Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Eddie wasn’t entirely sure how he got here and what he was doing. Well, at least not really.

He was sitting in the library of Wayne Manor with Bruce and Barbara working on a case. He had been brought here from Arkham by Bruce decked out in that Bat ensemble he was so fond of. He knew that The Batman had pulled a few strings to get Eddie released into his custody for the time being. He knew what Bruce had told him, that they needed his help on a new case for a criminal they had never seen before. And that after the Harvester and Azreal, they’d decided that the help of The Riddler was a valuable tool.

He knew the facts and details, but he was missing the Intention. And that unanswered question was starting to impede his efforts to focus on the case file he was meant to be reading over.

He knew he was smart, but he also had to admit that Bruce and Barbara were as well. Smart enough that he was sure they could solve this case without his help. So why had they asked him?

It could be that they wanted an insight into the mind of this new criminal, the mind of a crook.

When I’m in your arms, I have an angle. When I am held, I flail. When you take me to pasture, I prop and prod. When you catch me, I post bail. What am I?

But that didn’t quite answer the full question either. It explained why they would seek his help, but not why he was in their home. They could have spoken to him through the thick glass of an Arkham cell, they didn’t Need him to be here in the manor. He was a crook and they all knew it.

So what was the game here? What did they want from him?

Eddie didn’t know. Yet. He’d figure it out.

Until I am measured, I am not known. Yet how you miss me, when I have flown. What am I?

Time. He just needed time.

He had a theory. But it was far fetched. Outlandish. Impossible. Non-advisable. Could they..? No. Surely not. They were smarter than that.

Aren’t they?

What's extremely valuable, risky to give, hard to receive and sometimes impossible to repair once it's been broken?

Trust. Did they trust him? Should they trust him was a better question.

Probably not.

Did he want them to?

Not really. Maybe? He’s not sure. Eddie thinks that maybe it would be nice if they trusted him, maybe then he could trust them back.

But that’s what scares him. What if he trusts them? What if he admits it to himself and to them and then what if it’s all taken away. What if they don’t give a shit about him? What if this next criminal is too smart for them? Being a vigilante is hardly a safe job. Any patrol could be their last.

I can sneak up on you or be right in front of you without you knowing. But when I reveal myself, you will never be the same

Betrayal. What if he betrayed them?

What if he had the perfect opportunity to beat the Bats once and for all. He’d be an idiot not to take that chance. He could finally Win. He would use the satisfaction of his victory to pretend that Barbara’s disappointment and Bruce’s resignation wouldn’t feel like a knife through his stomach. He would not feel hot shame or guilt or pain or fear or loneliness like blood and guts and viscera cascading out from a large hole in his abdomen.

A wound of his own creation.

A reminder why he shouldn’t rely on these people.

But then?

What would Eddie be left with if Bruce and Barbara were gone?

He’d go back to Arkham and rot probably.

There’d be no one else to care—
Or. Wait. No. No. Not Care. Definitely not Care…

Entertain, humor, challenge, distract. That’s what he meant.

That’s all that he needs from people. That’s all that he Wants from people. It’s all anyone outside of his own head can ever do for him. That’s the point.

That’s why he’s imagining the gaping hole spread from his stomach to his chest. Eating away at his heart. Destroying the pesky organ along with any traces of fondness or care for other people. Leaving him with his head full of riddles and nothing to hold him back or tie him down.

Fear to be me? Seek a crowd.
Though it may not help, it may just be loud.
My gift, your secrets ever kept.
My curse, at your death no one wept.

Alone. He’d be alone. And he tells himself that thought doesn’t scare him. His heart is Not racing at the thought of being alone… again. As a matter of fact, he Wants to be alone. He wants this.

Maybe he would even enjoy the looks of pain on his friends faces as he inevitably stabs them in the back-

No. No. He can’t do this. That’s the line he can’t. Oh god. He- he didn’t mean that. Not really.

Did he?

He thinks so. Probably.

But. Does he?

What’s more painful. The thought of turning on Bruce and Barbara, the only people who have treated him like more then a criminal in years. Or the thought of admitting that he has gone soft. That he cares for these people. That he trusts them. Wants- or Needs them in his life.

What would hurt him more. Turning on them. Or them turning on him.

Does he have a choice?

…

shit.

Chapter Text

Barbara threw the case file she had just finished going over onto the table in front of her.

Ugh. She needed a break. Even just for a minute. They’d been at this for two days now. At least, her and Bruce had been. They had drug Eddie into this mess of a case earlier this morning. Or late last night? Whatever. Either way they’d all been buried in these case files for far too long.

Barbara closed her eyes for a moment, willing the pain that had been building behind them the last few hours to dissipate. Reading for too many hours on too little sleep was catching up to her fast.

She figures that if she’s getting tired the other two probably are as well. They should all take a break.

“Hey, Bruce, Eddie, it’s time for a break”

“Why am I here?”

Barbara pauses for a moment. She’s not quite sure what Eddie means, ‘why is he here?’

“You’re here to help Bruce and I solve this case”

“I could have helped you from inside Arkham. Why am I in the manor?”

Barbaras not entirely sure why they had brought Eddie to the manor. She don’t really thought about it that much. It had just felt… right. The three of them, together, working as a team.

She’s not sure how to voice that though, and luckily she doesn’t have to try because Bruce speaks,

“It’s easier if your here.”

“It’s easier for me to escape too.”

“You’re not going to escape.”

“How do You know?”

Bruce didn’t respond. He just looked at Eddie, as if it should be obvious to him. And maybe it would be if Eddie was truly honest with himself.

After a moment of silence Bruce returned to shifting through case files. He seemed to think the conversation was over.

But Eddie was no closer to an answer. And he Needed an answer.

He stood from his chair, ignoring the pain in his joints from sitting hunched for so long. He needed to think.

Eddie moved to an open space and began pacing across the rug. Five steps one direction. An abrupt turn, five steps the other direction, a turn, on and on.

Barbara watched him with concern. She wished he would have picked up his cane. Judging by his stride he was in pain even though he seemed intent on ignoring it.

A cane would only get in his way. He needed to think. And to think he needs to pace and he needs to be free to mess with his hands. Rubbing them together, now squeezing them, now shaking out stiff joints, anything to help him Think.

Barbara’s not quite sure what to do here. She didn’t have enough information to make a deduction. She understood Bruce’s assertion that Eddie would not run, in fact she shared the sentiment. But she wasn’t quite sure where Eddie was going with this.

“Why do you Think you’re here?”

“I don’t Know. I’m- I- I don’t….”

Eddie seemed to get caught on his words, ceasing to make sound but continuing to open and close his mouth. As if he had been put on mute. It was disconcerting to see the Riddler so.. quiet.

He couldn’t get the words out. He was Stuck. Shit. He hated when this happened. He was too jumbled, too lost in his head and his anxiety’s to fucking communicate like a ‘normal’ person. In moments like this he only had one mode of communication his brain would allow him.

“I'm the labyrinth of the mind, where clarity is hard to find. Twisted paths that intertwine, a state where thoughts and reason bind. What am I that's undefined?”

Bruce looked up from his case files to respond,

“Confused. You are confused.”

“What are you confused about Eddie?”

Barbara turned in her chair, angling herself towards her friend so she could better watch his face as he struggled to respond for a moment before finally slowing his pace to respond,

“I am the whisper in a void, the question mark on a path unexplored. A bond without a single cord, yet stronger than a mighty sword. When two stars in the sky are adored, what am I that can't be ignored?"

“Relationship?” Barbara looked back at Bruce, who looked as caught off guard as she felt, “are you asking what the relationship is between us?”

Eddie’s pacing regained speed. He nodded, looking embarrassed.

“You and Bruce are my friends.”

Barbara hopes that was the right thing to say. It was the truth. But she wasn’t sure if that’s the answer Eddie wanted.

Eddie’s mind stalled. What? No. No. That. That couldn’t be. Why? Why did she trust him? Did Bruce…

Eddie paused his pacing to look at the man. Who held his eye for a moment, contemplating, before nodding. Yes. Bruce is his…friend.

Don’t they know? Don’t they know what he is? What he’s done!? They have to! He’s not a good person. He’s Wrong. What if he ..infects them. What if what ever he’s got that makes him ruin everything he touches spreads to them? What if he Ruins them? What if-

“Cloaked in the garb of power and wealth,
I twist what is fair into clandestine stealth.
In halls of justice, I'm a silent whisper,
Where I reside, the lines grow crisper.
I am the bane of an honest day's work,
Lurking where duties and darkness lurk.”

“…corruption.” Bruce answered, “who is corrupt? What do you know?”

Barbara realized that Bruce didn’t quite get it. The answer isn’t about some crooked cop or politician that Batman needs to look into. It’s about Eddie. He is the ‘corrupt’ one.

“Why do you think you’re going to ruin us?”

With the ‘big reveal’ the ‘breaking of the ice’ of Eddie’s anxiety’s and fears the block his brain had put on his mouth is removed,

“Because it’s what I Do. I-“

“Do you think you’ve hurt us?”

“I Know I have. When your father was hurt”

“You didn’t do that. Flass stabbed my father. Not you.”

“But you thought it was me and that hurt you. And Bruce, I-“

“Eddie, I have hurt you far more then you have hurt me. I should be the one apologizing to you.”

What? No.

“I still can’t say that I agree with your work as the Riddler. But you are not just the Riddler, you are also Eddie. And by hurting the Riddler I was hurting my friend. And for that I am sorry.”

Bruce hoped that his message would get through to Eddie. He understood the struggles of trying to figure out who he was and what he had done in and out of the mask.

“Friend. How can you Say that? I can’t be you Friend. You Can’t trust me.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t. But, you haven’t done anything to hurt me, or Barbara or Alfred recently. You haven’t hurt my city either. I don’t know if I trust you. But I am willing to.”

Eddie slow his pacing again. He seems to be calming down, at least a bit. And Barbara was pretty sure she had figured out what was driving his line of questions. Thinking back maybe they should have cleared all this up when they had first brought Eddie in, instead of letting him stew in doubt for so long. Hopefully she could help resolve this,

“We brought you here because you’re our friend. We care about you. I know what you’ve done as the Riddler. But I also know that you are not the same person you were even a year ago. I know it’s hard to separate the past from the present, hell I’m struggling too. But like Bruce, I care about you and am starting to trust you. I just hope that you feel the same.”

“Eddie, I don’t know what the future will bring. I don’t know if you plan to continue helping us, or if you’ll decide to revert to your old ways. But I am happy to just look at the present. I’m happy to focus on this moment, where we are friends.”

Maybe he could do that. Maybe that was enough. To know that right here and now they cared for him, and he cared for them. The future would bring new plans. New riddles. New opportunities. But for now it would be nice to just have Friends. Yeah.. he could live with that.

“We clash and collide, we're not always serene,
Yet in life's great tapestry, we're the thread unseen.
In the dance of the cosmos, we're stars that blend,
What are we, often right to the end?”

Barbara smiled, glad that they had gotten through to him,

“Friends.”