batmans-evil-exes

[batmans-evil-exes]

Chapter I — We Dance Once More, I Feel Your Hands Are Cold

Bruce Wayne was in his room, already in his pajamas, which consisted in a pair of sweatpants and an old Nirvana T-shirt. He was playing some random, aimless notes his black bass guitar, trying to get his mind off of work for the day.

Everything was a mess. Gotham’s crime rate was at the highest it had ever been before and it was all because of the recent comeback of Drops. Bruce was absolutely positive that this drug was being dealt again around the Penguin’s area and especially at its heart, the Iceberg. But he had no way of getting around that, much less doing anything about it without more information and a strategy. As he played some dismal melody by the Cure, his mind kept circling back to Oswald, The Penguin.

Bruce kept on his bedroom wall a newspaper cutout of the story on his release of Blackgate Penitentiary, two months ago. The Penguin was put there by Bruce himself the previous year, after he gathered enough proof with the help of Commissioner Gordon that he was trying to rig the elections for Mayor of Gotham. It was such a sloppy plan for anyone who would take the time to look into it to try and investigate, but not for Bruce and Gordon. He had found the information and had teamed up with Gordon to get The Penguin in prison for his crimes. Unfortunately, the Penguin had enough connections to get himself out after only 7 months in the shade. Bruce knew Gotham was corrupt, and it weighed on him that he really couldn’t do much more about it that he was already doing.

When the Penguin got out, the news was published on the front page of the Gotham Gazette. He saw Oswald’s face again after a long time, frozen in the picture, his pale eyes so devoided of remorse and even smiling as he walked through the door on his way out. He felt something in his stomach that he was not used to feel: helplessness. He had done everything he could and still, the Penguin was out and about once more, and causing trouble again. On top of that, Bruce was sure that this time around he would be more cautious about his illegal activities.

There was, however, one thing that Bruce had kept a secret all this time. He hadn’t told Alfred, and he certainly hadn’t told Gordon. This secret was about his personal connection to Oswald.

Then someone knocked on his door.

“Come in.”

“Master Wayne.” Alfred made his entrance. “It seems like the Bat-signal has gone off. But I must warn you, its location is not the usual area.

“Don’t worry about that, Alfred. Prepare the Batsuit.”

“As you wish. I must add, it has not come along the verification message that Commisioner Gordon usually sends with it…”

“It’s alright, Alfred, I will be careful.” He said, leaving his bass on the bed.

As he jumped from roof to roof, Bruce tried to keep calm.

He knew what this was about, he was almost certain. This was not a call from Gordon, but a very different kind of call. It made him fear for his friend, who might be a hostage in that very moment, but there was no time to waste, so he didn’t tell Alfred, but promised himself that he would tell him everything when he got back home.

He was very close to the rooftop from which the Bat-signal was being projected. When he located it he jumped onto it, took a look around and saw that it was empty. The sounds of the city were the only thing that he heard in the distance.

Then, a voice spoke to him.

—Well well, look who came back from the dead. It has been ages, old pal.

The Penguin emerged from the shadows and limped his way to Bruce. He was wearing an aubergine striped suit. He looked the Batman, smiling.

Bruce remained serious, but inside of him all kinds of emotions were stirring up. He wanted to go up to Oswald and say sorry and hug him. He looked so beautiful under the moonlight.

He instantly felt guilty about these feelings and clenched his fist. How could he ever think about this criminal that way? How was it even an actual thought to apologize to the most dangerous man in Gotham after corrupting his way out of prison?

He took a deep breath.

“Penguin.”

“Oh, what happened, Bruce? You forgot how you used to call me after all this time we have been apart?”

Bruce pushed a button and blades came out of his forearm pieces as he adopted a defense position.

“Just… don’t. As you might’ve guessed, I have snipers all around us, waiting to shoot at you. Don’t make me give them the signal.”

“Are we alone?”

“Well… the snipers can hear me, but only if I let them, which I will if you do anything stupid. So, apart from that, I think we’re alone now. Hey, just like the song!”

“Where is Gordon?”

“Well he isn’t here either, Bruce, I called you.”

“You’d better not be lying, and you’d better not call me by my name again.”

“Why not? You used to like it back then.” He smirked and walked a couple steps towards him.

Bruce looked around and behind the Penguin, and tried to calm himself down as he was getting closer. It definitely didn’t seem like there were any other people around.

“I haven’t stopped thinking about you all these months, even after what you did to me, Bruce.”

“Stop.”

“I tried to, but I can’t. I can’t stop thinking about that night at the Orchard Hotel, it was the night before your little investigation with Gordon came to light. Do you remember?”

“Just stop.”

“It’s just so hard for me to go back there, you know? After I trusted you, and laid bare my soul, and my body, before you…” He said, getting even closer and putting a hand on his chest.

“Enough!”

Bruce grabbed the Penguin by the wrist.

You try to look scary but you are the same guy who knocked on my door in the Orchard that night, looking to find comfort, or company, or even someone to talk to. You found all those three in me.

“You know that was not why I went to see you that night.”

“Oh, sure. Now I know you came to gather information. Proof. For your little inquiries. Well, you definitely got more than you bargained for.”

“Oswald…”

Bruce tried to think straight, but it was getting harder by the second. Oswald was very close to him now and he could smell his expensive cologne, and the memories of the night that they shared together quickly came back to his mind. His pale body, the white linen sheets and the dim yellow light in the corner of the room. The surprisingly soft touch of his lips.

The Batman couldn’t help it, he leant forward. The Penguin reached too to meet his kiss. He put a hand on the shoulder of the hero and brought him even closer, and kissed him even more deeply. Bruce let him, well aware that this was wrong for so many reasons, that anything like this would ruin him and his reputation forever. That this was dangerous and made him extremely vulnerable. It was a connection. It was scary. But still, in that moment, all he could think of was Oswald, the touch of his hands and his lips, after so long…

“I knew you felt the same for me, Bruce.”

“I…”

Then someone else emerged from the shadows not very far away from them.

It was Gordon.

Bruce was too shocked to speak. He couldn’t think of anything to say anyway.

The tone of the Penguin shifted.

“So cool playing detectives with your little police friend and sneaking behind his back to have an affair with the bad guy but what about the real consequences in the real world? You really didn’t think about when shit hits the fan?”

Bruce shook his head in distress and stepped away from the Penguin, who continued to rant.

“Did you really think that this would not surface, that it would get buried in the depths of Blackgate alongside myself? That I wouldn’t use this to get my revenge for what you’ve done, even more so right after what we had?”

The Penguin was visibly angry. He turned to Gordon.

“Now you know, Commissioner, who your friend and partner in justice Bruce Wayne really is.” He looked at Bruce again. “You know, for a moment I really thought you and I had something special going on here… I have to admit, it was a cold, heartless thing to do, to deceive me like that, to get me locked up the very next day. As a master of deceit myself I respect that. Either way, it affected my plans, so it got personal. Just tought that your friend Gordon ought to know. Now do whatever you want, and be grateful I won’t reveal to the entirety of Gotham your real identity. For now, that is!”

The Penguin ended on another small smirk and then walked toward the roof door and exited the scene.

Gordon stood where he was and looked at Bruce. His disappointment was evident.

“Why?”

Bruce couldn’t answer. How could he explain to Gordon that he had never felt that connection before, that human contact, a place which he thought was safe enough to be vulnerable with someone, this someone being one of the worst criminals in the city, the kind he fights as a nighttime vigilante all the time?

And how could he have explained Oswald that he got scared and rushed things to imprison him as soon as he realised how close he had got to one of the most dangerous individuals in Gotham, who could ruin him forever in the blink of an eye?

This was definitely worse than he had expected.

He didn’t even try to explain himself.

He turned his back to Gordon and jumped away to the next building, and the next, and the next until he was back home in the Wayne building. As soon as he got to his room, he took the bass he had laid on the bed and smashed in against the floor violently several times as he cried, helpless, then kneeled and then laid himself on the floor alongside the little wooden smithereens of the instrument.

And he stayed there, alone with his thoughts, for quite a while.

Epilogue

Oswald went directly back to his room at the Cobblepot mansion. He did not want to speak with anyone about what happened that night. And accordingly, no one asked.

He kept thinking about it as he prepared to go to sleep.

It was the good move. The right decision. Someone had to show the spoiled brat Wayne who’s boss, and that he just can’t have it all. Why did he have to ruin everything by getting him in prison?

He felt like a fool for believing that Bruce Wayne of all people could ever see him as an equal, or at least, feel the same way that he did. That broken Wayne kid, who put up his walls so tall and strong so that there wouldn’t ever be any trespassers. What good did that bring him in the end?

He changed into his silk pajamas and got into bed and, reminiscing on the kiss that they both shared earlier, and realizing that it had probably been their last, Oswald Cobblepot cried himself to sleep.

(x)