A merchandise collaboration for the China region will be launching soon please stay tuned~
『Then I shall eagerly await our reunion tomorrow, my lady.』
Author | Neko Bueno @nekoboydreams
Original Work | The Freak Circus
Produced by | @春醴记工作室
For more merchandise and future updates, please follow @春醴记工作室 on Xiaohongshu / Weibo / Douyin.
A new partnership has begun! I'll keep you updated as things develop!
Português
A colaboração de merch para a região da China será iniciada em breve, aguardem ansiosamente~
『Então aguardarei nosso reencontro amanhã, my lady.』
Autor | Neko Bueno @nekoboydreams
Obra original | 《The Freak Circus》
Produção | @春醴记工作室
Para mais produtos e novidades futuras, acompanhe no Xiaohongshu/Weibo/Douyin: @春醴记工作室
Nova parceria iniciada! Eu os atualizarei conforme forem surgindo!
You must be 18+ to read. Minors and folks not into yandere VNs plz DNI both here and in the fandom.
Summary:
The exciting conclusion to the Harlequin as a mall santa Elf saga!
Original design for Harlequin's Elf Costume is from @pei8986 and
@honeybeehoney0313
CHECK IT OUT HERE! on A03 (leave comment/kudos) as it helps me a ton!
And below the cut:
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Jester was right, as he annoyingly often was.
When Harlequin decided to take the job at the mall you thought he was joking about you having to work with him in that Christmas job at the local mall. Unfortunately, he wasn’t. Of fucking course for the first time in forever, the menace was actually being serious and after a long ‘talk’ with Jester over it, you realized that there was no getting out of it. The purple leader insisted on you accompanying Harlequin on the job and frankly, he had a point.
Man, that was annoying…
It’s not like Harlequin, nor anyone in the circus, could work jobs with humans (willingly). Hell, it was risky for them to perform at a concert hall hosted by another company, even if their dark themes fit that of The Freak Circus’s motifs. Jester knew you would be the perfect candidate to keep the menace’s secrets at bay and since Harlequin was determined to take this job, much to your goading. Making sure to walk with Harlequin to work as he wore his ‘elf’ costume (as he couldn’t use the locker rooms), keeping lookout during his lunch breaks to make sure no one saw him eat or drink, and making sure none of the kids got too close (that latter bit was easier said than done). Honestly, and annoyingly, it made sense for you to be here working with your boyfriend at the mall.
Hell, you normally wouldn’t have minded in the slightest had a you a costume as cool or sexy as Harlequin’s…..
…Which of course you didn’t….
Your envious gaze ran over the clown’s body as he stood by the Christmas-themed puppet stage with his usual smarmy grin. The tight fabric of the costume accentuated his muscles well; running over his tight stomach and lean figure like it had been draped over him for the fitting. It was an elf costume but stylish enough that even the circus would have likely approved of it. Idly, you wondered if Harlequin would be allowed to keep the outfit after the holidays, thinking of some fun ‘ways’ you could have with him wearing it (having to sadly hold back when you two were alone since it was still a rental). Thankfully, the back of Harlequin’s costume was roomy enough to leave some room for other parts of his inhuman form to hide. It was perfect honestly, but---fuck---you really REALLY hated how good he looked in it.
And as always, Harlequin knew this.
A gleam of mischief sparkled in his emerald eyes when noticing your gaze. Quickly, you turned away with a pout as he began, with a chuckle, yet another puppet show for a bunch of children who thirsted for a story that was both joyful and creepy.
Though before he could start, you had to do your job and boy….did that suck.
Walking up to the stage, there you stood, in an overside reindeer costume that hid your body completely save for the cheap hole made in the front for your face. Said hole came from the mouth of the outfit, making you look like the victim of a mutant deer with sharp teeth that had swallowed you. Oh, sharp teeth on a reindeer you may ask? Yeah…so uh….this Christmas show at the mall you two were a part of was a unique one to say the least. Apparently, a kids movie some months ago combining Halloween and Christmas became insanely popular this year and the man in charge of this production was determined to cash in.
You appreciated the hustle, and understood well why the guy wanted Harlequin of all things to be in his show after having seen him perform at the circus. It was just annoying to look like the awkwardly curvy love child of Dracula and Freddy Fazzbear next to Harlequin’s sleek form.
A fact he knew well, smirking at you as you walked towards the curtain ready to begin another day of this hellhole that was seasonal hiring.
“Break a leg, dearest,” he nearly cooed.
“Only if it’s yours,” you say while sticking your tongue out at him playfully, “my darling.”
And with that, you opened the curtain, introducing your menace of a boyfriend as ‘The Christmas Storyteller’ before walking to the side of the stage in shame. The puppet show was fun, you had to admit, though it took a few long nights in Harlequin’s tent to make it that way. You nearly rolled your eyes at the memory. The experience reminding you just how little the circus members ever spent around children. Not that you were an expert by any means, but damn, you at least knew it wasn’t a good idea to tell the kids a story about how Santa sacrifices naughty children to fuel the magic of his sleigh. Yeesh.
“No Harlequin, you can’t have Mrs. Claus’s internal organs on display.”
“No Harlequin, I don’t think it’d be funny for the kids to see Rudolph breaking his legs against the side of a building.”
“Harley, you can’t fucking make the elves a metaphor for a satanic cult! No orgies!”
It was funny, you had to admit, how frustrated your boyfriend would get at having to ‘tone down’ his show, but eventually you two did manage to find a balance of ‘kid friendly’, festive, and horror that fit the themes your job required. Thus, you were a reindeer with sharp teeth and Harlequin was a creepy elf who told PG rated scary Christmas stories while looking sexy as hell.
There was no justice in this world, but whatever, as long as you both got paid overtime, right?
Thus, there you stood, by the stage and occasionally keeping the children who were either a little too curious or had parents who refused to hold them back at a distance. Some unfortunately did try their darndest to get past you to grab at Harlequin.
“He’s scary!” one girl cried out while you gently lead her back to her seat.
“I wanna lick his ball!” A boy yelled, causing you to blink until you realized he’d meant the jingle bell on the hat Harlequin’s costume and sighed in relief—shushing him.
“Gimme! Gimme! GIVE ME!”
You still weren’t sure what that kid wanted, but you quelled them just the same.
Another, naturally, rubbed snot over the pant leg of your costume, determined to do the same to Harlequin because he felt green needed to be with green. Thank goodness for wet wipes. Some kids who couldn’t handle the story, despite it being rather tame even for young children (at least as far as you believed) cried heavily causing Harlequin to talk over them. The clown was honestly irritated at the whole thing, something you noted with the way his brow twitched as yet another child began to scream, not that you could blame him.
Somehow Harlequin did get through his story….eventually.
It was a tale of a human and a monster, where the monster promises to devour the human but then the human gives him a snow-globe and helps him learn what love is. They marry, only for the monster to eat them. Then the human turns into snowflakes and covers the monster in a blanket of snow. Soon the monster and human become a man made of snow, and live happily bringing joy to all.
You shrugged at it all, shaking your head with a grin upon remembering what had inspired Harlequin to make this story with a grin on your face. Of all things, the day you told the clown the tale of ‘Frosty the Snowman’ he suddenly gained inspiration and wanted to make it into a story of his own. Truthfully, you felt the end result was a little mature for the kids who were watching it, likely going over the heads of most of them. But, your boss loved it! Even commenting on how it resembled the kid’s movie that inspired this whole event despite that neither you nor Harlequin had watched it.
Finally, the story Harlequin told was over and you walked to the side as he cleaned up the puppet stage. Taking off the thick furry hood of your toothy reindeer outfit, you felt your hair slick with sweat, matting your face uncomfortably. Sighing, you grabbed a water bottle and drank heavily, making a mental note to ask Harlequin if he was thirsty afterwards. Knowing you’d be ready to shield him from anyone nearby so that he could drink in peace.
With a loud ‘ahh’ you finish your water only to find a child, without a parent, staring at you in awe. For a moment you panicked. Not just because the kid was alone but also because you hoped you hadn’t scarred the kid by being ‘headless’.
“You look much better without the costume,” the snot-nosed child noted with the tilt of their head.
“Don’t I know it, kid….don’t I know it,” you laughed nervously while putting the hood of your costume back on.
Immediately, the parent of the child ran up, thanking you profusely for looking after their kid, and soon left. Harlequin afterwards brushed aside the curtain of the stage to stand by you, arms full of flyers.
“Ugh, seriously,” you groaned. “Are they making us do this again? I thought we were only supposed to have stage duty today….”
Harlequin shrugged, “Apparently someone called in sick.”
“Great—tis the season,” you said flatly while taking half of the flyers he held.
Like what you both had to do for The Freak Circus, sometimes you handed out flyers right outside the event but still, thankfully, inside the mall. It’s not what you two had signed up for but you’d both had experience in it none-the-less. Not that passing out flyers was a difficult job, but the reason you were annoyed was because it meant you had to spend more time in this god awful and overheated costume. Normally, you’d just take off the head or unzip the back to give you some air between Harlequin’s sets but now? Nope…no time. Today you were forced to be a fanged reindeer from 9 to 5 and boy was that….something…
A line soon formed at the front entrance of the event, all waiting to sit in the Skeleton Santa’s lap; ready to tell him their nightmares so that their dreams would come true—or whatever the hell happened in that kid’s movie that you really should have watched before accepting this job. Both you and Harlequin passed out flyers to the parents in line for his storytelling stage show tomorrow, talking about the event to those who would listen. Sometimes, unfortunately, a kid would try and touch Harlequin who would immediately back away. Part of you was amused, having your tall clown monster boyfriend hide behind you as some child with sticky hands attempted to man-handle his tights.
“Aw, so nervous, Harley?” you teased after shooing away another kid who wanted to touch him, looking with an amused grin as he stood behind you. “And here I thought you liked fear~”
“Careful with that teasing, dearest, or there will be consequences,” his eyes darkened.
Your grin grew wider as you passed another flyer, “Oh yeah, what kind of consequences?”
Harlequin then stood beside you, not before leaning into whisper in your ear in a low, sultry tone. His voice having the edge of a razor gently brushing against your skin, making you shiver in the sweltering costume.
“Ones that will have you on your back, begging for my cocks in your mouth when we get home~”
Oh. Sexy consequences? You could get into that.
You smirked a little at him, gently bumping your elbow into his own in acknowledgement. Harlequin grinned back at you, nudging you back with a little more strength.
And so, the rest of the time you spent imagining how you’d try to turn the tables on your clown boyfriend in the bedroom—that is of course, until a mother in a rather tight business suit walked up to you two with her child.
“My daughter wants to meet you,” she nods to Harlequin. “I’ll be on my phone, you can watch her, right? Thanks.”
You both blinked at that, unsure how to process the quick and rather rude nature of the woman as she turned away and began talking on her phone. Immediately, you shook your head and reached out towards the woman ready to tell her that you weren’t responsible for her child, that is, of course, until the little girl ran up to Harlequin; not of course before stopping a respectful distance from the clown that made you blink once again in surprise.
The girl was small, maybe six or seven you guessed? She dressed mainly in black as though Hot Topic made a deal with The Baby Gap’s clothes line. Straps of a round, white backpack of a familiar fictional skeleton man were clutched in her hands so tightly as though it were the most precious thing in her possession.
“I loved your story!! It was dark like my closet! You’re a real good story-person!”
Harlequin took a step back, holding the flyers closer to his chest, unsure of what to say. He looked at you for a sec and then nodded towards the kid, telling the clown silently that he should reply. However, all Harlequin could do was look away and nod towards the girl, almost as though he were embarrassed or unsure by the compliment.
“You’re so pretty, mister! Are you a monster?” the little girl asked with eyes wide and sparkling.
Harlequin then stiffened for a moment and looked at the child.
“Quê?”
You then let out a genuine smile on your face before turning to reply to the girl in earnest.
“Aw, do you like monsters, kiddo?”
“Yeah! Monsters are beautiful! Oh—look! Look!” she nodded vigorously before turning around to show off her Jack Skellington backpack. “See?! But I like skeletons the most. Do you like monsters? I wanna marry one but mom says I can’t…But I don’t care, I love em’!”
Chuckling heartily the dejected look of the child, you winked at her. Glancing for a moment at the mother who still seemed to find the conversation on her phone more important than whatever you were saying to her kid, you leaned in to whisper.
“I love monsters too.”
The girl squealed happily, loudly, before her mother shushed her with a glare only to go right back to her ‘important’ conversation, turning away. Harlequin stared at you and the child, back and forth as though you two were speaking a language he could not understand.
“Love them? Truly?” Harlequin teased the child while shaking his head. “But did you not hear my story earlier today, little one? What if the monster you marry wants to eat you instead? You might end up being a snowman~”
You balked at him, wanting to nudge the clown in the ribs for being so cheeky to a little kid, that was, until, the girl replied with a big smile on her face.
“No way! Not if it’s true love! If it is, then they would never eat me and we can live under a bridge together forever scaring people from crossing to the other side!”
Harlequin then did something you hadn’t expected---he laughed.
Really laughed in a way that he’d only ever shown you in private. You blinked at the display, looking back and forth between the two with a similarly bewildered expression to that of the clown just moments ago. Still, the joy was contagious, and you began to laugh with him. Harlequin covered his mouth, making sure it never split apart as you all enjoyed each other’s company. Fewer and fewer people seemed to occupy the area. Most of which were inside the event, meeting Skeleton Santa or out shopping for last-minute gifts. So for now, the three of you were mostly alone save for one or two stragglers walking about and the obnoxious mother who began to talk louder as the three of you laughed.
Harlequin then cleared his throat as we all quieted down, bending down to his knees and placing his pile of flyers by his legs, leaning towards the child with a large grin.
“Would you like to know a secret?”
The clown then gestured towards you with a familiar signal; one that you obeyed without delay, knowing its importance though not understanding the significance. Harlequin and you, as well as the rest of the circus, developed some ‘codes’ here and there for when you’d be outside the circus’s protection. Specifically in this case, it was a signal that meant you had to stand in front of one of the monsters to block a nearby security camera. Due to having to work at this mall for longer than a week, Jester had made it clear that you were to map out the cameras in the mall. Harlequin’s safety, as well as that of the circus depended on this knowledge, so you did so without question. After all, it took one lone camera catching him eating and poof! The circus would have to move.
In some more desperate cases you’d also flirt with a guard to find out more about the security system. Strangely enough however, it hadn’t been necessary in this case as your boss at the mall wanted every employee to tour the security office in case a child went missing and they had to access the cameras.
So, there you walked, standing in front of camera A as camera B was completely turned away from where Harlequin knelt. Despite you doing this, the clown was cautious still, bringing his claws up to his face, cupping it, to make sure his face wouldn’t be as visible as there were still people in around, albiet not that close by. You then made sure to keep an eye on the mother, who still had her back to you three, engrossed in some sort of conversation you could barely hear.
“Monsters are real,” Harlequin whispered to the child.
Though after his words did you finally realize why he had you stand in front of the camera’s view.
The menace then opened the mouth of his mask, flicking his green forked tongue out for just a second much to the little girl’s delight. Squealing happily, the child gasped and put her hands over her mouth, jumping up and down in pure joy. Soon the mom turned around as Harlequin stood up and took a few steps away from the girl, thanking you both with no warmth in her voice as she barely dragged her daughter away.
“But mom!! You have to believe me! He had a green tongue!”
“And you had a blue tongue last week after eating all that candy your father gave you. Ugh, never again,” she sighed, eventually looking like two dots in the distance as they headed towards the exit of the mall.
Looking back at the menace, you raised a brow. There he stood, looking nonchalant as ever, stretching his back and sighing contently.
“That was sweet….but kind of….risky, Harles.”
Harlequin glanced at you, “Hm? That? No idea what you’re talking about.”
You rolled your eyes, grinning with a shrug at those words.
“Well, okay—no way in hell Jester is hearing about this from me, but, I mean—that was nice. That kid’s never gonna forget, you know? You really made her day.”
“They’ll forget—in their own way,” Harlequin hummed, “it’ll all be dream to her in less than a week.”
You grinned, “Yeah….A good dream.”
The two of you then stood by your stations, content and watching people walk by. Gently you leaned your head on Harlequin’s shoulder who in turn rubbed your back with the tips of his claws poking through the thick fabric of your costume hard enough for you to feel—soft enough to know he’s there. Flyers in hand begam reducing in numbers as the crowd died down to signal the end of the day. You stretched your limbs, staring at the clock almost begging for it to reach the hour.
“Ugh, what a day,” you yawned. “Just one more week, then we can give DoubleT his money for that stove you destroyed and be done with all this.”
“Oh that? I already paid him back three days ago, dearest.”
You could almost hear a record skip in that harsh, high-pitched sound heard in old cartoons echo in your mind. The world then froze around you, people stopped walking, the clock paused, and a rage so powerful and cold ran through your entire being that it actually made you shake.
“The absolute fuck did you just say?” You turned to Harlequin with clenched teeth and wide eyes. “Why are we still here if you---wh--!?! When?! Why would you--!?”
Harlequin’s grin grew wide, eyes sparkling at your anger which only made you seethe. You knew your boyfriend, you knew him well. The angrier you got the happier he was and fuck all, despite knowing this, you could not nor would not stop. An urge to smack him rose inside of you and though you knew you’d never hit him (even when he completely deserved it) boy were you fucking tempted today.
Especially as he cooed at you in that pouty sort of way, “Aw? So mad. And here I thought we were having fun working together?”
“Not when I’m stuck in this sweaty nightmare of a costume and you get to be Santa’s sexiest elf, I don’t!”
Harlequin barked a laugh at that, one loud enough to make anyone still around avoid you two like the plague. A clawed hand clutched his stomach as though he were in pain. Doubling over slightly, The Harlequin only began to quell his laughter as you rolled up the few leftover flyers you had ready to hit him like a dog who pissed on the wrong carpet.
“Come now, dearest! Be reasonable!” he gasped between laughs. “I am doing this for you, after all~”
You narrowed your eyes, clearly not believing him.
“Right—sure..Fucking hell Harlequin---I quit. This costume itches like a thousand fire ants, kids keep using me as a human tissue every goddamn day, and you come out smelling like roses-- I’ve had it! We got the money, got what we needed, let’s just leave.”
Harlequin then coughed as you turned away from him in a huff. Straightening his back, the clown then approached you, one claw risen ready to touch your shoulder though quickly deciding against it as he heard your heavy breathing.
“One more week, dearest, that’s all it will be—it’s for your Christmas present.”
“Yeah right, I’m not falling for it, Harlequin,” you crossed your arms, still not facing him.
The Harlequin then said nothing, a fact which began to worry you after a few minutes passed by. You tapped your finger nervously over your fur covered bicep, gripping the fabric somewhat before roughly sighing a reply. Something, anything, to break this awkward silence.
“Is it sexy underwear or something?”
Harlequin then grinned with a light chuckle and sing-song tone behind you.
“You’ll have to wait and see~”
You paused at that, turning to face him, knowing that the moment you saw him you wouldn’t be able to refuse the clown’s wishes. Something about Harlequin’s emerald eyes and him looking way too sexy in that costume really made your knees buckle and cave. Fuck him, honestly….
“One more week?”
He nodded.
“And then we quit?”
He nodded again.
“And---you’ll give me this present that isn’t a prank, or sex toys, or anything like that?”
Harlequin chuckled again before raising his hand in front of you as though taking an oath.
“I swear this one is not a prank, my dear. You will….very much….like it….I’m sure. I’d bet my ass on it.”
You raised a brow before looking at the clock once more. Suddenly, a wave of relief washed through you upon noticing that it was one minute away from quitting time. Sighing happily, you began to relax and faced your precious menace with a content grin.
“One more week then. How bad can it be?”
By the end of the week you were covered head to toe in sneezes, finger paint, and boogers. Harlequin, to his credit, did try to cheer you up even after a kid vomited on your costume (which by the way, the smell never went away no matter how often you cleaned it), but his words rarely reached your frowning ears. Regardless of everything you suffered that final week….
….It turned out…Harlequin was right.
You did like the present he gave--both of them in fact.
One gift ended up being exactly what you thought, relating to the bedroom. It was hot, sure, but not quite worth the hype he’d been building up during that last week of hell at the mall. However….it wasn’t the only gift he’d given….and that one…..well….Let’s just say you hated to admit it, but he was right. There was something touching about the second gift. It was something you’d actually wanted since you were a child. You recalled vaguely mentioning this during the first year you were together as a couple. A year had admittedly been a bit of a blur of menacing, sex and secrets. Turns out, discovering that your boyfriend was a man-eating monster full of a circus of human traffickers took over more room in your memory bank than the few sweet, quiet moments you two had shared then. Still, despite dealing….with all that craziness at the time…..Harlequin actually remembered your childhood wish.
He'd listened.
It was strangely touching coming from him. A detail you honestly hadn’t expected Harlequin to recall but it meant so much all the same. Hell, you wanted to cry. Fall into your boyfriend’s strong arms, thanking him, kissing him, making sweet love all night----you wanted to do these things….however….
A sudden realization put a pin in these fantasies of holiday bliss and joy.
For you see, the only reason Harlequin needed that extra week of work to help pay for your second gift was because he had bought the first, sexy, present as a joke; to mess with you. And then you realized just how much you loved The Harlequin because you chose not to kill him in that moment—even though the temptation was absolutely real and burning like the bubbling surface of a lava pool.
Thankfully, there was a silver lining to all of this fuckery and that being that Harlequin was allowed to keep his costume from the mall. A fact that comforted you as you shoved Santa’s sexiest elf on the bed forcefully, and proceeded to ‘thank’ him for that extra week of hell you’d suffered because of his ‘thoughtfulness’. After all, he did bet his ass that you wouldn’t like his gift; it was time to cash that check---over and over again.
So, perhaps you ended up getting three presents from him this year after all.
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A/N:
Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you have lots of fun, drinking eggnog and believing in hot monsters.
I 'may' still revisit this AU btw, despite calling it the 'exciting conclusion' to the Harlequin Elf saga---because hey….they've been working for WEEKS at this place, so I could. No promises but I did think of this ending for a long while and wanted to share.
Enjoy~
Be Merry~
And think of Harlequin's chestnuts roasting on an open fire~
