Edwards P.O.V.
I stood just out of view of the living room greatly perturbed by what had just transpired. I'd had a feeling that Scarecrow was back ever since the argument we had a few days ago, but now I was completely certain. Hearing him talk to himself was the icing on the cake. I walked down the hall pausing to check on Selina and Ridley in the kitchen.
Both were seated at the kitchen table eating sandwiches. Ridley was picking at her sandwich while Selina devoured hers. Ridley looked up when she noticed me and gave a lopsided grin before raising an eyebrow.
I blinked before shaking my head and backing away. I didn't need any more of that thank you very much. I'd thought that Ridley was a very nice well put together girl, but I realized that she was far from it.
Why had she so violently teased me and why did it get under my skin? My ears reddened as I went through what she'd told me.
Jon could be your perfect test subject on the matter. As if I were the one that conducted experiments on people.
Why had she chosen then to tease me? And why did Jon get so worked up about it? He wouldn't have gotten so worked up about it if he wasn't hiding something. He must've thought that Ridley knew something and he didn't want me to know it. The question remained: What was Jon hiding and what did Ridley know?
I needed to find out the answer, I could not sit back and let this one little thing past me by. I was the Riddler and I was the smartest being on the planet. I knew everything, but this time, apparently I did not. I'd have to remedy that and find out the truth.
Making my way up to my room, I pondered what Jon was hiding. Definitely something big since Scarecrow came back, he wasn't trying to poison Gotham's water supply again, was he? I had told him that it wouldn't have worked, but like most of the time, he didn't listen.
Sitting down in front of the many computers I had, I racked my brain and tried to remember if I told not to do something recently. I came up with nothing. It's like he did those things just to spite me. He was so reckless and impulsive that it was annoying, if not a bit admirable. Impulsiveness wasn't something I could do because my very nature went against it. Even when I'd taken the hit from the Batarang for Jon, I'd quickly weighted the options and knew that keeping Jon out of Arkham was in the best interest of the rest of us.
Even though he'd yelled at me afterward, Jon still insisted on patching me up; albeit yelling at me the whole entire time. I ghosted my hand across my side, thinking about it. I'd never allowed anyone to call me stupid before, it was an insult to my amazing intellect, and yet Jon had called me that no less than 20 times when he'd yelled at me, and I had let him. If that didn't confuse me I didn't know what would.
Then again, I'd always let Jon get away with more than I did most people. It was our friendship, something that was unique in our world. Friendships were seen as a weakness, for Batman could use it against us. It had always been an 'I'll support you but the minute you get into trouble your on your own' type thing, which tended to leave one lonely. You knew you never had a true friend, just someone who could potentially stab you in the back later. I knew that from personal experience.
Shaking my head I focused on the computer, imputing my password (The dark Religions are departed et sweet Science reigns. All lowercase, no spaces), and started to work.
Planning out the next mission was more complicated as I had to incorporate Ridley into the mix. I wanted it to be grand enough for her debut, but also within her comfort range. I knew she didn't like the idea of any sort of robbery, but what was a good mission without one? Another issue I ran into was that I wouldn't be able to be there due to my stitches. This was a personal decision, one that I did not take lightly. No being able to be there to watch out for her was frustrating to think about, but I'd be more helpful if I didn't have to worry about my injuries.
I knew Selina would watch out for her, she'd already begun to take Ridley under her wing (or was it her paw?). The main issue was that I wouldn't be able to control the situation if things got bad, meaning if Jon decided to do something stupid, again.
I thought about Jons outburst and how he'd demanded me to tell him what Ridley had told me. He was conflicted more than usual, and it wasn't just because of Scarecrow. It was something else entirely, but what?
I tried to focus on a camera that overlooked the inside of the G.C.P.D. (it'd been hell trying to get the thing in there), but found that I couldn't. Not even Bullock and Gordon arguing was enough to distract me.
"ARGH!" I slammed my fist against the table, causing some papers to flutter to the ground. Leaning down carefully to pick them up, I noticed the notes that I had written about what I'd found in Ridley's notebook. Right. If I couldn't focus on my work, then I might as well do something else that was productive.
Navigating to the search engine, I typed in the term 'Tsundere' and waited for the results to come in; it didn't take long.
Tsundere, I read, (pronounced [tsɯndeɾe]) is a Japanese term for a character development process that describes a person who is initially cold and even hostile towards another person before gradually showing a warmer side over time.
That described Jon fairly well, save for the 'showing a warmer side over time' bit. Why did Ridley write about this?
Clicking on a reliable looking website (I hated Wikipedia and whenever I did go on it I found myself there for hours correcting the idiotic mistakes people made), I continued reading. The more I read, the more troubled I became. The site said that the term Tsundere was derived from two other foreign terms, them being 'Tsuntsun' and 'Deredere', just like what Ridley had written down. Tsuntsun was described as meaning aloof and irritable while Deredere was described as meaning love struck.
The site described a Tsundere and being someone who acted like a "hotheaded, lovestruck kindergartener who pushes you into the sandbox."
My lips quirked up into a smile when I read that. Jon definitely qualified as "hotheaded", love-struck, however... That made me pause. Scanning the rest of the article, I came across the other term that Ridley had used: Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
The moods of a Tsundere tend to switch in reaction to the actions of select people or adverse scenarios, while the Deredere side usually only comes out when someone has acted in a way to trigger it.
A Jerk with a Heart of Gold is a jerk regardless of whether the other person is mean or nice. They only show their Hidden Heart of Gold when the situation warrants, regardless of how the other person had been acting.
I stared at my screen for a few moments. Everything that was being said revealed itself in Jon's attitude with perfect precision. I'd witnessed everything that was being described save for the 'Deredre' part. I'd only been subjected to 'Jerk' part of his personality and even though Jon was a jerk to everyone, he seemed particularly insistent on making my life difficult. But then he always tried to do something nice to make up for his jerkishness, even though it usually led to worse things. At least he tried.
I tried to think of anyone else that Jon acted this way towards but I realized the only person he acted that way towards was... Me. No one else was the subject of his anger on a day to day basis. And the thing that got me wasn't what he did to me, but rather what he didn't. Almost all the Rouges had been under the influence of his Fear Toxin, but not me. Every time I suggested to help him with a new formula or whatever, he'd turned me down; after yelling at me.
Yes, Jons attitude towards me particularly was interesting, to say the least, and I finally acknowledged the question that's been in my mind: Did the fearsome Dr. Crane have feelings for me? Little Edward Nygma? I knew that I was correct in my thinking, all the fact pointed towards it.
My mind reeled with this new information, and for once in my life, I couldn't think properly. For the first time, I had doubts about everything and I had no clue as to how I should proceed. I always had a plan, for everything. But how can you have a plan for something like this? Did I feel the same for Jon? I didn't know, though I did know that I felt something. I just wasn't sure what.
I needed to think about it. I decided. To think of the best course of action and go from there. I could be more understanding of Jons attitude and moods now, which I suppose was a plus, but it just made me more confused and the situation all the more complicated. I needed to act like nothing had happened. Like I had no clue that my best friend liked me.
Thoughts crowded my mind and I did my best to push them away. I didn't need to go over them now. Later; it could wait until later. Right now I just needed to do something to distract myself from this. Maybe I'd set a task for Query and Echo, I hadn't done that in a long time. Something small, maybe a few clues as to what our next mission would be. Yes, that'd work out perfectly.
I fired up my computer again, which had fallen asleep and got to work.
Things could wait until later.