Chapter Text
Harleen Quinzel climbed out of the taxi cab with her heavy suitcase in tow and stared up at the building that she will be calling home for the next few months. The rain was pelting down on her as she stood, but she didn’t care, this place looked far from what she was hoping for.
The tall, three story apartment complex was located in the cheapest, but also the most dangerous part of Gotham city, the Narrows and it greatly showed it in its appearance. Some of the windows were splintered, the grey paint job had crumbled and cracked in places, revealing bare brick underneath, and large bin bags lay littered and forgotten around the entrance. It was hardly a place that anyone should be living in, yet many people did and she was about to become one of them. She didn’t even get to view the place before picking it, she just saw the listing and instantly applied.
If she had more time and money then she obviously would have picked somewhere better and safer to stay for the remainder of her school year, until she could apply for another dorm room for her second year, but life had not been that kind to her. One day she was happily sharing a dorm room with her boyfriend of three years, while working at a café close to campus, the next, she was quitting on the spot and scrambling for a new place to live, all because she caught the guy in bed with one of her colleagues.
She still had her education at least, but all thanks to him, she was further away, low in funds and in need of a new job. Her gymnast scholarship had secured her place at university with a room, but all other expenses were down to her, which is why she still needed loans and to get a job. The issue with getting a job now, was that at this point in the year, no one was offering positions with student friendly schedules, because they all were already filled. Everything was either full time or conflicting with her studies, then when she did manage to find one, they didn’t respond.
This only left her with one choice left, the strip club not far from her new apartment. She wasn’t happy about it, but she was in good shape for the job, it would give her a decent enough money to get by and she could work with her own schedule, plus unlike everywhere else, when she called, the owner agreed to an interview.
‘Wow, this place really does look like crap.’
Harleen’s soft features creased at the negativity of her inner voice, as if it was another person. ‘It’ll do’ she inwardly responded, before dragging her luggage towardly the porch steps.
Once inside, she stood still to take in the interior, her clothes now dripping onto the old, wooden floor boards.
‘Are ya sure it wouldn’t be better to stay with the cheatin douchbag?’ the voice spoke again, as the interior didn’t look much better. ‘I’m pretty sure this is where people go to get murdered.’
The space was nothing more than an empty corridor, with stairs leading up on the left and a group of mail cubby holes just to her right, by the entrance. All these things were to be expected, but the things that Harleen didn’t want to find were fist sized holes and bullet holes, more foul-smelling bin bags on the floor, and eerily flickering, overhead lights.
‘And listen to you trying to convince me to smother him in his sleep? I don’t think so.’ Harleen then pushed on for the stairs, choosing to let the building’s condition go.
‘Suit yourself, but you’re the one who has to drag that case up three flights of stairs.’
The luggage bumped up each step as she struggled to lift it. ‘It was the only place available and I wasn’t about to leave anything for him to give to that skank.’
Too focused on the task at hand to listen to anymore internal comments, Harleen carried on dragging the luggage up the first flight and onto the second. Not even the distant sound of the front door opening below her, and a couple of conversing voices, could disturb her progress.
“Oh, hello.”
Upon hearing the unexpected female greeting, Harleen finally paused and looked behind her. Standing below her on the stairs stood a man and woman, eyeing her with curiosity. The woman was noticeably pregnant, wearing a light blue dress, with shoulder length blonde hair and gentle features, while the casually suited man was tall and slender, with angled features and slicked back, brown hair.
They both only looked to be a few years older than her at nineteen, but they instantly seemed so much more mature and put together than her. There wasn’t an ounce of make up on her face, unlike every other girl she had met and the fact that the man was wearing a suit, rather than baggy clothes should speak for itself. He looked tired and slightly dishevelled compared to his partner, but aside from that, he looked normal.
‘How are they both dry?’
“Hey” Harleen greeted back, her tone slightly breathless from the heavy lifting.
‘Oh, he’s got an umbrella’ the voice then realised when Harleen glanced at his hand. ‘He’s kinda cute.’
‘Also taken.’
“You must be the new tenant moving into 3B? I’m Jeanie Napier and this is my husband, Jack. We live at 3C, so we’ll be your new neighbours.” The woman then offered her hand out for her to shake, with a kind smile.
Harleen released her grip on the luggage and took her hand with a mirrored expression. “Yeah, I’m Harleen Quinzel, it’s a pleasure.”
“Harleen Quinzel?” the man repeated, amused. “That sounds a little bit like-”
“Harlequin” she finished, her smile turning ingenuine from constantly hearing that exact comment. “Like the clown character, I know, my grandfather had a sense of humour.”
Although her response still amused him, his expression morphed into something slightly lost and awkward as his eyes and body language shifted as if under pressure. “I, uh… take it, you get that a lot?”
She just nodded.
“Well, at least he was subtle about it” he followed, rubbing the back of his neck.
‘Says the thousandth person to point it out.’
“Wouldn’t you agree, Jeanie?” Jack then included his companion, to release the sudden tension.
“Definitely,” she encouraged, completely unbothered by the shift in atmosphere. “Harleen is a lovely name, it’s so unique.”
Harleen’s expression softened once more, not bothering to dwell on the issue any longer. “Thanks. Let me just move this out of the way, so ya can pass.”
“No, it’s okay” Jeanie swiftly paused, before she had a chance to drag the suitcase. “Would you like a hand getting it up? I can’t, obviously” she affectionately patted her stomach. “But I’m sure my wonderful, gentlemen of a husband would be happy to help.”
‘That’s a great idea! You’re takin way too long.’
The man sent a displeased look towards his wife, subtle and quick, but she just continued to caress his shoulder in offering. However, just as soon as it came, the look was gone, as if he was unable to say no to her. “Of course” he returned to Harleen, smiling once more.
“Are ya sure?” Harleen asked self-consciously. “It’s really heavy and I don’t want to be a pain. I can manage.”
‘Barely.’
Jack took the luggage handle from her. “All the more reason for me to help.”
The two women then watched him head up the steps in front, before following after.
‘Look at his ass.’
‘He’s taken, remember.’
‘Ya can still check someone out without wantin to steal them.’
Harleen kept her eyes firmly on the stairs under her feet. ‘Still not doing it.’
“So, Harleen” Jeanie began conversationally. “What brings you to this wonderful part of town?”
She took note of her sarcasm with a grin. “I’m a student at the university and I won’t go into too much detail, but I was put in a situation where I had to quickly leave my dorm for a new place, and this was the only one available in my price range.”
“Wow, that sounds unpleasant” she sympathised. “We’re also here because of the low rent, but we’re saving up for something better, especially with a baby on the way. Jack is a very talented comedian, so we’ll be out of here in no time.”
“Jeanie” the man lightly scolded down at her with exasperation, obviously embarrassed.
“Oh, shush, you are good. If it wasn’t for you, we’d be homeless.”
“That’s not really because of my comedy skills” he retorted, his tone dry and without mirth. “What are you studying at uni, Harleen?” he then asked, changing the subject.
Harleen stifled laughter it his deflection. “I’m studying phycology.”
He glanced down at them again. “Phycology, eh? You definitely shouldn’t be staying here, then. Unless you plan to study every single resident in the building.”
“This place that bad?” she snickered with a slight nervous undertone, that she hoped they wouldn’t notice.
“No, of course not” Jeanie reassured. “Mrs Smith in 1C is nice.”
Jack shrugged in semi agreement. “She’s got a lot of cats, but I guess she’s okay.”
“Is there anyone I should be wary of?” Harleen asked, more cautiously.
“Hmm,” the man considered as they reached the top floor. “We just try to not make eye contact or engage with anyone too much, so I’m not too sure.”
Jeanie made a small noise of minor disagreement. “I don’t think anyone is that bad, they actually seem to do the same thing and keep to themselves.”
“There is a junkie on second, we try to avoid” Jack then mentioned. “He’s very chatty and unnerving, but as my wife said, no one seems that bad.”
“Oh, okay” Harleen uttered quietly, still not feeling comforted by their words.
The young blonde then looked around at the small hallway they now stood in. It was decorated much the same as the first floor, with grey colours, cracked walls and rubbish littering the corners. There were also four paint chipped doors lining the space, A and B opposite each other on the left, and C and D opposite each other on the right.
“Anyway, this is where we’ll leave you” Jeanie spoke, bringing her back to focus. “It was lovely meeting you.”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “You too. Thank you for helping me with my luggage.”
“That’s okay” Jack casually answered as he unlocked their door and allowed Jeanie in first.
Once alone, Harleen slowly approached her own door. After seeing the state of the rest of the building, she suddenly felt dread for what lay behind it. The lock mechanism was severely rusted, but she pulled out the key and inserted it nonetheless, albeit with struggle. It took a few seconds of twisting, but the door finally clicked open and she stepped inside.
Luckily for her, the apartment wasn’t that bad, all things considered. The walls were the same gray, the floor was the same wood, but aside from it smelling like mold and cigarettes, it was in pretty good condition. It had a few stains and small cracks here and there, but when compared to the outside, it looked untouched.
The one bed, apartment was thankfully already furnished, with a two-seater sofa and coffee table on the far right and a simple kitchen and small table on the left near a door, that presumably led to the bedroom and attached bathroom.
‘I was expectin a lot worse.’
‘Yeah. It’s a bit sad, but it only has to be temporary.’
‘Hopefully there’s nothin lurkin anywhere, like cockroaches or a dead body.’
Harleen’s expression dropped at that suggestion, turning to pull off her soaked, black trench coat and hang it on a convenient peg by the door. ‘Thanks for that image.’
‘You’re welcome.’
Lazily dragging her suitcase through to the bedroom, she soon stopped when the room was revealed, her face twisting into annoyance.
“Well, that’s just great” she voiced allowed, her tone thick with more sarcasm.
The square room housed nothing but a dresser, bedframe and bare mattress. The previous tenant hadn’t even left her any pillows, just and old, stained, bundle of springs.
‘At least they left ya a bed.’
‘I’ll still need to go back out in the rain for supplies, though.’
‘Maybe ya could sleep on the floor, usin clothes for blankets.’
‘And risk getting covered in bugs? No thanks.’
Begrudgingly, Harleen hoisted the case onto the bed, where it bounced from the force and proceeded to unpack her belongings.
‘That couple seemed nice’ she began to herself as a means of entertainment and thought processing. ‘I could definitely tell the wife does most of the talking.’
‘Yeah, it was kinda weird seein a guy that cute, be the quiet, awkward type.’
Harleen placed her neatly folded tee-shirts into the middle draw, with precision. ‘Stop calling him cute, he’s married and about become a father.’
‘Just shove those clothes in!’
‘No.’
‘Ugh, you’re so uptight. Anyway, maybe that’s why he’s quiet. He could be workin a lot to provide for them.’
She paused at that thought, before moving onto putting away her underwear items. ‘He did look very tired and worn out.’
‘Exactly. Hey you should sew those two things together for your strip outfit.’
Harleen looked down at the two pairs of short-type underpants in her hands, one red and one black. ‘Seriously?’
‘Ya are goin with Harley Quinn as your stage name, so ya might as well make a red and black jester outfit. I’m sure it won’t be too hard to find a costume store in this city.’
‘Jesters don’t tend to wear next to nothing.’
‘That’s why ya improvise. Go on, put nanna’s sewing lessons to good use.’
She sighed and threw the two pairs back onto the bed. ‘I don’t know if it’s a good use, but I suppose it’ll be a good way to differentiate my work life from my school life, maybe I can even find a mask to hide my identity.’
‘That’s the spirit! Hey I’ve got a great idea; cuz you’re usin the name that ya dubbed as me, ya should let me be more influential on the job.’
‘If I did that, some guy could end up with a heel in the eye for touching me.’
‘What else are ya meant to do?’
‘I don’t know, probably just complain or suck it up.’
‘That’s no fun.’
‘As long as it keeps the job, I don’t care right now.’
……
Once Harleen had finished unpacking the few belongings that she had, she then searched the rest of the apartment for any other necessities that she could be lacking. She was hoping to find that a bed spread was the only thing missing from the home, but unfortunately, she needed a lot more shopping than she had originally anticipated.
There was no cutlery, plates, toilet roll or anything essential whatsoever. This completely baffled her at first, but once she gave it more thought, it made sense why there wouldn’t be. This wasn’t a bed and breakfast after all, it was an empty flat that no one lived in, but this never occurred to Harleen at the time of acceptance. In her defence, however, this was her first time properly moving out and getting her own place, so she was just inexperienced in the knowledge of renting and what that entailed.
She wasn’t happy about it, but after compiling a list of essential items, Harleen took what little money she had left from her grandmother, and ventured back out into the rain. If the woman knew of the circumstances that her only grandchild had fallen into, she would probably send her more, but Harleen didn’t want to worry her, so she made do with what she had, plus it would help prove her independence. Her small family weren’t well off by any means, especially after her grandfather’s passing a few years ago, but they had enough to get by, which is why she knew that her grandmother wouldn’t hesitate to provide more.
After moving here from Brooklyn, Harleen never bothered to venture out into the city very often. When she was granted a day off from both working and classes, she found that staying behind to study was much more worth her time, even when everyone else was doing it and wanted her to join, including her ex-boyfriend. This meant that she wasn’t all that familiar with the city’s lay-out now, as she tried to find supplies. She still found the home-wear store eventually, but not before stumbling across a lingerie business and much to her inner voice’s delight, a costume shop.
The lingerie store was definitely a place that she needed to visit in the future for her job, but until she had enough money for their prices, she had to give it a miss for now. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for the costume store.
‘I still think this is a silly idea’ Harleen thought as she browsed the various, outfits on the racks inside the colourful shop.
‘That’s the point, ya need to be more silly and have fun.’
‘I think it’s the other way around, I want to become a doctor and I’ll never be taken seriously for being silly.’
‘Doctors can be silly too, ya know.’
‘Not when people’s first impression of me is a blonde bimbo.’
‘I still don’t think that’s a good enough reason to be so borin, plus you’re so much more than a blonde bimbo, so who cares what anyone thinks.’
‘Oh, a mask!’ Harleen suddenly silenced as she spotted a mardi gras style, black and red sequin costume piece, with a subtle diamond pattern, sitting on a mannequin head against the wall. She eagerly approached and eased it off to get a closer look in her hands. ‘This would be perfect!’
‘I told ya comin here was a good idea! All ya need now is stuff to go with it.’
Venturing further into the shop, Harleen next found a white neck ruffle with matching cuffs, to add to her assembly.
‘What about those clown shoes?’ the voice spoke, when said item came into view near the collar on the floor. Like all clown shoes, they were huge and greatly hideous, being bright yellow, polka-dotted and with a big, red smiley face on each toe cap.
Harleen rolled her eyes and moved on. ‘No chance in hell, plus it’d be damn near impossible to get around a pole in them.’
Her third find came in the form of stockings. There were multiple variants to go with multiple different costumes. Two of these accessories were for a clown theme, one pair was just red with a black diamond pattern and frills around the elastic, while the other was white with a black pattern and a red bow on each elastic. The right leg was decorated in the same diamond pattern as the red pair, but the left had vertical stripes instead, to give off a mismatched look. Realising that both pairs would work, and being unable to settle on a preferred one with her inner voice, Harleen just ended up getting both.
This only left her with something for her head and face. There were a few clown related costumes, corsets, trousers and skirts for her to also consider, but when the idea of a striper is to wear as little clothing as possible, she chose to skip that part.
‘Ah, face paint, perfect!’ Harleen lit up when the cosmetics section came into view. Approaching with haste, she grabbed a tub of white, black and red.
‘Grab some red and black body glitter too!’
Harleen’s lips pulled taut at the voice, just as she was about to turn away to leave, being eager to move on to her next, more important shopping destination.
‘Ya know what they say; ya can’t be a stripper without glitter.’
Resignedly, Harleen picked up those pots too and turned away from the selection, but just before she made a dash for the man at the register, who was inattentively reading a newspaper, she caught sight of hair accessories on a stand in the centre, opposite the cosmetics. Just like everything else in the shop, there were plenty to choose from, such as decorated clips, ribbons and bows, but Harleen’s curious, blue eyes, only paid notice to the hair bands, particularly the scrunchies.
She once again, advanced towards it and picked up two more items, a set of black, sequined bands and the same, but only in red.
‘Oh, those would look great! Maybe ya should dye your hair to match.’
‘Never’ Harleen frowned, before finally making her way back towards the exit.
‘Fine, but ya should at least wear one of each in pigtails.’
Harleen’s face shifted in slight agreement at that thought as she walked. ‘I suppose men do find innocence attractive, maybe I should study up on the reason behind that at some point.’
‘They’re all pervs, but either way, you’re gonna look so good.’
‘I Just hope I can afford all this.’
‘Ya could always steal it.’
‘No.’
‘Ugh! Ya really can be no fun sometimes.’