A Fate Woven in Thread and Ink (3/5)
Summary: Two people are trained from childhood for a magical competition they don’t fully understand, whose stakes are higher than they imagine, all to be played out in a magical traveling circus. Falling in love complicates things. A CS AU of the book “The Night Circus”.
Rated M. ~16.5k. Also on Ao3. On Tumblr: Chapter One Chapter Two
A/N: I’m excited to present the next chapter in this fic - this time as part of the @cshistfic event! Thanks, as always, to @snidgetsafan and @ohmightydevviepuu for beta-ing this, and to @eirabach for the header art. The art, guys! Seriously! Look at it! Isn’t it gorgeous? I’m in awe.
Tagging the interested parties (and let me know if you’re one of those!): @welllpthisishappening, @thisonesatellite, @let-it-raines, @kmomof4, @scientificapricot, @thejollyroger-writer, @superchocovian, @teamhook, @optomisticgirl, @winterbaby89, @searchingwardrobes, @katie-dub, @snowbellewells, @spartanguard, @phiralovesloki, @profdanglaisstuff, @winterbythesea, @stahlop
Enjoy - and let me know what you think!
~~~~~
Killian has imagined this moment so many times over the years: the things he’d say, the things she’d say if things were ever out in the open between them.
None of them had ever involved an umbrella.
All the same, the moment feels right in a way that Killian can’t describe, like things were always leading to this. Fate has brought them to this moment, and now, the universe can finally exhale.
“It’s you,” Miss Swan finally says. Other women might have whispered it, or breathed it, or some other melodramatic gesture, but the circus’ magician has, ironically, always been made of more practical stuff. When Miss Swan speaks, the words are acceptance, the last action needed to fully recalibrate the world as she knows it.
“Indeed,” he finally says. Any scripts have been thrown out the window as they stand here under identical umbrellas.
“How long have you known?”
“Since the beginning,” he admits without pause. There’s no point to obscuring or lying deflecting. “Since your audition. You were… different. The things you were doing were real, even if they were so obviously different from my own efforts. It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together.”
“I see.”
A silence stretches between them, though it is somehow not uncomfortable. It feels like she’s sizing him up, perhaps trying to piece together their previous encounters with this new information. He would not blame her; he’d be doing the same in her shoes. It’s been over a decade that he’s known, after all.
“May I interest you in a drink? A chance to talk this over?” Killian offers as a last resort.
And then - she smiles.
