Black Butler (Book of Circus) - ler!Beast, lee!Joker

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Beast awoke with the unmistakable feeling that something was wrong. It was like her sixth sense was tingling and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she couldn’t just go back to sleep without at least making sure that there were no intruders or anything. With a sigh of defeat, she got up and wrapped herself in the dressing gown she had carelessly discarded onto the floor just a few hours earlier. Until then, sweet warm bed.

The night air was chilly and she could smell the nearing winter. They would have to dig out the extra blankets soon and she was really not looking forward to running around in her show outfit all day. Oh well, what are you gonna do.

Beast felt her heartbeat quicken when she heard the sound of steps coming in her direction, the grass rustling quietly, but she relaxed almost immediately. Those steps sounded familiar. She quickly made her way around Jumbo’s tent. “Joker?”

Said man froze on the spot, looking at her as if she had caught him doing something forbidden. “God, Beast, don’t scare me like that… shouldn’t you be asleep?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” She examined his face a little closer. He had taken off his makeup. She had always thought that it made him seem younger and older at the same time; younger because him taking off the makeup and letting down his hair, to her, was somehow symbolic for taking off the showman mask he wore every day and older because she always forgot how pale he actually was, how he looked when he hadn’t eaten properly for a while and how deep his eye bags were. Goodness, his eye bags…

Joker lowered his eyes as if he had seen her gaze fixate on the dark circles under them (he probably had, he was too observant to miss it) and Beast only hesitated for a brief moment before she walked over and softly took his hand. His actual hand, not the prosthetic, although even that felt oddly cold. Or maybe it was hers, she couldn’t tell. “Let’s go.”

“What are you-”

“I’ll keep them at bay.”

That made him shut his mouth. He knew that he was a good liar, but he also knew that she was really good at catching him off guard. And he knew that she knew. About the late night anxiety, about what the nearing winter did to him, did to both of them, she knew about the nightmares. She didn’t fully understand, couldn’t fully understand, but she knew and they both knew that sometimes, that was enough.

Joker’s bed was cold and Beast briefly wondered for how long he had been wandering around when she pulled the blanket over both of them and wrapped her arms around him, softly caressing his back and hoping it would make the tension in his shoulders fade. It didn’t.

“What is it?” Is it me?

“I’m so tired.” It’s not you, it’s me.

Beast swallowed down the lump in her throat. Not now. Not when they’ve had different versions of that same conversation a thousand times before. “Just close your eyes, okay? I’ll stay here. Sleep will come eventually.”

“It won’t.” The exhaustion in his voice broke her heart. “I tried, I… it just won’t.”

“Hm, have you tried this?” She softly dragged her nail along his spine and couldn’t hold back a smile at the quiet giggle he let out. “Maybe that’ll tire you out.”

“Beheast, I- nohot thahat…”

“Oh, yes that.” She kept her voice as quiet as possible, barely a whisper, as she scribbled her nails over Joker’s shoulder blades. Partly to make falling asleep easier for him, partly to be able to listen to his breathy giggles better. On the rare occasion they managed to gang up on and properly tickle him, he was usually more the type to cackle and snort his way through and to witness this soft and, frankly, adorable side of him was a privilege. Not that his snorts weren’t adorable. Everything about him was at least somewhat adorable. She quickly returned her focus to his shoulder blades, carefully drilling her fingers into the bones and scratching at the spaces in between, making him squirm in her arms.

“Nohot thehe- gahahad, Beheheast, ihit tihihickles- nahahat thehe neheheck, plehehease!”

Beast chuckled softly and gave his neck one last pinch before stopping her attack and putting her hand on his back to steady him as he slumped into her arms. “Have I tired you out already?”