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Zooble collapsed onto their bed, ready to stay in the exact position they were in for the rest of the day. Mirrors lined the wall they were facing. Their reflection stared back at them, still just as unfamiliar as the day they’d ended up in the circus. God.
A few minutes ago, Caine announced that he was busy preparing for the next adventure, which was, in his words, “a doozy”, so he needed more time to prepare. Thus, he gave everybody a day off. No adventures. Such a day was pretty rare, so Zooble was intent on spending it doing what they loved to do more than almost anything else: absolutely nothing.
They let their eyelids slowly drift shut as they fell into a half-conscious world of thought.
They weren’t particularly excited for tomorrow’s adventure. If it was all that Caine had hyped it up to be, it would probably be overly bright and loud and full of action. Everything Zooble despised, basically. That was future Zooble’s problem, though, they decided.
Maybe they could spend the day doing something slightly more than lazing around? They could take some of Ragatha’s stupid sauce and then laze around.
If they did that too often, they’d probably fry their brain into abstraction.
If only Gangle hadn’t entered the circus, then Zooble would be able to abstract without having anything to live for. The notion sounded depressing, on second thought, but they meant to think it in a less depressing way. Why did they even care about the way they phrased their thoughts, anyway? Nobody could hear them.
Three quick knocks against their door yanked Zooble from their ruminations. It didn’t sound like Gangle’s knocks, but they figured it couldn’t really be anyone else. Think of the devil, they supposed.
“Coming,” Zooble muttered, unsure if they did so loud enough for Gangle to hear. They slowly started to roll out of their stagnant position, vaguely mourning their loss of literally nothing. Since it was Gangle, though, they were fine with it.
As they pushed themself off the bed, more knocks sounded, this time in that really specific rhythm that only annoying people and dads knocked in. Realizing that Gangle was neither of those two things, Zooble came to the conclusion that this wasn’t her.
Who the hell was interrupting Zooble’s alone time, then!?
They approached the door, antennae twitching in annoyance, and opened it just enough to see who it was.
A tall, purple rabbit stood in the doorway with his hands in his pockets. He blinked, making eye contact with Zooble.
Jax, they bitterly thought.
“What do you want?” Zooble grumbled, fully opening the door so Jax could see the hostile stance they took on. “I’m trying to relax.”
“Someone’s in a mood.” Jax smirked. “I was wondering if–”
“If you’re gonna be like that, you can 
off.” Zooble interrupted. They weren’t in the mood for Jax’s bull today, and if he really needed something from them, he could at least be the slightest bit polite.
“Okay, okay, jeez.” Jax lifted his paws, taking a step back. “I was wondering if I could borrow one of your parts.”
“What?” Zooble raised an eyebrow.
Jax shrugged. “Yeah. Can I have, like, a bow or a ribbon or somethin’ like that?”
“Why?” Zooble indignantly demanded.
“Well, I figured you’d have one, since you have everything—”
Zooble sighed, resisting the urge to kick his teeth in. “No, why do you want one?”
“Wow, Zoobie, I didn’t realize you were so nosy,” Jax teased. God, did Zooble want to smack that stupid smile off his face. They balled their fists, narrowing their eyes at him.
“You know what? No. I’m not giving you .” They began to slam the door on Jax, but he quickly grabbed the handle and tried to resist it.
“Fine!” Jax shouted. “If you’re not gonna give me what I politely asked for, I guess I have no choice but to go steal a ribbon off of Gangle, if you know what I mean.”
Zooble froze.
“... You wouldn’t.” They said.
“You don’t know that,” Jax taunted. “Wouldn’t you rather be safe than sorry?”
Annoyingly, he made a good point. Zooble didn’t want to risk it. Knowing Jax, there was a small chance he actually would do something like that. After a beat of deliberation, they relented and pushed the door open again.
“Fine.” They sneered. “Wait there.” Turning around, Zooble approached their box of parts and began to sift through, throwing what they didn’t need behind them.
Only a few seconds passed before Jax spoke up again, voice indicating that for some reason he’d followed Zooble into their room. “Y’know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen your room in full… That is, with you knowing.”
Zooble stopped searching, lifting their head to look at Jax. He stood in the center of their room, eyes fixed on something on the roof.
“What did you just say?” They growled accusingly.
“Nothing.” Jax uttered.
Zooble scowled, antennae twitching. For a moment, they forgot why they were even doing this for Jax in the first place. It wasn’t like he ever did anything for them, and they could beat him in a fight if he ever tried to harm Gangle. Then, they remembered that it would probably be easier to do this one thing for Jax and then get back to their well-needed relaxation. They really couldn’t be ed to do anything more.
“You know, I could kick you out right now.”
“Sooorr-y.” Jax singsonged, voice laced with sarcasm. “I promise I won’t sneak into your room again, okay? Just get me the stupid bow.”
“Got it.” Zooble pulled a pale pink ribbon, similar to the colour of Jax’s overalls, from their box of parts.
Jax huffed. “Say, are you gonna leave your room like this?”
Zooble looked around. Arms, legs, wings, and antennae were strewn about the place. Some were haphazardly thrown onto the floor, others sat on the bed. They never put too much thought into the state of their room, as whenever they looked away for a moment, once they looked back, all the parts would return to their toybox.
Not wanting nor caring to explain this strange occurrence to Jax, they stood up and stomped up to Jax, stopping right in front of him, just close enough for it to be awkward for him and not for them.
“... Thanks,” Jax grimaced, reaching over to take it from Zooble’s hand, but they quickly pulled their arm back.
“Tell me why you want this,” Zooble demanded. “And I’ll give it to you. If you’re really not planning on doing something stupid with it, then it shouldn’t be too hard for you to just tell me.”
Jax took a slow step away from Zooble, visibly cowering as his eyes glared at them, deep in thought. After a drawn out second, he moved his mouth as if to talk, thinned it, then moved it again. “I was gonna… Wrap a present. With it. To, uh. Give to Pomni.”
“I don’t believe that for a second.” Zooble snapped.
“What!? Why not!?” Jax threw his hands out, exasperated. “Do you think I can’t be nice? I can be nice! We’re, like, friends now!”
Was it just Zooble or was he being a lot more annoying than usual?
“Tell me why the hell you’ve come and interrupted my rest for a stupid bow, and I’ll give it to you.” They insisted.
Jax hesitated, frowning. He looked behind him, as if to check if somebody was there, then back at Zooble. “I… Uh, I wanted to try it on.” He muttered. “Thought it’d make me look more girly. Cuz girls wear bows n’ stuff.”
What?
“Why do you wanna look more girly?” Zooble asked. Their voice came out more accusatory than they intended it to be.
“I–I dunno! I wanted to– to see what I’d look like! For fun!” He tacked the last sentence on in a way that didn’t fit with the rest of what he said. His hands tugged on the fabric of his overalls antsily. Before Zooble could reply, he continued. “You know what? Nevermind. This is dumb. I’m gonna… Go, now.”
“No, hang on.” Zooble interjected. “You can have this. I just wanted to know why you wanted it, and you told me why, so you can have it.” They held out the bow to Jax, who quickly snatched it out their hand. “Why didn’t you ask Caine, though, instead of bothering me? He would’ve been happy to–”
“No.” Jax proclaimed, even though Zooble was clearly mid-sentence. “He creeps me out. Have you seen the guy?” He awkwardly laughed. “I mean, he’s…” Looking up at Zooble, Jax faltered. “... Y’know.”
“I could… Like, go ask him for a dress or something, if you want one.” Zooble stammered. Why were they offering to do a favour for Jax? Somehow, they felt like they already knew why, but they couldn’t think of the reason.
Jax’s eyes widened, seemingly just as surprised as Zooble. “I mean, sure.” He said.
“Alright, I’ll do that in a bit. Now off.”
“I’ll be in my room.” Jax quickly replied. As soon as he had stepped through the doorway, Zooble slammed the door and flopped onto their bed, closing their eyes with a relieved sigh.
—
Zooble trudged through The Circus’s main area, looking around. It was strangely empty for an adventure-less day. Where was everyone?
Well, they knew where Kinger was: in his pillow fort, as he almost always was. And Jax was probably in his room, like he said he’d be. But where was everyone else?
Gangle could be off drawing in a dark corner somewhere, that seemed in-character enough. Maybe Pomni was resting? She hadn’t really gotten much of a break since she’d entered the circus fairly recently. And with nobody to talk to, Zooble figured that Ragatha probably wouldn’t be hanging around alone.
Whatever the reason, Zooble was actually glad that nobody was around– It made this easier.
“Uh… Caine? You there?” Zooble called out.
Suddenly, Caine’s eyes were practically touching Zooble’s as he popped in front of them.
“Oh, Jesus–” They flinched back.
“The Zoob!” Caine’s voice boomed. He looked to be practically shaking with excitement. “It’s so good to see you! What do you need from me? Did you wanna chat? Hang out? Are you hungry? I can—”
“Okay, calm down.” Zooble put their hands out and pushed Caine back slightly, who let his hands rest in front of his chest like a T-rex as he glanced down at them. “Not so close, for starters.”
“Sorry.” Caine sheepishly muttered.
“Secondly, I was hoping you could do something for me.”
Caine eagerly gasped. “Of course! Anything! You know, you can always ask me for stuff– You know I’d do anything to make you humans happy!”
“Well, not everything…” Zooble complained under their breath.
Caine stared at Zooble, confused. “Whaddaya mean?” He replied.
“Nothing. Forget it.” Zooble quickly reassured. “Just– I was wondering if you could make me a new part?”
Caine tilted his head. He looked like a cheery puppy, if puppies didn’t have most of their facial features and their eyes were in their mouth. “I sure can! What were you thinking?”
“Like, a dress? One that would look good on Jax.” Zooble silently prayed that Caine wouldn’t ask why it—
“Why does it need to look good on Jax? You’re not Jax.”
Great.
Zooble cleared their throat to buy time. “Well, you know– I think that what Jax has… Going on with– with his overalls… I think it would look good on me? But, like, as a dress.”
“Oh, alright!” Caine said. To Zooble’s surprise, he didn’t press any further, even though the lie they told was absolutely terrible. He snapped his fingers and a pile of cloth appeared above Zooble, landing on their head and tangling in their antennae.
Unable to see past the pink fabric, Zooble sighed. “... Thanks, Caine.”
“No problem! Call me if you need anything! Please.” Caine replied as Zooble grabbed at the dress. When they lifted it up to remove it from their head, they found that Caine had already vanished.
Now holding the dress in their hands, Zooble held it out in front of them to see what it looked like. Caine seemed to have taken their request very seriously, as it looked exactly like Jax’s overalls, but the bottom half became a long skirt as opposed to pants. Additionally, a thin black turtleneck appeared to be attached to the inside of the dress. Zooble remarked that it would look horrible on them, but…
It certainly did fit Jax.
—
Zooble stood idly in front of Jax’s room, deep in thought about something of the utmost importance.
What was the most annoying way to knock on his door?
If it were anyone else, the answer would be easy. That really stupid rhythm that middle aged white men and their pretentious sons adore more than anything else in the world. The problem was, Jax fell right into that demographic. He probably thought that style of knocking was cool, evidenced by the fact that he had done so earlier that day.
Was there even another good option? Banging the out of it maybe?
Left without any better options, Zooble took a deep breath and a step back, stretched their arms, then ran full force at the door, pounding on it like their life depended on it. From within the room, Jax shouted a muffled complaint.
When the doorknob twisted, Zooble jumped back to avoid having a door in their face, expecting Jax to swing it open with the same passion they had knocked with. Instead, it creaked open slightly, Jax’s face barely visible in the darkness of the room. He squinted at Zooble.
“... Hello?” Zooble muttered. “I’ve got the goods. What are you—”
Suddenly, Jax kicked the door open, grabbed Zooble by their arms, and yanked them inside before quickly shutting it. The momentum threw Zooble forward, and they ungracefully stumbled onto his bed.
“What the was that for!?” Zooble yelled, sitting up.
Jax’s entire body heaved with the exertion of practically chucking Zooble across the room. “Did anybody see you?” He hissed.
“No?” As their eyes adjusted to the darkness, Zooble was surprised to find themself sitting in an uncharacteristically childish room. Almost everything was pink and certainly too small for Jax’s tall frame, including but not limited to his own bed. Polaroids were stuck the wrong way around to the wall next to them.
No wonder he kept the lights off.
“Are you sure? A hundred percent positive?” Jax insisted. He took a step forward towards Zooble and snatched the clothes out of their hand.
“You know, I don’t appreciate how I’m being treated right now,” Zooble remarked. “At least thank me.”
Jax narrowed his eyes, but didn’t acknowledge what Zooble had just said. “Are you positive that nobody saw you?”
Rolling their eyes, Zooble replied, “Yes, I’m positive.” They didn’t know why they bothered. “Can I go now?”
“Wait, hold on a sec.” Jax put a hand out as he placed the dress on top of an open notebook on his desk. “You can tell me if this looks good. I just gotta figure out how to…”
“What? Why me? Why do you care what I think?” Zooble complained. Jax was being way more irritating than usual today. On top of wasting Zooble’s precious time, he had the nerve to ask them for another favour?!
“You’re the only one who knows.” Jax matter-of-factly said, though his voice was more weary than it usually was.
Zooble reluctantly sighed.
“Fine. Make it quick.”
Jax was already throwing the garment over himself. The black fabric of the undershirt stretched unnaturally wide over his head before snapping perfectly around his neck. The two’s proportions were similar in terms of their heads and necks, so it did make sense that part would fit him. The skirt sat a bit higher up on Jax’s legs than Caine probably intended, but it wasn’t to the point of indecency by most definitions.
Once Jax managed to get the dress on, he did a small twirl, seemingly captivated by the sight of himself.
“Does it look good?” He softly asked.
Zooble shrugged. “Looks fine to me.”
“Feminine?”
“I mean, yeah. That’s what you were going for, isn’t it?”
“...Yeah.”
Zooble had never seen Jax so docile in their entire time in the circus, as if this new outfit had somehow tamed him. Maybe he was just surprised? Awestruck would probably be a better word.
“Uh… I’m… Gonna go now. Bye.” Zooble got up and walked to the door. The moment they put their hand on the doorknob, Jax appeared to snap back into reality, quickly looking up at Zooble.
“Wait!” He exclaimed. What now? “You won’t tell anyone about this, right?”
For a moment, Zooble was nearly tempted to not give him that reassurance. Of course, they would never actually tell anybody, lest they stoop down to his level, but they sort of wanted to provide him that anxiety, that level of theoretical blackmail, in the same way he did to Gangle.
When they turned to meet his gaze, however, the vulnerability in his eyes made them almost feel bad for him. His hands were shaking, his mask looking to be mere words away from completely falling apart.
“Of course I won’t.” Zooble said. “I’m not like you.”
“... Thanks.” Jax’s muscles visibly loosened. He offered an obviously fake smile that only really reached half his face. A minute ago, he looked genuinely happy. What changed?
Zooble hovered at the door. “Is there, like… Anything you wanna tell me? About this?” They motioned towards Jax. “Like, should I call you a new name, or…?”
“No.” Jax distantly replied. “You can go now.”
“Oookay.” Zooble opened the door and slowly stepped out, closing it behind them as they made their way to their room. Pushing Jax out of their mind, they thought about how they could finally get some alone time.
As they entered their room, ready to crumble onto their mattress, they spotted Gangle sitting on the edge of their bed. She looked up, the eyes of her comedy mask lighting up despite being black voids.
“Zooble! There you are! Do you wanna hang out?”
Whatever.