Ask/Dare Bruce, Jeremiah, Edward, Oswald, 514A, & Jerome - Gotham *OPEN* + MS

Sixth Question:

Midnxght_far_away asks: This question is for Ed: What did you mean where you said Jeremiah was once obsessed with you? 

Ed: Oh gods. The hell gates have opened up already... 

Me: Are you sure you want to answer this question? No one is forcing you to do it. 

Ed: No, I'll do it. If I'm not going to do it now, then when?

Me: Alrighty then... *backs away slowly* 

Ed: *breathes in for 11 seconds before exhaling for 7 more* I meant what I said, he really was obsessed with me. It was a different time for me back in St. Ignatius. I was busy trying to keep my grades up like anybody else and I was studying to become a forensics expert. One day I got news about a new transfer student and the day after, I learned it was Jeremiah. He strode into the school calm, collected, and with confidence. On the surface, he may have seemed to be like any other harmless student innocent and could do no harm. But what they didn't realize, even back then, that beneath that calm facade, there was a dark underbelly, a cesspool of insanity, lies, and lustful obsessions. Note this was Jeremiah before he became the freak he is today, when he was still a ginger basically. Anyway, I went about the first few weeks since his arrival like normal. He wasn't my roommate. I had no roommate, which was fine because it provided me with the perfect atmosphere to study, except for when some students would throw parties on their floors. But a few months after that, everything changed. I was on my way to the lobby of the dormitory building that I was staying at for college to go check if I had any mail. On the way, I passed by Jeremiah's dorm and out of the corner of my eye, I saw that he had forgotten to close and lock his door. A strict rule of our college was to keep our doors locked at all times to prevent any break ins. And he had clearly violated it. His door was slightly open so I was able to see what was inside. And don't worry, it wasn't like Cthulhu or any of his family were in there. What was inside however was what I assumed to be some kind of shrine. It was quiet in there and initially, I wanted to leave, to move away from there before I got in trouble for looking into someone else's room, but curiosity got the better of me. So I crept inside to get a better look. Jeremiah's dorm was clean overall, with the exception of the messy-looking shrine, the few crumpled up pieces of paper on the ground and by the trashcan, and an abnormally high stack of papers on his desk. I initially assumed that that stack of papers was his homework and that he had a lot of it to do. But no one keeps their papers like that. Better to keep it organized. And it wasn't his homework. When I got close enough to the shrine, it was covered in photos. I looked at the photos and low and behold, how I wish I hadn't done that. They were photos of me! They were all taken from afar! There were pictures of me going to class, going home, going to the library, going to a sandwich restaurant, whose name I'll leave out for privacy reasons, that I frequented throughout my college years. I think there was even a photo of me sleeping in there among them, taken directly from my room. I had always followed the rules and the possibility of me unknowingly breaking one of the most simplest rules shudders me to the core. I wished I was back in my dorm reading a book or studying at that point. I wished I was at the lobby checking my mail like I had planned. I wished I was doing anything but what I was doing in Jeremiah's dorm at that point. I was already beginning to feel slightly creeped out. But that was nothing compared to what I was about to see next. I picked up one of the crumpled up papers and uncrumpled it. I couldn't remember what was written on it. But it seemed to be an attempt at banter, a romantic poem, or a riddle. Now, I love riddles to death but before then, I never once had a conversation with Jeremiah in which I brought up my fascination with riddles. The final nail on the coffin came when I inspected the stack from earlier. I went through all the papers and saw that it wasn't his homework. No, they were his plans. Plans to approach the one he called his "soulmate". Given the fact that that shrine of his had pictures of me, it didn't take long for me to put all the pieces together and realize that he was talking about me. But that's not the only thing I found. Before I continue any further, I should also add that around that time, I was often called up by my professors to talk about the missing assignments in my classes. I swore up and down and on my own mother's name that I did turn them in but they didn't seem to believe me. So I agreed on a whim to redo the assignments in question. At that time, I didn't know where they had went and I cursed out the education system and the faculty for their irresponsibility to keep track of the work from their students. But at that point, all the pieces had clicked. Jeremiah had stolen my assignments for an unknown reason. Not only that, he was stalking me! My fear had graduated from slightly creeped out to absolutely fucking terrified! He caught me in his room, but when I turned around, he had a creepy amused smirk on his face. He demanded to know what I was doing in his dorm. I couldn't get the words out because I was so scared. I still remember the way he touched me when he caught me. He ran a hand from my thigh all the way up to my neck. He made me promise to not tell anyone of what I saw and in exchange, he wouldn't report me to the headmaster of the school and to security for trespassing. After that, I just simply ran out of there without another word and back to my dorm. I couldn't even sleep that night and I remember that I contacted my professors to let them know that I'd be taking a few days off. I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't report it to a professor or even to the police because I was afraid that no one would believe me and that Jeremiah would most likely follow through on his threat. Plus, in stalker cases, the police can start building a case but they can't do anything about the stalker unless the stalker actually hurt someone. At that point I was crap out of luck. And it didn't take long for the letters and notes to start coming in. By this point I already knew that it was Jeremiah. Filled with statements that let me know that he was watching. I didn't have any friends nor anybody I could turn to. My bastard of a father was nothing but a drunkard who beat me as a child. So I put up with it, for months on end throughout that year. Later down the line, I fell in love with Kristen Kringle. At the time, I felt that she was the one. Thoughts of her kept me going, preventing me from losing my sanity over the fact that I was stalked. And speaking of the stalker, he found out about Kristen and more letters and notes came in. He was jealous and he wrote things like "If you love her so much, why can't you love me too???" and more things along those lines. He also exposed to me some of her dirty and not-dirty secrets, which I think was a pathetic and petty attempt to taunt me and get me to fall out of love with her. He also made up lies about her as well. So out of options and with no one to turn to, I took matters into my own hands and swore to make Jeremiah see the error in his ways, to let him know that he messed with the wrong nerd. In a way, I started to take everything that he had done previously in all the classes that we had together, which were Biology, Engineering, Computer Tech, & Mathematics, and I took it a step further. Basically, I "one-upped" him. On everything. He did the same thing to me in retaliation and it was cycle from there, with one of us doing something and the other doing the same thing as what they saw as better. Our professors were so peeved by what was happening that they tried to step in and put an end to it. Many fake apologies were exchanged during that time. But just when they thought it was over, it always reignited when they least expected it. I also began to send responses to Jeremiah, letting him know that I wasn't willing to back down and that I'll find a way around his schemes. Everyone in St. Ignatius began to refer to our little quarrel as "The Great Nerd Wars", given to the fact that it happened multiple times. It was like getting into a fistfight but not actually getting into a fistfight. I can't remember the exact number of battles that we had as I had lost count after the 6th one. The nickname of the conflict was just a nickname but after the 5th time, the name stuck, it became the staple to our school. Everyone was beginning to wonder "Oh what's Nygma going to dish out next?!" or "Oh what's Valeska going to cook up in retaliation?!" In between our fights, we also had our studies to worry about and our professors had already given up on trying to stop us. Our fights were like a T.V. show and the battles were the episodes. Everyone was willing to sit back and let the action unfold. But eventually, it had to end and end it did. When I finally graduated, moved out of my dorm, and left college to start looking for a job, it was all finally over. Which was good because I'll admit, at some point I began to see it as draining and painful. As a result, I grew disenfranchised with it and I was running out of tactics to use. So I walked away from it all, hoping that I would never have to look back on it again. And, ironically, here I am, doing what I said I wouldn't do. But I'll be honest, looking back on the problem, none of it made any sense to me. It always leaves me with more questions than answers. One of them being, and pardon my french, "WHAT THE FUCK?!". And there were countless others like that,  like how did he get into my dorm in order to take that picture? How did he get ahold of my assignments? And how did he know about Kristen? After all that, I felt that I was safe in pursuing Ms. Kringle romantically with nothing in my way... ...and you all know how that turned out. 

Bruce: Wow, that's a long story. I had no idea that that happened to you too. I'm sorry for what you've been through by his hand. 

Ed: It's ok. It actually feels nice to get it all out of my chest. Seeing him pursuing you is what reminded me of that time. That was conflict with no winner. It may have ended with me and it's still ongoing for you, but there's hope for you. Don't make the same mistakes I did, Bruce. 

Jerome: *barges in uninvited* FAKE NEWS! I know my broski better than anyone! If he has an interest in someone, that means I have an interest in them too! If my bro had an interest, for someone like you, which I highly doubt, I would've felt the same about you. Therefore, it's fake! 

Bruce: Jerome's logic never makes any sense... (-_-') 

514A: The logic of both Valeskas never makes any sense, but I'm about to debunk Jerome's whole statement by saying this: What Ed said is true. And I have proof. 

Jerome, Ed, & Bruce: *in unison and in shock* W-Wha?! But how?!

514A: I listened in to a conversation that Jeremiah was having with Mr. Dorrance and I got it recorded. *pulls out a tape recorder and plays it* 

Much later after they listened to the entire thing... 

Jerome: Wow. 

Ed: So it is true. 

Bruce: But why did he have to cite it as the reason for his homophobia? 

514A: That I do not know. But I guess he's been very insecure about it for years. 

Bruce: So that would make me be Nygma 2.0? 

Ed: *snickers and playfully & lightly hits Bruce on the side of his head* I guess it does. 

Jerome: I still don't believe it. Knowin' my bro, he has these things were he says stuff that he doesn't mean and makes it seem genuine just to get what he wants and to make himself look good. 

Bruce: Are you basically saying Jeremiah is a pathological liar? 

Jerome: I don't know what 'pathological' means but yeah. 

Ed: We need to get him into an English class. 

Jerome: Nah, no thanks, I'm not into all that nerdy, geeky shit. "The Great Nerd Wars"? More like the "The Great Tryhard I don't want to back down and admit my defeat just to waste mine and everyone else's time because I hate the guy who has a crush on me allegedly for no reason Wars". Anyway, I'm gonna go tease 'Miah about it. *walks away* 

514A: Good fucking luck! I highly doubt the melted marshmallow hussy will even remember it.

*Once Jerome is gone* 

Bruce: *sympathetically* It must have been a traumatic experience. 

Ed: It was. Also, everyone wanted us on the debate team to see what we can dish out there. Since they saw how passionately we weren't willing to back down and admit defeat. 

514A: I guess this brought us closer as friends. 

Ed: It has. 

*Both Bruce and 514A hug Ed and he hugs them both back; once they pull away* 

Bruce: So are you planning on telling Oswald about this? 

Ed: Maybe later... 

A/N: The conversation that was recorded between Jeremiah and Bane is in reference to Mini Skit #77, just in case you're wondering.