though someone had only stepped away, stayed untouched. the night stretched on.

it was late. too late.
but he stayed, because
she said she’d come.

————————————

absentmindedly over a broken circuit board, turning it in his hands.

his gaze kept drifting to the door, then to the clock, and back again, a silent loop of restless waiting. the empty chair across from him, pushed back just slightly as [ … ]

past the point where any reasonable soul would’ve already called it a night.

*but the lab
wasn’t empty.*

perched on the edge of his cluttered desk, bruce sat alone, the flickering glow of a monitor painting faint blue lines across his face. his fingers moved [ … ]