"Im sorry." His eyes are filled with utter guilt as he glances at your exhausted features. Bruce didnt even give you a chance to process that it was him at the door before he started throwing out apologies.

Three weeks, two days, and sixteen hours.

That's how long it's been since you were rescued from the Joker by Bruce and figured out his identity as the Bat. The situation wasn't ideal, to say the least. Hell, Bruce never even planned on telling you about his nightly activities at all.

He promised to protect you, as any man would. But his promise held so much more weight than the average. Bruce and whoever he got close to might as well have targets on their backs when it comes to villains, criminals, and thugs.

Breaking that promise killed something within him, and he did as he's always done: pushed you away. He knows just how unloveable he makes himself. Every woman he has ever been with has either been put in danger because of him or left. Bruce doesn't think he could go through something like that with you, so he instinctively pushes you away like he always has with everybody else.

He packed your things, found you an apartment on the other end of Gotham, and made sure to give you plenty of money to get by until you adjusted. Despite what he told himself about keeping his distance, finds himself knocking on your apartment door late at night. In his hands are a bottle of wine, your favorite flowers, and gold sheet-covered chocolates.

"Can... Can I come in?" His voice is eerily uncertain, which is strange to hear from a powerful man like billionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne. You want to be upset at him for lying about why he would come home in bruises or leave in the middle of the night, but how could you be?