I WILL.
BY: Supermaster51.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any DC Comics characters, but if I did, we'd already have a romantic relationship with Batman and Wonder Woman that we've been denied for far too long. I also do not own any rights to the song I selected for the fic.
CLASSIFICATION: K+
PLOT: Only she could give him what no one else could or wanted to give him. Just her, and he swore a great oath that he would never break. Written for the #WonderBatJukebox Event.
NOTE: It is not set in any known universe. There may be a few references to existing material, like the JLA from the 2000s comics, or the DCAU, but they're not set in those universes. They must have made Batman and Wonder Woman canon in those universes.
Love.
That word had always been quite annoying, tormenting me since that night, in which I lost my parents in front of my eyes on that tragic night because of an armed criminal. They were the people I loved most in the world, and they were abruptly taken from me. I kept thinking about how they died and that I was basically alone once those traumatizing seconds passed. Fortunately, my butler Alfred let me know that I was not alone, raising me through the rest of my childhood and into my teens until I left Gotham to train myself to perfection to become Batman, the Knight of Gotham with the goal that no other child lose your parents like I lost them.
However, since I started the training, all my mentors kept repeating the same lesson to me, but with different words, when there is love, all duty dies. They always said that we could be great men of honor or heroes without any difficulties until someone you love or care about a lot arrives, that always comes the moment when you decide what you want more. What compares to beating all the criminals in the world and saving families and innocent people with the love of a woman? That was the most used question, sometimes that question changed to: Is it better to risk your life every night than to hold your newborn child in your arms?
They were ultimately right, to a certain extent. But, since that lesson stuck with me more ingrained than they thought, when I returned to Gotham, I was more than determined to avoid any kind of relationship with anyone. Being a hero is dangerous, not only because of what I have to do in each mission, but because I'm Bruce Wayne when I'm not Batman, it made me a more than easy target for my enemies to use Alfred or Wayne Enterprises themselves as an advantage to defeat me, or they would be killed without hesitation.
I can still remember one or two arguments I had with Alfred when he was in that mindset. He always told me that there was more to life than just being in the mansion, going to Wayne Enterprises, being Bruce Wayne at social events, being in the cave and being Batman. Despite that, I always told him that those aspects of life are not important, only the mission is important. I defended that for a while until I met Selina.
Selina, I can't believe I still remember you despite being with the woman I love right now. But hey, both she and I know that painful experiences never completely go away. But, she was the first woman that had made me want to get out of the life of just being Batman. The big problem was that she was a thief, and she at a certain point became a villain who even betrayed me certain times in order to get what she wanted. She sometimes saved me from danger, like when I nearly drowned me in a time-sealed water tank by the Master of Clocks. Even though I knew she had that lifestyle, I was willing to love her, and to save her from that life, she had been through too much to end up like this. It didn't work, and I knew it when she ended up abandoning me at the Iceberg Club when she was trying to stop the Penguin's plan.
After that, Alfred made sure that there was nothing he could do to save her from that life. It was most painful, but it was better to cut all ties with Selina. She had betrayed me for the last time.
Without her, I went back to the normal life of being Batman while pretending to be millionaire womanizer Bruce Wayne, with the missions going so smoothly that sometimes I thought I wasn't breaking a sweat. It was the rare time that I was injured. Again, I thought that there would be nothing to stop me from doing the duty that I had sworn to do when I was eight years old, even though Alfred kept telling me that I couldn't give up with just that experience, but I ignored him, I thought that I would be able to keep doing it all alone, until Talia came along.
Oh no, seriously, this is just insulting, remembering her too even though I don't love her anymore and I have the woman I love with me.
How she ended up kidnapping me, technically taking me on a tour with her father, Ra's Al Ghul, to replace him as leader of the League of Shadows, which included having her by my side. Talia thought that I would accept easily, but I never gave in, I managed to leave that place alive. Even with that, she was not giving up and she still wanted me to take Ra's place in the league. In that time, as with Selina, I tried to save her, to show her that the League's way was wrong and that there were better ways to save the planet from ecological devastation than just killing all the necessary people on the entire planet. Despite that, Talia always preferred her mission, so she would never leave Ra's, which was made clear when she didn't hesitate to go after him when I managed to thwart Ra's' latest plan to unleash biological chaos on the entire city.
Once again, I went back to my old life, being Batman and Bruce Wayne, even though I was Batman most of the time. Alfred kept telling me that he shouldn't lock me into this, but, it took me longer to try again, though I didn't have any success.
Although I had other relationships, those were the most significant, since the others either did not last long, or I pushed them away, or they are the ones that left me again. After those relationships, I told myself that duty was still the only thing I could dedicate myself to, although I had understood that I had to be kinder to Alfred, after all, I would not have lived a thousand times if it weren't for him, although it wasn't for him. I didn't want more romantic relationships.
I didn't want more suffering, and I thought the next woman I would meet would do the same to me, but the next woman I met did not do the same to me, that woman was Diana.
Diana.
How I love you Diana. I never thought that I would be here, in my bed with you, in the bedroom of my villa in Puerto Rico. I will always be grateful for having met you, you are the best thing that has happened to me in my life. Although, strangely, our relationship had started in a totally different way than before, and that was when Darkseid's invasion caused me to meet her and my other friends, John, Barry, J'onn, Shayera, Oliver and Clark, although, of course, I never say that out loud to them.
When we first met, she didn't really like my way of running missions, in such a methodical and well-planned way, she always preferred to jump into action, but, using her powers in an equally strategic way, but not as planned. She always improvised in almost every mission, and she still does, but she has become more methodical and now she listens more to other people's plans, especially mine of course. But, we weren't like the best of friends, not until we started going on missions constantly, even though everyone said we were too opposite all the time, it surprised me how quickly we bonded with each other on missions, which It led to our interacting even more, even during lunches at the Watchtower.
When I met her, I did not fully trust her. Well, she said that she came from an island of immortal warrior women that had been hidden from the world for a long time. That was the reason that led me to research everything about the amazons, but none of them brought me any crucial information about her, without success. Fortunately, I got the information I wanted when we had to go to Themyscira when the witch Tala wanted to use the amazons, more precisely her strength to get more magic and create slaves with no will of their own from it. That was a peculiar experience, being on an island of women who hate you to death just for being a man, while the only one who didn't was also hated, by some, for having become our ally, and friend, as she bluntly says not a shred of shame.
The most unexpected for everyone, I'm sure it surprised everyone else too, was how Queen Hippolyta, her mother, had told her that it was good to see her again, after her various forays into the world wars. I can't understand how she managed to stay hidden from us, especially from me, I would have found it easily, but, the strangest thing is that Diana must have been over a hundred years old, just when her appearance gave her that of someone in her twenties. or little more. Although, it was still strange that they thanked us before ordering us to get out.
A few days after returning from Themyscira, I set out to ask her what she had done in those wars. She hated to ask him up front, but it was the only way to get more information. We talked in her room, and she gave me information that I didn't even think could be true. The thing about her leaving the island a few times because she didn't want them to last too long, in addition to thinking that they had been a machination of one of her greatest enemies, Ares, whom she managed to defeat in World War II, was not surprising, a bit maybe, since she had already shown that she can even beat Clark; What I didn't expect was that she had lost two men she had fallen in love with, one named Steve Trevor, an aviator who died in an explosion during air combat while she was fighting on the ground during World War I; and the other, his was Keith Griggs, he was more of a ground soldier than an airman, who ended up being blown to pieces by a land mine in WWII. For her to tell me this was terribly devastating, but it made me grow in admiration and respect that I already had for her. Her losing two men she loved in the most unpredictable and unfair ways reminded me of what I had lost. The next thing I couldn't believe is that I unconsciously opened my arms and hugged her. She looked like she was going to pull me away from her, but she didn't, and she even wrapped her arms around me. We stayed like that for minutes, and in that course of time… I felt released, I felt that a great burden and sadness that it had always been with me since that night was gone. But, I wasn't going to allow myself to fall easily for her, so I left soon after, not without telling her that I hope she's okay after this, to which she responded with a smile, the smile I love the most.
After that meeting, we basically became closer. Despite my constant attempts to stay in total control whenever she was around me, she always managed to make me lose it, something I never thought anyone would be able to do, note ven Slinea or Talia could do it like Diana does. Because of this, when it came to opening up to her, I pushed her away by being pretty rude, something inside of me will always regret doing it for a whole year.
The reasons why I was determined to drive her away, which now seem ridiculous to me, at the time seemed unshakeable and impossible to ignore. Those reasons I had were that, well, I'm not someone worthy of her, she'll end up hurt if I let her in; I've already been in too many failed relationships, so I couldn't allow my relationship with Diana to end the same way, I already had her friendship, but if our relationship got any further and ended like the others did, I would never see her again, she would hate me forever, something I could never live with; but, the main reason was that she could lose her in any fight against our enemies, lose the most remarkable, kind and compassionate woman on the planet, I couldn't take that risk.
However, I could feel that Diana, every time I pushed her away, ended up hurt, not for others, but for me, she loved me and I always ended up rejecting her. It hurt me to do it, but I always told myself that I did what was best for both of us. I thought we could go on like this for a long time, until she arrived that night in Gotham.
I had lost one of our typical bet anything workouts. One time, she had to leave me alone for a whole day when she lost, another time, I had to let her have a girls' night out at the Watchtower; but, at that time, she told me that I had to go to a social event in Germany. It was so terrible to think that everyone would see me there with her, her reputation would not be the same, so I made many excuses why I was not going to go, but she did not believe any of them, so she told me that, she hoped to see me there or she would go and get me out of the cave herself.
I underestimated Diana that time, as I decided to go patrol Gotham, even if there were no criminals or villains threatening her that night, but I thought she wouldn't find me now that I was moving from one point of the city to another to avoid Diana finding me. But, it only took her half an hour to find me and take me to one of the roof buildings.
"I knew you would try to run away" Diana told me, her teeth grinding, I had never seen her so angry.
"I wasn't trying to run away. I simply couldn't interrupt the mission because of an event in another country" I told her standing up, and keeping her serious expression, I wasn't going to allow me to look weak at this moment.
To my surprise, Diana went from being angry and furious face to utter sadness. I could see her effort not to cry.
"Because you hate me?" She asked me with her eyes closed.
Seeing her like this, she had broken through all my defenses again. How come she thought I hated her? Seconds later I realized it was my fault. She was so down, so desperate. I rarely saw her like this, and I realized that I had crushed the spirit of her that, without saying it out loud, I loved HER so much. I walked up to her and put her hand on my shoulder, surprised that she didn't break it.
"Diana, I'm so sorry. I know I hurt you by doing this to you, but I don't hate you. You are someone…" I stopped when I saw that this was complicated. Would she believe me if I told her that I love her, even after all the times I pushed her away and treated her badly? They always told me that love was very simple, but this was more than complicated.
"What am I to you, Bruce? I bet you'll say that I'm your teammate, that she's the only thing you've deigned to say to me in all this time," she said. Once she said that, I knew I couldn't keep hiding, I loved her, and I wasn't going to let him leave her without her knowing, if she didn't tear me in two after doing the next thing.
Without her being able to anticipate, I kissed her on the lips. She tried to push me away from her with her hands for a few seconds, but then she started kissing me. We went on for a few minutes until she broke away first.
"Bruce, if you're going to push me away again after this, say it already," Diana said.
"No, I won't, never again. I love you Diana. I've loved you for so long, but I didn't want to tell you for reasons you might not like to hear," I told her, still afraid that I might still hurt her. She put her hand on my face, her touch is so delicate.
"Tell me, Bruce." I'm sure she was saying that because she wanted to know if I was really willing to finally have a relationship with her.
"I'm not good at relationships, Diana. I'm the rudest person, brooding, with no regard for others when I tend to obsess over my cases and my mission, and the darkness inside me could be worse for you. But, I don't want to lose you Diana, and I almost ended up doing it because of it. But that doesn't change the fact that I love you," I explained.
I thought she was going to hit me, punish me in unimaginable ways, but she lowered her hand from my face to my chest.
"Bruce, I know that about you and I know you have your Gotham homework, but the Bruce you've allowed me to see is the one I love, the most wonderful man in the world. You can try to push me away all you want, but if you love me, then I'll always be with you, no matter what" she told me, smiling at me again.
With that said, I simply told her that I love her again and started kissing her again. We went on like this for a while until I told him we could go continue this at the mansion. She nodded, and from there, IT really started it all. I just couldn't believe that even though I'd tried to get as far away from her as I could, she'd still managed to break through all my defenses and make me admit what I'd never had the courage to tell her.
As we fell asleep in my bed, I silently swore that I would love her forever, with all my heart, whenever we are together or not, since now I have all my memories with her to know that she loves me, as much as I do. That was the same thing I said to myself on this night, our wedding night, a night I didn't think would come.
Once we became a couple, the whole mansion had a livelier atmosphere, all thanks to her. Alfred was so obvious every time he thanked Diana, he even made her a better meal than mine at times, I even heard him once telling her that he was happy that She made me stop being such a fool and finally decided to have a relationship with her.
But, there were still moments when I doubted if I was really worthy of her, or if she really loved me. I often forgot why she fell in love with me, why I have her here with me, or what she sees in me that made her want to love me and be with me. In the end, when we met in the League, I could see that she was intrigued by me, but not in love with her. I remember she even called me a powerless man who likes to dress up as a bat. She was right about that, well she's right many times. But, the plans to dress up as a bat to fight criminals are not very admirable plans that don't deserve any recognition. In fact, Alfred knew this was crazy, too, as he confessed that he was willing to call the asylum after my first chase where I had to run from the police, and ended up flattening five tires, causing to collide, but fortunately there were no serious injuries to the police officers.
But, every time I felt doubts, she has taken it upon herself to tell me. To my surprise, she has found my plan to be Batman admirable, and also that I have inspired her. For a while, she thought that men without powers or special abilities like Trevor or Griggs wouldn't stand up for anything on the planet anymore. Although, all the other members of the league had shown her that there were still good men, she told me how I insist on doing it without expecting anything in return, and that is what she has loved about Batman, but when I am not Batman, she has loved how supportive and dedicated I am when I am with her and my family.
Many times, I have also told him how much he has brought into my life. She has not only brought me the most priceless love that I am determined not to lose for anything in the world, but she gives me hope that there is a better world, she gives me strength to be a better man for my family of Dick, Tim, Barbara and Alfred (I've even listened to some of their talks about how they can't stop thanking her for coming into my life, and their lives); she gives me the faith that I can achieve my mission, but at the same time, have the happy life that I always thought I couldn't have when I was Batman.
There were times when I thought that if I wanted to have a happy life, I had to stop being Batman, something I would never do, I would not give up being Batman, but Diana has taught me the opposite, another of the many things for which I am grateful with her, and why I tell her every chance I have when we're alone, that's something I only reserve for her.
Something that is still strange to me, is that it makes me laugh, that all the members of the league, even Clark, when we announced that we were engaged, did not stop wondering how I had managed to make Diana fall in love, although I think she fell in love with me first, I don't know that, but I don't care. The important thing is how they called us the "dysfunctional duo" from that day on, except Shayera, who kept telling us "it was about time", since she had been the first to know that there was something between Diana and me, although, of course, I denied it. I was going to say that she was right, but better not, Diana has that privilege. We're here now, though I'm sure they'll keep calling us that, but that just makes it funnier when we're in this situation right now.
It feels so good to remember what I said to Diana at the wedding a few hours ago. It was what I had always wanted to tell her since the day I proposed her three months ago. I never thought I'd be able to say those words to her, in front of everyone, but basically I could just feel that Diana and I were the only ones there when I did.
"Diana, I don't know what I did to deserve you. Before I met you, my life was miserable in almost every way. And, you more than anyone knew that I was not an exemplary role model, nor the right person someone wanted to be with, unless they were looking for fame or fortune. That's without adding all the times I got hurt, which made me believe that my life would always have to be lonely, miserable and totally empty. But, when I met you, and when we became a couple, I haven't had that feeling anymore. Your love is the best gift I have received, you are the best thing that has happened to me in my life, and I will not stop telling you every day if necessary, because I love you with every fiber of my being." I said all this to Diana without leaving to look into her beautiful eyes. She spoke afterwards, and that was another one of the best of my entire life.
"Bruce, when I returned to the world of man, I did so only with the intention of living up to my mantle as the champion of the Amazons, spreading our message of understanding and love, and defending it from the threats I have faced before, at times alone and others with the help of the league." She said this, being careful not to say anything about my life as Batman. "But, when I met you, I know it took us a long time, but I admit that I didn't think I would fall in love again either, especially when I had already lost important people before. But I am very happy that I found you and that you have allowed me to love you again. And now I tell you this: No matter how much time passes or what happens in the future, I belong to you, Bruce Wayne, only to you" She concluded with those words, which kept repeating themselves in my head until they told us that they were declaring us husband and wife.
It never ceases to amaze me how much she is willing to love, even though she has already lost people she loved before. If she had been like me, I wouldn't have her right now, with me. I can never thank her enough for being who she is, but I will all the time if I have to. Despite that, I kept wondering how she got over those losses and being stronger than me, so much so that it led me to ask her that, when we had been a couple for six months, and it was one of the rare moments when neither of us I had nothing to do between the two of us, we just enjoyed being with each other, without saying anything.
"What's on your mind, Bruce?" She asked me when she saw that she didn't stop looking at her.
"You, you are simply the most amazing woman I have ever met" I answered her.
"Thank you, but you are not far behind either. You also surprise me when I least expect it" she told me smiling at me.
"Sometimes I wonder how you love me, despite what I do and what you've been through before," I told him, but wanted to shut my mouth soon after, I knew I'd done something stupid. She stopped looking at me and seemed to want to get up. "Sorry, Diana. It's just that, you know me so well, and you know that I put up walls so I wouldn't feel hurt again after what happened, but you managed to destroy them without any effort. I'm just sometimes afraid that this isn't going to last" I said grabbing her hand. I thought she was going to leave, but, she got up, pulling me close to her.
"At first it was very difficult to overcome all those losses, Bruce. I felt that I had failed them, I even came to think that I was no longer worthy of being Wonder Woman, and that I should stay in Themyscira to never return to the World of Man" He said this without looking at me, at first, but he did it when I put my hand on hers, letting her know that I was with her. "While I was in Themyscira to recuperate, I felt better, but after a while, I began to want to return to Man's World. Themyscira was my home, but it couldn't give me more for long. Like my mom said, I'm too adventurous to stay there and that I had a Good heart and I would return to continue with my mission. In the end, she was right, so I went back to being Wonder Woman and I met all of you, and I met you. And being with you always makes me see that I made the best decision in my life" she told me this touching my face with her hand. Stupidly, I was still unsure, but I decided to ask her. Until that moment, I was beginning to see that if I really loved her, I couldn't hide anything as important as my doubts about this relationship.
"Why did you say that Themyscira was your home, Princess?" I asked for.
"Because this is my home, here, with the league and with you" She replied. I kissed her in response.
"I'm so sorry Diana. I shouldn't have asked you that like that," I told her.
"Alright. At some point I had to talk about it. When you went to my room in the Watchtower to talk to me about it, I felt that my wound had opened again, but you helped me heal it for good, Bruce. And I understand you too, I also love you so much that sometimes I think it's a dream that I would wake up from at any moment" She said as she hugged me, I also wrapped my arms around her.
"This is not a dream, Diana. And I'm more than happy to remind you of that whenever I have to" I said into her ear. She responded by kissing me. When we broke the kiss, I'm more than sure I surprised her again, but in a better way. "Would you consider moving into the mansion?" Asked. Diana had widened her eyes in response, before kissing me again. That's all that mattered to me, and it's the most important thing now, Diana.
I have her, the woman I never thought I would have after all the bad times I've been through, and I couldn't be happier about it. Despite that, a bit of fear came over me, of losing Diana permanently, or that a new misfortune would come into my life and cost me everything I have obtained thanks to her.
"What do you think, Bruce?" Diana asked me, showing me her smile and her beautiful gaze.
"Just a series of memories with the past, Diana" I tell her trying to stop her from asking. I was wrong again.
"Something interesting?" Diana asked. It was clear that she thought she was going to mention my previous partners.
"Yeah, there were a lot of interesting things, like when I met you, when we got back from Themyscira, the night you confronted me and made me say I loved you, and how our leaguemates must still be calling us the dysfunctional duo." I answered without stopping smiling at her. Those are the memories I cherish the most of her.
"And look at us now, we're on our honeymoon," she told me.
"Yeah, it's still fun that they keep calling us that even though we're already married," I tell her as I start to stroke her impressive black hair. She starts rubbing her legs against mine.
"Are you in the mood for something intense right now, or is the bat really tired and I need to be nice to him?" she told me with her mischievous voice. I noticed that she was still unsure of the memories I had, but I will make sure that she never doubts the love I feel for her, sometimes I can't believe that I still do, but I will always be determined to prove it to her, in the end, I am the one who was refusing this for a long time. I fix this when I flip her over and put her on top of her bed and me on top of her.
"I think I'm the one who should tell you, since I've seen how you get tired many times when you're with me" I say in her ear before kissing her so she doesn't answer me.
Because of my previous acts, I think Diana may still have doubts that I'm willing to love her, but, as I already swore today and long ago when we began this relationship, I will. I will always have the deepest love for Diana, no matter how much time passes, no matter how many disagreements we have, no matter what battles against crime we have to continue fighting in the future, I will love her, always, I Will.
I hope you liked this fic. Do not forget to write comments if you want to tell me something important.
As a curious fact, this chapter took me a lot of effort, I had to rewrite it like three times. It may not be a remarkable job, but I liked how it turned out. I hope to make a better one for the next one if that was the case.
Well. With this I'm out. I'm glad to have participated in this event after a long time of inactivity in one-shots. Happy Valentine's Day and #WonderBatJukeboxEvent. We have to make it #ReleaseTheWonderBat after how WB is still giving us Batbadcat in the Harley Quinn V day special, instead of making BMWW canon.
#WonderBatforever
See you next time.
Supermaster51.
P. S. If you don't know, the song is "I Will" from the Beatles from "The White Album".