Schooled [Laughing JackxReader]

11

You opened your mouth to scream, but before the sound could even reach your lips there was a hand over your mouth to muffle it. "Shhh. There are people trying to sleep." The voice was scratchy and rough, with a touch of whimsy in it. You recognized it right away. "Wouldn't want to be rude~"

You stared up at the gray eyes, locked on yours, and felt the tip of his pointy nose just barely touching the tip of yours. The moment his hand left your mouth you rolled away, off the bed and onto the floor. Anything to increase the distance between you and the creature, who would already be uncomfortably close to you if he had been standing 10 feet away. This enticed a giggle from Laughing Jack.

"G-get away from me." You stuttered, getting onto your feet again.

The clown hopped onto the bed and sat criss-cross on the messy comforter. "After all the trouble I went through to find you again? Why would I~?" He grinned at you with a mouth full of sharp white teeth that gleamed in the darkness. You reached forward and flipped the lamp on, feeling a little safer in the light. Last night you hadn't gotten a very good look at him, but now he was in full view.

White skin, black lips, dark makeup around his eyes and a rather thin face, and of course, the striped cone for a nose. He was very tall; With him sitting on the bed and you standing up, you two were about at eye level. His outfit was quite peculiar too, with gray bandages around his stomach and bunches of feathers sticking up off his shoulders. Looking at Laughing Jack felt like looking at an old photograph, because he wasn't just black and white, but void of all color entirely.

"I brought you something~!" Laughing Jack exclaimed, with a clap of his hands to snap you out of your daze. He reached one clawed hand into his sleeve and dug around a bit. After a moment he produced your baseball bat and set it on the bed. "How silly of you to leave that behind. Never know when you'll need it~ Ah, one more thing!"

The clown reached into his other sleeve and revealed your photo album. "Hate to forget about this, hmm? Precious precious memories~" he opened it up to a random page and pointed out a picture of you as a kid. "I like this one in particular."

Was he mocking you? Toying with you? You honestly couldn't tell. The monster's strange, silly behavior had caught you off guard. He killed that kid and he's going to kill you too. Brian's words echoed in your mind. If that was the case, you might as well get to the point. "Are you...going to...kill me...?" You whispered, not even attempting to conceal your terror. There was a moment of silence, and then the clown laughed again.

"I'm not going to kill you, silly." Laughing Jack waved his hand, dismissing the ridiculous notion. "I'm here to play~"

"Play?" You repeated, trying to wrap your head around the notion. Was that some sort of code? A twisted way of saying he was going to torture you or something?

"Yes~" Laughing Jack set the album down and leaned towards you, pressing his palms into the bed, making it so that you were nearly nose-to-nose again. "I want to know more about you, (Y/N). You're interesting."

You took a step back from the clown. "No, no, I'm not interesting. I'm just a school teacher." You tried to persuade him, but the clown was undeterred.

"Most parents don't notice a thing until I've been around their kids for months. You're just a teacher and you noticed me within a week. Why is that?" Laughing Jack stared at you with a kind of intense, childlike curiosity. You thought back to the day you first saw Laurel with the candy, and the time you'd rushed around the corner a second too late. Perhaps you had failed to save Laurel....but you seemed to have impressed her killer.

"It just felt like....common sense..." You replied, not really sure how to answer his question.

"Common sense? There's nothing common about it, lollipop." Laughing Jack chuckled, "I've been around for such a long time...I never get to see anything new. Anything. Like." He reached out and booped your nose with a spindly claw, "You."

A few minutes later, and you had managed to occupy Laughing Jack with a game on your phone while you got dressed in the bathroom and made some coffee. You now found yourself sitting in a chair, staring into your cup and thinking about your next move. How do you proceed from here? You could try to get rid of the clown, but you had a feeling that would be hard to accomplish. If you couldn't get rid of him, was he just going to be part of your life now? Or maybe he would kill you after all. You sighed; only time will tell.

As you slowly came back to reality you noticed that the sounds from the phone game had stopped. You looked up to see Laughing Jack lying on the bed, holding the little blue candy from his letter between his forefinger and thumb. He looked at it carefully, then looked at you.

"You didn't eat my candy." Laughing Jack said to you. He almost sounded...a little bit pouty, as if not eating the candy had seriously offended him. You felt a twinge of guilt, like you had let him down. "Don't you like candy?"

"I do, but..." You struggled to find the right words to explain it. Taking candy from a serial killer monster just hadn't seemed like a good idea. It still didn't.

"Then eat it." Laughing Jack held the candy out to you, stretching his arm unnaturally far like he had the other night. He looked at you with expectant eyes. It made you think of your students, offering you their drawings and crafts, waiting for you to praise their efforts. You couldn't bear it. You caved and took the candy from him, unwrapped it and popped it into your mouth. It tasted like blue raspberry and filled your mouth with sweet flavor instantly. Laughing Jack looked incredibly pleased.

"Do you like it? I can make more-" He began excitedly, clasping his hands together.

You swallowed the candy and shook your head slowly. "That's alright, but it's a little too early for sweets. Thank you, erm....Jack."

The clown looked a little disappointed, but that was quickly washed away when you suggested that you play a game together. Laughing Jack was absolutely delighted. Eventually you two decided on Go Fish, with a deck of cards Laughing Jack summoned from his magical, 'mary poppins carpet bag'-like sleeves. Though the clown played happily, and seemed innocent enough, you couldn't help but get a sinking feeling in your stomach as you wondered what would happen if you were no longer entertaining. What would Laughing Jack do to you once he got bored?

The hotel alarm clock began blasting sharp notes, making both you and Jack jump. You looked at the window and noticed morning light peeking in around the curtains. Something inside you perked up a little. Work. You had to go to work. It was the perfect excuse to get away from the clown, for a little while.

You set your cards down and turned off the alarm. "Sorry, Jack, I guess playtime's over. I have to go to work."

The clown pouted, not happy with the idea. "Can't you take the day off?" He insisted.

"I can't. I've already missed too many days. Everyone's going to worry." You stood up and began collecting the things you'd need for the day. Laughing Jack flopped across the bed, lying on his back. He was so tall that, with his head and shoulders nearly touching the floor on one side of the bed, his feet lay flat on the other.

"What am I supposed to do while you're gone?" He whined. You shrugged.

"I'm sure you can occupy yourself for a few hours. I'm off, I'll see you later." And just like that, you were out the door, revitalized by the thought of a normal day, doing normal things with your normal students. No clowns, no gunfights, no carnivals. Just school, just as your life was supposed to be.