American Horror Story Circus Tent Plus Size Dress

Jimmy Darling x Plus size!reader

Word Count: 2341 words

Warnings: none

Summary: Jimmy trying to hide his hands from you, until he can't anymore

——————————————————————————————————

Jimmy was interesting.

You knew that as soon as the two of you first started that conversation in the diner.

Never in your life had you seen a man so quietly confident and handsome, but that wasn't all he was. After spending evening upon evening by his side, walking the small town of Jupiter Florida, you got to know a different side of him.

Jimmy Darling was sweet, and sensitive, with a sense of humor that could have you absolutely tickled pink in a matter of minutes.

It was fair to say that you were smitten with him, almost immediately, and Jimmy felt the same way for you. However, there was one, very important, thing you had yet to learn about him.

You didn't know anything about Jimmy's life, when he wasn't at your side.

…And that wasn't exactly your fault.

He didn't want you to know about where he lived, or what he was, but as the two of you got closer, it was getting harder and harder to hide. After all, there were only so many excuses he could make for constantly wearing those leather gloves.

You wanted to hold his hand as you walked, to meet his family, to do all those normal things that you did when you started dating someone new, but with Jimmy, that just hadn't come up.

None of it had.

Eventually, you only had one choice. You came to the conclusion that he must not have liked you that well, and while that upset you, there wasn't much you could do about it.

You couldn't make him care for you if he didn't, and you didn't exactly want to question him over it either.

It would be horribly embarrassing, and frankly, something you'd rather die than deal with right now. So instead, you stayed quiet over it, silently hoping that Jimmy would let you in.

The truth was that you'd found yourself completely and totally in love with him, and facing the idea that he didn't feel the same, hurt.

You didn't want to.

All of this was plaguing you, of course, every second of every day but Jimmy had no idea. He thought that everything was going perfectly, and in a way, it was.

He just didn't want you to know the truth.

In the past, every time he'd been really honest about what he was to a girl, she shut him down and didn't want to see him anymore. It had never gone any other way, in all his life.

Naturally, he wasn't exactly anxious to speed up that process with you.

He really liked you and this thing between you was going incredibly well. Jimmy just knew that if he was to tell you about his hands, or to show you, that would be it.

…And he didn't want that.

Selfishly, he was in love with you and the idea of no longer being able to see you didn't sound like something he wanted. All he wanted was you, even if that meant hiding certain things.

Not that he could do that forever.

He should have known that, and in some ways, he did. He just wanted to avoid that truth as long as he could, making it a problem for another day. It was something that could wait, in his eyes.

Until, it couldn't anymore.

You didn't know it yet, but your lover's biggest secret was about to be outed in the worst of ways.

~

Darlene, your childhood best friend and her fiance Charles, were visiting for a few days before they got married, and only wanted one thing while they were still in Jupiter.

She had always wanted to go to Fräulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities, something you hadn't even heard of before the two of them brought it up.

Once the pair were married, Darlene would settle down and start a family, as you should have been doing, according to your mother, which meant you wouldn't see her for a while.

The ask didn't mean anything to you, at the time, but seeing as it was all she wanted and this was the last time you'd see your greatest friend for quite some time, you knew better than to argue.

It wouldn't kill you to go to some show, and could even be fun, knowing Darlene. She had managed to make the most boring events a hoot, even when you fought her on attending them.

This would surely be no different, even with the added company of Charlie.

So, per her request, you got dressed up in your best dress and made your way to the Freak show, sitting in the middle row beside her. Darlene, clearly falling prey to every bit of dazzle the big top offered, had a sparkle in her eye.

"Can you believe this? Isn't it wonderful?" She hummed, taking one of your hands in her own and Charles in the other, giving each a squeeze in her excitement.

It may have pulled your attention from whatever you were currently doing, had the circumstances been different, but nothing could have distracted you from what you were currently looking at.

You were sure that there had to be a mistake, that something was wrong, but you could have sworn that you just saw Jimmy, but that couldn't have been the case.

When you'd seen him earlier, he'd told you he had plans with his mother this evening, which was why he couldn't come to dinner with you, Darlene, and Charles.

Surely, he wouldn't have lied to you just to come out to some oddity show, right?

That just didn't seem like him.

"Hello? What has gotten into you today, hon?" she asked, giving you a small smile as she bumped you with her shoulder, assuming that you were just trapped in your thoughts, as you normally were.

It was something she'd grown used to in all the years the two of you had been friends, now little more than a joke between her and her beau.

You sighed, shaking your head as you tried to understand what could have happened to explain this. Naturally, you assumed that the man you'd seen hadn't been Jimmy, which was the most rational explanation.

However, you couldn't shake the feeling that it was him.

You knew him pretty well, after all. It was unlikely that you would mistake someone else for him, even in the dimly lit tent.

"It's nothing. I just thought I saw someone" you decided eventually, not wanting to get into it with either of them right now. If she knew how strangely Jimmy had been acting with you lately, she'd fall into a pit of protectiveness you wouldn't be able to get her out of.

It would just be easier to let it go, which you decided that you'd try to do, even if you doubted it would work out.

Throughout the entry of the whole thing, all you could do was go back to the man you could have sworn was Jimmy. Until, of course, your suspicions were confirmed when you saw him there, taking center stage.

As soon as you saw him, you couldn't help but gasp, excusing yourself from your seat for some fresh air.

You just weren't sure how to react.

How was it possible that he had been keeping this whole thing from you in the months that you'd been seeing each other, almost every day. You had no idea about this side of his life before now, and it was hard not to be blindsided by it.

The truth didn't exactly bother you, not really, you just weren't sure why he would go through such lengths to keep it from you.

It didn't make any sense.

Jimmy, having caught sight of you leaving through the back of the tent, was feeling similarly to you when he noticed what was going on. The difference was that he couldn't go after you, not right now, at least.

Not in the middle of a show.

All he could do was grin and bear it as he waited for the show to be over, though, he doubted you'd still be there once it did wrap up. Had he been in your place, he wouldn't have stuck around, that was for sure.

The only thing he was sure of was the fact that this was the most difficult show he'd had to partake in thus far, because all he could think about was you.

Darlene thought about following you, for a moment, but stayed in her seat with Charlie by her side when you assured her that you'd be back, after getting some fresh air.

If nothing else, she assumed you were uncomfortable with the show. For most of the audience, Charles and Darlene included, this whole thing was little more than a big joke.

If only they knew just how wrong they were.

It wasn't until after 'The Lobster Boy' exhibit had finished that you got a chance to understand what was going on, when Jimmy finally tracked you down sitting near the carousel.

Darlene and Charlie were still among the crowd, but paid no mind to your disappearance, allowing the whimsy of the show to occupy their attention.

You were at a loss, staring up into the sky as you tried to make sense of any of this.

Did Jimmy really think so lowly of you that he couldn't tell you about something so simple? Did he think you'd laugh, like the crowds of people did, when he was on that stage?

Had he so little faith in you? After all this time. Frankly, it was hard not to take it personally.

Jimmy walked slowly toward you, doing his best not to talk himself out of it with each step he took. The two of you had never had this problem before, or any problem at all for that matter, but he just didn't know how to go about this.

He'd never kept this hidden for so long, and this was uncharted territory for the man.

Upon his arrival at your side, Jimmy didn't say anything. In fact, all he could do was pull his lip into his mouth and look down at you nervously, waiting for something to happen between you.

Part of him expected you to yell, to call him disgusting, to do anything, but none of that ever came.

Instead, you stood from where you'd been sitting and held out your hands to him, not saying anything for a moment as you waited for him to fulfill some wordless command that you hadn't even made yet.

You wanted to see them.

His hands.

They were plastered all over the inside of the big top, on posters branding them 'claws' and laughed at by the entire crowd, using this as some escape from the mundane lives.

…And you wanted to see them.

Jimmy was clearly unsure about it, searching your eyes for a few moments for anything that would give him some semblance of what you were thinking, but found nothing.

You didn't have anything to give him, not yet, as you weren't' even sure how you were feeling. All you knew was that you had to finally see just what he'd been so ashamed of all this time, with your own two eyes.

Surely they must have been gruesome to see, if he was so hellbent on hiding them from you for so long.

However, when he held his hands out for you to look at, resting them in your waiting palms, you saw nothing more difficult to look at than a newborn bird.

It wasn't something one saw every day, but it was hardly the stuff of nightmares as promised on those posters.

All Jimmy could do was try to gage your reaction in silence, as you studied his clawed hands, curious eyes following your fingers as you ran them over his skin.

It was true that they were unlike anything you had ever seen but more than horrified, you were captivated by them, in the same way you were the man himself. Really, his hands were as unique as Jimmy was, and you couldn't be too surprised over what you were seeing.

"Pretty hideous right?" He sighed, mistaking your silence for disgust and upset. He'd never had someone react positively to what they saw, and seeing as you'd attended the show tonight, he didn't have high hopes.

Usually, the people who came here weren't exactly his biggest fans.

Naturally he assumed they disgusted you, and took it upon himself to put his hands behind his back when you said nothing regarding them. This was exactly what he was terrified of, why he'd kept this a secret in the first place.

It wasn't until you nodded that a suspicious look flooded his sparkling eyes, not expecting you to be so honest about the way you felt about them. However, what you were saying had nothing to do with his hands at all.

What you were talking about was so much bigger than that.

Keeping this from me was pretty hideous, I agree" you sighed, once again gesturing for his hands which he reluctantly allowed you to take, finally understanding.

You ran your delicate fingers over his own fused fingers and then his wrist, your eyes locked on his own as you did so, desperately trying to get him to understand that you saw nothing wrong with him.

The last thing you wanted was for him to think he had bothered you with them.

"I love you, Jimmy Darling, but you truly are a fool. You know that, don't you?" you teased, pressing your lips to each of his hands before bringing them up to his waiting lips.

If anything, you were bothered by the fact that he'd kept this from you for so long, but you certainly didn't care about something as simple as his hands. They were beautiful, just like the rest of him, and you'd spend forever trying to prove it if you had to.

merkleyabaces.blogspot.com

Source: https://plus-size-reader.tumblr.com/post/646746288168239104/pretty-hideous