Ninth Year, 1994

Jeannie giggled girlishly at the feeling of Jack's incoherent murmuring, tickling her ear. He was standing behind her, the two of them waiting in line for their portion of the grubby lunch. His arms were wrapped around her neck in a mock hug, his hands loosely pointing at people as they passed by. The words he spoke, were barely discernible, but it didn't matter, Jeannie leaned into his embrace. It was safe to say, the pair had gotten lost in their own world. The cafeteria chattered about, its volume raising as the seconds ticked on, each student caught up in gossip, and rumor. But Jack, and Jeannie stood, observing, without really seeing, blind, both of them, in their own ways. The next time his lips brushed against her ear, he whispered, his voice deep, and hoarse. In response to hearing it, Jeannie cleared her own throat, and nodded, taking his hand, that gestured away in front of her, with a mind of its own. His fingers wrapped around her's, as hot as a furnace, tightening as he spun her in the direction he wanted her to go, the notion of a smirk grazed his lips.

"Just where are you taking me, Jack Napier? You know there's no way to leave, they've even got teachers stationed outside the doors so nobody skips!" Jeannie crossed her arms, her arched eyebrows raising as she tapped her foot. Jack simply rolled his eyes at her, pulling her towards him, swiftly, as he ducked behind the serving counters. Jeannie let out a huff of annoyance, but willingly-if you could call it that, with him dragging her-followed behind him as he slipped through a door labeled 'EXIT.' The blinking red sign flickered at her, like some kind of omen of bad luck, against her better judgment, Jeannie continued on, her heart beating erratically in her chest. Jack stopped, halting in his tracks so quickly that she couldn't help but stumble into him, having to clutch onto the back of his grungy, deep red sweater for balance. He turned, and regarded her, the side of his mouth drawn up in sarcastic annoyance. Jeannie snarled at him, before continuing to make a show of wrinkling it in her fists.

Jack couldn't have cared less about his clothing. Or her two left feet, for that matter.

Later that afternoon, long after they'd escaped the confines of the prison-like school, and the sun had begun to disappear behind the cloudy horizon, Jeannie dropped her head to lay gently against Jack's shoulder. She closed her eyes to the bright, blinding sunset, and counted the seconds, as they ticked by. The numbers flashed, each a different color, and style, beneath the safety of her eyelids. All the while, Jack clenched his teeth, and tried to ignore the way his chest pleasantly throbbed.

GOTHAM, 2008 (PRESENT DAY)

A guard had tried to personally remove the golden band from the Joker's finger, the ring having caught his greedy eye beneath the buzzing, fluorescent light, and he had failed-miserably. Instead, Dan-the guard, had lost a finger, three, actually, to the the 'patient's'snarled mouth. At the time, The Joker hadn't been wearing his makeup-they'd turned the hoses on him-but, his black eyes had widened, maliciously, as he'd stared, pointedly, into Dan's eyes, bringing the severed finger up, and gliding it across his cheeks…

Dan Stratford had quit, on the spot… and The Joker's smile was as crimson as ever! How things just tended to work out in his favor.

A laugh escaped, coming out muffled behind his lips as the guards manhandled him into a straight jacket. "Right on to solitary with you, clown." The boys at Arkham had seemingly forgotten their manners, but that was alright, he had no problem what so ever with jogging their memories. His eyes shifted from the guard's, traveling down towards his name tag, labeled, 'Hello! My name is, Robert.' He scoffed behind the snarl marring his mouth, before clearing his throat over-exaggeratedly.

"Y'know the name Richard used to mean brave, and, uh, powerful back in the 'old' days," He pauses, his tongue flicking out to meet the corner of his mouth. "… It was used so commonly that people began to shorten it by saying Rick, and eventually they even started rhyming," He said this, tilting his head towards the man, his eyes widening like it had been a major detail in his ramblings. "Which is where the nickname Dick came in. Hm?" His scarred bottom lip jutted out in a fake pout, before his expression cleared, and he chuckled under his breath. "Or, perhaps your parents were just compensating where you're..uh.. where you're… lacking," The Joker managed to lower his eyes to Richard's slacks just before a the guard's night stick was slammed into his gut. Through his coughing, and spluttering laughter he still managed to wheeze out, "Who knows?"

Yeah, he'd definitely be showing these pigs a lesson in etiquette… For now though, well, for now he'd just dream of his Jeannie.

Ninth Year, 1994

"So, Jeremy asked me to go to the prom with him." Jeannie chirped, slyly looking over her shoulder to gauge Jack's were washing up the last of the dishes they'd dirtied at her house, over lunch. Well, Jack was washing up dishes, she was sneaking cherries from the jar while his back was turned, instead of grabbing the rest of the plates on the counter.

All she could really see from the angle she stood at was his back tensing through his t-shirt. Jack's only verbal response was a hum that emanated deep from within his chest, it hung around the room heavily, but Jeannie continued anyhow.

"Yeah… I mean he's a senior, so it won't really be a thing, but, I d'unno… I thought it could be fun." She wrung her hands together tightly, pushing the sticky jar away from her to turn to him. Jack was already staring at her, the faucet pouring behind him, with his hands gripping the edge of the sink, dark eyes staring her down.

When Jeannie didn't say anything more Jack raised his eyebrows in an unspoken challenge, crossing his arms in front of him. Momentarily, she was distracted by the movement. While Jack was just a freshman in high school he easily towered over anyone, having to be at least six foot, and anyone definitely included Jeannie, who could still couldn't reach all of the required heights for the rides when the local fair came around. So, to say he was intimidating would be an understatement, but, truthfully, Jack would never hurt her. That's why it was so easy for her to smile cheekily up at him, crossing the room his way.

"It was just a thought, y'know?" Jeannie swayed on her feet, in a mock dance. "I mean, Tammy said it was a good Idea, but… I'm sure you could come up with something way more interesting than some stupid. Old. Prom. hm?" She finished, crowding closer to reach around him, and turn the faucet off. When she pulled back, to step away, his arm appeared around her to hold her in place, tugging her closer.

"I don't know if you noticed, but school dances aren't really my thing, Jeannette." Jeannie slapped his arm playfully at the use of her full name as he grinned down at her. There was something in his eyes though, that told her he wasn't truthfully all that happy. "I'm sure thatI could come up with something, though." Jack raised his eyebrows again, this time taking in her reaction to his words.

"Well, that's definitely good. Beeeee-cause I would much rather spend time with you than any other icky boy around here." Jeannie tapped gently at his cheek as she finished her sentence, and watched as his mouth twisted wryly in response to her words.

"Other icky boys, huh?" Jack's hands squeezed her sides roughly earning a squeak from her smiling mouth. "What's this I hear about other icky boys?" Only when he lowered his head, staring into her eyes as he moved closer to lightly nuzzle his nose against her's, did she see that there was no true humor in his tone.

"Oh, Jack." Jeannie's hands wrapped themselves around his as they pinned her waist, she doodled small, invisible patterns into the skin of his wrists. "I was only joking… honest." Her neck craned, tilted to look up at him at the right angle. "No other icky boy could take your place. You're my best friend, y'know?" When Jack nodded, Jeannie took her signal to pull away, missing the small pull at the corner of his lips. The hint of a smile she had the ill fortune of missing.

If she had known, she'd have had a fit for not getting to see it.

Ninth Year, 1994

Jack tried to pretend he didn't see Jeannie's side eye from across the rotting picnic table.

She'd been staring at him for the past hour, her pale blue eyes hadn't left the side of his face, and while this wouldn't normally irk Jack-it was only Jeannie, after all-he could just tell. There was something on her mind. Something that had her fingers fidgeting, and teeth gnawing at the inside of her cheeks. Jack grunted, leaning forward with his elbows on the table, chin resting on the palm of his hand.

His immoderate expression of curiosity wasn't easy to score, so at least Jeannie had that on her side, she figured.

"Come on, sunshine, tell me what's gotcha' so glum." Jack faked a pout, his lower lip jutted out, and eyes sparkling across at her.

Jeannette sighed, mirroring his position. "Well…" His brows raised, urging her, "It's just…" She trailed off hopelessly.

"Oh, now, don't make me force it outta' you, angel." Jack reached out quickly to pinch at her arm, playfully.

"Dammit, Jack!" He pulled away at her sudden outburst of frustration, and Jeannie withdrew, crossing her arms and looking around with a blush to make sure nobody had heard. Sure enough, a group of girls that stood under an umbrella, in their bathing suits, glanced toward her, whispering among themselves.

"Sorry, I…" Jeannie took a deep breath, disregarding Jack's concerned stare. "Are you y'know… queer?" There. She'd said it, it was out in the open, voiced. Jack just stared at her, his eyebrows raised but eyes narrowed. "It's just… You know I'll always be here for ya', you can tell me anything, Jack." His expression didn't change.

"What?" The exasperation on his face wasn't an impression this time.

"..You know," Jeannie rolled her eyes, shrugging. "Do you prefer guys?… Like… sexually?"

"Okay, stop." His waved his arm like he was washing away the topic.

"So, you're not?" Jeannie, bit her lip in anticipation, tilting her head at him.

Jack drummed his fist on the table, looking away from her, "I'm… I don't know." Jack whispered, tapping his closed hand against his jaw in thought and anxiety. "I'm sure that if I… were to connect with someone, and that someone happened to be a guy… that I'd be alright with it. But, I've only ever found one person I genuinely like spending time with…" His dark brown eyes met her's, before flickering away, again. And, oh.

Oh. "So, no. Not gay. Just not exactly straight either, I suppose." Jack finally finished. His fingers laced together and he propped them up under his chin. "What brought that on, anyhow?" Jeannie looked away, focused her eyes on the clear water of the pool.

"I mean, I guess I just don't get it…" Another sigh escaped her, "you're real good looking, Jack. You could have any girl you wanted." His brow furrowed at this, but she knew he was at least a little flattered. "And, I mean, we're at a pool party… with half naked girls everywhere… You haven't stared… at all… not once."

As though they'd been summoned a flock of girls, clad in only their bikinis, sauntered by beside the two. Jack's eyes never left her's. "I just don't care about that kind of stuff, Jeannie." Jack just didn't think that way. Jeannie wondered when he'd started looking at her like she was the last person on Earth.

Instead she laughed, to ease the tension, and pretended she didn't notice.