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Chapter Text

The only good thing about taking the subway across Gotham, in Jonathan Crane's eyes, was the chance to observe other Gothamites behaviour, both the ones in the carriage and the ones below the tracks. Watching the people below mingle and occasionally fight, it was like rats in a maze. Or like the canteen footage in Arkham Asylum. Jonathan couldn't stay for long though, he needed to check out a book for more research into his latest hypothesis on fear at the library. He arrived at his stop, a few people brushing past Jonathan, a small group of teenagers rushing down the stairs to the pavement, carrying bottles of beer in their hands.

It was four o'clock in the afternoon.

Jonathan rolled his eyes, carrying on as he inspected the occasional television display, talking about the latest information about the Riddler. Everyone around him were surprised, a serial killer in their midst. 

"Why would someone do this?" One of the nurses asked once the killing of Mayor Mitchell made the rounds at Arkham. Who wouldn't? Jonathan mused idly in his head. Arkham Asylum had been opened for almost a century for a good reason. And it was painfully obvious the Mayor was in Carmine Falcone's pocket. Whilst he might be accepting money and supplying drugs to Falcone, he didn't need to like the man. He was patient, Jonathan could wait for the day that Scarecrow got to made that man writhe and scream in fear, appealing for mercy he would never deserve.

Jonathan pushed open the library door, filing past a few people hovering around the public computers, watching the new recording from the Riddler and the news anchors opinions with rapt attention. Admittedly, the Riddler was a fascinating character, striking fear into the hearts of people with the most power, and apparently, that Batman vigilante running around the grimy streets. He'd only seen the Batman a few times, mostly the Bat signal the GCPD decided to adopt. A simple light to scare criminals. They'd need more than that to make an effort.

Jonathan would kill for a look into the mind of the Riddler, no normal person could feed a man's face to rats whilst he's alive-

Jonathan perhaps shouldn't have let his thoughts get the better of him, causing him to stupidly walk directly into someone, causing them to trip themselves, and trying to catch something to stabilise them ended up dragging Jonathan with them.

Jonathan quickly pulled himself up from the floor, now kneeling as he quickly assessed what happened whilst quickly checking the lock on the suitcase. He did not want to accidentally dose a man with fear toxin in the middle of a crowded library. Said man was collecting his own bearings, scrambling to collect the knocked over books and carefully check for damage. He thinks. Jonathan could have swore he felt the man's eyes on the back of his head, as if he was checking he had the right man, when he went to see if he could help collecting the books.

"I'm so sorry for walking into you, I didn't see you there." Jonathan quickly spoke up, sliding his glasses back onto his face before collecting the other man's glasses, offering them to him. The man took them, shakily put them back in the place before facing Jonathan, his soft face finally turning to face Jonathan. Something went warm in the back of his mind as he looked the man in his warm green eyes.

"It's- It's okay, Jonathan, don't worry about it." The man replied, offering a small smile, although something seemed disturbingly giddy about it, as if he had found whatever he was looking for whilst staring at Jonathan.

"How do you know my name?"

The man sheepishly raised his Arkham Asylum keycard, which probably had fallen out of his pocket in the scramble to the floor, although he wasn't quite sure how exactly. It was pinned rather tightly on the inside of his pocket.

"Ah."

Jonathan took the card from him, sliding it back into it's spot in his pocket.

"Edward." The man, Edward, blurted out, causing a flash of confusion to appear on Jonathan's face as he helped the other man up. "I-I'm Edward. You should know my name if I know yours." Edward explained.

"That seems fair." Jonathan mused.

Edward paused, deciding on what to say.

"What bird symbolizes mystery and intelligence and appears in legends?" He suddenly asked, catching Jonathan off guard. Honestly, he didn't exactly have a good handle on random bird facts suddenly sprung on him after almost concussing himself.

"... A crow?" He offered, idly tracing a hand on his briefcase handle. It was his favourite bird, and it was just a loose guess if he was being frank.

Edward beamed, quickly nodded. "A crow." He seemed elated he got the answer he had been looking for. Then he paused, noticing the possible confusion on Jonathan's face. "You remind me of a crow." Edward clarified, briefly flicking his eyes to the clock. It looked like his mind was going a thousand miles every second.

"... Thank you." Jonathan decided to take that as a compliment. If it was an insult, he always had some fear gas on him. 

"Sorry for rambling, I'll let you go on your way, Jonathan." Edward chuckled nervously, even if Jonathan could see a glint of some sort of intent in his eyes. He didn't mention a thing though.

"Well, it was nice listening to you, Edward." Jonathan nodded before he made his way to the psychology mini section of the library.

Edward needed to catch his breath. Not from being actively knocked over, but from who knocked him over.

Jonathan Crane.

He found the Scarecrow faster than he thought he would.

That behind the mask of the Scarecrow was a calm, calculated psychiatrist with bright blue eyes, sharp features and wavy black hair. Jonathan's eyes were the most distinct part of his appearance. Edward wanted to gouge them out and watch Jonathan scream at the loss of them.

That simple conversation was all Edward needed to compare and contrast to the recording of the Scarecrow he'd manage to find deep in some buried files. Falcone needed to work on his server security, or maybe he wanted someone to catch Jonathan. He compared it to the clip of Jonathan testifying at Victor Zsasz's court hearing. It took some minor adjustments between the muffled yet distinct Scarecrow voice on that old security tape at a drug deal and Jonathan's calculated tone of voice at the courthouse.

Edward had a name and a face now.

He now knew who Scarecrow was, that it was Jonathan who had been supplying drugs to Falcone and the Penguin. He already knew about Jonathan letting criminals slide into Arkham Asylum rather than prison, more obvious cracks and holes in Gotham's justice system. 

Edward was going to make an example out of the Scarecrow.

The Riddler was going to kill Jonathan Crane.

Chapter Text

Jonathan had been trying to find something out about Edward for the past few weeks now. So far, surprisingly not much. He seemed to have a good habit of vanishing from the records or whatever buildings he's been in. Jonathan had followed behind him for almost two weeks now, although not in a particularly strange way, just calmly walking behind Edward at a respectable distance. He was obviously just trying to make sure Edward got home to his shabby apartment safely. He’d never gone far enough to actually enter Edward’s home, but he’s admittedly gotten some decent glances into Edward’s apartment. He’d only found so much about Edward from the outside perspective he held.

Orphaned at birth.

Lives by himself.

Works as an accountant.

Nothing... Striking to the human eye. Yet something kept clawing at the back of his mind as he peered through the record of the old orphanage, or whatever was left over since it burned down. Pictures or records mentioning Edward were few and far between. So Jonathan had taken it into his own hands. Was it concerning? Probably, but somehow stalking a man is not one of the worst things he's done. 

It was easy to follow a man who had gone completely unnoticed his whole life. 

It was a rather calming routine compared to Jonathan's routines at the asylum. It took his mind off of the strange feeling he would harbor once he returned from his meetings with Falcone that had been looming over him for a while now. But, it wasn’t fear. As if his body was subconsciously anticipating… Something.

Edward would wake up, go to work, occasionally go to the library and return home. Every weekend he'd take himself to a diner nearby his apartment.  It seemed pretty empty most of the time. Jonathan was curious to what exactly Edward spent so much time working on in his apartment. Jonathan hadn't been able to pry Edward out of his mind, it was almost impressive. Jonathan would calmly follow behind him almost every night, waiting for something to change. But nothing did. Jonathan tried to let go of it there. But he couldn't, could he? He was far too deep now, already stalking a man on a regular basis. Something, something, he had to be missing something! 

Jonathan decided to kick it up a notch. He waited for Edward to go to the diner on Friday like usual, new crossword in hand before quietly taking himself to Edward's apartment. Jonathan calmly picked the lock before shuffling inside. It wasn't any different on the inside than it was out. He explored around the apartment, taking in the small details of the apartment before noticing something. 

A laptop, left open. 

Jonathan curiously stepped closer, making sure to pull on some gloves just to be safe as he opened the laptop, which booted up to some sort of forum. Jonathan scanned through the earlier messages, he couldn't tell what exactly the website was, but it was seemingly some sort of little club of the Riddler's fans. Talking about possibly targets and more gruesome ways of murdering more and more people. Jonathan had grown numb to that kind of talk throughout his experiments and his work at Arkham.

It wasn't that surprising that Edward would be a fan, but some of his messages were strange. Jonathan had gone through the public police report, and they hadn't mentioned any sort of 'card' left over by the Riddler for the Batman to find. So how...

Jonathan paused that train of thought, hearing distant footsteps coming towards the front door of the apartment. Jonathan quickly glanced at his surroundings. He didn't have enough time to get out through the front door, and he wasn't exactly going out a window. He just quickly and quietly shuffled into a cramped closet.

Once inside, he noticed the odd military boots that were stuffed inside the corner of the closet, and a messy collection of Polaroids in a shoebox, a few peeking out. Maybe he had moved them in here due to an inspection. Jonathan stilled his breath, watching as Edward walked into his apartment, tossing his coat onto his desk as he lay down on his bed. He was giggling about something, before skimming through the previous chats on his laptop.

Edward closed his laptop, reading for a few hours before he decided to go to sleep, curling in on himself as he slept.

Maybe Jonathan spent a little too much time waiting for Edward to be asleep, but it was surprisingly calming to watch the man sleep. Even if he was crammed in a closet at the same time. Jonathan eventually shuffled out the closet, his eyes scanning across Edward's face before taking his leave from Edward's apartment.

Jonathan might've overstepped with his sudden invasion of Edward's privacy, but he wouldn't be able to exactly go back from the fact he snuck into his bedroom. He followed behind Edward again on the way back. He was definitely in far too deep. Jonathan wanted to peel back all the carefully constructed layers to reveal the real Edward Nashton, or whoever was hidden below. He wanted to pry into his mind and learned everything to what made him tick.

Jonathan decided to carry out a little experiment. 

He wanted to see how Edward would cope thinking that there was someone in the shadows, watching him. And occasionally misplacing a few objects purposely. Jonathan bought a small bouquet, just as a little gift to announce his sudden appearance in Edward's life. Obviously, Edward would have a better chance of meeting Scarecrow rather than Jonathan, but still.

Edward must look beautiful when he was trembling in fear.

Or maybe he wouldn't be scared. Edward had been ignored and invisible to everyone else his whole life, maybe he would be far too attached to the thought of a stalker.

He'd be scared if he knew the Scarecrow was said stalker, however.

Jonathan gently set down the bouquet on his small little desk, a small smile on his face, waiting to see his reaction during the subsequent days.

Chapter Text

Edward wanted Jonathan Crane dead, just like the rest of Falcone's men, but Jonathan was supplying them with drugs, and insanity pleas to be shuffled into Arkham Asylum, and then discharged after a 'full recovery', back to Falcone's work. Edward didn't take long to snap a few photographs of Jonathan's schedule, pinpointing a timeline of Jonathan's weekly schedule.

Even a few photographs of him from a closer perspective, maybe a few for more... Personal reasons. Forgive him for indulging in this part. Jonathan was a pretty man, obviously, so forgive him for conforming to society's general standard of attractive men. He still wants to gut the man, give his pretty, pretty icy eyes to the rats as a playtoy. He focused back in on the documents in front of them, trying not to think too hard about Jonathan Crane's eyes. Or his face. He opened the chat, giving his fans, no, his community, an update on his process, along with a future stream update.

Technically, he could stream right after he catches Crane unaware and drag him off to Hell, but he wanted to make his information completely right. Although that implies he's not always right, which he is, but the point still stands. Hence now why he was quietly following behind Jonathan on the subway again, he blends in rather well with sheep, perhaps even better than Jonathan did. He'd already tagged Jonathan's car anyway, and this was more of a happy accident, he'd just been on his miserable commute home when he'd spotted Jonathan getting into the carriage ahead of him on the subway.

Jonathan stopped at a completely different spot from his usual routine, even if he was going to meet with Falcone or the Penguin if the man was 'preoccupied'. Edward followed behind him obviously, camera in hand just in case. He followed into some back alley in Chinatown. He never really ventured down to this part of the city often, and he could probably guess that Jonathan didn't either. Jonathan stopped at an alley, digging out his mask, pulling it over his head once he was sure no-one was watching. At least Edward was hidden as he snapped a few more photographs of Jonathan, and the mystery thug he was dealing with. Edward shuffled closer, now listening into the deal between the two of them.

"You got the stuff, you bag faced freak?" The thug asked, critically gesturing to the mask.

"Yes, as you ask every time now, but not for long if you keep up that tone." Jonathan curtly replied as he handed him the vials of toxin. Jonathan turned to leave before being grabbed by the wrist by the other man, causing him to turn around.

"I don't believe I-"

"I believe you should shut the fuck up, you mouthy bastard."

Edward switched to record the situation on his camera.

The thug crowded Jonathan against the wall, a switchblade now pressing against his throat, hovering an inch across his skin. "Just because you're in Falcone's pocket don't mean I gotta take any orders of you." The thug shoved Jonathan, as if he could push him any further into the wall. Maybe he was just accustomed to throw people around, regardless of possible consequences. And it's not like Jonathan Crane was a very physically intimidating man. 

Jonathan had instinctively grasped a hand onto the arm holding onto the knife, the other one quickly clicking something, causing a quick spray of his toxin into the face of the thug, causing him to immediately scramble away from the Scarecrow, screaming at the top of his lungs. Jonathan quickly took his leave, obviously this would draw the attention of nearby people.

Edward took his leave himself, making sure he snapped a few more photographs of the Scarecrow before scrambling back to the subway, to return home and thoroughly reviews his discoveries.

Chapter Text

This was bordering on guilty pleasure rather than the Riddler's next victim, Edward mentally chided himself as he followed behind Jonathan as he calmly walked home. You'd think that the Scarecrow would at least occasionally glance behind him, especially in a hellhole like Gotham, although maybe he thought no-one would try and mess with him, which seemed to be an effective strategy given the thug that he had dosed with fear gas had recently gone 'missing'. Edward quietly stepped behind him as Jonathan entered the apartment block. It was far nicer than any sort of building Edward had lived in throughout his life. Falcone had acquired rather deep pockets over the years of corruption nestling into Gotham. 

Jonathan gently set down his keys in his hallway, Edward didn't need to watch him constantly, but Edward still settled into his usual spot to keep an eye on Jonathan as he settled into his apartment. He idly mused about how Jonathan would react to having him as a stalker. Or a stalker in general. Maybe he'd assume it was some sort of secret admirer? Edward wasn't some lovesick fool though, but he was begrudgingly impressed with Jonathan's ability to be Scarecrow without the mask. Or Jonathan Crane was just Scarecrow's mask. Edward would believe the latter, as he fished out a pair of binoculars from his bag, peering into his apartment.

Did he really need watch Jonathan carefully peel off his suit after working on his latest strand of fear toxin? ... Probably not, he was perhaps indulging in his base needs and fantasies a little too much, but it wasn't exactly the worse thing the Riddler's done by the general public's standards. Edward wasn't staring at Jonathan's chest or some sort of part of him like he was a piece of meat, but rather his eyes. They were the most fascinating part of him, other than his mind and mask, of course. A rather brilliant, icy blue which could be just as piercing through his burlap mask. Although he preferred it when he could see the rest of the man's face.

Jonathan stepped into his sitting room, probably expecting to have a quiet moment to himself where he could read something. But, Edward had already set a little gift for him to find, just out of pure curiosity. And maybe a little bit of infatuation, but mostly curiosity. He swears. Jonathan was definitely startled by the sudden appearance of a bouquet of flowers resting on his coffee table he mostly definitely did not get and didn't really own any flowers in the first place. And he didn't know a single person who would give him flowers, well, he definitely noticed the looks a few nurses and trainees gave him, but none of them would be able to get a bouquet inside his goddamn apartment sitting room, or know where he was in the first place. 

Jonathan carefully picked the bouquet up, hesitantly scanning the room around him, the soft clicks of his shoes as he inspected the room around him echoed quite nicely through the mics he had set around the apartment. For his own research. Edward kept a close eye on staying out of sight as he watched Jonathan tried to find another possible clue about who exactly had left the bouquet of flowers on his table. Jonathan inspected the flowers, but it just seemed like your usual small bundle of sunflowers. He just placed it on the counter, not entirely sure what he's meant to do with them now. It's not like he had anywhere to put it quite yet.

"Who would be able to get in here?" Jonathan mused to himself as he went around his apartment, checking the locks on his windows as he tried to figure out who would be able to do this before narrowing it now. And who would even waste time breaking into his apartment rather than just dropping them off at his desk if it was one of those nurse trainees who stared at him as he passed through the corridors of the asylum. Edward kept watching as Jonathan finally stopped looking around his apartment for clues, returning to staring at the sunflowers. He found an old case to place the flowers for now, whilst he tried to figure out what he was meant to do now. Eventually, Jonathan concluded some sort of sleep would help his attempts to rationalise what to do next.

That was a new pleasure, Edward found out, watching Jonathan sleep of all things. He seemed almost completely harmless while he slept, Edward knew better, of course, but still. Edward found himself wanting to be there with him, a rather embarrassing emotion if he was being honest, but something about Jonathan just... Clicked with him. Maybe because Jonathan clearly understood how their masks worked. Edward wasn't quite sure, but he knew he definitely had time to stay for... A few hours.