A/N: It is recommended that you read "I'll Do What I Have To" and "You Make Me Perfect" before starting this story. I think it could stand alone but it'll have a better effect if you've read the two prior stories. This takes place immediately following "You Make Me Perfect" and the Joker knows something is afoot. As always, read and review please.
-xoxo Ladyvader99
Joker POV
No matter how many times he tried to cover it, it was there.
No matter how many times he personally went and dragged his nails across her scalp with dry soap, it was there.
That God forsaken scent.
He could be across the street and he'd smell the muted, spiced pungency of her skin. That maddening smell of another man.
He passed the hours she lay there, soiled with his seed, unconscious, her pale skin tinged with an unsightly glow from the halogen lights on the ceiling, pondering where that scent could have came from. When that blasted girl had stopped to catch her breath (no doubt distracted by something shiny), he'd assumed she'd show up minutes behind him at their hideout. Imagine his utmost confusion and wrath that it was more than SIX whole hours before she came to him.
He had sat in his chair, not moving a muscle, quaking with fury, mind swirling with the things he'd do to her. Then she'd arrived and it all flew away at the sight that she was safe. It all was ruined the moment he smelled her sweet, blonde pigtails and he felt the rage surging through his veins. What was it that she had blubbered?
"I-I-I was stuck in the rain, Puddin'."
The rain, she said! As if rain could engulf her entire being in a seductive blanket that left her curiously dry and smelling like a man. How stupid did she take him for? He could feel the now familiar burn of enmity flow through his veins, his heart pumping erratically. How dare she? His mind raced with theories, arguments for each one, vague guesses at who it could be. If she wasn't glued to his side 90% of the time, he's wager just about everyone. He contemplated further as he sat on the cool concrete floor, head to his knees, pale, bone white fingers clenched in his green hair.
The Penguin? He snickered to himself as he pictured his lithe girl under The Penguin's portly figure, not noticing how much more tightly he gripped his strands, ignoring the light sting of pain. Harvey? While he was sure he twisted such naive ideas of honor and goodness from his former doctor, he sometimes wondered if Harley put on an act of insanity for him but then she grinned in such a deliciously twisted way, he felt comforted that they were two peas in a pod and he discarded that notion. Crane? This one he pondered as Crane was as nuts as they came and by female standards was quite charming before he lost all sense and started wearing that burlap bag. He couldn't recall anything in his perfect memory about them ever having met so he decided to ask Harley when she woke. For now, he sat and mindlessly rubbed his scalp with his long fingers, eyeballing a frayed thread on the cuff of his dark purple pants as he listened to her steady breathing. He caught her muttering something as she slept and he stood, light cascading down his slender, pallid torso, catching on his lightly muscled stomach, chest, and arms as he leaned forward and planted his hands palm down on either side of her head. He hoped she woke up soon...he was getting bored, and a bored Joker was never a good thing. He let his gaze wander over her face, taking in her long, dark eyelashes, her now unkempt blonde pigtails held in place by cheap black hair ties, the smudged black make-up on her eyelids, her adorable, slightly upturned nose, those perfect cupid bow lips stained a kissable pink. The Joker felt that hated warmth in his chest and he growled deep in his throat.
He leaned in closer to her, nose to nose and wayward locks kissed her chin as his face contorted with his conflicting intentions of causing her harm and caressing her dearly. He was saved the decision when Harley's eyes fluttered open, her crystal clear blue irises adjusting the harsh light and he stood up to his full height as he looked down at her. She rubbed her eyes with a balled up fist as she sat up, but even then her head only came to his chest. He smiled to himself as he noticed her body stiffen as she became aware of her nakedness and tried to cover her skin wither her tiny hands. He crossed his arms, astounded it had taken her several moments to notice him and crossed the slight gap between them tilting her chin so her eyes met his. Those blue eyes (he always marveled at their brightness) widened in fear and he allowed a soft smile to grace his face for her.
"Harley. Baby." He crooned at her, cupping her face as she grinned.
"Yes, Puddin'?"
The Joker tightened his grip, squeezing her cheeks together with his bony fingers.
"Do you not know that I tossed and turned as I waited for you all night, sweet girl? Do you not know how it pains me to have to punish you?" He kept his grip strong as she began to wince in pain and started wriggling. He lowered his face even closer so his lips ghosted against hers as he spoke.
"Do you not know that every -"
He kissed her bubblegum pink lips to drive his point home with each word.
"- bit of skin is mine? Ever since you first came to 'cure' me in the asylum, all made up in your doctor costume, I told you as much, didn't I? I told you, you were mine."
Harley stopped moving, her eyes searching his and he kept his face as still as possible, hair falling in front of his violet eyes, until she finally nodded slowly.
"It took months to finally win that spirited heart of yours and dare I say, you've completed me."
He let go of her face and turned to pick up his shirt off the floor, watching her out of his peripherals. She touched her cheeks lightly, and he noticed her face flush as she noticed the dampness between her legs amongst the remnant of her costume. He smiled at the animated seriousness of her face as she scooted to the edge of the table, legs swinging in the air.
"Well is it hard understanding that I'm incomplete without you, Mistah J? Don't you see how I try so very hard to make sure I'm everything you need me to be?"
He moved in front of her in a blur, and held her delicate wrists in a vice grip as he stared at her. He purposefully let his voice hit that dangeous low, that guttural tone that excited her and scared her.
"Then where were you last night, pumpkin pie?"
"I toldja I hid in the old theater until the rain stopped! Ya know it messes up my costume and it starts to rub me wrong, ya know? I saw what's his name…Tony running past me so I yelled at him to tell ya! Please don't hurt me no more, Mistah J. I'm tellin' the truth, honest. Scout's honor!"
She wrenched her wrists free and held up three fingers in the air as she tried to hold her torn costume closed and he studied her face for signs she was lying. Satisfied at the lack of pupil dilation and head tilting, he helped her off the table and handed her some of her clothes he gathered while she slept. She grinned at him and slid out of her costume in a fluid movement then coquettishly began dressing with her back to him. He bent down as he pretended to tie his perfectly laced shoe and quick as a viper, picked up the cold knife off the concrete floor. Stealthily, with a grace only he could muster, he crept up behind Harley and pulled her by the waist so that her bottom was pressed against the lower part of his groin and she leaned her head against his chest.
"Now, Puddin', don't go getting all riled up, I'm just puttin' on these clothes!"
He maneuvered her several steps to their left where a mirror hung and held her gaze through it. The Joker slowly crept his hand from where it'd been idly sitting at her hips up to the sloping curve of her waist, crawled past her navel, danced across her ribcage and cupped one firm breast, careful to keep her eyes locked on his through the mirror. He felt a growing nuisance in his soft, plum hued slacks, and kissed the lone bite mark on her shoulder softly as he raised his other hand to her arm, the knife glinting in the glare of the mirror. He let out a hollowed laugh as her body tensed and he lifted the blade to her neck, using his leverage to press her harder against his growing erection.
"Darling, you couldn't begin to fathom what gets me all riled up. How about you tell me what you know about Dr. Jonathan Crane?"
"Jonat- Scarecrow? What do ya mean what do I know? He's a nutbag!"
He noted her genuine confusion and wrinkled nose and pressed his knife just enough to puncture her soft skin.
"Are you sure you don't know anything else? Perhaps you need a brief moment to think."
He watched her blink rapidly in the mirror as she searched her memory and gave her breast a little squeeze at the furrowing of her brow.
"I don't remember anything, really! The last time I saw him bein' an actual doctor was back in Arkham right before I was put on your case. It was years ago. Before that, we had been in the same Neurolinguistics class taught by that other weirdo with the beard, Strange. He was always starin' at my legs now that I think about it, Mistah J."
He pushed her away from him in frustration. He crouched in concentration, wondering who else Harley could have been with. He dragged the knife lightly across his scalp, scratching as he considered other possibilities. Harley kept yammering away about years past and he suddenly brightened as an idea occurred to him. Why not follow her? It took mere moments for a plan to form and all the details to fall into place, so when he refocused his gaze, all it took was the frightened look on Harley's face for him to notice he'd had a full blown sinister grin on his face which he quickly rectified.
"Poor baby. That old bastard wouldn't have known what to do with you! Let's go grab the boys and figure out a way to celebrate our heist!"
He slid into his crumpled white button up shirt, pulled on his green suspenders and slung an arm about Harley as they made their way to the room established as a common area.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed the set up to what's going to be a deliciously twisted tale! I PLAN on updating once a month, but who knows, perhaps you can pursuade me to update sooner?
