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Sure, mama.
Di
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Post by Harvey McPhearson on Jan 31, 2021 21:02:39 GMT -5
There was a look that Axel had, when they finally pulled away from that second kiss. A kind of short-circuiting to his eyes that made it clear thoughts weren't lining up quite right in his head. That daydream haze told Harvey that he'd done his job right. What surprised Quinn was how hot his own skin was from it. Normally he was more... professional in this area.
"I like stealing. I hope you plan on stealing more."
Harvey smiled wickedly and chuckled. "I've been known to have random episodes of kleptomania," he said in feigned despair. Then, more huskily, he added, "And I think I feel one coming on."
- - - - -
"No, really," Harvey said. He stood, hands on hips, clothed in only his undies, surveying the loft with a wrinkled nose. Behind him, on the floor-bound mattress that passed for a bed, Axel was still unresponsive after their thieving. "How do you live in this?" Quinn nudged a pizza box with a toe, flipping it open enough to see a mess of circuit boards where food once had been - at a glance, a partially-cobbled-together explosive.
He cautiously slid the box away from him with that same toe, then turned to look over his shoulder at Trickster. The midmorning sun slanted in through blinds that looked like they'd lost a fight with a panther, falling across the utter chaos that was Axel's home. Harvey's expression of disgust softened into something else, seeing Axel still splayed out on the bed.
Axel Walker
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You mean we have to wait for somethin' to happen?! I'm Gen-Y! I want explosions now!
KF / Anna
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Post by Axel Walker on Feb 22, 2021 17:23:10 GMT -5
If anyone had told him this was where his day - night? - would lead, he wouldn't have believed them. Honestly he was starting to think this was much better than if he'd gotten away with... whatever he'd been stealing, he couldn't remember. No wait, he was certain this was much better. He wasn't sure, though, when he'd be able to form coherent thoughts again. He'd barely registered the fact that Harvey was no longer right next to him. Axel remained on the bed - he insisted it counted as a bed; an actual bed frame wasn't needed! He had his head resting on what was a frilly, faded pillow that was more of a throw pillow than one made for an actual bed. He was lying on his stomach with a ratty, clearly old blanket the only thing giving him any sense of decency and warmth.
He barely registered Harvey talking, faintly humming in response rather than using actual words. He hadn't really thought about cleaning up his place before the two of them had arrived. Even if it had occurred to him, he would've just shrugged it off. Cleanliness was overrated. He felt chaotic inside so it was fitting that the place he called home would reflect that. Besides he could easily find anything he needed - the loft was only so big after all - so why would he bother with organizing and cleanliness?
He opened his eyes just enough to confirm that the other side of the bed was indeed empty. He groaned faintly. Whatever Harvey was going on about, he hoped he was also fetching coffee. The coffee maker still worked... Kind of. If he pressed the wrong button it might explode but that was the fun of it. He twisted, rolling over to rest on his back, the blanket managing to keep him covered just enough. He sat up, propping himself up on his elbows and blinked sleepily at the older man, his blonde hair a tangled mess.
Harvey seemed, if his guess was correct, to have been looking around the place. Possibly - most likely - judging it but the fact that the older man was still there had Axel grinning. "The bed's warmer," he pointed out, not hiding this his eyes drifted low when he looked Harvey over. The bed being the run down mattress that had far too many springs and far too little cushion to be comfortable to anyone else except Axel, who was far too used to it. He tilted a chin up and cocked an eyebrow, his grin still plastered on his face. "Do you like my castle?"
---
433 words Harvey McPhearson Let me know if you need more.
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Sure, mama.
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Post by Harvey McPhearson on Feb 26, 2021 20:42:02 GMT -5
Harvey looked over his shoulder absently enough at Axel, but his lax expression flickered momentarily toward surprised when he realized where the other man's eyes were unabashedly roving. The observation drew a sly and content smirk from Harvey. He liked a man who admired his assets. It was a sign of impeccable taste.
He pivoted somewhat, playing it off, but in actuality very intentionally moving so that he was in even more flattering display for the blond. "Oh, don't worry. We have plenty of time left for that," Harvey said, just the right mixture of dismissive and promising, when Axel encouraged him to come back to bed.
Harvey picked his way along the mess and very slowly bent over to inspect a beanbag chair that had something peculiar nestled in it. He thought it was a baby bird, and it was... Kind of. Except the bird was a wind-up contraption with what looked like taser capabilities attached to its beak. The beanbag chair Axel had made to look like its nest. Like a total dork.
"Do you like my castle?"
Quinn snorted a bit of laughter. He gently replaced the blanket that'd been swaddling the bird gadget. "You're being very generous there." Harvey stopped, reflected, straightened and mused, "But I suppose that tracks. Being so generous." Harvey knew Axel wasn't very... experienced in certain mediums. And that he had enjoyed them very, very much.
Harvey had enjoyed it, too. But teasing Axel about exercising those mediums more was almost as enjoyable.
Axel Walker
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You mean we have to wait for somethin' to happen?! I'm Gen-Y! I want explosions now!
KF / Anna
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Post by Axel Walker on Mar 26, 2021 20:14:57 GMT -5
Axel couldn't help pouting when Harvey delayed returning to the bed and thus to his side. Though the promise that they had plenty of time filled him with hope that Harvey wouldn't be returning to Gotham anytime soon. It was weird - Now that Harvey had entered his life, remembering what it was like before him was already becoming difficult. He watched the older man move toward the beanbag, admittedly wondering what he thought of the place. Surely if Harvey liked his apartment, he wouldn't mind spending more - much more - time there. Keystone was, after all, a much more enjoyable city than Gotham. There was a long list of people in Gotham that Axel wasn't keen on running into, the Bats included. He'd take a speedster any day over those vigilantes.
He noticed the gadget Harvey was inspecting and tried not to show too much pride. He knew most people didn't think he was the sharpest tool in the shed, but he built his own gadgets from scratch, designed them himself, and got them working well enough to be used. He took pride in that. He was also mischievous, though, and couldn't help watching closely to see if Harvey would try to test the mechanical bird out and poke it only to get a shock. He kind of wanted to see how he'd react if he did.
But of course Harvey had enough sense not to, much to Axel's admitted dismay. What? It wouldn't have killed him. At the worst, it probably would have made his finger or hand go numb for an uncomfortable amount of time. Then maybe he would have returned to the bed.
He quite enjoyed the sound of Harvey's laughter, no matter how much of it he got to hear. He sat up, the blanket shifting with his movements as if threatening to uncover him and almost doing just that. He made a tsk sound at being called "generous," frowning faintly.
"I'm not generous!" he insisted with a huff, "I'm just as selfish as any other Rogue." He nodded before it dawned on him that that probably wasn't what Harvey had meant. His eyes widened slightly and his face felt hot at the realization, though a lopsided, goofy grin found its way onto his face at the same time. "I mean I am pretty generous," he lamented, "Selfish but generous."
He stood up, not bothering to try to find his clothes, instead wrapping the blanket around his waist as if it was a towel - It most certainly wasn't. He moved to the kitchen, grabbing two mismatched and misshapen cups and pressing the right button so the coffee maker wouldn't explode. It'd be cheap, horrible tasting coffee but at the same time he liked it.
"How long can you stay?" he asked after some hesitation, knowing he might not like the answer. He leaned back against the counter, eyeing Harvey, hands resting on the countertop behind him. He wondered if he could convince Harvey to join the Rogues. Convincing Evan probably wouldn't be too hard - after all with the limited numbers they currently had, it wasn't as if Mirror Master could afford to be picky (a fact Axel was willing to annoyingly point out to him if needed). "Don't suppose I can convince you to move here?" he added with a curious arched eyebrow and an admittedly soft smile.
---
561 words Harvey McPhearson
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Post by Harvey McPhearson on Mar 29, 2021 11:16:19 GMT -5
Axel slipped from the mattress on the floor, dragging the single, crumpled blanket around his skinny waist haphazardly. On any given day, Harvey would've been happy to unabashedly admire another male specimen, but given his recent history with the Trickster, Quinn did that triply so. Axel drifted to the kitchen and Harvey watched him go, tilting his head and biting the inside of his cheek in thought.
He reluctantly returned to picking through - more visibly, now that he knew the dangers in actually getting his hands dirty - the chaos of Axel's primary living space. The sound of a coffee maker shuddering to life curled Harvey's lip up at one corner. Making him coffee, by Axel's metric, was as lavish as a full breakfast in bed. He was crouched down, looking at another weird gadget, when Axel's voice came again.
The question hit Harvey and he tensed, just barely, but still. He blinked, eyes wide, but facing away from Axel. The Trickster didn't do "subtle" and that included general conversation. Harvey could hear the longing and nervousness in Axel when he asked how long Quinn would be staying. Harvey could've chalked it up to Axel just wanting to make up for lost time in the bedroom - which he was happy enough to oblige. Was actually nudging his thoughts down that safe route when the next comment completely upended it.
Harvey felt heat climbing up his neck. He swallowed. Any and all romantic dabbling he'd done as an adult was fleeting, casual, there and gone. Even if one person ended up making repeat visits, nothing lasting actually formed. The implications Axel was making - a kernel of truth there under the teasing - was as out of Harvey's depth as their escapades on the mattress had been out of Axel's.
Defense mechanisms jumped into place. Harvey slowly straightened and turned to face Axel, wearing a half-lidded expression of amusement. "I know you're pretty new to this whole thing, Tricks, but that's not normally a question that follows a first date." Harvey felt a fear stab through his chest that he'd hurt Axel's feelings, or make him regret being so candid. That's why, when he spoke, Harvey languidly crossed the distance, until he could plant one palm on the edge of the kitchen counter, bracketing Axel's hips. "No matter how good it was," he added with a smirk.
Axel Walker
OOC: Commitment issues: activate!
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You mean we have to wait for somethin' to happen?! I'm Gen-Y! I want explosions now!
KF / Anna
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Post by Axel Walker on Apr 1, 2021 15:55:50 GMT -5
Harvey didn't answer right away. That meant he was either genuinely giving it thought or Axel had said something he shouldn't have. The latter wasn't something Axel was new to. His fellow Rogues probably would have argued he did it all the time. He simply didn't really care. Words got ahead of him and were spoken before he could put much thought into them but honestly he never really tried to put thought into what to say before speaking. It was probably one of the things people didn't like about him. For someone who seemed so simple to others, there were complexities to Axel Walker. There were even times when he was very aware of how disliked he was by others. He just told himself that those people liked him, they just didn't realize it yet. Beyond that, he didn't put much thought into it. He didn't put much thought into whether or not he believed his own lie. Acting like he believed it didn't require thought.
And he had better things to think about - like having fun and putting together his gadgets, and those thoughts didn't put his self-esteem at risk. It could very much be argued he was smart enough to not be so oblivious all the time, he simply had better things to put that energy toward and had done so enough times that it was an unconscious habit. Nothing had been deemed important enough for him to focus entirely on and take seriously, no tricks, no pranks.
Until Harvey.
He liked Harvey. A lot. Harvey seemed to actually enjoy his company and up until that point, seemed to want his company. Even just a fraction of being wanted, being needed, was enough for the Trickster. It was what had kept him glued to the Rogues as an adopted family, even if some of them hadn't always - or even often - liked his presence.
The pause between question and answer had his smile faltering, likely unseen since Harvey was facing away from him. But then Harvey was turning toward him and he quickly turned his smile into his signature goofy grin, hoping the older man hadn't caught the falter. There was amusement to Harvey's expression but the answer admittedly wasn't the one Axel had been hoping for. Confused flickered in his eyes and his grin faltered momentarily. As smart as Axel was, he'd put all that into learning how to build and maintain his gadgets. He hadn't put any effort into learning about relationships of any kind and how to properly socialize with other people.
Then Harvey was in front of him, hand on the counter, and Axel was looking up at him curiously. "Do people normally have sex right after a first date?" he asked, arching an eyebrow again before he managed to put that goofy grin on again and shrug, hoping to come off more nonchalant than he was feeling. "Besides - Normal is overrated, boring. And the commute from Gotham?" He whistled. "You want to make that commute every time we have a date?"
Admittedly he was afraid Harvey would say there wouldn't be any other dates. He was aware some people did that. He understood wanting to have fun and nothing beyond that - That was how he was regarding life in general. But dating Harvey, someone who was actually interested in him, sounded like a lot of fun and something he really wanted. He was just afraid he'd be the only one who wanted it but was trying hard not to let that fear show.
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590 words Harvey McPhearson
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Post by Harvey McPhearson on Apr 15, 2021 12:32:14 GMT -5
"Do people normally have sex right after a first date?"
Harvey's brown eyes glinted. He smirked, leaning forward and down to press a kiss to Axel's neck, just under the edge of his jaw. He hummed against the skin there and murmured, "It was a very good first date," as his way of answering. Yes, Harvey was kind of dodging... Again. Axel was many things, and subtle didn't enter onto the list or even come close. He could see the points Axel was making, under the smokescreen of shrug-worthy conversation.
The Trickster pointed out how boring "normal" was, and Harvey couldn't argue. He kept pressing lazy kisses to the other man's throat, half out of genuine want, half hoping it would throw Axel off his train of thought. Harvey felt a kind of panic unraveling in his chest, spreading through it and burning through his ribs. Then came the commute, and more dates, and Harvey knew it was a question, just put in a different form for Axel's sake.
That was the last, though. With it, Harvey couldn't wave away or ignore all the implications without being a total jerk. He paused, breath from his nose warming Axel's collarbone, then shifted. He straightened, looking down at the blond, and he wasn't really able to hide the anxieties and nerves charging through his veins. "I've... Never really done it. The dating thing. Not... Not like the kind I think you're talking about."
Harvey thought of putting space between them, but even though it might've been the wise choice, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He reached a hand up and tousled Axel's unkempt plume of hair. "I might suck at it," he said with a shallow laugh.
Axel Walker
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