Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a hot summer night. Two girls were laying on the rooftop of the guesthouse, sky full of stars above them. Both had a headphone in one of their ears, phone playing a music between them.

“I’m leaving tomorrow.” redhead one finally spoke up after what had to be an hour of just lying there.

“I know.” said the blond one.

“I don’t think I’m ready for a long-distance relationship.” continued redhead.

“Me too.” her companion sat down and took a sip of lemonade from a glass that was standing next to her. Red head hugged her from behind, resting her chin on blond shoulder.

“Still I’m going to miss you.”

“So will I.” they kissed and touched foreheads. “Let not say goodbye yet. We might see each other again. Someday.”

“Can’t wait.” they kissed again, both of them not knowing that someday was not that far away.

Chapter Text

Pamela Isley looked at the building of Gotham high. The building wasn’t much bigger than the one she went to before moving. Two-story tall, old, with graffiti on the side. Teenagers were running in front of main entrance, saying hi to each other and asking how they spent summer break. Redhead walked quickly into the school, hoping no one will look at her. Being a new kid is one thing. Being a new kid senior year is another. Her father promotion meant great holidays, but it also meant moving to another town, away from everything she knew. It wasn’t the biggest issues. She didn’t have close friends back home, but a school was nice. To this one she will have to get used to, which was pointless since this was her last year. She tried not to think about it and focused on now. She somehow survived getting to her first class. Some freak with pink hair jumped on her friend’s back and the guy almost fell on a redhead in result. She walked away before they managed to apologize to her. Class itself wasn’t bad. Math. Of course, the teacher had to ask her to introduce herself.

“Pamela Isley, but some people call me “Ivy”.” she said and sat down before anyone asked another question. Girl she sat down next to was short with dark skin and braided hair.

“Why “Ivy”?” said the girl after the class ended. Ivy blinked. She was not very use to people randomly starting to talk to her.

“It is a cool looking plant and my last name sound similarly.” she finally said after a minute of awkward silence. She took a closer look at the girl. Everything she had from notebook to backpack had something cat related on it. Even her nails had small cat's paws painted on.

“Let me guess, you like dogs?” Ivy joked once the class ended. She might as well try making some friend this time. The girl laughed.

“What gave it away?” the walked out of the classroom together. “Selina.” She introduced herself. “I was a new kid three years ago and no one welcomed me then. I didn’t wanted you to be alone too. You look too cool for that”

“Thank you. That mean a lot.” said Ivy, haft with sarcasm, haft seriously. They chatted a couple more minute about Selina’s nails until the bell rang.

“English. You?”

“History.” they quickly compared their plans.

“We have lunch at the same time. Great. You can sit with me and my friends, if you want to.” Ivy nodded in agreement before they went their separate ways for another lesson. Redhead smiled to herself. Maybe this won’t be such a bad school year.

***

Everyone knew when Harleen Quinzel was arriving to school. The girl was impossible to miss. Arriving to school on roller skates, you could see her from a far, her hair was almost never one colour, this time they were pink with her naturally blond regrowing at the top, screaming HI! to everyone and high fiving anyone who was close enough. Nobody was able to resist her positivity. Harley took off the skates and walked into a building with a little skip. It took her a couple of minute but finally she saw him. Her victim for today.

“Rick!!” girl jumped on her friend back. Flag was definitely not ready for that, as he lost his balance and almost fell on someone. Whoever that was they walked away before Harley and Rick could apologise. “Did you miss me?” the girl asked while still hanging from his neck.

“Yes, of course I did.” Rick laughed while trying to throw her of himself. “Now get off me. I don’t know where were this summer but I’m guessing the food was great.” she gasped and kicking him.

“How dare you talk like that to a lady? This is why you don’t have a girlfriend.” Rick chuckled.

“Believe me, I can name five different reasons why no girls ever talk to me.”

“Really, and could you tell me what those reasons are?” barely Harley got off his back when Rick lost his balance again when his other best friends, Robert Dubois, put his arm around him.

“Yes, I can in fact. They are five really annoying assholes that I decided to befriend for some reason because I know damn well they would die without me, and my good heart won’t let me abandon them.” The bell rang.

“And believe me, the assholes appreciate it very much.” said Harley before running of. Being late on the first of senior year? No thank you.

***

Cafeteria was full of student and Ivy was making impossible manoeuvres to not crush into someone. She tried to find Selina with no success. Luckly the girl found her first and drag her to a table in the corner. There were three other boys already sitting at that table. One was redhead with a glasses on his face. He was deep into a monologue, but only one of his companions seem to be listening to him. This one had a dark hair and was holding a cane. The third one was a brunet and was so focus on a book he was reading he didn’t even notice that two girls sat down next to him.

“Guys, this is Ivy, I told you about her.” Selina introduced her new friend. “And those are Ed, Oswald and Jon.” Each boy rose his hand at his name. They were definitely not what Ivy imagined when Selina mentioned her friends. But they didn’t seem to have a problem with her joining they group, so she couldn’t complain.

“So, if I may ask, what bring you to Gotham?” Redhead one, Ed, started a conversation.

“My dad got a promotion. His new office is in Gotham.” answer Ivy.

“And you moved senior year?” Selina added herself to a talk.

“I wasn’t a big fan of that either at first, but this school isn’t that much different than the one I went to before. So I’m not complaining. Beside they whole situation has more benefits than defects. My new house is much bigger than a previous one, I’m way closer to one of my dream colleges and we got to go on a month-long vacation.”

“So basically you are rich.” said Ed. “Good, that mean my plan is working.”

“What plan?” asked Selina confuse, while Jon, the one who was still reading the book rolled his eyes.

“My plan to surround myself with as many rich people as possible. First, I made this one here my sugar daddy...” Ed pointed at Oswald, who rose his eyebrows shocked. “... next you are going to start dating that Wayne boy.” Selina opened her mouth to say something, but Ed didn’t let her. “Don’t deny it. We all know you like him. And now you brought us a new friend who also can borrow some cash if needed.”

“I’m glad that I found out that you are with me just because I have money before it got serious.” said Oswald. It was definitely not what Ed was expecting to hear because he started to apologise immediately.

“Come on Birdy, I’m just kidding. You know I love you.” incredible how one person could go from being full of themself to looking like a puppy that just got kicked. Meanwhile Jon was doing everything in his power not to laugh. It did not escape Ed’s attention. “What are you laughing at? This was you plan too.”

“I never agree to this.” they started fighting. Selina looked at Ivy.

“You can still escape and find normal friends. It is too late for me, but you still have a chance to save yourself.”

“I think I’m going to stay. I kinda want to see how it will end.”

“Be my guess. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. So, a mouth long vacation, something interesting must have happen.” Dark hair girl tried to change the subject. Ivy felt that she was starting to blush.

“Well, I did meet someone.” she tucked her hair behind the ear. Boys were still fighting and did not pay any attention to them. “Come on, there is so many other things we can talk about instead of my stupid summer romance.”

“Maybe, but you already started, and I’m curious. So what was she like?” Ivy rose her eyebrows after hearing Selina’s question. “You are not very good at hiding it. I knew the moment I lay my eyes on you.”

“Well, she was a staying at the same guest house as we were. I got a cramp while swimming and she came to my rescue. After that we just stick together. We spent that whole mouth together, typical vacation stuff, ice cream, cinema, beaches. But with her it felt somehow special.” Ivy escaped in her mind back to those summers' days. Everything was so simple those few weeks ago. She turned her head and saw Selina griming at her. “But unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and we had to go our separate ways. We probably will never see each other again.”

“Never say never.” Selina patted her on the back. “What was her name?”

“Harley. Harley Quinzel.” Ivy couldn’t help but smile like an idiot while thinking about this sweet girl that turned her world upside down. Good, because if she focused on Selina, she might have noticed an astonishment on the girl face. Astonishment that transformed into a smile. Screws were working in Selina’s head, creating a fantastic idea.

***

Cleo Cazo was sitting on the stands of the school pitch trying to land a popcorn inside Abner Krill’s mouth. She failed almost every attempt.

“You know you are wasting food, right?” Christoher Smith, who was sitting next to them, point out the obvious. In respond Cleo threw one corn at him.

“Me next!” Harley joined them, sat down in front of Cleo, her mouth open. Cleo threw again, but missed.

“You should try for a basketball team. They could use more ace shooters.” Dubois teased her while he and Flag sat down one row above them. They never ate lunch at the cafeteria, it was way too crowded for them. Instead the always sneaked away to sit on the stands where they could do whatever they wanted.

“Before you came, I was able to score ten in a row.” she defeated herself.

“Be careful, or we might start believing you.” joked Rick. This time a corn hit him. “Where did you get popcorn anyway? They don’t sell it in vending machine.”

“I have my ways. School stuff is so busy catching drug dealers, they don’t even notice popcorn dealers, who have been terrorizing this school for a past two years.” Rick rolled his eyes.

“There it is. First eye roll of the semester.” point out Chris.

“You know, I can still find normal friends. I don’t have to sit here.”

“Good luck finding someone as cool as us.” Harley started to eat her own sandwich.

“Besides, you said it yourself this morning that you couldn’t abandon us even if you wanted to.” point out Dubois. Rest of the group put their hands to their chests.

“Awwww.”

“Can we please change the subject?” First day of school and Rick already had enough. “Anyone did something interesting this summer?”

“Dad took me to a little horse farm not far from here. We help deliver a baby horse.” Cleo’s father worked as a vet and his daughter was playing to follow in his footsteps. Harley started asking about the details, while the boys looked at Rick with “you had to ask” look.

“And what about you Harls, you didn’t go anywhere this time?”

“We went to a small seaside city. Beautiful place, sandy beaches, great fews of sunsets, definitely going back there someday.”

“And what you just spent a month during nothing in the middle of nowhere?” asked Abner “Not really you style.”

“No, no, I did something.” Harley moved her eyebrows in suggestive way. She couldn’t help but laugh at faces her friends made. They variant from shock to “nice”.

“You made us listen about birth of the horse. The least you can do not is to give us details about that too.” Dubois avoided shady look from Cleo and move so he could sit close to Harley.

“Please, I’m sure someone else has their own story to tell.” Harley pretended as if she didn’t wanted to tell the whole story to someone since she got back.

“Not really.”

“No, we don’t.”

“Friendship with you is the only source of entertainment I have.” all of them looked at Abner with concern before returning to staring at Harley. She sighed dramatically and sat down as if she was a mother about to tell a bedtime story to her children.

“I was at the beach. This girl, whose family arrived at the same time was there too. She started drowning so I did what everyone would have done in my place and safe her life. And let me tell you. Even after almost dying, that was the most beautiful girl I ever seen. She was so grateful she offered buying me ice cream. We just hang up the whole month. You know, typical vacation stuff, ice cream, cinema, beaches. And one magical night, well you can probably guess.” she was smiling like an idiot. Those were definitely the best vacation she had in her short life.

“And where is she now?” asked Cleo.

“I don’t know. Her family was moving somewhere, she herself wasn’t sure. We agree to go our separate ways.” Cleo got visibly sadder after that.

“That’s bad. You look so happy talking about her.”

“Well, it wasn’t meant to be.” Harley tried to stay positive, but she couldn’t hide that she missed her.

“Think about it this way. We couldn’t call ourselves “problematic bachelors”, if one of as was dating someone.” Robert tried to lift up the spirit of the conversation.

“Excuse me?” Chris rose his eyebrows in shock.

“That doesn’t count. We all know your boyfriend doesn’t actually exist.”

“You met him!”

“And I still refuse to believe he actually exist. It was probably just a fever dream.” two of them started to fight, while Rick was making sure that word won’t turn into fists. Cleo and Abner returned to throw popcorn at each other. Harley looked at the horizon. Cleo’s question couldn’t leave her mind. Where was Ivy now and what was she doing? And was she also thinking about Harley?

Chapter Text

Freshman year Harley and Senior year Harley were so different from each other someone might believe they were in fact two different people. There were times when Harley was this sweet, innocent, little miss perfect with the highest score in her class. Pride and joy of her family, just like her sister. And then Jack showed up in her life. It started simple. He sat next to her on the bus stop, offered her a cigarette. He was looking for a tutor and Harley offered her help. He asked her to be his girlfriend after a month. Then came parties, truancy and alcohol. She stopped talking to all of her friends, stopped caring about the school, all that matter was Jack. But the honeymoon era of their relationship ended quickly. Jack was a type of guy that got angry after minor inconvenience and Harley was almost always the closest thing to hit. She managed to hide the bruises, but her mental health was getting even worst because of that. Jack practically ruined Harley. She went from a girl that every teacher used as an example to someone who had to ran after teacher begging for opportunity for an extra mark, so she didn’t have to repeat a year. It was a miracle she managed to pass. After that she did what any rational person would do and broke up with him. He did not take it nicely. First, he tried to win her back, pretended that he wanted to be her friend. But after a while he started to flirt with her, once even tried to kiss her. She had enough and started to avoid him. It wasn’t that hard. He was a senior while she was a freshman and with her help he was able to gratulate with no problem. But he still found ways to get to her. He just so happened to be in the park when she was walking her dogs and just so happened to get a job at her favourite café. He also was spamming her phone with texts and calls. It did not help that Harley’s parents blame her for everything. “You should have known better.” “We rise you better than this.” “This boy was a walking red flag, how could you not seen this.” She was fifteen, for crying out loud. She didn’t know what was good for her. At least Delia was there for her. But even her sister couldn’t protect her all the time. One evening when Harley was coming home alone from a party when Jack decided to harass her. He walked behind her, catcalling her, screaming how he was the only one that understand her. She tried to keep herself together, looking around for help. Part of her wanted to give up, to come back to him just so he would shut up. And then Rick showed up. Punched Jack and told him to fuck off, walked Harley home and keep her company for a couple next day to make sure she was alright. It took some time, dozens of ice cream boxes, and five packs of tissues for Harley to finally feel better about herself. She started to hang out with Rick and his friend, dyed her hair, joined local roller derby club. Slowly she rebuilt her life. The little miss perfect her parents loved so much could never come back, but her grades were good again. Her parents were still mad about everything, but Harley stopped caring about what her parent think about her long time ago. Jack disappeared one day after getting in troubles with the police. No one seen him in two years, but there was always this small voice on the back of Harley’s head telling her he might come back one day. Which is why she was now sitting on the hood of Rick’s car looking around. They were at the end of summer party, annual tradition for teenagers from Gotham and other nearby towns. Everyone was dancing, laughing, some were drinking, Abner was leaning against the car and texting someone. And then there was Harley. Looking around, a little bit of fear in her eyes, regretting coming.

“He is not coming sweety. You can relax.” Rick handed her a cup.

“You can never be sure.” she took a short sip, not taking her eyes off made up dance floor. Parties like those were taking place on the meadow in the middle of the local forest, far away from anyone who could complain about the noise. It was a tradition, so of course parents knew about it. But nothing bad ever happened, so no one complained. There was always a small group of people who decided stay and clean up after everyone.

“How many times do we have to have this talk? It always like this, you are stress out, I tell you to relax, you drink a couple shots and boom you are there in the dance floor, laughing and screaming.”

“And beside why would that jackass show up?” added Abner “Literally everyone hates him, haft of people here would gladly beat him up.” Harley giggled. She couldn’t disagree with that. Another car stopped next to them. Robert and Cleo got out of it.

“We miss anything important?”

“No, just the typical pre-party cold feet.” Rick patted Harley on the shoulder. “Chris is not with you?”

“Day I let Smith into my car will be a day of reckoning.” answer Dubois. To be fair, only Cleo didn’t have to beg Robert for a ride. Even Rick, who knew him since they were twelve had to beg him once. Cleo got the past because she lived at the same street as Dubois.

“I think we passed someone from Evergreen on our way here.” said Cleo. “Which mean people from there had to arrive already and Chris is probably with Adrian and their friends.” Unlike most of student in their school, Chris did not come from Gotham. He and brother Keith grow up in Evergreen, a town not far from Gotham. Their dad got in some serious troubles with the law and end up in jail, no one was sure for what exactly. There was a lot of rumours and Chris refuse to conform and denied any of them, claiming he just don’t want to talk about it. Keith miraculously got full custody of his brother and got out Evergreen as soon as possible. This was definitely good for their mental health but is also suck because Chris had a group of friends in Evergreen with whom he stayed in touch and with whom he preferred to hang up with during the event like this. During his first day in Gotham he started a really immature rivalry with Dubois, that after a while turned in somewhat normal friendship. Smith himself claim that he only hangs up with “those people” because it was either that or being alone. That statement was a perfect summary of their group of friends. They weren’t friends because of common interests or hobby. They were friends out of convenience. Rick and Robert were childhood friends. Twelve years old Rick saw this sad boy sitting alone under a tree one day I said “This one. This one will be my friend.” Cleo lived on the same street as Robert. They walked to school together before he got the driving license, and she didn’t knew what to do with herself once they got to school, so she just stared hang up with him during the day. Their friendship was odd because he was a realist with a massive fear of rats, and she was a sweet girl full of positivity who have a pet rat name Sebastian. How they make it work, no one knew, even them. Abner was saved from a bully by Rick, and he also just started to hang around him, not really knowing what else to do with himself. His mom was one of those moms that believe her children are going to be great politics and doctors and demanded perfection from each one of them. She also forbade them from making any friends, since according to her, friends were nothing but a distraction. Abner could never reach the level she was expecting from him and at this point in his life he was way to use to hearing what a disappointment he was. Making friends with the most chaotic people he could find was his way of punishing her. He was almost never at home, sometimes staying overnight at Rick or Cleo’s house, who seems to be the only one with normal family life. The whole friend group was just a bunch of mess up teens who really not wanted to be alone. Of course it wasn’t like they didn’t like each other. They were definitely close, but deep down they knew that they wouldn’t be friends under different circumstances. Sometimes Harley wondered if they were going to stay friends after graduation.

“How come we never get to hang up with those guys?” she tried to push away intrusive thoughts by starting a conversation.

“Chris said that he doesn’t want us and them to meet because, and I quote, “chaos would be unmatched”.” said Rick.

“I met Adrian once.” added Robert. “And after spending twenty minutes with him I can said that I definitely do not want him and Harley to meet. Something will blow up.”

“So what you are saying is that Adrian does exist?” Cleo crossed her arms over her chest. Dubois’s eyes went wide as he realised what just happened.

“Don’t tell him I said that. I want to see how long I can take this.” they all laughed. Harley finally felt like she could relax.

“So, are we going to just sit here or are we going to dance?” she jumped of the car and not waiting for anyone answer walked towards the crowd. She pretended to not see Rick’s "I told you so” smile as he joined her. This was going to be an amazing night, and nothing connected to her past was going to destroy it. She was a little bit wrong.

***

“Are you sure she said Quinzel? Because I really not feeling like pushing two girls, I barely know at each other.” Ed started the conversation as soon as Selina sat down in his car in the back seat. Jon was sitting on the other one, looking more done with everything that usually, while Oswald was on the passenger sit picking the music.

“Yes, I'm. Sure, sweet girl, that skipped party at the beach to watch the sunset might not sound like her, but was I ever wrong?”

“She has a point.” point out Oz. Ed sent him the “you too against me” look before returning to looking at the road.

“And we are doing this because?”

“Because once in a while you can do something nice for someone else and not expect the award in respond.”

“You know what, forget about Ed’s plan.” Oz finally sat down straight after finally giving up on finding something on the radio. “That Wayne kid is making you go soft.”

“I just don’t get it why we have to go to that stupid party?” Jon was staring at outside of the window, clearly not wanting to be there. “Why can’t we just have them meet during the day at school?”

“Because it is easier to find Harley at that party than at school.” said Selina.

“You literally made sure they won’t run into each other for a past two days.” True, Selina did made sure that whole Thursday and Friday that her new friend did not realise she now go to school with the girl she met during summer. She also had to beg Ivy to go to the end of the summer party. Ivy only agreed when the boys also said they are going. “Just say you wanted an excuse to go.”

“Ok, you got me. But when was the last time we went somewhere as a group. You especially could use some fresh air.” he showed her a middle finger while not taking his eyes off the glass.

“I get fresh air on the way to school.” all three of his friends sighted as Ed stopped in front of Ivy’s house. Redhead got into a car and sat next to Selina on the back seat.

“Can I be honest with you? I never been to a party like this.” she said while fasting the seatbelt. “I’m a little nervous.”

“Don’t worry. This party has been organized since our grandparents were kids. Nothing bad ever happen. Just pure fun.” said Selina.

“Nothing screams fun more than a bunch of teenagers jumping around, some of them drunk.” Jon couldn’t help himself but to comments.

“Jonathan, if you shut up, I promise to buy you a new book, no matter the price.” Ed’s offer made Crane pull his eyes away from the window.

“If you really thing my silence can be bought, Nygma, you are correct.” Jon returned to staring at outside and did not say the word to the rest of the ride. The rest of them talked about some random shit till they arrived at their destination. Crowd of people was already there, the music was loud, and Ivy was feeling overwhelmed be just looking. She was about to said that maybe they should go back home, Jon would probably be grateful, but Selina grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the crowd before she could even open her mouth.

“Come on, you are going to like it, I swear.” she wasn’t wrong. At first. For a first hour and a half Ivy really had fun while dancing. She overheard Selina ordering the boys to go looking for someone but didn’t get the chance to ask who the mysteries “she” was. She decided to ignore it and just have some fun. But then everything went south. First Selina asked Ivy to hold her drink, because she has to check on something. So Ivy just stood in the middle of the crowd, holding a cup, slowly moving to the rhythm. Someone pushed her back and while trying to catch her balance Ivy poured drink right into someone face. Pink haired girl screamed as the song ended.

“You bitch!” she poured her own drink into Ivy’s face. “Next time watch where you are going!” Only then did the both of them realised what just happen.

“You?!” Both of Ivy and Harley stood there, soaking wet, looking at each other completely shocked. Selina and Ed showed up next to them. DJ stopped the music and all that could have been heard was people whispering to each other.

“Good news. I found Harley.” Ed picked terrible time to joke. Selina made him realise that by punching him on the back of the head.

“Wait, you know?” Ivy’s eyes went wide.

“Suprise.” Selina had the most awkward smile on her face.

“Ivy, I’m so sorry, I...” begin Harley.

“You shut up!” Ivy did not let her finish. “I can’t believe how wrong I was about you!” Redhair threw an empty cup at her and started walking away.

“Wait, we are your ride!” Ed and Selina ran after her, while waving at Oz and Jon that they are leavening.

“We can go to my house, so you can change.” offered Selina once all five of them were in the car.

“I would rather go to my own home.”

“After something like that we are not leaving you alone. Eddie, you know the way.” Ivy rested her head on Selina shoulder as they drove away. Redhead was doing everything in her power to not cry.

***

Harley just stood there in the middle of the crowd till Rick grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled away.

“Allen, for crying out loud, play that music! People came here to dance!” he screamed at the DJ and took Harley away from the crowd. She sat down inside of his car. “I’m taking her home. Robert, take Abner home when the party is over. No, I don’t care what excuse you have this time.” He talked for a moment with the rest of the group, but Harley stopped registering what was happening around her. She was a little bit too much drank. Her ears were ringing All she could think about was how much she fucked up her first healthy relationship.

“Fuck.” she whispered as Rick drove off.

Chapter Text

“May I ask what exactly your plan was?” Ivy was sitting on Selina’s bed in the pyjama's brunette lent her. It was a matching set of the t-shirt and pants with a cat print. Of course. Almost everything in Selina’s room had something to do with cats. Bed sheets? With the cat print. Lamp? Cat shape. Clock on the wall? Also cat shape. Three pet cats were not a surprise. To be honest Ivy was expecting even more fluffy creatures. One of the kittens was laying on redhead laps, purring as she petted it stomach.

“The plan was to push you into Harley’s arms as the surprise. Everyone would been happy and have a nice day.” said Selina. They were all sitting in Selina’s bedroom, some random movie from an early 2000’s was playing on the TV. Jon was sitting with Ivy on the bed, his back resting on the pillow while she was sitting on the other end, her legs dangling from an edge. Selina was sitting on the floor, her back leaning on the bed next to Ivy’s legs. Ed and Oz were sitting on beanbags. Selina’s mom let them stay as long as they wanted if they promised to not make any loud noises. Ivy decided to stay overnight. It was weekend and she did feel like explaining to her parents why she was back early in different clothes.

“That much I gather, but what in it for you?”

“I just wanted to do something nice for a new friend. Sometimes you can help someone and not expect anything in return.”

“God, no, I can’t.” Ed started to groan. “That Wayne kid is corruption you. You are forbidden from meeting with him again.” He pointed at Selina as she laughed.

“Maybe I just want to be a better person, you thought about that?”

“Sel, you use to shoplift. No one is going to believe you just spontaneously decided to become a good person.” said Jon.

“What?!” Ivy reacted abruptly to a new information about her new friend. Cat that was sitting on her laps got scared and jumped away.

“It just a joke. I stole a candy once from a shop and I like to joke about it sometimes.” Selina let the cat snuggle next to her.

“Who is that Wayne guy I keep hearing about anyway?” Ivy changed her position and she laid down on her stomach. Her head was now next to Selina’s.

“Bruce Wayne. He is a guy from our school. He is very nice and respectful, and handsome and yes, I like him a lot. We been on a couple of dates together.” Seline hugged her knees, clearly fluster from just thinking about the guy. “Let’s change a subject. We shouldn’t be talking about romance right now.”

“No, no, I’m fine. I want to hear more about this Bruce. He is rich, right?” Ivy remembered what Ed said a couple days ago.

“Yup, but he has a heart of gold as well.” Oz lanced his fingers and batted his eyelashes. Selina throwed a pillow in his direction.

“He does.” Sel decided to defend her crush. “He volunteered at the animal shelter I work at. And he is really smart. I think he beat Ed once in some competition once.” Ed started giving her signals to shut up.

“I’m sorry, what?” Jon sat down straight. “Why is this the first time I'm hearing about this?” If looking could kill, Selina would be laying on the floor, breathless, from all the daggers Ed was staring at her. Ivy giggled.

“Well, he sounds like a really catch.” She patted Selina on the shoulder.

“He is.” she said with a dreamy voice. Jon snorted.

“Why are you here?” Ivy turned herself around to face him. “I know only you three days, but it seems like all you can do is complain and complain.”

“I don’t really have a choice. Freshman year, teacher force me to sit next to a smartass that never shut up.” Ed made a movement as if he was tipping his hat. “He visits my house once. Apparently two meals a day and not leaving a house during weekends is “unhealthy”, so not I have this walking encyclopaedia that goes everywhere I go to make sure I’m “taking care of myself”. Mister “wanna hear a bird fact” and miss “born crazy cat lady” decided to tag along later. I try to get them to leave me alone. Apparently I’m such lost cause that the most heartless bitches are not bold enough to leave me.”

“Don’t think we are doing this because we care, we just could live we ourselves knowing we could stop someone from dying and did nothing.” said Oswald.

“By the way, you ate anything today?” asked Selina. Ivy smiled sensing a little bit of the concern in her voice. It was obvious they care about each other, they just didn’t want to admit it.

“I had a big breakfast.” Jon said after a minute of silence. Everyone in the room sighed. Selina pulled out her phone.

“I was going to order a pizza any way.” she asked everyone what they want and left the room once they settled on pepperoni pizza and garlic bread. Oz also stood up.

“And where you up to?”

“Smoke.”

“No, you are not.” Ed grabbed his boyfriend by the wrist and force him to sit down. “We talk about this.” Redhead sat down on brunet laps to make sure he is not going anywhere, which was a funny view, since Ed was a head taller than Oz.

“Come on. One cigarette per day haven’t kill anyone. And get off me. I don’t need another contusion.” Ed obeyed but kept his arm around smaller man shoulders.”

“Haven’t killed anyone Yet.” point out Ed. Oswald rolled his eyes. “Please for me.”

“Fine.” he gave up. In that position of haft hug two of them returned to watching a movie.

“They always like this?” Ivy moved herself on the bed so now she was sitting next to Jon.

“You are lucky you didn’t know them when they weren’t together. Fanfic level of pining. Local spoiled brat tag along two nerds, hoping that they will do the whole project for him, and he will just have to sign it. End up falling for one of them. And they dance around each other, unsure of other one feeling while I suffer in silence. Probably the most annoying year and the haft of my life.”

“We can hear you.”

“Good”

After a while Selina got back and the pizza arrived not so long after that. They played another movie.

“How are you friends with those guys?” two girls went together downstair to put dirty plates into dishwasher.

“Back when I was a new girl in school with no friends I had nowhere to sit during lunch. I sat next to them, they were in a corner. I was supposed to eat my food quickly and leave, but I overheard the conversation they were having, joined to a chat, and now I’m stuck with them. They maybe aren’t the best company a girl could ask for, but I would die for them. Just don’t tell them I said that.” Ivy laughed but pretended to lock her mouth with a key. “Are you enjoying our company?”

“Yes, you guys are so much fun. We should have done this from the beginning, instead of going to that party.” said Ivy as they were putting plates into a dishwasher. Selina looked at her.

“I’m so sorry about the whole thing.” she said with a sad look on her face.

“It is ok, I’m not mad.”

“Harley isn’t usually like this. That girl is like the wheel of fortune. You never know what you are going to get.”

“What do you mean by that.” that picked Ivy’s curiosity.

“She used to be this goody two shoes, top of the class girl, but then she dated this jackass for a while. He left but she stayed in this chaotic place where she is either you best friend or your worst enemy. I think this might be her way to defend herself. If she knew that was you back then, she would probably not do that.”

“Great, but spilling your drink or anyone, friend or stranger, isn’t cool. It was nice, back during the vacation, but if this is the real Harley, I want nothing to with her.”

“And if she tried to win you back?” they close a dishwasher and head back to Selina’s room. Ivy didn’t said anything for a longer moment. Harley she remembered was this sweet girl with whom she could talk for hours and who was all fluster and red all over her face anytime Ivy laughed. That wasn’t Harley she met today. She was mad. But she would be lying of she said she was ready to completely forget about her.

“I might give her a chance. If she shows she is sorry. But let's be real, she is probably on that party right now, not even thinking about me.”

***

Rick texted Delia once they arrived at Quinzel’s house. She opened the door and the three of them sneak in making sure to not wake up girls’ parents. None of them were in a mood for a lecture.

“What happened? Why are you wet? Is Jack back?” Delia started asking them questions as soon as they close the door of Harley’s room.

“Worst.” said the younger sister as went to the bathroom to change her clothes. Delia looked at Rick, terrified.

“She is exaggerating.” He tried to calm her down. “That redhead you spend vacation with now go to our school and Harley, to say it lightly, made an idiot out of herself.”

“Ivy? She moved to Gotham?”

“Yes.” Harley wailed as she re-entered the room and throwed herself on the bed. “And I spilled my drink on her. On purpose. And called her a bitch.” Delia sealed her lips to stop herself from laughing. Rick gave her a disappointing look. Both of them sat down on the bed on either side of Harley and looked at each other hoping the other one knows what to say. But before neither of them could say anything Harley turned herself to lay on her back.

“I’m going to die alone.” she was staring at the selling and her eyes started to get wet.

“Don’t even say that.” Delia petted her sister head. “I’m never leaving you. You my sister and you will always be welcome at my house once I get one.”

“I’m not planning on leaving either.” added Rick. “My life would be so boring without you.” Harley laughed as she sat down straight and hug both of them.

“I hope you know you two are the most important people in my life.” Both of them chuckled while returning the hug. She really loved them both. Delia started saying something and Harley did everything in her power to concentrate on her sister voice, on Rick playing with her hair, on anything but that voice in the back of her head telling her that she didn’t know what the future hold, and she might lose them both one day.

Chapter Text

Next Monday was awkward. Ivy walked on second period to biology class, her favourite class, with a smile on her face. But that smile disappeared when she saw a blond-pink hair in the second row. It didn’t help that everyone who was on that party, that is almost everyone in the room, went completely silence. A girl that was sitting next to Harley bended over and pulled a water bottle out of Harley’s backpack.

“I’m going to take this for safe keeping. Just in case.” she said and some of the students giggled. Harley gave her friend a look full of daggers. Ivy herself chuckled and sat down. She tried not to think about the other girl too much. It wasn’t easy. They spent the whole day catching eye contact. Heck, Ivy could swear Harley was staring at her every time the redhead wasn’t looking. Ivy also caught herself searching for a pink-hair every time she entered another room. Why? Did she wanted to see her or not? She wasn’t sure.

“She doesn’t eat lunches at cafeteria.” Selina’s voice pulled her back into reality.

“What?”

“You keep looking around, so I’m telling you that Harley and her friends don’t eat lunches at the cafeteria.”

“Great, I was just looking which way I should go in case of the fire alarm.” lied the redhead.

“Nice try. Someone might actually believe you.” said Jon, his nose still in the book. Almost every time Ivy saw him, he was reading another book, usually Stephen King.

“Jon, anyone ever told you that you have a very punchable face?” she asked while using all of her strength to not reach and close that book on his nose. He looked at her with his eyebrows raised up. He closed the book, with a bookmark, not just his finger, and started to stand up. God knows what he was planning to do before Ed grabbed him by his shoulders and force him to sit down.

“Okay, let’s not commit manslaughter in school.”

“Well, there goes my plan for an end for a school year.” Joked Oz. They all chuckled. Ivy caught herself looking around again.

“We need to get her off you mind. Let's go somewhere on Saturday. Roller skates?” proposed Selina. For some reason boys gave her questioning look.

“I’m out. Family thing.” said Oswald but it sounded like he made it up on the spot.

“Me too. I’m starting a new job.” added Ed. He sounded more beliveble.

“And I just don’t want to.” honesty it would be surprising if Jon said yes.

“Well, we can go just a two of us.” said Ivy. Roller skates did sounded nice.

“You little homewrecker.” Selina fake gasped. “I spend the whole evening telling how wonderful my crush is, and here you are, trying to get me alone.” Ivy laughed a little bit too loud.

“I wound dare. You are too cool to be someone rebound.”

“That might be the weirdest compliment I ever heard.” said Jon.

“To be fair, it’s not like you hear a lot of compliments.” point out Ed. Jon wanted to say something but ended up shrugging.

“Good point.” he returned to reading.

“4:00 pm?” Ivy returned to a previous topic.

“Sure” said Selina.

***

“All right, ladies, that enough for today.” Reene waited till all of the team reached the finishing line. All of them were breathing heavily. Understable, they just spend the whole Saturday afternoon practising roller derby. “You can go all homes or whenever you want to, frankly I don’t give a hoot. And remember: a tournament...

“A tournament is in less than two months, so we have to prepare ourselves both physically and mentally.” said the rest of the squad in perfect union. Reene looked at them with shock.

“Did I said it before today?”

“At least three times.” Kate putted her arm around her girlfriend waist as they walked towards a changing room. All of the girls laughed. Harley took her skates off and walked towards a shower. She wasn’t in the hurry, so she took her time. Turned out she wasn’t the only one because when she got out rest of the team were also there.

“Any plans for a rest of the weekend?” asked Helena after taking a long sip of water.

“Ollie finally worked out the courage to ask me out.” said Dinah proudly. All of the girls started to congratulate her. They talked for a couple more minute, laughing and gossiping.

“I think I’m going to stay for a while.” said Harley. Their practice on the professional roller derby track which was in the same building as the roller-skating club and Harley missed riding slow circles on parquet.

“Can I go with you?” asked Helena. “I don’t really have plans.”

“Sure.” They putted the skates back on and rode a couple of circles.

“So, I have to ask, what happened on that party?”

“I was drunk. That all you need to know.” Harley hoped to end the subject as quickly as possible. She really not wanted to think about Ivy right now. All of the awkward stares at school were enough. Boys already made fun of her whole week, the last thing she needed was someone from a team to also laugh. She joined the local derby team after a breakup with Jack. The girls were super nice and friendly and would beat the shit out of anyone that tried to hurt one of them. Harley was very much grateful for their friendship. She still wasn’t sure if she wanted to do derby professionally after high school or go to college and study psychology like she always wanted. This overwhelming fear of future was starting to get a serious grip on her throat. Adding Ivy to her list of problems was the last thing she wanted.

“Did you at least apologise to that girl?” Helena’s voice pulled Harley out of her own head. She blushed as she realised she didn’t. She spent the whole week staring at the redhead, but didn’t even thought about trying to apologise.

“No I didn’t.” pinkhead shook her head.

“You can now.” said Helena. Before Harley could register what she just heard Helena rose her hand and started screaming. “You there, my friend wants to talk to you.” Ivy was here. On the parquet. With Selina Kyle. And Helena was waying at her and pulling Harley to get close to two other girls. Was this so kind of stupid joke? Because it wasn’t funny!

“Hi.” Helena was smiling genuinely, clearly not knowing that what she was doing was not helping.

“Hi.” Selina was griming, clearly having a lot of fun with this situation. Harley and Ivy just waved at each other. “Helena, I was meaning to ask you a couple of questions.” Selina grabbed the brunette by a wrist and quickly lead her away, much to two other girls' discomfort. They started riding next to each other, waiting for their companion to get back.

“I’m sorry. About the party.” said Harley after a long moment of silence.

“It is okay.” said Ivy. “I ended up having good time anyway.”

“With Selina?” asked Harley. Sweet smile on Ivy’s face worried her a little bit. Okay, maybe part of her wanted Ivy to be her problem.

“Yes.” it wasn’t the same smile as when the two of them watched a sunset almost every day during summer, which help, but it was still a smile. “And the boys, of course.” Redhead added quickly. Harley felt the relieved. Maybe there was still a chance. Maybe they could continue their relationship. Unless Harley don’t fuck this up like almost everything she touch.

“I was thinking,” she started, still not sure what she was doing “maybe we could go somewhere together, grab something to eat, talk, you know, like in the good old days.” she poked her with an elbow. Redhead was staring at her surprised. “Of course, I understand if you say no. You have every right to no after everything...

“No, no, I would love to hang out with you again.” Ivy cut her off, which was a good thing since Harley could feel the waterfall of word that was about leave her mouth. “But let take it slow. I want to be sure I actually know the real you before this gets serious.”

“Great.” Harley rolled away with both of her thumbs up. “We will message each other details.” she was hoping to get away before she said or did something stupid. She bumped into someone. And she tripped and almost felt while leaving the parquet. With red face she took off the skates and left the building while texting Helena she is leaving. She was too embarrassed to look back. Once Helena texted her back a kissing face and a waving hand, Harley dialled a phone number.

“I did something stupid.” she said the moment she heard other side picked up.

“What new?” joked Rick.

***

Ivy stood in one place staring at the doors Harley left. She still wasn’t sure if agreeing was a good idea. Yes, she loved times she spent with Harley during vacations, but what that not what Harley is like every day. What if this whole is going to end up being one big disaster?

“Soooo, did you and jester lady have a nice talk?” Selina showed up out of nowhere, still with that stupid smile on her face.

“I hate you.” Ivy rolled away and walked of the parquet. Selina giggled as she followed her towards a small bar that was also in the building.

“How could you leave me like that?” asked Ivy after they order shakes and fries.

“I thought I would be funny. Beside you been staring at her for a whole week. I was doing you a favour.” they took their orders and sat down at the table.

“Well, thank you. Now we are going on the date.” Selina chocked on her drink once Ivy finished her sentence.

“What?!” she did not expected this turn of events. Maybe this whole match maker thing wasn’t as hard as she thought.

Chapter Text

“I told you it going to be boring, but no, why listen to me when we can just waste money.” Dubois started complaining the moment he, Cleo and Abner left the cinema.

“It wasn’t that bad.” said Cleo while throwing out the empty bucket of popcorn.

“No, I’m with Robert on this one, it was terrible.” said Krill. Cleo gasped.

“Et tu Brute?” she theatrically putted her hand on her chest.

“Well, it was. I’m not going to lie just to make you feel better. And it was your idea to go, so technically it is you who own us an apology.” Abner crossed his arms on his chest. Cleo gasped again. Robert snorted, holding in laughter. Cleo punched him in the shoulder.

“Rick was right. I should find better friends.” she said as she got into a car.

“Good luck finding someone with a car.” said Dubois while starting a car. Cleo sighed and looked through the window. She saw a small grocery store in a distance.

“How about we buy some snacks and go to my house and watch a movie. I'm paying.” she looked at the back seat. “Would that be a good apology for you?” Abner chuckled and showed her thumb-up.

Saturdays were always like that for them. Harley had her practice and Rick was always busy with helping either at his own house or someone else. This usually left the rest of the friend group with coming up with ideas on how to spend the weekend.

They stopped at the parking lot when Cleo noticed somebody else going towards the doors.

“Chris!” she waved at him. He waved back. Only a monster would not wave back at Cleo Cazo. And Chris was not a monster. He wasn’t also alone. There was a short, dark skin girl with him.

“Hi. This is Leota.” he introduced his companion as the rest got closer. They introduced themselves and shook hands.

“You are from Evergreen too?”

“Yes. My mom has job related stuff to do here in Gotham so I decided to drop by and say hi.” all five of them started walking again towards the store.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE SAID YES!?” they heard as they walked into a building. Edward Nygma was standing behind the counter, his back facing the door, so he didn’t notice that people walked into a shop. He was talking to someone over a phone. “Of course I’m surprise. If a bitch poured liquid over me, I would even look in her direction, let along went on a date with her.” he turned around and his eyes went wide. “Selina, if I don’t call you again in fifteen minutes, that mean I’m dead and I need you to call the police.” he hanged up and smiled awkwardly.

“All right boys. You hold him so I can beat him up.” said Cleo while pretending to roll up her sleeves. She laughed upon noticing sincere fear on Ed’s face. He only relaxed after like five minute when everyone started walking around, picking what they want to buy. Dubois stood next to counter.

“Harley asked that new girl out?” he asked Ed.

“Yup. For some reason. I mean no offense, I know you are her friends, but she messed up.”

“We know. And she knows it too.” Roberts reassure him.

“She spent this whole week doing nothing but sitting all sad, looking at your new friend.” added Cleo.

“It was a very sad view. She looked like a kicked puppy.” mention Abner. Ed exhaled.

“Okay, but she hurt Ivy again...”

“Nygma, no offense, but you are not really an intimidating type of the person.” said out Dubois.

“But Selina is.” point out Ed.

“True, that woman is pretty scary.” Robert shuddered.

“Wait, those two girls from a party are going on the date.” Leota added herself to the conversation.

“You know about that?”

“Of course. Everyone who was at that party knows about that.” she turned to Chris. “You have to keep me updated on the whole thing.” he showed her thumb-up.

“That not fair. You never tell us any Evergreen gossips.” Cleo crossed her arms. Chris chuckled.

“Nothing personal, sweety. It just that she is that next level best friend. I tell her everything.” he patted Leota shoulder. “Even Keith and Adrian know less than she does.

“Wow, she knows more than your imaginary boyfriend. That have to count for something.” joked Dubois. He had a stupid grin on his face, unlike Chris, whose smile disappear. Leota was just confused.

“You still with that?” Chis was very much done with this joke.

“Listen, I’m your friend, for some reason. And as you friend, I'm worried about you.” he started using that tone of voice people use during interventions but was still smiling. “You can’t just walk around and tell people you have a boyfriend, but he lives in another town. Sooner or later everyone will realise you are making stuff up.” He got closer to them and started picking chips.

“You met him!”

“Sure buddy, sure.” he patted his friend on a shoulder. Everyone in a store was holding in laughter. Even Leota was giggling.

“You know what, I don’t have to keep up with this. Buy what you want, I will be in the car.” he left the store only to run back in two seconds later. He stood next to Leota, shielding her in the process. Robert was about to make another joke when the door open and someone walked in. Dubois moved fast and stood next to Cleo and Abner. You could see a legit fear on Cleo's face. Having an athlete for a friend had many benefits, one of them being able to use them as a shield when someone you really didn’t wanted to see walked into a room. Ed had less luck. Redhead was doing everything to not to freak out. New guest walked to a shelf, picked a pack of gum, handed it to Ed and paid. He looked over his shoulder on his way out.

“Nice to see no one forgot about me.” he laughed, which sound like nails on a blackboard. Everyone let out a breath once he finally left.

“Who was that?” asked Leota. She didn’t get an answer. Everyone was too busy pulling out their phones and texting everyone they know.

Jack Napier was back in Gotham.

***

“How do I look?” Ivy got out of bathroom to show off Selina what she chose to wear for her date.

“Fantastic.” Selina showed two thumps-up. Ivy sat next to her on bed so Selina could do her make up. Every now and then a brunette took a glance at her phone.

“Are you waiting for a message?” Ivy asked once they done.

“Yes, from Bruce.” it wasn’t technically a lie. Bruce was supposed to call her. But at the same time, she was wait for message from anyone. Jack Napier was spotted last weekend in Gotham by a group of people, one of whom was Eddie, but no one seen him since that. Everyone who know who Jack was got a little bit scared. Was he really back or was he driving by the city and thought it will be funny scare a group of highschoolers? Cozing chaos seem to be his only hobby. Everyone remembered Jack’s stupid jokes and pranks he pulled when he himself went to school. Some harmless, others not so much. One of those pranks putted poor Jason Todd in the hospital for almost a month. Other killed one of Selina’s cats. So the girl had a personal grudge against the jackass.

“You have a date too?” asked Ivy.

“No, it is about the shelter we work at.” Ivy did not know much about Jack. The moment news about Jack went viral, the blond girl spam Selina’s DM. “DON’T TELL HER” “I WILL TELL HER” “I NEED TO BE THE ONE THAT TELL HER THE WHOLE STORY”. Those were the messages Selina received that day. She felt bad about only telling Ivy the basic. That Jack was an asshole, and no one like him. Ivy did not know that he was Harley ex. Harley promised Selina personally that she will explain everything to Ivy herself. Which made sense since no one know the whole story better than Harley. This girl was going out of her way to present the best side of herself to Ivy. On Tuesday she even sat down at their table during lunch, claiming she needed Ivy help in biology homework. That situation gave Selina an opportunity to get a closer look at their relationship. The two of them were definitely making each other happy. Ivy laughed like an idiot every time Harley told a joke, and Harley appeared to be genuinely curious about everything Ivy was saying. Selina only hoped that this whole thing wasn’t a mistake.

“Alright, I should go, I don’t want to be late.” Ivy stood up and grabbed her purse. They both left Isley family’s house. Ivy dad promised to drive her to the cinema while Selina went to catch the bus home. They said goodbye and promised to call each other in the evening after everything. Not that they needed to do that. Because when Selina got to the bus stop, she did not get into the one that would drove her home. Instead, she got into a one that drove towards the cinema.

***

Harley was easy to spot in the crowd. Her colourful hairs sticked out like sore thumb. She also started waving with both hands when she spotted Ivy. Redhead smiled and walked closer to the blond. They walked to the cinema to see a movie.

“No, not that one. All of my friends said this one is boring.” said Harley when they were picking what to watch. In the end they chose to see the newest horror. It wasn’t the best idea. Turn out Harley was easy scare by jump scares. She didn’t mind blood and guts, but loud music and character jumping at the camera, that made her legit scare. A couple of times she grabbed Ivy hand and Ivy thanks that it was dark, and no one saw how red her face was.

“Never again.” said Harley the moment they left. Ivy laugh.

“Next time we can go see something more wholesome.” Harley looked shocked upon hearing that.

“You think there will be next time?”

“I hope so.” they stare at each other for moment in silence, blushing, before finally starting to move again.

“There is a great café shop nearby. We can go there.” proposed Harley. Ivy nodded and they change the direction. At some point their finger brushed and the ended up holding each other hand. It was a really nice day.

***

“You are a terrible friend, you know?” Rick jumped when he heard female voice. Selina must have teleport next to him because there is no way he didn’t heard her walking closer to him.

“Jesus, woman. You want me to get a heart attack?” he grabbed his chest and tried to calm down his breathing. They were walking behind Harley and Ivy, for enough so that the pair couldn’t hear them. “And you are here to. So you have no right to judge me.”

“Yes, but I came prepared, so I don’t look like an idiot that stalks her friend.” she showed him her shopping bag with cat food inside. Rick shocked his head and look around, the same way he did five minutes ago. And five minutes before that. “I’m guessing you are not here to make sure Ivy does not hurt her.” Selina also looked around.

“No, Ivy looks like a good person. So far the only red flag I spotted was the fact she is your friend.” he smirked, clearly joking. Selina chuckled. “I swear, if I see him, I'm punching him on sight. Before he even opens his mouth.” he looked at her, expecting a judgmental look from her. Instead she looked smitten.

“Only if I get the second punch. That jackass killed my cat and I need to have my revenge.”

“Deal.” they looked back at the couple. Two girls were laughing. Selina smiled proudly.

“They better thank me after that.”

“Why?”

“Because I was the one that pushed them together. Why do you think Ivy was skating the exact day Harley had her practices.” Rick looked at her, impress.

“Damm, maybe you are not that stone cold bitch rumours claim you are.” she gasped and punched him in the shoulder.

“And maybe you are not as smart as rumours claim. Maybe you are as dumb as the rest of your friend group.”

“People think I'm smart.” he looked genuinely surprised. “What else they say about me.”

“No, no, no. We are not close enough to be gossip buddies.” they paused the conversation upon noticing that two girls that walked in front of them enter the café. They waited a couple of minutes before walking as well. They practically run to the table that stood as far from their friends table as possible.

“There is a girl, one year belove us, I think her name June. I think she might like you.” she whispered. He looked at her confused. “What? I'm clearly a great matchmaker, my talent cannot go to waste.” he chuckled. Selina heard that door to the café open and smile on Rick’s face disappeared. She looked in that direction and her worst fear came true. A guy with green hair and world worst smile just entered the room. And he noticed Harley. Shit.

Chapter Text

The date was going great, Ivy was really enjoying herself. The café was really nice. As Harley was laughing and telling her a story, the blonde’s face suddenly froze.

“Harley!” Some guy walked into the café and over to their table. He either didn’t noticed Ivy, or was pretending not to see her because he grabbed another chair and sat down next to Harley, putting his hand on her knee.

“Get away from me!” she yelled the moment he touched her. Out of nowhere, one of Harley friends showed up.

“Wow, wow, relax, I was just saying hi.” The stranger acted like this whole situation was just a joke. Rick, Harley’s friend, thought otherwise. He grabbed a stranger by the collar of his shirt, pulling him towards the door.

“She told you to leave her alone.” he said. Selina showed up, checking on both girls.

“And who are you?” the jackass, who clearly wasn't getting that he was not welcome, finally noticed Ivy. The redhead felt really uncomfortable just from the way he looked at her.

“No one important,.” said Harley, quickly, before anyone else could say anything. Ivy looked at her confuse. The sour expression on Harley’s face showed she wished she phrased that differently.

“I told you to leave.” Rick continued pushing the guy away.

“I was just saying hello.” the stranger raised his hands in defence, then pointed at Selina,. “Aren’t you that crazy cat lady? Hey, Harls, remember when we raun over one of her cats. That was a fun day.” He laughed, and his laughter was so uncomfortable Ivy cringed. Harley looked down while Selina looked so angry, that if this was cartoon, smoke would probably start leaving her ears. Rick finally succeeded in his mission of pushing the jackass outside. He yelled at him and got back inside after the stranger got into his car and drove away. People in the café were staring at them. Harley looked like she was about to start crying.

“You said you were going to punch him once you see him,.” Selina was the first one to break the silence. Rick chuckled.

“There are people around us,.”

“So?”

“Can someone please tell me who that was?” Ivy asked, frustrated.

“My ex.” said Harley. She looked completely done. “I’m so sorry about the cat.” she put her arm on Selina’s shoulder.

“It is okay. You already apologised for that.” brunette petted her hand, although she looked sad.

“So you really did that?” part of Ivy hoped this was some kind of inside joke. But no, apparently Harley used to date some jackass that ran over cats and God knows what other disgusting crimes he committed. Harley pinched bridge her nose and took a deep breath.

“Yes. When I dated Jack, we did some stuff I very much regret. Can we please talk about this later. I promised I will explain everything to you I swear.” she was talking very fast despite looking very tired, and Ivy felt she shouldn’t push. Whatever happened between her and Jack must have been hard, if just seeing him left her in that state. And yet Ivy couldn't help but feel like she deserved to know.

“And if I was someone important, would I hear the exposition quicker.” redhead crossed her arm. Harley’s eyes went wide.

“It not like that. Trust me you don’t want this guy near you and if he knew I care about you he would not leave you alone.” Ivy would probably call her out and said what she was saying was bullshit if it wasn’t for Rick and Selina weren’t nodding. Harley stood up and started going towards the doors. “I promise I will explain everything later, I just... I need a break.” she left before anyone could say anything. Ivy just sat there still confused about the whole situation. On one hand it was nice to think that Harley care about her. On the other if she did care why did she just leave. Maybe this whole thing was a mistake. Maybe Ivy wasn’t ready for a serious relationship and that why she didn’t understand what was going on. Or maybe Harley wasn’t ready since she was still haunted by ex-boyfriend.

“Should have punched him when I had the chance.” said Rick.

***

Harley decided not to go to school on Monday. To be completely honest she was terrified to leave her house. She couldn’t be sure if Jack wouldn't try anything again, and she couldn’t bring herself to look into Ivy’s eyes. Now she was lying on her bed, reflection on everything. She run away from that date. She was so embarrassed of herself and terrified at the same time, so she run away. She probably sabotaged her chance on rebuilding her relationship with Ivy, and she had no one to blame but herself. She didn’t have run away. She didn’t have to call Ivy no one ‘important’. Heck, she didn’t have to date Jack in a first place and this situation wouldn’t never happen. But no, she had to be stupid and selfish. Her parents were right. This whole thing was her fault. She curled up on the mattress and started crying. This was too much, there was just too much on her mind. Not only the whole Jack-Ivy situation but also the “what do you want to do after graduation?” situation and “the competition next month” situation. Girls from the team messaged her why she skipped the practise last Saturday. Her friends were also spamming her phone wanting to know where she was. Harley ignored them all. Even the little “missed you at biology” from Ivy. It was nice that she missed her and might still give her a chance, but Ivy deserved better than Harley. Someone who knew how to talk about their pain. Someone who didn’t ignored everyone who cared about them. At this point Harley pretty much accepted she will lose all of her friends after high school. She couldn’t help but feel the need to cry anytime anyone brought up what they were planning to do in the future. She had no plans, soon she will have no friends, and there was no chance she is never going to have a happy relationship. All of that just made her cry harder. Until...

A loud bang on the window brought Harley back to reality. She run and open the window quickly. Rick was standing below it with the shopping bag.

“Your parents are home?” he asked nonchalant. Harley shook her. Theyre were working till late evening. “Great. Let me in.”

“You don’t have classes or something?” she asked once she open the door.

“Finished for today. And I thought you might need me.” he said while pulling out a carton of ice cream. “They might need the minute to cool down. I was thinking we might do math homework...”

“Rick, you don’t have to.” she interrupted him.

“I can see you were crying. And I’m not leaving you alone until that jackass leaves this town.”

“You can’t protect me all the time.” she couldn’t tell if she wanted him to stay or not. On one hand she wanted to be left alone. On the others she knew that if she pushed him away, she would lose him. That thought alone made her sad again and she did not had the energy to keep herself together. So she started crying. Without saying anything Rick just hugged her.

“This is all my fault.” she started ranting into his shoulder. “I should have known better. I was stupid and now I pay.”

“Don’t say that.” he squished her harder. “You were a kid for crying out loud. Fuck, I'm seriously going to beat him up next time I see him. You...

“Are we still going to be friends after high school?” she interrupted him again. He pulled her away to look in her eyes.

“Of course. Why would you even think otherwise?”

“Well because all you and the rest talk about are post school plans and I don’t have any plans. So I just assumed all of you are going to leave me.”

“Nobody is leaving you,.” he hugged her again. “I'm not going to leave you. You are my best friend. And we will find something you for you to do post high school, promise.” they just stood there hugging each other for a next couple of minutes. “Ivy asked about you. I lied and told her you got sick.”

“Thanks. Did she look sad?” maybe there was still a chance. Rick chuckled.

“Yep. I don’t think she is holding any grudges against you, although running away was stupid.”

“I know, I know.” they finally let go of each other. “Tomorrow I will explain everything to her. But I'm taking a break from dating until I'm sure he left.”

“Sounds like a good idea.” he said. “Shit.” the ice cream he left on the table started melting. Harley laughed. Laughing at someone else misfortune wasn’t nice, but he did not mind. It was important she was laughing. The small voice at the back of her head was still telling her she will end up alone, but it was quieter than an hour ago.

“So, I’m guessing you need my help with math homework.”

***

Ivy was staring at her phone for a past five minutes. She sent one text two hour ago and got no respond. She debated sending another message or maybe even calling. Rick said Harley felt sick, but something was telling the redhead that might have been a lie. Now she was sitting on the bench in front of the school waiting for Selina, thinking what to do. She wasn’t angry, just confuse. Harley just disappeared. Hopeful she really was sick, and that weirdo left her alone. Ivy could tell the whole situation was serious.

“Had a small change in plans, you might have to go alone.” Selina finally showed up, but she wasn’t alone, she was holding the hand of a tall skinny boy.

“Let me guess, you must be Bruce Wayne. I heard a lot about you.” said the redhead. The boy smiled.

“You told your friends about me?” there was a legit happiness in his voice.

“Maybe a little bit.” the brunette tried to hide her embarrassment. “We decided to make it official.” she said Ivy. The redhead smiled, showed them a thumbs up and returned to looking at the screen of her phone. Selina sat next to her. “Everything okay?”

“Yes.” she answered shortly.

“What happened?” Bruce also sat next to them.

“Jack Nappier happened.” said Selina. Bear mention of the guy made Bruce cringe.

“Why didn’t you tell me he and Harley used to date?” Ivy finally stopped looking at the screen and met her friend's eyes.

“I promised her I wouldn't.” answered brunette. “She wanted to explain it all to you herself.” she added quickly seeing Ivy’s widen eyes. “This whole situation is really complicated..."

“No, it isn’t.” Bruce interrupted his girlfriend. Apparently he did not noticed her staring at him because he continued talking. “Jack is an asshole, but was nice to her for some uncomfortable reason, they dated for a while, he abused her, so he dumped his ass. End of story.” only after he finished he noticed Selina’s killing stare.

“Bruce, go start the car.” she ordered. He stood up and walk away quickly.

“And now he is trying to get her back?” the new information made Ivy seriously worried.

“I think he is doing it more because want to annoy her.” there was this clean hatred in her voice. “Don’t worry, Harley has a lot of athlete friends and there is no way she is planning to go back to him. You are the only thing on her mind.”

“She did run away.” pointed out Ivy.

“If I were in her shoes I would probably run away too.” pointed out Selina. “And besides, I seen the way she looks at you when you are not looking.” that made Ivy blush. This whole situation was this confusing. But there was hope it won’t be in the future. Two girls stood up and started walking toward the parking lot where Bruce was waiting with the car.

Chapter Text

Harley found Ivy the next day post classes. She explained everything, told her a whole story. About how she and Jack got together, what kind of a relationship they had, how they broke up. And Ivy listened. She was happy to finally understand what was going on, but she was also worried.

"And you are sure he won't hurt you again?" She asked once Harley finished. This actually surprised the blond.

"That what worries you the most? Not the fact I did some shitty stuff when we were together?"

"Yes. You described him as such a prick. I'm not a violence person but I might make an exception this time." this actually made Harley blushed. She was so sure that Ivy might hate her after everything, but here she was, ready to throw hand for her.

"Don't worry, you don't have to." She hanged her head down to avoid redhead's eyes. "But I talk with my friend, and I don't think I'm really to date again. I swear, it is not your fault, I just need to put everything back in order. You are really amazing and pretty and sweet, and I really like you, and I... "

"Hey, I get it." the redhead interrupted her. "Take your time." Ivy couldn't get mad. She was before, but now that she knew the whole story all of her negative emotions left. Plus, Harley’s little waterfall of word was a little bit flattering. She squished Harley's hand. "Maybe we could start from a beginning. Friends?" She proposed. Blond nodded, lively.

"Great idea." she smiled so brightly, and Ivy could tell she was blushing. This will be an interesting friendship. Harley stood up from a bench they were sitting on. "So as a friend, may I invite you for some fries?" Ivy stood up as well. They started walking together. They talked all the way to the nearest fast-food restaurant. Maybe taking it slow and casual and not worrying about if they are going to work is what they both needed.

***

IDIOTS + CLEO

CAZO: Guy, don’t make any pact with me

CAZO: If I'm not married by 40, just let Rick kill me

QUINZEL: ?

FLAG: ?

SMITH: ?

DUBOIS: ?

KRILL: some girls were talking about with who they are going to the Snow Ball and Cleo entered her “I’m going to die alone” era

CAZO: I’m going to be the only one without a date

CAZO: you and Robert are not going because you hate those type of stuff

CAZO: Ricky has his new girlfriend

FLAG: we talk maybe 3 times

CAZO: don’t act like you didn’t think about inviting her

CAZO: Chris is going to his old school

CAZO: and Harley is either going with Ivy or not going at all, who knows at this point

SMITH: Adrian wants to go to my school this year since I went to his last year

DUBOIS: great, she can be a third wheel you and your imaginary boyfriend

SMITH: thats it. I’m going to his house to beat his ass

FLAG: he is at my place

DUBOIS: Rick!!!

FLAG: its not like he is actually going to do that

SMITH: 15 min by bus. I can safe on gas

FLAG: …

QUINZEL: we can go as friends with me and Ivy

CAZO: and watch you two do googly eyes? No thx

KRILL: I still don’t understand what you two are

QUINZEL: we are casual. Kinda like friends with benefits but the benefits are flirting, kissing and cuddling

CAZO: and it work?

QUINZEL: so far is working. Just a peaceful month of having fun and not worrying about anything.

QUINZEL: if it still works for a nearest future we might make it official

SMITH: it worked for me

DUBOIS: did it?

FLAG: changing the subject

FLAG: why do you want me of all people to kill you?

CAZO: because no one is going to believe it was you

CAZO: Rick Flag, the perfect boy next door, no way. It must have been one of those hooligans she was friends with back in high school.

CAZO: They all have alibi? Well I guess we can’t find the killer, case unsolved, every true crime podcast talk about it, I'm forever famous

FLAG: I regret asking

DUBOIS: there is only one problem. He might have tainted his reputation today

CAZO: what happened?

DUBOIS: we are chilling, eating lunch a McDonald, when jackass walk in

DUBOIS: he pushed a child, but Rick stood up before that even happen

DUBOIS: which mean he made up his mind the moment he saw that prick

DUBOIS: Our Rick just grabbed that guy by a shirt, pull him out of the bar, and start punching him in the parking lot

DUBOIS: I couldn’t believe my eyes. Thought my man got possess or something

FLAG: in my defence he has a face that just ask to be punch

FLAG: I told him to get out the town. I think he might listen this time

FLAG: and if he doesn’t, I'm going to actually need y’all for alibi

CAZO: who are you and what happened to Rick?

FLAG: I'm doing the necessary.

FLAG: But I'm not killing you

CAZO: 🙁

CAZO: fine, I'm going to find better friends

CAZO: someone who will kill me, no question asks

DUBOIS: I'm starting to get worried

QUINZEL: good luck finding someone better than us

KRILL: we are still going to be friends after graduation, right?

FLAG: not you too. I already had this conversation with Harls

FLAG: please tell me you guys really don’t think we will stop being friends

DUBOIS: well, I kinda assumed we might end up going our separate ways at some point

FLAG: let me put this way, do you guys want to stop being friends?

KRILL: no

QUINZEL: no

CAZO: no

DUBOIS: most of the time no

SMITH: depends on the day

FLAG: …

FLAG: great, then we are staying friends

FLAG: why I'm the only one here with braincells

SMITH: we need perfect people to care of us, dumbasses

SMITH: which is why you were blesses with a brain and a good body and a perfect face, when all of us got only one of those

SMITH: except Abner. He got nothing

KRILL: _|_

FLAG: I'm not perfect

SMITH: and humble as well. Truly an ideal man

SMITH: only his house needs to be repainting

FLAG: ?

DUBOIS: he actually drove here

DUBOIS: sorry guys we need to lock the door

CAZO: …

QUINZEL: anyway

QUINZEL: you guys are coming to my tournament, right?

KRILL: of course

CAZO: of course

QUINZEL: great, love y’all <3

KRILL: <3

CAZO: <3

***

SELINA’S ANGELS

SCARECROW: and in the end he dies alone

PENGUIN: is it really that hard for you to find not depressing books

SCARECROW: yup

CAT: guys, what the fuck is roller derby?

IVY: a sports discipline

RIDDLER: why are you asking?

CAT: Bruce just texted if I want to go with him to watch next week

CAT: his cousin is on the team

IVY: so is Harley

CAT: you going?

IVY: of course

IVY: I have to support her

SCARECROW: so what are you two exactly?

IVY: friends. We are testing if actually like each other

IVY: we are going to the Snow Ball together

IVY: so far so good

CAT: good for you

PENGUIN: I’m still waiting for an invitation

RIDDLER: really?

PEINGUIN: what, I can’t be the only one romantic here

PEINGUIN: I want to vine and dine too, you know

SCARECROW: please, before you start, not in the group chat

RIDDLER: go back to your book

SCARECROW: I will, thank you very much

CAT: anyway

CAT: Ives, want to catch a ride with me and Bruce?

IVY: sure

CAT: <3

Chapter Text

The tournament was pretty exciting, even though Ivy had no idea what was going on haft the time. Bruce tried his best to explain her the rules to no avail. But it didn’t really matter. What mattered was the fact that Birds of Prey won. The team celebrated loudly when they left the building. Ivy, Bruce and Selina waited for them at the parking lot.

“How about we go get some pizza? Bruce pays.” proposed Kate, much to her cousin shock and dismay. Unfortunately all of the girls agree this is a great idea before he could protest. They drove to a pizzeria and made their orders. Harley and Ivy ended up splitting one pizza in haft. They spent most the evening talking together. Surprisingly Harley was able to explain the rules of roller derby to Ivy. When they done eating and the whole squad started walking in they separate directions, Ivy kissed Harley on the cheek and started walking in towards Bruce’s car.

“Wait!” blond grabbed her wrist. “Do you want to go to a snow ball with me?” she asked awkwardly. She debated the whole evening with herself if she should have asked her out. Maybe if was the post victory adrenaline, maybe it was this nice evening, but something told her she should.

“Of course.” the red head smiled. To be honest she herself debated asking Harley, just didn’t knew how. So blond asking her really lifted a weight of her shoulders.

“Great.” Harley showed her two thumbs up and started walking backword which resulted in her almost tripping. They went the separate ways, now even more happy than before.

***

As much as she loved them, Harley could imagine herself having a rom-com moment. And yet here she was completely speechless as Ivy walked down the stairs in her beautiful green dress, a scene straight out of a movie. They said goodbye to Ivy’s parents and drove to school in Rick’s car with him and June. He asked her out a couple of days after Harley’s victory. She fitted into a group, but sometimes still had problems to match Rick’s friends' chaotic energy.

“Never thought I would say this about a school gym, but this look cute.” Ivy pointed at the decorations when they arrived. They were one of the first people who go there, so no one was dancing. Because of that Harley and Ivy just stood awkwardly next to a wall, waiting for a party to get started, trying to find a way to start a conversation. Surprisingly rescue came out of nowhere.

“I like your hair.” said a boy that was standing next to them the whole time. Harley blinked in shock but thanked. Her hairs were blond at this point with pink and blue tips.

“Thanks, I like your … glasses.” he smiled brightly upon hearing the complement. Ivy wasn’t really sure if the glasses were really that cool. Don't serial killers wear glasses like those? What worst Ivy did not recognise him from anywhere, he definitely did not go to this school. Ivy was about to point out this out to Harley when more people walked to them.

“Hi.” Cleo, as always cheery greeted them with a gigantic smile on her mouth. Robert and Abner looked less happy.

“You actually were able to force them to go?” asked Harley.

“It wasn’t easy, trust me.” she pointed at Dubois.

“Who are you pointing at? There is no one there.” said the strange boy with a voice so innocent it has to be fake. Everyone looked at him confused. “No one is standing next to you.” he was having a hard time to hide a mocking smile. Robert on the other hand looked more done than angry.

“Hi Adrian.” he said, tiredly. The rest of the squad made the sound of understanding. Adrian just smiled innocently.

“Well, it was lovely to chat with you, but I’m going to find my boyfriend.” he walked away, purposely pushing Dubois with his shoulder. That one just sighed.

“He is going to do this whole evening, isn’t he?”

“Probably. To be fair, you deserve this.” pointed out Cleo.

Adrian did pretended he doesn’t see Robert for the rest of the evening. But beside that nothing dramatic happen during the whole party. Everyone danced and laughed. Sometimes after midnight Rick drove Harley and Ivy to Quinzel house. Two girls sneaked to Harley’s room. They were laying on Harley’s bed, listening to music, the same way they did all those month ago.

“Do you want to date for real? Like, calling each other girlfriends and stuff.” asked Harley after a long period of not talking.

“Of course.” answer Ivy.

“Really?”

“Really.” they kiss and hugged. Two girls fell asleep cuddling and humming soft melodies.