[Batman: The Dark Knight] - Insomnia Series: Human After All
Title: Insomnia Series: Human After All
Other Parts: Hero Worship.
Author: Xanthos Samurai
Fandom: Batman: The Dark Knight
Pairing/Characters: Batman, Commissioner Jim Gordon
Rating: PG-13
Length: 748 Words
Warnings: Set post-movie, so massive movie spoilers. I didn't write this with slash in mind, but I suppose it could be interpreted that way.
Disclaimer: I initially wrote this just because I think Gordon needs more attention and I wanted to explore his character and his post-movie relationship with Batman a little bit. As I was writing, I noticed that it shared similar themes with a Batman/Harvey fic I wrote a while back and decided to make them a part of the same series.
Edit I just discovered that Ponderosa wrote a Batman/Jim fic with the same title as this back in April and I am COMPLETELY MORTIFIED that someone is going to think that I plagiarized her. So if this makes any difference, it's a complete and utter coincidence that these two fics have the same title and main characters and I'll change it if anyone thinks that it's an issue.
~
Gordon couldn’t sleep. He hadn’t been able to sleep since he had seen Harvey Dent hold a gun to his son’s head over a month ago. He knew that Barbara took sleeping pills to get through the nights and he couldn’t blame her, but he hadn’t ever felt right taking pills when he wasn’t sick.
He’d tried other things to fall asleep at first. Television was just mindless droning and he could only pace so many times around the same square rug before he felt himself starting to go mad. Finally, Gordon had relented and started coming down to the MCU at nights when he couldn’t sleep, just so he could feel useful. He answered calls or caught up on paperwork or even just organized files. Many an early morning saw Gordon finally asleep at his desk or driving home to eat breakfast with his family and help Barbara get the kids off to school before driving right back to the precinct for work again.
Sometimes when he was at the MCU and there were no calls to take or paperwork to fill out and he could feel his eyes beginning to cross from filing for hours on end, Gordon would walk upstairs to the roof and stand beside the broken spotlight. It seemed like years ago that he had stood up there beside two of the men he admired most in the world - Batman and Harvey Dent. How things had changed in less than two months. Dent was gone, destroyed by himself and the Batman… Well…
Gordon could hear the sirens of his squad cars as they chased the Batman through the city. They howled like dogs on the heels of game. No matter how many times he heard it or how many times he said to himself that the Batman was right and that it was necessary, he couldn’t help but feel sick to his stomach at the thought.
“It’s not your shift.”
The voice, deep and breathy, made Gordon jump badly. He hadn’t heard it since the night Jim almost died. He looked around and saw the Batman standing on the other side of the light.
“You startled me.”
“You never got startled before.”
“Yeah? Well I guess I’m just out of practice.” Gordon eyed Batman. Beneath the armor and the eye paint, he couldn’t tell if Batman looked different after all this time, but he imagined that the man in the mask sounded different. More weary.
“What are you doing out here, Gordon?”
“I couldn’t sleep. I like to come up here and make myself useful.” Gordon leaned his back against the light and regarded him. “What are you doing here?”
Batman shifted . “I don’t sleep.”
“I noticed.” Gordon almost smiled. This felt like old times. “You’ve got some nerve, coming up here. The entire police force has orders to arrest you on sight.”
“I won’t be staying long. I just wanted to make sure you were all right.” Batman drew his cape around himself.
“Me?” The commissioner couldn’t hide his surprise. “Why would you be worried about me? You’ve got bigger problems.”
“My biggest problems are all currently in jail. You’ve been doing a good job, Gordon. Gotham needs you.”
Gordon watched the Batman and wondered if he had a family. How could he? He was out every night fighting criminals and running from cops and getting beat to hell in the process. If he had a family, they surely hardly ever saw him. If not… then who would notice if he didn’t come home?
“Get some sleep, Gordon.”
He hadn’t realized he had closed his eyes and almost dozed off leaning against the broken remains of the bat signal until he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard Batman’s terse, gruff voice. He blinked and shook himself as he straightened, horribly embarrassed and trying to hide it. There had been something strange about Batman’s voice - a tone that Gordon hadn’t ever heard before. But his worries pushed the observation away. What would Batman think of him falling asleep on the job? What would his suboordinates think? He rubbed his temples with a thumb and forefinger and looked up to apologize to Batman, only to discover that he had already vanished. It was only later as he was driving back to his house to fall back asleep beside his wife that Gordon realized that the apology wasn’t necessary. The note in Batman’s voice had been compassion. He was human after all.
~
Other Parts: Hero Worship.
Author: Xanthos Samurai
Fandom: Batman: The Dark Knight
Pairing/Characters: Batman, Commissioner Jim Gordon
Rating: PG-13
Length: 748 Words
Warnings: Set post-movie, so massive movie spoilers. I didn't write this with slash in mind, but I suppose it could be interpreted that way.
Disclaimer: I initially wrote this just because I think Gordon needs more attention and I wanted to explore his character and his post-movie relationship with Batman a little bit. As I was writing, I noticed that it shared similar themes with a Batman/Harvey fic I wrote a while back and decided to make them a part of the same series.
Edit I just discovered that Ponderosa wrote a Batman/Jim fic with the same title as this back in April and I am COMPLETELY MORTIFIED that someone is going to think that I plagiarized her. So if this makes any difference, it's a complete and utter coincidence that these two fics have the same title and main characters and I'll change it if anyone thinks that it's an issue.
~
Gordon couldn’t sleep. He hadn’t been able to sleep since he had seen Harvey Dent hold a gun to his son’s head over a month ago. He knew that Barbara took sleeping pills to get through the nights and he couldn’t blame her, but he hadn’t ever felt right taking pills when he wasn’t sick.
He’d tried other things to fall asleep at first. Television was just mindless droning and he could only pace so many times around the same square rug before he felt himself starting to go mad. Finally, Gordon had relented and started coming down to the MCU at nights when he couldn’t sleep, just so he could feel useful. He answered calls or caught up on paperwork or even just organized files. Many an early morning saw Gordon finally asleep at his desk or driving home to eat breakfast with his family and help Barbara get the kids off to school before driving right back to the precinct for work again.
Sometimes when he was at the MCU and there were no calls to take or paperwork to fill out and he could feel his eyes beginning to cross from filing for hours on end, Gordon would walk upstairs to the roof and stand beside the broken spotlight. It seemed like years ago that he had stood up there beside two of the men he admired most in the world - Batman and Harvey Dent. How things had changed in less than two months. Dent was gone, destroyed by himself and the Batman… Well…
Gordon could hear the sirens of his squad cars as they chased the Batman through the city. They howled like dogs on the heels of game. No matter how many times he heard it or how many times he said to himself that the Batman was right and that it was necessary, he couldn’t help but feel sick to his stomach at the thought.
“It’s not your shift.”
The voice, deep and breathy, made Gordon jump badly. He hadn’t heard it since the night Jim almost died. He looked around and saw the Batman standing on the other side of the light.
“You startled me.”
“You never got startled before.”
“Yeah? Well I guess I’m just out of practice.” Gordon eyed Batman. Beneath the armor and the eye paint, he couldn’t tell if Batman looked different after all this time, but he imagined that the man in the mask sounded different. More weary.
“What are you doing out here, Gordon?”
“I couldn’t sleep. I like to come up here and make myself useful.” Gordon leaned his back against the light and regarded him. “What are you doing here?”
Batman shifted . “I don’t sleep.”
“I noticed.” Gordon almost smiled. This felt like old times. “You’ve got some nerve, coming up here. The entire police force has orders to arrest you on sight.”
“I won’t be staying long. I just wanted to make sure you were all right.” Batman drew his cape around himself.
“Me?” The commissioner couldn’t hide his surprise. “Why would you be worried about me? You’ve got bigger problems.”
“My biggest problems are all currently in jail. You’ve been doing a good job, Gordon. Gotham needs you.”
Gordon watched the Batman and wondered if he had a family. How could he? He was out every night fighting criminals and running from cops and getting beat to hell in the process. If he had a family, they surely hardly ever saw him. If not… then who would notice if he didn’t come home?
“Get some sleep, Gordon.”
He hadn’t realized he had closed his eyes and almost dozed off leaning against the broken remains of the bat signal until he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard Batman’s terse, gruff voice. He blinked and shook himself as he straightened, horribly embarrassed and trying to hide it. There had been something strange about Batman’s voice - a tone that Gordon hadn’t ever heard before. But his worries pushed the observation away. What would Batman think of him falling asleep on the job? What would his suboordinates think? He rubbed his temples with a thumb and forefinger and looked up to apologize to Batman, only to discover that he had already vanished. It was only later as he was driving back to his house to fall back asleep beside his wife that Gordon realized that the apology wasn’t necessary. The note in Batman’s voice had been compassion. He was human after all.
~