This is Where you Want to Be (Barlyle)

Chapter Seven

After P.T. had let the first punch fly, the troupe moved in behind him and began fighting the thugs. Phillip was momentarily forgotten about, and he watched as Barnum hit the man over and over again, and even when the man fell to his knees, he kept on hitting. Phillip frowned. He saw such rage on P.T.'s face, but even though it was rage for him, it made Phillip's stomach turn. He'd seen rage like that before, on his father's face, on the night that he had slept on the floor of the circus with P.T.. Phillip staggered over and grabbed Phineas's arm.
"That's enough, Phin," he said, glancing at the man on the floor. "He's not a threat anymore."
Phineas looked at Phillip, and the younger man watched the fight go out of his eyes. He sighed.
"I'm sorry Phillip. About earlier. It was a stupid thing to say, and it probably seemed like I was mocking you-"
"No, no, not at all!" Phillip protested, but Phineas pressed a finger to his lips to silence him.
"I shouldn't have been so foolish, Phillip , I'm sorry."
Phillip forced a smile. "It's fine, Phin. Now we should probably stop Lettie from murdering these men, because I have no doubt she will if we let her."
"You're probably right, as usual," P.T. mouth quirked up like he was trying not to smile. Phillip felt a rush go to his head. No matter how much he wanted to stay mad at the showman, sometimes he was just too adorable to resist.
Barnum pulled Lettie off one of the men and gently ordered the troupe to wait outside. They reluctantly walked out, followed closely by the thugs, but they knew now not to mess with the performers; they'd learnt the hard way. Barnum turned back to Phillip.
    "It really is fine, Phineas. We all make mistakes," Phillip said.
    Barnum nodded, then glanced behind Phillip at the bar's window. He chuckled.
    "Oh, grow up Lettie," he murmured. Phillip frowned, and turned around to see Lettie making lewd gestures towards the two of them, the troupe laughing at her. Phillip shook his head, blushing.
    Quite suddenly he was aware of P.T.'s hands on his shoulders. Barnum spun Phillip around to face him, smiling, and with a muttered, "Curse you Lettie," he pressed his lips to Phillip's. Phillip's eyes widened in disbelief and pleasure, taken aback.
    A chorus of cheers went up from outside the bar; Lettie and Anne and everyone else was watching them through the window, and all were equally ecstatic with the goings-on.
    Barnum broke the kiss, and raised an eyebrow at Phillip.
    "You... you kissed me?" Phillip was struggling to get his head around what had just happened.
    P.T. rolled his eyes and smiled. "Good lord, Phillip, how many hints do you need? I slept in the same bed as you, bought you a flat, I even straight up asked you to kiss me, and you still don't see it, do you?"
    Phillip swallowed.
    "The reason I felt I had to divorce Charity was you. Because love sometimes doesn't last, and ours didn't. It was probably gone before Helen was born. And then you show up, Phillip, and god knows how cute you were the first time I saw you, in your waistcoat and bow tie, and I knew I was a goner."
    Phillip looked up at the showman, the beautiful brown eyes filled with love and warmth, all directed at him. He smiled.
    "Take me home, Barnum," he whispered, and Phineas beamed, lines from years of laughter wrinkling around his eyes as he took Phillip's hand and pulled him outside. The troupe cheered and laughed as they two took off into the night, and Lettie shouted after them.
    "We'll start rehearsing early tomorrow, you two probably won't be there til late!"
    "Shut up Lettie!" P.T. yelled over his shoulder, but he was laughing.

Sorry for the short chapter but that was a rather good place to stop, wasn't it?