➸ viva la vida (arthur fleck x oc) ✅

↳ viii. violet hill

I go crashing to the ground, not expecting the attack at all. The guy tries to kick me while I'm literally down but Allison takes off her heel and clocks him with it. He yells in anger, and the bigger guy just takes off, running off into the shadows. The first guy yells something at him, probably a curse, glares at me, and follows.

"What the fuck was that?" I groan, standing shakily and pressing a hand to my cheek. I wince. That's going to be a nasty bruise.

"Maybe they didn't like the jacket," Allison says, still standing with her high heel in hand, looking pissed.

"They weren't wrong," I mumble. "I'm that gay, huh?"

"We should go," she doesn't respond to the question. "And maybe get your cheek looked at. It's bleeding."

"It is?" I say. I pull my hand away and look- there's a little bit of blood smeared on my hand now. "It's not bad, I don't think-"

"We're going," she insists, grabbing my hand and dragging me towards the car.

"Okay," I say quietly. She's angry. I've been punched before, but never for this- mostly because not a lot of people know about it. "Okay."

We pull up in front of Gotham General in about fifteen minutes, the silence in the car tense. I ditch the jacket, opting to brave the cold Gotham night in a t-shirt. I'm not about to be punched again.

On the bench outside is a guy, and he looks familiar. I catch my breath. It's Arthur. What is he doing at a hospital?

"Hang on," I say to Allison, and she nods, leaning against the car while I walk over and sit down next to Arthur. He takes a look at me, looks away, and then looks back sharply, as if he can't believe that I'm here.

"Mars?" he asks.

"Hey," I try to smile, but it tugs at the edge of the bruise painfully, so I drop it.

"What happened to your face?" he whispers, reaching up to rub his thumb ever so gently across the cut and its accompanying bruise. I let my eyelids flutter shut at his touch, even though after what he's told me, I shouldn't want it. I shouldn't want it at all.

"Some guy punched me," I shrug, opening my eyes. "It's gonna be one hell of a shiner, huh?"

"Why?"

"He called me a fairy and punched me, so maybe it was that," I say in a deadpan. "Why are you here? Are you okay?"

Arthur drops his hand. "It's my mother. She... she had a stroke."

"Oh shit," I whisper, moving a little closer, my shoulder pressed up against his. "I'm sorry. Is she... is she okay?"

"She's not dead," he says with a wry smile.

"I'm sorry," I apologize again. I don't know how it must feel. Something like that's never happened to me. But I can only imagine, and what I imagine it like is awful. I direct my gaze to the ground, ignoring how I can feel Allison watching us from the street. That's when I notice two guys in suits walking up to us.

"Which one of you is Arthur Fleck?" One asks, looking at the two of us. Arthur just nods.

"Mr. Fleck," the second addresses him. "Sorry to bother you, I'm Detective Garrity, this is my partner Detective Burke." Arthur says nothing, but I nod to them in understanding. I see Allison walk over, to stand just behind the bench, over my shoulder.

Burke looks at the two of us. "Do you know Mr. Fleck?"

"You could just ask him, he's right there," Allison says, voice low.