Arthur Fleck and Joker Imagines

Dark Night - Part 5

"Holy shit! You look like crap." (Y/n) said, as she looked Arthur up and down, momentarily hoping that she was actually seeing a ghost rather than a real human being.

"Looks like popularity worked out for you then. I was thinking that you would be on you eighty foot yacht in the Mediterranean, quaffing champagne with your supermodel girlfriend. Oh, but maybe that's where you will be tomorrow? Maybe you just keep an apartment in this flea infested shit hole to help keep yourself grounded, to remind you where you came from, before your personal pilot jets you off to warmer climbs in the morning." (Y/n) said sarcastically, pulling her arm away from Arthur's hand. She knew she was being harsh, cruel even; but part of her wanted to make sure that she hurt Arthur, make him experience something of what she had been through all these years.

"I...........I never was popular. I didn't..............." Arthur began, his chest tightening with a mixture of guilt and a looming episode.

"So, you're telling me that Taylor was lying? That all he promised you was in fact a load of bullshit? Well surprise, surprise." (Y/n) huffed, crossing her arms across her chest, glaring at the nervous man in front of her.

"You know, there's part of me that wants to scream at you. Part of me that wants to gloat and tell you that I told you so. Part of me that wants to laugh in your face; but the biggest part of me feels even more hurt now than I did all those years ago. At least if you were sunning yourself in the Med, surrounded by nubile young women, I might think that you treating me like shit and breaking my heart had been worth it in some respect, that you had got what you desired so much; but seeing you like this is more insulting than I could ever have imagined. You gave up everything we had for nothing. Everything we had been through together you threw away, for a promise from a mindless, football playing moron." (Y/n) scoffed, every single word she spoke filled with spite.

(Y/n) wasn't sure whether she meant to do this or not. Not sure that after all these years she should be spitting venom at the man that was once the boy she had loved so much. It was obvious that the years had not been good to him, that his life had probably not turned out as he had intended. Part of her wanted to take him in her arms and tell him everything was ok, that despite everything that had happened, she was happy to see him, that she had missed him; but that night had come rushing back to her, and despite herself she wanted to make him suffer.

"(Y/n), I.........I'm so sorry.........I never should......." Arthur gasped, as he tried to hold back the laugh that was threatening to escape.

Before (Y/n) could say anything further, a laugh that she hadn't heard for so many years erupted from Arthur's lips, the slender man trying to hastily retreat back into his apartment.

(Y/n) rolled her eyes, knowing that she should leave now that she had chance, leave and never come back; but that old need to look after her friend was getting the better of her, and try as she may, she found herself following Arthur into his apartment, shutting the door behind her as she grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the sofa, a sofa that she could swear was the same one she could remember from her youth.

"Jesus. I swear this thing has got worse." (Y/n) moaned, as she took Arthur's face in her hands and forced his eyes up to look at her.

"Do you remember that thing we used to do what you had an episode when were kids?" (Y/n) asked, smiling slightly as Arthur tried to nod.

"Ok then. Let's do it again." (Y/n) said, as Arthur tried to breath, the little tune that (Y/n) had taught him, going around and around in his head as he timed his breaths.

"I........I'm sorry." Arthur mumbled, as he finally calmed himself. The laugh slowly subsiding as he continued to breath deeply.

"Oh Arthur. What am I going to do with you?" (Y/n) asked softly, as she looked into his damp eyes. Regret and sorrow, more than evident as he tried to give her a sad smile.

"I'm sorry too, Arthur. I shouldn't have been so cruel. I was angry, and I wanted to hurt you." (Y/n) said apologetically, as she dropped her hands from Arthur's face, and her eyes to the floor.

"No. I deserve it (Y/n). What I did was wrong, and no matter what I do I'll never be able to make it up to you." Arthur replied quietly, as he took (Y/n)'s hands in his.

"You don't have to make up for anything, Arthur. I know how much you wanted to fit in, despite how many times you told me that you didn't. Maybe under different circumstances I would have done what you did. Maybe Taylor and his mindless cronies could have turned my head, if I had ever believed anything that came out of that moron's mouth. Arthur, please, you don't have to be sorry for anything." (Y/n) tried to reassure, as she gripped Arthur's hands tightly.

"Y-y-yes I do (Y/n). I have to be sorry for his." Arthur said, pulling at one of the leather cuffs on her wrists. (Y/n) looking at him in shock as he held her wrist tight, his thumb brushing over the raised pink scar.

"It was because of me that you did this. You tried to kill yourself because of me. If I hadn't said all those terrible things, if I hadn't told you all those lies, then you wouldn't have done it." Arthur blurted out, as (Y/n) pulled her hand away staring at him in disbelief.

"How........how did you know about that? No one but my parents, my manager Carl, and the boys in the band know about this." (Y/n) asked, shock evident in her voice as she stared at Arthur in disbelief, unable to understand how a man that she hadn't seen in years could know about her deepest, darkest secret. A secret that she had even been able to keep from the ever inquisitive press.

"The night you performed. The night you sang that song to me. Well, I was working in the green room..........I was there when Connor got angry at you. When he said that it was my fault that you harmed yourself. And he's right." Arthur whispered apologetically, as (Y/n) dropped her head into her hands.

"Oh god. I'm a terrible human being. You were in the same room as me, and I didn't even see you. I was too wrapped up in myself to even see that another person was there." (Y/n) lamented, feeling guilty that she hadn't even noticed her old friend.

"You aren't a terrible human being at all. You are the best one that I've actually ever met, (Y/n). You are the only person that ever cared about me. The only one that ever loved me, the only one that I......... well, that I loved." Arthur confessed, as (Y/n)'s head shot up, staring at the slender man in disbelief.

"You..........you loved me?" (Y/n) asked with a small smile. Her eyebrows furrowing in confusion as Arthur slowly shook his head.

"No (Y/n). I still love you. I always have, and always will." Arthur confessed, not daring to look into (Y/n)'s eyes as he admitted his feelings.

"Oh, Arthur. Life certainly knows how to throw us curve balls doesn't it? I know that it doesn't make any sense, but I still care about you. I think that's why I found myself here tonight. That's why I hoped you were still in this crumby apartment. That you would still be my Arthur. Looks like I got my wish." (Y/n) chuckled, as she moved closer to Arthur and wrapped an arm around him, dropping her head onto his shoulder.

"So, what do we do now, Bubblegum?" Arthur asked cautiously, as he tentatively placed his arm around (Y/n)'s shoulder. Finding it hard to believe that the whole scene felt so natural even after all these years.

"Well. Why don't you start by telling me what I've missed out on all these years, and we shall see where we go from there?" (Y/n) told him, snuggling her head further into the crook of his neck, as Arthur nervously began to tell her about how his life had changed since he had lost her.