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divaofmads · 16 days ago

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Lover Headcanon

Pairing Jonathan Crane x Female Reader x Edward Nygma

Summary: Crane touches your fears, while Nygma locks onto your mind. One tries to solve you, the other memorizes you. Neither can associate losing you with staying sane.

Warnings: +18, Smut, Psychological manipulation, Obsessive behavior, Power imbalance, Dubious consent (emotional and psychological), Dark romantic themes, Possessiveness / control dynamics, Touch aversion and intimacy issues, Discussions of fear and trauma, Fetishization of mental/emotional control, Potential toxic relationship dynamics, English is not my first language so excuse my mistakes. I write purely as a hobby, not as a professional.

Word Count: +3k

Dividers by @cafekitsune photos by Pinterest

A/N: First time diving into the headcanon format! Still figuring out where the line between headcanon and imagine is, but I tried to keep it focused and atmospheric. Thank you for reading—I’d love to know what you think.

Dr. Jonathan Crane 💉

• How You Met? First Impressions:

Imagine you're a psychiatrist at Arkham. That day, when Jonathan saw you for the first time — the moment he noticed you — it wasn’t an ordinary introduction. In his world, people generally fall into two categories: the observed and the ignored.

You... you were one of the unignorable.

The first thing that caught his attention was your eyes. They held a glimmer of someone who wants to know, but isn't afraid to question. Most people settle for the permission to observe. But you... you looked like you'd come there to lose yourself.

He was passing through the corridor, files in hand. You lifted your head. Eye contact — just a second — but in Jonathan’s mind, it echoed like a bell that wouldn’t stop ringing.

• Morally Grey Love Interest:

Jonathan elevates you — he praises your intellect, your intuition, your emotional depth. But then, he begins to dismantle you. Subtly. At first, you won’t even notice. He might bring up a fear of yours “coincidentally.” You’ll think you’re in control… until he uses it against you in the middle of an argument.

Why does he do it?

Because for him, love is synonymous with power. He doesn’t necessarily want to dominate the one he loves — but he needs to be superior.

And if your intellect and insight begin to threaten that sense of superiority, something inside him — that old, festering inadequacy — begins to surface… and then he starts to see you as a mental experiment.

Being with him would be intoxicating, consuming, and destructive. He sharpens your mind — but leads you right to the edge of darkness. If you want to survive this relationship, you’ll have to guard your sense of self without getting pulled into his games.

Otherwise, you won’t be Jonathan Crane’s lover — you’ll be something he created.

• Acts of Service:

He’s no romantic. But if he senses a threat, he’ll act — first by analyzing you, then by protecting you. Because your mental integrity is valuable to him. He loves your mind.

He hides sensitive information to protect you. Keeps you away from dangerous patients without ever telling you why.

When he notices your insomnia, he leaves you strong but effective medication — quietly, no explanation — “Make your own decision,” he’ll say.

• Quality Time:

Time with you isn’t about sharing — it’s about observing. But over time, without realizing it, he begins to let you in.

He stays late to analyze case files with you.

When he goes to get coffee, he doesn’t ask if you want any — but always brings one for you.

He works in his office without locking the door — because you’re the only one allowed to enter.

• Receiving Gifts:

One day he gives you a small toy, a scented eraser, or a piece of merch from an old cartoon you loved as a child. You never told him about it. But somehow… he knew.

The note is simple: “This made you who you are. I won’t let you forget.”

He leaves you a journal — a clinical analysis of your fears. Not emotional — scientific:

“January 10th — Avoided eye contact in the afternoon. Topic at the time: spiders. Direction of gaze aversion: lower right. Suggests fear related to memory.”

It’s a psychological file — but written with care. A mirror of sorts.

He gives you an old, worn book. Scattered between the pages are handwritten notes:

“Did you remember me after this page?”

“The shadow inside you... it looks like this paragraph.”

It’s both an intellectual offering and a coded love letter — a way he frames the relationship.

• What He Loves About You:

Your refusal to hide from fear. Your stubbornness. Your resistance. You don’t surrender easily to his manipulation. Sometimes, you defy him with nothing but your eyes. And to him, that’s intoxicating. Your openness to his mind games.

He can talk to you in symbols. Ask you to interpret your dreams.

When you lean in with fascination, you pull him into a place no one else has ever reached.

• Your Sex Life:

It would be BDSM-based — but far deeper, far more psychological.

Thanks to Scarecrow, Jonathan believes fear is an erotic emotion. Fear — or the act of inducing it — is what arouses him the most. So he needs to be sure he’s analyzed you perfectly.

Fear toxin will be part of your fantasies. Low doses — not enough to cause hallucinations — just enough to sharpen the edges of whatever you're afraid of.

He uses sensory deprivation to push you out of your body and into your mind. Blindfolds. Noise-cancelling headphones. Restraints. When your senses are taken away, every touch feels ten times more intense. Fear. Arousal. Curiosity.

It all blends together. If you have a fear of puppets, he’ll tell you you are one. If you fear the dark, he’ll fuck you in pitch black. If it’s spiders… you’ll feel the legs on your skin.

He uses mirrors and masks. In the reflection, you’ll see every reaction your body makes — in horrifying detail. With the mask, he hides himself to strip you open.

Denial is his addiction. He can bring you to the edge, feel your pulse, your trembling, your contractions, then stop. He sits down. And watches you.

He restrains his own touch. Sometimes he prefers to come just from watching you need him. For Jonathan, the ultimate thrill is not telling you what to do — but making you want to do it.

This is where mind control fantasy begins: “If I were in your place… what would I do to me? Come on. Do what you feel. I planted it there.”

He doesn’t punish — he reprograms. If you disobey his rules, you must be reshaped.

He may ask you to have sex with his alter ego. He carries two personas in one body: Jonathan Crane and Scarecrow. He wears the mask. You’re no longer with the man, you’re with the monster.

To be desired by something terrifying and powerful. That’s how he teaches you the meaning of submission.

He’ll whisper: “Jonathan might love you. But Scarecrow… He wants to consume you.”

• Jealousy:

When Jonathan Crane is jealous... It’s never a simple "him or me" situation. He doesn't feel jealousy like others do.

"I'm not jealous. I'm doing what’s right."

He begins passive-aggressively. Uses intellectual superiority. Mocks the other man’s intelligence with surgical sarcasm.

“He told you about Wernicke’s area. How... impressive.”

If he sees him as a real threat, he investigates. Finds weaknesses. Plans how to ruin his status, reputation, even his psyche.

If you’ve been physically close recently, his jealousy manifests as control more intense. More possessive.

He’ll try to overwrite the idea of anyone else. Make you repeat his name until the thought of someone else vanishes.

He’ll say: “Did he touch you? Even if he did, you won’t remember. Because tonight, I’ll rewrite you.”

If you break his control...

If you question him, resist him, disobey him —It won’t just hurt his pride. It will fracture the very foundation of how he sees himself.

“Do you think you’re smarter than me? No. It’s just… a coincidence. I couldn’t solve you because… YOU are not normal.”

He won’t see you as an enemy. He’ll become obsessed.

If you don’t leave — if you stay in the game, even after defying him — that’s the most dangerous point. He won’t stop loving you. But love will no longer mean letting you go. It’ll mean owning you.

And he’ll say: “I love you too much to let you leave. If you try to go… That decision will no longer be yours.”

He wants to both punish you and bind you more tightly.

He builds a mental logic like: "I have to love you in order to understand you."

Sexually, this can turn into a more intense, boundary-pushing passion.

But this passion is not pure desire; it's a need to reclaim your mind and body.

• What He Hates / Can’t Tolerate

- Sudden physical contact (especially in crowds)

- Superficial conversations

- Fear being mocked or made light of

- Excessive optimism / comments like “Everything will be fine”

• His Ideal Dates

- Spending time in a quiet, isolated library

- Studying old psychology files together

- Debating fear-based experiments (Romantic? To him, yes)

- Walking through an abandoned campus on a rainy day

- Nights where he analyzes your dreams

• Pet Names

- "Subject Y/N" (half-joking, but also a little too real)

- "Darling" (started out ironically, but grew into something sincere)

- "My little anomaly"

- Says your real name clearly and deliberately — affects you with his tone

• Welcome to the inside of his mind:

Edward Nygma 🧩

• Fear of Abandonment / Becoming Addicted to You

When Edward begins to love you, it’s not an ordinary affection — it becomes an existential need. In his eyes, you’re not just his partner; you are the only fixed point in his mental chaos. His attachment to you becomes like a person’s need to breathe.

Every minute spent by your side silences the noise in his head. It quiets the Riddler. But he becomes so used to that peace, he gets addicted to it. He starts believing you must be there whenever he needs you — in your absence, he feels emptiness and a loss of control.

If you don’t respond for a few hours, for example:

- He begins calculating all the possibilities. ("Did she lose interest?", "Is she with someone?")

- He starts constructing entire scenes in his mind, convinced that whatever is pulling you away must be fixed.

• Panic Attacks Triggered by the Fear of Losing You

These panic attacks are usually set off by: an argument, you ignoring him for a while, or him thinking he saw you with someone else.

In a panic episode:

He breathes rapidly, crouches down, and clutches his head.

He whispers to himself: “She’s just angry… it’ll pass… she won’t leave me… she wouldn’t DO that…”

The sentence he repeats most often: “Don’t leave me.”

If he doesn’t hear your voice, he might damage his surroundings — not you, but himself, out of rage and despair.

He tries to hide these attacks. But if you’re there during one, he’ll suddenly cling to you, bury his face in your chest, and try to calm down just by listening to your heartbeat.

• Whispering “I Love You” Like a Threat

This phrase takes on a different weight when he’s in Riddler mode.

Normal Edward:

When he says “I love you,” there’s softness in his voice.

But when he shifts into the Riddler — his eyes dimmer, his voice lower and rougher — he says:

“I love you. That’s why I’ll do whatever I have to. Do you understand?”

In his world, love becomes a vow, a threat, even a seal. To him, loving you means possessing you, being responsible for you, and declaring that no one else can ever have you.

In the middle of the night, leaning close to your ear, he might whisper:

“I love you... because I can’t let anyone else love you.”

And then, he may act completely calm — because the threat has been made clear.

• Nightmares and Sleep States

Edward’s mind never truly goes quiet. Not even in sleep. When he's falling asleep, he tries to calm his brain by counting numbers or mumbling mathematical formulas to himself.

Sometimes, as he's curled up beside you with his head under your arm, you whisper, “Edward... just sleep already.”

But he still mutters through his teeth. “5... 3... 7... No, that’s wrong. That’s wrong…”

His nightmares aren't just about things he’s done in the past — they’re about the possibility of losing you in the future.

One night he wakes up in terror, soaked in sweat. He clings to your chest, trembling. His eyes are hazy, his mind still not fully back in reality.

“They can’t take you. No one... no one can take you from me...”

He’s still halfway in the nightmare. Even as you gently stroke his back, he trembles like a frightened child. But after a while, his arms tighten around you. He starts counting your breaths.

Some mornings, it’s not Edward who wakes up — it’s the Riddler. He stares at you with cold eyes.

“Shall we test how much I deserve you this morning?” he says.

Suddenly, a puzzle is left at your feet. Or maybe during breakfast, there’s a small piece of paper in your coffee:

“The secret of breakfast is three letters. If you don’t answer, I won’t speak.”

He feels satisfied when you solve it. But if you don’t, he watches you in silence all day. He smiles, but his eyes do not.

These little tests are the product of his obsession with you, his desire for control, and his need to exalt your intelligence. Even though he places you above all else, he still needs to feel superior.

One day, while using your hairbrush in the bathroom, you find a small box.

Inside are a few strands of your hair and... tiny notes:

“May 11. Today she called me ‘darling’ for the first time.”

“This strand of hair got caught in the shirt she wore that day. I smelled that shirt all day long.”

Sometimes when you speak without realizing, Edward secretly records your voice. Later, while working in his lab or when he’s alone, he listens to those recordings: your laughter, the words you mumble in your sleep, even moments when you're angry…

When he makes a mistake, when a plan fails, or when he despises himself... he breathes and imagines you. He remembers the scent of your skin, the curve of your shoulder, the rhythm of your voice.

To calm down, he repeats one line to himself:

“She loves me. She’s still here. She’s the meaning behind everything.”

• Protection / Possessiveness

In a city like Gotham, Edward’s way of protecting you can be summed up in one word: preemptive aggression.

He keeps a mental list of everyone who could potentially harm you.

If someone follows you from behind, he discreetly makes sure they disappear.

If someone bothers you, he leaves an intelligent yet unsettling threat note. (And you never find out.)

But if he sees you smiling a little too much at someone else?

In that moment, he becomes the Riddler. Silent, calculating, burning with quiet jealousy.

• Riddler's Pet Names for You

- Puzzle Piece: This nickname means a lot to him. You are the one who fills the gaps in his mind. He doesn’t just see you as a lover, but as the missing piece of his puzzle.

- My Constant: Using a scientific term is typical of him. By calling you his “constant,” he likens you to a mathematical fixed value. In the equation of his life, you are the unchanging variable.

- My Equation: Clever, romantic, and disturbingly obsessed. In his eyes, you’re an equation where every path leads back to you.

• Your Sex Life:

For Edward, mental compatibility comes before sexuality. "Preparing" you mentally is, for him, a form of physical interaction in its own right.

He leaves you small boxes: inside them, old notes, scribbled words, a perfume sample, and after a while… maybe fingerprints smudged on your lipstick.

You must solve each one; every solution brings you a step closer to him.

- On your first correct answer, a brief kiss on the corner of your lips.

- On the second answer, a long, lingering kiss—then he suddenly pulls away.

- In the final stage, his tone persuades you to surrender, slowly:

"You already know the answer… So when will you give yourself to me?"

For Riddler, this process is the act of conquering your mind and body together. In his view, true desire isn’t something guessed—it’s something earned.

In the early stages, as introverted Edward, he's shy in his sex life. But as he embraces the Riddler identity, his more dominant and darker sides begin to surface.

Roles: He positions himself as a "god who asks questions."

Your Role: The one who answers, tries to solve, and slowly unravels as she does.

Each correct answer gives him power, each mistake is an excuse to “punish” you — but these punishments usually end up rewarding you. That means:

The apparent purpose of punishment: discipline, control.

The true purpose: erotic tension and mutual pleasure.

Edward never loves “lightly.” Sexuality, for him, is a form of claiming. That’s why after sex, he leaves reminders on your body to show you belong to him. For example, a bruise on your neck. Then he watches you — almost as if he's noting down what you feel when you see those marks.

The simplest of your belongings can be triggers for him, and he wants physical contact with them while being intimate with you. For example, sometimes he holds your pen while kissing you, because you once touched him with it. Maybe he wears the glasses you lent him for a day. He looks in the mirror, trying to see how you see him. Then slowly removes them and places them beside his bed.

"Seeing through your eyes… more arousing than I expected," he says.

Outside the home, his preferred places to have sex with you are abandoned spots around the city or hidden laboratories.

As your relationship with Edward Nygma progresses, he will begin to reveal other sides of himself. During your sexual encounters, he won’t be satisfied with old fantasies—he will develop a deeper interest in sadomasochistic themes. For example, he will prepare riddles for you, and if you fail to solve them, he will punish you. These punishments may become more professionally crafted. The green light that symbolizes him, a metal chair, and custom-designed coded handcuffs become essential elements of his punishments. Moreover, your fear mixed with excitement will only arouse him more.

He might say: His hand lifts your chin as he says, "You know how much I’ll enjoy delivering your punishment, don’t you? Sometimes intelligence hurts." Suddenly, he loses his composure. With veins bulging, he whispers, "Now it’s your turn. The question is: Can you pass through pain to reach the reward?"

And in that moment, at the border where sadistic pleasure meets aesthetic beauty, Riddler will push your limits with both delicacy and force. Before every “punishment,” a small riddle; with each answer, an increasing level of touch. A mental game where you swing between pain and pleasure...

• Things He Can't Tolerate / Dislikes

- Mental laziness: To him, “empty talk” or shallow ideas are a waste of time.

- Leaving sentences unfinished: Especially when you’re trying to explain something but stop halfway or aren’t clear. He gets irritated. “Am I supposed to figure it out? Is this a riddle?” he thinks inwardly.

- Ignoring him / showing indifference: While he’s observing you, if you give more attention to something (or someone) else, he sees it as an insult. He won’t forgive it easily.

- Being jealous (irrationally): He wants you to know how intelligent and attractive he is—but he expects pride, not jealousy. If you act possessive, he silently thinks, “You still don’t understand me,” and starts crafting a mental game to punish you.

- Not reacting: If he surprises you or makes a clever remark and you show no reaction at all, he takes it personally. “What, you didn’t think that was brilliant?” echoes in the silence.

• Gifts He Would Give You:

A personal cipher journal: Custom-made just for you, filled with secret messages and encrypted notes he's written. Some pages are left blank—those are for puzzles he hasn’t given you yet.

A timer / hourglass: He wants to emphasize the value of time. A note is attached: *“Time can never be wasted when it’s with you.”*

A complex puzzle game (hiding a meaningful gift inside): Once you solve it, it reveals a small necklace, a note, or an object that refers to a childhood memory.

A box containing your small personal items: But he doesn’t give it to you directly. He wants you to stumble upon it by chance one day.

• His mind, in melodies:

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