horrendousness

[onapalehorse]

From this.

"You will find strength, and peace."

He promises, with belief.

Comments

[onapalehorse]

He'll have a scant four hours then, before he wakes up flipped over, forced face down against the pillows, pinned solid and still.

[lasiurus]

Bruce is normally so quiet, but this gets snarls, adrenaline giving him strength that is beyond him...but still far beneath Bane. He manages to maneuver his face enough that he can breathe, and that's about it.

[onapalehorse]

A zip tie yanks tight about his wrists, then another locks his elbows together and back, and Bane lifts him from the bed in the darkness, heaving him unceremoniously over one shoulder, holding his legs under one arm and carrying him up, out, towards the stairs.

The whole abduction takes less than five seconds.

[lasiurus]

Bruce doesn't kick; he doesn't want to be dropped on his head, nor does he think he stands a chance with his hands tied anyway.

He just lets Bane carry him, and hates himself for being so far from what he used to be. This is a test, and by his own scoring he's already failed it. He failed the second Bane got in the room.

[onapalehorse]

"How are you feeling this morning? A little more sturdy than yesterday?"

He checks, rasping, as they reach the bottom floor.

[lasiurus]

"Like someone who isn't sure where this is going."

He can't speak up much with his stomach pressed against Bane's shoulder. He has to stop, gasp, start again.

"...Finished Midnight's Children."

[onapalehorse]

"I met Rushdie, when he was in hiding."

He admits, and that is an interesting enough conversation that he lifts him up a little, so he can hear better.

"I preferred the Satanic Verses, which is in the library a well, if you enjoyed his prose. Do you know anything about the author?"

[lasiurus]

He's glad for it, even if his arms are bound. Al Ghul got him used to having conversations in surreal situations, at least.

"A bit. I read his short stories my first year of college. What did you find out about him from meeting him?"

[onapalehorse]

"That he is not very good at being in hiding."

He admits, with a metallic snort, and then the conversation will have to be cut short. He drops him down onto his feet in front of the door, and puts an arm about him, holding him against his chest.

"Breathe."

[lasiurus]

What's most surprising is that Bruce starts to laugh at Bane's answer. He might have continued, but then he's pinned and it's gone.

He looks up at him defiantly as he breathes, in and out, slow. His shoulders flex, trying to get comfortable.

[onapalehorse]

"I spent thirty years living in utter darkness, and when I first walked on free land, I fainted away cold and concussed myself."

He informs him, and then pulls open the door.

It's still dark outside, so the air is what hits first. Cool, beautiful, damp and fresh.

[lasiurus]

They might not get a single step outside. Not with the way a clean night breeze seems to intoxicate Bruce, make him literally weak in the knees. It doesn't seem real; he's afraid to believe that it is.

And then comes the hideous thought that it is, and this is as close as he will ever get to it.

"Bane..."

[onapalehorse]

"Don't fall."

He tells him, and then walks them forward a step, two.

Bruce is barefoot. The path is slick, damp stone.

[lasiurus]

He stops every time something moves (bats, his mind supplies, and he has to fight the urge to recoil). But the air is so clean, so full of night flowers and damp earth, he can't help but take it in.

He doesn't even care that whatever comes next will probably hurt. He'll be in the grass.

[onapalehorse]

Bane lets him set the pace, steering him eventually off the train and on to the grass, towards one of the hills he can see from his bedroom, with a sprawling apple tree.

He makes patiently sure he doesn't tumble, bolt or panic.

[lasiurus]

By the time they reach the tree (which shouldn't smell so strong, so perfect) he has decided that he will bring Alfred and Fox here. He will let them nap here if they want, pick fruit if they want.

And he, meanwhile, will do whatever it takes to become the person the world needs. Right now, Bane is the absolute best person to teach him how to become that person.

When he looks at Bane again, the gratitude is overwhelming and genuine, even if he won't say it. It comes out in the way he speaks, clipping off the formal and grammatically correct beginnings to his sentences.

"Best start to a test I've ever had."

[onapalehorse]

"Here."

He has a bag with him. A blanket, for the wet grass, to lay beneath the tree. Scissors, for the top zip tie, so his arms aren't quite so forcibly strained.

Once those things are taken care of, he helps him gently down onto it. The slope faces east. Pink is starting to lick at the horizon.

[lasiurus]

Bruce stares at it so long he forgets he's supposed to be watching Bane. He needs to make sure Alfred and Fox see sunrises, too.

Finally he asks, "What am I supposed to do here?"

[onapalehorse]

"Tell me when you begin to get hungry."

Resituating them, so Bruce leans against him.

[lasiurus]

He had tolerated it in the gym, but mostly out of confusion. Here he glances at Bane curiously, but settles comfortably. Bruce adapts to things very quickly.

[onapalehorse]

He starts on his shirt buttons again, too, tugging it down his arms as far as it will go, letting it hang like that.

Then, his hand is at the front of Bruce's pants.

[lasiurus]

He hasn't been calculating, so his reaction is pure instinct. He tries to elbow Bane, but his hands are bound, and he stops himself from rolling to the side.

He tamps down the shock and looks at Bane again, waiting.

[onapalehorse]

"I wondered if you'd really been stopping yourself from hearing as thoroughly as I thought. I've been telling you this was coming."

Soft, hand resting flat on his abdomen.

[lasiurus]

Bruce licks his lips, and then settles against Bane's chest, proving a point to himself.

"People I've been around say a lot of things. I didn't think I was your type."

[onapalehorse]

"All right. Now that you're conscious of it, what do I need to know?"

Hand still rubbing soothingly at his stomach.