FASH: You have no idea how much I wanted to go: C is for Cookie. Anyways, rather than a travelling circus, when I was writing this I was thinking more along the lines of Kaleido Star, so it's stationary.
Disclaimer: Eyeshield 21 does not belong to me.
C is for: Circus
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There had always been stories circulating about children running away to the circus, and then there were some about children running away from the circus. It made it seem like second-generation circus performers, who didn't want a normal career when they grew up, were rare.
And Sena was, apparently, one of those oddities.
His mother, who had taken rhythmic gymnastics, ballet and modern dance classes when she was growing up, had tried out for the circus once she was done middle school and had somehow managed to become part of the team.
His father was one of the behind the scenes workers who helped out with various things, and as such had an array of talents.
All it had taken was a trip from his mother to create a rip in her performance outfit large enough that she had panicked about getting fired, and his father had calmly approached her with a sewing kit and had fixed the problem before her hysterical tears could dry. That had been the beginning of one of the 'sweetest romances' in the workplace.
Sena was the result of that 'sweet romance'.
Growing up he'd been encouraged to follow in the footsteps of either of his parents, and Sena, being the impressionable boy that he was, decided that instead of following just one, he'd follow both. So he'd spend half his free time learning gymnastics and the like from his mother, and the other half learning various 'behind the scenes' skills from his father.
Sena tried his very hardest to please both of his parents, but with his attention and practice time divided up as it was, he ended up being fairly mediocre at everything. And as an oddly future-driven nine year old, mediocrity didn't suit his tastes at all.
He'd been doing some late training one night, long after everyone else had gone to bed, trying his very hardest to conquer the short practice balance beam before the following morning.
"What exactly are you doing?"
Sena immediately lost his balance and fell onto the soft mats below with a yelp.
"Geez, if you get distracted from just me, you'll never be able to go onto the stage."
Sena quickly sat up and stared, horrified, at the older boy who was now standing in front of him.
Juumonji Kazuki, the son of the ring leader/owner of the circus.
"Juumonji-san!"
"Don't call me that, it makes me think you're addressing my dad." The thirteen year old crouched down, frowning.
"Kids like you should be in bed at this time of night, what are you doing up?"
Sena gaped at him for a moment, and wisely decided not to bring up the fact that Juumonji wasn't that much older than he was.
"I-I was just practising, because mama said that she wanted to get me to try out the balance beams again tomorrow, and I want to do it really, really good, and make her smile."
Juumonji ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. "That's nice and all, but why didn't you just practice a little earlier?"
"Because papa was showing me how to use a power drill."
Juumonji blinked slowly. "The things you learn are pretty eclectic."
"E... Electric?"
"Never mind, just go to bed already."
"No! Not until I can walk all the way across the balance beam without falling." Sena stubbornly stood up and made his way to one end of the beam, Juumonji trailing after him with a raised eyebrow.
"Why are you learning all these different things anyways? Are you going to be a performer, or a stagehand when you grow up?"
"I have to choose?"
The blonde sighed and rubbed at his temples. "Yes, you have to choose, it would be too difficult for you to do two jobs at the same time."
"But if I choose one over the other, then I'm playing favourites." Sena stepped up onto the practice beam, which was just a foot and a half tall, and was a little depressed to discover that the extra height only put him three or four inches taller than the other boy.
"It's your life, do what you want." Juumonji scoffed, keeping a close eye on Sena as the brunette began to slowly walk forward.
"What do you want to do? Will you end up being the ringleader when you're older, Juumonji-san?"
Juumonji threw him a dark look and Sena waved unsteadily for a moment. "Juumonji-kun, I mean."
"Who knows?" The blonde questioned gruffly, reaching out to grip onto Sena's hand, effectively steadying the younger boy. "Geez, with all the dance practice and whatever your mom makes you go through, I would have thought you'd have better balance."
"Mama does more stretching than balancing stuff with me. She says that girls are more flexible than boys, so I've got to work harder to keep myself from getting stiff." Sena stated matter-o-factly as they walked side by side.
Juumonji grunted in reply and didn't remove his hand.
"Hmm." Sena closed his eyes, slowing down just slightly.
His mother had once walked along a balance beam with a blindfold on, backwards. And while Sena was in no way ready for something like that, it was kind of thrilling to close his eyes and do it, even if he had the added security of Juumonji holding on to him.
He stopped abruptly and opened his eyes when Juumonji ceased all forward motion.
"Alright, you made it across the beam without falling, now you have to go to bed." The older boy said, letting go of his hand so that he could lift Sena off of the beam and carefully set him on the floor.
"Ah, thank you Juumonji-kun." He bowed quickly before cheerily smiling up at the taller boy.
Juumonji crossed him arms, cheeks a light pink.
"Don't thank me, it's my job to look out for my future employees. We're both second generation, so one way or another, we're both going to have to work hard to keep this place going when we grow up."
"Of course." Sena began making his way out of the training area, Juumonji following behind him to make sure Sena actually made it to his room.
"So you're going to have to choose if you want to perform or be behind the scenes."
"Eh? No way! I'm just going to do both!"
"And I keep telling you, there's no way you can handle both."
"If Juumonji-kun can be the ringleader and the owner, then I can do two things too."
"That's different! Besides, I'm older than you, I'd be able to handle it."
Sena pouted up at him. "Meanie."
Juumonji sighed in exasperation. "Whatever, just go to bed."