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Art the Clown x (Facepainter) Reader

"Hi, my kid wants to know if you can do clown makeup?" A parent asked as she brought her kid over to my face painting booth.

"Of course!" I handed the kid my big binder that showcased the many face paint designs I could do, "Right here is where you'll find it."

He was quick to pick and decided on the classic sad clown look.

"Perfect!" I placed the binder back on the table, "take a seat here and I'll be done in a flash."

The local county fair was going on and they needed some people to work the face painting booth, me and four other people teamed up to do it. We weren't getting paid much but some of us were getting volunteer hours while a few others just did it because they lived to paint. I loved face painting so this was right up my alley.

There was never a moment when I wasn't busy, kids lined up or came in waves, giving me time to relax my hands and sore arms for a bit before going back to paint faces. I had neatly compiled a binder for each individual face painter showcasing what they could do, each of us were more experienced in one style or type than the other.

I had more experience with clown makeup so most of the kids who wanted clown looks were sent to me. We had no age limit so I got to paint on multiple different kinds of faces. I caught a glimpse of a man in an actual clown costume, but it was black and white. He was walking past the booth and as he glanced at me I gave a shy smile.

  He smiled back with odd teeth and kept walking. Strange. Another kid sat on the chair beside me and I started working on her facepaint. Night soon came and the carnival was lit with many colorful lights. It was very visually pleasing to look at.

"It looks so good!" The kid I just finished painting stared at their reflection, "thank you so much!"

  I gave them a high five before they held their mom's hand and left to enjoy the other things the carnival had to offer. I stood up and almost jumped in surprise upon seeing the face of the monochrome clown. He stood just a yard from me.

"Um, hello," I spoke, "did you want your face painted too?"

  He already had on facepaint, it looked a little smeared and there were some red splotches of what I presumed to also be paint on his face. Maybe he wanted me to fix it? He simply smiled at my question and I took that as a yes.

"Okay, sir," I gestured to the chair, "have a seat."

  He sat down and glanced at all the painting supplies. At this point of the day my stencils, brushes and various paint assortments had became a little unorganized as time went by. I didn't have time to clean anything up or reorganize it. The disorganization would bother me all night, but I never had enough time to fix it.

"Are you wanting your whole face redone-"

He shook his head.

"Do you want me to fix it a bit?" I asked, "Remove the red paint and clean up the lines?"

He nodded with a smile.

"Okay, do you mind if I move your head so I can paint better?" Another shake of the head from him, "okay, good, let me just get my more precise brushes."

  Doing the clowns makeup was easy, although the red paint was runny and looked more like blood than paint, I was able to get it off. Without taking off any of his paint I cleaned up his paint and fixed it.

  Once I was done I handed him a mirror and stood back. He smiled at his reflection before handing me back the mirror and jumping from his seat. He walked over to my table and painting stuff, I watched for a few seconds as he started organizing my stuff.

"Hey, woah," I stopped him, "you don't need to do that."

  He gestured to his newly painted face then to the painting supplies. Was this his way of paying me back? He went back to cleaning everything up and I just let him do it. I got back to the line of kids waiting to get painted and started on them.

  Once done, I looked back to see if I could find the clown but he had vanished. The only proof that he was even here was the organized section of my paints and brushes. My friends had already started packing up their stuff just as I had finished painting the last kids face.

"Holy shit!" One of my friends gathered everyone around and showcased his phone, "that fucking clown we saw earlier killed people at the carnival today!"

    My face dropped. So that was real blood? I cleaned off real blood from a killer clown? I felt dizzy.

"We need to hurry at get out of here!" Another stated.

    I stood frozen for a bit before I saw the clown in the distance. He waved before leaving the carnival. If he wanted to kill me he probably would have already done it. Would he kill me later?

"Yeah, let's get out of here," I packed my stuff away.