When you think of the name Joker, you'd think of a funny person, or maybe the card.
Whenever the people in Gotham heard the name Joker, their first instinct would be to hide or leave the country. They were terrified of him, which wasn't a surprise. Everyone in their right minds would be terrified of the Clown Prince of Crime.
But then again, Harley wasn't in her right mind.
Don't get me wrong, she was scared of what he would do whenever he was angry, but a little voice in her told her that if she tried enough, he would return her affections.
After all, he hit her because he cared.
Harley pulled off her jester hat and wiped her tears when she was sure he was gone. She stumbled to the bathroom, trying her best to keep smiling, everything was a joke. It really was! Batsy and Bird-brain didn't know what they were talking about.
It was her fault, he hurt her because she was stupid. She shouldn't have laughed at that man's jokes, he ended up dead and she ended up getting beaten.
It had to mean he cared, right? Why else would he get so jealous?
A civil war was going on in her head, Dr. Harleen Quinzel and Harley Quinn were fighting a battle that no one would win. Her inner psychiatrist was screaming at her, telling her she was stupid to believe The Joker loved her. He didn't get jealous, he was just possessive and didn't like it when people touched his 'things'.
Harley shook her head, ignoring the thoughts and focused on cleaning her face...and her wounds.
The blond girl washed her face, getting rid of the face makeup and tears staining her cheeks. She allowed the water to fill the bathtub as she worked on undressing herself without touching the wounds in the process, she knew it was going to burn like hell once she stepped into the water, but she needed to clean herself.
She locked the door before stepping into the water, hissing as the deep gashes in her body started to burn. He cut her pretty deep with the knife.
She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, memories filling her head of when he was nice and gentle to her...which wasn't a lot.
They were running, they had just set off a bomb in a warehouse, unfortunately, not many people died. Batman got them out before the timer hit zero.
The people that had died however, couldn't even be recognized. They decided it'd be fun to let the police play treasure hunt as they tried to find the multiple limbs and organs across the building. Even more fun that they had to figure out which arm or heart belonged to which person!
Four people were currently in the burning building that was about to collapse. Two were running and laughing while the other two were chasing them.
Robin rolled his eyes at the two clowns, not quite understanding how they could be laughing at a moment like this. But despite that, he focused on catching them, if he wasn't paying attention then Batman wouldn't shut up about it.
A large hole was on the ground, if you fell in, you would definitely die. If not from the fall, then from the burning fire on the ground.
Joker jumped over it with ease, getting a good laugh out of it too.
But Harley wasn't so lucky.
While she was distracting Batman and Robin, she had gotten a few good hits. The Boy Wonder had hit her legs with his Bo-staff to make her fall the moment they heard about the bomb. Nothing too bad, but it still caused her to run with a slight limp.
As she prayed she would make it and jumped, pain shot through her left leg and she almost made it. Her body crashed against the edge of the hole, her gloved hands not getting a good enough grip to pull herself up. She knew Joker would just keep running, so she didn't bother crying out, Batman and Robin were too far behind to save her without accidentally harming her, so that wasn't an option either.
She struggled to pull herself up, despite knowing it wasn't going to help. She'd die here.
As Harley was about to close her eyes and accept her death, she was surprised to see her puddin' stop the moment he noticed her not behind him.
He turned around and went back for her, surprising not only Harley, but Batman and Robin as well.
The clown glared at her as he pulled her up and close to him, his hand a little too tightly at her waist. She didn't notice, she was too amazed that he actually saved her.
"Stupid girl," he muttered as he dragged her with him the rest of the way. His hand firmly placed in hers to avoid another accident.
Harley smiled, sinking a little lower into the water as her mind thought of another great memory. It wasn't a usual occasion that these kind of things happened, so she treasured them dearly and made sure she would remember them forever.
He was in a good mood, she could tell.
Maybe it was the doodling on paper, or that he was whistling, or that he hadn't insulted her at all, or maybe the fact that he actually played with the baby's, Bud and Lou were sleeping happily, content with the fact that The Joker had payed attention to them.
Harley decided to take her chance and test the waters, she sat down beside him as he doodled absentmindedly on a piece of paper with a bone, he hand sharpened the dip of the bone and was dipping it in blood so he could write- or draw -with it.
The former psychiatrist smiled when she saw what he was drawing, Batman, hanging upside down in a tank filled with hungry sharks.
The harlequin themed hench wench hummed a song, a bit surprised when he didn't react. Normally she would've been warned or smacked across the room if she disturbed him with his 'work'.
Gathering up all her courage, she decided to go in for the kill.
She placed a quick kiss on his cheek, not even holding her lips there for a second before she pulled away.
The Joker dropped his makeshift pen, not saying anything or reacting for a while. The room was deadly silent and Harley tensed as she waited for the first hit to come, thinking she had crossed the line.
She squirmed as he grabbed her jester hat and pulled her closer.
Imagine her surprise when The Clown Prince of Crime kissed her on the lips instead.
Harley's smile faded as the bad memories entered her mind. He beat her, abused her in many different ways, used her, toyed with her. Dragged her across the room with her hair, tugging a little harder than needed before throwing her out of a window while they were on the highest floor of the building.
Pushing her out of moving cars on the highway, stabbing her with multiple objects, carving his name in her side. Intensifying the pain if she cried, or even whimpered.
Threatening to kill her multiple times, attempting to multiple times.
She closed her eyes as fresh tears streamed onto her face, the bad memories being a bit too much.
Someone knocked on the door. "Harley?"
"Go away!" Her voice cracked.
The Joker rolled his eyes. Great, she was being dramatic again. "Harley, baby, you're not still mad, are you? Open the door for me?"
Harley clenched her jaw, her voice came out a lot stronger the second time she talked. "No."
He sighed. "Listen, Harley. I didn't like how that man was acting around you. He was trying to take my pumpkin pie away from me and I couldn't let that happen, now could I?" He put emphasis on the word 'my'.
Harley was his, probably not in the way she wanted, but she was still his.
The clown smirked as he heard Harley get out of the tub, put on a robe and unlock the door.