This was the last time Selina Kyle was everlistening to Mary.

      Look, Selina didn't do "feelings". She didn't do "emotions". And she sure as hell didn't do the dirty L-word.

      ...love.

      She learned to cut love out of her life during her time on the streets. Abandoned by her mother, abused and assaulted by those who came across the little girl, she grew spiteful and dangerous.

      The thief learned quick that you have to be emotionless. You can't love or even admire anyone because people couldn't be trusted. Only cats.

      But then she found a home. A home she didn't want and definitely put up a fight to get out of.

      But Victor and Rosa Vasquez were kind foster parents. They were sweet, treating all of their foster kids equally and actually cared about them. It took a long time for the girl from Gotham, finding it to be an act until finally seeing how genuine they actually were.

      As for the foster kids...they really weren't as bad as Selina expected them to be.

      Darla was a bundle of energy. Constantly hugging the catlike girl, even when she didn't want to be hugged. But she was used to the strong hugs from the six-year-old, finding it almost endearing anyway. Not like she'd admit that out loud, of course.

      Eugene was a gamer and funny as hell. She was never into games until she started living in the Vasquez home, the two spending hours screaming insults at the screen.

      Pedro was quiet and she was pretty sure they had only said four sentences to each other since she's lived there. But she liked the quietness and his music, so she hung around him whenever she could.

      Mary was her roommate. Kind and brave and intelligent Mary. She was always so helpful and the curly-haired girl used to hate it. She wasn't used to having help for no reason. But now she went to her when she needed help with her homework or she couldn't understand her assignment. Sometimes, even just talk about how she's feeling.

      Billy was a lot like her. He ran away from multiple foster homes and were abandoned by their mothers. He was also a thief too, an okay one compared to the girl who's robbed banks quite a few times. But her new foster parents didn't need to know that. However, they were a sarcastic duo no one needed or wanted.

      And then there was Freddy Freeman.

      Fucking Freddy Freeman.

      The son of a bitch with a crutch who softened her stone cold heart. The dick who gave her his beanies when she was cold and read to her his favorite comic books. The asshole who slithered into her life despite trying to push him away until she finally gave him and accepted his unrelenting company.

      She felt warm whenever she was around him.

      Selina felt so at ease with him but at the same time, she wanted to run away. There was a feeling blossoming inside her, something she was beginning to lose control over.

      She noticed the tiniest details about him. How he sometimes mouthed the words he was reading in his comics, the way the ends of his black hair were beginning to curl, how he waved a hand around when he was excitedly talking about Superman.

      What sealed her cruel fate was when he fell asleep during movie night, his head on her shoulder. The catlike teenager didn't move him, instead watched the soft snores leave his pink lips, the way his eyelids would flutter just a little at the slightest sound or movement.

      Shit. She really was doomed. And she really regretted listening to Mary.

      "A letter? Seriously? That's disgusting." Selina said seriously from her position on the bed, an annoyed look gracing her tan face.

      "It's not, it's romantic." Mary argued, looking back at the thief. "Just write him a letter talking about your feelings. Even a poem!"

      "I'm sorry, do I look like someone who writes poems?" She groaned loudly, flopping on her back. "I only told you that I felt weird and nice around him! That doesn't mean I like like him!"

      "Selina, you literally shared your cookie with him last week. You nearly stabbed Eugene with a fork when he tried to steal your cookie the day before." Mary deadpanned.

      The curly-haired girl paused. "That's because I was in a good mood and there can only be one thief around here."

      Mary stared at her, obviously not giving this up. "Selina. Just write something. Whatever you feel about him. You don't even have to say who it's from, it can be anonymous. Like a secret admirer!" She smiled, making the younger girl groan.

      "I don't appreciate being softened like this. It's disgusting."

      "Get used to it, Cat. Now, I have to study, so you should get to writing."

      Selina wouldn't dare admit that she stared at a blank piece of paper for an hour straight, not knowing how to put her feelings into words.

      Don't fucking judge her.

      She hated feeling so vulnerable, it was something she was working on. She might never get better at it. But good lord, the teenager felt like she was suffocating with these emotions and she needed an outlet.

      Before she started trying to hurt Freddy's feelings and push him away.

      She's seen how he looks sad and it felt like a dagger to her gut, slowly twisting.

      Selina chewed on her pen cap for another few minutes, gnawing on it and tapping her long nails to her desk, thinking about Freddy's stupidly pretty face, before she pulled the pen out of her mouth and finally started writing.

      It wasn't supposed to be a poem, she swears she didn't mean to. But it came out and...it didn't sound too bad.

You're dripping like a saturated sunrise. You're spilling like an overflowing sink. You're ripped at every edge...but you're a masterpiece.

      Dear lord...it was almost embarrassing to write that. She felt too sappy. Ugh. But she wasn't lying.

      She had seen him get upset over his disability, crying and she let her walls down and held him, telling him that he was still the strongest boy she knew. And she meant it. He was ripped at every edge, but still a masterpiece to her.

      If anyone else saw her writing this, she would throw herself out of the window and die.

      She felt even more embarrassed to show it to Mary but knew she needed help since her dyslexia got the best of her so many times. And finally, it was finished. All she needed to do was slip it inside his locker somehow.

      So the next time, trying her hardest not to vomit from nerves, Selina slid out of class a few minutes before lunch. She took a deep breath, her hands shaking as she held the folded letter before finally gathering the courage to do what needed to be done.

      Fuck it.

      She slipped it inside the little vents and rushed back to class.

      Her face was flushed, not from running but from the feeling that she just wrote her feelings on paper to a boy she was certain did not reciprocate them. In a poem even!

      Besides, it was highly unlikely that Freddy would find out she wrote it anyway.

      Right?