Finally, after a long dragging month overseas, you were home.
You didn't bother informing either of your treasured humans. The surprise was intentional. Your suitcase remained in the back of the car as you parked in the garage, untouched and forgotten for later. Instead, you slipped into your brown cardigan, slid your bag over your shoulder and locked the car behind you.
The walk to the café was around five minutes maximum from your house and perhaps even less if you weren't wearing shoes with high heels.
The streets were littered with poorly colored flyers advertising a circus attraction. They clung to the walls while others were left crumpled and scattered on the pavement. Wind picked up and a flyer caught on your lower leg. You bent down to rip it off and brought it closer to your face for inspection.
'The Freak Circus Of Horrors' it read.
Further down the alley to your right a small group of circus performers, dressed in pink attire, performed acrobatic stunts while another one in red handing out flyers.
"Hey! Get out of here, weirdo!"
The shout is followed by the sound of a fist meeting an obstacle. Suddenly a man lunged forward and punched who had been handing out flyers. Despite his towering height, easily two meters tall, the circus performer stumbled and crashed to the ground.
"Ever since you freaks showed up, women have been disappearing!" The man snarls. "Go back to whatever hellhole you crawled out of!"
A crowd begins to gather, drawn in by outrage and curiosity. You were just about to turn away, unwilling to waste your first day back on town getting involved with drama, when a familiar scent attacked your nostrils.
Marcellus.
"I'm talking to you, freak!" The man shouts again, swinging for the clown once more.
Although his fist never lands. A hand wraps tightly around his wrist midair from behind.
A third man steps between them, blonde hair catching in the sunlight, wasn't it cloudy a second ago? "That’s enough. He’s just doing his job. There’s no reason to get violent and cause a scene."
"Working for the devil, maybe." The man spits and attempts to free his arm.
You moved without thinking, your body on autopilot.
Spotting Marcellus at the center of the confrontation, you closed the distance until you were standing in the same spotlight, the murmurs of the crowd fading into background noise. You slipped behind him and wrapped your arms around his toned frame, pressing close till there was no distance between your bodies.
"I leave you without any surveillance for a month," you murmur into his ear, voice sweet and dangerous all at once, "and you turn into a hooligan? Starting fights in broad daylight, my darling?"
Marcellus froze in her hold. "[Name]?!"
His eyes widened, releasing the man and spun around, immediately scooping you up into a crushing embrace. If you had needed oxygen, you would have been in serious trouble, your feet lifted clean off the ground as he held you tight, laughter and disbelief tangled together.
"Screw you!" The man snapped from a safe distance. "Open your eyes before they take your girl too!"
He stormed off, vanishing down the street as the crowd slowly dispersed, whispers trailing behind them.
Reluctantly, he released you, setting your feet back on the sidewalk, sending a sharp glare at the man's quick retreating form.
Humming softly, you traced his chin and forced him to gaze at your face.
With the corner of your eyes, you spotted a school girl taking pictures of you while covering her bleeding nose, whispering something along the lines of 'When's my turn?' or 'Step on meh~'
Once she noticed your eyes on her, she became a flustered mess and ran off with her hands covering her face.
The human offsprings of this generation are truly something else.
You laughed under your breath before focusing on Marcellus.
With your devoted attention upon himself, his hands wandered over your form, as if to reassure himself that you were real. His gaze was intense, filled with an overwhelming mixture of relief and something darker more primal.
Yeah, you were definitely getting in his pants tonight. There wasn't a single doubt about that.
A jiggle sound interrupted your lovey dovey moment and brought you unfortunately back to reality.
Looking over your shoulder, you spotted the cause of this whole fiasco. If his glare could kill, you would had been six feet deep underground.
That thing, yes thing because you could tell right away he wasn't a human, looked at you as if you stole the love of his life.
Huh, you swore you saw a similar scene in a manhwa. The male lead showering the female lead in his attention while the villainess is seething, watching from the sidelines like an absolute loser.
Marcellus followed your gaze as he noticed the clown. It didn't take a genius to see the animosity between them. Too bad, he lacks the bare minimum intelligence to understand social cues.
Marcellus' grip on your waist tightened for a brief moment before he reluctantly released you, his protective instincts warring stupidly thin with his useless inherent kindness. He took a step toward the fallen clown, his expression softening with needless concern which should have been directed towards you. You spend so many hours in that forsaken airplane, being a progenitor hybrid doesn't automatically cancel jetlag.
"Are you alright, man?" Your foolish man asked, offering a hand to help him up. "Some people are kind of hotheaded, better not get too close, you know what I mean."
The clown nods slowly and tilts his head watching him silently, as he took Marcellus’ hand. The moment his fingers made contact, however, he flinched, snatching his hand back as if burned.
Hah, is he pretending to be shaken up? Hmph, cheap tricks won't work on your man. He's the size of a mountain, towering over you both yet he dares play damsel in distress?
"Maybe you want to come with us to the café, your cheek looks like it could really use a pouch of ice." Marcellus offered.
Hearing this you immediately step in. "Ah, how about you return by yourself and I'll catch up in a bit. I'll take him to the circus, they must have a doctor of sorts to help him. He looks like he would appreciate being near to people he knows."
Marcellus blinked in surprise at your sudden interference, his gaze flicking between you and the clown with visible hesitation.
Marcellus frowned. "[Y/N], I don't think—"
You cut him off with a sweet, sharp smile. "Darling, trust me." You squeezed his arm, leaning up to press a quick kiss to his jaw. "I'll meet you at the café soon. Your boss will be mad if you're late and Carol will be wondering where you disappeared to."
Before Marcellus could protest anymore, you grabbed the clown by his biceps and tagged him along.
The clown stumbled slightly as you dragged him with unexpected force.
You leaned in closer to the clown as you walked, voice dropping to a murmur only he could hear. "Listen carefully, dear. I don't know what game you're playing, but if you so much as breathe too loudly in his direction again, I'll peel that painted smile right off your face."
His yellow eyes flickered down at you, face remaining eerily smooth, like polished porcelain, but something in his gaze darkened when he looked at you. Yellow slits glaring at you from the abyss behind the mask.
Soon you arrived at the front of the circus, which turned out to be just a block away from your house.
Outside the front entrance was a booth which you assumed was were people were buying their tickets from but there was no one inside. Pity, seems like you're not buying tickets today.