Joker walks into the apartment and puts his bags on the couch, before walking to the bedroom to find Arthur. He should probably feel bad about leaving him alone for so long, but he seems like he's someone who's used to being by himself. Pushing the door open, he sees the man laying in bed, with one arm under the pillow. As soon as he sees Joker, he shoots up into a sitting position eyes wide and frozen.

"Arthur" Joker steps towards him, and notices that he seems scared. By why. He reassured him that he was no threat the other day, so what happened? "Arthur"

His other Joker doesn't reply. He just watches him carefully.

Sitting on the foot of the bed, Joker reaches out to touch his shoulder, and feels Arthur flinch hard. "I'm not going to hurt you. I already told you that didn't I?" Still no reply. His bluey-green eyes dance with fear, like cornered prey when meeting it's killer. Arthur sits there like a deer in headlights, and Joker really can't understand why. It frustrates and concerns him. His eyes move down, and notices that Arthur isn't breathing. That's weird. It's like a reverse panic attack.

Then, his eyes follow his arm to the hand that's still under the pillow holding something, "What's under the pillow, Arthur?"

Arthur takes a slow breath but doesn't reply. Joker repeats himself, trying his best to sound calm, but there's still no reply other than him breaking eye contact and moving his hand out. Frustration gets the best of him, and Joker gets up and throws the pillow aside to see a large kitchen knife hidden there. He grabs it and turns to Artur, who immediately cowers off the other side if the bed and backs away.

"What is this?" Joker asks in a low growl, slowly walking around the bed towards him. He's trying his best to stay calm and rational, but this? This is really pissing him off. "Why are you hiding a knife? Do you really think I want to hurt you? After everything I've done?"

"No" Arthur's voice trembles. He's backing towards the window where the boards have been taken off.

"Don't you trust me? This won't work if we don't trust eachother!" Arthur opens his mouth to reply, but no words come out. He throws a hand over his mouth trembling slightly. What happened to you when I was gone?

"I've told you, I want your help. I like you, and I want you to help me. Guys like us need to stick together" Joker stops a few steps away from him taking a breath, and throws the knife back onto the bed, "We're not so different. We can help each other, but the only way to do that is trust. So I'll ask you," He holds his hand out, "Can you trust me?"

Slowly moving his hand away from his mouth, Arthur stares at the hand trying to consider it, before slowly stepping towards him and taking it. Then, Joker pulls him to a hug, to which he tenses up at first, but quickly relaxes into the embrace. It's like he's never been hugged in his life. He's surprised about easily his arms wrap around Arthur, emphasising again just how skinny he is. Arms slowly mimic the gesture, and the two clowns hold eachother for a while as Arthur calms down.

This behaviour doesn't make sense. He was fine when Joker left, but he seemed scared when he came through the door. Whether it's just Arthur having trust issues or not, Joker finds himself wondering if someone else is involved. The only person that should've come into contact with him is John, and he trusts him enough not to mess something like this up. But, he also knows that John often doesn't think before talking, so he could've easily let something slip without meaning to. For now though, he has to work on building trust between them again.

He gently runs his hand through Arthur's hair to try and help him relax, listening to his steadying breathing. After a few minutes, he decides that he's calm enough, "I brought some stuff back, come on"

They walk into the front room, and Joker leaves momentarily to wash the paint off his face. He would've kept it on if it wasn't days old and beginning to make his skin feel weird. The paint acts like a mask for his identity, but sometimes he just can't stand his own reflection.

Walking back, he sits down beside Arthur and pulls a small paper bag out of another bag, and hands it to him. Arthur slowly takes it and looks inside, a small smile creeping up his face when he sees the paints, which quickly halters when he sees the gun inside.

"You need a gun for this mission. Though, I figure you prefer guns since it's the weapon you used? I like knives, but guns can be exciting too"

"Thank you..." He looks up at him and smiles. Joker notices that he almost looks as if he's just woken up, but there's a slightly different feel to it. Like he managed to shut himself off for a few hours without sleeping.

"Can...I ask, how did you get those scars?" Arthur asks him slowly, causing him to hesitate. Every time he explained it, he'd give a story that was connected to the person he told. Part of him wants to tell Arthur the truth, but he can't entirely remember the event. His memories are hazy, usually with distorted voices and muffled screams. Even when he remembers what happened, it always plays out differently each time. Nothing really made sense in his mind.

"I'm not certain...it could've happened in different ways" Joker answers truthfully, "But what about you? All I know is that you killed four people"

Arthur looks at the carpet for a few seconds, before sighing and looking back at him. He tells Joker about taking care of his mother, and being a party clown. He tells him about the gun, being fired and being attacked by the wall street guys before killing them. He tells him about Sophie, Thomas Wayne, and Murray insulting him. He tells him about finding out he's adopted, killing his mum, the truth about Sophie, and killing Rendall. And finally, he tells him about the subway and the riots after the Murray show.

Joker frowns. That's a horrible turn of events in only a few months, but it makes sense why he's this way.

"They got what they deserved" Arthur mumbles to himself, playing with the button on his cardigan.

"Yes...yes they did" He replies, now fully understanding his hatred towards society and Thomas Wayne. There are many different ways that can cause a person to snap, whether it's the death of your wife and unborn child, severe trauma, or just being pushed to the edge by anyone and everyone. Nearly everyone here has snapped for one reason or another, but it's usually just caused by one specific event. Not several.

Though, Joker is satisfied by his answer about Arthur's mental state. It doesn't sound like he knows what's wrong with him, but it's not drastically different from his henchmen. Most of them come from Arkham, so most of them are suffering from some form of mental illness. His delusions or hallucinations aren't anything new either. Thomas is a paranoid schizophrenic, but his symptoms are worse than Arthur's (or what Arthur told him). Especially during his psychotic breaks. Nothing he can't handle.

"You don't have to worry about them anymore, Arthur. Life is different on this side of the tracks. Batman is the only one you should look out for- you know who-"

"Yeah...John told me about him. It's weird"

"I don't want to kill him, so don't try"

"I won't"

They fall into silence again, but it's comfortable this time. Joker feels himself begin to drift off, although he tries to fight it. He only sleeps a few times a month when his body finally forces him to shut down. After a few minutes of trying to stay awake, Joker finally passes out.

Arthur glances over at him, watching for a while to see if he's actually fallen asleep, before carefully moving closer. He's always being curious about the scars. They're bumpy on his face, like they were messily sewn together. It seems unlikely that it was done in a hospital, seeming more like a home fix. From the scars, it seems like the wound was cut jaggedly, not a clean cut through the cheeks, which only makes him more curious. He slowly reaches out to touch them, careful not to wake him, but jerks his hand away when Joker's face twitches at the touch. His eyes move from his cheeks, and then he notices the light freckles scattered across his pale skin. Without the scars and paint, he would look like a normal person.

What could've happned to create such a violent and dangerous man? Arthur doesn't fully know what he's capable of -he only knows things from what John told him and the chaos radiating from him- but it seems like he's powerful. Could it be that all this started from the scars, or are the scars a result of him snapping? It doesn't seem like Joker himself knows.

Collecting his journal and pen from his room, Arthur sits back down beside Joker and begins to draw him to his neck. It's messy, but fairly decent. He then begins to write above the drawing. "Kind but sometimes scary. Intentons arnt clear, but mite be my frend" As much as he didn't like his social worker, her advice to write thoughts down sometimes help. Arthur smiles to himself as he looks over the page, then finally adds "2 Jokers together on a misson. Look out Gotham"