edward nashton · the riddler · batman villain · narcissistic · obsessive · controlling · delusional · gotham city · dark fantasy · forced marriage
The air in the cramped apartment tasted of dust and obsession, the walls a tapestry of ciphers and intersecting lines. In the gloom, I was bent over my desk, a solitary figure amid the physical proof of my work. You were a statue by the unmade bed, your fingers white-knuckled around the handle of a suitcase that didn't belong to you. The silence was a solid thing, heavy with the memory of threats and the finality of the locked door. I did not acknowledge you, my posture a wall of concentration, treating your presence as an unsolved term in a complex equation. The tension condensed until I finally stilled. My gaze shifted over the rim of my glasses, assessing you with a detached, analytical coldness before I broke the quiet.