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Ever since he walked in on Isabella and his Ed sharing spit, he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about what’s going to happen next. His shared time with Ed has been decreasing, Ed no longer being able to work and spend time with him as well. No, the time he dedicated to Oswald is now all put towards that sneaky little… idiot. What’s going to happen next? Are they going to run away together and leave him behind? He’ll be a wreck. A world without his Ed seems unlivable.
Yet, he can’t do anything to her. Oh, he wants to, watch the blood drain from her body through the slash in her throat. The slash he created. He dreams of it. But, it’s only a dream. A dream that can never come true because alive or dead, he’s going to lose Ed. Her alive is better than being dead due to the fact that Ed would leave by anger and hate if she was dead. Oswald wouldn’t be having that.
Isabella is a pain in Oswald’s ass. Not just because of her hold on poor, naive Ed. Ed isn’t stupid, but if someone gives an ounce of affection he drops his shields. He gives up every second to that certain person. First Kristen Kringle. Then Oswald for how much respect, trust, and kindness he gave him. Now, it’s that Isabella. She doesn’t even have a known last name! Oswald has seen through her since the beginning.
However, their encounter at her house where he told her to let Ed go showed Oswald her true self. Yes, she’s hardly sane. What person goes and dates a killer? A killer who killed his girlfriend that looks exactly like her! But! To threaten him, challenge him was a reckless, idiotic, crazy thing to do. He’s the King of Gotham, and the Mayor of Gotham. It’s suicide. Well, it was at the moment. In the end, she has both of them right where she wants them. She’ll have Ed, and she’ll be safe because she knows Oswald won’t do anything that will upset Ed.
Part of Oswald’s feels terrible for what he’s going to do next. Absolutely terrible. It’s wrong and such a lie, and something that could have horrid impacts of their friendship. He has to do whatever it takes to protect him from her. There’s something up with her, even if it’s nothing big. How she dressed up Kristen Kringle, slapped his Ed, and made him choke her. Yep, not happening. Not on Oswald’s watch.
“I’m sorry, Ed, but your work has been below your usual,” Oswald lies, not being able to look Ed in the eye, “I’m growing concerned.”
Ed’s face is puzzled. What a rare occasion. “What are you talking about? It’s Wednesday and I’ve already done all of the required work for the week! I certainly didn’t miss anything either! I wouldn’t have left my desk until every piece of paper on my desk was complete.”
Oswald raises his hands, shrugging along. “I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe you’re getting distracted? She has been visiting you during work. Work and personal life shouldn’t mix.”
Ed holds his head in shame. “Maybe you’re right.” He looks at Oswald, his eyes sad. “My apologies. This won’t happen again.”
That wasn’t completely horrible. It didn’t have the effect he was afraid of occurring. “Yes. It’s fine. It happens to the best of us.”
He forces a smile and turns on his heel, beginning to leave. Making a big deal of not wanting to spend every free second with Ed was another part of this plan. Ed will certainly notice and start to worry, thinking he’s done something wrong. Ed hasn’t, it’s only her.
“Oswald…?” He calls, but his voice fades as if he has no real reason behind the call.
Oswald holds back a sigh. “Ed, I’m busy with my work. I don’t have time to small talk.”
He doesn’t look over his shoulder to see Ed frown and drop his hand pathetically onto his desk, a hand reaching out for him. He also doesn’t hear whisper angrily to himself right after he closes the door.
Oswald sits by himself at the dining room table, looking to his side at the large window in the connecting room with a glass of wine in his hand. Ever since Ed left him for that woman he’s felt more alone than ever. His dinners are eaten alone, his lunches, his breakfasts, his morning news report, his free time at City Hall, and his morning dressing. All alone.
“I brought you- us wine,” A voice says from the doorway, hesitant.
He looks at the clock before looking at the tall figure in front of him. 8 o’clock. “I didn’t plan anything… like last time.”
Ed fixes his glasses nervously, pushing them up his nose. It wasn’t needed, but a nervous tick. “Oswald, you’ve been avoiding me lately. Don’t act like you don’t understand, because you do.”
“Ed, buying me wine and showing up unannounced doesn’t explain why that matters.”
He strides over to the table, sitting in the chair right across from him. With a grand reach, he places the new bottle of wine in the center of the table. “I never apologized for that night, Oswald, and I’m sorry. Is that the problem?”
“I think I’d be very petty and childish to hold onto that anger for more than a week.” He still refuses to look at Ed. He is petty and childish. He still is upset about that. If he had come home, they wouldn’t be in this position. Ed would be on his arm, and in his bed. Not with that cunning, yet stupid blonde.
“Then what is it about?” Ed’s pleading with him, his puppy eyes tearing into Oswald’s head. “Is it about my work mess up? Is it stress? Talk to me, Oswald. You’re my best friend. I care. I care so deeply.”
Oswald’s head snaps to look at Ed, trying to ignore how sad his eyes look. He can’t pity him right now. “If you cared you’d show up to dinner, or at least call and apologize. If you cared you’d still be eating lunch with me if that’s all you can manage. If you cared you wouldn’t practically have abandoned me! They only reason you’re here is because you just now discovered my growing distance from you.”
Now his eyes are hurt, how defeated they look. “O-Oswald this is why we have to talk. In the end, you are the only one who’ll be there for me and accept everything about me. I feel the exact same way towards you. You know that.”
“Kind of hard to protect someone if you’re not even near them.”
Ed opens his mouth to speak, only to close it again. This time. This time he has nothing to say. Oswald takes this moment of silence to simmer down. It isn’t fair to hurl all this anger at Ed. Maybe showing some sign of annoyance can show much he’s hurting, but this? This is wrong. It’s not Ed, he’s just trapped in this woman’s web.
“I shouldn’t have lashed out at you, Ed. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. You’re right. I’ve been a terrible friend.”
“No, Ed. None of this is your fault. It might be me. Let’s enjoy dinner.” He faces the table and sends Ed a smile. “Thank you for the wine.”
Ed’s expression wants to continue, knowing that there’s something much more bigger buried deep within his friend. However, he doesn’t and returns the smile. Oswald behaves like nothing has happened, creating small by upcoming events or the people in the workplace.
It’s not until Oswald has had two glasses of wine, and Ed has had one that he tries again. Oswald is standing in front of his mayor portrait, smiling at Ed painted in the back with a glass of wine held in his hand. He doesn’t know why he’s staring at the painting, it being created a few days ago and losing its excitement rather quickly.
“I’ll never understand why you put me in your portrait,” Ed comments, standing oddly close behind him.
“You’re my best friend, and my right hand man. I wouldn’t be where I am without you, Ed,” Oswald replies as if it’s obvious.
There’s a moment of quiet until Ed slowly puts his hand on Oswald’s biceps. He feels him tense, but doesn’t let them drop. “Oswald, please talk to me.”
Oswald hums. “About what? I thought we finished this over dinner. I apologized, you showed kindness. It’s all in the past.”
“It’s about Isabella, isn’t it?”
Now he really feels Oswald turn to stone under him. The glass holding hand grips tightly, his knuckles turning white. “No, no it’s not.”
“You might think I can’t read people, but your tense muscles and white knuckles prove otherwise. Why does she upset you so much?”
Oswald’s spins to face him, Ed’s hands being forced to drop from his arms. “You’re never here anymore, Ed. You’re with this woman from a wine shop who looks ‘coincidentally’ like your dead ex you don’t even know the last name of! You left me, the only person who accepts and cares about you, in the drop of a hat! How am I supposed to feel?”
Ed stills. He has a point, a strong point. If only he’d known sooner. “There’s a reasonable explanation for all of this. If you would let me explain.”
Oswald steps away from Ed and takes a swing from the glass. His stance is dramatic, one hand resting on his hip. “Yes, please do. I would love to hear it.”
He takes a deep breath and exhales. It’s going to be a long night. “I told you I’d do anything for you, Oswald. I risked my life to improve your already great reputation. I-I let you ‘forget’ what you were going to say to me because I wanted to give you time. I know how scary it is. But then, it seemed hopeless and she came along, making me believe that I was being given a second chance.”
Oswald feels his sassy posture droop. Is this where he thinks this is going? Or is this just his mind playing tricks on him? Or is it Ed playing the trick?
“She’s so perfect, Oswald that it’s boring. When she dressed as… Kristen I was so uncomfortable, I still am. It was creepy, and weird.” He smiles fondly at the smaller man in front of him. “You would never do that, would you, Oswald? Do something upsetting to receive personal gain? You wouldn’t because you do care about me, Oswald, and like me for who I am. I don’t need to be a murderer to entertain your interests.”
“When I told her it was over, she challenged me, Ed. I wanted to kill her, Ed, I still do to be honest, however, I couldn’t. It would hurt you, and I couldn’t have that. I don’t ever want you to hate me.”
Ed engulfs Oswald into a hug, placing his head on top of his friend’s feathered head. “Thank you, Oswald. For sacrificing that for me.”
Oswald clutches at Ed’s back through his suit jacket. “Any time, Ed.”
Ed doesn’t delay as he presses a soft kiss to the top of his friend’s head. “I want you to know that I would leave her just as fast as I went to her for you. You’re the only one.”
“I love you.”
Ed grins. That’s all he’s ever wanted to hear. “I like that you said it first. It’s romantic in a way. You hated me when we first met, yet here you are, confessing your undying love for me.”
Oswald smiles too. Ed’s right. “You were weird. You still are.” He pulls back, to grab Ed’s smiling face. “But, that’s okay.”
“And you still have a terrible temper.”
Oswald wants to throw back a sassy comment, but, he’s stopped when Ed leans down to kiss him. It’s short, yet it’s everything Oswald dreamed his first kiss would be like. Amazing, and dreamlike.
Ed ends it, his eyes closed. “Sparks fly?”
Oswald nods even though Ed can’t see it. “Yes. Sparks.”