Caring Promises
Mar. 30th, 2020 06:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
queenkatyastarTitle: Caring Promises
Author: Katya Starling
Fandom: Batman
Characters/Pairing: Harley/Ivy, past Joker/Harley
Rating: PG/K+
Challenge/Prompt: FemSlash Ficlets 253: Care
Word Count: 1,000
Date Written: 29 March 2020
Warnings: None
Summary: Ivy's there to pick up her pieces... again.
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
Harley tilted her head back, the bells on her mask jingling in the cool, Springtime breeze, and felt the vines crawling over her body. They slipped tenderly over her calves, shins, and ankles and reached higher. They curled around her feet, pushing up against her bare, torn soles and massaging her with their green tendrils. They circled her arms and wrapped smoothly across her breasts. They seemed to be almost everywhere at once, but it wasn't an oppressive feeling. Instead she could feel tender, loving care in every touch.
Tears sprang into her closed eyes. She'd promised herself she wouldn't cry if Ivy returned to her. She'd promised herself -- yet again -- that she was done with tears and crying and anything that belied misery or weakness, but the tears now in her eyes were neither weak or sorrowful. Instead, somehow, through her vines, Ivy was touching parts of her that had never been touched before. She'd never been cared for like this, and not just because it was through plants. She'd never been treated so tenderly, been loved so much. Her bottom lip trembled.
A gloved hand cupped her face. Ivy bent closer, her vines drawing more tightly around Harley. "What's wrong, love?" she whispered, her voice as tender as the caresses all over Harley's battered body. "Is something hurting worse? Did that clown break something on you this time?" Anger tightened her voice with the last question. Joker had broken Harley before, almost killed her numerous times, but Ivy always found a way to patch her back together.
What if she was getting tired of piecing her pieces back together? Harley suddenly thought, fear lodging itself in her throat and heart. What if she was getting tired of her, of the way she always so foolishly ran back to Mister J, of the way she let him in time and again? He always hurt her, while Ivy had never shown her anything but love and care. "I'm sorry," she apologized, her voice breaking into a creaking, crying whisper. "I'm so sorry!"
And then the tears started. They flowed like a river down her pale face. Ivy's plants squeezed her, and Ivy herself gathered her into her arms. She pushed her mask off. One of her vines grabbed it and snapped the black and red cloth into pieces that floated down among the other vines, who, in turn, batted the shreds away from them. It was as though the mask represented the man they all hated, and they did all hate him for what he had done to this poor woman.
"Sh, sh, baby," Ivy whispered, stroking Harley's freed, blonde hair. "You have nothing to apologize for, no reason to say -- "
"Yes," Harley whimpered. "Yes, I do!" She pulled away from Ivy and dared to look up at her through the tears marring her big, blue eyes. "Yes, I do, Ivy! You've never been anything but kind and loving to me! You've never done anything but love me! And I keep going back to him -- " She shook her head, and her limp pigtails bounced with the movement. More tears raced down her trembling cheeks. "I keep going back to him and letting him hurt us like the idiot I am!"
Ivy grabbed her face in her hands and forced her to hold still for a moment. "You," she said firmly, "are not an idiot, maybe not the brightest cookie in the box." She shrugged, using one of Harley's own phrases against her and being almost cruelly honest in the moment. "But you are not dumb. He uses you, Harls. He's twisted your mind -- "
"And I've let him!" Harley cried, no longer willing to ignore the obvious. "You've loved me since the start, Red, really loved me, and I've almost gotten us killed how many times now?!"
"Come out of Gotham," Ivy suddenly spoke. Harley could tell immediately that the other woman had been thinking for a long time about the offer she was finally proposing. "Come with me out of Gotham. Let's leave this place, and him, behind."
"Where would we go?"
"The Amazon. Africa. Brazil. Nevada, even. Does it really matter?! Let's just steal a car and go as far as we can, and then we'll see where we are when we run out of that horrid gasoline and make plans from there." She paused for a moment before asking in a far more timid voice, "It doesn't really matter where we are, does it, as long as we're together?"
Harley shook her head, still more tears falling. "No," she cried, hugging onto Ivy, "no, it doesn't!" She bit her bottom lip so hard she accidentally drew blood as she faced herself. "Just promise me one thing, Red?"
"Anything." Ivy stroked her cheek. She almost felt like telling her she'd promise her anything, do anything, give her anything if she'd just stop crying, but she well understood her need to cry after everything she'd suffered at the Joker's hands. She couldn't help that she thought she loved the madman. Ivy would find a way to break the curse under which he'd placed her, but so far, nothing had worked. Every time she thought she had Harley free, something happened to part them, and without her beside her to lend her her strength and support, she always ended up going back to the lunatic. "Anything," she whispered again, trying to convey the true depths of her love for her to her through her tender strokes and the passionate look in her green eyes.
"Promise me we never have to come back, and that you'll never leave me again. If I can stay away from him -- " Maybe I can love you like you deserve, she thought but didn't know how to voice the words.
"Oh, Harls! Of course we don't have to come back, baby!" Ivy pulled her closer, lifted her higher, and, using a tree freshly grown out of the split concrete, carried them through the ruined city and into their future alone together.
The End
Author: Katya Starling
Fandom: Batman
Characters/Pairing: Harley/Ivy, past Joker/Harley
Rating: PG/K+
Challenge/Prompt: FemSlash Ficlets 253: Care
Word Count: 1,000
Date Written: 29 March 2020
Warnings: None
Summary: Ivy's there to pick up her pieces... again.
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
Harley tilted her head back, the bells on her mask jingling in the cool, Springtime breeze, and felt the vines crawling over her body. They slipped tenderly over her calves, shins, and ankles and reached higher. They curled around her feet, pushing up against her bare, torn soles and massaging her with their green tendrils. They circled her arms and wrapped smoothly across her breasts. They seemed to be almost everywhere at once, but it wasn't an oppressive feeling. Instead she could feel tender, loving care in every touch.
Tears sprang into her closed eyes. She'd promised herself she wouldn't cry if Ivy returned to her. She'd promised herself -- yet again -- that she was done with tears and crying and anything that belied misery or weakness, but the tears now in her eyes were neither weak or sorrowful. Instead, somehow, through her vines, Ivy was touching parts of her that had never been touched before. She'd never been cared for like this, and not just because it was through plants. She'd never been treated so tenderly, been loved so much. Her bottom lip trembled.
A gloved hand cupped her face. Ivy bent closer, her vines drawing more tightly around Harley. "What's wrong, love?" she whispered, her voice as tender as the caresses all over Harley's battered body. "Is something hurting worse? Did that clown break something on you this time?" Anger tightened her voice with the last question. Joker had broken Harley before, almost killed her numerous times, but Ivy always found a way to patch her back together.
What if she was getting tired of piecing her pieces back together? Harley suddenly thought, fear lodging itself in her throat and heart. What if she was getting tired of her, of the way she always so foolishly ran back to Mister J, of the way she let him in time and again? He always hurt her, while Ivy had never shown her anything but love and care. "I'm sorry," she apologized, her voice breaking into a creaking, crying whisper. "I'm so sorry!"
And then the tears started. They flowed like a river down her pale face. Ivy's plants squeezed her, and Ivy herself gathered her into her arms. She pushed her mask off. One of her vines grabbed it and snapped the black and red cloth into pieces that floated down among the other vines, who, in turn, batted the shreds away from them. It was as though the mask represented the man they all hated, and they did all hate him for what he had done to this poor woman.
"Sh, sh, baby," Ivy whispered, stroking Harley's freed, blonde hair. "You have nothing to apologize for, no reason to say -- "
"Yes," Harley whimpered. "Yes, I do!" She pulled away from Ivy and dared to look up at her through the tears marring her big, blue eyes. "Yes, I do, Ivy! You've never been anything but kind and loving to me! You've never done anything but love me! And I keep going back to him -- " She shook her head, and her limp pigtails bounced with the movement. More tears raced down her trembling cheeks. "I keep going back to him and letting him hurt us like the idiot I am!"
Ivy grabbed her face in her hands and forced her to hold still for a moment. "You," she said firmly, "are not an idiot, maybe not the brightest cookie in the box." She shrugged, using one of Harley's own phrases against her and being almost cruelly honest in the moment. "But you are not dumb. He uses you, Harls. He's twisted your mind -- "
"And I've let him!" Harley cried, no longer willing to ignore the obvious. "You've loved me since the start, Red, really loved me, and I've almost gotten us killed how many times now?!"
"Come out of Gotham," Ivy suddenly spoke. Harley could tell immediately that the other woman had been thinking for a long time about the offer she was finally proposing. "Come with me out of Gotham. Let's leave this place, and him, behind."
"Where would we go?"
"The Amazon. Africa. Brazil. Nevada, even. Does it really matter?! Let's just steal a car and go as far as we can, and then we'll see where we are when we run out of that horrid gasoline and make plans from there." She paused for a moment before asking in a far more timid voice, "It doesn't really matter where we are, does it, as long as we're together?"
Harley shook her head, still more tears falling. "No," she cried, hugging onto Ivy, "no, it doesn't!" She bit her bottom lip so hard she accidentally drew blood as she faced herself. "Just promise me one thing, Red?"
"Anything." Ivy stroked her cheek. She almost felt like telling her she'd promise her anything, do anything, give her anything if she'd just stop crying, but she well understood her need to cry after everything she'd suffered at the Joker's hands. She couldn't help that she thought she loved the madman. Ivy would find a way to break the curse under which he'd placed her, but so far, nothing had worked. Every time she thought she had Harley free, something happened to part them, and without her beside her to lend her her strength and support, she always ended up going back to the lunatic. "Anything," she whispered again, trying to convey the true depths of her love for her to her through her tender strokes and the passionate look in her green eyes.
"Promise me we never have to come back, and that you'll never leave me again. If I can stay away from him -- " Maybe I can love you like you deserve, she thought but didn't know how to voice the words.
"Oh, Harls! Of course we don't have to come back, baby!" Ivy pulled her closer, lifted her higher, and, using a tree freshly grown out of the split concrete, carried them through the ruined city and into their future alone together.
The End
