Why So Serious?

[thekeyholder91]

Title: Why So Serious? (one-off)
Author: thekeyholder  (Brigi)
Beta: the wonderful ms_belle10  Thank you! <3
Pairing: BellDom
Rating: PG
Feedback: is very appreciated, so if you have time, let me know what you think. :)
Summary: AU story. Dom travels on the same bus with a mischievous clown who botthers him throughout the journey. :P
Warnings: I know some of you hate/fear clowns, but I assure you, Matt is a nice one in this story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Muse, only my story. Please, don't steal!

Author's Note: Another story inspired by reality. A few weeks ago, I travelled with a clown on the same bus and it give me some ideas. xD The book mentioned, Get Him a Map, is actually a fic by laura2609 who wanted to read this fic as soon as I told her about the idea. This is for you, Laura! Hope you like it!

Why So Serious?

 

 

Dom checked his watch again, but he knew that he got to the bus station early, with a quarter of hour to spare, to be precise. He looked around with narrowed eyes and noticed two other men who chose a more shadowy spot to wait. The young man sank his hands in his loose pockets and contemplated the surroundings placidly. He would have given himself completely to this feeling if he didn’t have a difficult exam the following day.

 

The silence was disturbed by a taxi whose wheels halted with a loud creak. Dom looked, bored, in the car’s direction, but to his biggest surprise the passenger seat was occupied by a clown. A real clown with that huge cap they usually wear! He smiled involuntarily as the tiny figure tripped over his oversized, yellow shoes. The taxi driver opened the trunk and helped the clown get out his huge suitcase. By this time, a small crowd gathered to watch the strange figure – after all, you don’t see a clown travelling every day!

 

The clown didn’t fail to notice the curious stares, so he acted like he was supposed to: while he carried his suitcase out of the way, he made funny noises which were rewarded with grins and giggles. Before setting off, the taxi driver stepped to the buffoon and asked him to make a sword. Dom watched amusedly as the clown fished out a red balloon, blew it up in a few seconds and with a few quick passes, a balloon-sword was handed to the driver, who showed it proudly to the gasping crowd.

 

To continue the spontaneous show, the clown made a spectacle of opening his suitcase, which was filled with colourful things, and grabbed a brown bag. He then sat on the luggage and took a pack of pistachios from the mysterious paper bag. Dominic was slightly confused and let himself be absorbed again in his own thoughts until a small bus pulled up. He was a bit nervous that he wouldn’t get a free seat and raked his fingers through his blonde locks, but his anxiety was futile: the bus was almost empty.

 

He let the other passengers get on first because he hated to hustle; however, he noticed that the clown was hard on his heels. Dominic didn’t know what to do or what to think about this strange behaviour: he found the clown a funny character, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted company during the journey. While he was musing about this, he already arrived to the last seats, so he had to sit down. However, somebody cleared their throat and when Dom looked up, his eyes met two brilliant blue eyes, framed by a vividly painted face.

 

The blonde hopped on the seat beside the window and huffed with a bit of annoyance. He cast a sidelong glance at the clown, who had to stretch in order to reach the shelf, where he placed his smaller bags and his huge cap. However, the famous brown paper bag didn’t disappear and the buffoon, after finishing the pistachios, opened a pack of crackers. Dominic got out a book and tried to read, but the constant crunching of his neighbour was quite disturbing. As if that wasn’t enough, he felt the piercing blue eyes on him and Dom cursed his sensitive skin, which reddened under the steady stare. A minute of silence mislead the blonde who focused on the postmodern novel he was reading, Get Him a Map, therefore he jumped in his seat when the clown squeezed his red nose and made a funny noise.

 

A little boy, who travelled on the same bus, got on his feet in the seat, looked amazed at the clown and waved, unlike Dominic who glowered with sheer hatred at the rainbow wig and the pink splotch that encircled the clown’s left eye. The blonde saw the reflection of his seating partner as he rose to get something from his bag, but didn’t care further about it. He’d done it wrongly because in the next moment when the bus dodged a pit, he ended up with a lapful of his giggling neighbour.

 

“I’m sorry, I’m awfully sorry!” the clown apologised blushing even under the thick cover of paint and squeezed his nose again to dissipate the awkwardness with the funny noise.

 

Dom’s eyes just widened in surprise at the feeling of warmth in his arms and the pleasant smell that tickled his nostrils, but the poison of embarrassment entered his veins and he felt stupid. The blonde turned as much as he could toward the window and watched the lovely red spots of the blooming poppies in the green fields. He knew that this portion of the road was quite bad, so he didn’t think that the clown landing in his lap was something intended.

 

However, in the next curve, the clown leaned on him as if the bend would have forced him to do so. The little brash even stated in a high pitched voice:

 

“Oh, these curves are so tough!”

 

Dominic started sweating; he wiped his forehead and put his hands on his face. It was clear that his neighbour wanted to have fun, but he didn’t feel like acting foolishly, and anyway, why wasn’t the clown showing his tricks to the chick who was sat in the front of the bus? The blonde girl would have surely laughed at all the silly jokes. Dominic looked at the clown with his eyebrows raised and when the blue-eyed clown checked him out and finally smiled, he blurted out:

 

“Leave me alone, creeper.”

 

The clown’s face fell, the happy mask turned into a tragic one, and Dom almost apologised. He changed his mind when he heard his seating partner mutter: “Stupid gay pig.”

 

“What did you say?!” Dom spat out angrily.

 

“Calm down, mate, I just read a line from your book,” the clown answered with a cheeky smile playing on his thin, rouge lips and pointed to the dialogue he had quoted.

 

Dom looked incredulously at the page and cursed himself silently. The clown won again and he made a circus of himself. He failed so nastily that he sat without a grumble for the remaining hour, pretending to be reading, but in fact the text blurred in front of him. He was completely washed over by shame. After a bit of shuffling, the clown got out a book himself and Dom noticed with surprise that it was a child psychology book. Maybe the clown wasn’t such a trickster as he looked like?

 

Dom’s musings were interrupted by the ringing of a phone: it was the clown’s mobile, and the clown cheered up when he saw the caller on the screen.

 

“Hello, sis! I’m glad you called!”

 

Dom perked his ears up at these words. He would have denied vehemently the accusations of eavesdropping, but he was curious, and anyway, it wouldn’t affect the clown, would it? He noticed with astonishment that his neighbour’s voice changed from high-pitched and comical to serious, deep and smooth. However, the message was even more interesting.

 

“Yes, I saw that the sky’s overcast, but we must go to the marketplace and try to sell a few balloons,” the clown said worriedly and pinched the bridge of his nose.

 

Dominic watched the fluttering eyelashes as the buffoon listened attentively to what his sister had to say.

 

“Really? Oh, that’s so nice; I’ve wanted to go to the Saint Raphael hospital for a long time!” The clown’s face lit up momentarily when he heard the good news, but it changed dramatically at his sister’s reply.

 

“No, no, I refuse to accept money from a hospital! That’s why we’re going to the Cathedral market this evening and making some money there. I want to do the show for the children and their smiles are the best payment I could ever get.”

 

Dominic saw his neighbour with completely different eyes now. He turned towards him and looked closely at this mystery man. Under the rainbow wig, he saw brunette locks peeping out and he noticed that the skin which was not covered by paint had a nice, pale, pearly shine. Dom seemed to finally realise that the make-up and the colourful attire were just a façade to something more precious. However, he giggled to himself when he saw that on the left knee of the clown’s loose trousers there was sewn a little Spiderman patch.

 

The blonde was shaken out of his state of reverie when the clown ended the conversation. He looked down to the open page, but it seemed as if he’d been reading the same sentence over and over for the last hour. He heard his neighbour getting up and turned right in time to see the colourful shirt riding up and revealing the soft-looking pale skin of the clown’s abdomen. His neighbour seemed to have trouble getting something out of his backpack and stretched himself. However, a small tube would have fallen out of his pocket, if Dom’s vigilant eyes hadn’t noticed it.

 

He handed it back with a bashful smile and the clown was very surprised by his gesture: “Oh, thank you. My sister would kill me if I lost her red glitter.”

 

“It’s not yours? Or is your sister a clown as well?”

 

“Haha, yes, in a sense she is indeed a clown. But she works as a body painter now; you know, she paints the faces of children. It seems that red glitter is in high demand,” the clown answered as he sat back, afraid that he might have been boring and fidgeted with the small tube.

 

“Nice, so this is like a family business?” Dominic asked and the clown looked at him with slightly parted lips, shocked that his handsome travelling partner was still talking to him.

 

“Yes, sort of. My sister’s husband is a mime; you might have seen him before, he’s always at the Cathedral market.”

 

“Yes, I think I know him. By the way, I’m Dominic,” the blonde said and extended his arm with a smile.

 

“Hey, pleased to meet you, Dominic. I’m Matthew, or Matt, whichever you prefer,” the clown replied and shook hands with his new acquaintance.

 

Both felt a strange emotion when their palms touched and after the handshake, Dominic wiped his face out of nervous habit. When he looked back at Matthew, the young man started laughing.

 

“What’s so funny?” Dominic asked confusedly.

 

“Sorry, it seems that my hand was full of red glitter and you smeared it all over your face,” Matthew smiled when Dom started rubbing in a completely other part of his face.

 

“Here, let me help you, Dominic,” the clown said, taking a pack of moist tissues out of his pocket. “Though it looks good on your skin.”

 

Dominic looked at the smiling face and blushed: “Thanks… I guess.”

 

Matthew looked closely, wiping away the last traces of glitter from Dom’s nose, which earned a series of giggles from the blonde.

 

“There, you’re clean now,” Matt stated and leaned against the seat with a satisfied smile.

 

He closed his eyes and cursed his social awkwardness quietly. In the next moment, he felt Dom’s shoulder bumping against his and a soft voice whispering in his ear:

 

“Oh, these curves are so tough!”

 

Matthew shivered. Was this really happening? A new curve followed and this time Matt, to test if Dominic had the same thoughts as him, nestled up to the blonde. Both blushed and Dom’s hand crept to Matt’s left knee. A wave of warmness rushed through the clown; this time, he didn’t need make-up to redden his cheeks. The clown, thinking that he couldn’t be too seducing in his current mask, chose to whisper in Dom’s ear:

 

“Please, come tomorrow to the hospital. Our shows are lots of fun and if you want, you can get your face painted afterwards. Or I can make you a balloon animal. Please, Dom?”

 

“Ah, I thought you wouldn’t invite me,” his hand sought Matthew’s and squeezed it gently. “Do you also do face paintings? I wouldn’t mind being Spiderman, you know.”

 

They both giggled and leaned closer to each other, going with the flow and with the clear intention of kissing each other. However, Matt’s red nose bumped into Dom’s and it made that funny noise again. They laughed and leaned against their seats.

 

“I’m sorry about the mood killer,” Matthew laughed embarrassedly.

 

“No problem. Uhm, Matt, are you coming back after your show at the hospital?” Dom asked and Matt nodded. “Cool. Make sure you get rid of that red nose, okay?”

 

They both laughed at the implications and Matt pressed a smacking kiss on Dom’s cheek, while he sneaked a business card into Dom’s hand.

 

“You’re too cute, Dom. Here’s my card if you need my number and if you can, be there at eleven o’clock at the hospital,” Matt said with shining eyes.

 

“I wouldn’t miss it and by the way, I think it’s a really nice gesture that you’re doing it for free. However, I can’t wait to see the real Matthew, without any make-up and wig,” Dominic concluded, looking eloquently into the beautiful orbs of his neighbour for the last time.

 

They reached the destination and had to get off the bus.

 

“So…” Dom started and extended his hand.

 

The clown made sure to say hundreds of words through the short handshake and after they said their goodbyes, Matt couldn’t resist and smacked Dominic’s arse, laughing and getting on a tram quickly.

 

His phone buzzed moments later. It was a message from an unknown number, but he knew that the sender must have been Dom.

 

“What was that for, you clown?”

 

Matthew laughed and typed his answer:

 

“I’ve been dying to do that since I saw you at the bus station, you stupid gay pig.”

 

Matthew couldn’t stop grinning as he headed towards the market place. His phone buzzed again:

 

“Lucky that I like you so much, you little glitter freak. See you tomorrow.”

 

With the message blinking in front of his eyes every minute, Matthew offered a great show to the by-passers under the sky which reflected all the nuances of his rainbow wig.

 

 

Comments

[thekeyholder.livejournal.com]

You're way too kind, Janna! <3 Sorry for making you wait for it, haha. Aww, what's up with this clown fear everyone's having? At least I hope Matt made them a bit nicer?

Just like Matt, I'm most satisfied by your smiles!!!

Oh and I liked how you mentioned Spiderman and glitter in this. And glitter on Dom's face? (there isn't a smiley to express my thoughts right now).

Haha, the clown I saw had Spiderman on his trousers! xD The glitter detail was asked by Laura. :)

Thank you again, my dear! <333 *sends hugs*