AJR

(FUCKING LOVE THAT SONG AND THE BAND, NOT SPONSORED)

Both Bruce and the Joker stared as Two Face stumbled back, grabbing his shoulder. They turned to see a police officer, some girl, still standing in position to shoot. She slowly lowered her gun, looking sheepish. She rubbed the back of her neck, red hair falling out of her bun, "The tension was too much, I had a chance, I took it."

The officer in charge shook his head, knowing she had broken protocol, putting the Joker at risk. But the clown stood tall, brushing his patchwork suit off, frowning slightly. "Well that was unexpected."

Two Face groaned, rubbing his shoulder and glaring at no one in particular. He whirled around, doing a 360 before running off, waving his gun in every which direction. "Deal's over Joker!" he yelled. 

Joker stuck his tongue out, rolling his eyes. "I didn't need him anymore anyway," he said, turning to Batman and grinning.

Whenever he looked at Bruce, he felt something stir inside him that made him want to smile more. Not his terrifying "I'm insane enough to kill all your friends and laugh over their corpses" way, but a "I just saw my crush and he's looking fine today" kind of way. 

Bruce, however, did not have either smile on his face. His frown was one Joker knew well; disappointed oozed from every pore on his face. Joker spread his hands, "What, Mr. Grumpy face?"

He shook his head, glancing over at the police who were staring at them. He grabbed the Joker's arm and began to run, holding the thin man to his side. "What are you doing!" Joker shouted, clutching him indignantly. 

Bruce tossed him into an alley, blocking out any light from the street lights as he stepped in front of him. Joker scrambled to sit up, heart pounding at an exciting pace. Bruce took his helmet off, throwing it to the side as if it were a doll he didn't want to play with anymore. "I hate you."

Joker got to his knees, rolling his shoulders. He looked up at Bruce through lidded eyes. "The feeling is mutual."

Bruce rubbed the side of his face, sighing heavily. "Why?"

Tapping his chin, Joker stood. "Lemme think, because I needed to test you."

"Test me?"

"I don't know, I needed to make sure. I needed to make sure that I'm not really insane and that I won't just wake up one day and you'll have realized what a mistake you made and leave me to rot." Joker leaned against the brick walls, looking around the dark alley. 

The dumpster in the corner sort of ruined the mood, but Bruce's presence soaked in all his attention. Batman took a step toward him. "I would never do that."

"We both know that Batman is the most important thing to you, I needed to know if you would stick out your neck for someone like me." he poked his own chest, "the bad guy."

"You're not bad or crazy, you're just sort of different. I can help you."

Joker scoffed. "Stuff all my feelings with drugs? I don't think so."

Bruce squeezed his eyes shut, whether to block out Joker's face or the grungy street, the clown didn't know, probably both. The large man tightened his jaw. "Why are you so fucking stubborn?"

"One of my best traits." Joker said, tossing his shoulder length hair. 

"Why? Just tell me why? Why did you deal with Two Face? And why do you keep running away from me."

The Joker closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and deciding to tell Bruce something he'd never admitted to anyone. He'd never had anyone to admit it to anyone. "Because I wanted to know if you would keep coming after me. I run because when I see you I think, wow, I'm not crazy. And that fucking scares me. And maybe you'll decide that I'm not worth chasing after one day and then, and then what? Then I'll be left with nothing all over again."

He slid down the wall, hugging his knees. He refused to look at Bruce, not baring the idea that he might walk away. Then he felt an arm around him. It was slightly uncomfortable from the armor, but Joker loved the feeling all the same. He sank into Bruce's side, not realizing how scared he had been to see the man go. 

"You know I used to be scared of clowns. Until I met you. Then I thought they were sexy. God why did I say that. What I mean to say is, if you run, I'll chase you. If you don't want me, I'll be there anyway. If you think you're crazy, we'll be crazy together. You're just like me, we're just... Kinda different."

Joker snorted, resting his head on Bruce's shoulder. "So... Where does this put us?"

Bruce leaned over, grabbing his chin and staring at the clown, darkness obscuring most of his face. "Hopefully not where we make deals with people to shoot us to see if the other loves us or not."

"Loves?" Joker's eyes widened. 

Bruce rubbed his thumb across Joker's lips. "Yeah, I guess I love you Joker?"

"You guess?" Joker frowned but Bruce shut him up with his lips before he could say more. 

Joker wrapped his arms around Bruce, sighing into his mouth. He adjusted himself so he was practically sitting in his lap before pulling away. "So, what do you say?" Bruce asked, hands on Joker's cheeks. 

 "Close your eyes and count to ten."

"What?" Bruce asked. 

Grinning, Joker pecked his lips again, lingering on his mouth for a moments before continuing. "Close your eyes and count to ten. Then come find me. Then I'll give you my answer... I also might blow something up."

Bruce scoffed, reaching over for his helmet. "Of course you will."

"Count, Batsy dear."

"One minute," Bruce reached over, pulling in Joker for another kiss.

He opened his mouth, Bruce pushing his tongue in. Joker groaned, grabbing his face and kissing back with equal passion. When he finally pulled back, they were both smiling like they were in middle school sweethearts. Joker got off his lap, heading to the edge of the alley and placing a hand on the brick building. "Ready?"

Bruce grinned, closing his eyes in preparation to count. "Ready."

Don't kill me, 'cause I'm just the messenger
I've never seen someone quite this strange before
You're just like me, you took all your vitamins
You're just like me, and you take delight in it
Oh, different, so different
They tell us to be different
But no one told me I could go too far


Frankly, I'm scared of clowns
And get-togethers get me down
But when you talk it's like:
"Wow, I'm not crazy" (Ooh)
Frankly, I feel insane
But you say you feel the same
And suddenly it's like:
"Hey, I'm not crazy!"
'Cause when you talk it's like:
"Wow, I'm not crazy"