"Shit.. Somebody hide me, it's Dandy." Grace busied herself with hiding between her sister Cora and one of their friends as they walked across the parking lot and up to the carnival gates. She felt her stomach churn when she heard Dandy call her name out loud. "Damn it. What the hell happened to hiding me, girls?"

Her older sister Cora smiled and then said "If you keep chasing away all suitors, Grace, you're gonna be a spinster.. Now Dandy's loaded.. And he likes you.. And it's like your momma says.. Maybe you ought to stop looking for Mr. Too Good to Be True and focusing on Mr. Good Enough."

"He's a creep." Grace glared at her older sister and then bit her lower lip, willing the ground to open right up and swallow her whole the closer Dandy Mott got to where she stood currently. If her mother wasn't such good friends with the insufferable bitch known as Gloria Mott, if they hadn't grown up together… If she didn't know exactly all of the darkness hiding in the mind of Dandy Mott, the sickness he kept hidden from everyone but his momma, well… She might just settle for the guy.

But it was that darkness that kept her constantly doing everything she could to make sure she avoided him after one failed blind date and one black eye.

She grimaced just thinking about everything that transpired that night all over again. And then, Dandy was standing in front of her, his arm out expectantly.

"I'm, umm… I'm here with someone." Grace struggled for the excuse, she'd never been really good at lying, but then in a second, she'd seen him parking his motorcycle, it was only the fourth time she'd seen the man around town, black gloves and leather jacket… She'd gotten a little distracted, all she could do was stare as he walked past, - which was usually her problem and how she wound up in the bizarre scenario that transpired seconds later and started all this 'weirdness' in her life…

Jimmy felt staring; he looked up just in time to see Dandy hassling one of the local girls, a pretty and curvy blonde he'd seen around a few times… He saw the blonde's golden brown eyes darting around as if she were looking for an exit.. He saw her briefly look at him and in the time it took for her to do s, get distracted and apparently, forget her train of thought, he saw Dandy's hand reaching for the girls wrist.

Jimmy made his way over just as the girl said calmly, "I'm meeting someone here tonight, Dandy. Go away, please?"

Jimmy cleared his throat from behind the girl, his gloved hands lingering at her hips as his eyes fixed in amusement on the angry ones of Dandy Mott. Dandy snarled at him and retorted, "So you'd rather pay for it than let me pop your cherry.."

Moving Grace out of the way, Jimmy's fist connected with Dandy's nose and Jimmy asked with a smirk, "You kiss your momma with that mouth, Mott? Get lost, now… Hit the bricks."

Once Dandy left, Grace made her way over and said quietly, "You didn't have to do that…"

"If I didn't, you obviously weren't gonna."

Grace bit her lower lip and for a few seconds, it was happening again, she was unable to do anything but stare up and into his eyes while floundering for a response. Finally, she managed a soft smile and said quietly, "I'm Grace."

"Name's Jimmy."

"I've seen you around… Alma had a Tupperware party last week.. I was kinda there.. The quiet one with a book?" Grace mentally kicked herself as she spoke, Jimmy chuckled as he remembered the occasion well. "Yeah, the one who turned me down three times."

"It wasn't… Anything personal."

From behind her, Cora spoke up and said "She's not comfortable with womanly things.. She's still cherry. Gonna die an old maid, that one is… But me… My name is Cora, stud. You don't want baby sister when you can have a real woman, do ya?"

Grace rolled her eyes and seemed to be readying herself to just walk away, let Cora win this whole thing like always but then to her surprise Jimmy eyed Cora then said with a smirk, "You're the one Paul said was the village bike. I think I'd rather hear Grace answerin me herself.. Savvy?" as he held out his arm and waited, Grace took it, her cheeks burning red underneath the artificial neon lighting of the midway they stood in the middle of.

"When daddy finds out what the hell you're consorting with, Grace, you're gonna wish you'd just walked off.." Cora called out menacingly as Grace sighed quietly and shook her head. "Is it wrong to hate your sister?"

"Not if she treats you like Cora always seems to when I see ya both around, doll face." Jimmy answered as he stopped them at a picnic table a good way away from the noise and action of the carnival going on. Grace slid onto the table top, sitting and Jimmy sat down beside her. "You sure you're alright? Mott look like he had you pretty terrified."

"He's a bad guy.. He's a monster, just nobody knows it yet.. My momma though, she keeps saying I'm too picky and that Mott is all I'm ever gonna get… That I better be good to him.."

"That's twisted."

"It is, but.. Our mother married for money both times she married.. And she's trying to raise Cora and I to do the same.. I won't though and it makes her hate me.. Cora will probably do it too.. But not me.. I want to fall in love… I want a loving marriage… I want a man I can't live without."

Jimmy nodded, coughing a little, her words hitting him hard. She'd never want all that with a guy who had clawed hands, so he shoved any thoughts he had about her out of his head before they could fully form.

Because every since they'd come to Jupiter and he'd first seen Grace coming out of the steno classes she took, he'd been painfully aware of her, drawn to her, it was pretty intense, really.. He couldn't explain it, but there was something about her… He wanted her to be his girl.

He wanted to love her, he wanted her to love him back.

"Why do you wear them?"

"The gloves? They cover my hands… My hands freak people out."

"That's stupid." Grace bit her lower lip as she tentatively took one of his hands onto her hand, slowly sliding the glove off, her fingers trailing over his rough skin cautiously as she looked up, held his gaze the entire time. Jimmy studied her intently, waiting; looking for a sign of her being disgusted, afraid or ready to run like hell.

Instead, she let go of his hand as if she thought she were annoying him and then said quietly, "Sorry, I just… I wanted to see 'em."

"They didn't scare you?"

"Nope.. Not even a little.. I saw 'em one day last week.. When you were workin on your bike outside of the grocery store when it broke… I just.. I wondered what it'd feel like to touch them."

"Well now ya know, dollface." Jimmy licked his lips as his gaze met hers and he said quietly, "Now I know how it feels for somebody to touch 'em." as he kept his eyes trained on his hands for a minute or two before standing, holding out one of his hands as he asked with a sort of shy smirk, "Wanna go for a ride, Grace?"

"I'd love that, Jim." Grace smiled as she allowed him to take her hand, lead her through the crowd of the carnival and out to the back, to his tin trailer, to the motorcycle leaning against it. She got on behind him, her arms wrapped around him and he smiled to himself a moment, allowing himself to have just this one night, this pretending he was a normal guy, with a pretty girl, on a first date.

Because he doubted he'd ever cross paths with her again after tonight.

Okay, so I rewatched American Horror Story Freak Show earlier and this little thing came to me. I'm not quite sure how much of the show it will actually follow yet, or if anyone even wants to read more, but here, have it. If you wanna see more, reviews are nice. It's probably going to be pretty straightforward with maybe a twist or two here and there. It's a Jimmy x OC pairing.