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They had saved Gotham, after fighting endlessly, defeating the most dangerous villains, everyone was cheering, and yelling with excitement, the noise was like nails on a chalkboard, a cacophony. Batman winced as the people of Gotham city screamed his name, dozens of others asking who Robin was, why Joker changed his mind about destroying the city.
When Bruce glanced over to him he noticed his brows curved slightly, he looked shaken, gloved hands fidgeting with one another, fingers tangled up and dancing together, his demeanor read entirely separate from his normal vibe, Joker was cautious.
Maybe it was the big crowd, but he loved an audience, or it was the overwhelming amount of questions reporters were asking him. Why was he deciding to just stop being a villain, a criminal, so out of nowhere?
Joker and Batman had tried to talk about what they meant to each other, and tried to grapple away. Leave this crowd behind to discuss what this meant now, to Robin, to everyone, to them . They both knew that their relationship with one another had changed at one point, and collectively they accepted that, it was the public that would see it differently, see it and lash out on both of them. He was tense, like everyone was reading his mind, like they all knew he wanted to hold the man with face paint close, cradle him in his arms, praise him for trying to get better, kiss him , tell him he hates him so much.
“You gotta relax, Batman.” Barbara told him, setting a hand on his shoulder, she grinned, taking in his face. He wasn’t wearing his cowl, hadn’t since he fell back into her arms. “We can trust him, he helped us.” She smiled softly, squeezing his shoulder, before running his fingers down his arm, sliding their hands together. It wasn’t like he didn't trust Joker, he was worried about everything else besides the green haired man taking questions from whoever shoved a mic into his face, if something shifted between them both, would Dick be ok with that? Forgive him for falling befriending a now ex-villain? He sighed unsteadily, tightly holding on to her like she’ll dissolve into a puddle of water, so tightly she tightens her grip back, indirectly comforting him, sighing as well with the action.
Suddenly he feels a hand grab onto his forearm, he looks over, seeing a journalist shoving herself in Joker's face, asking him questions and writing down whatever he said even if it was a groan. His brows were knitted together, and his lips quivered as he steadied his breath. He was the one with a hand on his arm, a silent plea for help, to be saved by the hero who saved an entire village of people.
Batman stepped in between the lady and Joker, staring down at her with a scowl, “Back up.” He tells her. She gasps, taking a step back, looking up at him surprised, probably not expecting The Batman to tell her off. She nodded, rushing away, through the big sea of people, basically swimming in the lively citizens.
Batman turns around, looking at Joker, expression softening when their eyes met halfway. “Doing ok?” Bruce asks, setting his hands comfortingly on the side of his arms. “I'm doing fine, Bats.” Joker responded, eyes trailing off to a few feet to the right of them. Bruce follows, glancing around seeing everyone is now surrounding his family. Alfred held Robin on his shoulders, both smiling brightly, his butler almost looked like he de-aged, became a younger form of himself. That made Bruce happy.
Barbara was talking to a few younger girls, encouraging them to work hard and they’ll be someone else's hero in their futures.
Bruce turned to look at Joker again, He was still facing the crowd, his pale skin and red lips glowing in the orange sub light, making him mesmerizing to look at, it made his throat tighten, a loss of words, It was quiet for a moment, the world slowed, and it felt like there were only two people now, only two breathing warm people, Batman and Joker, Joker and Batman, Jon and Bruce, Bruce and Jon.
They were now staring at each other, faces flushing as they both realized how close they were getting in their stop of time. something about the feeling it left while Joker chuckled and stepped away, Bruce almost felt like grief, he had lost something, a chance .
The cacophony died out, only a few kids and parents talking to the heroes, giving autographs, getting advice.
They went back to Wayne manor, Dick showing Barbara around the house, the large flight of stairs, the dining room, guest rooms, his room, the batcave, and much more. Bruce stayed behind with the Joker and Alfred. “Would you like some tea Jon?” The older man asked, as he helped himself out of the bat suit he was wearing, revealing another more presentable suit beneath. Somehow he still wasn’t sweating. “Uh no thanks..” He says back wearily.
“You, Master Bruce?” He sets the latex suit down, before heading directly to the kitchen. “No, I’m good Alfred” The butler nods in response, going into the kitchen anyway.
“I’m not used to seeing your face..” Joker says as he walks around the front room, gliding his hand across a long table. He was slowly taking in the decor, while Bruce was taking in his beauty. “Am I who you thought I’d be?” He asks, following him close behind.
“Definitely not.. Kind of was expecting anyone but Bruce fucking Wayne” Joker chuckles, stopping his pacing at the edge of the first step of the stairs ahead of them. Bruce takes his hand, “You don’t see me any different?”
“Not at all, Bats, once I saw your face I pieced everything together and it made sense,” He tells him sincerely “You’re still the same man that I.. well..” He stops, he knows it’s too early for that, they just got back to the manor, and weren’t even in a private place to discuss what was blooming and tangling them both up. “Bruce..” He mutters under a breath, Bruce braces for a large bomb of emotions. “What do you think of me?” He asks, sliding his hands into his pants pockets, looking up at Bruce, his dark wavy hair drooping down his face, the same one that was now bright red with blush. He felt his mouth run dry, his tongue feeling like sandpaper as he tried to wet it again. “Well.. Jon, your my friend” And just saying that pains him, but again this is a private matter, not a topic to speak about in the middle of the mansion where anyone can walk in at any moment to disrupt.
“We’re friends?” He says back quietly, like it wasn’t what Bruce said, almost like he thought it would be impossible to hear that from the man next to him. “Yea,” He confirms “You mean a lot to me, even if a bit ago we were fighting each other to death.” Jon nods agreeing.
“Dad!” Dick calls running down the stairs with Babs right behind him, he has a wide toothy grin and the lady behind him has a smile, “Do you think we can go get icecream? Barbara said she’ll pay!” He asks, jumping on the tips of his feet, creasing his shoes, you’d mistake the teen for a 10 year old if you saw the action from afar. Bruce looked between his son and co-worker, then to Joker who gave him a nod, “I suppose, but be back before Alfred has dinner ready.” He tells him, patting his boys back with a hardy chuckle. Bruce isn’t used to being a dad yet, technically in the week of Dicks adoption he wasn’t present, he was too busy making sure the Joker was contained in arkham. Now he is around, within the day he has known the kid he has decided that he is totally worth it, and now Dick is a hero just like him.
Grayson whoops throwings his arms into the air as he cartwheels to the front door in excitement, he laughs awkwardly, “I don’t know why I did that- Let's go Lady Commissioner!” he calls Barbara as he rushes out the large front doors of the Manor. She starts to follow, rubbing Bruce’s back while she walks past, “Make sure he doesn’t get into trouble Babs.” Bruce says to her, watching as she waves him off and then she’s gone.
“You just parented Bats, good job” Joker says encouragingly, lightly punching his arm, it nudges Bruce, and they both softly laugh. Something in his gut twist, maybe it's just the lack of food, or the sleep deprivation, those are actually just excuses, it’s because Joker’s laugh is so full, it always had been but with a new light shining onto him the laugh was no longer a cacophony, but a melody, a violinist symphony. Bruce smiles, intrusively grabbing Joker’s hand. “Do you want a tour?”
They walk around together, Bruce explaining what’s what, and explaining everything and anything Joker asked. “Oh this one is nice, looove the background” He grins, looking up at the first Bat family portrait. Dick is smiling so wide, wider than he was earlier, same with Barbara and Alfred. Bruce was in the middle smiling as well. That moment was special but dreadful, if Batman could change one action in that moment, is when he sent his friends away so he can protect them, a huge mistake and now he swears they’ll always work together. The background though, the one Joker loves too much, is a pool of lava and rocks around the Wayne manor, it's pretty, nowhere near safe. “Look at you, smiling all giddy here.. wow ” He says softly, running a finger down the face of Batman.
Bruce stares, not really knowing what to say or do, so he stares. Joker looks at all of the framed photos on the wall, “These are your parents?” He asks after a minute of just analyzing the picture. Bruce nods, he knows the other can’t see it but he does anyway. “That’s them.” He says.
“They look lovely..” Joker says, as he walks away slowly, motioning for him to follow, “Show me something else, I wanna see something badass” He grins once Bruce catches up. “Badass?” He raises a brow.
Bruce takes him to the Batcave, they slide down the pole, and singing whatever Joker started to mutter before they arrive at the entrance, laughing together as they walk along the path to his computer. Bruce has his arm around Joker's shoulder, pointing and telling him what everything is. Sure the clown was here hours ago, raiding his home, but now it’s different, he wants to change. Joker leans into his chest, listening to Bruce ramble, the action almost causes his heart to stop, but it skips a beat instead, he tries to ignore his pounding heart, thinking the other will hear it’s excitement of his physical contact, so he continues, he talks and talks, going on and on about whatever he could so he can ignore the pace of his heart.
They reached the large screens glowing on the wall, Joker looks up at them in awe, again like he hasn’t ever seen them, it’s probably sarcasm, an over dramatic reaction to seem like he is more interested then he really is, all of this is boring, he has seen it all once, would he need to see it a second time- “This place is great” Joker says, and it doesn’t even land, Bruce knows it’s not a joke, but there isn’t a punch, or a evil laugh to fit with the sentence, Joker is just being honest, he actually is enjoying this, enjoying his time being shown around the house again, now that he has a new way of seeing things. It isn’t every day that a super Villain who wants to kill everyone just decides that ‘nevermind! being a villain sucks fuck you guys’ and runs away to a family, a bat family. Sitting in Batman's chair, Joker is twirling around before Bruce stops it from spinning and turns him to face away from the computer, and at himself. “Can we talk?” He puts it bluntly.
“Oh” the other practically gasps from the sit, putting his hands in his lap, “sure” He says, sitting up straight looking up at Bruce for him to start. But he doesn’t, he stares and like before his mouth goes dry, he knows what to say but not how to announce it, Joker watches him, mouth open slightly in his wait. Bruce inhales sharply, clearing his throat while he realizes how nice Joker looks sitting in his chair, his legs crossed with his delicate hands set on his thighs, he looks great, and it was horribly distracting. “I can start if you want.. assuming I know what this is about.” He says, looking away and down st the floor, Bruce nods at him.
“Do you like me, Bruce?” He lays it out on their nonexistent table. Bruce tenses. “Shit I’m wrong, nevermind, ignore that question— Uuhuhhmm..” His insides twist again, and he feels his face warm up, immediately he shakes his head, “No no.. Jon, I,” He holds it on the tip of his tongue, scared he’ll admit it then the line they are on will be crossed and that it will disappear into thin air if they confirm their suspicions. Bruce shakes his head again, looking away, he feels embarrassed , he has felt this feeling for too long, admitting it aloud is more tense than he thought, he hates it. How could he say this out loud without being ripped apart when Joker denies what they have, had . He takes a shaky breath, and lays it out on their table, “I think I might love you.” He says immediately turning his entire body away from the other. Joker laughs, the one that was a melody, the one he loves so, so much. “Love me?” He says through thick and loud giggles and chuckles, the sound is so sweet, Bruce thinks it would be better to just say he was lying and run away again, act like this never happened, and remove the Joker from his life entirely..But he doesn’t. Joker means too much to him, kicking him out of his life meant from his heart too, he couldn’t and probably wouldn’t ever do that, the feelings he has for the clown are too strong to dump them and rush away, so he doesn’t, instead he turns around to face the Joker.
“I love you, Jon.”
“Aww, Batsy” He coos, he isn’t taking him seriously..
“I’m serious,” Bruce tells him, “Jon I do, I really really do.” Joker’s eyes round, and go wide, his pale skin going a soft shade of pink, and it’s beautiful. The sight makes Bruce flush, his cheeks going a deep shade of red. Joker smiles, pushing himself up and out of the chair, walking a few steps and standing right infront of Bruce, a foot between them both.
“Are you serious ..?” He asks softly, lifting his hand to grab at the other man’s.
“Very.” He says immediately.
Suddenly they have no space between them, Joker has his hands on either side of Bruce’s face, their lips dancing together, Bruce quickly steadied their bodies by grabbing the other's waist, feeling the dips in his hips that his pants hid from him. Joker moved his hands up his jaw, feeling every edge with his thumb as he guided his palm lightly to the top of his head, brushing his pale fingers through his raven hair. Bruce softly hums, gripping Jokers back tightly. He can’t tell if this is real life, so scared that it’s a cruel dream tricking him to think this is happening, that they’re lips were together, that Joker was softly moaning into his mouth, breathing heavily as they don’t pull away for a while, He is scared that he’ll evaporate in his hands, and turn to mist like nothing. Joker moves a hand down to hold onto Bruce’s, rubbing his knuckles comfortingly, while he pulls away from their kissing, gasping heavily as he leans his head into the nook of Bruce’s neck and shoulder, lightly kissing his showing skin.
He breathes heavily, moving his arms up to wrap around Jokers back, digging his nails into his coat, tugging it. Joker moves away, shimmying out of it, Bruce watches the clothing fall down his shoulders to the ground, and immediately they pull each other back into their messy make out.
Bruce rubs up and down Joker’s waist, feeling every curve of his body, eventually making his way up his button up. His body was warm but shivering from the cold of his gloves, he takes that was a hint to remove them from his hands, he discards them to the floor with the coat, and goes back to pulling Joker closer and closer to himself even though there is not space left to fill, the fit together like puzzle pieces in a jigsaw game. Bruce bites his bottom lip, hearing Joker groan into his mouth, sending shivers up and down his spine.
Nothing could describe the feeling both of them were going through, like a flame has just been lit and would be impossible to distinguish. Bruce’s heart was beating quickly, Jokers as well. They both felt lightheaded from the lack of air but the last thing on their minds was pulling away and losing the chance to keep kissing the other.
It was only until they heard the entrance to the batcave open did they pull apart with heavy pants and soft murmurs of wows and each other’s names.
“Batman?” Barbara called from the other side of the room, her voice echoing as she approached them. Joker quickly slid his coat back on top of his clothing, Bruce putting his gloves on too, fixing each other up before she could even assume they were doing anything but talking about the tour. “Oh hi Joker, I thought you left already,” She said curiously with a smile.
“Lovely to see you again miss commissioner, Brucey was just giving me a tour of the good ol’ Batcave” He said confidently, patting Bruce’s shoulder with a wide wild grin.
“Pfft- No need to call me commissioner, Barbara is fine” She told him, stepping closer to the two at the computer, “What are you guys looking at?” Bruce quickly puts something on the screen, that being the security cameras. “Looking over the camera’s making sure nothing was left in the manor after cleaning up, y’know the usual” He shrugs, voice raspy from the kissing. Barbara raises a brow suspiciously, but ignores it, “Well Alfred told me to come call you up for dinner, come on you two.” She turns around on her heel, walking back where she came from.
Bruce turns to Joker, and they softly laugh at each other. Joker brushes a hand through his hair, getting up from leaning on the computer desk. “Shall we finish quickly?” He smiles.
Bruce grabs his hand and pulls him in, kissing him quickly before saying “Lets.”
Sitting at the dinner table, changed and in normal attire, they ate lobsters. Dick was the star of the table, talking about his days in the orphanage, and how awesome it’s gonna be to be raised but the richest guy in Gotham and the greatest hero. Joker listens with his hand leaned on his hand, picking at his foot, Bruce sat beside him, hand gingerly on his thigh, lightly squeezing it and tapping his finger.
They were acting completely normal, like they didn’t just have to clean the Batcave of its ick. They shared glances not so secretly, but everyone ignored it, and let the two be.
After dinner Bruce walked the Joker to his room, hand in hand still, giddy and laughing as they entered the bedroom. It was large, a bed next to a window, and right before the closet was an in room bathroom. Joker looked around, to be in Batman's bedroom was exciting, he practically jumped into his large bed, wrapping himself in his clean warm sheets. Bruce smiled, sitting on the bed as well, kicking his shoes off and laying down on his back, letting Joker take all of the blanket, he laid his hands on his chest, listening to Joker hum softly, hearing his shoes hit the wooden floor, making a loud thump echo through the high raised room.
They laid in silence, Bruce assuming Jon fell asleep, hearing him breathing softly muffled by the dark sheets. He sighs, scratching the top of his hand, the nerves kicking in.
What happened in the Batcave will stay in the cave, but it was so special, the event, he loves Joker, he admitted it to him, out loud .
He didn’t know if he felt the same, or almost as strongly, but he could at least assume..? Joker kissed him- no, more than kissed him.
Bruce inhales sharply as Joker rolls over, his green hair peeking out of the bundle he trapped himself in. He shuffled around for a minute before he gasped, popping his head out, hair curling around his face. “Still awake, Brucey?” He whispered to him, face flushed.
“Yea..”
“Is something bothering you?” Joker says, untangling himself from his cocoon, sharing the blanket now. Bruce flips on his side to face the other man, being greeted with a soft smile, it nearly melts him, almost breaks his heart because it’s so full of love, and so full of worry, it causes Bruce to squeeze his eyes shut, trying to blink it away, but when he opens them again it still stands. Joker blinks at him, patiently waiting for him to talk. “I know we kind of already talked about it..” Bruce pauses, “..Jon, I told you that I.. I love you, but you didn’t say..” He stops abruptly, seeing Joker’s face turn six different expressions, realization, grimace being some.
“Shit,” He gasps, “I’m sorry Bruce..” Joker scoots closer to him, cupping the right side of his face with his left hand, slowly rubbing his cheek. “I totally forgot to tell you how I feel, Batsy.. I love you too” His words cause Bruce to quietly whimper, he leans into his touch, kissing Joker's palm. Bruce shuts his eyes, grabbing Joker’s wrist, and gently rubbing his knuckles, taking in his scent, he smelt of facepaint and gunpowder, it should’ve smelt horrific but it instead made him comfortable. Everything was right, or at least felt right, it made Bruce’s heart settle now, calmly beating a soft rhythm.
Joker scooted closer to him, moving his hand down his face to his neck, “Can I kiss you?” He asks, leaning in more to where their noses touched and brushed against each other’s. Bruce nods, feeling his lips gently brush against his own, continuing to waltz with one another, slowly and softly, sending sparks through Bruce’s entire body, he hums, leaning in more deepening the kiss, until Joker pulls away and sighed, breathing out “I love you so much, Bruce.” He tells him sincerely.
The room falls silent, the only audible noise being their breathing against each other's skin.
“It’s I and you..” Jon whispers, dozing off with half lidded eyes, and a smirk.
“It’s you and I..” Bruce sighs, leaning their foreheads together.