Archive of Our Own

Ragatha had never been the type to really stick up for herself or be outspoken with her feelings unless they were the universally positive option. Saying you liked something everyone else liked was a lot easier, and likeable, than saying you didn’t like something they did. Her feelings were relative to how important they felt at the moment.

But recently Ragatha had been encouraged by her friends to break this cycle, and she was making an effort.

It started small. She didn’t like chocolate milk. She didn’t recall why they were talking about the drinks of their childhood, but she didn’t like, and never liked, chocolate milk. Nobody else didn’t like it, but nobody was upset.

Then it was suggesting a different activity in their spare time. They were doing more girl time game nights- Kinger was invited too- and they had a stack of board games supplied by Caine. They were in agreement to play Clue, but she didn’t want to. She voiced a suggestion to play Monopoly instead. They talked it out and decided to play Monopoly first, largely at Pomni flipping, probably to support Ragatha.

She learned there that it was okay if they didn’t agree. They weren’t going to get mad at her for not agreeing with them.

This gave Ragatha a boost of confidence that she hadn’t had in years, and next thing she knew, she was readily speaking up and disagreeing with Caine’s plans for the next adventure. It wasn’t the first time she had done it, but this time there wasn’t the same amount of tiptoeing. It was direct.

“I’m sorry, Caine, but we’ll be cleaning cheese out of all our creases for weeks and it’s going to smell awful.”

Caine listened. He still worked the cheese pool into the cavern adventure, but he heard Ragatha’s voice and took it seriously.

She was feeling bigger than ever. Her words had weight, but not enough to make her seem bossy. She could be honest without worrying about how it would look if she was.

But Jax wasn’t thrilled with how assertive Ragatha was getting. Not that she and him didn’t get into regular shouting matches but now it was getting harder to hit a soft spot and have Ragatha back down. No longer did a faux-wobbly voice and a mocking reminder of how mean she was being make her suddenly judge herself.

Ragatha was arguing back stronger than ever. She was throwing words right back.

And then she snapped back in a way she hadn’t ever before.

“Aww, what’s wrong, Dollface? What happened to that big ol’ sack of sunshine?”

“Oh, bite me, Jax!” Ragatha snapped back.

Jax looked downright befuddled at that retort and Ragatha was almost proud of it.

But then his expression changed. It was briefly blank, and then he got the slowest, widest, most menacing smile she had ever seen.

And she knew she made a grave miscalculation.

“Okay.”

“Wh… What?” she asked.

“Wellll, since you asked so nicely.” Jax had the gall to reach out and pinch her cheek, which she quickly swatted away. “I’ll bite cha.”

“Jax, it’s a figure of- What are you doing?”

Jax took a menacing step closer. She quickly stepped back.

“Jax, don’t you dare!”

He stepped in again. He had that wild look in his eyes.

“I mean it!”

“Oh, relax! Drama queen, I tell ya,” Jax said. “I’m not gonna bite you NOW. What’s the fun in that?”

He leaned in, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes, but still grinning cheek to cheek.

“I’m gonna wait ‘til you let your guard down and then I’m gonna chomp down right on that- Actually! I don’t want to spoil the surprise.”

He brushed past and began to waltz away with a hand on his hip and a confident gait. Ragatha watched him go with slouched disbelief before calling after him.

“Jax, don’t you dare! You better be joking!”

He turned around to face her, still walking backwards, and gave her a big open-mouthed grin. Showing off every single jagged tooth.

And she knew she was deep in it then. Because sure, Jax could be toying with her, but he was not above going through with a threat. In fact, most of the time he did unless he forgot or changed targets.

And Jax was very capable of using those teeth. Ragatha had seen him do so.

And there were some… tiny… little things about Jax that always made Ragatha a little uneasy in the pit of her stomach.

Unfortunately, those tiny things were his giant razor-sharp teeth.

Ragatha wasn’t sure why they got to her so badly, but whenever he bared them, she felt herself internally squirm. Just something about those out-of-place monster teeth hidden inside a bunny body felt so uncanny and threatening. Not to mention he only bared them when he was feeling particularly rowdy.

If it wasn’t for Jax typically talking through his teeth she probably wouldn’t have been able to bear looking at him. And if it wasn’t for her masking it so well, he wouldn’t have had no idea that his teeth made her uncomfortable. Even now he was probably thinking she was afraid of the pain more than the bite.

But that didn’t stop him from taking full advantage of it.

At first it seemed like he had forgotten. It wasn’t long after that that they were whisked away to their second adventure of the day: apple picking in a vast orchard filled with big, cutesy worms that would try to hop down from the trees. Where he was more content tossing apples at Gangle and Zooble with a makeshift apple slinger made out of a stick.

The adventure was simple enough. They were broken up into teams of two, where one would carry a basket and catch falling apples while the other would use slingshots to knock down worms.

Jax got pinned with Kinger and had been sour enough to turn himself into a one-man worm apocalypse. He was a great shot, and the only reason he wasn’t using that slingshot to terrorize the others was because the slingshot physically wouldn’t shoot the apples, and the pellets it did shoot had a range of about ten feet.

The apple slinger was the fix for that little problem, but even then, he was busy bothering the closer team- not to sabotage them but just to annoying them for his own delight.

In a stroke of good luck, Ragatha and Pomni managed to rack up a heap of points. Gathering plenty of red, green, and golden apples, all of which had their own amount of points- though they didn’t get to see the score so assumedly it was the gold that was worth the most. Their reward was a basket of apples that they could use in the ‘second act’.

This was great, because it meant that they’d be able to get access to the kitchen. Ragatha hadn’t been in there in ages and was eager to show Pomni the multitude of minigames that made up plating a meal.

But they hadn’t gotten there yet. They were still in the orchard cooling off. Kinger was catching worms while Gangle and Zooble went off on a walk hand-in-hand.

This left Ragatha and Pomni alone to talk. They sat under the apple trees and Pomni listened as Ragatha told her about some of her favorite memories with her horses.  

It was going so nice!

And then Jax showed up.

And that was a literal showed up. Ragatha looked up towards the sky, making gestures with her hands, and then looked back down to Pomni and suddenly Jax was in the peripheral looming in the shadow of a tree with eyes glowing ominously.

Ragatha’s mouth popped closed and Jax smoothly stepped around the tree and leaned back against it, legs crossed, looking as nonchalant as could be.

“Hey! Toss me one’a those green grannies!”

Pomni, totally familiar with Jax butting in, didn’t blink an eye and tossed over an apple from the basket. “Go nuts.”

Jax winked at her. “Thanks, Pom-Pom.”

Sometimes it made Ragatha a little itchy how close the two were. It made her feel like the third wheel, the butt of the joke crashing in on their fun.

Not that she wanted in on any of Jax’s fun, but… it’d be nice if she didn’t have to feel so left out. She didn’t even know what she’d do if she was invited-

And then in one swift motion Jax bit straight through that apple in a firm chomp. Locking eyes with her the entire time.

And it swiftly reminded Ragatha of why she had been avoiding Jax all day. Her mouth tight as she watched his teeth slice right through the fruit. Then he crunched the bite between his teeth for good measure. Juice leaking down his chin in a way that normally would’ve been gross but was now extremely daunting.

All the while he stared right at her in a silent, smirking challenge.

Needless to say, Pomni noticed. She gave him a funny look, briefly looking back at Ragatha and her startled expression, and then back again.

“What was that?” Pomni bluntly asked.

“Nothing!” Jax said. He wiped the juice from his mouth. “Just munchin’ on some fruit.”

“Uh huh,” Pomni said unconvinced.

It wasn’t that Pomni wouldn’t get amusement out of Jax’s antics, she often did. This was just straight up weird.

“And now I’m gonna go ruin Gangle’s date. Catch ya later!”

Jax gave a wink and a two fingered salute before sauntering off. Having accomplished exactly what he wanted and now stalking off to prey on someone else.

Pomni gave Ragatha a look of befuddlement. “Do YOU want to talk about that?”

“His teeth make me a little nervous…” Ragatha admitted, tapping her hands with a sheepish smile.

“Does he know that?”

“Pretty sure he does!”

“Okay, I’m up to speed.”

Pomni didn’t have to ask any further, and she didn’t. From that point the day continued on as usual.

For a little while.

Because Caine had a second part to the adventure. Recently he had been trying more complex adventures with multiple steps, involving deeper cohesion and “story progression”. Usually, the story was either non-existent or totally detached, but it did have some charm to it. At the very least it toned down some of the wackiness for something more grounded.

This act two would involve the basket of apples and what they were going to do with them. And as they were the winners, they got to choose- after about five straight minutes of talking Caine out of the ‘lets create apple homunculus’ idea. Caine pouted quite a bit but went along with their decision.

Which was, of course, to cook with the apples. They were transported to the kitchen where they were all tasked with making some sort of apple treat.

Cooking in the Digital Circus was only vaguely like real cooking and much more like a cooking game. Tasks were simplified and most of the time the food just popped into the next state. It wasn’t exactly realistic.

For example, Gangle was on baked apple duty. Which meant once the apple was prepared, she had to put it in the oven for exactly ten seconds. But there was no timer, so she had to guesstimate it and if it was a second too late, they were burned. And if they were a second too early… they were also burned. Caine cheaped out on that animation apparently.

Needless to say, Gangle was unfortunately not having a good time with the baked apples. Though instead of getting sad she had a resting peeved face that looked cuter than it was supposed to.

Ragatha knew she would have to tackle the oven eventually but for now she was focusing on her project, apple pie. She offered it up to Pomni, but she wanted to do fritters since Jax assured her that the deep fry segment was the ‘only fun part’ of the cooking segment.

Honestly, it was a pretty lucky decision. Anyone else working with a deep fryer would’ve definitely been going in that fryer, but Pomni was his buddy so she got a pass.

Good. That way Ragatha didn’t have to pay any more attention to Jax than she already was. She had been watching her back all day and she was ready for a few minutes of distraction. She had just finished the peeling minigame and now had a clean-skinned pile of apple slices ready to be made into a pie.

She reached for the prepared pie crust sitting on the counter beside her and caught purple out the corner of her vision.

And suddenly there was Jax right beside her, bending over, his head swinging downwards towards her arm.

Ragatha yelped and yanked her arm back to her chest-

Only for Jax to reach down and grab a bowl from underneath the counter.

He side-eyed her judgmentally. “What’s up with you?”

“Uhh…”

“It’s me, isn’t it?” He leaned on the counter and shook his head patronizingly. “Dolly, Dolly. I’m not gonna bite you on the arm. I’m not a dog.”

“I wasn’t thinking about that! You just snuck up on me,” Ragatha denied, planting her hands on her hips.

She went entirely ignored and, instead, he leaned right into her space. His smile growing more smug as his eyes narrowed mockingly. She tried to hold her ground and not lean back.

“When I bite ya-,” he said, his voice low. “It’s going to be where everyone can see it.”                                                    

He clicked his teeth at her. She flinched.

“AUGH!”

And then she looked alarmed and he looked unamused, and they both looked back to see a distraught Gangle pulling another load of burned apples out of the oven.

Jax rolled his eyes. “Oh, for cryin’ out- I’m coming, I’m coming!” he said, as though that was aimed at him.

He brushed past Ragatha and strode over there before picking up a baking pan of the respawning apples and shoving them in the oven. “Like this!”

Needless to say, Jax was pulling out burned apples 10.5 seconds later. That’s when he locked onto the oven instead of Ragatha and began to fixate on getting the apples done. Not for Gangle’s sake, but because he had to prove that he could do it.

At least it was a brief reprieve from Jax. Ragatha tried to focus on the task at hand but found herself continuously checking back to make sure he wasn’t up to something.

He was down in a crouch, staring at the oven, tapping his foot as he tried to keep time on it. And when it came out burned again, he launched that pan across the room into the nearest oversized garbage can and threw the next pan in, starting the cycle over. Muttering to himself the whole time.

She cracked a little smile and turned away before she could get noticed. 

It took Jax a few more minutes before he got the timing down enough that he finally pulled out a pan of freshly baked, sweet smelling, cinnamon encrusted apples. Gangle was thrilled, Jax just looked mentally exhausted.

“There. Done,” he said flatly. He dropped the pan into Gange’s ribbons. “Go nuts.”

“Thank you, Jax! I- AHH!” Her ribbons sizzled upon contact, and she tossed the pan onto the counter. She blew on her ‘hands’ before noticing Jax eyeing her and gave an embarrassed shrug.

“If you would’ve dropped that, you would’ve been going in that oven,” he stated bluntly.

Gangle gave an uncomfortable giggle, though she was still smiling. She seemed unsure if it was a real threat or if Jax was just keeping up appearances.

There was a reason for that.

Jax had gotten a little softer with Gangle. He was still up to his old tricks, ergo launching apples at her all day, but he had toned it down a bit.

For example, old Jax definitely would’ve tipped that pan of apples over Gangle’s head and severely burned her. Old Jax probably wouldn’t have helped at all, he would’ve probably just shoved her into the oven and cracked a Hansel and Gretal joke.

It really had been a turnaround and Ragatha had to give thanks to Pomni for that. She was the one who caught him when he was falling out, figuratively, and that seemed to have long-reaching effects on his relationships with everyone else. Ragatha heard he opened up to Kinger once, and he was already frienemies with Zooble, and with Gangle now…

He really had started to bond with everyone.

Everyone except for her.

Ragatha pursed her lips disappointedly as she set the pie crust top on and watched it fuse to the pie, creating a perfectly normal looking- but technically unbaked- pie.

There was a metaphor there somewhere. She was progressing in getting better about her feelings, Jax was getting better about being a jerk, and they were getting closer with everybody except each other. Maybe they were the unbaked pie. Or their relationship was unbaked. The timing was always off. The numbers never lined up.

And now he wanted to bite her. She could only imagine what that was going to do to their already rocky footing.

Bite her where someone would see- where was he going to bite her, on the face? On the neck? Maybe on a shoulder? No, that would be too much on the arm. Ugh, maybe he’d try to bite her nose off or something equally horrendous. Spit it back onto her face and crack a joke.

She just wished…

She wished he was softer with her too.

Sure, he wasn’t as aggressive with his gags anymore- probably as to keep things light and to keep Pomni invested- but he never stepped up to help her with anything. This had been the most attention he had given her in ages.

She didn’t know WHY she would want anyone of his attention though. Not when he was now planning on biting her. Biting her with those jagged, sharp teeth.

Would it hurt? She could imagine it would. If she imagined hard enough she could sort of assume what it would feel like. Knives, maybe? But not as sharp, not as deep. Not as cold…

…

…She had been unneededly crimping the pie crust this entire time to try and look busy, to avoid going over to the oven. But she couldn’t put it off forever. Nope, she had to walk over there.

And walk right back into Jax’s bubble of attention since he was now camping out at the oven, wasting time getting out of whatever he was supposed to make. But he wasn’t moving and this pie wasn’t getting done. Squaring her shoulders, she picked up the pie and headed over to the oven.

She didn’t look at him, instead keeping her focus on trying to even out the last few details on the pie. Almost bumping into Kinger, apologizing with a smile- “Oh, a pie! What is that, pork?” “No, it’s apple.” “Ah, that works too.” -and stepping up to the oven before opening the door and popping the pie in.

Ragatha bent over and watched the window, trying to keep count in her head.

And then she felt something brush her shoulder and her eye darted over to realize that Jax was leaning in beside her, still smiling. She looked forward again quickly.

She wasn’t going to flinch or move away. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction, because she saw through him. He wasn’t winding up for a bite; he was just toying with her. The smell of apples briefly overwhelmed by the smell of carrots- he always reeked of them, even when he hated them with a passion.

She had lost track of counting by now. There was no way she could-

“Now,” Jax said.

She yanked open the oven and, much to her surprise, there was a perfectly baked pie sitting in the oven. Jax had actually helped her.

“Good job! Aren’t you glad I’m such a stand-up guy?” Jax asked slyly. And he was fishing for compliments.

“You sure are. Thank you, Jax,” Ragatha said gratefully. “And now you can be a stand-back guy before you get pied with a hot one,” she joked.

Okay, even she didn’t know what that meant, but it almost sounded like a comeback! He admired a clapback attempt, she could tell with how he flocked to Pomni and Zooble.

She was rewarded with a small tug from a strand of her yarn and for a second she thought that it was awfully childish, that he was pulling her hair.

But then it dawned on her that she hadn’t seen him move his arms at all- Oh no. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t be.

He was. She turned her head and caught him in the act, tugging a piece of her yarn with his teeth. Grin stretching across his face and yarn disappearing into it.

Somehow this wasn’t as threatening as he probably intended it to be.

She gave him a flat look. “I mean it.”

Jax raised his hands mock defensively and opened his mouth to let the yarn drop off his tongue, and to show off those rows of vicious yellows again. Then he turned and waltzed off.

Ragatha rolled her eye and pulled the pie out of the oven. Only for it to immediately burn her hands like it had to Gangle.

“Mmmph!” She hastily spun around and set it on the counter behind her. She shook out her hands. “We have to ask Caine for some oven mitts.”

“We had a pair until they got cinnamon on them and Bubble ate them,” Zooble said.

“Oh…”

“Give me a head’s up next time you need something pulled out. This hand barely feels it,” they offered, lifting a thick gloved hand that they had been trying today.

“I’ll do that! Thanks.”

It was at that moment when Ragatha was turning to check the pie, when she noticed that Gangle was giving her a weird look. The masked ribbon tangle noticed she had been spotted and waved and skittered away with the now cooled pan of baked apples.

It dawned on Ragatha then that they had all seen that weird encounter. Who knows what they thought about it. They had to know Jax well enough to know he was up to something.

Maybe that’s why Gangle rushed off so quickly. Because she only just got on Jax’s better side and didn’t want to risk being in the crossfires for whatever he was plotting next. Ragatha didn’t blame her, she didn’t either.

Needless to say, she was watching her back from that moment on.

…But found that suddenly Jax wasn’t haunting her like he was earlier.

Suddenly, Jax was entirely disinterested in stalking Ragatha. Once they left the kitchen, finished up with the adventure and with some leftover spoils in tow, Jax went off to do his own thing. Hung out with Pomni on the couches, disappeared for a while, showed up to make cracks at Zooble and Gangle’s expense when he caught them getting cuddly.

Ragatha stole glances at him a few times expecting him to be staring her down behind her back, but every time she found his attention elsewhere. Which should’ve been a relief but instead made her more antsy than if he was still flashing grins at her across the room.

Maybe he got bored and lost interest. Or more likely, he decided to lay low for a while before trying to scare her when she least expected it. That was it, more than likely.

If this was part of his plan to keep her on her toes, then he was doing a great job because she was even more paranoid now. It was almost a relief when the end of the day came. Caine announcing the coming of nighttime and wishing everyone a good night with a pat on the head, back, or shoulder- part of his ‘being a better ringleader’ shtick.

Once that happened it wouldn’t be weird to retire to her room. She gave a stretch and a forced yawn and wished the others good night, receiving some in return before heading out.

Jax was still on the couch and only looked at her briefly. Maybe he HAD lost interest in the plan. He at least looked disinterested, with his arms crossed behind his head. Not even mustering up enough energy to snap his teeth at her or anything of the like. Somehow, it still didn’t ease her mind.

So, she started to head towards her room. Walking through the colorful structure that was the Digital Circus, still harsh on the eyes even with some of the lights toned down and the glimpses of blue sky being switched out for starry night. The moon even peeking through a window, to which Ragatha politely waved.

She crossed the checkerboard floor that seemed to stretch on forever. Something building up in her. A creeping feeling like there was someone watching her. She looked back but couldn’t see anyone and listened closely but she couldn’t hear anyone. She shrugged it off and continued to the stairs.

“You’re just being paranoid because of Jax,” she thought to herself. “Jax isn’t even scary! He’s just a big, goofy, purple rabbit. Imagine if he was a bug, or a spider. Or at least a few feet taller. Then he’d actually be scary…” She hugged herself a little. “Still…”

Still, something felt odd. She swore there was just this feeling that something was following her. Something creeping up behind her. Inching up the stairs.

She suddenly spun around and looked behind her.

Jax had one foot on the stairs and a downright maniacal smile.

She took it back. He was absolutely scary when he wanted to be.

Ragatha’s stomach lurched at the surprise of seeing him there. She jumped a little, but kept her mouth closed tightly, not wanting to give him the luxury of hearing her shout.

Okay, so he was still up to his tricks. She felt relief for a second; that relief when you know what you’re getting into and not left in the dark. She shot him an unamused look and planted her free hand on her hip.

He ascended a step. She took one more. Then he another. Then her. Then suddenly he was climbing after her and she turned and without a word was hastily racing up the steps. No questioning, just rushing, and then once she reached the top she hit the ground running as she raced to the hallway and took the tight turn into it.

For a second Ragatha wondered if she could reach her door before he caught up with her. If she kept up this pace, she could be there in only a couple of seconds, and she knew she didn’t leave it locked. All she had to do was keep going and she-

-was suddenly hit full force as Jax tackled her and they became a tumbling ball across the hallway carpet. Ending up with her pinned down and Jax straddling her.

She shook her head to straighten out her gaze. “Ugh, Jax! Was that really nec-…ess…ary…?”

She looked up with irritation only for all the color to drain out of her face, quite literally in this case.

Jax was leaning over her with his mouth agape and those rows of teeth downright glistening in a wicked smile. His eyes brimming with excitement, and a predatory glint.

“Time’s up, Dollface.”

The first thing to cross her mind was how weird it was seeing him move his mouth when he talked.

The second was that she was in BIG trouble.

She tried to wiggle out from under him. “Jax, wait! Don’t you dare!”

“I think I’ve left ya waiting long enough,” he said cheekily.

He yanked her upright, pulling her up to meet him. One arm hooked around to keep her trapped while he grabbed her by the yarn locks and pulled her head aside to expose her neck.

Funny, when he first mentioned that he was going to bite her she had briefly assumed he meant a vampire-styled neck bite, but then quickly realized that Jax was probably going to bite her somewhere easier and more painful. Like on the fingers- she was fully expecting him to chomp down right on her hand. But no, neck it was.

“Don’t say I never did anything for ya!” he quipped.

“Jax, I swear if you do this- don’t you do this- JAX!”

She felt more exposed than ever. She tried to push him off, but he was holding tight. She grabbed and pulled at his ears, but they were like rubber. He didn’t even flinch even though she KNEW he hated when Caine grabbed him by the ears.

He was locked in. Like a dog staring at a steak lathered up in peanut butter, or a small animal it could outrun. That one. She felt like a small animal about to be devoured.

And she could only flail around like a chew toy and wait for the snap.

But what Ragatha didn’t know was that Jax had a plan.

While it seemed like Jax was primarily out to inflict pain and suffering, at the end of the day the bit always came first. The funnier the gag, the better it landed.

And sure, chomping down on Ragatha’s neck would probably get a pretty loud yelp out of her…

But just imagine the sheer humiliation of all this build up and then he barely bites her, and she starts screaming her head off.

That’s what Jax was thinking. Sure, he could chew right through her flimsy cotton neck, BUT what if he didn’t and she screamed like he did and then he never let her live it down.

And then, even better, he could continue baiting for a next time that may or may not come. It was perfect! It was downright hilarious! Poor little dolly had been just working herself up all day for nothing. All while getting exactly what she asked for.

‘Bite me’? Sure thing!

Then he whipped his head with his teeth bared and went right in on her throat. Chomping down-

Stopping the second he made contact and giving the wimpiest little nip.

He was waiting for a scream.

He didn’t expect a whine.

He bit her and she downright whimpered.

Somehow the quieter reaction startled him. It just felt so weirdly out of place, so oddly timid compared to what was supposed to be there- ironic, since that was exactly what was going through Ragatha’s head when those sharp teeth crashed down and then only glazed along her fabric. It was too gentle.

There was a quiet pause as they both processed this. Ragatha waiting with bated breath to see what he’d do while Jax mulled that one over.

Weird, he decided. Weird reaction.

Then he bit down a little firmer. Still so much lighter than expected, holding back the urge to chomp, but trying to draw out the initial intended response.

Ragatha gasped at the sensation. It was… strange. It didn’t necessarily hurt though. Moreso just pinpricks prickling across her skin.

It was more pressure than anything, but it was amplified by being in such a sensitive area. She couldn’t say she ever remembered anyone pawing at her neck and it showed in how intense the touch felt.

Not touch, bite. He was biting her. His mouth was on her throat right now. Right against her pulse, or where it should’ve been-

It was racing, by the way. It was thundering more now than it had while being chased. Candy heart beating like it was about to pop out of her chest, but it couldn’t because Jax was too close. His chest was flush to hers. She bet she could’ve felt his if she focused hard enough.

On the flipside, Jax was focusing too much. He was paying too much attention to her reactions. Not disappointed but confused… curious even.

It almost sounded like she liked it.

Nah, couldn’t have been. Must’ve just been trying to suppress any wails to keep him from the satisfaction. That was all. He just had to try harder…?

He pressed a little harder and got not a scream but a sigh, and it sent a chill down his spine. The kind that suddenly made him very aware of all his senses. The texture of her skin, the smell of her yarn, how easily he fit right here against her, pressed up into her throat.

She was still holding his ears, but she wasn’t pulling at them anymore. She had a chance to try and wriggle away but she didn’t even try to take it.

He flexed his fingers into her yarn and maneuvered her head just a bit, just enough to readjust his bite. Releasing just for a second and feeling her squirm.

Holding just a moment to see if she would push him off. She didn’t. She didn’t even give the slightest tug.

Then he pressed in again, returning his mouth to her neck. It wasn’t even a bite at this point. Not even chewing. Just grazing and nipping.

It felt warm and tingly and so strange that she couldn’t piece together what it was that she was feeling. It was so much. Not enough to want to stop it, on the contrary-

She tilted her head back with a breathy sigh, giving him more access. He groaned and slid his teeth further along her neck. She made a soft little noise. Needy.

He hummed. Resisting the urge to grind his teeth and instead dipping his tongue along her invisible bite wound. Dragging it up along her offered throat and-

Then suddenly their eyes went wide and they froze up. It was too close to tell which of them realized first and which reacted to it. It hit them both almost at the same time.

What were they doing?

Jax pushed off so hard that Ragatha flopped back against the ground with an ‘omph!’ while he scrambled back on all fours. Crawling back along the carpet until there were a good ten feet between them and then staring at her wide-eyed like she had been the one who had bitten him.

Ragatha, meanwhile, clasped a hand around her neck and sat up quickly. Only to go statue still when she and Jax locked eyes.

What was that?

It wasn’t just her; it was him too. It was both of them asking it.

She looked down in embarrassment. He looked away just as quickly, and then after a moment slouched over, dropped his head into his hand.

Neither of them said a word. The only sound being the soft tinkling of the background ‘nighttime’ music faintly trickling into the hall. Not loud enough to take away the uneasy silence, just loud enough to make it even more impossibly awkward.

Ragatha dared to finally peek up at Jax. He still had his face hidden, and his expression too. She couldn’t imagine what was going through his head, now or then.

What now? Her door was right there. She could get up and leave, she had no obligation to stick around and figure out what Jax’s prank deviated to. She had a hunch he wouldn’t stop her either, but… she… she was very confused. She didn’t want to walk off; she’d just be stuck thinking about this alone in her room.

Because there was a lot to think about. She couldn’t believe how she reacted. What she let him do, and the worst part was that she…

She enjoyed it. As sick as it sounded, to enjoy someone biting you like a wild animal. Like a gentle, wild animal nibbling at her neck. It was embarrassing but also so, so exciting.

She was always so creeped out by his teeth, why on earth did she like it? Why did she get such a rush out of it? Why… Why did she want them back on her?

She flushed as that thought sunk in. The realization that if he suddenly changed his mind and came back for a second round that she might consider it. That she wasn’t just getting up and leaving with her remaining dignity.

Oh, this was a bad place to be in. Ragatha had always stuck to the high and dry road all her life. She knew how to be good and how to play it safe, and never, never had she experienced anything like that. She didn’t even have a word to describe it, just something like that.

She wanted to feel it again.

Would he do it again? Would he be gentle again?

Ragatha mulled on it for a long few seconds before she came to a decision. Face burning warm and heart back to thumping fast after settling only briefly.

“J-… Jax?”

Jax dragged his head out of his hand and looked at her with exhaustion and confusion. Confusion that was quickly replaced with wide-eyed shock.

The look she gave him told him everything.

Her eye lidded and a soft blush burning beneath it. She took a shaky breath before peeling her hand off her neck and tilting her head in a silent offering.

She was offering herself up to him. Nobody had ever done that before.

He didn’t even consider it; he just crawled back over to her. Slowly, watching her for any sign of this being a trick- or a sign of her changing her mind. But there didn’t seem to be a shred of doubt. She was entirely into it. She wanted it, and he wanted nothing more than to get right back to where he left off.

Jax didn’t do gentle and yet he was slow and cautious as he pulled her back into his arms. Back together again. Instead of grabbing at her yarn his hand slid up to brace the back of her head as he coaxed her further. Giving him a perfect stretch of skin to explore. All his, only his.

Ragatha was trying to stop herself from shaking. Not out of fear, but in anticipation. Sure, there was always a chance Jax would snap out of it and go ahead with the original plan but the risk, the tinge of danger, was only making the rush even more intense.

He leaned in. She braced herself for contact. For the sharp pinpricks pressing into her sensitive skin. To feel more alive and aware than she ever had before, in circus or out.

And he… didn’t bite her.

He kissed her. On the neck. Right on her pulse.

She gasped his name. her face burning brighter than ever. Now fully trembling.

He dragged his lips up to her ear, or where it would’ve been under her yarn, and mumbled right into it. His voice low and heavy.

“Next time.”

Her heart leapt, and then sank right afterwards as Jax drew away. She hadn’t even realized that she was holding onto him until he slipped right out of her hands and by then it was too late to stop him. Instead clutching handfuls of her skirt as she watched him stand up.

He leaned his head back and took a steadying breath. Then he looked down at her again. His expression unreadable for a second.

But then he smiled. It looked the same as the others but it felt different. His gaze lingered on her as he sauntered off towards his door. Breaking eye contact only to throw the door open, step in- leaning out long enough to give her a little salute-

“Be seeing ya, Raggs~.”

-and then slammed the door shut and that was that.

Ragatha released the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. She rested her hands over her heart as she felt it continue to thump-thump-thump faster than ever. She fanned her face, combed back her yarn, tried to get her bearings after whatever just happened.

And it was going to happen again. There was going to be a next time, and she didn’t know if that was a threat or a promise.

She had got what she asked for and then some.

And despite everything, despite her knowing that she was playing a very dangerous game. One that she didn’t even willingly sign up for. One that she should’ve been ashamed of.

She got a goofy little smile.

On the contrary, Jax’s smile disappeared the second he shut the door, falling back onto it with his wide-eyed look of creeping panic returning.

His heart was pounding in his chest. His hands were shaking, and he noticed as he grabbed his chest. Trying to will the frantic banging to settle down. He wasn’t even supposed to have a heart. Just a bunch of code inside of a rubbery cartoon body.

That didn’t feel like code. That felt way too real for a place like this. This was exactly why he wasn’t supposed to mingle with the other characters. Why he couldn’t get handsy.

And yet he still went back for seconds.

What the $%#& was he thinking?! God, he was an idiot. He knew getting too close to Ragatha was just going to suck him back in. Keep her at arm’s length and don’t risk digging up anything he buried a long time ago, it was that simple.

Turned out those old feelings didn’t die. Nothing truly died at the circus. They just changed into something hideous to haunt him.

He shoved himself off his door and dragged himself over to the bed before flopping onto it facedown. He laid there for a second with his head muffled in his pillow wishing he had the ability to suffocate. Nope! He would feel it, but it wouldn’t get anywhere. He knew that much.

His teeth itched. He flexed his jaw and the next thing he knew he was chewing on his pillow. Tearing into it as easily as could be, shredding it in seconds- to be replaced by morning like all the other stuff he had torn up in his time here.

But it didn’t feel like her. He begrudgingly released his bite and went back to flopping onto it. Remembering the feel of her warmth burning his face. Of that look, that look.

There was going to be a next time.

And damn him if he couldn’t wait.