Re: Above the antique store: Cat & Bruce
Bruce was silent for a moment. He didn't open or eat the burger, but put it aside. He had no interest in eating it, imagining how it would feel afterward sitting in his stomach, like a weight of wet bread. He took a fry instead, and ate it just to be chewing. "No, it is too complex a story. And as I said: I know what I want." In this case. There were times in his life where Bruce had convinced himself that what he had was what he wanted. This was not one of those times. He looked up into her child's face. She always said flippant things about his desires, making broad strokes with whatever she thought his feels were. The assumptions hurt. He assumed it made her feel better about something. She did it every time they talked.
"I remember being ten. I remember being twenty. I prefer not to think about being ten. It was a long time ago, and going over past mistakes makes for nothing but regret. Some excuses can be made for youth. I can't make Damian be a normal adult. It would not be fair. He will get there in his own time."
Bruce wasn't sure why everyone kept trying to force him into certain methods of parenting. Maybe they didn't think he noticed, or was trying.