Joker saw Edward and Oswald's silhouettes walking towards them. It had been half an hour, and the moon was up sky high, the stars in Gotham City only visible because there weren't any clouds.
A siren wailed in the distance. Joker made sure that his eyes were dry before standing up to go get them.
"Hey, Miah, are you alright?" Edward asked when they got close enough. Oswald was carrying a pretzel and some cheese dip.
"Yeah. I'm really sorry guys." He nervously said, sliding off his hood and running a hand through his hair. "I didn't mean to yell at you."
"It's fine." Said Nygma, letting go of Oswald's hand. Penguin chewed some of his food, looking up between the pair.
"Are you really okay, though?" Penguin asked. "You just started laughing."
"But it wasn't your normal laugh- it was scary. We were scared." Said Edward, lowering his eyebrows.
"I..um.." Joker was unsure how to respond. He changed the subject. "It's getting late. I'll take Ozzie back to the tent with me."
"Alright. I guess I will see how I'll sleep with a broken window. Selena better not come in to my apartment and steal everything while I'm out." Said Riddler.
Bruce walked up to them. "Are we heading home?"
"Yes." Said Edward. "Goodnight, guys. I'll text you in the morning." He walked away, cutting through an alleyway.
"Bye!" Called Oswald after him.
"Bye, Oswald!" Edward yelled back from the alley. Penguin smiled.
"Okay." Bruce said. He gently grabbed Joker's hand and rubbed his thumb on it. "I'll see you later." He winked, and released his hand.
"Night." Joker grinned, his cheeks reddening. He grabbed Penguin's hand and walked with him out of Diamond District.
Once they entered the Tent, the lights were off, and it was quiet. Joker expected Harley was sleeping in her room with Bear.
When he quietly walked past her room on the way to his, he heard snoring and knew that he was right.
"It's nice to be back." Joker sighed. He turned on the bathroom light, and Oswald went into his bedroom to find pajamas and finish eating.
"Oh wow, I'm a mess." He caught his reflection in the mirror- his eyebags were deep and he had tear tracks down his face.
Joker cleaned himself up for bed, and took a quick shower before walking back into his room with a towel around his waist.
Penguin was sitting as Joker's desk, tossing the cheese dip in the trash can.
"Do you have pjs?" Joker asked, looking in the closet to find himself a pair.
"No." Oswald said. "My turn." He stood up and ran into the bathroom, closing the door. The shower turned on.
Joker changed into a red and black plaid pajama set, putting some hair care gel into his curly hair, before pulling out the Murphy bed for Oswald and a pair of pjs that looked like they would fit him.
Once Penguin came back, Joker handed him the long black t-shirt that he'd picked out, and a pair of off-white boxers.
"Here." Joker whispered, trying not to wake up Harley and Bear. Oswald took them back into the bathroom to change.
The Joker turned out the lights, and crawled into his bed, holding one of his stuffed animals, a snake, close to him.
Oswald limped back in, and hopped into the Murphy.
"So.." Penguin began quietly, "Do I get to call you Jeremiah too?"
"If you want to." Joker whispered back, closing his eyes. "I don't care."
"Okay." Said Oswald's voice. "What happened earlier?"
"Bruce slapped me." Joker said simply, beginning to fade out. "I had a relapse. That's like a flashback, but really traumatizing."
"You never told me about that." Oswald said. Joker heard him lay down. "I never knew you got beat."
"I'm sorry." Joker mumbled, half asleep. "I should've told you. I'm sorry for yelling at you."
"It's okay," Penguin said, quieting down too. "I love you."
"Love you too." Joker said, losing consciousness.
*🦇*
The next day Joker woke up to continued snowing. He rolled onto his side and touched something warm and squishy. He jumped in surprise but then realized that it was only Ozzie.
He must have come over sometime last night. Joker didn't want to wake him, so he slowly got out of the bed.
He also found Bear laying in his bed as well.
"Aw, good morning." He pet the dog's head, and went into the bathroom.
Harley Quinn was sitting downstairs on the couch.
"Hiya, J!" She called up.
"Hey, Harley." He said, closing the bathroom door. He decided that he didn't want to put on his clown makeup today, and instead did some skincare before fixing his curls and sneaking on some of Harley's mascara.
Boom- model face. Minus the scars.
Joker left the bathroom and opened his closet door to put on a forest green sweater and dark blue jeans. He also put on some fuzzy socks.
Oswald stirred, sitting up in his bed.
"Morning, sleepyhead." Said Joker, laying out an oversized pink fuzzy hoodie and gray sweatpants for him to wear.
"Ooh." Penguin said, noticing the clothes. He smoothed the fur on Bear's head down while scanning the outfit Joker had picked. "We're going to look like girls."
"We're just going to look gay." Joker smiled, and Oswald crawled out of bed.
"Did you come over last night?" Joker asked.
"I had a um.. a bad dream. Sorry." Penguin blushed.
Joker tried not to laugh that an 18 year old was having nightmares and waking up with his older brother.
"It's fine." Joker said. Penguin went into the bathroom to change into the fit, and the Joker got a text from an unknown contact.
Unknown number: Hello.
"The fuck?" Joker asked out loud, and went downstairs to reply.
Me: Who is this
He rolled his eyes and set his phone on the counter to make some oatmeal, but it immediately dinged again.
Unknown number: This is Bruce Wayne. Is this Jeremiah?
Joker laughed out loud.
Me: How did u get this number? 😭
Unknown number (possibly Bruce Wayne): From Edward.
Me: hw did u get Nygma's number??
Joker labeled the contact as Bruce, and heated up some water while waiting for a reply.
Bruce🖤: I gtg sorry.
His heart sank a little, but Joker scoffed. Faker.
Me: bye
Harley smiled at him from her position on the couch. "Whatcha doing, J?" She asked, flipping through channels on the television.
"I have a ton to tell you." Joker rolled his eyes. "I found out who the Batman is."
She gasped, fully turning around. "Who??"
He smirked.
"It would be better if you didn't know."
"Bruh." Said Harley. "Who all knows?"
"Just me. I think Edward is figuring it out, if he hasn't already." Joker grinned at her. He poured a cup of oats into a bowl.
"Puddin', that's not faiiirrrr." She whined, turning back around.
"Life's not fair." He shrugged.
"Rude much..." she mumbled, and dug her phone out.
"So what's the deal with Poison Ivy?" He asked.
"Oh." Harley said. "We're having our one-year dating anniversary tomorrow, actually." She smiled.
"Congrats, just get married." Joker said, pouring the boiling water into the oats.
"I'd love to." She groaned. "But I don't think Ivy is up for that yet."
Joker sighed.
"You look nice today, the one day you stay inside." Harley commented.
"I'm definitely going outside today, it's just not going to be a wreck havoc type of day. I mean, even I want a snow break." Joker laughed. "But thanks."
Harley smiled, changing the channel to the news again.
"I think all of the members of our Tree should get together and have a hang out somewhere." She said.
Harley🫶🏻: hey everyone do u guys want to all come ice skating together today? We can go to the rink and meet up at around noon
Oswald screamed excitedly. "Ice skating??" Harley laughed.
"I love the sweatshirt, Penguin." She smirked as he jumped up and down, even on his broken leg.
"I think you might have to use a walker or something if you want to go on the ice, Ozzie." Joker said.
He got a message.
"Looks like Scarecrow, Firefly and Freeze want to come." He read out loud.
"And Ed." Said Penguin.
"And the Madhatter. Selena probably will come late." Said Joker, getting a new text.
"Ivy for sure will come, so I think the whole gang will be there." Said Harley from the couch.
"Yay!" Squealed Oswald. "But I'm not going ice skating in this outfit."
Joker chuckled. "Okay, I'll get a different coat. What color do you want?"
"Black." Said Penguin.
"Ugh." Joker rolled his eyes and went upstairs to get him another coat. He checked the clock.
Oof- 10:30? That meant they needed to be out of the Tent by 11 if they wanted to get to the rink by noon.
"Thirty minutes, fam!" Joker yelled downstairs, yanking a fluffy black coat out of his closet.
"Okay!" Harley screeched, and he heard footsteps coming upstairs and going into her room. Joker tossed the coat downstairs.
Penguin stirred some oatmeal. He caught the coat as it was falling, and smiled at Joker.
"Thanks." He said, turning back to his food.
"I have some raisins if you want to put those in your oatmeal. I'm sorry, it's not much, Edward would know how to make something better." Joker said, coming back down.
"It's okay, I like oatmeal. Yeah, can you get them down? I'm not tall enough." Oswald said, looking up at the cupboard. Joker reached up to pull them down. He handed them to the shorter boy.
"Thanks." Penguin said, pouring some into his oats. Joker sat down on the couch to wait for Harley Quinn.
"So, when we get to the rink, you're going by Oswald?" Joker asked. Oswald shook his head.
"No, everyone knows that Oswald Cobblepot is the Penguin which is me." He said. "I have to go as Ozzie or Oz."
"Okay. Harley can go as Haley, it's not that much of a difference. I'll go as Jeremiah." Joker typed the names in the group chat to explain to everyone.
"Freeze is going as Victor, only natural as it was his birth name." He read out loud. His phone dinged again. "And Scarecrow is going as Jonathan. That's all who responded so far."
"Okay." Penguin repeated the names to get them in his head. "Scarecrow is Jonathan, Freeze is Victor, Harley equals Haley, Jeremiah, and me."
"You got it." Joker said.
Harley came downstairs. "I'm going as Haley?" She asked.
"Yeah." Joker said, texting in the group chat. She gave a thumbs up and buttoned up her pink trench coat. Joker looked down at his phone.
Mad-hatty🎩: ok my nickname will be jervis
FireFly🔥: hear me out. It might be hard to remember but I want Bridget to be mine.
Me: ok whatever
Ed: jst Ed, Ty
Me: ok just Ed
Ed: 🖕
Me: Selena are u coming?
Joker turned his phone off, not even expecting a reply. Penguin sat down and began eating his breakfast, and Harley sat down next to Joker.
"Is there anymore oatmeal in that box, Oswald?" She asked.
Oswald blushed. "Um.. I'm sorry, I think I'm eating the last of it."
"Oh, yeah, no worries." She said, grabbing her boots.
Penguin put his bowl in the sink. "I'm ready."
"That was fast." Joker said. "Let's go." The three of them put on their shoes and walked outside, after Oswald changed his jacket.
Most girls that they passed absolutely stared at Joker. Some boys did too, it was weird.
"This is ridiculous." He scoffed. So people could like him when he had an alternate personality, but not when he was the Joker?
He guessed that made sense.
"It's hilarious." Oswald laughed, holding Joker's hand. "Everyone must think I'm your little brother."
Joker didn't say anything, and he avoided everybody's eyes. They were almost to the ice rink when he spotted Bridget and Victor walking towards them.
"Hey guys!" He called, waving his hand. The two of them walked over and waited with Harley, Oswald and him outside of the rink gates. Victor was wearing a white tank top and jean shorts, with sunglasses.
"Freeze- I mean, Victor, you're supposed to be wearing a coat or something." Oswald said, looking up at him.
"Dude, this is the perfect environment for me. Are you kidding?" Victor laughed down at him.
"Not a very good disguise. You too, Bridget. You'll have to stay in the back." Harley said.
Firefly was wearing tan cargo shorts, a black crop top, and her hair back in a half up-half down style.
"It's freezing and snowing, and you're wearing that to an ice rink?" Joker laughed, pulling his hood down.
"I'm just that hot, you know?" Bridget winked, and high-fived Freeze.
"That's stupid." Oswald mumbled, and turned to look around. He pointed. "Look, there's Ed."
They all turned, and saw Nygma walking towards them bundled up in a brown scarf, jeans, combat boots, and a trench coat. He wasn't wearing his glasses.
"Hey, Edward!" Victor smiled.
"What are you wearing, Victor? We are supposed to be undercover." Nygma said, lightly glaring at him.
Victor's grin dropped. Ed turned to look down at Oswald, and smiled. He ruffled Penguin's hair.
"Hello, Ozzie." He said. Oswald lightly blushed.
"Hi, Edward." He smiled, the freckles across his nose glowing bright pink.
"I like your coat." Ed complimented him.
"Thank you! I like you.... your- your scarf! I like your scarf!" Stuttered Oswald, turning bright red.
Nygma blushed as well. "Thank you."
The rest of the group shared a look.
Suddenly Joker saw Madhatter and the Scarecrow walking up.
"Joker- JEREMIAH!" Scarecrow coughed as he came to stand in front of him. "Its nice to see you, and I still don't forgive you for shooting me in the chest a couple months ago!"
Scarecrow smiled. He was wearing a huge coat so that people couldn't see that he was literally a scarecrow, as thin as a doll- he was so unhuman that he had to wear a coat to cover it all up.
"Gee, I'm sorry Jonathan. I just want Batman all to myself." Joker smiled thoughtfully.
"Simp." He rolled his eyes.
"Hello Jervis." Nygma greeted the Madhatter. He nodded rather creepily.
Joker felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked down to see Oswald had gone to hold Nygma's hand instead, and now Selena was holding the sleeve of his coat.
"Oh. Hey, Selena. I didn't know you were gonna show up."
"You think I wouldn't?" She asked. She was wearing a black coat with a fur hood.
"Should we go in? Does it cost?" Asked Edward.
"Yeah. It's $15 per person, but we can give Oswald and Selena the kid's discount. They'll only be $7." Explained Madhatter.
"Cool." Firefly said. The gang walked into the rink and up to the shoe station, where a young man was handing out ice skates.
"Hello. What's your shoe size, ma'am?" He asked Harley when the group got to the front of the line.
"Seven and a half." She said. He handed her a pair of white skates, before doing the same with everyone else.
The villains strapped on their skates and slid onto the ice.
"Hold my hand, Oswald!" Joker heard Nygma shout as they spread all over the place. Jervis screamed, and Joker grabbed onto Harley's hand.
Selena had perfect balance and skated far ahead of the others, doing all sorts of tricks.
Joker heard a thud and looked back to check what happened, and he saw both Oswald and Victor sprawled out on the floor.
He laughed at the sight.
Somebody immediately caught his eye as they stepped into the ice rink.
"Bruce?" Joker skidded to a stop.
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