Disclaimers: Chars/settings aren't mine, writing & obsession is.

A/N: Inspired by korekan's gorgeous fanart community(dot)livejournal(dot)com/batmanjoker/39214.html - you'll have to replace (dot) with . in that link, fanfic doesn't want to link it properly. Apologies for massacre'ing the chars, the probable ooc.ness, & maybe insulting korekan's beautiful work with my hack attempt here.

It was cold. Even through the Kevlar, he could feel the cold. It was cold and their battle had been nearly epic - broken bones, broken buildings, broken bodies strewn about. His breath came in short gasps, puffing white in the chilled night air, one hand clutched against his ribs. How many were cracked this time? He didn't know, and he wasn't about to let the pain take him over. He pushed it aside, eyes scanning the layers of disturbed snow covering the grounds, furrows created by another being.

There he was. His eyes found what they were seeking, a figure stumbling through snow and shadows a short distance away. He moved to pursue, blocking out the cold, his pain, everything but that one lone figure attempting to elude him.

It was almost too easy, how quickly he caught up with and overtook him. The snow here was knee deep, speed wasn't a commodity at the moment, yet he managed to catch the fleeing madman quite easily.

Eyes locked with a gaze of green fire as the Joker turned to face him, mouth bleeding, dripping down his pale chin (pale as the snow around them) onto the lapels of his coat. His eyes noted the dark colouring along the other man's cheeks and throat, a large black bruise flowering near the left temple.. Marks from tonight's seemingly endless fight. The madman's breath was rapidly puffing tiny white clouds in the air, and he half-staggered as he stepped back away from the approaching Bat. He didn't miss the hands twitching as his sides, the tongue flicking across bleeding lips, the fact that the other man was either trembling or shivering.

"How long are we going to do this, Joker?"

A low giggle escaped the madman before he received a response, "Till hell freezes over, Bats," a glance around at the snow-covered city, "Or maybe it already has."

"I'm taking you back to Arkham. Tonight."

The other man giggled again, tongue touching the corner of his mouth, tasting the blood. "No, no no, oh no. I'm not going back there, it's, uh, too cold there."

And it wasn't out here? His eyes roamed the other's lean form; the clown was shivering visibly now, clothes soaked through from the snow and ice. He started to move backward as the Bat took a step toward him, but stumbled in the knee-deep drifts. He fell back into the snow, arms flailing as he tried to catch himself but not quite succeeding.

The Bat was upon him by the time he managed a seated position. He snarled, a low growl sounding from his throat, but the fear factor was lessened by the snow in his hair and covering his clothes.

"You're going to freeze to death."

"Yea," a lick of the lips, a giggle as his teeth involuntarily chattered a bit, "I, uh.. Probably."

The Joker drew back but hadn't the time or opportunity to rise and make his escape as the Bat literally swooped down on him. The dark knight felt the other tense, taut as wire, as he knelt, brushed against the lean body and threw his cape around them both. He could feel the shivers racking the other man and drew his cape closer. It all happened in the span of seconds; as the Joker made a move to either leap away or attack him, he muttered, "Shush. Be still." The smaller man went still, eyes moving to his face and head tilted quizzically.

He realized this was probably a huge mistake -the man was his nemesis in most senses of the word- but he couldn't in good conscious deliberately let the clown freeze. He didn't drop his guard, but he managed to ease tense muscles slightly as he felt the smaller man relax against him.

"Very noble of you, Batsy," the madman chuckled, moving deeper into the warmth of the cape and the Bat's body heat, "Verrry noble. I fucking hate the, ah, cold." The Bat's only response was to draw the cape a little closer around them both.

"We gonna stay here till the spring thaw? Cuz you know, I really wouldn't mind," that infuriating laugh followed the question, and Batman rolled his eyes.