Okay, chapter mix-up fixed now, thanks to the nice anon who let me know about it. Thank you very much for that and for the lovely compliment too! Sorry to anyone how tried to read it before. :S

Thank you very much everyone for reading, reviewing, and favoriting. As always, any comments or criticisms are very much appreciated.

Title: Smoke and Mirrors II.

Summary: "My god, you're serious. Eyepatch exposed your beloved secret identity and you burst out laughing. You just- wow ..." Tony trailed off laughing. "What happened? No, wait! How did he react?"

Warnings: A bit of sexy times but very light. Also, this is a sequel to chapter 10 "Smoke and Mirrors", so you should read that one first.

Disclaimer: I don't owe The Dark Knight trilogy, Iron Man or any of its characters. Sadly.

OoOoO

The telltale metallic sounds of the Iron Man suit being removed sounded in the otherwise silent cave one minute or two after the motion sensors announced his arrival. It took a moment longer, but Bruce caught the soft sound of the approaching footsteps behind him.

"How was Paris?" He asked without turning around, eyes fixed on the bank of monitors arranged before him.

"Cold and very boring without you, cupcake." Tony's light voice answered him, still a few feet away from him. "You're such an asshole, sending me to the city of love all by my lone self."

"It was supposed to be a business trip, and Pepper was with you," He countered absentmindedly.

"Sure, and you know I love that woman almost as much as I love you, but it's so not the kind of love we're talking about here, darling. So, you own me."

With one last hit on the keyboard, Bruce swiveled in his chair; head tilted back to look up at Tony, a well-groomed eyebrow arched. "Is that so?"

"Yup. Now be a good sport and come up here to greet me properly."

With a smile tugging at the corner of his lips Bruce raised to his feet in a fluid motion. Meeting Tony's eyes, he lifted a hand to reach for his face, letting his thumb brush over his cheek before bringing their lips together. Tony's hand came to rest on his back as he moved his lips under his own, while Bruce's hand slid upward to cradle the back of Tony's head.

When they finally broke the kiss both were breathing heavily but remained close.

Tony wet his lips, thumb tracing circles on Bruce's hip bone above the waistband of his sweatpants. "I'm going to need a lot more than that to forgive you, you know."

"You're absolutely right. I should have gone with you rather than travel to meet with the CEO of the company WE is attempting to do business with, and also attend to the charity function organized by his wife to raise money to help finance the expansion of the oncology wing at one of the local hospitals."

"Damn straight," Tony agreed easily. "Anyway, how are you, honey? You look whole, but of course, I will need to take a closer examination to make sure you're not hiding any nasty surprises."

The lascivious twitch of Tony's lips as his brown gaze sweep up and down his body made Bruce roll his eyes.

"I haven't gone out on patrol since I returned."

"You flew back on Wednesday," Tony pointed out.

"Yes, and you know I don't like making it obvious Batman isn't around whenever Bruce Wayne isn't, and then have him reappear as soon as he returns to the city."

"Riiight. You do remember Bruce Wayne and Batman are the same person, and that person is you, right?" Tony asked with a lopsided smile. "Still, you could have gone out yesterday or even today. Not that I'm complaining or anything," He added as an afterthought.

Bruce rubbed his forehead with his fingertips, "We need to talk."

Tony shot him a wary look. "Okay. Should I put my suit back on and get my suitcase ready?"

"What?"

"Come on, sweet cheeks! Everyone knows that 'we need to talk' crap is how the break-up talks always start."

Bruce blinked. "You want to break up?"

"Uh, no?"

"Good. Neither do I, but there's something important we need to talk about."

"Alright," Tony agreed warily.

As Bruce dropped back into his chair with a sigh, he watched Tony pull closer the vacant swiveling chair and flop into it. The newcomer remained surprisingly silent, looking at Bruce's face expectantly.

"I had a strange encounter while I was in Florida. A man was waiting for me in the car when I left the function. A man with an eye patch," He added.

"Fury," Tony identified unnecessarily. "What did he want?"

"He knows I'm Batman."

Tony sat up straight at the words, staring at him with eyes wide and mouth ajar. "It wasn't me. I swear!"

"I know," Bruce said wryly, surprised by the reaction. He couldn't deny the thought crossed his mind, but he dismissed it just as quickly as it came. In spite of all appearances to the contrary, Tony knew how to keep a secret when it truly mattered.

He eyed him warily. "What did you do?"

Bruce cleared his throat and didn't look at Tony's eyes as he replied, "I- laughed in his face."

"You did what!?"

"You heard me," Bruce growled only half-heartedly.

"My god, you're serious. Eyepatch exposed your beloved secret identity and you burst out laughing. You just- wow ..." Tony trailed off laughing. "What happened? No, wait! How did he react?"

"He wasn't pleased."

Tony snorted. "Of course he wasn't. Damn it! Why did it have to happen while I wasn't around? I wish I had been there to see his face."

Bruce shot him a glare.

"Right. This is serious business." It was Tony's turn to clear his throat and turn serious. "What did you do? After laughing in his face," He couldn't help but add with a smirk.

"I admit to nothing, of course. I kept acting as if I had no idea what he was talking about, but I don't think I was able to fully convince him."

Tony nodded slowly. "Wait! That's what that weird call from you complaining about a prank was about?"

"Yes," Bruce admitted. "I asked him if you sent him."

"So I granted, but why?"

"I may have mentioned that weird sexual fascination you have with the Batman," Bruce admitted with a coy little smile.

"Oh my god! You told him I want to fuck you in the suit!?"

"Something like that,"

"God, I love you. Oh! Oh! Can I play too, please? I wanna play with Nicky-boy too. It's not fair that you get all the fun," He whined. "I wanna tell him all about the roleplaying we do in the bedroom. I can even tell him I've fucked you dressed like his beloved Cap! God, just imagine the look on his face!"

"You're an idiot," Bruce told him with an affectionate tug of his lips.

"Nuh-uh. I'm just a dedicated man who seizes every opportunity that comes his way."

"Of course," Bruce responded dryly.

"You're taking this awfully well," Tony noted after a moment of silence.

Bruce sighed. Again. He had no idea how many times he had done that since this conversation started. "As much as it pains me to admit it, this isn't exactly unexpected and there's nothing I can do to change it."

Tony eyed him amused. "Alright. What's the plan?"

"Plan?"

"Please! You would be acting all broody and angsty if you didn't already have a plan to handle this. So, I ask again: What's the plan?"

"I called Clark,"

"Great! What's he gonna do exactly, huh?" He asked. "Write an article stating all the reasons why Bruce Wayne cannot be the Batman or what?"

"Actually, he's going to impersonate him."

"You can't be serious!" Tony exclaimed.

Bruce's eyebrows went up. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You can't be seriously telling me you're gonna let Kent put on your suit and use all your cool toys. No way."

"They aren't toys," Bruce growled. "And since he can't pretend to be Batman without them, yes, I'm letting him use my gadgets."

Tony gave him an incredulous look. "I can't fucking believe this. You're honestly letting the alien play dress up as Batman when you don't even let me take the Batmobile out for a spin?"

"I've told you to stop calling it that," Bruce reproached. "Besides, you have a flight suit, not to mention plenty of fast cars at your disposal."

"It's not the same."

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose. He honestly couldn't understand what was so fascinating about the Bat- the tumbler. Even Clark was impressed by it and had asked for a ride on a couple of occasions. The man could fly, for fuck's sake!

"I'm not happy with this either, okay? But it's the best chance I have to try to dissipate the suspicions about Batman's identity."

"Why did you call him?"

"I just told you-"

"No," Tony cut him off. "I mean, why didn't you wait until we talked it over before calling him?"

Bruce pressed his lips together, very deliberately holding back the impulse to tell Tony he didn't have to inform him of every decision he made or even ask for his permission. He had a feeling that wasn't what this was about.

"Alright. We're talking it over now. Got any ideas how to handle this? Ideas that don't involve declaring to the world I'm Batman and hope for the best," Bruce added dryly.

"That's an excellent idea, actually, but I don't want you to steal my schtick." Tony eyes light up just a second later. "I know! Why don't I just build you a Bat-bot? We could even leave him in charge while you take a vacation with me. How does that sound?"

"Of course. That's an excellent idea. I can't even begin to list all the things wrong with it."

"Pleaseee! It's a great idea! Can you imagine how amazing it could be to have a Bat-bot? We'll even record your weird Bat-growl to go along with him so nobody notices the difference."

Bruce shot him a look. "Can you act like an adult for five seconds?"

"Fine! Why did you have to call him?"

... and they were back to that. "I don't know, maybe because he's invulnerable and has super strength."

"Last time I checked Batman didn't have either of these," Tony pointed out.

"You're right, but he has years of training under his belt that allow him to do what he does. Besides, who else was I supposed to call? In case you haven't noticed I don't have many people I can trust with this, and even if I did, I would never put any of them at risk for my own gain."

Bruce didn't look away from the billionaire even as he stayed silent.

"Fine! I get it. The guy is super, yadda yadda." Tony huffed, arms crossed over his chest. "Let's just hope he doesn't punch some poor thug through a wall or something like that."

The corner of Bruce's lips tugged upward. In spite of the tone and the words, he knew Tony understood and supported his decision, even if he wasn't going to admit it.

"And now I expect you to let me ride it too."

"Are we still talking about the tumbler?" Bruce asked coyly, dark eyelashes batting.

"Well, sweet cheeks, considering I already get the pleasure of riding you, then yes, we're talking about the car."

"Hmm. Maybe you can persuade me to let you."

"I need to persuade you, huh? And how do you suggest I do that?" Tony asked, letting his socked feet move up and down Bruce's ankle.

Bruce shrugged his shoulders. "You're a very creative man. I'm sure you will think of something."

He shuddered as he felt Tony's feet slid higher until it came to rest on his lap, probing gently at his hardening member through the cloth. Bruce wrapped a hand around the other man's ankle, caressing rather than restricting as he relaxed under his touch.

It didn't take long for the feet to be replaced by Tony's skilled hands, teasing and stroking with a feathered touch of his fingers, making Bruce melt under his touch, and causing him to forget all about SHIELD and Nick Fury.

Tony had always been good at making him forget things.

OoOoO

a/n: Yes, Tony isn't a fan of Superman. Or, more to the point, he isn't a fan of his boyfriend being friends with the seemingly perfect handsome alien. ;) It must be pretty intimidating, but then again, Bruce of course feels the same way about Tony's friends. So, the only thing they can do is trust each other.

And sorry about the delay! I was supposed to post this sooner, but well. Stuff happened. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for reading!