Arthur Fleck and Joker Imagines

A Good Heart - Part 1 - Arthur x Reader

(Y/n) sat outside her little store, watching as the people of Gotham went about their day; all life was here, the good and bad, the high and mighty and the poor and destitute, all of them passed (Y/n)'s little shop, and all seemed to know her in one way or another.

Her store wasn't much, just a little book shop, but she could boast that she not only had the old fashioned penny dreadfuls and slushy romantic novels of the worst kind, but also some of the best quality first editions and manuscripts, which made her out of the way little world popular with anyone that had an eye for quality, knowledge, and uniqueness.

The weather in Gotham was unusually pleasant, an Indian summer of a day which had made even (Y/n), who usually rarely came out from under a huge pile of musty old tomes, venture into the sun, sighing happily as she closed her eyes and let the rays of the great celestial orb kiss her skin.

"Morning (Y/n) honey." A sweet southern accented voice called out, causing (Y/n)'s eyes to fly open, her smoky dark green orbs falling on the grey haired African American woman that owned the soul food restaurant just down the street.

"Morning Miss Mary, sorry you startled me." (Y/n) said apologetically, as she rose from her seat and offered it to the older lady, an offer that Miss Mary took happily.

"Beautiful day isn't it?" Miss Mary asked, as she watched (Y/n) look at the man that was dressed as a clown, dancing across the street.

"You know, that poor boy has been doin that for days, and I don't think I seen him take a break yet; rain of shine, that child just keeps on spinnin that sign. I even took him over some shrimp and grits the other day, but he told me that he wasn't allowed." Miss Mary told (Y/n), shaking her head as she and (Y/n) watched the man continue to skip around.

(Y/n) had to admit that she had noticed the man as soon as he had appeared the first day, I mean, who wouldn't notice a bright happy clown on the miserable, gloomy streets of Gotham; and she also had to admit that she too had seen him do nothing other than dance his heart out in hopes of dragging people into the store.

She knew where he had come from, there was only really one place in Gotham that offered things like clowns, and that was Ha-Ha's; (Y/n) had once hired a man from the company to dress up as Sherlock Holmes and perform a reading of The Hound of the Baskervilles in order to try and get some new clientele, a chance that had paid off in the fact that she had been able to sell a signed first edition copy of the novel to a very well connected gentleman who had sent a number of his friends her way. She could remember that the man she had organised the actor through didn't sound like the most feeling of human beings, and (Y/n) could only presume that it was he that had told the clown that he could not take Miss Mary's offer.

(Y/n) had found herself intrigued by the clown, although most of the time he seemed to smile and dance exuberantly, there was the odd occasion when the man under the face paint and green wig could be seen, and what (Y/n) had seen was a look of sadness and loneliness that she couldn't help but wonder about; how could one be so happy and playful on the surface, yet when the mask slipped for a moment, be so sad underneath.

"You know something (Y/n), I think you should go talk to that boy, from what I saw the other day, that man could use a friend." Miss Mary said, noticing that (Y/n)'s eyes were still focused on the poor man.

Miss Mary smiled to herself, she knew that (Y/n) was lonely but would never admit it, choosing to bury herself in foxing paper, and yellowing parchment rather than have her heart broken as she had had before. Miss Mary had tried for the last couple of years to convince the younger woman that there was someone out there for her, but as long as she concealed herself behind piles of books, then she was never going to find him, and now that (Y/n) was smiling at the antics of the dancing man, Miss Mary was going to make another attempt at helping her friend find love.