#enhypen carnival | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

yourfantasyfigures · 2 years

Text

Chapter 1: Drunk-Dazed

Border: Carnival <completed>

Previous chapter: The Invitation (Prologue + trailer)

Masterlist Info Posting plan AO3

"This opportunity was something they had been desperately waiting for, passing up on it would be unforgivable."

Rating: All Audiences

Words: 3926

Status: Weekly updates

Tags & Warnings:

Entire fic: Vampire!au, mystery, found family, hurt & comfort, non-graphic violence, hints towards past trauma, family drama

this chapter: toy guns, drunk characters

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the tags/warnings, feel free to contact me. Please let me know if I'm missing any tags.

°°°

Cotton candy, jelly beans, sour gummies, popcorn, chocolate...

Heeseung was standing in line for the snack stand, debating what delicious treat he should decide on.

Was he at the carnival to enjoy himself and have a grand old time? No.

But did that mean he couldn't take advantage of the situation when it presented itself? Heeseung decided that the answer to that question was also no. Plus, he needed the time anyways.

After putting everything together and finally realizing that they needed to be at the carnival, they somewhat forgot to come up with an actual plan of action - or more like, they decided to figure it out as they went, no time to waste before arriving on the scene. He was well aware that this wasn't the ideal way to prepare for - well, anything really - but they barely had a choice. This opportunity was something they had been desperately waiting for, passing up on it would be unforgivable.

While deciding who should go where, Heeseung gladly let the others call dibs on whichever attraction they preferred, happy with taking whatever was left over at the end. This was pretty normal for him. He may have been the oldest out of all the boys but he was never one to assert himself, rather taking a step back and allowing everyone else to voice their opinions and needs. They never said it but he was sure the others appreciated him for it. Of course, this didn't mean he was a pushover, not in the slightest. He had no issues stepping in whenever needed and guiding the group on the right path, ensuring everyone was taken care of - though his intervention was not often needed. Thankfully, the seven boys had all grown to be able to trust each other, every single one doing his best to always keep the others in mind alongside his own needs. And even if there were some issues that came up, they managed to work on it together. Heeseung was especially thankful to Jungwon, who stepped up and took responsibility for the group early on, guiding them so skillfully and patiently that one could almost forget he was the second youngest out of the bunch. It couldn't be easy, but not once had he complained, and Heeseung did whatever he could to lessen the burden on the younger's shoulders. Still, Heeseung usually sat back while the others voiced their thoughts, happily complying with their wishes.

And today, their wish was that he would cover the snack stand so that they could check out other locations. He was pretty sure he lucked out, though, not seeing the point in attending an attraction of the carnival when he couldn't even properly enjoy it. What he could, however, enjoy was some sour jelly beans, which he decided on buying.

Having made up his mind about his snack of choice, Heeseung tried to think of his next steps.

Striking up a conversation with someone was inevitable, there was no other way he could think of that would help him get the information he needed. Approaching strangers was not something Heeseung enjoyed, nor did he do it very often and he wasn't too happy that today was going to have to be different in that regard. Usually, he was the one that would be approached by other people, though he himself wasn't too sure why. Sunoo once said that it was because of Heeseung's handsome face, but he quickly brushed that remark off, convinced that there was no way that was the case. Jay's opinion that it was because he just looked kind and not very judgmental - it's the eyes Sunghoon had added - was an explanation Heeseung could live with, although he himself wasn't too sure what he looked like to other people. Furthermore, people in general seemed to enjoy his company more than he would expect. It had happened more than once that he had left a conversation feeling like the other person felt okay about it at best considering how awkward he couldn't help but be, just to find out later that the other person was apparently going around, gushing about how great talking to him had been. On one hand he was happy others perceived him that way, however it still didn't ease his anxiety when it came to striking up a conversation with a stranger.

"How can I help you?"

Heeseung was startled by the voice addressing him, now realizing that he had gotten so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed the line slowly progressing until he was at the very front, his turn to order arriving before he knew it.

Luckily he had already made up his mind earlier in line, so quickly ordering wasn't the issue here. The fact that he had been at the stand for multiple minutes without talking to a single person, however, was a bit more of a problem. Should he keep loitering around the stand? Get back in line? Heeseung usually wasn't this helpless in any case, but for some reason facing this challenge on his own was becoming increasingly difficult with each passing minute. Just like earlier in line, he could feel himself slipping into a daze, his worries clouding his thoughts. Before he could drown in these thoughts, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Excuse me?"

He turned around, coming face to face with a person he had never seen before. From what he could tell, the person in front of him was a woman, probably around his age - maybe a bit younger? Or older? He had no way of knowing. Her brown eyes wavered a bit before meeting Heeseung's, who was looking at her with a questioning look on his face. This seemingly encouraged her to speak up again.

"I'm really sorry if this is rude but I just saw that you got the jelly beans and I was wondering if, I don't know, I could try them? It would be of great help to taste them before buying them myself, you know...", she drifted off, clearly embarrassed by her own question.

Heeseung just extended the bag of jelly beans towards her and she gratefully took one, a green one, and popped it into her mouth. Heeseung wasn't sure if this was going to be the end of the conversation, this entire situation still a little strange to him, when she spoke up again.

"What's your name by the way?"

She asked curiously, her fingers casually slipping back into the bag to pick out a white jelly bean this time, either not realizing or not caring that he hadn't actually offered to share the entire bag with her.

He still wasn't one hundred percent certain what this woman was trying to do, but he figured it was one of two things: She either wanted to steal his snacks without paying a single penny for it or she was so determined to talk to Heeseung that she decided to steal his food as precedent to talk. There was no way of telling with complete certainty but with the way her eyes kept flickering up to meet his just to shy away immediately afterwards, he figured the second option might be his best bet. She also seemed to be a bit tipsy, if not a slight bit drunk, which probably also played a part in her approaching him.

Either way, it didn't really matter to him. What did matter to him was that he was here to talk to someone and hopefully get them to spill the beans - on what he was interested in, that was, not the jelly beans of course - and now somebody had presented themselves to him, ready to talk to him if he was open to it. He knew he had to take advantage of the opportunity that presented itself and so he decided to engage in her conversation, hoping he could steer it in the right direction.

At first he wasn't very lucky. The woman told him about herself, her hobbies, whatever came to mind it seemed like, asking him to share more about himself as well. Even though he wasn't exceptionally interested in the conversation, he did think to himself that she was a genuinely nice girl who was very good at keeping a conversation going. He also found out that she was, in fact, not here by herself but her best friends went to ride the free fall tower which she decided to pass on, checking out the food instead.

When he got the chance, Heeseung smoothly changed the topic to speak about the carnival itself, asking if she was a regular here or if it was a one-time thing. It turned out that it was her first time ever at the carnival, having overheard some people hyping it up as a big event in town that she had to see at least once. Spotting the perfect opportunity, Heeseung asked:

"Did you also hear about that Invitation thing? I heard about it but everything was so secretive, I'm not even sure what it actually is."

The girl shrugged, this time shoving two jelly beans in her mouth at once, taking her time answering the question.

"I did see some post about it online, but I don't know that much either. I think it said something about being a super intriguing performance, that's it. The caption of the post was something like a show no human has ever seen before or something weird and dramatic like that."

Heeseung was attentively listening to her talk as the tried not to let it show how the two yellow jelly beans he had been chewing on were entirely too sour for his liking.

When she finished explaining what she knew, Heeseung spoke up again.

"Wait so if it's all so vague, how are we supposed to know when and where to go?"

"I'm not totally sure, so don't hold me to this, but from what I've heard they're gonna announce time and place through the speakers all over the carnival. I think the announcement is gonna be in two hours, the actual show is probably like an hour after that? But again, I wouldn't know."

Heeseung wanted to ask a follow-up question but was interrupted by three women walking up to them, one putting her arm around the woman Heeseung had been talking to.

"Oh! Those are my friends I told you about. Guess they're done with their ride..."

Hesseung politely smiled at them, unsure where to go from here. To his luck, one of the women helped him with that.

"Lovely to meet you but- ", she turned to her friend, the one Heeseung had been talking to, and continued: "Not sure if you noticed but Danny is like, super drunk right now. I think it's those drinks we had before coming here. What I'm saying is, I think we should go now."

The women looked at Heeseung apologetically, quietly muttering their goodbyes, leaving behind Heeseung who had only acquired a slight bit of information, but lost a significant amount of jelly beans.

°°

Weaving through the crowds at this carnival wasn't an easy task, but there were definitely some corners that were less busy than others.

While everybody was lining up for a go on the ferris wheel, barely anybody seemed to be interested in winning a prize by fishing a rubber duckie out of a kiddie pool. Another aspect that anyone taking a good look around the carnival would notice was the different demographics attending each attraction. Kids along with their sometimes more sometimes less patient parents were flocking around the merry-go-round, the odd petty fight about who gets to ride on the most special horse of them all breaking out. The photo booth on the other hand appealed mostly to groups of teenagers, thrilled to capture the memory of the exciting day they were spending with each other.

One quick glance was all Ni-ki needed to be sure that none of these people would be of any use to him right now.

Lucky for him, he had his sight set somewhere else.

The shooting gallery was relatively calm in terms of how busy it was, only few people trying their luck. One of them was a man, middle-aged, shooting at the targets like his life depended on it. He had clearly already been here for a while, some of the small and medium prizes waiting on the floor next to him. He almost seemed like he was a regular at this particular stand, this game a part of a routine he had probably been following for days, weeks, months or maybe even years. Who knows - and who cares? Ni-ki definitely didn't, so he let the man be and checked out the other people at the gallery. There were two girls sharing one gun, one of them teaching the other by positioning her hand with her own, whispering instructions into her ear. Clearly the last thing they wanted right then was to be interrupted by some guy, so Ni-ki turned to see who else he could see around. There was another couple, a man and a woman, both of them trying their luck with their respective guns but chit-chatting inbetween. He decided that they were definitely an option, probably open to the distraction of casual conversation. Of course, there was one more person he could start a conversation with. The person operating the stand was keeping an eye on everyone's game, giving out prizes when needed and throwing out compliments whenever someone hit an exceptionally succesful shot. Not only did they seem open enough to engage with him but they were also working at the carnival itself, something that would probably come in very handy when it came to what Ni-ki was here to do.

He headed towards the stand, signaling that he was ready to use one of the guns to try his luck. After being reassured that he was all good to go, he decided to play a round, not really focusing on where he was shooting. He may have just looked like a young man wanting to have some fun at the shooting gallery but his mind was racing 50 miles per hour, coming up with a plan to bring up what he wanted without it sounding strange. After his first round was done, he had already won a small prize, a cheap looking magnet with Wormhole written on it. Definitely tacky and definitely more of a pity prize most people probably got. He started up another round, this time actually focussing on shooting although not yet giving his best. After two semi-succesful shots he turned toward the operator, hoping his smile would seem natural enough to seem likeable or at least worthy of a proper conversation.

"Be honest, the guns are tampered with so actually scoring would be harder, right ?"

Luckily, the operator picked up on his lighthearted tone, joking back with a slight jab: "Is it hard to score or are you just not as good as you'd like to be?"

Ni-ki chuckled, internally rolling his eyes at the comment. While the carnival was nothing that should be taken too seriously, there was still something rubbing him the wrong way about how they were pretending like he wasn't actually correct. Even though it may go against their job description to admit to adding flaws to the equipment in order to make their guests fail, Ni-ki hated how his standpoint was basically overlooked despite knowing he was correct. The gun was lighter than a real one, although this was something that couldn't and probably shouldn't be helped. Again, this was the carnival, the guns did not have to be up to realistic standards. What he had also noticed, however, was he always hit the target more towards the right than originally intended. Having figured out the gun, he could have easily hit the bull's eye every time from then on, but he immediately decided against it. Instead he replied to keep the conversation going.

"You get stuff like that often, right? People claiming you're cheating or demanding a certain prize."

"You have no idea", the operator sighed. "Some people start acting so entitled here, their ego probably too big to accept defeat by carnival game. You really get used to it after a while." Ni-ki nodded in understanding, pretending to sympathize with what they were telling him while also scooching towards the topic of conversation he was actually looking for.

"You've been here for a while?"

The question was open, not too invasive and hopefully engaging enough for them to humor him.

"Yup, I've been running the shooting gallery for some time now. It's this family business thing so I've been around it many times before but I think I started actually running it like - two years ago? Yes, I believe this is my third year now."

Ni-ki nodded, getting ready for another round at the gallery which was luckily easy as the only person that had been waiting for an available spot had taken the spot of the two women that now in the meantime had left the attraction.

"That's so interesting that you work here though, especially when it comes to witnessing the changes of the carnival, right? I'm really no expert on how things work around here but I did hear that there was some new stuff going on this time around."

The operator noddeed but before they could respond, the man operating the gun next to his partner jumped in.

"It's so different, right? I also noticed how some stuff looked different around here - not that the carnival hasn't always been changing a lot but I think they went above and beyond this time."

It's like he had been desperate to participate in the conversation, the words bubbling out of him. Ni-ki wasn't too bothered by it, not yet sure if what the man was of any help but deciding it was definitely worth a shot.

The man continued.

"I heard the maze of mirrors expanded and it's supposed to be super confusing. Not too confusing, you can definitely still get out, but no longer the kid's version, if you know what I mean. And then of course, there's the circus."

Ni-ki perked up, his blood running cold at the mention of a circus, trying to stay calm and not give away too much of his interest in this particular topic.

"Circus?", he asked, hoping the other man would elaborate more. To Ni-ki's luck, he happily did.

"Didn't you see the tent they set up? There's supposed to be some circus show by a group called The Invitation in there later. Or maybe that was the name of the show itself, I don't know."

Ni-ki nodded along, acting nonchalant but he could feel his heart beating faster, his body alerting him that this was exactly what he was searching for.

"I did see it, now that you mention it. I guess I didn't pay much attention to it."

A lie, of course, but nobody needed to know that. While Ni-ki was desperately thinking about how he could find out more, maybe even get some answers he was looking for, the operator of the shooting gallery jumped in.

"Well in my humble opinion, it's worth paying attention to. I saw them practice yesterday and it was really impressive. I've never seen something like that before."

At this point he could feel his entire body pulsating, his heart beating faster than it probably ever had before. Well, that wasn't true, there was definitely another occasion where he was even more on edge than this one, but it was still up there. As he asked his next question, he could only hope the others didn't notice how difficult it was for him to get out the words, praying that his voice didn't sound as shaky and nervous to them as it did to him.

"What do they do there? Like juggling and stuff?"

The operator shook their head before elaborating: "They were doing these incredible acrobatic things! Like flipping and jumping and I don't know - I guess there was some juggling too - but it was the first time I've ever seen anything like that before! The distances they were running and jumping sometimes didn't even feel human. Obviously that's just because they're professionals but I swear it was like they had supernatural powers. It was so cool! And then one of them was super strong, too - I should just stop spoiling so much. Just go watch for yourself when they have a show."

While the operator had shared all of these details Ni-ki's breathing was getting more and more rapid, a special kind of panic brewing in the pit of his stomach. He did his best to stay attentive, listen to everything that was being said and not show that he was affected at all, but it was getting increasingly harder. He thought he was ready, he thought he could do this, but all of that seemed so different now. The prospect of coming face to face with everything he had spent so much time coming to terms with was heavy on him and he needed a way to distract himself from it.

Luckily, one of his favorite ways to relax was right in front of him, so without a word he raised his gun again, shooting at the targets in front of him. This time he hit every single one dead on, no longer hiding that he was in his element when it came to this. With every bang of each shot he could feel himself calm down a little bit, and although he was still shaking, he had somewhat snapped out of his daze. When he put down his gun, both the man next to him as well as the operator looked at him with a surprised expression, probably shocked at the sudden display of skill he had shown.

"Congratulations, you have won one of our big prizes!", the operator said after a short moment of being quiet, not fully understanding how he had suddenly turned into such a pro. "Would you like the bag, the t-shirt or the beanie?"

The man next to Ni-ki let out a small chuckle.

"Welp, there you go winning the prize I've been working towards for the past, what, hour?"

He was clearly a good sport about it, not actually mad at Ni-ki winning the prize, but Ni-ki still wanted to help him out.

"You know what? Since I enjoyed the conversation so much, I'll give it to you if you'd like. Although I have one question - do you have any idea who runs the circus show? You don't happen to know of any names or organizations behind it?"

The man thought about it for a second, his brows furrowed as he tried remembering whatever he could.

"Sorry, pal, I got nothing. No idea who runs that." A short glance at the operator revealed nothing but their shrugging shoulders, not able to help out either.

Ni-ki knew he had to accept this - besides, he was pretty sure he already knew the answer himself - so he just smiled at the others and excused himself to leave, reassuring the man that it was totally fine for him to take the beanie he wanted so badly.

While walking away, he hoped nobody would notice his whole body shaking.

Chapter 2: Fever

#enhypen fanfiction #enhypen angst #enhypen vampire au #enhypen fanfic #border carnival

35 notes · View notes