Chapter 17
“Hello, Margaret, how has your day been?” you asked your housekeeper as you maneuvered your shopping bags through the front door that she held open for you.
“Miss Y/n, there are some people waiting in Mr. Oswald’s office. They said that they are friends of yours. I tried not to let them in, but they were very insistent.”
You could tell from the way that she was acting that she was very upset about the entire situation, and she had every reason to be. Oswald had a strict rule about letting strangers into the house.
“It’s okay. I’ll take care of it,” you said gently, reassuring the older woman. “Why don’t you take my bags upstairs for me?”
Once she was out of the room, you pulled the handgun that Oswald kept hidden in the front hall, just in case. With it still in hand, you made your way to his office and pushed open the door slowly.
“What? Are you going to shoot us or something?” a familiar, feminine voice said.
“Natasha! Steve! What are you doing here?” you asked excitedly as you ran over to embrace each of them in turn.
Seeing either one of them wasn’t exactly a surprise. You’d visited often over the past five years, and spoken to them on the phone even more frequently than that. No, the surprise was seeing them HERE. You’d always gone to visit them, not the other way around. Once you and Oswald had become a couple, you’d found comfort in keeping your two worlds separate from each other. It wasn’t that you didn’t trust him, but he didn’t exactly have a good track record either.
However, you soon realized that the real shock was standing behind them, looking very much as you remembered him, although you honestly hadn’t thought of him in years.
“Hey, I don’t know if you remember me-“
“Scott Lang,” you said, interrupting him.
Even though he’d never been more than an acquaintance of yours, you found yourself rushing over to hug him as well. There was something overwhelming about seeing someone again that you’d assumed had disappeared “that day.” Whether he understood what you were feeling, or it was simply the type of man that he was, he returned your affection without question.
“It’s wonderful to see you,” you said when you released him. “You have no idea.”
“Y/n,” Steve began, “we need to talk.”
You listened as they explained all of it to you, not interrupting to ask a single question. It seemed so hard to believe and too good to be true all at the same time.
But when Natasha asked if you were in or out, you said “in” without hesitation.
“Y/n! Are you here?” you heard Oswald’s voice call out from the vicinity of the front door.
“In the office!” you replied, dreading the ensuing conversation.
“Oh! I didn’t realize we had company,” he said when he caught sight of your friends. His gaze flickered from each of them to you before he added, “Forgive me. I’ve forgotten my manners. How are you, Captain Rogers? Miss Romanoff?”
“We’re good,” Steve answered simply as he studied the expression on your face.
“I don’t believe we’ve met,” Oswald said, indicating Scott with a wave of his hand.
“Scott Lang...Ant-Man.”
“I’ll meet you guys outside,” you said quietly. “Give me a few minutes?”
“Of course,” Steve said. You watched as the three of them left, leaving you and Oswald alone.
“What was that about?” he asked.
“I can’t explain it, because I don’t entirely understand it myself, but they think they’ve found a way to bring everyone back.”
“Back?”
“Yes, back...everyone that was snapped out of existence...you do remember the Snap, don’t you, Oswald?”
You weren’t trying to be sarcastic, but apart from losing Edward, Oswald’s life hadn’t changed all that much since then...at least, not for the worst.
“Of course I remember. That’s wonderful news. I wish them all the luck in the world with it.”
“They came to ask for my help. I told them that I would.”
That got his attention. His mouth opened and closed several times but no sounds came out. He was obviously struggling to come up with a response that would convince you not to go while simultaneously not pissing you off.
“But, you haven’t done any Avenging in five years. I thought all of that was behind us.”
“It’s not behind me. I still feel guilty about our failure. I’ve learned to live with it, but it’s still there. If there’s any chance of making things right, I have to take it. It’s the right thing to do. I don’t expect you to understand. I know we’re very different people when it comes to that.”
“You’re right I can’t understand that! I can’t understand you risking your life to MAYBE save some people we don’t even care about!”
The Penguin’s famous temper was starting to come out now...so much for not pissing you off.
“Well what about the people we did care about? Hmm? We all lost people we loved! The team lost Sam, Wanda, Bucky...Clint lost Laura and all of his children...Tony lost the kid...I lost Edward!”
“What do you mean YOU lost Edward?”
You hadn’t even noticed it slip out. His tantrum had put you on edge enough to accidentally break the promise you’d worked so hard to keep.
Taking a deep breath, you rubbed your hand across your face in frustration. Maybe it was better this way. If the team was successful, that meant Edward would come back. Is that really how you wanted Oswald to find out about it? After all, the whole point was to not hurt him. If he had to know, it was better that you tell him now.
“The day we left Gotham,” you began quietly, “I told Edward that I loved him. He went with us. He went with me to Wakanda. After we faced Thanos, I tried to find him. I looked...and I looked...but I never found him. He went with me....but I had to come back without him.”
By the end, you were conscious of the tears running down your face. Wiping them away roughly, you continued, “I never wanted you to know. I didn’t want to hurt you. I’m sorry. But, despite what you may think, I’m not just doing this to bring Edward back. I’m doing it because this is who I am. I’m an Avenger, and our mission is incomplete. I hope you can find a way to understand that.”
Then, you hurried out of his office, through the front door, and out to their car. Natasha joined you in the backseat, leaving Steve to drive and Scott riding shotgun.
“You want to talk about it?” she asked after several miles of silence.
“I told him about Edward.”
“How did he take it?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t really give him a chance to respond. I did tell him, though, that this wasn’t about Edward. That this is just who I am. I meant it, too. This team is my family. I’ll do whatever it takes to make it whole again...whatever it takes.”
—————
After you left, Oswald fixed himself an extremely full glass of wine, slamming everything about as he did so, before sitting down at his desk to rub at his pounding temples. Everything had been going so perfectly. Why did it all have to be ruined now? It was probably due to that new man...Ant-Man...what an idiotic name. Still, he couldn’t really blame your friends. They might be selfless, idealistic fools, but they were good people. He supposed that’s why he never understood them. A good person is one thing he’d never been. No, he knew where to lay all the blame.
If he was being completely honest, it was all his own fault. Everything he’d ever done had driven you closer to Edward...his attempt on your partner’s life...even his friendship with Sofia Falcone. He scoffed at the memory. He’d put so much effort into trying to prove you wrong, or more precisely, to make you jealous. All the while Edward had been working a different angle. It wasn’t even a particularly genius plan. He’d just been there...talking to you...watching you work. How could such simplistic actions have won your heart so easily? And following you to battle? That one shocked even Oswald. Of course, he knew better than anyone that your love could make a man do crazy things. But the Riddler dying as a hero? Hard to imagine. Perhaps that’s why he still had such a strong hold on you even after all these years.
Oswald had known all along, or perhaps suspected was the better term for it, that you’d been in love with Edward. It was the little things, like that distant, far-away look that you’d get anytime his name was so much as mentioned. But, you’d never said a word about it. The only reason he’d questioned your slip up today was because he’d been so taken aback by it, especially considering the news that his old friend might be coming back. Oddly enough, it had never mattered before. You’d been a better girlfriend than anyone like him could’ve ever hoped to have. It had taken time for you to actually say “I love you,” but you had said it. And you’d certainly shown him in more ways than one.
Truthfully, your not telling him about Edward had only deepened his love for you. He knew there was no reason for you to keep it a secret, other than you trying to spare his feelings. Who besides you had ever cared about him enough to do that? Oswald didn’t need complete honesty. He needed loyalty and compassion. If you wanted to lie to him to give him that, then it was fine by him.
Now, Edward was going to come back and ruin everything. The man was nothing but dust on a distant continent and he was still causing Oswald problems. The Riddler would have enjoyed that.
He had to find a way to beat him at his own game. As he sipped on his wine and dwelled on the situation, it finally dawned on him that if the Riddler could follow you to war, why not the Penguin?
Getting up from his desk and limping to his office door, he called out to his housekeeper, “Pack my bags! I’m going on a trip, and I don’t know how long I’ll be gone!”