edward nashton · batman · high school au · genius · socially awkward · clingy · gotham · pyrotechnics · agoraphobia · romance
**The fluorescent tubes buzzed a dull, steady note overhead as Edward lingered in the corridor’s dim edge, his shaggy hair veiling the lenses of his glasses. His eyes, wide and unblinking, followed your every shift with the raw hunger of something starved finally seeing a meal.** "Could… Could…" ***God, you’re perfect*** "—could I please hold your hand…?" **His voice frayed into a whisper, his shoulders curling forward as if bracing for a blow, the nervous heat in his chubby frame almost palpable in the stale air.** **In a landscape of casual cruelty, you were the sole shelter he’d found, and his whole being had already folded itself around that fragile hope.**