Protect Me From What I Want

Harley’s POV

When The Joker re-entered the room after leaving me alone to show Ivy the bathroom, I could tell something was troubling him. His eyebrows were knitted together as he frowned at the floor and his fingers were clenching and wriggling with uneasiness. I figured it was something to do with Ivy again and I couldn’t understand why they couldn’t just get along. The Joker had taken awhile to lead Ivy to the bathroom and I began to wonder what they had been doing. Surely it doesn’t take that long to simply show someone what door to use.

“What’s wrong, puddin’?” I asked The Joker once he had sat down beside me. I clasped his hand to stop him from balling up his fists. He shook his head to indicate that it was nothing. I didn’t believe him, but I just thought that maybe he didn’t want to talk about it. Pushing the question would just lead him to become even more irritated. His eyes were fixated on the entrance to the dining room, but once Ivy returned, his head snapped away.

The atmosphere became almost unbearable as the awkward silence consumed. It made it even worse for the fact that I had no idea what had went on between the two while I wasn’t around. Something must have happened to make them so hostile and frigid towards each other even more so than they already were. I caught them sneaking disgusted looks at each other and then quickly turn away once they had made eye contact. The frustration had become too much for me and I had to ask the question. “Okay, what just happened between you two?”

“I’ve had enough,” The Joker roared as he slammed his hands onto the table and pushed himself up. “Get the hell out of my home!” He continued as he glared at Ivy, pointing a finger towards the exit. I was so startled by his outburst that I jumped up also.

“J, what the fu-” Before I could finish my sentence, the back of his hand collided with the side of my face sending me to the floor. The force and unexpectedness of the impact was surprising even to me. Once looking at The Joker after the hit, even he looked a little shocked. He was taken over by blind fury and he wasn’t able to control his actions properly. Nevertheless, his surprised expression soon faded back to pure anger as he glowered at Ivy, who now had her hand over her mouth in shock and sympathy.

“Get...Out,” The Joker ordered slowly and quietly, almost in a low growl. His fists were now completely balled up and the leather of his gloved hugged tightly, making his knuckles more prominent. I knew Ivy knew better than to push him further and I hoped she’d do the right thing and leave before she gets herself into trouble. Those fists of his were ready to swing at any moment just as he’d previously demonstrated on me.

Without another word Ivy stumbled back slightly and then walked briskly towards the front door. Once the door closed, all that was lefts was the sound of The Joker’s heavy breathing. For some reason, I hadn’t even attempted to get up off the floor; too scared and unknowing of what The Joker’s next move might be. He simply glared down at me with clenched teeth as I looked back up at him completely powerless. Before storming out of the room and up the stairs, The Joker groaned in aggravation.

I was left alone on the floor. I couldn’t in any way begin to describe how I felt because I didn’t actually know myself. I was totally bewildered by what had just happened and it all seemed so surreal. The surprising turn of events left me feeling completely lost. Something had happened in that bathroom, but I was too afraid to ask what it was. The fact that The Joker had slapped me across the face didn’t even hurt, physically nor mentally; it only confused me to the point where it overpowered any other emotion that was attempting to show. After debating what it was that happened and finally gave up, figuring that I was never going to guess it, I stood up from off the floor. I was little dizzy to begin with, but I soon regained my composure. I started walking towards the stairs, but I stopped when I noticed that The Joker was stomping back down.

Without a chance to acknowledge his entire presence, he threw my red and black hoodie at me. “Put it on. I’ve decided that we’re going out,” he explained and stopped once had reached me.

“Why and where?” I asked as I pulled the hoodie on.

“I don’t know why or where,” he replied still sounding irritated. “I just need to get out of this house. It’s driving me crazy! I don’t care about the snow anymore; we’ll find a way of getting around it, just as long as I can get out of here!” He exclaimed loudly.

“Ok, J,” I hushed in defeat as I gave into his wants only to appease him. He gripped my wrist painfully and tugged me towards the door. The snow was on and off today, but at the moment it wasn’t snowing, yet the snow that already lay was extremely thick. It was difficult to walk in it and the fact that I was being forcefully dragged along only exacerbated the idea. “J, slow down,” I whined as I struggled to stay standing. I was rewarded with a hurtful yank, almost pulling my arm out of the socket.

I was grateful for when I had finally reached the van, but also fearful at the same time. Grateful for not having to trudge in the snow and fearful for the fact that we were going to be driving on icy roads, especially knowing that The Joker was going to be driving. “Please drive slowly,” I begged as I fastened by seatbelt. I doubted that he’d listen to a word I said, but it was worth the warning. “Do you know where we’re actually going yet?”

“Where, oh, where is Batman?” The Joker questioned almost sounding as if he was trying to sing his own song. It’s safe to say that being locked in the house was now giving him cabin fever, as if he’s not already insane enough. “Help me, Harley,” he pleaded.

“I really don’t know what to suggest. I think it’s still too bright to light up the bat signal, so that’s out of the window.”

“I need to blow something up.”

“Isn’t the fact that you blew almost half of Gotham to smithereens good enough for you?”

“Those front row seats to the theatre of chaos were quite amazing, but that was ages ago. I need something now!”

“Well, I don’t know what you want. You’re the one with all the ideas.”

Surprisingly, The Joker was driving slowly, but that was only because he was still figuring out what it was he wanted to do. It was even more difficult to find something to do because he hadn’t brought any of his men along with him. So it was just basically me and him searching for something destructive to do. The Joker stared puzzled out of the tinted windows as he slowly turned corners, searching for the littlest thing to do. For a second, his face lit up and already I knew he had some sort of plan figured out in his twisted little mind.

“Harley?”

“What now?”

“Wanna go shopping?”