Notes: Seriously, shell-shocked Clint when faced with all of the Avengers in one place is a thing of beauty. What kid his age wouldn't fall all over themselves at the chance to spend that much time up close with the most famous heroes in their world? Totally like going to Disneyworld, but with heroes :P

And griezz, Tony still had a few kinks to work out of the suit in the early days of the 'Vengers, including some safety features. (His teammates tried so hard to get him to see past his ego but... you know how he is.) But you can bet your boots that he won't be getting smoky eye anymore :P

Chapter 19: Back to the Circus

After the Avengers Tower visit, Clint had definitely warmed up to Logan. At least… enough that he wasn't as freaked out by how much he knew Logan and his mom were spending time and kissing and stuff.

And it also looked like Kitty and Jubilee were starting to be at least a little okay with his mom, too, because he saw them talking to her after he came in from practicing some archery outside — though when he read their lips and saw the word 'Barney' come up…

"Why're you guys talking about my brother?" Clint called out as he rushed over to join them.

"Um … we were just talking about maybe … forcing a field trip," Kitty said.

"My brother doesn't have anything to do with this school, though," Clint pointed out with his arms crossed.

"Yeah, but …" Kitty made her way over to hand him a flyer. "This was up in Salem Center. It's a few towns over, but …"

Clint glanced down at the flyer and then froze when he realized that it was his brother's circus. And it was a flyer with the cast on it, complete with Barney and Miranda as a duo act.

He glanced up fast enough to make his head hurt and met K's gaze. "I know we gotta — we gotta be careful and quiet and all because of the bad guys but… but it's Barney's circus…"

"We gotta go," she said, shrugging her shoulders up. "All there is to it. He's probably grown out of his jeans by now — and I know he'll be due for new sneakers."

"Plus, I wanna see his act with Miranda," Clint said excitedly.

K nodded. "You and me both. So … let's go liberate Logan's keys, hmm?"

"Great! I'll get 'em!" Clint said, dashing off toward the garage with a grin wider than anything he'd been wearing all week.

"We want to come too," Kitty told K.

"I'm reasonably sure that I can't get the clearance for that," K said. "I get some looks from Scott when I leave with Logan … to take you guys with me? Yeah … I don't think that'd fly."

"We sneak out all the time," Jubilee said. "Especially when Scott's being a stick in the mud."

K tipped her head to the side. "You … better clear that by Logan."

"Yeah, but he's with the Avengers for the next few days," Jubilee pouted. "He'll totally miss the whole thing!"

"I'm sure you can still get a hold of him," K pointed out. "Or someone he trusts …"

Kitty and Jubilee shared a wordless glance before they nodded. "Don't leave without us," Kitty told her before the two girls rushed off together.

It was obvious who they'd picked as their go-between, too, when, in a poof of smoke, the girls caught up with Clint and K a little while later with Kurt between them grinning widely.

"If you're going to go on a field trip, you should have someone on staff who knows about the ins and outs of the circus," Kurt said with his shoulders drawn back a bit.

"I wasn't …" K let out a sigh. "I told them to get permission. The only ones that were going for sure as far as I'm concerned were Clint and I."

"I'll keep these two out of your hair if you want it to be a family outing," Kurt offered. "But really, who could pass up the chance to see the circus in town — especially with the great Barney Barton?" he teased, which got Clint to flush a bit, knowing that he'd probably been talking up his brother too much.

K smirked at him and shook her head. "I just need to change my look — probably cut my hair off again. We weren't going to go for at least an hour."

"If that's the case, I may be able to make this a bit more official," Kurt said with a laugh. "A few drama students… it could be a class outing. With you as a second adult chaperone, of course," he teased.

"Oh look, we found a way to get the stick in the mud to lay off," Jubilee giggled.

"This is why we bring Kurt with us," Kitty agreed.

"Is this just … something that you do?" K asked as she headed for the house. "Because I need to prepare myself if you're going to be overly dramatic."

"You know he's an acrobat, right?" Clint said. "Not possible to rein it in."

"No, I didn't know that," K said, though she didn't look entirely as if she was teasing. "I really don't know much about this guy."

Kurt put a hand on his heart. "Unacceptable. You can't be spending this much time with my best friend and not know at least something about me!"

She shrugged almost all the way up to her ears. "Sorry. You really haven't come up."

Kurt let out a little noise before he teleported right to K and offered her his arm. "We must rectify this immediately," he said.

"What do you have in mind?" K asked, though she simply took his arm.

Kurt beamed at her and put his hand over hers. "You said that we'd be leaving in an hour. That leaves me time to introduce myself properly — and five minutes for your haircut," he teased.

"That's probably two too many," she teased right back. "But okay."

"Even better," he laughed.

"Mom, he's an acrobat and a pirate and I like Logan better, okay?" Clint called out, both hands cupped around his mouth — though he was wearing a crooked smile.

"I'm not even flirting," K laughed. "I just need a disguise before we go, and you can fill the girls in on what to expect, okay?"

Clint grinned and waved them off, already laughing as Kurt explained that yes, he had been an acrobat, before he turned to the other two girls. "So… umm… is Jean in your heads saying she wants to come too or just mine?"

"Um … she wasn't, but she is now, thanks for that," Jubilee said before she tipped her face toward the ceiling. "Everyone else is just inviting themselves! No reason that you need an invitation if you want to go!"

Clint just started to laugh — especially when that meant that by the time everyone was ready to go, Jean had informed Scott she had a craving and that she needed to go to the circus and basically, it was impossible for him to say no. And that was pretty much how most of the X-Men were coming to his brother's circus — even if Scott and Jean were driving separately and more or less making a date of it.

On the other hand, the kids climbed into the back of Logan's Jeep, with Clint in the middle. K looked at Jubilee for a moment. "Drive it like you stole it, right?"

"Oh, totally," Jubilee agreed with a steadily widening smile.

The whole group of them were wearing wide grins by the time they got to the circus — not only from the crazy driving but from the music and the jokes that were flying around in the group.

It was obvious that Kitty and Jubilee were starting to really warm up to K as they saw her relax, not to mention the fact that Kurt was in such a good mood at the prospect of going to the circus that it was truly impossible for any of them not to follow him into that good mood.

They did take a minute, however, to set things up before they actually went to the big tents. Kurt had brought two image inducers — since K had been concerned about disguises, after all — and took a moment to explain to Clint what the little device did as he gave one to K.

"Not everyone is as accepting of a blue-furred acrobat as you are, Clint," Kurt explained to Clint, who had his head tipped to the side in obvious concern.

"Yeah, well, some people are just stupid," Clint said.

Kurt couldn't stop his smile at that and nodded. "Yes, well, even so , my own unique appearance might draw a bit more attention than we mean to draw," he explained. "So this will help me blend in."

"How?"

Kurt grinned at him and gestured for Clint to watch before he hit the inducer — and Clint stared at him in shock as he switched from the fuzzy blue Nightcrawler to a tall blond man. "Like so," he said.

"Ugh," K said, shaking her head. "Hideous."

Kurt couldn't help but chuckle. "You and Logan both have the same reaction."

"Just goes to show we're right," she said, shrugging up one shoulder.

"I think he looks okay," Clint put in.

"But just okay," K said, reaching over to fluff his hair.

"Well, I just… he doesn't look like him," he tried to explain.

"He's not as gorgeous as you," she said. "You clearly pull it off much better."

Clint put on a look of longsuffering as he glanced toward Kurt. "She really likes my hair," he explained. "Maybe you shoulda not been a blond."

"It's fine," she laughed. "I actually prefer dark hair. Blond is perfect."

"What about you, Mom? What're you gonna look like?" Clint asked, gesturing at the inducer in her hands.

"I have no idea," she admitted. "This … was his idea, not mine." She took a moment to have Kurt show her how it worked before she flipped it on and turned toward Clint, biting her lip. "Well?"

Clint almost couldn't help his grin when he realized that Kurt had programmed the inducer so that it looked like K was… well… his mom. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes, and she even looked taller and thinner, somehow.

"Is it awful?" K asked.

He shook his head quickly. "No... we match!" he said, gesturing between himself, Kurt, and K. "How cool is that?"

"Kinda cool, considering. Think Barney will freak out?"

Clint shook his head. "Nah, Barney's seen you do disguises before." He paused. "But… not as good as this one," he admitted.

"I still think it might be best not to freak Barney out with a big crowd," K said, looking to the others. "You all can be a little … much."

Jubilee looked like she might argue, but Kitty grabbed her arm. "Come on," she said. "We'll still meet him — after I trounce you at the ring toss."With that, the two girls rushed off together, already promising that each of them would be the winner.

"Want to go see him now?" K asked Clint once the crowd had thinned substantially. "I grabbed a bag of clothes for him."

Clint nodded quickly. "Yeah. I haven't seen Barney in ages," he agreed, already leading the way, which had Kurt shaking his head as he offered K his arm.

"Shall we?"

"I don't see why not," she agreed, gingerly taking his arm. "Let's … freak out the big kid."

As they walked through the tents and trailers gathered off to the side of the big top, K gently helped to direct Kurt with little squeezes or gentle pushes so it still at least looked like he was directing the three of them — to keep their cover.

At least, that was the case until they spotted Barney, who was taking a break and munching on some popcorn before he saw Clint barreling toward him and simply dropped what he was doing so he could catch his brother when Clint launched.

"Woah, hey, you gotta stop doing that," Barney said, laughing as he almost toppled over backwards.

"You know he can't help himself," K said, pausing just beyond the reunion.

Barney grinned her way — and then stopped when he saw her. "Woah," he breathed out. "What…"

"Brought you some new clothes," K told him, totally ignoring the expression he was wearing. "I figured you outgrew what you had by a long shot." She let go of Kurt and took a few steps closer to hand him the bag. "It's been too long, sweetheart."

Barney stared at her for a long time before he broke into a smile and gave her one of his usual, quick hugs. "You don't look anything like you. How'd you do that?" he asked. "I mean, it's great that you can hide from the bad guys and all but… what the heck?"

"I don't know the first thing about it — you can blame my ex-acrobat friend here," she said, gesturing to Kurt.

"Acrobat, huh?" Barney said, giving Kurt an appraising look. "Where'd you find Clint and his mom, then, Mr. Acrobat?"

"They were in need of a lift," Kurt said, smirking to himself.

"Yeah, makes sense," Barney said slowly. "I mean, they were on the run…" He turned back to Clint. "So you finally ditched those guys chasing you? I was real worried, you know. Paul was saying if we didn't hear from you guys by the end of the season, we were gonna spend the winter looking."

"Sorry," K said earnestly. "I wouldn't leave you hanging like that. I'd make sure that there was at least a message to you."

"Besides," Clint said, "nobody can find Mom if she doesn't want them to." He paused. "I mean… usually. But we took care of the bad guys." He leaned forward with a grin. "I threw a knife at a really, really bad guy and saved Mom," he whispered, which had Barney's eyebrows shooting straight up.

"He did," she agreed. "But let's not talk about that. We came to see you, and to check in, and to promise to meet up with you at the usual time, if nothing else."

Barney looked between the two of them, his eyebrows still high on his head. "You … I wanna know about how you fought 'em off, though," he said. "That sounds exciting! And all I did was get in the ring with Miranda … you can see that later anyway."

"Um … that is exciting, too," K said. "Considering."

Barney grinned and nodded. "I got a new sword, too," he told her.

"Is that so?" Kurt asked, looking more interested, a crooked smile in place as he leaned forward.

"Well, I am the weapons master's second," Barney said, drawing himself up importantly.

"Kurt's been teaching me some swords stuff too," Clint told his brother. "That way, we can practice together!"

Barney looked surprised as he glanced at Kurt. "I thought you said he was an acrobat."

"I wasn't aware it was an either-or profession," Kurt said with a light laugh. He held his hand out to Barney. "I'm a fan of the dual wield myself — what do you find works best for you?"

Barney glanced toward Clint and K, obviously not quite trusting the situation, but when neither of them seemed to object to this stranger, he gave Kurt a little shrug. "I'm still learning. I do a little fencing with Miranda, but right now, I do more of the throwing knives part of the show."

"He's even better at it than me!" Clint put in helpfully.

"Oh, really?" Kurt looked properly impressed. "That is quite the feat. Clint has left us all agape with his aim."

"Yeah, we practice together a lot when we get to see each other," Barney said with a nod. "You gotta see the show. I got the spin just perfect so that it flashes in the light — it looks so cool!"

"I'm sure it does," Kurt said, still smiling.

"Okay, but… but I wanna see that sword you were talking about," Clint said as he grabbed Barney's arm to start dragging him along.

Not that Barney needed much cajoling. He was just as excited to show off as Clint was — and, of course, both boys were trading stories back and forth the whole time. Barney wanted to know about the guy Clint had knifed, and Clint wanted to know how training with Miranda and Paul was going…

Clint tried to tell the story about Creed so it sounded a little less scary than it was, because he didn't want Barney to worry to much. And he sorta made it sound like it was just him and K, though that wasn't on purpose. He hadn't really been paying much attention to anything the others were doing after he knifed Creed and K had dived in.

And, of course, there was a little more curiosity on Barney's part about Clint's new friend, since he had never met Kurt….

"So, is your mom dating now?" he asked suddenly when Clint had just finished explaining to Barney that he had gotten to curl up with K and Sicem when they got home after Creed had grabbed him.

Clint looked almost startled by the question as he turned Barney's way. "What?"

"This guy — the acrobat — is she dating him?" Barney asked. "I mean, they match and she let him pick out her disguise…"

Clint blinked at Barney with a look that clearly told his brother how ridiculous he thought the suggestion was. "She's not… no!"

"It's okay if she is," Barney pointed out. "I caught Paul and Miranda kissing behind the tent last week, and ever since, they've been real nice about asking if I'm okay sharing Miranda with Paul."

Clint paused and then grinned. "I knew it!"

"Knew what?"

"I knew your ringmaster liked your teacher," Clint said. "K said they'd be kissing by the time we came and got you for your birthday and they'd probably want the privacy."

Barney made a face at that before he simply shook his head. "It's not a secret. Just about everyone around here figured they'd be kissing before long."

"Because they're not sneaky at all," Clint said with a smirk.

"They ain't trying to be," Barney said. He let a troublemaking grin pass over his features as he leaned forward. "Are K and Kurt tryna be sneaky?"

Clint frowned and stuck a finger out to point at Barney. "First of all," he said, "my mom doesn't gotta try to be sneaky."

Barney snickered. "Okay."

"And second of all," Clint continued, raising his voice slightly, "she's not dating Kurt, okay?"

"Maybe she is and you just don't know it."

Clint shook his head. "Nu-uh. She's not dating Kurt — 'cause she's dating his best friend!"

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, well… I dunno if they're dating, but they're definitely kissing," Clint said, pulling a face.

"Well, where is he, and can I read him the riot act?" Barney asked.

Clint grinned. "I already did that," he promised.

"Well, good. But I still wanna meet him," Barney said.

"Okay. Maybe next time," Clint said. "We weren't actually planning on bringing anyone else, but I guess I talked you up real good, because everyone wants to see your show."

"But no pressure, right?" Barney shook his head, then did a double-take. "Wait, what do you mean everyone?"

"Oh, right." Clint bit his lip and then gave his brother a little smile. "Well… you'll probably see 'em in the audience. Kurt and Logan — that's the guy Mom's kissing — they got a lot of friends, and a few of them wanted to come." He smiled a little wider. "They're real nice, honest!"

"Uh-huh."

"Really! They play with me and Sicem and stuff."

"Okay, well… okay, but if they don't like the show…"

Clint shook his head at that and very quickly darted over to wrap Barney up in a hug. "They're gonna like it because you're the best!" he assured Barney. "But if you're real nervous, we can practice, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Barney said, smiling a little now. "Race ya!"

By the time the show was starting up at the big top, Kitty and Jubilee had their fill of the different carnival games, and they met up with the other three members of their group for the show. They were in good moods — especially since Jubilee had her pockets full of candy and was halfway through her second cotton candy.

"Didja know you can get a purple one of those?" Clint asked, indicating the cotton candy in Jubilee's hand. "If you mix the blue and the purple just right, it works!"

"Oh, I didn't get a purple one," Jubilee said with a troublemaking smile. "I guess I'll have to go back and get another one. Oh darn."

Kurt positively burst out laughing at that. "I'm sure it's a real imposition for you."

"For sure," Jubilee said, flashing Kurt a thumbs-up. "Save my spot for me, would you?"

Kitty shook her head at Jubilee's retreating form as she joined the others heading into the tent. "So," she said with a smile Clint's way. "You'll point your brother out to us, right?"

Clint grinned crookedly. "He looks like me. I bet you can find him all by yourself."

"Okay, smart guy," Kitty said, though she was laughing despite herself. "That's true, but what about the costumes?"

"Ooh, good point. I didn't think about that," Clint said, nodding thoughtfully. "I haven't seen his new costume yet, though."

"I'm sure we'll be able to figure it out when we see him throwing knives, if nothing else," Kurt teased lightly.

"That's true," Clint agreed, grinning up at Kurt as he led the way into the tent.

As they took their seats, it was abundantly clear to Clint that Kurt was having the time of his life — even before the show had started. It was obvious he missed the circus, judging by the way he was positively drinking in the sights, sounds, and smells all around him.

Clint watched Kurt for a moment before he cleared his throat. "You know," he said slowly, ""the ringmaster here don't mind if you're a mutant. He takes anybody that's got skills. You know. If you were thinking you might wanna be an acrobat again…"

Kurt looked surprised for an instant before he gave Clint a warm smile. "That's a very tempting offer," he admitted. "But I couldn't leave the family I have in Westchester."

"Okay," Clint said with a shrug. "You just looked sad, that's all."

Kurt's smile turned somehow warmer, and he couldn't help but pull Clint into a hug. "You have a heart of gold, Clint," he told him.

"I'm just tryna be nice," Clint said, flushing slightly.

"And that is what makes you so good," Kurt agreed. "You simply are kind — and expect nothing in return." He leaned forward. "Never lose that."

"Like Mom would ever let me," Clint said with a grin.

Kurt laughed at that. "Then we're all lucky she's around, aren't we?"

"Uh-huh," Clint said — and to emphasize the point, he climbed over to where K and Kitty were talking together and simply snuggled into his mom's side.

Not that the snuggle lasted long when the show started and the performers did their opening act — with everyone coming out to show off. Clint was nearly leaning out of his chair trying to identify his brother, and when he spotted Barney in his purple costume, he started waving like mad.

"There he is!" he whispered sharply to Kitty.

Kitty threw K a smirk before she smiled outright Clint's way. "The one that looks like you?" she teased.

"Yep, that one," Clint said, giggling to himself, though he was craning his neck trying to see Jubilee. "Jubes is gonna miss it!"

"I'll get her," Kurt promised, since Clint looked so worried. He slipped out of his seat and, with the audience's attention on the performance, was able to teleport off to find Jubilee and bring her back before the opening act was quite over.

"You almost missed it," Clint told Jubilee, his eyes wide. "My brother's got a new purple costume and everything!"

"And there is the biggest part of the family resemblance," she teased.

He giggled and nodded. "Exactly. You almost missed it," he teased.

"Got you some cotton candy," Jubilee said, holding out the second purple cotton candy for him.

"Okay, you're mostly forgiven," Clint said as he took the offering.

"Only mostly," Kitty laughed.

"Would have been fully if you'd brought some cinnamon almonds too," K teased.

"Oooh, exactly that," Clint said, pointing K's way.

"Think you can tell the girls the hardest parts?" K asked.

Clint nodded. "But you should tell them about the horses, because you know them best."

"Maybe," K said. "But they came to see Barney. Not the horses."

"I didn't know you were an equestrian," Kitty said K's way.

"You didn't ask," K replied automatically.

Kitty and Jubilee glanced at each other, and Jubilee almost giggled. "That's familiar."

Clint shushed them both, though, when Barney and Miranda came out to the center, both of them wearing swords that they brought out with a flourish for their introductory bows. Clint grinned and leaned forward, almost bouncing in his seat as Miranda did her sword dance first before she and Barney had a short fencing match.

The crowd was entranced as Miranda managed to 'disarm' Barney — who then switched to knives. It was much more of a story than what Jacques had done — which was mostly showing off. As they watched, Barney would toss knives, and of course, he was hitting the mark each time at the various props, but it looked like a fight. Finally, Miranda 'surrendered', throwing her sword down, and Barney gave the audience a flourishing bow that had Clint whistling and hollering for his big brother.

"That's my brother!" he almost shouted, tugging on Kurt's sleeve and clearly thrilled.

"He certainly knows how to put on a show," Kurt agreed, grinning broadly.

"Dramatic runs in the family, apparently," K teased. Just like you, she signed to Clint.

"I'm not dramatic," Clint said, his lower lip poked out.

"Yeah, that's a great defense, sweetheart," K chuckled before she reached over to fluff his hair up. "Maybe you should be an acrobat?"

"I don't want to be an acrobat!" he insisted. "I want to be an archer! And an archeologist!"

"Well you can be an acrobatic archeologist archer … might come in handy if you really do end up being like Indiana Jones." She tipped her head and thought about it for a moment. "You need a bullwhip."

He was already nodding his fervent agreement. "Can I get one for Christmas?"

"Only if you want to learn tricks with it," she replied.

"Well, duh," he said, nodding seriously.

"Then I'll have to see if my friend Sally still has her whip," K decided. "She lives a few towns over from where the cottage is, but I'm sure she'd spend an afternoon showing you how to get started."

"That would be amazing!" Clint said, leaning back in to almost snuggle K again through the rest of the show.

It was obvious the group of them were enjoying themselves, and when the show ended, Clint grabbed both Kitty and Jubilee by the hands. "You gotta meet Barney, okay? I told him I brought friends."

"Sounds great," Kitty said, unable to stop her smile as she let Clint lead them toward the cast — all of whom knew Clint by that point and were able to greet him by name, with Clint returning the favor.

"Saw you in the audience, Clint," Miranda said with a smile once they got there. "Who are your friends?"

"This is Kitty and Jubes and Kurt — they helped us get away from the bad guys!" Clint said with a grin.

Jubilee waved with the tips of her fingers, bouncing on her toes as Kitty smiled their way with a more controlled sort of open-handed wave. "We've only heard good things," Kitty promised.

"Oh, then I'm so sorry he's been such a horrible liar," Miranda laughed. She had one hand resting easily on Barney's shoulder, but it wasn't at all like what Jacques used to do, where he was clearly staking a claim. This was borne more out of familiarity and genuine affection.

"Nu-uh," Clint insisted. "I don't lie about family."

"Of course not," Miranda assured him.

"Didja like the show?" Barney asked, directing the question toward Clint, though he kept glancing at the girls as well. It was obvious he was a little taken aback by the fact that Clint had brought a couple teenage girls, and at almost-ten, he was clearly blushing a bit as well.

Clint was nodding enthusiastically, and of course, the X-Men were all giving Barney enthusiastic smiles. "It was great," Kitty promised.

"I like how you and Miranda had a fight," Clint said. "That was cooler to watch than just Jaques showing off!"

"That's what I said," Barney said, nodding enthusiastically.

"You had the flair to keep the audience engaged no matter what," Kurt said with a warm smile. "I think, judging by the applause, it might have been the favorite."

Barney shook his head. "Nuh-uh," he said, clearly not believing it. "What about the acrobats? Everyone loves Ana — she's just starting and she's already real good…" He trailed off and flushed red. "And … and yeah."

"Ooooh, I wanna meet her," K said, grinning widely. "Which one was she?"

"She had the yellow unitard," Barney said, dropping his gaze to the floor with his bottom lip in his teeth.

"Oh, she was very very cute," K said, nodding slowly. "Wasn't she cute, Kurt?"

"Incredibly," Kurt said, smirking harder.

"We should go introduce ourselves while Clint and the girls make friends," K said.

"No!" Barney said, looking almost terrified. "No, don't — she'll know — don't do that!"

K couldn't help but laugh as she took the few steps forward and pulled him into a hug, simply to give him a kiss on the cheek. "I wouldn't try to embarass you. I was teasing, I swear." She stepped back, still smiling at him. "I will give you some privacy, though. I'm sure you want to talk to your brother without a chaperone."

Barney smiled at that and then gave her a little hug. "I'm just real glad to see you're okay," he told her quietly enough that she was the only one to catch it.

"Missed you, handsome," she muttered back quietly.

"Are you gonna come to more shows now?" he asked. "You should come right around my birthday… Miranda's gonna let me do the opening bit of the act."

"I'd like to come for your birthday," she agreed. "What city will that one be in?"

"That one's in Columbus," he said.

K turned toward Kurt. "What are the chances of getting to Ohio in oh … about a month?"

Kurt smiled at that. "I'm sure we can arrange something," he agreed.

"There you have it, Mister Barton," K said, giving him another little squeeze. "I'll be the one buying you dinner."

Barney simply grinned at that before he grabbed Clint so that he could drag him off to bend his ear on how the show had gone.