I'm In Love With An Illusionist

Hello! I’ve not updated for a while now but I suddenly got an urge to finish a short story that I began writing on in fall last year.

I have always loved magician and illusion shows, and I love burlesque and the extravagant clothes they wear on that type of shows, and so that brought me the idea of writing a cute story about just that. I wanted to combine all of these different kinds of shows into one, and it’s a shame there’s no real shows like these. Not that I know about at least. I know there’s illusion and magic shows, and burlesque shows – but nothing that combines all of these. *sad*

I have also a passion for creepy carnival themes and broken marionettes, so I also put some of these elements in this story too.

The story is about a young magician/illusionist that has an underground theatre in Berlin, and the word about these very magnificent shows has reached a newspaper office. The journalist Bastian is getting the task to go to one of these shows to review it for the paper, but he gets so overwhelmed from the show that he wants to impress his boss and make an interview with the mysterious and hard to catch illusionist. But a golden “ticket” turns his luck and suddenly he is caught off guard by the promiscuous illusionist.

(A tip: I used the album from Nox Arcana called "Carnival of Lost Souls" as a mood setter for the second show in this story. It's an awesome and creepy album. Check it out! ♥)

(Picture by me. Not as nearly as good as Lamunan's in the Vocaloid-stories, but still! xD)

The 27 year old Bastian Weiß stared at the very expensive ticket in his hands. It said “Star Struck Illusion” on it and a dark silhouette of a man with a top hat stood in a powerful pose next to the seat number and address of the theater.

“This is your next coverage. It’s a theater owned by a young man who performs as an illusionist. We have gotten some suggestions from our readers who wish us to make a review of this place. The place is gaining popularity fast,” his boss said. “It is fully booked a few months ahead, but I managed to get a hold of a ticket from an acquaintance.”

“It’s a magic show? Is this place really that popular? Why haven’t I heard of it?” Bastian asked, and his boss gave him a cynical smile.

“Maybe you’re not the man for the job? The place is underground but popular, and the performance is full of sexual content and brutality. Maybe you’re too innocent for that place?”

Bastian got angry. Just because he didn’t have had a girlfriend for a few years now didn’t mean that he was a virgin and clueless. He had his perversions too.

“No, I’ll take it! I just have to sit there and watch the show and then write a review of it, right? I’ll get it done. No problem!”

His voice sounded determined and a little too irritated than he meant it to be. But his boss gave him a pat on the shoulder and wished him good luck and walked away to yell at an intern who messed up a pile of papers.  Bastian stared at the ticket again and wondered what kind of place it could be. If it had gained such a huge amount of popularity in a short while, then the place must be a good one. Little did he know that he was too naïve thinking like that.

He arrived an hour before the show was supposed to start. As he stood up from the taxi he could see the big crowd outside the entrance waiting to get in as two doormen checked the tickets and let the customers in one by one. A thought hit Bastian as he watched the crowd; it consisted of mostly men and just a few women. Was it a strip club? But why were the people so dressed up for a place like that? Almost everyone in the crowd wore formal dressing.

What’s going on?, he thought as he joined the line and waited to get inside.

As he sat down on his seat and waited for the show to begin he pulled out a small notebook and a pen to write down thoughts about the show. He heard people talking behind him very enthusiastically about the show, and he pierced up his ears. It was two middle aged men.

“I really hope he’s in the mood today and that I’ll be the lucky one to catch the golden ticket to paradise,” one of them said with a low voice.

“You mean the rumors are true? The magician really sleeps with people from the audience?” the other one said surprised.

“You haven’t been here before? Yes, it’s true. If he’s in the mood for a roll in the hay he throws out a bunch of condoms to the audience and the one who gets the golden one gets to use it and sleep with him after the show. I’ve been going to his shows a dozen times now and never caught a single one. I’ve booked a ticket to every one of his shows for two months forward now to be able to at least meet the boy.”

“Are you serious?” the other one exclaimed quietly. “I’ve heard that the shows are pretty hot and wild too. And that he’s probably the best illusionist in the whole world. Why would he do something like that?”

Bastian heard a laugh from behind him.

“The rumor says that he doesn’t like publicity and he wants to keep it simple and be free to do whatever he wants. So that’s why he chooses to work on his own in this underground theatre of his, and sleep with the audience if he’s in the mood. I thank God every day for this boy wonder. Even if I don’t get a golden condom I still enjoy the show very much. He changes the theme for every six performances, so it never gets boring either. He performs two times a week.”

Brian continued to listen to their conversation in a state of shock. The more experienced one talked about the illusionist like he was a god. Was the illusionist that good? And what kind of show was it? It sounded more and more like a weird kind of strip club. He couldn’t believe that he hadn’t heard of the show if it was this controversial. He knew a lot of strip clubs and brothels in Berlin, but he had never heard of a place like this.

Suddenly it became dark and the lights around the stage began to move like before a concert was about to start. Then they flashed brighter and went black, and a small dim light shone at the curtains. Smoke welled out from hidden smoke machines and a heavy but slow hip hop beat sounded through the theatre. The tension was building up as the curtains rose and behind them Bastian could see a small silhouette with a top hat and huge rabbit ears on the head. It was too dark to see what the person looked like, but Bastian could clearly see that it was a young man. He stood in the same pose as the silhouette on the ticket; his legs crossed with one in front of the other, and one of his hands held onto the visor on the top hat as the other rested on top of the hat. It was a very feminine pose, but it suited the figure of the silhouette.

As the heavy hip hop beat suddenly stopped a new song began. It was a very heavy electro beat with a dirty and sexy sound, and at the same moment the spotlights shone up the stage and revealed the man behind the silhouette. Bastian was about to jump up from his seat as he saw the kid. He had platinum blonde hair in a boyish haircut, and he didn’t look more than 16 years old. His body and face was so young that Bastian wondered if he should call the cops. But then he remembered that the kid had gotten an approval to work like this from the authorities and thus he had to be over 18 years old. He had a short tight top which ended right under his chest, short hot-pants and black shoes that looked like ballerina shoes. On his wrists and ankles he had white cuffs and around his neck he had a white collar with a red bowtie. He looked more or less like a boyish version of the Playboy bunny.

The boy smiled in a very alluring and seductive way and his eyes had a special glint to them. He was very attractive, and he became even more attractive as he began to move like a seductress as he walked straight to the edge of the stage. The crowd applauded and the kid blinked to a man on the front row. Then suddenly a bang echoed in the theatre and the stage suddenly got covered with smoke and the kid was gone. The audience applauded again, and two women in shiny and sexy costumes came out with a black closet on wheels. As they opened it the kid jumped out and took a bow against the audience.

The show consisted of seductive dance combined with a streak of humor. It reminded Bastian of American burlesque shows where female nudity was in the centre of attention combined with dance and parody. The kid managed to move with great precision like professional feminine dancer while he danced and played through sketches on the stage. He combined the dance and sketches with his magical illusions, and Bastian felt like the kid’s sense of performance blew his mind into oblivion. The show was brutal with the kid hiding in a box and the women sticking swords into it, or that he was decapitated in a guillotine - but the kid was still fine and danced around the stage and continued his humorous style of teasing the sexual senses of the audience like nothing had happened.

I have to make an interview with him to go along with the review!, Bastian thought. He wanted to make an article about the show and the kid.

“Thank you for coming tonight!” the boy said in the microphone given to him as the show was about to end. He was out of breath and sweaty from the dancing and running around on the stage. “I hope you’ve enjoyed the show and are leaving this theatre with a sense of satisfaction. My name is Alex and me and my assistants thank you deeply for coming to see our humble performance. I hope to see you soon again!” He and the girls on the stage bowed and the audience applauded. Many stood up to show their appreciation for the kid’s performance. “But before I go I have a present for a lucky one in the audience.”

The girls ran behind the stage and came back with a golden canon and people in the audience gasped and murmured with anticipation.

“I will grant a wish to one of you in the audience after the show. If you grab the golden ‘ticket’ show it to the butler waiting in the lobby, and he will show you back stage to meet me in person. If you don’t know what I mean by ‘wish’, then I guess you’ll find it out as I fire off the canon.” He smiled a boyish smile as he bowed again with his top hat in one hand, and the audience laughed. “Thank you once again!”

He pulled the string on the canon and at the same time a puff of smoke covered him and he disappeared once again as the content of the canon rained down on the audience. Bastian felt something hit him in the head and as he looked down on the floor he saw a golden flash next to his right shoe. He picked it up and stared at it dumbfounded as he realized it was the golden condom. He looked around at the other people in the audience as they tried to grab as many condoms as they could in hope of one of them being the golden one, but now Bastian had it. He hid it in his jacket pocket and pretended like nothing. Behind him he could hear the middle aged man curse at his luck at not getting the golden condom.

Bastian waited until the theatre was emptied before he dared to take out the golden condom. He had been afraid of people jumping him if he had shown his catch in front of them. He walked through the corridor and down the huge stairs to the lobby. The interior of the theatre looked like an old opera house. At the bottom of the stairs he could see an old butler who he was supposed to show the condom to.

“Um… Excuse me,” he began, and the butler turned his eyes at him and gave him a smile that only butlers could smile.

“I assume you sir are the one who got the golden ‘ticket’?” the butler asked, and Bastian swallowed hard and nodded. He showed the condom to the old man and then the butler bowed and made a gesture to follow him. “This way, sir.”

Bastian came in behind the stage and stared at all the weird things which stood all over the back stage room. There were different kinds of closets and make-up tables, and a huge amount of things that he didn’t even know what they were.

“Please, wait here and the young master will accompany you in a minute,” the old butler then said and bowed to Bastian before he closed the door to behind the stage and Bastian was left alone.

He looked around the room again and felt an urge to touch the things he saw. He examined a weird kind of top hat which had roses and fake butterflies attached to it. He shifted his attention to a closet that stood in a corner and wondered what weird things that one would contain. He walked across the room and stood in front of it and put his hand on the handle. He opened the closet.

“Gyaaah!” he yelled as he stumbled backwards and finally fell to the floor on his ass. The boy in front of him giggled as he looked at him with a teasing smile on his young and beautiful face. When Bastian had opened the closet doors the boy had been standing inside, and that surprised and scared him. “Jeez! Were you going to give me a heart attack?” Bastian sighed, and the boy laughed and jumped out from the closet and reached out his hand to help Bastian up from the floor. He grabbed the hand and was helped up.

“I’m sorry for scaring you. It’s just that literally everyone who gets invited behind the stage opens that closet, so I’ve gotten the habit to hide inside it and scare them. You could say it’s a part of the show.”

The boy’s voice was serene and beautiful. It was like hearing an angel whisper. But at the same time there was something in the boy’s voice that gave Bastian the feeling of him being very confident and strong willed. Bastian stared at him. He was now dressed in a white bathrobe and had his towel hanging around his neck. His hair was wet and he smelled of soap and shampoo.

“So who might you be?” the boy then asked as he looked Bastian in the eyes in a seductive manner.

“I’m Bastian Weiß, a reporter from a newspaper about city night life and stuff that you can do here. It’s called Alles Über Berlin. Maybe you’ve heard of it?” he asked, and the boy got a frowning smile on his face.

“I suppose you want to make an interview with me?” he asked, and Bastian cleared his throat.

“If you don’t mind I would be happy to. Your show is amazing! It combines illusions and magic with sexual dance numbers and parody. It’s something I’ve never seen before. It would be an honor to write the article about you and your style of performance.”

Alex sighed.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want any attention in the media. So I have to turn your kind offer down,” he said with an apologetic smile. “But I hope you still want your price for getting hold of the golden ‘ticket’?”

Bastian’s mind went blank and he stared at the boy not knowing what to say. The boy continued:

“I don’t kiss on the lips, but everything else if fine.”

“Um…” Bastian still didn’t know what to say. It was so awkward. Sure, the boy was beautiful and attractive even though he was of the same sex as Bastian, but he looked so young and small. It was hard for Bastian to imagine that this kid had had sex with probably hundreds of men and maybe women from the audience before. “How old are you exactly?” he then asked, and Alex giggled and backed away to a pillar and smiled mischievously.

“How old do you want me to be?” he asked and disappeared behind the pillar.

“What do you mean?” Bastian asked, and then he heard laughter from behind him. As he turned around the boy appeared from behind the pillar on the other side of the room. It had gone so fast that it was impossible for the boy to run across the room in that speed without Bastian seeing him. “Hey! How do you do that?” he asked shocked, and Alex laughed again.

“It is…” be began and disappeared behind the same pillar again. Then the next second Bastian heard “… magic!” from behind him and he turned around to the first pillar and there the boy stood leaning from behind it with a grin on his face. “Or do you not believe in magic?”

“I don’t, but I don’t exactly know what the trick is either. Maybe you’ve got a doppelganger?” he said, and Alex gave him a childish pouting.

“Give me something that’s yours and yours only,” he said and reached out a hand to Bastian.

Bastian rummaged around in his pockets and tried to find something that he could use. Then he found his apartment key. “Here,” He gave the key to the boy who thanked him and held the key in his hand. He closed the fist around the key, blew on it and when he opened his hand the key was gone.

“Open that little box on the table right under the birdcage,” Alex said and pointed at a box on the other side of the room.

Bastian did as he was told and when he opened the box and looked at the key he immediately recognized it as his original of the apartment key.

“H-how in the world…?” He didn’t know what to say and stared at the key and then at the boy.

“I told you. It’s magic,” Alex said and chuckled. “Now, shall we go to my room?” he then asked and moved closer to Bastian. “I’m getting impatient here. I’ll show you more magic tricks after we’re done if you want me to. Just give me some fun first.”

“Are you serious?” Bastian asked and backed away from the kid and hit his back against the wall next to the table with the small box. Alex came even closer and looked at him with such seductive eyes that it felt like Bastian was being hypnotized or drugged. “I-I don’t swing that way, you know.”

“It doesn’t matter. I may have a flat chest but other than that there is not much difference between a man and woman during sex. You don’t need to like men to have sex with one, and I’m not the typical man. I look young and inviting, right? I’ll do whatever you want me to do. Just let me have some fun with you.”

Alex’s voice made Bastian drunk. It had to be a spell. He was so out of it that he wasn’t even sure of if the situation was real or a dream. He felt Alex take a hold of his hand and pull him along, and Bastian followed without knowing why. He couldn’t almost see because of his half closed eyelids. He was feeling sleepy but had still a huge amount of energy in his body. As he saw the boy’s neck peak through the collar to the bathrobe he felt an urge to rip the robe off of him and push the boy down to the floor. It wasn’t like him at all. His instincts were being toyed with by something, and the last thing he remembered from that night was when they got into the room and Alex turned around to open up Bastian’s shirt and lick his chest. Then he had whispered “Fuck me,” and then his mind went blank.

In the morning when Bastian woke up he felt groggy and his body was sore. It felt like he had gotten a military workout, and when he opened his eyes he saw the pretty magician sleeping next to him. He looked very childish as he slept, and Bastian sighed.

What happened last night?, he thought and massaged his temples. He had a small head ache.

Then he noticed he was naked under the blanket, and so was Alex. Being naked and the feeling in his body and crotch told him everything he needed to know. He had had sex with Alex. He hurried up from the bed and dressed himself. His clothes were scattered across the whole floor and his boxers hung on a lampshade next to the bed.

What the…?!, he sighed as he took them down from the lamp.

During the commotion Alex woke up and yawned. He sat up and watched Bastian as he dressed himself with stressed hands, and laughed when Bastian buttoned his shirt wrong.

“You’re okay?” he asked, and Bastian turned around and watched him for a few seconds. As his cog-wheels began turning again in his brain he got furious.

“What did you do to me yesterday?! Did you drug me or something?!” he yelled, but Alex didn’t seem to be bothered by the man’s anger. He just yawned again. “And do you know that this counts as rape even though I was the one on top?! I’ll sue you!”

Alex smiled and stretched out his limbs before he looked at Bastian with his childish grin.

“Did I offer you anything to eat or drink yesterday?” he asked, and Bastian thought for a while.

“No. You didn’t.”

“Then how in the world could I have drugged you?” Alex asked again and lay down on the bed and looked at Bastian with his seductive eyes.

Bastian felt confused and thought for a while, but the kid was right.

“You got a point there, but…” he began but Alex cut him off.

“And…” Alex got up from bed and stood stark naked in front of Bastian. He clearly liked to show off his body. He pointed at some hickeys on his neck and chest. “… You were kind of a wild one. You were worse than a leech on me. Now I have to cover them up with some make-up before I perform. So I don’t think that counts as rape when you were the one who clung to me all night and didn’t want to let me go.”

Bastian felt how his face got hot. He felt so embarrassed when Alex was so blunt with him. Then what the hell happened?, he asked himself.

“But guess what? I’ll give you a VIP-ticket to my next show in three days. It’ll have a new theme and I promise it won’t let you down,” Alex said with a smile and picked up a note from the desk next to the bathroom door. “Give me your e-mail address and I’ll send you an e-ticket.”

“Why would I want to have a ticket to another of your shows?” Bastian asked, and Alex chuckled.

“If you come a second time you may increase your chance to get an interview. Who knows – maybe I’ll give you a very rare and one time only interview to go with your review. How about that?”

That cocky little shit!, Bastian cursed in his mind. But Bastian really wanted to do a great job on this one to get some respect from his boss and show him how capable he was, and thus he gave the kid his e-mail address.

“Great! Thanks! Now you have to excuse me. I have a rehearsal for the next show in three days. I have a lot to do.”

Alex pushed Bastian out of the room and closed the door with a slam. Bastian stood there and stared at the hallway in front of him. He had no idea what had just happened, and he didn’t get an explanation to what happened yesterday either. Something had affected him – or even drugged him during last night’s encounter with the kid. Usually he didn’t go to bed with just anyone. He liked more the traditional way than live a life filled with one-night stands. He wanted to feel something for the girl he slept with. And that really rubbed him the wrong way: He had slept with a guy! He was hetero! No doubt about it. Then why had he jumped into the hay with the kid?

“Damn it!” he muttered and left the theatre.

The days went by and Bastian had finished the review pretty fast. Even though the unpleasant events right after the show he still had to be honest with the review. He had loved the show. There weren’t many illusionists and magicians that made that kind of shows anymore. The kid had swallowed burning swords and caught flying knives with his hands. Those were very dangerous stunts to pull.

The kid also held his promise. The very next day Bastian got an email and a ticket to the kid’s next show, and the email ended with an invitation backstage. Bastian’s boss had been very satisfied with the review and when Bastian told him that he was maybe able to get an interview with the kid his boss had shone brighter than a spotlight in a dark room.

“You’re showing some progress as a journalist now. Don’t let me down!” he had said with a big smile on his face and hit Bastian in the back with a friendly blow.

It was the night for the show and Bastian sat on the first row waiting with the rest of the audience for the show to start. He hung his head and sighed. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to get an interview with the kid. Alex was very strong willed and didn’t like media attention, so to manage to convince him to give Bastian an interview wouldn’t be easy. If he failed his boss would get very disappointed and even angry at him.

I have to do this. Damn it if the kid won’t give me an interview!, he thought and looked up at the stage as a creepy carnival type of music started to play and the lights went dark. The curtains started to rise and revealed a stage that was filled with props that made it look like a creepy cemetery with carnival theme. Suddenly a lightning that looked very realistic flashed across the stage, and then another one. The audience jumped in their seats every time a flash appeared, and the music made the atmosphere so creepy that Bastian felt how his skin started to crawl. The tension was building up along with the frightened feelings, and then a cloaked figure appeared from behind the small broken merry-go-round and came closer the centre of the stage with slow and sneaking movements. When the figure reached the centre of the stage the music had built up the tension in the audience to the point that Bastian gripped the armrests so hard with his hands that his knuckles went white. Then suddenly a flash so bright and loud hit the figure and the audience screamed and gasped, and the little cloaked figure fell to the stage floor with a thud and all went quiet.

Suddenly the audience started to feel worried and Bastian wondered if something had gone wrong? The figure was laying on the floor not moving, and when the audience was getting worried to the point that people were about to stand up and call for help the little figure started to move. It made movements like that of a broken doll and slowly got up from the floor. The cloak fell down from the figure and revealed the young illusionist with clothes of a sexy Victorian style. Everything was tight right down to the boy’s skin. He had a black corset with a white ruffled shirt under it with a high collar, and black tight shorts that disappeared under the white shirt that peaked from under the corset. On his feet he had knee high socks and small black shoes, and on his head he had a little hat with black lace and ribbons held the hat in place with a small bowtie under his chin. His eyes were heavy with dark makeup and his skin was painted grey-white like that of a corpse. Here and there were black painted cracks that made the boy’s skin look like broken porcelain.

The young illusionist moved with incredible precision and really looked like a broken porcelain marionette. It wouldn’t have surprised Bastian if there were actual strings attached to the boy’s limbs. The illusionist walked up to the stage edge and looked at the applauding audience. Even Bastian was so taken aback of Alex’s entrance that his eyes were wide open and he applauded enthusiastically along with everybody else in the theatre.

“Thank you all for coming,” the boy’s serene voice said in the little microphone resting on his chin and ear, but the voice had a creepy tone to it like he was soulless and hollow. “Tonight we have a very special show prepared for you all, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed creating it. I want to warn my lovely masters and mistresses that tonight’s show may be very hard to watch for the sensitive ones. Keep in mind that everything that is happening on this stage is an illusion and magic and not to be alarmed of. Now, let’s start the show! Welcome to the Star Struck Illusion theatre presenting the show ‘Post-mortem Dolls’!”

The show was mind-blowing. The little marionette met its death over and over again in more and more dangerous and brutal stunts, and the illusions were so well made that even when the little marionette was lifted up to the air it looked like someone was lifting and moving him with strings. When he was dropped into a tank with water almost like his strings had been cut off his body moved just like a marionette as he hit the water and sunk to the bottom. No matter what the illusionist went through he had that soulless stare of a doll in his eyes. His courage and posture never wavered. That proved to everybody watching how incredible his abilities really were.

The show ended with the marionette being tossed away by its owner, and as the marionette lay on the stage floor with his limbs in angles that made him look broken, the curtains fell and the audience started applauding and yelling in ecstasy. The music got quiet and out came the illusionist from between the curtains to greet his audience. He bowed as the audience stood up from their seats to continue applauding, and Bastian got a little wink from him as Alex looked up at him where he sat on the front row.

“Thank you very much for accompanying me this lovely evening!” Alex said and stood up to look at his audience. “I hope the show was to your liking and that you didn’t get too scared at the dangerous stunts. This show is a special one and I will only perform this show two more times. Tonight there is no golden ticket. Please understand that this special show is very tough and hard to do, and it makes me very tired.” He made a pause to catch his breath. He was really exhausted. “Thank you once again for coming, and I look forward to seeing you again. Have a good evening, my masters and mistresses.”

As he bowed the lights went completely out, and after a second they lit up again and the illusionist had disappeared. The stage lights went out and the creepy music continued playing as the lights in the theater lit up. The audience was leaving and Bastian followed the flow out through the doors and met the old butler at the end of the stairs. He went up to the old man and showed him the email Alex had sent him, and the butler nodded and gave him that friendly smile and asked Bastian to follow him.

He was shown back stage again and saw the marionette standing next to one of his showgirls talking as the rest of the crew started to clean the stage. The props that were damaged or used was replaced and cleaned up to prepare for the next show.

“… and I think that the wire was damaged because of that. Ask the one responsible for the wires to replace it and check what the cause was. I don’t want that to happen again. It really hurt,” he heard Alex say to the showgirl, and she nodded.

“Yes, I think so too. When I pulled the string I heard a crack and then the wire got lose. I began cold sweating as I saw you fall. Luckily you saved the show and the audience thought that it was a part of it. I’ll have it checked right away,” she said and then gave Alex a kiss on each cheek and left.

“Is there a problem?” Bastian asked as he walked up to the marionette, and Alex got a bright smile on his face and made the soulless marionette look like it was full of life.

“Oh, the handsome journalist came back! I was a little worried that you wouldn’t come again, but then I saw you in the audience I got so happy!” Alex said with a voice filled with joy. “And yes, there was a little accident concerning a wire that broke during the show. But keep that off the record, please?”

Bastian nodded. “Of course! But are you okay?”

Alex got a towel from one of the showgirls that walked past them and Alex started to wipe off the makeup from his face and made him look even creepier.

“Yes, I’m okay. It hurt a great deal but that’s something I have to endure in this industry. Now, do you have some questions for me for that little interview of yours?” Alex asked and took a deep breath.

Bastian stared at him dumbfounded for a few seconds and then asked:

“You’re really going to give me an interview?”

“Certainly! I promised you one, right? But it has to be on my conditions. Deal?”

The kid’s voice and expression was so convincing that Bastian nodded and shook the kid’s hand before he actually realized he had gone right into the illusionist’s trap. Damn it!, he cursed and looked at the grin on the kid’s face. Alex certainly had something up his sleeve, and Bastian had to be careful so that he wasn’t fooled to do anything weird to get this interview.

Alex danced his way up to the merry-go-round on the stage with movements of a ballet-dancer and ordered the curtains to be lifted so that they got the incredible view of the old theatre. It really looked like a theatre for royalty. Alex sat down on one of the horses on the little merry-go-round and pushed the button to make it go round. A traditional merry-go-round song started to play quietly along with the carousel moving.

“Pick a pony!” he laughed and waved to Bastian.

Bastian took the horse behind Alex’s and Alex turned around so that he was riding the merry-go-round backwards.

“So what’s your first question?” he asked, and Bastian took out the notebook from his bag and asked the first question:

“How old are you?”

“19,” Alex answered short.

“When did you start practicing magic and illusions?”

Alex thought for a while and then answered: “Two years.”

Bastian stared bewildered at the kid. Only two years of practice and he was already this good?

“Only two years? Are you serious?” he asked shocked, and Alex chuckled and nodded.

“Let’s say I’m a quick learner,” he said and pushed his tongue out from between his lips in a playful manner. “Next question please!”

They were slowly turning along with the merry-go-round while Bastian asked question after question. There were some questions that Alex didn’t want to answer, and as a professional journalist Bastian had to accept it. He wasn’t the type that tried to force out answers from the ones he interviewed, and instead he continued to the next question.

Alex’s eyes were fixated on him during the whole interview. It made Bastian feel a little uncomfortable because the kid’s stare was so intense that it felt like he was piercing Bastian’s soul.  There was sexual tension in the stare and as Bastian asked the most important question of how the kid learned all those tricks Alex suddenly climbed from his horse to Bastian’s and sat down on the other side of the golden pole and gave the journalist such a smile that Bastian suddenly felt that weird feeling of being drugged, just like the last time he had talked to the kid.

No, I’m losing it again!, he thought and fought back against it.

“Are you okay?” Alex asked innocently, and Bastian looked at him and sighed heavily.

“What are you doing? Are you drugging me again?”

“Drug you?” Alex asked and tilted his head sideways like a doll.

Bastian really felt like he was about to fall down from the horse’s back and had to cling to the pole to prevent him from falling off. He felt how Alex moved himself closer and kissed Bastian’s neck and his hands started to open Bastian’s belt buckle and continued with his pants.

“Don’t be shy, Bastian. Let me have some fun,” the boy whispered in Bastian’s ear, and a tingle coursed throughout his body as Alex played with his intimate parts. Bastian sighed. “Yes, just like that. Give in to me. I know you want it somewhere deep in your subconscious. I see the little glint in your eyes every time you look at me,” Alex whispered seductively into his ear.

“What…?”

Bastian’s mind was so muddled and blurry that he couldn’t really process anything more than the pleasure, and after a while everything went blank like he had lost his consciousness.

As he woke up he realized he had been sleeping on the floor between the horses on the merry-go-round. The carousel wasn’t moving anymore and the music had stopped. Someone had turned the carousel off. He blinked a few times and then looked next to him. Once again he had been sleeping with the kid, and he had that weird feeling like the last time. The kid had definitely done something to him. He was angry. He was so angry he wanted to shake Alex awake and yell at him, but the kid’s sleeping face was so serene even with the heavy makeup on that the anger didn’t really get the chance to blow up. He slowly started to realize that he really did like the illusionist- if not love him. The kid had such a confidence and spirit that it attracted Bastian like a moth to a fire. It wasn’t logical though. He had never considered him as anything but heterosexual, but here he was naked with the kid next to him. He didn’t really remember much from the act, but his body felt sore. That alone proved that the act had been anything but calm and sober.

Instead of getting angry he leaned closer and looked at the kid’s sleeping face and then stared at his lips. He remembered that the kid had said that he didn’t kiss on the lips, but maybe Bastian could steal one kiss without the kid knowing it? He wanted to taste those cherry colored lips.

 He leaned his face closer and just as he was about to cover Alex’s lips with his own Alex suddenly woke up and pushed the journalist away in a panic.

“I said I don’t kiss! How dare you?!” he yelled and stood up from the floor of the carousel. Bastian was taken aback of Alex’s anger and stood up too to look at him with anger.

“You’re the one who seduced me with some weird trick of yours! It’s only natural for me to feel like I want to kiss you! I don’t know if you’ve put a weird spell on me with your magic tricks but I have these weird feelings inside me that I never thought I would be able to have for another man! It’s all your fault!” Bastian yelled back and Alex stared at him with shock.

“You love me?” Alex asked quietly, and Bastian hung his head and nodded. “I thought you loved to hate me, not the other way around. At least that was my goal.”

“Why?” Bastian asked with his voice shaking. “Why do you play with people like this?”

Alex didn’t answer and hurried down from the merry-go-round to head back to his quarters, but Bastian hurried to put his boxers on and then ran after him. He caught up with him and took a hold of his arm and turned Alex around to face him.

“Are you doing the same thing to all the others you sleep with? Do you know how cruel that is? I’ve heard the people in the audience talk about how much they love you and they see you almost like a god! Why are you betraying all of us like this? Are we mere toys for you?!”

Alex stared at the angry journalist for a while with a worried look. When Bastian didn’t get an answer he shook him and yelled “Answer me!” the kid suddenly disappeared from his hands into thin air and left a rain of colorful confetti. Bastian stared at the empty space where the kid had just stood and felt his hands being empty. Then he heard a noise from behind him and turned around to see Alex next to the merry-go-round. “How did you do that?”

Alex sighed and put on his white shirt that was laying on the floor next to the merry-go-round. It was the same shirt that he had had on during the show.

“How am I able to feel any affection if I’m not allowed to kiss?” he asked quietly. “It’s as you said; natural for a lover to kiss another, but what happens when you’re not allowed to kiss the one you love? I realized that the only way for me to get the affection I need to survive is to play with people’s feelings. That way they will show me affection during the night but after that they would hate me and not fall in love. I know it’s a bad thing, but I’m desperate.” Alex looked up from the shirt after he had buttoned it and looked Bastian in the eyes.  “I’m a magician and an illusionist. Someone like me doesn’t deserve to be loved because of my tricky nature.”

“Why do you think that?” Bastian asked and took steps closer to Alex. Alex averted his eyes and hugged his arms close to his body almost like he was freezing.

“That was the deal for me to get these powers. If I kiss someone my powers will be gone, and I can’t stand that.”

The kid’s voice was suddenly very sad.

“What powers? What deal? I don’t understand anything,” Bastian said and came up to Alex and looked at him with questioning look.

“I’m a true magician. Almost everything you see on the stage is reality. My tricks are real. That’s why I can be on one side of the stage and then in a blink of an eye be on the other side without using a doppelganger. There’s no trick to it. It’s all real.”

“You’re kidding,” Bastian said and shook his head. How would he be able to believe something like that?

“I’m not. You saw it yourself just a minute ago, right? I disappeared right in front of your eyes.” Bastian felt a shiver down his spine. “Two years ago I came across an old man who now is my butler, who asked me if I wanted the secret knowledge of magic and illusion. I thought he was just joking and answered yes. Before I knew it I was able to make paper cranes fly on their own and make real rabbits appear from my hats. The only condition I had was to never kiss someone on the lips, because then all the powers would go away. The old man said that it was the price for being able to use magic and illusions. As I said: someone like me doesn’t deserve to be loved because all we magicians are of a tricky nature.”

“Have you tricked me into loving you?” Bastian asked bluntly, and Alex shook his head.

“I only encouraged the feelings you already had from the start. I give you my word on it.”

Suddenly Bastian slapped Alex over his cheek and looked him grimly in the eyes.

“How can I trust anything you say?”

Alex put his hand against his stinging cheek and sighed. “You can’t. Never trust a magician. It may all be an illusion.” Alex didn’t look up at the man in front of him. He was clearly ashamed and Bastian got a feeling that the kid tried to make him hate him even more. “I know what I do to people is wrong, but I’m very lonely. I’ve come to the point in life where I really miss someone special to me. I could kiss someone to get rid of the powers I have and be free, but they are all I know. I can’t throw them away even for the sake of love.”

Bastian thought for a while and then decided to ask: “Do you love me?” Alex didn’t answer. “Give me an answer.”

The kid hid his face behind his bangs and said quietly: “Yes. That’s the sole reason to why I tell you all this.”

Without warning Bastian took a hold of Alex’s shoulders and pulled him close into a hug. “If I promise not to kiss you until you want me to, can I stay with you?”

“What?” Alex tried to push Bastian away but the other man didn’t allow it.

“It’ll be very hard not to be able to kiss the one I love, but we can pull through. There’s other ways to show affection and love than with a kiss.”

Alex put his arms around Bastian’s torso and took a deep breath to say:

“Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been so sure in my entire life.”

Alex smiled and looked up at Bastian. His lashes were wet with tears but his eyes were filled with such joy that they sparkled like stars on the starry sky.

“Then I promise that when I’m ready to let go of my powers I’ll give you the sweetest kiss in the whole world,” he said with a bright smile, and Bastian chuckled.

“I look forward to that.” He leaned closer and was just about to press his lips against Alex’s when Alex put a hand between their lips and scolded:

“No kissing! We just agreed on that!”

“Sorry. It was a reflex,” Bastian smiled apologetically.

“Dumbass!”