The Joker licked his lips and put his feet down to touch the floor. He leaned over pressing his elbows on his knees. Letting a drawn out sigh, he stared up at me with a smile.
"Hi..." He said deeply in a voice that sounded much like a lions growl. His voice was so much more frightening than I had thought it would be. I grabbed the wall and took a step back, continuing to breath heavily. Come on..what are you doing? Wimping out? You were raised by Joe Chill for heavens sake!
Taking a determined step forward I clenched my fists furiously. Staring down at him, I squinted my eyes.
"What are you doing here?" I said in a fearful tone, making my body shake. How did he get in here? Is that the noise I heard in the shower? I should have paid attention earlier. The Joker rolled his eyes upwards and straightened out his back.
"I just wanted to check on you. The door was already unlocked, so I let myself in. I have to say, not very safe to keep your front door open like that." He set his hands on his knees smirking up at me. I huffed and stared at him with even more frustration.
"And-And what makes you think you can come into my home unannounced?"
"I wanted to take a more...personal approach to our little reunion." I squinted my eyes at him and quickly shook my head. Reunion? I don't remember ever meeting the Joker before.
"Look, I don't know what you're on but you better leave before I-" I reached down to my pants to find I didn't have my knife with me. Slowly lifting an eyebrow, I looked past the Joker at my dresser where the knife laid. "Ohh. I, Umm."
Carefully taking a few small steps forward, I walked over to my dresser and snatched my knife off of it. The blood soaked my hands, causing it to slip from my fingers. I yelped and picked it up to quickly point it at him. He giggled at my failed attempt to properly defend myself, which made me indignant.
"Don't laugh at me." I said with venom dripping from my tongue. He rubbed his eye, as if he were crying from hilarity.
"I couldn't help myself Steph...that was-"
"Wait-Wait a minute. How do you know my name?" I said quickly cutting him off.
"Stephanie Chill, is that right? Don't tell me you don't know your own name." Joker replied in a conserned voice, with a deceiving sweet expression on his face. I scoffed at him and threw my arms down, my knife still in hand.
"I know what my name is! I'm just confused as to how you...would know me. How do you know me?" I demanded at him, pointing my weapon in front ot me again. Joker licked his lips and blinked slowly, rolling his eyes away from me. He stared down a moment almost completely distracted by his thoughts, but even from that...I felt I had hurt him.
"Ohh...I-I am so sorry, did we...or have we met before? I really don't mean to forget things like this...I've just been so stressed from the move, and work, well all my life actually-"
"Look...It's fine if you don't remember me," Joker gradually stood up, holding himself in his arms. An aching formed in my chest, I really had hurt him. "I mean, I don't even remember much about myself since...it's not important, the point is maybe I can reintroduce myself..."
Ripping off his purple gloves one by one, he shoved them in his coat pocket. The slapping sound they made when he had pulled them off sounded like they were tight fitting latex gloves. I made a small grunt as his exposed hands look muscular and beat up. He took a step forward, which urged me to take one back.
"Stephanie...I just wanna talk to you..." He said in a much deeper, more truthful sounding voice. I lowered the knife in my hand and sighed. He does sound, different. He sounds...like an actually human being, if that were possible. A slight pulsating started up near my temple. I rubbed it with two fingers.
"Alright. Fine, but maybe we should get a bit more comfortable. Sorry, for the hostility by the way...I just, am afraid."
"You have nothing at all to fear. I wouldn't hurt you." I paused a moment and stared at him. He wouldn't hurt me? Is that the truth? I can't really tell...he might just be an expert liar. He is considered to be a public terrorist and gothams most dangerous patient. I guess I'll wait and see. "Do you mind if I take off my coat?"
"Oh, yes! I mean...no, no, not at all. You can take off your jacket if you want to." Joker had began to slip off the large purple coat from his arms. His body without his coat had become noticeably smaller, and less menacing now that I think about it. Joker looked up, his eyes locked with mine, as he had noticed me staring at him.
"Uh-Uh, oh you know what? I have the best place to put your coat," I closed the knife and kept it tightly in my fingers. Putting out my hand, he handed me the jacket. I felt my fingers glide across his. A warmth spread across my face for some reason. "Oh...w-well, right this way." I walked out of my room and into the hallway, giving him a hand motion to follow me.
He stepped out into the hallway with me. I kept motioning him down the stairs. The Joker had started walking down the stairs, I did the same right behind him. A pungent cologne smell wrapped around my nose. I lifted his coat up to my face and deeply inhaled the cologne. It smelled very cheap, probably trying to lazily mask a different odor coming from him.
Eventually, we got to the bottom of the stairs. I walked over to my coat rack, and stood in front of it for a moment. I rubbed my fingers slowly against his jacket feeling its softness and warmth. Despite how dirty the man looked, his clothes felt expensive. I hung it on the second nob that was sticking out. I smiled at it and turned to Joker.
"Do you like the coat rack? I got it on sale at a thrift store, the seller told me a nice old woman had no use of it anymore." I paused for a moment almost becoming emotional. My eyes lingered on the wooden board in front of me before turning to the Joker. "She said it was because her husband had died."
The Joker stared at me for a moment, his red lips puckered and his eyebrows raised. At least I think that's what he was doing, it isn't very easy to tell with all of the makeup on. He sucked on his yellow teeth and opened his mouth, ready to speak.
"That's tragically romantic..."
"I know right?" I said in an exasperated tone, almost too loudly to sound sane. Joker stared at me for a moment, the corner of his mouth raised just a bit. A small amount of heat again rushed to my cheeks. I looked away and directed my attention to the fridge.
"Uhmm...how about you sit right there." I said pointing at the chair pushed under the table in my kitchen. He walked himself over to the chair and took a seat down. "I'll get us something to drink." I spoke already walking to the fridge.
Opening the door to the frigerator. I bent over and desperately peered inside for anything at all to drink.
"I have orange juice, tea, uh...milk, champagne. Or I could make some coffee-"
"I'll have the champagne." Joker replied cutting me off. Without turning my head back, my eyes stared in his direction. Isn't it two in the morning? I'm not judging. I grabbed the champagne, and some tea out of the fridge. From the cabinet, I grabbed out two large glass cups.
"I hope you don't mind these glasses...they're kinda fancy but not really." I said staring that the crisp lines that surround the octagon shaped glass. "They're not for champagne at all...but my brother got them for me so, it's good enough." I said pouring the champagne into the glass and handing it to him.
The Joker nodded at me and grabbed the glass from me. I poured myself some tea in my own glass and took a sip. I watched from the other end of the table, slightly gazing at the Joker. What a strange, strange man, I thought. He lifted his glass away from his mouth to give me his full attention.
From this, I furrowed my eyebrows sort of embarrassed by this. I didn't want him to notice me staring and throw a fit. My eyes shifted away from him looking over to my right, and into my tiny living room. I returned my eyes back to my glass that was now sitting on the table in front of me. Running my finger over it, I prepared myself to speak.
"So...um, when you came into my home, you said, you knew me...didn't you? What was all that about?"
"Well to start..." Joker said holding his uncovered hands together patiently. "Do you know anything about me at all?"
"Yeah...a-actually, I watched them report about your escape from arkham." Joker let out a loud sputter of laughs. I gripped the top of my cup taken back by his laughter. "It was very frightening, I didn't know what to do. My mom and the rest of my family called me like a million times to see if I was okay." I smiled remembering how frantic Lisa and Marcia were.
"The news reporters can't get enough of me, probably because I'm just so attractive to the public eye." The Joker said fluffing his green tangled hair. I chuckled in response.
"Yeah that's probably it." I spoke giving him a small smile.
For a moment their was silence. The Joker took large gulps from his glass, quickly finishing the drink. He did a small hiccup followed up with a burp. The Joker lifted his naked hand and began to agressivly rub his head with it. I took a few more sips of my drink, making sure to keep my eye on him. He gave another burp and scooted his chair up, resulting in a loud squeak.
"You know Steph, I..." He paused, bringing up both of his hands. "I don't have anywhere else to go." He said giving me an intense stare, placing both hands on his chest. The corners of my lips gradually began to lower.
"Oh no...no. No. You can't stay here. The police will come after you, they'll trace you back here, then they'll want to know who I am, and if they figure out I'm a Chill, the police will they will-" I turned my eyes down to the table in front of me.
"Steph," Joker said calmly, forcing me to jolt my head up. He gave a large smile, once again presenting his unmanaged teeth. "The police could never find me here. Your house is completely off the radar, we'd be totally secluded." I flashed my eyes away and then back. He's right. "So..." He spoke in a deep, rumbling tone. My muscles tensed up when he did that.
What if I said no? Would he kill me? I'm not sure, and I'm not about to ask him. He is a patient after all, and could burst into some kind of rage. I wondered if his goons would be able to find us. Should I ask that too? Maybe not. I shook my head disappointed with myself. What would Lisa say? Nothing that's what. She-She will never find out. Ever. I focused back on Joker.
"Fine. You can stay, but only for one night," I stood up, my chair sqeauking against the wood floor. "Once you wake up, you are gone." I said making my voice sound as much like mom as I could, looking into his eyes. Joker stood up and began to follow me back to my room.
"I guess I'll just stay asleep then." He spoke in a serious voice. I chortled at that covered my mouth. Well, he did live up to being just what he is. A clown. I bet Joker would be good at stand up, he probably has some insane stories to tell. I blinked and tried to take my mind of the situation. Hmm...maybe instead of tea, I should have poured myself some champagne instead. It would help to settle my anxiety.
Reaching the top of the stairs, I turned to my right and opened up my room. The only room in my house, might I add. I pushed the door in, the hinges creating a loud screeching sound. Wait a minute. I quickly spun around to see the Joker patiently waiting to be guided to sleep.
"Umm, I-I uh, where exactly are you going to sleep?" I asked both myself, and him. Joker moved past me, making his way over to my bed.
"I'm just going to have to sleep with you." He spoke, still with the same smirk filled tone. I gasped and turned my body to look at him. Joker sat on my bed, already taking his large clown like shoes off. The shoes weren't even exaggerated. His feet were actually big. I walked in, being reminded of what he was doing.
"No. No!" I said again, getting into mom mode. Joker widened his smile and pulled his tie down. I widened my eyes as his hand reached for the buttons of his shirt. "What are you doing?!" I said grabbing my hand, half covering my face, half watching. He giggled.
"I'm undressing. What does it look like?" He said plainly. I groaned and rolled my eyes.
"Well stop. I-I don't want to see you naked." I said giving him a frown. My cheeks instinctively heating up after saying the word naked. Joker raised his eyebrow at me, watching me as I walked over to the bed.
"Are you sure?" He said pouting his lips. "Your face tells a different story." The Joker said pointing a finger at me. I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes.
"I'm sure." I responded back. Now what can he sleep on? I don't have any blankets for him to use as a bed. It would be too hot for me to even habe blankets at all since I have no ac. Most of my money goes to my family. I sighed and turned back to joker as he sat with his back arched, and his head in one hand. I gave another long sigh. "Alright, you can take off your clothes, but your underwear stays on."
"I'm not making any promises." Joker says tossing the the off of his head onto the floor. I groaned and walked over to the left side of the bed. I sat down and lowered myself down to lay at my side. I kept my face turned away from him. On the other side of the bed, I could feel Joker shifting around to remove the rest of his clothes. I wonder if he does this with all the women he meets.
The Joker then laid down beside me, giving a consent sigh. I wanted to look at him, but restrained myself not to. Next to him, I could feel him move around to be in the same position I was from his knees touching the back of my legs. I tucked in my lips. Just one night of this, and if he kills you...well, so be it.