#◇ threads: lily & harvey 01 ◇

[dxrknessexplored]

@dxnisheatingdetective asked "“I almost caught myself on fire…”

An average day in Gotham was not what most would typically consider an average day by many other standards. What was normal here would throw most off. And likely enough to have anyone from outside Gotham want to institutionalize any Gothamite. But the comment that came from Harvey was out of the ordinary. Even by their standards. She nearly did a spit take with the beer, coughing as she tried not to inhale the alcohol. Setting one's self on fire was something that she was more apt to do given her occupation. Lab accidents happened, after all. But Harvey being a detective, well, it should have been significantly less likely. Then again, he did have some stories that were out of the realm of belief.

"I'm sorry, what?" She looked over to him, managing to catch her breath.

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"If that's what they want and it works for them, then it sounds good." While it wouldn't have been her choice but for some people, it worked. Then again, most people wouldn't choose Gotham either, and really, that wasn't an opinion that she could blame anyone for holding. "Vegas wouldn't be my ideal choice," Lily offered with a gentle laugh. It seemed like he was comfortable with the decision, though she knew how it could be difficult to be separated from family. Lord knew he didn't get the time off that he deserved, likely meaning he hadn't seen them in a while. Another thought tucked away for the time being.

She shook her head, knowing that he would find amusement in it all. And it was funny. Now. It certainly hadn't been back then. The amount of anger and embarrassment that she had felt over the whole thing had been very real and very deep.

"Your guess is as good as mine. Only found out because he texted me, thinking I was a different girl, while we were in the middle of a date. Needless to say, that wasn't exactly something you could come back from. God, I was so embarrassed over falling for that." Finishing off her drink, she was reluctant to let go of the hold that he had on her hand. "You don't say? I don't think I've had anyone give less thought and effort into a gift before. I mean, gift cards have had a greater thought. Now, have I suffered enough embarrassment having to relive those mistakes?" Her voice was light, showing she wasn't being serious about being upset.

"They moved to Atlantic City, my sister is out there. She works entertainment and my mom has always had this thing about the nightlife, the glitz, the glam. I think they'd have moved to Vegas given the choice but Atlantic City was closer and in their price range. My sister set em' up in an old folks home that still lets em' live independent. They love it. Crazy what getting Gotham out of your lungs can do for a life span." Harvey admitted.

"Come on-" Harvey teased and then waited as she spoke. He let out a bark like laugh as she said about the Christmas Presents, Harvey himself might not have always been the perfect boyfriend but there was one thing he was and that was a loyal dog. Probably too his detriment. Still he'd made some stupid mistakes with women along the way, then again his dad had never told him what a stupid idea it was to get a gal a hoover for Christmas because she'd been saying about all it's features. "I dunno how they manage more than one woman at a time, the admin alone? You get these jackasses having three different families all secret from each other. It's crazy. How the hell do you keep track of appointments and birthdays and dinners?"

"I hate to break it to ya Lils but cough drops and shampoo is almost definitely a gas station job." Harvey chuckled.

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"Now that is an idea I can get behind," she quickly responded. Maybe a little too quickly. The idea was appealing in more ways than one, though, and Lily had to make sure that it didn't scream in any look that crossed her face. The last thing she needed was to make the man uncomfortable. "See, now I feel better about my chances of survival."

She hoped that was the case. Lily was one who genuinely cared about her students, not just her own research and tenure. It was rewarding to see them achieve and push the boundaries of science as they knew it.

"Where'd they go?" She found herself asking, not having heard a whole lot about his family before. Lily wasn't sure if it was a sensitive subject or not.

"Oh, God. Do I really have to? I should have kept my mouth shut," she laughed lightly and took another drink, needing it for the memories she was about to dig up. Her nose wrinkled for a moment. "Fine, fine. Mind you, I didn't give too much thought to anything long term. My focus was my studies. So I wasn't exactly giving a lot of thought into the guys. But, the first one that comes to mind was a year above me. He was from out west. We had gone on, I don't know, it was like five dates by the time I realized he had two other girlfriends. One at another college and one back on the west coast. How he managed was beyond me. Then there was the guy that thought that an appropriate Christmas present was cough drops and shampoo..."

"Alright then, the apocalypse comes to Gotham, we'll get in my car and make our way to a cabin. Nothing but you me, fishes and watching the bonfire of Gotham from far away." Harvey chuckled and now he was thinking about it he quite enjoyed that image. Though he doubted if he got Lily really on her own, like that, that he'd be able to keep his feelings bottled up any longer.

"I can tell you right now they definitely leave feeling better, you just have that effect on people." Harvey grinned at her across the table. "My dad was a cop too, and my sister but they all moved out of Gotham a long time ago."

"I mean I wasn't a saint, I still ain't, but I like to think I'm wasn't the worst young man a gal could have brought home." Harvey admitted. "Oh yeah, come on, make an old dog jealous, tell me all about your bad taste in men as a college student?" Harvey chuckled.

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"Oh, there isn't a chance that would happen. My father tried to teach me when I was young. Let's just say I was a better fisher than hunter. And even at that, I'm not great. Gun, bow, it didn't matter. Looks like I'm just gonna have to make sure you stick around." A laugh accompanied the words. Even if it was playful and joking, Gotham felt like a city where it could happen. "Of course only then. Never now." He certainly had to be better at talking his way out of it now than he was then. Lily had no doubt about that. She had only seen a little bit of it, not the full force.

"Sometimes, yes, sometimes no. It always sort of amazes me how much pressure a student can put on themselves. Then again, I probably was one of them. Once I get them calmed down, I like to think they leave feeling better." Lily was content to let Harvey order them food, happy with her drink for the time being. Though her eyes did occasional, wander the place around them. "There's nothing wrong with that. I may be an academic and a scientist, but not everyone could or should be going on to college. If everyone did, society wouldn't function. Besides, there is nothing wrong with knowing what you want and going for it like you did." A softer smile appeared at the sweet little notion. It didn't surprise her at all.

"I'm sure that was appreciated. Wish I had something like that in college. My choice in guys was terrible."

"I reckon you'd be alright, you'd learn quick. Just promise me when you're ruling over a wasteland you'll make me a jester or something." Harvey chuckled and then narrowed his eyes at her comment about never having pissed people off. "Maybe when I was a young and inexperienced." He grumbled slightly and took another drink.

"Lot of helicopter parents pushing them too I'll bet." Harvey commented as he picked up a bar menu off the table. "I bet they leave feeling a whole lot better, I would, but then I was never destined for anything else. I wanted to be a cop from a detective from a young age, all those shows. I did have a girlfriend back in highschool though who was a maths genius, she put pressure on herself all the time. She got herself so flustered over her exams, I remember taking her out for a drive just to give her a break."

[dxrknessexplored]

"I think if some people in this city had their way, it wouldn't be just you turning on a spit roast. Think we would be reenacting scenes from Mad Max." If anything like that happened? It would be beyond any sort of nightmare. But, if there was one place that could make fiction into reality, it would be Gotham. But, it wasn't likely at the moment. A worthy attempt at a distraction, though, along with the brush of his lips against her skin. Then again, he knew that such a touch often worked well for a distraction. Funny, how her normally active brain could grind to a halt from such a simple touch.

"Sometimes I wonder how it is that you and Jim have survived this long," she offered with a small sigh that came out far more affectionate than exasperated. "And you complain about him being the one that's trouble all the time." As much trouble as Jim could tout around with him, Lily wasn't sure there was anyone better to watch Harvey's back. She was still going to get a look at that burn, whether he liked it or not.

"Really? Boys was the first thing that came to mind? And besides, I didn't specify a student. Not that it really matters, but it could have been one of my male students." The hints of a smile curled at her lips, giving him a hard time purposefully. Her fingers curled around his own. "Happen to be about feeling incredibly overwhelmed. Social anxiety, being away from home, two tests, and three papers due in the week. Happen to also have harsh and maybe unrealistic expectations set upon themselves."

"I think if some of Gotham had their way they'd have me turning on a spit roast, apple in my mouth and everything." Harvey chuckled, he tried to distract, bringing her hand to his mouth and giving it a gentle kiss.

"Some people might- might- say it was my own fault, those people would be liars though." Harvey chuckled again. The burn wasn't too bad but he'd been told to keep the bandage on, it was definitely going to take a hot minute to heal though and it twinged every time he moved. "I mean the kid was asking for a lot more than just a quip about his upbringing." Harvey admitted sheepishly, before he kissed her hand again.

"What did they have a breakdown about?" Harvey asked like a kid looking for gossip and he could be a gossip if the mood took him and he didn't know anyone involved. "Boys? Missing home? Grades? Think I'd take the nearly being set on fire."

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Yeah, there was a lot that he dealt with on the job, the sort that he probably shouldn't have and certainly didn't get paid enough to deal with. A few situations instantly came to mind, but there wasn't any use in dwelling on them. Now was what required focus. She blinked as the information processed. Sometimes, it could be rather amazing at how nonchalant he was about it all. Just another day at the office. Maybe because she hadn't grown up in Gotham. Either way, she reached out and managed to snag the hand he had waved around.

"I mean, getting shot at it bad enough, and that's routine for the job. Is everyone going to start wanting to make you a human match stick?" She didn't pull back the bandage for fear of making the burn worse. But she did want to know how bad it actually was. Just to ensure he wasn't making light of something she needed to keep an eye on. "Do I even wanna ask why it was tossed at you?" Her day was relatively boring. Not an unusual circumstance. Though, maybe it was becoming that here in Gotham.

"Relatively quiet, actually. No lab incidents." She paused. "Grading papers, teaching a few classes. Did have a student break down in the office, but that happens around the start of the semester when they are feeling overwhelmed."

Harvey said it so nonchalantly as he took another drink of beer, because wasn't that just part and parcel of being a cop in Gotham? There was stuff that sometime slipped from his lips that would make even a seasoned psychiatrist -outside of Gotham- pause.

"Fire." Harvey said and then realised that Lily was staring at him. "It was nothing-" Harvey waved a hand, but there was an actual bandage further up his wrist. "It was some asshole, they threw petrol at us, well more like squirted it. I just forgot about it until I was in this old ladies house. I went to turn the stove down on her cabbage for her and boom." Harvey chuckled. "So, yeah I was nearly burned alive today, you'd be having dinner with crispy Bullock if not for that old ladies lighting fast reflexes." Because she'd been putting on that little old lady in need of help act and Harvey had fallen for it hook line and sinker.

"Hopefully your day was better?" He offered tipping the beer towards her.

[dxrknessexplored]

She snorted softly at the vision he painted. There wasn't a chance in hell.

"I've never shot a gun in my life. Don't think I would be making it as far as you think I would. I would say you aren't giving yourself as much credit as you should." Harvey had survived Gotham long enough that there wasn't a doubt that he could make that sort of world work for him. Sometimes, Gotham didn't feel all that far off from it. "Never? Not in the entire time that you've been on the force?" There was no hiding the small laugh that came with it.

"I think I actually tend to get a couple more male students every year lamenting about their relationship troubles and citing it for reasons that they can focus than I do my female students. Maybe because I tend to have more of them as students. The field is still far more male dominant." She shrugged and took another sip of her drink as she thought about how to respond. "I guess I try to remind them that one paper, one test, one thing isn't the end of the world. It's hard for them to see beyond that when school is their job. They are judged and graded, and their success hinges on it. Sometimes, it just enough to remind them that their worries and frustrations are valid. Some of these kids go about thinking they have to be perfect because that's all they've ever known. Yes, a degree is important but there were famous scientists who didn't have schooling. Seems to take a little pressure off."

"Oh yeah, I could just see you in one of those suped up cars, half shaved head waving a gun around." Harvey teased. "Think I'd be out pretty quick, too fat to run and not rich enough or pretty enough to be kept around." Harvey chuckled.

"I got along fine before Jim, I know who to smart talk and I never went around pushing mafioso crime bosses buttons and pissing off psychopaths." Harvey said and that was correct, from the second Jim had arrived he'd been trouble with a capital T and Harvey had begun to understand what Dix's problem had been all those years ago.

"And he could have been upset about boys-" Harvey jumped in to defend himself and give the hard time back a little. "Jesus, I said it once I'll say it again, I'll take the being set on fire." Harvey took another swig of his beer and watched Lily. "I bet they felt a whole lot better after a pep talk from you, how do you even begin to unpick the kind of fuckery that goes into someone putting that much pressure on themself though? Especially that young."