Beautiful Sins (A Joker FanFic)

Chapter One

I sat propped against the metal bars of my apartments fire escape, sketching the city's skyline. Over time I'd drawn the entirety of Gotham. Only two buildings interested me out of them all, Bruce Wayne's empire and Arkham City Asylum. I was under no circumstance a fan of batman. Actually, I've always been more of a Superman fan, but now he's gone. Honestly, I'm not the superhero kind of girl. I thrive in dysfunction, after all I lived in the lower North district of Gotham, on the line of Arkham and Gotham City.

I hear a clap of thunder, and look up. I felt a drop of something wet meet my forehead, and it began to drizzle. I sighed and closed my art book. I grabbed my supplies and put them in my backpack, tossing them back into the window of my apartment. I was on the third floor, of an old beat up apartment building in an old beat up neighborhood. It wasn't too bad considering I was a run away. I'm 19 years old now, and I work at a café in a slightly better part of town. It still got the occasional shoot up due to a random drive-by every now and then. Then there were the customers, we usually were the center of drug deals by night, and more civil criminal deals by day.

Four years ago I ran away from an orphanage South of Gotham in a place called Metropolis, which is probably why I liked Superman. Actually when I was 14, a few months before my birthday and before I ran away, I met him. I will never forget the words he spoke to me.

I was in a crowd of people pushing myself to the front and all the adults kept pushing me back. Nobody would let me through because they all wanted a chance to talk to Superman. At that point I didn't think he was so super, that is why I had to meet him. I desperately wanted to know why everyone liked him so much, they didn't know him. They just know he has powers and he does things. So that makes him special? I wanted to know how to be special... I wanted to be loved like he was...

I pushed my way to the front just as he was passing and he stopped, I was elbowing people trying to keep from being pushed back.

"Move away from that girl." I heard a strong, deep voice say.

I looked up, and suddenly no one was pushing me back anymore. I saw him. His piercing blue eyes staring back at me. A smile formed on his mouth, a very genuine one.

"You seemed to be fighting really hard to get to the front, did you want to meet me?" he asked.

Everyone around us was silent, but down the line in both directions and further in the back of the crowd that was being held by police barriers people called out to him, begging for his attention.

I nodded, lost for words for a moment.

"You know, a lot of people want things, but not everyone is willing to fight for it. You're very young, I'm impressed." He said, and suddenly I felt hopeful and got the courage to ask him.

"Why do you do good things? I-I don't get it..." I said shyly. "You have these powers because you're different, and p-people love you... They know nothing about you and they love you! H-How do I make people love me? I want people to... want me... I want people to fight for me..."

His eyes showed instant pity, and that isn't what I wanted, but I couldn't say anything else. My eyes watered and my cheeks felt like fire. I felt like there was a rock in my throat.

He smiled down sadly at me and moved the barrier away from me, putting his hand out. Hesitantly I took it and he pulled me further into the blocked off street. He stopped when we were a small distance from the crowd. He got on his knees in front of me with a firm hand on my shoulder. I was a very short fourteen year old and had a major growth spurt around my sixteenth birthday.

"I do good things to keep people like you safe. I care about humanity, and not everyone does. That's okay too. You don't have to be a superhero to be loved, these people don't love me. They just really appreciate what I do for them. Love is a very strong word, and for good reason, and a lot of people confuse it for other emotions. You don't need to know everything about a person to love them or for them to love you. Just the important things, all you have to do is be yourself, good or bad." He said.

"Then how do you know if someone loves you?" I asked.

"If they would live and die for you," he said quietly with a small smile. "If they are willing to do that, then they truly love you."

A few months later I turned 15 years old, and when I realized nobody remembered my birthday, which was an important thing about me, I ran away. I was running in the pursuit of happiness. In the pursuit of finding where I belong, and I decided to go to Gotham City. I hitch hiked most of the way there and by the next day I found myself in Gotham, I met a boy named Luka, he was two years older, and let me move in with him, and to this day I live with him. He's my best friend, but more like a brother. He always protects me, and he helps out a lot. He was the one who helped me get the job at the café when I turned 16. He's a really nice guy, and kind of a genius. Although, he doesn't have the best taste in guys.

Oh, I forgot to mention that he's gay. He got kicked out of his parent's house in a town called Smallville that was near Metropolis when he was 16. It was a small town, like its literally in the name, and his parents said it went against their beliefs. He left two hours later with hundreds of dollars he saved from birthdays and Christmas', also he stole a few thousand from his parents after all of that, and all of their guns. Pay back is a bitch, I guess.

Following my bag back into the apartment, I shut the window. It was mid-October, the temperature changed with the days. Today is was warm, so we kept the air conditioner on. Luka was on the couch shirtless with his feet on the coffee table. I passed him pushing them off, and plopping down next to him. Stereotype does not apply to this boy. He was such a guy all the time. You actually can't even tell that he's gay without him telling you. But even still it's hard to believe, it's one of those things you have to see with your own eyes.

"What's up Pumpkin Pie?" he smiled over at me.

"I was drawing but it started raining." I frowned, grabbing the remote from him putting on the news.

"I was watching the game, Raven!" he opposed.

"Sh!" I exclaimed.

"WARNING! THE JOKER HAS ESCAPED THE ARKHAM CITY ASYLUM!" Flashed on the screen.

"October 17, at 4:46pm, the infamous criminal mastermind known as 'Joker' or 'The Joker' escaped Arkham City Asylum. He was seen getting into a dark purple Lamborghini, followed by his goons. The government officials are issuing a city wide curfew effective immediately." The newsman stated calmly, suddenly his eyes widened and he nodded to the side. "This just in, the joker was seen racing through Old Gotham heading straight for Brentwood High School, he is said to be in possession of a flame thrower, and Grade A explosives!"

Luka took the remote and turned off the television. "You don't need to be watching that."

"Luka it's the news!" I protested.

"You have an unhealthy obsession with that man." He stated.

"I do not!" I claimed defensively.

"Oh yeah?" he challenged and I nodded stubbornly as he stood.

He walked over to my room...

"LUKA DON'T GO INTO MY ROOOOOOOM!!" I exclaimed jumping off the sofa and chasing him. When I reached him he had swung the door open and switched on the light.

I had paintings and drawings of Arkham City, the Asylum, the Amusement Park, and Gotham scattered about. My most colorful art is of the Joker though. He was amazing. He brought color anywhere he went, and sure he killed people, I know he's the bad guy but I admire his personality is the point. I feel like my art captures it perfectly.

I smiled looking at the Pop Art I painted of him that hung on my wall, but then remembered the point Luka was making and frowned. "Okay maybe I'm a little obsessed."

Then I looked at the photos of me and Luka and the paintings I had done of us, and I smiled. "I love you."

"I love you too kiddo." He smiled and I hugged him tightly. He was truly my only family, and the only person who has ever loved me. Remembering that I felt complete.