Who: Eddie, Steph and Kara When: Night before Crane gasses Gotham Where: Wayne Manor What: Eddie introduces himself as king of town, Kara mistakes him for someone else and it all goes downhill from there Warnings: kissing noises?
Eddie was fully aware that Gotham was about to plunge into madness at any given moment, but he didn’t see anything wrong with squeezing out a little fun before he had to start acting like an adult again. Dressed in what could only be described as Arkham City gear, he had on a light green coat rolled up at the sleeves with a purple question mark stitched on the back, pants tucked into climbing boots, a rumpled white shirt, fingerless gloves and a purple tie with a gold question mark tie clip slightly askew. And, his bowler hat. Always the bowler hat. He could have gone for something more civilian, but Eddie was on a Riddler kick since he got back from Bludhaven and it just didn’t feel right breaking into the Dark Knight’s home in jeans and a math t-shirt. He got there long before the other bats did and after leaving a blood sample and a note that it should be handled with the utmost care, Eddie followed Stephanie up to the room Alfred made for her and fought the urge to search the place for hidden passageways and switches. He knew the cave well enough to break in, but he hadn’t the urge to actually brave the manor yet.
But, that wasn’t why he was there. Through the admittedly exhausting argument he had with Stephanie that day, he only wanted to make sure they were okay before everything went to hell. So, once that bedroom door shut he grabbed onto her and kissed her all the way to the dusty bed, throwing his bowler hat off onto some dresser as he climbed on the bed with her. There wasn’t any banter or their usual chattiness, just affection like he wasn’t going to see her again for a long time. Desperate, long kisses like tomorrow very well could be the end of the world. And, really, what better place to spend the eve of destruction than the almighty Wayne Manor? A place he should dare not go.
Sitting up enough to loosen his tie, he looked down at her with a loopy smile, but caught a distraction in her eyes. “What?” His voice slightly alarmed, smile turning into a perfectly mirrored frown. “What’s wrong?” His eyes went wide and tone geeky like he tripped an alarm or she forgot the butler installed a listening device behind one of the bookcases.
Stephanie felt exhausted. Physically, mentally, and emotionally worn out, and she knew that whatever Crane was planning would only make it worse. City-wide toxins and a wary uncertainty buzzing underneath Gotham’s surface. It had been too quiet for too long, and now they were going to pay the price for it. The entire city would be paying the price for it. She knew that she should be spending every waking moment (which, for her lately, was every single moment) preparing and attempting to prevent whatever hellfire was about to rain down on her beloved city, but she just couldn’t. Not when Eddie said how much he needed her, and she realized, despite their vicious fighting, that she needed him too. Having him there wouldn’t stave off the nightmares or even let her drift off to sleep, but he could keep her calm for a little while longer. Until shit really hit the fan.
She felt a little like a teenager sneaking her boyfriend into her parent’s house as they scoped out the Manor for her room. It was still there, untouched, and that brought a small smile to her lips. If Alfred was around, maybe the family wouldn’t be falling apart as badly as they were. Batman might have been the head, but his butler was the true patriarch of the Batfamily. But the smile, and in fact her entire thought process, was wiped away when Eddie crushed his mouth against hers in some sort of desperate search of how they were. A surprised, pleased noise rumbled in her chest, and the backpack in her hands fell with a thud to the floor. She’d changed from the Batgirl costume once she stepped into the Cave, where the cowl hung for the time being, and she stumbled back to the bed more Stephanie than Batgirl. Short blonde hair mussed up, skinny jeans, Chucks, and a Gotham U t-shirt under some wrinkled cardigan. She dressed almost identically to that first night she was over at the Riddler lair, but tonight was a completely different circumstance. More tense and yet more comfortable at the same time, and with a lot more looming overhead.
His kisses had her dizzy, momentarily forgetting why they were really at Wayne Manor in the first place, but when he broke the embrace, she remembered they wouldn’t be alone that night. “I-uh,” she started to stammer out, hair sticking out all over the place and lips swollen from the pressure of his own. “Kara. She’s supposed to be here. I forgot to tell you. She’s coming to stay here until all this Crane stuff is done, I think. I told her to come tonight.” She shot him an apologetic look, a sincerely sorry flash of blue eyes, because she didn’t want to stop.
His hands were on that purple tie, halfway through loosening the knot when she mentioned Kara. “You got to be kidding me.” He murmured, pulling the knot tight like he was going to use it as a noose and he rolled away from her and laid flat on the bed with an immature groan. “Couldn’t we just get one in bef-” Eddie looked over to her, all sly grin that dropped the second he realized the Supes family all had a long list of abilities that included super hearing and he really didn’t want his first impression with one of her friends to be sex noises. He gave her a look like they were thinking the same thing and then rolled back over to grab her by the waist. “Well, you’re always talking about introducing me to your friends. And, I’ve never met a Supes before without first fearing for my very small human life.” Eddie kissed her again, crushing and on the verge of lingering so that it almost made a popping noise when he pulled his lips away.
“I’ll be on my best behavior.” He promised, nipping at her neck and then crawling across the bed so he could fetch his bowler hat and smooth his crumpled outfit down a little so it didn’t look like they were just rolling around on the bed together.
She mouthed an I’m sorry as he hovered over her and pushed her hands up between them defensively. If she’d thought about it, maybe she would have put Kara’s arrival off until the morning, but things were chaotic at best in that conversation, and she just wanted things settled before Crane’s attack hit Gotham. And, having Kara here as soon as possible might help, might make things easier. So, Stephanie rolled her eyes when she heard Eddie groan, but she felt a little of his frustration, too. And, she didn’t say anything to his aborted request, just offered him a cocked eyebrow and a turn of her lips that said Really? as she turned her head toward him. Yeah, super hearing, and hearing them tangled on that bed would probably traumatize Kara enough to send her all the back to Sanctuary, but that didn’t drown out the whine that vibrated into the crush of his lips or stop the tug of her fingers against that green jacket.
“Your best behavior still scares me,” she teased, sitting up as well and quickly pushing herself toward the window. Leaning against the windowsill, she called out Kara’s name out that opened window, clear as a bell like that night they met on that random Gotham rooftop, and only then did she take a few breaths to try to regulate her heartbeat. Reach up to try to smooth her impossibly messy hair. Making sure her clothes didn’t look too rumpled. “Later,” she said with a smirk as she turned towards him and away from the opened window. “It’ll be a test of if you can actually be quiet at any point in your life.”
Kara had spent the hours after her conversation with Stephanie and Jason wondering how bad an idea this was. If things got bad enough in Gotham, would she be able to shut out the sounds? That was one of her biggest problems lately. Noise. She could block it if she wasn't upset, but if she was upset, well, it all came rushing in, and she couldn't keep it out. And if she couldn't keep it out, then she had trouble controlling other things. The sonic scream was the worst, so she had to remember not to yell, and she forgot how strong her fingers were when she couldn't remember to keep them gentle. She envied Kal, who'd grown up learning how to move and be under the power of the yellow sun. She knew, too, that all her time in Sanctuary wasn't helping. In the fortress under the ocean, she had no powers, and she kept "forgetting" the things she'd learned when she was away too long. Luckily, she'd been in Smallville since her trip to Bludhaven, which might mean the difference between things being okay, and things being a complete disaster.
After convincing herself that she would have time to leave if she really couldn't handle things, Kara packed her suit and cape in her backpack, and she opted for jeans and a bright red t-shirt instead of anything that made her look like someone from another planet. By the time Stephanie called for her, Kara was already outside Wayne Manor, her backpack slung over her shoulder and Krypto on his leash at her side.
Kara smiled when she heard her new friend's voice, and she walked toward the door, catching the tail-end of Stephanie's conversation inside, not tuning it out quickly enough to miss it. She wondered who Stephanie was talking to, and she wondered why they would need to be quiet. Her step slowed, and she worried it it was Helena. But, no, Stephanie's voice sounded like her mother had sounded sometimes when she was teasing her father. She didn't think Stephanie would sound like that with Helena. Maybe Jason was here?
Looking up at the Manor, Kara decided on a method of entry. And, ultimately, she decided to act normal. Well, normal for this planet; on Krypton, no one knocked on doors. But they did here, and she knocked hard enough to make the heavy oak shake, but just shy of cracking it. She winced as she willed the shaking to stop, and she hoped that maybe no one would notice. "Stephanie?" she called out. "It is Kara. I promise not to listen to whoever is being tested about their quietness."
“You’re the one that gets noisy once we-” Eddie was in the middle of cleaning off a mirror so he could check his reflection when the door shook with a knock. He made a gggaaaaaaaaaaaah noise, turning to look at Stephanie with his wide dark eyes. And, it occurred to him that whoever was at the door could have been a bat. A very mean, tiny bat-bird that would hang him by his ankles out the window while Stephanie rolled her eyes so hard they stuck that way. His eyes shifted like he was going to hide under the bed or maybe wrapped up in the curtain. Neither of which were particularly uncommon antics for the Riddler. “Oh.” He said as he heard Kara’s voice and went for the door, opening it with a smirk and staying on the inside of the door in case a bat baby was walking by in their footie PJs.
“I’ll go mad if you don’t listen to me, that’s the first thing you should know. Pleasure to meet you Kara, I’m Eddie.” He said to Kara softly like they were in the middle of a secret society meeting, quirking an eyebrow at Krypto and recognizing him immediately. Eddie turned to look at Stephanie with a childish grin and a whispered Holy crap she brought Krypto. “Come in. Come in. If they see my green they’ll cook me like a goose.” Eddie opened the door a little wider, giving a shifty eye’d look out into the hallway and closing the door once Kara walked inside.
Steph jumped at the heavy knock, too. She mostly expected Kara to jet through the window as she was wont to do, so to hear her come through the door of the bedroom? That was unusual, and she panicked for a second, too, that it was one of the birds arrived earlier than she anticipated. Nosing about the Manor for anything suspicious or just looking to talk. Crap, maybe having Eddie over here wasn’t the greatest idea. This wasn’t really her place, after all. The damage was done either way, but the relief was still visible when she heard Kara’s soft, tentative voice on the other side. She moved to open the door, but Eddie beat her to the punch, and she told herself he promised. He promised to be on his best behavior.
She beamed over at Kara. “It’s true,” she said, stepping forward so she was within reaching distance of the other girl and shooting Eddie a pointed look. All the while amused by his shiftiness. “He’ll keep bothering you until you pay attention. The trick is to not take anything he actually says seriously.” The civvies spread a grin across her lips, and her arms twitched in an abortive movement for a hug. No, maybe Kara wasn’t ready for that yet. Instead, she held a hand out for the backpack and stretched the other to scratch Krypto behind his ear. “Hi, boy,” Steph cooed at the dog, always a puddle of goop around an animal. “Hi, Kara,” she said immediately after, looking up to grin at the other girl.
Kara wanted to ask what that when we was. They got noisy when they what? But the question died on her lips when the strange little man in green walked forward. She hadn't made the connection between this man and Stephanie's mysterious lover. She knew he wasn't Batman, because she'd seen Batman in Watchtower once, so that option was quickly discounted. She immediately reached the conclusion that this was Stephanie's father, and she smiled brighter, too many teeth and cheeks puffing out. If she knew Eddie's name, she wasn't remembering it then, but there was so much information, and it was hard to keep it straight. "It is nice to meet Stephanie's father," she said, smiling wider when he whispered about the dog. "Do you know him?" she asked of the harmless, white labrador. It had been Kal's dog, before she rescued him from stasis in the Fortress; maybe Stephanie's father had met Kal when he was here.
Kara walked in when Eddie ushered her forward, looking around for the light switch, because those still baffled her, and glancing all wide-eyed around the space. It wasn't anything like the two homes she'd been in. Damian's place had felt like a home belonging to one of the very low castes on Krypton, and Jason's had felt like something she'd never experienced. This was opulent, and she knew opulence. The House of El was wealthy, at the top of Kryptonian society. Even her father, who had broken with the remainder of the family, wanted for nothing. "This is almost normal," she said, reassured that maybe everything here wasn't squalor. She waited until Stephanie was done scratching the dog's ear. Then, as she held out the backpack, she gave Stephanie the hug that Stephanie didn't give her. She was very, very careful not to squeeze her to death.
“Oh, god.” Eddie slumped against the door, heels digging into the hardwood floor dramatically as if Kara had shot him right through the heart. Of course he knew one day that someone would mistake Stephanie for his daughter and that it had likely happened at Ikea or the park until they started rolling around together, but this one hit him hard. Right in the gut. Solemnly he took his green bowler hat off and held it to his chest like something small just died right in front of him, not able to look at Stephanie or her little Super friend. Only sadly down to Krypto like only he knew the trials and tribulations of dating a younger woman. “Seven letter word for uncomfortable situations brought upon by miscommunication and classic comedic misunderstandings?” He asked Krypto, brows up as if he were listening very intently to what the dog was saying. “Yes, awkward! Got it in one. Good boy.”
He finally looked up to Stephanie, brightening his expression into an almost forced smile before pushing off the door and opening it again with a sweeping gesture for Kara to step back outside so that they could do this all over again. “I think we need to arrange a mulligan. I’ll allow her to have one of mine even though I’ve worked so hard for it. Stephanie, if you’d do the honors of explaining the rules and as to why a mulligan has been called?”
"Oh my god." Steph spluttered out a hard, choking laugh at Kara's completely incorrect observation, biting down hard on her lip to try to bury it away and failing miserably. Oh, she suspected people who didn't know them assumed the same. Those frowns and raises eyebrows when they ventured out to the public meant something. But coming from Kara, there was an amusing, endearing quality to it all. The blonde bat reached to cover her mouth with her hand, equal parts embarrassed and amused, and before she could retort, Kara's arms wrapped around her. Shoulders still shaking with uncomfortable giggles, she squeezed the other girl lightly before stepping back.
Mulligan. Right. She flashed Eddie a look that conveyed how she felt, too. Cheeks flashing red, burning bright, Stephanie looked over at Kara and tried not to look too mortified. "Mulligans are do-overs when either of us really screw up," she said simply, stepping a little closer to twist a hand into her green man's jacket. Tight and with that familiar tug so he'd come closer, and she slipped her hand underneath the jacket and wound it around his waist. "He isn't my dad, Kara. He's my...well, he's my boyfriend." Her cheeks reddened more, embarrassed by the entire situation and incapable of keeping a poker face. Neither of them had seen her face this red in a while, if ever, and while she thought it was funny, this was one of those moments she dreaded, too.
Kara didn't understand what she'd said wrong. She understood the movement of bowler hat to chest as something bad, but she didn't know what was bad. She began to tell Stephanie's father that Krypto didn't understand puzzles, and that she would need some more information on what comedic misunderstandings were, in order to answer herself, but then he was giving the answer to Krypto, and she was giving him a confused look in return. Mulligan translated, but as a golf term, and it only made her look more confused, and once Stephanie finished hugging her, Kara unthinkingly did as she was told and stepped back outside, where she waited while Stephanie's cheeks flushed red. Kara might not be from earth, but she knew a blush when she saw one; she was a teenage girl, after all.
"It's a golf word," Kara said of a mulligan, rolling the word around in her mind and making sense of it, except... "What is golf?" Her bright blue eyes went wider and wider as Stephanie tugged the older man - Eddie - closer, and by the time Stephanie's hands had slid beneath Eddie's jacket, Kara's own cheeks were brightly red. She didn't have to say but he's older! because that showed on her face. "Are your parents okay with that?" she asked instead, her voice a near-whisper. On Krypton, such a pairing would be unheard of, and she couldn't imagine what her own father would've done if she'd brought home someone that was his age. Even more of a whisper. "He will not be sent to the Phantom Zone?" She didn't think they had anything like that here, but she knew they had prisons.
Eddie knew better than to show it too much, but he was deeply enjoying the girl’s confusion and his face quirked and mused at her different questions and that bright, wide-eyed expression. He was tempted, oh so tempted, to keep rolling with it to see how much trivial information he could throw at her. Instead, he bit down on a smile, placing his bowler hat back on with both hands around the brim and slid into Stephanie’s arm with one graceful movement. He couldn’t keep back a smirk when she introduced him as a boyfriend, however and looked down at Stephanie as if to say he really liked that. “No. In fact, not many people are okay with it. And, not just because of the age difference. Which is why we’re hiding.” Eddie’s smile dropped for a moment, the sly Gotham rogue act slipping long enough for there to be something real behind it. “I would have been sent to the Phantom Zone lllooooong before I met Stephanie.” His head was still tilted down to look at his blonde bat a moment or two longer than his sentence and then snapped back up to Kara.
“Let’s have a mulligan, shall we?” He asked the Kryptonian. “I’ll explain golf when you’re back. Knock on the door again and we’ll start all over.” Eddie instructed Kara, closing the door on her with one hand and then turning to look at Stephanie, wrapping both of his arms around her. “Your face is exactly the same color as an aceymac apple.” He said romantically, sweetly. “How many minutes will you give me to explain the rich and glorious history of golf? I need to know how long I can spend on Bingo Bango Bongo.” Eddie tilted his head for a quick kiss, eyes a little wide and warm as if denying him affection would kill him. “You oughta answer the door this time.”
The blonde bat spluttered out another laugh, this one pure discomfort, and her cheeks flamed as she looked at Kara wordlessly. Duh, Eddie was older. Hadn’t she said that? Maybe she was more vague about Eddie to Kara than she intended. Great. This was Awkward City, USA. Population -- three. She let Eddie answer because he knew better than anyone how much her father did not approve of all of this. “Mom’s not around either,” she felt the need to add, quietly and bleeding awkward the way a young girl did when she was caught doing something out of the norm. No, it wasn’t just the age difference that had people disapproving of she and Eddie, but Kara didn’t need to know about that just yet. The Kryptonian’s world was nothing but black and white, and she didn’t need to realize how gray she and Eddie were. That might scare her off.
She gave Kara a reassuring smile as the door closed, and then she turned to Eddie, mortified and amused and confused all in one fell swoop. “My face is not that red,” she said because she knew that had to be really red. Even if she felt her skin burning like fire. “I can’t believe--well, I actually can believe--you’re getting a minute and a half,” she finally finished, settling into his arms like he was an extension of her own being. She pursed her lips to try to regulate the burn of her cheeks, but her face was still hopelessly red. “Two, if you don’t give me that look again.” The look that made her want to lock Kara outside for a little and resume what was happening before she arrived. She obliged that kiss, something a little too long and deep and desperate for someone who was supposed to be having company. She roughly pushed him away before scrambling to open the door again. “Kara, fancy seeing you here!” Steph reached out to tug the other blonde into the room by the wrist before hugging her quickly. “Have you met Eddie, my boyfriend?” It was all over-exaggerated, but Steph thought that humor might break the tension. She waved her over to the green man as if they were meeting for the first time.
There was older and there was older. For Kara, older was a year, maybe two. This was a a lot more than a year or two. But she was busy trying to make sense of the things Eddie was saying, while trying to make sense of the reddening color of Stephanie's cheeks, while trying to understand why the door was closing in her face. She glanced down at Krypto, and she wondered if she could get Jason or Damian to explains things to her, because she was obviously missing something. Or, possibly, lots of somethings. She wanted to know why he would have been sent to the Phantom Zone, too, because he seemed to know what it was, didn't he? Maybe he was joking. She was starting to think maybe he joked a lot. Like his clothes, those were a joke, right? And she was pretty sure he was joking about Bingo Bango Bongo, whatever that was. She was thinking all of that through as the door closed, and though she tried not to listen to what was happening on the other side, her curiosity got the better of her.
By the time the door opened, Kara's cheeks were as bright as Stephanie's had been earlier. She went without hesitation when Stephanie tugged her forward, looking from one to the other, all wide blue eyes. "Do you want to have sex right now?" she asked in a whisper. Because she'd heard the kissing. She didn't know you could hear kissing, but she'd heard the kissing.
Eddie pressed against Stephanie, giving a satisfied and happy little hum at the end of the kiss that turned into an oof as she pushed him away. He loved their antics and when they weren’t screaming at each other or trading lectures about life choices, their kind of playful needling was what made all of it worth it. He was back to straightening his tie and the little gold questionmark clip in the middle of it when Kara appeared again, laughing a little at her expression and that question. “No, Kara.” He said standing up a little straighter and wandered over to put his hand out for Krypto to smell before scratching under his chin. “I’ve always wanted to meet one of Stephanie’s friends that didn’t know me already.” Eddie managed some sincerity through all of his usual messing around and walked over to the open window to lean against the wall next to it. Giving the girls some space.
“That said, I don’t really know where to start.” He shrugged, crossing his arms and glancing out the window towards Gotham city. His city. “I suppose Stephanie could tell you what she’s comfortable with. Starting with perhaps how I am the King of Town and working her way through how I once hit a golf ball so hard it ripped right through Wayne Tower. That actually happened.” He lifted a single finger up in the air in declaration.
Stephanie caught the flush in Kara’s cheeks, and oh crap, she must have heard the kiss, didn’t she? Super hearing. Goddamn Eddie and his needling for making her forget all about that and give into his desperation and affection. The blonde bat flashed her friend a shaky smile, and she shook her head to respond to the other girl’s whispered question. “No,” she assured Kara, smiling a little more convincingly and only affording Eddie one amused look. One that spoke novels of what she would do to him if they didn’t have Supergirl in the room with them. Her fingers entwined with Kara’s, and she gave them a strong squeeze before dragging the girl to sit on the bed with her. “Don’t listen to anything he said,” Steph instructed with a laugh. She looked over to him at the window and mouthed King of Town, as if she never realized how goddamn ridiculous her Eddie could be.
“Seriously, not a word,” Stephanie said as she bounced onto the bed. “At least nothing that sounds as ridiculous as that. Put that finger down, Eddie,” she demanded, but in that sort of sarcastic and affectionate way that she tended to do when it came to him. “He isn’t King of Town. Do you think a king would dress like that?” she teased, glancing over her shoulder toward Eddie before looking back at Kara.
"Why does it matter if Stephanie's friends know you already?" Kara asked astutely. It seemed a strange thing to want, and her blue eyes sharpened intelligently. She was naive and young and out of her element, but she wasn't stupid. She didn't need Stephanie to tug her to the bed and clarify about Eddie's regal state either. "You are old enough to be a king, but I do not think kings dress like that, even here," she said, her questionable feelings about here evident in the tone, and in the way her nose crinkled. But the golf ball, that was more interesting. She didn't actually understand golf, but she could tell that it was a sport. "Why would you hit a golf ball at Wayne Tower?" she asked, wanting a logical response, and already knowing she would get just the opposite; she was a quick learner.
But the affection in Stephanie's voice was evident, and Kara let the severity go a second later. She had just met Stephanie, but she liked that smile on her face, and she liked the easy feeling in the room, whether or not the coupling would be forbidden on Krypton aside. "Do you love her?" she asked Eddie, and she asked it as seriously as she had asked about the golf ball, as if they both had equal importance. She wasn't naive enough to think love was everything, not after H'El, and she might not understand Eddie and Stephanie once she had all the pieces to the puzzle, but right then it didn't matter. She watched Stephanie bounce, and she laughed happily. "I jumped on Damian's couch and broke it. I do not think you want me breaking your bed."
“If you hit the big W, you win a thousand points. That’s worth at least three or four mulligans.” He said simply to her golf question with the sort of upturn of his chin like he was speaking the absolute and complete truth. But, his raised finger crumpled and lowered on command, giving Stephanie a sad little look like she asked to eat his dessert. Relenting all the same. “And, the king of town dresses however he likes. Because he is king.” He reasoned, though there was no seriousness behind it. And, there was a movement of his hand like he was going to raise that finger again, but hastily put it back down with obedience like he and Stephanie were playing some tiny game through the conversation.
He pat his leg for Krypto to come over for more pets and then looked up almost surprised at her next question. The seriousness threw him off a little, but there wasn’t any hesitation or uneasiness in his expression. Taking his bowler hat off, this time for good to rest on the nearby dresser, he gave a very serious nod back. “I love her more than I’ve loved anyone. Even more than myself sometimes.” Eddie smiled brightly, tilting his head a little so he could look back to Stephanie. “Which you’ll learn quickly is a hell of a lot.” He rested his head against the back of the wall, closing his eyes for a second as he breathed in fresh Wayne Manor air. No wonder the Dark Knight kept this place. “Stephanie, do you love me?”
Stephanie giggled at being old enough, though it was that awkward giggle from earlier. She shot Eddie a hard look as he misled Kara and mouthed some sort of vague threat that wouldn’t get through his head anyway. She knew he liked messing with people because oh, god, did he mess with her, and Kara was the easiest target around, but that didn’t mean that she totally approved of it. “Like I said,” Steph started, looking back to Kara with a paaaainful roll of her eyes. “Don’t listen to almost anything Eddie says. I wouldn’t let the king dress like that, and kings can’t be such as big a dork as he is.” It was fact to Steph, teasing fact that she hoped Kara would take more into consideration than Eddie’s remarks. She really hoped.
But, she couldn’t even begin to fight that smile that spread across her face when he began the declarations of his love for her. There was a warmth in her chest, a tingle that spread from her heart to her fingers, and she looked over to Eddie with bright blue eyes and wide, wide grin. As if she was surprised or something by his affections. It did, frankly, take her off guard sometimes, especially when he declared it to other people. She lingered on him and offered him a look only for him before turning to Kara. “Yeah,” she said, start off with that teasing tone. “I guess I love him, too.” She glanced back over to Eddie with a playful glint before turning to Kara with a shake of her head, and she resisted the urge to joke about how she and Eddie would want to test the bed’s foundation later regardless. “It’ll be okay, I promise. And if it does break, this isn’t even the room I live in. I have my own place. They can figure out another bed situation.”
Kara believed the lie about hitting the W, but it didn't make complete sense. "What do you use the points for?" she asked, because there wasn't any purpose to points, unless you could shop with them. That, and the mention of Eddie's clothes made her sigh. "We should go shopping. We could buy something that is not green, and maybe you could lie about being king more believably," she said, another nose crinkle and a definite lack of approval for Eddie's clothes.
But Kara was just a teenager, and the declarations of love made her eyes go a little glazed. Sixteen had been a boy crazy year for all of her friends, and she had been no exception. Sanctuary might tell her she was physically eighteen now, but she was having a little trouble catching up emotionally. "I like the way you look at each other," she said, the bluntness something that would have been perfectly acceptable on Krypton. And it wasn't like they were being secretive about the silly adoring looks they were giving one another. "You are happy."
But the assurance that this this wasn't their room sparked Kara's curiosity a moment later. "You do not live here together?" she asked, confusion lighting up her face with the expectation of a new discovery. "If you have sex, and you love each other, why do you not live here together?"
Eddie grinned at her offer to go shopping. It reminded him a little of Emma and even though things didn’t go perfectly towards the end of their Vegas stay, he still liked her company. The curiousness was something he could relate to. Something that was true to him like the curve and dot of a question mark. “I have better suits, I promise.” He assured her, walking over to the bed, grabbing a chair as he went and sat down at an angle across from them. “I like the reaction I get from my green. That thing your face is doing. Everyone in my neighborhood is so used to the green they don’t even look twice anymore. And, if I could get Stephanie to fall in love with me despite them and my age, then I must be doing something right.” He leaned back in the chair, nudging his foot against Stephanie’s when Kara told him that she liked the way they looked at each other and made a soft little noise in the back of his throat. It was almost like receiving an unexpected compliment or a gift for the hell of it. For once it was nice to feel some kind of approval for what he felt for the blonde bat.
He glanced back up to Kara, deciding that he wasn’t used to being interrogated like this without giving the most obtuse answers. But, the subject of Stephanie always got more sincerity than he gave anything else. More than he could afford anything else. “Maybe one day.” Eddie said after a thoughtful moment. “When we know each other better. Maybe one day.” He repeated and glanced over to Stephanie. There was a time he didn’t think they’d ever get this far because attraction rarely had any kind of longevity with him, but he had a hard time imagining his life without her now. “And, we’d never live here. It belongs to the Dark Knight. I’m not even allowed to be here.”
Stephanie rolled her eyes again. “The point system is made up in his head. Please don’t try to break Wayne Tower. Bruce will be really, really mad.” That wasn’t true, she was sure, but she didn’t want to risk a Kryptonian blowing a hole in one of Bruce Wayne’s buildings to find out. Now, that would be the worst way to officially announce the Kryptonian’s arrival in Gotham. She laughed at the offer to go shopping, too. “Yes. I’m one hundred percent down for that. Even if I don’t really mind his suits.” She nudged his foot right back, smiling at him with that stupid amount of affection reserved just for him. They could have the biggest fights or have to jump over the tallest hurdles or drive each other absolutely insane, but god, they were happy with each other. And maybe they shouldn’t be so obviously affectionate in front of someone else, but, well, they didn’t know how to be anything else.
Kara’s bluntness earned her a raised eyebrow, and Steph had to remind herself that Kara came from a planet where genematching was a thing. Still, the blonde bat felt like they suddenly stumbled into a convent with all the scandalized looks Kara was flashing them. Regardless, Steph smiled as Eddie answered and offered him a glance, too. A few months ago, she wouldn’t have put any stock with them lasting long at all. But, they’d been through so much, and she couldn’t really see how he could walk out of her life after all that. It was silly, knowing she was so young, but Gotham didn’t really afford the kind of time to waffle about feelings or futures. She nodded and looked over at Eddie with warm blue eyes. "Maybe when he learns not to hog the bed, we'll consider it." She shook her head. "It's better that we have separate places, and it's especially better that we don't live here. We're all just here until this stuff blows over. Or Bruce kicks us out."
"I do not think love is about your clothes or your age," Kara assured him, sage youth and bright blue eyes. "Stephanie says it is a feeling, and I do not think those things matter to feelings." And she knew what it felt like, didn't she? H'El had been all wrong, but that hadn't changed what she felt; and it hadn't changed what she'd had to do in the end. But this wasn't like that. "Do you not know everything there is to know? Is it not in your files?" she asked, looking from one to the other, thinking this was probably another difference in their words. If there was no genematching, then maybe partners weren't given life-files on each other. She shook her head. "You have no files," she said, answering her own question. She wondered how people made smart choices, then, but she didn't ask. Instead, she asked, curiously, "does Batman not like you?"
Kara didn't want to get Bruce really, really mad. Batman had already yelled at her, and she didn't want to give him any reason to do it again. Instead, she smiled at the agreement to go shopping. "We will have to wait until the bad things are done," she said a little sadly. Krypton or Earth, it didn't matter; Kara loved shopping, and it didn't matter for who. "Can we buy Jason something new too? His clothes are not cute. And Damian too." But that was for another day, even though it was hard to remember that she'd come here because something terrible was supposed to happen. In the intervening silence, she looked back and forth between them, catching all the looks they were giving one another, and she clicked her tongue at Krypto, getting his attention and drawing him away from the foot of the bed. "I should take Krypto for a walk. Maybe you can teach Eddie not to hog the bed while I am gone," she offered, a knowing little smile on her lips. She might be naive, but she caught on really quick.
Eddie was in the middle of smirking up to Stephanie, waggling his eyebrows at the thought of them having files on each other. He was sure that if someone were to compare their basic profiles, they’d be the last to be genematched, but that didn’t stop him from thinking she was perfect for him. Stephanie knew all his history and the ring that never left his person reminded him how much she had to fight to be who she was today. It wasn’t about what they had done, though. Everything relied on what was going to happen. He looked back over at Kara, a goofy smile on his face and perked at the question about Batman. “I think he might come around one day. But, you shouldn’t tell anyone I was here. The Dark Knight will know, but everyone else won’t stop squawking about it.”
Then, she called over Krypto and offered to give them the room like this was some kind of college dormitory (not that Eddie knew the specifics of living in one beyond what he saw on tv) and she was an intrusive roommate. Eddie gave Stephanie a slightly wide-eyed look that said yes without even moving much of his face, but wasn’t going to be the one to kick the poor girl out. Best behavior and all that. “You Kryptonians are a lot more perceptive than earthlings give you credit for.” He nodded solemnly with the best compliment the Riddler could give to a Supes. Probably the only compliment in his entire green life actually.
“Oh, yes, they’d all love that,” she said of the shopping trip. Yeah, sure, the boys would love that. And, the idea of having full, detailed files on other people amused Stephanie to no end. Granted, the BatComputer had files on all the big Gotham players, but she was sure neither she nor Eddie’s files really reflected them accurately like they used to. “The closest thing we have is Facebook,” the blonde bat teased with a grin. “And even then, it’s mostly people whining about their lives and Instagram pics of their pad thai noodles.” And, she realized how strange Earth must be to someone who had no idea what it was like aside from a computer in some tucked away safehaven and a translator that didn’t pick up the little nuances in the English language. She nodded when Eddie continued on about the Bat. He’d know, and he wouldn’t be pleased either way, but if the other birds knew? She’d never hear the end of it.
Steph opened her mouth to urge Kara to stay, always wanting to keep her friends close and happy. Especially when they were on the precipice of something really awful. What if they lost each other again? But, she caught that subtle look Eddie shot her, and she retorted with one of her own before turning to the other blonde. “You and me, we’ll hang out later, yeah?” she offered with a smile, swiping to grab the girl’s hand for a quick squeeze. “We can go vandalize Damian’s room for fun.” And she tried not to look at Eddie because her cheeks burned a little then, knowing that Kara knew what they’d be doing once she left the room.
Kara followed it all, and she even made the connection between the birds and squawking. It all made sense until Facebook, noodles and Instagram? The confusion showed on her face. "I do not want to lie," she added distractedly, still trying to find out what a book of faces was, of Kryptonians being perceptive. Maybe no one would ask about Eddie, but she didn't see why he couldn't be there, not when everyone else was supposed to come. Because he was older? It wasn't outlawed, she didn't think, and as long as no one was being sent to the Phantom Zone for it, then why was it a secret? On Krypton, there was the same punishment for all crimes, and crime was virtually nonexistent because of it. She used the same rule to apply to Earth laws. If it wasn't a crime, then it was, by necessity, acceptable. Weird, but acceptable.
But Stephanie was squeezing her hand before Kara knew it, and she nodded and tugged on Krypto's leash. "I will walk far, and I will not listen," she said, letting them know they didn't need to be quiet. As for vandalizing Damian's room, she wouldn't mind finding out what he kept in there, so she nodded her agreement as she moved toward the door. She opened it carefully, closed it just as carefully, and then loudly slammed the front door to the Manor, so they would know once she was outside of the house and, unless they got too loud, out of earshot.