I KNOW FUNNY.

        ‘ no-one’s polite here for the sake of bein’ polite. ’    that much he was sure of —- he was also sure the reason everybody in here was insane was because of this BUILDING.   the voices have never been this loud, it’s gotten to the point where they’re just repeating what anyone says.       jerome’s words are bouncing around in his head && it almost makes him wince as the ginger boy keeps talking;   but he keeps his face somewhat normal with eyebrows raised && lips pursed as if there’s a sarcastic comment ready to leave at any second.

               his response is delayed, not hearing the other’s words until the voices repeated them back to him.    ‘ which one was the flawed one?  him for bein’ obvious about it or you for lettin’ him live? ’      legs drop to the floor with a small thud;   it sounds like thunder to his own head && the way the chair scraped against the floor was like the lightening in his head.      brown,intense eyes look over jerome && his lips curl up into a smirk while two hands press flat against the table.       ‘ such a SHAME.   gotham needs a knight, killin’ the whores. ’       like you the voices snide.    && he agrees, he’s never denied he’d be better off dead —- it was a damn TRAGEDY that he was allowed to live past four years old !!!

A SHRUG falls off thin shoulders. ❝ ya got me there, pal !!  GREAT MINDS think alike.  ❞ a generous wink; it’s going to take a lot more than ARKHAM to strip him of his charm.  ❝ YOU’RE INTERESTING, danny. i like you. if we were still free men .... we’d make a great team.  ❞ he tilts his head, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. 

a sigh at danny’s question; a dismissive flutter of his hand.  ❝ DETAILS. i just loathe those boring COGS in the world machine ...  you & i ? we’re special. DON’T tell me you haven’t thought it once before ... when you were younger ? oh, yes, YOU KNEW you were different, but you just didn’t wanna act on those impulses...  but now, AREN’T YA GLAD YOU DID ?   ❞ his too-wide grin stretches across his face as he looks at the other from under pale lashes. OH, WHAT FUN ! 

        ‘ intellectual equals?  jesus christ. ’     his eyes roll && he leans further back into his chair, one foot coming to rest against the table that’s between him && the other boy.   was the other trying to get danny to apologize, to take his words back && try to attempt a friendship…?   ‘ y’can’t be the sharpest knife in the drawer can you – if you’re in here, same as me?  ’

❝ just trying to be POLITE ... ❞ he gets so BORED here, with all the others simply ACCEPTING their fate and letting their minds rot away within the stone walls. but danny is DIFFERENT --- or seems to be, anyway. he’s a newer catch, fresher bait. NOT EVEN HALF BAD LOOKING. oh, yes, he was quite promising. 

        ‘ you’re goin’ to catch a slap if you don’t shut th’ fuck up. ’

A SMIRK lodges itself on a familiar wide mouth, lips red against ivory skin.  ❝  kill some… one. hm.  ❞ jerome rolls the thought around as though he’s NEVER heard of it before. the truth is, he just loves torturing danny like this, how the inner ( or, admittedly, OBVIOUS ) sadist beams at the prospect of having danny beg for … anything. ANYTHING jerome wanted. such is the nature of their relationship —– a constant game of cat-and-mouse, though who is the cat and who is the mouse can VARY from time to time. 

❝ you mean … watching the life go out someone’s eyes?  feeling their blood on your cheek?  watching their faces to the SCREAM ? ❞ cold hands card through danny’s hair, knotting themselves in it; as though jerome might be on the verge of saying yes …