totalwildcard | Apartment Above Needful Things; Later Friday

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apartment,
marc

Apartment Above Needful Things; Later Friday

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)

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"He gets worried when there's yelling," Harley said, fidgeting with the candy in her hand.

She was just suddenly feeling really naked.

"Gotcha," Marc said. "Wasn't sure if he was speaking on your behalf."

Marc noticed the fidgeting. He hesitated, then slipped off his button down shirt and held it out to her in a silent offer.

Harley almost pointed out how close all her own clothes were, but caught herself just in time. She took the shirt with a grateful little nod, and slipped it on pretty quickly, too.

"I only get him to eat people who are real creeps," she replied, by way of explanation, doing up a couple of the buttons.

"Good to know I don't make that list," Marc said.

He was a lot of things, but creep was one he tried to avoid.

"You don't," Harley said, a little subdued but sincere. And wasn't that kind of related to what had kicked up all this hyena trouble, anyway? Harley bit off the end of the Twizzler to buy a few seconds of time with chewing.

And then she muttered, "I wasn't tryin' to be a creep or a dick to you, either. Or, even sound like one. Didn't know I was doin' that."

And she'd cooled down enough to at least not argue about it anymore.

"I'll... do better. 'Cause I like you."

"I know you weren't. Just - " Marc tapped the side of his head. "You're not the only one with screws loose. Sometimes shit lands wrong."

Marc took a chance on stepping closer to her. Not that anybody could overhear them - okay, maybe Bruce - but it was the kind of thing that felt more appropriate speaking for her ears only. "Normally I don't tell people. May have noticed I'm real good at packing shit away. But with you it mattered. So I told you. Because I like you too."

"You chose to tell me?"

And she'd reacted like she had?

Well, now Harley felt even more like a jackass about it.

"I know this keeps coming as a surprise to you but normally I don't talk," Marc told her. But there was a glint of humor in his eyes to indicate this was a self-aware joke, not any kind of reprimand or even hard feelings about her not guessing. "I keep doing things with you I don't do with other people. You kinda have that effect on me, Doc."

"Why?" Harley asked, without stopping to think about it.

But let's be real, she probably would've still asked. She could boast and preen all she wanted but actually being the exception to anyone's rules? It didn't happen to her often.

Marc let out a breath. Not exasperated or anything. Just taking a moment to think since he didn't have a Twizzler to buy himself some time with. Because, yanno, words. Not his strong suit.

"I've never met anyone like you." Which was stating the obvious since Harley but that didn't make it less true.

"You almost never react the way I expect. In a good way. Usually." Marc gestured to indicate what had just happened between them but in a way that also said he wasn't upset about it anymore, just acknowledging it. "You've had a lot of shit happen to you - and I know you probably haven't even told me half of it. But you're still positive. Fighting. I know how hard that is. I admire it."

"You admire it?" Harley repeated, like she wasn't sure she believed it. "Something I do?"

A beat passed.

"Are you sure ya got the right broad? 'Cause saying all that to me if you actually got me confused with someone else would be real mean."

"I may be screwed in the head but even I wouldn't mistake you for anybody else," Marc said, looking her right in the eyes if she let him, just so it was clear there was no confusion. "You're one of a kind."

Oh, he got her to look him in the eye, all right.

But hope he was also okay with getting a Twizzler-flavored kiss, because that was what Harley was going for now, in something of a sudden move.

Marc didn't mind it. He moved to fold her into his arms as she did, silently letting her know he wasn't going anywhere even if they sometimes got their wires crossed.

Good. Good, good, good, because Harley's arm had already snaked its way around his shoulders, too.

It wasn't as heated a kiss as some of the previous ones, but it seemed to still have an intensity of its own. Maybe Harley was making up for the whole mess.

Marc hadn't fully been aware of lingering emotional tender spots but that didn't mean they hadn't been there. So as Harley kissed him she'd feel Marc relaxing even more against her, like just having her there was soothing.

Also not a reaction Harley had inspired in people much in the past.

Her other hand found its way onto his side where it curles into his remaining shirt, just to keep him there. Or show him she wanted him to stay?

Both worked.

Marc talked, Harley soothed, they both seemed to have a way of bringing things out in each other that normally didn't happen for other people.

Keep or stay worked. Marc put one arm around her shoulders and rest his other hand flat on the small of her back, basically conveying the same message. He liked her right where she was.

Harley was going to go one step further, immediately after the thought came to her, and just hope it wouldn't backfire.

"Do you wanna just stay the night? You don't have to. But you could?"

If she just kept up the kisses between the sentences then it wouldn't sound so awkward and uncertain, right? She just wanted to make clear it was an offer and not an expectation.

"I'll have to leave first thing," Marc said. "Because Steven and Watts have their stuff tomorrow."

Yes, Marc was skipping past what that stuff entailed. Nothing he felt like having conversations about yet. Not even with them, really.

"But if that's okay with you, then yeah."

Their stuff was none of Harley's business anyway, and in all honesty not something she even remotely cared about in this moment. Especially with something more important at hand.

"Yes!" she enthused, clearly failing any attempt to be nonchalant in any way. "As long as you wake me up before you go, I'm fine!"

"I wake up early," Marc warned her. Because he was one of those annoying people who didn't consider mornings to be evil and he suspected Harley wasn't.

The rhythm of Harley's days was random enough that it tended to all be relative.

"Oh, I know," she said, undeterred, "you seem like the type."

"Then yeah," Marc said. "I'll stay. And wake you up before I leave tomorrow."

Even within his embrace, Harley managed to bounce excitedly on her feet just a little bit, with a faint little 'eee!' noise.

"I love sleepovers! We can order in some dinner, maybe see about getting you your second round..."

Priorities.

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