Aerial Silks, and Other Ways to Fall in Love

Chapter Three

The satisfying thing about silks to Eddie is that it can be whatever he wants it to be- it's dangerous, it's fun- but right now, it's a chair. Eddie had tied a simple knot into his silks and was seated on it, next to Stan on the lyra, while the rest of the circus was gathered around in a deformed circle of chatter.

"So," Mike says, pulling up rope and circling it over his palm and around his elbow into neat loops. "Are you excited to start performing again, Stan?"

Stan's eyes lit up at the question, and you could tell he'd been dying to hear it. "Yes." He says with a big breath, as though he'd been suffocating until now. "I'm just worried I'm going to be too out of practice for tomorrow."

"Nah, I wouldn't worry about it, Stan. You're a wonder on that thing. It didn't take you long to get this set down." Bill says, looking up at him with a grin. Stan smiles back, his face just a bit brighter.

"You're really very skilled, Stan. I'm glad you're back. You look happier already." Bev notes from Ben's lap, a polished hand carding softly through his hair. She fits perfectly there, as though it's where she always belonged. As though there were only enough negative space for her in his lap and in his arms, and every other girl couldn't fill that up in quite the same way. It was a bond that was rare, and not just for the couple. Bill and Joyce, for example. They had underwhelming positives, mostly filled with static shoved in where it shouldn't be.

"I'm glad to be back, Bev. I don't think a single one of you could stand being in the same room for that long. Especially you, Eddie, with your attention span."

Eddie frowns at him. "Hey!" He tries to playfully smack him, but misses all together. He was too far away. "Georgie, get 'em for me!" He encourages, watching the little boy fail to even brush the man as he climbs higher. Mike pulls him back and sits him on his lap.

"Using a child to do your dirty work?" Stan tuts from above. "Shame on you, Eddie."

"Hypocrite! How many times did you have him get shit for you, even after you were totally capable of getting it yourself?" Eddie yells up at him, like always. Whenever they got into arguments, Stan always had height on his side, making Eddie feel a tad too much like a toddler.

"But, Eddie, I was bedridden. I couldn't help it." He says dramatically, dropping upside down so he looked like a damsel in distress, complete with a gentle wrist over the forehead. Bill laughed. Ben just smiled and shook his head.

"Which is why you had me ask Billy here at least seven times a day to perform?" Eddie says flatly. Georgie giggles, putting a hand over his mouth.

"Shut up, boys." Joyce teases, but the only one left smiling as Stan furrows his brow at her, pulling himself back up into a sitting position.

He rolls his eyes when Joyce decides to seat herself onto Bill's lap, looking just a bit too smug for Eddie's taste. Bill, notably, does not wrap around her immediately, stiffening his back as she sits. Stan glances away, focusing instead on finding another way to sit. Eddie couldn't describe it; it isn't like Bill hasn't had girlfriends before- he's had several. Most of them probably not even girlfriends, just girls. Or friends. Bill was social, he made friends with every kind of person no matter where they went. Joyce was different. They averted their gazes around her, they shifted their stances. Nothing was inherently wrong, exactly. Just... off-kilter.

Their relationship remains behind closed doors, because they both know that while Joyce isn't just a friend, she couldn't claim to be much more than that, either. Regardless, she took what she could. Stealing his glances, brushing his skin, sitting on his lap. She has his attention, and he pauses everything else.