who Eddie and Steph. what Rounding up the stoned blonde bat. when Recently! Before Eddie becomes lord of Wayne Manor. where Some rooftop in Gotham. warning some injuries and some kissin'~
Stephanie felt good. Not only good, but calm, resolved, happy. Relaxed in a way she hadn’t felt in more than a month, ever since her father arrived on new Gotham’s turf and tried to rip her life apart (and her relationship with Eddie) at the seams. But, what was the point of worrying now? Why should she care about him or, really, anything at all? It didn’t hurt anymore to think about him, and she felt no more guilt over how she’d nearly beaten him to death only a few weeks beforehand. The images of him bloody and broken underneath her fists did not haunt her in the way they did only a day before. No, she just felt calm, like everything was right with the world, and the city would be fine, right? Wasn’t this what most of Gotham felt every single day? Fuck responsibilities and consequences, and just go with the flow. Whatever happened happened, and it was just meant to be. It was so much easier this way, to just live her life and not worry about the consequences. Her eyes felt clear for the first time in a long time, and it was wonderful. She was aware that Eddie wanted her to wear a mask the entire time she was out, and she recalled that this all started when she gave the mask to that little boy, but it was okay. There was no need to worry anymore.
She wanted to go to Blackgate and finish off what she started in Bludhaven with her father, and she thought her logic was totally sound. How many times had people “died” and then come back to Gotham without even a scratch on their faces? She could kill her dad, and then get on with things. Fighting crime, repairing her relationship with the rest of the family (maybe she could even get Dick to like her again), and wrapping herself around Eddie. Eddie, who was worrying waaaaay too much. See? He shouldn’t have taken Crane’s injection. Maybe he was the one who got poisoned with all that fear. But, she succeeded in getting him to meet her after a long fight where he was angry and she just couldn’t see why. Why begrudge her the freedom this had given her?
When he finally reached the rooftop, he would find her pacing on the rooftop’s edge, one foot in front of the other and arms out to balance herself. The danger didn’t give her the bubbles in her stomach that they should, just an urge to dangle one of her feet out. She was in the Batgirl costume, but half of the mask was ripped apart from her face, exposing short blonde hair and darkening bruises on her cheek. But, she didn’t seem to feel the pain at all, and there was even a relaxed little smile on her face. She’d gotten into trouble already, and her body was littered with bruises (and maybe a fracture or two), and she’d tracked down where Crane’s planes were waiting to fly over before she’d even thought of getting Eddie to meet her to push her up against the roof entrance door and push inside of her. Public sexcapades? Now that was something she could do.
Eddie was glad he managed to shake out a good, old fashioned, Riddler panic attack before meeting up with Stephanie. Between trying to keep her safe, saving as many buildings of people as he could in the area and stopping Muerte from taking the Lazarus Pit on a date, Eddie was lucky he could even stand up straight. He didn’t want to think about the distance of time between his last text with her and getting to the roof. How close he got to throwing his hands in the air and giving into that sweet, seductive insanity that he had been rolling around in for so long. How he practically collapsed in Old Gotham, shaking and accusing everything and anyone around him of trying to ruin how things were supposed to be. It wasn’t just one or two little ducks out of their row, no, now they were turning into different animals and rattling him. Telling him that it was okay to let go now. Just let all the work he put into getting better go.
And, all that? Was completely without being touched by Crane’s toxin.
After making sure Muerte wasn’t going to do anything remarkably stupid and talking himself out of throwing himself into the Lazarus Pit for a reboot, he went home. Eddie showered, he shaved, he even put on a black suit that was cut to make him look even leaner than he already was. There wasn’t any green, not even on his deep, deep purple tie. But he was wearing her ring which did have a thread of her Robin green, so at least there was that. All of the dark colors made him feel safe. Powerful in a way the lime green didn’t do. Strength that usually wasn’t needed because of his own arrogance and ego petting. Tonight was different, though. Tonight he had to be cunning without the question marks. That wasn’t an easy thing to do.
Eddie had broke into the building she asked for easily with his own security codes as if he had owned this entire block since it was built and calmly walked up towards the roof, taking his sweet time. He made each stride a little more powerful than the last, more confident and by the time he pushed the door open he looked like the same Eddie Nigma who didn’t blink at Batman and wouldn’t bend for some C-level villain in Slaughter Swamp. His violet glasses shone over his dark eyes and he quietly shut the rooftop door behind him, watching her play balance beam like a little kid. Wishing he could find it at least charming instead of terrible.
“You know I hate rooftops.” He said suddenly, loud and sharp like a riddle. “That’s why you bats keep dragging me up here.” Eddie didn’t step towards her, the violet light from his eyes changing a little over her frame. Clicking in different colors like they were analyzing her.
Stephanie didn’t jump by the sudden voice echoing from the other side of the roof. She’d heard a lot of sudden noises throughout the day, and she wasn’t in a sort of state that could be startled by anything. More like just roll with the punches and kicks and screams like it didn’t even matter. So, no, she thankfully didn’t stumble her movements or else she would be tumbling toward the Gotham sidewalk and make a nice little Batgirl pancake for all of the drugged out citizens to see. “Baby,” she said softly, looking over at him briefly with an easy sort of smile he hadn’t really seen in months. Then she focused on her steps again. One foot in front of the other. The flashes of light reflected off the surfaces of the roof, off her arms, and she paused her progress again to stare over at him.
No lethal injuries, though there might have been a fracture or two in her ribs. Breathing was hard, but she wasn’t panicked about it. Nor did she feel the sharp pain inside of her chest at all. Her face was bruised up, her nose bleeding just a little, and joints swelled with sprains. Blood on her black costume and tears all over made it almost indecent. Reaching up with one hand still stretched out, she ripped the rest of her mask off and smiled over at him. “We could have met in an alleyway, but I thought a roof might be a little more sanitary.” She turned on her heels, facing away from him and out to the dimming Gotham skyline. “If you have other bats inviting you to rooftops, you should let me know.” There wasn’t a teasing about it, just a simple sort of honesty. Like a five year old demanding something.
“You’re the only one so far that’s kind enough to invite me instead of string me up first.” Eddie’s voice was still crisp and strangely distant at the same time. Everything from his clothes, to the glasses to his tone were all ways to keep her from digging under his skin. Digging more than she had already managed. The bouncing lights from his glasses paused somewhere between her torso and waist, leaving her whole lower body completely illuminated by a skirt of violet. “You’re the only one I’m screwing, though. The only one out of everyone. But, you don’t need me to tell you that, do you?” Eddie was sure that question would get lost in her crazy, but it had a double side to it. A man couldn’t help but wonder about fidelity sometimes. Especially when his woman was higher than a firework on the 4th of July.
A moment passed as he noted all the injuries he could see and knew right away that she could push herself too hard at any second. This wasn’t like the plague where he could estimate the gradual decline of her health. No. Out here she could accidentally get stabbed by a mugger because she was too busy thinking about how great her life was without giving a damn. “You’re hurt.” He told her, worry thick in his voice even if he was actively trying to keep his tone flat and simple. “Let me take you home and patch you up.” Eddie didn’t think that was going to work, but it was worth a try anyway.
Steph shrugged but didn’t turn around yet. Instead, she peered down to the streets where fights were breaking out, stupidly drugged people doing stupid things, and almost declared how she wanted to go down there and join them. But, first, she had to convince Eddie to stop fretting so much and just push her against a wall. “I could string you up if you like and have my way with you,” she said innocently. “That might be fun.” She looked over her shoulder finally at his question, eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. “Well, duh. Unless you’re into the Bat now. Which I guess could be kind of questionable for a lot of the rogues. You guys are kinda obsessed with him.” Looking out into the sky again, she flapped her arms for a second. “You know you’re the only one I’m fucking, too.” The frank crudeness sounded strange coming out of her mouth, but she didn’t notice. “A little harmless flirtation here and there, but you’re used to that. You do that all the time.”
After a moment, she rolled her eyes and made a cuuuuck sort of sound, a weird mix of sucking her teeth and growling. “I’m fiiiine. God.” She rocked on her knees as if teetering over the edge before giggling. “If I was hurt I couldn’t do this.” She stretched back, back, back until, in one swift movement, legs kicked up and her hands hit the rooftop, backflipping her off the edge all together. She felt a pop, but didn’t groan, didn’t flinch, even if her breathing tightened more. “Ta-da,” she said, turning around to face him again. He didn’t look much like her Eddie at all. Not a whisper of green to be found. She crinkled her eyebrows again. “You look a lot lankier dressed like that.”
“The Dark Knight has always been kind of obsessed with us. Why do you think he lets us live? Mutual obsession.” He said it like some kind of fragrance for men. Eddie had to tell himself that he didn’t like this blunt wave that had taken over her, but the truth of the matter was he was strangely attracted to it. He could never be that to the point unless someone pushed and pushed, but here was Stephanie like it was some natural state of carefree being. And, the way she wore all those bruises and rawness like it was nothing compelled him. No. It was too compelling. He needed a distraction. “Obviously the Crane toxin has taken over your ability to sense pain. Which makes me wonder how receptive you’re going to be to any kind of feeling at all. Good or bad.” He kept his hands in his pockets, strolling a little closer in a crooked, but precise line like he wasn’t willing to be close to her yet.
His glasses flashed him a couple updates. The first orphanage he took care of was fine, but there was a group of children who died at a daycare he didn’t even get to. Things like that were unfortunate, but unavoidable. He had a natural disgust for the upper class or anyone that wasn’t raised in the slums like he was, but that didn’t mean he wished ill on their families. Which was a strange thing for him to consider. The violet light wandered away from her, down and then up into the dark sky until it faded into nothing as he rummaged through messages and tried to think of what to do with this new, guarded mayor. “Oh?” He asked a little delayed at her observation, turning back to look at her. “I thought you’d might like it, truthfully. I know the green suits are silly and selfish.” Then he paused, bright violet staring right at her. “I shouldn’t say, but I think you look beautiful tonight. A rugged, messy kind. Don’t take it as an encouragement.”
“This Bat didn’t have you all beforehand. He’s a baby Daddy Bat, Eddie, you know that.” Though she couldn’t argue about the mutual obsession because god, did that make sense, and she nodded in appreciation for his observation. “We’re all kinda obsessed in this town, I guess. In a really, really bad way. I mean, shit, I know I fixate on some of the rogues, too,” she said with a shrug. “Oh, man, if Black Mask was around right now.” She needed no pushing for her tenacity or the sharp bluntness of her words, and god did it feel freeing to say the first thing that popped into her mind. No fear of insulting people, no worrying that she might say the wrong thing, no care in the world. She was the kind of bat, at the moment, that wouldn’t even notice if she started a full-out war in her city. In fact, she’d probably shrug it off and feel proud instead of guilted.
She rocked on her booted heels and pulled off the glove on her right hand, slowly and finger by finger, and she watched as he zoned out for a minute. A little unimpressed that he wasn’t showering her with attention and affection. Why wasn’t he doing that? She dropped the glove on the floor and began work on the second one, staining her fingers with the little bit of blood that was on there. She looked down at them with a frown. “Blood,” she stated, no inflection in her voice, and then she wiped them off across the yellow bat (slightly tattered) across her chest. When she looked up at him, it was with a bright grin. Her blonde hair was messy, but in the sort of way it was after he threaded his fingers through it when he kissed her stupid. “I didn’t say I didn’t like it, honey.” Honey, finally, had that sort of warmth always associated with that word for her. “I said you look lankier. You’re always handsome to me. I actually really like the black.” Steph beamed again, strolling forward a little with her arms behind her back, until she stopped walking. Resting a hand on her hip, she gave him a look that would make her blush any other time. Something dirty, wanting, needing. “I’m going to take it as encouragement. Tell me why you think I’m beautiful.”
As she strolled closer, he extended one leg and slid away gracefully, like he was sidestepping a bull. Eddie smiled at her sweetly sarcastic, a narcissistic but effective tactic to deflect his feelings. God, he loved how she looked at him and regarded everything so flippantly, but it was wrong. It wasn’t his Stephanie. If this was some game they were playing it’d be different, but one false move in the next couple days and she’d be dead. “I knew I should have written down one of bat’s lectures about not killing for times like this.” He walked backwards on his heels, glasses turning just a shade brighter as dark numbers and words scrolled faster than lightspeed. “Something about not stooping to their level and having limits. Blah, blah blah.” He rolled his hand in the air dismissively. “You know since I’ve been seeing you, I’ve been really good about not killing anything. Not even things that attack me. Why, I should have shot and killed Arthur’s boys in the swamp, but I didn’t.” Eddie raised his eyebrows proudly. “I still shot them though. Guns might be the coward’s defense, but they are so damned effective.”
He stopped moving as she gave him a raw look, seeing it through his numbers and alerts, but quickly hiding it with more and more windows and distractions. Eddie could win this game. If he could control himself, he could win. “I’ve never seen you like this before. So war torn and gritty like you could take on all of Gotham if you wanted to.” Violet light running up her thighs and across her stomach with appreciation. “You’ve always been strong. Stronger than anyone. But, this is just savagery at its finest.”
It wasn’t a game at all. No, this wasn’t a game to Stephanie either. How could it be a game if she was just being? If every word or act was little different from a breath forced out of her lungs, like a simple extension of herself. It seemed right to dangle herself off a rooftop or talk to Eddie so frankly or regard everything with an air of apathy that so many ached for in Gotham. A mindset that allowed them all to simply live and forget all the weights of the world resting on their shoulders. If Steph could live like this forever, in this moment, she would. No father to haunt her dreams, no worries about the family, no pressure to be anything and everything. And, maybe Eddie wouldn’t be fretting so much. She furrowed her eyebrows as he side-stepped her, and she whipped around to follow him, knocking the wind out of herself for a moment before recovering. “I don’t need bat lectures, Eddie, and neither do you. We’re beyond bat lectures. You know, he should be here now. Maybe he’ll chill out.” Her eyes widened like this was the most genius thing before her face relaxed again.
“You think me being all bloody and dirty is sexy?” she asked, smile cloying and taking her moment as he stopped. She stepped slowly, but covered a lot of space as she did. Her eyes were that stormy sort of blue they’d been up in Wonder Tower, but absent of the anger that night permeated. Just desire and want for him, unabashed and desperate, and she smirked a little as she closed in. “I can work with that.”
Eddie wasn’t about to admit out loud that he missed the presence of the Dark Knight. Not on this rooftop with her stalking him like a piece of riddled prey. But, keeping Stephanie safe and fixing this city would be a lot easier with another sane adult to help out. And, the last thing he wanted to do was think about babysitting everyone the Dark Knight cared about just to preserve some kind of old, itching need to prove himself. It used to be with riddles, but now it was to show his genius could be used for good. Even if it was only out of love for the battered bat in front of him and a desire to be something besides an obsessed criminal.
When she stepped closer, his hand slipped inside his jacket to curl his fingers around the taser in there. A smart man would knock her out now. A smart blind man. “I’m flattered you even thought about me while you were out here being a superhero.” He wasn’t smiling, though. Expression blank and thinking of other things. “Though, with the condition you’re in I don’t know you’re physically capable of a good romp on the rooftop.” Eddie was frozen in place, bright violet glasses reflecting her own savage expressions as he told himself to just do it. Think of a good shocking riddle and stick the damn taser on her neck. And, he couldn’t tell what was holding him back. Was it wanting her after a day of diligently trying to keep all his marbles? Was it betraying her on another rooftop? This was certainly giving him flashbacks of the night he dumped Lazarus Pit on her, but this was different wasn’t? Even if it was, would Stephanie remember it that way?
He slowly pulled his arm out of his jacket, empty handed. “Besides, I hardly think it’d be worth it if whatever you’re on prevents you from feeling. Is that how it works? Let’s experiment.” Hands reaching out to tug her hips closer so they were pressed up against each other, then moving up and around the bat body armor roughly to search for any kind of positive sensation out of her. Eddie knew there was work to do, responsibilities to be shouldered, but he was a curious and selfish kind of man. Why not just get a taste of it before he had to go back to doing the right thing? Once she was in his arms he pressed his lips against hers, tongue opening her mouth to explore without the usual gentle, needling foreplay.
“I’m always thinking about you, Eddie,” she said simply and with that tiny shrug that accompanied much of what she’d said since being exposed. As if it was completely and totally obvious that he was always on her mind, even if it were just a simple whisper or the image of his smile playing in her mind or the way his voice sounded when he explained something. Because to her it was. Why would he even think of questioning that? “We didn’t care when your arm was broken. There isn’t even anything wrong with me.” She knew, objectively, that wasn’t true, but she didn’t fall into thinking about anything at all. She couldn’t muster up any sort of concern in general, especially when he tugged her against himself like that. What little functionality her brain had stuttered to a stop, and she made a pleased little sound. No, she didn’t make the connections between this night and the night when he dumped that green goop on her. She barely even made the connection between this night and the night up in Wonder Tower.
She tuned to every finger roughly pressed in the right spot, pleased noises and sighs into his mouth as their tongues tangled and explored. WIthout a word, her arms slipped up his chest to rest around his neck, and she pulled him closer, close enough to feel the subtle grind of her hips into his. A low, guttural, raw sort of sound rumbled in her chest, and she crushed her lips against his hard and without finesse. “Baby,” she groaned against his lips before she traced kisses and nips across his jaw, then fumbled to begin to untie that purple tie. “I love youlove you, love--.” The declarations were lost as she grinded her hips into his again and found his mouth with hers, open, hot, and exploring.
Oh, this was bad. This was a big, bad mistake with a bow on top. He could barely even hear himself think it was bad as she grinded up against him and groaned in a way that made his eyes unfocus behind his glasses. He tried to remind himself that he didn’t even like having rooftop sex. That was more of a weird cat thing, right? And, his glasses flashed alerts of what condition her body was in. What he needed to do to save Stephanie from killing herself on accident. But, Eddie couldn’t even see it anymore. “Do you have any idea how much I want you?” He asked darkly, hands smoothing over her hips and back to look for a way to get her out of this padded batsuit. “I don’t know how I get anything done most of the time.” He looked up at her, dark eyes barely edging out from under the violet glasses. “All I ever think about is where I want to kiss you. What your body feels like up against mine. Do you have any idea, Stephanie?” Eddie whispered against her mouth, pushing for another kiss until he could make her give one of those tiny little moans.
He told himself that would be enough. A reaction that was full of bliss that Stephanie could never afford herself before. Then, he’d push her away, stick her with the taser and somehow get her back to the mansion or his place. But, even he didn’t really believe that line of thinking. After trying to make her happy for so long, especially after Bludhaven, he couldn’t really deny the chance now, could he? What if he never saw her this blissful again? If this was as close as she’d get to being truly happy, he couldn’t take it away from her. No Gotham born boy would dare. So, he peeled away the shoulders of her black and purple suit, gently kissing her exposed neck and shoulder tenderly. His nose grazed over a couple bruises and he told himself to ignore it. To keep pulling her suit down until he could explore her whole body, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the plague. About his Stephanie and what she’d say to him once she fought past this toxin and remembered this night as herself. Was he taking advantage or simply trying to give her something?
Eddie kissed her along that familiar chain of the necklace he gave her before this all started. The necklace he had seen her wearing before without anything else on waiting for him in his bed like some kind of dream. Back at his apartment between a Gotham crisis, falling into each other’s arms like there could never be another horrible disaster to pull them apart. That’s where they should be. “Let me take you back to my apartment. I know you love me. I know you do. So, listen to me, please.”
Stephanie had an idea of how much Eddie honestly wanted her, a little taste here and there when his eyes clouded over with that dark greed she both loved and would have feared from anyone else. She knew he wanted her, just like she wanted him, but his desperate declarations were new in the best sort of way, in a way that made her head go dizzy and her skin tingle under the makeshift-looking kevlar wrapped around her body. She felt her entire being electrify as he basically pleaded with her to understand how much he simply desired her. No, this was different than his sweet promises or cloying affection. This was pure and raw want, and she knew, as she stood on that rooftop, that she understood that sort of thing. The barriers disappeared, the walls fell, and she couldn’t focus on anything else but how much she ached for him right then and there.
He got those little sounds he wanted, whines and moans as he crushed his lips into hers, and she tugged hard on the tie in her hands as the Batgirl costume rolled down past her shoulders. “Eddie,” she breathed against his lips, finishing loosening the tie and fingers surprisingly quick to work on buttons. She couldn’t focus all of a sudden as he grazed kisses upon her exposed skin. Her ungloved hands dropped the buttons, leaving his shirt only partially open, and allowing one hand to twist into his dark hair while the other worked on untucking his button-up from his slacks.
Stephanie was in pure bliss. She felt none of the pain, and her senses were heightened by every touch, every graze, every kiss. “Stop thinking about it, baby, and just let it happen,” she said simply, hooking her fingers underneath his chin to tug him away from her collarbone to meet her lips again. “I’m here. I’m safe, you’re safe, we’re safe. Why do you have to think about anything else? Just let it happen,” she repeated, eyes heavy-lidded and completely oblivious to Eddie’s ulterior motives in all of this. He met her here, so he wanted the same thing, right? They were on the same page. “Just let it happen.” Fingers brushed his cheek tenderly before she wiggled her hips, rocked her pelvis into his. “Show me where you think of kissing me,” she murmured out, huskiness in her voice that sound like a twisted version of Steph as the Cat. Maybe that was what she could be if she was completely uninhibited. Man, Selina had it good. She didn’t care before all this, right? Steph desperately wished to feel like that all the time, or like this all the time. The pure, carnal need for Eddie, and the almost floating feeling from the drugs. Anything was better than what she felt like before, and this? This was great.
Eddie could feel himself melting. He was almost certain that he was melting. This wasn’t the familiar buzz of static that she gave him. This was some unnatural forplay that matched what couples did when they were bored of each other. A little rooftop game, a few lines that sounded like a woman in leather and him dressed in black to look like more than he actually was. It most certainly was working for Eddie, but that was the danger of it all. He had once read a paperback about this very thing where a woman had been possessed by some unnatural well water and transformed from her normal self to some uncaring and lustful creature that no man could really deny. And, when her lover proved he wasn’t strong enough to resist temptation, it ended up hurting the both of them in the end. Yes, this was exactly like that. It wasn’t so much about the morality of the thing, but the consequences. It was about doing everything he could not to hurt her. His Stephanie. Eddie was smart enough to see how that pattern could play out and if she remembered this, it’d hurt her more than anything he had said to her during their fight before the toxin.
He held onto her, hands threaded through her short, messy hair and arm around her waist as she pushed closer to him. “I love you.” Eddie whispered, mouth pressed against her neck as he reached into his blazer and grabbed the taser. Turning it on with a snapping, electric sound, he pushed her closer and held it up to her skin. But, no he needed a riddle. He needed a riddle to make this work or it would all fall apart. His fingers shook as his mind went through files and files looking for something shocking or electrifying. Something, something. “Riddle me this...” Eddie started, eyes squinting behind those askew, glowing shades. Come on, Nigma. He sputtered a little, staggering away from her as the taser dropped from his hand and he stopped with his finger raised as he kept searching and searching for the right thing to say. And, Eddie knew he had one. He was almost positive he had used a riddle in some such situation, but he couldn’t think. He couldn’t pull all his gears back together and wind himself up to think.
Eddie put his hands up and kept stepping back, nearly tripping on his own feet with a defeated thief look on his face. Why could he drop Lazarus Pit on her to save her life, but this was too hard? What changed? What changed? “I’m sorry.” He thought about going for the taser, there was a flick of light on the little device before searching for her face again. “This isn’t right. You aren’t right.” The anger she could hear in his voice earlier was gone and replaced by a small desperation. With confusion and love. “Come back to my apartment with me. This isn’t us.”
She didn’t feel the crackle of the taser against her skin, but there was an unfamiliar warmth that she couldn’t quite place. A warmth that burned in a different way than the tingling Eddie’s finger and lips sparked into her skin. The buzz didn’t sound right either, but whatever, right? Steph’s mind was buzzing uncontrollably, making her eyes almost glaze over with dizziness, and she had to dig her fingers hard into his arms. She whined when he whispered his love for her, just nodding along and gripping harder. She felt something off about Eddie, but she didn’t know exactly what until he staggered away from her. “Wha-?” she stuttered out as he distanced himself, snatching at air before her arms fell to her sides. The crease in her eyebrows deepened, and she was just confused. What was wrong? He was just telling her he couldn’t even resist her if he tried, right? He was into it, too. Why the sudden change?
For a few moments, she stared at him with that wide-eyed confusion, a look they’d both seen Kara perfect just by being Kara, and it looked strange and unfamiliar in her blue eyes. But, so did so much of whatever was going on with her. Whatever made her not Stephanie. She frowned deeply when the flicker of violet brought attention to the taser, and she tried to figure out why he didn’t just use it. It wouldn’t hurt, though there was a sharp sting in her chest at the sight of it. Still, the bewilderment flickered across her face, hung there like the blissful joy had only moments before, and her eyes rested on his face. “Eddie,” she said softly, tiny vestiges of the real Stephanie Brown sneaking through in the way her eyes softened, the way her head tilted until the blonde hair fell into her blue gaze, and the downturn of her lips. “Don’t--don’t worry, Eddie.” She didn’t even sound apathetic anymore, the concern bleeding through her voice, and for the first time the entire night, she was actually worried. She’d fought off Crane’s toxin before, when he’d drugged Gotham U with Thrill, and it was totally possible for her to push through the anti-fear if she really wanted. She didn’t, which was another problem entire, but for now, for Eddie she could indulge him a bit.
And suddenly, Steph felt a sharp pain in her chest, partially the broken rib rankling her, but mostly hating the way he sounded. “Don’t sound like that. Please, please, don’t sound like that. You can’t--.” She sighed sharply, twisting her hand into the hanging fabric of the Batgirl suit. Twisting, twisting until the fabric was almost tight as a vice grip on her chest. “Don’t,” she repeated, but she nodded all the same. “Okay.” It was all she said, and she needed to agree now before she tumbled back into the drug-induced haze she wanted so badly.
The first thing he did was snap his glasses off, like he wasn’t sure if he heard her right or if she was doing some kind of drugged siren call at him. Eddie was certain he had failed. That she’d hear him through the fog of bliss and reject the notion of doing the right thing just because he said it was. This wasn’t anything like that, though. This was her showing how strong she could be even when every part of her told her she didn’t have to. The rooftop was dark now. Quiet. “Stephanie.” He whispered through her pleas, hearing the concern and knowing she was fighting through for him. For him. Eddie practically ran back into her arms, reaching around her back in a hug that was more protective and loving than the usual needling affection he gave her. “You will?” A whine and a real smile, bright and sweet.
Eddie pressed his face into her neck, closing his eyes as some of the worry this city was raining down on him faded. It wasn’t going to be easy from this point on, but she poked a hole through the haze and if things got worse, maybe she could do it again. “You’re my compass. Okay? My compass. It’s not fair. I know it’s not. But, we keep each other together. Remember that for me.” His voice wasn’t shaking and for a moment it had true resolve. The kind that was set aside for solving puzzles or mysteries. He knew that everything was going to get worse in this city. That people would die and crumble. That the city couldn’t be saved by a well-meaning ex-super villain. But, as long as she could keep being strong and he kept running to her, they’d make it. They’d make it.
“I love you. Let’s go.” He reached to kiss the side of her mouth and grabbed her hand to tug her towards the exit. Smile still on his face, even though the worry started to set in again.
She elicited the most surprised oof when he bolted back over to her and wrapped his arms around her back. This? Now this felt good. This felt better than when he peeled back the Batgirl costume, when he was peppering her with nips and kisses, when his hands roamed and pressed her into her body. His arms wrapped so tightly around her midsection felt familiar and warm and right. Better than anything she’d felt all goddamn day, even though everything felt great. She quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her nose into his shoulder. With a sharp inhale, she nodded to respond to his question before responding with a muffled yes along with it. “Oh, baby,” she said gently, far more Stephanie Brown than whatever else she was at the moment. And, she nodded again, knowing full-well that she was his compass. It would have scared her a little, if she could feel scared, but she couldn’t. She only smiled into his shoulder, still a little stiff in his arms because of the adrenaline pumping through her veins.
Taking his hand with hers, she laced their fingers together. Slowly, as if testing how it all felt. She didn’t move with the first tug, almost like she was reconsidering what she just agreed to. Over her shoulder, she glanced back at the Gotham skyline and could feel it calling. No, she had to go home with Eddie. She wanted to. So, that had her shuffling behind him, same bewildered gaze flickering through her bright eyes.
Eddie knew they were on borrowed time at this point, but the second she laced his fingers with his, he could see all the plans he had to fix this click into place. He’d go pick up his dog, her cat and drive back to the mansion. He’d fix her up himself and spend the rest of the night trying to keep her entertained. He’d even call the Dark Knight, he had to call the Dark Knight before it was too late. All of it felt like a rush, like someone handed him something valuable and ran off before he could make heads or tails of it. Eddie knew it’d be easier for him to just hand it off to someone else or drop it altogether, but he couldn’t. He simply couldn’t do that to her. He didn’t know if that was a good indication of how much he had grown, or just another manifestation of his compulsions. “Come on, baby.” He whispered, eyes back at her for a moment before darting forwards towards the door.
Here was a good riddle: What did the motive matter if he was doing the right thing?