A/N: I received a prompt from USP on AO3 asking for "Phillip and Anne make a training on trapeze"[sic]. Considering that is the entire prompt, I'm adding it as a pink, cotton-candy, fluffy follow up to the angst from the hospital. I figured you all deserve this if you waited through the hospital angst I threw at you.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I also know nothing about trapeze or gymnastics so everything I'm about to write I looked up on Google and YouTube. You have been warned.
She loved him so much, she was going to marry him and she could hardly wait for the day, but his incessant need to question doctor's orders drove her up the wall.
"Avery said you need to-" Phillip started, following her into the practice ring where she stretched. It felt good to move again after being bedridden for weeks on end and then under limited movement restrictions. Yesterday she was given the all clear by the orthopedic doctor and Avery to return to work-with proper safety of course. She would stay low to the ground until P.T. and Phillip devised a way to ensure safety while in the air.
"Avery said I was free to return to work," she pointed out, moving to stretch in new way and enjoying the sensation of the tightness in her back easing and grinning at the momentarily distracted Phillip. "You know," she began innocently, standing up and walking over to him, placing her arms around his neck and pulling him close. His hands instantly went on her waist, "you could always join me."
"Join you?" he asked dumbly, his eye still boring into her as he half listened, and she grinned.
"If you're concerned I'll hurt myself, why don't you help me train?" He typically sat in on practices if he had time, watching and commenting on particular stunts, but he always gave her space to perform. After the accident, however, he seemed worried if both her feet left the ground at the same time and if he was going to fuss over her, why not let him see how safe she really was in the air? Even if she would only be a few feet off the ground.
Her words cut through his revery and he shook himself free from her spell. He processed her words and she could see the wheels in his head turning.
"I'd love to join you," he grinned. Anne smiled and trailed her arms down his to take his hands, leading him into the ring.
"First," she loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt. "You need to be able to move," she told him, taking his arms and moving them in wide circles to loosen the fabric of his tucked-in shirt against his undershirt and pants. Then, she pulled away to let down a few ropes and a bar appeared in front of him.
"This feels familiar," he grinned, hanging onto one of the ropes while she walked back. She took the other and with an expert tug, she swung upside down and elevated herself several feet off the ground. She stopped when she was level with Phillip and she offered her hands to him.
"I'm completely safe," she promised as he tentatively swung her back and forth gently. He let go and put his hands on the bar, bringing him close enough she could smell his cologne-spicy and clean, it was a heady combination and she breathed deep.
"I don't want you to get hurt again," Phillip whispered, his voice breaking at the idea of her somehow being hurt again. Anne took his head in her hands and gently kissed him, breaking him from the thought.
"I don't know why that happened," she emphatically told him, "but do I know you and P.T. will create a way to keep us safe."
"I don't want you to stop what you love," he slowly replied, unable to look her in the eye while he confessed, "but I want you safe...I need you safe." Anne twisted on the bar and fluidly pulled herself through and down to stand in front of him.
"It's not up to you to make sure I'm safe," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him close to place a gentle kiss on his lips. "Right now, you're here to help me train." Phillip smiled and kissed her back, taking a step back from the trapeze bar so she should mount it before moving back within arms reach. He followed her movements, reassuring himself she wasn't going to fall but then he began studying the way she moved-typically unable to see the sinewy and exacting motions-and he couldn't look away.
Anne enjoyed the feel of being in the air again; even if she was less than five feet off the ground. What she found she enjoyed even more was Phillip watching her every move and moving with her, following her as she lifted herself up and over the bar, tucking under, and twisting around in familiar ways. Even with the doctor's permission, she was still unsure of how she would react to being on the trapeze again but it was as if she never left-muscle memory kicked in and she was back. It was also comforting to have Phillip there, his hands ghosting over her body and leaving trails of gooseflesh in his wake.
It became a dance, she moved through her routine and he followed with careful hands and watchful eyes. She went from the trapeze to the hoop to aerial fabrics and back-each time she would stop and stretch, eliciting painful happiness from Phillip as he watched her move and kept up his protective guidance. She made the mistake of looking up at him once while working in the aerial ring and his hard gaze, set jaw, dilated pupils, and heavy breathing told her it wasn't in her imagination. She sent him a knowing smirk and it both broke the spell and made it worse-he moved closer and soon his body followed hers.
^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^
W.D. rotated his shoulder, massaging his arm where it still stung from his fall. He had been cleared a week ago to return to work but after a practice session, his ribs were tender and his shoulder stung from the accident. He knew Anne would be cleared soon and he looked forward to performing with his sister again. They could almost read each other's minds and despite the level of professionalism the other artists brought to the circus, they weren't Anne.
He headed back to the practice ring with the hoops and ropes they used, intending to restring them before tomorrow but something, or someone, caught his eye. Anne! She was on a trapeze lower to the ground than normal but she was back! W.D. grinned at the surprise and took two steps before stopping cold-she wasn't alone, Phillip was...what were they doing?
He felt a blush creeping up his neck as he fought to maintain a rational line of thinking: they were at work, they wouldn't be doing anything improprietous...would they? He doubted their actions due to Phillip's strict upbringing and Anne's own sense of decency, but the sight before his eyes told a vastly different story. They were in a more intimate position than proper and their movements...he wasn't as virtuous as his sister and he was uncomfortable at the scene he stumbled upon.
It all took place in the space of a breath but it felt longer, and in his haste to leave them alone he knocked over the line of vertical-stacked hoops used during floor routines. Before he could grab the first one, they cascaded against each other and the resulting thunderous crash echoed around the him, the tent, and specifically the couple he tried so hard not to interrupt. W.D. screwed his eyes shut, praying the past minute didn't actually happen but upon opening them he saw Anne and Phillip running towards him, concern and worry clear on their faces.
"W.D.!" Anne called, stepping over the knocked over props as fast as she could, "are you okay?"
"What happened?" Phillip asked as he began picking up what he could. "Are you hurt?" What could he do? What could he say? He went with a mute nod and began helping Phillip pick up the pieces, putting Anne's mind at ease when she reached him.
"I'm-I'm okay," he finally sputtered once he realized he hadn't spoken in over a minute and they were still waiting for an answer and he hadn't responded. "I didn't know you were back today," he softly accused Anne and the words stopped her in her tracks.
"I-I didn't know if I would be able to train," she admitted, looking down at the floor as though the mess still lingered around them. "I asked Phillip to help me train in case-"
"In case she couldn't go back right away," Phillip supplied. "She was given the all clear but she didn't want to disappoint you by being out of practice."
"So Phillip was helping me train," Anne finished, looking at her brother as though his forgiveness would heal the pain hiding the secret caused. His reaction was not what she expected.
"Is that what you're calling it?" he mumbled under his breath. Anne looked to Phillip in confusion, who mirrored the expression back to W.D.
"What?" Phillip could only ask and W.D. threw up his hands in exasperation.
"I saw you two," he spelled out, "in the practice ring." When they continued to stare at him blankly his blush returned with full force along with a critical anger he didn't realize he held. "You two were in a...compromising position," he clarified to the best of his ability and their continuing blank and confused stares provoked him.
"What do you think you saw?" Anne finally questioned and when W.D. looked to the floor before sending pointed glances between them it was as if a bolt of lightning caused them to jump a foot apart.
"That's not what we were doing," Phillip almost yelled.
"Nothing happened," Anne exclaimed at the same time. "I was training."
"I was worried she might hurt herself again and wanted to be close by," Phillip quickly emphatically. "That's it."
Silence hung awkwardly around the trio, stretching to breaking but no one wanted to be the one to shatter it. W.D. glanced between Anne and Phillip, who tried to stand as far apart as they could without more awkwardness ensuing. The silence seemed to take on a persona of its own, overpowering them and forcing them to look around, hoping someone else would speak first. It was only a matter of minutes but it seemed to stretch into hours before P.T. barrelled in, calling for W.D. and shattering the oppressive silence. Everyone was thrilled to focus on the new intrusion-especially if that instruction took them away from this situation.
"Phillip, what are you doing here?" P.T. asked, confused to see his partner on his day off, as he came over to W.D., and then promptly ignored Phillip when he saw Anne next to him. "Anne!" he smiled, pulling her in for a hug. "I didn't know you were here!" Before anyone could explain their presence, P.T. turned to W.D. "I think I figured out a way to keep you, and you," he turned back to Anne, "in the air." They leapt at the diversion.
"What did you come up with?" Phillip asked, cautiously wrapping his arm around Anne's waist as P.T. explained his idea of a net below the trapeze performers but high enough the ground routine wouldn't be caught in it.
"Is it feasible?" Anne asked and P.T. shrugged with his famous grin.
"Won't know until we find out," he replied in typical Barnum fashion.
For the next week, P.T. and Phillip worked on the stretched net and premiered it the night Anne returned. She never needed it, but was grateful for its presence. She was also grateful of how Phillip helped her train.
A/N 2: The safety net was invented in the late 1800s and was primarily used by firefighters. So...again, I'm stretching history. Go with it.
I have 5 more chapters planned so if you guys have any ideas, let me know! This was a prompt and I hope you all enjoyed it! Word of warning: work is getting crazy and I'm going to be pulling 60+ hour weeks for the foreseeable future. Updates might not be as often.
As always, if you need to flame, please flame responsibly :)