#A nice soak can keep her going for a while and Gotham being rainy helps with that

[oculusxcaro]

you forgot to eat and/or drink water today: yes or no?

Let’s play “yes” or “no.” You ask me questions on anonymous or not, and I can only answer YES or NO.

"Yes." Khare frowned. It wasn't like she'd intentionally forgot, she'd just... been busy, and sometimes it took a while for her body to remind her she needed to feed and water it. The urge to shower had taken over from drinking, unless it had been very dry to which she could down bottles of the stuff. Her tongue flicked at dry lips, an act more reptillian in nature than amphibious. Food wasn't important.

[ohallthecrushes]

Only one umbrella // Arthur Fleck x Reader

A/N: Autumn makes me so awfully romantic, I can’t even... xD My last fic wasn’t so good, so I came up with something better. I hope you like it.

Summary: It’s a cold and rainy day in Gotham. You bumped into someone on your way home and you decided to share your umbrella with him.

Word counts:1886

It was a cloudy and humid Autumn day. Not the beautiful one with peacefully falling leaves and random rays of sunshine breaking through the heavy clouds. It was grey and melancholic instead, one of the many gloomy days of autumn in Gotham. And the wind was so cold, you regretted you didn’t have a pair of gloves with you, your hands were freezing right now. But you couldn’t hide them in your pockets, because you had to keep your umbrella steady and hold it with both hands from flying away from you, that wind had its time to blow real strong today.

You were one of a very few people who actually went outside today. One of the unlucky ones. Those who didn’t have to go out, just stayed inside in their warm houses. But you... You considered yourself as the unlucky one.

You were walking down the street, looking down at the pavement to avoid stepping into a puddle, which wasn’t so easy, too many damn holes on a devastated pavement, holding onto your umbrella at the same time, trying to fight against the wind. Your eyes for a moment looked up to see what was before you. Most part of your way you went through without walking into something or bumping into someone. You knew your way and there weren’t many people walking the same way as you. For some time it looked like you were the only person at Gotham streets. But even with so little people out there, you just had to bump into someone eventually. And it was too late for any reaction. Your eyes saw a yellow jacket before you and you only managed to whisper shit as you bounced off of someone’s back. The person in yellow hoodie turned around immediately. You both took a step back and looked at each other surprised. You were ready to hear some uncensored epithets about you with an angry tone, so used to you were to how people from this city treated each other, but the man just stood before you, his green eyes shied away from you and his mouth ready to apologize.

- I’m sorry.

- I’m sorry.

You both said it at the same time and then burst into a short laugh. You laughed first however and only after he saw you laughing, he thought it was ok to do the same.

You looked at him with more attention and you quickly noticed that despite of the weather, he didn’t have an umbrella with him. He just put his hood on, which didn’t really do any work to protect him from the rain. His hoodie was soaked as well as the brown curls on his forehead were wet and there was a single raindrop falling down of his nose. He looked bothered and insecure to you and you couldn't help but comparing him to a homeless puppy.

-Oh, you’re rain-soaked - you said with a compassionate voice and his eyebrows twitched with surprise at your reaction - Let me...

You wanted to lift your umbrella up and over his head so he didn’t have to get any wetter. That’s at least you could do after bumping into him, but the wind got stronger now almost blowing your umbrella off of your hands. Your hand was pushed aside and for a second you thought your grip wasn’t strong enough to save it from flying away, but the other hand, the hand of the man, grabbed your hand, strengthening the grip and helped you retrieve your umbrella back to you. His hand was cold, just as your yours, but under his touch, just for a moment, you felt warmth you needed. Warmth not only for your hand. You felt a flame coming alive inside of you, a spark of excitement that made you blush. You found it romantic and polite of him to help you.

As your umbrella was brought back over your head, his hand withdrew so fast, as if the touch burnt his hand. Looking into his eyes that once again shied away from you, you realized, he didn’t mean to grab your hand, he wanted to grab the stick.

- Thank you... - you said and lifted the umbrella partly above his head too - Here, you don’t have to get drenched anymore.

- Oh no, please - he shook his head - I don’t want you to get wet because of me.

You blushed and said nothing, unsure if he meant it to sound ambiguous or maybe you were just imagining something. But he reached for the stick and gently pushed it back to you and you realized he probably weren’t even aware of how that could have sounded.

- It’s fine - you replied and insisted on protecting him from the rain.

- But what about you? You’ve got only one umbrella.

- Well... - you pondered - we’re going the same direction and if we walked close to each other, the umbrella would protect both of us.

You smiled and he smiled back. You noticed one of his tooth was crooked, but it suited him somehow. This little imperfection was what made his smile so unique.

- Alright - he nodded - thank you for that. Not many people would do that for me. It’s really nice of you.

- No problem, really. It was quite not nice of me to bump onto you, so that’s how I can remedy myself - you laughed as you reached out your other hand.

- I’m Y/N.

He took it in his and gently squeezed.

- I like your name - he said smiling - I’m Arthur.

- Nice to meet you, Arthur.

His lovely smile perished from his face as he noticed how cold your hand was.

- Don’t you have any gloves? - he asked honesty concerned.

- I do, at home unfortunately.

He glanced at your jacket.

- Let me hold the umbrella for you at least. You can use your pockets to warm your hands a bit.

You nodded and held it to him as you both started walking down the street.

- So what are you doing out at that weather? - you asked trying to keep the conversation going. You noticed that he was too shy to start talking, but he responded to you when you talked to him.

- Umm, I had to go to the... - he paused - pharmacy. You?

- Post office. I had to send something to my mother.

There was a silence from him for a moment as he tried to figure out what to say.

- Sometimes I visit post office to send letters that my mother writes. She’s too weak to go by herself.

- You live with her?

- Yes - he glanced at you - d-do you think it’s weird?

- Weird? No, not at all. That speaks well of you that you help your mother.

- Yeah... I guess so... - he glanced at you and this time kept his eyes on you for a bit longer. You couldn’t tell what was he thinking right now, but you felt like you were being admired by him for some reason. He probably thought you wouldn’t notice that he was looking at you from the hood on his head, but you felt his eyes on you.

You turned your head to look at him too and he immediately glanced away.

You eyes landed on his hand holding the umbrella and you couldn’t forget the feeling you’d gotten when he accidentally touched you.

Your umbrella wasn’t for two and you had to walk very close to each other, your arm often came into contact with his. Everytime this happen you felt shivers running down your spine, and it wasn’t because you were cold. You wondered if he felt the same.

Either way, you both tried to make a casual conversation.

- Why did you go out without an umbrella?

- Umm, I forgot to take it with me.

- You must have been in a hurry then.

- No, I just... My mind was somewhere else. I didn’t have a good day today.

- Sorry to hear that...

- It’s alright. You’ve managed to make my day.

- Really? It’s v- - you didn’t get to finish your sentence as suddenly you were pulled away by Arthur. His hand grabbed your arm and pulled you to the other side of the pavement. As he did so, a car that was heading up the street drove fast through puddles, splashing over the place you’d been before. Some was splashed onto Arthur’s trousers. You could tell the driver did that on purpose.

- What a dick! - you yelled angry at the driver as you watched the car driving away.

- I’m sorry for pulling you, I had to... He was about to... - Arthur was standing in front of you, so close you could smell his cologne. His hand that had grabbed you before, was still rested on your arm as he tried to explain himself, afraid that you might be upset at him too.

- No, it’s alright, Arthur, I’m grateful that you did that - you smiled at him as you looked up to see his face. There was something about him that made you feel nervous, but nervous in a good way. He made you feel some warm tickling in your stomach and you wondered if that what people called butterflies.

- You saved me, but your trousers got hurt.

He chuckled and you swear it was the cutest chuckles you’d ever heard. His hand left your arm and he ran it through his hair.

- I’ll be fine, I’m all wet already anyway - he shrugged.

- But you may get sick... - you bit your lip and hesitated, but asked anyway - Do you live far?

- Ummm... Just a... a little far from here, actually.

- Well, I live nearby, just around the corner. How about a hot chocolate or tea? I’ll help you get warmed before you go home. Unless you’re in a hurry to your mother?

- Y-you’re inviting me over? - he asked astonished.

- Yeah, for a hot cocoa. Or chocolate. Or tea. Whatever you drink - you chuckled.

- Hot cocoa sounds nice - he said with a soft shy voice - My mother will be fine without my presence for a while.

- Alright - you smiled and slipped your hand under his arm - You don’t mind?

- No, not at all - he smiled wide as you both started walking again. He was glad you did that for he had thought about it but was too shy to ask you if you wanted to take his arm.

He was also glad that you’d bumped into him. You were the best thing that had happened to him today and maybe even in his life. You were kind and funny and beautiful. He couldn’t take his eyes off you, but he tried to look away, cause he didn’t want to creep you out.

He felt incredibly lucky that you invited him over for a hot cocoa. And he wondered if that feeling that he got in his stomach was what people called butterflies.