Don't Believe Everything You Read On the Internet

Chapter 16

    After over 10 hours of sleeping, Joker woke up and yawned. He was still in the hospital, much to his disappointment. What he really wanted to do at that moment was think of a way that he could talk to Batman again, considering how their last encounter went. Joker wasn't sure if Batman had heard him while he confessed his feelings, but if he did, then that meant that the two genuinely shared the same feelings for each other. Just the thought of that made Joker's heart beat a little faster. They could be together! First, he had to get out of this freaking hospital. The clown sat up, and heard something making a crinkling sound. He tried to find the source, hoping that it wasn't a part of his body. Instead, he found a sticky note that was laid on his chest. Joker decided to read it.

      When he finished reading what was on the page, a million things went through his mind. First of all, Batman had come to see him! Not only that, but he had asked the clown out! The Joker wondered how Batman had gotten into his room in the first place, but he remembered that it was Batman, and he could sneak into the white house if he wanted. Batman should've woken him up, but then again, he had been very tired last night. A sticky note was better than nothing, after all. The act of kindness only proved more that Joker needed to get out of this hospital as soon as possible. Every minute that he wasn't with Batman or Harley was absolute agony. There was a phone on the stand next to his bed, so he dialed Harley's number.

    "Hello, who's this?" Harley answered the phone.

    "It's Joker, I need you to break me out of this hospital," Joker answered the question, quiet enough so that none of the nurses could hear him.

    "I don't know, don't you need to fully heal first?" Harley asked, a worried tone in her voice.

   "You used to be a doctor, can't you help me?"

    "I was a psychiatrist, I don't know a lot about medical treatment!"

     "Look, I've been here for about a week, if I stay here any longer then my brain will explode of boredom."

      "Okay, don't be dramatic. I'll bring your car out front, blow up part of the wall, and you can run out, okay?"

      "Got it, Koala Bear!"

.....

      After a week of staying in the hospital, Batman finally got to go home. Richard and Alfred greeted Bruce at the door with hugs and "Welcome Home" wishes. Bruce grinned, realizing how much he had missed being with his family. When he entered his home, breakfast had been prepared for him already. Alfred's pancakes were 10 times better than anything that they served in the hospital cafeteria. Richard explained to his father what had happened in the past week while Bruce was gone. There wasn't a lot of crime going on, so Richard had spent a lot of time working on his education with Alfred. The boy had recently learned about the parts of a cell, which hadn't been something that was taught to him while he was in the orphanage. Bruce didn't really like learning about cells when he was Richard's age, but it was still nice listening to the preteen gush about something, even if it was boring to a lot of people. Suddenly, Bruce's phone buzzed. He told Richard to pause his talking while he picked up the buzzing phone and held the phone up to his ear.

         "Batman, Joker just escaped from the hospital with Harley Quinn," Barbara informed her friend.

        "Great! I mean, dang it! What do you need me to do, Babs?" Bruce asked, changing into his Batman tone, even though his mask was off.

          "Well, when the two were escaping, Harley blew up part of the wall. In the rubble, a sticky note was left behind with your signature. Would you like to explain why you were sending love letters to one of the most well-known criminals in the city?"

       "I, uh, don't know what you mean."

      "You know, the sticky note where you asked the Joker out on a date."

     "I never explicitly said that it was a date! I just wanted to do something nice to thank him for saving my life. Is that so bad?"

        Richard and Alfred could only hear Batman's side of the conversation, so they were very confused as to what was going on. They had both assumed that Bruce hadn't talked to anyone while he was in the hospital, but by the sounds of it he was asking someone out. Considering the context, it sounded like Bruce was talking about the Joker, unless there were other men who had recently saved his life. Who knows, maybe he was flirting with the doctor. Nah, that was pretty unlikely.

      "You also signed the note as 'Batsy', which is a nickname that Joker has used for you in the past when he has been teasing you in a semi-flirty way," Barbara added.

      "I was making fun of the fact that he always calls me that," Batman lied, his cheeks reddening.

     "Bruce, you specifically told me that the two of you weren't dating. I don't want to believe that you were lying to me about that," Barbara said.

     "I wasn't lying, I swear. The two of us have never been on a date, aside from the whole plan thing. Besides, at the time, I'd never even considered dating Joker."

     "And you've considered it now?"

    "... Yes."

    "WHAT!?" Barbara shouted at Bruce while he hung up. He looked at Richard and Alfred, who had been listening intently on the conversation.

     "You love Joker~" Richard said in a sing-song tone.

    "You guys are so immature," Bruce responded, rolling his eyes.

    "Well, it is true," Alfred replied simply, raising one of his eyebrows and smirking.

    "Besides, you've made it pretty obvious," Richard added.

   "What? No I haven't!" Bruce said, offended.

   "Yes, Master Richard has a point," Alfred said.

    "You guys don't mind do you?" Bruce asked, slightly rubbing his arm.

"Are you kidding? This is great!" Richard replied, his eyes lighting up.