Paper Planes

XX

"Sometimes, the best way to help someone is just to be near them."
—Veronica Roth

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Ember woke with a start. Her head was pounding, and her slightly trembling fingers had discovered a slight bump present on the left side of her forehead.

Her eyelids flickered open, adjusting finally to her surroundings as she scrambled upwards in the bed.

Instead of seeing the typical white walls covered in red lipstick and fine poetry, she stared wide-eyed at four green walls, all littered with oozing red "HA"s. A sliver of sunlight entered the room, courtesy of the kink in the blackout curtains.

She pulled the purple comforter up to her chin, her hand unintentionally brushing against her nose. A grunt of pain escaped her lips as thick tears brimmed in her eyes.

Oh, right. Joker broke her fucking nose.

It was several moments later that the woman realized that she was, in fact, not alone in Joker's bedroom.

Her neck craned to the right, half of her vision buried into the pillow as she glared in the direction of the open bathroom door. The routine sound of running water came from the shower, masked by a cloud of steam and a withered yellow shower curtain.

Ember shifted her position, putting her weight on the right side of her body as she steadily studied the swaying shower curtain.

Suddenly, a rather glorious sound resonated through the air, sending an array of goosebumps along the skin of her arms as it met her ears.

The Joker was singing.

Ember shifted forward in the bed, as if moving an inch closer would somehow make the words clearier. Unfortunately, all that she could really catch were several words, the rest masked by the rumble of the shower.

From what she could gather, it sounded as if the man was singing "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" by Frankie Valli, but she wasn't one-hundred-percent certain.

Regardless of the fact, the tone of his voice was quite deep, unlike his typical clowny speech. If this wasn't his bedroom, she wouldn't even think that it was actually the green-haired man singing behind that curtain.

Ember was broken from her slight trance when the sound of the water discontinued. She watched with wide eyes, barely blinking as if she'd miss something if she did.

A hand reached out from the side of the closed curtain, retrieving a familiar mocha tinted towel from the counter as it disappeared from sight.

The curtain opened with a shing, the yellow plastic bunching together against the side of the shower as her eyes widened.

Joker brought the towel to his face, which was free of any greasepaint. It was a sight she'd seen before, but was still mesmerizing to see. Under all of that gaudy makeup, he was truly gorgeous, scars and all.

Ember's breath shallowed as the towel dangled perfectly in place, concealing his... package... as he swiftly dried his bare skin of the water.

Just as the woman prepared herself to finally blink, the towel swayed a bit too far to the left, revealing a bit too much of him to her as she desperately attempted to contain a squeak.