Apartment Above Needful Things; Later Friday

[totalwildcard]

It was not as dusty in the upstairs apartment as it had been the last time Marc had been up there. Like, sure, it was still dusty in places because Harley and her attention span had prioritized the spots that she actually used on a daily basis, but still! The living room slash kitchen space that they entered into from the stairs was actually looking lived in now, with stuff like cereal packages and coffee on the kitchen counters and some empty takeaway cartons littering the coffee table Harley had hauled up from the store.

Hey, the narrative had said it wasn't that dusty anymore, not anything about there being no mess. It wasn't too bad, anyway, there was just a little bit of clutter!

So far.

Whatever, Harley had put some personal touches in. Some eclectic decor pieces around the place, a pop art style painting on one of the walls, that sorta thing. (And a taxidermy beaver in a tutu on the counter, but Beaver wasn't decor.)

"Well, here we are!" Harley announced. "I promise this place isn't as much of a sneezing hazard anymore."

(for that guy, continued from here! NSFW)

Comments

[hasaknightjob]

"Thanks for letting me have a preference," Marc said, again largely with exasperation.

Ignore how it was being taken as a given that there'd be situations where this opportunity - or others - might come up. Marc certainly wasn't thinking about that too closely.

[totalwildcard]

And Harley wasn't going to make him think about it! Largely because for Harley this was just yet another bout of fantastical thinking, with the setting stuck on 'dirty'. If things happened, great! If they didn't, well, she could still think about them happening anyway.

So she just nodded sagely, then considered something, and added, "But if you have a problem with the kitchen table, I am gonna have to kick you out."

[hasaknightjob]

"Depends on how sturdy your table is," Marc replied without missing a beat.

[totalwildcard]

"It's like me!" Harley replied, also pretty fast - and with her lips pulling into another grin. "Sturdier than it looks."

[hasaknightjob]

"I prefer you to the table," Marc said. Just so that was clear.

[totalwildcard]

"And that's why no one's expecting you to screw the table, sweetie!"

Hilarious.

[hasaknightjob]

"Hilarious," Marc said, echoing the narrative. "The comedy skills are extra, right?"

[totalwildcard]

Harley rolled her eyes at him, although possibly as a distraction from her prodding at his chest again. "You're so lucky that you're hot enough to be this grumpy."

[hasaknightjob]

"Who's grumpy?" Marc asked. "If I was grumpy I'd leave."

Which he'd have to do at some point, but that was more a shared schedule with Steven thing than a specific desire to go.

[totalwildcard]

"Leaving's leaving," Harley retorted, "grumpy's grumpy."

Yes, excellent description, Harls.

Also, in fairness: almost everyone appeared grumpy next to Harley, which definitely colored her point of view.

"But I do notice and acknowledge that you're not leaving yet. As a separate thing."

[hasaknightjob]

"Not leaving yet," Marc confirmed. He rubbed her shoulder in something like reassurance. "And when I do it's not gonna be because I had a bad time."

Not unless one of them really screwed this up before then.

[totalwildcard]

"Mm hmm," Harley agreed, drawing random shapes onto his chest. "It'll be just... normal leaving."

And the odds of them getting to that were looking pretty great.

[hasaknightjob]

"Comes with sharing a body," Marc told her. He stretched, coincidentally giving her fingers more room to work with. "Lotta scheduling."

Not as much as there once had been, but still there all the same.

[totalwildcard]

More room clearly meant Harley should make her abstract shapes bigger. Or at least make them reach further in places. Why waste good space, after all?

"I can work with that," she said, watching her hand move. "You've been showing up sometimes, that's plenty to me."

[hasaknightjob]

"Same," Marc told her, so she'd know he wasn't putting any expectations on her either. Showing up sometimes was good. Showing up sometimes he could handle, regardless of which one of them was making the overture first.

Then, long as they were sort of explaining stuff, "Steven's not gonna be walking around with anything you leave on me."

Those scratch marks currently on his skin, for example.

[totalwildcard]

Harley was looking right at them, and yet couldn't put two and two together right away.

"Hunh?"

[hasaknightjob]

"Any marks," Marc explained. "We get rid of those before we switch."

[totalwildcard]

"Oh!" Harley said, and perked up. "Oh, that's good! Means I dom't have to worry about scandalizing his poor little English head with anything."

As if she'd given that any thought before covering Marc in scratches. But, yanno, good to know for any possible future stuff!

[hasaknightjob]

"And it's not personal," Marc said, since that'd been why he mentioned it. "Nothing about you."

At least she'd always be getting a blank canvas?

[totalwildcard]

"Why would it ever be personal?" Harley asked, confused. "Didn't you just say you guys just... do it?"

Yeah, okay, it was going to take a while for Harley to process that he was telling her these things as a courtesy towards the insecurities she'd already shown, instead of just as fun facts.

[hasaknightjob]

"I dunno," Marc said, because he knew better than to point out when you were trying to be mindful of someone's possible insecurities. "Never came up before. I'm just guessing here."

[totalwildcard]

So Harley just gave it an easy little shrug (easy in spirit, a little awkward in practice), happy to let it go.

Tracing a line down the center of his chest, she said instead, "Well, good to know anyway. If I ever need to mark you up real good."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc stretched out again, giving himself more ability to trail his fingers back and forth from Harley's shoulder to her back. "And why would you need to do a thing like that?"

[totalwildcard]

Why did Harley do most things?

The answer was immediate and bright: "For fun."

[hasaknightjob]

"Never heard of it," Marc replied, with a look that said she'd nobody but herself to blame for giving that easy layup.