Thomas leaned down against the counter and lined up the rifle's sight with his target.
"You're not going to hit," Henry said casually.
Thomas turned his head to look at him, "what are you talking about? I happen to know how to shoot a rifle."
"I know you do, but you're still not holding it properly," He replied. He looked at the booth's operator, "do you mind if I show him how he should be holding it?" The middle aged man just shrugged.
"Henry, I don't need," Thomas started to say, but stopped as his boyfriend bend over him from behind, not grinding against him, but definitely pressing himself.
"You want to hold it so," Henry said, putting his large hand over Thomas', "and look at it like this." He used his chest to push Thomas back down, also forcing the man to press back against his midsection.
Thomas had a sharp intake of breath and shivers run down his back as he felt Henry's erection, and then felt his own body react. "I get it," he said with a bit of an edge. Henry stepped back with a satisfied smirk on his face. Thomas focused on taking aim again, wishing he's chosen to wear loose Bermudas like his boyfriend had. They gave no indication of how excited he was; while Thomas could feel his own shorts strain against his rising excitement.
He shot his five shots in rapid succession, three of which hit their targets, which earned him a medium prize. He took a moment as he straightened up to discreetly rearrange himself, giving Henry a dirty look. He looked at selection and chose a bright blue one.
"Why did you pick this one?" Henry asked as they walked away from the booth. The plush monster was about a foot and a half tall, wearing black shorts. It was sitting, leg and arms stretched forward and had a vicious set of white plush teeth.
"He reminds me of you," was Thomas' reply.
"It does?" Henry took the monster out of his boyfriend's hands and inspected him. The fur was soft and its eyes were small and black. It didn't seem to have any ears. "How?"
Thomas took it back and cuddled it, "well, blue looks good on you, you are really cuddly and you both are beastly, although you keep your beast in your pants." He moved out of the way of the swat to the back of the head Henry tried to give him, grinning.
"Alright, I deserved that," Henry admitted, "but what I did was simply retribution for the teasing you put me through under the tree."
"I was teasing you?" Thomas questioned, with a raised eyebrow, "I tend to remember someone's hands doing a lot of roaming."
"Yes, but my hands stayed over the fabric, you on the other hand were doing otherwise."
"You mean like this?" Thomas asked. Henry jumped in surprised when he felt something move inside his shorts, attracting a few strange looks.
"Thomas, please, not in public like this." Henry chastised him.
"Sorry," his lover replied, trying not to smile at the indignant look Henry was wearing.
They went to the food booths to try the exotic foods they sold. They sat at a table with everything they bought and discussed the tastes as they ate. When they were done they walked around again.
"The discussion you had with Scott," Thomas asked in a moment where they had become silent, "is it something I want to know bout?" Henry looked at him with a calculated neutral expression, it was one Thomas knew well from when they talked at home and he'd inadvertently ask about something Henry couldn't tell him.
"No," Henry replied, "you don't want to know about it."
Thomas studied him for a moment, and decided to drop it. Henry had told him a lot of stories about his time spend on the street. He'd even told him of the time he and Scott has slept together because they both needed that kind of comfort and had no one else to get it from. If Henry felt this was too personal, he owed it to him to leave it alone.
He saw the pain in Henry's eyes at the memory his question had brought back, and decided that he needed the comfort more that the trouble two men hugging in public could cause.
Before he could carry through with his decision, both their attention was taken by the distinctive sound of metal snapping apart.
* * * * *
Katherine screamed encouragements as Peter picked up the sledgehammer again. It was his third time trying to get the bell to ring. He made sure his grip was solid and swung it as hard as he could. The hammer hit the target dead center and he watched the metal ball go up the tube and ring the bell.
"And we have a winner!" The old man exclaimed. Peter smiled with satisfaction and pointed to one of the large stuffed animals when he was asked which one he wanted. He didn't particularly care which one it was, he was just happy to have beaten the game.
He walked away and Katherine wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him passionately. "That was great," she said when they stopped kissing. "I'm pretty sure that guy never thought you'd do it."
"I wasn't sure I'd be able to either," he said, not showing any signs he was ready to let her go. "It was tougher than I thought it would be, but I'd be damned if I was going to let a game get the better of me."
She kissed him again and he released her. Arm in arm they walked around, waving at Scott and Jean when they saw them in the distance.
"These two are going to get in trouble," she commented later, pointing to Henry as he moved behind Thomas.
"I don't think they care." Peter replied and dragged her away when he saw she wanted to join them. "And we aren't going to disturb them."
"You're no fun you know that?" she said, pulling her tongue at him.
"I'm lots of fun," he countered, "I draw for you, I lift heavy things for you," and to demonstrate he picked her up and placed her on his shoulder, to her delight. "I even won this lion for you. I so am fun."
She kissed the top of his head. "Alright, you are fun, now put me down so I can hold your hand." He did as she asked she took his hand, but used it to pull his arm around her as he leaned into him.
They discreetly avoided Ororo and Bishop the one time they saw them, and Katherine immediately felt guilty about it. She wanted to believe Ororo when she said that he was a better man now, but the memory of her injuries at his hands ran too deep.
She was enjoying a corn dog when she happened to look up at the Ferris wheel. "Peter, does something look odd too you about it?" she asked, pointing at it. Before he could reply the wheel shook and they heard the distinctive sound of metal snapping apart.
* * * * *
Ororo was leaning back against the wooden fence that enclosed the cows. Bishop was looking at them, thinking.
They'd spent a good hour walking around the fair, looking at the attractions and the games. Bishop had won her a locket by firing a water pistol at a clown's mouth until a balloon exploded. She had had a good time over all, although her spirits would drop a little the few times they had to change direction to avoid running into Scott, or one of the others, but Bishop wouldn't let her feel down any longer then he had to.
They had tolerated Bishop during the picnic, but made it clear he wasn't welcome there. Thomas was the only one who hadn't had any problems talking with him. Even Henry had had trouble doing more than being just polite toward him. Jean tried a time or two to engage Bishop in conversation, but Ororo could see she felt uncomfortable because of Scott's attitude. The others avoided talking to him at all.
True to his word, Bishop hadn't cared about how they treated him. He had been polite to those who talked with him, but didn't try to engage the others.
When he'd guided her to the animal pens, it was the first time in the day she had seen him lose his smile. They had walked among the pens in silence and stopped here. Bishop leaned against the fence, watching the cows.
"I spent time on a farm," he said after an extended silence.
"When was that?" she asked, turning to look at him. It was the first time he'd mentioned anything relating to his time before the renegades.
He shrugged, "I don't know. I was young, maybe ten. I don't really remember the man who ran it, but I think he was nice to me. I do remember the place had cows."
"Was it a good time?" she asked placing her hand on his.
"I guess," Bishop answered, uncertain, "It must have been. I remember every bad thing that happened in my youth, so I'd remember the farm a lot more if it hadn't been.
She leaned he and rested her head on his shoulder, "thank you for telling me."
He was silent for a moment more and then looked at her with a smile. "Considering everything you've been putting up with from your friends today, I figure you earned it." He placed an arm around her shoulders and led her back out of the pen area.
They came to the center of the fair, in sight of the Ferris wheel. Ororo noticed some people running away, and then saw the wheel shake, and then came the sound of metal snapping apart.