RELAPSE - Arthur Fleck | Joker FANFIC/LOVE STORY

Chapter 8: Pogo's

Arthur and I walked out onto the streets of Gotham. It was in the later part of the afternoon, so the sun was still shining, but it was definitely starting to lose its strength. I didn't really know where we were walking to, we were just walking. I looked over at Arthur as we walked and I couldn't help but feel annoyed by what the counselor said to me. Rethink my friendship with Arthur? Why would I ever want to do that?

Then I started to think about what the counselor asked me, about having feelings for Arthur.  I told her that I didn't because you don't have to have feelings for someone to think nice things about them. Yes, Arthur is kind, a good caretaker, and selfless. But that doesn't mean I have to 'have feelings' for him. I mean, there was definitely an age gap between us, so would it even work anyways?  I was never one that was attracted to older guys. I pretty much only dated guys my age. But then again, I haven't dated many guys. I started my relationship with Todd in early high school and he was very jealous and controlling during our relationship. So, I never had many chances to date anyone else. However, now that Todd was at Blackgate and I was out on probation, this is the first time in a long time that I wasn't under Todd's thumb. So maybe I would finally get the chance to date around now. However, that meant I would actually need to leave Sophie's apartment instead of being a depressed, shut-in.

Arthur eventually caught me staring, so I looked away.  He kept his eyes on me for a bit before speaking, "What happened back there?"

"Honestly, I would rather not talk about all that right now."

He was about to speak, but then stopped himself by quickly snapping his mouth shut, clicking his teeth together. It was slient for a minute. "So," he drew out the 'o' sound, "where are we going?"

"I don't know," I looked around trying to think of something, but I really didn't have a plan, "I just had to get out of there, really. We could go anywhere." I started swinging my arm, which caused Arthur's arm to start swinging as well. It wasn't until that moment that I realized that we were still holding hands even though the counseling office was a few blocks back by now. I withdrew my hand from his and I could see the disappointment in his eyes, but I ignored it, "Sorry, didn't mean to kidnap your hand." I let out a nervous giggle.

"You didn't... I mean, it's fine." He smiled and took my hand back into his.

I bit my lip, now feeling a little nervous about the hand holding, but I didn't fight it. It wasn't that I didn't want to hold Arthur's hand; it had just been a long time since I held hands with anyone. Todd and I held hands sometimes, but it wasn't often.  He didn't want to come off as 'soft'. "So, should we just go back to the apartments?"

"Well, I actually just thought of something we can do!" He was so happy with his idea that he did a little skip in his steps. It was kind of adorable.

"Okay, lead the way, sir!"

He let go of my hand only so he could lock his arm with mine as he picked up his walking pace a bit, "This way, madame!"

We ended up walking a pretty far distance to the place that Arthur was taking us, but he joked around most of the way, which made time go by pretty fast. Before I knew it, he stopped on the sidewalk and pointed up to a sign that said "Pogo's Comedy Club". Then he looked at me to gauge my reaction.

"We are going to see a comedy show?" He nodded his head. "Cool idea, Arthur. It has been a long time since I've been to one. Let's go in!"

On our way in, we were stopped by a big guy demanding $5 cover charge from each of us. Arthur was nice enough to pay mine, but it made me feel bad. Walking in, a wall of smoke hit us; the place was crowded. He took my hand again and began to lead me towards the tables. We snaked around the clustered tables, looking for one we could sit at. I didn't think we were going to find one, but we eventually did. The table we sat at was to the right of the stage and was almost to the back wall of the room. We were pretty far from the stage, but it didn't really matter. Arthur took out his pack of cigarettes and got one out for both of us. We sat there and enjoyed our cigarettes until the host comedian came out to start the show. Almost as soon as the show started, Arthur stuck his cigarette in his mouth, got out his journal and a pen, placed the journal on the table, and opened it up to a place where the left page was scribbled with writing and the right page was completely blank. I tried to avoid looking down at his journal because I didn't want him to think I was being nosey, but I was curious as to why he had his journal out at the comedy club.