"It was you," Ed said in a flat voice, though his gaze burned with barely-hidden fury.
"What was me?" Oswald squeaked as the blood in his veins turned to ice. He was usually so good at keeping his cool....
Ed walked the rest of the way into the room and shut the door smoothly behind him, before he said in a deceptively calm voice, "The brakes were tampered with, I saw evidence of it myself. Not long after that I found someone that claims they saw a man matching Gabe's description outside her home just before she left. You need to hire smarter help; that mouth-breather is a horrible liar. The one thing that I can't figure out, though, is why."
Oswald was painfully aware that they were alone, locked up in this room in a nearly empty house where he doubted anyone could hear him if he yelled for help. "What exactly do you think I did?"
"What did you do?" Ed seemed genuinely surprised by that response.
Oswald looked up at him and caught a brief glimpse of the pain he had caused the man he loved. For the tiniest moment Edward's defenses dropped, showing how deeply he hurt from Oswald merely giving a basic order. He felt his heart sink at the sight. Whatever he had tried to do, and whatever the Penguin had wanted...it was made worthless by the look of utter heartbreak in Nygma's eyes.
"Ed, I..." Oswald started, but he couldn't finish the sentence, not with Ed glaring down at him suddenly with all the hatred in the world.
"What did you do?" Ed repeated. After a moment of silence he took several long strides forward, grabbed Oswald by the collar of his suit jacket, and roared, "YOU. KILLED. ISABELLA!"
Out of nowhere Ed's fist struck Oswald in the face, sending him sprawling over his desk. Ed wasn't exactly the brawling type, but compared to Oswald he was clearly the stronger, more physically capable man. But Oswald realized that he had no desire to fight back, not after what he'd done.
He refused to resist even as he was yanked away from the desk and thrown roughly to the floor. The only thing he did in response was curl into the fetal position to the best of his ability and hide the tears that started to form at the corners of his eyes. A moment later Ed kicked him hard in the ribs, making him whimper softly in pain, but even as Ed kicked him again, Oswald started crying more for the emotional pain he had caused than the physical pain that he was enduring. He deserved every hit, so he accepted each blow in the hopes that, in the very least, Ed could feel better by hurting him.
Then Edward bent down to grab a handful of Oswald's hair and yanked his head back so that he could growl into his ear, "I did everything for you. Why would you do this to me, after everything I did to help you!?" When Oswald failed to answer Ed slammed his face into the floor. He cried out, but still made no move to fight back or even defend himself. "You won't deny it. You won't even fight back! Are you just trying to sit back and enjoy watching me suffer?"
Ed hefted him onto his feet and kneed him in the stomach. Then he struck him hard in the face again, throwing Oswald against the wall where he stood silently while the tears began to stream down his face. Ed barely noticed him crying through the red haze that clouded his vision, and even then he hardly cared.
He got up close to Oswald's face, pressing his shoulders painfully against the wall, and screamed, "YOU STOLE THE ONE THING I LOVED AWAY FROM ME, AFTER EVERYTHING I'VE DONE FOR YOU!!! She was the love of my life, and you murdered her! But a worthless BASTARD like you obviously has no concept of love!"
At that Oswald slid into a sitting position, clutching his head in his hands as he sobbed loudly. "I-I'm so sorry Ed! So, so sorry..."
"You're sorry!?" Ed kicked him in the face and Oswald spat blood as he collapsed onto the floor. "You're sorry that you killed an innocent young woman and my last chance at love, or because I'm going to BEAT YOU TO DEATH!?"
"I'm so sorry," Oswald choked out, "that I hurt you so badly. I wasn't thinking...I really want you to be happy."
Edward responded by driving his foot into Oswald's ribs three more times in rapid succession, then stomping on his broken ankle and forcing him back onto his feet. Oswald screamed in pain, and Ed punched him in the jaw. He went limp in Ed's hands, his chest heaving as he tried his best not to cry harder.
"Why. Would. You. Do this to me?" Ed asked, seeming almost calm finally.
Oswald looked up at him with tears still streaming down his face and blood trickling from the corner of his mouth as he answered, "Everything that y-you've done for me, I...I was c-convinced that we had to...to be together. Ed, I love you, a-and...I just wanted you to...feel the same. About me. I n-never meant...to hurt you."
A few seconds after he spoke his vision started to go black, and he vaguely remembered Edward telling him something as his legs gave out completely beneath him. Maybe it would be better for everyone if he died.
???
Much to his surprise, Oswald woke up in his bed with little more than dull aches throughout his body. He opened his eyes a bit and his heart skipped a bit upon seeing Ed perched on the edge of the bed, though he couldn't honestly tell whether it was with excitement or terror.
"Ed?" he asked hoarsely, stirring a bit.
"Are you alright?"
The question caught Oswald off-guard, but he answered, "Okay, I think...what about you?"
Edward looked at him seriously for a moment before answering, "I'm alright. I had a lot of time to think while you were out. Do you feel level-headed enough to talk?"
"Yes, I suppose."
There was a pause before Ed looked at him with sad eyes before asking, "Did you really have Isabella killed?"
"I..." Oswald swallowed before finishing, "yes, I did."
"Why?" Ed's face was blank and expressionless.
Oswald gave a moment of thought before saying slowly, "Because I love you. And I...don't think I really knew what that meant." He tried to sound confident, but he thought that it hardly sounded convincing. "You don't believe me. I should have told you before I let it get so out of hand."
Edward looked down somberly as Oswald spoke, and when he was finished he responded, "You killed the woman I loved in the name of love. I think I know better than most what that's like."
"I completely regret it," Oswald amended. "I wasn't thinking about how badly it would hurt you."
"But I hurt you badly as well," Ed pointed out, gesturing to a dark bruise on Oswald's face.
"I hurt you so much worse," Oswald assured him, "I'm not sure I can ever forgive myself, let alone expect you to."
Ed shook his head. "You know I did the same by killing Tom Dougherty...I can understand why you did it. Do you love me? Really?"
Oswald answered quickly, "Yes, I do."
Ed put a hand gently on Oswald's face, tracing the edge of the bruise on his cheek for a moment before saying, "You were unconscious for approximately 18 hours, with the help of some pain medication I gave you, of course. That gave me a lot of time to think."
The Penguin nodded and let his eyelids fall for a second as he cherished the feeling of Ed's hand on his sore skin. When he opened his eyes again he found that Ed's face was only a few inches from his own. His heart jumped into his throat. A few seconds passed in tense silence while Ed continued to stroke his cheek. And then, without warning, he leaned in and kissed him.
Somehow Oswald wasn't prepared for the kiss at all. It took him a few seconds to realize that it was even happening, but when he did he couldn't even believe it. He raised his hand up to hold the back of Edward's head and reacted passionately to the kiss. It was far better than anything he could have imagined, to put it simply, even if he had imagined it a lot recently. But after a few moments he began to feel guilty, possibly for the first time in his life.
"Ed..." Oswald whispered, pulling back from the kiss just enough so he could speak, "...I'm so sorry. I was cruel, and selfish, and this is the last thing I deserve."
"I hurt you too," Ed argued. "I'm sorry for-"
But Oswald interrupted, "No, don't apologize, I deserve so much worse than what you did."
"No, I was still in the wrong," Ed said, shaking his head. "I thought that Isabella was my second chance at love...but I didn't really think about how. Except, of course, in the last 18 hours. We've been close friends for what feels like years and you've saved me numerous times and in so many ways, I think this was just the kick we both needed to realize what we really mean to each other. I want to give you the benefit of the doubt, if you can forgive me for what I've done."
"Oh, Ed," Oswald frowned and rested a hand on his shoulder, "I forgave you before it even happened. I told you I deserve so much worse."
Edward gave him a shy smile. "Then I guess I'm ready to give love a third chance."
"Third time's the charm?" Oswald answered with a gentle laugh.
To that Edward smiled, and kissed him deeply in response.
Someone started a petition to make edward and oswald a couple on the show!
There is a link in this book's description. You can copy and paste it to your browser to sign!