Eyeliner was invented by Satan: that much Silas was certain of.

"What is this shit made out of? Sharpie?!" Silas yelled at his reflection, furiously rubbing his eye with a makeup remover, which was doing nothing more than smearing the black stuff more.

"Talking to yourself is sign of schizophrenia."

Silas shot a look over his shoulder and sent a half way smile at the man who'd entered his trailer.

"Hey, Jerome."

"You spent your entire life in the circus and you still can't get makeup off," Jerome said, smiling slightly.

"You know I only had to start wearin' this shit since last Wednesday, and tell your ma a fuck you very much for that," Silas said, referring to how Lila had told his mother that Silas would look better performing with eyeliner.

When Jerome was quiet, Silas sent him a sideways glance and sighed.

"Who is it this time?"

"Your dad."

Silas swallowed hard and returned to removing the eye makeup with far less vigor than before.

"You stayin' the night?"

"Yeah," Jerome said.

Silas was considered one of luckiest out of anyone else in the circus:

It'd worked itself out so that the youngest Grayson was the only one with a trailer to himself.

But, half the time he wasn't alone because Jerome would sleep there because of Lila.

"You were good tonight."

"Thanks, man," Silas said, giving Jerome a crooked smile.

Silas didn't mind Jerome crashing in his trailer, though, he was his friend.

"You changed your clothes. Too bad; I like the way your ass looks in tights."

Well, kinda.

"Jerome…"

"What? Everyone else is in bed, Baby," Jerome said, Silas swallowing hard.

Jerome was different when he was alone with Silas: the way he held himself, his voice, hell, his damn smile changed.

It sorta freaked Silas out.

But, it really turned him on.

"Depends: you gonna keep quiet this time?" Silas teased.

"I'm not the loud one. 'Oh, Jerome. Harder, Jerome. Fuck me, Jerome,'" Jerome said in a high pitched voice.

"I don't sound like that, you ass!" Silas said, hopping up to tackle Jerome, only for the red head to trip him, Silas landing face first on the bed.

"Perfect," Jerome purred, a hand on the small of Silas's back as he studied his ass "Just the way I like you."

.

Silas had never liked Lila Valeska.

It wasn't because she slept around, even though she fucked his (married) dad every other week.

It was because of how she hurt Jerome.

Although, maybe he should thank her, who knows how long it would've taken for the two of them to get where they were without her abuse.

.

Silas never hung around Jerome; Jerome was too young for Silas to be playing with him: Jerome's birthday was today and he was only nine, Silas had been twelve for two whole months.

Silas had saved up enough allowance to buy himself a chocolate bar, and was feeling rather proud of himself as he headed back to his parent's trailer.

But…

There was Jerome, sitting outside his ma's trailer, crying quietly while sporting a ton of bruises.

Before Silas could really think about it, he shoved the candy into Jerome's surprised hands and muttered a "Happy Birthday," before he ran off.

.

So, yeah, Lila's fault.

But, Silas was never anything other than polite to that bitch: high road and not wanting to get slapped around by his dad.

"Silas, Jerome went into town to get groceries; can you help me with this box?"

Silas sent his dad a pained look, only to be met with a glare.

"Sure think, Ms. Valeska."

Silas hefted up the box and followed Lila into her trailer.

"I always liked how you said that," Lila said.

"Said what?" Silas asked, frowning.

"Ms. Valeska. Not Miss Valeska or Mrs. Valeska. Your daddy raised you good," Lila said, lighting up a cigarette.

"Uh, yeah. Where'd you want this?"

"On that table," Lila said "… How old are you now, Silas?"

"Twenty-One."

"You can drink," Lila observed, making Silas want to roll his eyes.

"Yeah, but, never really took to it," Silas said, shrugging "Is that all?"

"You're close with my boy, aren't you?"

Fuck!

"Yeah, we're friends," Silas said, surprisingly evenly for how hard his heart was beating.

"Too bad he weren't born a girl," Lila said "You two could've had somethin'."

FUCK!

"No offense, Ms. Valeska, but Jerome is always gonna be a jackass, it got nothn' to do with gender."

Lila laughed boisterously, Silas smiling as he felt some relief: she didn't seem to know.

"You grew up good, Silas."

And that's when Silas realized something was going on.

Lila placed a hand on his bicep.

"Uh, thanks, Ms. Valeska."

"Lila," She corrected.

This isn't good.

"Um, okay, I'm gonna go: I gotta help dad set up," Silas said, retracting from Lila's hand and heading towards the door.

"I'm sure Al can spare you for a little while," Lila said, grabbing Silas's arm "C'mon, let me get you a drink. Maybe you'll take to it this time."

Silas straightened up slightly and turned towards Lila.

"I'd rather not, Ms. Valeska."

And he turned to leave again, hoping she'd just leave him alone.

She caught his arm again, this time, though; she spun him around and slapped him hard across the face, her ring cutting into his cheek.

"Just you wait 'til your daddy comes over here! He's gonna whup your ass for bein' so damn disrespectful to me!"

Silas was fairly certain she said more, but he'd run out of her trailer before he heard anymore.

.

Silas had wanted to forget this whole thing, he really did, but Jerome saw the cut and Jerome had been on the receiving end of enough of Lila's slaps that he could tell that it was from her.

When Silas told him, Jerome went quiet, but his eyes blazed.

"… Jerome?" Silas asked as Jerome grabbed his coat.

"That bitch crossed a line," Jerome hissed, his voice low and gravelly as he went to the door of the trailer.

"Jerome," Silas repeated, catching his arm.

Jerome spun towards him with a glare that made Silas shrink slightly and drop his eyes.

Silas then felt Jerome stroke a hand on his hair and over his cheek where the cut was before getting to Silas's chin and jerking his head up to look at him, making Silas squeak slightly.

"She won't hurt you again."

Something about the finality of his statement made Silas's stomach twist into knots.

"Don't do anything dumb."

"That's what I got you for," Jerome said, grinning and sending a chill down Silas's spine before he pulled Silas down for a kiss.

.

Lee attended to a young man's bruise, the man seemingly extremely put out by tonight's events.

Her eyes caught on something else, though: a cut on his cheek, probably about a day old.

"What happened there?"

"Imma trapeze artist: I get cut sometimes," He said, a little too blasé before he turned towards the man and woman sitting near to him "I swear to god, if you two don't shut up, I'll make sure you both got concussions."

"What's the problem, anyhow?" Lee asked.

"Don't start them off," The man she was attending to groaned.

"The Graysons are a bunch of arrogant buttheads is the problem," One of clowns, Mary, said.

"The Lloyds are feckless drunkards, is more like it," One of the Graysons, John, retorted.

"Nobody cares who stole whose horse, will ya'll shut the fuck up?" The young man asked.

"You're such a bitch when you don't see your stupid boyfriend all day," John grumbled.

"Jerome's just my friend: I'm sorry that you don't have any of those, so you don't understand," The young man said, Lee frowning slightly "And I'm a bitch when I get hit in the head with a bottle for no fucking reason."

"There was a reason: it's because Mary's uncle is an idiot," John said.

"You know damn well it must be Lila's fault," Mary replied, causing John and Silas to close off.

Lila?

.

Working with Jim had been amazing, seeing how everything was done and figuring out the killer had given her such a rush.

But, seeing the killer…

That boy was insane, no doubt about it.

But… Something was bothering Lee… Like she missed something.

Then, it occurred to her.

.

"Jim!"

Jim turned around and smiled at his girlfriend before seeing her worried appearance.

"What is it?"

"He was lying," Lee said.

"Who was lying?" Jim asked.

"Jerome: he was lying about why he killed his mother."

"What do you mean?" Jim asked, frowning.

"He didn't kill her because of her sexuality or because of her overbearingness."

"Then why?" Jim asked.

.
Jim knocked on the door of a trailer, the door swinging open and Lee's stomach becoming a knot.

His face was red and blotchy.

He'd been crying.

"You're Silas Grayson, right?" Jim asked.

"Yeah?" He asked, sniffling slightly.

"Can we ask you a few questions?"

He let them in.

"Whatdaya wanna know?" Silas asked quietly.

"The whole story… I get the feeling we don't know that," Lee said.

Silas took a deep breath before nodding.

.

"You knew he killed Lila," Jim said.

"I wasn't certain," Silas protested, still looking at his feet: he hadn't looked them in the eye the entire time he told them the story "… I'm going to jail for this, aren't I?"

"You withheld information from a police officer about a murder," Jim said, Silas giving a shaky sigh "But… I'm willing to not tell anyone about this if you tell me something."

"What?"

"You knew he wasn't right in the head. You knew he killed his mother. And you knew you were the reason why."

"What's your question?" Silas asked, still looking down.

"Why'd you protect him? He didn't deserve your protection."

Silas snorted and shook his head, before stopping and giving Jim a pained look.

"Because I love him."