Circus of Hell (Oliver x Fukase)

Final Preparations

As Oliver heard a loud alarm, he screamed and lifted up his head. It took him some seconds to realize what that sound was. He felt his heard pounding against his chest, a sigh escaped his throat. It was the alarm that always went off extremely early to wake up everybody for the preparations of the performance. Especially today would be exhausting, but Oliver had no other choice than to move on. The days of the performances were the most important ones and every mistake, may it be only minor, will be punished with more harshness.

He ran his fingers through his hair and jawned. Yesterday evening Fukase hadn't shown up - much to Oliver's surprise. It lead him to more assumptions; that his friend actually got caught. He had tried to calm himself down all the time, still he couldn't really control himself. Worries for someone else were new for him and affected Oliver mostly negative. He couldn't eat properly and was constantly lost in thoughts. In Oliver's opinion, he had been thinking too much about others recently anyway, so he told himself that a little distraction in form of the performance would help him getting a little more himself again.

His door opened and a pile of clothes flew into his room, not much later the door got closed again and footsteps signaled him the person outside went off right away. Oliver already knew how things worked at such days. He grabbed the clothes and changed into them; his outfit for the show. They were a little more colorful than the plain white ones he wore daily, so it was a little bit of variation. Still he wasn't that much of a fan of them. As he was known as 'the slut', - thanks to his master - he always got to wear rather unique clothing for a boy in his age. His daily clothing consisted of a shirt and - to Oliver's dismay - quite short shorts. To add more of a naughty sense to his show outfit, overknees connected to his shorts were supposed to allure more audience.

Only the thought of it made Oliver frown in disgust, but he had no other choice. People give others reputations what they think are fitting. And thinking is always a sensitive issue.

As he had finished changing, he took the brush that was included and - for who knows how long - finally managed to unknot his entire hair. Admittedly, he was glad to have it brushed halfway fine again.

In embarrassment he covered his exposed tummy with his long sleeves, only his upper quest was covered with some cloth and Oliver could still not understand why it had to be like that. He himself found the overknees humiliating enough.

Once again his door got opened and a bucket of water as well as a bottle of shampoo were brought into his room by the lady that also gave him breakfast the other day. Without any words she went off again and Oliver walked towards the bucket, kneeled down in front of it and soaked his hair into the ice cold water that gave him a headache at once. Neatness was even more important for the shows, so all the performers got the chance to finally clean themselves properly.

He put some shampoo into his hair and sighed; how much he had missed the feeling of fresh washed hair. Oily one got even easier fuzzy and felt like a bush on his head. After his hair washing routine, he dried them with a towel and sat on his floor where the sun rays shone to. He had some time before he had to go out but still he wanted to be ready in time. All he had to do was drying his hair and combing it once again.

His thoughts driftet off to Fukase once again. The redhead's grinning face appeared in his thoughts and Oliver had to smile. How dear he wished to let the time fly by with him by his side. They always had something to talk about and laughter to share, Oliver was surprised he could feel that way. All those years of loneliness filled him with bitterness but Fukase managed somehow to destroy it - those were rather only scratches, but it was a beginning.

Even if Fukase was the culprit for all of this, Oliver would be fine with it. He slowly noticed that it didn't make sense anyway to obey right away. It always depended on the masters mood, as he had to experience yesterday. Usually they didn't loose their temper that easily but that day had been something unique.

Oliver closed his eyes and drifted into a light sleep, waiting until his hair has dried completely. Briefly he combed through it once more and sat on his bed to wait the last minutes to pass by.

After a time that felt for Oliver like ages, it was time to go and his master lead him to the other side of the building. There they all had to wait until everyone arrived. Oliver sat down on a loose wooden plank and leaned his head against the wall. Soon enough the twins took a seat next to him and smiled.

"Our little slut looks gorgeous," Len chuckled and Oliver frowned irritated.

"So do you. With this outfit your feminine figure shows to advantage," Oliver replied and bent his head provoking. Len on the other hand muttered something unclear but he didn't seem too pleased.

"You always need to have the last word, don't you?"

"I'm only doing my job," Oliver chuckled and Rin had to laugh too. She seemed way more positive than yesterday, for which reason the blonde thought everything was halfway solved.

"Are you already excited?" Oliver asked and both of the twins nodded their heads cheerful. They were the only ones who actually enjoyed the performance, but since they both were not that sane anymore, Oliver didn't want to question it.

"I can't wait for it. The problems seem to be solved halfway, so no complications," Rin laughed and clapped Len's hand who also seemed to be glad about that. Suddenly the girl's expression changed into something regretful and Oliver rose an eyebrow.

"And I'm sorry for insulting your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend," Oliver corrected slightly annoyed but let Rin continue as he was curious what she wanted to say.

"Whatever. He wasn't the cause for all of this and I insulted him."

"Is that a reason for an excuse?" Oliver blinked confused and Rin answered him with a nod and - something rare to see - an honest smile.

"You do care about him."

"Excuse me?" Oliver tilted his head even more and his voice turned serious again. Still all he got were laughter from the twins. Len shook Oliver slightly on the shoulder and grinned.

"You walk around all lovey-dovey for weeks now," Len laughed and wiped away his tears from laughter. Oliver frowned and rose an eyebrow.

"I assume I can ignore this comment of yours once again as so many others?"

The twins couldn't hold on anymore and had to laugh for so long, the others already turned around to them and embarrassed Oliver hid his red cheeks behind his sleeves, slid some inches away from the twins. They knew exactly how to embarrass him, but otherwise like this it was amusing at times.

As the door opened, everybody went quiet, even Rin and Len sat down reputable. One of the leaders came into the room and took a look clearly at each child. Neatness was a priority, so he wanted to check whether everybody was dressed nicely enough for such a performance.

After he inspected each one, he clapped in his hands and ordered all to stand up. With a certain amount of distance they all followed him to the entrance, from there on they had to act perfect. Behind that door lay the stage they always performed and from that moment on every step had to be taken carefully.

Oliver entered the stage and felt the suppressing tension in the air. Indeed, it was a serious moment but especially this time it seemed to strain everyone's nerves even more. The curtains were still closed and left the light shone only weak. Oliver tried to calm down his fast pounding heart. He has done that such already several times and he always was nervous, though he wondered why exactly. Still Oliver didn't concentrate on that. Not on his nervousness, on Fukase or anybody else. This time he really mustn't do any mistakes - and he wasn't planning to do such as well.