The Saint Valentine's Circus

By Alyat and Eyzik

"Harleen Quinzel, the beautiful, the gorgeous and sensually savvy super villain. Here she is…"

Harley gave her mirror-self a crowd cheer while she was prettying herself up for her "Mistah J"

She tried her best to make herself at home in their hide out, but to Harley; it would always be a make shift girly girls room. But that was ok, as long she was with her love, she would live under a typhoon for all she cared.

Harley sighed to herself, as she drifted off into her imagination as a mysterious pink envelope peeked out from under her splintering door.

She stayed, by her mirror eyeing it cautiously. Living the life of a villain, you can never be too careful. Suddenly something ticked in her mind and she turned to her hunks calendar that was hammered into the wall next to the mirror. Next to The Joker's head taped onto the fireman's bare chested body, a date was circled; February 14th.

"Valentine's! Oh Puddin' you remembered." Harley gasped

She rushed over to the envelope, demolishing her previous worries from the last time one of The Joker's green envelopes exploded in her face. It was an accident of course... Well that's what old Puddin' said... What was she thinking, of course it was a mistake. She giggled and picked up the letter tenderly and excitedly, giving her a sweet whiff of roses.

She couldn't believe that her dear old Joker had remembered her favourite flower. During their early years, Harley could still remember the time when The Joker got her to smell a rose, and it ended up squirting water in her face. They both ended up on the floor holding their sides laughing. He was ever so thoughtful. She sniffed the card some more, contemplating whether to open it right away or not. Or maybe she should savour it... She didn't know, she exhaled uncertainly. She placed the envelope down on her bed side table and stared at it as if waiting for something to happen whilst gnawing her bottom lip.

'Perhaps a peek wouldn't hurt' she thought to herself, reaching once again for the mysterious letter.

Harley's fingers had almost opened the envelope when a sharp tapping emitted from the door startled her. She jumped a little, giving herself a cold chill. She giggled at herself and skipped to her splintering door and pulled it open.

"Puddin'?" She whispered

Only to be greeted by one of her prince's bulky henchmen.

"Da boss be expecting' you." He grunted.

Harley sighed. Her precious Joker rarely came to her room, she had hoped today would be different. He'd already left her a letter after all. She mentally slapped her self. Of course! How could she not see it? Her puddin' must want to surprise her; perhaps that's what the letter had said.

She skipped off towards The Joker's lounge, sure that her lover had prepared a surprise Valentine's Day breakfast. Of course 'Mistah J' wasn't much of a cook. In fact she had never seen him even step foot into a kitchen. Not even when they had rampaged through that restaurant a few months ago during his dynamic escape plan. Perhaps he kidnapped a chef for her! Oh how sweet. Her heart skipped and so did she in response. Bacon, pancakes, eggs, sausages, WAFFLES! She thought

Oh she would kill for some waffles right now.

She reached her destination and swung open the door. Her face fell at the sight.

No eggs, no sausages, no bacon, no pancakes, NO WAFFLES! Just The Joker sitting at a table, a deck of playing cards in one hand and papers strewn across the table. He paid no notice to her abrupt entrance, which didn't help how awkward Harley felt all of a sudden. She patted herself down and began to take slow steps towards her dark prince.

The Joker was blanketed in shadows, as he sternly concentrated on his papers. The only evidence of life in his deathly white figure was his darting eyes over the scrawled papers, connecting the dots in his head, and his hands shuffling the old purple deck of worn out cards. His hands moved swiftly, curving and swerving, long bony fingers exploring the rectangular cards form, all moving with finesse. Harley watched in awe as the cards blurred between his smooth hands as he shuffled them. This never ceased to impress little clumsy Harls.

"HARLEY QUINN FOR THE THIRD TIME, come closer and help me out!" Harley jumped so high she swore she almost hit the roof. She was too mesmerised by the Joker's shuffling that she didn't realise she was being called upon.

"Sorry," she mumbled as she sat down across from her love.

"How can I be of assistance?"

The Joker leaned in towards his companion and spoke as softly as he could,

"You see these papers? I've devised a fool-proof plan. We're going to take down that stupid Batman and the gay-bird-I mean side kick once and for all." The Joker snickered to himself

"I just need a fool to look it over first. If you can't understand them, then neither should the baffling bumbling bouncing baboons of a goon squad"

Harley was taken aback by her puddin's remark; she was anything but a fool. But she decided to look past it, knowing he's just tired, she sighed.

A dark mocking chuckle grew in the Jokers throat before being amplified and echoing in the large open room. Harls began to become worried and confused.

"HAH HAHAHAHAHA, where's your smile Harley-girl?"

As quick as his bellowing laugh came, the Jokers face became dark and shadowed again, and eyes became endless dark voids.

Whispering just loud enough for tiny Harls to hear,

"You know how much I like my smiles... I want the world to be as happy as me... but when I can't get even you... "Harley-girl"... to smile, you know how I become..."

Silence began to linger and Harley dared not speak up without a child's grin

"I'm sah excited to see your next brilliant plan puddin'."

Without a word, The Joker rose slowly, revealing his incredible stature. His impossibly towering height towered over the table and tiny Harley. Displaying how slender he really was, which could only truly be seen when he wore his favourite purple tail coat. He grabbed the mug next to him and began to stride towards the door.

Lost in awe, the only thing that snapped Harley back to her body was the image of the envelope from earlier.

"Oh Puddin?" Harley called after him, making sure her tremendous smile remained plastered on her face. The Joker turned, cringing inwardly at the immensely frustrating nickname.

"Thank you for the little surprise, it was much appreciated. Sadly I haven't had the chance to read it yet but I'll get to it."

Straight faced the Joker spun back around to the door, confused.

Harley was never this enthusiastic about reading his papers, what had changed? Had he finally gotten through to his little toy?

Dumb girl was never to bright, degree in phycology or not…

So he just shrugged it off and left to refill his coffee mug.

Harley waited until the Joker was out of sight before turning back around to glance over his schematics. Harley was lost the very second she looked at it, and soon found herself cutesy eyeing The Joker's doodling of 'HAH HA's' and smiley faces all over the borders of his papers.

Harley decided the best way to start looking over the plan was to get comfortable So, grabbing everything in a heap in her arms, she turned and trotted off back to her room to start sorting through Puddin's HAH HA papers.

Upon getting settled in her room Harley spread out The Joker's work all over the floor so that each piece of paper was clearly visible. She was halfway through deciphering his master plan when her nose picked up that sweet smell of fresh roses.

She couldn't help herself; Harley jumped up and grabbed the pink envelope from the bedside table. Her fingers hovered over the flap on the back of the pink envelope. Maybe she should read over the Jokers plan fully first.

Before she knew what she was doing she was opening the envelope. She carefully freed the letter from its scented pink prison and stared at it. Her puddin' had put in so much effort, the hand writing was so curly and neat. Harley's eyes darted from word to word, soaking in every detailed character. With each sentence she read she could feel her heart swelling more and more and her heart thumping harder against her ribs.

"I always knew love will find me some day,

But never did I know that it would be you headed my way,

You caught me off guard and took me by surprise,

But you simply captivated me, like the same way when I look into your eyes"