Disclaimer: As always we'll own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters find themselves in.

Oh He's So Cute

Ignoring the fact that Bane was following him for the moment, Blake headed straight for the bed where he'd laid out a new set of clothes. Of course now he had to take the towel off, he silently acknowledged, which made him aware of Bane's presence on level that had the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. But there was no way in hell he was going to let on how aware he was so instead he reminded himself that Venom had given him the ass of his dreams and as long as Bane didn't see his front being naked he was good. That could end badly given that his hair wasn't the only thing standing up.

Pulling his towel loose Blake slung it over his shoulder and then grabbed the loose pajama bottoms, stepping into them as quickly as possible.

Watching the other man set aside the towel and put a long sleeved shirt on Bane knew in his gut that yes, yes he was attracted to his man both mentally and physically. He might not know what he wanted, exactly, but he had to accept that yes, he wanted Detective Robin John Blake to belong to him. But he had no precedent for these feelings and urges, no idea how to behave or approach Blake in a manner other than the way he did now. And even if he were to make such an attempt he'd be rebuffed, wouldn't he? Because while the detective didn't approve of his actions concerning Gotham-Blake had made his physical interest in him known. But even if Blake didn't reject him there was the fact that he had never expected to desire sex with someone before, least of all male, and going by what knowledge he had of such things would not be wise.

"I wish to ask you a personal question."

"Shoot. Metaphorically." Blake tacked on, just in case.

Hiding his slight amusement Bane instead asked the question that was turning around in his head. "You are gay…but have you ever been attracted to a woman?"

Okay, he so didn't get why he was being asked this. "No. I'm a bottom, which means women can't interest me sexually, obviously. Not to mention women generally lack the size and muscle mass I prefer…unless they're on steroids which is a definite no no in my books."

In truth Bane hadn't given any thought to which of the two roles Blake chose to take when it came to his sexual encounters, sex wasn't something he thought about unless he had to, and now that he knew what position his detective chose to occupy in sexual encounters Bane couldn't help but recall his time in the The Pit. The men who'd been used as women there had either been forced or did so in trade for protection or extra provisions. Not once had he heard or seen a joining between two men that would indicate the interaction was remotely pleasurable to the one being taken. Yet he knew Blake was not someone who enjoyed pain, the man had yelped and complained like a child mere minutes ago while his wound was being cleaned and seen to. There had been no indication that Blake provided sexual favors for gain or because he had to before the city's occupation, which left him with the idea that the detective enjoyed having sex with other men…but that made no sense to him.

"Okay, you're giving me the weirdest looks. What?"

"I do not see why you enjoy sex."

A surprised laugh crossing Blake's lips, the detective's eyes crinkled in amusement before the grin he was wearing slowly faded as he realized why Bane might be confused about this. After all…the man's sexual education had taken place in a hell hole not even fit to be called a prison.

"You were amused and now you are sad. Why?"

"I was amused until I realized why you would be confused. Give me a minute to think of how to explain this to you." Because it wasn't enough for him to just say sex was supposed to feel good for both parties, not in this case.

Crossing his arms in front of him Blake struggled to come up with an explanation that Bane could understand given that the man probably didn't have a lot of experience interacting with the outside world. Prisoners and mercenaries didn't interact with the outside world, at least not for very long or in a positive way. Plus it had to be simple just because Bane's thoughts on this particular issue were probably deeply ingrained, possibly even the reason why Bane had no interest in sex in the first place. It went without saying that the man would have seen rape, perhaps even been sexually abused himself before he was big enough to fight back. He would hope that the inhumane bastards who'd cast Bane into The Pit in the first place had had just enough decency to keep the child Bane had been away from the general population, but he wasn't about to hold his breath there.

It took Blake a lot longer than it should have to concentrate on his promise to come up with an example, his mind generating all sorts of horrors Bane could have experienced or been subjected to, but finally he came up with one that would require very little contact between them but would still visually reinforce what he was trying to demonstrate.

"Hold out your hand like this."

Bane studied the hand Blake held out in front of him like he was telling him to stop, wondering what the point was even as he raised his own arm and copied the man's action, body jerking ever so slightly when Blake moved closer and meshed his fingers through Bane's, his own fingers parting naturally to allow the action.

"You could break my fingers or wrench my arm in this position. We both know how strong you are, how easy it is to cause harm or be selfish. You could also hurt me accidentally, like if an explosion suddenly went off outside the house and you squeezed down without meaning to, or if you misjudged your strength or mine like I did early when I did more damage than I intended to because I didn't know the power Venom would give me." Lightly Blake squeezed the hand joined with his. "What we're doing doesn't hurt because we aren't trying to hurt each other and it's unlikely that we're going to accidentally do that barring some unexpected surprise. People have sex and hold hands for a lot of reasons, but usually it's because they have a bond with that person and it's a way of showing it. I only sleep with men who are as interested in giving me pleasure as they are receiving it, and if they hurt me or cause some discomfort it's not on purpose. Does that answer your question?"

Slowly Bane nodded, though his eyes were focused on their joined hands like the gesture somehow held the key to the secrets of the universe.

"Bane?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you looking at our hands like that? I…I can't be the first person to ever hold your hand…am I?"

"No, you are not the first." A thoughtful pause. "But your hand is different."

)

Feeling his ears go hot, damn them, Blake forced himself not to ask how his hand was different. Instead he fought the urge to jerk his hand out of Bane's grip as he asked if Barsad had talked to him about the request he'd asked the other man to pass along to him. When Bane shook his head in the negative Blake opted to make the request himself. "Would you be willing to transport food from here to the boys' home I grew up in? You, Barsad and I are pretty much the only three people that eat here regularly and some of the food's going to go bad soon anyway." A slight exaggeration, but not an area Bane would have much knowledge of hopefully. "It is almost Christmas…and if this is the last one they're going to have it seems only fair that you let them have at least one decent meal beforehand. I'd handle everything except transportation, and I'll make you and Barsad all the cookies you can eat. And Christmas dinner here too. Please."

"It would make you happy if I allowed this?"

"Well yeah, obviously, though that's not why I'm asking."

"I will arrange it then, for tomorrow or the day after." Bane decided then and there, the huge smile that broke over Blake's face more than payment enough.

To thank Bane for agreeing to let him put together some food to go to Swithins, as well as hoping to get his hand free since the other man was making no effort to let go, Blake asked the mercenary if he wanted to stick around and help him finally decorate his Christmas tree. Bane had been interested in it before, and it would be a hell of a lot easier to drape the popcorn chains over the branches if he had some help.

Surprised at the offer Bane let go of Blake's hand, eyes thoughtful as he studied the man's face before nodding his head.

"Good. Though it won't take that long given what I have to work with." Motioning for Bane to follow him over to the tree Blake picked up the first strand of popcorn and quickly explained how they would stand on either side and pass the strands to each other.

Nodding, Bane moved into place and did as he was told.

After Blake had passed the popcorn chain to him twice, thus drawing his attention to the bandaged arm, Bane couldn't help but point out that it had been foolish of him to try and help the men who had attempted to kill him earlier.

"Oh the irony."

"Irony?"

"Yeah." Blake shook his head as he adjusted the drape of the chain. "The guy I was kneeling down to check out just before I got slashed, I knew him from my time in foster care. We were in the same place for a couple months before he got thrown into juvie. His name was Tony Le Fou, and a lot of people called him Fool, as a play on his name."

"You were friends?"

The face he made said it all even before he shook his head. "Hell no. I couldn't stand him. He was a parasite, the kind of guy who latched onto the strongest person in the room and became his bitch in exchange for that person's protection or so called friendship. At his best he was like Milhouse from 'The Simpsons', but usually he was more of a Wormtail. But regardless of that I knew him…so I figured I should at least acknowledge that."

He didn't know this 'Simpsons' show the other man referred to, but he got the other reference and understood why people would refer to this 'parasite' as a fool. "Did he attempt to latch onto you?"

"Me? Naw, I was never the top of the food chain. The only time I benefited from knowing him was when the moron let himself be turned into a human snowman by some older kids at our school. He looked so ridiculous…I laughed harder than I had in years."

The rest of the popcorn strands were put up in thoughtful silence, Bane speaking up only after Blake had retrieved the single box that contained the few decorations Barsad had deemed safe for him to handle and have access to.

Studying the crocheted snowflake he'd been given to hang up, Bane looked at the tree and asked where he was supposed to put it.

"Anywhere you want. There's no wrong…okay, scratch that, there are wrong ways to decorate a tree, but in this case we're okay there given what we have to work with." Seeing Bane's confusion Blake went into a very familiar rant about how Christmas trees were not supposed to look like the tree equivalent of a runway model. The only theme should be Christmas, complete color coordination was just wrong, and there should always be homemade crap on it in some shape or form to balance out the bought stuff. That, Blake told Bane in no uncertain terms, was a REAL Christmas tree.

"I see." Though he really didn't. Hanging his snowflake on a random branch Bane decided it looked okay and then turned to study the rest of the box's contents, pulling out a ball shaped ornament made of feathers.

"Normally I would never use that but he took all the regular balls away." Blake informed him as he reached in and grabbed another snowflake, already having hung four ornaments to Bane's one. "Though what kind of damage he thinks those Christmas balls could do is beyond me. He wouldn't tell me either, he said it would give me ideas."

Hanging the ball on the tree Bane looked at its new resting place and then turned his head to look at Blake, the feathers having reminded him of something he'd been meaning to ask the other man for a while now. "Why do you choose to ignore your given name?"

A frown greeted that question, followed by the statement that if Bane didn't want to call him Blake he could call him John instead.

"But of the three names you have been given that suits you the least." When he was given a blank look in response Bane surmised that the detective had no idea as to the meanings behind the names he'd been given and decided to educate him. "John means 'Graced by God'. Blake , which is believed to be derived from Old English, is interesting in that no one is sure whether it comes from "blac", a nickname for someone who had dark hair or skin, or from "blaac", a name for someone with pale hair or skin. Because of that it is seen as representing both light and dark. Robin means 'Bright Fame'."

"Oh. Seriously? I just never liked it because it was so damn girlie, not to mention all the stupid Robin Hood jokes." Opening his mouth to ask about Bane's name Blake shut it just as quickly, recalling that the only use of the word 'bane' he'd ever heard was 'bane of my existence'. And while some jackasses would be saying that it was no wonder that Bane's name meant bad things-

Knowledge in his eyes Bane nodded his head as he stated that his own name had many different, somewhat conflicting meanings. In the West his name was known to refer to death, destruction, ruins and murderer, yes, but it could also mean 'glorious defender' as well. That he thought all those meanings suited him surprisingly well went unsaid.

Since it wouldn't be a compliment to say that the man's name really suited him Blake suggested that Bane refer to him by his last name since that was a happy medium if Bane didn't want to call him John. And not wanting to give the man space to argue, his stomach did flip flops at the idea of Bane calling him Robin, Blake announced that they really should have Christmas music playing to get in the proper mood. Thankfully someone in the house had left an Ipod with Christmas music in the library, and he'd brought it up with him earlier to hook up to the speakers he'd found days before in preparation for the tree trimming. In short order he'd accessed the Christmas playlist and music began playing, Blake immediately wincing at the fact that the first song to play was 'All I Want For Christmas'.

Telling himself that there was no reason to wince, it wasn't like Bane was going to interpret the song choice the wrong way, Blake walked back over to the box of ornaments and studiously avoided looking at Bane as he tried not to think about what the man would look like naked and gift wrapped.

Oh boy but he really needed to get his head examined.

And since a CAT scan wasn't available at the moment Blake tried to distract himself by humming along with the song, unaware when he switched over to actually singing.

Very aware of the shift Bane found himself ignoring the ornaments and the tree as he covertly watched the other man out of the corner of his eye, knowing Blake's instincts were honed enough that outright staring would be noticed. It was hard not to show his interest though, he wouldn't have taken the man for someone musically inclined. And while he had certainly heard more talented vocalists…he couldn't help but lose himself in the rich smoothness of Blake's voice.

For his part Blake kept singing without being aware of it for two more songs, the one after those jarring him out of his groove as he tried to figure out why the hell the Beatles song would be included on a Christmas playlist. It wasn't the Beatles singing it though, and eventually it occurred to him where he'd heard this version of the song before.

"The soundtrack from 'Love Actually'." He said out loud without meaning to, pleased to have come up with an explanation while the singer in the background assured them that all they needed was love.

"Pardon?"

"This song, it's from a British movie that takes place during the holidays. The whole soundtrack must be on here." As an afterthought Blake added that he should put that movie on his list of ones to watch before Boxing Day was over. It had been a while since he'd seen it.

Recalling well Blake's 'love' of a certain British actor Bane asked if Tom Hardy was in it, making a mental note as well. The note being that he was going to make sure his detective didn't get to watch the movie with the badly dressed actor in it anytime soon.

"Alas, no. That would have made it even more epic though." Blake's eyes glazed over a little just thinking about it. "Tom Hardy AND Alan Rickman in one movie. Now that would have made it worth watching all year round."