Painful Laughter (Laughing Jack X Reader)

Chapter 1

Just wanted to say that the picture above is not mine. I'm not sure who drew it, but it was not me. One more thing, Sammy is eight years old. Hope you enjoy the story!!
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It was eight o'clock on a Sunday evening, and Sammy had just finished dinner. It had been a pretty peaceful evening so far, until his father started drinking. About fifteen minutes into his bottle of whiskey, he was was screaming and cursing like a sailor. Sammy ran up to his room, crying, when his father threw an empty glass bottle at the wall, shattering it.

Sammy slammed the door to his room closed and jumped onto the bed, sobbing his little heart out.

"Hey, what's the matter?" A voice called from behind him. Sammy turned to see a tall, monochrome clown standing behind him. Sammy immediately ran to other side of the room and backed against the wall.

"W-Who are y-you?" Sammy stuttered, his voice barely above a whisper do to his fear.

"Why, I'm Laughing Jack! What is your name?" The clown asked.

"S-Sammy. W-What do you want with m-me?"

"I just want to be your friend, Sammy. I know how lonely you've been, and I wanted to change that. Now, tell me, what's the matter?" Laughing Jack asked again, walking over to Sammy.

"M-My father is drunk and is yelling really loudly. H-He threw a bottle at me, so I ran up here to h-hide," Sammy explained, tears leaking down his face. Laughing Jack gave him a sad frown.

"Don't worry. I'm here to make everything better! I'll make you happy! I'll be your very best friend! No one will ever hurt you when I'm around! Would you like that, Sammy?" Sammy stood up, wiping his tears on his shirt sleeve, and hugged Jack.

"I'd love that! Thank you, Laughing Jack." Laughing Jack smiled, wrapping his long arms around the boy.

"You're welcome, Sammy. You can just call me Jack, if you'd like."

"Ok, Jack."

"What would you like to do first, Sammy?" Jack asked, releasing the boy.

"I don't know. I've never had a friend before. What do friends usually do?"

"Well, they normally play games and have fun. What is your favorite board game, Sammy?"

"I really like the game Trouble. Do you want to play that?"

"Sure! I love that game! Do you have it anywhere in here?"

"Yeah. I think it's under my bed somewhere. Let me look..." Sammy then walked over to his bed and crouched down. He stuck head under it and started digging around. A minute later, he came back up holding a dusty Trouble board game. He handed it to Jack, who set the board and game pieces out. For the next hour, all that could be heard from Sammy's bedroom were the popping of the bubble that was in the middle of the board and their laughter.

When they finished, they both cleaned up the game and stuck it back under the bed.

"That was a lot of fun, Jack, but I have to go get ready for bed now. Will you stay in here until I come back?" Sammy asked Jack, who was now lying flat across Sammy's bed.

"Of coarse! I can wait. Hurry back!" Sammy nodded and ran out the room and into a bathroom that was not far from his room. He quickly brushed his teeth and, after disrobing, jumped into the shower. A few minutes later, Sammy emerged from the shower wet and clean. He took a comb through his short hair and, when he thought his hair was dry enough, cleaned the mess he had made on the counter so his mother wouldn't scream at him. He quickly ran back into his bedroom with a towel wrapped around his middle to see Jack asleep on his bed. All their fun must have worn him out. Sammy didn't blame Jack, he himself felt as if he was about to drop from exhaustion.

Sammy went over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of pajamas with trains on them. He dropped his towel and threw the cloths on. He then picked up his towel and took it to the laundry room so his mother wouldn't yell at him in the morning.

When Sammy re-entered his bedroom, Jack was awake and sitting up on his bed. He was shoveling little pieces of hard candy into his mouth. When he noticed Sammy was in the room, Jack stood up and walked over to him.

"Want some candy, Sammy? You look like you need some sweets," Jack offered, holding his hand which was filled with colorfully wrapped candy out to Sammy. Sammy smiled and took the handful.

"Thanks Jack. I have to go to sleep now. I have school in the morning. Are you going to stay here with me while I sleep, or do you have somewhere else you need to be?" Jack rubbed his chin, thinking if there was anything he needed to do. He guessed he could go back to his carnival, but he didn't really have anything to do there. He looked to Sammy and shook his head.

"I don't have anywhere else that I need to be. I can stay here, if you'd like."

"Yeah, I'd like you to stay here with me. Let me make you a bed. I have an old sleeping bag under my bed, if you're ok with sleeping on the floor, that is."

"I'm fine with that. I mean, I've definitely slept on worse!" Jack said chuckling. Sammy laughed with him, walking over to his bed and pulling out his green sleeping bag. It was much larger than Sammy, and he thought that Jack would be able to fit in it. He rolled it out on the floor beside his bed.

Jack got down and crawled in and, even with his tall height, he managed to fit. Sammy then jumped into his own bed, pulling the covers up to his chin.

"I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight, Jack," Sammy whispered. A few minutes later, he began silently snoring, signaling that sleep had overtaken him. Jack smiled

"Goodnight, Sammy," Jack yawned, before letting his own eyelids close, retiring to a night of dreamless sleep.
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Author's Note: Sorry that you weren't in this chapter. I promise you will be in the next one. Please comment and tell me what you think. Hope you enjoyed it!!