(no subject)

[tntandgasoline]

Players: interlude_adieu, devilishkurumi
Subject: Harvey Dent, the Joker
Table: A
Prompt: Cry
Log or Thread?: Log
Heads up! Thar be smut in these thar woods! AKA, you should know that this log contains sexual stuff and so you need to be careful reading it. And stuff.


It didn't really strike the Joker as surprising that most of his time inside this God-forsaken hideout was spent in the kitchen. His room was for important things; the kitchen... for not so important things. At the moment, he found himself hunched over a chopping board, stabbing a little ineffectually at various vegetables. He couldn't stop sniffling, and it was more than once that he had to rub at his face with the back of his arm, shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows. His arm had splotches of black and white greasepaint all over it.

Comments

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

"Gotham's on fire and you're preparing a meal." Harvey didn't sound surprised or disgusted, more the simple statement of fact. If anything he was perplexed by the state of the man's face, his god damned makeup. He had seen it in disarray before, hell he had seen the human underneath the mask of grease paint, but never smeared with tears. It was far too human.

"You have to stop them." He said after a pause, almost casual despite the severity of his expression and tone. "They'll destroy Gotham." And if they do I'll destroy you. No, the Batman would, or maybe without Gotham they would all fade to nothing. He picked up a piece of the pepper and snatched it away.

[tntandgasoline]

"I'm making a celebration dinner." The Joker pointed the knife at Harvey briefly. "It was going to be just me, but luckily for you I'm always prepared." And wasn't it just perfect? Harvey didn't sound so upset as he used to and it felt... good. At least, as good as it could feel. It'd been a long time since the Joker'd had anyone really worth bickering with.

"What makes you think I can stop them? I just said to go out - I didn't make them do anything. And I won't start making them, either." He smacked Harvey's hand idly and gave him a sideways glare. "If you burn the inside of your face, too, I'll laugh." He wasn't even sure if they were that spicy, and besides, he was already starting to chuckle a little, but it was still a threat, right?

He threw the knife into the sink and went to the fridge, pulling out a value-pack of chicken breasts. "Heh."

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

"Celebration huh?" Harvey rested back against the counter, returning the Joker's sideways glare with a deadpan one. He'll 'laugh.' Harvey snorted. Far be it from him to deny the idiot his cheap humor.

"It's their choices but don't pretend your presense isn't spurring them on." He said, popping the pepper piece into his mouth. Spurred them on and kept them going. Harvey wondered if the clown had driven them insane or if Gotham always was a madhouse and this was just peeling away the facades.

"At this rate you won't have a city left to terrorize." An edge finally leaked into his tone because despite it all, despite anything Harvey would always believe in Gotham, even if they stabbed him in the back. Even if their cowardice forced Harvey's hand and made him claim he was the vigilante. This kind of fire the Joker set left nothing to grow back from the ashes. "So fix it."

Not that there was an obvious way of doing so. He raised his brow at the package, grabbing another piece of the fairly mild pepper as he turned back. A regular fucking housewife.

[tntandgasoline]

"How do you want me to fix things, Harv?" the Joker asked, deadpan as he ripped open the cellophane covering. The stove was old and he was pretty sure the gas would start leaking soon but that didn't matter - not when he had food to make. "I thought you'd be, uh, happy that I was doing something tame, not out there wrecking havoc." He pouted at Harvey, pursing his lips a little obscenely. "There's just no winning with you."

The second pilfering raised the Joker's hackles and so he grabbed one of the chicken breasts and threw it at the other with a sneer. "If you're going to snack, go for the gold."

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

Harvey stepped away, opening the small, grimy window above the sink. He turned back as soon as the sounds of the Joker's handiwork began to pour through, look deadpan as he leaned against the counter once more. "Yeah, tame." he commented, not even glancing up at the car alarm mixing with the sound of broken glass and shouts.

"You started-" Before he could continue the retort something cold hit his arm, causing him to glance over sharply. He nearly rolled his eyes, instead picking up another piece of the pepper. "You dropped something." He commented.

[tntandgasoline]

"Keep it. I only need two, anyway." He threw oil into a beaten, scraped pan and watched it sizzle for a minute before throwing the vegetatables and the chicken in. "And what, Harv - I started it, so I should, uh, finish it, too? That's not how it works, and you know it."

Oil spit at him and so he growled and covered the whole damned thing with the pan's lid, turning to look at Harvey. "Did you want something? Or are you just here to badger me until I have food for you?"

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

"Right, the Batman finishes it." Harvey commented. And the Joker could certainly gain the Batman's attention like no other. The two polar opposites of Gotham with the city in the middle. 'Their' city. That was something Harvey had no torn feelings over. Gotham would never belong to them, no matter how the sinked their claws into it.

His thoughts were derailed by the clown's words, eyes sliding over and brow raising. "Am I bothering you?" he asked, already glancing away in disinterest. He hated the Joker, hated every damn word that came out of his mouth yet here he was.

[tntandgasoline]

"The Batman gets in the way." Really, why couldn't Harvey understand who was the right one, here? He must've missed something. Hm.

He grinned and licked his lips, leaning forward to pat Harvey on the cheek. "Aw, no, Harv. You could never bother me when you're not being a moral fuckwit. I just figured, if I was, uh, playing the domestic role tonight, you'd be reading the paper at the table or something. Leave the, ahaha, blushing bride to do all the cooking."

He knew he was laying it on thick, but hey. Life wasn't worth living if you didn't do everything to its fullest extent.

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

Somehow he made their struggle sound like a child's game. Harvey didn't bother commenting, merely glancing to the clown as he leaned in, good eye narrowing at the touch. Harvey grabbed the mad man's wrist, roughly but hardly with the kind of force a man like the Joker could find threatening. At least not yet.

Domestic- wasn't that a sickening thought. "Guess I'm sick of hearing about your mess and Bruce's gay trysts." He shot back.

[tntandgasoline]

The Joker used Harvey's grab as an invitation instead of a deterrent, leaning in even closer and grinning. "Then close the window so you can't hear it."

He paused (for dramatic effect, you see), then frowned at Harvey. "And, y'know, I was gonna ask... That nasty old aristocrat didn't put his money-grubbing hands on you, did he Harvey? No, uh, late night drinking sessions that ended badly?"

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

Harvey stared him down, coldly neutral until the last comment - late night drinking sessions, ha- made him release the clown's wrist sharply, face drawing back in anger as he turned away.

"I doubt I'm his type." He spat, shutting the window only to muffle the sound of the chaos outside. He was becoming an expert at pushing aside certain... events and keeping focus. Too bad the Joker was nothing but a nagging reminder. "Probably doesn't have a thing for scars."

[tntandgasoline]

Laughing as Harvey turned away, the Joker himself moved to check the food, reaching in with surprisingly clean hands to flip the chicken breasts. The oil popped and splattered against the crux of his thumb and index finger, making him drop the lid back on the pan and stick the sore spot in his mouth, sucking in annoyance. Ow ow ow.

"He's a schmuck, anyway," he finally said once he removed his hand from his mouth. "Don't sound so bitter." Throwing any semblance of caution he might've had in better times out the window, the Joker stepped forward to put his hand on Harvey's burnt neck. "Don't worry, though, I like them just fine."

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

"He's a good man." Why he kept defending Bruce was beyond him. Bruce only wanted one side of Harvey- not that the Joker was any different, or anyone for that matter.

He ignored the idiot using his hands near the hot oil until the same idiot was in his space again, this time with his hand on the damaged skin of Harvey's neck. His first instinct was to shove the mad man against the fridge but that was too familiar, something the Joker would use and laugh in a way Harvey couldn't erase. He grabbed the Joker's wrist again instead, this time twisting it too the side with a touch too much force, enough to give way the nerves, near uncertainty, behind his icy look.

"How reassuring." He answered lowly. "Since you were kind enough to help me get them."

[tntandgasoline]

It's either the head or the hands, the Joker lamented as Harvey twisted his wrist away, making a face. "Sure, he's a good man, Harvey." He hooked his other arm around Harvey's shoulders, resting his bare forearm against the other's throat lightly - I still win. "But you're, uh... Well, good men don't shoot people, Harvey. And they don't beat up people just because they can. And I don't know if you've noticed, sweetums, but you do both of those things all the time."

He licked his lips and grinned, tightening his hold on Harvey's neck just barely. "But don't get down about it."

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

"What were you saying about being a moral fuckwit?" Harvey responded, glad somewhere that the conversation was steering away from Bruce. The less the clown thought about him the better.

If he were in a better mind Harvey would have been shocked, disgusted by the lingering contact but he could only read the glint in the Joker's eyes as a challenge- a game. Even before he had hated nothing more than losing. Maybe accepting their lives were nothing but a game came with time.

"Just destroy the past right?" Harvey answered, something they both knew very well he would never do. Not like the Joker and 'Chicago.'

[tntandgasoline]

"I just meant that you got too... Wrapped up in what was right and wrong and didn't think in the right shades. You're better now, though." He saw something in Harvey's eyes, maybe he felt a little tensing in the other's shoulders, but oh, he wasn't backing down. Well, the Joker didn't like losing any more than Harvey did, and he knew he always won when they started to get... physical. This would be easy.

"I prefer..." He leaned in and nuzzled Harvey's unburnt cheek, grinning, "Selectively editing."

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

All better. There was laughter but it wasn't his.

Harvey grabbed the man's hair- familiar, too familiar- and tugged him back enough so they were facing each other once more. "Like with Chicago?" he asked, ignoring the hissing sound of the pan, the fire that should make him nervous but only put him on edge.

[tntandgasoline]

The Joker frowned and pursed his lips at Harvey's question, ignoring the tight grip he had in his hair. "Why do you keep bringing it up, Harvey? You might as well ask about Beijing or Atlanta." He blinked and tried to twist his head to check the food, but Harvey was making it difficult. "I win, by the way."

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

"Win?" Somehow Harvey knew he did but that edge refused to acknowledge it. He let go, turning away in obvious sharp irritation. Fucking 'won' alright. Just a game.

"Get a few drinks in you and you'll talk all about Beijing." He spat, nearly heading to get a drink himself.

[tntandgasoline]

The Joker made a face - you let loose once with alcohol and nobody ever forgets it - before he realizes that there's a new game to be had. He turned off the stove and considered his options - he could play this one of two ways. Which one was more fun...?

He sauntered back and snaked a hand around to grab Harvey's tie, giving it a light tug. "Now, now. No need for drinks. Let's play a game, Harv. I'll answer any question you want."

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

Harvey hadn't expected that- in truth he had long since stopped trying to predict the movement of chaos but this was still far off the board. He stared at the clown, the pieces of Harvey Dent still present desperately trying to figure out why to the underlined cackling.

"What do you want in return?" He asked, letting the man hold his tie with surprising apathy.

[tntandgasoline]

He grinned and let go, going to the pan to check. It looked boiled and a little fried and not... that good but salt and pepper fixed everything! It'd be salt and peppery, not just bland.

"Let's go sit and have a meal. Oh... And as for what I want? It'll go like this - I'll answer any question you ask... and for every answer I give, you take off a piece of clothing." A laugh. "What I don't answer, I'll do the same. It'll be fun."

He was already dishing up the plates, so even if Harvey said no - at least they'd get food.

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

Harvey nearly punched him right there but turned instead, sitting down at the makeshift mess that was their table, dropping his coin on the cold surface. He didn't think, didn't dwell on either/or, just watched as it slowly twirled to reveal the thick char, the remnants of his former life. It had been over half a year. Half a fucking year.

"Why did you do this?" He asked without turning, gesturing vaguely to the window, the riots. Was it all for Batman? Boredom? Hell, what did it matter? Enough to waste a piece of clothing.

[tntandgasoline]

"Already starting with the obvious questions first, Harvey?" The Joker dropped a plate of meat and vegetables in front of Harvey, along with a bent fork and a knife, settling down opposite him with a set of plastic kitchenware.

"I did it because I wanted to see what would happen. If I was right, if everyone would want to let loose and just needed something to set them off. I was, incidentally. Right, that is."

He grinned and gestured, stabbing the chicken breast on his plate with vigor, "Go ahead and take something off, Harv."

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

He was right too often, too accurately. Harvey took off his tie, a present from his ADA Anthony and one of the last pieces of his old life. He threw it to the side.

"What did you see when Crane gassed you?" He asked, levelly enough as he picked up his fork, even though part of him was grinning like a knife cut.