RELAPSE - Arthur Fleck | Joker FANFIC/LOVE STORY

Chapter 25: Catharsis

I leaned myself against the wall of a building as I puffed on a cigarette. It was almost evening, but the street lamps hadn't yet switched on. It wouldn't be too much longer before they would though. The street was oddly quiet for Gotham; there weren't any cars zooming by and, besides Arthur and I, there were only a few other people out and about.

Arthur and I were just a few blocks from the hopsital; we just left from there after checking on Penny. The doctor had completely taken her off of the coma inducing medicine, but she showed no signs of waking up, causing us to leave in disappointment. And things weren't getting any better. Arthur was standing in a telephone booth, a few yards away from me, talking to his boss. Only moments ago, I was standing next to the booth, but when I could hear Arthur's boss yelling, I decided to give Arthur some space because I didn't want to stand over him and make him feel anymore embarrassed than he already was.

When we were entertaining the children at the hospital, Arthur was dancing and singing along to "If You're Happy and You Know It" when his gun fell out of his pant leg and onto the floor. Even though Arthur tried to pick up the gun before anyone saw, it didn't work. The gun did not go unnoticed by the children or the nurses in the room, so they quickly made us leave.

However, it wasn't just his boss that was upset about the gun. Honestly, I was too. When I first found out he had a gun, I asked him to consider getting rid of it. I told him it was more trouble than what it was worth. To my dismay, he told me he was going to keep it, but I held onto hope that he would eventually decide to get rid of it. Obviously not. And now this.

Why did he bring a gun in a children's hospital?!

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of something bashing into glass, causing me to automatically toss my cigarette and sprint towards the telephone booth. When I got to the booth, Arthur had his head pressed against the glass, which was shattered.

"Arthur?! Are you okay?"

At first, he didn't answer me, he just stood there and all I could hear was the disconnected tone ringing on the phone. After a solid minute, he forcefully hung up the phone and came out of the booth, "He fired me."

He walked past me and started down the sidewalk. I stood there for a few seconds to take in what he said before I turned and trailed after him. I tried shouting out a couple of questions, but my questions were met with silence. I was still walking behind him as he dug through his pocket to pull out a cigarette and his lighter. Due to the uncharacteristically muted quality of the street, I could easily hear the click of the his lighter and the quiet burning of the cigarette. As he placed the lighter back in his pocket, he released a cloud of smoke into the air.

In my haste to catch up with him, I almost tripped over myself, "Arthur, please slow down."

He didn't look at me, but he noticeably slowed his pace which allowed me to eventually catch up to him. Once his face was visible to me, I noticed how absolutely defeated he looked, even with the painted smile on his face. Of course he would be upset, he loved his job. It was his way to bring joy and laughter to the world.

"Arthur, what did he say?"

He pulled the cigarette from his lips, "He said Randall told him that I tried to buy a gun off him a while back."

My eyes darted to the left as I attempted to access my memory, "I thought Randall just gave it to you?"

"He did! He fucking lied to Hoyt."

"Well, just go up there tomorrow and tell him what really happened."

"He won't listen to me," Arthur took his free hand and ran it down his face, as if trying to wipe away the tension, starting from his eyes to his chin. When his hand made it down to his chin, he suddenly stopped walking and closed his eyes. I stopped and positioned myself in front of him. "I can't do anything right. I didn't protect you from Thomas Wayne. Now I don't have a job. How am I going to take care of you? Of mom? You deserve better than this."