Ooohhh I love when you do follower celebrations! How about Bruce and 10. “Do you know that was the first time you ever told me you love me?” thank youuuu
The blood drained from his face the moment he spotted you sitting on that bed in the emergency room hallway. In a way it still surprised him how after all these kids, any of you could make his heart leap into his throat and leave him feeling as helpless and scared as he did that night in the alley.
When you looked up from the cast they’d put on your forearm to see your father standing there, the blood drained from your face just the same. He wasn’t there because you had called him since you still refused to give the staff your name. It really made you hate having a highly recognizable family and an uncanny resemblance to Bruce Wayne.
You waited silently on the edge of the bed, watching as he went over everything with the nurse for discharge. You wondered if she even noticed neither one of you said a word to each other before she started shoving paperwork to be signed in front of him. When he was done, you silently collected yourself and the backpack you'd come in with before following him back to the car without a word.
"I can't fathom what you were even thinking," he began to lay into you, finally breaking the tense silence. The bellowing of his voice made you long for the silence. "I've lost too many people I love already. I'm not ready to add you to that list."
You still felt like an intruder in his life. That was why you'd run off in the first place. You didn't belong in the manor, not like all of the boys who all seemed to have some kind of common ground that never included you. They all had a place. You just never did.
"Do you know that was the first time you ever told me you love me?"
He kept blinking, but never taking his eyes off of the road. He was wracking his brain, trying to find an instance to show you he had. No matter how hard he tried or how many times he played back every interaction you'd had since he found out about you, he kept coming up empty.
"As much as I don't want that to be true, it sounds right," he conceded. "You'd think everything I've seen and been through with the boys, I'd have learned by now how to make sure my kids know that I love them.
"The last two and a half days have felt like years searching everywhere for you, and the not knowing if you were okay….I just, I just…" he trailed off. You'd never seen him at a loss for words.
Your voice was hoarse and shaky as you tried to control your silent sobs. "I don't….I don't fit," you choked out. "You're all some sort of family and I'm just some stranger, some intruder. I don't fit. I just wanted to go where I fit and someone wants me around."
He pulled his lips into a thin line and his brows seemed to knit together. The car had already passed through the manor gates, and he just let the car slow to a stop. He turned to you before taking both of your hands in his, cast and all, and you finally looked him in the eyes. You'd heard the stories about how cool and disengaged those eyes could be, and you were left completely unprepared to see the amount of fear and pain staring back at you.
"Y/N, I do love you. You do fit in with this family, and we all want you here, but especially so, I want you here," he said, almost pleading with you. "Tonight shouldn't have been the first time I've told you that, but I need you to know that you are very much wanted here and loved by me and the rest of the family.”
Listening to him, you didn’t even try to hide the glimmer of hope growing in your eyes. Maybe you can fit here after all.
