✨🤡Inkzee🐸🎀

“Have you ever done something you regret?” The frog's voice was low in the moment, her tone becoming more vulnerable than in the original conversation. 

It had been a somewhat rough day. Caine’s adventure today was brutal to say the least, and Ribbit and Kaufmo needed a pick-up from the downer the adventure led them through. Luckily, a few corny jokes and teases from the clown and playful lashback from the frog were all that was needed to lift the mood back over the horizon. 

Currently, they were in Ribbit’s room, lying on her bed and looking at the different hues of stars from the night light glide across the ceiling. It was in moments like these that they enjoyed each other's company, like a warm cup of cocoa on a cold winter day.

“Pfffft yeah, who hasn’t? Have you ever breathed air?” Kaufmo turned his head towards the frog sitting next to him. Her gaze was still locked on the ceiling.

“I mean like something you did out there.” She nudged her head. ”And you no longer can make up for, and you can’t stop thinking about.” There was a long moment of pause, her gaze lowered. The clown noticed her lower her lids and a frown form on her face. ”I- I cut ties with my parents when I moved out; they were devout Mormons and…I wasn’t. Despite that, I still wish I could see them again. But.. I’m stuck here.”

“Shi- Ribs, I never knew-” The clown sat up, scooting over toward them.

“Well, yeah, I never have told anyone at all. I guess it’s my way of knowing I trust you…” She turned her head toward the clown. “Do you trust me…?”

“I mean yeah o-of course. We’ve always stuck together, ever since we landed in this place. I-I think you're the closest thing I’ve had to a real friend-”

“What? You didn’t have friends outside of this.”

There was a silence. The clown's brow furrowed, gaze shifting to his lap.

“O-oh, Kaufee, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to”

“N-no, it’s fine. It’s just kinda… a lot…” He waved his hand in reassurance. But his statement remained true. She was the only person whom the clown could call a real friend. Even before Ribbit appeared in the circus. Even before he came to the circus.

“Pffft you’re kinda a lot, but I can’t see anyone not wanting to be friends with you, I like you… “The frog giggles, shaking her head, turning towards him. “A lot is fine!”

“A lot is fine, huh?” The clown chuckled a little less eagerly. 

In those moments, the lights in the dark room felt brighter, almost as bright as the sun. Almost as if it was shining down on all his hidden shadows and demons. He wondered if he should run towards that light. His gaze shifted up, looking at the frog that was looking back at him with that same smile that always made him feel welcomed. 

And in that moment…

He ran towards that light.

“I had a weird relationship with my parents; I never really fit the mold of their expectations of me, I guess…” The clown's gaze was back down at his lap, rubbing his gloved hands together. “I was always reading books or solving problems. If I wasn’t studying, I wasn’t really being useful. I remember everyone telling me that I was a child prodigy of sorts; I felt more like a trophy, but I went along with it, cus ya know that's- your parents. They wanted me to go to a top-tier university and all this sh@#$. I thought that's all what I was going to be doing with my life, until I discovered art. It was one of my favorite pastimes. A way to escape the expectations of my parents, and have control over something I actually enjoyed. Something that I could brag about. Imagine how many times they found my sketchbooks or paper and ripped them and put them through the shredder because ‘It wasn’t going to get me anywhere but on the streets’ or ‘it was a waste of time’. I- I’ll never forget I made this comic I was so proud of, and they set it on fire in my face… They told me how selfish I was for wasting my time on ‘such a stupid activity.’ ” The clown laughed to hide the shaking in his voice. 

“That's when I started placing distance between them. I mean sure, I passed the test but… I never felt fulfilled. Around the end of high school, I went to college. Originally it was computer science, but I changed to art studies, and they. Were. Furious. They pretty much went no contact after that with me, leaving me with the tuition and in debt. I didn’t even go back home during winter break, now that I remember it. But I ended up building a friend group, if you could call them that…”

“At first they were cool, heck we even started doing street art and graffiti together. But I was under a lot of pressure, you could say… It was like one moment I was having a good time with them, and the next I was called a p@#&%# if I didn't do a line of coke or pop a pill. And I fell right into that trap. Next thing I know I’m kicked out of school and working and getting high with friends who didn’t care about having a good time… Who didn't even care if I almost died from an overdose… And then I ended up here… because of a stupid dare… high of all f@#$%$#@g things. I guess you could say… there are a lot of things I regret about my life.”

Kaufmo's gaze had met Ribbits. Reality flowed through him like a rushing wave, and he realized that tears were pricking at his eyes. His throat had this heavy heat, almost as if a sob was going to break through at any moment. And the look on the frog's face looked almost worried. He hated every bit of the moment. He felt too exposed, too vulnerable. This wasn’t something that a terrible joke or an out-of-pocket comment could get him out of.

“F@$k, I- I’m sorry I overshared too much… I guess I’ll just-” The clown began to get up and move towards the door.

“Wait,” Ribbit grabbed the clown's hand before he could fully step away from the bed. “I-I’m glad you trust me.”

And that fucking did it for him. Tears began to flow down his face uncontrollably.

“S-sh@# this is humiliating,” He flopped back down on the bed, wiping away the tears that kept coming. “I-I always thought I would abstract before I told anyone this.”

The frog snapped her fingers and got up from her seat on the bed and rushed over to her chest on the opposite side of the room, while Kaufmo was still wiping away tears.

“What are you-” Before he could finish his sentence, the frog rushed to sit next to the clown with something in her hands. Quickly placing it on the side of his ruffles and neck. In the corner of his eye, he could see it was a purple bow.

“Your secret is safe with me.” The clown's smile grew. And there was a quiet acknowledgement between them.

…And then the moment was ruined.

“Hey loser, is Kaufee in there-” A familiar voice for a purple rabbit came from the other side of the door.

Kaufmo quickly shot up. “Ah y-yeah what is it-” The clown turned quickly toward the door and stood up, reacting before thinking. 

“Is now a- bad time… I can come back-”

“Y-yeah it kinda- T-that would be cool.”

Still standing, Kaufmo turned back to Ribbit, who was still sitting on her bed, a confused look on her face.

“Um…”

“I-” Kaufmo let out a nervous laugh, soon turning into a chuckle. Ribbit joined in.

“God, he always comes at the worst times.” Kaufmo shook his head. “But I think I’m gonna go ahead to bed…since… ya know… the moon is up.”

“Oh, yeah… yeah”

Kaufmo walked toward the door, pausing before grabbing the handle. “Hey Ribbit,”

“Hm?”

”Promise me you won’t tell anybody what I told ya today.”

“O- Of course.” She quickly nods, a worried look still sat on her face 

He nods and with that, he leaves her room.

“Wait, so she’s out there in the middle of a hurricane!? Why would she-” Kaufmo turned his head back to the scene outside. What was she THINKING!?

“It wasn’t really this bad when I first started, it was more of a near drizzle…”

“So you increased it more while they were out there!” 

“Well, I didn’t think it was that urgent. I thought it would give a more human experience if I upped the stakes, humans live through this all the time-”

“Oh no, Caine-” Ragatha murmured.

“Humans also die in real life from things like this,s Caine!”

“Well, luckily we can’t die~” Kaufmo, Rags, and Kinger turned their head to the voice being them, to see Jax with dilated pupils, not giving too much of a reaction about the information that they were given. The weight of the clowns and ragdolls' glare caused him to respond. “What~ ?”

“Not the time for your sick jokes, Jax,” Kaufmo grumbled.

“It’s not a joke, it's a fact! And why are you so worked up about this in the first place? The frog has free will, like the rest of us!You're getting your ruffles in a twist for-”

“You don’t think it’s the slightest bit concerning that someone who we haven’t seen outside their room for the past 3 weeks, for some reason, decides to go out in the worst weather imaginable right now.” 

“As I said before, Kaufee~, the frog has free will. Or is your clown-shaped balloon brain too small to understand that?”

you can read it on AO3!