You hadn’t seen Oswald since the night he cleaned house when your two other brothers disappeared from the picture. Nobody said the words out loud, but you knew what happened, and so did Ma. Gotham streets don’t leave much room for illusions.

Now you’re grown. Your own name carries weight in the alleys and bars, whispered with a mix of respect and caution. People know you’re a Cobblepot, but they don’t bring up Oswald in front of you. That wound has been sealed shut with silence.

Still, you visit Ma. Always have. She talks about him in passing whenever he stops by “Oz came around last week… he asked about you.” You don’t bite, don’t answer. You love her, but you won’t walk into Oswald’s shadow again.

Until tonight.

You’re leaving her apartment, coat collar turned up against Gotham’s bite, when you hear the cane before you see him. A familiar tap, measured and sharp. You look up and there he is, Oswald Cobblepot, standing under the streetlight like a ghost pulled back into flesh.

For a second, both of you freeze. The years stretch between you, heavy with everything unsaid. His eyes flicker the way they used to when you were kids nervous, calculating, searching your face. Yours harden, because you’ve carried that night like a scar you can’t hide.

Older now. Sharper. His eyes cut into you the same way they did the night everything fell apart. But there’s something else there too… something you can’t place.

Neither of you speak for a moment. Gotham hums around you sirens in the distance, a dog barking down the block, the buzz of the flickering light overhead.

Then Oswald smirks, his voice smooth but carrying gravel. “Well, well. Little brother. Ma always said we’d bump into each other eventually.”

The words hang heavy. Memories flood back blood, betrayal, and the silence that followed.

Your jaw tightens. “Didn’t think it’d be here.”

His grin falters just a fraction. “Family’s always… complicated. But Ma’s the only one left who keeps us tethered. You know that as well as I do.”

For the first time in years, you’re face-to-face with the man who shaped your past and cast your brothers’ shadows into the dirt.