A Balm To Soothe The Burn

Calm was the key.

Ines had to remain calm if she wanted to find her way out of this maze again. If she panicked she wouldn't be able to think straight, and if she wasn't able to think straight she had absolutely no chance of ever finding her way out again. And then she would have to live out her days in solitude in whichever dark corner of the Maze Gardens she had confused herself in.

"This is bad." Ines allowed herself to articulate her thoughts, hoping that it would clear them slightly- to no such avail.

Hands in his pockets and hair flattened down onto his face, Fletcher had his head bowed. He'd given up trying to get out of the maze about fifteen minutes ago, now he was just walking around aimlessly. There was only one thing on his mind; "you're a twonk for leaving home."

He hadn't exactly done it deliberately. He'd just let his slightly easily irritatedness take over and for some unknown reason, he'd ended up... Well, here. Not that it was a bad thing; it was keeping the young boy somewhat sane.

Spotting another figure nearby, Fletcher turned his head. His eyes lit up at the face of the person, who seemed to be hopelessly lost. Slowly, he approached her, and put a hand on her shoulder "Ines, is that you?" he asked, a grin on his face.

Ines jumped at the sudden touch, her startled blue eyes widening- of course, the first things coming to mind being the possibility of an attack. She was not well enough prepared for an attack and if they were faster-

"Fletcher!" She exclaimed in relief, not wasting any time in wrapping her arms around him in a warm hug. Flushing a light shade of red as she pulled back at her abruptness, the girl flashed him a sheepish smile.

"Yes, it's me." She confirmed, tucking her hair behind her ears. "How are you?"

Seeing Ines jump made Fletcher retract his hand and try hard not to run a mile. 'Shit, nice going you idiot...' his inner voice hissed, but on the outside, his face was concerned. "Hey, it's just me," he grinned, but before he could finish her arms were around him. He chuckled and hugged her back tightly.

"I thought it was you. I'd recognise those beautiful eyes of yours from a mile off," he smiled, ruffling his hair so that it wasn't in his eyes any more. "I- Uh. I'm not bad, thanks," he lied, smiling. "You?"

Ines smiled at the sound of his chuckle, enjoying the sound of it- and taking a brief moment to try and commit the noise to memory. Her gaze flickered across to the side of his face as they embraced, suddenly overwhelmed with an urge to kiss his cheek. They were friends, weren't they? And friends were intimate. Before she could make up her mind, the embrace ended, leaving a very flushed, almost guilty-looking Ines.

Shaking her head in a silent denial, although her smile was still in place, she said, "You should stop complimenting me, Fletcher. Or my part of our conversations will consist mainly of "thank you's." She recommended.

Ines blinked at him, peering a little closer. "Are you quite sure?" She questioned. "Well enough." She lied back.

Fletcher had to admit, Ines had a really pretty smile. It wasn't just a passing thought that he wouldn't remember in about half an hour. Her smile was just one of those things that gave him butterflies in the pit of his stomach that he didn't want to shake off at all... Becoming lost in his thoughts, the embrace had ended, and though he wanted to pull her back in for another, he thought it might look a little strange.

"Well, if you weren't so easy to compliment, then I wouldn't do it so often," he said with a half-smile. "I could try it, but that wouldn't be very fun, would it? No need to thank me, I'm just speaking the truth," he grinned, flicking his hair again.

Fletcher nodded, trying not to look too solemn about it, but knew that he had failed. "Yes, I'm quite sure," he said politely, trying not to give away the argument he'd had. Maybe if his parents stopped treating him like a kid... He sighed. "You sure?" he asked, seeing through the lie but not wanting to spark anything up.

"Well," Ines echoed pointedly as her lips slipped into a small smile. "Perhaps I should return the favour." She threatened playfully. "You..." She trailed off, tilting her head to the side as she observed him. Of course, she had reams of compliments for him- Merlin, the girl had trouble sleeping at night because of them- but she would have to pick the most suitable, and the least embarrassing. As to not appear odd. "You have the prettiest eyes I've ever seen." She decided. "I would take them home- but then...then you'd..." The girl shook her head. That was horrible. Why hadn't she stopped talking? "Nevermind." She mumbled with a feeble laugh, and averted her gaze from his own.

"Okay." Ines answered, watching him uneasily. He was lying, she was sure of it. Although she had no right to ask for the truth- she was lying, herself.

"I-uh-yes?" She stuttered out of her daydream, knowing full well that her lie was transparent.

Fletcher let out a light giggle, tongue just through his teeth as he did so in a way that made him look like a cross between childish and oddly seductive, except not quite seductive since he wasn't even fifteen yet and he really should stop thinking of girls in the way he was. Still, it wasn't just any girls that he thought of on a daily basis. He didn't get out enough to be able to meet them, to be honest. ((OOC: I'm on about like the picture in the sig:3))

At her compliment about his eyes, he blushed. His mind was racing. 'She thinks you have nice eyes. She has pretty eyes. Of course, yours are really nice too. But you could go swimming in hers, for heavens sake...' his inner monologue was saying, and for a moment, forgot where he was. Deciding to voice his thoughts, he grinned and spoke. "Well why on Earth would you want mine when yours are so stunning?" he questioned, moving a stray lock of hair behind her ear like he had a few times in the Library.

Fletcher shook his head, a tiny smile present on his features. "Okay, if I tell you what's up, you have to tell me, okay?" he said, reaching out and brushing his hand against hers. "And then we can try to get out of here, together," he added as an afterthought in a much softer tone.

Ines had become very easily distracted, she noticed. At first, it had just been her focus slipping- She may have been thinking about her next essay, and then find herself wandering about the bird she had seen from her window, and whether or not it had any chicks. But the habit had quickly developed- particularly around the opposite gender. Her attention had been caught by his eyes. Then his smile; it really was a lovely smile. Then his tongue- only because it was visible, and then she was wandering what he'd had to eat. She just couldn't focus. It was as if there was so much that intrigued her about him that she couldn't quite focus on just one thing.

"Have you eaten?" She asked suddenly, incapable of not voicing her thoughts. The Hrabrost glanced quickly down at her watch. "It's 2 o'clock." Her lower lip caught between her teeth as she watched the boy, a deep fear of rejection twisting her stomach.

"That was a good counter-compliment." Ines smiled childishly at him, reveling silently in his casual touch. "Well," She paused, deliberating. "I love your personality." She nodded decisively. That wasn't embarrassing; and entirely true.

"That sounds fair." Ines agreed, and quickly captured his hand in hers before he was able to take it away. She smiled sheepishly down at her shoes, ignoring the dark blush that blossomed underneath her skin. "Okay." She echoed, much more quietly than she had last spoken.

For what was likely the twenty ninth time that day, Fletcher found his mind just... Sort of drifting off for a little. More so back to the situation with his parents than it was anything else. He had honestly never seen his mum that angry. Ever. In his entire life. And the fact it was his fault only made it just that little/lot a bit worse. The look on Linelle, Roxy and Charl's faces when he stormed out were the worst, though.

"No, I wasn't hungry," he said, smiling a little. It was a lie, he'd just forgotten to eat. But he wasn't going to say. It probably would have made him look stupid... "Woah, that went fast," he said, genuinely shocked at how fast the time had gone.

"You should know I'm quite good at those," Fletcher grinned, giving his shoulders a slight shrug. "I have a lot of time to come up with them." He blushed slightly at her compliment; he never got told nice things about his personality, other than once someone had said he was being 'slightly less of a git than normal'. He'd taken it as a compliment nonetheless.

"Okay, so... I sort of got into this fight with my parents. They were treating me like a little kid, and I couldn't be bothered with it all, you know?" he said, feeling bad for unloading this on her. "So I walked out." His voice seemed to be too void of emotion for it's own good and he locked his fingers in hers just as she had done to him. "Okay, your go."

"Would you like to join me for lunch?" Ines offered a polite smile, trying to calm the butterflies that swirled wildly in her stomach. She wasn't particularly hungry, which was odd because the girl's lunch was scheduled at 1:30, but she hadn't had the chance to have a meal with Fletcher yet. And wasn't that what she was meant to do with the person she had fallen in love with? One of the people she had fell in love with, rather. Either way, she had deemed the invitation appropriate.

"You don't have to." She said, not giving him enough time to answer. "If you have plans, that's okay, I eat lunch by myself a lot." The Hrabrost blinked, suddenly hit by the notion that she had made herself sound odd. "I mean, sometimes. Sometimes I eat lunch by myself, so I would be used to it." Ines corrected, although even she wasn't completely convinced by the poorly made recovery.

The girl regarded him silently for a brief moment, before speaking again. "What do you do in your free time, Fletcher?" Ines was certain that the Slushatel did more than sit around and think of compliments in his own time. He had to have hobbies.

She swung their hands as he spoke, starting to walk again through the maze. Her eyes remained fixed in front of her, although her attention was focused entirely on him. "My parents do that too." She said, although she seemed less bothered about it than him. "But I know they only do it because they love me." Ines paused. "And they're my best friends." She added as an afterthought, suddenly realising the truth of it as the words left her mouth. They had always been there for her. Always.

"You did what?" She squealed, snapping her head towards him. "Aren't you going back? Where are you going to stay? How are you going to- When- Why would- What about them? What about you? And you're only-but" She spluttered, unable to contain her bewilderment.

"I...I just had trouble sleeping." She breathed, still shocked.

Fletcher grinned as he bowed his head, hoping to cover the blush that had covered his cheeks. "I'd be delighted to, Ines," he said, raising his head slightly to look in her eyes. He leaned towards her and pressed a kiss to her lips without a second thought of it.

As soon as he pulled back, and in more of an attempt to steady himself, he rested his hands on her hips. "S-sorry about that, it's been nagging me since the Library," he said breathlessly. His breaths were a little erratic; the butterflies he knew so well that only she could cause erupted in his stomach and he didn't want to do anything about them.

"Well, what's a girl like you doing eating alone? I'm under the impression guys are falling over their feet to be around you," Fletcher questioned, cocking his head to the side in his confusion.

He didn't exactly know what he had expected Ines' reaction to be. However, for some reason, he hadn't anticipated that she would... Well, do this. He winced a little, now realising how silly his reasoning was.

"I-... I ran away. I'll probably go back, maybe tomorrow. I'll find somewhere, I guess. If not, sleeping under the stars has always been something I found amusing. What about them? They want to treat me like a kid, I'll act like one. And me? Well, I'll be fine. Seeing you today has given me the all the brightness I need for the rest of..." he trailed off, trying to think of a time span. None came to mind. "Forever."

"Are you sure that's it all?" Fletcher asked, not questioning whether she was lying, but more-so that there was more than what she was saying. "You can tell me anything, you know."

"Oh, good." Ines breathed a shaky sigh of relief. It was completely ridiculous how easily this boy could manipulate her mood; how easily he could toy with her emotions. Moments before, she'd almost been on the verge of perspiration as a cause of the bundle of nerves that had squirmed in the pit of her stomach when she'd invited him to lunch- and now, she was over the moon, simply because he'd-

Ines' eyes widened as soon as his lips connected with hers, and a little squeal caught in her throat; although, thankfully, was not able to escape. Her arms wrapped instinctively around his neck- not that she had any sort of experience, but after having watched muggle romance films throughout most of her summer, she'd come to grips with the basics. And then as soon as it had started, it was over.

"Th-that's okay." She stuttered, still overwhelmed by the ghost of the warmth of his lips that lingered on hers. "I- um, you-" Ines murmured, unable to quite move herself away from him- with her arms around his neck, and his hands on her waist, she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to.

Turning a shameful, bright shade of red at the thought, the girl immediately tore her gaze away from his lips onto her feet, and peeled herself away from him. "Thank you." She whispered politely, smiling down at the ground. She'd taken it as a compliment, of course. And it was very sweet of him to offer her first kiss to her.

"No, no." Ines laughed weakly, not certain what to do with all of the compliments he was giving her. Denying them seemed the best way to go, because simply thanking him for them would take much longer. She was positive that none of them were anywhere near the truth; even his last comment. The girl received very little male attention, if any. Though she was more than quick to notice them.

"But sleeping outside- on your own- where would you-" Ines continued to splutter, before she cut herself off midway, bringing her hand to her face and pinching the bridge of her nose, scrunching her eyes closed. She had to calm down. Fletcher would be able to take care of himself, wouldn't he? But one boy, alone, at night- what if something happened to him?

"You could stay at my house." She offered, but bit her lip almost instantly afterwards. If Fletcher hated to be treated like a child, it was likely that her home- more specifically, her parents- would do him no good. "No, that would't- we could stay in an inn!" Ines exclaimed brightly, thrilled by the idea. Her hand's hold tightened on his. "I'm sure there's one around here, somewhere- as soon as we can get out of this maze, we can- oh, money." The Hrabrost frowned. Did she have enough on her?

"That's all." Ines smiled weakly, in an attempt of reassurance. Her reason was far to embarrassing, and was not something she wished to share with the person she was trying to impress.