The Friendly Fiend (Jerome Valeska X Reader)

Burned Toast

Being the daughter of a cop in Gotham was hard, especially when that cop was Jim Gordon. He always seemed to find himself more and more work and hardly ever had any time to spend with me. And the time he did spend with me, he was never really there. He was always thinking about work. And the thousands of questions he threw at me was so irritating. He knew first-hand how dangerous it was in this city and was never satisfied I was being safe enough. I knew he was showing he cared in his own way, but it was so frustrating.

He did always do one thing for me. Make a big deal of my birthday. He always made it a point to make a fuss of me, so when my 14th birthday came around, I was so excited. I would finally get some quality time with him. I got out of bed and patted downstairs to the smell of burning and the sound of the fire alarm.

"M- morn- morning." He coughed. "You just won't stop growing, will you?"

"Morning dad." I took a seat at the table and he wafted the smoke above the toaster with a towel.

He sighed and gave me a plate of burned toast, slathered in butter to hide the taste.

"Happy birthday. I have something for you."

"More than charcoal? Wow. I'm really being spoiled." I joked.

He pulled out a brown envelope and placed it on the table, before taking a sip of his morning coffee. I reached out to take it, but he looked nervous. He usually had a huge grin when I opened my present, but this was something new. I opened the envelope. It was tickets to the circus that just arrived in town. He remembered!

"Really, dad?" I asked, my heart bursting with happiness.

"It's your birthday and I know you've been wanting to go. You deserve it."

"Thanks dad. And here I was scared you were gonna get me those pink roller-blades you saw in that magazine."

"Hey, I still might." I chuckled to myself as he stood up to put away the butter.

"Now, I'm sorry to say that I do have to work late today, but I'll make it up to you tonight."

I looked at the tickets and noticed that there were three.

"Who's the third ticket for? Is Uncle Harvey coming?" I asked, hopefully. Harvey was great. He always let me get my way and sided with me against my dad. And he usually gave pretty good presents.

"No. No, it's not for Harvey."

"Then who's it for?"

"You're going to meet someone tonight."

"Who?"

"A friend of mine. And I think you would like her."

Now I knew why he hadn't been smiling when I opened the tickets.

"You mean you want me to meet your new girlfriend." I sighed.

"Her name's Barbara and she's very nice. Will you give her a chance? For me?"

Mom had been dead for three years now. I guess it was natural he would find someone new at some point, but did it have to be on my birthday? I hardly got to see him and the one day I was guaranteed time with him, he wants me to meet his girlfriend?

"Sure. I'm going to get dressed." I pushed my breakfast away and left the table.

"Ok, I have to leave now anyway, but 'll be home around seven for dinner. We'll eat and then head out." He called after me, downing the last of his coffee.

"Whatever."

---

I got home from school and was about to jump in the shower, but then I had a thought.

It's my birthday and dad's not gonna be home for hours. If I don't have time to treat myself today, I never will.

I turned on some music and began to run myself a nice hot bath. I even opened the shower set my aunt had gotten me a few Christmases ago to retrieve the jellybean scented bath bomb. It was bright blue, with swirls of pink and criminally glittery. I dropped it in the water and watched it fizz.

The bath looked like a witch's cauldron. Bubbly, colourful, sparkly and magical. I tied my hair up and stepped in, letting myself slide down and rest in luxury.

As I lay there, my thoughts drifted to memories of my mom. She got sick when I was ten. I'd overheard doctors saying how much pain she was in and how much time she had left, but she never let any fear or sadness show. At least not in front of me.

She loved my dad. She was always making small romantic gestures for him and whispering him sweet nothings. I knew he loved her too, you could see it in his eyes, but it wasn't the same. He was always too busy to dance with her in the kitchen or to take her to the lake to see the spring ducklings.

And now, he's just moving on? What the hell? He'd been too buried in his work to even talk about mom in the last three years, but he has the time for some bimbo?

Fuck this!

I got out of the bath and stormed into my room, flinging open my wardrobe doors. I stood there, dripping on the carpet, aggressively flicked through my clothes searching for a skirt I'd bought a few months ago, that my dad hated. He thought it was way too short, but tonight, I was trying to piss him off. He needed to take the hint.