"EEEEE!" she squealed. A vine had wrapped around her ankle, and when she looked back up the door was open. It was Ivy. 'Well duh of course it was' she thought. Her eyes welled with tears.
"Harley? What are you doing here?" Ivy really didn't need to ask. She knew. It was the look Harley had in her eyes. It was how she was dressed. It was her muddied face and bruised arm. She wasn't an idiot, infact quite the opposite.
"RED!" the over joyous Quinn jumped and ran into Ivy's arms. Ivy could hear her sniffle and knew that she would have to deal with this mess. 'Greeaat…' she thought. Once every few months Harley would stop by with the same problem. By now Ivy was simply fed up with it and didn't want to argue with Harley about "Puddin" and how he treats her.
"Ya know, normally when you hug people, ya wrap your arms around em too ya know" Harley half joked, half implied. Ivy rolled her eyes, but embraced a broken Quinn. Above all else, through thick and thin, no matter how stubborn and stupid the blond could be sometimes, Ivy always caved in with her. She could never be mad at her for long and always came around to forgiving Harley for whatever idiotic mistake she made. "Red", she mumbled while burying her face in Ivy's shoulder. "I reeaaally screwed up this time". Ivy had a hint at what this meant, but she was still contemplating it.
~KUUDCHANG~ The metal door gently closed. Harley instantly ran and dove into what seemed to be a couch. It was covered in leaves and flowers but it was better than the muddy ground on the side of a road that's for sure. "YYOWCH" the clown screamed, "something poked me!". "Did you not see the thorny roses and vines on the cushions before jumping on?" Ivy partly scolded, partly informed. Quinn pouted, stood up, and rebuked "Well I'm not the one who put thornies on a couch!". Before Ivy completely started a shouting match with the broken Harley, she took a deep breath, and took a second to recollect herself.
"Did you need something?" she gritted her teeth. She still wondered why there was a half beaten clown in her house. "Mistah J kicked me out again…" Harley could instantly feel Ivy's glare and eye rolling. "And this time I think he's permanently done with me…" she trailed off. She was expecting an argument right now. She was mentally preparing for a shout out and was ready to defend herself against a rash and stubborn plant hybrid. She had almost opened her mouth to get her two cents in before Red had a chance to start lecturing. But to her surprise, Ivy didn't scold her or even say a single word. She simply walked up to Harley, and hugged her.
"Uhh.. Red? You okay?" Quinn questioned in skepticism. This had never happened before. There wasn't any yelling or scolding. Just a consoling Ivy and a broken Harley. "I told you this would happen. Now look at you" the redhead softly chided. She could feel the blond's tears on her shoulder and her slight shaking and sniffling. "Come on, theres a shower upstairs" Ivy informed, slightly pulling away and trying to look at Quinn's face. "I'm sure I have a change of clean clothes somewhere around here too". Harley looked at Ivy in disbelief. 'What?' she thought. Since when had Red ever been that nice to her? No argument, no lecture, and a bath?
~EEEIK EEEIK CCHH~ The shower nozzle turned on. "AAHH HOT WATER!" Harley shouted joyously. At this point she had no remembrance of her last bath. She didn't care, the hot water felt good. She washed her makeup off and took out her pigtails. She felt like every inch of her was filthy and so thirty minutes later, she was still in there, scrubbing and washing away.
"Hey, Harleen, don't wash yourself down the drain in there" Ivy teased behind the door. "Sticks and stones Red!" the blond shouted back. In one loud squeak, she turned off the shower and began drying herself. She looked in the landscape styled long mirror on the wall. Were the bruises and marks really that bad? Yes. Yes they were. There were even handprint bruises along her torso and arms. She had a black eye and little scrapes dotting her face. Not to mention a completely bruised left cheek. At Least half, if not more, of her body was covered in black and blue splotches and swells.
~KREEEEK~ she opened the bathroom door. On the ground there was a white t-shirt and a pair of black basketball shorts. "Nothin fancy but it'll do" she whispered to herself. She looked back at her clown themed get-up. It was destroyed. Rips and tears everywhere. Not only from the accident, but also from the two grunts that beat her and did various other things. She shivered thinking about it. The, now clean, Quinn put on the shirt and shorts and didnt bother to tie her hair back up into pigtails.
"Red!" she called. She went stumbling around looking for a redheaded plant hybrid. Ivy was cleaning up the living room for Harley, and made her a bowl of soup with some of her magically (and scientifically) enhanced roots and herbs to help the femme clown heal up and rest.
"What smells so good?" Harley queried excitedly. "I made you something to eat and cleaned the living room of my 'thornies' and roses" Ivy said matter of factly. Harley could barely verbalise a "THANKS RED!" before diving straight towards the bowl and curling up on the couch. Ivy wouldn't have admitted it, but she was happy that Harley was there with her. She wasn't exactly happy about the circumstances, but after a while, talking to plants can get a bit boring. And Harley was the polar opposite of boring. So Ivy admired her for that.
Ivy sat down on the couch next to her much welcomed guest. She looked over and could see markings and bruises up Quinn's legs and arms, as well as red swells on her neck. Normally when Harley stayed at Ivy's, it was after a falling out with Joker. So Ivy really wasn't surprised this time. Normally there'd be some long motherly lecture about how he was bad for her and how she should take better care of herself. But this time, something was different. Ivy didn't want to yell at the poor broken Quinn girl. She looked over at Harley again. To say she was mad wouldn't do her emotions justice. But instead of starting an argument, she simply started with
"You want to talk about it?". Wanna talk about it? Of course Harley wanted to talk about it. She just didn't have the energy to say anything. Putting the now empty soup bowl on the coffee table, Harley looked at Ivy, and simply replied "Maybe tomorrow okay Red?". Ivy could take a hint. Harley was obviously very uncomfortable about everything and probably still needed time to process everything that happened. "Well…" she started. "Your welcome to stay as long as you need to". "Of course I am ya big dope" Harley jokingly taunted Ivy. She then threw her a huge smile and laid back on the couch. Ivy went to go and get some blankets and a spare pillow for the now extremely sleepy Quinn.
When she got back to the living room, her guest was already asleep. So she opened the blanket and laid it carefully atop the peacefully resting girl. But when Ivy looked down, something was different. She felt it. Something about how she looked at Harley had changed. But what was it? What exactly was she feeling? She didn't know. Part of her wanted to suppress it, but the other part wanted to let whatever she felt grow into something bigger.
Ivy looked at Quinn's youthful face and blond hair. It wasn't in her pigtails and was kind of strewn around on her face and the couch. "If it wasn't for her bruises" the plant hybrid thought to herself, "She would look absolutely-" she stopped thinking immediately. What was she doing? Why did she have this thought. She looked back at the Quinn girl. She wouldn't have admitted it but she studied Harley's chin and neck and chest, and stopped where the blanket had started (on her higher abdomen). What was she doing? And suddenly, without her even thinking about it, she bent over, brushed the hair off of Harley's right cheek, and kissed it. She stood still for a second. Shocked at what just happened. She didn't know why she did it, but it felt like something was telling her to. She slowly walked to her bed, hoping that maybe this was all a dream. She was just thankful that Quinn was asleep.
Harley woke up with a loud yawn. She scanned her surroundings, almost lost for minute, before remembering where she was. There were thick curtains over all the windows so she couldn't tell what time of day it was. She clumsily stood up, almost losing her balance twice, and walked towards the closest window. She pulled back the curtain, and bright light flushed the room. She cringed and squinted her eyes. "AAHH" she squealed. Her fresh woken eyes weren't prepared or adjusted to the sunlight and it felt like "hot coins were placed on her eyeballs" she thought.
"You okay in there?" she could hear Ivy yell from outside the window. She was watering her garden outside and fertilizing a new section of the yard to grow a bigger natural fruit and vegetable farm. "THE SUN!" Harley cried. She threw the curtain back, dove for the couch and covered her eyes.
Ivy walked in after finishing up her garden and saw that Harley was missing from the living room. She walked into the kitchen and, sure enough, there the blond was. Digging in cupboards for cereal and a big bowl. "What are you doing?" The redhead watched in amazement at how intensely Harley was 'preparing' her breakfast. Breakfast was also a loose term as it was somewhere around 1 in the afternoon. Harley ripped open the box and poured half of it into a bowl. "Are you really going to eat that much?" Ivy questioned in bafflement. But Harley's meal didn't end there. She opened the refrigerator and pulled out ice cream and whipped cream. "Oh No" the redhead mumbled to herself.
It always baffled Ivy how Harley could eat so much junk food and still be thin and keep a figure. 'Insanity burns calories' was always Harleys montra. After watching Harley's sugary splurge, Ivy made herself a fruit salad and sat in the living room. She decided to take a break after working so hard all morning. She turned on the tv and switched to the news channel. She loved it when reporters would talk about her latest crime or destruction spree. "The hunt for Ivy is still on. Investigators are still unsure how famed eco terrorist and Arkham escapee Pamela Isley, AKA Poison Ivy, managed to destroy a local Wayne Ent-" the news reporter informed. Just three days ago Ivy had managed to sneak past Wayne Enterprises advanced security systems and destroy multiple oil rigs and refineries as well as a chemical plant. She loved causing havoc in Gotham, however not for the sake of chaos. Atleast not entirely. She felt like it was her personal mission to destroy corporate America and stop man from ruining the world and destroying nature. And lately it seemed as if she was succeeding.
"So that's why Bats has been so jumpy and vigilant lately" Harley affirmed, while walking out of the kitchen to the living room. "Between you and the rest of Gotham's criminally insane, no wonder he's starting to crack down and pay more attention to odd going ons". And of course, Harley was right. Lately, Bruce Wayne had been losing money in the millions from Arkham escapees wreaking havoc on his branches of Wayne Enterprises. So to stop crime and fix the sinking economy, of course Batty would have to be more vigilant and be more proactive about Gotham's safety.
"Yeah. I sure gave that stuck up billionaire a run for his money" Ivy replied. Harley almost completely blanked from the conversation and looked at Ivy's fruit salad. "Just fruits?" She thought. She ripped the bowl from Ivy's hand and ran into the kitchen.
"Hey! I was -" Ivy verbalised before being cut off by Harley, "eating a very boring bowl of sadness" the blond mocked. She shot for the fridge and whipped out yogurt and cool whip. "Ya know, for a plant hybrid who hates corporate America and junk food, it's surprising to find so much of it in your house!" Harley teased. Of course, this wasn't a complaint, as she absolutely loved sweet sugary goodness in a can. "Fine, I'll just stop buying it, how does that sound?" the redhead quickly sassed back. "Awww, don't be like that Red, I wasn't complaining" Quinn said with a big smile hoping to pull a laugh out of her now irritated host.
After about one minute Harley was done with her master piece. A fruit yogurt salad with half a can of whipped cream on top. She threw Ivy's fork into the sink and grabbed two spoons, then darted back for the couch. "Harley I didn't want that in my-" Ivy complained. "SSHHHH! You can thank me later" Harley shot back surely. They sat back on the couch sharing a bowl that was now overflowing with puffy sugar.
"And in other news, Jokers latest plot foiled by, you guessed it, Batman. A purple and green pickup truck was recovered today with a locked black box in the trunk. Batman has taken custody of the crate to disarm what is assumed to be a nuclear device with a force equivalent to 15 kilotons of tnt, or roughly the explosive equivalent of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima by America in WWII".
Harley looked at the screen. "I guess it was only a matter-a time before it was on the news" She looked downtrodden again. She started to remember the car accident and Jokers hostility towards her. For a few short moments she started to zone out. After she came to, she saw Ivy shaking her arm and staring at her. "Hey, you okay?" she asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just..." Harley slowly trailed off. She immediately started to close up and pull her arms closer. She could feel her shoulders starting to slouch. Ivy could see that she wanted to be alone right now. "Well Harls, if you need me, I'll be outside in the garden, okay?". Harley snapped out of the daze she was in to answer back. "Okay".
A few hours later, roughly around 7 o'clock, Ivy came back inside. She had just finished planting the last of her seeds and reinforced the bush-fence barrier around the property. She liked her privacy and thought it would help her stay hidden. Harley had spent her whole day channel surfing, watching a mixture of children's cartoons and action flicks. It helped to keep her mind off Joker and was her special way of coping with her emotions.
Ivy walked past the couch and rubbed Harley's hair before going upstairs to the bathroom and taking a shower. Unlike Harley who goofed a lot and played with the soap whenever taking a bath, Ivy was a more straight to the point kind of person. After about ten minutes she was done and drying herself already. Ivy normally didn't shower that often, as she naturally always smelled like fresh honey or sweet fruits. And the dirt didn't bother her too much as she loved to work in her garden and her new green house. But since Harley was here, she felt like presenting herself. Especially now since she had become particularly self conscious around Harley.
She stopped by her room after leaving the bathroom to care for her indoor plants. She trimmed her three bonsai trees, watered her small fertilizers that lined the wall, and made sure to tend to her more carnivorous and dangerous vegetation. It took about an hour to take care of everything. She double checked to make sure she had done all of her chores, then left the room.
As she walked down stairs, Harley was just finishing up the dishes and crawling back into her makeshift couch-bed. Ivy lifted Harley's feet and sat at the left side of the couch. She started massaging the blond's feet, and noticed how soft they were. "NO. STOP THINKING!" Ivy screamed in her head. Her 'over familiar' thoughts were coming back. By this point she couldn't help but follow her legs all the way up to her face. "So do you want to talk about what happened now?" Ivy asked, hoping to distract her mind from Harley's body. "There's not much to really say Red…" Quinn started. "I drove Mistah J's expensive bomb right into Batman's hands, he got rightfully angry, and left me for dead in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night probably hoping that if I wasn't dead already from what him and his goons had done to me, that the wilderness would finish the job". Ivy could hear her voice begin to shake towards the end of her short monologue.
Harley almost began to cry again, thinking about the horrors she experienced in the van, but then she heard Ivy calmly and reassuringly say "Harls, I know you must feel terrible right now, and you have every right to be angry and mad" she looked to see Harley's reaction. "But it'll get better. I'll make sure it gets better"
"-Joker caught breaking into a military base on the outskirt of Gotham attempting to steal a high yield explosive that was being shipped across country. Batman arrived on scene before hand after interrogating one of Joker's recently arrested gang members. Luckily, no one was harmed and Joker was apprehended and taken to Arkham Asylum immediately after capture, with a personal escort from Batman. Later tonight-" Almost as if on queue, the news reporter spoke some oddly coincidental and convenient information.
"Hey, you were right Red" Harley said jokingly. She chuckled a bit and stretched back on the couch. Boy was Ivy happy that the news reporter had something decent to say, as she was running out of pep talk for Harley. She was fine and relaxed for a minute or so before she yawned, and looked right to see the beautiful blond lying next to her watching her childish cartoons. Part of her felt happy that Harley would occasionally laugh or smirk at the tv whenever some stupidly childish cringey line was said. Or just a genuinely funny joke. Either or, she was happy that Harley was happy.
Ivy loved Quinn's smile. And before she knew it, she realized that she was unconsciously scanning Harley again. "Why am I having these thoughts?" she wondered. "Why do I feel this way about her? Why her? Of anybody in the world…" she stopped. "What exactly is what i feel?" She was angry that the blond confused her so much about her own thoughts and emotions. Was it pity? Was it platonic? Was it genuine love? Was it just her being lonely and needing someone by her side? She felt vulnerable and weak and didn't know what to do or think or, more importantly, how to tell Harley what exactly she felt. The more she thought about it the angrier she got.
She started to get up off the couch and walk to her room as she thought maybe if she just thought about it in silence alone she could figure it out. But as she took her first step, she heard Harley ask "I don't get a sweet dreams kiss tonight?". "WHAT!" Ivy thought. "Was she awake when I kissed her? Is she teasing me?" Ivy instantly froze with shock and panic. What would she do? What could she do? She felt as if time had slowed, almost as if it completely froze. "I wouldn't mind a goodnight kiss". Was Harley mocking her? Was she serious? Ivy just stood still, part of her hoping that if she didn't move, she could pretend that this wasn't happening right now. Before she knew it, Harley had grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards the couch. She turned and landed in the middle of the couch. She looked at Harley and before she could process what was going on, she could feel the blond's lips press against her own. Quinn slowly pulled away and looked Ivy in the eyes. Did she share Ivy's feelings of confusion and attachment? What was going on? Ivy didn't care. She shifted forward to touch Harley's lips again.