A/N: Hello! Surprise of surprises, I'm not dead, merely busy with this thing called life.
I am slowly, but surely, working through all my WIPs and finishing them. Yes, all of them. Even if I have to rework them, I will finish them.
In the meantime, I present to you these series of connected one-shots focusing on Phillip and Anne from The Greatest Showman. I saw the movie on Christmas and twice since, and I've listened to the soundtrack more times than I can count. I really love this movie.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, am affiliated with nothing, and am gaining nothing from this except sharing my love of these two lovely idiots.
This has not been beta'ed (this has now been beta'ed!) so any current mistakes are my own.
Once upon a time, he had the social circle, the money, the fame, and the misery that clung to him like a five o'clock shadow he desperately tried to ignore. But now, as Phillip took his final bow and his grin split his face from ear to ear; his misery molded in an old closet, rarely used in the past few years since he ran away and joined the circus. A more apt description would be "the circus ran after him" but Barnum wasn't the only theatrical one of their trope and he would be damned if he let Phinn be the hero of the story.
"Have a wonderful evening!" he crowed to the exiting mass, shaking hands with patrons as they twittered excitedly over the acts they saw. "Come again soon, and bring your friends!" He meandered through the dwindling crowd, ever the gracious Ringmaster to guests and eagle-eyed spy of protesters.
"Flip? Is that you?" The childhood nickname caused him to falter and he swung around; like a lost child looking for his mother, Phillip scanned the unfamiliar faces for the one he recognized.
"Lottie?" he asked and he glanced past her before settling back on her and bee-lining towards her and her family. "What are you doing here?" He asked hoarsely, not anticipating what it would mean to see his family again. He tried to look Lottie in the eye but she was stubbornly tidying invisible dirt off the children's clothing while Jacob held the children back. Before he could comment, a familiar, and welcomed, presence sided beside him.
"Flip?" Anne asked, standing close enough her breath tickled his ear. Phillip grinned at her arrival and loosely placed his hand on her waist.
"Anne Wheeler, I would like to introduce you to my cousin Charlotte Brown, her husband Jacob, and their children Sarah, Alice, and…" he paused for dramatic effect on the youngest boy, barely a year old the last time he saw him. "Harry," Phillip finished with ease, tossing the youngster a wink and the boy grinned. "Lottie and Jacob, this is Anne Wheeler: one of the stars of the show...and my girl."
He could feel Anne stiffen next to him but it was nothing compared to Lottie and Jacob. A slight gust from the docks would have sent them careening. Lottie locked eyes with him and if it were chilly outside, the glare she sent him would have warmed him with plenty to spare. Jacob looked between them as if he about to be sick.
"You were wonderful," Alice breathed in awe at Anne, breaking the cocoon of silence around them, and Phillip smiled at his little cousin-at least sense ran in some of the family.
"Your mother said-" Lottie choked, her voice raw with emotion.
"My mother doesn't know anything," Phillip interrupted flatly and Jacob put a hand on Lottie's arm for support. "Did you have to come and see for yourself?"
"I didn't…I couldn't..." Lottie started but the weight of the unsaid hung between them and silenced her. Sarah wrestled away from her father and walked up to Anne cautiously, as one approaches the unknown.
"Is your hair really pink?" she asked hesitantly. Anne extricated herself from his side and bend down to the little girl's eye level.
"It's a wig," Anne confessed, and though it was prohibited, she began unfastening the pins and let her natural, brunette hair cascade down her shoulders while she held the wig in her hand. Sarah lifted her hand and touched Anne's natural hair, a few locks splayed through her fingers while the girl looked between the wig and the hair in her hand as though making a decision of the utmost importance.
The family feud fell silent while all sides watched the events playing before them-filling with hope and fear and resentment and longing. It was too much to ask of any little girl; which is why she was the deciding factor.
"I like this hair better," Sarah pointed to the wig. "My favorite color is pink." Anne smiled.
"Mine too," Anne replied, "which is why I like wearing this." Sarah seemed appeased by this answer and she skipped back for her mother's outstretched hand and for a moment the air was lighter, the feud mellowed by insignificantly profound words.
"We'll be seeing you," Lottie offered, as an apology, a goodbye, and a promise, and Phillip took it as all three.
"It was lovely meeting you," Anne said but Lottie could only nod.
"We'll tell your parents-" Jacob started but Phillip waved them off.
"You don't need to tell them anything," he interrupted gently, "I'm glad you came and I do hope you come again."
"We will," Jacob said and offered his hand. Phillip marvelled at the wondrous developments while watching his cousin and her family leave the Big Top.
"They seem...nice," Anne said after a few moments of silence. Phillip chuckled and pulled her in for a gentle kiss.
"She was 5 when I was born," he began, twirling her around the empty center stage as they made their way backstage, "and she couldn't pronounce 'Phillip'; she called me 'Fliplip'." It was Anne's turn to laugh and even though he had sworn to do so before, he doubled down on his vow to make her laugh like that at least once a day. It brightened everything about her and she glowed.
"Hence, 'Flip'," she finished with a grin and he nodded.
"If we hurry, we could catch the last showing of the theater down the street," he offered and Anne dashed away to change while he began undoing the buttons of his own uniform.
His social circle had drastically changed-now he had true friends; the unending money was gone-now he valued the time, not money, spent; and he was no longer a semi-famous producer-now he was the disgraced and disowned son of Manhattan. He was the happiest man on earth.
A/N 2: If you feel the need to flame, remember to flame responsibly :)