The sound of water being splashed got closer and closer as Jerome continued down the narrow lane in the woods that took him farther and farther away from the chaos that was the circus before that night's show.
At first, he just wanted to go back like many other evenings to his tree where he could sit and be surrounded by the sounds of the woods while getting away from his mother and her many lovers for a while. He wanted to take a break from his twin brother Jeremiah as well, because as much as he enjoyed joking around with him and getting him riled up, everyone needed some alone time, right?
The little ginger was heading unnoticed by the other artists toward the little road that would lead him to his tree, but hearing sounds of someone jumping into the water he decided to change his destination and follow the sound.
He stopped as soon as he caught a glimpse of the shadow of a person playing with water, he took a few steps forward to get a better look and found himself observing a little girl he had befriended in the last period (since her family had left her to the circus).
She was the only one, or at least one of the few people who were not frightened by him or who did not disgust him.
Upon her arrival at the circus she had settled into a trailer of her own remaining under Mr. Cicero's wing. Her name was Y/n.
Y/n continued with what he was doing not paying much attention to the presence of another person, this made Jerome think that she hadn't noticed him, which wasn't true since a few minutes later she turned to him smiling spontaneously "what are you looking at?", Jerome simply shrugged his shoulders slightly mirroring the little girl's smile returning to look at what he was doing breaking the silence that had been created after he didn't answer her question "what are you doing in the woods, alone? ", Y/n mimicked Jerome's answer from earlier meeting his gaze again stopping her jumping on the rocks keeping her balance to not fall into the stream "I wanted a break from the mess before the shows, you know how it is...", Jerome nodded understanding taking his hands out of his pockets sitting down on the nearest cut trunk, she continued to watch him jumping on the rock in front of her slowly approaching him breaking the silence again "you? What are you doing all alone in the woods? Aren't you afraid?" she made an amused grimace at him receiving a snorting laugh in response "afraid? You should be, I've heard there are wolves around here", Y/n laughed amused finally coming to him dropping down on the grass next to the cut trunk where he was sitting "after Lila, I don't think wolves still scare me", this statement made Jerome laugh followed shortly by her who was the first to stop laughing still admiring the stream murmuring "and then I don't need to fear wolves, because I know you would be there to protect me, right? "Jerome met the girl's gaze, smiled, nodded, extended his hand and did the special greeting they had invented after their second meeting, falling back into a peaceful silence as they listened to the sounds of the surrounding woods and enjoyed each other's company.
-time skip-
It started to get dark, Jerome was the first to break the silence that had remained the whole time they had been sitting there "do you have to perform tonight?", Y/n didn't answer right away just breathing in the fresh air and turning to face him "I think it's going to rain later", they looked up at the sky not being able to see much because of the thick trees that surrounded them.
Without looking away from the treetops she answered the question he had asked her "yes, I'm performing after the Lloyd tonight, will you come to see me? "Jerome grinned and turned towards her, meeting her gaze for the umpteenth time and answering with an "always", making the little girl smile even more, as she continued to search for something in her pockets, pulling out a white napkin, tied up in such a way as to act as a small bag, She handed it to Jerome, turning to look at the stream for the last time, "Speaking of best friends, I saved you some cookies," Jerome grabbed the napkin and opened it, smiling at the sight of the cookies, getting up from the log to help her.
The little ginger turned around looking towards the little road he had taken earlier, Y/n followed his gaze understanding, she nodded briefly without stopping smiling at his best friend "we should head back towards the trailers", Jerome nodded confirming reaching her quickly walking side by side with her eating the cookies without being able to stop smiling "did you manage to get that old television to work? ", the little girl smiled proudly, nodding quickly "yes, our movie night isn't cancelled, we can watch something right after I finish performing", Jerome nodded agreeing with her that they would meet backstage right after.
