Feb 14, 2023
So, um. I bring you Gobblepot Valentines, meme edition. Have fun XD
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So, um. I bring you Gobblepot Valentines, meme edition. Have fun XD
No matter who gets the attention, there isn't one without the other.
Gobblepot Valentine 2023 Recap
The event has come to a close, and here’s the list of all the submitted works. Be sure to give them some love!
1. Caught in the rain by @mmdgobblepot (fanart)
2. Gobblepot Valentine meme cards by @lalaurelia (graphics)
3. Since You Dug My Heart’s Grave by @phantomzone4inspiration (fanfic)
4. Companion moodboard for above fic by @phantomzone4inspiration (graphics)
5. And another moodboard for the above fic by @phantomzone4inspiration (graphics)
6. Favors by @phantomzone4inspiration (fanfic)
7. The Sun/The Moon moodboard by @theblackarticfox (graphics)
8. Be Mine by @whatwould-misha-do (fanfic)
9. The Coffee Place by @lalaurelia (fanfic)
Thank you all for participation! 💙 💜
"Caught in the Rain"
My entry for the Gobblepot Valentine event :)
Tuesday
The knock rings jarringly through the silence, and Jim feels increasingly uncomfortable.
His eyes wander from the door in front of him (heavy, wooden, sturdy like it was made to keep someone out - or in) to the mansion looming above him with a threatening aura. The dark windows look like eyes, watching him, full of judgement.
Then again, that part is probably just his subconscious scolding him for his most recent questionable decision, using his over-reactive imagination to properly get the message across.
He’s been to Penguins mansion often enough, and never felt watched by anything other than the hosts surprisingly sharp eyes.
The door in front of him opens a crack, before swinging open fully, revealing one of Oswald’s goons, beckoning him inside wordlessly.
As always. It’s an unspoken show of trust, of commitment from the kingpins side. That Jim is always welcome to come see him, no matter the time of day. No matter that he might be busy, because he will simply make time for his favourite detective.
Jim would be lying if he said it didn’t give him a little power rush every time.
Today though, it does nothing to alleviate his anxiety.
As always Oswald’s eyes light up when he spots him. The goon he had been talking to is quickly ushered away.
“Jim! How nice to see you!“
It would be so easy to simply let himself be lured into friendly conversation.
Which is exactly why he ignores the pleasantries, lest he lose his courage to do what he came here for.
It’s not like Oswald isn’t used to his rudeness by now.
“I need a favour.”
Oswald’s smile dims considerably, and Jim tries his best to ignore the fresh stab of guilt.
“Oh? Do tell me which case has managed to catch your fancy this time!”
This is where he starts to sweat.
“Can’t tell you. It’s a delicate case.”
“Well,” Oswald replies, clearly annoyed now, “I can hardly help if you won’t tell me what brought you to my doorstep in the first place. What do you even want me to do?”
“Come with me.”
“As much as I’d love to come running even though you refuse to tell me what it even is about, I’m terribly busy at the moment. So, regretfully, I’ll have to refuse.”
Of all the times for Oswald to deny indulging him, now is a terrible moment.
“It’s very important.”
“So are my plans. You can’t just barge in here and expect me to drop everything.”
“Please, Oswald.” Please.
“What’s in it for me?”
Relief washes over Jim like a tidal wave. Bargaining means that he’ll at least consider it.
“Anything you want.”
Unwise to offer a blank check, but he already owes the man too many favours for it to matter much anymore.
“Anything?”
“Anything.” ***************
The vacant house Jim has chosen for their ‘stakeout’ is mostly empty. No furniture either, which makes it look bare and naked.
It’s as empty as the warehouse on the other side of the street, in which not even a single suspicious looking figure is lurking.
Dammit. Leave it to him to find the only non-suspicious warehouse in all of Gotham.
Either way, he keeps throwing glances out the window, keeping up appearances regarding his reason of being here.
Strangely enough, Oswald hasn’t yet asked for a real explanation as to what exactly they are doing here.
Which is both strange and very helpful, since he has none.
Hoping to keep this up by distracting the disgruntled kingpin, he does his best to start up a conversation.
“So, uhm. How are you?“
Great. He’s never been especially good at small talk, but it seems that today he’s hit a special kind of low.
Oswald, ever polite despite the mischievous glint of amusement in his eyes, decides to indulge him anyway.
“I’m good, thank thank you. How about you? I hope you haven’t been too swamped with work?”
“It’s fine,” Jim answers, before remembering he should be very stressed out indeed, if he went to Oswald for help with a case.
“Uh, I mean. That’s just how work is, right?”
Truly, a silver tongue.
Oswald giggles, and the sound calms his racing heart a bit.
“God Jim, not that I don’t appreciate your efforts to appear more civil through some small talk, but please don’t start telling me about the weather.”
“Sorry,” Jim replies a bit sheepishly, before remembering something else that might work.
“I brought snacks?”
They both sit down on the old carpet, Oswald a bit inelegantly, although neither of them mentions it.
Either way, Jim wishes he had thought to choose a place with chairs - this can’t be especially good for Oswald’s bad knee.
“Here, choose a sandwich. I have one with cheese and salad, and one with tuna.”
Oswald snatches the one with tuna after only a moment of consideration, making Jim smile.
So he likes tuna, huh? Good to know.
Not that that information would ever be useful, but he files the information for later anyway.
Oswald, after taking a first hesitant bite, looks at him in shock.
“Jim, did you make these yourself?“
“Wow, are they that bad? I figured you wouldn’t like the store bought stuff, so I…”
“On the contrary!” Oswald exclaims, seeming excited, “it’s really good! I didn’t think you were capable of making edible food.”
“Whoa, harsh,” he replies, nonetheless smiling at the hidden compliment.
“Harvey must appreciate your sandwich making skills on your stakeouts…”
“I don’t really-, I mean. We mostly eat hotdogs.”
Oswald’s satisfied smile tells him that his accidental admission hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Yes he’d thought about this, yes, he’d put in more effort than he likes to admit. Oswald hadn’t been supposed to know. But if there’s one thing Oswald is good at, it’s finding out things other people don’t want him to.
It’s part of the reason why he is so so good at what he does, and also the reason he is so useful to Jim.
Conversation does manage to come a bit easier after the offering of food, as Jim notices once again how easy it is to become enthralled by Oswald Cobblepot.
After half an hour, the realisation hits him that he has neglected to ‘watch’ the warehouse entirely now, and Oswald has yet to call him out for it.
It would make him more suspicious, if the man weren’t smiling openly and breaking into surprised laughter at his latest stupid story.
“..he really said that?”
“He did!“ Jim replies, glad that he managed to amuse the smaller man with his partner’s silly antics.
And it’s just very nice to see Oswald so seemingly carefree, to see him genuinely smile and giggle, even throwing in a few jokes himself.
It makes him happy. Makes him want to witness more of it.
Another feeling it inspires in him is guilt. Deep, bone-crushing guilt.
Because of course none of this is real, their happiness running on borrowed time. Obviously he lured Oswald here with ulterior motives. None that are too bad in the grand scheme of things, but ulterior motives all the same.
There’s a weapons deal going down today. A big one. One that he deeply suspects Oswald plays a substantial part in, and would ideally like to oversee personally to make sure everything is running smoothly.
He knows this, because there is a long planned operation to take place today in order to bust it and arrest everyone present, especially Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot. Because if he were to be captured there, amidst the tons of illegal weapons as evidence, it would likely be enough to lock him up for life. In Blackgate, or perhaps even Arkham, which is worse still.
Theoretically, he should not have known about the operation at all. Because it hadn’t been his in the first place. He thanks god it isn’t because this would not have been a possibility then. But Harvey had pulled him aside one day, telling him. How he had known about it in the first place, who’s to say.
Either way, he is thankful.
Because he cannot, just cannot bear to see Oswald in jail. Unable to help, having to sit idly and watch him suffer, entirely powerless. Not again.
So he ever so selfishly decided to make sure Oswald would be otherwise occupied on this fateful day.
Stabbing his fellow officers and his own beliefs in the back by making sure they wouldn’t be able to convict a known criminal and murderer.
He’d thought about it. Thought long and hard, in those sleepless hours of the night, trying to come up with a solution. Trying to discourage himself from interfering at all. Trying to reason that it would be far better if Oswald was safely locked away, sparing so many people from his wrath and power-hungry plans.
He’d decided to watch, to stand by as events unfolded on their own. After all, how was it his fault when Oswald went and got himself arrested? It wouldn’t even be him to do it, but some other officer. His hands would be clean.
Much better this way.
And yet, when the day had come, he had found himself getting up, preparing things, and heading to Oswald’s residence, ready to do whatever it took for Oswald to come with him.
Prepared to lie, scream, beg, or fight off all of the man’s goons and pull him along by pure strength. Thankfully it hadn’t come to that.
How pathetic and selfish he was.
But if it comes down to it, he’d rather live with that guilt, another tarnish on his soul, than see Oswald locked up again.
It’s a greedy decision. Entirely self-serving.
It’s beneficial to Oswald, sure, but he isn’t sure that will outweigh the mans distaste at being lied to and manipulated.
There will probably even be suspicion that Jim had been part of the plan, distracting him so that the strike-force could hit his organisation at its most vulnerable.
But Jim is willing to take the blame. Even hopes that that is the conclusion Oswald will come to, because it would be worlds easier than explaining his actual reason.
Which he himself can’t entirely explain.
He wouldn’t blame Oswald either. It would be the more logical conclusion, more in tune with their past actions.
He is willing to be the target of Oswald’s wrath. Is maybe one of the few people who can confidently risk that, without having to fear ending up dead or missing by daybreak.
It’s a special privilege granted to him for no conceivable reason.
Asking for a reason isn’t exactly a priority on his to-do list though. Or on it at all.
If you have as many enemies as Jim Gordon, and live in a city like Gotham, looking a gift horse in its mouth is not a wise decision.
Live and let live. And if you are incapable of that, destined by nature to tear down everything in your vicinity, be glad for whoever lets you live anyway.
It would be easier not to feel guilty about going behind Oswald’s back if he didn’t seem so innocent in his joy right now.
And if this entire thing didn’t feel so much like a goddamn date.
Suddenly he is terrified that that is exactly what Oswald thinks it is. What other reason could he have to drag Oswald out here, when it’s so obviously not for a case?
Oh god. And Oswald let himself be dragged here anyway. Despite having very important other business, as Jim knows damn well.
Isn’t complaining while he is sitting on this dirty floor with him (damnit, he should have brought a chair or something, what about Oswald’s knee?) and isn’t complaining about the objectivity mediocre sandwiches either.
He seems like he’s.. enjoying this. Enjoying spending time with him. Talking, joking, complaining about their life, stealing glances when each of them think the other isn’t looking.
Suddenly, another thought. Does he want this to be a date? Does he?
He imagines it for a moment, and finds that the idea is not entirely off-putting. Is, perhaps, filling him with a sudden rush of warmth and panic.
Yes, he wants this to be a date. Even prepared nice food (as nice as he is capable of) and, in hindsight, dressed with slightly more care than usual.
Fuck.
’Too bad I probably blew whatever chance I had by pulling this little stunt.’
Oswald hardly seems like someone who is a fan of being lied to, manipulated and having his trust abused.
It works out in the crime bosses favour in this particular instance, sure, but it’ll probably seem entirely different from his perspective. Might still destroy whatever fragile trust there is between them right now.
“Fun as this has been, I must go now,” Oswald says, disturbing his racing thoughts of panic.
“I would love to repeat this little ’stakeout’ though, what do you think?”
The amusement is clear in Oswald’s voice, hardening Jim’s suspicion that the clever man has long been aware that the obscure reason Jim has dragged him here for is nothing but a cheap trick.
Trying to ignore his suddenly dry mouth, Jim offers: “Perhaps you should wait a few hours to make that offer, to see if you still want it by then.”
After all, if he doesn’t at least hint at the truth now, if he just keeps pretending like everything is fine, the betrayal will become more unforgivable later on.
The panic must have shown on his face, because Oswald laughs out loud. Openly laughs at him, and does so even more when he notices his confused expression.
“Oh James, I’m so sorry. I thought you realised by now.”
“Realised what?” He answers, trying not to let hope bloom in his chest.
“You really think I didn’t know about the GCPD‘s little plan? That I would be caught blind this easily? Oh dear.”
Leaning over in another fit of giggles at Jim’s bamboozled expression, Oswald seems to be having a field day.
“So you really did want to protect me with this little stunt? That is so sweet.”
There is a lot of things Jim wants to say, but words seem to evade him right now.
“Of course I suspected, but… I did not think you would care.”
“I..” Jim answers, still battling deep confusion. “w-what?”
Oswald reaches out, laying his hand on his shoulder, burning him. Levelling him with a stern stare, suddenly serious once again.
“I knew, Jim. I knew about the operation, and I was prepared, as your colleagues will soon be able to tell you. But I went along with this entire thing anyway, because I was curious about your motives. You did not disappoint me.”
Of all the things Oswald said, the last one keeps repeating in his mind like a broken record.
You did not disappoint me, you did not disappoint me, you-
“I.. didn’t?”
Oswald’s stern expression melts into one of warmth, of happiness. For some unconceivable reason, it conjures the thought of honey. It makes Jim want to lean in and taste those lips, to find out whether they taste as sweet as they seem.
Makes him want to drown in those warm pools of ice currently fixed at him, staring into his soul.
“You didn’t, quite the opposite actually. I thank you, James. For caring. For doing your best to protect me, in your own way. This kindness will not be forgotten.”
“It’s fine,” he croaks out, trying to keep the redness from his face. “I’m just glad you’re…” safe. Not angry at me. So irresistibly smart. “…okay.”
“Of course I am, silly.”
“Well then,” Oswald adds, trying to get up, an endeavour Jim immediately jumps to his feet to help him with, “I really do need to get going. Until next time?”
Is that hope in his voice? Or just his usual detached politeness?
“Sure.”
“Splendid! Although perhaps a different location would be more suitable. I was thinking a café perhaps, if you please. Are you free on Tuesday next week?”
“Uhm,” Jim replies, caught off-guard by this sudden turn of events. “I guess so?” To tell the truth, even if he wasn’t free, he would probably just take the time anyway. He devotes so much of his time to this city, it simply has to survive without him for a few hours then and when.
“Wonderful, it’s settled then. I’ll contact you about the closer details.”
Oswald limps towards the door, turning around one last time to say: “By the way, it’s cute that you think you can successfully lie to me. You have a terrible pokerface my dear.” With those words, he leaves the room, leaving a baffled Jim in his wake.
Only after the other man has left, does the realisation hit him.
He has agreed to meet up with Oswald on tuesday. Tuesday next week. Tuesday the 14th of February.
Valentines day.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/4 Fandom: Gotham (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Oswald Cobblepot/Jim Gordon Additional Tags: Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, set vaguely during early seasons, Sweet, they are both trying so hard, Eventual Smut, so much TLC
Summary: Expectations, a bad case, and a relationship at the turning point between a fun affair and something more.
"The thing is, Jim's not good at relationships. Knows he's not good at them. But once he had Oswald's concerned voice in his ear, his resolve weakened and he couldn't imagine anything besides sinking into his arms later tonight."
@gobblepotgazette
Gobblepot Valentine 2023
So what do you say we hold a Valentine event for our favourite boys? Whip up something nice and sweet to show our love for them and their love for each other?
Here are some prompts to help with ideas:
You can create any kind of fanwork, be it fic or art, or a moodboard, or a playlist, there’s no limit to it!
Please tag it with #GobblepotValentine if you want us to be able to find and reblog it, and also don’t hesitate to @ us! There’s also an AO3 collection set up for works if you feel like using it.
We’ll be checking for that special hashtag in the February 11 - February 18 period, after which we’ll make a little recap post to celebrate all the submitted works.
So have fun with it, and share some Gobblepot love!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
An experimental kind of story from the outsider’s POV. A coffeeshop AU too, where barista Oswald meets cop Jim.
Hope you enjoy!