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• The Noisy Neighbour

: ONE-SHOT: You live next door to Arthur and decide to make the effort to get to know him after he does you a good deed

-- 1st person POV -

Okay, so you already knew your next door neighbour was kinda weird.
You didn't actually know him all that well, only to say hi to whenever you passed in the lobby, but it didn't take a genius to work out that he was pretty odd.

But he was also kind, and kindness was a rare thing in Gotham.

You hadn't been living in the building all that long when he'd knocked your door, nervously clutching your wallet in his large hand.

"Hey, uh, y-you dropped this in the hall." He'd said, awkwardly shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"Shit! Thank you so much." You'd exclaimed, resisting the impulse to pull him into a forced hug.

You wasn't big on hugging people you didn't know but the relief was overwhelming. Your last few measly dollars were in that wallet and without it you'd have been totally screwed.

"You're welcome." He'd replied shyly and nervously stuck his hand out for you to shake. "My name's Arthur by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Arthur." You shook his hand. "I'm (y/n)."

"(y/n)" He gave a boyish, almost secretive smile. "That's a nice name."

You didn't know and had no way of knowing just how much that simple physical contact had meant to him. Nobody ever touched Arthur other than his mom, so when he'd stared down at your small hand clasped in his much larger one you'd felt a little uncomfortable, wondering why he seemed so mesmerised by a simple handshake.

How were you to know that he didn't want to let go? That he liked the way your hand felt dainty and feminine in his.

Just like you were oblivious to how he'd known you'd accidentally dropped your wallet. It never occurred to you at the time that you'd been alone in the hallway as you trudged to your front door.

But Arthur had been expecting you. He'd come to notice what time you got home from work and he'd watch silently through the spy hole.

Other days he'd orchestrate it so that he'd "accidentally" run into you in the hallway or elevator. Never brave enough to speak but just to be in your vicinity was enough.
He was content to admire you quietly and from a distance. Knowing he lacked the confidence to ask you out on a date he could settle for this. The rejection would've been too humiliating to bear if he asked and you turned him down.

Because he'd been kind enough to return your wallet and not steal it like many others would, you felt you owed him for his honesty.
In a broken city where everyone was ruthless and suspicious of everybody else, his act of kindness restored your faith in humanity a little.
Good neighbours still existed and they ought to look out for each other.

Which is why you were worrying right now.

You'd come to realise that Arthur was noisy. That was a bit of an understatement.
You'd lost count of how many times you'd laid in bed listening to the bizarre laughter echoing through the paper-thin walls of the rundown apartment building.
It didn't particularly bother you as much as it did the guy who lived on the other side of Arthur. He would regularly thump on the wall aggressively and yell for Arthur to shut up.

On one occasion you'd headed out to confront the asshole, after he'd pounded on Arthur's front door screaming threats.

"What is your problem man? Can't you give the guy a break?"