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“You!” An arm wrapped around Jason’s forearm, pulling him away from the cart that held hotdogs and pretzels. Jason was only planning on stealing enough to calm the pain in his stomach. He didn’t know the last time he’d had something as substantial as a hot dog, but he knew it had been even longer since he’d had warm food.
Jason looked at the person belonging to the hand that grabbed him. The woman was wrapped in colorful silk and her dark hair was held back by a scarf. There was kohl around her wrinkled eyes and her red lips were caught in a frown. She looked over Jason and her face softened. She sighed.
“Come with me.” The grip on his arm lessened, but it was still too tight for Jason to pull away. They walked past the sideshow attractions to the area behind the tent where the circus workers lived.
Everything and everyone was moving. Jason had lived among the hustle and bustle of Gotham his entire life, but this was something else entirely. A woman carried a box twice her size with a trail of small dogs trotting behind her. A man with a rainbow of glitter on his face carried an armful of hay towards an elephant that was waving a scarf through the air. It was chaos, but something about it felt choreographed, like some kind of dance.
Jason had seen the circus cars passing by on the train tracks, but he’d never seen them this close. As they walked down the line, a few of the performers and staff gave him a glance, but perhaps used to curiosities and oddities, none of them stared for very long. The train cars were painted in bright colors and Jason did his best to peek inside some of them. A woman was in one of them painting her face, there was one filled with bunks of men chatting in a language Jason didn’t know, and there was one with a tiger inside. It was larger and more beautiful than Jason had ever expected, smellier too.
They arrived at a train car that said “Mr. Haly” on the door. Jason gulped, he was being brought to the head of the circus himself. He’d heard rumors about circus people and the things they did to criminals. The woman dragged Jason up the stairs and into the car. Inside was a desk littered with papers and behind it was Mr. Haly himself. Jason had seen illustrations of a rotund man in a bright red suit with a top hat. This man looked nothing like that.
Haly was a bit rotund, but there were tattoos up and down his well muscled arms. He wasn’t wearing a suit, instead he was wearing a tank top that was damp with sweat. He looked up when Jason and the woman entered.
“Amelia,” Haly greeted before looking to Jason. “What brings you here?”
“I found him trying to steal food from one of the carts,” she said. “I thought I would bring him to you.”
“Thank you,” Haly said, not looking away from Jason. “You can go.”
She left, the smell of exotic spices trailing behind her, and then Jason was alone with Haly. He kept his chin held high and his muscles tensed to run. He knew what old men in power were capable of, and Jason wasn’t about to let that happen to him. He’d fought his way out of situations like these in Gotham. He could fight his way out of another one.
“What’s your name, boy?” Haly asked. He didn’t have a distinct accent, it sounded like a mix of everything Jason had ever heard.
“Jason,” he said. “And I’m not a boy, I’m eighteen years old.”
Haly laughed. “That’s a boy to me. Something Amelia said was interesting to me, you know what it was?”
Jason shifted, this wasn’t going the way he thought it was. “What?”
“You were trying to steal food. Was the ticket counter empty?”
“Yes,” Jason said.
“That’s it,” Haly said. “You were trying to steal food. Not money. You didn’t want to cause harm, you just wanted food in your stomach.” He leaned back at his desk. “Where do you live, Jason?”
“Gotham.”
“Exactly what I thought,” Haly said. “I think it’s safe to assume that you don’t have a place to call home.”
“Gotham is my home,” Jason said.
“But do you have a roof over your head?” Jason shifted again, and that was all the response that Haly needed. “Exactly what I thought,” he said. “I’m not going to punish you. Instead, I’m going to make you an offer. Come work for us.”
Jason raised an eyebrow, his eyes narrowing. “Work for you?”
“Not for me, for the circus,” Haly said. “You don’t have a roof over your head, you’re practically starving, and you barely have clothes on your back. Work for us and you’ll have a place to eat, food in your belly, clothes to wear, and you’ll even earn a modest wage.”
“What’s the catch?” Jason asked, crossing his arms.
“There is no catch,” Haly said. “You work for us, and in return, you get to live with us and travel with us.”
“What kind of work will I have to do?”
“Smart question,” Haly said. “With as skinny as you are, you’re not going to be doing much until we get some meat on your bones and some rest. The first few weeks, you’ll go around and learn how everything works, learn who everyone is. But in terms of the work you’ll eventually be doing, it varies. We always need help packing and unpacking everything when we make stops. There’s always work to be done in the kitchens, because we have many mouths to feed. Then there’s helping the performers, but they’ll want to trust you before they let you help them. You could also work one of the booths at the sideshow.” Haly waves his hand. “I think you see what I mean, there’s lots of work to be done.”
“And if I say no?”
“We’ll give you a hot meal and send you back on your way,” Haly said.
-
Jason hadn’t been stupid. He’d walked around the circus grounds and looked at all the smiling faces of the guests and the workers. One man gave a child their cotton candy with a bow and a flourish. Another woman working at the stand where kids had to knock down bottles for prizes nudged the table until a bottle fell over so she could give a little girl a prize. Haly’s Circus wasn’t here to scam people, they were trying to give people something warm and hopeful.
Jason was going back and forth on whether he should stay or not as he filed under the big top to watch the performance. There were dogs performing tricks, lions and tigers, an acrobat on an elephant, clowls, jugglers, a fire eater, and knife throwers. The sheer amount of talent made Jason’s head spin, but then the lights went down one final time and Haly announced the final act: The Amazing Flying Grayson, an acrobat who flew on the trapeze. The spotlight shined on him and Jason felt his breath catch.
The Flying Grayson was stunning, the bright glittering blue of his outfit made his eyes shine like jewels and complemented his tanned skin. His hair shined like silk and there was glitter artfully applied to his cheeks. He waved to the audience with a grin on his face and grabbed the trapeze, taking off, a piece of cloth at his waist fluttering behind him. Jason felt something stir inside him as the Flying Grayson moved through the air like it was water, doing flips midair. Halfway through his performance, golden silks dropped down and he performed a dance to music Jason had never heard before. It was like he was being enchanted. He couldn’t look away, but then the performance was over and the Flying Grayson was gone.
As everyone else flowed towards the exit, Jason went back to where the performers had gone, but he was stopped when someone grabbed his arm. It felt like something around him shattered and he shook his head for a moment. It was Haly.
“Sir,” Jason said, straightening as he looked at Haly. Out of the ring and the spotlight Haly had a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead and kohl smeared under his eyes. “I was just trying to find the Flying Grayson.”
“He’s cleaning up and getting changed after his performance,” Haly said. “We only allow performers and certain staff back here. You’ll see plenty of Dick if you stick around though.” Haly gave Jason’s shoulder a firm pat and turned around.
“Is that his name?” Jason asked. Haly looked over his shoulder. “Dick. Is that his name?”
Haly’s mouth quirked up in a small smile and he looked Jason over. Differently from the way he’d looked at Jason earlier, but Jason knew he was still being appraised. “That it is. Get a shower and get to bed, Jason. We wake up early here at Haly’s Circus,”
“We also stay up late!” Someone shouted. There were laughs all around and Jason made his way to the staff trailers. He ate, showered, and was pointed in the direction of the trailer he’d be sharing with three other staff members. As he was walking back he saw Dick in front of a fire, face played in light and shadow. Their eyes met for a split second and Jason’s heartbeat increased, his stomach dropped, and something like a magnet inside him wanted more than anything to get closer. Dick smiled at him and then turned away when someone else said something, maybe calling his name or asking what he was staring at. His face made a little oh and then lit up with laughter.
He was beautiful.
Jason thought Dick Grayson was beautiful.
He turned away and berated himself for thinking such a thing. Thoughts like that had gotten him kicked out of his home, they’d gotten him beaten and berated. The more people knew about Jason, the more people knew enough to hurt him.
“Hey,” a female voice said. Jason looked up and it was the woman from earlier, Amelia. “Cheer up, you’re home now.”
Jason grunted in response, but just past her he saw something that made him freeze. Two men, with their foreheads together, small smiles on their faces, hands clasped. One leaned in and kissed the other. People were watching but no one yelled or cursed. Amelia followed his glance and then looked at Jason.
“You know,” Amelia said. “Circuses are home to many people that have been judged all their lives. This is a place where everyone can be themselves.”
“Really?” Jason hated how wistful his voice sounded.
Amelia smiled. “Really. Now go to sleep. You have lots of people to meet tomorrow.”
Jason looked back in the direction where Dick was sitting. He could only see Dick’s back from where he was standing, but even from behind, Jason recognized him.
“Yeah,” he grinned and looked back to Amelia. “Yeah, I do.”