Mama Gotham

Riddles

Despite always being up for a mental challenge, Edward Nygma was finding tutoring physically draining.

He had never been good at talking to people, especially girls. He always ended up spouting facts and riddles that would either get him looks of confusion or beat up. The only reason he hadn't taken the offer to advance to high school early was because he feared the bullies there being stronger.

It didn't help that Alyssa was so stubborn. Over the past week she had no interest in any of the subjects he offered, he was lucky if she showed up! It was only when principal Johnson threatened to expel her that she stayed put.

"What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?" Edward asked, always more comfortable telling riddles.

"Huh?" Alyssa frowned.

"Its a riddle. What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?"

Giving him the same look people usually gave him when he spoke in riddles, she shrugged. "Short."

Edward blinked several times in shock. "P-pardon?"

"That's the answer isn't? Add two letters to 'short', it becomes 'shorter.'"

"H-how'd you know that?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Edward gulped and fixed his glasses. This girl seemed to bring up nothing but uncharted territory for him.

"Do you like riddles?"

Alyssa shrugged. "Sometimes. I'm not very good at them." she gestured to the work in front of them. "As you may have noticed, I'm not very smart."

Edward frowned. "No, no, I don't think that's true."

"Have you seen my grades. D-D-D-D-D-D-F." she said in a sing-song voice with animated hand gestures.

"Maybe you just need to apply yourself."

Alyssa scoffed. "Sure, four-eyes. The day I get an A is the day you get a date."

Edward frowned, but didn't let the insult deter him. She had answered his riddles, no one had ever done that before. He hoped...

"Ms. Connors...Do you think..." he stumbled over his words. "Maybe...Could we be friends?"

Alyssa laughed, but not in the harsh way the other kids in their class did.

"Yeah. I could use a smart friend."

******

Never was there a stranger pair, or a pair that worked so well together.

As the year went on, Edward found that Alyssa could fill him in on all the social understanding he was missing out on, and Alyssa discovered that she could use Edward's knowledge to her advantage. As she put it, his mind was 'very fancy'

Edward Nygma knew the laws of probability very well, so he knew how lucky he had become. Alyssa threatened the boys that used to beat him up, and they suddenly didn't anymore. She rolled her eyes at anyone who made comments when they saw them together in the halls, and was actually doing better in her classes – but that was because he'd learned to bribe her with candy.

The girl was an anomaly, he decided. She truly didn't seem to care what people thought about her, which was something even the most popular kids in the school couldn't say. She was the exception to every rule of human nature he knew – including the ones she had taught him.

Naturally, events like this have to be studied.

As such, their study sessions became less about learning about history and algebra and became more about learning about her.

She was very proud of her 87 detentions record – beaten out only by someone named Billy Dawson, who she seemed to despise – knew the school like the back of her hand, vental shafts and basement pipes included, and had an Achilles' heel for candy; preferably bite size kinds, cherry flavor was her favorite.

That was really all he could get out of her. For someone so loud and eccentric, she was rather closed off...

What was interesting is that their relationship was what Edward could only describe as business-like. He offered his academic skills, and she offered her social ones; it was a transaction more than it was a friendship.

He knew he shouldn't push his luck, and to be fair he didn't have much experience on how a friendship should be, but....still....