“Good Riddance (A Lie He Keeps Telling)”

Intro.

It’s been a while since the break.

Not a “we’re taking space” break. Not a “we’ll talk when things cool down” break. The kind that slams doors and rattles picture frames and leaves you standing there wondering how you managed to detonate your own life with both hands.

Terry’s good at explosions. Turns out he’s even better at emotional ones.

“Yeah. I know. I screwed up.”

He says it out loud now, to no one in particular. The Batcave doesn’t judge—Bruce does that enough for the both of them—but the cave also doesn’t forgive. It just echoes.

The thing is, Terry knew she’d be mad. He hadn’t been around. Patrols ran long, excuses got shorter, texts went unanswered because “I’ll reply after this” kept turning into sunrise. He told himself it was temporary. Necessary. Hero stuff.

And then there was the argument. Loud music, flashing lights, her voice sharp over the bass as she told him—again—that she needed him to actually be there. Not half-there. Not “sorry, Bat-signal” there.

He remembers rolling his eyes. He remembers saying something stupid. Something sharp.

And yeah. That’s when he noticed someone else noticing him.It wasn’t supposed to be a thing.

That’s what Terry tells himself, anyway.

The girl was easy in a way that felt like relief. No expectations. No history. No disappointment tucked behind her smile. She laughed at his jokes like they were actually funny, leaned in close like he wasn’t already slipping away from something better.

And God, he liked it.

He liked the attention. Liked being wanted without being needed. Liked the way his heart jumped when someone new looked at him like he wasn’t already failing someone else.

That should’ve been his warning sign.

Instead, he let himself get wrapped up in it—let the distraction feel like freedom. Let himself forget that freedom without accountability is just another word for running.

He remembers the day it all fell apart with brutal clarity.

The door opening. The sudden stillness. The way the room seemed to tilt when he saw her standing there.

He didn’t even have time to explain.

Not that there was an explanation.

Her fury wasn’t loud. That’s the part that sticks with him. It was quiet, controlled, devastating. The kind of anger that comes after disappointment has already hollowed something out.

She didn’t scream.

She looked at him.

At them.

And Terry swears he felt something inside him crack clean in half.

The door slammed a second later, hard enough to shake the walls, and suddenly he was sitting there on the couch with someone who suddenly meant absolutely nothing.

The other girl asked if he was okay. He laughed. A sharp, ugly sound. “Yeah,” he said. “Great.”

Good riddance, he told himself later. It was gonna happen anyway. He was Batman. He didn’t have time for normal. Didn’t deserve it. Didn’t—

Liar.

He knows that now.

Because the suit doesn’t stop the ache. Patrol doesn’t drown out the way his thoughts trip over her name. Being Batman doesn’t make him any less of a guy who screwed up the best thing he had.

“I’m supposed to be better than this,” he mutters, fists clenched at his sides. “I save the city. I stop maniacs. I—”

He can’t even finish it.Because what kind of hero can’t own up to his own mess?

Pride’s a funny thing. It keeps him upright when he wants to collapse, and it keeps him silent when he should be begging. He tells himself she doesn’t want to see him. That he’d only make it worse. That showing up would be selfish.

But then he remembers her laugh. The way she used to look at him like she believed in him, even when he didn’t.

And that’s worse than any punch he’s ever taken.So here he is. Out of the suit. No mask to hide behind. Standing somewhere he hasn’t been invited to, heart in his throat, rehearsing words he knows he’ll mess up anyway.

“I don’t deserve another chance,” he practices under his breath. “I know that. I just—”

He exhales, scrubs a hand through his hair.

“God, Terry, you sound pathetic.”

Maybe he is.

But maybe that’s what being honest looks like. He raises his hand. Hesitates. Lowers it. Lowers it. Raises it again. This isn’t about fixing things. It’s about owning what he broke.

The door is right there.