You would’ve never guessed that you’d find yourself working at a carnival of all places. However, you were desperate, the pay wasn’t too bad.
Nightfall Carnival and Cabinet of Oddities.
What a name, it made you scoff the moment you saw the cheesy ad in the paper. But, Free housing for labor- who were you to give it up?
It was a carnival that only open at dusk, as the name suggested– it sounded strange, not like a place that would make any money in the first place.
And yet, somehow it did. A packed theatre every single night. Even on the windiest, coldest nights, people would make their way out to the grounds to ride on the rides, and watch their shows.
It all felt way too good to be true. And yet, it was.
They gave you decent work, didn't ask questions as to why you all of a sudden dropped everything to move here, they knew their crowd and respected it. you spent your mornings sleeping, your nights setting up stage props, sweeping walkways and generally keeping to yourself. At night, you’d be backstage, working with the performers, setting them up for their acts and carefully watching from the wings.
It’s a long night of work, hours of being a stagehand, either berated or ignored by the wild cast of performers whirling by you left and right, you took up the most important job of all, one that you took great pride in doing.
After all the shows- you got to take care of Mercutio.
Standing at near 8ft, Mercutio only ever came off as weird to you.
From the very first encounter with him you knew something was… off. He made it clear, this was his show, he was the star, and took every opportunity to let that be known. While all the other actors seemed to have their own egos inflated with helium, they all seemed to have a silent, yet understood agreement that whatever Mercutio wanted, he would get.
Nobody really seemed to mind, you were sure purely out of intimidation from the big man, but you’ve never gotten close enough to ask what they really felt about their boss.
He kept himself clean, a satin black and red jumpsuit, gold bangles paired with golden inseams, white ruffles on the neck and cuffs and to top it all, the matching cap ‘n bells, always gently jingling with each tilt of his head.
and to your surprise, he never took it off. Every time you met with him, he’d be wearing the same thing.
With the amount of clutter around the place, surely he could get more variety than this one pattern.
But hey– you’re not getting paid for asking questions, why bother asking?
Working at the carnival for a couple months now, you’ve found yourself comfortable in this little daily routine Mercutio set up.
However, after the show, Mercutio had an…interesting way to unwind.
Once the show ended, Mercutio would come off stage spend a couple moments with the cast and crew, allowing them to congratulate him before turning to you.
With a slight wave of his hand, he signals you over. here, he would take you back to his own tent; On one end of it, the space looked like a cluttered Hollywood dressing room, The fancy bureau with lightbulbs framing the mirror, costumes and makeup strewn about. Beside it, a massive king sized canopy bed, off white, ruffled drapes cascading down.
Here, he would sit you down, right on the plush duvet, then turn to the bureau. Taking a ring of keys out and unlocked one of the drawers, he'd pull out a glass jar, holes poked out in the lid.
Inside of that jar there was ten -maybe twelve- tiny people, all shrunken down. Mercutio not even regarding them as he shakes the glass back and forth, making sure they were all awake, or alive, before presenting it to you.
Now, the first time this happened, you were horrified. Frozen in place as Mercutio untwisted the lid, reaching in and pulling a random one out, wasting no time, raising the man above his head. His wide, toothy grin opening, head tilting back before letting the man fall.
You let out a loud, sharp gasp as the man disappeared past Mercutio's lips, the man’s teeth snapping shut.
You were about to get up, scream, run– but before you could, he brought his head down and turned towards you, locking eyes before a deep, wet swallow.
In that moment, you felt a wave of calmness fall over you, the twisting in your gut releasing its tension. You felt warm, even turning a bashful shade of red when he let out a sigh, slapping a hand on his belly. And as if nothing had happened, he walked right over to you, holding out the jar. instinctively, you hold out your palms.
Dropping it in your hands, seeing all those people, shrunken to various sizes, clearly mortified by what they had just witnessed.
You find yourself smiling.
They looked so… pathetic like this.
The bed creaks and shifts as Mercutio sits down, propping himself up in a mountain of pillows, crossing his legs, only ever saying two words. “Feed me.”
You don't know what came over you, but you did. Grabbing each and every one out of that jar, watching them slide down mercutio’s throat and into his stomach, their loud muffled yells getting louder with each new addition to the tank.
Now, it was routine for you.
As the weeks go on, you found yourself getting more excited as the day progressed, eagerly waiting for the last curtain to drop, the patrons to leave, and to have mercutio signal for you that its time.
And when he finally did, you enthusiastically followed.
It was like clockwork, sitting on his bed, pulling out the jar– All these new faces, you could barely even make them out with the crowding in there. But that didn't matter, all you cared about is watching their squirmy forms slip past Mercutio's lips, down his throat and into his stomach.
Sometimes he would send you out right away once he was finished, other times he'd make you rub his churning guts until the squirms died down completely. It all depended on the type of show he had.
With how intense tonight went, and how hungry Mercutio looked, it seemed like you’d be here for a while.
You happily pull person after person out of this jar, pinching them between your index and thumb, pull them up to your face, get a nice look at how terrified they really are. It was kinda cute– the little thrashing against you like it would do anything.
Then, down they go, dropped right into Mercutio's hungry maw, who voraciously pulls them in, gulping, sometimes without even tasting.
After a while, you held the jar up to his belly, pulling up the tight jester suit and pressing the glass in to reverberate all the loud gurgles emitting. You found yourself nearly cackling as the crowd of people tumble over themselves and cover their ears from the sounds.
All with Mercutio watching proudly.
You pull the jar away, jumbling it and shaking the people around, before digging your hand into it once more.
You scooped the first one you felt, clasping them between your fingers, taking them out before closing the lid back up and tossing the jar aside onto the soft sheets to watch the show.
You were curious who you’d grab next, what they would look like, what their indiscernible yelling would sound like. Endless possibilities!
Though, you never expected to be pulling a familiar face out from there.
“Emery?”
All of a sudden, things felt very cold.
Emery Brooks, an old friend of yours.
You don't know how they got here, you hadn’t seen them for months now, yet here they are, panicked and squirming between your fingers. Hearing their own name, Emery’s panicked rambling stopped, they turned their head back, mirroring the shock in your face as they came to the same realization you did.
Only their predicament was so much worse.
Mercutio, who also seemed quite surprised at the revelation, grinned “you've met?”
You could feel your heartbeat pick up. “Y-yes.”
Emery was there. They just watched you feed at least five different people to this man. You felt your brain scrambling, trying to find out how they even got to this side of the country, how they got shrunken.
“That’s just… wonderful news!” Mercutio’s tone was nothing short of utter glee with this turn of events.
For a moment, you were shocked, why would this be good? You just pulled your friend out of the jar—
And your heart sunk.
Shit. They were in the jar.
You could feel Mercutio's eyes on you, silent, his patience quickly running thin as you sat in your dilemma. You knew what he wanted, and only moments ago, you wanted to as well.
“...well?”
“I… I can’t." you breathe, the weight on your shoulders only growing heavier as there was a pause between the two of you–a moment of silence, only broken by the chorus of stomach gurgles emitting from Mercutio's guts— they never seemed to stop, not with the pile of people stewing and squirming in there.
You look at Emery in your hand, you can almost feel their tiny heartbeat.
You could hear a little growl in Mercutio's voice as he finally spoke, “…say that again?”
You cringe. “I can’t.”
Feeling Emery in your hand, you couldn't help but feel Mortified. You were almost going to feed them to this guy… what were you thinking?
God they’re shaking— they weren’t fighting against you anymore, though they didn’t look any less fearful of you or the hungry fiend in front of you.
You could feel his eyes on you— they were burning a hole in your skull. You kept your head down, ignoring the urge to turn back to him.
“Well, that’s… disappointing.” His tone mimicked one of a parent about to lecture a child, it made you feel small without even needing to shrink.
You feel your chest tighten as you scramble for understanding, “L-listen, Mercie , anyone else, there’s so many left I could—“
“And what makes this one any different than the others?” He interrupted, silencing you mid sentence, your mouth slightly agape, “what? we’ve gone through at least a hundred people and now you grow a conscious? it’s a little to late for that, don’t you think?”
To accentuate his point, Mercutio slapped his distended gut, the loud sloshing of thick soup making your face hot with blush– which then made you feel guilt when looking back at Emery, who looked nauseous, making your face grow even hotter.
This was sick, you could feel yourself wanting to give in.
But looking into their eyes, seeing them desperately shaking their head at you, silently begging for you to not give in.
You bite your lip.
“No, I don’t actually.” You snap your head up, raising your voice, only to see Mercutio looking at you with the same dull expression, dousing he fire in your chest quicker than it came up
“I-I just… they’re my friend.”
You look down at Emery between your fingers, who has now resigned to looking down, away from you and the maneater above them.
It must be terrifying, hearing your fate be debated without being able to weigh in on the matter.
Where you had hoped there would be a bit of sympathy, Mercutio groaned in annoyance.
“Come on, they’re no different than the rest— or were those snacks not good enough for you to spare.”
Mercutio leaned forward, bells on his hat jingling slightly, bringing his hand out, which made you instinctively bring your hand back; holding Emery close to your chest protectively.
“Ohh i get it, you’ve never met them before, so ending their lives is okay, right?” You can see Mercutio grin at your reluctance, more than ready to wear it down, making you feel even angrier.
“I- maybe– it’s a little different, Mercie!” You yell out, squeezing Emery ever so slightly in your hands as your blood boils “Yeah, I don’t know them! And as vain or selfish that is, I… I don’t care. You can have anyone else…”
You look down, Emery staring back their wide eyes staring in bittersweet disbelief as you defend their life, “this one’s uhm…off the menu, please.”
They looked shocked, clearly grateful for your protection, but they weren’t going to just trust that they’re okay yet, not with Mercutio staring back at both of you.
After all, he was the one with the power here.
Mercutio brought his hand to your shoulder, you cringe and try to pull away from the touch, he held on harder, squeezing, “wow… that was really touching,” he brought his hand to his chest, “I think… I’m gonna—“
slapping the top of his sternum— only to let out a loud, wet, acidic belch right into your face, spit strands spewing all over your face as it lasts for seconds, ending with a satisfied groan in relief.
“Oh… I guess it was just indigestion.” He smirked, bringing his hand back down onto his belly, which had deflated only a little bit, the piles of tinies inside still happily brewing up a thick sludge.
Staring at his gut…all those people…
Your head was spinning, it felt like you had the worst reality check of your life– what happened to you? how many people you had stuffed down his throat, the ones melting only a couple inches of skin and fat away. They all felt like nothing to you, but now– you felt sick.
And holding your friend in your grip, you weren’t about to let them be subjected to that hell.
“Now while this has been — mildly — entertaining,” Mercutio’s grin faded. “it’s getting old, so I’m going to make this easy.”
There was a beat of silence, you don’t look up, keeping your eyes locked on his belly, grip tight on the tiny in your palm.
“You feed them to me. Or I swap your places.”
…huh?
The words resonated within your skull, your skin felt cold. Eyes slowly rolling up to Mercutio’s, “What did you just say?” your words came out a whisper, lungs deflated with air.
He was grinning ear to hear, practically vibrating with how much excitement ran through him the second you showed off an ounce of fear. He squeezed his fists eagerly, the leather squeaking softly between his grip.
“Oh, that got your attention! And it certainly grasped yours, didn’t it?” Mercutio tilted his head down to the captive in your palm “how's about it, snack? Care for a promotion?”
You look down at your Em, who is frantically looking between the two of you, terrified to respond which way, clearly not wanting to betray you, but also afraid that’ll send them on a one way trip down Mercutio’s throat.
“You don’t want to get stuck in here, do you?” Mercutio jiggled his belly, the sloshing loud enough to make Emery cover their ears.
You scoff at the utter disregard for your life, the time you spent together– you’d been doing this for months now, and he was so ready to flip on you? “Stop it!”
“Do you wanna feed me, little Emery? All I need is a nod.”
You pull them close to your chest, protectively clasping your hands together to hold them tight within your grip, the only exposed part of them being their head. “that's – that's not fucking happening.”
You're not going to get eaten, you're not going to get Emery eaten. You look up, ready to lock eyes with Mercutio’s, trying your hardest to match his intense gaze.
Though, to your surprise, he was still fixated down at Emery, before looking back at you, a toothy, satisfied grin falling on his face. “Oh really?”
Your grip tightened.
They wouldn’t.
The worry must’ve shown on your face, Mercutio busting out in a deep belly laugh as you tilt your head down to see Emery, in your grip, nodding quickly to Mercutio.
nodding at him– agreeing with him.
Another wave of cold washed over you.
“That certainly wasn’t what I was expecting tonight!” Mercutio cackled to himself, the only one in the room finding this situation absolutely hilarious.
Emery then paused, feeling your eyes above them, slowly turning upwards to look at you, a sudden twinge of regret twisting onto their small expression.
“E-Em?” you whispered.
You suddenly felt very drained.
Not tired. It was like all the blood had been drained from you, the energy your body held siphoning out of you all at once. It was dizzying, you attempted to stand, but your legs refused to move. “What's…happening…?”
Your grip loosened, Emery falling out of it and onto your lap. Though you couldn't focus on what was happening with them for long, your eyes rolling back as you lose the strength to even hold yourself up, slipping down on the bed.
Though only lasting a couple seconds at most, it felt like hours. Time slowed in this exact moment, and when you finally came to, everything felt…bigger.
And opening your eyes made it much worse.
It took a moment to focus, but you were met with a landscape of red fabric. The duvet cover of Mercutio's bed. You sat up, hoping it was just a trick of the eye messing with perspective on you.
Though that quickly changed when a deep, low gurgle released from Mercutio's gut. The sheer volume of it enough to make you cover your ears.
You didn't want to, but you looked up, you couldn't help yourself. Cowering in this mess of sheets, peering up to see mercutio, giant.
“What's wrong? I thought you liked that sound?” his voice boomed over you, “you certainly liked listening to it earlier.”
Shit. shit shit shit shit….
You tried to shuffle back, the folds of blankets almost swallowing you themselves. Your heart was pounding, it felt like it was going to burst out from your chest, the only instinct you had in you was to run yet– there was nowhere to go.
But you scrambled and scuffled your way through the duvet, turning away from Mercutio, and being met with another body.
Emery.
They were huge not as big as Mercutio, but that didn’t make them any less intimidating.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” the Jester laughed, “I’m tired of this waiting–i could easily eat you both, you know?”
With that, Emery wasted no time, staring down their looming form cascading a small shadow over you, and reaching out to grab you, fingers curling around as they scoop you up with ease.
You thrashed in their grip, kicked, pushed, everything you found yourself laughing at before, you were doing. You tried to yell up to Emery, to get their attention, but they’re focus wasn’t on you, it was on Mercutio.
They rose you higher and higher, pinching the bit of fabric of your shirt, before opening your palm and letting you dangle. your limbs flailed as you clambered to their fingertips “please PLEASE DON’T DROP ME!”
You froze, fearful one small movement would release their grip and have you falling, though falling to your death seemed to be the better fate than what was in store for you.
Emery held you above Mercutio's smug face,
“Well well, never thought you'd find yourself in this position, huh?” Mercutio grinned, his eyes almost crossed with how intense his stare at you was.
“M-Mercie, its..its me! Come on!" you speak between gasps for breath, tears forming in the corners of your eyes. "I-I promise if you unshrink me I’ll do anything for you, please...” You felt gravity begging to pull you down, to let you freefall into this deathpit you've watched countless fall into before, never seeing the light of day again.
Or any light, for that matter.
“I’ll feed them to you I’ll–”
The giant laughed, interrupting your begging with the heat of his breath wafting over you, sending shivers down your spine.
“Its a little too late for that, dear, don’t you think?” he sighed, “Its a shame too, you’ve lasted longer than most my assistants, we had somethin’ real special.”
You wanted to cry, you could feel the tears welling in your eyes, “M-Mercutio please, d-don't do this.”
“oh come on now, you’ve worshiped this belly enough, don’t you wanna become part of it?”
“No!” you screamed, the word coming out as a desperate, broken scream.
silence filled the room for a couple seconds, it felt like your heart had stopped right then and there.
“...Ah, well... such a shame for you then.”
His mouth then opened, you thought he was about to speak more, though it just kept getting wider and wider, and before you could realize–
You were airborne.
Emery released their grasp on you, sending you plummeting down to the humid, slick surface of Mercutio's tongue.
You nearly gagged at the heat, instantly sweltering you. His tongue acted like a slide, speeding you up as your body easily slips into his mouth, teeth snapping shut with a sharp click, shutting you out from the outside world.
-
-
Mercutio laid back in his seat, swishing the -now former- assistant in his mouth back and forth, rolling them against his tongue, tasting every inch of this tiny form.
He kept his eyes on Emery, who was sitting in silence, watching with a little bit of disgust, but with an overwhelming confidence to them, they had beaten the odds that were majorly stacked against them.
He closed his eyes, focusing on the lump on the back of his tongue, the squirmy, tasty lump– God it felt so good eating these assistants, they always get so cocky– before tilting his head back, holding his hand to his throat and swallowing heavily.
His hand caressed the bulge his throat made, the warm leather against his skin only adding to his enjoyment, letting out a satisfied sigh. slapping his belly once more, “You wont have to worry about anyone getting their revenge on you in there, they stopped squirming a while ago!”
When his eyes opened, he found Emery still there, staring intently at him, though instead of his face, their eyes had trailed down to his stomach, entranced, just as the last one was.
He grinned.
“So… what was it… Emery, right? You in need of a job?”