Once Part 5
This is the 5th and FINAL part to "Once," which in turn is the fifth and final installment of my fic series "Singles Awareness Day." This fic has been inexcusably long, and is rated NC-17 for graphic porn. But that's pretty much done with in this fic now.
No, really. Y'know what, just read it. You'll know what I mean.
I never guaranteed a happy ending.
Joker, perhaps because he had been more aware and accepting of their unique bond before Bruce had been, was the first to come back to himself. He was still on the verge of unconsciousness, but it was worlds closer to home than where he and Bruce had just been. He was barely aware of the feeling of Bruce’s heated flesh humming against his own, and he was content to bask in the glow he was starting more and more to be able to perceive. Soon his senses returned, and with it the reek of sex in his nostrils and the luxurious ache in his muscles, and the lingering contentment of previous release in his groin. He breathed deeply against Bruce’s ear that he found his face buried against, and used what little strength his body still possessed to wrap his limbs even tighter around the body of his foe.
The strong limbs that wrapped around his own body a second later in response alerted him that Bruce was awakening as well, and the two felt their heads reposition slightly to be facing each other nose-to-nose. Still they didn’t open their eyes or stir any further, and they were both quite inwardly pleased that the other declined to do so either. For however many moments they could still steal away with, they were content to lay limp in each other’s arms, with nothing but their intermingling gentle breath and lulling heartbeats together to anchor them to reality.
Bruce regained the strength to open his eyes, and a second later he saw Joker’s lids flutter open as well. The subdued yet so strikingly bright light in pairs both blue and green sent another languid spark of warmth through their cores, but also one of warning. Warning them that their time was running out. It was now almost eight-thirty in the morning, and with the rising sun came the advent of their separate lives again. But still they didn’t move from each other, simply relaxed in the other man’s arms and eyes as they savored what little time was left for them to enjoy, before the magic night took its leave forever in all but the stages of their memories.
They stirred from the bed at the same time, unsure who had instigated the first move, but decided in the end that it was better off that way; if it had been known neither one would be able to forgive him. The mess of blood and semen left behind would be thrown out with the sheets by the maids once they reached the twelfth floor, assuming it to have been left behind by Wayne and his band of merry hookers that he had undoubtedly reserved the top three floors of the hotel for tonight. No one would suspect a thing.
They started the silent quest for their strewn garments at the foot of the bed, where Bruce grabbed the lower layer of mesh while Joker put on his boxers once more. Before pulling his pants on, he walked over to where his shirt was laying, shrugging into it and buttoning it up before covering the rest of his legs. Bruce set to work at reattaching the Kevlar at his legs, and pulled his boots back on. Joker refastened his suspenders, then crossed the room again for his tie and vest.
Each went about their separate tasks as Bruce next went for the mesh that he pulled back over his torso, and as he reached for his belt on the floor Joker walked past him for his shoes and socks, the only objects still remaining at the foot of the bed. Once his shoes were laced up on his feet again, testing the blade contained within for working order, he walked back to the room’s entryway to retrieve his overcoat, rifling through the pockets for what was required as Bruce refitted his cape over his armored shoulders. Joker found what he was looking for, and withdrew a small case of hair dye and his makeup tubes, and padded into the bathroom for the sink.
Bruce still stood in the doorway fitting his Kevlar onto his front as the forest green raked through Joker’s hair, obscuring the sunshine locks in its signature wild color again. Once finished, he returned the empty container to his pockets and spread the colors of white, red, and black to his sun-kissed face once more. His purple gloves snaked onto his fingers just as Bruce’s gloves slid onto his own hands, and it took them the same amount of time to adjust the fastenings again to their liking. When at last Joker pulled his waistcoat and overcoat over his shoulders he stepped out of the bathroom, greeted by the sight of Batman just finishing putting on his cowl.
They stared at each other for a moment, breathless that the enemy they knew so well had resurfaced in full splendor from the naked man they now knew so deeply. The pounding of the proverbial clock tolled in their minds as they now realized they were fully dressed again, and had no other purposes in the hotel room. There were scarcely any moments left for them to steal.
They took a slow step towards each other, paused. Then completed the stride and closed the distance between their bodies, Kevlar rippling against cloth as they kissed slowly and fully in each other’s arms that snaked about their shoulders to hold them close. They couldn’t ignore the bat insignia on Batman’s chest, nor the greasepaint lathered on Joker’s face, but neither could they let the events of last night go without completing the event to its fullest. Their tongues sought each other gracefully and with a quieted passion, contained in the light of their soul-binding experiences hours ago.
Their lips ceased their rhythmic movements against each other, and held together in the quiet of the moment, imprinting every last texture and feel of the other’s lips, committing them to memory before they gradually broke apart for what they knew was the last time. So many emotions then rose up in Batman’s chest, and he knew what he wanted to happen afterward that could never follow, and he didn’t know which words he wanted to say first, which ones he even could say, which were there already and which would smolder deep within his soul forever. But then it came to him that what he wanted most desperately was to answer Joker’s question.
“I - ”
“I know.”
Their eyes opened fully to each other’s, both jarred out of orbit upon hearing the rusty, ragged, hoarse voice of the Joker, and realized that they had spent the entirety of last night without so much as a single word passing out loud between them. That was why it felt so strange to hear actual speech in their ears, but then they concluded that they were, and had always been, men of actions far more than of words.
Joker’s eyes took on an even deeper and solemn softness as his mouth crept into the slightest hints of a smile. “I know,” he repeated in a rasping whisper. And there was nothing else that needed to be, or ever truly could be, spoken between them any further at that moment. In such knowledge Batman’s mouth ghosted to an almost-grin just as Joker had, and in the last desperate act of stealing a final moment they both gently fell into the other’s embrace, holding the other to them close against the world that was beginning to catch up to them, wanting that last savor of heat before it ended.
After the endless moment that couldn’t have been any shorter to them, they slid from each other’s grasps and walked to the door. The locks were undone, the latch removed, and they stepped out into the hallway to go their separate ways, walking in opposite directions. Batman to the ascending numbers and the window that lay at the end of the corridor, Joker to the descending numerals towards the stairs he had climbed up just last night, however impossible that fact of another lifetime now seemed.
They walked slowly away, towards their separate goals, creating more and more distance between them as their minds swirled with what they were walking away from, but their feet couldn’t be halted for anything. However, gradually, their footsteps did slow, the weight of their fate bearing down on their united souls in full force. They were walking away from what they had craved beyond anything for a year, and after this there was no going back, and there would be no regrets that could be addressed. Their battle would rise up and assume its rightful place in the world as usual.
They stopped cold in the hallway, breaking the taboo of their fate ever further, daring just how far it could be stretched. In unison they turned behind them to look back at the distant form of their soulmate, to realize that the other had done the same. Blue eyes stared back at green with promises whispered and secrets known between them, silent truths that they would no longer be able to walk away from in their hearts. The iron heartbeat coming from room 1254 at the midpoint between the distance that separated them was the only sound that rang through their heads in the still hallway.
They could have been expected to damn fate to hell and run at each other to leap into their yearning arms, never to part from this dream again. They could have wildly thrown themselves at each other and rushed back into the hotel room, living off room service and never leaving the other’s heat to the end of their days.
But such happy endings were not what were written for them.
They broke from the other’s gaze with every last ounce of resolve they still possessed, feeling something break in the air as the other left their sights and senses, and something else far more powerful remain strong in their hearts, as the world called their fabled names.
Throughout the weeks and years to follow, they would continue on just as they had before. Joker would continue to mock Batman, while Batman would continue to beat Joker to a pulp and take him to Arkham, only for Joker to escape as he was inevitably prone to do and continue their eternal struggle. Neither would win, but neither would they lose.
They never made love again.
Plenty opportunities were presented to them to reenact the heavenly sin they had committed together, but they instinctively passed the chances by. For they knew that any other attempts to recreate the unifying transformation their souls had undergone would be ultimately futile. The sacredness of their one night together should remain untarnished by any foolhardy attempts to reach those same heights. So they abandoned those pursuits for their more urgent callings in life.
But in the brief moments that an almost-peace descended over them whilst alone except for each other, they knew the same warmth that had stirred within them was mutually felt, and had remained with them ever since the night in room 1254. For even till the inevitable moment came that they would destroy each other and the world with it at the very end, they had the emergence of their divine bond to buoy them up in their state of firm absolution. For the rest of their days together, as they both deeply knew, they were one. They were whole.
They were complete.
No, really. Y'know what, just read it. You'll know what I mean.
I never guaranteed a happy ending.
Joker, perhaps because he had been more aware and accepting of their unique bond before Bruce had been, was the first to come back to himself. He was still on the verge of unconsciousness, but it was worlds closer to home than where he and Bruce had just been. He was barely aware of the feeling of Bruce’s heated flesh humming against his own, and he was content to bask in the glow he was starting more and more to be able to perceive. Soon his senses returned, and with it the reek of sex in his nostrils and the luxurious ache in his muscles, and the lingering contentment of previous release in his groin. He breathed deeply against Bruce’s ear that he found his face buried against, and used what little strength his body still possessed to wrap his limbs even tighter around the body of his foe.
The strong limbs that wrapped around his own body a second later in response alerted him that Bruce was awakening as well, and the two felt their heads reposition slightly to be facing each other nose-to-nose. Still they didn’t open their eyes or stir any further, and they were both quite inwardly pleased that the other declined to do so either. For however many moments they could still steal away with, they were content to lay limp in each other’s arms, with nothing but their intermingling gentle breath and lulling heartbeats together to anchor them to reality.
Bruce regained the strength to open his eyes, and a second later he saw Joker’s lids flutter open as well. The subdued yet so strikingly bright light in pairs both blue and green sent another languid spark of warmth through their cores, but also one of warning. Warning them that their time was running out. It was now almost eight-thirty in the morning, and with the rising sun came the advent of their separate lives again. But still they didn’t move from each other, simply relaxed in the other man’s arms and eyes as they savored what little time was left for them to enjoy, before the magic night took its leave forever in all but the stages of their memories.
They stirred from the bed at the same time, unsure who had instigated the first move, but decided in the end that it was better off that way; if it had been known neither one would be able to forgive him. The mess of blood and semen left behind would be thrown out with the sheets by the maids once they reached the twelfth floor, assuming it to have been left behind by Wayne and his band of merry hookers that he had undoubtedly reserved the top three floors of the hotel for tonight. No one would suspect a thing.
They started the silent quest for their strewn garments at the foot of the bed, where Bruce grabbed the lower layer of mesh while Joker put on his boxers once more. Before pulling his pants on, he walked over to where his shirt was laying, shrugging into it and buttoning it up before covering the rest of his legs. Bruce set to work at reattaching the Kevlar at his legs, and pulled his boots back on. Joker refastened his suspenders, then crossed the room again for his tie and vest.
Each went about their separate tasks as Bruce next went for the mesh that he pulled back over his torso, and as he reached for his belt on the floor Joker walked past him for his shoes and socks, the only objects still remaining at the foot of the bed. Once his shoes were laced up on his feet again, testing the blade contained within for working order, he walked back to the room’s entryway to retrieve his overcoat, rifling through the pockets for what was required as Bruce refitted his cape over his armored shoulders. Joker found what he was looking for, and withdrew a small case of hair dye and his makeup tubes, and padded into the bathroom for the sink.
Bruce still stood in the doorway fitting his Kevlar onto his front as the forest green raked through Joker’s hair, obscuring the sunshine locks in its signature wild color again. Once finished, he returned the empty container to his pockets and spread the colors of white, red, and black to his sun-kissed face once more. His purple gloves snaked onto his fingers just as Bruce’s gloves slid onto his own hands, and it took them the same amount of time to adjust the fastenings again to their liking. When at last Joker pulled his waistcoat and overcoat over his shoulders he stepped out of the bathroom, greeted by the sight of Batman just finishing putting on his cowl.
They stared at each other for a moment, breathless that the enemy they knew so well had resurfaced in full splendor from the naked man they now knew so deeply. The pounding of the proverbial clock tolled in their minds as they now realized they were fully dressed again, and had no other purposes in the hotel room. There were scarcely any moments left for them to steal.
They took a slow step towards each other, paused. Then completed the stride and closed the distance between their bodies, Kevlar rippling against cloth as they kissed slowly and fully in each other’s arms that snaked about their shoulders to hold them close. They couldn’t ignore the bat insignia on Batman’s chest, nor the greasepaint lathered on Joker’s face, but neither could they let the events of last night go without completing the event to its fullest. Their tongues sought each other gracefully and with a quieted passion, contained in the light of their soul-binding experiences hours ago.
Their lips ceased their rhythmic movements against each other, and held together in the quiet of the moment, imprinting every last texture and feel of the other’s lips, committing them to memory before they gradually broke apart for what they knew was the last time. So many emotions then rose up in Batman’s chest, and he knew what he wanted to happen afterward that could never follow, and he didn’t know which words he wanted to say first, which ones he even could say, which were there already and which would smolder deep within his soul forever. But then it came to him that what he wanted most desperately was to answer Joker’s question.
“I - ”
“I know.”
Their eyes opened fully to each other’s, both jarred out of orbit upon hearing the rusty, ragged, hoarse voice of the Joker, and realized that they had spent the entirety of last night without so much as a single word passing out loud between them. That was why it felt so strange to hear actual speech in their ears, but then they concluded that they were, and had always been, men of actions far more than of words.
Joker’s eyes took on an even deeper and solemn softness as his mouth crept into the slightest hints of a smile. “I know,” he repeated in a rasping whisper. And there was nothing else that needed to be, or ever truly could be, spoken between them any further at that moment. In such knowledge Batman’s mouth ghosted to an almost-grin just as Joker had, and in the last desperate act of stealing a final moment they both gently fell into the other’s embrace, holding the other to them close against the world that was beginning to catch up to them, wanting that last savor of heat before it ended.
After the endless moment that couldn’t have been any shorter to them, they slid from each other’s grasps and walked to the door. The locks were undone, the latch removed, and they stepped out into the hallway to go their separate ways, walking in opposite directions. Batman to the ascending numbers and the window that lay at the end of the corridor, Joker to the descending numerals towards the stairs he had climbed up just last night, however impossible that fact of another lifetime now seemed.
They walked slowly away, towards their separate goals, creating more and more distance between them as their minds swirled with what they were walking away from, but their feet couldn’t be halted for anything. However, gradually, their footsteps did slow, the weight of their fate bearing down on their united souls in full force. They were walking away from what they had craved beyond anything for a year, and after this there was no going back, and there would be no regrets that could be addressed. Their battle would rise up and assume its rightful place in the world as usual.
They stopped cold in the hallway, breaking the taboo of their fate ever further, daring just how far it could be stretched. In unison they turned behind them to look back at the distant form of their soulmate, to realize that the other had done the same. Blue eyes stared back at green with promises whispered and secrets known between them, silent truths that they would no longer be able to walk away from in their hearts. The iron heartbeat coming from room 1254 at the midpoint between the distance that separated them was the only sound that rang through their heads in the still hallway.
They could have been expected to damn fate to hell and run at each other to leap into their yearning arms, never to part from this dream again. They could have wildly thrown themselves at each other and rushed back into the hotel room, living off room service and never leaving the other’s heat to the end of their days.
But such happy endings were not what were written for them.
They broke from the other’s gaze with every last ounce of resolve they still possessed, feeling something break in the air as the other left their sights and senses, and something else far more powerful remain strong in their hearts, as the world called their fabled names.
Throughout the weeks and years to follow, they would continue on just as they had before. Joker would continue to mock Batman, while Batman would continue to beat Joker to a pulp and take him to Arkham, only for Joker to escape as he was inevitably prone to do and continue their eternal struggle. Neither would win, but neither would they lose.
They never made love again.
Plenty opportunities were presented to them to reenact the heavenly sin they had committed together, but they instinctively passed the chances by. For they knew that any other attempts to recreate the unifying transformation their souls had undergone would be ultimately futile. The sacredness of their one night together should remain untarnished by any foolhardy attempts to reach those same heights. So they abandoned those pursuits for their more urgent callings in life.
But in the brief moments that an almost-peace descended over them whilst alone except for each other, they knew the same warmth that had stirred within them was mutually felt, and had remained with them ever since the night in room 1254. For even till the inevitable moment came that they would destroy each other and the world with it at the very end, they had the emergence of their divine bond to buoy them up in their state of firm absolution. For the rest of their days together, as they both deeply knew, they were one. They were whole.
They were complete.