When he takes ya to Build-A-Bear, ya know he’s a keeper

Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!! It’s here! Okay so @oh-great-authoress requested some good old fashion tooth rotting quinnflag fluff and tooth rotting quinnflag fluff she shall have! This is seriously the most wholesome thing I’ve ever written and I’m very proud of it. Hope y’all enjoy!

Harley wakes up to the smell of bacon and coffee—it smells wonderful. She sits up, stretches, and gets ready to roll out of bed to go to the kitchen when the door opens. Rick comes in carrying a tray piled high with breakfast food.

She suddenly feels sick to her stomach.

See, Harley’s not used to getting gifts or having nice things done for her. At least not gifts that don’t come with a heavy price attached to them.

“What’s with that face, Harls?” Rick asks as he sets the tray over her lap and climbs into bed next to her.

She tries to school her features into something resembling less of a grimace. “You’re not gonna ask me to kill anyone, are ya?”

His brow furrows in confusion. “Why would I? We’re not in the squad anymore.”

She blushes. It was a stupid question. She knows Rick would never hurt her or make her do anything she didn’t want to do.

He nudges her side and says, “Talk to me, Harls. What is it?”

She plays with the edge of the blanket. “Mistah J would always do nice things for me before asking me to do his dirty work.”

He made her feel lovedandcared for—before handing her a gun and asking her to kill. She always did it without question. Until he asked her to kill her very best friend in the whole world—Poison Ivy.

She’d refused—and was thrown out a window as punishment.

An arm wrapping around her shoulders brings her out of her flashback. Rick kisses the top of her head and says, “I promise, I just wanted to do something nice for you after that nightmare you had last night.”

She leans against him and blinks back tears. What had she done to deserve this man? She couldn’t be more in love with him if she tried.

She swipes furiously at her face as the tears fall. God dammit! Why does she keep crying in front of him?

Rick’s used to her random tears at this point and just moves the tray out of the way so he can pull her gently to sit between his legs. He replaces the tray over her lap and wraps his arms around her—lips going to her bare shoulder where the collar of her too big t-shirt (really, one of his t-shirts that she’d stolen) had slipped down. He presses a soft kiss there and she melts.

“I love you. So much,” she says through the tears.

“I love you too, Harls. And I promise, I will never do anything to hurt you.”

She’s slowly starting to believe that.

———————————

Harley thinks that’s the end of the Nice Things—a one off thing that Rick did to make her feel better. But then they keep happening.

It starts with blueberry muffins and coffee just the way she likes it every Wednesday when he gets home from the gym.

“Why’d ya do this for me?” she warily asks the first time, before taking a sip of coffee. Oh that tastes delicious.

He shrugs. “I know you probably didn’t eat breakfast. I don’t know, I just wanted to do something nice for you.”

It becomes a nice weekly ritual that she looks forward to.

Then it’s the biggest bouquet of roses she’s ever seen and some chocolates on Valentine’s Day. She gets teary eyed when she sees them—no one’s ever gotten her flowers before. Not ones that don’t squirt acid anyway.

“I know it’s super cheesy and cliché,” he says apologetically, rubbing the back of his neck.

She takes the flowers from him and sets them on the couch. And then tackles him with a kiss.

After that it’s little tchotchkes he finds when they’re out and about that remind him of her.

“They didn’t have any beavers,” he explains, once he emerges from the antique store the two of them had been exploring. “But they did have this!”

He produces a taxidermied otter from behind his back. And it’s wearing tiny overalls! And a straw hat! She snatches it out of his hands and hugs it tightly. It’s not a Bernie the beaver but it’s just as good.

The otter, which she names Betty (after her other childhood crush), earns a place of honor on their TV stand.

Right now, he’s dragging her through the Gotham mall. He refuses to tell her where they’re going—claiming it’s a surprise. Finally, they reach their destination. Harley gasps and throws her arms around Rick’s neck. She’s nevergotten to go to Build-A-Bear!

“You’re welcome, Harls,” he says—kissing the top of her head.

He lets her run wild through the store as she chooses between all the different animals. After much deliberation, she chooses a classic brown bear.

They get as far as the picking clothing stage before Rick is shooing her out of the store. She pouts and all he does in response is kiss her nose and tell her it’s a surprise.

She grumbles but does as he says—practically vibrating in anticipation. After what feels like hours (but is probably only about ten minutes) Rick emerges from the store, holding something behind his back.

“Close your eyes,” he demands

She huffs but complies—holding out her hands. Something soft and furry is placed in her grasp and then Rick’s telling her to open her eyes.

In her hands is the brown bear she’d picked out. Only now it’s wearing a camo military uniform. Her very own soldier bear.

“This,” Rick says, “is for you to hug if you ever have a panic attack and I’m not there to help you.”

She hugs the bear to her chest and blinks back tears. Her very own soldier bear to hold if her soldier isn’t with her.

She wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him down to her height so she can press her forehead to his. “Have I told ya lately that I love you?” she asks with a shy smile.

“Uh, this morning?” he replies, before pressing a kiss to her forehead. “You ready to go home?”

She still can’t believe she even has a home with this amazing man she absolutely adores.

“Home sounds amazing right now.”

———————–

Rick spends the subway ride home with one hand on Harley’s thigh and the other holding his phone—scrolling through it and frowning. He’s been doing that a lot lately, she’s noticed. She hasn’t asked him about it yet—a little afraid to hear the answer.

Once they get home, she heads towards the bedroom to find her new bear a place of honor on their bed and Rick goes to the couch. He’s still scrolling and scowling when she returns.

“Wow, I haven’t seen ya this scowl-y since I forgot your sandwich at Sal’s,” she half jokes (in her defense she had been veryhungover).

He doesn’t answer, which worries her. So she pushes the hand holding his phone away and climbs onto his lap. He sets his phone down and wraps his arms around her to pull her closer. She toys with the collar of his t-shirt and asks shyly, “It’s not somethin’ I did, is it?”

“It has nothing to do with you, Harls,” he assures her, with a soft kiss. He sighs and continues, “I’ve been following the news coverage about Corto Maltese and Starro.”

Oh. That explains a lot. She knows now that the things he’d discovered in Jotunheim had shaken his entire worldview.

“I’m just so fucking angry at the US government,” he admits. “And no one can ever know about the fucked up shit they did there because that drive is the only thing keeping you out of prison and me from joining you.”

She doesn’t really know how to respond to that so instead she says, “Would it make ya feel better if I told ya I named my bear after you?”

He smiles at her. “You named your bear Rick?”

“I’m not that unoriginal! Nah, I named him Flaggy, duh,” she says, as if it should be obvious.

He chuckles but then his smile falls and she knows he’s back to thinking about Jotunheim.

“Well, I guess I’ll let ya get back to your brooding,” she says as she gets off his lap. She’s suddenly had the most brilliant idea (and she’s not drunk so she knows it’s a sound idea).

She’s gonna make Rick some cookies.

She gets to work pulling out all the ingredients she thinks she’ll need (cookies have eggs in them, right?) and preheats the oven (400 degrees should be fine).

She doesn’t follow a recipe and she could’ve sworn she set a timer for the oven and she hadn’t meant to get sucked in by cute cat videos but all of a sudden the fire alarm’s going off.

She quickly shuts off the oven and pulls the tray out. The dough has coagulated into one giant mass and it’s burnt beyond recognition.

Rick runs into the kitchen and breathes out a sigh of relief when he sees that nothing is on fire. He reaches up to shut off the alarm and then takes a look at the “cookies”.

He shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Harls, what the fuck happened?”

She gives him a sheepish look. “Uh, I tried makin’ cookies to cheer ya up?”

He quirks an eyebrow at her and she says, “Look, would it help if I told ya the cat videos were reallycute?”

He doesn’t say anything as he goes over to the fridge and rummages around for a second. When he emerges, he’s holding a tube of premade cookie dough.

“When the fuck did we get that?”

He chuckles as he gets out a knife to cut the package open and another cookie sheet. “You picked it out last time we went grocery shopping.”

She grumbles and flings flour at him that lands in his hair. It’s not her fault her memory is shit.

She hoists herself onto the counter after grabbing a can of whipped cream from the fridge. Rick proceeds to roll out the dough into individual cookies and place them on the not ruined baking sheet. Harley “helps” by flinging spilled flour at him and eating whipped cream straight out of the can.

Once the cookies are in the oven he comes up to her and stands between her legs. “You uh, got something on your nose,” he comments.

She goes to wipe it away but he stops her, cupping her face gently and kissing away the whipped cream before kissing her lips softly.

For once, the kiss doesn’t lead anywhere. It’s just a soft simple kiss. Harley’s still not used to casual kisses. She’d always been expected to perform in all her previous relationships—with the Joker especially.

She wraps her arms and legs around him and clings to him tightly. He hugs her back and rests his chin on top of her head.

She’s overwhelmed with the feeling of just how much she loves this man. She feels so loved and cared for and safe with him and she never wants him to let her go.

This batch of cookies ends up getting burnt too.

(But this time they’re salvageable).