[ over the years, diana's slowly spent the anniversary of steve's death in the wayne manor. alfred likes to tend to her, making her hot cups of coffee, croissants, and ensuring that she is well-fed and almost too bloated to slip into her wonder woman armour. she thinks bruce merely likes to look out for her, fussing in his rather distanced and gruff sort of way. it's not something she had ever planned, simply stepping into the manor once and never being able to leave. she supposes this is what it's like when you let people in.
dressed in bruce's long white button-up, diana has a cup of coffee—brewed herself, since she had kindly and firmly requested alfred sleep in this one morning—and a donut in her hands. she folds her legs underneath her as she takes a seat at the kitchen table, body turned to face bruce. his hair is messy and the greys are beginning to show a little more prominently. she thinks it makes him look well-lived.
lifting her cup to her lips, she doesn't drink from it. letting its heat warm her face, she licks and lips and inhales. ]
What would you do if you had the chance to wish for the one thing you've always wanted?
[ it's a secret she has kept tucked deep inside of her chest. sometimes, diana allows herself to think back on 1984 and remember the strange whirlwind sensation of being happy and whole. she had wished for steve to return so many times that she had stopped wishing for anything else. if anyone would understand the desperate meaning of a wish, she thinks it'd be bruce. ]
oh the au where she stole his shirts, no wonder he smiles
[ bruce stands at the stove. despite what alfred would say, he does know how to cook for himself. he spent several years on his own before he even met the league of shadows. he may not be the expert that alfred is... but he can manage his own when diana demands he takes the morning off.
he glances over his shoulder at her question. ]
That's a very specific question.
[ he's quiet for a few moments as he gathers the rest of the bacon and eggs. he puts them on two plates, his and hers. it's a comfortable sense of silence as he puts the plate in front of her then takes a seat across from her at the table. ]
I wouldn't wish for it.
did you get the memo that that's canon? i sent it a few minutes ago via batmail
[ diana keeps her gaze glued to him as if she can spy his answer in the sharp line of his shoulders, the greys of his hair, or even in any downward curve to his lips. sometimes bruce appears like the hardest book to read, but she's been learning this rather new and unlearned language; he's easy to read as long as one commits to the hard work of studying him.
she both believes and disbelieves him. how could he not want to wish for it? surely it'd be his parents—the reason he is who he is, just as she is who she is for antiope, her mother, steve. she'd hardly blame him if he sometimes found himself drawn to that hope. ]
You wouldn't? [ she furrows her brow, gaze still pinned to him. ] Not even if you were promised pure happiness?
batmail must of eaten the notif too, dammit not!google
[ if anyone can read through bruce wayne other than alfred? it's certainly diana. she's been in the world long enough to see how things change - how they've shaped. what certain things can do to a person. he knows better than to hide most secrets from her at this rate.
some, though, will always be locked away inside his mind.
he takes a drink of the lukewarm coffee that has been sitting on the table while he's been cooking. ]
If I ever knew what true happiness was? I forgot what it was like a long time ago, Diana. [ honesty. it isn't looking for sympathy or sadness. just the truth. ] I never entertained the notion that I something could exist that would grant wishes. You can't return innocence to someone after they've lost it.
[ he shrugs and starts with the eggs. ] I've thought about what it would be like if my parents had lived. If I Jason had. Still... good things have come from those tragedies. Even if I lost sight of that for awhile.
[ what he says resonates with her more deeply than she's let on to the team. she's opened up to bruce, telling him of the home she sometimes misses, the man she sometimes wonders if she could've grown old with in her own way. there's so many missed opportunities, people and events and moments that she wishes she could do differently. the others in the league often take to the world with light shoulders; bruce seems to wear the weight on his shoulders like a cowl. ]
I've been around long enough to know there's truth to what you're saying. A tree always regrows after a fire, even if it's not the same shape as it had been before.
[ sometimes she resents that regrowth, similarly to how a wound can heal over and sometimes leave a scar in its wake. she wishes things felt normal, but even now, years later, she still carries that wound that's almost closed.
she lets out a breath. arching her brow, she looks at him curiously. ] What would you think of someone who did ask for a wish to be granted?
Sometimes its hard to see how the tree can regrow after such a fire.
[ it's a gentle observation. one that he knows well, because he's lived through it. life couldn't be better or the same after jason died. gotham couldn't be saved. he couldn't reconnect with dick. so many could nots as opposed to believing in the fact that maybe he could.
that's the difference between them. diana believes - she hopes - she has faith. bruce has trust in hard facts - science - the way the universe can operate. he compartmentalizes when things strike against that world view. he mulls over it. then, ultimately, he has to accept it either way.
he can tell that this is diana's way of talking about something that has happened to her. it's rare for her to open up like this. they've talked about things, shared things. this is different. ]
I'd say that it's a natural human desire.
What do you think of someone like that?
batmail's looking for the wedding invites to mr and mrs prince
[ she'd been unfair to barbara when she had been watching her transformation and even in the aftermath. the years following 1984 had seen her remember the other woman sometimes unkindly. barbara had only hoped to be seen, and in order to do that, she felt the need to change her spots. it's only in the last decade that she's begun to understand the importance of changing. her own markings have altered slightly, the rough walls she'd erected around her slowly chipping down. when those walls refused to budge, a bat chose to scale them.
diana takes a sip of her warm coffee as a distraction and as a way to warm her up. ]
Now… I think it's good to want to have something that you would risk everything for. It means you have a reason to fight, and make sure that you never lose it again.
[ if she had the chance to make a wish once more, she knows she would consider it. after all, she may be a princess and a half-god, but she's still a woman. ]
[ it takes time. not all of them have the time that diana has either. still, they all learn their lessons - or they dont. he knows his own lessons would have led to an early grave if it hadn't been for clark and diana. a reason to feel like he's eternally indebted to clark -- even if clark is no longer there.
he takes a few more bites and listens to what she says. ]
If we're going to keep talking hypothetically, Diana... what if you had the choice between your past or your present? What would be more important to you?
[ bruce lives in the past. yet, he still moves in the present. he focuses on the present because of how his past defines him. maybe that's why he wouldn't feel the need to wish for his parents or jason. ]
[ not much stumps diana, but that question does. she craves the past, the warmth embrace of home. she misses her mother and she misses the amazons. she sometimes misses being doe-eyed and overwhelmed and excited by everything in this world. after seeing so much and experiencing too much, diana sometimes wishes for that naivety that perhaps bruce wouldn't believe she once donned like a cloak.
she does wonder if he's asking something deeper. sometimes bruce does mince his words. all of them are culprits of it.
licking her bottom lip thoughtfully, she glances down at her cup before looking at him once more. ]
Where I'm going is more important. You can't change the past, and even if you could, there could be horrible consequences for the future.
[ she learned that from barry, but it still doesn't stop her from thinking of wishing for something different to have happened. ]
If you don't learn from a mistake then you'll keep repeating it. Take it from someone who knows.
[ booze, pain killers. anxiety medicine. he's certain diana has seen the hidden things in the nightstand. the not so hidden ones in the batcave sometimes. he presumes she sees and doesn't say anything on it.
[ she sighs a little wistfully, and it's then she lifts the cup to her lips to warm herself with his coffee. ]
I'm just thinking. Around this time many years ago, a man turned himself into a genie in the bottle. I saw his name in the newspaper yesterday and it got me thinking.
[ that was all that noise was, in case he didn't clue in.
maxwell lord was a man who deserved so much more, but he deserved consequences for taking what wasn't his. she wonders if he's learned his lesson. do any of them learn their lessons and keep them?
despite her years, diana's still not used to the past coming back to tap her on the shoulder every now and then. ]
[ he knows it's prying. generally, bruce tries to not ask questions about her long lived life. there's pain in there. it's easy to see for those who can tell it. he folds his hands in front of himself and the plate. ]
Given situations like the kind we encounter aren't always public knowledge.
[ of course, diana wonders briefly if she should tell him or change the topic of conversation to something a little less buried in her past. she has kept a tight hold on all of her cards, no matter who she happens to be sharing them with.
she can't see him doing anything damaging to himself or her if he knows of maxell's name.
noting how he's folded his hands, she feels a little less like he's opening them up to try and solve one of her many unsolvable problems. ]
His name was Maxwell Lord. [ maybe bruce knows of him, perhaps he doesn't. he's young, no matter how he may try to convince her otherwise. ] He owned Black Gold, an oil company in the 1980s that was not doing very well. [ pursing her lips, she corrects, ] I don't believe it was ever going to do well.
My parents had an interest in dealing with him in the 80s. Not that I knew about it at the time. Wayne Enterprises was in a bit of financial ruin and they thought maybe they could enter a business deal with his company. It seems like it mysteriously fell apart in the infant stages though.
[ he has no idea why. it was more or less off the record. things he found in the journals his father left behind. a lot of the ideas and backdoors of wayne enterprises was off the record. the power struggle in the company meant there wasn't much trust. ]
[ she takes a sip of her coffee, using it as her way to think of her answer. she can't help it; she has always thought of her answers, never wanting to give anyone any reason to think she's not as normal as they are.
nodding, ] Yes. [ with an upward quirk to her lips, she can't help but be a little amused that he immediately suspects her of doing good. or perhaps she'd done wrong against maxwell. she isn't quite sure, even years later. ]
A very long story cut very, very short, he had a monkey's paw and it was destroying the world. I had to make him stop it or there would be no world for him to live in. I guess the rest of the world slowly forgot what had happened after.
yoooo ages later, but here is the bat as you requested
[ namely because he had looked into the mysterious sightings of 'the wonder woman' over the years. call him curious after seeing her in that picture from world war i. he doesn't know all of it, but, he's seen pieces of her life. ]
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minor ww84 spoilers, auing this up where bruce has clearly learned how to smile
dressed in bruce's long white button-up, diana has a cup of coffee—brewed herself, since she had kindly and firmly requested alfred sleep in this one morning—and a donut in her hands. she folds her legs underneath her as she takes a seat at the kitchen table, body turned to face bruce. his hair is messy and the greys are beginning to show a little more prominently. she thinks it makes him look well-lived.
lifting her cup to her lips, she doesn't drink from it. letting its heat warm her face, she licks and lips and inhales. ]
What would you do if you had the chance to wish for the one thing you've always wanted?
[ it's a secret she has kept tucked deep inside of her chest. sometimes, diana allows herself to think back on 1984 and remember the strange whirlwind sensation of being happy and whole. she had wished for steve to return so many times that she had stopped wishing for anything else. if anyone would understand the desperate meaning of a wish, she thinks it'd be bruce. ]
oh the au where she stole his shirts, no wonder he smiles
he glances over his shoulder at her question. ]
That's a very specific question.
[ he's quiet for a few moments as he gathers the rest of the bacon and eggs. he puts them on two plates, his and hers. it's a comfortable sense of silence as he puts the plate in front of her then takes a seat across from her at the table. ]
I wouldn't wish for it.
did you get the memo that that's canon? i sent it a few minutes ago via batmail
she both believes and disbelieves him. how could he not want to wish for it? surely it'd be his parents—the reason he is who he is, just as she is who she is for antiope, her mother, steve. she'd hardly blame him if he sometimes found himself drawn to that hope. ]
You wouldn't? [ she furrows her brow, gaze still pinned to him. ] Not even if you were promised pure happiness?
batmail must of eaten the notif too, dammit not!google
some, though, will always be locked away inside his mind.
he takes a drink of the lukewarm coffee that has been sitting on the table while he's been cooking. ]
If I ever knew what true happiness was? I forgot what it was like a long time ago, Diana. [ honesty. it isn't looking for sympathy or sadness. just the truth. ] I never entertained the notion that I something could exist that would grant wishes. You can't return innocence to someone after they've lost it.
[ he shrugs and starts with the eggs. ] I've thought about what it would be like if my parents had lived. If I Jason had. Still... good things have come from those tragedies. Even if I lost sight of that for awhile.
the notif was clearly too good to not eat
I've been around long enough to know there's truth to what you're saying. A tree always regrows after a fire, even if it's not the same shape as it had been before.
[ sometimes she resents that regrowth, similarly to how a wound can heal over and sometimes leave a scar in its wake. she wishes things felt normal, but even now, years later, she still carries that wound that's almost closed.
she lets out a breath. arching her brow, she looks at him curiously. ] What would you think of someone who did ask for a wish to be granted?
clearly batmail also ships wonderbat
[ it's a gentle observation. one that he knows well, because he's lived through it. life couldn't be better or the same after jason died. gotham couldn't be saved. he couldn't reconnect with dick. so many could nots as opposed to believing in the fact that maybe he could.
that's the difference between them. diana believes - she hopes - she has faith. bruce has trust in hard facts - science - the way the universe can operate. he compartmentalizes when things strike against that world view. he mulls over it. then, ultimately, he has to accept it either way.
he can tell that this is diana's way of talking about something that has happened to her. it's rare for her to open up like this. they've talked about things, shared things. this is different. ]
I'd say that it's a natural human desire.
What do you think of someone like that?
batmail's looking for the wedding invites to mr and mrs prince
[ she'd been unfair to barbara when she had been watching her transformation and even in the aftermath. the years following 1984 had seen her remember the other woman sometimes unkindly. barbara had only hoped to be seen, and in order to do that, she felt the need to change her spots. it's only in the last decade that she's begun to understand the importance of changing. her own markings have altered slightly, the rough walls she'd erected around her slowly chipping down. when those walls refused to budge, a bat chose to scale them.
diana takes a sip of her warm coffee as a distraction and as a way to warm her up. ]
Now… I think it's good to want to have something that you would risk everything for. It means you have a reason to fight, and make sure that you never lose it again.
[ if she had the chance to make a wish once more, she knows she would consider it. after all, she may be a princess and a half-god, but she's still a woman. ]
scuse, wouldnt it be prince-wayne
he takes a few more bites and listens to what she says. ]
If we're going to keep talking hypothetically, Diana... what if you had the choice between your past or your present? What would be more important to you?
[ bruce lives in the past. yet, he still moves in the present. he focuses on the present because of how his past defines him. maybe that's why he wouldn't feel the need to wish for his parents or jason. ]
oh yes, prince-of themyscira-wayne
she does wonder if he's asking something deeper. sometimes bruce does mince his words. all of them are culprits of it.
licking her bottom lip thoughtfully, she glances down at her cup before looking at him once more. ]
Where I'm going is more important. You can't change the past, and even if you could, there could be horrible consequences for the future.
[ she learned that from barry, but it still doesn't stop her from thinking of wishing for something different to have happened. ]
You have to learn from it, don't you?
aklsghklashg omg
If you don't learn from a mistake then you'll keep repeating it. Take it from someone who knows.
[ booze, pain killers. anxiety medicine. he's certain diana has seen the hidden things in the nightstand. the not so hidden ones in the batcave sometimes. he presumes she sees and doesn't say anything on it.
not until she feels it's time to say something. ]
What makes you wonder about wishes?
no subject
I'm just thinking. Around this time many years ago, a man turned himself into a genie in the bottle. I saw his name in the newspaper yesterday and it got me thinking.
[ that was all that noise was, in case he didn't clue in.
maxwell lord was a man who deserved so much more, but he deserved consequences for taking what wasn't his. she wonders if he's learned his lesson. do any of them learn their lessons and keep them?
despite her years, diana's still not used to the past coming back to tap her on the shoulder every now and then. ]
no subject
[ he knows it's prying. generally, bruce tries to not ask questions about her long lived life. there's pain in there. it's easy to see for those who can tell it. he folds his hands in front of himself and the plate. ]
Given situations like the kind we encounter aren't always public knowledge.
no subject
she can't see him doing anything damaging to himself or her if he knows of maxell's name.
noting how he's folded his hands, she feels a little less like he's opening them up to try and solve one of her many unsolvable problems. ]
His name was Maxwell Lord. [ maybe bruce knows of him, perhaps he doesn't. he's young, no matter how he may try to convince her otherwise. ] He owned Black Gold, an oil company in the 1980s that was not doing very well. [ pursing her lips, she corrects, ] I don't believe it was ever going to do well.
no subject
[ he has no idea why. it was more or less off the record. things he found in the journals his father left behind. a lot of the ideas and backdoors of wayne enterprises was off the record. the power struggle in the company meant there wasn't much trust. ]
I take it you had a hand in stopping his company?
no subject
nodding, ] Yes. [ with an upward quirk to her lips, she can't help but be a little amused that he immediately suspects her of doing good. or perhaps she'd done wrong against maxwell. she isn't quite sure, even years later. ]
A very long story cut very, very short, he had a monkey's paw and it was destroying the world. I had to make him stop it or there would be no world for him to live in. I guess the rest of the world slowly forgot what had happened after.
yoooo ages later, but here is the bat as you requested
[ namely because he had looked into the mysterious sightings of 'the wonder woman' over the years. call him curious after seeing her in that picture from world war i. he doesn't know all of it, but, he's seen pieces of her life. ]
And the memories of that are bothering you now.