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Harlequin’s eyes fixated on the ground in front of him as he trudged toward Jester’s tent. He’d reentered the circus grounds just moments before, only to meet a very stern looking Ticket Taker at the gate, who told him that Jester expected him to report to him immediately upon returning. Doing his best to ignore the sharp pain left by Pierrot’s knives in their earlier altercation, Harlequin straightened his stance as he approached the looming purple tent and outstretched a shaking hand, pushing open the tent entrance.
He stepped through, letting the tent flap close behind him. Dim purple light carried by a dancing haze of incense loomed in the air, giving an ethereal glow to the objects in the tent and filling it with a scent that Jester only used when he found himself especially stressed. A scent that would be relaxing to Harlequin, had he not suspected he was the reason it was lit in the first place.
This was not a good sign, Harlequin thought. His eyes scanned the silent tent until they landed on Jester, sitting at his desk with his fingers steepled under his chin, purple eyes staring right back at him. Harlequin’s already fluttering heartbeat quickened at the sight of Jester’s cold expression.
Harlequin donned the friendliest smile he could muster to soften the mood, “Jester! You wanted to see me?”
It didn’t work. Jester’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Harlequin in silence before moving a hand to the desktop.
“You. Here. Now.” Jester’s clawed glove tapped on the desk with a sharp click.
Harlequin’s smile faded a bit and he slinked toward Jester in silence, as if the smallest noise would set him off. And in this case, he thought as he stopped at the edge of the desk, it very well might.
“Is there a problem?” Harlequin asked innocently.
“I spoke to Bil earlier,” Jester started, staring intently at Harlequin, “He told me he saw you let a human out of one of our restricted tents, resulting in it running straight into one of our fools and recognizing them.”
Harlequin’s smile faded further and he furrowed his brow in another attempt to feign innocence. Another failed attempt, he noted, as Jester’s stare turned more intense as he sensed Harlequin’s heartbeat quicken.
“Harlequin,” Jester’s voice was almost a whisper. The type of whisper that concealed a rage Harlequin didn’t want to surface if he could help it. “Do you want to tell me what the hell you were thinking, letting one of them go? The trouble it will cause?”
“Pierrot is the one who caught it in the first place, why don’t you talk to him?” Harlequin chided in an attempt to redirect Jester’s anger.
“Catching humans is what we do, Harlequin!” Jester slammed a hand down on the desk as he leapt up, standing nose to nose with Harlequin, “Letting them go is an entirely different situation!”
“Well, if Pierrot weren’t so infatuated with it, I wouldn’t hav—" Harlequin’s words cut short as a clawed hand grabbed him by the throat and pulled him forward.
Harlequin’s back slammed into the desk with a loud thud, and Jester loomed over him, teeth bared inches from his face. Harlequin winced as searing pain jolted through his wounds at the sudden impact. He tried to take in a breath but Jester’s hand squeezed forcefully around him.
“Pierrot will be dealt with when he returns to the circus. He’s likely with that human, which should at least keep it from causing trouble for now. You though…” Jester’s eyes flashed with a dangerous flare, “You’ve got time to learn a lesson.”
Claws sank into Harlequin’s flesh as he scratched at Jester’s hand. He scratched and kicked uselessly, his feet barely skimming the floor below. He uncoiled his tendrils toward Jester, only to have them batted away with ease, falling weakly at his sides.
“What is your obsession with causing such trouble whenever Pierrot is involved?” Jester’s voice broke through the fog forming in Harlequin’s head, “Is it jealousy? A need for attention?” Jester’s purple eyes bore into Harlequin’s as his vision blurred, “Well, now you’ve got it.”
Jester’s grip released just as Harlequin’s arms fell limp onto the desk. Harlequin gasped, coughing violently as he came back from the edges of consciousness. His hands instinctively found their way back to his own throat, as if hovering there would help him breathe. Something wet trickled down the side of his neck and Harlequin brushed at it, bringing his hand into view.
He stared, blinking at it for a moment as his eyes finally began to come back into focus. Blood dotted his fingertips. Just what he needed, he thought, more blood loss.
“You’ve got a real knack for acting out at the worst times, Harlequin,” Jester’s voice echoed in Harlequin’s ears, “I’m growing very tired of your defiance.”
“Tch.” Harlequin tugged his uniform’s collar away from his reddened neck and pushed his already-disheveled hat from his aching head onto the floor, exposing the sharp horns jutting from curly black hair. He feigned another smile, “So, you’re going to fight me, then? You know that’ll only get me excited, Jessy,” he teased and flared his tendrils out in an attempt to look threatening, only to coil them back around himself when a sharp pain shot through them. Pierrot had done more damage than he initially suspected. He hoped Jester didn’t notice.
He did, of course.
“Oh Harlequin, I know you won’t learn that way.” Jester moved between Harlequin’s legs and brought a knee up onto the desk, lifting the smaller monster’s leg with it.
Before Harlequin could react, his wrists were caught and roughly pinned above his head by a single hand.
“I’m going to fuck you into submission.”
Harlequin’s eyes widened as he processed what Jester had just said, “O-oh shi—"
“Don’t move,” Jester snarled and clapped a hand over Harlequin’s mouth. His eyes flashed with a malicious glow as he scanned over the smaller monster’s tense body.
Jester was looking for something, Harlequin thought, but what? He didn’t dare try to struggle away from Jester’s crushing hold now. Even his mask creaked under the pressure.
“There.” Jester freed his grip over Harlequin’s mouth and dragged his fingers down, reaching into Harlequin’s pocket and pulling out the knife he’d stashed away, “One of Pierrot’s knives. Bil told me he saw you holding it when that human ran off. You know you’re forbidden from taking his show equipment without permission.”
Jester slowly trailed the knife up to Harlequin’s throat. Cool metal dug into skin and Harlequin stifled a flinch as yet another bead of red quickly bloomed on the surface.
“You have a chance to stop what’s about to happen, Harlequin,” Jester’s stare bore into him, “You just have to come clean about what’s taken place these past two days.
“Now.” Jester held up the knife, “We’ll start simple. Why do you have this?”
“I found it on the human,” Harlequin answered a bit too quickly.
“I doubt that.” Jester smiled and flipped the knife in his hand, catching the blade on Harlequin’s collar, “Pierrot may be a hopeless romantic, but he wouldn’t give a human one of his knives.
“Besides,” Jester continued, pulling the fabric taut against the blade, “it may reek of human, but your scent on it is stronger. You’ve been keeping it. Try again.”
“I found it in a public area while passing out flyers. Pierrot must’ve dropped it. I meant to return it, but it slipped my mind.”
“You’re not even trying, are you?”
In one smooth movement, Jester sliced the knife from Harlequin’s collar down to the top of his knee, flaying open every layer of fabric in its wake. Harlequin shuddered as the cool air hit his skin and the small pool of blood that had formed on his neck began to stream down the side from the movement.
Jester leaned in close. Too close for Harlequin to realize what he was doing until a hot tongue slithered over the wound. Harlequin’s breath hitched as Jester’s tongue laved blood off tender skin, each passing sending ripples of heat over his body.
“One more chance,” Jester hissed in his ear as he finished off the last of the blood and rose to focus on his knifework.
Cold metal brushed lightly against Harlequin’s skin, each stroke pulling more fabric with it. Harlequin’s breath shook as he struggled to focus his mind. His time was running out as Jester’s steady cuts turned what was once his uniform into a tangle of ribbons enveloping him.
“I… Pierrot attacked unprovoked yesterday.”
The knife froze in place halfway down Harlequin’s thigh and Jester turned his eyes up to meet Harlequin’s with a menacing grin.
“That’s the truth? Final answer?”
“Of course it is,” Harlequin lied, staring up at him and giving a confident, albeit weak, nod.
Jester’s eyes narrowed and he tilted his head, “You really don’t know when to stop those poisonous lies, do you?”
Harlequin had no time to react before what little left of his uniform was torn away completely, now a pile of scraps around his bare form. He instinctively pulled at the hand holding his wrists, but Jester’s grip was far too strong.
Jester quickly stowed the knife and dragged his free hand across Harlequin’s torso, digging the claw of his thumb into a stab wound on his abdomen.
Harlequin let out a shrill yelp and shrank under the pain.
“You really thought that would work?” Jester hissed, retracting his thumb as Harlequin surrendered with a whimper, “It’s obvious you’ve lost a lot of blood recently, Harlequin. You can barely move your tendrils. You’re weak. Do you know what that means?”
Harlequin met the taller monster’s gaze with glazed eyes.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
Jester snatched a shred of cloth from the surrounding pile and pulled Harlequin’s wrists in front of him, roughly tying his wrists together and letting them drop to Harlequin’s chest as he pulled his quaking form closer to him and hooked the leg he’d trapped over his shoulder.
He began to lean over Harlequin, forcing him into a position he was not yet prepared for.
“Wait wait—” Harlequin winced, holding up his bound hands toward Jester.
Jester slowed, bracing Harlequin’s leg against him and rocking back and forth slowly.
“Hell, Harlequin, I expected you’d be more flexible than this,” Jester teased, leaning further forward and earning a groan of protest and a desperate bracing of hands against his chest from the smaller monster.
Jester paused and scowled down at a grimacing Harlequin, noticing a fresh stream of red oozing from the wound he’d dug into, just above Harlequin’s trapped leg.
“Well, how convenient,” Jester growled settling on waiting a bit for Harlequin’s unnaturally quick healing to at least close the wound, “Fine. We’ll start here.”
Jester outstretched his free hand forward and dug his fingers into Harlequin’s mouth.
“I presume you don’t need instruction for this part,” Jester sneered.
Harlequin glared up at him as he begrudgingly complied, licking his fingers with his forked tongue.
Jester watched as Harlequin’s tongue snaked and slithered between each finger, twisting around them and leaving no place untouched as he coated them in a smooth layer of spit. He shoved his hand deeper, forcing Harlequin to gag before pulling out with a sadistic smirk.
“Desgraçado!” Harlequin snarled up at the laughing Jester.
“Such a good little pet when you apply yourself,” Jester chuckled, quickly moving his wet fingers to hover over Harlequin’s entrance, “It’s almost like you do know how to behave.”
“Don’t count on it,” Harlequin growled.
“Oh?” Jester pushed forward on Harlequin’s leg just enough to make the wound bite while simultaneously pushing two fingers into Harlequin’s entrance, forcing a whine of both pleasure and pain from him.
“What should I count on, then? Your masochism?” Jester smiled and twisted his fingers inside Harlequin, “Because I can make that work.”
Jester pushed his fingers deeper inside, moving at a painfully slow pace while watching Harlequin twitch under him as he pulled them out again, dragging them unhurriedly across the sensitive nerves inside him. He repeated the motion again and again, spreading his fingers wide as he went, smirking when he glanced up to see Harlequin with his eyes squeezed shut and hands clasped tightly over his own mouth desperately trying not to give Jester the satisfaction of hearing the whimpers that were trying to escape his throat.
Jester added another finger and pushed inside.
A pitiful keen tore from Harlequin’s mouth and he quivered and arched under Jester’s touch as he repeated the motion over and over.
Jester glanced down to see the bleeding above Harlequin’s leg had stopped. He smirked, sliding his fingers out.
Harlequin groaned in both disappointment and relief when he felt Jester’s fingers leave him. He lowered his hands from his face and blinked open his eyes as he tried to catch his breath.
“You only think you can keep getting away with your mischief, you little snake.” Jester’s voice rang in his ears, “But you have no idea all the ways I plan to break you.”
Harlequin felt a sudden hot, thick presence at his entrance and gasped as Jester began to push into him with a member much thicker than his fingers had prepared him for.
“Jester, wait!” Harlequin yelped as Jester caught his wrists, “Jes- hah—”
Jester ignored him and pinned Harlequin down hard, slamming his wrists above his head as he pushed deep inside of him.
Harlequin cried out, writhing desperately to ease the pressure, but Jester only pushed harder.
“Je— ah—” Harlequin lamented as Jester moved inside him, setting off every nerve, “Bastard—!"
“Don’t pretend like you don’t enjoy this,” Jester jeered down at him when Harlequin finally managed to lock his eyes on him in a vicious glare, “I can see what it’s doing to you.”
Jester pulled out of Harlequin until just the tip was inside of him before slamming back into him and ripping a loud moan from Harlequin’s throat.
“I can hear it, too,” Jester leaned in and whispered in Harlequin’s ear, flicking his tongue over it and making him shudder, “Keep up that attitude, and I’ll make sure everyone else can hear it as well.”
Harlequin squeezed his eyes shut as Jester thrust into him, digging into him in ways he’d long forgotten were possible. Sharp teeth dug into his neck and chest, leaving his skin a tattered mess of tender scrapes and punctures. Jester’s tongue slid across his battered skin, leaving raised bumps in its wake that made Harlequin shiver.
He couldn’t stop himself from being reduced to a trembling mess of moans and whimpers as Jester dominated him completely, breaking down every defense he thought he had. He could only turn his head to try to bury his face in his arm in an effort hide from Jester’s gaze.
Pressure began to build inside of him and a warmth washed over his body with every movement. Harlequin’s heartbeat quickened as pleasure built higher. He was so close to spilling over when-
Jester pulled out of him.
Harlequin whined in protest and his eyes snapped open. He turned to see Jester leering down at him, actively stifling a laugh.
“Oh, my apologies, were you expecting something else?” Jester sneered, “Is this not the end result you were looking for?”
“Fala sério,” Harlequin groaned and squirmed uselessly under Jester.
“Expectations are a funny thing, aren’t they?” Jester continued as he maneuvered Harlequin’s tied wrists around his horns and tucked them under his head to free up his own hand. He straightened himself upright and stretched his spine, letting Harlequin’s leg slip from his shoulder to hang off the table.
“So important in nearly every situation, and so very disappointing when they’re not met. And I’m so tired of asking over and over again for the simplest expectations to be followed.”
“I’m not going to beg, if that’s what you’re getting at,” Harlequin hissed.
“Then obey.”
Harlequin stared up at him blankly.
“Meet my basic expectations, and maybe I won’t make you beg. Understand?”
Harlequin narrowed his eyes at Jester, but said nothing. Jester smiled again.
“Don’t turn away, Harlequin,” Jester’s eyes flashed in the violet light. He pulled Harlequin’s hips with both hands, and slowly pushed back into him, “I want to watch you break.”
Harlequin let out a mewl as he was filled again, arching his back as Jester lifted his hips and drove deeper into him than before with the new leverage.
It wasn’t long before the pleasure built back up inside Harlequin and he began to squirm and turn away, earning a sharp bite on his collarbone that caused him to let out a yelp.
“Focus, meu querido.” Jester’s eyes flashed in the dim purple light. He straightened again when Harlequin met his gaze.
Harlequin was close. Jester quickened his pace as Harlequin’s gasps became harsher, soaking up every moan and shudder he had to offer.
Harlequin cried out as he came, his eyes squeezing shut as he lost all control. Every muscle shivered with pleasure as Jester fucked him into delirium. His world shrank to a cloud of ecstasy in the dim purple tent. Teeth closed around his throat and he was filled with a hot liquid as Jester came roughly into him.
Jester slowed to an eventual stop and his teeth disappeared from around Harlequin’s neck. Harlequin opened his eyes slowly. Everything was a blur around him as he tried to bring himself back from the feverish state Jester had put him in. He focused his eyes finally on Jester’s smug face above him.
“What a show you put on.” Jester smirked down at a flushed, panting Harlequin, “You look good from this angle.”
“Don’t patronize me.” Harlequin huffed as he struggled to stretch his arms over his horns.
“You don’t think so?” Jester sighed, “Well then, let’s try another.”
Harlequin had barely enough time to get his hands overtop his horns to brace them over his face before he was lifted off the desk and flipped onto his stomach with a loud thud. Another jolt through his wounds pulled a muffled groan from him.
“I think you can take a little more.” Jester’s hand slammed between Harlequin’s shoulders, pinning him in place as another hand curled around his hip. He kicked Harlequin’s ankles apart and pushed back into him.
Harlequin winced as Jester set a brutal pace at this new angle. Splinters of wood formed around his claws as they dug into the desk while he was thoroughly worked over. Jester’s hand hooked over his shoulder. Teeth sunk into the back of Harlequin’s neck. Every thrust deepened the punctures in his flesh as he was pulled back to take it over and over again.
Fuck it hurt, Harlequin thought through the fog in his mind, before another wave of pleasure began to boil up inside of him and overtook his senses. He whimpered pitifully as he came again.
“So quickly,” Jester hissed into a squirming Harlequin’s ear. He slowed his pace to let Harlequin catch his breath again. “Maybe you’re meant to stay bent over my desk like this. You’d make an attractive paperweight.”
“Don’t be so condescending,” Harlequin groaned between breaths.
“It’s more fun this way.” Jester laughed down at him, “Don’t be so ill-behaved.”
“It’s more fun this way,” Harlequin snapped back.
Jester grabbed a fistful of Harlequin’s hair and wrenched upwards to expose his neck.
Harlequin’s breath hitched as Jester’s tongue slithered over his pulse.
“Truly, I’m enjoying this more than I expected,” Jester whispered, “I think I’ll make a habit of fucking you more often.”
“Wishful thinking,” Harlequin sneered, only for an especially rough thrust to rip another loud moan from him.
“You can’t deny you’ll want more of this,” Jester growled as he released his grip on Harlequin’s hair.
Harlequin buried his face between his arms, flushing red, “…Gss nt.”
“What was that?” Jester chided, snaking his fingers through the crook of Harlequin’s neck and scooping his head up by his jaw, “Speak clearly, now.”
Harlequin tried to twist out of Jester’s grip to no avail.
“Quit trying to hide,” Jester chortled at Harlequin’s effort, holding him steady, “Go on.”
“I guess not!” Harlequin conceded before trying again to struggle out of Jester’s grip, “Seu filho da puta!”
“There’s that submission I’m looking for,” Jester squeezed Harlequin’s face playfully before swiftly pulling his hand away to avoid bitten fingers and shoving a snapping Harlequin down again by the back of the neck, “I knew you had it in you.”
“Fuck you,” Harlequin growled from below.
“If you want to be fucked so badly, you can just ask next time,” Jester sneered, “It would be so much simpler than causing all this trouble.”
Harlequin grumbled muffledly, his face buried again between his arms.
“Besides,” Jester spat in his hand and reached below, wrapping his hand around Harlequin’s length, “You’re not the only one who occasionally needs to blow off steam.”
Jester glided featherlight fingers slowly up and down, adjusting tempo with his thrusts as Harlequin began to tremble under him again. He steadily picked up pace and tightened his grip as his own pleasure began to build.
Harlequin’s claws scratched deep divots into the desk and spirals of wood curled up from under his fingertips as Jester worked him over from both sides. He bucked his hips at Jester’s touch and Jester’s thrusts became harsher.
Jester quickened his hand strokes and Harlequin began to lurch and whine under him. Every movement became more vigorous as they both began to feel intense heat build inside them. Gasps of pleasure and pain filled the air around them as they went. Harlequin moaned loudly as he came to Jester’s touch. He was reduced to a writhing, trembling mess again below Jester.
Jester didn’t stop. Harlequin’s nerves began to ache as pleasure soon turned into overstimulation and blood loss began to take its toll on his body all at once. Harlequin’s vision began to blur and blacken at the edges as Jester continued.
“Jester—” Harlequin gasped as consciousness began to leave him, “—I can’t—"
Jester brought his hand up and sunk all his claws deep into Harlequin’s back, thrusting violently as he came into him. Harlequin cried out as the stabbing pain shot through his spine and flared up every nerve. His heart raced at an alarming rate and every muscle convulsed in overwhelm.
Jester slowed to a halt and retracted his claws from Harlequin’s back, leaving streams of red to trickle down his back and onto the desk. He pulled out of Harlequin and leaned his hands on the desk as he caught his breath, boxing a shivering, barely conscious Harlequin in below.
“Next time you’re tempted to break the rules, consider the consequences,” Jester hissed, “The only reason I’m stopping now is because you’d be spending the night with the Doctor if I didn’t. And we would hate for the others to find out about your… disciplinary action… wouldn’t we?”
A quick flick of green from the corner of Harlequin’s eye before fluttering shut again was enough to communicate to Jester that he understood. Jester smiled.
“Good. Lesson’s over for today.”
Harlequin felt a sharp tug at his wrists as Jester used the knife he’d stowed to slice through the ties. He tried to move. His arms only trembled on the desk in front of him. His legs weren’t much better.
“You’re a fucking mess.” Jester’s voice chuckled behind him.
Harlequin flinched at the sudden touch of cloth on his skin, wiping away the various fluids that were still dripping.
Suddenly hands wrapped around his waist and he was lifted away, bleary eyes barely catching a flash of Jester’s grin above him as he was carried from the desk and tossed carelessly onto Jester’s bed.
“You’ve got four hours until your show. Don’t be late.” Jester’s voice seemed far away.
The featherlight touch of one of Jester’s silk sheets settled over him as Jester’s fading voice carried on about leaving a new uniform out and setting an alarm. Harlequin didn’t have the energy to care about the details.
“-ey, you listening?” Jester nudged Harlequin’s shoulder softly.
Harlequin’s soft breathing was the only answer in response.
“Idiota.” Jester sighed, brushing a lock of curls out of Harlequin’s face.
Footsteps faded from where Jester had stood, and Harlequin was left in the comfortable silence of the dim purple tent as he quickly drifted into unconsciousness.