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Language:
English
Series:
Part 2 of pieced and bound
Stats:
Published:
2018-05-09
Completed:
2018-05-15
Words:
800
Chapters:
4/4
Comments:
16
Kudos:
85
Bookmarks:
2
Hits:
602

sewn together

Summary:

About Oswald and Ed's quilt

Notes:

These four scenes from Oswald's point of view serve as a companion piece to Stitch by Stitch (four scenes from Ed's point of view) and weave in and out of that narrative. They can be read in publication order or chronological order

Chapter 1: holes

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Oswald has been hiding out in this apartment for ages and though he enjoys the company he is getting bored.

He picks absently at a small hole in the quilt covering him.

“Please don’t do that.”

Before Oswald can respond, Ed is pulling the quilt off him and sitting down at the foot of the bed with a sewing kit, piling the quilt in his lap.

“What is it with you and that thing?”

“I made it.” He doesn’t look up but Oswald hears a hint of defiance in his words.

Oswald watches him fondly in comfortable silence.

He likes watching Ed work. He gets a look of concentration on his face like when he changes Oswald’s bandages. Similar, but different somehow.

Finally Ed is satisfied and spreads with quilt back over Oswald and Oswald feels warmth flood through him.

He looks down at the repair, a delicate web of stitches over a small patch and he can see similar repairs in other spots. He runs his fingers over it. It feels heavier now, but stronger too.

“If it means so much to you why are you letting me use it?”

Ed tilts his head, confused.

“Because you’re my friend.” 

Notes:

The mending style Ed is using is sashiko, a Japanese technique used to reinforce textiles with stitching and patches. It serves to make garments etc. more durable, stronger, warmer, and more enduring, while drawing attention to the wear instead of covering it up and it looks like this: https://www.instagram.com/p/BhIc_M-lwVI/, https://www.instagram.com/p/BhP5adkFQkY/

Interlude scene set after this chapter: provenance

Chapter 2: homesick

Notes:

Thanks to Bren for some of the inspiration here

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

When Oswald finally manages to break through the fog Hugo Strange created in his brain he realizes several things in quick succession.

Ed was arrested.

Ed didn’t have anyone to deal with his belongings and Oswald needs to track them down.

Oswald needs to visit Ed in Arkham to show him the world is bigger than that torture chamber and he hasn’t been forgotten.

Butch manages to track down and buy or take back most of Ed’s things, his odd décor, his Singer, and most importantly, his quilt.

Oswald puts it all in a spare bedroom for later.

But when he wakes from a nightmare about Arkham and can’t calm himself down he finds himself in the spare bedroom pulling out Ed’s quilt.

When he’s anxious during the day he visits Ed but at night he’s alone.

He sits on the empty bed in the empty house and wraps himself in Ed’s quilt and presses his nose into the fabric.

He smells traces of the green apartment; dust, books, tea, and traces of Ed, too.

He misses it like an ache in his heart.

He knows what he has to do.

He needs more than Ed’s quilt.

He needs Ed.

Notes:

Interlude scene set before and after the next chapter: repairs

Chapter 3: reunion

Notes:

The beginning of this overlaps with chapter 2 of Stitch by Stitch

Chapter Text

Seeing Ed reunited with his quilt is worth the time and money Oswald expended getting it back and more.

He watches Ed, fresh from Arkham, trail his fingers over the well-worn fabric and pull it off the bed nervously; as if afraid it might not be real.

He doesn’t expect Ed to suddenly hug him tightly, with the force of words that can’t be said, but he wants to stay in this moment forever.

But he can’t.

Not yet.

He tears himself away, saying goodnight, and giving Ed space to find his bearings and sleep without the harsh noise of Arkham.

As Ed settles in, Oswald feels his heart swell with fondness every time he sees Ed wandering through the manor wrapped up in his quilt or sitting on the couch, curled under it, reading a book.

He looks at home here, like he belongs here.

With Oswald.

He doesn’t quite understand why he feels like this but the fact that he was the one to make Ed this happy is more rewarding than his nightclub, than avenging his mother, than being king of Gotham, and he thinks he wants to spend the rest of his life making Ed happy.

Chapter 4: together

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Oswald wakes abruptly to Ed having a nightmare beside him.

“Ed.” He sits up and shakes Ed.

“Ed!”

Ed startles awake, hands swinging out in front of him, defensive, afraid.

“It’s okay, it’s just me. You’re safe.”

“Oswald?” Ed blinks up at him, trying to figure out where he is.

“Oswald.”  His relief is unmistakable.

He surges forward and wraps himself around Oswald, and Oswald can feel him trembling.

Rubbing circles on Ed’s back he pulls their quilt up over them and wraps it around Ed.   

He gathers Ed in his arms and lays them gently back down.

Ed doesn’t let go and lays his head on Oswald’s chest, tangles their legs together, stays as close to Oswald as possible.

“Sorry for waking you.” Ed murmurs.

“Shhh.”

Too many times they have held each other after a nightmare, too many times Oswald has felt powerless to help when Ed is afraid of something Oswald can’t see or touch or kill.  

And then Ed whispers, so quiet Oswald almost misses it.

“Thank you for being here.”

And then quieter still.

“I think I love you.”

Oswald hugs Ed tighter and leans down to kiss his hair softly.

“I love you, too.”

Notes:

That's the last of it! Thank you for reading my self indulgent little quilt stories, I honestly though this was going to be one very niche double drabble but I'm so glad other people enjoyed it enough to make me want to expand it this much.
I've still got some quilt-featuring scenes rolling around in my brain and if you too have become very Invested in this quilt and have ideas and want to send a request feel free and I am always down to talk quilts (either this one, or making them etc.), here or on tumblr (transedwardnigma).

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