The last few days have been ... interesting, to put it mildly. None of this is what I would have expected when I first answered Bruce's call earlier this year. On the one hand, he and I have been growing ever closer, exploring new realms of connection that build on our previous relationship while freed of the old boundaries that professional treatment required. I still feel like a mentor to him on some level, but we are working at establishing an equal footing in our play. No longer do I play an exclusively dominant role; if anything, I have been showing him my vulnerable side just as he has begun to regain what I assume was his old self-confidence. For the first time, it can truly be said that we make love when we are together. And we have been together a great deal lately.
On the other hand, it is harder and harder to ignore the outside world. The press and television are full of accounts of the crime wave gripping Gotham City ever since the disappearance "and presumed demise" of the Batman. Only I know better, and yet I have been unable so far to convince him that he must assume that role once again. The threats seem to come from all sides: costumed criminals with colorful names, everyday street thugs, random acts of violence. Most disturbing of all is an escalation in the rate of violent hate crimes in the metropolitan area--over three dozen attacks since the first of the month.
Gotham desperately needs its Batman to return. But is he ready to begin again?