[His breath catches in his throat. He tugs on his pants and scrambles to the bars on hands and knees, white-knuckling them. The cold metal sears his palms, the pads of his fingers.
Less than twelve hours ago, he had shown up on Ed’s doorstep with a scant few possessions from City Hall, seething with outrage. Riddler had been the first to greet him. Not without a smirk and the requisite snarky jab between old friends, of course. But it had been a small price to pay for a chance to mentally regroup. A chance, more importantly, to spend the night someplace that wasn’t one of the encampments established in the former Green Zone.
The sofa had made for a surprisingly cozy bed with a spare pillow and blanket tossed onto it. And lying there in the candlelight, breathing in the musty scent of yellowing books, Oswald had felt a rare sense of peace settle over him - his mind willing to set aside his plans for tomorrow in favour of enjoying the stillness. But tomorrow never came. Not the tomorrow he was expecting.
That evening they spent together - sitting around the fireplace, commiserating over mugs of spiked tea - seems like nothing more than a distant dream now. A warm, soft moment in time so far removed from the here and now that it feels like it never really existed.
Goosebumps sweep across his back and he shivers.]
Ed...
[He stares at Ed through his messy hair, eyeliner smeared around his eye. He can just make out Ed’s silhouette, the blinking of the collar around his neck.
That they’re in this hell together is less a comfort than it should be.]
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Date: 2025-04-01 03:45 am (UTC)Less than twelve hours ago, he had shown up on Ed’s doorstep with a scant few possessions from City Hall, seething with outrage. Riddler had been the first to greet him. Not without a smirk and the requisite snarky jab between old friends, of course. But it had been a small price to pay for a chance to mentally regroup. A chance, more importantly, to spend the night someplace that wasn’t one of the encampments established in the former Green Zone.
The sofa had made for a surprisingly cozy bed with a spare pillow and blanket tossed onto it. And lying there in the candlelight, breathing in the musty scent of yellowing books, Oswald had felt a rare sense of peace settle over him - his mind willing to set aside his plans for tomorrow in favour of enjoying the stillness. But tomorrow never came. Not the tomorrow he was expecting.
That evening they spent together - sitting around the fireplace, commiserating over mugs of spiked tea - seems like nothing more than a distant dream now. A warm, soft moment in time so far removed from the here and now that it feels like it never really existed.
Goosebumps sweep across his back and he shivers.]
Ed...
[He stares at Ed through his messy hair, eyeliner smeared around his eye. He can just make out Ed’s silhouette, the blinking of the collar around his neck.
That they’re in this hell together is less a comfort than it should be.]