Chapter 31

Bruce came to with a start from the unfamiliar sensation of having dozed off and realized that he had been in the even more unusual situation of being held snugly by a pair of warm arms as he slept.

A pair of arms that were also holding him comfortably in place on a muscular lap. A lap that belonged to his very new, very cuddly boyfriend.

When was the last time that he had ever fallen asleep unintentionally, Bruce wondered to himself with bemusement as he shifted slightly to nuzzle his head a little closer under Bane's jaw as the larger man began to stir.

Not to mention the last time he had cuddled? Brucie Wayne, billionaire who pursued random shallow hook-ups instead of relationships, did not cuddle after sex. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am, and he was out the door. Fewer opportunities for messy emotional entanglements that way, and it wasn't like he ever fucked anybody who expected more than a single night with the billionaire anyway. He did have some decency.

But here in his study, he and Bane hadn't even had sex and Bruce had curled up in his lap like a kitten and drifted off to sleep. And now that he was awake, Bruce felt about as content as he imagined that a cat would be, too. What an odd feeling, he thought to himself. But a good one.

"Good morning," Bane rumbled in his ear with a smile in his voice.

Bruce glanced at the old-fashioned grandfather clock in the room.

"It's about four," he said to Bane, "so I guess 'good morning' works."

Bane chuckled as his sleepy dark eyes met Bruce's mostly alert blue ones.

"It is the only kind of morning that I will ever see now that I am the Batman," Bane said with teasing regret in his voice.

"It is a night job," Bruce said with a grin.

"As you have aptly instructed me," Bane said with a sly look as he traced his fingers along Bruce's arm. "With pillows and cursing, if I recall," he said and Bruce's groan couldn't hold back his laughter as his boyfriend laughed with him.

Their twinkling eyes met and Bane was the one to lean in first, this time, to reach his mouth towards Bruce's for a kiss. And Bruce could not believe the ridiculously gooey way that his insides were melting over how tentatively Bane was kissing him, and how gently he tested out ways to tease his lips apart, and how sweetly he slipped his tongue into Bruce's mouth.

Bruce couldn't help moaning into it as he cupped the back of Bane's neck more tightly, but he let Bane have control of the kiss and explore different ways that their tongues could move together to his heart's content. They both were breathing hard by the time Bane pulled away only to press his forehead to Bruce's.

"Te amo, mi cielo," Bane said to him huskily as he looked into Bruce's eyes.

"I love you, too," Bruce said back, reaching for one of Bane's hands so he could kiss the palm before smiling into it like a dopey lovesick teenager.

"You are most adorable when you smile at me in such a way," Bane said to him with pleasure and Bruce's cheeks actually reddened the slightest bit.

"I'm not in the habit of being described as adorable," he muttered. "I'm Batman."

"No, no, Bruce," Bane said. "I am now the Batman. And you are adorable."

Bruce laughed softly.

"You're in trouble then, Batman," he teased. "Because you're pretty damn adorable, too," he said.

"I am adorable?" Bane asked him in disbelief. Bruce nodded.

"The great and fearsome Bane?" Bane said.

"The great and adorable Bane," Bruce said, reaching up to palm his cheek.

Bane bit his lip in consternation.

"What is it, love?" Bruce asked him.

"You truly think that I am adorable?" he said to Bruce.

"Yes," Bruce said, but with some concern starting to show in his voice. "You don't believe me?"

Bane let out a slow exhale.

"It is just…" he said. "I am more accustomed to insults and disgust where my appearance is concerned," he said.

Bruce frowned hard.

"From who?" he said sharply, the Dark Knight edge slicing through his voice like a knife. Bane's chest puffed up.

"You are angry?" he said to Bruce with pleasure. "On my behalf?"

Bruce raised an eyebrow.

"Obviously," he said. "Who insulted you? I think I can handle putting the suit on one more time."

Bane began to laugh low and long in his belly.

"Bruce, Bruce, Bruce," he said softly. "Mi cielo. You are more than I deserve," he said happily, bending his head to give him a brief kiss.

"It is not important who insulted me in the past," Bane said to him, though.

"I beg to differ," Bruce said flatly, although his hand was soft on Bane's face. "Make me a list," he commanded.

Bane sighed.

"Bruuuuce," he said gently.

"Boyfriend," said Bruce back. "Let me defend you," he said firmly. "You're always standing up for other people. Let me stand up for you this once," he said.

Bane's eyes got a little wet at that.

"I will consider it," he murmured.

"Do that," Bruce said. "And then make me a list," he said very seriously.

Then paused.

"It's not like I'm going to kill them, you know," he said with a twinkle in his eye and Bane laughed. "So there's no harm in giving me a list of names," Bruce said more triumphantly. "The worst they'll get is roughed up and the shit scared out of them. And everything they hold dear threatened," he added under his breath, but Bane heard him.

"Someone is becoming Amanda Waller," he said, squeezing Bruce's hip affectionately and Bruce groaned loud and long.

"Let me take care of you, though," Bruce said again, the tenderness in his eyes mixing with more heat as he spoke.

"You do take care of me," Bane murmured and Bruce's breath caught in his throat.

"I don't," he managed to choke out. "Not like how you help me and make my life better," he said and now it was Bruce's eyes that were becoming misty.

"You do so much for me, love," Bruce said roughly, "and I have so little that I can give you in return."

Bane stared at him in disbelief.

"You think that you give me nothing?" he asked Bruce in wonder. "Mi cielo, you give the world to me," he said.

"How?" Bruce said, his mouth falling open slightly. Because seriously, what the fuck? They both knew that Bruce was the screwed-up one in this relationship. Bruce had honestly been shocked that Bane considered him emotionally healthy enough to pursue a romantic relationship with.

Because if it was Bruce on the outside looking in at himself, considering the person who was Bruce Wayne as a partner? He'd want no part of that clueless mess.

But Bane was reaching a hand up to stroke his face before running his fingers through Bruce's hair.

"You laugh at me," he said. "At my jokes," he clarified at Bruce's look of confusion. "In a good way," he said. "No one laughs at Bane. They are too busy running in the opposite direction."

"Or shitting their pants?" Bruce said, thinking of the liquor store robbers that Bane had surprised on their first day hanging out together, after apprehending King Snake at Gotham Central Station. Bane laughed.

"Exactly, my friend," he said. "No one speaks to Bane long enough to appreciate his sense of humor," Bane sighed.

"Harley does," Bruce pointed out but the side of Bane's mouth curled up into a half-smile.

"Harley loves Bane, yes," he said. "But she speaks to my other part," he said, referring to one of his dissociative identities. "Not this part. This part, Bruce? This part is yours."

Bruce felt his throat beginning to get tight.

"Not only that," Bane went on, "but you bring the light to my darkness."

"I don't understand that," Bruce said, remembering his earlier confusion when Bane had said much the same thing. "I am the epitome of darkness," Bruce said. "Especially when you first came back to Gotham a few weeks ago, after I'd gone through everything with Jason. What about my grumpy snark says light to you?" Bruce said.

Bane smiled at him.

"You have such a sense of humor," he said. "Even when your wit is dry and biting. And you love your children and your father so deeply," he said. "Yes, I know you hurt young Jason," Bane said, raising a hand to cut off Bruce's protests.

"But you loved him and love him still. You take in lost children right and left who are alone and unloved, even when you feel yourself to be incapable of love. You even take in your former adversary who broke your back. Such a big heart, Bruce," Bane murmured. "Even Harley Quinn has become your daughter," he said and Bruce had to smile.

"And despite your affinity for the dark, you became a hero," Bane mused. "The Batman, fighting out of the dark for the light to prevail."

Bruce sighed.

"I think you're giving me too much credit," he said. "You're the light, Bane. Meditating every day. Teaching us to be more spiritual. Bringing a sense of togetherness to our family. I'm nothing like that."

Bane smiled softly.

"You think that I am the light, Bruce? No," he said quietly. "I am filled with more rage than you can possibly imagine," he said. "It is not for no reason that I meditate every day," he said. "It is so that I can face the world with some measure of calm. Without time spent on my pillows, morning and evening, I am little good to anyone."

Bruce frowned.

"I'm still jealous that the pillows work for you," he said and Bane laughed out loud until he was wiping tears from his eyes.

"You see what you do to me and dare to say that you have no light to give me," Bane scolded him. A small smile played around the edge of Bruce's lips.

"Well," he said. "Maybe I have a few sparks once in awhile."

"Mm," said Bane, drawing him closer into his chest. "More than a few, mi cielo," he said as Bruce sighed into him.

Down in the Batcave, a very sweaty and satisfied Jason and Harley were basking in the afterglow of a steamier than expected reunion, thanks to Jason's inspired roleplay.

"We're gonna take this Robin costume home with us, right?" Harley said to him with a giggle as she sat with her back against Jay's chest while the two of them stretched their bare legs out lengthwise along the leather backseat of the Batmobile. Which they would probably forget to clean before Bruce found it.

"Hell, yeah, we're taking it home," Jay said into her neck as he cuddled his arms around her waist. "I can't believe the old man had it rigged up in a freakin' museum case like that," he shuddered.

"It's a good thing you warned me about that before I came home," he said.

Because Jason had left from Wayne Manor with Bane the week prior without visiting the Batcave first. And his wife had been quite shocked at her discovery when Damian had first taken her down to try on Steph's Batgirl suit for patrols.

"I'm kinda surprised you wanted to put it back on," Harley said to him. "But I got no complaints," she giggled. Jason grunted a little bit.

"I just figured, I didn't want to be scared of it," he said. "It was creeping me out to sit down here looking at it and fuck that," he said roughly. "And fuck the Joker, too," he added. "This suit isn't about him anymore," Jason said. "And it's not about me and Bruce, either."

"It's about you and me, baby," he said, pressing a kiss to Harley's bare neck where it met her shoulder.

"Damn straight," Harley sighed with satisfaction as she snuggled back closer into him. "I love you, Jason Robin Todd," she said, squeezing his hands tight that he had wrapped around her stomach.

"I love you, Harley Batgirl Todd," Jay said back to her as she turned her lips towards him for another kiss.

"Let's check the Batcave before we go upstairs to make sure the kids have gone to bed," Bruce said to Bane as they slowly pulled themselves off of the couch in his study to go to bed properly.

"The Little Bat has probably gone to bed," Bane said, noticing the time. "He is most disciplined about his sleep habits. But Batboy, I believe he would never sleep at all given the opportunity," Bane said with a chuckle.

"I'd have to agree," Bruce laughed. "Especially since he and Steph got the whole week off from school thanks to Harley's little bullying intervention," he said with amusement.

"Ah, yes," Bane murmured. "That sounded like quite the adventure."

Bruce gripped his arm.

"You heard the whole story?" he said in a low voice of excitement.

"I believe so…?" Bane said, looking at him questioningly.

"They wouldn't tell me everything that happened with the Suicide Squad," Bruce said in a hushed voice. "Harley said it would upset me. But now you can fill me in," he said with quiet glee.

"Ah, Bruce," Bane said hesitantly. "I do not know, then. Perhaps it would be best…"

"But I'm your boyfriend," Bruce Wayne growled with fully seductive billionaire charm, giving Bane sultry bedroom eyes and sliding his hands up Bane's sides in a sexy caress. "We shouldn't have secrets from each other," Bruce practically purred, almost fluttering his eyelashes up at Bane.

"Ay, yi, yi," Bane muttered as the temperature in the room rose by about twenty degrees. "Is this the secret to being the World's Greatest Detective, Bruce?" he said, raising an eyebrow even though he lifted his hands up to cradle Bruce's head as he looked down at the glitteringly determined Bat who was now sliding one hand along Bane's chest while the other continued to stroke his hip.

"Ha!" Bruce barked with a fierce sense of victory. "I told Harley that I was the World's Greatest Detective."

"Of course you are," Bane said with a puzzled look. "Everyone knows that."

Bruce snorted, his sexy persona forgotten in light of remembering Harley's grave insult to his well-known capabilities.

"Harley refused to believe that I was a detective," Bruce sulked as he wrapped his arms as far as he could around Bane's massive chest instead, to hug him.

"She said I was an out-of-work haunted house worker."

Bane busted out laughing hard.

"Only our Harley," he said with great amusement.

"You'll tell me though?" Bruce asked him again, his eyes twinkling flirtatiously. "What the Suicide Squad really did?"

"Very well," Bane sighed. "But only because I love you," he smiled.

"I can live with that reason," Bruce smiled back.

His smile turned to a frown, however, when they got to the hidden Batcave elevator which refused to open.

"What the hell?" Bruce muttered, punching in his security override code that should have overridden any form of emergency lockout. Should have. But didn't.

"Bloody hell," Bruce said grimly in a tight voice.

"Why will the elevator not open?" Bane said with some concern.

"I don't know," Bruce said, pinching his eyebrows with his thumb and forefinger, "but Timothy Drake had damn well better be upstairs in bed and not locked downstairs in the cave keeping me out," he said, sliding the moving bookshelf back into place over the elevator door and turning briskly to head to the stairs.

"The last time something happened with the cave locks," Bruce explained as he practically jogged along, "I had tried to lock the kids out and Tim had created a backdoor access."

"He is quite gifted with computers," Bane observed as he easily kept up with Bruce.

"He is," Bruce agreed. "And this has his name written all over it. Why he'd need or want to lock the cave, though, I can't imagine," he said with a morbid sense of foreboding. "Especially without telling me."

"He might have thought that we were otherwise occupied," Bane said with a sly smile and was rewarded with Bruce flashing him a truly devastatingly sexy grin.

"Still," Bruce said as they reached the top of the stairs. "I'm suspecting that I'm not going to like the answer. Whatever it is," he said.

"Why is that?" Bane asked him.

"Call it a father's intuition," Bruce grunted. "You'll develop it soon enough," he said. "As soon as you've lived through the shit hitting the fan once or twice, you'll start to develop a psychic twitch," Bruce said as Bane softly chuckled.

Bruce knocked gently as soon as he got to Tim's door, not wanting to wake up the hopefully sleeping Damian a few doors down but needing to rouse a maybe sleeping Tim. Although, as Bane had predicted, Tim was not, in fact, asleep, as he padded to the door and swung it open within seconds.

"You tried to go downstairs, didn't you," he said to Bruce and Bane without any greeting. Steph waved over at them from his bed, where she and Tim had apparently been curled up watching a movie with the sound turned down low.

"Yes," Bruce said. "Explain," he said tiredly.

"It's not as bad as you think," Steph called out.

"It might be," Tim grinned back at her.

"Tim," Bruce growled impatiently.

"Jason wanted to have sex with Harley in the Batcave," Tim said calmly, flicking his eyes back to Bruce and casually editing out all details about a certain Robin suit and a certain empty display case.

"What?" Bruce said in a voice that couldn't quite decide if it was outraged, amused, or horrified.

Bane softly started to laugh.

"Well, I didn't think you'd want to walk in on them," Tim said helpfully.

"We came upstairs with Damian before Harley got back," Steph added cheerfully. "No one's innocence was destroyed."

"Yeah, Jason already scolded us about that once tonight," Tim snickered. Bruce gave him a look, clearly debated asking, but then wisely thought better of it.

"Will we be able to get back in tomorrow?" Bruce sighed. "After they've hopefully disinfected every damn surface down there?"

"Yeah," Tim said. "The lockout will automatically cancel as soon as they take the elevator back up."

"Good," Bruce grunted. He gave Bane, who was still laughing, a tired look.

"I'm too old for this," Bruce said.

"Nonsense," Bane said. "You have years and years of fatherhood left to look forward to," he said expansively.

"But it's my oldest son presently in the house who's causing me the most grief," Bruce grumbled. "These two know how to behave themselves," he said to Bane, motioning to Steph and Tim, who smiled at him with pride.

"You don't see them having sex in the Batcave," Bruce said grumpily.

"That's just because we're not having sex yet," Steph said cheerfully.

Bruce groaned. Before a thought suddenly hit him. Hard.

He grabbed Tim's shoulder.

"Please tell me you -" "I turned the cameras off," Tim said over him.

"Oh, thank God," Bruce sighed, pulling him into a hug and kissing the top of his head as Steph giggled in the background.

"You are an excellent son," he said to Tim with deep feeling. "You make your father proud. And keep him from needing to bleach his eyeballs."

Tim smiled happily at him and then looked to Bane.

"Welcome home, by the way," he said. "I didn't get a chance to say that earlier."

"Because somebody needed privacy," Steph said teasingly to Bruce, who rolled his eyes at her but walked over to the bed to give her a hug and a kiss good-night as Bane hugged Tim.

"The privacy was appreciated," Bruce said as he ruffled her hair up.

"Yeah, yeah," Steph smiled at him.

"Don't stay up all night," Bruce said to her as Bane came around the bed to hug Steph, too.

"In bed asleep by five," Bane said sternly, looking at the two teens. "Up at one."

"Yes, Batman," Steph giggled. "I guess you're the bad cop now, huh," she said to him and Bruce snorted.

"First time in my life I've ever been called the good cop," he said.

"I'm sure it'll be the last, too," Tim said with a smirk as Bruce raised an eyebrow.

"Wait until you're Batman," he said dryly. "See who's always the bad cop then."

"Damian," Tim and Steph and Bane all said at the same time and Bruce couldn't help it and broke down into a fit of silent laughter, his shoulders shaking as he tried not to wake said bad cop up and earn them all a noise violation that Damian's subsequent moodiness would punish them for into the next week.

"Good night, good cops," Bruce said to the two teens with a little grin, who wished him and Bane a good night back as the adults left their room, shutting the door behind them.

"Well," Bane said hesitantly as they walked back down the hall towards his room.

"Do you want to sleep in my room?" Bruce asked him. "Just to sleep," he clarified, since they still needed to have a conversation around Bane's past childhood abuse before having sex, to make sure that they were both on the same page about comfort levels and safety and anything that might be off-limits.

"If you want to," Bruce added quickly. "You don't have to."

"I would love to," Bane said with the warmest of smiles.

As Bruce drifted off to sleep that night tucked securely into Bane's arms, both of them curled under the covers in his luxurious antique bed, Bruce decided that he might not like accusations of being the good cop, but he definitely enjoyed being the little spoon. One change in roles that he had no complaints about, he thought contentedly. None at all.