3 Ficlets: DCU - Batman/fem!Riddler
Title: Trapped by your love, chained to your side
Fandom: Batman
Characters: Bruce Wayne/Edie Nigma
Wordcount: 259
Rating: G
Challenge: 100songs: Pat Benatar - Love is a battlefield
Written for: doreyg
But I'm trapped by your love, and I'm chained to your side'>
~~~
Believe me, believe me, I can't tell you why
But I'm trapped by your love, and I'm chained to your side
~~~
He knows that what he’s doing is wrong, that he should be stronger than this, but the moment he smells her perfume, sees the little curl of a smile on her mouth and notices that striking glint in her eyes, he can’t help but oblige her every will.
Funny that not even Poison Ivy managed to make him feel this way … which makes it even more frightening, because what excuse could he give himself? There are no pheromones, no drugs, nothing but her looks and incredible wit to hook him up.
And the most frightening thing? She knows exactly what she’s doing to him. Even if she weren’t as smart as she is it’d be no secret that Batman - no, Bruce Wayne … no, that HE as a man has completely fallen for her.
And suddenly a small, red haired woman is more dangerous to him (by far) than the Joker could ever be. Because even in all his madness the Joker took Batman serious as an opponent while Edie thinks nothing more of him than a plaything.
Now every time Bruce Wayne puts on the suit, he feels a little less righteous than the night before … because how long will it take until the other villains realize what The Riddler has done to him?
“Riddle me this, Riddle me that …” Bruce whispers to himself with a little smile and adjusts his mask, not thinking about the crimes he’s going to prevail but of the passionate embrace (captivation) that already awaits him (body and soul).
Title: Both of us knowing
Fandom: Batman
Characters: Bruce Wayne/Edie Nigma
Wordcount: 364
Rating: G
Challenge: 100songs: Pat Benatar - Love is a battlefield
Written for: doreyg
Love is a battlefield'>
~~~
Searchin' our hearts for so long, both of us knowing
Love is a battlefield
~~~
The morning hours are their favourite time. That’s when they are just a couple in love, when they awake as a man and a woman side by side, arm in arm, and there’s nothing else but them. Sleep is still heavy on their minds, fogging all the knowledge that keeps them from being together all the other hours of the day, seven days of a week, 52 weeks of a year, all the years of a lifetime.
It’s in the morning hours she cuddles up to him and he kisses her hair, when they share a sleepy smile and enjoy the comfort of each other’s warmth before the fog lifts and the smile ceases and the warmth turns to coldness, when the man and the woman cease to be and Batman and Riddler return to the surface.
Sometimes they talk as she puts on her dress and combs her hair, when he watches her getting ready to leave with a heavy heart that he tries to ignore.
“It can’t go on like this, Bruce,” she says and shakes her head with a sigh.
“It could,” he barely answers, and that’s the only thing he needs to say. Edie knows all the meanings of his ‘It could’. ‘Go see a doctor, Edie.’ ‘Go back to Arkham, Edie.’ ‘I’ll be always there for you to help you back into a normal life, Edie.’ ‘A life with me, Edie.’
She halts in her movements and turns to look at him, to give him a sad smile and an even sadder: “No, it can’t.”
She doesn’t need to say more, he knows all the meanings behind her ‘No, it can’t.’ ‘I don’t want to be normal, Bruce.’ ‘It wouldn’t be me, Bruce.’ ‘My mind would wither and I can’t let this happen, Bruce.’ ‘No, not even for you, Bruce.’
The only thing neither of them ever says is: ‘I’m sorry,’ because they think nothing of lies.
So they keep this dance (this battle) going (strangers by day, enemies by night, lovers in the morning) because there is nothing else for them to do (for nothing else agrees both with their hearts and minds), wondering how long they’ll last.
Title: You're beggin' me to go, you're makin' me stay
Fandom: Batman
Characters: Bruce Wayne/Edie Nigma
Wordcount: 466
Rating: G
Challenge: 100songs: Pat Benatar - Love is a battlefield
Written for: doreyg
~~~
You're beggin' me to go, you're makin' me stay
~~~
It is after their first time together that he gets to see the woman behind The Riddler just as she discovers the man behind the mask.
Now he just sits there on the edge of her bed and watches her shivering form carefully, how she hugs her knees tightly to her body and rocks back and forth, all the while murmuring things he doesn’t understand. He figures that this is the downcast of her brilliant mind, that it never stops, not for a second, and that it is easy to unsettle her with things as unexpected as this (as them).
But maybe it wasn’t as much them as it was the answer to her greatest riddle of all time: Who is the Batman?
The moment he dropped the mask was also the moment Edie turned into a babbling mess, and now Bruce doesn’t quite know how to approach her. He tries to think about it rationally, tries to decide whether to leave her alone to sort her own head out or to tell her to snap out of it, to handle it like the genius she is and not like the drooling fool she’s about to become.
With a sigh he decides to leave for now, but as he starts to put on his suit, she sits up and looks at him with wide eyes.
“So you’re leaving now?” she states, and he has never heard her voice tremble like this.
“I think it’s better if I do,” he says with the voice of Batman but with the face of Bruce Wayne, and Edie whimpers as she crawls over to him and hugs his waist.
“Yes, it’s better when you go, please just go, don’t come back,” she starts to murmur again, but even though she practically begs him to leave the woman won’t let go.
He caresses her red hair and she leans into his touch. “What are you doing, you’re supposed to go, I don’t know who you are. Who are you? Who are you?”
He bends over and grasps her arms, uses gentle force to make her release him, puts a finger under her chin and tilts her head up.
“Edie,” he says and looks into her eyes, into her big green eyes, so confused, but instead of a well-known glare he gives her an unfamiliar smile. “I’m only a man who is in love with you.”
That’s all he says, and he feels her relaxing, sees her composure return and her eyes clearing up. His smile gets wider as she also starts to smile, and when she sits up on her knees and embraces him tightly, without any despair or confusion, without any mumbling or questioning, he knows that this was just the answer she needed (the only answer that makes sense).
Fandom: Batman
Characters: Bruce Wayne/Edie Nigma
Wordcount: 259
Rating: G
Challenge: 100songs: Pat Benatar - Love is a battlefield
Written for: doreyg
But I'm trapped by your love, and I'm chained to your side'>
~~~
Believe me, believe me, I can't tell you why
But I'm trapped by your love, and I'm chained to your side
~~~
He knows that what he’s doing is wrong, that he should be stronger than this, but the moment he smells her perfume, sees the little curl of a smile on her mouth and notices that striking glint in her eyes, he can’t help but oblige her every will.
Funny that not even Poison Ivy managed to make him feel this way … which makes it even more frightening, because what excuse could he give himself? There are no pheromones, no drugs, nothing but her looks and incredible wit to hook him up.
And the most frightening thing? She knows exactly what she’s doing to him. Even if she weren’t as smart as she is it’d be no secret that Batman - no, Bruce Wayne … no, that HE as a man has completely fallen for her.
And suddenly a small, red haired woman is more dangerous to him (by far) than the Joker could ever be. Because even in all his madness the Joker took Batman serious as an opponent while Edie thinks nothing more of him than a plaything.
Now every time Bruce Wayne puts on the suit, he feels a little less righteous than the night before … because how long will it take until the other villains realize what The Riddler has done to him?
“Riddle me this, Riddle me that …” Bruce whispers to himself with a little smile and adjusts his mask, not thinking about the crimes he’s going to prevail but of the passionate embrace (captivation) that already awaits him (body and soul).
Title: Both of us knowing
Fandom: Batman
Characters: Bruce Wayne/Edie Nigma
Wordcount: 364
Rating: G
Challenge: 100songs: Pat Benatar - Love is a battlefield
Written for: doreyg
Love is a battlefield'>
~~~
Searchin' our hearts for so long, both of us knowing
Love is a battlefield
~~~
The morning hours are their favourite time. That’s when they are just a couple in love, when they awake as a man and a woman side by side, arm in arm, and there’s nothing else but them. Sleep is still heavy on their minds, fogging all the knowledge that keeps them from being together all the other hours of the day, seven days of a week, 52 weeks of a year, all the years of a lifetime.
It’s in the morning hours she cuddles up to him and he kisses her hair, when they share a sleepy smile and enjoy the comfort of each other’s warmth before the fog lifts and the smile ceases and the warmth turns to coldness, when the man and the woman cease to be and Batman and Riddler return to the surface.
Sometimes they talk as she puts on her dress and combs her hair, when he watches her getting ready to leave with a heavy heart that he tries to ignore.
“It can’t go on like this, Bruce,” she says and shakes her head with a sigh.
“It could,” he barely answers, and that’s the only thing he needs to say. Edie knows all the meanings of his ‘It could’. ‘Go see a doctor, Edie.’ ‘Go back to Arkham, Edie.’ ‘I’ll be always there for you to help you back into a normal life, Edie.’ ‘A life with me, Edie.’
She halts in her movements and turns to look at him, to give him a sad smile and an even sadder: “No, it can’t.”
She doesn’t need to say more, he knows all the meanings behind her ‘No, it can’t.’ ‘I don’t want to be normal, Bruce.’ ‘It wouldn’t be me, Bruce.’ ‘My mind would wither and I can’t let this happen, Bruce.’ ‘No, not even for you, Bruce.’
The only thing neither of them ever says is: ‘I’m sorry,’ because they think nothing of lies.
So they keep this dance (this battle) going (strangers by day, enemies by night, lovers in the morning) because there is nothing else for them to do (for nothing else agrees both with their hearts and minds), wondering how long they’ll last.
Title: You're beggin' me to go, you're makin' me stay
Fandom: Batman
Characters: Bruce Wayne/Edie Nigma
Wordcount: 466
Rating: G
Challenge: 100songs: Pat Benatar - Love is a battlefield
Written for: doreyg
~~~
You're beggin' me to go, you're makin' me stay
~~~
It is after their first time together that he gets to see the woman behind The Riddler just as she discovers the man behind the mask.
Now he just sits there on the edge of her bed and watches her shivering form carefully, how she hugs her knees tightly to her body and rocks back and forth, all the while murmuring things he doesn’t understand. He figures that this is the downcast of her brilliant mind, that it never stops, not for a second, and that it is easy to unsettle her with things as unexpected as this (as them).
But maybe it wasn’t as much them as it was the answer to her greatest riddle of all time: Who is the Batman?
The moment he dropped the mask was also the moment Edie turned into a babbling mess, and now Bruce doesn’t quite know how to approach her. He tries to think about it rationally, tries to decide whether to leave her alone to sort her own head out or to tell her to snap out of it, to handle it like the genius she is and not like the drooling fool she’s about to become.
With a sigh he decides to leave for now, but as he starts to put on his suit, she sits up and looks at him with wide eyes.
“So you’re leaving now?” she states, and he has never heard her voice tremble like this.
“I think it’s better if I do,” he says with the voice of Batman but with the face of Bruce Wayne, and Edie whimpers as she crawls over to him and hugs his waist.
“Yes, it’s better when you go, please just go, don’t come back,” she starts to murmur again, but even though she practically begs him to leave the woman won’t let go.
He caresses her red hair and she leans into his touch. “What are you doing, you’re supposed to go, I don’t know who you are. Who are you? Who are you?”
He bends over and grasps her arms, uses gentle force to make her release him, puts a finger under her chin and tilts her head up.
“Edie,” he says and looks into her eyes, into her big green eyes, so confused, but instead of a well-known glare he gives her an unfamiliar smile. “I’m only a man who is in love with you.”
That’s all he says, and he feels her relaxing, sees her composure return and her eyes clearing up. His smile gets wider as she also starts to smile, and when she sits up on her knees and embraces him tightly, without any despair or confusion, without any mumbling or questioning, he knows that this was just the answer she needed (the only answer that makes sense).