Professor Fear (the sequel) - Jonathan Crane

Chapter 11

Jonathan was looking at her with half closed eyelids. She could already tell he'd not eaten. Jonathan was thin to the point of any dietary change being noticeable. The softness of his cheeks had gone hollow. 
"Have you slept or eaten?"
"I will now. I finished the creation last night and then had a related meeting this morning." He had retreated to laying vertically on the couch after unlocking the door. He could only think about how tired he was. 
Daria brought him the cupcake from the fridge. Jonathan sat up with a fatigued yet amused expression on his face. He slowly nibbled at the cupcake before offering Daria half of it.

"You look like how I was a few months ago," she admitted, noticing the dark purplish black circles under his half-opened eyes. "But with better cheekbones."
Jonathan smiled. He also took a moment to glance over at Daria who had completely changed her wardrobe from when they had initially started seeing each other in GCU. Today she wore a blazer over her green tank top and jeans. It was not all too different from his own choice of outfit on a random day. 

"Have you ever tried your fear toxin on yourself?" She'd never thought to ask before.

"I told you about my father," he mumbled.
"That wasn't your toxin though," She emphasised. "Wouldn't you want to build a tolerance to it?"
No response. His eyes were closed. 
"If you're sleeping can you go upstairs to the bedroom so that downstairs can be more liberal for those who want to stay awake?"

"Oh wow, now I'm no longer the owner of my own house," He scoffed, getting up slowly.

"Ah yes, on that note; The Riddler called a few days ago and asked me to tell you to check your mail," Now that the sofa was free, Daria tossed her bag onto it so that she could use it as her working space. "He also left that vanilla cupcake in the fridge and I now have respect for class A criminals," After she spoke she realised that she was overloading sleepy Jonathan's brain with information. He seemed to process it all fine.

"Daria,"

"Yes,"

"I trust you, and I want to involve you in my life; in all of it. Even the criminal side," he blurted in his drowsy state. "By the way you can open the letter from Eddy and let me know what it says... Goodnight."

Eddy and Jonny? These two really were close friends.

Daria felt a lump in her throat as three words desperately tried to escape from her mouth. She didn't release them until he had gone all the way upstairs and when she did speak, it was a whisper.

"I love you."