Who: Stephanie and Eddie (Part 1 of 2) Where: Gotham University When: Monday What: Bumping into each other. No seriously Riddler didn't like track her down this time I know I'm surprised, too. Warnings: None.
Eddie had only just surfaced from a cloud of depression. A fog of the last of his scotch and a sinking broken heart that made him wanted absolutely nothing. Somewhere between Monday and Thursday of two weeks before, he lost track of himself the same way someone could forget the lyrics to a song they used to listen to all the time. Riddles were still all consuming, but they were pointless bouncing against the wall back at him. Sometimes, he wouldn’t even bother fighting Breeze when she turned him off. There were times when she didn’t even want to, so he forced her by blathering riddles and trivia until her head felt like it was going to explode. There was no consoling him, no tempting him out to cause mischief, nothing but baby bottles filled with scotch and his now dying, flickering light-up smoking jacket.
But, then it happened. One night between loathing and hating, a knock at the door and a package left on his front stoop promised him reignition. He didn’t check on it until hours later, but when he did open the door to sneak a look down through the blinding daylight, he found a simple package with a questionmark painted on the top. Opening it, he discovered an old handheld radio that, when tuned to the right frequency, told him this was the first hint. The first hint to something big. By the next morning he was sent on his first scavenger hunt to the library, which he had to break into after hours for a specific book to be put on a specific shelf with a specific piece of red construction paper taped to it that told him where the next item was. Nothing in the world was more addicting than a mystery, especially one laid out specifically for him and so, for now he could take his mind off that blonde hair, that ring that was always in his pocket or around his finger.
By now, he had discovered four clues and still had no idea how they were all connected. The latest sent him to Gotham University to a spot under a statute that had to have the right amount of snow, the right amount of sun hitting it with the perfect shadow shape. Standing under it with his tablet out and face turned into a serious, quizzical expression, Eddie studied the stone with an all consuming concentration reserved for his own riddles and detective work. Dressed in a grey tweed jacket, white shirt, green tie, leather gloves meant for thievery, black pants and his wingtip shoes, he looked like a dedicated art teacher or perhaps a campus inspector making sure the statue was still up to snuff.
He didn’t see Stephanie. In fact, he didn’t seem to notice anyone was walking around him at all.
Stephanie didn’t like her new brain buddy one bit. She didn’t like how the other girl could shut her out, and she definitely didn’t like how she had to fight for time for the door. With Nick, he gave her droves and droves of time on her side of the door; she was on her side of the door far more often than he was on his. Now, it was a battle, and Steph knew she needed to work with Siobhan to negotiate some sort of schedule. For now, though, she would just have to use every second she got, wouldn’t she? She filled up the moments she had with anything to keep her busy: school, tweaking her costume or gadgets, hanging out with Damian, patrolling. Anything that kept her from seeking out Eddie.
She wouldn’t admit that she missed him, but she did. The blonde bat was happy plenty of the time, she was. Happy to be alive, even if the Lazarus Pit’s effects still whispered in her ear from time to time. Still, she missed her question-marked man very much, and it showed in the quiet moments when she thought no one was looking. A deep frown or a forlorn sigh or a subconscious tug to that computer chip necklace that still hung from her neck. Her college friends asked her about the new pendant, but she dodged questions about anything regarding him. Talking about him made her think about him, and that was the last thing that Stephanie wanted to do. Sure, she still skimmed over their conversations now and then, and she picked up a few books of crosswords puzzles. But, Steph needed to be strong. They needed this break from each other, or else their relationship would implode and collapse.
School work was distracting enough, especially with the workload from the first week of classes. Gotham was still reeling from the plague, but things moved on, and university brought a sense of normalcy that kids her age desperately needed. After all, she wasn’t the only one who needed a distraction. She strolled across campus with a couple classmates from her chemistry lab (god, she hated chemistry) to the library where she planned on getting a few hours of studying in before heading out on patrol that night. It hadn’t become a nightly thing yet, sweeping the city for crime, but she felt better and better about slipping on the cowl every single night she did.
As they passed a few feet away from one of the many statues on campus, however, Steph stopped in her tracks. No way. It couldn’t be him, right? There was absolutely no way he would just be hanging around the campus of her school like this. After a second, she waved off her friends, saying she suddenly remembered a meeting with her literature professor and that she would meet them later on. Once they were out of reach, she wheeled around and strolled over quietly to that familiar figure. “Hi,” she said softly, even all she wanted to do was yell at him, and she shoved her gloved hands into her pockets. She had no idea he knew anything about her disappearing act. “What the hell are you doing here?”
He turned slowly, eyebrows raised as he tilted his chin to his chest and looked up at her with a perfect mix of surprise, anger and eventually relief. His eyes moved over her frame before shooting away in diagonal avoidance. “Someone is trying to play a game with me.” Eddie said vaguely, digging his fingers across the stone statue to make three wiggly lines around some old, important scholar’s pant leg. He turned from her, rounding the statue as he hopped up on the foundation and knelt near a small pile of snow that looked unnatural. The Riddler knew there was nothing special about that particular snow patch, but he also didn’t want to look at her. He couldn’t hide his feelings and whimpering like a puppy wasn’t something he planned on doing again.
“Nick told me you left.” Eddie said finally, back still turned to her as he climbed off the statue and tried to focus on the clues that were left for him. He couldn’t though. His hands curled into tight, gloved fists as he glanced over his shoulder at her. “So good of you to let me know you’re back.” Voice pained with a dorky high, his expression trying desperately trying not to show it. Eddie left a pause like she was going to be allowed to respond, but he changed his mind with a snap. “Oh, but Eddie, we’re on a break how was I supposed to know? I couldn’t just drop you a note.” He nodded throwing a hand up like he was accepting her excuse before she could even say it. “Yes, that’s fine. Of course. Don’t worry, I should be gone soon.”
Stephanie had to fight a smile from crawling up her face when he turned around, but the twitch of her lip betrayed her. As surprised she was to see him, she was so glad for it. Her eyes trailed his movements because she couldn't help it. In the days since her return and since she had last seen him, he snuck into her thoughts like an irritating fog seeping through her brain, so finally seeing him felt like a release almost. Her smile dipped into a frown, however, as he continued, and she toed at a tiny drift of snow with her Converse sneaker, eyes drifting down. “How was I supposed to know?” she asked, and then she ground her teeth in frustration. He wasn’t allowed to be angry at her for whatever Nick might have said, and he especially wasn’t allowed to be upset about her unplanned disappearance.
“How was I supposed to know that you knew?” she asked again. “Why would I worry you about it if you didn’t know? It’s not my fault I got bounced from Nick’s brain to someone elses, Eddie. You’re so not allowed to get pissed at me about this.” Steph pointed a gloved hand at him then, accusatory and upset. She didn’t want the first time seeing him again to be like this. “And, yeah, you’re right, we are on a break. You are sooo right.” But, that hurt in his voice and his eyes tugged on her heartstrings, and her hand reached out in an abortive movement to reach out to him. Hand frozen in the air as if someone hit pause, she stared at him for a moment, then shook her head. “What kind of game?” she asked finally, hand falling back hard and fast with a quiet whoosh.
“This break thing makes no sense to me.” Eddie said simply, almost wishing they would have drawn out a contract on the rooftop they had made this agreement. Sure, he watched his share of daytime television (what super villain didn’t?), but he was so far removed from normalcy that the rules of engagement were lost on him. “Just because we aren’t talking doesn’t mean I don’t think about you. Or try to figure out what you’re up to.” He snuck another look back at her when he nearly felt her almost touch him and gave her a look like she should have. She should have worried him, should have tried to touch his arm. And, all of this seemed so unnatural for them. They never had to play guessing games before (which was a first for the Riddler) or skirt around each other.
He shrugged it off, turning to face her even if his eyes wandered far away from any hint of her. “A scavenger hunt, it seems like.” Eddie showed her a printed out email that had a list of equations and a very detailed description of the statue they stood next to. “They’re incredibly simplistic. Those equations could be easily figured out with an internet connection and the other clues were along the lines of be at a certain place at a certain time.” He seemed disappointed, but hopeful. “Which means once I gather all the items they’re pointing me to, it should formulate into some kind of pattern.” The Riddler was comfortable stealing and opening doors he wasn’t supposed to, but he seemed happiest when there was a puzzle he had to figure out. It was rare that anyone would pit one against him, so he relished the opportunity.
“I don’t li--,” Stephanie began, but quickly bit down on her lip to stave the slip completely. No, she didn’t like the break at all either, but they needed it. Otherwise, they were bound to explode and hate each other more and more every day. She needed to step back and evaluate things. Her anger towards him still bubbled underneath the surface, and it would simmer there for a long time. Still. “You know I think about you, too. I think about you all the time.” All her cards on the table, then. She bit down on her lip and looked away. Did he think she was being heartless? Or, that she didn’t care about him at all? The idea stung more than she wanted to admit.
She quirked an eyebrow as he continued, though. “Scavenger hunt?” She looked over the email with furrowed brows before finally looking up to catch his gaze. “Someone’s just sending you clues. Doesn’t that seem weird to you? Do you have any idea who it could be?”
Eddie was easy when it came to Stephanie. He didn’t like that he was, but that small confession made him look up to her and actually smile. If she always had some anger bubbling under her skin, the inverse was true for him. Skin deep, all he wanted to do was make her feel terrible for this past week. He wanted to push her aside so he could get back to playing detective in some grand show of strength and indifference. But, he missed her. He missed having someone to talk to that wasn’t a fellow crazy person or Breeze who rarely talked back. With a graceful slide of his feet, he moved closer to her, shoulder to hers as he faced the statue, head tilted down to look at her. “I have no idea who would want to play this with me. Isn’t exciting?” He couldn’t help but grin.
“I’ve had this happen before.” Eddie said after a moment, rubbing his chin as he tried to remember all the details of it. He had lived for so long that certain things got a little fuzzy. For example, when Hugo Strange had turned Old Gotham into Arkham City, the Riddler had explored every inch of Wonder City, but he couldn’t remember the exact details of it through the door. “When I was trying to reform. As a detective. A man was upset with me because his wife...girlfriend...someone was shot by either Query or Echo during a very typical caper. Probably Query.” Eddie narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “I think he wanted to kill me? That sounds right.” There was no fear in his voice, of course. A lot of people wanted the question marked man dead. “Whoever is doing this now probably wants the same thing.”
Underneath his gaze, her cheeks burned, though if asked she would claim it was simply a trick of the light. Or the cold. Yeah, the cold. She hated that he had such an effect on her, but he did. Eddie coiled himself around her mind and her heart, and despite her efforts otherwise, she couldn't shake him. Sometimes, she wanted to. Everything would be so much less complicated: the cowl, her family, what happened with the Lazarus Pit. She could get on board with Bruce beating Riddler to a pulp. No one would look down on her like she was insane. So much more cut and dry, right? If only it was that easy. If only. If she had just cut him off after he dumped the goop on her, she could resume her life as it was before the Halloween party. Nothing was ever that easy though.
She fought the overwhelming urge to reach for his hand, and bring so close to him made her a little dizzy. Breathless. Stupid. Things would be so much easier if she could turn it all off. She looked off, finally, towards that statue to search for any anomalies in the smooth, snow-covered marble. But, she didn't. She bit her tongue to stop herself from saying it wasn't exciting at all because an anonymous caper was not something she wanted. Especially after everything that just happened. "Someone wants you dead. That's not really new." She turned the corner of her mouth up. "Why aren't you worried?"
“Why should I be worried?” He smiled up at the sky, breathing in the cold air with sweet victory. This was Gotham. The funny little games, the secrets that unraveled slowly, the danger lurking at the end of the story. “This woke me up from what was destined to be a terrible month of moping and opening my eyes only long enough to see if you’ve returned to the journals. But, now someone wants me dead so badly they’re willing to make a game out of it for me. And, whoever it is doesn’t realize that I’m better than they are.” His gaze drifted down to her and he thought about sweeping her up in his arms. He thought about begging her to take him back and end this pointless break they were forcing themselves on. All he needed was a good mystery and her to keep him busy. All this business with the plague was so far out of his element that he stepped on every bat toe in her family. But, this was his domain.
“I thought if you were to come back after a long time, you’d return as a version that didn’t remember me. Well, you’d know me, but not the parts that matter.” He admitted suddenly, smiling brightly her. The puzzle was important and he’d find the hidden item soon enough, but here she was. “I tried to think of ways to explain to you what happened. Tried to come to grips with the fact that even if you did believe me, which you wouldn’t by the way, that it’d never be the same.” He put his hands in his pockets, arms bent in perfect triangles, head titled as his black hair spiraled down a little in that eccentric curl on top of his head. “It’d be worse. I know that’s a terrible thing to say. I know it is. But, it’d be worse than if you never came back at all.”
He might have smiled, but she still frowned, corners of her lips dipping down in concern for her question-marked man. How could he be so carefree about all of this? Now, she was all about letting things roll off her back, but simply shrugging something like this off seemed so infeasible. She shook her head, and she rolled her shoulders, and she took one step away from him. The urge to reach out for him was just too much. Fingers itched and twitched and stretched out for a fraction of a second before retreating. “You’ve also got a Bat on you tail ready to beat you to a bloody goddamn pulp. So, two people,” she continued, holding up two fingers, “who want you dead, or at least broken. Be worried. You should be worried.” Stephanie sounded stern, but when she crossed her arms over her chest, she looked more upset than anything. “I know you’re good at the clues. Of course. But what’s at the end of all of it?”
She stepped forward again and looked up at the statue so she couldn’t be distracted by the curl of his lips or the swoop of hair. All she wanted in that moment was to crush her mouth against his, run her hands through his dark hair. Drag him back to her apartment. She looked over her shoulder at him with the ghost of a smile. “Well, glad to know you’d be really supportive of change,” she teased quietly, chin resting just so on her shoulder. Something in her eyes flashed. Something like the warmth and affection that he was used to intermingled with such longing. “I miss you,” she said unabashedly, and she retraced a step backwards to him.
He made a scoffing noise at the Bat coming after him. It wasn’t anything new and even if he did deserve a couple broken bones for meddling with the winged family, it was so routine that it was almost like she was warning him of an impending dentist appointment. But, he saw concern in her stern look and it softened his grin to something a little less whimsical. It was nice having someone worry about the trouble he got himself into. Before Stephanie, there wasn’t a vigilante, doctor, criminal or family member who cared to pull him out of his self-made dangers. People didn’t reach to save the green man unless they needed something from him or their own obsessions kept them from letting the bad guys just die.
There was no immediate response to her confession; his heart crawling up his throat to prevent any sort of hasty return of affection. Instead he took a step forward as she backpedaled, catching her waist with his hands as he rested his chin on her shoulder. Fingers twisting in the fabric of her coat as they faced the statue. “The equations are about the angles of sunlight and which shadow is at the correct degree at a specific time of day.” He held his wrist up, digging his nose into her shoulder as he looked at his ancient watch. “A very simplistic sort of clue. If I was a geometry teacher for fourth graders, I might consider assigning it as extra credit. But, I will admit, there’s something romantic about waiting for the world to turn.”
Eddie made a ticking noise and then pointed down a line of shadow across the statue until his finger lined up with under the heel of the stone scholar’s shoe. “Oh you’ve gotta be kidding me. What a waste.” He pulled her closer to him before letting go and walking up to inspect the stone shoe. He took out a pair of watchmaker tools that were slender, tiny bars of metal and started fiddling through the snow. “I would have climbed it. I was looking forward to climbing this old geezer’s shoulders.”
When he caught her around the waist, her breath caught in her throat, butterflies flitted in her stomach, and her entire body tensed up. Nerves tingling and alight like some silly teenager with her first crush. How did he have such an effect on her still? Maybe it was the newness of it all, or the raw wound of missing him, or maybe it was just different with him. She might have that anger over the Lazarus Pit simmering underneath her skin for a long time, but if this accompanied it? She couldn’t resist it too long. Being around him felt like the most potent natural high sometimes, and how could she deny herself that? She wanted to be strong for her family and for herself, wanted to push him away, but it seemed impossible, especially when tugged her so close. Steph was barely aware that they were still even on her campus where her professors and classmates passed by as they stared at this statue.
“What were the other clues so far?” she asked, indulging him because why not? She stayed in her spot as he approached the statue, leaning forward ever so slightly to peer at what he was up to. Curiosity overshadowed her concern momentarily enough to want to know. And then: “How did this all start?”
He busied himself with the statue, blowing some of the snow away before slowly extracting a tiny, plastic square. A moment passed of silence as he finally wedged the thing free and looked down at it. Then, after what felt like a good minute, he gave a very sharp, whispered, “WHAT.” In his hand was a child’s toy where little squares needed to be moved around to make a picture. In this case, it was a cartoon of a baseball. “This clarifies nothing!” He was almost shouting now, attracting passerby attention as he frustratedly solved the little picture puzzle in what seemed like seconds. “There’s a difference between stringing someone along and refusing to connect the dots. This is maddening.” He nearly snapped the little toy between his fingers (though Riddler honestly didn’t have the strength to do something like that) and stood to brush the snow off his knees. “And, yet. I love it.” He told the toy like an abusive husband.
Eventually he turned to look at her and sighed dramatically. “Imagine items you’d find in the bottom of a backpack or in your pocket. Things you’d buy with a quarter from those little toy vending machines. Those were the other clues. They don’t have any connection I can see except being cheap, worthless, throwaway amusements.” Eddie held the puzzle out to her, but if she reached to grab it, his fingers didn’t let go. “It started a good five or six days after I heard you were gone. I was miserable and this little game just showed up and threw me a line before I started forcing the roaches in my kitchen to start a feudal society where I reigned king of the coffee grinds.” He kept his grip on the toy to force her to look up at him. “I missed you, too.”
Stephanie glanced around when he exclaimed loudly, noticing the people turning around with wary glances. Shit. “Eddie,” she whispered through her teeth. All she needed was him to make a scene at her school. Stepping forward, closer to Eddie and the statue, she did grab the puzzle and tugged, but his grip didn’t budge. Looking down at the puzzle, she marveled at how quickly he solved it, child’s puzzle or not. Blink an eye, and she would have missed it. It was one thing to see him connect the dots in his mind, unravel a mystery with words and thoughts, but to see him do it like that reminded her of who she was dealing with. He wasn’t just simply Eddie; he was, deep down, the Riddler, too.
But, it was hard to think of him as anything but her Eddie when he said things like that. She looked up to meet his eyes and didn’t fight the smile that tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Did you really?” Stephanie paused, heaving a sigh and trying not to let it show how much she did miss him. But, she had a terrible poker face. “It’s hard,” she said finally. Her fingers curled around the toy, slipped across the plastic, then brushed against the back of his hand before retreating back to adjust the shoulder slung across her bag. She licked her lips nervously, and her eyes flitted from his mouth quickly before meeting his dark eyes again. She almost asked if this was some sort of strange psychotic break, but the physical evidence was right there. How could she deny that? “Maybe there’s something you’re not seeing. Maybe...maybe it doesn’t mean anything at all?”
It never occurred to him that all these clues didn’t actually mean anything and whoever was behind this was simply taking advantage of him. That seemed unnecessarily cruel and just the notion of being played upset him a little. Nothing quite like being reminded that his genius was more of a handicap around most people than a gift. “It has to mean something.” He snapped the toy back and put it into his coat pocket with the watchmaker tools and looked at her. Looked at the space between them. “Even if it doesn’t, I have to keep following it.” Eddie couldn’t believe that he was feeling bad about this. What did she want him to do? How much of himself was she asking him to give up?
Lost in a lapse of self scrutiny, he found himself without anything to say. He sighed, shoulders moving in a tiny shrug as he looked back up at her. “You’re not ready. Are you?” Eddie told her, like he just solved a puzzle she presented him when she first showed up. Stephanie missed him and even seemed to want his company at times, but she wasn’t ready. There was a good chance that after what happened with the plague she’d never be. Something in his voice sounded like he understood, even if it was killing him. Part of him wished she’d get wrapped up in this weird scavenger hunt threat with him. That was too much to ask, though. “I got what I came here for.”
Stephanie licked her lips nervously, then pursed them so tightly they almost turned white. This was a precarious road he tiptoed down, and she just wanted to tug him back and away from it all. What if this was it -- the breaking point? First, solving inane little rhymes and riddles and puzzles. Next, breaking into the First National Bank of Gotham. Then, littering Gotham with riddle traps aimed to kill all the bats. She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment as if she could see into him and spy that little trigger, but she didn’t obviously, as much as she wanted to. So, she wrapped her arms around herself tightly, gloved fingers twisting into the fabric like he had done only moments before.
Was she ready? “I want to be,” she said after a moment and a sharp sigh. A tiny cloud puffed out of her lips and mingled there, and she finally realized how cold she felt. Not just because of the temperature either. She lacked a significant amount of warmth, the kind of warmth only Eddie could provide. The tingling sensation that spread through her fingers and toes when he touched her or the bubbling heat in her stomach when he caught her lips with his. “I miss you,” she repeated, reaching out for his hand before she could help it, not caring about her surroundings in the moment. School or not, here he was, and she didn’t know if she had it in her to let him go.
The concern on her face nearly set him off into some mix of anger and panic that he had been bottling since this all started. He couldn’t promise his days of holding up banks or throwing Gotham citizens into death traps were over. It’d be the most dishonest promise he could ever make her. But, he was trying to tame himself. He was trying to keep his howling down to a couple barks in her backyard. They’d never know if it was enough or if this was just a phase for him, but he had to believe they loved each other and that was enough to make the risk worth it. So he buried the worry and eyed the ground like he was planning on walking away from her.
He’d beg if he thought it would make a difference, but it wasn’t until she reached for his hand that he thought there was a chance. “Stephanie.” Eddie said softly, tangling his fingers up with hers like the night he had invited her over for the first time and pulled her closer. His eyes searched her face, nerves from waiting weeks to see her again snapping back alive in little messy fires across his stomach, arms and behind his ears. He touched the side of her face with the back of his other hand, tilting his head a little as he started to feel comfortable just looking at her again. “I’m going to keep knocking on your door until you let me back in.”
And, love was the only reason that Stephanie kept crawling back to him, even after he threw the Pit on her, and even after he dunked Dick into the pool of the junk. Love for the green man standing in front of her and faith that he could change. She had always been a hopeful girl despite many of the obstacles thrown at her, and even though it didn’t seem like she was lately, that glimmer always simmered under her skin, especially when it came to Eddie. Her Eddie. He would always be hers, wouldn’t he? At least while she couldn’t resist squeezing his fingers when he tangled them with hers or when a smile crawled up her lips when he said her name like that.
She leaned into the delicate touch of his hand, eyes drifting shut for a second as she whined quietly. Her pale cheeks reddened, and oh, had she missed all of this. Him, his fingers entwined with hers, his hand caressing her cheek. When thrashing about in Siobhan’s brain, sure, she wanted to be back for her family and for the cowl, but she had missed this so much. “Eddie,” she breathed, face screwing up as if she was in excruciating pain, and she kind of was. The blonde bat wanted nothing more than for things to be simple again, but they never would. And then she smiled softly. Something tiny, but affectionate and loving. “And you wouldn’t be you if you didn’t.” Eyes still closed, her free hand slid up his front to tangle into that mop of hair on his head, and she rested her forehead on his chest. Breathing him in as if it brought her back to life.
He bit his lip at the faint pink across her cheeks in a small victory he had a hard time keeping to himself. For he saw patterns in everything and that first time he got her to blush in front of him was the beginning of his favorite pattern he could run his mind over again and again without feeling the weight of boredom his own riddles sometimes gave him. He even felt relief in that pained expression and the way she whispered his name like it was a drug she wished she could unhook herself from. Even if her crawl back to him was reluctant and lined with doubt, at least he knew she was just as devoted to him as he was to her. Whether she liked it or not. If anyone was going to fall for the man in green, it’d have to be that way.
Eddie pulled his arms around her tightly, face buried in her hair as he held his breath for a little while. She could feel his otherwise sporadic heartbeat slow to a steady murmur, his body relax against her. Everyone seemed so concerned with him using her as his only anchor for sanity and if they could have seen how easily she could calm his puzzling mind right then, they’d probably try to convince her to stay far away from him. They’d think this was all too much for a nineteen year old girl to handle. But, Eddie was selfish and he’d keep holding onto her until she locked that door for good. “It’s a good thing I thought you were actually gone all this time, then. I might have been tempted to do something irrational.” He bent down to catch her chin with the tips of his fingers and looked down at her with that blinking want he had been trying to hide from her since he defied her trust. “Like, I don’t know, turn the comm back on.”
Her other arm wrapped around his neck when he pulled her close, and her fingers curled into his collar of his tweed coat before slipping her gloved fingers underneath. Cotton fabric clutching at his neck, though she wished she could rip the things off and feel the skin she craved for. And, as she arched her body into his a little, chest curving to meet his, she remembered how it felt to be so close to him. How every brush of his fingertips set her nerves alight, how every crush of his mouth against hers made her dizzy, how every rock of his hips left her breathless. She recalled the last time they were in his apartment together, the tumbling on the rooftop, that first night on Christmas, and she ached for it in an insatiable desire for something she knew she shouldn’t have.
She let him catch her chin and looked up without hesitation, blues meeting dark browns. Eddie could surely read every little line of puzzle flitting through her eyes then. She knew he just could. “You being irrational? Never,” Stephanie teased warmly, mouth curling up ever so slightly. Her hand slipped out of his hair and cupped his cheek gently. Why was this so wrong when it felt so right? She found herself staring for a moment, first catching his eyes, then looking at those lips. “I,” she started, then stopped for a moment. She licked her lips, then blinked, shook her head, and let her hands fall around his neck. “Who says I’ll even think of using it?” Steph was caught in the spiral of him, and right now she just might do anything he asked.
“Who says you’ll have a choice? I’ve hacked into Oracle’s comm already, I’ll do it again.” He dropped his hands down to rest on her hips, swaying her a little against him. There wasn’t really anything else he could think of in that moment that he could want more than to tilt his chin down and catch her lips with his, but what would that signify? A break from the break or an end to all of this nonsense? “I programmed the security on your computer, I could break into that, too. Even if Oracle is watching. I’ve got plenty of computers I don’t mind smashing for the sake of conversation.” His nerdy little voice started to unravel, like he was even getting a little tired of hearing himself talk. How could it possibly be preferable over the buzz of her embrace. That electric tumbling feeling he wasn’t sure he’d ever get to feel again.
Eddie leaned a little closer like it was just them standing in the middle of her college campus, a dark gaze keen on her nervous looks between his lips and eyes. “That’s how I made your necklace.” He had saved this story for when it felt right. Here, having her back in his arms after feeling like a trapdoor opened up under him when she went missing felt right. “I had to scrap the computer I was using to worm into yours. Oracle could have easily copied enough of my code. So I destroyed it and kept that much-” He reached up enough to smooth a couple fingers along the outline of the necklace he knew was there and then quickly swept her back up in his arms, clinging to her like he was afraid she’d vanish or crumble if he let her go. “Let’s get back together. Please. I don’t want-” Eddie couldn’t hold back any longer, closing the space between them to kiss her sweetly but without the small hesitation that was threatening him before.
“I need to look into Geek Squad fixing all my tech to keep you out of it.” Stephanie smirked up at him, plenty sure that Eddie could plow through any work a couple of computer nerds would do to her MacBook. Maybe Damian. But, that would insinuate that she really didn’t want him nosing around in her business. Sure, sometimes it irritated her to no end, but there was no other way she would have it between them. Maybe, maybe she should put some walls up, but she and Eddie had never been about walls between the two of them. That was why this break felt so hard, strained them so much. It wasn’t natural.
Her eyebrows shot up as he began to tell her the story about that necklace that never left her person, not even when she hated him with ever fiber of her being. A breath caught in her throat as he traced the place where that computer pendant was. “Eddie,” she whispered again, settled easily into his arms with a quiet sigh. Leave it to him to trip her up with something like this, to keep this locked away until a moment where he could worm his way back in with it. Unlike the way his heart slowed while she was closeby, hers raced until she was lightheaded. The kiss knocked the rest of her breath out of her lungs, and she hummed quietly as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I can’t--,” she began as she broke the kiss momentarily, but she leaned forward again before she could finish it, completely consumed in him and completely forgetting they were in the middle of a college campus.
He whined an almost growl when she told him can’t, feverishly returning her kiss as if to prove she was wrong. She couldn’t convince him that she didn’t want him anymore or that her anger towards him was something he couldn’t handle. Maybe he wasn’t being fair. But, when was he ever? Eddie knew he should have briskly walked away once he found his scavenger hunt prize and allowed her to either pull this thing between them apart or hunt him down when she was ready. But, it had been weeks and even with the puzzles to keep him occupied, he was so love sick for her. “Yes, you can.” He whispered with a begging sweetness in his voice, hands moving up her sides with frustrated pulls at the thick fabric that kept her from him. Between kisses his quick fingers pulled her jacket open so he could smooth his hands across her stomach before pulling her against him again.
If he started to keep arguing his point that they couldn’t keep up with this frustrating break from each other, it got easily lost in how perfect she fit in his arms and the warmth of her lips against his. He shook a little against her, all the anger and frustration of having her vanish tumbling away. The fear of having her say no or push him away was still trembling through his fingertips, but it wasn’t enough to let her go to avoid the initial sting of being rejected.
Steph groaned quietly as he practically ripped her jacket opened and subconsciously arched her body to meet his. She shook her head without breaking the kiss, the can’t on her tongue again as it pushed through his lips to explore his mouth. No, she could do this, she would do this, but she shouldn’t do this. She shouldn’t let him slither back in like nothing happened, and even though that anger still seethed somewhere in the back of her mind, the fact that she needed him so close trumped the red-hot fury in that moment. Instead, all that want and need and ache pushed through her like a lightning strike, body quivering with all the overwhelming emotions of him being right there. How could she say she couldn’t when she fit like a perfect puzzle piece with his?
She tugged at his neck until his body was so close, each breath was shared. It wasn’t hers or his; it was theirs. “I missed you,” she said against his lips, huskily and breathless once again, but this time it didn’t just mean that. It was an almost ‘I love you’ without the words, and for once, Steph’s real words caught in her throat. The word vomit was stuck, dysfunctional, and she was thankful for that. This wasn’t the time, even if they both knew how she felt. She didn’t feel ready. She didn’t feel ready for any of this, but this was like relapsing. Rediscovering her favorite drug. Shoving him back, she pressed him against the foundation of the statue that grabbed their attention earlier. Now, Steph focused on something entirely different.
He laughed a little at the shove, already grinning from the replayed confession that she missed him. Eddie was an expert at reading between the lines, especially when he shouldn’t, but here he was right. It was an affirmation of something he already knew, something he only doubted once or twice during the plague, but never for any great length of time. He wasn’t a paranoid man or even a particularly jealous one, so he could easily see the patterns of exactly how she felt about him. Pulling her close to him as his back pressed against the cold stone foundation, he hinted her a look like he’d get the real thing. One day, he’d get her to say it. And, maybe there was even some mischief there, too. But he wouldn’t be him without a bite of that.
His hands moved up her back before slowly trailing back down to her hips, letting the kiss turn into a passionate wanting thing before he nipped at her bottom lip and dotted funny little kisses across her jaw, next to her ear and down her neck. Through the veil of her blonde hair, he could see an old woman, likely some dusty philosophy teacher, stare at him like she was trying to figure out what department he was from and why he had the nerve to make out with one of his students in broad daylight. Giving a defiant stare back, he ran his teeth across the base of Stephanie’s neck to tease out a thread of a moan from her. Riddler usually liked having an audience, but it felt like the rest of the world was interrupting.
Looking up with wide eyes and another tiny hungry kiss, he smirked something familiar across her lips. “You might find this surprising, but I’m capable of taking it slow.” Though nothing he had done since she let him open her jacket seemed to suggest that. “Give me a day a week. Two nights on the comms.” Bargaining like he was making a backroom deal in Old Gotham, except some of his smarmy smooth was lost in breathlessness.
The kisses and the teeth did exactly what they were meant to. Quiet moans and little giggles, just like the sounds he dragged out of her in his apartment. Her neck rolled back momentarily as his teeth skated across the base of her neck. Oh, this was so damn inappropriate for school, but she couldn’t stop him. She wasn’t aware of the professor hovering behind them or the students stopping to stare as the undergrad and her older...whatever he was cavorted on one of the beloved statues. The riskiness filled her with an extra bit of thrill, too, though being with Eddie was thrill enough for her. A reawakening, feelings reborn like a phoenix from the fire.
She scoffed a little, completely denying his ability to take things slow. Nothing about their relationship had been slow, and Steph didn’t know whose fault that was. Not that she complained either, though perhaps some of these bumps could have been avoided or, at least, pushed aside for later. But, now they plowed through plenty of their issues, and maybe, maybe we could try that. She pressed a light kiss to his chin, soft and chaste, but she unzipped his coat so she could tug at the fabric of his shirt. “One night on the comms. And, I’ll think about giving you a day,” she murmured, breath hot against his lips before she captured them again in an embrace so not appropriate for school, either.
He took time to watch her unzip his coat and made a humming sound when she spread her hands across his shirt, enjoying those little hints at affection like a mathematician might like to string most of the numbers in Pi around his room or a wine expert might lick his lips after a good merlot. Eddie rarely breathed things in, he didn’t have time for that, but part of being in love was appreciating the small stitches in the bigger tapestry. He smirked down at her with an eyebrow raised as she traced a kiss to his chin. No, they weren’t good at taking things slow. They couldn’t even play the cold shoulder game towards each other for more than a couple minutes, even when she was still mad at him and he was wrapped up in his little games. But, he was sure he could handle it. Sure that he could chip away at her lingering anger and distrust with a couple more playful kisses mixed with a kind of overloading desire that flared between them.
“At least give me Valentine’s Day.” Eddie had never properly celebrated that particular holiday before because ruining it for other people was enough fun, but this year he’d be miserable without her. And, even thinking over how terrible some symbolic holiday would be without her, he couldn’t help but think how sweetly easy it was to be with her. How even arguing over how much time he deserved with her felt like nothing his life of crime could give him. There wasn’t a puzzle to be solved or a riddle to formulate, but a long standing game that never ended and always left him feeling like he found his answer. Eddie wanted more of that and less of the strange curveballs that the city could throw them. Even if he liked a good curveball now and again.
Stephanie raised an eyebrow high, high, high at his request and bit down her lip to suppress a sneaking smile. The Riddler requesting to have her for Valentine’s Day. If Crane or his other supervillain buddies could see him now. Hell, if her family could see him now. Her hands twisted into the front of his shirt, fingers accidentally unbuttoning the top button. She pulled a face that was all innocent oops with none of the innocence actually there at all. Part of her just wanted to drag him back to his apartment or hers and rekindle what they had both desperately wanted since the plague ruined everything. It would be so easy to fall into his bed again, tangled up in his arms like she belonged there. Still, she was intrigued by the idea of taking it slow. She wondered if they could actually do it at all.
“You want Valentine’s Day?” she asked, as if completely shocked and taken back by the idea. Which she kind of was, but not in a bad way. “Do you have some bombastic plan tucked away up there?” She tapped her finger on the side of his temple, smirk giving away to a genuine smile as she wrapped an arm around his midsection to pull him close. A quick glance over her shoulder reminded her of the audience they were collecting, but Stephanie only beamed at them. Let them think what they wanted to. They probably assumed he was some professor, and she was just some sleazy student looking for a better grade. She didn’t have to explain herself to them. She didn’t have to explain this to them.
He rolled his eyes up towards the sky and gave a single laugh like her teasing would be enough for him to want to take it back. The man usually clad in green could feel and show a large range of emotions, but embarrassment was rarely one of them. It hung on him like an old coat that he kept in the back of his closet and only took out when he ruined the rest of his clothes. But, it was still kind of sweet in its own way. “Listen.” Eddie looked down at her with a suddenly serious expression that might have cracked a little at the edges of his mouth. “It’s a symbolic holiday, I’m a symbolic kind of person and it’s better than tracking what you’re doing from the safety of my apartment with just cheeto sandwiches to keep me company.” His eyes drifted away from her, still rumbling a little in her teasing and eating it up at the same time.
“And, you know what? Maybe I do have something planned.” His voice was a little louder in a geeky, high pitched defense that in any other context could mean the entire city covered in Riddler puzzle houses. Eddie snapped a look back at her, hands wandering up and around the front of her coat to pull so it nearly fit the both of them in there. As if he were making a fort for just the two of them while onlookers stopped just long enough to get a good gawking in. He leaned closer, forehead pressed against hers as he fought back a sweet smile. “You wouldn’t want all that mastermind work to go to waste, right?”
Stephanie had to purse her lips a little to stifle a giggle at his outrage and offended expressions. Usually, she was the one stammering or blushing or biting her tongue, so to see this momentary display of embarrassment was refreshing. Like she was chipping away to find some new riddles hidden underneath the tweed and green. As he looked down at her with serious, dark eyes, she tried her best to mirror it, but the wrinkles around her eyes gave her away just as much as the twitch at the corner of her lips did. She didn’t think he was actually upset, and if he was, she would find out soon enough, wouldn’t she?
As he wrapped himself in her coat, she slipped her arms around his neck and shot him a warm, crinkly-eyed smile. Blue eyes alight with affection and teasing. “I guess it’s better to let you use you brain all up on me.” He hadn’t destroyed Gotham in her absence, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t blow the entire city up if she shafted him on Valentine’s Day. Not that she think he would anyway. She sighed sharply, as if this was all the biggest burden on their relationship, but the way she curved into him said otherwise. “Fine, if I have to.” But, having a normal holiday (well, as normal as they could muster) with Eddie sounded better than anything she could think of.
Eddie could barely hide the beaming smile at her and halfway through struggling it down, he just stopped trying. Hell, he hadn’t been happy in a long time. The puzzle helped, sure, but that was a familiar, arrogant sort of buzz he could have found himself on years ago long before this door. “Yes. You have to.” He assured her, grabbing the sides of her face with his gentle, skinny thief fingers and kissed that fake burden she was wearing until it melted between them. Maybe she wasn’t going to let him back in completely and the rest of the way would be ten times harder than climbing down the stairs or crawling across his couch, but the door was open. That was all a Gotham rogue liked him needed.
It occurred to him that he couldn’t keep her in this spot forever. Even with the stone foundation now warm from his back being pushed up against it, she’d have to go back to acting like a typical college student and he’d slink back to Old Gotham with his fellow freaks. He opened his mouth to suggest she play hooky like the bad influence that he so clearly was, but knew how quickly sweetness could turn with them. Still. “Is there a library or a study room around here that no one uses? Maybe a janitor’s closet we can sneak into?” He narrowed his eyes with a smarmy little swagger. “You’d think they’d map that kind of thing out for students.”
Stephanie let out a long, slow breath, almost like a feather-light sigh into the kiss, and eyes drifted shut for a moment as she soaked up the gentle touch of his fingers. If she could relive these sweet little snippets over and over and over for the rest of her life, she would be okay with it. Of course her family was important to her and so was the cowl (crap, what was he going to say about that?), but nothing on this side of the door consumed her the way that Eddie did. He was the sweetest, most addictive drug, and she didn’t know if she would ever be able to get clean.
“Um,” she started, stuck momentarily between trying to fight the desire to ditch school and just simply giving in. What had she been planning on doing before she spotted him? Oh, right, the library. “Studying. I should be studying. Aren’t you supposed to be encouraging my academic pursuance?” Steph asked, eyebrows raised and a mocking shocked face. But, she pulled her wrist up between them and looked at the watch there. Maybe. There were a couple of empty classrooms around here during this time of day. “You should help me study. Chemistry is the worst.” She didn’t tell him where they were going, but she grabbed his hand and began to tug him in the direction of the science building.
“I didn’t go to college and look at where that got me.” He chimed proudly, with no acknowledgement of that irony in his voice. “I was a carnie and look at me now. Degrees are for chumps.” Eddie’s voice lifted a little louder as if he were trying to scare off anyone in the close vicinity with the same kind of tone he used when he ranted about how much he hated Mother Teresa or dolphins. Dressed in tweed and without his blinking bowler hat, he wasn’t crazy just eccentric. There had to be a whole gaggle of eccentric people on this campus.
He laced his fingers with hers, momentarily focusing on how much he liked the feeling of having her tug him around and quieted his voice down to a conversational low. “You know I’m terrible at chemistry.” Eddie was good at a lot of things and there was a time in his old Gotham that he could play science wizard as good as the next crazy person. But, through the door his skills were rusted over from disinterest. Hacking and engineering were far more exciting than playing with test tubes and chemicals all day. “Though, my skill bar is set much higher than your typic-” Eddie nearly launched into one of his many long winded rants about how amazing and brilliant he was, but that sort of thing was getting just as tired as robbing banks and death traps. Besides, if he was bad at the subject she was supposed to be studying, he could busy himself with finding ways to distract her instead.
Upon reaching the science building, he quickly gave the typical structure a once over and considered taking out his glasses to get a floorplan. But, he was in public and not in one of those dusty old bars where everyone knew him as Riddler first and Eddie second, so he held himself back from taking the lead. For the most part. “Up the stairs. Smaller rooms on the top floors are only used when they have to. Especially ones without labs.” He suggested and then gave a semi-apologetic look for being a little bossy.
Steph glared at him as he went off on a little tangent discounting the benefits of college before shoving at his shoulder a little. “Watch it,” she warned, eyes narrowed. She was the first in her family to get her act together long enough to actually go to college, and not everyone could be a super genius villain, could they? The masked vigilante thing would only last for so long, and she couldn’t exactly put ‘Batgirl’ on her resume. “I like school. It’s normal.” And, she did. The hours studying and interacting with people her age gave her that sense of normalcy nothing else in her life really afforded her. She rolled her eyes as he began to describe his superior skill set, but thankfully he stopped himself short.
Squeezing his fingers, she gave him a once over before letting go of his hand and leading the way through the entrance and towards the stairs. Making out in the middle of the school grounds was one thing, but dragging him through one of the buildings would probably raise too many eyebrows. Plus, professors she knew might still be milling around. “C’mon then,” she challenged over her shoulder before bounding up the stairs to the top floor of the building. It was kind of like the game on his staircase in his apartment, making him chase her, but with an added risk. Different variables tossed in, and that made her grin brightly before disappearing up a flight.