𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆, 𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒂 | 𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐧𝐞 (𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙢)

𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟵

 "Uh-huh. Like that. Wait, no– ow! Don't pull like that!"

"Sorry! I'm sorry!" Bruce apologized quickly, his hands fumbling with her hair. "I told you, I've never braided hair before! Besides, it was your idea."

"My idea, huh? Are you trying to blame me for your lack of skills, Wayne?" Eularia laughed at the hurt expression on his face, nudging his shoulder with hers. "I was joking, Bruce. You're actually doing pretty good for your first time. I've seen worse. Much, much worse." She thought back to the days when she and Selina would braid each other hair because of her insistence– worst idea ever. Eularia's hair turned out to be knotted so badly that she had no choice but to cut the bottom half of her precious hair off with a rickety old scissor. Luckily, it grew back. Still, terrible decision. Selina was nice enough to cut hers to match, in an attempt to earn Eularia's forgiveness.

"Phew. I thought you were actually mad at me." Bruce let out a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat on his forehead on the back of his hand.

"I don't get angry that easily." Eularia hummed. "I wonder how 'Lina's doing. I miss her. Don't you?"
"I do. Especially since you seem more sad when she's not here." Bruce noticed. Eularia had been staring into the fireplace longingly in the few days that Selina had been gone. "She won't leave you for long. She cares about you a lot, even I can tell."

"Does she?" Eularia leaned back, letting her head drop against Bruce's chest. "Does anyone really? The world is a cold, cruel place. The only way to survive is to be meaner than it. Build up walls so that no one can hurt you. There's no room for sweet boys like you." She glanced up at Bruce, who was drawing circles on her knee.

"I can be mean, if it allows me to protect you." He smiled. "I just want you to see me as someone you can rely on, Lara, just like how I see you."

"I've only been able to live this long under 'Lina's protection." Eularia sighed. "Eight years ago, she took me under her wing..."

"Ugh. What's with all that noise?" Little Selina wondered, peeking into the dark alleyway. There lay a small bundle, squirming and screaming by the dumpster. "Seriously? It's a wonder that the thing didn't die yet." But still, she approached it. She nudged the bundle with her toe, making it cry out out even louder. Selina weighed the pro and cons. On the bright side, she could take the child in as her second-in-command to her army of darkness (we... don't ask questions about this), but on the other hand, she would just be another competitor for survival and food. The baby blinked it's big sparkly eyes. Selina groaned.

"Curse you and your adorableness." She complained.

And what else was there to say?

That was only the beginning.

"What kind of weirdo plays chess by himself?" Selina pushed the curtains apart, revealing herself. "Lara's here. And besides the fact that you could teach her, since she knows practically nothing about chess, there's also your butler. Isn't it his job to do this kind of stuff with you?"

"He's making lunch." Bruce explained, a grin dawning on his features.

"I got your message." Selina grinned.

"I'm glad you're safe!" Eularia shot up, as if just realizing that Selina was actually here, in person, and not a hallucination. "I– no, we missed you so, so much! I almost thought you'd forgotten about me!" She took her friend's hand, beaming widely.

"Alfred made me go out of town." Bruce said. "Switzerland. We have a house there. Chalet, I guess. Lara had to stay here." Did he mention how impossibly worried he was? After finding out that it was Selina and Lara that were targets of the assasination, he'd been barely able to sleep.

"A chalet?"

"It's basically a house." Bruce elaborated. Eularia thought of him as the typical non-typical billionaire kid.

"Why did you want to see me?" Selina asked.

"We're friends, aren't we?" Bruce smiled. Eularia winced. Ah. This would end either fantastically or terribly. Selina didn't make friends easily.

"You've been driving around looking for me, sending messages. What's up?" Of course Selina knew about that. She had eyes and ears everywhere.

"I got you a present." Bruce gave her the bag. Selina pulled out it's contents. It was a snowglobe. "It looks like the town we stayed in."

"Woah. Thank you."

"Also, I wanted to know if, um– if you wanted to stay here in my house." Bruce offered awkwardly.

"Why?"

"I figure we could help each other out." He said. "You can help me find the man who killed my parents," Eularia froze at that, chewing on her lip anxiously. He was bound to find out, sooner or later. "And I can give you a better place to live."

The happiness slid off of Selina's face. "What's better about it?" She questioned, a bit harshly. "Listen, kid. Chill." She pushed the present back into his hands. "I came here to tell you to stop hassling me."

"Hassling you?" He sounded sad.

"Yeah. You're beginning to bug me." Eularia opened her mouth to talk, but shut it when Selina sent her a glare.

"I thought we were friends." Bruce said naively.

"Listen, I lied. I didn't see who killed your parents. I didn't see his face. And Lara didn't either."

"I don't understand." Bruce glanced between Eularia and Selina rapidly, confusion filling his face.

"I lied so I wouldn't get locked up in juvie." Selina revealed. "So it's no use buying me presents or sending me messages or trying to hang out. There's no point because I can't help you." Eularia could get where she was coming from. She didn't want a friendship to be based off of two people using each other. But there were other ways to say so. Selina left the same way she came in, leaving Bruce and Eularia alone again.

"Argh!" Bruce threw the snowglobe, letting it break into many tiny shards in front of the fireplace. Tears started spilling out of his eyes. "You– you liar!" He cried. Eularia felt tears cascading on her own face. "I thought you were my friend! You lied to me! I never want to see you again!"

"I– okay." She said simply, backtracking out of the room. Eularia kept ahold of her right hand. The moment the door closed behind her, the girl fell onto her knees.

He never wanted to see her again.

Where would she go? Selina was probably furious with her, too. There was no place left in the world for her, and she was beginning to doubt that there ever was.

"Eularia?" Eularia could recognize that accent anywhere. There stood Alfred, bent over her in concern. "Is that... is that blood? You do realize that 'bloody hell' is just a figure of speech, right?" He picked up her hand, examining the small glass shards still stuck inside. The skin was already beginning to heal over. That was not good. "Come, let's get you treated. I'll talk to him later about this, don't you worry."

"No." Eularia clenched her bloody fist, making Alfred force her hand open again, a scolding on the tip of his tongue. "I suppose I deserve this. He has a good reason. I know how much 'Lina and I annoyed you. I'll be out of your hair in no time. This tiny cut is nothing, it'll be gone in no time."
"At least stay until it heals." Alfred bargained, sitting her down at the table, preparing tweezers and disinfectants. "Whatever happened... I'm sure he didn't mean it."

Eularia sighed, rubbing her head. "Did he? What if he really did? I truly am that despicable, aren't I? I can't even blame him for feeling that way..."
"No. What he did was not acceptable in the least." Alfred insisted. "I know for a fact that his parents, nor I, taught him to be like that. We never raise a hand against someone without being provoked. Never. What I learned in years of experience... is that most of the time, the girl is right." His smile was warm and comforting. "Which, in this case, is you. Please stay a little longer. He might not admit it outright, but he needs you."

She bit on her lip. "I'll consider it."