Apartment Above Needful Things; Monday Afternoon

[totalwildcard]

Soooooo... Harley no longer had a headache? And okay, maybe talking to Atton the day before had helped, a little, something. But come Monday, she was still in something of a blanket goblin mode, huddled in her apartment with comfort snacks and Bruce and bad reality TV reruns.

She'd pick herself up by her bootstraps tomorrow, okay? It was coming, cross her heart! Soon!

Just... maybe not yet.

So far, for Monday, having made it to the couch instead of the bed seemed like enough progress.

(for a guy that knows who he is, and lotsa slow play)

Comments

[totalwildcard]

"But you're a person," Harley pointed out. Helpfully.

(Maybe not really.)

[hasaknightjob]

"I don't do so great when I try to be," Marc said.

[totalwildcard]

"Okay, well, lemme ask this one," Harley replied. "Whose fuckin' tool do ya think you're being right now?"

[hasaknightjob]

"Khonshu's," Marc said. "Just 'cause he's not asking something this second doesn't mean that changes."

[totalwildcard]

"So ya stayed 'cause Khonshu told you so?"

She did not like she was asking that in earnest.

[hasaknightjob]

"Alive? Yeah," Marc said, thinking she was talking about his deal.

[totalwildcard]

Surprise! Harley was not!

"Today," she said, "in my bed. Yanno, just now, when I almost made ya leave? Or earlier on the couch?"

[hasaknightjob]

"Got it," Marc said. Then he couldn't help himself, "Be funny if the answer was yes."

[totalwildcard]

"No it wouldn't," Harley replied, with a big frown that meant she was serious. "'Cause that'd mean you'd be exactly as fucked as you already play at bein', and it'd mean the only person carin' about me today was only here 'cause some divine asshat told him to!"

[hasaknightjob]

Marc instinctively hugged Harley closer in response.

"Nah, it was me," Marc said. "Whether that's a good thing is your call I guess."

[totalwildcard]

"Yeah, it is my call," Harley replied without missing a beat, "and it is good, thanks. Whether ya can get it in your big head that ya mean something or not."

[hasaknightjob]

"What am I not meaning?" Marc asked, curious.

[totalwildcard]

"Wha?" Harley replied intelligently, before she thankfully figured out where the confusion was. "No, I meant, you. Mean something. To me."

Maybe one day she'd figure out a more straightforward way to express herself when it came to this particular thing, but she sure as hell wasn't there yet.

[hasaknightjob]

Marc took that in, seeing how it felt.

"Because I'm one of your people," he said.

Look, he wanted to be sure he understood it right. He'd gotten a lot wrong so far. No harm in checking.

[totalwildcard]

"Yeah," Harley said. "Exactly."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc let that roll around in his head.

"I'll try not to let that blow up in your face," he told her.

From him that meant something.

[totalwildcard]

And Harley knew that, too.

So there was something a little softer about her when she replied, "Okay. Good. 'Cause a girl can only take so much of that before she starts losin' it, yanno?"

Not that the state of her place right now was an indication of that, or anything.

[hasaknightjob]

Marc hugged her closer. If there was a feeling of him keeping her under his cape wing, so to speak, well that might not be coming out of nowhere.

"I don't like anybody messing with my people," he said. "Even me."

[totalwildcard]

Harley sure seemed to be trying to curl up into his embrace as if he could keep her at least moderately protected, yeah.

"Promise?" she muttered.

[hasaknightjob]

"Promise," he said. He rubbed her back in an easy, circular motion. "I'll try not to fuck it up too bad."

[totalwildcard]

"That's all I'm askin'."

Don't look too closely at how sad that might be.

[hasaknightjob]

She was looking to Marc for better things in her life, he didn't need help to know how sad it was.

"There ya go on what I've got to give," Marc said. Meaning it could be added to the list. "I can try."

[totalwildcard]

Harley pressed a little kiss against his chest.

Said how she felt about that.

[hasaknightjob]

"What was it gonna look like?" Marc asked.

It was a sequitur in his head.

[totalwildcard]

Harley craned her neck to look up at him with a 'bwuh?' sort of noise.

Absolutely no connection in her head.