alive || jerome valeska

live

"Well, well, well, we meet again Lili Grimes." Penguin limped trough the huge garden of his beautiful mansion to the three Arkham escapes and the detective who just got out of the car, with two strongly built bodyguards by his side "I can't say I expected to see you tonight."

"Always a pleasure, Oswald." she gave him a small smile "I hope you don't mind that I tagged along."

"Not at all, though, I only have three rooms prepared, it'll take some time to clean and-"

"Ahh, don't worry about that Oswald." Jerome interrupted with a wave. He put his hand around the girl's waist, pulling her closer to him "We can share, the more the merrier, isn't that right?"

Small flush appeared on her cheeks, and though it was hardly visible in the dark, Jerome noticed with a smirk on his lips.

"Yeah, it's fine." Lili agreed, her eyes never leaving the red head's. They didn't notice Oswald's wide eyes going back and forth between them, his mouth falling slightly open. He knew about Lili's secret crush on the maniac, but he never actually witnessed it. It was strange, yet so natural, she looked so different from how she did when he last saw her at the GCPD, she looked so happy next to Jerome, the smile on her lips seemed real, her eyes literally sparked as he looked at the boy, and what surprised him the most, was that Jerome returned the same look. He'd almost forget what he's capable of.

"You two make a great copule." Oswald ended up saying. Both Jerome and Lili's head snapped to look at him, the compliment seemed to panic the both of them, though Jerome quickly wiped the emotions off his face,   and thanked Penguin with a smirk, Lili's eyes stayed wide.

A couple.

Were they a couple? Were they together? Were they girlfriend and boyfriend? That sounded just ridiculous in her head, yet she couldn't help but feel warm by the thought of a relationship with Jerome.

"Come on, let's go inside you must be exhausted." Oswald led them into the mansion, it seemed to be even larger on the inside, purple carpet covering the floor, the dark walls full of beautiful old paintings that probably cost more than Lili's entire life, lovely fresh flowers, mostly roses, in shiny vases, it felt like a dream, just too good to be true.

"Woah, Oswald, what a marvellous little shack you have. Feels just like home." Jerome danced around the halls, touching every antique object, clearly just to piss Penguin off, while Tetch and Crane seemed to actually admire them, Lili even caught from the corner of her eyes as Jervis put a small gold statue of a turtle into his pockets with a smooth movement, totally unnoticed by Penguin and his guards.

"Your rooms will be on the second floor, Mr.Tetch's and Crane's is to right, the fourth and the fifth, Mr.Valeska's is to the left, the seventh room. I suppose you all are quiet exhausted from your trip here, so I'll leave you to rest now." Oswald turned to Jerome with a terribly fake smile "We'll talk about the details of your plan in the morning."

"Alrighty, good night than gentlemen." Jerome bowed as he mimicked Oswald's elegant tone, making Lili let out a small giggle. Before anyone could respond he grabbed her hand pulling her after himself towards their room.

"Night boys!" she turned around and gave them a small wave, hardly catching their response before the red head pulled her into their room. It kind of reminded her of the one she was locked in at the Galavan tower, there was one sofa and a queen sized bed, one large wardrobe, both made out of black wood, and a huge purple carpet made out of fur.

"Do you like it here, princess?"

Lili let out a small laugh "You know what, right now I do feel like an princess from a fairytale. I've just ran away from all my responsibilities, I've got a pretty dress, this place is like a fucking palace and I'm-" completely in love. She couldn't say it. Not yet, It just didn't feel like the right moment, she should make it more dramatic, Jerome would prefer that "and I've got an amazing boyfriend."