Don't Believe Everything You Read On the Internet

Chapter 1

         Joker slouched down in his chair. He had just successfully escaped from Arkam Asylum along with Harley. It had been the third time that month, but he couldn't help it that the guards hadn't found his secret escape spot yet. He turned on the TV, expecting that his break-out would be all over the news. Surprisingly, it was only a footnote, with the main news story being about how Superman had defeated Lex Luthor. This was weird, considering that this was the Gotham City News Station, and the Daily Planet in Metropolis usually covered this sort of thing. He frowned, but continued to watch because he had nothing else to do. After a little while Harley skated up to him to see if anything was wrong.

         "You okay there, Sweet Cake?" she asked, throwing in a cute nickname for emphasis.

          "Yeah, yeah. It's just that it seems like the media, and the public for that matter, might be getting used to me and my whole kaboodle," Joker responded, saying what was on his mind.

         "I doubt that anyone could get used to you. I live with you and I still get a surprise from you every once in a while," Harley reassured her bestie.

       "Thanks Harl, but that's not I'm trying to say. I feel like I've been doing the same thing for the past few months, maybe years. Think about it; I commit a crime, Batman stops me, I get thrown in Arkam, I escape, and it all starts over again," Joker explained.

      "Don't say that! What about the time that you took over Wayne Manor and split the city in half? In the end, you weren't even put into the asylum!" Harley pointed out.

      "Two weeks later I robbed a bank and got stuck in the asylum," Joker added.

       Harley supposed that her buddy was right. They were sort of doing the same thing over and over again, with little changes in between. There had to be some way to mix it up some way to keep unexpected and fresh. Well, in a way that wouldn't involve destroying Gotham or being portrayed by Jared Leto and Margot Robbie. Harley shuddered at the thought. Still, they could be a bit more gruesome, but that was more of a Heath Ledger thing to do. If they couldn't be more devious, then they could go more to the other side of the spectrum. More light-hearted? How would they do that? Suddenly Harley got an idea.

       "J-man, we could stage a fake romance!" she explained to the Joker.

       "What do you mean?" Joker asked, the idea catching his attention.

       "We just need to convince the public that one of us is in a relationship with someone else and suddenly it'll be all over the news about a new power couple!" Harley said excitedly.

        "So you want to tell the media that we're dating?" Joker asked, raising his eyebrow.

      "Honey Bear, I'm pretty sure people already think that the two of us are dating. We give each other nicknames and everything," Harley told the Joker.

            The Joker thought about who he could possibly lie about dating. It would have to be someone who wasn't known for crime, or else it would be obvious. It also had to be someone that he knew, or else the other person would be very, very confused. Those two details narrowed down the list significantly. An option popped into his head, but he tried to dismiss it. The idea would never work, no matter how hard he tried. Although, it might if he did everything just right. Besides, he was the Joker! He could do anything!

           "I could say that I'm dating Batman!" Joker shared excitedly.

           "Mr. J, I said that the person you choose shouldn't be obvious," Harley replied.

         "What do you mean? No one will expect it! The two of us are greatest enemies!" Joker exclaimed.

         "The two of you also confessed your feelings for each other in front of a romantic sunset that overlooked Gotham City," Harley pointed out.

        "We confessed how much we hated each other! This will be totally different," Joker explained.

       "I guess so. Just don't complain if nobody is surprised," Harley returned, shrugging her shoulders.

         Joker pulled out his phone and stretched out his fingers. He was ready to make the most awesome reveal ever! Everyone was going to gasp at the news that Joker and Batman, two mortal rivals, were secretly in love. He was going to have to announce it in a way that would leave everyone in shock. So he went to his Twitter account and typed out:

    Batman and I are dating lol #yolo

    Perfect.

......

      Batman sat at his personal theater and watched The Notebook. He was holding back laughter and tears at the same time. Just as Ryan Gosling kissed his love in the rain, Dick Grayson walked in, holding his phone. There was a confused look on his face. The dark knight glanced over at his son, wondering what was so unnerving to him. He gestured to the seat next to him, giving Dick a place to sit. The boy sat down and looked up at his father.

        "What's up?" Bruce asked, taking off his cowl.

       "Why didn't you tell me that you and Joker were dating?" his son asked.

           The question hit him like a ton of bricks. He didn't know what the heck Dick was talking about. Where would he get an idea like that? He glanced over at the boy's phone. Sure enough, Joker had posted that the two of them were going out. Why on Earth would Joker post something like that? It wasn't even true! He paused the movie and switched over to the news station, where there was already talk about what the Joker had said. Some were shocked, while others said that they had been speculating it for months. Bruce didn't understand the latter, because he was shocked, and he was supposedly the one dating the Joker!

             "This isn't true. Why would Joker say something like this?" Bruce asked himself.

             "It looks like he didn't just post it on Twitter. He also posted it on his Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and Tumblr!" Dick added.

            "Why does the Joker have a Tumblr? More importantly, why do you follow him on all of these sites?" Bruce asked his son.

           "I did it to make sure that I was caught up on all of his whereabouts. Looks like it finally paid off," the boy told his padre.

              Bruce thought about what Joker had done. It didn't seem like he had any sort of reason to do this. It's not like it was something that he would obviously do, since he had spent so long trying to convince Batman that he hated him. He was going to have to get to the bottom of this. He slipped his cowl back on and was ready to face the Joker.

Author's Note:

Thank you to anyone who is reading this! Spring Break starts next week for me, so I'll post a lot more then. In the mean time, I'll try to post anytime that I can, and feel free to tell me what you think of the story in the comments!