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Y/N heard the click of her satin heels as she slowly ascended the marble steps leading up to Wayne Manor. She could see through the bay windows that the party had already started.
Not just any party, mind you. The most prestigious dinner party of the year, maybe even the decade, and she had somehow managed to get herself an invite. If she had known that accidentally bumping into a stranger on the street would lead to the Bruce Wayne inviting her to his dinner party, she would have had to start spilling coffee on more random people.
Not only that, but he had called her accent cute! No one back home was ever that nice after you scalded them in the street.
She finally reached the top of the steps and stood for a moment to gather herself before walking through the doors. It really was pointless to be this nervous, and she knew this, but this was the poshest gathering she had ever been to - one slip-up could ruin her whole reputation. She was normally very outgoing. She was considering just giving up and going home, when Bruce saw her.
"Ah, Y/N, so glad you could make it!"
He said, giving her a one armed hug. She would have said something back but he was gone as quickly as he appeared, obviously to socialise with more people. This was his party, after all.
After a few minutes of milling around the edge of the room, Y/N decided the only way that she was going to make it through tonight was with alcohol. She had spotted someone circulating with martinis before, and was just craning her neck to see if she could see him when an ear-splitting "BANG!" filled the room.
Y/N recognised the sound as a gunshot, and promptly found the source.
A tall, thin man with green hair and a purple suit was striding round the room, waving a gun.
"Good Evening ladies and gentlemen; We are tonight's entertainment. Now, who can tell me where Bruce Wayne is, hmm?"
As he turned around, Y/N saw that he had some kind of makeup on. Honestly, she really wasn't expecting that.
"Really, you're at his party, in his house, but nobody knows where he is?"
The man then started questioning people from around the room. Y/N seemed to be in some sort of daze until she felt two strong hands gripping her forearms and yanking her forwards.
"Do you know anything, sweetheart?"
'Oh, gosh. He's right next to your face now,' Y/N thought to herself. 'Uh, quick! Say something!'
After the initial shock had worn off, she could feel her normal, outgoing personality coming back to her. Even so, all she could manage at that moment was a quick shake of her head.
"Oh, a quiet one. Cat got your tongue? Or are you just scared?"
he said, raising the knife he was holding to her mouth.
Slowly regaining her confidence, she decided to actually speak this time.
"Maybe I am just a little bit scared." she said, adding a small smile on the end: but not pushing it too much.
"Ah, she talks! And why, might I ask, are you scared, dear? Is it the scars?" he said the last part very close to her face.
"Uh no, not the scars; they're quite cool actually. If it was one thing in particular I'd say it was probably the knife currently being pressed against my face by an armed stranger." she replied, again smiling at the end.
"So the knife scares you but not the armed stranger?"
"That's a good point, actually..." she paused for a minute before adding "How did you get those scars?"
He loosened his grip slightly. Looking back, she probably could have wrestled her way out of his grip and escaped then, but for some reason she stayed.
"Well dear, once upon a time, I had a wife, beautiful, like you, who tells me I worry too much. Who tells me I ought to smile more. Who gambles and gets in deep with the sharks... One day, they carve her face. And we have no money for surgeries. She can't take it. I just want to see her smile again, hmm? I just want her to know that I don't care about the scars. So... I stick a razor in my mouth and do this ...to myself. And you know what? She can't stand the sight of me! She leaves. Now I see the funny side. Now I'm always smiling!" he acted like he was telling her a fairy tale. If it weren't for the content, he may as well have been. She was captivated.
"She's a fool, then. But I'm glad you're always smiling. People should smile more." she was surprised at the bitterness in her voice at that first sentence.
"You know what, darling? You're absolutely right." A grin spread across his face at this.
At that point, a middle aged man (who clearly didn't understand that Y/N was in no immediate peril) stepped forwards and stuttered as he said -
"You let her go right now. I have the police on the phone and they are on the way."
He tutted and groaned before saying "No, no - you see, I know you're lying."
His grip on Y/N loosened further yet she still remained where she was.
"There is no way you just called the police on me, especially since I haven't done anything to you, and not one of me or my men saw you. Or heard you. Or shot you." he smiled.
He looked even more terrified, but still he didn't stand down.
"Leave them alone, Joker. It's me you're after." all heads turned towards the direction from which the gravelly voice came.
Crazy as it sounds, Y/N could have sworn that there was a man dressed as a bat in the middle of the dinner party. What the hell was going on?
"Uh no its not. I'm looking for Bruce Wayne, Bats. Unless there's something you want to tell these lovely people here tonight?" he said with a flourish before giggling rather maniacally.
Maybe it was the adrenaline, or maybe it was the fact that Y/N had had a glass or two of red wine to calm herself before coming out, but the only thing that Y/N properly remembered after that was the green haired man throwing a woman out of a window. Guests were scattering everywhere, but something in her told her to stay still. Probably stupidity.
The second that the Bat fellow had jumped out of the window to save the woman, the man in the purple suit (the bat man called him Joker?) started towards the lift. Y/N half turned away, not really wanting to see him go.
Was she feeling... disappointed? No, she couldn't be. That would be idiotic. She couldn't honestly be Sad to see the back of him, he was clearly psychotic! And anyway, what had she wanted to happen? For him to pick her up, put her over his shoulder and run away together? Of course not! She had only known the psychopath for five minutes!
All of these thoughts were racing through her mind so fast she didn't see the Joker turn around mid-stride and walk back over to her. He linked his arm with her own, snapping her back to reality.
"You're just too fun to pass up. Shall we?" he said, gesturing in the direction of the lifts.
And she followed.