If You Just Listened // Arthur Fleck x Reader // SLOWBURN

Chapter 8 - No One Was There.

After the amazing performance, you and Arthur headed inside towards the old rickety elevator, chatting about the day. Although your eyes were still red, and your nose was still runny, you felt much better. You had Arthur to thank for that.

Your conversation was briefly interrupted by the elevator abruptly stopping, causing the lights to flicker. Neither of you were surprised, it was a common occurrence in your building. You stood there together in a brief but peaceful silence before turning to him.

"Hey," you began.
"Hm?"
"That was really nice of you. What you did outside, I mean."
"Oh, that was just my routine," he chuckled. "It was nothing, really."
"Well whatever it was, it meant a lot to me," you retorted, your volume a little louder than you meant for it to be.

Arthur stared at you, startled by your mini-outburst.
You sighed, placing your hand on his shoulder. You didn't mean to take that tone with him. You were just stressed right now. Hopefully he understood that. You ran your thumb along the fabric of his over-sized blazer, noting the amount of bright colors on it.

'What a ridiculous jacket.'

You smiled.

Arthur's mind was racing. Your hand was right there, right on his shoulder.
Your hand was on his shoulder.
Your hand was on his shoulder!
Should he say something? Was this just a normal thing people do? The only person that had ever left their hand on his shoulder for this long was his mom. He looked at you closely.

Yep, you definitely weren't his mom.

Should he put his hand on your shoulder? At work he saw the guys patting each other on the shoulders but they never just left their hands there. Was it a good thing to hold people's shoulders? Was it a bad thing to hold people's shoulders? It definitely didn't feel like a bad thing to have his shoulder held. And you were smiling, so surely that meant it was a good thing. He wondered when you would hold his shoulder like this again. He wondered when he would have the chance to leave one of his hands on one of your shoulders! Oh god, his heart was pounding so hard he was sure he would die. But if he died right now, with your hand still on his shoulder, maybe it wouldn't be so bad...

"Arthur?"

He shook himself out of his trance.

"Yeah?"

"Isn't this your floor?" you asked, a bit concerned.
He had been staring at his shoulder for a quite a while now, although the elevator had already arrived at his level.
"Oh..." he began, embarrassed by his obvious stupor. "Right."
He took a few steps out of the elevator, walking towards his apartment.

"Arthur?" You asked, stopping the elevator door with your foot.
He turned to you, still trying to come down from his nerves and greatly attempting to hide it.
"Yes?"
You looked at his face, and the clown makeup that covered it.
"I just wanted to say... you're a good friend. See you for breakfast tomorrow?"

His face turned into a smile so big you were sure it was stretching his skin. He tried to speak, but only a few unintelligible stutters came out.

You giggled, his strange tendencies were just so funny to you now.
"I'll take that as a yes."
You brought your foot back in the elevator, waving to him as the door closed.

Arthur was overwhelmed in the best way possible. He stood there, staring at the elevator and unable to move.

His hand reached up, slowly resting on the spot of his shoulder that you had held. He squeezed it, wishing your hand was still there. A small laugh escaped his lips, followed by another, then another, until he was in a full blown laughing fit. This was the first time he laughed this hard and actually enjoyed it. He laughed his entire way into his apartment, finally stopping as he closed the door.