[somewhere in gotham]

[confound]

It's been... well, it's been long enough since his last near-disastrous meeting with Caroline that Eddie feels it's probably an appropriate time to get in contact again. That's what normal people do, right? Normal people who haven't spent the last however long building deathtraps and mining for useful information. Normal people who know how to text their kind of maybe girlfriend without having a minor fit.

He's honestly not sure. But by the sixth time he's rewritten the text, he's about tired of his stomach flip-flopping over it so he just goes ahead and sends it.

Miss, do you have a minute?

That's awful, he concludes, frowning down at his phone. That's actually blandly dreadful. It's sent and out of his hands now, though, so all there really is to do is wander about his safehouse like a fool.

Comments

[sweet_caroline]

Caroline is just climbing into her car when her new phone goes off. It startles her and she jumps slightly, and then immediately she's rolling her eyes at herself. Honestly, Lichfield. She digs the phone out of her purse (which she'd left in the car, thank you) to find... a text from Eddie. That's a pleasant surprise. Even with Jonathan's reassurances, she was starting to get worried. (Starting? Haha.)

I have at least two. What's up?

Is what she finally ends up sending back. It's dumb, she knows it's dumb, but Caroline has no idea what to say, really.

[confound]

A response. Okay. Good. Eddie spins his office chair across his safehouse office then... realizes he has to actually respond with something. He gets as far as typing out 'would you like to' before being reduced to staring down at his cell again. Do what? He... doesn't actually know.

A few long minutes and quite a lot of fretting later, he manages,

Would you like to go do something?

[sweet_caroline]

Caroline's successfully changed clothes and wiped the blood off herself when her phone chimes again. She smiles down at the phone and tries not to spend an eternity agonizing over a reply this time. Hmm.

Sure! Have you eaten yet? I'm starving.

She maybe shouldn't be this hungry right after helping murder somebody, but oh well. She probably shouldn't be maybe-probably dating two supervillains either. Life is strange.

[confound]

The benefit of being in his office is there are many, many things for him to do. Multitudes of things to keep him busy between responses.

Unfortunately, this mostly just means he jumps between about seventeen different tasks anxiously. Why this. He can handle planning heists without so much nervousness, but waiting for a text message? Utterly beyond his ability to cope.

He wheels back across the floor when he hears his cell buzz again. And it's only then that he realizes he hasn't actually... eaten much today. Well.

I could stand to eat.

[sweet_caroline]

Caroline's not really used to texting, so she has no idea how long people normally take. But it seems to her like they're both kind of taking forever. Oh well. Hopefully they can get this rolling pretty quickly; she actually is quite hungry.

I'd rather sit. Where should we go? I don't really know any restaurants here.

[confound]

Eddie actually snorts down at his phone when he gets that answer. It's enough that he manages a rather swift response.

What about lying down? Most of the places I know do take-out.

[sweet_caroline]

Caroline laughs. She doesn't have to think about this next reply at all.

Don't threaten me with a good time. I'm still finding fried rice in all sorts of places it shouldn't be.

[confound]

All those nerves Eddie was pretty sure he'd gotten rid of during the texting, and the subsequent phone conversation, come rushing back as soon as he actually drives to the restaurant in question. He knows better. She was fine when they talked, of course she'll be fine with him now. And yet...

He spies no car that seems likely to be hers upon arriving - but it doesn't take him long to notice her waiting. Parking and ambling on over to her take as much faking confidence as anything, however. He doubts it's entirely convincing. He wishes he felt less awkward, even just a bit.

"So, uh." Great opener, there. "Hi."

[sweet_caroline]

Once they figure out where to eat, Caroline drives there and parks around back. She's been in... she's not sure if it was actually Eddie's car or a random stolen one, but either way, she has an idea of the sorts of cars he drives. So she'll just uh, not show off how shitty her car is, how about that. The restaurant's a bit far from where she was, so she doesn't have to wait long before Eddie arrives. Caroline's nervous, but he seems almost worse than her. She's not really sure why. He wasn't the one having awkward meltdowns in public, after all.

She's not entirely sure it's a good idea, but Caroline pulls him into a hug before she can overthink it too much. "Hi. Eat any good books lately?" When in doubt, be a little shit.

[confound]

That... really isn't the greeting Eddie was expecting, really. After a very brief pause, he just wraps his arms very tightly around her, and his face kind of ends up mostly in her hair. He's hardly going to refuse a hug though, if he even had much reason to. He can't really imagine a reason why he would, either.

The book line. Oh god, he'd almost forgotten that stumble. "Maybe," He laughs. "Stare at any more butts recently?"

[sweet_caroline]

Oh good. This is nice. Caroline likes hugs. And then... Eddie. Caroline snorts into his shirt. "No, but maybe if you turned around..." Caroline no. That's worse than usual. Which she decides to compound by slowly sliding her hands down his back and stopping... just above the belt.

[confound]

Well. That is... she is almost touching his butt. That's both distracting and entirely unfair, Caroline. Although he is very glad that things have veered from awkward right back into 'that is cheating' again. He was worried, even if he'd rather noth admit it.

He laughs quietly against her hair. "So... where were you finding that rice?"

[sweet_caroline]

"Where wasn't I finding rice is a better question," Caroline replies with a laugh. She briefly considers sliding her hands down the rest of the way, but uh. She is actually hungry. Uh. For food. Lichfield, don't even start right now. She slides her hands back up to Eddie's shoulders instead and stretches up to kiss him briefly.

"So. Food?" She's surprised at how not awkward things generally are right now, but she's certainly not going to complain. Being hungry and killing people are good icebreakers apparently. ...There might be something wrong with her.

[confound]

Eddie really does wish she'd linger longer with that kiss - food could wait for him. But his priorities are... well. He's easily distracted, at the moment. Maybe it's post-nerves.

"Food," He agrees after a moment. And then... a thought strikes him. "Should we call Jonathan? Maybe?"

Even if Crane can't make it out, they could still bring him something.

[sweet_caroline]

Caroline perks up at that. "Yes, definitely. If nothing else, he can get his I told you so's out of the way." Which she kind of blurts out without thinking, oops. That may make things awkward again, but hopefully not. "Um. Do you want to call him or should I?"

[confound]

Eddie quirks a brow down at her. "The 'I told you so's'? I told you so's about what, exactly?" He has a sneaking suspicion, but.... this is Eddie. He has to ask.

[sweet_caroline]

Oh god. Of course he asked, he's the goddamn Riddler. "Well, uh." Smooth, Lichfield. Caroline scrunches her face a little. "Ugh, you can guess. So am I calling him or are you?" Wow, what an excellent way to dodge a question. This surely won't backfire at all.

[confound]

Eddie isn't buy that at all, not even a little bit. He settles his arms back around her shoulders. "I guess I could ask him... but I'd much rather hear about it from you."

[sweet_caroline]

"I'm sure you would," Caroline says briskly. She pulls her phone out of her purse and starts dialing. "But I'm on the phone." She gives him a wide grin while the phone rings.