Obsession (Batman x Joker)

14. Addict

From Hazbin Hotel

It wasn't hard to find the Joker's latest hideout. He'd had plenty of practice over the past few months. Bruce hadn't seen the Joker in almost two weeks, and he felt truly deprived.

So, when the normal person would be sleeping, Batman took off, following the trail of empty streets. Only someone like the Joker would proudly walk down the streets, a gun in each hand, daring someone to come and try to kill him. Maybe because he knows I'll always come and rescue him, Bruce thought as he looked at the shuttered houses and dirty streets.

He pulled a tool from his belt, aiming at the only blood stained window in the building. He zoomed through the air and gracefully landed on the window sill. Aw, Joker has left the window open for him. He slipped into the apartment, glancing on either side of him.

"Hello, Batsy dear," came the voice Bruce had grown to love.

He shut the window and drew the curtains before taking off his cowl and walking toward the Joker, who sat on the rickety bed.

"I found you, so that means you stay with me for a week," he pressed his lips to Joker's, the familiar feel of the scars on his mouth making him hunger for more.

Joker chuckled into his mouth, pulling Bruce on top of him. "You should know by now that's not how this works," he kissed Bruce again, marveling at how he managed to catch this man.

Bruce wove his fingers through Joker's hair, "Maybe it should work that way."

Joker sighed, letting his lips wander on Bruce's neck. "I don't know if I could live with it that way."

"What do you mean?" Bruce sat back, eyeing the Joker in the dim light. The face some might call disfigured or mangled, Bruce found intriguing and almost handsome. He knew there was some semblance of a man hiding beneath the crazy façade, and he would spend his whole life trying to get to know that man.

"Well," the green haired man sat back, licking his lips absentmindedly. "You're waiting for a world where Batman is no longer needed. It's why your pretty little whatever-her-name-was, left you for Dent," Joker laughed but Bruce could now see a spark of jealousy in his eye. "But here's the thing Batsy dear, there is no world where Batman is no longer needed because people like me will always be there, making those pathetic cops flip a switch and go crying for daddy to come save them."

"But you see, if we were regular and boring, there'd be no point in this," he gestured between them. "We're both addicted to this feeling, to the pain and if it stops, we'd have nothing."

Batman tilted his head, the rickety bed creaking underneath him. He shifted around, hands on the Joker's shoulders. He opened his mouth to speak but the Joker shushed him. He grinned, "Don't launch into some dramatic speech where you talk about your childhood and your inner trauma that spurs you on to live for the greater good. Because news flash: it gets borrrriiing," Joker leaned back, running a hand down Bruce's thigh. "You say the same thing all the time. At least I change up the story, I have at least thirteen different ways to explain these," he took Bruce's hand and ran it along the long scars on his face.

He let his tongue lick a few fingers for a few seconds before pulling back. "The point is, you need Batman. And the world needs Batman and there's no world where Batman sits in his mansion with some secret male lover, which is good because there's no world where I would sit in your mansion, being your dirty little secret. I'm addicted to the madness, it's like a drug. This," he gestured between them, "is a drug and I'm dependent. I'm hooked on you, Batman, not the boring old billionaire. You need Batman, I need Batman. And I think I've finally proved that you need the Joker. Because without a villain, a real villain, how will the world have a hero?"

He kissed Bruce before the man had a chance to attempt profundity with mentioning his moral code. Moral codes were boring, Joker wouldn't waste time with one. He leaned into Bruce's mouth, pulling him on top as they fell onto the bed. Joker knew that the joy of the chance was the only thing keeping Bruce coming to him, or at least that's what he thought.

At the same time Bruce was thinking that he would never give up until he managed to keep the Joker from running away from him.

Because he was addicted too. Hooked on the Joker's mystery, the puzzle of who might lay behind the white paint and red scars. And they were both, completely, and utterly, obsessed with one another.

I'm addicted to the madness
This hotel is my Atlantis
We're forever gonna have a fucking reason to sin
Let me leave my soul to burn and I'll be breathing it in
I'm addicted to the feeling
Getting higher than the ceiling
And we're never gonna want this fucking feeling to end
Just concede and give in to your inner demons again

I'm addicted to the sorrow
When the buzz ends my tomorrow
There's another rush of poison flowing into my veins
Giving me a dose of pleasure that resides by the pain