The Trapeze Swinger

1.4

Tufts of azure blue hair tickled the underside of my jaw as I gently shook 2D by the shoulder, my fingers rumpling the white cotton of his shirt. He grumbled something into the collar of my jacket, a large hand lifting lazily to swat at the cause of the disturbance.

"Wake up, we've arrived home," I informed the sleeping boy, too tired myself for any more pleasantries. Drunkenly his heavy lids lifted, black eyes squinting up at me from the makeshift pillow of my body.

"Back at Kong awready?" He asked blearily, voice raspy from sleep. Unprepared for his strange question, I could only raise my eyebrows in confusion.

The boy's so drunk he's talking gibberish.

Pulling him to his feet, I half pushed half guided him down the bus aisle and off the rumbling vehicle. Ahead were the chained and bolted front gates of Tusspot Fairgrounds, with the silent carnival sitting dark and deserted beyond.
I watched as 2D blinked at the sight, at first in confusion and then with weary acceptance, as if he'd only just remembered something important. We stood side by side before the locked gate, a girl with her windbreaker on inside-out and a boy standing in lopsided disappointment I couldn't begin to understand, with the exhaust fumes of the leaving bus hovering in the air around us.

Please let Lou be safe inside the caravan. Have him lying on the bench seat with the kettle on and gloating about how he has the best escape story to tell me.

Swallowing back the fretful anxiety for my brother, I tried to breathe deeply whilst I steered 2D towards the employee after-hours entrance into the carnival. I hadn't used it before, and was surprised to find it was a caged turnstile door, locked in position until the use of the silver key I had clipped to my belt loop allowed the door compartment to be pushed for one rotation.
I turned my key in the lock and then entered the open section of the circular door, pushing it around until I could exit the other side. The lock clicked back in place as the door completed its rotation, meaning it would have to be re-unlocked for 2D to come through. Turning back to my inebriated companion on the other side of the steel barred security fence, I gestured for him to get out his keys so that he could follow me. Black eyes regarded me blankly, a dopey crooked smile across his face as he tried to comprehend what strange language my hands were speaking as I rattled my keys at him.

"Huh?"

"Unlock the door and come through, ya daft sod," I laughed, shaking my head in disbelief as he patted his body down sleepily before shrugging his shoulders when he found nothing.

"Fine, I'm coming back through," I sighed, wondering why I was bothering helping the dopey drunk in the first place.

Maybe because you like him, a little voice whispered in the back of my mind, but I crushed it into a tiny ball and kicked it far enough away to not hear any further comments.

2D was swaying on his feet as I pushed my way through the rotating door to join him on the outside, this time grabbing him by the arm and pulling him with me as I unlocked the door once more.
With the lanky boy behind me, the compartment seemed suddenly very tiny; 2D's chest a warm pressure against my back as I began to push the door forwards. Uncomfortably shuffling against each other, I tried not to pay attention to the feeling of his body bumping against mine until we tumbled out and into the Fairgrounds on the other side.

That's enough of that.

"Well I'll see you around then," I announced, stalking away towards the trailer park at the back of the carnival. Even as I sternly ordered myself to refrain from looking back at him, there came the sound of hurried footsteps behind me as the boy rushed to catch up.