Chapter Text
Tap, tap, tap!
Selina groaned, and let her head thump against the back of the couch. The knocking was coming from the window, and she didn’t want to get up.
But if she didn’t, Harley would just break the window.
Tap, tap, tap!
She sighed, and levered herself to her feet, putting as little weight on her left ankle as possible. She’d twisted it in a bad landing, and it hurt like hell to walk. She leaned on the wall and limped to the window, dragging her leg.
She blinked.
That wasn’t Harley.
Batman was outside, smiling awkwardly at her.
He held up a bag of take-out as a explanation.
She unlocked the window, and shoed him back far enough to open it without whacking him.
He flowed in easily, even though the window didn’t seem big enough to let him fit. He nuzzled her cheek on his way to the floor, then sat there on his haunches as she closed the window.
“Kitty hurt?” he asked, watching the way she was limping.
She huffed, “If anyone else called me that, I’d claw their face off. I twisted my ankle.”
He gently herded her toward the couch and pushed her down into it. Before she could try and get back up, one of her cats noticed the empty lap and curled up in it, trapping her.
Batman disappeared around the corner to her kitchen. He reappeared, dragging a chair behind him. It clattered against the carpet loudly, probably waking her neighbours.
He put the chair next to the couch, and grabbed one of the pillows. He put the pillow on the chair, and tapped her sore leg, then the chair. She lifted her sore foot onto the chair and sighed. Who knew that elevating a sore ankle made it hurt so much less!
He disappeared around the corner again, and she heard him open her freezer and riffle around. She heard a dissatisfied grunt, and he reappeared, glaring at her. He reached into his cape and pulled out a chemical ice pack, handing it to her. She squeezed it until she heard the pop, then shook it, and set it on her sore ankle.
“Thanks.” She sighed. Now that the pain was easing, she suddenly felt exhausted.
He disappeared back into the kitchen. She heard hands being washed, a clattering of pots and pans, clinking of plates, rattling of cutlery and rustling of a paper bag. He reappeared, walking upright and carrying a plate of food and a glass of water, balanced on a cookie sheet.
He handed the cookie sheet to her, rasping “no trrrray.”
She laughed as she took it, shooing away her cat and setting it in her lap “I’m not some fancy rich guy, who takes breakfast in bed every morning.”
he snorted, then looked at the rack of dvd’s she had curiously.
“Pick whatever movie you want. I don’t have any streaming services, so if you want something else you’ll have to pirate it yourself.”
While he choose a movie, she busied herself with the food. He hadn’t just dumped the food on a plate and slammed it in the microwave, he had actually taken the time to plate the food neatly. The butter chicken was in a bowl, with an artful sweep of cream. The bowl sat on a plate, with pieces of naan placed around the edge.
The samosa had been neatly lined up, leaning on each other. he’d put the sauces in her egg cups, likely because she didn’t have those fancy little ceramic cups that dips came in at restaurants. There was even a cloth to use as a napkin!
He picked one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, the one with Davy jones. He put the movie on, then climbed up onto the couch beside her.
It was then that she learned something very important about Batman- that he could loaf!
She couldn’t help but giggle, and she patted his head with the hand that wasn’t covered in samosa grease.
Batman looked up at her, confused and vaguely disgruntled.
“You’re cute.”
“Errggghhh” he protested, gently batting her hand away from his head.
She smiled at him, and tucked into her food, hungrier than she had thought.
***
She wiped her face, then put the tray of dishes on the end table, she could deal with it in the morning. As soon as the tray was out of the way, Batman made his move.
He sttrreeechheeed, then flopped across her lap, wiggling to get comfortable.
Selina snorted.
“You’re as bad as my cats.”
Her mind wandered, distracted by the movie. Her hands automatically started stroking Batman’s back like he was one of her cats.
She was snapped out of her thoughts a few minutes later, when she heard a familiar, yet different sound. Batman was… purring? He was absolutely relaxed, boneless in her lap. As she watched, he started to knead at one of her couch cushions with his sharp claws.
His claws would shred the cushion, but that was a small price to see him this relaxed. There was always a tension to him, like he could leap away and disappear into the shadows at any moment. But right now? He was a puddle of content Bat, purring so loudly she almost couldn’t hear the movie.
***
About halfway through, during the scene where Davy Jones got his hand stuck in a wall, Selina noticed something.
Batman’s blinks were taking longer, his kneading was slowing down, and his purr kept trailing of then restarting. As she watched, his eyes drifted shut, their dim glow fizzling out.
He was asleep!
Selina felt awed, honoured. It was the same feeling she got when one of her feral cats got calm enough to sleep in her presence. She had won his trust enough that he felt comfortable enough to be vulnerable around her. She didn’t feel like she had tamed batman, oh no, on the contrary! She felt like a feral who’d been slowly warmed up with toys and treats.
…Actually, upon retrospect, that was exactly what batman had done
She smiled, and shook her head. She had stopped petting batman during her revelation. He made a sleepy little noise, shifting like he might wake up, and she started petting him again.
***
She sat on the windowsill, tail swinging idly.
Behind her, she could hear some of her siblings playfighting. She looked over her shoulder just in time to see her sister tackle one of her brothers and start a game of chase. They were reaching the age where it was time for them to wander off, find places of their own, but a couple of extra days together wouldn’t hurt.
The door clicked, and they all turned to stare at it, as the food-givers opened it and stepped into the room. She couldn’t smell food on them, so she didn’t care, and turned back to the window.
She heard them chitter to each other and heard them pick up one of her siblings. After a few moments, she heard their feet hit the floor. She heard the food-givers step closer to her.
Oop! She was going up! They had picked her up! One of the food givers was holding her, and making little shushing noises. They flipped her over and poked around at her belly for a moment, then let her wriggle the right way up. “Why did you do-oh, treats!”
She licked at the goopy treat, as the food givers carried her towards the door. is she going out? none of them had ever been beyond that door before, other than her mother. The treat tasted a little strange, but none of the food the food-givers had given made them sick, so it was probably fine.
She was carried down a long corridor. Her eyes kept drifting shut, even as she purred. Then there was a creak, and she was outside. It was so bright! She could hear all sorts of sounds, and new smells! She wanted to explore… but she was so tired.
she opened her eyes in a room lit with flickering orange light, and filled with strange, acrid smells.
There was a food-giver, without their outer fur, laying on a stone slab in the center of the room. There were more strange sounds, some coming from the one holding them. they went down, then the one holding her placed her on the chest of the food-giver on the slab.
She purred. The food giver was warm. She curled up on their chest, as another treat was pressed to her lips. Someone patted her head, and she fell asleep, purring.
***
Selina woke with a start, pulling her tail away from her face.
She never liked that dream. Didn’t like the reminder that she was born human. She stretched. Her back leg still hurt, but not as bad as the night before. she leapt down from the couch, carefully keeping her weight off her back leg.
The sun was up outside, weak light swimming though the smogy sky and cloudy glass. Batman had left at some point during the night. He’d thrown away the dead ice pack, and put the dishes in the dishwasher without starting it. He’d even taken care of the takeout trash.
… she wondered if he had bumped into any of her neighbors on the way to the trash chute, and how they’d reacted.
***
That night seemed to have fundamentally change something about their relationship.
Instead of batman leaving gifts at the edge of her territory, or on the roof of the apartment building, he would come straight up to her apparent window and bring them to her. He would, often bring a meal to share as well. Then they would cuddle or go patrol together.
Sometimes he would bring Robin, and the three of them would dance through the smoggy skies of Gotham together.
Of course, the humans promptly decided that she was Robin’s mother, a turn of events that amused the hatchling immensely.
Sometimes, when she wasn’t home, Batman would leave the gifts inside her apartment. How he got through the locked window without damaging it was beyond her. It wasn’t uncommon for her to come home, only to find Batman chilling on her couch, or feeding her cats treats when they weren’t supposed to have any.
She should probably be more concerned about this, but it’s hard to be suspicious when you’re eating the most amazing cheesecake you’ve ever tasted.