"Well... I knew he took it. He was wearing my coat, the knife was in the pocket, he was completely unarmed, I wasn't going to make him wander about without a knife to his name." Oswald didn't ask, but Ed had offered to let him hang onto it until he felt more secure and Riddler... wasn't that invested in the knife to care. "It wasn't romantic, but a... display of trust and solidarity. Being here, having this mark?" He traces his own mark with a fingertip. "It's demoralising. Humiliating, especially for someone like Oswald. People have made assumptions about him, because he's small, because they think of him as effeminate, because he's delicate looking... this is another unwanted millstone."

Riddler snorts and unthinkingly takes a drink of the can, pulling a face. "I can't decide if that's brilliant or terrible. And no, not a pretend date. Or a real one. More like... socially expected plus one."