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Jonathan’s concentration was interrupted by the trill of the digital clock on his desk- apathetic to his bleary, half-glazed mental state. Dog-earing his spot, Jonathan definitively slammed his book shut and smacked at the alarm button until it became quiet again. Once again, he had chosen his research over a night’s rest, and he was starting to feel the repercussions.
From outside his study, he could hear the creak and groan of mattress coils as his partner woke up; a few minutes later, Bane gingerly poked his head through the door. Jonathan offered him a tired grin, and motioned him to come inside. Slowly, Bane made his way to his partner’s desk and pulled up another chair. With a quiet sigh, Jonathan slouched over to rest his head against Bane’s broad, warm chest.
“Did you stay up all night, again?” Bane asked, fondly carding his fingers through Jonathan’s disheveled hair. Jonathan said nothing, deciding to close his eyes and quietly lean into his partner’s touch. Perhaps the sleep deprivation had tamed his aversion to touch, or perhaps he had grown spoiled by Bane’s gentle caresses, but it felt nice.
“Not all night,” Jonathan assured him, eyes still shut. “I blacked out between two and three.”
“Ah, is that so?”
“Yeessss, so I *technically* got some sleep. No need to scold me.”
Bane paused… and pulled his hands back, crossing his arms.
“You know I don’t scold- you’re an adult, and you are more than capable of making your own decisions… Although,” he added hesitantly, “I am curious as to what’s kept you up these past few days.”
Jonathan slid the book in front of him over to Bane, who picked it up with piqued interest. “It’s a rare medical textbook that discusses how hormones in the brain can be stimulated- I’m curious to see if there’s anything I can salvage for my research.”
“Wouldn’t it be more useful to consult a modern textbook?”
“That’s what I thought, but old stuff like this has all kinds of forgotten ideas that, under proper circumstances, might yield some results...” Replied Jonathan, trailing off with a yawn.
“I see…” Bane flipped through a few more pages, pausing once or twice to decipher some of the chicken-scratch Jonathan had etched into the margins of the paragraphs, and returned the book. “I’m... glad that you found something of interest, I was concerned that your seclusion might have been caused by something else.”
Jonathan furrowed his brows. “...How so?”
The room grew still. Tense. Bane rubbed the back of his neck, and clenched his jaw. “Have I done anything to displease you? You haven’t even come out to share a meal, and I… You know that I would never hurt you, don’t you? You… can trust me.” He murmured, lowering his head. “I promise.”
Jonathan twitched in his chair, and felt his chest tighten. No one ever cared when he shut himself from everything to study, so he had gotten used to the isolation. No one has ever… missed him. Wanted him. Cared for him.
Not like Bane does.
No one gets him the same way that Bane does- he's had colleagues, acquaintances, hell- even a handful of friends... But Bane is so much more to him. He's intelligent, curious, and is steady and stalwart in all the ways that Jonathan had longed to find in a partner. He had this zest, this fire in his eyes that twisted Jonathan's stomach into knots- a fire that he felt every time they talked into the early hours of the morning, every time they would accidentally brush hands with each other while sharing a space, and every night they spent in the same bed. Bane made Jonathan feel listened to, appreciated... and safe. They both had started from absolutely nothing and yet... somehow... they found each other.
Bane has been the best thing to happen to Jonathan in a long time, and it terrified him. He's never been with someone who he feels comfortable enough to be vulnerable around, and he still hasn't gotten used to it. Jonathan spent years of his life studying human emotions... and even now, he struggles to articulate his own feelings to his own boyfriend. Perhaps... without intending to, he had been avoiding Bane... because Jonathan didn't want to confront his newfound tenderness, and admit to himself that he isn't the infallible Master of Fear that he convinced himself he was. Bane made him feel like a human again, and it forced him to come to terms with those pesky emotions that came with it.
“Bane… of course I trust you.” He rose from his desk, and wrapped his arms around his partner’s waist. “I love spending time with you, and I’m sorry that it seemed like I was avoiding you… I didn’t realize I was neglecting our relationship.”
Jonathan swallowed thickly, and shuffled his feet along the carpet. “I’m still new to this.” He gestured awkwardly to the air between himself and Bane. “To us.”
“As am I.” Bane glanced at the floor. “But I want to change that.”
Jonathan gently cupped his hand against Bane’s cheek. “Let me make it up to you…” His long fingers skated along his partner’s chiseled, rugged jawline, and he leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips. His skin always tasted a bit like sweat and leather, but Jonathan had quickly grown to love it- it was its own kind of drug. Bane quietly released the breath he had been holding, and leaned into the embrace.
“10:00,” Announced Jonathan.
Another kiss. “10:01,”
“What-” Bane gently pulled away. “What are you doing?”
“A kiss” Jonathan explained. “For every minute you slept in bed alone.” He lavished Bane’s face with more kisses. Bane’s mouth tugged upward into a broad grin, and his hand slowly wandered up to press against the small of Jonathan’s back. Within seconds, the two were too busy kissing each other to think about anything else, occasionally breaking off to laugh. Too breathless to speak, they touched their foreheads together.
“I haven’t eaten anything in two days,” Jonathan explained. “I’m quite out of it.”
“You also haven’t showered,” replied Bane. “So I’ll make us something to eat while you do that. You *also* still owe me 437 kisses- and I will absolutely hold you accountabl- ”
Jonathan cut him off. “436, actually. Besides, we have all day, don’t we?”