I'm a little late with this one but I kinda had a little block. Hope you like it! 🌸
@obsessedandthirsty @electroma89 @sanguinandoscrivo
The streets of Gotham were busy with hurried people every single day of the town's painful existence. No one seemed to care for anyone and that's why when those no ones were walking towards their destination, whether it was their working place or their own homes, their attention never cared to focus on other no ones like Arthur. It looked like he was invisible to every single person that passed near him and his swinging sign, nobody seemed to notice his cheerful dance in front of the music shop.
And well, nobody seemed to see the group of little vandals steal the bright yellow sign from him, nor did them give a single fuck when he was chasing the kids and screaming for others to stop them.
He hated being invisible, he hated being a no one, he hated running after those stupid teens.
And now he was hating being beaten up by them, curled up on the ground, without any type of power over the situation.
While his vision was getting blurry, his thoughts were limpid: he was thinking of Y/n. Arthur had gladly found out that he was able to concentrate on her smile so hard that the pain would slowly fade away, as if it morphed into a simple background buzz. Surely a little annoying, but still a lot more bearable.
Arthur couldn't understand if something had scared them away or if they were simply done toying with him, the image of her bright eyes was blocking out everything else from his mind. But as his sight was leisurely coming back with an imperceptible ring in his ears, he had started to line out a thin silhouette at the end of the dirt alley running toward him.
The apparently unreal phantom became a lot less imaginary when a hand reached down to Arthur and a pair of arms helped him sit on the ground, feather-like hands holding his sore shoulders.
"Oh lord, Arthur? Arthur can you hear me?"
The clown nodded, a little confused, and as he was gaining back his sight, the voice lulling his aching body seemed awfully familiar all of the sudden.
His eyes finally managed to center on the person holding him: a worried look met his own and a tear escaped the beautiful irises that were staring at him.
Did he really run that way? Was he really that close to her shop?
Or was she just passing by?
Could he seriously have been so lucky?
"Arthur tell me something!"
When was the last time someone looked at him with true and pure concern?
He couldn't remember one.
He shook his head, still a little disoriented.
Please don't let it be an illusion.
Don't let her be an illusion.
"Y-Y/n I... I, them, I I..."
Words failed him as the anxiety and the stress of the fresh abuse were beginning to make their way to his brain. His throat was immediately dry, in a moment his lungs couldn't remember how to work properly, leaving the poor man agonizingly breathless.
"Haha... Ha... Hahaha... Hahaha-"
A smack echoed through the alley as his own hand harshly hit his mouth in a hopeless attempt to suffocate the uncontrollable fit of laughter.
Y/n saw his body bending over and painfully starting to shake uncontrollably, his face had contorted into a grimace that screamed pain so loud she could feel it scratching her skin.
He wanted so bad for her to just run away, scared of his bizzarre and horrific behavior like everyone else.
Everything would've been so much easier.
Why was she still there? Why was she looking at him like that? Was she going to make fun of him? Was he really crying in front of her?
Her hug was firm and warm, arms grabbing his convulsing body and securing it against her own.
Arthur had to take a few minutes breathing with his face buried in Y/n's neck but at the end he had managed to calm down. It was a first time for him, he knew no one ever stroked his hair while he was having an episode, it all had felt so different and strange.
It had made him feel uncomfortably safe.
She hadn't cared for the tight grip he had on her, nor did she complain about the smudget makeup on her jacket. And now that he was sitting on her couch with a cup of hot tea in his hands, everything felt even more safely surreal.
It had started to look so impossible to him for her to be that kind that at the end of the story he was sure that was real: he couldn't be able to hallucinate someone being so gentle with him.
His mind couldn't do something like that.
It could picture a hug, a kiss, the two of them cuddling in his bed, even Y/N naked in his shower.
He could never have imagined it.
"How are you feeling Arthur?"
Still, she was standing in front of him with a beautiful smile on her delicate face and a bag of ice in her hands. Y/n sat right beside Arthur and put the bag on his shoulder, relieving the ache that a big bruise was giving him. Things like that remembered him how skinny, how powerless, fragile and useless his body was. His dark place was suffocating him once again and once again he was letting it take control.
He had fell silent once the fit was eventually over, that was the first word after almost an hour since then.
"Earlier, in the alley... That was... I have..."
His voice trailed off, abandoning the sentence little by little.
Why was it so difficult with her? He didn't have his little card with him but he totally could explain his condition. Then why there was no way words would come out?
"A neurological conditon, I know"
He was unexpectedly confused one more time that day.
"I... I knew a... person with a very similar condition"
"but we can do something about it, right, doctor?"
The screams were echoing through the white walls of the empty hallway, were Y/n could hear them loud and clear.
"I'm sorry to tell you that ma'am, but that's a neurological condition, we can't help that"
Another scream, another torturing cry of pain.
You could hear her head bashing against the wall as if you were in that same room.
"isn't there something we can try?"
Foggy memories were passing by in front of your eyes as the buried fear threatened to climb out of its grave.
Arthur could not replace her, being his friend wouldn't bring her back.
He could not redeem your mistakes, nothing could delete what had happened.
But you did still care, and yes, even if he did remember you of her, it was not because you wanted a second chance, but because you really saw something in him.
And whilst your brain was full of something you hadn't thought of for a long time, you could still see the now bare face of the clown. He was completely zoning out, all Arthur could focus on was how your apartment was just like he had imagined: lovely and welcoming, just like you.
The two of you had your minds in two completely different places even though you were looking at the same thing, your living room. But it was okay, it was pleasant, safe. You were just enjoying each other's company.
His sight was scanning your little open space, with the kitchen in a corner and the sofa where you two were sitting right in front of it, only the TV and the white furniture where it was standing dividing the two spaces. The carpets, the pictures on the wall, the color combinations and even the textures, everything there made him think about you, every little piece of that space remembered him of your ethereal being. Since your first encounter, the scrawny clown had discovered that contemplating the idea of you made his chest warm, almost as you had a calming effect on his anxiety.
Maybe he should've said something.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever you want"
Arthur tensed a little and squeezed the cup in his hands as he frantically answered, a gesture that you quickly registered. He was so nervous now, you had the urge to hug him tight but succeeded in restraining yourself from doing it.
Instead you stood up and walked up to the counter in you kitchen, took a piece of paper, wrote something on it, and went back to the couch to give it to Arthur.
"Call me whenever you want to"
He had lost count of how many times you had him confused that day. On the little piece of paper perfectly ripped there was noted a phone number, clearly yours.
But why would you do something like that? Was that a cruel joke?
"You're my friend, I just want to help... And get to know you a little better. So you can call me both when you're not feeling well and when you just want to talk"
"I... Am just confused. Why would you...?"
"Cause this city is horrible. Every single person in this city is horrible. And you're the only one that has showed a little interest in someone else rather than yourself. When you get to know someone new in this city the first thing they say is how rich or poor they are, it's all about money, all about them and them only. It's a never-ending herd of egoistic assholes. But when we had the chance to talk, when you were performing in my shop, you told me about your mother, your dreams and how happy makes you hearing kids singing with you. And that is so rare here in Gotham that I don't want to lose you in the crowd"
You had left him simply speechless. Over the years he had never ever heard someone talk about him like that, in all honesty he had never heard someone talk about someone else like that.
You were really special, weren't you?
He was able to see right through you smile. There was just a honest and kind interest in him, and although it had always seemed impossible for him that someone else could care for his well being, the expression on your face was melting each of his doubts away.
He had always been the one that cared for others, first being his mother, and how it seemed like someone wanted to take care of him.
His smile grew little by little, bringing a tint of almost invisible rose on the man's cheeks.
There were no other words to be said, his expression was enough for you to understand his gratitude. After a minute of contemplating your handwriting, Arthur stood up and turned to face you.
"I'm afraid I have to go now"
"Sure, let me get you to the door"
Said door wasn't that far away, but it was still nice having you with him till there. Saying goodbye was kinda... Sad. Yeah, sad was the right word, for both of you. Arthur had to go back to his reality, once home he had to wash off the little residues of the makeup that were still staining his skin, get dinner ready for his mother, put her to bed and spend the night in his room, staring at ceiling, hoping morning would come soon. And then start all over again.
But what about you? What would you have to go back to?
He wanted to ask you so bad.