Soft laugher escaped Terran’s lips, and his smile lit up his whole face.
Being pulled close brought that feeling of unease, again, immediately followed by internal voices berating him — he should be grateful; he didn’t know how lucky he was to have caught Bruce Wayne’s attention. It had nothing to do with the billionaire being undesirable — he was handsome enough and oh, goodness, that firm body against his was nice — but Terran wanted to be able to approach people on his own terms, to invite them into his space — a concept that had been too long ignored.
Still, being this close helped him to follow along in the dance, feet finding their way with minimal stumbling. He’d managed to get a lesson or two in-between shoots and flights, but not enough to have any mastery.
“Italy was beautiful,” he gushed, more of that genuine emotion meeting his eyes. “There’s so much history there, the people are wonderful — and the food!” He had bulked up since his time on the streets, just enough to look healthy without putting his new career at risk. A few indulgences in Italy had been enough to make up for years of PB&J sandwiches and unpalatable frozen meals.
He’s got a wry grin on his lips at the mention of the head of the Versace brand. “Oh, she’s lovely! She’s been very kind to me from the beginning – I can’t say enough about her.” Which was, of course, his way of not saying anything more about her. “When was the last time you visited Italy, Mr. Wayne? Anything new on your itinerary, these days?”
That genuinely innocent reaction had Bruce hit by a pang of guilt-- his oldest and most familiar companion. Cleaned up, well fed, and happy, Terran was a vision of a boy too pure, too good for the billionaire’s secret dark intentions. It was almost enough to thwart what had not yet really been begun, but that was the fatal flaw and difference between Bruce Wayne and the Batman; Bruce was human, pathetically so. Unlike the Batman, he could be corrupted-- he was corrupted. It was enough that he had a greedy need and the horrible means to fill it... If not Terran, and soon, it would simply be another, and if he wasn’t careful, it ran the risk of being someone it should never be. Tim... Dick...
“There’s a secretary somewhere that ought to know-- frankly, where I’m due is a bit above my pay grade. Although... it’s rarely something that can’t be moved, if you wanted your people to talk to my people.” He knew no such thing had been Terran’s intention with that query, but the script of the socialite playboy called for him to twist the other’s words in his favor like that; both the words and conspiratorial lean and grin ripped straight from memories of his time at Princeton. If he stopped just shy of implying the model was up to something-- like angling for a private Italian getaway together, it was only because he needed him to stay interested, and not offended. Skirting the line between charmingly vacuous and actually boorish was a skill he was well practiced in. And surely the setting had to help, live music and the fashionably dim lights of a party, the easy twirl and sway of being lead by man who danced often...
They’re all the thing he clings to when reminding himself of the penance already begun-- rationalizing that it’s better that it be Terran on the receiving end of his secret needs-- better than a fellow socialite who knows little to nothing about it, who doesn’t deserve to have her airy dreams darkened and crushed by the sort of disappoint he’d bring. Terran doesn’t deserve it any more than them, but Bruce alone knows that he’d at least be used to it-- and all that he’s getting in exchange is more than he would ever have come into on his own.