On the Run Together

Chapter 8: Blondes Have More Fun

Clint was giggling to himself as he and K got to the next city where Barney's circus was supposed to stop. K had completely changed a lot about herself to disguise herself so the bad guys wouldn't find her, and he was interested to see if Barney could recognize her.

And he couldn't wait to see if K would totally scare the pants off of Jacques. He was pretty sure she would, and it would be hilarious.

After all, even though he knew K, he wasn't sure even he would be able to recognize her with how different she looked now. She had platinum blonde hair, and she looked like she was almost his big sister and not his foster mom ... or... whatever it was that they were doing when it wasn't in the system.... Anyway, she just looked like she was in college maybe, with band tee shirts like Bon Jovi and stuff and hoop earrings and red lipstick.

Plus, instead of the truck, they had a sedan. Clint was pretty sure no one was going to be able to figure it out.

He was almost bouncing with every step as they got to the circus, grinning up at K every once in a while as he did so. When she caught his gaze, he grinned outright and started to giggle. "Barney's gonna be so confused."

"It'll be hilarious," she agreed with a smirk.

He grinned brilliantly at her and shot her a thumbs up before they arrived at last to the familiar trailer, and Clint spotted Barney practicing close by with his throwing knives. And when he saw that Barney was hitting the yellow, he grinned delightedly and all but skipped over. "You're already so amazing at that, Barn!" he called out.

Barney jumped slightly in surprise, then set his knife aside so he could grin and rush over to Clint to ruffle his hair under his arm. "You always gotta make an entrance, huh?" he teased.

"Um, I just said that you were good at knives. I mean, you can see it." He pointed at the targets. "You're gonna be better than Jacques in no time!"

"Maybe," Barney said with a quiet smirk before he looked past Clint to where K was standing close by, and he immediately frowned. "What... did K ditch you?" he asked, a bit of a hard tone to his voice.

Clint shook his head quickly. "No! No, no. I didn't get ditched, I promise," he said quickly. "That's K!"

"Umm, Clint ... maybe we should get your eyes checked as well as your ears..."

Clint shoved Barney hard in the shoulder. "No, K just dyed her hair, that's all," he said. He glanced around the circus and then leaned in close to whisper, "We ran into some bad men, so she is blonde now so they won't spot her." He grinned and straightened up. "And we match now!" he added happily.

Barney frowned as he listened to Clint's explanation and made his way over to K to look her over more closely, his arms crossed over his chest before he did, at last, smile very lightly. "Hi, K."

"Hey, big brother extraordinaire," she said with a smirk.

"What's this about you running into some trouble?" Barney asked. "You know, I'm nine and I can handle knives and I'm starting on more sword stuff next week, so if you need somebody gone..."

"You're sweet to offer, but I took care of it just fine, thanks," she said before she made a point to kiss his cheek — and get a perfect red lip print there. "You can ask Clint. I handled them."

"It's true," Clint said, his eyes wide as he nodded seriously. "She took 'em down, and then we got outta Dodge."

Barney frowned between them. "You okay, Clint?"

"Uh-huh. I'm fine. I got to help K pick out her band shirts," he told Barney.

"Okay, well... if things get real hairy..."