Work Text:
“Ugh I am not in the mood for work anymore” you think to yourself
You step on something, it’s a flyer, a circus has apparently come to town. Whatever it’s not like you’re into that kinda stuff, but geez that’s a lot of flyers. You turn the corner to see one of the circus performers on the floor while a man yells at him. Without a second thought you get between the man and the clown.
“HEY WHY ARE YOU HITTING THE POOR PERFORMER” you yell
“Lady this isn’t any of your business, back off”
“Listen you are making a fool of yourself by harming him, he hasn’t even done anything to you”
“You his girlfriend or something, why are you defending him”
“No I just happen to hate assholes like you who hurt innocent people”
“Listen here you-“
*more arguing*
The people watching the scene grab onto the crazy man before he hurt you, thankfully they did or else you wouldn’t know what to do. You turn to face the clown, he has this smitten look on his face..
“Hey are you alright” you ask
He doesn’t say anything but nods, you notice blood on his face? Or is it a mask? Whatever..you check your bag to see a pink bandage, you hand it to him- hopefully he doesn’t mind the colour. His mask has a wide smile now, you think it’s kinda creepy, but that’s non of your business as of right now. You give him your hand to pull him up from the floor, his hands are unnaturally big and his nails are really sharp, maybe it’s just apart of the costume.
“Hey I’ve gotta go now, I’ll be late for work, so take care”
You walk into the coffee shop, you go behind the counter and set everything up for the day, hopefully you won’t have to deal with any more entitled people for the day, but you know for a fact you will.
“Hey Y/N have you heard from carol lately? Her family is worried about her, they say she’s run away” your boss says
“I’m just worried about her, plus with her gone, you and I will need to cover more shifts” he frowns
“No I haven’t heard anything from her, and when was she last seen?” You ask
“Hmm around the same time the circus started setting up so 2 days ago.”
“You don’t think the circus has something to do with this now do you Y/N?”
“No no I hope she comes back soon, and if she has run away, I hope she’ll stay safe” you say
Your boss then heads out, he’s only here to open the shop today, you head to the door to flip the closed sign. As you walk back to the counter you hear bells chime, you turn around to see the clown you helped just earlier. You are scared to death by how quiet he is, but anyways it’s time to start the day.
“Oh hi nice to see you again, what may I get for you? I remember you can’t speak so here’s the menu”
He points to the milkshake and leans in close, he whispers into your ear.
“My lady I mustn’t speak in public, but in private I can” he whispers
“Ohh I see, what’s your name then?”
“Pierrot..”
“I see that’s a nice name, is that your stage name or your actual name?”
“Actual”
“Oh that’s cool, I’ll go ahead and make your order then.”
While making his order an angry Karen barges in, she demands a seasonal drink only served in summer, when it is clearly autumn. Nonetheless you have to explain to her why you cannot make her drink, she yells at you and complains about the poor customer service. Well it’s not like you care much about her opinion but okay ma’am, go ahead and storm out of the store, keep looking like a crazy person elsewhere. You did notice that Pierrot looked angry when she was yelling at you, well I mean who wouldn’t be angry if someone was yelling at 8am.
You pass the milkshake to Pierrot, his mood instantly changes a wide smile appears,he pulls out cash along with some buttons to pay for it, you’re not sure why someone has that many buttons lying around but you just ignore it, people have their own weird traits.
He gives you a ticket to visit the circus, you try to refuse but he keeps insisting. He whispers that it’s a thank you for saving him earlier. You accept and say you’ll think about it.
As you are taking more orders another circus member walks in, you freeze dead in your tracks, he looks so.. familiar.. Though you are certain you’ve never met him before.
He also freezes in place, but almost immediately unfreezes. You are the only one who catches that it appears. He sits down next to Pierrot, who now looks furious at the sight of this person.
“Are you perhaps Pierrot’s friend?” you ask
“Friend.. ha”
“The name’s Harlequin, and you dear?” he says in this flirtatious tone
“Im Y/N, listen i’ve got a busy schedule, are you going to order something or no?”
“my my of course i’ll get.. a black coffee then”
You can’t help but stare at him, something about him feels different, you’re not sure what though..
You notice that in his curly hair it sometimes makes a heart shape, how fitting that it matches his costume. You hope he doesn’t think you’re weird for staring so much.
“Wait what am I thinking, why do I care that much about some guy I just met” you think to yourself while pouring his coffee.
You notice a sharpie on the counter, you don’t think much about it, till you look at Harlequin. You decide to draw a few hearts on his cup.. just to match his costume you tell yourself.
You pass the cup to him, he takes one look at it and for a second something in his eyes changes, he immediately covers the hearts to make sure Pierrot doesn’t see it.
“How much is it dear?” he asks
“$1.20 but you can just give me a dollar”
“Oh? A special discount how sweet”
As you get back to helping others with their orders, you can see the two clowns arguing with their eyes, you definitely now know they aren’t friends..
After a few minutes Pierrot then leaves the shop, leaving just Harlequin sitting there, staring at you.
You notice there aren’t many customers so you decide to have small talk with Harlequin, you walk over to him wondering how to start the conversation.
“Hey so would you like a sweet treat? It’s on me”
“Very kind, but I don’t like anything sweet, I prefer more spicy things”
“Oh that’s cool, I really like sweets especially the sour ones. However I can’t handle spicy things”
“Any reasons why you don’t like sweets?”
“Just not my style”
“..Though I wouldn’t mind such a sweetheart like you”
You are completely caught off guard, you aren’t the type to know what to do when romantic things happen, if you could even count this as ‘romantic’.
“I don’t do things like that”
“Quẽ?”
“Never mind”
The silence was so loud, you were thinking of what to say to ease the tension, then he spoke.
“So will you be going to the circus tonight?”
“I’m not sure, I still have to tidy the shop up”
“Would getting a free ticket help?”
“Oh Pierrot already gave me one”
“A red ticket.. well this intoxicating green suits you much better Y/N, won’t you take mine instead?”
You don’t understand what’s the difference between the two tickets, don’t they both allow you to enter? But after what Harlequin said, you do end up reaching for his ticket.
He pulls his hand back
“Promise you’ll come?”
Something about the way he said it made you really want to go.
“I promise”
He then hands you the ticket, as more customers come in, you are too busy dealing with them to notice Harlequin leaving. Which kinda saddens you as you wanted to talk with him more.
(time skip to 5:15pm)
“Sighh I finally finished today’s work” you exhale. You check your pocket to find the two tickets, you notice the entry time is in forty five minutes, you aren’t too exhausted today so you decide to go, but the real question is which ticket do you use.
You decide to head home to change into more comfy clothes first. Do you wear your usual black hoodie or the green one that your mother bought for you when you were just 11. For some reason you chose the green hoodie, it hasn’t been worn in a while so the shape is quirky.
You comb your hair with your favourite broken hairbrush, it was a gift but after years of using it you broke it, now you just can’t bring yourself to buy a new one.
You know its not good to keep broken things, but you just don’t want to let go of the memories..
You haven’t eaten all day, it’s not like you eat much anyway. You just pray that you won’t faint after leaving the house, that could lead to some trouble.
You put on the hoodie, it’s quite thin but the weather hopefully won’t change much. You bring a small bag enough to fit your phone, the green ticket, your keys, and your medicine.
You look at the clock it’s already 5:47pm, time to go or else you might miss a performance.
(time skip to 6:05pm)
The sky is already getting dark, you wonder how you’ll make it home safely tonight, it’s a sad thing to wonder but better safe than sorry.
You see the bright lights coming from the circus, it’s a lot prettier at night. You follow the crowd and is brought to the Ticket Taker, he seems cool, half of his mask is black while the other white.
“Welcome dear guest, may I see your ticket please”
You pull out the green ticket from your bag, a surprised expression forms on his mask. You look around and see that other people are holding a pink ticket, did you get scammed? No way Harlequin gave you this himself.