addy and steph are the (blondebat) wrote in doorslogs, @ 2014-01-29 12:42:00 |
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Entry tags: | door: dc comics, riddler, stephanie brown |
WHO Eddie and Steph
WHAT Shopping for a former goon's bb on the way.
WHEN Recently.
WHERE A baby store.
WARNING Excessive amounts of cute.
Not one person could argue against Gotham’s reputation as a dark, gritty town with what seemed like very, very little to smile about in day to day life. If you didn’t look for it, of course. If your eyes weren’t open, sure, there was nothing but depressing things in Gotham. Death, destruction, decay. Corruption and poverty and anything bad that a city can offer. It wasn’t the gleaming, joyful Metropolis, where everyone seemed so goddamn happy. In Gotham, it was easy to get lost in the darkness and dwell in the sadness it gave you. In the pain, the frustration, the loss. And, for a while after Damian’s untimely death, Stephanie was doing just that. There were days she was nearly crippled with her guilt and grief, crying and crying until she could barely breath. Other days, pent up frustration pulsed through her veins and made for some rather messy patrols or hours of CGI goons bursting into nothingness. Every day, it was in the back of her mind, the fact that he wasn’t coming back, and it felt impossible to get past it.
But, she and Eddie weren’t at odds anymore, and that brought back those flickers of hope she’d been missing from her life. Having him just there to support her, hold her, make her laugh helped wonders. He made her feel like it was okay to focus on being whole and happy again. There was still problems to work through with each other, but they were at least working towards it now instead of hiding away like everything was a-okay. And, she knew that Damian wouldn’t want her to lose herself (or, she hoped, at least), and while it was a fight to find some sort of joy in this goddamn place, she knew that with Eddie anything like that would be easier. With Eddie, she would always find that sense of happiness and love at the end of the rainbow.
And, there were happy things to think about, like the impending arrival of Frank and Maria’s baby. Lost in the shuffle of Arkham, Christmas, and the troubles following Damian’s, Stephanie had lost track of how far along Maria had gotten until Eddie reminded her that he needed to get things for a shower. It was weird to her that things could move on, that there was still new life after such a loss, but the reminder was something she desperately needed. Stephanie took on the idea of the baby in stride, gleeful to help the family and Eddie in any way she could.
That was what found them in the parking lot of a baby store on the outskirts of Gotham City. Sitting in the passenger seat of the car, she turned and smiled over at him with an easiness he probably hadn’t seen in almost a month. She drummed her fingers on the dashboard before making sure she was bundled up enough for the cold, cold, cooolldddd air. “Are you going to behave today, baby?”
Eddie had been under a lot of pressure lately. The rocky month with Stephanie, the Watchtower, the mother box and now being all that much closer to being a full on godfather to Frank’s kid. He didn’t stress out like most men did with brooding and isolation. No. Eddie tried to take it all on at once and got completely frazzled in the process. Computers would be found in the fridge, he’d start sentences about one thing and finish it about another and god help Gotham if he had more than a few cups of coffee.
Today, his hair was neatly combed with only a little curl in front and he was dressed casually which he tended to do in public with Stephanie unless they were on some date. Nerd t-shirt about Star Trek, a giant warm jacket, jeans and winter boots. He turned to Stephanie and gave her a very serious look. “Stephanie.” He looked like he was about to explain how they were going to rob the place. “I understand if you don’t want to go in there with me. People are going to assume things and I don’t want to put you in an awkward situation.” He squinted, trying to figure out if she really did want to tag along today or she was simply being supportive. Oh, who was he kidding? Stephanie loved this kind of junk.
Eddie leaned forward, gently touching both sides of her face. “You could race old ladies in the parking lot in my car if you want to. I honestly don’t know how you could turn that down- oh hey. I brought you something.” He kissed her cheek and then leaned back to dig something out of his pockets. He pulled out a green pair of knitted gloves, the ones he gave her through the Harry Potter door and the ones she left at Los Tacos when she got mad at him. He flopped them in the air. “I mean if you still want them.”
Stephanie offered Eddie a flat, unimpressed look to match the serious one he leveled on her from his side of the car. Cocking an eyebrow with an unasked really?, she pursed her lips and tried to look very, very unamused. Even with the corners of her lips twitching. “You always put me in awkward positions,” she told him with the deadpan in her voice quivering underneath the effort not to tease him. She failed. Smiling easily again, she rolled her eyes in that way she always did. “If I was scared of something like that, I would stay away from anything about babies all together, wouldn’t I?” She waved her hand dismissively. “I’m happy for Frank and Maria and Frankie. I want to come. I’m totally into it.”
She started with some mocking sounds as he suggested to just drag race in the parking lot before he took her off guard. She thought maybe it was one of his distracted moments that he’d been having lately, where he’d start a sentence and trail off into another one. Steph would be lying if she said it didn’t concern her, but she was trying to not smother him as much. Smothering him had gotten them to where they were a few weeks ago when they weren’t speaking at all. But, he could tell she was concerned by the dip of her lips when he seemed frazzled and offered to help in little ways. Cleaning, making dinner, babysitting Frankie while Eddie took care of other things.
She smiled when he dangled the gloves out for her and moved to snatch them from his hands. “Of course, I still want them.” She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Do you want me to have them, Nashton?”
Eddie was used to being the kind of guy who went over and beyond for his lady love. The kind who would build her training centers or make her jewelry or take her to the top of a restored Wonder Tower. So, it was strange when he needed her help keeping his life in order and even harder for him to show her that he appreciated it. A lot of the time it devolved to tiny gestures such as retrieving her gloves from the public place they had a fight or stopping to awkwardly make sure she was okay with tagging along. The dynamic was temporarily flipped.
Still, he was happy out of his goddamned mind.
“First you gotta say you love me.” Eddie flopped the gloves her way and then yanked them back before she could snatch them away. He opened the door a little letting that bitter cold in. “Oooh, it’s so cold. Good thing I have my gloves on. So warm and cozy, ooh.” Giving her a mischievous look he sslloowwwlly opened the door more to let in a blast of cold.
Stephanie was simply glad that they weren’t completely dysfunctional to the point of not being able to understand each other anymore. Those weeks of walking on eggshells were absolute torture, and she didn’t want to ever go back to the ugly, ugly fighting they pitted against each other. (Oh, they loved arguing, they needed the difference of opinions, but it hadn’t been the same.) She felt relaxed finally, in their relationship and in her life, for the first time in a while. So, she gladly wanted to be the support for him. She would be super girlfriend for once, and let him take a break from being the MVP of their relationship.
She pulled a face, wrinkling her nose and sticking her tongue out at him. “Bargaining?” she asked, outraged. “I don’t want to bargain.” An exaggerated shiver shook her entire body, and she made another move to snatch the gloves again. “You’re trying to kill me! I’m going to get hypothermia!” She leaned over to his side, trying to stretch as far as possible for the door and failing. “Okay, okay. I love you! Hey, jackass, I love you!” She fell back a little to smatter his face with kisses until she reached his lips and stole a long, exploring kiss. All the while inching her hands for the green gloves. “I love you,” she said softer this time, against his lips and with a smile as her fingers closed around the wool.
He laughed arrogantly as if he had just won some complicated game and then eeked when she started to climb towards him. His body squirmed as if he were going to make a run for it, gloves in hand above his head like some kind of trophy, but he stopped automatically when she kissed him. Eddie laughed, this time something more genuine and charmed, and kissed her back without another thought about keeping the gloves away from her. “I love you too, baby.” He murmured back, eyes heavy as if she had successfully put him under some blonde bat spell and his grip on the gloves loosened. “Okay, you win.” Eddie gave his best defeated look, all wide puppy dog eyes before kissing her again like he didn’t have any immediate plans to leave the car at all.
“Let’s go before we start fogging up my windows.” He pulled back just enough to look at her, gloves hands through her blonde hair before pushing the car door open and walking over to her side, hand outstretched so she’d take it. “Alright, Maria said she wanted clothes and toys. I offered to make the baby some toys out of Gotham metal scraps, but for whatever reason she wasn’t too thrilled about that.” Eddie smirked as they walked, holding the door open for her as they reached the baby store and following her inside.
It was a lot smaller than he imagined and the second the door rang to signal a new customer, the clerks looked up to see an older man with a pretty young girl. This usually indicated money. And, they wouldn’t be wrong. Eddie gave a deer in the headlights look towards Stephanie and then considered sidestepping an oncoming lady clerk into the stroller section. He wasn’t fast enough, though.
“Hi,” The lady clerk was a plump and pretty sort of girl with strawberry blonde hair and a smile that said she did volunteer work between her shifts at the store. Eddie tried to remember if he saw her at church and was relieved when he was about 76% sure the answer was no. “Can I help you two with something?”
Eddie smiled, all older male charm with an arched brow and an automatically smooth sort of glance the clerk’s way. He had done this a thousand times. Whether it was talking to the girl at the hotel desk through the Harry Potter door or a waitress at some restaurant, Eddie always had a way with talking to the ladies “Yes, erhman-” His charm suddenly fell flat, mind overwhelmed by the babystore, being there with Stephanie and how nice everyone was. “Erhmman- Steph?” With a look like he was drowning in no-tears baby shampoo and plastic rattles.
Stephanie easily slipped her now gloved hands into Eddie’s, entwining her fingers and his and tugging affectionately as they strolled from the parking spot towards the store. Swinging their arms back and forth gently. Maybe she hadn’t completely thought out how awkward this might be, or how this trip could drum up feelings from the past about a child she hadn’t kept or a fear of commitment to her riddled man. Truthfully she just wanted to spend time with him, and she wanted to be there for him in any way possible. Even if it included combatting a cherry saleswoman in a baby store.
Her eyes narrowed slightly at his fearful look, as if warning him that he better not ditch her before the woman strolled up to them with a soft smile and a happy ambiance about her. In fact, everything about this place was happy, and Stephanie couldn’t help but appreciate that. During a time where some days she could barely see a light in the darkness, this was a welcome change. The panic of being surrounded by all this baby stuff hadn’t set in yet, maybe it wouldn’t. She offered the woman a small smile that turned a little more confident as she could just sense Eddie’s brain screeching its brakes.
There was an eyebrow lift, and she said, “Yes, baby?” with a smile that was wicked and affectionate at the same time before turning back to the lovely lady. “Sorry. I think he’s overwhelmed. He’s usually real chatty.” She cupped her mouth as if keeping it a secret from him before reaching out to squeeze his fingers tightly. “We’re looking for some things for newborns.”
Eddie looked at his hands, fingers moving a little like he was trying to think up words to say about stuff. The thought popped up in his head that he actually did have a daughter out there somewhere and that alone made him digress back into a fumbling mess. He heard the comment about being chatty and then managed another smile at the clerk as if he had just comically dropped a grocery bag full of food in front of them and looked around the store as if he was just trying to make sense of everything. “Clothes. Clothes and toy- things. Do newborns even play with- I assumed- gghn-” Eddie’s throat closed up and he waved like he wasn’t going to finish the sentence and the clerk should just go ahead and take over.
“Oh, yes.” The clerk laughed and lead them over to a wall display of newborn onesies in various colors. Some of them even had little ducks on them. “It’s okay, we get plenty of dads-to-be come in here without a clue of how things work.” The clerk said to Stephanie with a joking smile. “Here’s all the clothes we have, some blankets and newborns tend to like activity walls that have bright colors and fun noises.”
“Not- we’re-” Eddie tried and then pretended to be really interested in the onesies. He turned to Stephanie with a serious expression. “This one has a duck and a penguin on it.” The first sentence Eddie had managed to put together since walking through the door.
Stephanie’s smile blossomed into a grin as she could hear the gears turning in Eddie’s brain to form full sentences instead of stutter out strings of words that barely made a thought. Was this supposed to be as awkward for her? It didn’t feel that way at all; she just felt relieved to feel anything aside from grief and sadness. She tugged at the sleeve of his coat this time, trying to make him reconnect with the world he was standing in instead of getting lost in awkwardness she refused to feel.
That was, of course, until the woman made the assumption that they were the ones expecting.
“I-I,” she started, but failed just as Eddie had moments before. Following the clerk to the other side, the blonde bat’s cheeks burned something fierce, and her blonde eyes widened comically large. Instead of focusing on the onesies that he tried to point out, she bubbled out a nervous laugh. “No, no, no. We’re not--I’m not--.” She waved at her midsection, trying to force the redness from her cheeks away. “It’s a present for his godkid. He’s gonna be a godfather soon, I’m not--.” Steph shook her head, laughing again and picking up a onesie with a cute little puppy on it. Something else to focus on aside from her embarrassment. Not even embarrassment. Shock, maybe, or just plain awkwardness. Eddie had warned her about it, and of course some people would assume, but that didn’t quell the burning of her cheeks.
Then, it was like something clicked. Godfather had a nice ring to it. Eddie smiled at Stephanie’s sudden nervous blabbering, realizing that they probably looked like a pair of awkward dorks who couldn’t turn red without thinking about how babies were made. The fact was, Eddie and Steph weren’t those people. Eddie was shameless and Stephanie had the confidence of a goddamned war hero when she wanted to. He straightened up a little. “Godfather, yes.” He smiled brightly at the clerk, that smarmy swagger returning almost all at once. “You have to understand how overwhelming this is for me. I don’t think I’ve even held a baby before. I was looking forward to buying my suit for the baptism. This is a completely different ballgame.”
The clerk looked confused and a little relieved one of them was managing to their their mind together. She gave a wary smile. “Would you like me to show you the toys?”
“Which one of them promotes the most brain development?” Eddie asked with a hmm as the clerk lead him over to a section with activity mats, dangling toys and giant stuffed animals.
“Well, this is Mr. Clown.” The clerk picked up a soft toy with a clown face in the center and arms sticking out that made noises when she pressed the ends. “He’s really popular...”
“I don’t know. Doesn’t he seem a little like nightmare fuel to you? That smile.” Eddie gave a fake shudder like a cold wind blustered through. It made the clerk laugh and nod. Then, one of the nearby pregnant mothers giggled before suggesting a toy shaped like an elephant. Eddie smirked. He had somehow managed to charm these ladyfolk. If he was lucky the clerk would completely forget the bumbling mess he was minutes ago.
Stephanie was still stuck on the little onesie with the puppy, ears as red as her cheeks mercifully covered by her purple knit hat. Cheeks as bright as Red Hood’s helmet. She wasn’t as shameless as Eddie, but this wasn’t her either. She strutted around in a bat suit, for god’s sake, and she proudly took on challenges like they were nothing. A blonde bat shouldn’t die of embarrassment in the middle of a baby store just because some woman suggested she was pregnant. Of course, there were other factors at hand, deeper things that she and Eddie had worked through almost a year ago, but that was no excuse. Still. She had to take a few steadying breaths to stop her cheeks from burning so much.
She couldn’t suppress the roll of her eyes when Eddie snapped back into action, either, even if a smile curled up the side of her mouth. Give him a few seconds, and Eddie could charm the entire world if he wanted. Steph knew that. It was part of what drew her to him in the first place. That goddamn easy charm. While he strolled away from the clothes display towards the toys, she stayed for a moment and picked up a couple of cute baby outfits. Including one Tigger themed one with a hat attached. Little ears on the top and everything.
Slowllllyyyy strolling over to where Eddie was comparing toys, Stephanie smiled softly as he interacted with the women in the store. Sometimes, she felt a lick of jealousy when he wiggled his eyebrows at a saleswoman or smirked at a waitress, but she felt none of that here. Just a silly sort of affection that hung on her face the same way the red cheeks did. There was still a pinkness to her face, but she tried to take that in stride.
“Clowns are terrifying,” Steph offered as she stepped into the conversation, clothes in her hands. “He knows I’ve got a thing about clowns.” Her teasing sounded so much more natural than the awkward stammering from before, even if the women could clearly sense that she was still uncomfortable.
Eddie was inspecting the elephant that the pregnant woman had given him. It had big floppy ears that made a BBRRRGGHH noise if they were pressed just right, a long trunk that made a more friendly bbbROOOO noise if pulled and a big fat stomach that didn’t make a single noise if hugged. He guessed that if anyone gave him this as a child, he would have pulled it apart on day one just to see how it worked before screaming for someone to sew it back together.
“We’re more into dinosaurs than clowns.” Eddie wrapped one arm around Stephanie as she walked over, smiling down at that slightly uncomfortable look on her face. If she was fast, she could catch it returned back to her in the deep end of his dark eyes, but Eddie was a performer at heart. A carnie kid since age 12. He wasn’t supposed to be afraid. “The baby’s older brother, Frankie, he’s into dinosaurs, too. She-” Eddie pointed the elephant’s trunk towards Stephanie “Does the best velociraptor impression you’ve ever heard in your life.”
“I think we might have some dinosaur toys, let me go look okay?” The clerk asked, smile more natural than it had been all day and Eddie turned to Stephanie. “What’d you get for me?” He made the elephant point to the stuff in her hand.
Her arm slipped around his waist when he placed his arm around her, free fingers digging into his side almost possessively as she looked up at him. She did catch that flicker of something in the corner of his deep browns because Steph caught all the little things about him when she wanted. There was another squeeze, a reassurance that it was okay to feel weird about it, right? All the commitment and love they had for each other didn’t factor in anything like what that woman assumed. But, she felt stronger in his arms, feeding off that smarmy energy exuding from him and soaking it up for herself.
“We do. You should see our dino exploring outfits.” There was a wiggle of her eyebrows that would look so disturbingly familiar to Eddie, he might suspect she was possessed by some Riddler demon. Stephanie poked his side with the hand holding the little baby outfits. “That better not be a comment about me and screeching, mister, or I’ll have to beat you up.” Even with the threat, it was clear to anyone how she felt about the older man wrapping his arm around her. When the saleswoman went to search for some dino stuffed animals, Stephanie wrinkled her nose up and smiled at him.
“You stop pointing that at me, Nashton. No wielding adorable elephant trunks at me.” She held out the outfits. All adorable and in various pastel colors. She wiggled the Tigger outfit in front of him, particularly proud of that one, and asked, “The wonderful thing about Tiggers?”
Eddie gave an impressed waggle of his eyebrows back at Stephanie, a little proud that they had spent so much time together that she was practically owning his mannerisms. His attention singled in on her and his mind stopped jumbling around looking for a clear broadcast signal. “Just be glad I didn’t tell them about your low, rumbling brontosaurus impression.” He watched as she held up the different onesies, making sounds of approval at the more flamboyant ones (naturally) before grinning at the little Tigger outfit. “Well, let’s see. They’re bouncy, trouncy, pouncy-” Eddie counted on his fingers as if he were naming off baseball legends. “Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun...” He kept going until he ran out of fingers, using the elephant’s trunk as a good substitute. “However, I think you’ll find that the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is that I’m the only one.” Eddie lifted one finger up in the air dramatically.
“Therefore, we can’t give that to the little baby. It’s going to ruin my Tigger credibility. My Tigger stocks will be in the gutter. Twitter will unverify my Tigger account!” He made a gimmie motion with his hand, using the elephant as a gun to stick her up. “I’m afraid you’ll have to hand that over, or I’ll show you why they say my bottom is made out of springs.”
Stephanie grinned brightly as he recited the Tigger Song, gleeful as always in the childishness they brought out in each other. Everything in Gotham was so serious, but Eddie reinforced a sort of youthful easiness in the blonde bat that she could lose if she didn’t try to keep it alive. With him, it was just simply existing that made it possible. And that was one of the reasons why they just worked so well together. They were both kind of immature, but in the best way. It kept them on their toes, it kept them interested, it kept them fun.
The blonde bat raised her eyebrows as he brandished the elephant trunk like a weapon until she slowly put her arms up in a protective manner. “I thought you were done with all of this,” she accused, fake angry and astonished that he could hold an elephant on her. “I know exactly why they say your bottom’s made out of springs, we sleep in the same bed.” Horrified, with comically wide eyes again, she tossed the outfit at him. “You’ll be usurped one day, Edward Nashton, and I’ll be celebrating with the world. Rubbing it in your face that you aren’t the only one.”
A grin betrayed Eddie, a loose and happy one that wasn’t riddled or punctuated by question marks. He bit it back, aheming to keep himself from corpsing any more than he had already. Deep breath. “I know what I’ll do.” He said mischievously, carefully taking the Tigger outfit from her and holding it up like it was some kind of grand prize. “I’ll train this child to be my protege. The next great Tigger! Then who will be laughing? Me!” Eddie started a muhahaha that could have been borrowed from his golden age of comics era right as the clerk walked up.
“I uhm-” The clerk eyed the both of them, arm full of dinosaur themed toys and outfits. “I- found some great dinosaur things for you guys.” She was suddenly the awkward one out of the whole bunch, a little thrown off by the goofing around that was Eddie and Stephanie on any given day out. Eddie smiled brightly at her, his hair curling forward as he held his arms out to take all the baby stuff from her.
“Thank you, this looks fantastic. Is there somewhere we can sit to look over these?” Eddie asked, all gracious and polite like he wasn’t just ranting about being a super villain version of Tigger. She pointed over to a set of rocking chairs and Eddie turned on his heels, smiling with a nod at the eavesdropping pregnant woman before heading over to the chairs. He motioned for Stephanie to pick the one she wanted before sitting down and placing the pile of stuff next to him. “Alright, let’s get serious here. We need to bring the best gifts period or my Godfather title will be revoked.”
Stephanie shot the clerk raised eyebrows and a grin that melted away any visible discomfort that lingered in her face. She was more than used to Eddie’s goofiness. Mostly because it reflected in herself. She wasn’t known for her silly comebacks and dorky quips for nothing, after all. It was all part of what brought them together, too. The ability to bounce their quirky, silly humor off one another and just be themselves. Not Batgirl and the Riddler, but Eddie and Steph. Two people who were just kind of naturally happy and bright, even if they got lost in the darkness now and then.
“Thanks,” she told the saleswoman, wiggling her fingers as a sort of see you later before strolling to the rocking chairs behind Eddie and his armful of dinosaur baby goodies, arms swinging back and forth. She considered the chairs for a moment before she chose one of the biggest ones, a beautiful darkwood with a black cushion on the seat and a carving of birds on the head. Curling up in the chair, it almost swallowed her whole, but before it could, she leaned forward to grab a cute little stuffed stegosaurus. She rawwwrrrred quietly, nudging him with the tail, and then she put it in her lap. Poking the little plush spikes that ran down its back.
“You won’t get revoked. That’s not how that works. They already made the mistake of choosing you, I don’t think much will deter them,” Steph teased, tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth, before tossing the plush dinosaur at him. “Doofus.” Beaming over at him, chin resting on her hand as she placed her elbow on the armrest, she continued, “I think they just chose you because they know you won’t cheap out later on. Like, pay for school, the baby’s first car, prom. Bail money.” She ticked each off with her fingers, smirk curling up her lip.
“Oh, thanks baby.” Eddie replied all dry with an eyeroll as he caught the dinosaur and placed it next to the elephant he was still holding onto. “I know that’s why they picked me. Frank isn’t an idiot. The guy with the most money can at least send the kids to boarding school and make sure they have a college education.” The sad thing was that Eddie was completely serious. He couldn’t see why anyone would have him be Godfather beyond his money. What other qualities did he have to take care of kids? Well, beyond being cartoonishly immature. Blame that on being a hodgepodge of a dozen different Riddlers.
He trotted the elephant over his lap to say hello to the dinosaur, who danced away. “So, I have to prove to all the other friends and family members that I am indeed made of money. I should go ahead and buy the baby some bonds. Maybe a car?”
He set the stuffed animals on a nearby table and reached down to pick up a box of noisy, clattering toys that were almost as bright as his riddler suits. Eddie looked over the different toys inside. “The T-Rex isn’t to scale, but we can teach the kid about that stuff later. Take it to the museum or something. Well, actually Frankie knows plenty he can handle it for us.”
The playing stuffed animals were regarded with a familiar raise of eyebrows, reminding her a little of that shared dream she and Eddie had months ago. Where they were best friends from childhood and exchanged decoder rings like they were promise rings and kissed their plush animals. She smiled briefly at that memory, if that could be called a memory, wondering if Eddie still thought about that dream from time to time.
Stephanie heaved a sigh when Eddie started off with all the doubt and rubbed her eyes in an exaggerated form of frustration. She wasn’t frustrated, not really, but she thought that he was being so silly about that. “Baby,” she said softly, shooting him a look that confessed all of that. “I’m kidding. Good god.” After a couple of rocks in the chair, she slid out of the chair and knelt in front of his chair, taking both of his hands in hers and tugging until he looked down at her. Passersby looked at the odd scene with curious eyes, but she didn’t care much at all. She tugged again.
“Baby. Edward Nashton,” Steph implored, looking up at him with honest blue eyes. “They didn’t choose you because of your money or because of anything like that. They knew you’d be a good back-up for them, okay? They knew that you’re gonna care about that baby as much as they do. That you’ll do almost anything for that family.” She squeezed his hands and smiled. “Okay?”
Eddie wasn’t looking for a pity party. He was the bad guy trying to do good things, remember? His eyebrows shot up in confusion at her soft voice and he rrroocckkked back in the chair when she knelt next to him and he shook his head. “No, come on Stephanie. It’s true.” He rolled his bottom lip between his teeth and gave a look over her shoulder as if to say he didn’t need to be comforted. Eddie knew what kind of man he was. Sure, everyone in Gotham deserved a little self pity, but this wasn’t one of his parties. This was just fact. Money made things work in Gotham. Not good intentions.
He leaned forward and smiled sheepishly at her. “I’m okay with it. I don’t care if people only see question marks or money when they look at me. Even if Frank can’t see anything else. I know who I am. I’m the guy who sends them to Hawaii when a toxin hits the city. I’m the guy who made sure Frank could open a successful deli. That’s probably why your friends think you’re with me, right? The money? The nice suits? Come on, Stephanie.” Eddie lifted up her hands to kiss them. Brushing his lips across her knuckles and down her fingers. “Just because you see something special in me, doesn’t mean anyone else can.”
Stephanie shot him a look, lips pursed and eyes rolling, but instead of immediately arguing, she fell quiet as he brushed his lips all over her hands. Fingers warming at every gentle touch. Wiggling just a touch here and there. She wasn’t one who focused on money as the root of anything, even in a place like Gotham. Even if that was what led her dad to do all the awful things he did. Actually, it was probably in spite of that. She never saw wealth as a virtue, truthfully. It was something that happened. Some people had money, some people didn’t. There was never a thirst for that kind of green in her life beyond what she needed. Sure, it was great to have someone with money, but Steph would never rely on Eddie for something like that.
“Yeah, no.” She rolled her eyes and tugged on his hands again. “Okay, maybe that’s part of it. Maybe. I’m just saying, there’s more to Frank and Maria than you think, baby, and they wouldn’t trust their kids with just anyone.” She didn’t want to patronize him, and she was trying really hard not to sound urgent or too comforting. Just frank and factual. “Do you think they forgot how hard you worked to help them during the plague? And yeah, you sent them away, and you invested in his business, but c’mon. That’s not just about money. It’s about showing how you care.”
Steph smirked. “And, my friends think that I’m terrible arm candy, so no, I don’t think that’s it. If anything, they wonder why you’re with me sometimes,” she teased. Waggled her eyebrows. “Money doesn’t like a girl who curses like a bro watching the Super Bowl.”
Maybe deep down Eddie could believe that people could see his merits beyond the obvious. Maybe even farther down, he cared that most of them never would. When Muerte insisted that he had scars, he told her that most of them no one could see. Not because he buried them under brooding or painted on smiles. But, because he was good at buying his own lie. The best cons were the ones he believed in, after all. “Money’s the main reason and that’s just a fact. When you care about your kids, you want to build them the best nest, right? So, if you kick the bucket, why not send them to live with some goofy old guy with enough money to have cash fights in the middle of the living room.” That was real logic and Eddie always had a hard time understanding how people perceived him. Mostly because he didn’t completely care.
He let her hands go and turned the box to face her so she could see the bright, plastic dinosaurs. “What’s even better is that I’m a self made man. One day, when they finally tear down Blackgate, I’ll show you exactly where I used to live. Your old home? Yeah. That was a paradise compared to the hole I lived in. I don’t mind my reputation and you can believe if Frank and Maria die, I’m going to give every last cent I can to those damned kids. Because that’s what a good Godfather does.” Every word out of Eddie’s mouth was so working class Gotham that it almost hurt. Here was a man who prided himself on writing the best riddles out of the most obscure knowledge speaking like he was tired of having nothing. A song that every single mobster, crook, criminal, police officer, bank teller, hustler muttered from their dirty apartment in the bad part of town.
Eddie leaned forward, placing the dinosaur toy down on the floor and cupped her face with his hands. “See, and that’s it. If your friends knew where I came from, it’d be no surprise why I want you. If I show you where I grew up, you’ll tell me it looks like a place down the street from your old home.”
While he might not care what other people think on the surface -- he never really cared what others thought, did he? -- Stephanie always cared about what others thought of him. To a point, of course. She knew that the Batfamily would never implicitly trust him the way she did, or even the way Bruce did. Her friends raised eyebrows not at his money, but at his age. Wasn’t he too old for her, they would always ask. But, those things never dictated how the blonde bat acted or felt. She was never very good at listening to the opinions of others, whether it was good or bad. Still, that didn’t mean that she didn’t get angry if they were disparaging towards Eddie. If they didn’t think he was a wonderful man underneath all the pomp and circumstance. It was easy to get lost in the surface, but Steph always saw more than that. She tried her hardest not to judge a book by its cover, and she expected people to do the same.
She fell back to sit on her heels, still within his reach but not cloying for his attention like before. She kept her hands on the armrest of his rocking chair, gently pushing it up and down to give Eddie a slow rock in his chair. “Are you gonna hate me if I don’t agree with you at all?” she asked softly, with an affectionate smile and a knowing blue-eyed glance. He was always convincing, and there might have been a twinge of agreement in her stomach, but Steph was steadfast. “Because I don’t agree. I’m not the only one that can see more of you than you want. Well.” She smirked. “I’m the only one with Eddie superpowers, but that’s different.” Poking his thigh, she offered him a quiet smile.
The rocking stopped when he caught her face in his hands, and she stared at him unabashedly. “You’re wrong,” she told him softly, turning in his hold to kiss his palm. “Why do you think you care about all them? Because you’re a big ol’ softie, and they can see that. You might not want to admit it, but it’s true. You’re giving, you’re kind, and you’re amazing.” Her hands moved up to curl around his, and she squeezed.
Eddie bubbled out a laugh, trying to roll his eyes at her as if she were embarassing him somehow. He didn’t have to worry about the rest of Gotham calling him a big softie, but Stephanie could always trot it out like a big old trump card. “I only have so much giving a damn to go around! And, I spend a majority of it on you and myself!” Eddie was not the kind of man to deflect compliments, so what was he doing? Stephanie had him with words like kind and giving. Words that he didn’t hear from anyone else. Words he thought were true about himself even if he never let it show to anyone except Stephanie.
He pulled a face, a sort of immature shake of his head with his eyes comically large. The tips of his ears turned a strange shade of pink and he scrambled for the rest of the toys. “Alright, alright. Alright. Let’s just blow all my money on these and get out of here before someone recognizes us.” Eddie dropped one of the boxes to tug her closer instead, kissing the side of her face before staring back into those blue eyes. “I really have to find a way to revoke your Eddie superpowers.”
“Oh, blah, blah, blah,” she teased, tilting her head back and forth and beginning to rock the chair again. “I promise I’ll keep it a secret if you want me to, but you’re really, really, reaaallllyyy bad at hiding it yourself.” The little blonde bat tried her best not to look smug when she saw that pinkness on the tips of his ears. There he was -- hook, line, and sinker. She was right about the Eddie superpowers, after all. Despite all the doubt they had sussed through over the past month, they did know each other. They knew each other inside and out, knew how to pull each other apart and sew each other back together. A trick they had both learned over the last year and perfected time and time again. She mimicked his face as he snatched up some of the toys with an over exaggerated one of her own.
“Good luck with that,” she challenged. Steph smiled softly when he kissed her cheek, and she looked back up at him in earnest. She took up the box he dropped, even as she slid closer to him, up on her knees so she could lean her body over the armrest. “There’s no amount of Kryptonite that works on me, and you know it.” Pressing a quick kiss to his lips, she pulled back enough to lift a finger up just like he did. “Plus,” she continued in that all-knowing tone meant to mock his, “you’ve got super, duper, epically effective and strong Stephanie superpowers. If we wanna be fair, I gotta put that in check, too.”
He leaned closer, legs on either side of her body and the rest of the babystore, the rest of Gotham seemed to buzz away into static. Later, when they were laying in bed working on their separate projects, he’d realize what was the biggest problem with their time alone in the training center after Damian died. Somehow they had both managed to drag all of Gotham in with them. The smell, the anger, the cruelty of it all, stuffed into that little training center so they couldn’t even see each other anymore. But, here in this store surrounded by normal people in broad daylight, when he leaned forward all he could see and hear and taste and feel was her.
“That might be true, but my powers don’t work like yours do.” Eddie said softly and nipped at her finger as if it was mocking him. “Sometimes they don’t even work at all. You’re much more powerful than I am. A hundred times more.” He tilted his chin to the side in a request for a kiss, eyes a little pathetic looking if she hesitated for even a second.
After a hard rock of the chair, she let her hand fall onto his thigh, gripping it lightly with pressure as if to let him know she will always be there. Stephanie didn’t think about who might stumble upon them in that babystore, if conservative mothers-to-be would be scandalized by the unabashed affection bleeding through the two of them. That was them, Stephanie and Eddie. None of the vitriolic hatred they spat at each other when things got ugly after Damian’s death and Muerte’s attack. No, this simple sort of love that no one in Gotham like them had, or probably ever could have.
“Pssshhhh,” Steph started, unimpressed by all of that. She giggled when he nipped at her finger, wiggling it in his face, right in front of his nose, before brushing it across his jaw. “No, no, yours is just as strong. Just. As. Strong.” She punctuated each word with a bop to his nose, eyes crinkling in amusement. “You make me putty in your hands. That’s goddamn strong.” And, like the cruel tease she was, she did hesitate for a moment until his eyes grew too pathetic for her to resist. Catching his mouth with hers, she closed her eyes and let herself get lost in him for a long string of moments. “See,” she said against his mouth, lips curling into a smile. “Baby, I’m putty.”
Eddie’s throat rumbled and he melted down in the seat, eyebrows waggling as if they were in the middle of a club instead of a babystore. He hummed against her lips, smug as if he had just won a prize. “I can’t remember. Is it bad manners to get turned on in between the strollers and high chair sections?” He asked quietly, glancing over her shoulder to see an old woman gawking at them. Her mouth wide open with eyes bulging out of her head like she saw a ghost. “Hey lady,” Eddie raised his voice a little. “If you want to see how babies are made, keep watching and you might learn something.” The old woman huffed, stomping away and Eddie grinned like a kid who just told a naughty joke to a teacher.
“Okay, grab the stuff and let’s get out of here before I get us kicked out.” He pressed a quick kiss to the edge of her mouth before gathering up all the toys that had been discarded for the sake of giving her attention.
Steph jerked her gaze across her shoulder just in time to see the old woman pissed off at their overly affectionate display, and she offered her a smile, warm and teasing and not apologetic at all. She never felt sorry for showering Eddie with kisses or holding onto him or tugging on his hand. Their relationship was like a trophy that she wanted to display with pride. Better than any Riddler trophy that might have hung in Gotham. Despite what anyone might do to make them ashamed, she would never want to hide what they had away. Even if it might not be particularly appropriate.
She pushed off the floor with an exaggerated grunt. “Well, babies have to get made somehow, y’know,” she teased with a wink. “I’m sure many, many children came from their parents fooling around near the burp clothes and Diaper Genies.” Relieving him of some of the items, she cradled a few stuffed animals in her arm, clothes tucked in nooks and crannies. As they began to walk, she rumbled out a thoughtful sound. Not sad or worried. Just considering.
“Do you think it’s gonna be weird? To have a baby around us. Not like, constantly, obviously, but enough.” They both had children somewhere. Maybe not in this universe, but they did. Both daughters they hadn’t had in their lives in years. Stephanie, for all her happiness about new life coming into theirs in whatever capacity it did, couldn’t help but think about that.
Eddie smiled over to her, tilting on his foot so he could bump into her side. Truthfully, Eddie could have all kinds of kids he didn’t know about by now. He was well over eighty and he liked to think there were enough women in Gotham with soft spots for geeky charmers to enhance the gene pool. However, the mere thought of Enigma (who he never got the pleasure of meeting) made him cringe. A lost child or one claiming to be didn’t feel like it was his. It didn’t feel as wonderful and special as being Godfather to Frank and Maria’s new baby and uncle to little Frankie Jr.
“I don’t think so.” He ventured with a shrug. “I mean we’re already good at babysitting and you know we’re going to be taking care of that kid when Frank and Maria need a breather.” Eddie knew what it meant to say they were good with kids, but he wasn’t going to lie to her. They were both naturals, especially when they worked together. Still, he knew there was still a caged bird in there somewhere, so he played it off. “Kids are easy. You feed them, clean up after them, make them laugh and then try to teach them something.” Eddie turned to look at her. If this was about the fact that they both had kids somewhere, well that wasn’t something he could answer for her. “We’re different people than we were before. Don’t you think?”
She smiled when he bumped her side, returning the contact with a switch of her hip into his. In the back of her mind, she knew that they were both wonderful with children. Exuberant energy, unflappable happiness, and tenderheartedness that connected immensely with kids. Plus, Eddie and Steph kind of spoke kid. They were youthful and patient enough, but also not too soft. They were fantastic with children, and maybe one day there would be a circumstance that brought a child of their own into their lives. But, all of that didn’t stop the little quake of commitment phobia in her stomach. She could read into his words. She always did.
Still, she nodded when he continued. “Yeah, you’re right.” Even as she raised an eyebrow that said kids weren’t easy. “I mean, they seem easy because we’re only around them on a temp basis. Like, rent-a-kid or something. Nice, little doses,” she played off as well, glancing down at her armful of things for the new baby Gessati. That wasn’t completely true, of course. Steph knew they could deal with the stress of a baby like they managed everything else, but she was kind of glad -- okay, really glad -- they wouldn’t have to deal with that for a long, long time. Still, it was good to think about. Consider what that would be like with him.
Eddie wiggled his eyebrows (at himself when she wasn’t looking) like he just dodged Bane running towards him at full speed. Not automatically flailing at taking care of some newborn with her was a recipe for disaster. She could have freaked and shut down or freaked and argued about their ability to act like responsible adults. But, she didn’t. She played it off as a part time gig and Eddie was in the clear again. He kissed the top of her head. “Nice little doses.” He agreed, plopping all the things in his hands on the counter with a charming smile over to the clerk. It wasn’t that Eddie didn’t think about the future. He did it all the time. But, if he was ever going to ask her to start a family with him or even get married, he wanted to know it was absolutely right.