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"Do you guys ever get homesick? Brazil must be so much better than North Carolina."
"A little, dear one. I definitely miss the warmth," said Harlequin.
"We try to go back at least once a year, but we've had to skip the last two or three," said Ticket Taker.
"The beaches just aren't the same here. I miss the water and the fish," said Pierrot.
"Why do you ask, pet? You should eat before your food gets cold."
You hummed and did what you were told. A thought sprouting deep in your mind. There must be some way to bring a little bit of Brazil here for them. What did you even know about Brazil anyway? They liked soccer, dancing,...there was that one movie about the bird. Then, it hit you. You giggled to yourself only for everyone to look at you in confusion. You awkwardly cleared your throat and finished eating.
Later, you walked up to Jester after his performance.
"Great job out there! Um, I have a question. A favor actually."
Violet eyes paused on you briefly. While you had wormed your way into their lives somehow, you were still human. He wasn't particularly interested in entertaining the whims of a human, but he motioned for you to speak anyway.
"Is there a tent I can borrow? It doesn't have to be super big, but enough for a little gathering?"
"And what, pray tell, is this gathering for?"
"That's a secret."
If he wasn't skeptical before, he was now. A human having a secret was never a good thing.
You clasped your hands together and pleaded. "Please please! Oh and could I borrow a few fools? I promise you guys will like it!"
His eye twitched beneath his mask. Was he actually considering it? Had he grown soft? Jester sighed and approved your request.
You bounced up and down giddily before prancing off to set your plans in motion.
First, you needed to visit Doctor.
"Doctor, are you busy?" you called from the tent entrance.
A cyan gaze across the dark room met yours.
"Not at the moment. How can I help you, sweetie? Come. Sit."
You slid into a chair in front of him. "You're a bird species, right?"
Doctor tilted his head in mild confusion and interest. "Correct. Why do you ask?"
"Do you molt like a regular bird? If so, may I ask what you do with the feathers?"
"I do molt. The feathers are either burned or used for various things, if necessary. Stuffing and such."
"May I have some?" you leaned in eagerly.
Doctor, more confused than ever, went quiet for a moment before nodding.
You exited the cyan tent with a trash bag full of feathers and scurried away to the designated tent.
A certain carmine clown looked on curiously.
When he approached the tent his beloved had entered, he was stopped by a fool and barred from entry.
What?
But...but...he works here!
Your head popped out after seeing the fool having trouble.
"My dear! May I ask what you're up to? Do you need help? Can I see?" asked Pierrot with a bright smile.
"No, you may not."
You could practically hear his smile shatter like glass. In an instant, he looked down at you with wide, glossy eyes like a kicked puppy.
"Hey! Don't start," on your tip toes, you reached to cup his cheek before giving his chin a little scratch, his toe tapping against the ground at the sensation. "It's a surprise for you and the others. You don't wanna ruin it for yourself, do you?"
"No, but...but, I don't mind seeing it early. And I won't tell the others what it is! I promise! And I'll act just as surprised."
You inhaled.
Pierrot's shoulders rose in anticipation.
"No." You said and booped his nose or where it would be.
His shoulders fell just as fast.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I ordered a package and I have to go get it. Same day shipping is great."
You began to walk past him.
Pierrot would just take a little peek while you were away. It's not like you could catch his scent on anything like he could. You'd never know.
You paused.
"If you look while I'm gone, I'll NEVER forgive you," you said, menacingly.
Pierrot actually felt a chill and shuddered at your threat. He gulped
"Matter of fact, you are to stop ANYONE from looking into this tent. Harlequin, Doctor, Bil, and even Jester."
Ticket Taker paused as he saw you passing through the gates hauling some boxes and a boom box. Did he even want to know? You were peculiar even for a human. Nothing you did made much sense to him or Jester.
Noticing him staring at you, you smiled and waved. "After the performances tomorrow, come to MY tent, okay?"
Your tent? Since when did you have a tent? How did you talk Jester into that? What was going on?!
Leaving Ticket Taker completely confused you continued to your tent in the far back. You chuckled when you were met with the sight of Pierrot holding Harlequin upside down by the ankle.
"Put me down, you overgrown mutt! And what are you laughing at?"
"Good job, love. Harley, my tent is off limits. Don't ruin the surprise for yourself."
"You could've just told me that instead of siccing your guard dog on me!" he said, still flailing his arms and tendrils trying to get out of Pierrot's grip.
You crossed your arms. "And you would've listened and stayed away without peeking?"
"...I mean..."
You smacked your lips. "Yeah, that's what I thought. God, I'll need to work faster idk how long I can keep you guys away."
"My dear, please don't overwork yourself. You'll end up in a painful flare again," said a nervous Pierrot.
You motioned for him to lean down and gave him a peck on the cheek.
"Thank you for always thinking of my wellbeing, but I want to do this for you guys. Even though some of you can be little twerps sometimes, I love you guys," you said, kissing Harlequin on the cheek, too.
As the clowns focused on and prepared for their performances, you were busy sewing, gluing, and cutting various things into the night. Pain medicine and coffee kept you afloat. You knew you were going to pay for it later with a flare, but when you had an idea it tended to consume you until it was done. You could practically hear Pierrot tossing and turning in his tent, knowing you were overdoing it. The others, even though they'd never admit it, were pretty antsy, too. What could the little human be up to?
The next night, the last of the visitors were leaving through the gate and the clowns began to close everything down. Suddenly, samba music started to play from somewhere deeper inside the circus grounds. A festive, light hearted song of drums and beats that made anyone want to dance.
The clowns looked at each other before shrugging and looking at the tent in the back.
When the troupe entered, five jaws dropped in awe. Inside the tent was a stage surrounded by cardboard trees painted with fruits and exotic, colorful birds. The stage was lined in tinsel and beautiful flowers. A few fools manned booths featuring several Brazilian dishes. They jumped when two fools on either side began to throw confetti.
Suddenly, a spotlight lit up on stage. A group of fools held up giant leaves in front of something or someone that came from backstage.
"Vamos pular Carnaval! (Let's Jump Carnival!/Let's Celebrate!)," you said through a megaphone.
As soon as you said it, the fools dropped their leaves revealing you standing there in a quite revealing carnival costume. A sequined gold top made of straps hugged your chest and made it pop. The sequined gold bottoms accentuated your hips and butt wonderfully. Knee high sequined gold heeled boots covered your feet. The gold color complimented your brown skin perfectly. On your headdress and sprouting from behind you were Doctor's red feathers except 5 of them that were dyed to match the signature colors of circus members.
Ticket Taker stood speechless, hand on his chest in surprise. Jester was covering his mouth with both hands in shock. Doctor smiled, no doubt taking mental notes to write down later. Harlequin whistled and cheered you on. And poor Pierrot was covering his eyes and reddened face. You had to stifle a giggle when you saw him peeking through his fingers.
You started to samba beneath the spotlight, hoping the YouTube videos you watched didn't fail you. As you moved and began to freestyle, the fools helped you down a set of steps and handed you 5 beaded necklaces.
You shook and wined your hips to the beat of the music as you walked up to each one of them. After placing a necklace over his head, you held out a hand for Ticket Taker to join your dance earning a rare smile from the man. He indulged in your antics and showed you a thing or two, at one point even corrected your posture, before spinning you over to Jester.
The man in purple also received a necklace, but you didn't expect him to want to dance with a human. You squeaked when you were tugged closer and proven wrong. As you danced and laughed, Jester actually seemed to be enjoying himself and could loosen up quite a bit when he wasn't playing the ever stoic leader.
"Marvelous idea, pet." He said, before you were spun around again and into Doctor.
While you were already technically dating Harlequin and Pierrot, you were secretly harboring a crush on the other three. Especially Doctor. While you gyrated and danced in front of him, he only stared and went strangely stiff. He could hear the blood rushing through your veins and smelled the adrenaline rolling off of you mixed with his own scent. Covered in his own feathers! Doctor trembled as he felt a weird, foreign sensation. You jolted when he suddenly grew puffy and cooed. He hid his face with his hands when Harlequin burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! He puffed up! Doc can't handle all that, ___", he said, holding his stomach as it cramped from how hard he was laughing.
"Oh, and you can?", you asked, shoving his chest to tease him and get him to stop laughing.
"Of course, dear one. Who do you take me for? Pierrot?"
You shoulder shimmied and he followed along, not even trying to hide his roaming emerald eyes. He grabbed you by the wrist to bring your chest flush with his, his other arm around your waist.
"How about we make all of these feathers green and we take this back to my tent?"
"Hmm maybe...maybe not." You said, finally giving him his necklace and pushed off yourself off of him.
You threw your hips in a circle as you reached Pierrot. He eagerly bent down to receive his necklace and began to dance.
"M-My dear! You're so beautiful in your outfit! And you're amazing at dancing. I never knew. I'm so happy!"
Everyone could practically see steam coming out of his ears and nose as you stood with your back to him, dipped down, and slowly rose back up until your ass was against his crotch. His face was as red as his costume. Drool slid down his chin and his heart shaped pupils were blown wide like a cat's. If he smiled any harder, his mask probably would've broken in two.
When you were done, you returned to the stage, panting, and took a bow. Your cheeks grew hot when you realized you received applause from all of them.
"Now, please enjoy the treats at the stalls. I need to get out of this thing and get some fresh air," you said, before running out the back entrance of the tent.
You did it! They looked so happy. Even Jester and Ticket Taker! You wished you could take it all in, but your feet were killing you. Your breathing never returned to normal despite the adrenaline wearing off and you started feeling the telltale signs of your blood pressure acting up. You were upright way too long. Not to mention you didn't get a lot of rest in the past 24-48 hours. Things started to spin. Oooh no. You needed to sit down. NOW. Before...before...
Your eyes rolled back and slid closed.
THUD.
The group were enjoying some food and drink when Doctor looked at the curtains you disappeared behind.
"They've been gone for a while, haven't they?"
"You don't think one little party would be too much... right?" said Harlequin.
"It wasn't just the dancing. They did all of this," said Pierrot, gesturing around to the decorations and foods. "They've been working on it for days. For us."
Everyone was mildly aware of your many health conditions. They knew how fragile humans could be. Their hearts all shot to their stomachs at the same time.
"Everyone fan out and search. I doubt they've made it off the grounds," ordered Jester.
Thankfully, monsters had excellent night vision. Surely they'd find you in no time. Pierrot tried to reason with his thoughts and he followed what he could of your scent when his foot hit something solid.
Your body was on the ground and you weren't moving. No amount of jostling you would get you to open your eyes.
"MY DEAR! DOCTOR!"
You grumbled as your senses began to return. You felt like you were hit by a truck. It took a second for your blurry eyes to clear up, but you found yourself in a cyan tent, hooked up to IVs.
"Wha...?"
In a flash, 5 pairs of eyes were staring down at you.
"Oh. Hey guys. Did you like the food? I'm sorry I couldn't make it myself. Hopefully the Brazilian restaurant I ordered from was good."
"That's what you're worried about?!" shouted Harlequin, as he rubbed his temples.
"You've been out for 10 hours. We found you unconscious. Your blood pressure was dangerously low. You're also mildly malnourished and extremely dehydrated," informed Doctor.
"I'll make you whatever you want to eat, my love! If I don't know how I'll find a recipe!" said Pierrot.
"You had us worried sick! Poor Pierrot and Harlequin wouldn't leave your side. They didn't even bicker like usual!" shouted Ticket Taker.
"For the next week, you are on bed rest, understood?" said Jester.
Did he have any authority over you?
"Do look at me like that. I'm responsible for the safety and well-being of this family. I-"
Jester caught what he had just said and went quiet.
You couldn't help the smug grin on your face. "Awww you like me, don't you?"
He huffed and turned away. A dash of red upon his cheeks.
Doctor scratched his face awkwardly. "I believe we all do."
"Wait what?!"