➸ viva la vida (arthur fleck x oc) ✅

↳ vi. yes

I catch up to Arthur before he leaves the club through the backstage door. My conflicting feelings do nothing to calm me down- by the time I reach him, my stomach is in a whirl of confusion, concern and maybe a little bit of nausea.

"Art!" I call, skidding to a stop close behind him. He turns around, and his expression is blank. It stops me straight in my tracks, and derails my train of thought completely. "Hey. I saw you up there, are you okay?"

He clears his throat quickly, "Yeah. I'm fine. I, uh, I saw you up there, it was really good."

I lean against the wall ever so slightly. "Thanks. But like- seriously. You're okay, right?"

"Yeah," he repeats. "Why did you come looking for me?"

I raise my eyebrows in surprise. "'Cause I wanted to make sure you're good," I say, trying not to sound too incredulous. "But look, if you're fine, that's great." I fidget with the hem of my shirt and don't meet his eyes. All of this is slowly starting to spin out of my control, and I'm not sure how to reclaim it.

"Are you upset with me?"

Arthur's question comes as a little bit of a shocker, and I'm not prepared at all for the bluntness of it.

"About what?" I say, confused.

"About..." he looks down and then back up again- "I kissed you."

"I know."

"You kissed me back," he says.

"Yeah." I nod.

"Is that what you're upset about?"

I laugh ruefully. "I'm not upset."

"You are," Arthur insists.

"I don't know, okay?" I tip my head back against the wall and close my eyes. "I don't know." And I open my eyes to find Arthur moving closer to me than before. I watch him, eyes half-closed.

"Is that weird?" he asks quietly. "Friends don't do that, do they?"

I shake my head, laughing again. "Don't think so. I don't mind, though."

"So you wouldn't mind if I...?"

"Not really," I find myself whispering, and he leans in and kisses me again.

It's a chaste, sweet thing- he's inexperienced and it shows. But I don't mind, just letting him figure it out as we go. He pulls back a few short moments later, and we're just as we were a few hours ago- pressed close together, eyes locked. The dimly lit hallway makes Arthur's eyes look darker.

"I have an idea," I say quietly, and push myself off the wall. I cup his face with my hands and almost stand on my tip-toes to initiate another kiss. He stays perfectly still for just a second before letting out a tiny noise, a little gasp. I take advantage of his mouth being open for that split second and deepen the kiss, tongue gently slipping into his mouth. He stills again, but lets me in anyway. He gets into it though, and it's a sloppy, completely uncoordinated kiss. I feel his hands drift to my hips, fingertips digging in.

I'm the first to break away this time, and I grin as his grip tightens a little on me.

"Relax," I grin lazily. "That was good. You were good."

"I should go," he mumbles. "I have work tomorrow."

"You probably should," I concede, kissing him quickly with a smile. He looks a little taken aback, but smiles sweetly anyway and whispers a goodnight before pushing the door open and leaving. I walk back into the club, meeting back up with Allison and JJ. I deflect any questions they ask, but as I finish my beer and watch the comics onstage, I'm sure I've got a satisfied smirk on my face the whole time.