Title: "His World"
Author: Pirate Turner
Rating: PG
Summary: There is one side to the great Batman that only his beloved Alfred will ever know.
Warnings: Slash, Drabble
Word Count: 500
Date Written: 18 July, 2011
Challenge: SlashTheDrabble LJ comm's weekly challenge
Disclaimer: Bruce "Batman" Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, all other characters mentioned within, and Gotham City are & TM DC comics, not the author. Everything else is & TM the author. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.

There are many layers of the man he loves beneath the mask, and only Alfred knows them all. There's the Batman, who the whole world either loves or fears and despises. Beneath the Bat, there's multi-billionaire Bruce Wayne who the women chase after and the men, those who don't also attempt to woo him, either respect him or are constantly trying to devise new ways to take his father's money for their own greedy selves.

Yet there still remains another side to the great, big Bat, a side that is known to only one. He's the same person who bares the honor of having Bruce love him, and though Bruce remains a passionate lover in the bedroom to all those he deigns to take to his bed and a flirtatious fox in love's playground, his heart always remains belonging to that one individual. Alfred smiles, the corners of his mustache lifting. He is that man, and he knows how lucky he is to have his wonderful Bruce's love.

He also knows the one other side which remains unknown to everybody else in the entire world, and even on the alien nations where Batman is kept in utmost honor and respect. He knows the little boy secretly locked away underneath all his love's other many layers, and he knows that sometimes that sweet child needs as much stroking as the man himself. Thus it is that sometimes, early in the morning, as the sun is first beginning to climb over the eastern most hills, Alfred meets his beloved in the Batcave, ready to be there for both the man and the child. He meets him dressed only in an apron and carrying a tray of his favorite cookies and milk.

Bruce removes all of his masks and gazes into Alfred's knowing, caring eyes. A smile slowly stretches his lips and fills his handsome face, and his blue eyes sparkle as they did long ago when Alfred first baked cookies for him. "You waited up," he comments, shutting the Batmobile's door and coming closer.

Alfred answers him with an understanding smile. "I always do, sir."

"I know," Bruce tells him, pulls him close, and takes a bite of cookie. Then he kisses his beloved partner, and Alfred returns his kisses in between feeding him cookies.

Much has changed since his sweetheart was only a boy, and though Alfred wouldn't give anything for most of those changes for they have made his little one into the man he loves and who loves him today, he still cherishes those glimpses of the little boy he receives. Bruce will always be not only the man he loves but the boy he adores, as well, and much, much more. His beloved Bruce is the reason he holds on to life, why he continues on no matter what is done to him to try to get to Batman, and the reason he'll always be smiling and waiting when his love returns home. He is his whole world.

The End