Chapter Text
“Have you seen today’s paper?”
Liam buries his head under the pillow and tries to block Niall’s voice out but to no avail. He is hit in the back of the head repeatedly with that he knows is the newspaper and grumbles incoherently against the sheets.
“What? I was up until seven am, what time is it?”
“It is two pm and you should be grateful I let you sleep this long you prick”
Liam sighs and raises his head. The curtains have been drawn and a tray of breakfast sits at the end of his bed.
“Where is Alfred?” he asks, looking at his now cold pot of tea.
“Dunno but he was being a prat all morning, kept coming into your room with a new pot of tea ignoring my protests” Niall snaps and once again thrusts the Gotham Gazette in his face.
Liam blinks once or twice and takes the newspaper in his hand. The slogan makes him groan out loud.
BATMAN LETS ANOTHER FOE ESCAPE IN A HIGH SPEED CHASE
“I did NOT let him escape” Liam says through gritted teeth and receives a pat on the back from Niall.
“Next time. But right now, it’s time to eat and train”
Liam nods in agreement and wolfs down the cold toast and fruit on the tray and quickly follows Niall to the batcave.
For at least an hour, Liam loses himself in lifting weights and punching a bag hard enough to send Niall flying across the room.
+
It is hard to escape the news. Especially when you are the center of it. Liam watches the main evening news with a scowl. He had not let his latest opponent simply escape his clutches. The man had been fast and skillful.
And extremely good looking.
He had been on his way home from patrolling the city when he had heard a ruckus in an alleyway. On first glance, he had seen a man not much shorter than him struggling with two others, much taller and much stronger. He hid in the shadow, quickly deciphering the situation. The man was struggling to pry a bag out of the two men’s hands. He was clearly in distress. Liam could make out his brown eyes glinting with worry under the dingy light of the door of the club.
It didn’t take long for Liam to decide that the two men were trying to mug the smaller one and he quickly sprang into action. With a swift jump he kicked the first man to the ground and without looking back, he elbowed the other in the face. As he suspected, they were too terrified to retaliate and simply lay there staring up at him.
Expecting a possibly teary thank you from the person he had saved, Liam was shocked when he turned around to face a menacing smile.
“Thanks, you’re just what I needed” his voice came out in a bored drawl and annoyingly, Liam had not been able to look away from his lips.
When he looked down at the men at his feet in confusion one of them blurted out “He stole from us you dimwit”.
Realisation set in but when Liam looked up to face the robber, he had disappeared. Just like Liam often does. He found it to be incredibly annoying.
“Sorry” he offered gruffly to the two men before running straight up the alley looking for any sign of the criminal. His only clue was a roaring of a motorbike a few feet up the road and soon Liam was in pursuit.
This is how he finds himself here, sprawled on his couch and glaring angrily at the news reporter who definitely has it in for Batman.
“Stop beating yourself up, it was one robbery, I’m sure you’ll catch him again” Niall says from the doorway, causing Liam to jump. “Or maybe I’ll catch him” he adds with a bright smile.
“How will that look, Robin does what Batman can’t” Liam snorts, spreading his arms out indignantly.
“Rude” Niall sighs but flops down beside Liam and switching over to another station.
Commissioner Tomlinson is standing at a podium making an announcement, something about taxes and Liam is glad when he sees Niall reach for the remote again.
“WAIT!” he screeches and almost wrestles Niall to hit the pause button. Niall looks terrified and stares at Liam with a bewildered expression.
“There! That’s him!” Liam points at the screen and stands up abruptly.
“Who?!”
“The thief! From last night!”
Niall squints at the television, trying to spot who Liam is pointing at in the crowd of people watching the Commissioner speak.
Liam’s finger lands on a small head of hair poking out from the crowd.
“Where?” Niall asks, sure Liam is pointing wrong.
“There!” Liam again jabs the quiff of black hair and Niall snorts.
“You’ve really gone round the bend, you cannot possibly recognise his hair for god’s sake”
Liam levels Niall with one of his more terrifying looks and Niall shrugs.
“And even if it is, so what? What can we do?”
“Go there! Right now” Liam almost shouts and makes a run for the piano in the lobby. He can hear Niall sigh but follow him and soon the two of them are speeding through the city streets in Liam’s Ferrari.
They stop outside the city hall where the crowd is starting to dissipate.
“Can you see him?” Liam asks, pressing his face against the window in an effort to spot the escapee.
“I don’t really know what the fuck I am looking for so no” Niall grumbles but also looks out in earnest.
“I do see something I like though” he says, winking at a female reporter walking past.
“Jesus, why are you my helper again? Alfred would do a better job than you” Liam snaps and waves half-heartedly at a cop who strolls past his car.
“Listen mate, he is not here, you are just over tired and need some sleep, you should take a nap before tonight’s patrol”
Liam sighs and lets his forehead press against the cool glass, watching his breath spread across the surface in an interesting design.
“Yeah, you’re right”
He goes back to the house and sleeps for a solid two hours before slipping into his suit and heading out into the night.
+
He returns to a sleepy Niall at dawn, grumbling about the lack of activity and tries his best to catch some sleep. His dreams are riddled with those brown eyes and that mass of hair that he, for some reason, craves to run his fingers through.
“Insomnia doesn’t suit you” he hears Alfred quip and he jumps from where he was rummaging in the fridge.
“What?!”
“Well you look horrendous to be honest” Alfred grins at Liam and shoves him away from the fridge to reach inside for the orange juice. Liam glances at himself in the window and realises that Alfred is indeed right. His hair is sticking up at a few different angles, his eyes are red as if he had been crying and his whole body sags in an unhappy stance.
“It’s that runaway thief, he got to you” Alfred chirps, pouring water into the kettle.
Liam grumbles in denial but it is weak, Alfred is right and there is no point lying.
Before he can reply, not that Alfred was expecting one, the phone rings in the lobby. Niall is still asleep so Liam walks over to answer it.
It is a board member from Payne Enterprises suggesting in a bitter tone that Liam should really think about hosting a charity event and soon. He is starting to look bad. In the most friendly way possible, Liam agrees with her and offers to host one this weekend. It might be good for him after all. He often needs a break from Batman to just be Liam, and a party might just be what the doctor ordered.
+
If Liam is looking forward to the party, Niall is living for it. He has ordered an unnecessary amount of ice sculptures for the ball. Masquerade, of course- Niall’s idea. He thought it would be hilarious in case someone recognised them. Liam tried to coax him out of it but he lost the battle.
“You are the worst sidekick ever” Liam sighs when Niall leaves his bedroom in his suit and what else but a Batman mask covering his eyes. Unfortunately, it does not cover his mouth so Liam finds it hard to feel truly annoyed when he spots Niall’s cheeky grin.
“You’re not wearing a mask?” Niall asks, looking a little more than slightly disappointed.
“People need to recognise their host” Liam smiles, fixing his skinny black tie in the hallway mirror. He hears Niall scoff but before he can chastise him the doorbell rings and they both jump.
Alfred answers and the first couple of guests arrive. They look good and Niall leaps down the stairs excitedly when he spots someone in a Robin mask. Liam chuckles fondly and remains at the top of the stairs looking down into his lavishly decorated lobby.
By ten o clock his house is full of people and Niall’s laughter is audible no matter what room of the house Liam hides in. He makes an appearance occasionally but he much prefers chilling in his room than interacting with people whom he has no interest in.
“Care for a dance?” he hears a low voice behind him as he picks idly at the finger food in the living room. Liam turns around and is faced with a man wearing a devil mask over the upper half of his face. He is wearing a red suit to match and the contrast of it with his darker skin has Liam’s heart racing. So do his lips which are shining in the dim light.
Liam nods, popping a small triangular sandwich in his mouth and letting the stranger grab his hips in an almost forceful way. The song playing throughout the house has a strange rhythm, neither fast nor slow and the two of them sway oddly to the beat.
“May I ask who you are?” Liam breaks the silence first and spots a smirk on the other boy’s lips.
“You may”
“Well- who are you?”
“I said you may ask but I didn’t say I would tell you”
Liam frowns; this person might just overtake Niall on the annoying scale.
“Ok then. Are you from Gotham?” Liam tries again, trying not to focus on how good the hand on his hip feels.
“Nope”
“Well, where are you from?”
“Does it matter?”
“Are you always this rude?”
“How am I being rude? You are the one asking me personal questions and you don’t even know who I am”
Liam sighs. Can’t he ever just meet normal people?
“Fine, I just won’t speak anymore”
“Great”.
So they sway again in silence and keep eye contact with each other. Liam frowning in confusion as the other smirks at him, as if mocking him.
“Mr Payne? A word?”
They are interrupted by the chair of Payne Enterprises, Harry Styles. Liam nods unwillingly and turns to face the stranger to say goodbye.
“Thanks for the dance, you may need to polish up your moves though” he drawls and Liam stares at the brown eyes which now seem oddly familiar. Before he releases Liam, he draws him in until they are pressed together tightly.
“By the way, I stole your Rolex and when I leave here, it will be in your Porsche” he whispers right in Liam’s ear, sending involuntary goose bumps down Liam’s arms. With a final smirk, he slips away into the crowd, leaving Liam to gape after him in shock.
What just happened?
“Um Liam?” Harry shakes his elbow and Liam waves him off before diving over to the living room window. Sure enough, he watches as his brand new Porsche flies out the gates of his mansion.
“Are you ok?” Harry asks, stepping beside Liam to glance out the window.
“I was just robbed” Liam states and considers his options.
He thinks about the stranger. His eyes had stood out the most. Who was he?
“Well can you come visit me tomorrow, I have a new gadget to show you” Harry winks, and leaves Liam alone to brood.
He lets the party unfold around him, lets Niall and Alfred take care of the guests. He does not really care about his watch, nor the car, what he cares about is who that bastard was.
After an hour of tearing his own mind apart he sits up in the armchair and nearly knocks over the globe sitting beside it. He knew he recognised those eyes. And those lips. It was the hair that had been different, had thrown him off the scent.
It was the thief from the other night.
Liam realises with a sudden jolt that the thief has come into contact with Batman too much, whether he knew it or not. Liam realises with another massive jolt that he has to be stopped right away.
Even if he is still craving to run his fingers through the masked man’s hair.
+
“You’ve lost your mind mate” Niall murmurs in the batmobile as Liam speeds through Gotham’s streets. “You do realise that there could be several crimes committed as you go on a wild goose chase?”
Liam knows Niall is right but there is something in him that has to, has to, find this man who thinks he has control over him. Liam is Batman for Christ sake; he does not have time for silly thieves.
“Ok, in fifteen minutes I will stop searching for him? Is that ok with you?” Liam snaps and Niall scoffs, offended by Liam’s temper.
“And what if within fifteen minutes a massive burglary happens, someone gets mugged, a kid gets-“
Liam cuts him off with sharp wave of his hand in the hair. Or maybe it was the way he viciously slammed down on his brakes.
“What is that?” Liam points somewhere in the distance.
In between and behind two skyscrapers is a thick cloud of smoke. So thick and dark that it is obvious even in the dense Gotham night.
“Where is that?” Niall asks, looking slightly worried when an orange glow blasts from underneath the smoke.
“I have a hunch” Liam says and his tone is dark, his eyes even darker. Niall decides not to question him but nervously eyes the way Liam’s hands clutch the steering wheel as he drives towards the site.
They take no time to get to the source of the smoke. Although, they nearly wish they had.
“Arkham Asylum” Niall whispers, taking in the now blackened sign of the notorious prison. Liam looks up at the building which has been blown to pieces on one side.
“This cannot be happening” Liam groans as he takes in what appears to be several high security cells blown apart and empty.
“Get Commissioner Tomlinson on the phone- now”
+
Louis wakes up suddenly when the phone rings. He hates being one of the most important men in the city, especially at nearly three o clock in the morning.
“What?” he snaps, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Sirens blare from the other line and a familiar husky voice starts to speak. Batman.
“You need to get down to Arkham Asylum, right now”
“What’s happened?” Louis gasps, jumping out of bed and tries to dress quickly with the phone pressed between his ear and shoulder.
“A massive explosion. The problem? I would say around twenty missing convicts”
Louis breathes in sharply. “I’ll be right there”.
With a dreaded feeling in his gut, Louis jumps in his too-shit-for-a-commissioner car and speeds towards what he can now see is a disaster zone.
He makes it there in less than ten minutes, following about three fire brigades and five cop cars. He jumps out and scans the area for the masked vigilante but cannot spot him.
Instead, he strides up to the police wire and ducks under it, makes his way up to his second in command.
“Tell me everything you know” Louis snaps and looks up as firemen try their best to douse the last remaining flames in the east side of the building.
“At around two thirty am, an explosion went off in the east side of the building, we think cell number 42. We have yet to find out how it got in there or how it was detonated. In the explosion, the whole east side of the wall was blown off, allowing approximately twenty two prisoners escape. Highly dangerous criminals. It was obviously planned seen as nobody got hurt” Officer Rowls explains and Louis nods sharply, taking in the information.
“Any idea who was in cell 42?”
The man looks grim when he nods his head.
“Well who was it?”
“The Joker”
+
Liam was listening in the shadows and he nearly let out a loud string of curse words when he heard that. The Joker. Of course it was, who else would it have been.
“Damn” Liam mutters and makes sure everything is under control before sidling back to the batmobile.
“What is it?” Niall asks, immediately taking in Liam’s depressed posture.
“We have a slight problem”
Niall waits, his blue eyes worriedly scanning Liam from behind his black eye mask.
“Remember how last year, I managed to get our good friend The Joker behind bars?”
Niall nods slowly, not sure where Liam is going with this.
“Well, he has escaped” Liam laughs and throws his arms in the air.
“What?” Niall snaps, eyeing Liam’s manic movements in confusion.
“Yep, isn’t that just fantastic”
“Liam I-“
“I think it is time for a whiskey”
“But Liam-“
Liam silences him with a glare and starts the engine, speeding off towards his house and leaving Niall in a worried and confused state.
+
Liam wakes up with two faces hovering over him. He fights the urge not to lash out and punch them both.
“I am hungover” he grumbles, trying to lift the blanket over his head.
“He was drinking?” he hears Harry’s voice question and Niall grunts in reply.
“Up you get Payne, you were supposed to meet me an hour ago” Harry shouts and Liam can hear the teasing smile in his voice. Two pairs of hands strongly rip the blanket off him and Liam curls up like a snail, shielding his eyes from the light.
“Alfred has a lovely breakfast prepared to freshen you up, now get a move on” Harry says, dragging the reluctant Liam out of bed.
Liam eventually gives in and makes his way down to the kitchen where a large supply of food awaits him. He only drinks the orange juice though, not feeling too guilty knowing that Niall will gladly demolish the leftover food.
He silently joins Harry in the living room where the curly haired man sits on the sofa with a silver briefcase resting on his lap.
“What is it?” Liam finally asks, his curiosity getting the better of him.
“I thought you would never ask” Harry grins and pops open the briefcase, looking down on it with a proud smile.
Liam huffs out impatiently and walks around Harry’s perch on the sofa to have a look himself. It looks like a lighter and Liam is far from impressed. Knowing Harry however, it will be something excellent.
“This my friend is what I like to call the Bat-Dilluminator”
Harry looks positively delighted with himself and Liam audibly sighs, waiting for Harry to explain.
“With one flick of this switch” Harry says, taking the device out and putting his thumb over the red button on top of it, he presses down and suddenly all the lights go out. It makes only a slight difference to Liam’s eyesight but Niall comes bursting in, falling over the carpet on his way.
“MY X-BOX JUST SHUT OFF AND I WAS ON THE FINAL LEVEL” He cries from the floor and Harry presses the switch again, looking down at Niall with a sheepish expression.
“It turns off electricity?” Liam looks at the gadget now with more respect, taking the small device in his own hand.
“Yep, anywhere within a 30 foot radius” Harry grins, his dimple showing.
“Excellent” Liam pats Harry on the back, earning him and even wider smile. Liam pockets it and thanks Harry, plonking down on the couch and switching the television on.
Commissioner Tomlinson is addressing the city from his usual podium at City Hall, informing them of last night’s events.
“God he is hot” Harry sighs, looking at the screen dreamily. Liam and Niall try not to snigger at him and fail, laughing openly and Harry tries to shrug it off but his blush gives him away.
“Anyway, don’t you have people to be finding” Harry snaps at Liam, gesturing at the television where a large picture of The Joker flashes up on the screen. He is wanted for a hefty reward it seems but Liam will be damned before a citizen finds the criminal over him.
“Off we go then Niall, plans to make, people to catch” Liam smirks at Harry, grabbing Niall by the collar and leading him toward the batcave. Harry waves at them and makes his own way out.
After an hour of strategizing, Liam and Niall slip into costume and make their way out into the city.
In less than hour, Liam spots a familiar face stumbling out of a pub in downtown Gotham. He was once a former inmate at Arkham and clearly in need of a good night’s sleep. Liam parks the batmobile in a dark alley and swiftly moves towards the pub, hoisting the drunkard up off the ground and toward the car.
“That was quick” Niall grins, helping Liam throw the incoherent man into the back seat.
“Only twenty one more to go” Liam smiles, sarcasm leaking out of his voice.
Another pub later and Liam slows down, scanning the crowd smoking outside. He notices a few men gathered around another, jeering and shouting at him with pint glasses in their hands.
“Leave it” Niall warns, noticing how Liam almost stops the car.
“But they’re clearly picking on that man” Liam points at the man leaning against the wall of the pub, blowing smoke out the corner of his mouth and eyeing the other men with a hint of distaste on his face.
“He doesn’t look too bothered” Niall comments, watching as the man puts out his cigarette as if bored.
Liam does come to a stop but both he and Niall are too immersed in the situation to care. Liam even puts down the window to eavesdrop.
“Faggot!” some of the men are shouting and both Niall and Liam frown immediately.
The victim in question holds up a hand as if ready to make an announcement. It has the desired affect and the group fall silent.
“Now gentlemen, I know you all must be terribly offended over my sexuality and that pains me that I have caused you such inconvenience”
Liam and Niall look at each other in amusement. Liam looks closer; the man has a wonderful quiff of hair that is almost familiar to him.
“But I must say, you have raised the issue poorly, and for that, I must have my revenge”
The words are menacing but the voice is jolly and it leaves the men, and Liam and Niall, in a state of confusion.
Suddenly, the man braces himself on the wall and kicks out with both feet. His feet collide with the two men closest to him, sending them flying. When the other men realise their friends were attacked, some surge forward. The man fights them off with ease; high-kicks, swift punches and often a nifty jump against the wall and into one of his offenders’ bodies. It is not long until he is on one knee, catching his breath while the group of men lie in pain around him.
He stands up, fixes a stray hair and strolls away from the pub.
Liam and Niall look at each other again with matching grins of shock. Liam pulls up next to the mysterious stranger who does not look one bit phased by what just happened.
“Hey, you ok?” Liam nearly forgets to use his Batman voice, completely in awe.
The man turns to face them and Liam gasps. The stranger smirks and leans down with his hands resting on the roof of the car.
“I’m perfect”
Liam stares at his lips and knows immediately who it is. It’s the thief, the one he has been almost dreaming about for days.
“Were you planning on helping me out back there?” he asks, a lazy drawl to his voice that sends jolts of electricity throughout Liam’s body.
Liam almost stutters, almost, but glares as hard as he can at the stranger.
“Get off my vehicle”
The stranger backs away with his hands up in the air, feigning innocence.
“Someone’s changed their attitude”
Liam gets out of the car, his cape sweeping behind him in a dramatic fashion. He hears Niall step out after him.
“Maybe it’s because I know you’re a thief” Liam stands his ground; ready for a fight.
“Maybe? You should be one hundred per cent sure about things before you accuse anybody of anything” the man folds his arms across his chest and Liam tries not to stare at the muscles of his arms.
“You are a thief”
“Prove it”
Liam nearly growls in frustration, why is this man not frightened of him?
“Listen, I’d love to stay and chat but I have places to go, people to see”
Liam moves forward to- well he doesn’t know but he knows he should try and stop him and the man backs away with an arrogant smile on his face.
“See ya around?”
On that note, the man swings around and with surprising agility, uses the gutter to climb onto the roof of the abandoned building they were just standing outside.
“You could easily follow him” Niall points out, breaking the electric silence.
Liam gulps slowly and shakes his head. He jumps back into the car and knows with a sinking feeling that he has an infatuation with his newest enemy.
Fuck.
//