I woke up in an unfamiliar mattress. I felt arms pressed against my back as I laid in the same oddly comfortable spot. I looked near the edge of the mattress and stretched out. I reached out to the edge, ready to pull myself and whoever was behind me over. I gripped the side and almost screamed from the shock and pain. 

My hand.

I shouldn't have been so careless with the wound. If I want to have my dream "circus life", I needed to be more aware of myself. I, of course, I also needed to be more careful of the tricks I want to feel freer.

"You're up?" A voice, the one from behind me, laughed. Popee. He still sounded tired; like my moment of reminder gave him the hint I was up. "No, I'm still asleep," I whispered to myself. "I'm just talking and screaming my sleep." I felt his movement from behind.

"That's a thing, y'know?" I turned, grabbing the blanket that was just a bit too cheap. "Talking in your sleep, everyone's heard of it. Screaming in your sleep, that's a thing. Before...the incident...I worked with this kid that had bad night terrors. Every night you would hear him screaming. It could be midnight and you would hear it," Popee looked down and sighed. "Wonder where the kid is now." A small smile grew on his lips.

"And you never screamed," His smile grew and he instantly looked at me. "you jerked back; squeaked." He laughed. "You hit my elbow with your shoulder. Wouldn't have if I didn't lay on you." He smiled at me again before standing up. 

I took the chance to look around, not giving up my spot to the wind. White and red strips flowed down the sides of the area we were in. They went up to fold together, becoming darker at the top triangle shape at the top. We were in a tent. We were in a circus.

I looked over to where Popee was. He was going through white drawers with yellow aging stains and dark pink dots on the sides. A mirror was beside it. It was pale blue with matching pale stripes. Then, a small table. It was the same dark pink as the dots with white dots. The mirror seemed out of place. It looked like it really didn't belong. 

I looked at the blanket that was laying on top of me. It was white, originally, it looked burnt in a way. 

I sat up, the blanket sliding down me. I was wearing the same clothes as the night before. Popee was wearing a light pink tank top and dark pink shorts. His hair was a mess, thankfully not knowing what mine looks like. His hair was curved at the top in two ways. Like it had been held by a hair tie for too long. 

"Popee," I said, my voice coming out more dry than expected. He turned instantly. "Yes?" I shook my head. "What are you looking for?" I said and stood up. He smiled at me. "I was seeing if I had anything for you to wear in my tent. I know we have something, just checking here first." He said and went back to the drawers. Up close, I noticed a teal bag hanged on one of the handles, rattling when the drawer shook. "I have clothes in my bag." I said, hinting at the question, 'Where is it?'. "I didn't want to go through your stuff." He said and closed the drawer.

He walked over to the other side of the mattress and I saw bag beside it. "How did I not see that?" I whispered to myself. "Here you go." He said and picked up all the bags, gently setting them on the mattress. "Also," He looked down at my bags, turning his head as if trying to look inside, "I have some leggings I want you to try on. Even if you already have some, I think they will be good for practice." He looked back up at me and smiled. "Okay," I said and walked towards my bags.

I opened my bag of clothes and looked through to find everything I needed. "Here," Popee said and I saw a pair of light pink leggings land on the mattress. I smiled. "I hope they're okay." I could hear the smile in his voice. "They are. Thank you." I said and looked in my bag for a matching shirt. 

I found a (black/white) (shirt, tank top, sweater, crop top, etc.) (optional: with black/white/pink, stripes/dots). I smiled. I set the shirt on top of the leggings and searched for everything else I needed. I heard the rough sound of a zipper and paused. "Popee?" I said and tried to continue looking through my bag. "I'm just putting on my jumpsuit." He responded.

I paused again, this time, fully sitting up and blankly staring at the side of the tent ahead of me. I thought of the day at the circus. Is it the same jumpsuit? Does he still wear the bunny hat? I turned to look at him.

His jumpsuit was on and he had his hair tied up in two short pigtails. He had the hat in his hands. He smiled at me. "I still wear the same thing. Boring, really?" He laughed and placed the hat on his head. "My joyful personality didn't grow up, just like my outfit." He laughed and pulled his bangs from under the hat. "Around you, that is." He smiled at me and I quickly turned before my entire face was covered in dark blush. 

"Do you have anywhere I could change my clothes? I need to get out of these. I can feel dirt stains from sitting on the ground outside." I said, trying to build up enough courage to turn and look at him. "I'll just walk out and you can change in here, okay?" I nodded. "I'll go right now. I'll get us something to drink and eat while you change." I nodded again and heard him start to walk off. I heard the opening of the tent hit the wind, then hitting the other flap as a signal of the tent being closed.

I quickly changed my clothes, and put my dirty ones in an empty pocket of my clothes bag. I sat on the mattress and gripped the blanket.

How long has he slept on the old mattress? What if he's slept on this since the case? What did I do to him? His life? 

I can still see the pride in his eyes to perform, though. I wonder if that's why he helped me. We have the same strange pride, even with our pasts fighting it. I smiled. He was gonna teach me.

"(Y/N), are you dressed yet?" Popee asked from outside of the tent. "Ya, you can come in," I said back and he almost instantly opened the tent. He was two bottles of water that had worn away labels and a napkin in half with something in between. I pushed my bags off the mattress and he sat down beside me. He set the napkin between the two of us and handed me a water bottle.

"It's not much, but its something to eat." He unfolded the napkin. "This is the kind of stuff I've been eating for breakfast for years, even before the case. Lunch and dinner will be better." Four pieces of toasted bread sat in front of me. Small packs of butter and jelly you get for free when you go out to eat were tucked in the inside of the fold. "Popee," I whispered. "Sorry," He whispered back. "Popee, do you really think I care about what I eat for breakfast?" I asked with a smile. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." He smiled and laughed slightly.

"It's breakfast. Breakfast is breakfast." I grabbed a piece of toast and bit into it. I grabbed his wrist and moved his hand onto a piece of toast. I smiled. "Eat."