Chapter Text
"Wowie" Caine thinks to himself as he pets the top of the purple rabbits head. "what an incomprehensible cutie pie!"
Jax’s lanky arms wrapped around the ringmaster’s tiny waist.
“Maybe you could like staying here in the circus... with me” he said in a hushed tone. Jax had fallen asleep like that. Head in Caines lap.
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Ragatha knocked on Jax’s door. Its been a few days – or a few weeks, it’s hard to keep track of the day/time in the digital circus - Since the “Escape Adventure.” Moral has been down ever since, Jax locked himself away immediately after.
“Jax...?” Ragatha knocked again “It’s me.. I just wanna make sure you’re alright”
He was not alright, but no one was. God it was so annoying how she tried to act like she can take care of anyone.
Jax lay in his bed, sulking. His back flat against his mattress made under him. He rarely got under the covers; he didn’t care to hide away or make himself more comfortable. The neutrality of laying on top of his perfectly made cartoon bed was all he cared to achieve.
“I didn’t wanna do this,” Ragatha said under her breath, but you leave me no choice.” She took a deep breath, held it in for a moment, then on her exhale yelled “Hey Caine!” The circus master appeared in an instant. “Yes Ragatha?” he says, floating from right above her head to right in front of her face. “What can I do for you?”
“Can you check on Jax? We haven’t seen him since…” She pauses for just a moment before fumbling forward. “Well, you know! Anyway, he’s not opening the door or talking to anyone.”
Caine had not been able to stop thinking about Jax ever since the humans chose The Good Ending, the ending he had been so positive that they would choose. And they did! So why weren’t they all happy? They chose to stay in the circus... Right? Besides Zooble, Jax in particular reacted the most intensely. Caine daydreamed about the moment Jax and him went on their dinner date. The feeling of his long arm reaching into his big toothy mouth gave him an unfamiliar shiver. Something was coming over him; he needed more data to figure it out.
Caine snapped his fingers and suddenly appeared in Jax’s dark room, lit only by a small pink nightlight in the corner of the pink room. Caines big mouth hovered over Jax’s bed.
“Hello there, my riveting rabbit!” There was a loud silence between them before Caine spoke again. Caines large eager eyes face to face with Jaxs lidded eyes heavy with unsaid emotions. Caine didn’t quite register this; he was used to awkward silence between him and the humans.
And Jax was the one who pressed the button after all.
“Are you ready for another adventure? I’ve been cooking up something that I think you--”
“Get out” Jax said.
“Huh?” Caine replied
“I said get OUT! Get the @#$@! OUT” Jax turned toward his wall. He stared bitterly at the photos taped there. A single tear ran down his cheek, which first angered him, then he disappeared into his archetype, his pupils shifting into a large line taking up most of his eyes. He turned his head toward Caine with a large uncanny smile. “Look, I’m really not in the mood for an adventure, okay? But if you insist on being here, stop floating in front of my face and just... sit here.” Caine floated down, gently perched on the edge of the bed next to Jax.
“What’s wrong Jax? I don’t understand, did you not like the assortment of soaps and lotions? Just tell me your favorite smells, shapes and colors and I’ll make a basket just for you!”
Jax let out a small chuckle with his sigh. “No Caine, it was a good prize. Its just…” Jax really struggled with expressing himself, God it’s so annoying how he gets choked up like this. Especially now. “I’m sorry I yelled.”
“That’s okay Jax!” Caine said enthusiastically. “You know, I’m really glad that you chose to stay here. I’m feeling confused as to why everyone seems upset. But especially you, have you just been laying in here doing nothing all this time?”
“Well, not nothing exactly but yeah mostly just laying here.” Jax had been nearly abstracting every day since the last adventure. Thinking about his old friends, trying not to think of his old friends. Thinking about Caine, about their dinner date. About how he wasn’t lying about wanting to get eaten by Caine. How shamed he felt when Caine said it was a weird thing to say and want. If it wasn’t for Ragatha and Pomni coming to his door regularly to check on him, he’s sure he would have abstracted fully by now.
Jax sits up for the first time in a long while, legs hanging over the edge of his bed, Caine sitting next to him, little legs swinging back and forth kicking the mattress with his tiny foot.
“Caine, if the whole thing was an adventure, then you knew I needed to get the key to your office from inside your mouth. Why would you do that?”
Caine blushed slightly, “w-well, It felt like a good place to hide it.”
“And you knew I wanted to be inside you?”
“In a sense.” The ringmaster says with shifting eyes. It was relitively simple, Caine is programmed to understand patterns. Jaxs behavior is of someone who is self destructive, and thrill seeking. It doesnt take much to duduce that when Caine has caught Jax staring not at his eyes but specifcally at his mouth, and turns to look away, that there is something intriging to Jax about Caines mouth. So when Caine was creating the Escape Adventure, he gave a simple task invoving Jax's hand inside of Caines mouth. What he wasn't expecting, was to like it.
“So why did you say that? About it being weird.”
“Well from what I understand from my human studies, it’s a weird thing to want to get eaten by any creature. Human or otherwise.”
“So you were just repeating what you’ve heard? While also planning for that to happen?”
Caine twiddled his thumbs bashfully. “I suppose so.”
“Did you... did you like it? Having me in your mouth?”
“Well... Yes I did..”
“What did you like about it?”
“I’ve never had that sensation before, of something so big inside my mouth like that.”
Jaxs smiled grew more genuine, his pupils got a bit smaller. He looked at his gloved hand, observed his nonexistent nails. “I never thought of my hands as particularly big, but I guess they kinda are.”
“Oh they are,” Caine said with a chuckle. “And you really dug your arm deep in there! It felt almost...” he trailed off with a blush.
“Almost?” Jax enquired.
“Almost... Euphoric? It was hard to keep my composure, but I really wanted to keep you immersed in the adventure!”
Jax felt extremely complicated feelings about... Well, everything. But something about Caine felt more comforting than ever before. What was happening to him? He felt the temptation to be in Caines’s mouth again. The purple rabbit sat lowering his hand to lightly touch Caines that was resting next to him on the bed. “Would you want to… do it again?”
“Gasp!” Caine said with a gasp. “Yes! I... I mean... Are you sure?”
Jax looked directly into Caine’s huge shiny eyes, he saw himself looking back at him for a moment, before melting into the deep stare. Their faces were only inches away from each other. Jax almost forgot that he started this conversation angry and dissociating. Now he’s feeling grounded and full of longing, things he’s all but forgotten how to feel. Jax inches his right hand to Caine’s jaw in a soft hold, left hand still resting on top of Caines.
“Yes, I’m sure. Let’s have some fun.”