#ed nigma

As he leaves the library, blueprints long forgotten (and not correctly stored away in his hurry), Edwards hand clench around his cellphone, having to physically remind himself to be patient. To not immediately start staring at the pictures he took of everything he found in your backpack and jacket - including your state and employee ID from a local University. Once he's back in his layer he can't help but practically find out every single thing about you. From simple things like your birthday, where you grew up, your medical history, your families criminal files, your social security number - the easy stuff every ten year old could figure out in an hour or two - to a bit more intricate details: your best friend in high school, the guy that ghosted you after one date because you asked him about his preferred field of study, the professor who always gave you too much work even though you weren't even originally assigned to his class as assistant, every single grade and project you ever did in school and later university. Everything he finds just cements one thought in his head: You were much too precious for the world. You were smart - most definitely not on his level, but why should a lion complain about a feral cat as a companion when the alternative was having no pride at all. But it felt to Edward like you were wasting your potential by helping out the students in the classes you were assigned to by control reading their works and by doing most of the professors work for them only to get paid barely a fraction of what they earned. You needed someone to look out for you, to protect you from your own selflessness, to...care for you. And who was better for that job than Edward, after all no one else could ever truly understand you, right?

It's barely a moth later that you find yourself, dressed in comfortable pajama pants and one of Edward's shirts, lying stiffly on a large, pulled out couch in the 'you-proofed' area of his layer. Soon, Ed was sure, you'd come to your senses and realize that he was the only one for you. That you could trust him, that you could...love him. Should love him, just like he already loved you. These feelings had crashed over him like a title wave, but he couldn't find himself caring. He embraced them, embraced you. Literally. At least you didn't try to fight him anymore, that was one positive compared to when he first brought you home. Sure, that was mostly because of the light sedative that he administered to you when he wanted some cuddle time - as well as the padded shackle to your ankle that assured that you couldn't even get close enough to the (quadruple locked and alarm protected) door to even attempt to run. With an incredible amount of chagrin, you had to admit that Edward - Eddy, as he insisted you call him lest you want to get punished - was an annoyingly good cuddle. He somehow just knew how to hold you close to ensure the perfect amount of warmth and close contact to quell the touch starved side of yourself that you didn't even knew existed. He caressed your hair softly, whispered sweet, affirming words into your ear, and he somehow always knew how to position you to be comfortable, even when you were too sedated to even speak or keep your eyes open. And, annoying you even further, you started to...enjoy life with him. You'd never even realized how overburdened and overworked you were, how tired and exhausted. But here, with Ed, you don't have any duties or obligations, he allows you to do whatever you'd like in the very clear boundaries you had. He gave you a laptop (though you soon found out that it could only receive and never sent, no way to call for help) and even put a bookshelf into your cell room, that he filled with every book you asked for. He didn't make you feel silly or stupid for asking for novels and fantasy books (even though he did make a face as if cooing over a child). The fact that he was The Riddler was something he didn't particularly hide from you, in fact - during one of the almost nightly cuddle sessions (he was incredibly proud of you, you didn't even have to be sedated anymore to not lie there like a cold plank of wood) he actually explained his alter ego to you, just to assure you that if he does ever get caught and locked away (you lived in Gotham so you knew that even if he's locked away it wouldn't last for long) he had taken measures to assure that you'd be taken care of, that you wouldn't suffer the consequences of his actions. Though...as time passed, you noticed yourself slipping more and more into...being comfortable with him, more than comfortable. Now, you were excited for him to come home. Excited to spend the evening sitting in his lap, head against his chest, his heartbeat a background sound to his voice as he read out of one of the books he liked to share with you, the hand not holding the book open gently caressing you. It felt surprisingly safe, surprisingly...nice. A little part of you knew that it was wrong, that you should still be fighting and clawing your way out, but now, even when Ed didn't lock the shackle back on after taking it off so your could be more comfortable while intertwined in front of a documentary running on the TV, you didn't even approach the door. Didn't find yourself wanting to. With every night where you fall asleep with Eddy holding you, one more piece of you falls into the mold he set out for you, and you didn't find yourself minding.

[If you ever do wonder why Batman doesn't come to your rescue, why the great detective seemingly doesn't know that one of his roster of nemesis had an innocent civilian locked up in his basement...don't bother. Bruce knows about you, quite thoroughly actually. After all, he had to make sure that Ed was treating you well, had to assure himself that he wasn't making a mistake by letting Edward keep you. But it was purely utilitarian of him, after all, ever since Edward had you waiting for him, he'd become much more manageable and less violent. He didn't behave like he needed to proof something as much as he did before and his schemes didn't include the possibility of death anymore - as if Ed was doing his best to make sure that if he does get caught, the punishment would be lenient. So yeah, maybe it's not the most ethical thing to let Ed keep you locked away with him, but...you didn't seem to mind terribly anymore and quite frankly, it didn't seem like your life before seemed all that better anyways...]