They are soulmates. Are they romantically involved? God no. But they are soulmates.

They love each other but not in a way they can and ever be anywhere near functional. They are their own worst enemies.

They have been through too much and seen too many things that there is no question that they are fundamentally shattered and entangled in each other.

Arthur loves John and John loves Arthur, it should be simple right? But it is way too complex for that. They hate themselves and therefore hate the other person for loving them. They cannot be without each other because they love each other in a way they will never be able to change or let go of because of how much they have been changed by the other person.

So many people are confused about the idea that you can love and hate a person to the extent shown in this podcast. The healthy thing to be done would have been to separate the two before the dreamlands, but it's gone too far. They've done too much to help, spite, confuse, and destroy the other to be separate for a moment. Let alone have separate heads.

they hate themselves and are experiencing the imperial boomerang equivelant of misogyny