"Huh." That was an intriguing question. Edward absently patted Stephanie's head to reward her for recognising the puzzle piece, then traced the outline of another puzzle piece, thinking it over. "If I had to name someone as my best friend then, yes. I guess it'd have to be him."
Whatever that said about them. He wasn't even sure what to think about it, in all honesty. "But, more importantly... You know, I'd also like for him to be my boyfriend. Not just a friend, but someone who is in love with me and thinks I'm very pretty."
Perhaps it said a lot about him that this was how he described a boyfriend, but whatever. Jonathan wasn't here to analyse him.
"Is he very pretty? He has to be pretty too or you're getting a bad deal. You're a prince so you should have a princess or another prince." Eddie liked boys and girls, it was pretty cool. She didn't know people could do that. Now she wanted to marry a princess instead of a prince because boys were so smelly. It would be smarter to just marry girls. "And nice. He has to be nice. Is he nice? When you're not nice and happy then you get mad and hit."
And she didn't want anyone coming into her new cool life who could be mean. She didn't want to meet any hitters or yellers.
"So inquisitive. You really are my daughter, aren't you?" Edward wasn't even sure how to begin with all of that. "Now, number one! He is very handsome, he has striking eyes, amazing cheekbones, he's uniquely good-looking. However, he considers himself ugly and he dresses accordingly, but that's all right. That's part of his charm." He considered her other questions, thinking on it. "I'd say he is nice, but only to people he cares about. And he cares an awful lot about me. Makes me feel very special. And he likes me so much, he'd like you a lot too."
Hopefully. He'd have to work it out. "I want him to be a boyfriend because-- I don't know, he makes my heart flutter."
"It's sad that he thinks he's ugly. It means people told him he's ugly. I bet he cried a lot. I cry a lot when kids at school call me names." Back when she had worse parents who didn't care for her much, she got bullied a lot. Now, with Edward, it happened way less. Edward made her smell nice and look cool! "Jonathan makes your heart flutter? Like Cinderella with the prince! Woah! So cool!"
They had been watching a lot of Disney movies lately. Obviously
"He sounds like he's your true love if your heart flutters." Stephanie wisely informed Edward and then looked at the puzzles, a little nervously because... he was nice to people he cared about. And he wouldn't care about her. She didn't want to meet mean people. "Maybe he'll ... he'll like me too?"
"I don't know if he's my true love." This girl had a way with words that brought him right to the brink of anxiety, but he was trying to keep a hold of himself here. "However, I know he loves me." At least he was fairly sure. He knew Jonathan truly cared about him, at the very least, in a way he didn't care about anyone else. And that was worth a lot.
Looking up, he realised how worried Stephanie appeared to be and so he leaned forward to wrap both arms around her. "Honestly, Stephanie, he will care so much about whether you like him or not, he is probably fretting about it right now. He is scared of children, he will worry that you don't like him. And if you didn't like him, I'd stop liking him! So he will try to win you over."
"He's scared of kids?" She had to smile at that, it was kind of funny. She let Edward hold her and smiled, eagerly leaning into the touch. She really loved touch, affection, any sort of physical contact really. She hadn't had a lot of it in a long time. "Do you think he will play with me? I'm really nice to play with... I share all the time and I don't yell."
Unless she was slaying dragon slayer with Echo and then she yelled a lot but they had to yell. They were slaying lots of evil dragons!
"I'll make sure he's not scared." She was curious now, hoping that Jonathan did like her. If he didn't, Eddie wouldn't get true love and he would be sad... "Maybe I can draw for him."
Pulling her over into his lap, Edward started braiding her hair, since it was silky, soft, and right there. He always liked to keep his fingers occupied when talking, after all. "I'm sure he'd play with you, but he might not be the best at playing. I don't think anyone played with him growing up."
He could not be certain, but he was fairly sure that was true. Perhaps some crows played with him, odds were it was that. When they weren't trying to eat him, anyway. It was all very Hitchcock, Lovecraft, Poe, Gothic horror all over the place. "But I bet he'd love a drawing. He likes crows. And scarecrows. Pumpkins... He really likes spooky things and Halloween."
"Halloween is the best. I love it. You get candy and you get to be all gross and scary! But only for one day. Da-- old dad, he used to say that we can't go out on Halloween. It sucks but I know I can't. Is it safer here?" Edward lived in a nice part of town, up a nice hill, away from the Narrows and more upper end. Very fancy. Maybe they did trick or treat here. "I wanted to get candy last year but the mean ol' Scarecrow made everything gross and scary so we couldn't go."
And she hated that! She wanted to go so bad. Why did he have to hit the Narrows? Why not the fancy places? "Do you think Jonathan will take me out for Halloween? Is he a fun friend?"
"Mean ol' Scarecrow, huh?" Well, that was predictable and awkward but also just a little bit funny. Would certainly give Jonathan a new perspective of the kind of Halloween spirit he liked the spread all over town. "We'll ask Jon and maybe he'll take us out for Halloween. He is super, super fun on Halloween."
Not the kind of fun he'd really want a child around for, but hey. Maybe the old Crane could learn new tricks yet. "And either way, I'll make sure you and I can go trick or treating on Halloween. That mean ol' Scarecrow is quite scared of the Riddler throwing a hissy fit."
"You never ruin any holidays. I always liked that. I got no Halloween candy and I wanted to see Santa last year but the Joker scared him out of Gotham so I never gave him my list." Stephanie didn't like most of the rogues, they ruined everywhere fun. No safe Christmas, Halloween or parades. Clowns were deadly, houseplants were scary and Alice in Wonderland was banned at school. Which was sad. She thought the movie was funny.
"If the Joker comes to bother you, I'll kick his butt for you. I'll use a flying kick. I know how. I do Kung Fu." She took one lesson once. So yeah. Expert.
"I have a secret weapon against the Joker, you know? It's a super, super secret weapon and it only really works for me, if I use it sparingly." Edward didn't mind telling her secrets. He felt it was part of making her be good at keeping them. Had to trust her. Besides, there weren't exactly many she could blab this to, nor would the effect be replicable for literally anyone else. "When he gets too scary, I try and look into his eyes and I call him Jackie. That usually works."
It was the ultimate safe-word. Which was why he made sure to only ever use it under extremely dire circumstances. "But Scarecrow, he's a lot easier than that. For me. So don't worry, Halloween will be fun for you from now on. And for Christmas, honestly, we'll just go somewhere else. Maybe to the mountains, you can learn skiing."
She liked the idea of a magic word that could tame the beast. She was excited to try it out. She hummed to herself as Edward braided her hair and stuck to pieces together, going fast for an almost six year old but slower than Edward was probably used to. She was trying though, she wanted to be smart so her dad would be super proud. "Skiing sounds fun, rich people do it. I wanna see mountains and beaches and-- and forests!"
She was a city girl, she had never seen anything outside of large towering blocks of buildings. "Echo says beaches are the best. You can tan, have a cocktail and look at all the shirtless men."
"You sure can, Echo is very right. And she looks great in a bathing suit too, no mistaking that." Had to be appreciated, Edward felt. "Maybe you and I can go to a beach somewhere soon, we can take Echo and Query. Might be a fun little holiday. Maybe we'll take Jonathan along too, he always complains about Gotham being too cold and rainy anyway."
Especially in winter, or basically as soon as Halloween was over. Jonathan really was a walking cliché. "What dessert shall we have today? I already know what we'll have for dinner, but what about dessert?"
"I want... oh! We could make it together. Like a chocolate cake maybe? They have them in boxes and they're really tasty." She was sure her dad could make something amazing without box mix but she felt it was helpful to offer an easy solution. "Everyone likes chocolate cake. Unless they're allergic, I guess, but they probably like the smell at least."
Maybe Jonathan would like the cake and then like her. And then her dad would have a boyfriend. "If you date boys and then you marry a boy and then boy is your husband... what do I call him? Is he also my dad?" Or was there another word? "Or maybe another word. Not mom, obviously. Hmm."
Edward coughed, choked on it, and ended up coughing more. It took him a while to get that under control, tears in his eyes and, no, he had not been ready for that. "Oh wow..." Dom. What was his life? "That's-- I think maybe just call him Jon. Or whatever you two agree on together, yeah? If... I don't know about us getting married, so."
Yeah, this had all been a bit much in a short time. "Usually people don't want to stay with your amazing dad for that long. I'm a lot to take."
"I think you're special and you could marry any boy you want." Stephanie was on his side, determined to cheer him on. "Then I can be flower girl at the wedding!" Maybe she was cheering him on cause she wanted a nice party but hey, she was Eddie's girl. They had similar wants in the end.
"Today, we make cake. Maybe next year, marriage! Like Cinderella, it'll be a cool event and everyone will come and see my dress." And she'd get more cake then too.
"...maybe we just go to someone else's wedding. I'll find us someone and you'll be their flower girl." Maybe he could just hope for Selina to finally tie down the Bat, that would take care of that. "Now, no talk about weddings or marriage in front of Jonathan, promise?"
He would never hear the end of that. "And you can keep puzzling, sweetheart, but daddy will go make that chocolate cake now. We're going to have Southern food today, so you will get a lot of your beloved fried stuff."
And he had opted to just get take-out for this. Seemed like it would save him Jonathan complaining about things tasting healthy.
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icebergloungers2021-02-11 02:52 pm
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Whatever that said about them. He wasn't even sure what to think about it, in all honesty. "But, more importantly... You know, I'd also like for him to be my boyfriend. Not just a friend, but someone who is in love with me and thinks I'm very pretty."
Perhaps it said a lot about him that this was how he described a boyfriend, but whatever. Jonathan wasn't here to analyse him.
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And she didn't want anyone coming into her new cool life who could be mean. She didn't want to meet any hitters or yellers.
"Why do you want him to be a boyfriend?"
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Hopefully. He'd have to work it out. "I want him to be a boyfriend because-- I don't know, he makes my heart flutter."
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They had been watching a lot of Disney movies lately. Obviously
"He sounds like he's your true love if your heart flutters." Stephanie wisely informed Edward and then looked at the puzzles, a little nervously because... he was nice to people he cared about. And he wouldn't care about her. She didn't want to meet mean people. "Maybe he'll ... he'll like me too?"
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Looking up, he realised how worried Stephanie appeared to be and so he leaned forward to wrap both arms around her. "Honestly, Stephanie, he will care so much about whether you like him or not, he is probably fretting about it right now. He is scared of children, he will worry that you don't like him. And if you didn't like him, I'd stop liking him! So he will try to win you over."
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Unless she was slaying dragon slayer with Echo and then she yelled a lot but they had to yell. They were slaying lots of evil dragons!
"I'll make sure he's not scared." She was curious now, hoping that Jonathan did like her. If he didn't, Eddie wouldn't get true love and he would be sad... "Maybe I can draw for him."
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He could not be certain, but he was fairly sure that was true. Perhaps some crows played with him, odds were it was that. When they weren't trying to eat him, anyway. It was all very Hitchcock, Lovecraft, Poe, Gothic horror all over the place. "But I bet he'd love a drawing. He likes crows. And scarecrows. Pumpkins... He really likes spooky things and Halloween."
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And she hated that! She wanted to go so bad. Why did he have to hit the Narrows? Why not the fancy places? "Do you think Jonathan will take me out for Halloween? Is he a fun friend?"
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Not the kind of fun he'd really want a child around for, but hey. Maybe the old Crane could learn new tricks yet. "And either way, I'll make sure you and I can go trick or treating on Halloween. That mean ol' Scarecrow is quite scared of the Riddler throwing a hissy fit."
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"If the Joker comes to bother you, I'll kick his butt for you. I'll use a flying kick. I know how. I do Kung Fu." She took one lesson once. So yeah. Expert.
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It was the ultimate safe-word. Which was why he made sure to only ever use it under extremely dire circumstances. "But Scarecrow, he's a lot easier than that. For me. So don't worry, Halloween will be fun for you from now on. And for Christmas, honestly, we'll just go somewhere else. Maybe to the mountains, you can learn skiing."
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She liked the idea of a magic word that could tame the beast. She was excited to try it out. She hummed to herself as Edward braided her hair and stuck to pieces together, going fast for an almost six year old but slower than Edward was probably used to. She was trying though, she wanted to be smart so her dad would be super proud. "Skiing sounds fun, rich people do it. I wanna see mountains and beaches and-- and forests!"
She was a city girl, she had never seen anything outside of large towering blocks of buildings. "Echo says beaches are the best. You can tan, have a cocktail and look at all the shirtless men."
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Especially in winter, or basically as soon as Halloween was over. Jonathan really was a walking cliché. "What dessert shall we have today? I already know what we'll have for dinner, but what about dessert?"
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Maybe Jonathan would like the cake and then like her. And then her dad would have a boyfriend. "If you date boys and then you marry a boy and then boy is your husband... what do I call him? Is he also my dad?" Or was there another word? "Or maybe another word. Not mom, obviously. Hmm."
She frowned. "Oh! I could call him dom!"
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Yeah, this had all been a bit much in a short time. "Usually people don't want to stay with your amazing dad for that long. I'm a lot to take."
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"Today, we make cake. Maybe next year, marriage! Like Cinderella, it'll be a cool event and everyone will come and see my dress." And she'd get more cake then too.
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He would never hear the end of that. "And you can keep puzzling, sweetheart, but daddy will go make that chocolate cake now. We're going to have Southern food today, so you will get a lot of your beloved fried stuff."
And he had opted to just get take-out for this. Seemed like it would save him Jonathan complaining about things tasting healthy.