The Perfect Night

The night air chilled his skin as it blew all around him. The sky was clear and the moon and stars were shining brightly. He sighed as he looked at his new limb. It had been a week since he lost his left arm, and almost his life. The incident with Ciel Phantomhive and Father had changed things greatly. Not only did he almost die, but he almost lost his family because of that incident. But if it wasn't for her, they would be dead.

Ever since she and her friend joined the circus things seemed a bit different for him and for everyone else. His feelings for her seemed to have grown since the day he met he-

"Joker?" a concerned voice called out from behind him.

He knew that voice anywhere, the voice that made his heart flutter for reasons he could never explain, except for one:

He cared for her.

He turned around to see her standing at the back entrance to the circus tent.

"Alice, wot are ye doin' 'ere?" Joker asked as Alice made her way towards him. Her blonde hair shining in the moonlight, her black ballet shoes not making a sound as she walked on the grass, her pink and black harlequin dress swishing against her knees with each step she took.

"You can call me Lala you know," she said with a soft smile. "And I came to see if you're alright. How's your arm?"

"Fine, t'ank ye again," he said, returning the smile.

"Of course. I'm glad we were able to get you to a doctor before, well you know," Lala said slowly.

It was silent for a minute and a cold wind blew past them.

"'Ere take my coat, you must be cold," Joker said, taking off his coat and draping it over Lala's shoulders.

"Thank you. Are you upset about the workhouse and all your brothers and sisters?"

Joker looked down with a grim face. "It's gone and I never 'ad a chance of savin' 'em."

Lala put a hand on Joker's shoulder. "I've been thinking about that, well what if I gave my money to help with medical needs and other necessities for the children there and help keep the workhouse running? With Lucy's – er, Mimi's mother now running my family's company, part of the money can go to helping them. And I was thinking I could have an orphanage built-"

Joker held up his hand to stop her, a small, but joyful smile on his face. "Lala I don't know 'ow to t'ank ye. Ye and Mimi. If ye 'adn't come to Father's and saved me and 'ad Mimi stop the others from goin' to the Phantomhive Manor none of us would be 'ere. T'ank ye."

Lala smiled at him as he stared off into the night sky, a smile playing on his lips. Even though she hardly knew Joker, she knew one thing: He cares deeply for others, putting his needs after theirs. She stood next to him as they both stared up at the night sky.

"Everyone's wondering where you are," she finally said, breaking the silence.

"Oh?"

"Dagger thought it'd be a good idea to have a party," Lala giggled.

One of the many things he loved to hear. Her laughter was angelic to him.

"Oh and you won't believe what happened," she said excitedly.

Joker chuckled. "Wot 'appened?"

"Dagger kissed Mimi!"

"'Bout time," he said, laughing.

"Come on, let's go," Lala said, smiling and holding out her hand for him.

Joker took it and walked with her into the tent.

Laughter and warmth greeted them when they entered the tent. All around the tent, performers were chatting and laughing, drinking and eating what food the circus had.

The members of the first tier were in their own corner of the tent, Dagger talking away and just being Dagger. Mimi saw Lala and waved her over. Lala left Joker's side and walked over to her friend and said something to her that caused the pixie haired brunet to blush, the two also talking with Doll and Beast.

"Brother Joker!" Dagger exclaimed. "Ye finally came!" he said, walking over to the red head, leaving Jumbo talking with Snake, Peter and Wendy. "I noticed ye came in with Lala, 'oldin' her 'and." Dagger winked and nudged Joker. "'Ave ye finally told 'er 'ow ye feel?"

Joker gave a chuckle, "Ye're funny as ever Dagger."

"Don't ye deny it. I know ye like 'er."

"Do ye even think she'd like someone like me?" he said, chuckling a sigh.

"Oi! Ye never know. I never thought Mimi'd like me and I was able to tell 'er."

"So I've 'eard," Joker laughed. He looked over at Lala laughing with Mimi and Beast at something Doll said.

To him, her smile could brighten a room. He wanted to see her smile every day, the one time he saw fear on her face broke his heart. He vowed to never see her scared again.

"Oi! Joker, ye listenin'?" Dagger said, waving a hand in his face.

"Huh?"

"Did ye even 'ear a word I said? I said ye should try tellin' 'er tonight," Dagger said. "'Ow 'bout I 'elp ye?"

"Wot do ye mean?"

"Oi! Lal- Oof!"

Jumbo clapped on giant hand on Dagger's shoulder, nearly knocking him down. Dagger looked up at him questioningly, Jumbo only smiled softly.

"Brother Joker will tell Lala when he is ready."

"'E'll prob'ly tell 'er when she gives 'im 'is coat back," Dagger said, giving Joker an evil grin. "Ye make it obvious brother Joker."

Joker laughed. "Forgot 'bout my coat. It's not important right now though."

"Uh huh," Dagger said, smirking.

Peter and Wendy snickered at the conversation before them.

"Ye should just tell 'er brother Joker," Wendy said. "If ye truly like Lala ye should tell 'er. Ye shouldn't tarry on the matter."

"'He probably doesn't want to talk about it,' says Emily," Snake translated.

"Oh alright, but ye need to tell 'er," Dagger said to Joker.

For the rest of the night the first tier members talked and laughed. Dagger slipping Joker smiles, hoping the red head would finally tell the blonde haired girl his feelings. Joker would just roll his eyes, smiling and go back to talking to whoever he was talking to at the moment. The night couldn't have been more perfect.

It was getting later and later, finally Joker decided to turn in. As he left the tent and made his way across the circus grounds he heard someone shout after him.

"Joker wait up!" Lala called, running up to him. "I wanted to give you your coat back," she said, handing him said article of clothing.

"Almost forgot about that," Joker laughed.

"It looked like Dagger was giving you a hard time about something," Lala said, giggling. "What were you two talking about?"

"Oh, well, he was just saying I need to be with someone, like 'ow 'e is with Mimi."

Lala laughed. "Sounds like he thinks he's the expert on relationships. He just now told Mimi he liked her."

"Seems like it."

"They do make a cute couple don't they?" Lala asked, looking up at him. "I used to always tease Mimi about liking Dagger, but I'm glad they're together. It's really romantic." She looked over by the tent's entrance to see Dagger with Mimi spinning her around in a hug. "I'm a bit of a romantic, I just love seeing people happy together. I always loved to read fairytales when I was little. The princess cast under a spell, her prince or knight in shining armor rescuing her, true love's first kiss. I still love those stories. I always dreamed of meeting my knight in shining armor." She laughed. "Kind of a silly thing to dream of."

"I wouldn't say that," Joker said.

"What about you? Have you ever dreamed about meeting your true love?"

"No," he said, looking off to the side.

"Really? Hm," Lala said.

"Not until recently," he said, looking into her eyes. "It's pretty late. I'm 'eadin' off. Good night, Lala," he said. He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek, much to his surprise at the courage he had to do that. After the shock he started for his tent when Lala grabbed his hand. Joker turned around and gave her a questioning look.

"You missed."

"Wot?"

"You missed." Lala then stood up and kissed Joker on the lips, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Joker wrapped his arms around her after he got over the new shock of her returning the kiss, ignoring the cheering coming from Dagger.

Now the night couldn't have been more perfect.