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“And this!” Vi said, using their interlaced hands to tug Caitlyn toward yet another booth. “Funnel cakes, you’ve got to try them.”
Caitlyn’s nose scrunched as they joined the line. “More fried food?” They’d already had corn dogs and a fried cheese monstrosity that would have made her mother faint.
Vi grinned, drawing Caitlyn’s gaze to the scar on her lip.“The fair is all about fried food, cupcake.”
“You also said that about the rides and the games.”
“So it’s about a few things,” Vi said, childlike-glee brightening the blue in her eyes.
“Apparently.”
Vi’s arm bumped hers. “You’ll learn to love it. I saw how much fun you had with the shooting game.”
If she’d been at the Undercity Fair with anyone else, Caitlyn might have disagreed. It was loud and smelly and crowded. But Vi’s company made it surprisingly fun so she only put up a minor protest of, “You wanted the stuffed dog!”
“And isn’t he adorable?” Vi used her free hand to press the toy dog’s nose against Caitlyn’s cheek until she pushed it away.
“You really come here every year?”
“Oh yeah, my family loves it, especially—Jinx.”
“I suppose that makes sense, she must—”
“No, it’s Jinx, right there. Shit.”
Before Caitlyn could find Jinx in the crowd, Vi tugged her out of the line and around a booth, toward the carousel. “Did she see us?”
Vi glanced over her shoulder. “I don’t think so.”
Hidden behind the carousel, Vi leaned her shoulder into Caitlyn’s. Her skin was sweaty and too warm, but Caitlyn couldn’t bring herself to pull away. She craned her neck, trying to catch a glimpse of Jinx.
“Sorry, I didn’t know she’d be here.”
“Should we leave?”
Vi glanced around the edge of the carousel. “It’s getting dark, and there are a ton of people here. I don’t think she’ll see us if we avoid her favorite rides and games. You know I want to introduce you, right? I just, we have to do it right, or—”
Caitlyn gave Vi’s hand a gentle squeeze. “I don’t mind waiting. I kind of like having you all to myself.”
From what Vi had told her, Jinx was a sweet girl with debilitating trauma and a strong dislike of topsiders. The last thing Caitlyn wanted was to meet Jinx in any way that might drive a wedge between herself and Vi.
“I don’t see her anymore. And I owe you a ride on the ferris wheel.”
It had been the first thing to catch her attention, towering above the rest of the fair. She and Vi navigated around games and booths, carefully monitoring their surroundings as they went. They were almost to the ferris wheel when Caitlyn noticed bright blue braids swinging up ahead. Directly in their path.
She pulled Vi in the opposite direction.
“Jinx?”
“Jinx.” She stepped into the first source of cover she could find, a building with more mirrors than Caitlyn had ever seen in one place. “What is this?”
“You’ve never been in a fun house?”
“What about my parents makes you think they would take me anywhere with a fun house ?”
Vi led her further inside. “I guess it’s up to me to show you what us commoners do for fun.”
“Walk through a maze of mirrors?”
“Yup!”
It was strange, seeing so many versions of herself reflected back at her. Wiggly, circle-y, splintered in a thousand pieces. But she would gladly take any excuse to stare at Vi, distorted as the reflections were.
When they stepped in front of a mirror that made them both twice as tall and half as thin, Caitlyn grimaced.
Vi set the stuffed toy on her shoulder. “Not a fan?”
“It’s not my favorite.”
“Because you miss my muscles?” Vi held up an arm and flexed, the movement made strange and unflattering by the stretched out reflection.
Angling away from it and toward Vi, Caitlyn set a hand on her tensed bicep, appreciating how much bigger it was. “Good thing I can still see them like this.”
“Lucky you,” Vi smirked. She glanced at the mirror. “I like it.”
“We look like string beans.”
Vi softly pinched her hip. “That’s my favorite vegetable.” She leaned up, shifting onto the balls of her feet, to press their lips together. The kiss gave Caitlyn a great excuse to forget about everything else. “It’s hot that you’re taller than me.”
“You like that?”
“Mhm,” Vi’s eyes dipped down. “I mean, look at your legs.”
The heat in Vi’s voice bordered on indecent. Caitlyn led her to another hall of mirrors, handing back the toy dog. “You can extol my appearance later.”
“Sure, if you promise to return the favor.”
“Is your ego hurting?”
“I’m crushed, cupcake. I mean, you’ve barely mentioned my hot undercut, my variety of bold piercings, or my sexy ink—what do I have to do for a compliment?”
“Your undercut is delightfully gay and quite soft. Your piercings are eye-catching and rougeish,” Caitlyn said obligingly, “And I believe I’ve made my thoughts on your tattoos clear.”
“You could mention it more.”
They stepped out of the fun house, into the dimming evening. When she didn’t see Jinx, Caitlyn pressed Vi against the wall of the fun house, under a long shadow, and sucked a mark beside her neck tattoo.
She’d never wanted to be someone’s dirty little secret, but with Vi never made her feel like one. She always held Caitlyn’s hand in public, kissed her in the middle of crowded sidewalks, introduced her as my girlfriend . And sneaking around with her was surprisingly… fun .
Caitlyn kissed Vi’s ink and stepped back. “Will that suffice for now?”
Vi blinked, looking a little dazed. “Yeah… yeah, that’s great. Do it again when we get back to your place?”
“Perhaps.” Caitlyn headed for the ferris wheel again. “If you can behave for the rest of our date.”
Vi groaned, “That’s a lot to ask. I mean, have you seen you?”
“In about a hundred reflections just now.”
“None of those mirrors did you justice.”
“Not even the hourglass figure one?”
Vi clicked her tongue. “That was hot. Would freak me out if your waist was actually that small though.”
They reached the ferris wheel, Vi handing over their tickets, and were ushered into a rickety cart. Caitlyn gripped the edge of her bench as the wheel lifted them up a spot so the next cart could be filled. Every movement was accompanied by a foreboding creak. “Are you sure this is safe?”
“Haven’t I taught you by now that nothing is a hundred percent safe in Zaun?” The steel toe of Vi’s worn boot nudged Caitlyn’s sneaker.
“How reassuring.”
“Don’t worry, cupcake, I’ll protect you.”
“And what are you going to do in the event that this ride falls apart and sends us crashing to the ground?”
“Grab that pole with one hand,” Vi pointed above their heads, “And you with the other hand. And Cupcake The Dog with my teeth. Then I’ll pull us all up.”
Caitlyn lifted an eyebrow. “Ambitious.”
“You think I can’t?”
“If I say no, are you going to climb up there just to prove me wrong?”
Vi’s eyes sparkled in the light of the setting sun. The sky stretched out around them, dotted with clouds in brilliant shades of pink and orange. “Aw, you know me so well.”
“I should hope so.”
Their cart was nearly at the top of the wheel now, giving Caitlyn an uninterrupted view of the fairgrounds spread out below. A breeze ruffled her ponytail, cooling the sweat on the back of her neck, and rocking the cart.
She grabbed her bench again, heart jumping.
“Alright, move over.”
“Vi, don’t!”
But Vi had already risen from her bench, the cart tilting dangerously as she dropped down next to Caitlyn. They barely fit, hips and thighs pressed tightly together, the stuffed dog on Vi's lap. The cart settled slightly askew.
“I refuse to die on this dilapidated ferris wheel, Violet.”
Vi snorted. “I ride this thing with all three of my siblings—”
“When you were children?”
“We went last year.”
Caitlyn couldn’t imagine Vi and Claggor fitting together in one of the small carts, much less with an additional two people.
“Relax,” Vi set a hand on her leg, just below the hem of her shorts. “I’m not gonna let you get hurt.”
Caitlyn pressed her forehead to Vi’s. “Is this one of your moves?”
“The ferris wheel?”
“It’s certainly romantic.”
Vi chuckled, palm resting softly against the side of Caitlyn’s neck, warm and calloused. “Nah, I’ve only come here with my family before.”
Caitlyn felt her smile go sly. “So I’m your first?”
“Mhm,” Vi’s nose ran along hers. “You should feel special.”
Their lips met in a soft kiss, and Caitlyn had never felt more special. On a rickety ferris wheel with Vi, she was at the top of the world.