Let's just jump straight into this! =D Oh! And this is going to backtrack into David's point of view.
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"Psst!"
David looked around and saw no one nearby. He shrugged and looked at the rose bush.
"Always stop to smell the roses!" David sung to himself and smiled at the flowers. Suddenly a hand reached out and yanked him in. A different hand clapped over his mouth as he was about to scream.
"Hey. Hey. Shoosh. It's just me." His voice spoke back to him. Except this voice was off. Just a tad. He looked up to see it was Daniel. He sighed out of an almost relief but still keeping his guard up. It's rude not to trust people but with what the kids were saying, it wasn't exactly a good choice to trust him. David stuck his tongue out and Daniel pulled away his hand in disgust. He wiped it on his shirt and gave him a funny look. "I think those children are rubbing off on you too much,"
"What do you want Daniel?" David hissed. "Oop! Sorry that was a bit too harsh. Is there something you need? Why are you here?"
"I have an offer," Daniel said. "I would ask literally anybody else but you are kinda the only person who I trust and who kinda trusts me at this point,"
"What kind of offer?" David asked. It's very sad that Daniel thought this way about himself and the people around him.
"Run away to the circus with me." He said straight to the point. David winced and was about to interject. "Before you say no just think about it! I've done some research on you and I know you have a background in the circus! So I know part of you misses it! I'm not asking you to say yes immediately. Just ask if they want you to stay and think about it!"
"I don't know Daniel. I can't just-"
"Please just think about it. I would do this by myself if I could but it's hard alone."
"I'll think about it."
"Okay good now get back to the camp. Don't look suspicous and don't tell anyone anything!"
David was shoved back through the bush and he scurried to the Mess Hall.
"Good Morning everyone!" He shouted. On dear. Was that too loud? Nobody seemed to think it was off. Okay David. Just act normal. He grabbed the clip board and dropped it off infront of Gwen. That was something he normally did. Right? Yeah... He remembers doing that countless times before. Off to the kitchen!
Coffee for Campbell! He grabbed it and almost immediatly he felt a single stare. Did he do something out of the ordinary?
Bamp!
He dropped the cup. Oh golly, oh gosh! David leaned to pick it up and Campbell bapped him on the back of the head.
"Dammit Davey!"
Ah yes the patronizing name that Campbell refused to let go of. Just to keep power over him.
"Sorry Mister Campbell!" David spoke quickly.
"I would fire you if I were still in charge. And if it wasn't so much paper work... and if I didn't have to hire someone else." Campbell huffed off. "I should never have hired that useless little..."
Guess that is one answer. Then again Campbell just doesn't like him. David's got to get someone else's opinion. Someone who he could relate to. Who he thought he was close to. Someone like...Max!
Yeah he'll ask Max! He's a smart kid! He'll tell David to stay and then David will just have to tell Daniel he'll be too missed.
His clipboard was pushed towards him. He smiled and Gwen smiled back. Had she been talking? He hadn't recalled. Wait when did he sit down.
No matter! It's time for announcements!
~~Later~~
The second they hit the shore Max hit the ground running. Guess David got his answer. He climbed out of the lake and crawled under his bed. David dragged his adventure bag out from underneath and semi-snuck to the rose bush where Daniel last was. He stood by it and looked down into it.
"Daniel!" He whisper yelled. No reply. "Daniel!"
"David?" I reply came from behind him. He jumped and sighed when he saw it was just Daniel coming back from stealing food from the Mess Hall.
"I decided I'm going with you!" David nodded. This would have been the perfect time for Daniel to blink. He didn't but he did smile.
"Great! Let's go! There is a new circus in town looking for some new acts!"
"What's your act going to be-"
Daniel put a finger over David's mouth. David looked at Daniel who was smiling brightly.
"You'll just have to see," He replied. David smiled and the two ventured into the woods.
Eventually the sky became dark and the forest cleared into a brightly lit carnival area. Daniel and David unconsiously intertwined fingers as they walked forward. They walked through the carnival and looked at all of the different outside acts and all the boothes. The two were getting weird looks from strangers but neither noticed nor cared.
Finally they walked into the circus tent just as the show finished.
"It's time!" Daniel exclaimed and pulled David towards the ring master. "Sir! Sir wait up!"
"Oh hello boys!" The ringmaster smiled and greeted. "What can I do for you?"
"We'd like to join your circus!" Daniel replied. The ringmaster smiled wider.
"Well that's great! What can you boys do?" He asked and looked down and saw their hands. This brought Daniel's and David's attention to it a as well. David pulled his hand away as if it burnt.
"I am quite flexible," Daniel shook off the shock of David's yank. The ring master nodded.
"We could use a contortionist. And you red head? We could use another clown!" He suggested. David shook his head wildly.
"I studied how to do aerial silks for one of my campers. I've gotten pretty good if that could be useful to you." He offered.
"Your campers huh? You sure you wanna be here?" The ring master asked putting a hand on David's shoulder. David nodded in reply. "You boys are in! I'm Todd."
David and Daniel smiled and shook hands with Todd.
"David!"
"Daniel!"
"Welcome to the family! Shall we introduce you to everyone?"
"That would be nice!" David said and did a friendly fist pump. Daniel snuck his hand into David's again and let David lead him after Todd.
"You see everybody - except for me who started the circus- came in groups. A lot of us are performing multiple acts currently until we get more people." Todd explained. "These are the triplets. Well technically the twins and their friend. Mossy, our magician, Chris and Ben, those two are the twins they are the tight rope walkers. Those three also are the clowns!"
"Nice too meet you!" David waved and they nodded back. Daniel smiled at them and the waved.
"This is Nillie and her best friend Gala. They handle the stunt acts."
"Charmed to meet you two!" A tall and sturdy woman smiled. She had thick and curly brown lockes. SHe stuck her hand out for them to shake. "I'm Nillie!"
"I'm Gala." The other woman said. She looked almost like the polar opposite of Nillie. She waved as a greeting instead of making physical contact.
"That is about it for now exept we are missing one other person. Where is she? Joey!"
A small girl, about 4 ran over.
"Here I am!"
"There you are!"
"Is she your daughter?" Daniel asked fondly. Todd chuckled as he hoisted the girl up.
"No. Not exactly anyways. She's the daughter of our muscle man, who was sadly lost in an accident."
"I'm sorry for your loss!"
"It's fine. It was several years ago so we've gotten our chance to mourn. Anyhow! How about we got you boys settled in?" Todd smiled. David nodded they were led to a trailor. "Here is your trailor! We've been waiting for a new act and you brought two. So you'll have to share. Tomorrow is a break day for us so get some sleep! You'll need to be well rested for when we start working on your acts!"
They exchanged pleasantries and parted.
"I can't believe we actually did this," David smiled and he laid on the built in top bunk.
"Yeah,"Daniel agreed and looked up at him. "Thanks for doing this with me."
"Thanks for inviting me. I didn't realize how much I needed a change."
"Was it that bad there?"
"No. But I was kind of getting tired of the goings on there. It just wasn't great on me I suppose. I love the camp and would die for the campers and Gwen! It's just I wasn't getting time for me. Then Campbell always using me as a punching bag kind took the magic out if the entire place."
A long pause.
"You sound like you really care about our campers."
David smiled.
"Yeah," He paused. "Guess it didn't go both way though."
"You sure they won't miss you?"
"I'm sure. I mean they didn't care that much when I accidentally disappeared." He pursed his lips. "Anyhow! Enough about my trashy nonsense. Why did you choose to leave your life behind?"
Daniel looked at him and a sad look took over his face.
"I don't really want to talk about it," Daniel rolled to face the wall.
"That's okay. If you ever need to talk please odn't hesitate to come to me. Okay?"
"Yeah."
And that was their first night at the circus.
That morning Todd woke up and was ready to wake everyone up early. He walked into the kitchen semi drowsely.
"Good morning sir!"
Todd jumped and looked at where the voice came from. The newbie. The red head one that is.
"Good morning..." He paused trying to collect the name. "David?"
"That's me!" David replied and started putting plates on the table. He then handed Todd a mug. "I made a pot of coffee. It is caffinated so I hope you don't mind! I didn't ad anythign too it because I don't know how you like it. Anyhow! Be careful it's hot!"
"Thank you!" Todd nodded and looked at him. "Why are you up? It's early o'clock."
"I usually wake up this early. My internal clock always wakes me up around this hour. I usually use it to help out Quarter Master and to do checks on the activities field! Gotta make sure things are as safe as they can be at camp."
Todd smiled as he watched David ramble about his old routine and tidied things up around the room.
"Sounds like you had a lot of fun back at camp." Todd commentted after David led him to a seat. "Did it go out of business or something?"
"Not exactly..." David paused for a moment.
"Sounds like a touchy subject." Todd said trying to get atleast a little more.
"Have you chosen anything for breakfast?"
Todd looked at the center of the table, which had tons of different breakfast foods.
"Everything looks great Davey," Todd smiled and jumped when there was a small clatter when a fork dropped.
"Oopsey daisy!" David picked up the fork and put it in the sink. "Anyhow is there anything I can do for you before we start the day?"
"Yeah. Can you go wake up Daniel, send him this way for breakfast. I can get the other folks here. I want you two ready to show me what you've got!"
"Yes sir!" David did a weird hand sign before leaving. What a nice fella.
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Alrighty folks! That is where this chapter is ending! I will write more later... eventually. Currently in the middle of working on several new AUs in different fandoms and trying against the urge to just drop everything and become an online hermit. Never fear though because I am too much of a coward to totally drop everything. This chapter will be posted on Ao3 later today (If everything goes to plan!)
Anyhow! Have a good day for my jumping beans and a good night to my fellow night owls.
See you all next update!