Chapter Text
You knew you were different from the day you were born. Actually it all became clear to you when you first started growing up. Many children grew up surrounded by family, a support system that built them from the ground up.
Your family wasn't any different. Once you were born, all you could remember was being swept off chubby legs and into strong arms that praised your every movement.
But something didn’t feel right when they kept complimenting you or specifically your physique. You couldn’t tell why you felt a sour pinch in your chest whenever they said something about you to your parents about how you were such a ‘strong alpha offspring’.
Comments like that didn’t stop even as the years passed by. Aunts pinched your cheeks and commented how your face would draw all kinds of loving attention from the omegas and beta. Uncles would test your strength and clap proudly when you did each task with such giddiness.
Your parents were better at dealing with the comments, gently guiding the other family members away from pushing you one way or another.
Yet everything changed once it was time to differentiate.
Everyone that talked and praised you for being such a little alpha had their words stolen from their mouths when you saw them again with the unfamiliar scent of an omega. Then, all they could talk about was how you didn’t look the part.
Your body was like an alpha. Your temperament was like a beta. Your pheromone didn’t even smell like an omega, it was too strong and potent to be the calming scent of a regular omega.
Your parents tried to protect you from the hurt as people started to pull away from you. They tried. They did their best to mask their own concern and slight disappointment towards you as you grew up.
They weren’t as successful as they thought they were.
So when the opportunity to attend college in another state came, you grabbed it as soon as you could. Especially since the scholarship money presented covered a good chunk of the tuition. You were tired of being looked at as something ‘other’. This would give you a new chance away from the familiar yet hurtful town around you.
Even when you placed suppressant patches on your neck when you were younger, your peers around you in school still knew and ridiculed you. People were courting all around you yet there were no attempts towards you. That’s a lie. There have been two instances with a beta and an omega yet they changed their minds once you revealed that you were not the alpha they were expecting you to be.
It didn’t hurt when they walked away. You had gotten used to it. The whispers. The pointing. The ridicule when you excelled in any omega team, diminishing your hard work since your body doesn’t fit alongside the other omegas. Rumors of you having an unfair advantage or weird scent made you quit trying to join any kind of club.
It was hard to make friends and keep them. You were able to keep hold of a beta friend for a couple years yet they moved away back to their home in Brazil months ago. You still kept in touch but it felt different, there was no physical comfort anymore whenever you stumbled in your daily life. But you would be lying if them sending videos and gifs to you didn’t cheer you up even as the calls started to dwindle per week.
But the one call from them that mattered the most was the hours-long call during the road trip you took from your hometown up towards your college.
*
It has been five years since you have left your old life behind and you couldn’t be happier. Well, maybe you could but you were content for now.
You had a regular schedule. Wake up, eat breakfast, brush teeth, wash face and neck, and brush your hair until it looks somewhat decent. And then place the suppressant patches on your neck and wrists before putting on your cafe uniform.
Did you think you would be a barista after completing college? No. But the job market was more or less iffy for people with liberal arts degrees. At least the freelance graphic design work on the side helped bring in some extra cash. And the barista job wasn’t too bad compared to the work you got back in your old town.
You’ve been working at the cafe since your sophomore year with your coworker and new friend Carol joining you soon after. Carol was one of the kindest people you’ve met which is why you were open about your secondary gender to her after your boss. You almost cried when she just accepted it and moved on like it meant nothing to her.
You didn’t cry happy tears... until you got home in your nest for blankets, pillows and the few stuffed animals that passed your inner omega test of comfort. Carol’s t-shirt covered in her omega scent eventually joining your nest along with the clothes your friend, Maria, sent from Brazil. The sweet smell of apple and cinnamon joined with the clean scent of acai fruit was spread in your nest, merging well with your strong, warm scent.
Compared to before, your life felt more comfortable than it had been in years.
As the last touch, you donned on a customized leather collar that completely covered up your neck glands from any eyes. It was normal for omegas and alphas to wear such pieces to protect their sensitive necks from any attacks of unwanted bites while out in public.
You stared at yourself in the mirror, spraying on some faux pheromone spray to completely cover any traces of your own. It was impossible for it to leak due to all your precautions but you can never be sure.
This has been your regular morning routine for years now with almost no change to it.
Once you stepped out of your apartment and started walking to work, the thing that grabbed your attention was the rather plain designed flyers of the new traveling circus in town.
After so many years of design, the plain flyer design drove something in you to design your own flyer to better fit the theme. Seriously? Plain black and white? The text was the most interesting thing on it compared to the very basic picture of an open circus tent above it.
“The freak circus of horrors, huh?” You mumbled to yourself, staring at one of the flyers plastered on a wall.
They have only been here a few days but it felt longer with all of the plain flyers everywhere and the random stunts they have going on in the street. Their style is eccentric and somewhat gothic with the designs and the glimpses of tents you could see.
You were interested in it given the fact that you haven’t been to any kind of circus or performance like this since you were a child. At least they weren’t colorful clowns with tacky rainbow wigs and bright red noses.
“Hey! Get out of here, weirdo!”
You heard someone shout followed by a loud thump of someone falling to the ground.
You turned to see a rather agitated man standing over a circus performer with scattered flyers all over their fallen form.
The jester wore a red, black and gold costume with little dangly gold bells that hung from their three pointed hat. The large ruffle around their neck did nothing to hide the injury on their face caused by the irritated stranger who was still yelling at them. Their angry, paranoid scent leaking out from their mated collar, the smell of burning wheat filling the air.
“Ever since you guys showed up, people have been disappearing! Go back to whatever hellhole you crawled out of and leave our town alone!
Ugh. People have been treating them harshly since a few people went missing. It’s not their fault that someone ran off with their lover. Who’s to say that the people missing just moved fast from a courtship stage to elope with their mate?
You remember at least one couple doing that back in high school, appearing a few months later with fresh claim marks and rings adorning their fingers. They were a pretty cute omega x omega couple who ran away due to family interference. You hope that everything is doing alright with them back at home, last time you heard they adopted a second cat.
Just because someone ran off with a lover or ran away from the first day the circus arrived, doesn’t mean the members have anything to do with it. Especially with no evidence to back up what the rumors claim. You can only guess the hate stems from their rather uncanny appearance even though it was part of the darker themes of the circus.
“I’m talking to you, you freak!” The man continued to shout. The spittle spraying out from his lips with every sentence. “Get out of town!”
Okay. That guy is really crossing the line. Accusing someone, berating them and assaulting them? That was too much.
You looked around the small crowd gathered around the jester and the man, simply watching the encounter happen instead of doing anything to step in. Was someone seriously recording this mess? Ugh. You’re tired of this already.
“Hah. Fine,” you muttered to yourself, walking up to the yelling man with all the confidence you can muster at the moment even though any sign of intimidation might be hindered by the barista uniform you have on now.
Despite what you thought, your stance and height made people make way for you to approach. Without your scent muddling their viewpoint, everyone assumed an alpha had come in to mediate the fight. At this point in your life, it was better to go with people’s assumptions than mess with anything else. If people thought you were something else, you didn’t confirm or deny it. It helped you get by college on your scholarship with relative ease compared to your time in high school.
“That’s enough.” You steadied your voice, keeping your eyes on the strange man as you walked up to stand between him and the jester. Bells jingled behind you as you could only assume the jester was looking up to see who stepped in.
“People have been going missing since they showed up!“ the man tried to continue on even as his voice started to waver under your unblinking stare.
“And that gives you the right to assault them? Interesting.” You kept your voice steady. The tone of it made the person filming put their phone away as the crowd shifted around you. Although you kept your gaze fixed on the man who was steadily trying to back away from your intense stare. “I’m sure the police would love to hear about that when you have no evidence to back up your claim on why you hit a circus worker out of nowhere when he was doing his job.”
“Yeah, that’s right. He’s going way too far!”
‘Wow. Nice of you to step in, random stranger, right after I began dealing with the situation.’ You thought tiredly as more strangers in the crowd started mumbling about the rude man and how paranoid he was.
“Wake up, you idiots. They’re the ones—“ the man tried to defend himself again as the previously silent crowd started to actively turn against him. He groaned. “Ugh. Fine. To hell with all of you!” Steeling himself, he pointed up at your nose while his cheeks started to grow red from embarrassment or anger. You couldn’t tell anymore. “I hope you get taken next!”
With that, the man stormed off.
You silently stared at everyone as they quickly dissipated, walking away from the scene quickly like you were about to pounce on them next. Whatever.
You looked down to see the jester staring up at you with golden eyes behind what appeared to be a white mask with black markings near the eyeholes. He doesn’t look as creepy as what people have been saying. In fact, he looks kind of adorable on his knees like that.
“Are you alright?” You asked, not receiving a reply from the jester. They still seemed stunned by what happened. You held out your head towards him. “Here. Let me help you up.”
The jester reached out with his gloved hands. The gloves were black with sharp points at each finger to mimic claws and a golden design at the other end of it.
Without thinking, you pulled him up too quickly with your strength, resulting in the jester stumbling more or less into your arms. Their golden eyes widened, blinking down at you as you quickly helped settle him back onto his feet. Oh, even his shoes were pointed and curved up with little bells on them as well. How cute.
“Sorry. I might have used too much strength with that.” You took a moment to brush off the arms of the jester, not really noticing how he watched your gentle motions.
You looked up at the jester once he was standing upright in front of you. Damn. He’s really tall.
And he is still injured. The scrape was clear especially with the white face paint almost highlighting the pink and red marking on his face.
“”Hm. You’re hurt. Hold on.” You spread out your hands in a ‘stop’ motion before waving him down towards you. “Bend down for a moment.”
The jester’s eyes seemed to grow wide before he nodded and bent forward so you could easily reach his face. You could have sworn you heard his breathing hitch as you held his cheek to examine the spot.
Right. You should have a bandage in your bag, right?
You took your hand away from his face and swung your shoulder bag closer to dig through it. Granola bar? No. Suppressant patches? Nope. Disposable mask... wallet... keys...lip balm? There’s no need for any of that.
There we go, there’s the tiny first aid kit!
The tiny bag could barely be called that but it had the essential bandages, cream, and pads that you needed whenever something small happened. There was one too many times that you had to bandage up after burning yourself with the steamed milk or hot espresso.
You opened it up to pull out a pink bandage with a little kitten print on it with a small tube of cream. You looked up to see the jester patiently waiting, staring down at you with an unreadable gaze that seemed to focus near your neck where your leather collar sat.
You debated whether putting the antibiotic cream on his face was really necessary before putting the tiniest dab onto the red area. Hopefully the face paint didn’t get into the area. Should you have wiped it off before? Agh, too late to do that now! All the jester did was silently watch you with a smile as you applied the bandage on carefully, not letting the sticky parts fold onto itself.
“There. The bandage doesn’t really fit your theme but it might help a little.” You said, holding his face still before realizing how close you were to them. You pulled back, not heeding the small whine that followed as you stepped away from the circus worker. “I need to get to work or else I’ll be late. If your injury gets infected or anything, you should go see a doctor.”
The jester stayed silent. His golden eyes watching you as he slowly tilted his head, a grin slowly spreading on his face.
It was simultaneously creepy yet cute at the same time. You made a gesture towards the direction of the cafe. “Uh, if you want, you can stop by the cafe and I can get you something. It’s not right that you were treated like this after all.”
The jester said nothing in reply, simply smiling at you. Was the performer mute or was it just an act? Well, either way, you need to head to work soon. You waved at them. “Take care, okay?“
You smiled when they raised their hand to wave back before pivoting on your heel and jogging towards your workplace.
*
Omega.
Pierrot has been traveling with his pack for many years in the circus and he had met maybe omegas before. Both human and monster. Yet not one of them had the same scent as the one before him now. And they smelled... heavenly.
Despite the layers of protection they wore, his kind had a stronger sense of smell than humans even the highest level of human alpha could not match a monster’s level. Their scent was stronger than any other human omega scent, closer to a omega monster’s pheromone yet different in a way that intrigued him.
Even though the scent was what caught his attention first as the stranger started to walk by, the fact that they intervened and stood up for him is what truly made him pay attention.
You. You were different. A human standing up for someone like him even as the others seemed to hesitate or look away from the scene. You didn’t look away, you kept your eyes on that man. You intimidated that man. You protected him against the danger and drove them away.
Then, you surprised him again with your strength. He was considered one of the strongest in the circus yet he was not ready for the amount of force you put behind your pull. Although he should have known due to the sight of your muscular arms. His inner alpha was thrilled at your subtle show of strength.
And you touched him so gently, brushing off the dirt from his costume and caring for his wound.
He almost felt like a deprived juvenile monster as all he could do was focus on how your scent was closer now. His eyes pointedly staring at the leather collar adorning your neck, already imagining your bare neck exposed before him. That size collar signifies that you did not have a mate yet.
‘My dearest omega.’ He thought to himself, his inner alpha threatening to purr in content before you pulled away from him resulting in a small whine he could barely cover up.
He kept his eyes trained on you as she explained that you need to leave his side soon to work.
Would you be open to his courtship? How would your scent taste in the air once that collar was exposed before him? Would your touch remain as gentle as before or would you want to be rougher with him? What type of mate did you crave for? He needed to find out. He needed to find out more about you. Your name. Where you work. Where you live. What you like and dislike. Your favorite color. Your favorite food. Your favorite drink. Your favorite movie. What do you like to listen to? Your favorite book. What did you like to read? Did you read quite often? What you liked to wear. Your habits. Your hobbies. Your flaws. Your strengths. Your favorite position. What did you prefer for courtship gifts? Would you like him to be the provider? The caregiver? He could perform any role you needed and wanted as long as you kept your eyes on him.
His golden eyes were trained on you as you walked away from sight. His alpha already yearned for you again once you disappeared.
‘You will be mine. And I will be yours. I won’t let anyone else take you away from me.’ He promised to himself.