LIFE’S A BITCH, NOW SO AM I

Same, anon. I've been pouring so much into my Dent family fic, I hadn't realized how little he's been on the blog lately compared to my brain.

@angelamajiki and I had a convo that hasn't left my mind tho

Harvey would absolutely do the helicopter parent move of making you sign a contract promising obedience and good behavior in exchange for his care. I think he'd like having something to hold you responsible for, even if it's hardly binding.

The contract's invalidity aside, Harvey is going to dust off all that legal experience to draft an offer just rife with loopholes, vague terms and fine print. It's bad enough to be menaced into signing your life away, but now you're sorting through pages of twisting, run-on sentences and double negatives that send you in circles. You know the gist of it; he'd made this offer verbally (and concisely) before. The life free of worry he promised screamed of an undisclosed price. Seeing it spelled out on paper, especially like this, was not reassuring. You're not stupid; you know the contract isn't real. But he's dead serious, and you're not getting out of this room until you sign. So you pick up the pen.

You're meticulous, picking out the most egregious terms to cross out, amending clauses to be more specific, even adding conditions of your own. Refusing him could be disastrous, but you might be able to get some leeway, or even a potential escape. It's a massive risk you're committing to, trying to walk back some of his demands. Still, you initial every alteration, and slide your counteroffer back across the desk.

He's chuffed, to say the least. Here you are, cornered in an deserted office building, trying to negotiate with big, bad Harv. He reads carefully, smiling at what you caught, and what you missed. Some of your wording crosses into the back-talk he really ought to put you over his knee for, but he's enjoying this too much to be upset. He doesn't sign it either, but instead adds more changes of his own, and brings it back to you. His hands are warm and heavy on your shoulders as you read the counter counteroffer he's made. It's even more confusing with the cross-outs and marginal notes now. Whenever you hover over a section, he crouches down, right up to your ear. He's happy to answer any questions, if you think you can trust a word out of his mouth. Having a monster hunched over you doesn't make the jargon any easier to understand. Still, you don't let Two-Face scare you into jumping the gun. You take your time, hoping for any interruption.

He'll have to draft a new contract if you keep scribbling over this one. He hardly minds. Just keep scratching in your little demands, and daddy will play along as long as you like.

As time drags on, your will begins to falter. You've clawed back every dignity and compromise you dare reach for, and the final offer sits before you. Dent must have grown tired of standing, as he now occupies the chair next to you. Leg pressing into yours, he leans into you. His left arm is slung over the back of your chair, caging you to the desk. There's nowhere to shrink away to. He's taken your hand in his right, keeping your fingers closed around the pen as he moves you to the signature line. You're confounded by his patience. If this was the same man that hit the Gotham Merchant's Bank last week, he should be beating your head into the desk for testing him like this. Instead, a soft, indulgent smile plays on his remaining stretch of lips. He releases his grip, letting you hover over the page. You need to make another argument. Hell, you just need to find some more space to write something to buy more time.

you're out with jason todd, either decided to go to the mall or out for walk together, and the moment you walk past a bookstore you notice his gaze automatically locking on the books on display and his steps slowing down to better inspect them, trying to be subtle about it but accidentally tugging on your hand that he was holding his by doing so. noticing his obvious interest, you suggest going in.

you stand next to him while he browses the books once inside the store, attentively staring at them and walking very slowly—if anything at all. you also pick up certain books that catch your attention or focus on specific sections that you like, but he seems to intend to check every aisle on the store.

you see his eyes widening as he goes "oh, look what they have" and picks up a book, with a smile showing on his face. he inspects the cover and the back of the book and goes through the pages a few times before turning to you. he tells you about how he's been meaning to read it, what he knows about the book and why he thinks it's interesting, that he's familiar with the author and loves their work and also explains why it is that he likes it so much. he looks adorable rambling to you, his face lighting up as he remembers the details and gesturing with his hands while he explains them to you, it's like all he cares about is talking to you about it rather than the book itself.

it's the same as he keeps going through the rest of the books. he tells you about the books he's read and liked the most and what makes them so good, facts about the making of certain book that he finds interesting, why he hates a specific book or how certain saga fell off after certain book. he makes two steps, stops, picks up a book, remembers all the things he has to tell you about it, keeps walking and then does it again. he gets excited when he sees a new edition of a book he's never seen before or one that he's been looking for, and tells you about the one he owns or which other one he'd like to buy. he picks up a book with a silly drawing on the cover, laughs at it and then he's immediately turning it to you so you can see it and laugh too before putting it back where he found it.

everything that catches his attention at the store, he just has to let you know about. he doesn't need to do it, he could be silent while going through the books, he doesn't have to tell you about his decision to buy certain book or not to, or to tell you anecdotes that seeing a specific book reminded him of, but he'd been meaning to talk about these things with someone, he'd been waiting for the opportunity to show up and it finally has now that he's found someone he trusts enough to tell all these silly things to.

at certain point you stopped paying too much attention to the books for yourself, conforming with walking behind jason and listening to what he has to say instead, but then you hear him saying "look, they have the book you wanted to get", holding it up for you with a soft smile on his face. it seems like the whole time you spent at the bookstore was just a constant reminder of what makes you love jason so much.

you end up walking out of the store with a new book for you, two more for jason and too many feelings for the man who randomly decided to open up to you on a bookstore.