Review. I own nothing. Not even this computer.
"Weight training stinks Plagg." Adrien grumbles as he rubs his aching shoulders and arms. The Gorilla had forced him up before dawn to do a high weight low reps work out which lead to Adrien nearly tearing his arms out of their sockets. He winces as he walks into the massive circus tent. This might actually not be the best idea, he wanted to get swoll, what young man doesn't have the fantasy of being strong enough to sweep their significant other off of their feet?
And girl for that matter, he had seen Rose at the gym working out like a fiend every single day for years when he finally asked her why she said it was because she liked to pick up Juleka and carry her bridal style around their houses. Those two were absolutely adorable together.
Adrien glances around the tent and sighs, there is a lot of peanut shells that he is going to have to clean up, and the day hasn't even offically started, the circus ringmaster had just shoved a broom in his hands and sent him to work.
"I wonder if this is technichally child labor?" Adrien grumbles to himself and Plagg who was sitting in his front shirt pocket.
"A mix of both. But it beats the streets." A voice calls from overhead. Adrien cranes his head backwards in amazement as he sees Hazel walking on a tightrope. She steps across the tightrope with effortless ease. Adrien gazes up at her in amazement, perched all the way up there she resembled a small doll or a precious little figurine.
"How did you get all the way up there?" He called up before shaking his head in amazement. "Have you been here this entire time?"
"Yep, need to get some practice in before chores and breakfast." Adriens stomach grumbles in delight at that word.
"Breakfast would be great." He said as he swept the peanut shells, discarded candy wrappers and chunks of straw up with his broom.
"Where were you during slop hours last night? I missed seeing you blondie." Hazel was sitting on the tight rope and kicking her feet. He wondered if that was safe, she wasn't wearing a wire and there was no net set up.
"Do you mind if I come up there and talk to you? My neck is starting to hurt looking up at you so much!" He calls up. She smirks before waves her hand dismissively.
"Sure go right ahead. I can't-Blondie!" She shouts out as Adrien drops the broom sprints to the nearest pole with a ladder installed and clambers up the sixty feet like it is nothing until he is practically on the tight rope itself.
"I was joking! Don't get on!" She shouts holding her hands out. Adrien paused with one hand on the tight rope and the other hugging the pole, he just realized that they were over sixty feet in the air and he probably had not thought this entire thing through.
"Why not? I can do this in my sleep!" He said. His muscles were aching and his back was sore from the workout that The Gorilla had put him through earlier that morning, and then he had climbed this ladder thing without a second thought and was now clutching onto the tightrope with one hand. He actually might not have thought this entire thing through...
"Because you never have two strangers on a tight rope at once! That's like circus rule one! It's not safe! Not get back down on the ground before I make you go back." She glares at him, Adrien gulps before retreating, slowly going backwards, hand over hand foot by foot back to the ground. He looks up when he is halfway down and spots Hazel coming rapidly after him.
"Hurry it up!" She said her foot clacking on the ring above his head. Adrien doubles his speed and is soon on the ground, rubbing his shoulder ashamed at how he had acted. She glared at him for a few seconds, head tilted to the side and her arms crossed.
"What were you thinking? You could have hurt me or yourself. You never rush a performer." She glares at him as he glances everywhere except for at her. He mumbles something and she snaps her finger at him.
"Well? Speak up little boy!"
"We're like the same age." He snapped back glowering at her. She huffs and shakes her head.
"Age wise? Sure. But I've been here since forever, I know how to work here. You are treating this place like it's your own personal playground. I live here, I work here. And I don't want you to forget that." She pokes him in the chest making Adrien wince and rub it in distraction.
"I'm...I'm sorry. That wasn't cool. I wasn't trying to put you in any danger. What were you doing up there though? Especially without a net or a wire or anything?" Hazel glances at him before sighing.
"Okay, you got me. I'm really not suposed to be up there without a net or hooked to a harness. Especially when alone. I like to do it though, makes the entire experience a bit more...fun." She frowns at him and pokes at him again. Adrien stepped backwards trying not to get hit. Her fingers were blunt and were going to leave bruises.
"You on the other hand will not be working on that. I could see you doing one of the less physically taxing jobs like running a booth. But I can't picture you in here."
"What? Not even as a clown?" He says making an overly dramatic frown and running a tear down his face before picking up a few pieces of debris off the ground and juggling them while wiggling his eyebrows. Hazel looked at him in surprise before chuckling and shaking her head again.
"A clown. The boy wants to be a clown. Let me tell you something, no jobs in a circus is easy. And clowning is one of the hardest jobs. You're expected to take a beating and keep on making others laugh. You have to be squished, flexible, tough, and able to take immense amounts of pain. So no I don't think you could make it as a clown." Hazel smirks as she walks to the side of the tent to begin stacking wires.
Adrien follows after her, after not talking to anyone for a few hours he needed to get his chattiness out.
"Well I will have you know that I stubbed the same toe twice in one day!" He said proudly. Hazel turns with a raised eyebrow as he grins and then beats an imaginary snare drum. "That was a joke. Get it? You said I had to be tough."
"Well you aren't great at telling jokes I can tell you that much." She deadpanned as she gestured to a spool of wire. "Help me with that will ya?"
"I do better with puns in all honesty." Adrien said as he grabbed some more wire and helped her stack.
They worked in silence for a little while before Hazel finally broke it.
"So where were you last night Blondie? You and The Gorilla have dinner in your trailer or something?" Adrien looked in confusion before grinning nervously.
"Is that...not...normal?" He asks. She shakes her head in amazement.
"Man you really don't know a thing about the circus do you? No we mostly eat together at the dining tent. You weren't there for breakfast either. I'll take you around during lunch though." She said .
Adrien frowns in amazement. Even when he got up before dawn he didn't get breakfast? His stomach growled, he wasn't used to skipping a meal. Sure his meals were normally super healthy with a ton of greens and vegetables and brown rice, but he still ate plenty at home. This might be the first time that he was ever hungry...
"Yeah. That would actually be a lot of fun. I would love that...uh...Do they have any stinky cheeses at the dining tent?" Hazel gave him the most flummoxed look in the world as Adrien just grinned nervously.
"That...wasn't a joke...I sure do love...stinky...stinky cheese."
Plagg hovers beside The Gorilla, he had flown off after the two teenagers started talking. He had gotten bored. He was hovering at face height beside The Gorilla mostly because he only knew him and Adrien. And the Gorilla was hidden so it was okay.
"Look I don't know how long you will keep on putting this off. But eventually you will need to come up with a better plan besides hide from your boss in a circus where no one knows you. I give this three more days before it blows up in your face. Trust me on this. I know everything." The Gorilla glances at the small floating nuisance before waving him off and walking away.
The Gorilla had the nagging feeling that this was all going to go wrong. That he was going to get hunted down any second now. And that iron shackles were going to be wrapped around his wrists and he would find himself either deported or in prison.
"Hey! You!" A thick greasy voice calls out. The Gorilla turned around with his arms up in a protective stance. It was just the ringmaster marching over with a lepard skin leotard and a pair of iron handcuffs and chains.
"I need you to try on the old strong man outfit. You remember our deal right?" He asks with a giggle waving it in front of the Gorilla's face. The Gorilla frowned before ripping it from the Ringmaster's slimy hands and marching off to try it on. It would be humiliating but he could live with that.
"So is Hazel even your real name?" Adrien asked as he pulled a sack behind him. Hazel had an equally large bale of hay that she was dragging. Their muscles straining and some sweat on their arms and foreheads.
"It might as well be. I don't really want to tell you if it is or not though. I like to keep you on your toes." She replied with a smirk. Adrien rolls his eyes. He just doesn't understand girls. They always make things complicated. Why couldn't it just be like in a romance anime when they literally announced their intention in the first ten minutes? He missed his anime.
Hazel gave him a funny look before snorting and shaking her head.
"You thinking about anime or something? Come on! Put your back into it!" She complained. Adrien paused in amazement as he watched her continue to work.
"How...did...you?"
"Lucky guess. Now come on Blondie we need to do this and then get to the freak tent to help them go through their lines."
"Lines? Freak tent?" Adrien asks in confusion. This entire lifestyle was so strange to him, and the people were even stranger. He wondered if he was really cut out for this sort of life. He had only half way dreamed about running away and joining the circus, he had mentioned it once to his bodyguard in passing when he was incredibly tired...He hadn't actually meant it!
But if this was really the safest place to hide out and to protect those he loved by staying hidden...well then he would do it!
Hazel reaches back and grabs his large bag of fruit and vegetables with one hand and helped him pull.
"Hey. I know it's hard here your first few days. But that doesn't mean you get to slack off." She scolds as she helps him drag the food to the elephant pen. Adrien glances at her shyly. She seemed to be the only girl his age there. He had mostly only seen older men.
She might have been rough around the edges but underneath it he could tell...She was secretly nice.
Review. I own nothing not even this computer. Hopefully more updates will be coming faster.