#frogmogi

(CONGRATS TO @frogmoji!!! I really wanted to write something for you! You’re honest to god one of my best and oldest friends, and I love you very very much! I hope this works! Have a beautiful wedding, and I’ll stay tuned!!) ---- It wasn't often they had something to celebrate. Abe looked at themself in the reflection of the glass cabinet that housed the Menagerie of Dr. Macabre's more delicate displays. Chemically preserved eyes stared through their jars, past the reflection, and met Abe's gaze with a sort of milky recognition. The tent's keeper blinked and looked down to their buttons again. They liked to think the jar's inhabitants; dead things, unusual things, were looking at her with a sense of approval. It was like their preparation for the big day was part of some 90s movie montage and instead of stepping out of a dressing room to face a sea of their closest friends, they were presenting their new look to an old pickling jar containing a two headed shark baby. Abe laughed at the thought. They needed to get out of Bartholomew Oswalt's Infinite Bazaar more often. The fair did funny things to your sense of humor. So, of course, the only thing to do about it was go to the circus down the road. They had heard someone once say that circuses and carnivals were the same creatures, but Abe had to disagree. If a circus was a dog, the fair was a raccoon or something. It was nice to visit one's relatives, especially on such an important day.

It wasn't that they didn't celebrate at the fair. In fact, the carnies celebrated all the time, with parties and shouting matches and extravagant bets on the outer limits of the human body, but there was never any good reason for any of it, but today was going to be different. Not that Abe participated all that often. The Menagerie took up most of their free time, and any moment they weren't scheduled to be operating some rickety death trap, they were most likely tending to the fair's meager scientific collection. Ever since Oswalt had decided to invest in living specimens, domesticated animals harboring the rare, minor mutation interspersed with general creepy crawlies, as well as dead, the Menagerie had needed more and more attention. While Abe's official job description was rides operator, they had been quick to jump on the offer. Anything to do with science, anything to even suggest their degree wasn't useless. The other carnies were thankful, especially the titular Dr. Macabre, or Brian, as they knew him. As long as Abe was maintaining the collection, they could stay the hell away from it. Abe didn't mind much. They never liked sharing projects.

But the Menagerie was going to have to hold its own for tonight. Abe had asked off weeks in advance, the very second they had gotten the invitation. The paper sat against the edge of the cabinet, crumpled from where Kero had shoved it into their hands. Wedding of the century, it said, with a big top smack dab in the middle. It was cute. Kero wouldn't have it any other way. Abe's lips twitched into a smile at the thought. They had been so happy when they told them they were getting married. It never crossed Abe's mind that their friend would ever tie the knot, but the second the engagement had been announced, it was as if they and Arlequino had been engaged for years. When Abe went back to earlier memories, the ring was grafted in. Abe was certain that following today, they wouldn't be able to dream of a time where the pair were not Kero and Arlequino Pierrot.

"Knock knock." Abe glanced up. A figure stood silhouetted in the tent's opening, filling all but the upper third. They grinned, and the fair's mechanic smiled back. "Glad to see I ain't too late. Yer still getting ready." "Almost done, Dell, hang on," Abe said, turning back to their reflection. They finished buttoning up the somewhat wrinkled dress shirt. Brian had been kind enough to loan it to them. As a performer, he had a better variety of outfits than they did, and he was always happy to help. Dell walked up from behind them, leaning against a display table containing different sorts of spiders. The Texan eyed them warily for a moment before moving to an ornamental bookshelf on Abe's left.

 "Thems Brian's clothes?" "Yeah," Abe said, struggling with the borrowed tie. "My only pair of dress pants got fucked up in the wash. Just got my uniform. Pretty sure Arle would kill me if I showed up to his big day wearing cargo shorts." "Oh, I betcha they wouldn't," he drawled. "Row boat'd say yer addin' a little... little grit to the ceremony. That crowd could use a lil' grit in some situation like this. Gonna look like a debutante ball in there, just a little weirder." Abe smiled. Dell's ability to jump from 'Kero' to 'Row Boat' still astounded them.

"Is that why you're wearing that suit?" Dell looked down. His face, tanned by the sun, flushed at the cheeks. He was wearing a suit alright. It was white, and Abe could not fathom why the hell a mechanic for the dustiest carnival around would own something so pristine. "Ain't nothin' wrong with my suit." "You look like Colonel Sanders." "Why are you so goddamn mean to me?" Abe snorted a bit, but backed off. Dell leaned back again and let them struggle with their tie for a moment longer before sitting upright. "C'mere. Lemme help you..."

 Abe leaned forwards. As Dell began to fix the moth-eaten tie, they couldn't help but watch his hands. He had lost his right one years ago, long before he came to work for the fair. This wasn't too unusual, the average carnie had something missing, but what made Dell unique was his prosthetic. It was beautiful, intricate, and perfectly sophisticated. What's more, he claimed he made it himself. Strange, considering that he had told Abe he had dropped out of high school at sixteen. Abe found themself doubting him, but not in the way they would have expected. They had watched them work before. Dell was brilliant, the smartest person Abe knew, but why lie? Then again, why not? Secrets were more common around these parts than limbs weren't, and any one of them had their reasons to lie. But today wasn't about lies.

"There we go..." Dell murmured once he finished. He sat back and gave Abe space to look at themself. "You wear ties often?" "Have you ever seen me in one?" they asked, putting on Brian's old, velvet jacket. Dell's smile softened. "Guess not. But I gotta say, they suit'cha mighty well. You should wear 'em more often. Should'ya get the chance."

Abe blushed, and Dell had the decency not to call attention to it. They picked at a loose thread on their coat and tried to find their next words. The sentences wouldn't come easy. Abe and Dell had known each other for years, but this... this was still new. It had only been a few weeks since they had decided to tiptoe away from 'just friends' together.

"Thanks for agreeing to come with me." "Oh, wouldn't miss it fer the world," he said. "Love weddings, and I'm tickled pink to know they're finally gettin' hitched." Dell took a step closer to Abe, and when that was received well, carefully slipped an arm around their waist. Again, he chose not to acknowledge the way they blushed and hoped to God Abe would do the same.

"Now, look at us. Ain't we a sight." Abe leaned into Dell very slightly. If they were a sight, it was an unusual one. Dell in his white suit and bolo tie, Abe in a wine-colored velvet jacket, but it worked. Somehow, it all worked.

“Are you ready, Abe?" he asked. "Think so, I- wait!" Abe pulled away, and Dell let them pass through his grasp. They began to search through boxes and crates, muttering to themself until they stood, holding a jar, with a triumphant 'aha!'. Dell squinted as he looked inside.

"Is that a damn..." "Pink bullfrog!" Abe said proudly. "For Kero! Some kids brought it in two stops back." Dell knelt down, resting his hands against his knees, and took a better look at the critter turned wedding present. "Well, he certainly is big." "And pink." "And pink. Now, c'mon Abe, it just looks like y'rubbed some highlighter on that poor thing." "I know," they said, pulling the jar back protectively, "But honest to god, that's its skin. I've got no idea why it's like that, but I just hope they like it." "Certain they will... Oh, and I got the music box."

 Dell pulled a small, ornately decorated box from within his suit pocket. It had come from a tent three stops down, the one depicting the 'tragic, mysterious story of a murdered duchess'. Abe wasn't sure if any of 'artifacts' they kept truly belonged to late Madame Adeline, but if they were, this one certainly didn't. Some kid wound the music box too tightly and busted something inside. They were just about to throw it away before Abe snagged it and asked Dell to fix it. That was when they asked if he wanted to come along.

"Still think it sounds creepy?" they asked, taking it from Dell's calloused hands. "Think it sounds annoyin'. Must've listened to it a hundred times while fixin it'." “As long as Arle doesn't think so."

Abe put the gift in their pocket. That was the great thing about fair performer's clothes: you were never in want for pockets. They even managed to slip the bullfrog into their coat with only a slight lump to give it away.

"You think he's scared?" they asked. Dell chuckled. "Nah. Reckon he thinks he's scared, but he'll be just so damn excited you wouldn't believe. Kero's a good'un. They'll be fine together. But we're gonna have to get a move on iffin we ever hope to see it!"

Abe grinned and took half a second to fix their coat in the reflection once again. The jar's inhabitants grinned blankly back at them and watched giddily as Dell offered his arm and lead them out of the Menagerie. It was a big day. Spring was here, the skies were clear, and Kero and Arlequino were finally reaching their happily ever after.