Kendra (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tyndalecode) wrote2008-03-24 02:42 am
tyndalecode) wrote2008-03-24 02:42 am
Entry tags:
Betty and the Bat
Title: Betty and the Bat (Ficlet #13)
Fandom: Batman Begins/Ugly Betty
Characters/Pairing: Betty Suarez, Bruce Wayne, and many more.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2,210
Summary: Conversation.
Notes: This is the 13th part in a rather unusual crossover which takes place after Season one of Ugly Betty and the end of Batman Begins; it's AU from there.
My beta,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ittykat, and I were talking about the prospect of Betty/Bruce today and I happened to mention how it would freak me out if America Ferrera and Christian Bale were ever in a movie together. So ittykat six-degrees-of-separationed them and...
America Ferrera was in Lords of Dogtown (2005) with Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger was in I'm Not There (2007) with Christian Bale
Given that I've been having an extremely hard time writing the Joker, I FIND THIS FREAKY.
*cough* Anyway. I just thought I'd share. Story now.
• Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, part 10, Part 11, and Part 12
I.
For professional reasons. Hah. Professional reasons her purple draped ass! Professional reasons at Mode would have meant standing next to Daniel and reminding him of who everyone was as they approached to shake hands. It wasn't a fun job, but it meant that she did something at these sort of events instead of just standing around awkwardly. She wasn’t confident in much, especially not in a dress and heels, but Betty was downright confident of the fact that she just looked awkward. Sure the dress was pretty and her hair was less frizzy than usual, but she knew she was still Betty. And Betty at a ball? The only word that came to her mind was awkward.
She should have known. Why would Bruce need her here for anything professional when he had his own personal photographic memory? Standing next to him to remind him who the rich and famous were would be wastes of both their time. Bruce remembered these things whether he tried to or not and when she'd gone up to him at the beginning of the evening he'd simply smiled at her and told her to 'have fun'.
Have fun? Try 'break out in hives'. Luckily, they seemed to be all on her back. Or, perhaps not so lucky. She couldn't reach them to scratch all the way back there. Right in between her shoulder blades where the dress pulled together and…
"I knew Thing One was showing up, but who let Thing Two in?"
Betty glanced at Christina and the two shared an exasperated groan. "Hello, Amanda," they chimed in unison. Betty couldn't help but wonder where Bruce was when she needed him.
At least Christina was there to scratch her back while Amanda insulted them.
II.
"Mom! Mom!" Not that Betty answered to the call of 'mom', but she couldn't help turning around along with her sister to watch as Justin practically sprinted towards them, winding nimbly through the much taller adults on the dance floor until he reached them. "Mom!"
"Someone'd better be dying," Hilda muttered in Betty's ear as they both turned around.
"With these people, you never know," Betty said. She glanced back at the tuxedoed man her sister had been talking with. For the first time she'd seen her sister flirting since Santos died, the chosen target wasn't half bad. Maybe Justin would be quick. "He'll still be there, don't worry." She patted Hilda's shoulder.
"Mom!" The whirling dervish had reached them both. Justin looked just short of pulling on the skirts of their dresses for attention. "Mom, I need a cell phone. Now."
"Who're you calling?" Hilda asked, though her hand was halfway towards her purse.
"No one." Justin looked at her as if that should have been an obvious fact. He made a vague gesture in a vague direction. "I just need your phone."
Looking from Justin back to the man in the tuxedo she'd been flirting with, Hilda gave an exasperated sigh before digging around quickly in her purse and pulling out her cell phone. She handed it to Justin who immediately ran away with it in the direction he'd come from. Curious, Betty watched as he wound back through the dancing throngs and pushed past people until he'd found his way to the opposite side of the room. There was a bright beacon of red hair, pale skin, and green fabric waiting for him in the corner.
She felt a pinch on her shoulder. "Is he with a girl?" Hilda asked, peering in the same direction as Betty. When the crowds parted a bit they could catch a good glimpse of the two. Betty knew who the girl was on sight, having seen her several times sitting in the nicely upholstered chairs in her office, just outside Bruce's. She came in with her father, Commissioner Gordon, when he had meetings after school hours. Usually sat around and did homework rather quietly until Betty offered her something to drink or commented on a book she was reading for English.
Betty scrunched her face as she tried to remember the thirteen year old's name. She'd always seemed a bit shy. Carla… Laura… Barbara? "Barbara," Betty told Hilda, watching as the redhead pulled out a cell phone of her own and started pressing buttons. "Barbara Gordon."
Well, at least she was assisting someone with names.
III.
It was just bad for a girl named Betty to be petty. She'd decided that early in life. Why give anyone a reason to rhyme her name with? 'Betty the Petty' or 'Petty Betty', had too much of a ring to their sounds. When she'd explained this to Hilda and her father when she'd been much younger they'd both given her odd looks, pointing out that she had to be one of the few ten year olds who actually knew what petty meant, much less would use it in an insult.
Nevertheless, the thought of the easy insult had always kept her jealous and petty sides in check. Whatever worked, right? Betty liked to think of herself as a pleasant person who didn't get their jollies off on others' pain. But sometimes, she just couldn't help herself.
"Who's the girl?" Christina asked. She lifted her flute of champagne to her lips and took a liberal sip as she watched the drama unfold in front of them.
"The one in red who looks like she's about to cry or the one in black who looks like the cat eating a canary?" Betty couldn't keep a bit of smugness from eking its way into her own voice. Sometimes it just happened. "We like the one in black, by the way."
Christina deftly switched her empty glass for full one as a waiter passed by. "Do we know the one in black?"
"We do." Betty nodded. "Selina Kyle," she said. She bit down on her lip. "I didn't think she was coming though. Bruce said she was in Paris. Which, I mean… well, that was weird, because she helped coordinate this whole thing. She's a social worker."
"She's gorgeous." Leave it to her friend to focus on the important things.
"I think Amanda's figured that out."
Christina raised an eyebrow. "Is that something smug I hear in your voice, Betty?"
She turned away from Christina for a moment, just to hide the tiny smile which was dying to form on her lips. She had to let it slip out, it was hurting her lips too much to keep hiding it. It wasn't that she was enjoying the fact that Selina was distracting all of Bruce's attention with her slinky black dress, and most likely --and more importantly-- her brains. It wasn't that she was enjoying the fact that Amanda's face was slowly turning all sorts of different shades of red as she watched Bruce's attentions slowly turn from her. And it certainly wasn't the fact that she was enjoying seeing Bruce, for once, go for the right girl.
No, she was just smiling to be smiling. Of course.
The two friends watched in silence for a moment as Selina leaned over and whispered something to Amanda that made the other girl's eyes go wide. The blonde looked like she wanted to attack the brunette, though Betty had to think that Amanda would end up relatively dead if that happened. If anything, Selina's muscular arms were only more pronounced in that sheath dress.
Betty toyed with her champagne glass (which was filled with sparkling cider, at this point). "I am not petty."
"I said smug." Christina's eyes followed both Amanda and Selina. "You really need to get over that 'Petty Betty' thing."
"It's a legitimate childhood fear!"
"If someone had actually ever called you that." She gave Betty a knowing look before going back to watching the unfolding drama. "I think Amanda might actually hit her. Shouldn't you … go over and do your assistant thing?"
Betty grinned and shook her head. "I'm thinking Bruce can handle this one himself."
Maybe that would teach him to date dumb blondes.
IV.
"You're not covering the ball for the Planet, are you?"
"No."
"Then what are you doing here?"
"You're friendly as always, Bruce."
"You didn't answer the question."
"Lois is covering the story."
"And you are…?"
"I go where Luthor goes."
"If I see any red and blue…"
"It's my city, Bruce, and sometimes even you need help."
V.
"Quite a few people from Mode here this evening." Though he hated small talk, it was necessary in public, even with someone he considered himself somewhat close with. He took a glass of champagne from a waiter's tray to hand to his assistant. He'd been watching her throughout the night and seeing that she'd been drinking mostly sparkling cider since her first glass of champagne, he didn't feel that she'd be worse off being handed another.
Besides, she seemed to be reverting into that skittish girl he'd met on her first day of work. She needed something to do with her hands.
"Thank you," she said as he handed her the glass. "And, I've only seen Amanda and Christina. Selina too, by the way." She smiled at that.
"Selina isn’t from Mode," Bruce answered gruffly. He glanced down, eyeing the wine glass in his own hand. Selina was a factor he'd not planned for this evening and, admittedly, he'd been almost caught off guard.
"Obviously." Betty's grin widened just a bit. "But, I'm glad she came. All the way from Paris and all."
"Yes." He looked at her. "You could have helped."
She looked back innocently. "Helped with what?"
"I think the evening could have done without the suspense of waiting to see if Amanda actually would hit Selina," Bruce said.
"I don't know, I think Selina could have handled herself."
He smiled behind his glass as he took another sip. "It's not Selina I'd be worried about."
To reveal Lex Luthor's true nature to Betty was one thing. It wasn't a decision Bruce had struggled with in the end, figuring that it was for her own good that she should know such things. There was little point in keeping the secrets of a man with no morals. On the same token, he'd also taken the time to make sure that Betty was well versed in the identities of those Gotham villains who regularly made nightly rounds of the city. He simply thought it was good information to have in one's arsenal.
But then there were the identities of other heroes. Other heroes and, well, Selina. He was constantly mentioning their names around her, but never their alter-egos, figuring that unless it became absolutely necessary for her to know that Oliver Queen ran around in green tights, then he would respect their wishes for anonymity. They were fellow heroes, after all, and though he didn't often get along with them, he respected what they did. It was one circle which he simply couldn't bring Betty into.
Selina was different. Somewhere between hero and villain depending upon the mood she was in, Bruce didn't respect what she did, but he couldn't completely condemn her actions either. She was a thief and there was nothing redeemable in that. But she was an endearing thief.
Bruce didn't know what it was that endeared him to her so, but whatever it was, it also kept him from revealing her secret identity to Betty. He would not tell her that Selina ran to Paris for a few weeks in order to let the publicity on the cat burglar die down; that she went by the name of Catwoman at nights and ran around in black leather; that the first night they'd met she had broken his shoulder. Betty was rather law abiding, God bless her, and in a room surrounded by several high ranking police officers, including the commissioner himself, Bruce decided he would keep such information to himself.
With Betty looking at him expectantly, Bruce decided it was time to change the subject.
"Anyway," he said after a moment. "Like I was saying… Mode's put in showing this evening."
"And like I was saying, I've only seen Amanda and Christina," Betty retorted.
"I saw Wilhelmina Slater over there." Bruce nodded to the right side of the room. The woman in question stood out in a Grecian draped black and white dress. Her hair was piled atop her head, revealing scads of jewelry hanging from her neck and ears. It was tasteful as always and, as every time Bruce had seen her, she looked impeccable. In true socialite form they'd exchanged greetings earlier in the evening, their mutual cool personalities making sure that the meeting hadn't lasted very long at all.
Betty squinted, looking over her glasses in the direction he'd pointed. "Oh, I guess you're right. There's Marc too."
"Her assistant?" He assumed she meant the man with the over stylized hair hovering over her.
"Yep." She shrugged a bit. "I didn't know they were coming."
"Everyone's here." Bruce quickly glanced at her to make sure that she wasn't drinking anything before making his next comment. "I've already told Daniel Meade that you're here as well."
Impressive, Bruce thought with a chuckle, how Betty could choke and sputter on absolutely nothing.
Fandom: Batman Begins/Ugly Betty
Characters/Pairing: Betty Suarez, Bruce Wayne, and many more.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2,210
Summary: Conversation.
Notes: This is the 13th part in a rather unusual crossover which takes place after Season one of Ugly Betty and the end of Batman Begins; it's AU from there.
My beta,
ittykat, and I were talking about the prospect of Betty/Bruce today and I happened to mention how it would freak me out if America Ferrera and Christian Bale were ever in a movie together. So ittykat six-degrees-of-separationed them and...America Ferrera was in Lords of Dogtown (2005) with Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger was in I'm Not There (2007) with Christian Bale
Given that I've been having an extremely hard time writing the Joker, I FIND THIS FREAKY.
*cough* Anyway. I just thought I'd share. Story now.
• Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, part 10, Part 11, and Part 12
I.
For professional reasons. Hah. Professional reasons her purple draped ass! Professional reasons at Mode would have meant standing next to Daniel and reminding him of who everyone was as they approached to shake hands. It wasn't a fun job, but it meant that she did something at these sort of events instead of just standing around awkwardly. She wasn’t confident in much, especially not in a dress and heels, but Betty was downright confident of the fact that she just looked awkward. Sure the dress was pretty and her hair was less frizzy than usual, but she knew she was still Betty. And Betty at a ball? The only word that came to her mind was awkward.
She should have known. Why would Bruce need her here for anything professional when he had his own personal photographic memory? Standing next to him to remind him who the rich and famous were would be wastes of both their time. Bruce remembered these things whether he tried to or not and when she'd gone up to him at the beginning of the evening he'd simply smiled at her and told her to 'have fun'.
Have fun? Try 'break out in hives'. Luckily, they seemed to be all on her back. Or, perhaps not so lucky. She couldn't reach them to scratch all the way back there. Right in between her shoulder blades where the dress pulled together and…
"I knew Thing One was showing up, but who let Thing Two in?"
Betty glanced at Christina and the two shared an exasperated groan. "Hello, Amanda," they chimed in unison. Betty couldn't help but wonder where Bruce was when she needed him.
At least Christina was there to scratch her back while Amanda insulted them.
II.
"Mom! Mom!" Not that Betty answered to the call of 'mom', but she couldn't help turning around along with her sister to watch as Justin practically sprinted towards them, winding nimbly through the much taller adults on the dance floor until he reached them. "Mom!"
"Someone'd better be dying," Hilda muttered in Betty's ear as they both turned around.
"With these people, you never know," Betty said. She glanced back at the tuxedoed man her sister had been talking with. For the first time she'd seen her sister flirting since Santos died, the chosen target wasn't half bad. Maybe Justin would be quick. "He'll still be there, don't worry." She patted Hilda's shoulder.
"Mom!" The whirling dervish had reached them both. Justin looked just short of pulling on the skirts of their dresses for attention. "Mom, I need a cell phone. Now."
"Who're you calling?" Hilda asked, though her hand was halfway towards her purse.
"No one." Justin looked at her as if that should have been an obvious fact. He made a vague gesture in a vague direction. "I just need your phone."
Looking from Justin back to the man in the tuxedo she'd been flirting with, Hilda gave an exasperated sigh before digging around quickly in her purse and pulling out her cell phone. She handed it to Justin who immediately ran away with it in the direction he'd come from. Curious, Betty watched as he wound back through the dancing throngs and pushed past people until he'd found his way to the opposite side of the room. There was a bright beacon of red hair, pale skin, and green fabric waiting for him in the corner.
She felt a pinch on her shoulder. "Is he with a girl?" Hilda asked, peering in the same direction as Betty. When the crowds parted a bit they could catch a good glimpse of the two. Betty knew who the girl was on sight, having seen her several times sitting in the nicely upholstered chairs in her office, just outside Bruce's. She came in with her father, Commissioner Gordon, when he had meetings after school hours. Usually sat around and did homework rather quietly until Betty offered her something to drink or commented on a book she was reading for English.
Betty scrunched her face as she tried to remember the thirteen year old's name. She'd always seemed a bit shy. Carla… Laura… Barbara? "Barbara," Betty told Hilda, watching as the redhead pulled out a cell phone of her own and started pressing buttons. "Barbara Gordon."
Well, at least she was assisting someone with names.
III.
It was just bad for a girl named Betty to be petty. She'd decided that early in life. Why give anyone a reason to rhyme her name with? 'Betty the Petty' or 'Petty Betty', had too much of a ring to their sounds. When she'd explained this to Hilda and her father when she'd been much younger they'd both given her odd looks, pointing out that she had to be one of the few ten year olds who actually knew what petty meant, much less would use it in an insult.
Nevertheless, the thought of the easy insult had always kept her jealous and petty sides in check. Whatever worked, right? Betty liked to think of herself as a pleasant person who didn't get their jollies off on others' pain. But sometimes, she just couldn't help herself.
"Who's the girl?" Christina asked. She lifted her flute of champagne to her lips and took a liberal sip as she watched the drama unfold in front of them.
"The one in red who looks like she's about to cry or the one in black who looks like the cat eating a canary?" Betty couldn't keep a bit of smugness from eking its way into her own voice. Sometimes it just happened. "We like the one in black, by the way."
Christina deftly switched her empty glass for full one as a waiter passed by. "Do we know the one in black?"
"We do." Betty nodded. "Selina Kyle," she said. She bit down on her lip. "I didn't think she was coming though. Bruce said she was in Paris. Which, I mean… well, that was weird, because she helped coordinate this whole thing. She's a social worker."
"She's gorgeous." Leave it to her friend to focus on the important things.
"I think Amanda's figured that out."
Christina raised an eyebrow. "Is that something smug I hear in your voice, Betty?"
She turned away from Christina for a moment, just to hide the tiny smile which was dying to form on her lips. She had to let it slip out, it was hurting her lips too much to keep hiding it. It wasn't that she was enjoying the fact that Selina was distracting all of Bruce's attention with her slinky black dress, and most likely --and more importantly-- her brains. It wasn't that she was enjoying the fact that Amanda's face was slowly turning all sorts of different shades of red as she watched Bruce's attentions slowly turn from her. And it certainly wasn't the fact that she was enjoying seeing Bruce, for once, go for the right girl.
No, she was just smiling to be smiling. Of course.
The two friends watched in silence for a moment as Selina leaned over and whispered something to Amanda that made the other girl's eyes go wide. The blonde looked like she wanted to attack the brunette, though Betty had to think that Amanda would end up relatively dead if that happened. If anything, Selina's muscular arms were only more pronounced in that sheath dress.
Betty toyed with her champagne glass (which was filled with sparkling cider, at this point). "I am not petty."
"I said smug." Christina's eyes followed both Amanda and Selina. "You really need to get over that 'Petty Betty' thing."
"It's a legitimate childhood fear!"
"If someone had actually ever called you that." She gave Betty a knowing look before going back to watching the unfolding drama. "I think Amanda might actually hit her. Shouldn't you … go over and do your assistant thing?"
Betty grinned and shook her head. "I'm thinking Bruce can handle this one himself."
Maybe that would teach him to date dumb blondes.
IV.
"You're not covering the ball for the Planet, are you?"
"No."
"Then what are you doing here?"
"You're friendly as always, Bruce."
"You didn't answer the question."
"Lois is covering the story."
"And you are…?"
"I go where Luthor goes."
"If I see any red and blue…"
"It's my city, Bruce, and sometimes even you need help."
V.
"Quite a few people from Mode here this evening." Though he hated small talk, it was necessary in public, even with someone he considered himself somewhat close with. He took a glass of champagne from a waiter's tray to hand to his assistant. He'd been watching her throughout the night and seeing that she'd been drinking mostly sparkling cider since her first glass of champagne, he didn't feel that she'd be worse off being handed another.
Besides, she seemed to be reverting into that skittish girl he'd met on her first day of work. She needed something to do with her hands.
"Thank you," she said as he handed her the glass. "And, I've only seen Amanda and Christina. Selina too, by the way." She smiled at that.
"Selina isn’t from Mode," Bruce answered gruffly. He glanced down, eyeing the wine glass in his own hand. Selina was a factor he'd not planned for this evening and, admittedly, he'd been almost caught off guard.
"Obviously." Betty's grin widened just a bit. "But, I'm glad she came. All the way from Paris and all."
"Yes." He looked at her. "You could have helped."
She looked back innocently. "Helped with what?"
"I think the evening could have done without the suspense of waiting to see if Amanda actually would hit Selina," Bruce said.
"I don't know, I think Selina could have handled herself."
He smiled behind his glass as he took another sip. "It's not Selina I'd be worried about."
To reveal Lex Luthor's true nature to Betty was one thing. It wasn't a decision Bruce had struggled with in the end, figuring that it was for her own good that she should know such things. There was little point in keeping the secrets of a man with no morals. On the same token, he'd also taken the time to make sure that Betty was well versed in the identities of those Gotham villains who regularly made nightly rounds of the city. He simply thought it was good information to have in one's arsenal.
But then there were the identities of other heroes. Other heroes and, well, Selina. He was constantly mentioning their names around her, but never their alter-egos, figuring that unless it became absolutely necessary for her to know that Oliver Queen ran around in green tights, then he would respect their wishes for anonymity. They were fellow heroes, after all, and though he didn't often get along with them, he respected what they did. It was one circle which he simply couldn't bring Betty into.
Selina was different. Somewhere between hero and villain depending upon the mood she was in, Bruce didn't respect what she did, but he couldn't completely condemn her actions either. She was a thief and there was nothing redeemable in that. But she was an endearing thief.
Bruce didn't know what it was that endeared him to her so, but whatever it was, it also kept him from revealing her secret identity to Betty. He would not tell her that Selina ran to Paris for a few weeks in order to let the publicity on the cat burglar die down; that she went by the name of Catwoman at nights and ran around in black leather; that the first night they'd met she had broken his shoulder. Betty was rather law abiding, God bless her, and in a room surrounded by several high ranking police officers, including the commissioner himself, Bruce decided he would keep such information to himself.
With Betty looking at him expectantly, Bruce decided it was time to change the subject.
"Anyway," he said after a moment. "Like I was saying… Mode's put in showing this evening."
"And like I was saying, I've only seen Amanda and Christina," Betty retorted.
"I saw Wilhelmina Slater over there." Bruce nodded to the right side of the room. The woman in question stood out in a Grecian draped black and white dress. Her hair was piled atop her head, revealing scads of jewelry hanging from her neck and ears. It was tasteful as always and, as every time Bruce had seen her, she looked impeccable. In true socialite form they'd exchanged greetings earlier in the evening, their mutual cool personalities making sure that the meeting hadn't lasted very long at all.
Betty squinted, looking over her glasses in the direction he'd pointed. "Oh, I guess you're right. There's Marc too."
"Her assistant?" He assumed she meant the man with the over stylized hair hovering over her.
"Yep." She shrugged a bit. "I didn't know they were coming."
"Everyone's here." Bruce quickly glanced at her to make sure that she wasn't drinking anything before making his next comment. "I've already told Daniel Meade that you're here as well."
Impressive, Bruce thought with a chuckle, how Betty could choke and sputter on absolutely nothing.