Lovely Day For It! We Happy Few Fanfic - Arthur Hastings x Reader

The Bunker - part 2

Y/n slipped her small hand in his, and led him briskly down the stairs and into the locker room. She let go to grab a few of her clothes and then headed out the door at a speed Arthur could barely keep up with.

"You really wanted to get out of there, didn't you?" He commented as they walked along the empty rainbow roads.

"Oh, well I just, wanted to get on with this plan of yours. That's all." She muttered, never taking her eyes of the floor. Arthur noticed the change in her demeanour as he scanned her tense features.

"If you hate it so much, why do you work there?" He asked. Y/n looked forward, clearly reluctant to answer his line of questioning.

"I guess it's all I know." She said bluntly, holding her clothes tight against her chest.
"Why are you off your joy?" She finally asked, glancing over and watching Arthur let out a small sigh.

"Is it that obvious?" He met her gaze.

"Do you want the nice truth, or the real truth?" She asked with a playful but sympathetic tone in her voice. He chuckled breathlessly.

"I've always liked the nice truth, but I guess I'm a downer now so...the real truth seems more appropriate." He chuckled meekly. Eve kicked a pebble out of her path.

"Arthur, if these people weren't doped up to the eyeballs with joy, you'd be dead by now." She shot him a cheeky smirk. He looked almost hurt by the blunt response.

"That wasn't very nice at all, but fair enough." He shrugged with a laugh. She shrugged in response, nudging him playfully with her shoulder.

"Well, you should've picked the nice option then, shouldn't you? I did give you the choice, sweetie." She purred. The nickname surprised him abit, he hadn't had an affectionate nickname since he was a kid. Part of him felt warmed by it, but part of him just felt sick from the string of bad memories flooding in.

"Sally..." He whispered to himself, unaware he'd actually said it aloud before Eve suddenly looked over.

"Sorry, did you say something?" He just shook his head.

"N-no, no." He muttered, looking away briskly. She quirked an eyebrow, but decided to leave it be. He looked at her through the corner of his eye, the copper in her curls glinting ever so slightly in the full lamplight.
"I like the new hair by the way..." he murmured, staring down at his feet with a faint smile. She just sighed, remembering why she dyed it in the first place.
"Thanks." She replied with a dull tone, clearly not wanting to dig into the topic. Arthur sensed the hostility and cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Although, I do miss the h/c from when we were kids." He said with a smirk. Y/n giggled at him, letting herself smile a little at the memory.
"Well I miss those really trendy shorts you used to wear all the time. They weren't practical but you got alot of fun out of them." She quipped back, getting a small chuckle out of him.
"I was abit of a fashion icon back in the day, wasn't I?" He replied, nudging her with his shoulder. She just laughed and shook her head, leaving a comfortable silence between the two as they carried on.

They took a left with caution; Bobbies were popping up all over the place and they couldn't afford to get caught. Once they'd crossed to the next empty spot, Y/n looked over at Arthur, wondering just how he'd got to this point and how he'd been coping all these years. She was always so invested with him, and seeing him again was like the past personified. She wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing having him around reminding her of the past, especially since her past in particular wasn't all that pleasant, but in fairness neither was her present, so escaping from that had to me at least somewhat of an improvement.
"Here we are." Arthur's voice cut through her chain of thought. She glanced down at a hatch in the floor; big, aging and rusted with one large valve on it's top. Arthur shifted it open, and held his arm out for Y/n to hold onto.
"Ladies first." He offered, giving her his usual melancholic smile.