Chapter Text
ten years. it only took 10 years for him to see him again.
the way he looked at him through the diner window. his heavy, piercing eyes staring right through his soul. but they weren’t mean, or even mad. they were soft. sad. you remember me, don’t you? as the cops took him away, he refused to avert his gaze from the man he’d longed for all these years. i do this for you. he kept staring until he was out of his sight, a pang of panic enveloping him instantly at not seeing him anymore. please don’t go. everything seemed to be out of focus as edward nashton was thrown into the back of a cop car, his hands cuffed and resting on his lap. he stared at the floor, feeling the vibrations of the car beginning to move beneath him. what if i never see you again? his eyes threatened to well up with tears. i can’t be alone. i can’t be without you. please, bruce.
✺
to say bruce wayne felt overwhelmed by the situation would be an understatement. riddler’s eyes. the way he stared at him. as if bruce was the only thing that mattered. there was something so… familiar. everyone else seemed to be overwhelmed as well as they rummaged through the criminal’s small, dingy apartment. bruce gazed carefully around the apartment, fixating on the countless journals gordon pointed out. the familiarity of everything about this man was close to driving the batman insane. he immersed himself in the journals, fascinated by the man’s writing, when suddenly his world changed forever. his heart dropped into the pit of his stomach at the words from an officer edward nashton.
his mousy brown hair. the way his bangs curled and hair stuck up. his glasses. his smile, oh, god, his smile. the love poems he would write him. the mixtapes he made him. bruce felt sick to his stomach.
“here, it’s for you,” his small voice said, sheepishly smiling with a mixtape in his outstretched hands. bruce, shocked, took it, reading edward’s unmistakable chicken-scratched ‘for brucie.’ the tracklist contained nearly all of his favorite songs, including songs that made edward think of him. he was astonished at how well he knew him. bruce was silent, his face heating up. he didn’t know what to say. before edward could inquire nervously if he liked it, bruce wrapped his arms around him. delayed because of shock, edward then hugged him back, taking a deep breath. “thank you.”
“man, are you alright?” gordon asked, repeating himself as real life snapped back into bruce’s focus. he didn’t know how to answer that. he couldn’t answer that. he felt he couldn’t do anything but what his heart was telling him to. he knew it was wrong, foolish, impulsive, but before he knew it he was muttering his goodbyes to everyone and on his way to arkham.
✺
the heavy door opened, bruce muttering his thanks to the security guard. he walked into the room, and sure enough, behind the glass, there he was. his heartbeat racked his body as the door shut behind him, edward looking at him how he did all those years ago.
“you came.”
bruce slowly sat down, gazing sadly at his childhood best friend. never in a million years did he think that man would do something like this.
“you always told me how smart i was, brucie, so i thought i’d finally do something with it,” edward spoke softly, his lips pulling into a maniacal smile. bruce’s nausea returned quickly.
“what have you done?” bruce spoke extremely hushed unintentionally. he wanted to be intimidating, fearless, brave, but all he felt was like a kid again. “what you wouldn’t.”
bruce, for the first time in a long time, could barely hold back the tears in his eyes. his best friend. the boy he fell in love with as a teenager. the boy he used to be able to trust with anything and everything. they had each other when no one else had them. it was truly the two of them against the world.
“brucie,”
“hmm?”
“is it always gonna be like this?” edward had asked, focusing on the cracks in the pavement of the very top of the parking garage as the two sat on the roof.
“like what?” bruce eyed him curiously, scooting a bit closer, wishing to meet his gaze.
“this,” he licked his lips. “the two of us. we’ll never be without each other, right?”
edward looked up nervously. bruce was now staring at the pavement.
“i hope so.”
the stars never looked so bright that night.
bruce felt at a complete loss for words. he didn’t know who this man was anymore. you’re a killer.
“whatever you’re planning to say, don’t bother. we both know you were never really good with words. just come here, come back to me.” edward’s sheepish smile, the one bruce had been weak to a decade ago, returned. “just get me out of here and it’ll be us again. just you and me, c’mon-”
“you’re sick.”
edward felt like he’d been stabbed. he couldn’t say he hadn’t expected it, or even hated it, really. it was just a matter of time until the words came out. “for you.”
“no. don’t try to pull any of that bullshit. you’re sick on your own. this isn’t for me, this is for no one but yourself. god, edward, how fucking could you? ” edward’s stomach flipped around at those words. he looked at bruce’s face, or what he could see of it with the mask on. he so badly wanted to see his face again.
“maybe i wouldn’t be so sick if you hadn’t left me,” edward responded. this clearly did a number on his former friend. bruce found himself scrambling for words once again. why did it have to be him? “no matter what you try to say to me right now, you and i both know that we will never forget what we had. never forget our times together. never forget how crazy we were for each other. and then you decided when you moved on with your life, i wasn’t good enough to keep around, right? but it’s okay, brucie, i don’t care about that! i don’t care what happens to either of us. no matter what, i will always be completely, utterly, overwhelmingly yours.”
bruce felt nauseous again. this is wrong. this is so, so, so wrong. tears started to pool in his eyes again. i have to get out of here. he stood up to leave, trying to avoid looking at the man behind the glass entirely.
“where are you going?” edward quickly spoke, panic starting to arise. bruce didn’t answer, starting towards the door. “no no no, please, please bruce, i’m sorry, just-” edward choked. his cocky, fearless facade had dropped entirely at the idea of being left alone again. the idea of bruce leaving him alone again.
bruce’s hand rested on the doorknob. he didn’t dare to look at edward because of how just his sad little voice alone was affecting him. edward choked on a sob, internally cursing himself for the loud, pathetic noise he emitted.
and suddenly, they were kids again.
bruce sobbed in edward’s arms, edward himself fighting back tears at the boy’s heart-wrenching sobs. everything was too much. how do you handle so much at the mere age of 16? terrified. he was terrified. both of them were. after all, it really just was the two of them against the world.
“shh, it’s okay, it’s okay. you’re gonna be okay, i gotcha,” edward spoke softly, stroking bruce’s overgrown black hair. bruce clung onto edward’s arm for dear life, his entire body shaking.
the two of them on bruce’s bed in his big room. in his big house, in the big city, in the huge, huge world. in gotham, he was a prince. notoriously known as the son of the waynes, the richest, most powerful family in all of gotham. but what would be left? his parents had been dead for 8 years now, and the minute he was deemed old enough he was pushed by the whole city to carry on their family’s legacy. he was just a kid.
“please don’t go, eddie,” bruce sobbed. he couldn’t bear the thought of not having his best friend by his side.
“never, brucie,” edward kissed his head. “never.”
they were so young. so naive. bruce’s heart began to ache at their lost innocence.
“i have to go, edward,” the batman’s voice wavered a little. it was silent for a moment.
“will you come back?” edward’s heart pounded, his throat dry. please. please. bruce glanced over at his former everything. tears threatened to spill again. the two exchanged a look almost like the looks they’d shared all those years ago. words felt foolish in that moment. there was no need. they both knew, for better or for worse, that they’d see each other again. and with that, edward caught the faintest hint of a smile from his true love before he walked out the door.