Chapter Text
It’s supposed to be a night like any other.
All the steps, performed. All the surprises, sprung, defeated and set aside. All the motions, gone through. And now the foreplay is done and it’s down to what it's really about: the two of them struggling together up close and personal in a dirty alley, heaving, straining and pushing and pulling, dirty and violent and bloody and brutal as it ever gets between them. Joker trying to stab him with knives he pulls out his jacket, his pants, his boots, always coming up with new ones no matter how many of them Bruce forces him to drop; and Bruce keeping him at bay with punches and shoves and kicks that he measures out, holding the worst of them back until the right time.
Which should be soon. Joker’s still giving it his all, the way he always does, but they both know he’ll fall soon, and they both know he’s looking forward to it.
There. He’s ready for it now. Bruce can read it in the way his body takes longer than it usually does to pick itself back up from the ground; in the way Joker wipes the blood spurting from his nose; in the way he pants. In the way his eyes flash when he looks up at Bruce. He’s had his fill, he’s sated now, he’s earned his rest, and all that’s left is a kiss goodnight to help him find it.
Good.
Bruce grabs a hold of Joker’s lapel and pulls him in close. Joker tries to fight him even now, even through the glint of recognition and anticipation of pleasure in his eyes. Bruce hides a smile of his own as he maneuvers him for the best position to take the final swing, nice and wide, the one that’ll take Joker out and give them both what they need.
He pulls on Joker so Joker’s back faces the mouth of the alley, closes his fist, and takes the swing.
The bullet gets there first.