addy and steph are the (blondebat) wrote in doorslogs, @ 2014-02-24 04:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | door: dc comics, riddler, stephanie brown |
WHO Eddie and Steph [Pt. 2 o' 2].
WHAT Valentine's Day.
WHEN V-Day.
WHERE Gotham's Museum of Natural History.
WARNING feelings, presents, cuteness.
Stephanie shrugged. “Just because we push past being scared doesn’t mean we aren’t scared either, baby. I just don’t think Bruce and Selina realize that there’s something good that might happen after all of that risk. They’ve both been hurt, and they don’t know how to work past that. Let’s be real, Eddie, there aren’t many people who can really work past all that in this place. They wallow or they bury or they push it away.” No one really faced an issue head on in Gotham, and they were just as guilty as the rest of them sometimes. But, she and Eddie were getting better at it. They communicated, they flustered and blustered, they vented. Sure, it wasn’t about everything, but none of their issues would magically be fixed overnight. It didn’t work that way in the real world.
She hmphed in that uppity way that he equally loved and hated, and she turned her chin up and away in defiance. Lips twitching for a moment when she realized he didn’t get hurt over the dumb thing. Stephanie was getting better about not using trigger words around him (at least she thought), but sometimes things got heated or her brain kept going and she couldn’t help it. “Yeah, yeah,” she said, rolling her eyes to high heaven and tugging at his fingers as she rolled back to lean into her elbows, too. “That wasn’t that much of a gamble, jerk. You and I are already staying together, and we haven’t killed each other. It wasn’t high stakes,” she teased, even though it was pretty stupidly brave to ask her to move in. Another step in a long line of steps to get them somewhere where forever didn’t seem so daunting or out of reach.
She hummed a little, tucking her chin onto her shoulder and looking up at him with bright blues and long lashes. “I had to make you work for it. Make sure you meant what you said. What if I waited until I really meant it?” That wasn’t true at all; she knew she loved him even when he dumped green goop over her head. She shrugged with a smirk. Needling tease that she was so much better at than any sort of sexy purr a kitty might use in this situation. “I don’t know what you’re expecting from me, Nashton. What if there’s nothing to admit? What do you want me to say?”
Eddie had a way of actively following along with what Stephanie was saying. Nodding solemnly at her eyerolls, mouthing an exaggerated of course to making him work for her love and then acting oh-so wounded that she wasn’t in love with him at the same exact time he was. He liked getting her riled up a little too much sometimes even if it resulted in eyerolls, name calling and physical aggression. All of which he didn’t mind too much. Even when it boiled down to tickle fights.
That shrug made him tenacious. He sat up and leaned over her, dark eyes staring right into those blues. “Now I know you’re hiding something.” Eddie said, completely sure of himself. He innncchhhed closer, just enough that she could feel his breath on her neck. “What is it, Stephanie Brown? Did I do something wrong?” That was always his first question because it generally was the right one. A soft kiss to the crook of her neck and another across her shoulder. “Did you do something wrong?” He sounded scandalized by the idea, always ready to tease her for being the good one in their relationship.
Then Eddie looked up and she could tell he was actually trying to figure out if there was a Valentine’s surprise behind those blue eyes. He stared at her, eyes slowly narrowing before he iiinnnccchheed back away from her. “Or is it something else?”
She rolled her eyes again, a hmph for the ages following along when he continued to mock her while she was teasing him. She knew it was the game they played, her teasing and him always successfully getting under her skin with his smarmy bastard attitude. She tried so very hard to win that game, but he managed to one-up her every single time. With needling words or puppy dog eyes or a kiss in the perfect spot. She let out a slow breath when he pressed tiny kisses to her skin and tried her best to smother a smile that was threatening to blossom. She shook her head once at his first question, then quickly again at his second question.
“No, no,” she implored, fingers wrapping around his collar to tug him close again as if she couldn’t bear the thought of him being away. She hesitated for a moment, as if capitulating over whether it would be worth it to admit what she’d told to both Cass and Kara, and then she thought fuck it. Hand sliding up to rest at his neck, Steph said, “I was telling Cass that we’re moving in together, and she didn’t get why it would be different. She didn’t get it and she didn’t seem happy for us. I tried and I tried, and she just didn’t get why you and I living together on our own would be different.”
For a second, the big, brave blonde bat pursed her lips and looked worried. Not of anything life-threatening, but maybe of rejection. “So I explained to her why people in love want to live on their own and build lives together. Because it’s a big first step in a long line of steps to getting a forever. Because I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. The ups, the downs, the whatevers. I want you to be the one I get to wave to on stage when I get my diploma. I want you to be the one who I come home and cry to when I have a hard day or when I get to brag about a good day. I want,” she laughed, “I want your geeky, genius babies. Babies, I want to have your babies. One day, I want to wear a pretty white dress and walk down an aisle and get to say I do in front of all the people we care about.”
In typical Stephanie fashion, the entire thing came out in a rambling mess of word vomit that had her cheeks burning up after the fact. “Okay?” she asked a little hysterically. “I think that earns me at least three points in the dumb bravery column.”
Eddie chuckled when she grabbed his collar and pulled him close, but the smile slowly faded when she started talking about Cass. About what they wanted. Of course the mute bat didn’t understand. She was suffering from the same problem Kara had of being much younger in her mind than her body, the difference being Kara was blessed with open curiosity and Cass was...well...not. Part of him felt sorry for making her open the can of worms because he knew by the way she started to ramble it would roll into an avalanche of words that she might regret later.
Then she dropped the bomb. Eddie’s eyes widened a little in surprise, part of him thought that she was mocking him because it was very obvious to everyone in Gotham that a future with her was all he wanted. But the nervous laughter and genius babies made him smile. Made his ears turn bright red. When it was over he nodded, nothing like that sarcastic oh yesss nod that she had seen before. This one more serious, confirming like a hand on her shoulder or a tight hug.
“Hey,” He crawled over her, one leg between hers and he rested his hands on either side of her as he looked down. “You know that’s what I want. I don’t just want to wake up to my girlfriend next to me every day. One day I want it to be my wife and I want her to be you. One day that’s going to be us.” Eddie’s voice trembled a little, but there was conviction there. Like a nerd holding onto his lunch money in the face of three giant bullies. “We’re going to build a life together. No matter how many detours, no matter how long it takes. That’s why I wanted you to live with me in a place we could really call just ours.” Even if Eddie wasn’t telling Stephanie something she already knew, it was important to confirm. To echo back the truth if it was there.
He sank down to press his body against hers and kissed her like two teenagers making out on the high school baseball field and then leaned back to smile at her, one hand cradling the side of his face as his elbow held him up. “You told her all that and she didn’t get it?” He was a little amused, a little sad for her.
Maybe a Stephanie six months ago might regret spilling out all of her guts right in front of him to see on display, but Arkham taught them both some very important lessons. It taught them to cherish the good that they had in this fucked up town and how easily it could all crumble and how they needed to acknowledge it. The Bat and the Cat were prime examples of how ignoring how you felt could actually be too detrimental to everyone around you. That didn’t mean that it didn’t embarrass Steph to lay her heart on the line -- her red cheeks proved that. But, at the end of the day, she couldn’t lie about what she wanted, and she ultimately wanted him. In every single capacity of her life. For her whole life.
And sure, it was daunting to be just shy of twenty-one and realize something so life-affirming, but Eddie made it easier when he said he wanted her to be his wife. She smiled with a sappiness in her blues, and she found it so easy to nod along with him, to look at him like she believed every word he said, to lose herself in the kiss. Whimpering at the weight of it all as she sunk from her elbows onto the floor, but also so glad she could share that with him. It was one thing to admit it to herself, to Kara and Cass and then admit it to him. It made it all so real, and Stephanie didn’t quite mind.
When he broke the kiss and leaned away, she sighed and closed her eyes as if devouring the lingering taste of his love on her tongue and through his breath on her skin. Then, she shook her head sadly, with a twitch of frustration. “No, she didn’t. She got mad. Kara got it. But Cass didn’t want to be open to me explaining it, I guess. I don’t know. I can show you what she said later.” She curved forward to steal a few more kisses in a long stretch of moments as if to bury that worry away, though he could probably sense how upset she’d been by it anyway.
Eddie knew that talk about forevers that didn’t happen behind the safety of their journals was uncharted territory. And, for a good reason. He never really minded the wary looks he used to get from her about accidentally saying a big word like forever or future because it made sense for a girl her age. Logical. In fact, for the longest time Eddie thought that he was really only a phase for Stephanie Brown. A taste of the darkness of Gotham and real support through love that she hadn’t experienced from any man before. Training wheels. But, after Arkham that feeling faded. Stephanie could have distanced herself from him because it was easier. Because she deserved better. And, she didn’t. That was the first forever from her that he actually believed.
Still, he was just as nervous about saying big scary words as she was and Stephanie could feel his heart practically beating the tie off his chest. It was scary. A dark unknown with anything waiting in the shadows, but they were always willing to jump in it together. “Cass isn’t your age and I know that sounds funny coming from a 100 year old man.” Eddie peppered her skin with kisses between hungrily pressing his lips against hers and then leaned back to look at her. He slowly threaded his fingers through her messy, curled hair. “When it comes to friendship in the town? You have to either be on the same level or be from the same place. Or both, in the case of me and Harley.”
He frowned, sensing it was more than just a misunderstanding between the two, almost like he could taste the isolation she was feeling and scooched down to rest his head on her belly as he laid next to her with his arm loosely around her waist. “I wish I could just give you people. Your mom, a Cass who knows you- not Oracle though she can go to hell. She’s not stealing my job.”
There was a rumble of something in her chest, maybe regret for bringing up Cass on a day when they should be soaking up the love they had for each other and wallowing in the forevers they just confessed. Still, her hand wandered down to tangle in his immaculate swoop of dark curls, slowly running through in almost methodical patterns. “I know she’s not my age,” Steph said almost frustrated, though truthfully sometimes she did forget that Kara and Cass were still children. Mostly, it was Stephanie wishing that she could have her friends back and know her in the way she knew them all like the back of her hand. Some days, she could almost understand the hurt and anger Helena felt over not having her Kara. Stephanie didn’t have hers either, or a Cass, or her parents, or her Barbara.
She tugged at his hair. “It doesn’t work that way,” she reminded him. “I know that--well, the only person who really knows me besides you is Tim.” Which was a sore subject on any day of the week for both of them. “And, Dick to a certain extent, but even then not really.” Closing her eyes with a quiet sigh, she tugged again. “I have you, at least.” But she understood what he meant. She was feeling isolated. Who did she have besides Eddie that would really listen to her and understand what she was going through? She couldn’t open up to her friends at school, not really. That would open up a whole different can of worms.
Eddie knew it was pointless trying to poof friends for Stephanie out of thin air. Wasn’t that what the Bat family tried to do for Helena and failed? The newness of this world and all the positives and negatives that came with it were hard to erase. And, Stephanie had always been a unique girl, hadn’t she? Even if he could bring her all those people, how many of them would stand by her falling in love with The Riddler. He squeezed her waist, digging his face into her belly and then slowly sat up, curled hair that was once gelled back now a complete mess. He gave her a look like you did this.
“I’m never going to be enough, baby. You can’t live with just one person in your life. I don’t know if anyone really can.” Eddie’s expression looked guilty. If it wasn’t for him, she’d probably have a better relationship with the rest of the bat family and he was the reason why some of them still had a hard time talking to her. To them, it didn’t matter how much work he put into making things right. He’d always be the bad guy. And, she’d always be the Batgirl who fell for the guy on the wrong side of the tracks.
The riddled man gave her a long look, calculating ways to fix the world for her. Eventually he slowly held his hand out and wiggled his fingers at her. “Gimmie my V-Day present.”
She rumbled an affectionate noise when he dug his nose into her belly, missing the pressure of him on her when he sat back up, and tilting her head with an innocent smile like she had noooo idea what his problem was. With a long sigh, she sat up, too, reaching up to smooth out his hair as best she could with an affectionate sort of smile. “I know,” she said softly, with a shrug that said what was she supposed to do. “I can cobble together people. Friends with a little bit of this, a little bit of that. It’s better than nothing, right?” Someone else might have a more tragic and woebegone perspective than she did, but Stephanie Brown had that pesky little hope that never really left her. She caught that look though, the one of guilt, and she stopped the primping to shove him in the chest lightly. “It’s not your fault, Nashton. I’m a victim of circumstance. Woe is me,” she bemoaned in jest, back of her hand reaching to her forehead like an old movie star crying about her life.
She scoffed, smirking as she reached to her side to rifle through her bag. “So demanding, Nashton.” After a second, she pulled out two things. The first was a slightly bulky box, wrapped a little messily with red paper in that usual Stephanie way. The second was a non-descript manila envelope with a big red heart drawn on the front. When he unwrapped the box, was a plastic pokeball, and when popped open, it revealed a tiny purple zip drive. The envelope had one lone photo printed on glossy paper. When he saw that, she smiled softly. “That is just a preview of what’s on the drive.” She rolled her eyes, almost bashful, and flopped her hands. “I can’t compete with everything you’ve done, but I can try with that.”
Eddie went through his presents with great care, never one to rip things open to gawk at what was inside. “Oooh, you actually have something for me.” He teased, popping the pokeball open to give the flash drive inside a quizzical look before finding the picture. His reaction was immediate, dark eyes going wide as he pulled on his collar and gulped. “Hooboy.” Eddie looked up at her and then back down at the picture. This wasn’t something he was expecting. Stephanie’s gifts always had a lot of heart and tended to be a big mix of things that reminded her of him, or things that she wanted him to remember her by. But, this picture of her in a retro pinup outfit all glamoured up was completely left of field. “Steph, you didn’t have to do this.” Small acknowledgement of her self esteem issues with her own body, the scars she never let him find beautiful. “But, I have to say, I’m glad you did.”
He held the picture up a moment longer, then carefully tucked it back inside the envelope before climbing over to her, messily tangling limbs with limbs as he pressed a long, loving kiss against her lips that rumbled with a little more want than what was appropriate for the hearts and candy side of Valentine’s Day. He brushed his thumb across her cheek, now flush against her on the ground and touched her nose with his. “See, you do know how pretty you are. And, yet you still want me to keep reminding you?” He asked innocently, voice low and eyes a little hazed with affection.
Stephanie’s cheeks burned bright red as he unwrapped his gifts, doubting more and more each second if this was a good idea or not. She should have gone for sentimental again, or something cheesy even. As beautiful and sexy as Eddie could make her feel, she wasn’t really up front like that. Well, not in such a professional and careful way. She almost felt more exposed with him gawking at her like that than any time she stripped down as he climbed up her body. She was usually lost in the moment at that point, but here? She couldn’t help but think about those tiny imperfections (or not so tiny) that drove her crazy. She would never, ever look picture-perfect with scattered fading scars around her body. Eddie knew that she felt that way, that gnawing doubt that clawed at her stomach when he saw something beautiful in it and she saw something ugly.
“It’s too much,” she mumbled, waving her hands and fighting the urge to snatch it away. Cheeks ruddy and eyes darting to the floor every time he looked at her, she still couldn’t help but be pleased by his reaction. All she offered him was an uncharacteristically shy smile, a tiny shrug of her shoulders, and darted eyes before he practically tackled her down and smothered her with a kiss she was able to lose all the doubt and embarrassment in. Forgetting where they were for a moment, she returned that kiss with fervor and a rumble that reciprocated his want and a tiny rock of her hips into him. Arms slung around and blues just as hazy as her browns.
“Thank god for Photoshop and photography major friends,” she mumbled with quiet teasing, face going a little pink again. She shook her head once, nipped at his nose, and shook her head again. “No, I only believe it when you tell me. Believe me, that took three weeks to do, lots of talking me through it, and a promise that plenty of retouching was happening.” Always the self-deprecator, she could turn such a wonderful compliment into something else without any effort. Mostly because she believed every word she said. She caught his lips in a crush, lingering for a little too long, drawing it out more than was appropriate for a museum, and then turned her head down to press her forehead to his chin. “I need you to remind me,” she said softly, one hand busy in his hair while the other traced the tattoo on one of his forearms.
He fought back a smile, finding her awkwardness and need to play down just how perfect the pictures were beyond endearing. She was good at showing confidence on the outside even if there were butterflies eating up her stomach, but when it came down to how attractive and sexy she was, it turned her shy and embarrassed. Eddie gave her a look like he was actively trying to be nice about it, kissing her cheek and then lips before pulling back to gaze down at her. “You’re beautiful.” Eddie said simply, like the answer to a riddle and then repeated it a few more times softly into her hair, arms wrapping around her in a tight embrace that didn’t leave much room for air.
Eddie told Stephanie that he loved her, lips against her neck with his face completely buried in her blonde curls. A moment passed and he sat up, leaning on one elbow to look down at her. “I didn’t get you anything that neat.” He said honestly and then tried to reaaaacch for his coat without losing much contact with Stephanie’s body. Eventually he managed to pull his coat across the fake terrain by his fingers and then reached in the pocket to pull out an envelope. Inside was just a piece of paper that was printed out. A confirmation for one Stephanie Brown as an entrant to a state-wide pingpong tournament in the spring. Once she opened it he rested his head on her chest, looking up at her with a wiggle of his eyebrows. “I installed a table and everything in the training room.”
She didn’t even respond to that first look beyond a quick, innocent look and the constant burn of her cheeks. Sure that he could feel the heat coming off her when he pressed his lips to her cheek or kissed her again or even radiating off of her as she laid down underneath him. Her breath hitched, however, when he called her beautiful, and she couldn’t quite breathe with him so close. She would never get used to any of that either, and she was grateful for that, too. Being so close to him, pressed underneath him, and him calling her beautiful in a way that sounded like a fact? Stephanie Brown would never, ever get used to that. She whimpered just a touch when he embraced her, pressing a kiss into his swoop of mussed dark hair before he pulled back.
“I’m shocked you got anything at all,” she mocked, clearly kidding. It wouldn’t make it a holiday if Eddie didn’t play the trump card and win again in her eyes. Her hands wandered as he leaned away to grasp at his coat. Up his arms, across his chest, down his stomach, around his waist, back up his back. Wherever she could reach when so much of him still held her down. With one raised eyebrow, she gave up on her mission to touch every inch of him she could reach to sit her head up and open up the envelope. “Oh my gooooodddd,” she said with a splutter of a laugh. A grin spreading across her lips that was genuinely excited. “You dork.” She placed the envelope on her chest to tug at his chin until he would meet her lips. “I love it, baby. How did you know?” she asked after pressing a few affectionate pecks to his mouth. Then her eyes narrowed playfully. “How did you know I am goddamn excellent at ping-pong?”
Eddie grinned proudly up at her as if he had solved a difficult math problem, eyebrows raising as if of course I knew you’d love it was oozing out of his expression. Pleased with himself, he crawled back up her body to kiss her and then chuckled as she pecked tiny kisses across his face. “You talk in your sleep about it all the time. Something about dual wielding? I don’t know.” He rolled his hand in the air teasingly and then shrugged. That of course wasn’t how he knew and though Eddie was a good liar when it came down to it, he had a hard time pulling the wool over Stephanie’s eyes.
“I read your Batgirl comics, remember?” He said with a soft and sweet voice, almost embarrassed to admit it again. “You said it makes you feel normal and with all the crazy happening lately, I thought it’d be a nice distraction.” Eddie pressed a kiss to the side of her face and then rolled off her, sitting up with his hair curling forward in a giant mess. “Plus, I want to see if you’re as good as you say you are.”
Stephanie did roll her eyes at the pompous wiggle of his brows and almost swatted him away when he climbed up her body. “You’re so full of shit, Nashton. So full of shit.” She tried to grab his hands as they rolled around in mocking with a wicked, teasing smile. Not remembering if she’d mentioned that, or if he did his own research. She did remember that he read the Batgirl comics, like he was currently reading the ones about the mob wars (maybe -- truthfully, Steph wished he would forget it), but she didn’t make the connection until he did, of course. Even the simplest of riddles were hard, especially when Eddie was pressed up on her.
“I remember,” she replied with a small smile and no judgement or anger. Maybe a dash of that embarrassment he saw only moments before. The smile grew slowly as he spoke further, and she sat up after a moment, shifting to sit on her knees. “I am that good. In fact, I’m better. I’m an agile ping-pong ninja, baby.” Her hands worked to try to smooth out his hair, but eventually gave up with a frustrated laugh. Instead, she cupped his cheek and brushed her thumb against the whispers of stubble. “It’s perfect, Eddie,” she promised him softly, smiling at him charmed and affectionate and so stupidly in love with him.
Eddie turned to look at her, sharp smirk turning into a soft smile that practically mirrored hers. He didn’t realize it, not now, but the dinosaurs and the gifts and the rolling around on museum exhibits made him forget about the Watchtower or Machina or bat family drama. For all their eccentrics and fear of the normal, sometimes they needed their own Gotham versions of it to keep stable. Those who didn’t have a little piece of normal to fall back on got lost in their own comic book cutouts. Forever lost in an endless loop of who they were supposed to be instead of who they wanted to be.
“I love you.” He said it almost like a song or the name of his favorite video game and then leaned in for a kiss that matched all that storming in his dark eyes. “So, you wanna check out the rest of this exhibit and then head over to our future place? It doesn’t have a bed yet, but we can camp out.” Eddie didn’t want any interference, even if Cass said she was gone from the apartment. Hell, it’d even be nice having a night away from the farm of animals they had managed to collect in Stephanie’s tiny apartment.
Stephanie knew that all she really needed was a calm, affectionate, loving night with her riddled man to be able to forget about school, work, the cowl, Cass, and all of her other problems, at least for a little bit. Eddie was always very good at drowning out the rest of Gotham with a sweet gesture or a kiss to her mouth or his body pressed up against hers. The rest of the world could blink out of existence for a moment when he was there with her. As much pain and heartache as she suffered (sometimes by his hands), he could give her so much joy and love and purpose in life. She wouldn’t want it any other way.
She lost herself in that loving, cloying embrace, returning it in fervor and curling her fingers into his shirt for a moment before he broke it. “I love you, too, baby,” she muttered, opening her blue eyes before smiling warmly. “Well, I guess we have to rebaptize it sometime, don’t we?” And yeah, being away from the apartment would almost be a vacation for the time being. At the very least, Steph didn’t want to go back to the apartment that reminded her of new, underlying tensions when she was so goddamn happy right now.
Eddie couldn’t hide that messy, happy smile on his face if he wanted to. It was the kind of thing she only saw when they woke up in the morning and decided fuck it they’d do nothing but lay in bed or bum around the local shops all day. All of this was a comfort, a passion, a feeling that he never experienced before Stephanie and damn it all if Eddie didn’t know how to hide it. He slowly reached for his pokeball, his coat and then the envelope containing her sexy picture (which received a quick kiss to the seal) and then he wobbled to his feet. If she was watching, something devious struck his features.
“Last one to the T-Rex family is a sucker!” He shouted, shoes picking up some fake marsh paint as he backed up a few steps and then dashed off through the trees, towards the giant monsters with a fresh, robot dino kill leaking from their sharp jaws.