"Welcome, ladies and gentleman! Girls and boys! The show is about to begin!" Joker began, and you smiled softly. He was simply performing alone on the street with a crowd of no more than twenty, but he was still calling it a show.

As he started juggling with expert skill, despite his prosthetic limb, you remembered how you'd met the man.

On a night of pouring rain, you'd caught a man with orange hair sitting alone on a hillock, softly humming an old nursery rhyme as he cried. You had asked why he was crying alone and warned him that he would catch a cold. He had looked at you with an wry smile and chuckled hollowly, saying that if you knew why he was crying, you'd tell him to kill himself. You had shaken your head and sat next to him, wrapping an arm around him as you said, 'We'll cry together then.'.

"Oops," Joker said as the multi-colored balls landed on his head, one of them rolling towards you by mistake. He rubbed the back of his head as his audience laughed at his blunder. And yes, it was a blunder, though he quickly recovered as you swiftly tossed him the runaway ball and continued to watch his one-man show.

When he was done, you were beginning to walk away when a skeletal hand grabbed your wrist. "Wait, F/N," he spoke softly, and you turned, gently smiling.

"What is it, Joker?"

"Will you come to see our show tonight?"

"Alright; I'll ask my husband if I can borrow some money." Joker's grip tightened on your wrist.

"How can you even talk about that man?" he asked, his face revealing anger as he revealed a dark bruise on your shoulder. You chuckled.

"My, Joker; you're rather emotional about my marriage. What's done is done, my friend."

"You don't need to buy anything, F/N," he whispered. "I'd happily arrange for you to have the best seat for free."

"But then I'd be taking what rightfully belongs to you," you reminded, and Joker grabbed your other hand.

"Then take it, please! I hate how he treats you—the less you have to see him, the better!" You softly smiled.

"It's alright, Joker. Personally, I think you have it a lot worse than myself; you care for so many people with so little given to you. And yet, you smile and have the capacity to make others laugh." Joker's violet eyes filled with sorrow, but he let you go.

<><><>

"SULLEN WENCH! LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M SPEAKING TO YOU!" You husband shouted, clearly wasted already. You tensed—the only sign that you were nearing your limit. "WHY ON EARTH WOULD I WASTE MY MONEY ON SOME SILLY CIRCUS TICKET?!" You were about to reply when he kept going. "SUCH INSOLENCE SHALL NOT BE TOLERATED!" He grabbed you by the hair, though you barely reacted as he dragged you. You were used to this pain. "I'm locking you up," he said with a smile, his voice oddly calm. But that was it. That threat made you angry.

You grabbed your husband's wrist and made him let go of your hair before you stood, staring him down.

"I'm tired of you being so selfish, Gifre! I do what I can in this forced marriage to make both of us happy. I tolerate your beatings because I want to believe you're simply venting your stress. And I wanted to go to the circus because a friend wanted me to see the show tonight!" Your husband snorted, reminding you of a horse. He turned his back and threw money over his shoulder.

"Go to the damn circus then; I don't care if you take all my goddamn money." You sighed, picking up the small ten-pound note.

"Mistress, I just want you to have this," your maid spoke softly from behind you, handing you another ten pounds. "Just in case it's not enough." You looked back at her, stunned.

"M/N?"

"We all want you to be happy, my lady. You are kind to us, and we appreciate that. So..." M/N stopped talking and hugged you, seeming to be crying.

"Hey, what are those tears for? It's not like I'm going to die tonight," you commented with a chuckle, and she released you, clearing her eyes. She lightly pushed you.

"Please enjoy yourself, my lady."

<><><>

You sat, waiting until Joker began the show in the big tent. You had always wondered what a circus performance was like, as you had never seen one that Joker hadn't been the sole person providing entertainment.

Finally, after many people had walked in, you saw Joker walk into the middle of the barren ground, and he smiled as the lights turned off, a spotlight being directed at him.

"Welcome, ladies and gentleman! Girls and boys!" he opened as he had on the street earlier. "Be prepared to be amazed by Noah's Arc Circus!" Suddenly, the spotlight turned off. "Huh? Seems the light's gone out." And then the spotlight reappeared on another person, a large man with tattoos, breathing fire. "I'd better introduce you to—" the man breathed fire towards Joker without warning, and you could see him exaggeratedly leap back. "Jumbo! Hey, be more careful next time!"

You laughed slightly as the spotlight shifted to another man who appeared to be juggling knives. "And now, Dagg—" one of the knives was thrown towards him. "You could've killed me, Dagger!" Even so, it was obvious to you this was planned—and the audience was loving it.

Again the spotlight shifted to a child-like pair twirling around in the air, though the girl's foot clipped Joker's head. "I get it now; this is about the pay raise, right? Right?! Peter and Wendy!"

Next to attack Joker was a man with snakes wrapped around him, Snake. Doll on the tightrope followed, and the last to show was Beast the tamer with her tiger, Betty. Joker bowed once everyone had been introduced. "Now, there's something else I want to tell you before I show you the wonders of this circus..." Joker continued, and you could see his eyes rummage through the crowd, finally landing on you. "This show has been dedicated to one person tonight, and I'm pretty happy they decided it was worth a look. So for you, we'll make this spectacular!"

After that announcement, you were enthralled by the circus and the skilled performances the members made. The audience was spellbound, some perhaps forgetting to breathe until they laughed.

When it came time for the performance to end, the circus was given whole-hearted applause and loud cheers, some shouting for an encore. You smiled as Joker's eyes went to you again, and when the audience had all but cleared out, he walked up to you, asking, "Did you enjoy, young lady?"

"It was magnificent, Joker. I loved it," you replied, standing. "I'm quite glad I came."

"Are you leaving already?" he questioned, and you nodded sadly.

"What's wrong, Joker?" Dagger asked, putting his hand on Joker's shoulder. "That the girl you said you—mph!"

"Idiot," Doll muttered, her hand over his mouth.

"What did he say about me?" you asked curiously, and Beast mysteriously turned her head. Joker refused to look you in the eyes.

"Tell her, Joker," Peter interjected. Joker smiled slightly, shaking his head as he finally looked at you.

"I love you, F/N L/N, and I don't want you to be with your abusive husband anymore."

"Joker, you shouldn't make jokes like that. My husband wouldn't agree to that."

"He wouldn't have to agree to anything if he's dead," Joker growled, making your eyes widen.

"I thought you hated killing?" Joker clasped your hand between his prosthesis and his real hand, his face serious.

"I do, but he deserves it for all he's done to you. Don't you want some payback?" You bit your lip; it wasn't as if you really wanted him dead, but the idea of never having to deal with him again was incredibly tempting. Joker then softly smiled. "I know it's not in your nature to kill, but please let me do this."

"A-" You bit the inside of your cheek. "Alright." Suddenly, you noticed that Beast was no longer present; where had she gone? Joker smiled.

"Then wait for me here."

<><><>

About an hour later, Joker returned to the tent while Dagger had been showing you an unfinished coordination technique between himself and Jumbo.

"Dagger, you're on fire," you observed as he boasted, and he suddenly looked down at his sleeve and started freaking out, making you laugh as he was drenched by Doll. "Oh Joker!" you called, and his sour look instantly brightened as he walked over to you. "I've been wondering, since I won't have any available currency, could I join the circus?" Joker grinned.

"Of course! Afraid I don't know if you'd be good as anything but a stagehand, but I'm sure you'd make a wonderful addition."

"Joker!" you whined, and he laughed.

"I'm just kidding! I really don't know what your talents are besides being the most gentle, kindest, most considerate noble I've ever met." You blushed even as he held out his human hand for you to take with a smile. "Let's go over the hills and far away."