theansweris | DUPLICITY: IC INBOX

Riddler pauses and shrugs slightly. "I mean, if you want. I might not answer."

He might answer with his own questions. It's hard to be sure with them.

John doesn't expect a straight answer; that'd be like expecting a cat to bark. He's satisfied with the okay to ask; it;s a touchy issue with alters!

"Do you think... he would let me kiss him?" the words might have retained more uncertainty if he wasn't so distracted by... everything. It's obvious from his twitchy hands that he's getting really tempted to touch something.

So he melts into a cross legged position and sits on them, for good measure. He doesn't bother trying to behave himself so well with everyone, you know.

Riddler hums and then pokes Ed to the fore instead. Ed blinks and looks down, carefully settling to his knees and then sitting on his heels. "Riddler says you want to ask me something?"

Ed really hadn't been paying attention once Riddler started thinking about electricity.

John looks completely dumbfounded when the alters suddenly switch-- his eyes widen like saucers and his mouth opens and shuts a few times before any words actually come out. Apparently his genius brain had failed to throw this possible outcome at him, and while he does play dumb very well this is no performance.

"I wanted to ask him, actually," he grumbles, fidgeting, reaching to scratch absently at the back of his neck. "Sneaky bastard." It's muttered even further below his breath, petulant irritation almost smothering out the tiny glimmer of begrudging respect; touche, Riddler. Touche.

Apparently Riddler being not quite at the forefront is enough to jailbreak John's fidgety hands; he picks up something off the table, turning it in his hands, intensely trying to puzzle it out in a way that has nothing to do with giving him time to think of something to say to Eddie. It doesn't help that the evenings previous promises have his blood running warmer than usual, inclining his thoughts towards... less helpful subjects than he'd like.

He can't help but peek up at his buddy little by little though, unable to repress a smile that crawls across his mouth.

"Hi, by the way. Nice to see ya Buddy, been missin' ya."

Ed isn't demanding like Riddler, doesn't demand total control of when he's touched and how. John's fidgeting and fussing is very natural to him, so he just waits to see what he's going to do and why Riddler booted him out here.

Slowly, John starts to look up, starts to make the effort of connection. "Hi. Well, you know. Been busy. Good to see you."

"So good, right?" he pops back onto his feet and heads over to the couch, flopping down with graceless lanky limbs. "You wanna come sit? It's been forever!" for all his previous nervousness he does seem pretty damn jazzed to see his buddy. It's clear that he likes Eddie just as much, even though his physical relation is with the other alter.

He's. Also being very good at hiding his uncertainty-- if he gets too comfy with Eddie, will Riddler swap their places again? Or will he just tell Eddie what John had asked? Devious, devious Riddle Man!

"Hey, did you see my new tattoo? I showed it to The Other Guy but did you see it too?"

Ed pushes himself up slowly and follows to the couch, twitching at a shout and flopping down next to John, leaning into him. "I did, but if you want to show me, I would love to see it anyway." He looks up, flinches and then smiles at him. "It's really loud."

"Aw, wish I could tell those guys off for ya buddy. No one crosses a friend'o mine more than once," there's a bit of a snarl at the end of his words; a poised viciousness that peeks into his tone and vanishes just as quick. "Maybe this'll help?" He carefully slides an arm around Eddie's shoulder so he can cover one of his ears with his large flat palm.

Yes, yes, he's not actually hearing things, but the brain is tricky about things like this; perception is sometimes easy to manipulate.

"Here, look!" his free hand tugs his purple shirt up a few inches and his pinstriped pants down half an inch, showing the fresh green ink on the hard white line of his hip bone.

"I made the e bigger," he all but purrs, before carefully placing his free hand against Eddie's other ear, so most sounds should be muffled soft. His smile switches from sly to kooky in half a second, and he mouths 'any better buddy?' to continue the illusion of silence. He's also left the inked skin on display for Eddie to take a closer look.

Ed relaxes a little, the hand doing the job because sometimes, for a psychological problem, you need a psychological solution. And thinking that the sound is being blocked is enough for the sound to actually be blocked.

He reaches out, touching the skin with the ink before he thinks about it and presses down to feel the ink, feel the scar tissue. Traces the letters, especially his own 'e' represented in it. He nods at the question and then comes to rest against John's chest, one ear to his chest to listen to his heartbeat.

Some unflattering stereotype of a dude might be a bit tiffed by prospects of being laid turning to cuddles, but affection and attention are too valuable for John to pass up. A wild smile begins to curve the corners of his mouth and for half a second, he almost looks so happy he doesn't know what to do with himself.

John shifts slightly, giving Eddie an easier time reaching for the stylish green ink. It'll be a while before the skin heals well enough to be completely smooth again, particularly because John is a perfectionist who inked himself by hand.

Nerves under a tattoo can also be a funny thing; over-sensitivity is common enough on freshly healing wounds, so it takes little more than the pressure of those curious fingers to send a few shots of pleasing pain spiraling across his senses. He doesn't react too much, aside from a stutter in his heartbeat and a slightly rushed exhale.

He wants to say. Something. But he doesn't want to compromise the trick of perception that has whatever asshole bugging Eddie shutting the hell up. He could ask Eddie to quit with the drugs, but he knows his friend is smart enough to realize that's an option. It's just not an option he wants, which is entirely his choice.

Ed knows he could make it quiet by quitting the pills. Riddler knows it.

But they're here, pressed into John, letting him drown out everything else and Ed's fingers are digging lightly into the ink, pressing firm enough to make it felt without going for outright cruelty in it.

And after a few minutes when he's feeling calmer, he sits up a bit straighter, looks John in the eye and then leans in to give him a soft, chaste kiss on the mouth. "Thanks."

Some people might consider it a friendship fail that John hasn't at least suggested Eddie quit with the drugs. Or tried to force him to. Or spoken to him about it seriously. Honestly the quirky man feels it's more friendship-y not to comment; he doesn't presume he has the right to take that choice from his BDB.

So, he's also not gonna rag on Eddie about suffering the side effects either, as though comforting him through them is some kind of bother. It's the opposite of that; he gets to be here and close and helping when he's needed, and all that is like water to a man dying of thirst. Though he's still restless and too-warm he settles into enjoying the friction against his freshly healing skin; the way he can't quite anticipate how his nerves will read even a tepid touch.

When Eddie sits up seeming calmer, John almost exclaims in delight but that goes right out of his head when he's suddenly being kissed.

His genius mile-a-minute mind lags and freezes for a good five seconds and all he can think to do is blink and breath and touch his fingertips to his own mouth in stupefied surprise.

"You're welcome," look those are words. John feels a smile bloom across his mouth and suddenly he's laughing, quiet and giddy and sheepish. "Jeez, maybe I should get more tattoos," he jests, of course understanding his buddy's appreciation was for more than that.

Ed on the drugs lacks the filters that he normally does, the things that tell him not to do whatever pops into his head. Which is a little bit why he had the impulse to kiss John and just go with it, but also because Ed is not Riddler and he likes physical affection when he can get it.

Until now, it's mostly been limited to Vrenille and sometimes Ginger. But Ginger's busy a lot and John is a better friend anyway and it's not like their alters don't have sex. Well, Ed's alter.

He pokes the tattoo a little more sharply at the dumb comment, though not cruelly still.

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