Who You Can Still Be - Batjokes

IV

"Tim?"
Bruce looked towards the dim beam of light falling onto his face, the light being too bright to make out a facial expression on the Robin now strolling down the stairs.
"You almost had me falling off the toilet when I read the papers this morning", he chuckled amused, something which Bruce hadn't heard since his sidekick had gone to assist Nightwing on a mission in Blüdhaven.
"Tim I- I can explain"
"Yeah to Dickson who's as blind as a mole!
Mind you, Batman, I studied your every movement when out on a mission with you, your changing demeanour every time we'd face the psychopath was more than obvious to the schooled detective eye."
Bruce stood baffled without moving an inch, mouth agape, thoughts racing.
"Besides, being Bisexual doesn't mean I don't have a gaydar", he added quickly and approached the billionaire with a smile.
"Damn, Nightdick's already paid you a visit, hasn't he?"
Bruce didn't say anything, he was too ashamed to react in any way now, feeling unworthy of Tim's reassurance when everything's been so tough on him lately.
The protégé didn't need any reaction, he could tell by the way Bruce was still frozen, his shoulders hanging low and face tiredly closed that he was on edge of a breakdown.
"It's alright, Bruce", he assured him with a smile and patted his back affectionately before he turned to the Batcomputer and browsed earliest files, catching up on what he missed.
"How's Bernard?", Bruce suddenly asked hesitantly and Tim's eyes widened. It was the billionaire's way of expressing his gratitude.
"He's good, thank you", he spoke genuinely and opened a file documented as 'Arkham'.
"What's this about?"
Bruce now stepped next to him and opened the newest reports.
"We're bringing Arkham to fall"
"Finally, it's about time that shithole gets locked down"
With a nod he agreed before an alarm sound caught their attention.
"Hello?", an old, female voice asked muffled as if through a microphone in the wind.
"Is that- Lee Thompkins?", Tim asked surprised.
"She's helping us with the case"
He quickly checked the time.
"Starting today, she'll be infiltrating Arkham as a new psychiatrist and record proof for abuse on inmates"
"Holy shit", he breathed.
"She's about to enter", Bruce mumbled and pressed a green button on the console.
"Lee, can you hear me?"
"Yeah", she responded, a hint of unease shining through her voice.
"It's time"
"You'll be fine"
Bruce heard the gates open in the background, followed by the sound of heals on gravel before a deep, male voice asked, "Who are you and what is the purpose of your visit?"
"I am Doctor Lee Thompkins, new psychiatrist of this facility", she responded confidently and Bruce was impressed, she seemed even more professional than in private.
Though, his hopes died off as the man did not seem to respond for a moment.
"Did he suspect anything?", Tim whispered to Bruce who felt cold sweat tensely forming on his forehead as his eyes were fixated on the green button.
"Alright Miss", the man suddenly spoke and both men left out a deep sigh of relief.
"We only need to frisk you, mere routine"
"Of course", Lee agreed and the comms died.
"Alright, she's in", Bruce mumbled positively.
"We won't be back in touch for today, she needs to earn the staff's trust first, then we can try and sneak in our equipment."
"So that means we get the night off?", Tim implied with a cheeky grin and Bruce headed for his suit.
"There's still a lot for you to learn, Robin. We never have a night off"
"Fine", the shorter guy sighed in response and slipped inside his red suit.

"What's Riddler doing with Penguin down there?", Tim questioned confused as the two of them crouched on a rooftop near the Iceberg Lounge, observing a few of Riddler's thugs loading barrels with explosives inside the building.
"It's time we find out, I take the roof, you the vent"
"It's always on the red ones to play Santa", he sighed and rolled his eyes before both men disappeared into the night.
"I must say, I'm impressed, Eddie. Your men actually managed to handle the explosives without blowing themselves into pieces", Bruce heard Penguin's smug laughter fill the hall of the main lounge.
"I always deliver my part of the deal, Oz. Now, what about my share?"
You shall have it", he cooed with his Cigar almost slipping from between his lips before he flipped a switch and one of the gates to the parking lot opened with an alarming beeping.
Bruce's fingers were itching to activate the comms and give Robin the signal, though he knew it was crucial to know what Riddler had planned next so he stayed put for the moment. The men in Penguin's uniform delivered numerous wooden boxes with huge red crosses sprayed onto them, wires sticking out from between the planks. 'Bombs', Bruce thought to himself highly alarmed and pressed the comms button, though his finger fell right off his earpiece as he watched the two villains stepping closer to each other.
"Happy now, Eddie?", Cobblepot's raspy voice echoed softly within the walls.
"You never disappoint me, like you're my intellectual equal, Ozzie", Riddler chuckled in return and leaned closer to the other guy before he pressed a short kiss onto his lips and Bruce felt himself almost falling backwards off the railing.
"What the-", Tim uttered more than confused as both of them watched the two men with a puzzled expression on their faces. Bruce felt his thoughts running rapidly.
"So it wasn't them", he mumbled to himself and suddenly heard his comms creaking from the other side.
"Who wasn't what? Are we cancelling the operation?"
Bruce suddenly snapped back to reality where his eyes fell upon boxes stacked on top of each other, filled with explosives, wires, possible bombs and he still sat there. That was when he quickly reached for his comms button and gave through:
"Robin, now! Alfred, call GCPD!"
"Got it!", Tim replied first and suddenly jumped out the vent beneath the two men, Bruce jumped right onto the thugs reaching for their guns and knocked them out.
"GCPD are on their way", Alfred confirmed and Robin tightened the ropes around the criminals's wrists.
"What was going on back there?", he asked in a quiet moment as him and Bruce jumped across the rooftops back to Wayne Manor.
"I don't know what you're talking about", the Vigilante lied and moved his gaze away from his sidekick.
"Don't sell me for stupid, Bruce. You know I know you"
"We should focus"
"You said 'So it wasn't them', are we onto something there? If it's about a case you're refusing to let me in on, then-"
"It's about Joker", he finally admitted, unable to argue with any more of his sons.
"This morning, some guys came by his home and beat him up but he wouldn't tell me who. He said it was because of the news, his relationship with a guy.. I was sure it would either be Riddler or Penguin sending their men but after what we just saw.. I don't think they'd do such a thing. It must be someone else, someone who-"
"Bruce, stop. Have you might considered that maybe he doesn't want you to protect him because a part of him would still see that as losing control over his relationship with you?"
Bruce almost crushed face forward into a wall in response, he actually never wasted a thought on that and felt utterly stupid because of it now.
"Didn't think so", Tim sighed and stopped next to him.
"Hey, look, how about we drop you off at his house and you and him talk a little, maybe just about random things? Let him get comfortable with you first, perhaps it just wasn't the time for him to tell you yet"
"He won't see me", Bruce sighed defeated.
"I messed up, Tim. I was scared to admit it, to admit what I felt for us and now it's too late, now he thinks he means nothing to me."
"Is he right?"
"Of course not! Hell, I gave the world for him and I still would, I risked everything for both Bruce and Batman only to provide him another chance and be with him."
"If you had to choose between him and Bruce Wayne's image, what would you choose?"
Bruce closed his eyes for a second, all of this thinking made his head spin uncomfortably.
"I will never have to think about it again, I would always choose him."
"Then let him know", he encouraged the man with a smile. Bruce studied Robin for a moment before his eyes widened at the idea filling his head. He quickly stormed towards the edge of the roof and glided into the night.
"Hey, where are you going?", Tim shouted after him but received no response. He chuckled to himself, Bruce was gonna do the right thing, he was sure of it.

The next morning Jack crawled out of bed with his bones weighing heavy underneath his cold skin. He let out a long, exhausted yawn and strolled into the kitchen where he gazed upon the wide variety of cereal stacking next to each other but left the room barely a moment later, just as unimpressed as before. He somehow didn't feel like eating ever since his argument with Bruce, it still upset him how things turned out. Then again, the reason why things developed the way they did was even more upsetting to him so he decided not to even get involved with any news for the day, just in case they could ruin his life once more. Perhaps then he could finally find a job or at least a hobby! But if he thought about it, he actually just wanted to curl up in a blanket and sob all day as if it would ease the pain. He knew it wouldn't. A knock on his door eventually shifted his mind and he carefully turned around to face it. Only the neighbours knock, anybody else would ring the bell and if they did, Jack wouldn't answer. He wasn't ready for any confrontation today but a talk with the nice, old Miss Whiskers surely would cheer him up a bit.
Though to his surprise, no one actually stood on the other side of the old, wooden door to greet Jack or involve him into a long, pointless conversation about grumpy old Mister Dawson's loud mowing machine. Confused, he looked around and was about to throw the door shut that all nails would fall out as suddenly he spotted something on the dusty parquet to his feet.
Curiously, he opened once more and kneeled down to find a beautiful red rose resting on top of a freshly printed edition of the Gotham Gazette. The rose was a dead giveaway, Jack knew Bruce probably wanted to apologise and thought about either throwing away both the plant and paper or store it for when he had the nerves to risk a look. Eventually, his impatience had gotten the better of him and instead of either, he quickly jumped onto the sofa where he'd cross his legs comfortably and unfolded the newspaper. He threw a quick look at the title page and felt his jaw drop instantly, he was so baffled that he immediately reached for the remote and turned on the next best news channel on tv.
'It must be all over the news', he thought and was right, it was everywhere!
"We're now live reporting from Wayne Manor where Billionaire and Philanthrope Bruce Wayne has summoned a press conference to clarify his position on the rumours of him and the former criminal known as 'The Joker' having been sighted in a romantic relationship barely a night ago", Vicky Vale presented in the report of last night, her face in a deep red, probably from excitement to finally catch the big fish. Bruce stepped in view and positioned himself in front of the microphone where he didn't fiddle long, he thanked everyone for coming and introduced what they had been summoned for.
"I wish to take stand on the rumours I'm sure everyone here must've heard of by now. Many questions have occurred and I will not comment on any rumours regarding my sexuality, though what I hereby confirm is that it is true; me and Jack White, formerly known as the Joker, are currently in a serious relationship. I will not answer any questions on this matter either, I'd just like to state that any form of violence against Mister White goes against me so I ask you not to present any form of aggression towards him. Thank you, Gotham, good night!"
Chills ran down Jack's spine as his mind comprehended what he had just heard, did Bruce really-? Yes, he did. Jack's heart felt oddly warm all of a sudden, he admitted his serious intentions towards Jack publicly, on tv, live and all by himself. The green haired guy felt still too stunned to move but when the ringing of his doorbell echoed through his apartment, he stormed towards the door faster than Flash himself, tore it open and threw himself onto the tall, muscular man of his dreams.
"So you've seen it?", Bruce chuckled relieved and wrapped his arms around the meagre man nuzzled up against him.
"Of course I did, silly!", he responded and rolled his eyes sarcastically.
"You're such an idiot, you didn't have to do that!"
"I know, but I wanted to. I never want you to feel like I don't want this to work ever again, I'd rather choose you than my playboy reputation!"
"Who needs Russian Ballerina's when he can have all this?", Jack laughed pointing at himself and Bruce chuckled warmly.
"Let's get inside, J."
"After you, Brucie."