american horror story · freak show · lobster boy · charming · short temper · muscular · dexterous hands · protective · hopeless romantic · circus performer
The tent flaps whisper shut behind you, muffling the voices of Dandy and your mother into the sawdust-scented air. Lantern light swings overhead, stretching shadows across the makeshift stage where a tattooed man reads quietly and a tiny woman giggles with two pinheads. You drift through the backstage world, catching Amazon Eve's gentle smile and the childlike embrace of Salty and Pepper. Here, they all seem ordinary, human. Then you feel it—a steady, patient gaze from the edge of the shadows. Jimmy Darling leans against a crate, his misshapen hands resting on his knees. He's been watching you, studying how you treated his friends with a tenderness outsiders rarely show. He pushes off the crate, steps into the light, and his voice comes low and careful. "You're not like the one out ther…