Chapter Text
Ivy’s mind gradually returned to the present as she thumbed over her injured knuckles. She stood in silence, leaning against the rail of the catwalk as she listened to the soft wind whistling around her through the dead city streets.
It was quiet tonight all things considered, the sirens in the distance were only a light cry, not a symphony of wailing screeches which assaulted the senses. The villain took a slow breath, trying to let herself relax from her troubled mind as she listened to the breeze—that was before there was a brief moment in which the wind rustled a bit of fabric on some clotheslines roped between buildings. It caused a terse bleat to be let out into the air around her, making Ivy tense on instinct. The sound had been just a bit too similar to that of a certain bat’s cape when he was right about to pounce from above.
The redhead had to tell her heart to stop pounding as she fought the instinct to whip around in search of him.
“Oh, to hell with that man!” Ivy seethed to herself quietly as she rubbed her eyes, with her good hand this time. The Batman had already done a number on her physically, why did he have to insist on venturing into her mind and polluting it with fear? Was she not allowed a moment’s peace to herself in his absence? He always did do his best work at night she supposed, whether that was jumping across rooftops beneath the moon or inviting himself into her paranoias like an unwelcomed shadow.
But now, it seemed, he did more than give her understandable apprehension towards the dark…now the bat was infesting her with doubt, plaguing her sleep with his self-righteous words of moral superiority like a pompous, black clad super-ego to her content id. That was a new low for him...
The villain sighed regrettably into her steaming mug as she took a hot sip. It was unusually chilly out for a summer night, but then again it always seemed to be cold in Gotham; woefully so. Clouds always hung in the sky like curtains, to the point one almost forgot what the sun looked like, no doubt from the ever-present smog choking the atmosphere and tampering with mother nature’s healing touch as she tried and failed to reach what was hers. To nurture her soil as it was meant to be nurtured…before the plague of man banished her from her own creation. Ivy detested this city, loathed every brick of the damn place, but as much as she hated it…she vowed to never leave its streets. She could complain all she liked but she had a job to do here; her disgust was precisely the reason she stayed: Gotham in all its rot and grime needed her saving the most. All be damned if the atmosphere made her want to curl up and cry most days, one day she’d restore this cesspool to its former glory. Make it the green paradise it once was, the paradise it never should have been robbed of. And if a certain dark knight didn’t keep getting in the way of her salvation…she could perhaps make it a paradise she could share with another…
Ivy’s fist clenched against the handle of her drink unconsciously as she felt the welts on her back, mementos of the petty squabble a few nights ago, hiss in anger at her routine failures. That damn cycle she couldn’t escape…as much as she tried. The cycle she feared she may very well be dragging another into.
Her teeth grit, glaring at nothing in anger as the back of her mind began to unconsciously prompt the weeds several stories below peaking out of the cracked pavement to unfurl like a blanket of frustration… before suddenly she felt a warmth.
That is, she felt herself being warmed…by the small set of arms, to be exact, appearing from behind to slowly curl around her waist in a small hug. The touch eased her muscles like a warm compress to an ache, soothing her down to her core and stilling her frothing rage. Better still, the girl’s sweet presence also seemed to chase her fears of the dark—the fear of him lurking in the shadows—away into a distant buzz in the back of her periphery.
The grin that pulled at poisonous lips was slow and fond as it was grateful. The botanist brought a hand up to stroke tenderly over a pale arm.
“Did I wake you?” Ivy asked. She felt the girl shake her head against her back. The movement was slow—Harleen wasn’t quite awake just yet.
“Nah, you didn’t,” the blonde mumbled, her pale cheek flush against her girlfriend’s back. Ivy could feel her voice vibrate as she spoke, what with her being so close. “…Just the lack of ya in bed,” Harleen drawled. Ivy didn’t need to see her to know there was a playful little pull at her lips. How she ached to kiss at that little pull; to take the girl into her arms and never let go. Refuse to let go.
“Sorry about that, peanut,” the villain cooed with a smirk, her own voice still a bit raspy from unuse in the midst of sleep. She grabbed a gentle hold of one of her flower’s hands to bring it up to her lips to plant a kiss over the knuckles. “Just needed to get some air…” she said simply enough, glancing passively up to the skyline.
Harleen was quiet as she rounded the tall woman to lean her back against the railing at Ivy’s side, palms wrapped around the cool metal as she looked the redhead over gently, yet somehow knowingly. Ivy could practically hear the gears turning in the shorter woman’s head. Thinking. Analyzing. Interpreting. The psychiatrist aspect never seemed to turn off, she thought to herself as the girl asked: “You doin’ all good, Ive?”
“Yeah. Yeah, it’s just my hand…it keeps hurting…” the botanist lied quickly. Partially at least…it was a somewhat true statement to be fair. “—I’ve been meaning to find a doctor to manipulate into fixing it for me,” she said in thought as she glanced down at her injury.
“Well, it won’t get any better in the meantime if you keep messing with it,” Harleen admonished fondly as she took hold of the wounded hand between her own two.
The blonde’s fingers were soft, so wonderfully soft as she readjusted the splint, all while the redhead watched her in a quiet endearment. She observed Harleen’s blue eyes squint with focus; she had her pink tongue slightly poked out between her pinker lips as she always did when she was concentrating hard. Ivy felt a tug in her chest as she felt her tender yearnings and affections slowly become tainted with a bitter sting, her thoughts wandering away from her without border. Her heart rumbled in her core like thunder, making her head dizzy and her knees weak. This hadn’t been the first time this odd emotion had happened before around the girl—in fact the first time it did happen, Ivy had feared she’d somehow lost her immunity and grew ill. That was until she came to realize what this complicated, and painful caving feeling in her chest was…
You see, Poison Ivy always feigned love when toying with her prey, when they were under the charms of her pheromones and hopelessly devoted to her without thought, like a dog to its master. She’d grown quite good at feigning love over the years of her career—Ivy actually prided herself on it from time to time—but real love itself had remained an emotion she admittedly had little experience with…if any. That’s how she knew she could feel it now.
Ivy knew that this pain, this guttural hole forming between her ribs was more than just infatuation towards the doctor—it wouldn’t be hurting this much if it were something as surface level as basic desire. No, no emotion the redhead had ever experienced before made her so warm like this; made her want to laugh, to scream, to grin, sob, faint, and be sick so aggressively like this before. It couldn’t be anything other than love... Ivy was absolutely sure of that.
She couldn’t tell if coming to that realization was a blessing or a curse. Sure, she wasn’t wasting her time experimenting on herself to find any biological ailments stirring up her loss of appetite, that was good, but now she lay with the predicament of restricting this revelation of love to herself. The woman could swear somedays she was so fit to burst she could just scream but…suffering in silence, keeping such raw, such frightening personal feelings to herself seemed like the less distressful option all things considered. The thought of how Harleen would react to such a confession rattled her far worse than having to keep secret her true feelings. And besides, keeping it all to herself for now allowed her to keep up the fantasy of living out a ‘casual’ relationship like this. If the girl suspected it ran any deeper, it threatened to ruin their dynamic at its core—
Yes, keeping quiet was less painful for both parties, Ivy rationalized to herself, just as her chest tightened itself.
“—Why does the Batman have to be such an ass?” Harleen’s words broke the villain from her wandering thoughts like a warm touch to chilled skin. Ivy snickered, welcoming the invitation back into the waking world. “You have no idea,” she drawled wryly.
“You really used to have a crush on him?” Harleen eyed her with a sly pull at her lips, amusement sparkling over her features like a high schooler sharing gossip in the school locker-room.
The redhead blushed, glancing away in a rare moment of shyness that the blonde was always admittedly delighted to see. “Heh yeah…” Ivy confirmed, holding her mug to her chest, uncharacteristically sheepish. “It was a long time ago. I was just starting out in the city,” she reminisced, her tone airy and distant as she recalled the—only slightly embarrassing—cocksure naivete of her early career. “He was the only one who had ever resisted my charms before. He still is, to be fair. That aspect made him tantalizing to me, I suppose. There was an intrigue there, a challenge,” Ivy acknowledged, glancing up absentmindedly to the winged symbol in the sky, unable to help but wonder what exactly made him so special, so resolute in the face of her abilities. “But it was a novelty that didn’t last…” her voice drifted off coldly as her eyes narrowed at the spotlighted clouds.
Harleen hummed softly in response, thinking. “I like guys with abs—” she said as she finally finished up with Ivy’s hand. Even after giving it a glance over she seemed reluctant to let it go just yet, opting to simply hold it in her gentle grasp pleasantly.“—But sculpting them onto your body armor is just another level of ego I don’t think I have the patience for”
Ivy chuckled warmly, green eyes twinkling as she gazed down at the cute girl. “I know I certainly don’t,” she agreed crisply.
The doctor looked up to her comfortably as the air whistled around them like an afterthought. Any false alarms of fluttering fabric fell on deaf ears as Ivy felt the girl bring her lips to her dressed hand, leaving them there even after she’d kissed it better. She just enjoyed the touch it seemed. The closeness. Harleen was thankful that Ivy had come to her in such a great time of need instead of powering through it and getting into more trouble as she typically did. She adored that level of trust the redhead gave to her, with her entire heart, so glad to play a part in keeping her safe.
“Everything else, ok?” the young woman mumbled against Ivy’s hand after some time, those blue eyes shining up at her like sweet saucers as they searched the redhead’s face for discontent.
“Yeah, the bruises are finally going down on my bac—”
“No,” Harleen interrupted gently. “I mean… is there something on your mind? Actually, you know what? Scratch that—pretend that wasn’t a question. I know you got something on your mind, red; I can see it in your eyes,” the girl accused with a tender steadiness. It might have been the dead of night but that didn’t seem to stop the good doctor from putting her psychiatric face on. “What’s bothering you? This isn’t the first night you’ve been having trouble staying asleep…” she said, cognizant of the woman’s puffy eyes each morning they’d awoken together since her incident, despite Ivy’s best efforts to hide her exhaustion. She may have been a supervillain, but she could be such a terrible liar sometimes…
Her girlfriend looked at her, before her focus fell to her drink, uncharacteristically hesitant as she bit her scarlet lip. The redhead took a long, slow sip from it, thinking hard about her words before she dared to voice them into the air. When there was nothing left in the mug to stall for time with, she let out a slow breath. “Daffod—Harleen…” she began as best she could, the uncertainty in her throat felt foreign to her, as was the odd pit in her stomach. “Is what we have…what I give you fulfilling?” she asked gingerly, green eyes traveling back up slowly to stare with a sharp and —if her girlfriend hadn’t know better—apprehensive severity.
Harleen blinked, before she couldn’t help but snort with a crooked, stupefied grin. “What?” she asked, taken aback by the suddenness of such a question. “What do you mean?” she quirked her brow. “Like you railing me? Um yeah! I’d say it’s fullfilling as hell—”
“No!” the villain cut her off, a bit more of exasperated than she had intended to let on. Ivy caught herself with a huff, her cheeks hot as she ran a hand through her hair. “N-no I mean, do…? Is our…?” It wasn’t that she couldn’t think of what to say, it was just that she had so many thoughts rattling around in her head none could decide which would like a turn out of her mouth first. Ivy could feel herself growing hot from the inside out, like her fight or flight instincts were cooking her willpower into a passive crisp. She instantly regretted even attempting to voice her true thoughts.
Ivy shook her head indignantly. “You know what? I don’t even know what I mean, just forget it,” she said briskly, retreating swiftly into the apartment. “I’m half asleep, I’m rambling,” she dismissed herself as she entered back into the living room brazenly, not daring to steal a glance back at the girl.
She didn’t get far though…
The blonde was all too close at her heels.
“Hey! Hey now, wait a minute!” Harleen said, giving a soft tug at her elbow. Ivy seemed to be in the mood to talk fortunately, else the girl doubted a simple grip on her arm could have stopped her from storming off if she truly wanted the conversation to end there. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to offend you,” the doctor said, her brows knitting themselves into that little sympathetic crease they always did when she felt bad. “Talk to me, red. I want to listen…” she insisted gently. Green eyes attempted to turn away again before a soft hand came up to stop her cheek, holding it softly and urging the woman to keep her head still and look back. Ivy glanced down to see the shorter woman stretching up to reach her. She had a good half a foot on her girlfriend (even more when Harleen wasn’t wearing heels) and it only worked to make the girl all the more endearing to look at…and all the more aching for her pained heart.
“Ivy?” Harleen uttered, her voice so soft, like flower petals fluttering against one another in the autumn breeze. How could a voice be so comforting? Ivy thought, it wasn’t fair. “Please…” she whispered, her breath warm against green skin.
The villain looked to her for a moment, before stubbornly letting out a soft breath. She rested her hand over the one at her cheek using the small surge of encouragement the touch gave her to quickly blurt out before fear had a chance to tighten her throat: “Ismylifetoomuchforyou?”
Harleen blinked again, a bit staggered by the sheer bluntness of the unexpected question, but unlike last time—although she was just as confused by this question as she was the last—she was more careful to mind her words. There was only so much floorspace in her apartment for Ivy to storm off to after all.
“Define too much?” the blonde began calmly enough.
“Well…” Ivy said, her breath flustered lightly as it left her. She stepped away to set her mug aside on the little living room coffee table, returning a moment later with her good hand left flat at the small of her back as she faced the girl strictly. “—Me showing up to your apartment in the dead of night half alive for one?” she started with a light huff. “Asking you to patch me up…getting bloodstains on your rug?” her words grew a bite as she spoke, as the bitterness towards herself began to seep in. As her fear of the validity of the bat’s words poked at her psyche. “—Having to wait until the sun goes down to go out with me? Ducking between alleys to avoid police cruisers when we go on dates? Fuck, I’m hiding from an entire city-wide search in your living room!” she cried, exasperated as she began pacing around the small space indignantly. “I mean Jesus Harleen, you’re my damn therapist! We met in an insane asylum of all places! Have you ever stopped and thought if you’re really content with that?” she asked cuttingly, her voice elevating as her passions rose. It sent a wave of nervous hesitation through the blonde she wasn’t prepared for.
Harleen blushed a bit uncomfortably, remaining silent for a while before speaking… admittedly unsure of what to say.
She was hesitant to confirm that yes, yes she had indeed pondered her situation of secretly dating her patient before, many a restless night. Hesitant because of the reason behind her contentment upon which she’d concluded: the feelings she harbored for said patient. Those deep, consuming, and terrifying feelings that nipped at her heart and kept her awake until the sun rose on some nights. Those undeniable feelings of love so strong they threatened to tear from her throat and be sung out in triumph if she wasn’t careful. If she wasn’t so fearful. It was fear keeping those feelings forbidden from being voiced aloud. Fear of this incredible woman’s reaction, and the fear of losing her completely if she didn’t feel the same. Harleen just wasn’t ready to be that brave yet…
It was times like this Harleen hated herself for being so cowardly, as she countered the truth with a question of her own. “Red, where is this all coming from?” Admittedly she was curious as to why this was such an insecurity to the botanist all of a sudden, when the redhead had never shown much regard for bending the structure of their dynamic before. In fact, Ivy had always delighted in this forbidden little workplace relationship they’d been brewing together for almost a year. To see the redhead suddenly question the ethics of it seemed so…unlike her.
Ivy only shook her head in response, not answering as she turned her back to the other woman. She folded her arms tightly across her chest, taking a few deep breaths to steady herself. Somehow, she found it easier to talk to Harleen when she didn’t have to look at her, at those delicate eyes watching her so wide and blue—like ice about to shatter and puncture her skin.
“I’ve just been thinking lately…” Ivy went on slowly, trying to pace her pounding heart before it burst from her chest. “This life that you’ve been sharing with me for the past month…I know it’s not what you’re used to having—it’s so violently different from what you’re used to having. It’s…well it’s violent for one,” she attested, feeling how her injured hand still throbbed with pain, and how she could have sworn it throbbed more when Harleen had first seen it; when Ivy had heard that little gasp of alarm and that broken look of worry in those sweet sapphire eyes. This wasn’t the first wound Harleen had dressed and it wasn’t going to be the last.
“I just…I just want you to know what you’re getting into with me. My work, my purpose in this city…it doesn’t leave room for any white picket fences Harleen,” Ivy said gravely. “What we have together is fun of course, but it won’t come with all the neat ends you might expect it too,” the redhead had to take pauses in her speech in fear her voice may crack. She could feel her heart in her throat as she struggled to push voice past it, “I just don’t want you assuming anything about where this could lead the two of us…”
“Ivy…” Harleen uttered softly, stepping closer yet hesitant to touch the taller woman just yet. “Are you trying to say you regret…bringing me into your life?” the girl said, unable to hide the hint of hurt in her tone.
“No!” Ivy gasped as she spun on her heel to face the shorter woman, green eyes wide. “No, I don’t at all,” she assured instantly, cupping a palm around the space between her cheek and her neck. “I just…maybe I was too eager to consider all the consequences when we got into this,” she admitted, a gentle, shameful blush nipping at her cheeks.
“You mean him?” Harleen quirked her head, taking the woman’s injured hand gently in her own. “You mean you didn’t consider he could do this to me if we got into trouble?” she asked, her brows raised questioningly as she held Ivy’s palm up high. “If you got me into trouble?” the girl’s voice was soft. The redhead only glanced away, her face burning lightly as she said nothing.
A moment of silence lingered around them like an itchy blanket, before Harleen carefully broke it. “Is that what this is all about? You’re worried I’ll get hurt…because of you?” she asked, mulling the conclusion over a bit in her mind before, admittedly, she couldn’t help but find it all to be a bit ironic. “Heh…” she laughed flatly, “heheh…I thought I was supposed to be the one who was hesitant about being naughty?” Harleen recalled wryly, thinking back on conversation’s they’d shared together; how Ivy would like to tease her about joining in her antics, being partners in crime just the two of them, taking on the city all their own. A little motley crew of two. The blonde had admittedly been hesitant at first, but with each mischievous little outing they’d taken as a couple in the past few weeks, the more fun it had honestly become. She didn’t imagine herself going all the way or course, but she was certainly enjoying going out on the town with her scary supervillain-girlfriend privileges to say the least. Creeps thought twice about approaching her when she was on the redhead’s arm. Could you really blame her for wanting to indulge a bit?
“What happened to that ‘devil-may-care’ Ivy always goading me into running the red lights?” the girl teased, kindly. “Who’s this big, cute softy in her boots?” she flashed the taller woman a crooked grin, reaching up on her toes to tuck a bit of red hair behind Ivy’s ear affectionately.
Ivy only remained silent, still unable to meet her blue eye as her gaze remained fixed to the corner wall.
A sympathetic half smile was felt tugging into Harleen’s cheek before she gave a light sigh through her nose. Wordlessly she gave a soft tug on the woman’s arm and led her to the little, worn couch where they settled down together. Not only was reclining on something soft less confrontational than standing one another down to discuss such raw feelings, but the physicality of their knees touching, of Harleen’s thigh pressing into the redhead’s, their shoulders just kissing was a surer way to loosen Ivy’s tongue more naturally, the doctor concluded.
“Ives…when I agreed we date I knew I wasn’t gonna be signin’ up for neat ends, ya know that right?” she started. “I signed up for you,” Harleen said squeezing a palm around the woman’s knee as she tried to catch the botanist’s gaze. She fussed lightly with a lock of red hair which had spooled over Ivy’s shoulder to better see her face…but her pale hand seemed to linger there even after moving it. “That means I’m up to take falling asleep to movies together, and hiding in a broom closet at the mall after some shmo calls the cops for recognizing ya,” she grinned as she recalled the memory of the two them pressed up in the cramped little room trying not to laugh as cops stomped around aimlessly in search of them. Harleen laughed softly to herself, the sound finally encouraging the villain to steal a ginger peak at her with a wary green eye.
“You know,” the girl went on, “getting into a little mischief with you hasn’t been as bad as I think you’re stressing it is,” she offered up, with a small shrug.
“Are you serious?” Ivy shot a stupefied look towards her. “I almost lost circulation in my arm the first time you ran errands with me in Park Row you were gripping onto me so tightly. Harl you were terrified,” she uttered, her brow knit together at the memory, “I’ll never forget that look in your eye…”
“Ok yeah maybe I was a bit scared shitless…” the girl yielded, pulling at the collar of her shirt, “but only because that was the first time we ever did something like that! That was before I realized I had no reason to be afraid with you there with me,” she insisted, her focus fixed and intent on her listening girlfriend. “Red, I know you’ll protect me from anything when the time comes… hell I’ve seen it before. Remember those guys that were catcalling me that one time? You fucking ripped their car apart like paper with the celery we got from the bodega, it was—well kind of scary, but kind of sweet!” she admitted, bothering with her yellow hair before continuing sheepishly, “it might have…turned me on a little,” she mumbled quietly.
Ivy raised a brow to that.
“Bats can’t come anywhere close to me with you around, and that’s a fact,” Harleen argued. “And besides, I doubt he’d get the jump on me with that loud ass costume of his”
“What are you talking about? He’s as silent as a shadow,” the redhead shot her a quizzical look. The blonde tsked. “Maybe to some people but I can always hear his boots squeaking when he’s coming up on me…it’s creepy,” she shivered.
The redhead sat regarding her oddly for a moment, before uttering a thoughtful, “huh….”
Blue eyes glanced to the side as Harleen chewed her lip for a moment, quiet as she thought, working up the nerve to admit aloud:
“And ya know…being with you has made me a lot more confident than I used to be,” she began, shyly curling a bit of yellow hair behind her ear. “Ivy, you do realize that when I’m hanging with you, we get to do whatever we want, right? Wherever we want…and not give any damn who knows it. Do you have any idea how cool that is!?” Harleen said, a slow smile spreading over her lips as the thought appealed to her. “Red we get to make the city our bitch together! Being girlfriends with a flaming hot cutie pie is just the pick me up,” she gave the woman a gentle shove to the shoulder to which Ivy couldn’t help but snicker lightly at.
“I do enjoy when you tag along with me in the city…” Ivy had to admit, the blush creeping at her cheeks not unpleasant. Harleen matched her smile, “And look around red—” she said gesturing out to her cramped apartment, the walls spawning spots of off-colored white paint the landlord hadn’t bothered to match after previous tenants had left some kind of stain. “I’m boring as hell!”
“You’re not boring, Harl,” Ivy admonished gently, a bit offended for the girl’s sake. Harleen shot her a skeptical brow and a curved lip of doubt. “You’re quaint!” Ivy argued, “there’s a difference.”
Harleen tsked. “Only if you say so,” lifting her legs to casually cross them over the woman’s lap comfortably. She folded her arms over the backrest of the couch, resting her chin on them as she turned her head to look sideways at her girlfriend watching her with such busy green eyes. Her thoughts always seemed to be so busy these days, Harleen reflected. It was flattering they seemed to be about her, she supposed, but it all felt so very unwarranted. She gave a weak sigh.
“Look Pam…I love this life you’re letting me share with you. It’s not easy yeah but…fuck, like my life before was any easier?” she asked. “I was living paycheck to paycheck in a shit apartment at a job that gives me nightmares. I mean…that’s still my life but now you’re in it,” she said, placing a hand across the woman’s chest, right over her pounding heart hanging on her every word.
“That difference means the world to me Ives, ok? I don’t want to give that up for anything. So what if you get bloodstains on my carpet, that’s what I got bleach for!” she exclaimed, shrugging her arms out wide. “Red, you give me the freedom to be who I am…I can’t tell you how special that is to me,” Harleen uttered, fragile eyes looking up to connect to her girlfriend’s. She watched as Ivy’s lips slightly part, stunted for words. Harleen took advantage of the silence to lean forward and connect their lips, smiling softly into the kiss when she felt the woman push back into her. They locked eyes when they pulled apart. “I wouldn’t trade anything for this…alright? So stop beating yourself up…the Batman already does that enough for you,” she finished.
Ivy’s trance of endeared awe finally broke as she chuckled wryly at the blonde’s words. “Like you wouldn’t believe…” she agreed in a murmur, her voice almost tired as some of the tension in her body left her. She sighed, her shoulders loosing the rigidity she hadn’t realized they’d been holding as she held her flower’s cheek in her palm. “Thanks daffodil,” she almost whispered. The girl responded with a grin and an eager kiss on the forehead.
Harleen gazed at her softly for a moment, before helping herself to the woman’s lap properly, wrapping her arms around Ivy’s shoulders to kiss her. She hummed as hands found her lower back, palming her appreciatively. The girl nuzzled her head below the metahuman’s chin when they pulled apart. She shut her eyes, just listening to the thrum inside Ivy’s chest slowly steady itself out.
“How’s it all goin up there, blossom butt?” the girl asked after some time of peaceful quiet, combing a hand through her girl’s wild crimson hair, soft as it left her fingers. “Feel any better with all that off your chest?”
“A little…maybe?” the redhead yielded honestly, a soft sigh on her lips. “It’s hard to tell, it just feels like I have this pit in my stomach,” she said, her hands stroking over Harleen’s back. She felt her giggle before the sound hit her ears.
“Maybe that’s just you bein’ hungry~” the blonde teased, pulling back to shoot her a playful grin. “How about we go grab some Italian?” she drawled, a coy mischievousness to her eye.
“Harls it’s four in the morning,” Ivy argued rationally, though amusement couldn’t help but pull at the corner of her lips, eager to see what the girl’s train of thought was.
“So?” Harleen scoffed. “I’m sure they’ll open up if we knock on the door loud enough” she declared, already sitting up from the woman’s lap to retreat back into the bedroom. “Makin us something quick’ll be an easier affair than calling the cops on us,” she said over her shoulder as she opened her closet door to fish for something to wear. “They’ll realize that faster this time. They catch on quick,” she gave a little wink to the redhead watching her through the doorway.
Ivy chuckled at her confidence. She wore it well. “Only if you say so” she cooed, yielding to her girl’s whims. She was granted a roll of blue eyes and a giggle as the redhead stood from the couch to ambly stride after the blonde shucking off the oversized t-shirt she wore for pajamas.
Harleen moved to fetch a bra from the dresser, but the thing never made it to her shoulders…
A green hand placed itself atop her own, earning the attention of blue eyes that glanced behind her shoulder to see the taller woman standing right behind her, a cool expression on her brow as she looked her down silently. Harleen looked to her curiously, slowly relenting the article from her grasp without a word. The corner of poisonous lips grinned as Ivy silently waited. The girl got the message and raised her hands for the redhead to delicately slide the thing over her exposed arms.
The botanist moved slowly, careful to let just a bit of the fabric drag over the top of Harleen’s arms, giving her a delicious shiver that wracked over her form. When it was around her properly, Ivy leant forward to place a kiss over her bare shoulder, her fingers latching the bra closed at her back as the stickiness of her venom coated lips left a harmless tingle over her skin.
Harleen felt her breath stunt in her chest at the touch of her nails ghosting over her spine. Ivy suppressed a chuckle in her throat. She continued to linger there for a few moments, just the tips of her fingers hovering over the girl’s back before they smoothed around her front to hold around her waist with flat, possessive palms. Harleen acutely became aware of her heart picking up pace as those hands smoothed over her belly, gradually coming up to hug over her chest. She was also aware she was only sporting a bra and a pair of red panties at the moment. Somehow, she still found herself to be burning hot.
She became even hotter when the redhead sauntered away to fetch a shirt lazily left on the edge of the bed, returning moments later to slide it over that golden head. Harleen gasped as nimble fingers brushed against her neck to free her trapped hair of the fabric. Ivy allowed herself a crooked smile, using the knuckle of one of her fingers to tilt the girl’s chin up for a swift kiss. Harleen could have melted into it, she had to stop herself from groaning audibly when Ivy pulled away all too quickly.
The villain smirked her down, using her hand to softly push at the girl’s chest. She didn’t need much force—Harleen got the message and fell back onto the mattress behind her, her wide eyes shining in the low light and expectant.
Hands soon found her though, smoothing leisurely up the waiting flesh to be followed by a pair of shorts. The hands adorning them strayed further past their destination, brushing over her underwear for just a moment before disappearing as the bottoms were set. Ivy lingered there to hover over the girl, a hand beside her head held up her weight and worked to trap the blushing blonde beneath her.
“Uh…Red?” Harleen uttered, her face a lovely shade of pink.
“Yes, pretty girl?” The woman uttered back demurely.
“Why are you getting me dressed if you’re just trying to get me hot and bothered?” she asked breathlessly, a heartbeat between her legs.
“Because–” the villain began coyly, moving to sit against the headboard of the mattress. “I’m going to lay on this bed, get myself comfortable, and watch you undress for me. Slowly~” she all but purred. “Then, I’m going to fuck you, dress you up all nice and pretty again, and then take you out for a very early breakfast,” she said eloquently, resting back elegantly with a cross of her legs. “Sound like a plan pretty one?”
Harleen was all too enthusiastically in board. “Yes mommy!” the girl gasped her face already flushed as she immediately reached for the hem of the shirt just donned to her torso, lifting it back over her head…slowly of course. Though, first she stopped half-way to look the woman hard in the eye. “But just a quickie, I want breadsticks,” she said her brows low and serious.
Ivy chuckled warmly, a glad sound. “Yes doctor~” she hummed, shifting back to watch her girl with a comfortable fold of her arms. Harleen giggled softly as she continued.
It’s said the definition of insanity is to do the same thing repeatedly, whilst expecting to find different results. Most of the rogues gallery were famously insane. They fell victim to the pattern of crime, bat, asylum, repeat, all while believing with each next attempt, their outcome would be different, their victory assured.
Ivy wasn’t insane. Because she knew for a fact that with Harleen by her side, her outcome would be different.
Her life as it was was already so drastically different from what it had been just a little over a year ago. Since this odd blonde—the one failing to balance on one leg as she took her pants off, falling to the ground in a fit of laughter—had come into her life a wrench had been thrown into Ivy’s monotonous cycle of life.
It was because of Harleen that Ivy had somewhere safe to stay this time, else the redhead was sure she’d have been caught and thrown back into a leaking cell by now. It was because of Harleen she was more particular on when she decided to pick fights in public, lowering her chances of getting flagged by the bat. It was because of Harleen she didn’t have to nurse her wounds alone with only her own sobs of pain to keep her company.
With her around, Ivy knew she was sane after all.
Instead of wallowing in rage and a bruised ego alone in the dark after a failed outing, seeping lower into the grasp of her tragic fate, she was getting a very pretty girl short of breath and squirming under her touch just for her to see.
The redhead wanted Harleen more than anything, and from what she could gather, Harleen wanted her back a great deal. If the Batman had any objections, Ivy dared him to try and act on them. Just as the girl said, she’d always be there to protect her— whether that be from him or anyone else senseless enough to even try coming close to her little sunflower. So what if they got into a little trouble together? Harleen needn’t worry herself about the dangers, she could just embrace having fun. And Ivy could embrace the fun of just being with her. It was a win-win.
She saw the situation with new eyes as the two left the apartment, hands interlocked and laughter to be shared into the quiet. Their relationship, Ivy’s influence over the girl wasn’t tearing her down, it built Harleen up. It built the redhead up too to be fair. The girl got her freedom, her fun, without any cares to be had while she got to pass her evenings with such an amazing treasure.
Truly…what was the worst that could happen…?