All's Fair in Fear and Panic
Harvey stares out the window of the too-clean apartment. Never liked a place this clean. But there's no arguing with the other one. The one who's still asleep. It's his place anyway. They have to at least respect each others' boundaries. Otherwise, it would all go to hell. Maybe it's already gone there, and they're just trying to ignore the obvious fact that they're way too far in over their heads by now. But at least they can pretend it doesn't matter. For the time being.
The skyline looks so beautiful this morning. His eyes scan the rooftops, lingering over the MCU, where he made his pact with Gordon and that damned dark crusader all those years ago. The sun had set over his fate that day. But now at just past seven in the morning it rises, casting a warm, vibrant halo over the dark silhouettes of the urban jungle. Maybe it's significant somehow. At the moment though, he fails to see how the sun still possesses the urge to revisit a world as unfairly decadent as this.
And, as always, he thinks of her. He will never forget Rachel. Even with this new turn of events, he'll never forget her face, her perfect brown eyes, her sunshine smile that greeted him every day. She was the real sunrise. The light before his eyes now seems a cheap imitation by comparison. She was the reason behind it all. When she was still…alive…life made sense. Now nothing makes sense. Especially not his current predicament. It's all a diversion, really, to hide the truth of a mad world. But now he's not quite so sure that what's happened is the true diversion. Last night, somehow, meant something. What exactly, he's afraid to ask.
The other stirs, and he immediately diverts his attention back to the window. Lost in his thoughts, he hadn't even realized his gaze had drifted to his sleeping companion. Just another innocuous action to nag at his mind, to wonder at its significance.
It had all started out as a chance meeting. In truth, he had hated the other from the get-go. And he was sure the other had hated him, too. The first time they had met face-to-two-face, he had ended up giving the man a gunshot wound to the shoulder after getting a face full of hallucinogen. Not a pleasant experience. Even worse when he realized their shared history with Rachel. The revelation that the other had once poisoned her with the intent of murder had ended with another all-out brawl, the likes of which neither one was likely to forget.
But soon, it happened. By complete accident. Then they just spiraled downward from there. They hated it, both of them, and made sure that the other knew the extent of their negative feelings to the last. Seven long months of hating. Seven months of frustrations and rage. Seven months of crawling back to the apartment, only to leave in a huff, then to repeat the cycle all over again like a mouse on a wheel. But at least the mouse had the sense not to question its repetitive actions.
But up to this point, his emotions had been clear. The one absolute that he could cling to was that he hated him. Now, he wasn't even sure of that anymore. Not if last night had anything to do with it.
It would never be as he would love Rachel. His life with her would have been perfect. They would have healed in the hospital from their ordeal, gotten married, and would have left Gotham forever to start a family and get away from the haunting past. It would have been paradise for him. A paradise now lost. Wiped clean from the future with a flame of death in the night.
It would never be as the knight and the clown were, either. Oh, yes, he knew about that one, too. Riddler wasn't the only one who could solve puzzles when he saw them. He had heard things, had even seen them for himself. The terrorist and the vigilante were very much in love; so much, in fact, that love wasn't even a strong enough word for it. Their bond was more tightly knit than probably any mortals'. It was made of something far more timeless than anything to be found on Earth. Their relationship spoke of the divine, of something worthy of the two gods that they were. No one loved as deeply as the two of them.
He wasn't even sure if what he had right now could be called love. But as Jonathan Crane slunk up behind him to loop his arms around Harvey Dent's chest, the ex-lawyer decided that – whatever it was – maybe for the two of them, it was enough.
'Kay, I know I haven't updated for a loooong time (stupid studying for finals), but I spun this out yesterday afternoon after playing with it for a few days in my head. I know Crane is asexual in canon, and I know that on this site he's usually got Harley and/or Sherry to deal with (kudos to you Toccata), and I know that in canon Harvey is too tied up with Rachel's death to ever move on, but...I need me some Cillian Murphy/Aaron Eckhart action BAD. So why not with each other? ^.^
Yeah, still not sure if I like this one, but I decided, WTF, I'll post it and see what happens. If you hate it, whatever. If you like it, thanks. If you stopped reading after ten seconds, then...you won't be reading this part at the bottom, but that's cool, too. Do whatever you want.
Oh hey, fun fact! Okay, so a friend of mine let me borrow a book of the first few printed Batman comics like EVER, and...MY LAST NAME APPEARS IN THE SECOND FRAME OF THE ENTIRE SERIES! SUCK IT, BITCHES! 8D Yeah, made me very proud. It's a sign, I tell you. And if you use that info to try to track me down, good luck, there's lots of us here on this Earth. And Heathus Christ will smite you for meaning ill will towards his future wife...I mean, ahem, who said that? *shifty eyes*
And I know I've kept some people in suspense with my "monster-fic," but that won't happen till next week on Friday at the earliest, when school gets out. Sorry. Same with "Always and Always" and "An Unexpected Visitor," which yes, I am continuing, AUV because it was requested lots and I can fit it in nicely with another story concept I've been entertaining, and Always because Bruce and Joker's kid just gives me the warm fuzzies to write about. :D