[It's the fear in her posture that does it. Triggers the realization that Stephanie is afraid of him.
He's probably always known on some instinctive level, but that's the first time it registers. It's like a blow. Because for all that Bruce is cold and hard and for all that he cloaks himself in terror and darkness he's never wanted to inflict it on anyone who doesn't deserve it.
He's not like Black Mask. He's nothing like Roman Sionis. But Bruce is well aware of the fact that he's very alpha male, and that-- that correlation alone can't be pleasant.
So he's silent and very still while she speaks.
He's been tortured before. By people who knew what they were doing and some that didn't, but physical pain has never troubled him. He fights through it, or past it, or ignores it-- whatever's necessary, when it's necessary. That's how he's always been.
But it wasn't like that with Bane. Bane did more than hurt him, though he still has - his mouth twists into a grimace - nightmares about that fight. About how weak and helpless he felt, the relief at the thought that the battle might finally be over--
And God, he knows. He knows perfectly well what she means. If he closes his eyes he can hear the crack when Bane broke his back, the whistle of sound an air when he threw him from the roof. Everything that followed. Alfred-- God, he remembers Alfred sitting beside his bed, tears in his eyes when he thought Bruce was unconscious and how little he could stand it all. That feeling of being trapped in his own body, claustrophobic and cloying. The terror and the pain and the panic, he remembers all of it.
But they're just kids, and he brought them to this.
People call him a hero. He hates that word.
He and Stephanie have had their differences. They'll probably never be close. But he still steps out from behind the counter and - gently, as alien a concept as it is to him - wraps her in his arms.]
I do know. I'm-- [He closes his eyes, just briefly enough that he can imagine Alfred frowning at him] -- sorry.
[For so much. For everything he can't say. For the fact that at the end of it all, he still never wanted Bane dead, and he... he can't condone Jason's desire to kill the Joker. Even for the sake of peace.]
no subject
He's probably always known on some instinctive level, but that's the first time it registers. It's like a blow. Because for all that Bruce is cold and hard and for all that he cloaks himself in terror and darkness he's never wanted to inflict it on anyone who doesn't deserve it.
He's not like Black Mask. He's nothing like Roman Sionis. But Bruce is well aware of the fact that he's very alpha male, and that-- that correlation alone can't be pleasant.
So he's silent and very still while she speaks.
He's been tortured before. By people who knew what they were doing and some that didn't, but physical pain has never troubled him. He fights through it, or past it, or ignores it-- whatever's necessary, when it's necessary. That's how he's always been.
But it wasn't like that with Bane. Bane did more than hurt him, though he still has - his mouth twists into a grimace - nightmares about that fight. About how weak and helpless he felt, the relief at the thought that the battle might finally be over--
And God, he knows. He knows perfectly well what she means. If he closes his eyes he can hear the crack when Bane broke his back, the whistle of sound an air when he threw him from the roof. Everything that followed. Alfred-- God, he remembers Alfred sitting beside his bed, tears in his eyes when he thought Bruce was unconscious and how little he could stand it all. That feeling of being trapped in his own body, claustrophobic and cloying. The terror and the pain and the panic, he remembers all of it.
But they're just kids, and he brought them to this.
People call him a hero. He hates that word.
He and Stephanie have had their differences. They'll probably never be close. But he still steps out from behind the counter and - gently, as alien a concept as it is to him - wraps her in his arms.]
I do know. I'm-- [He closes his eyes, just briefly enough that he can imagine Alfred frowning at him] -- sorry.
[For so much. For everything he can't say. For the fact that at the end of it all, he still never wanted Bane dead, and he... he can't condone Jason's desire to kill the Joker. Even for the sake of peace.]