We Were Born Sick • Gotham Fanfiction •

XXV: Devil's Playground

"Fear was the hand of the devil holding a scalding hot branding iron and touching your brain and your stomach and yelling at you to run with leaden feet." ― Dan Groat, Monarchs and Mendicants

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"You wanna kiss me?"

Bird stopped descending the stairs in Wayne Manor upon hearing Selina Kyle's voice and question.

"No thank you."

She could hear Bruce answer, and as quietly as possible Bird moved farther down the steps to get a better look at the young teenagers.

"No?" Selina asked crossing her arms over her chest and shooting him a look of disbelief.

"I would like too, but I can't help feeling you have an ulterior motive. I don't imagine you consider me a suitable romantic partner, so why would you want to kiss me?" Bruce answered as honestly as possible, and ended with it a question in hopes that he'd get an equally honest answer from her.

Bird covered her mouth to keep from laughing and draw attention to herself.
While she thought her brother's answer was adorable, she could easily see why he wasn't faring well with any of the girls from his school.

"You think too much, kid. I was just trying to be nice." Selina pointed out, appearing to not be fazed by his answer.

"No offense, but you don't strike me as a nice person." Bruce said, standing up and moving closer to her.

"I'm nice." She was quick to defend.

"I don't mean you're not a good person, just that you're not nice. You don't care much for other people." He tried to explain, but it turned the situation from bad to worse when it only offended her deeper and Selina snapped, "Screw you, orphan."

Bird shook her head at them and quickly continued on her trek down the staircase in hopes to diffuse the situation as quickly as it had escalated.

"Morning you two." Bird greeted, as she walked up to the pair and asked, "Had breakfast yet?"

"No." Selina answered and Bruce shook his head back and forth, but he had a stunned expression on his face from how quickly Selina had snapped at him, when he'd been nothing but entirely honest with her.

Looking between the teens who no longer would look at each other, Bird asked, "Everything alright?"

They both nodded, but neither of them gave her an answer out loud.

"Great." She said with a tight smile, before asking, "Wanna give Alfred the morning off and go get breakfast somewhere?"

"Both of us?" Bruce questioned, surprised, as he looked between his sister and Selina.
Much like Selina, he knew Bird didn't care much for people either and it was rare that he witnessed her being pleasant in social situations with people she barely knew.

"Yes..." She replied, mirroring the confused expression he was giving her.

"I could eat." Selina spoke up, living almost her entire life not knowing where her next meal was coming from –she knew better than to turn down a chance at free food.

"I'll let Alfred know, and you guys decide where we're going to eat." She said, hoping it would get them civilly speaking to each other again.

Hearing the door bell ring, the trio leaned over the railing on the landing they were standing on to watch as Alfred went to answer the door.

"If you could call an ambulance..." They heard a distressed female voice say, moments before she walked into sight with Alfred right behind her.

"Where exactly are you hurt?" Alfred questioned with concern in his voice as he looked her over. When he'd answered the door, she said her car had went off the road.