❝ Biscuit, Mr. Joker? ❞
❝ Nah, I'd rather take a bite outta you ❞
in which an aspiring journalist catches the attention of two of the most powerful men in gotham - the joker and the batman.
[ the dark night | joker x oc x bruce wayne ]
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LAYLA WAS SOBBING.
"Do you want another glass of wine?" Stephanie asked.
Layla snorted into her handkerchief, taking the time to dab her eyes with the same piece of cloth. Stephanie grimaced and grabbed the tissue box on her coffee table.
"Here," She murmured.
"Thanks."
"So...are you going to tell me what happened with Chad?"
A door slammed shut with a loud bang and the stairs above them creaked. Dust and concrete particles fell from the top of the room, showering Stephanie's ugly green couch with a thin layer of...stuff.
Stephanie shook the sawdust out of her hair and brushed away some on Layla's shoulder.
"When are you going to move out of this dump?" Layla asked gently through her hiccups, grabbing the wine bottle on the table and swigging it down. "You're so much better than this apartment."
"I know," Stephanie smiled tightly. "But it's until I actually score a job with Gotham Daily."
"But like...can't you stay with your mom or your dad?"
The strained smile disappeared from Stephanie's face.
Layla Mcintosh was a nice girl from a nice family. They had barbeque nights and gave their leftovers to their neighbors. Layla's father, Michael, was a joyous ball of sunshine who busied his time tending the flowers for his radiant wife Hailey. Layla grew up in the suburbs, surrounded by people who cared for her.
Simply put, Stephanie had not. Sure, in her first years on this planet her mother and her father cared for her as best as they could. She remembered her mother, Verona Maroni, and her soft hands. In her murky memories, Stephanie recalled that her father, Matteo, was the happiest she had ever seen him.
Things changed when Luigi Maroni found out. In the Maroni Crime Family, he was known as Big Lou or even Big Maroni. Whatever he was called, no one dared oppose the Italian mob boss. But Stephanie's father had carried out an irreversible mistake, and it was the little girl who bared the brunt of the weight of his mistake. It was a good thing teenager Sal Maroni stepped in and begged his father to spare Stephanie.
Verona Maroni died on a flight back to Italy. Big Lou had her funeral ceremony arranged in less than three hours. As a result, her father lost his wits drinking away his problems. He had no job, no friends, and no crime family to rely on to keep him out of jail. When Stephanie was three, he got himself a new girlfriend. Looking back, Carla was a trashy and petty girl not much older than Stephanie now herself. However, Carla knew how to manipulate people to get her way. One time, Carla lashed out and gave Stephanie an "early birthday present" as retribution for the previous night's argument with Matteo.
