Henchman (JOKER X READER) ✅

chapter 19: swan song

if i could, maybe i'd give you my world. how can i, when you won't take it from me?

—

The door to your room slammed open with a loud bang. "What the fuck was that?" demanded Frost, who was standing in your doorway looking royally pissed. You jumped- you'd just been relaxing, and the noise made you almost fall off your bed.

You looked up, standing and tossing your phone back onto the bed. "What was what?" you asked, feeling rattled. Frost rarely got pissed about anything, always calm and collected.

"You know damn well what," Frost snapped. "Tell me why Fox was taking a side street back from buying his fucking weed, or whatever it was he was doing, and saw you chatting it up with Michael Roberts."

"Frost," you said, trying to sound as steady as possible. "Whatever you think was happening, you're wrong."

"Really?" he said, and pulled out his phone. In a second, you could hear your own voice being played back to you.

"Please, at least try. You can't tell me you want war."

Mikey replied- "Fine. I'll talk to him. But I can't promise anything."  Then the recording cut off.

"How-" you started.

"If you think I didn't ask Fox to find out what you were talking about, you don't know me well enough," Frost said. He rubbed his hand over his face, suddenly looking very tired. "Y/N, I know you were just trying to help. And I also know that you're too smart to not consider the potential consequences of a decision like that, which means you thought this was worth it. What I am telling you is that if this gets out, it really won't be worth anything at all."

"What do you mean?"

"Listen, Y/N, if Joker finds out about this, you're fucked," he said bluntly. "Hell, he'll probably kill you for this."

"You just said that you know I was trying to help," you argued.

Frost shook his head. "Yes, but I'm capable of rational thought. Can you say the same for the Joker?"

You stayed silent. Both you and Frost knew you couldn't.

"Exactly," he said. "No matter what you were trying to accomplish, Joker will only see it as a betrayal. You were talking to Harvey Dent's right hand man. That alone will get you killed. He won't give a damn what you were talking about."

You sat back down on your bed, staring at the floor beneath your feet. "So what do I do?" you asked quietly.

Frost shook his head. "Honestly? You pray that I'm the only one who's got this information. And that it never makes its way to the boss."

You should have known right then and there that it would get back to the Joker somehow. There weren't any secrets in his gang- none worth keeping, anyway. And you definitely should have counted on being called into Joker's "office" (that was literally just the entire living room of the penthouse) a week after your conversation with Frost.

When you walked in, the first thing you saw was Joker sprawled out on the couch again, a phone sitting on the coffee table. A phone that was currently blaring the recording of the end of your conversation with Mikey.

"Joker?" you asked very cautiously.

"Ah, Y/N. Just the person I was looking to see." Joker's teeth-baring smile was even more unnerving than usual, and he got up off the couch with all the grace of a tiger creeping up on its prey. "Would you... happen to know anything about this?" He gestured to the phone.

You risked a glance down at it, then back up at him. "It's, uh. It's a recording of a conversation I had with- somebody."

"Somebody," Joker purred, a wild glint in his eyes. "And why is that somebody Harvey Dent's right hand man, hm? You wouldn't be thinking of-" his hand was on you now, his fingers grasping your throat for the first time since that night in his car. This time, though, you were actually in danger of being choked out- he was starting to squeeze. His smile was turning wicked and angry at the edges. "Betraying me, would you?"

You forced yourself to stay still as your breaths got shallower and your eyes watered. "Joker," you whispered.

"Because it sounds like you were," he snarled, and used his grip on you to shove you backwards. You didn't fall, just backed up a few steps, coughing. "Get out," he said angrily.

"What?" You asked, your voice sounding wrecked (and not in the fun way).

"Get out!" Joker shouted. He turned his back on you and started to walk away. "Go work for Harvey, for all I care. You clearly can't be trusted."

"I was just-"

"Oh, Y/N, lying doesn't look good on you," he sneered, his voice mocking and cruel. "Get out, before I decide not to spare your life. And don't bother coming back."

—-

oh look! a longer chapter! i would have split it up, but it just wasn't long enough to take up two whole chapters. and... i would say i'm sorry but i enjoy writing Pain >:)