Poker Face | Bruce Wayne

twenty seven

Meredith made her way down the gray hallway adorned in an all-black number, complete with a fitted pantsuit and shiny stilettos. She turned the corner and pushed open the wooden door, setting the box in her arms down on a nearby table.

"How's it looking?" she questioned.

Tim glanced back from his spot at one of the bookshelves. He smiled, dropping his hand which had been rearranging books. "Still got a little to go, but overall it's fantastic." He gestured towards the large floor-to-ceiling windows. "I mean, look at this view!" He sighed in content. "Honestly, I can't thank you enough, Meredith."

She waved her hand, beginning to empty the contents from the box she had put down. She pulled out a stapler and set it on the table. "You're good at what you do, Tim. You're smart and hardworking— you deserve it. Besides, it's me who should be thanking you. I know it probably wasn't easy to take this position so quickly, especially with your previous work at Wayne Enterprises."

She could see the boy beaming out of the corner of her eye. "Right, right. Well, I'd be an idiot to pass it up." He cleared his throat. "Also, I... can I ask you a question? If you don't mind."

Meredith tilted her head up to make eye contact with him. She nodded.

"I really really hope you don't take offense to this, but I've just gotta ask... did you give me this position just to have an in at WE?"

She paused for a moment and scrunched her eyebrows in mock confusion. She partly did, but she couldn't let Tim know that. She tilted her head. "Of course not."

"Oh, okay."

She rested her arms on top of the box and offered him a smile. "Tim, if I wanted an 'in' at Wayne Enterprises, I'd have it long before you were even born. You're talented. You're impressive. Your work at WE with the West Coast expansion proposal was flawless. I wouldn't bring you onto my team just to get at your father— I can do that on my own time if I needed to."

A half-truth. The easiest lies to tell.

His shoulders slightly relaxed. An easy grin pulled at his lips as he nodded. "Thanks. Sorry for asking, I'm just used to people only wanting to work with me to work with Bruce."

She chuckled. "I'm the daughter of Gregory Elias— so I know how that feels. We'll work on it. By the time you're done with the paid internship here, no one will be asking about Bruce anymore."

Tim grinned as Meredith went back to unpacking the box. They fell into silence once again.

"So, have you decided on your specialty coffee at the cafe upstairs yet?" she asked teasingly.

"Just about. My typical order is straight espresso with extra espresso and two sugars."

"Ah. I usually go for a cortado with crema. Sometimes sugar if I'm feeling adventurous."

He laughed. "So, after I've finished unpacking, what's on the schedule today?"

Meredith placed another stapler on the table. "I'm thinking we introduce you to the rest of the board. I have a six o'clock call that I want you to be on, then I need you to attend my seven-thirty for me because I have some other work to take care of."

His eyes widened. "You... you want me to go to a meeting for you?"

"Just some note-taking. I'm not presenting or anything, but I don't have time to go today and I can't cancel it. It's for aerospace— some new program the department heads are implementing."

He nodded. "Got it."

"Tomorrow we can start on the new project I'm preparing for you, I just need to finalize a few things with my CFO and make sure that everything pans out correctly."