It was almost three in the morning when Ed awoke, though he couldn't pinpoint why at first. Everything around him seemed still and quiet and even the roar of GothamCity couldn't reach the mansion from their distance. He couldn't hear a single sound from the house as many long moments passed by.

Edward was just starting to fall back asleep when he heard something.

It must have been the sound that had woken him up; the distant sound of screaming. And he was certain he heard it, even if it sounded like little more than a whisper through the walls. Even so, in this empty, silent world even the slightest noise would keep him awake if his ever-curious mind didn't find out what it was, and soon.

Suddenly determined to find the source of the noise, Ed drew himself out of bed and lit a lantern. Its sudden light penetrated deep into the surrounding gloom and made his eyes water at first. Once he was used to the light he stood and left the room, painfully aware of even the tiniest squeak the floorboards made as he stepped on them. The house was large and so empty-looking at first glance from just outside his room.

He started when he heard an abrupt whining sound coming from the end of the hall. There was a long moment of confusion as he tried to figure out exactly where it was coming from, and why. But it was obvious that there was only one way to find out, so he crept down the hall, hearing a long, drawn-out whine several more times along the way.

Finally Ed reached the end of the hallway, with a large door on either side of him leading to two nearly identical bedrooms. But the house had gone silent again, leaving him to wonder which room it could be. He waited several long, steadily more worrying moments before he heard a shout from the room on the left. Oswald's room.

"Mr. Penguin?" He asked at once, running to the door as he listened for a response. He would have shouted, but it was difficult to force himself to disrupt the silence he found himself in. "Penguin, is everything all right?"

When there was no response he opened the door and peered inside. Oswald was laying in bed, whimpering quietly in his sleep. The noise had been just a bit too soft to hear through the door.

Having satisfied his curiosity, Ed was ready enough to leave. And yet some part of him wouldn't let him move, wouldn't let him just walk back to his room and ignore the sounds of Oswald's cries. So he stood there for a minute in silence, watching. When the Penguin shouted suddenly and tossed around briefly under the sheets, Ed found himself bolting inside. He shut the door behind him and stepped forward quietly, approaching the edge of the bed.

"Oswald?" He asked softly when he was only a foot away from the bed.

The Penguin's brow furrowed and he shook his head roughly, fingers clutching the sheets on either side as he started panicking. "No...no, no, no...NO!"

He yelled again, much more loudly. Ed reacted by placing a firm hand on his shoulder and calling, "Oswald, wake up! It's only a dream!"

The smaller man gasped and bolted up into a sitting position, eyes panicked and fearful as he only slowly started to come back to reality. He took several long, gasping breaths while his eyes gradually absorbed the scene around him and he began to realize where he was. Then his eyes settled on Edward, and his face turned into a sudden stone-like mask. The scared little man of only a few seconds ago had disappeared entirely.

"What are you doing, Ed?" Oswald asked. He put as much venom into the words as he could, but his voice was still very shaky and fearful, telling Ed he was still terrified.

Ed only shook his head and answered softly, "I could hear you yelling while I was in my room, and I was concerned."

There was a brief shuffling sound and suddenly Oswald had a knife pressed to Edward's throat with a look of hatred on his face. He must have had a knife stored in the drawer of his nightstand...which would have been a good thing for Ed to be careful of. He somehow hadn't thought that he would be armed. He didn't have much time to berate himself for his stupidity when Oswald started talking.

"Mind your own business Ed. Everyone gets nightmares sometimes. That doesn't mean I need you checking up on me whenever something goes bump in the night."

"I disagree," Ed said boldly, doing his best to pretend the knife wasn't there. Oswald wouldn't hurt him. Probably. "I think you might be better off talking to someone about it."

"I don't care what you think," Oswald hissed. "Walk away."

Ed hesitated before whispering, "I know something is haunting you, keeping you from sleeping peacefully."

"And you think I'll just tell you, hmm?"

There it was. There was that very slight sign that he wanted to say something, even if he would never admit to it in a million years. He was starting to break; Ed had seen it in him a few brief times before.

Very calmly Ed touched Oswald's hand and rejoiced in the small victory as he was able to pull the knife away from his throat. The Penguin's face remained a solid mask of anger, complete with flaring nostrils and a curled lip, but he relented and Ed was able to gain control of the knife and set it on the table beside him. He slowly leaned against the bed until he was sitting on it, now completely level with Oswald.

Ed wasted no time in explaining, "I think that you want to tell me, even though every bone in your body argues against it. You know you can't trust anyone you meet on the path you've chosen to follow, but you can't help but have some trust in me. Some little part of you knows you need to say something to someone, or it will tear you apart from the inside out. But you don't want to accept that you need help. You want to keep fighting to be the sole victor, the King of Gotham...but there are things that you need to admit, and you know that there's no one you can trust better than me."

Oswald's breath shook for a minute as he glared at Ed. But then his defenses started to crumble as they always did when Ed seemed to magically find the right words. He lowered his eyes, and Ed knew at once that he had won.

"'For you and I...love will always be our most crippling weakness'," Oswald quoted with a sneer.

"Do you love me, Oswald?" Ed asked seriously.

The question obviously took him off-guard, and in a split-second the glare returned. "Why on Earth would you think that?!"

"I don't, I only wanted to know what you would say. But you do trust me." It was a statement, not a question.

To that Oswald was silent, which Ed took as a yes. It probably wouldn't be very effective for the kind of person Oswald was, but Ed did his best to be comforting as he slid a bit closer and placed one hand gently on Oswald's shoulder. To his immense relief, he didn't pull away from the contact. He barely seemed to notice, in fact.

"My father said this house is haunted," Oswald said quietly. Ed was confused, but remained silent as he waited for him to continue. "Some time later he explained to me that he thought his demons were feeding on him, making him weaker...I begin to wonder if, perhaps, this house might be haunted with the demons of its owners. My...family lived here in relative peace for many years until I came along...and my demons came with me to curse this house."

Ed shook his head. "No, that's nothing more than memories of your suffering in Arkham. What happened certainly isn't your fault, none of it is. Whatever your nightmares are about...none of it matters." Then something occurred to him, and he added, "If you hadn't helped me to escape from Arkham, I probably would have suffered similarly. I don't know if there is anything I can do to truly thank you properly."

"No, there's really no need Ed. You've been my only true friend in all this time," the Penguin said, looking at the sheets as he spoke, as he had been the whole time.

Ed felt a sudden impulse and knew better than to fight it by now. He touched Oswald's chin with his free hand and turned his head to face him. Ed looked deep into his sorrowful green eyes for a long moment, wondering if he could really go through with it. But then he closed his eyes as he swiftly leaned forward.

And kissed Oswald.

"Ed, what are you doing?!" Oswald gasped in shock, pulling abruptly away.

In response Edward started speaking a mile a minute, "Y-you are right, I am an ignoramus and I shouldn't have done that but I just wanted to help you and I wanted to say thank you and the idea came to my head and-"

He was silenced as Oswald pressed their lips together a second time, tilting his head to the side a bit to deepen the kiss and running his fingers gently through Ed's hair. Ed gasped in surprise, but a moment later sighed pleasantly into Oswald's mouth and wrapped his arms around him as best he could from that angle. For a long moment, the entire world around them seemed to stand still.

Ed broke them apart the slightest bit to give them both time to catch their breath and looked into Oswald's eyes again. All traces of hatred and loathing, even the despair from only moments ago, had all vanished from his gaze. His eyes conveyed the trust and confidence that Ed felt he had always only dreamed of seeing. The looked they exchanged showed complete honesty and a deep care for one another.

"I love you Oswald," Ed murmured, his breath blowing out over Oswald's lips.

Oswald's eyes widened slightly, and Ed noticed a sudden intense blush form on his cheeks. "I love you too, Ed, I really do. I think I was lying to myself...this whole time. After what you said, I didn't want to have a weakness."

Ed gave the slightest smile, then leaned in to his ear and admitted, "You are my weakness."

"And you are mine," Oswald replied with a shaky breath before burying his face in the crook of Ed's neck.

With a long, steady breath Edward pulled his legs up onto the bed and gently pulled Oswald onto his lap. The smaller man never gave protest, only sighed against Ed's neck as he settled comfortably between his legs. Ed moved one hand down to pull the sheets around their waists, then brought it back to Oswald's hip and tenderly pulled him closer.

"I don't want you to be scared anymore," Ed said, ending his sentence with a weary yawn.

Oswald pulled his head back and kissed Ed again, soft and sweet, before answering, "I'm sorry I was always so rude to you. It was just easiest to take it out on someone than to...accept that I was afraid, I guess."

"You still are, and it's okay; I came here to help."

"Then...stay with me?" Oswald asked, staring at him with those oddly gentle eyes. "If only for tonight?"

Ed nodded slowly. "Anything you want."

Wordlessly Oswald rolled off his lap and they both slid under the covers together. Then Ed moved forward until his chest was pressed to Oswald's back and slid one arm under Oswald's head while the other intertwined their fingers over his chest. He hooked one foot over the other man's and rested his face just behind Oswald's head and watched for a moment as his steady breath ruffled the soft black hairs that tickled his nose.

With slow movements Ed tilted his head to press a kiss to Oswald's neck and murmured into his ear, "Thank you for letting me be here."

"Thank you, Ed, for forcing me to let you."

Edward chuckled warmly as he rested his head back against the pillow. "It's only because I was worried about you. You will tell me if there is anything I can do to help you?"

Oswald hesitated, but answered sleepily, "Of course."

In less than a minute they were both fast asleep. And for the first time in what felt like years—or very well could have been—Oswald had a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

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