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]

"Yep," Marc said. And since odds of getting distracted or forgetting were high, Marc freed a hand to get his phone out of his pocket and quickly sent off a text. "Blackout protection."

[totalwildcard]

"Makes sense," Harley said, resting her head against his shoulder while he did that. "And now I won't have detectives bustin' down my door, either!"

[hasaknightjob]

"He's a good guy," Marc said, as he took care of replying then put his phone back in his pocket. "Great for Steven, that's for sure."

Marc gave Harley his full attention again. "Were where we?"

[totalwildcard]

"Right here," Harley told him, and reached up to kiss him again.

Because whatever the evening was going to end up looking like, that was a great start!

[hasaknightjob]

Marc kissed Harley back. Because that was, in fact, a great start. To the rest of the evening, to her earlier suggestions, and maybe even more.

[totalwildcard]

Sadly, all evenings of dinner and sex and more kissing and other good times came to an end eventually.

Harley had gone to sleep all nicely curled up against Marc like a kitten. By morning, however, she was starfishing all over the bed, taking up far more space than her skinny frame was even supposed to allow.

She was also still out cold. Even if someone had no icons for that.

[hasaknightjob]

Funnily enough, Marc now had enough experience with cats to know that finding ways to take up a good chunk of the room on the bed no matter how small their size was part of the deal.

(No, he didn't encourage Watts and Steven's cat to sleep on his bed. It just happened.)

Marc for his part had spent too much time on small cots and other makeshift beds to have ever developed a habit of moving around a lot in his sleep. So, other than falling asleep with his arm around her, nothing about his position changed much during the night.

He did have an innate sense for morning, though. So it was far too damn early by most rational people's opinions - so, yanno, not Marc's - when he finally drifted awake.

It took him a sec when he found himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. There was that brief shit where the fuck am I and what'd I do? feeling that often got immediately followed by discovering bodies of people he never remembered meeting. But then he felt the movement of someone breathing beside him and relaxed.

Right. Harley.

Which didn't stop Marc from quickly checking his watch to make sure he hadn't lost time. That was always a good instinct whenever he opened his eyes and didn't immediately know where he was. But since it was Saturday morning, and Harley's place, and Harley herself, he could let it go.

And since that look at his watch said he had a little time before he should leave, he took advantage of it to turn on his side and watch Harley for a little bit.

[totalwildcard]

Harley would've been relieved to find she wasn't snoring at that particular moment.

She'd somehow found the presence of mind last night to remove her makeup, which meant Marc was now the first person on the island to have seen her with most of the color drained from her face. Her brows were lighter, the bold red of her lips was gone, as was everything that had been lining her eyes. She was just... very, very pale.

And very, very unaware she was being watched, on account of being dead asleep. But at least she seemed to be sleeping peacefully? Just fully relaxed with no tension anywhere.

[hasaknightjob]

Marc came from a place where people were green sometimes. Damn near actual white wasn't throwing him.

He would've been fine for letting Harley stay peaceful, but she had made him promise to wake her. He didn't want to startle her, so he went for a light caress on the nearest part of her he could reach, avoiding touching any of the tattoos she'd been sensitive about if any of those happened to be in the way.

[totalwildcard]

He got her arm, he was fine.

Harley stirred a little, sighing as she turned her head. Then mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "Five more minutes, Puddin'..."

[hasaknightjob]

Well, that offered at least some insight into the puddingcup tattoos.

Marc ran his hand lightly over her arm again. He kept his voice low so it wouldn't be jarring when he said, "Time to get up, Doc."

[totalwildcard]

Harley stirred further, this time with more of a 'mrrgh' noise. She blinked her eyes open, some part of her still half-expecting her blurry vision to find a splotch of pale white beneath another of sickly green.

But no: tan, and dark brown - and then Marc's face came fully into focus.

And Harley smiled.

"Hi," she whispered, hoarse.

[hasaknightjob]

"Hey." Marc moved his hand up to brush at Harley's hair, moving any stray strands out of the way if there happened to be any. "You said wake you up."

[totalwildcard]

There were plenty of bleached strands, what with Harley not wearing her hair up to bed.

"I know," she replied, a little whiny, wrinkling her nose. Not very seriously, though. "And it's time already?"

[hasaknightjob]

"Afraid so," Marc told her. He kept up with that light touch on her hair since she didn't seem to mind it. "Least you can go back to sleep if you want."

[totalwildcard]

"Oh, I'm gonna, that was always the plan," Harley assured him, perhaps unsurprisingly. "Just didn't want you... sneaking off into the dawn without a trace. Yanno?"

She had definitely had that happen before.

[hasaknightjob]

"Well there ya go," Marc replied,fully aware he'd been the guy who'd done that before. "No sneaking. Don't know about without a trace."

[totalwildcard]

Harley picked one hand off the bed enough to wave it dismissively.

"It's not as important as the not sneaking, don't worry about it."

[hasaknightjob]

"Good 'cause I had nothing." Marc sat up and looked for where his clothes had been left. "Not unless the hyena wants to try taking a piece."

[totalwildcard]

Harley stretched, then made the spectacular effort that was rolling onto her side so she could better watch him get ready.

"I don't think the trace has always gotta be a thing left behind," she mused, as she did. "Definitely not hyena treats."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc started off with everything below the waist since he found pants first. "Need me to lock up when I go?"

Not that he knew how to do that without a key, granted.

[totalwildcard]

Harley shook her head.

"Nah, Bruce is the alarm system."

Even if he had (and would again) let Remy waltz in like it was no big deal.

[hasaknightjob]

"All right." Marc got his shirts on, then double checked he still had his wallet and and Steven's phones. "Think that's it."

[totalwildcard]

"Looks like," Harley said easily, as if she'd been paying any attention to what he'd had on him when he'd shown up or what he'd been doing just now to make sure he had everything.

She'd been more concerned with the reverse striptease of it all, sue her.

[hasaknightjob]

Marc leaned back over the bed to place a kiss on Harley's forehead. "See ya, Doc."