"What are you doing here?" Adriana asked the Joker.
She had returned home to Wayne Manor after spending hours in the city to find him in the kitchen, drinking a root beer from a glass bottle.
"I was invited," he replied, looking down at her as he took another gulp. "To play pool."
"So this is what you're doing now?" Adriana said. "Just...still pretending to be Bruce's friend?"
"I am his friend," the Joker said to her and gave her a small smile.
"No," Adriana said. "You told me you think he's a drug addict. That's talking behind his back. Friends don't do that-"
"Is that what you think I'm doing?" the Joker asked.
"Aren't you?" Adriana asked.
"Hello, sweetheart," Bruce said and came into the kitchen. "Everything alright?"
Bruce could sense the tension. Adriana seemed irritated and the Joker seemed calm as he continued to drink his cold beverage.
"I was just leaving," the Joker said.
"Alright," Bruce said.
"Goodnight to you both," the Joker said and took his drink with him.
"That was abrupt," Bruce said and went to get a bottle of water. "Thought we'd play again. Winning three times in a row was my goal."
"Mm," Adriana said and went over to the sink and began to wash the dishes.
"Hey," Bruce said and wrapped his arms around her from behind. "You know you don't have to do that."
Adriana paused for a moment and took a deep breath in. She felt calmer.
"You smell good," she said to Bruce.
"So do you," he said and kissed the side of her neck. "Tell me what's wrong."
"Nothing just...Jack annoys me sometimes," Adriana said.
"How so?" Bruce said. "Did you ask him to leave?"
"No," Adriana said.
"What happened?" Bruce asked.
Adriana dropped the cup she was holding, causing a bit of the water to splash.
"I went to his apartment earlier and he just...said some things that really upset me," Adriana said. "And now he's..."
"What did he say?" Bruce asked.
Adriana shook her head and turned around.
"He was criticizing us," Adriana said. "Me for my vigilantism and saving these...maniacal drug users, and you...well...I know he's your friend but..he accuses you of being a junkie. He talks about you behind your back."
Bruce began to laugh, throwing Adriana off guard.
"If it's one thing I've learned about Jack," Bruce said. "Is that talking behind anyone's back is not an activity he would partake in."
"So.." Adriana said. "What?..He's asked you about it?"
"More like," Bruce said. "Accuses? Assumes?"
"What?" Adriana asked.
"Well, I invited him to visit my brewery to taste some of the beers," Bruce said. "And he asked if I should be drinking while I've been popping pills."
Adriana raised her eyebrows.
"He's very forthcoming," Bruce said. "Not afraid to say anything to anyone's face. I'm sure you know that though."
"Oh..." Adriana said and crossed her arms. "So...he just said that to you...what did you say back?"
"I told him that he's being ridiculous," Bruce told her. "I was prescribed Vicodin for less than a week and took one leftover pill some time after and now you both believe I'm an addict of some kind."
Adriana looked down for a second.
"I'm sorry.." Adriana said. "This is my fault. I should have just kept my mouth shut."
"It's alright," Bruce told her and touched her cheek.
"So...now what?" Adriana asked.
"Not sure," Bruce said. "I'm nor sure there's anything you or I could say to him to convince him that I'm not 'popping pills'. In time he'll forget about this nonsense. We all will, and put it behind us."
"I'm sorry," Adriana apologized again.
Bruce kissed her softly. "I do agree with him on one thing though," Bruce said.
"You both want me to stop what I'm doing but you know...I can't do that," Adriana said. "Those people need my help and it's only a matter of time before the find a cure or antidote or something for this drug...they won't all keep dying-"
"Okay," Bruce said.
"Oh...okay?" Adriana said, seeing that Bruce has seemed to give up very easily.
"Leave that," Bruce said, indicating the dishes. "Cleaning service will be here at 6 a.m."
"Okay," Adriana said and wiped her soapy hands on her pants.
"Let's go to bed."
"I think they've been discussing surgeries on the patients," Adriana said. "While they're sedated..."
Adriana spoke to Bruce about all of the possibilities of science and medicine as they made their way to their bedroom. Once they were inside, Bruce began to kiss her madly.
Adriana pulled out of the kiss laughing.
"Haha wow, where did this come from?" she laughed but he pulled her back in.
It was abrupt and he didn't let her shy away from him. She let him take her to the bed, his lips never separating from contact with her body for more than second. It was a whirlwind of passion and Adriana found herself gripping him desperately as they made love.
"I want to ask you something," he said, speaking to her as she moaned.
"Yes," she said. "Anything-"
"Mmmm," he hummed against her neck and kissed it.
She squeezed his hips with her thighs.
"I love you," he said and she murmured the same thing back to him. "I want you for the rest of my life."
He looked down at her. She was blissful. He knew her body very well, knew exactly where to apply pressure, the pace, everything to take her over.
"Promise me," he said.
"I swear," she said. He could hear in her voice, she was gone. He had her. "Anything. I prom-"
She didn't notice at all how closely he was watching her.
"Bruce..I'm-" she breathed.
He knew that she was close.
"Adriana," Bruce said clearly and paused.
"Don't stop-" she said and began to rock her hips but her pressed his weight against her, stopping her from moving.
"Adriana," he said again and kissed her. "I want you to be safe-"
"I am," she whined. "Don't sto-"
"I want you to let the police do their job with this," Bruce said. "If these people want to use this drug and treat themselves as expendable then let them-"
"What?" she asked.
"They haven't harmed anyone but police and this is their job," Bruce said. "The risk they have taken. We will find a way to end this without you risking your neck-"
"Bruce-" Adriana said.
"Promise me," he said and began to thrust again.
"Wa-" Adriana tried to speak. "I c-"
"Promise me," he leaned down and whispered against her ear.
He needed her to swear but the only sounds she made sounded like borderline crying. Her nails clung to his back and she continued to squeeze him.
"Promise-" he said and then suddenly felt her pushing him away.
"Stop!" she said. "Stop stop!"
Bruce stopped and lifted himself off of her with his arms.
"What the hell are you doing?" she asked. "Why are you doing this right now in the middle of-"
Adriana pushed him again until she could sit up.
"Because I love you," Bruce said. "And what you're doing..this unnecessary risk-"
"So what the hell? You thought now would be the best time to ask me again for the millionth time to stop?" Adriana asked. "What possessed you to do this?"
Bruce looked away from her.
"Tell me!" she said. "You can't be this desperate to change my mind."
"You're more vulnerab-" Bruce said. "I mean..open minded when-"
Adriana twisted her face and looked at him horrified.
"No I'm not!" she said. "What gave you that idea?"
Adriana could tell in the way they he was looking at her that he didn't want to say.
"Bruce...it's three in the fucking morning," Adriana said. "I'm really not in the mood for this. Tell me."
"Jack..merely suggested-" Bruce said, but he could already see as soon as he mentioned the name, that she was about to fly off the handle.
"Jack?!" Adriana said, appalled. "Am I to understand that Jack told you to do this?"
"He did not tell me to do anything," Bruce said. "He only mentioned that...you are strong willed..generally..."
"Oh but I'm weak willed when I'm being fucked? Is that it?" she asked and pulled the sheet over herself and up over her chest.
"No..no..." Bruce said.
Adriana looked at him with scrutiny.
"He never used to word 'fucked' to be clear," Bruce said.
Adriana flung the sheet off of herself and stood up.
"That's it, you can't be friends with him anymore," Adriana said. "This is ridiculous-"
"You are overreacting-" Bruce said but then realized his error as she began to shout at him in Spanish that she was not overreacting and not to tell her what to do.
Adriana began to walk away from him.
"Wait," Bruce said. "Just...relax...don't you want to finish?"
"Yes!' she said angrily. "But then what? You'll try to brainwash me again?"
"No..I promise you I won't," Bruce said. "I am sorry."
"I'm too angry now," Adriana said and began to walk to the closet.
"Where are you going?" Bruce asked.
"To tell Jack what I told you," she said. "Your friendship is over."
.
.
.
The Joker opened the door after hearing Adriana knocking hard. He assumed it was one of his neighbors since she didn't use the door buzzer to get access to the building.
As soon as he opened the door she came in and waited for him to shut it. He had been awaked from sleep and rubbed his eyes once and saw her smiling at him. Actually the smile was more of a grimace. A very tight, fake smile. It was almost frightening.
She took a step towards him and swung hard, hitting him across the face.
He cleared his throat and without saying a word, his expressing showed what he was thinking. Here we go, again.
She swung again, hitting him harder.
"Will you be using your words at any point?" he asked once the pain started to fade. "Or strictly violence?"
Her fist flew straight up at him. He fought the urge to hold his nose afterwards since he felt a vessel bust, and looked at her again.
"And, you've chosen violence," he said, his voice showing no indication that he was in pain.
"Oh, yes," she said and flexed her fingers, relaxing her knuckles which were now sore.
"Well," he said, and gave the blood coming from his nose a quick swipe with his thumb. "I have no intention of standing here as a punching bag for you. At least not without a given reason. So, what have I done this time?"
"Sabes lo que has hecho!" Adriana shouted.
"You know...the Spanish demon voice isn't exactly offering me any clues-" the Joker said as an open handed slap hit him.
"You think this is a joke," Adriana said. "You and Bruce are done. You won't see him anymore. Do you understand?"
"Okay then," the Joker agreed.
Adriana used both hands to flip her hair back over her shoulders and then turned to the door.
"So that's it then?" he asked. "No reason given for the brutality. I can respect that."
"You know what you did, so stop playing dumb!" she said.
"Perhaps I am dumb," he said and shrugged. "I assure you there's no play here."
"You told Bruce to manipulate me," she said.
"I..." he said and looked up. "Don't recall doing anything of the sort."
"So you didn't tell him to persuade me of anything while we were having sex?" she asked in harsh tone, knowing that was precisely what he had done.
"Oooohhhh," the Joker said and took a deep breath and began to laugh.
The laughter only made Adriana more angry and she swung at him again, but this time he grabbed her forearm stopping her. It was an impressive block, she had to admit. It seemed that his guard was down while he was laughing but it wasn't. He was sharp and very aware of the incoming hit.
As he held her arm, stopping her, she suddenly felt weak..small. She was a very skilled fighter and had fought men his size more times than she could count. But he was different. She felt that he could easily snap her in half if he wanted. It was because is response and his movements distracted and almost paralyzed her. She was weak with him.
"I did not tell him to do that," the Joker said released his grip on her arm. "He went on about how you were not taking into consideration the absurdity of your risky business...fighting off these drugged idiots who frankly wouldn't have done such a drug if they cared whether they lived or died-"
"And what?" Adriana said angrily. "You said...oh! Here's an idea! I know a way she'll say yes to anything! Just ask her while she's dickmatized!"
"I'm not familiar with that word," he said. "I told him it was pointless to try to change your mind. That you are not exactly the submissive or relenting type personality-wise, except for in one place...which certainly was not in the streets of Gotham. I told him he married a determined woman and that this is what comes with it. "
Adriana looked away, embarrassed.
"So..that's how he took what I said," the Joker said, sounding slightly amused. "And now what? You're so angry because he finally got you to comply?"
"No, he didn't get me to comply," Adriana said.
"So..." the Joker said. "You were not...what was the word...dickmatized?"
"Do me a favor," Adriana said and rubbed her temples as she calmed down. "Never use that word again."
"Right," he said.
"I'm sorry I hit you," she said.
"Yes, I know," he said. "We've done this before."
"Seriously...I mean it," she said. "It won't happen again."
"You truly believed I would tell Bruce to do something like that?" he asked. "Why? I never did that to you so why would you think that? Why would I think that's a way for you to say yes to anything?"
Adriana looked away again. "I...I just overreacted-"
"Why?" he asked again.
Adriana looked him in the eye.
"I guess because... when we were together.." she shrugged. "Sometimes I felt that..you could have asked me to do anything and I would have agreed."
"No," he said. "You found ways around the things I did ask you. All you ever did was sabotage me at every turn-"
"I know," she said. "I meant when we were...you know...intimate. It was scary. I sometimes thought this man could tell me he's going to strap a bomb to me and drop me off at city hall...ask me to take a sedative right now...and I'd say...absolutely. He could ask me to kill...and I'd say yes. It was terrifying. I was glad that you never tried to manipulate me with that...you could have used me in any way you wanted and I would have agreed."
The Joker looked at her. He understood.
"I guess..." she sighed. "That's what it means to be dickmatized."
The Joker cleared his throat. "My apologies for Bruce taking it the wrong way."
Adriana shook her head. "No...this is my fault."
They looked each other in the eyes for what felt like the sweetest few seconds to have ever passed.
"I...should get back home," Adriana said. "You and Bruce can stay friends..I think it's good for him to have an honest friend like you."
"Appreciate that," the Joker said.
.
.
.
"You got flowers delivered? That fast? At this hour?" Adriana asked when she came back home. There were several bouquets of roses everywhere.
"Yes," Bruce said. "Please accept my apology. I was entirely out of line-"
"No...no..I was too," Adriana said. "I overreacted. I mean...you were definitely wrong too, for sure-"
"Yes," Bruce agreed.
"But...I know it's because you love me and...what I've been dealing with is dangerous and unpredictable," she said.
"I won't try to stop you," Bruce said. "I mean that."
Adriana looked at the flawless roses surrounding them. The home felt overwhelmingly romantic.
"I'll stop," Adriana said. "I'm done. I'll...still do my vigilantism but I won't go after these users."
Bruce wrapped his arms around Adriana and she could feel how happy he was.
"We will get to the bottom of this another way," he assured her.