A/N: Wow… this was finished over a month ago and I didn't bother uploading it. Anyway, yet another one-shot – although like the last time I wrote about this pairing, I would like to point out I'm not too comfortable with their characters. So constructive criticism in that department would be grand, especially for Tala… I'm a tad bit concerned over him.
Thanks again, Shawn. Without you I wouldn't have a title still…. As well as giving it a look over grammatically.
Revised May 27, 2015.
Summary: If you're having a bad day, what better to cheer you up than a clown?
Pairing: Definitely TalaxJulia.
Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade.
On the Back Roads
"Damn it."
No better words could be said at this moment, the unhealthy clunking from under the hood of the car had made itself highly noticeable. It puttered and grinded much to a teenage male's blatant frustration, pulling over on the side of the road, he began to mutter choice words under his breath.
This was why Tala Ivanov did not do favours. For people like him, karma had no law. It did not matter that he went against his wishes and had decided to help some of Kai's friends by driving them to the airport, nor did it matter that he had to rent a death trap on wheels to do so. He felt he owed them for watching over him when he was down, and this was what happened….
His closed fist collided with the dashboard, hoping the contact would cause a magical reaction. It didn't, to no surprise. The car heaved with a final grunt before stalling into silence, leaving the red headed Blitzkrieg Boy stranded on a deserted highway.
Scowling, Tala released his seat belt before stepping outside. Slamming the door behind him, he muttered, "Take the dirt path, it's quicker…."
With his arms crossed, he walked towards the front of the vehicle, his eyes trained on the machine. Staring at it for a few moments, he decided to face that he did not know what he was doing. And with one final attempt, he made his way back to the driver's seat. Playing with the ignition a few times, the whole ordeal had grown tedious.
Running a hand through his hair, he swallowed the bitter words that threatened his lips. Tala again growing impatient, exited the car, giving it a boot as he walked passed.
Left with little options, he began to slowly trek back down the dusty road in the direction of a small service station he recalled seeing. Although he passed it fifteen minutes ago, he was quite aware that on foot it was a distance away, so his eyes kept locked on the narrow two way street.
He had quickly realized dirt paths were unpopular because of this, his blue eyed gaze staring into endless horizon. Letting out another unimpressed grunt, he shifted his jaw out of habit and continued in stride, allowing his hope to subside.
It was not a few moments later that a slew of absurd honks strung together out of tune caught Tala's attention from behind. His expression became one of puzzlement as he peered over his shoulder; a rather large bus had stopped, coming to a complete halt at his side.
The red headed male was incredulous, the rainbow coloured bus adorned tinted glass and it wasn't until a window was cracked open that he saw who was riding. If Tala had prepared words, he would've been speechless.
"Howdy, partner!" chimed the center piece of one of the most bizarre scenes he had ever seen take place.
Smiling wildly as he tipped his small green hat, a man leaned casually out the window to get a good look at the Blitzkrieg Boy. His face was painted white except for around his mouth and eyes, which were a vibrant blue shade, and in the middle sat the shiniest, red nose he had ever seen.
It was hard to believe, but Tala had come face to face with a clown.
"Was that your car back there?" he asked, jabbing a thumb from where the boy had come from. "You're welcomed to hop aboard if you'd like, we have an extra seat just for you."
Remaining silent, Tala gathered his thoughts and weighed them accordingly. He could decline and walk for roughly an hour, leaving his feet sore and blistered; or he could accept and hitch a ride for a few minutes, having himself in the company of circus folk. He wasn't quite sure which fate was supposed to be worse.
"Thank you," he decided, pulling a small smile for the driver, "I'll accept your offer, Sir."
"No need to be so formal," the clown waved his hand freely as he called out to the boy. Making his way to the other side of the vehicle, the bus' doors swung open to reveal stairs. Tipping his hat again, he grinned, "Just find a seat and enjoy yourself!"
Tala nodded in acknowledgement, not entirely planning on following through with the latter as he climbed onto the bus. To his surprise, the seats were crowded in twos by celebrating clowns. Walking down the aisle in his search for a seat, he noticed that everyone had their faces painted differently. And they were shouting with laughter, raising some sort of circus concoction up in the air as horns honked annoyingly.
Beginning to ridicule his decision making skills, he finally found an available seat. His hands gripped the surrounding backrests, preventing himself from falling as the man continued to drive, while he contemplated sitting down.
The other occupant of the seat met his gaze, and he paused. Feeling that he knew this girl from somewhere, his brain began to attempt to place from where exactly.
Quickly reading into his facial expression, she decided to ease his thoughts. "Julia," she reminded.
Realization soon followed the statement, and he found himself nodding once again in reply. Taking the seat next to her, Julia shuffled closer to the window to make more room.
Tala took in her appearance, the combination of paint and matching get-up caused him to smirk. He cleared his throat to get her attention, finding that she looked ridiculous. "I think you may have a little something on your face."
The statement had caught her off guard, staring at him blankly before registering what his words were. "Oh…," she said slowly, and then mock seriousness took a hold of her voice, "Really? I can't imagine how that got there."
Sensing her sarcasm, he beckoned, "They actually let you out in public like that?"
"I could ask you the same thing."
He didn't reply, but merely continued to smirk. Julia's gaze adverted to the large tinted window at her left, ignoring the male that she now sat next to. Although that didn't seem to bother Tala, he crossed his arms and looked straight forward, the celebration on board simply not phasing him.
That was, until a rather large clown that sat in front had noticed the new seat mate. The man grinned, stretching the red makeup further across his face.
"Why hello there!" he bellowed, his voice surprisingly high for a man of his stature. "Care to join in our celebrations?"
The red headed boy stared brazenly ahead, ignoring the over cheerful clown. Julia glanced to him, before throwing a smile at the now blank face of the standing man. "No thanks Uncle Donald, he… might not want to leave if he has too much fun."
"Ah… I see, good plan. Well there's always room for another in this circus," Donald said, his smile again formed on his face. Beginning to go back to the onboard party, he paused and eyed the pair of them. Winking, the clown added, "Or family… whichever works best."
Julia sat silently mortified as her Uncle fully returned to the celebration laughing. Thankful that Tala had not said anything yet, she slowly allowed her gaze to reach him.
"This is your family?" he questioned, his expression void of emotion.
"Adoption," she stated clearly.
His head moved slightly, so he could see better from out the corner of his eye. "Everyone in your family is a clown?" he asked, almost skeptical at the thought.
"Some of them are acrobats," Julia defended lamely, "If you have a problem with growing up in a circus; go ahead… make fun of my childhood."
"I don't make fun of peoples' childhoods."
He was dead serious, even if he appeared rather passive. Swallowing a lump that gathered in her throat, she fidgeted with the hem of her costume. "Sorry…," she said quickly, feeling inclined.
Tala didn't bother with a reply, causing the girl to sigh lowly out of frustration. "What are they celebrating anyways?" He frowned, nodding once to the bustling crowd before regarding her.
"A show." She shrugged.
"Why?"
Sitting back in the seat, she did the motion with her shoulders once more. "It was successful; it's always the same after a show."
"You always pick up stranded people on the highway to recruit or wed them off?" The Blitzkrieg Boy smirked, the question hanging in the air as she rolled her eyes.
"Especially that part," she remarked sarcastically, "But really, we just like to focus on the good times. If a show goes well, we celebrate; if a show goes bad… well I'm in it, so that doesn't happen."
Tala became incredulous, making her sneer.
"If you dwell on the bad it's just going to keep on coming. It's your state of mind," Julia continued, "So by doing this we're expressing our appreciation, trying to keep the good times around."
"By being loud?"
"Hey, we're clowns." She laughed at his perplexed behaviour. "Don't you ever do that? Look at the bright side, I mean."
"Why bother," Tala answered evenly, "Something is either good… or bad."
"I don't believe that," Julia quickly challenged him, "Not everything is black and white, sometimes there's a dash of yellow, blue and red that mixes everything up."
He quirked an eyebrow slightly at the comment, although he had nothing to say back. Her emerald gaze sparked because of this, and a smile soon washed over her face.
"Try it."
"Try what?" Tala questioned.
"Your car broke down, look for the good side of the situation," she told him, "Try it."
"You want me…," he said slowly, hoping that Julia would realize how stupid the demand was, "to try to find the good in being stranded in the middle of nowhere because of a car that isn't even mine all for a favour?"
She crossed her legs and fixed herself to look him dead straight into the eyes. "You make it sound like it's hard."
"You can't be serious."
"Contrary to popular belief, clowns are capable of that ability," Julia stated, wearing a smirk, "How about the fact you were picked up by really nice people?"
"You mean you," Tala retorted, "If you hadn't seen me, I'd still be walking."
"What…?" she faltered, eyeing him strangely before finding the landscape suddenly fascinating, "I have no clue what you're talking about… Flippy was the one who saw you."
Opening his mouth to remark, the Blitzkrieg Boy paused. "Flippy?"
"Flippy the clown… the guy who's driving," she told him, "He saw you, so he stopped."
"Mmhmm, because he watches the road so well." Tala nodded towards the clown at the wheel, his head twisting over his shoulder to see his friends having fun. "I guess I should be glad I'm no longer on the road."
"See, that's another great reason." She rolled her eyes. "I still say I didn't do it."
"I can see why." He shrugged, his voice drenched in sarcasm. "It's not like you were the only one on the bus that wasn't preoccupied with something else that recognized me or anything…."
"Sorry Tala, but maybe I'm just not the outgoing type," Julia said defensively, tilting her head to see his reaction.
"Liar." He frowned, calling her bluff. "I may not have recognized you right away, but I'm not stupid. If you recall, I was also in that tournament; I've seen your battles and I know your techniques and tactics. They're the very means of your personality."
"Fine, you got me." She scowled in defeat. "I am secretly a nice person."
Tala had just sent her another one of his signature smirks when the bus came to a sudden halt, having everyone lurch forward. Instinctively holding onto the seats ahead, the passengers were silent for the first time as Flippy navigated the machine into a small service station.
"Sorry there fellas!" the clown called over his shoulder sheepishly, "Just about missed the place, and Red needs to get off. Not to mention we need to stretch our legs."
The bus pulled into a parking space beside the mere restaurant and gas station. And before long, clowns were exiting down the aisle and out the door leaving Tala and his seat mate to be one of the last dwindling few.
With his hand gripping the backrest, the red headed male lifted himself up. He stared down the walkway for a moment, his eyes cast to the open door, before he went back to the seated form of Julia. Not having anything to say, he merely nodded towards her and then went on his way.
"What are you going to do?" she blurted out just as he approached the stairs. His hand had already met the railing when he instinctively craned his neck to meet her gaze.
He quirked an eyebrow. "Pardon?"
"Now," Julia repeated, "What are you going to do?"
"Find a phone, call the rental company and probably get stuck with the bill," Tala answered in deadpan. Pausing for a moment, he added with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders, "But first I apparently have to celebrate that I was nearly stranded."
"Funny you should mention that." Julia smiled, beginning to approach him at the stairway. "Because I have yet to celebrate the greatness that was my day either."
"If you think I'm going to buy you dinner so we can continue our little conversation, you're wrong."
She faltered, watching him descend the steps to the pavement. He stood silently before looking over his shoulder with a slight smirk. The next couple words that left Tala's mouth told her he finally understood what she meant about the bright side.
"It's on Kai."