NIKO'S EYES DART back in forth between the dazzling sights of the circus and the passing figures to find her friend — who was the one who made plans to come to the traveling circus. Niko sighs irritably as she pulls her jacket closer to her mid-section, hoping that it'll provide much-needed warmth. It doesn't as her teeth chatter and Niko tries not to grimace at the sound her teeth make as she takes hold of her phone, flipping it open and dialing her friend's number.
Niko presses it to her ear before keeping it there with her shoulder as she stuffs her hands under her jacket and armpits for security from the chilling wind. The phone rings for one too many seconds before her friend picks up, who grumbles incoherently in Niko's ear. She frowns and asks, "Where are you? I've been waiting for you for thirty minutes and you're a-no-show."
Niko looks up at the blinking lights of the carousel in front of her, she rolls her eyes as her friend casually lies about being in the car in traffic as Niko hears the sleepiness seep into their tone. She grins, unamused as she flippantly states, "You're such a liar, why did I even agree to this if you were going to leave me hanging?"
Her friend stammers and before they can apologize or most likely; lie even more, Niko stops them and threatens, "You better get here in the next thirty minutes or I'm leaving." She clicks her phone closed before her friend can say anything more and turns away from the carousel, as Niko does she looks up at the night sky and breathes in the crisp cold air. The freezing air burns her throat but it feels good to be outside even if it's filled with a bunch of strangers surrounding her.
Looking around, Niko realizes that she thoroughly dislikes the circus — not because of clowns or anything about the food nor the events. She dislikes it simply for the reason she has no idea of what to do, that's why she wanted her friend here to drag her around. Her friend that stood her up. At the thought of her friend once more, she rolls her eyes and knows she's going to continue to bring up this disappointing event just for the sake of teasing.
Niko continues to admire the tapestry and lights of the circus, not once looking in front of her, and because of her own stupidity she crashes into a person in front of her. She gasps as she trips, hands moving of their own accord to maintain balance. The person she clumsily slammed into grabs ahold of her wrists, stabilizing her balance and keeping her still. Niko blinks in surprise and looks up to find a pale boy with fiery-red hair and freckles scattering over his cheeks.
Her mouth opens and closes before she stammers out an apology, "I'm s-so sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going, stupid of me — I know," Before Niko can ramble on more about how idiotic her tumble was the boy chuckles, "It's fine, though maybe instead of admiring the view, you could watch where you're walking? Ya never know who you might stumble into next."
At the boy's warning, Niko straightens up and nods her head. She was extremely glad she bumped into him instead of some psychopath with anger issues, who knows what might've happened if that had occurred. "Uh, thank you for catching me. You could've just let me fall on my face, but you didn't — so, thank you."
The boy looks down at her hands, finally noticing he's still holding onto her wrists and lets go of them. He looks away from Niko for a moment, his tongue prods at his cheek as he thinks before he states, "Ya know you might've given me a concussion — I might need your name later to tell the hospital who I'll have to send the bill to." Niko tilts her head, not fully understanding the joke until it clicks, she then laughs.
She stretches her hand out to the boy, smiling wide as she says, "I'm Nikolette, but my friends call me Niko." The boy takes her hand, shaking it before letting go. "You actually might have a concussion, most people in Gotham don't let others bump into them without some kind of altercation." He shakes his head at her words with a smirk, "I'm not from Gotham, so I think I'm okay."
Niko 'oh's' at his reveal, nodding her head before stopping herself from asking where he was from, she didn't know him and it didn't seem all too polite to just ask some random where they came from. The boy watches as she bites at her bottom lip and he chuckles once more, "You can ask, ya know." Niko grins from ear to ear and proceeds to ask him where he came from originally, to which he responds, "Born and raised at this very establishment, Haly's Circus."
He raises both his arms, gesturing around the two with a sort of boyish charm. Niko smiles at the act and opens her mouth to ask her next big question, "Does it ever get boring? You know, the clowns and trapeze." The boy hums before shrugging, "It ain't so bad, once you get used to the music." He jokes with a grin causing Niko to mirror it.
Niko tilts her head in thought, blonde strands falling in front of her face with her movement. "I never did catch your name, stranger." The boy smirks before wittily replying, "I didn't throw it," Before Niko can pout at his wit, he continues, "The name's Jerome, a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Niko."
Jerome bows with finesse, pretending he has a hat atop his head as he tips it toward Niko with a wide grin. Niko playfully rolls her eyes at him, smiling so hard her cheeks are beginning to burn. She's never met someone with this much charm in their entire body much less their pinky finger, and she's liking it a bit too much and it scares her since Jerome is from Haly's Circus — a traveling circus that only stays around for a week at most, and there's only three more days before their departure.
A moment passes before the two of them, a calming quiet washes over them between the robust noises of the traveling circus around them. Niko digs her hands into her jacket pockets, no longer shivering from the cold as she looks up at Jerome, who looks down at her with a tilted head. "What are you doing tomorrow?" He questions Niko suddenly, causing her to blink in surprise. "I have school but after that I'm free."
Jerome hums, nodding before stating, "I'm taking you out tomorrow, what time are you free?" Niko laughs at that, charmed by his nonchalant demand and she's thankful he doesn't seem like the type to beg — she's never been one to go out with someone who drags their feet at the revelation of asking for a date. "I get out around four p.m., is that alright for you?"
He happily nods, "Be here at six," Before Niko can open her mouth to protest about the date being at a circus he continues, "Don't worry, I don't have a car, so I was thinking we walk around the city." Jerome grins as he watches Niko beam and violently nod her head.
"Niko!"
Both of them turn toward the voice yelling out Niko's name, and she smiles at the sight of her friend arriving. Niko whirls back around to Jerome, "It's a date, I'll see you then." She walks away from him, a skip in her step as she proceeds to giddily talk about her plans for tomorrow to her friend.
Jerome watches on with a small smile, and what Niko doesn't realize is that she did indeed bump into a psychopath and made plans with said psycho for the next day. Oh, what fun!
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IT WAS THE day after Niko met Jerome, she didn't know what was in store for the day ahead but she was happier than she'd ever been in a long while, and that was rare for her. Sure, she had happy moments but she was in high-spirits from the moment she woke up for the day.
It was an hour after she'd gotten out of school, already home and preparing for her date with Jerome. Niko's hand glides across the air as she puts on her mascara, gently swiping up to make sure she doesn't ruin all her hard work with one wrong move. She sighs, content, as she slides the wand back into the tube and turns away from the mirror with a slight smile.
Her phone rings, jittering on her bedside table from the vibration. Niko's eyes widen before she skips over to her table and picks up the phone, flipping it open and answering to find her friend on the other side. "Hey, what's up?"
Niko sits down on her bed, legs crossing as she begins to twirl a lock of her hair around her finger. "Are you sure about this, Niko?" Her friend asks causing Niko to sigh, knowing full well that her friend doesn't trust Jerome and it seems like she does that for every guy she's been on a date with. "Yes, Wendy. I'm sure, he's funny and he's cute, that's a bonus!" She giggles at her own words and her friend — Wendy — irritably sighs in her ear.
"I don't like him–" Before Wendy can tell Niko about her worries about the boy, she interrupts her with a groan, "You say this about all the guys, I'll be fine — I've always been fine with all my other dates, what'll be different about this one?"
"Well, for one: he's not from here, you just met the guy for crying out loud!" Niko goes to speak but Wendy persists with her concern over Niko's date, "And two: He creeps me out, I don't know why but my gut is telling me that he's not a good guy, especially for you."
Niko's brows scrunch together at her words, "What do you mean by 'especially for you', Wendy?" Her friend stammers, "W-well, you're a decent person, you have a good heart, and not many people have that in Gotham." Niko's mouth shapes into an 'o' before smiling, "You're such a good friend, Wendy. But, I'll be okay — and if it makes you feel better, I'll have my phone on me at all times."
Wendy sighs, knowing she's not gonna win this battle, and relents. "Okay, but you better. I don't want to see the news the next morning and find your name plastered on the screen with the words missing."
⎯⎯⎯⎯
"WELL, DON'T YOU clean up nice," Jerome flirts with a grin, taking ahold of Niko's hand and entwining their fingers together. Niko blushes at his compliment, looking away bashfully as they walk away from the entrance of the circus, away from civilization. "You don't look too bad yourself."
He chuckles, swinging their hands as they walk and it creates a calming feeling in Niko's chest, it was as if his presence washed away her anxieties of the day and replaced them with a relaxing feeling. "So, you're the local here, where to?" Jerome questions, grin still on his lips and Niko can't help but mirror it. "Well, I don't usually walk around Gotham but there's this nice little park a couple of miles away if you're up for a stroll."
Jerome looks down at her with a smile, "Of course," He then frowns as he looks around, "Just, keep holding onto my hand," Niko looks up at his with a quirked brow and he answers her unspoken question with a wide grin, "Ya never know what might happen, wouldn't want someone to snatch you, right?" Niko frowns at his joke before nodding, stepping closer to him for security.
He smiles as he feels her warmth on his right side and as they walk Niko asks, "What does a guy born and raised at a circus do in his spare time?" Jerome looks at her with raised brows and the left side of his lips quirks up into a smirk. "Ah, ya know, I help out my Mom with chores but there isn't much to do around there."
Niko's head tilts up to look up at Jerome, eyes squinted as she gently says, "Do you mind if I ask a personal question?" He hums for a moment before nodding, and Niko then asks, "You mentioned your mom, is your dad...?" She trails off awkwardly, not knowing how to word her question fully.
"My, uh, Dad — he died after I was born." Jerome doesn't explain further and Niko realizes it's a tough subject and drops it immediately. The air around them goes quiet and Jerome sighs, "What about your parents?" He softly asks and if Niko wasn't standing so close she might not have heard him.
"Uh, Mom's not around though I do see her sometimes on my birthday but that's it," Niko pauses, unsure if she should tell Jerome her entire family issues but then she remembers he's not gonna be around for more than a couple more days, so she continues, "My Dad drinks most nights and he's a pain to be around when he does, but he's the only one who fought for custody so I can't really be mad about it." Niko shrugs as if it's the most normal thing in the whole world and Jerome stops walking causing her to abruptly stop as well.
He turns fully in front of Niko and looks down at her with a look that she can't fully read. "My Mom drinks too," Jerome reveals and Niko's eyes widen before she takes hold of his hand, rubbing his knuckles as some sort of comfort. She quietly jokes, "Look at us, two kids with dysfunctional families."
Niko freezes at her words, not fully thinking before speaking and she goes to apologize but then she hears Jerome laugh. It wasn't an awkward laugh at all, it was full of amusement and the freckled boy looks down at her with warmth in his green eyes. "We definitely won the lottery with our families."
She laughs, "Yeah, we did." Niko looks away, looking down at her feet before grasping his hand again and dragging him forward. "C'mon, we're almost to the place," She smiles happily up at Jerome, who nods and walks with her, purposefully on her left to protect her from anything on the road beside them.
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author says!
poor, poor niko! her heart is gonna be broken when she finds out about jerome killing his mother, i hope everyone whose reading this is enjoying the story and i also hope the first chapter is a decent set up for the plot i have in mind.
i love all you guys, hugs and kisses!