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“Harvey - just stop…” Harley watched him pacing back and forth, working himself into a temper as he paced the length of his living room back and forth, over and over. “You’re winding yourself up over nothing.”
“Nothin’.” Harvey snarled back, casting her a dark look.
Harley frowned at him. “Harv. C'mon. Look at me - You think I’m interested? You think I’m stepping out on you?”
Harvey didn’t look at her but threw himself into a chair instead. Her questions hung in the air like razor blades, glinting dangerously, threatening to slice the silence to ribbons.
“Harv. Is that what you think it is? You think I’m cheating on you?”
Harvey searched his feelings. She may have dabbled in making him jealous - or maybe not since that flared up easily enough with no extra effort on her part. But he didn’t think she was the kind of woman who did that. “No.”
“So what? You think I like the attention? You think I’m leading him on?”
Harvey took longer to consider this because until she said the words out loud it hadn’t really been something he’d thought of - but it needed thinking about. “No.” He said finally looking at her.
“Right. So what’s wrong?”
A beat. “It’s… Inappropriate.”
Harley frowned at him. “What do you mean by that?”
Harvey hesitated - he could hardly condemn the behaviour of her professor just because he was older than Harley - because it was almost certain that the other man was closer in age to Harley that he was. “He’s supposed t’ be teachin’ you. Not flirting with you.”
“Harv. He’s not flirting with m-”
“Sure looks like it.”
“Then he flirts with every single student he has when they do well. I’m just teacher's pet this week - next week he’ll have a new favourite.”
“He hugged you that night I picked you up.”
“I hugged him Harv - and you might recall I can be pretty persuasive when I want to be-” Harvey opened his mouth to counter - he remembered the hand nearly on her ass during that hug. Had Harley asked him to do that too? “Hey! No. I hugged him to make you jealous - and clearly, it worked. But you need to chill out. That was months ago. There is nothing between Eric and me.”
Harvey crossed his arms grumpily, and Harley sighed hauling herself off his sofa and dropping into his lap with a little bit more of her weight than was maybe necessary. “Listen to me.” She said raking her fingers through his hair. “Didn’t you tell me, ages ago, that I should stop pestering you bag a hot doctor, and forget all about you?”
Harvey grunted something in reply that may have been a yes.
“Right. But who’s name was I calling out this morning at three am? Who’s lap am I sitting in right now? Who do I want more than anyone else? More than any boring old doctor? Huh? Who?”
“Who? What’re you an owl?” Harvey said grudgingly, but the joke was there.
“You. That’s who, Harv. I want you and Dr. Parri is just my teacher - if you heard him on a daily basis with me you wouldn’t think there’s anything going on. I’m fairly certain ‘Baby Doctor’ is meant to be insulting, not endearing anyway. You know because I’m a tiny baby who’s not even a real doctor.”
Harvey sighed. “Alright. Fine. Whatever you say. But I’m gonna keep an eye on him.”
“Fine but just as long as I don’t find out you’ve been roughing him up in the hospital parking lot.”
“You won’t,” Harvey said, letting Harley dip in to kiss him, find out that was…