#juce

Bruce wakes up in his king sized bed, groggy and dazed from a long night of sleep that he still isn't used to yet. Bad habits die hard. He sits up slowly and stretches his stuff limbs, rolling his broad shoulders and his neck with a deep groan before turning to his bedside table and picking up his phone.

He reads '07:00' on the screen. The bright luminecent light makes his eyed ache and with that, he takes a deep breath and rubs the crust of sleep from his eyes and squints at the blurry numbers on his lockscreen. All of a sudden his phone vibrates in his hand with a text– 'Good morning, Brucie!'

If it wasn't the time at which he had received that text then it would've been the nickname, the nickname only one person called him. And if it wasn't the nickname it would've been the contact name and profile that popped up alongside the message. It was just his name, 'John' next to his profile picture which was the picture they had taken together at Lucius' funeral. We should take another one together, Bruce thought as he clicked on the message and opened their chat.

"Good morning, Brucie!"

"Good morning, John."

Bruce paused for a moment as he stared at the screen once again, his finger hovering over the call button for one second, two seconds, three, until finally the phone was ringing and John's picture of the two of them filled the screen as Bruce waited for an answer.

It took maybe two rings before the call picked up and an uneven voice called from Bruce's phone. "Bruce? Buddy? Why are you calling?" Bruce could hear a loud and exaggerated yawn coming from the man on the other end of the call. He hummed softly as he sat up in his bed and shirked on his deep purple robe. "Just wanted to check in before I head off to work."

John stayed quiet for a moment before groaning softly, presumably stretching as he woke himself up enough to talk. "Bruce, you know I love talking to you.. Don't get me wrong, it's great! I just– did you have to call so early?" John's voice had a slight grumble to it as he spoke. Yep, definitely not fully awake yet.

Bruce rolled his eyes at John's complaint and huffed at him, a small smirk played on his lips. It was only ever this early in the morning where he could hear John like this. "I can go but you know better than anyone how busy I can get once I get to work." The mumbling and grumbling on the line went silent for a moment and Bruce wonders briefly if he'd said the right thing before John finally hums, "Ah, no need to twist my arm. You know I'm gonna stay." Bruce could practically hear the wide grin on John's face. The one he saw when he closed his eyes, when he had a slow day at Wayne Enterprises, when he fell asleep..

Bruce hummed happily in response into his phone as he rose to his feet and made his way to his bathroom, making sure to bring John with him.

Bruce started on his extensive self care routine, real Patrick Bateman-esque. Now that he wasn't Batman he had more than enough time to take care of himself, making sure to repair all the damage his crusades had done to his scarred body and dazed mind. The two men chatted away as Bruce showered, his voice raised so the man on the other end of the call could hear him properly; probably loud enough that Alfred could hear their conversation from the room over where he was making beds and hoovering floors. John was in his own apartment, a dingy one bedroom place with mold on the windows located in the west side of town, the bad side, since they had the cheapest apartments. "Something about the area? ", John had said when he had explained his choice of home to Bruce. Bruce was hardly surprised.

John did his usual routine whenever he was on the phone with Bruce – which was most mornings nowadays – he made himself coffee (with an obscene amount of sugar), got his teeth brushed (a relatively new habit, it was a new phase of his life and hopefully for the better this time), and washed his face.

Four blank white walls surrounded John as he sat on that bumpy prison bed in his new room. The space he had grown so accustomed to now felt small and plain now that he knew what, and more importantly who, was outside the crumbling brick walls of Arkham Asylum. A small sigh slipped from John's lips as he gazed solumnly at his photo of himself and Batman, one of the few personal items he was able to keep.

He recalled his time outside, as John, as Joker. He thought of Harley, the black and red of her hair and the black diamonds that made her blue eyes brighten against the dull colour.

Blue..

Black..

Suddenly bright blue eyes morphed into icy cold blue eyes that, when he stared into them, stared back at him with an intensity he could recognise immediately. Beautiful deep eyes framed with thick black eyebrows, John's minds eye moves down, down to his nose, his defines cheekbones and jaw, prominent even when covered in jet black metal. Finally, John can see his lips, he can see them moving, as if to say something. The voice of.. someone can be heard in the distance but John pays them no mind. All he can focus on is those lips he had spent many a time thinking about.

All of a sudden the voice becomes clear and cuts his thoughts short. "Visitor for John Doe." calls an orderly, one he knows relatively well but not amazingly. He's one of the newer hires after Lady Arkham and her 'children' staged an attack at the asylum. Things were too bad there not to hire more staff afterward.

The lanky man pushed himself off the squeaky bed and made his way to the door, slightly disgruntled at being bothered and having his thoughts interrupted, it was nice to be in his own head sometimes when there was nothing else to do. He bent down slightly and opened the wicket in the door to peer through. His gaze fell on the man he saw in his mind only moment before, although he looked impossibly more handsome than in his head. Other was something about seeing him in person, whatever imperfect image he could conjure in his head would never compare to the real thing.

"Bruce!" John found himself exclaiming, he felt a brief wave of relief, almost as though the heavy weight on his heart has lifted, if only for a few fleeting seconds. Things between the two hadn't ended too well but, he couldn't help how he felt. Bruce was once his best bud, his Batman, his defender and crime fighting partner, you can't forget all of those feelings in a matter of days. Bruce straightened his cufflinks before bending down to meet John's gaze, the pair looked at each other through the gap for what felt like hours, but was propably only a few seconds. Oh, the power of Bruce's eyes was undeniable, it was so hard not to get lost in the pale blue and wish you could stay there forever. John let out a giddy laugh as he stared at Bruce who had promptly slipped a $100 bill into the orderlies hand and whispered something about 'giving us a few minutes?', to which the orderly simply nodded and unlocked the door for Bruce to enter before leaving the room.

John scrambled back to let the taller man in, watching him closely as his blue eyes took in the state of the room in front of him. White turned grey tile, grime caked into the creases of the floor and walls, the bed that he had found himself waking up in only a few months prior. The room stayed silent for a minute or two, save for the soft sound of patients and orderlies in the hallways and the quiet taps of Bruce's foot on the floor; John had never seen him look so.. skittish before.

"Hey, John." Bruce started suddenly, in his calm and even tone, his hands slipped into his pockets as he looked straight at John for the first time since stepping foot in that charmless room. His lips were curled in a small smile and his eyes were kind and gentle as he looked at John. "It's been a while. I was hoping we could talk." Bruce sat down on the bed, it creaked slightly under his weight. His elbows rested on his knees as he held his hands together and looked up at John, searching his face for any sign of rejection.

The shorter of the two sat next to him on the bed and turned his face to look at him and smiled. "Of course! You know I can't say no to you, Bruce." John replied, his voice slightly gravelly with that signature lilt as he leaned in only a fraction closer, green eyes boring into blue ones.

Bruce stared back before looking away and clearing his throat. He shifted only slightly, not enough for someone who didn't know him well to notice, but John knew him. And he knew him very well. John watched as Bruce paused and gathered his words, it felt like forever before he finally said something.

"I've given up Batman."

Well. That wasn't at all what he had expected to hear.

"What?" John laughed again, an unbelieving, confused kind of laugh. "Why would you do that, Bruce? I mean.. you're THE Batman! Why on earth are you giving up?!"

It took less time for Bruce to answer this time, his gaze met John's once again as he turned his body to properly face him and slowly spoke again. "Alfred.. He was going to leave. It was either him or Batman and I just.. I couldn't lose him." The now ex-vigilante sighed as though he had just offloaded the weight of a truck from his back and closed his eyes briefly, taking a moment before he continued. "And going through that, losing Lucius, Harvey; almost losing Tiffany and Alfred as well..", another pause, "Not to mention you..", John swears his heart stops for a moment when he hears that.

"I want to help Gotham. I want to help the people of Gotham but, I can't put the people I love in danger. Not for Batman. I can help with the resources I have already. I'm thinking of pulling through on that new mental health facility Harvey wanted when he was running for mayor." A small smile formed on Bruce's face, the look on his face was almost sad and longing. There was some underlying emotion just simmering beneath the surface of his skin, it was hard to identify but John didn't mind. He was just happy Bruce was here and not just to lecture him about those agent scum.

"Well.." He started, "You're a better man than I, Bruce." John laughed lowly, he rubbed his hands together and looked deeply into Bruce's eyes (as if he wasn't before). "I never thought you'd give that up."

"I didn't either. I think I just had to figure out where my top priorities were." The dark haired man chuckled softly in response, his hand moving from his lap to the bed, between both their bodies as he leant back slightly before quickly sitting back up straight but keeping his hand where it was.

"That actually brings me to what I wanted to talk to you about, John."

"Oh? Do tell."

The two men sat on the bed, John looking at Bruce's hand, Bruce looking at John. Bruce moved his hand from the bed to John's shoulder, an action that would've felt completely out of place for anyone who wasn't them.

"John, I'm sorry." John's eyes widened. "I meant what I said back at Ace Chemicals, I had fun with you and I did consider you a friend. I really did." The paler of the two simply sat there, taking in Bruce's words. He was.. sorry? He can't remember the last time someone had said that to him, if at all. Tears started to prick at his eyes, making them sting slightly and he quickly rubbed them before they dared spill onto his cheeks.

Bruce continued and tilted his head as he did so, his expression all the more gentle, just like his voice, just like the touch of his hand on John's shoulder. "Even though i had a great time with you, I didn't start our relationship on the best of terms- or even good terms." He took a small, sharp breath, "But I want to. I want to try again, I want us to be.. friends. And I want to do it the right way this time, no betrayal or agendas, just.. just you and me."

John couldn't believe what he was hearing, no matter how many times he rubbed at his eyes the tears would just appear again, the man he admired, the man he loved, was back in front of him. He wanted to make an effort and try again, he cared.

He cleared his throat and laughed, a happy and genuine laugh, and grinned widely at Bruce as he spoke once more in that infectiously giddy tone of his. "You had me at hello, Brucie!"

Omg writing fanfic is hard. I really hope you guys enjoy and if you have any constructive criticism I'd love to hear it! This is my first fic so I really hope it turned out okay!

I lowkey feel like I should've made them hug..