Slipping Into Entropy - Part 50 - NSFW

[razothredfire]

Months had passed, seeming both to drag on forever and melt away rapidly. Joker had not taken well to his new routine of being kept still and inactive in order to heal, but Bruce had done his best to make things as tolerable as he could. It was a matter of luck that the bones seemed to have healed correctly despite the damage they'd unwittingly done to them. At long last, it was time to have the braces and bolts removed, to try to walk again.

Out of necessity Bruce had learned more and more about the medical practices that he had only dabbled with before. They consulted with doctors regularly, but never in person and always anonymously. Bruce obtained medicines when and where he could, but often it had to be done under the table. Through it all, he considered the Joker to be very fortunate, although he might never mention this aloud, just to avoid getting an earful on the contrary.

During this time they mostly stayed at the manor, putting a hold on construction once the place was close to finished. Bruce would rather continue the rest himself than be forced to constantly keep his newest charge away from the crew. There they enjoyed wide open spaces when they could, most of it spent outside, along with the privacy that only came with a high price tag attached to it. Bruce Wayne mysteriously disappeared from Gotham society, spending less than half of the time he used to at the office and was almost never seen out at parties any longer. Naturally, rumors abounded, but none ever seemed to be confirmed. The Batman kept up his nightly watch over Gotham however. No one but Commissioner Gordon noticed his absences.

Summer waned on into fall. The manor grounds exploded with color as the leaves all around them changed and eventually died. The air chilled gradually and the ground froze. Soon they were living in a world of snow.

The change in weather was fortunate; the newfallen powder was softer to fall on than even grass. Bruce had obtained more clothing for him over the months that was suited to the chilly temperatures, the outdoor gear getting its first real testing now that he was supposed to put weight on his legs. Pain aside, the trickiest part of the whole business was getting muscles to work that had gone unused for far too long.

Joker didn't want to hold on to Bruce as they left the mansion, preferring to grit his teeth and make it on his own rather than lean on the other man. It was beyond frustrating to want to run now that he was finally free of all restraints only to have his body fail him.

Bruce still tread close, catching an elbow whenever he stumbled, only to have the Joker push off again. It was slow going in every sense, but it was progress, and Bruce had always been a patient man. He knew there were days when the Joker's frustration and restlessness overwhelmed him, threatened to drive him even madder, but as for the dark knight, sometimes, secretly, he hoped these days would last.

The madman snarled as Bruce caught his arm again, trying to steady him. "I am not a child!" he hissed, yanking his limb back with more force than was necessary. The movement unbalanced him, sending him into an ungainly dance to try to catch himself before he crashed down into the snowbank. Half buried in white powder, his green-eyed glare dared Bat to make a humorous remark.

"No need to tell me twice," Bruce mumbled while trying to fight the smile off of his face. Sometimes the Joker didn't realize how much funnier he was by accident than on purpose. Bruce gave him a moment to seethe, then bent and offered a hand. "Don't tell me you'd rather it be Alfred out here with you."

"God, no. Have him watch me with his nose turned up and that shit-eating smirk on his face, touching me like I'm a distasteful grimy hobo? I'd probably end up breaking his legs." Joker grudgingly accepted the hand and righted himself, bringing with him a fistful of snow. It was promptly deposited down Bruce's collar before he moved away, still impatient for self-sufficiency and the opportunities that came with that.

The taller man growled with annoyance, hopping behind the Joker until he shook the snow out of his jacket. "Yes, who knows why he's got it out for you, who knows indeed." Once he got his jacket on again, he caught up with the Joker, walking side by side. He could still feel the cold chill down his back, but it was alright. He glanced at the other man slyly, wondering what he could do to take revenge when the Joker wasn't expecting it.

"I have no idea why. Everything I've done to his room was harmless. It was supposed to cheer him up. I guess he just doesn't care for those ball bearings you have in the lair. Or candy. Or cellophane. Or anything else except stoic bitterness," Joker complained, trudging a few more feet without any immediate difficulty. "You'd think I was trying to kill him from the way he reacted."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Bruce tried not to go back there. "I'm sure you only had the best of intentions at heart." The sarcasm dripping through his voice couldn't be missed. Every other step his fingers itched to give the Joker a slight nudge, just enough to push him over. Bruce instead settled for playing the scenario out in his imagination.

"Oh? Someone sounds like they don't believe it," Joker countered, giving Bruce a sly sideways glance. "When you have the ability to make deadly explosives out of household items and choose not to, I'd say the end result is lighthearted in comparison. Are you saying I should have sent him flowers and a friendship card instead?"

"It would certainly throw us all off our guard at least." Bruce replied with a half smile. In actuality, a card and flowers from the Joker probably would frighten Alfred half to death. The butler would become so preoccupied with sniffing out what the madman was really up to that the Joker wouldn't have to do anything at all more than that. Bruce was almost grateful that the Joker hadn't yet realized this.

The smaller man sniffed in response, turning his attention back to his unsteady feet. As much as Bruce had tried to take him outside as much as possible during the healing process, it had only done so much good. Joker had become sullen, withdrawn, even depressed at times simply from being rendered so helpless, reliant to a great degree on Bruce and Alfred. He was determined to avoid ever breaking his legs again.

They walked on quietly. Bruce had come to recognize the points when the Joker simply tuned out. Whether he wanted to be somewhere else or he was simply the constant frustration, Bruce couldn't always tell. So he gave the Joker space, as much as he could, and let himself enjoy what he could. The thick covering of snow made the world around them still and eerily silent, muffling the sounds of the woods, the air, even their own footsteps.

They paused when they reached the edge of the woods, quiet but for the harsh calls of the dark birds that haunted the dead time of the year. Soon he'd be able to go again to places where there were no man-made paths, no easy trails - just nature and the spaces within it. Joker sighed in pleasure, ignoring his aching feet. "I don't suppose you'd let me build a fort out here, would you."

That caught Bruce's attention. He blinked the daze from his eyes and glanced over at the Joker. "I don't think that would be a bad idea at all." He was kind of intrigued at the notion, excited even. There really wasn't much out here, so he didn't immediately suspect and ulterior motive on the Joker's part other than having a bit of a....hideout.

"You have your caves, but I don't have anything that's mine. Not even a room of my own, really. Not that your place isn't classy, but this... is familiar." Joker paused, considering. "Not that the city isn't now, as well, but I doubt you'd want me fighting to get enough turf to make a base out there, much less defend it and try to stay unnoticed. That doesn't tend to happen with me."

The taller man shifted, his boots crunching in the snow beneath them. "No, I don't think I would want that." Bruce watched out of the corner of his eye for that little slice of hope in the Joker's face to die, just as he knew it would. He hated these moments. But it was the truth, and he didn't have anything else to say. If the Joker went back to the city to start up a running 'business' again, he would have to put a stop to it, and Bruce really didn't want to get to that point.

"You'd let me build something in the forest, though?" That was something, even if Bruce was basically hinting that any setup of his in the city would cause them to war again. As much as he was thrilled about the idea of having someplace of his own devising, it was still more than a little humiliating - that he was being permitted to build there. That he was restricted to it being on Wayne property, as if it were a handmade kennel for a dog kept out back.

"Yes. Whatever you'd like." And Bruce hoped that statement wouldn't come back to haunt him, but this really was the very least he could do. He could hear the expectancy in the Joker's tone, and feel the underlying current of tension at not being able to ask for more. It was surprising that most of the time he'd been here, the Joker had not asked for more. Perhaps he'd instinctively known that he needed Bruce's protection while injured, and perhaps he'd decided not to push the issue knowing Bruce's answers before the questions were asked. Bruce could see that it hurt him.

Maybe I could make a city base too, without him noticing. Joker knew there was a slim chance of that, however. Such a territory would have to be defended on a regular basis, and any sort of shady activity or violence would draw Bat to the area like iron filings to a magnet. "...should I even ask what you'll never allow me, Bat?" he finally asked, bitter resignation coloring his tone.

Bruce turned to face the Joker slowly. The crisp air felt heavy around them, and much colder than it had been minutes ago. What could Bruce say? What the Joker wanted was the very thing that he spent his life keeping off the streets, they both knew it and had fought over it time and again. Contrary to the Joker's question, Bruce found himself not knowing what he could allow him to have. "Joker....." His sentence trailed off with a sigh. "You know me. You know the answer to that."

"You say yes and give in to some things, but refuse me other things because you think I can't handle doing them and following all your little rules. Or the things break the rules just by being. How much am I permitted to live, and how much am I just a very privileged captive?" Joker kept his eyes carefully trained on the ground, both watching his step and avoiding Bruce's gaze. "Do you understand fully how much you ask of me? What would you do if the tables were turned and I forbid you from going out and fighting your moral war?"

Holding back a shaky breath, Bruce had to fight the tension and uncertainty down. "You do not have to be my captive," he ground out. "If I were in your place, while you continued to terrorize Gotham, with no one out there to stop it but a police force too corrupt and compromised to reach past its own doors," Bruce shook his head, "then I would fight you." It wasn't pleasant to say, but it was the truth. Bruce could hear himself stating that hypocritical truth that the Joker knew he would after that question, and he didn't like it.......but what else was there? "I would fight you every step of the way." Flakes of snow began falling around the two figures set against a blanket of porcelain white. The sky was gray, but so light that it looked like it could merge with the ground had it not been for the forest around them, just t the edge of the grounds.

"Then understand how much it grates at me that you push me down and keep me on a leash while you still are free to be what you are." Joker left it at that, staring into the forest, eyes roaming over the dead limbs stretching towards the heavens. The snow silenced everything but them, giving the impression that they were the only two beings left alive in the world.

I can't tell him. Even over the months of restricted movement and healing, the dreams and desires hadn't gone away; they had gotten worse. He still burned for pieces of his old life, pieces of who he was, like a drowning man for air.

For a while, Bruce watched the other man watching the trees until his gaze became too strained and he had to turn his eyes to rest on their snowy branches as well. He knew, and had known, what fire he was playing with the moment he brought the Joker into his home. The only thing that had changed betwixt then and now was the.....way he felt for the Joker. Which was a damned inconvenience, one that had latched onto his original fascination and had dragged him kicking and screaming into the entire way. But it had become the one factor that he could not ignore. With it came a whole level of questions against his own actions that had prevented him from doing more against the Joker. Bruce didn't know if he was incredibly lucky or in fact cursed that he and the madman had made it to this point.

I need something to burn. The thought wasn't a revelation, not really. He'd known it all along. Bat and I both destroy. He just is very particular about what and how. His jaw clenching for a moment, Joker turned back towards Bruce, his face and eyes carefully blank. "...let's go back inside. I don't want to be out here anymore."

"Alright." Bruce put his hands in his jacket pockets, suspecting the Joker would not accept a hand on their way back to the manor, but he did fall into step directly beside the man. They often walked like this. Once inside, they were engulfed with a flood of warm air. Alfred, waiting at the door, slid it shut behind them and took their coats.

Joker seemed to have finally adapted to Alfred's presence, at least marginally. Understanding the man's relationship with Bruce still eluded him, but he no longer outwardly reacted with fear and suspicion whenever the butler was around. He began the slow process of walking towards the bedroom as soon as his coat was taken, one hand against the wall for support as he went.

"Thank you, Alfred," Bruce murmured to the butler as he hung their coats and handed Bruce a cloth to wipe the snow from the back of his neck. His shirt had become drenched with it after it melted. The manor was very much starting to look like his old home again after their repairs and now that the space was being lived in once more. Bruce put up walls, polished and lacquered wooden floors, and Alfred cleaned up the mess he left in his wake. Once in the foyer, there weren't many noticeable signs of repair left. Usually Bruce was proud to note this whenever he passed through it, but today the cold hadn't quite left his bones yet. He followed the Joker down the hall.

Joker flopped onto the bed once he reached it, obviously displeased and pouting in a childish manner. It often seemed to the clown that he was the one making all the sacrifices, the only one who was required to always control himself. It was tiring and it left him irritated. When Bruce entered the room green eyes locked onto him, giving the man a challenging, predatory stare. You don't know what it's like, Bat. Not only because you don't feel all my drives, but because you have an outlet.

Waves of hostility radiated from the Joker's gaze, telling Bruce to stay away, leave him alone. Except that Bruce knew from experience that to do so would not change the petulant clown's mood toward him. It would only fester. The dark haired man leaned against the door frame. "I don't know what I can do to help you, Joker."

"You can stop being a hypocritical bastard, is what," the slender man muttered, his eyes narrowing. "You know at least part of what I am. Even the hardiest fish, the one that can live on land for months, has to return to the water sometime or perish. You get to breathe nearly every night. I don't."

"What do you want me to do? Let you go out every night just so that I can catch you running the trades that I'm bound to take down? You have to know it won't work. Joker...." Bruce sounded tired, but he was beginning to feel a thread of anxiety work its way through him. "Give me an alternative. Give me something. Some way you won't go out there tearing people apart."

Joker turned his head away from him in silence, still looking displeased. "You mean the way you tear people apart and beat them to a pulp? Hells, I might even be willing to venture out with you to let off some steam if you weren't such a hardass. Not that you'd let me."

Bruce raised a hand to rub at his temple. "I only take down the ones who deserve it." This might be the critical point right here. Since seeing what he could bring out in Bruce, Bruce wondered if the Joker had become convinced that Batman was all an excuse to let out his rage. "You scoff at the idea that there is a difference between those that harm others and those who do not, that I need that difference to fight when you don't." Bruce entered the room, his footsteps padding against the floor almost silently.

"And what makes you decide they deserve it, hmm? You know what I think about humanity." Joker sighed and clenched his jaw, seeing that yet again he was fighting a battle that couldn't be won. He'd be the one forced to back down and give in again.

"Yes. I do." The Joker didn't think there was much difference in people. As far as he was concerned, they all had it coming. Which is exactly why Bruce illustrated that point. With a sigh he sat at the edge of the bed. The Joker was walking again, still unsteady, but he could move of his own free will, and he was becoming restless. Bruce could stare into that steely gaze, but he could not reach the man. "When you can walk again, on your own, if you want to leave.....if you want to leave....." Bruce suddenly found that he could not finish what he'd made up his mind to say.

"I wouldn't leave unless you made me leave again." It was a simple statement, but true. It wasn't that he didn't want to stay with Bruce, live with him. It was that he couldn't stand so many restrictions after living so free. "I'm just... frustrated. Angry. I know you don't understand a lot of things about me, but did you have no idea what you were getting into, Bat? You can't keep a wolf as a pet and expect to turn it into a vegan by wishing, force of will, or physical coercion. It doesn't happen."

Bruce raised an eyebrow at yet another odd analogy of the Joker's. He wanted Bruce to trust him. Hell, Bruce wanted to know he could trust him. But letting the Joker rain terror down on the city like he had before was....just not an option. On the other hand, he had just given Bruce an alternative. Gears churned behind his dark brown eyes. He was looking at the Joker without seeing him. "Give me some time to think it through, if you want to work with me." He didn't know if it were possible. He could....barely imagine the Joker fighting alongside him. But, it was also the Joker trying to offer up a compromise, and Bruce could not ignore that.

"Fair enough." As frustrating as it all was, he wouldn't begrudge Bruce a chance to think things over and absorb it all. He hadn't expected the man to say yes right away; he'd actually been expecting Bat to deny him without giving it a second thought.

He received a nod in return, and then Bruce climbed up onto the bed with him. Not for the first time did Bruce wonder about the strange truce they shared. Once again conflict was put on hold. One of his hands trailed up the Joker's chest soothingly, as if to say that he was sorry.

Surprisingly, Joker turned at the touch, scooting closer and twining his limbs around Bruce with a tired sigh. As much as he put up a fight about things, both big and small, he didn't want to really fight with Bat. Not about anything that wasn't playful. Reaching one hand up, he ran his fingers through Bruce's hair and down his neck.

Bruce's eyes followed the motion. His own hand stilled at the other man's collarbone. "I am......sorry. That I haven't trusted you as much as you would have hoped for." It felt strange admitting this, Bruce rarely said these things aloud, but it also felt like a small weight lifting from his conscience.

"...it's to be expected," Joker finally admitted softly, his thoughts drifting to previous conversations with Alfred. You may not understand some things, but some part of you must know. By instinct, perhaps. "That doesn't mean I like it and don't wish you'd do otherwise."

The dark haired man gave him a bittersweet smile. "So I should know you for what you are, see the monster inside you, and still trust you, hm?" Fluidly his fingers danced across the skin just below the Joker's neck. "If it were only myself I worried for, I could do that," he whispered softly, without malice. His body eased down, lying at rest against the smaller man. "I do trust what you feel for me."

Joker swallowed hard, watching Bruce as he moved. "You have a similar monster in you, yet you trust yourself. You don't have to worry about breaking me, really, but you throw yourself out upon the city just fine."

"That's an interesting way to put it." Bruce sighed. Try as he might to see it realistically, a grain of hope was building in his gut. There was a fundamental difference between them....but there also fundamental similarities. Which one outweighed the other?

"You can't tell me that Bat isn't letting your inner monster loose. You simply keep him on a choke chain," Joker teased. And mine usually never even wears a collar. Tilting his head, the smaller man peered at Bruce slyly through a messy tangle of green hair. "What do you do to keep that chain so tight, hm?"

"I've never wanted to hurt innocent people." Bruce gave a light shrug, more with his gaze than with a shoulder. "My anger has never generalized itself enough to go after everyone. And there was always a need to.....defend. Perhaps it came with a leash, and all I had to do was learn how to hold it."

Innocent. Hahah. Joker didn't say it, but his disagreement with that statement was clear enough from the look in his eyes. "Your experiences of the world also seem to have begun closer to the line of normality than mine did," he pointed out, his gaze sharp.

Bruce shook his head. They'd been through all this. "And one set of experiences cannot possibly know the entire world," he whispered back, fingers stilling over a scar on otherwise smooth skin. He laid his head against the pillow and watched the bitter Joker.

Joker smiled. "Become a five year old and tell me that again," he whispered back, closing his eyes and settling against Bruce. There'd been so much he'd been remembering since he'd regained recollection of his early years, so much to think about that he did and didn't want. One thing he knew is that Bruce didn't understand that, either, just as he didn't understand the whole nature of Joker's inner demon.

Bruce's face fell flat at that. The Joker's tone had a bite to it, stinging like an accusation. He tensed at the subtle cold shoulder and found that his insides had frozen over as well. "I was eight." So strange how the tables had turned, when Bruce saw the slightest similarity where the Joker could not.

"Fine then. You're missing my point. You had eight years of a normal, if posh, life. One big happy family that loved and coddled you and made you smile instead of cry. I never really saw daylight until I was the same height I am now. I thought I'd gone blind, for awhile." Joker was quiet for a moment. "I had to rip my father apart to even get that far."

"Is your point once more then that we are too different to see eye to eye? Or is it that we are similar enough to work together? You keep insisting how much we are alike and then turning around and telling me how much I could never understand you." Bruce sighed. "It is very frustrating."

"My point is that you've got some understanding, but you don't quite get everything. You haven't experienced it and you don't know. You shouldn't presume to think you can predict what I'll do, ever. But that doesn't mean you can't ask or trust."

"Thank you," Bruce said with a sigh, some of the exasperation lifting. "Listen, I know that I can't predict you. I can try, but it has never consistently worked. This is why I err on the side of caution." He tried to relax again, forcibly willing his body to loosen out.

Joker smiled at the admission, looking positively mischievious. "Good. Not the caution bit. That it doesn't work. What's life without a bit of entropy to spice things up? You life would be dull without me," he teased, tracing a finger across Bruce's lips.

Bruce didn't know about dull, but sometimes he thought life might be a walk in the park without the Joker. He rolled his eyes at first, and then licked the finger. He watched delight spread across the Joker's face. He enjoyed pushing Bruce, just as Bruce enjoyed pushing him.

"Watch where you put that tongue. I might just catch it and put it to better use," Joker growled, waving the offended digit in front of Bruce's nose. Besides the ability to move about (relatively) freely once more, the clown's spirits had been raised considerably once he was well enough to be physically playful again with Bruce. It had taken him awhile to forgive the other man for literally tying him down a few times.

"Go ahead and try." Bruce bared his teeth in a small smirk, taking the Joker's bait. His blood was moving again at least, thawing in his veins, and his limbs were finally losing their tension. He laid there, waiting for the Joker to make a move. Things got....fairly exciting sometimes, when the green haired fugitive got a bug up in him and decided he needed to prove a point.

Cackling in response, Joker accepted the challenge, rolling up on top of Bruce and trying to pin his arms. "You have no idea how much I missed being able to do this," he hissed into Bat's ear, nipping the edge and grinding their hips together. He wasn't about to roll over and submit, not this time.

The man underneath him shuddered slightly. He pushed his hips up into the Joker, taking a moment to marvel at how easily they could get worked up after such conversations. They fed off animosity at times. He supposed it was a challenge, of a sort, and he and this madman had both never been able to pass that up.

The clown dipped his head and growled into Bruce's mouth, possessive hands sliding down from his arms to tug and rip at the cloth separating him from warm skin. Every time Bruce tried to move his arms or roll them over Joker abandoned what he was doing to fight him back down and pin him again.

They 'fought' as much as they kissed, and eventually Bruce began to do it just for a rise out of the Joker. The lithe criminal would snarl deliciously whenever pushing him back down, and Bruce loved it. That he could restrain the larger body underneath him was frankly more than a little arousing.

The smaller man gradually won the war one struggle at a time, and layer after layer was sloughed off and carelessly dropped to the floor. A thrill of victory and desire coursed through him, not only because he was winning, but because he was doing so for real. Bruce wasn't simply putting up a facade and then letting him have his way; he was succeeding at keeping every inch of muscled flesh under his control. The look in Joker's eyes as they both realized this was more than a little frightening. He's mine.

The possibility that the Joker possessed powers of mental persuasion passed through Bruce's mind. Perhaps his fingers were magic. Or perhaps Bruce was simply too far gone now. It sent a significant tingle down his spine, but he wasn't afraid like he should have been. His head was filled with the other man's eyes, the wiry strength of his hands, arms, the way he pinned Bruce's legs between his thighs.

"You're all mine now, Bat. You can't fight me off, and there's no where you could run even if you could," Joker purred, stroking Bruce's face gently before twining fingers in dark hair and pulling his head back. There was no hint of the child in his eyes now, only the inky darkness that arose whenever his monstrous side wanted to come out to play. Joker's free hand clawed blindly at the bedside table, snatching up the bottle they always left there.

Bruce groaned. In his memory lay everything. Such a contrast to the present. His back arched, taut muscles in his stomach flattening out when stretched. He ground his hips up again, knowing the Joker would feel the significant swelling there. Head back in the other man's fist, he closed his eyes.

A shiver of pleasure went up the smaller man's spine just watching his partner react so strongly. Grinning, he let his free hand fumble with the bottle and coat them both, his concentration taken by the stretch of unguarded neck in front of him. Joker sighed, letting his breath wash over Bruce's tanned skin before sinking teeth in.

He received a hitched gasp and a growl from deep within Bruce's stomach in response, but all of the larger man's attention was suddenly and specifically focused between their legs. He didn't have to worry about marks on his neck any longer, he had no one to answer to out here. Instead he soaked up whatever the Joker felt like giving him.

Joker chuckled against Bruce's neck, fingers sliding in and testing him. Teasingly brushing the thin wall that shielded his prostate before pulling out, he grabbed both of the other man's legs and slid himself in until he could go no further. Green eyes locked on Bruce's face all the while, committing every twitch and expression to memory.

Bruce's eyes snapped open before they squeezed shut again, his hips rising off the mattress once the Joker was inside him. He snarled at the sudden burn, knowing the Joker would find that delightful, but letting it out anyway. It took a moment to get used to the sensation, but as soon as he was close he tightened his thighs around the smaller man.

"Like that, do you?" Releasing his legs, Joker pinned Bruce's arms to the mattress again. His expression was somewhere between feral and loving. The first was to be expected, but the second? It had been a long battle to get him to expose such a normal human emotion.

"Move. Don't talk." Bruce's fists tightened, but he made no effort to force the Joker's grip off him. He shifted his hips, wincing just a little, but knowing the other man would respond.

"Patience." His cheshire grin widened for a moment and then Joker began to move in earnest. Tendrils of green fell across his face, swaying as they slid against each other. Joker's hold was just a little too tight, his fingernails digging into tanned skin.

Bruce grunted thrust by thrust, feeling the Joker's hips snap against him and the burning hardness inside of him that felt so good when it hit the middle of every thrust. He could feel the nails in his skin, but not the little tendrils of blood that leaked where they scratched too hard. Light washed in through the windows of the bedroom and fell warm against their backs. They gave no thought as to whether Alfred could hear them from wherever he had gone in the house.

Joker drank in the sight before him; as much as he enjoyed being on the receiving end of Bruce's attentions, he loved being able to turn the tables. The fact that they were nearly evenly matched in terms of physical strength threw a delicious uncertainty into the balance of power. Growling suddenly, Joker let the last of his inhibitions drop and sped up in rough, hedonistic abandon, confident that Bruce could take and enjoy anything he dished out.

Alfred was probably on the other side of the mansion by now, or down in the cave. Just to get away. If it weren't for the moans, they would have sounded like they were tearing each other apart. Bruce was rising up to meet the man bent over him now, his whole body moving into the thrusts, getting pushed back down with a snarl only to rise up and test the Joker again.

The smaller man wasn't going to tolerate any rebellion. His fingers tightened their hold on Bruce like claws, intent on keeping him submissive and helpless until he was finished. If anything, Joker looked more like the wild thing he'd been when they'd first met and fought than he had for months. His hips snapped forward sharply a few more times before a howl poured out of his throat, his eyes closing as his back arched in ecstasy. He's wanted to beat Bat ever since he first became aware of his existence; he just didn't know that this was the way it would happen.

Bruce tried to move a hand to wrap around himself, but the Joker held tight. The look on the man's face when he came above Bruce nearly sent him there as well. The Joker was captivating when he got what he wanted. There was a manic quality to him that, against all probability, made him gorgeous. Finally, giving up on freeing himself, Bruce pulled the man down so that he could lift his hips and gain that last bit of friction he needed to send him over the edge as well.

The action sent Joker into a second wave of carnal bliss, panting into Bruce's ear as they writhed against each other in completion.Tensed muscles suddenly released and the madman went limp atop Bruce, an exhausted but pleased smile on his face. A lazy twitch of his fingers drew his attention to the fact that, somewhere along the line, they had become red and slightly sticky.

Bruce's arms fell around the Joker, not moving until the pulsing throughout his body stopped, until it was only the pounding of his heart that continued. They were both breathing hard, flayed out like they couldn't move.

After a number of minutes their breathing slowed. Slipping out of his lover, Joker sprawled out on top of him, tucking his head against Bruce's neck. Their earlier arguments temporarily forgotten, the madman was smugly content with his present situation.

Bruce's hands swept down his back, over his hips, down as far as he could reach, and back up again. They were a languid pile without thought. The warm sun felt good falling across their skin, the heat of the house keeping the winter cold away. "You look amazing when you have what you're after," Bruce commented quietly. "Do you know that?"

"You should let me have what I want more often, then," Joker teased, his breath tickling Bruce's skin. "Then you could see it all the time." That thought trailed off into a pleased hum as Bruce continued to stroke hands up and down his back.

A soft laugh came from the large body beneath him. "What would I do if you get spoiled, hm?" he teased back. "What would I do if I get spoiled?" He loved the warmth radiating between their skin, and though the Joker wasn't moving, he kept his arms greedily around the man anyway.

"I wouldn't mind being spoiled in the slightest. Lay it on me," Joker laughed, the vibrations passing through their ribcages and into Bruce's core. He was slightly giddy at the thought of Bat indulging his every whim.

"I'll bet you wouldn't. I might though." Bruce twined some of the Joker's hair between his fingers. "What would you do, if I were to set you loose on the city again, no strings attached?"

Joker tensed, wondering what Bruce meant by that. Was it a test, or was he actually offering him his freedom? "I'd... probably set up a base for myself somewhere. That, and make certain all the local skulkers know and respect it. They haven't forgotten about me."

"They haven't," Bruce responded honestly. "I still find your copycats when out on patrol." He had a feeling the Joker wouldn't like that, but he told him anyway. He already knew he'd made an impact on the city's inhabitants.

He didn't like it; the madman's eyes narrowed dangerously as soon as it was mentioned. "Apparently they don't remember well enough, if they're daring to walk around with my face," he hissed, baring yellowed teeth in a snarl. Thinking they could masquerade as him and get away with it unscathed was the first step of disrespect - it would only get worse if allowed to continue.

Bruce's hand tightened at his hair. "That's what you'd do? Fight for territory?" He knew the Joker wouldn't tell him how many people he had still loyal to him, if any, so Bruce didn't go there. The ways and means of how the Joker ran his 'business' were important to Bruce, but so was the finality of what the madman so longed for.

"If they know it's me, they won't fight. They'll be so frightened they'll either join up or turn tail and run. You don't know the half of what I did when I first made it into Gotham before I hit your radar." Once it became known on the streets that Joker had claimed a particular area, nobody would fight him for it unless they were stupid, suicidal, or both.

"And what would you do with that territory once you have it?" The knight's hands smoothed over his skin softly again as if unconsciously hoping they could ply the Joker through touch.

The clown was silent, thinking. "I hadn't... really thought about it. I don't really have a goal at the moment." That, and business as usual would probably make you more than unhappy. "Despite my previous demonstrations, I doubt I could shake people of their conviction that money is everything. The mob missed the point and decided to try to punish the teacher."

Bruce gave a snort at the last, but did consider the rest with a half lidded, ponderous expression. "Well. That is the best I could have hoped for." He laid his head back down, just feeling the slim man atop him. A niggling little idea was clawing its way into his head, but he wasn't sure how sound it was, and he wasn't sure if he liked it.

"What are you talking about, Bat?" Joker couldn't tell if he'd passed the man's test or not, now that he was certain that's what Bruce was doing - testing him. "Don't tell me even that much displeased you."

"No. It doesn't." When the Joker's curious eyes continued staring at him unforgivingly, he sighed and made up his mind. "Would you....work with me, if you could? If you kept the mob, and every other small timer out of those parts of the city......it would keep them away from the general population."

"...if I was in the area, they'd keep out. They'd fear for their lives, otherwise." Joker could scarcely believe Bruce was actually considering the option. "What did you have in mind?"

The dark haired man gave him a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. He cocked his head a little, considering the Joker, who was likewise considering him. His hands rested now in the small of the man's back. "Letting you go."

Those three words got quite the reaction, shocked disbelief and longing mixing on Joker's face while his arms tightened around Bruce. "...y-you're going to let me out? You'll really let me do it?"

The larger man inhaled deeply, chest swelling under the Joker, as if he were preparing to walk off of a bridge. "If it restricts the mob's access, if it pushes them and everyone else back out of their holes to where I can get to them.......then yes. I would."

"Oh, I see. So I'm your bloodhound now, flushing prey from their lairs for an easy hunt. And what happens if you round everyone up and the only crime left is in my area, hmm?" Truth be told, he was expecting Bat to give him some sort of absurd restrictions as a part of the deal.

"Well." Bruce smiled. "Then I would have to hunt you down, tie you up," he tightened his grip, pulling the Joker into him by the waist, "and teach you a lesson." His tongue swiped across his lips, quite obviously thinking about it. "But if it did get to that point.......it would be fairly amazing."

"...y'know, that doesn't sound half bad," Joker murmured, leaning in to kiss him again. Freedom to do as he wished, and very little "punishment" if Bat didn't agree with what he was doing? There has to be a catch. "...what's the catch, Bat?"

Bruce wondered in the back of his mind whether sex made him more pliable than he should have been, but that iota of hope in him hung on. "Leave the population alone."

A/N: Apologies for the long wait. I hope everyone is still enjoying the story so far.