#clown!daniel

For the majority of the ride to your best friend’s house all had gone well: your son was asleep in the backseat and you were listening to a podcast that you had just recently discovered. It was the calm before the storm - the facade you would have to put on of being the perfect white picket fence housewife.

You didn’t hate being a mother, but you did hate the social gatherings that came with it. The baseball games, holiday parties at school, birthdays - what made it worse was the obvious fact that you were that mom. The one with the failing marriage that nobody wanted to bring up.

It was common for you to show up to most of the social gatherings alone. Your husband either at the office or on a work retreat that kept him from making an appearance. Honestly, it was probably for the better - given how shit his attitude was the majority of the time.

So when you were interrupted from your semi-alone time to bask in your thoughts to a call coming through from him, you were left with a bad taste in your mouth.

“Hey, are you at the party yet?” Your husband questioned through the van’s speakers, although it seemed like he was preoccupied with something else in the background. It sounded loud, like he was out in public.

“No, almost there though. Maybe five minutes away,” You replied, sighing gently, “I wish you would come to these once in a while. I hate doing this alone.”

He hummed in thought, as if pretending to listen. You thought maybe, maybe, for once he was actually listening, but to your avail, it wasn’t any different.

“And did you get the present? You know I’m out of town all weekend so I can’t just come and drop it off if you forgot aga-”

“Yes,” You whined, not wanting to hear another lecture by your husband about all the things you were doing wrong. “It’s right next to me, I didn’t forget it.”

You paused for a moment and tried to listen to the background noise of where he was at. It didn’t sound like he was in the car, nor in an office. Curiosity got the best of you and you finally let the question slip.

“Where are you even going to be this weekend?”

“Work stuff,” He rushed, “Remember? I told you all week. Department is going out of state to a retreat on communicationation between co-workers.”

How fucking ironic.

But he hadn’t, though. No matter how much he wanted to gaslight you into thinking he had, you knew that there wasn’t a peep about it from him. Your lousy husband was avoiding you all week like he always did leading up to a weekend away with his mistress. Late nights at the office and early mornings going in. You weren’t stupid, you knew he was seeing someone else - you weren’t quite sure how long it had been going on for, but long enough for you to grow tired of his shit.

“Momma, are we almost there?”

At the sound of your son’s voice, your gaze went from the road ahead of you and to the rear-view mirror, staring at him as he woke up. Smiling weakly, you nodded your head before your attention went back to the road.

“Yes, buddy, just a few more minutes.”

Your son rubbed his eyes and yawned, sitting up in his booster seat and grabbing one of his books that he kept in the car to keep himself occupied the remainder of the ride, ignoring the conversation between you and his father.

If you were more analytic about your husband’s life that he hid from you, perhaps you would have gotten out of the marriage sooner, but that was just it, you hadn’t. And when your son came into the picture, it made leaving that much harder.

“Look, I gotta go,” He cleared his throat before exhaling - as if he were growing tired of the conversation. “I’ll be back home Monday.”

You nodded your head, laughing to yourself as your hands gripped the steering wheel tighter, your knuckles going white. You didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye before the call dropped, just as you were turning onto the road that your son’s friend lived on.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆

You couldn’t pinpoint which was worse - the screaming children or the awful clown music. Your best friend had hired a party clown for the occasion and while you weren’t terrified of them, despite growing up in the age of Stephen King’s IT, you found them to be incredibly annoying.

The clown - Dandy - was a hit with the kids, which proved your best friend’s point of being a good distraction for the kids while the adults could breathe. While the kids were entertained by the balloon animals and lousy clown puns, you were in the kitchen, checking to see if maybe you could see where your husband was based on his Snapchat location - but alas, he had turned it off.

“You really just gotta get a divorce already.”

Jumping slightly, you looked up from your phone and watched your best friend waltz into the kitchen, holding two slices of cake in her hands. She smiled and handed you one, leaning against the island in the middle of the modern-style kitchen.

You happily took the cake, tucking your phone in your pocket before leaning against the sink, staring ahead at her, “I know, it’s just-”

“Hard? Tell me about it,” Your friend laughed and shook her head, stabbing in her own slice, “I still have to explain to Ava everyday why Mommy and Daddy don’t live with each other. Sometimes I think maybe I should have just sucked it up and stuck with it. At least until she was older.”

While you couldn’t agree completely with her guilt, you both had known each other long enough to meet in the middle. You could both agree that your kids came first and were both willing to sacrifice a lot for them...but she was able to get out, still keep her life relatively the same and be happy. Sometimes you wondered if she realized how jealous you were of her.

“She’ll understand in the future though and she’ll know that you were the one who stuck around and not him,” Swallowing your bite of cake, you tilted your head to the side, “Where is he even at?”

Laughing sarcastically, your friend shook her head and rolled her eyes, tears welling in her eyes, “With his other family. The one he seems to be more invested in nowadays rather than the first.”

Your lips pulled into a tight line, nodding before your eyes fell down to your plate, stabbing at the slice of cake, unsure with what you wanted to say next. You knew of the current situation, but weren’t sure how far you should be inserting yourself into their business. It was, after all, their relationship and not yours.

The fading musical tune brought both of you from your cake and to the archway that led to the living room, kids stampeding out of the room and outback to crack open the pinata. You let out a chuckle and shook your head, another party - another stupid pinata.

“Maybe we can string him up - the ex.” You suggested, a smirk at the corner of your mouth while your friend turned, looking at you with a humorous expression.

“Like in that one movie? What was it, Cat in the Hat?” The two of you laughed, both shaking your head while she moved to throw her plate away going to head outside. She stopped, though, when she noticed you not following. “You coming?”

“In a minute,” You explained, nodding her off to head out without you, “I’m just going to finish my cake and then I’ll be out. Don’t let him get too feisty with the bat. He’s been big into baseball recently.”

Your son was passionate, that was for sure, he reminded you of your husband in that sense - but sometimes even the six-year-old had more strength than you could imagine. The last thing you wanted to have happened was him accidentally hitting one of the other kids and you getting a lecture from the other parents about ‘disciplining your child’.

But you knew your best friend wouldn’t let that happen - and off she went to be the ‘perfect host’, her tone switching from her normal neutral voice to a more peppy version, trying her best to fit into the role she was meant to play.

When the chaos outside was muffled by the screen door closing, your head dropped back down to your almost empty plate, finishing off the rest of you slice before moving your fingers to the plate. With one swipe you coated your index, middle, and ring finger in the frosting, sucking on the sugar. With your fingers in your mouth, your brain wandered back to your phone, bouncing back and forth as to whether or not you should message him.

No, why even bother, he’ll just send you to voicemail and never call you back.

Bubbling in your own thoughts, you blinked at the frustrated tears and bit down gently on your fingers, attempting to stop yourself from quiet before you saw the assortment of rainbow figure crashing your self-pity moment, stopping in the archway with a flask in his hands.

“Oh, shit, sorry - I thought everyone had gone outside.”

It was a lot to take in - the clown. It wasn’t that him being a clown made you uncomfortable, but him finding you on the brink of tears with your fingers stuffed in your mouth. Pulling your fingers out of your mouth, you quickly wiped them onto your jeans before clearing your throat, avoiding his gaze while you tossed your plate away in the trash can next to him.

“You’re fine, I um, sorry- did you need something?” You took a step back and looked up at him, your eyes glancing down at the flask in his hand, “Or did you just need a moment too?”

The clown, Dandy, chuckled weakly and shook his head - his poorly dyed red hair hitting his cheeks as his head moved. Moving his ungloved hand up, he tucked some of the curls behind his ear, taking the strap of the uncomfortable party hat and pulling it off his head, setting it on the counter before screwing the lid off his flask.

“Just finishing up the act,” He joked, tilting his head back to let some of the booze fall down his throat. When he finished his generous sip, he looked back at you, extending it out to you, “You want some?”

If any of the other parents saw your exchange with Dandy, you knew you’d be ridiculed, lectured by your husband for ‘making the family name look bad’, but Christ did you need it.

Dandy wiggled the flask in your direction, as if taunting you to take it and take a sip - and it worked. You extended your hand out and took the flask, tilting your head back to drink from the tin flask and let whatever it was he had in there hit your tongue.

You gagged suddenly at the taste of Jack Daniels, coughing as you lurched forward, holding the flask back out towards him to take back. He did, laughing and shaking his head, tucking the flask back in his suit pocket.

“Don’t drink much, do you?” He assumed, watching as you wiped your mouth and shook your head, catching your breath before letting out a sigh.

“Not, that!” You answered, cringing at the taste that was still in your mouth, “God, how much do you hate your life to be drinking that?”

You had only meant the question to be sarcastic, a playful tease at his choice of drink, not a direct hit to his personal life. But Dandy didn’t take it that way, behind the painted on smile, his lips fell to a sadder, smaller, smile.

“Well I’m a party clown aren’t I? Gotta get by somehow.”

Frowning, you opened your mouth to apologize but stopped when he held up his hand, his smile returning, “It’s fine, I know what you meant.”

Moving around you, Dandy went and took your original spot, propped up against the sink counter, his long legs crossed over one another. Turning around, you watched as he played on his phone, probably checking the notifications he missed while performing at the party.

He was cute, you’d give him that - but the get up was awful. It was something you knew you’d seen at Halloween City in the adult costumes section, and you wondered if maybe that’s where he got it. It was the standard yellow and blue split shirt, with the fake sewn on patches and red buttons down the middle. His pants were also the standard yellow color, with rainbow polka dots covering them. And the shoes! Were his feet really that big?

You hadn’t realized how hard you were staring at him, your neck craned forward as you tried to examine the costume more before catching his hand waving at you to grab your attention, your neck falling back and eyes lifting up to him. He held his phone in one hand and dropped the other to his side.

“Can I help you?” He questioned, although he sounded more amused than anything. When your cheeks went pink, shaking your head, looking away to try and pretend like you weren’t just obviously staring at him, he laughed. “They’re not actually that big. The shoes just make my feet look bigger. Pretty standard shoe size, I’ll admit.”

Nodding, you bit down on your lip before the sound of children squealing caught your attention. You turned and saw the kids diving for the candy, parents snapping photos of them with grins on their face. You should’ve been out there - not drinking whiskey with the fucking party clown.

“I should go.” You explained suddenly. Glancing up at him, you tried to ignore the slightly disappointed look on his face before he nodded back, understanding.

“Yeah, I should load my stuff up into the car anyways.” Dandy mumbled, pushing himself off the counter to follow loosely behind you, letting you have your space as he went to the living room to grab his party trunk and haul it out to his car.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆

“And you’re sure you can handle all the kids? I don’t want you to be overwhelmed.”

Holding your son in your arms, bidding him a farewell for the evening, you nodded after your friend reassured you that she could handle it and kissed his head, smiling as he squeezed you tightly before running off with the rest of the kids.

“Okay, well, just call if something changes. I don’t mind staying over or if he starts to get too much I can come get him,” You explained, picking yourself up off the ground and pulling your jeans down. “It’s not like I’m doing anything tonight.”

She let out a laugh and shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest as the two of you headed outside to the front porch, “Take a break for the night, husband is out of town and you got the place to yourself. Who knows, maybe if you call the clown he’ll come and keep you compa-”

The swift punch to her shoulder sent you both into a fit of giggles before she playfully punched you back, the two of you shoving one another until you both fell silent, pulling one another in for a hug as you departed.

“But for your sake, I’ll be sure to call - but I highly doubt I’ll need you to come back.”

You took a step back as you began your descent down the steps, crossing the sidewalk towards your car that was parked on the street.

“Seriously though! I’m sure Dandy would love some company!” Your friend teased from her spot on the porch. You waved her off and laughed, shaking your head as you unlocked the minivan and climbed in, settling in before starting the vehicle up and driving off.

It didn’t take long for you to get out of your friend’s neighborhood, back onto the main busy road that led from her neighborhood to yours. Thankfully traffic had already died down for the day, making the drive easy on you and your clouded thoughts.

You half debated on calling him again, to see if he would answer - but you knew that if on the off chance he did pick up, you wouldn’t feel any better than you did now. It made you wonder in moments like this why you even let him get to you, did you still love him? Part of you thought maybe you did, maybe you were holding off on the hope that the man you married would one day come back.

At this point you were crying, the tears dripping down off your chin and onto your neck, cursing under your breath as you quickly wiped them away. You knew that you couldn’t stay focused on the road right now, which is how you found yourself in the middle of a rest stop off the side of the freeway.

When you parked your car in one of the empty spots, your head fell forward with a sigh, closing your eyes tight as you collected your thoughts. You just needed to catch your breath, tell yourself you were okay, and head home.

Your stomach grumbled and your eyes opened, glancing down at your stomach that you held before groaning. You wished you had stolen a piece of cake before you left to hold you over for the ride, but you also weren’t expecting to make a rest stop to cry.

Reaching for your purse, you pulled out your wallet and a couple dollars to go inside and get a snack. When you looked up from your purse though, you noticed a familiar rainbow figure standing beside your car, smiling at you.

Jolting back, your head hit the window, causing you to groan before you held your head, unbuckling from your seat and getting out of the car.

“What the fuck man-”

“-I’m sorry! I should have waited until you got out of something before I came over.” It was Dandy, the stupid clown from the birthday party and still in his getup. What was he even doing out here?

“Might want to add a bell or something to your costume. Jesus, man, what are you doing?” When the back of your head numbed down, you let out a sigh and dropped your hand to your chest, crossing your arms.

Dandy didn’t seem to be too aware of your social cues that indicated that you were probably less than thrilled to be chatting with him, and continued on with his own thoughts, pointing at his car.

“My car broke down. I was wondering if I could maybe get a lift or something? I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t remember you from the party.” He explained, shuffling in his spot. Dandy didn’t mean to be a bother to you, but he was desperate, that and his phone had died.

You debated on turning him down, letting him fend for himself - but he looked so pathetic standing in front of you, the evident frown on his face behind the painted on smile. If you were to leave him out here, with a dead phone and car, you knew the guilt would eat you alive.

Remembering the dollars in your pocket, you squeezed them in your hand before motioning to the car, “Sure, fine. I’m going inside to get something to eat though, so don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”

Not caring that he heard the door lock, you stuffed your keys into your pocket and continued on, heading to the vending machine that was inside to grab a snack. When your eyes met the options, you scanned over the options before deciding on the granola bar, buying an extra one for the clown.

When you made your way back to the car, your steps slowed to a stop when you saw him standing at the front of your car, a weak smile on his face as he held out a purple balloon animal.

“I don’t have much money on me. But I still wanted to thank you.” He explained, handing you the balloon animal.

It was a sweet gesture, a little silly for your taste, but you could understand the sincerity of it. You weren’t going to turn down something he had worked on for you while you were inside. Smiling, you thanked him quietly before extending your hand out to offer him the extra granola bar.

“Here, take it. I got it for you.”

He stared down at the granola bar in your hand and didn’t move for a moment, as if hesitant to take it. When you waved it in his face, much like he had done with the flask from earlier at the party, he laughed and took it, thanking you.

“Come on. I’d rather not get eaten alive by the mosquitos. You can tell me where you need to go in the van,” You instructed, making your way to the now unlocked van and climbing back into the driver’s seat, setting the balloon animal in your purse to keep from popping. Not long after Dandy climbed in the passenger side himself, stuffed in the seat uncomfortably before you let out a laugh. “You can adjust the seat.”

Moving in a hurry, Dandy bent forward and grabbed the bar to scoot the seat back, his long legs extending out with a sigh. You shook your head and peeled the wrapper to the granola bar open and took a bite. Looking out the window, you watched as the sun continued to set for the day, ignoring the crinkling that came from Dandy.

Turning your head, you watched as he struggled to open his granola bar - his greasy fingers from the party not allowing him to grab onto the wrapper and peel it open. Holding your own in your mouth, you reached over and took his from him, peeling it open with ease before handing it back to him.

“Thanks...is that some mom trick or-”

“-My fingers aren’t covered in paint.” You stated flatly. You ignored the pained expression that came from Dandy as he quietly took a bite from the granola bar, looking out his own window.

The silence began to eat at you, knowing that you were being too harsh on the guy who was already having a shit night. Probably a shit life, just like you. You watched as the time ticked by, minute after minute, until the radio screen turned to an incoming phone call from your husband.

Dandy stared at the screen, watching as you let the call ring until it went to voicemail. “Was that important?” He wondered, eyes falling from the screen and over to you. You shook your head and sighed, finishing the granola bar before throwing the wrapper in your purse.

“No, just the husband. Probably a drunk call to inform me of all the other things I’m doing wrong as a mother while he’s stepped away from his mistress,” You blushed at the sudden revelation to the stranger sitting beside you and cleared your throat, “Sorry, just forget it.”

Shaking his head, letting the red mop on his head tossle, he shrugged his shoulders and sank in the seat, “Doesn’t sound like that great of a guy.” He noted, letting the silence fill the van again.

You knew he was right, whether you wanted to admit it to him or not. Your husband was a shit guy, some days you felt like he was the worst of the bunch, but he was still your husband, and maybe that’s why you felt so inclined to tell the clown to shut up.

But you didn’t.

“Life isn’t perfect, I can attest to that,” Dandy began, clearing his throat and sitting up again in his seat, “You think I wanted to be a clown? Almost forty and going to kids parties for my income?” He laughed and shook his head before continuing, “I can play the part really well. At least I’d hope so after all the acting classes I took, but the entertainment world didn’t want someone like me - least not the movie business.”

You knew a few things about acting, doing it yourself almost daily. The forced smiles, fake laughs, hell - even in the bedroom when you faked getting off just to make your husband happy. All of it was to please everyone but yourself.

“I’m not sure what to think of having a literal clown give me advice,” You paused for a moment, letting your shoulders sink before you gave in. “I get it...this life, I’m sure you’ve seen enough moms like me to know that some of us just get stuck in this life. Having kids makes leaving hard. So you fake it until you make it, even if it means going to bed unsatisfied.” You blinked away your tears and shook your head, gaze lowering to your hands as you furrowed your brows to keep calm. Glancing to your right once you felt the nudge against your arm.

“Does he make you unsatisfied?”

The bold question sent a cackle out of you, the van ringing from your sudden cry before a grin took the place of your frown, matching the real one on Dandy’s face.

“Bold of you to assume he leaves me unsatisfied. What makes you think I don’t get off to him every morning and night?” You dared, your body shifting and turning towards him more. You bit back the smirk that was creeping on your face and watched as Dandy shrugged.

“Just stating the obvious. Seems you gotta let loose a bit. Wouldn’t even take a drink at the par-”

“A kid’s party,” You reminded him, “I’m not going to get drunk at a kid’s birthday party.”

“No kids around now. So just humor me, does he let your wildest dreams come true?” At this point you knew that Dandy was just pulling your tail - but he was there and listening to you, something that you hadn’t had from a man in who knows when...so you humored him back, going along with it.

“Fine, I’ll play whatever game this is,” You retorted, tucking some of your hair behind your ear. “No, he doesn’t. Been married almost seven years and the only thing I’m getting is my clit scratched at. You wanna talk about acting, I should have my own fucking star in Hollywood with that act.”

Dandy laughed at your tease, pulling out the flask from his pocket and taking a sip, passing it over to you. This time, you took it without hesitation, taking a generous sip before sighing, settling it on your thigh. The burn was still there, but this time it was easier to keep down.

“I tell him one time that I wanna try something and what does he do? Goes and fuck the first woman that’s willing to open their legs to him,” You glanced at Dandy who gave you the look of ‘enlighten me more on what you mean’. Shaking your head, you chuckled weakly and took another sip, passing the flask back over to him finally. “It’s nothing crazy, just...wanted it to be a little rough. Have him manhandle me, treat me like some whore and then afterwards tell me that he loves me.”

At this point you could only hope that maybe this was all a dream. How did you go from a kid’s birthday party to picking up the party clown and talking about your sex fantasies? What a pathetic excuse of a-

“Well, I can’t say I’ll tell you that I love you after, but I know how to throw a girl around if you’d let me.”

Looking up, your eyes wide in shock, you lost the words to say at his offer. Was he serious? Was this clown really telling you that he’d fuck you?

“You’re joking...dude, I’m married!” You retorted, as if that was the real excuse.

Rolling his eyes, Dandy leaned forward closer to you, his face only inches from your own.

“And so is he. But where is he? Not fucking you.”

You swallowed the lump in your throat and kept your gaze locked on his eyes, noticing the specks of honey in his irises. You knew this was wrong, in all senses this was completely fucked up, yet for some reason you were pulled to do so.

“This isn’t some hard commitment. You obviously need a release and so do I. But if you don’t want to, I’m not gonna force you to do anythi-”

He was cut off by the sudden kiss from you - your morals out the window as your lips meshed with his, ignoring the taste of the paint, granola, and whiskey. You felt Dandy grab your face, holding your close as he finally kissed you back, grazing the bottom of your lip with his tongue.

Pulling back from you suddenly, Dandy dropped his hands to your shoulder, keeping you back while he caught his breath.

“Listen...I’m down for whatever it is that’s about to happen, but I just need to know what you want me to do.” He explained, chest heaving from the kiss. Your mouth was parted and had paint around your mouth and chin.

“I-I don’t know…”

“If you want me to be rough, I’ll do it. I’ll do what your husband can’t, but if you don’t want this, tell me now and I’ll get out and forget that this ever happened,” He moved his right hand up to your face and grazed his knuckles along your jawline. “But I need to know.”

This was your chance. To tell him no. To continue with your good karma of being a good wife despite having every right to not be. The angel on your left shoulder was screaming at you to kick him out, but the devil on the other seemed to win, and you found yourself agreeing to Dandy’s offer.

The two of you fell back into the trunk of your minivan only seconds later, stumbling through the rows of seats until you landed on the baseball equipment back with a grunt. You pulled away from his lips to turn and shove the bag off to the side. Dandy, on the other hand, wasn’t fazed by your departure from his lips and planted kisses along your neck, the red clown smile coming off his own face and smearing onto you.

You let out a moan when he bit down on your sweet spot, leaning into his kiss before finally pushing away from him, his lips pulling off your neck with a ‘pop’. When you sat back, Dandy now hovering over you, you could only smile at him, your mouth red as if you did a poor job of applying lipstick.

“You look like a clown,” He teased, looking down at your lips before leaning forward to kiss you, both of you smiling in the kiss until he pulled away, kissing across your face before his lips found your ear, “Are you going to show me what tricks you have up your sleeve-”

He was cut off by you grabbing his neck, shoving him away from you until he fell onto his back, you crawling on top of him to pin him down.

“Do you have to make everything about this a joke?” You mused, your hair falling forward and letting it tickle his nose - a laugh escaping from you as he crinkled his nose. “I mean, it’s bad enough you’re a literal clown.”

You were taken back when he sat up suddenly, grabbing you by the waist to pin you back down as he climbed over you. While you tried to focus more on how he made you feel versus the paint smearing across you, you still couldn’t help but groan at the sticky feeling of the face paint smearing against your face.

At that point you had almost wished you would have let him go and clean up like he offered before you two did anything. But you were desperate, so desperate. It would take more than clown makeup to stop you from getting your guts scrambled in the back of your minivan.

With his lips back on yours, you felt his tongue push through your teeth and into your mouth, swirling with your own as you tasted the mix of birthday cake and whiskey off his breath. Gathering his hair into one hand to keep his curls from falling into your face, your other moved down his shirt, towards the growing bulge in his pants until your hand wrapped around his dick through the fabric of his costume.

“Wait!” He breathed, pulling back from you suddenly and onto his knees, catching his breath as he leaned back on his heels, “Do you have anything?”

You weren’t entirely positive with what he meant at first, your brain still fuzzy from the kiss until it finally clicked with you. “What? Like protection?” You questioned, laughing a little as you sat up, only for your smile to frown when you realized he was being serious. “Does it look like I have that?”

His mouth fell open and he stumbled to get words out before shaking his head. Dandy mumbled something under his breath before reaching over and grabbing his coat from the back seat, digging through the side pocket.

“I might have something-”

“Were you expecting to get laid on the gig?” You interjected, a smirk toying on the corner of your mouth as he looked at you, a scowl on his face. He ignored you and kept digging.

You watched as the rainbow scarves came out of his pocket. One by one a different colored scarf flooded the back of your minivan. It must have been a gag in his show he never got around to at the party. You figured after the sixteenth scarf there’d be no more, but it kept going.

A quiet sigh escaped your mouth as your shoulders shrank, looking around the trunk as you waited for him to find whatever it was that he thought he brought with him. You weren’t sure what to do at that moment - should you have offered to help?

When you thought he was finished, watching as the string of rainbow stopped, you pulled your shirt off, readying yourself only to see the string of rainbow pick up again. You were a mother, so your patience was rather strong, however in the moment - seconds away from getting fucked by a party clown, you had had enough.

“Oh my god-” You leaned forward and grabbed his wrist, stopping him in his tracks, “Forget the protection, Dandy, just fuck me already.”

You pulled him in for a kiss, your lips pressed against his hard. You moved to sit in his lap as your hands cradled his face, holding his hair back and out of his face. It felt crunchy from the spray hair dye he must have put in his hair for the gig. The red hair dye staining your hands as his chocolate locks came through.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to-”

You pulled away from him, holding his face steady in your hands to keep his eyes on you. Annoyance bubbling inside of you with all of his worries. “Dandy, yes, I’m sure. I just need you in me.” You explained desperately, your lips finding his once again.

“Daniel,” He mumbled against your lips, pulling away from the kiss to look at you, “Daniel - my name is Daniel.”

You looked at him and nodded, repeating his name before you fell back again, propping yourself up on your elbows. Letting out a sigh, you pushed your hair out of your face before bending your legs so they were spread apart.

“Daniel, are you going to come over here and fuck me or are you just going to do another one of your silly clown gags?”

You were still practically all the way clothed, the only thing missing was your shirt. He leaned forward on his knees and hooked his fingers around your jeans, tugging them down while his face pressed against your skin, leaving wet kisses down your stomach, thighs, and stopping just above your knees.

His makeup had smeared down your body now, his alvina skin peeking through the makeup. At this point you had sat up to unclasp your bra, pulling it down off your shoulders and tossing it with the rest of your clothes. When you leaned forward to grab onto his yellow polka parachute pants, he stopped you suddenly.

While his left hand grabbed at your hair, gathering it up into his fist before leaning your head back, his other hand was fondling your breast, pinching and pulling at your nipple before slapping your breast, grinning at your gasp.

“Why don’t you open your pretty mouth up, yeah?” You blushed at the switch in his demeanor, but still complied, opening your mouth slightly and up at him.

But that wasn’t enough, he shook his hand and squeezed your nipple again, this time harder until you gasped, your mouth opening wider before he leaned forward and spit into your mouth. You flinched at what he had done, ready to spit it back at him before your mouth was suddenly gagged.

If it weren’t for the squeak you probably would have assumed it was one of the dozens upon dozens of scarves he had pulled earlier from his pocket, but the ball shape in your mouth that left your jaw sore indicated that it was something more familiar.

You bit down on the clown nose, listening to it squeak before moving your arms up to remove the gag, finding it silly before Daniel’s hands grabbed at your arms, stopping you from moving before smiling at you.

“What do you think you’re doing? I didn’t say you could take it out.”

Your cheeks went red as you felt him stroke your face before he pulled his hand back and cracked it against your cheek, you biting down on the nose and letting it squeak. You enjoyed it though, the mix of pain and pleasure. It took you back a bit, only because you had figured Daniel was like your husband in the sense of not going through with what you said you liked being done to you.

When you felt his fingers graze your stinging cheek you leaned into his tough, your eyes lulling shut before he leaned forward, kissing your hairline. His fingers dropped from your face and reached down to grab your wrists, pulling them together before using some of the scarves to tie your wrists up.

When your wrists were bound behind you, Daniel pushed you back gently by your shoulder, watching you fall onto your back with a ‘thud’ before finally beginning to peel his own costume off. He made sure to take his time, kicking off the absurd clown shoes that were three times too big for his feet and shimming out of his pants.

It was a process already, taking off his costume, but cramped up in the back of a minivan was a whole other process of its own. He could hardly get his shirt unbuttoned, fingers fumbling to get the tiny buttons through the tight holes. When he finally did, however, he sat up on his knees with a huff, his hard dick sticking up - red and already leaking with precum.

“Are you going to be a good girl and take my dick?” He questioned, hand pumping at his swollen cock as he took in the sight of you gagged and tied up. He smirked when he noticed the drool spilling around the clown nose that was in your mouth. You nodded, moaning in response as your thighs squeezed together.

Moving towards you, Daniel dropped his hand from his cock to pull your legs apart, squeezing your thighs before his right hand moved up to your ass, giving it a good squeeze and bringing his hand up and back down, striking your bare cheek that made you flinch.

You whined at the sudden impact, but felt yourself get even wetter. You bit down on the gag and ignored the squeak that came out of it, sighing as Daniel gently caressed your ass to numb the pain. He brought his hand back to his dick and ran the tip up and down, swirling at your clit until your toes curled and your thighs went to squeeze together.

“Ah, ah, ah,” He caught your leg that had moved and pinned it down with his free hand, keeping you wide open while the tip of his cock hovered at your entrance. “You said you were going to be a good girl and take my dick. Are you going to be naughty now?”

You shook your head and moved onto your back, letting your spine relax from it’s previous twisted position to look up at him. Your knees rested on his sides and watched as he leaned forward, spit falling from his mouth and hitting your clit. Whining, your hips bucked forward a bit, wanting more until you finally got what you wanted.

“Oh, are you getting needy now?” He smiled when you nodded, bucking your hips again until you felt his hand leave your leg and fall to your clit, his thumb tracing circles that left you arching into his touch. By this point you were beyond ready for him to fuck you, you were getting fed up with his teasing, and he noticed.

In one swift motion Daniel thrusted in you, grunting at the surprising tightness of you around him. He had guessed that with you having a husband and a child you birthed, you wouldn’t have felt like a fucking virgin.

“Fuck, I thought you said you had a husband? Does he not even fuck you?” He pulled out of you slightly to ram into you again, sending you forward, your tits bouncing as his rhythm continued. “And you had a kid?” He laughed and shook his head, squeezing your hips, “By this rate, I’m going to be filling you up with my own. Would you like that? Being round and full with my kid?”

You could feel yourself tighten around him, squeezing at his dick while he continued to fuck you. Despite the warmer air, your nipples were standing hard, longing for attention as you laid on your tied arms, wishing you could play with them yourself.

Daniel must have gotten the hint when you rolled your shoulders, pressing your breasts together to give at least some sort of relief to the tingling feeling on them. He smiled and leaned down, pressing his mouth around your left breast as he continued to rut in you, his tongue swirling around your nipple before his teeth latched on. He looked up at you and smiled, your nipple in between his teeth before he pulled back, letting go with a ‘pop’ before moving to the other.

By now just like the rest of your body your breasts were painted over with the light pink paint that came from Daniel’s mouth, dark red marks from his teeth peeking through the spots where the paint hadn’t stuck. You were growing needier by the minute, your own orgasm building as your nails sank into the flooring of the minivan.

“I bet you want me to untie you, huh?” He laughed when you nodded and shook his head, grabbing your legs to wrap around his waist as he picked up his pace again, “When you finally come around my dick I’ll untie you, and on your second I’ll pull that gag out of your mouth,” He leaned forward until his chest pressed against you, “I want to hear you say my name when you come the third time. You understand?”

And you did, Christ did you - but the thought of not one, not two, but three orgasms, you weren’t sure if you were going to be able to handle it.

Kissing your cheek sloppily, Daniel smiled and leaned back up, carrying on with fucking your brains out until you were practically choking on the gag, tears welling in your eyes as you clenched around him. It wasn’t much longer before your legs squeezed around his waist, coming undone around him.

“Well that didn’t take long,” He teased, pulling out and flipping you over to untie your wrists. When the scarves fell from your wrists, Daniel pulled them around and rubbed them, making sure they were okay before letting them fall to the side.

Pushing himself back, Daniel fell to lay between your thighs, pulling himself up so his face was nestled in front of your dripping cunt. “How long has it been since you came like that? Certainly not from your husband.”

You wished you didn’t have the gag in your mouth, so you could bite back at his remarks. You knew what he was doing, breaking your husband down to build himself up. It was working too, knowing that your husband never pleasured you the way Daniel had in just a matter of minutes.

“Be a good girl and keep your legs open. Can you do that for me? Or are you still stupid off my dick?” He smirked when you glared down at him before diving forward into your cunt, lapping up your wetness that had spilled out from you, his tongue swiping up and closing down on your clit; his left arm wrapped around your leg and his other in between your thighs, his fingers diving into your soaked pussy, the squelching noises from your wetness filling the van.

It didn’t take long for your new found freed hands to grab onto his hair, nails scraping at his scalp that made him moan, vibrating against your clit. Biting down on the gag, your squeezed your thighs at the sides of his head, heels digging into his back as you began to shake.

“Mmm, still so sensitive are we?” You nodded and let out a whine, grabbing his hair and tugging it to bring him back to you as he pulled away. Tutting, he bit down on your thigh and slapped your cunt, “You’re not being a very good girl. Do you want me to tie you back up?”

You didn’t, the last thing you wanted was to start back at square one with him - lose your privileges of screaming his name when he came inside you. You loosened your grip on his hair and watched him smile up at you.

“Good, there’s my good girl. Are you gonna come in my mouth? Let me taste you before I fuck your brains out again?” His fingers sank back into you, hitting the sweet spot as you sat up to watch, your hand resting on the back of his head. You were close, so close.

What came next shocked the both of you - clenching around his fingers, pulling at his hair, your legs began to shake violently until you were gushing out, squirting onto his tongue and fingers. You felt your eyes spinning and you could only focus on the black stars that clouded your vision, falling back onto the floor of the van.

When he pulled away, you had almost expected him to stop then, run back to his car and lock himself in from his own embarrassment - but he didn’t. When Daniel came up from in between your thighs, a grin was spread across his face, your wetness dripping off his chin and onto your thighs.

Reaching down, he pulled the gag out of your mouth finally and squeezed your face in one hand, massaging your jaw before leaning forward, “I want you to taste how fucking delicious you are.” He announced, his mouth finding yours.

You moaned against his mouth at the taste of yourself, your chest tightening as he moved his hand away from your face and down to your thigh, squeezing it as he settled in between your legs again, throwing the leg he was grabbing around his waist.

When he snagged your own tongue between his teeth, pulling it into his mouth, you groaned at how he was sucking on it, lips pressed hard together until he pulled back finally - letting you catch your breath.

“Are you going to scream my name?” He asked, sitting up and on his knees. He kept his one hand on your thigh and moved the other up your stomach and chest before settling on your throat. He wrapped his hand gently around, squeezing it until you squeaked out a ‘yes’.

“Good, good…” He breathed, lining himself up to you. At this point his own dick was throbbing, precum leaking from the tip and head painfully red. You knew he had been holding back his own orgasms, but you were shocked at his ability to hold off this long.

His first thrust back into you was hard - clenching around him almost instantly. You were still so sensitive, yet the fill of him back inside of you made your stomach coil and your third orgasm begin to build. You wondered if you would be able to even come again...would he be mad if you didn’t?

You were snapped from your thoughts by him squeezing your throat, your eyes widening and your hands coming up to grab his wrist. As much as you wanted to say you trusted the guy, he was still nothing more than a stranger to you.

“Say my name, sweetheart, can you do that? Do you even remember my name?” He let out a low chuckle and leaned forward, brushing his lips against yours but not kissing them, teasing you until he heard you say his name.

“D-Daniel…” You mumbled, wincing when his next thrust snapped his hips into you, the pressure of him sending your stomach flipping.

“Say it louder.”

“Daniel.”

“Louder!”

“Daniel!”

He seemed satisfied with your scream, your face red from the heat and intensity of your fuck fest. His grip loosened around your throat and you gasped for air, feeling him pull you up as he sat down, his back against the door of your trunk.

You weren’t sure if you could ride him just then, but he seemed to help you as much as you needed, guiding your hips up and down onto him as your nails sank into his shoulders, chin resting against the top of his head while his attention fell to your breasts. The attention he had been giving them all night left them sore, yet a familiar tenderness that you hadn’t felt in a long time. They weren’t swollen as if they were hurting, but something else.

It had been a pleasant surprise to him, tasting the milk that came from your breasts. It soothed the dry throat that he had since the lack of whiskey to ease his worries. This, however, was much better than any drink he had tasted.

When he pulled away, you looked down and noticed the stray droplet of milk on the corner of his mouth. Moving your hand, you swiped the drop onto your thumb before watching him suck it clean off. You panted in the moment, watching as the honey irises darkened until his pupils took over. You wondered if you had the same lusted look glazed over your own eyes.

Daniel released your thumb from his mouth and leaned forward again, kissing you deeply as he pulled you flushed against him, pinning you to him as his arms wrapped around your waist, keeping you steady as he thrusted his hips quicker up into you, his orgasm finally approaching.

“I-I’m gonna com-”

“-Yes, please, Daniel, please come in me. Fill me up, make me round with your babies.” You felt your head beginning to spin again, clinging to him desperately as your cunt clenched around him, his rhythm slowing until he was grunting into your neck, his own body shaking as his come shot out and deep in you.

You weren’t far behind, your legs wrapping tighter around him until you were coming undone around him, whining in his ear that sent him almost ready to fuck you into a fourth orgasm, but he knew that he couldn’t do that to you. At least not this time.

Daniel let you fall back, holding you still up as you closed your eyes, brushing your hair out of your face. He smiled up at you and tucked your own hair behind your ears, moving your hair back behind your shoulders and peppering your collarbone with gentle kisses, moving up to your neck to kiss at the bruises that he may have left.

His tender care for you afterwards left a smile on your face, the paint beginning to crust onto your skin as you brushed his curls off his own face and tucking behind his ears. You leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his forehead, pulling back to meet his gaze.

“I hope I didn’t hurt you too much.” He grieved, his hands moving to caress over your body, massaging the joints that felt tight under his hands. You shook your head, smiling weakly at him before kissing his nose.

“No, you didn’t. Not at all.” The two of you sat still twisted together on his lap, him still deep inside of you while you caressed one another. You enjoyed the feeling of his soft skin along your fingers, counting the freckles that were covering him. They were beautiful, just like him.

“I don’t mean to cut this short, but we should-”

“-No, you’re right. I...let me just get up.” You pushed off him slowly, groaning at the weight of him leaving you before falling back, sighing as you collected your thoughts before getting dressed again, passing him his clown costume for him to put back on. The two of you looked like a mess, it being quite obvious to anyone who saw you two what had just gone down.

While you waited for Daniel to finish getting ready, you pulled out your phone to check to see if you had any missed notifications - and the number on your screen sent a shiver down your spine.

32 texts.

17 missed calls.

9 voicemails.

They were all from him, your husband. He must have gotten pretty pissed when you didn’t answer the first time. Your eyes scanned quickly over the texts and you felt the tears beginning to prick your eyes. What have you done? What have you done?!

“Is everything okay?” You heard Daniel ask from behind you. When you pulled your gaze from your screen, you noticed your hands trembling, the tears slipping down your cheeks. You shook your head and let the sob escape.

“No!” You cried, looking back at him. You looked him over and shook your head, closing your eyes tightly, “No, my husband! He’s coming back. Tonight! Oh god, if he finds me like this I’m never going to-”

Daniel quickly placed his hand over your mouth, holding you steady as he shook his head, trying to calm you down. “Stop it, you’re fine. He’s not going to do anything. I won’t let him.”

You could admire his bravery, the chivalry he had towards you - but that was just something he didn’t get. You could sit there all day and say how your husband was, but until someone dealt with it themselves personally, they could never understand how it truly was.

“Daniel...please, I’m sorry, but I need to get you home or something before-”

“Just forget it, okay? I can wait here tonight and I’ll find someone in the morning to give me a ride. You need to get home and wash up,” He instructed, turning to open the trunk up. “Come on, let me help you out.”

As you climbed out of the trunk of your van, you stumbled onto the pavement and caught Daniel’s grip, regaining your balance before looking up at him. He wasn’t looking at you, however, but at whatever it was behind you. Furrowing your eyebrows, you turned and looked at what was behind you, your mouth falling open at the sight of him.

You never firmly believed in anything - that is of a higher being that had your life planned for you, but what you did believe in was karma. That the choices you made would only come back to bite you in the ass.

And yours stung.

“Joshua, what are you-“

“-Doing back early? I called to tell you, but you didn’t answer your phone,” He glanced at Daniel before back at you and your disheveled state, “I can see now though why you didn’t answer me.”

Pulling back from Daniel, you shook your head and took a few steps forward across the asphalt, “Joshua, it’s not what it looks like.”

Before you could reach out, he took a step back, brows narrowing as he looked down at you in disbelief.

“Not what it looks like? And what is this supposed to look like?” Motioning towards you, he let out a laugh, “Cause it looks to me like you got fucked by this loser.”

He has heard it all before: loser, worthless, idiot, you name it - so Daniel was more than capable of letting Joshua’s insults roll off his back.

Daniel had encountered many mishaps throughout his time as a party clown.

There was the time a child bit him - left him with such a deep puncture wound that it sent him to the emergency room...the drug bust that sent him to the county’s correctional facility due to him being a witness...and the time he had to do an entire act for one middle-aged man who in the end tried to sleep with him.

But never, never, would he have expected to be in a situation like this.

He was certain there was probably a spot in his handbook that explained the reasons as to why you shouldn’t fuck a kid’s mom that he was putting on an act for, but the people must have been idiots to not put at least something down for the ‘what-ifs’ that fell into the realm of actually going through with it.

So, what was he supposed to do?

The logical answer was to simply turn around and walk away - leave the marriage problems to the two involved, but the other part of him, the one that cared deeply for you and didn’t want to just leave you with your psychotic husband - he knew he had to stay.

In a fit of nerves, toying with the hem of his shirt, the words began to crawl up his throat and sit in the back of his mouth, biting down on his tongue to not blurt out the obvious. But still, to his avail, the words came out anyway.

“I fucked your wife!”

Damn.

Turning around, Daniel watched as your gaze fixed on him, eyes wide with an expression of ‘you had to point out the obvious’ painted on your face.

“Yeah, well no shit you fucked my wife. Any other obvious points you wanna point out?”

Crossing his arms over his broad chest, your husband waited for Daniel to answer, tapping his foot impatiently and ignoring the hushed pleads from you.

“Joshua...please, let’s just go-”

“No! No, I’d like to hear what he has to say. Cause you aren’t much help right now, starin’ at me like a dead fish.”

Shrinking down, you looked down at your shoes with a sigh. At this point, you didn’t care what Daniel or your husband had to say, you just wanted to go home.

“Any day now, clown. Some of us have real lives we need to get back to.” Joshua sneered.

Looking over towards you, Daniel frowned and let his shoulders sink a little, feeling defeated himself. He knew he wasn’t your husband, nor your friend - after all, he had only met you that day - but did that mean he had to just ignore the obvious abuse going on between the two of you?

Taking a step forward, Daniel stood now in front of you, blocking you from Joshua’s view before craning his neck up to look at the towering man.

“You’re an asshole, you know that? Doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out,” Daniel paused, watching Joshua’s reaction as he was taken back a bit by the words Daniel spoke, “You got a good thing in front of you but instead you’re out fucking whores that don’t stand up to you, let you walk over them. I don’t care if I’m just a clown, and frankly, I don’t care what you think of me, but I’m not going to stand here and listen to you talk to her like tha-”

The sudden crack to the jaw sent Daniel stumbling back into you, the two of you colliding onto the pavement with you on your back and him in your arms, groaning from the rough punch to the jaw from your husband.

Holding onto Daniel tightly, you lifted your body up enough to inspect his face, worried at the possibility of him suffering from a greater injury than what met the eye.

“Daniel! Oh my goodness, are you okay?”

He knew you were only trying to show that you cared and were worried, but God, did it look like he was okay? He just got his ass handed to him by a 6’3 lunatic who just caught his wife cheating on him by a party clown.

But you were kind, too kind for him, and all he could do was nod, turning his head enough to give you a weary smile before placing his hands on your knees, pushing himself back up to his feet with a groan, rolling his eyes at the laughs that came from Joshua.

“So the party clown wants more, eh? Fine, I could do this all night, doesn’t bother me.”

Catching his breath, Daniel stood up straight, raising his fists up to prepare for whatever blow he was going to get hit with.

“Joshua, enough! This is ridiculous. Let’s just go home! There is no reason for this! Please!” You begged, flinching as you watched with watery eyes your husband deliver another punch, this time to the stomach of Daniel.

You felt sick to your stomach, yes you knew your husband was awful, but for him to act so violently? You knew his ego was crushed to nothing knowing his wife had been fucked good and well by a clown, but to get this way - it was frightening.

Covering your ears, you brought your knees to your chest, eyes locked on the scene in front of you as Joshua now climbed on top of Daniel, pinning him into the asphalt before his large hands wrapped around his throat.

‘He’s going to get off, he will, he’s not going to kill him.’ You found yourself telling yourself, almost to make yourself believe your husband wasn’t a killer.

But two seconds turned into too many, and the sight of Daniel’s purple face made your stomach drop.

“Joshua…” You whispered, “You’re killing him.”

The sight in front of you would have made anyone grow uneasy, sick at the sight of the large man on top of the smaller man who was thrashing under him, squirming to get out of his tight grip and gasping for air.

“Stop it. Josh, please. He’s going to die.”

“Oh come on now, babe, I’m just teaching the prick a little lesson. I’m not going to hurt him. Right, Daniel?” Joshua hummed, loosening his grip to yank him up by his collar, “Actually, can I call you Dan? I feel like I can - seems you and I are close now, hell, we’ve been inside the same woman.”

Dazed out of the lack of oxygen, Daniel could hardly keep his eyes open, rolling in and out of the back of his head before his gaze fixed to you, only for his face to be squished in the hand of Joshua to bring his attention back to him.

“Ah, ah, ah. What are you looking at? You keep her eyes off her, or you’re gonna wish you were dead.”

Letting out a cough, Daniel nodded, lulling his head back and out of Joshua’s grip before catching his breath, rocking back and forth as his senses came back to him.

“You’re an asshole, you know that?” Daniel mumbled to himself, though Daniel already knew that Joshua knew the answer to that one.

“I’ve been told once or twice. Doesn’t get to me, as I’m sure you wish it would.”

Before Joshua could fully climb off Daniel, he took one final look at the pathetic man under him, laughing at the sight of the bruises and blood that stained him.

“Losers like you will always be losers. Don’t think you trying to be the knight in shining armor to her is going to change that.”

Glaring at the back of his head, you felt your fists ball into fists and shake at your sides, your own pent-up anger now erupting.

“Come on, babe. Let’s go home. You can make me dinner and maybe I’ll forgive you for fucking this lo-”

Nobody in that parking lot was expecting what came next. Your short figure whirling back your fist and connecting it with your husband’s nose as he turned around, not even able to finish his sentence before he stumbled over Daniel and landed on his own ass.

“What the fuck?!” Joshua screeched, holding his now bleeding nose, “You broke my nose you bitch!”

Daniel, still trying to catch his breath, watched with his mouth gaped open as you climbed on top of your husband, scrambling with him to scratch and hit at whatever you could make contact with. It was well deserved, that much he knew, but Daniel wasn’t an idiot and had dealt with guys like your husband before - if he wanted to, he’d ruin your life just from you breaking his nose.

Gathering the energy to stand, Daniel let out a grunt as he stumbled, moving weakly towards you, ears ringing at your screams that echoed into the night.

“Hey, stop it,” Daniel began, gently placing a hand on your shoulder, trying to pull your attention away, “He’s not worth it.”

Gasping for air, you leaned back on Joshua’s lap, fists still raised to go back for more punches before you processed what Daniel was saying to you. With your chest heaving, you looked up at Daniel, tears streaming down your cheeks, blinking blankly at him before realizing what you had done.

“Shh, stop it, don’t get that way. Come on, grab on, let’s just go.” Grabbing onto your biceps, Daniel pulled you up and close to his chest, holding you in his arms as he watched Joshua’s movements carefully to make sure he wouldn’t try anything else.

“So what, you’re just going to leave? Go back to the house? The house I bought?” Joshua began, sitting up from his spot on the asphalt, glaring towards the two of you. “You know it’s not as easy as walking away from all this.”

As much as Daniel wished you would just ignore him, continue on, and back to the van where he would take you home, he knew you deserved to be the one to have the final say.

“It will be because if you want your name to stay clean, your reputation - you’ll pack your shit up and leave. Sign those divorce papers willingly when they come, and stay the fuck out of my life you miserable, wretched little bitch.”

Pulling away, you turned and peered down at Joshua from his spot below you, pulling your wedding bands off your finger and tossing them into his lap.

“And while you’re at it, choke on those for me.”

Turning back towards Daniel, you smiled tiredly at him before motioning towards the van, “Come on, let’s get out of here, yeah?”

Feelings his cheeks grow pink, Daniel smiled and nodded, watching as you took his hand and pulled him towards the van, letting him in and getting in yourself before driving out of the rest stop and onto the highway, going back home.

* * *

There was a light feeling inside of your soul that night when you pulled into your parking lot, the garage opening, and you driving the van inside before letting the door shut behind you. For the first time in too long, you had stood up to your husband, said your peace of mind, and left the asshole to fend for himself.

You knew he was adamant on believing that without him you couldn’t make it, but you were determined to prove him wrong.

Not realizing how lost in your thoughts you had been, you jumped slightly at the sound of Daniel clearing his throat beside you.

“Sorry,” He began sheepishly, “I could just tell you were lost in your thoughts and didn’t want you to spiral.”

Shaking your head, you brought your hand up to your face, rubbing your eyes tiredly, “No, I appreciate it. I just-”

You let out a sigh and slouched in your seat, “God, this night has been such a mess.”

Daniel wasn’t sure how to help in this situation, what the best thing would be for him to say, but he knew that having you sulk in your van all night wouldn’t help anything.

“How about we figure all this out in the morning? Let’s go inside and clean up, yeah?”

Feeling his hand rest on your thigh, your gaze trailed up his arm and to his face, where he smiled sympathetically at you. Nodding tiredly, you placed your hand over his, squeezing it for a moment before climbing out of the van, leading him into the house.

From there you led him to the bathroom, pulling out some towels for him before motioning at his clothes.

“I’m sure there are some old clothes of his around, if you don’t mind wearing them, I can wash these for you for the time being, if you’d like.” Even after everything, your mind was still running at what was normal for you - the chores of a housewife and stay-at-home mother.

But Daniel wouldn’t allow that, he wouldn’t let you busy yourself when you deserved the same come down he needed.

Shaking his head, Daniel shut the door and placed his hands on your shoulders, “If it’s not overstepping, why don’t we just clean up, go to bed, and figure all this out in the morning?”

You couldn’t help but smile, laughing a little to yourself at his comment, “Overstepping? I think we did that a long time ago,” Nodding your head, you pulled away from Daniel, beginning to pull off your clothes, “A shower does sound nice…”

And it had been. The silence was comforting that came from the two of you while sharing the shower that steamed the bathroom. You hadn’t expected Daniel to be so tentative with washing your hair and back for you, going so far as to even dry you off before the two of you began to retire towards the bedroom.

Nothing felt different for you when walking into the bedroom. You couldn’t remember the last time you and Joshua had even shared the bedroom, but you weren’t all that surprised when Daniel found himself stuck in the doorway, unsure as to whether or not he should step foot inside.

“You know, I can just sleep on the couch-”

“Daniel,” You began, cutting him off, “Just come to bed.”

Smiling small, Daniel nodded and obliged, moving across the room to the opposite side of the bed you were on, climbing in under the covers and letting his body sink into the plush mattress.

After the long day, the two of you found yourself with a loss of words, both staring blankly at the ceiling, watching as the fan spun in a circle, after circle, after circle.

Daniel was almost asleep and figured you had been long asleep, before hearing you speak up.

“I don’t think I ever said it, but, thank you, for not leaving me with him,” You began, clearing your throat, “You know, you had every right to do so, but you didn’t and I-”

When you fell short, Daniel turned his head towards you, watching as you wiped away your stray tears with the back of your hand, “I just don’t think I’ve ever had someone care about me so much, let alone someone I just met.”

Smiling, Daniel rolled onto his side, inching his way towards you before wrapping his arm around your waist to pull you in to close the gap, moving his hand up to brush away your tears with his thumb.

“If I left you there, I wouldn’t have been any better than him. I’m just glad you didn’t get any more hurt than you did is all,” He tried to ignore the bruises on your back in the shower from when the two of you fell, but he also knew that you were suffering injuries on the inside - both mentally and emotionally. “I just- just want you to know that I’m not going anywhere, so long as you let me stay around.”

The confession surprised you, though you were too tired to react the way you probably had if you were more alert.

“You’re not a loser…” You mumbled tiredly, feeling your eyes begin to droop shut heavily, “And you’re not just...just a clown…”

Before you could properly finish your thoughts, you were snoring lightly in Daniel’s arms, curled up in his arms while he held you, a smile on his face.

* * *

He wasn’t expecting to be so nervous when he rang the doorbell, the bouquet of flowers in shades of oranges, yellows, and reds bundled in his right hand. With his left hand, he quickly adjusted the tie he was wearing and brushed back the loose pieces of hair that fell from his man bun.

It had been two weeks since meeting you. Two weeks of texting, nightly phone calls that lasted until one of you, usually you, fell asleep on the call, to now having your first proper date.

The universe had to cut him some slack, the last time Daniel went on a real date was, well, he couldn’t even remember how long it had been.

What he was not expecting in the slightest, however, was for the door to open and a little kid to answer - your kid for that matter.

“Oh! Hey there, uh, must have the wrong house. I’m looking for-”

“You’re the clown from Ava’s party, aren’t you?” Your son, Liam, asked, pushing his round glasses up at the bridge of his nose.

Not being able to help himself, Daniel sank to his knees with a laugh, matching his height, “How did you know? Was it that obvious?”

With a grin, Liam leaned back a bit, shrugging his shoulders, “I don’t see many boys with long hair. Plus, I heard Momma on the phone with Grandma talking and she mentioned something about a friend stopping by from Ava’s birthday party.”

Nodding his head, Daniel carefully listened before looking the kid up and down. He certainly was your son, and he made a mental note about how he hoped this kid didn’t have any traits for your shitty soon-to-be ex-husband.

“Well, you probably know then that my real name isn’t Dandy? It’s Daniel, but you can call me Dan if you’d like. What about you?”

And Daniel listened, listened as Liam began to ramble about himself, going so far as to even sit on the front porch as he continued to talk about school, his interests, and other random facts the kid could spit out.

It made Daniel wonder, did Joshua ever listen to Liam?

When Daniel heard your voice call for Liam from inside, making your way into the doorway and out onto the porch, stopping with a sigh of relief when you saw Liam.

“Liam, honey, you scared me. What have I told you about opening the door for people you don’t know?” You caught a glimpse and Daniel and smiled, making a mental note to tell him later how good he looked with his hair pulled back, before bending down to scoop Liam up in your arms, hugging him tight and kissing his head.

“He’s your friend, Momma! I didn’t want him to wait outside for you.” Liam explained, wrapping his arms around your neck, resting his head against your shoulder.

“I’m sure Daniel appreciates it honey, but you worried me is all. I just want to make sure you’re safe.” Kissing the top of his head again, you squeezed him once before letting him go and run back into the house where his toys were.

Turning back to Daniel, you smiled, pushing your hair back out of your face, “I’m sorry for having to change out date plans, I hope you don’t mind just hanging out at the house? I couldn’t find anyone to watch Liam and I didn’t want to call off-”

But before you could finish your apology, Daniel leaned forward and pressed his lips to your own, gently pushing the bouquet into your hands before pulling away.

“Don’t be sorry, it’s okay. I’m glad we could still hang out. You sure he won’t mind me being around? I just don’t want to confuse him or anything.” Daniel expressed, reaching out to tuck the stray pieces of hair behind your ears.

Shaking your head, you brought the bouquet to your nose and inhaled the sweet scent, sighing pleasantly and smiling when you felt Daniel’s lips press against your temple. “He knows you as my friend, but he does know that we aren’t together anymore - him and his father. He doesn’t seem too fazed by it though, surprisingly, but I don’t want to rush anything on him, with us that is.”

Turning to go back into the house, Daniel followed, shutting the door behind him and taking his shoes off before stepping onto the carpet. He couldn’t help but smile, feeling the corners of his mouth twitch into a smirk.

“And what are we?” He teased, leaning against the door as you looked up at him, shaking your head.

“Well, you’re the only clown I’m seeing if that’s what you mean.” You whispered, blinking at him as he snaked his arm around your waist, pulling you in close.

“Good, and you’re the only mom I’m seeing.”

Rolling your eyes, you felt him pepper soft kisses to your face and neck, laughing at the swats you gave him before pushing him back, “Why must you always refer to me as the mo-”

“Momma! Are you coming in?”

Closing your eyes, you let out a sigh and shook your head, earning a laugh from Daniel as his point was proven.

Standing still in his spot, Daniel smiled as he watched you move through the living room and into the kitchen, placing the bouquet into a vase and displaying them on the island counter while Liam played at the counter with his race cars.

“Daniel! Do you want to come play cars with me? You can play with my favorite blue car!” Liam called, waving for Daniel to come over.

Daniel had encountered many mishaps throughout his time as a party clown.

There was the time he nearly got shit-faced at a kid’s birthday party, the time he slept with a kid’s mom, and later that same night - fought the mom’s shitty husband.

The life of a party clown meant anything but normal for Daniel, but what he never thought was to have the chance of some form of normality - and standing now in the kitchen with you and your son, playing cars with a young boy who reminded himself too much of him when he was younger - Daniel knew that this was the life he could get used to.