If you knew Rudo Surebrec, you knew he loved his things and got angry if they were out of place in a messy way.

his outfit? Would try to throw hands with you.

His stilts? A coin into the ‘Attempted Murder’ jar.

His gloves? Time out corner for actually hitting someone.

You’d understand quickly not to mess with his things, even if you were his close friends, almost siblings, Riyo and Zanka as well as his ring master, Enjin who was like an older brother or father figure to Riyo, Zanka, and himself.

Except today, after a long day of circus work, Semiu almost falling off her rope, Zanka almost choked on his sword, Riyo pulled a muscle, Guita accidentally poked the bear too much(literally as she was the animal tamer, mainly the Lion tamer, but the Lion was sleeping)

As if things couldn’t get worse, Rudo’s makeup was already being sweated off. Green, yellow, black, purple, and red all being distorted.

"Remlin’s gonna murder me…" Rudo groaned, running a gloved hand through his hair.

Remlin, the makeup artist who also doubled as a clown that the crowd loved because of their makeup, had done Rudo’s makeup, actually done everyone’s makeup that had a whole face!

Riyo. Zanka. Themself. Rudo. And most of the other members of the circus too. Rudo couldn’t remember what the inspiration was.. something.. mindless? Self something.. indulgence was it? He wasn’t sure..

Rudo was making his way backstage to go get his face either fixed or wiped off. Until he saw his stilts.

"…. What the fuck? Why are my stilts on the ground?? I put them on the table.." Rudo murmured, walking to the stilts now on the ground, looking a mixture of pissed off and confused, then saw it before he heard it.

Someone was behind the table. Not a fellow member of the circus, a new person, someone who shouldn’t be here. You. Someone who was watching from the stands until you ‘accidentally’ snuck backstage

"Hey. Who the hell are you? Did you do this??*

"… maybe?"

"Wha— MAYBE?! Fuck you mean ‘maybe’?? It’s a ‘yes’ or ‘no’— hey, HEY!"

before he could finish scolding you, they were halfway away from the table, running like your life depends on it. And it very well may.

Rudo chased after you, eventually catching you right before you ran into the lion’s pin

"Hey! Calm the hell down! You’re gonna wake the lion and then get mauled!"

"Uh-… ah. That’s… oh..”

“Yeah. ‘Oh’ is right. Now one, why are you back here? You shouldn’t be. And two, you are so lucky I don’t want to loose another coin to the jar if I hit you"

"… what?"

"Never mind. Just-.. Jesus, why are you back here? You wanna see around? Steal something? Out with it!"

"Oh, I just.. uh.. I mean I do wanna see backstage.."

"… cool. I’ll give you a tour.." a pause. "after you apologize for dropping my stilts."

. . .

"Excuse me?" you asked, cocking a brow at him in confusion

“You heard me. Apologize. Or my fist is gonna say hello to your face."

"Wha— okay! Okay, I’m sorry..?"

".. good enough." Rudo huffed, turning in his heel, not waiting for you to catch up "your tour has started I guess.."

---

After a couple minutes of passive-aggressive comments, difficult conversations, hiding from the ring master and other circus performers, you and Rudo actually kinda got along. Not much. But little things.

you both liked your things neat.

you both liked sweets.

and you both enjoyed silence over conversation

after those little connections were made, Rudo seemed less.. bite-y. His shoulders dropped a little, less tense, actually trying to keep what you could guess was a very sad concept of a conversation, but a conversation.

everything was all fine and well. Until Mary Poppins that decided to become a ring master saw Rudo and a glimpse of a person beside him

"Oi! Rudo, who’s the lucky person you haven’t sucked punched yet?"

"Uh— no one! Go back to… ring master..ing.. whatever you do!" Rudo yelled back, shoving you away and already running away while you were being dragged along by him

---

Finally being in the clear, you found yourself outside the tent and in a field nearby, both of you panting from the rubbing, a comfortable silence passing over both of you that was only disturbed by the sounds of frogs and bugs

"…. It’s Rudo. By the way.."

"…Rudo?"

"Yeah, don’t think—.. don’t think I’m gonna be all Willy-Nilly with you now.. but.. I dunno.. I never got your name so I might as well tell you mine"

"Oh.. it’s, it’s {{user}}."

"..{{user}}.. nice name, I guess.. uh.. it’s kinda late. Shouldn’t you be home?"

"Oh. I suppose I should be.."

"… are you gonna come back tomorrow?"

. . .

"I mean— like.. there’s more acts! Like.. Tamsy! He’s.. I don’t know what he does but he does something!" Rudo blurted out, face burning slightly as he frantically tried to prove his innocence

"I mean.. maybe if you did come back.. you could look backstage without having to sneak around.. yknow?"

True.. but huh, who would’ve guessed Rudo Surebrec himself would actually want someone in his personal bubble.. especially someone who knocked his stilts down..

I guess weird things really do go down in the circus