Fic: "Shattered" (Bruce/Harvey, the second and last)

[jij]

Title:  Shattered
Pairing: Bruce Wayne/Harvey Dent, Superman mentioned
Disclaimer: The boys belong to DC and to each other, but not to me.
Notes: A continuation of Whole, though you don't have to read that to understand this.
Rating: R
Summary:  Superman leaves Earth.  Two weeks later Joe Chill's sentence is commuted.  Bruce's reactions, and Harvey

Comments

[tmelange]

Harvey has all kinds of issues here. It makes you feel so...bad for him, like you just want to convince him to seek help. You really wish he could rise above his self-loathing...but you know he can't. I loved the pieces of his behavior that you put out there that made up the whole dysfunctional person--the inability to go into Bruce's room except for sex, the description of the sex as this sort of stuttering thing, the way he'd treat Bruce in between, the callousness, the distance. And finally the too little too late at the end. When you take the present Harvey and add in your hints of his future implosion--it makes for a great character study

[jij]

Thanks, T! It's taken me a while to get any sort of handle on Harvey at all--he's, well, complicated. Glad the little details mostly work out. Thanks for commenting!

[arch_schatten]

Okay, so before I go to sleep...

Rock on top of my chest=Greatness!

Harvey needs help. Bruce can't help anyone at this point of his life. It's a terrible thing, but it's a true thing non the less. It breks my heart because Harvey.. Harvey really thought they would make it. But even if Bruce had stayed, I think it would have end in tragedy. Bruce needs some sort of healthy relationship to bloom, otherwise he... decays into sulking and self destruction.

Perhaps, in another future, if they were together, Harvey would have end better, and Bruce much worse. Here, they aren't right for each other. It's very sad :(

"I'd follow you anywhere," Harvey whispered hoarsely, and kissed him, devouring him, needy and desperate.

Bruce pulled away. "This isn't right, Harvey. This isn't good for either of us."

*bawls* I... I honestly can't stand those lines, but I can't stop reading them. They hurt! but.. they are true! but they hurt! aahhh!

"No, to care so little that you can just...leave like that. To be that distant from everything,

[jij]

Rock on top of my chest=Greatness!

I'll remember that for when we meet in person. "but your Honor, she told me a rock on her chest was great!" :)

*bawls* I... I honestly can't stand those lines, but I can't stop reading them. They hurt! but.. they are true! but they hurt! aahhh!

You know, those really aren't the lines that I thought would get you! Although, okay, I admit Harvey coming as close as he can to a declaration of love is pretty sad...*sniffles*

That bit almost scares me. Bruce wants to be inhuman so much because he hurts so much...He would break just.. so nicely. Worse, I don't think anyone would notice he was broken :( Thanks, that's in part what I wanted to get across--and one of the themes of the earlier MotS too--that Batman envies Superman because he has this idea that Superman can remain really cold and untouched by it all. It's interesting because this dynamic really only works with movieverse versions...comic Bruce could never make that mistake about comic Clark

[arch_schatten]

I'll remember that for when we meet in person. "but your Honor, she told me a rock on her chest was great!" :)

Metaphorical rocks, Jen. Metaphorical rocks. Don't make me sic Alfred on you...

You know, those really aren't the lines that I thought would get you!

Now I'm curious as to which lines you thought would get me :P

comic Bruce could never make that mistake about comic Clark.

Comics Bruce also has more of a pencahnt for exploting that pain, not trying to distance himself from it and forget. He knows that if he forgets... the mission turns kind of meaningless.

Still, if anything could do it, it would be Harvey...True, Harvey has a really tight grip on Bruce... I really want to see more of Bruce's take on his failure with Harvey. I'm waiting for your next stories... with greedy h/c hunger :P

[jij]

Metaphorical rocks, Jen. Metaphorical rocks. Don't make me sic Alfred on you...

*puts away rock* Oh.

Now I'm curious as to which lines you thought would get me :P

Well, I was laying odds on "For Harvey Dent, there never would be again," actually. :) And the last line, but you mentioned that got to you too. Hell, for me, someone could write Bruce as peeling onions and crying and it would probably get to me. :)

I think Harv's dad abuse issues are not here, this is another whole crazy thing...

I have to find these father issues! Though it doesn't take a great leap of the imagination to think that Harv's father has got to be a big part of the problem...

[ranlynn]

Not a happy little fic, but a very good one.

You've got me wondering what Harvey's home life must have been like growing up for him to be as messed up as he is in this (we already know why Bruce is a bit off).

[jij]

You've got me wondering what Harvey's home life must have been like growing up for him to be as messed up as he is in this

I have some definite images of Daddy Dent, and they largely involve him being the kind of person who would beat his toddler son for imagining he was doing something that "looked gay," and just go from there. Whoof.

[evangelene]

Harvey! You're killing me!

There was no joy in what followed, beyond the sheer, sharp physical release for them both. There was no solace, and no peace.

For Harvey Dent, there never would be again.

Gah. So good.

You connect the two movies and fill in the gaps so brilliantly. I already couldn't wait to see Harvey in the next Batman movie and now it's just going to be so much better with this fic in mind.

I love Harvey's self-loathing here:

"I hated it, every time," he hissed, his eyes like golden coins, flat and bright. "I hated what you did to me here, and I hated you for doing it to me. Every time." He went to the door, threw it open, and looked back at Bruce. "None of this ever happened, do you hear me?" He said it with the tone of a person making an official pronouncement, his voice completely affectless. "Nothing in this room ever happened."

And Bruce...wanting to help his friend but not being able to because he's so damaged himself.

S/B will always be #1, but B/H is a close second. more tragic than Clark/Lex even.

[jij]

I've really enjoyed fitting the two movies together, like puzzle pieces. :)

S/B will always be #1, but B/H is a close second. more tragic than Clark/Lex even.

I have to admit to being rather won over! I wouldn't want to write it regularly (it would kill me), but it's been really odd and interesting. I'm really glad this version of Harvey worked for you, and thanks for your kind comments! I turn back to Clark and Bruce with some relief...

[marmalade_girl]

Wow. This was painful and perfect. Eveyone's already said what I wanted to, but let me just add that you're completely fantatsic at this. ^_^

[jij]

Thank you so much, although it'll be a relief to get back to the Bruce/Clark I feel so much more comfortable with! Harvey has been...painfully fun to write. I'm relieved he worked for you!