Felt like they just got here and the big tent is already loaded back into the trucks, the trailers are back on their wheels and they're back on the road again, waving goodbye to the city that treated them so well and heading to their next gig.
He's sitting on one side of his trailer, watching the buildings and people go by when Hisoka himself comes out, flipping out of his massive, card symbol decorated trailer and onto its roof. Walking to the front of the trailer and clapping his hands together for the new wave of cheers from the crowd, from his palms come hundreds of playing cards, all of them jokers with his sigil on them. The crowd cheers, scrambling to gather the cards for whatever reason, they're all worthless pieces of reinforced paper. Absolutely worthless in the long run and even more worthless given he does this with every town.
He slumps in his seat to make sure he isn't seen by the clown until the towns and buildings are out of view. They are and they enter the main road, a long line of trucks, trailers and buses all headed to the next destination. They go through two tunnels and a half hour passes, he risks it and peeks up to see Hisoka's long trailer, free of any Hisoka.
A knock at his window, though, reveals the clown is hanging off the side of his home with an ear to ear grin that sets off every 'keep away' instinct in his blood. "I know you're hiding from me Gon~" He sings delightfully and disappears above the trailer. Gon sinks to the floor besides the couch and slams his hands over his ears. Hisoka has nothing more to say but just in case he will not suffer through hearing it.
He lies down on the floor for all the early morning ot the midday, letting his head wander. Hisoka knows he's hiding now, he knows. How long until he gets tired of it does something about it- no, he can't be waiting to be molested. At least there's a new kid around right, he can meet up with him again, he seemed nicer than most. Perhaps he can finally find a friend after all Hisoka's successful efforts to tear him away from others.
Four o clock comes around and the driver wakes him up. The circus is at last in a new destination and everyone is outside, Hisoka and Kurapika included. He steels himself at the door; his rank in the troupe as a main act means he doesn't have to do any heavy lifting, the Ringleader ordered so. He presses his head to the door, hopes nothing happens and opens it wide. No one's in costume, there's no 'clowns' carrying ladders back and forth or animals storming the city. Everyone with the exception of Hisoka and the Ringleader, are in plain clothes getting the staffs and sticks up, setting up the counters and the stalls, the enticing lights and sound machines.
He leaves the trailer and, ah damn it all here come the clowns. There's no place to escape to, as Leroute and her trope come sauntering along. None of them inspire any amount of emotion in him except for Johness, the man's as big as two of man combined plus fifty pounds of pure muscle. Probably why he's 'the Strongman'.
"Well, looky here, Gon we haven't seen you in a minute." Leroute says. If there was a way to condense every obnoxious sound and note into one voice, she was blessed with a way to condense and speak noises the human ear shouldn't be forced to suffer. "You have fun last night playing with the animals?"
"Leroute, if its about the heavy lifting I can do it." He walks towards Leroute but Johness steps between them. He begins to back off, but Johness grabs his front shirt. Threatening Leroute with Johness around, not one of his better ideas. The shirt is curled around his massive fist only once and he can't breathe - he keeps them in decent shape but his old clothes are too tight.
"Johness, put him down or you're going to have a hole in your chest the size of your fist." A white haired boy stands to the side of Johness, skateboard tucked under his arm. The human giant lowers him and then relinquishes his shirt and he collapses to the ground, rubbing his neck. Johness turns to face the new kid, who seems even younger then he is with his bleached white tee and short jeans.
"And, who would you be?" Leroute's smile is vomit inducing but with Johness looming above all of them, there isn't much he can do.
"I'm the new Enforcer around here, The Ringleader put me here to make sure you all do your work and don't fuck with the other members."
"I'm a big enough deal that The Ringleader would come over him to tell me."
"No you aren't. You're hardly a big enough deal to justify me telling you." Killua shrugs. "Lerot, right? Sure, you could keep doing what you're doing and maybe your bodyguard here could stop me from kicking your ass but are you honestly going to take the risk of angering Illumi?"
Illumi, The Ringleader, that would be what stops Leroute. The two make half-assed apologies and hit the road, saying something about finishing this off later like they always do when he can manage to get rid of them, so nothing new under the sun. He dusts the dirt off his outfit and gets up. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it." Gon's about to ask for his name but the white haired guy turns and walks away without a word and disappears in the crowd when Gon tries to look for him. Between this new guy and Kurapika, tons of new people are joining the circus this week.
He isn't allowed to do any heavy lifting. The Ringleader doesn't want to risk his prized lion tamer, but he still does what he can and what he can do is bring random members water while searching for Kurapika.
He enters the bright red and yellow tent, where the main act is set and all the more specialized performers have already begun practicing. The clowns have dressed up and have begun setting up their tricks, pulling out various toys of different shapes and sizes. A girl with teal hair jumps from a dive board twenty feet above a massive man in a yellow shirt, landing on his wide belly to bounce right back up when she began and repeats when her partner gives the okay.
Above, a white knitted net is tightly pulled between two thick, wooden poles stretching from the ground to the ceiling. At the top he can see Kurapika dressed in all white, loose clothing swinging tens of feet above the ground. He sits on the ground and watches, only checking to make sure he doesn't drool. Kurapika's movements are beyond smooth, natural and practiced, its as if there's no fear in being tens of feet above the ground. He swings through the air, body bending slow, not resisting the air, then leans forward and flips to the next bar.
He can sense it, the same thing with the foxbear and the lion, that total and complete trust in your ability to control the situation. Kurapika leaps from trapeze to a platform attached to one of the poles and leans against the pole. His eyebrows are pressed together, lips tight, what's he so upset about, he looked fantastic!
"Kurapika!" Gon shouts from the ground and waves. Kurapika waves back and descends a few rungs down from one platform, to a lower one.
"Gon, I didn't see you there." Kurapika signals for him to come and he climbs the wooden indents in the pole to the platform about fifteen feet off the ground, next to Kurapika. From here he can see the interwoven net, the multitudes of soft shell white bars hanging from near the top of the tent and each and every performer practicing their individual stunts.
"I figured it would be better for you to come up here, that's not breaking any rules right?"
"No." True enough, its not, but he isn't sure he's allowed to do what he's been thinking about since he first heard Kurapika was an aerial acrobat; is it okay for him to trapeze, with Kurapika? Would it be rude to ask since they just met, since if it isn't allowed he could get in trouble.
"Gon, do you want to try?" Kurapika offers the bar to him, as if he'd say no - wait, shit...if something happens, he'll have to deal with Hisoka staring him down like a piece of meat. He brings his hand down.
Was he even breaking a rule here, with his four years with the circus he never found anything interesting and from what he heard the last acrobat they had got a promotion and stopped doing acrobat work. He couldn't see himself getting away with it if he got injured, he would have to take that to Leorio and Illumi made damn well that the doctor, no matter how angry the guy got, told him about every injury, nick, cut, scrape and fever.
On the other hand, could he get away with it if he was be careful...
"I guess...not?"
Gon gives Kurapika his widest smile. "You couldn't stop me if you tried."
"I never said no, in fact I'm quite interested to see how you do, fair warning; I've been told I'm a boring teacher so, let me know if I'm putting you to sleep." Kurapika smiles. Learning to fly and flip like Kurapika would be beyond awesome and fuck everything if he's letting creepy the clown stop him. Kurapika smiles and shrugs, getting one of the longer bars from the rack and setting up.
Kurapika's next to him, showing him how to hold onto the bar. "Shoulders back, relax and ease. Don't be tense, if you tense up you'll lock up and fall. As long as your hands are on the bar, you'll be safe."
In no time they're soaring across the sky as if he's been doing this for years. Kurapika's instructions are hard to keep up with, every drop of sweat and inch of movement matters when the only thing protecting you from harm is a metal bar and some cable. Certain movements make it harder to grip the bar, shifting your hips too quickly can make the swing jut or stutter, speed control, body straightness, full body movement, the list goes on and on. By the time they've taken a full break they haven't done any of the crazy leaps or jumps Kurapika was doing and his head is already spinning!
"Geez, my shoulders and stomach are on fire." Gon stretches the burn out, nothing on his body's been inflamed this bad since the last time he was bitten by a poisonous snake. Three, maybe four months ago?
"Mines too, its because you've been stretching and using muscles you haven't used in so long." Kurapika watches him intently but doesn't join in, he's probably stretching wrong and Kurapika's not because this might as well be a warmup to him. Kurapika grabs his shoulder, in a hearty, brotherly way. "Ready to quit?"
"Nope!" Why ask when he's having this much fun. The wind rushing through his hair with Kurapika instructing him as they fly together like two clumsy birds that can only go back and forth in one direction. Terrifying and joyous at the same time, his pulse pounds like war drums in his ear when they swing out again. The tightness of his own clothes is restrictive, he can't get the full strength in his swing and as they come down from a particularly high swing his shoulders shake, he can't summon the strength to stay up any more.
"Let go-!" Kurapika shouts and he releases the bar mid swing, tumbles through the air. This isn't happening, this isn't happening, he'll open his eyes, it'll be morning, Hisoka will be there staring at him like a piece of meat and everything will be fine.
Kurapika shouts his name. He doesn't want to open his eyes, his heart's in his throat, there's a wetness on his cheeks and everything aches. "Gon, open your eyes, you're fine, calm down." Kurapika's hand is stroking his side but for some reason he can't move and lies there shaking, a baby green sobbing ball in the center of a massive net. this is pathetic, just seconds ago he was perfectly fine and now he was here.
"Gon, you locked up, what happened?"
"I'm sorry, Kurapika, I don't know what happened." He checks the nearby surroundings for other people. If there's no one, he isn't moving from this spot until Kurapika is gone, he'll make some bull up that he wants to watch a little more to learn that way and that Kurapika can leave if he wants. If there is someone, he's sticking to them like glue until he can make a clean get away. Kurapika grips his shoulder and tells him its alright, it isn't, but he doesn't say that.
"No, don't apologize. That's what the safety net is there for, you did better then I'd hoped." Kurapika's smile is genuine enough, though he does want to apologize a few more times to make sure. That's probably the wrong way to look at forgiveness but, at the same time, he doesn't want Kurapika's to harbor any ill will or thought that he's done this all on purpose. "We can chalk it down to fatigue, you did openly complain about your exhaustion and I didn't do much to stop you, I apologize."
"Oh, no you, you didn't do anything wrong." Now he just feels guilty, Kurapika worrying about him and apologizing when he's the one at fault, he shouldn't be up here - he's a lion tamer, this is Kurapika's thing.
"You two have fun?" He looks down and there's the white haired guy from earlier, he only came here to find Kurapika. Kind of cool how he got them both in the same space.
"Yeah, what's up?" Gon yells.
"I need you to come down here, its important."
"Alright!" Gon turns to Kurapika. "Thank you, this was fun."
"Yeah, let's do it again sometime." Kurapika helps him get up ands get situated. All the holes and thin strings makes standing on this net is hard as hell.
"Hopefully! See you around?"
"For the most part? Just look up." Kurapika laughs, its not funny, he swears it isn't but its such a lame joke that he lets Kurapika have it.
He gets down to the ground and the white haired kid pulls a face and points to his wrist. "I'm coming, I'm coming." When he gets within arm's length the man snatches his wrist and he instinctively pulls away. The grip tightens and he's forced out of the tent and onto the dirt ground outside.
"You are in a lot of trouble."
Of course this would happen, what was he thinking going up there without the Ringleader or Hisoka's approval. Even if he was avoiding the latter, the former was only weird, never outright pedophilic. Now he's sobbed like a little baby in front of Kurapika who is thinking right now of the best way to get rid of him and he's going to have to deal with Hisoka privately.
"You didn't have to grab me, I'm not trying to escape a prison."
"Really? I thought I was being gentle." The guy shrugs and doesn't seem to care past that. Well...he met Kurapika, so he eventually had to meet another asshole to balance it all out, right? "Follow me, Hisoka wants to speak with you in his tent."
Damn it, he fucked up big time then and wished he fucked up more. He could take skipping a level and fucking up even bigger, like killing one of the special animals, to get a meeting with Illumi instead but being sent to Hisoka. It only happened once before, and it wasn't really his fault, and all that happened was Illumi vaguely threatened to fire him if he thought any funny business happened.
Getting sent to Hisoka...means he messed up but not enough to justify getting kicked out of the circus. "Is Kurapika in trouble?"
"Dunno yet."
"Could you find out for me, I didn't mean to get him in trouble. I only just met him."
"So, probably not then." He shrugs again.
Gon didn't think he was the best judge of character, but this guy was a whole new level of 'unreadable'. He was so unconcerned with everything, the world could explode and this guy would probably still be searching for a fuck to give.
Oh, well at least Kurapika didn't seem to get into anything because of him.
"If it helps, could you tell Illumi that I won't get on the tight rope again?"
"It won't, but sure."
"I know I'm asking a lot of questions and I'm a little annoying-"
"You got that right."
"-But I was wondering if I could get your name."
The white haired kid turns around and for the first time there's something other then that bored drawl on his face, something mischievous and gleeful. "Nope." He walks backwards for a few feet and continues on in silence. Gon keeps following him, until the tent is at least thirty feet away and Hisoka's temporary tent, a huge blob of rainbow colors, comes into view. In front of the entrance stands the man of the hour, Hisoka, with a delighted grin on his face that brings a shiver through his spine.
Hisoka sees them, smiles a little wider, wiggles his fingers at Gon and ducks inside. Oh, what joy, what new, wondrous, embarrassing and downright revolting thing will Hisoka have of him today. Perhaps he'll squeeze his ass and stare at him uncomfortably, perhaps Gon will finally get the bravery and strength to beat the ever loving shit out of him. Oh the wonders that could await him in Hisoka's tent.
"If you were to ask me, you shouldn't be allowed out. You're too precious of an asset to risk something stupid happening to you. To be honest, I don't know why you bother doing any thing else if all you have to do is one show, trapeze is obnoxious."
Gon's lips go tight. Everything this guy hears is going straight to Illumi, no doubt about that, so what's the limit on what he can and can't say. He and Illumi sure as hell aren't close, he doubts anyone besides Hisoka is close to Illumi. "I mean, lions and snakes are cool and everything but let the stupid blonde fairy boy do the flying and flipping, right?"
He can't hold himself, he grabs the other guy's shoulders and whirls him around. The man seems, shocked first and intrigued second. "First off, trapeze is amazing - you get to fly through the sky and do flips, how could that be obnoxious? That's so cool, and Kurapika is a fantastic teacher, I learned more playing around on the bars with him then-"
"How cute." The guy says and crosses his arms with all the smug, smirking satisfaction of a guy who meant to get this sort of rise out of him, whatever, hes dealt with hecklers before. Gon says nothing more, only crosses his arms and passes by the guy, fuck him - whoever the hell he is.
"Oh, one more thing. Illumi says if I find you on the trapeze again I have permission to tear you a new one."
That explains who saw him, the new Enforcer of the troupe, Illumi's personal secondary eyes and ears.
"Whatever."
"I'm serious."
"Bite me."
The guy stands there for a moment as if he's actually considering it, the creep, before grinning ear to ear and taking off. What a fucking creep.
Hisoka's tent is as flamboyant and extravagant as the weirdo inside. Lamps light the whole place, thin sticks of incense burn across spreading their sweet, savory smell and the tent itself is a deep purple with shaded orange textures of lace and animal patterns on the inside. More like a blanket then a tent, more like something one would walk into a brothel and rest on. Hisoka is draping himself over the edge of a royal purple and orange love seat, vaguely bored.
"Gon~ You've been avoiding me as of late, I got so worried." Hisoka puts his hand over his heart and feigns sickness. Gon swallows the bile in his throat and takes his place on the purple carpet that takes up half the floor. Hisoka can give him all the pleasantries he wants, they both know why he's here. "Well, then, ignoring that dangerous aura you're giving off, it seems you've met Killua?"
If he gains nothing good from this, he'll at least know that devil child looking guys name. Killua, that must be a nickname, its stupid as hell. Almost as stupid as Hisoka trying to be domestic with him, talking about his day and who he's met. "Yeah, he's an asshole."
"Oh, most certainly, but he's keeping an eye on everyone for the sake of safety. " Was that Illumi's way of saying, 'weeding out the stubborn ones I don't have the time to take on myself', or was Hisoka being nice for him. Whatever the case Gon flashes an uneven grin and agrees, Hisoka's a creepy prick but he isn't wrong. "Now, then. Let's get to why you're here." Hisoka gets up and pushes a person height spinning mirror towards Gon, the first good head to toe look at himself he's gotten in forever and wow, those shorts are even tighter and shorter then he thought.
His face shouldn't feel as hot as it is when he reaches down and pulls at the back hem to cover himself. Wow he was walking around like this forever, ass basically hanging out of his pants. He performed in this outfit why didn't anyone tell him he looked like an under-aged hooker.
"Good to know you're at least that self conscious, as much as I love how your legs and the bottom of your ass look in that, Illumi said you look indecent. I don't agree, but you know how emotional Illumi can get~" Hisoka sings and walks to one of the shadier corners of his tent, pulling three full racks of clothing out of thin air. Those were probably there beforehand, probably. "Now then, you'll need new pants. Pick something out from here, unless you have something specific in mind?"
Gon shakes his head and keeps two full arm lengths away from Hisoka while he searches. Nothing screams 'forest' or 'hunter' to him...until he finds the perfect pair. No reason to fix what isn't broke, he exchanges his all too short shorts for a long pair ending just above the knee. He doesn't enjoy showing off his legs but when working with huge animals its best not to have too much loose fabric and as much leg room as possible.
Hisoka looks at him...he looks at Hisoka...and then pushes the clothing rack entirely in front of him. "Don't, move." He grunts, yanking the shorts off his form and running his fingers over the sensitive indents it left in his skin. Not darting gold eyes between the outfits or under the skirts, he's fine for now. He pulls the pants up his waist, a little tight but otherwise a perfect fit.
Hisoka had the bright eyed gleam of a child unwrapping a present, for a second, then Gon pointed to his pants and he frowns. "How boring~ can't you add some color? I'm going to miss these, they also rode up so cute, mind if I keep them?" Hisoka spins his shorts on one finger and Gon sends him a pointed, bored glare - he knew the man was planning some creepy, absurd shit.
"If I say no are you really going to throw them away."
"And you say we're not friends~" Hisoka's over the moon and keeps them close to his chest, its a good thing he's hungry as hell and hasn't eaten today; it'd be all over the ground by now.
"If that's all, I'm leaving." Gon makes his way towards the door.
Hisoka walks after him and every hair on the back of his neck stands on edge; what the hell else could he possibly want? Hisoka strides past him and there's a golden flash of eyes that tell enough, that he's basically waiting for his next chance to get a piece of Gon. Then he lounges again on his love seat, leaning against the furthermost arm. "Before you go, I'm sure I don't have to tell you this, but don't let Killua catch you on the trapeze again. Sure Illumi's no fun but Killua is his little brother, so you're not getting any revenge on anyone without a price paid."
"I'm not going out to get revenge on anyone."
Hisoka only smiles and closes his eyes, he doubts the creepy bastard's sleeping but he takes the chance to get the hell out, at least now between Hisoka and the new guy, he won't need the trapeze; have plenty of excitement trying to dodge them both.