Arkham Inmates (A Gotham Fanfic)

Chapter 3

It had been a couple of days and the inmate, Jerome hadn't spoken again to Ed which was fine by him. The few days he'd been there he quickly learned that the ginger boy seemed to be always call mischief. Ed had decided to keep himself to himself and just observe others, previously he'd tried to make friends and that didn't end well so why try. Most people are him were to insane to care whether he joined their games anyway so he kept to reading books and playing by himself, the greatest challenge he found was always himself. Despite all this Ed had to admit he was getting bored, there was only a certain amount of chess games he could by himself before he really would go insane. So when the guards informed the inmates of a new music group starting Ed thought he may as well go, couldn't be that bad right. Ed walked down the hallway and it suddenly became apparent that maybe this wasn't a good idea as the noise coming from the room was one that could be mistaken for a nursery, it was then that Ed remembered these people are insane why would they have any sort of musical abilities. Just as Ed went to turn to leave he bumped into a man holding a small pile of sheet music that fell to the floor. The man quickly picked up the sheets which Ed saw was piano music and became interested before he could speak the man ushered him into the class and said "come now the group is about to begin take a seat". Ed was pushed into a chair as the man commanded everyone to be quiet and take a seat. He introduced himself and talked a little about music and good outlets and possibilities and yadda yadda yadda. Ed wasn't listening he was looking at the piano, it was a simple piano and it reminded him of the one he had at home. He was so happy to see it, he could block everyone else out and just play yes that was what he'd do. The group leader had stopped talking but there was a commotion as some inmates were arguing over who got to play what and Ed turned to take him claim on the piano but to his dismay there was already someone sitting there. Not just anyone Ed noted the former kingpin of the underworld, the infamous Penguin. Ed thought better than to try take turn of the instrument as he assumed Penguin would not be very happy with the idea of sharing and Ed didn't want to catch his eye in a bad way. So Ed sat and watched as this notorious criminal played the piano quite skilfully to his surprise. He got so wrapped up in listening to penguin play that he didn't notice the time pass as the group leader was saying goodbyes to people as they left. Apparently, Penguin also hadn't noticed as he continued to play even as the leader was telling him the group session was over. Ed was impressed he'd played for half an hour without stopping and showed no sign of having tired or sore hands. "Mr Cobblepot that was very nice playing today but you might want to think about sharing next time" the leader said motioning in Ed's direction. Shit Ed thought he'd been sitting there like an idiot for half an hour and still hadn't left. Penguin looked at Ed with an empty stare and Ed wondered if Penguin had known that Ed had been watching him play. "Play something" penguin muttered as he stood away from the Piano with a challenging glare at Ed. The instructor looked nervously between the two concerned a fight would ensue but Ed cautiously sat at the piano bench and started playing. He played a melody of the best classical songs he knew to show off his skill, this was his chance to take claim of the piano, his one link to home, he wasn't about to give it up for fear. He only looked up when he finished and noticed that despite penguin's still bored face remained there was a slight curve of his lips which showed he was impressed but he only nodded before immediately turning to leave. Ed smiled as he walked back to his room he's impressed the penguin and had almost guaranteed himself a place on the piano, maybe music group was worth it after all.