Spinning Tops - OhmKao

Chapter 5 ~ on the fly ~

For the next few day's, Nate and Thana practiced alone. Thana because he wanted to get back in the saddle and Nate because he wanted to observe Thana's skill on the fly bar. They always began with a warm up and still spent time with Nate catching so he could become familiar with Thana's body but for the most part, they both did their own thing.

After that second day when they had forgotten to air the spare room again, Nate had said to hell with it and they had simply fallen into a routine of sleeping in the same bed. Thana just made sure he got up early so as to avoid any awkward situations but this hadn't gone unnoticed by Nate.

Since that day when he had grabbed Thana's hand and held it on his chest, Nate had made a point of constantly touching him, throwing his arm about his shoulders, patting him on the back, ruffling his hair, allowing their legs to accidentally touch when they sat beside each other or in bed. It was so that Thana became comfortable around him or at least that's what he told himself.

Today, they had done their warm up and Nate was climbing up to the board to start practicing by himself on the catch bar. Thana was sitting drinking a bottle of water when he noticed an old guy walk into the tent. He hadn't seen the guy before so he wondered who it was and his curiosity was satisfied when the guy ambled over to him and asked if he could sit.

"sure, go ahead" Thana said.

They both sat in silence for a while looking up at Nate swinging to and fro whilst tumbling forwards and backwards, hooking his legs over the bar then allowing himself to fall into a hanging position to then swing and perform a half turn. Thana had to admit he looked good up there. He had a great body but then Thana knew from the short time he had been here that Nate worked out a lot.

"so you're the new flyer?" the old guy asked.

"just temporarily until Win get's better" Thana replied.

The old guy was staring at Thana and he began to feel a little bit uncomfortable. The guy must have realized this when he apologized for staring.

"I'm sorry for staring, it's just that your the spitting image of your mother" Thana's mouth fell open in shock.

"you knew my mother?" he asked the guy.

The guy looked a little confused at Thana's response but nodded and held out his hand to the boy.

"the name's Franco, I work in the admission booth now and sometimes I fill in on the stands, the arthritis you know. I remember watching you on the bars with your parent's, those were the day's" he said, staring into space.

Thana didn't really know how to respond to Franco's revelations, he had never met anyone who knew his parent's or knew who he was.

"you won't tell anyone who I am?"

"of course not son" Franco asked.

"they would just rake up all the drama again" Thana replied but deep down he knew that if people were reminded they would start asking questions, wondering what happened to the great Nathalia Sibyasakun and he couldn't allow anyone to find out about his mothers condition. He didn't want her to be remembered as she was now.

"understood boy, your dad and I were good friends back in the day until we had a falling out" Franco added.

"I'm sorry to hear that" Thana said.

"I'm sorry we didn't get to make up before he passed away" Franco said then, his eyes watering slightly.

They hadn't noticed Nate somersaulting to the net below then walking over to grab his towel. He quietly observed the pair who seemed to be in a deep conversation, so deep that he had become invisible to them. Now what could Franco possibly have to say to Thana? As far as Nate knew, Franco had been here for years, long before himself, JJ and Bar and many of the others.

Interesting, Nate thought to himself as he started to walk towards the couple then as he got closer he overheard part of their conversation.

"I'm sorry about that Franco" Thana responded.

"I missed seeing you the other day, I hope I get to see you again soon it's been a long time, over 16 years boy" Franco added

"I'm sure you will Franco, thank you for coming to see me, I hope we can chat again soon and please, keep it to yourself" Thana reminded him.

"don't worry son, your secret is safe with me, I'd never do anything to hurt her" Franco said before ruffling Thana's hair and standing up to leave.

It was at that moment he saw Nate standing close to them and wondered how much Nate had heard? Thana saw Franco looking over his shoulder so he turned to look.

"ah Nate, are you taking a break now?" Thana asked

"yes, I'll take a break then head over to lift some weights"

"OK, I'm going to practice on the fly" Thana said before turning back to Franco and taking his hand.

"I'll see you again soon Franco, thank you again for your welcome" he said winking at the guy.

"well, everyone was talking about the new flyer and how handsome he was so I had to come and see for myself" Franco added taking the hint.

"you never came to personally welcome me Franco" Nate huffed.

"your not as pretty" Franco added before walking off and laughing to himself.

Thana walked away and after chalking his hands began to climb up to his own bar. Nate watched him as he climbed and thought about the conversation that he had overheard.

"I missed seeing you the other day, I hope I get to see you again soon it's been a long time, over 16 years boy" 

"I'm sure you will Franco, thank you for coming to see me, I hope we can chat again soon and please, keep it to yourself" 

"don't worry son, your secret is safe with me, I'd never do anything to hurt her"  

16 years? what secret? her? who is her?  If he had seen Thana practicing over 16 years ago, that would make him about 11 or 12 years old? so that would mean he could have been born into the circus. Franco had been here 16 years ago which meant Thana was also here.

Nate had attended an ordinary school and enrolled at a sports university. When he had decided he wanted to do trapeze he had joined a circus school against his parents wishes but he knew that circus kids or 'brats' as they were often referred to began their training as soon as they could walk or before if the situation allowed which meant that if his theories were correct, Thana had been doing this all his life?.

He knew there was something different about Thana, the way he moved and carried himself. It was not something that could easily be taught. Nate also wondered who 'her' was? a girlfriend? and why wouldn't Franco do anything to hurt her? 

So many questions that he needed to know the answers to and the thought that Thana might have a girlfriend stashed away somewhere annoyed the heck out of him.

He would have to try and broach the subject with Thana to see if he could get any information from him directly. He would make sure his alarm didn't go off in the morning, there would be no running away this time.

***

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