A/N: Cross posted on AO3 under the name Darksendis.
This chapter is to set the stage for the upcoming story. More characters to be introduced.
This is a Greatest Showman! AU. You don't need to watch the movie to understand what's going on here-I set the scene in this first chapter.
Oliver looks in the mirror at his ratty slacks, swallowing. He follows his father closely, nearly tripping over his heels. The summer is warm, but the scenery is cold. They walk past dull trees, their green muted. Together, they approach a large manor on a hill.
Entering the courtyard, Oliver waits patiently as his father greets the occupants of the manor, and when his father signals for him to do so, he enters, glancing around him and trying not to gape in awe. A grand staircase winds its way up to the second floor, the ceiling reaching higher than Oliver would have thought possible. The floors are shiny and free of dirt, making Oliver feel bad for walking on them.
They enter a back parlor, where the dining room is visible. The hallway that leads to the entryway is also visible, and there are several floor-to-ceiling windows. Despite these windows, though, the room seems dark. The carpet and paintings appear sorrowful, the atmosphere dismal.
A maid's strict voice drifts through the downstairs, and Oliver cranes his neck, curious. While his father works on measurements of a man, he spots a fair blonde-haired girl in the dining room, sitting properly. She raises a teacup to her lips delicately, her pinky struggling to raise, despite the maid's commands.
Oliver's heart skips a beat as their eyes meet.
Her eyes are cerulean, standing out from a porcelain face. Her blonde hair is tied back tightly, cascading downwards in several delicate curls, falling over themselves. Her dress looks rather uncomfortable, and she looks rather uncomfortable in it.
Oliver quickly averts his eyes, instead, turning to the trinkets on the desk. He grins as he finds a brass cup. Quickly thinking, he attaches a makeshift handle out of spare material to the cup and mimics the maid's instructions, lifting his pinkie delicately and sipping dramatically from the cup.
The girl in the other room breaks into a smile, snorting out a laugh, and incidentally spilling everywhere. Oliver laughs along with her, and their laughter echoes through the rooms. In that moment, Oliver feels as if the rest of the world has faded—it's just him and this girl.
He's brought back to harsh reality when a slap from the girl's father comes.
Oliver is quickly kicked out of the manor, where he bites back tears, tenderly feeling his cheek. His own father had also reprimanded him. He sullenly walks to the back of the manor, where he had heard waves crashing against a shore.
He's rewarded by the sight of the ocean, stretching for miles. He hadn't known the manor was so close. Smiling to himself (though it stings his cheek to do so), he quickly dashes for the waves, his hands outstretched as if welcoming the waters.
Coarse grass scrapes against his slacks as he leaps for a small outcropping. In the grasses, he sits, watching the ocean with wide-eyed curiosity. It amazes him, the way the waves crash against the shore, the wind buffeting his back, the cry of seagulls and the smell of salt.
The day is waning, and the sun is slowly drifting towards the western horizon. He doesn't hear her footsteps.
Dinah approaches Oliver, taking a seat next to him. He begins.
He tells her of his great dream—of his great dream that he's sure to make reality. He tells her of a house, a grand house, one that's not fancy nor entirely modest. Filled with beautiful and strange things. He wants this for her. He wants to make her smile, even on the rainy days.
He prattles on, his ideas flowing freely with her nearby, and she listens intently. When he pauses for breath, she instantly smiles, her cherry lips parting. She begins.
His relief is evident as she reassures him that she wants to be a part of his world. She wants to make that house, she wants to dream with him. She wants to construct a world that's entirely theirs, but not theirs at the same time—a world that anyone can come to, one filled with wonderful oddities and rarities.
Time passes.
Letters are exchanged back and forth as Dinah is sent to a new school. Oliver rushes to the mailbox in search of her letters. When his father dies, her letters are the last thing he has to hold onto.
He steals when he has to. He nabs an apple, and is pursued, the apple ripped away from him. He wants to spit at the offending vendor. Surely he can't spare one simple apple? Time has changed Oliver. His dreams remain, but his money does not. His clothes are increasingly dirty, his appearance more haggard with each passing day.
A woman with a deformed face and a permanent hunch approaches him. Seeing her appearance, Oliver tenses instinctively, but relaxes when he sees she's offering an apple. Tentatively, he reaches out and grabs the apple from her hand.
No words need to be exchanged. She can see the gratitude in his eyes. Smiling softly, she turns and makes her way down the street, mindful of the stares she receives. Ollie himself stares after her with wide eyes.
Time passes.
Ollie steals Dinah away, and the two dance together amongst the city streets, teasing one another, tempting one another, daring the other to continue. They dance through the forests, each winding around the other in perfect harmony. It isn't the most beautiful dance one has seen, but it's enough for them.
Ollie asks for Dinah's father's blessing.
He rejects him.
They elope.
Together, they build a life. A life full of love, one that doesn't require much. He works at a dead-end job, slaving as a typist. He's always eager, however, to come home to see his two girls, Emiko and Lian. And, of course, his beautiful wife, Dinah.
Ollie walks into work, a smile plastered to his face. He continues with his job, but finally stands, walking to his boss, who is standing at the front of the room. He pleads with his boss that he can do something more, that he doesn't have to sit here at this endless job, typing away.
His boss turns to the room, addressing it and stopping all workers.
Ollie feels a rare moment of self-consciousness, concerned that his boss will be making an example out of him to the other workers. He involuntarily steps back a couple of paces.
"Can I have your attention," the boss says, but Ollie thinks it's useless. He already has the room's attention. "You're all dismissed."
Ollie's jaw drops, and he struggles to reign in his shock as a murmur of dissent comes from the workers. Nonetheless, they begin to pack up, their minds already on the next job. Ollie hopelessly watches as his boss leaves the front of the room, walking through the room.
"Bankrupt?" Ollie asks in a rush, approaching his boss with wide eyes. "But…your ships. The ones in the—"
"Sunk," his former boss informs him with a dry tone. "You're still just the tailor sport, Queen. Better luck with your next job."
He leaves before Ollie can get a word in edgewise.
Ollie arrives back at the apartment, his eyes downcast. It's well past sunset, and he's surprised when he doesn't see his family in their beds. Wandering up to the rooftop, he finds them amongst the hanging sheets, the girls dancing together as Dinah bends over a basket, folding clothing.
She straightens, noticing his arrival. Walking over to him, she slips her arms around his waist and gives him a small, sweet kiss. Tasting her lipstick, he pulls away, and she looks at him imploringly, sensing immediately something's wrong.
"The company's bankrupt," Ollie says hoarsely, and her hard blue eyes soften the tiniest bit.
"That's all right," Dinah says soothingly, brushing a stray piece of blond hair back behind his ear. "There are plenty of job opportunities in the big city. Don't worry, dear."
Ollie shakes his head vigorously. "This isn't the life I promised you. Not even close."
Dinah's smile is sweet, just like the first day they had met. She leans in close to his ear. "But I have everything I want," she whispers, her eyes sliding behind him.
He turns, seeing his two girls playing with the sheets. Lian startles Emiko, emerging from the sheets like a ghost. Both break out into giggles. He allows a smile to finally grace his face, feeling the corners of his eyes crinkle. A happiness fills his chest, a weight lifting from his shoulders.
"Daddy!"
One of them has spotted him. He spreads his arms wide.
"Who are my favorite two girls in the entire world?" he asks, bending down as they barrel into him, hugging him tightly. Looking up at Dinah's stern face, he swallows. "I mean, three girls in the entire world?"
Lian giggles. "Daddy! It's my birthday today. Did you bring me anything?"
"It's your birthday?" Ollie asks, his surprise evident. He can feel Dinah's disapproval radiating off of her, despite her pleasant face. "No, that can't be right. It can't be my Lian's birthday!"
The girl giggles as Ollie directs her to sit down on a wooden crate, her sister right next to her. He flips open his briefcase, his hands working quickly as he struggles to assemble some sort of a unique birthday present, talking the entire time about his wondrous gift.
His quick thinking saves him this time as he produces a small lamp. At first, Lian's face falls, but when he activates the lamp, it lifts.
He's put a fancy cup over on top of the lamp, the cup host to flower designs that crisscross in simplistic but charming patterns. As the lamp turns on, the light filters through the flower-shaped holes in the cup, casting unique shadows on the sheets around them. Without hesitation, he spins it, smiling. The shadows leap across the sheets, eliciting gasps from both of his daughters.
"This…is a dream catcher," he tells his daughters conspiratorially. "You whisper your dreams into it, and it holds onto them forever until those dreams come true. Even if you forget them."
Lian, excited, leans in, whispering something inaudible to him. Then comes Emiko, whose voice is louder than Lian's.
"I wish for some ballet slippers," Emiko says softly, looking at the dream catcher in awe.
Ollie glances at Dinah.
Later, he tucks his two girls in, hesitating as their eyes remain wide, fully awake.
"If you could dream something up, what would it be?" he asks quietly, a moment of weakness. His girls seem to recognize this, but nonetheless, small hearty grins spread across their faces.
"A lion, an elephant," Lian says excitedly, her sister glancing over, sharing her excitement.
"Or a giant, ten feet tall!" Emiko uses her hands to heighten her point, making faces.
Ollie laughs, but as he laughs, he realizes something, an idea, an inkling forming in the back of his brain. He's always the type to think on his feet. "Girls…" he starts, his grin growing wider. "I think I've hard an idea."
The night passes quickly, Ollie laying awake for the most of it, his eyes staring at the ceiling as his wife sleeps comfortably beside him. His thoughts fly, memories and dreams flitting across his vision. He remembers a small, dying museum on the corner of a street not three blocks from his apartment. He remembers nabbing his boss's paper slip detailing the ships his former company had owned.
The next day, he goes to the bank, asking for a loan.
As collateral, he offers up his old company's ships. The bank doesn't know that they're sunk. What they don't know won't hurt them.
Setting quickly to work, Ollie buys the old museum. As soon as he does, he arrives home, announcing his purchase, leading his girls and wife to the museum and giving them the grand tour, showing them the wax statues. He opens up the museum to the public.
They sell no tickets.
Ollie wrings his hands through his hair. He needs something. He's running a failing business—one that's only been alive for a couple of days. He hasn't earned any money, and there's no way he can keep the museum afloat with the current funds he has right now. He's surviving off of the bank's loan.
An idea comes to him, again.
"Here…we need the unusual. The macabre!" Ollie announces gleefully to his wife and kids.
Dinah had looked dubious when he had announced he was buying the museum. But now, in this moment, that old look crosses her face—the one that's full of wonder, the kind of wonder she's had as a child. She's never abandoned it.
"People are fascinated by it!" he says, spreading his arms wide. "I'm going to put together a show—a show of unusual and abnormal things! A place where people can come in and forget about the outside world! An entirely new fake reality!"
The notices for auditions for his "freak show" are erected in every corner of the city, his daughters distributing them without abandon, their excitement matching his.
The front of the museum is repainted so Queen's Circus is proudly displayed.
And so, the show begins.