Disclaimer: Unless you don't recognize them, I don't own them. No money or other profits are being made from this attempt at entertainment.

This is a gift-fic for destinyawakened. Happy birthday, hon! Hope you had a great one!

Best Wishes

by: darke wulf

Bruce sighed from the darkened corner of the nightclub that he was currently haunting. Why had he let Tony talk him into coming here? Honestly, watching his sometimes-lover drink his way into a spectacular hangover while flirting with… and inappropriately groping… every woman in the club in no way fell under any definition he had of a good time.

He swirled the gin and tonic in his glass. Unlike Tony, he was still nursing his first drink. They were in Gotham – it was nearly inevitable that the Batman would be called upon before the night was out.

Bruce's eyes went back to where Tony danced out on the floor and he felt his cock stir in spite of his irritation. His lover was in his element and all the more gorgeous for it, in spite of the three women with which he was currently 'dancing.' The flashing lights of the club shone upon him, illuminating the slight sheen of sweat that misted his face and lending a slightly jerky quality to his otherwise graceful movements. It was a strangely enthralling dichotomy. His hair swayed with his movements, what little gel he typically used having long since given up any attempt at keeping the dark, lustrous locks in check.

The black silk of Tony's shirt, opened by three buttons at the top, set off his lightly tanned skin beautifully and Bruce couldn't help but trace the elegant lines of his neck when Tony threw his head back as he danced. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, leaving his forearms bare and Bruce watched the play of muscles as those arms wove sensual patterns before coming to rest on…

Bruce's growing arousal quickly disappeared as he watched Tony fondle the women surrounding him – laughing and leering and generally radiating enjoyment and what the hell was Bruce doing here? Tony obviously had other plans for the evening, which was fine. Their arrangement was non-exclusive. He had every right to seek companionship from whomever he wanted.

Why Tony felt the need to drag him along on his little whore-hunting expedition, Bruce wasn't sure, but he had had enough. If he left now, he would still be able to run through his regular patrol.

Decision made, Bruce drained the rest of his drink in a single swallow and stood from the booth at which he had been sitting. Unconsciously sticking to the shadows he made his way to the nearest club exit and stepped out into the crisp night air. The door closed behind him, halting the release of the smoke-filled air. Bruce stepped away from the building, making his way towards the street to hail a taxi, and took a deep breath of the substantially cleaner air. He felt himself relax as he walked through the Gotham night. This was his element – where he belonged – not some crowded cesspool wasting time.

As a cab was pulling up to the curb in front of him he sensed a person coming up behind him. "What do you want, Tony."

An irritated huff let Bruce know that Tony had in fact thought he was being sneaky in his approach. Obviously the man was more drunk than Bruce had originally thought.

"You just up and left – without even telling me you were going!"

Bruce didn't bother to turn around, instead opening the back door and moving to get into the car. "You were busy, and I didn't want to intrude."

As he settled into the backseat the air was driven from his lungs when Tony collapsed onto his lap, one elbow driving into his solar plexus.

"Ah, Brucie… were you jealous? That's so cute!" A delighted smile lit Tony's face as he looked up at Bruce from his slumped position.

If looks could kill…

"I was not jealous. I have more important things to do than to watch you assemble you harem for the evening, however." When shoving the other man out of the car didn't work Bruce instead settled for shoving him onto the seat next to him – anything to get the wriggling mass off of his lap. "Your car is still parked in the lot you know," he reminded the other man.

Tony reclined in a boneless sprawl beside him, taking up the remained of the backseat bench. Looking unconcerned, he waved a hand negligently. "No worries. Pepper'll pick it up for me later."

With a defeated sigh Bruce closed the car door and fastened his seatbelt, giving the driving his penthouse address. Without so much as glancing down, he grabbed Tony's wrist in his left hand, halting its progress towards his groin and giving it a tight squeeze. When he finished speaking to the driver he turned an unimpressed look towards the man now leaning against his side.

"Don't even think about it."

"But Bruuuce… I'm horny! I got all excited dancing for you, but then you left before we could do anything, and now I'm hot and bothered and I want to have sex!"

Bruce answered Tony's pout with a single raised eyebrow, thanking his ability to present a rational front in spite of the desire that was once again building in his body at the sight of those plumb pink lips formed into the adorably irresistible expression that no grown man should be able to pull off. "It looked like you were making fine progress towards that goal…"

"Bruce, I want to have sex with you." Tony again tried to move his hand towards Bruce's groin, as if his declaration would suddenly have changed Bruce's mind about engaging in sexual activities in the back of a cab. Although the fact that Tony had come after him rather than spending the night with one of his new 'friends' did assuage his feelings – not that he had been feeling jealous.

Thankfully Tony seemed to realize that exhibitionism still had not become appealing to Bruce, in spite of Tony's continued attempts to change his mind. Heaving a resigned sigh he shifted his wrist in Bruce's grasp until he could entwine their fingers and then gave Bruce's hand a slight squeeze. The rest of the ride he spent thankfully behaving himself. As a reward, Bruce allowed him to lean against him and lightly rub their joint hands slowly up and down his thigh – though Bruce remained diligent to ensure that those hands didn't go too high.

Eventually they arrived at Bruce's building. Using his grip on Tony's wrist to pull the other man from the car, Bruce ignored him as he leaned against him and rubbed against his side as Bruce paid the cabbie. As the car drove off Bruce turned to look down at Tony. "Would you stop that!"

"Hmm… no I don't think I will," Tony replied as the two men entered the building and made their way to the elevators. True to his word, Tony stayed glued to Bruce's side, his hands exploring as much of his body as he could reach.

With that, Bruce was decidedly unsurprised to be slammed against the wall of his personal elevator and have his mouth accosted as soon as the doors closed. "Mmm… you taste so good," Tony murmured when he finally released Bruce's lips and started pressing small biting kisses along Bruce's jaw and down his throat. His left hand was tangled in Bruce's thick hair, the slight pulling lending a delicious bolt of pain to the pleasure singing through Bruce's body.

Note – due to recent issues on fanfiction, this section has been removed from this version of the story. For the entire piece, please see my LiveJournal page. The link to my LJ is on my profile.

I apologize for the inconvenience.

"Mmm…" Tony moaned, his right hand coming up to lie atop Bruce head as the other man lavished attention on him. Suddenly he body tensed, however, causing Bruce to halt his ministrations.

Concerned, Bruce shifted until he was beside the other man. "Tony, what's wrong?"

Tony turned his head to the side, his eyes wide with disbelief and some other emotion that Bruce couldn't identify.

"Did… did you just call me 'love?'"

Bruce cursed himself for his carelessness. Tony knew him too well for him to pass it off as meaningless sex talk. That was a word he never used – much less used lightly.

His inability to respond apparently answered Tony's question for him. The other man's face lit up with delight, and Bruce found himself having a hard time holding onto his self-disgust.

Tony placed a quick kiss on his cheek before cuddling – cuddling! – up to him and settling in to sleep. The smile still hadn't left his lips.

"I love you, too, Bruce."

Bruce sighed in resignation as his arms came up to enfold Tony. It was ridiculous how much his heart seemed to swell at that one simple sentence. But he was too worn out to deal with it now.

As he drifted off to sleep with Tony's breath warming his chest he sluggishly considered that perhaps there was something to this birthday thing after all…