Where Every Scroll is a New Adventure
Prompt: “You’ve been drinking tonight, haven’t you?”
Warnings: Cursing, drinking.
Pairing: Arthur Fleck/Reader
A/N: I wrote this for the #arthurfleckjokerwritingchallenge hosted by @arthurfleckjoker2019, I thought it was a cute fluffy one-shot and I hope you all enjoy!
***
You have a history of getting a little out of hand when you drank. Nothing crazy like getting into fights at the bar or parading naked through the streets, but you were a little… enthusiastic about things. Like when your neighbors brought over peach cobbler to welcome you to the neighborhood you cried and called them beautiful and told them you loved them.
And when you met Arthur, you were a little more than tipsy. You were at a comedy club with your friends and sat down at the only table available, which was his. After a few more dirty martinis you were chatting up a storm, asking him every question you could think of.
When the show ended you gave him his number and that started a beautiful friendship, and you tried not to drink around him after that.
You and Arthur had a very interesting friendship. It was quite obvious he had a little crush on you, you could tell because of the way he looked at you. He snuck glances at you when he thought you didn’t notice, with this look in his eyes. Like he was exactly where he was supposed to be.
It would be far from the truth to say you didn’t feel the same way. Maybe not in the way he was so deeply enthralled by you, but you did think of him as more than a friend. How could you not? He was so kind, so sweet, he would do anything for you and you knew it.
Arthur never had a friend. Sure, he had ‘friends’, but none of them were in it selflessly. At work, they’d call him their friend, but only to butter him up for favors. Other people that he saw often in his life were in no way considered his friends. His social worker, the woman at the pharmacy who would give him his prescriptions, the manager of his apartment, they were all just side characters in his own sad novel.
But you. He adored you. You were his only true friend. The only person to help him when he needed help, the only one to check up on him out of the blue and make sure he was okay, the only one that didn’t get uncomfortable when he laughed.
So, you tried not to ruin it with your drinking.
One night though, your neighbors brought over a bottle of vodka, assuming from their first meeting with you that you enjoyed alcohol. You very much loved alcohol, you loved to drink, but hard drinks like vodka were one of the worst things you could consume. You always got lonely and invited people over, and if you were with people you became way too flirty.
It just so happened, you were alone on a Friday night and opened the bottle. The cork popped open and you made yourself a Cape Cod, your favorite mixed drink. Cranberry juice and vodka, with a lime on the edge.
After your first two drinks, you reached the lonely stage and called up Arthur.
It took a few rings, but he picked up.
“Hello?” He answered, sounding as if he didn’t expect a call. You looked at your watch and realized it was nine P.M. You hoped you didn’t wake him or his mother.
“Hi, Arthur. It’s (Y/N).” You smiled into the receiver, laying back against your couch while you took a sip of your drink. It was smooth, sweet, with a little surprising tang.
“Oh, (Y/N).” His tone brightened and you felt your heart warm at the change in his voice. “How are you, how was work?”
“Work was fine, boring, as usual.” You found yourself twirling the phone cord around your finger, grinning like you were a high-school girl talking to her boyfriend late at night. “How was your day?”
“Uh, fine. It was fine.”
“Are you busy? Or anything?”
“Uhm, no. No, I’m not busy. Why, is something wrong?” The sudden concern in his voice was evident, new nervous thoughts running through his head.
“No, not at all. I was wondering if you uh, if you weren’t busy maybe you could come over?” Your mind raced to think of an excuse, normally when you asked him over at night it was for dinner or if you had a funny story about your day. But your day was uneventful and you had eaten dinner in town. You didn’t even have left-overs to offer.
“Sure!” He said before you could lie your way out of awkwardness. “My mother, she just went to bed. So sure, I can come over.”
“Okay!” You breathed out a shaky laugh, taking another sip of your drink in an attempt to calm yourself down. “Okay, well, I’ll see you soon!”
The two of you hung up and you went to freshen up your makeup and pour yourself another drink. He took a while to get to your place since he walked, and you would have offered to pick him up if you hadn’t been drinking.
Arthur rang your doorbell shortly after you prettied yourself up and drank two more cocktails.
“Arthur, hi!” You beamed as you opened the door, welcoming him into your house.
“Hey.” He smiled sheepishly and walked past you, taking his coat off and hanging it by the door. “I saw a cat on the way over.”
“Aw, a kitty?” You swooned over the thought and closed the door behind him.
He raised a brow at your strange dreamy attitude but said nothing about it, only nodding. “Yeah, a brown cat. Looked old.”
You led him to your living room and quickly picked up your empty glass, not wanting him to know you were drunk. In your state of oblivion you had no idea that it was painfully obvious how drunk you were. Not to mention the sweet smell on your breath and the way the cranberry juice had stained your lips. He gave you the benefit of the doubt though, since you weren’t acting nearly as out of control as the night he met you.
“So, how was your day?” You drew out your words, which of course, didn’t go by Arthur unnoticed.
“You already asked me that. On the phone.” He was amused by the way you were acting. The way you slurred your speech and stumbled around the room was funny to him, you acted much different than his coworkers when they drank. Randall invited him out once to drink with them. Accepting his invitation was a decision he regretted almost immediately.
You were much nicer, though, much more warm and comfortable.
“Oh, right.” Your laughter, oh how he could melt just listening to it. “Well, do you wanna watch a movie? Halloween is coming on soon.”
Arthur was a bit confused as to why he was there, every time he had come over to your house, it was for a specific reason. No one had ever invited Arthur over to just ‘hang out’. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t happy, though, it meant you enjoyed his company enough to have him over for no other reason than to just be with him.
“Yeah, sure.” He shrugged, not even trying to keep the bashful smile from his face.
You sat close to him on the couch, maybe too close to him, judging by how stiff he sat. Every time your arm would accidentally brush against his, he would tense up for a few seconds. It was adorable. And the fact that you were well past drunk only made him more appealing to you.
“Ease up, Arthur.” You said after a while of him doing this over and over. “It’s just me.”
The way you spoke only made him more nervous. He swallowed hard and opened his mouth to say something, but his throat felt far too dry to speak. He barely managed to croak out an ‘I’ before he choked on his own words.
Did you truly make his that nervous so easily? You could have toyed with him a bit, been cruel and made it worse for him, but you couldn’t bare do something like that, not when you were in the state you were in.
You didn’t see your next action as malicious. Really, you didn’t think much of it at all. You only wanted to be closer to him. But if your goal had been to relax Arthur, you had done the complete opposite. You leaned in closer to him, resting your head in the crook of his neck. He smelt so good, aside from the smell of old cigarettes. You could barely put up with that.
Arthur fucking froze.
“What cologne do you wear?” You asked, turning your head so you could smell him better. Doing so, your nose brushed against his earlobe, sending sinful chills down his spine. He had no fucking idea what cologne he used. It was the same bottle his mother had bought him for Christmas all those years ago.
“It smells so good.” You continued when he didn’t answer, only nuzzling your face further in his neck.
He had no idea what to say. He was a thousand miles beyond nervous, his heart was slamming 200bpm against his chest, and his right leg bounced uncontrollably. He’d never felt his heart beat like that before. He imagined this was what cocaine felt like.
Apparently, leaning your head on his shoulder wasn’t close enough for you, so you looped your arms around his waist and curled into his form.
Okay, it was time for Arthur to start asking questions. “(Y/N),” His voice trembled as he spoke. “What are you doing?”
What were you doing? Wasn’t it obvious? “Do you not like it?” You asked, ready to move if he so wished, but for the moment you remained where you were.
He answered immediately, tripping over his own words. “No! I mean, I like it just fine, I just, don’t know why you’re… being like this with me.”
“Uhm,” You laughed, looking up at him. “Because I like you. And I want to.”
His heart jumped to his throat. “What did you just say?”
“I said… what did I say?” You giggled, trying to play with him a little. You’d always been a playful drunk.
But Arthur was having none of it. “(Y/N), please,”
The tone of his voice was enough to make you understand the seriousness of the situation for him. “Okay, I’m sorry.” Leaning up so you could look him in the eyes, you smiled. “I said I liked you.”
If you could burn one image into your head for the rest of your life, it would have been the look on his face when you said those words. His features went slack, all but his lips, they twitched into a smile of disbelief. Seeing him go through a range of emotions at once was an experience all on its own.
“Wait,” Suddenly, he didn’t look so happy anymore. “You’ve been drinking tonight, haven’t you?” He furrowed his brows, glancing down at your cranberry reddened lips.
“A little.” You admitted, biting your bottom lip. “But, a drunk mind speaks a sober heart.”
His eyes scanned over your face, searching for anything he could use to help him understand what the fuck was going on. You were drunk, he had known that since he walked in your house. So what did that mean? Were you lying? Was it the alcohol talking?
“Arthur, you’re thinking too much.” You sighed and reached up to brush a stray brown curl from his face. “It’s not hard to believe, is it? I mean, I invite you over for dinner all the time, we go out together every weekend-”
Arthur leaned forward, his heart racing, and kissed you.
You hadn’t expected him to be so bold. You kissed back, boy, did you kiss back. You ran your fingers through his soft hair and sighed, thankful he had made the next move.
When you pulled back from his lips he was silent for a moment, only to lick his bottom lip and chuckle. “You taste sweet.” Before he even realized what he was saying he had said it. For a split second he panicked, but when you giggled and leaned in to kiss him again his fear subsided.
“I’m actually really glad I’ve been drinking.” You admitted once the second kiss was broken. Arthur listened intently as you sat back in the couch, resuming your position of cuddling him. “I don’t think I would have told you that if I was sober.”
Arthur smiled to himself as he felt you relax against him. Yeah, well, in that case, he was really glad too.
Ask: Could u please write a NSFW smut where reader teases joker and flirts with like one of his henchmen just to make him mad and then joker puts reader in her place and makes her know who she belongs too?!?!! Just really bratty reader with a kinky dom clown daddy joker 😩💦. Thankyou I LOVE YOUR WRITING!!! 💖
Warnings: Cursing, smut
Pairing: Joker x Reader
A/N: Hope you like this! I loved writing it!
***
The week had been going by painfully slow. Excitement was at an all-time low, even law enforcement hadn’t been making much noise. There was almost nothing to do, nothing to discuss in Joker’s midweek meeting, and it was driving you insane.
Even Joker himself had been eerily quiet. Normally he was full of life, full of excitement, he could always make a boring day fun. But there he sat at his makeshift desk in the dingy warehouse building, looking down at a few papers, paying you no attention.
And of course he had insisted, with you being his right-hand woman, you were to be with him at all times. So you sat in front of the desk reading a book, legs draped over the uncomfortable wooden chair, trying to get into it. The book itself was interesting enough, but your sex drive had been unusually high the past week and since Joker was too occupied in his mind he hadn’t noticed. Maybe he had noticed, maybe he was just too in his head to do anything about it.
You sat the book in your lap and glared at him, pondering how to get a rise out of him.
Sighing loudly, you bookmarked your page and slid the book onto his desk. He didn’t look up, of course, his eyes were still locked on the papers in front of him. What the hell was he doing, anyway? You leaned forward and saw he was going through his inventory. Some of his workers, or as he teasingly called them, his ‘henchmen’, reported they needed more Remmington ammunition and gun oil. It was his duty to send out recruits to get the supplies they needed since he had to sign off on it all.
Maybe when your little ‘business’ became larger, he would have someone else to do it.
Hell, you could do it now. But Joker insisted that you never get your hands dirty doing things such as that, so if they got busted, there would be no trace of you. It was kind, but very, very restricting. Why were you his right-hand woman anyways? In most ways, you were basically an assistant, a very limited assistant at that.
“You wanna take a break, sweetie?” You asked as you raised your feet to his desk, hoping to catch his eye. Joker had a thing for your feet, but not in an overly sensual way. He liked when you got pedicures, he loved giving foot rubs, it was a kind of domestic thing to him. Seeing you all pampered and clean made him feel a little less stressed.
But he didn’t even glance up, only giving you a half-assed grunt. You took it as a no.
“Well, I’m a little bored.” You continued on, flexing your toes in a pathetic attempt to get his attention. “Give me something to do.”
In any other situation, he would have glanced up, given you a devious smirk and beckoned you to slide under his desk and help him relieve some tension. But still, nothing.
You were about to turn up the heat and demand attention but one of his favorite goons, a young man named Jesse who had just turned twenty-five, walked into the room. He finally looked up from his desk and you felt a twinge of anger that Jesse could so easily get his attention, but you, the so-called ‘love of his life’, couldn’t.
“Ah, Jesse.” Joker leaned back in his chair and wrung his fingers together. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Jesse, wanting to do nothing else but please his boss, walked forward until he stood next to you and beamed. “Well, uh, Sir. I’m happy to tell you that Jeremiah and I got our hands on some top-secret files from the Wayne household.”
“The ones I wanted?” Joker was suddenly in a much better mood, his eyes wide, a huge smile on his face. You wished you could have made him smile like that.
“Yes, Sir.” Jesse mirrored his smile and took out the folded papers from the inside of his Carhartt coat, handing them over to his boss.
“Good work Jesse!” You stood from your chair, slipping your feet back into your sandals. Joker paid no mind as he scanned over the inked letters, mouthing the words to himself as he read. “You’re my favorite for a reason!”
His face lit up as you praised him, it wasn’t often that Joker’s girl gave out compliments. The fact that you were paying him such special praise sent him sky-high with pride. “Thank you so much, ma’am.” He smiled as you took his face in your hands, rubbing your thumbs over your cheek.
“Oh, don’t call me that.” Your plan was working. Joker finally was paying you attention, he had looked up the moment you touched Jesse in such an intimate way. “I’m your age, silly.”
Jesse continued to smile and dare I say blush, not sure how to handle the attention from a superior such as yourself. Joker was quick to hand out compliments, praise, and affectionate touches such as a clap on the back or a squeeze of the shoulder. But you?
You rarely ever did such things.
Not that you thought of yourself as too good for that, not at all. You just had never been the kind of person to do such a thing. You were the type of person to give a proud smile or a nod across the room, but you had never, ever, given direct affirmation, and definitely had never touched one of his ‘henchmen’ in that manner.
“Give me some sugar, sweetheart.” You smiled up at him turned your face so he could kiss your cheek, which he did without hesitation. He knew that one who hesitates, disintegrates. Especially with the monarch of the business.
After his lips left your cheek you giggled and gave him a pat on the face. “Such a good boy, and so handsome too. How did we find you?” You almost felt guilty when you saw how bright his smile was and how he leaned into your warm hand. “Alright, you’re dismissed, I’m sure you have very important things to do.” You made your voice as sweet as possible, knowing that behind you Joker was boiling in his own skin.
“Thank you,” Jesse almost said the word ‘ma’am’ again but stopped himself short. “Thank you, if you need anything, I’ll, I’ll, uh, I’ll be downstairs.” He left a stuttering, blushing mess, almost tripping over his two feet on the way out. Once the door closed you sat back down in your seat and picked up your book like nothing had happened.
You didn’t have to look at Joker to know you had driven him crazy.
At first, he tried to act like nothing was wrong. He tried to force himself to focus on the new information, but as hard as he tried, he couldn’t push the images of Jesse kissing your cheek out of his mind. The damn look on the kids face, the way his cheeks reddened, it was the way you had made him look the first time you met.
Joker cringed at the thought and ran his hands through his hair, letting out a groan as he pushed himself back in his chair. This time though, it was your turn to ignore his obvious grasps for attention.
You flipped a page in your book, your brain not taking in the words at all. Your heart was beating far too fast for you to even try to read. You were just pretending at that point. It was enough to convince Joker, thankfully, and it was enough to frustrate him further.
“What the hell was that?” He finally broke the silence, crossing his arms across his chest.
You looked up from your book with a look of innocence on your face. “What, sweetie?”
His jaw clenched, the strain in his muscles extremely visible. The sight of it sent chills down your spine, the fact that he was staring you down across the table intensified it all. “You’re playing coy, and I don’t like it.”
“Playing coy about what?” Your sentence slowly faded as Joker stood up from his chair and rounded the desk, standing in front of you within a few quick seconds.
He kneeled down in front of you, running his hands up your legs. Your breath caught in your throat but you fought to remain nonchalant about it all, looking down at him with an even stare. As if you weren’t phased by the way his hands slid up your skirt. “Is it because I’m not giving you enough attention?” He muttered, not breaking eye contact. He battled with you as he ran his fingers over the skin on your thighs, almost winning the staring contest when the tips of his fingers dipped between them and barely brushed against the fabric of your panties.
But you continued to stare him down.
“I don’t know what you mean-”
He had enough at that point, his body slipping up against yours, his right knee planted between your thighs so it was resting on the wooden seat of your chair. You lost the contest and closed your eyes the moment his knee pressed against your pathetically wet center.
His hand grabbed your throat when your eyes fluttered shut and he leaned against your ear, his breath hot and ragged. “You know exactly what I mean. And so do I. I know I’ve been busy, and I know you’re the kind of girl who needs attention round the clock. Or else she goes… crazy.”
He was exactly right, he knew you so well. You let out a breath and he left a kiss on the side of your jaw, right under your ear. “I haven’t been giving you enough attention, have I?”
“No, you haven’t.” Your voice was hoarse under the grasp of his hand, but it was understandable.
Joker hummed and kissed right under your jaw. “I should apologize for that, but I think,” Another kiss, lower on your neck now. “I should show you who you belong to, first.”
God, yes. Finally. Your plan worked perfectly. You picked your feet up out of your sandals and raised them over his hips, pulling him higher against you.
You wanted nothing more than for him to show you who you belonged to, and he was happy to oblige.
He planted more kisses on your neck before dipping below the neck of your shirt, moving the fabric with his face so he could kiss the freshly exposed skin.
Suddenly, by the grasp on your neck, he pulled you out of the chair and switched positions with you. You were too stunned to comprehend what happened, but when you came to your senses your eyes focused on his cock. He was sitting in the chair you were in only a few seconds ago, his right hand stroking his cock, slow and sweet. Your mouth watered.
You couldn’t hold back. You leaned up on your knees and took him into your mouth, almost gasping at the absolute size of him. No matter how many times you’d fuck him or suck him off, his girth continued to surprise you. You missed these intimate moments so much.
He had missed it too, obviously, because he tossed his head back and groaned. His hands found their way to your hair and helped you bob your head on his length. “Fuck.” Something about the way he cursed sent you into a spiral. Hearing him curse was nothing new to you, but when you first met Arthur he had rarely cursed in front of you. When he became Joker it was like an entirely new dictionary opened to him.
You slipped your hand between your thighs, trying to be discreet. Apparently, it wasn’t too discreet, because he noticed almost immediately.
“Did I say you could touch yourself?” The low rumble of his feral voice startled you and you looked up at him, swirling your tongue around his head in an attempt to distract him from his earlier discovery. He moaned at the feeling, his eyes fluttering shut for a moment. You hoped your distraction would work but once he gained his bearings he looked back down to you. “No, not yet. Put your hands on my knees.”
You rolled your eyes but did as he said. He noticed that as well and his grip tightened in your hair. “Something wrong?” He growled, ignoring your muffled yelp.
You slipped your mouth off of his cock with a lewd pop, shaking your head. “No, nothing’s wrong.” Maybe the sass was evident in your voice because he narrowed his eyes. He waited a beat, staring you down, before he finally broke and stood up.
“Over the table.” It wasn’t a request or a demand, because as he spoke he moved your body for you, guiding you to his desk. Your panties were tugged down to your knees and then he was hunched over your body, his head right beside yours.
“Oh, fuck.” You panted, his harsh and quick movements sending a new set of pleasurable waves through you. Something about him being rough with you… you couldn’t explain it. You closed your eyes when his cock rubbed against your folds, teasingly slow. A moan rumbled through your throat and you arched your back, hoping if he felt you moving against his cock he would finally fuck you and give you what you’d been craving all week. “Come on, fuck me. I need it. And I know you do too.”
Joker chuckled, low and gritty, before finally pushing himself into you. You both moaned at the same time, he tossed his head back, his hair falling back from his face. If you had seen his face at that moment you would have came. He looked so fucking beautiful, eyes closed in bliss, lips slightly parted.
It wasn’t slow. As soon as he pushed his entire length into you, he began fucking you with reckless abandon. Slamming his hips into yours, if it wasn’t for the desk being as heavy as it was, it would have slid across the floor.
“God, just like that.” You hissed through clenched teeth, your hands gripping the sides of the desk to stay upright. “Just like that.” He was fucking you exactly how you needed it. Hard and fast, without a pinch of mercy.
His right hand slid up your back and he grabbed a handful of your hair, grabbing a generous fistful before he yanked. You gasped as your head was snapped upwards, and at the same time, he fucked you harder. You couldn’t breathe. Every thrust knocked another breath from your lungs,
“Daddy’s gonna fill you up.” He leaned back down so he was level with your body, his teeth grazing the nape of your neck. You moaned in response and he pulled your hair, moving your neck to the side so he could get a better angle. He sank his teeth into the skin on the side of your neck, biting down so hard you could feel your muscles being pinched. You wanted to move away, the pain being almost too much, but his jaw was set and there was no moving away from him. Especially when he was about to come.
He didn’t say anything else as his hips snapped forward, his thrusts which were once in a steady rhythm quickly becoming the complete opposite.
Joker moaned into your skin, his teeth still set around your neck. He moaned as he came inside you, his hands moving from your hair to your hips. He held you down firmly on the desk as he fucked his last bit of cum into you.
Your pussy clenched around him and you moved your hand between your legs to force your own orgasm, your fingers moving expertly against your clit. You finally came, just as he was pulling out, singing out a symphony of moans and cries.
He released your neck and stood back, almost stumbling as he all but fell into your chair. You turned just in time to see him running a hand through his sweaty hair, right before he put his softening cock back into his pants. He gave you a lazy smirk, his eyes flickering from yours to your panties, which were still around your ankles. While he was looking at them, a slow trickle of his cum leaked down the inside of your thigh, and suddenly his soft cock wasn’t so soft anymore. He looked back up at your face, grinning when he saw how red and sweaty you were.
“How was that?” He asked, loosening the neck of his shirt.
“Perfect.” You hummed and kicked off your panties before walking over to him, sliding into his lap. You looked down at his face, noticing how the greasepaint had worn off near his forehead from his sweat. You were going to say something about him needing a touch-up, but when you moved your hips to get more comfortable on him, you felt how hard he had gotten. “Already?” You teased, locking eyes with him. You caught his mischievous glint and you laughed, tilting your head back as you did so.
You rose from his lap and slipped your sandals on, making sure you maintained eye contact the whole time. When you were done you stood up, walking past him, and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Well, you’ll just have to catch me, first.”
Ask: I have never put a request in for a fic before, but here goes! Since Arthur canonically is a virgin, has childlike innocence and no idea how to interact with women, I'd love to read a fic about a friend helping him to understand what a woman would 'like'. Like having a 'mock' date, dancing, holding hands. But they wind up as a little more than friends; 'teaching and learning' is more of an excuse to get closer with each other since they'd secretly wanted it, but were too shy.
Warning: Cursing
Pairing: Arthur Fleck x Reader
A/N: Thank you for this adorable request! I hope you enjoy it, sweetie!
***
You’d known Arthur for a while, it was funny how you met, actually. You’d been on the way to work and he’d bumped into you, spilling your hot coffee all over your shirt. You were about to explode on him but when you saw how guilty he looked you bit your tongue.
“I’m so sorry, oh my god,” Arthur had gasped, stepping away from you.
“It’s fine,” You huffed, pulling your shirt away from your body just enough to get a breeze in. “It’s a black shirt, I’ll be fine.”
“Jesus, are you okay?” The look on his face was enough to cheer you up, it was almost funny how scared he appeared. “You’re not hurt, are you?”
“I’m fine. But you owe me another coffee.”
And now here you were, eating dinner in his mother's apartment. It wasn’t anything fancy, just your leftovers from lunch, pasta and breadsticks.
“Do women really like that?” Arthur asked in response to a man in a movie who had been going over the top to impress a girl.
You weren’t even watching the movie, you’d been too occupied reading a magazine that had come in the mail. “Hmm?” You glanced up from the glossy paper, digging your fork into your plate.
“Like, would you want someone coming to your place of work with flowers and chocolate?” He asked nervously, twiddling his fingers.
A laugh escaped your lips and you had to cover your mouth to finish chewing. “Uhm,” You swallowed your food and took a sip of water. “I don’t know. It depends, I guess.”
“On what?”
You looked at him then, eyebrows raised and a playful smirk on your lips. “What’s your sudden interest in what women like?”
He looked back to the T.V and shrugged, visibly timid.
Oh, now you were interested. “What, is there someone you like?” You leaned forward in the love seat with your full attention on him. Arthur had never talked about his personal life like that, and to be honest, you’d never thought about it. But now that you were thinking about it, you were more than intrigued.
It took a while but he nodded, earning an excited gasp from you.
“Well, let me tell you what women like.” You slid off the chair and joined him on the couch. “We’re not all the same, obviously, but I think I can speak for most of us when I say small acts are the best. You know, a call after work to tell them you’ve been thinking about them. If you… Uhm, oh, if you see something that reminds you of them get it. Like a flower in the park, a cute shirt, a music tape, you know. Little things. At least that’s what I like.” You realized you were rambling and laughed. But Arthur took in every word, nodding and taking mental notes.
“Have you ever been on a date?”
“Oh, yeah, I’ve had a few.” You’d had more than a few but you didn’t want to intimidate him. “Have you?”
Silence. Then he shook his head.
“Well, how about tomorrow after work you stop by my place. We can pretend to have a date and I’ll show you how it’s done, okay?”
His face brightened and he smiled, nodding. “Okay. Yeah.”
***
He took the mock date seriously. He put on some of his better clothes and took extra time with his hair, even going as far as buying you flowers. He picked out a kind he thought you’d like, that’s what you said, right?
You opened your door and had to choke back a gasp. Wow, he sure could clean up nice. When he cleared his throat you realized you’d been staring and he was holding out a bouquet of flowers for you. “Arthur, wow, for me?”
“Yeah, I saw them and thought of you. That’s what girls like, right?”
You took the flowers and nodded, unable to keep the ecstatic smile off your face. “Yes, I do. We do, I mean. We like that a lot.” You stumbled over your words and stepped to the side to let him in. “Well, dinner is almost done, so, sit down, and,” You were almost breathless. “Yeah.”
To save both of you from your awful awkwardness you went into the kitchen to get the food out of the oven. You had to take a moment and breathe, cursing yourself for how worked up you’d gotten. What was wrong with you? It wasn’t a real date, you were helping him woo over another woman.
After you set the food out and made each other's plates you stood back from the table, making sure everything was perfect. “Okay, stand up.”
He furrowed his brows but did what you said, standing from his chair.
“Pull out my chair and scoot it in for me.”
Oh, right. He scoffed at the obviousness of it, that’s why he was here, to learn. He walked over to the other side of the table and pulled your chair out, finding himself smiling as he pushed it in under you.
“Thank you, Arthur, what a gentleman.” You teased and he laughed, a real laugh. It wasn’t the painful laugh you’d heard him suffer through so many times.
When he sat down he ran over things in his mind, what did people normally talk about on dates? Before he could think too hard you spoke.
“Ask me how my day was.” You whispered and he sucked in a breath, thankful you were going to be leading.
“How was your day?”
“It was wonderful.” You answered and picked up your fork. “I saw a man walking his dogs on the way home and he let me pet them.”
“Oh.” Arthur raised a brow and began eating. “That’s great. What kind of dogs?”
“A German Sheppard and a pug.” You smiled when you remembered how cute they both were. “Do you like dogs?”
Arthur shrugged and finished chewing before he answered. “I’m more of a cat person.”
“Perfect.”
“Hmm?”
“Establishing the small things about your personality, that’s exactly what you talk about.” You took a sip of water, locking eyes with him over the table. “Now, ask me what I do for fun.”
He knew what you did for fun but he asked anyway. He found out something he didn’t know about you though, something that piqued his interest.
“You really like doing that?” He asked, breaking character again. “You like people watching?”
“Yeah! I like seeing into peoples lives, I know it’s a little weird but there are so many interesting people out there and it’s nice to get a glimpse of that. You hear things you normally wouldn’t.”
Soon you both forgot you weren’t on an actual date and you lost yourselves in conversation. You learned things about him you hadn’t known and probably would have never found out if not for the date. He told you he wanted to be a comedian and he told you a few jokes, getting quite a few laughs in return.
“Well, Arthur.” You said to him as he stood in your doorway. “Whoever you’re practicing for is very lucky.”
He beamed at you leaning against your doorframe and smiled, looking to the ground. ‘It’s you. You.’ He thought but said nothing.
“You know, after a date goes this well, you usually kiss her before you go.” You were mostly teasing but fuck, you really wanted to kiss him.
Arthur tried to hold himself back, truly, he did, but as soon as you said that he leaned in, his nose grazing yours, lips barely brushing. You reached up to meet him. His lips were so soft and so were yours, they felt so perfect against each other. It lasted a good seven seconds before he pulled back, just as breathless as you.
“Like that?” He whispered after, his green eyes flickering back and forth over your face.
“Yeah. Just like that.”
When he left you leaned on the door, a content blissful smile on your face. Then it hit you. Fuck. Oh no. You had caught feelings.
***
Music filled your house, some song you’d never heard by some singer you’d never heard of. Arthur liked it though, and although he’d never admit it to you it reminded him of you. It was the first song he’d heard after he met you, it wasn’t his normal type of music but it just screamed (Y/N).
Your head resting against his chest as the two of you swayed in your living room had to be Heaven. Arthur wasn’t religious in the slightest but if there was a Heaven, it would have to be this. Right? So peaceful and sincere. He hadn’t felt that way in… well, ever. He’d never felt that way before.
“Have you asked her out yet?” Your voice was soft and vibrated against his chest pleasantly.
“No, do you think she’d like to dance like this?” The change of subject was subtle enough for you not to notice.
“I like it.”
Arthur leaned down just enough to set his chin on the top of your head. He wanted to tell you so desperately that you were the one he was doing all this for.
Little did he know you felt the exact same way.
The past few weeks you’d grown extremely close with Arthur, the mock-dates had soon lost their original purpose and were just an excuse to be around each other. You were both so starved of affection neither of you said anything out of fear the sessions would end.
But god, you wanted to say something. You wanted to see if the feeling was mutual, you wanted to know if your kisses meant more than practice. Maybe you were being foolish and blind but without verbal affirmation you were unsure.
“This is nice.” You forced the words out of your mouth, testing the waters to see where he stood.
He hummed, in agreement maybe? But he said nothing. He wanted you to continue.
“Arthur,” You pulled back from him so you could see his face. You needed to see it when you said what was on your mind. “Am I the girl you’ve been practicing for?”
“What?” He mumbled in confusion with furrowed brows.
You parted from his arms and turned. Were you wrong all along? “Oh, god, I’m so stupid.”
Arthur’s face fell and he reached out to touch your shoulder as he struggled for the right words. “(Y/N), I’m sorry,” He interpreted it the wrong way, thinking you had found him out and were disgusted at what he’d been doing. “I couldn’t think of any other way,” That's when the first attack happened. The first in a while. He covered his mouth and turned around while his body shook.
You didn’t say anything, you just waited for him to finish, now facing him with your hand nervously clasping your neck. Well, this wasn’t going as planned. You’d said all the wrong things. What did he mean, though? ‘Any other way’? Any other way to what?
When the laughter finally subsided he inhaled deeply, building up the courage to look back at you. “Yes. You’re the girl.”
The way your face lit up was something he wished he could make happen every day. He was a little confused at your reaction until you rushed back to him, rising up on your tiptoes to kiss him. Your arms wrapped around his neck, his gently resting on your sides.
“This isn’t a joke, is it?” He stuttered when you broke the kiss to catch your breath.
“That wouldn’t be a very funny joke.” You shook your head and kissed him again, turning your head slightly to deepen it.
When the two of you finally parted he let out a small chuckle of his own doing. “Do you want to go on a real date?”
“They all felt pretty real to me.”
His lips turned up into the purest smile, it made your heart soar every time you saw it. “Well, what else do you like?”
The endless possibilities of what that question meant, it had your mind running in thousands of directions.
You licked your lips, they were still buzzing from the friction of his. “You want me to teach you?”