ed/os - first kiss (aka Fix What Gotham Broke)
The first time Ed thinks Oswald is going to kiss him is after Oswald wins the mayoral campaign. There are tears in his eyes, and the way he looks wordlessly from Ed back to the TV makes Ed’s heart lurch. He repeats the riddle, even, that Ed had tried to tell him, but he doesn’t kiss Ed, so Ed chalks it up to emotion over winning and puts it aside.
Well, he bricks it up in his heart, because he told Oswald, he told him, that love, for men like them, is weakness. So he builds a wall around it, to hold it close but keep it separate from what he has to be to be Oswald’s right-hand man.
I can’t be bought, but I can be stolen with one glance.
The second time is after Butch’s hands close over his throat, after he thinks maybe he misjudged and it’s the end for him. He’s dead for a second there, and all he can think is at least he protected Oswald, at least Butch’s betraying ass is out, for good. At least he can hope Oswald chooses good people to be by his side.
And then he wakes up to Oswald’s hands on his face, one supporting the back of his head and the other cupping his cheek. He opens his eyes to Oswald’s relieved smile, and he thinks that maybe this will be the moment--a kiss in relief.
But the moment passes, Oswald helps him up and moves away, and Ed tosses this feeling behind the brick wall. A fluke, a mistake, the fluttering of his heart means nothing.
I’m worthless to one, but priceless to two. What am I?
And then he’s on Oswald’s couch, wrapped in Oswald’s dressing gown. His throat hurts, a mean bruise already formed from Butch’s large fingers wrapped tight around it. Oswald makes him tea, sits next to him, and looks at him with concern in those gray-green eyes.
So Ed’s mouth runs away from him, because it’s dark and it’s quiet and the only two people in the world are him and Oswald, and he realizes that’s all he wants. “I hope you know, Oswald, I would do anything for you,” he says. “You can always count on me,” he says.
Finally, Oswald, eyes bright, leans in and kisses him, messy and hot, their teeth clacking together until they find a rhythm. And as Oswald pulls Ed down on top of him, the two of them only barely fitting on the couch, flinging pillows out of their way, Ed tears down that brick wall and lets himself...
Love.
