Somewhere on the Mainland; Tuesday Evening

[totalwildcard]

It was rare these days that Harley had plans, let alone ones that were less immediate than later in the same day at most. Funny what power a "could be free Tuesday" spoken on a Thursday could have! Because now it was Tuesday, and the "could be" had turned into an "am" - and Harley had plans she'd actually put a little bit of effort into!

Or bribed Cass to do something for her ahead of time on the mainland. Potayto, tomahto.

They'd taken the car off the island. It was parked a few blocks away now, to draw less attention to where they were actually going - which was a warehouse, but an old-timey one, all nice red brick, one whose actual warehouse days were long gone. If Marc had paid attention to any of the signage before they'd rounded the corner to the back of the building, he may have caught something about "circus arts".

Harley consulted Cass's messages on her phone to find the right door, then stepped up to it, and rapped a rhythmic knock against it. It wasn't Shave and a Haircut; it was something much more convoluted than that.

"Us circus folk like an elaborate knock," she told Marc with a smirk.

She was not actually circus folk except by a very long stretch, and the knock she'd just performed would not be familiar to anyone.

(NFB and for the one gently modded)

Comments

[totalwildcard]

Harley tried pressing her forehead to his. The whispering lingered, like a secret.

A sweet one.

"I think I really like you."

[hasaknightjob]

That was, you know, not awful.

"I like you too," he said. Just as soft as she had.

[totalwildcard]

Harley smiled wider.

Happy.

And murmured, like a tease, "Ya big softie," like she wasn't the one who'd just now said it first.

[hasaknightjob]

"Shaddup," he replied. Because of course he was obligated to. The smile took out any remote hint of seriousness.

[totalwildcard]

Harley pressed a kiss against the smile in penance anyway, just in case. Or because she wanted to. One of those!

"You talked so much," she said, still soft and quiet, and only half-joking. "Ya wanna hear anything in particular from me?"

[hasaknightjob]

Marc gave it some thought. "I dunno? Still feels like I've been yapping over you."

This was what happened when any amount of talking was an exponential difference from your usual.

[totalwildcard]

"Puttin' aside how that's not even possible --" Because she was Harley fucking Quinn and no one ever yapped more than her. "-- why?"

Wait, that could be ambiguous.

"I mean why's it feel like that? Not askin' why you've been doing it 'cause you haven't."

[hasaknightjob]

"I dunno," Marc said. But that was mostly him thinking out loud. "You had shit to say and I kept going on about my shit?"

[totalwildcard]

"Did you?"

Something in Harley's expression said she hadn't experienced it like that.

Well, not something. The entire face, as usual.

[hasaknightjob]

"Felt like it," Marc said. "I don't wanna be like your ex. Make you feel like what you need to say doesn't matter."

[totalwildcard]

"Well, ya haven't," Harley told him, wryly. "So... Good news?"

[hasaknightjob]

"'kay," Marc said. He looked at her curiously. "I dunno. Anything you want to say?"

[totalwildcard]

"I dunno," Harley replied, shrugging a bit. "I mean, I thought I said plenty when I was yelling at you about what a nice thing to have you are."

One of her finest moments of the evening, clearly!

[hasaknightjob]

"Okay," Marc said. "Guess you know where to find me if it changes?"

He did not have a lot of vocabulary for these kinds of conversations.

[totalwildcard]

"Not around?" Harley suggested.

It was a joke. Not a subtle one.

[hasaknightjob]

Marc took the joke as intended. "Could text?"

[totalwildcard]

Harley tilted her head, curious. "Do ya actually look at your phone? Aside from when you've just woken up?"

She was very familiar with the routine of him checking both phones in the morning!

[hasaknightjob]

"Yeah," Marc said. "Or Steven'll tell me something came in."

Which had led to some difficult moments when Marc had been trying to avoid calls from their father but luckily they were past that now.

[totalwildcard]

"Hunh," Harley said, because this was actually new information. "Good to know! Not that I'm a big texter."

She paused and reconsidered.

"Unless it's the kid, 'cause the kid doesn't know any other way to communicate."

[hasaknightjob]

"Might be a delay if he's in the middle of something," Marc said. "Same for him when it's me. But yeah, I get it eventually."

It said a lot that Marc was even mentioning this as an option because in general the idea of contacting him was "don't."

[totalwildcard]

It was not lost on Harley, no.

"So the same as me!" she said. "Only with me it's 'cause I've forgotten the phone somewhere."

[hasaknightjob]

"Kinda like Steven," Marc said. Though at least now there was Watts to help out if Steven couldn't remember where he'd put his phone down in the house.

[totalwildcard]

There was no such help for Harley. And yes, that did mean Bruce was being a very rude boy with the lack of assistance!

"Only way less English!" Harley noted.

As that was the main difference between her and Steven. Sure.

[hasaknightjob]

"You're not English?" Marc asked, as though this was new information.

Yes, basically the replay of her joke when he said he was Jewish but callbacks meant being a team or something? Marc was feeling his way around here. So to speak.

[totalwildcard]

Harley gave an exaggerated little gasp. Yes, both little and exaggerated. She had range!

"Is that gonna be a dealbreaker?" she asked, batting her lashes at him.