The Spring Festival was chaos.
Food stalls.
Live music.
Children sticky for unknown reasons.
Kevin stood backstage sweating through his clown shirt.
Tina from the clown store appeared.
"You look like a hostage."
"Thank you."
She handed him coffee.
"Beat Derek."
"Why do you care?"
"He owes me forty dollars."
Reasonable.
Derek performed first.
It was incredible.
Juggling fire.
Unicycles.
Balloon swans.
At one point, he somehow made a rabbit appear wearing sunglasses.
People lost their minds.
Kevin watched from backstage.
"…I'm going to die."
Tina shrugged.
"Probably."
Then Kevin went onstage.
No fire.
No rabbits.
No talent, really.
Just honesty.
He stood there and said:
"Hi. I'm Kevin. I became a clown because nobody liked me."
Silence.
Then laughter.
Not cruel.
Real laughter.
He told stories.
About failure.
About loneliness.
About falling into duck ponds.
About being so forgettable his dentist once introduced himself twice.
People laughed.
Because they understood.
Because pain was funny when someone survived it.
Even Derek watched quietly.
At the end—
Standing ovation.
Kevin blinked.
People were clapping.
For him.
Not because he was falling apart.
But because he was.
He didn't win.
Derek did.
Because fire rabbit.
Obviously.
But afterward, Derek approached.
Held out his hand.
"You're annoying."
"Thank you."
"But you're real."
Kevin shook his hand.
"You're still too handsome."
"I know."
And just like that—
they became enemies with benefits.
Friendship benefits.
Not weird.