Trapped inside this madness

Batman.

A good week has passed. You have not heard back from Bruce Wayne, nor have you received a message from Jonathan Crane. Your "normal" session with him also did not take place at the moment. Besides, this would probably have lapsed now that he had his own plans and you had agreed to this madness. You did your work, looked forward to going home every morning and came home tired to buy food, take a hot bath and watch a little TV. You hadn't heard from your friends for a long time. Your messages were all "on read". Every day was the same. Wake Up, Work, Eat, Sleep, Repeat.

Actually, you were really looking forward to the weekend - finally sleeping as long as you wanted to and not thinking about work. But your thoughts were always on the same topics anyway: Batman, Bruce Wayne, Jonathan Crane and Scarecrow. How could they not?
At night you used to always turn off your mobile phone - your mother had always worried about the radiation that could come from such a thing. She had always meant well for you, and even now that you lived alone, you had made a habit of it. Most mornings you had no message or even messages popping up anyway - apart from your mother's daily "Good morning, Y/N" message. She had been your rock. The only person you really trusted and yet you had kept from her what was going on here in Gotham. Everything that had happened to you. For the simple reason that you were worried about what could happen to her if she knew and came here. That morning, however, you had another message. You stared wide-eyed at the sender: Bruce Wayne. The first thing you had done after your conversation was to save his number, and now? Now HIS NAME popped up on YOUR mobile phone.

Miss L/N, I had the opportunity to speak with our client. Is tonight convenient for you? Can you send me your address? Bruce

Client. Somehow you had realised that the name "Batman" would certainly not come up. After all, no one was supposed to know about the connections between Wayne and Batman. You were a little suspicious that Batman wanted to meet you at your place - but it couldn't be worse than the meeting with Scarecrow, so you were a little more relaxed about the whole thing. The little thing that couldn't get off your mind was Wayne saying goodbye as Bruce. No initials, no Wayne. Very simple: Bruce. Should you read more into it and call him by his first name from now on or was it just habit? "That's not what this is about, Y/N," you admonished yourself and replied with your address and a smily Y/N. It really felt like a risky message and you felt being 16 again but hey, it was exciting receiving a message from Bruce Wayne.

But Bruce was not the only exciting thing about the day. After all, you were going to meet Batman that night and you were still unsure of what to do. Unmask Scarecrow? For now you thought it would be the best thing to just talk to the Dark Knight and see what comes up and how you feel. Something inside you wanted to stop you from betraying Jonathan. Even if he deserved it. He should pay for what he had done to you. He had exploited your already damaged psyche and wanted to use your fear against you - no, worse. He wanted to enjoy your fear and yet you thought of covering for him and being unknown of the person behind Scarecrow. As much as you hate to admit it, Crane got under your skin. He was irresistible and maybe it was also your broken nature. You didn't even had to deny it: you were broken and you had tons of issues. So how could a normal man be the one you're interested in? Of course it had to be a pschotic psychiatrist. For now you should just shake that off and think about what to do and how to act or react.

*

All day long you were restless and full of excitement. In the evening. Bruce told you the meeting will take place in the evening and it seemed as if time would not pass. Your heart seemed to explode any minute. "Calm down, Y/N. Calm down, finally." you closed your eyes and took a deep breath. Sometimes that helped - you were still too excited and nervous. What took the Dark Knight so long? The evening was a big time slot. "I don't have any patience today...", you talked with yourself without expecting to receive an answer in the shadows. "You don't have to." "Dear Lord! How...? Where? I almost got a heartattack!", Batman was standing in your dark living room in front of the open window. "I'm sorry if I scared you. I didn't mean to. Our mutual friend send me this address and I'm usually not knocking on doors." You looked him up and down. It definitely was exciting and you couldn't find a word to describe how you really felt because there were too many emotions in you.