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Link to Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61210300

“Come on slowpokes!” Jax said as he rushed out of the tent.

The constant spring of the digital world was now replaced with a winter wonderland. The digital lake was frozen solid and the grass was covered in a thick layer of fluffy snow.

“Hold up!” Ragatha rushed out, her dress replaced with a full-length winter coat.

Pomni soon followed her outfit now being a winter jacket and fur trapper hat. She was hesitant as she walked out and looked around.

“Does it normally snow here?” She asked.

“Not usually,” Zooble says standing next to her, “but Caine upset Moon so Sun went off to comfort her so…”

“Oh,” Pomni said looking at the bright, empty sky, “That’s not jarring at all.”

“It’s not too bad, Caine even made [THE CIRCUS WINTER SPECIAL] today’s adventure so it’ll at least be a relaxing day,” Zooble explained.

Pomni remembered when it was announced but it felt more like Caine just picked the first thing he could think of before disappearing in a hurry.

As fast as everyone could get their winter attire on they were out and about to play in the snow. Even Zooble was getting into it as she helped Kinger build his igloo, though it might be because Jax was gathering an impressive pile of snowballs.

Pomni, not wanting to be left out, found an undisturbed section of snow to plop down in. The snow was soft and fluffy and cold, not quite what she half-remembered but close. The small Jester let her mind wander as her arms and legs moved side to side.

“Hey there Angel,” Ragatha said, giggling a little, “Having fun?”

Pomni opened her eyes to see the redhead casting a shadow over her. Ragatha didn’t stay still for long and lay down on the clean snow beside her to make her own snow angel.

“Oh! Uh, yeah. I’ve never really played in the snow like this before.” She finally caught up with herself to answer.

They spent a few more moments there before getting up to admire their work, a pair of angels inches from each other.

“This is actually pretty ni-” Pomni was cut off by a snowball to the back of her head, making her fall face-first into her angel.

“Jax!” Ragatha started to scold as she helped Pomni back up.

“What~? I’m just having a little fun, I even made the little angel more accurate,” Jax snickered as he pointed to the shockingly accurate mold of Pomni’s startled face on her angel’s head.

“You wanna be like that, huh?” Pomni asked picking up a pile of snow.

“That’s more like it!” Jax jumped behind his pile of ammo for the coming snowball fight.

Pomni’s joining the fight caused it to quickly spread until everyone either joined willingly or took cover to not get pelted. This led to the unfortunate situation of Gangle being forced to join Jax since the igloo was too far.

“Better hurry up and start throwing Ribbons, I’m not keeping deadweight!” Jax excitedly shoved a snowball into her hands before standing back up to keep throwing.

“Uh, I don’t… ok!” She squeaked out before rising, quicker than her nerves could tell her to stay down, and tossed the ball.

Even with her noodle arms she still tries to throw, expecting to miss everyone by a good amount. What nobody saw coming was for her to hit Zooble, who was tunnel-visioned on Jax, to see it coming. The hit knocked her off balance and into the other girls bringing them all down.

Jax seeing this perfect chance gives his pile a good kick and lets the circus physics do the rest of the work as the hundreds of snowballs roll down at the others as it pools into one enormous ball. They aren’t far enough to move and are rolled over and stuck to the snow as it rolls right into the circus and out of sight.

Gangle winced a little at the large crash

“Are you guys ok?” She yelled over to the tent.

“Yeah, though Zooble will need to get put back together,” Ragatha called back.

“Sorry..”

“Nice one Gangle!” Jax laughed as he clapped her shoulder.

Getting a little praise helped her feel better and luckily it seems Jax got the excitement he wanted today. Gangle went back to her half-finished snowman which Jax saw as an open invitation to join, putting some unique details on it.

In loo of some of the more common items to decorate with such as coal and carrots Jax used an assortment of, probably stolen, goods. Buttons from Ragatha’s room as eyes and a smile, one of Zooble’s horns as a nose, and finally a jester’s hat on top. While they did have an odd harmony, Gangle just looked at the pocket on Jax’s chest wondering how it could fit all of that.

“Whatcha spacing out for?” Jax asked poking her forehead.

Link to Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61210300

The entire cast had gathered in the closest thing to a living room in the circus, a large rug with colorful couches. Each of them lounged on one of the couches with popcorn in hand and lights dimmed.

They have gathered for a relatively new activity. A lot had changed since Caine got access to the internet, mostly for the better. After a lot of convincing, team building was what finally convinced the ringmaster, and they got something to help feel normal again.

Movie night.

So far they had yet to make a proper schedule, only meeting once every couple of nights after a less exhausting adventure. Nothing had happened to ruin the event either, even though Ragatha’s choice of movies needed to be screened after her selected horror nearly made Gangle and Pomni a panic attack.

Ragath and Pomni were sharing a blanket and chatted on the center couch, guessing what they’d be watching today. Zooble lying on the lefthand couch, trying to relax, as Jax sat on the opposing sofa and threw popcorn over the tiny pillow fort with Kinger inside at her. Soon enough the special lady of the even appeared with Caine to share her selection.

“HELLO EVERYONE! ARE YOU EXCITED FOR YOUR MARVALOUS MOTION PICTURE?!” Caine bellowed in his usual excitement.

“Yeah, yeah just tell us what we’re here for.” Jax turned his attention, and aimed, toward them

“I’M GLAD YOU ASKED,” He pointed a gloved finger at Jax, “TODAY YOU’LL HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF VIEWING NAU- *ACK!*” Caine’s grandiose reveal was interrupted by a kernel to his mouth… head?

“Bullseye!” Jax cheered.

“*HACK!* hmmm, needs salt *HACK!*” He paused mid choke to critique the flavor.

As Caine continued to spin mid-air choking he started floating higher and higher until he was out of sight and hearing. Gangle was stunned and silent until the AI disaster was away before turning to the others to try and pick up where their ringmaster left off while keeping an eye on Jax.

“Um, as-as he was saying I picked ‘Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind’. I hope you like it.” She announced.

As the screen behind Gangle turned on she quickly made her way towards the empty seat next to Jax. Everyone quickly moved their attention to watch it, eager to see it for the first time. Gangle was right along with them even if she had seen it enough to memorize the dialogue.

Well, except Jax. He had barely gotten up to any hijinks today and was looking to rectify that. Throwing popcorn got boring after Zooble just started eating it, so he turned his attention towards his favorite target.

He was limited on means though, Ragatha made sure he left all his prank supplies in his room so he wouldn’t ruin movie night. Pokes got no reaction as she was absorbed into the screen so he turned to one of the most cruel things he could do during movie night. He tried to swipe her blanket. 

Unfortunately for him, Gangle barely registered it and simply moved with it so she could keep watching. This led to an unforeseen situation as Gangle scooched against Jax and was currently leaning against him, completely unaware of the stunned state she had Jax in. Jax was very aware of it as he kept his arms up, unable to move without pushing the ribbon girl, and looking around as if he could find a solution for his predicament. 

He caught Zooble’s attention who upon seeing between a rock and a hard place just giggled and left him to his fate. Unable to move without alerting anyone else Jax was forced to sit still and behave for the next hour and a half, which became a new record.

When the movie finally reached its conclusion and the lights brightened up Gangle finally moved to eagerly discuss the movie with everyone. Jax being freed was quick to make his escape, much to everyone besides Zooble’s confusion.

Link to Ao3 post: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61210300

Ragatha sighed as she stood in front of the door. She wanted to help but they refused it at every turn.

“Jax please come out.” She asked, already knowing the answer.

“No.” His short reply was muffled by the digital wooden door.

She knew how he felt but what Jax was doing wasn’t healthy, it was only a matter of time before the unthinkable happened to him if he continued to isolate himself.

“Please, Jax. We know you didn’t mean for this to happen but there’s no changing the past.” She tried to reason with him.

“What would you know!” His shout was much clearer, probably standing.

“I know you want to take back what you did but all you can do now is try to be better. Would she want you to be miserable like this?” She probably shouldn’t try to guilt him like this but she didn’t know what else to do.

“You know how I treated her, she probably wished I abstracted years ago. Who could blame her.” Jax started, angry before ending in a self-deprecating tone.

Ragatha didn’t want to admit it, especially with how Jax was now, but he was probably right. All those years of worse and worse pranks would make someone like ‘her’ wish for it to stop as well. But, reflection and guilt could be saved for when everyone wasn’t worried he’d abstract and remain trapped in there until Caine sentenced him to the cellar.

Well, not everyone worried about him. Zooble has made it clear she wishes that would happen while Pomni, still being new, didn’t know what to think. Then Kinger, poor Kinger, still asks every once and a while where ‘she’ is.

“We’re about to have dinner, I’ll save you a spot if you decide to join us.” Ragatha ended, knowing it wasn’t likely her offer would be taken up.

She waited for a reply but when none came she shook her head and walked away. Away from the door with the picture of a happy mask with a large red X over it.

.

.

.

.

Jax stared at the door as he heard the soft echoes of Ragatha walking away. He turned around and saw himself in the large full-body mirror.

His appearance hadn’t changed, his digital body never showing the toll his mind had been taking. The only identifiable change was his eyes and frown, small but noticeable.

He went back to the bed, flopping onto the velvet red sheets and papers spread around. Each one depicted another drawing of the cast member, but each one of himself was scratched out. He looked them over again as he wallowed and curled up.

Link to Ao3 post: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61210300

It’s been a few months since they got out of the circus, through random chance more than anything but they were happy all the same. From there was a whirlwind of family, reporters, and therapy.

A lot of therapy.

But with things calmed down now they were back to building their old lives back, and one thing they found out was that all of them lived near the others. But what amused Jax the most was the discovery that Gangle and him lived in the same town. Gangle didn’t take it so well, knowing she was still gonna be the target of his pranks.

A correct assumption since Jax was currently on his way to her apartment to mess with her. A quick check on his phone showed it was nearly 2 pm which meant the little weeb was still asleep. Ever since she got out all Crybaby has done was catch up on all the anime that’s come out.

Not that Jax was complaining, it gave him an endless amount of material. He still giggles when he filled one of her body pillows with whoopee cushions. The angry call from her was just icing on the cake.

Using the copy of the apartment key to get inside he slowly snuck towards Gangle’s room. She was a deep sleeper but he didn’t want to risk it, especially when it was the first use of his key. Feels nostalgic.

Whip cream and feather in hand he slowly opened the bedroom door and approached the sleeping figure, ignoring whatever animated garbage was currently playing on the tv.

He had reached to take one of her hands to fill it with the whipped cream when he saw what she was holding. He froze.

At first, he disregarded the plushie she was snuggling, there were a dozen more on the bed and twice as many on the floor. Jax just assumed it was some character from a show with too long a name but a second look made him recognize it.

Purple with red overalls, two long bunny ears sticking straight up, and a Cheshire grin.

It was his rabbit avatar from the circus and it was clearly handmade. What confused him the most wasn’t why she made it, she probably made one of each of them, but the way she cuddled it was beyond him.

His distraction cost him as he accidentally stepped on the remote forgot on the floor and ramped up the volume of the tv. Jax hastily swooped down to grab the remote, dropping what he was holding, and fumbled to turn the volume down until he turned it off completely. Unfortunately, it seems he was too late.

“Waahh?” Gangle asked as she started waking up, unsure what was happening.

“Shit! Uh.. you didn’t see me!” Jax bolted towards the door, stepping and tripping on the can he dropped.

“Jax!? What are you doing?” Gangle shouted, fully awake, as she sat up and still holding the plush without realizing.

“What are you doing with that?” Jax tried to shift away from his failed prank as he pointed towards the plush.

She looked down at the bunny in her arms and went flushed as it registered in her mind what it was. She tossed it out of sight before glaring at him again.

“Th, that’s none of your business!” She exclaimed.

“Feels like it is when you were drooling on me.” He said, standing back up.

“It’s not like that, I just, uh…” She mumbled something as her face went even more red.

“Aww, did Ribbons miss me that much?” Jax was quick to turn on the teasing.

“Shut up.” She let out weakly.

Jax laughed as he jumped on the bed and Gangle grabbed the remote to turn the TV back on as if it was natural. As strange as it was to all the others this had become the normal between the two of them, even as unlikely as Jax and Gangle hanging out had seemed.

Link to Ao3 post: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61210300

College was a new and exciting experience! Or so Gangle was told but just walking towards the dorm already had her having second, third, and fourth thoughts but arriving in front of her new room she knew it was too late to change her mind. Gangle took a deep breath prepared to meet her roommate and grabbed the door handle t--

“Ah!”

The door was opened from inside too fast and before she could let go she went with it, falling face-first on the tiled floor.

“Oh shit! You ok?” The woman asked in concern.

Gangle looked up to see mix-matched stockings of bright colors, looking higher she saw the girl, her roommate, offering a hand to help her up which she took hesitantly. With a strong yank, Gangle was standing in front of the taller girl. She had pink dyed hair, a nose piercing, earrings, and wrapped in a bright fluffy sweater with designs straight out of the eighties.

“Y-yeah I’m fine, sorry,” Gangle assured.

“Glad to hear, you must be Gangle, right? I’m Zooble.” The woman introduced herself.

“Hi Zooble, I’m Gangl- Ah, sorry you already- yeah.” 

Gangle could feel her face going red as a tomato.

“No worries, I’m heading out to get something to eat, wanna come?” Zooble chuckled a little at her antics before offering.

“Thank you, but I need to put my stuff away.” Gangle motioned towards her luggage.

“Alright, next time then. Catch ya later.”

Zooble waved as she sauntered by and down the hallway leaving Gangle to settle in. After dragging all of her bags in, Gangle got a good look around at how her roommate had already decorated her space. Posters, a colorful rug, and all around a vibrant style right next to a blank half of the room which Gangle was quick to make her own.

‘Zooble seems nice, I hope she doesn’t mind my decorations.’

After some time Gangle felt like she made the part of the room her own, a little slice of home. She had just started admiring her work when she heard the door open and turned around expecting Zooble to be back.

“Wow~, looks just like a unicorn threw up in here.” The stranger snickered.

“Who, who are you?” Gangle asked a little panicked.

“Who, me? I’m Jax.” He gave a smile that did not settle her nerves at all.

He was tall, at least a head taller than her even as he leaned on the doorframe, with dyed purple hair. He wore a pinkish sweatshirt and pants, but the look he had told Gangle he was not someone she should associate with.

That didn’t seem to stop him though.

“So you must be Zoobie’s roommate. What’s a girl like you bunking up with someone like her?” Jax asked as he entered the room and started poking around her stuff.

“Yeah, I am, what’s wrong with that?” She asked, annoyed at the brazen intrusion.

She regretted her tone when the man turned back to look at her, a smile reaching his eyes now, and her confidence gone again.

“Well, aren’t you feisty.” He joked.

He walked towards her causing her to step back until her back was against the dresser and he was far too close. Jax leaned down to get eye level with her and gave her a look over.

“It’s a good thing you’re cute,” He stood back up and walked out the door as he called out, “See ya later girly.”

Gangle stood there, the last few minutes or so being the most confusing of her life, wondering what just happened.

.

.

.

‘Was that Jax?’ Zooble wondered to herself as she saw the familiar silhouette.

She could tell from how he was walking with that stupid grin of his he was feeling really smug right now.

‘Wait, was he coming from my dorm!? Shit!’ The idea of Jax being in her room was already a horrible thought, but how he looked so satisfied with himself and that her roommate was alone in that room made it even worse.

Zooble was sure he didn’t do anything heinous but his pranks aren’t something to be introduced to without warning. Her first experience was a wild raccoon in her room, how Jax managed to get it was still a mystery.

Rushing to her room Zooble had time to think of all the bad things that could have happened and raced in through the still-opened door. She looked around for anything broken, glitter-bombed, or whatever nonsense he came up with this time. Instead, she found her roommate Gangle with a confused and blushing face.

It took her a moment to put it together. Gangle was kinda short, with shortish black hair, and glasses. That along with her overall meek personality meant one thing.

She was Jax’s favorite type of person to tease.

Link to Ao3 post: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61210300

“It’s not funny,” Jax said, arms crossed.

“You’re right it’s not,” Ragatha tried to be supportive but struggled to suppress her smile.

“Nah, this is funny as *HONK*” Zooble added with a look that passed for a shit-eating grin.

“I’m with Zooble on this.” Pomni agreed, snickering at Jax.

“Ooh,” Kinger closely observed Jax’s new look.

Gangle was her usually quiet self but was staring intensely at Jax with the rest.

“God*BLIONK* you Caine,” Jax mumbled in anger at what their ringmaster had done to him, “And you Pomni!”

“What did I do?” the jester asked innocently.

“You had to oh so helpfully tell Caine all about real-world rabbits!” Jax shouted in anger.

Caine has recently had a curiosity about what the real world and has been asking others about it, forcing Ragatha to physically stop both Jax and Kinger from giving incredibly inaccurate answers. What’s worse is that Caine has started to make a few changes to make the circus feel a little more real. It’s been going well for the most part, which has been well received by the cast for the most part.

That had come to an end when Caine asked Pomni about rabbits, to which she spared no detail. Jax learned about this firsthand when he woke up to see what Caine had done to him. Visibly not much had changed, he was still a tall purple humanoid rabbit, but one thing was certainly different.

He was fluffy.

His old smooth rubber-ish skin was now replaced with a load of ultra-soft purple fur that covered him ear to toe. He was not taking the change well, especially with how the others were taking advantage of it.

Kinger was the first, his floating hand coming out of view and patting his head between the ears. Jax was quick to swat it away but Kinger had already spelt the words of his doom.

“Wow, Jax you’re so soft!” The chess piece complimented.

That got the others interested and even with Jax's attempts to stop them they were persistent in their pursuit.

Zooble was the first to test it out for herself, coming towards Jax with her hands out and jumping to grab his ears.

Ragatha snuck up from behind as Jax threw the polygonal cast member and gave him a big old hug.

Pomni quickly capitalized on the distraction and threw herself at his chest to hug him with Ragatha.

It took a bit, but he could finally wiggle out of their grasp and pick up a chair to prepare to fend them off.

“Get back!” He shouted.

The three of them just looked at him panicking and giggled before heading off. Jax let out a sigh of relief when he saw the three of them leave, taking Kinger with them.

Until he saw Gangle still staring at him.

“What are you looking at?” He asked, putting the chair down.

“Oh, um, I… sorry.” She was startled at the sudden question before answering meekly.

She had also wanted to feel his fur. She doesn’t remember a lot from the outside world but cute fluffy animals were something she remembers pretty vividly and enjoyed. When the others took the opportunity Gangle wanted to join but she could tell how uncomfortable it made Jax.

She looked at her feet, trying to think of what to do, before awkwardly turning to leave and glancing back a few times.

Jax watched the bundle of anxiety and ribbons slink away and sighed before glancing around.

“Come on.” He opened his arms and looked at her.

She turned back around at his call and saw his gesture.

“Real-Really?” She asked hopefully.

“Hurry up before I change my mind,” Jax said flatly.

Gangle took the hint and jumped at the opportunity, going up and wrapping the purple, fluffy, bunny in a hug. With their height difference, she ended up burring her head in a big tuff of fluff and snuggled for a few moments before Jax was done and easily separated them.

“That’s enough Ribbons,” Jax said as he crossed his arms.

“Thank you.” She said softly with a smile and headed back towards the others.

Link to Ao3 post: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61210300

Gangle knew something was up.

For the last few days, it has been the most peaceful for her in months for one reason, Jax hadn’t done anything. Well, at least to her specifically. His usual group pranks were still in abundance, but he’s been focusing on the others as of late. She feels guilty that she’s glad not to be his target but it was nice to go a while without losing her comedy mask or being the butt of one of his jokes.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to last.

“Jax!!! Please give it back!” Gangle begged desperately as she reached for the porcelain mask just out of reach.

“Hmmm~? Nah.” Jax refuted as he dangled the mask just above her. He could raise it a bit higher but found it best when it was mere inches from Gangle’s reach.

She had just left her room to meet everyone for breakfast but was in too much of a rush to notice the purple rabbit sneak up on her. Now she’s trying her best not to have to go the rest of the day wallowing in sadness.

If the others were here they could help her but they were already eating by now. Hopefully, they’d see that she and Jax were missing and realize something was amiss. But until then she’d continue to stand on the tips of her ribbon toes to try and reach only for Jax to raise the mask just out of reach again.

“Please Jax, I need it!” She finally looked away from the mask and towards Jax in the eyes with her own teary stare.

“Now why would that be my problem? Sounds like something you’ll need to work through, but I’m sure you can do it Ribbons.” Jax mocked her need for the mask like it was an addiction.

“I’m serious Jax!” She hopped but still failed to reach.

“Sure you are, but I still don’t see why I need to give you this mask back.” He looked at her with that infuriating smirk.

She stopped trying to grab the mask and resigned herself knowing words weren’t going to get her anywhere.

“What do you want?” She asked meekly.

This was getting worse by the second. When Jax didn’t break her mask immediately after getting it meant he wanted something from her, usually to help in a prank. Maybe she could draw it out a bit more, just until Ragatha or Zooble got here and could help her.

“I wonder where you got that impression. But you know what I do want something,” His smile grew wider as he leaned down towards her, “How about a kiss on the cheek?”

Gangle’s brain, or whatever line of code that represented it, shut down for a moment.

“...HUH!?” Was what her mind settled on as a reasonable response.

He had to be messing with her. There was no other explanation for why he would want a kiss from her.

“Well, I guess you don’t want this back then,” Jax said as he raised a hammer he got from somewhere and swung it toward the mask.

“Wait!” Gangle cried out.

The hammer stilled and Jax had a smug look.

“Change your mind?” Jax asked.

“Fine,” Gangle said with a bit of hesitation.

Jax tapped his cheek, his hammer now gone and waited for her to deliver her on her side. Gangle took a deep breath to calm her nerves. It’s just a kiss, not even on the lips, she can do this.

She closed her eyes and leaned in, but, her lips met something completely unexpected instead. Her eyes opened in surprise and she found that Jax had turned his head while she wasn’t looking to meet her lips with his own. For the second time, her mind completely short-circuited as Jax stood back up and placed the mask in her hand. She barely saw the slight blush on his face before he walked away, towards breakfast with a casual whistle.

After a few moments, Gangle looked down at the mask and had a sobering realization.