Phillip's felt a something soft and gentle against his skin, his eyes fluttered open slowly, he squinted as he adjusted to the light and the pain in his eyes as they begged to be closed again, but he just blinked a few times and was met with Anne's adorable smiling face as she sat in front of him watching him now wearing a white t-shirt she'd found in his drawer.
Her eyes lit up when she looked at him, "morning baby" she said happily but quietly giving Phillip time to adjust to being awake, he sat up and rubbed his eyes, "morning" he replied sleepily
"I'm sorry I woke you up but I've been up for hours and I missed you" she said placing a gentle hand on his cheek, he moved slightly so he could lean into her touch, "oh I'm sorry" he said turning and kissing her palm, she smiled shyly at him, "in my defence, you always wake up really early like humanly impossible early" he said with a smile, she rolled her eyes.
She looked so good when she did that he thought as a wave of affection rushed through his body, "well it's not my fault I'm not lazy like you and don't lounge around in bed all day" she shot back with a wink.
This felt right, this felt so right. It was cosy and nice. Phillip had never seen himself as a man who might one day have a domestic life and now here he lay with his amazing girlfriend in bed on a Saturday morning as she lightly teased him and stroked his face lovingly. Thinking about how much Anne had changed him made him feel good, his life was so much more great with her in it, he didn't even realise at the time how alone he felt, when Barnum convinced him to join the circus in the bar what was it, he said? "Don't you know that I'm okay?". He didn't realise in that moment how wrong he was, but then he agreed and joined the circus and god he remembers that moment he and Barnum stood on that balcony, Anne swinging towards him.
Looking at him with beautiful hazel eyes he could get lost in forever, he knew in that moment he wanted her, in a way he'd never wanted a girl. At first it scared him but now? He could never go back to what he was without Anne.
He must've been staring because she laughed that nervous laugh she always does when she feels slightly insecure, she always did when he appreciated her for too long, "penny for your thoughts Carlyle?" She asked, he smiled "I was thinking about the day we met" she smiled with nostalgia "I remember like it was yesterday, it was in the middle of my performance, I swung towards you, I was actually supposed to jump and land on the balcony where you stood but I looked at you and your had the cutest look of awe on your face. When our eyes connected, I forgot everything"
"Well I'm sorry I ruined your act but you took my breath away" he defended "I can say the same, unfortunately you kinda need to breathe when you're swinging upside down thirty feet from the ground. I actually swung myself again so I could get another look at you but you were gone and D was not happy" she laughed. She'd never told her any of this and it just made the moment that much sweeter.
He reached out and traced the mark he had left on her neck the night before, she shivered at his gentle touch on the sensitive patch of skin. He smirked before holding his arms out for her. She rolled her eyes again before laying against his body, her nose touching his, her arms wrapped around his chest, "you're so clingy" she teased, "ironic coming from the acrobat who clings to things for a living" he replied staring into the girl's eyes, "hm I suppose that's true" she whispered, he kissed her forehead like she had done to wake him, "plus I just want to be near you, be able to touch you, I want to love you every second I can" he replied, she shook her head with a smile, "has Phillip Carlyle gone soft? What happened to that hard whiskey drinking man I'd met?" She teased looking at his lips, "I met you and you changed me for the better, you have no idea how true that is" he promised before closing the gap between their lips.
He just wanted to get lost here with her, lost in her eyes, her smile, her touch, her kiss. He knew they would have to get up soon but he stubbornly pushed that thought to the back of his mind, he just wanted to lie here all day with her and talk about stupid things that didn't matter but she pulled away, resulting in a disappointed whine from Phillip.
She sighed, "come on we've got to get up", he pouted and pulled her back down when she tried to sit up, "Phillip, we've got to" she laughed, he shook his head like a sulky toddler, "no" he pouted, "we have things to do, I need to train, you need to work on your singing" she pointed out. He held his hand to his chest in mock offence "hey what's wrong with my singing?"
"nothing baby but there's always room to improve" she said breaking away from his determined grip and standing up.
Phillip stretched his hand out for her with a disappointed expression but didn't move. She raised her eyebrows "come on get up!" She tried again with a laugh, he glared at her and still did not move so she walked around to his side of the bed, grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the bed with surprising strength.
Phillip grumbled and pulled Anne to his chest in a hug for warmth as he still wasn't wearing any clothes, "Phillip" she told him, she could tell he was pouting again but he gently pushed her away "fine I'll get dressed" he gave in.
He turned to pull clothes out the drawer, she whistled. He spun around to see her standing there, hands on hips, eyebrow raised with a smirk, "what?" He asked, "nothing beside the fact you have a great ass Carlyle" she said licking her lips, Phillip blushed but got dressed slowly giving Anne the chance to stare at his body, he felt a surge of confidence as she drooled over him, he laughed and waited for her too to dress.
They sat on his bed finally ready to leave, Phillip studied the mark on her neck, "W.D is going to kill me" he breathed with a nervous laugh, she shook her head, "it's okay, I have makeup and this" she said pointing at the mark, "will be a lot easier for me to cover up than it will be for you to hide that" she told him, she grazed the mark she too had left on his neck the night before with her thumb, he'd forgotten about that.
His eyes widened "shit you're right" he swore, Anne placed a comforting hand on his knee, "you'll be fine. D will definitely kill me though considering I'm the one who gave it to you, so wish me luck".
She got up and headed towards the door, "where are you going?" He asked, she turned and smiled "to sneak into my room to cover this up. I've got to practice but I'll see you later" she told him before slipping out the door leaving him to wonder how he could hide his neck. He sighed as he attempted to reposition his collar to cover his neck to no avail, but it was the best he could do.
He knew none of his shirts would cover his neck any better, neither would his ringmaster's jacket, he couldn't wear a scarf, it was summer, he'd just look suspicious. He hoped if he walked around as if everything was fine nobody would notice. With this thought in mind he pushed open his door and strolled confidently out to begin his day.
Anne had somehow managed to avoid most of the oddities as she had raced to her and W.D's room, the door was closed and she prayed he was asleep when she quietly opened the door and stepped inside. Much to her relief W.D wasn't in there, she walked over to her side of the room and grabbed her makeup off of the table in front of her mirror.
She sat down and examined herself, she looked a mess. Her hair was tangled and unkempt, she had small bags under her eyes from last night, the dark maroon mark on her neck stood out against her chocolate skin. She sighed and dabbed some foundation at her neck, within seconds the mark was practically gone, now barely visible. She then quickly changed into her practice clothes before anyone saw that she was wearing Phillip's clothes, she also tried to flatten down her wild hair to no avail.
Her brother came in just as she pulled her sweatbands onto her wrists, "Anne there you are, I've been looking for you, I thought you might've gotten up early to train"
"Sorry D, I was with Phillip and he wouldn't get out of bed" Anne laughed, W.D laughed, "you need to whoop that boy's ass into shape","I'll try my best. Hey, I'll be ready in like two minutes if you want to go through our routine?" Anne suggested, he nodded "sounds good, I'll meet you on the ring".
She grabbed the bandages from her table and began to wrap her hands quickly, once she was done she jogged out to find W.D already undoing the rigging and setting up the equipment, "took you long enough" he joked without looking up at her, "boy you can shut your mouth you know I was less than two minutes" she said cocking her eyebrow at him, he finished retying the rope that secured Anne's hoop in place, "what are you going to do Annie?" He said with a cheeky grin, he was much taller and stronger than her, he was built like a tank but that didn't stop Anne from squaring up to him, "C'mon D let's just begin practice" she replied punching his arm lightly and starting her stretches.
She might've rushed her warmup slightly eager to begin, she wanted to think about last night and she always felt most focussed and clear minded when she was flying through the air. She'd given herself to Phillip, last night was her first and it was incredible, but she wondered if it'd change the dynamics of their relationship now.
W.D rose to his feet and stretched out his shoulders, "so what do you want the first thing in our new routine?" He asked, Anne put her hand on her hip, "something that'll grab their attention… What if we both flip across the ring like…" She started before running and jumping into half a dozen somersaults and front flips, she grinned as she turned around panting to look at W.D's reaction, he had a thoughtful look on his face, "yeah, yeah that could be cool! We can cross over each other and use the flare" he decided.
He repositioned himself at the side of the ring and signalled for her to go, she ran and flipped herself across the ring this time he backflipped and somersaulted across the stage too, jumping over her with ease as they met in the middle in a 540-degree flip. W.D looked at her, "that was pretty cool, so that can be how we start, what next?" He asked.
They talked about different combinations of stunts they wanted to try and what equipment to use and how long each move should talk, they decided once they crossed the stage with the fire flares, he would jump on one side of the wooden plank, launching her into the air where she'd then begin the more exciting stunts.
They ran through this a couple times, both times going flawlessly. She felt the wind rush through her hair as she shot quickly upwards for the last time, hands outstretched for her swing, she gripped it tightly then swung her legs back and forth building momentum and leapt to the other swing. Whilst she did this W.D climbed the main rope rocking it back and forth around the tent as he did so before he would release himself flying 20 feet before grabbing Anne's legs as she swung upside down. She'd then swing a few times with him holding on and he'd launch himself at the trapeze.
After they rehearsed that a few times W.D came up with the idea Anne could jump to the rope holding up her hoop, wrap the rope around her waist then let herself drop, unravelling the rope and swing herself into the hoop, she'd never attempted anything like this before, "yeah, we could try it, we might want to attempt it a bit closer to the ground a few times just in case it goes wrong" she said rubbing her hands together as she eyed up the hoop that hovered thirty foot off the ground, "why you scared?" He teased, Anne gave him a look "no but if Phillip walks in he might have a fit, give us a lecture about safety precautions" Anne replied putting on a mocking voice for safety precautions, W.D eyed up the hoop, "yeah you're right, it might be a little high for a first try" he decided before sliding down the main rope that went to the floor and adjusting the equipment.
He stayed on the ground and yelled up to Anne "you ready?", she thumbs upped before unwrapping her hands from the rope she hung from and swung herself back and forth building enough momentum to jump across the large gap and grab the other rope, she slid down a few metres making her hands get uncomfortably warm from the friction even with the hands wraps on.
She caught herself and shimmied up the rope a bit higher before twirling her body around gracefully so the rope was safely secured around her stomach, she outstretched her arm for show before shooting her arms and legs out either side of the rope so she fell sideways the rope quickly unwrapping around her, her hands grabbed the rope again when she saw she saw the rope around her body begin to run out, she jerked slightly awkwardly but let go of the rope entirely, she gripped the hoop with her feet and thrusted her body inside so she lay inside, her body curved in a U shape.
She looked at W.D for his reaction, he clapped "good job sis, just make sure your recovery isn't too jerky, it looks impressive" he praised her. Anne had no idea Phillip was sitting in the stands, watching her as she practiced, his heart felt like it was squeezed with an iron clad fist as he watched her drop and only just grab the rope in time. He was mesmerised by her talent and grace but some of the things he did scared him half to death, he was worried she'd slip or miss when she went to hold something whilst she was high up, he didn't want her to hurt herself.
Anne dropped from the hoop to the floor and rubbed her hands, they still felt hot from the friction of the rope, "D can you grab me some water" she asked, he jogged over to her, "why, did you hurt your hand?" He asked taking his sisters hand and unwrapping it to look, "it's not too bad, I just got a bit rope burnt" she said shrugging it off, he nodded and walked out of the ring to grab some water from the tank outside.
Anne looked at her red hands and rubbed them together slowly trying to relieve some of the heat, she heard footsteps coming from the opposite direction, she was confused as she'd just saw W.D walk out in front of her but she heard someone approaching her from behind, "D how did you-" She asked turning, it wasn't W.D it was Phillip.
She frowned, "hey, what're you doing here?" She asked confused, "I was watching you guys train, did you hurt yourself?" He asked glancing at her hands, she shook her head "no, it's just a friction burn, it'll be gone in an hour or so", Phillip took her hands inspecting them and turning them over as if he didn't believe her, "alright well I'm thinking about going to P.T's and having lunch with him and Charity".
Anne smiled, "sounds nice, I might come join you if I'm too busy after me and W.D finish up" she told him, he glanced at her hands once last time and then up at her eyes, "don't get yourself hurt" he nagged, she sighed "I'll be fine, now get out of here before D sees that bite on your neck and gives me the big protective brother talk" she joked pushing him away gently, Phillip laughed "see you later, have fun!" He called as he walked towards the exit.
He hadn't seen P.T in a couple weeks since he'd been trying to spend more time with his family, Phillip missed his partner, without him Phillip had to come up with the insane, stupid ideas for the next big stunt at the circus, he came up with some alright suggestions but Phillip preferred to play it safer than P.T did, the last idea P.T gave him was to get Sarah, the sword swallowing oddity, to throw knives at someone blindfolded whilst they spun on a revolving wheel.
Um, no.
He arrived at the door of the mansion and knocked excited to see P.T and Charity, they'd practically adopted him as their son, he loved having parent figures around to other him advice and love.