Circus Freak ☆ The Greatest Showman x Panic! At The Disco ✓

FOURTEEN ☆ MEMORIES

It was a cloudy day. The wind was breezing very smoothly, the autumn trees were swaying, the carriages moved along the cobblestone roads, the smell of freshly baked bread travelled from the bakery and flew into the New York atmosphere, and a group of little boys were running around the park, playing with their little sticks and stones. Most of them were pretending to be a part of the great war. Some were also pretending to be cowboys riding their horses in the wild, wild west.

Ryan watched the little boys from his window, toying with a medium-sized pebble that he found on the street a couple days prior. The pebble was brown, and it had a little smile that Ryan carved in with a little stick. As he was watching them, Ryan felt the desire to leave his home and play with the boys outside. It seemed that they were having the time of their lives in their imaginary world.

"George. George!" called out a woman.

"Coming, Mother!" the boy replied.

The boy turned around, and he headed back downstairs to see his parents in the kitchen, eating their steak and vegetables, along with a nice cup of wine. Ryan's mother spotted her son, and told him to sit down at the table to eat. The boy obeyed, and he sat down right next to his father, as his mother serves him his plate of steak and peas, along with a glass of cranberry juice.

"Here you go, sweetheart,"

"Thanks, Mother," Ryan smiled.

The boy grabbed his fork, and he started to eat his lunch. The steak was tough, but it was very delicious with its juiciness and the tender saltiness. The peas were sweet, but thanks to the salt, it was also a little salty. The cranberry juice, on the other hand, had some tart, but the aftertaste was the cranberry's natural sweetness. Ryan continued to eat his meal, but he was also watching the boys who were outside. He wanted to go outside and play and feel very silly, so he decided to ask his parents if he could go.

"Mother, can I go outside?"

"And why on earth would you want to?" the mother asked with concern.

"I want to play with the boys," Ryan answered with confidence.

"George, you know the rules," the father said as he digs into his steak with his knife. "You can't just go outside and play with lower class boys."

"What's wrong with lower class boys? Is it because you think I'm a homosexual?"

Ryan's mother evoked a strong reaction of shock at Ryan's question, while Ryan looked at his mother with confusion. The father, on the other hand, sighed and started to explain of why he refused to let his son outside.

"No, certainly not. You can't just play with strangers,"

"But you talk to strangers all the time, Father," Ryan stated.

"Yes, but those boys out there aren't very well-behaved. They're the ones who tend to go wild when they're older because of the amount of fun they were having,"

The little boy didn't say anything, but he was convinced that his parents would never let him go outside. Even if he tried to fight back, he would always lose to his parents. Ryan sighed and continued to finish his meal, whilst watching the boys play cowboys of the wild west with their sticks and stones.

☆☆☆

Ryan looked out the window within the circus to see the crowded, smokey city through the windows. As he was looking through, Ryan was also still looking at the little pebble that he still kept from a long time ago. The young man smiled at the pebble, and he also liked to think that the rock was naturally smiling right back at him. As he was looking at it, Nicole entered the room, which caused Ryan to turn around and see who was standing before him. Once when he saw Nicole, Ryan quickly put the pebble in his lower coat pocket, and tried to stand up straight.

"Oh, I'm sorry that I interrupted," Nicole apologized.

"It's alright, Nicole," Ryan replied, "Besides, I wasn't really doing much."

Nicole moved her head, and she was looking at Ryan's pocket, wondering of what he put in there.

"What's in that pocket?"

"Oh, this?" Ryan answered. He quickly pulled out the pebble from his pocket, and showed it to Nicole. The woman walked towards him, and she asked Ryan if she could hold it. Ryan let Nicole hold the pebble, and the woman smiled once when she saw the cute little smile that was carved in. "It's just a pebble that I found when I was a little kid, and yes, I carved in the little smile with a stick. I never told my parents about it, otherwise, they would just told me to put it back on the streets where it came from."

Ryan took a quick breath at the mention of his parents. The man never really talked about his parents before, since they have given him such a hard time when he was young. He loved his parents, but he always thought of them as being too snobby. They would always scold him if he didn't act the way they wanted him to act. He just wished that his mother and father would just cheer up for a little bit. Luckily, when he was a young boy, Ryan managed to get away with a couple of things.

"It looks cute," Nicole smiled.

"Thanks,"

"It reminds me of you,"

Nicole looked up to see Ryan and flashed a sweet, little smile. Ryan couldn't help but to just blush a little. Nicole handed Ryan back his pebble, and the two of them held each other's hands. They both looked into each other's eyes, and they felt that they needed to get a little closer. Ryan started to feel a mix of nervousness and excitement as he and Nicole moved towards each other. Nicole felt the same way, but she was more ready than nervous. They got closer and closer—

"Ryan! Thank God you're here," Mike said, entering the door. Ryan and Nicole quickly let go of each other, and they both caught off guard. Mike blinked, and he noticed that Ryan and Nicole were quite close together. He pulled out a face of suspicion and confusion. However, he didn't need to be concerned about that. His major concern was telling Ryan some important news. "Brendon's been looking for you."

"Oh really?" Ryan asked, "What does he need?"

"Well, Dallon's performance is tonight, and Brendon needs you to help with the organization,"

Ryan nodded, and he looked at Nicole, mentally telling her that he had to go. The businessman put his pebble back in his pocket, and he walked out of the door to tend to Brendon's needs, leaving Mike and Nicole together. Mike didn't say anything to Nicole, but he did show one of his friendly expressions, which caused Nicole to return her lovely grins.

☆☆☆

"Ryan! There you are!" Brendon cheered.

Ryan walked down the stairs, and he quickly buttoned up his blazer and then made eye contact with Brendon. Brendon looked like that he really did need Ryan's assistance. He looked that he was in a rush to work on the show.

"You said that you needed assistance with the show?" Ryan asked Brendon.

"Very much so. I need you to help with setting up the venue at the theater,"

"Alright, I can do that,"

"Thank you, Ryan,"

Brendon patted Ryan on the back, and the showman quickly headed to attend some other matters. Ryan looked back and then turned to the front door, where the bright sun was shining through. The businessman started to walk outside of the circus building and work on the grand show of the night.

A/N: Hey, guys!! And here is another chapter of this book. Even though it was a short one, I kind of wanted to bring in a little backstory for Ryan, and develop some things better. I guess you can call this a filler chapter, maybe because it kind of is. But whatever, I'm happy with what I have with this chapter.

The only questions I have for you guys are, what do you think about this chapter as a whole? Isn't little boy Ryan the purest bean? Comment it all down below!!

If you liked it, give this chapter a vote and comment down your thoughts. Anyways, thanks for reading, and I'll see you guys later. Bye!!