He couldn’t have known what Terry had gone through during his absence. But knowing what his less than admirable double must have been like, Bruce could only take a guess at how he had reacted to Terry’s presence. Batman was not a social creature, not anywhere close to it, but the other one… the other one had nobody. He wanted nothing to do with anybody and from what he had been told, he barely tolerated Alfred being around. Bruce couldn’t for the life of him understand that. He tried to fathom it and his efforts had taken him to a dead end, to a blank wall that told him nothing.
Seeing Terry ignited the guilt, a pang of stabbing guilt because he had tried to convince him that he wasn’t going anywhere, that he was staying right where he was. He hadn’t been sure of what he was saying and it had turned out to be a lie, anything but the truth.
The flinch and the dropped coffee cup told him what Terry wasn’t putting into words. It wasn’t difficult to read him, to see the confusion in his eyes. His question was welcoming though and to answer it, Bruce put an arm around his shoulders to lead him completely out of the doorway. There were fewer people outside the establishment than there were inside and he didn’t want to have to look at them, didn’t want to risk someone eavesdropping and hearing something they weren’t supposed to hear.
What was he supposed to say? There were a million possibilities and Terry needed and deserved something. Anything.
Bruce stayed close to him, not wanting to move, not ready to. “It’s alright now.” He said the first thing that came into his head. The last thing he wanted was for Terry to be on edge around him. He didn’t need to be.