Who: Stephanie and Eddie (Part 1) When: Backdated! Hours after their adventure in Diagon Alley Where: a muggle hotel in London What: Talking, sexy times Warnings: pre sexy times!
It didn’t take long for Eddie and Stephanie to decide that there weren’t any places to stay on Diagon Alley. And, besides, two muggles hanging out in a wizarding world without any means to defend themselves all night might raise too much suspicion around the small, magic community. Eddie personally didn’t mind trading in his galleons for some British pounds and wasting it all on a nice hotel room, a good dinner and whatever else they wanted to do in the morning before they had to leave the door for good. He liked Harry Potter as much as the next nerd, but a couple hours in wizard land and he was starting to crave technology. So, after making sure Stephanie got to see everything she wanted, they passed through the wall and went to explore muggle London.
Down the street from the Leaky Cauldron was a nice little hotel full of charm and care. The sort of hotel that was only a couple stories high, always had fresh flowers in a vase near the front desk and felt safe in a way Gotham never did. Eddie didn’t actively look for places like this (he was more into flashy hotels, as their trip to Hawaii proved) and wondered if it was too safe for Stephanie’s tastes. He hoped not. Frankly, he needed something quiet, quaint and easy tonight. Just for a little while. Then, they could go out and find something thrilling together.
Eddie chatted politely with the woman behind the desk, using his regular Nigma charm and telling her he was from Chicago when she asked since there was no such thing as Gotham in this world. It felt strange and a little nice. No wary looks from outsiders who heard terrible stories about his hometown. No recognition of the darkness he and Stephanie grew up in. He signed his name Nashton, gave them extra as a safety deposit since all he had on him was cash and proved to be the sweetest American they had pass through there.
Finally, they got to the room and Eddie opened the door for Stephanie like a gentleman and then followed after her. “That’s the most I’ve walked in weeks.” He complained, loosening his tie and stumbling towards the bed to flop down on. He rolled over on his back, kicked off his shoes and looked around the room. Clean, big enough to make them feel comfortable, a nice view of London out the window and a soft bed. What more could he ask for. “Is this okay?” Eddie asked, rolling to sit up straight as his dark hair spiraled forward in a mess. “Did you have a good day exploring the wonders of,” Eddie’s voice dropped to a scandalous whisper as if the wizards were still listening, “Harry Potter?”
Stephanie knew that Eddie was starting to get the twitch for electricity and technology that his life kind of depended on, and even if they had found some place in Diagon Alley, she probably would have suggested they wander elsewhere. This was about making both of them happy, of course, but she wanted to give Eddie whatever he wanted at that moment. On the other hand, she probably could have spent days upon days wandering different nooks and crannies just of the Alley. Probably. Nevertheless, she was glad to explore enough to satiate her geeky curiosity before she and Eddie left in search of somewhere a little more private. Stephanie had been to London once before, on assignment from Batman, Inc., but she hadn’t really gotten much of a chance for sightseeing while she was running around with Squire. That could be for later though, seeing little bits of old Londontown before being booted out of the door. Now, she wanted some alone time with her riddled man without prying eyes or judgemental noises if they got a little too handsy.
She tried her best not to roll her eyes as he spoke to the receptionist, his immediately innate charm always something that could make her annoyed and elated at the same time. It was the man she was initially attracted to, the charm and grins and nice suits. The public could have that Eddie and think it was his; she had the quieter, more introspective, tender riddled man that she could keep for herself. No one would take that from her, especially some cute receptionist in a cute hotel with an equally cute accent. Her momentary jealousy was assuaged when they reached their room, and when Eddie opened the door, she curtsied with a wicked grin. “And they say chivalry is dead.” Pressing a quick kiss to his cheek, she slid into a corner and watched as he belly-flopped onto the bed.
“They aren’t making you exercise?” she inquired with a tease, sticking her tongue out at him as she tossed her bag onto a nearby chair with a quiet thump and then ran a hand through her messy blonde hair. “We’re starting up yoga again, you realize that? Or running. I’ll make you run with me.” Both things that she knew he would hate in the long run, but maybe she could also hide it under the guise of wanting to spend as much time with him as possible when he was released officially. Which she did. “This is perfect,” she assured him with a smile, looking briefly at their view outside the window before flickering her gaze back down at him. “Anywhere with you would be perfect, baby. And Diagon Alley was everything I dreamed of, oh my god,” Stephanie geeked out, flapping her arms in glee. “Did you see the Firebolt? There was a Firebolt.” She grinned, looking more like a sixteen year old nerd meeting their favorite Star Trek actor than a twenty year old woman alone in a hotel room with her man.
“Anywhere?” He challenged, voice dipping down mischievously. “In that case, I’m sure you’ll be glad to learn that I’ve booked a lengthy, in-depth tour of Metropolis for our anniversary. Just imagine, bus tours in the boring capital of the world.” His hand panned out in front of him and then he shrugged his suit jacket off to hang on a nearby chair along with his tie. His opinion on Metropolis was a good marker to tell if Arkham messed up his mind. If he came out of there months from now hailing it as the best place to live with a complete distaste for Gotham, then she’d know something was very, very wrong.
Eddie flopped back down on the bed, hand venturing inside of his messanger bag to pull out the assortment of stuff they got that day just for the simple pleasure of touching and looking at it. “I’m sorry we didn’t see anyone famous. We ought to make friends with this door, I think. We’ve got the right personality for it. I mean, we’re not English enough, but that can change with time.” He ran his fingers along the spine of the book about architecture and smiled. The only thing Eddie didn’t like about this door was that even in the muggle world it was only 2000. His technology had always been advanced, but computers were so simple back then. The music wasn’t great either.
He looked up from his book when she mentioned exercise and made a long uggggghhh noise over her talking. “I hate yoga. Yoga is for hippies, health nuts and soccer moms.” Eddie tossed the book aside and walked over to the window next to her, looking out at the street. “I’ll go running, though. I haven’t had a good run in a long, long time.” Something about his voice sounded wistful. A dog waiting for someone to trust him off his leash. He crossed his arms, leaning next to the window as his eyes wandered back to look at her.
“Do you ever wish we weren’t so tied to Gotham?” Eddie asked after a moment, running the back of his fingers along her shoulder and arm. “It doesn’t exist here, you know. We could actually be from Chicago if we wanted to.” He didn’t sound interested in it, though Eddie liked to kick around what-if’s as much as the next nerd. “I don’t think we’d ever end up the way we are now if we were actually magical.” A glance back out at London and he recrossed his arms. “I also don’t think we’d end up on different sides of a war.”
All Eddie earned was a blank stare when it came to an anniversary in Metropolis. A blank stare that went on for a little too long, and her mouth twitched up in betrayal towards the end. Thankfully, she knew he was kidding because otherwise, then her Eddie was broken and she’d have to teach him to love Gotham again. But, she wouldn’t have to do that, not now. Not in a city that wasn’t theirs in a world that wasn’t theirs. “Baby, if you love me, if you really love me, you’ll never even consider doing that to me. After all the trouble and strife you put me through.” Humming thoughtfully, she drummed her finger against the glass, pointing to the Big Ben, which they could see towering over the city. “We might shock them with all our American obnoxiousness, Eddie. Offend them with my awful swearing. Piss them off with your know-it-all attitude.” She was teasing clearly, the corner of her mouth curling up and eyebrows wiggling again. “I think if we found James, and Sirius, and Remus, we’d fit in perfectly.” The boys were pretty much their cup of tea. Both of their personalities spread across three wizarding young men. “Addy’s roommate, she has Remus, I think. I think we could make friends. Narcissa actually hit a journal post recently,” Steph beamed, taking it as a great achievement.
“But you like watching me do yoga.” The blonde bat smiled, then just rolled her eyes as he complained about his exercising. “Fine, running. I won’t make fun of your chicken legs either.” She poked him in the side and followed his gaze out of the window. “It’s a good way to get out the stress, too, baby. I’ve been running a lot since you’ve been gone.” With a shrug, she glanced up at him. It was a good distraction from the crying she wanted to do or the food she wanted to eat. Better than spending hours upon hours of her day wallowing in how much she missed Eddie’s constant presence in her life. It would give them another thing to do together when he returned, another half-hour spent together to make up for the months they were spending apart. It wouldn’t give them the time back, nothing would, but Stephanie knew they needed that type of normalcy when they were finally reunited. Something mundane couples did in their spare time instead of fight crime or wind up in worlds that weren’t real.
Slowly, she turned down to watch his fingers slip down her arm, and then lifted her blue gaze to take in his profile as he stared out to London. “Some days,” she confessed, slipping her arm around his waist and tugging gently at his shirt. “When it’s really fucking hard. When I remember that it’s been a month since I’ve seen you. But, we wouldn’t be the same.” She sighed with almost defeat. “You wouldn’t be the Eddie I know, and I wouldn’t be the Steph you know. We wouldn’t be us, y’know?” The blonde bat curved her neck up to press a kiss to his jaw before resting her head on his shoulder, shaking her head slightly. “And we aren’t on different sides any more, Eddie. Not anymore.”
Eddie slowly wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close, pressing a kiss to the top of her blonde hair before leaning the side of his head there. He wanted to apologize for the month apart, but what good would that do? He didn’t have control over the things that happened in Gotham (as much as he liked to pretend he did) and if he could have avoided this New Arkham mess altogether, he would have done everything in his riddled power to make it so. She knew that. There wasn’t any need for apologizing. Still. “Would you ever come visit me?” Eddie asked quietly into her hair. “I think eventually Leland will let me go see you and you can run me dead if you want to. I don’t know how long that’ll take, though.” He confessed wrapping his other arm around her in a hug and stood there in front of the window holding her for a couple long moments as if he were etching how she fit against him into his memory. It wasn’t different from what he remembered, not exactly. There were small changes. She felt a little weaker than a month ago. He felt a little stronger. Eddie decided he didn’t want many other changes between them. As much as he believed that they were supposed to grow, he was afraid it’d start happening in different directions.
“I don’t like being on the outskirts of your life.” He said and then pulled away, snagging her hand and tugging her towards the bed with him. “I used to think that’d be the farthest I’d get. When we first started talking. Now I just can’t stand it.” Eddie took a seat on the edge of the bed and looked up at her. He was usually good at keeping up that wall of good humor to hide his internal tick-tocking. He could usually smile and act like nothing was wrong and tomorrow would be easier. The truth was that tomorrow morning would be as close to torture as he’d get and it’d be months until anything started to look up. Months filled with uncertainty of how he’d turn out. “Are you patrolling anymore?” He asked tentatively, brow creasing as he was never sure when or how to bring up the Batgirl topic since they started dating. “If there’s anything you need help with out there, I bet I could do it from Arkham. I don’t need my computers to problem solve.”
Stephanie shook her head as he pulled her towards the bed. “You aren’t on the outskirts, baby. Not on purpose.” She kept standing even when he flopped on the bed, stepping as far into his space as possible, taking a comfortable position between his legs as she held onto his hand. “I promise,” she said with a shake of her voice, looking down at their entwined fingers and pulling his hand up to her lips. She kissed each finger with feather-light grazes of her lips before squeezing them with her own. Holding their joined hands over the spot on her chest where her heart thump, thumped so hard he could probably feel it, she looked up at him again. “I know that it feels a little different because we aren’t talking every day. God, it’s been a month since I’ve been able to just hold your hand.” Steph brushed her free hand against his cheek. “But you’ll never be on the outskirts as long as you don’t want to be.” Traveling down his cheek and across his jaw, she grabbed his chin between surprisingly nimble fingers and made a quick, teasing face at him. The truth of the matter was she was scared that she would end up in the fringe of his life. She would have to try her best to make him realize that neither of them were going to lose the other.
At his question, she shrugged. “Yeah, I’m trying. I’m trying to be normal.” Rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, she finally let their clasped hands fall again. Swinging their arms between them for a moment. “I’m going to class as much as I can, and I’ve got midterms this week. I hang out with my friends, I do my homework, I meet with my advisor about possible work placement with some social workers. And, I patrol some nights, too, but it’s different without you in my ear.” She smiled at his offer and squeezed his fingers one last time before letting his hand go. “Does your comm still work? The one from the city?” She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck before stepping juuuust out of his reach. “I’m waiting for Red Robin to show up swinging around the city, too.” Which would be weird, to say the least. There was a difference trying to make nice with Tim and remembering he was patrolling as well. And, she was sure Tim wasn’t too keen on seeing her in the Batgirl suit either, but she wasn’t giving up her cowl or her nighttime activities for the boy wonder. Or because Eddie was locked up. “It’s a good distraction.”
The scarf that was still wrapped around her neck found its way to the floor, and she bent over to slowly unzip her boots, one by one, before stepping out of them and tossing them to the side. Dinosaur knee highed glory in full view now. The blonde bat shook her head, closing her eyes briefly before measuring her blues on him pointedly. “And, of course I want to visit you. I miss you,” she said for what seemed like the millionth time that day as she stepped forward, emphasizing her words with a swing of her hands. “I miss you so much. I wouldn’t pass up a second to see you.”
Eddie knew it was hard enough to have things normal in Gotham to begin with. There wasn’t supposed to be such a thing as school, a job, a life outside of bright colors and flying bats. Anyone on the outside wouldn’t understand and they’d crumble under the chaos like so many did in both the rogue gallery and bat family. But, Eddie and Stephanie had been there for so long that they knew how to make it work. They found little pockets of normal and clung to them. It was hard enough with him there and now with him in Arkham he wasn’t sure if Stephanie would be able to find anything stable. Part of him didn’t really want her to. He wanted to be that last piece that fit just right that nothing else could replace. “The comm still works. I have to be sneaky with it.” Eddie didn’t seem concerned about being found out for smuggling in a communicator. “The truth is that they all know I could leave whenever I want to. Security protocol is wasted on me.”
He pawed at the air as she stepped away, letting his hands drop when she mentioned Tim and tried not to make a sound or pull a face. It didn’t work. He frowned, eyeing her slow zziiip of her boots and made a neegghaned noise that couldn’t be deciphered into any known language. Eddie didn’t like her getting cozy with her ex, especially while he was in Arkham. The little green man trusted her not to get up to anything without telling him, but he didn’t trust the Robin. And, he didn’t want to wake up one day to Stephanie wishing Eddie was more like someone in the bat family. “You saw him recently, didn’t you? How did that go?” Eddie asked, head slowly tilting to the side as he repressed a little bubbling jealousy inside that told him Red Robin would be flying the skies with Stephanie while Eddie was locked away. Still, there wasn’t a ticking time bomb inside of him. He wasn’t holding back the urge to yell at her over something small like he had done before. It was like his computer brain was trying to sort out a problem while a progress wheel spun.
It took a moment of processing and that hound dog tilt of his head before he reached forward, grabbed her around her waist and tried to drag her down on the bed with him. Eddie used to be so good at calculating space between them and knowing when it was the best time to cling to her. Everything used to be so needlessly deliberate. Now? He just gave into the things he wanted when it came to her. And, he wanted to stayed tangled up with her, no matter what they were talking about.
“Well, we can’t get you dinged for bad behavior in there. And, sneaky comm convos might be bad behavior.” She looked at him with a playful glint in her eyes. That was one of the things she missed most -- being able to beep him at any moment and know he was going to pick up on the other side. (Unless they weren’t happy with each other, but even then, there was begrudged conversations.) Back when he first hacked into her ear a year before, she would have never thought that she’d rely on the riddled man buzzing in her ear or else her day and night could potentially be ruined. Now, she had to listen to recordings of him mumbling about the hell that took him away from her just to sleep at night. It was a little sad, sure, but Eddie was that puzzle piece that she never knew she needed, and now that she found him, nothing was slipping just right. Some nights, she wondered if this was how that other, reality-warped Stephanie felt at time. That woman had everything going for her -- friends, family, work -- and this Steph had the same, too. So much fulfillment, but there was still that empty hole that could only be filled by a certain green man.
She yelped when he tugged her onto the bed, laughing as she fell and landing with a grin. She used her force to roll them onto their sides so that they could lay face to face, nose to nose. And Stephanie’s heart shot up to her throat again as she stared into his deep brown puppy dog eyes. God, she had missed this. Couldn’t they just lay inside this hotel room on this bed forever? “I miss your voice in my ear,” she said finally, softly and quietly, with the drip of sadness and longing in her voice. Her leg slid up his slowly so that she could wrap it around him, lay her thigh on top of his. Bare skin and socked feet pressed against expensive suit, her skirt hitching up just a little. The proximity to him had her heart racing and her blood burning her underneath her skin.
What had they been talking about? Oh, right. Boy Wonder. She had almost completely forgot they were talking at all. “Oh, it was fine, I guess,” she said evenly. “He’s more confused about what’s going on than anything. Cass kind of attacked him, things with him and Dick are strained, and Bruce...well, Tim and Bruce used to be close, but I don’t know about now. It’s all about tangoing around to learn how you fit now.” Steph shrugged slightly, and her nonchalance should have been the only thing needed to tell Eddie that Tim hadn’t rattled her the way Eddie feared. That there was nothing to be jealous about. Unless he begrudged her a friendship. “I told him I want to be friends, if he does. And he says he does. I think it’ll be good,” she continued, a little more apprehensive. Not because of what Eddie might think, but because maybe the friendship wouldn’t work. There was a lot between she and the former Robin, and maybe it would prove to be too much. “I told him about you, by the way. He’s pissed, but I don’t care.”
Eddie grinned as she pulled closer to him, fingers snagging onto fabric of her clothes until they were practically intertwined. The smile died when she told him that she missed his voice in her ear, feeling a shared pain in his chest. “I miss annoying you.” He said with a tiny, solemn nod, his nose barely touching the edge of hers. “I miss buying you flowers on the way to your house. I miss being in a mess and knowing you can help me untangle it.” Just like Eddie, his list of things he missed were all over the map and connected in a way that only he could see. He thought it was obvious. Each thing he missed was a symbol, a truth of something in their relationship that made it whole. And, right now, even in this hotel room together, they weren’t at 100% yet.
He reached to tug at one of her socks, rolling it down from her leg to her ankle before sliding it off her foot and tossing it away from the bed. Her tone, the matter-o-factness way she spoke of Tim did ease his mind. It helped, too, that she was here and not back in Gotham with her ex. “You should be friends. If that’s possible.” Eddie agreed, nothing sinister hiding under his words. They were from different sides of the castle, after all. They learnt a long time ago how to have friends that didn’t necessarily fit into the other’s life. “Though, I have to say I’m bothered that he doesn’t like me.” Eddie teased, kissing the side of her mouth. “All my friends love you.” Which was something of a lie since he had tried to play big brother to Crane (who was generally indifferent about the blonde bat). And, whether or not Muerte liked Stephanie or simply wanted something that fit for him was left up for interpretation. That didn’t matter very much to him. What other people thought about their relationship rarely mattered at all.
Eddie kissed her again, a long sort of marking kiss that said she was still his. Eddie knew that no one in Gotham had what they had and it would take so much to pull them apart. He liked moments of recognition, he liked knowing that she wasn’t ashamed of him and telling Tim was a step towards that. “Thank you. For telling him. You didn’t have to.” He lightly touched her jaw and pressed closer for another kiss, lightly biting down on her bottom lip. “I don’t know how long I could be secretive about our little love affair. I’d start leaving clues around the city. And, by clues I probably mean your bras.”
Stephanie rubbed her bare foot against the silk of his suit, up and down the back of his leg after he tossed the sock away from them. She smiled and dipped her lips down to press a kiss to his chin. “You’re always going to tangle yourself into trouble, and I’ll always be here to help you clean it up.” Her lips met his jaw next, and her fingers snagged on the collar of his shirt. “You can go downstairs and down the street right now and buy me flowers if you really, really want to. But I’ll be all by my lonesome, and who knows what I’ll get up to?” She hitched her thigh up again and popped open the very top button of his shirt. It was astounding that they could slip so easily back into the sort of intimacy that defined them, even when there were pieces of the puzzle still slightly warped, messed up enough to try to create a divide between Gotham’s sweethearts. It never succeeded, honestly, not in the way it was meant to. There were bumps, of course. Crossroads, even, but Steph and Eddie always came through on the other side. Always healed at the end of the day, even if they both bared the scars left behind.
The little blonde bat pulled the slightest face as he kissed the side of her mouth. “That’s because they know I’m absolutely amazing, baby, and they know it. They can’t deny it.” Wiggling her eyebrows, she flashed him a smarmy look that mirrored so many of his it might have been strange had they not usually spent so much time together. She and Eddie were picking up little physical ticks as well as verbal things, too. More and more becoming a package deal, becoming two halves of a whole instead of separate entities. “Tim’s just being stubborn. He’s jealous that you’ve got me, and he’s got no chance to get me back anymore.” Stephanie rubbed his cheek, then brushed her nose against his a couple of times. She was saying it to assure both of them, honestly. Tim coming back at this time was really, really, really crappy; Gothamites tended to have the most impeccable timing, after all. But, Stephanie loved Eddie with all her heart at the end of the day, and she wasn’t lying when she said that Tim didn’t have a chance romantically. Friendship, yes. She really wanted that, but she couldn’t backpedal into the bat she was a year ago.
“I wanted to tell him,” she said simply and with a slight shrug, returning that kiss with equal fervor and snagged her fingers to pop another button open from the shirt. Smirking a little after he dragged his teeth on her bottom lip. “I wasn’t going to not tell him. Everyone should know. I’m not ashamed of you. Do I need to get it tattooed to my forehead?” Steph teased, opening up a third button on his shirt. “Oh, pleaaasssseee. You’ve got better clues than that.”
Eddie didn’t know anyone that had the same fitting puzzle pieces relationship going and for him it was all new territory. He knew that here in the Wizarding World there were plenty of couples, strong couples, that were two halves of a whole and he wondered if it took coming all the way out to a different door to realize that was how he and Steph were. Not even Catwoman or Batman in their prime spent as much time together or trusted each other the same way that Gotham’s sweethearts did. In a way it made him nervous, worried that their universe would tug harder and harder to pull them apart or plant something in his mind that told him to rip it apart himself.
But, every failed romance in Gotham usually broke down because of a betrayal of trust or unfiltered insanity. Betrayal, at this point, was an impossible probability. Insanity, however, could easily be their downfall and it’d be all his fault. “It means something that you’re proud to be with me. So sue me.” Eddie said, all old fashioned street rat trying to hide his sensitive side. He reached under her shirt, eyes up on hers like he was sneaking his hands in the cookie jar and spread his fingers over her belly and up her sides slowly. No cause for concern that someone might be watching them.
“I could leave better riddles.” He nodded, looking down at the next button on his shirt expectantly. “But, I’m rusty. The last time I properly used riddles no one wanted to play. And, if I go looking for someone who wants to play,” Eddie rolled his eyes as if it was similar to standing in line at the DMV. “Honestly, baby. Asking a Bat or Bird to play Riddle Me This again is so tiring. Same song and dance over and over.” His mind didn’t tell him to ease up on talking about riddles as it was covered in a fog from her being so close after a good month of being apart. So, he rambled, kissing her neck and chin as he went. “Or worse, what if it feels good? I riddled a little in Arkham and it felt good, but like a fix you can’t quite reach. Like something kept telling me keep going, keep unraveling the ball of string.”
The little blonde bat beamed at her man when he said it was something, and she fidgeted just a fraction as he slipped his hands across her bare skin. Nervous energy of yearning after an entire month of nothing like this. Wasn’t this just as good as therapy, she mulled over briefly, selfishly. Wasn’t laying in her arms and talking about things just as good as being locked away on that damn island away from her? Why wasn’t she enough? Sighing, then humming an understanding sound, she plucked open a few more buttons and pressed a kiss to his throat, right above his Adam’s Apple. She wanted to ask why they couldn’t just get away for a few weeks on their own and just work it out, but Selina had told her so. The clean slate. If they ever wanted anything -- and Stephanie had to admit to herself that she wanted something lasting -- he couldn’t be a fugitive on the run. It wouldn’t be fair to either of them.
“I get it,” she murmured, humming again as he pressed kisses to her neck and chin. “It’s going to take time, baby, to understand how to deal with the riddles. It’s not--do you want to get rid of them completely? I don’t think you do.” She sounded certain, but her eyebrows knitted together as if she was working on a math equation that she couldn’t quite figure out. Just there, but not enough. “It’s kind of like an addiction, right?” she asked with a lift in her voice that was innocent and trying so hard to understand. She paused briefly before catching his lips in a gentle, but pressing kiss. As if to say she’d be there for whatever it was. “This is what all of that is for. To control them. Get better.” As she spoke, she untucked the shirt from his pants and buttoned it the rest of the way down to leave it to hang open.
Stephanie looked at him for a moment, then dared to ask, “What happened in Arkham to make you riddle?”
Eddie ventured his hands higher, humming as she kissed him and unbuttoned his shirt. He hadn’t forgotten the way she tasted or the feeling of her soft lips against his skin. How could he? But, he needed reminders like this. He needed to know the easy kind of affection they always had was still there beyond them clinging to each other in a wizard pub. The slow pace, the pause between each popped off button made the curtain fall around the rest of Gotham. Arkham, the rogues, Muerte and the bat family shut behind the door for now so that all the remained was just them. He tugged at her shirt to get her to take it off, eyes down at the way her body curved into his before flicking back up at her blues. “It’s a coping mechanism that feels good. So, yeah. Exactly.” Eddie hadn’t riddled when he was a child or a lowly carnie. He hadn’t even riddled when he first started robbing banks. But, once Batman answered his challenge and never once backed down, something in him snapped. The riddles were his escape, his trophies. Proof that he wasn’t just some tiny smart kid anyone and everyone could beat up on.
“As much as I liked not having them as a detective, it’s bad for my brain. It’s like walking under ten ladders and crossing a billion black cats.” Eddie smiled. “All of us. If we get pushed too far one way we swing as hard as we can the other. Each and every one of us.” He used to think that was just for the rogues, but anyone who did eccentric things at night in Gotham was vulnerable to it. “Besides, if it all went away I wouldn’t be the man you’re in love with. A good man, but not the green you see before you.” He waited patiently, like a dog waiting for his food, for her to take her shirt off and then nudged her to lay on her back, hands running over her bare skin like he was relearning the words to his favorite poem. “Super geniuses without eccentrics are boring and too logical. They don’t appreciate things that don’t make sense. Like the way you dance to popular hip hop music.” He raised a single finger, all know it all and then kissed the scarred skin right under her ribcage.
His attention stayed there, on skin that was imperfect and beautiful in a way he valued more than flawless porcelain. His hands tracing between scars from the past year and a half. All the way to what used to be a bullet hole one of his men caused. The first scar he saw on her that made him wonder if being with her was the right move. It was, of course, but the Eddie now knew much more than the one back then. Finally, he answered her question. “Selina needed a distraction. I was already feeling edgy. Not just because I wasn’t going to get out, but because playing gang lord was getting to me. I’m good with making people do what I want. Too good.” That much was evident by his insta-gang he sprouted out of favors and authority within the first few hours of being dumped there.
“So, I started a riot. It was messy and bloody and pointless chaos. I can’t- I can’t stand pointless chaos.” His voice was dark, vulnerable. “So, I riddled to keep things from spiraling. Answer the riddle right, random goon number 5 and maybe I won’t hang you by your toes!” Eddie said in a faint echo of his Riddler voice. “And, before that would have been enough to keep me chomping at the bit. My mind would have told me to forget about you and everyone I cared about and go out there to prove how smart I was to Gotham.” He looked up at her. Dark eyes rumbling with a question that had been there since last Halloween. “I just broke down instead. Had a little, cute panic attack and asked them to ship me off.”
If Eddie did lose all his riddles, Stephanie was sure he wouldn’t be like the man she’d grown to know and learned to love over the past year in this Gotham. He’d be a ghost of the old Eddie without the Riddler, void of the spark in his dark eyes and the energy in his body that made him him. Just like without the bats or her cowl or something, Steph wouldn’t really be Steph. There would be vestiges, sure, and maybe both of them could fake for a while until the whole charade crumbled around them. Eddie was right. Each Gothamite, especially the ones who decided to dress up and commit crime or fight it, had their own little unique idiosyncrasies that defined them. Whether it was bats or green and question marks or eggplant purple, each of them had a piece that just couldn’t be taken away if they wanted to keep everything they were in tact. The jenga piece that brought the entire tower down. So, Stephanie understood that the riddles couldn’t be taken away; in fact, she didn’t want them taken away as long as Eddie would be okay.
After a few moments of his begging, she took off her sweater and slipped her t-shirt over her head, tossing both away before turning onto her back with a smile up at him. Legs hanging over the edge: one bare, one still socked. “I don’t want them gone,” she confessed as he spread his hands across her chest, and she shivered just a little under his touch. It’d been too long since she’d felt him explore her body, too long to be fair, and while she hadn’t forgotten how it felt when he brushed against her skin, it was good to be reminded. “You can be healthy with them. I promise. And I promise if things start going wrong, I’ll get you out of there in a second, before you even know it.”
She sighed, deep and long, when he pressed his lips against one of her countless scars. Her hand smoothed against his dark hair as he almost obsessively took in the marks splattered across her body, and she fought the urge to tell him to stop. Stephanie still felt self-conscious about the marks that marred her skin, and while she knew that Eddie didn’t mind them, she still squirmed under his gaze. Pulled a face and turned her head away for a moment before locking eyes with him as he spoke. With a frown dipping the sides of her mouth low, she listened intently to his side of the Arkham story. The bat knew stories from the news and tidbits she’d gotten from here and there, but nothing could ease the pain of knowing how far and how low Arkham City dragged Eddie down.
“I’m so sorry, baby. I am so, so sorry,” Stephanie said with eyes awash and a crack in her voice. She reached to tug him closer to her and then up to brush the swoop of hair out of his face with gentle affection that wanted to heal all the pain from Arkham that still bled through. Eddie had scars, too, she knew, but most of them weren’t visible. Most of them could only be seen in the dark storm that took over his eyes or the way he frowned and knitted his eyebrows. “I love you.” Arching her neck up, she caught his lips softly and with the gentlest whine. And, after a moment, she pushed the shirt off his shoulders and ran her hands up his back to rest at his neck. Breaking the kiss, she pressed kisses to his cheeks, his nose, his chin, whispering declarations of love along the way. “You’re never going through that again, Eddie. I promise you that.” She’d rip a prison brick by goddamn fucking brick if there was ever another threat of him ending up in that situation.