eddie likes to (riddlethem) wrote in doorslogs, @ 2013-11-13 10:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | door: dc comics, riddler, stephanie brown |
Who: Eddie, Steph
When: Recently
Where: Gotham Harbor -> Eddie's apartment
What: Eddie getting out on a trial run
Warnings: Swearing? Cute dog?
Gotham City’s fall was quickly giving way to the cold snap of winter that eagerly awaited biting people’s faces with its cold touch. Warm-toned leaves, brown and red and orange, still scattered across the pavement and down the streets, but the citizens were bundled up against Old Man Winter’s fierce, unrelenting whip. Scarves wrapped around necks, gloves tugged onto hands, hats tucked on heads. In storefronts Christmas decorations were already adorning the windows, and some even had the gall to play carols over the speaker system. The season was changing, and everyone was gearing up for the switch. For the ending that the year soon brought and then the new beginnings that would soon be. Parts of the city that were still recovering after the toxin were perking back to life with excitement of the holidays and changes to come. New Arkham Asylum was no different, with its green lawns slowly dying and covered in frost not yet broken by the afternoon sun. There was a buzz in the air there, too. An anticipation in both the staff and patients alike because something was happening today.
Parked outside the ferry terminal for Arkham on the other side of the bay was a rather unassuming car, a gray sedan that was definitely more than a few models old that had bumper stickers promoting Gotham U and others with sillier purposes like a declaration for the love of waffles. Inside at the driver’s seat sat a jittery blonde bat taping against the steering wheel as she told herself don’t worry. “Everything’s going to work out fine,” she assured herself, then looked in the rearview mirror at the mutt sitting in the back. Matilda woofed in reply, and Stephanie took that as a sign that yes, everything would be okay. It had to be, right? She had gotten the call earlier in the day, and Leland sounded perfectly convinced that Eddie was good to come home finally. Leland wouldn’t have lied, right? She wouldn’t have wanted to lure the blonde bat here under some other, sinister pretense. Or some intervention where the good doctor told Steph to stay the hell away from her patient. It couldn’t be that. Right?
Stephanie took a deep breath, closing her eyes and trying her best to steady herself. Despite all the assurances, despite all their conversations as of late, she was still nervous about Eddie’s condition. What if she toed over the line and fucked it all up? What then? What if he couldn’t actually stay in Gotham? What if he realized she wasn’t good for him and left her in the dust? What if, what if, what if? “Stephanie Crystal Brown,” she said, eyes flashing open to stare in the mirror again. “Cut the shit. You’ve got to be strong. You’ve gotta be strong.” And she kept repeating that mantra over and over as she opened the door to step out, as if the words were prayers that would change the entire situation. You’ve got to be strong. The blonde bat was always good at being stupidly brave or gushing out compassion, but sometimes Eddie made her so stupid she couldn’t be strong for him. But, she had to try her hardest. She had to.
Running a hand through her newly-dyed pink hair, she assured herself again that it would be alright. She told Matilda to stay inside the car, then stood up fully outside of the car she saw the ferry begin its approach to the dock. Leaning against the car with crossed arms, she took in the view of the far away asylum in the middle of the bay. It was the first time she had actually taken a chance to look at the facility as a whole, island and all, and it was disturbingly beautiful. Maybe Eddie would want to stay there, she thought briefly. It had so many things to offer him. But she squashed the rumblings in her brain with shake of her head and simply waited there. Waited in her fishnet stockings, chunky boots, and tight, black miniskirt for her man to come out and actually be free for the first time in months. If she really wanted to go for the full look, she would have lit up out there, too. But that habit was kicked the second she left Bludhaven months ago and was able to drop this entire charade. Instead, she had gone for goth with a bit of Stephanie flare. No baggy pants with chains, but a ripped up, purple flannel underneath her black peacoat would do.
Eddie always liked the cold and he loved the holiday season. Christmas in Gotham was the perfect juxtaposition between happiness and chaos. It was like getting robbed by a bell ringing Santa. Like getting strung up by Batman with winking Christmas tree lights. Like going to a holiday party at Penguin’s Iceberg Lounge and watching it last twenty minutes before someone got thrown into the eggnog bowl for cheating a drunk goon out of money. It was as close as Eddie ever got to the good old days when Gotham was bright with primary colors and just about everyone ran around in bright, flashy underwear. So, it was funny that now during the season that reminded him most of his Riddle Me This glory days that he was getting let out with a clean slate and a passable mental bill of health.
He wasn’t thinking about that, though. Leaning on the ferry railing with his purple leather gloves gripping the handlebar and his warm winter peacoat wrapped around his body, all Eddie was thinking about was a good meal, a warm bed and Stephanie next to him for the rest of the night. It was funny how simple wants could be after months of isolation from the city that he loved and he knew that there wasn’t a time when anything he wanted was ever simple. That fact alone, that single grain of knowledge moved his mind further and he wondered what his life was going to be like now that he was rehabilitated. He wondered if he’d still get tangled up in the same trouble that he did before and he wondered what exactly Stephanie wanted from him a month from now, a year from now, a decade from now. That night they wrote each other forevers didn’t seem real and the more he thought about it, the deeper he tried to push away that less-than secret want to have exactly what they had confessed to.
There was a moment of panic when the ferry was only a mile away from shore. A sudden, stomach lurching moment where he snapped out of his endless wonderings and wanted so badly to turn the ship around and return to Arkham. Things were easier behind bars. He could pine for Stephanie between visits, he could build electronics of all sorts every single day and he could have Leland spend day in and day out asking him how he was. Out there in Gotham the world was cold and eventually that veil of lovesickness Stephanie had for him would pull back and she’d have to face the reality of living day in and day out with a man like him. And, who would really do that so willingly?
Eddie managed to stop himself, though. It was either that jumping want to get back to Stephanie and Gotham or the way Leland had taught him to pulling on loose strings. Either way he stopped. He took a deep breath of that dirty, seawater air and he closed his eyes. He thought about everything Stephanie had told him over the past year. He thought about how happy he was in this Gotham despite the chaos and missing puzzle pieces. He reminded himself how much work there was left to do for the life that he wanted to build. For the life he was going to work his heart out for if he needed to.
The ferry’s low horn blared as it docked and one of the guards came to get him. Eddie thanked him, thanked every guard he remembered on the way out and slung his messenger bag over his shoulder. They had him sign some more papers and checked to make sure his ankle tracker (a worthless thing that he could hack when the time called for it, but Eddie was a dog who didn’t mind the leash anymore) was working and reminded him that a missed appointment with Leland meant a trip back to the island. He nodded, rocking back and forth on his feet like a bored child until the gate opened and Stephanie was in sight.
“Hey.” He called across the way at her, immediately forgetting Arkham and the world he was leaving behind. Eddie walked faster, almost breaking out into a full on run until he reached her. His hands grabbed her jacket and he pushed her up against the car a little too eagerly, dark eyes bright as only a newly free man’s eyes could be. “You really dyed your hair.” Eddie laughed like he hadn’t in a long time. Rough and uneven. “And, you brought my dog?” His voice reached that familiar geeky high and he looked to see Matilda wagging her whole copper body and barking loudly. “You brought my dog.” Eddie repeated quietly, returning his gaze to meet her blues with that soft affection only Stephanie could bring out in him.
Her head jerked in the direction of that familiar voice, the one that haunted her dreams for months and echoed in her room through replayed audio files. There had been moments, especially recently, where it felt like she would never hear him in person again, at least not on this side of the bay. Even with the visits and the mini-vacation to Diagon Alley, months away from Eddie felt like decades, years, a lifetime for the formerly blonde little bat, and she never, ever wanted to do that again. That didn’t quash the fears bubbling in the back of her mind over how it would work now that he had a clean slate and the okay from Leland, and the worry that one wrong move and he’d be gone for good. She could say something wrong, or something in Gotham could trigger, and then it’d be sayonara, green man.
But, all of that worry washed away the second she heard his voice and saw him almost running towards her. Like a puppy dog bounding back to a loved one it hadn’t seen in a while. Before she could react and run towards him, he reached her, pressed up against her and knocked her breath right out of her lungs with an exaggerated oof. Stephanie couldn’t help the smile blossoming across her lips when he grabbed her coat like she was his. Claiming his territory again. Suddenly, everything seemed to click into place for a moment. Finally, finally Stephanie Brown found her missing puzzle piece.
She grinned, though it wasn’t missing the usual eyeroll that accompanied it. “Yeah, but it’s temporary dye, so don’t. Get. Used to. It.” With every pause in her rhythm, she poked him in the chest a little. Just enough to emphasize the point. She couldn’t, however, help the proud glint across her face when she saw how excited he was to see Matilda. “Well, I couldn’t just tell her daddy was getting out and not bring her, y’know. She’s the only other woman I allow to slobber all over you.” She wiggled her eyebrows in that way she’d learned from him, but then her expression softened when she caught that look in his eyes. That affection and warmth that he saved only for her. Grabbing his coat with both of her hands, she pulled him up against her and pressed a light, almost chaste kiss to his lips. “Hi, baby,” Stephanie muttered against his lips, slowly opening her blue eyes to meet his browns. The tip of her nose lined up with hers, and she smiled gently. “Yep. Beautiful eyes,” she said, harking back to that conversation of forevers and beauty and love. “You have beautiful eyes. Oh, god, baby, I missed you,” she rambled out before wrapping her arms around his neck as tightly as she could and burying her cold face in the crook of his neck.
Eddie was a man of a hundred different ways to say something and all he had to show for it was, “I missed you, too. Good goddamn, I missed you, too.” Before he knew it, her arms were around his neck and he was burying his face into that pink hair like if he didn’t cling to her then they’d drag him back to the island. And, oh how he had nightmares like that. Eddie was familiar with dreams gone south, but there wasn’t anything worse than having what he wanted for a second before it was yanked away from him. Moments passed and no guard came to collect him. Eddie’s body relaxed, the tension in his shoulders vanishing and his grip on her became more tender than desperate.
He exhaled slowly, eyes closed as he pieced together the different mannerisms Stephanie had picked up from him. A small laugh bubbled out of him and he pulled away to smirk at her even though he wasn’t going to tell her why. “Are you ready to start things back up again?” Eddie asked, that green mischievousness lining a purple flavored hope that she had planted there almost a year ago. Even if the riddled man might have wanted to redeem himself on his own, Stephanie made him Shahrrehth. All the denying that they had changed each other fell flat in that lift of hope in his voice. In that brightness in his dark eyes. Eddie was a man of few secrets, but he didn’t mind keeping that particular unspoken one between him and Stephanie for now.
Eddie pressed a kiss against her lips like a man would right after returning from a long trip and then pulled away from her to look at Matilda who was still having her own little freak out inside of the car. “Hey girl.” He said gently, pressing his hand on the window, to which Matilda tried to lick through the glass. Eddie smiled and told Matilda to be good before slowly opening the car door. It didn’t matter how careful he was, though, since the copper dog bolted out to practically tackle Eddie to the ground. Circling him with happy barks, sniffing at all the Arkham scents and then pushing her head into his legs to get him to pet her. “Was she good while I was away?” Eddie asked, kneeling so he could wrap his arms around the dog and hold her wiggling body in a hug.
Stephanie felt that desperation in his clinging, and she reciprocated in full, holding him as tightly as she possibly could without strangling him and digging her face into his neck. It was exactly like puzzle pieces clicking back into place after being lost for too long. Her heart hammered in her chest, and if they both weren’t so bundled up against the cold, he could have definitely felt the messy thud, thud, thuuud against his own chest. But, he could feel the quiver of her body as anxiety and relief both pushed through her veins simultaneously, and she didn’t relent even as he relaxed. Hands tangled in his hair and eyes shut tight. Mumbling indecipherable declarations of love and adoration into the collar of his peacoat. She heard him laugh, however, and jerked back slightly to look at him with narrowed eyes and quirked eyebrows. A silent question of what are you laughing at, mister that she didn’t press to be answered. There were so much more important things at hand than a secret snicker.
A thoughtful, teasing sound rumbled in the back of her throat. “I mean, I guess I am,” she said, blue eyes flying up to the grayish November sky before falling back down to her riddled man. Bright green even as fall died away and the monochrome of mid-November settled in, and that was what she was looking for when he came out of Arkham. Not a sickness, or a change in his bright eyes (even if she caught some clarity that wasn’t there before), but a dullness in his green. But, she didn’t see anything different in that, especially in that smirk twitching up his mouth, and that brought an easy smile to her lips before he pulled away. A relieved sort of expression that brightened when he watched his attention turn to Matilda.
“She’s been a dream,” Steph said, jumping to the side as Matilda bounded out to her daddy, grinning unapologetically. “I spoiled her goddamn rotten, and she definitely treats Bandit like a baby sister. I think she likes my place more than yours now, let’s be real. Right, Matilda?” There was no acknowledgement of the blonde bat from the copper dog though, not when Dad was there after however many months. (Which were eons in puppy dog years.) There was a simple beauty of watching her man and his dog and the affection they had for each other that had her stomach and chest tightening in happiness. Leaning against the car again, she pressed the cold palm of her hand to her warm lips as a laugh bubbled up and tears welled into her eyes. Silly, happy tears, she knew, but it had almost felt unreal that Eddie was back until this point. Now there, with his dog, on this side of Gotham and with no guards looming behind them, it was settling in that he was here to stay. Finally.
Eddie liked that Matilda’s fur smelt like Stephanie’s apartment and that she was back to wearing that neon green collar she was given the second she was accepted into the Nashton family. She was a lot tougher than when they had first met. Nervous, desperate for affection and waiting for the inevitable turn of cruelty from every person she had ever met. Eddie was different. He was kind and patient and quiet and apologized for yelling. Not out of obligation for making the dog worse off, but because he was a little broken when she was dropped off on his doorstep, too. There was something about the way Matilda stayed close to Eddie that made her seem as if she was protecting and caring for him as much as he did for her. Finding that sort of compassion in unlikely places was what kept Eddie from ever returning to those violent days of death traps.
“Good dog. Good dog.” Eddie said with certainty, holding Matilda’s head in his hands. “I bet you’re tired of all the treats and belly rubs and walks Stephanie has been giving you.” Eddie said as if Stephanie had been such a burden to his little dog. “Wouldn’t you rather go home? Huh, girl? Wanna go home?” His voice went high with chipperness and Matilda barked in reply. The riddled man grinned and looked up to see Stephanie with her hand pressed against her mouth trying to keep those happy tears, those relieved tears back. He smiled at her warmly without any of the teasing that a man might do if they caught their bad ass girlfriend crying and he could feel his ears turn bright pink. His nerves snapped and buzzed as if he were suddenly falling and Eddie had always loved that sensation. Falling from the top of a roof thanks to classic Bat ankle shake, falling from the sky into the Gotham bay with his arms full of money after a heist went sideways and of course falling hard for his blonde bat.
“You’re in for a long day, baby.” Eddie said to Stephanie, standing up with a wobble as Matilda kept pushing against his legs. He looked up at Gotham behind her and inhaled. “I need to get settled back into the apartment, say hello to the girls, take Matilda out for a w-a-l-k and then you and I can go eat, karaoke and find that bunker I was telling you about.” He spoke rapid fire as he always did in smooth, practiced highs and lows like a dancer retracing the foxtrot. Eddie knew he wasn’t the same man he was before Arkham and he’d never quite find or want that erratic riddled green again, but he fell naturally into his own rhythm that really hadn’t changed much over the past seventy or so years.
“I wanna drive though. You gotta let me drive.” He was already rummaging around her coat pocket for the car keys. His body pressed against hers as his thieving fingers went searching.
Matilda had been one of the few saving graces during the past few months without Eddie around. Stephanie couldn’t fly off the handle the way she wanted to time and time again with the skittish dog around, and whenever she curled on the couch or her bed and cried for hours, Matilda was there to snuggle up with her. (Bandit, of course, was around, but it wasn’t the same. Matilda belonged to Eddie, and she was a reminder of the riddled man.) The dog was rather intuitive and understood that while her human father was away, his mate needed her for comfort. To see Matilda run so easily back to Eddie was comforting, too. She didn’t forget him, not that Stephanie would have let her anyway, but this was all about validation right now. Things would be okay, they would go back to normal.
The blonde bat nodded, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand quickly as if pretending that she wasn’t about to cry tears of joy seeing Eddie and his dog reunited. Clearing her throat, she put a brave face on. “Yeah,” she started, voice cracking for a fraction of a second before she cleared her throat a second time. “Yeah, yeah, I’m ready. Are you ready? You might be out of the swing of things now.” She grinned over at him, wicked mischief mingling with the last bit of tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. “I promise I won’t hold it against you if you can’t keep up with me, baby,” she teased. Not that she didn’t think he could, honestly. Eddie looked well, and for the first time in months, Steph felt assured that things would be better now.
Rolling her eyes, she slipped her arms around his neck as he patted her down for her car keys. “Fine, but no drag racing. No drifting. I can’t afford flashy new upgrades like the Riddlermobile.” When he found the keys, she slid her hands down his front and stole a quick kiss. There weren’t enough moments in the day like this that could make up for months and months of deprivation, but they would heal the rest of their wounds somehow, wouldn’t they? She gazed into his eyes, glassy blues meeting warm browns, and her heart thumped in her chest again. Eventually, she slipped out from his body pressure and around to the passenger side of the car. “But there’s only one stipulation.” Opening the door, she leaned in and grabbed something. Standing back up, she waved a CD back and forth over the roof of the car for him to see. “We’re listening to our dance mix. If you crash because of it, I’ll forgive you for that.”
Eddie swung the keys around his finger, rolling his eyes heavily at her stipulations for his driving (which was needed, Eddie may not have been a supervillain anymore but he sure as hell drove like one). “I never crash.” He declared, tossing the keys up and catching them with a surefire grin. That was a lie, of course. Eddie crashed and burned all the time with practically anything he was given the keys to, but he always managed to stumble out of the wreckage with a smirk on his face. Still, he wasn’t going to go joyriding the second he got out, only to be thrown back in, so he gave her a look as if to say yes of course he’d be careful.
He moved to open the backseat door for Matilda, making an arm movement to signal for her to jump in and then looked up at the CD in her hand. “Oh no.” He whined and pointed at it with his purple gloved hand. “You’re going to make me listen to easily the best playlist anyone in Gotham has ever dreamed up? Do you even remember the blood, sweat and 90’s related tears we poured into that abomination?” Eddie made sure Matilda was safe inside before he shut the door and got into the driver’s seat. “My first day out an all you’ve done is punish me.” He mocked complaint, doing a very poor job at fighting back his affection for the sake of comedy.
With a turn of the key the car sputtered to life and he waited for her to load the CD before he quickly changed it to Nelly’s Air Force Ones, turned the volume up and zoomed off towards his apartment complex. Stephanie had the good fortune of never being in the batmobile when Riddler drove it to pit Grayson, so she never had the experience of his true pedal to the metal style. Today, she wasn’t going to get the chance to see it either. Eddie was all blinkers and courtesy lane changing and stopping at red lights, so it became apparent that the only reason he wanted to drive was because he needed agency over something. After months of putting his life in other people’s hands, the riddled man wanted to get behind the wheel for once in a long time.
He didn’t talk much on the way there, enjoying the music like it was some freedom anthem instead of a stupid rap song about fly kicks and he practically sprinted out of the car when he finally parked in front of his apartment. It was an old building right on the edge of the oldest part of the city and only a block away from Blackgate City. It wasn’t very many stories tall and from the outside looked like a firetrap, but Eddie had personally made it the most secure place to live in the city. And, every one of his neighbors were drag queens or late night performers. Eddie entered the lobby a couple strides ahead of Stephanie and Matilda, a bound in his step.
“Hello ladies.” Eddie said, sliding between two of his neighbors in the lobby as they towered over him in luxurious blonde wigs, party dresses and heels as they were about to go out to a show. The sudden appearance of the small, skinny, riddled man made them screech in delight. As expected, they freaked and gave him all of the gleeful attention and affection that he loved so very much. By the time they noticed Stephanie, Eddie was already happily suffocating from a rather tight hug from Leeandra.
“Well, I’ll have you know that I might have made Cass’s ears bleed with the number of times I’ve listened to it.” Stephanie rolled her eyes as he attempted to deflect his own affection with his brand of needling humor. She rolled her eyes like she always did when he was being silly or too outwardly loving, but it was always to cover up that bubbling affection of her own in her stomach. The leap of her heart. The buzzing in her brain. How stupid he made her feel when he smiled or snarked or teased her in that way that let her know he loved her. Eddie and Steph could be as gushy and lovey-dovey as the next couple, but they worked best when they were trading sharp little jabs and teases. They wouldn’t be Gotham’s sweethearts if there wasn’t a little bit of that in the mix, too. She stood there for a moment, just smiling over at him from over the car’s roof and soaking in how normal and right this all felt. Her blue eyes, still glassing over, took him in until she realized he was climbing in and she scrambled into the passenger side, clearing her throat and grinning at him.
“Turn up the bass, yo,” she said as she popped it in and turned the volume up to a respectable volume before letting Eddie choose the song. Just like her riddled man, Steph sat in silence for the majority of the ride. Taking turns staring out the window or looking back at Matilda or stealing glances towards Eddie through the corner of her eye. He looked so relaxed and confident, and she smiled softly as her hand reached out to gently touch his thigh. Leaning over, she pressed a quick kiss to his shoulder before turning her attention back to the city zooming (not too quickly) past. Drumming her fingers on the windowsill to the beat of the song. She had taken moments like this for granted before, the stolen brief stretches of time where they simply enjoyed each other’s presence or when they did things so normal for Gotham’s standards it bordered on stupid. Not anymore though. Even when the novelty washed away and the wounds of being separated healed, she would still treasure every moment with him. (Okay, maybe not immediately, but she would. She would.)
The blonde bat barely registered the car stopping before Eddie bounded towards his apartment building, and she bubbled out another laugh before leashing Matilda and following him inside. She hadn’t been to Old Gotham since she had come to pick up the dog from his apartment months ago. Something about the neighborhood hit way too close, especially with Blackgate (or Arkham back then) City looming in the distance. But she could brave it now that Eddie was back, even if she did have to take a steadying breath before entering into the lobby of his building. She was greeted immediately by the squawking of a few of the drag queens fawning over Eddie, and she found herself grinning again, clutching Matilda’s leash as she jumped up and down for the queens’ attention. With a screeched sweetheart!, Steph was too attacked by some of the elated affection they had for Eddie. Lipstick smeared kisses all over her cheeks and cooing over the copper dog that had become somewhat of a mascot for the misfits in the building.
One of the ladies, Sasha, pulled Stephanie to the side and quirked an eyebrow at the little blonde bat’s new look. “It’s temporary. He asked, and I can’t really say no, can I?” she assured Sasha, who raised an eyebrow in return.
“How is he doin’?” Sasha asked in an accent that was all Old Gotham. Gruff and probably out of place for someone dressed so pretty. Stephanie shrugged, trailing her eyes over to Eddie as he was smothered by Leeandra. Outwardly, he looked fine, but Stephanie knew there were still fissures under the surface that were just waiting to be cracked.
“He’s getting there,” she said finally, smiling up at Sasha, who smoothed Steph’s pink hair and grabbed her chin.
“Good girl,” the queen said with a look that was all pride as the young girl rolled her eyes. Eddie was right; she never did well with compliments. “You did a good job, sweetheart.”
Leeandra’s hold on Eddie went a little tighter until the riddled man gurgled out a laugh. “I never thought you’d get out of there.” Leeandra liked to speak as if she was always on a daytime television show. Proper, educated and feminine. “Oh, but Eddie. You should be careful looking around your apartment. The feds spent days going through and they threatened to knock down our doors if we got in the way.”
Eddie gasped for air when he was released, eyelids fluttering a little as his goofy smile stayed on his face just long enough for those wheels to start spinning inside of his skull. “They probably just wanted an excuse to go through your drawers.” He winked at Leeandra, who swatted him before turning to give Stephanie attention over her new look. While the girls chatted, Eddie tilted, balancing on one foot as he looked up the staircase to his floor and wondered how bad it could be. He had seen raids before and he assumed they’d trash the server room (which was already nuked the second things started to go south), but everything else should have gone untouched, right?
He slowly lowered back on two feet and looked over at Stephanie, then shuffled over with much less swagger than his entrance. Eddie wrapped his arm around Stephanie’s waist, kissing her shoulder before looking up at the two. “I like the blonde. I even miss the long blonde from a year ago, but I need more color in my life.” The drag queens nodded in complete understanding and it was clear why Eddie had picked this place as his safe haven. He could never be really happy in the darkness, in some grey bland cell. He’d always find a way to make Gotham bright like he had done since the very beginning. It was an old fashioned rogue’s responsibility, after all.
A couple more hugs and kisses to the cheek and then Eddie waved the girls goodbye, grabbing Stephanie’s hand and tugging her up the stairs to his apartment. She was right. The green man looked happy and he hadn’t gone seconds without beaming a smile at someone, but she could tell from the tight grip on her hand that he was feeling anxious. Eddie hadn’t had a permanent apartment for longer than a couple months in a long, long time and he made the mistake of getting attached to the space the same way any normal person might. He had memories spread across that whole apartment and it was one of the only places he felt comfortable thinking of as home.
By the time he got to the door, his shoulders were shaking a little. An up and down movement that normally came right before he did something really dangerous. He pressed his tongue between his lips, dark eyes painting a mental picture of the worst case scenario so that he wouldn’t be disappointed no matter what he found in there. Matilda was at his feet in an instant, leaning her little body against his legs with one paw on his foot and looking up to him expectantly. Eddie fumbled for his keys in his messanger bag, unlocked the door (hey at least it was locked) and swung it open.
Eddie turned on the lights, but his eyes were closed. A moment passed and he slowly opened them to find the entire front room trashed. Computers from his server room where thrown down the stairs (likely out of frustration that they couldn’t lift anything off them), the couch was torn open as if he had hid something in there and the giant flat screen tv was toppled to the floor. Broken glass, thrown around electronics and priceless geek collectibles strewn around the floor in a complete FUCK YOU from the US government.
“It’s not that bad.” Eddie’s voice was high and strained. “It’s not like they- oh they did destroy my Riddler trophy.” He saw the remains of the once green, glowing question mark on the floor next to his kitchen. “Welp.” The green man stepped over the rubble, informing Matilda to stay out in case of broken shards even though the dog had no intention of going inside. “I can fix it. It’s fine. We’ll sweep and I’ll get a cot and it’ll be-” Eddie trailed off, climbing over the broken couch towards the kitchen, flinging open a cabinet (that broke in his hand) and then slamming it down on the counter in frustration. “All my bourbon. All my bourbon, Stephanie.” The whine from his tone was gone and replaced with something pissed.
Before Stephanie could be swept away by her riddled man with dog in tow, the girls both squeezed her fingers affectionately and shot her a look. A look that said they would gladly help Eddie (and Stephanie) any way they could. The blonde bat smiled at them both and nodded before being yanked away. She knew that the ladies were part of the hodgepodge family that Eddie had cultivated over the past year and change, and she loved all of the people who were dedicated to him in a way he deserved. It was like he’d made his own version of the bat family for himself, filled with drag queens, Catholic parishioners, and an old goon with a family of his own. All misfits of the Gotham world who learned to love the riddled man just like she did.
She could feel the apprehension pulsing through his veins, and she gripped his hand as tightly as possible to remind him that she was still there. No matter what, he was out of Arkham finally, and she was still there. They could have dumped all of his things into storage and given the apartment to someone else, and they would just figure something out. As long as they were together again, everything would be alright. She couldn’t let him know that she was worried, too. Not just about the scene that they could possibly stumble into, but of what that could do to him. It was less than a few hours since he’d been released, and if it got ugly, he could wind up there in a nanosecond. One blink, and all of the work and heartache over the past few months for naught.
“It’s going to be okay, baby,” she assured him with a confidence that rang through her voice and steadied her body enough to sound convincing. The blonde bat squeezed his fingers again before he began to fumble for his keys. Here it was, the last few seconds before the shit hit the fan. Stephanie had a bad feeling about this, and she bit down hard on her bottom lip to suppress the concern that began to pulse through her body. There was a sharp intake of breath behind him when the light turned on as she stood in the doorway and took in the wreckage. Fuck, she thought immediately as she watched him shimmy into the apartment. Her fingers gripped the frame, and she leaned her body just over and into that first hallway. It was a disaster, worse than she had imagined, and she could feel her heart breaking into a thousand pieces watching him stand over the shrapnel of the bomb known as the United States government.
And, if Stephanie could right then and there, she would rip it apart for doing this to him. But, she couldn’t. No, she had to make sure he was okay; that was the most important thing. “Baby,” she said softly when he ripped the cabinet door off, slowly edging into the hallway. After a glance back at Matilda, who was all wide-eyes and ears pulled back in fear, she tiptoed around the glass, looking here and there at a broken picture frame or a computer monitor smashed to pieces. “Baby,” she said a little more firmly as she found her way into the kitchen. She pursed into her lips, wary at first for coming closer but circling around the sofa quickly when she heard the anger. “Hey, hey, hey, Eddie.” Stephanie put her hands out and pushed that firm assurance back in her voice. “It’s okay. We’re okay.” se
Eddie looked down, his mouth thinning to a perfect line and he pushed his fingertips into his eyes. The tips of his mouth turned down into a frown that looked like Batman just foiled one of his nefarious plots and Eddie had to fight back the urge to scream. “I need to call Lex.” He said darkly and it was hard to tell if he was joking or the plans for tonight were really about to change. “I know he’s got some really nice giant laser thingies that I’ve always wanted to set up-” Eddie opened an eye to look at Stephanie and immediately dropped the super villain act. “I didn’t even do anything, Stephanie. I didn’t do anything except upgrade their damn computers and keep the team from dying horribly. Then Arrow keeps throwing his weight around like the biggest moron this planet has ever seen.” The rant was loud and not directed at anything (how could it be?) and he flung his hand up in the air dramatically and stomped past her to check out the rest of the apartment.
There was no point in checking the server room and he should have known better than to look in his work room. He should have just walked out of the apartment and booked a hotel room until he could calm down. But, Eddie was stupid in his tenacity and once his blood started to boil he was impossible to stop. “Oh! Predictable!” He shouted from the work room which was so completely dismantled it was difficult to tell what purpose it served in the first place. The complex puzzle of motherboards and electronic pieces that decorated the wall was stripped down to look for clues, all his books were thrown on the floor and his workbench was completely dismantled. The sound of things being thrown around the workroom could be heard from the kitchen and Eddie came stomping out, went to the door to pick up Matilda and then carried her to the bedroom.
“If you need me, Matilda and I will be in my suit closet!” Eddie hollered as he stomped back, Matilda whimpering with worry in his arms as he kicked the bedroom door open and went straight for his suits. The bedroom was one of the least trashed rooms in the house (perhaps because there were less breakable things there) and though all the sheets had been stripped from the overturned mattress, it looked as if someone was just in the process of cleaning the place instead of destroying it. Eddie’s suit closet had been flung open and his hundreds of suits were thrown on the floor in a giant fabric blob of green, but there wasn’t any broken glass and they hadn’t ripped apart most of his good suits.
Eddie set Matilda down (who started sniffing through the closet without venturing outside) and then flopped down in the pile of suits after closing the closet doors. He laid there for a few seconds, reaching a hand over to pick up one of his first green spandexs and sighed as he wrung it between his hands.
Stephanie didn’t know what to do or say at first as he flew off on his rant, and just tried her best not to look around in abject horror at the havoc splayed out before her like a hyper-realistic movie set or a party gone so incredibly wrong. Her eyes did narrow slightly when Lex slipped out of his mouth, and if he had continued on with that rant, she would have quashed it with one fell swoop. A slap in the face again if she had to. There was a freak out, and then there was super villain rants, and Stephanie was not having super villain rants. Eddie was too far past all of that, and she was goddamn sure that she wouldn’t let this tip him over the edge. After so many, many times this city liked to knock him down, this final fuck you from the government couldn’t be it.
Still, she let him have his freak out, still trying to muster up the right words or the courage to chase after him while he bounced room-to-room. Eddie needed to do that on his own, even if Steph didn’t think he should be doing it at all. But, she was being more conscientious about pushing him in whatever way she wanted, so if he wanted to rip through the apartment and see the place in shambles himself? So be it. She could pick up the pieces after. And, as Eddie tore through room after room, that was what she did. Shuffling over into the kitchen, she stooped down to pick up the remnants of his Riddler trophy off the floor. First the base, which was set gently on the counter, then she carefully plucked up the little pieces of green glass shards and held them in her palm for a moment. It was symbolic probably in weird way that she didn’t want to think about, and before she could get more philosophical about some goddamn glass, Eddie was screaming and thrashing about in his work room. She jumped up, catching herself from closing her fist just in time, and slowly spilled the green shards on the counter as well.
“Oh, fucking hell,” she muttered, rolling her eyes and sighing in frustration as she heard Matilda’s concerned crying while she was trolleyed away into the bedroom. “Wai--, Eddie, wait!” Stephanie begged as she fought her way through the mess in the kitchen, climbed over the couch in one bound, and pushed down the hallway into that familiar bedroom. It took her some time fight through all of the shattered remainders of Eddie’s life in this apartment, and when she finally reached the room, Eddie was already tucked away in the closet.
“Baby,” she said again, that same soft tone of concern as she stared at the doors of the closet. She laid a hand on the wood and closed her eyes for a moment. “I know it looks bad, but--you remember what I said, right? We can rebuild. This isn’t--you can rebuild all of this.” Her fingers curled into her palm, forming a fist against the door, and she fought the urge to bang her fist there to emphasize the point. After a couple more moments, she decided fuck it and flung the doors open to see Matilda cautiously sniffing around and Eddie flopped on the floor in a flood of green and purple. Stephanie stared unabashedly, hands still gripping the doors in something that looked more dramatic than she felt, before she stepped in slowly and sunk to her knees at his feet.
“Edward Nashton,” the little blonde bat began, one hand reaching out to rest on his shin. “You know why it’s going to be okay? Because you didn’t lose anything important. All the fucking important stuff is still right here. It’s those ladies down there who treat you like a brother, it’s your dog, it’s Father Mike and your friends. It’s me,” she concluded, pressing her free hand to her chest and voice crawling just a touch higher. “That’s what’s important. Not some fucking computers or booze or a goddamn trophy. That shit you can replace. It’s the stuff you can’t replace, baby, that’s still around for you.” She let that sink in before sighing deeply and slowly crawling up his body until she was lined up with him.
“Don’t worry about all of this, okay?” she said like she was promising to take away all the pain and panic from him. She was; she would do anything to make this okay. Fingers dragged across his cheekbone, and she pressed a kiss to his chin before trailing across his jaw. “We’ll figure it out,” she murmured in his ear.
Eddie made a pathetic noise when he heard her at the door, twisting the old, old Riddler costume until it practically ripped apart in his hands. As much as he hated Arkham, he didn’t have to throw all his problems on the table for Stephanie to see and now that he was back, she got to play witness to all of it. But, he knew she wanted the good with the bad and that she had proven again and again that she was strong enough to handle someone like him, so he didn’t try to tell her to leave him alone. He didn’t ever want her to. When she opened the door, Eddie had wiggled off his gloves and peacoat until he was down to a simple black business suit that was sort of a going away present via Leland. Eddie loosened his tie until it was practically falling off his neck and flung the spandex green off into the corner.
“I didn’t say you could come in.” He murmured. “What’s the password, punk.” Eddie’s voice went smaller and instead of insisting that she had to leave, he opened his arms for her. He was such a contrary man when he wanted to be.
Eddie went quiet as she told him what was really important and he dropped his head back into the pile of suits and closed his eyes. He knew she was right and it was something he believed so earnestly that it made this entire ranting spree seem pointless. But, he was a man of symbols. He had built this apartment and formed it into a place that facilitated his new life. There were parts that could never be replaced because they held memories of him and her in a way he had never experienced before. “I know.” He whispered as she crawled up his body and his arms wrapped around her immediately. “It’d be different if I earned something like this. But, it was all taken from me because someone else was a screw up.” Eddie couldn’t believe that he was complaining about things out of his control and he shook his head to try and erase the thought. Real Gotham citizens didn’t dwell on the chaos that surrounded them. They picked up the pieces, sharpened them and turned into something better. That was something he believed even in the face of a destroyed home.
“I know this stuff doesn’t matter. But, it’s my green.” He turned so their noses were touching and kissed her like he was making sure she really was still there. His erratic heartbeats slowed and he leaned his forehead against hers with a sigh. “Look,” Eddie said after a moment prying himself off her reluctantly to dig through the pile of suits. Finally, he came up with a cheap green thing that looked handmade. It had felt purple question marks stitched into the fabric in all different sizes in a seemingly random design.
“See this? Sadie made it for me when I first got here.” He held it up with a look like yes I know how cartoonish it is. “She thought this door was basically a giant cartoon. Like Looney Tunes. She thought that if I dropped a piano on Batman’s head, he’d spring back to life like nothing happened. She didn’t make this suit for me. She made it for Riddler who isn’t even a real person. He never was.” Eddie turned the suit over in his hands and picked at one of the felt question marks that was falling off. “Neither is Batman, or Batgirl or any of the Robins or Penguin or Joker. They end after the last panel like robot Abe Lincoln on a stage. They don’t go to church, they don’t have favorite flavors of ice cream, they don’t worry about their drag queen neighbors. All this stuff, all of it is proof that we’re more than colored dots on a piece of paper. And some stupid government who doesn’t trust Superman decides to take it away from me?” Eddie looked at Stephanie to see if she understood or if she believed this was just another rant from Gotham’s most thoughtful rogue. He shrugged at her, exhausted by having things taken from him and then looked down as Matilda gently placed her head in his lap.
Eddie got the meta out of his system and lightly scratched behind Matilda’s ears. “I’ll get a hotel room and start looking for contractors. I’ll rebuild the whole damn thing. Buy more space. It’ll be a real fresh start.” He looked to Stephanie and managed a smile. A real one that showed how tired he was. “I need something to do now that I’m out anyway. And it’s better than toppling the Capitol Building out of spite.”
Stephanie narrowed her eyes playfully, wrinkling her nose a little in the process in a precious sort of way. Like a kitty cat trying to play lion. “If I see Arrow again, I’mma snuff him,” she murmured with a grin, as if punching out the disgraced JLA member would solve all of their problems. It would at least get her anger out about the whole situation. Gotham was never fair, but it pissed her off beyond comprehension that Eddie had to pay for other men’s sins. He had plenty of his own to atone for; why did he need to add onto the list? It was just one of those million things out of their control, though. She couldn’t do anything to change the past now, so she would just have to fight for her future. Their future.
She returned the kiss desperately, a hard press and a whine rumbling in her throat as her eyes drifted shut for a moment. Trying to soak away what little bit of his anxiety coursed through his veins and take it for her own. She wished she had that superpower sometimes, the ability to pick apart his worries and take away his pain. And while she couldn’t dig through his brain and pull out all the things wrong, Steph learned how to assuage oncoming panic attacks, avoid arguments if she wanted, calm him down. It was the little touches, the assurances, the confidence, the support she could give him. While she had tried not to take Leland’s advice at face-value, it did make her a little more conscious of how to help her riddled man. How to make him well and keep him there. How to keep their relationship well, too.
She fought the urge to snatch at air as he wriggled away from her, but eventually she sat up in the pile of suits, twisting her hand in some fabric that felt more expensive than most of the items she had in her apartment. Definitely more expensive than anything she’d worn. (Aside from her suit, but that was different.) Listening to him ramble on about the suit and his green, she tugged and twisted against that fabric. And while she understood exactly what he was saying, she just made noise of acknowledgement. Oh, she understood exactly what he meant. Identity was a big thing for the little blonde bat, too, and she knew what it was like to have people try to destroy what defined that. “I understand, baby,” she muttered eventually, looking up at him and Matilda with clear blue eyes that got exactly what he was saying.
Steph shook her head when he laid out his plan. “You’re not getting a hotel room. You’re staying with me,” she said matter-of-factly, but she looked down again. Hands twisting in her lap. “Until it’s all settled. Okay?” Twist, twist, twist. But after a second, after telling herself stop, she looked up at him again. “You’re staying with me,” she repeated forcefully with a smile.
Eddie gave her a simple, clear “I love you” in response to her understanding and liked that he didn’t feel the need to elaborate. There were too many people in Gotham would would never really understand a thing about him (which wasn’t completely their fault, Eddie wasn’t as transparent as he pretended to be). He needed someone like Stephanie who eight times out of ten could get how he was feeling out of pure intuition and sharing a common feeling about how the world worked. For all their differences, Eddie could usually count on her to be in step with him and that was one of the many reasons why he loved her so goddamned much.
He looked at the pile of ruined suits and decided that most of them he didn’t need and the rest could be salvaged. Sure, there were some relics in here that would be hard to part with, but Eddie didn’t have to say goodbye to all his question marks. He’d stop being the man Gotham knew if he tried to do that. “Bwha-” Eddie heard you’re staying with me and could barely process it while his mind was wandering off into how he’d repair his apartment. He looked at Stephanie’s hands twisting that expensive fabric and his eyes went a little wide in disbelief. Where was that caged 20-something bird who needed the clear lines of personal freedom laid out for her?
“Oh no, don’t be ridiculous.” He was internally kicking himself for not immediately accepting and it showed on his furrowed brow. “You already have Stitches living with you, right? There’s not enough room for me.” Eddie sounded like he was rejecting a generous gift with his fingers still wrapped around the present. He wasn’t saying no as much as are you sure?
Stephanie wondered where that caged bird flapping her wings at any sort of scary commitment was, too. Because it didn’t seem weird to tell Eddie that he would be living with her until all the madness settled down, just like it didn’t seem weird when she offered him a place to stay back when Arkham’s insanity was hitting fever pitch. Where was the young blonde bat scared shitless every time Eddie mentioned something about their future? She hadn’t been there the night they promised forevers either, and she wondered if that girl was gone for good. With Steph, commitment to Eddie always came as a frank sort of next step. I love you without any fanfare, futures without a shrug, asking him to stay in her apartment without a second thought.
It naturally made sense for Eddie to come live in her apartment while his was in shambles. It wasn’t the most spacious place, and she did have another girl living with her, but she couldn’t have him just staying at some hotel right after he got out of Arkham goddamn Asylum. And maybe it was a little bit of that lovesick veil over her eyes and hanging in her heart, but she wanted to make up for all the lost time. Wouldn’t that be the best way to do it?
“Cassandra,” she said with a smile, even if that was a losing battle. “Yeah, she’s living with me, but so what? There’s always room for you.” She shook her head quickly, rolling her eyes in frustration and flapping her arms a little. When she took these big steps, she was used to Eddie just moving in step with her. Accepting her love, returning the forever, and she assumed he would have eagerly agreed to stay with her. “I already offered once before, baby,” she stated, blue eyes meeting browns and looking at them frankly. “I meant it then, and I mean it now. Think about it logically.”
Eddie knew that even though neither of them intended it, this was a test for the both of them. Even if the move to live together was temporary, if they couldn’t cut it, then it would take a lot of retracing their steps to understand why. He liked the idea of forever because the way Stephanie made him feel wasn’t something he’d easily part with. He also liked to believe that living together would actually feel a lot better than living on two different sides of Gotham. But, ultimately, this was a brand new unknown. His mouth hung open a little as she insisted firmly that there was room for him and that they could make it work. It made him wonder if those fevered forevers she promised him nights ago were the real deal and not just lovesickness driving her emotions.
“Logically?” He cracked a smile and then tossed a handful of suits at her like a snowball fight before rolling on top of her and pinning her to the floor. “There isn’t anything logical about it unless this is your idea of protecting my riddled ass from residually pissed federal agents. Honestly, Stephanie, I’ve got a speed dial full of goons who owe me favors for that.” Eddie rolled his eyes, hands planted on both sides of her as he leaned down to kiss the side of her mouth. He knew that if she really did want him to move in with her temporarily, it was only because she loved him and wanted him close because the time apart was eating away at her the same way it was for him. And, if he was an idiot, Eddie would have made her admit to it. But, Eddie was a quick learner. Especially with Stephanie.
“You’ll kick me out if I get too annoying?” He asked a little more seriously, leaning on one arm so he could run his fingers through her short, pink hair. “No, no. On second thought, you have to promise that you’ll tell me what I’m doing wrong before swinging the axe, okay? I can be good. You know I can.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her. “And, if I can’t make things better, then I deserve to be thrown out on my ass. That seems fair.”
Steph squeaked when he tossed the suits at her, and a failed flailing attempt to counter his attack just made her extra susceptible when he pinned her down. She narrowed blue eyes up at him and faked a very unimpressed frown that twitched in betrayal as he spoke. “Logically,” she repeated, tone inflecting that teasing, high-pitched geek that tried its best to mirror his, “you should come to my apartment, and here are the reasons. One,” she pointed a finger up, “Matilda loves my place and will hate a hotel room. Two,” a second finger, “you know where all the exits are. Three,” a third finger popped up, “you can get fucked on the regular. Unless you can get your goons to give you that, too?” She grinned wickedly. “If you can, more props to you, and I’ll just have to steal your dog and call it a day.”
She wanted to tell him that a part of her never wanted him to leave her sight again, and another part wanted to wake up to him next to her every single morning, but that sounded ridiculous. He would definitely think that this was just part of a stupidly lovesick blonde readjusting to her man being back from a long tour away from home. Steph hoped that wasn’t it, that when the dust settled and the rhythm returned to their lives, she wouldn’t see everything she had said and done and want out. She meant it all now. Living with him, being with him for the rest of her life. She wanted all of that now, and she hated thinking that this might be something she could regret.
It wouldn’t. It wouldn’t be something she would regret.
Three fingers still up, she waved them in his face with a playful smile. “I swear on girl scout cookies and waffles that I will tell you if you’re acting up,” she promised, wiggling her fingers in front of his eyes. “There are rules and stipulations, but I think you’ll be able to keep to them if you really, really try, or else you’re suffering the consequences.”
Eddie wanted to settle back into the comfortable grey area where he could take her independent woman approach to a serious relationship. He kept all the awkward future plans on the backburner and let them shake out naturally as possible. But, he could take this and there really wasn’t anything Stephanie could do that’d make him feel unwanted even when her passion cooled after a couple of weeks with him always in her sights. Besides, it felt good to have her there and he felt terrible when she wasn’t around. So, yes, logically it was the right choice. “For your information I am an equal goon employer. I have plenty of lady goons who naturally think I’m hot stuff. I even let them push my explodey buttons.” That right there was the most question marked he sounded in a long time and Eddie smiled at how good it felt. Even if he wasn’t blowing up the planet with Lex Luthor, he could always be that Gotham rogue.
He nodded solemnly at her scout’s pledge. “I live without rules.” Eddie said in his best extreme voice and pressed a kiss against her neck right under her jaw line. “Any curfew you set for me? Guess what, I’m going to show up ten minutes late.” He declared lowly into her skin as if he were bent on breaking all the rules she could possibly set out for him. “What’s that? Don’t put an empty carton of milk back in the fridge? Too bad, lady. That’s how I collect ‘em.” His voice was veering on his Dark Knight impression which wasn’t nearly as threatening as the actual Batman could make it sound.
A mockingly angry sort of sound growled from her throat, and she scrunched up her face in a teasing sort of jealousy. “Lady goons?” she asked astonished, trying to curl away from him as if she were actually angry with him. “I’m asking you to stay with me and you’re talking about lady goons? Matilda, can you believe this?” Steph sat up just enough to look over his shoulder at the copper puppy who was wagging her tail, causing the blonde bat to roll her eyes. “I know he’s your daddy, but c’mon, girl. Sister code.” With a flop, she fell back underneath him, still squirming under his touch. “That’s fine, I guess, as long as I’m the only one pressing all of your other buttons.” Her fingers reached up to tangle in his dark curls and tug lightly.
She shivered as his lips pressed against her neck, but she tried her best to keep her voice even. No laughter during his growly, grumbling voice, even if he could hear the smirk in her voice. “You’re gonna be living with two bats, baby. And one of them’s a ninja, and that doesn’t even take into account what the other bat could do, too. You really wanna test the fates with all that?” She nudged him until she could steal a kiss, pressing and claiming in a greedy sort of way that asked him for more and told him she would want more for a long, long time. “You’re a bold man, Nashton, if you want to tempt that,” she murmured against his lips.
A small hum rumbled from his throat when she kissed him like that and he returned it with the same amount of want as if he were confirming his feelings for her if she had any doubt at all. It was his way of saying goodbye to the awkward carefulness they had while he was in Arkham before. He thought that now sprawled on the floor with her in his closet while the rest of his apartment lay in shambles, now he could really restart what he had with her and only look back for the lessons learnt while they were apart. “I’m not stuck in an apartment with two bats.” He was doing another impression, but this time it was of a fictional super hero that he had watched a movie about in Vegas. “The two bats are stuck in an apartment with me.” It was followed by a soft echo of his usual over-the-top laugh and he snuck his hands under her shirt to tickle her sides before rolling away so that she might try to do the same to him.
Eddie wasn’t just the most perverted man in Gotham. He was also the most ticklish.
From her nest of suits, Matilda barked happily and bounded between them. This whole apartment fiasco could have gone South pretty hard and even the dog seemed aware that the three of them just dodged a bullet. The copper haired dog attacked Stephanie with kisses before nuzzling her nose into Eddie’s chest with a happy whine. “You heard that? You’re going to live with Stephanie and me for a little while.” The riddled man told his dog, who was still wagging with excitement. Eddie grinned at her and then looked over to Stephanie, waiting for her blues to meet his dark browns.
“Hey, I love you.” He told her. “Let’s go get us some tacos.”