#oops i posted too early oh well kjhjkhasd

[finniestoncrane]

Your One True Nemesis

Chapter 30: also on AO3 Masterlist Here Arkham!Riddler x Female!Reader, word count: 2.4k yay!! finally some more smut!! 💚 request info • prompt list • send me a request • kofi • masterlist minors DNI!! 🔞 cw: oral sex, there's still awkward pining though

“I need your help.”

The statement was so abrupt, completely against Eddie’s usual dialogue when it came to asking for your assistance. He would be indirect, suggesting that he required your input by making it sound like he was doing you a favour. Never so outright obvious, never hinting at any weakness, that you might be of use to him. So you stared at him blankly until he continued.

“You’re here. To assist me. Well, I need your help.”

Nodding slowly, you turned your body on the sofa, swallowing the mouth of sandwich you had quickly as Eddie sat down beside you, facing away, looking into the middle distance as he spoke his thoughts as they came to him.

“You asked me, before… what I wanted. And I wasn’t sure. And I’m still unsure. But. I wonder if… if you know…?”

“If I know what you want?”

“Yes.”

He was so aware of how ridiculous the question was. How could you possibly know what he wanted? How would you ever be able to understand his brain better than he could? But all of his hopes for some joy rested on your ability to do so.

“I think… Ok, well… For starters, I think it’s ok that you don’t know what you want.”

“Of course.”

“Of course.”

You smiled softly towards him as you continued, sensing how vulnerable he was, how tense his body had become at displaying this particular lack of knowledge to you.

“Here’s the thing. It wasn’t so bad before, huh? When we… were physical? Maybe not intimate, but you know what I mean.”

“Yes.”

“Yes, you know what I mean? Or yes, it wasn’t so bad?”

“Both.”

“Ok so… a big thing for you was kissing. Because kissing means feelings, and for want of a better way to phrase this, fucking is just a release. Gets rid of the tension. Helps you remove those horribly human urges so your big brain can get back to more important things, right?”

Eddie nodded silently, either in understanding or agreement, or both. You couldn’t tell, but you were just grateful he wasn’t scoffing and interrupting you. This was the closest you had gotten to expressing your feelings to him. Of course, you weren’t ready to give him all of your feelings, all of your truths. But the most urgent one, the thing you craved most, was his touch, the physical element of your relationship. If you could scrape that back then maybe you could add feelings and emotions later. It felt fairly obvious that Eddie might, deep down, even hidden from himself, feel something towards you more than just acceptance of your existence. And on a more easily accessible level, he was attracted to you physically.

Even if that was all you ever got, it was better than nothing. You thought about it so frequently, his hands on you, his breath close to your skin, the way he felt. Just a little taste of that, even a one-off, would satiate you while you tried to figure out what you wanted. Because as readily available as you were to help Eddie work out his own wants, you weren’t even certain of your own.

“Well, what if we… tentatively, of course… tried that out again. No kissing, no emotions. This is transactional. The same as me making you a coffee. A physical release that benefits both of us with no inherent feelings or emotional ties associated with it.”

A lie. A complete lie. But one Eddie seemed willing to follow.

“Surprisingly, despite your shallow efforts and weak attempts to understand me psychologically, I agree.”

“What an off-putting way to say that. You know for it to be appealing even transactionally, I still need to be vaguely interested in you.”

You could make out a slight smile curling up at the corner of Eddie’s mouth as he nodded slowly, purposefully.

“Of course.”

“Of course.”

He stood up, standing awkwardly as he looked in your general direction before he turned on his heel and spoke as he walked.

“I’m going to do some work now. Important things. Please do not bother me until it is time for dinner. That’s your only task today.”

You rolled your eyes, but you couldn’t help yourself from smiling excitedly. One task, but even at that, you weren’t sure you could have even thought about doing anything else. It was hard to focus on anything, actually, and it was for the rest of the day. Eddie was always on your mind, so there was nothing new there. But this felt different, it felt more focused. It felt concrete. Certain. And you knew it was delusional, to think that this time might be any different, but you could allow yourself that little optimism, surely.

Eddie did seem different, in fairness to your hopeful thoughts. You remembered something he had told you, how Batman had described him once.

“A fanatic narcissist, troubled by egocentrism and megalomania crossed with severe obsessive compulsion.”

It was an astute observation, clinical and almost polite. It didn’t describe the Eddie you knew though. Not completely. Of course, those aspects were there, you’d have to be ignorant to miss them. But for you, they weren’t negatives. They added to him. And surrounded them were Eddie’s positive traits, of which admittedly he had less of, or they were less obvious, but they were there all the same. Determination, a willingness to achieve, ambition. And a tender vulnerability you planned on nursing, coaxing from him slowly.

It was a good thing Eddie had told you not to do anything except for stay out of his way. Your mind was too filled with worries and excited hope to be able to focus on anything. And it was lucky that you had remained stuck on the beaten-up sofa in the living area, because otherwise you might not have heard Eddie’s yelling echoing through the halls. Looking up at the clock on the wall, you realised you had been lazing around daydreaming for three hours, doing nothing but thinking of the possibilities between you and Eddie like a schoolgirl.

He had told you not to bother him. But you couldn’t ignore the wails that followed the sharp crash of something being carelessly tossed around the work room. Quick on your feet, you made your way to Eddie to see what support you could offer, and you found him, face down on his work bench, the shattered torso of one of his prototypes on the ground around him. When you cleared your throat to make him aware of your presence, he looked up, his face red and flushed with what you presumed was anger.

“I know you told me not to bother you but-”

“It’s ok.”

He was letting you in. Accepting whatever you were there to offer him. Some help, reassurance. Anything. You’d give him anything.

“I’m… this is very stressful work.”

“Well, let’s start by clearing up a bit.”

You moved to the work bench, getting on your hands and knees beneath it to start collecting the shards.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Eddie… I’m here to help. That’s literally the only reason I’m here.”

“It’s not.”

Your chest tightened, lips trembling as you considered what he might mean by that. What was behind those two words. But you knew better. Instead opting to offer him the kind of borderline flirtation that irritated him, knowing he’d be happy if he was able to be annoyed at you instead of himself.

“Well, it’s what I’m mostly here for. To serve you.”

He cleared his throat, a nervous reaction to the words, or how you said them, sultry and suggestive.

“To… yes, I suppose.”

“Anything you want, Eddie.”

Taking a brief glance away from the floor, from the mechanical shrapnel you were scouring through, you could see him shuffling his feet uncomfortably, his legs crossed. At the top of them, where you let your gaze drift, you could see a slight tenting at the front of his pants.

Desperation, clearly. One suggestive comment and he was yours, weak to the power of suggestion it seemed. That, and the tension, the build up of aggression and frustration, the conversation from earlier. It was clear that his own thoughts had drifted to you, under the table, on your knees, there to serve him.

Crawling quietly towards him, you let your hand rest on his knee, staying with him even as he shifted back, uncertain if your touch was intentional or accidental and not wanting to make a fool of himself. Above you, he rested his hands on the table and closed his eyes, trying to focus on his breathing. In Eddie’s mind, things were going too well. Perfectly, as though they were scripted. He wanted to ask you, if you would service him, if you would touch him. He couldn’t find the words though, the courage. It seemed though that he just had to wait for you to take the lead, which he was more than happy to let you take.

“Tension release?”

Your voice was soft as you asked him, scared almost that he might say no.

“Y-yes… yes…”

Moving quickly, not wanting him to change his mind, you fumbled over his belts and the fly of his pants, desperately pulling and tugging at the layers of fabric between you and him before you finally caught glimpse of the soft mound of wild pubic hair, pulling further and releasing his cock, which bounced free, laying stiff against his thigh. It twitched as you rested your palms on his thighs, stroking up and down against them, reaching to his abdomen, cruising over his thick and ample body hair, curving around the base of his cock where you pressed into him, watching his length bounce before you leaned in.

You took in as much of him as you could, letting your lips sink down over his shaft as you lowered your head. Hollowing your cheeks, you sucked at his cock, your tongue pressed flat against him as you began to move your mouth up and down. As you reached his head, you let your tongue flit over it, gripping him in your fist as you wrapped your lips around the tip, sucking at it, lapping up the precum which spilled free as Eddie moaned above you.

Stroking his cock as you lapped at the head, you listened carefully, attentively, to the sweet sounds Eddie made in reckless abandon. He let loose, completely. You weren’t sure if it was a change in him, in his trust in you, or whether he felt safer admitting his enjoyment when you couldn’t see his face, but you could cope with only hearing him. His whimpering, the way his breath was inhaled sharply and exhaled slowly as you greedily sucked on his cock, it’s tang on your tongue, in your throat.

Taking it free from your lips with a sloppy pop, you held it still, stroking slowly, watching his abdomen and thighs tense as he tried to reach your mouth again. Clearly irritated by your teasing, when he felt your lips grazing over his tip once more, he reached his arms under the table. You could feel his gloved hands placed at the back of your head as he pushed you down onto him. You released your law, willingly accepting him into your mouth again, heart thumping, body trembling at the assertion of his dominance. You moved with him, letting him control the speed, feeling him testing your boundaries as he tapped at the back of your throat with his head, grunting and shivering at the soft choking sound you made. It only served to spur him on further, as he grasped at you, forcing you further as you moaned and let your fingers trail delicately up and down his chest.

With a whine and sharp groan, Eddie bucked his hips up into you, and you felt him hitting the back of your throat hard, gag reflex in check you still coughed and spluttered at the surprise of the swift movement. You focused yourself, breathing through your nose, wrapping your lips around him tighter as he bucked his hips once more. This time, you swallowed quickly as you felt the warm of his release on your tongue, coating your throat as you gulped it down, relishing the taste, sucking still, pulling more from him with his body shuddering and groaning at your focused effort to finish him completely.

Between the moans, as smaller ropes of his cum hit your tongue, you could hear him whispering, able to make out your name amongst the silenced words of praise. You wondered if he knew you could hear you? If he would care if he did?

Eddie released the hold he had on your head, letting you swirl your tongue around his softening cock as you removed him from your mouth.

Leaning back on the ground, you waited quietly. You didn’t know what to say. Neither did Eddie. Saying something, it felt, might ruin the moment. It might make it too emotional, it might make it too clinical. You had to keep the perfect balance, not scare him off.

Eddie was the first to break the awkward silence though.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll go… I’ll let you finish up in here.”

Shuffling out from under the work bench, you offered him a quick smile before you left hurriedly. Cringing as you walked through the hall, you still felt like you had left that as best as you could. And even if that was all you would get for another month, or ever again, you were content with it. Hearing his moaning, feeling his desperate bid to get you closer to him, the way he whispered your name, his gratitude. You weren’t foolish enough to think that you had successfully got him, but it was enough to feel like things were different this time around.

At his work bench, Eddie braced himself, his fingers clinging to the surface as his body twitched, muscles relaxing that had never been relaxed before. Tension relief indeed. But it was more than that. His heart felt light, and there was an unmoveable smile on his face. Thank you wasn’t enough, but it was all he could manage. If he let himself say anything else, he might have said too much. There was plenty of time to get to that though.