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Clowning Around

Summary: Little Charlie (~7 years old) is disappointed to find her brother doesn't think her costume is scary so she kicks the acting up a notch.

Prompt: “You look so cute!” “I’m not supposed to look cute! I’m supposed to scare you!”

Characters: Harvey Specter, Gordon Specter, Donna Paulsen & Charlie Specter

Warnings: Just some references to scary movies and clowns, lack of proof reading. 🙃

Donna set the phone down, heaving a sigh as she looked at the paperwork covering nearly every surface in Harvey’s office.

“Your dad and sister are on their way up.”

Harvey tossed the file he was reading over down on the table in front of him and rubbed at his temples. “They’re early.”

Donna shrugged. She knew Harvey had told his dad to come closer to 1:00, hoping to get as much time with the documents as they could, but technically, Harvey was late. Nearly a day late.

If this weekend had gone according to plan, Harvey would’ve spent the previous night out in Riverside with his dad and sister. And after bringing Charlie in on the commuter train this morning, he would’ve spent the morning doing whatever his kid sister wanted before heading over to the Halloween dog parade over in Tompkins Square Park.

On paper, the whole thing sounded like a nightmare. Like something Harvey Specter would have no interest in…but he had been looking forward to it.

He rarely expressed it, but Harvey had always liked Halloween. And something about having a kid sister had made it acceptable for him to like it again. Having a kid sister gave him a reason to go back to Riverside at the end of September to help them decorate for the holiday. And a reason to dress up and go trick or treating. A reason to go to the silly little dog parade his sister had learned about courtesy of an ill-timed news segment. It gave Harvey an excuse to live a little because if anyone asked, he was doing it for his sister. For his dad.

Harvey tried to help his dad out as much as he could where Charlie was concerned. He tried to do most of the travel, carting his sister to and from the city on the weekends that warranted it because of whatever plans she made with her brothers…so rare was it that Charlie sought their father’s permission, simply informing him ‘Harvey’s taking me here next weekend,’ or ‘I’m going to there with Marcus next month.’

It wasn’t like Gordon was going to say no to Harvey or Marcus being involved in their sister’s life…to being involved in his life...so whenever Charlie told her father there was something planned with Harvey, he just went ahead and called Donna. Confirmed the details with Donna. Swiftly writing whatever off-hand promise Harvey had made to his sister in stone…or at least in his calendar.

This particular weekend had been in Harvey's calendar for weeks, the type of thing that he hadn’t actually needed reminders about since he was looking forward to it…but that was all before Donna accepted a delivery on Friday at 3 pm—boxes and boxes of documents that took up the entirety of Harvey’s office and a conference room down the hall.

Harvey didn’t hear the elevator ding, but he could tell the moment his sister stepped onto the floor, the sound of her small footsteps somehow carrying to him all the way in his office. She kept her excitement contained there—using the extra energy to close the space between them because she knew she wasn’t allowed to yell and shout through the halls at her brother’s job. Charlie had seen plenty of her brother’s co-workers yelling so she questioned if it was a real rule, but she refrained anyway.

Just in case.

Charlie waited until she could see her brother through the glass wall of windows before shouting his name and sprinting into a run, maneuvering through the open door and around the furniture to launch herself into his arms. Harvey caught her, leaning back into the chair a bit as he absorbed her momentum, unable to stop his laughter as some of her energy transferred to him.

“Hey, Charlie,” Harvey said as he pulled her into his lap. “Where’s dad?”

Charlie stayed pressed against him but lifted one arm, pointing back towards the door.

Harvey chuckled, holding her as their father entered the room, bags of food in hand. Harvey greeted his father and Charlie finally shifted away from her brother’s chest.

“We brought lunch,” she said, nodding towards their father.

“Your sister wanted to make sure you gave Donna a proper lunch break,” Gordon offered as Donna cleared a spot for him to set down the bags. The look Gordon gave Harvey was clear enough that Harvey knew that their early arrival was in fact Charlie’s idea…Charlie’s insistence.

Harvey was sure the girl had been driving their father mad all morning trying to get them on the earliest train into the city that she could negotiate. He was impressed his father had held out this long.

“You been reading up on Department of Labor laws lately?” Harvey tickled his sister’s side.

“No!” Charlie giggled as she shot out of his lap, bumping into the table as she tried to get away from him, but Harvey easily trapped her squirming form in his grasp, a facetiously stern eyebrow raised in question. “But Dad said you probably haven’t taken a break all day and I know that’s illegal. In school we get lunch and recess.”

“Yeah, well, Donna’s not getting recess,” Harvey answered, “But Dad’s right.”

Neither Harvey or Donna had even considered lunch. Harvey hadn’t even gone home the night before, but now that he could smell the food, he was starving.

Charlie squealed when Harvey scooped her up and settled her on the table in front of him.Her dirty sneakers narrowly missed Harvey’s leg as they dangled off the table and Harvey shifted back in his seat. He stroked his chin as he looked at her, observing her costume now that he could see her properly.

She was dressed in some type of brightly colored clown suit, with her hair in pigtails and haphazardly spray-painted in a bright red hue. And her face…her face was painted white with all the accouterments of a clown. All of it a bit smudged from the time she’d spent pressed against his chest.

Harvey was suddenly glad he’d at some point removed the suit jacket he’d worn yesterday…not that the shirt he was wearing was cheap…far from it, but at least it would be easier to clean. And thanks to Donna stopping by his apartment, he had a change of clothes to switch into.

“So you really ditched me to be a clown this year?”

Charlie told him weeks ago that he would have to come up with a costume without her. After years of them matching—characters from Top Gun, The Godfather, and Ferris Bueller—Charlie had informed him she was striking out on her own. She wouldn't tell him what she had planned, just that the paired costumes were out.

“It’s no Sundance, kid—” Butch and Sundance had been Harvey’s suggestion for this year—“But you look cute.”

Charlie frowned, twisting to scowl at their father before turning back to Harvey, her arms pressed tight across her chest. “I’m not supposed to look cute! I’m supposed to scare you!”

Harvey’s eyes slid from Charlie to their father who shrugged, his hands raised in defeat.

“Hey, I tried,” he offered as he lowered himself to the sofa. “I’m a musician, Charlie girl, not a makeup artist.”

Harvey sensed this had already been a discussion between them, that he was late to something, and so Harvey tried to make light of it.

“Well, I guess clowns are pretty scary,” Harvey conceded. “Especially that Ronald McDonald guy.”

Harvey watched his Dad’s face over Charlie’s head as he said it, the look in his eyes telling Harvey he’d stepped in something. Shit.

“I’m not Ronald McDonald!” Charlie shouted, pushing herself off the table and getting up in his face. “I'm every nightmare you ever had. I am your worst dream come true! I'm everything you ever were afraid of!”

“You’re Pennywise?” Harvey raised an eyebrow. “Who the hell let you watch It?”

Charlie shrugged, shrinking back from her brother’s tone—a note of surprise, mostly, but a fair bit of anooyance, too.

She was too young for that sort of stuff as far as Harvey was concerned. Even if some of the stuff he let her watch was a little mature for her…well, that was different. He was just trying to make sure the kid had a solid foundation in quality film, not scar her for life.

“Your brother,” Gordon answered. “She had nightmares for a week.”

“No!” Charlie argued, shaking her head. “I liked it!”

“Well, good. You watch that crap with Marcus.”

Because I won’t. Harvey didn’t say it, but horror movies weren’t his thing. Never had been. Not that he was scared. He just didn’t like them. Cheap thrills and crappy production value. Harvey had standards, after all.

“Marcus said scary movies are good. You just don’t like them because you’re a scaredy cat.”

“Did he now?” Harvey asked.

Charlie opened her mouth to continue, but Gordon interrupted.

“That’s enough, Charlie,” Gordon said. “It’s time to eat.”

Gordon was amazed that the boys didn’t realize by now that anything one brother said about the other in Charlie’s presence went right back to the other brother.

Or maybe Marcus did realize and that had been his intention. To rile his brother from afar. Gordon could never be too sure. The boys liked to pick at each other just as much now as they had when they were kids. And their sister was a convenient and willing weapon to wield.

And Charlie and Marcus had been on the phone a few times that week. That wasn’t too out of the norm. Charlie liked talking with her brothers, but from what Gordon had overheard there hadn’t been much talking aside from the two of them reviewing Pennywise’s more infamous lines.

“But what about my face?” Charlie whined. “Harvey said I’m not even scary!”

“I never said—”

“You said I was cute!” Charlie pouted and Harvey had a fleeting thought that if his sister was hellbent on tantruming all afternoon, that in itself was far more frightening than any costume she could wear. He was about to say something to the effect, about to suggest that she rein in the dramatics, when his dad cleared his throat.

“How about you come and eat your lunch and we’ll fix your costume when we’re done?”

Charlie hesitated, part of her hellbent on being upset, but Donna stepped closer, leaning down to meet Charlie’s eye. She held out a small paper boat, something she had folded up in the few minutes that Charlie and Harvey had been talking.

“Did anyone ever tell you that I used to do theater, little chick?” Donna asked. “I can make you look so scary you’ll give your brother nightmares for a month. Go on kiddo, take it.”

Charlie giggled at Donna’s impersonation and took the boat in her hand, a terrifying grin on her face as she turned towards Harvey, any resemblance to a ‘cute’ clown gone entirely even with her shoddy makeup.

Charlie held the boat out to her brother. “You want it, don't you, Harvey? Oh, of course you—”

Harvey scooped his sister up in his arms before she could finish quoting the clown…before it could really settle in how creepy it was…Charlie looking at her brother like that, speaking to him with that voice. As Harvey’s fingers dug into Charlie’s sides, the facade quickly slipped and all resemblance to the dancing clown was wiped away from his sister’s sweet face as she squealed and giggled in his arms.

“What I want is for you to eat your lunch,” he answered as he plopped her down into the seat at his desk and pushed her in, grateful when she didn’t fight him or start imitating the clown again, and instead digging into the piece of pizza Gordon set in front of her.

“And next year, no creepy clowns for Halloween,” he said.

Charlie turned towards him as she chewed on a bite of her pizza, a contemplative look in her eye. “This pizza’s not as good as eating—”

“Alright, quit clowning around. You’re scaring your brother,” Gordon interrupted before Charlie could make mention of the clown’s favorite pastime of devouring children.

Harvey gave his father a look, no appreciation spared for his pun.

“No, she’s not,” Harvey argued, but Donna and Gordon were both smirking at them.

“That’s okay, Harvey,” Charlie said, that deeply unsettling smile back in place as she turned to him. “Be afraid. You all taste so much better when you’re afraid.”

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