Chapter Text
*** 1 ***
„Reconsider my invitation,“ Cobblepot said and took Gordon’s hand to place the black envelope in his palm.
“It wouldn´t be the same without you.”
Gordon watched the small weirdo waddling away and wasn't thinking twice before the invitation flew into the closest garbage can.
Concentrating on his work again, he didn´t even notice that someone else was sneaking around the whole time, eventually picking up the envelope.
Nobody paid attention to the slender figure, awkwardly turning his head from side to side, before he hurried into a random direction.
His head still turned to the side, eyes fixed on the man people called “Penguin”, he didn´t see the woman who just left her office, busy with studying files, and bumped right into her.
She threw the paper into the air like a fountain and screamed out of surprise.
The moment the young man realized what just happened, he wasn´t able to do anything but staring at the paper, moving in the air like falling leafs.
“NYGMA, WHAT HAVE I DONE TO YOU? CAN´T AT LEAST ONE DAY PASS WITHOUT YOU RUINING IT?, the woman screamed and Nygma winced.
“I am so sorry Miss Kringle, I didn´t mean to..”, he babbled while kneeling down to pick up the paper that had already reached the floor.
“Don´t. Just leave me alone, you are making it just worse.”, Kristen Kringle said in the most self-controlled way she could manage.
The man stood up, his expression slowly freezing.
“Alright.” He said and turned around to escape from the situation.
When Edward Nygma reached his office, door closed behind him, he leaned against it and took a deep breath.
He noticed that he was still holding the envelope in his clenched hand, now slightly crumpled.
Ed tried smoothing the black, expensive paper carefully and stared on the name, printed on it in white letters.
“Oswald’s”
His first conversation with Oswald Cobblepot didn´t go well, he thought, biting his lower lip.”
He wasn´t even sure why he felt the urge to talk to the little man everyone was talking about all the time.
Edward remembered the day when he met Oswald Cobblepot for the first time.
Well, he didn´t actually meet him but he was in the same room.
The day Jim Gordon got almost arrested for the murder of Cobblepot, he showed off in the GCPD building, introducing himself to the “audience” while he seemed to have a lot of fun doing it.
The small man knew how to make people pay attention.
Edward Nygma usually felt like a ghost in the GCPD building, until people got annoyed, sending him away.
Moments when his work got appreciated were rare and people barely noticed how helpful he actually was.
Today, he got noticed.
In this room full of people, Penguin noticed him and somehow Ed felt drawn to him and this feeling wasn´t fading.
It was the same day in the evening, when Edward Nygma arrived at the Club where Oswald’s opening party had started about an hour ago.
He was still a little angry about the comment someone at work made about the unusual suit he was wearing, when he left the building.
“If he was going to a funeral”, because he was dressed “all black”..
His suit wasn´t black at all, the fabric had a beautiful shade of dark green, with dark purple pine stripes.
Ed had never worn this suit before, because there was no reason for it, yet.
He kept it in his office, waiting for the right moment to use it.
Actually, he was saving it for a special night, maybe dinner with a specific, beautiful woman.. whatever.
Somehow he felt like wearing it tonight, combined with a black, silky button-up shirt and a purple bowtie, making him feel more confident than usual, but compared to his rising heartbeat, obviously not confident enough.
He took a deep breath and walked straight to the entrance, where two guys, tall and strong looking, watched him with frozen expressions.
Edward was holding the invitation with both hands and stopped in front of the security guys, forcing a smile.
“I.. have an invitation.”, he said, waving with the envelope in front of the guys faces.
One of them grabbed it and opened it to read the name.
“You don´t look like James Gordon, kid.”, he said, but Ed stayed calm.
“Because I am not. Detective Gordon is tied up with business and he asked me to take his place instead to deliver a personal apology to the host.”
Edward pressed his lips together, waiting for a reaction.
Just by looking at them, he could tell that those guys weren´t very smart. Nothing but muscles, just following orders.
“Mister Cobblepot would be very disappointed not to know how sorry Detective Gordon is, that he couldn´t make it.”, Ed started another try and the security guys exchanged glances until one of them nodded and both stepped aside to let Nygma pass.
“Thank you.”, he said, still smiling, and walked inside.
Oswald’s mood couldn´t get worse.
His grand opening was a disaster.
He filled glasses on empty tables, while a terrible band repeated the line “no more heroes anymore” over and over again.
This should have been his great moment, but only a hand full of people from his guest list appeared and half of them have left the “party” already.
He still hoped for more guests because the night was still young but he wasn´t too optimistic.
When he glanced to the entrance, he froze for a moment.
Penguin immediately recognized the skinny man who worked at the GCPD.
It has been only a few hours ago, when he felt stalked by that nerdy guy and their short, senseless conversation was still in his mind.
A lot of effort for wanting nothing, Cobblepot thought, while he watched the other man from the corner of his eye, who was still standing there, looking around curiously.
He straightened himself and hobbled to the entrance.
Nygma seemed busy with studying the interior so he didn´t notice that the new owner of the club was already standing next to him.
“What is green and very much in the wrong place?”, Oswald asked in a joking way, but with a forced smile.
Ed turned his head with a surprised expression and looked down to the Penguin, the smile on his face open and happy.
“Me.”, he said with excitement, “The answer is me!”
Edward didn´t care much about the fact that Cobblepot didn´t welcome him at his party, he just saw that he remembered him and he remembered that he liked riddles and he noticed that his suit was green.
Oswald blinked twice, a little confused, but still smiling.
“What.. do you want?”, he asked directly, looking right into Nygma’s eyes.
“We need it to survive, but we can´t survive in it.”, Edward said, enjoying the puzzled look on Penguin’s face.
He looked like he wanted to reply something but no words came out of his mouth.
“Water. I’d like a glass of water.. please?”, Ed smiled and Oswald tried to keep his patience.
“Did Jim send you here?”, Penguin kept asking, while his hope that the only person he considered a true friend would just be a little late was slightly fading.
Ed considered lying to Oswald to not ruin the party for him, but on the other hand…
“No. I came here by myself.”
“How did you get in?”
“With Detective Gordon’s invitation. I pulled it out of the garbage can..to be honest.”
Cobblepot let out an angry snort and nodded.
“Alright..friend.. have a seat, get a drink and enjoy the party.”, he said dryly, turned around and waddled away.
Oswald felt anger rising in his chest.
He was disappointed and just felt like throwing everyone out, but there were more people on the stage than guests sitting at the tables, so he just continued filling glasses.
Edward chose a table in a corner from where he was able to watch everything but was rather safe from other people’s eyes.
He saw Penguin saying something to a waiter, pointing into his direction and soon after, he was served a glass of water.
Nygma was sure that his wish would be ignored, but Cobblepot seem to try his best to be at least a good host.
There wasn´t much happening for a while, until a small group of men entered the club, walking straight to Penguin.
Ed recognized the man’s popular face, it was Salvatore Maroni and he was definitely threatening Cobblepot.
He couldn´t understand everything but Penguin’s face said enough.
He was scared, almost terrified. He shouldn´t be scared, Ed thought, people should be scared of him.
It was not only that Maroni threatened him; he also embarrassed him in front of all guests.
When Maroni and his guys left the club, Oswald was shaking.
As if he could feel Nygma’s eyes on him, he turned around and walked to the corner where the uninvited guest was sitting stiffly, watching him through his glasses.
“Are you feeling entertained?”, Cobblepot snarled but Ed didn´t seem to be affected by that.
“Not at all.”, he replied. “I think he is making a mistake.”
Oswald took the seat on the opposite, looking at the other man.
“You are a smart guy, aren´t you?”, he said and Edward smiled.
“I am.”
“Then I guess there is a reason why you came here tonight and I don´t think it is because you wanted a free glass of water.”
“No.”
“Then what is it?” Oswald folded his hands on the table and managed a cheerful smile.
Ed mimicked the other man’s position and smiled back.
“I heard the conversation you had with Jim Gordon earlier. I heard what you said to him.”
“I said a lot.”
“You said it is better to walk with a friend in the dark, than walking alone in the light.”
Oswald’s smile faded.
“People don´t treat me very well. I am tired of walking alone in the light.”, Edward said, his expression turning serious.
Cobblepot watched the other man intensely, a lot of thoughts rushing through his head.
So this guy from the GCPD offered him his friendship.. no.. he asked for it.
He didn´t seem to be very strong but if he was smart enough, he could be really useful.
Having a mole in the GCPD was in fact a good thing, but could he trust him?
Oswald didn´t trust anyone but himself and his mother…and Jim Gordon.
But as recent events proved, the friendship with Gordon was rather one-sided.
This Nygma seemed harmless und could be easily underestimated, that wasn´t essentially a bad attribute to start with.
He seemed to know exactly what he wanted and if he would betray him, it would be easy as pie to get that guy out of the way.
“So, you are offering to work for me. What do you expect to get from me in return?”, Oswald asked, still suspicious of the other man’s motives.
“I want to get noticed.”, Ed replied and Oswald laughed.
“That is not very clever if you are going to become my secret spy.”
“Not for now.”, Ed interrupted. “When the time is right, I want everyone to see my potential and I want them to regret how they treated me all the time.”
“Why me?”
“Soon, you will become a man with a lot of influence.. I can see that. And.. you noticed me.”
“You were sneaking around, of course I noticed you.”
“I always do that. People usually don´t pay much attention. You did.”
Oswald leaned back, still thinking about what to decide.
Yes, he was kind of a psychopathic killer, but somehow he didn´t have the heart to send this guy away.
He knew the feeling of being mistreated just too well.
He felt the pain of being hurt with every step he took.
“Ed. You seem to be a good guy. Are you really sure you want to join my business? Once you are in, there is no way out. Well, at least not alive.”, Oswald’s own words made himself chuckle.
Edward shifted his glass between his fingers, biting his lip.
He came so far; he even managed to talk to Penguin without being kicked out of the club.
And he liked the way Oswald Cobblepot talked to him. He liked how his ice-blue eyes were fixed on him, paying full attention.
“I don’t know if I am a good guy. People call me odd. They say I need professional help. They make me feel like a crazy, pathetic fool. That makes me very angry and sometimes I want to hurt them. I wonder if it would feel good, if it would make me feel better.”
A wide smile appeared on Oswald’s face.
“Yes. Oh yes it would.”
Whatever Edward Nygma had in mind for his revenge, he wouldn´t be able to do it on his own.
Oswald knew he had much more power than people expected.
He just had to pull the right strings at the right time but what he needed were more and more strings and the man in front of him could help him collect.
“Can I offer you anything else to drink? Something to celebrate our potential alliance?”, he finally said, still smiling and this time it was not forced at all.
***