forty one

                                    

                                          
Meredith scrambled through the makeup cluttered across her bathroom counter.
"Stupid makeup team..." she muttered.
She ended up having to do her own hair and makeup due to some stupid last-minute cancellation from her usual team. Which, unfortunately, currently left her in desperate search of her other earring hidden somewhere among the mess.
Meredith glanced at the polished clock on the wall. 
It read 5:26— she currently only had one earring on, no shoes, hair still in rollers, Bruce was nowhere to be found, and they had to be on a red carpet in less than half an hour.
She huffed and threw her hands down. She'd find her stupid earring later.
Meredith started tearing the rollers out of her hair, reaching for her phone, and calling Bruce for the umpteenth time.
It went to voicemail as she walked out to her room and she tossed the device on her bed, nearly stumbling over her green satin dress that draped across the tile floor without her heels on. She entered her closet and found her emerald shoes.
Just as she was slipping them on, she heard the sliding doors to her bedroom open with a whoosh.
She poked her head out just in time to see Batman storming in, dragging rainwater all over her floors from the murky skies outside.
"Where the hell have you been?!" Meredith asked angrily, head still half-full of rollers. "We have to be on a carpet in... thirty-two minutes, Wayne!"
"Busy," he spat out.
She glanced down at the black duffel in his gloved hand, also drenched in water. He pried the cowl back. His hair was messy and half-matted to his head, his face covered in sweat and grime.
"Are you even going to be ready in the next ten minutes?!"
He entered her bathroom. "I'll figure it out."
She watched him pause and inspect the state of the space.
"This is a mess," he noted.
Meredith glared at him. "Well, sorry. I didn't realize I was expecting company via my balcony."
He didn't respond, instead closing the door in her face.
"Wayne! What are you doing?!"
He opened it, looking extremely irritated. "Getting ready."
"You can't be in the bathroom! I only have one earring!"
Bruce tilted his gaze towards the array of products on the counter and reached down, plucking her other diamond earring out of the pile. He handed it to her.
Meredith blinked. How the hell did he find that so fast?
He started to close the door again.
"Well, I still need—!"
He was suddenly handing her a tube of red lipstick.
She faltered. "Lucky guess."
He had barely pulled the door again before she spoke.
"W—"
"Fine," he bit through his teeth, swinging the door wide open. "Just do whatever you want."
She stepped into the bathroom and opened the tube of lipstick, beginning to strategically paint her lips.
Then she saw him in the mirror beginning to strip off his suit.
"What are you doing?!" she shrieked.
He paused, the top of the suit pulled halfway off of his body, and Meredith selectively ignored the glimpse of pale flesh and toned muscle because as much as she wanted to ogle, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction.