Title: Stalk

Fandom: Batman (toonverse)

Pairing: Harley Quinn/Poison Ivy
Rating: PG-13

Words: 541

Summary: Life was a game, and Harley liked to think that she played it well.

Harley liked to play games.

She liked to laugh and dance and she liked to be tricked almost as much as she liked to trick other people.

Mr. J liked to trick Harley almost as much as he liked to trick Batman.

Well, maybe not almost as much, but it was somewhat close, Harley was sure of it.

Harley liked games, and they liked Harley. She was born to play games, to play them with a smile and a song, and she was better at playing them than most people, because she understood the beauty of tricking people, of manipulating people, of winning.

Harley liked some games more than others.

Harley liked Duck, Duck, Goose; walking into the Stacked Deck, eyeing up the burly criminals who stared at her over their beers and cards, deciding who to choose, who to steal from, whether her chosen Goose would give a good chase.

Harley liked Charades; trying to guess what the latest kidnapped socialite was screaming around their gag, puzzling over their frantic thrashing behind their bonds, Film, Television, Book, Batman, Save Me?

But most of all, Harley liked Hide And Seek.

Harley liked to Seek. But more than that, she liked to Hide.

Ivy's gardens were always the best place to Hide.

And Ivy's plants liked to play, too.

Some of them would help her, hold her, wrap their vines around her and lift her high up, away from prying eyes. Some of them had huge flowers that would open up to her, smelling so so sweet, would let her step inside, would cushion her from view with plush petals. Some of them would change colour, would shift so she'd blend in with their fruit, red and white and black and green, all together. Some of them would shiver and point, show her where Ivy was, show her how to slip away, help her stretch the game as long as possible.

Harley liked Ivy's gardens, and Harley liked Ivy's plants, because Harley liked to cheat.

Ivy never cheated.

Harley knew that Ivy liked to cheat, liked it just as much as Harley did. But Ivy never asked her plants where Harley was, never let them distract or entice her, because Ivy knew that Harley liked games and Ivy wanted the games to last, because that always made winning all the more worth it.

And Ivy was very good at playing games, even without cheating.

Ivy liked to teach Harley, and Harley liked to be taught.

Together, they were becoming the best players of games in Gotham.

Mr. J would be so jealous.

And when Ivy caught Harley, the entire garden would tremble around them, and Harley would giggle and twist and hold out just that little bit longer before she allowed Ivy to pin her to the ground.

Ivy's lips would be everywhere, at Harley's throat, on her ears, in her hair, over her chest. Ivy's fingers would pull at her clothes, and that was usually where Harley would give in, because sometimes it felt good to lose.

And Ivy would never boast, would never make Harley feel silly or pointless.

Instead, she made Harley soar.

Because most of all, Ivy liked to play Kiss Chase.

And Harley liked to be caught.