Work Text:
Depths
Edward watched Oswald emerge from the depths of Gotham’s harbour, gasping for breath, half-weighted down by gold and expensive clothes.
Behind the mask, he pressed his lips together and blinked fast, as if he was afraid that the other man would go under once again if he lost sight of his struggling form - he supposed someone else would have shrugged out of their coat to dive deep in the water, grab their loved one by the collar and drag them out of water.
Edward wasn’t someone else.
Edward wasn’t even sure if he would have defined Oswald as a loved one - he was something, for sure and what was even surer was that watching Oswald drown right in front of him would have been… sad. But he couldn’t jump into the frigid waters: fear climbed up his spine in a frisson just at the idea of plunging in the harbour, panic squeezing the air out of his lungs until the waves rushed in his mouth and down his esophagus.
He didn’t know how to swim - he had never had a reason to learn.
He had never had a reason to regret not knowing.
Edward looked around, trying to find something - anything - that would help: but there were only two cars, Oswald’s with the engine still purring and ready to go, and the cooling body of the informant that had tried to kill them. Edward had shot him right in the nape of his neck and Oswald had let himself fall back into the water, trying to avoid getting shot as well.
It was his fault if the other man was drowning.
Except that between one blink and the other, Oswald had managed to drag himself closer to the pier and had started climbing up the rusty steps, dripping trench coat and all “Gimme a hand, sweetheart”
Edward scrambled closer to the edge, careful of extending his hand as far as he could so that if he stumbled, there would be enough margin that he wouldn’t fall headfirst into the waves “Up, up” he urged as the other’s slippery hand closed around his gloved one. Edward had never been particularly strong and Oswald was big in all the right ways that made him squirm with desire, but he still pulled as hard as he could and he kept pulling so that Oswald would fall on his knees away from the edge.
He bent down, patting between his shoulder blades, unsure about whether he was helping or being more of a nuisance while Oswald was trying to get his breath back while coughing out lungfuls of seawater “You ok?”
“Yeah” breathing hurt; coughing hurt; speaking hurt - and he was freezing his ass off in the cool wind “‘m good” Oswald tried to shoot the younger man a reassuring glance; he knew him well enough that he didn’t need him to take the mask off to understand what he was feeling at any given moment - he was sure that it drove Edward insane which was just a bonus in his opinion: it was great when he managed to get Edward all riled up and frantic “All good”
The wheezing didn’t sound all that good to Edward but he didn’t comment out loud on it, deciding to bend a little lower so that he could peer at the other’s beautiful and scarred face “Never do that again”
Oswald grinned, gold rimmed tooth shining in the dark “What - take a leap?”
“Swim”
“I like swimmin’”
Edward glared, sure that Oswald could feel the full force of it behind the goggles and the mask “Let’s get you somewhere warm”
“And out of these clothes?” Oswald leered, wiggling his brows.
“So you can wash the filth of the harbour off of you, yes”
Oswald couldn’t help laughing out loud at that while he let Edward help him to his feet and the car, leaning in to whisper right against the leather of the mask “You’re not that squeamish with blood” he teased, kissing the leather, leaning just a little bit heavier against the other man just to feel him shiver under his weight “You better get out of your clothes once I’m squeaky clean, sweetheart”
“Hmm”
“I’ll take that as a yes”
Edward rolled his eyes as he closed the car door on Oswald’s grin “I will shoot you next time” not that either of them believed it.