theansweris | DUPLICITY: IC INBOX

It’s good news—some of the best news Vrenille’s had the chance to deliver in quite a while, and given everything else they’ve just been speaking of, it’s something of a balm.

“Yeah,” he nods with a smile as he lets Ed’s reaction wash over him like a warm patch of sunshine, a temporary break in the clouds.

“Real lab work. We’re both citizens now, we’ve got a contract, we’re in good standing, no citations. Far as the city’s concerned we’ve assimilated ‘bout as well as anyone can to this world. All ‘bout appearances, really—far as they’re concerned, you’re gonna work there ‘cause I like the idea,” he shrugs. “But so what—who cares what they think’s the reason.”

Ed bites his bottom lip and sways on the spot, excited and happy and feeling pathetically grateful for the chance to do something that isn't the same boring thing but promises to at least change each day.

"Like when Riddler was particularly obnoxious at the restaurant and they tried to get snooty." And Vrenille had said he liked Riddler just how he was. "I'm banned from going back there. I let myself in through the exit and my photo was up behind the door for the entrance to not be allowed back." In the excitement, he's slipping for plural to singular more than he has in a while.

Vrenille did like Riddler like he was that night--he still likes him, in fact. Not that he doesn't sometimes drive Vrenille to distraction and leave him feeling like he needs a good stiff drink. Sometimes Oswald and Ed do that too. For Vrenille, though, that's just another thing he likes about them, not at all something he'd want to change.

The reminiscence makes him chuckle. "That was a good night. Least you made a lasting impression."

Personally, Vrenille has always been a more-flies-with-honey type of person, but he knows that Riddler, in particular, isn't like that. Riddler likes to leave his mark, his calling card, and Vrenille has never begrudged him doing so. Maybe it's all just a matter of how he does it, and maybe in a sense, working in forensics gives him and Ed another way--the mark of their intellect on the crime puzzles they solve rather than crime puzzles they make.

Smiling up at Ed, Vrenille moves to step closer, reaching an affectionate hand to cup his cheek. "Do it in reverse here, yeah? Don't make 'em wanna keep you out, make 'em wonder how they ever did without you."

Riddler that night had felt a little less pessimistic about Duplicity. For a while. He was on a high, enjoying the chance to stretch his mind and prove his intellectual prowess.

"I did that last time. Solved crime rates plummeted once they arrested me. It was satisfying, or would have been, if they'd realised why they suddenly sucked more." He huffs a small breath. "I don't do well with not getting recognition." He needs people to tell him he's doing well. He remembers the first time that Detective Bullock told him how well he did. It had been unprompted and honest and had felt-

He closes his eyes and tips his cheek into the touch. "Thank you."

Recognition from just Vrenille and Oswald may not be quite the same as recognition from the world, but maybe at least it can be something. And maybe even if the crime lab here is chary with their praise for anyone marked who works there, they'll all come to appreciate and value to contributions Ed can make, his unique skill and brilliance.

The bottom line is it's a chance, and in this place, a chance can be quite a lot.

"Make me proud, Ed," Vrenille says, knowing full well that probably no one has ever said it to him before. "I know you will." Because he has faith in him, he believes in him, and he already knows what a credit he is to everything he puts his mind to.

For Ed, that personal attention and recognition is probably enough. If people where he works are willing to recognise his brilliance and hard work, it just might put Ed over of the moon.

(Riddler makes no such promises. Riddler hungers for more of everything that Ed ever wanted.)

Only one person ever gave Ed a chance before and every idiot with a single working sense can tell how devoted Ed is to Oswald for giving him that chance. For trusting his brilliance. So Ed just nods, chewing on his lower lip for a moment, eyes wide behind his glasses. He will. He will do his utmost.

DUPLICITY: IC INBOX

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