(Photo: FOX)

The Bat and the Cat. Bruce and Selina. It's a long, strange, and storied relationship between these two characters. It's been on the printed page in DC Comics, and translated to television, film, animation, and even video games. Now, it seems, we'll see the youngest iterations of these two growing closer in Gotham season three. While it's been teased - a first kiss here, a romantic dressed-up black tie party dance there, the pair hs remained ever staunchly just friends. It seems, until now.

"It's great. I think that's exactly what Bruce needs right now," actor David Mazouz, who plays the young Bruce Wayne on the series teased to Comicbook.com during a recent set visit. "He’s taking a step back from investigating at this point, and I think the thing is that he is growing up. The thing that [showrunners] Bruno [Heller] and Danny [Cannon] always say is that Bruce is going to grow up as I grow up. I’m becoming a man, and so is Bruce. What comes with manhood? Confidence, romance, those are things that he is going to explore with Selina."

As mentioned, this relationship isn't coming out of nowhere. Mazouz said that while Bruce needed Selina to guide him in the rougher aspects of Gotham City at first, being "a sheltered kid kid who lived in Wayne Manor and didn’t really know anything beyond those walls," now he's starting to recognize that there's more to her, and to their relationship, than that superficial need.

"Now, at this point, he doesn’t really need her anymore [for that], but he’s still friends with her. So the question is why?" Mazouz teased. "The answer is that they have this connection, and this connection will only grow bigger. That connection will lead Bruce to be determined to take things to the next level.”

Camren Bicondova, who plays Selina Kyle on Gotham, echoed that "they're not pre-teens anymore; they're becoming young men and women!" However, she said that the whole situation is overwhelming for Selina.

"She’s definitely weirded out by [Bruce's new approach], because she’s starting to feel certain emotions that she’s never felt before. We saw a little glimpse of it in season two when Silver St. Cloud was introduced; Selina was feeling a little jealous, but she didn’t understand why. Now, she’s just overwhelmed by the different emotions that are happening. I think that’s the main thing."

Of course, this is Gotham City, so don't expect things to go too smoothly. They'll have to explore their nascent teenaged feelings while also dealing with a bus full of monsters running loose, the Court of Owls, and any number of other villains new and returning, after all.

Gotham returns (with love in the air) on September 19, 2016 at 8 p.m. on FOX.