"Author"'s note: last chapter. Wow, I think it's like the first time ever I complete a fic that's longer than three chapters. A big thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed or put in the favorites. Anywho, enjoy

Disclaimer:not mine

Prompt: In the end, it's just you & me

Rating: K+

It didn't matter how long their relationship lasted, Alfred had always been wary of Joker. Bruce couldn't blame him - not really, not after all the things Joker had done. Bruce himself was suspicious sometimes, and every time he would be proved wrong and feel guilty for thinking that Joker may have had some kind of sick plan to break him or something. He had told the clown that, and Joker had laughed until he had tears in his eyes. He said that Bruce was not a complete idiot, and only an idiot would trust him without reserve.

They say when you have a crush on someone, this someone looks perfect to you. It's when you fall for them that you realize they're not perfect, but you learn to accept and love even their flaws. Bruce was never one to do things like others did.

He used to see Joker as nothing but a monster. A murderous psychopath whose greatest pleasure was to cause pain to people in any form. He used to hate him with all his heart. After Rachel's death, he couldn't even see someone with wearing make-up without thinking about Joker, about all the things that freak took away from him. As time passed, Bruce started to see that Joker was not all evil. It was just physical attraction at first, but then it had escalated. Joker was smart, full of talents, capable of actually being funny and of course, never boring. Bruce learnt that Joker was not a monster, but just another man.

Now, Bruce didn't see a maniac. He saw a lunatic, a danger to society and a sadist, of course, but also the person that lied underneath it. Not that he would ever try to erase the superficial layers. Most people would want to cure Joker, but Bruce knew better. There was nothing to cure. Joker was like made that way, and Bruce would never take anything but that.

There were hundreds of things Bruce could never forgive Joker for, the killing and the torture and everything else. Rachel was at the top of the list. The anniversary of her death Bruce always tended to stay far from Joker. The clown had tried to stick with him anyway at first, only to have Bruce yelling at him for every single thing he did. Now he just pouted and went somewhere to have fun. But Bruce saw now, that Rachel could have never been anything but his friend. She had wanted Bruce to change, to stop being Batman, and he could never do that. Joker, on the other side, had liked Batman before knowing who was the man under the cowl, and after discovering it, he had just accepted him. The only time Bruce had asked him if Joker wanted him to stop being Batman, the clown had looked at him in his eyes, serious for once, and told him that if he even tried then he'd stick a knife in his ribcage. Bruce had smiled and reassured him he would never stop, and Joker had muttered a "good".

As much as Bruce hated to admit it, he would never ask Joker to change. Hurt less people, yes, but for some reason he couldn't see himself with a Joker that wasn't making bombs and playing cruel pranks and be the criminal he was. He needed his nemesis as much as he needed Batman. Being in a relationship with your worst enemy did have some problems, like the fact that most of their arguments led to Joker sinking a ship or something like that, which led to Bruce being even more angry and beating Joker until he couldn't see straight while trying to not get stabbed. They usually forgave each other then, unless the reason of the argument or the consequences of it were too much bloodshed. In those cases, Bruce handed Joker to the authorities and then wait until the clown escaped, occasionally dragging him out of jail himself if it was too hard for Joker to do it by himself. It was probably the weirdest relationship ever, but it worked.

One time, Joker said the first thing he thought when he met Batman was that the man was his new favourite toy, the one that despite all the games he played would never break, the one he'd never throw away nor get tired of. Joker was a very flirty person, but his compliments were usually ironic or made for a precise reason. Bruce remembered all of those rare moments the clown ever told him something seriously, and that was probably one of the best things Joker ever said to him.

Bruce knew there would be a day he'd be too old to keep on being Batman. Everyone ages, and he was not an exception. He knew old age would not stop him anyways. That the only thing that could ever stop Batman was dying. And that was probably going to happen by the hand of some criminal. There would be a day no one would stand up for Gotham like he did. But until that day, Bruce would make sure he could throw in a cell as much criminals as he could.

He was surprised when Joker offered to help him. He was wary at first, but then the clown explained that he was never going to stop spreading chaos around, so why not doing it where it could damage some other criminal? Batman and Joker never actually got in business togheter, but more often than not Joker made sure his trail of destruction hit some other big boss of Gotham's criminal underworld. It created the clown a lot of enemies, but Joker didn't care at all. Still, Bruce wasn't sure that Joker was doing this just for the reason he told him. And it wasn't.

It was only after years that Joker finally admitted why he was helping Batman. He knew that Bruce would end up killed, too. And he knew there was nothing he could do to stop it. Everyone dies, he said. But he also said that if they managed to bring down as many criminals as they could, Batman's only big foe would be Joker himself. And Joker wanted to be the one to kill Batman.

Bruce didn't understand at first, but then it became clear. Joker had been alone for all his life, and not knowing any other way of living, he hadn't missed the company. But now he knew how it was to be with someone he loved and he didn't want to be alone again after Bruce's death. If anyone else killed him, Joker would seek revenge, but by then he'd be old too and probably unable to do so. But if he was the one to kill Batman, he could do it and then put a bullet between his eyes.

Bruce yelled at him, saying that he didn't want Joker to do that. In the end, they made a deal. When the end would come, that both of them were too old to keep on being the Dark Night and the Prince of Clowns, they'd kill each other. Bruce hated the thought of having to kill Joker, but the clown told him that dying by his hand was the best way he could think of to die. Batman would break his only rule for the first and last time, and Joker would let himself be killed and, as he put it, do the first altruistic thing of his all life by freeing Gotham of his worst criminal. Bruce didn't like it, but Joker had insisted until he could do nothing but promise him.

But until the day when they'd be the last one standing of their generations of criminals and heroes of Gotham, Bruce tried not to think about it. He just let himself be content of having Joker with him, their hair starting to grey and their faces to show how old they were becoming. The Day would come, but it was still far.

If Bruce had to be honest, he'd admit he thought the first thing Alfred, who passed away due to his age, would tell him in the afterlife, seeing as Joker had finally killed him, would be:

«I told you so»