Title: Icon
Author: jordannamorgan
Fandom: Joker (2019)
Characters: Arthur Fleck
Rating: Mild PG for angst.
Length: 200 words.
Summary: Arthur sees a brief light in the darkness.
Note: Also for the prompt of “Hurt/Comfort” at genprompt_bingo.



Arthur had endured a lifetime of blows, but watching his idol mock him on television was nearly the most crushing.

It was a worse feeling than being fired from the job he loved. Maybe even worse than reading his mother’s letter to Thomas Wayne. In the words of the great Sinatra, Murray had stomped on Arthur’s dream: his one hope of creating a better future for himself, of finally being seen by the world.

The only thing it wasn’t worse than was seeing his mother in that hospital bed. Even after his public humiliation, that was the one image still frozen in his mind, as he lay despondently breathing her scent from the pillow while the TV droned in the background.

“Protesters, many dressed as clowns, took to the streets today in one of several planned demonstrations…”

Arthur sat up and looked toward the screen.

Clowns. A shouting kaleidoscope of greasepaint, wigs, masks, all mirroring the face he had worn as Carnival. Signs screaming angry slogans against the rich.

An unfamiliar sensation of warmth filled his soul as he smiled.

If only for a moment, all these people have seen me… and now they want to be just like me.

---

2020 Jordanna Morgan