On the Run Together

Chapter 3: And Now There's Two of 'Em

(Author's note: Please forgive my horrible translation work. I'm not multilingual, but I want the authenticity of multilingual characters...whatchugondo.)

But for as clearly excited as Clint was with the idea of riding an elephant and seeing the tent go up... once K marked out the spot where she was pretty sure the big tent would get set up, Clint couldn't help but get nervous, all anxious energy and almost bouncing on his toes as he waited to see the circus.

He wanted so badly for Barney to be there... to be setting up with the acrobats or even the lion tamers. Clint was sure Barney would get a cool job, something that would make Clint jealous when he saw it. He just... had to keep looking.

"You see him anywhere?" K asked as she handed him a s'more from the nearby campfire.

Clint bit his lip and shook his head lightly, still looking, though he gratefully took the s'more. "Maybe... maybe he didn't run away here," he said in a wavering voice.

"Hey. From what you told me, if he said he was gonna do it — then he was gonna do it. Just a matter of finding him, right? And we will find him."

Clint nodded at that, though he didn't have anything to say — a sure sign that he was nervy about the whole thing as he watched the setup. He was even quiet as the elephants got to work, too focused on looking for a tiny Barton boy to really enjoy it.

K took a moment to set up her own s'more before she moved to sit much closer to him and put an arm around his shoulders. "And besides. We're going to have fun tonight either way. Right?"

Clint startled, then relaxed into the hug as he nodded quietly. "Right," he said. "Because there are elephants."

"And other things," she said. "And you can critique whoever you want."

"Well, I don't know enough about swords and stuff yet to do it like you do," he said, starting to smile a little. "You knew that guy was gonna cut himself and I thought it looked like he was doing all the cool stuff right!"

"When you're big enough to swing a sword, you'll learn how to do it right."

"When will that be?"

"The way you're growing? Probably another couple weeks."

Clint flushed. He was a little embarrassed about how fast he was growing, because he kept tripping over his feet, it felt like. But at least it meant he actually looked like he was six now, and K promised him it was because he was eating more now and hitting a growth spurt, so at least there was a reason for it. "Well," he said, "maybe I can get a cool sword like in the movies."

"Or ... you can get a cool sword that puts those movies to shame," she countered.

He grinned. "Yeah, that sounds good too!" He was just about to suggest that they could start small, with maybe a knife like Peter Pan had — he had a foster family that he'd actually liked that had liked Disney movies, so he knew about those — when he got distracted. He thought he'd seen someone small... kid-sized... yeah, there. Helping to unload boxes.

He immediately straightened up and almost unconsciously found himself reaching to grab K by the sleeve. "I think... I think I see him," he breathed out, almost scared to say it out loud, in case it wasn't Barney but some other kid that had run away.

"Then we should probably think about going down there. Not now when he might get in trouble though," she said.

Clint looked wide-eyed. "Would they get mad at him for saying hi to me?"

She shrugged. "I don't know that part would make them mad — but interrupting him when he's working? Probably. Any job is like that."

"That's stupid. I'm his brother," Clint pouted.