Years old. Yeah, that's what it felt like. This explains some things, Bruce had said, and it does. Did. He has a measure of understanding now, and he's not sure if he's glad or not that it matches up with the things he's experienced in his own timeline. He's not sure if he can let himself be glad.

Joker did all those things, to Lois and that world and a child that never had to chance to even try. Joker ... who has been in Bruce's mind, has controlled Bruce's mind. From within. He can still feel it if his attention so much as drifts to the memories; he knows this isn't going to work until he has more distance from it. He knows it may not be possible for it to work at all even if he does get past it, because he's pretty sure if he tells Clark, the other man won't want anything to do with him. As well he shouldn't.

Bruce has never actually felt violated after any kind of incident before and he's had an unfortunate number of them. He's never let himself feel like a victim, because this is the kind of life he chose and all kinds of injury and trauma have befallen him because of it. He still doesn't feel like a victim, but he feels ... wrong.

"Okay," he says again, quieter this time, and some of that wrongness he feels coils into something cold in his chest. Because over the course of this encounter he's realized he probably reciprocates everything. And he can't let it happen.

Chinese food arrives. Saved by the bell.