Mad Love

Jack woke up with a mind-numbing headache. Cautiously, he opened his eyes to find that someone had been courteous enough to close all of his curtains. He rolled over to his bedside table to find a pain reliever and a glass of water. He sighed in relief and took the pills, washing them down with a sip of water. He set the glass back down onto the table and rolled back over onto his back, extended his arms. But when his arm hit what he thought was the bed, it made a quiet ‘oof’ noise.

Jack’s eyes widened and he sat up, only to find a person with a mess of dark hair asleep in his bed. He got out of bed carefully as not to wake the other person. When he looked down, he found he was still clad in his boxers and v-neck, so that meant that they didn’t...right?

He exited his room to find Rian and Zack sitting on the couch watching TV.

“Hey, so um,” Jack says quietly, trailing off. “What happened last night”

Rian looks up and his mouth immediately falls agape. “Oh shit, Jack.” He says, nudging Zack in the arm with his elbow. Zack looks up and his mouth did the same thing that Rian’s did.

“What?” Jack laughs nervously. “Is there something on my face?”

Rian nods before standing up. “Come here, sweetheart.” He grabs Jack by the wrist and leads him into the bathroom. “Okay, now don’t freak out.”

Jack nods and spins around, looking in the mirror. He almost fainted. “Oh my gosh.” Jack brought up his hand to tentatively touch his black and bruised eye. “How did this happen?” He murmured.

“Well, you were out on the dance floor, and your little cuddle buddy in there accidentally elbowed you in the eye pretty hard last night.” Rian explains carefully. “I didn’t think it would have gotten this bad, but fuck, it’s pretty dark,”

Jack sighs. “Nothing a little makeup can’t fix, I guess.” He says.

“Oh, good morning.” They hear Zack’s voice from the living room, signaling that Jack’s friend must be awake. Rian follows Jack out of the bathroom,

“Good morning,” Jack says to the brown haired man.

“Listen, Jack, I am so sorry about your eye, I swear it was an accident, I didn’t-”

“Whoa, it’s totally fine.” Jack smiles at the older boy. “I’m sorry, but I never caught your name.”
“I’m Matt.” He says, forcing a smile. “Thanks for the cuddle session last night. You already made sure to put all your information into my phone last night, so I’ll text you sometime and we’ll do something, okay?”

Jack laughs, walking over to Matt for a hug. “Anytime, don’t forget to text me.” Jack whispers into Matt’s ear.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, babe.” He winks, as they pull away. Matt flashes him one more big smile before waving to Rian and Zack and heading out. After the door closed, Zack and Rian descended onto Jack like a pack of wolves.

“Did you guys really only cuddle?” Rian asks.

“I don’t remember, you guys let me drink way too much.” Jack huffs, crossing his arms in mock anger.

“Oh, don’t be upset. You’ll be okay.” Zack says. “Your eye will heal before you know it.”

“Right,” Jack sighs.

And he was sighing the very next morning too, while he was smearing concealer under his bruised left eye.. He had noticed that a little bit of his vision in his bruised eye had decreased, and it hurt to blink. He even thought about stopping at a local drug store to buy an eyepatch.

He was blushing when he walked into Arkham Asylum at 6 AM. He was so embarrassed, but he knew that he totally deserved it. It was his fault for letting his friends talk him into getting trashed and going out. If he hadn’t gone out, he would still have perfect vision in his left eye. Now, he was smearing cheap makeup on top of his bruise, and even though it evened it out a little, it was still a rich purple in color.

When he entered the asylum, Marilyn didn’t say anything, but she definitely raised her eyebrows when she saw Jack’s shiner. He ducked down and quickly turned down the left hallway and headed towards his office. He used his ID in the scanner to open the door before heading into his office and closing the door behind him.

He sighed and set his briefcase down before picking up his clipboard and pen, and speedily walking back down the left hallway until he reached the door leading into the medium security wing. He slid his ID card through the scanner again and sliding through the door.

“Someone got ahold of that pretty little face before I did,” Patient 101 said from his cell, “Lucky bastard.”

Jack cringed at the words but all he was able to do was pick up his pace until he finally reached the two guards at the end of the medium security ward.

“Are you okay, Doctor Barakat?” One of the guards asks.

“I’m fine, thank you.” Jack smiles, sliding his ID card through the scanner and heading into the maximum security ward.

“You’re late...Doctor.” the Joker purrs from inside of his cell. Luckily for Jack, his back was still turned while he pulled up his chair and sat down, immediately focusing his eyes on the ground in an attempt to keep his eye hidden from the clown. He didn’t want the Joker to think that he was weak.

“My apologies, Mr. Joker.” Jack says carefully. “I had quite the weekend.”

“Ah, as did I.” Alex says sarcastically. “I had quite a wild one in here. If only my favorite Doctor was here to amuse me.”

“Yes, um, my apologies.” Jack answers awkwardly. “I’ve never worked weekends before, I think it would be odd if I started.”

“Is there something more interesting than me hiding in the concrete, Doctor?” the Joker asks.

“No,” Jack shakes his head. “I just don’t feel one-hundred percent today, that’s all.”

“You’re a terrible liar, Dr. Barakat,” the Joker sighs. I listen to his foot-steps draw closer and closer to me, each step producing more anxiety than the last. Finally, I noticed his black asylum slip ons pressed up against the cell bars, a mere foot away from my own feet. “Look at me, Doc.”

Jack slowly looks up, scanning the Joker’s face for any sign of emotion, any sign of disgust.

“Well, that’s quite the shiner, there, babydoll.” the Joker hums, wrapping his skinny fingers around the cell bars.

“You said you’d try to be professional with me, Mr. Joker.”

“We’re not supposed to hide things from each other,” Alex grins. “Since you were being sneaky, I get a free pass.”

“That’s fair enough.”

“So, how did the little baby go out and get himself bruised?” the Joker inquires.

Jack’s lips turned up into a weak smile. “I let my friends bring me out for the night,” He explained, somewhat nervously. “Things got a little out of hand, my friend elbowed me in the face on accident.”

“I don’t believe in...accidents, my dear.” the Joker says, resting his forehead against the metal bars while he looks down at me. “Everything happens for a reason.”

Jack’s heart skipped a beat, before he remembered what he told himself Friday night, when he told himself that this was wrong. His heart shouldn’t cave in when he looks at the most rotten man on Earth. He chewed on the inside of his lip, and he decided that he was going to have to do what he did with the rest of his patients. Jack was going to have to make the Joker fall in love with him.

“Mr. J,” Jack says quietly, internally grinning when the Joker’s ears seemed to perk up at the nickname. “Would you mind if we talked about you today? I’m interested.”

“Interested, eh?” He smirks. “What’s on your mind, babydoll?”

Jack’s heart fluttered at the nickname, but he immediately shut it down. “I...I don’t know.” Darn. Those piercing brown eyes completely melted Jack’s mind.

“So, at this so called club, did you meet anyone?” the Joker inquires, seemingly simply making conversation.

“I wouldn’t say that-”

“Jack,” the Joker says solidly, calling me by my first name for what I think, the first time ever. “Did you meet anyone at this club?”

“Yes,” I answer honestly. “I brought a friend home.”

“Did you...share a bed with this...friend, Doctor?”

“Yes, but all we really did was sleep.” I admit.

“Interesting.”

For the rest of the session, the Joker seemed distant, like his mind was in an entirely different place. His answers were short, for the most part he only listened to Jack talking, occasionally uttering a real sentence, but most of the time it was ‘Yes, dear’ or ‘Of course, babydoll’. By the end of the day, Jack’s mouth was a little dry from talking so much.

“Good night, Mr. J.” Jack says softly, lifting up his chair and setting it back up against the wall. “I hope you get a good night’s sleep.”

The Joker only grinned at Jack, sitting down in front of the cell bars and waving. Jack took a deep breath and tucked his clipboard under his arm before leaving the maximum security ward. But just as his hand touched the door handle, there was a quiet voice to be heard down at the other end of the ward.

“I’ll be dreaming of you.”