From Mr E to Mr Z
Chapter Two - Meeting Mr Grayson
Studiously following the annoying woman's voice on his GPS, Teddy turned throughout the suburban areas of Blüdhaven and pulled up at a slightly run down house in the middle of mediocrity. Obviously Mr Grayson had also elected to blend in so his abode would hopefully remain safe in his absence. The lawns were moderately well kept, no doubt to avoid suspicion from his neighbours and Teddy glanced behind him at the prize and now wished he'd made it more subtle. He shrugged internally since it was too late for him to change it now, picked it up and made his way up the front path.
There was no doorbell or knocker so Teddy rapped smartly on the door. There was a crash and some muttered cursing before the door flung open and Teddy was met with a rumpled, boxer-clad man with ruffled raven hair. It was certainly a challenge to keep his eyes on the man's face when he was one of the most ripped men he'd ever seen in real life. He had clearly been woken up from sleep and stood blinking at him. Oh wait, that's right. He's here on business.
"Good morning. I'm sorry for waking you up, Mr Grayson," Teddy apologised. Against his will, his eyes travelled to the man's biceps and he quickly pulled his gaze back up where it belonged.
Richard cleared his throat before responding. "That's alright Mr..."
"Zerr. Theodore Zerr. Teddy if you prefer," he answered Richard's unasked question.
Richard flashed him a quick grin, all perfectly gleaming teeth. "Only if you call me Dick. Come in," he waved the stranger into his home.
Teddy didn't know which to question first. The name or the invite. He settled on the former. "Dick?" he asked questioningly.
"Short for Richard, of course," smirked the man as he waved the other to his couch.
Sitting down, Teddy glanced around the room. It was much cleaner than the exterior and there were quite a few more comforts and noteworthy items than the outside represented. Yes, Mr Grayson - Dick was certainly a clever one. A discarded jacket lay on the coffee table and it appeared the man was a law enforcement officer. Well that certainly explained his move to the crime-riddled Blüdhaven. "Oh. Do you usually invite strangers into your house, Mr Gr, er, Dick?" It felt weird to call someone that without meaning it as an insult.
Dick smirked once again. "Usually the people you don't want in your house, don't knock on your front door." He gave a cheerful laugh that somehow made Teddy feel a little lighter. It wasn't often that the man heard laughter that wasn't of the canned variety on one of those horrid late night comedy road show thingies.
"Fair enough. I am truly sorry for disturbing you." Teddy looked at the board in his hands. He hadn't considered that his timing might not be appropriate. For a self-proclaimed genius, he should have done a little bit more research before dropping by and ought to have phoned ahead. Teddy looked back at the police officer and saw his host's cheeks emit a light pink blush as he realised he was practically naked.
"Er, I'll be back in just a moment," said Dick who sped to his bedroom and donned a robe. He returned with a slightly sheepish look.
Teddy tactfully pretended not to notice it as he rose to his feet clutching the board. "Well Dick, I'm the editor of Mr Z's Variety Puzzles and it is my sincere pleasure to award you this prize of one thousand dollars!" Teddy flashed the slightly stunned Dick a winning smile and flipped the board around to show him that it clearly wasn't a prank.
Blinking his surprise away, Dick's face broke out into a smile. "Er, thanks Teddy but I really don't need the money. I'm the son of Bruce Wayne. You keep it to help fund your amazing puzzle books." The dazzling smile was obviously the man's way of getting exactly what he wanted and he'd probably perfected it at length on his adoptive father. It would certainly not be the downfall of Theodore Zerr no matter how shiny his teeth were.
Teddy flashed him a small smile in return. "As I'm sure you know being a police officer and all Dick, I'm bound by law to give you this prize and I have no want to become a criminal. Of course, what you choose to do with the money is your choice. If you want to donate it or something, feel free." He couldn't help but notice that his smile had ended up as a smirk sometime during his argument. Oh well.
With a playful roll of his eyes, Dick moved to Teddy, shook his hand and accepted the cellophane wrapped gift with the good grace of a well-trained son of a billionaire. "At the very least, allow me to shout you a lunch to show my appreciation."
Teddy nodded to show his assent as the officer made a hasty exit to dress in actual clothing. As he did so, the crossword compiler had a more thorough look around the room from his vantage point on the couch. The walls were a pale green colour and the room was immaculate. Perhaps he was as obsessive compulsive as himself. There were many beautiful paintings, vases and sculptures around the room but only the cheaper ones were in sightlines from the windows. Very clever.
In the centre of one of the walls was a large portrait of three circus performers next to a poster advertising the Flying Graysons. Dick looked similar to the man in the portrait who was clearly his deceased father. Same hair, ice blue eyes, nose and ears but the cheeks and smile were clearly his mother's. From his startlingly excellent physique, it appeared the man had kept up with his early training in some form or other.
What Teddy also noticed was a distinct lack of memorabilia of his adopted father Bruce Wayne. In fact, there appeared to be no photographs of him at all which probably indicated the pair parted on poor terms. How very interesting.
Teddy was pulled from his musings by Dick's reappearance. Somehow the deep blue polo shirt and jeans made the officer look even more handsome than he did before in his ruffled pyjamas and that shouldn't have been possible, yet it was. The colour made his eyes almost luminescent. He hoped his internal swooning would remain that way and the blush he could feel just under the surface stayed buried. He hadn't even looked at someone in years and he found the whole situation a little disconcerting.
"Ready to go?" the officer asked politely.
Teddy blinked. "You mean now?"
Dick laughed delightedly. When he gathered himself he answered, "Well, you are going to eat lunch today, aren't you? Also I don't even know where you live or anything so, yeah. Now."
"S-sure." Teddy said as he was escorted out the door. "Er, why don't we take separate cars, that way neither of us are inconvenienced when the lunch concludes."
The officer shrugged and strolled to his car as the editor did the same. Dick pulled out of his driveway and pulled up next to Teddy. He unwound his window and when Teddy had done the same, he yelled, "Follow me, I know an excellent place for lunch," over the roar of two engines. Without waiting for a response, the man drove down the street and Teddy hastened to shadow him, not wanting to get left behind. He fumbled to get the window back up again with his old sedan but eventually managed it and trailed the cop to the central mall of Blüdhaven.
Teddy managed to score a car park a mere three spaces away from Dick who was already leaning against the side of his locked car, looking for all intents and purposes like a model which Teddy found to be both a little daunting and more than unfair. As the man was looking at him, he didn't try to fix his hair in his rear vision mirror like he would have preferred and stepped out of the car. He clamped down on the butterflies in his stomach while reminding himself that no, this was not a date, just a casual lunch with a nice man with a very pretty brain. Although the packaging was also very appealing too.
Dick smirked as he led Teddy to the nearby restaurant and the latter nearly had a coronary. He'd rarely eaten in public since he donned the Riddler costume for fear of being recognised and before that he'd never eaten somewhere this fancy before. In fact, it was rather surprising that there was such a nice quality restaurant in Blüdhaven in the first place. It must get robbed frequently. Hopefully that wouldn't happen while the pair were dining there this afternoon. It would be awful for some long-forgotten cretin to recognise him and ruin his new life.
The Terrible Tease Clues - Chapter Two
Teddy is a very clever genius. Two of the words from the chapter above are actually answers to Teddy's latest Terrible Tease crossword puzzle. Here they are now!
31 Across - Floral vessels (5 letters)
7 Down - Discharge (4 letters)
For instructions on how to solve the Terrible Tease, please refer to the footnote of Chapter One - The Birth of Mr Z.
