Needful Things Building; Monday

[totalwildcard]

The Dream House was gone by morning, replaced again with the antique store and the apartment above it, both with all four walls intact, and the color scheme decidedly less pink.

And in said apartment, late in the morning, Harley woke up with a start. Like fully bolting upright and everything, with a gasp.

"... Barbie looks like me."

She couldn't believe it. She brought her hands up to her face, smooshing her cheeks.

"Like me."

This jaw! These cheekbones under her skin!

Something about it was making her eyes well up.

At least, until something else about the weekend came back to her. "Bruce!" Oh, God, he'd been eating something obviously plastic, all weekend long! Harley scrambled out of bed to find him - only to, yes, find him curled up in one of his usual spots, seemingly right as rain.

She still ended up taking him on a long walk around town. It took a while for her to be convinced that just as magically as he'd turned into a toy dog for the weekend, whatever the plastic stuff he'd been eating (and, to be fair, pooping out at what seemed like an alarming rate for a fully functioning gastric system) had just as magically turned into actually edible stuff in his guts when he'd turned back. He seemed fine! He was leaving behind dog shit that was the usual level of disgusting!

Still, between the long walk and then breakfast for both him and herself, the morning had already turned into the afternoon by the time something occurred to Harley, and sent her bolting down the stairs into the store.

There, she found the display of dolls of varying ages and kinds.

And there, tucked near the back, was a Barbie. Harley carefully pulled her out from between a Victorian-ish porcelain doll and a fairly creepy 1950s baby, and smiled down at her.

It was a little watery, but there was no one here to see it, was there?

"Oh, there you are."

Something in her chest ached a little.

(expecting one!)

Comments

[totalwildcard]

"Good," Harley replied, leaning forward again. All close and up in his face. "I like it when you don't back out. Or back down."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc maybe nuzzled her cheek as long as she was that close. "Or back away?"

[totalwildcard]

"Oh, that too," Harley purred, staying where she was because the nuzzling was nice, "definitely."

[hasaknightjob]

"It's not bad having you close either," Marc said.

Around the corner. In his lap. All the options in between.

[totalwildcard]

Harley was taking that as an excuse to fully flop against him, burying her face in his neck.

(If that got even more mascara residue on him, so be it.)

"Feels like I should claim I took over this place so close to your house on purpose," she admitted. "To lure ya in."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc adjusted his hold on her so she could flop as much as she liked. Could this be called cuddling? Not by Marc it wouldn't.

"Did you?"

He didn't believe it for a second.

[totalwildcard]

Harley gave a huff against his neck - and then nuzzled it. "Please, I didn't even meet you until after," she said. "... I think?"

The details were already a little fuzzy.

"So just pure dumb luck."

It was hard to imagine him repeatedly showing up if she'd set up shop across town, somehow.

[hasaknightjob]

Marc tilted his head to give her plenty of room to work with.

"You met Steven first," he said, since that was the kind of detail that stood out to him. "I met you after you had this place."

He would've had a very small likelihood of stopping by as often in the beginning if she lived on the other side of the island for sure. Luck indeed.

[totalwildcard]

"So, exactly," Harley said. Smiling, even though he couldn't see it. "Dumb luck."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc moved a hand up to the back of her neck. His fingers toyed with whatever strands of her hair he found there.

"Upgrade to the neighborhood for sure."

[totalwildcard]

At that one, Harley had to give something of a snort, although it was soft and quiet.

"Now that's a first for me," she murmured. "Lemme tell ya, you're not gonna find anyone back in Gotham who thinks that about when I moved in close to them."

Though to be fair, she'd been a much bigger problem to people around her for a lot of that time.

[hasaknightjob]

"Am I anything like people you know in Gotham?" Marc replied.

He'd meant it as a joke but once he said it he was kind of curious.

[totalwildcard]

"I mean, I could probably... dig around and find someone sorta like you?" Harley offered, after taking a second to think about it seriously. "Especially since I think where you're from is sorta similar to where I'm from."

Well, there were superheroes, anyway.

[hasaknightjob]

"Sucks to be him," Marc said.

He had actual sympathy there.

[totalwildcard]

"And why's that?"

A beat.

"And don't say 'cause it sucks to be you."

[hasaknightjob]

"You're kinda stepping on my answer there," Marc pointed out.

[totalwildcard]

"'Cause it's predictable," Harley retorted. "And it presumes I didn't find someone with all your good qualities but an easier life!"

[hasaknightjob]

"Then they're not like me," Marc said. "Take out everything I've lived through and I'm somebody else."

Kind of literally, all things considered.

[totalwildcard]

Harley pulled away from his neck - sigh - so that she could look him square in the eye, instead.

"Okay, no one is exactly like you, I get that," she said. "Wasn't pretending I was gonna find a carbon copy. But I also have the luxury of lookin' at you from the outside, and I'm not just talking 'bout your pretty face."

[hasaknightjob]

"What makes him like me then?" Marc asked. "How do you get me without all of it?"

[totalwildcard]

"Ya don't," Harley replied, cradling his face between her hands if he let her. "But you can get someone who seems like you. Someone with a mean punch, and lips pressed in such a straight line there's builders lookin' to hire him for leveling stuff, and a vibe like if he doesn't like a situation he's gonna just leave with no goodbyes."

She was telling him all of this so seriously, too.

"But also someone who doesn't get scared off by crazy, stays calm faced with most things, and is kind by having people's backs - like, those people are gonna be a real select few, but still. It counts. Also, someone who smiles and is funny if you're patient and cajole it outta him."

Sorry to expose you so, Marc.

"And someone who'll check up on me and my hyena after we've been plastic for a weekend, too."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc let her hold him. He listened to everything she said. It resonated in him. It didn't vanish into the ether. It was probably going to echo back at him in the future too, a reminder even when she wasn't there to say it in person.

But there was a tightness in his chest and voice as he said, "I'm not me without the rest of it. You don't get me without it."

Both as a concept, and as a result.

[totalwildcard]

"Of course not," Harley agreed. Easily, even with how serious she remained. "You got shaped into your crazy and then the crazy shaped you, even if your crazy isn't all you are or all you have."

She should know, after all. For professional and for private reasons, both.

Her thumb brushed against his cheek.

"And ya don't see me running back to Gotham to try and find that guy, now do ya?"

[hasaknightjob]

The tightness eased, almost as though her thumb was brushing it away. Though of course it was more than that.

"'cause he's not better looking?"

[totalwildcard]

Harley shrugged, light and easy. All things considered, anyway.

"Probably doesn't fuck like a hurricane, either."