Chapter Text
Frank looked around at all of the people going by. He had never seen so many people that looked so happy. And the really interesting thing was that they just seemed happy to be in the company of someone else. He had never seen anyone that happy to see him let alone excited to spend time with him. He sighed and looked back down at the table in front of him.
Sam eyed his partner, trying to figure out what that look in his eyes was. As much as he trusted Burns, every so often, he would go rogue and Sam would have to reign him in. He sometimes wondered what his life was like as he tended to look at most things with a childlike wonder. Even the smallest of comforts. Sam cleared his throat and looked at his partner. “Everything alright?”
Frank nodded. “This is just my first time at a fair.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“They always cost money growing up and it was a luxury my father refu...decided we didn’t need to spend money on.”
Sam clicked his tongue. “If I knew you back then, I would have snuck you in for free.”
“Oh?”
“We worked as Carnies for a few summers and thanks to that I could play people off as part of our team.”
“It sounds like you lived an exciting life.”
Sam gave a humorous laugh. “Yeah. Exciting.”
Frank looked down. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
A look of confusion crossed Sam’s face. “I’m not upset… I just don’t like talking about my childhood. You know that.”
Frank nodded. “I’m sorry I brought it up.”
Sam watched him again for a moment. What had happened in his life that made him so scared of everything and everyone? That was something they had to work on. If he was going to be working on a political campaign, he needed to be more personable. Maybe friendship would help with that? Sam sighed and looked at the papers in front of him. “Hey, what do you say we hand out 50 of these and then we can take a little time to explore the fair? Maybe I can use some of my tricks and win you a prize?”
Frank perked up a miniscule amount. “Like a teddy bear?”
Sam's heart hurt a little at the thought of a grown man getting that excited over a stuffed animal. He did his best to nod. “If that is what you want, I can certainly win you a teddy bear.”