself again. I remembered why I became Batman in the first place. To save Gotham. All the people in that city needed me, to bring them out of the darkness, including you.”
He brushed the tears off her face, “I think you still do.”
“I forgive you, Selina.”
Bruce pressed his lips against hers. She sighed, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“You know, I was doing fine by myself,” she gave him a weak smile. There she was, his Selina Kyle. The snarky one with a smirk and a one liner always at the ready. Usually, a naughty one liner. “But it’s nice to have some company.”
Bruce smiled, knowing that was all he was gonna get for now. She had put a wall back up. That kiss was the thank you. He hoped one day, she would let him in all the way. But now that this was past them, maybe she would.
