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makethatelevenrings · 2 years

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For All the Light that I Shut Out - ch. 1

This is just chapter one, but all further chapters will be posted on AO3 HERE unless you want me to crosspost to both tumblr and ao3

Rating: M

Tag (please read!): Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Discussion of Abortion, Canon-Typical Violence, Background Case, Gun Violence, Slow Burn, Angst, Romance, Wayne Gala (DCU), Eventual Smut, Eventual Romance, more tags will be added as story progresses

The train rocked back and forth in a false sense of lulling comfort. The rush hour passengers were silent, their eyes downcast and focused on their shoes. Some people took eye contact to mean a challenge and no one had the time or energy to get into a brawl on the monorail at eight in the morning.

She gripped her messenger bag a little tighter as the familiar feeling of being watched washed over her. Her fingers enclosed around the pepper spray in her left hand but she refused to raise her head to meet the eyes of whoever stared at her.

The monorail came to a screeching stop and she hurried off. Her sneakers squeaked against the platform steps as she descended onto the bustling streets of Gotham. A pair of heels was tucked into her bag for when she got into work, but the walk from her apartment to the closest monorail station required comfy shoes.

Wayne Enterprises loomed over the city, the sun glinting off of its silvery metallic facade. Men and women in suits bustled in and out of the revolving doors at the front and she fell in line with the rest of the crowd pushing to get in before the work day began.

“Good morning Ernie,” she greeted the security guard behind the counter.

“Mornin’ Lily,” he replied. The dark haired woman stepped up closer and reached into her bag. She extracted a small paper bag and held it out for him.

“I had time to swing by that bakery on Fifth that you like. Grabbed the last danish for you.”

“You’re a godsend. An actual angel.” Ernie clasped his hands together and sent a look up to the sky before he grabbed a copy of the morning newspaper off of his desk and passed it to her.

“Thanks, Ernie. Have a good day. Don’t let any troublemakers in, alright?”

“Just you,” he teased. Lily grinned and rejoined the steady stream of employees as they swiped their badges to gain access to the building. While most people ascended to higher levels in order to join meetings, create spreadsheets, and slack off at their jobs, Lily entered an elevator all on her own and pressed the down arrow.

Wayne Enterprises - Applied Sciences was etched into the walls of the hall she entered. She swiped her badge and the door buzzed before unlocking. Lily flipped on the lights to the main sector of the floor and made a beeline towards the radio propped up against the wall.

There were no windows in this underground sector. The only light they got was artificial and that did little to liven up the drab concrete walls, floors, and ceiling. Lily had added cheesy motivational posters and random pieces of art here and there, but the oppressive dreariness of the Applied Sciences sector got to her some days. Her boss acquiesced to her request for a radio and she played it quietly in the background as they worked. Today’s tunes were some classic 80s.

She set about getting ready for the day. Lily laid the newspaper and another paper bag on the main desk tucked behind one of the columns. She started up a pot of coffee on their aging machine. It sputtered to life and coughed out a thin stream of shit brown liquid. She would doctor it up with powder creamer and sugar, but that was the best she could do.

At promptly 8:58 in the morning, the door opened once more just as Lily was setting a mug of steaming coffee next to the newspaper, a stack of files, and a book on white collar crime that she had seen in a passing bookstore and felt was a little too on the nose not to pick up.

“Good morning, sir,” she greeted her boss.

“Good morning, Lily.” Lucius Fox set his briefcase down next to his desk and turned to face his assistant. “No trouble coming in today?”

“None, sir. I even had time to grab breakfast today. Bagel sandwiches, of course. You have a meeting with compliance at three today to go over our recent expenditure reports and that’s it. Another slow day it seems.”

He smirked at her quip and sighed. “I wish it were a little more exciting around here. I know this isn’t what you expected when I offered you the job.”

She held her hand up to cut him off and shook her head. “I have a decent paying job in Gotham, sir. That’s more than a girl could ask for. Besides, you and I know I’m not just an assistant. I’m your top research specialist as well.”

“You’re my only research specialist. And my only assistant.”

He remembered the day he recruited her. He had been walking through the Gotham University campus after a few disappointing meetings. After being greenlit for an intern, Lucius was hoping to find someone who would actually put in the effort to work instead of just slapping a Wayne Enterprises label on their resume and playing solitaire on their computer thanks to their rich parents getting them the job.

And it was in the Engineering building that he quite literally ran into a very stressed Liliana Amapola. He offered to buy her coffee and discuss her senior capstone research, which is how he found out that she was not only smart, but a certifiable genius. Double majoring in biomedical engineering and chemistry, Lily made for the ideal candidate. She wasn’t from money and was born and bred in the East End of Gotham. On top of her book smarts, she had a quick wit and a sharp tongue.

He offered her an internship and an opportunity to complete her capstone with Wayne Enterprise materials. She agreed instantly.

Two years later and she now had her masters in biomedical engineering, but she stuck around as his secretary. No one would hire a girl from the Bowery, even if her academic resume was excellent. Lily merely turned away from their prejudice and stuck with Lucius, knowing that he would always value her and give her opportunities to try out her skills.

“Earle is pushing for the company to go public,” he said. “What are your thoughts on that?”

Her dark eyes flashed with mirth and she shrugged. “I am not inclined to present my opinions on the state of Wayne Enterprises.”

“Ah, but this lovely text on securities fraud would have nothing to do with that?”

Her lips slowly curled back into a sly grin. “I have no idea how that ended up on your desk, sir.”

Lily turned back to her desk so she could eat her own breakfast and drink shitty lukewarm coffee that no amount of creamer and cinnamon could help. Her eyes read over the latest research that Wayne Enterprises had their eyes on, but her focus was waning. She never told Lucius but Gotham University had reached out to her with expressed interest in recruiting her as a doctoral student. A PhD, fully funded. That’s something she had never considered. But she didn’t want to leave the man who had been such a good friend and mentor over the past two years. Could she balance both? Figure out a way to stay at Wayne Enterprises as her research hub?

A buzz at the door indicated someone needed to be let in. She slid on her heels and stood, adjusting a few stray curls that had escaped from the low bun she wore it in. Lily tugged on the hem of her faded blue dress and finally approached the door, plastering on a sickly sweet smile.

“Welcome to Applied Sciences, do you have an appointment?” she asked as she opened the door. A tall, well-built man turned to face her and she stopped still for just a second. Strong jaw, sun-kissed skin, blue eyes, neatly gelled black hair… holy shit. It was a face anyone in Gotham could recognize.

“Mr. Wayne,” she exclaimed. After seven years of silence from Bruce Wayne, he was back in Gotham. Standing before her. Alive. When he had been declared dead years before.

“Bill Earle sent me down here. I was hoping to talk to Lucius Fox.” He flashed her an easy-going grin, one hand tucked in his pocket and the other adorned with a watch that probably cost more than her monthly rent for the apartment she shared with two others.

“Yes, sir, of course. Right this way, sir.”

Lily ushered him in and shut the door behind him before spinning on her heel and leading him towards Lucius’ desk.

“Mr. Fox, Mr. Wayne is here to see you.”

Lucius removed his glasses as if that would help him hear her better. He blinked up in surprise at the sight of the man behind her and quickly stood. Lily stepped back from his desk and instead pressed herself against the wall as the two men greeted each other. They spoke for a moment before Lucius extended a hand towards Lily. She nervously stepped forward and extended her hand towards Bruce Wayne.

“My assistant, Lily Amapola,” Lucius introduced. She quickly realized that no billionaire would want to shake her hand and was about to retract it when Bruce Wayne’s large palm wrapped around hers.

“Pleasure to meet you, Miss Amapola.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Wayne.” She let her hand fall back to her side but kept her dark eyes locked on his. He inclined his head, the tiniest hint of a smile on his lips when he realized that she wouldn’t back down from his gaze.

“Let’s give you a tour of the sector, why don’t we?”

Mr. Wayne followed Lucius further into the basement, leaving Lily behind at her desk. She glanced back at the two men one last time before she sat down once again.

Bruce Wayne was back. Bruce Wayne was standing in her workplace. Bruce Wayne knew her name.

Lily chewed on the end of her pen cap and hesitated for a moment.

What brought Bruce Wayne all the way down to the basement?

#bruce wayne fanfiction #batman fanfiction #bruce wayne x oc #batman x oc #dc fanfiction #lilyfic

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