do you think arthur accidentally asks for two tickets when he and john finally go to see their movie?
“two tickets for—oh. um, just one, actually. sorry—” it’s almost too natural, really, for him to view john as another person, rather than a voice in his head.
arthur buys a box of popcorn, too. he isn’t sure why, he doesn’t care for it that much and, truthfully, john’s a touch bothered whenever arthur eats anything—but “arthur, its the theater, it’s part of the experience—”
john did his best to describe the movie, the gaps in his explanation supplemented by the snatches of dialogue and audio effects arthur could make out, but twenty minutes in and the voice in his head had fallen silent, totally enamored with the film.
arthur didn’t remind john that he couldn’t see it, not even afterwards, as they left the nostalgic darkness of the theater behind them and john is chattering excitedly about the plot twist, and the fight scene and the characters and epilogue and—
even now, in a fleeting moment of peace, john is learning what it means to be human, learning of the easy escapism arthur had once found so appealing.