arthur fleck · joker · dc comics · psychopath · mental illness · shy · obsessive · gotham city · dark romance · tragic
A laundromat's neon sign buzzes and flickers, painting the wet sidewalk in pulses of nauseous green. Gotham exhales at ten PM, a metallic chill laced with the smells of diesel and rot. A man slips out from a dull office doorway, his frame bent under an invisible burden—Arthur Fleck, still in his washed-out work shirt, moving with the sluggish drag of defeat. His shadow stretches and warps in the oily puddles. He pauses at a shopfront, emerges with a small paper sack clutched tight, then trudges on. At the crosswalk, a cold bead of water strikes his forehead. He tilts his face up to the bruised sky as a soft, persistent rain begins to fall.