Even though this story is a re-upload at the request of a reader, there are changes when compared to the previous version. If you have already read this story, you won't see much difference. And since there are changes, each chapter will be posted throughout the days instead of all together because of some issues. Anyway, for the ones who haven't read it yet, I might as well welcome you to a new story.

Chapter 1

Ciel packed his things and closed the door of his empty apartment. It was after lunch time and the sky was beautiful, save a few clouds. He lived alone, his parents were abroad, and he was a twenty year-old young man chasing a dream. All he carried was his wallet, house keys in case he would want to return and a backpack with most of his clothes. He was determined. He was not coming back.

He stopped before a ticket machine of the train station, pulled his wallet out, pressed the button of his destination, and paid for his ticket. With his ticket in hand and his wallet back in his pocket, he ran to the respective platform. He noticed people looking at him. Some girls giggled and some men followed him with their eyes. Brushing it off, Ciel finally stepped into the train. Everyone was already inside and had taken their seats.

Ciel took a deep breath as he walked through the narrow corridor. Most had their eyes fixed on him. He just looked forward and sat down once he saw two empty seats.

He placed his backpack next to him and pulled out his headphones and MP3. His relaxation was cut short when he noticed someone familiar a few seats away, facing him from the outer seat. The young man noticed the seat next to him was open, and picked up his things, hurrying to the man before someone saw him. "May I?" he asked politely.

"Of course," the man sat straight and motioned the youth to the empty seat next to him.

"Thanks," Ciel sat down and placed his backpack between his legs. "Excuse me?" he murmured and the man slowly looking at him.

"Yes?" the taller male asked with a curious look.

"Are you... Bard?" Ciel tried to hide the excitement from his voice.

The blond man looked away for a second. "How do you know? Have you seen me in the show?"

"Yes, and I'm heading there right now. I want to join actually," Ciel smiled slightly, trying to look friendly.

Bard looked at Ciel with a surprise expression. "Really? I can be a guide for you and take you there, then," he chuckled wholeheartedly with his deep voice.

"T-Thank you." The youth took a deep breath and put his headphones in. This part of the trip wouldn't take as long, so he didn't bother sleeping; he occupied himself by listening to rock music and looking out the window.

About five minutes later, the train stopped and Ciel and Bard stepped out. "How do you know that we're looking for someone to join us?" the blond male asked out of curiosity.

"A friend told me," Ciel said. So far, everything was going according to plan. If he was lucky and determined, he was going to work for the circus.

"Alright, I wish you luck. The boss it really strict," Bard warned as they walked away from the station.

When they arrived to a seemingly empty field, Bard raised his hands towards an enormous, colorful tent. "Welcome to Fantasy Circus!" he almost yelled, startling the youth. "Let's talk to Sebastian; he's the boss." The blond smiled widely and led the young man to the entrance.

"Hey, is that supposed to be walking around?" Ciel shouted and pointed at a lion passing by him.

"Some animals escape, but they won't run away from the camp." Bard continued his stride.

Ciel wouldn't take another step. "Run away? What if they kill someone?" He flinched as the lion came close to his being. Unconsciously, he hid behind Bard. "Eat him instead." He gave the blond a light push forward.

"What's with the mess here?" an unfamiliar voice barked. The owner of the voice took notice of the youth at the entrance of the circus.

When Ciel looked over his shoulder and heard who it was, he quickly turned around. His eyes widened and shined as if he was looking at a god dressed in formal attire. "Sebastian Michaelis."

"Correct. What business do you have with me?" Sebastian approached the lion, stroking it lightly under the chin.

"I want to enter Fantasy Circus," Ciel replied immediately, and stepped closer to him.

Sebastian's eyebrow twitched and he turned around after dismissing Bard and the lion. "You can't just enter a circus. Do you have any experience?"

"Uh..." Ciel was taken aback, but he wasn't going to give up on his dream, "I don't have experience working for a circus, but since I was young I've been in many sports. I want to be an equilibrist, do some hand balance or become a contortionist."

"Hmm..." Sebastian made up something in his mind. "Elizabeth!" he called when he spotted the blonde girl.

She hurried towards him, taking notice of Ciel. "Yes?"

"Show this boy some of your contortionist skills." Sebastian grinned at Ciel.

Elizabeth smiled. "Of course!" The girl stepped onto the wide red carpet and used her arms to support her body weight.

Ciel watched her back bend as her feet rested on her head. She then positioned herself perfectly straight while her toes pointed up, doing the splits before slowly bending her back to normal. She landed straight on her feet. "It's wonderful when men can do it, considering men don't have as much flexibility."

"I trained all these years for something," Ciel said determinedly. He dropped his backpack and made a quick warm-up.

Sebastian watched the small youth's focused look and movements, eager to see his skills. "Come on, I don't have all day. We have a show tonight to prepare for."

"I'm done." Ciel arranged his shirt. Sebastian, Elizabeth and a curious lion stood before him.

When he shook his nervousness away, he made the back and forth splits easily, then lifted himself up with his thin yet strong and long arms, and circled himself. He did the splits upside-down just like Elizabeth. He raised his head, looking forward, and noticed the girl staring at him in surprise. Even so, he didn't like the 'I'm not impressed' look on Sebastian's face. After a few seconds he joined his feet and bent his back enough until the top of his head could almost reach the back of his knees, not just the feet. However, he couldn't hold it any longer and landed on his feet on the carpet.

His hips were in pain because he didn't stretch his body properly. Ciel picked up his backpack and put it back on. "So?" he asked after a moment and looked carefully at the taller male's facial expression.

Sebastian shoved his hands into his coat's pockets. "It'll get better with time. Please keep in mind that the audience likes to see the performers smile. That may not be second nature to you, but it needs to be. Before we can let you in, you have to take a few tests. Everyone here did. If you don't pass, I don't want to hear you whine," he answered.

Ciel nodded, his face emotionless. He didn't want to be dependent of someone else, but he had to. "When will that be?"

"It takes time to learn everything about the circus: the traveling, the problems that might come up, and the workers. Even the lions are workers and are paid with food and shelter, so don't treat them like they're freaks of nature," Sebastian said almost coldly and looked at Elizabeth. "Show him around, introduce him to everyone, and then bring him to me." His crimson eyes returned to the youth. "What's your name and how old are you?"

"Ciel Phantomhive, and I'm eighteen." He noticed the awkward look on Sebastian's face. Ciel tore his eyes from Sebastian to follow Elizabeth as she went toward two clowns. "How long have you been working here?"

"Since I was five," she told him with a wide smile. "Well, not exactly working here, but I was doing voluntary work as a clown with permission from my parents. Sebastian was my mentor up until a year ago when he became the ringmaster."

"I see." Ciel scanned his surroundings. He admired that the girl had stuck with the circus for so long. "How old are you?" he asked while looking at a man balancing a chair with the tip of his foot.

"I'm eighteen, just like you. What a coincidence." Elizabeth chuckled. She poked the shoulder of one of the clowns.

"Yes?" the blond clown asked as he turned around. He instantly took notice of the young man who stood beside Elizabeth.

"This is Ciel. He'll be part of our circus if he passes the test!" Elizabeth patted Ciel's shoulder. "He's really flexible, too."

"That's great to hear! I'm Finny." The clown extended his hand to Ciel.

"Nice to meet you," Ciel answered, shaking his hand. So far, everyone was friendly and seemed to like their job.

"Sorry, but I have to go practice the choreography William prepared for me. I'll see you in a bit." He hopped onto his unicycle, and waved at them as he left.

Ciel made a disgruntled expression. "He doesn't look like a clown with fitted clothing."

Elizabeth gave him a knowing glance. She started, "We've changed the Fantasy Circus's concept—Well, Sebastian did when he became the ringmaster when his father passed away. Our circus is only for adults at night. Originally, we only did it like that for a few special nights, but it was a huge hit. So, we decided to make it permanent."

"I'm sorry to hear that." They rounded the corner of a tent, and Ciel's eyes grew as he took in the life around him: clowns, dancers, animals and jugglers. What caught his attention the most, though, were the triplets whose faces were exactly alike.

"Timber," she called and they faced them. "The four of us joined the circus around the same time, so I can easily tell who is who. This is Timber, Canterbury and the quiet Thompson."

She raised her hand, presenting Ciel. "Guys, this is Ciel." As she spoke, a crowd gathered around them, curious about the newcomer. "I guess you'll get to know who everyone is when you interact with them! We would waste a lot of time with this." Elizabeth chuckled.

Ciel waved at all of them. "It's nice to meet all of you."

"All of them have more than one job here," she said, "Fantasy Circus is still rising and we can't afford having too many people with us. We do need one more member to help and a handyman, though." She then started off again, "You'll meet more people later on. Now, I'm going to take you inside the tent where the animals are being trained. You can't be scared of them. Then, we'll go meet Sebastian in his trailer; he has his own. The girls have one and the guys have another."

"Doesn't sound fair to me," Ciel commented, a hint of annoyance in his voice as they strolled to the tent.

"Well, some people come and go as artists, but he's been here since the beginning, so I think that he deserves some privacy after living with so many people." She smiled as they stepped into the tent.

"I suppose." Ciel did agree to some extent, but it still annoyed him. He shoved his hands in his pockets while scanning the well lit tent. When two lions approached him, he froze. Ciel quickly raised his hands in surrender. "Nice beasts," he said as he walked backwards slowly, going until he bumped against someone. When he looked over his shoulder, his eyes turned up slowly and widened at the sight of Sebastian's face so close to his.

"I told you to cope with them. If you fail that test, you're not going to be part of this circus," the tall man spoke lowly and made his way around the Ciel. "Leo is the leader among the lions and is the older one. He's very affectionate toward humans." Grasping the younger male's hand, Sebastian led him in the direction of the large feline.

"No, I don't want...!" Ciel's protested when his hand came into contact with the lion's soft mane. Leo gently pulled Ciel's hand with his mouth until he was in a sitting position before the large feline. The lion leaned forward, licking the youth's forehead affectionately.

"See? He doesn't want to harm you," Sebastian assured him. His voice held a kind tone as he watched their interaction.

Ciel was taken aback by the Sebastian's change of mood, but didn't look at him. Instead, he reluctantly patted Leo's mane, and wiped his forehead. "He's really docile after all," Ciel murmured and stood up.

"Now that you're not afraid of them, I have to ask if you have any other animal phobias," Elizabeth added, catching Ciel's attention.

"I don't like tarantulas and bulls." Ciel heard a quiet chuckle from behind him. Frowning, he turned around, arms crossed. "What's so funny?"

"Why are you afraid of bulls?" Sebastian's laughter became louder.

"A few years ago I went to Spain with my parents and a bull almost ran me over. That's a good reason to be afraid of them. If I broke any bones, I wouldn't be able to continue in gymnastics, martial arts, and other things that I did over the years." Ciel tried not to frown at him, but he was made fun of.

Sebastian looked at him curiously. "What other things did you do?"

"I was..." Ciel paused, deciding to explain himself before being misjudged, "I wanted to have some money when I was in the last year of high-school, but I could only work at night, so I was a professional pole dancer..." he uttered the last two words almost inaudibly. Ciel looked away when Sebastian stared at him in disbelief, "...at a gay bar," he whispered. Ciel could almost feel himself shrinking when Sebastian's crimson eyes widened.

Sebastian blinked a few times before he spoke. "You weren't a male prostitute, but I wasn't expecting you do something like that." He then sighed. "Anyway, let's go to my trailer. I want to talk more with you," Sebastian changed the topic as he turned to the girl still in shock by what she heard. "Elizabeth, you have to practice now."

"Yes." She ran off to the backstage.

Sebastian returned his attention to the young man. "Come with me."

"Y-Yes." Ciel's heartbeat quickened as he followed him. To him, even though Sebastian sounded arrogant, he was good-looking.

Sebastian opened the door of his trailer and stepped inside, followed by Ciel. "I'll get you a seat."

"Thanks." Ciel took in his surroundings. The trailer's interior looked expensive to say the least. On the ceiling, in the middle of the trailer, a large plasma screen was hung, mobile at the owners' will. A door seemed to be shielding a bathroom close to the end of the vehicle. The furniture was folded in the kitchen area. An almost opaque door across the trailer was slightly open and a large bed.

Sebastian unfolded a table and took two white chairs from a corner, placing them on each side of it. "So, where are your parents?"

"They're working around Asia. I worked at a bar for a while so they wouldn't pay everything for me. My mom always calls me Cookie. If they call to check on me and want to talk to you, don't be too surprised." Ciel watched Sebastian crossing his arms over the table.

"If it's to that extent, they don't mind if you work under me, right Cookie? You don't mind if I'm six years older, do you?" Sebastian grinned when Ciel's cheeks were shaded red.

"Only my mom can call me that. And you sound like a pervert," Ciel muttered. The only thing left to do was to pass the test. Then, he would be an official member of Fantasy Circus. Just one more task to complete and he'd make it.

Ciel and Sebastian were stuck in an awkward silence. "What kind of test are you going to make me do?" Ciel asked in expectation.

"For now you passed a couple of them: the fear of lions, and getting to know most of the members from the circus," Sebastian told him. "Follow me; I'm going to make you a complete test. I can't spend all day with you because I have a meeting to attend to and supervising to do. You can leave your backpack here; there's no need to carry it around."

"Okay." Ciel glanced at his backpack before he followed Sebastian out of the trailer. "Wait, aren't you going to lock the door?" He stopped when Sebastian continued walking.

"We are honest people, alright?" Sebastian led the youth toward the tent.

Ciel clenched his jaw. He never cared if anyone had their feelings hurt, but he was angry at himself when he saw the other's expression of slight disappointment. As he walked into the tent, he could see that even the rows of seats were used for practice. A lot of the members stretched vigorously as the time for the first show of the day approached. The youth stopped when he saw someone shirtless with their arms entangled in two black straps hanged from the top of the tent.

As if he knew who Ciel was looking at, Sebastian pointed to the person hanging upside-down and training for an aerial performance. "That's Agni. He does many of the aerial acts here. Now, let's test you."

"Yes." Ciel tried to stop his heart from quickly beating as Sebastian peeled off his coat, then his shirt, revealing a tight torso of an athlete. "What are we going to do?" he quickly asked as the older man went to the center of the circus ring and dropped the clothes. 'Oh,' he thought when Sebastian reached his hand to him. Ciel blushed slightly and approached him.

"Show me your balance," Sebastian told him once the youth's small hand was held by his. He leaned on his side. "Give me your other hand."

Ciel noticed everyone was looking at them, as if they wanted to see how he would perform. "You're going to lift me up, am I right?" he asked so he could be prepared. Sebastian nodded and he held the other's hand. With a short yet strong push, the Ciel was lifted up and above the tall man with the support of his arms.

"Look at me," Sebastian said and Ciel turned his eyes down. "You always have to interact with your partner."

"Yes," the youth said quietly and both stood still, looking into each other's eyes. Ciel's view of their relationship started to change as the seconds passed. He right then and there developed stronger feelings toward Sebastian.

"You can be like this for a while without losing your arms' strength. That's good." Sebastian placed the younger male down. "Now I want you to walk around the ring on your hands one time. I want to see if your arms won't give in."

Ciel took a short deep breath and lifted his feet from the floor. He supported his body-weight on his hands. He was annoyed that his arms almost gave in.

Sebastian gazed and turned, following the youth's movements. To him, Ciel looked steady, his legs didn't move too much and his hands were spread properly.

A moment later, the whole turn was made and the youth stood up straight, shaking his arms as his muscles burned in exhaustion. He needed to practice more than usual if he was to stay in the circus. "What's next?" Ciel asked, a small frown forming between his eyebrows.

"Don't make that face if you're tired. We're practicing, so you don't have to smile, but don't make a face like that. It makes it seem like you don't enjoy what you're doing. I'm still thinking if you should be part of my circus. Not everyone will accept someone who doesn't have formal training," Sebastian commented while rubbing his finger between the other's eyebrows.

Ciel turned his eyes away, trying not to blush. "I know," he murmured.