Chapter Text
It was too late for any of this.
Yet another night shift at Pauli’s Diner, dumped suddenly onto your shoulders at the last minute. Your dearest coworker had not been showing up recently and your boss had always refused to close early, so you were the lucky one to take their spot. Sure the extra hours were great with a few tips here and there. But you were growing exhausted with all the extra work. Not to mention, hanging out in the middle of Gotham at night wasn't always the best idea.
Luckly, you hadn't had too many harsh encounters yet. A few drunks stumbling in; clearly intoxicated, to which you would promptly sit them down and call a ride home for them.
A single drophead, who had walked in bawling his eyes out before vomiting profusely on the freshly cleaned floor, and winding up finally collapsing into a pile of dirty dishes by the counter, shattering numerous of them.
That was fun, having to explain to your boss and clean up the disgusting mess.
A couple women, seeking shelter from the pouring rain for a few moments, while you watched the foggy widows carefully making sure no creeps were outside, hoping to follow them.
This had been going on for the past week, and it wasn't letting up anytime soon.
Your eyes were droopy, heavy bags weighing them down as you scrubbed at the worn coffee stains on the dark and grainy countertop.
You were alone in the diner, grumbling to yourself at the stupidity of your boss for having the place open this late. Especially considering no one came in to buy anything anyway. So you were stuck inside and alone.
You slumped back against the wall, whipping your brow of the small bits of humidity that formed. The ceilings had begun to leek from all the recent rain. You stared up at the wet spots forming with a frown before checking your watch. With a sigh you tossed the dirty rag down.
“Fuck this, man.” You grumbled, kicking the cloth across the tile to the back room.
You closed your eyes going over the checklist in your brain.
Dishes?
Check
Counters and Tables?
Check
Napkins?
Check
Freezer Restock?
You winced at the reminder of all the heavy lifting and pressure on your poor lower back.
Check…
You were nearly done.
You knew you couldn't close the shop and go home, but nothing was stopping you from just locking all the doors and finding a nice spot to nap in the back.
Your eyes fluttered as you pictured resting your head on the fluffy bag of croissants that was just shipped in.
Stretching slightly, you were brought back to your senses as you reached down for the dirty rag by your shoe.
DING DING!
You gritted your teeth at the sound of the front door opening, dropping the rag in the sink with a few curses muttering under your breath.
“Lovely…” You rubbed your eyes before peering around the doorway, preparing yourself for another awful clean up…
But to your surprise, a smaller figure walked in. The shape was covered in a large green coat that fell down past his knees. The hoodie of the jacket was pulled up and covering his face. Despite this, you noticed a pair of clear frame glasses glaring against the buzzing fluorescent lights overhead.
He took a seat across the bar, shifting slightly in his chair. He looked around tentatively before he pulled out a small stack of newspapers from under his jacket.
You watched in curiosity as the man began scanning over the paper, reaching into his front pocket to pull out what you assumed was a pen. He placed the pen to the side of the paper, letting out a sigh as he pulled his hoodie down.
Light brown hair sprung into view, the ends of it curling in an upwards motion. He swiped his bangs to the side, letting them fall back into place before removing his glasses. Pausing to clean them with the sleeve of his undershirt.
You watched from behind the door frame, unsure of what to make of such an odd visitor.
You'd never seen him around the shop before.
“Karachay…” He mumbled, his hand reaching for the pen.
…
“Chloride, of course!” He scribbled onto the paper.
…
“Too easy, Plasmid.”
He didn't look like a drophead. But with his weird rambling you were beginning to wonder if he was on some form of illicit substances.
You carefully made your way over to the counter at the bar, making your footsteps louder than usual in an attempt to not startle him. Glancing down at the man sitting down across the table, your eyebrows raised in confusion at the sight of a cluster of scribbled green question marks, that came into view.
“I’m sorry?” You questioned, clearly baffled at the odd choice of words tumbling out of his mouth, and the crazed scribbles on display.
He suddenly flinched at your abrupt interruption, before staring up at you with wide dark green eyes.
“Oh! I uh…” He scrambled to find his words, tapping his Green pen quickly against the table. “I was just doing today's crossword.” He adjusted his glasses with his lips pursed, pointing down at the paper.
You chuckled softly at him, leaning over the table to get a better look at the newspaper clutched in his hands.
Sure enough, the crosswords boxes had been all nearly filled. Words scribbled down in a silky emerald green ink. His handwriting wasn't the best, but it was still ‘sort of’ legible.
“Oh.” You nodded, looking back at his face. His look of awkwardness brought you to your senses. “Oh geez.” You just about smacked your self in the face for being so dumb. “Sorry!” You quickly reached into the pockets of your apron. “Do you- Would you like anything sir?” You corrected yourself, scrambling to pull out a pen and notepad.
The man smiled shyly, clicking his pen a few times.
“No, that's alright. Don’t trouble yourself! I won't have you get anything out this late.” He turned back to the newspaper in front of him. “I just needed a spot out of the rain.”
You nodded, tucking the notepad back into your pocket. You werent gonna argue with that.
“Well let me know if you need anything sir…”
He glanced up again, pulling his seat closer to the counter. Leaning in to study your face.
You pulled back slightly, weary of his intentions.
“You don't look so good.” He commented. “You have obvious signs of exhaustion.”
You quickly grew defensive in your wary state.
“Well duh. I haven't slept in at least a week.” You seethed, folding your arms with an irritated glare.
“Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Your boss?” He questioned, cocking his head to the side.
“Yeah… Asshole coworker too.” You let your arms fall. “Hasn't shown up in a week.” You muttered, indulging in complaining to someone who was willing to listen.
“So you're stuck here?” He finished, writing down another answer to his crossword.
“Yep.” You shrugged, yawning. “Why are YOU here anyway? I haven't seen you around Gotham before.”
“-Do you know anything about riddles?”
You shot him an odd look, eyeing him up and down.
“Excuse me?” You were beyond baffled.
He quickly raised his hands.
“I- I- Mean!” He pointed back to the crossword. “Do you enjoy doing puzzles like these?”
You chuckled at his flustered state, leaning over to study the crossword closer.
“Sometimes.” You confessed. “I’m not very good at them, but it's fun every once and a while.” You pointed to the cluster of question marks at the side of the page. “Although, I don't know about these.” You teased slightly, genuinely curious as to why they were there in the first place.
He pulled his arms quickly to his side, avoiding any eye contact.
“Oh that… I Uh...” He pushed his dorky glasses up, “They help me focus.” He confessed, turning away in embarrassment.
You grinned, pulling your pen out of your pocket.
“Cool! I doodle sometimes too!” You looked for a blank spot on the paper. “Most of the time I enjoy drawing the moon or the sun.” You began scribbling against the page. “But mostly I just draw vines.” You lifted your pen with a satisfied smirk. “See?”
The man turned slightly to look at your drawing on his newspaper, a cluster of vines placed directly across from his cluster of question marks.
His blank stare grew to a gentle beam as he reached over, drawing tiny question marks within the leaves of the individual vines.
“I’m Y/N by the way.” You laughed, continuing to spread the vine across the page, adding a sun and moon every once and a while.
He turned to look up at you.
“Edward.” He smiled.