HPOV:
To say that I was surprised when banging resounded on Ivy's door would have been a lie. It was a constant noise accompanied by a stream of muffled screaming that sounded nothing short of volatile and threatening. Ivy rolled her eyes and stood up slowly and I couldn't help taking in her amazing curly red hair. She walked over to her door and opened it calmly. It was a little scary how calm she was. Harley Quinn drank her tea quickly and then hopped to her feet and skipped happily to meet Ivy in the door way.
I could hear the Joker saying something, but I wasn't sure what. He was pissed. He had to be. I didn't blame him. We had stolen his car. Normal, non criminal people would have been upset if they'd gotten their car stolen. It wasn't hard for me to imagine how furious he would be with the anger issues he already possessed.
I made my way to the door all the same and stood a little to the side, opposite of where Harley stood.
"You can't just cause scenes in front of my house," Ivy said tightly, "You're like a child J."
"And you have two little ladies that took my favorite toy," he looked from Harley to me and I was sure my heart stopped beating, "And I don't share well with others."
I could see better now. He had two men at his back, their backs to us as they looked around Ivy's neighborhood as if something or someone would come out of nowhere and attack them.
Harley rolled her eyes and huffed.
"Of course he ain't notice we was missing," she turned to me, "but he noticed his stupid car was missin'," Harley clicked her tongue and the Joker's head snapped to look at her.
"Of course I noticed you was gone, tuts," he smiled, a smile that crossed his face eerily slow, "You want attention?" he clapped his hands together, "I'll give ya some attention. Date night," he looked at me and I clasped my hands together before me, "tonight," he clarified, "with you," he pointed at Harley, "and tomorrow with you," he pointed at me, his gaze still on Harley, "Thanks for watchin' my girls, Poison Oak, but I'll be takin' 'em now."
Ivy rolled her eyes, her arms crossed over her chest, but she kicked her door open wider and Harley skipped her way out of it.
"See ya soon, Red!" Harley said happily, inserting herself between J's two bodyguards and bumping them each in turn with her hips.
J looked at me and I looked at Ivy.
"It was nice meeting you," I said quietly.
Ivy nodded twice and then stepped out of my way. I walked around her and out of her front door.
"If you want those ingredients let me know," Ivy called before she slammed her door.
J chuckled, a strange change from his normal full fledged laugh as he threw an arm around my neck. He yanked me in to him and started to close his elbow, a little tighter each second before I was finding it hard to breath. He led me down the stairs, my neck in the bend of his elbow.
"Harley is going to get you in to trouble," he chuckled, "You shouldn't let her lead you around," he squeezed in one quick movement and I coughed instinctively as if my air passageways had been closed off temporarily.
He put one of his hands around the back of my neck and planted one quick kiss to my cheek and then he shoved me away from him and towards the car.
"Get in," he said dryly.
X
I was relieved that J didn't hit us.
He didn't really do anything to us… and that was what had me worried.
I had witnessed him and Harley Quinn abuse each other. I had seen him shoot someone in cold blood and we had taken his car and vanished after he told us not to go anywhere and yet… he hadn't done anything. He hadn't even yelled at us.
We had all taken dinner together and he was rude and demeaning to the people that worked for him. He told us how lucky we were that he didn't break our fingers so that we would never be able to touch his car keys again… but then, he'd retired in to his office for several hours, leaving me to sit on the bed and watch as Harley tried on a series of different outfits for this date she had with him. He wasn't the type of abusive he had seemed to be the first few nights.
I wasn't complaining. I laid around as Harley ran from room to room collecting things to wear only to throw them to the ground in J's room. She was a mess, that girl.
When J called for her from downstairs, Harley, the girl who had just tried on a series of 5 outfits, wore the one she'd started in. She planted a kiss to my forehead and told me not to wait up and then she'd skipped her way out of the room, pulling the door lightly shut behind her, making sure that we both heard it click in to place.
I was a little shocked with the notion that I was alone in their home. There were guards of course, but there was no Harley or J to drag me around. There was no one to tell me to stop what I was doing to go do what they liked better.
I sat in bed for a full ten minutes before climbing to my feet.
I explored the mansion.
I started on the second floor. I walked to each and every single door, pushing them open and entering. I took in what was in each drawer and the art on the wall. I took in the color schemes and how many bathrooms were scattered around. I took note of how each piece of furniture was arranged and then I took the stairs down quickly and did the same below. The bottom floor was far more interesting. There was a gym. There was a small library. There was an amazingly gorgeous dining room that I doubted J ever used. There was a small closet with a lock on it that I just knew J had more weapons in and there was his office. His office. He spent most of his life in that damned office. I'd seen the inside of course, but I hadn't really taken it in. I would rather keep my eyes on someone as unpredictable as J than on what kind of flooring his office had.
I pushed the office door open, hit the light switch and then stood in the doorway and took it in. His office was clean, extremely clean. It was almost too clean. There wasn't a single paper on the desk. There were no sticky notes. His desk phone was set on the corner of the desk, at a perfect angle. His office was clean. The King of Chaos needed to work in a clean space. The thought was a strange one. I thought about walking in to his room. I thought about looking at his things up close and personal. I thought about going search for his papers and see what kind of work J really did that took all day.. but then I remembered that Harley and I had stolen his car and hadn't gotten beaten for it. I didn't want to push our luck. I didn't want to waste all of my good fortune at once, so I took in the floor plan. I took in the furniture and then I cut off the light, closed the door and made my way back upstairs and to the room I shared with J and Harley.
For the first time since my arrival, the house was actually quiet and it made my skin crawl.
X
The next morning I was up before my counterparts. J was smashed in to my side, his arm thrown lazily over the bottom of my waist and I weaseled my way free and to my feet. Harley was laying with the front of herself molded along J's back, both of her hands beneath her head. She had quite a lot of overexaggerated makeup still on her face, smudged around her eye, her lipstick cracked and missing in the middle. They looked like they'd had quite a good night and I didn't want to interrupt them.
I let myself in to the bathroom and brushed my teeth, washed my face and combed out my hair and then I headed to the kitchen.
Sabastian was seated at the table, a mug of coffee in front of him along with a newspaper. He looked at me when I entered and then hopped to his feet.
"You don't have to leave," I said instantly, "Really."
Sabastian looked around the kitchen before shrugging.
"It's fine."
"It's not a big deal," I smiled partially and then headed to the fridge.
"Are you- Are you sure?"
"Yup," I never bothered to look back, instead yanking open the fridge and taking in the ingredients.
I wasn't as great a cook as Harley. I knew that from seeing her make a wide variety of breakfast foods, but I was sure that I could get something simple out of the way.
Omelets.
I grabbed the ingredients that I would need and set them out on the counter as Sabastian continued to read his newspaper from where he'd sat back down. I looked around the kitchen yet again and started to open every cabinet around me.
"Bowls are over there," Sabastian pointed and I nodded once.
"Thanks."
I spun around on my heels and collected a large bowl from the cabinet and set it on the counter. I began to crack eggs in to the bowl and dropped the shells in to the trash.
"So, you seem normal," I blurted and immediately regretted it, "Sorry."
"It's fine," Sabastian chuckled from behind his paper, "I'm as normal as I can be under the circumstances."
I nodded at that and turned around to turn on the stove and put a pan atop it, quickly spraying the bottom and then turning back towards my ingredients and Sabastian.
"Cutting board?"
"Over there," Sabastian pointed, "In the drawer."
"Thanks."
I collected the cutting board and quick cut up ham, bell peppers, mushrooms and tomatoes. I threw the mushrooms, bell peppers and tomatoes in to the heated skillet and then continued to cut up the rest of my ingredients.
"So how did you end up," I gestured around the kitchen absently with the knife in my hand, "here?"
"Same way you did I guess," he said simply, picking up his coffee mug and yawning.
"They broke in to your apartment and kidnapped you too, huh?" I scoffed and turned my back to him to sauté what would be my filling and add another skillet on to the stove and spraying that as well.
"You were kidnapped out of your home?" he peaked over his newspaper.
"A little," I admitted and shrugged.
He whistled.
"That's unfortunate."
"You choose to be here," I observed aloud.
"The pay that I make for surviving his wrath for a day is more than I was making a week at my old job. I-," Sabastian clasped his mouth shut and held his paper back in front of his face, "…It's worth it."
"Are you close to J? He calls you by name?" I began to save the packaging of the ingredients I'd used.
"We're okay," he said simply, "I do what he needs me to do. I guess he hates me less than anyone else."
I collected to plates and set them on the counter beside the stove before focusing on my eggs and turning off the flame beneath my filling.
"I think he does," I admitted, "You're always around. He trusts you."
I pushed the cooked portions of my egg toward the center so that uncooked egg could reach the hot pan surface and began tilting the pan and gently moving the cooked portions as needed.
"By The Joker's standards that doesn't say much," he scoffed, "He doesn't trust anyone completely."
"But you're at the top of the short list," I watched my eggs thicken.
"I guess I am."
I began to spoon some of my filling from one skillet on to half of my egg in the other and then folded it expertly.
"So, you're a permanent fixture around here?"
"As long as I can stay alive," he admitted.
I nodded at that and slid my first done omelet on to a nearby plate and began pouring more of my mix in to the still hot skillet. I spun around and set the plate in front of Sabastian.
"Breakfast," I turned around and grabbed the coffee pot to refill his mug.
"You didn't have to fix me breakfast."
"I was going to make breakfast if you were in here or not," I scoffed, "Don't make it a big deal, Sabastian. It isn't a big deal."
"Right."
I set the coffee pot before him.
"So, what is there to do around here when J isn't around?" I opened a drawer and grabbed a fork, "Something that won't get me killed," I handed him the fork.
"I could think of a few things," he admitted shoving some of the omelet in to his mouth.
"Well, let me hear it," I turned back towards the stove.
HQPOV:
I woke up happy and content and rolled out of the bed almost immediately and rushed to the bathroom. Was irritated, so irritated, that I'd fallen asleep with my stupid makeup on. I washed it off in the sink and then brushed my teeth and hair and headed back out of the bathroom.
J was up and walking in to the bathroom as she headed out.
"Hadley?" he said blankly, running a hand over his face with a yawn.
"She's around," I assured him, "I'll go off and find her."
"I need to check on some things in my office. I'll be down in a little," he shut the bathroom door behind him and I stretched my arms above my head as I headed out of the bedroom.
I slid down the stairs expertly and followed the smell of fresh coffee and eggs to the kitchen.
Hadley was standing at the stove, her orange hair thrown up in to a messy bun, two omelets on a plate beside her as she made a third one.
"Good morning, love bug," I sang it and Hadley smiled.
"Good morning," Hadley smiled at me over her shoulder.
I headed to the fridge and grabbed the orange juice before spinning around and pausing. I had never even noticed Sabastian sitting at the island, his eyes on an empty plate before him.
"Out," I said it softly, "Please."
"Yup," Sabastian jumped up and pushed the chair in clearing his throat.
He grabbed the empty plate and mug and quickly walked around the island and put them in the sink.
"Thanks," he said quietly and then swiftly walked out of the kitchen.
"I like him," I said absently.
"He's okay," Hadley shrugged and slid her omelet on to the plate, "Breakfast is ready," she let her hair down and threw it back up, "How was date night?"
"Magical," I winked at her and raised my eyebrows comically, "And sweetheart, I need to redye your hair before you get your chance. Your roots are…" I let my voice die out of the pure need to not be rude to sweet, sweet Hadley, "I'll take care of everything you need," I said instead, "Scouts honor," I placed a hand on my heart and raised the other and Hadley scoffed and shook her head.
"Just eat your damn breakfast H.Q."
"H.Q?" I shimmied my shoulders, "Ohhh, I like it."
A/N: I already started writing out the date night but I thought that it would make this chapter far too long sooo now there's this. Lol. Thank you all for reading this far, for following, reviewing, favorite-ing and just putting up with me and my inconsistent posting. Much love.
