Chapter Text
Harvey sat opposite Bruce, both on their breaks. They had chosen one of the small circular tables near the counter so Selina could join in their conversation: interrogating Harvey about his date.
Harvey had of course told Selina what had happened as soon as he'd gotten home. He doubted Selina would have let him sleep otherwise. But he knew the date was something they'd revisit to analyse once Selina had someone to bounce her thoughts off.
He was happy for it, honestly, running over the events in his head, explaining them again and again. It felt kind of pathetic how much he enjoyed it. It scratched a specific itch in his brain that part of him wished he didn't have.
Bruce was picking his way through a ceasar salad as they talked, Harvey inhaling a cheese and tomato panini.
They also had a caramel mocha each, which tasted like dirt compared to the one he'd had Sunday.
“It went well then? Your date?” Bruce asked.
Harvey shrugged, “I guess, yeah.”
“They spent the whole time mackin’ out,” Selina said loudly from her place behind the counter, lounging over it like a cat in the sun as if trying to get closer to the both of them, despite already being close enough to take part in the exchange.
Harvey frowned, mouth half full of food, “We did not. And who the fuck says ‘mackin’ out'? How old are you?”
He turned his attention to Bruce, eyebrows lifting for emphasis. “We kissed once.”
“And then he said ‘You are too tempting’,” Selina added, voice still far too loud.
Thankfully there were no customers in the shop, but Harvey couldn't help worrying someone might somehow overhear.
“Wow?” Bruce smirked, eyes widening.
“I'm telling you he's obsessed!” Selina continued.
Harvey shook his head, trying to stop the blush that was threatening to claim his face.
Edward wasn't obsessed. Neither was he. It was just nice to have someone genuinely interested in him. Willing to kiss him without having a few drinks first.
“Why wouldn't he be obsessed? You have seen Harvey, right, Selina?” Bruce joked.
Selina shrugged, "I guess I might find him attractive if I was also a million year old sad gay man.”
“Hey,” Harvey said, warning. “Edward's nice and he likes me.”
“And you like him?” Bruce questioned.
Harvey felt his chest tighten at the question. He hasn't really planned to talk about it with Bruce, but he was asking a direct question.
He nodded.
Selina scoffed. “You should have heard him when he got home yesterday, Bruce. He was blabbering. It was actually so cute.”
“I wasn't blabbering. I don't blabber,” Harvey said defensively.
“I couldn't get you to shut up!”
“I wish you’d shut up,” Harvey grumbled.
Selina smirked, “Give me $50, and I'll consider it.”
Bruce chuckled weakly. “I could lend you it, Harvey.”
“Fuck you, Bruce,” Selina jibed, picking a quarter out of the tip jar and throwing it at him.
Bruce caught it skillfully, and placed it down on the table, turning his eyes back to Harvey. “You do like him?” he asked again.
Harvey nodded again. “Yeah, I think I do,” he felt words begin to tumble from him, “he's interesting, sweet, really smart but he likes me challenging him,” he felt himself pause, almost unsure if he should say what he was about to: “And… he's smaller than me, which makes the age difference feel less intimidating, somehow?” he cleared his throat, “I know that's weird.”
“I think it's insightful,” Bruce said with a nod, his finger absently dragging the coin through a drop of spilled coffee, smearing out small spirals on the wood. “Though that does beg the question: would you date a 100 year old if he were 4 foot tall?”
Harvey frowned, “If he's as engaging as Edward is then perhaps,” he said, voice flat.
The three of them jumped as the door to the cafe swung open, the air filling with a familiar ‘ding’. They turned their heads to see Edward walk in.
There was a millisecond of near awkwardness- Edward’s smile faltering in reaction to having three sets of eyes flick to him. He must know he’d interrupted something, someone as smart as he was would probably realise they had been talking about him.
“Hi, good afternoon,” Selina cooed in her sweetest customer service voice, her posture straightening. “Your usual?”
“Please,” Edward answered. He made a beeline for Harvey, standing at his side, hand quickly finding a place on his shoulder.
“How are you today?” he purred, his eyes on Harvey as if the rest of the world didn't exist.
Harvey smiled up at him, Edward's gaze like a heat lamp, making his face warm. “Really good.”
“Me too,” Edward replied mechanically, the words rehearsed.
Harvey could feel tension radiating off him. He was either bad at lying, or intentionally seeking attention. “Work stressful?” he asked.
Edward nodded, a small but deliberate frown popping onto his face for a second, vanishing quickly.
“You should quit,” Harvey joked. “Hang out with me all day.”
Edward’s forced smile turned soft and genuine. “I wish I could.” He reached into his pocket, pulling out a small shiny grey box, “I'm just here to drop this off for you.”
Harvey took the box and glanced at it, it was the puzzle Edward had promised him.
“Now, this is the hardest one I have,” Edward explained, speaking unusually slowly. “I don't expect you to solve it but I might be slightly disappointed if you don't.”
Harvey pulled his eyes away from Edward, studying the box before opening it, inspecting the puzzle. Two metal circles that made a figure of eight, encased in a third strip of metal.
“Is that a Cast Infinity?” Bruce interjected from his seat opposite Harvey.
Harvey had forgotten he was there.
Edward's eyes snapped to Bruce. “Indeed.”
Bruce huffed softly at the confirmation, "I didn't think it had been released yet.”
“It hasn't,” Edward said smugly. He pulled away from Harvey slightly, offering Bruce his hand to shake. “You're Bruce Wayne, aren't you.”
Bruce nodded, shaking Edward's hand.
“Harvey mentioned you. You're familiar with the Cast range?” Edward continued.
“Intimately,” Bruce answered simply.
“Nice to meet a fan.” Edward turned his head back to Harvey. “Now. No cheating. Don't let him-” he jabbed his finger towards Bruce, “-anywhere near it.”
Harvey nodded dutifully. “You have my word,” he smiled.
“Lovely,” Edward cooed. He clasped his hands together, “Now I'm afraid I can't stay. I have idiots to get back to.”
He stood for a second, his eyes settling themselves on Harvey’s lips before he pulled them away, the force of it making him shift slightly on his feet. “I'll talk to you later.”
“Talk to you later,” Harvey echoed, his heart in his throat at Edward's gaze, his chest aching eerily as Edward pulled away. Edward had wanted to kiss him, but decided against it. Maybe he didn’t want to show him up infront of his friends? Maybe he thought he was being polite.
Edward walked to the counter, picking up his coffee and stuffing a handful of notes into the tip jar. He flashed a soft smile over his shoulder at Harvey as he started towards the door.
Harvey felt a smile creep onto his face, pulling himself quickly to his feet. “Wait, you forgot something.”
Edward stilled, turning back towards him. “Oh?” he stammered, his eyes searching the floor and table, looking for something he may have dropped.
Harvey quickly crossed the gap between them, and placed a gentle kiss onto Edward’s lips. “There.”
“Oh…” Edward swallowed hard as Harvey pulled away, that soft smile on his face growing. “Um, thankyou.” He lets his eyes travel over Harvey again. “I have to go, I’ll be late.”
Harvey's eyes stayed on the door a few moments after it closed, before letting them drift back to Selina and Bruce.
Bruce looked Harvey up and down and gave a soft nod. “He seems nice?”
Selina held out the wad of cash Edward had left them, “Very nice.” She flicked through the notes. “Only $74 dollars? You must be a bad kisser.”
Harvey frowned, “I'm not a bad kisser.”
“Pre-kiss we were getting over 100, numbers don't lie Harv.”
Harvey huffed softly as he moved back to the table and sat down, turning his eyes to the puzzle Edward had given him, rotating the metal object in his hands.
“What am I meant to do with this..?”
“Solve it?” Bruce smirked.
Harvey glared at him.
“You have to remove the two rings,” Bruce began to explain.
"You're not meant to help me.”
“You asked.”
Harvey wiggled one of the rings, trying to pry it from its home.
As he did his phone buzzed.
‘Solve it yet?’-Edward.
Harvey scoffed at the message.
“What?” Selina enquired.
“He's asking if I solved it yet.”
Selina rolled her eyes, smiling, “Oh my god, he's so obsessed with you!”
Harvey felt himself flush, and turned his eyes back to his phone. “Shut up,” he said softly.
He replied to Edward's text.
‘No :(‘- Harvey.
‘You'll get it. I believe in you.’- Edward.
‘Perhaps if you give me more than 5 minutes.’ - Harvey.
“I'm pretty sure your breaks over, Harvey,” Selina purred. “Stop messaging your boyfriend. You literally just saw him.”
Bruce lifted his wrist to look at his watch. “My break's almost over too,” he grumbled, stabbing the last of his food and hastily eating it. He got to his feet, pushing his chair back under the table neatly. “I wish I didn't have to go back.”
“Technically you don't,” Selina sneered, beginning to clean up after making Edward's coffee. “You could retire at age 23, live off your inheritance.”
Bruce’s nose crinkled, he shook his head. “Don't think that life's for me, unfortunately.”
Harvey huffed, “Yeah, I’d give it like a week before you went mad.”
Selina rolled her eyes playfully, “Got one friend with generational wealth, got one with a sugar daddy. When will it be my turn?”
The rest of the shift dragged past, with Harvey finding the odd moment or two to check his phone, but soon after Edward left he stopped replying. Undoubtedly dealing with his aforementioned stupid clients.
There was practically nothing for Harvey to preoccupy himself with, so he settled on sorting the to-go cups and lids that the weekend staff had, as always, left in disarray. They always complained that it was too busy to do jobs like that, but Harvey had worked his fair share of weekends and he hadn’t found that to be the case.
It was easy to find an opportunity every now and then to check his phone, and, annoyingly, find no new messages. He had to remind himself that Edward was working, at a much more important and high stress job than Harvey was currently at. Additionally they’d only been talking for a week and been on one date, he didn’t owe Harvey his attention.
Maybe Selina was right, he was getting obsessed.
He busied himself with the puzzle, unable to find anything else to do. He could hear something moving inside it, some kind of mechanism. He pulled both the small metal disks, pulling them in different directions… They shifted but didn’t click.
He continued prodding at them between menial tasks, eventually twisting them in a figure of eight, while tilting it in an inverted figure of eight. The mechanism clicked through and the small metal disks popped off.
Was that it? He’d solved it?
He smirked down at the pieces in his hand, and quickly pulled out his phone to take a picture and send it to Edward.
Edward responded immediately.
‘You solved it already? It’s only been 4 hours’ - Edward.
Harvey chuckled softly at the speed of Edward’s reply. Of course he’d message quickly now Harvey had the opportunity to bruise his ego.
‘It’s more interesting than my job.’ - Harvey.
‘You got help from your friend, didn’t you.’ - Edward.
Harvey rolled his eyes, amused at Edward’s response.
‘Figured it out all on my own. Surprised?’ -Harvey.
‘A little. It took my play testers a lot longer.’ - Edward.
‘Guess I’m smarter than your play testers.’ - Harvey.
‘Honestly that’s not saying much x.’ - Edward.
Harvey got the feeling that the addition of the x meant that Edward could no longer talk, considering what he’d said wasn’t particularly flirty. He let out a soft huff and stowed his phone, looking out from the small stock room into the main room of the cafe.
Quiet as ever. Not a single customer.
He opened the door and looked around the corner, seeing Selina leaning against the counter, her phone propped against the till, a video playing near silently. Harvey couldn’t see what it was but it was probably cat videos, or wildlife rehab.
“Did that puzzle thing,” he said round the corner, simply to inform her.
She clicked her tongue, “Didn’t he say it was the hardest he had?”
“I think so.”
“Either he’s lying or he’s shit at making puzzles.”
“Either option isn’t great but…” He shrugged, “I guess I can understand him not wanting to give me one that was too hard. He doesn’t want me to, I dunno, to get frustrated, or maybe he’s trying to save my ego?”
Selina finally turned her eyes from her phone to look at Harvey, a quizzing look on her face, creasing her brow. “Or maybe it was easy on purpose?” She held her hand out and made a grabbing motion. “Give it.”
Harvey cocked his head, “It does have a little hole in it, there’s a mechanism inside. Like a tiny ballbaring or something on a track.”
She repeated the grabbing motion. Harvey glanced at her hand before nodding and turning to pick the puzzle off the table, inspecting it further as he left the room, taking a place at Selina’s side.
He began to show her where the pieces interlocked, pointing to the small hole that sat behind where one of the metal rings had been.
“We need a stirrer, or a toothpick,” she instructed, beginning to look around. Before Harvey had the chance she took a stirrer from the pot of them on the counter and snapped it in half lengthways, then pushed the thin strip of wood into the hole.
The metal puzzle fell in half in her hands, the ballbaring from the mechanism falling to the floor and rolling away.
“What the hell,” Harvey grumbled, taking the puzzle from her and looking at the disassembled casing. The left half of the casing contained a tiny piece of folded paper.
“Oh my god, is that a love note or something?” Selina smiled, “That’s actually pretty cute.”
Harvey frowned as he unfolded it, reading the tiny text handwritten onto the paper. “It’s a time, date, and address.”
He pulled out his phone again and typed the address into google maps, which showed him an art gallery, the attached website advertising an exclusive event on the date written on the paper.
“Oh my god,” Selina gasped, peering at the phone over his shoulder, extending a hand to slap Harvey’s arm, “He fucking puzzle-locked your next date!? And he only gave you 4 days to figure it out? Ok, that’s crazy. What if you hadn’t solved it?”
Harvey shrugged again, “I dunno if I would have,” His face fell slightly, “Shit, I shouldn’t have let you help me.”
“What, you’d rather not figure it out and miss your date?”
“I would have gotten it eventually.”
“You literally just said you wouldn’t have. Are you going to tell him you figured it out?”
Harvey hummed for a second in thought and then shook his head, “I’ll let him think I didn’t solve it and then show up, if he wants to play games I’ll play games back.”
Selina scoffed, “How childish of you. I love it.”