never gonna let you down; alfred (yes_sir) wrote in rooms,
Re: quicklog, gotham: wayne manor
[Of course Alfred was right (he was biased on that). Grief was a part of life, unfortunately, and while Alfred didn't want Bruce to brood into oblivion, he also wouldn't want the opposite: for Bruce to lose someone and feel nothing. The best would be for Bruce not to have to endure such loss again, because he'd already lost much more than someone should, but Alfred had no way to control any of it. All he could do was what he was doing now.
This 'fine' he accepted. He would take what concessions he could get from Bruce, and dressing wounds would give them some other issue to focus on. For a moment. The distraction wouldn't really last long. Bruce hid his pain well, but right now, Alfred didn't sense a lie: the injuries were relatively minor. Thank goodness that nothing was physically broken, and there were no signs of internal bleeding, but the comment reminded him of something else. Grayson had said once that Damian had broken his heart, so what did anything else matter? The memory of the sentiment twisted his gut more than he thought it would, not really knowing Damian or Grayson, but the loss weighed on the family, and so it weighed on Alfred.
His hand came to rest momentarily on Bruce's shoulder.] Tell me where it hurts most, then. [Spoken as to a child who couldn't verbalize the cause of his pain, but only the symptoms.]