ᴀʀᴛʜᴜʀ ғʟᴇᴄᴋ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ | ɪᴛ's ᴛɪᴍᴇ ғᴏʀ ᴀ ᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇ

Chapter 1

Your lungs filled with cold air as you rushed towards the bus stop, sheltering yourself from the splashes of falling rain. You decided to light up a cigarette since your bus wasn't due for another few minutes, the cold air that hurt your lungs was soon suffocated by smoke and you could finally relax. Each draw helped you unwind from your exausting shift at the super market. A long day on the cash machine, getting yelled at by customers and your boss all while getting paid minimum wage? That was enough to make anyone go crazy. You took in your surroundings, a couple of homeless people took up the sidewalk and the walls of the bus shelter were smashed, Gotham wasn't pretty this time of year or any time of the year to be honest. Thankfully your bus showed up on time today and you didn't have to share the same space as the homeless people who were clearly eyeing up your bag pack, you stomped out your cigarette and boarded the bus. You headed towards your usual seat which was normally either the first or second row at the front of the bus, unfortunately they were taken so you proceeded to the rear end where you were forced to take a seat next to an older gentlemen. You didn't normally like to share a seat next to someone but you had no choice with the limited seating available. You placed your bag on your lap, unzipped it and took your Walkman out and stuck the headphones on and proceeded to listen to your favourite songs on tape. You stared at the tape player and thought about how fortunate you were to have one of these, your friend got you this for your birthday and you were still so thankful because there was nothing better than being able to drown the noise of this city out of your mind. Just then your train of thought was broken by what could only have been hysterical laughter, you whipped your headphones of to see the man next to you lost in a fit of laughter, your face went red hot of embarrassment from just sitting next to him, the man proceeded to apologise and hand a card over to the woman in front of you, you caught a glimpse of the card and you learnt the laughing man had a condition and you felt bad for thinking he was just one of gothams weirdo residents. The woman merely rolled her eyes and threw the card away as she turned around. You coudldnt believe the insensitivity of her, the card landed close to you so you did what you would have hoped for someone to do for you in a time like this. You retrieved the card and gave it back to the man who was still trying to contain his laughter, you wondered what kind of condition this was while you examined him, dark greasy slicked back hair followed by a dull coloured coat. He took the card from your hand and barely pronounced the words 'thank you'. You took a bottled water from your bag, "Here. I don't need this anyway." You said whilst offering him the water.

The man coughed, laughed and choked before taking long sips of the water, gradually his laughter and heavy breathing calmed down and he could finally speak, "Thank you, I'm so sorry about that..." He muttered.

You smiled, "It's no problem." An awkward silence then filled the air, "Uh I'm (Y/N)." You stretched out your hand. The man happily shook your hand before replying, "Arthur."

"It's nice to meet you Arthur." His hand shake was weak. Before you could say anything else you realised your stop was coming up, you grabbed your bag and stood up, "This is my stop, I'll maybe see you around." You both gave eachother farewell smiles.

You left the bus and marched on through the harsh weather back to your apartment. The lobby of your building was looking surprisingly clean today, seems as though the cleaners actually decided to do their jobs for a change. You headed two floors up to your apartment, jangling your keys before unlocking the door. You sighed as you took your jacket off and hung it up, making your way into the living room. To your surprise a figure grabbed you from behind, placing a hand over your mouth, your muffled screams barely escaped the barriers of the persons hand as you struggled to escape. Your body calmed down as you heard a familiar laughter. You grunted and shook yourself free and swatted your friend, "You idiot you almost gave me a fucking heart attack!"

Mae's laughter filled the room, "Oh my god your face! That was absolutely priceless!" she squealed. You rolled your eyes and and proceeded into the living room, sliding down into your sofa, "You know I gave you a spare key for emergencies, chilling in my apartment and eating my food isn't an emergency." Mae plopped herself down onto the sofa next to you and cracked a beer open and handed one to you, "It most certainly is an emergency when Murray Franklin is on and my TV isn't working!" She proclaimed her excuse.

"I guess so then..." You shook your head and laughed. "Speaking of Murray." You said as you grabbed the remote, turning up the volume, your living room was filled up by the orchestra playing on the TV and the narrator presenting the one and only Murray Franklin. You and Mae proceeded to watch the show, you glanced at her, she's a pain in the ass but you weren't quite sure where the hell you'd be without her, she had been your best friend since high-school, why she chose to hang around with you? You will never know, Mae's family isn't exactly the same class as you are, she's higher up and you were... not. She was a good friend to say the least.

As the show cut to commercial you brought up the incident on the bus, "So I met this guy on the bus."

Mae's eyes widened, "Oooh! You met a guy? Did you get his number?!" You almost choked on your beer, "Absolutely not, he was an older guy."

Mae repositioned herself on the sofa and made kissing faces at you, "Oh lala I didn't take you for the type to like older men (Y/N)!"

"Shut up its not like that. He had this condition, the woman in front of him must have made him nervous or something because he completely lost it, started hysterically laughing, like he could not stop, I don't know I guess I felt bad for him." Your words trailed off, Mae shrugged her shoulders, "Wow that sucks." She spoke, clearing not getting the extent of your story.

"Yeah, he was pretty... intriguing." You sipped your beer.